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July 30, 2014

Review: Forget Me by K. A. Harrington - Mysteries & Doppelgängers

Forget Me
Title: Forget Me
Author: K. A. Harrington
Publisher:
 Penguin Canada
Publication date: August 7, 2014
 
Genre(s): Young Adult (Contemporary/Mystery)
Source: Publisher
Format: ARC
Pages: 288
On the three-month anniversary of her boyfriend Flynn’s death, Morgan uploads her only photo of him to FriendShare to get some closure—but she’s shocked when the facial recognition software suggests she tag him as "Evan Murphy." She’s never heard of Evan, but a quick search tells her that he lives in a nearby town and looks exactly like Flynn. Only this boy is very much alive.

Digging through layers of secrets and lies, Morgan is left questioning everything she thought she knew about her boyfriend, her town, and even her parents' involvement in this massive web of lies.
Forget Me started off really really good, very mysterious but kept on the contemporary feel. The intro was very creepy and it made me want to read more. I really liked the main protagonist, Morgan as well as her best friend, they both were logical and were very realistic (i.e.: didn't jump to outrageous conclusion, etc). However when the romance element of the story was introduced.. it kind of slowed the book down. 
Let's backtrack a bit. This story is about Morgan finding out on a Facebook like social media site a guy who looks exactly like her dead boyfriend.. as in, he could be his doppelgänger. Both Morgan and her best friend devise a plan to meet him face to face, which Morgan does. Before then, I enjoyed all the theories that kept on getting thrown between the two girls. I was just as creeped out as them and I liked how they didn't take seriously some of the absurd theories they threw at each other. However I felt the mystery with her parents was sort of random as well as Morgan's passion for photography. It was heavily mentioned in the book and while I'm all for creating three diminutional characters.. I would have thought with the amount of photography talk that maybe Morgan took an incriminating picture or the clue to solving this whole mystery. 
Forget Me was a solid four star read though until the romance emerged. I'm confused on how Morgan can suddenly start crushing hard and falling in love with a guy who looks exactly like her dead boyfriend. That's just weird and not something I was able to get past. Also, the insta-love.. I understood later on why it happened.. I mean he looks exactly like her old boyfriend, but still.. not something I was completely comfortable with. As for the mystery, it was pretty good and exciting up until the mystery was actually revealed.. I expected something mind blowing or at least worthy of the build up but unfortunately I was let down by it. I won't say more in regards to why but my expectations because of the mystery atmosphere the author has created was a bit too high. 
Overall I did enjoy the book, but it wasn't one without issues. It is a quick read and interesting, with the first half of the book being more exciting than the second. I would recommend it to mystery fans mainly because I wasn't really able to predict the mystery (even if it was disappointing). I like Morgan and thought she was pretty kick butt and reminded me slightly of Veronica Mars with her love for photography. Forget Me was fun to read and a good mystery, definitely pick it up if you're interested. 

July 28, 2014

Mini Reviews: Exile by Kevin Emerson and The Heiresses by Sara Shepard





Exile (Exile, #1)Exile (Exile #1) by Kevin Emerson 
April 29, 2014
4/5 stars
Source: Edelweiss 
Add to Goodreads

Exile was definitely an interesting read. I went into it expecting a fluffy contemporary with a bit of music but it actually has a bit of mystery intertwined in all the music and contemporary. I liked the main protagonist, Summer, and how she didn't lose focus and basically logic because of it. She gave herself time to wallow but after that, she turned a new page and moved forward. I also loved how she's a music manager and how her school is music, and all types of art, oriented. The introduction of a new guy in her life, also a lead singer of a band (her ex-boyfriend is a lead singer too), had me a bit suspicious. I grew a bit protective of Summer but Caleb was such a great guy. Plus, the book isn't about the romance.. it is about a secret that Caleb reveals to her that takes them on a chase around their city. Exile was fun, cute, and a very fast read. Another thing that I think is pretty cool is that Kevin, the author, released the songs found in Exile.. ones he wrote and sang himself. So definitely check his playlist out because I was really curious about some of the songs in the book and I would have loved to have been able to listen to them while reading the book!




The Heiresses

The Heiresses (Heiresses #1) by Sara Shepard
May 20, 2014
2/5 stars
Source: Edelweiss 

Sara Shepard.. and her mysteries. Sigh.. I was excited to pick up a new series of hers and I love the cover of it. Unfortunately, this book was a miss for me.. there are so many things I disliked but the one thing I couldn't get past is the amount of cheating going on. Every character has or was cheating on their partners in the book.. it disgusted me and I just couldn't root for the characters anymore. The mystery was decent.. I thought it was a bit flat because there were so many POVs in the book.. and each character had their own leads on who the killer was.. which meant we only really got to spend a chapter or two with each theory.. something that isn't really sufficient for a fleshed out mystery to develop.  Also, there were too many characters to wrap my head around in the beginning and it was a bit confusing. Lastly.. this isn't a standalone.. something I've come to expect with Sara Shepard.. however I don't think I will be continuing on with this series because God knows how many books it'll be before this series is over and frankly.. i really am not invested in any of the characters to invest anymore of my time for them. 

