GIF Review: Lost and Found (Lost and Found #1)

Author: Nicole Williams
Series: Lost and Found
Genre: YA/NA, Contemporary Romance
Release Date: March 7, 2013
Format: Ebook

My Rating: 5 Stars

Summary From Goodreads: 

There’s complicated. And there’s Rowen Sterling.

After numbing pain for the past five years with boys, alcohol, and all-around apathy, she finds herself on a Greyhound bus to nowhere Montana the summer after she graduates high school. Her mom agreed to front the bill to Rowen’s dream art school only if Rowen proves she can work hard and stay out of trouble at Willow Springs Ranch. Cooking breakfast at the crack of dawn for a couple dozen ranch hands and mucking out horse stalls are the last things in the world Rowen wants to spend her summer doing.

Until Jesse Walker saunters into her life wearing a pair of painted-on jeans, a cowboy hat, and a grin that makes something in her chest she’d thought was frozen go boom-boom. Jesse’s like no one else, and certainly nothing like her. He’s the bright and shiny to her dark and jaded.

Rowen knows there’s no happily-ever-after for the golden boy and the rebel girl—happily-right-now is a stretch—so she tries to forget and ignore the boy who makes her feel things she’s not sure she’s ready to feel. But the more she pushes him away, the closer he seems to get. The more she convinces herself she doesn’t care, the harder she falls.

When her dark secrets refuse to stay locked behind the walls she’s kept up for years, Rowen realizes it’s not just everyone else she needs to be honest with. It’s herself.

Waiting on Wednesday #8

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine, that highlights upcoming releases we're anticipating.

    Author: Sara Raasch
   Series: Snow Like Ashes #1
   Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance
   Release Date: October 14, 2014

Summary From Goodreads: 

A heartbroken girl. A fierce warrior. A hero in the making.

Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. Now, the Winterians’ only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been waiting for the opportunity to steal back Winter’s magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since.

Orphaned as an infant during Winter’s defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee, raised by the Winterians’ general, Sir. Training to be a warrior-and desperately in love with her best friend, and future king, Mather-she would do anything to help her kingdom rise to power again.

So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore Winter’s magic, Meira decides to go after it herself. Finally, she’s scaling towers, fighting enemy soldiers, and serving her kingdom just as she’s always dreamed she would. But the mission doesn’t go as planned, and Meira soon finds herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics- and ultimately comes to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.

Discussion Post: Moving Time

 

My dad recently got a new job in New Mexico, meaning that my family and I have to move this summer. I don't know about you guys, but I have never moved before, not even to a different city/town. I've lived in Ohio my whole life, so the prospect of me having pick up everything and move to a completely different place on the other side of the country within two months is kind of exciting and extremely frightening at the same time. 

We finally sold our house last week, but we have no idea when the moving company is coming. Therefore, we're pretty much stuck here for the time being. Our deadline is August 12th because that's when my dad's work begins and my new high school starts the next day (eep!). Hopefully we know soon, because I need to prepare!

So tell me, have you guys ever moved or transferred schools? Have any moving tips or maybe just funny/embarrassing first day of school stories? Do you instigate all the conversations or are you more of an introvert like me and allow other people to break the ice? I want to know what you guys have to say!

Review: In the After (In the After #1) by Demitria Lunetta

Author: Demitria Lunetta
Series: In the After
Genre: YA, Sci-fi/Dystopian
Release Date: June 25, 2013
Format: Ebook

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

Summary From Goodreads: 

They hear the most silent of footsteps.
They are faster than anything you've ever seen.
And They won't stop chasing you...until you are dead.

Amy is watching TV when it happens, when the world is attacked by Them. These vile creatures are rapidly devouring mankind. Most of the population is overtaken, but Amy manages to escape—and even rescue “Baby,” a toddler left behind in the chaos. Marooned in Amy’s house, the girls do everything they can to survive—and avoid Them at all costs.

After years of hiding, they are miraculously rescued and taken to New Hope, a colony of survivors living in a former government research compound. While at first the colony seems like a dream with plenty of food, safety, and shelter, New Hope slowly reveals that it is far from ideal. And Amy soon realizes that unless things change, she’ll lose Baby—and much more.

