Reviewing Slammed by Colleen Hoover at Parajunkee's View

Alright, y'all, I'm reviewing Slammed by Colleen Hoover over at Parajunkee's View.  
Go check out my rave for this fabulous self-published book. 

Reviewing Thoughtless by SC Stephens at Parajunkee's View

I'm reviewing Thoughtless by S.C. Stephens over at Parajunkee's View.  
This book left me torn on so many levels, come read my review to find out why.

Reviewing Twenty Boy Summer at PJV

I'm reviewing Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler over at Parajunkee's View.  

Come by and see if this is a good summer read!!

Pam's Review: Tiger's Voyage by Colleen Houck

Tiger's Voyage
~Colleen Houck

Reading level: Ages 12 and up 
Hardcover: 560 pages 
Publisher: Splinter 
Publish Date: November 1, 2011
ISBN-10: 1402784058 
ISBN-13: 978-1402784057

From the author's website:
With the head-to-head battle against the villainous Lokesh behind her, Kelsey confronts a new heartbreak: in the wake of his traumatic experience, her beloved Ren no longer remembers who she is. As the trio continues their quest by challenging five cunning and duplicitous dragons, Ren and Kishan once more vie for her affections--leaving Kelsey more confused than ever. buy here

 ***Spoilers if you haven’t read books one and two, Tiger’s Curse and Tiger’s Quest!***

Things aren’t looking good for Kelsey. Not only does Ren not remember her, but he feels discomfort and pain when he is near or touching her. After feeling depressed for a while, Kelsey takes Mr. Kadam’s advice and tells Ren that it’s okay to just be friends and that there is no pressure to remember her. A relationship soon develops between Ren’s brother, Kishan, and Kelsey. And soon, they are all on Ren and Kishan’s yacht heading on the next part of their adventure to break the curse. Will they be successful in their mission? Will Ren ever recover his memory of Kelsey?

My thoughts:
This was my favorite book of the series. I literally picked it up as soon as I finished the second one, and I had trouble putting it down. The story and all the settings were amazing. I don’t know how Ms. Houck can come up with this stuff in her mind, but I’m glad she did so everyone can enjoy it.

Part of their quest in this book involved dragons, and in one scene a dragon is taking Kelsey, Ren, and Kishan up to the sky and into the stars. Just the way the flying is described, I felt like my stomach was dropping on a rollercoaster. It was great!

I had trouble relating to Kelsey in the previous books, but in this one I liked her a little more. I think she might be growing on me. She actually made me laugh out loud a few times which is something that is hard to do. At one point in the story, the three of them have to fight a kraken (a sea monster for those of you like me who wouldn’t know what that was without having read the book). At one time she was wondering if she was going to die and what she would tell the other deceased people around her if she did….

“I thought about the afterlife and wondered if people shared death stories. If so, I’d have the coolest story ever. You died in your sleep? Drunk driver? Cancer, huh? World War II? Well…yeah, those deaths are great and all, but wait till I tell you what happened to me. Yeah…that’s right…I said a kraken.” ~Tiger's Voyage page 303 

There is one reason why this isn’t a five star book to me. I couldn’t feel the romantic relationships. I don’t know what it is, if it’s just me or what, they just don’t work for me. I want to feel heartbroken that Ren doesn’t remember Kelsey, instead I just feel a little sad.

Besides the lacking in the romantic environment, the story was truly fabulous. Pick up Tiger's Voyage if you want to get totally lost in another world. You won’t regret it.




My Rating:Pam
Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Pam's Review: Tiger's Quest by Colleen Houck

Tiger's Quest 
~Colleen Houck 


Hardcover: 496 pages 
Publisher: Splinter 
Publish Date: June 7, 2011 
ISBN-10: 140278404X 
ISBN-13: 978-1402784040

From the author's website:
Back in Oregon, Kelsey tries to pick up the pieces of her life and push aside her feelings for Ren. But danger lurks around the corner, forcing her to return to India where she embarks on a second quest--this time with Ren's dark, bad-boy brother Kishan, who has also fallen prey to the Tiger's Curse. Fraught with danger, spellbinding dreams, and choices of the heart, TIGER'S QUEST brings the trio one step closer to breaking the spell that binds them. 
Buy here.

 ***Spoilers if you haven’t read book one, Tiger’s Curse!***

Kelsey decides to leave India and go back home to Oregon. She finds many surprises on her return trip, such as a house that was bought for her, and that someone already enrolled her in college. Believing that she and Ren were through, Kelsey begins dating a few young men. While she starts to wonder if she could ever feel the same way with anyone as she did with Ren, something unexpected happens. Ren shows up in America and tries to win her back. Will things finally fall into place for them?

My thoughts:
There was much, much, much more to the story then the brief summary I gave, but there is a great deal that I could potentially give away, and I don’t want to do that. I didn’t like this book as much as the first one. It was good, not great. This book has great reviews, so why am I not feeling it? I think one reason is the immaturity of Kelsey. I know she is only a teenager, and I mentioned how it bothered me in my review of the first book as well. I do feel like she starts to mature though; so there is hope.

There was so much going on in this book that I shouldn’t have been able to put it down. But I did put it down, and I was never in a rush to read it until the last hundred pages or so when it finally got a hold on me. The story is really good; I just couldn’t always connect with the characters. I didn’t always feel like their feelings were believable.

However, as said on page 478:

“Just because you can’t see the star doesn’t mean it’s not there. It might be hidden from view for a while, but you can rest assured that it still shines brightly somewhere.” 

The last hundred pages really picked up to the point where I finished the book, and then picked up the third book, Tiger’s Voyage, immediately. So while this wasn’t my favorite book, the series is starting to have more of a hold on me. Not only are the characters finally starting to evolve and mature, but I believe the author’s writing style is as well.

Stay tuned. Review for book three, Tiger’s Voyage, to come soon.




My Rating:Pam
Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Pam's Review: Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck

Tiger's Curse
~Colleen Houck

Reading level: Ages 12 and up 
Hardcover: 448 pages 
Publisher: Splinter 
Publish Date: January 11, 2011 
ISBN-10: 1402784031 
ISBN-13: 978-1402784033

From the author's website:
Passion. Fate. Loyalty. 
Would you risk it all to change your destiny? 
The last thing Kelsey Hayes thought she’d be doing this summer was trying to break a 300-year-old Indian curse. With a mysterious white tiger named Ren. Halfway around the world. But that’s exactly what happened. Face-to-face with dark forces, spellbinding magic, and mystical worlds where nothing is what it seems, Kelsey risks everything to piece together an ancient prophecy that could break the curse forever. 
Tiger’s Curse is the exciting first volume in an epic fantasy-romance that will leave you breathless and yearning for more.

