Review ~ Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Onyx

(Lux #2)

By Jennifer L. Armentrout

4 out of 5 STARS

Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…

Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.

Something worse than the Arum has come to town…

The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.

But then everything changes…

I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?

No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…

This picks up immediately after Obsidian, starting back up in class with a good poke in the back.  I love Daemon's playful banter.  He's hilarious and relentless in his pursuit.  If I was a betting woman, knowing the challenge he faces, I'd definitely put my money on Daemon... ;)

"Not in this lifetime, buddy," I said finally.
"Resistance is futile, Kitten."
"So is your charm."
"We'll see."
Rolling my eyes, I faced the front of the classroom.  Daemon was a total babe, but he was stab-worthy, which, at times, zeroed out the babe part.  Not always, though.

Katy has mixed feelings about Daemon, and though I understand her trepidation, it gets a little excessive to me.  We are introduced to a new character by the name of Blake Saunders.  He's pretty much a mystery but for some reason Katy trusts him and he starts teaching her a few things.  This brings about some interesting reactions from Daemon, jealous much?  But through all that, he and Katy are around each other fairly regularly.  I really do enjoy their page time and the humorous barbs thrown back and forth.

My head jerked towards his, narrowly missing a collision.  I hid my surprise.  "I didn't know you knew how to read the classics."
A lazy smirk appeared, and I'd swear he managed to get closer.  Our legs touched.  His shoulder brushed my arm.  "Well, I usually prefer books with pictures and small sentences, but sometimes I step out of the box."
Unable to help it, I laughed.  "Let me guess, your favorite kind of picture book is the one you can color in?"
"I never stay in the lines."  Daemon winked.  Only he could pull that off.

Oh, and another interaction...

"Maybe they're getting some bow-chicka-pow-wow."
I looked at him.  "Ew."
He flashed his teeth.  "She's definitely not my type."  His gaze dropped to my lips, and parts of me quivered in response to the heat in his gaze.  "But now I totally have that on my mind."
I was breathless.  "You're a dog."
"If you pet me, I'll-"
"Don't even finish that sentence," I said, fighting a grin.  Smiling only encouraged him, and he needed no extra reason to be a terror.

I just had one slight issue with this installment:  Katy got on my nerves a little bit but she did redeem herself in the end.

But besides the sizzling tension between the two, lot's of things are happening.  We are introduced to new enemies, find out horrible truths and get a peak into what a crazy ride the future of the series promises to be.  Some major stuff takes place changing the direction of the series in a huge way.  I loved the ending.  I cannot flippin' wait to see what happens next!

"That I'm lucky, because the person I can't get out of my head, the person who means more to me than I can stand, is still alive.  She's still there.  And that's you."

Onyx available at: Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Book Depository

Review ~ Pushing the Limits

Pushing the Limits

By Katie McGarry

5 out of 5 STARS

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

ARC provided by Harlequin Teen

Published July 31st, 2012

I don't read YA very often and I was completely blown away with how emotional and beautiful this story was.    Pushing the Limits chronicles the tale of two high school students with two very different backgrounds that merge together in this heartwarming story.

This was beautiful yet heart wrenching as we read about Echo Emerson and Noah Hutchins.  

Echo is an 18 year old senior with a dark and mysterious past.  She has scars, both physical and emotional and a big gaping hole in her memory when what she really wants is answers.

Noah Hutchins has been in foster care for the past couple of years after a very unfortunate accident left him and his two young brothers orphaned.  The foster care system has not been easy on him, changing his lifestyle and behavior for the worse.

Mrs. Collins is the new counselor at school and soon gets the ball rolling for both of these characters...

We learn so much about these characters, the side they present to the world and the side they keep hidden whether intentional or not.  I really enjoyed this story.  The plot covered lots of emotions: despair and loneliness to finally happiness and trust and it was not an easy journey to get there.  I loved this very much and highly recommend it!

