ARC Review of Keeping Her Secret by Sarah Nicolas

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Keeping Her Secret by Sarah Nicolas

Publication Date: August 22, 2016.

Publisher: Entangled Crush.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, LGBT, and Romance.

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Selling points: Extraordinary f/f romance, magical writing, and diverse characters.

Purchase here: Amazon | The Book Depository

Synopsis: Two girls. One Kiss.

The last person Riya Johnson expected to run into at her new summer camp is Courtney Chastain—her childhood best friend and the girl who broke her heart after a secret, mind-blowing, life-altering kiss. She definitely didn’t expect to be sharing a bunk bed with her for four long weeks.

Courtney has what every girl wants—she’s beautiful, rich, and the object of every boy’s desire at Camp Pine Ridge. Too bad none of them make her feel an iota of what Riya’s kiss did all those years ago. But Courtney needs to uphold appearances at all costs—even if it means instigating an all-out prank war with Riya as her main target.

Neither girl can stop thinking about the other…but that doesn’t mean they can give up past hurts and take a chance on a future together.

Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains drinking, sexual situations, and a fairy-tale romance sure to make your heart melt.

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Thank you Entangled Crush for my review copy of Keeping Her Secret. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review; this does not affect my opinion. Any quotes mentioned below are taken from the ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

Keeping Her Secret is a book that stays with you like a beautiful sunset is engraved in your mind for days or even weeks after you’ve seen it. This book is refreshing, beautiful and fills your heart with love and joy. Keeping Her Secret has now become one of my favorite books of all time, I already want to reread it and experience these emotions all over again. You can review a book where you analyze it point after point, however, the one thing that has always had the greatest impact on me is how a book makes me feel. Keeping Her Secret makes me feel a lot, in the best way possible.

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Freebie Friday #6

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Good morning, good day or good afternoon (depending on where you are) my fellow book lovers! Isn’t it just amazing that we are all over the world, connecting and talking to each other with one thing in common, books. I’m grateful to have found so many kindred spirits through my favorite books, and in many ways that’s the best part of being a reader.

We have another Friday on our hands *dances around with my books* and I of course have more free books to recommend to you guys. This lovely Friday is just getting better and better. This week the free books I’m recommending are Crush by S.R. Silcox and Melt With You by Addison Moore. These two are both young adult books and when I found them I was just delighted. The first book is a contemporary coming of age where we have girls liking girls. The second book is a young adult romance that takes place in the 80s which is just the coolest. Read more below.

Remember guys, the books I recommend are free the moment I publish my post but I can never guarantee they’re free for long so once you see it, grab it! That’s what I do.

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Crush by S.R. Silcox

Goodreads. Amazon.

Summertime in Chesterfield means two very different things for teenagers Tess Copeland and Maddie Lambert.

For Tess, spending time with family and anticipating the annual Crush Festival goes hand-in-hand with the country air and the sweet smell of a cane fire. For Maddie, Chesterfield offers an escape from the demands of a reality that she’s just unable to run from.

This summer, however, there is one lit fire that’s even harder to contain than the massive bonfires that characterise the town’s summer spectacle, as young love and awakened passions smoulder in the shadows.

Amidst the turmoil of growing up and the pressures of youth and fame, can these two young women navigate the precipices of adulthood unscathed? Will Maddie and Tess be able to overcome the secrets of a small town and save the beloved festival before it’s too late?

Find out in this touchingly sweet coming-of-age tale from SR Silcox–grab your copy today!

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Melt With You by Addison Moore

Goodreads. Amazon.

Junior year is really shaping up to be something. After three years of trying, I finally made the cheer squad. And on the last day of summer practice the demigod of Glen Heights High, Joel Effing Miller, finally notices me—right after he runs me over and lands my leg in a cast. Yeah, junior year is really shaping up to be something.

I swear I didn’t see her. But I’m making it up to her every way I can. I’m driving her to school, helping her to all of her classes. I’ve never met anyone so down to earth—a girl who actually likes the things I like. Melissa Malinowski is a breath of fresh air. I can’t stop thinking about her. I swear I didn’t see her, but I should have. Melissa is too beautiful to miss.

My name is Kelly Masterson, and nobody messes with me. I’m Joel Miller’s girlfriend. So Joel ran Mouse-akowski over with his truck. So what? He should’ve finished her off. And now he wants to break up? As if. Nobody breaks up with me. Joel is mine, and he’s going to stay that way. And after having a nice little chat with his mother, it’s become clear why he’s bending over backward to please that human speed bump. I’ll make sure Mouse-akowski understands this, too. That will be the end of Joel and his nerdy little plaything. My name is Kelly Masterson, and nobody messes with me.