Kelsey is a high school graduate and needs a summer job before college. The temp agency she went to set her up to work for the circus in town for two weeks. She helps sell tickets, clean up after the shows, and brings the tiger, Ren, its food. There is something about the tiger that captivates her. Kelsey finds herself spending more and more time with him, reading him stories and poetry. She even gets daring and pats him through the bars. Near the end of her employment she gets offered another job to travel to India and help Ren travel comfortably to a tiger sanctuary there. She agrees, but little does she know that Ren is really a cursed prince, and she is about to go on the adventure of her life.

My thoughts:
This was the first book I’ve read with the setting in India; it was so different, it was so unique. I learned, through Kelsey, some myths and legends about the country, but I’m not sure if they were made up for the book or not. Either way, they were really interesting.

I generally liked Kelsey’s character. Her parents died when she was young, but she still turned out to be a caring, genuinely nice person. However, her character bothered me in the way she doubted herself. She thought Ren was too good for her, too handsome for her, basically that he was out of her league. It might be normal for a 17 year old girl to think like that, I wouldn’t know, it’s been a while. But the fact that she self doubted herself so much was a bit of a turn off for me.

Something about this book kept reminding me of the Twilight series as well. Maybe the fact that Ren was really old, really rich, and wanted to be with Kelsey even though she thought he could do better. But then I reminded myself that that is the way a lot of books are. If there is a vampire or shapeshifter who is old, they’re probably going to be rich. It kind of goes hand in hand I guess. Well, as long as they invest right.

Ren and Kelsey had romance, but I didn’t always feel it. Sometimes it just didn’t seem believable to me. Also, in the adventures that they had together pretty scary things went on, but I didn’t even feel like Kelsey was scared. This wasn’t enough to keep me from liking the book though. In fact I had the one more chapter problem. It was one of those books that you say to yourself, I’ll just read one more chapter, and you can’t stop. I went to bed way too late because of this; I couldn’t wait to see what happened next.

I am already reading and enjoying the next book in the series. Review to come.

Buy the book here.



My Rating:

Pam

Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Darker Still: A Novel of Magic Most Foul by Leanna Renee Hieber

Darker Still:  A Novel of Magic Most Foul

~Leanna Renee Hieber

Paperback: 336 pages

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Publish Date: November 1, 2011

ISBN-10: 1402260520

ISBN-13: 978-1402260520

From the author's website:
I was obsessed. It was as if he called to me, demanding I reach out and touch the brushstrokes of color swirled onto the canvas. It was the most exquisite portrait I’d ever seen. Everything about Lord Denbury was unbelievable-- utterly breathtaking and eerily lifelike.

There was a reason for that. Because despite what everyone said, Denbury never had committed suicide.

He was alive. Trapped within his golden frame.

I’ve crossed over into his world within the painting and I’ve seen what dreams haunt him. They haunt me too. He and I are inextricably linked- bound together to watch the darkness seeping through the gas-lit cobblestone streets of Manhattan. And unless I can free him soon, things will only get darker still...

As a young child, Natalie Stewart was witness to a traumatic incident that rendered her speechless.  Now 17 and mute, Natalie is finished with school and convinces her father to offer her a job working with him at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City.

The big news in the art world is that the famous painting of Lord Jonanthan Denbury is for sale.  This painting is surrounded by rumors and speculation about the strange disappearance of the subject and the almost mystical feel to the painting.  Her father knows the museum can't afford to buy it, but he brings Natalie to meet Mrs. North, a wealthy widow, who is the most probable purchaser, in the hopes that she will lend it to the museum.

Natalie strikes up a sort of friendship with Mrs. North, their obsession with the painting as their initial shared preoccupation.  Mrs. North is also interested in all forms of spiritualism, and is convinced there is something peculiar and magical about the painting.   When she takes Natalie to see the painting, she's convinced Natalie has a special connection with the painting and encourages her to explore the connection. When Natalie notices a note for her in the painting, she reaches out to touch it, and falls into the painting!

Young Natalie discovers a curse, a gentleman, a murderer, and her inner voice; taking her far beyond the boundaries of what she thought she knew about the world she lives in...

My thoughts:
I have not yet read Ms. Hieber's adult series, but when I saw the blurb for her YA book, Darker Still, I knew I had to read it!  A mute heroine and a hero stuck in a portrait painting?  Set in the 1880s?  YA?  Yes, please.

I enjoyed the POV as coming from Natalie's journal entries.  It was a nice way to get around her inability to talk, and also gave the heroine time to think about the events as she writes them, making it more introspective than had we gotten her POV as events happened.  Natalie was a good heroine - clever, open-minded, loyal, and kind-hearted.  I kind of feel like we didn't really get a good look at Lord Denbury's personality, mostly because the story was told from Natalie's POV, and, of course, because he was trapped in a painting - there wasn't much he could do.

I liked the secondary characters, especially Mrs. North.  Her niece was a bit annoying and I have the feeling we'll be seeing her again.  The villian in Darker Still is suitably creepy - I think Natalie did a much better job of standing up to him than I would have done!  I loved the mystical/spiritual aspect of the story and hope that will continue with the series.

There were spots where the story moved slowly; I can't put my finger on exactly why, but I did find myself occasionally trying to read ahead to where we get more information or something exciting happens.  That being said, while I liked the ending, it was the only part of the book that felt a bit rushed; it seemed to wrap up quickly.  I am looking forward to the next book in the series though; I can't wait to see what Ms. Heiber has in store for these characters!

My Rating:

Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Last Breath by Rachel Caine

Review originally posted at FictionVixen.com

Last Breath
~Rachel Caine

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: NAL Hardcover
Publish Date: November 1, 2011
ISBN-10: 0451234871
ISBN-13: 978-0451234872
ASIN: B0052RDK12

From Goodreads:
With her boss preoccupied researching the Founder Houses in Morganville, student Claire Danvers is left to her own devices when she learns that three vampires have vanished without a trace. She soon discovers that the last person seen with one of the missing vampires is someone new to town—a mysterious individual named Magnus. After an uneasy encounter with Morganville's latest resident, Claire is certain Magnus isn't merely human. But is he a vampire—or something else entirely?

