Book Review - Maxon

Maxon
Author: Christina Bauer
Series: Angelbound #5
Genres: Paranormal, Fantasy | New Adult
Release Date: 12th May 2015
Publishers: Ink Monster LLC
Source: Review Copy - Ink Monster LLC
Rating:

Prince Maxon may be twenty-two years old now, but he's still haunted by his boyhood abduction and torture in Hell. To deal with his past, Maxon limits his present-day activities to killing demons and seducing women. No long-term relationships. No combat too dangerous. No problem, right?

Wrong.

Maxon’s life has stalled out. The old thrills aren't there anymore, either on the battlefield or in the bedroom. While staking out his next fight, Maxon meets what seems like just another girl after a good time. What he gets is a close encounter with Lianna, a lady warrior with ties to the mysterious elemental rulers called the monarkki. It's love at first fight. Trouble is, Lianna's running from a dark history of her own, and her elemental enemies are closing in. When Lianna gets taken, Maxon realizes that after years of wrong choices and dead ends, the right woman is worth risking it all.

Ugh, why wasn't this the amazing sequel and look into Maxon's life I was hoping for? I'm not sure if there was something about my expectations, or my slightly less impressed state with Armageddon, or that there was overall more character and development, plot and action issues, but this was not what I had in mind. Credit where credit is due, this is a really good sequel, and I'm still going to continue reading the instalments that follow, I'll just be sure to lower my expectations this time around.

Book Review: One Night

One Night
Author: A.J. Pine
Series: Only You #1
Genres: Contemporary | New Adult
Release Date: 21st April 2015
Publisher: Intermix
Source: Review Copy - A.J. Pine
Rating:

Twenty-one-year-old Jess used to have everything - a loyal best friend, a boyfriend she loved, and a future that was right on track. But in a single night, her whole world changed.

Now, Jess lives for the impersonal connection of drunken hook-ups and to-go coffee cups in the morning. All she needs is one night to pretend everything is fine.. until she meets Adam.

Thanks to a sports injury, gorgeous, charming basketball star Adam Carson is stuck in physical therapy at the hospital where Jess interns - giving her the perfect opportunity to see his sweet, considerate nature and making her realize that maybe she does want something more.

But while Adam might be the best thing that's happened to Jess in a long time, letting him past her carefully constructed walls means letting him know what happened.. and why he'd never want her for more than one night.

The moment I found out Pine had another book set for release, I halted everything I was doing and rushed to find out more about it. That's one of the most wonderful things about having an author that you love, especially when you're almost completely certain that everything they write will please you. One Night, much like If Only and What If, isn't doesn't differ much from other New Adult novels in the genre, but there's something about Pine's characters and writing, I just can't get enough of it. One Night is special, and utterly broke my heart.

Book Review - A Court of Thorns and Roses

A Court of Thorns and Roses
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses
Genres: Fantasy | New Adult
Release Date: 7th May 2015
Source: Review Copy - Bloomsbury
Rating:

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin - one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae.

But with an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, Feyre must find a way to stop it..
or doom Tamlin - and his world - forever.

This book and/or review may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due its use of language, sexual content, drug and alcohol abuse and/or violence. Please bare this in mind before reading.

Sometimes, books just don't impress you. No matter your expectations, nor the authors talent, the story itself can just feel, flat, and to me, that is what ACOTAR felt like. Flat. Unimpressive. A little, meh. Don't get me wrong, Maas' talent and writing still sings to me in a way many other authors couldn't even begin to dream of doing, and her talent of crafting stories in a way that always keeps me additively reading is commendable, if not fabulous, and yet ACOTAR felt miles away from any of my few expectations, and that's not a good thing. As featured with Deep Blue and The Rain, ACOTAR will be reviewed in the only way feels right to me..

Blog Tour - What If

What If
Author: A.J. Pine
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult, New Adult
Release Date: 8th December 2014
Publisher: Entangled
Pages: 300
Source: Review Copy - Entangled/A.J. Pine
Rating: 
Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

Sometimes it takes letting go of the past to find out who you want to be.

