Book Review / The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks

Ira Levinson is in trouble. At ninety-one years old, in poor health and alone in the world, he finds himself stranded on an isolated embankment after a car crash. Suffering multiple injuries, he struggles to retain consciousness until a blurry image materializes and comes into focus beside him: his beloved wife Ruth, who passed away nine years ago. Urging him to hang on, she forces him to remain alert by recounting the stories of their lifetime together – how they met, the precious paintings they collected together, the dark days of WWII and its effect on them and their families. Ira knows that Ruth can’t possibly be in the car with him, but he clings to her words and his memories, reliving the sorrows and everyday joys that defined their marriage.

A few miles away, at a local rodeo, a Wake Forest College senior’s life is about to change. Recovering from a recent break-up, Sophia Danko meets a young cowboy named Luke, who bears little resemblance to the privileged frat boys she has encountered at school. Through Luke, Sophia is introduced to a world in which the stakes of survival and success, ruin and reward -- even life and death – loom large in everyday life. As she and Luke fall in love, Sophia finds herself imagining a future far removed from her plans -- a future that Luke has the power to rewrite . . . if the secret he’s keeping doesn’t destroy it first.

Ira and Ruth. Sophia and Luke. Two couples who have little in common, and who are separated by years and experience. Yet their lives will converge with unexpected poignancy, reminding us all that even the most difficult decisions can yield extraordinary journeys: beyond despair, beyond death, to the farthest reaches of the human heart.

Published:     7th September 2013
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Not part of a series
Source:  Bought

My Review   (5 out of 5)

What I loved about this story...

As with every single Nicholas Sparks book I have every read (and that's all of them!), this latest book from him definitely did not disappoint.  This book was full of emotion, tragedy and happiness - all rolled into one!

One half of the story, you have the story of Ira who is trapped in his car after having a car accident on a lonely road.  He starts hallucinating and sees his wife Ruth, who died many years ago.  Along the story, we see Ira remember bits and pieces of his life including meeting Ruth and how they built a very precious collection of paintings.  I found this part of the story very heartbreaking and heart warming at the same time.

The other half of the story is with Sophia and Luke.  Sophia attending college and trying to forget my ex and Luke who is a bull rider with a death wish.  For this part of the story, I really loved the way that these two characters met, the way that they both have issues that they need to work through and loved following them throughout the story trying to deal with those issues and interact with each other as well.

As usual with a Nicholas Sparks book, he saves a 'big reveal' until the end, which I won't spoil, but it definitely did not disappoint.  I was completely gripped into this story from the start right until the very last word.

What was not fond of with this story...

Loved this book completely, I couldn't possibly think of anything that I didn't like!


About the Author

As a child, Nicholas Sparks lived in Minnesota, Los Angeles, and Grand Island, Nebraska, finally settling in Fair Oaks, California at the age of eight. His father was a professor, his mother a homemaker, then optometrist's assistant. He lived in Fair Oaks through high school, graduated valedictorian in 1984, and received a full track scholarship to the University of Notre Dame.

After breaking the Notre Dame school record as part of a relay team in 1985 as a freshman (a record which still stands), he was injured and spent the summer recovering. During that summer, he wrote his first novel, though it was never published. He majored in Business Finance and graduated with high honors in 1988.

He and his wife Catherine, who met on spring break in 1988, were married in July, 1989. While living in Sacramento, he wrote his second novel that same year, though again, it wasn't published. He worked a variety of jobs over the next three years, including real estate appraisal, waiting tables, selling dental products by phone, and started his own small manufacturing business which struggled from the beginning. In 1990, he collaborated on a book with Billy Mills, the Olympic Gold Medalist and it was published by Feather Publishing before later being picked up by Random House. (It was recently re-issued by Hay House Books.) Though it received scant publicity, sales topped 50,000 copies in the first year of release.

