Little Miss Bookmark: March 2014

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Review: Breathe Into Me

Summary

How did my life get so broken? It’s a question Lacey St. James asks herself every day. Stuck raising her little brother in a trailer park while she works a dead end job at a grocery store, she has a stalker ex-boyfriend, a bad reputation, and no way out.

And then, she meets Everett, who changes her entire existence.

Everett is an outsider who’s house-sitting his family’s mansion off the coast, and for reasons Lacey can’t understand, he’s completely transfixed by her. He seems determined to show her that life can offer more than she’d ever hoped for, if only she believes in herself. She desperately yearns to trust him, but what happens when she finds out that everything he’s told her is a lie?

Rating & Review

Breathe Into Me ... where to start ... okay. First of all ... after reading the book, I think that the blurb on the back doesn't do it any justice. At all. It also has some info that felt ... off to me. I read the summary a while back and I didn't bother reading it again before I started this book because hey, if I thought it sounded good then, then it will still be good to me now so there's no reason to re-read it until after I'm done with the book. Which is what I did this time. And I'm glad that I did it that way because there is some info on the back that is misleading and it totally ruins a surprise! But now that I've brought attention to the back of the book and some of what I think is weird, you won't be able to NOT read the blurb now. You've just ruined a surprise. Are you happy now? Anyway ... in no way does this actually impact my overall thoughts on the book but it was on my mind, so I thought that I would share it.

Now, I love a flawed character. I go on and on about them all the time. It's mostly because flawed characters are the best. If you are reading a book and the main character doesn't make you think, "Thank goodness that isn't me" then they aren't flawed enough. I think that a perfectly flawed character will be one that you think "Thank goodness that isn't me" and then the author adds one more flaw in order to turn your thank goondess comment into, "Oh, shit". I want an Oh Shit character. At first, Fawkes did really well with her main character, Lacey. She took Lacey to Oh Shit Town but then instead of stopping there, Lacey was dragged through a couple cactus bushes in OST. Lacey became too flawed. She became broken. Instead of me seeing this main character as someone who could overcome her difficulties, shortcomings and down right travesties, I saw her as someone who had been shattered. There was no way that this character could redeem herself. I want to see that redemption. I want to see someone pick themselves back up after being dealt a crappy hand in life and I want to see them succeed. I want it to give me hope. But this was just sad. I have no problem reading a novel that is sad - the characters are sad, the town is sad, the pets are sad, and everything ends in heartbreak. But that isn't how I took this novel to be. I think that it wanted to be happy in the end and it just couldn't get there for me.

The writing was pretty good. After I got through a rough patch in the beginning where things just weren't interesting, it picked up and I found myself looking forward to snatching it up and reading a bit more. But I did find myself questioning ... everything. Mostly things about Lacey's character. Man. I just won't leave her alone, will I? I'll cut to the chase and just say this ... the main character was good at certain things that weren't let on in the beginning. It felt like it was just thrown into the book like, "Hey, she's going to be doing underwater basket weaving ... guess what?!? She's a world champ!". It was just weird and it felt forced.

You know, these things may not bother anyone else. Maybe I'm being a little sensitive or nit-picky. It's a pretty good book though and it's worth you giving a shot if for no other reason than to just tell me that I'm full of it and you like the cactus in Oh Shit Town.

Find Breathe Into Me here:

Friday, March 28, 2014

Cover Reveal and Giveaway: Fingers in the Mist by O'Dell Hutchison

Welcome to the Cover Reveal for

Fingers in the Mist by O’Dell Hutchison

presented by Month9Books!

Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!

Sixteen-year-old Caitlyn Foster never believed in the legend of the Redeemers. That was before the trees started to whisper her name. Before a murder of crows attacked the town. Before she and her family came home to find a bloody handprint on their front door, marking one of them as a sacrifice. As Caitlyn’s friends are ripped from their homes, she knows it’s only a matter of time before the Redeemers come for her. Caitlyn has the power to stop the terror, but she’ll have to decide if she’s willing to sacrifice herself to save those she loves.

Fingers in the Mist by O’Dell Hutchison
Publisher: Month9Books

O’Dell was born in a small rural town in Idaho. There were no Redeemers living there (that he knows of). After attending college in the Pacific Northwest, he found his way to the Houston area. By day, he is a Business Systems Analyst and at night you can either find him sitting at home, dreaming of random super powers he wishes he had, or directing plays and musicals at various theaters around Houston.

