ARC Review: Never Fade (The Darkest Minds #2) by Alexandra Bracken

Pub. Date: October 15^th, 2013

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Hardcover

507 pages

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Synopsis from Goodreads:

Ruby never asked for the abilities that almost cost her her life. Now she must call upon them on a daily basis, leading dangerous missions to bring down a corrupt government and breaking into the minds of her enemies. Other kids in the Children’s League call Ruby “Leader”, but she knows what she really is: a monster.

When Ruby is entrusted with an explosive secret, she must embark on her most dangerous mission yet: leaving the Children’s League behind. Crucial information about the disease that killed most of America’s children—and turned Ruby and the others who lived into feared and hated outcasts—has survived every attempt to destroy it. But the truth is only saved in one place: a flashdrive in the hands of Liam Stewart, the boy Ruby once believed was her future—and who now wouldn’t recognize her.

As Ruby sets out across a desperate, lawless country to find Liam—and answers about the catastrophe that has ripped both her life and America apart—she is torn between old friends and the promise she made to serve the League. Ruby will do anything to protect the people she loves. But what if winning the war means losing herself?

Within the first few chapters of Never Fade I began to realize how many significant details from The Darkest Minds I completely forgot. When I say significant, I’m talking major plot points, primary characters, and the ending of the novel. I literally forgot about 90% of the book. What I think affected my memory the most was how Never Fade in no way picks up where The Darkest Minds left off. All of those little memory light bulbs that go off as characters, setting, and plot details become important again, weren’t lit as early into Never Fade as I would have liked, because the story begins in a completely new location, with an almost entirely new set of characters. I really liked Bracken’s style of jumping right into the action, and I would typically applaud the lack of blatant recapping. But, for one of the first times EVER, I actually really needed a recap to orient myself within the story.

ARC Review: Three Broken Promises by Monica Murphy

Pub. Date: December 31^st, 2013

Publisher: Bantam

Paperback

304 pages

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Synopsis from Goodreads:

Commitment. That’s what I really want from Colin. Ever since my brother, Danny, died in Iraq, Colin’s done so much to help me, including giving me a job at his popular restaurant so I can leave my crappy waitressing job at the strip joint. But lying in bed with him every night to comfort him from his horrible nightmares isn’t enough anymore. I know he feels guilty about Danny’s death, about not going to Iraq, but I can’t keep living this double life.

I love him desperately, but he’s got so many demons, and if he can’t open up to me now, then he’ll never be the real partner I need him to be. I gave him a month, and now I’m out of here. If he truly loves me like he says, he knows where to find me.

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Disclaimer: I only read about half of Three Broken Promises.

From the beginning of the novel I wasn’t a fan of the characters. I found that the primary characters actions and their words in no way matched up. With neither being exceptionally honest, and with very little build up occurring in their relationship, I found I didn’t care how either was feeling, or honestly, how their story worked out. The further I got into the novel, the more frustrated I became with what I perceived as 'and then this happened, and then this happened' story telling. The flow felt disjointed, with very little happening for a while, and then too much being thrown at you all at once. My disinterest in the characters, and my feeling of too little development in their story may have been because I have not read the other books in the series – though it was my understanding that you could read this one without having read the Drew and Fable stories. For whatever reason, I lost interest pretty quickly, and I will not be attempt to pick this one up again.

ARC Review: Sweet by Erin McCarthy

Pub. Date: October 15th, 2013

Publisher: InterMix

257 pages

ebook (Trade Paperback publishing June 3rd, 2014 by Berkley Trade)

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Jessica Sweet thought going away to college would finally make her free of her parents’ constant judgments and insistence she play chastity club role model for their church events, but if anything, the freedom has made her realize she can’t go home and be a hypocrite anymore. Tired of dodging their questions, she stays at school over the summer and lands in an unexpected crash pad: Riley Mann’s house.

Sarcastic, cocky, and full of opinions, Riley is also sexy personified with tattoos and biceps earned from working as a roofer all day. Not the right guy for her even if Jessica was looking for a relationship, which she is definitely not. But Jessica knows that Riley hides the burden of having to raise his younger brothers behind that grin and as she helps him get his house in order for a custody hearing, they begin to fall hard for each other, and she is forced to question what she’s hiding herself.

Jessica has never had a problem getting naked with a guy, but when it comes to showing Riley how she truly feels inside, her fear of rejection may just ruin the best thing—the best guy—to ever happen to her…

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Some books blow you away with description, others with dialogue. "Sweet" is definitely a book that blows you away in the dialogue department. 

