Crash into You by Katie McGarry

Crash into You by Katie McGarry
Series: Pushing the Limits #3
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: November 26th 2013
Source: Netgalley (Publisher)

The girl with straight As, designer clothes and the perfect life-that's who people expect Rachel Young to be. So the private-school junior keeps secrets from her wealthy parents and overbearing brothers...and she's just added two more to the list. One involves racing strangers down dark country roads in her Mustang GT. The other? Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Walker-a guy she has no business even talking to. But when the foster kid with the tattoos and intense gray eyes comes to her rescue, she can't get him out of her mind.

Isaiah has secrets, too. About where he lives, and how he really feels about Rachel. The last thing he needs is to get tangled up with a rich girl who wants to slum it on the south side for kicks-no matter how angelic she might look.

But when their shared love of street racing puts both their lives in jeopardy, they have six weeks to come up with a way out. Six weeks to discover just how far they'll go to save each other.

As soon as I was accepted for this book on Netgalley, I started reading it. I'd been waiting for this book for ages and I just couldn't wait any longer! I was dying to find out more about Isaiah and learn about him and hopefully finally see him get his HEA.

Although Isaiah slightly annoyed me in Dare You To, I had nothing but love for him in Crash into You. Although Isaiah may appear to be a tough guy, underneath the tattoos and the bad boy exterior he's actually a very gentle and caring character. People judge him because of the way he looks and don't take the time to get to know him. So I loved that I got the chance to hear from Isaiah and listen to his story. Isaiah - like all of the previous characters - has had a tough life. His mother went to prison when he was very young and he's been shifted from foster home to foster home, sometimes having to deal with physical abuse. But Isaiah has managed to pull his life together and is working on getting his qualifications to work on cars. He's such a motivated and driven character. He puts so much work into things and he deserves so much. He's such a kind and sweet character. I just adore Isaiah so much <3

Rachel was an amazing character too. She had a lot of family problems as well. Rachel was basically acting as a replacement daughter and was being forced into doing a lot of things that she didn't want to do just to make her mother happy. This caused her to have a lot of anxiety attacks and also caused her to become seriously ill. Rachel is under so much pressure from her family to fit into this 'perfect mold' that she doesn't feel like she can say no. She isn't being who she really is and she hates it. Although Rachel may seem like a weak character, she's actually not. She's an amazingly strong character and I adored seeing her development throughout the book. 

Isaiah and Rachel's relationship is probably my favourite of this series. There's just something about them that makes me love them more than Noah and Echo & Beth and Ryan. I just felt so much more invested in their relationship. They were so perfect for each other but there was a lot of stuff that got in the way of their relationship.

Abby was one of my favourite characters too. She was so sweet and kind and I felt so bad for her because of her situation. She was stuck and couldn't find a way out. I really loved her and Rachel's friendship though. Abby is a strange character, but her and Rachel bonded and they became brilliant friends. I loved that we got to see Abby's development throughout the book as well.

There were also cameos from Beth, Ryan, Noah and Echo which was brilliant. It was great to see all of the older characters and brilliant to find out how they were all doing.

The story line of this one was definitely my favourite too. Rachel gets herself into trouble by doing an illegal drag race and the story revolves around her and Isaiah trying to fix it. But there's a lot more going on as well. There was Rachel's battle with who she wanted to be; Rachel trying to please her mother and her brothers while trying to hide her illness and there was also Isaiah and his mother. Everything about this book was fantastic and I loved it so much.

There were two chapters at the end that almost killed me. One had me in tears and then the next chapter made my stomach drop when I thought something horrible had happened. Luckily it hadn't, but McGarry had me for a second there.

Overall, this is definitely my favourite book in the Pushing the Limits series. It's one I know I'll always go back and read because I loved it so much! If you haven't read this series yet, it's one I highly recommend starting. It's such a fantastic contemporary series and all of the characters are amazing.

