Showing posts with label Romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Romance. Show all posts

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Book Review: The Casquette Girls by Alys Arden


The Casquette Girls
by
Alys Arden
Genre: Young-adult, Paranormal, Romance

Seven girls tied by time.
Five powers that bind.
One curse to lock the horror away.
One attic to keep the monsters at bay.

After the storm of the century rips apart New Orleans, sixteen-year-old Adele Le Moyne wants nothing more than her now silent city to return to normal. But with home resembling a war zone, a parish-wide curfew, and mysterious new faces lurking in the abandoned French Quarter, normal needs a new definition.

As the city murder rate soars, Adele finds herself tangled in a web of magic that weaves back to her own ancestors. Caught in a hurricane of myths and monsters, who can she trust when everyone has a secret and keeping them can mean life or death? Unless . . . you’re immortal.


I wanted to like this more than I did. I really do. The blurb sounds amazing and intriguing enough for me to pick this book up. I wonder why MC's and romance have to fuck everything up for me. I don't know if it's just me, but the romance department of some of the YA books I've read lately annoys the shit out of me. It's just so frustrating and disappointing.
"I felt very tiny, like a pawn in a life-size game of chess where the stakes were real. How many wrong moves have I made, unaware that I was even a player?"
I have no idea what this story is about when I started reading it. I was pleasantly charmed and intrigued with the setting of the book, but aside from the characters and romance that pretty-much put me off, I also didn't appreciate how the story is so eventful but still make the story somehow drags.

A storm has almost swept the New Orleans apart. The damaged was bad, so bad that the government turns a blind eye on what's happening of the place and when the initial news and excitement has died down, it's like people of New Orleans was left to fend of themselves, which I find utterly ridiculous. The place is just starting to get on their feet after the nasty storm, if it isn't bad enough, dead bodies after dead bodies are found in the streets drained with blood and the government and even the media has decided to let them deal with their problem. Its like New Orleans was temporarily removed of the map to conveniently cater the story. There goes your world building.

But to its credit, the book made a very good job at advertising New Orleans because it got me really intrigued. I fell inlove with New Orleans and the introduction of the Casquette girls. I think that it's amazing and unique. I even started looking through google images what New Orleans look like and to know more information about the Casquette girls and the writing was great! That's pretty much the reason why I stick with the story, all other thing was a turn off for me.

The story started out so great, then the MC suddenly met 2 mysteriously sibling hot guys and another 1 in a cafe. the story started to freaking dragged i struggled not to actually start reading backwards to just know what will eventually happen.

I also think that this book is quite a hypocrite. I mean, it is so strongly against to the idea of sparkling vampires(which is ridiculous), but have no problem making the vampire blush and have flickered heartbeat in this book. Well, I guess if the author wants their vampires to blush, sparkle or have a heartbeat, who am I to judge?

description

This book had a great potential and superb writing. If unnecessary romance doesn't annoy you, then by all means don't let my review scare you away from reading this book.

Book Links:




ALYS ARDEN grew up in the Vieux Carré, cut her teeth on the streets of New York, and has worked all around the world since. She still plans to run away with the circus one day.





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Saturday, October 24, 2015

Book Review: Undertow by K.R. Conway

Undertow (Undertow #1)
by
K.R. Conway
Genre: Young-adult, Paranormal, Romance
Eila Walker knows luck is not a friend, so she is downright shocked to inherit a million-dollar Cape Cod home. And yeah, her new town isn't perfect: the cheerleaders are heinous clones, the local undertow can kill ya, and her Great Grams was supposedly fried by lightning in the harbor square. Still, Eila is hopeful her luckless days are in the past . . . until history decides to repeat itself.

When Raef O’Reilly becomes her friendly, yet weirdly protective shadow, Eila thinks life is pretty darn perfect – until she is hauled beneath the waves by an unnatural undertow. Revealing coal-black eyes and iron-like strength as he rescues her, Raef can no longer hide what he is . . . or what she can do. Eila, last of her kind, can supposedly channel the power of human souls, while Raef is more adept at stealing them. Even worse, the legend about her ancestor isn't such a myth, since Eila’s grandmother was one kick-butt warrior until her lightning-like power backfired. A power that is written all over Eila's DNA.