When I first started reading Sweet, I didn’t realize that it was book two in the True Believers series. While I don’t think reading the books in order is absolutely necessary, reading them in order gives you more context about the characters backgrounds, and a stronger sense of flow from one story to the next. Sweet is one of those novels that grabbed me from the first page and didn’t let me go until the last. I started reading just before bed, and while the logical side of my brain told me ‘go to sleep, you have to work in the morning’, I was so into the story and so in love with the characters that I couldn’t help but finish the novel in one sitting.

Jessica Sweet’s voice is what drew me in right away. She is one of the wittiest, funniest, most sarcastic, and completely no nonsense characters that I have ever read. I connected with her in a way that I don’t connect with many characters.

ARC Review: Racing Savannah (Hundred Oaks #4) by Miranda Kenneally

Pub. Date: December 3^rd, 2013

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Paperback

304 pages

Synopsis from Goodreads:

They’re from two different worlds.

He lives in the estate house, and she spends most of her time in the stables helping her father train horses. In fact, Savannah has always been much more comfortable around horses than boys. Especially boys like Jack Goodwin—cocky, popular and completely out of her league. She knows the rules: no mixing between the staff and the Goodwin family. But Jack has no such boundaries.

With her dream of becoming a horse jockey, Savannah isn’t exactly one to follow the rules either. She’s not going to let someone tell her a girl isn’t tough enough to race. Sure, it’s dangerous. Then again, so is dating Jack…

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There are so many great parts to Racing Savannah. From the humor (especially the character of Rory, whose script ideas ranged from groan inducing to eyebrow raising), to the different family dynamics, the ridiculously amazing setting, and the personified animals, the novel is so full and so fulfilling for readers. All of those aspects may be great, but seeing a character grow to accept who she is the way Savannah does, is incomparable in its greatness. Jumping out of her comfort zone and taking chances turns out to be the best possible thing Savannah could do. Savannah goes from having insecurities about where she comes from and who she is, to realizing that she is the one who has set her own bar of expectations too low. She moves from insecurity to empowerment, and that journey is invigorating and powerful for the reader.

The one element of Racing Savannah that I could have done without was, second half of the novel’s Jack. I know I’m probably alone in this, and that Jack and Savannah’s relationship will probably have a

ARC Review: Sky Jumpers by Peggy Eddleman

Pub. Date: September 24^th, 2013

Publisher: Random House Children’s Books

Hardcover

288 pgs. 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

What happens when you can’t do the one thing that matters most?

12-year-old Hope lives in White Rock, a town struggling to recover from the green bombs of World War III. The bombs destroyed almost everything that came before, so the skill that matters most in White Rock—sometimes it feels like the only thing that matters—is the ability to invent so that the world can regain some of what it’s lost.

But Hope is terrible at inventing and would much rather sneak off to cliff dive into the Bomb’s Breath—the deadly band of air that covers the crater the town lives in—than fail at yet another invention.

When bandits discover that White Rock has invented priceless antibiotics, they invade. The town must choose whether to hand over the medicine and die from disease in the coming months or to die fighting the bandits now. Hope and her friends, Aaren and Brock, might be the only ones who can escape through the Bomb’s Breath and make the dangerous trek over the snow-covered mountain to get help.

For once, inventing isn’t the answer, but the daring and risk-taking that usually gets Hope into trouble might just save them all.

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As a result of foraying into Middle Grade less frequently than I would like, past reading experiences have left me with an unshakable impression of Middle Grade being slower paced, with fairly straightforward narratives, and readers sometimes being talked down to by adult authors. If all Middle Grade novels were like Sky Jumpers, my impression would disappear really quickly. While I would say that Sky Jumpers took it’s time introducing the characters and explaining some of the science behind the Bomb’s Breath prior to any major action occurring, the majority of the novel was fairly fast paced, the back story complex, and there was absolutely no talking down.

ARC Review: The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Pub. Date: November 5, 2013

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Hardcover

304 pages

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.

What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides— especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own.

Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.

Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.