July 27, 2014

Cover Reveals: 9 beautiful covers!

HELLO EVERYONE! Don't you guys just LOVE looking at new covers? I sure do! These past few weeks I have come across a few pretty covers that I'd like to share with you! Some are sequels to other books, and some are just standalones! hope you enjoy!


Unleashed (Uninvited, #2) by Sophoe Jordan: I LOVE this cover! Uninvited was such a great read I'm super excited for this!
Frostfire by Amanda Hocking: A new series by Amanda Hocking? YES! and the cover is so gorgeous!
The Stars Never Rise by Rachel Vincent: I just LOVE the butterfly, and the typography is perfect!
Half Wild (Half Life #2) by Sally Green: I absolutely love the simplicity of these covers! Love them!

Forged (Taken, #3) by Erin Bowman: I ABSOLUTELY LOVED Taken, and I'm so happy that all three covers are beautifully similar! yay!
The Memory Key by Liana Liu: I would definitely BUY this book just because of it's cover! Its GORGEOUS! I LOVE the typography and the colors <3 so pretty!
Shadow Scale (Seraphina, #2) by Rachel Hartman: Love the detail of this book! It also perfectly matches Seraphina! 
A Cold Legacy (The Madman's Daughter) by Megan Shepherd: Owning this whole trilogy would look so pretty on my bookshelf!! 

okay. this had to be on it's own because 1. THE COVER IS PERFECT I NEED A POSTER RIGHT NOW! 2. IT'S LAUREN OLIVER OMG I NEED TO READ THIS NOW!
But seriously you guys, this has to be my favorite cover of all the ones I showed. What do you guys think?


July 25, 2014

Review: The Lure by Lynne Ewing

The Lure
Title: The Lure
Author: Lynne Ewing
Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Publication date: February 11, 2014
Genre(s): Young Adult (Contemporary)
Source: Publisher
Format: ARC
Pages: 288

From the bestselling author of the Daughters of the Moon series comes a gritty, sexy novel about a teen who is forced to become a "lure"-a beautiful girl who is used to lure victims of gang violence.

Fifteen-year-old Blaise Montgomery lives in the gritty outskirts of Washington, DC, where a stray bullet can steal a life on the way to school. Drugs and violence are the only ways to survive, so Blaise and her friends turn to gangs for safety, money, and love. When Blaise is invited to join Core 9, one of the most infamous crews, she jumps at the chance. Though her best guy friends, Rico and Satch, warn her about the danger, she agrees to be beaten for a minute straight as part of the gang's initiation ritual.

Now Blaise is finally part of a crew. A family.

But things get only more dangerous when she becomes a member of Core 9 and tensions with a rival gang heat up. Trek, the head of Core 9, asks Blaise to be his "lure," the sexy bait he'll use to track down enemy gang members and exact revenge. Rico and Satch tell her it's a death sentence, but Blaise can't resist the money and unparalleled power. As Trek puts Blaise in increasingly dangerous situations, she begins to see that there's more to lose than she ever realized-including Satch, the one person who has the power to get under her skin. With death lurking around every corner, should Blaise continue to follow the only path she's ever known, or cut and run?
Blaise is such a cool name. Like, I am slightly jealous of her name. Anyway, Blaise Montgomery lives just outside of Washington D.C, and it's a hard life. Her grandma works two jobs, and barely spends any money because she tries to put it towards Blaise's college fund. In desperate need of a family and money, Blaise takes up an offer to be beaten into Core 9, the most notorious gang in her town. Her best friends Rico and Satch warn her against it, and they had reason to. A little while after, Trek, the leader of the gang, asks Blaise to dress in provocative clothes and lure other gang members to their impending doom. All the money and power he offers her sways Blaise's decision, and she agrees. Will Blaise regret this decision-and possibly pay with her life?
When I opened to the first page, I was a bit wary. I've never read a book like this. At first, the read was very tedious, and I would have to force myself to focus on the book. Then, things started picking up. I liked Blaise as a character, although I couldn't really relate to her. I mean, if someone gave me the chance to make money by becoming a "lure" like Blaise had, I would've gave a very firm "No" and then run for my life. I can say that I didn't like Rico. He was a bit too explosive and impulsive for my cautious, thirteen year old self.
The ending hurt me. It was unexpected, but it was expected. It's like a tiny part of your brain was like Hey! This is totally going to happen. And you brush the idea aside. 50 pages later, said thing happens and you get surprised, but not entirely. I hope that made sense. I was trying to describe it without spoiling it. Anyway, the ending was well written, and it made me kind of happy to read such a good ending to such a good book. Recommended to teens 13-17, The Lure has definitely earned a place on my bookshelf.

