Friday, August 30, 2013

Stacking the Shelves


Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is a list of what books you have received over the previous week, either for review, from the library, from the bookstore, or from trades.

This week 

I was blessed to receive two books for reviews. Just click the image to see the books on Goodreads.

Check out my published content!
Enter to win an e-copy of Good Vibrations HERE

Check out my published content!

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Silence - A Review of Silent Echo: A Siren's Tale by Elisa Freilich

Haunted by silence, a mute teenage girl is mysteriously given back her voice ... and it is divine.

Rendered mute at birth, Portia Griffin has been silent for 16 years. Music is her constant companion, along with Felix, her deaf best friend who couldn’t care less whether or not she can speak. If only he were as nonchalant about her newfound interest in the musically gifted Max Hunter.

But Portia’s silence is about to be broken with the abrupt discovery of her voice, unparalleled in its purity and the power it affords to control those around her. Able to persuade, seduce and destroy using only her voice, Portia embarks on a search for answers about who she really is, and what she is destined to become.

Inspired by Homer’s Odyssey, SILENT ECHO: A Siren's Tale is an epic story filled with fantasy, romance and original music.

Portia has a spent her life without a voice, but she doesn't let it get her down.  Her best friend, Felix, has been deaf since the age of seven which only brings the two of them closer.  Despite their "handicaps", Felix and Portia have a normal life, attending school, hanging with friends, conversing with goddesses, etc.

It's the start of their Sophomore year.  Portia meets and is quickly distracted by Max, the guitar-playing, romantic song-writing new guy.  She is also plagued by a strange new illness that has her visiting the school nurse often.  And she just can't get passed the strange tension that rose up between her and Felix after an intense dance the night before he left for the summer.

During an intense confrontation, Portia discovers that her voice has returned.  Along with the voice, comes a great power over others.  Frightened by her new abilities, Portia begins a journey to determine who or what she really is.

Portia is desperate to maintain normalcy while she struggles to determine who her real friends are. She soon finds that the one she thought was meant to love her may have been sent to destroy her instead.

The many passages with verse did not work for me.  I liked the concept behind the book, and the idea of original music going along with the story.  However, Portia's DRASTIC change in personality didn't sit well with me.  If this had been a play, I would describe Portia's performance as wooden and robotic.  She went through the book very detached and separate from what was happening around her.


Summer Lovin': Review + GIVEAWAY of Good Vibrations by S. L. Scott


With summer coming to a close, I find myself reaching for ways to hold on to it just a little bit longer.  I put together a few of my favorite summer escape books to share.  Just click on the images below to see the books on Goodreads.
Check out my published content!  Check out my published content!
Check out my published content!      Check out my published content!
Check out my published content!  Check out my published content!
Check out my published content!    Check out my published content!
Check out my published content! Check out my published content!

GIVEAWAY


To further spread the spirit of Summer Lovin', I am giving away an e-copy of Good Vibrations by S. L. Scott.  Be sure to check out the sequel  Good Intentions (Welcome to Paradise) (Volume 2) 
Being released September 9, 2013.


Check out my published content!

Good Vibrations (Goodreads Blurb)

I grab her exploring finger just as it reaches my happy trail—a trail that if I let her wander down further will lead us to do things we can’t take back. Things like three-word phrases being confessed that would end me if I was rejected. Things like selfishly wanting to own her body and doing things to her that would make my fantasies blush. And things like making her promises too soon that won’t do either of us any good. She makes me want a future that’s not possible, and one I don’t deserve.
Listening to my ego got me into this situation. Will listening to my heart get me out?

What you can expect from Good Vibrations:


  • Sexy surfer boys
  • An amazing supporting cast
  • Sexy expensive cars
  • Beautiful location
  • Sexy surfer boys with attitude
  • Love triangle
  • Sexy summer lovin'
  • Tension filled surf lessons
  • Did I mention Sexy surfer boys?
It's a story about friendship and flirtation.  It's about giving in, growing up, and getting over yourself.  This is a story about how a lust-filled night can change two lives forever.