Connect with the Author: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Complete the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Cover Reveal: Honor Reclaimed by Tonya Burrows

I'm totally judging this romantic suspense novel by it's new cover! (I think it's okay just this one time!) Definitely put this one on your calendar to pick up on Tuesday, May 27th!

Summary

Former Marine scout sniper Seth Harlan is new to HORNET and anxious to prove he can still do his job despite an ongoing battle with PTSD. He remembers all too well what it's like to sit inside an enemy camp, praying for rescue and waiting for death. So when a black ops soldier contacts HORNET to rescue a buddy who was left behind, all sorts of nasty memories strain his new-found stability.

When an interview with a runaway Afghan child bride leads photojournalist Phoebe Leighton to an arms deal involving a suitcase bomb powerful enough to wipe out a mid-sized town, she realizes this is one battle she can't win on her own. Forming an unlikely alliance with a ragtag team of military and government delinquents, she meets Seth, a sniper carrying as many emotional scars as physical, who impresses her with his steely will and ignites passions within her she thought long dead.

Suddenly this mission is about a lot more than an abandoned soldier. Racing against the clock, Seth, Phoebe, and the rest of HORNET struggle to stop that bomb before it reaches it's final destination: The United States.

Find Honor Reclaimed here:

About the Author

Writing has always been my one true love. I wrote my first novel-length story in 8th grade and haven't put down my pen since. I received a B.A. in creative writing from SUNY Oswego and I'm now working on a MFA in popular fiction at Seton Hill University.

When I'm not writing, I spend my time reading, painting (badly), exploring new places, and enjoying time with my family. Give me a good horror movie over a chick flick any day. (And, let's be honest, I'll take a bad horror movie too!) I'm a geek at heart and pledge my avid TV fandom to Supernatural and Doctor Who. I'm also a big fan of The Voice. What can I say? Guilty pleasure.

I share my life with two dogs and a ginormous cat. I'm from a small town in Western New York, but I suffer from a bad case of wanderlust and usually end up moving someplace new every few years. Luckily, my animals are all excellent travel buddies.

Find Tonya Burrows here:

GIVEAWAY!!

Review: Mortal Fire (Secret of the Journal, #1)

Summary

Twenty-nine-year-old, independent, and self-assured Cambridge history professor Emma D'Eresby has one obsession in life: the curious journal of a seventeenth-century Englishman, a portion of which was left to her by her late grandfather.

When an unexpected opportunity to study the journal in its entirety presents itself, Emma finds herself leaving Cambridge to take up a year-long position at a prestigious university in Maine. Anticipating a quiet year of research, Emma quickly discovers her work impeded by a range of unforeseen complications. From the start, there is the well-intentioned matchmaking of her vivacious Russian colleague, Elena Smalova, and the unexpected jailing of one of her post-graduate students. More troublesome, however, are the unsolved, brutal night attacks on women near the university and Emma's suspicion that they might be linked to the sinister English professor, Kort Staahl. But, most diverting and disconcerting of all, is Emma's growing attraction to the strikingly handsome Dr. Matthew Lyons, whose kind but deliberately distant demeanor puzzles her.

Suspense and dread mount when Kort begins to take a persistent and unsettling interest in Emma. What are Kort's intentions, and what is he capable of? And the mystery surrounding Matthew only deepens when Emma discovers a link between him and the journal. What is Matthew trying to hide?

Rating & Review

Where to start ... unfortunately, I'm having a difficult time finding a good place to start on this one. I've tried. It's taken me a couple of days to read this book ... 6 to be exact. That's not normal. It shouldn't take me that long to finish a book. The problem was that I just wasn't interested.

And I may be way off base on this one, there are a lot of people who really like this book. From the very first sentence, I just found it to be uninteresting. It's sad when I couldn't care less what is in store for characters. Usually, I get too invested in them but not this time. I didn't care at all.

I found the phrasing really weird in a lot of places, the humor wasn't ... funny ... or even amusing. There was a stiffness when it came to the conversations between the characters. It was almost as if the conversations weren't with real people, if that makes any sense. Now, I know that they aren't real people but when I'm reading a book, I expect for the characters to come across like like a real flesh covered person. But they all read like characters. There was nothing personable about them, nothing endearing, nothing. Just nothing.

This just was not a book for me. I was really interested when I read the blurb but this book and I were not a perfect fit. I mean, it was like trying to push a pizza through a credit card reader. We just didn't mesh.