During his semester abroad, Griffin Reed almost gave his heart to a girl who loved someone else. Lesson learned. Now he’s home, where following in his father’s footsteps may not be what he wants, but it’s what his parents expect. It might be taking the easy road, but he doesn't see a way out.

Something that could have killed Maggie Kendall took away the person she used to be instead. Her condition makes her dependent on sticky notes, photos, and medication just to get through each day. The last thing she needs is a distraction - or someone new to disappoint.

What they refuse to see is they are perfect for each other. Maggie makes Griffin want to be a better man, and he makes her believe a future is possible. But these two have to find a way to share the secrets ripping them apart, if they’re ever going to have a chance at happiness.

Book Review - Maybe Someday

Maybe Someday

Author: Colleen Hoover

Standalone

Genres: Contemporary, Romance | New Adult

Release Date: March 18th 2014
Publishers: Atria Books

No. Pages: 382

Source: Purchased 

Rating: 

Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

At twenty-two years old, aspiring musician Sydney Blake has a great life: She’s in college, working a steady job, in love with her wonderful boyfriend, Hunter, and rooming with her good friend, Tori. But everything changes when she discovers Hunter cheating on her with Tori—and she is left trying to decide what to do next.

Sydney becomes captivated by her mysterious neighbor, Ridge Lawson. She can’t take her eyes off him or stop listening to the daily guitar playing he does out on his balcony. She can feel the harmony and vibrations in his music. And there’s something about Sydney that Ridge can’t ignore, either: He seems to have finally found his muse. When their inevitable encounter happens, they soon find themselves needing each other in more ways than one…

Blog Tour Review/Giveaway - Not Quite Dead

Huge thank you to Xpresso Reads for allowing me to host this Blog Tour.

Note Quite Dead
Author: Lyla Payne
Series: A Lowcountry Ghost Story #1
Genres: Paranormal, Mystery, Contemporary | New Adult, Adult
Release Date: 1st April 2014
Publishers: Createspace
Source: Review Copy - Xpresso Book Tours
Rating: 
Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

A broken engagement sends Graciela Harper crawling back to Heron Creek with her tail between her legs, but finds the sleepy little town too changed to set her life right. Not even her budding drinking problem can obscure her Gramps’s failing health, or erase the mental picture of her first love happily married to her childhood best friend. To top it all off, she’s having a heck of time convincing the town’s dashing young mayor of her unfit-for-dating status.

When the ghost of 18th century lady pirate Anne Bonny starts insisting on a near daily audience, Graciela has to confront something else she never expected - being certifiably nuts at twenty-five years old. Her brand new "I don’t give a crap" attitude makes it easy to dismiss the mysterious threats that seem to be tied to her search for more information on the long dead pirate, but when her family becomes a target, Gracie knows she needs to find out why the ghost insists on being a constant, reeking companion.

If Graciela can put aside her prejudice against people without a pulse, she may discover that Anne Bonny’s problems are intricately linked with her own. The past harbors answers could help the cantankerous spirit find closure, but she is, after all, already dead. If Graciela doesn't move fast, she might find herself doing the haunting, instead of the other way around.

Book Review - Face Time

Face Time
Author: S.J. Pajonas
Series: Love in the Digital Age #1
Genres: Contemporary | New Adult, Adult
Release Date: 25th April 2014
Publishers: Onigiri Press
No. Pages: 286
Source: Review Copy - Onigiri Press
Rating: 
Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

After the best first date ever, Lee thought Laura was funny, intelligent, and impulsive; a whirlwind of bright laughter and happiness. Laura loved Lee's sweet smile and the way he expertly filled in every awkward pause. He held her hand and then pulled her in for the most perfect kiss she’s had in years. What could possibly be wrong? Just the 7000 miles that separates them the next day.

Even though Lee has gone home to Seoul, Laura can't stop thinking about him. What starts as an innocent text thanking him for their dinner date becomes something much more: someone either of them can't live without. But Laura's got a live-in mother going through a midlife crisis, and Lee's stressful traveling schedule means they'll be apart for some time. Life, family, and a complicated past also get in the way, and they're both going to need actual face time to figure it out.

