Release Date: January 31st 2012 Genre:
Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal Romance Series: 13 to Life #4
Summary
The sensational fourth
novel in the 13 to Life series sees Jessica and the Rusakovas fighting
to overcome their biggest challenge yet.
With the threat of the
mafia seemingly gone and the company's headquarters in Junction
destroyed, Pietr Rusakova is adjusting to being a normal teen and Jess
is realizing normalcy may not be what she wanted after all. But both
Jess and Cat know the truth--that normal can't be taken for granted.
Their precious cure isn't permanent--and when a new danger stalks into
their small town, Alexi decides he must overcome his issues with the
mother who abandoned him to be raised by wolves and make a brand new
deal to save his adopted family.
Release Date: August 10th 2012 Genre: Young Adult,
Contemporary Romance
Summary When fifteen-year-old
actress Lucy Carter loses her older sister in a car accident, her mother
shuts down and her father can’t hold the family together. Their only
choice is to ship Lucy off to the Edmond School for Performing Arts. But
boarding school is no cure for Lucy’s grief. With failing grades,
wooden stage performances, and curfew violations, Lucy is threatened
with expulsion. For the once talented Lucy, it feels as though she has
nowhere to turn.
One night, Lucy hears mysterious music drifting
through the school’s old heating system. The music leads her to a
troubled but passionate songwriter whose brilliance gives her the
strength to perform like never before. Yet their intense relationship
puts Lucy in a precarious position: if she follows her muse, will she
lose herself? And if she breaks it off, can she stand on her own again?
Author
Jennifer L. Fry
is a writer, artist, and teacher in Marin County, California, where she lives
with her wonderful husband, two adorable dogs, and orange tabby cat. Though she
has been writing since she was young, A Part to Play is her first novel.
Summary It exists. Someone who would tell you
“anyone but him,” or “he may be cool, but it can’t be him.” “You may
think he’s a good person, but it can’t be him.” “You can’t be alone
together,” “You can’t fall for him,” “You can’t look at him without his
glasses on.” A fool like me can only do what she is told.
My Thoughts on the Manga Besides the weird Summary this book is really good. Though I did have a problem with the fast romance but that usually what happens in a manga where it only has one volume.
Sakura is our male Main character, he's the black hair boy below. He's the one who Nozomi starts liking after she saw him without his glasses. Right away she feels attracted to him and was so embaressed that she ran away from Sakura after giving back his glasses. When she failed her test her mother asked Sakura to help her study and of course Sakura says yes. So it makes Nozomi even more embaressed because what highschool girl will feel calm while studying in front of her crush. Soon she realizes that there is more to Sakura then just his nice attutude. Dispite that she still loves him and tries to make him see her as someone to love. One problem she's in highschool and he's a university student, a five years difference between them.
Nozomi is like any highschool girl who tries to make the person they love for them. She is shy and gets embaressed easily but does her best. She even helps him out by watching his brother while he's out. She even saves Sakura's brother from falling and ends up falling herself but that brings them closer together.
Sakura isn't all who you seem to think he's like. He's mean and insensitive and doesn't care if she starts to cry. When the glasses are off he becomes more sexual, which is amusing to watch Nozomi run off since she doesn't know how to handle him.
Design
This drawing is what you expect to see in recent drawings of shojo manga. Lots of detail in the hair and clothes, sometimes even the background there is effort in scenes too. The expressions are really eye catching and you know right away what the characters are feeling. Believe me when I saw the guy is very good looking without his glasses on.
The Noctails Chronicles Author: Chelsea M. Cameron ASIN: B0093S8WDM Release Date: August 30th 2012
Pages: 243 Format : Kindle Genre: Young Adult, Supernatural, Paranormal Romance Series: The Noctalis Chronicles #3
Summary For Ava-Claire
Sullivan, it's bad enough that loving vampire Peter Mackintire might
kill him the rest of the way. His equally immortal mother keeps trying
to murder her so Di won’t lose another of her precious sons.
A
promise Peter made nearly a hundred years ago means loving someone will
kill him. Ava's done her best to either end her own feelings or stifle
his, but she's losing; he's falling harder for her every night. She
hasn't found a way to free him of his promise yet, and it's almost too
late.
