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June Wrap Up

Hello everyone!

So June is almost over! We're over half way through the year now! It's going by so fast.

Another month has gone, and yet again I haven't stuck to my TBR list. I fail miserably at them so I might just stop doing them all together... we'll see.

This month has been a pretty good reading month! I've read a lot of great books that I didn't expect to read.

Insurgent (Divergent #2) by Veronica Roth [review]

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson [review]

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan & Rachel Cohn [review]

That Summer by Sarah Dessen [review]

Tragic (Rook & Ronin #1) by J A Huss [review]

Faking It (Losing It #2) by Cora Carmack [review]

Crash (Crash #1) by Nicole Williams [review]

Crash (Clash #2) by Nicole Williams [review]

Crush (Clash #3) by Nicole Williams [review]

Bitter Blood (Morganville Vampires #13) by Rachel Caine [review]

This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers [review]

Splintered (Splintered #1) by A G Howard [review - coming soon!]

Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts [review - coming soon!]

Geek Girl (Geek Girl #1) by Holly Smale [review - coming soon!]

After Eden (After Eden #1) by Helen Douglas [review - coming soon!]

This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers

This Is Not A Test
by Courtney Summers

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn't sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?




I haven't read very many zombie books and the ones I have read haven't been that good. I am a massive fan of zombies though, which is why I bought This Is Not A Test. I'd seen it around a lot before I bought it, and it sounded really good. Like it was going to be full of action and strong characters. Well, it wasn't. It was the complete opposite.

Most of the book consisted of them wandering about a school, bitching, moaning, arguing and just being down right depressing. None of the characters were stand out characters. They all sort of faded into the background and there wasn't any of them that I particularly liked the most.

I was hoping for a lot from the main character Sloane. She'd been through a lot of horrible stuff before the zombie apocalypse and through a lot while they were trying to get to the school. I was expecting a strong, tough character but what I got was a girl who wouldn't stop going on about her sister leaving her, got pissed when the guy who slept with  her sister got with someone else and spent most of the time thinking about when she would get the chance to kill herself. I just really didn't like her. She was moaning all the time, wandering off on her on and just being so depressed that it pissed me off.

Harrison did nothing but cry, Trace was a psycho who was obsessed with his parents death, Grace & Rhys weren't anything special and Cary was a dick.

There was basically no action & hardly an zombies in this one, and I was pretty disappointed by that. I wanted more zombies and more action than people arguing all the time. The best part of the book for me was when Rhys and Sloane went outside to check the guy because they had to fight zombies! I really wish there had been more scenes like that and the one at the end in Sloane's house.

I felt absolutely nothing for any of these characters. They were just... there. The writing style was good though. I managed to get through it quite quickly even though I was pretty bored most of the time. And then there was the un-needed romantic encounters that annoyed me too. So what if it's a zombie apocalypse? Does that really mean that you need to let this guy you knew from school shove his hand up your skirt? No. It does not.

Overall, I wasn't really enamored by this book. I'd expected a lot more and I was extremely disappointed. It's definitely one I won't be picking up again.

Bitter Blood by Rachel Caine

Bitter Blood (The Morganville Vampires #13)
by Rachel Caine

For years, the human and vampire residents of Morganville, Texas, have managed to co-exist in peace. But now that the threat to the vampires has been defeated, the human residents are learning that the gravest danger they face is the enemy within…

Thanks to the eradication of the parasitic creatures known as the draug, the vampires of Morganville have been freed of their usual constraints. With the vampires indulging their every whim, the town’s human population is determined to hold on to their lives by taking up arms. But college student Claire Danvers isn’t about to take sides, considering she has ties to both the humans and the vampires.

To make matters worse, a television show comes to Morganville looking for ghosts, just as vampire and human politics collide. Now, Claire and her friends have to figure out how to keep the peace without ending up on the nightly news… or worse.


The Morganville Vampire series focuses around our 4 main characters: Claire, Shane, Eve & Michael - who are known collectively as The Glass House Residents [because they live in the Glass House].

So this one picks up after Black Dawn with Morganville piecing itself back together after defeating the draug (mysterious creatures that prey on vampires). Although, what the residents quickly realise is that the tables are turning and the vampires are taking charge again. The vampires are getting hunting privileges; humans must carried ID cards - with their blood type on it - at all times; A ghost hunting TV show comes to Morganville; Captain Obvious is making a return and The Glass House Residents are the target of the human & vampire population.