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Series: Vampire Academy #1
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: May 26th 2009
Source: Gifted

St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger...

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.

A couple of months ago I read the Graphic Novel version of The Vampire Academy because for some reason my library never had the first book but had the rest of the books. But my lovely boyfriend bought me a copy of The Vampire Academy last month and I just had to pick up it asap!

Although I'd got the basic storyline from the graphic novel, I loved getting the more indepth story line while reading the book. I learnt a lot more about the characters and the background of this story and I really loved that!

I adored Rose so much! She's such a badass character! She's smart, tough, snarky and so damn amazing. Her friendship with Lissa was so strong and Rose would do absolutely anything for her. She's so protective and doesn't back down, and they're the main reasons I love her so much.

I still wasn't a major fan of Lissa's character though. She still seemed so dependent on Rose and didn't really seem to have a backbone. She was always relying on Rose to fight her battles and then when she wanted to help she went ahead and abused her powers. I kind of wanted to slap some sense into her most of the time.

I adored Christian and Dimitri! They were both hot and amazing in completely different ways. Christians was the dark and brooding loner guy, and Dimiti was the extremely hot older guardian. I loved both of them so much, but I think Christian has to be my favourite <3

I loved everything about the story line of this novel. I loved learning about the different kinds on vampires and what they can all do; learning about all of the characters; learning about the history of some vampires and I adored all the action! There was so much action and a lot of unexpected twists that kept me on my toes!

Overall, this was such an amazing vampire novel. It had badass characters, an amazing story line and some girly drama (which I loved!). I definitely can't wait to get my hands on Frostbite now!

Withering Tights by Louise Rennison

Withering Tights by Louise Rennison
Series: Misadventures of Tallulah Casey #1
Publisher: HarperTenn
Publication Date: July 8th 2011
Source: Bought

Picture the scene: Dother Hall performing arts college somewhere Up North, surrounded by rolling dales, bearded cheesemaking villagers (male and female) and wildlife of the squirrely-type. On the whole, it’s not quite the showbiz experience Tallulah was expecting… but once her mates turn up and they start their ‘FAME! I’m gonna liiiiive foreeeeeever, I’m gonna fill my tiiiiights’ summer course things are bound to perk up.

Especially when the boys arrive. (When DO the boys arrive?)

Six weeks of parent-free freedom. BOY freedom. Freedom of expression… cos it’s the THEATRE dahling, the theatre!!

Louise Rennison was one of my favourite authors when I was younger. I absolutely adored the Georgia Nicholson series and I still do! When I'm feeling like reading something fun I always go back and re-read it. So when I was feeling a bit down after The Fault in Our Stars I thought, 'What a perfect time to start her other series!'. Although Withering Tights wasn't as hilariously funny as the Georgia Nicholson series, I still found myself laughing and cringing along with Tallulah and her friends.

Withering Tights follows our main character Tallulah Casey who is cousins with Georgia! Tallulah is heading down to Dother Hall performing arts college for 6 weeks and she's going to be living with a family while she's down there (because she never got her application in on time for on campus rooms). The book is full of hilarious moments, hot guys and lots of fun!

Tallulah is such a hilarious character! I love how Louise Rennison makes her characters so wacky! I've never came across anyone like Tallulah, but I'd definitely love to have her as a friend. She's bonkers, funny and mad! I adored her and I loved learning about her and everything she was going through. She was so awkward and funny!

Tallulah's friends cracked me up too! Especially Ruby. Ruby had to be my favourite. She was only 10 or 11, but she was so insane! But I adored all of Tallulah's mates.

Alex was definitely my favourite of the love interests. He was older and dreamy. I don't really remember any of the others. The only other guy I remember is Cain and I know I wanted to punch him in the face so bad!

The story line was hilarious! I actually couldn't believe that Dother Hall was a performing arts college! I mean, the teachers were bonkers and the lessons seemed ridiculous. But it was all hilarious and I loved every single second of it.

