Received For Review:
Bought:
Friday, January 3, 2014
STS and Pregnancy Update
Book Review: Becoming Alpha by Aileen Erin
Aileen Erin
Published December 17th, 2013
273 Pages
Tessa McCaide has a unique talent for getting into trouble. Then again, it isn’t easy for a girl with visions to ignore what she sees. Luckily Tessa and her family are leaving California and moving halfway across the country, givingher the perfect opportunity to leave her reputation as “Freaky Tessa” behind.Tessa is a seemingly normal teenage girl. She has an average, ordinary life doing all the things that normal teens her age do. However, gripping visions that she can't control have made her life strained and difficult. Pretty much anything she touches sends her off to la-la land, a place where she sees far more than she ever would have liked. Avoiding people and such has gotten her a bad reputation as a freak who's up to no good, so her family packs up and moves to Texas in hopes of helping her find he footing and shed her bad rep. However, their new town hides many secrets.. including a pack of werewolf's
But Tessa doesn’t realize that kissing the wrong guy in her new Texas town could land her in far more trouble than she ever imagined. Like being forced to attend St. Ailbe’s Academy, a secret boarding school for werewolves.
Even if the wrong guy did accidentally turn her into one of “them” and doom her to attending the weirdest high school ever, Tessa can’t help her growing attraction to the mysterious Dastien Laurent.
When vampires attack St. Alibe’s and her visions pinpoint an enemy in their midst, Tessa realizes that boy drama and her newfound canine tendencies might just be the least of her problems
Though most people in the town seem to be completely aware of this, Tessa isn't let in on the big secret, and winds up receiving her first kiss from a handsome boy named Dastien, who attends a school for the trouble called St. Alibe's. When things get hot and heavy, a rough bite to her skin transforms both her and her life forever. Tessa was now one of them.
I liked both Tessa and Dastien a lot. Though they are both unsure at times and completely awkward around each other, it was obvious how they truly felt. Though Tessa is understandably reluctant to welcome him back into her life after the pain he caused her, I loved watching them slowly fall deeper and deeper in love, despite many obstacles.
Getting deep into the world of magic, visions and werewolves was a thrilling ride that I didn't want to end. Erin does a great job painting pictures in my mind, and at times I felt like I was right there with Tess and Dastien. Becoming Alpha was a great first installment to what I'm sure will be an intriguing series.
.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
My Name Is Rapunzel Blog Tour & Giveaway!!
My Name Is Rapunzel
K. C. Hilton
Published November 22nd, 2013
302 Pages
My tale has been told again and again, and I've heard each one. Except for my hair, I barely recognize the pitiful renditions. Muddled versions, crafted to entertain laughing children…but the children wouldn't have laughed if they’d known the real story. It wasn't their fault. They didn't know the truth. Nobody did.
My name is Rapunzel. I will tell you my story. I will tell you the truth.
My Name is Rapunzel is one of many fairy-tale retellings that have made their debut as of late, and it charmed me. I'm not sure how the original story went, just that there was a girl locked away in a tower with magical golden hair long enough to be climbed up. I know most fairy-tales, but not this one too well.
In this particular retelling, Rapunzel was to marry the son of the king, Henry, whom she was madly in love with. Her father had riches in a past life, but gave it up to have his family. They seemed like a cute little family that cared about each other, so much so that her parents never had an desire to have another child: Rapunzel was good enough for them.
As with all good fairy-tales, an evil witch had to make an appearance and cause a big mess. She cursed Rapunzel with eternal life, so she may forever use her hair to keep her own youth. Henry was with her at the time of cursing, and he disappears: Rapunzel fears the worst.
The story is told with alternating time periods, switching between the past and the present. We get to see 250 years of this poor girls life, eventually locked away in a castle with the evil witch, guarded by a dragon that she has come to care for very much. She slowly acclimates to the changes of present day, even learning the joys of online shopping.
Though I had no idea how this would end, I always hoped for a happy ending .After all: it's a fairy-tale! I wasn't expecting to like this one as much as I did, and I'm so very glad I picked it up. My Name is Rapunzel is sure to be stuck in my thoughts for quite a while!
About The Author:
Born
and raised in Aurora, Illinois I spent my childhood climbing trees and playing
street games with the neighborhood kids. I was a proud tomboy, until the day I didn't want to hike the land to an old graveyard. From that point forward I was
considered a “girl”.
At
the age of seventeen I moved to Kentucky and eventually began to raise a family
of my own. Having worn several “hats” my life has been an adventure all on its
own. Still, to this day, I yearns to be a mechanic and own a pink toolbox with
pink tools.
I
can usually be found updating my website, reading great books, watching awesome
movies or creating videos for my YouTube channel. Most days I craves
Diet Coke, pizza and chocolate, in no particular order.
