Review: Dust Girl by Sarah Zettel

Title: Dust Girl
Author: Sarah Zettel
Publication date: June 26th 2012
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Cover rating: 4/5
Content rating: 5/5
Buy: Amazon / The Book Depository

Description: 

This new trilogy will capture the hearts of readers who adore Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle series. Callie LeRoux lives in Slow Run, Kansas, helping her mother run their small hotel and trying not to think about the father she's never met. Lately all of her energy is spent battling the constant storms plaguing the Dust Bowl and their effects on her health. Callie is left alone, when her mother goes missing in a dust storm. Her only hope comes from a mysterious man offering a few clues about her destiny and the path she must take to find her parents in "the golden hills of the west" (California). Along the way she meets Jack a young hobo boy who is happy to keep her company—there are dangerous, desperate people at every turn. And there's also an otherworldly threat to Callie. Warring fae factions, attached to the creative communities of American society, are very aware of the role this half-mortal, half-fae teenage girl plays in their fate.

My thoughts:
It is honestly quite hard to find words to describe how much I adored Dust Girl! I completely devoured this book from the very first page; it gripped me and would not let me go! From the minute I started reading this book, I knew it was exactly my kind of thing and I most definitely enjoyed every single second of it. Dust Girl is a unique book which will certainly stay with me for a long time and I'm sure I'll return to it more than once.

The setting of this book is what made it very special and unique to me! Calliope lives in Kansas with her mother; her town is being destroyed by dust storms and times are hard. I think Sarah Zettel did an amazing job at describing Slow Run and its dismal state and I had no trouble picturing it. It all felt so real- and seriously scary! The mood of the town shone through easily and had me eager to find out what was going to happen. When Callie's mother goes missing, her life gets even crazier.

I loved Callie. I thought she was simply wonderful. She's a really refreshing and strong character who is incredibly easy to like. Callie's been through a lot but her personality is still great and she seems like a person anybody would be happy to be friends with. Jack was a great addition to the story and I found their interactions together really interesting. I definitely enjoyed following Callie and Jack on their journey and I was genuinely terrified at times! The mood in this book is so creepy and my heart was racing at some points. I was so caught up in this story and I love when a book can do that to me.

I honestly did not know much about the Dust Bowl before reading this book, and it has made me want to find out more about this particular period in history. So not only was this book captivating and entertaining, it has also been educational for me! I just loved everything about this book and I hope others will too. It's an original and memorable take on fae and I can't wait to read more by this author.

Review: Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare (The Infernal Devices #2)

Title: Clockwork Prince
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publication date: December 6th 2011
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Steampunk
Cover rating: 4/5
Content rating: 4.5/5
Buy: Amazon

Description:

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa's powers for his own dark ends.

With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister's war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move and that one of their own has betrayed them.

Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, though her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will; the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?

As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.

My thoughts:

I definitely make no secret of the fact that I love Cassandra Clare's books! I've adored The Mortal Instruments from the beginning and I really enjoyed the first Infernal Devices book, Clockwork Angel. So of course I was delighted when I was finally able to get my hands on a copy of Clockwork Prince and I started it immediately. It definitely wasn't a let down and I was really pleased with it over all. The writing is still as wonderful as ever. I find it so easy to get lost in these stories. The writing flows so easily that I find myself having read 100 pages without even looking up from the book. Clockwork Prince was definitely captivating and almost impossible to set down! The plot continues to be fascinating and complex. There are lots of twists along the way and I feel like I never really know where the book is heading next. Unlike lots of book twos, this one actually manages to move the plot along and didn't feel like a filler at all! My feelings about a lot of the characters really changed as I read this one. I felt like I could connect with Tessa a lot more. She felt much more real in this one than she did in Clockwork Angel and I really started to like her. I loved finding out more about Will! He was so mysterious in book one that it was hard to decide whether to like him or not. It was awesome finding out his background and I really hadn't suspected any of it. I thought he was just mean for the sake of it! I didn't warm to Jem in the first book but he was simply lovely in this one! His personality really shines through and you can see that he's sweet and strong despite his illness and his inevitably sad future. Of course, the ending really leaves us hanging and I do not know how I'm going to handle the wait for book three! While cliffhangers can be exciting, they really just drive me crazy. I'm sure that anyone who enjoyed the first book in this series will definitely adore this one.

