Novel Ink: August 2014

Sunday Showdown (21) September 2014 Covers

Posted on Sunday, August 31, 2014 4:00 AM

Since it's almost September, I figured it would be fitting to put a few of September covers against each other!

Here's the Contenders

Let the Showdown begin!!

ARC Book Review | Rites of Passage by Joy Hensley

Posted on Friday, August 29, 2014 4:30 AM

Format: e-ARC
Source: Publisher Via Edelweiss
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: September 9, 2014
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From Goodreads:

Sam McKenna’s never turned down a dare. And she's not going to start with the last one her brother gave her before he died.

So Sam joins the first-ever class of girls at the prestigious Denmark Military Academy. She’s expecting push-ups and long runs, rope climbing and mud-crawling. As a military brat, she can handle an obstacle course just as well as the boys. She's even expecting the hostility she gets from some of the cadets who don’t think girls belong there. What she’s not expecting is her fiery attraction to her drill sergeant. But dating is strictly forbidden and Sam won't risk her future, or the dare, on something so petty...no matter how much she wants him.

As Sam struggles to prove herself, she discovers that some of the boys don’t just want her gone—they will stop at nothing to drive her out. When their petty threats turn to brutal hazing, bleeding into every corner of her life, she realizes they are not acting alone. A decades-old secret society is alive and active… and determined to force her out.

At any cost.

Now time's running short. Sam must decide who she can trust...and choosing the wrong person could have deadly consequences.

My Thoughts:

Wow! What can I say about this book that will do it justice? Probably nothing, but I’m going to try anyway, so here goes…

Before Sam’s brother, Amos, killed himself he dared her to go to a military academy, and Sam’s not one to back down from a dare, especially one she made to her deceased brother so she takes every ounce of hatred that comes her way and uses it to make herself stronger. She’s not going to let anyone get in her way and I absolutely loved that about her.

However, it isn’t long before Sam realizes that she’s getting treated so much worse than anyone else there and before long, things start getting way out of control and she knows that something has to change or any other new girls coming in will be treated the exact same way that she has been and Sam is determined to not let that happen.

Sam is SUCH a strong character and I fell in love with her personality and strength very early on. She’s determined to prove that she’s just as good as the guys and strong enough to take whatever comes her way. I also loved so many of the side characters in this book, Jax, Rev, Drill, Tim, Nix, Huff, Ritchie. They all cared about Sam and were willing to help her in any way that they could.

Rites of Passage was so different that what I thought it would be when I first started reading it. Yeah, I knew that it was about the first girl to go to a military school and I figured that the boys there would pick on her. But, this went soooo much deeper than the hazing that normal recruits go through, this was more like full on bullying. Some of the things they did to Sam was horrible and I wanted so badly to jump in a punch those assholes for treating her the way that they did.

Overall, Rites of Passage is a very touching book that will bring out a ton of emotions in you. This book made me laugh, cry and get mad as hell multiple times throughout. Hensley is definitely an author to look out for.

---Christy

Blog Tour Review : Six Feet Over It by Jennifer Longo

Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2014 12:00 AM

Summary from Goodreads:

Home is where the bodies are buried.

Darkly humorous and heart-wrenchingly beautiful, Jennifer Longo’s YA debut about a girl stuck living in a cemetery will change the way you look at life, death, and love.

Leigh sells graves for her family-owned cemetery because her father is too lazy to look farther than the dinner table when searching for employees. Working the literal graveyard shift, she meets two kinds of customers:

Pre-Need: They know what’s up. They bought their graves a long time ago, before they needed them.

At Need: They are in shock, mourning a loved one’s unexpected death. Leigh avoids sponging their agony by focusing on things like guessing the headstone choice (mostly granite).

Sarcastic and smart, Leigh should be able to stand up to her family and quit. But her world’s been turned upside down by the sudden loss of her best friend and the appearance of Dario, the slightly-too-old-for-her grave digger. Surrounded by death, can Leigh move on, if moving on means it’s time to get a life?

My Thoughts:

Six Feet Over It was one of my most anticipated summer reads so I jumped at the chance to be a part of the blog tour for what I was sure would be an amazing story.

