Vixen

Summary:

"Jazz . . . Booze . . . Boys . . . It’s a dangerous combination. Every girl wants what she can’t have. Seventeen-year-old Gloria Carmody wants the flapper lifestyle—and the bobbed hair, cigarettes, and music-filled nights that go with it. Now that she’s engaged to Sebastian Grey, scion of one of Chicago’s most powerful families, Gloria’s party days are over before they’ve even begun . . . or are they? Clara Knowles, Gloria’s goody-two-shoes cousin, has arrived to make sure the high-society wedding comes off without a hitch—but Clara isn’t as lily-white as she appears. Seems she has some dirty little secrets of her own that she’ll do anything to keep hidden. . . .  Lorraine Dyer, Gloria’s social-climbing best friend, is tired of living in Gloria’s shadow. When Lorraine’s envy spills over into desperate spite, no one is safe. And someone’s going to be very sorry. . . . "

Plot: At first it was hard for me to get into this book, mainly cause I find similarities between the Luxe Series and this one. And although I have yet to read Bright Young Things (also, by the author of The Luxe Series) It also has 20's premise. But when you take the book for what it is, it has a nice intriguing story line, that is intriguing enough, but not unique.

Character: The three girls I enjoyed, you can't really dislike any of them too much. They each are there own person and Larkin distinguishes that pretty well, but telling each chapter in a different view point. She also, develops strong male characters and well as other supporting characters.

Pros: Fun, enticing and rip roaring 20's 

Cons: The insta- love, not enough build up between the characters. Also, on the page I was appalled to see a character using the phrase "Oh My Gawd..." Not my idea of proper 20's language. This instantly made me even more skeptical 

Final Thoughts: I feel the story line has already been done and it was pretty similar to Anna Godbersen's the Luxe Series. However, like i said when I read the book at face value and understood that it is hard to be completely original and you just need to add your own touch to it. Once, I did that I began to really enjoy the book. I fell in love with Jerome and Marcus (future MBBF's?) I felt I was reading a dirty love novel when they were each together with their leading ladies. Although kept quite G-Rated. I could feel their passion. The only thing was I wanted more build up. In general I wanted a little more build up. I didn't feel as if the book had enough description. It was set in the 20's but didn't feel like it was in the 20's much at all. Larkin did take her characters to interesting conclusions and the end of this book though and since I do like the girls, I am interested in seeing where these paths will lead them. 

In My Mailbox (13)

Hosted By The Story Siren

For Review:

Star Struck By Jane Lovering 

(Thank You Liz From ChocLit UK)

Where She Went

Summary:

"In the three years since the tragic accident Mia barely survived in If I Stay, she and high school ex-boyfriend Adam have lived separate lives on opposite coasts. But then Adam, now the dissatisfied front man of popular LA-based band Collateral Damage, stops over in New York City for one night before kicking off the European leg of his tour. It happens to be the same evening that Mia, now well on her way to becoming a renowned cellist, is performing at Carnegie Hall. Adam buys a ticket, planning to slip in and out, but Mia spots him and for the first time in years they’re face-to-face with each other and their shared past. Over the course of one evening, as Adam and Mia traverse the city’s streets, they relive the four days Mia spent in the intensive care unit as well as her departure to Juilliard and from the life she knew. Emotionally raw and incredibly moving, Gayle Forman again showcases her considerable talent for drawing complex characters who face impossible decisions and then bear the consequences."

Plot: I did not expect this plot, but I truly fell in love with it, because although Ideally we would want Adam and Mia to be together and be the Hollywood fairytale romance, reality is going through an accident like Mia had, changes a relationship, growing up changes a relationship, different ambitions changes a relationship. So I enjoyed how the story played out and how heart wrenching it was. I also liked that the story is told through Adam's POV. So major kudos to Forman! Also, while being realistic, Forman somehow brings in the "Hollywood" element into the book, sucking you in and wishing you were  Mia and living that night through New York.

Character: Three years can change people a lot, so I love how much growth Forman's characters had, how much matured they sounded while being true to who they are in the core of things. Plus, even though he smoked and became a "guy" as Mia says. I really fell in love with Adam in this book. Something about the edgy bad boy, with a good heart, that makes a girl melt.

Pros: Emotionally Compelling, Well Written, Cohesive with the 1st book..while being its own book, realistic.

Cons: I can't think of any.. and I have only said that about one other book. Maybe, I would have liked the touring process to go on more and extend the story; instead of being wrapped up nicely.

Final Thoughts: I died when I began reading this! I was sucked into and could not put it down, I just had to know where Mia and Adam were going, had gone, etc. I love the couples who make my heart start beating faster, put butterflies in my tummy and basically essentially make me envious of them. Not even always couples, but the connection between two people. I haven't felt this strong off a connection for a couple in a long time and the way  it was set up and written was just amazing. I mean really can this be turned into a movie?  This book is more the worth your time to read.