Want to swim with Mermaids? Here are some Book Recommendations

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Hey readers! I have a new book recommendations post and this one is all about mermaids and the ocean. I don’t know why but there’s just something I love so damn much about mermaids, I mean magical swimming girls that rule the ocean (let’s ignore mermen okay, who even needs them anyway right?) are just so damn badass and lovely. Would I give my legs up in order to become a beautiful mermaid? Yes yes yes. I just have to make my kindle waterproof, I’ll let scientists take care of that, so I can still read books because life is just not complete without them.

However, being a mermaid is still not possible (magical mermaids please appear and transform me now, I really want to swim with dolphins) so in the meanwhile, I’ll just have to read books about them instead.

Truth is, I don’t think I have ever read a book where mermaids are the main theme of the book. That feels so weird considering I actually love them. That’s why I went out on a scavenger hunt to find some young adult books about mermaids. Down below is the list of the seven books about and/or with mermaids that I found. The titles are linked to Goodreads.

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Waiting on Wednesday #1 As I Descended by Robin Talley

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Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. This week I’m eagerly anticipating As I Descended by Robin Talley. This book has been said to be based on MacBeth, a bit dark and creepy, and totally about girls.

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As I Descended by Robin Talley

Expected publication: September 6, 2016

Genres: Young Adult, LGBT, Retellings

Add to your To Be Read shelf on Goodreads.

Pre-order on Amazon or Book Depository.

Synopsis: Maria Lyon and Lily Boiten are their school’s ultimate power couple—even if no one knows it but them.

Only one thing stands between them and their perfect future: campus superstar Delilah Dufrey.

Golden child Delilah is a legend at the exclusive Acheron Academy, and the presumptive winner of the distinguished Cawdor Kingsley Prize. She runs the school, and if she chose, she could blow up Maria and Lily’s whole world with a pointed look, or a carefully placed word.

But what Delilah doesn’t know is that Lily and Maria are willing to do anything—absolutely anything—to make their dreams come true. And the first step is unseating Delilah for the Kingsley Prize. The full scholarship, awarded to Maria, will lock in her attendance at Stanford―and four more years in a shared dorm room with Lily.

Maria and Lily will stop at nothing to ensure their victory—including harnessing the dark power long rumored to be present on the former plantation that houses their school.

But when feuds turn to fatalities, and madness begins to blur the distinction between what’s real and what is imagined, the girls must decide where they draw the line.

From acclaimed author Robin Talley comes a Shakespeare-inspired story of revenge and redemption, where fair is foul, and foul is fair.

What book are you waiting on this Wednesday? Are you also anticipating As I Descended by Robin Talley?

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Ten Things I Hate About You: Book Edition

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“I hate it when you make me laugh, even worse when you make me cry. I hate it when you’re not around, and the fact that you didn’t call. But mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you. Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.”

Love and hate, both such strong emotions, so strongly intertwined. We love to love, we love to hate, hate to love and hate to hate. It goes for people, material things, and of course books. There are so many books we love, so many books we hate, but then there are those we love to hate and hate to love. They are complicated, messy and we are not sure if what we feel for them is just that, love or hate.

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Books have a way of making you go completely wild with emotions, they take over your mind, and as a result make you feel like you no idea how or what to feel. Do I love this? Or do I hate it? It’s probably a bit of both right? Sometimes this is exactly what I think while reading, it’s a mess. I have a few books that make me feel like this, or well ten to be exact. Here is a list of ten books I have a love/hate relationship with:

  1. Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
  2. Friends vs. Family by C.L. Stone
  3. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
  4. The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines
  5. Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
  6. Coming in from the Cold by Sarina Bowen
  7. Heir of Fire by Sarah J Mass
  8. The Death Cure by James Dashner
  9. Delirium by Lauren Oliver
  10. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

These books are all different in how they make me feel. Some of these books are just books that just made me the dislike the series in general even though I really loved it before, whereas the others are books that just have a certain event that made me go “omg why did you do this, what is this, go back” but that I still love despite that. It’s all just a mess of strong and weird feelings that you make go bratwurst (what??).

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To end things I just want to say, we are all going to have different books that we love and that we hate. Certain books we love might still have aspects that we’re not able to stand. After all, we’re all different people with different taste.

This post is supposed to be a fun discussion post about the complexity of feelings we can have for books. However, if a book is problematic and hurtful then it’s our duty to say so and warn our peers. No one should ever have to read a book with bad representation.