But her own terminally ill mother is dying fast, and now
Ava-Claire is forced to choose between the last days of her mother's
life and freeing Peter as they wait for Di to come up with yet another
plan to destroy their love, and Ava’s life.
My Thoughts on the Book
Three books into the series, and I still love
it. This story was written with a good, steady pace throughout. The
author knew what was needed to make her readers
love every moment of this book. In this book, the point of view changes
between
three characters this time. It continues to switch from Ava’s to
Peter’s, but now includes the POV of a new character, Brook. I must say,
I grew attached to her and her story. I couldn’t
wait to read what happens to her.
A
brief recap on the previous plot and character connections. Di is
Peter's 'mother', as she was the one who turned him into a vampire
(noctail). Anyone else she's bitten, such as Victor, are Peter's
'brothers'. Peter made a promise to Di that he would never love anyone
more then Di herself. If he does, then he will burst into dust, thus
ending his immortal life.
The plot line
focuses on Ava and her connections trying to
find a way to break the promise, which would freely let Peter love her.
Adding to this already tense situation is Victor promising Di that he
would
kill Ava within a year. Ava's mother is getting worse, which adds to her
stress. They call on the help of friends from India to try and stop Di.
With the help, Ava and Peter relax more, and
Peter starts trying to be closer with Ava, but not going to far to risk
dying.
During all of this you meet Brook, a new character that has connections
to Ivan,
the noctail that died in book Two. You find out she is also a noctail,
and
that she is after Ava. This changes when she meets Jamie, a friend of
Ava's. Jamie's kind to her, and despite killing kind people in the past,
Brook finds herself unable to kill him. If anything, she feels a draw
to him and his blood.
Ava's stressed out and starting to get desperate
in this book. Between the issues with Peter and her mom, she's
beginning to wish that she can just escape everything. Even the seeming
mundane stress of going to school is starting to get to be too much for
her. Peter is
her rock, and without him she might crumble to pieces. Even if he can’t
say
those three words she wishes she could hear from him, she still can see
that he
cares a lot for her. She even ended up asking Peter turn her into a
noctail
whenever she wanted, and he agreed with her right away. Somehow, I see
this coming to bite him in the ass later on... (Now THAT would be an
interesting way to become a vampire!) However, being the gentleman he
is, he just wants to make her happy and if that’s one way of doing so he
will.
Peter surprised me in this book, showing much
more emotion then in the past. It comes with noctails not having much
emotions. It shows how much Ava has affected him into have feelings of
any kind. He cares a lot for Ava, and would do anything for her. He just
wants
her to stop hurting, so even if he can’t fully love her he tries his
best to
show her through actions and few words.
Tex is still Ava’s friend and still doesn’t know
how to stop
talking. Sometimes she’s insensitive. Oh, and she's now been claimed by
Victor. She heard all the warnings that Ava gave, but still decided to
ignore
her. Now Victor has her for life, and she has to learn to control the
disadvantages that comes from being claimed by a noctail. Victor is
better at imitating and perfecting his emotions, while Peter had to be
taught how to laugh by Ava. Probably because
Victor is much more closer to his human side then Peter is. This allows
him to be able to flirt like a normal guy with women. He cares a lot for
Tex, and you can see
that by how they react to each other.
Brook wasn’t like any other character before.
She’s
different, and that’s probably why I grew attached to reading her story
more
then the main story. She’s human at first, but isn’t one for long. It
does
surprise me how she ends up in Ava’s home town and who she becomes
friends
with. She knows noctails don’t have emotion, but she feels strongly for
Jamie, a human she met at the side of a road. She soon starts spending
more time with him, eventually telling him the truth about who and what
she is. Meeting Brook
first surprises Jamie, but it doesn’t take long for him to fall for her.
He’s afraid of her and loves her at the same time. Even when
Brook attacks him, he knows it was a mistake and doesn’t blame her. He’s
a good
guy and Brook sees this, leading to her sparing his life.
Summary How long can you lie to yourself before it all comes apart?
In
2152 the avian race is on Earth looking for something stolen from them
decades ago – their genetics. At the center of the search lies the
Rural Republic; a small backwards farming country with high hopes of
military domination and a penchant for illegal bioengineering.
19
year old Junco Coot is the daughter of the Rural Republic’s ranking
commander. She’s the most foul-mouthed, wildly unpredictable and
ruthless sniper the Rural Republic has ever trained. But when her
father’s death sparks a trip into forbidden places, she triggers events
that will change everything she knows to be true.
