Teaser Tuesday! (2): Slammed by Colleen Hoover

 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 

  

Following the unexpected death of her father, 18-year-old Layken is forced to be the rock for both her mother and younger brother. Outwardly, she appears resilient and tenacious, but inwardly, she's losing hope.

Enter Will Cooper: The attractive, 21-year-old new neighbor with an intriguing passion for slam poetry and a unique sense of humor. Within days of their introduction, Will and Layken form an intense emotional connection, leaving Layken with a renewed sense of hope.

Not long after an intense, heart-stopping first date, they are slammed to the core when a shocking revelation forces their new relationship to a sudden halt. Daily interactions become impossibly painful as they struggle to find a balance between the feelings that pull them together, and the secret that keeps them apart.  

 

 Description taken from Goodreads 

 

 

Teasers:

"If there is any man who can take my mind off of Will, it's definitely Johnny Depp."

-29%- page 96 of 317

 

"People can't cry forever.  Everyone eventually falls asleep"

-58%- page 199 of 317 

 

Review: Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson

 

 The Bluebeard fairy tale retold. . . .

When seventeen-year-old Sophia Petheram’s beloved father dies, she receives an unexpected letter. An invitation—on fine ivory paper, in bold black handwriting—from the mysterious Monsieur Bernard de Cressac, her godfather. With no money and fewer options, Sophie accepts, leaving her humble childhood home for the astonishingly lavish Wyndriven Abbey, in the heart of Mississippi.

Sophie has always longed for a comfortable life, and she finds herself both attracted to and shocked by the charm and easy manners of her overgenerous guardian. But as she begins to piece together the mystery of his past, it’s as if, thread by thread, a silken net is tightening around her. And as she gathers stories and catches whispers of his former wives—all with hair as red as her own—in the forgotten corners of the abbey, Sophie knows she’s trapped in the passion and danger of de Cressac’s intoxicating world.

Glowing strands of romance, mystery, and suspense are woven into this breathtaking debut—a thrilling retelling of the “Bluebeard” fairy tale.

Description taken from Goodreads

My Review

I don’t even know where to start with this book.   I have never heard of the Bluebeard fairytale before and I have to say that when I saw Strands of Bronze and Gold in the bookstore, the cover was what really attracted me to the book.  I never really got around to reading it and I was so happy when I heard Bookworms' Avenue was looking for Guest Reviewers and that this was one of the books that I could choose from.

So, I went into this book with absolutely no knowledge of what it was really about except from the blurb that I read on Goodreads.

Right off the bat, I knew something was off.  I was getting a really bad feeling from Monsieur de Cressac.  My alarm bells were ringing, telling Sophie to get out of that house.  But, of course, she didn’t listen to me.

Monsieur Bernard, as Sophie calls him, is one complex fellow.  I swear that he is bipolar or has multiple personality disorder or something.   There is something wrong with him.  One minute he is fine, showering Sophie in treasures and making sure that she has everything she wants.  The next he is ordering her what to wear or how to keep her hair.  It’s like watching something horrible on TV, wanting to look away but you just can’t seem to do it.  It does get to the point where it is terribly disturbing.  You have to realize that Sophie is only seventeen and that M. Bernard was one of her fathers’ friends.  So he’s probably in his forties.

I really did like Sophie, but she was just so naïve.  I understand that it’s mostly the time period that the novel is set in but throughout most of the book I couldn’t help but shake my head thinking, “You have GOT to be smarter than this!”  She would question things that weren’t quite right revolving around M. Bernard but she would quickly dismiss them because M. Bernard is just that charming.  He makes you believe everything he tells you whether or not you truly believe it’s right or not.  

Strands of Bronze and Gold had me so frustrated, but in a good way, of course.  Right when you think things are going to turn around for Sophie, everything comes crashing down and she has to start all over again.  It was exhausting to be honest.  These were my emotions throughout the book.

I still don’t know how to feel after finishing this novel.  I really don’t.

Anyway, I digress.

The writing in Strands of Bronze and Gold is magnificent.  The author, Jane Nickerson, did a superb job bringing her readers right into the nineteenth century.  Every detail that was described made me feel like I was right there and it was wonderful.  The language and the way things were worded were absolutely beautiful and breathtaking.  The descriptions of the clothing made me want to be from this time period, even though I can’t stand wearing dresses.  It was just THAT good.

