Mini-Reviews (17): Diplomatic Immunity, My Fair Princess, The Best Friend Bargain

So sometimes I fail at writing reviews for the books I've read, and 2016 has me failing spectacularly (as did 2015). And because it's been AGES since I read these, I'm just gonna do mini-reviews of them, so as to clear my need-review shelf (cause it's humungous, it's not even funny).

Title/Author: Diplomatic Immunity by Brodi Ashton
Publisher/Date published: Balzer + Bray, September 6th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

I'm just gonna come out and say it: this book was a huge disappointment. It sounded like something that I would just LOVE, but instead it had me going 'meh' and having serious issues with several things happening in the novel. I wasn't feeling the main character, who was a bit of a hypocrite and just annoying and the love interest was just... Not interesting. I felt zero sparks and the whole system was messed up and it didn't feel like this was happening to teenagers.

I did like the relationships between Piper and her brother and Rafael and his brother, but all in all, it just wasn't enough to make me like the novel. I felt like it was trying a little too hard, which is a shame, because I remember very much loving Brodi Ashton's writing before.

My rating: 1,5 stars

Title/Author: My Fair Princess (The Improper Princesses #1) by Vanessa Kelly
Publisher/Date published: Zebra, August 30th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

So I liked My Fair Princess, it wasn't earthshattering or majorly shippy, but it was cute and I liked Charles, who was lovely and proper, but willing to let go of it for Gillian. I also liked Gillian, but she had a teensy bit of too stupid to live going on with all her diving headfirst into danger that you could see coming from MILES away. I mean MILES. But the two of them had nice chemistry and there was definitely some tension, which was wonderful. And I also really liked Charles' sister, who loved messing with him a bit, which is what sisters are supposed to do in my opinion.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Title/Author: The Best Friend Bargain (Kisses in the Sand #3) by Robin Bielman
Publisher/Date published: Entangled Publishing LLC, August 8th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

I like a good friends-to-lovers story and this was really sweet. I thought Olivia and Danny were kinda perfect together, but there was a definite lack of communication going on at one point ant that was just hurtful! I mean, wow. Also, I kinda had to laugh a bit at the way Olivia sorta just told someone that she and Danny were getting married and starting a family when she hadn't even told him that she was pregnant, it was all just a little crazy. I could sorta understand where Danny was coming from with his issues, but I was also a bit annoyed by it, because he was just throwing away so many things for himself and for Olivia (and for the women who came before him), that I just wanted to shake him.
Also, the ending threw me off a bit, I mean, that's REALLY quick for another baby (which to be honest doesn't seem all that healthy to me aside from being really quick). But it was a nice story and I liked it.

My rating: 3 stars

Mini-Reviews (16): Ice Like Fire, Wedding Date For Hire, An Inheritance of Ashes

So sometimes I fail at writing reviews for the books I've read, and 2016 has me failing spectacularly (as did 2015). And because it's been AGES since I read these, I'm just gonna do mini-reviews of them, so as to clear my need-review shelf (cause it's humungous, it's not even funny).

Title/Author: Ice Like Fire (Snow Like Ashes #2) by Sara Raasch
Publisher/Date published: Balzer + Bray, October 13th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks!

I really liked the first book in this series, and sadly Ice Like Fire didn't work quite as well for me, mainly because it suffered from second book syndrome. The whole book basically feels like there are BIG THINGS ABOUT TO HAPPEN, but then they fail to really start happening until about the end of the book.
Which is not to say that I didn't enjoy it, I liked getting to know more about this world and the magic and what the heck is up with this chasm and everything. I just would have liked it to be a little more filled with action as well, along with the worldbuilding. Meira is being held back because she is Queen now and it's not Queen-like to go around throwing a chakram. And while I get this, it's also REALLY annoying.
The love triangle continues and ermagerd, I liked Theron in the first book, but now he was just being annoying and I have mixed feelings about Mather and can we maybe get another option? Because I'm not having shippy feelings for either of them.

The ending definitely leaves me curious to find out how this will be wrapped up in the last book, which is hopefully filled with awesome.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Title/Author: Wedding Date For Hire by Jennifer Shirk
Publisher/Date published: Entangled Publishing, October 12th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks!

Mostly what I remember about this book is not really being into it, but finishing it because it was only 200 pages. I'm always down for a good fake dating story, but this one just fell a little short of what I wanted. There's not a lot of actual depth to the story or the characters and it goes from fake dating to LOVE in ten seconds, which is just not really my thing.
I mean, it was ok and there were some nice moments between the two main characters, but Maddie just seemed too naive and not really seeing what was in front of her and while Trent is a good guy, I just didn't get the shippy feels.

My rating: 2 stars

Title/Author: An Inheritance of Ashes by Leah Bobet
Publisher/Date published: Clarion Books, October 6th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks!

I almost DNF-ed this in the beginning so many times. Then things started to pick up a bit, but I don't know, I just expected more based on the summary. There's never that edge of your seat feeling going on. Mostly, I felt like part of the book was missing, because it felt like we were being dumped down in the middle of a story and things don't make sense and aren't being explained later on, like I'd expected and I'm still confused about a lot of things. I'm still not really sure what was going on with the Twisted Things and the God and what the heck was up with everything??
The plot just sort of simmers on, but while there's a sort of battle at one point, it doesn't really get exciting. But Leah Bobet builds this incredible atmosphere that I can't describe any better than 'grey'. All of it just felt grey and bleak to me and that's the feeling I also get just thinking about the novel. And she did manage to suck me in, because at one point I was like, yeah, ok, I do actually want to know how this ends.

I'm still not really sure what to think of this book, other than that I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either.

My rating: 2,5 stars

Mini-Reviews (14): These Vicious Masks, Night Study, Spinning Thorns

So sometimes I fail at writing reviews for the books I've read, and 2016 has me failing spectacularly (as did 2015). And because it's been AGES since I read these, I'm just gonna do mini-reviews of them, so as to clear my need-review shelf (cause it's humungous, it's not even funny anymore).

Title/Author: These Vicious Masks (These Vicious Masks #1) by Tarun Shanker & Kelly Zekas
Publisher/Date published: Swoon Reads, February 9t 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks!

So obviously I'd pick up a novel that's described as Jane Austen meets X-men. I mean, holy wow, two of my favourite things! And I was not disappointed, I really enjoyed These Vicious Masks!
The heroine is spunky and definitely has no idea what this thing is they call 'giving up'. She's hindered by society's expectations, and more specifically her mother's expectations (wow, that woman annoyed me), but she manages to get around this beautifully. I loved the idea of people having a specific super power and how it's sometimes not even all that clear to the person themselves what that super power is exactly. I loved how loyal Evelyn is to her sister Rose and how she's just willing to do everything she can to save her. And that she has two handsome gentlemen with her doesn't hurt. There's lots of lovely banter that made me smile and not so much of a love triangle that it bugged me, it felt pretty natural.
And OMG THAT ENDING!! I need the next book right now!

My rating: 4,5 stars

Title/Author: Night Study (Soulfinders #2) by Maria V. Snyder
Publisher/Date published: Mira, January 26th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley and also bought myself a shiny copy of it!