As an elite
avian military officer, Tier’s mission is to destroy the bioengineering
projects, kill Commander Coot’s daughter, and return home immediately.
There’s just one problem. Junco isn’t who she claims to be.
With
no one to trust, not even herself, Junco must confront the secrets of
her past and accept her place in the future, or risk losing herself
completely.
CONTENT WARNING The I Am Just Junco series is NOT YOUNG ADULT. This series contains foul language and graphic violence.
Junco’s Favorite Dude Guest Character post by Ashur
ASHUR:
I am Just Junco is filled with guys, right? I mean, you got me –
Ashur. I’m like the god of all avians with my smoldering green eyes and
my hot good-looks-
TIER: Ashur, yer delusional. I’m the freaking star of these books. Me. Every one of them revolves around me.
ASHUR:
Around you, maybe. But you know, I’m the hot dude in Fledge. So you
get some page time in Clutch, pffft. She’s barely into you in that
book. But me in Fledge? I’m rocking that book like a star, brother.
You’re off in nether land. Outta sight, outta mind, right?
ISTEN:
Ashur, you piker. Everyone knows I star in both Fledge and Flight.
Tier, you might get Clutch, I’ll give you that. But that’s only because
you made us stay on the freaking ship while you and Junco went
gallivanting around the countryside looking for trouble. I’m the
favorite, so get over yourselves!
TIER: Isten, I let ya be the favorite, remember that little deal? Let you. Be. The favorite.
ISTEN: Still works, though. You said it, I’m the favorite.
ASHUR:
All right, get out of my guest post, will ya? I’m talking about me
here, OK? When Junco goes insane and wants nothing to do with either of
you, who does she still talk to? Me! That’s who! ME!
KUSH: Bahaha…you guys keep telling yourselves that! I’m the only one who-
TIER: Sorry, had to put Kush back in his place there for a second. Where was I?
GIDEON:
You were saying how I’m Junco’s BFF. You birdbrains have no idea how
high I am above your pathetic attempts to insert yourselves into her
heart. She loves me best, always has and always will.
ASHUR: I really hate Gideon.
ISTEN: Yeah, Gideon thinks he’s so special.
TIER: Let’s kick his ass.
ASHUR: Ok, kids…there you have it. Junco loves me best and I—
(More fists flying, more ground grappling, more heads butting, more blood-letting…)
TIER:
Ashur’s indisposed at the moment. If ya want to really know who Junco
loves best, just read Clutch. It’ll tell ya everything ya need to know
about who rules her little psycho heart. (Me!)
Excerpt
"I
think we should stick together, Junco. In fact I was thinking I can help get ya
back to safety. Ya know, help ya get the Goat back up on the road. Even though
yer healed, yer still pretty–" He hesitates.
"I’m
pretty?" I ask.
He
laughs a little and shakes his head, which pisses me off for some reason.
"No, I was going to say pretty weak, ya know. From yesterday’s crash. But
then I wondered if ya would take that as an insult as well."
I
roll my eyes and try to push past him to get the winch hooked up to a tree, but
he leans his hands on either side of the Goat, essentially boxing me in. I
shoot him a nasty look and he drops his hands to let me through.
"Thanks
for all your help," I call back to him, "but I’m going to take it
from here. And I won’t report you, so don’t worry about that. Just get hell out
of the RR before anyone else sees you." I turn to see how he’s taking the
news but he’s not there. When I turn back he’s in front of me again.
He
shakes his head at me.
I
shake mine back and raise my eyebrows.
"You’ll
refuse my help?"
"Look,"
I huff, "you have those people tracking you and neither of us is supposed
to be out here in the first place, so let’s just cut our losses and move on.
Separately."
He
looks down to the tech that is still in his hand. "They can’t see anything
here. Some sort of shield."
"Right.
That’s called a defense system. The deeper you go into the Stag, the thicker
the shields. So why don’t you just fly over to the Mountain Republic where they
probably can track you?"
He
lifts the device to illustrate his point. "In case ya haven’t figured it
out yet, these people aren’t my ride home."
"So
why are they tracking you?"
His
eyes twinkle and I know what’s coming and push past him at a full run. He’s on
me before I can take more than half a dozen strides and pulls on my shirt until
I slip in the mud and go down hard on my back.