Book Review - See Through Me

See Through Me
Author: Sera Bright
Series: Lose My Senses #1
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult, New Adult
Release Date: 8th May 2014
Publisher: Createspace
No. Pages: 222
Source: Review Copy - Createspace
Rating: 
Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

There's only one person I want to see when I return home. But I know he won't be waiting. It's the reason I feel safe enough to come back. I’m so wrong.

Ash Townsend isn't the same quiet boy from next door. He's tall, dark and demanding answers. He wants me, but he doesn't trust me. Why should he? When his own family tried to break him down, he still sheltered me in this town full of liars. And I repaid it by leaving him without a word. But I'll do anything to protect him. I have the scars on my wrist to prove it.

Book Review - Dinner With A Vampire

Dinner With A Vampire
Author: Abigail Gibbs
Series: The Dark Heroine #1
Genres: Paranormal, Fantasy | Young Adult, New Adult
Release Date: 11th October 2012
Publishers: Harper Voyager
No. Pages: 549
Source: Purchased
Rating: 
Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

For Violet Lee, a chance encounter on a darkened street draws her into a world beyond her wildest imaginings, a timeless place of vast elegance and immeasurable wealth – of beautiful mansions and lavish parties – where a decadent group of friends live for pleasure alone. A place from which there is no escape.. no matter how hard Violet tries.

Yet all the riches in the world can't mask the darkness that lies beneath the gilded surface, embodied in the charismatic but dangerous Kaspar Varn. Violet and Kaspar surrender to a passion that transcends their separate worlds – but it’s a passion that comes at a price...

Book Review -The Edge of Never

The Edge of Never 

Author: J.A. Redmerski

Series: The Edge of Never #1

Genres: Contemporary, Travel | New Adult

Release Date: 15th November 2012
Publishers: Createspace

No. Pages: 426

Source: Purchased

Rating: 

Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones 

Twenty-year-old Camryn Bennett had always been one to think out-of-the-box, who knew she wanted something more in life than following the same repetitive patterns and growing old with the same repetitive life story. And she thought that her life was going in the right direction until everything fell apart.

Determined not to dwell on the negative and push forward, Camryn is set to move in with her best friend and plans to start a new job. But after an unexpected night at the hottest club in downtown North Carolina, she makes the ultimate decision to leave the only life she’s ever known, far behind.

With a purse, a cell phone and a small bag with a few necessities, Camryn, with absolutely no direction or purpose boards a Greyhound bus alone and sets out to find herself. What she finds is a guy named Andrew Parrish, someone not so very different from her and who harbors his own dark secrets. But Camryn swore never to let down her walls again. And she vowed never to fall in love.

But with Andrew, Camryn finds herself doing a lot of things she never thought she’d do. He shows her what it’s really like to live out-of-the-box and to give in to her deepest, darkest desires. On their sporadic road-trip he becomes the center of her exciting and daring new life, pulling love and lust and emotion out of her in ways she never imagined possible. But will Andrew’s dark secret push them inseparably together, or tear them completely apart?

Book Review/Giveaway - If Only

If Only
Author: A.J. Pine
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult, New Adult
Release Date: 24th March 2014
Publishers: Entangled
No. Pages: 342
Source: Review Copy - Entangled
Rating: 
Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

It's been two years since twenty-year-old Jordan had a boyfriend - which means it's been forever since she, well, you know. But now she’s off to spend her junior year in Aberdeen, Scotland, the perfect place to stop waiting for Mr. Right and just enjoy Mr. Right Now.

Sexy, sweet (and possible player) Griffin may be her perfect, no-strings-attached match. He’s fun, gorgeous, and makes her laugh. So why can't she stop thinking about Noah who, minutes after being trapped together outside the train’s loo, kisses Jordan like she’s never been kissed before? Never mind his impossible blue eyes, his weathered, annotated copy of The Great Gatsby ..oh, and his girlfriend.