Find Mortal Fire here:

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Review: Four Seconds to Lose (Ten Tiny Breaths #3)

Summary

When a gorgeous young dancer walks through his door, a strip club owner must decide whether to follow his rules or his heart in the third novel by the author of One Tiny Lie and Ten Tiny Breaths.

Owning a strip club isn’t the fantasy most guys expect it to be. With long hours, a staff with enough issues to keep a psych ward in business, and the police regularly on his case, twenty-nine-year-old Cain is starting to second guess his unspoken mission to save the women he employs. And then blond, brown-eyed Charlie Rourke walks through his door, and things get really complicated. Cain abides by a strict “no sleeping with the staff” rule. But being around Charlie challenges Cain’s self-control…and it’s been a long time since any woman has done that.

Twenty-two-year-old Charlie Rourke needs a lot of money, really fast, in order to vanish before it’s too late. Taking her clothes off for men makes her stomach curl but Charlie tells herself that at least she’s putting her acting and dancing skills to good use. And though her fellow dancers seem eager to nab their sexy, sophisticated, and genuinely caring boss, she’s not interested. After all, Charlie Rourke doesn’t really exist—and the girl pretending to be her can't get distracted by romance.

Unfortunately, Charlie soon discovers that developing feelings for Cain is inevitable, and that those feelings may not be unrequited—but losing him when he finds out what she’s involved with will be more painful than any other sentence awaiting her.

Rating & Review

You always hear about books that keep people up at night and this is one of them. I only got three hours of sleep due to this book. Man ... yesterday morning was rough due to this book. But it was totally worth it. Tucker just has a way of creating unforgettable characters. She is so talented and I'm super excited to see what comes out next from her.

I have been pretty intrigued by Cain since the first book in this series. That's the great thing about the Ten Tiny Breaths series, you get the opportunity to dive into the lives of characters that you met in the first book. I don't know if that was the intention when Tucker sat down to write Ten Tiny Breaths but I sure am glad that it happened. You become really invested in the lives of these characters ... you want to see what happens to them next AND she doesn't just stop writing about characters that she has previously featured in a book, oh, no. She brings them into future books so that you can see what has happened to them since their book was done. Which is fabulous.

Okay, getting on with this review ... Four Seconds to Lose was captivating. Most of that is due to the characters. Each of the characters created in this series is so realistic that I've often wondered if Tucker is basing them off of real people in her life. She must be someone who goes to a park and just sits and watches people. I can't think of any other way she would be able to create characters that could just walk out of a book. Maybe this is what I find so endearing about this series. It's so realistic while not being stuffy or boring.

I don't really have anything else to say without divulging any juicy secrets. The writing was impeccable, there aren't any errors with spelling or grammar, no boring parts that I had to skip, nothing that I found hinky or unbelievable ... everything was just great. This is number three in the series and I'm not tired of it in the least. Sometimes I get a horrible case of burnout but I don't see that happening with this series or this author. I think that it will be one of my favorites for years to come.

Find Four Seconds to Lose here:

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Cover Reveal: Lux: Beginnings (Obsidian and Onyx) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

If you haven't had a chance to dive into the amazing Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout, you are truly missing out. Armentrout has an amazing talent for creating captivating characters that will capture your heart and take you for a pretty fantastic ride. That being said, don't rush out and get this series just yet. You should definitely wait until Lux: Beginnings comes out on June 3rd of this year - Beginnings will include both #1 and #2 in the Lux series and the cover is AWESOME! I hope you're ready because here it is!

Lux: Beginnings (Obsidian & Onyx) official Blurb:

Obsidian

There's an alien next door. And with his looming height and eerie green eyes, he's hot...until he opens his mouth. He's infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, he lights me up with a big fat bulls-eye. Turns out he has a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal his abilities and the only way I’m getting out of this alive is by sticking close to him until my alien mojo fades. If I don’t kill him first, that is.

Onyx

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

Find Lux: Beginnings (Obsidian and Onyx) here:

http://www.JenniferArmentrout.com/

About the Author

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen.

She also writes adult and New Adult romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

Find Jennifer L. Armentrout here:

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Just when you thought that it couldn't get any better, we are also raffling off two fan inspired artwork from fans of the Lux series sent from the author, Jennifer L. Armentrout, herself! Enter through the Rafflecopter below! Winner will be chosen randomly and notified by the publisher.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Cover Reveal and Giveaway: My Tethered Soul (Reaper's Rite #2) by Dorothy Dreyer

Welcome to the Cover Reveal for

My Tethered Soul (Reaper's Rite #2) by Dorothy Dreyer

presented by Month9Books!