Determined to stay one step ahead of a dangerous clan that is hunting her, Raef, along with three unlikely allies, will do all they can to protect her. But as hidden pieces of their brutal histories unravel, Eila begins to understand just what went down in the harbor square. She soon realizes that following in her grandmother’s fearless footsteps may be the only way to save those she loves . . . including Raef.


3 Stars

Undertow contains majority of the things I hated in Paranormal Novel... Predictable plot, instalove, hot-transfer guy, common evil cheerleader squad, a couple of slut-shaming and a Mary Sue character, I shouldn't be able to like this book by default....

But damn, I had a blast!

description


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Friday, October 2, 2015

Book Review: Lumière by Jacqueline Garlick

Lumière
(The Illumination Paradox #1)

by
Jacqueline Garlick
Genre: Young-adult, Fantasy, Romance, Steampunk
One determined girl. One resourceful boy. One miracle machine that could destroy everything.

After an unexplained flash shatters her world, seventeen-year-old Eyelet Elsworth sets out to find the Illuminator, her father’s prized invention. With it, she hopes to cure herself of her debilitating seizures before Professor Smrt—her father’s arch nemesis—discovers her secret and locks her away in an asylum.

Pursued by Smrt, Eyelet locates the Illuminator only to see it whisked away. She follows the thief into the world of the unknown, compelled not only by her quest but by the allure of the stranger—Urlick Babbit—who harbors secrets of his own.

Together, they endure deadly Vapours and criminal-infested woods in pursuit of the same prize, only to discover the miracle machine they hoped would solve their problems may in fact be their biggest problem of all.


2star

"Living in eternal twilight might sound romantic, but it's not. It's simply depressing"
Sounds intriguing right?

Tbh, Lumière got my attention with its gorgeous cover. But to be fair, this book totally sounds amazing as well.. it just didn't work out for me.

The plot was all over the place, confusing as hell world building in an alternate world of England, everything was spoon-fed to readers to the point that reading it get's totally boring, the characters were a total fail too. Sometimes, when a book tries so hard to portray the MC as strong and perfect, they most likely to end up as annoying and a stupid character on my eyes.

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Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Waiting on Wednesday #8: Bookishly Ever After

WaitingonWednesday

It's Wednesday! And it is the day we think of the long list of book we wanted to read...Badly.

This week, my Waiting on Wednesday featured book will be.. Bookishly Ever After by Isabel Bandeira

I just seen this book today and I'd added it on my TBR right-away! I mean, How can I not? Aside from the the very catchy title, Just look at its premise! It's like every Bookish Girl's Dream! A real boy captured a heart of a bookish girl! How awesome is that?

**GRABBY HANDS**

Grabbyhands

Expected Publication date:January 19th 2016

EndofDays

winter Bookishly Ever After
by
Isabel Bandeira
(Website|Twitter)

In a perfect world, sixteen-year-old Phoebe Martins’ life would be a book. Preferably a YA novel with magic and a hot paranormal love interest. Unfortunately, her life probably wouldn’t even qualify for a quiet contemporary. But when Phoebe finds out that Dev, the hottest guy in the clarinet section, might actually have a crush on her, she turns to her favorite books for advice. Phoebe overhauls her personality to become as awesome as her favorite heroines and win Dev’s heart. But if her plan fails, can she go back to her happy world of fictional boys after falling for the real thing?


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Saturday, July 11, 2015

e-ARC Book Review: Remember by Shannon Dermott

GoddessTest Remember
by
Shannon Dermott
(Website|Twitter)
When sixteen year old Charlize finds herself unmistakably lost in the forest with no memory how she got there, it was easy for her to assume the angel face boy who saves her was there to. But little did she know that couldn’t be further from the truth.

With a brush of death, she finds new reasons to live after the unexplained death of her father. Her only regret in last three years was letting the one boy she could have loved get away.

Plunged into a world not of her making, there are those that will hunt her, a foe that calls her Little Queen, and her torn heart. Most of all, she will have to remember and face her memories if she is to survive.

