Cover reveal: Don't Look Back- Jennifer L. Armentrout

 I am so excited for the cover reveal because duh, JLA. Need I say more? Oh yeah, actually, I do. It FREAKIN' MOVES! Can't wait for 4/15/2014! Get it from Amazon or B&N.

Don’t Look Back synopsis:

Samantha is a stranger in her own life. Until the night she disappeared with her best friend, Cassie, everyone said Sam had it all-popularity, wealth, and a dream boyfriend.

Sam has resurfaced, but she has no recollection of who she was or what happened to her that night. As she tries to piece together her life from before, she realizes it’s one she no longer wants any part of. The old Sam took “mean girl” to a whole new level, and it’s clear she and Cassie were more like best enemies. Sam is pretty sure that losing her memories is like winning the lottery. She’s getting a second chance at being a better daughter, sister, and friend, and she’s falling hard for Carson Ortiz, a boy who has always looked out for her-even if the old Sam treated him like trash.

But Cassie is still missing, and the facts about what happened to her that night isn’t just buried deep inside of Sam’s memory-someone else knows, someone who wants to make sure Sam stays quiet. All Sam wants is the truth, and if she can unlock her clouded memories of that fateful night, she can finally move on. But what if not remembering is the only thing keeping Sam alive?

Author Bio:

# 1 NEW YORK TIMES Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki.

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. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture.

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

Social Media sites:

Website | Twitter | Facebook

 

Between Then and Now- Zoe York

I’ve read What Once Was Perfect by Zoe York and I fell in love with Wardham and the characters in the book so when I heard that Zoe was giving away ARCs, I just knew I had to have one. And honestly, after reading this one too, I’m even more excited for the rest of the books in the series.

Carrie had big dreams. She wanted to go backpacking through Europe, open up a bakery or a bed and breakfast, and live a life away from her small apartment and meagre savings. But it all changed when she met country boy Ian.

“Nice farmer’s tan.”
“Let’s see yours. I bet it leads me straight to heaven.”

When Ian first laid eyes on Carrie, he was hooked. Even when he knew that Carrie’s plans didn’t include a country boy tied to a family farm, he wanted her, gone after her and ended up getting her pregnant.

“Some guys don’t know what they have. I know what I’ve got...I’m lucky to be your husband, Carrie Nixon.”
“Best mistake ever?”

They ended up getting married but their issues were never really resolved and lingered with them even after eight years of marriage. Ian lived with the guilt of knowing that their marriage put the end to Carrie’s grand adventure.

He wanted more for her than that. He wanted to give her the world.

Carrie carried with her the nagging question of what her life could have been if she didn’t have to face children and marriage before she had a chance to live her dreams.

And now their struggling to find their way back to each other after 8 years of hidden resentments and guilt finally forces them to remember what has always been true even THEN and NOW. That they’ve learned to love each other and that the only life they want to spend is with each other.

This is touching story and I finished it in one sitting! It’s short but it’s sweet and very realistic. The credible issues in their marriage makes you think of how tough marriage can be but at the same time how fulfilling it could be no matter how different it is from what you originally wanted for yourself when you’re the person you love. I’d recommend this to anyone who loves a good romance.

What Once Was Perfect- Zoe York

I haven't updated my goodreads shelf in a while and mostly kept to Harlequin books to keep me entertained, I'm more or less in a reading hiatus. But I just read the blurb for What Once Was Perfect and I found myself really looking forward to reading the story.

Heading home always stirs up mixed emotions for Laney Calhoun. Twelve years ago she left for graduate school, broken-hearted. She’s found professional success, but positive personal relationships have proved elusive. Running into her ex-boyfriend fans flames she thought long extinguished, and causes a renewed interest in love. Not with Kyle, of course. Never again. But as sparks fly and items of clothing disappear, she scrambles to keep her emotions in check.

Kyle Nixon let Laney slip away once. Their chemistry together is undeniable, but steamy sex is not enough to convince her to let him back into her heart. Even if she did trust him again, her medical career is five hundred kilometers away from the hometown that he loves, and the life that he once chose over her.

"This could be our every night. This could be our forever."

Laney Calhoun is afraid of love and relationships. She's afraid of feeling period. The hurt from her break-up with Kyle Nixon has left her with enough hang ups and fear for her to put her heart on the line. So for the twelve years since they broke up, she's never let anyone close and was determined to keep it that way until she sees Kyle again when she visits for the holidays and they reunite.

Kyle and Laney knew that what they lost was the greatest love of their lives but they had too much stuff keeping them from getting back together. Kyle is afraid that the distance between them will ultimately end any relationship they might have with Laney working in Chicago and him staying in Wardham and Laney is still too hurt to dare open up completely to Kyle. But even with all their internal conflicts, their attraction to each other is undeniable and even twelve years later sparks are still flying.  

I adore the-one-that-got-away stories because there's much more depth and intensity in the character's emotions when you had to watch that one person who meant the most to you walk away. It doesn't hurt either that the author makes really steamy scenes. I love the straightforwardness of the story in the sense that it focuses on how both Laney and Kyle overcome whatever is keeping them apart instead of adding more complications and angst to it (I originally thought the author might add a love triangle and I hate those). Their love story is also more believable because the characters both have depth and the author told the dealing-with-emotional-baggage part very well that the love aspect isn't just shoved down our throats, you actually really feel it. And Laney didn't have to be weak or a push over to finally let Kyle in, so extra browny points for that. And oh, I also love (I can't stop using that word here) how even the minor characters and adorable. The author makes Pilates sound fun and Max and  Connor are adoble! I wish I had nephews like that. 