July 21, 2014

Review: One Plus One by Jojo Moyes - Road trip anyone?

One Plus One
Title: One Plus One 

Author: Jojo Moyes 
Publisher: Penguin Canada 
Publication date: July 1, 2014
Genre(s): Chick Lit 
Source: Publisher
Format: Finished Copy 
Pages: 384
Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied and your math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can’t afford to pay for. That’s Jess’s life in a nutshell—until an unexpected knight-in-shining-armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess’s knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages . . . maybe ever.
One Plus One was fabulous, a perfect book with a well written plot line. I don't think I've ever read a chick lit road trip book. This is my first try at Jojo Moyes's writing and it is definitely not my last. The plot was refreshing and definitely unique in the way that the romance was presented as well as the issues the characters face and the relationship between them. It was told from multiple POVs that included the main protagonist, Jess, the love interest, tech millionaire Ed, Jess's math genius daughter and bullied step son. 
Jess is trying to make ends meet with working two jobs and trying to keep her family afloat. Her husband left her two years ago and hasn't helped with child support because of his "illness" which is apparently depression? anyways, that's not where Jesse's problems end. Her step son is being bullied and beaten up on a weekly basis and her young daughter just got the best opportunity of her life, to go to a private school with a 90% scholarship. However the 10% is still too much money for Jess. The struggle she goes through, trying to figure out a way to make it work, the desperate feeling she experiences is very sad. I really felt sad for Jess, she really was a good mom. She wants the best for both her children, even though one of them isn't even her biological son and was dumped on her, something people that she meets always find confusing. Still, she treats them both equally and with so much love, it makes me teary eyed thinking about it. 
Ed however, is in deep trouble. He did something stupid and is now being investigated and banned from getting near his company or touching any work related material. One night Ed was driving, trying to occupy his time before he goes full on crazy when he sees Jess and her kids on the side of the road, car not working, and police talking to them. Next thing we know, Ed is driving the whole family to Scotland. What's hilarious is that Tanzie, Jess's daughter, will throw up if she's in a car that's at a speed higher than 40 mile/hr. Also, another someone worth mentioning was the family dog. Even though he doesn't speak (obviously) he had a very big presence in this book and I loved him! The road trip was all kinds of hilarious scenes but witnessing all the people getting closer together, forming connections, trust, and leaning on each other really made me teary eyed multiple times. The relationship between Ed and the kids was especially sweet. 
One Plus One was more about the people, their issues, and how leaning on each other and trusting each other and opening up your heart to them is sometimes what is missing in your life. Of course a romance in a chick lit is inevitable but I felt that Jojo Moyes focused more on each individual. Not that the romance wasn't good, because it was really well done. I Truly loved her writing and her storytelling style. I already own Me Before You and I am excited to pick it up. I'm definitely going to make it a goal of mine to go through her bibliography and read all her books. 

July 19, 2014

June and Mid July Epic Haul


Hello fellow readers! Finally another book haul! We haven't done one in a while (6 weeks) so this is going to contain a massive amount of books! We are now officially on a book buying ban because we bought too many books in June (even though they were cheap). We need to read more books on our bookshelves before we can buy any more books.. hehe.. let's see how long that lasts. There are 64 books in this haul. *hides away* For my book hauls, I'm following the format of Carina @ Carina Books because they seem to be the most informative plus I like seeing the covers of all the books.

Review Books
Hexed was pretty good. Gave it 3.5/5 stars. It was sent by Random House Canada. Review Here. I am currently int he middle of One Plus One (Thanks Penguin Canada!) and I'm really enjoying it! Next books were all sent by Random House Canada. Farah loved Toxic Heart and totally recommends this dystopian series by Theo Lawrence. Review Here. We were also sent two copies of We Were Liars. I already read it and loved it. Review Here. I've already read Longbourn and Reckoning (which was sent by Raincoast) and did a joint review here. The Jewel, Don't Touch, Rites of Passage, and The Death of Us all came from Harper Collins Canada and I am SO excited for each one!! Blazed was an unsolicited copy from Simon & Schuster Canada.

Sinner… oh Sinner. How I loved you. This was a perfect book and you can know why in my review here. I already read Some Boys, thanks Raincoast!, but I was a bit disappointed by it. I'm so excited for The Art of Getting Stared At! It sounds so deep and emotional! Thanks Penguin Canada. #Scandal was SO SO good. It was an unsolicited copy from Simon & Schuster Canada but I DEVOURED it the second I got it. My 5 star review is here. Then and Always was sent by Penguin Canada and it is a chick lit standalone, I enjoyed it. Here is my review. Midnight Thief was sent from HBG Canada and I already read it. Review here. Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover was sent by Simon & Schuster Canada. Already read it and it was pretty good. 4 stars. Chasing Before is another unsolicited copy from Simon & Schuster Canada. Lastly, Breathe, Annie, Breathe was sent to me by the author herself and it is signed *happy dance*. I already read it and LOVED it. Review here. 