Claire Danvers is an extra-ordinary girl living in the extra-ordinary town of Morganville, Texas.  What makes Claire so special?  She's super-smart, having started college early, and, among other things, works after school in a lab with Myrnin, who's a little crazy...and a vampire.  In Morganville though, that's no so unusual - there are lots of vampires in Morganville.

While there is usually an uneasy truce between the humans and the vampires, things are currently a little strained.  Someone's planning a wedding, and as the countdown ticks down, it's plain that the wedding is one thing that everyone in town seems to agree on:  no one thinks it should happen; not the vamps, and definitely not the humans.

But while the town is focused on the approaching nuptuals, Claire and the gang learn that vampires are going missing.  Just a few at first, but as the days go by and there's no sign of the missing vampires, things start to get weird weirder than usual.  Claire sees something she shouldn't but can't remember what it was, Amelie gets a cryptic message that leads her to the decision to close down Morganville, and Myrnin has a decision to make.  Will Claire and her friends solve the mystery and save Morganville?  Do they even want to save Morganville?  Or is this their chance to be free of the vampires forever?

My thoughts:
Last Breath is a can-not-miss installation to The Morganville Vampires series!  As I've come to expect from this series, the story is fresh and the players are like old friends.  As an added bonus, in Last Breath, we are treated to viewpoints from not only Claire, but also Amelie, Eve, Michael, and Shane.

Fans of Myrnin will love Last Breath: he continues to be one of my favorite anti-heroes.  Even faced with the possible demise of Amelie, Morganville, and possibly himself, he steps up and does what needs to be done.  And Shane...oh Shane...*sniffs*  Shane faces possibly the most heartbreaking section of the book.

Without giving anything away, we do learn why this book is titled Last Breath; and believe me, you're going to be holding yours.  After 10 books in this series of characters we have grown to love, Ms. Caine continues to captivate the reader with jaw-dropping scenes like this:

     I lifted my head, and I knew my eyes were flaring with white power, driven by my rage, my revulsion, my desperation.  "Silence them Myrnin.  You know you must."
     He stared back at me for a moment in mute horror, and shook his head.  "I can't," he said.  "God witness me, I cannot do it.  Not to her.  The boy, yes, but not her.  Amelie, there must be another way."
     "Jesu, you think if there was, I wouldn't take it?"  I shouted it at him, fists clenched against the need to strike.  "You will do it.  You must."  And I put my will on him, pushing in a way that I so rarely did these days.  That I so rarely had to do.
~page 74, Last Breath

Last Breath was impossible to put down; every time I thought I knew where Ms. Caine was going to take us, I was wrong.  This new villain in Morganville is dangerous and scary; so terrifying that even the vampires are panicking.  And it's stealthy, sneaking up on us while we're busy looking somewhere else.

I have one complaint...usually Ms. Caine ends her stories nicely and things are as wrapped up as they can be, without ending the series of course, but that's not the case in Last Breath.  Last Breath ends with a definite cliffhanger, and I felt like the story was left unfinished.

Last Breath is probably the most emotionally-charged installment in the series to date; fans of the books will not be disappointed.  Between the surprise twists and the seemingly impossible challenges Claire must overcome, Last Breath left me gasping for breath.

My Rating:

Book received from the publisher.

Review: If I Tell by Janet Gurtler

If I Tell 
~Janet Gurtler 

Reading level: Young Adult 
Paperback: 256 pages 
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire 
Publish Date: October 1, 2011 
ISBN-10: 1402261039 
ISBN-13: 978-1402261039 
ASIN: B005EU50PG

From the author's website:
It was like watching a train wreck. I wanted to look away but couldn't take my eyes off them. 

Her best friend and her mom's boyfriend. Locking lips. This is the secret Jasmine Evans has to keep at all costs. Because her mom is pregnant, and Jaz doesn't want to ruin her life-again (just being born did it the first time). But the harder Jaz tries to pretend everything is okay, the faster her life spins out of control. Until Jackson. He doesn't care about the popularity of her friends or the color of her skin. But can she really trust a guy who just transferred in from reform school? She might be willing to chance the heartbreak, but telling him everything and risking the truth getting out is a whole other level of scary.

If I Tell is the story of Jaz Evans, a young, biracial girl who catches her mother's boyfriend, Simon, kissing Jaz's best friend, Lacey.  Jaz has convinced herself to tell her mother what she saw, then her mother suddenly announces she's pregnant.  Jaz is torn between telling her mother and keeping the secret.  She's devastated that Simon, someone she looked up to and trusted, could betray her mother, and, in a round-about way, he betrayed Jaz too.  So now she's lost Simon and her best friend, and she's angry and hurt. While she's trying to work through it, there's a new guy, Jackson, hanging around, and Jaz thinks she could like him, but he's bad news, so she really should stay away from him.  But she can't.  And between Jackson and her new friend, Ashley,  Jaz finds that life is full of surprises, some good and some not so good, but it is the choices you make that ultimately determine who you are.

My thoughts:
While If I Tell starts off with a secret, it ultimately spirals into so much more.  In only 244 pages, it touches on several difficult subjects:  race, teenage drinking, pregnancy, betrayal, homosexuality, depression, rape, and "second generation parenting".  The problems that teenagers face today are realistically portrayed, and the actions of the characters are not cookie-cutter solutions where everyone gets along and goes home happy.

While at times I was frustrated with Jaz and felt like she was feeling sorry for herself, I thought to myself, "What teenager doesn't, really?"  Add to that her mother left her for her grandparents to raise and is now having another baby, she doesn't feel like she fits with either the black or white community, and the two people she confides in have betrayed her.  Who wouldn't be feeling sorry for themselves?

The secondary characters were varied and interesting and each character had their own story to add to the reader's perception of all the things going on in Jaz's head.

If I Tell was a wonderfully written journey of self-discovery:  for Jaz to realize she does have a place where she fits in, to understand what you see isn't always what you get, and to know that it's okay to ask for help.

My Rating:

Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review: The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

The Iron Knight
~Julie Kagawa

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Harlequin
Publish Date: October 25, 2011
ISBN-10: 0373210361
ISBN-13: 978-0373210367

From Goodreads:
Ash, former prince of the Winter Court, gave up everything. His title, his home, even his vow of loyalty. All for a girl… and all for nothing. Unless he can earn a soul. 

