Beyond the Rising Tide Tour

Beyond the Rising Tide by Sarah Beard Kai met Avery only once--in the moment he died saving her life. Now when he's not using his new healing powers to help people, he watches helplessly as Avery's life is unraveled by his death. To help her, he risks everything by breaking the rules, dangerously blurring the barriers between life and death.

  Praise for the Book “Vividly imagined, this novel is the perfect mix of modern love story and literary fiction. One brimming with genuine emotion that had me re-reading passages simply because they were too beautifully written to experience just once.” --Julie N. Ford, author of With No Regrets 

“This book is not only an engaging and satisfying supernatural romance, but also a beautiful story about life, death, and the gray places in between.” --E.B. Wheeler, author of The Haunting of Springett Hall

"This is one of those stories that stays with you long after the closing scene. It was beautifully imagined and vividly written and I absolutely loved it!” --Teresa Richards, author of Emerald Bound

 

My Review

Rating: 4

I was definitely intrigued from the very beginning. A great imagining of the afterlife and the things that drive our souls. Kai was a wonderful and definitely a swoony hero. It took some time for Avery to grow on me and that was okay. She frustrated me, but in a way that drove me to see how she changed and grew. Her motivation for not talking about what happened to her wasn't always clear to me, but made it harder to like her. There was a point where I felt like the story went off the rails a bit, but I think it had more to do with what I expected from a storyline. A good book that kept me flipping the pages faster and faster as I got to the end.

Content: 

Sex - 1+ (Kissing and other descriptions of physical affection.)

Violence - 2 (Fights are described as well as deaths and an character who accidentally overdoses.)

Language - 0

Overall Content Rating - PG-13 for mature themes and issues.

Excerpts 

Avery

My mind retraces the past few months, all the conversations Tyler and I have had, the words we’ve said and haven’t said, all stemming from one incident, one day. And then I’m thrown back to that afternoon, back into the ocean and the cold, roiling waves. I feel them around me, tossing me this way and that, pounding over my head like a stampede of wild horses. I feel the salt stinging my eyes and see the abyss below me in the moment I dove under to find the boy. I saw him there, motionless and suspended in the deep, just out of reach. Just out of reach. My face feels hot, and I can’t breathe. But I keep my panic cloaked beneath my skin. A violent earthquake rattles my insides, but I tense my muscles, holding it in, restraining it, refusing to let it show. I dig my nails into my arm, anchoring them there, anchoring me into stillness, and I focus all my attention on the present physical pain in my arm. Kai’s hand reaches for mine. His touch stills my insides, draws out the tremors as though they’re water and he’s a sponge.

     * * *

Sarah Beard is the author of YA novels Porcelain Keys and Beyond the Rising Tide. She earned a degree in communications from the University of Utah and is currently pursuing an MFA in writing from VCFA. When she's not writing, she referees wrestling matches between her three boys and listens to audiobooks while folding self-replicating piles of laundry. She is a breast cancer survivor, a baker of sweets, a seeker of good love stories, a composer of melancholy music, and a traveler who wishes her travel budget was much bigger. She lives with her husband and children in the shadow of the beautiful Wasatch Mountains.

Website * Twitter * Facebook

Blog Tour Giveaway $25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Ends 8/1/16 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.   a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: CODE NAME VERITY by Elizabeth Wein

From Amazon: Oct. 11th, 1943-A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun.

When "Verity" is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn't stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she's living a spy's worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.

As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage, failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy? 

A Michael L. Printz Award Honor book that was called "a fiendishly-plotted mind game of a novel" in The New York Times, Code Name Verity is a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that shows just how far true friends will go to save each other.

Genre: Historical

Audience: Young Adult (?) (It's listed in Amazon under Teens>Historical Fiction. I can't remember if it states Verity and Maddie's ages, but I believe they're in their late teens.)

Length: 368 pgs

Rating: 5 

Review: There was a point in the book where I was considering giving 3.5 to 4 stars for this. The writing was exquisite, very much so. I felt sort of like I did when reading Matched by Allie Condie--that technically this book deserved a very high rating, but I wasn't connecting. Then BAM. I connected. And I wanted to go back through those parts I wasn't connecting on and reread them. I have a bachelors degree in history and I spent the better part of my time earning that learning about World War II and spent some semesters specifically studying women's roles in WWII, so this is so obviously up my alley. While I was reading it, it made me want so hard to be able to write what seemed like effortless sentences in this book, but what I know is very talented word crafting. Where all of them mattered. So. Well. Done. And all the feelings, of course. There's very little you can say about this book without giving things away. This book. 

Content:

Sex - 1 (Some innuendo. Minor things.)

Language - 5 (Verity admits right off she has a foul mouth and she really does. Littered with damns, hells, and the Lord's name in vain. 7 instances of bas*, 7 instances of sh*, 2 instances of a*, 2 f-bombs--To be honest, I'm strict about language, and if I'd known the extent, I'm not sure I would have read it. And these are the instances I noted on my Kindle book. I easily could have missed some in the thick of it.)

