ARC Review: Goddess (Starcrossed #3) by Josephine Angelini

Goddess (6^th June 2013)

Author: Josephine Angelini

Series: Starcrossed

Genre: Young Adult

Pages: 480

Publisher: Macmillan Childrens Books

Puchase: Amazon – TBD

Australian release date: 1st June 2013

Song I associate with Goddess – Hanging by a Moment by Lifehouse

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

She must rise, or they will fall ...Helen's powers are increasing--and so is the distance between her and her mortal friends. To make matters worse, the Oracle reveals that a dangerous traitor is lurking among them, and all fingers point to Orion. Still unsure whether she loves him or Lucas, Helen is forced to make a terrifying decision, or risk all-out war. The final book in this heart-stopping trilogy.

Reviews: 5 out 5 Stars

I literally did a happy dance when I received a copy of Goddess in the post from Pan Macmillan Australia. When I first read Starcrossed, I completely fell in love with the characters and the mythology, Dreamless broke my heart on so many levels but my adoration for the series just grew and Goddess just blew me away and threw the series onto my favourites list, it was perfection.

After the events of Dreamless, the gods have been unleashed and want to start a war so are causing havoc as a result but Helen is not only having to deal with them, the furies have spoken through the Oracle telling them there is a tyrant amongst them but working out who it could be is proving difficult although all fingers are pointing to Orion.

Helen is made of pure awesome! I adore her strength, determination and selflessness, she has progressed so much since Starcrossed and her devotion to those she is closest to is unwavering. She makes mistakes along the way but she faces her responsibilities and takes ownership of the role she should be playing. In Goddess, we see her gain new powers but with it comes a slip in her control and she does begin to falter causing those closest to her to question her restraint and purpose.

I don’t want to reveal too much about this book but it was epically amazing! It is a complex plot filled with action, betrayal, deceit and mythology that would have to hands down be the best I have read. It was fast-paced and kept me flipping the pages needing to know what was going to happen next and war doesn’t come without loss so this aspect was especially edge of the seat, heart-pounding, knee wobbling tension! There were twists and turns aplenty that left me gaping.

The world-building has evolved and I am glad we got to put all the pieces of the puzzle together to see the part and the purpose each of the characters played. I was glad to see snippets of the past through Helen to see why things happened as they did, slowly bit by bit the history of the original war was revealed and why it was being re-enacted all over again.

Despite not enjoying love-triangles, the romance is written well; Ms. Angelini knows how to write smexy boys and both Lucas and Orion were equally appealing, it was almost impossible to decide who she should be with because they both had such remarkable qualities. I was heart-broken in the previous books by the fact we all knew the truth about Lucas and Helen’s relationship but they were left in the dark under the false pretence they were cousins, I was anxiously awaiting to find out how it would all be revealed; I had picked a side early on and had my fingers tightly crossed that they would get a HEA.

The characters have endured so much together but they remain strong despite the many obstacles thrown their way. The gods are also written beautifully and are depicted just the way I imagine each of them. I especially loved the role Hector played, he has always been a favourite character of mine and Daphne surprised me, the ongoing presence of the Delos family and the roles they each play has been wonderful. In this book we see loyalties divided but the overall resolution was satisfying.

Josephine Angelini’s detailed writing, Nantucket Island and underworld setting, wonderfully crafted characters and amazing storyline is creative, unique and brilliant. I find her storytelling mesmerising and I am definitely eager to read more books written by her – I can definitely see the possibility of a spin-off series.

Overall, a fabulous, breathtaking conclusion to the Starcrossed series, I am saddened to see it come it an end but I’m satisfied with how it all played out.

Thank-you kindly to Pan Macmillan Australia for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of Goddess.

About the author: Josephine Angelini is a Massachusetts native and the youngest of eight siblings. A real-live farmer's daughter, Josie graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in theater, with a focus on the classics. She now lives in Los Angeles with her husband.

Starcrossed is her first novel.

Twitter - Website - Facebook

  

My Starcrossed Review

My Dreamless Review

Waiting on Wednesday - Blackout by Robison Wells

 

Hi everyone, thank-you so much for stopping by my WoW!

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine which spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My WoW for this week is Blackout by Robison Wells, I was intrigued from the moment I read ‘deception, loyalty, and catastrophic danger’.