Leigh’s story caught my attention from the very beginning. She is such a strong and vibrant main character. Leigh is the girl who tries to help out everyone else instead of focusing on her own grief and she puts her own emotions on the back burner, which we all know is not good for anyone. But even though Leigh puts on this show of being the tough, sarcastic girl in the beginning, as the story goes on we get to see a different side of her. We get to see the side that she tries to hide from everyone else and this side is so authentic and honest that it was hard not to form a connection with her.

I don’t know that I could deal with everything that Leigh has in her short life. She loses her best friend, her parents force her to sell grave plots and her older sister, Kai, has cancer and even though she’s in remission, Leigh is still afraid of losing her which is understandable after losing her best friend, Emily.

This story is so deep and raw and it touches on some very emotional issues and instead of shying away from those issues, Longo tackles them head on. This is a book with a very likeable main character, amazing supporting characters and heart wrenching moments that will shatter your emotions. Longo’s debut was everything I was hoping for and I’m sure we’ll see more amazing things from her in the future.

About the Author:

Jennifer Longo’s debut novel SIX FEET OVER IT will be in book stores, libraries, and your hands Summer 2014 courtesy of Random House Children’s Books, Edited by Chelsea Eberly and represented by the resplendent Melissa Sarver at Folio Literary. A California native, Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Acting from San Francisco State University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Writing For Theatre from Humboldt State University. She is a two-time Irene Ryan Best Actor award recipient and a Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Best Full Length Script honoree for her play, Frozen. After years of acting, playwriting, working as a literary assistant at San Francisco’s Magic Theatre, then as an elementary school librarian, Jennifer told the occasional story at San Francisco’s Porch Light Storytelling Series and decided at last to face her fear of prose and actually write some. A recent San Francisco transplant, Jennifer lives with her husband and daughter near Seattle, Washington beside the water on Mercer Island and her every hour is consumed by writing, running marathons, tide pooling, walking her kid to ballet class eleven thousand times each week and reading every book she can get her hands on.

Links:

http://www.taotejen.com/

www.twitter.com/jenlialongo

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6549299.Jennifer_Longo

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18769271-six-feet-over-it

Waiting on Wednesday

Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2014 4:00 AM

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.

My Pick

The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand

Expected Publication Date: February 10, 2015 by HarperTeen

There's death all around us.
We just don't pay attention.
Until we do.

The last time Lex was happy, it was before. When she had a family that was whole. A boyfriend she loved. Friends who didn't look at her like she might break down at any moment.

Now she's just the girl whose brother killed himself. And it feels like that's all she'll ever be.

As Lex starts to put her life back together, she tries to block out what happened the night Tyler died. But there's a secret she hasn't told anyone-a text Tyler sent, that could have changed everything.

Lex's brother is gone. But Lex is about to discover that a ghost doesn't have to be real to keep you from moving on.

From New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Hand, The Last Time We Say Goodbye is a gorgeous and heart-wrenching story of love, loss, and letting go.

What are you waiting on?

Bookshelf Tour | Part 1

Posted on Tuesday, August 26, 2014 3:30 AM

Bookshelf Tour!

I don't know about you but I LOVE looking at other people's bookshelves. I love seeing posts on blogs or watching the tours on YouTube. So, for today, I thought it would be interesting to do a little tour of my own. I'm going to have to break it down though because I feel like I have way too many to do it all in one post.

Here goes...

Here's my first shelf.

Beautiful Oblivion is supposed to be on the top shelf with the other Disaster books but I loaned it to a friend.

Shelf # 2

The "I Need To Read" Shelf

That's it for today! Check back soon to see the rest of my shelves!

ARC Book Review: Get Even by Gretchen McNeil

Posted on Monday, August 25, 2014 3:30 AM

Format: e-ARC
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Publication Date: September 16, 2014
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars in Gretchen McNeil’s witty and suspenseful novel about four disparate girls who join forces to take revenge on high school bullies and create dangerous enemies for themselves in the process.

Bree, Olivia, Kitty, and Margot have nothing in common—at least that’s what they’d like the students and administrators of their elite private school to think. The girls have different goals, different friends, and different lives, but they share one very big secret: They’re all members of Don’t Get Mad, a secret society that anonymously takes revenge on the school’s bullies, mean girls, and tyrannical teachers.

