Review: Hunted

December 29, 2011

Summary: Caitlyn, a telepath, lives in a world where all paranormal talents are illegal. She is on the run from government ParaTroopers. When Caitlyn falls for Alex, a Normal, and discovers dangerous renegade Paranormals, she must choose between staying in hiding to protect herself or taking a stand to save the world.

My Thoughts: I recently read, and enjoyed Cheryl Rainfield’s Scars. When I was offered Hunted for review, I thought it sounded interesting. I already knew I liked Cheryl’s writing, so I figured why not. I am so glad I did.

Hunted is amazing. I think it shows the author’s talent as a writer better than Scars did. Don’t get me wrong. Scars is very good and very well-written, but I think this is even more so. This had my attention from the get-go, and didn’t let go. (If it wasn’t for Christmas-related things, I would’ve read this in one day.) The action starts from the very first sentence, and it really doesn’t let up. The world is a scary place, and you get a good feel for how hard life can be for those with Talent.

Caitlyn is a wonderful main character. She’s strong, smart, and very likable. The one thing that maybe could be a flaw is that she’s too nice. Despite her better judgment, she’s too trusting. Too willing to let Normals in. But, she knows what’s right, and she sticks up for those without a voice.

Alex is an interesting love interest. He’s sweet, and almost too good to be true. But, it’s nice to have a decent guy for the heroine. Daniel, on the other hand, is scary. Kind of the polar opposite to Alex. (And, for the record, I did not see Daniel coming – read the book and you’ll understand what I’m saying!)

There were a couple of characters I felt needed more depth. Becca is one. She clearly has quite the story, and we don’t really see much of it at all. A teeny-tiny glimpse, but nothing that satisfies those who want to know why she’s such a bitch – especially to Caitlyn. Rachel is the other one. We get a little bit more information about her than we did about Becca, but I’d like to know more.

Overall, Hunted is a fantastic novel. The ending was satisfying, but left it open to possibly more from Caitlyn and/or her world. I sure hope we get more! I would highly recommend Hunted!

Source: Received e-book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Read It: Get your own copy HERE. (This is a Powell’s Books link, and purchase through this link will result in my receiving a small commission at no cost to you. Your support is appreciated!)

Challenges: Counts for the 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge and the 2nds Challenge (second book I read by Cheryl Rainfield).

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Leave a Comment Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: 100 Books in a Year Challenge 2011, 2nds Challenge 2011, 4.5 stars, Cheryl Rainfield, favorites, kindle, review

Review: Don’t Breathe a Word (with GIVEAWAY)

December 27, 2011

Don’t Breathe a Word by Holly Cupala

Summary: Joy Delamere is suffocating.

From asthma, from her parents, and from her boyfriend, delectably dangerous Asher, who is smothering her from the inside out. Joy can take his words —tender words, cruel words— until the night they go too far.

Now, Joy will leave everything behind to find the one who has offered his help, a homeless boy called Creed. She will become someone else. She will learn to survive. She will breathe… if only she can get to Creed before it’s too late.

My Thoughts: What an excellent, excellent book. The characters are well-developed, and the plot is anything but predictable. Nothing really big was revealed too soon, but enough was shared to keep the reader satisfied. Bits and pieces, small bite-sized morsels are left throughout the book. As the story progresses, these pieces fill in the missing gaps, and by the end the picture is crystal clear.

What a fabulously written account of the more subtle side of abuse and life on the streets. Physical abuse is a hot topic, but the quieter, verbal, emotional, manipulative side of abuse is what drives Joy/Triste to seek out Creed and try to find a way out. The account of how it works, how she responds, and her resulting shame is very believable, and so saddening. Then to watch her trying to adjust to life on the streets … it’s really something. And the ending is completely satisfying, which seems to be somewhat of a rare commodity lately. When a book is so well-written, and the end so well put together, how can one not love it?

Will I read this again? You bet. Would I recommend it? Highly.

Source: Received through The {Teen} Book Scene for review. (Click the button below for more tour stops.)

Read It: Don’t Breathe a Word is scheduled for release on January 3, 2012. You can pre-order your own copy HERE. (This is a Book Depository link, and purchase through this link will result in my receiving a small commission at no cost to you. Your support is appreciated!)

Challenges: Counts for the 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge.

Find me on Goodreads.com >>

About the GIVEAWAY

Harper has been kind enough to give Holly enough copies of Don’t Breathe a Word to do one prize per day of the tour!