He began selling pharmaceuticals and moved from Sacramento, California to North Carolina in 1992. In 1994, at the age of 28, he wrote The Notebook over a period of six months. In October, 1995, rights to The Notebook were sold to Warner Books. It was published in October, 1996, and he followed that with Message in a Bottle (1998), A Walk to Remember (1999), The Rescue (2000), A Bend in the Road (2001), and Nights in Rodanthe (2002), The Guardian (2003), The Wedding (2003), Three Weeks with my Brother (2004), True Believer (2005) and At First Sight (2005) all with Warner Books. All were domestic and international best sellers and were translated into more than 35 languages. The movie version of Message in a Bottle was released in 1999, A Walk to Remember was released in 2002, and The Notebook was released in 2004. The average domestic box office gross per film was $56 million -- with another $100 million in DVD sales -- making the novels by Nicholas Sparks one of the most successful franchises in Hollywood.

The film rights to Nights in Rodanthe, True Believer and At First Sight have been sold, and Nicholas Sparks has written the screenplay for The Guardian, though he has not offered it for sale at this point.

He now has five children: Miles, Ryan, Landon, Lexie, and Savannah. He lives in North Carolina with his wife and children.

His ancestry is German, Czech, English, and Irish, he's 5'10" and weighs 180 lbs. He is an avid athlete who runs daily, lifts weights regularly, and competes in Tae Kwon Do. He attends church regularly and reads approximately 125 books a year. He contributes to a variety of local and national charities, and is a major contributor to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame, where he provides scholarships, internships, and a fellowship annually.

Author Website:  http://nicholassparks.com/

Best wishes

Debs :-)

Book Review / Goddess by Laura Powell

Strikes. Starvation. Riots. Britain is at breaking-point and Aura is blind to it all. The Cult of Artemis is the only home she’s ever known. 

Enclosed in its luxury lifestyle, the unrest gripping the country seems to belong to a distant world. Her dream is to serve the Goddess and taking a vow of chastity and obedience seems a small price to pay. 

But days before Aura is due to be initiated as a Priestess, she meets Aiden, the rebellious son of a cult insider, whose radical ideas and unsettling charm force Aura to question everything – and everyone – she knows.


Published:     10th April 2014
Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Goodreads :  Click here
Author Website: Click Here
Series:  Not part of a series
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher



MY REVIEW

What I loved about this story...

I was really excited about this book, firstly because of the author Laura Powell.  Last year I had read Burn Mark by her and really enjoyed her writing style.  When I heard that she had written something new I was very excited to see what it was all about.

I really enjoyed the secrets aspect of this story.  You have the main character Aura who we see at the start following what she has always known and following the rule book.  She then meets Aiden and from then everything in her life changes.  Aura's journey through discovering herself, discovering secrets from her family and discovering possible conspiracies made me want to keep turning the pages until the very last.

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

If I had to be honest, the topic of gods and goddesses is a very touch and go area for me.  Depending on the story and how the topic is covered depends on whether I get on with it or not.  

With this story, there were aspects that I didn't follow but that was probably purely because I am not too familiar with gods and goddesses etc but please do not let that influence you in any way.  It is a really great story with great twists and turns. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laura Powell grew up in rural Wales and now lives in West London. 

She wrote her first book while studying Classics at Oxford and worked in publishing for five years before leaving to concentrate on her writing.

Waiting on Wednesday - Bleed Like Me by C Desir

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


Expected Release Date:   7th October 2014
(Release date obtained from Goodreads)

Goodreads link is here.


Seventeen-year old Amelia Gannon (just "Gannon" to her friends) is invisible to almost everyone in her life. To her parents, to her teachers--even her best friend is more interested in bumming cigarettes than bonding. Some days, the only way Gannon knows she’s real is by carving bloody lines into the flesh of her stomach.

Then she meets Michael Brooks, and for the first time, she feels seen to the core of her being. Obnoxious, controlling, damaged and addicting, he inserts himself into her life until all her scars are exposed. Each moment she's with him is a passionate, painful relief.

But as the relationship deepens, Gannon starts to feel as if she's standing at the foot of a dam about to burst. She's given up everything and everyone in her life for him, but somehow nothing is enough for Brooks--until the ultimate test.