Stacking the Shelves #6

Stacking the Shelves, hosted by Tynga’s Reviews, talks about all the books we are adding to our shelves. It can be any book, borrowed, bought, won, for review, and ebooks of course!

Review: Free to Fall by Lauren Miller

Author: Lauren Miller
Series: None
Genre: YA, Sci-Fi/Dystopian, Romance
Release Date: May 13, 2014
Format: ARC

My Rating: 3 Stars

Summary From Goodreads: 

What if there was an app that told you what song to listen to, what coffee to order, who to date, even what to do with your life—an app that could ensure your complete and utter happiness? What if you never had to fail or make a wrong choice?

What if you never had to fall?

Fast-forward to a time when Apple and Google have been replaced by Gnosis, a monolith corporation that has developed the most life-changing technology to ever hit the market: Lux, an app that flawlessly optimizes decision making for the best personal results. Just like everyone else, sixteen-year-old Rory Vaughn knows the key to a happy, healthy life is following what Lux recommends. When she’s accepted to the elite boarding school Theden Academy, her future happiness seems all the more assured. But once on campus, something feels wrong beneath the polished surface of her prestigious dream school. Then she meets North, a handsome townie who doesn’t use Lux, and begins to fall for him and his outsider way of life. Soon, Rory is going against Lux’s recommendations, listening instead to the inner voice that everyone has been taught to ignore — a choice that leads her to uncover a truth neither she nor the world ever saw coming.

ARC August: Goal Post

This is my first time joining ARC August, and also the first time that I've heard of it. I really need to read my ARCs, especially the ones on Netgalley so this is a great chance for me to do so!

Waiting on Wednesday #7

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine, that highlights upcoming releases we're anticipating.

    Author: Anna Carey
   Series: Blackbird #1
   Genre: YA, Mystery/Thriller, Contemporary
   Release Date: September 16, 2014

Summary From Goodreads: 

A girl wakes up on the train tracks, a subway car barreling down on her. With only minutes to react, she hunches down and the train speeds over her. She doesn’t remember her name, where she is, or how she got there. She has a tattoo on the inside of her right wrist of a blackbird inside a box, letters and numbers printed just below: FNV02198. There is only one thing she knows for sure: people are trying to kill her. 

On the run for her life, she tries to untangle who she is and what happened to the girl she used to be. Nothing and no one are what they appear to be. But the truth is more disturbing than she ever imagined.

Review: Scorched (Scorched #1) by Mari Mancusi

Author: Mari Mancusi
Series: Scorched
Genre: YA, Sci-Fi/Time Travel, Fantasy
Release Date: September 3, 2013
Format: Ebook

My Rating: 4 Stars

Summary From Goodreads: 

Trinity
Don’t leave me here... It starts with a whisper. At first Trinity thinks she’s going crazy. It wouldn’t be a big surprise—her grandpa firmly believes there’s a genuine dragon egg in their dusty little West Texas town. But this voice is real, and it’s begging for her protection. Even if no one else can hear it...

Connor
He’s come from a future scorched by dragonfire. His mission: Find the girl. Destroy the egg. Save the world.

Caleb
He’s everything his twin brother Connor hates: cocky, undisciplined, and obsessed with saving dragons. 

Trinity has no idea which brother to believe. All she has to go by is the voice in her head—a dragon that won’t be tamed.

Stacking the Shelves #5

Stacking the Shelves, hosted by Tynga’s Reviews, talks about all the books we are adding to our shelves. It can be any book, borrowed, bought, won, for review, and ebooks of course!

Cover Reveal: Conspiracy Girl by Sarah Alderson

Today we have an exclusive look at the cover for Sarah Alderson's new YA novel coming out next year, Conspiracy Girl!

  
   Author: Sarah Alderson
   Genre: YA, Mystery/Thriller, Romance
   Release Date: February 19, 2015

Summary From Goodreads: 

Everybody knows about the Cooper Killings – the Bel Air home invasion that rocked the nation.
There was only one survivor - a sixteen year-old girl.
And though the killers were caught they walked free.