Other than that, I do think love/hate relationships with books are good. They fuel discussion and make us have to think a bit more about our emotions. Also hating something in a book doesn’t mean you actually hate the book itself, which is something we should all remember.

Do you have a love/hate relationship with a book? If yes, which one?

Freebie Friday #5

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Ladies and gentlemen, and everyone else too, in case you hadn’t noticed (which seems impossible) we have another Friday on our hands *drumroll* and I have more free books to recommend. This is my fifth Freebie Friday, and if you’ve missed one of my previous ones you can check them out here. If you’re lucky some of the books are still free!

This week for Freebie Friday I have two young adult books for a change and I’m really excited about that. They’re quite different but lovely, we have Holding On by Rachael Brownell which seems cute, a tad bit sporty and has two guys the girl is torn between. The other book is Introductions by C.L. Stone which is about a girl from a troubled home who finds comfort in a group of boys that has secrets she can never know. Holding On I haven’t read yet, but am dying to, whereas Introductions is actually one of my most fascinating reads from last year. Read their synopses below.

Remember guys, the books I recommend are free the moment I publish my post but I can never guarantee they’re free for long so once you see it, grab it! That’s what I do.

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Holding On by Rachael Brownell

Goodreads. Amazon.

For five years Becca has been struggling to hide her feelings for her best friend, Brad. Now she finally has a chance to move on. She’s in a new city, she’s attending a new school, and she’s met the first guy besides Brad who’s held her attention in a long time. Not only is Ethan attractive, he’s an amazing tennis player, and he might just be Becca’s match on and off the courts.

Brad has loved Becca for as long as he can remember. Now that Becca’s family has moved two thousand miles away, Brad may finally be ready to lay his heart on the line and do whatever it takes to hold on to Becca.

But is Brad too late? Or will Ethan’s secret drive Becca back into Brad’s arms? Torn between her love for Brad and the promise of something new and exciting with Ethan, Becca has an almost impossible choice to make, the choice between letting go or holding on.

introductions1Introductions by C. L. Stone

Goodreads. Amazon.

With an agoraphobic mother and a barely-there father, Sang abhors the isolation keeping her in the shadows. The only thing Sang craves is a fresh start and to be accepted as ordinary by her peers, because for her being different meant being cast out alone.

When her family moves to a new school district, Sang infiltrates a group of boys nearly perfect in every way. Grateful for an influence outside of her parents’ negativity, she quickly bonds with the boys, hoping to blend in and learn from them what it means to have a natural relationship with friends.

Only the boys have secrets of their own and they’ll do anything to keep her safe from the knowledge of the mysterious Academy that they’ve sworn allegiance to. Bit by bit, Sang discovers that her friends are far from the normalcy she expected. Will her loyalty change when she’s forced to remain in the dark, or will she accept that she’s traded one house of secrets for another?

Meet Kota, Victor, Silas, Nathan, Gabriel, Luke and North in a story about differences and loyalty, truth and mystery, friendships and heart-throbbing intimacy.

The Academy, ever vigilant.

Book Review of The Smell of Other People’s Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

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The Smell of Other People’s Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

Publication Date: February 23, 2016.

Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books.

Genres: Young Adult and Historical Fiction.

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Selling points: Captivating story as well as raw and relatable characters.

Purchase here: Amazon | The Book Depository

Synopsis: In Alaska, 1970, being a teenager here isn’t like being a teenager anywhere else. Ruth has a secret that she can’t hide forever. Dora wonders if she can ever truly escape where she comes from, even when good luck strikes. Alyce is trying to reconcile her desire to dance, with the life she’s always known on her family’s fishing boat. Hank and his brothers decide it’s safer to run away than to stay home—until one of them ends up in terrible danger.

Four very different lives are about to become entangled.

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Thank you Wendy Lamb Books for my advanced review copy of The Smell of Other People’s Houses. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review; this does not affect my opinion. Any quotes mentioned below are taken from the ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

The Smell of Other People’s Houses is a rarity you don’t see often. There’s something about this book that’s so incredibly captivating. The way it’s written and the voice Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock has in this book is so incredibly magical. She draws you in and makes you take the same journey as the characters you read about. Something we don’t often think about is how everyone and everything around us has a distinct smell. Your mom, when you hug her, the smell of her hair is the smell of security. The smell of your house, your school, your lover’s house. Even if you don’t think about, they all smell different and they all represent something different to you. These four main characters that we follow through the book convey this and shows us how something as trivial as the smell can mean so much and how it can play such an important part in one’s life. A perfect example of that is a quote from the first chapter:

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What is the “Writing Cave”?