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I’m not someone who gravitates towards crime stories. I get creeped out easily, and I have what some may call an overactive imagination. Let’s just say it’s best when I’m not aware of the multitudes of ways people can be murdered. Yet, the premise behind The Naturals intrigued me. I found Cassie’s ‘natural’ approach to reading and profiling people so much more interesting than the scientific approach we usually see. Surprisingly for me, the girl who get’s creeped out, one of my favorite things about the novel is when ‘You’ takes over the narrative. Switching to a criminal perspective really upped the anti on how drawn into the world of The Naturals I became.

ARC Review: Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion #1) by Aimee Carter

Pub. Date: November 26^th, 2013

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Hardcover

296 pgs. 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

YOU CAN BE A VII IF YOU GIVE EVERYTHING.

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.

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From Pawn’s synopsis alone I saw links to the classist society from The Elite series, a single test defining your fate from Divergent, and the fake identity/ impersonation from The Lying Game. I’m not saying those elements are unique to the novels I mentioned, but the number of links I could make to other stories made me worry that Pawn wouldn’t bring anything new to the table. Was I wrong. Almost instantly after starting reading, Pawn’s uniqueness and ability to captivate me as a reader decimated my worries.

ARC Review: Sometimes Never, Sometimes Always by Elissa Janine Hoole

Pub. Date: November 8th, 2013
Publisher: Flux
Paperback
360 pages

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Cassandra fears rocking the family boat. Instead, she sinks it. Assigned by her English teacher to write a poem that reveals her true self, Cassandra Randall is stuck. Her family's religion is so overbearing, she can NEVER write about who she truly is. So Cass does what any self-respecting high school girl would do: she secretly begins writing a tarot-inspired advice blog. When Drew Godfrey, an awkward outcast with unwashed hair, writes to her, the situation spirals into what the school calls "a cyberbullying crisis" and what the church calls "sorcery." Cass wants to be the kind of person who sticks up for the persecuted, who protects the victims the way she tries to protect her brother from the homophobes in her church. But what if she's just another bully? What will it take for her to step up and tell the truth?

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Within the first twenty pages of the novel, Cassandra says, (and I’m going to paraphrase because I don’t know whether words or page numbers changed during final edits) she’s ‘going to find herself, even if the cliché of doing so kills her’. Unfortunately, while I didn’t find the action clichéd, I did find the attempt clichéd. Sometimes Never, Sometimes Always is really the story about a girl who doesn’t know how to stand up for herself and her beliefs. She knows who she is. She knows what she believes. She’s just afraid of vocalizing those things. I wish that I could say I connected with Cassandra’s story, but while reading I found myself wishing she would just own up to what she thinks and feels, and stop acting like jerk to everyone, because I was sure ready to move the story along.  

ARC Review: Inhuman by Kat Falls (Fetch #1)

Pub. Date: September 24th, 2013

Publisher: Scholastic

Hardcover

384 pages

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In a world ravaged by mutation, a teenage girl must travel into the forbidden Savage Zone to recover lost artifacts or her father’s life is forfeit.

America has been ravaged by a war that has left the eastern half of the country riddled with mutation. Many of the people there exhibit varying degrees of animal traits. Even the plantlife has gone feral.

Crossing from west to east is supposed to be forbidden, but sometimes it’s necessary. Some enter the Savage Zone to provide humanitarian relief. Sixteen-year-old Lane’s father goes there to retrieve lost artifacts—he is a Fetch. It’s a dangerous life, but rewarding—until he’s caught.

Desperate to save her father, Lane agrees to complete his latest job. That means leaving behind her life of comfort and risking life and limb—and her very DNA—in the Savage Zone. But she’s not alone. In order to complete her objective, Lane strikes a deal with handsome, roguish Rafe. In exchange for his help as a guide, Lane is supposed to sneak him back west. But though Rafe doesn’t exhibit any signs of “manimal” mutation, he’s hardly civilized . . . and he may not be trustworthy.

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I’ve been dystopia/ post apocalyptic storied out recently because nothing felt fresh. That was before Inhuman. From the beginning the premise really intrigued me. The twist of human error causing the apocalyptic event – and the apocalyptic event itself – is different. Avarice and vanity have lead to death and destruction, which makes it all the more horrifying. Because the apocalyptic element is so different, there’s a level of unpredictability to the story. You never know if there will be a happy ending, which characters will survive, or what’s going to happen. There’s a huge shocking reveal, and so many little twists and turns, all of which keep you on the edge of your seat while reading.

ARC Review: The F-It List by Julie Halpern

Pub. Date: November 12th, 2013
Publisher: Felwel & Friends
Hardcover
256 pages

Synopsis from Goodreads:

With her signature heart and humor, Julie Halpern explores a strained friendship strengthened by one girl’s battle with cancer.

