Gallagher Girls Book 6 Cover Reveal and Title

I love the Gallagher Girls Series by Ally Carter.  They are clean, witty, have action and romance.

I am sad that the series is ending, but I can't wait to read this book.  It is due to come out later this fall.  Here is the new cover and title of the final book in the Gallagher Girls Series.

Ally Carter's Blog links to this article in Entertainment Weekly.

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2013/05/14/the-final-gallagher-girls-book-ally-carter/

Requiem by Lauren Oliver

Requiem by Lauren Oliver (Delirium Trilogy #3)

Summary from Goodreads:
They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past.

But we are still here.

And there are more of us every day.

Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.

After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor.

Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings.

Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it.

But we have chosen a different road.

And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.

We are even free to choose the wrong thing.

Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.

4 Stars

Read May 2013

Young Adult/teen/dystopian, library book

My Review:
I have really enjoyed this trilogy.  It is an interesting look at one's freedom to choose and a unique look at love, as a disease.

As much as I enjoyed the first 2 books, this one was a little harder for me.  For some reason I struggled with the back and forth between the 2 voices of Lena and Hana.  I liked knowing what was going on in both places, but it was hard at times to pick back up where I left off with the other voice.  I sometimes had to go back and read where that person was and what was happening before it had been interrupted by the other voice.

I also felt a lot of angst in this book.  It is good that a book can bring on feelings and this one definitely provoked anxiety.  And to top it all off, this book doesn't end with a neat bow.  The characters are free to choose where their lives are going to go and we don't get to see it.  The point is that they are able to choose.  (I'm glad they can choose, but what happens to them?!)

The main message I took from these books, and I think that Lauren Oliver wrote it beautifully in this third book, is this:

“Who knows? Maybe they’re right. Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings. Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it. 
But we have chosen a different road. And in the end that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.
We are even free to choose the wrong thing.” 

Warnings: More swear words than I prefer, but only a few of the f-word.  Death, emotional abuse

I would let my 15 year old read this series.  

Not My Type by Melanie Jacobson

Not My Type by Melanie Jacobson

Summary from Goodreads:
Twenty-three-year-old Pepper Spicer is not living the dream. She ended her engagement at the last minute because her fiancé -- a musician and soon-to-be reality TV star -- wanted her to sacrifice her own career ambitions for his.

Now she's stuck at home sharing a room with her little sister, trying to pay off massive debt for a wedding that didn't happen, and spending Friday nights Facebook-stalking everyone who has a better life. Her therapist father urges her to choose her career dreams and count her blessings by writing weekly thank you notes, but gratitude is a tall order when she botches an important job interview and has to settle for writing an undercover dating web-zine column -- the last thing in the world she wants to do. Still, as Pepper (byline: Indie Girl) chronicles her bizarre and hilarious blind dates, she gives her father's challenge a try and slowly finds herself leaving self-pity behind. Life takes a major upswing as Pepper's column hits the big time and she tastes the exhilarating thrill of success. But there's one tiny problem: the intensely hot man she's falling for is having issues with her job (again). Will Pepper trade her personal ambition for another chance at love?

5 Stars

Read May 2013

LDS Romantic Fiction, Inter-library loan

My Review:
FUN!  This was a fun book.  I loved Pepper.  I loved her wit and quirkiness.  I loved her interactions with her family (check out their clever names).  I loved her interactions with friends and her love interest.  This book has a bit of a Pride and Prejudice feel to it, in the "first impressions aren't always correct" kind of way.

Some great things about this book...Pepper's self discovery, themes about paying off debt, being grateful, being a friend, being honest with others as well as oneself, and forgiveness and letting go of pain.

I would recommend this book to anyone, even if you aren't LDS.  The LDS aspects of the book are mostly cultural and I think that readers that can appreciate that a character is religious and that that is part of her life will understand.

Warnings: None

I would let my 15 year old read this book.

