Review: Here So Far Away by Hadley Dyer

Here So Far Away by Hadley Dyer
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: March 20th 2018
My rating: 2 stars. 

Award-winning author Hadley Dyer’s YA debut is smart, snarky, and emotionally gripping, about a rebellious cop’s daughter who falls in love with an older man, loses her best friend, and battles depression, all while trying to survive her last year of high school. Feisty and fearless George Warren (given name: Frances, but no one calls her that) has never let life get too serious. Now that she’s about to be a senior, her plans include partying with her tight-knit group of friends and then getting the heck out of town after graduation. But instead of owning her last year of high school, a fight with her best friend puts her on the outs of their social circle. If that weren’t bad enough, George’s family has been facing hard times since her father, a police sergeant, got injured and might not be able to return to work, which puts George’s college plans in jeopardy. So when George meets Francis, an older guy who shares her name and her affinity for sarcastic banter, she’s thrown. If she lets herself, she’ll fall recklessly, hopelessly in love. But because of Francis’s age, she tells no one—and ends up losing almost everything, including herself. This is a gorgeous, atmospheric, and gut-wrenching novel that readers won’t soon forget.

Lately I've been going into books without re-reading the summary of the book, I've been finding that I've been able to get into a book much more this way, and I like the process of figuring things out as they come along. So, you could say I was intrigued with the unravelling of George's life in Here So Far Away, from her dad having his leg amputated and not sure if he could go back to his job as a police sergeant, to George and her friends drifting away from what used to be a tight knit friendship and to her falling for someone she never expected. It was a lot for George to deal with especially as she didn't really feel that she had anyone she could confide in with her feelings for this guy, and to top it off, when things came into light later on, it was clear that George really couldn't tell anyone with both of them potentially getting into trouble. The time spent with this romantic interest, I really enjoyed, I know people may question how George could fall so hard and fast for him, but for me both of their feelings appeared truly genuine. Also with the obstacles in the way, it would seem the right thing to do would be to break things off, but despite attempting to, it wasn't always possible. One of the reasons for my low rating for this book, is that I felt as if I didn't really get the emotional depth and impact from the story that I would have expected. Several major things happened in George's life, one which even though I didn't see coming, I felt as if I wasn't left as reeling as I would have expected, which is a real shame as I felt this book had the potential to be a great read for me. This aside, I'm sure other readers will go on and enjoy this book a lot more than I did.

Review: Second Chance Girl by Susan Mallery

Second Chance Girl by Susan Mallery
Publisher: Harlequin Books
Publication date: September 26th 2017
My rating: 2 Stars
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | TBD

 

touching modern fairy tale that won't let go of your heart, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Fool's Gold romances!

Mathias Mitchell's easy smile hides a world of hurt. After the worst kind of family betrayal, he moves to Happily Inc., California—the wedding destination town supplies a steady stream of bridesmaids, perfect for his "no promises, no pain" lifestyle. Yet he can't stop watching for his beautiful, elusive neighbor on the animal preserve behind their homes.

Gamekeeper Carol Lund knows she's not special enough to attract an alpha male like Mathias, so his offer to help her adopt a herd for her lonely giraffe is surprising—and his determined seduction, even more so. But just as she finally welcomes him into her bed, his careless actions crush her heart. Will she give him a second chance to prove she'll always come first in his heart? 

My Thoughts:

I really wanted to love Second Chance Girl.  It has so many features that should’ve made it a hit for me: cute animals, small town, quirky characters, yet this fell short for me.  The characters were very one-dimensional, making it hard for me to feel any connection to them or their stories.

Part of the story was Sophie, a cute and mischievous beagle, foisted on Mathias by his mother even though he strongly objected at first.  Mathias grew to like her, but the connection seemed tepid at best. I was hoping for emotional bonds that seeped into his human relationships.  Instead Mathias stays with his mantra of “people who were supposed to love you betrayed you”.

Mathias’ relationship with his brother Ronan is strained, and there was really no movement with that.  Hi relationship with his parents was bad from the beginning and no change through the story. His father was a narcissistic jackass, bullying his sons.  Trying to undermine their confidence for his own ego.  His mother wasn’t any better. Yeah, she was nice on the surface, but a classic enabler. I lost complete respect when she defended her husband’s obviously horrid behavior toward their boys.  So, Mathias’ relationship with them was a frustrating addition to the story.

