29 Mar 2013

Book Review: The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks

When confronted by raging fires or deadly accidents, volunteer fireman Taylor McAden feels compelled to take terrifying risks to save lives. But there is one leap of faith Taylor can't bring himself to make: he can't fall in love. For all his adult years, Taylor has sought out women who need to be rescued, women he leaves as soon as their crisis is over and the relationship starts to become truly intimate. 

When a raging storm hits his small Southern town, single mother Denise Holton’s car skids off the road. The young mom is with her four-year-old son Kyle, a boy with severe learning disabilities and for whom she has sacrificed everything. Taylor McAden finds her unconscious and bleeding, but does not find Kyle. 

When Denise wakes, the chilling truth becomes clear to both of them: Kyle is gone. During the search for Kyle, the connection between Taylor and Denise takes root. Taylor doesn't know that this rescue will be different from all the others, demanding far more than raw physical courage. It will lead him to the possibility of his own rescue from a life lived without love and will require him to open doors to his past that were slammed shut by pain. 

This rescue will dare him to live life to the fullest by daring to love.

Published:    1st April 2005
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  N/A

Source:  Bought
Review:   10 out of 10



 
Continue reading Book Review: The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks

Book Review: Reqiuem by Lauren Oliver

To avoid spoilers, below is the blurb for book 1 in the Delirium Series.  If you would like to check out the blurb for Reqiuem, please click on the Goodreads link below...

They say that the cure for Love will make me happy and safe forever.

And I've always believed them.

Until now.

Now everything has changed.

Now, I'd rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie.

Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love.


Published:    21st March 2013
Publisher:  Hodder & Stoughton
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Book 3, Delirium Trilogy
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher
Review:   10 out of 10



 
Continue reading Book Review: Reqiuem by Lauren Oliver

28 Mar 2013

Book Review: Scent of Magic by Maria V Snyder

The below is the blurb from book 1 in the series, Scent of Power.  To see the blurb for book 2, please click on the Goodread links below.
  
Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan assumes their wounds and diseases into herself. But rather than being honored for her skills, she is hunted. Healers like Avry are accused of spreading the plague that has decimated the Territories, leaving the survivors in a state of chaos.

Stressed and tired from hiding, Avry is abducted by a band of rogues who, shockingly, value her gift above the golden bounty offered for her capture. Their leader, an enigmatic captor-protector with powers of his own, is unequivocal in his demands: Avry must heal a plague-stricken prince—leader of a campaign against her people. As they traverse the daunting Nine Mountains, beset by mercenaries and magical dangers, Avry must decide who is worth healing and what is worth dying for. Because the price of peace may well be her life...


Published:    18th December 2012
Publisher:  Harlequin
Goodreads :  
Click here
Series:  Book 2, Healer Series
Source:  Netgalley
Review:   8 out of 10



 
Continue reading Book Review: Scent of Magic by Maria V Snyder

27 Mar 2013

Waiting on Wednesday - Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly memo that is hosted by Breaking the Spine Blog.

 

Expected Release Date:  9th May 2013
(Release date obtained from Goodreads)


Goodreads link is here.


 Lottie is tired of long-term boyfriends who don’t want to commit to marriage. When her old boyfriend Ben reappears and reminds her of their pact to get married if they were both still single at thirty, she jumps at the chance. 

There will be no dates and no engagement—just a straight wedding march to the altar! Next comes the honeymoon on the Greek island where they first met. But not everyone is thrilled with Lottie and Ben’s rushed marriage, and family and friends are determined to intervene. Will Lottie and Ben have a wedding night to remember or one to forget?
Continue reading Waiting on Wednesday - Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella

26 Mar 2013

Dusty Reads: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield




Dusty Reads is a Tuesday meme that I found at Ya-aholic.com and was originally started at Xpressoreads.com. 

This is a meme where I intend to showcase a book that has been on my shelf for a while and haven’t got to yet.  If you have read this or have heard of this book, I would love to hear your comments on whether you  like it or not, or have heard great things about it.



This week, my  Dusty Read is:



 Angelfield House stands abandoned and forgotten. It was once the imposing home of the March family--fascinating, manipulative Isabelle, Charlie her brutal and dangerous brother, and the wild, untamed twins, Emmeline and Adeline. But Angelfield House conceals a chilling secret whose impact still resonates...

