Unclaimed by Laurie Wetzel

Abandoned by her birth parents and ignored by her adoptive family, Maddy Page believes she is unlovable. She only allows herself to dream of falling in love. That changes when she meets MJ; handsome and kind, MJ penetrates Maddy's defenses. Maddy soon finds herself confiding in MJ like she has with no one else, revealing secrets even her closest friends don't know. He makes her feel safe--a feeling she's never experienced except in her dreams.

When Maddy witnesses MJ disappear and reappear in thin air, she realizes she might have been wrong about him. He could be dangerous--maybe even a killer. Determined to uncover the truth of who--or what--MJ is, Maddy ignores her instinct to run. But she soon realizes that getting close to MJ could cost more than a broken heart--it could cost Maddy her soul.

Book picture and description from  Goodreads.com

My Review

   I know this may come as a shock but this review is for a book that I actually purchased.  I know the other reviews here have been for books I was given to review.  It may seem that I only read these free books but the truth is that I read a ton of books that I purchase myself but because they are mostly mass market books I haven't bothered to review them.  I have decided to add reviews for all of the books that I read, partly in hopes that I can share other wonderful books with you but also because I am finding that I have read so many books I don't always remember the particulars of those books unless they are exceptional and I would like to be able to look back at what I have read and remember more than I would on my own.

   I actually bought this book because I signed up to read the second book in this series and found that there was just too much I was missing to really lose myself in the story.  This first book was a fun read.  The story isn't too unique. There are several books, especially lately, that fall in to the paranormal romance genre. Vampire, werewolves, angles.  There is only so much an author can do to make the story unique when writing in this genre. That being said I have to admit that I am a sucker for these stories and even though this story isn't unique it is still a great read.

   I loved most of the characters.  They were very relatable.  My favorite is definitely MJ.  What girl isn't a sucker for an amazing guy?  Especially one that always knows the right things to say and continually saves the love of his life.  Despite liking the characters I did have a bit of a hard time dealing with Maddy.  She is always down on herself and always thinks the worst.  I understand teen angst, I really do, but hers was a bit over the top. She finds a great guy...she hates on herself, she finds out she is special...she hates on herself, etc.  The only time she isn't hating on herself is when she is physically touching MJ because he has the power to fill her with peace, but the second he lets go the self hate begins again.  While I get the need for it as part of the plot (don't want to give away too much) but I just wish that Maddy wasn't so negative.  Maybe once I read book two I will understand a little better and it won't bug me as much.

   The author does a great job with building the mystery around Maddy.  She has several protectors that keep an eye on her and try to hide her from both Heaven and Hell.  Both sides would love to control her powers.  What are you supposed to do when both sides will do her harm?  I love that the side that is supposed to be inherently good isn't able to be trusted.  After all Lucifer began in Heaven only to fall because of his desires.  What is to stop others from following in his footsteps?  Luckily Maddy is unknowingly surrounded by beings trying to protect her, even if they aren't traditionally the 'good guys'.   The problem is that there are always questions surrounding the motives of these protectors.  Hopefully they are just wanting to be there for Maddy and hopefully the second book will answers these and many other questions.

   

My Rating

   I would have rated this a 5 if not for Maddy's over-the-top self hatred.

Parents Guide:  There is a small bit of swearing but nothing bad.  The book does have some disturbing scenes related to the demon that is after Maddy.

A Million Miles Away by Lara Avery

Perfect for fans of Nicholas Sparks, this breathtaking story of love and loss is guaranteed to break your heart and sweep you off your feet.

When high school senior Kelsey's identical twin sister, Michelle, dies in a car crash, Kelsey is left without her other half. The only person who doesn't know about the tragedy is Michelle's boyfriend, Peter, recently deployed to Afghanistan. But when Kelsey finally connects with Peter online, she can't bear to tell him the truth. Active duty has taken its toll, and Peter, thinking that Kelsey is Michelle, says that seeing her is the one thing keeping him alive. Caught up in the moment, Kelsey has no choice: She lets Peter believe that she is her sister.

As Kelsey keeps up the act, she crosses the line from pretend to real. Soon, Kelsey can't deny that she's falling, hard, for the one boy she shouldn't want.

Picture and  description from Goodreads.com

My Review

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

  I wasn't sure what to think when I began reading this book.  I thought the description sounded very intriguing but I really have a hard time with lying.  I don't like liars and so I really wasn't sure how I would respond to this book.  That being said I tried to go in to the book without any biases. 

