Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Published: May 13th 2014 

Publisher: Delacorte Press

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE. 

My Thoughts

”...a novel should deliver a series of small astonishments…”

”We are liars. We are beautiful and privileged. We are cracked and broken.”

This story is a mixture of tragedy, privilege, mystery, and a series of surprises and twists. The writing is amazing, which makes up for the experience that is sometimes frustrating and obscure. I had my suspicions throughout. I caught the small clues and made the right conclusions, but the final catastrophic twist is a bit too tragic to digest, so I resorted to ignorant bliss.

An accident Cady Sinclair can’t remember anchors this story in many ways. As we unravel the layers of this story that involves a mysterious accident that has left Cady’s head broken in countless medically diagnosed ways, we travel with her as her world falls apart. She’s no longer going to college in the coming year, she no longer plays sports or participates in clubs. She’s high on Percocet half the time, but can’t remember the events of that evening that changed her life forever.

This book is about so many little things all at once. There’s so much that makes this novel complete, and E. Lockhart uses stories such as Wuthering Heights and fairy tales like Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty to weave her novel. She sprinkles in her own fairy tale of a king and his three daughters to share the petty, greedy and unkind ways of the aunties.

Then you have the patriarch Harris Sinclair that fuels the greed, pettiness and unkindness of his daughters… and the attempt of the Liars which are the cousins Cady, Johnny and Mirren with their friend Gat that make an attempt to re-create their sheltered world at Beachwood Island.

I am told that if asked how this story ends, I.AM.TO.LIE... We Were Liars ends happily ever after...

“We are Sinclairs. Beautiful. Privileged. Damaged. Liar. We live, least in the summertime, on a private island off the coast of Massachusetts. Perhaps that is all you need to know.”

4 Snowflakes

Remember When Trilogy on Sale for $2.99!

Exciting News!! T. Torrest's Trilogy of Remember When is on sale for $2.99! Be sure to get a head start on your Black Friday shopping by getting this amazing series at the limited-time, low price!!

All three best-selling books of the Remember Trilogy in one bundle! 
(Including FOUR bonus chapters in Trip's POV, one of which has never before been released to the public!)
REMEMBER WHEN, REMEMBER WHEN 2: The Sequel, and REMEMBER WHEN 3: The Finale. 

Remember When is the first story in an NA romance trilogy. It will take you back to that time before the real world kicked in, that limbo between adolescence and adulthood, that trial of hanging on to the past while figuring out where the future will lie.
With heart-shredding romance, steamy love scenes and hilarious eighties references, readers of all ages will find themselves rooting for Layla and dreaming about Trip for years to come. It's an endearing journey through the tumultuous world of friendship, family and high school…
…and the memory of that one incredible guy your heart just can't seem to forget.

Remember When 2 is the second story in an NA romance trilogy. It will bring you back to that exuberant and riotous time of life in your twenties when you struggled to figure out your place in the world and the person you were meant to be…
…and the person you were meant to be with.


Remember When 3 is the third and final book in the Remember Trilogy.
It’s a story about taking chances and following your heart…
and knowing that sometimes, you just have to learn when to let go.

***All books are intended for readers 18+ due to some questionable language, alcohol abuse, smokin' hot sexual situations, and 1980s flashbacks.***

Purchase Links

US

UK

Canada

Australia

Review: The Dark World by Cara Lynn Shultz

The Dark World by Cara Lynn Shultz
Publisher- Harlequin Teen
Published- May 27th 2014
Purchase- Amazon / B & N

Paige Kelly is used to weird--in fact, she probably corners the market on weird, considering that her best friend, Dottie, has been dead since the 1950s. But when a fire demon attacks Paige in detention, she has to admit that things have gotten out of her league. Luckily, the cute new boy in school, Logan Bradley, is a practiced demon slayer-and he isn't fazed by Paige's propensity to chat with the dead. Suddenly, Paige is smack in the middle of a centuries-old battle between warlocks and demons, learning to fight with a magic sword so that she can defend herself. And if she makes one wrong move, she'll be pulled into the Dark World, an alternate version of our world that's overrun by demons-and she might never make it home.

My Thoughts:
After the accident that very much took her life, but was brought back, Paige Kelly's life hasn't been the same. For one thing her best friend, Dottie, is a ghost from the 50's and only Paige can see and talk to her. She may be considered the school freak and insane but soon Paige will find out just how sane she really is. With the help from Logan, a new transfer at school, Paige learns that she's actually a Traveler; a person with a type of energy who can open a portal to the human world and the Dark World and with an old-aged war brewing between the Demons and Warlocks for control over the throne, Paige is caught in a spiralling twist between the demons who want to kidnap her and the boy trying to protect her and hopefully find a way to come out of this alive.

