The Emerald Lily (Vampire Blood #4) by Juliette Cross

4.5 Stars!

Thank you to Entangled Publishing, Juliette Cross, and NetGalley for the ARC!

"Perhaps I was born to be a warrior, not a princess."

                      I am so unbelievably unprepared for this series to be over! I loved everything from their creative fairytale retelling aspects to the way every book seemed to outdo the last. I honestly would be ecstatic if there were ever a spin off series or even a novella (maybe involving Grant and Katya? That could be interesting)! Even still, this was a spectacular, fiery, and heart-pounding finale and I'm grateful to have followed along for the ride!

                      Sent on an urgent mission from the Black Lily to rescue Princess Mina of Arkadia from her imprisonment in a bloodless sleep by the wicked Queen Morgrid, Mikhail finds the previously passive and gentle royal to be the last thing he expected. Their blood kiss awakens feelings that neither of them can deny. Mina finds that she is meant for so much more than she ever dreamed while Mikhail finds that he is tempted in more ways than the Captain of the Bloodguard or his own personal vendetta should allow time for. But, they don't have much time to figure things out. A war is coming. Battling secrets, prophecies, magic, and rabid vampires, can they emerge victorious?

                      I am having such a hard time deciding which of these books is my favorite. Honestly, I could argue with myself for hours on this. I wish this book had been longer but Mina and Mikhail are pretty amazing together as is. I love that the quiet and docile Mina turned out to be the fiercest of them all. That final battle was made up of some serious badassery. However, not everyone made it out unscathed. Will our heroes finally prevail against the tyrants of Izeling and the Glass tower? Will humanity be saved? Or will Queen Morgrid succeed in plunging the world into darkness and leave nothing on their graves except a single Emerald Lily?

When Sh*t Gets in the Way (When Life Gets in the Way #2) by Ines Vieira

4.5 Stars!

A huge 'Thank you' goes out to Ines Vieira for the e-book!

"...don't tell me you're not mine when everything that I am has your imprint on it."

                  I loved it even more than the first! Quaid and Jess are just so cute and lively that I read it in a day and a half. I like that the timeline overlaps with the last few chapters of When Life Gets in the way because I think it adds something more to all the characters and helps make their lives so much richer.

                  Jessica Silva has a lot going on in her life. Her cousin Isaac is gone and her uncle Hector is still hell bent on proving that he's the most disgusting human being in a hundred-mile radius, she isn't handling her first year at Columbia as well as she hoped, and having to spend time with Quaid Stevens is absolutely driving her up the wall. Sure, she had a thing for him in high school, how couldn't she when he's so seemingly perfect? But, Jess believes perfection is a beautiful lie. And she can't stand liars.

                  Quaid comes from a family obsessed with perfection. It doesn't matter if your life is a shit-show as long as you keep up appearances. He isn't used to letting people get close enough to know about the skeletons hiding in the closet or the ones running around in broad daylight in expensive high heels. But, Jessica Silva has him thinking about changing his mind. That girl is a force of nature and he'd better strap himself in so he can ride out the storm. She wants to see imperfection he's trying to hide, but can he survive showing her?

                 I absolutely adore Jess! She's so fiery and passionate about everything she does that you can't help but feel yourself get ready to take up arms with her. She's smart and funny in a way that keeps the normally quiet Quaid on his toes. They challenge each other in the best ways possible. He pushes her to be all that she can be and protects against those who try to kill her spirit. In turn, she teaches him to relax and enjoy life without the constraints his grandparents try to put on him. Together they could be unstoppable. But, can they make it through all the lies and hurdles or just give up and call  it quits When Sh*t Gets in the Way?

Remember Me Forever (Lovely Vicious #3) by Sara Wolf

4.5 Stars!

Thank you to Chapter by Chapter, Sara Wolf, and Entangled Teen for the ARC through NetGalley and the opportunity to participate in the blog tour!

"You try to stop all these injustices and save people from them. But you never try to save yourself."