Violence - 4 (I'm vacillating between giving it that and a 5...or a 3.5. I mean, it's a WWII book, and it's about a girl who gets capture behind enemy lines. She's tortured and it describes some of it--but it could have been a lot more graphic, so I'll just go with 4.)

Overall ratingI - PG-16 (It has heavy themes and heavy things happening. As conservative as I am, I wouldn't recommend it to my 18 year old sister for a year or two, but you all know that's how I roll.)

Review: QUEEN OF SOMEDAY by Sherry D. Ficklin

From Amazon: Before she can become the greatest empress in history, fifteen-year-old Sophie will have to survive her social-climbing mother's quest to put her on the throne of Russia--at any cost.

Imperial Court holds dangers like nothing Sophie has ever faced before. In the heart of St. Petersburg, surviving means navigating the political, romantic, and religious demands of the bitter Empress Elizabeth and her handsome, but sadistic nephew, Peter. Determined to save her impoverished family--and herself--Sophie vows to do whatever is necessary to thrive in her new surroundings. But an attempt on her life and an unexpected attraction threatens to derail her plans.

Alone in a new and dangerous world, learning who to trust and who to charm may mean the difference between becoming queen and being sent home in shame to marry her lecherous uncle. With traitors and murderers lurking around every corner, her very life hangs in the balance. Betrothed to one man but falling in love with another, Sophie will need to decide how much she's willing to sacrifice in order to become the empress she is destined to be.

In a battle for the soul of a nation, will love or destiny reign supreme?

Audience: Young Adult

Genre: Young Adult, Historical

Length: 262 pgs

Rating: 3.5

Review: The research was done well. It was a good story, but the proof in the pudding was that I wasn't compelled to read the second and third books--I did look them up to see what happened in them . . . so that's something. A few instances of more modern language took me out of the setting a time or two. I enjoyed the author's video notes at the end of the chapters, mostly because when reading something based on a real person's life, I always like to separate the truth from the fiction. It's a well done story and worth a read. :)

Content:

Sex - 1+ ("Going further" per se is thought about and spoken of and almost done, but everything in a non-graphic manner. One couple is discovered without clothes on.)

Language - 0

Violence - 2 (A fight scene at the beginning and other various fight scenes. One man is beaten viciously. Nothing graphically described.)

Overall Rating - PG-13

Review: KILLING RUBY ROSE by Jessie Humphries (Skyscape, 2014)

From Amazon: In sunny Southern California, seventeen-year-old Ruby Rose is known for her killer looks and her killer SAT scores. But ever since her dad, an LAPD SWAT sergeant, died, she’s also got a few killer secrets.

To cope, Ruby has been trying to stay focused on school (the top spot in her class is on the line) and spending time with friends (her Jimmy Choos and Manolo Blahniks are nothing if not loyal). But after six months of therapy and pathetic parenting by her mom, the District Attorney, Ruby decides to pick up where her dad left off and starts going after the bad guys herself. 

When Ruby ends up killing a murderer to save his intended victim, she discovers that she’s gone from being the huntress to the hunted. There’s a sick mastermind at play, and he has Ruby in his sights. Ruby must discover who’s using her to implement twisted justice before she ends up swapping Valentino red for prison orange. 

With a gun named Smith, a talent for martial arts, and a boyfriend with eyes to die for, Ruby is ready to face the worst. And if a girl’s forced to kill, won’t the guilt sit more easily in a pair of Prada peep-toe pumps?

Genre: YA Mystery/Thriller

Audience: Young Adult

Length: 306 pgs

Rating: 3

Review: A solid, good book. Really well written with some out-of-the-ordinary characters and some serious decision making and hard stuff. Still witty and funny though! I often judge a book by how quickly I read it (once I hit half-way on this one it was hard to put down) and how compelled I am to read the second in the series, if it has one (not that much, in this one's case). But...I'm not sure how fair that is in this case. The book wrapped up really well and is a great standalone. But...on the other hand, I'm not so into the characters that I want want more.

There were some moments of unbelievability for me--mostly, for a scene or two when these happened, I had to suspend my belief for a second. A couple had to do with character motivation and how I thought I'd seen the character developing and then that contrasting with the situation she was in. Without giving a big spoiler, I can't explain it beyond that. However, the story still worked well and this didn't detract from my experience too much.

Content

Language - 4 (damn, hell, and ass all used frequently. Two b*****, and two sh**, a handful of cases where pretend swearing is used, like "effin" or "a-hole")

Sex - 2 (There is talk about desire and wanting to go further. Nothing happens.)

Violence - 4 (Ruby is a tough, physical girl and she is put in tough, physical situations several times.)

Overall Rating - PG-16

Review: KISS KILL VANISH by Jessica Martinez (2014 Whitney Finalist)

From Amazon: 
Love. Betrayal. Murder.

Valentina is living a charmed, glittering life in Miami—falling in love for the first time, showered with gifts and affection by her father, surrounded by friends—when one shocking moment shatters everything she thought she knew about herself, her boyfriend, and her world. With no one left to trust, Valentina sheds her identity and flees to Montreal, where she finds work posing for a series of portraits by a pompous young artist. Valentina has always been at home in the art world, but she's never felt quite so alone.

