Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where she spotlights upcoming releases.

Seems like I'm waiting on everything! Here's one of the books that's on that list(:

Wings of Nestor (Solus #3)

by Devri Walls

 

What are you Waiting On?

 -Jackie   

Top Ten Books I Read Before I Was A Blogger

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the fabulous ladies at the Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is the top ten books I read before I was a blogger. 

 

Rampant by Diana Peterfreund

Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

Dragonfly by Julia Golding

Demon Princess by Michelle Rowen

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Wrapped by Jennifer Bradbury

Possess by Gretchen McNeil

Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey

XVI by Julia Karr

Ripple by Mandy Hubbard

What are your Top Ten?

 -Jackie   

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Hardcover, 452 pages

Published September 27th 2011 by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

ISBN: 1442421762 (ISBN13: 9781442421769)

Series Number 1

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Reaction: Holy cheesecake

Summary:  

Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.

There is.

She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love.

She’s wrong.

 After Mara survives the traumatizing accident at the old asylum, it makes sense that she has issues. She lost her best friend, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s sister, and as if that weren’t enough to cope with, her family moves to a new state in order to give her a fresh start. But that fresh start is quickly filled with hallucinations—or are they premonitions?—and then corpses, and the boundary between reality and nightmare is wavering. At school, there’s Noah, a devastatingly handsome charmer who seems determined to help Mara piece together what’s real, what’s imagined—and what’s very, very dangerous.

     This fast-paced psychological—or is it paranormal?—thriller will leave you breathless for its sequel, The Evolution of Mara Dyer.

 

Miss Mara Dyer, I like you. I have a feeling we are going to be amazing friends who will conquer the world and rid the universe of gremlins. Pesky little suckers, they got into my book pile yesterday, yah know?

Mara's 'friends' are dead. Why? She just thinks she got lucky-the only one of the four who survived that trip into the old, abandoned psych ward. But she's not. She's so much more than she thinks. She suffers from PTSD. Normal, right?

“No, it isn't irrelevant. You want me as much as I want you. And all I want is you.” 

 They more to the glorious humidity of Florida. There she meets a man who abuses a dog. She calls animal rescue. Moments after leaving him-he's dead. She's made friends with the school crazy (who by the way, is the only sane person in that school) has the most popular girl after her head and the popular guy chasing her like a love sick puppy.

Mara thinks she's fallen too far to get back out of the hole she's fallen into.
She's not.
She thinks she's doesn't have the ability to fall in love after all she's been through.
She can.

The only way anyone will ever find out what happen the night of the psych ward. Everything comes with a price and sometimes, it's better to just...not know.

“You're the girl who called me an asshole the first time we spoke. The girl who tried to pay for lunch even after you learned I have more money than God. You're the girl who risked her ass to save a dying dog, who makes my chest ache whether you're wearing green silk or ripped jeans. You're the girl that I--" Noah stopped, then took a step closer to me. "You are my girl.” 

Okay world, I might just absolutely love this book. It's got all these twists and turns. It has Noah, a hot guy who just want to be with you- to make you happy and figure out what you're hiding and help you mend. It has Jamie. That's enough said. He is freaking amazing. I love him.

And the END. OMG dude. Was not expecting that. The ending will leave everyone peeing their pants and in shock.

 -Jackie   

After Math by Denise Grover Swank

Paperback, 250 pages

Published March 12th 2013 by Createspace

ISBN: 148265864X (ISBN13: 9781482658644)

Kindle Edition

 Rating: 4 Stars

 

Summary

 Scarlett Goodwin’s world is divided into Before and After.

Before she agreed to tutor Tucker price, college junior Scarlett was introvert, struggling with her social anxiety and determined to not end up living in a trailer park like her mother and her younger sister. A mathematics major, she goes to her classes, to her job in the tutoring lab, and then hides in the apartment she shares with her friend, Caroline.