To cold, emotionless faery prince Ash, love was a weakness for mortals and fools. His own love had died a horrible death, killing any gentler feelings the Winter prince might have had. Or so he thought. 

Then Meghan Chase - a half human, half fey slip of a girl - smashed through his barricades, binding him to her irrevocably with his oath to be her knight. And when all of Faery nearly fell to the Iron fey, she severed their bond to save his life. Meghan is now the Iron Queen, ruler of a realm where no Winter or Summer fey can survive. >

With the (unwelcome) company of his archrival, Summer Court prankster Puck, and the infuriating cait sith Grimalkin, Ash begins a journey he is bound to see through to its end - a quest to find a way to honor his solemn vow to stand by Meghan’s side.

To survive in the Iron realm, Ash must have a soul and a mortal body. But the tests he must face to earn these things are impossible. At least, no one has ever passed to tell the tale.

And then Ash learns something that changes everything. A truth that turns reality upside down, challenges his darkest beliefs and shows him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Prince Ash of the Winter Court is on a quest - he intends to gain a human soul and thus be able to reside in the Iron Kingdom with his half-human love, Megan Chase, the Iron Queen.  As a fairy, he cannot be in the Iron Kingdom without becoming deathly ill, so he begins a journey to the End of the World to fulfill his promise to find a way to be with her.  No one has ever come back from the End of the World however, and Ash is going to need some assistance.  His traveling companions are quite a surprising and eclectic group, but they each have a reason for joining Ash's travels and hoping for his success.

My thoughts:
I absolutely loved the Iron King trilogy (my 5-star review of The Iron Queen here) and I was looking forward to Ash's story - I have been Team Ash from the first book.  That being said, The Iron Knight fell a bit flat for me.  Don't get me wrong - the writing was fabulous; Ms. Kagawa's imagination never ceases to amaze me.

We don't see much of Megan in this book, which makes sense since it's Ash's book, but I missed her.  We do get a big surprise in the form of a character from Ash's past.  I really didn't like her, though, and spent the whole book yelling at Ash to quit mooning over her.  Even though she redeemed herself near the end of the story, I still don't like her. (I think that might make me a bad person, lol).  Ash was also very moody around Puck.  I figured since their feud was over they'd be chums or whatever but no, he treated Puck pretty badly.  Upon retrospect, Ash has always been moody, so I don't know why this surprised me.

There were several aspects to the story that I did love:  The back and forth between The Big Bad Wolf and Grimalkin left me wanting more.  I'm pretty sure there's a good backstory there; I'd love to know what it is.  That would probably involve knowing what, exactly, Grimalkin is, so we'll probably never know...

The River of Dreams and the town of Phaed, where names are forgotten, were fascinating and creepy.  I am still continually amazed at the depth of Ms. Kagawa's creativity - the creatures that her characters encounter and the trials they go through are beautifully written and vivid.

I think, for me, the problem was that The Iron Knight was the story of Ash Finding His Way To Megan, not Ash And Megan's Happily Ever After With Adventures Together.  So the issue is with me, the reader, not Ms. Kagawa, the writer.

Would I still recommend this series?  ABSOLUTELY.  This is a series you don't want to miss.

My Rating:

This book was provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Lola and the Boy Next Door
~Stephanie Perkins

Reading level: Ages 14 and up
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Publish Date: September 29, 2011
ISBN-10: 0525423281
ISBN-13: 978-0525423287
ASIN: B004RKXHZY

From the author's website:
In this companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss, two teens discover that true love may be closer than they think.

 Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn't believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit—more sparkly, more fun, more wild—the better. But even though Lola's style is outrageous, she's a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket—a gifted inventor—steps out from his twin sister's shadow and back into Lola's life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

Delores "Lola" Nolan has just turned 17 and thinks her life is moving along just fine - she's got a boyfriend who loves her, a great best friend, and she loves her two dads.  Well... things are fine if you don't count the fact  that her dads don't approve of her 22-year-old boyfriend.  Then, the Bell twins move back in next door and her birth mother shows up, and Lola's life gets turned upside down.

My thoughts:
I absolutely loved Anna and the French Kiss, so I was super-excited to read Lola and the Boy Next Door;  Ms. Perkins writing shines again in this wonderful story of love lost and found anew.

Lola is a sweet kid with a style all her own - wigs, glitter, dresses made from tablecloths.  She works in a local movie theatre (with Anna from Anna and the French Kiss), hangs out with her best friend Lindsey, and sees her boyfriend Max as often as her fathers will let her.  When the Bell twins move back in, she's devastated.  Calliope Bell is just a witch, and her twin brother Cricket Bell was Lola's True Love.  Then, right before they moved away, something happened between them.  It took Lola a long time to get over the hurt, so when he moves back in, she's determined not to let him get under her skin. But he does, again and again and again...

     Cricket walks several steps behind me.  It's a careful distance.
     I wonder if he's looking at my butt.
WHY DID I JUST THINK THAT?  Now my butt feels COLOSSAL.  Maybe he's looking at my legs.  Is that better?  Or worse?  Do I want him looking at me?  I hold on to the bottom of my dress as I climb into the backseat and crawl to the other side.  I'm sure he's looking at my butt.  He has to be.  It's huge, and it's right there, and it's huge.
     No. I'm acting crazy.
     I glance over, and he smiles at me as he buckles his seat belt. My cheeks grow warm.
     WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?
~Page 128, Lola and the Boy Next Door

Cricket is absolutely adorable - tall, stylish but geeky, smart, and kind. He's so interested in Lola; everyone can tell, especially Max, who's not happy about it, and Lola's dads, who are happy about it.  He's absolutely the kind of boy I'd want my own daughters to date.

     Deep breaths.  Take deep breaths.  I adjust my dress, but the fabric sticks to my leg, and I accidentally flash Cricket my thigh.  This time, I catch him looking.  His fingers are messing with his bracelets and rubber bands.  Our eyes lock.
     A rubber band snaps and shoots into the windshield.  Nathan's and Andy's heads jolt back in fright, but they laugh when they realize what happened.
     Cricket's body shrinks up in his seat, "Sorry! Sorry."
     And I'm strangely relieved to know that I'm not the only one freaking out.
~Page 129, Lola and the Boy Next Door

In Lola and the Boy Next Door, Ms. Perkins has written wonderful characters who leap off the pages:  Lola's dads, Max the boyfriend, and Cricket's twin sister Calliope are all integral to the plot without overshadowing Lola and Cricket.  I also loved seeing Anna and St. Clair again.