Valentina's carefully constructed new life comes crashing down when someone from her past resurfaces, putting her safety in question and her heart on the line. With betrayal at every turn, Valentina must untangle the deceptions of those she once loved and race to find her own truth—before it's too late.

Genre: YA Contemporary Thriller

Audience: Young Adult

Length: 432 pgs

Rating: 4

Review: First, love the cover. Second, loved the book. I had a lot of things to guess about, and in a good way, I never knew whose loyalties were where. The world between Valetina's memories of Miama and then Montreal and all of it was lovely. I love how she weaved the memories with the mandolin playing. Loved how V found friendship in unexpected places. The ending . . . I talked with a friend about this. It was somewhat weak. I was okay with it, but it could have been better. (And of course, as an author myself, I knew how I would've done it.)

Content:

Language: ? (I'm usually very good at keeping track of content, but for some reason I didn't when I read this book. I remember some language...)

Sex: 1 (It is implied that Valentina and her boyfriend have slept together. It is discussed how Marcel and his brother sleep with multiple girls and party hard.)

Violence: 3 (It's a thriller.)

Overall Rating: PG-13

Review: SHATTER ME by Tahereh Mafi (Harper, 2011)

From Amazon.com: 
I have a curse.

I have a gift.

I'm a monster.
I'm more than human.

My touch is lethal.
My touch is power.

I am their weapon.
I will fight back.

No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon. But Juliette has plans of her own. After a lifetime without freedom, she's finally discovering a strength to fight back for the very first time—and to find a future with the one boy she thought she'd lost forever.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a riveting dystopian world, a thrilling superhero story, and an unforgettable heroine.

Audience: Young Adult

Genre: YA Dystopian, Fantasy

Length: 368 pgs

Rating: 4

Review: Good book. I can't say that it blew me over or anything, but I liked the writing style. It was very literary and poetic, which I can usually dig. It has an interesting dystopian premise. It was well written and I rode right along with Juliette for and enjoyed. I am interested to see where the story goes from here, but I don't know if I'm compelled to read the other books in the series right now or anything.

Content

Sex - 2+ (Passionate kissing, discussing going further and their desires.)

Language - 4+ (Some characters are definitely bigger potty mouths than others, so naturally when they're on screen, per se, there's a lot more swearing. Damn, hell, and shit are all used frequently. A handful of uses of ass; one each of Jesus in vain and of bastard)

Violence - 3+ (Because of the world and certain characters there is a lot of maybe gratuitous violence, just for show. Some graphic. A lot of fighting.)

Overall Rating - PG-16 (Although, I wouldn't recommend it to my 17yo sister, but that's a personal thing.)

SON OF WAR, DAUGHTER OF CHAOS by Janette Rallison (July 2014)

From JanetteRallison.com: Aislynn is accustomed to watching for the enemy. Her parents instructed her from the time she was young to look for people with the signs: greater than normal strength, eyes that can glow green, and the ability to jump long distances. Over the years, Aislynn has come to view her parents’ fears as quirks—things that get in the way of having a normal high school life. 

When Aislynn’s mother dies under suspicious conditions, her father doubles his restrictions. But all his precautions can’t stop the boy with glowing green eyes from finding Aislynn. She realizes too late she’s been drafted into an ancient Egyptian war, whether she’s prepared or not.

Genre: YA Paranormal

Audience: Young Adult

Length: 368 pgs

Rating: 3+

Review: Okay. I admit, I had a really hard time deciding how to rate this. It was so fun. So Janette Rallison. So well written, witty, and a good book. So why only a 3+ instead of like a 4+ or 5 like it probably deserves? I had a serious, serious problem with one of the love interests for Aislynn. Going into my issues would produce major spoilers, so I won't. I just . . . disagreed. We'll leave it at that.

But, beyond that, it's a good book. It has some fun action and some unique plot twists and turns. It was well written and well thought out. I enjoyed it and to be honest, read it really quickly. I love Aislynn, and most of the characters (hahahaha). They were each pretty solid.

Content

Sex - 1 (Some somewhat passionate kissing and hickies. Ha!)

Language - 0

Violence - 2 (It's an action book but nothing gory or graphic.)

Overall Rating - PG-12, just for themes, etc.

Whitney Finalist Spotlight Review: REMAKE by Ilima Todd (YA Speculative Fiction)

From Shadow Mountain: Imagine a future without family. 

Nine is the ninth female born in her batch of ten females and ten males. By design, her life in Freedom Province is without complications or consequences. However, such freedom comes with a price. The Prime Maker is determined to keep that price a secret from the new batches of citizens that are born, nurtured, and raised androgynously.

But Nine isn’t like every other batcher. She harbors indecision and worries about her upcoming Remake Day—her seventeenth birthday, the age when batchers fly to the Remake facility and have the freedom to choose who and what they’ll be.

When Nine discovers the truth about life outside of Freedom Province, including the secret plan of the Prime Maker, she is pulled between two worlds and two lives. Her decisions will test her courage, her heart, and her beliefs. Who can she trust? Who does she love? And most importantly, who will she decide to be?