Now Margaret Lea is investigating Angelfield's past--and the mystery of the March family starts to unravel. What has Angelfield been hiding? What is its connection with the enigmatic author Vida Winter? And what is it in Margaret's own troubled past that causes her to fall so powerfully under Angelfilds spell?


     

   

      The Thirteenth Tale
   

 

 
 
    
Continue reading Dusty Reads: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

20 Mar 2013

Waiting on Wednesday - The Art of Wishing by Lindsay Ribar

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly memo that is hosted by Breaking the Spine Blog.

 

Expected Release Date:  21st March 2013 (1 day to go)
(Release date obtained from Goodreads)


Goodreads link is here.

 He can grant her wishes, but only she can save his life.

Margo McKenna has a plan for just about everything, from landing the lead in her high school play to getting into a good college. So when she finds herself in possession of a genie's ring and the chance to make three wishes, she doesn't know what to do. Why should she put her life into someone else's hands?

But Oliver is more than just a genie -- he's also a sophomore at Margo's high school, and he's on the run from a murderer. As he and Margo grow closer, she discovers that it will take more than three wishes to save him.

A whole lot more.
Continue reading Waiting on Wednesday - The Art of Wishing by Lindsay Ribar

18 Mar 2013

Dusty Reads: Ash by Malinda Lo




Dusty Reads is a Tuesday meme that I found at Ya-aholic.com and was originally started at Xpressoreads.com. 

This is a meme where I intend to showcase a book that has been on my shelf for a while and haven’t got to yet.  If you have read this or have heard of this book, I would love to hear your comments on whether you  like it or not, or have heard great things about it.



This week, my  Dusty Read is:

 In the wake of her father’s death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, rereading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away, as they are said to do. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted.

The day that Ash meets Kaisa, the King’s Huntress, her heart begins to change. Instead of chasing fairies, Ash learns to hunt with Kaisa. Though their friendship is as delicate as a new bloom, it reawakens Ash’s capacity for love—and her desire to live. But Sidhean has already claimed Ash for his own, and she must make a choice between fairy tale dreams and true love.

Entrancing, empowering, and romantic, Ash is about the connection between life and love, and solitude and death, where transformation can come from even the deepest grief.

     

   

      Ash
   

 

 
 
    


Continue reading Dusty Reads: Ash by Malinda Lo

Book Review: Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong ...
Fourteen kids stranded inside a superstore. Inside they have everything they could ever need. There's junk food and clothes, computer games and books, drugs and alcohol ... and without adult supervision they can do whatever they want.
Sounds like fun?

But outside the world is being ripped apart by violent storms and chemicals leaking into the atmosphere that, depending on blood type, leave victims paranoid, violent or dead.

The kids must remain inside, forced to create their own community, unsure if they'll ever be able to leave. Can they stop the world they've created inside from self-destructing too?


 Published:    4th April 2012
Publisher:  Hachette
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Book 1, Monument Series
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher
Review:   10 out of 10



Words cannot really describe how much I enjoyed this book.   I really went into this one not knowing a lot from it as the review copy that I had received did not have a blurb on the back and I thought I was fun not to find out but to wait and see what I thought.   

What I loved about this story...

Where do I start?!  If I had to pick one thing that I loved the most about this story, I would have to say it is the character interactionFor me, I found this story to be very character driven rather having a fast paced plot.  You basically have this group of kids (some really young and some teenager age) who are trapped in a superstore with the world around them apparently falling apart from what they can tell.  We follow these group of characters as they struggle to cope with the fact that they may never see their family again, struggle to get along with each other and struggle to survive.  Luckily, they are trapped in a superstore where everything they need is right at their fingertips, it is just a case of managing what they have so they do not run out etc.  Character wise, you have a bit of every single type of character you can think of in this story - good, bad, funny, sad etc etc.

What I was not so fond of with this story...

Absolutely nothing..  I loved this story to bits..

In summary...
An amazing read and with the way it ended, I really cannot wait to find out what happens next...


Continue reading Book Review: Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

Author Interview: D D Chant



Hi everyone! 

My name is Dee Dee, I’m twenty five and I live in a beautiful part of Devon, England with my family. I have a younger sister, Amy who is a brilliant guitar player, some chickens, Duck, geese, pheasants, a cat (that adopted us when we moved in!!!) and some Koi.