The Dark World is a very fun ghostly paranormal that has everything I  like in an escape. Witty warm characters, funny dialogue, incredible writing and smart world building. Plus give me a book about Travelers, Demons, Slayers, Magic and Warlocks and I'm completely sold. I've read Shultz Spellbound series and already knew that I love the way this women writes, but I think she's stepped it up even more with this book. It's solid, intriguing and fascinating, and I had a great time learning along with Paige about the different demons and how they create havoc in the human world and what the role of a slayer and warlock entails. I also got a kick out of Paige's training sections. It was comical and enlightening and gave the perfect excuse for our two main leads to learn each others strengths and weaknesses and it doesn't hurt that the tension was very yummy indeed.

Paige is an amazing character. Despite being a freak in everyone's eyes, Paige doesn't take crap from anyone. I love her good natured humor, random liners and the ability to go with the flow. I also love that she's quick to do the right thing even to those who don't exactly deserve it. She resistant, brave and a good person. 

Logan is made of awesome. Skilled, confident and collected when in battle-mode but awkward and shy when it's just one on one. He may be a badass demonslayer with a magical sword but he still has his uncertainties and secrets that make him feel more real. 

Ajax, is another character that I just adored. Funny, sexy and a real charmer, he brought endless amusement and entertainment to the story. The romance was also very well done and set at a gradual pace but inevitable just the same. The moments between Paige and Logan are really very sweet and touching and has an all consuming touch that the sap in me can't seem to get enough of. I also liked the ending, not exactly a cliff hanger but enough to have me craving for more.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. It's chalked full of non-stop demonic and magical action that kept the story moving at a quick and steady pace. The writing is very smart and these characters had me invested from minute one. A promising start to a new series I very much plan to continue. Well done!

Find the author:
Goodreads / Website                              4 Snowflakes

Review: Hounded by Kevin Hearne

Hounded by Kevin Hearne
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: May 3, 2011
Purchase: Amazon

The first novel in the Iron Druid Chronicles--introducing a cool, new, funny urban fantasy hero.
Atticus O'Sullivan, last of the Druids, lives peacefully in Arizona, running an occult bookshop and shape-shifting in his spare time to hunt with his Irish wolfhound. His neighbors and customers think that this handsome, tattooed Irish dude is about twenty-one years old--when in actuality, he's twenty-one "centuries" old. Not to mention: He draws his power from the earth, possesses a sharp wit, and wields an even sharper magical sword known as Fragarach, the Answerer.
Unfortunately, a very angry Celtic god wants that sword, and he's hounded Atticus for centuries. Now the determined deity has tracked him down, and Atticus will need all his power--plus the help of a seductive goddess of death, his vampire and werewolf team of attorneys, a bartender possessed by a Hindu witch, and some good old-fashioned luck of the Irish--to kick some Celtic arse and deliver himself from evil.

My Thoughts:
I loved this book!  I have really been on the look out for something different with no romance...Okay step away from the tomatoes.  I know this is weird and not the norm BUT hear me out before you leave stinky tomatoes all over the comments...

Romance for me has become predicable and when I read I like to be surprised.  The last three books I read the romance just got in the way of what could have been an amazing world with ridiculously awesome characters, but the romance dragged it down.  So I decided lets pick up something where the romance is either way nonexistent or way way WAY in the back ground.  Do you know how hard this was to find?!  My good friend and reading buddy Rachel at the Readers Den finally showed me where I could find this hidden gem and let me tell you I am officially addicted!  Hounded by Kevin Hearne is witty and showcases a gorgeous world filled with all things creepy, god like, and can seriously kill you at the point of a finger.  Yeah this definitely screamed my name.

Atticus is a Druid and has lived a very long time by learning to be well paranoid and cautious.  He knows exactly what to do when certain creatures walk into his book shop and he protects himself like with wards and bindings.  Atticus was the character I have been hoping to find.  He isn't sloppy and yes certain things did surprise him, but it was not because he was lacking in the intelligence department.  He did everything he possibly could to prevent certain situations and for once what happened was caused because of his lack of thinking.  I never once wanted to throw my book out the window because of something I could see that he couldn't.  We have all had those books and it can be so frustrating, but I'm telling you this book isn't one of those.  I was pleasantly surprised right along with Atticus and it was refreshing.  His character is flawed I'm sure, but for this first installment I can't think of a single thing that I didn't like about him.