"Stop!"
I scream, but instead of stopping he pins my arms down and sits on top of me as
I wriggle and kick to try and get him off. His legs twine around mine, essentially
cutting off any thoughts of getting him off me that way. Then his eyes are
glowing again and his lips are touching my cheek, whispering for me to settle
and be calm.
To
my surprise, I do settle. I can’t help it. I realize too late that the soft
words brushing past the sensitive skin on my cheek are controlling me. I can
feel the sound waves trickling into my ear canal, making their way to the nerve
pathways that control my muscles, and I bring my shoulders up to try and push
his face away. His lips remain next to my ear and I am just about to fully give
in when the tech device, forgotten and left on the ground during our struggle,
sounds off an alarm. He loses his concentration and the words stop for half a
moment, but that’s all I need.
I
take my opportunity and flip myself over so that I’m on my belly. This takes
him by surprise and for a split-second he is off balance. I flip back around
and use my right arm to knock him in the windpipe as my body turns. He goes
reeling off of me and I’m up and running down into the little creek.
A
boot goes flying just past my head, but I don’t stop and wonder at this weird
turn of events. I run as hard as I can, over the opposite bank, out of the
small grove of cottonwoods, and into the tall flowing prairie grass. I’m short,
so the leftover husks slap me in the face as I run, blurring my vision.
The
wings descend and he’s swooping down upon me. I look up to see talons where his
boots were just a few minutes ago and they latch onto my shoulders, puncturing
my skin and making me scream. His grip tightens and clutches onto my shoulders
making me fall. I roll as I land and pop back up, booking it again without
missing a beat.
One
second I’m hauling ass towards the open prairie, the next he’s on the ground in
front of me and we’re on a collision path. I plan my move and let him get to
within a few strides of me and then I flip into the air and land on the other
side of him. He misses a step and I take advantage of it, turn and deliver a
hook kick to his jaw. His head snaps to the side and he stumbles over sideways
a little.
I
run hard for a few seconds and don’t look back. Off in the distance I hear the
roar of a hovercopter and a few seconds later I feel the effects of the prairie
grass wind tunnel it creates from the blades, but still I push my way through
the now wildly swaying wheat until I come upon the alien again.
His
lip is bleeding and his jaw is slightly red from my kick. I stop in my tracks,
bent over and panting hard.
He’s
not even out of breath.
"I’m
not the enemy, Junco," he screams above the roar, "and if you know
what’s good for ya, you’ll run like hell because if those guys from the
Mountain Republic get you, you’ll end up in the same messed-up place as your
father."
He
flies off, disappearing in the tallgrass before I can even string together a
sentence.
But
his words stay with me. Dead like my father is not something I want to be so I
follow his advice. I run until the MR soldiers in the hovercopter blast me with
a plasma bolt and I fall to the ground unconscious.
Author
J.
A. Huss never took a creative writing class in her life. Some would say it
shows. Others might cut her some slack. She did however, get educated and
graduated from Colorado State University with a B.S. in Equine Science. She had
grand dreams of getting a Ph.D. but while she loves science, she hated academia
and settled for a M.S. in Forensic Toxicology from the University of Florida.
She’s always packing heat and
she is owned by two donkeys, five dogs, more chickens and ducks than she can
count, and of course, the real filthy animals, her kids. The I Am Just Junco
series was born after falling in love with the ugliest part of Colorado and the
Rural Republic is based on the area of the state she currently resides in, minus
the mutants, of course.
BETH REVIS, the awesome author of the
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE series is giving away a LIBRARY of SIGNED BOOKS!
(*SIGNED* BOOKS, Y’ALL!)
Now how many authors do you heard about doing something so very
awesome? Certainly not in the ADULT fiction industry. Heaven forbid it
should happen in the BIOGRAPHY industry! Nope, that’s your typical – and totally AWESOME – YOUNG ADULT author right there!!
To get the big entries, you need to share the love of YA. It’s simple! Make a blog post (or FB note, or whatevs) and let the world know: Why do you love YA? It’s
November–the month of giving thanks–so let us know why you’re thankful
for YA. You can write about the genre itself, or about a favorite
author, or about a favorite book. It’s wide open: just let the world know why you like YA! Also: you absolutely don’t have to write about Beth Revis. This isn’t about her–it’s about the love of YA. The only requirement is that you also include the above graphic and a link back to the contest.