Paranormalcy

Summary:

"Sixteen-year-old Evie learns that she is not quite the person she thought she was in this creature-feature mash-up. Possessing the unique ability to recognize paranormals beneath their glamour, Evie has lived most of her life under the protection of the International Paranormal Containment Agreement (IPCA), an organization dedicated to the cataloging and neutralizing of paranormal creatures. After a mysterious entity begins killing paranormals around the world, Evie discovers some startling truths about her own identity. This is a fast-paced, entertaining debut, reminiscent of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series in its story of a seemingly normal girl coerced to work for a supernatural agenda that she doesn’t always understand. White creates compelling tension as Evie longs for a normal teenhood while trying to preserve the humanity she has always believed to be her birthright; a love triangle adds further conflict, as Evie must choose between not only two different interests but two starkly different destinies."

Plot: Although the plot was original in some ways, I also found it reminding me of many other paranormal books. Especially Hex Hall and Demon Glass.

Characters: I had stated in my Top Ten Tuesday, that I would like characters that are better written and don't seem to be like every other character. Unfortunately, Evie was too common of a character and although I grew to like her relationship with Lend. I didn't feel the connection and the whole transparency was hard for my brain to comprehend. In general the characters weren't as interesting as I had hoped.

Pros: Not the typical paranormal book.

Cons: Anti Climatic, It's a series.

Final Thoughts: OK, not that being a series is a bad thing, it is I just feel this book really ended well and doesn't really need a second book, nor am I crazy interested in reading it. I can see why there is one though. This book wasn't bad or anything. I read it rather quickly and enjoyed it and I always like seeing authors adaptions to paranormal creatures powers,weaknesses, etc. but I was not WOWed by this book.

Want Want Want Wedneday (18)

American Heiress By Daisy Goodwin

"Be careful what you wish for. Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the twentieth century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts’, suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. Nothing is quite as it seems, however: Ivo is withdrawn and secretive, and the English social scene is full of traps and betrayals. Money, Cora soon learns, cannot buy everything, as she must decide what is truly worth the price in her life and her marriage"

I am a thing for anything Historical.. whether fiction or non-fiction and as of lately I have become quite interested in the East Coast Royalty. Vanderbilts, DuPonts,  Rockafellars..etc. Probably cause my wedding is kind of themed with that kind of ere to it.

Ripple By Mandy Hubbard

"Lexi is cursed with a dark secret. Each day she goes to school like a normal teenager, and each night she must swim, or the pain will be unbearable. She is a siren - a deadly mermaid destined to lure men to their watery deaths. After a terrible tragedy, Lexi shut herself off from the world, vowing to protect the ones she loves. But she soon finds herself caught between a new boy at school who may have the power to melt her icy exterior, and a handsome water spirit who says he can break Lexi's curse if she gives up everything else. Lexi is faced with the hardest decision she's ever had to make: the life she's always longed for - or the love she can't live without?"

Mermaids/Sirens? New Paranormal Genre, I am in! Plus, I have heard more then enough awesome buzz about this book, which sold me on it.


Dearly, Departed By Lia Habel

"Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?

The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.

But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire."

 Does this not sound epic and quite original? I am pretty stoked for the whole zombie thing. Especially, since my fiance is obsessed with zombies.

Top Ten Tuesday: What I Want to See Less and More Of..

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

1. More Mermaids - I am over Vampires and Werewolves for now. I want new paranormal and I like the idea of mermaids.

2. More Creative Unique Plot Lines

3. More Authentic YA Mystery/Crime

4. LESS Extremely Sarcastic Characters- I feel I read so many books with the main character being a witty, sarcastic female and you know what, after awhile I feel I am reading different books with the same character.

5. Less Buys Ebooks and More Buying REAL books. - I know this is an odd one, but although technically there isn't anything wrong with an ereader. I feel nothing beats a real book and if we want the book industry to stay afloat and less book stores closing.. then you have to actually get the books!

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You

Summary:

"Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school—that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class.  The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses but it’s really a school for spies. 

Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she’s an ordinary girl.  Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real “pavement artist”—but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her? Cammie Morgan may be an elite spy-in-training, but in her sophomore year, she’s on her most dangerous mission—falling in love."

Plot: The plot is pretty straight forward and simple. Cleverly written and a nice innocent YA plot. I would have actually preferred it to be a little longer though, so that it could build a little more story around the whole plot. Cause I did feel like the end was speedily wrapped up.

Characters: I found Cammie to be a cute, funny and an age appropriate character. The other characters though were not as well written as Cammie, which kind of makes sense since Cammie is the main character, but at the same time doesn't cause they are kind of key roles to the story.

Pros: Easy, Fun, Cute and FUNNY. I enjoyed Cammie's sarcasm and I like how the book was written like it was a spy report.

Cons: Ended too quickly.

Final Thoughts: I sped through reading this book and the whole time I was smiling and laughing to myself. The whole idea of a Gallagher Girl being behind almost all the famous world events or stopping many was pretty cool and the realism in the fact of how teenage girl react and over analyze boys is historical.. even more when you have girls who are spies. I will most definitely read the whole series and recommend you do too!