Jordan knows everything this year has an expiration date. Aberdeen is supposed to be about fun rather than waiting for life to happen. But E. M. Forster, Shakespeare, and mistletoe on Valentine’s Day make her reconsider what love is and how far she’s willing to go for the right guy.

Book Review - Me Since You

Me Since You
Author: Laura Weiss
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult, New Adult
Release Date: 18th Febuary 2014
Publishers: MTV Books
No. Pages: 368
Source: Review Copy - MTV Books
Rating: 
Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

Before and After. That's how Rowan Areno sees her life now. Before: she was a normal sixteen-year-old--a little too sheltered by her police officer father and her mother. After: everything she once believed has been destroyed in the wake of a shattering tragedy, and every day is there to be survived.

If she had known, on that Friday in March when she cut school, that a random stranger's shocking crime would have traumatic consequences, she never would have left campus. If the crime video never went viral, maybe she could have saved her mother, grandmother- and herself - from the endless replay of heartache and grief.

Finding a soulmate in Eli, a witness to the crime who is haunted by losses of his own, Rowan begins to see there is no simple, straightforward path to healing wounded hearts. Can she learn to trust, hope, and believe in happiness again?

Book Review - Searching For Beautiful

Searching for Beautiful
Author: Nyrae Dawn
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult, New Adult
Release Date: 4th March 2014
Publishers: Entangled: Teen
No. Pages: 304
Source: Review Copy - Entangled Teen
Rating: 
Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

Before it happened..
Brynn had a group of best friends, a boyfriend who loved her, a growing talent for pottery. She had a life. And then…she had none.

After it happened..
Everything was lost. The boy she now knew never loved her. The friends who felt she betrayed their trust. The new life just beginning to grow inside her. Brynn believes her future is as empty as her body until Christian, the boy next door, starts coming around. Playing his guitar and pushing her to create art once more. She meets some new friends at the local community center, plus even gets her dad to look her in the eye again.. sort of. But letting someone in isn't as easy as it seems.

Now…
Can Brynn open up her heart to truly find her life’s own beauty, when living for the after means letting go of the before?

Book Review - Losing It

Losing It

Author:  Cora Carmack 

Series: Losing It #1

Genres: Contemporary, College | New Adult

Release Date:  October 15th 2012
Publishers: Harper Collins

No. Pages: 204

Source: Purchased 

Rating: 

Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

Sick of being the only virgin among her friends, Bliss Edwards decides the best way to deal with the problem is to lose it as quickly and simply as possible - a one-night stand. But her plan turns out to be anything but simple when she freaks out and leaves a gorgeous guy alone and naked in her bed with an excuse that no one with half-a-brain would ever believe. And as if that weren't embarrassing enough, when she arrives for her first class of her last college semester, she recognizes her new theatre professor. She'd left him naked in her bed about 8 hours earlier.

Book Review - Beautiful Disaster

Beautiful Disaster
Author: Jamie McGuire
Series: Beautiful #1
Genres: Contemporary | New Adult
Release Date: 26th May 2011
Publisher: Artia
No. Pages: 319
Source: Purchased
Rating: 
Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn't drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby wants - and needs - to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

Book Review - Easy

Easy

Author: Tammara Webber

Series: Contours of the Heart #1

Genres: Contemporary | New Adult

Release Date: November 6th 2012   

Publishers: Penguin Berkley

No. Pages: 321

Source: Borrowed

Rating: 

Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup two months into sophomore year. After two weeks in shock, she wakes up to her new reality: she's single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, and failing a class for the first time in her life.

Leaving a party alone, Jacqueline is assaulted by her ex's frat brother. Rescued by a stranger who seems to be in the right place at the right time, she wants nothing more than to forget the attack and that night - but her savior, Lucas, sits on the back row of her econ class, sketching in a notebook and staring at her. Her friends nominate him to be the perfect rebound.

When her attacker turns stalker, Jacqueline has a choice: crumple in defeat or learn to fight back. Lucas remains protective, but he's hiding secrets of his own. Suddenly appearances are everything, and knowing who to trust is anything but easy.