It’s been months since Zadie faced her sister’s Reaper, months during which she’s been under her mentor’s magical protection. But now that she’s turning seventeen, that protection is about to run out. When dark forces lure Zadie to wander at night, she’s manipulated into committing unspeakable acts. With her friends and family at risk, Zadie must try to use her powers to break free from the Reaper’s grasp, or surrender to the Reaper’s Rite, which can only lead to death.

My Tethered Soul (Reaper's Rite #2)
by Dorothy Dreyer
Publication Date: June 2014
Publisher: Month9Books

My Sister's Reaper, book one in the Reaper Rite's series, also got a make over!

Check it out!

Chapter-by-
Chapter-header---About-the-Author

Dorothy Dreyer has always believed in magic. She loves reading, writing, movies, and spending time with her family and friends. Half-American and half-Filipino, Dorothy lives in Germany with her husband and two children.

Connect with the Author: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Complete the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Review: Unremembered (Unremembered #1)

Summary

When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage—alive—is making headlines across the globe.

Even more strange is that her body is miraculously unharmed and she has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories period. No one knows how she survived. No one knows why she wasn’t on the passenger manifest. And no one can explain why her DNA and fingerprints can’t be found in a single database in the world.

Crippled by a world she doesn’t know, plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, and haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember, Seraphina struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. But with every clue only comes more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them.

Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to know her from before the crash. Who claims they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget?

From popular young adult author Jessica Brody comes a compelling and suspenseful new sci-fi series, set in a world where science knows no boundaries, memories are manipulated, and true love can never be forgotten.

Rating & Review

For the sake of being completely honest, I did not purchase this book and I did not receive it in exchange for a review. I actually won it during the "Guess This Young Adult Novel" game at the virtual release party for Unforgotten (the sequel to this book) by Jessica Brody and Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott. Apparently, I know too many young adult novels. And I was chastised by Jessica Brody for answering too many questions. Nothing like getting a virtual slap on the wrist to make you like an author. Only kidding, the ladies were great and if you ever get a chance to go to a signing, I bet that it would be an awesome time. Just don't let on that you know a lot about young adult novels. That's your only warning. Well, crap. Now I've gone on for a paragraph and I could have just said, "I received this book from the author". But then you wouldn't have gotten that wonderful story. You're welcome.

Okay ... moving on ... Unremembered. First of all, longest one word title ever. And ironically enough, I couldn't remember the title half the time. But that's got nothing to do with this book and more to do with the fact I have two boys who drive me up the wall and make me forget my own name on a daily basis. You know, I really liked Unremembered. I liked it more than I thought that I would. Not that I thought that it was going to be a bad book, you just never know. I try to start a book with the mindset that it's just going to be just okay and that way, I'm surprised if it's good or ... meh. But this one was good.

The book really started off strong for me. It was so strange ... every time I would start thinking something about Sera (the main character), Brody would address that thought in the next paragraph. For example (no this isn't a spoiler) when Sera didn't remember even the smallest thing (what items are or what some words mean), my initial thought was ... Oh, she can't remember that but she can carry on a conversation ... then the next paragraph, Brody addressed that and closed that issue down. This happened a lot, actually. It was almost as if Brody was in my head while I was reading. While it was on the cusp of being creepy, it was also quite refreshing. The majority of the time with other books, those issues are just never addressed then you're left wondering and in the end, frustrated. You can really tell that Brody took her time writing this and that she really cares about this story and the characters within it. She took care to shut down any uncertainty or questions that the reader might have. Now that in itself is a big deal because of what this book is really about ... I won't tell because that would spoil the fun for you but I think that it is SUPER important to have complete understanding wash over the reader with this kind of book.

I really liked how the characters were set up. Again, there were just not many questions that I had about the characters ... all of their motivators and just the deep center of each person was pretty well explored and explained. The meat of the story was thoroughly entertaining and I found myself sneaking in little tid-bits of time to read when the boys were at school yesterday when I should have been doing other things ... like laundry and doing dishes ...

So why did this only get 4 stars then? Is it because I was humiliated at the virtual release party? No, but I totally gave Jessica Brody's pic at the back of the book The Stink Eye. Watch out! In all honesty, the 4 stars came about because Unremembered slowed down for me for a bit in the beginning. Not to the point of being boring, far from that. There is just a lot of information and a lot of transitional situations that happen which you need to get through. Once you get to part two, it takes off again and you're flying by the seat of your pants until you get to the hugely frustrating cliffhanger ending. Ginormously frustrating. Well, it won't be frustrating if you can go get the second book IMMEDIATELY. Unfortunately, I have another book need to dive into today or I would be reading Unforgotten. All in all, you need to check this book out. I have a feeling that the other two books in the series are going to be even better!!