       Wow, I can't believe it's really over. This trilogy snagged me from the get go; I loved the originality and the character's crazy antics that were often ridiculous beyond belief, but endearing all the same. It's not often you can find a book that will make you laugh out loud with one line and absolutely rip your heart to shreds with the next, but this can. I'm so grateful to have been able to follow Isis and Jack on their funny, action packed, and heart-shattering adventure.

       Isis Blake hasn't been the same since Sophia's suicide. She blames her self, just like she always does. Still, she does her best to put on a brave face and avoid thinking about Jack Hunter, who disappeared after the funeral and hasn't been seen since. Instead of going to Stanford, she decides to stay close to her mother by attending good old Ohio State, but she can't seem to catch a break. Her ex-boyfriend, rapist, and overall embodiment of her own personal hell, Will Cavanaugh, has left Florida for Ohio and is intent of continuing his torture of Isis.

       Meanwhile, a previously guilty and self-destructive Jack Hunter has been recruited by Vortex. The private company has sent him undercover as a college student to help bring down a malicious hacker wanted by the government. His target: Will Cavanaugh. Isis and Jack had never expected to see each other again, but they're thrown together anyway and their feelings are more intense than ever. They'll have to work together to bring down the demons that haunt them, both the physical ones and those harder to reach that inhabit their very memories. Even if they succeed, do they have a chance together or is there simply too much between them?

       I really felt that this was a perfect ending to Isis and Jack's story. Other than the last few chapters feeling a little rushed, I have absolutely no complaints other than that I wish it could have went on forever. I know that this series will stay with me for a long time. Isis, Jack, and all their friends have a way of getting under your skin in a way that practically screams, "You'll Remember Me Forever."

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The Dragon's Price (Transference, #1) by Bethany Wiggins

4.5 Stars!

*Warning: A couple of spoilers have been blacked out for your safety*

Thank you to Random House Children's for the ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

"For a split second I wonder what I am doing here on this battlefield, on the front line. I am a princess... For the first time ever, I feel like I am living the life I was meant to be living all along."

          Okay, just for a second, let's forget that fact that it's incredibly fast paced and takes place within, what appears to be, less than a week. Also, forget that, while it WASN'T a case of insta-love between Golmarr and Sorrowlyn, it was certainly close. But, it can be somewhat understood (sort of a stretch) considering all they went through within that short amount of time.

          Instead, let's focus on the amazing messages this story is sending to it's readers. First, I found the inner commentary highly entertaining. Also, knowledge being the dragon's treasure instead of gold and jewels? Brilliant! I loved the way it admittedly called out the existing cliches within the story and often went as far as to challenge them! The feminist themes in the book spoke to my advocacy for girl power, in the way that Sorrow goes from a sheltered, helpless girl that has pretty much had her kingdom's ideals for women to be soft, submissive, and meek beaten into her (literally) to learning that she can be anything she wants to be, even a warrior. She realizes that a princess doesn't always need a white knight to ride to her rescue, she can slay the dragon herself! She can be anything and everything, but the question is: is Sorrowlyn ready to pay The Dragon's Price?

          My only concerns were that sometimes things weren't addressed when they should have been, or just didn't get the focus they deserved, like when Sorrow found out that Ornald was her father. She didn't even discuss that fact (out loud or in her inner dialogue) until much later and even when she did talk about it, she didn't really discuss her own reaction or show much emotion on the subject, which took away a certain element of relation or emotion between readers and the character. Also, it seemed like the entire length of the book (minus the epilogue) took place within less than a week. I think spacing it out more or at least expanding on certain ideas/feelings would not only make it feel longer and more rich, but would also give readers the opportunity to immerse themselves in the story.

Still, it really was a great story and I can't wait to find out what happens next! I hope it comes out soon!

Forget Me Always (Lovely Vicious #2) by Sara Wolf

4.5 Stars!

A big 'thank you' goes out to Chapter by Chapter, Entangled Teen, Sara Wolf, and NetGalley for the e-book and opportunity to participate in the blog tour!

