Book Review: Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry

Pushing The Limits

Katie McGarry

392 Pages

Published July 31st, 2012

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.
But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.
Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

 I've had this one on my shelf for ages and a few weeks back I knew it was finally time to dig into this one and see what all the hype was about. I'm not too big on contemporaries or romance stories, so  I had my doubts straight from the beginning. After reading Pushing The Limits it's safe to say that it's worth all the hyper and more. This was a truly amazing read that gave me the feels guys - the feels!

We have excellent character development in this book. Seriously. I felt like Echo, Noah, Beth and Isiah were some of my best buds, that I'd known them for a long time. Echo had a haunting past that even she didn't remember, and it was one hell of an emotional ride seeing flashes from her past and finally finding out how she got the jagged scars all up and down her arms.

Noah is another story. A hunky bad boy on the outside, a cautious young man with real priorities and feelings on the inside. These two were perfect for each other, trying their hardest to help each other cope with the demons of their past.

I loved how this wasn't "just' a romance book. It had a lot of other plot-lines running through it, adding suspense and other layers to the already captivating story. You quickly fall i n love with not just one, but every character in these books. I've already read Beth's story and am working on Isiah's!

Waiting on Wednesday

Black Ice

Becca Fitzpatrick

Expected Publication: October 7th, 2014

Sometimes danger is hard to see... until it’s too late.

Britt Pfeiffer has trained to backpack the Teton Range, but she isn't prepared when her ex-boyfriend, who still haunts her every thought, wants to join her. Before Britt can explore her feelings for Calvin, an unexpected blizzard forces her to seek shelter in a remote cabin, accepting the hospitality of its two very handsome occupants—but these men are fugitives, and they take her hostage.

In exchange for her life, Britt agrees to guide the men off the mountain. As they set off, Britt knows she must stay alive long enough for Calvin to find her. The task is made even more complicated when Britt finds chilling evidence of a series of murders that have taken place there... and in uncovering this, she may become the killer’s next target.

But nothing is as it seems in the mountains, and everyone is keeping secrets, including Mason, one of her kidnappers. His kindness is confusing Britt. Is he an enemy? Or an ally?

BLACK ICE is New York Times bestselling author Becca Fitzpatrick’s riveting romantic thriller set against the treacherous backdrop of the mountains of Wyoming. Falling in love should never be this dangerous…

I have a strange fascination with kidnapping stories, so this one immediately appealed to me. Black Ice sounds unique though, putting some different situations into this sort of story. Can't wait to see how this one pans out!

Waiting on Wednesday

Snow Like Ashes

Sarah Raasch

432 Pages

Expected Publication: October 14th, 2014

A heartbroken girl. A fierce warrior. A hero in the making.
Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. Now, the Winterians’ only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been waiting for the opportunity to steal back Winter’s magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since.
Orphaned as an infant during Winter’s defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee, raised by the Winterians’ general, Sir. Training to be a warrior—and desperately in love with her best friend, and future king, Mather — she would do anything to help her kingdom rise to power again.
So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore Winter’s magic, Meira decides to go after it herself. Finally, she’s scaling towers, fighting enemy soldiers, and serving her kingdom just as she’s always dreamed she would. But the mission doesn’t go as planned, and Meira soon finds herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics – and ultimately comes to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.
Sara Raasch’s debut fantasy is a lightning-fast tale of loyalty, love, and finding one’s destiny.

The cover is so pretty! Kick-ass warrior female in a fantasy setting is always a one-sitting type read for me - so excited!!

Book Review: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

The 5th Wave

Rick Yancey

457 Pages

Published May 7th, 2013

The Passage meets Ender’s Game in an epic new series from award-winning author Rick Yancey.
After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.
Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

Rave reviews sprouted from many of my favorite bloggers back when this book first came out in 2013. I bought it only a month or two after the release date, eagerly anticipating another fantastic book about aliens, a subject I've grown to become fascinated with. Obviously that didn't happen and months passed on. I recently started seeing recommendations from Amazon for the upcoming sequel, and that prompted me to finally pick this baby up. Why, why did I wait?! This book is amazing and one of the best alien books I've read!

Our main character Cassie, (short for Cassiopia!) has survived the first four "waves" of an alien invasion. Each wave brings new hardships and millions of deaths. Now she awaits the 5th wave with much fear and trepidation, not sure if any other humans are alive. Her entire family is gone, but she believes her younger brother is alive.

Cassie was a strong character, though she trusts no one. she struggles with loneliness and fear, along with feelings of being a monster for killing a man she wasn't sure was human or alien. Yeah.. the aliens look like us.. they are inside of us. That made the whole story so much more creepy and terrifying. Could this really happen? Are there aliens among us?

Later on we meet Evan, a haunted boy who isn't who he appears to be. Though Cassie doesn't trust him at first, she slowly falls in love with him. She doesn't trust him completely though, always suspicious of his actions. He never sleeps, he always goes hunting in the middle of the night, but he never brings back any reapings of the hunts. Though their romance was sweet, it was also unusual with all the unease brewing between them.

The setting moved along quickly, never failing to surprise me with th many twists and tuns. Lots of shocking "oh my god!" moments come into play, and that made the book that much better. Short chapters and changing points of view really add another layer to this story, making for a very quick read. I was done with this in less than two days. Hurry up book number two I need you in my possession!!

Book Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Cress

Marissa Meyer

550 Pages

Published February 4th, 2014

Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard.

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

 This series keeps getting better and better, even when I think a story better than the previous installment is completely insane and not possible. Cress was a fantastic read that blew right past my expectations and I'm so glad I picked it up. In 24 short hours this massive tomb was finished and now I feel a bit empty inside.. totally needing more time with Cress, Cinder, Scarlet, Wolf and Captain Thorne. These characters are seriously some of the most awesomesauce characters ever! They are so fleshed out and their personalities are all so different it's impossible to mix them up.

My favorite character has to be Captain Thorne. Though he loses his sight he still manages to be upbeat and quirky and completely hilarious. He did the wrong thing at times but you could tell he really cared, and the new romance that starts between him and a certain someone was so sweet and perfect and I hope it grows and develops into something even better in the next book.

Cress was a lunar shell that had amazing computer and technology skills. Trapped on a satellite for the majority of her life without human interaction, she tends to be just a tad bit awkward, but sweet. She was a character eager to please, but strong enough to take over and make decisions herself when the time came.

Cinder continued to be awesome as hell, though she continued to have plenty of internal struggles to deal with regarding he lunar powers. She felt she was becoming too much like Levana, though it was obvious to everyone else in the group that this wasn't he case. She strives to do the right thing every time, which sets her in a completely different category of person than the evil and deceitful lunar queen.

Though this was a big book the story didn't drag at all. Not only did the flesh out, realistic characters keep the story moving, the plot was paced perfectly as well. So much happens in this book, but not so much that you become overwhelmed. There are tons of characters and we learn some pretty shocking things that take the story into completely new directions. I apologize for being so vague, but I don't want to give anything away for those who haven't read the series or this third installment.

As usual, Marissa Meyer totally blew me away. Cress was the perfect 3rd book in a series and Winter needs to come out ASAP!!

Book Review: The Hit by Melvin Burgess

The Hit

Melvin Burgess

304 Pages

Published February 25th, 2014

Live the ultimate high. Pay the ultimate price. The shocking return to YA by the author of SMACK.
A new drug is on the street. Everyone's buzzing about it. Take the hit. Live the most intense week of your life. Then die. It's the ultimate high at the ultimate price. Adam thinks it over. He's poor, and doesn't see that changing. Lizzie, his girlfriend, can't make up her mind about sleeping with him, so he can't get laid. His brother Jess is missing. And Manchester is in chaos, controlled by drug dealers and besieged by a group of homegrown terrorists who call themselves the Zealots. Wouldn't one amazing week be better than this endless, penniless misery? After Adam downs one of the Death pills, he's about to find out.

When I first received The Hit for review I was so excited to dig into it and see what this deadly drug was all about. While the book was an entertaining read, I did have my issues. Questions kept popping up in my head, and none of them were really answered, or were answered poorly. For example.. I just didn't find the story all that realistic. How can this tin little pill create the BEST week of your life, all before killing you?! You'd think it'd be out of your system by then or would have killed you sooner, right? What's even weirder is that it's exactly one week later the user dies, like, down to the minute. Just hard for me to believe.

The only other issue I had was that Adam was completely annoying and a total jerk. All he cared about was committing crimes and doing as many selfish things as he could in his last days of life. I understand that he really wanted to live it up, but couldn't he have had some better things on his bucket list? Swim in the ocean or climb a mountain or something like that? Not sleep with multiple women at once, get someone pregnant and kill someone? His character annoyed me so much that it made it hard to enjoy the story because I kept getting so bored with it.

The plot was pretty predictable but still enjoyable. We have the story of Adam and his ride with Death, and we have the undergoing plot line of the zealots and the revolution they are trying to begin. Chaos is rampant and it's clear that the government has pretty much ruined the country, though we never do figure out how this started or exactly what was going on behind the scenes. I liked all the non-stop action with Christian (the craziest character I've read about in a while!) and the zealots. Hope crept into my veins every time an antidote was mentioned, even though people kept denying the possibility of one.

Though this book irked me at times, I don't regret reading it. There was a lot of issues but the general premise was good and the plot interesting enough to almost override my issues with it. Though definitely not a favorite, I'd still recommend it to certain groups, particularly teenage boys who may relate with the main character a bit more than I did.

Waiting on Wednesday

Elusion

Claudia Gabel & Cheryl Klam

400 Pages

Expected Publication: March 18th, 2014

Soon, Elusion® will change the world and life as we know it.
A new technology called Elusion is sweeping the country. An app, visor and wristband will virtually transport you to an exotic destination where adventure can be pursued without the complications—or consequences—of real life.
Regan is an Elusion insider. Or at least she used to be. Her father invented the program, and her best friend, Patrick, heir to the tech giant Orexis, is about to release it nationwide. But ever since her father’s unexpected death, Regan can’t bear to Escape, especially since waking up from the dream means crashing back to her grim reality.
Still, when there are rumors of trouble in Elusion—accusations that it’s addictive and dangerous— Regan is determined to defend it. But the critics of Elusion come from surprising sources, including Josh, the handsome skeptic with his own personal stakes. As Regan investigates the claims, she discovers a disturbing web of secrets. She will soon have to choose between love and loyalty…a decision that will affect the lives of millions.
Suspense, thrills, and romance fuel this near-future story about the seductive nature of a perfect virtual world, and how far one girl will go to uncover the truth behind the illusions.

I seriously never get tired of these types of reads, as long as a unique spin is shoved somewhere in the story. Also.. this may be the most gorgeous cover I've ever seen!