I think the only reason I didn't give Lola 5 stars is that I didn't identify with Lola like I did with Anna.  That sounds like a bad thing but it's not - the characters are very different, but the writing and story are still fabulous.  I tore through Lola and the Boy Next Door in a day.  This is definitely a series I will be keeping up with!  I'm looking forward to Isla and the Happily Ever After; do we really have to wait until Fall 2012?

 My Rating:

Book received by publisher at ALA.

Review: Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

Bloodlines
~Richelle Mead


Reading level: Young Adult 
Hardcover: 432 pages 
Publisher: Razorbill 
Publish Date: August 23, 2011 
ISBN-10: 1595143173 
ISBN-13: 978-1595143174 
ASIN: B004XFZ9CC

From the author's website:
Blood doesn't lie... 
 Sydney is an alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of human and vampires. They protect vampire secrets - and human lives. When Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, at first she thinks she's still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. But what unfolds is far worse. Jill Dragomir - the sister of Moroi Queen Lissa Dragomir - is in mortal danger, and the Moroi must send her into hiding. To avoid a civil war, Sydney is called upon to act as Jill's guardian and protector, posing as her roommate in the last place anyone would think to look for vampire royalty - a human boarding school in Palm Springs, California. But instead of finding safety at Amberwood Prep, Sydney discovers the drama is only just beginning...

Sydney Sage is an alchemist:  a member of a "secret society" of sorts, one sworn to protect humans from vampires or any knowledge that they even exist.  Right now, the vampire world is in an uproar - there's a new, young queen, Lissa Dragomir, who is tenuously hanging on to her crown, and she's bringing in changes to a system that has been in place for centuries.  The queen's young half-sister, Jill, is in danger, as she is the only living relative to the queen and if she is killed Lissa will have to step down - one of the rules Lissa is trying to change is that the current ruler must have living family; they cannot be the last of their line.

Sydney is chosen to go into hiding with Jill, to "manage things" in case anything comes up; she will be posing as Jill's sister while they attend a private school in Palm Springs. Sydney is still on probation for the events that took place in Ms. Mead's other series, Vampire Academy, so she wants to do this job well to prove to the Alchemists that she's not a "vampire lover".

Things are off to a bad start though:  her supervisor, Keith, hates her, Jill is acting weird and getting in trouble, and the local vampires are giving her more stress than help.

My thoughts:
I am a huge Vampire Academy fan, it is one of my favorite YA series.  I've been looking forward to Bloodlines with a little trepidation, as my reaction to the last VA book was just "meh" (I still absolutely recommend the series to anyone who hasn't read it).  I should not have been worried - Richelle Mead absolutely delivers!

While Bloodlines is set in the VA world, it is a different story - where Rose is a kick-ass, take charge heroine, Sydney is  more reserved.  She's been raised with the belief that knowledge is power, and has been groomed since childhood to become an Alchemist.  Sydney likes to think things through and be sure about it before she acts. She's also aware of the political aspects of her assignment with regards to the Alchemists, and she holds back where other UF heroines might not.  This works for her though - she needs to analyze and plan and see the whole picture before acting.  It does, however, make for a slow start to the book as Sydney and Jill get in and settled and Ms. Mead sets up the story.  Once her investigations get going though, I spend the rest of the book guessing who the villian was - was it the obvious choice or maybe someone less obvious but with definite motivation?  I was very surprised by the end of the book.

I was thrilled that the secondary characters I loved in the VA series are here; especially Adrian Ivashkov, the chain-smoking, hard-drinking royal who is in turns charming and broody.  He is such a fabulous character and I loved him in Bloodlines:

     I shook my head, still smiling.  "You'll have a hard time getting any Alchemist to admit that. But I can say you're okay for an irreverent party boy with occasional moments of brilliance."
     "Brilliant? You think I'm brilliant?" He threw his hands skyward. "You hear that, world? Sage says I'm brilliant." 
     "That's not what I said!" 
     He dropped the cigarette and stamped it out, giving me a devil-may-care grin. "Thanks for the ego boost. I'm going to go tell Clarence and Lee all about your high opinion." 
     "Hey, I didn't-" 
     But he was already gone.  As I drove away, I decided the Alchemists needed an entire department devoted to handling Adrian Ivashkov. 
~Bloodlines page 145

While I like Jill's character, she comes across as a wishy-washy character who doesn't figure much in the story except to provide a purpose for Sydney's assignment.  She was pretty forgettable, but did come to life near the end of the story.  I'm hoping her character will grow with the series.

I must also address Sydney's potential love interest.  Without giving away any spoilers, I think this is going to be a long journey but ultimately a good one.  I see a lot of frustration in my future waiting for Sydney to come to terms with her feelings for this particular character.

I was intrigued by Sydney in the VA series, she was a secondary character who seemed to have an interesting story, and I wanted to know more about her.  In Bloodlines, we get some of her story, but you can tell there is much, much more to tell. All in all, Bloodlines is another mark in the "awesome" column for Richelle Mead!  I'm looking forward to the next book, The Golden Lily, scheduled for release in June 2012.


My Rating: 
Book received from the publisher.

Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss 
~Stephanie Perkins 

Reading level: Ages 12 and up 
Hardcover: 372 pages 
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (December 2, 2010)
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 0525423273 
ASIN: B005EP1PJQ

 From the author's website:
Anna was looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. So she's less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all . . . including a serious girlfriend. 

 But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss? Stephanie Perkins keeps the romantic tension crackling and the attraction high in a debut guaranteed to make toes tingle and hearts melt.