The character development is also astounding.  Sophie starts out as a little girl who is thrilled by the simplest things.  Pretty new dresses, her bedroom and everything that occupies it.  By the end of the novel, she still is a bit naïve but she has turned into a young woman who is trying to fight for her family’s well being, her own life as well as her freedom.  It’s a great transformation.

Even though I had little to no knowledge of this fairytale, I still enjoyed it.  Was it my favorite read of all time?  Absolutely not, but it kept me entertained and held my curiosity enough to finish it.  Be warned though, it does start off very slow but the end is definitely worth it.

3.5 out of 5 hearts

My review will be featured on Bookworms' Avenue sometime in the near future.  So keep an eye out for that and while you're over there you should follow her blog!  It's the nice thing to do, really.

Review: Faking It by Cora Carmack

Well, now that I have recovered from BEA and stopped pouting over wanting to go back, I can finally put out a review.  

 Mackenzie “Max” Miller has a problem. Her parents have arrived in town for a surprise visit, and if they see her dyed hair, tattoos, and piercings, they just might disown her. Even worse, they’re expecting to meet a nice, wholesome boyfriend, not a guy named Mace who has a neck tattoo and plays in a band. All her lies are about to come crashing down around her, but then she meets Cade.

Cade moved to Philadelphia to act and to leave his problems behind in Texas. So far though, he’s kept the problems and had very little opportunity to take the stage. When Max approaches him in a coffee shop with a crazy request to pretend to be her boyfriend, he agrees to play the part. But when Cade plays the role a little too well, they’re forced to keep the ruse going. And the more they fake the relationship, the more real it begins to feel. 

Description taken from Goodreads

My Review

I actually got Faking It at BEA and I got to meet Cora Carmack.  She was awesome and very sweet.  I was just so happy to get this, it was at the top of my list to get and when I got out of that line and was carrying the book back to my sister, I was like this. 

 

Then I was like this.

 

It’s official.  I need help.

Anyways, on to the review!  Faking It is the companion novel to Losing It.  You don’t have to read Losing It in order to read Faking It, but it would be nice to read them in order because you would get that solid back-story.

I absolutely loved Losing It and I didn’t think it was possible to love Faking It more.  Surprise!  It’s possible.

 

Faking It has everything.  Drama, romance, badassery, sarcastic bickering.  I also felt like I was able to relate a bit more to the story.  I find myself very similar to Max, who seems to be the misfit of her family or the dark horse.  

We learn that Max has a dark secret that is tearing her apart inside but is trying to keep a strong outer shell.  We also see Cade as he is trying to get over Bliss.  Both are failing miserably at this.

I really loved the dual POVs.  It was awesome to read the situations through both Max and Cade’s eyes.  Both of their voices were fully developed and I felt like I knew who they were right off the bat but of course that wasn’t the case, they trick you into thinking that you know who they are.  That’s how amazing Carmacks writing is.  Each character has so many layers, that you have to keep peeling away to really get down into the nitty gritty part of their personalities and truly begin to understand what they are going through. 

The romance in this novel had me swooning just about every second.  It was real and heartbreaking and raw.  The emotion behind it was so earth shattering.  It was comforting but it was also frightening because you really didn’t know when or if shit was going to hit the fan.  And shit always hits the fan, does it not?

This novel is beautiful in its own way.  If you enjoyed Losing It then you are definitely going to enjoy Faking It.  It’s a great contemporary novel but it has a little kick to it and definitely one of the top books in this category.  

Faking It came out earlier this week on June 4.  Go out and pick it up right now!

 5 out of 5 hearts

(I could seriously look through Supernatural gifs all day.)

Feature and Follow (1)

 Hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read

" How does this work? The goal is to increase blog followers and make friends."

Q: Have you broken up with a series? If so which one and why?

A:  Why, yes I have, unfortunately.  There are a few series that come to mind for me.

Number 1

 

The Morganville Vampires 

This series was great, I loved the premise, I loved the romance between Claire and Shane but there are just so many books in this series.  I just kind of started to lose interest and didn't really care when a new book was released.  Maybe someday I'll revisit this series.