I'd been dying to dive back into this series for a while. It's been ages since I read it - I think it's been about a year - and I was craving my Morganville fix. There's always a lot going on in Morganville so there's never a dull moment, and this book kept that going.

Claire Danvers is one of my all time favourite kick ass female characters. She's ballsy, intelligent, funny, confident and doesn't let the vampires push her around - which gets her in trouble most of the time. She was determined to stick up for the human residents in this one and get the town back to what it used to be instead of letting the vampires have free reign.

I love Eve too. She doesn't take any shit from anyone. She's such a strong, feisty characters.

Michael & Shane are both brilliant too. They're both willing to do anything for Claire & Eve. Michael is rational and Shane is impulsive. They both compliment each other.

I actually couldn't believe that Amelia had let Oliver get his hooks into her! I honestly thought she would have know better - I mean, she's know him forever. So she had to have had her suspicions. And I can't believe she didn't listen to Myrnin! Sure he's a crazy, psychotic vampire, but he has great instincts and she should have listened to him over Oliver.

I enjoyed finding out the underlying story and finding out who it was that was calling on the shots and pulling the strings. It wasn't who I'd expected because I actually thought this character was dead - but unfortunately for the Morganville residents, they weren't.

The ghost hunting TV show storyline was pretty intersting at all. At first, I didn't think there were any ghosts in Morganville - excluding the one we knew about - but then this TV show turns up and there are suddenly ghosts everywhere! I liked that storyline and how everything panned out in the end.

The Morganville Vampires series is my all time favourite Vampire series. I'm not a massive fan of Vampires, but this is one series that I absolutely love and I always will.
If you haven't started reading The Morganville Vampires series yet, I highly suggest you do :)

Debut-A-Thon [Goals & Updates]

And the Debut-a-thon has officially started! Well, it has for us people here in the UK. I know there's some lucky people out there who've been doing the read-a-thon for a while now, and now I can finally start!
So like I said in my sign up post, I'm aiming to read 2 books! 1. Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts 2. Splintered by A G Howard
And if I somehow manage to get both of these finished, I will also be picking up Geek Girl by Holly Smale.
So I'm off to start my first book of the Debut-a-thon!  [I'll probably only get 1 chapter finished though before I end up falling asleep]

Progress
Day 1: Thursday No. of books finished: 1 Books read: Splintered, Tumble & Fall No. of pages [percentage] read: Splintered - 371, Tumble & Fall - 51: 422 pages
Day 2: Friday No. of books finished: 1 Books read: Tumble & Fall & Geek Girl No. of pages [percentage] read: Tumble & Fall - 321, Geek Girl - 60%: 535 pages
Day 3: Saturday No. of books finished: 1 Books read: Geek Girl, After Eden No. of pages [percentage] read: Geek Girl - 40%, After Eden - 29%: 226 pages
Day 4: Sunday No. of books finished: 1 Books read: After Eden No. of pages [percentage] read: After Eden - 71%: 205 pages
Overall progress No. of books read: 4 Books read: Splintered, Tumble & Fall, Geek Girl & After Eden No. of pages read: 1388 pages
I had so much fun taking part in this read-a-thon! I finally got around to reading books I didn't think I'd ever get around to. And I actually managed to read more than I'd actually expected, so I'm really happy with that :)
Challenges
Challenge #1: Unscramble That Debut [highlight for answers]  1. If You Find Me 2. Altered 3. Pivot Point 4. Arclight [this one took me forever to get!] 5. Poison 6. Splintered 7. The Elites [as did this one]
Challenge #2: Pair That Debut So right now I'm currently reading Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts which follows 3 teenagers in the run up to a meteor hitting the Earth. I've been thinking and looking for about an hour for a song for this and I kept coming back to one song. I was mainly trying to find another song because I'm not a massive fan of this artist or this song, but I just couldn't get it out of my head so I'm just going to go with it. 

Challenge #4: Solve That Debut [highlight for answers]

1. The Nightmare Affair

2. City of a Thousand Dolls

3. In the After [this one actually took me forever!]

4. The Rules for Disappearing

5. Pretty Girl Thirteen

Good luck everyone :D

Crush by Nicole Williams

[Mature Content - 17+]
Crush (Crash #3)
by Nicole Williams

Football glory. A giant diamond. A wandering eye.

Jude and Lucy are happily engaged . . . but that doesn't mean life's a bed of roses.