Broken City is actually my second novel. My first, as my Aunt so delicately put it, was crazy but in my defence I was only sixteen at the time. On the plus side I learnt a lot (or so I hope) and two years later ‘Broken City’ was finished. Due to the support I have received from everyone I have just started work on the next in the Broken City series! 

I have written another book ‘The Promise’, which is set in Saxon England it’s the beginning of a series and I have just finished my third book which is set in the distant future and is also the start of a series. It will be available for purchase early next year!!!

I really hope you enjoy reading my books as much as I enjoy writing them.

I love reading and have a kindle: I read almost anything with adventure and romance in it! I also like to cook and wear impractical high heels!!! And as you might have noticed I have a horrible addiction to exclamation marks!!!


1.  If you could work with any other author, who would it be and why? 
I guess it would HAVE to be Dickens, he's writing is incredible, his descriptions make you feel like you're standing within the pages of his books! I remember reading 'Dombey and Son' when I was about 18 and I cried the whole way through!

2.  What would be a typical working day for you? When and where do you write? 
At the moment I've set myself a 2013 challenge to complete the sequels to all three of my series. I already have the stories planed out and I decided that I just needed to motivate myself and get them down on paper!!! So I'm writing 1000 words every day at the moment. So far it's going really well, I'm already 30.000 words into Broken City 2!!!

3.  What is the hardest part of the writing for you? 
The first 20.000 words before the 'Big Scene' that changes the course of the story. You can't just jump in right in the middle of the plot, you have to build up and explain things but sometimes it can be hard holding back!!! And of course: EDITING!!!

4.  When and why did you first start writing? 
I've always loved reading and writing, my first attempt at a novel was when I was 14, it took my 4 years to write and it was terrible, but I learnt a lot. When I was 18 I started 'Broken City' and I've never looked back!

5.  How did you come up with the idea for the book your book? 
With each one it's different. 'Broken City' started off with a dream, 'The Promise' started after I was singing 'two little boys' to my baby cousin, the song is the story  of two friends who are loyal to each other over everything else. I wanted to write a book about a friendship so strong it stood against everything. 'Fracture' started as a single scene and grew from there!

6.  Are you a big reader? If so, what are you reading now? 
I am a huge reader!!! In fact I've just had a bit of a reading marathon: 11 books in 4 days!!!

7.  Do you have any advice for other aspiring writers?
Be open to criticism, it hurts worse than anything to hear that your masterpiece has some problems, but in the end you want to know about it. Find someone you can trust to be COMPLETELY honest with you and then ask their opinion, the truth is that no matter how hard an author looks at their book, other people will be able to see the faults in your writing that you can't.

FRACTURE
In a world torn apart by war and divided in to three nations Astra struggles to achieve balance. As a child she experienced a horror that caused her life to fracture around her, changing everything she’d ever known in an instant. 

Sixteen years later and Astra has been pressured into a false position by her past and is forced into taking a stand that enables her to keep her loved ones safe, but the cost is high.

Caught in an intolerable position Astra is loyal to only one thing: the family that loves her. But when a diplomatic mission from the Free Nation arrives for peace talks with the Tula, Astra’s precariously balanced world begins to fracture again.

BROKEN CITY
Deeta Richards has never seen the outside world. Before she was born a banking crisis brought civilization to an end and now no one leaves the safety of the compounds unless they need to, but Deeta still dreams of seeing more than the building she was born in. 

Tom is in the guard, this group are the only people that the tribal elders allow to leave the compound and tom knows only too well that Deeta could never survive the harshness that exists outside. Then tragedy strikes and Deeta and her sister Jan find themselves captured by a hostile tribe. Why does Tom know so much about these people? And why do they know so much about him? As this mystery draws to a climax, they discover that their friend Tom is not quite what he seems...





THE PROMISE
Dear Reader,

I wish to tell you a tale that began with a promise destined to change the lives of many.

When only a child, Lady Adele of Berron lost her family during a dreadful battle and was betrothed to a stranger.

Lord Rafe of Valrek, only a boy himself when the battle of Calis raged, grew to be a feared warrior and trusted advisor to his King. But sadness filled his past and Adele served only to remind him of all he had lost.

However the promise that bound these two together caused great anger to some.

What, Dear Reader, happened in those days of treachery and darkness? Incline your ear that I may whisper the secrets that you so desire to hear......


Lady Quill
 
Continue reading Author Interview: D D Chant