When their latest target ends up dead with a blood-soaked “DGM” card in his hands, the girls realize that they’re not as anonymous as they thought—and that someone now wants revenge on them. Soon the clues are piling up, the police are closing in . . . and everyone has something to lose.

My Thoughts:

When I first heard about Get Even, I immediately added it to my wishlist. The book that I had read by this author (Possess) I had really enjoyed so I went into this one with high expectations. Unfortunately I felt like it didn’t live up to its potential.

This book is about 4 girls who run in different circles and have no ties to each other that team up and form DGM (Don’t Get Mad), which is basically a club that seeks justice for those who don’t or can’t stand up to their bullies. These girls hide behind the DGM label and they are a total mystery to the rest of the school. But as things always go, stuff goes wrong, people get hurt and DGM gets the blame. Now the girls are on a mission to clear the DGM name but it won’t be as easy as they thought because whoever was behind the murder has their sights set on bringing DGM down.

My main problem with this book was there was SOOOO much going on that it would have been hard to keep up with in dual POVs, let alone 4 POVs. I didn’t really feel a connection with any of the characters and I ended up so confused so many times because it was just too much. I couldn’t keep up with what was going on, I was getting confused on which POV I was in and I just felt like I was sinking with nothing to grab on to.

Even though this book wasn’t my cup of tea, I still feel like fans of Pretty Little Liars might really enjoy it.

---Christy

Sunday Showdown (20)

Posted on Sunday, August 24, 2014 4:00 AM

Here's the Contenders

Let the showdown begin!

Feature & Follow (1)

Posted on Friday, August 22, 2014 10:20 AM

Feature and Follow is hosted by Parajunkee’s View and Alison Can Read.

This is my first Feature and Follow Post! YAY!!!

This week’s question is:

What book/series do you think would make a better TV show than movie?

Night Huntress Series by Jeaniene Frost

This is my all-time favorite series and I would absolutely love to see Cat and Bones come to life, but I would prefer a TV show over a movie because I feel like movies cut too much out and with a TV show there’s more time so it can incorporate so much more than a movie.

Be sure to link me up to your post!

Seven Deadly Sins Tag

Posted on 12:30 AM

Seven Deadly Sins

I.was tagged by Kirsty @ Studio Reads to do the Seven Deadly Sins Tag!

Here goes

1. Greed

What is your most inexpensive book?

My most recent inexpensive book would be Dissonance by Erika O’Rourke, I actually one it off a giveaway on Goodreads so it was free ;)

2. Wrath

What author do you have a love/hate relationship with?

I can’t think of a specific author that I have a love/hate relationship with off the top of my head *goes to check Goodreads*

After checking Goodreads, I’m going to have to go with Kresley Cole. She’s really the only one who comes close. I mean I LOVE the Immortals After Dark series but I really don’t care for her YA series, I can’t even remember the name of it now…the first one was Poison Princess, I think?????

3. Gluttony

What book have you devoured over and over with no shame?

I’m going to cheat a little on this one (after all I’m a sinner, right?) and go with a series instead of ONE book. This is hands down the Night Huntress Series by Jeaniene Frost. It’s my all-time favorite series and I can’t even tell you how many times I have read through it.

4. Sloth

What book have you neglected due to laziness?

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson *sigh* It just looks so thick…

5. Pride

What book do you talk most about in order to sound like an intellectual reader?

Ok, this may be the hardest of them all because I’m not a classic or nonfiction reader…AT ALL. Hell, I didn’t even read the assigned classic books in high school. So, let’s go with…. The Fault in Our Stars, that counts, right????

6. Lust

What attributes do you find attractive in male or female characters?

Caring and a good sense of humor. I can get root for any love interest, whether he’s the boy next door, nerd or resident bad boy, as long as he’s caring, has a good sense of humor and doesn’t hold on to things that don’t matter.

7. Envy

What book would you most like to receive as a gift?

Right Now? That would HAVE TO BE Isla and the Happily Ever After, but it looks like I’m going to end up buying it as a present to myself…

Now who shall I tag?????