Alex’s father recently died in a car accident. And on the night of his funeral, her best friend Becca slept with Alex’s boyfriend. So things aren’t great. Alex steps away from her friendship with Becca and focuses on her family.

But when Alex finally decides to forgive Becca, she finds out something that will change her world again--Becca has cancer.

So what do you do when your best friend has cancer? You help her shave her head. And then you take her bucket list and try to fulfill it on her behalf. Because if that’s all you can do to help your ailing friend--you do it.

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I trudged my way through The F-It List. I strongly disliked both Alex and Becca from the beginning, and my dislike for the characters quickly turned into a dislike for the story. The opening was very off-putting. We’re given a lot of background and asked to care about two girls, and their friendship, when I can’t imagine ever staying friends with someone who treats you near as badly as Alex and Becca treat each other. Becca’s actions may be more outright brutal, but Alex’s decisions and lack of a filter or common sense, are just as immature.

ARC: Foreplay (The Ivy Chronicles #1) by Sophie Jordan

Pub. Date: November 5th, 2013
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Paperback
320 pages

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Before she goes after the life she’s always wanted, she’s about to find the one she needs.

Pepper has been hopelessly in love with her best friend’s brother, Hunter, for like ever. He’s the key to everything she’s always craved: security, stability, family. But she needs Hunter to notice her as more than just a friend. Even though she’s kissed exactly one guy, she has just the plan to go from novice to rock star in the bedroom—take a few pointers from someone who knows what he’s doing.

Her college roommates have the perfect teacher in mind. But bartender Reece is nothing like the player Pepper expects. Yes, he’s beyond gorgeous, but he’s also dangerous, deep—with a troubled past. Soon what started as lessons in attraction are turning both their worlds around, and showing just what can happen when you go past foreplay and get to what’s real…

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I heard only praise about Foreplay from some of my favorite YA and New Adult authors. Even still, I was slightly apprehensive. The title alone makes the book seem decidedly more adult than NA, which kind of scared me off. I was also not that excited by the whole stereotypical bad boy/ good girl vibe that the synopsis alluded to. Here comes the huge but – but my pre-judgment was ridiculously wrong. Foreplay represents why I love contemporary novels. This novel has loveable and relatable leads, a swoon worthy romance, and a cast of thoroughly entertaining and developed secondary characters, all in addition to a perfectly paced storyline.

One of the things I loved the most about this novel was how subtly the baggage that Reece and Pepper

ARC Review: Backward Glass by David Lomax

Pub. Date: October 8^th, 2013

Publisher: Flux

315 pages

Paperback

I’m a chronic note taker when I’m reading something that I will review. A subconscious tell that I absolutely love a book, is when I become so engrossed, that I completely forget to take notes. I didn’t write down a single word while reading Backward Glass.

When Kenny Maxwell’s home flipping parents buy the old Hollerith house – a home notorious for the disappearances of the kids that live there – an entire series of events that have both not happened, and that are decades old, are set into motion. In a broken down wall, Kenny finds a long deceased baby, along with a note written specifically to him. The note asks Kenny to change the past, by stopping Prince Harming from killing the baby. It takes a girl, from ten years in the future, to step out of the Backwards Glass – an old mirror that came with the house – for Kenny to get an idea of how he could possibly prevent a death that already happened.

Backward Glass is constructed the way a seasoned storyteller tells a story. With a clear voice, and engaging tone, you are instantly drawn in and kept in suspense about what will happen next. The entire time I read Backward Glass I was working overtime to solve a puzzle whose pieces were revealed in

Review: Forgiving Lies (Forgiving Lies #1) by Molly McAdams

Pub. Date: October 29th, 2013
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
368 pages
ebook

After a sexual assault, Rachel learns just how true the saying “blood is thicker than water” truly is. Unwilling to believe her cousin capable of rape, Rachel’s best friend Candice is convinced that Rachel has confused her attacker and savior. Worried that pushing the subject will cause a bigger rift between her and Candice, Rachel decides to try and forget the whole thing. For an entirely different kind of assault, career undercover cops Logan and Mase are reassigned to Texas from Florida. With the cover of bartenders, the two are assigned to help track down a serial killer. Logan tries to stay detached from everything while on the job, and Rachel initially is completely uninterested in any kind of relationship, but when the two fall into an easy friendship, they slowly break down their self-imposed walls. Only when their two worlds dangerously collide do they realize how little protection the walls offered.