Review: I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Title: I've Got Your Number
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Publication date: Feb. 16th 2012
Publisher: Bantam
Age group: Adult
Genre: Contemporary, romance, chick lit
Cover rating: 4/5
Content rating: 5/5
Buy: Amazon

Description:

Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier: She is about to marry her ideal man. But in one afternoon, everything begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill, but in the panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations and mysterious phone calls, she soon realizes that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life.

My thoughts:

It took me a good few days to finish this one. Not because it was bad, but because I just didn't want it to end so I took it slow and savoured it. Now I have to go back to eagerly awaiting Kinsella's next release! I've Got Your Number was every bit as wonderful as I expected it to be and just as original and hilarious as Kinsella's previous novels. Every few pages I was laughing out loud and I hated having to set the book down! 

Poppy Wyatt is an incredibly likeable character and I was rooting for her from the very beginning. She's due to get married very, very soon but she's lost her engagement ring. Instead of just owning up and telling her fiancé, she decides to try to figure things out on her own... with disastrous consequences. The first few pages were not the most exciting but then Poppy does a singing telegram for a bunch of Japanese businessmen and from then on I was hooked! I knew that I would be amused the rest of the way through. 

Throughout the novel, Poppy manages to get herself in to all sorts of bizarre situations, all in an effort to find her ring and to help out the stranger whose phone she has stolen. Poppy has a habit of getting the wrong end of the stick but her heart is always in the right place. She really does just want to help people out, even if it doesn't quite work out right every time! The friendship between her and Sam is fun to watch and their texts (which are a large part of this book) were wonderful. I suppose you could say this is a romance novel but the focus is much more on Poppy's ring situation and Sam's business situation. 

Needless to say, I adored this book though I never expected not to. If you're a fan of Kinsella's already, you will definitely enjoy I've Got Your Number. If you're looking for a fun and entertaining read, I suggest giving this one (or any of Kinsella's novels) a try. 

Review: In His Eyes Anthology

Title: In His Eyes

Author: Various 

Publication date: February 14th 2012

Cover rating: 4/5

Overall rating: 4/5

Buy: Amazon , Smashwords

Click here to add it to your Goodreads shelves! 

Description:

Available NOW, just in time for Valentines Day, The Indelibles bring you a one-of-a-kind young adult anthology! Sixteen original short stories, all from the point of view of our favorite male characters - some are old flames from our novels and some were dreamed up especially for this anthology. 
The contributors to IN HIS EYES include award winners, frequent “Top 100” placers, and hot 2011 debut authors. 

Let these imminently crushable, swoon-worthy guys show you what romance looks like – in his eyes. 

My thoughts:
In His Eyes is an anthology of short stories by various Young Adult authors. All these authors have books out already and some of the characters from those books are featured in these stories! You can check these authors out over at Indelible Writers to see what they all have to offer! I was a bit concerned that since I haven't read their novels (I own Destined and Exiled- I just haven't read them yet!) the stories wouldn't mean much to me but this wasn't the case at all. I thought all the stories stood quite well on their own and it was a fun way of getting a feel for all these new authors!

It's hard to review an anthology. I'll just keep it short and sweet!

• Surprise, Surprise by Stacey Wallace Benefiel, author of Glimpse. 

I really liked this one! The writing was brilliant and made me incredibly eager to read the Zellie Wells Trilogy. This was a very sweet and lovely story! 

• First Kiss or First Kill? by C.K. Bryant, author of Bound. 

Well written and very interesting. I think I'll have to come back and read this one again once I've read the novel, Bound! I love the characters names! 

• Shattered by Ali Cross, author of Become. 

Very intense! I was completely drawn in by this one and I very intrigued by the characters. I will definitely have to read Become to get to know them better! 

• Before by Jessie Harrell, author of Destined. 

I LOVED this one! So original and entertaining. I'm really interested in the Greek mythology YA books popping up lately so I was excited to read this one! I'll definitely have to read Destined soon. Plus, isn't the cover just gorgeous? 

• The Qualm Before the Storm  by Karen Amanda Hooper, author of Tangled Tides.