As you may know, Maria V. Snyder = <3 basically. I haven't read a book by her that I didn't enjoy and Yelena and Valek hold a very special place in my heart, along with all the other characters in this world. And just when I thought she couldn't top what she'd did with them before, Night Study comes along and may just be my favourite out of all these books! It's Yelena and Valek as I love them best, and finally getting Valek's whole backstory and diving a little bit deeper into the mystery of his immunity to magic and I just LOVED it! I was so feeling for both of them through everything that happens in Night Study! I'm trying really hard not to say anything that might be a spoiler, but I just would love for everyone to pick up this series, starting with the original Study Trilogy and then just continue on and be immersed in all this awesomeness! I both dread and can't wait for the next book, because it will be the last! My rating: 5+ stars

Title/Author: Spinning Thorns by Anna Sheehan
Publisher/Date published: Gollancz, December 10th 2015
How I got this book: bought a shiny copy

So I was the only one of my book club to enjoy this. And I really did, it's far from perfect and I did struggle a bit to get into it, but then I was feeling it and second half was much better than the first in my opinion. I liked this twist on Sleeping Beauty, seeing what happened to our original Sleeping Beauty as she becomes the queen and has children of her own, mainly I just liked Willow. She's not much of a traditional princess, she's interested in magic, even though she's not really allowed to be and she's a bit too trusting at first and because of this and because of the unfairness of punishing a whole clan for the deeds of one fairy, things are getting set into motion.
It's a bit dark and there's a lot of build-up and also there's a really annoying sister and her fiancé who are like Barbie and Ken annoyingly 'perfect'.
But I really liked the story and the thing that grows between Willow and the unnamed fairy and I was rooting for the romance and towards the end had many feels about this.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Review of The Year We Fell Apart by Emily Martin

Title/Author: The Year We Fell Apart by Emily Martin
Publisher/Date published: Simon Pulse, January 26th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley, thanks!

Goodreads summary: In the tradition of Sarah Dessen, this powerful debut novel is a compelling portrait of a young girl coping with her mother’s cancer as she figures out how to learn from — and fix — her past.

Few things come as naturally to Harper as epic mistakes. In the past year she was kicked off the swim team, earned a reputation as Carson High’s easiest hook-up, and officially became the black sheep of her family. But her worst mistake was destroying her relationship with her best friend, Declan.

Now, after two semesters of silence, Declan is home from boarding school for the summer. Everything about him is different — he’s taller, stronger... more handsome. Harper has changed, too, especially in the wake of her mom’s cancer diagnosis.

While Declan wants nothing to do with Harper, he’s still Declan, her Declan, and the only person she wants to talk to about what’s really going on. But he’s also the one person she’s lost the right to seek comfort from.

As their mutual friends and shared histories draw them together again, Harper and Declan must decide which parts of their past are still salvageable, and which parts they’ll have to let go of once and for all.

So I'm usually the person who avoids books dealing with illness, in the main character or one of the people they're close to. But every once in a while I do pick one up and usually end up loving it. And this is what happened with The Year We Fell Apart.

Obviously Harper is a flawed main character, she's made an enormous mess of everything and she seems determined to keep making self-destructive decisions. But what you also get from being inside her head in this novel is that she's struggling SO much to keep everything together, and sometimes it doesn't work and she falls apart and does things that she later regrets. And you know what, I get it. She's dealing with a LOT and it's not even remotely resembling easy and sometimes she just wants to feel good, only the things she does that aren't the best decisions, don't actually make her feel good. And she slowly starts to realise this, but it's hard to change this. Especially when a whole lot of people have already made up their minds about who you are.

I loved that she has an awesome friend in Cory, he's just an amazingly good guy and he sticks with Harper, even though it must be really hard for him to juggle his friendship with her and with Declan after what happened. I also really liked seeing Harper develop a healthy friendship with two girls who she meets in her photography class, as the only other female friendship she's got going on is definitely more of the frenemy type and HATE that. I mean, wow, way to be supportive.

The thing is, I was pretty much loving this, though it's a lot more dark and angsty than the cover lets on, but the last part of the book kinda ruined it a bit for me. I mean, I was rooting for the romance to develop because hello, Declan is a good guy and I liked how Harper was the best version of herself when she was around him. I always feel that you shouldn't need to change essentially to be with someone, but they should make you be the best version of yourself, so I was full on going YES. But then some stuff happened towards the end and that just popped my happy swoony bubble and it was just extremely not ok. I mean, WOW, REALLY? I can get why he jumped to conclusions, but the way he reacts after that is just so insanely way over the line that I just could not after that. Basically all my happy feelings were gone.

So while I think this is a strong debut that deals with the illness of a family member in a very realistic way and shows how it can affect someone, I still had some serious problems with the way things ended and that soured my opinion of The Year We Fell Apart a bit.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Mini-Reviews (10): Dukes Prefer Blondes, Rules for 50/50 Chances, The Seventh Bride

So sometimes I fail at writing reviews for the books I've read, and 2015 has me failing spectacularly. And because it's been AGES since I read these, I'm just gonna do mini-reviews of them, so as to clear my need-review shelf (cause it's humungous, it's not even funny anymore).

Title/Author: Dukes Prefer Blondes (Dressmakers #4) by Loretta Chase
Publisher/Date published: Avon, December 29th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

So I was very much feeling both the heroine and the hero and their romance! There's lots of banter and there's heated looks and kissing and lots of real problems for them to overcome, not in the least that Clara's parents do not approve of a match with someone who's an untitled barrister. Even though he loves their daughter.
I loved that Oliver wasn't really all that enthusiastic about the prospect of becoming a duke and I very much enjoyed seeing his relationship with his parents and also obviously he's a very smart man and that's just plain sexy in my opinion.
It was a very enjoyable read, it didn't blow me away, but I did like it very much!

My rating: 4 stars

Title/Author: Rules For 50/50 Chances by Kate McGovern
Publisher/Date published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, November 24th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

This is a book that really made me think about making choices when faced with a sick family member and a disease that you could possibly inherit from them. And it's one of the few books that I've decided to read even though I usually shy away from anything to do with my line of work usually. I liked that it's not clear cut for Rose what she wants to do and that she does fully understand how life changing both a negative and a positive test result can be.
So while I did really like the realistic struggle that we see Rose deal with and I liked Rose, I didn't very much care for the romance or the boy the romance was being had with. I thought he was annoying and while I liked that he wanted to be there for his own family who had to deal with illness, I didn't always like the way he treated Rose.
So I liked this, but the romance kinda ruined parts of it for me. I know, I can't even believe that I'm saying this either.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Title/Author: The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher
Publisher/Date published: 47North, November 24th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Throughout this whole novel I was unsure how to place this, is it YA or is it MG? It felt like it should be YA because of the age of the heroine, but the story and how she acted had more of a MG feeling to it most of the time and this kinda bothered me, cause she obviously she's WAY too young to be marrying anybody, but she sounded even younger than her years and it didn't add up to the things she does towards the end of the book.
I did like the magical parts of the book with the master of the house and the house itself and how Rhea has to accomplish tasks in order for her to stop from being married and how she has a very helpful hedgehog, which was the cutest thing ever!
I almost gave up on this book a couple of times, but in the end I'm glad I stuck with it, cause the conclusion to the story was very interesting!