A piercing, intimate portrayal of the danger of love so obsessive it becomes its own biggest threat.

Book Review / The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

An ingenious code hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci. A desperate race through the cathedrals and castles of Europe. An astonishing truth concealed for centuries . . . unveiled at last.

While in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, his body covered in baffling symbols. As Langdon and gifted French cryptologist Sophie Neveu sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci—clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Even more startling, the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion—a secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci—and he guarded a breathtaking historical secret. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle—while avoiding the faceless adversary who shadows their every move—the explosive, ancient truth will be lost forever.

Published:     1st March 2004
Publisher:  Corgi Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Book 2,  Robert Langdon
Source:  Bought

MY REVIEW    (5 out of 5)

What I loved about this story...

I had watched the movie of this story, with Tom Hanks in it, so many times I thought it was about time I read the book and I was glad that I did.  It definitely did not disappoint both in respect of being better than the movie and in respect of giving me newly found respect for the movie now that I had read the book.

The story in the books is virtually the same as the story in the movie so there were no hidden surprises, what I had expected to happen did and the 'grand reveal' at the end was just as good in both the movie and the book.

By far the best aspect of this book is the suspense and build up.  You have this scene at the beginning where the curator has been murdered and the way that he chose to deliver his final message before death, which starts the book off with a piece of a massive puzzle that gradually comes together, piece after piece, as the story goes on. 

What I was not fond of this story...

I have to be honest and say that there is absolutely nothing I could say under this heading, I loved this book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dan Brown is the author of numerous #1 bestselling novels, including The Da Vinci Code, which has become one of the best selling novels of all time as well as the subject of intellectual debate among readers and scholars. Brown’s novels are published in 52 languages around the world with 200 million copies in print.


In 2005, Brown was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by TIME Magazine, whose editors credited him with “keeping the publishing industry afloat; renewed interest in Leonardo da Vinci and early Christian history; spiking tourism to Paris and Rome; a growing membership in secret societies; the ire of Cardinals in Rome; eight books denying the claims of the novel and seven guides to read along with it; a flood of historical thrillers; and a major motion picture franchise.”

The son of a mathematics teacher and a church organist, Brown was raised on a prep school campus where he developed a fascination with the paradoxical interplay between science and religion. These themes eventually formed the backdrop for his books. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Phillips Exeter Academy, where he later returned to teach English before focusing his attention full time to writing.
Brown is currently at work on a new book as well as the Columbia Pictures film version of his most recent novel.

Author Website:  http://www.danbrown.com/

Waiting on Wednesday - Of Metal and Wishes by Sarah Fine

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


Expected Release Date: 5th August 2014
(Release date obtained from Goodreads)

Goodreads link is here.

There are whispers of a ghost in the slaughterhouse where sixteen-year-old Wen assists her father in his medical clinic—a ghost who grants wishes to those who need them most. When one of the Noor, men hired as cheap factory labor, humiliates Wen, she makes an impulsive wish of her own, and the Ghost grants it. Brutally.

Guilt-ridden, Wen befriends the Noor, including their outspoken leader, a young man named Melik. At the same time, she is lured by the mystery of the Ghost and learns he has been watching her … for a very long time.

As deadly accidents fuel tensions within the factory, Wen must confront her growing feelings for Melik, who is enraged at the sadistic factory bosses and the prejudice faced by his people at the hand of Wen’s, and her need to appease the Ghost, who is determined to protect her against any threat—real or imagined. She must decide whom she can trust, because as her heart is torn, the factory is exploding around her … and she might go down with it.

●● Waiting on Wednesday - Servants of the Storm by Delilah S Dawson ●●

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


Expected Release Date: 5th August 2014
(Release date obtained from Goodreads)

Goodreads link is here.

A year ago Hurricane Josephine swept through Savannah, Georgia, leaving behind nothing but death and destruction — and taking the life of Dovey's best friend, Carly. Since that night, Dovey has been in a medicated haze, numb to everything around her.