Audience: Young Adult
Genre: Dystopian, Speculative Fiction
Length: 304 pages

Rating: 4+

Review: A while back my husband watched this Christian dystopian movie. It was kinda crazy and weird, and I posted about it on Twitter. Ilima tweeted me back that she was worried about why I thought it was weird since her book REMAKE had a Christian dystopian theme.

Don't worry. REMAKE is anything but weird. I loved it. It was so goofy to me to consider Nine changing her gender by choice because anyone could be what they want, but Ilima set it up to be exactly that. A really great, imagine if scenario that, considering the way human culture works right now, is not actually that far fetched. And it's brilliantly set up in my opinion. I got the world. I got the culture. And then Nine gets plopped down into the middle of something we all know--families.

I adored this family theme. I adored the way Nine discovered her femininity and strength. How she discovered her family.

The only thing that I sort of shrugged at (the only reason I didn't rate it a full five) is that the stakes are pretty different from most books in the genre. And it wasn't in a bad way exactly. (Let's be honest, when I read dystopian, I'm cringing at every every-day comfort they don't have...) Things definitely got crazy, but I never got a sense that things were unsolvable.

My favorite line; I have to share. "You're not a mistake. [...] Sometimes I think you're the most deliberate thing I've ever seen. The rest of us are just shadows of what could be."

Loved this book.

Content:
Sex - 2+ (Much of theme surrounds choosing a gender and the differences, so there's discussion, in an absolutely tasteful and mild way, of gender differences, especially as Nine begins to notice her own changes.*)
Violence - 1
Language - 0
Overall Rating - PG

*For instance, I usually highlight or make note of content I feel needs noting. I made no notes in this book.



Check out the other 2014 Whitney Finalists here.

Blog Tour Review: WATER SO DEEP by Nicole Giles (Jelly Bean Press, 2015)

Tour Schedule

  Water So Deep by Nichole GilesWater So Deep Seventeen-year-old Emma Harris is drowning on dry land. No one knows what’s happening to her, and she’d like to keep her evolution from human to mermaid a secret, but the truth is getting harder and harder to hide. From her adoptive family, from her friends, and especially from the irresistible James Phelps. Her time in the ocean is spent dodging a possessive merman, while her time on land is split between caring for her special-needs brother and squeezing in every last possible moment of human life. She soon realizes falling for James is unavoidable when he constantly comes to Emma’s rescue and somehow manages to see through her carefully constructed icy facade to the vulnerability she lives with every day. Everything about James makes Emma yearn for a life on land she just can't have. When Emma’s brother disappears on her watch, James is the only person she trusts to help her save him. But even if they can save her brother, nothing can prevent her return to the sea. Whether she likes it or not, Emma is changing—unable to breathe without yielding to the tide—and it's only a matter of time before she's forced to surrender forever.

Amazon

* * *

My Review

Audience: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 294 pgs

Rating: 4

Review: Isn't the cover so gorgeous?! I am so intrigued by mermaid fiction. I know there's a ton out there but I haven't sat down with any yet, so Nicole's is the first. I loved the way she portrayed how Emma was changing, and it was easy to feel the panic of being on land too long and then the release in the water, even though she hated it. Loved the conflict that drove her to and and away from the water! Emma was super easy to love, though frustrating sometimes in her decision making--though I understood why she did what she did. Good frustrating, I guess. James is a great co-main character for her. Sometimes it was difficult to see what drew them together beyond their physical attraction, but they made a good pair. It was great to see James there for her. Merrick is such an awesome puzzle. I can't wait to see how things play out for him. It was great to see a character who was not all good or not all bad. Though it wrapped up well (which is more than I can say for another book I read recently...), the first thing I did was go to Nicole's website to see about how long the sequel would be. :) I had a few picky believability issues. MILD SPOILERS: Rumors about Emma and her ex, Tom, are all over the school, yet it takes several months for James to hear the full story, he doesn't even get surface talk. If Tom was arrested, wouldn't there be some kind of news story with at least bare facts? And the kids in school were talking about it. It also feels like far too into the story when we start to learn about some of Emma's backstory and see interaction with her Gran. At some points it felt like I'd missed a book--things the narration assumes we already knew are alluded to but not talked about.

Content:
Language - 3+ (Frequent use of damn and hell, 6 Sh*, 3 A*, 1 B*)
Sex - 3 (Nothing is ever onstage just a handful of discussions about the two main characters having sex, about other characters who have, Merrick is described as being seen naked in a few instances)
Violence - 2 (Nothing graphic. A sexual assault occurs, but nothing described. There is a fight between Emma and some merpeople)
Overall Rating - PG-16

Source: Review copy as part of a blog tour event.

   Author Nichole Giles 

Nichole Giles, the author of the Descendant trilogy, has lived in Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and Texas. She loves to spend time with her husband and four children, travel to tropical and exotic destinations, drive in the rain with the convertible top down, and play music at full volume so she can sing along.

Website * Facebook * Twitter

   

Review: TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE by Jenny Han

From Amazon: What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them…all at once?

Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control.