So interesting and intense! This is a prequel told from the point of view of a merman. Well written and captivating. I'm sure Tangled Tides is just as good! 

• Unspeakable by S.R. Johannes, author of Untraceable.

Ooh, this was funny and creepy! The narrator had a very distinctive voice and I really enjoyed reading this one. Untraceable sounds like it will be very engaging. 

• In the Beginning by Katie Klein, author of Cross My Heart.

This one is a prequel to Katie Klein's book The Guardian. It's beautifully written with fascinating characters and a wonderful premise! A very sweet short story. 

• A Chance Encounter by Cheri Lasota, author of Artemis Rising. 

A Chance Encounter is a scene from Lasota's upcoming novel Echoes in the Glass. It was wonderful! The writing was just bursting with emotion and there's so much mystery and intrigue for such a short piece. Very enjoyable.

• Family Bonds by Heather McCorkle, author of The Secret of Spruce Knoll. 

I think I may have appreciated this one more if I'd read the novel. It was nicely written though and I love all the characters interesting names! The premise of the book sounds great.

• Getting Closer by Lisa Nowak, author of Running Wide Open. 

Aw, this was a really cute and quick story! The characters are incredibly likeable and the dialogue flows well. I liked this one a lot! 

• Precalculus by Cory Putman Oakes, author of The Veil. 

This was pretty interesting! Lots of fun characters and the writing is really good. The Veil sounds like a really good book. 

• The Almost Assassin by Laura Pauling, author of A Spy Like Me. 

This was GREAT! Really awesome and unique. A Spy Like Me is being released in Spring of this year and I can't wait to read it! I'm sure it'll be wonderful.

• Mind Games by Susan Kaye Quinn, author of Open Minds. 

Mind Games is a prequel to Quinn's novel Open Minds. I really enjoyed it. I think the premise of the story is great and Quinn is an excellent writer! I think the novel will be a must-read. 

• By The Firelight by Elle Strauss, author of Clockwise. 

Aw, I adored this one! It's very amusing and incredibly entertaining. I'm sure everyone will enjoy this one and I can't wait to read more from this author. 

• A Very Alien Valentine’s Day by Magan Vernon, author of How To Date an Alien.

Really adorable! I definitely enjoyed reading this one. The characters are so fun and it made me laugh a few times, too! Looking forward to checking this series out. 

• Aligned by RaShelle Workman, author of Exiled. 

RaShelle Workman is certainly a talented author! I thoroughly enjoyed this story and it's beautifully written. Fascinating. It's made me even more excited to get stuck into Exiled!

As you can see, I very much enjoyed these stories. It's great to see so many talented writers come together to share their work. I'd recommend this to anybody who wants to sample some new writers and of course, to old fans who are looking for more! 

Review: The Goddess Test by Aimée Carter

Title: The Goddess Test
Author: Aimée Carter
Publication date:  January 1st 2012
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Mythology
Cover rating: 4/5
Content rating: 5/5
Buy: Amazon

Description:

It's always been just Kate and her mom—and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate's going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won't live past the fall.

Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld—and if she accepts his bargain, he'll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.

Kate is sure he's crazy—until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she'll become Henry's future bride, and a goddess.

My thoughts: 

I really did not know what to expect from this book. I was drawn in by the lovely cover and the description definitely intrigued me. The reviews I'd read hadn't made it look too promising though so I definitely went into it with a cautious mind and didn't expect too much from it. I was seriously delighted to find how much I loved it! I actually adored it from the start and knew it was my kind of thing after the first few chapters.

I am not that into Greek mythology, in general. I know bits and find it interesting but I am in no way well educated on it. The only other Greek myth books I've read were not ones I really enjoyed. This was so different though! I was just sucked right into Kate's world. Her mom is dying and her mother's last wish is to move to Eden, her hometown. So they pack up and head to this small town.

Kate's just trying to enjoy the little time she has left with her mom and has no time for friends or a social life. She has pushed the rest of the world out so that she can care for her mother. I'll admit that lately I've been getting a bit tired of YA book parents being dead or sick or absent but thankfully this situation turned out to be different than usual and I actually didn't see the twist coming at all!