3 Stars

***I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review***

First of all, I'am so glad they changed the cover to what it is now, because it was so much better than the cover in the ARC... Anyway..

Back to the review.
Plunged into a world not of her making, there are those that will hunt her, a foe that calls her Little Queen, and her torn heart. Most of all, she will have to remember and face her memories if she is to survive.
I honestly don't know what I was expecting when I started reading this book. The cover was what took my attention and after reading the blurb I was a little bit intrigued since it doesn't really gave out any hint, but this paranormal YA book is unexpectedly fun. I was actually surprised. Although I did have some issues with this book, I was able to look past it because like I said, this book was surprisingly good, plot and character wise.


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Friday, July 10, 2015

Book Review: The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

GoddessTest The Goddess Test
by
Aimee Carter
(Website|Twitter)
Every girl who had taken the test has died.

Now it's Kate's turn.


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 that 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.

If she fails...

DNF

DNF at 28%

I know that this was supposed to be a "Fresh take on the Greek Myths", but I just can't buy this, if this is how a fresh take on the Greek Myth is, I'll rather stick to the original Myth. Thank you.

itried

I really did try you know. You see, I wanted to read this book for a long time seeing that a lot of my friends here in GR have liked it and most of them gave this a 5 star rating, also, I'am a sucker for Greek Gods stories ever since the Percy Jackson series and The Covenant. This has been one of my highly anticipated read, then i read it and I wish I didn't. **SMH


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Monday, July 6, 2015

Book Review: Storm (Elemental #1) by Brigid Kemmerer

Storm Storm
by
Brigid Kemmerer
(Website|Twitter)
Earth, Fire, Air, Water – they have more power than you dream.

Ever since her ex-boyfriend spread those lies about her, Becca Chandler is suddenly getting all the guys—all the ones she doesn't want. Then she saves Chris Merrick from a beating in the school parking lot. Chris is different. Way different: he can control water—just like his brothers can control fire, wind, and earth. They’re powerful. Dangerous. Marked for death.

And now that she knows the truth, so is Becca.

Secrets are hard to keep when your life’s at stake. When Hunter, the mysterious new kid around school, turns up with a talent for being in the wrong place at the right time, Becca thinks she can trust him. But then Hunter goes head-to-head with Chris, and Becca wonders who’s hiding the most dangerous truth of all.

The storm is coming . . .


4star

Storm has been out for almost 3 years now. Why did I read it just now? I honestly didn't like the cover of the book. It has been sitting around my SCRBD account for a while now. I don't know what kind of spirit possessed me that made me pick up this book, but I want to find it and kiss it and thank it! Because of it I was able to read one of my best read this year.


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Sunday, July 5, 2015

Book Review: The Book of Ivy by Amy Engel

Cursed The Book of Ivy
by
Amy Engel
(Website|Twitter)
After a brutal nuclear war, the United States was left decimated. A small group of survivors eventually banded together, but only after more conflict over which family would govern the new nation. The Westfalls lost. Fifty years later, peace and control are maintained by marrying the daughters of the losing side to the sons of the winning group in a yearly ritual.

This year, it is my turn.

My name is Ivy Westfall, and my mission is simple: to kill the president’s son—my soon-to-be husband—and restore the Westfall family to power.

But Bishop Lattimer is either a very skilled actor or he’s not the cruel, heartless boy my family warned me to expect. He might even be the one person in this world who truly understands me. But there is no escape from my fate. I am the only one who can restore the Westfall legacy.

Because Bishop must die. And I must be the one to kill him…


3 Stars

The Book of Ivy was.. Unexpected. It was not bad, but it wasn't necessarily awesome like I thought it was going to be.