Winner will be notified within 48 hours of the close of the contest.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

I Hate Myself For Loving You - A Review of You Don't Have to Say You Love Me by Sarra Manning



(Goodreads Blurb)
Sweet, bookish Neve Slater always plays by the rules. And the number one rule is that good-natured fat girls like her don't get guys like gorgeous, handsome William, heir to Neve's heart since university. But William's been in LA for three years, and Neve's been slimming down and re-inventing herself so that when he returns, he'll fall head over heels in love with the new, improved her.
So she's not that interested in other men. Until her sister Celia points out that if Neve wants William to think she's an experienced love-goddess and not the fumbling, awkward girl he left behind, then she'd better get some, well, experience.
What Neve needs is someone to show her the ropes, someone like Celia's colleague Max. Wicked, shallow, sexy Max. And since he's such a man-slut, and so not Neve's type, she certainly won't fall for him. Because William is the man for her... right?
Somewhere between losing weight and losing her inhibitions, Neve's lost her heart - but to who
This is not my first time reading Sarra Manning and once again she did not disappoint.  

Neve spent her life being overweight and buried in books.  After her dream man heads to California for a three year teaching assignment, Neve decides to take the time to improve her health and her looks.  

Neve has lost over half of her body weight, but still feels like a sausage stuffed into her skin.  Especially when compared to her tall, slim sister Celia and the models that she works with at a fashion magazine.  Celia tries to set Neve up with various men from the magazine, but without success.  

Neve is convinced that if she could just have a "pancake boyfriend", one that is just for practice, then she will be ready for a relationship with William when he returns home.  The problem is that Celia's male friends are only nice to Neve long enough to make an impression on Celia and Neve really isn't interested in them anyway.  The only man even remotely interesting is Max, Celia's Editor-at-Large and a complete slut.

Neve makes a reckless decision to attempt a one night stand with Max.  I say attempt, because even right from the start it was doomed to fail.  Max and Neve do work out an arrangement of sorts though.  Max agrees to become Neve's "pancake boyfriend" for reasons of his own and they fall into an easy sort of relationship.

While I have read similar plots before, this one was handled with such flair that I didn't even realize the ploy until I was neck deep in the middle of it.  Sarra Manning has a charming style that is easily believable.  Neve and Max were such authentic characters.  There was no love at first sight.  They didn't even like each other at first sight, but Manning showed the development of the relationship and we watched Max and Neve grow individually and as a couple.

I was very impressed with the way that the author brought William back into the picture.  His role was key and the other characters reactions to his return were completely spot on and in no way contrived.  The way Neve responded to that whole situation with William and Max amazed me and made me love the story even more.  

This is a MUST READ for romance lovers so find it.  Quickly.

5 OUT OF 5 STARS


Thursday, August 22, 2013

Stacking the Shelves

 Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is a list of what books you have received over the previous week, either for review, from the library, from the bookstore, or from trades.

One ARC from Netgalley


On Goodreads:  Silent Echo

Two for review.


On Goodreads:  The Vampire's Daughter

On Goodreads:  The Vampire's Reflection

Did you discover anything new to read this week?

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

School Days: Back to School Author Close-up


With the kids returning to school soon and in an effort to get to know some authors better, I decided to do a back to school post asking three simple school related questions.

1. What was your favorite subject in school and why? 2. What song(or album) always takes you back to HS days? 3. What was your favorite book in HS assigned and unassigned?
4. What is your most recent book and/or what are you currently working on?


Sydney Logan


1.) My favorite subject was English. Anything to do with grammar and writing came pretty easily to me. 
2.) The songs that take me back to HS are "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips, "The Thunder Rolls" by Garth Brooks, and "When I Call Your Name" by Vince Gill. 
3.) My favorite assigned book was The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Favorite unassigned book was Forever by Judy Blume.



Sydney's latest book, Mountain Charm, was released in July.  She is currently working on her third novel.

Stalk Sydney Online:


Website:  http://www.sydneylogan.com
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5787300.Sydney_Logan
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/SydneyLoganAuthor
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/SydneyALogan
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/sydneyalogan/

J. R. Richardson



1. My favorite subject in HS was English because it was the only class I never really felt like I was doing any actual work (mostly). Reading, writing and discussing books? Come on.
2. Billy Joel's Glass Houses will forever take me back to HS. Any of his early albums, actually.
3. My all time favorite assigned book from HS was The Hobbit by J.R.R.Tolkien and my favorite unassigned back then was The Outsiders by S.E.Hinton.