Once again, Jude and Lucy are torn apart by football training and a summer job that creates new tensions. This time Jude's the one with trust issues. Will Lucy's life-changing news bring them back together or end their relationship for good? Can love triumph forever?









So Crush picks up about 3 years after the end of Clash. Jude is about to be drafter and Lucy is finishing her second last year of college.

I really enjoyed that this one was set a couple of years into the future. It made me happy to see that Jude and Lucy had managed to stick together no matter how much shit was thrown at them.

I loved Lucy even more in this book. She was feisty, determined and just down right amazing. She didn't want to live off of Jude's money, she wanted to continue her studies and earn her own money. This made me admire her character a hell of a lot more. She wants to do things for herself and not have everything handed to her on a silver platter. She's definitely on of my most favourite female characters ever now.

Jude pissed me off quite a bit in this book. He was being far too possessive (especially in the beach scene), he was being far too over-bearing and controlling and he became more alpha male in this one. Don't get me wrong, he's still a sweetheart and I still loved him, but he just has to tone down the anger quite a bit.

I was so happy that Holly became a bigger part of the storyline in this one. She's such an amazing character. She's so funny and nosey and I just loved having her and LJ around. They added so much more to the storyline. Plus, the Holly and Thomas storyline was pretty funny too.

There was a lot more sexual content in this one, even with Jude and Lucy being separated for long periods of time they still found ways to be intimate. There was one scene in particular that was incredibly hot, but also pretty funny - not because of what they were doing, but because of what happened after. 

Jude and Lucy were tested again in this one. India's brother Anton had a major thing for Lucy and didn't seem to want to take no for an answer. He was always calling Jude controlling and unhealthy and although I kind of agreed with him, it made me angry when he pointed it out because he was trying to weasel his way between Lucy & Jude. I had my fingers crossed the whole time that Jude would throw a punch at Anton.
They also had to deal with the pictures being plastered everywhere. With Jude being one of the most famous football players ever now, he was constantly being followed by paparazzi and him and Lucy were being photographed all the time.

And then the biggest test for both of them came along. I had my fingers crossed the whole time, hoping that they would be able to make it work and be together. Even though it was kind of cheesy, I didn't care. I want these characters to be happy so bad that I just ignored the cheesiness of the situation.

By the end of the book, I was so proud of Lucy & Jude for everything they've overcome and accomplished in the past couple of years. They deserve everything they got.

Overall, I've absolutely loved this series. It's such a fantastic NA series. If you haven't started reading this series yet, I highly recommend reading it. It's definitely one I will be coming back to again and again.

Clash by Nicole Williams

[Mature Content - 17+]
Clash (Crash #2)
by Nicole Williams

Their Romeo-and-Juliet-level passion is the only thing Jude and Lucy agree on. That, and fighting all the time . . .

Also not helping? Lucy's raging jealousy of the cheerleader who's wormed her way into Jude's life.

While trying to hang on to her quintessential bad boy and also training to be the top ballet dancer in her class, Lucy knows something's going to give . . . soon.

How can she live without the boy she loves? How can she live with herself if she gives up on her dreams? If Lucy doesn't make the right choice, she could lose everything.






I ended up buying this one the day after I finished reading Crash. I just couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen to these characters.

After that massive bombshell that was dropped in the first book, I was glad to see that Jude and Lucy were back on track. I just couldn't stand the thought of them not being together so I was extremely happy that they were back together.

Lucy is still one of my most favourite female characters ever. She's ballsy, she doesn't take shit from anyone and she's just such a fantastic character. I loved her even more in this one.

Jude grated on my nerves a couple of times in this one, but overall, I still loved him. His anger and his possessiveness kind of pissed me off. Lucy can't do anything without him flying off the rails and trying to beat someone up (or threatening to). Sure there were times when he was protecting Lucy, but most of the time he was just acting like a jealous ass with a trust problem. He could still be a real sweetheart when he wanted to though.

This one was a lot steamier than Crash. There were some extremely hot make out sessions (like that one in the car...) and I was really enjoying the progress that their relationship was making. Jude was so desperate for everything to be perfect that no matter how much he wanted to just throw Lucy up against a wall, he didn't because he wanted it to be special. Lucy and Jude have such amazing chemistry that I really enjoyed reading these scenes.