Audience: Young Adult

Genre: YA Contemporary

Length: 368 pgs

Rating: *** (More like a 3 minus, but how do you show that??)

Review: Disclaimer up front: I listened to the audiobook and didn't like the narrator at all, which may have contributed to my view as the MC Lara Jean coming off way whiny.

A second disclaimer: I despised the ending, which may have contributed to my dislike of the book overall.

A third disclaimer...well, warning. There will be spoilers in order to adequately describe why this book was so off for me.

The positives: Good writing. It's professional, and though it lagged for me, that's more in line with my attitude of not loving YA contemps. I really liked the close relationships between the sisters--for the most part. I loved the dad and little sister Kitty.

What through me off: Characters and not relating to a lot of what they were doing. As I mentioned before, the main character, Lara Jean is whiny and not proactive, and in many cases that makes her unlikable. For instance, when people criticize her {somewhat fake} boyfriend, Peter and/or his friends, she doesn't defend them. She'll often think how the criticizer is wrong in her head, but not out loud and so she seems weak, ungrateful, and unlikable.

Margo (her sister) and Josh (sisters {somewhat ex} boyfriend). Even though they're supposed to be her closest friends, at NO point do they ever support her and Peter, and the way they go about degrading him (oh, yeah, and constantly because they're "looking out for Lara Jean," of course) makes them seem more shallow than Peter is portrayed.

It took me about halfway through the realize that Peter was the love-interest, not Josh and that threw me quite a bit. 

And {BEWARE BIG SPOILER COMING} she doesn't even end up with Peter. I once read a five series book where the two people who spend the entire series trying to be together don't end up together--it was a colossal waste of time, so at least this was just one book. It was hard to watch Lara Jean and Peter grow and realize their opinions of the other are wrong, and for them to see each other in a good light, to grow to be friends, to see their real feelings start to come out and then. 

See how I didn't finish that sentence. That's what it feels like.

The fourth disclaimer: I only like a few YA contemps, so I need to stop trying to read them and like them and end up being frustrated instead.

Content:

Sex - 4 (Mostly for a lot of talk about sex. I suppose many times in the not-always-respectful way teens talk about it. I actually don't know because I'm never around teens that talk like that. Ha.)

Language - 5 (D,H,Sh, God's name in vain sprinkled all the way through. Lara Jean doesn't swear, but has a friend who uses it a lot, so when that character appears, the language is bad for one or two pages. F-bomb dropped once.)

Violence - 0

Substance Abuse - 1 (At a party teens get drunk; Lara Jean's friend talks about getting drunk and doing drugs.)

Overall Rating: PG-18

Source: Library Audiobook via OneClickDigital

Try this. YA Contemp I like? THE CHAOS OF STARS by Kiersten White . . . but that's cheating. It's actually got some fantasy. ;)

Review: SUN AND MOON, ICE AND SNOW by Jessica Day George (Bloomsbury, 2008)

From Amazon: Blessed-or cursed-with an ability to understand animals, the Lass (as she's known to her family) has always been an oddball. And when an isbjorn (polar bear) seeks her out, and promises that her family will become rich if only the Lass will accompany him to his castle, she doesn't hesitate. But the bear is not what he seems, nor is his castle, which is made of ice and inhabited by a silent staff of servants. Only a grueling journey on the backs of the four winds will reveal the truth: the bear is really a prince who's been enchanted by a troll queen, and the Lass must come up with a way to free him before he's forced to marry a troll princess.

Audience: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Fairy-Tale
Length: 352 pgs

Rating: 4+ (I loved it!)

Review: Ms. George is really becoming a favorite of mine, which makes me happy that she has so many books for me to plow through! This one was excellent. I loved the setting and the characters. I loved how well she built the rapport between the Lass and the isbjorn. I loved how the Lass interacted with all the characters and how much they ranged and how round they were. It wrapped up kind of easy, but it is a fairy-tale, so one kind of expects that. I loved the ending despite that!

Content:
Sex - 0
Language - 0
Violence - 1 (and barely that. Mild, mild fighting violence)
Content Rating - G (I'd let my 9-year-old read it if he wanted!)

Review: ETIQUETTE & ESPIONAGE by Gail Carriger (Little Brown, 2013)

From Amazon: It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners--and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's, young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but the also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage--in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education.

Set in the same world as the Parasol Protectorate, this YA series debut is filled with all the saucy adventure and droll humor Gail's legions of fans have come to adore. 

Genre: YA Steampunk, Fantasy, Historical

Audience: Young Adult

Length: 327 pgs

Rating: ***** (I really loved it!)

Review: Gads, guys, it's been so long since I finished a book. So much other things going on and it hurts me. THIS book was the perfect one to coast in on. Lovely and epic voice. I started Parasol Protectorate (and put it down for personal reasons) and LOVED the voice and the idea and all of it. E&E was so perfect. It had wonderful characters, all of them well thought out, probably all able to have their own story. The execution is hilarious. It felt like the end wrapped up quickly, but it still really worked. Like a cross between Harry Potter and Georgette Heyer--witty, fun, great school world. I'm excited to read the second one!