After junior Tucker Price, Southern University’s star soccer player enters the equation, her carefully plotted life is thrown off its axis. Tucker’s failing his required College Algebra class. With his eligibility is at risk, the university chancellor dangles an expensive piece of computer software for the math department if Scarlett agrees to privately tutor him.Tucker’s bad boy, womanizer reputation makes Scarlett wary of any contact, let alone spending several hours a week in close proximity.

But from her first encounter, she realizes Tucker isn’t the person everyone else sees. He carries a mountain of secrets which she suspects hold the reason to his self-destructive behavior. But the deeper she delves into the cause of his pain, the deeper she gets sucked into his chaos. Will Scarlett find the happiness she’s looking for, or will she be caught in Tucker’s aftermath?

 

 Yes. That is all I have to say.
Okay, no it isn't.
The book flow was amazing...except for the end where it felt a bit rushed but for the sake of the awesomeness of this book, I am willing for (sorta) forgive you. So here's the thing: it's a guy meets girl who won't take his crap and is seriously shy but blunt, she tutors him cuz he sucks at math but is seriously beast as soccer. ***this is major later in the book*** and basically they fall in love but they are both complete idiots who can't see the other person (who btw is RIGHT IN FROM OF THEM!!)
Okay, it's a whole lot cuter than I just made it sound. Promise. They both have a secret world hidden inside of them that they let no one see. Tucker seems to have the perfect life: he's amazing at soccer and got a full scholership for it. He feels like he owes the people who gave him everything except the thing he craved most (love), everything.

Scarlett can't hold her grip on the real world, so when things get too tough, she's loses herself in numbers. She can't bear to be out of control. Numbers mean order. Order means that you can predict the outcome. Never surprised.

 
Hahaha anyway. This was nice, fresh and....real. It was totally believable. They are both broken-in different ways, but broken. The nerd and the jock unite! WOOP WOOP(:

 

Just a few things I would like to point out:

No one, and I mean NO ONE would leave a full on pro sport for another person. It just doesn't happen. You cannot be a complete jerk on moment and a perfect gentleman the next. Last of all, you have to tell the person you love who you are, what you've been through. How are they supposed to trust you if they know you're hiding something?

 

 -Jackie   

Stolen by Lucy Christopher

ebook, 177 pages

Published February 1st 2011 by Scholastic, Inc. (first published May 4th 2009)

ISBN:0545361117 (ISBN13: 9780545361118)

A Letter to my Captor

 

Rating: 4 Stars

 

Summary: Gemma, 16, is on layover at Bangkok Airport, en route with her parents to a vacation in Vietnam. She steps away for just a second, to get a cup of coffee. Ty - rugged, tan, too old, oddly familiar - pays for Gemma's drink. And drugs it. They talk. Their hands touch. And before Gemma knows what's happening, Ty takes her. Steals her away. The unknowing object of a long obsession, Gemma has been kidnapped by her stalker and brought to the desolate Australian Outback.

Stolen is her gripping story of survival, of how she has to come to terms with her living nightmare - or die trying to fight it.   

 

Written as a letter from a victim to her captor,  this is Gemma's desperate story of survival. Ty has Stolen her body. Against everything screaming inside of her, he also steals Gemma's heart. 

 

 

This was totally not what I was expecting. At all. Gemma was stolen by Ty, a man who has watched her for years and somehow, thinks he is saving her. Gemma lives a shadow of a life: she haunts her way through her days until the day she is stolen. All the while of living the life of a captor, she's treated like diamonds. Ty obviously adores her and wants her to be happy. With him. Only him. She feels trapped in the middle of the desert where there is no other living person for hundreds of miles.
Ty's created his own paradise in the middle of no where. He expects Gemma to love him, to thank him for taking away from all she's ever known. When she doesn't he's confused and doesn't know what to do. He tries to make her want to stay.

“And it's hard to hate someone once you understand them.” 

Through all of this, Gemma finds herself falling for her captor.
Then, something goes horribly wrong.....

This whole book did something to my mind. Ty really thinks he's doing what's best for Gemma- the girl he's watched since she was ten. The book shocked me, to be honest. It was a beautiful kind of scary. Gemma's voice was vivid in the letter she's writing to Ty. Her emotions are raw, real and untouched.