But recently she's started to believe she's seeing things that can't be real ... including Carly at their favorite cafe. Determined to learn the truth, Dovey stops taking her pills. And the world that opens up to her is unlike anything she could have imagined.

As Dovey slips deeper into the shadowy corners of Savannah — where the dark and horrifying secrets lurk — she learns that the storm that destroyed her city and stole her friend was much more than a force of nature. And now the sinister beings truly responsible are out to finish what they started.

Dovey's running out of time and torn between two paths. Will she trust her childhood friend Baker, who can't see the threatening darkness but promises to never give up on Dovey and Carly? Or will she plot with the sexy stranger, Isaac, who offers all the answers — for a price? Soon Dovey realizes that the danger closing in has little to do with Carly ... and everything to do with Dovey herself.

Book Review / The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant by Joanna Wiebe

So many secrets for such a small island. From the moment Anne Merchant arrives at Cania Christy, a boarding school for the world’s wealthiest teens, the hushed truths of this strange, unfamiliar land begin calling to her—sometimes as lulling drumbeats in the night, sometimes as piercing shrieks.

One by one, unanswered questions rise. No one will tell her why a line is painted across the island or why she is forbidden to cross it. Her every move—even her performance at the school dance—is graded as part of a competition to become valedictorian, a title that brings rewards no one will talk about. And Anne discovers that the parents of her peers surrender million-dollar possessions to enroll their kids in Cania Christy, leaving her to wonder what her lowly funeral director father could have paid to get her in… and why.

As a beautiful senior struggles to help Anne make sense of this cloak-and-dagger world without breaking the rules that bind him, she must summon the courage to face the impossible truth—and change it—before she and everyone she loves is destroyed by it.

Published:     14th January 2014
Publisher:  BenBella Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Book 1, The V Trilogy
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

My Review    (4 out of 5)

What I loved about this book...

I was definitely intrigued when reading the blurb (above) to this book.  I have to admit that I have a weakness for stories about family secrets and this one just screamed out to have a lot of them.   First off, let's just talk about the cover.  It is so spooky and the way that the girl is walking towards what I can only guess is Cania Christy and seeing a single light on in the top window.  Spooky to say the least.  I have always found that to draw me into reading a book the first place I look is obviously the blurb which tells you about the story but the second is always the cover.

This is one of those books that has a lot of build up at the beginning that leads to a 'big reveal' nearer the end of the book.  The big reveal in this book did not disappoint.  I spent a lot of the book up to nearer the end point wondering where this story was going but when it came to that big reveal, I did have to take a moment to sit back appreciate it in all its glory.  It was definitely one of those wow moments for me as I definitely did not see that coming.  

What I was not fond of with this book..

As I mentioned, there is a lot of build up in this book towards the 'big reveal' and I have to be honest and say that I did get a little bit bored with the build up at times and did wish for something else to come along and surprise me,  but unfortunately for me it didn't.

Summary...

A really great read with a fantastic twist near the end.  A lot of build up at the beginning but the ending is definitely worth the wait!


About the Author

Joanna Wiebe is represented by literary agent Jason Anthony of Lippincott Massie McQuilkin. The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant - the first installment in the V Trilogy - is published by BenBella Books.

Author Website:   http://joannawiebefiction.com/

Best wishes

Debs :-)

Book Review / A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger

Sun, sex, and ... step-brothers.

Another sizzling story from Hamilton High.

Whitley Johnson's dream summer of shopping, partying and tanning on the beach has just turned into a nightmare. Because Dad didn't tell her he doesn't live by the beach anymore, or that he's no longer a bachelor. He's picked up and moved to a tiny, lame town called Hamilton and gotten himself a fiance. A fiance whose son just happens to be what's-his-name from last week's drunken graduation party one night stand. Just freakin' great.

As if the summer couldn't get worse, Dad seems to forget Whitley's even there. She doesn't fit in with his perfect new country club family, and Whitley does what any kid lucky enough to go all summer unsupervised does: she parties. Hard.

So hard that she doesn't even notice the good things right under her nose: a younger future step-sister who is just about the only person she's ever liked, a best friend (even though Whitley swears she doesn't 'do friends') and a smoking hot, sweet guy who isn't her step brother (yet) and who actually seems to care for her. It will take all three of them to convince her that they're not phoneys, and to get Whitley to get through her anger and begin to put the pieces of her family together.

Published:     6th February 2014
Publisher:  Hodder
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Not part of a series
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

My Review  (5 out of 5)

What I loved about this book...

Wow and I mean WOW!  This book was so amazing I really don't know where to start.   

Ok, let's go.  First let's talk about the main character.  Whitley is so out of control at the beginning of the story and I really can't blame her given her situation at that time.  The way she reacts to situations throughout the book are both emotional and funny (and believe me sometimes at the same time).  I loved the way that her character progresses through the book and watch how she deals with things that are thrown into her path.  

What made this book great for me was the relationships between each of the characters, including Whitley, and how they develop throughout the book.  The people that I thought would have been not very nice turned out to be the opposite and one character, in particular, really surprised me but I won't say who as I don't want to spoil the story for you. 

 
What I was not fond of with this book...

I'm only adding this point here as it was a negative point to a character but was not necessarily a negative point against the story as a whole.  I really did not like Whitley's Dad.  His personality was one that seemed to just change when he met someone new, treating Whitley completely different to what he had done in the past and completely disregarding their relationship in its entirety, choosing just to go to work and let others deal with his child.  Grr..... 

In summary...

A hilariously fantastic read with great emotional depth in most of the characters... Add this book to your shelf now..... :-)


About the Author

"I always felt like the 'ugly girl' in high school, so when I was introduced to the word during my senior year, I knew I was the Duff. The idea of writing a book with DUFF as the title started as a joke, but when I realized that my friends felt like Duffs, too, I knew I had to write this story!"
   —Kody Keplinger on her inspiration for THE DUFF, her debut novel
 
Kody Keplinger was born and raised in rural western Kentucky. She always enjoyed writing and began working on "novels" when she was eleven. She wrote her first published work, THE DUFF, during her senior year of high school. Since then, Kody has written two other novels, SHUT OUT and A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHTMARE.

Kody currently lives in NYC and writes full time. She enjoys Thai food, Converse tennis shoes, and way too much television.

Kodya writes for YA Highway, a blog devoted to the young adult publishing industry. She is also a featured writer for Poptimal.com, a popular pop culture blog, where she reviews TV shows and movies.

Author Website :  http://kodykeplinger.com

Best wishes

Debs :-)

Book Review / A Single Breath by Lucy Clarke

The deeper the water, the darker the secrets

There were so many times I thought about telling you the truth, Eva. What stopped me was always the same thing…

When Eva’s husband Jackson tragically drowns, she longs to meet his estranged family. The journey takes her to Jackson’s brother’s doorstep on a remote Tasmanian island. 

As strange details about her husband’s past begin to emerge, memories of the man she married start slipping through her fingers like sand, as everything she ever knew and loved about him is thrown into question. Now she’s no longer sure whether it was Jackson she fell in love with – or someone else entirely…

The truth is, it was all a lie . . .

Published:     27th March 2014
Publisher:  Harper
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Not part of a series
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher



My Review  (10 out of 10)

What I loved about this story...

I have to say that Lucy Clarke is fast becoming one of my favourite authors of all time.  Her first book, the Sea Sisters (check out my review here - click here) was a phenomenal read for me.  

First of all, I love the way that Lucy Clarke structures this story.  There are quite a lot of characters in this story and usually I do find it hard to keep up with characters if there are loads in the story but the way that this story is structured and the descriptions of each characters and their particular circumstances made it so easy to remember each character and their story, alongside the main story of this book.  

Not many books really surprise me with plot twists.  This book completely pulled the wool over my eyes until very near the end with its plot twist.