I
don’t read scary books or watch horror movies… I’m way too scared! Lol.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Book Review: A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan
Anna Sheeden
342 Pages
Published August 9th, 2011
It should have been a short suspended-animation sleep. But this time Rose wakes up to find her past is long gone -- and her future full of peril.
Rosalinda Fitzroy has been asleep for sixty-two years when she is woken by a kiss. Locked away in the chemically induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten subbasement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now, her parents and her first love are long gone, and Rose -- hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire -- is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat. Desperate to put the past behind her and adapt to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh. But when a deadly danger jeopardizes her fragile new existence, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes -- or be left without any future at all.A Long, Long Sleep is about a girl named Rose who pretty much spent her life going to hell and back, over and over and over again. Her overbearing parents repeatedly put her into a coma-like state through a process called stasis, in which she lost huge chunks of her life. She watched a childhood friend grow from years younger than her to being older than her.
If that wasn't bad enough, imagine this poor girl waking up after a stasis session that lasted over 60 years. She is woken by a boy named Bren, one whom she is instantly drawn to for unknown reasons. Her friends and family are all long gone, perished during a period of time she slept through, dubly named "the dark times". She must find out how to survive in this new society, all while avoiding everyday troubles like everyone thinking she's a freak.. and much darker issues like a human-like thing that has been programmed to murder her.
Obviously, Rose doesn't deal with this too well at first, constantly thinking of her past life and of Xavier, her childhood friend turned lover. It saddened me that she couldn't see all the abuse her parents had put her through, how she thought sleeping away years of her life at a time so they could go off and vacation was good. She honestly thought that this was normal, loving behavior from her parents.. and that really sucked for her.
Other than that flaw, she was a pretty decent character. She had wit and charm that kept me smiling, and I loved how we got to know about her love of anything artistic. Her unique abilities are what made me life her, and I loved how she was kind to everyone, even the strange alien-type boy Ottto.
Otto.. he was probably my favorite character, ever. Period. He was SO different that some people may have found him creepy, or unrelatable, but I really connected with him since he was the outcast. I felt his pain, though I know there has to be more to his story. I felt like he and Rose would have been good together.. was I the only one that thought that?!
I hope that someday there will be a sequel, since there were some loose strings that I felt could have been tied up. I won't give it away but... there are some pretty big things left open. A Long, Long sleep was full of mysteries that shocked even me once they were finally solved. Definitely a 2013 favorite!
Friday, December 13, 2013
Book Review: Pawn by Aimee Carter
Aimee Carter
352 Pages
Published November 26th, 2013
YOU CAN BE A VII IF YOU GIVE EVERYTHING.Kitty Doe is your average teenage girl, stuck in a controlling and domineering society that sorts people by a ranking system, based off the roman numerals. When Kitty is assigned the lowly category of a III, due to not being able to read or finish the test on time, she fears that her life is over. Her standing in society places her in a risky spot, one where any small crime can get her banished to Elsewhere, a cruel place no one in their right mind would ever wish to visit.
For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.
If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked - surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.
There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed, and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand.
Sad and forlorn, frustrated with her turn of luck in life, Kitty does the unthinkable: she commits a crime and steals food from a vendor, not knowing what will happen to her as consequence. When guards hunt her down no matter where she goes, she knows she's in for a fair bit of trouble. However, she never could have imagined how her life would change, all because of one orange.
When she wakes up in a hospital-like setting, feeling anything but like herself, panic sets in. Not knowing where she is, she gets the shock of her life when she discovers she's been kidnapped and had body modification surgery performed on her against her will. She is now the replacement for a powerful figure in society, Lila Hart, and she is no longer a III. She is a VII, the highest level of society one can belong to.
Pawn follows Kitty as she gets adjusted to her new life, where secrets and danger round every corner. She must learn to act just like Lila, a girl she's never met before in her life. Pressure is coming from many sides to behave in different ways, and death threats abound. Despite all this, Kitty remained strong and kept a level head. If I were her I would have broken down and given up, locking myself away and waiting for imminent death; it just would have been too much.
I loved Benjy as well. Even with everything going on, he still stands by Kitty through thick and thin, remaining devoted and all hers. Daxton seemed nice as well, but sometimes I questioned his motives. I knew something was up with him and Cecelia from the beginning, but it took me a while to piece together the puzzle and figure out who they really were.
Pawn was a thrilling story, set in a futuristic USA. With a corrupt government, murderers everywhere without shame and many lies and conspiracies, the story kept me on my toes and was believable. I can only hope that next year rolls around faster so I can read the next installment!
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Reading Cram Day 4 Update and Top 10 Books I Read In 2013 Challenge
Top Ten Books I Read In 2013
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)