Favorite quotes:

My father checked his watch from the chair to my right and, on my left, the Wicked Witch of the West shifted impatiently.  I was missing first period calculus, my father was missing some very important meeting, and my stepmother from Oz?  I'm sure she was missing her brain.

He shifted so that his body rested beside mine, his leg and arm still draped over me.  I felt small under his wamrth and strength.  His chocolate-brown eyes softened.  "Being with you feels good.  Touching you-" he tucked a curl behind my ear "-feels good.  I have never wanted anyone like I want you.  There's nothing you can do wrong when just breathing makes everything right."

Pushing the Limits available at: Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Book Depository

Review ~ Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Obsidian

(Lux #1)

By Jennifer L. Armentrout

4 out of 5 STARS

Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens. 

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades. 

If I don't kill him first, that is.

So I finally took the plunge and decided to read this after so many friends on Goodreads raved about it.  OK.  I get it now.  What took me so long to read it?

Katy and her mother are looking for a fresh start and end up in West Virginia.  They have a strained relationship but it's great to see the growth through out this book.   Katy is a book blogger.  That's right, she reviews books and takes it very seriously.  Oh how this amuses me so as a blogger, it's really quite funny.  But knowing she needs to try to socialize, her mom talks about the kids next door that are her same age.  

“Well, one is a girl who looks about your age, and there’s a boy.” She grinned as she stood. “He’s a hottie.”

A tiny piece of egg caught in my throat. It was seriously gross to hear Mom talking about boys my age. “Hottie? Mom, that’s just weird.” 

Mom pushed off from the counter, picked up her plate from the table, and headed to the sink. “Honey, I might be old, but my eyes are still working fine. And they were really working earlier.”

So Katy makes her way over to the neighors to ask for directions and we meet Daemon.  Whoa.  He's an ass.  Big time.  But  I love how Katy tries to stand her ground and not take his shit.  But it's not easy.  She quickly strikes up a friendship with his sister Dee and is around him more than she prefers...

“What— are you deciding to talk to me now?” Smiling tightly, I grabbed a handful of mulch and dumped it. Rinse and repeat. “Yeah, it’s kind of a hobby. What’s yours? Kicking puppies?”
“I’m not sure I should say in front of my sister,” he replied, his expression turning wolfish.
 “Ew.” Dee made a face.
The images I got then were totally R-rated, and I could tell by his smug expression he knew it. I grabbed more mulch.
“But it’s not nearly as lame as this,” he added.

I really enjoyed this story a lot and from the very first chapter.  The characters are engaging from the start.  The back and forth banter between Daemon and Katy is highly entertaining, even if he is a big jerk at the beginning.

Daemon stared at me a moment, then laughed. It was a deep, rumbling sound. Nice. Sexy. Oh God, I looked away. He was the kind of boy that broke hearts and left a long line of them shattered behind him. He was trouble. Maybe the fun kind of trouble, but he was also a jerk. And I didn’t do jerks. Not that I did anyone.

But soon enough Daemon melts just a little.  He's very protective of his sister and though I was guessing at this point as to why, we don't know til later.  He's kind of manic in my opinion.  He can be a jerk one moment, then the next he can be pretty sweet.

“I’ve always found that the most beautiful people, truly beautiful inside and out, are the ones who are quietly unaware of their effect.” His eyes searched mine intently, and for a moment we stood there toe to toe. “The ones who throw their beauty around, waste what they have? Their beauty is only passing. It’s just a shell hiding nothing but shadows and emptiness.”

But at school?  I love when he pokes her in the back during class.  They just have such great tension between the two of them.

Overall I really enjoyed this book.  Dee and Daemon are so different than any other characters I have ever read about.  Being aliens, they really are detached from the human world and it's fun to read how they adapt to situations.  The plot is good, there are bad guys and they make their presence known.  I love finding new series because I get attached to the characters.  I am so happy that these fabulous new characters will have more stories to tell and you can be sure that I will gobble them up!


