Everneath

Everneath (Everneath #1) by Ashton Brodi

Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release Date: January 24th 2012
Pages: 370
Type: Paperback
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What It's About!

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she’s returned—to her old life, her family, her boyfriend—before she’s banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance—and the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

As Nikki’s time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s queen.

Review

Everneath was so-so for me. The story took forever to actually get anywhere to the point where I actually stopped reading it for a few months before I picked it up again.

The main character Nikki drove me INSANE. She was alright at first, until her stupidity dragged on throughout the entire book. SO many things were so painfully obvious and right in her face that there was no way she could NOT know, but she was too stupid to see them. There were so many moments when I'd be reading and be like Really, Nikki? REALLY? She was just so dense she made me want to shake her and make her wake up to reality. Her character was also very flat. Flat and dumb. I just wanted to punch some smarts into this girl!

Even Cole, the supposed bad guy had more to offer than she did. He started out as a creep but slowly transitioned into someone a little different even though he shouldn't have been able to. My favorite character was Jack, he was your simple, down-to-earth guy and the only one who seemed to have any brains. I was Team Jack all the way ;)

The ending of the story was what made me give this book any stars at all. It was so emotionally enthralling that I couldn't put it down until the very last page. I might even end up reading the second book, but I'll probably just end up borrowing it from the library if I do. I think if the beginning of the book had been as captivating and well done as the end, I would have loved the book. But it was boring until the last bits of it, it was such a snore-fest up until then. 

Rating 

Othermoon

Othermoon (Otherkin #2) by Nina Berry

Publisher: K-Teen
Release Date: January 29th/2013
Pages: 320
Type: ARC
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What It's About!

Everyone has secrets. I had no idea mine would lead me into shadow. Dez has found the place where she belongs. With the otherkin. With Caleb. Or so she thought. As the barriers between our world and Othersphere fall, a wall rises between Dez and Caleb, leaving her fiercest enemy her only friend.

And maybe something more.

Now Dez must make a devastating choice: keep the love of her life, or save the otherkin from annihilation.

Review

Since I had really loved the first book, Otherkin, I had gone into this book having some pretty high expectations. I guess they were a little too high, though, for I couldn't quite get into it for the first quarter of the book. It was really slow and boring.

After setting it down and taking a break from it, however, I ended up really enjoying it. Especially near the end when things get super heated and exciting! There was also a part in the book that made me want to cry, I don't understand why writers all think they have to break couples up all the time, why can't just one couple be strong enough to stay together, no matter the jealousy, and anything else? WHY can't any of the characters ever stick around long enough to find out that what they think is totally different from the truth?

Anyway, back to my review. I thought the plot twists in this one were amazing. It was 10x better than the first book. I just couldn't get enough! Othermoon emotionally pulled me in a lot more than the first book did, I have to admit. I think it's because in this second book, I already knew the characters and had time to get attached to my favorite ones before I even started reading this book. I just loved it so much!

Yes, the beginning is boring and feels like the same old stuff as the first book, but once it picks up, it doesn't stop! 

Rating 

The Truth About You & Me

The Truth About You & Me by Amanda Grace

Publisher: Flux
Release Date: September 8th/2013
Pages: 264
Type: ARC
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What It's About!

Smart girls aren't supposed to do stupid things.

Madelyn Hawkins is super smart. At sixteen, she's so gifted that she can attend college through a special program at her high school. On her first day, she meets Bennet. He's cute, funny, and kind. He understands Madelyn and what she's endured - and missed out on - in order to excel academically and please her parents. Now, for the first time in her life, she's falling in love.

There's only one problem. Bennet is Madelyn's college professor, and he thinks she's eighteen - because she hasn't told him the truth.

The story of their forbidden romance is told in letters that Madelyn writes to Bennet - both a heart-searing ode to their ill-fated love and an apology.

Review

The Truth About You & Me was really cute, but also sad. Madalyn, a 16 yr old girl going to college early, falls for her professor who is 10 yrs older than her. The book was really different, but in a good way, and I really liked it. Madalyn's view is told through a couple of letters she wrote to Bennett, her biology professor.

In his defense, he did think she was 18, fresh out of high school. There wasn't any real romance type stuff until the very end, but just the build up finally being together at the end made up for the lack of them being together, if that makes any sense. Madalyn writes a lot in her letters about them stealing little moments here and there, before December 17th, when the semester ends and he's no longer technically her teacher.

It's not until the very end though, that it's explained how and why their relationship ended. As the letters go on, you find out a little bit more here and there that they were once together but aren't anymore and it really made me want to know why. At first it was kind of frustrating because I wanted to find out why right away, but then I got so swept up in the emotion and unraveling of events that I soon found myself just coasting along with the story instead of rushing on to find out why everything happened the way it did and why they didn't end up with their happy ending.

I really liked the way the story unfolded in Madalyn's letters to Bennett. By the end of the book, I was just as heart broken and devastated as she was over the whole thing, it was hard not to get all wrapped up within her story and the way she told it. I really enjoyed it.

Rating 

Roadtrip

I haven't done much reading the last week, my mom and I went to Vancouver, BC for the first time ever. We drove down..and had to drive around downtown Vancouver trying to find our hotel not having any clue where to go and the GPS kept taking us everywhere BUT. Ya..we pretty much literally got a bit lost in Vancouver, driving around in circles until we finally found the hotel. 