"For the first time in a long time, I felt something. My life wasn't still and silent anymore. It moved. You made it move."

      After that surprise ending in Love Me Never, it was obvious that Sara Wolf certainly has a flair for the dramatic, which I have to say made me a bit nervous to see what she had in store for us next. Thankfully, Forget Me Always is just as hilarious and heartbreaking as the first! Bravo! Perfectly paced, and shows that overcoming the heartbreak of the past is a slow process filled with setbacks, but still a journey everyone must take if they ever to move forward.

      Dissociative amnesia or no, Isis Blake is as sassy as ever and still completely steadfast in her belief that she will never be the princess with the fairytale ending. In her mind, she's the dragon. Badass, yes, but still fated to remain alone in the darkness of her heart's fortress. But how will her sickly fire fair against the ice-prince himself? She may have forgotten him for the time being, but there's no way Jack Hunter will ever forget Isis and the way she burst into his life and knocked it upside down. Before she can even begin to make sense of her present, she will have to come to terms with the past she wished she could forget. Yet when her memories start to return, Isis is left with more questions than answers, not only about Jack and their relationship, but about his past and how it involves her new, hospital bound friend Sophia. Tired of kept in the dark, Isis is determined to find out the truth once and for all, but it may end up being more than she bargained for.

      Be warned, you're in for another cliffhanger with this one and a few curveballs as well! I loved seeing Isis and Jack "reconnect" and develop more throughout the story and having Sofia in it made everything even better. After an ending like that, I can't wait to see what happens next. With their pasts coming back to haunt them, will Isis and Jack be brave enough to finally risk it all and open their hearts? Or will their demons win and and cause them to just walk away and try to Forget Me Always?

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Love Me Never (Lovely Vicious #1) by Sara Wolf

4.5 Stars!

Thank you to Chapter by Chapter and NetGalley for the e-book!

"...you're miserably sad and dour, hiding it behind jokes and passionate outbursts. You're like fire. But it's a sickly fire."

         This was absolutely brilliant! Full of humor with mixed heartache, Love Me Never is a story you mustn't miss! Isis is hilariously relatable yet debatably insane, while Jack is so distant but never seems to miss a thing. Together they're a storm of fire and ice that is bound to melt even the frostiest heart. 

         After vowing to never, ever fall in love again, not even with hot, never-gonna-happen tv actors, Isis Blake moves across the country to forget her past and finish her last year of high school with a clean slate. Unfortunately, her debut on the social scene of her new school ends in an act of war when she punches the irritatingly attractive "ice-prince" Jack Hunter for being a complete asshat. As it turns out, they're evenly matched in intelligence and seem to enjoy tormenting each other far too much. Instead of studying to get into a nearby university so she can be close to her troubled mother, Isis' days are filled with coming up with new ways to battle Jack because it seems that everything is fair game, even the past she thought was buried. However, it seems that his royal highness has some secrets of his own and Isis will stop at nothing to find out what they are once and for all, but what if it's darker than she ever thought possible?

         This was everything I was looking for and more! It's funny yet dark and twisty; addressing issues that often go ignored or unseen, like the after effects of bullying, body image, guilt, and abuse. Isis and Jack are just two kids dealing with their own private hells, just trying to find ways to make it through another day, but maybe they're just what the other needs. Can they risk opening themselves up? Or will they choose to pluck petals until it comes down to Love Me Never?

Check it out on Goodreads!

Remember Yesterday (Forget Tomorrow #2) by Pintip Dunn

4.5 Stars!

A big 'Thank you' goes out to Entangled Teen, Pintip Dunn, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an E-ARC as well as Chapter by Chapter for allowing my participation in the blog tour!

"You can change your future all you want, but you will never get away from walking certain paths."

          It's rare to find a sequel that's just as addicting as the first, but here it is! Remember Yesterday is every sci-fi lover's dream and fans of Forget Tomorrow will not be disappointed! Jessa's story is filled with twists and turns that will get your adrenaline pumping and mess with your sleep patterns because it's near impossible to put down!

          Callie's sister Jessa isn't the sweet, innocent little girl she used to be. That girl died the minute her sister killed herself in front of her very eyes just over ten years ago. Now seventeen, Jessa isn't sure if Callie's sacrifice was worth it and feels tremendous guilt over the hole her absence has left in everyone's lives.  That guilt and desire to be worthy of her sister's unconditional love makes Jessa a risk taker, devoted to making sure that the future Callie tried to stop doesn't become the present.

          When a rat rescue goes awry, Jessa is forced to get close to the arrogant and annoyingly attractive boy-genius Tanner Callahan, the embodiment of everything she despises. He's a scientist determined to discover the secret of Future Memory, the very thing young Jessa was tortured to obtain and Callie died to destroy. But is there more to him than meets the eye? Is he really just a mislead pawn in Chairwoman Dresden's evil plan? Unsure, Jessa must make the choice to team up with him anyway because Tanner has access the thing she wants most in the world: her sister Callie-- alive.

          Jessa and her family have been being lied to for the past ten years, Callie didn't die after injecting herself, but it was close and she's been in a coma all this time with her body hidden deep within the floors under TechRA. Now she's fading fast; her mind, unable to find hold of the present, is threatening to give out and her only hope at survival lies with her sister and the connection they share. On her mission to save Callie, Jessa will come face to face with her worst fears and find out that she plays a greater part in the events of the past and future than she ever thought possible. Will she succeed or is this fate already Fixed?

          The world Pintip Dunn has constructed is so rich and ingeniously built! I absolutely loved the way fate and time are explained, it's easily understandable and makes sense without the headache that normally surrounds issues and complexities of time travel. It's also great that almost all characters from Forget Tomorrow were present and that we get to see how there lives change and if/how their future memories change and play out. There are a few plot twists and surprises that I totally should have seen coming, but still managed to jump out of the bushes and smack me upside the head anyway. Keep in mind, when you're out to change the course of the world, it's important to Remember Yesterday!

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Pintip Dunn

Ten Tiny Breaths (Ten Tiny Breaths #1) by K.A. Tucker

4.5 Stars!

"Hope. Hope that something beautiful may come from this tragic story. Fear. Fear that it won't. Forgiveness... forgiveness."

              When I first started reading Ten Tiny Breaths, I hadn't been planning on finding another favorite, but lo and behold I was pleasantly surprised! Fans of Jessica Sorensen and Colleen Hoover will fall in love with this story that's full of romance in the midst of heartbreaking pasts as well as the struggle characters face to build a new family after everything is ripped away.

              Kacey Cleary's life is a wreak. It has been for the past four years, since the night she lost almost everyone she loved to a drunk driver when she was the only one to make it out of her parent's twisted Audi alive. She doesn't talk about that night. Ever. Not even with her little sister Livie, the only living person she allows herself to care about. Needless to say, Kacey's scars run deeper than the ones left over from where the doctors pieced her back together. The last straw comes when Kacey's pervert uncle crawls into bed with Livie one night, causing Kacey to take her sister and flee to Miami in search of a fresh start. Enter Trent, the Cleary sisters' hot and enigmatic new neighbor, who takes a special interest in Kacey. At first glance, Trent is the perfect guy. He's patient, protective, and entirely intent on making her happy. The problem with seemingly perfect people is that they usually have the biggest skeletons in their closet, and Trent's skeleton may be the death of his and Kacey's relationship before it even begins. Hopefully Kacey, with the help of her new friends at the local strip club, will be able to figure out Trent's past before she loses the thing she guards as closely as her sister-- her heart.

              While I loved this book, I have to admit that some of it was very predictable. I mean, I guessed Trent's "secret" by just reading the blurb. But, I was still a bit surprised by the depth of his problems. I still really liked him though... not sure what that says about me. Kacey's both funny and badass, but her troubles are slowly drowning her. Will her slightly mismatched band of misfits that's starting to become her family drag her to shore in time? Or will she find out that her mother was right and she only needs to take Ten Tiny Breaths in order to make it through this?

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The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel

4.5 Stars!

A big 'Thank you' goes out to Tiffany McDaniel for the E-ARC through NetGalley!

"The heat brought out the throbs in hearts, the fevers, the things that couldn't be let go of. It was a perfect extractor of pain and frustration, of anger and loss. It brought everything to the surface and sweated it out."

               I have to be honest, The Summer That Melted Everything isn't something that I would've picked up off the shelf for myself; it's just not within my usual tastes. That being said, I was simply blown away by the incredible writing and disturbingly captivating story contained with in the pages. Ladies and gentlemen, I do believe we're looking at what will soon be known as a classic!

               When Fielding's father, Autopsy Bliss, put an invitation to the devil in the newspaper, not for one second did anybody in Breathed, Ohio think he'd actually show up. Yet when a mysterious little boy named Sal rolls into town claiming to be the big man Lucifer himself with a hell-fire of a heatwave on his heels, things quickly get out of hand. An ill-fated string of events continues to rock the small town and soon, everyone's blaming the devil for anything they can think of, causing a hateful mob to rise up. They're thirsty for blood, out to destroy Satan himself, and may God have mercy on anyone who stands in their way. Early on, lines are drawn in the sand when even skeptics are made believers. Be careful when picking sides, because nothing is as it seems and even bystanders will be caught in the crossfire.

              Both beautifully written and darkly thought provoking, Tiffany McDaniel's debut novel is rich with endless possibilities for interpretation! I can easily see this being read in a classroom setting alongside well known classics such as The Crucible and Invisible Man and stimulating intense discussion as well! Is the devil really visiting backwater Ohio, or is Sal just a scared little boy so haunted by his demons that he can't tell where he ends and they begin? Will Breathed manage to get a breath of fresh air long enough to cool the hate threatening to burn it to the ground, or will this really be The Summer That Melted Everything?

Check it out on Goodreads!

Check out my Q&A with Tiffany McDaniel here!

Six of Hearts (Hearts #1) by L.H. Cosway

4.5 Stars!

*Kindle Edition currently free!*

"We both know that mystery is better than the truth. So why not live with the magic? Be a kid again and believe in the fantastical. Life is more fun with a little smoke and mirrors."

               Six of Hearts reminded me of the movie Now You See Me (if you haven't seen it, I highly suggest you do so because it rocks!), especially with the long waited revenge plots and mind-boggling tricks, except this has way more romance and the "Four Horsemen" are all rolled into one gorgeously charming man! Apart from a couple of minor inconsistencies that I can't discuss without spoiling the whole thing, this book is absolutely amazing and I devoured it within a day! Jay and Matilda are perfect together and I love how all the little pieces of the puzzle came together beautifully in the end!

                 At first glance, Matilda is just your average awkward, twenty-three year old secretary who still lives at home and the only thing that even begins to hint at a tragic past is a silver scar running down the side of her face. Don't let her appearance fool you, however, her inner commentary is hilarious! Then, what starts out as another boring day at the office turns life altering the second illusionist extraordinaire Jay Fields steps foot into her father's law firm demanding he take his case and changes her life forever.

 

                     Their attraction is instantaneous and surprising for Matilda, seeing as her love life has always been laughable at best, but deep down she knows that "Jay Fields" is so much more than he's letting on. A true magician, Jay keeps his cards close to his chest, leaving Matilda wondering exactly what his endgame is as he draws her into his world of secrets and misdirection that is more dangerous than meets the eye. Sit back and hold onto your seat as old wrongs are made right with a little mayhem and a whole lot of magic! Can you figure out where Jay hides his Six of Hearts?

Check it out on Goodreads!