Wednesday 25 September 2013

Waiting on Wednesday #46



Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.

This is a perfect way to highlight books that we are waiting patiently to be released... it is also a sure-fire way to watch your TBR pile grow!


With more lives at stake and games in motion, Ellie, Camden and Javier form an uneasy alliance that will take them from the treacherous streets of inner-city Mexico to the wilds of the Honduran jungles in order to find their freedom. But with liberty just on the horizon, the cost might come at their own redemption.

Expected Publication: October 15 2013
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Why am I so eagerly awaiting this release you ask?

I want to scream at the top of my lungs and pull my hair out.  This series has continued to surprise and shock me.  I need to know how this will all end... like now.  I have very little patience on good days, but when it comes to this series, what little I do have is all thrown out the window.

What is to become of Ellie, Camden and Javier?  Will I be happy when Ellie and Camden finally get their happily ever after... or will I be distraught if she ends up with Javier?

Thankfully there wasn't a HUGE wait between Shooting Scars and Bold Tricks.  But seriously, October 15th can't come quick enough.

If you haven't started this series yet, now is the perfect time.  Bold Tricks will be the final book in The Artists Trilogy.  Check out my review for the prequel novella, and the other two books in the series by clicking on the book covers below.


What is your Waiting on Wednesday?

Feel free to leave your links below so that I can check them out and if you are a new follower be sure to let me know!

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Waiting on Wednesday #45



Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.

This is a perfect way to highlight books that we are waiting patiently to be released... it is also a sure-fire way to watch your TBR pile grow!


Tatum O’Connell:
Some call me a party girl. People see me as happy, full of life, with absolutely no cares in the world. They see what I want them to see. But no one knows me - really knows me. Not even Noah Reese. Mr. Perfect is always watching me, most likely judging every single imperfect thing I do. But, if Noah wants to keep an eye on me, that’s just fine. I definitely don’t mind. I just hope he doesn’t have any plans to save me from my new-found life of self-destruction because in order to save me, he will have to see me…
And I’m never going to let that happen.

Noah Reese:
Perfect. That’s me. That’s the only acceptable way to be, according to my father. Perfect grades. Perfect manners. Perfect athlete. Perfect SAT scores. Perfect college. And recently, I was accepted into the perfect med school. My future has already been mapped out for me and there’s nothing that can change that. Not even Tatum O’Connell. That girl is out of control, yet for some reason, I can’t seem to keep my distance from her. I watch her closely, hoping that one day she’ll let me in, but watching her lead her life down the dangerous path she’s on right now isn’t easy…
I have a feeling I’m about to find myself swept away by the hurricane that is Tatum O’Connell.

Expected Publication: October 2013
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Why am I so eagerly awaiting this release you ask?

First, I shall point out the awesomeness of these covers.  They perfectly compliment each other and the stories.  Much love for them.

Now for the story themselves.  Running on Empty and the novella Recovery were so very special.  The characters are the type that will bury themselves in your heart and for long after you will remember them.

So, when I saw that this would be a continued series following some of the side characters... I was so excited.  From the blurb and from the excerpt (you can read the excerpt HERE), you can tell right off the bat that Tatum and Noah's story will have a different feel to it.  They are younger characters, and this makes me even more excited for their story to be told.  They seem to have some mad chemistry, and I have a feeling their banter is going to be a ton of fun.

You can check out the other books in the Mending Hearts series by clicking on the book covers below.


What is your Waiting on Wednesday?

Feel free to leave your links below so that I can check them out and if you are a new follower be sure to let me know!

Sunday 15 September 2013

Review: Untold


Free from bonds, but not each other

It’s time to choose sides… On the surface, Sorry-in-the-Vale is a sleepy English town. But Kami Glass knows the truth. Sorry-in-the-Vale is full of magic. In the old days, the Lynburn family ruled with fear, terrifying the people into submission in order to kill for blood and power. Now the Lynburns are back, and Rob Lynburn is gathering sorcerers so that the town can return to the old ways.

But Rob and his followers aren’t the only sorcerers in town. A decision must be made: pay the blood sacrifice, or fight. For Kami, this means more than just choosing between good and evil. With her link to Jared Lynburn severed, she’s now free to love anyone she chooses. But who should that be?

Title: Untold (The Lynburn Legacy ~ Book 2)
Author: Sarah Rees Brennan | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website | Blog
Publication Date: August 29 2013
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Length: 336 Pages
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Buy ItAmazon US | Amazon UK

Source: Purchased (Kindle Edition)
Cover Love: Love it, the colors, the creepy factor, everything.
Point of View: 3rd person

My Rating: 5 Stars

I love this series and these characters beyond all reason.  A year ago when I read Unspoken, I fell in love.  I fell in love with the setting, the dialogue, the characters, honestly I just fell in love with every single aspect of Unspoken.  I patiently waited for Untold to be released and then I hurriedly jumped right back into the world of Kami, Jared, Ash, Holly, Angela and Rusty.  As soon as I started, I let out a content sigh of relief.  It was great to be back.

“It must be nice,” Holly said tiredly, “to know exactly what you want.”

“Not when you know what you want, and you know you can never have it again,” Jared told her.

If you have read Unspoken, or my review for it, then you will know that it had a pretty heavy duty cliffhanger.  My heart was left broken into two.  And, over the last year Sarah has been releasing little teasers... or should I say evil teasers, to get us ready for Untold's release.  We asked for a kissing scene, and she gave us the absolute wrong people kissing... and so it went.  It has been a year of torture, and I think Sarah enjoyed making us crazy.

So was the torture worth it? Absolutely.  Untold picks up right after Unspoken ended.  We now know that magic has returned to Sorry-in-the-Vale, and there is a war for power upon the horizon.  There are secrets uncovered and even more tales to be figured out.

“I don’t think you’re weak,” Jared said. “I want to guard you because you are important to me.  Because you are –God, this is going to sound so stupid, I can never think of a way to say it –you are precious.   I can never think of how to describe the value you have on me, because all the words for value suggest that you belong to me, and you don’t.”

Kami and Jared.  *sigh*  How much do I love these two?  I can't even put it into words.  I want nothing more than for them to end up together and happy.  Untold is a roller-coaster of emotion when it comes to their relationship.  There are deep and painful lows, as well as high flying happiness.  I cried frustrated tears, I cried happy tears, and I cried sad tears.  There were times I wanted to knock their heads together, and there were times I wanted just hug them both to let them know it was all going to be okay.  Well, I hope it is all going to be okay.  Seeing as how Sarah herself has in the past commented that she never made any promise that Jared and Kami would end up a couple... I guess anything is possible.  But I have faith that somehow, these two will end up with their happily ever after.  I hope.

“I belong to you.  He has no idea what he’s up against.  And that will get him in the end.  I believe that.  Everything’s going to come right for you.”

“And you,” Kami said again.

“If everything’s right for you,” Jared said at last, “everything’s right for me.”

The side characters are also what help make this such an amazing series.  We see a completely different side to Ash in Untold.  He wasn't my favorite character in Unspoken, and after this I can say my heart has warmed to him.  He is such a sad and lonely character.  I didn't really understand that before.

The only character that annoyed me a little was Holly.  I couldn't understand what was driving her for most of the story.  I kinda understand her a bit more at the end, but I still can't forgive her for some of her earlier actions.  There is one scene that I will never be able to read.  Because of an earlier teaser released by Sarah, I knew the scene was going to happen.  But, I actually made a friend at work read it before me on our lunch hour.  I didn't want to miss anything important, but it hurt my heart too much to actually read it.  When you read Untold, you will know exactly what scene I mean.  I still haven't read it.  I've been given a cliff notes version by my friend.

Then there is of course, Angela and Rusty.  Angela is great as always, she continues to prove how good a friend she is to Kami.  And Rusty, what can I say about him?  I love this guy so much.  He plays a larger role in this book, and I loved every single minute of it.  The dialogue in this series, is one of the reasons I love it so much... and Rusty is right up there with Kami when it comes to the quirky back and forth.  I completely lost count at the number of times he made me laugh.

“I know what other people think about me,” Rusty told her.   “That Rusty,’ they say.  ‘Charming and handsome,’ they say first, of course – they’re not blind.  Then they add, ‘All the ambition and drive of a chocolate sundae.’”

What about the ending you ask?  Well, it's another cliffhanger.  Not nearly as painful as the one in Unspoken, but one that has left me very much wanting the final book, Unbroken.  As of the time of this review, there is no exact release date planned, we only know that it will be in 2014.  My guess would be around the same time as Unspoken and Untold, which was around August and September.  I know this seems like a long time to wait, but hopefully we will get lots more teasers from Sarah to make it go by at a swifter pace.

However, if they are as evil as last time... maybe we are best just waiting for Unbroken's release.  I shall be off now to crawl into my hole to wait out the next year...

“I never had a single moment like that, I was never lonely a day of my life, until now.  Now I feel like the world is hell, and hell is a place where the souls of the damned can still see heaven.   Because that’s the worst thing of all.  And yet I can’t look away.”

Friday 13 September 2013

Shine Not Burn: Blog Tour Stop, Review & Giveaway


IT HAPPENED IN VEGAS.

I can't be held responsible. Things that happen there are supposed to stay there, right? Right? Yeeeah. Not so much.

Andie's just days away from tying the knot, but there's just ooooone little glitch. Apparently, she's already married. Or someone with her name is married to a guy out in Oregon of all places, and the courthouse won't issue her a marriage license until it's all cleared up. Tripping her way through cow pies and country songs to meet up with a man who gets around places on horseback is her very last idea of how to have a good time, but if she's going to get married, make partner at the firm, and have two point five kids before she's thirty-five, she needs to get to the bottom of this snafu and fix it quick ... before her fiance finds out and everything she's been working toward goes up in flames.

Title: Shine Not Burn
Author: Elle Casey | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website
Publication Date: July 01 2013
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 360 Pages
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Buy ItAmazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Tour Organized by: Love Between the Sheets

Source: ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Cover Love: Nice, but I picture Mack bigger
Point of View: Alternating 1st person following Andie and 3rd person following Mack

My Rating: 4 Stars

Junior partner at work, husband, then partner at the firm and finally 2.5 kids.  This has been Andie's life plan since she was fifteen years old.  So far everything has fitted into place perfectly... that is until one night in Vegas.  You know the old saying, 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas'.  Everything of course, except for drunken weddings nights that you wake up from remembering nothing about...  That is until you are are applying for a marriage license because you are now engaged, only to find out you are already married.

Awkward.

“Just because a person is obsessed with the idea of something, doesn't make it right or even good for them.”

Andie.  Focused, determined and hilarious.  I understood her as a character.  She took a tough childhood and focused on what she thought it would take for her to have a happy and successful life.  What she didn't realize is that it was sucking all the life out of her.  She was existing but not really living.  What would it take for her to finally understand this?  A sexy cowboy of course...

“I doubted at this point that I'd be able to string a coherent sentence together.  His beauty combined with his slow-talking cowboy sexiness had completely robbed me of any intelligence.”

Mack.  Wow.  He is a hot as hell cowboy and as sweet as can be.  There is just something about a hard working, down to earth, no holds barred cowboy.  From the minute Andie and Mack meet, you can feel their chemistry.  Mack never holds his feelings back.  I love that about him.  And as sweet as he is all the other times, he is a complete alpha in the bedroom, and in the shower, and in an open field... Wow indeed.

“Sexy.  Handsome.  Smart.  Sexy.  Magnetizing.  Compelling.  Muscles.  Good family.  Confident.  Polite.  Sexy.”

I absolutely adored every single interaction between Andie and Mack.  When they first meet in Vegas, the sparks are flying.  Then again when she has to go to Oregon to track him down.  Slowly but surely Mack breaks down Andie's walls.  That life plan she had?  Yeah, that's a thing of the past when she is finally shown what kind of future she could really have.

Shine Not Burn was exactly what I needed right now. It was light-hearted, sexy and a heck of a lot of fun.  There is still plenty of angst as Andie and Mack grow closer to each other, but there was also never a moment that I didn't understand the feelings they were each having.  Meaning, I never felt like throwing my Kindle across the room, which is always a good sign.  I found myself smiling while reading, and at the end we are gifted with a beautiful epilogue.  It was the perfect ending.

“Sometimes, we just have to go where the wind takes us and see where we end up.”

MORE QUOTES FROM SHINE NOT BURN







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Wednesday 11 September 2013

Waiting on Wednesday #44



Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.

This is a perfect way to highlight books that we are waiting patiently to be released... it is also a sure-fire way to watch your TBR pile grow!


There’s tortured. And there’s Garth Black.

His life has been a constant carousel of tragedy and disappointment, including his love life. Of course, applying the term “love” to Garth’s conquests is a gross misuse of the word. Some people were made to give and accept love, and others weren’t. Garth Black redefines the “others” category. He’s made a vow that the day he meets a woman who could sucker him into falling in love will be the day he runs away.

Garth’s plan has one flaw. What happens when he’s already fallen hard for a girl before the warning signs and red flags go up? What happens when the love he’s avoided his entire life brings him to his knees? What happens when Garth Black lets the dirtiest four letter word he’s ever known into his dark, lonely life?

This cowboy’s about to find out he can control some things, and he can’t control others. Number one on the what he can’t control list?

Expected Publication: September 16 2013
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Why am I so eagerly awaiting this release you ask?

I love this series.  Like honestly love everything about it.  And Garth Black is your favorite rough and tough cowboy that you love to hate... or is that hate to love?  Let's just say it a little mix of both.

I am so looking forward to getting inside Garth's head, I can only imagine it is going to be a dark, twisted and beautifully broken place to be.  And look, there isn't long to wait at all.

Check out my reviews for Lost & Found and Near & Far by clicking on the covers below.


What is your Waiting on Wednesday?

Feel free to leave your links below so that I can check them out and if you are a new follower be sure to let me know!