  Right from the beginning I fell in love with the characters in this book.  It starts by showing the dynamics between twin sisters, Kelsey and Michelle.  While they may be eerily identical they could not be more different in every other way.  Kelsey is popular, a phenomenal dancer and in to all things social.  Michelle is an artist, in to the environment and not in to the social scene at all.  The two sisters definitely have a love-hate (mostly hate) relationship.  Then suddenly Michelle is gone and Kelsey's whole world is turned upside down.

   The author nails Kelsey's grief spot on.  You can feel her horror, guilt and sorrow at loosing half of herself and her identity.  Most of us have lost someone in our own lives but I cannot imagine how it would feel to lose a twin.  The ties between twins are so much most entwined than those of us that are not twins can only imagine.  The author does such a good job at portraying Kelsey's grief that I actually felt my heart breaking in some points in the book.  Be forewarned though...you will need tissues while reading this book!

    After losing her sister Kelsey makes a huge mistake.  When she connects with Michelle's boyfriend, who is a soldier serving in Afghanistan, she decides to pretend to be Michelle.  Why would she do this?  Her reason is noble.  Peter is struggling as a new soldier in a war zone.  We have all heard of the horrors and stress that our soldiers face while in Afghanistan.  While Kelsey is talking to Peter on Skype she sees he is haunted, and when he tells her that she (Michelle) is the only thing that keeps him going Kelsey can't bring herself to tell him that Michelle is dead.  I would probably have done the same thing.  Our soldiers need something to hope for to keep them going and Peter needed Michelle.  That being said, Kelsey takes it a bit too far when for months she keeps up the lie.  She even travels over seas to join him on leave and never tells him the truth.  Kelsey comes to realize that she needs Peter as much as he needs her.

   So what happens when Peter finally finds out the truth?  You will have to read the book to find out! I hope you will love it as much as I did!

 My Rating

 

I'm Back!

So I took a long break from blogging.  That doesn't mean that I stopped reading (heaven forbid!) but just that life got in the way.  With kids and work and a hubby, all of which I love, life is a bit crazy and some things get pushed to the side.  Now that school is out for the summer I am hoping that I can get back in to the swing of blogging.  I really do love books and I love sharing my thoughts on them. In real life I am pretty shy and don't talk to a ton of people so even if no one reads this blog it is cathartic for me.  I have always been better at expressing myself in writing than in every day conversation.  Hopefully someone out there in the ether of the internet will gain something from my blogging and find at least a few new books or authors to fall in love with.

Deep Green by Trisha Haddad

Adrift in a lifeboat with strangers, each holding a deep secret…

Leah Taylor prefers the quiet adventure and romance of books, but during a cruise with her parents, a terrorist attack leaves her adrift in a lifeboat with strangers.

University student, Blue McCree impresses her immediately with his knowledge of literature and philosophy, but equally thrilling is strong, dark ,Musir. While Musir is slow to speak, translating his thoughts from Arabic to English, his chivalry and wisdom capture Leah’s curiosity.

Together they face danger after danger as they fight for survival. Leah also struggles with the growing attention from the men she's stranded with, and her mixed emotions toward them.

When Leah learns the dark secrets her fellow survivors hold, the truth will blow apart any semblance of civility and test Leah’s preconceived notions of just how far dedication can go before it crosses over into fanaticism.

Picture and description from Goodreads.com 

  My Review

 I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

   When I started this book I wasn’t sure what to expect.  Honestly with all of the fear and bigotry directed toward people of Arabic descent lately I was a bit worried about how the author would address this and create a great story.  I loved that the author was able to show how misplaced the bigotry toward people just because of how they look while at the same time creating a beautiful and sweet love story.

   The story begins with Leah, her parents and her aunt enjoying their vacation on a cruise ship.  They are walking around the deck when they pass a young Arabic man.  Much to Leah’s dismay her aunt feels the need to wonder loudly and out loud why the ship would let a ‘terrorist’ on board the cruise ship.  Leah admonishes her aunt so that the young man will know she does not feel the same way as her aunt.  She and the young man do not talk but Leah feels she did the right thing in making sure he knew she did not judge him just because of where he came from.  Later that night as Leah is on her way to the Captain’s Dinner she runs in to the Arabic young man, Musir, again.  This time he is in a panic and cannot think clearly enough to speak English.  Leah finds a young man to translate named Blue McGee.  By the time Blue tells her that Musir saw people on the ship with guns the gunfire erupts inside.  Blue runs off in a panic leaving Leah and Musir behind.  After a moment of thinking Musir picks Leah up and tosses her over the side of the ship in to a lifeboat.  What comes next is a story of survival with Blue, Musir, Leah and a couple of others that the young men rescued.