Find Unremembered here:

Monday, March 17, 2014

Review: Elusion

Summary

Soon, Elusion® will change the world and life as we know it.

A new technology called Elusion is sweeping the country. An app, visor and wristband will virtually transport you to an exotic destination where adventure can be pursued without the complications—or consequences—of real life.

Regan is an Elusion insider. Or at least she used to be. Her father invented the program, and her best friend, Patrick, heir to the tech giant Orexis, is about to release it nationwide. But ever since her father’s unexpected death, Regan can’t bear to Escape, especially since waking up from the dream means crashing back to her grim reality.

Still, when there are rumors of trouble in Elusion—accusations that it’s addictive and dangerous— Regan is determined to defend it. But the critics of Elusion come from surprising sources, including Josh, the handsome skeptic with his own personal stakes. As Regan investigates the claims, she discovers a disturbing web of secrets. She will soon have to choose between love and loyalty…a decision that will affect the lives of millions.

Suspense, thrills, and romance fuel this near-future story about the seductive nature of a perfect virtual world, and how far one girl will go to uncover the truth behind the illusions.

Rating & Review

Oh, Elusion. How fitting that I finished this book today when it is going to be live and on shelves tomorrow for it's big unveiling! SUCH mixed feelings about my rating for Elusion. I don't believe I've ever wavered so much when giving a book a score! Starting out, it was a solid 2.5 or 3 star book but the way that the last 1/4 of the book went, I had to boost it up to a 4 star.

So here's why I wavered ... the beginning of this book is ... hmm ... I don't want you to think that Elusion isn't good so I'm trying to think of the best way to say this ... wait, I've got it. The beginning of this book is like a stubborn, bull-headed kid who is dragging their feet and refuses to run. You know that this kid has some energy and momentum behind them but they just won't pick up their feet and show you what they've got! It's frustrating (bordering on annoying) but there's nothing that you can do to make this kid pick up the pace. You can't rush it, you just have to wait for it to happen. That's what the beginning was ... I didn't think that it was boring ... just very slow. Very, very slow. To the point where my husband made a comment about how it never takes me this long to read a book. My husband makes it a habit to never bring up what I'm reading or he knows that he's going to "get" to hear all about what I'm reading, going to read or want to read, what characters I love, authors I can't live without and so on and so forth. The speed of my reading must have been very weird for him to take a chance and say something knowing what might be in store for him if he did.

But (and it's a big ol' booty) ... it picks up. When it picks up, it's not this flash-paper type of situation, it's a slow, smoldering burn that quickly builds up into this raging fire that you just can't escape. So ... okay ... I think I'm all out of weird descriptions (you're welcome) and I'll get on with this dog and pony show.

Okay ... the meat of the story ... I don't really have any problems with the story except that I wish that there was more background on the society's lifestyle in this book. Why is the Earth trashed? Why is there this smelly rain, why the nasty clouds ... what happened?!? I think that I got distracted with those questions when the characters would do things like put on their oxygen masks. The story really didn't feel like it was totally unbelievable, so maybe the authors thought that they wouldn't bog the novel down with those types of descriptions but I think just one or two paragraphs with some reasoning would be appreciated.

The characters were pretty well written. I did think that a couple of them could do with a little more depth ... I would have loved to hear more about Regan and her best friend's relationship. At times in the beginning I found their friendship to be a little disjointed ... I didn't see as much friend-love between as I had hoped to ... they just didn't seem that close, to be honest. And then Josh ... I would have enjoyed finding out more about him and his past ... the surface of his story was skimmed but it felt almost unfinished.

Oh. Geez. I almost forgot. There is a lot of computer speak in this. A. Lot. Alotalot. I did skip paragraphs. And skim paragraphs. I think that this info was needed for the most part but it was just boring.

Now, all of that being said ... this was a pretty good book - one that I'll probably read again. Especially in the ending. Damn, that ending was pretty good. Not what I expected AT ALL. That last page just threw me for a big loop and left me sitting there wondering why I didn't blow through the book to begin with. Elusion isn't listed as the beginning of a series ... but it has to be with how the book ended. So go pick this up as soon as possible so that you can wait for the next one with me!

Find Elusion here: