Blog tour: Over the edge–Suzanne carroll May 23, 2013

Over The edge

Suzanne Carroll

The Writer’s Coffee Shop Publishing House

Pub Date: May 9 2013

My rating:

 

In six weeks Zoe Harper will marry Dan Costi in an over-the-top Sydney society wedding, complete with fire-eaters and belly dancers. But when she receives an unexpected gift from her future mother-in-law, Zoe realizes she’s making a huge mistake. In a blazing sidewalk argument, she breaks up with her fiancé, and his mother—who has joined the fight via conference call.

Following the advice of friends and co-workers, along with some inspiration from late-night-television self-help guru Dr. Pam, Zoe sets out to find the life she thinks she should be living. Always a planner, she makes a list of goals: travel, career, tattoos, and no romantic entanglements. It’s all carefully laid out, until she meets Angus Creed.

Angus is supposed to lead the opening waltz at a charity ball in New York City. Only problem is the handsome billionaire construction magnate with the tabloid past can’t dance. Not one step.

Tainted by gossip and with a well-publicized failed engagement behind him, Angus has become a master at keeping an emotional distance. Until he meets Zoe.

What starts as dancing lessons, slowly becomes something more. Angus begins to let down his guard and open his heart, even when his past makes an unexpected and unwelcome return. As Zoe discovers the real man behind the headlines, she questions where her new choices are taking her. Her goals look good on paper, but are they what she really wants? And by the time she realizes where her heart lies, will it be too late?

 

 

I really liked this book which you probably have already deducted from my rating. It wasn’t the usual light-hearted romance, there was some real substance in this book. There are just so many things in this book that makes it so great that it’s hard for me to single things out. Let’s just say I like everything about this book and this is what romance novels should be like. So if you were aspiring to become an author in this genre, pick up this book and take note.

 

Zoe was a great main character, Dan Costi is a douche if there ever was one and Angus is perfectly dreamy. But none of these characters were perfect, they were all very well rounded and weren’t over the top. Especially in romance novels this is something that can happen with the characters which makes it sort of boring at times. But not this time! And though they played a smaller part in the book, I really loved the mix of co-workers in the book. they each had their role to play in the story and did it well.

 

The main thing that just hooked me on this novel is that it’s not about a girl/woman who drops everything for a guy. It’s a story about her finding out who she is after getting out of a relationship. Yes there’s a guy involved, but I think she goes about it pretty smart, or at least as smart as you can be when there are loving feelings involved. Another thing that made me happy is that she breaks up with her fiancé without having met Angus.

 

In Short: A refreshing romance that is centred more about finding your own centre before you focus on love. It was a great story precisely because of that. It was nice to read about a girl who didn’t just upturn her world because of a guy. She made the smart move and gave herself enough time to find out what she really wanted from life. And we all know it’s easier to do that when you are not deciding how you feel about a certain someone.

 

 

Let me tell you a bit more about the author:

 

 

Suzanne lives in Sydney with her husband and children.
By day she works in an office where she sneakily scribbles
plot ideas on yellow sticky notes and hopes they don’t
accidentally end up on the departmental monthly report.

One such sticky note has turned into her first novel, Over the Edge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you interested in buying this book? You can do that here !

Beautiful Redemption -Kami Garcia , Margie Stohl May 20, 2013

Beautiful Redemption

Kami Garcia , Margie Stohl

Little Brown

Pub Date: Oct 18 2011

 

 

 

 

My rating:

Is death the end . . . or only the beginning?
Ethan Wate has spent most of his life longing to escape the stiflingly small Southern town of Gatlin. He never thought he would meet the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes, who unveiled a secretive, powerful, and cursed side of Gatlin, hidden in plain sight. And he never could have expected that he would be forced to leave behind everyone and everything he cares about. So when Ethan awakes after the chilling events of the Eighteenth Moon, he has only one goal: to find a way to return to Lena and the ones he loves.

Back in Gatlin, Lena is making her own bargains for Ethan’s return, vowing to do whatever it takes — even if that means trusting old enemies or risking the lives of the family and friends Ethan left to protect.

Worlds apart, Ethan and Lena must once again work together to rewrite their fate, in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series.

 

So after that ending we were all excited to see what would happen next. And lots of things happened in this book, that much is true. But I wasn’t wild about it. There was some cool stuff going on, but I just felt as if things went just a bit too easy. In general this book is just so different from its predecessors. Now we have a part from Lena’s point of view too, which was to be expected seeing as they are so far away from each other. If they hadn’t switched it up we would have missed half of the story.

 

The characters were still pretty much how we left them in Beautiful Chaos. Ethan and Lena’s love was still going strong even though they were so far away from each other. Ridley and Link were still trading quips every time they got the chance. Liv was still as boring as she had become since meeting John Breed. And let’s not forget about Amma who has a very emotional moment with Ethan. Yet again we have a bit of the “let’s not tell anyone important about the things that are going on because that might make things easier” stuff and as I mentioned in my review of Beautiful Chaos, this is not something I’m a fan of. After all they have been through they should have just been honest and things might have gone better.

 

I guess the one thing that irked me the most about this book is the fact that things just went far too easily. There were lots of challenges to overcome, yet instead of mountains they were just tiny hills apparently. This made me very sad. There were lots of cool challenges ahead and I kept thinking about how on earth they would overcome these huge problems. And then the bad guys pretty much throw in the white towel before the game even starts.  Every single time! This was a major let down in my opinion. They could have had fewer challenges and worked them out better. Nope, instead they have the “I’ll just wing it”-approach and it works every time. How convenient.

 

There were definitely some parts of the book which I did like, some of the new characters we meet are very interesting. And I really did like the idea of the challenges that Ethan and Lena had to face. But for me this book was the least good of the whole series. It just could have been so much more and I expected more as well. So yes, I was slightly disappointed. But I’m really not saying this book isn’t good, it’s a nice conclusion to the story. It ties up the loose ends and it was a pretty satisfying ending(though the ending was anything but unexpected to me).

 

So if you have read the other books in the series I really do recommend that you read this book, it’s a nice last book in the series. And who can stop right before the last book anyway?

 

Synopsis and image taken from Goodreads

Ink – Amanda Sun May 16, 2013

Ink (Paper Gods #1)

Amanda Sun

Harlequin

Pub Date: Jul 5 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

My rating:

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.

 

This book was absolutely amazing; I was just blown away by it. I was sucked into the story almost immediately, mostly because I was just so interested in the Japanese culture. I never knew I was so interested in it, but once I started reading about it, I found out that I definitely was. This book didn’t take very long for me to finish because I was so into the story. And can I just mention that I really love this cover! It’s completely gorgeous and ties in great with the story.

 

Katie was a great character to have as a narrator, this way we could see the Japanese culture through the eyes of a foreigner or “Gaijin”. This was great seeing as I myself, and I imagine lots of other readers too, are foreign to this culture. I love her friends as well but I think I like Tomohiro the best of all the characters. He had such a complex personality which made it a lot of fun to read about him. And the dialogue between him and Katie was always very entertaining. Jun was also a great character but I’m not sure I liked him as much by the ending as I did in the beginning. He seemed a bit too radical perhaps.

 

The pace in this book was pretty high, but not too high that you couldn’t stop to smell the proverbial roses once in a while. It just moved along quite nicely and never felt too slow. There was always one thing or another to keep you entertained, be it a funny conversation, a horrible culture clash or a bit of romantic feelings. The writing was very good and I especially appreciated the Japanese that was thrown in, this really made the book feel a lot more realistic. It also did a great job of making you never forget where this story was taking place. From the writing it’s pretty obvious that the author has been in Japan herself and that she did a lot of research on top of that. I really admire this because even though I myself know nothing about Japan, others might, and then the book still holds its own. The storyline itself was a lot of fun, there was always a lot going on and I liked how the Kami concept was introduced and how it built up. It never gave away everything at once, but gave you just enough to want to know more. The ending wasn’t extremely unexpected, but still very exciting. It was also a clear set-up for a sequel and I could not want to read it more!

 

This book is great for anyone who likes reading book set in a completely different culture. But it’s also great for people who love a good YA paranormal book with a romantic touch.

 

Synopsis and image taken from Goodreads.

Dream Dark & Beautiful Chaos – Kami Garcia , Margie Stohl May 13, 2013

Dream Dark

Kami Garcia , Margie Stohl

Little Brown

Pub Date: Aug 2 2011

 

 

 

 

My rating:

When Link joined his best friend, Ethan Wate, on a quest through a mysterious network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, he knew the journey would be dangerous. But returning home to Gatlin, South Carolina was just the beginning…

Wounded during a climactic battle, Link discovers that tending his injuries won’t be as simple as visiting a doctor and that healing his arm should be the least of his worries. For being bitten by a Supernatural does more than break the skin — it changes a person, inside and out, turning Link into someone more and more like the dark creature who injured him.

In this never-before-seen short story by New York Times bestselling authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, listeners witness Link’s heart-racing transformation. Dream Dark is set before the much-anticipated third Beautiful Creatures novel, Beautiful Chaos, and as a special bonus includes an exclusive sneak peek at the first five chapters.

 

This isn’t the first novella I’ve read and what I’ve learned so far is that I’m not the greatest fan of these novellas. Admittedly I only read series with novellas after the facts (so every book in the series is already published)which means that I don’t have to wait in between the other books, so that might make them slightly unnecessary. But I do have to say that in general it always leaves me wanting more. The sneak peak must have been nice as well for the readers who were stuck in the drought between “beautiful darkness” and “beautiful chaos”, but once again, this was not me. “

 

The fact that this story follows Link did make up for the length in my eyes. He is one of my favourite characters from the series and I loved following him for a while. Even though it was very short, I found it entertaining. I enjoyed following the transformation up close and personal. We get more insight into Link’s daily life and follow his new self-discovery. But both are over in a flash! And let’s be honest, we are just getting a few glimpses of situations here and nothing even close to a full story.

 

Another let-down was that this book was told from Ethan’s point of view. Ok, it focuses on Link, but it’s still Ethan narrating the story, and I would have just wanted it to be Link. It would have been even funnier that way, I just know it.  But you know, the length is also an upside in a way. It is such a quick read that even if you weren’t that into it, you can just continue right away with the next book.

 

At the end of the day you should pick this up if you’re a really great fan of the series, but don’t worry if you skip it. The series stands on its own and doesn’t rely on any information from the novella. Sometimes it will hint to some events in here, but never all that detailed.

Beautiful Chaos

Kami Garcia , Margie Stohl

Little Brown

Pub Date: Oct 18 2011

 

 

 

 

 

My rating:

Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena’s Claiming. Even Lena’s family of powerful Supernaturals is affected – and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What – or who – will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?

For Ethan, the chaos is a frightening but welcome distraction. He’s being haunted in his dreams again, but this time it isn’t by Lena – and whatever is haunting him is following him out of his dreams and into his everyday life. Even worse, Ethan is gradually losing pieces of himself – forgetting names, phone numbers, even memories. He doesn’t know why, and most days he’s too afraid to ask.

Sometimes there isn’t just one answer or one choice. Sometimes there’s no going back. And this time there won’t be a happy ending.

 

I really liked the apocalyptical stuff, I can’t deny it. especially in this religious Southern town, it was just very fun to witness. And it was just great how these were all the consequences of Lena’s Claiming. It just makes it that more serious that all these problems can be linked back to Lena. What was supposed to make her happy just turned everything into a big mess back in Gatlin. You can only begin to imagine how that must feel for her! And it’s not just Lena having a tough time, everyone is. Some more than others, but no one is really spared of troubles.

 

The characters were great again in this book. I loved how the whole dynamic between Link and Ridley changed, I loved how Amma shifted her concentration and focussed even more on Ethan. But I am getting a bit over the whole Ethan and Lena relationship. And don’t even talk to me about Liv and how that ends up. I was disappointed that she was just shoved aside pretty much and had turned into a shadow of the girl she once was.  And over some of the character interaction in general. I just found it so annoying that everyone kept having all these secrets! Why can’t they just talk to each other? After all they went through together, can’t they just talk openly?

 

Let’s talk about the setting for a minute as well. It’s still as Southern as ever and that is part of why I enjoy these books so much. This is still one of the points that keep pulling me into the story, even if the pacing got a bit slow. Because let’s be honest, at times it did. It can be said that not a lot of things happened in this book and for me it could have definitely been a bit shorter.

 

The ending took a long time to arrive, especially since I saw it coming too! I had guessed it quite a while back and was just waiting for them to figure it out. That took quite long as well and I felt none of the happiness I usually feel when guessing the ending. Yes it was a cliffhanger and it was leading right to the next book in the series. In a way I don’t mind cliffhangers, but this was obvious so it did bother me a bit.

 

Being honest with you guys I have to admit that after just having finished reading this book I rated it five stars on Goodreads. But while writing this review (and preparing for this review as well) I started thinking more and more about it and finding things I was disappointed by. It actually pains me to say that I found enough things that bugged me that I docked a star for them. I still liked the book but there were definitely some things that could have been different/better.

 

 

Synopsis and image taken from Goodreads

Geek Girl -Holly Smale May 9, 2013

Geek Girl

Holly Smale

HarperCollins Children’s Books

Pub Date: Feb 28 2013

 

 

 

My rating:

Harriet Manners knows a lot of things.

She knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, a "jiffy" lasts 1/100th of a second, and the average person laughs 15 times per day. What she isn’t quite so sure about is why nobody at school seems to like her very much. So when she’s spotted by a top model agent, Harriet grabs the chance to reinvent herself. Even if it means stealing her Best Friend’s dream, incurring the wrath of her arch enemy Alexa, and repeatedly humiliating herself in front of the impossibly handsome supermodel Nick. Even if it means lying to the people she loves.

As Harriet veers from one couture disaster to the next with the help of her overly enthusiastic father and her uber-geeky stalker, Toby, she begins to realise that the world of fashion doesn’t seem to like her any more than the real world did.

And as her old life starts to fall apart, the question is: will Harriet be able to transform herself before she ruins everything?

This is my general feeling about the book/ movie

 

This book was just an absolute hoot. I had so much fun reading this book, it’s hard to explain. And in fact I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy reading this book before I ever started. I had heard a lot of good things about this book from people, but I’ve also seen some mediocre ratings of this book. And I guess I weighed the average ratings more than the better ones. But it was very foolish of me to do so, because I really enjoyed this book. It actually made me laugh out loud at times, which is something I rarely do while reading.

 

The characters were amazing. They were just so much fun to read about! I really liked Harriet, she was clever, funny and a bit awkward. It was such a nicely balanced mix of characteristics. She was not always awkward that it got painful or boring, she was never trying too hard to be funny, and het cleverness just shone through in a really enjoyable way (at least for me as a reader). I was also a really big fan of Harriet’s father as a character in the book, and Toby as well. Actually, all of the characters in the book spoke to me in one way or another which was really enjoyable.

 

Though it was not the most realistical of storylines, it was a highly enjoyable one. The story read very smoothly and though a lot of these things happened in a very short time span, which makes this story even more improbable, it also kept the reading pace very high. All the way through this book you want to know how Harriet handles the next step in this crazy adventure and how she will deal with an upcoming crisis. The only little downside of the book was that I found the ending to be pretty abrupt. In a way I didn’t mind, because I liked it. On the other had the book was just suddenly done. But I couldn’t find it in me to only give this book four stars just because of that, so a five star rating it is! And it has to be said, I really liked the moral of this book. It might not be the most original one out there, but it definitely sends a great message out to young girls (the prime audience for this book).

 

Even though I was perhaps a little outside of the intended reader demographic for this book, I still found it highly enjoyable and really do recommend it to anyone who feels like reading about a geeky girl who falls head over heals into an adventure she never dreamed she’d be in. If the synopsis speaks to you in any sort of way, please do pick up this book and let me know how you felt about it!

 

The synopsis and the image were taken from Goodreads.