Overall, this was a great book to read when I was feeling sad. It was hilarious, full of bonkers characters and so much fun! I actually went and got the second book from my library because I'm really looking forward to seeing what's in store for Tallulah next!

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: January 10th 2013
Source: Bought

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

I've put off reading The Fault in Ours Stars for the longest time because I knew it was going to reduce me to a sobbing mess and I wasn't ready to face that. I already knew how this book ended before I even owned a copy. It's pretty hard to avoid especially when someone types is in capitol letters, but knowing how the story ended didn't take anything away from this book for me. It was beautifully written, I fell in love with the characters and as I predicted, it reduced me to a sobbing mess. In fact, I'm still crying as I'm writing this review.

I'm trying to arrange my thoughts on this book but all I really want to do is curl up in a ball and sob until I fall asleep. But I need to write my review just now otherwise I'll forget everything I wanted to say.

This is one of the very few books I've read about characters with cancer because it's not a subject I can deal with reading about. Maybe it's because it's inevitable that one or more of the characters would die and I just can't deal with getting so attached to a character to have them cruelly ripped away from me. Now, luckily I've never had anyone in my close family being diagnosed with cancer but there was a boy that I used to be friends with years ago that was diagnosed and sadly passed away last year. Even though I hadn't spoken to this boy in years, it still hit me hard and I still tear up sometimes when I think about him. Death is a very hard subject for me to read about - especially when I knew what was going to happen at the end of this book - but I'm glad I finally read it because it made me laugh, smile, cry, and it made me realise that every moment in life is precious.

Hazel was such a strong character. She's been diagnosed with terminal cancer, but is on medication to prolong her life. She's never really made any friends because she thinks she'll be a burden on people when she dies, but when Augustus enters her life, everything changes. I loved Hazel. She was so strong and determined and I loved seeing her starting to live again when she met Augustus. Hazel doesn't let the cancer rule her life, she accepts that she has it and she just gets on with it. She knows that it's something she'll have to deal with for the rest of her life and I loved that she was so mature about it at such a young age. Hazel was such a funny and sarcastic character that she constantly had me laughing throughout the book and I just loved her character.

Augustus Waters made this book for me. Augustus is one of the most spectacular characters I've ever read about. I adored him. The second he made an appearance in this book I knew I loved him. Augustus is a cancer patient in remission. He's been clear for a while, but his cancer cost him one of his legs. Not that Augustus lets that stop him. He's such a charming and witty character that he stole my heart straight away. He was so intelligent and sarcastic and I just adored everything about this boy. I did find his cigarette habit strange though. I get where he was coming from, but that doesn't mean I found it any less strange.

Isaac was a fantastic characters too. Isaac lost one of his eyes to cancer when he was younger and has just found out that he's going to lose his other one and become permanently blind. I absolutely adored Isaac's character. Isaac was strong character, but of course losing his sight was going to cause him considerable trauma. It was heartbreaking to see him going through it, but Isaac pulled through and he became even more amazing.

Hazel and Augustus' relationship progress quite quickly. But both of these characters have/had cancer so they know that every moment they live is precious and that it shouldn't be wasted. I adored the build up of their relationship. I loved their first meeting, the texts, the witty and sarcastic conversations, the fact they could joke around with each other and, of course, I loved it when they got together. Hazel and Augustus are one of the most amazing couples I've ever read about and I'll always hold them close to my heart now.

Since this is a book about characters with cancer, you might assume that this book would be quite depressing. Well, in actual fact, it was the complete opposite. This book was full of hilariously funny conversations and moments that just made me smile. Although, the last couple of chapters were heartbreaking and I just couldn't stop the tears from falling. I love everything about this book, even the fact that it reduced me to a sobbing mess.

Overall, The Fault in Our Stars is one of the most beautiful books I've ever read and it's definitely one of my favourites now. I can't believe I waited so long to read it, but I'm glad I finally did.

