Author Archives: Kristin

Review: Flying Blind by Deborah Cooke

25 May, 2016 3:40 am , 2 Comments ,

FlyingBlindFlying Blind
(The Dragon Diaries Trilogy, #1)
By: Deborah Cooke
Publisher: NAL
Published: June 7, 2011
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating:

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Zoë Sorensson is perfectly normal, except she’s been told she’s destined for great things. Zoë’s the one female dragon shapeshifter of her kind. But Zoë is at the bottom of the class when it comes to being Pyr and her powers are AWOL, so she’s sent to a Pyr boot camp.

Zoë quickly realizes that she has to master her powers yesterday, because the Pyr are in danger and boot camp is a trap. The Mages want to eliminate all shifters and the Pyr are next in line-unless Zoë and her friends can work together and save their own kind.

 

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Posted in: YA Fantasy , Tagged: ,

Review: Sugar Daddy by Sawyer Bennett

23 May, 2016 8:00 am , 7 Comments ,

sugar daddySugar Daddy
(Sugar Bowl, #1)
By: Sawyer Bennett
Published: Loveswept
Release Date: May 24, 2016
Genre: Romance
Rating:

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Sela Halstead lost her innocence in a way that no sixteen-year-old should ever have to endure. She’s spent years trying to forget that night even while wondering about the identities of the monsters who brutalized her—until a telltale tattoo flashes across Sela’s TV screen. The incriminating ink belongs to Jonathon Townsend, the millionaire founder of The Sugar Bowl, a website that matches rich older men with impressionable young women. Obsessed with revenge, Sela infiltrates Townsend’s world, only to come face-to-face with a tantalizing complication: Beckett North, his charismatic business partner.

The tech mastermind behind The Sugar Bowl, Beck always gets what he wants, in business and in bed. And yet, for a man who’s done every dirty thing imaginable, there’s something about the naïve, fresh-faced Sela that sparks his hottest fantasies. Because with her, it’s not just about sex. Beck opens up to her in ways he never has with other girls. So why does he get the feeling that she’s hiding something? In a world of pleasure and power, the shocking truth could turn them against each other—or bind them forever.

 

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Posted in: Romance , Tagged: ,

Excerpt: Underground by Alice Rachel [Giveaway]

20 May, 2016 3:52 am , 5 Comments ,

undegroundUnderground
(Underground, #1)
By: Alice Rachel
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: Oct. 30, 2015
Genre: Distopia YA Romance

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Love is a taboo, a mere fantasy— foreign, unreachable, and dangerous.

Raised in a society where women have no rights, seventeen-year-old Thia Clay holds little hope for a bright future. When her parents sell her into marriage to elite member William Fox, Thia slowly gives in to despair. William is nothing but a cruel, selfish young man with no other interest than to serve his own.

Born illegally and forced to hide from the authorities his entire life, nineteen-year-old Chi Richards is an active member of the Underground—a rebellious group seeking to overthrow the government.

Chi only has one goal—to rescue his parents from the work camp they were forced into.

Meeting Thia was never part of the plan, and neither was falling in love with her.

If caught in their forbidden relationship, Thia and Chi could face a death sentence, and when devastating secrets surface from Chi’s past, Thia has to rely on her instincts to make a choice that could save her or destroy her forever.

 

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Posted in: YA Romance , Tagged:

Review: Faking Normal by Courtney C. Stevens

18 May, 2016 3:31 am , 4 Comments ,

Faking NormalFaking Normal
By: Courtney C. Stevens
Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: Feb. 25, 2014
Genre: YA
Rating:

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Alexi Littrell hasn’t told anyone what happened to her over the summer. Ashamed and embarrassed, she hides in her closet and compulsively scratches the back of her neck, trying to make the outside hurt more than the inside does.

When Bodee Lennox, the quiet and awkward boy next door, comes to live with the Littrells, Alexi discovers an unlikely friend in “the Kool-Aid Kid,” who has secrets of his own. As they lean on each other for support, Alexi gives him the strength to deal with his past, and Bodee helps her find the courage to finally face the truth.

 

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Posted in: YA Contemporary, Young Adult , Tagged: ,

Review: Sweet Filthy Boy by Christina Lauren

13 May, 2016 3:14 am , 12 Comments ,

sweetfilthyboySweet Filthy Boy
(Wild Seasons, #1)
By: Christina Lauren
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: May 13, 2014
Genre: New Adult Romance
Rating:

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One-night stands are supposed to be with someone convenient, or wickedly persuasive, or regrettable. They aren’t supposed to be with someone like him.

But after a crazy Vegas weekend celebrating her college graduation—and terrified of the future path she knows is a cop-out—Mia Holland makes the wildest decision of her life: follow Ansel Guillaume—her sweet, filthy fling—to France for the summer and just…play.

When feelings begin to develop behind the provocative roles they take on, and their temporary masquerade adventures begin to feel real, Mia will have to decide if she belongs in the life she left because it was all wrong, or in the strange new one that seems worlds away.

 

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Posted in: NA Romance , Tagged: ,

Excerpt: The Colony by Kathleen Groger [giveaway]

11 May, 2016 3:36 am , 8 Comments ,

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000039_00004]The Colony
(A Rasper Novel, #1)
By: Kathleen Groger
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: April 5, 2016
Genre: YA Sci-Fi

Goodreads

Trust no one.