Releasing this year:

Cursed be the Wicked is the story of Cooper Shaw. He lives his life under a pen name and enjoys the anonymity it provides during his journeys across the globe as a seasoned writer for a travel magazine. When his job lands him in his hometown of Salem, Massachusetts to cover the famous Festival of the Dead, he soon realizes that he can’t stay invisible forever as he faces ghosts from a past he’s been trying to forget ever since he left.

The city holds nothing but bad memories for Coop until he meets a quirky young woman with an old soul and curious insights by the name of Finnley Pierce. While she acts as his tour guide through a town he thought he knew, Finn helps him unearth the truth of his childhood and might even begin to open up his heart.

By unraveling the mystery of his father’s murder, Coop may finally accept who he is, where he came from, and perhaps even realize what he wants for his future. 


Jo also has a short story titled "Lost in Christmas" being released through Soul Mate's Christmas Anthology in November.  Crystal Springfield spends the holidays by herself, in the cabin her parents used to bring her to as a child.  It gives her the quiet solitude she craves during her time off but when a tall dark and lost stranger gets trapped at the cabin with her by a snow storm, Crystal soon realizes just how alone she's been all these years.

Stalk Jo Online:


Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/JRRFics/

Angel Lawson


1. What was your favorite subject in school and why? Art or PE. Or lunch. I was totally that kid.
2. What song(or album) always takes you back to HS days? The Cure. Catch. Also anything by the B-52's
3. What was your favorite book in HS assigned and unassigned. Probably anything by V.C Andrews. They were totally my crack-fic. Assigned? Catcher in the Rye.


Angel's newest book is co-written with Kira A. Gold and is due out September 10th.


“Hard time prepared me for many things, but playing research assistant to a flock of nerds wasn’t one of them.”
Ethan Tyrell is out of his element at the College Scholastic Honors Program for exceptional students. But at least he’s out of prison. Keeping his temper and his hands to himself isn’t so easy when an irritating professor demands full participation with a mismatched study group, where he clashes with his roommate’s sister, Memory.
Memory Erikssen is not the kind of girl a boy can forget; she makes sure of that. Quick with both a charcoal pencil and a lipstick, she won’t draw the same line or walk the same path twice, and antagonizing Ethan is a break from the usual academic doldrums.
Ethan and Memory find themselves tangled together by more than their special abilities--and mutual irritation--as members of their team go missing, and they unravel a dangerous mystery that spans centuries of local and distant legends.


Stalk Angel Online:


Angel's website: www.angellawson.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawsonWrites Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawsonwrites?fref=ts

GIVEAWAY

I hope you enjoyed getting to know a little bit more about these authors.  Leave a comment to enter to win some Angel Lawson swag.  I have Fangirl and Show Bound postcards and Vigilant bookmarks.


Saturday, August 17, 2013

ROAD TRIP: Favorite YA Road Trip Books and Playlist


As summer draws to a close, I think back over vacations and road trips.  I remember the music, food, and friendships.  There is something magical about a full tank of gas and an open highway.  In honor of this magic, I have posted a few of my favorite road trip themed YA novels.



This book has its own playlist written all throughout.  You really should check it out.


On Amazon: Two-way Street

Find over 150 road trip themes YA books on Goodreads.

ALSO,

Author Liza Palmer created an Epic Road Trip Playlist with some of her friends and posted it on her blog this week.  I took those songs to 8tracks and made a playlist there.  Check out Liza's post HERE.


Friday, August 16, 2013

A Peek at the Week


So many exciting reveals this week and I wanted to make sure you didn't miss any.

An exciting new story coming September 10

The second book in the Seven Deadly series.  You have to take a look at this cover.

This is key parts of Wait for You as told in Cam's point of view. If you haven't read Wait for You, you need to remedy that immediately.  You'll love Cam. He bakes cookies.

There are also TWO GIVEAWAYS.  One in the Trust in Me post And one HERE.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Stacking the Shelves


Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is a list of what books you have received over the previous week, either for review, from the library, from the bookstore, or from trades.

This week I received this one from Netgalley.


Louder Than Love
On Amazon: Louder Than Love


And these three favorites returned home.  Vain and Eleanor & Park had been loaned to friends, and I found this hardback copy of Until You at Goodwill.





Until You (Westmoreland, #3)
On Amazon: Until You

Vain (The Seven Deadly, #1)
On Amazon: VAIN


Eleanor & Park
On Amazon: Eleanor & Park

I must say that I extremely happy to have my babies back home on their shelves.