There was a lot going on in this book again, which I really enjoyed. Lucy and Jude are both a college now and they live 5 hours apart, so they only get to see each other at the weekends. And Adriana Vix decides she'll take advantage of this. She's constantly following Jude about, trying to get him to sleep with her. I could understand why Lucy was so jealous because she wasn't with Jude all the time anymore, but I was a bit disappointed in her lack of trust in Jude. After everything they'd been through, I'd expected a lot more from her.
I was really happy for Jude in this one too. After everything he'd been through, he was finally able to do something with his life that he enjoyed and get a career. I felt really proud of him for everything he'd accomplished.

Jude and Lucy had some major ups and downs in this book, but these characters are just so right for each other that they always find their way back to each other - and they always will. 

The ending had me squealing in delight. Sure it was kind of cheesy, but I love these characters so much that I just want the best for them and for them to be so happy together that I just loved the ending. 

I ended up starting Crush - the last book in the series - the next morning because I'm just so invested in these characters that I just couldn't wait to see what life was going to throw at them next.
Overall, I really loved this book. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first book, but I still really loved it. If you haven't read this series yet, I highly recommend it. It's such a fantastic NA series.

Crash by Nicole Williams

Crash (Crash #1)
by Nicole Williams

Southpointe High is the last place Lucy wanted to wind up her senior year of school. Right up until she stumbles into Jude Ryder, a guy whose name has become its own verb, and synonymous with trouble. He's got a rap sheet that runs longer than a senior thesis, has had his name sighed, shouted, and cursed by more women than Lucy dares to ask, and lives at the local boys home where disturbed seems to be the status quo for the residents. Lucy had a stable at best, quirky at worst, upbringing. She lives for wearing the satin down on her ballet shoes, has her sights set on Juilliard, and has been careful to keep trouble out of her life. Up until now. 

Jude's everything she needs to stay away from if she wants to separate her past from her future. Staying away, she's about to find out, is the only thing she's incapable of. 

For Lucy Larson and Jude Ryder, love's about to become the thing that tears them apart.

I was recommended this book by Jess from JessHeartsBooks (you can check out here review here) and I just knew I had to pick it up asap.

I was expecting a similar story to most of the other New Adult novels, but this one managed to surprise me. Sure, the characters both had difficult pasts (one more than the other) but they were both so much more heartbreaking than any other New Adult story. The other difference between this novel and other New Adult novels is the lack of sexual content. Sure I was slightly disappointed by this because these characters had SO MUCH chemistry that they wanted to rip each others clothes off most of the time, but they refrained from doing so. I actually enjoyed the fact that it wasn't full of sexual content and focused more on the story and the development of the characters. There was so much to explore with these characters.

I knew I was going to love Lucy from the first chapter when she was in the park. She was so confident, funny and intelligent that she's probably one of my favourite female characters now. She knows what she wants and she'll do whatever it takes to get it. 

And I also knew from that first chapter that I was going to love Jude. He was just so cocky and alluring that I was instantly attracted to him. You could feel the chemistry between these two characters before they'd even uttered a word to each other. I did have moments where I doubted Jude and I started to change my mind about him, but he always wormed his way back in because underneath his hard exterior, he's a real sweetheart. He has a temper, but it usually only shows when he's trying to protect Lucy - and sometimes it comes in real handy.

Both of these characters have had hard pasts. Jude's grown up in a boys home because his father went to prison and his mother left and he's had to deal with bullies. Lucy's brother died and her family is broken. I don't want to go into too much detail about their pasts because I don't want to spoil anything. Both of these characters have a hell of a lot to overcome and work out.

Lucy and Jude are one of my favourite couples ever now. They're so right for each other. So what if they argue all the time, and have some slight trust issues? They always find their way to overcome their problems because they're so in love. Love isn't meant to be perfect, and Lucy and Jude's relationship is so far from perfect, but they're so in love that it doesn't even matter.

I seriously LOVED the storyline of this one. My jaw dropped a couple of times because of how horrible the story got (chapter 5 for example) and I just couldn't believe that there was so much going on in this book so early on! I loved hearing/reading about Lucy's dancing. She's so passionate about it and it's something I loved reading about her doing. It helps her a lot.
I liked the Holly storyline as well - the time I didn't but now that I've finished the book and know what happened. It definitely added something to the story.
And then the twist at the end happened and my jaw hit the floor. I seriously didn't expect it and I basically screamed because I knew what was going to happen. It was such a fantastic twist.

I ended up buying Clash and Crush the next morning for my kindle because I was just so desperate to find out what was going to happen with these two characters.