A Timeless Romance Anthology: Summer Wedding Collection

A Timeless Romance Anthology: Summer Wedding Collection

Melanie Jacobson, Julie Wright, Rachael Anderson, Annette Lyon, Heather B. Moore and Sarah M. Eden

Summary from A Timeless Romance Anthology Blog:

Six Award-Winning Authors have contributed new stories to A Timeless Romance Anthology: Summer Wedding Collection. Readers will love this collection of six sweet contemporary romance novellas, centered on a Summer Wedding, all with one thing in common: Romance.

In Melanie Jacobson’s charming novella, Love Bytes, Bree is the maid-of-honor and Dallen is the best-man. Living across the country from each other, they commiserate over their prospective best friends’ unrealistic wedding demands. While they plan and plot over email and texting, Bree realizes that the best part about the Maui wedding might be meeting Dallen. She just hopes that he’ll feel the same way.

Romeo and Julie-ex is a sweet romance by Julie Wright. “Romeo” turns out to be a two-timing jerk, and when Juliet Moore’s pre-ordered wedding dress arrives from UPS, Juliet curses everything male. In a stubborn streak, she decides to keep the bridal photography appointment—if only because the money isn’t refundable and it was the one thing that her ex-fiance actually paid for. Plus, she has the perfect wedding dress. When Juliet shows up for the appointment and meets photographer Jack Montague, she might have to take back some of her curses on men.

In Rachael Anderson’s enchanting novella, The Meltdown Match, Courtney spends each summer in her hometown of Heimel, Alaska, to find inspiration for her next novel. Her writing method has become a pattern—outline a novel in Heimel, then move to the place her novel is set to finish writing it. But when she runs into former high school friend, Mitch Winters, and they both win the Meltdown Match—a traditional dating contest—Courtney discovers that leaving her hometown at the end of the summer might not be so easy this time.

In Golden Sunrise, an engaging romance by Annette Lyon, Natalie takes time out of her crazy schedule to fly to Vegas for her best friend’s wedding. Sierra and Jason, high-school sweethearts, are finally getting married. Fortunately for Natalie, her old high-school flame, Adam, has a work commitment and can’t be there as best man. But when she arrives at the wedding rehearsal—late and ragged—Adam is there. Memories from the past—and all her old feelings—come flooding back. When Adam makes a wild suggestion, Natalie just may take him up on it, even though she knows he’s moved on. A single choice may mean Natalie is taking a shot at reclaiming the past—or that she's putting her heart in harm’s way a second time.

Tide Pools is a captivating story by Heather B. Moore. When Lexi makes a quick trip to Hawaii to attend her friend’s wedding, she discovers that the engaged couple, Sydney and Apelu, are still trying to match-make for her. Lexi laughs because not only does their friend David have a serious girlfriend, but he owns a restaurant on the island. Lexi has too many plans that don’t include a long-distance relationship or coming between a guy and his girlfriend. But when Lexi meets David, she has a hard time remembering why all of her plans were so important.

In Sarah M. Eden’s delightful novella, A Regular Bloke from Stanmore, Abby is helping her sister, Caroline, plan her British wedding. That’s right, Caroline is obsessed with all things British and insists on an authentic wedding in . . . Oregon. When they arrive at Sainsbury House reception hall, it has everything Caroline loves, and the host, Matthew Carlton, even has a British accent. Yet Abby isn’t buying the whole good-looking-British man with impeccable manners thing; she’s determined to expose him as a fake. But the more Abby gets to know Matthew, the more she realizes how wrong she really is.

4.5 Stars

Read May 2013

Clean Romances

I received this as a free e-book from one of the authors to give my honest review.

My Review:

First off, I read another of these anthologies back in December. See my Review of A Timeless Romance Anthology: Winter Collection.  

Each Anthology has some of the same authors and some different authors.  It is fun to get a variety of "voices".  I plan on reading each anthology that comes out.  One of the nice things about these anthologies is that the stories are short enough to read in one sitting.  If you would like to read another, then you can.  Or you can put it down and come back to the next story another day.  As much as I enjoy all of these stories, I do like putting the book down in between some of the stories.  I read something else for a day and then come back to it.  I like being able to do that.  It is like getting 6 books in one.