Pages:352 Format :Hardcover Genre: Young Adult, Mythology, Paranormal Romance Series:Starling #1
Summary Mason Starling is a
champion fencer on the Gosforth Academy team, but she's never had to
fight for her life. Not until the night a ferocious, otherworldly storm
rips through Manhattan, trapping Mason and her teammates inside the
school. Mason is besieged by nightmarish creatures more terrifying than
the thunder and lightning as the raging tempest also brings a dangerous
stranger into her life: a young man who remembers nothing but his
name--the Fennrys Wolf. His arrival tears Mason's world apart, even as
she feels an undeniable connection to him. Together, they seek to
unravel the secrets of Fenn's identity as strange and supernatural
forces gather around them. When they discover Mason's family--with its
dark allegiance to ancient Norse gods--is at the heart of the mystery,
Fennrys and Mason are suddenly faced with a terrifying future.
My Thoughts on the Book This book wasn’t what I expected it to be. I never thought that
mythology had a role in this book. I thought that it was about
werewolves, as the male lead's name is Fennrys Wolf. I was surprised and
intrigued by the way Norse, Greek, Egyptian, etc gods were brought into
the story. An issue I did have with the book was the cover. The lead
female, Mason, is a fencer. As such, you'd think that she'd have some
strong muscle development through years of training with the sword.
However, the girl on the cover has very skinny arms, and you know for
sure that she isn’t a fencer at all. I also found it confusing was that
several characters featured names starting with the letter R and have 4
letters. For example, “Rory", "Rafe" and "Roth”. I can understand that a
writer may want simple names when multiple characters are involved, but
they seem a little too matchy-matchy for my tastes.
The book had
an overall good plot, centering around our main character Mason.
Everything that happens in the book is connected to her in someway. It
really picks up after Fennrys Wolf drops from the sky. Mason tries to
figure out why he came, and also help him recover his memories. There's
something he's supposed to remember, but he's a blank slate. The plot
takes a turn when you figure out that Mason may be more then what she
seems to be. Her family is also in on it, and she’s the only one who
doesn’t know her own fate. It’s up to Fennrys wolf and her to figure it
out.
Mason is a fencer at her school, Gosforth Academy, which is
set in New York City. She is one of the top in her class in fencing, and
she is trying to be the best she can to be on the national team. She
gets pulled into a world that she never thought existed, and it
surprised me how well she took it. Although, I believe she had help from
Fennrys Wolf. She only just met him, but he was the only person she
could talk to when monsters started to appear. She’s a great character,
but she made me mad every time she looked at her friend Calum face and
all she could do was stare at is the scars on his face (which were
caused by the monsters). When she’s not staring at the scars, she
wouldn’t even look at him. Some friend she is if all she can do is stare
at his deformity. I wouldn’t blame Cal for being mean with the way
she’s acted towards him. She did have a crush on him before the monsters
appeared and scared him, so it makes me believe that she only liked him
for his good looks. Especially when she ran straight to Fennrys Wolf
and fell for him so fast, forgetting all about Cal.
Fennrys Wolf
is one of our main male characters. He quite literally fell from the sky
and into the lives of our other characters. For someone who doesn’t
remember anything but his name, does seem quite calm. With the help of
Mason, he struggles to unravel his past. He seems to have selective
memory though. He remembers things when it's needed for that moment in
the story, but he can't (or won't) elaborate. I found it to be rather
annoying, and I don’t know how Mason can stand being around him. Mason
has two brothers who are also in the book, Rory and Roth. Rory seems
like your typical nice guy, but you soon realize that something more
sinister is going on around him. I found the change to be very sudden,
and no reason is clearly given for it. That being said, Roth is the nice
one. He looks after his sister when her father is being over bearing.
He’s not in it much, but when he is he does make an impact. He's the one
who knows what’s happening while most of the characters do not.
Calum
seems almost forgotten to Mason as you read the book. They were best
friends at the beginning of the book, but after the monsters and Fennrys
Wolf showed up he stayed away from her. When they do meet, he doesn’t
know how to talk to her cause he see’s her staring at the scars on his
face. He has liked Mason for a long time, but he lost his chance with
her when Fennrys Wolf showed up.