Faking It by Cora Carmack

Faking It (Losing It #1)
by Cora Carmack
[Received a copy from Netgalley]

Mackenzie “Max” Miller has a problem. Her parents have arrived in town for a surprise visit, and if they see her dyed hair, tattoos, and piercings, they just might disown her. Even worse, they’re expecting to meet a nice, wholesome boyfriend, not a guy named Mace who has a neck tattoo and plays in a band. All her lies are about to come crashing down around her, but then she meets Cade.

Cade moved to Philadelphia to act and to leave his problems behind in Texas. So far though, he’s kept the problems and had very little opportunity to take the stage. When Max approaches him in a coffee shop with a crazy request to pretend to be her boyfriend, he agrees to play the part. But when Cade plays the role a little too well, they’re forced to keep the ruse going. And the more they fake the relationship, the more real it begins to feel.



After finishing Tragic by J A Huss, I was still in the mood for some New Adult so I decided to pick up Faking It. I really enjoyed reading Losing It earlier on this year, so I was really looking forward to Faking It. I ended up enjoying this one a lot more than Losing It and I stayed up until 2am reading it.

The characters in this one were so much more interesting than in Losing It. I really enjoyed learning more about Cade. I'd felt bad for him in the first book because he was in love with Bliss but she was with someone else. I still felt bad for him at the start of this one because he had to deal with seeing Bliss & Garrick together all the time. He's such a nice, sweet, genuine guy that I just didn't want him to have to feel the pain of being in love with her anymore. And then along came Max. 

Max blew into Cade's life like a hurricane. She's the complete opposite of what Cade usually goes for, but he finds himself extremely attracted to her. She's confident, feisty and sexy, but Max is also dealing constantly with something that happened in her past that affected her whole family. It's led to her having to lie and keep secrets from her parents, which is how she met Cade.
I really loved Max. She had me laughing a hell of a lot throughout this book. I also felt really bad for her because of the pressure her parents had put on her after what happened and she was trying to be the perfect daughter instead of being herself.

Max and Cade really helped each other a lot throughout this book. Max helped Cade get over Bliss (mainly because he was falling for Max) and Cade helped Max start to become herself again. They were just perfect for each other. From the first time they met I was just waiting for them to start to realise they actually had feelings for each other. It was a pretty weird situation to start with since neither of them actually knew each other but were pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend, but it was just such a hilarious situation. They had so much chemistry that I was dying for them to get together.

Their interactions with Max's parents when they were pretending were priceless. They were both trying to annoy each other and it's was really funny to read. Cade was always saying something to Max's parents that made them fall in love with him and it would annoy the hell out of Max.

The storyline in this one was so much better. We had Max and Mace, Max dealing with her parents, Cade trying to get over Bliss and the whole fake relationship. There was a lot more going on and a lot more for me to enjoy. I powered through this book because I just couldn't put it down. 

I really did enjoy Faking It a hell of a lot more than Losing It. Everything about this book was just so much better! If you haven't started the Losing It series yet, you definitely should. Especially if you're a New Adult fan.

Tragic by J A Huss

[17+ Contains Mature Content]

Tragic (Rook and Ronin #1)

by J A Huss

Rook Walsh is TRAGIC

Because life so far – just sucks. Some girls get parents. Rook got the foster care system. Some girls get Prince Charming. Rook got an abusive frog. Some girls get lucky…

Rook got a second chance.
And she took it. Because when fate throws you a bone – you grab it with both hands and run.

Antoine Chaput knows the minute he spies Rook in his photography studio that she’s got The Look. The dark and desperate look he must have to land the exclusive TRAGIC media contract.

Rook is paired up with top model, Ronin, and he’s everything her abusive ex-boyfriend wasn’t. Patient, gentle, happy, attentive, and sexy! He knows exactly what to do to make Rook blush for Antoine’s camera.

Rook’s luck changes in an instant and suddenly she’s the darling of the modeling world. It’s a dream job to go with a dream guy and all she has to do is look pretty and follow directions. But there’s always a price to pay – and Rook is about to get the bill.

So I'd been in kind of a reading slump ever since I finished That Summer by Sarah Dessen and I just couldn't concentrate on anything. So I thought, why no pick up a new adult book since they always seem to get me out of my slump. I decided to go with Tragic by J A Huss (It was only £0.74 on amazon and I'd heard a lot of great things about it).
I was hooked straight away. I was drawn in by Rook's situation and I wanted to know what she was going to do and what was going to happen to her.