Then once we got everything into the hotel, it was time to head over to BC Place Stadium for the TAYLOR SWIFT concert! I was ssooooo excited! I've loved Taylor Swift ever since she came out with Teardrops On My Guitar and Tim McGraw. It was supposed to only be a 10 min. walk from the hotel to BC Place, but we ended up circling the block once or twice trying to figure out which way to go. Needless to say, we ended up knowing some street corners and roads better than others just from seeing them so many times trying to find our way. In the end though, it was so worth it.

Taylor Swift is by far the BEST concert I've ever been to, and I've been to quite a few. SHE'S JUST SO AMAZING. Even in between her costume changes and songs when she wasn't on stage, there was still one of her band or dance members doing their one little quick thing up on stage so it didn't feel like you had to wait at all for Taylor to come back on stage, it was really cool. My favorite one was when the female violinist did this whole dance routine thing while PLAYING the violin! She was incredible! 

Since I can't totally explain in words how AWESOME Taylor's opening performance was, I've posted a video below that I took at the concert.

**Video Coming Soon!**

She did a few songs on the main stage, then made her way through the crowd to the smaller stage near the back of the stadium, which I loved since we were at the very top at the very back.

After dancing around singing with her dancers, she did a couple songs by herself on the small rotating sage. It even lifted up!

 

Unfortunately, just after this, my camera died -_- I have many more pictures, but I didn't want to post them all and bore you guys all to death haha. I will post a Roadtrip Part 2 in the next day or two and share some pics and stuff of the Vancouver Aquarium which was really fun!

                                            

Stacking the Shelves

Here are the books I've gotten in the last few months (probably since around Christmas time!). I've mostly gotten eBooks for review, and books off of Netgalley, so I didn't get many physical copies the last few months.

Blog Hop

 

Welcome to Evernight Teen’s Summer Kick-off Blog Hop!

  You can check out the excerpt of Shrapnel below and enter to win a Kindle Paperwhite! 

Shrapnel by Stephanie Lawton

What It's About!

It’s been six years since Dylanie and her family visited a Civil War site and the place came alive with cannon fire. Problem was, no one could hear it but her.

Now she’s sixteen, her dad’s moved out, her mom’s come out of the closet and Dylan’s got a spot on Paranormal Teen, a reality TV show filming at historic Oakleigh Mansion. She’ll spend a weekend with two other psychic teens—Jake and Ashley—learning how to control her abilities.

None of them realized how much their emotional baggage would put them at the mercy of Oakleigh’s resident spirits, or that they’d find themselves pawns in the 150-year-old battle for the South’s legendary Confederate gold. Each must conquer their personal ghosts to face down Jackson, a seductive spirit who will do anything to protect the gold’s current location and avenge a heinous attack that destroyed his family.

Excerpt

Dylanie

On the balcony, heavy night air carries the sounds of crickets and frogs. The ancient railing is solid beneath my fingers but slick from humidity. The wet dog/rotting fish stench of a nearby swamp blows past and rustles the live oaks in the front yard. The leaves are so loud that I almost don’t hear it.

My name—soft, slow and deep.

“Dylanie.”

I jump back from the railing and look around. The hairs on my neck and arms stand on end, but I can’t see the threat. I haven’t sensed a thing in my room since Ashley commandeered ghost boy. Slowly, so I don’t make a sound, I inch forward toward the railing again. Whatever it is, it’s down there in the dark. From the balcony, I’m able to see the front yard, the side of the main part of the house, and a massive live oak. Underneath it stands a man.

It must be Riley or Ward taking a smoke break, but I don’t see the tiny orange glow of a cigarette. It’s too dark to make out details. I swat a mosquito on my bare arm, and that’s when the man turns, looking up at me. Into me. His eyes seem to travel over every inch, memorizing details. Despite the shadows, I know a slow smile of approval spreads across his face and it makes my breathing ragged. I see him with my eyes, but also in my head. I can’t look away. I can’t shut him out. I can’t even move or speak.

“Dylanie,” he drawls, “let me in.”

Invisible fingers caress my cheek and smooth my hair away from my face. My mind races, but my body’s reaction doesn’t match. It’s like they separate from each other. I close my eyes and a feeling of well-being invades.

“Dylanie, please.” His voice comes from far away, soft and warm, like Jake’s would feel if …

“No! Ouch!” For the second time today, I smack my head on part of a window. “Who the hell are you and what do you want? God, you almost had me there.”

He chuckles. “Oh, I intend to.”

In a blink, he’s moved from the base of the gnarled tree to the stone patio beneath me. Despite the landscape lights, he looks solid, not like a spirit at all. No haze, no shapeless black shadow figure. Slowly, so slowly, he raises his head. My legs go weak, and I grip the railing for support. Below me is the hot dark-haired man I saw on the steps when I arrived.

“Dylanie, I ask you again. May I come in?”

My brain screams no, no, no!

“Yes.” It comes out like an exhale, one that’s been trapped inside the air-tight cage that is my pathetic life. It feels good to say yes to something unapproved and maybe even dangerous.

Another blink and he’s on the balcony with me. Shit. This close, it’s obvious he’s not much older than me, maybe a few years. He’s the most human, solid-looking spirit I’ve ever encountered—if that’s what he is.

Shrapnel is available here!

*************

What’s up for grabs?

•              One lucky hopper will win a KINDLE PAPERWHITE eREADER sponsored by Evernight Teen.

•              Every book blogger/reviewer site is giving away one free eBook from Evernight Teen (winner’s choice of any eBook from Evernight Teen’s website).

•              Plus, each author offers their own unique prize! So visit each blog hop stop for a host of fabulous prizes to win.

How to enter? Answer this:

What did Dylanie hit her head on?

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