Other favorite quotes:

 He slowly lifted his head, placing his other hand on mine. “Remind me,” he paused, drawing in a stuttered gasp, “to never piss you off again. Christ, are you secretly a ninja?”

My palms itched to have a close encounter of the bitch-slap kind with his face. “I dislike you so very much.”

“No. You don’t.”

Obsidian available at: Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Book Depository

Review ~ Ink by Holly Hood

Ink 

By Holly Hood

3 out of 5 STARS

Hope didn’t ask for so much change in her life. She was happy living in Georgia for the rest of her life. Focusing on the things she loved the most: singing, dancing, and her best friend Karsen. This was effortless, she had no worries.

But all that changed when her mother decided to leave her dad for Pete, the Tae Kwon do instructor. And now Hope had to choose between staying where she belonged or moving far away to Cherry California with her dad.

After making the choice to move far away, to protect her father, Hope realizes Cherry is nothing like the hometown she’s used to. Everyone is rude, high class and she doesn’t fit in. Not until Slade comes along. He has never fit in and he is okay with that. And Hope is fascinated by everything that Slade is. All the way down to his tattoos and bat wielding rescue the first time they meet.

She knows she should stay far away from him, but it proves tricky as she discovers dark secrets about the town and people in Cherry, California. Hope doesn’t know who to trust as her life takes a turn from ordinary and depressing to dangerous and wild

I have mixed feelings about this book.  It's a pretty sexy YA with some very dark themes included.  That isn't my reservation though.

We have Hope, who along with her dad and twin brothers, has moved to a town called Cherry, CA.  She's 17 and starting school soon at an academy for the arts.  She loves music: dancing, singing.  So what does she do on her first night in town?  Follows the group of people she sees on the beach going to a rock concert in the park.  The rock concert proves to be rambunctious and she is constantly being thrown about and almost trampled.  Enter Slade who comes to her rescue.

Slade is 19, covered in tattoos, has a lip ring, wears the standard black.  He's a mysterious character and remains mysterious and aloof most of the book.

Holly is trying to make it work at this new school but she's kind of an outcast already just for having hung out with Slade.  The town is very judgmental.   Extremely so.

The plot is great.  I like the idea of what's happening and how it's solved.  My reservations come with the writing.  The chapters end so abruptly.  It feels like they just end in the middle of something and I was left wanting more.  When the next chapter picks up, time has passed and it's moved on and I'm left wanting to know what has happened in the meantime.  I feel that we miss out on some important information.

A few things are left unexplained, or unbelievable to me.  So the Evil Kings of Ink live in a tour bus that's parked at the park they perform at.  They have shows practically night after night and they are constantly packed.  How does a band have that much material to play in the same place probably to the same crowd all the time?  I love music and all but I would probably get sick of seeing a favorite band performing the same songs night after night.  But this is really just a personal opinion.

The character developments are good enough with a few exceptions.  My problem is with Holly.  She comes to Cherry young and naive in the ways of boys.  Wow.  She moves pretty fast and juggles a couple of boys for a short time.  I was kind of surprised by that.  The beginning mentions she has never found anyone worthy of her affections to all of a sudden being attracted to two different guys and getting a little bit of action.  I'm not talking about having sex right away with either but still.  Also, I had a big problem with how she just forgives Tucker after he was a huge dickhead.  Really, he demeans her, humiliates her, has shady hidden agendas and a skeezy dad and she just forgives him?  

Those reasons above prevent me from giving it more than 3 stars.  Overall I did enjoy it and really like Slade and his misfit family.  Slade and Holly have great page time and some pretty steamy moments.  The book kind of ends abruptly with vague answers as to what just happened at the end involving the villains.

With all that said, I WILL be picking up the sequel Ink: Twisted Magic at some point to continue on with the story arc now that my curiosity is piqued.

Waiting on Wednesday {#10}

Hosted by Breaking the Spine, a way to share upcoming highly anticipated releases.

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter with a release date of September 25th, 2012. 