I've never read a book about modelling before, so I was really intrigued by that. The modelling, however, was erotic modelling - which means that the shoots are extremely sexual, but tasteful.

Rook has been through a hell of a lot in her nineteen years. Her mother was a crack addict and she been shifted from foster home to foster home, never finding a real family. And then her ex came along and Rook thought she was getting her happy ending, until he beat her. So Rook ran away. She was homeless and jobless when the opportunity to model hit her on the head (literally). I was so happy for Rook when she got this chance. I had my fingers crossed for her because I really wanted to see her happy. She's such a strong, independent character. She does have trust issues - but she's allowed to after what happened to her - but I just really connected with her character. I wanted something good for her.

Enter Ronin. Ronin is cocky, slightly controlling, sweet, sexy and just bloody amazing! I fell in love with his charcter straight away. Ronin had had a tough past as well, but he and his family are in a good place now. Ronin took an instant liking to Rook and I was impatiently waiting for them to just get together already!
Even though they got together after like 5-6 days, I honestly don't give a shit. Their scenes together were sizzling with heat and they just had so much chemistry it was unbelievable. 

The modelling scenes between Rook and Ronin for the TRAGIC shoot were so sexy. Seriously, there was one scene when they were modelling that Ronin almost gave Rook and orgasm. It was so steamy!
They were always having to make out and undress each other. And their attraction to each other just grew and grew.

I really loved that we got the dual narrative in this book. I loved hearing from both Rook and Ronin and hearing how they both felt about each other and what they were thinking.

I'm SO excited for the second book Manic which should be coming out in August this year!

If you're a fan of New Adult and are looking for some new recommendations, I definitely recommend reading Tragic. It's such an amazing, quick read that you'll easily fall in love with.

That Summer by Sarah Dessen

That Summer
by Sarah Dessen

For fifteen-year-old Haven-tall, lanky, bordering on six feet-it's a summer framed by two weddings: her father's to Lorna Queen (the "Weather Pet" of the local TV station) and her sister's to dull-as-dishwater Lewis Warsher, a boy Haven can't imagine plucky Ashley being attracted to. Nothing seems stable except Haven's memories-especially those of the summer when Ashley dated Sumner Lee, who made her parents laugh and loosened Ashley up. Around Sumner, even Haven felt special. Suddenly Sumner reappears in her life, a link to that perfect past-and her future.









Sarah Dessen has always been one of my favourite contemporary writers. I've read quite a few of her books and I was really looking forward to this one. I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, but I didn't not enjoy it. It's strange. Maybe it's because of how short the book is that I just didn't feel like I got to connect with the characters and have a lot of emotions towards them, or maybe it's just because I didn't really like it. I'm not too sure which one it is.

So this story revolves around our main character Haven who is clutching on to the past. Her mother and father are divorced, her father is getting remarried, her and her sister have grown apart and her sister is also getting married. Haven's life is changing very quickly but she can't seem to let go of the past and that one summer.

Overall, I thought the storyline of this was alright, the character were OK - they didn't annoy me too much, but I didn't really have much of a connection with any of them - and the writing style made it easy for me to fly through this book.

I'm kind of on the fence with Haven's character. There were times when she annoyed me - like when she was only thinking about herself when there were a lot of other important things going on - and there were times where I liked her. But I did think she was kind of selfish. 
Her sister Ashley kind of annoyed me as well. She was so focused on herself and the wedding that she didn't care about anyone or anything else. I kind of understood that, but at the same time I didn't like it.

I found it really creepy that Haven - who is 15 - was hanging about with Ashley's ex-boyfriend Sumner - who's like 21-22ish. I just didn't like that. Mainly because I thought something was going to happen between them and it was going to be really creepy. She was kind of obsessed with him and the summer that she had with him and Ashley. I just really wanted her to forget the past and try to move on and accept the future.

I didn't understand why the storyline with the supermodel was thrown in. It added absolutely nothing to the story and was just really pointless.

Overall, I did kind of enjoy this book but it's definitely one I will not be reading again.

Debut-A-Thon Sign Up!

So this is a four day read-a-thon which starts at 12:00am on 27th June and finishes at 11:59pm on June 30th no matter what time zone you live in. This read-a-thon is for 2013 Debut Novels as those are the only ones that will count. 
I'm hoping to be able to read 2 books. 1. Splintered by A G Howard 2. Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts
For more information on the read-a-thon, click HERE to head on over to Amber's blog :)

Summer Lovin' Read-a-thon!

