Review: Elemental: Origin (Primord #1.5) by Alexandra May

Elemental: Origin (Primord #1.5) by Alexandra May

Publishers: Pauma Publishing

Published Date: April 4th 2013

From: Bought

My rating: 4 out of 5

Synopsis:

What happened to the two missing bloodlines?
How did the Xipilé’s amass their fortune?
Who was behind Mira’s accident?
And what is Amy’s secret?

Spencer Phillips, Daisy Frost, Andrew Orelían and Aiden Deverill open up their hearts and minds to reveal some of the secrets from Elemental: The First in this in-between short story.

Review:

This wasn't what I expected at all. Elemental: Origin goes behind the scenes before that last chapter of Elemental: The First with a final chapter just after. Told from 5 different side-characters, it delves into the background of the Dacomés and Xipile´s. We learn a little more about the characters and motives. The one thing Origin taught me is not to assume anything! The world Alexandra May is weaving is becoming more clearer as another book is announced. Now I can't wait for Circle of Fire! Only marked down because it's a novella and I wanted to read more!

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Review: Wreck Me (Wrecked #1) by J.L. Mac (New Adult)

Wreck Me (Wrecked #1) by J.L. Mac

Publishers: Self

Published Date: February 20th 2013

From: Bought

My rating: 5 out of 5

Synopsis:

Life can be cruel. People can be ruthless and evil. The world can be cold and uninviting. No one knows these things better than Josephine Geroux. By her own definition, she is a twenty-five year old “nobody with nothing,” and she is content to stay that way. Growing up an orphan has made her tough and indifferent to the people around her until she meets a strangely familiar man with a face that haunts her for reasons she can’t understand.
Despite the pain that will inevitably ensue, she makes it her mission to discover what parts of her tragic puzzle she is missing. On her journey to discovering why the she feels an alarming connection to an absolute stranger, her greatest fear is reawakening the demons and darkness from the past that will surely overtake her if she lets her guard down.
Little does Josephine know that the past should be the least of her worries. She is toying with a man who has already broken her heart once. She just doesn’t realize it.
Although she makes it a point to avoid interactions with others, Josephine’s life becomes entangled with the enigmatic stranger. Before she realizes it, she has given herself over to the one person who is close enough to wreck her.

Review:
 Written in the same vain as Fifty Shades, Wreck Me has a different kind of twist to it. Firstly I loved that Jo worked at a book store for a cantankerous old buzzard. She's cocky, speaks her mind, says what she feels and she swears a lot.
Jo had a tough upbringing. At the age of 9 she was involved in a car accident that killed both her French parents. A stranger on the scene pulled her out of the car and rescued her. From then on she did the foster homes for a while before taking her chances on her own, on the streets to fend for herself. When she was old enough she marched into Sutton's store one day and told him she would work for him. Why? She loves books. She visited the library regularly and read books. From that day on her life changed. Her and Sutton have a great relationship and he helped her get on her feet.
Now she lives in an apartment, small and grubby it may be, but her wants in life are few. What she does like is sex without the strings. She isn't what you might think of her. She never promises the guys anything in return but she does need 'comfort' every now and again.
Per chance, she is manhandling a thief who stole one of the stores books one day and she meets Damon Cole. He's young, sophisticated and definitely good looking enough for what she has in mind. She orchestrates having coffee with him and instead of small talk she cuts to the chase and arranges to meet him that night. Her dad was a chef so Jo does know how to cook so she makes him dinner. One thing leads to another and they end up in bed. She never likes to stay over but he persuades her to. Unfortunately he then finds out why she doesn't stay over at anyone's house.
There are a lot of similarities between this and Fifty Shades, I won't tell you different. If you liked the other then you may like this too. There is a lot of sex. But it starts to become very meaningful between the two of them when the love starts to filter in.
The story is great although you start getting hints and realise who Damon actually is and why he may have a soft spot for Jo. The ending is a huge cliffhanger! If you hate cliffhangers then I'm happy to tell you the next book, Restore Me, is also out now.
All in all it had little twists that I hadn't read before as a New Adult book and I thought Jo was an extremely likable character. Also, Grams! I want to adopt her!!