“Lets face it, you did steal me. But you saved my life too. And somewhere in the middle, you showed me a place so different and beautiful, I can never get it out of my mind. And I can't get you out of there either. "

The way the book way laid out made it so real. The book was gripping until the end. The finale was not what I expected at all. It had closure and a finish, but it was like everybody was giving up. I dunno. Is that what happens? All the air is sucked out and the life force is near zero? People are living in shells?

The book wasn't perfect. The story wasn't perfect. I'm glad it wasn't perfect or Gemma's story would have never felt that real.

 

-Jackie   

The Collector by Victoria Scott

Paperback, 352 pages

Published March 25th 2013 by Entangled Teen

ISBN: 1620612429 

Series Number: Dante Walker #1

Kindle Edition

Rating: 4 Stars

 

Summary: 

He makes good girls...bad.

Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple: weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.

Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal-opportunity collector and doesn't want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:

Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within ten days.

Dante doesn't know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect, he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector…and uncover emotions deeply buried.

 

 

 *fans self dramatically*
Splat
In case you didn't that, I just fell on my bed after obsessive swoonage over Dante. Even his name's sexy...honey, do you see the cover?!?!
He can turn me bad anyyyytime ;D
*takes deep breath and releases hysterical laugh*
*mutters incoherently under breath* give me the book and no one gets hurt
DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND???!There is all this hype over Dante's swooniness and and and......I NEED HIM!!!!!
*stalk off into other room* (Dante's standing there with his  killer smile)
......oh crap....
*falls to floor, unconscious* Dante catches me by the way....hey it is MY fantasy (:
Mwahahaha
Sorry, Charlie, he's mine!

_____

Rating: 4 Stars

Dante Walker: a sexy dead dude that has more secrets than sand on the beach. He's a Bad Guy but not really a bad guy. *sigh* Yes, he does indeed love collecting souls that will eventually be doomed to damnation. How do I explain this without giving away all his secrets?
Okay, he knows a thing or two about loss, he has a problem with reality and doesn't let himself get attached to anyone except (isn't there always an exception) his bestest friend in the entire world. Hey demons can have friends too!
He is faced with the task of tagging Charlie's soul, one which is pretty freaking good, and sending it to Hell. But, there's a bit of an issue a hand. Dante seems to be falling for his victim. Charlie is far from perfect. As a matter of fact she's pretty average: pimples, frizzy hair and crooked teeth. Mr. SoulTagger can't figure out what it is about her that he is drawn to.
Charlie is the butt of the popular girl's jokes and lemme tell you, Miss Everything does NOT play nice. But then again, neither of Dante, and he is fiercely protective of Little Miss Sunshine over there (a.k.a Charile)
No one know why Boss Man (the devil) wants with Charlie's soul. Why is she so stinking important? Huh? TELL ME! Oh wait. I know why. HA. Guess you'll just have to read to see why.
Anyway. Can I just say I love Blue? *sobs* I LOVE YOU BLUE :-*

THE END
NOW GO FORTH AN READ THE NOVEL

 

 

 -Jackie        

 

 

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting On" is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.










Here's what I'm Waiting On!

 
In this sequel to OF POSEIDON, Emma has just learned that her mother is a long-lost Poseidon princess, and now struggles with an identity crisis: As a Half-Breed, she’s a freak in the human world and an abomination in the Syrena realm below. Syrena law states that all Half- Breeds should be put to death.

As if that’s not bad enough, her mother’s reappearance among the Syrena turns the two kingdoms—Poseidon and Triton—against one another. Which leaves Emma with a decision to make: Should she comply with Galen’s request to keep herself safe and just hope for the best? Or should she risk it all and reveal herself—and her Gift—to save a people she’s never known?

Release Date: May 28, 2013




(clutches neck) Can't. Breathe. Too much. Awesomness. In one. Place. *gasp*

 
Jackie