Easy - Review

Easy by Tammara Webber

Available now

penguin.co.uk 

What's it about?

Rescued by a stranger. Haunted by a secret.

Sometimes, love isn’t easy…

A girl who believes trust can be misplaced, promises are made to be broken, and loyalty is an illusion. A boy who believes truth is relative, lies can mask unbearable pain, and guilt is eternal. Will what they find in each other validate their conclusions, or disprove them all?

When Jacqueline follows her long-term boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup at the start of their second year. After two weeks in shock she wakes up to her new reality: she’s single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, and failing a class for the first time in her life.

Leaving a party alone one night, she is assaulted. Rescued by a stranger who is in the right place at the right time, she wants nothing more than to forget that night. But when her attacker turns stalker she has to make a choice: crumple in defeat or learn to fight back.

The support of the intriguing man who is tutoring her in Economics, together with the allure of Lucas, who saved her from the assault, convinces her that it’s worth fighting on. Lucas proves understanding and protective, but he’s hiding secrets of his own. Will Jacqueline have to choose between Lucas and her tutor? Suddenly, knowing who to trust is anything but easy.

My review

(4.5)

Easy pulled me in from the first pages and was a really easy book to read (Pun intended!) I really enjoyed the whole book and found it hard to put down. Watching the romance develop between Jacqueline and Lucus was my favourite part of the book and I admit I fell for right alongside her, but then again how couldn't I? He's tattooed, pierced and gorgeous! He's also not everything he seems on the surface.

As the book starts, Jacqueline firsts experiences a horrible event and then we start to learn other things that have happened to her lately and I just couldn't help feeling sorry for her.
There are some mature scenes when Lucus and Jacqueline do get together but I think they were handled very tastefully and none came off cheesy, in fact some were actually really sexy, not in a vulgar way, but that could be because I have a huge crush on Lucus lol.

I have to admit I did guess the twist pretty early on, but a friend told me she never at all so I guess not everyone will, it was still a good one though and I enjoyed the build-up even if I knew what was going to happen.

I thought Easy was a wonderful book, the only reason I didn't give it a full 5/5 is because Jacqueline just didn't seem as affected by what happens at the start as I thought she would've been, she just seems to brush it off and carry on, and although she gets upset later, it just didn't seem quite believable by then, but otherwise, I loved it!

It was well written, with great characters and a great plot, it was my first book by the author and certainly won't be my last!

My thoughts on the cover

I do like this cover but to be honest I prefer the colour version that was originally released, the guy for Lucus fits him in my imagination perfectly though.

Favourite quotes

'When his lips touched just south of my earlobe, I thought I might pass out. "Let's just dance," he said. Pulling back just far enough to stare into my eyes, he drew my body against his, and my legs obeyed where his said to go.'

'His lips played over mine, and he pulled me to the center of the bed and laid me flat. I opened my eyes when he drew back and stared down at me. "Say stop, whenever you want to stop. Understand?"'

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Blog tour; Legacy - Guest post

How I became a Bookaholic

by C.J. Daugherty

I was obsessed with reading as a child. I was shy and found my own life unsatisfactory so I sought a new one in the pages of books.

I can remember going to the library with my mother who (foolishly) told me to “…pick as many books as you like.” When I walked up to her 30 minutes later holding a stack that reached to my nose, she and the librarian burst out laughing. 

After that I was given a book limit.

Still, when I was 12 I won an award for “Most library books read in a school year”. I’d read 150. These included everything from Don Quixote to a Man for All Seasons to books on SELF DEFENCE and a battered 1950s edition of Connie Francis’ Beauty Secrets. 

What that last one was doing there, I have no idea, but I’ve splashed my face five times with cold water in the morning ever since.

 I preferred old books even then – I liked the beautiful colours, the yellowing paper. How they felt in my hands. The way they smelled.

Neither of my parents read much, and at times they worried about me; my nose was always buried in a book and I didn’t have a lot of friends. They went so far as to take books away from me and order me to go outside and play. “Make friends,” they’d implore. “Be a normal child.” 

My grandmother was a reader, though. My co-conspirator. She gave me all her old books and books my aunts and uncles had read. 

So I immersed myself in the Cherry Ames series, by Helen Wells. Written in the 1940s it tells the story of about a young American girl who joins the Army during World War II and becomes a flight nurse. 

Then there was Polyanna, a book written in 1913 about a little girl who stays positive even when she loses everything. I’ve wondered ever since what calf’s foot jelly is. I still don’t know and I’m not sure I want to.

I adored The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew – a turn of the century series about a family living in “little brown house” who struggle to survive but always love each other. Their whole world changes when they are taken in by a wealthy benefactor.

