Tag Archives: romance

Book Title:
Beyond the Red
Book Author:
Ava Jae
Publishing Date:
March 1st, 2016
Publisher:
Sky Pony Press
Date Read:
March 7th, 2016

Synopsis

Alien queen Kora has a problem as vast as the endless crimson deserts. She’s the first female ruler of her territory in generations, but her people are rioting and call for her violent younger twin brother to take the throne. Despite assassination attempts, a mounting uprising of nomadic human rebels, and pressure to find a mate to help her rule, she’s determined to protect her people from her brother’s would-be tyrannical rule.

Eros is a rebel soldier hated by aliens and human alike for being a half-blood. Yet that doesn’t stop him from defending his people, at least until Kora’s soldiers raze his camp and take him captive. He’s given an ultimatum: be an enslaved bodyguard to Kora, or be executed for his true identity—a secret kept even from him.

When Kora and Eros are framed for the attempted assassination of her betrothed, they flee. Their only chance of survival is to turn themselves in to the high court, where revealing Eros’s secret could mean a swift public execution. But when they uncover a violent plot to end the human insurgency, they must find a way to work together to prevent genocide.

My Review

I really love science fiction and fantasy, but for some reason, I find myself not reading enough of it.  So when I heard about this book, I was more or less through the roof about reading it, because I had … Continue reading

4 stars
8 Comments
Book Title:
Love Me, Love Me Not
Book Author:
Alyxandra Harvey
Publishing Date:
February 22nd, 2016
Publisher:
Entangled Teen
Date Read:
March 1st, 2016

Synopsis

Dating isn’t easy when you’re in the middle of a blood feud.

Anastasia Vila’s family can turn into swans, but just once she’d like them to turn into responsible adults.

After hundreds of years, they still cling to the blood feud with the Renard family. No one remembers how it started in the first place—but foxes and swans just don’t get along.

Vilas can only transform into their swan shape after they have fallen in love for the first time, but between balancing schoolwork, family obligations, and the escalating blood feud, Ana’s got no time for love. The only thing keeping her sane is her best friend, Pierce Kent.

But when Pierce kisses Ana, everything changes.

Is what Pierce feels for her real, or a byproduct of her magic? Can she risk everything for her best friend? And when the family feud spirals out of control, Ana must stop the fight before it takes away everything she loves. Including, maybe...Pierce.

This Entangled Teen Crave book contains language, violence, and lots of kissing. Warning: it might induce strong feelings of undeniable attraction for your best friend.

My Review

Let me begin this by saying that I really hate writing negative reviews.  I mean, I always feel kind of bad about it, but I also don’t want to lie, so here we are. I had such high hopes for … Continue reading

2 stars
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Book Title:
Burn Baby Burn
Book Author:
Meg Medina
Publishing Date:
March 8th, 2016
Publisher:
Candlewick Press
Date Read:
March 7th, 2016

Synopsis

While violence runs rampant throughout New York, a teenage girl faces danger within her own home in Meg Medina's riveting coming-of-age novel.

Nora Lopez is seventeen during the infamous New York summer of 1977, when the city is besieged by arson, a massive blackout, and a serial killer named Son of Sam who shoots young women on the streets. Nora’s family life isn’t going so well either: her bullying brother, Hector, is growing more threatening by the day, her mother is helpless and falling behind on the rent, and her father calls only on holidays. All Nora wants is to turn eighteen and be on her own. And while there is a cute new guy who started working with her at the deli, is dating even worth the risk when the killer likes picking off couples who stay out too late? Award-winning author Meg Medina transports us to a time when New York seemed balanced on a knife-edge, with tempers and temperatures running high, to share the story of a young woman who discovers that the greatest dangers are often closer than we like to admit — and the hardest to accept.

My Review

Burn Baby Burn is an incredibly powerful novel about a young girl growing up in New York City in 1977.  It deals with A LOT of sensitive issues, including domestic violence, drugs, and shootings that occur throughout the city at … Continue reading

4 stars
4 Comments
Book Title:
Dreamfever
Book Author:
Kit Alloway
Book Series:
Dreamfire, #2
Publishing Date:
February 23rd, 2016
Publisher:
St. Martin's Griffin
Date Read:
February 20th, 2016

Synopsis

Finding out that she is the True Dream Walker hasn't gone at all the way Joshlyn Weaver would have expected it to. The only special gift she seems to have is an ability to create archways, which really isn't that special. In addition to her inability to connect with the Dream, she has also started having nightmares that are so terrible she can't tell anyone about them. Not even Will.

Just when Josh thought her life couldn't get any more complicated, the lost dream walker princess returns to claim her parents' right to the throne, right as the Lodestone party threatens to take control of the government during the upcoming Accordance Conclave.