After the first two chapters I did something I never do when reviewing – I read a bunch of reviews. I was legitimately convinced that I had been sent the wrong book to review, because the beginning of the novel was in no way represented within the synopsis. As a reader I was completely thrown. To make matters worse, I severely disliked everything about the first few chapters. So much happens. From instalove, to assault, I didn’t feel I had a chance to connect with any of the characters before they were polarized. The worst part of the early chapters was the worst representation of “best friends” that I have

ARC Review: Forever Innocent by Deanna Roy

Pub. Date: October 1st, 2013

Publisher: Casey Shay Press

Paperback

288 pages

For most people, walking into the first day of lectures may cause a little bit of anxiety. But walking into class and seeing your ex-fiancé, adds a little more pressure to the situation. The last memory Corabelle has of Gavin is his back, as he walked out the door at their son’s funeral without a good-bye. Best friends, first loves, fiancés and parents, Corabelle and Gavin’s pasts are inseparably interwoven. But even if they wanted to, can they learn to accept the people they have become, start living in the present, and move past the devastation they faced in the past?

Not only does this novel put a huge spin on what has become typical for New Adult, but it completely changes what a happily ever after means. There can’t be a typical easy breezy fairytale ending when you have faced the devastating experience of becoming parents, being told your newborn wouldn’t live, and then watching him die. The novel balances the lows of just how hard it would be to experience losing a child, with the highs of Corabelle and Gavin's relationship. The grief aspect is never completely consumes the story, which I think consistently makes the novel accessible for all readers. You truly hope that Gavin and Corabelle can learn to lean on each other again. Regain the trust and love they had, and together work through their grief. Their relationship is heartbreaking, but realistic, and one you can actually connect with and rally behind.

ARC Review: Escaping Reality (The Secret Life of Amy Bensen #1) by Lisa Renee Jones

Pub. Date: July 22^nd, 2013

Publisher: Julie Patra Publishing

Ebook

250 pages

After a mysterious family tragedy, Lara is forced to change her identity and leave her entire life behind. Each new identity controlled by a ‘handler’ she has never met, means a new life to memorize, a new profession, a new home, and all new relationships. Tired of never knowing when her life will be up heaved again, Lara/Amy rebels by putting her trust in a complete stranger, something she knows will only increases the danger she constantly faces. As her new life becomes increasingly entwined with Liam Stone’s, the less sure she is of who is really protecting her – her handler or Liam?

This novel frustrated me more than I can ever possibly say. To begin, I hate how Amy is represented. I am so sick and tired of weak female characters portrayed as needing to be ‘saved’. Amy is not initially a character I would describe as weak, but the second someone walks into her life willing to take control, she doesn’t even blink before giving up all of her independence and strength as a character. She 180s from who she says she is, into the type of character I hate in a few pages.

ARC Review: Red by Alison Cherry

Pub. Date: October 8th, 2013
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Hardcover
320 pages

When I first read the synopsis for Red, I thought the idea was different and interesting, but also somewhat insane. I mean a town where your social standing is based on your hair color - not your typical book setting. Red is definitely quirky, funny and unique, but it is also smart, has a lot of heart and a good amount of seriousness thrown into the mix as well.

Felicity St. John has everything she could possibly want - a great group of friends, a coveted leadership role at school, and the chance to win a big pageant /scholarship. But Felicity is one of only three people who know she doesn’t rightfully deserve these things. If her school and her town knew that she was a Strawbie – a strawberry blonde – and not a real redhead, every opportunity she has had would be taken away. In Scarletville, you’re only as important as your (natural) shade of red. When Felicity's bi-weekly dye secret is threatened, there’s no end to what she’ll do to protect herself. 

My biggest fear was that the novel would just be silly without any real depth. I recognize the level of seriousness between being discriminated because of your hair color, compared to your skin color or size is drastically different, but the ways in which the town discriminate and treat non-redheads added a validity and level of seriousness that I wasn’t expecting. Red presents intolerance in such a unique way.

ARC Review: This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

Pub. Date: September 17th, 2013

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Hardcover

288 pages

Elise Dembowski is one of the funniest, most relatable girl next door while being a complete individual, characters that I have had the privilege of reading. Her voice is completely encompassing and this book touched me profoundly.