Overall this was a very nice read and I'd definitely recommend it. And apparently its a series, so I can't wait to read the coming books!!

New Adult Readathon

Summer is ending but I haven't quite got my fill of free time for my books. And since we normally start our school year here on June, I don't think I'm ever going to have the time. But then I saw Bookish Treasure's NA Readathon and thought that this just might give me the excuse to slack and get back to my reading for a week. And apparently there's going to be mini challenges and giveaways so I bet this is going to be fun!

Inferno (Robert Langdon #4)- Dan Brown

 In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno.

Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered.

After reading The Lost Symbol, I wasn't really expecting this to be good so I didn't immediately read it after I got my copy. Honestly, if it weren't for the reaction from some of our authorities here (seriously, let's not be Taiwan)about something written about Manila, it would have remained unread. In fact when I kept waiting for the part where Manila is mentioned and it was just a couple of sentences although to be fair, it sounded really bad, this is fiction so.. anyway.

As usual the incorporation of art and history was the book's best selling point. Here he introduces modern day medical breakthroughs while Dante and the Divine Comedy. The recreation of Dante's Inferno through a modern medical innovation helped bridge the two subjects nicely but I wished there was more of that. Among the three other books in the series this has the least history babble. Personally it made The lost symbol sound ore interesting because of the intricacy of the details and the mysteries and clues he had to check to get to the end.

This really felt like a different Robert Langdon though and I kept trying to figure out why. I thought it was because of the condition he was in (view spoiler) but later on I think it was because he sounded calmer and more in control in this one. It totally took away the thrill of the running and hiding. He was too composed for my liking.

I think the ultimate reveal was should have been a bigger deal than that. Don't get me wrong, it was a scary revelation but compared to the pictures he gave us while Langdon was trying to find the virus (death everywhere), it seemed tame. I was thinking of a black death 2.0 happening but nobody died and when they found out what the virus does, which would affect the world population forever... the book ends. Do you see how disappointing that is? The entire book was gearing up for the final reveal and when its finally out there nothing happens! Its like being dragged back to the time when I finished the lost symbol where I thought THAT WAS IT?

But putting that aside, I think Dan Brown deserves credit for addressing very current and important issues like overpopulation and implications of medical discoveries and genetic engineering. Biological warfare is a threat we do not want to ever have to deal with. And he always has a message or a challenge he throws out there in every book. In this one it encourages us to stop being in denial just because facing the truth scares us.

If not you, then who? If not now, then when?

The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis... In dangerous times, there is no sin greater than inaction

Wooot!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEE!!

19 years today!! Thank God my mother didn't just smother me in my sleep after all the trouble I caused. 

 Show me some lurve :)

 

Never Too Far- Abbi Glines

Never Too Far will be out on February 26!!! Here's a teaser I found to get by on until the release date.
Enjoy!

Teaser 1
The knocking started up again as I reached the door. I jerked it open ready to tell whomever it was to leave me the hell alone when words failed me. This wasn’t someone I expected to ever see again. I’d only met the guy once and I instantly hated him. Now he was here, I wanted to grab him by the shoulders and shake him until he told me how she was. If she was okay? Where she was living? God I hoped she wasn’t living with him. What if he’d… no, no, no, that hadn’t happened. She wouldn’t. Not my Blaire.

My hands clenched tightly into fists at my sides.

“I need to know one thing,” Cain, the boy from Blaire’s past, said as I stared at him in confused unbelief. “Did you,” he stopped and swallowed, “do you,” He paused again and took off his baseball cap then ran a hand through his hair. I noticed the dark circles under his eyes and the tired weary expression on his face.

My heart stopped and I reached out and grabbed his upper arm and shook him, “Where’s Blaire? Is she okay?”

“She’s fine… I mean she’s okay. Let go of me before you break my damn arm,” Cain snapped jerking his arm away from me. “Blaire is alive and well in Sumit. That isn’t why I’m here.”

Then why was he here? We had one connection- Blaire.

“There’s something I need to know,” he began, “When she left Sumit she was innocent. Very innocent. I’d been her only boyfriend. I know how innocent she was. We’ve been best friends since we were kids. The Blaire that came back wasn’t the same one that left. She doesn’t talk about it. She won’t talk about it. I just need to know if you and her… if y’all… I’m just gonna say this,” he took a deep breath, “ did you fuck her?”

My vision blurred as I moved without any thought other than to murder him. He’d crossed a line. He wasn’t allowed to talk about Blaire like that. He wasn’t allowed to ask those kind of questions or doubt her innocence. Blaire was innocent damn him. He had no right.

“Holy shit! Rush, bro, put him down!” Grant’s voice called out to me and I heard him but it was far away and in a tunnel. I was focused on the guy in front of me as my fist connected with his face and blood spewed from his nose. He was bleeding. I needed him to bleed. I needed someone to fucking bleed.

____ 

Never Too Far by Abbi Glines