Waiting on Wednesday

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme sponsored by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases
 The Thousand Dollar Tan Line
Rob Thomas, Jennifer Graham
Series: Veronica Mars #1
Releases: March 25, 2014
Link

Synopsis (taken from goodreads)
The first book in an original mystery series featuring twenty-eight-year-old Veronica Mars, back in action after the events of Veronica Mars: The Movie. With the help of old friends—Logan Echolls, Mac Mackenzie, Wallace Fennel, and even Dick Casablancas—Veronica is ready to take on Neptune’s darkest cases with her trademark sass and smarts.

Why I Can't Wait
I love love love love love the show Veronica Mars. Seriously, it is one of the best shows ever. So, I was really excited when they started the 'all grown up' movie that comes out this month. Then, I find out they are writing a book series about Veronica all grown up as well!!?! I'm just praying that this book is good. It needs to really have the true feel of Veronica's sarcastic personality or I might cry. So yeah, really looking forward to this one. 

If you haven't seen the show Veronica Mars you need to go watch it! You can go on amazon prime get your free 30 day trial and watch the whole series right now! So I told you how to get it. You have no excuses anymore for not knowing the wonderfulness that is this show!

Review: White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

White Hot Kiss
Jennfier L. Armentrout
Series: The Dark Elements #1
Published February 25, 2014
Rating: ★★★★★

Summary (taken from Goodreads)
One kiss could be the last.
Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she's anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses.

Raised among the Wardens—a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe—Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most. Especially Zayne, the swoon-worthy, incredibly gorgeous and completely off-limits Warden she's crushed on since forever.

Then she meets Roth—a tattooed, sinfully hot demon who claims to know all her secrets. Layla knows she should stay away, but she's not sure she wants to—especially when that whole no-kissing thing isn't an issue, considering Roth has no soul.

But when Layla discovers she's the reason for the violent demon uprising, trusting Roth could not only ruin her chances with Zayne…it could brand her a traitor to her family. Worse yet, it could become a one-way ticket to the end of the world.

Links

Cover Comments:
I really like the cover. My only problem is it is one of those covers I would be embarrassed to carry around in public. Luckily I have my beautiful nook that allows me to read anything I want in public without wondering if I’m being judged.

My Review:
I’m going to apologize beforehand, this is less of a review and more of a confession of my undying love for Armentrout’s books. Why is that? Well obviously, she can write no wrong.  I have loved every single book that I have read by her, which is everything except for the Covenant series. She is one of those authors that I’m out looking for the day her books come out. So, yeah this is really just an ode to my love for her.

The Darkest Kiss stars demons and gargoyles. How awesome is that? I haven’t seen or read many books about gargoyles. Layla, our wonderful heroine is half and half… not common since demons and wardens (gargoyles) hate each other. It’s very common in paranormal books that I hate the heroines. They tend to be kind of useless. But not Armentrout’s girls, oh no! Layla can suck the soul out of anyone with a single kiss. She tries not to, but it’s a pretty awesome demon power in my opinion.

Layla falls for our hero Roth. Roth Roth Roth. I love Roth. He’s hot, he’s sarcastic, he cares about this tiny soul sucking girl, and he completely goes against his own nature to protect her. Not to mention the tattoos. Bambi made me want a pet snake. And Thumper.. I want to meet Thumper so much.

Layla tries to stay away from Roth because she has been taught that all demons are evil. However, he makes it impossible and they soon team up to try to stop some bad demons from doing some bad things. (I won’t tell you what because you need to read the book).

A character we saw a bit of, but not enough in my opinion is Zayne. He’s Layla’s adoptive older brother/ the guy she thinks she loves. We get to see him here and there, enough to set up our Layla/Roth/Zayne love triangle, but not enough for me to really get a good handle on him. I’m hoping we will see more of him in the second book.

The worst part about the book, is the worst part about all of Armentrout books. She is the queen of cliffhangers. I’m talking major cliffhangers that leave you setting up a countdown on your phone until October 28, 2014 when you can finally read the second book in the series (am I alone there?) This one was a pretty low key cliffhanger, but it was a heart wrenching one none the less.


Anyways, I’m telling you to read this book. Not recommending, that’s too nice. I’m saying drop everything and go find this book. Then read it and come tell me how glad you are that I forced it upon you. If it isn’t your normal style, try it anyways. I was leery the first time I read Armentrout, and now I wax poetics about her. So I say again. Go read and enjoy!

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This weeks topic is Top Ten Authors I've Never Read!

Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush, #1) Darkfever (Fever, #1) Shatter Me (Shatter Me, #1) Legend (Legend, #1)
 The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride, #1) Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful, #1) Bared to You (Crossfire, #1) A Rogue by Any Other Name (The Rules of Scoundrels, #1) 
Pride and Prejudice Graceling (Graceling Realm, #1)
  1. Becca Fitzpatrick
  2. Karen Marie Moning
  3. Tahereh Mafi
  4. Marie Lu
  5. James Patterson
  6. Jamie McGuire
  7. Sylvia Day
  8. Sarah Maclean
  9. Jane Austen
  10. Kristin Cashore
I really don't have an excuse for not having read most of these authors. I have books by them all on my TBR, I just never seem to get to them. I should make it a goal to have read at least one book by each of these authors before 2015.


Oscars Of Books

Monday, March 3, 2014


I wanted to post this yesterday, but a certain little boy decided he needed to be held and rocked all day long, so instead I got to finish reading White Hot Kiss! Look for a review in the next couple of days.