 Author: Robison Wells

Series: Blackout

Genre: Young Adult / Sci-Fi

Publisher: Harper Teen

Release Date: 1^st October 2013

Amazon pre-order - The Book Depository

Synopsis: (Goodreads)

Laura and Alec are trained terrorists.

Jack and Aubrey are high school students.

There was no reason for them to ever meet.

But now, a mysterious virus is spreading throughout America, infecting teenagers with impossible powers. And these four are about to find their lives intertwined in a complex web of deception, loyalty, and catastrophic danger—where one wrong choice could trigger an explosion that ends it all.

 What are you waiting on this week?

Review: Deeper We Fall (Rise & Fall #1) by Chelsea M. Cameron

Deeper We Fall

Author: Chelsea M. Cameron

Series: Fall and Rise

Genre: New Adult

Pages: 280

Publisher: DRC Publishing

Amazon – The BookDepository

Synopsis:

Two years after her best friend was involved in a car accident that caused a traumatic brain injury, Lottie Anders is ready to start her freshman year of college. Ready to move on. Ready to start forgetting the night that ripped her life apart.

Her plans come to a screeching halt when not one, but both brothers responsible for the accident end up back in her life again.

Zack is cruel, selfish and constantly rubbing what happened to her friend in Lottie's face. 

Zan is different. He listens to her awkward ramblings. He loves "To Kill a Mockingbird" as much as she does, and his dark eyes are irresistible. His words are few and far between, but when he does speak, she can't help but listen. 

The trouble is, Zan was the driver in the accident, and now Lottie's discovered he lied to her about what happened that night. Now she must decide if trusting him again will lead to real forgiveness, or deeper heartache.

Review: 3 out of 5 stars

Thank-you kindly to DRC Publishing/Netgalley for providing me with a copy of Deeper We Fall by Chelsea M. Cameron, the first book in her Rise and Fall series.

The New Adult genre has been a bit hit or miss for me lately, I liked this book but I didn’t fall in love with it and a few days later I didn’t remember much of the characters or storyline unfortunately.

Charlotte ‘Lottie’ Anders was a character with strength and resolve, she went headfirst into everything and at times didn’t have a filter; I liked her but didn’t find myself fully connecting with her, maybe because it was her hot and cold personality or her feisty attitude but there was something about her that didn’t really endear me to her.

Lottie suffered from terrible guilt after letting her best friend Lexie get into a car with a drunk driver two years prior, as a result of that fateful night she no longer remembers much of her past after suffering a traumatic brain injury.

When Lottie starts college the last people she expected to see were the brothers responsible for her best friends trauma – Zack and Zan Parker, Zack who is cruel and selfish and shy and reserved Zan  who has always had a bit of a crush on Lottie.  

Zan was a tortured hero who was filled with anger and pain because of a silly drunken mistake, you couldn’t help but feel for everything he had been through and want happiness and forgiveness for him; what had happened was a terrible tragedy that caused pain to so many people but he tried to make things right the best way he possibly could.

The romance was definitely slow to build due to the circumstances, I did like the way Lottie and Zan came together but to be honest; I wouldn't have been so easy to forgive despite his guilt and he wasn't really as forthcoming with bits of information that were important as what he should have been. Overall, they were good together.

For an NA novel, Deeper We Fall was a lot more original than others out there at the moment; it is still filled with angst and drama but the subject matter was completely different which I was thankful for.

Despite not connecting fully with the MC, I did enjoy the storyline; A few elements I found frustrating and overdone such as the drawn out truths and Zack’s relationship with Katie; the synopsis I also feel reveals too much about the overall plot – the twist and turns throughout I saw coming so there was no real element of surprise.

I did like Ms. Cameron’s writing and despite not fully connecting with Lottie, the other characters I quite liked – especially Simon and her twin brother who was protective and fun.

Deeper We Fall is a book about finding forgiveness and letting go of past pains in order to move forward; there were a lot of revelations and healing which I feel were dealt with well by the author.

About the author: Chelsea M. Cameron is a YA/NA New York Times/USA Today Best Selling author from Maine. Lover of things random and ridiculous, Jane Austen/Charlotte and Emily Bronte Fangirl, red velvet cake enthusiast, obsessive tea drinker, vegetarian, former cheerleader and world's worst video gamer. When not writing, she enjoys watching infomercials, singing in the car and tweeting (this one time, she was tweeted by Neil Gaiman). She has a degree in journalism from the University of Maine, Orono that she promptly abandoned to write about the people in her own head. More often than not, these people turn out to be just as weird as she is.