*drumroll please*

*******

*****

***

Emma @ Awkwordly Emma

Tonyalee @ Lilybloombooks

Michelle @ Pink Polka Dot Book Blog

Lauren @ Between the Pages

My Favorite Books of 2014...SO FAR

Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2014 4:00 AM

My Favorite Books of 2014...So Far!

A few weeks ago I done a post about completing my 2014 reading goal and I thought it would be fun to break it down and come up with my favorite books that I've read so far this year!

Here's my list in no particular order:

----------

Have you read any of these?

Waiting on Wednesday | Very Bad Things by Susan McBride

Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2014 3:30 AM

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.

My Pick

Very Bad Things by Susan McBride

Expected Publication Date: October 14, 2014 by Delacorte Press

Katie never thought she'd be the girl with the popular boyfriend. She also never thought he would cheat on her-but the proof is in the photo that people at their boarding school can't stop talking about. Mark swears he doesn't remember anything. But Rose, the girl in the photo, is missing, and Mark is in big trouble. Because it looks like Rose isn't just gone…she's dead.

Maybe Mark was stupid, but that doesn't mean he's a killer.

Katie needs to find out what really happened, and her digging turns up more than she bargained for, not just about Mark but about someone she loves like a sister: Tessa, her best friend. At Whitney Prep, it's easy to keep secrets…especially the cold-blooded kind.

Find it on Goodreads

Find on Amazon

ARC Book Review | Remember Me by Romily Bernard

Posted on Monday, August 18, 2014 4:30 AM

Format: e-ARC
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: September 23, 2014
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In the sequel to Find Me, Wick Tate, sarcastic teen hacker, is back and once again dealing with criminals and corrupt cops…and a brooding new love interest. Will Wick persevere when some secrets refuse to stay hidden?

Wick had thought her troubles were over.

But she should’ve known better.

Not only is she embroiled in a new murder case, which starts with a body with “Remember Me” carved into it and doesn’t stop there, but she also discovers new evidence surrounding her mother’s suicide…which leads her right back to her imprisoned deadbeat dad. And she has to deal with her flirty new hacker friend, Milo, sniffing around—which her boyfriend, Griff, isn’t too happy about.

The pressure might be too much as secrets—including Wick’s own—climb to the surface.

Remember Me is an edge-of-your-seat thrilling read that’ll have readers turning the pages at lightning speed! The paperback of Find Me is on sale simultaneously, and a digital original novella from Romily, featuring Griff, is on sale just a few weeks before!

My Thoughts:

Remember Me is the sequel to the amazing thrill ride that was Find Me and as I expected, this second installment had just as much action and mystery as its predecessor, maybe even more so. But, Wicket Tate is not the same girl that she was in Find Me which is to be expected given everything that she goes through in the first book. She is left changed by her traumatic experiences and she is now suffering from PTSD and a whole lot of trust issues, but who wouldn’t be if they had suffered everything that she has in her short life. In the end, it will only make her stronger, she just has to figure that out for herself.

Like I said above, there is a whole lot of action and mystery happening in this book and you don’t get warmed up to it. No, we get thrown in within the first couple of chapters and that’s just the way I like it ;) Wicket is working on something for Carson when she gets a little too involved with a murder case, not to mention there’s new things that are turning up about her mother’s suicide. Wick is in for something that could prove to be more dangerous than she originally thought.

Can I just say that I love how strong Wick is? If I had her upbringing and if I had to endure everything that she and Lily have, I probably still wouldn’t be standing, let alone fighting back. But it seems that everything that happens to her only makes her stronger as a person and hopefully one day she won’t have to keep fighting back, that she won’t have anyone to fight.

If you’ve read the summary for this book then you know that it mentions a “brooding new love interest” and while I was a little apprehensive at first, I actually really enjoyed the ‘brooding new love interest’. Maybe even more than Griff (don’t hate me!). Unfortunately, I just wasn’t too impressed with Griff in this installment. Maybe that will change, maybe it won’t, I’ll just have to wait until I read Trust Me to find out.

Remember Me is an action packed thrill ride that will leave you guessing while hanging on to the edge of your seat the entire time. If you were a fan of the first book then I’m sure you won’t be disappointed with this one because it’s just as engrossing and captivating as the first book.