I have no idea what other children my age were reading at the time. Because I was reading my grandmother’s books. 

And I still have that award from the library on my wall.

Legacy

Night school book two.

In the last year, Allie's survived three arrests, two breakups and one family breakdown. The only bright point has been her new life at Cimmeria Academy. It's the one place she's felt she belongs. And the fact that it's brought the dreamy Carter West into her life hasn't hurt...But far from being a safe haven, the cloistered walls of Cimmeria are proving more dangerous than Allie could've imagined. The students, and faculty, are under threat and Allie's family - from her mysterious grandma to her runaway brother - are at the centre of the storm. Allie is going to have to choose between protecting her family and trusting her friends. But secrets have a way of ripping even the strongest relationships apart...

Author bio
C.J. Daugherty was 22 when she saw her first dead body. Although she’s now left the world of crime reporting she has never lost her fascination with what it is that drives some people to do awful things as well as the kind of people who will try to stop them. The Night School series is the product of that fascination. Born in the USA, C.J. Daugherty has lived in the UK so long she considers herself British, even getting married to her English film producer husband at Anne Boleyn’s favourite castle in Kent, Hever Castle.

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Blog tour: Confessions of an angry girl - Guest post

How I Became a Bookaholic

by Louise Rozett

I have a confession to make. One of the reasons I fell in love with books is the (fictional) boys/guys/men I often ended up having crushes on. There were many, but two in particular stand out in my mind. Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and Phineas, from A Separate Peace, by John Knowles.

I think Atticus was first. I was in junior high school, and I remember thinking that Atticus Finch was an amazing man and father. I also remember thinking how cute he was, thanks to my English teacher playing us sections of the movie after we read the corresponding sections in the book. (So maybe it was really Gregory Peck I had the crush on—who can say?!) The bottom line was, he was a pretty incredible guy, and I couldn’t wait to get back to the book to see what bit of wisdom and love he was going to dole out next.

The next year, I started high school, and we read A Separate Peace by John Knowles. I was madly in love with the perfectly beautiful and tragic Phineas, who does what he can to protect his best friend Gene even at great expense to himself. I loved Phineas deeply—I could picture him so clearly–but it was Gene who I really related to. I understood his struggle with feeling mediocre and average, and simultaneously loving and hating his best friend for being so perfect in every way. That book was exquisite torture for me.

As time went on and I kept reading, I fell in love with Joe from Michael Chabon’s Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, and John Reddy Heart from Joyce Carol Oates’ Broke Heart Blues. I’ve been thinking a lot about all these men lately probably because they led me to Jamie Forta, the guy my main character Rose falls for in Confessions of an Angry Girl. But I also realized that they were my introduction to falling in love with all sorts of characters. I found romantic love, familial love, and the love of friendship in the books that captured my imagination. And the experience of falling “in love” in all sorts of ways is what turned me into a reader for life.

Confessions of an angry girl

Available now from MIRA Ink
My review

This is a story about ROSE. About the occasional panic attack and being fourteen in the suburbs without a mobile phone. Read it and weep Rose's first year at Union High isn't exactly going to plan. Her family's broken, her supposed best friend's going boy crazy and Rose is so far behind socially that she might as well be moving backwards. Until her brother's friend Jamie offers her a ride home - and a way into the world of his popular clique - if only it weren't for his perfect cheerleader girlfriend. Now Rose is learning how to climb the wobbly high-school social ladder, while struggling to hang on to what matters the most...

Book trailer

Author bio
Louise Rozett is an author, a playwright, and a recovering performer. She is making her YA debut with Confessions of an Angry Girl, published by Harlequin Teen. Confessions of an Almost-Girlfriend is due out May 2013. She lives with her boyfriend and 120-pound dog Lester in one of the world's greatest literary meccas, Brooklyn.

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What I read in... December

Here are the books I read throughout December 2012

Books mentioned

Links to my reviews or Goodreads.

Bitter blood by Rachel Caine - 5/5

Fight for the future by Jeff Norton - 4/5

The dead are rising by Jeff Norton - 4/5

Lola and the boy next door by Stephanie Perkins - 4/5

13 little blue envelopes by Maureen Johnson (Audiobook) - 3/5

Confessions of an angry girl by Louise Rozett - 3/5 - A guest post for the blog tour will be up tomorrow!

Easy by Tammara Webber - 4.5/5 - I'm also on the blog tour for this one and a quick fire interview will be up on the 10th

What did you read?

Showcase Sunday (31)

'Showcase Sunday' is hosted by Vicky at Books, biscuits and tea.

31st Dec - 6th Jan

Hi guys and welcome to a brand new year!

To kick off the first week of the year, I received two books, one I asked for and one that was a total surprise.