I absolutely loved the main character of this story, Eva.  You see her at the beginning of this story sad that her husband had tragically drowned and her grieving process.  When she decides to meet her husband's estranged family and she learns new details, that for me was when I really saw her character change and from then on for the rest of the story I loved to watch her process these new details and see how she deals with them.  


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

I loved this book and there was absolutely nothing that I disliked.

About the Author

Lucy Clarke has a first class degree in English Literature, and is a passionate traveller and diarist. 

She has worked as a presenter of social enterprise events and a creative writing workshop leader. Lucy is now a full-time novelist.

Her debut novel, The Sea Sisters (UK), was a Richard and Judy Summer 2013 Book Club choice, and was published in ten countries.
Lucy is married to James Cox, a professional windsurfer, and together they spend their winters travelling and their summers at their home on the south coast of England.



Author Website:  http://www.lucy-clarke.com/


Best wishes

Debs :-)

●● Waiting on Wednesday - My Last Kiss by Bethany Neal ●●

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


Expected Release Date: 10th June 2014
(Release date obtained from Goodreads)

Goodreads link is here.

What if your last kiss was with the wrong boy?

Cassidy Haines remembers her first kiss vividly. It was on the old covered bridge the summer before her freshman year with her boyfriend of three years, Ethan Keys. But her last kiss—the one she shared with someone at her seventeenth birthday party the night she died—is a blur. Cassidy is trapped in the living world, not only mourning the loss of her human body, but left with the grim suspicion that her untimely death wasn’t a suicide as everyone assumes. She can’t remember anything from the weeks leading up to her birthday and she’s worried that she may have betrayed her boyfriend.

If Cassidy is to uncover the truth about that fateful night and make amends with the only boy she’ll ever love, she must face her past and all the decisions she made—good and bad—that led to her last kiss.

Series Review: The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden & The Redemption of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen

From the bestselling author of The Secret of Ella and Micha comes a mesmerizing novel of fate, friendship, and the healing power of love . . .

THE COINCIDENCE OF CALLIE AND KAYDEN

For Kayden, suffering in silence was the only way to survive. If he was lucky, he could keep his head down, do as he was told, and make it through the day. But one night it seemed like his luck-and his life-might finally end . . . until an angel named Callie appeared just in time to rescue him.

Callie has never believed in luck. Not since her twelfth birthday when everything was taken from her. After the worst was over, she locked up her feelings and vowed never to tell anyone what happened. Now, six years later, she continues to struggle with the painful secret that threatens to consume her.

When fate lands Kayden and Callie at the same college, Kayden is determined to get to know the beautiful girl who changed his destiny. Quiet and reserved, Callie still fears letting anyone else into her world. But Kayden is certain that Callie has come back into his life for a reason. And the more he tries to be a part of her life, the more he realizes that, this time, it's Callie who needs to be saved . . .

The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden (Book 1)
Published:     19th March 2013
Publisher:  Sphere
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Book 1, The Coincidence
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

The Redemption of Callie and Kayden (Book 2)
Published:     6th August 2013
Publisher:  Sphere
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Book 1, The Coincidence
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

My Review         (7 out of 10)

I really enjoyed this series, so far.  I have to be honest from the start and say that this is not normally the type of book that I would pick up.   One of my things I do not normally like in a book is too much sex and not enough story.  Just from the cover of these books, I had the initial impression that this book would be one of those stories. 

What I loved about these books...

These books completely surprised me.  Yes they did contain some elements of 'sexiness' but the story had a great mix of drama and enough suspense to keep me reading until the very end.  What I loved the most was the characters, especially the main characters and how they progressed through the story.  Callie, in particular, was my favourite character to follow.  A lot of emotional turmoil between the two characters and individually, which gave the story so much depth for me and made me enjoy it even more as the story progressed. 


What I was not fond of with these books...