Everyday for Elise is a struggle. Even when she tries, its obvious that she’s not like everyone else. The take away, avoid being unique and don’t be special, it just makes you lonely and miserable. So, Elise makes the only decision she thinks she has left, to commit suicide. After a failed attempt followed by major support and healing time, Elise finds comfort in listening to music while night walking. Her walking leads her right to where she will heal the most - a warehouse party, with a DJ. Finding a place where people appreciate music as much as she does is like finding Mecca. But when Elise’s natural DJ ability threatens her new friendships, she has to decide if it’s better to fit in, or be true to yourself.

I loved this novel. The realism, humor, and music blew my mind. Within the first few pages there was one of the most descriptive, affecting, ‘practice’ suicide attempts that I have ever read. I felt sick to

ARC Review: Trust in Me by J. Lynn

Pub. Date: October 22nd, 2013

Publisher: William Morrow Impulse

Ebook

237 pages

Synopsis from Goodreads:

It’s Wait for You as you’ve never seen it. Trust in Me lets you in on Cam’s side of the #1 New York Times Bestselling story.

Cameron Hamilton is used to getting what he wants, especially when it comes to women. But when Avery Morgansten comes crashing into his life – literally – he finally meets the one person who can resist his soulful baby blues. But Cam’s not ready to give up. He can’t get the feisty and intriguing girl out of his head.

Avery has secrets, secrets that keep her from admitting the feelings Cam knows she has for him. Will persistence (and some delicious homemade cookies) help him break down her barriers and gain her trust? Or will he be shut out of Avery's life, losing his first real shot at the kind of love that lasts forever?

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Before I start let me just say that I really liked Trust in Me. It holds the same perfect combination of cuteness, seriousness, and realism as Wait for Me held. That being said, I wasn’t completely blown away. I have a really hard time getting drawn in and investing in stories that are snippets/retellings/alterna-perspectives of novels I really loved because in a lot of ways they feel like a tease. We just have enough time to get back into the world and reconnect with the characters, before the story ends.

ARC Review: Hush (A Lakeview Novel) by Stacey R. Campbell

Pub. Date: January 23, 2013

Publisher: Green Darner Press

278 pages

Paperback/ebook

Based on the synopsis, I was expecting a Princess Diaries-esque story of a girl finding out that she is royalty, with a darker twist. But, Hush is more of a Princess Anastasia murder story than Princess Mia’s rise to fame.

As far as Blakeley Henry knows there was nothing special about her adoption. British journalism student Max Ryder discovers otherwise. The daughter of a Tamuran Princess and a servant, Blakeley’s existence was kept a secret to avoid a major scandal. When the entire Tamuran Royal Family is killed in what we quickly learn was no accident, Blakeley is the only hope for the family to retain its throne. If Max can’t prove Blakeley’s true identity, convince her to claim her royal heritage, and keep her safe, then the Royal Family’s killers will reign.

I had quite a few issues with this novel. Stylistically my biggest issue was with the number of speakers. Some speakers narrated a single chapter, others multiple, but the overall effect was that the story came off as disjointed and inconsistent. I never felt I had a grasp or connection to any of the characters because we were jumped between speakers, continents and time periods every few pages. I also found the balance of the story to be somewhat uneven. It took a long time to get to the meat of the story. We

Review: Texas Redeemed by Isla Bennet

Pub. Date: May 2013

Publisher: Montlake Romance

406 pages

Paperback/ebook

When you think of Romance as a genre, the usual stereotypes include a female protagonist, lots of dialogue, a very linear story, and a happy ending. Texas Redeemed might be a Romance – but it completely breaks the mould.

Going through med school and traveling the world as part of Doctors Without Borders has acted as a distraction from the rebellious life Peyton Turner ran from thirteen years before. Back in his Texas hometown of Night Sky, Peyton learns the youthful mistake he regrets the most, is one he didn’t know he made. In the years he was gone, he intentionally stayed hidden from his complicated family life, but in his silence, he unknowingly prevented his best friend Valerie from being able to tell him she was pregnant with his twins. In an attempt to come to terms with the experiences he missed out on, Peyton sets out to claim what could have been. But the damage done by leaving may be a cut too deep for the good doctor to fix.  

There are so many novels (especially in the romance genre) where women get ‘rescued’ from their pasts by a man. In Texas Redeemed, first as children and then as adults, Peyton and Val support each other, and that support helps them move past the pain in their pasts – no rescue, just an honest