Number 2

The House of Night

The reason is pretty much the same as above.  The only other reason is that there was just too much going on this series.  Some of the plot choices just made me shake my head thinking, "Were the authors on drugs or something?"  Seriously.

I think I'll leave it at that for now.

What series have you broken up with?  Leave a comment and let me know!

If  you would like to follow me please use Bloglovin', I heard that GFC is kicking the bucket so Bloglovin' makes more sense.  

Be sure to tell me that you followed so I can return the favor!

Waiting on Wednesday (5): The Retribution of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #3) by Michelle Hodkin

Hosted by Breaking the Spine

 

There is no description yet but I don't care...I'll still read it no matter what.

Goodreads

Why I'm Waiting

If I can't read this book soon then I might go insane.  Which would be totally appropriate, I think.  I need to know what happens after that cliffhanger from The Evolution of Mara Dyer. 

Go get this on October 22!

What are you waiting for?  Let me know in the comments!

Teaser Tuesday (1): Faking It by Cora Carmack

Teaser Tuesday (1)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

  

Mackenzie “Max” Miller has a problem. Her parents have arrived in town for a surprise visit, and if they see her dyed hair, tattoos, and piercings, they just might disown her. Even worse, they’re expecting to meet a nice, wholesome boyfriend, not a guy named Mace who has a neck tattoo and plays in a band. All her lies are about to come crashing down around her, but then she meets Cade.

Cade moved to Philadelphia to act and to leave his problems behind in Texas. So far though, he’s kept the problems and had very little opportunity to take the stage. When Max approaches him in a coffee shop with a crazy request to pretend to be her boyfriend, he agrees to play the part. But when Cade plays the role a little too well, they’re forced to keep the ruse going. And the more they fake the relationship, the more real it begins to feel.

Description taken from Goodreads

Teasers:

"Max was honest.  Unafraid.  She was so comfortable in her skin.  And it was sexy as hell."

-page 102 of ARC 

"I wasn't used to that kind of affection.  I shied away from it in every other part of my life, but coming from him I soaked it up like rain on arid ground."

-page 222 of ARC  

Faking It came out today!  Go check it out! 

BookExpo America Experience + Giveaway!

 

So, I attended BEA on Saturday as a Power Reader and holy friggens was it amazing.  There were so many books and so many people.  It was so overwhelming, but in a good way, of course. 

My sister ending up coming with me and we both live in Connecticut so we had to wake up at around 3:30 am to get on a train a little bit before 6.  We managed to get there about a half hour before the floor opened and we got the gift bag from Macmillan Publishers.  So thank you to them.  The books aren't really my cup of tea, so I will be giving them away to some family members that I know will enjoy them.

I got to meet so many great people and authors.  It was an amazing experience.  I really wanted to meet Julie Kagawa and Katie Mcgarry but the line was just SO long that we couldn't even find the end of it.  But we realized that Jim Carrey (yes, THAT Jim Carrey) was signing near by so we ended up in that line.  We both got autographs and pictures with him, so that definitely made up for not meeting Julie and Katie.

I was totally freaking out on the inside.  If I had shown how excited I really was, I probably would have been escorted out of the building or possibly committed.

And here are all of the lovely books that I acquired over the course of the day.

 
PODs by Michelle Pickett
The Secret of Elle and Micha by Jessica Sorensen
Curse of the Broomstaff (Janitors #3) by Tyler Whitesides
Faking It by Cora Carmack
The Vicious Deep by Zoraida Cordova
Altered by Gennifer Albin
Perfection by J.L Spelbring
What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang

I'm so unbelievably happy that I could get all of these books.  I was so fortunate.  The authors that I managed to meet were just so nice and grateful.

As the day wound down, me and my sister were exhausted and we knew that we would have to walk all the way back to Grand Central in the horrible heat with so many bags filled with books so we both decided that it would be smart to take a cab back.  And luckily we found one as soon as we left the building.  I was SO happy.  I really hate the heat.  So. Much.

Now for the giveaway!
I know I don't have that many followers, but hopefully this will still be fun.
My only stipulation is that you are from the US (sorry if you're international)
The giveaway will start at midnight on June 4 and end on June 11

One winner will get everything in the picture below

 a Rafflecopter giveaway


Good Luck everyone!