   It is always nice to find YA books that are clean reads.  This book has nothing inappropriate for teens or older readers.  In the beginning Leah is drawn to both Blue and Musir.  I will not give away the guy she ends up with but I will say it was the one I was rooting for all along.  The plot was very interesting and I was a bit surprised to find out who the ‘terrorists’ were that took over the ship.  It was heartbreaking to find that people were hurt just for some people to force their views on others.  The only thing I wished were different in this story was that I would have liked to have more of an idea what happened after the ending.  In my imagination Leah and her man are able to be together back in the real world.  I wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone that loves a sweet and innocent YA love story.

Revival (The Varient Series #1) by Jena Leigh

Possessing the uncanny ability to fry a television set from twenty paces can really wreck a girl’s social life.

If you’re looking for proof, just ask sixteen-year-old Alexandra Parker. After catching her boyfriend in the arms of the prettiest girl in school, she made the journey from social elite to social pariah in a haze of electricity and exploding electronics. But finding herself at the bottom of Bay View High’s social hierarchy was nothing compared to the shock of discovering who—and what—she really is.

After being zapped out of a burning bookstore by the mysterious Declan—a hero nearly as handsome as he is infuriating—Alex finds herself under the protection of the powerful Grayson family. It’s through them that she learns the truth: that the world she’s always known is nothing like it appears to be... and that she has far more in common with them than she might want to believe.

Now, on the run from a fire-wielding hit man and a secretive government organization, Alex must navigate a strange and treacherous new world filled with superhuman mutants known as Variants. As she begins to unravel the many secrets of her family’s past, she uncovers the real reason for her parents’ death twelve years earlier—and finds out that the threat to her family, and to everyone she cares about, is still dangerously real.

My Review

   I have really been on a paranormal kick lately.  I have been lucky because most of the books that I have been reading have all been good.  This book just happened to be one that ended up being amazing.

   Alex is your typical all-American teen.  Pretty, popular but still grounded and very sweet.  When she was very little she lost her parents in a tragic accident and has been raised by her Aunt Cecilia, who is just like a mother to her.  Life is wonderful until the day of a bizarre accident.  With the way the high school rumor mill runs, she soon is labeled as the crazy girl and finds herself an outcast, with only one friend to her name.  Just when things seem like they can’t get worse a crazy man shows up and tries to kill her with fire that he can shoot out of his hands.  But things like that don’t happen in real life, right?!  Suddenly Alex is thrown in to a world she never dreamed was possible, some people do have strange powers and where her own role is more than she could ever begin to imagine.

   I must say that I completely fell in love with Alex.  She is such an amazingly sweet girl. Even when things her only concern is for those she loves.  She is also very feisty.  This comes in very handy once she meets Declan.  He is the stereo-typical bad boy and uses sarcasm as self-defense.  Alex does not put up with his crap at all and eventually, of course, we get to see that Declan is actually a very amazing guy.

   The plot wasn’t all that unique.  Think X-Men meets teen romance.  That being said, I still really enjoyed this book.  While it did follow a pretty predictable path the story still had enough twists to keep it fresh and interesting.  The only thing that I didn’t like was that it ended.  I now need to read the next book to find out what ends up happening to Alex and her friends.

   One of the best things about this book is that it is a clean read.  I love that there are still authors out there that understand you don’t need foul language, sex, or extreme violence to make a book great.  There was nothing in this book that I found even remotely questionable, which is probably a lot of the reason why I loved it so much.

  I encourage every fan of a good paranormal story to read this book.  With action, romance and kick butt teens with special powers, why wouldn’t you love it?!

Parent's Guide:  There is some mild swearing and it is a love story.  I would give it a rating of PG.

Breathe by Elena Dillon

 Jasmine’s life wasn’t normal for a 16 year old girl. It hadn’t been normal since the murder of her older sister, Daisy, two years ago. Her life had been changed forever. The monster that murdered Daisy was never caught. That was the reason her family decided to move away from their hometown in Southern California, to start over. Hopefully in a place where the last name Rourke wouldn’t bring on staring or judgment or morbid curiosity.