With the clock running down, Josh must rely on not only her friends, but also her enemies, to stop the radicals from taking power and controlling the Dream. But how can she expect to save everyone else when she's struggling to pick up the pieces of her own shattered life?

Dreamfever will have you on the edge of your seat as Kit Alloway takes you even deeper into the world of the dream walkers, and will leave you begging for more!

My Review

About a month ago, I read Kit Alloway’s debut novel, Dreamfire.  When I had finished that, I honestly had to wonder what one earth had taken me so long to read it.  It was a creative, imaginative journey of a … Continue reading

4 stars
2 Comments
Book Title:
Dreamfire
Book Author:
Kit Alloway
Book Series:
Dreamfire, #1
Publishing Date:
February 24th, 2015
Publisher:
St. Martin's Griffin
Date Read:
January 30th, 2016

Synopsis

Unlike most 17-year-olds, Joshlyn Weaver has a sacred duty. She's the celebrated daughter of the dream walkers, a secret society whose members enter the Dream universe we all share and battle nightmares. If they fail, the emotional turmoil in the Dream could boil over and release nightmares into the World.

Despite Josh's reputation as a dream walking prodigy, she's haunted by her mistakes. A lapse in judgment and the death of someone she loved have shaken her confidence. Now she's been assigned an apprentice, a boy whose steady gaze sees right through her, and she's almost as afraid of getting close to him as she is of getting him killed.

But when strangers with impossible powers begin appearing in the Dream, it isn't just Will that Josh has to protect--it's the whole World.

Experience the dangers of the dream world in Dreamfire, a riveting, young adult debut novel by Kit Alloway.

My Review

Dreamfire is an interesting YA debut that mixes a little bit of fantasy, a little bit of romance, and a little bit of action to create a gorgeous story with meaningful characters and a plot that will leave you wondering … Continue reading

4 stars
3 Comments
Book Title:
Kingdom of Ashes
Book Author:
Rhiannon Thomas
Book Series:
A Wicked Thing, #2
Publishing Date:
February 23rd, 2016
Publisher:
HarperTeen
Date Read:
February 11th, 2016
Source:
eARC from publisher via Edelweiss - Thank you!

Synopsis

Asleep for a hundred years, awoken by a kiss, Aurora’s life was supposed to be a fairytale. But since discovering that loyalty to the crown and loyalty to her country are two very different things, Aurora knows she can only dream of happily ever after. Once the enchanted princess, savior of her people, she is now branded a traitor.

Aurora is determined to free her home from the king’s tyrannical rule, even if it means traveling across the sea to the kingdom of the handsome and devious Prince Finnegan—someone who seems to know far more about her magic than he should. However, Finnegan’s kingdom has perils of its own, and any help he gives Aurora will come at a price.

As Aurora and Finnegan work together to harness her power—something so fiery and dangerous that is as likely to destroy those close to Aurora as it is to save them—she begins to unravel the mysteries surrounding the curse that was placed on her over a century before…and uncover the truth about the destiny she was always meant to fulfill.

Brimming with captivating fantasy and life-threatening danger, the sequel to A Wicked Thing takes Sleeping Beauty on an adventure unlike any she’s ever had before.

My Review

If you’ve read A Wicked Thing, Kingdom of Ashes is a must read (especially if you liked the first book in the series).  I finally got to read A Wicked Thing recently (I have no idea what took me so … Continue reading

4 stars
2 Comments
Book Title:
Dangerous Lies
Book Author:
Becca Fitzpatrick
Publishing Date:
November 10th, 2015
Publisher:
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Date Read:
November 15th, 2015

Synopsis

A teen is forced to make a fresh start after witnessing a violent crime—but love and danger find her anyway in this novel from Becca Fitzpatrick, the New York Times bestselling author of the Hush, Hush saga.

Stella Gordon is not her real name. Thunder Basin, Nebraska, is not her real home. This is not her real life.

After witnessing a lethal crime, Stella Gordon is sent to the middle of nowhere for her own safety before she testifies against the man she saw kill her mother’s drug dealer.

But Stella was about to start her senior year with the boyfriend she loves. How can she be pulled away from the only life she knows and expected to start a new one in Nebraska? Stella chafes at her protection and is rude to everyone she meets. She’s not planning on staying long, so why be friendly? Then she meets Chet Falconer and it becomes harder to keep her guard up, even as her guilt about having to lie to him grows.

As Stella starts to feel safer, the real threat to her life increases—because her enemies are actually closer than she thinks…

My Review

I read this book a while back, and I’m not really sure why it took  me so long to write my review for it.  It was an interesting thriller (and we all know I love YA thrillers) – well written … Continue reading

4 stars
4 Comments
Book Title:
Blackhearts
Book Author:
Nicole Castroman
Publishing Date:
February 9th, 2016
Publisher:
Simon Pulse
Date Read:
February 5th, 2016

Synopsis

Blackbeard the pirate was known for striking fear in the hearts of the bravest of sailors. But once he was just a young man who dreamed of leaving his rigid life behind to chase adventure in faraway lands. Nothing could stop him—until he met the one girl who would change everything.

Edward "Teach" Drummond, son of one of Bristol's richest merchants, has just returned from a year-long journey on the high seas to find his life in shambles. Betrothed to a girl he doesn’t love and sick of the high society he was born into, Teach dreams only of returning to the vast ocean he’d begun to call home. There's just one problem: convincing his father to let him leave and never come back.

Following her parents' deaths, Anne Barrett is left penniless and soon to be homeless. Though she’s barely worked a day in her life, Anne is forced to take a job as a maid in the home of Master Drummond. Lonely days stretch into weeks, and Anne longs for escape. How will she ever realize her dream of sailing to Curaçao—where her mother was born—when she's stuck in England?

From the moment Teach and Anne meet, they set the world ablaze. Drawn to each other, they’re trapped by society and their own circumstances. Faced with an impossible choice, they must decide to chase their dreams and go, or follow their hearts and stay.

My Review

Blackhearts is an original, sweet retelling that didn’t really seem like a retelling at all.  We all know Blackbeard, the fearsome pirate that really ruined a lot of sailors’ days out on the sea.  But Blackhearts doesn’t really go on … Continue reading

4 stars
8 Comments
Book Title:
Arrows
Book Author:
Melissa Gorzelanczyk
Publishing Date:
January 26th, 2016
Publisher:
Delacorte Press
Date Read:
January 27th, 2016

Synopsis

A modern cupid story set in present-day Wisconsin combining the fantastical elements of Greek mythology with the contemporary drama of MTV’s Teen Mom.

People don’t understand love. If they did, they’d get why dance prodigy Karma Clark just can’t say goodbye to her boyfriend, Danny. No matter what he says or does or how he hurts her, she can’t stay angry with him . . . and can’t stop loving him. But there’s a reason why Karma is helpless to break things off: she’s been shot with a love arrow.

Aaryn, son of Cupid, was supposed to shoot both Karma and Danny but found out too late that the other arrow in his pack was useless. And with that, Karma’s life changed forever. One pregnancy confirmed. One ballet scholarship lost. And dream after dream tossed to the wind.

A clueless Karma doesn’t know that her toxic relationship is Aaryn’s fault . . . but he’s going to get a chance to make things right. He’s here to convince Danny to man up and be there for Karma. But what if this god from Mount Olympus finds himself falling in love with a beautiful dancer from Wisconsin who can never love him in return?

This fast-paced debut novel explores the internal & external conflicts of a girl who finds herself inexplicably drawn to a boy who seemingly doesn’t reciprocate her feelings, touching on the issues of love, sex and responsibility, with a heroine struggling to control her destiny–perfect for fans of Katie McGarry’s novels and MTV’s 16 and Pregnant.

My Review

When I first heard about this book, I fell in love with both the cover and the synopsis, and it instantly because one of my most anticipated reads of 2016.  Usually when I’m incredibly excited about a book, I end … Continue reading

5 stars
2 Comments
Book Title:
The Conspiracy of Us
Book Author:
Maggie Hall
Book Series:
The Conspiracy of Us, #1
Publishing Date:
January 13th, 2015
Publisher:
Speak (Penguin)
Date Read:
January 26th, 2016

Synopsis

A fast-paced international escapade, laced with adrenaline, glamour, and romance--perfect for fans of Kiera Cass and Ally Carter

Avery West's newfound family can shut down Prada when they want to shop in peace, and can just as easily order a bombing when they want to start a war. Part of a powerful and dangerous secret society called the Circle, they believe Avery is the key to an ancient prophecy. Some want to use her as a pawn. Some want her dead.

To unravel the mystery putting her life in danger, Avery must follow a trail of clues from the monuments of Paris to the back alleys of Istanbul with two boys who work for the Circle—beautiful, volatile Stellan and mysterious, magnetic Jack. But as the clues expose a stunning conspiracy that might plunge the world into World War 3, she discovers that both boys are hiding secrets of their own. Now she will have to choose not only between freedom and family--but between the boy who might help her save the world, and the one she's falling in love with.

My Review

I might be a little behind here, but wow is this book amazing.  I know it came out over a year ago now, and I’ve had it on my to be read list since it came out, and I finally … Continue reading

4.5 stars
2 Comments