Anyways, with the Oscars being the only award show I really watch, I thought I would do my own version of the awards, but with books I read in 2013. I was going to do books published in 2013... but I discovered I haven't read many that were published last year. So here are my awards... what books would you put in these spots?

Best Picture
On the Island

Best Actor in a Leading Role
 Will Cooper from Slammed

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Indy Savage from the Rock Chick
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Breckin from Hopeless

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Cookie from the Charley Davidson Series
Best Animated Film (YA/NA Book)
The Sea of Tranquility
Best Costume Design (Cover)
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Best Directing (Author)
Jill Shalvis 

There are my picks for some top categories! I'd love to hear yours!

Review: All Summer Long by Susan Mallery

Saturday, March 1, 2014

All Summer Long
Susan Mallery
Series: Fool’s Gold #9
Published by Harlequin July, 2012
Rating: ★★★★★

Summary: (taken from Barnes and Noble)
Former underwear model turned entrepreneur Clay Stryker has loved, tragically lost and vowed that he'll never risk his heart again. After making his fortune, the youngest of the rugged Stryker brothers returns to Fool's Gold, California, to put down roots on a ranch of his own. But he's frustrated to discover that even in his hometown, people see him only for his world-famous assets.

Firefighter Chantal (Charlie) Dixon grew up an ugly duckling beside her delicately beautiful mother, a feeling reinforced long ago by a man who left soul-deep scars. Now she has good friends, a solid job and the itch to start a family—yet she can't move toward the future while she's haunted by painful memories.

Clay finds an unexpected ally, and unexpected temptation, in tomboyish Charlie, the only person who sees beyond his dazzling good looks to the real man beneath. But when Charlie comes to him with an indecent proposal, will they be able to overcome their pasts and find a love that lasts beyond one incredible summer?

Links:
Amazon Barnes and Noble (I will edit with goodreads later... the website appears to be down today)

Cover Comments:
The couple on the cover is not what I pictured Clay and Charlie to look like. I’m not sure who they are, but it isn’t the people I was reading about in the book. In general, I love this new style… I think I’m just picky about the fact these covers have nothing to do with the story.

My Review
When I wrote my review for Summer Nights, I’m pretty sure I said the set up was leading to this book being a favorite. I was 100% correct. I LOVED this book. It was just so sweet and easy. A lot of contemporary romance novels have the setup where the main couple spends 90% of the book denying their feelings for each other. This book had none of that. Clay and Charlie were there to support the other literally from the first page.

Charlie has had a hard life when it comes to trusting men. I won’t go into why, but let’s just say she has never opened herself up to a man before. She decides she wants a family though, and before adopting a child she wants to make sure she heals herself. Maybe not find love, but at least find a man she trusts completely. So, she asks Clay to help her out. He’s the only man she has met that she genuinely likes so it makes sense. Clay agrees and their love story begins.

Clay is perfect. Honestly, a perfect man… he’s great looking, sweet as can be, and completely loyal to those he loves. He was almost too perfect really, but it’s a book, he’s allowed to be right? He is definitely my favorite of the Stryker brothers.


I think what I liked most about this book is the lack of drama. There is some don’t get me wrong, but the book is mainly focused on helping the couple to heal and find their place in the world. I thought that was a nice breath of fresh air. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that is a fan of contemporary romance. Susan Mallery knows what she is doing when she writes her books and they are always enjoyable light reads!

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme held by Tynga's Reviews! It's meant to share your new books, or things that have happened over the last week.
 My Week:
2 months! Hooray!
Before I jump into my week in books, I figured I'd update you on my life. L turned 2 months yesterday and had to go to the doctor. He now weighs 11 lbs. 3 ozs. and is 23 inches long. He also passed all the little development tests with flying colors! I can't believe how fast he is growing up. He had his first set of vaccines too, poor guy. It led to a low-grade fever last night and lots of crying. No time for me to read sadly. Luckily, he seems much better today.

I made some dorito crusted chicken nuggets for dinner this week. They were delish! All you do is, cut up some boneless chicken breasts, roll them in flour, then egg white, then crushed up doritos. Put them on a baking sheet, and bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Pretty easy, but very messy to make. My fingers were so sticky by the time I had everything ready to go in the oven. But my husband liked them, so I figure that will go into the repeat dinner list.

Library Finds

  • White Hot Kiss - I got the first copy as soon as it came in! I'm reading it now and loving it so far!!
  • Mind Games - I have been meaning to read this for awhile, so I picked it up when I saw it.
  • Chosen at Nightfall - I've been putting this one off. I didn't want the series to end because it's one of my favorites. Since the spinoff series comes out next month I think it's safe to finish it though.
  • Down in the Valley - I was halfway through the Virgin River series before I noticed there was a prequel trilogy, so now I'm going back and reading it.
  • A Fool's Gold Christmas - the next book in the Fool's Gold Series. I will catch up on these!
Netgalley



  • Endless - Started this one, and it's pretty good so far
  • Clipped Wings - This one has a high rating on Goodreads, so I'm looking forward to it.
  • Breaking Free - this is non-fiction about modern day slavery. Sounds really good!
  • Syphon's Song - A new trilogy coming out, I can't wait to start it.
  • Dark Promise - Another new paranormal series. I think this was release a couple of years ago, but it being rereleased with a new cover.
  • If Only - Sounds like a really cute New Adult Book coming out!
Reviews:

 
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