My rating: 3 stars

Mini-Reviews (9): After the End, Nimona, Scarlet

So sometimes I fail at writing reviews for the books I've read, and 2015 has me failing spectacularly. And because it's been AGES since I read these, I'm just gonna do mini-reviews of them, so as to clear my need-review shelf (cause it's humungous, it's not even funny anymore).

Title/Author: After the End (After the End #1) by Amy Plum
Publisher/Date published: HarperTeen, May 6th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks!

I really enjoyed this book, I have to say that as it's been about a year and a half since I read it, that I had to dig deep to rediscover why exactly, so stick with me.
I totally have a soft spot for Juneau's dogs, they are beautiful and smart and awesome. And so pretty much the whole book I was terrified that something would happen to them as is my default setting when encountering animals in books.

I was intrigued by this world that Juneau lived in and even more so when it turns out it has all been a lie. The why and how of Juneau's powers isn't fully explained and I really hope to find more answers to this in the sequel. I also liked the love interest, though I didn't swoon over him.
The pacing is a bit slow, but it didn't really bother me as I like Amy Plum's writing and I didn't get bored with the story.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Title/Author: Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
Publisher/Date published: Harper Collins, May 12th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks!

I haven't actually read a lot of graphic novels, but Nimona looked like so much fun that I knew I had to read this one! And it is a lot of fun, with Nimona being a shapeshifter and randomly changing into a shark because she feels like it (and also because "I'm not a kid, I'm a shark!", which is obviously much better).
I loved how the 'villain' and the 'hero' are over the top and a bit of a parody on the standard for them and it was just so entertaining! There's lots of mischief and things going wrong and just a lot of heart and I really liked it!

My rating: 4 stars

Title/Author: Scarlet (Scarlet #1) by A.C. Gaughen
Publisher/Date published: Walker Children's, February 14th 2012
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley and bought a shiny finished copy

THE SHAME! I cannot believe it took me so long to read this book, especially cause I'd been coveting it for a long time before it came out. But then my book club (which is awesome by the way), made me get my behind in line and settle down to read it. AND IT WAS AWESOME! While excited about it, I was also a bit wary, because Robin Hood was (together with Peter Pan) my first love (I'm not even kidding, I had a serious fictional crush on the fox version of him) and this tale is very dear to my heart.

But A.C. Gaughen managed to give me exactly what I didn't know I could wish for in a fairytale retelling and it was SO GOOD! I loved the relationship between Scarlet and the rest of the gang and especially Robin and OMG THE TENSION! I TOTALLY SHIP IT!
Also, writing this, I cannot believe I haven't read the sequels yet. I should get on with that.

My rating: 5 stars

Review of Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

Title/Author: Dumplin' by Julie Murphy
Publisher/Date published: Balzer + Bray, September 15th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked... until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant — along with several other unlikely candidates — to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine— Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.

So there's been a lot of buzz about this book and most of it is well-deserved. I was interested from the moment I saw the part in the summary that says 'Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body.'. I really wish everyone, including myself, would always feel this way.

Like Side Effects May Vary, Julie Murphy doesn't sugarcoat things in Dumplin', there's a lot of ugliness going on when it comes down to high school and people who are different from the norm in how they look. And you know what, it's not ok that some people are made fun of for how they look. It's not ok that people get oinked at if they're overweight or if a guy thinks it's funny to neigh like a horse because you have buckteeth. It's not. But it is reality and a whole lot of people are not going to change anytime soon.

I loved how Willowdean was this confident person, who knows who she is and doesn't take crap from people. And then she goes and shrinks in on herself because of a guy. And I SO got that, but it still made me cringe to see it. And I really hated how she let what other people would think ruin her happiness. I could fully understand how things happened, but holy wow, was she making a big mess of things for herself!

I sorta have mixed feelings about Dumplin', cause on one hand I LOVE how it made me think about everything about body image and how there's this pressure to look good and be thin and while as a doctor I also tell people to lose weight, that is not the most important thing in being healthy. It's also a healthy mind. And your BMI can be too high, but you can still be healthier than someone who wears a size 2. And I can especially relate to the part where Julie Murphy through Willowdean talks about how everyone has their moments in which they don't feel beautiful or inferior to someone else, because we've probably all been that person at one point in life or maybe a little more often.

But there are a couple of things that I didn't like so much, and some of it's due to me not really connecting with Willowdean as a character. The way she treated this one guy made me cringe every time, because to me if felt like she was just using him and while he may not be her crush, he was a sweet, decent guy who didn't deserve this. And I also felt like she was basically using the other unlikely candidates at first, in the end I believe that she's truly their friend, but I didn't feel like this started with the purest of intentions.
And I really had a problem with her relationship with her mom, they're both not giving an inch and it was painful and harsh and nothing really gets resolved in my opinion.

I guess that part of what disappointed me is that it sends a body positive image like The DUFF did, but The DUFF is just so much more amazing in every way and I can't help comparing the two books. I just felt that this could have been something more.
BUT this is not me saying that I didn't enjoy reading Dumplin', because I did like it and it was a quick read for me (though I had zero time to read the last couple of days). I appreciate that it's harsh at times, and that Willowdean does grow as a person over the course of Dumplin', but the spark that would have made me love this book just wasn't there for me.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Review of Material Girls by Elaine Dimopoulos

Title/Author: Material Girls by Elaine Dimopoulos
Publisher/Date published: HMH Books for Young Readers, May 5th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: In Marla Klein and Ivy Wilde’s world, teens are the gatekeepers of culture. A top fashion label employs sixteen-year-old Marla to dictate hot new clothing trends, while Ivy, a teen pop star, popularizes the garments that Marla approves. Both girls are pawns in a calculated but seductive system of corporate control, and both begin to question their world’s aggressive levels of consumption. Will their new “eco-chic” trend subversively resist and overturn the industry that controls every part of their lives?

So I'm a big fan of tv shows such as America's Next Top Model and Project Runway and all of those things. I'm fascinated by the fashion industry, even though I'm not really a fashionista myself, but I do like pretty clothes. So obviously this dystopian that deals with said fashion industry sounded endlessly entertaining to me!

And I really liked Material Girls, it was a pretty fun read, and it made me REALLY want to buy pretty dresses (which is not really the point of this novel). I liked both Marla and Ivy, though I was kinda wishing Ivy would grow a bit more of a spine, but well, she's a flawed character and I could relate to her struggle. Ivy really wants to be a better person, but at the same time, she doesn't want to lose her spotlight and wants to take care of her family and it's hard for her to see a way to combine all of these things.
And Marla goes from a blind rule follower to a bit of a rebel, but the one problem I had with her character is that it never really felt like she was making the decision to go in this new direction. It all just sort of happened to her.