Anna Oliphant is starting her senior year in high school.  She should be extatic, but she's not; her father has enrolled her in a French boarding school for American students.  She's leaving behind her best friend, Bridgette, and her latest crush, Toph, the cute guy at work who she finally kissed the night before she left for Paris.  She's alone and doesn't know anyone, doesn't speak French, and just wants to go home to Atlanta.
She does make friends, of course, and even while she's pining for Toph, she develops a crush on Etienne St. Clair, one of the guys in her group of friends.  She thinks he might feel the same, but St. Clair has a girlfriend; she graduated last year and attends a local Parisian college.  It shouldn't be complicated, right?  But it sooo is...  
My thoughts:It's ALWAYS the books that I put off reading that I end up adoring.  Anna and the French Kiss is like hot chocolate (chocolat chaud) on a cold winter day:  It warmed my heart, made me smile, and I didn't want to put it down.  
Stephanie Perkins has written a wonderful story about a teenage girl who's learning that although things change, they're not always bad.  Her cast of characters are well-rounded and each of them brings something special to the story.  Besides the witty writing and sweet story line, though, I think what I liked best is that Anna is a character that I can relate to.  I remember those feelings of insecurity and just feeling so...awkward.  Her fears about being an American in France are comically endearing.  I also swooned with Anna over St. Clair, he was  so charming and sweet had his own problems to deal with.
As you probably guessed from the title, Anna and the French Kiss is set in Paris, and Ms. Perkins does a wonderful job of highlighting all the parts of Paris I hope to one day see for myself.  There were several scenes that took place in the city, notably a very sweet scene when St. Clair takes Anna on a brief tour of the city to assuage her fear of leaving the school's campus. 
In case I haven't made it clear yet, I absolutely recommend Anna and the French Kiss; it's definitely going on my Keeper Shelf.  I plan to read more books by Ms. Perkins, starting with the next book in this series, Lola and the Boy Next Door, on shelves September 29.
My Rating:

Waiting on Wednesday: Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, 

that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating:

The first thing about Darker Still that caught my eye was the cover - it's gorgeous!  I haven't read Ms. Hieber's adult series, so I'm not sure what to expect with this one but it sounds suitably dark, romantic, and mysterious.  I'm in!!

Darker Still:  A Novel of Magic Most Foul

~Leanna Renee Hieber

Paperback: 336 pages

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Publish Date: November 1, 2011

ISBN-10: 1402260520

ISBN-13: 978-1402260520

From the author's website:
I was obsessed. It was as if he called to me, demanding I reach out and touch the brushstrokes of color swirled onto the canvas. It was the most exquisite portrait I’d ever seen. Everything about Lord Denbury was unbelievable-- utterly breathtaking and eerily lifelike.

There was a reason for that. Because despite what everyone said, Denbury never had committed suicide.

He was alive. Trapped within his golden frame.

I’ve crossed over into his world within the painting and I’ve seen what dreams haunt him. They haunt me too. He and I are inextricably linked- bound together to watch the darkness seeping through the gas-lit cobblestone streets of Manhattan. And unless I can free him soon, things will only get darker still...

What are you waiting for?

Review: Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Glow
~Amy Kathleen Ryan

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publish Date: September 27, 2011
ISBN-10: 0312590563
ISBN-13: 978-0312590567

From the author's website:
What if you were bound for a new world, about to pledge your life to someone you'd been promised to since birth, and one unexpected violent attack made survival—not love—the issue?

Out in the murky nebula lurks an unseen enemy: the New Horizon. On its way to populate a distant planet in the wake of Earth's collapse, the ship's crew has been unable to conceive a generation to continue its mission. They need young girls desperately, or their zealous leader's efforts will fail. Onboard their sister ship, the Empyrean, the unsuspecting families don't know an attack is being mounted that could claim the most important among them...

Fifteen-year-old Waverly is part of the first generation to be successfully conceived in deep space; she was born on the Empyrean, and the large farming vessel is all she knows. Her concerns are those of any teenager—until Kieran Alden proposes to her. The handsome captain-to-be has everything Waverly could ever want in a husband, and with the pressure to start having children, everyone is sure he's the best choice. Except for Waverly, who wants more from life than marriage—and is secretly intrigued by the shy, darkly brilliant Seth.

But when the Empyrean faces sudden attack by their assumed allies, they quickly find out that the enemies aren't all from the outside.

Earth is quickly reaching it's expiration date, and two ships have been sent to repopulate another planet many light years away. Waverly and Kieran are the oldest of the first generation of children to be born on the Empyrian after many years of infertility, and as such are expected to marry and procreate soon.  While Kieran is completely on board with this, Waverly is not so sure this is the direction she wants her life to take.

As the story opens, Waverly and Kieran are looking out the window of the Empyrian at something that's got everyone talking:  The other ship. The New Horizon is supposed to be way ahead of the Empyrian, and until a few days ago, it had not been visible to them.    Kieran, as the oldest of the new generation, has been working with the ship's captain for many years, and he knows the captain is worried and suspicious.  Then, members of the New Horizon's crew forcibly take over the Empyrian, killing most of the adults and kidnapping the female children.

My thoughts:
Glow is a fabulous Young Adult Sci-Fi adventure that will keep you turning pages until you get to the very last one.  And then you'll turn it over and start reading it again.  Just when you think you know what's going to happen next, Ms. Ryan pulls the rug out from under you and you're left wondering how the heck that happened.

The girls are taken to the New Horizon, where they are quickly brainwashed into believing they've been rescued, when in reality they've been stolen.  The captain of the New Horizon, Anne Mather (Pastor Mather, as she is called), is a woman I love to hate:  she's using religion to keep the population of the New Horizon under control. She is a gifted communicator and she's convinced everyone on board that her way is best for everyone; that it's God's will that they succeed and must do so at any cost:  God helps those who help themselves.  Waverly immediately sees through the spin but is rendered helpless to fight; Maher has total control.  It is in Mather's dealings with Waverly, though,  that the author keeps us on our toes:  Mather brings up specific, reasonable doubts about the actions of the captain and crew of the Empyrion, forcing Waverly to realize fears she's been hiding from herself about what's going on aboard the Empyrion.

While the New Horizon is full of religious zealotry and is an experience of nightmarish proportions for Waverly and the girls, things on the Empyrion are not so rosy.  The only adults on board the ship are either dead or stuck in the engine room, slowly dying of radiation exposure.  Kieran attempts to take over command of the ship, but Seth, another teen on board, convinces the other boys that Kieran is responsible for the deaths of most of the adults and is going to get the boys all killed as well.  From there it devolves into a Lord of the Flies-type situation, becoming less about survival and more about who's in control.

I won't give away spoilers, but Ms. Ryan manages to build a spectacular love triangle into the background - Waverly's doubts about her future with Kieran merge with unexplored past feelings for Seth.  Again, she keeps the reader guessing:  Does Seth take after his father and have an axe to grind with Kieran, or is he just a sweet guy who sees his chance with Waverly and is taking it?  Is Kieran in love with Waverly, or is he doing his duty to the ship and humankind?

The end of Glow leaves me hanging, wanting more - I have no idea where Ms. Ryan is going to take me but I cannot wait for the rest of the journey.  There are some fabulous new authors emerging on the YA scene right now, and Ms. Ryan is definitely part of that group - she has the ability to capture the reader's imagination and twist the plot to keep the reader involved and continually switching sides about who's the hero and who's the villian.