The Summer Lovin’ Readathon is a week-long readathon event hosted by seven independent bloggers! (Oh, Chrys!, Tumbling Books, Effortlessly Reading, Love Life Read, Shelf Addiction, Read Sleep Repeat, and Reviewing Wonderland)

I really enjoyed taking part in the bout of books read-a-thon and I managed to get a hell of a lot of books read. So I've decided to sign up for the Summer Lovin' read-a-thon! I'm excited to take part in this one!

If you want to join this read-a-thon, just click HERE to sign up!

Cover Reveal & Giveaway: A Little Too Far by Lisa Desrochers

A Little Too Far (A Little Too Far #1) by Lisa Desrochers

SYNOPSIS:

Have you ever gone just a little too far?

Lexi Banks has.

Yep. She just had mind-blowing sex with her stepbrother.In her defense, she was on the rebound, and it’s more of a my-dad-happened-to-marry-a-woman-with-a-super-hot-son situation. But still, he’s been her best friend and confidant for better part of the last few years…and is so off limits. It’s a good thing she’s leaving in two days for a year abroad in Rome.But even thousands of miles away, Lexie can’t seem to escape trouble. Raised Catholic, she goes to Confession in hopes of alleviating some of her guilt…and maybe not burning in hell. Instead, she stumbles out of the confessional right into Alessandro Moretti, a young and very easy on the eyes deacon…only eight months away from becoming a priest. As Lexie and Alessandro grow closer, and when Alessandro’s signals start changing despite his vow of celibacy, she doesn’t know what to think. She’s torn between falling in love with the man she shouldn’t want and the man she can’t have. And she isn’t sure how she can live with herself either way.

"More than a ridiculously sexy, HOT read, Desrochers takes you on a wild ride of self-discovery and bittersweet romance." —Jennifer L. Armentrout (J. Lynn), New York Times bestselling author of Wait for You  

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Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares
by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

I've left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you dont, put the book back on the shelf, please. 

Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions? Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have written a love story that will have readers perusing bookstore shelves, looking and longing for a love (and a red notebook) of their own.




Dash & Lily was one of those books I'd seen around everywhere. A lot of the bloggers/booktubers I follow have loved this book, so I thought it was about time I gave it a try - I think I was going to read it in December, but I only read the first chapter and then gave up. The synopsis for this book sounded intriguing and I thought that it would be a brilliant contemporary that I would read over and over again around Christmas time (since it's set around Christmas). But unfortunately, I really didn't enjoy it.
I started off enjoying this book, but around chapter 5 or 6 everything started going downhill. The storyline was boring me, I had to force myself to finish it but most of all, the characters really got on my nerves.

First of all we have Lily. Lily is basically a loner. She may be captain of the football team, but she has no friends to speak of. She spends most of her time moaning in this book and it was driving me insane. I couldn't relate to her at all. She was just too weird for me. She's so difficult and childish that I just couldn't handle her. And it got even worse when "Shrilly" was let loose.

And then there's Dash. I honestly don't know what I think of him. There were times when I like him, and times when I didn't. He may have been funny, but that's basically the only good thing I can think of when it comes to him. He sounded so pretentious when he talked that I kind of wanted to punch him.

Their relationship was extremely weird. I did like the communication through the notebook. I enjoyed seeing where each of them would send the other and what they would make them do for clues, but that's where my enjoyment of their relationship ended. They just didn't seem compatible in my mind. They're completely different. Dash seems to be more of a grown up kind of guy whereas Lily came across like a 5 year old for me. And it didn't get any better when the finally me. It was just ridiculous. 
Plus, like a couple of days before they sort of got together, Dash slept with his Ex! I mean, what they hell? Sure, he was slightly confused about Lily. But that doesn't mean he can run off and have sex with his Ex and then get together with Lily! It frustrated me.

The only character I actually liked in this book was Dash's friend Boomer. He was so enthusiastic and hilarious. He was kind of weird too, but that just made everything he said funnier.

The writing style also annoyed me. Some of the words I actually had no idea what they meant, and it was either Dash or Lily that was saying them! They're freaking 16 or something! I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters because of this.

There were also these ridiculous storylines in the book like the whole thing with Dash hitting a boy in the face with a snowball and Lily trying to "steal" a baby. And the psycho mums. I just really didn't enjoy it.

Overall, I just thought this was an odd book. I didn't really enjoy the storyline, the characters or the writing style. It's definitely one I won't be reading again.