A Night to Forget by Jessica Wood

A Night to Forget by Jessica Wood
Series: Emma's Story #1
Publisher: ERH Press
Publication Date: June 20th 2013
Source: Netgalley

What happens in Cancun doesn’t always stay in Cancun.

When Emma Anderson and her friends decided to spend their senior year Spring Break in Cancun, she expected some crazy memories to end their final college days. What Emma didn’t expect was to meet Brandon Fisher. Tall and sexy, with dimples that would make any girl swoon, Brandon Fisher was literally the man of Emma’s dreams. She couldn't quite believe that this stranger, who seduced her every night in her dreams, actually existed.

After serendipitously bumping into each other, Emma could not resist Brandon’s pull and spent an unforgettable night with him. Passing it off as a spring break fling, Emma never expected to see Brandon again. But when she started her first day at her new job a few months later, there he was. The only problem was, Brandon didn’t even remember her.

A Night to Forget was one of those books that I just decided to read on a whim because it sounded like a book that I would enjoy, plus it was really short. But the only good thing I can actually say about this book is that it was amusing. The book was just over 100 pages long so I never really felt connected to any of the characters (mainly because a few were assholes). Also, there was a lot of jumping in this book. Sometime we'd skip a couple of days, and then a few weeks or maybe even half a year! All the jumping made me realise that if this book had been longer and I'd had more time to connect with the characters, I might have enjoyed it. Or maybe I would have DNF'd it. Who knows?

I spent the majority of this book laughing my ass off. I think this was actually meant to be taken seriously, but the fact she'd been dreaming about having sex with a guy who wasn't her boyfriend, and then to have him turn up in Cancun was hilarious. And it just got funnier from there. After the first night they meet Emma thinks she's falling in love with him... cue eye-roll. I honestly just couldn't take their relationship seriously because the way they spoke to each other was just ridiculously funny.

The synopsis is slightly misleading about the way that Emma thinks about their night together. She doesn't just brush it off, she spends 6 freaking months pining over this guy that she met for one night! She cried herself to sleep for a month! It was unbelievable. I just couldn't take Emma seriously. She seemed so damn naive. She spent a year leading her boyfriend on when she wasn't going to sleep with him, but then jumps into bed with mystery sex dream guy hours after she'd met him. So yeah, I wasn't a massive fan of Emma.

I also wasn't a fan of either of the guys in Emma's life. Mike seemed like a really nice guy to start with. He was patient, loving and sweet. But then he very suddenly turned into a colossal asshole. To be fair, Emma was leading him on but that did not give him the right to act the way he did or to do what he did later on in the book. I wanted to punch him in the face.
Brandon was no angel either. He seemed like such a nice guy, but I did kind of have an inkling about his 'personal problems' that all came to light at the end of the book. And after what had happened just before it was revealed, I wanted to punch him in the face too.
So yeah, neither of these guys did anything for me except make me angry.

The storyline was just ridiculous and I was laughing my ass off at the writing and some of the lines throughout the book were hilarious. Especially the one where Emma tells Brandon to take his panties off... I literally sat there for like 5 minutes laughing. The only redeeming thing about this book was that it was amusing, and that was it. I hated the characters, the story line and everything else about this book.

Overall, while the characters and the story line did absolutely nothing for me, the writing did make me laugh. This is one book I would never ever read again, and I definitely won't be continuing with this series.

COVER REVEAL: A Little Too Much by Lisa Desrochers

A Little Too Much by Lisa Desrochers

Series: A Little Too Far #2

Publisher: William Morrow Impulse

Publication Date: November 12th 2013

Twenty-two year old Hilary McIntyre would like nothing more than to forget her past. As a teenager abandoned to the system, she faced some pretty dark times. But now that’s all behind her. Hilary has her life on track, and there’s no way she’ll head back down that road again.

Until Alessandro Moretti—the one person who can make her remember—shows up on her doorstep. He’s even more devastatingly gorgeous than before, and he’s much too close for comfort. Worse, he sees right through the walls she’s built over these last eight years, right into her heart and the secrets she’s guarding.