You can reach J.L. Mac here: 

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Review: Healed (Scarred #2) by J.S. Cooper

Healed (Scarred #2) by J.S. Cooper

Publishers: Self

Published Date:  March 22nd 2013

From: Bought

My rating: 3 out of 5

Synopsis:

Lexi Lord has dreamed of dating Bryce Evans for years. And now that her dream has become a reality, she is no longer sure that he is the man for her. When tragedy strikes in their lives, they take a good hard look at their relationship and their very existences.

There are some ties that can never be broken, but Lexi and Bryce have to decide what love can heal them from their scarred pasts and what love they have to let of of. Sometimes letting go is the greatest gift of all.

Review:

I liked this one a little more than Scarred. I won't write a long review because there isn't too much to say.

The story did get to be like a Love Musical Chairs, everyone move around one space and stick with the new partner. Add a bunch of Chinese whispers that everyone's involved with but no one tells the right person, only the wrong person. And concocted a few meaningful storybook metaphors to fill it out.

All the key characters grew up and had a new outlook on life in about...two weeks. But the Epilogue did make up for a lot. I wouldn't say this was a great series to read. It's interesting and passed the time nicely.

-CB

You can reach J.S. Cooper here: 

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Review: Scarred (Scarred, #1) by J.S. Cooper

Scarred (Scarred #1) by J.S. Cooper

Publishers: Self

Published Date:  March 1st 2013

From: NetGalley

My rating: 3 out of 5

Synopsis:

Everyone in Jonesville thought that Bryce Evans had the perfect life in High School: he was the Mayor's son, the quarterback for the football team, the boyfriend of the head cheerleader and had a 4.1 GPA. His acceptance to Notre Dame came as no surprise but when he chose to enlist in the army instead everyone was shocked.

Lexi Jones was the quiet girl in school and kept to her small group of eccentric friends. She had no connection to any of the popular kids except for one incident on Prom Night when her path crossed with Bryce's.

When Bryce enlisted Lexi was the only one that wasn't disappointed and decided to send him anonymous letters as a way to feel connected to him. She stopped after a year because she felt there was nowhere for their relationship to go.

Fast-forward four years and Bryce is back in Jonesville and once again he and Lexi cross paths. Only he's no longer the seemingly perfect man and Lexi's no longer the quiet girl. 

This time their relationship is quite different but both of them have secrets from the past and friends that threaten to ruin their chance at happiness together

Review:

I started off really liking this book. I liked Lexi, Anna and Luke. They're a fresh, young bunch of twenty-two year olds who still live at home with their parents in their small town and just get on with life. Anna works at an animal sanctuary and Lexi works at the library.

I also really liked the two POV's being Lexi and Bryce. I got a little tired of the Golden Boy reflection that Bryce seemed to carry with him. Yes, he was a golden boy and the Mayors son. I got it! (There are 8 references to Golden Boy on my kindle...lol)

Bryce does come across as a sweetheart actually. He's been away in the marines, fighting for his country. While he's away he corresponds with a 'Miss' who he's become quite attached to, except she stops writing and this is one of the reasons why he's back in town. He has to find out who 'Miss' is. She doesn't realise that her letters helped him through all the bad times and the good while he was away. And he's almost in love with her even though he doesn't have a clue what she looks like. The writer of the letters is clear from the beginning and Lexi always did and always will have a crush on Bryce.

Personally I loved this part of the story because I know people in the military who live to receive correspondence. It really does lift their spirits.

Anyway, Bryce has a party and some bitchy girls from town take a chunk out of Lexi the first chance they get. Now while Bryce does stand up to them he doesn't do it to a full extent. Now I know that in whatever armed forces you are, your comrades come from all different backgrounds and soon enough it doesn't matter who your parents are or where you were brought up. The only thing that matters is that you have their back and they have yours. Especially for guys. So, back to the story, Bryce should have damn well stood up a little harder to the catty, derogatory girls who have small town brains.

So the story twists and turns. A lot of 'Oh my god' moments happened and was I the only one who thought the woman naked in his bed after the party was related to him? That would have been stomach churner for sure! I was still gutted when it revealed who she was but...it keeps the story going.

Lexi did change in the last third of the book and not for the better. After the big reveal she didn't once ask the question I was almost shouting for her to ask. WHY? Why did Bryce want Eddie to do that to her? My esteem for her dropped when she got over it so quickly and was then full of "It doesn't matter's" and "its not your faults" I really wanted to scream at her.