Content

Sex - 2 (Characters decolletage and bosoms are discussed a few times. It is discussed that certain teachers look more like prostitutes than teachers. The girls speculate that a werewolf teacher may be naked under his coat, and another insinuates that she has heard that werewolves are good in bed, though it is not said bluntly. "I hear they make the best...oooh la la.")

Language - 0

Violence - 2 (There are fights with Flywaymen, with a werewolf, and between spies at a ball. Nothing remotely graphic.)

Substance Abuse - 1 (Some boys spike punch at a ball.)

Content Rating - PG-14

Source - I received a copy via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

As of writing, ETIQUETTE & ESPIONAGE was on sale on Kindle for $2.99

Review: DIE FOR ME (Revenants, 1) by Amy Plum (HarperCollins, 2011)

From AmyPlumBooks.comhttp://www.amyplumbooks.com/books/: 

In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity.

When Kate Mercier’s parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.

Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate’s guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he’s a revenant–an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again.

Genre: Young Adult Paranormal
Audience: Young Adult
Length: 344 pgs

Rating: **+ (I liked it.)

Review: First off, excellent concept. The idea of people who save the lives of other constantly, who battle evil. I love the idea. I was swept in at the beginning and was right with Kate as she discovers Vincent and who he is. Then in the middle it swung off the tracks for me. I think I wanted something packed with action, and if I'd read this as a basic romance with some thrills, I would have seen it differently. The middle became all about their relationship and much less about the larger plot that involved revenants--and that's what I wanted to explore. So, unfortunately, for me, by the end, the action felt contrived and settled fairly easily. The middle also felt like Twilight, but in Paris. The author began with some distinctions between the French culture, but also as the book went further along, it lost that. The characters--besides Kate and her sister, who are American--all spoke like Americans, using colloquialisms that the author corrected early on. Not sure if I'm interested enough to read the second and third books.

Content:
Sex - 2+/5 She and Vincent cut off a passionate kiss that both infer is very close to leading further. They kiss passionately several times. Kate discusses nude people in art. There is a nude model in Jules' apartment when Kate visits.
Language - 2/5 Constant vain use of "God." Two instances of "Damn"
Violence - 3/5 Lots of discussion of people dying and how they died. Fighting. A detailed and gory fight scene at the end.
Substance Abuse - 1/5 They got to clubs and other characters drink alcohol, though Kate drinks only Coke. She drinks "bubbly" at her birthday dinner.

Source: Bought on Kindle during a $1.99 promotion

Try this. Like Young Adult Paranormal Romance? Read PARANORMALCY by Kiersten White.

Review: TIGER LILY by Jodi Lynn Anderson (HarperTeen, 2012)

From Amazon: In this stunning re-imagining of J. M. Barrie's beloved classic Peter Pan, New York Times bestselling author Jodi Lynn Anderson expertly weaves a gripping tale of love, loss, and adventure.

Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair… Tiger Lily. When fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan deep in the forbidden woods of Neverland, the two form a bond that's impossible to break, but also impossible to hold on to. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. However, when Wendy Darling, a girl who is everything Tiger Lily is not, arrives on the island, Tiger Lily discovers how far she is willing to go to keep Peter with her, and in Neverland.

Told from the perspective of tiny, fairy-sized Tinkerbell, Tiger Lily is the breathtaking story of budding romance, letting go and the pains of growing up.

Genre: Young Adult Romance

Audience: Young Adult

Length: 309 pgs

Rating: ***** (Really loved it)

Review: In preparation for this book, I read Peter Pan. It was quick. Loved it. Fun voice. Adorable. Then I read Tiger Lily. Loved it, in a the bitterest way. First off, the idea of Tinkerbell narrating was ingenious. I loved the voice. I loved how Anderson stayed true to the character while still giving it her own spin. Perfect. I LOVED reading about Tiger Lily. I loved how she did Peter. True, but different. Perfect too. ALL the characters in this novel, the smallest of small, were so round and I loved them all. The end is so bittersweet, but if you've read Peter Pan, you know how that turns out. It's such a ride finding out how Anderson spins it all in. And all with such beautiful language too. Honestly, it did have more issues that I really like, but you all know me. I'm not much of a YA, contemporary-issue book person.

It is just that she was fifteen once for the first time, and Peter walked across her heart, and left his footprints there.

Content:

Sex - 2/5 Tiger Lily spends the night with the lost boys and lays down with Peter, but there's no discussion of sex. Rape is discussed.

Language 2/5 

Violence 3/5 Rape. Killing. Suicide. SPOILERS Tiger Lily is involved in *revenge* killings, one that she actually could not have possibly committed, but that the villagers attribute to her; the other it's only intimated that it was probably her. It intimates that another village girl kills a man who repeatedly raped her. (Even though some of these were *justified* they did really bother me in that it seemed like the tone of the book was "they did this and it's okay because the people who died deserved it.)

Heartbreak - 5/5 ;) But it's beautiful. Don't worry.

Source: Free on Kindle during a promotion.