She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

I wish I could go back and do a thousand things differently.

I'd tell my sister no.

I'd never beg my mother to talk to my dad.

I'd zip my lips and swallow those hateful words.

Or, barring all of that, I'd hug my sister, my mom and my dad one last time.

I'd tell them I love them.

I wish... Yeah, I wish.

I don't read that much YA but I love a good zombie story.  The synopsis is great and the cover is beautiful.  I'm excited for this one!

What's your WOW?

Review ~ Blackbrooke

Blackbrooke

By Emma Silver

4 of 5 STARS

I live in Blackbrooke and you would have had to be living under a rock to never have heard of it before now. This town is different to most others…Humans aren’t the only residents…”

The residents of Blackbrooke share their town with the Creatures, or Crits as they are known. Grotesque, roaming the streets at night looking for food, their presence means humans have to live by the Rules, keeping them indoors and forbidding them of basic desires.

The most important Rule?

Don’t be a ‘walk out’!

Straight-A student, Liberty Connor, hates the Crits and the endless Rules she and her tight knit group of friends have to live by.

Planning her new life on the Outside with her boyfriend, Gabriel, Liberty whiles away her days waiting to turn 18, so they can leave and be free. That is, until the world she thinks she knows begins to unravel…

Her friends start to walk out. So she’s told. However, something’s not right. Things don’t add up.

Liberty faces a race against time to discover what’s going on with the Creatures of Blackbrooke.

Is it them she has to fear, or something much closer to home?

Blackbrooke is a Young Adult horror novel that has you on the edge of your seat.

Blackbrooke, England.  Population 10,000 and dwindling.  Centuries ago, an agreement was made.  Humans rule the day, but when the klaxon bell rings, its time to lock up tight.  The nighttime is ruled by the Crits.  Four different types of monsters make up the Crits.  There are Lurkers, Watchers, Hunters and the Queens.  Each playing a different role and each horrible and terrifying in description.  Rules were put in place to keep the peace and to prevent any temptations to the Crits.

This story is written in the POV of Libby Connor.  Libby is 17, a full time student and lives at home with her parents and four year old brother Oscar.  The mother is mostly out of the picture so Libby has been helping her father raise him.  She also works part time at a tourist shop called Tales from the Crits with her kooky/hippie boss Denzil.  Other important characters are her boyfriend Gabriel, her best friend Gemma and Gemma's boyfriend, Noah.  We also have Cassius, her childhood friend.  Cassius and Libby's friendship became estranged though as the years went by.  Cassius is pale as can be.  White hair, pale skin that's nearly translucent, two different colored eyes.  All of that making him easy pickings to be the brunt of many a joke, being made fun of relentlessly.

At school, the girls and boys only intermingle during Blackbrooke history class, at the cafeteria and when they are all called to assembly.  Which happens way too often considering they are announcing the most recent  students to have 'walked out'.  That term is used when someone 'walks out' during the night, knowing full well the Crits will get them.

There is a slight triangle, if I can really call it that.   Gabriel is sweet and very caring.  Cassius is just, so much more in my opinion.  I just don't know how to explain it.  He's just so different and suits Libby a lot differently then Gabriel.  Maybe it was the skinny jeans with  skinny tie and wool coat that got me.  Who knows.

Libby is soon entrenched in a mystery involving recent 'walk outs'.  Finding an ally in Cassius, we are taken on a terrifying journey of death and betrayal, forbidden secrets and finding out who she can really trust.

This book really is a hell of a story.  So many things happen.  We are taken from one clue to the next as the frightening answers are revealed.  My thoughts on this book are jumbled, it is not a comforting story.  The end was a huge shock and left me wanting more.  Yes, it is a cliffhanger.  Even if most of the questions are answered, the last chapter leaves us with new ones.  I enjoyed every minute of it and even cried at one point.

A terrifying yet captivating debut...  Miss Silver, may your creative forces continue to crank out such enthralling works.  Everyone will be thirsty for more after reading this one.