Never go out in the dark.

Always have a weapon.

Sixteen-year-old Val lives by these three rules etched on her arm. Her rules and her gun are the only things standing between her and assimilation by hordes of human-looking aliens she calls Raspers.

By day, Val gathers supplies. By night, she hides and wishes she could go back in time…before her family died…before the annihilation…before the Raspers began stalking her and demanding she join their collective.

But when the Raspers attack in broad daylight, the truth becomes startlingly clear.

They’re evolving.

A fellow survivor crashes into Val’s life. Adam’s full of charm and promises—like rumors of a safe haven—but there’s something wrong. He’s survived with no supplies, no weapons…no plans. Time is running out. With the formula for survival shifting around her, Val must decide how many rules she’s willing to break to escape the Colony.

 

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Posted in: YA Sci-fi , Tagged:

Excerpt: Love Charms and Other Catastrophes by Kimberly Karalius [Giveaway]

9 May, 2016 3:10 am , 5 Comments ,

lovecharmsLove Charms and Other Catastrophes
(Grimbaud, #2)
By: Kimberly Karalius
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Release Date: May 17, 2016
Genre: YA Fantasy Romance

Goodreads

Aspiring love charm maker Hijiri Kitamura was excited to come back to Grimbaud for her sophomore year-until she learns about the upcoming charm making competition. Grimbaud has just started to recover from the tyranny of Zita’s love fortunes and it would be too easy for the winning charm maker to take Zita’s place. The only solution is for Hijiri, with the support of her friends and fellow rebels, to win the contest herself.

Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done, especially when Love itself has decided to meddle in Hijiri’s life. Concerned that it’s favorite charm maker has given up on finding a boyfriend of her own, Love takes matters into its own hands and delivers the perfect boyfriend to her in a giftwrapped box…literally.

 

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Posted in: Excerpt, YA Fantasy, YA Romance , Tagged:

Review: Nuts by Alice Clayton

6 May, 2016 3:37 am , 5 Comments ,

NutsNuts
(Hudson Valley, #1)
By: Alice Clayton
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: Oct. 20, 2015
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating:

Goodreads

After losing almost all of her clients in one fell swoop following an accident involving whipped cream, private chef to Hollywood’s elite Roxie Callahan gets a call from her flighty mother, saying she’s needed home in upstate New York to run the family diner. Once she’s back in the Hudson Valley, local organic farmer Leo delivers Roxie a lovely bunch of walnuts, and soon sparks—and clothing—begin to fly. Leo believes that everything worth doing is worth doing slowly…and how! But will Roxie stay upstate, or will the lure of West Coast redemption tempt her back to Tinseltown?

 

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Posted in: Romance , Tagged: ,

Review: Holding Smoke by Elle Cosimano

4 May, 2016 3:29 am , 5 Comments ,

holding smokeHolding Smoke
By: Elle Cosimano
Publisher: Hyperion
Published: May 3, 2016
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating:

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John “Smoke” Conlan is serving time for two murders but he wasn’t the one who murdered his English teacher, and he never intended to kill the only other witness to the crime. A dangerous juvenile rehabilitation center in Denver, Colorado, known as the Y, is Smoke’s new home and the only one he believes he deserves.

But, unlike his fellow inmates, Smoke is not in constant imprisonment. After a near death experience leaves him with the ability to shed his physical body at will, Smoke is able to travel freely outside the concrete walls of the Y, gathering information for himself and his fellow inmates while they’re asleep in their beds. Convinced his future is only as bright as the fluorescent lights in his cell, Smoke doesn’t care that the “threads” that bind his soul to his body are wearing thin-that one day he may not make it back in time. That is, until he meets Pink, a tough, resourceful girl who is sees him for who he truly is and wants to help him clear his name.

Now Smoke is on a journey to redemption he never thought possible. With Pink’s help, Smoke may be able to reveal the true killer, but the closer they get to the truth, the more deadly their search becomes. The web of lies, deceit, and corruption that put Smoke behind bars is more tangled than they could have ever imagined. With both of their lives on the line, Smoke will have to decide how much he’s willing to risk, and if he can envision a future worth fighting for.

 

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Posted in: YA Fantasy, YA Suspense , Tagged: ,

Excerpt: Painting Sky by Rita Branches [Giveaway]

27 April, 2016 4:21 am , 4 Comments ,

Painting skyPainting Sky
By: Rita Branches
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: April 25, 2016
Genre: New Adult Romance

Goodreads

Nobody ever said life was easy…

People pleaser, Jane Skylar wants nothing more than to earn her art degree, start her life, and bask in the bliss of living with her boyfriend.

But things don’t always go as planned…

Struggling with her creative side, Jane finds herself in turmoil, often confiding in her roommate – another, more talented art student, Keith Hale. Keith just so happens to be her boyfriend’s older, brooding brother. After a devastating breakup, Jane turns to Keith for comfort. But when the lines blur between roommate and lover, Jane’s life becomes more complicated than ever before.

When Keith’s past comes back to haunt him, their lives all get turned upside down, forcing the truth to surface. Now Jane must fight for what she wants–even if it hurts everyone she loves.

 

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Posted in: NA Romance