Here are the details:

There will be one book given per day, drawn weekly. Everything entered by Saturday night will be put into a drawing on Sunday.
The points DO accumulate, meaning entries put in for week one are still going to count for the drawings in weeks 2 and 3.

ENTRIES:

There is one automatic entry (with no requirements other than filling out the form)
For every post you comment on, you get one entry.
You will have to link to the blog post you commented on.
There is an extra entry if you tweet, facebook, do a blog post or include on your blog sidebar. It is one for each of these, but only 1 per type (meaning you can’t tweet every day and get points for it… it’s just one tweet)
You need to fill out the form EACH time you do something to enter. If there is no link, the entry does not count (beyond the first initial entry, which has no link needed)

There will be a maximum of ONE international winner a week, assuming an international person gets drawn. In the case of an international winner, he or she will be getting a copy from The Book Depository.

Winners in the U.S. and Canada will received their copy directly from Holly – and it will be signed.

The final drawing will held Sunday, January 15, and will include all entries through midnight CST Sat, Jan 14.

To enter, fill out the form linked!

ENTER HERE!

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19 Comments Filed Under: blog tour, Reviews Tagged With: 100 Books in a Year Challenge 2011, 5 stars, blog tour, Holly Cupala, review, The {Teen} Book Scene, YA

Review: Dead to You

December 23, 2011

Dead to You by Lisa McMann

Summary: Ethan was abducted from his front yard when he was just seven years old. Now, at sixteen, he has returned to his family. It’s a miracle… at first. Then the tensions start to build. His reintroduction to his old life isn’t going smoothly, and his family is tearing apart all over again. If only Ethan could remember something, anything, about his life before, he’d be able to put the pieces back together. But there’s something that’s keeping his memory blocked. Something unspeakable…

My Thoughts: We start at the train station, when Ethan arrives and meets his family for the first time in 9 years. This is told in Ethan’s voice, and it’s told very well. He’s sympathetic, and the issues he ends up having with his brother made me wonder what was wrong with his brother. The truth behind the blocked memory really is shocking, but it was nothing like what I’d expected. Which is good – not that it’s a good shock. It’s just nice not to see it coming.

Dead to You had my attention from the get-go. I wouldn’t say it’s unputdownable, but it was something I wanted to keep reading. I wanted to find out what was going on. What was his brother’s problem? He came across to me as really disturbed. I LOVED the interaction between Ethan and his sister. Those parts warmed my heart.

Overall, I enjoyed Dead to You. While I would recommend it to others, I don’t think I’ll read it again. It’s not because I didn’t like it – I did. It’s because I already know the big reveal, and not knowing what was going on was what kept me reading.

Source: Received through Around The World Tours for review.

Read It: Dead to You is scheduled for release on February 7, 2012. You can pre-order your own copy HERE. (This is a Book Depository link, and purchase through this link will result in my receiving a small commission at no cost to you. Your support is appreciated!)

Challenges: Counts for the 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge and the 2nds Challenge (second in a series AND second book I read by Leah Clifford).

Find me on Goodreads.com >>
♥

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3 Comments Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: 100 Books in a Year Challenge 2011, 2nds Challenge 2011, 3.5 stars, ARC, Around the World Tours, Lisa McMann, review, YA

Review: Jane Was Here

December 20, 2011

Jane Was Here by Sarah Kernochan

Summary: A mysterious young woman called Jane appears in a small New England town. She claims a fragmentary memory of growing up in this place, yet she has never been here before in her life. Searching for an explanation, she arrives at the unthinkable: that she is somehow connected to a beautiful girl who disappeared from the town in 1853. Is she recalling a past life? Jane becomes convinced of it. As she presses onward to find out what happened in this town over 150 years ago, strange and alarming things begin happening to some of the town’s inhabitants. A thunderhead of karmic justice gathers over the village as Jane’s memories reawaken piece by piece. They carry her back in time to a long-buried secret, while the townspeople hurtle forward to a horrific event when past and present fatally collide.

My Thoughts: Um, I’m not sure what to say. It was a struggle for me to get into this book. It’s divided into three parts, the first of which was really, really hard for me to care about. I didn’t really meet any characters I cared all that much for. No one is really much of a decent person – everyone has some dark, horrible thing. I found I couldn’t really care for most of the characters. And I felt like things were all over the place. It took a long time for me to figure out why we jumped from here to there to him to her, etc. I remember at one point wondering what the heck is actually going on in this bizarre narrative. I almost gave up on this book; if I hadn’t agreed to review it, I definitely wouldn’t have finished. But, it did get better.