Her New Adult Contemporary Romance titles include My Favorite Mistake, which has been bought by Harlequin along with a sequel, Deeper We Fall and Faster We Burn (April 20, 2013)

Her Young Adult books include Nocturnal, Nightmare and Neither, the first three books in The Noctalis Chronicles. The fourth and final book, Neverend will be out in 2013. Whisper, the first in The Whisper Trilogy is also available, with the second book in the series, Silence and the final book, LIsten coming out in 2014.

Website - Twitter

Cover reveal - Darker Days (The Darker Agency #1) by Jus Accardo

I am pleased to be able to share with you today the cover for Darker Days by Jus Accardo which is the first book in The Darker Agency series, published by Entangled and to be released in August 2013.

Synopsis

Jessie Darker goes to high school during the day, but at night she helps with the family investigation business. Cheating husbands and stolen inheritances? They’re your girls—but their specialty is a bit darker. Zombie in your garage? Pesky Poltergeist living in your pool? They’ll have the problem solved in a magical minute. For a nominal fee, of course...

When gorgeous new client, Lukas Scott, saunters into the office requesting their help to find a stolen box, it sounds like a simple case—until the truth comes out. The box is full of Sin.

Seven deadly ones, in fact.

They’ve got five days to recapture the Sins before they're recalled by the box, taking seven hijacked human bodies with them. Easy peasy—except for one thing...

There’s a spell that will allow the Sins to remain free, causing chaos forever. When the key ingredient threatens the life of someone she knows, Jessie must make the ultimate choice between love and family—or lose everything.

Excerpt

“So not your biggest fan at the moment,” I said, closing the office door behind me. The runofffrom my jeans had soaked my sneakers pretty good. With each step, I gave a slight squishing noise accompanied by an annoying squeak against the old tile floor.

From across the room, Mom stared. “What happened to you?”

            “It attacked me.” Tossing my bag on the couch, I sank into her chair and made sure to grind my butt into the cushion. Got it nice and wet. I was all about sharing the love—and right now, the love was soggy.

            She laughed, waving a folder in my direction. “Surely you’re overreacting. It was one little zombie. They don’t attack people.”

            “I’m serious, Ma. It tried to drown me. And the client assaulted me with ugly footwear. As far as punishments go, I’d say we’re probably square. I’ve learned my lesson.”

            “You’re serious?” Amused expression now replaced by concern, she crossed the room and leaned over her desk to get a better look at me.

            “As a coronary.” Once I was sure the chair had sponged up all it could, I stood and huffed past her. Pulling at my favorite T-shirt—the word Fate inside a blood red heart, is a four letter word on the back—I said, “Child welfare would not be happy to hear you tried to feed your only child to a walking corpse…”

“But why would it attack? Did you provoke it?” Folding her arms, she frowned. “Insult it, perhaps?”

            I winked at her. “Provoke it? Sure. I went and wiggled my ass in front of it yelling lunch just to see what’d happen.” I’d called it Stinky, but that didn’t count as an insult. Something couldn’t be considered an insult if it was true, right?

            Right eyebrow twitching, she fought against a smile. “But you’re okay, right? No bites, broken bones, head injuries, possessions…?”

I smiled and did a little twirl. “All in one piece and still me.”

Mom had a checklist she went through at the end of each job. I was known for taking almost as much damage as I inflicted.

“Oh, and you’re probably going to get a call from the client. I sorta smashed her fence in the process.”

            Mom groaned. “I told you to be more careful.”

            “It’s not like I tried to break anything.”

            “Something tells me you didn’t try hard enough not to break anything, either.”

            “In my defense, it wasn’t a simple trap and slap…”

            “We can’t afford this.” She reached down and pulled a white envelope out from under a stack of papers. “This is the bill for that Mercedes you smashed.”

            “Oh! So not my fault. How was I supposed to know that Spring Heel was gonna land on the car? If it makes you feel any better, I think he was aiming for my head…”

            “If you keep this up, we won’t even be able to afford the rent.”