The romance between Mathias and Carol was underwhelming.  I didn’t feel their connection, no sparks, no sexual tension or build-up, IMO.  I wasn’t sure what it was about Carol that was supposed to change Mathias from a bridesmaid-hopping-manwhore into a committed in-love guy.  She was nice and all that, but I wasn’t moved by their “passion”.  Also, I detest relationship drama late in the story, at 87% it doesn’t give you much time to enjoy the couple sorted and happy. It also doesn’t give much time to forgive the characters for their stupidity.  Mathias needed to grovel, and yet Carol was the one stepping up to mend their fracture.  That does not inspire swooning.

I was excited by Violet’s, Carol’s sister, romance with an English Duke. It started out promising, but fizzled out quickly.  Still, I liked their romance better than Carol and Mathias’. 

I see a lot of love for Susan Mallery’s stories, so I want to believe that Second Chance Girl wasn’t her best writing. I haven't given up on her writing yet, but, this was just okay to me. 

 

Mini-reviews: Top Ten and Without Merit

Top Ten by Katie Cotugno
Publisher: Balzer + Bray 
Publication Date: October 3rd 2017
My rating: 2 stars 

Ryan McCullough and Gabby Hart are the unlikeliest of friends. Introverted, anxious Gabby would rather do literally anything than go to a party. Ryan is a star hockey player who can get any girl he wants—and does, frequently. But against all odds, they became not only friends, but each other’s favorite person. Now, as they face high school graduation, they can’t help but take a moment to reminisce and, in their signature tradition, make a top ten list—counting down the top ten moments of their friendship: 10. Where to begin? Maybe the night we met. 9. Then there was our awkward phase. 8. When you were in love with me but never told me… 7. Those five months we stopped talking were the hardest of my life. 6. Through terrible fights… 5. And emotional makeups. 4. You were there for me when I got my heart broken. 3. …but at times, you were also the one breaking it. 2. Above all, you helped me make sense of the world. 1. Now, as we head off to college—how am I possibly going to live without you?

I had such high hopes for Top Ten, seeing as I’d enjoyed Cotugno’s previous books, but sadly Top Ten was such a disappointing read for me. The beginning of the book I actually enjoyed, best friends Ryan and Gabby find themselves over their heads one night, I don’t want to say too much and give it away, but the way things ended, I wanted to know what would happen next, as both Ryan and Gabby would be headed off to college, and with them being friends for so long, would their friendship be able to survive. But instead of continuing off from where things left off, Cotugno decided to give us alternate chapters over the course of the book, and I found this really confusing, the chapters were titled with which year they were focusing on, but the constant back and forth over the years of their friendship I didn’t like at all, I just wanted to find out what was going to happen after that one night. Unfortunately, Ryan and Gabby weren’t characters who kept me wanting to read this book either, I liked Gabby slightly more than Ryan, but I prefer characters which leave lasting impressions and this wasn’t the case with Ryan or Gabby.

Without Merit by Colleen Hoover
Publisher: Atria Books 
Publication Date: October 3rd 2017
my rating: 2 stars

Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness. The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit. Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix. Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.

Once again it seems like I’m the black sheep when it comes to Colleen Hoover’s books, ever since I loved November 9, I’ve been giving Hoover’s books a go, hoping there will be more of her books that I will end up loving, however once again this wasn’t the case for Without Merit. I know a lot of my friends liked this book, and I can understand their reasoning for it, Hoover does a good job of dealing and showing the many real life tough issues that people have to go through. Merit’s life wasn’t all fun and games and her family wasn’t your typical “everyone gets along” sort of family either. And of course, Merit’s family wasn’t the type to sit down and discuss their issues, Merit’s mother had secluded herself to their basement and never came out, Merit's dad's current wife and ex-wife were still living in the same house, there was the case of mistaken identity going on all the time with Merit and her twin Honor and on top of that there was all the stuff that some of the family members didn’t know about. So, you can say there was a lot of issues going on within this family and needed to be properly addressed, I guess you could say I found this a bit overwhelming at times. Like at the beginning, I enjoyed how the story kicked off, but as I got to know more of Merit’s family, the more I was put off from reading the story, which is a real shame, as this book in my eyes potentially could have been a brilliant read for me.

Mini-reviews: Bared to You by Sylvia Day and What A Light by Jay Asher

Bared to You by Sylvia Day
Publisher: Penguin UK
Publication Date: May 28th 2012
My rating: 3 stars.

Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness... He was beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I'd never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily... Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other's most private worlds...and desires. The bonds of his love transformed me, even as I prayed that the torment of our pasts didn't tear us apart...

Bared to You was a book which was really different to what I was expecting, I’d first got a copy of this book when everyone was jumping on the Fifty Shades bandwagon, but I just didn’t end up picking it up. I think the mood I’m currently in (reading all of the YA and NA books possible), I read Bared to You at the perfect time. There were some similarities with previous books I’d read and some of the decisions that our characters Gideon and Eva made did at times have me rolling my eyes, but I found myself highly addicted to the story. I needed to know Eva and Gideon’s respective background stories, why they were the way they were and how things would go down for them. I had my doubts at times whether they would make it as a couple, as they had to deal with so many obstacles thrown their way, but their feelings for one another, despite only knowing each other for a short period of time were believable to me. Also did I mention the scenes between Eva and Gideon were just hot! Although I had some issues with this book, this didn’t stop me from pre-ordering the next four books in the series, partway through reading this. I need more Eva and Gideon asap!

What A Light by Jay Asher
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: October 18th 2016.
My rating: 2 stars.

Sierra's family runs a Christmas tree farm in Oregon—it's a bucolic setting for a girl to grow up in, except that every year, they pack up and move to California to set up their Christmas tree lot for the season. So Sierra lives two lives: her life in Oregon and her life at Christmas. And leaving one always means missing the other. Until this particular Christmas, when Sierra meets Caleb, and one life eclipses the other. By reputation, Caleb is not your perfect guy: years ago, he made an enormous mistake and has been paying for it ever since. But Sierra sees beyond Caleb's past and becomes determined to help him find forgiveness and, maybe, redemption. As disapproval, misconceptions, and suspicions swirl around them, Caleb and Sierra discover the one thing that transcends all else: true love. What Light is a love story that's moving and life-affirming and completely unforgettable.

I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more maybe if I’d read it around Christmas. With Christmas being my favourite holiday and the Christmassy setting of this book I think it would have made it more of a magical and whimsical read for me. Nonetheless the gorgeous backdrop for this story really made this a beautiful story. I just wished I could have enjoyed it more, I think I just had a hard time connecting with our MC Sienna, I could understand how difficult it could be for her spending Christmas away from close friends back home, so that she could help with her family’s business. And then falling for a guy she didn’t know much about and the stuff she did know wasn’t that great and of course everyone was saying that a holiday romance wouldn’t be the best thing for her, as it would be difficult to maintain the relationship when she got back home. And like Sienna’s parents I did have my doubts about Caleb, we didn’t really know his complete back story until much later on, but as the story progressed I could see why Sienna had a hard time of resisting him, I would have a hard time saying no to those killer dimples! But also Caleb was a genuinely nice guy, once you got past all the judgements and assumptions people were making of him. I just wished that I could have enjoyed this one more, as I loved Caleb, Sienna’s friendship with Heather and her relationship with her parents was done really well too. I just felt as if parts were rushed too much, I know Caleb and Sienna didn’t have a long time to spend with each other and I think that just as a constant reminder, didn’t really make their relationship as believable as I wanted it to be. Also as I mentioned before I just didn’t click with Sienna’s character either, and forming this relationship with the MC usually plays a pivotal part in allowing me to enjoy a book that much more. But don’t let my review put you off from giving this book a go, as I know many readers who thoroughly enjoyed it and Asher’s writing was just beautiful!

Review: The Shadow Queen by C.J Redwine

The Shadow Queen by C.J Redwine
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: February 16th 2016.
My Rating: 2 stars 

Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen. In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman…and bring her Lorelai’s heart. But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.

What is going in this year with me and books I’ve been highly anticipating for ages? The Shadow Queen was a book I couldn’t wait to gobble up after hearing about it in a few months back, being in the lacklustre book run I had been in it sounded exactly what I needed: a kickass MC, an unexpected romance, and a fierce battle between individuals, one trying to remain in control and one trying to gain back what was rightfully hers. And don’t get me wrong The Shadow Queen started off wonderfully with perspectives from Lorelai, Kol and Irina I was hooked, also despite getting perspectives from these characters we were still in the dark about the full extent to what the characters would go (or be forced against their will) in order to remain in control.

Irina was a right piece of work, she had everything but still this wasn’t enough for her, she wouldn’t stop until she had killed her stepdaughter Lorelai. But being powerful as she was, she also had her weaknesses, her power could only go on for so long and in order to reserve her energy, the perfect strategy falls into her lap: use Kol as a huntsman to track Lorelai down. I did like this retelling aspect and with me also sort of knowing how things would end I was eager to find out how our characters would deal with the numerous obstacles thrown in their way. I admired Lorelai and her fierceness, how nine years later she was still trying to keep her promise to her father, to keep her brother safe and avenge Irina for all the destruction she had caused. But at times I was unsure whether Lorelai would be able to do it as Irina would never give up, destroying everything that would come in her way. Despite starting off great, I found my concentration waning in the second half. I did like the introduction of Kol and his interactions with Lorelai, but aspects of the story just got a bit too farfetched for my liking that I found myself skimming over a lot of the second half of the book. I also didn’t care for the characters after a while. Yes I wanted Irina to be put in her place, but the gusto and brilliance that The Shadow Queen started off with lost its spark with me. Which is a real shame as I adored Redwine’s books in the past; her writing has always had a great ability to get me lost in a world wind of her incredible world building skills. But alas The Shadow Queen was not meant to be.

Review: Better than Perfect by Melissa Kantor

Better than Perfect by Melissa Kantor
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: February 26th 2015
My rating: 2 stars 

Juliet Newman has it all. A picture-perfect family; a handsome, loving boyfriend; and a foolproof life plan: ace her SATs, get accepted into Harvard early decision, and live happily ever after. But when her dad moves out and her mom loses it, Juliet begins questioning the rules she's always lived by. And to make everything even more complicated there's Declan, the gorgeous boy who makes her feel alive and spontaneous—and who's totally off-limits. Torn between the life she always thought she wanted and one she never knew was possible, Juliet begins to wonder: What if perfect isn't all it's cracked up to be?

Kantor’s Maybe One Day was one of my favourite reads last year, Kantor’s beautiful writing and characters just struck a chord with me that I had the book on my mind for weeks and months after, I thought this would be the case with Better than Perfect too, although I was mesmerised by Kantor’s gorgeous writing once again, I had a tough time connecting with the characters.

First there was our MC Juliet, she had a gorgeous boyfriend in Jason, she had a lovely home, a doting mother and if she continued to study hard she would be on track for Harvard early action. But everything changes one night when her mother is rushed to hospital and Juliet decides to live on edge for the night and ends up kissing somebody else. I could see why Juliet wanted to get lost for the moment with everything coming down around her, but she knew it would be something she would look back on and regret, especially the way she left things with this guy too and you know how things come back to bite you in the bum? Well this happened in the most awkward way possible for Juliet. I know Juliet had a lot to deal with but it seemed like for most of everything going on around her she had blinkers on, okay so maybe she didn’t know her mum had a drinking problem and an addiction to medication, but I found it hilarious when her brother was shocked to inform her that her parents had been attending counselling sessions and not date night once a week as Juliet had assumed. Also with the love triangle in this book, I kind of knew who I liked from the beginning and who Juliet should have picked, I wished that she didn’t dally about for the ¾’s of the book and did the character change of one of these guys really have to be necessary? Also Juliet and her boyfriend had a habit of calling each other the same nick name “J”, which really began to gripe on me, couldn’t they just call each other by their full names, as it didn’t come across to me as cute at all.

I think Juliet for me was my biggest flaw in this book, I wanted to know how things would end up for her and who she would pick in the end, but I wasn’t able to form that connection with her that I had hoped. Jason too was another character who didn’t work for me, he came across a super sweet in the beginning, but then just became this really irritating guy who was constantly on Juliet’s case, and he eventually did make it easy for Juliet to decide who she wanted to be with.

I feel like I’ve complained throughout this entire review, which isn’t something that I wanted to do. Because even though Jason and Juliet were characters that didn’t work for me, there were some that made this book worth it and that was Declan and his family, they were pretty cool in how they accepted Juliet for who she was and didn’t really try to change her. The scenes with Declan’s family were ones that I did eagerly anticipate, as their quirkiness was hard to resist. And like I mentioned earlier Kantor’s writing is just beautiful, she writes the difficult scenes that a lot of characters had to deal with really well and it was largely because of her writing that I read this book to the very end, it’s just a shame that I wasn’t able to enjoy it more. Despite this being the case, I still will be looking forward to giving Kantor’s future books a go.

Review: Famous in Love by Rebecca Serle

Famous in Love by Rebecca Serle
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Publication Date: October 23rd 2014
My rating: 2 stars

She fell in love with him in the books - now she has the chance to star opposite him in the film . . . Paige doesn't think she's particularly special, but after getting the starring role in a massive film adaptation of the bestselling Locked trilogy, the rest of the world would disagree. Now she's thrown into the spotlight, and into a world of gossip, rumour and deceit. The only people who know what she's going through are her two male co-stars, and they can't stand the sight of each other. Paige knows it's a mistake to fall in love on the set of a movie, but days of on-screen romance and intensity start to change her mind. The question is, can she keep what happens behind the scenes a secret when the world is watching her every move?

Imagine finally getting your chance to shine, after little bit parts, getting that massive role which will thrust you in the limelight. This is what happens to Paige, she ends up auditioning for one of the roles for a book to movie adaption and ends up getting the part. She’s whisked off immediately to Hawaii to start filming, leaving behind her family and best friends and gets to work on set with heart throb actor Rainer. Rainer has been an actor from a young age, so he knows what’s it like, how to deal with fans and having paparazzi constantly buzzing around you, misinterpreting images of you. This is Paige’s first big chance, so she’s not had to deal with this before, but Paige was great, she wasn’t one of those people who let the limelight immediately go to her head. She actually struggled to become the actress that everyone wanted her to be, she felt isolated from everyone else, her best friends were back home doing who knows what and she didn’t really have the confidence in herself, she didn’t realise the reason she was cast was because she was that good.

When it came to the potential love interest I really didn’t know what to think, even though he seemed genuinely nice, I didn’t feel that his feelings for Paige were truly genuine. One minute he would be mucking around with Paige and the next he’d be sharing deep feelings for her. Don’t get me wrong, he was really a nice character, but probably not my favourite character. Then there was the other potential love interest, who I actually was really intrigued about, he wasn’t the big actor everyone loved, but he really kept himself to himself, when he did open up, I was kind of left wanting to know more about him, he was at times down to earth and quite humble, despite this whole different story being created about him. Also when he was around Paige I could feel the tension between them, and the desire they felt for one another that could take them who knows where if they would act upon these feelings!

The love triangle could be tiresome at times, especially when these three characters were together, it did at times bring out the obnoxious side to some characters and so the reason I much preferred it when two characters were together instead. Also I was actually really interested in whole making the movie storyline, I liked learning about everything that went into making a movie in the first place, how it wasn’t as easy as everyone assumed, seeing  photo shoots take place, how lovely it could be away on set. And I even wanted to know what would happen to the characters in the book that made this book to movie adaption happen in the first place (the book series the movie had been was a roaring success, it featured a love triangle, and fans would finally find out, who the character would end up choosing in the final book) but details like these were skipped upon and a love triangle ended up happening on set too!

Serle is certainly one talented author, this story was written beautifully and that is one of the main reasons I ended up reading until the very last page. Famous in Love was not one of my favourite reads maybe because I was expecting a lot more, but ended up being bothered by a few frustrating decisions or actions that some characters made. However I’m still willing to give Serle’s books another go, here’s hoping I’ll end up enjoying them even more.