The world that Elaine Dimopoulos has created was really interesting and it made me think about our society and how we're very much a consumerist society and while I happily join in on this, I can see the downside and the wastefulness of it. The whole way of controlling society by giving 8th-graders a career path they can't really change was awful, and to make children that age already work because otherwise they will be too OLD to be in style? Wow. Just. Wow. I did kinda love seeing how Elaine Dimopoulos also showed us the consequences of this sort of program for the kids who don't get picked for a creative career path and the confusion that someone who's not in this line of work can still enjoy the job they do. The whole perception of things is off and it was a bit mindblowing to read about Ivy asking a doctor is she was happy in her line of work, which to her was inconceivable.

To go along with this storyline, there was a pretty cute lovestory, I liked the tentative romance blooming between the two.
Because the book is not all that long, and we see the story unfold from both Marla and Ivy's POV, it lacked a bit of depth to their characters. I did feel like I knew both of them, but I would have liked to have a little more insight into their motives and what makes them the way they are. They have a backstory, and it's ok, but I would have just liked a bit more.
I did like that there's not big happily ever after where the whole dystopian society has been disbanded and all the problems have been solved because of a couple of teenagers rebelling. Because that's just not very realistic and such things take time, so I appreciate where Elaine Dimopoulos left us at the end of Material Girls.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Review of The Devilish Mr. Danvers by Vivienne Lorret

Title/Author: The Devilish Mr. Danvers (The Rakes of Fallow Hall #2) by Vivienne Lorret
Publisher/Date published: Avon Impulse, April 21st 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: For the first time in her life, Hedley Sinclair holds the keys to her own future. She's inherited the crumbling Greyson Park, but the disrepair does nothing to dissuade her. No one will ever lock her up again or attempt to take away what's hers. No one except Rafe Danvers — the charming, fiendish man from Fallow Hall. He's determined to claim Greyson Park, but if Hedley isn't careful, he'll claim her heart as well.

Rafe has every intention of ridding Greyson Park of the conniving Sinclairs once and for all. The last thing he expects is to find the beguiling Hedley — the younger sister of his former fiancée — standing in his way. With drastic measures called for, he plans to marry her off in order to regain control of the estate. The only trouble is, he can't seem to stop seducing her. Even worse, he can't help falling in love with her.

So I really like Vivienne Lorret's writing. Her historical romances always manage to entertain me, so I was excited to start The Devilish Mr. Danvers! Because the 'rakes of Fallow Hall' are very interesting and I'd already met Mr. Danvers in the first book in the series.

Hedley is a likeable main character. She's determined to make it on her own, and she doesn't really seem to know when she should just admit defeat and go ask for help. I mean, freezing your ass off in a house that you got to on foot all on your own and then basically not accepting when your neighbour wants to help you build a fire or gather firewood or any such thing seems a little too stubborn to me. She sometimes toed the line of too-stupid-to-live territory, but she just managed to stay on the right side of things. I did like that she's not afraid to get her hands dirty while she's trying to make her home actually inhabitable. Also, her willingness to try and get over a fear that has deep roots is admirable, and I could totally understand why she would be terrified in those situations, that's a majorly traumatising event!

I REALLY hated her family though. They were nasty and hateful and just did not seem to care for Hedley one bit. I mean, seriously? They hid her away in the attic and are trying to steal her inheritance and when that doesn't work, they just start destroying it?? I mean, SERIOUSLY??? How can you do that to someone who is family? I was very much less than impressed with them, they were just bad people.

I liked Rafe, with his misguided attempts to set Hedley up with one of the other rakes. I mean, obviously he's attracted to her from the start and then he's trying to deny his feelings and there was some wonderful angst about this and Hedley being hurt because he said some less than thoughtful things and yeah. I liked it. I thought they were good together, though if I'd been Hedley, I'd probably would have at least made him apologize for saying some of the things he did. I mean, she forgives him a little too easily in my opinion. But I could definitely work with their romance.

I actually read The Devilish Mr. Danvers in only a couple of hours. Vivienne Lorret's writing always keeps me interested to find out how the couple will get to their happily ever after and what obstacles will get in the way first. And this one was no different. While I wasn't really blown away by it, I did like it and it was a nice fluffy read.

My rating: 3 stars

Review of Everything That Makes You by Moriah McStay

Title/Author: Everything That Makes You by Moriah McStay
Publisher/Date published: Katherine Tegen Books, March 17th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: One girl. Two stories. Meet Fiona Doyle. The thick ridges of scar tissue on her face are from an accident twelve years ago. Fiona has notebooks full of songs she’s written about her frustrations, her dreams, and about her massive crush on beautiful uber-jock Trent McKinnon. If she can’t even find the courage to look Trent straight in his beautiful blue eyes, she sure isn’t brave enough to play or sing any of her songs in public. But something’s changing in Fiona. She can’t be defined by her scars anymore.

And what if there hadn’t been an accident? Meet Fi Doyle. Fi is the top-rated female high school lacrosse player in the state, heading straight to Northwestern on a full ride. She’s got more important things to deal with than her best friend Trent McKinnon, who’s been different ever since the kiss. When her luck goes south, even lacrosse can’t define her anymore. When you’ve always been the best at something, one dumb move can screw everything up. Can Fi fight back?

Hasn’t everyone wondered what if? In this daring debut novel, Moriah McStay gives us the rare opportunity to see what might have happened if things were different. Maybe luck determines our paths. But maybe it’s who we are that determines our luck.

I'm a big what-iffer. I always wonder what would have happened if I'd decided to go in another direction, what if I hadn't gone to college in the city I did, what if I hadn't chosen to become a GP and on and on. And I can obviously understand wondering what if, if you've had a pretty bad accident as a kid that leaves you with scar tissue on half your face.

The thing is, Fiona doesn't really wonder what if. She takes things as they're given to her and I respect that, but I can't really understand this not wondering about it. But maybe that's just me. I do think that Fiona is a strong person, and an optimist. She struggles with her mom's trying to 'fix' her, which kinda annoyed me as well, cause hello, that doesn't seem like supportive parenting at all, she does sorta redeem herself in the end though. I didn't really feel like her dad had much of a voice, which felt a bit off. I did really like Fiona's friendship with Lucy, those girls are true friends and I loved how Lucy wasn't afraid to call Fiona out on her crap.

Fi, the girl who didn't have an accident when she was 5 years old, the what if girl, has a lot going for her. She has an awesome brother and best friend Trent, even though she doesn't really seem to have other friends aside from these two. Then she breaks her ankle while playing lacrosse and her world pretty much falls apart. But she meets a boy and has a second tragedy and OMG, I sorta saw it coming, but not all and it was SAD. And then she really falls apart and is left to pick up the pieces in the after. I really don't blame her for not getting it together for a long time, because wow, when something like that happens, you just can't. But I can't help but compare her to Fiona, and believe that Fiona is the stronger personality in the end.

So both have romances and they're sweet, but I think I liked Fiona's better. Also, it is kinda depressing that it seems that even if you avoid one awful thing happening to you, you can't escape it all and get dealt maybe even a worse hand, cause Fi didn't have it easy in the end either.
I do want to give a big shout out to the awesome sibling relationship in Everything That Makes You! I truly felt the love between Fiona/Fi and her brother and this is a big brownie point thing for me. And I was secretly a bit gleeful at how both their lives sort of intertwine as you're destined to meet some people it seems.