When Bryce and Lexi go out towards the end of the book, the situation doesn't feel right. This is when she's thinking about Luke more in a serious way. Suddenly I'm wondering if Bryce is really all he's cracked up to be and I worry for her.
The ending was pretty much the same as Twisted Perfection, a cliffhanger, without the 'Who'?

I'm going to reads Healed now, the follow up and I hope all the loose ends get somehow tied up. 

Overall I liked it, the two voices worked in making the story pan out a little giving us more idea on who is likable and who isn't. Anna was a big shock!

-CB

You can reach J.S. Cooper here: 

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Review: Twisted Perfection (Perfection #1) by Abbi Glines

Twisted Perfection (Perfection #1) by Abbi Glines

Publishers: Abbi Glines

Published Date:  April 20th 2013

From: Bought 

My rating: 3 out of 5

Synopsis:

Life outside of her house was a new experience for Della Sloane. The dark secrets of her past weren’t something she ever intended to share with anyone. They would never understand. No one would ever get close enough to find out. There was always a chance she’d go crazy sooner than they expected…
Woods Kerrington had never been one to be attracted to fragile females. They seemed like too much work. He wasn’t in it for the work just the pleasure. A night full of naughty fun had been exactly what was on his mind when he’d laid eyes on the hot little number that didn’t know how to pump gas and needed some help.
What he didn’t know was she was as fragile as they came.
The carefree girl who spoke her mind and didn’t care what the world thought of her was more breakable than he could ever imagine…

Review:

If you want to read a book that is basically two characters having a lot of sex then this book is for you. If you want to read a New Adult book with a girl and a tragic, abused past then this is for you. If you want to read a story that is a bit cliché regarding southern American values and families stuck in the 19th century then yep, this book is for you too. 

Personally I didn't get on with it. It was a pleasant enough read but I wasn't wowed. Abbi Glines is a brilliant writer but the story wasn't really anything new although a great excuse to write lots of sex scenes. 

Della has had a cruel upbringing by her mother. I'm surprised she isn't more emotionally scarred from being locked in a house until she was 16. Cabin fever is a real thing and so is fear of the outside world. But the first chance Della meets a really hot guy she has dinner, drops her panties and gets some. The next chapter in the book tells us that she slept with her next boss. Up to this point I was feeling her pain and enjoying her having a good time but then she just came across as extremely slutty. Then she gets another job and her new boss, the really hot guy she met in the beginning is actually THAT guy. And yes, guess what happens. 

Now, there are a few things that I wanted to bring up at this point. Number 1) if you were locked up, abused and not allowed to go out I would imagine that even after 4 months you still would be slightly afraid of strangers. Especially in a sexual situation. You would have no worldly experience of meeting people, be naive and lack in social etiquette (and yes, I know she crept out of her house lots of times but that wouldn't change everything immediately). And Number 2) her character lacked depth. She appeared to have no friends except for Braden, no quirks, no personality apart from the night terrors that had her waking up screaming. Her dialogue was bland and didn't make her character grow at all throughout the book. The only thing she really liked to enjoy was Woods with his demanding hands and body. Oh, and the sex. 

I haven't read any of the Fallen series. I thought this was the first in a new series but I see on an Amazon page that its Book 4 in another series (confused?!). I have read Existence and the sequels so I know Abbi is a great writer and her storytelling skills are amazing but, and its a big but, I felt that Twisted Perfection was an excuse to get a book out in the ever growing New Adult market without really coming up with a new original storyline. Don't get me wrong. I didn't hate this book, and I actually stayed up and read the whole thing from beginning to end to see where I was being lead to. I hope the second book brings story depth.

Anyone who reads this, please don't hate me. I'm only writing what I feel :)

-CB

You can reach Abbi Glines here: 

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Review: Sacrifice (Legacy #3) by Cayla Kluver

Sacrifice (Legacy #3) by Cayla Kluver

Publishers: Harlequin Teen 

Published Date: October 23rd 2012 

From: NetGalley 

My rating: 3 out of 5

Synopsis:

This is not the time for the fight to end. Now is when the fight will begin. This is the time to regain what has been lost.

Alera - Queen of a fallen kingdom, secretly in love with the enemy.

Shaselle - Daughter of a murdered father, rebel with a cause.

One lives behind the former Hytanican palace walls and walks the razor's edge to keep the fragile peace in her beloved homeland. The other slips through the war-torn streets, seeking retribution for her family's tragedy, following whispers of insurgency.