Olivia Chanel3 Comments

I bet some of you are wondering, what is the Writing Cave part of my blog? I thought I’d tell you guys and thereby introduce that part of my blog to you. For those of you who don’t know, I write. I have been writing for a while now, around 4 years and I’m currently working on two stories I love a lot. However, due to school and other circumstance I just don’t write as much as I would like to. Not nearly enough honestly, but I thought that by having this part of my blog I can write about my struggles, all of the ups and downs of my writing experience. I’ll update about my process, how I build characters and worlds. What works for me in terms of plotting etc. I probably won’t update often but I believe that it might motivate me to actually sit down and spend more time with these stories that I love with all of my heart.

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Another exciting part, that is more on a personal note, is that this fall I’m starting a creative writing course at my local university. This is something I have wanted to do for such a long time but when I ended high school I went with on another path and started studying business administration instead. After having done that for two years, and the second year not going as I wanted, I realized that it was time for me to stop doing what I can’t stand and start doing something I love and have loved for such a long time.

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Writing is my dream, my passion, and it’s something I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to read books, I want to write them and I want to always and forever enjoy the magical stories that come my way. Words are magical, you can read and you can write them. I’ll be doing both in my little writing cave.

Top Ten Tuesday #2 REWIND Top Ten Books I HAD to Buy but Still Have Not Read

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. If you want to read more about their blog feature and join the fun, you can do it here.

This week the theme of Top Ten Tuesday is REWIND meaning we should back and do a topic we missed over the years, or recently, or a topic we really want to revisit. Considering this is only my second week of doing Top Ten Tuesday this fit me like a T. I looked at all their previous topics and found one that fit me just perfectly, Top Ten Books I HAD to Buy but Still Have Not Read. For those who don’t know me, I’m a serial e-book buyer. I’m on Amazon all the time and am always searching for good books for a good price (this also inspired me to start my blog feature Freebie Friday). This has left me with a lot of books in my kindle library and also a few in my physical library that I’ve still not read. So here are ten books I had to buy but still haven’t read,

1. I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter.

2. Flat Out Love by Jessica Park.

3. The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma.

4. Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate.

5. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.

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6. The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa.

7. How To Be Bad by E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski and Lauren Myracle.

8. The Night We Said Yes by Lauren Gibaldi.

9. The Unearthly by Laura Thalassa.

10. Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas.

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Which books did you just have to buy but still haven’t read? I’m really excited to know so comment with your answer. What theme did you choose this week for Top Ten Tuesday?

Lusting For Cover

Olivia Chanel3 Comments

I don’t know about you guys, but I have a serious case of cover lust. I go weak at the knees when I see a beautiful book cover and am guilty of buying a book solely because of its book cover. Sometimes it pays off, other times it really doesn’t. Have you guys ever bought a book just because of book cover lust? Which book was it?

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A book cover often give me the first impression of a book, so be it good or bad. I know they say don’t judge a book by its cover, which is true, but the cover undoubtedly does give you a first vibe of the whole book. If a book cover is poorly made the book usually needs to have a convincing synopsis and/or a good price in order to convince me to get it. The truth is that cover lust also applies for me when I’m only buying an ebook, the prettier a book is, the more likely I am to want to buy it. Is that sometimes bad? Yes it is. I might miss amazing books because of this mindset, but the one thing I have going for me is that I’m aware of the fact that I do it. Even though the book cover is a big part of my first impression of a book, it does take a seat in the back later on.

Way back I only went on book cover and synopsis when I was about to buy a new book but these days I tend to often go on friends and other amazing blogger’s advice. Especially when I buy a physical copy of a book. I want to know that my money goes to books that are worth it and that I know I’ll like. That doesn’t mean I don’t love it when a book has the most beautiful cover I’ve ever seen.

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In the end having cover lust is not a bad thing, I think we all want pretty shiny things. However, what we need to remember is that a book is not its cover. A book is its synopsis and the story it’s trying to tell. If a book has a beautiful cover it’s only an added bonus. An author who has a book cover not as appealing as the next author shouldn’t be punished for that, because the truth is, most authors can’t choose their covers and/or doesn’t have a lot of options to go with. All authors, no matter their book cover, deserve all the love in the world if the story they have written is a good one.

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A beautiful book cover can both enhance the beauty of a story and make a story that’s otherwise pretty dull appear more enchanting to the naked eye. I think we like to believe that books with beautiful covers are good, but I think in our hearts we know the stories worth putting our time and energy on, no matter what they look like.

Have you ever bought a book because of cover lust? Did it pay off or was it a complete bust? Let me know in the comments below!