Firstly, I requested a copy of Dead romantic by C.J. Skuse a few weeks ago so I was really excited when it arrived, I actually started it the next day and am really enjoying it, look out for a cover inspired manicure on Thursdays Nail your books! And I'm on the list for the blog tour which is coming up soon :)

Then yesterday I got a very random copy of House of secrets by Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini, I've not actually heard of this one but it sounds interesting and I'm going to give it a go, hopefully before the release in April.

What did you get this week?

Discussion: Emotional books

Recently I saw someone comment that she didn't want to buy a book because she knew it would make her cry and honestly the first thing I thought was how silly that was! Sorry to the person in question, there's no offence meant.

It really got me thinking though, one thing I've always said is the mark of a good book is if it can make me cry. To be able to draw me in and inspire those kind of emotions just with words, to be able to capture the emotions of a scene so well that I can feel them too when I'm reading is not an easy thing to do. So when a book gets me so caught up in it, and connected so much I cry, be it a few tears or bawling my eyes out, that has to be a good thing, right?

I could probably count the amount of books that have caused me to produce tears on one hand but they will always stick with me, I will always remember the way they made me feel, I may have been an emotional wreck after a couple but it was worth it and to be honest, sometimes you need to get a bit of crying out.
Here are a few examples of books that made me weep;

Entangled by Cat Clarke - I was a giant sobbing mess by the end of this book! Seriously, a puffy, red eyed, snotty nose mess. Grace's problems and the way she was, reminded me so much of a way I used to be, I instantly connected with her, it was like I knew exactly what she was going through and I went through it all with her, I cried for her, I cried for myself, I cried just because I couldn't stop. But this was one that shook up my emotions because I related to the character, so it might not make everyone cry, in fact I know a number of people who just didn't 'get it.'

Putting Alice back together by Carol Marinelli - This isn't even my typical read but I was asked to review it, so I gave it a shot and boy was I surprised! There are a number of reasons this one bought me to tears, first Alice's past, as the book goes on, we dig deeper and find out what happened to her to cause the breakdown she's having in the present and it was absolutely heartbreaking. What happened was so sad, it made me cry all on its own but having had an experience in the same area myself it brought up emotions and memories of my own that made me bawl harder. Then there was the current day Alice going through anxiety attacks and generally feeling lost and confused was something I was going through myself at the time, so again I related and cried, and cried and cried some more.

New moon by Stephanie Meyer - Now this one is different to the first two because I wasn't connected with the characters in the same way, I cried simply because it was sad and was written so well it captured everything she was feeling so poignantly  that I couldn't not get swept away in it. I read New moon a long time before I joined the online book community and before the movie was out so I had NO idea what was going to happen, so when it came to the bit where Edward leaves I really didn't see it coming and it floored me, and the scene was written so well it bought tears to my eyes, lots of them. A lot of people say bad things about this series but you cannot deny Ms Meyers writing is brilliant.

Some other books that made me emotional, just through sheer good writing and not because I connected myself to the situation were Last breath by Rachel Caine, Blue sky days by Marie Landry, A need so beautiful by Suzanne Young, Hourglass by Claudia Gray, The green mile by Stephen King and many more but I don't want to bore you with a huge list.

So even though some of these books had me reaching for the tissues and others had me mopping up torrents of salty tears, I'd never want to undo reading any and I certainly wouldn't avoid a book because I thought it might make me cry. That's what reading is all about after all, living in the worlds of the characters, imagining not just what they're doing but what they're feeling so that we understand them, relate to them and ultimately we come away with something after we've read the last chapter. Books that make a lasting impression are what makes reading so great.

What do you think? Do you avoid emotional books? Do you agree or disagree with what I'm saying? And what are the books that have made you cry?

Cover reveal: Recalled by Cambria Hebert

I'm really excited today to share with you the cover reveal for Recalled by Cambria Hebert, it's the first book in her new series, Death escorts. I love her Heven and hell series, so I can't wait for this!

Without further ado, here is the gorgeous cover;

Recalled
Genre: Young Adult Romance with paranormal, thriller and mystery elements
Release Date: February 15, 2013
Format: Will be available in Print and Ebook
publisher: Cambria Hebert

Love or Death? A simple question really. The choice seems obvious. But. What if you never knew love, what if your life was spent just trying to survive? What if you knew your fate before you were fully grown?
And then you died.
And you were given another chance. A better chance.
This new life depended upon one thing: your job. And so you agreed. You thought it would be simple. You thought it would be cut and dry.
It never is.
And now you are left holding the fate of someone else in the palm of your hand and you have to make the ultimate choice.
Love or Death?