Now eighteen, Nic Preston - the girl who survived - is trying hard to rebuild her life. She’s security conscious to the point of paranoia and her only friend is a French Mastiff bulldog, but she’s making progress. She’s started college in New York and has even begun dating.

But then one night her apartment is broken into and the life Nic’s worked so hard to create is shattered in an instant. 

Finn Carter - hacker, rule breaker, player – is the last person Nic ever wants to see again. He’s the reason her mother’s killers walked free from court. But as the people hunting her close in, Nic has to accept that her best and possibly only chance of staying alive is by keeping close to Finn and learning to trust the person she’s sworn to hate.

Fleeing across a snowbound New England, frantically trying to uncover the motive behind the murders, Nic and Finn come to realize the conspiracy is bigger than they could ever have suspected. But the closer they get to the truth and the closer they get to each other, the greater the danger becomes.

To survive she has to stay close to him.
To keep her safe he has to keep his distance.

Waiting on Wednesday #6

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine, that highlights upcoming releases we're anticipating.

 

    Author: Romina Russell
   Series: Yes
   Genre: YA, Sci-fi/Fantasy
   Release Date: December 9, 2014

Summary From Goodreads: 

Rhoma Grace is a 16-year-old student from House Cancer with an unusual way of reading the stars. While her classmates use measurements to make accurate astrological predictions, Rho can’t solve for ‘x’ to save her life—so instead, she looks up at the night sky and makes up stories.

When a violent blast strikes the moons of Cancer, sending its ocean planet off-kilter and killing thousands of citizens—including its beloved Guardian—Rho is more surprised than anyone when she is named the House’s new leader. But, a true Cancrian who loves her home fiercely and will protect her people no matter what, Rho accepts.

Then, when more Houses fall victim to freak weather catastrophes, Rho starts seeing a pattern in the stars. She suspects Ophiuchus—the exiled 13th Guardian of Zodiac legend—has returned to exact his revenge across the Galaxy. Now Rho—along with Hysan Dax, a young envoy from House Libra, and Mathias, her guide and a member of her Royal Guard—must travel through the Zodiac to warn the other Guardians.

But who will believe anything this young novice says? Whom can Rho trust in a universe defined by differences? And how can she convince twelve worlds to unite as one Zodiac?

GIF Review: A Beautiful Dark (A Beautiful Dark #1) by Jocelyn Davies

Author: Jocelyn Davies
Series: A Beautiful Dark
Genre: YA, Paranormal Fantasy, Romance
Release Date: September 27, 2011
Format: Ebook
My Rating: 2 Stars 
Summary From Goodreads: 
On the night of Skye’s seventeenth birthday, she meets two enigmatic strangers. Complete opposites—like fire and ice—Asher is dark and wild, while Devin is fair and aloof. Their sudden appearance sends Skye’s life into a tailspin. She has no idea what they want, or why they seem to follow her every move—only that their presence coincides with a flurry of strange events. Soon she begins to doubt not just the identity of the two boys, but also the truth about her own past.
In the dead of a bitingly cold Colorado winter, Skye finds herself coming to terms with the impossible secret that threatens to shatter her world. Torn between Asher, who she can’t help falling for, and Devin, who she can’t stay away from, the consequences of Skye’s choice will reach further than the three of them could ever imagine.

Mini Reviews: The Collector and A Touch of Honor

Author: Victoria Scott
Series: Dante Walker
Genre: YA, Paranormal Fantasy, Romance
Release Date: April 2, 2013

Format: Paperback

My Rating: 5 stars

Summary From Goodreads: 

He makes good girls...bad. 

Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple: weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.

Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal-opportunity collector and doesn't want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment: Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within ten days.

Dante doesn't know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect, he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector…and uncover emotions deeply buried.

Review: The Here and Now by Ann Brashares

Author: Ann Brashares
Series: None
Genre: YA, Sci-Fi/Time Travel, Romance
Release Date: April 8, 2014
Source: Netgalley

My Rating: 3 Stars

Summary From Goodreads: 

Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.

This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins. 

Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth. 

But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves.

Waiting on Wednesday #5

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine, that highlights upcoming releases we're anticipating.

