BookAHolics Anonymous (My Name is ____, and I'm a BookAHolic): read in 2015

Showing posts with label read in 2015. Show all posts

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Book Review: Never, Always, Sometimes by Adi Alsaid

Author: Adi Alsaid
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 320

Series/Standalone: Stand alone

Synopsis:

Never date your best friend

Always be original

Sometimes rules are meant to be broken

Best friends Dave and Julia were determined to never be cliché high school kids—the ones who sit at the same lunch table every day, dissecting the drama from homeroom and plotting their campaigns for prom king and queen. They even wrote their own Never List of everything they vowed they'd never, ever do in high school.

Some of the rules have been easy to follow, like #5, never die your hair a color of the rainbow, or #7, never hook up with a teacher. But Dave has a secret: he's broken rule #8, never pine silently after someone for the entirety of high school. It's either that or break rule #10, never date your best friend. Dave has loved Julia for as long as he can remember.

Julia is beautiful, wild and impetuous. So when she suggests they do every Never on the list, Dave is happy to play along. He even dyes his hair an unfortunate shade of green. It starts as a joke, but then a funny thing happens: Dave and Julia discover that by skipping the clichés, they've actually been missing out on high school. And maybe even on love.

IN A NUTSHELL

Sometimes you have to let go of things to become the person you were meant to be.

Is that cliche enough for you? I kinda thought so. I feel it pretty much sums up the story. Don't take away what I'm saying as the story wasn't any good because I enjoyed it. I think that with the plot to the story being as it is--- Dave and Julia finding their never list (or cliches of high school) and wanting to mark each one off in their senior year it hit point blank. Although, I'm ten years past high school. -sigh- I can remember it having much of the same cliches. What I'm saying is this is how the story is suppose to be.

SETTING

It takes place throughout Dave and Julia's Senior year

CHARACTERS

I loved the characters. Each and every one of them had their own identifiable personalities. There were times when I really felt like shaking David and telling him to just snap the hell out of it, but that wouldn't be him.

ENDING

I'm on the fence on how I feel about the ending. I wanted these characters to end up with who I wanted, but in the end it's about what could make the characters happy. :(

My Book Review Video

Here's a few extras from the ARC that was on "tour"

You will notice if you hover over these two pictures I wrote a little something. :)

Friday, May 29, 2015

Book Review: Charmed by Michelle Krys

AUTHOR: Michelle Krys
PUBLISHER: Delacorte Press

SERIES/STANDALONE: Series
PAGES: 368

SOURCE: Edelweiss

Outline:

Indie has spent the last few weeks frantically searching for Paige. She's tried every spell imaginable, but witchcraft has gotten her nowhere, and she's going crazy with guilt. Despite what her warlock boyfriend, Bishop, tells her, Indie knows it's her fault her best friend was kidnapped by the Priory. And with the Priory destroyed, finding Paige feels more hopeless than ever-especially when Indie discovers that Paige isn't even on Earth. She's trapped in Los Demonios, an alternate dimension of Los Angeles filled with evil paranormals. No one who has gone there has ever come out.

Fueled by terror and loyalty, Indie is desperate to find a way into the underworld prison. She'll worry about getting out later. But facing the dark world's most dangerous witches and warlocks on her own means keeping her plan hush-hush-and forging alliances with some sketchy people, including a seriously sexy sorcerer.

Sometimes a witch must keep secrets from the people she cares about most. And sometimes she isn't the only one with secrets…

MY THOUGHTS

The stakes are definitely upped in Charmed the second book in Michelle Krys' Hexed Series.

Ever since Indie found out she was a witch, and her life went through the ringer it seems to be non-stop. She doesn't know where her BF Paige is at, but she will STOP at nothing to find her. Even if it means going against the people who care for her (and are just trying to keep her safe.)

Basically the story revolves around Indie trying to find Paige and when she learns that she's trapped in a witch/wizard prison she finds a way to get there, and along the way meets some helpful (and hot) guides. Not only that, but she learns truths about others and herself that could either break or make her.

Indie is definitely becoming a favorite of mine for so many reasons. I mean sure she started off kind of bratty and snobby, but she's grown so much. She's caring and loyal to a fault, determined, strong willed and like I said will stop at nothing to find her friend. :) I enjoyed seeing her powers become something more than just flying, and what not.

Then you still have Bishop hanging around. We really didn't see a whole lot of him like I wanted. :( We did get to meet another yummy character named Cruz (see a paragraph above).

There are definitely some unfortunate events that happened that made me wanna cry.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Book Review: Hexed by Michelle Krys

AUTHOR: Michelle Krys
PUBLISHER: Delacorte Press

SERIES/STANDALONE: Series
PAGES: 384

SOURCE: Edelweiss

Outline:

If high school is all about social status, Indigo Blackwood has it made. Sure, her quirky mom owns an occult shop, and a nerd just won’t stop trying to be her friend, but Indie is a popular cheerleader with a football-star boyfriend and a social circle powerful enough to ruin everyone at school. Who wouldn’t want to be her?

Then a guy dies right before her eyes. And the dusty old family Bible her mom is freakishly possessive of is stolen. But it’s when a frustratingly sexy stranger named Bishop enters Indie’s world that she learns her destiny involves a lot more than pom-poms and parties. If she doesn’t get the Bible back, every witch on the planet will die. And that’s seriously bad news for Indie, because according to Bishop, she’s a witch too.