Review: PRINCESS OF GLASS (Twelve Dancing Princesses, Book 2) by Jessica Day George (Bloomsbury, 2010)

From Amazon: Hoping to escape the troubles in her kingdom, Princess Poppy reluctantly agrees to take part in a royal exchange program. She travels abroad hoping to find better political alliances and perhaps a marriage. But thanks to a vengeful fairy, Poppy's happily ever after gets complicated. This companion to Princess of the Midnight Ball will delight readers with action and romance.

Audience: YA

Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retelling

Length: 272 pgs

Rating: *****

Review: Princess at the Midnight Ball had been on my list for a while and I read it almost two years ago without realizing there were more! PRINCESS OF GLASS came on sale for Kindle about a week ago, so I went over and bought it. I loved it even more than the first one. I loved how Poppy was strong and capable and smart, how she figured stuff out and connected things logically! And yet she's so fabulously flawed too. Perfect. Again, while the main characters like Poppy and Prince Christian are fantastic, the side characters really shine too. Dickon, Marianne, Roger, and Elanora all come together to make the book amazing. One reviewer complained about Elanora's story taking over the main plot, but I disagree. All the plots and subplots worked perfectly together.

Try this. If you like fairy tales, read one of my favorite Shannon Hale books, FOREST BORN, the 4th Book of Bayern. 

Review: SIX MONTHS LATER by Natalie D. Richards (Sourcebooks Fire, 2013)

From Amazon: She Has Everything She Ever Wanted. But Not Her Memory...

When Chloe fell asleep in study hall, it was the middle of May. When she wakes up, snow is on the ground and she can't remember the last six months of her life.

Before, she'd been a mediocre student. Now, she's on track for valedictorian and being recruited by Ivy League schools. Before, she never had a chance with super jock Blake. Now he's her boyfriend. Before, she and Maggie were inseparable. Now her best friend won't speak to her.

What happened to her? Remembering the truth could be more dangerous than she knows...

Audience: YA
Genre: YA Thriller, Mystery, Romance
Length: 336 pgs

Rating: *** (I liked it)

Review: This may seem unfair, and maybe I talked about it in a recent review, but I can't remember. I rated down because of the language. In this case, I felt like it drew away from the story and from the character. Let me explain just a bit. I listened to a podcast once about using swearing in writing-it came from a grammar point of view, not a religious one or something like that. It talked about how the more frequent a word is used, the less impact it has. The narrator swore so much, that it lost all impact for what she wanted to get across. For example, when the two main characters finally kiss, the male MC says, "Damn it," and pulls her toward him. It should have been a huge build up of this really tense moment, but it was so lackluster because that word and others had been used so often, it didn't haven an impact anymore.

Beyond that, a good book. I liked the characters and how the main character rated the girls more for how nice they were than if they were popular or not, and how she admitted to liking popular girls a little, maybe not loving them, but not putting them into extreme categories like so many YAs do. The relationships with Blake and Adam are just how they should be I think. For the most part, the pacing was really well. For a chunk in the middle it felt like things stagnated but then it picked back up again so that I didn't want to quit reading from about three-fourths through on.

Content: 

Sex 2/5 (Long kissing scenes, being implied that perhaps she and Blake had sex in the months she forgot)

Language 5/5 (Frequent use of D, H, S, and God in vain; A few Bs; One F-bomb.)

Violence 2/5 (Fight scenes, people dying, mystery and thriller related violence that fit the book)

Overall rating - PG-16

Try this. Like YA Mystery Thrillers? Read BREAKING BEAUTIFUL or DEAD GIRLS DON'T LIE by Jennifer Shaw Wolf.

Review: BOY SWAP by Kristina Springer (November 2013)

From Amazon: Boy Swap: The secret to sisterly love and scholarly bliss. 

Research shows that seven out of ten girl fights are over a guy. The Boy Swap Club fixes all that. In an effort to spread around male cuteness and minimize fights and backstabbing, they just share boyfriends. And Brooke Thomas, consummate band member, has been asked to join the super secret club because the president of the club has the hots for her guy. 

Brooke doesn't want to share her boyfriend. I mean, who does? But how can she say no? She, a second chair flutist in the school band, finds herself sitting between the Varsity Cheerleader Captain and the Homecoming Queen at the first meeting. Her friends will never believe this in a million years. Too bad she can’t tell them. But she knows. This one event can change her entire life. What if she becomes actual friends with one of these girls? It might be worth sharing her boyfriend. 

Besides, he'll always love her best, right? 

Audience: YA

Genre: Contemporary YA, Romance

Length: 119 pgs

Rating:  *** (I like it)

Review: So, this is a personal thing, but I actually rated this one down because of the language in it. That's totally me and my opinion, obviously. This book was well written and pretty cute. It was a quick read, only took me about two days, and a hilarious look at boyfriends and high school. The voice is fun and I liked the friendships and relationships. Just a couple of what I've been calling "twitches" lately. There are some things that are not so believable. The teens in the book use email and IM a lot, which struck me as odd. Most of the teenagers I know (little sister and cousins) almost exclusively use text and Facebook. (And Instagram as I've been told is the "in" thing right now...) Also, in the end it seemed like everything got tied up too nicely and Brooke doesn't get any blowback for any of her poor choices through the book, although I still dig the way it ended. I needed a resolution between the two boys in the book, especially with the boy she ends up with instead of just the magically happily ever after of them ending up together. Still, fun and worth it.