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Saturday, July 4, 2015

Book Review: Touch of Death by Kelly Hashway

Touchofdeath Touch of Death
by
Kelly Hashway
(Website|Twitter)
Jodi Marshall isn't sure how she went from normal teenager to walking disaster. One minute she's in her junior year of high school, spending time with her amazing boyfriend and her best friend. The next she's being stalked by some guy no one seems to know. After the stranger, Alex, reveals himself, Jodi learns he's not a normal teenager and neither is she. With a kiss that kills and a touch that brings the dead back to life, Jodi discovers she's part of a branch of necromancers born under the 13th sign of the zodiac, Ophiuchus. A branch of necromancers that are descendants of Medusa. A branch of necromancers with poisoned blood writhing in their veins. Jodi's deadly to the living and even more deadly to the deceased. She has to leave her old, normal life behind before she hurts the people she loves. As if that isn't difficult enough, Jodi discovers she's the chosen one who has to save the rest of her kind from perishing at the hands of Hades. If she can't figure out how to control her power, history will repeat itself, and her race will become extinct.

5star
I lost interest and attempted to DNF it on 40%,but i didn't. I thought 40% is a little bit unfair to judge the book, so it took me until 70% to say that I've finally read enough.


Seriously. I've read a lot of painful books before, hell, I even Managed to finish Fallen and Hush Hush, and even The Selection without hurting anyone. If you read touch of death, you'll be touched by death seriously, to think I already struggled through the book before 50%, this book has potential, and I am being sarcastic if you haven't realize yet.


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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Book Review: The Return(Titan #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Cursed The Return
by
Jennifer L. Armentrout
(Website|Twitter)
The Fates are cackling their bony asses off…

It’s been a year since Seth made the deal with the gods that pledged his life to them. And so far, the jobs they’ve given him have been violent and bloody–which is kind of all right with him. But now Apollo has something else in mind for Seth. He’s got to play protector while keeping his hands and fingers off, and for someone who really has a problem with restraint, this new assignment might be the most challenging yet.

Josie has no idea what this crazy hot guy’s deal might be, but it’s a good bet that his arrival means the new life she started after leaving home is about to be thrown into an Olympian-sized blender turned up to puree. Either Josie is going insane or a nightmare straight out of ancient myth is gunning for her.

But it might be the unlikely attraction simmering between her and the golden-eyed, secret-keeping Seth that may prove to be the most dangerous thing of all.

Because history has once again been flipped to repeat.

Book 1 in the new adult paranormal TITAN series, spin-off to the best selling COVENANT series.

5star
"Because history has once again been flipped to repeat"
Oh my Gods! I never would have thought how powerful that statement was until I finished the book. The Return just gave me a lot of feels! Can't believe I managed to finished it, no nothing dramatic like one sitting, but yeah close to that, like two or maybe three sitting and no I'am not joking. NVM, I don't know, all I know is I'am babbling right now because this book is just definitely too beautiful for my own good. My feels are still all over the place.




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Saturday, June 27, 2015

Book Review: Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Cursed Cursed
by
Jennifer L. Armentrout
(Website|Twitter)
Dying sucks
...and high school senior Ember McWilliams knows firsthand.

After a fatal car accident, her gifted little sister brought her back. Now anything Ember touches dies. And that, well, really blows.

Ember operates on a no-touch policy with all living things--including boys. When Hayden Cromwell shows up, quoting Oscar Wilde and claiming her curse is a gift, she thinks he's a crazed cutie. But when he tells her he can help control it, she's more than interested. There's just one catch: Ember has to trust Hayden's adopted father, a man she's sure has sinister reasons for collecting children whose abilities even weird her out. However, she's willing to do anything to hold her sister's hand again. And hell, she'd also like to be able to kiss Hayden. Who wouldn't?

But when Ember learns the accident that turned her into a freak may not've been an accident at all, she's not sure who to trust. Someone wanted her dead, and the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she is to losing not only her heart, but her life.

For real this time.

3 Stars
"I was way too focused on the fact that I didn't want to be one of those statues in the museums-never moving, never changing- to forever be the girl who couldn't even touch a plant"
Ember, Em, lived a good life. She had an amazing family, a gifted sister, loving parents, and she's popular at their school, everyone knows her, she's a cheerleader and have a hot and quarterback boyfriend to top it all.. until she died. Yep, died, dead, passed away, expired.. gone. Then her forever talented and gifted sister brought her back to life.

How convenient.


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