The second part is a series of letters that were written almost 200 years ago. That means they’re written in a more formal language. They are interesting, and tell us a LOT of what we need to know to fully understand a significant part of the story. The more formal language isn’t all that hard to read; it just takes a bit longer until your brain adjusts. LOL These letters made me care a bit more about the story, the characters, and finding out how it would all come together.

The final part kept me reading. It was interesting, fast-paced, and not in the least bit confusing. I think at this point the reader knows enough about everyone that s/he no longer feels confused by everything thrown at him/her. I still can’t say I cared all that much about these people – except maybe Brett. I thought the way everything played out was quite interesting, and mostly satisfactory.

Despite my liking the third part of the book, I can’t say I liked the whole book all that much. Will I read this again? Highly doubtful. Would I recommend this? Probably not. Although, this makes me think a little about Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving, which is odd, because I liked that a lot more.

Anyway, I think I was expecting a more exciting read from start to finish, and didn’t really get that. Still, overall, people seem to enjoy Jane Was Here. Make sure to check out more tour stops to see other opinions and reactions!

Source: Received through Crazy Book Tours for review.

Read It: Get your own copy HERE. (This is a Book Depository link, and purchase through this link will result in my receiving a small commission at no cost to you. Your support is appreciated!)

Tour Info: For the main page for this blog tour, including more reviews of this book on other blogs, visit the tour post HERE.

Challenges: Counts for the 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge.

Find me on Goodreads.com >>
♥

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2 Comments Filed Under: blog tour, Reviews Tagged With: 100 Books in a Year Challenge 2011, 2.5 stars, blog tour, Crazy Book Tours, review, Sarah Kernochan

Review: Incarnate

December 17, 2011

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Summary: NEWSOUL
Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

NOSOUL
Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

HEART
Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

My Thoughts: Let me start by saying that I’m sick, and have been all week. So, while I want to write an awesome review for this awesome book, I’m not sure if my mind can handle that at the moment. So, my apologies, especially to author Jodi Meadows!

Incarnate is fabulous. Very well-written, very unique, and a whole lot of fun. There were times when Ana drove me nuts – she’s so negative – but I know it’s the result of years of abuse under Li, her mother. What I don’t get is why Li was such a bitch to her. I get that Ciana was gone forever, but I didn’t get why Li would be such a horrible mother to her child. It’s not like it was Ana’s fault! I didn’t feel that dynamic was explained well. Was Ciana something to Li, like Li’s soul mate or something? Perhaps we’ll find out as the series progresses. I hope so, as this was one huge problem for me.

I gotta say, these reincarnated people are either idiots or willingly blind. Ana, being new, sees a lot of things that no one appears to be questioning – except maybe her father. Biggest one: What’s up with the temple? Why do the dragons ALWAYS go for it? There has to be something to it. Has to. Why is it that no one seems to think much of it, apart from Ana, of course?

I like how Ana’s existence shows just how complacent the oldsouls (is that what they are called?) are. Clearly they’ve gotten too comfortable in their lives, and don’t stop to look around them. Ana notices things no one else appears to. I can’t wait to see what happens next! While the negativity got annoying, I grew to really like Ana. And maybe that’s because she grows a lot in this book.

Problems aside, this is a fantastic YA fantasy book that I would highly recommend. Don’t look for it to be like any others you’ve read before. It’s refreshingly unique and a whole lotta fun. In case I haven’t said it enough: I cannot wait to see what happens next!

Source: Received through Around The World Tours for review.

Read It: Incarnate is scheduled for release on January 31, 2012. You can pre-order your own copy HERE. (This is a Book Depository link, and purchase through this link will result in my receiving a small commission at no cost to you. Your support is appreciated!)

Challenges: Counts for the 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge.