 

    Author: Sarah J. Maas
   Series: Throne of Glass
   Genre: YA, Paranormal Fantasy
   Release Date: September 2, 2014

Summary From Goodreads: 

Lost and broken, Celaena Sardothien’s only thought is to avenge the savage death of her dearest friend: as the King of Adarlan’s Assassin, she is bound to serve this tyrant, but he will pay for what he did. Any hope Celaena has of destroying the king lies in answers to be found in Wendlyn. Sacrificing his future, Chaol, the Captain of the King’s Guard, has sent Celaena there to protect her, but her darkest demons lay in that same place. If she can overcome them, she will be Adarlan’s biggest threat – and his own toughest enemy. 

While Celaena learns of her true destiny, and the eyes of Erilea are on Wendlyn, a brutal and beastly force is preparing to take to the skies. Will Celaena find the strength not only to win her own battles, but to fight a war that could pit her loyalties to her own people against those she has grown to love?

Mini Reviews: Feudlings and So Close To You

Author: Wendy Knight
Series: Fate on Fire
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Release Date: March 18, 2013

Format: Ebook

My Rating: 4 stars

Summary From Goodreads: 

Nothing makes a new school suck worse than discovering the guy you’re in love with is your prophesied nemesis.

Ari is the most powerful flame-throwing sorceress ever, and her people’s last hope in an ancient war. But she’s also a seventeen-year-old girl, and in her free, not-hunting-nemesis times, she jumps from school to school, trying to figure out regular people her own age and pretending she’ll get the chance to graduate.

Shane lives a double life. He goes to school and masters the art of popularity, hiding the fact that he has a fate with a slim chance of his survival. He’s destined to end a 300 year-old war by killing or being killed. He knows he’s hunted by a powerful enemy who’s not afraid to die. Only problem? He has no idea who that enemy is. 

When Ari shows up at Shane’s school, angry and sullen and determined to keep him at arm’s reach, neither of them realize they are supposed to be killing each other, not fall-ing in love. Until Ari does realize it, and she almost dies – by Shane’s hand.

Mini Reviews: Better Off Friends and Fangirl

Author: Elizabeth Eulberg
Series: None
Genre: YA contemporary romance
Release Date: February 25, 2014

Format: ARC

My Rating: 5 stars

Summary From Goodreads: 

For Macallan and Levi, it was friends at first sight. Everyone says guys and girls can’t be just friends, but these two are. They hang out after school, share tons of inside jokes, their families are super close, and Levi even starts dating one of Macallan’s friends. They are platonic and happy that way.

Eventually they realize they’re best friends — which wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t keep getting in each other’s way. Guys won’t ask Macallan out because they think she’s with Levi, and Levi spends too much time joking around with Macallan, and maybe not enough time with his date. They can’t help but wonder . . . are they more than friends or are they better off without making it even more complicated?

From romantic comedy superstar Elizabeth Eulberg comes a fresh, fun examination of a question for the ages: Can guys and girls ever really be just friends? Or are they always one fight away from not speaking again — and one kiss away from true love?

Waiting on Wednesday #4

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine, that highlights upcoming releases we're anticipating.

 

    Author: Josephine Angelini
   Series: The Worldwalker Trilogy
   Genre: YA, Paranormal Fantasy
   Release Date: September 2, 2014

Summary From Goodreads: 

This world is trying to kill Lily Proctor. Her life-threatening allergies keep her from enjoying many of the experiences that other teenagers take for granted...which is why she is determined to enjoy her first (and perhaps only) high-school party. But Lily's life never goes according to plan, and after a humiliating incident in front of half her graduating class Lily wishes she could just disappear.
Suddenly Lily is in a different Salem - one overrun with horrifying creatures and ruled by powerful women called Crucibles. Strongest and cruellest of all the Crucibles is Lillian . . . Lily's identical other self in this alternate universe. This new version of her world is terrifyingly sensual, and Lily is soon overwhelmed by new experiences.

Lily realizes that what makes her weak at home is exactly what makes her extraordinary in New Salem. It also puts her life in danger. Thrown into a world she doesn't understand, Lily is torn between responsibilities she can't hope to shoulder alone, and a love she never expected.

But how can Lily be the saviour of this world when she is literally her own worst enemy?