Suddenly forced into a centuries-old war between witches and sorcerers, Indie’s about to uncover the many dark truths about her life—and a future unlike any she ever imagined on top of the cheer pyramid.

My thoughts

Witches will forever and always be my most favorite of the supernatural. (I know that my favorite series happens to be about vampires, but overall it's witches that I love.) I think it's because they are the most relate-able to humans. I mean face it they're humans with magic. An old friend and I even had a never-ending story going about witches and fairies. Can you guess which I was?

With that being said, I wasn't sure if I would enjoy Hexed or not. Hexed is just one among millions of witch books out there, and you have to have something pretty amazing to catch my attention.

The beginning was a bit slow, but as the story progressed it picked up the pace. Things started to happen, and Indie began to learn who she was. (Being popular is not always what it looks to be) There were things that happened to her throughout the book that kept putting her in tough situations, but I believe she came out on top as best she could. -insert boy here-

What is it with these boys named Bishop that have this alluring factor to them. (See-The Book of Ivy) I'll admit at times I thought Bishop was an ass, but in time he became an ass that I liked. (personality wise people)

Paige is the kind of friend you always hope you'll have growing up, and then well on in to adult hood. Sure Indie treated her like a lepper for so many years, and then when Indie's life begin to crumble who was it she went to for help? Paige. She stood by Indie. I loved watching the friendship grow.

There were more characters throughout the story Jezebel (a hot with friend of Bishops), The Priory (Sorcerers set on killing witches), The Family (The Witches Coven basically), Aunt Penny (Indies wild Aunt), Leo (Bad guy), and more. I believe will see them a bit more in Charmed. Well at least some of them.

So with the pace and characters out of the way...

There was one main part in the book that had me grasping my seat and gasping for air. I literally had an intake of air when Indi's mom died. My hubby looked over at me, and was like are you okay. Probably wasn't a good idea while he was driving. (My poor husband and what he deals with when I'm reading. I love him so much.)

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Book Review: Love, Lucy by April Linder

AUTHOR: April Linder
PUBLISHER: Poppy
PAGES: 304
STAND ALONE/SERIES: Stand alone
SOURCE: E-Arc from Netgalley
OUTLINE:
While backpacking through Florence, Italy, during the summer before she heads off to college, Lucy Sommersworth finds herself falling in love with the culture, the architecture, the food...and Jesse Palladino, a handsome street musician. After a whirlwind romance, Lucy returns home, determined to move on from her "vacation flirtation." But just because summer is over doesn't mean Lucy and Jesse have to be, does it?
In this stunning novel, April Lindner perfectly captures the highs and lows of a summer love that might just be meant to last beyond the season.

MY THOUGHTS

I'll admit I haven't read any of April Linder's other re-tellings like Jane or Catherine, but if they're similar to this then I don't know what I've been waiting for. I'm not a huge fan of romance-y type books, but sometimes I need a little fluff. Love, Lucy is definitely that fluff read. It gives you that hope that sometimes summer romance turns into something more, or that Paris fling turns into a thing. :)

Love, Lucy was told in two parts.

Part one: Italy

Part two: Philadelphia

and then an epilogue of sorts called Florence

Part one: Italy

As slow as the beginning was I still really enjoyed the story. In Italy, Lucy roams about with her friend, but what she doesn't expect is to fall for a guy who they kick out his hotel room. How does that even work? Steal the guys room and steal a kiss. I guess. Over the course of being in Italy Lucy ends up spending more time with Jess, and less with the friend she came with. Musicians always seem to fall in love so easy which I guess I can understand. Play me a song, and it's on. I think that's a sweet gesture. When Lucy's time in Italy was over I became a little sad. I didn't really care to see her life at a school, or anywhere Jess wouldn't be. A deal is a deal though and she had to return to the states and keep the promise she made to her dad.

"Well, you can't have the spotlight and the applause without the auditions and the stage fright," Sarah said.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Book Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

AUTHOR: E. Lockhart
PUBLISHER: Delcorte

SERIES/STANDALONE: Stand alone
PAGES: 227

SOURCE: Bought

Outline:

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

MY THOUGHTS (OR NOT)

I know this description doesn't give you much about the book so I'll break it down for you. It begins with Cady two years after Summer '15. For Cady Summer '15 was horrendous. Things happened, lives changed yada yada. I know what you're thinking awesome breakdown Ashley. I know I'm sorry, but for me the book just fell flat. I kept reading because 1. I don't like to DNF books. 2. It still had the allure and mystery going til halfway and by then I was invested so I might as well finish. I truly wanted to enjoy this book, the characters, and everything else. I mean I could tell Cady was in this dark place, and I should have some sympathy or compassion but I didn't. She had this accident, and all I cared about was finding out what kind. This is making me sound so horrible. It's like when you're driving by a car wreck or something, and you're wondering how'd this happen (also if the person/people are okay). That was me with this book minus the okay part.

I'm not sure how much I enjoyed the writing either. It seemed to choppy I guess. I don't know I guess the style just didn't work for me.

Characters were a miss for me as well except maybe Gat. I liked him which sucks because well you'd have to read it to find out. :)

The only part I really enjoyed was finding out what actually happened Summer '15, and I want to say half way through the book, or when Cady started remembering it clicked with me what was going on and by the end sadly it wasn't a surprise or shock.

Remember though just because I didn't like doesn't mean you won't. :) I know scrolling through my friends reviews of it on goodreads most of them seemed to love it. So go and read and see if you can figure out they mystery of it. MUAHAHAHAHA.