My Rating:

Book received from the publisher at ALA.

Review and Giveaway: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
~Michelle Hodkin

Hardcover: 464 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publish Date: September 27, 2011
ISBN-10: 1442421762
ISBN-13: 978-1442421769 
ASIN: B004IK988I

• From the author's website:
• Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.  It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.  There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.  She's wrong.

Mara Dyer wakes up in the hospital and can't remember how she got there.  Her parents tell her she was in an accident and the three friends she was with didn't survive. They weren't in a car accident though, they were in an abandoned building and it collapsed.  Mara begs her parents to move:  she doesn't want to be around the memories of her dead friends when she can't even remember what happened.

The family moves to Florida, and Mara and her older brother Daniel are enrolled in a fancy private school: Mara's a junior, Daniel's a senior.  Mara immediately begins having hallucinations - her class is  the building where her friends died, when she looks in the mirror she doesn't see her own reflection, she sees her dead friends.  She's having a hard time dealing with the hallucinations, and the snooty students aren't very welcoming either.  As if that wasn't enough, people are dying and she thinks it's her fault but she doesn't know how or why. Top it all off with nightmares of the night of the accident and Mara is having a very difficult time acting normal.

Then Mara meets Noah - he's gorgeous, British, and popular, and he seems to be interested in Mara.  Mara doesn't want to be interested in Noah, but he's very persistent. Once she decides to confide in him, together they try to unravel what's been happening to Mara.

My thoughts:
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer left me feeling unbalanced and off-center the entire time I was reading.  The hallucinations, the mysterious deaths, and the nightmares all make for a dark but riveting story.  There's much more going on that I can possibly include without spoilers - Mara's father is involved in a court case involving a young girl who was murdered, Mara's injury during one of her hallucinations miraculously heals, she's missing large gaps of time, and her nightmares slowly reveal the events of the night of the accident.

During all the strangeness though, a sweet love story develops between Mara and Noah.  I like how instead of continuing to close herself off, Mara accepts help from Noah. I hate it when characters refuse to accept help even though they need it, and Mara definitely needs it.  I enjoyed the tension between Mara and Noah - the flirting and lightness that randomly erupts between them is a nice counterpoint to the darkness of Mara's dreams and hallucinations.

There are a few loose ends:  There are two surprises at the end of the story; the one at the very end left me with a few questions about the motivation of certain characters that I can't go into without spoilers.  The reveal near the end leads me to wonder if this book is a stand-alone or if it's the first in a series - the ending is open for either.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is a deliciously dark treat for the imagination by debut author Michelle Hodkin.  Once I started reading I did not want to put it down - I will definitely be keeping an eye on this author in the future.

 My Rating:

The Giveaway:
I am giving away my personal ARC of THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER.  To enter, leave a meaningful comment about the book or the review.  Must be a GFC follower, extra entry for tweeting about this contest (must include link).  Open to everyone, ends September 26.  Caught in a FAB Romance is not responsible for books lost or damaged in the mail.

Book received from the publisher at ALA.

Review: Vanish by Sophie Jordan

Vanish 

~Sophie Jordan 




Reading level: Ages 13 and up 

Hardcover: 304 pages 

Publisher: HarperCollins  

Publish Date: September 6, 2011 

ISBN-10: 0061935107 

ISBN-13: 978-0061935107 

ASIN: B004S333OK



From the author's website:

To save the life of the boy she loves, Jacinda did the unthinkable: She betrayed the most closely-guarded secret of her kind. Now she must return to the protection of her pride knowing she might never see Will again—and worse, that because his mind has been shaded, Will's memories of that fateful night and why she had to flee are gone.



Back home, Jacinda is greeted with hostility and must work to prove her loyalty for both her sake and her family's. Among the few who will even talk to her are Cassian, the pride's heir apparent who has always wanted her, and her sister, Tamra, who has been forever changed by a twist of fate. Jacinda knows that she should forget Will and move on—that if he managed to remember and keep his promise to find her, it would only endanger them both. Yet she clings to the hope that someday they will be together again. When the chance arrives to follow her heart, will she risk everything for love?



In bestselling author Sophie Jordan's dramatic follow-up to Firelight, forbidden love burns brighter than ever. 

*SPOILERS FOR BOOK 1*

When Firelight, the first book in the series, leaves off, Jacinda and her family are fleeing home to the Draki pride they ran away from, narrowly escaping hunters.  Jacinda's betrothed, Cassian, came back for them and is bringing them home.  She's leaving behind her boyfriend, Will.  Her twin sister, Tamra, had previously been believed to be "dormant", but in the last few pages of Firelight, she surprised everyone. (I'll admit, I totally did not see it coming, lol)



As Vanish begins, Cassian, Jacinda, her mother, and Tamra are rushing back to the pride.  As soon as they arrive, they take Tamra to someone who can heal and train her in her new talents.  Jacinda and her mother, however, are placed under house arrest.  They're traitors for leaving the pride, and are treated with suspicion and derision.  Jacinda is having a hard time going from the pride's "golden girl" to a pariah.  Her mother's response to the situation is to lose herself in a bottle, ultimately forcing Jacinda deal with her situation on her own.



Cassian is still pursuing her, but now she's aware that her sister is also a suitable candidate to mate Cassian.  She's pining for Will, and being pursued by Cassian's uber-creepy cousin and watched by the pride.  When a series of events leads her back outside the pride, she's going to be in more danger than before, but this time she's not alone...



My thoughts:

Vanish is an excellent follow-up to Ms. Jordan's YA debut, Firelight.  The stories are so different:  In firelight, Jacinda flees the pride only to find acceptance in the forbidden love Wil provides.  In Vanish, she's back in the pride that needs her, but now she's an outcast.



I was thrilled to see more of the inner workings of the Pride, the individual roles and day-to-day activities that take place. As archiac as some of the social mores were, it was interesting to read and made me smile each and every time Jacinda rebelled.



The love triangle in Vanish is skillfully written:  Where Cassian seemed to be a roadblock to Jacinda's happiness with Will in Firelight, in Vanish he becomes a viable hero and this particular reader is firmly on the "Team Cassian" side, lol.  His patience and tenderness towards Jacinda when the rest of the pride is cruel stole my heart.