            She was right, of course, and it made me feel horrible. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m a wrecking ball wrapped in blue jeans. Take my cut of this job and put it toward the repairs. Keep my paycheck for the next month, too.” A good start, but it didn’t feel like enough. Sure, it would cover the damages—I hoped—but I felt guilty about upsetting her. The bills that were piling up kept her awake at night. This was only going to make things worse. We got a fair amount of business, but the overhead in our line of work was sky high.

As much as I hated the idea, I knew what would cheer her up. “I’ll even throw in pet possessions for the next month.”

Find Darker Days

Goodreads

About Jus Accardo

JUS ACCARDO spent her childhood reading and learning to cook. Determined to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps as a chef, she applied and was accepted to the Culinary Institute of America. At the last minute, she realized her path lay with fiction, not food, and passed on the spot to pursue writing. Jus is the bestselling author the popular Denazen series from Entangled publishing and is currently working on the first book in a new adult series due out summer 2013. A native New Yorker, she lives in the middle of nowhere with her husband, three dogs, and sometimes guard bear, Oswald.

Find Jus Accardo

Website – Blog – Twitter – Facebook

ARC Review: Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2) by Katie McGarry

Dare You To 

Author: Katie McGarry

Series: Pushing the Limits
Pages: 479

Genre: New Adult

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Amazon pre-order: Dare You To

Release Date: 7^th June 2013

Synopsis: (Goodreads)

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."

"No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again....

"I dare you..."

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all..

Review: 3 ½ out of 5 stars

We first meet bad mouthed, troubled Seventeen year-old Beth Risk in Pushing the Limits and I thought Dare You To would actually be Beth and best friend Isaiah’s story but we see her paired with Baseball jock, Ryan Stone.

At the beginning of the story we see Beth take the blame for something she didn’t do and has been placed in the custody of her rich uncle Scott who she hasn’t seen in quite a long while; their relationship is tense but he is just what she needs and he is determined to set her on the straight and narrow, starting off by attending school and setting strict rules.

Beth drove me bonkers! I don’t think I have come across a more stubborn, defiant and inflexible character in a while; it took me a long while to take to her feisty approach, in saying this, the life she has had to live and her upbringing and past has played a big role in her attitude and her self-doubt but I wish she could have budged just that little bit and respected those she was closest to and herself a lot more than what she did.

Ryan Stone doesn’t believe in losing and after he loses a dare from his friends to get Beth’s phone number he is determined to pursue her in his quest to win, you could see from the onset the little game he played with his friends wouldn’t go down well but he didn’t take into account the attraction he would feel towards her. I really liked Ryan as a character, he was protective and supportive and the perfect person to go up against head-strong Beth.

This couple couldn’t have been more different, but they both knew pain – for varying reasons and seeing them work up a trust and understanding was really sweet! Ryan helped Beth to heal, she was broken and he needed a bit of support himself. Despite not being Beth’s biggest fan, I did enjoy the interactions and the smexy chemistry between this unlikely duo.

I really liked the secondary characters, in particular Lace, I enjoyed watching her friendship with Beth grow. My heart broke for Isaiah and I really enjoyed the progression of the relationship Beth came to have with her Uncle Scott – it was also nice to catch up with Echo and Noah again.

A small gripe I had was the way the situation with Ryan's brother was handled, it was a let-down and overplayed - his parents were unbelievable in their thinking and in this day and age it actually made me cringe.

I enjoyed Dare You To but I didn’t love it as much as Pushing the Limits, maybe it was because of my feelings towards the infuriating main character who I didn’t have a connection with although I did sympathise with her but other than this I enjoyed this story. 

Overall, Katie McGarry’s writing is engaging; Despite my issues it's a great addition to the Pushing the Limits series - it had a lot of drama, pain and emotion that kept me entertained, I am definitely eager to read more books by this author.

About the author: KATIE MCGARRY was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, and reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.

Katie would love to hear from her readers. Contact her via her website, katielmcgarry.com, follow her on Twitter @KatieMcGarry, or become a fan on Facebook and Goodreads.

Books in Order:

Pushing the Limits

Crossing the Line

Dare You To

Crash into You

   

Review: Haze (Rephaim #2) by Paula Weston

Haze

Author: Paula Weston

Series: The Rephaim

Genre: Young Adult - Paranormal

Pages: 384

Publisher: Text Publishing

Buy links – Amazon: TBD

My review of Shadows

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

"But what if we can’t find Jude?" 
He leans closer. His breath is warm on my ear. "We will."
"How can you be so sure?" I want to believe him so badly, but this is Rafa. The guy who’s all action and no plan. His smile is tired, knowing. An echo of a shared past I don’t remember. 
"Because I’m not smart enough to give up, and you don’t know how to." 

