Blog Tour: Nobody But Us by Kristin Halbrook + Favorite Quotes

Title: Nobody But Us

Author: Kristin Halbrook

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publication date: January 29, 2013

Source: Blog Tour

Format: Digital ARC

Pages: 272

Goodreads | Amazon 

They’re young. They’re in love. They’re on the run.

Zoe wants to save Will as much as Will wants to save Zoe. When Will turns eighteen, they decide to run away together. But they never expected their escape to be so fraught with danger....

When the whole world is after you, sometimes it seems like you can’t run fast enough.

Nobody But Us, told in alternating perspectives from Will and Zoe, is an unflinching novel, in turns heartbreaking and hopeful, about survival, choices, and love...and how having love doesn’t always mean that you get a happy ending. 

Some quotes that I really loved in this book:

"I want it to be always like this. Cars in ditches and tickling and kissing in the weeds because we can't help ourselves. I never want us to be able to help ourselves." - Zoe

"They say you end up with the men who are just like your dad. Right? That you're psychologically predisposed to picking an alcoholic or a cheat or an abandoner, or something like that. I always thought psychology was weird." Zoe

"I'm high. Soaring from the endorphins, soaring away from things I did a long time ago. I'm hungry, too" - Will 

"If they let me leave the state on day, I'm going to Vegas. I'm going to school and become something great, something useful, something that saves. I'm going to bring wrinkled babies into the world for moms and dad who want their children and I'm going to take home the ones who aren't wanted" - Zoe 

inKristin Halbrook is a Seattleite who loves good coffee, good food, good music, good sports, good causes, and good reads. She's both intense and a goofball, introverted and gregarious. Nobody But Us is her debut novel that will be published on the 29th of January, 2012.                 

Follow Kristin Halbrook: Website I Goodreads I Twitter

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Blog Tour: Normalish by Margaret Lesh

Title: Normalish

Author: Margaret Lesh

Publisher: Musa Publishing

Publication date: October 5th, 2012

Source: Blog Tour

Format: Digital ARC

Pages: 175

Goodreads | Amazon | Musa Publishing

Fifteen-year-old Stacy questions the strange world of high school, love, her role in a harsh universe, and life, in Normalish.

People tell you high school's so great and wonderful, but they're lying. It's mostly horrible and full of disappointment. It sucks. Your best friend abandons you. The jerk you're in love with pretends to be into you, and then the big dump. The boy you've really clicked with as a friend decides to go all crushy over you, so you break his heart just like yours was -- smashed into little pieces. Your sister goes mental, and you get involved with a guy who’s even crazier than she is (who you know is a very bad idea, but you do it anyway). Math only adds another stink of failure to the whole thing.

High school blows. Just ask freshman Stacy. She’d want you to know.

I am so glad that I got to be part of this blog tour, because I loved Normalish. It's such a fun contemporary book! I have to admit, it wasn't all fluffy and happy, but I really did enjoy it. The main protagonist, Stacy, just wants her life to be normal. Everything in Stacy's world is a mess. Her best friend abandoned her, the guy she supposedly loves is a complete jerk, her guy friend has a crush on her, her sister is sent to a mental house, and her dad is dead. That's pretty much crazy, and Stacy knows it. It's her first year of high school, and Stacy just had a feeling that it was going to suck. 

What I really liked about this book was the style of writing. It felt like I was reading from a diary of some sort. Stacy is an amazing character. I really love how funny (even though not everyone thinks so) and how sarcastic she is! I clicked with her from the start, and I really fell in love with her. Chad, her "guy" friend who has a crush on, is such a sweetheart!! It was cool reading a book when the "friend" likes the girl first, than the other way around! Now, even though you might think this book is heavy, it actually didn't feel that way. Like I said, it was probably the sarcastic writing style, and how funny it was as well. Normalish isn't one of those books where there is this MAJOR story, but kind of like your reading a peace of Stacey's life, and I like books like that. 

Reading Normalish, I can say that no once was it boring. Due to Stacey's sarcasm and funniness, I always found it to be very entertaining to read. It was also very interesting to read about her family struggles, and how they all coped to get through it. I have to admit, some events did break my heart, but that's just reality. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I will definitely pick up the next book Margaret writes! I definitely recommend this to all young adult readers out there!

California girl Margaret Lesh lives with her husband Steve and son Andrew in a quiet suburb near Los Angeles. Co-creator of StoryRhyme.com, she writes middle grade, young adult, and women’s fiction. When she’s not writing, she’s thinking about baked goods, especially donuts, far too often. She believes tacos are magic.                                          Margaret's Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

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Review: Crash by Lisa McMann

Title: Crash (Visions, #1)

Author: Lisa McMann

Publisher: Simon Pulse (Canada)

Publication date: January 8, 2013

Genre(s): Young Adult (Fantasy/Paranormal)

Source: Publisher
Format: ARC

Pages: 256

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N 

Jules lives with her family above their restaurant, which means she smells like pizza most of the time and drives their double-meatball-shaped food truck to school. It’s not a recipe for popularity, but she can handle that.

What she can’t handle is the recurring vision that haunts her. Over and over, Jules sees a careening truck hit a building and explode...and nine body bags in the snow.

The vision is everywhere—on billboards, television screens, windows—and she’s the only one who sees it. And the more she sees it, the more shesees. The vision is giving her clues, and soon Jules knows what she has to do. Because now she can see the face in one of the body bags, and it’s someone she knows. Someone she has been in love with for as long as she can remember.

In this riveting start to a gripping series from New York Times bestselling author Lisa McMann, Jules has to act—and act fast—to keep her vision from becoming reality.

Crash is a book that I was VERY excited to get my hands on! When I got an ARC, I was super happy. Crash talks about a girl named Jules, who keeps on having this constant vision over and over again. Jules works at her family's pizza business. She lives above their restaurant with her family. I really liked how the family was involved in this book. In some books, they totally forget the family members!! Jules has an older brother, Trey, and a younger sister, Rowan. Her family has a rival, and that is Sawyer's family. Sawyer is the boy Jules is in love with, since she was in the second or third grade. Sawyer's family having a pizza restaurant, and bad history with Jules' family, they are not to talk to each other. Jules thinks as that of a huge bummer (her being in love with him and all). When Jules starts seeing these "visions" of a car crash over and over again, she goes crazy. She tries to avoid it, but every TV, window, etc, the crash is there. She ignores it, but when she see's one of the dead bodies, she makes it her mission to stop the crash.

I really like it when books have a bit of paranormal, but the rest it totally contemporary. It makes it much more realistic. I loved Jules, she was funny, and sarcastic at some points. I was jealous of her relationship with her brother and sister, because they weren't just siblings, but friends. The romance isn't that much, but it was very cute. The book started getting very interesting when Jules started studying the vision, and trying to uncover information of the crash. It was amazing how much work she put into it, and how smart she was finding out. I don't want to write any spoilers, so that's where i'll stop into the details.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! The ending is a HUGE shocker, and I really can't wait to read the next book!! Lisa McMann did a great job with the writing, and the character were amazing to read about. Crash is definitely a fun read, so I really recommend it to everyone out there!

Review: Through The Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

Title: Through The Ever Night (Under The Never Sky #2)

Author: Veronica Rossi

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication date: January 8th, 2013
Genre(s): Young Adult (Dystopian)

Source: Edelweiss

Format: Digital ARC

Pages: 352

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

It's been months since Aria last saw Perry. Months since Perry was named Blood Lord of the Tides, and Aria was charged with an impossible mission. Now, finally, they are about to be reunited. But their reunion is far from perfect. The Tides don't take kindly to Aria, a former Dweller. And with the worsening Aether storms threatening the tribe's precarious existence, Aria begins to fear that leaving Perry behind might be the only way to save them both.

Threatened by false friends, hidden enemies, and powerful temptations, Aria and Perry wonder, Can their love survive through the ever night?

In this second book in her spellbinding Under the Never Sky trilogy, Veronica Rossi combines fantasy and dystopian elements to create a captivating love story as perilous as it is unforgettable.

Under The Never Sky was one of my favorite 2012 debuts, so my expectations of Through the Ever Night were pretty high. I'm happy to write that TtEN is a worthy sequel of UtNS. Veronica Rossi did a great job in keeping us on our toes and bringing in new surprising information, toying with our hearts (yes I've shed a few tears here and there), as well as successfully avoiding the dreaded sophomore curse that seems to plague some series. The characters in TtEN were as good, and I loved that we got to see more of Roar, especially since I read the Roar & Liv novella before beginning this novel. Through the Ever Night had its own plot and I enjoyed it completely. Yes, there is less romance between Aria and Perry, but thats the reality of things. Aria is out searching for the Still Blue while Perry has to take the role of Blood Lord and try to keep his clan from dying of starvation. 