As with Firelight, Vanish leaves us with a cliffhanger ending - big things are about to go down and everyone involved may not survive the experience.  I cannot wait to find out what happens next in this fabulous series!

My Rating:

 

Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Pam's Review: Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

Sweet Venom 

~Tera Lynn Childs 


Reading level: Ages 13 and up 

Hardcover: 352 pages 

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books  

Publish Date: September 6, 2011 

ISBN-10: 0062001817 

ISBN-13: 978-0062001818 

ASIN: B004W2YYVI



 From the author's website:

Grace just moved to San Francisco and is excited to start over at a new school. The change is full of fresh possibilities, but it’s also a tiny bit scary. It gets scarier when a minotaur walks in the door. And even more shocking when a girl who looks just like her shows up to fight the monster. 



Gretchen is tired of monsters pulling her out into the wee hours, especially on a school night, but what can she do? Sending the minotaur back to his bleak home is just another notch on her combat belt. She never expected to run into this girl who could be her double, though. 



Greer has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But that all tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they're triplets, supernatural descendants of some hideous creature from Greek myth, destined to spend their lives hunting monsters. 



These three teenage descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful gorgon maligned by myth, must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight.

Grace just moved to San Francisco with her family. She is shy and insecure, and she hopes that this move will be a fresh start for her. She is hopeful that she can be a new, confident person in this new school where nobody knows her. Grace soon learns that changing her personality is much harder than she thinks when a bully gives her a hard first day. Things begin looking up though; she starts spending time with her brother and his friend Milo who she has a crush on. They are all at a restaurant when it happens the first time; Grace sees a Minotaur. She is not sure if she is crazy or what exactly is going on, but soon she runs into someone who looks exactly like her, someone who will explain everything to her, someone that is quite possibly and probably her twin.



Grace turns out to be a triplet (you can find this out just by reading the back of the book, so don’t worry, I’m not giving anything away). The girls, Grace, Gretchen, and Greer, are very different from one another, and only one, Gretchen, is aware of why they are seeing monsters in the first place. They are decedents of Medusa and it is up to them to protect man kind. Will Grace and Greer walk away, going back to their once normal lives, or will they fight together and send the monsters back to where they belong?



My thoughts:

This book is written with three different points of view, but I felt that it was mostly focused on Grace. While I was about halfway through this book I was excited, telling people I think this is going to be the next big young adult book, like Twilight or The Hunger Games. Then about halfway through I’m not sure what happened; it was still a good story, but it lost some of its pull on me.



Overall though, it was definitely a good read. I wouldn’t be surprised if this gets turned into a tv show or even a movie. It looks like this is going to be a series, and I have a feeling it’s only going to get better. I’m curious to see what the girls will be up to in the next book.

 My Rating:

 Pam


Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review and Giveaway: Love Story by Jennifer Echols

Love Story
~Jennifer Echols

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: MTV
Publish Date: July 19, 2011
ISBN-10: 1439178321
ISBN-13: 978-1439178324
ASIN: B004G8QU7E

From the author's website:
SHE'S WRITING ABOUT HIM. HE'S WRITING ABOUT HER. AND EVERYBODY IS READING BETWEEN THE LINES.

For Erin Blackwell, majoring in creative writing at the New York City college of her dreams is more than a chance to fulfill her ambitions--it's her ticket away from the tragic memories that shadow her family's racehorse farm in Kentucky. But when she refuses to major in business and take over the farm herself someday, her grandmother gives Erin's college tuition and promised inheritance to their maddeningly handsome stable boy, Hunter Allen. Now Erin has to win an internship and work late nights at a coffee shop to make her own dreams a reality. She should despise Hunter . . . so why does he sneak into her thoughts as the hero of her latest writing assignment?

Then, on the day she's sharing that assignment with her class, Hunter walks in. He's joining her class. And after he reads about himself in her story, her private fantasies about him must be painfully clear. She only hopes to persuade him not to reveal her secret to everyone else. But Hunter devises his own creative revenge, writing sexy stories that drive the whole class wild with curiosity and fill Erin's heart with longing. Now she's not just imagining what might have been. She's writing a whole new ending for her romance with Hunter . . . except this story could come true.
Learn more here.
About the author: Jennifer Echols is the author of romantic dramas for MTV and romantic comedies for Pulse. She currently lives in Birmingham. Visit her on the web at www.jennifer-echols.com.

Erin Blackwell is a Kentucky horse-racing princess.  Or rather, she was a princess, until she told her grandmother that she wanted to go to college to pursue her dream of becoming a novelist instead of majoring in business so she could come home and run the family farm.  Now Erin is attending school on an academic scholarship, working jobs to support herself in New York City while she goes to school.

Hunter Allen has been a fixture on Erin's grandmother's race horse farm since Erin and Hunter were both 12 years old.  Hunter's father is a stable hand, and Hunter works in the stable too.  Now Hunter is going to the same college to major in business and will become the heir to the farm.

Erin figures they probably won't see much of each other, until he transfers into her creative writing class on the day she's written a story to share with the class about a young girl and her affair with a stable boy.  Now she's afraid Hunter thinks she's in love with him, and worse, that he'll say something to the other students or the teacher that will affect her chances at an internship she desperately needs.  Hunter promises he won't say anything, because he doesn't want his new friends to know he was a stable hand, but he's already spoken about it with his two roommates.  Then, after a dorm party that both Erin and Hunter attend, Hunter's story for the class is about the party.  In the story, he talks about both Erin and a girl he was with at the party.  This leaves their friends (Hunter's roommates and Erin's roommates) speculating about Hunter and Erin's feelings for each other.

My thoughts:  I thoroughly enjoyed Love Story!  I love the idea of two people working out their histories through creative writing.  Each story, while different, was an interesting and significant glimpse into their personal histories, showcasing how their relationship ended up the way it did.  The way they each read into the subtext of the other's stories and reacted accordingly left me wanting to pitch in and help their friends get them together. I liked the background of the NYC college and their multicultural roommates; the cast of secondary characters were likeable and a good foil for the angst between Erin and Hunter.  While more a Happy for Now rather than a Happily Ever After, I liked the way the ending showed promise for these two.

I like Ms. Echols' style of writing and will be checking out her backlist. 

My Rating:

The Giveaway:

Gallery/MTV Books is offering two winners a copy of Love Story!

To enter:  leave a comment with a way to contact you.  Contest ends August 5.

US addresses only.

(Following is not required but is always appreciated.)

This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.