Review: Talon by Julie Kagawa

Talon by Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication date: October 28th 2014
My rating: 2 stars 

Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they're positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser. Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught. As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George. Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon's newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey: and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember's bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him: and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons.

The last dragon themed book that I read and loved was Seraphina, I loved the world and character’s that Hartman created and her world building was fantastic. So when I heard about Talon I was beyond excited. The beginning actually started out really great too, Kagawa did a fantastic job at setting the back story of this world; dragons have been hunted by order of St. George for as long as anyone could remember. The men of St. George have been trained to track down and kill down any dragons, but what they never expected was one of their own men to fall for one of the enemies.

When Ember and her brother Dante move to the area, all they want to do is fit in, no one so more than Ember, yes she knows she has to remain under cover, fit in as much as possible and of course remain loyal to Talon. But the more time Ember spends with other humans and of course the rogue dragon Riley the more she realises that there’s much more to life than Talon. But her brother is all she has, she doesn’t want to leave him to Talon, but what choice does she have? Kagawa once again did a brilliant job in getting you stuck in with the story. We wanted Ember to succeed in her disguise around humans, to keep her temper in check and as we didn’t know much about the order of St George I couldn’t wait for Garret’s arrival and for things to kick off. And whilst at the beginning I was all for whatever was developing between Ember and Garrett, it became a bit too obvious and forbidden for my liking. Yes Ember was a dragon and shouldn’t be falling for a human being, but she couldn’t help herself and yes Garrett knew from the beginning (which was another thing which rubbed me the wrong way), that Ember could be his target, but he decided to keep it undercover for way too long. Usually I’m all for forbidden relationships, but in my eyes Ember and Garrett fell for each other way too quickly. Yes in parts their relationship was sweet, but still I didn’t find myself completely behind them. And then when Kagawa decided to add a third component to this already strange relationship, it made me even less concerned with what was going down in this book. How quickly could Ember shift her feelings, I was totally baffled when this person even became a potential love interest as I always saw him as a friend. And then when we were given his pov too in the middle of the book, that made me even more confused.

All in all I was left slightly disappointed with Talon; it had the great potential to actually deliver an interesting start to what could have been a great series. But sadly I don’t think this will be one series I will be returning to.

Review: Royally Lost by Angie Stanton

Royally Lost by Angie Stanton
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication date: May 6th 2014
My rating: DNF/ 2 stars 

Dragged on a family trip to Europe’s ancient cities, Becca wants nothing more than to go home. Trapped with her emotionally distant father, over-eager stepmother, and a brother who only wants to hook up with European hotties, Becca is miserable. That is until she meets Nikolai, a guy as mysterious as he is handsome. And she unknowingly finds herself with a runaway prince. Nikolai has everything a guy could ask for-he's crown prince, heir to the throne, and girls adore him. But the one thing he doesn't have...is freedom. Staging a coup, he flees his kingdom and goes undercover on his own European tour. When Nikolai and Becca meet, it’s their differences that draw them together. Sparks fly as they share a whirlwind of adventures, all the while dodging his royal guard. But Becca's family vacation ends in a matter of days. Will Nikolai and Becca be forced to say goodbye forever, will his destiny catch up to him, or will they change history forever?

DNF at 29%

Royally Lost gave the vibe of being a fun book filled with adventure and a sweet romance. Instead what I got was insta love and a bunch of control freak parents. Becca was forced on trip around Europe with her dad, step mum and brother, on what was meant to be a chance for the family to get to know one another and spend quality time. Becca can’t stand her step mum and her dad never seems to have time for her, so they begin this trip on the wrong step already. Then we have Becca’s brother who can be useful at times, at pulling Becca out of quality family time, but then he never seems to be spending time with the family in the first place. I did feel for Becca, her boyfriend had dumped her on graduation and everyone knew about it and then she has to spend time with family who clearly didn’t act like one. But if I had the chance to visit Europe and all these gorgeous places, I would definitely be making the most of it, despite who I was forced to hang around with. But Becca didn’t really see it that way, but as a sort of punishment, that is until she meets her dream guy in Nikolai.