I loved reading about Kate's time in Eden Manor. The concept of the Seven Tests was something that fascinated me as I always like plots like that. All the characters were so awesome though I'll admit Henry did irritate me at times! I get why he was acting like he was but I do think he's had long enough to come to terms with it, really! Kate went back and forth between being dependant and needy and definitely had a desire to play heroine to everyone around her. Which is understandable given that she had so little control over the rest of her life.

I was gripped by this whole book and I'm so glad to have found a series that I think I'll actually be able to follow through with for once! I am so excited about the second book and have really high hopes for it.

Review: Brightest Kind of Darkness by P. T Michelle

Title: Brightest Kind of Darkness
Author: P.T Michelle
Publication date: June 27th 2011
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Cover rating: 5/5
Content rating: 4.5/5
Buy: Amazon

Description:

Nara Collins is an average sixteen-year-old, with one exception: every night she dreams the events of the following day. Due to an incident in her past, Nara avoids using her special gift to change fate…until she dreams a future she can’t ignore.  

After Nara prevents a bombing at Blue Ridge High, her ability to see the future starts to fade, while people at school are suddenly being injured at an unusually high rate. 

Grappling with her diminishing powers and the need to prevent another disaster, Nara meets Ethan Harris, a mysterious loner who seems to understand her better than anyone. Ethan and Nara forge an irresistible connection, but as their relationship heats up, so do her questions about his dark past.

My thoughts:

First of all, I adore the cover of this book! It's what attracted me to it in the first place and made me eager to find out more. I really like the bright colours balancing out the darker colours- it's interesting! Much like this entire book.


Brightest Kind of Darkness has a wonderful premise. I was so excited to see how it would be executed because I just love YA books that are a little different to everything else out there. For me, the start was pretty slow but once I got in to it? I could not put it down. Really, I had to read the rest without leaving my seat as I just had to know what was going to happen. It really managed to grip me and keep my interest the whole way through.


Inara Collins is a teenager with a unique gift. Every night, she dreams what's going to happen the following day. As you can imagine, that's probably not the most exciting way to go through life but when it's ripped away from Nara, she finds herself rather lost. Suddenly, she doesn't know what lies ahead of her each day, what's going to be in her exams or who's going to get hurt. I found it fascinating watching her trying to deal with this. Then of course, along comes they mysterious, tortured Ethan, who both complicates and helps things.


Brightest Kind of Darkness explores the idea of Fate and whether we should be messing with it. Nara and Ethan have a lot of important decisions to make throughout the book and it really makes you question things yourself. The romance was also believable and not overly cheesy or clichéd which is always a bonus. In short: I want the next book! Now!

Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Author: Laini Taylor
Publication date: August 26th 2011
Publisher: Hodder and Soughton
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Cover rating: 3/5
Content rating: 4.5/5
Buy: Amazon

Description:

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. 
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. 
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war. 
Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out. 

My thoughts:

The problem with hyped up books is that it's so hard for them to actually live up to said hype. That's not to say Daughter of Smoke and Bone wasn't great- because it was- but it just wasn't the mind-blowing experience I had been expecting. I still thoroughly enjoyed it and I think I will go crazy waiting for book two. September? Ugh! Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a beautifully crafted book that captured my imagination from the very first page. Laini Taylor's writing is so gorgeous it's impossible to not be drawn into the world she has created. What I loved most about this book was how intelligent it is! It just seems far ahead of many YA books in terms of writing and plot quality. I just adored the setting of this book. How refreshing! A YA book not set in a US high school! Not that there's anything wrong with books that are but wow it was so great to get something different. I loved the descriptions of the places and really liked the characters names. I was really transported into the world of this book and didn't want to leave. Taylor really knows how to paint a picture in the reader's mind. Karou was beyond awesome and so incredibly strong. A female character with a back bone? Yes please! She was so easy to identify with and I was certainly rooting for her from the very beginning! I enjoyed pretty much every character we met in this book; they were well developed and definitely memorable. While I can't quite bring myself to award this one five stars (I am seriously stingy when it comes to giving five stars) it was certainly an amazingly well written book and would recommend it to anybody who's getting a bit tired of the same old formula in YA books.