Author bio
Cambria Hebert is the author of the young adult paranormal Heven and Hell series and the upcoming Death Escorts series. She loves a caramel latte, hates math and is afraid of chickens (yes, chickens). She went to college for a bachelor’s degree, couldn’t pick a major and ended up with a degree in cosmetology. So rest assured her characters will always have good hair. She currently lives in Pennsylvania where she is plotting her next book. You can find out more about Cambria and her work by visiting http://www.cambriahebert.com 
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Get The bone house for free!

On Sunday 6th January 2013, award-winning author Barry Hutchison turns 35. To celebrate this milestone, and because he has never quite gotten the hang of how the whole birthday gift-giving thing is supposed to work, Barry will be giving away his short horror story, THE BONE HOUSE, free on Amazon’s Kindle e-reader.

THE BONE HOUSE is a chilling tale about a girl, a boy and an abandoned house in the woods. Horror writer, David Gatward, described the story as “a teenage serial killer played out with echoes of Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, while author Tommy Donbavand warned readers to “get ready to sleep with the light on.”

The free book giveaway will last for 48 hours from the 6th of January, and Barry will continue to dish out gifts all throughout his birthday – including extracts from his soon to be published new novel, THE BOOK OF DOOM – on his blog at BarryHutchison.com.

The bone house

A chilling horror short story from award-winning author, Barry John Hutchison.

School has broken up and summer is finally here. Fifteen-year-old Laura has plans for six whole weeks of Skyrim and at least one Batman DVD marathon. But when her neighbour and long-time crush, Cethan, takes her into the woods to show her something he has found there, both their lives take a turn for the terrifying...

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Confessions of an angry girl - Review

Confessions of an angry girl by Louise Rozett

Confessions book one.

Available now

www.miraink.co.uk 

What's it about?

Rose Zarelli, self-proclaimed word geek and angry girl, has some CONFESSIONS to make...

#1: I’m livid all the time. Why? My dad died. My mom barely talks. My brother abandoned us. I think I’m allowed to be irate, don’t you?

#2: I make people furious regularly. Want an example? I kissed gorgeous Jamie Forta, boyfriend of the coolest cheerleader in the school. Now she’s out for blood. Mine.

#3: But most of all high school might as well be Mars. My best friend has been replaced by an alien…and now it’s a case of survival of the coolest.

My review

Confessions of an angry girl was a fun, short read. I enjoyed the book but I didn't love the character if Rose, to be honest, she didn't quite come off as angry as described and she didn't have the attitude to pull it off either, making the character fall kind of flat for me and at times become kind of annoying.

Generally the story was ok and I like what the author has done with it, there's an awful lot of talking about sex though, not in a vulgar way, more about safe sex and Rose's friend deciding if she should have sex with her boyfriend but Rose disagreeing, it felt very much like the book was trying to force some life lessons about sex for young girls, rather than tell a story.

So, as you can guess, this really was an ok book for me, I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either, I think perhaps I was just a bit too mature for some of the themes it carries and Rose, being fourteen, was too young for me to fully connect with. I would recommend it for its intended young adult audience though as its a well written book that deals with girls at that age when they're starting to think about sex and boys and also  bullying.

I will likely read book two as I'm curious enough to see Rose's next move and see what's in store for her.

My thoughts on the cover

I really like this cover, the girls pose reflects the title and I like the red and orange colours on the title, which are angry colours, its all very fitting.

Favourite quotes

'I feel the heat intensify at the sound of his voice, making the skin on my face tight with imaginary sunburn.'

'The next minute happens in slow motion. Jamie Forta turns to me, puts his warm hands on my neck, and pulls me toward him. It dawns on me that he is about to kiss me, and I panic because I've never kissed an older man-I've never kissed anyone for real, only while playing stupid games at junior high school parties-and he surely must know everything there is to know because he's wiser and he's a bad boy and he gets around and I'm just a silly girl and none of that matters because his lips are on mine and it's so easy I can hardly believe I worried I wouldn't know what to do.'

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UK vs THE WORLD (51)

UK vs. The world is a weekly meme I made up lol.

It's simlair to UK vs. US except the UK covers are battling it out with their foreign counterparts from all over the world, because who doesn't love judging books by their covers!

UK                           vs                       Spain

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Lunar chronicles book one.

Mist: I just love the dress in the Spanish cover and the fake arm and leg but the girl just looks unaturally skinny and the UK cover just calls to me even more, I love the red shoe and the way the we're shown the mechanics inside the leg, it's just a much more striking cover.

Ninfa: I've always found the UK version pretty spot on, as it embodies the blurb (and the story) very well. The Spanish cover is pretty, but I'm not sure the sci-fi and futuristic element comes across as well as it does in the UK version. UK wins for me :)

Which do you prefer?