Gaby Winters’ nightmares have stopped but she still can’t remember her old life. Still can’t quite believe she is one of the Rephaim—the wingless half-angels who can shift from place to place, country to country, in the blink of an eye. That she was once the Rephaim’s best fighter. That demons exist. That Rafa has stayed. 

But most of all, she can’t quite believe that her twin brother, Jude, might be alive. 

And Gaby can’t explain the hesitancy that sidetracks the search for him, infuriates Rafa, and sends them, again, into the darkest danger.

Reviews: 5 out 5 Stars

This review contains possible spoilers from book one, Shadows.

What an amazing sequel in this gripping Angel/Demon series by Paula Weston! As soon as I finished Shadows, I started on Haze and literally devoured it in one sitting I adored it that much.

In book one, Gaby Winters learnt she was part of the Rephaim, offspring of the fallen angels and her memory was wiped a year prior by someone not yet known. They have also worked out that if she is alive that her twin, Jude could also be out there somewhere in a similar situation to her own.

Gaby is such a likeable character, she’s snarky, stubborn, resilient and brave; she also shows a more vulnerable side in this book which threw me back a bit, she voiced her fears and despite the fact she was still learning tidbits of her past she faced everything head on.

Rafa is still evasive and mysterious, he is reckless and cocky which I have come to love about him, he is also extremely protective of Gaby and I’m still curious about what happened between them pre memory wipe; their chemistry is intense and I love the banter and spark between them.

The angel mythology is interesting and still refreshingly unique, and the plot has progressed although the mystery at the heart of the book is still there keeping me hooked and wanting to know what has happened or will happen; and I love how Gaby is starting to embrace what she is and hasn’t chosen a side – outcasts or the sanctuary; she is looking out for herself and pursuing her search for Jude and her missing memories which I appreciate.

We are still learning about the secondary characters, I adore Maggie’s strength and support and Jason is wonderful but still a bit of a mystery, he seems to leak bits and pieces of what he knows according to circumstance, I’m unsure if he has a personal agenda but it feels that way. Ez is a sweetheart as is Daisy; Mya and Taya grate on my nerves!

Paul Weston is certainly going to be an auto-buy author for me, her writing is detailed and mesmerising, you are drawn into the story she has created and the world-building just gets better and better.

Overall, Haze is an impressive sequel, filled with some kick-butt action-scenes, perfect characterisations and a mesmerising storyline that gets better and better, I’m more than eager to get hold of the next book in this amazing series.

About the author: 

Paula Weston lives in Brisbane with her husband, a retired greyhound and a moody cockatiel. She reads widely, and is addicted to paranormal stories. Shadows, book one of the Rephaim series, is her first novel.

Twitter : Facebook : Website : Goodreads

Text Publishing : Amazon : The Rephaim Facebook

Waiting on Wednesday (22nd May) - Hover by Melissa West

Hi everyone, thank-you so much for stopping by my WoW!

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine which spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

I have chosen two books this week, the first is a sequel – Hover by Melissa West, I really enjoyed the first book, Gravity in The Taking series so I’m eager to see how the story unfolds.

My second WoW is Unbreakable which is the first book in the Legion series by Kami Garcia and sounds amazing!

Author: Melissa West

Series: The Taking

Genre: Young Adult

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Release Date: 6^th August 2013

Amazon pre-order - The Book Depository

Synopsis: (Goodreads)

On Earth, seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander was taught to never peek, but if she hopes to survive life on her new planet, Loge, her eyes must never shut. 

Because in this world, pleasure is everything, held up by a ruling body that keeps their people in check by giving them what they want and closing their eyes to what's really happening around them. The only hope Loge has is to move its people to Earth, and they have a plan.

Thousands of humans crossed over to Loge after a poisonous neurotoxin released into Earth’s atmosphere, nearly killing them. They sought refuge in hopes of finding a new life, but what they became were slaves, built to siege war against their home planet. That is, unless Ari and Jackson can stop them. 

But on Loge, nothing is as it seems…and no one can be trusted.

What is your WoW this week?