Review: The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart

Title:  The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver
Author: E. Lockhart
Publication date: March 22nd 2005
Publisher: Corgi Children's
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Romance
Cover rating: 4/5
Content rating: 4.5/5
Buy: Amazon

Description: 

Ruby Oliver is 15 and has a shrink. She knows it's unusual, but give her a break—she's had a rough 10 days. In the past 10 days she: 

• lost her boyfriend (#13 on the list)  

•  lost her best friend (Kim)  

•  lost all her other friends (Nora, Cricket)  

•  did something suspicious with a boy (#10)  

• did something advanced with a boy (#15)  

•  had an argument with a boy (#14) 

•  drank her first beer (someone handed it to her)  

• got caught by her mom (ag!) * had a panic attack (scary)  

• lost a lacrosse game (she's the goalie)  

•  failed a math test (she'll make it up)  

•  hurt Meghan's feelings (evn though they aren't really friends)  

• became a social outcast (no one to sit with at lunch)  

• and had graffiti written about her in the girls' bathroom (who knows what was in the boys'!?!). 

But don't worry—Ruby lives to tell the tale. And make more lists. 

My thoughts:

This was a seriously fun book, just like I thought it would be! I was first drawn in by the cute cover and the interesting title and I'm so glad I decided to read it as it certainly did let me down. I was expecting something along the lines of Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (which I loved) and while it definitely reminded me of those books, this felt more mature and less silly. Ruby is a really awesome character and I loved getting to know her- which really do get to do as she spills her heart out in this book. She's had a crazy time lately and made lots of mistakes. She's been having some panic attacks so her parents refer her to a therapist who helps her work through what went wrong. I loved that Ruby tackled it head on but with humour. She never takes life too seriously and is fun and witty throughout the whole book. Ruby's a strong character and pretty easy to empathise with me. What I loved most was how her character grew and matured as the book went on. She didn't keep making the same mistakes again and again and doing nothing about them. Instead she talked about them and took a step back to see how she could make it better. She's really sweet and her stories are hilarious. And I ended up highlighting a lot of her parents' sentences... they were certainly an interesting pair. I can't wait to get my hands on the next book! If you're looking for a fun and easy book that still has some depth to it, I would recommend checking this one out!

Review: Ascent by Amy Kinzer

Title: Ascent
Author: Amy Kinzer
Publication date: September 8th 2011
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Dystopia
Cover rating: 3.5/5
Content rating: 4/5
Buy: Amazon

Description:

For three teens going back to the past is the only way to save the future.

After years of recession a new political party is ascending to power. To control the United States they must offer leaders people will vote for. The Party has chosen a select group of teens to attend the Institute for Youth Development (IYD) for training to become the nation’s next leaders. But no one has a perfect past and in a world where every moment is captured on film it has become increasingly difficult to find future politicians. Everyone has something from their past they wish they could change.

My thoughts:


Ascent took me by surprise and it is certainly a series that I am eager to follow! I was drawn in by the description. I'm really into dystopian books but sometimes it feels like they're all following the same basic concept and not straying very far from it. Ascent, however, looked like it had something different to offer, and it definitely did!

This book is based around a political party but it's much more exciting than that sounds! The Party is quickly taking over the country and now they're recruiting young people to train up for the future. The Party realizes that controversial pasts can absolutely ruin a politicians career- so they've found away around all that! Time travel has been invented and they decide they're going to send the group back in time to fix any nastiness in their past.

I loved that we got to know and follow each of the main characters closely. They were all very distinctive characters with unique voices. I actually ended up really liking and caring about all of them. They interacted well with each other and I liked when their lives started to intertwine as they all prepared for the same thing. I don't want to go into too much detail as I think it's hard  to do so without giving the whole story away. But it was fun and exciting!

The writing was a tad repetitive at the beginning but this seemed to steadily improve as the story progressed. Overall, I enjoyed the time I spent reading this and will definitely be reading the sequel whenever it is released!

Review: Welcome Caller, This is Chloe by Shelley Coriell

Title: Welcome Caller, This is Chloe
Author: Shelley Coriell
Publication date: May 1st 2012
Publisher: Amulet
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Cover rating: 4/5
Content rating: 5/5
Buy: Amazon

Description: 

Big-hearted Chloe Camden is the queen of her universe until her best friend shreds her reputation and her school counselor axes her junior independent study project. Chloe is forced to take on a meaningful project in order to pass, and so she joins her school’s struggling radio station, where the other students don’t find her too queenly. Ostracized by her former BFs and struggling with her beloved Grams’s mental deterioration, lonely Chloe ends up hosting a call-in show that gets the station much-needed publicity and, in the end, trouble. 