Through fate Nikolai and Becca end up at the same places in the Europe at the same time, both have one thing in common to get away from their families and experience some freedom. With Nikolai it’s perfectly understandable, he’s a prince and has a lot of pressure and expectations put on him, so running away and being someone else for the day could be a refreshing thing for him. Of course as soon as he sees Becca, she’s the most beautiful person he’s ever seen. The same goes for Becca without saying. This insta love really wasn’t for me, I know Becca had a bad break up, but Becca was quick to fall for this guy she knew nothing about, at one point when they’d arranged to meet in the next city, she ended up waiting 3 hours for him, before realising that he wouldn’t be turning up! Who waits three hours for someone? And then after that all she could do was pine over him and what could have been.

I really am gutted that I ended up dropping this book really early on, but as the book progressed I was easily able to see that Nikolai and Becca would be characters that wouldn’t be for me. 

Review: The Taking by Kimberly Derting

The Taking by Kimberly Derting
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication date: April 29th 2014
My rating: DNF/2 stars

A flash of white light . . . and then . . . nothing. When sixteen-year-old Kyra Agnew wakes up behind a Dumpster at the Gas ’n’ Sip, she has no memory of how she got there. With a terrible headache and a major case of déjà vu, she heads home only to discover that five years have passed . . . yet she hasn’t aged a day. Everything else about Kyra’s old life is different. Her parents are divorced, her boyfriend, Austin, is in college and dating her best friend, and her dad has changed from an uptight neat-freak to a drunken conspiracy theorist who blames her five-year disappearance on little green men. Confused and lost, Kyra isn’t sure how to move forward unless she uncovers the truth. With Austin gone, she turns to Tyler, Austin’s annoying kid brother, who is now seventeen and who she has a sudden undeniable attraction to. As Tyler and Kyra retrace her steps from the fateful night of her disappearance, they discover strange phenomena that no one can explain, and they begin to wonder if Kyra’s father is not as crazy as he seems. There are others like her who have been taken . . . and returned. Kyra races to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had, but what if the life she wants back is not her own?

DNF at 70%

The Taking was one of those books which I went into with really high expectations, but it ended up being bit a of a disappointment. Just by reading the blurb, anyone would want to give this book a try; memory loss, kidnappings and unexplained disappearances. And whilst The Taking did start off by winning me over in the first few pages, it kind of petered off into something that I really wasn’t enjoying. Kyra has it all, a great family and she’s about to go off to college with her awesome boyfriend. But then she ends up getting into an argument with her dad and running away, all she can remember after that is a bright light and then waking up in the Gas n’ Sip five years later. I was intrigued what could have happened to Kyra, as time would tell Kyra seemed pretty much the same in the five years since she went missing, but everything else had turned into a train wreck around her. I did feel sorry for Kyra, everyone she knew had moved on, her parents had separated, her mother had got together with somebody else and had a child with him, her dad was no longer the strong figurative father that he used to be and her boyfriend had got together with her best friend. Seriously this is the thing that miffed me the most, why does this always have to happen? How many thousands of girls could there be living in their town, but Austin Kyra’s boyfriend decides to get together with his girlfriend’s best friend Cat instead. Then to top it all off, Kyra falls for Austin’s brother Tyler!! Seriously, okay Tyler was a sweet enough guy and had apparently been in love with Kyra forever, but still. 

Okay so swapping boyfriends aside, despite being annoyed by this, I found myself invested in finding out what had happened with Kyra, why was she still the same, (she still had a bruise from five years ago and an x-ray at the dentists showed her teeth were exactly the same too, even the crack in her tooth from five years ago). There were a lot of conspiracy theories flying about; her dad had thrown himself into research for the last five years looking for an answer. And I did want to know what was going on, but I think it just took too long getting there. I’m one of those readers that doesn’t DNF a book that often and instead tell myself to read another 10% and maybe something will happen, I always have that thought at the back of my head that by giving up now, I’ll probably miss out on something major just around the corner. And that’s exactly what I did with The Taking; I decided to continue reading a bit more, hoping that we would get a better insight into what was going on with Kyra. Instead we got random people lurking about claiming to know what was going on but never really explaining anything. Or Kyra being in constant denial about her feelings for Tyler! It’s a shame really as I really did want to know how things would end. But the more I read the more frustrated I became.