Everything That Makes You satisfies my what-if-tendencies, and the notion that sometimes the grass really isn't greener on the other side.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Review of Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes

Title/Author: Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes
Publisher/Date published: HarperTeen, March 24th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Max Cantrell has never been a big fan of the truth, so when the opportunity arises to sell forged permission slips and cover stories to his classmates, it sounds like a good way to make a little money and liven up a boring senior year. With the help of his friends Preston and Parvati, Max starts Liars, Inc. Suddenly everybody needs something and the cash starts pouring in. Who knew lying could be so lucrative?

When Preston wants his own cover story to go visit a girl he met online, Max doesn’t think twice about hooking him up. Until Preston never comes home. Then the evidence starts to pile up — terrifying clues that lead the cops to Preston’s body. Terrifying clues that point to Max as the murderer.

Can Max find the real killer before he goes to prison for a crime he didn’t commit? In a story that Kirkus Reviews called "Captivating to the very end," Paula Stokes starts with one single white lie and weaves a twisted tale that will have readers guessing until the explosive final chapters.

I totally loved The Art of Lainey and was really excited to learn that Paula Stokes had a new release coming up, and while I didn't enjoy Liars, Inc. as much as The Art of Lainey, it did have that same gripping writing style.

So Liars, Inc. is a mystery/thriller, which isn't a genre that I usually read, but that I do try every once in a while and it's by Paula Stokes, so I knew it should be good. And it really was. I struggled a bit at first, getting used to Max's voice and ignoring the confusion I always feel at this name, cause it's also my brother's name, but after that we were off to a good start. I did really like Max, he's a good guy at heart and gets in a lot of trouble, but sorta does it with the best intentions? Also, it's totally interesting to see his relationship with both Preston and Parvati, sometimes I got a bit of a Cruel Intentions feeling and it was all so convoluted and messed up and I totally loved when I finally started getting some answers!

I'm not spoiling anything by mentioning that Preston disappears, because the summary tells you this, but even knowing this, the events leading up to the moment when he actually disappears had me feeling this sense of impending doom. Paula Stokes really did a great job of getting the amosphere just right and it made me want to reach through the pages to shake Max and tell him to just TELL SOMEONE THE TRUTH OR SOMETHING. SAVE YOURSELF! So yeah, obviously I became invested.

Towards the end I started suspecting what had happened and I was partly right, but I hadn't realized the full extense of the craziness and the intrigue and just the whole of everything that was messed up. It was pretty fascinating. Do you know that hollow feeling that you get when you finish a book and you have all these questions left? Liars, Inc. isn't like that. I felt like Paula Stokes told me everything that I desperately wanted to know and then wrapped it all up rather nicely.

I was however a bit bugged about something at the end of the book, which is non-spoilery and doesn't really have to do with the story, but Max describes love as looking like 'a dog after getting hit by a car', WTF? I really hate this description because WTF?? I mean, vulnerable ok, but a dog after getting hit by a car??? REALLY?? Worst. Description. Ever. (and also now I feel sad because I keep thinking about dogs and other pets getting hit by cars)

Rant over.

But aside from that last bit that left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth upon finishing this novel, I did really enjoy reading Liars, Inc. Paula Stokes really has a way of creating characters and a storyline that suck you in and make you care for them and OMG what a mindblowing conspiracy and craziness is happening in Liars, Inc.!

My rating: 3,5 stars

Review of Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee

Title/Author: Gates of Thread and Stone (Gates of Thread and Stone #1) by Lori M. Lee
Publisher/Date published: Skyscrape, August 5th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: In the Labyrinth, we had a saying: keep silent, keep still, keep safe.

In a city of walls and secrets, where only one man is supposed to possess magic, seventeen-year-old Kai struggles to keep hidden her own secret — she can manipulate the threads of time. When Kai was eight, she was found by Reev on the riverbank, and her “brother” has taken care of her ever since. Kai doesn’t know where her ability comes from — or where she came from. All that matters is that she and Reev stay together, and maybe one day move out of the freight container they call home, away from the metal walls of the Labyrinth. Kai’s only friend is Avan, the shopkeeper’s son with the scandalous reputation that both frightens and intrigues her.

Then Reev disappears. When keeping silent and safe means losing him forever, Kai vows to do whatever it takes to find him. She will leave the only home she’s ever known and risk getting caught up in a revolution centuries in the making. But to save Reev, Kai must unravel the threads of her past and face shocking truths about her brother, her friendship with Avan, and her unique power.

So this has been on my radar for a while. I have to admit that I thought it was something mythology-related at first, but it turns out to be a really interesting fantasy type novel (I think it's fantasy at least).

I had a bit of a rocky start with Gates of Thread and Stone, because, while I immediately really liked Kai and everything seems really interested, I was pretty clueless about what exactly my setting was. I mean, I'm not a fan of the info-dump thing at all, but I could have really done with a little more information about how this world works and some more about their leader and the history of this place and just EVERYTHING. I was feeling a bit helpless and grasping at straws to try and understand how this story fits into the bigger picture. Towards the ending, some of my questions have been answered, but definitely not all. But I do feel that I have a better grasp on how things work. I was actually wondering if I had somehow skipped pages and missed the part where things are explained at first, but I checked back and I hadn't. But after a while, I decided to work with it, but it did prevent me from just going with the flow of the story, cause I couldn't place things, you know what I mean?

Anyway. Like I said, I did really like Kai. She's determined and loyal and strong and I liked that. She had a really strong bond with her 'brother' Reev and would do anything for him and it's logical when you think about how it's been them against the rest of the world for years. It's right. I also liked how she kept getting distracted by Avan and would tell herself that this really wasn't the time to be thinking of him like that with her brother missing. Obviously, you can't ignore those butterflies forever, but she did have the good sense to realise that it was really not a good time right then.

I'm not much of a fan of Reev himself sadly, while he seems like a good guy, I didn't get much of a feel for him as a person before he went missing. I did however really like Avan. He's a complicated character and I'm not entirely sure of his age and if I should be thinking that he's a pervert for the whole flirting with Kai thing, but I'm going to believe the best of him here and say he's not that much older than she is. But it's not mentioned anywhere and that always bugs me. But he's definitely a good guy, looking out for Kai and he's got some serious secrets of his own.

So there's a lot of build-up and I got tiny pieces of the bigger puzzle and then BOOM there's the big reveal and it was AWESOME! I mean, seriously, it was really good and it made me even more interested in finding out more about how the system with their gods works and how everything fits together and what the heck is going on with some of these characters and what it will mean for the future and OMG I did totally predict the final twist, but it's one that I can definitely be ok with.

I really liked Gates of Thread and Stone with its twisty plot! But it would have been even better if I'd gotten a little more information in the first part of the novel.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Mini-Reviews (5) Boomerang, For All Time, The Vanishing Season

So ever since June of 2014 I've been failing at writing reviews for the books I read. I know. And because it's been AGES since I read these, I'm just gonna do mini-reviews of them, so as to clear my need-review shelf.

Title/Author: Boomerang (Boomerang #1) by Noelle August
Publisher/Date published: William Morrow, July 8th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

I enjoyed Boomerang, I'll admit that I wasn't as big a fan as some other people whose reviews I've seen floating about the blogosphere, but it was really fun! I liked both Mia and Ethan and could root for them to get together, and I liked that there was some real conflict, I mean, a job on the line is something that will effectively stop you from being together if the company doesn't allow coworkers to date. Which is a really annoying rule in my opinion.

The reason that Boomerang doesn't get more than 3,5 stars is that I felt that it started to drag towards the end, I thought that they were making it unnecessarily hard to be together and it was kinda annoying. Also, I could have done with a little less of them thinking about how hot the other person was. Ok, they're both hot, I get it, moving on. Please just start thinking about all the other stuff you like about each other.

But I did really like that Boomerang dealt with real people, real friendships and real jobs.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Title/Author: For All Time (Nantucket Brides Trilogy #2) by Jude Deveraux
Publisher/Date published: Ballantine Books, July 1st 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

I really liked True Love, the first book in this series and was itching to get back to Nantucket and see others find their happily ever after. I need some good fluff in my life every now and then. But Toby and Graydon just didn't work for me the same way that Alix and Jared did. I never really FELT their chemistry enough to believe in it and sorry, but being together just because you can tell Graydon apart from his identical twin and that means you're "meant for each other" *insert eyeroll* is just not enough for me.

I do enjoy a good prince story and there was something real keeping them apart, but it just felt so old-fashioned! I mean, I get this in my historical romance novels and also in fantasy series and such, but in a contemporary romance? I was constantly wanting to yell at them to start living in the 21st century. Though I do realise that this might be the way things still work for royal families, it was still annoying.

So while this was an ok read, I was waiting for that wow factor that never came.

My rating: 2 stars

Title/Author: The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson
Publisher/Date published: HarperTeen, July 1st 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

I'd never read anything by Jodi Lynn Anderson before, but I've heard amazing things about Tiger Lily and was excited to start The Vanishing Season. I did like The Vanishing Season, and I can see the potential of Jodi Lynn Anderson's writing, she really has a way with words. The plot for The Vanishing Season just wasn't as exciting as I had liked it to be.

I wasn't really invested in Maggie, Liam and Pauline and could see from MILES away where this was going, there was this sense of doom over the whole story for me. I don't really want to tell you about what happened, cause it will ruin the surprise and shock effect and that in itself was perfection. The ending of The Vanishing Season was basically what saved this novel and I am glad I stuck with it for that.

My rating: 3 stars

Review of All Fall Down by Ally Carter

Title/Author: All Fall Down (Embassy Row #1) by Ally Carter
Publisher/Date published: Orchard Books, February 5th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Grace can best be described as a daredevil, an Army brat, and a rebel. She is also the only granddaughter of perhaps the most powerful ambassador in the world and Grace has spent every summer of her childhood running across the roofs of Embassy Row.

Now, at age sixteen, she's come back to stay - in order to solve the mystery of her mother's death. In the process, she uncovers an international conspiracy of unsettling proportions, and must choose her friends and watch her foes carefully if she and the world are to be saved.

Ok, so confession time: I've never read one of Ally Carter's before this one. I know. So many people keep raving about her Gallagher Girls and Heist Society series and they do sound really good, I've just never gotten around to actually picking one up. Which is why I was excited when I got approved for All Fall Down, because a mystery with political intrigue is just my kind of thing!

And I did like All Fall Down, Ally Carter's writing style is very engaging and it made me want good things for Grace and just find out what exactly had happened and what the heck was going on with the Scarred Man. I mean, one girl investigating her mother's death is fascinating, especially when it comes with a side of embassy politics and running through tunnels and quirky new friends!

I liked Grace, and I also liked that the way Ally Carter has written this story, you can't really tell if Grace is right or if she's actually imagining things, like everyone keeps telling her. There was constantly this doubt at the back of my mind, wondering if she really was chasing a ghost based on nothing. It kept things interesting. Grace was definitely not ok with her mom dying and there were so many secrets surrounding her death and I had really not expected the twist at the end of All Fall Down. I really hadn't. It was kinda out of the blue and I'm not even sure what just happened and honestly, the ending felt a bit rushed, but maybe that was how it was supposed to feel? To build up anticipation for the next book? I'm not sure.

I LOVED Noah. Noah is awesome. He just comes into Grace's room and announces they're best friends and then he behaves like a best friend and is just extremely lovable. He is just adorable. I'd love to see more of him and get to know more about him in the next book! I also really liked Rosie, who is a little girl ninja and up for the challenge of finding out what the Scarred Man is up to.
And I see some much approved of romantic potential with Alexei, who is pretty swoony and the brother's best friend angle always works for me.
Two people who were very present in All Fall Down without actually making an appearance were Grace's father and her brother Jamie. I'm really hoping we'll actually get to see them in the next book, because Jamie sounds awesome and I need some family members for Grace.

All Fall Down was an interesting start to this series and I did like it, it just wasn't everything I'd hoped it would be. I didn't fully connect to the story and I'm still looking for answers, but maybe that's just the way it is with series sometimes. I'm probably picking up the next book in the series, because I want to know WHY and HOW and WHO and just all of it.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Mini-Reviews (2) The Book of Ivy, The Halcyon Bird, Even In Paradise

So ever since June of 2014 I've been failing at writing reviews for the books I read. I know. And because it's been AGES since I read these, I'm just gonna do mini-reviews of them, so as to clear my need-review shelf.

Title/Author: The Book of Ivy (The Book of Ivy #1) by Amy Engel
Publisher/Date published: Entangled: Teen, November 11th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Plot in one sentence: Girl being manipulated by her father to kill the boy she's forced to marry who is the son of the winning family governing the nation, but wait, maybe he's not that bad.

Ok, so this one was just a bit bland to me, a lot of it felt like a whole lot of other dystopians and it didn't stand out to me enough to be special. I mean, I liked the developing relationship between Ivy and Bishop, but Bishop was a little bit too perfect for me and while thing started to get interesting towards the end, I wasn't really invested in this story. Also, I REALLY hated Ivy's father and sister, keeping things from her and just generally being manipulative bastards. And OMG Ivy, please grow a spine in the rest of the series, because holy wow, you could see it wasn't the right thing to do and still you went along with it? UGH.

My rating: 2 stars

Title/Author: The Halcyon Bird (The Demon Catchers of Milan #2) by Kat Beyer
Publisher/Date published: EgmontUSA, November 11th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Plot in one sentence: Sequel to the Demon Catchers of Milan in which Mia and her family battle more demons, namely the one that possessed her.

**WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR FIRST BOOK IN THE SERIES**

I liked diving back into this world that has a lot of Italian culture and family and demon catching badasses in it, and I really did love Mia's family because they're awesome. I had just expected a little more of this sequel, cause I remember really enjoying the first book. I was a bit frustrated with Mia's crush on her cousin and was relieved when a new love interest appeared on the horizon, even though she was majorly clueless about this, which was a bit annoying at times. But they were cute together.
Mia's demon majorly creeped me out, but with all the family's badassery, I was wondering why they still hadn't found a way to beat this demon for good. Or at least for the next fifty years or so. I mean, he's been killing other people in the family and just been a general nuisance, so why not destroy/banish/whatever him for good?
Anyway, I did really like this, but it didn't have that spark that the first book had.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Title/Author: Even In Paradise by Chelsey Philpot
Publisher/Date published: HarperCollins, October 14th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Plot in one sentence: Rich family has secrets and MC Charlie gets into a relationship with both siblings from said family.

I really, REALLY liked Even In Paradise. It made me pause and think about friendship and life and lot's of other things. But mostly friendship and how it is so true that sometimes when you are friends with someone, it's sort of like falling in love and then you also fall in love with their family and that is exactly what happens to Charlie, and I could SO relate.
I mean, the Buchanans are beautiful people, they're sparkly and shiny and have all the things that Charlie doesn't have and I can understand her being drawn to them. To Julia and to Sebastian, who might be a bit of a douche at times, but who really grew on me. And how can you not love their younger sister Oops? She was awesome.

From the start you know this isn't going to end well and there's this sense of foreboding overshadowing the whole novel. And I LOVED that! I was wondering how everything was going to go down and the twists and turns were amazing! Chelsey Philpot really knows how to write beautiful words that suck you in. This is a story that will stay with me for a while.

My rating: 4,5 stars

Review of Searching For Grace Kelly by Michael Callahan

Title/Author: Searching For Grace Kelly by Michael Callahan
Publisher/Date published: Mariner Books, January 27th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: For a small-town girl with big-city dreams, there is no address more glamorous than New York’s Barbizon Hotel. Laura, a patrician beauty from Smith, arrives to work at Mademoiselle for the summer. Her hopelessly romantic roommate, Dolly, comes from a working-class upstate town to attend secretarial school. Vivian, a brash British bombshell with a disregard for the hotel’s rules, rounds out the trio of friends. Together, the girls embark on a journey of discovery that will take them from the penthouse apartments of Park Avenue to the Beat scene of Greenwich Village to Atlantic City’s Steel Pier — and into the arms of very different men who will alter their lives forever.

So this story is set in 1955, which is an important thing to remember and something that I didn't figure out till about 3/4 through the book. I'm not sure if that's my fault or if it was just the first time it was mentioned, but it's something to keep in mind while reading this book. And as I hadn't read anything set in New York in this time period before, it was very interesting!

Searching For Grace Kelly centers around a group of friends, at times they feel more like girls who casually know each other and sometimes share things, as they do live very separate lives while living in the same building. In the end I believe they were friends, but they just didn't always show it.
I liked Laura, I could understand wanting to break free from her mother's smothering parenting and the rules of society and just LIVE. A thing that bugged me was that even though she kept saying she wanted to be a writer, she never really did anything to try and actually BE one. I mean, throughout the novel she never once wrote a story, the only thing she wrote was in a diary and didn't even stick with that. But I liked that she was bookish and went to a lovely bookstore. I wish we had a bookstore like that one somewhere around here.

I also really liked Dolly, though I was confused by her love interest and in the end it makes sense, but OMG, at times I just wanted to shake Dolly because she was so down on herself and negative! She seemed like a lovely girl and she should have some faith in herself instead of constantly comparing herself to Laura and Vivian and thinking she came up short. I mean, I get it, we all do it, but it was hard to see her doing it.
Vivian never really grew on me, she was impulsive and made a LOT of bad choices and I'm not really sure about her family dynamic, but she worked with the other two girls.

There's a whole lot of drama going on in Searching For Grace Kelly, far more than I originally expected when picking it up. In the beginning I had some trouble getting into the story, but towards the end of the book I REALLY wanted to know what would happen and I'd actually forgotten about the foreshadowing at the very beginning of the book and so what happened at the end was a bit of a surprise for me. I think what gave this book a little extra was that I realised that my grandma was a young woman in this time period, starting a family and everything, and even though she wasn't an American, this made it a little more special to me.
But while it was interesting, I never really felt that connection to the story or the characters and I was very easily distracted while reading it. I did end up enjoying it and am glad I stuck with it.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Review of The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion

Title/Author: The Rosie Effect (Don Tillman #2) by Graeme Simsion
Publisher/Date published: Simon & Schuster, December 30th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Don Tillman and Rosie Jarman are back. The Wife Project is complete, and Don and Rosie are happily married and living in New York. But they're about to face a new challenge because - surprise! - Rosie is pregnant.
Don sets about learning the protocols of becoming a father, but his unusual research style gets him into trouble with the law. Fortunately his best friend Gene is on hand to offer advice: he's left Claudia and moved in with Don and Rosie.

As Don tries to schedule time for pregnancy research, getting Gene and Claudia to reconcile, servicing the industrial refrigeration unit that occupies half his apartment, helping Dave the Baseball Fan save his business, and staying on the right side of Lydia the social worker, he almost misses the biggest problem of all: he might lose Rosie when she needs him the most.

***WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR FIRST BOOK IN THE SERIES***

I absolutely LOVED The Rosie Project, it's one of the best books I've read in 2014 and one of the most amazing feel-good books that I've read ever. So obviously, I was excited about the sequel, cause while the end of The Rosie Project was perfect, I can't help but want to dive right back in with Don and Rosie! And while I liked it, it wasn't as good as The Rosie Project, but I still really enjoyed this.

So let's talk about the things I liked:
-Don managing to get himself into trouble yet again and getting arrested because of his lack of understanding of the subtleties of communication and people thinking he was a creepy guy staring at kids, while he was just trying to study how parents interact with their children.
-I liked how Don makes new friends in New York and one of those is a rockstar and it's just amazing to see the impact he has on their lives just by being himself.
-Don is still a true friend and is there for both Gene (who is an asshole and unworthy of Don's friendship in my opinion) and Gene's son and is honestly just trying to help their family even though they may not want him to.
-Just Graeme Simsion's writing in general, cause it's intelligent and funny and filled with so much humanity!

But then there were some parts I REALLY didn't like:
-Rosie. I just didn't like her in this book, she was hurtful and irrational and just seemed to give up on Don and their relationship and they were having a baby and I just wanted to shake her and go WTF?? I mean, she KNOWS Don, how can she not give him some time and room to adjust to the idea of becoming a father and just help him along with it instead? I really did not have much sympathy for her.
-Also, she just decided they were going to have a baby? Why is this not addressed in the book? She just stops taking birth control without really talking things through with Don? That's a huge relationship no-no.
-Also the lady from the tuna incident? She was WAY out of line. I really did not like her. Which was probably the point, so yeah, well done.

I felt like Don did all the growing in this relationship and Rosie just stayed the way she was and did her thing and expected him to make all the changes. And then towards the end I got so mad at her because she was just ready to quit basically everything and just WTF?? So that did detract from my enjoyment of The Rosie Effect, cause I felt like Don was giving it his best effort and she wasn't appreciating him.

I still really loved reconnecting with Don and seeing him make his way in New York and deal with his new friends and people on a research project he was part of, it was just wonderful. I just felt like this lacked the spark that was there in The Rosie Project that made it such a perfect read, and I think it's mostly due to me not liking Rosie very much in this one.
Still, if you haven't given these books a try, you really should, they're excellent!

My rating: 3,5 stars

Review of Willowgrove by Kathleen Peacock

Title/Author: Willowgrove (Hemlock #3) by Kathleen Peacock
Publisher/Date published: Katherine Tegen Books, January 6th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Willowgrove is Kathleen Peacock's riveting conclusion to the Hemlock trilogy, a dark, romantic, paranormal suspense series that pits friendship against survival, and trust against love.

Ever since Mac's best friend, Amy, was murdered, Hemlock has been a dangerous place. But now that Mac, her boyfriend, Kyle, and Amy's ex, Jason, have investigated a mass breakout from Thornhill, a werewolf "rehabilitation" camp, the danger has only grown. Fear of the infection spreading is now at an all-time high, and anyone with a scar is suspected of being a wolf.

What makes Mac even more afraid, though, are the dark experiments that the warden of Thornhill was performing on wolves in a secret asylum called Willowgrove. Uncovering the truth about what happened may be the only way for Mac to save everyone she loves and end her nightmares for good.

***WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR FIRST TWO BOOKS IN THE SERIES***

I remember really enjoying Hemlock when I read it way back when it first came out. I remember thinking how werewolves weren't really my thing, but I was somehow still really liking Hemlock and it had surprised me. But picking up where we left off with that one a couple of weeks ago, first with reading Thornhill and then Hemlock, was a bit disappointing.

I don't mean to say these books were bad, because they're not and I did enjoy the story, but I think I built it up in my head and had all these high expectations that just were not met. Which is probably more my fault than anything the author did. But that's how I experienced this story. Willowgrove is a pretty gloomy read. It's dark and it's a dangerous world for werewolves and their friends/lovers. And it's scary how putting the werewolves in camps and experimenting on them reminds me off what went on during World War II. And you know, considering that we learn HOW werewolves came into existense, it's actually a pretty likely story and I can imagine something like that happening. Though I doubt we'd get werewolves out of it, but hey, who knows.

I like Mac, but not so much that I can see how she has both Kyle and Jason running around risking their lives for her. And a lot of other people as well. I also didn't feel a connection to her, I sometimes didn't understand the choices she made and this made me not be in the story as much as I would have wanted to.

But guys, I know I sound pretty negative and I'm not. Willowgrove and the whole Hemlock series is a decent series. It has some solid writing and an intriguing storyline and it's really something that I enjoyed reading. But I just didn't love it. Not as much as I thought I would. But towards the ending I did find myself wanting to stay awake so I could finish it, just so I'd know how it would end! And there were some dark things that went down in Willowgrove and I was left gaping at some of them, but it was a good ending to the series as a whole.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Review of Top Ten Clues You're Clueless by Liz Czukas

Title/Author: Top Ten Clues You're Clueless by Liz Czukas
Publisher/Date published: Harper Teen, December 9th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Top Five Things That Are Ruining Chloe’s Day

5) Working the 6:30 a.m. shift at GoodFoods Market

4) Crashing a cart into a customer’s car right in front of her snarky coworker Sammi

3) Trying to rock the “drowned rat” look after being caught in a snowstorm

2) Making zero progress with her crush, Tyson (see #3)

1) Being accused — along with her fellow teenage employees — of stealing upwards of $10,000

Chloe would rather be anywhere than locked in work jail (aka the break room) with five of her coworkers... even if one of them is Tyson. But if they can band together to clear their names, what looks like a total disaster might just make Chloe’s list of Top Ten Best Moments.

So I heard this was a little like The Breakfast Club before I started reading it and guys, it is and it is totally cute!

It's been a month since I read this and I'm still smiling when I think of Chloe's list-making tendencies, which are AWESOME and seriously, I had so much fun with their weird customer moments cause when I was in high school I worked at our local supermarket and some people have a weird combination of groceries. For real, I could tell you things I have seen that are just weird. Also, people are weird, which is awesome on its own.

I really liked Chloe and loved how she was crushing on Tyson and then I wanted to shake her cause she's not dealing with her diabetes and just I wanted to hug this girl, ok? She's adorable and I see things of myself in her and it was fun. I also liked the other employees, they were a nice set of people, and OMG the home-schooled boy whose name I can't remember was THE BEST. I think he has the biggest heart of the bunch.

I was a bit WTF at their manager making them stay after hours on Christmas Eve when he has zero evidence that one of them has stolen the money, I mean, I would have told our manager just what he could do with his accusations (or rather, I would stare at him menacingly until he got the message) and leave. Seriously, he can't just do that. But as there wouldn't be a story otherwise, I will let it slide just this once.

If you're in for a cute, quick, fun read, then Top Ten Clues You're Clueless is your book. Go forth and have fluffly moments.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Review of The Viscount Who Lived Down the Lane by Elizabeth Boyle

Title/Author: The Viscount Who Lived Down the Lane (Rhymes With Love #4) by Elizabeth Boyle
Publisher/Date published: Avon, October 28th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: She has no desire for love...

As she arrives in Mayfair, Louisa Tempest is horrified when her incorrigible cat bolts from the carriage and dashes into a neighbor's house, where she comes face-to-face with the reclusive Viscount Wakefield. But even more dismaying than his foul temper is the disarray in which she finds his home. Convinced his demeanor would improve if his household were in order, Louisa resolves to put everything to rights.

...until she meets the viscount who lives down the lane.

Much to his chagrin, Wakefield finds it impossible to keep the meddling Louisa out of his home, invading his daily life with her "improvements," and his nights with the tempting desires she sparks inside him. Wounded in the war, he's scorned society ever since his return... until Louisa opens the door to his heart and convinces him to give love a second chance.

So guys, The Viscount Who Lived Down the Lane was a very enjoyable read, I read most of it as part of Dewey's Read-a-thon (which in case you've never heard of it, is an AWESOME event that happens twice a year) and it fit really well as a starter for 24 hours of reading!

I liked Louisa, though I probably would have been REALLY annoyed as well if she just stepped into my life and started interfering with the way things were done in my home. I mean, sure, things could use a little improving for Wakefield, but Louisa really is very meddlesome. I don't blame him for banning her from his house.
But it did make for some fun reading. Cause obviously she's a little headstrong and doesn't stop when he tells her to, but just sort of sidesteps his objections. And her cat helps. He is awesome. As a proud cat owner myself, I totally laughed at the antics of the feline, it was one of my favourite things of the novel!

So Louisa and Wakefield have chemistry and obviously they're falling in love and it's really sweet, I also particularly liked Wakefield's sister, she has spunk! And is exactly as annoying as a younger sister should be (I know, I'm a younger sister myself). There are some side plots with their own romances as well, which was a fun addition. Wakefield has issues and Louisa has issues and it all just came together beautifully, though I am wondering how they're going to deal with the rest of the ton after the story ends.

To sum it up: The Viscount Who Lived Down the Lane was a lovely read, but I kind of missed the deep emotion that I usually feel while reading a historical romance. But it did have a cat (that didn't die or was in danger in any way during the novel), which gives you bonus points any day.

My rating: 3,5 stars