Find me on Goodreads.com >>
♥

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2 Comments Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: 100 Books in a Year Challenge 2011, 4.5 stars, ARC, Around the World Tours, fantasy, favorites, Jodi Meadows, Newsoul, review, YA

Review: The Daughter She Used to Be

December 13, 2011

The Daughter She Used to Be by Rosalind Noonan

Summary: The daughter of a career cop, Bernadette Sullivan grew up with blue uniforms hanging in the laundry room and cops laughing around the dinner table. Her brothers joined New York’s finest, her sister married a cop, and Bernie is an assistant District Attorney. Collaring criminals, putting them away – it’s what they do. And though lately Bernie feels a growing desire for a family of her own, she’s never questioned her choices. Then a shooter targets a local coffee shop, and tragedy strikes the Sullivan family. Anger follows grief – and Bernie realizes that her father’s idea of retribution is very different from her own. All her life, she’s inhabited a clear-cut world of right and wrong, of morality and corruption. As Bernie struggles to protect the people she loves, she must also decide what it means to see justice served. And in her darkest hour, she will find out just what it means to be her father’s daughter.

My Thoughts: As I started reading, I was reminded of Every Last One by Anna Quindlen. We start with seeing Bernie and her family’s day-to-day life before – BAM! – tragedy strikes. Unlike Quindlen’s book, I wasn’t blindsided by the violence in this one – it’s told pretty clearly in every synopsis I’ve found. Still, it is highly emotional and packs quite the punch. And the aftermath is no less emotional. Watching Bernie evolve from the daughter she used to be to the woman she was meant to be is fulfilling. She is worried about the repercussions to letting her father down, but doesn’t let that sway her from doing what she feels is right.

Always told in third-person, we get varying points of view. We see Sarah, Mary Kate, and Sully’s perspective, but it’s clear that Bernie is the primary focus. I found that many things were a bit predictable, but there were many unforeseen (at least by me) events. The conclusion is quite dramatic, but not over-the-top. And the epilogue is perfect.

I recommend The Daughter She Used to Be to those who don’t mind a dramatic, emotional read. Make sure to have tissues nearby! I look forward to reading more books by Rosalind Noonan.

4 Stars

Source: Received through Crazy Book Tours for review.

Read It: Get your own copy HERE. (This is a Book Depository link, and purchase through this link will result in my receiving a small commission at no cost to you. Your support is appreciated!)

Tour Info: For the main page for this blog tour, including more reviews of this book on other blogs, visit the tour post HERE.

Challenges: Counts for the 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge.

Find me on Goodreads.com >>
♥

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1 Comment Filed Under: blog tour, Reviews Tagged With: 100 Books in a Year Challenge 2011, 4 stars, blog tour, Crazy Book Tours, review, Rosalind Noonan

Review: Hushed

December 9, 2011

Hushed by Kelley York

Summary: He’s saved her. He’s loved her. He’s killed for her.

Eighteen-year-old Archer couldn’t protect his best friend, Vivian, from what happened when they were kids, so he’s never stopped trying to protect her from everything else. It doesn’t matter that Vivian only uses him when hopping from one toxic relationship to another—Archer is always there, waiting to be noticed.

Then along comes Evan, the only person who’s ever cared about Archer without a single string attached. The harder he falls for Evan, the more Archer sees Vivian for the manipulative hot-mess she really is.

But Viv has her hooks in deep, and when she finds out about the murders Archer’s committed and his relationship with Evan, she threatens to turn him in if she doesn’t get what she wants… And what she wants is Evan’s death, and for Archer to forfeit his last chance at redemption.

My Thoughts: I’m not sure what to say about this book. I have seen many, many positive, glowing reviews. Unfortunately, I guess it’s just not my forte. Or something.

Archer drove me nuts at first. His attitude, his perceptions, his reasoning behind things. I will say, though, that he grows a lot through the course of the story. While his character growth is actually impressive, the rest of the book left much to be desired – at least for me. Vivian was unbelievable. And not in a complimentary way. I mean more that she’s unrealistic – not at first, when she’s barely around. When she finally is somewhat more prominent in the story, she’s so out there that it just doesn’t work. This book reeked of melodrama, which I just hate. Evan starts as the most likable character, but his affability is lost once he becomes aware of just how messed up Archer is. And, no, I don’t have a problem with messed up characters/people. I just find little plausibility in someone overlooking – and helping to cover up – a series of killings. Oh, yes, Archer is a serial killer who somehow gets away with it. Sure, there’s a tragic occurrence that explains the whole story, but it doesn’t justify anyone’s behavior – least of all Archer’s.

If I hadn’t agreed to review this book, I wouldn’t have finished it. It’s not bad, just not something I’d read on my own. Plenty of others have enjoyed this book, so check out other tour stops before deciding whether to give this book a try.

Source: Sent by publisher for review as part of a blog tour. (Click the button below for more tour stops.)