Now the story was the truly shining thing for me and seeing as how I loved Atticus and the whole cast of characters this is saying something.  I love paranormal and this book incorporates everything and I mean everything!  We have fae, Thor, vampires, werewolves, druids, witches, and well just everything.  What was truly brilliant though was how the author wove all these random creatures into the story.  If someone told me about this I would automatically think the story would be too crowded and not focused.  This couldn't be farther from the truth though.  This story had direction and each character played a part whether small or big.  Even the little old lady across the street played a part and I loved it.  This world didn't feel crowed, it felt enormous and showed just how brilliant Kevin Hearne is.

This book has been a wonderful pallet cleanser for me and I think after a few more I will probably dip my toes back in the romance pool, but for now I am content to hang out with Atticus, Oberon ( you really have to meet this character.  He is hilarious!), and the wonderful cast of characters that make up this phenomenal world.

5 snowflakes

Review: Beware the Wild by Natalie C. Parker

Beware the Wild by Natalie C. Parker
Publisher- Harper Teen
Published- Oct 21st 2014
Purchase- Amazon / B & N

It's an oppressively hot and sticky morning in June when Sterling and her brother, Phin, have an argument that compels him to run into the town swamp -- the one that strikes fear in all the residents of Sticks, Louisiana. Phin doesn't return. Instead, a girl named Lenora May climbs out, and now Sterling is the only person in Sticks who remembers her brother ever existed.
Sterling needs to figure out what the swamp's done with her beloved brother and how Lenora May is connected to his disappearance -- and loner boy Heath Durham might be the only one who can help her.
This debut novel is full of atmosphere, twists and turns, and a swoon-worthy romance.

My Thoughts:
After a huge fight with his sister, Phineas takes off into the forbidden swamp that stretch throughout the town. Scared and worried about her brother, Sterling waits for him to come back but instead of Phin, a girl named Lenora May, emerges from the swamp. She took over Phin's life and no one seems to remember him besides Sterling and what's worse is she's starting to have memories of the sister she's never had. Sterling will do anything to get back her brother, but she doesn't know if she has the heart to send Lenora May back to the one place she fears the most.

Truth? I had my doubts at first about this one, but it turned out that I really ended up enjoying this book a lot more then I thought. Beware the Wild isn't like most books I've read, it has a really unusual but fascinating plot, likeable and animated characters that piece the story out in a suspenseful, haunting and intense way and the writing has this irresistible pull that had me completely absorbed. If your gonna tell a swamp story? This is a nifty way to do it!

I really enjoyed the plot concept, it's definitely out there, but given this is a paranormal, it was easy to just go with the flow. My favorite part of the story was learning about the swamp and hearing the stories related to it and then later how it's connected to Sterling's family. The swamp was written so vividly that it was it's own main character. It's alive with evil forces and ghost of the victims consumed but it. Riddled with darkness and danger and magic that has the power to entice and repulse you at the same time. It's eerie and maddening and completely intriguing.

While the swamp was definitely it's own force, I have to hand it to these amazing characters that made it so worth the while.

Sterling is such a great character. I love her determination, strength and bravery. She's been through a lot in  her life with an abusive father but the bond that she has with her brother is unshakable. Phin was always there for her, protecting her and taking care of her and my heart really went out to Sterling for losing such an anchor.

I was a little surprised that I liked Lenora May has much as I did. By all rights the reader should have hated her for taking Phin's place, and yet I found myself sympathetic towards all she's been through. Parker really could have went either way with a character like this, but I'm really glad with the direction she went with. Lenora is a good person who was lost and wanted to taste life again. Like Sterling, it's hard to fault her for it, no matter the circumstances of how she came into her life.

I also really loved Heath. He's the only one who believed in Sterling when everyone else had no memory of who Phin was. He know she wasn't crazy since he's been through the same ordeal by losing his best friend to the swamp. Together they made a really sweet team. 

All in all, I had a lot of fun with this book. I love that Parker took her time and plays with the readers mind. I loved that this had such a creep-worthiness to it's tone and setting and that the characters never gave up hope even when all seemed so hopeless. A great entertaining escape.

Find the author:
Goodreads / Website                              4 Snowflakes