Content:

Sex - 3/5 (While there are no sex scenes, things get steamy between Brooke and her boyfriend, and there is a lot of talk about sex and boobs and bodies.)

Violence - 0/5

Language - 4/5 (Not because of pervasiveness, but because of the language used. God is used in vain repeatedly, which just bugs me a lot personally. Jesus is also used in vain twice. Several uses of H and a 1(?) use of A)

Overall Rating - PG16

Source: Bought via Amazon for Kindle.

Try this. Like fun, contemporary romances? Read MY RIDICULOUS ROMANTIC OBSESSIONS by Becca Wilhite.

Review: DEAD GIRLS DON'T LIE by Jennifer Shaw Wolf (Walker Books {Bloomsbury}, September 2013)

From JenniferShawWolf.com: 
Rachel died at two a.m . . . Three hours after Skyler kissed me for the first time. Forty-five minutes after she sent me her last text. 

Jaycee and Rachel were best friends. But that was before. . .before that terrible night at the old house. Before Rachel shut Jaycee out. Before Jaycee chose Skyler over Rachel. Then Rachel is found dead. The police blame a growing gang problem in their small town, but Jaycee is sure it has to do with that night at the old house. Rachel’s text is the first clue—starting Jaycee on a search that leads to a shocking secret. Rachel’s death was no random crime, and Jaycee must figure out who to trust before she can expose the truth. 

Audience: YA

Genre: YA, Mystery
Length: 353 pgs

Rating: **** (Really liked it)

Review: Remember how I didn't quite know what to do about Jennifer Shaw Wolf's other book, BREAKING BEAUTIFUL. How it was fantastic and it drew me in, but I just don't do issue books? I knew this one wouldn't be like that. Again, it drew me in in the first few pages and I didn't want to put it down. I think the clues to what was going on were set at the perfect pace and mostly I discovered right along with Jaycee. Even the stuff I figured out, it was still absolutely believable that a person in that situation wouldn't see what we see as readers. Even though I sort of saw where it was going at about mid-way through, it was still a great twist to the story.

Content:

Sex 2/5 - Kissing between Jaycee and Skylar gets heated at moments, but never beyond that.

Language 1/5 - There's a few instances.

Violence 3/5 - It IS a mystery and it involves gang violence. It talks about blood, fights, stabbings, and shootings.

Substance abuse - Underage drinking at parties, but Jaycee doesn't participate.

Overall rating - PG-16 

Source: Bought Kindle copy via Amazon

Try this. Like dark YA...er, as dark as I get anyway! ;) Check out MIND GAMES by Kiersten White.

Review: THE HERE AND NOW by Ann Brashares (Delacorte, April 2014)

From Amazon: 

An unforgettable epic romantic thriller about a girl from the future who might be able to save the world . . . if she lets go of the one thing she’s found to hold on to.

Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.
 
This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins. 
 
Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth. 

But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves. 

From Ann Brashares, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, The Here and Now is thrilling, exhilarating, haunting, and heartbreaking--and a must-read novel of the year.

"This gripping story is set in a world unlike any other and inhabited by beautifully imagined characters that stay with you long after the last page. As always, Brashares expertly captures the wonder of love’s enduring power.” – Sara Shepard, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Little Liars

Audience: YA

Genre: Speculative Fiction, Romance
Length: 256 pgs.

Rating: ***** (A definite favorite!)

Review: This book just plain blew me away. Let me start out honestly. I didn't know who Ann Brashares was until just a couple minutes ago when I looked the book up on Amazon. I just got an email from NetGalley saying I was preapproved for this title, and since it looked really interesting I got on board. The book hooked me from moment one. And it's beautifully written. Poetic. There are so many passages I wish I could just share just because of how beautifully they're written. It's very thought provoking, and there may be a slight agenda to it. (There's a part toward the end that, it seemed to me, was a bit preachy about environmental awareness, but it only stuck out a tiny bit.) It moved really quickly. I was so engrossed I didn't want to put it down for anything. Luckily, or unluckily, I finished it in a couple days so I can get back to laundry now... I never got frustrated with what I didn't know. It seemed I would ask a question and a page or so later it would get answered. Perfect.

Source: I received a copy via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Content: Rated 1-5; 1 being saturated, 5 being minor instances.

Sex - 1+ (There is kissing and touching. The main characters talk about sex, though not graphically--in the context of a relationship.)

Violence - 1 (**SPOILER** There's a fight near the end, but no graphic gore or anything is discussed.)

Language - 3+ (I only add the plus in there because it contains one word that's very offensive to me, and a handful of instances of what I would refer to as a "worse" word)

Overall rating - PG-16*

(Be aware that I'm pretty conservative in my rating. Usually I think about my littler sister or as a mother, when would I let my child read this.)

Try this. Like beautiful, romantic YAs? Read MATCHED by Allie Condie.