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour
by Morgan Matson
Narrated by: Suzy Jackson

Amy Curry thinks her life sucks. Her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut to start anew--just in time for Amy's senior year. 

Her dad recently died in a car accident. So Amy embarks on a road trip to escape from it all, driving cross-country from the home she's always known toward her new life. Joining Amy on the road trip is Roger, the son of Amy's mother's old friend. Amy hasn't seen him in years, and she is less than thrilled to be driving across the country with a guy she barely knows. So she's surprised to find that she is developing a crush on him. At the same time, she’s coming to terms with her father’s death and how to put her own life back together after the accident. 

Told in traditional narrative as well as scraps from the road--diner napkins, motel receipts, postcards--this is the story of one girl's journey to find herself.


I was just looking around on the internet, bored, when I came across the ad for Audible that said you could sign up for a month and get 1 free audiobook. I'd seen this ad a lot in the past couple of months and I'd just ignored it. I didn't really want to try and audiobook so I just always overlooked it. But on Sunday night when I came across the ad again, I thought to myself - Well, if it's free, why don't you just sign up? Try something new for a change.

I'm glad I listened to that voice in my head. Listening to an audiobook was such an amazing experience.
I loved being able to listen to a book but still being able to do other things. Like, Going out shopping, Cleaning and just other general things that I wouldn't normally be able to do if I had a book in my hands. 

Suzy Jackson's narration was superb. Each character had a different, distinct voice that meant you could easily tell them apart. Her voice was fantastic and she sucked me into the story, making me imagine the scenes that were being read out. I could picture everything in my head as she was talking, like a movie, and I really enjoyed it.

So Amy & Roger's Epic Detour is basically about a girl who lost her father in a car accident and she's still coming to terms with it. Her mother decides to move to Connecticut and leaves Amy at their old house. So Amy goes on a road trip to Connecticut with an old friend Roger that she hasn't seen in years.

This was such a cute, love story with some deeper story lines intertwined. Like Amy coming to terms with her father's death, discovering herself again and her relationships with her mother & her twin brother - Charlie.

This isn't the first book I've read with a road trip in it, but it was certainly the best. I loved discovering the states in America that they were driving through along with them - since I'll probably never be able to do it myself. It was such a fascinating experience. I actually found myself wishing there had been more time for them to discover more of America - but that was mainly because I didn't want the book to end.

Amy developed a lot throughout this book. At first, she was this shy, reserved girl who completely blamed herself for her father's death and just wanted to be by herself. But as the story went on, Amy started to come out of her shell and become a different person. She grew more confident and became such a fantastic character. I loved learning more about her and her family through her flashbacks.

I knew I was going to love Roger from the second we met him. He was such a sweet, friendly character and he really helped Amy on this trip. He helped her discover herself again and come to terms with what happened on the day of the accident. He was funny and charming and always knew what to do to cheer Amy up. The sock sliding in Walmart was one of my favourite scenes.

Amy's relationship with her mother was shown through her phone calls with her mother and through Amy's narration. Her and her mother had a strained relationship after the accident, and even before the accident their relationship wasn't the best. Her mother preferred Charlie to her. I really enjoyed reading about their relationship.

Also, we had Amy's relationship with her brother being shown through Amy's flashbacks and her narration. Her and her brother weren't that close anymore. They both hung about with different crowds of people and were completely different. I enjoyed seeing the development in their relationship.

I loved Amy & Roger's relationship. They became so close during the road trip, and it'd be kind of hard not to considering the amount of time they spent in the car driving. I loved the development in their relationship from the start of the book to the end. Although their relationship developed in such a short space of time, I found myself not caring. I just loved reading about them and right from the start I was impatiently waiting for the moment they would get together. It was inevitable, but I honestly didn't care. They're one of the cutest couples ever and they really helped each other. 

I also really loved Roger's playlists. They made me want to go and listen to every song on them. There were quite a few bands on his playlists that I'd never heard of and I really wanted to go and check them out. I always found myself laughing at what Roger had named them. He was just so funny!

Now that I own the audiobook, it'll be something I will listen to a lot. Maybe when I'm on the bus into Uni, or when I'm wanting something to listen to when I'm doing something but I can't be bothered listening to music. Or when I'm looking for something cute that will cheer me up. I know this is a book I will listen to over and over again.

I definitely, DEFINITELY recommend this book. It was just such an amazing story & the most EPIC detour ever. :)