Overall, this anthology is everything I expected.  Clean, Sweet, Romantic.  I enjoy every story.  They each have a common thread of a wedding being the setting.  What's more romantic than a wedding? 

I really like that I know they will have a happy ending.  I know that sounds silly and unrealistic, but that is why I like them.  There is tension and some conflict, but I know that things will work out in the end.  I like reading happy stories.  

Warnings: None

I would let my 15 year old read this book.

Re-Read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Summary from Goodreads:
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

So begins Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's witty comedy of manners--one of the most popular novels of all time--that features splendidly civilized sparring between the proud Mr. Darcy and the prejudiced Elizabeth Bennet as they play out their spirited courtship in a series of eighteenth-century drawing-room intrigues. Renowned literary critic and historian George Saintsbury in 1894 declared it the "most perfect, the most characteristic, the most eminently quintessential of its author's works," and Eudora Welty in the twentieth century described it as "irresistible and as nearly flawless as any fiction could be."

5 Stars

Read April 2013

Regency Historical Fiction, Own on Nook

My Review:
So many covers!  I like to put a picture of the book I am reviewing with the review.  Sometimes I don't put the exact cover, but I try to. This time I read the Illustrated edition which is the first cover displayed.  I really enjoy C.E. Brock's illustrations.  The other covers are just fun covers and there are MANY more!

As much as I love this book, I must admit that I love the A&E movie just as much.  To some I am sure this is blasphemy.  Unfortunately, I have seen the movie so many times that I hear actors from the movie saying the lines as I read them in the book.  Sometimes, this is good, especially if I like the way the actor plays the role.  Sometimes this is bad, if I don't like the way the actor plays the role.  I find myself changing the "voice in my head" to suit what I like.


Somethings I love about this story:
Jane, Elizabeth, Mrs. Bennet (it's a love/hate relationship for me), Bingley and Darcy.
I love the banter between Darcy and Elizabeth.
I love the Regency era, the balls, the dinners, the social rules.

I recommend the book and movie to anyone.  Not everyone will like it, but I love it!

Warnings: Premarital sex mentioned (in a very nondescript way)

I would let my 15 year old read this book.  

I would recommend my 15 year old read this book.

Cover Reveal of Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson

One of my favorite books last year was Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson.  She is in the editing stages of another book called Blackmoore.  Here is a link to her blog with the exciting reveal and a synopsis of the story.  I am looking forward to this next book!

Julianne Donaldson's Blog

This Time Forever by Rachel Ann Nunes

This Time Forever by Rachel Ann Nunes

Summary from Goodreads:
Mickelle Hansen never realized marriage could be so challenging. Her husband's epilepsy has caused him to become cynical and verbally abusive, but with love in her heart and strength from her Heavenly Father, Mickelle is determined to make her marriage work. Then the worst happens. Can she ever pick up the shattered pieces of her life? 

Meanwhile, Rebekka Massoni arrives in America to work for handsome widower Damon Wolfe, leaving all her hopes and dreams back in her beloved France. She has loved and idolized Marc Perrault since she was five years old, but he can offer only her friendship in return. 

Can Rebekka forget Marc and learn to love another man? Both Damon and Samuel Bjornenburg, successful CEO of Corban International, hope to win a place in her heart, but Damon's daughter doesn't like Rebekka, and Samuel doesn't share her faith. To make matters worse, Rebekka's heart is still breaking over Marc. Suddenly she must make the most important decision of her entire life. Will it be the right one? 

Join Mickelle and Rebekka as they search for love and self-discovery. This tender story of heartbreak, healing, and faith is one you will not soon forget.

3 Stars

Read April 2013

LDS Romantic Fiction, Free e-book from Amazon

My Review:
I liked this book.  I appreciated that every marriage in the book wasn't perfect.  I also appreciated that it showed that not all LDS people are kind and open to others.  I tend to put a generalization on LDS people that we are "nicer" than other people.  Well, that is not true.  LDS people are individuals.  Some are kind.  Some are not.  All have flaws.  I am glad to read a book where I am reminded about that.

Warnings: Emotional abuse

I would let my 15 year old read this book.