She also befriends radio techie and loner Duncan Moore, a quiet soul with a romantic heart. On and off the air, Chloe faces her loneliness and helps others find the fun and joy in everyday life. Readers will fall in love with Chloe as she falls in love with the radio station and the misfits who call it home.

My thoughts:

Welcome Caller, This is Chloe is the first book I've given five stars to this year and it earned every one of those stars! I was first drawn to this book by the interesting colours used on the cover and I just had to know more. The description sounded so unique and unlike anything I'd read before- I'm always on the look out for an idea that is different to everything I've read before and this book certainly delivered on that! 

I will admit that I was not totally impressed by the first few chapters. I found them slow going and I really wasn't liking the main character, Chloe! However, things really really turned around at about chapter four and after that, I literally could not put the book out of my hands. I do not give out five stars lightly- they only go to books that I really hated to set down and this is one of those books. I was completely drawn into Chloe's world and felt just as frustrated with her life as she did! 

On the outside, Chloe may look like she has it all. The perfect family, the perfect personality, the perfect friend. But this year, things have started to take a turn for the worse for Chloe and she's struggling to cope. Her best friends suddenly turn against her for a reason she was oblivious to and her family life isn't as great as it once was. She's terrified about her grandmother's illness and having a tough time trying to deal with the conflict between her mother and grandmother. To top it all off, her counselor has decided her independent study project isn't good enough- and that she has to start all over again!

While Chloe's problems may not be as huge as other peoples', they are very real to her and definitely shaking her up. But what I loved was how Chloe handled it all. Not for one second did she let it get her down and she never gave up. Instead, she throws herself head first into her project- reviving the school's radio station. Here, Chloe meets some very interesting characters and finds herself a whole bunch of new friends.

Chloe is a strong character who believes in herself and her abilities. I find it is rare to find female characters with so much confidence and guts and I definitely liked that about this book! I loved the whole story and hung on Chloe's every word. It's an easy and somewhat light read but it still deals with many darker issues and the characters all develop well throughout the book. I liked it a lot and I'm very interested to see what Coriell has to offer in the future! 

Review: Invasion by Jon Lewis

Title: Invasion
Author: Jon Lewis
Publication date: December 8th 2010
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Cover rating: 2/5
Content rating: 3/5
Buy: Amazon

Description:

Colt McAlister was having the summer of his life. He spent his days surfing and his nights playing guitar on the beach with friends. He even met a girl and got his first car. But everything changes when his parents are killed in a freak accident. 

He's forced to leave his old life behind and move to Arizona with his grandfather. The only person he knows at the new high school is a childhood friend named Dani. And Oz, a guy he's sure he's never met but who is strangely familiar. 

But what if his parents' death wasn't an accident? His mother, an investigative reporter, was going to expose a secret mind-control program run by one of the world's largest companies. Before she could release the story, what if agents from Trident Biotech made sure she couldn't go public? 

My thoughts:


Before I got this book, I read the Kindle sample and really loved it. I was completely drawn in by the fast paced writing and just had to know what was going to happen next! So I got the rest of the book and was pretty interested in reading it. While it was good, it wasn't good the whole way through.

I really enjoyed the first half. I loved getting to know Colt and watching him slowly learn things and figure out what was going on. The writing makes it very easy to read and it's quite exciting. It was fascinating getting all the information about the hidden world and I thought Colt was an incredibly strong character, especially considering everything he was going through personally! This book is full of brave and no-nonsense characters.

It slowed down for me a bit though- ironically, it slowed for me as the action sped up! I'm just not into lots of action so that didn't manage to hold my attention very well. Not really a fault with the book- just a preference I have as a reader! So some people will definitely enjoy the action but it just wasn't for me. It picked up again as it was ending though and I very much enjoyed the last pages and they made be eager to pick up the next book.

Overall, Invasion is an action packed, thrilling light read full of well developed characters and I will be reading the sequel as I definitely want to know what happens next.