Character wise, I got to know so much more about Perry, his past, as well as Aria. Since it is told from both of their POVs, we delve even deeper in their thoughts, their insecurities, as well as feelings towards each other. I appreciated the bond Perry developed with Reef, as well as The Six. Also Cinder has become such an endearing character, I would love to see more of him in the third installment. Aria's relationship with Roar is such a sweet one. No, there is no love triangle in this series, but their friendship grew stronger in TtEN and I loved witnessing that. Also a character that surprised me was Soren, the boy who almost choked Aria to death in UtNS. Veronica Rossi knows how to change our hearts and create life in her characters and the connection that all readers look for in characters. 

Plot wise, the momentum from UtNS did not stop or even slow down. We dive right into the story, with its multiple problems, and race against time and the Aethars to find the Still Blue as well as rescue Perry's nephew and sister. Aria and Perry don't spend much time together in this novel but I actually preferred that because this way we were able to cover more plot and progress faster. Many of the problems got solved or ended in the worst case scenario and the realistic approach in this is refreshing. TtEN is the reason why I love Dystopians so much and I would honestly recommend all dystopian lovers who haven't started this series to do so immediately.

Books by Veronica Rossi: 

Under The Never Sky (Under The Never Sky #1)

Review: The Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickerson

Title: The Fairest Beauty

Author: Melanie Dickerson

Publisher: Zondervan

Publication date: January 8, 2013

Genre(s): Young Adult (Fantasy/Fairytales)

Source: Publihser
Format: ARC

Pages: 352

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N 

A daring rescue. A difficult choice. Sophie desperately wants to get away from her stepmother's jealousy, and believes escape is her only chance to be happy. Then a young man named Gabe arrives from Hagenheim Castle, claiming she is betrothed to his older brother, and everything twists upside down. This could be Sophie's one chance at freedom---but can she trust another person to keep her safe? Gabe defied his parents Rose and Wilhelm by going to find Sophie, and now he believes they had a right to worry: the girl's inner and outer beauty has enchanted him. Though romance is impossible---she is his brother's future wife, and Gabe himself is betrothed to someone else---he promises himself he will see the mission through, no matter what. When the pair flee to the Cottage of the Seven, they find help---but also find their feelings for each other have grown. Now both must not only protect each other from the dangers around them---they must also protect their hearts.

This book is for fairy tale lovers. Sophie has been a scullery maid all her life, a prisoner in Honhendorf Castle. Her evil stepmother, Duchess Ermengard, hated Sophie due to her beauty. Sophie had black hair, pale skin, natural red lips and big blue eyes. The duchess throws Sophie into the dungeon for every little thing. Sound familiar? Yup, this story is based on Snow White. When a stranger named Gabeheart comes and tells her she is royalty, betrothed to his brother,Valten, she decides to run away with him. What she didn't expect, is that she would fall in love with Gabe. Can she break her betrothed to Valten, and still live in a loving family, which is all she ever wanted? 

If you like romance, action, suspense, and fairy tales, then this book is perfect for you. I am not a huge fan of historical fiction, but this book was still really good. The beginning was a bit boring to me because I'm not a Snow White fan, but I still decided to give it a chance. It was so good after the first few chapters! I will tell you guys out there in advance, there is some religious points in the story, as both the main characters, especially Sophie, believe strongly in God and Jesus. Anyway, the book was pretty amazing, and I might even read it again. The flow was smooth and easily understandable to me. 

I think my favorite part was when Sophie first met Gabe. I thought it was interesting to see how they would react to each other, like a cat reacting to a strange new animal. I didn't know what she would do next. Would she stay? Would she call the Duchess, who murders every trespasser who doesn't come to please her? I couldn't tell and the suspense was killing me!! Nothing from the book really annoyed me. I thought it was a good book. 

The writing style was actually a favorite of mine. Every chapter or 2, she would switch points of view, so in one chapter, I was Sophie, then in another, I was Gabe. I like that writing style. This is a wonderful book. I totally recommend it to 7-11 graders. The Fairest Beauty is for fairy tale lovers who always want a happy ending.