In Lafayette, Louisiana things are quite a bit different but in a good way. Good manners, Cajun accents and a whole lot of Southern Hospitality all make her think things are going in the right direction. On top of that the most gorgeous boy she has ever met is interested in her. Her new friends are better than she could have hoped for even if she is worried about what they might think when they find out who she is. Life would be perfect if odd things didn’t keep happening. Creepy phone calls, texts, and flowers in her locker start adding up quickly to something terrifying. Could the Monster have followed them to Lafayette? Was he coming after her this time? Maybe she was just worrying unnecessarily…or not.
Picture and description by Goodreads

My Review

      I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.
   I normally do not like thrillers.  I don’t like reading about murders, people being kidnapped or tortured, etc.  If I ever feel like reading a thriller I tend to stick to YA because it is just intense enough without all the graphic violence of adult books.  Such is the case with this book.  It was intense at times and truly scary but only enough to keep me reading and not enough to make to make me throw the book away.
   Jasmine is a teenage girl trying to put her life back together after a tragedy.  Years earlier her older sister Daisy, whom she absolutely adored, was kidnapped and murdered and the killer was never found.  Now her family has moved across the country in order to have a fresh start.  The problem is that you can’t always run away from your problems and Jasmine has a big one.  After her sister was murdered she developed a horrible habit of passing out when she is stressed or startled.  One of her first nights in her new town she is innocently startled and collapses in to the arms of an amazing guy.  Guess her fainting isn’t always bad.  Then, just when her new life starts to seem like it may be wonderful, she begins to get strange messages about her ending up like her sister.  Either someone is playing a sick joke or the killer has followed them.
   The characters in this book are great.  I did love Jasmine and reading about her story, she is strong and resourceful and will do anything to protect what is left of her family.  No matter how wonderful Jasmine was, for some reason the character I liked the best was her little brother.  Maybe because I have younger brothers, but who knows.  Caedan is everything you think of when you imagine a younger brother.  He can be frustrating and annoying but he is loyal and loves his family fiercely. 
   I loved the plot line in this book.  Maybe because I am a girl or maybe because I have a teenage daughter but the idea of stalking terrifies me.  What could be creepier than some unknown guy creeping around spying on you when you least expect it?  I can guarantee that the idea of this poor girl possibly being stalked by the killer of her sister definitely keeps this book intense. 
With great characters, a great plot and great twists and turns to keep you drawn in this book is a wonderful read.

Parent's Guide: This book deals with the subject of what happens to one family after the death of a teen as well as the subject of a stalker.  It is intense at times and does have mild swearing.  I would not recommend this book for anyone younger than 14.

Forever Me by Thomas Amo

Inspired by True Events

Hannah Richards isn't your typical 16 year-old at Wichita Falls High. Fashions, trends, cosmetics and style are unimportant to her. An avid reader, guitar player, classic movie and television buff, Hannah marches to the beat of her own drum. Visible only to her Father the town Sheriff, and her two best friends. Hannah lives a simple, un-pampered life as an "Eastie."

After coming to the aide of Taylor Monroe, a popular member of the ultra snobby "Stilettos" at school, Hannah's life beings spiraling out of control. As she starts spending more time with Taylor, her best friends abandon her, after a series of misunderstandings, causing Hannah to re-invent herself.

Hannah quickly gets caught up in a life much different than the one she knows, where status, glamour, makeup, appearance and acceptance become her masters. And what of the dark secret that haunts the streets of Wichita Falls?

Can Hannah survive the lies, deceit, jealousy and rage that are now waiting for her behind every corner? Will she succumb to the pressures of popularity? Or will she be crushed under the heels of the "Stilettos"?

~High school is hard enough just being yourself, let alone being someone you're not~

Picture and description provided by Goodreads

My Review

      I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.

   I really found this book to be not only wonderful, but it also contains a powerful message for all of us.  The story goes way beyond two kids from opposite sides of town falling in love and creates a great story with twists and turns that made it impossible to put the book down.

   Hannah is the sweet teenage daughter of the town sheriff, whose mom had passed away a few years earlier.  Other than missing her mom, life is pretty good for Hannah.  The only thing marring her life is the presence of the Stilettos, the truly horrible group of popular girls that think they run the high school.  Hannah usually stays out of their way but an incident forces her to stand up to them.  Suddenly Hannah’s life is out of control.  Enemies are friends, friends are enemies, and she is in a relationship with the most popular boy in school.  I don’t want to give any spoilers so let’s just say that things get really crazy.

   The author does such a great job with his character development.  I fell in love with Hannah and was completely drawn in to her life.  From the crazy mean Stilettos, to the drunken past beauty queen, and everyone in between, all of the characters in this book were so realistic and you are able to really feel what the characters are going through.  I must say that the Stilettos are certainly terrifying.

Parent's Guide: There is some swearing in the book, underage drinking and some disturbing violence, like PG-13 type stuff, so I would definitely recommend that parents use discretion before letting your kids read this book.  I do feel like the message is so great that it would be ok to let some of the things slide so that all high school girls could read this book.  Even if the message only reached a few girls this book has done its job.  In a society where media has almost no positive messages I give kudos to this author for putting out something that is both entertaining and positive.