Review: The Price of Temptation by Lecia Cornwall

Title: The Price of Temptation
Author: Lecia Cornwall
Publication date: January 1st 2012
Publisher: Avon Books (an imprint of Harper Collins)
Age group: Adult
Genre: Historical Romance
Cover rating: 3/5
Content rating: 3/5
Buy (pre-order): Amazon

Description via Goodreads: 

Lady Evelyn Renshaw can ignore the disgrace her former husband has brought down upon her. She can even disregard the accusations. But when her life is threatened because of his actions, she realizes a stiff upper lip won't be enough to keep her safe. So she hires a new footman powerful enough to protect her...only to find herself shamelessly intoxicated by his breathtaking masculinity.

Captain Sinjon Rutherford is no footman...but there are those who believe him a traitor. The only way to prove his innocence is by playing the part of elegant Lady Evelyn's servant in order to infiltrate her home and uncover the truth about her suspicious relations. Yet what seems at first an easy deception is anything but, once he meets his alluring new employer and discovers just how tempting a woman in charge can be...

My thoughts: 


The Price of Temptation is an interesting historical romance novel. I was very intrigued by the description and definitely wanted to know more about the characters! I haven't read much adult historical romance in the past so this was also a venture into something new for me.

I very much enjoyed the beginning. I thought the writing was incredibly good and it made it easy to relax and read. The description in this book is great and I could picture everything that was happening quite easily! The characters seemed very secretive and definitely made me interested to find out more about them and their backgrounds.

I liked the interactions between the characters and thought the dialogue was well done. It was very easy to empathise with them and I could understand the decisions they made. I was definitely rooting for the them and hoping things would turn out okay! Parts of this book didn't really hold my attention though- I thought there was some rambling and I found myself tuning out sometimes. It was just a bit slow for my liking and I found myself getting a bit impatient as the novel went on!

All in all, it was pleasant enough to read and it kept my attention until the last page. The characters and plot are memorable and I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in the genre!

Review: Addison Blakely: Confessions of a PK by Betsy St. Amant

Title: Addison Blakely: Confessions of a PK
Author: Betsy St. Amant
Publication date: January 1st 2012
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Realistic Fiction, Religious
Cover rating: 4/5
Content rating: 4/5
Buy (pre-order): Amazon

Description via Goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old Addison Blakely has tireless played the role of PK—preacher’s kid—her entire life. But after Wes Keegan revs his motorcycle into town and into her heart, Addison begins to wonder how much of her faith is her own and how much has been handed to her. She isn’t so sure she wants to be the good girl anymore. Join Addison Blakely as she attempts to separate love from lust, facts from faith, and keep her head above water in her murky, fishbowl existence.

My thoughts:


This doesn't appear to be a series but I think it should be.

Addison Blakely: Confessions of a PK really kept me entertained! I was genuinely engrossed in this story. It was nothing like I thought it would be- it was much better and a very pleasant surprise. I really could not put this book down and read it straight through in about two sittings.

I really liked Addison. She was a little irritating at times but it's nice to see such an honest character. She didn't pretend she knew everything and she wasn't afraid to question the way she'd been brought up. Although I may not have agreed with all her ideas, it was certainly refreshing and admirable to see a female protagonist who has principles- and sticks to them!- and doesn't go out of her way to change herself just for a guy. I really did like watching Addison grow as the book went on and I thought her character was very well developed.

Wes was also a pretty likeable guy. I thought it was a bit obvious what he was hinting at times, and felt like Addison should have been more alert and not so oblivious. I liked that we got to see all sides of him and that he didn't pretend to be something he wasn't. He wasn't afraid to admit that he wasn't perfect and he was also really sweet and went out of his way to do the right thing, even if he wasn't sure how to do so!

The more minor characters such as Addison's dad, Kathy, Claire and Marta were incredibly well developed considering how little time was devoted to them. I was impressed at how well we got to know them. The plot itself was a tad predictable, to be honest, but I still found myself racing to the end to find out what was going to happen.

All in all, I enjoyed this book. It wasn't amazing but it was fun and still deep at the same time. I felt I really new the characters by the end. Also, it made me laugh a few times which I always appreciate!