NON REVIEW BOOKS (95% form Bookoutlet)
AH! We bought SO many books we've been wanting for ages. I got Me Before You because I need more adult contemporary in my life and this has raving reviews. Golden, In Honor (Review here), and Reunited are all contemporary road trip books I've wanted even before they came out. Since You've Been Gone is a book I won and I'm so excited to read it. Farah's review is hereRuin and Rising.. do you even need to ask? Live Through This is a book I read an excerpt of from a blog before it was released and I've wanted it ever since! For Darkness Shows the Stars is a book I wanted to buy ever since a booktuber read it and loved it. Two copies of The Distance Between Us because one of them is slightly damaged. Farah had to buy the movie cover of The Fault in Our Stars because we don't own a single copy and we both love the movie cover edition. My review can be found here.

If You Find Me is a book Farah wanted ever since Judith @ Paperiot raved about it. Out of Reach is another book Farah wanted to buy ever since the cover and synopsis were revealed. I read Wanderlove as an eARC and I wanted to own it ever since. My review is here. Just Flirt looks like a cute contemporary! Psych Major Syndrome is one of those books I discovered when I started blogging and I wanted it ever since. Because Farah read Mystic City as an eARC and she got a finished copy of Toxic Heart for review, she needed to buy it. Farah's raving review is here. The Sharp Time looks like a short contemporary. My Name is Mina was a total cover buy.. I admit it. Farah already has an ARC of The Ruining but needed a finished copy because she loves it so much. Her rare 5 star review is here. It's a psychological thriller so I NEED to read it soon! Burning Blue sounds SO interesting and a potentially emotional contemporary! 

I needed to buy more chick lit and adult contemporary books so I bought Persuading Annie and Recipe for disaster! I won Dangerous Creatures from Chapters. Another Little Piece is a book I loved when I read it as an eARC (Review here) so Farah wanted to buy a copy. FINALLY I managed to buy Let the Sky Fall! I am dying to read it! Crash is short, and my sister loved it when she read it as an eARC (Review here) so I had to buy it. Jellicoe Road is one of those books that you need to read. The Memory of After. Farah bought it because we received an ARC of the sequel and she liked the synopsis of it. The Karma Club and Where it Began are both contemporaries I want to read for the summer. Speak is a book Farah loved and wanted to own. Origin is the fourth book in the Lux series and I need to read it before Opposition is out. The Farm is the last book in this haul. Farah loves the sound of it and had to buy it. 


July 17, 2014

Review: You Only Live Once by Bridie Clark

Title: You Only Live Once (Snap Decisions, #2)
Author: Bridie Clark 
Publication date:  April 15, 2014
Publisher: Roaring Book Press
Genre(s): Young Adult (Contemporary)
Source: Publisher
Format: ARC
Pages: 224
You survived your freshman year at Kings Academy, the prestigious prep school in the New Hampshire hills, but hold the slow clap—turns out sophomore year’s the real grinder. You’ll have to deal with the stress of keeping up with the soul-crushing homework. Not to mention your glam classmates are throwing glitzy sweet sixteen parties this year and you’ll need a job if you want to join.

Will you take that babysitting job in town (and pretend not to notice Hot Dad’s flirtatious ways)? Will you bribe your way to a New York Times internship and land a college guy? Filled to the brim with twisting paths and turns, this may end up being the best year of your life . . . or it may send you home to Hope Falls in tears. Whatever snap decisions you make, it’s going to be an unforgettable year.
You Only Live Once is the somewhat sequel to Maybe Tonight? by Bridie Clark. I said somewhat, because it's kind of confusing as to which story is the continuation to which. In case you might not already know, Snap Decisions are the type of books that require your decision making in order to go to the next chapter or part of the story. At the end of each chapter, there is a question, with 2 choices. The reader then gets to choose one of the choices, and turns to a specific page. It's already a very short book, but because of choosing specific choices and whatnot, it's becomes even shorter and a very fast read. 
You Only Live Once was definitely more fun that Maybe Tonight?. I loved going back and forth and reading the different outcomes of each choices. In this book, the story is pretty interesting and more fun to play around with. My only problem with this series is it lacks characters and I'm unable to connect with anything. Maybe it's because of how short the stories are, but I just can't seem to personally get fully immersed in the story. 
Overall, if you're looking for a fun, short, and fast read, then the Snap Decisions are great books to read for some good fun. It's not a book full of complicated characters and plot, but just a read someone can breeze through.
More from Bridie Clark