As Hilary finds herself falling back into love with the man who, as a boy both saved and destroyed her, she must decide. Past or future? Truth or lies?

I really love the cover of this one! It's so much better than the first one! PLUS, I'm really excited to read this one because there's going to be A LOT more Alessandro! YAY!

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: June 4th 2013
Source: Bought

Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun. He and Emaline have been together all through high school in Colby, the beach town where they both grew up. But now, in the summer before college, Emaline wonders if perfect is good enough.

Enter Theo, a super-ambitious outsider, a New Yorker assisting on a documentary film about a reclusive local artist. Theo's sophisticated, exciting, and, best of all, he thinks Emaline is much too smart for Colby.

Emaline's mostly-absentee father, too, thinks Emaline should have a bigger life, and he's convinced that an Ivy League education is the only route to realizing her potential. Emaline is attracted to the bright future that Theo and her father promise. But she also clings to the deep roots of her loving mother, stepfather, and sisters. Can she ignore the pull of the happily familiar world of Colby?

Emaline wants the moon and more, but how can she balance where she comes from with where she's going?

I decided to pick up The Moon and More much earlier than I'd planned because I'm still on a contemporary kick. The past couple of Sarah Dessen novels I've read haven't been amazing, and this one was exactly the same. Although I enjoyed it, I was forcing myself to read parts of it and I wasn't really a fan of the characters. 

Emaline and Luke have been together since they started high school but Emaline is starting to wonder about their relationship. Enter Theo, a New York boy assisting his boss on a documentary about a local artist. Emaline and Theo hit it off which then causes trouble for her and Luke. On top of that, Emaline is also dealing with an absentee father who is constantly letting her down. Emaline loves the idea of getting out of Colby, but she also loves being with her family, so it's up to Emaline to decide what her heart wants.

First off, Emaline was one of the very few characters I liked in this book. She was nice, genuine and incredibly smart. She worked her ass off the get into an Ivy League College, only to have her father let her down. She's also incredibly strong when it comes to dealing with her father. She manages to not let him show how hurt she is that he let her down. Emaline has a big family after her mother married her step-father when she was 2. She helps run the family business and I just loved how close her whole family were.

I didn't really like either of the love interests in this book. Luke seemed like a nice guy, but then he never listened to Emaline or let her explain and then went off and did something stupid. And then there's Theo. I started off loving Theo. He was so focused and driven and he cared about Emaline. But the further into the book I got, the more he started to piss me off. His personality just started to get on my nerves and I wanted to hit him.

Emaline's friends were brilliant though. Daisy and Morris were always looking out for her. I especially loved Morris. He was just really funny and a great friend. But I just felt like we didn't get to see enough of them or of their friendship with Emaline which was weird since Emaline always said they were close friends.

There was a lot of family drama in this book. Emaline was going away to college so her family wanted to spend time with her, but she was spending time with her boyfriend. Emaline was also dealing with her absentee father who showed up with his son for a couple of weeks. She was having to deal with him being overbearing and controlling while keeping her brother occupied and letting him have fun for once. 

I did really enjoy this book, but I have to say that it wasn't spectacular. I actually had to push myself through parts of this story because I found it pretty boring. There wasn't really anything major going on that kept my attention the whole way through the book. I mostly kept reading because I wanted to see how the family situation was going to work out and that was about it.

I was really disappointed with the ending. After all the build up and the focus on Emaline and Theo's relationship, the way everything ended was extremely disappointing for me. It felt like the whole thing was a waste of time and the only good thing that came of it was that Emaline got a summer job. But everything else seemed so pointless. I actually re-read the last chapter thinking I'd missed something, but I hadn't and I just didn't like the ending.

Overall, this was a great summer read but I don't think I'd ever re-read this one again. The story line was interesting but I just wasn't invested in the romantic relationships at all and that was a major part of the book.