Both face choices that will separate them from those they cannot help but love. As their stories intertwine, a conspiracy ignites that may end in slavery or death—or lead to freedom anew, if only each can face what must be sacrificed.

Review:
I couldn't help being slightly disappointed with Sacrifice. Mostly because Alera reverted back to being idiotic and dense, a little like she was in Legacy and the beginning of Allegiance. I didn't like the way she lost her edge, nicely gained in Allegiance when she cut her hair off, wore trousers and finally acted like a ruler. In Sacrifice she seemed to go backwards and just became queenly without really getting to grips with the major problems of her city with a hands on approach.
I especially didn't like the new POV from Shashelle. I can only think the author added this so we could get more of an idea what Steldor and Cannan were up to. Yes, she was a feisty tomboy who hated the idea of marriage. Especially the suitors her mother was chosing for her, and her bittersweet liaison with the Cokyrian soldier was short-lived.

I think as characters are concerned Steldor showed real growth. I didn't like him in the previous books but he seemed to put aside his arrogance and stand up to the treachery that was happening around him. I actually liked him more in the end.
Narian also seemed to lose his edge. He was still amazingly sweet to Alera and I did feel sad for him that his father turned his back on him, but glad that his mother wanted to be given a chance in his life.
All things considered the story did get wrapped up. There weren't any real wow moments, and the conclusion of the war between Cokyri and Hytanica was a little bit of a let down considering the high paced action of the previous book. It just eased itself out and suddenly Hytanica is okay again. Hmm.
If you've read the series then obviously you've got to read this one to finally put it to bed, but I wasn't as thrilled about this as the other two.
-CB

You can reach Cayla Kluver here: 

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Review: Ink (Paper Gods #1) by Amanda Sun

Ink (Paper Gods #1) by Amanda Sun

 Publishers: Harlequin Teen

Published Date:  June 25th 2013
From: NET GALLEY
My rating: 4.5 out of 5

Synopsis:

I looked down at the paper, still touching the tip of my shoe. I reached for it, flipping the page over to look.

Scrawls of ink outlined a drawing of a girl lying on a bench.

A sick feeling started to twist in my stomach, like motion sickness.

And then the girl in the drawing turned her head, and her inky eyes glared straight into mine.

On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they'll both be targets.

Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive

Review:

It always feels new and exciting when you read a new twist on the paranormal phenomenon that hasn't been used before. 

While Ink is a school based story, the entire setting of Japan with its traditions, ceremonies and even the language was such a refreshing change and, being a lover of all worldwide historical lore, this was a perfect read. 

Katie is our blond haired American at a Japanese school. Her mother passed away recently and she's now living with her (very cool) Aunt Diane. Things start getting weird almost the minute you start reading Ink. Through Katie, we enter a break up scene between a guy and a girl. But Katie can tell somethings off about it. The guy is trying to make his girlfriend jealous but it doesn't come across as quite so real. When a sheet of paper falls at her feet, Katie is compelled to pick it up and view the drawing. But what she see's she can scarcely believe, the drawing of a pregnant girl moves. The girl actually moves her head and looks back at Katie. 

From here on in, Katie is determined to find out what Yuu Tomohiro's secret is. He comes across as cold, rude and clearly hates Gaijin (foreigners) but a chance meeting makes Katie believe its all an act.  

Katie starts falling into Tomo's world and slowly learns his secrets and pretty soon she's in so deep she can't get out. And that goes for her heart too. The dangers of Yakuza (Japanese mobsters) crop up and threaten Tomo's life and who is Takahashi, the Kendo champion? How does Katie think she knows him? 

This is one thrill of a ride book which has us journeying around Shizouka, old and new, and discovering what the actual life of teenage kids in Japan is all about (minus the Kami and all the weird stuff!). I found myself on Wikipedia (again) typing in place names, eager for pictures so I could place the various scenes. Katie and Tomo have a great relationship once they get all the early awkwardness out the way. Their banter is really great and Tomo is most definitely a new heartthrob of mine. The side characters of Yuki and Tanaka were also unique and different, but very likeable and good for Katie, keeping her grounded.

A definite favourite read of the year. And its all about the Ink. The only reasons I marked it down were a few too many pages about the pink blossom, and I still wasn't sure about Katie's link to the Kami in all of this, but other than that I loved it. Can't wait for the next one!

-CBx

You can reach Amanda Sun here:

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