I wasn't fond of the 'sexiness' in this book but don't let that dissuade you from reading this book if that is something you like.  Sexiness in books is not really my thing but for my reading goals for 2014 I am trying to branch out and try new things and revisit old genres etc that I haven't been fond of in the past to see whether I have a change of heart.  These were books that I wanted to try because I liked the sound of the story (and did enjoy that part of these books) but sexiness is not really my thing. 
 

About the Author

Jessica Sorensen is the author of The New York Times and USA Today Bestsellers, The Secret of Ella and Micha, The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden, and Breaking Nova, which are New Adult Contemporary novels.  She also writes Paranormal series, including the Fallen Star Series, Shattered Promises, Darkness Falls, and the Death Collectors. 

She loves writing and reading and is an avid watcher of TV series The Vampire Diaries and Modern Family.  An immense music lover,  Jessica immerses herself in her music as she writes.  She has a broad taste in music, and a list of favorite songs that goes on for miles!  

A few of her current favorite bands are Chevelle, Rise Against, Alkaline Trio, Brand New, Death Cab for Cutie, Flight 409, and Nirvana.  Some of Jessica’s favorite “watch it over, and over again” movies include Anywhere but Here, Juno, Pride and Prejudice, The Hangover, and Bad Teacher.

Author Website:  http://jessicasorensen.com/about-jessica/

Best wishes

Debs :-)

May TBR Basket

●● Waiting on Wednesday - Hungry by HA Swain ●●

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


Expected Release Date: 3rd June 2014
(Release date obtained from Goodreads)

Goodreads link is here.

In the future, food is no longer necessary—until Thalia begins to feel something unfamiliar and uncomfortable. She’s hungry.

In Thalia’s world, there is no need for food—everyone takes medication (or “inocs”) to ward off hunger. It should mean there is no more famine, no more obesity, no more food-related illnesses, and no more war. At least that's what her parents, who work for the company that developed the inocs, say. But when Thalia meets a boy who is part of an underground movement to bring food back, she realizes that most people live a life much different from hers. Worse, Thalia is starting to feel hunger, and so is he—the inocs aren’t working. Together they set out to find the only thing that will quell their hunger: real food.

February, March and April 2014 Reading Wrap Up

Book Review / A Seaside Affair by Fern Britton

The new wonderfully warm and witty novel from Fern Britton, the much-loved TV personality.

Perfect for fans of Katie Fforde and Trisha Ashley.
When the residents of the Cornish seaside town of Trevay discover that their ramshackle but much-loved theatre is about to be taken over by a global coffee chain, Café au Lait, they are up in arms.

It is up to Penny Leighton, hotshot Producer, to come up with a plan to save it. Armed with her only her mobile phone and her enviable contacts book, she starts to pull in some serious favours. Trevay soon finds itself at the centre of the universe when more A-listers than you can shake a stick at arrive to take part in a charity season at the theatre.
The play throws out a chance to Jess Tate, girlfriend to TV heartthrob Ryan Roberts. His career is on the rise while hers remains resolutely in the doldrums. But when opportunity comes calling, it isn’t just her career prospects that are about to change.

Tevay is about to put on the show of its life – but can the villagers, and Jess, hold on to the thing they love the most?

Published:     24th April 2014
Publisher:  HarperCollins
Goodreads :  Click here
Author Website:  Click Here
Series:  Not part of a series but recommend reading Hidden Treasures First.
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher
Review:   9 out of 10

My Review

Fern is very quickly becoming one of my favourite authors of all time.  Not only does she create an enthralling seaside community and describes the scenery so beautifully, she creates characters and scenarios that draw you in and keep you there until the story is done.

As you can probably tell from the first paragraph, I absolutely adored this story.  There were quite a few characters to get to grips with but the way they were introduced to the story I had absolutely no trouble in keeping up with them and remembering who they are.

What I loved about this story...
Everything.  The descriptions of locations were so great that they made me feel as if I was right there in the story, I loved that given the fact that at the time I was reading this book it was a typical rainy English day!  The fact that each character had their own particular back story and mini plot in this story coupled with the fact that we had the major plot line of saving the theatre, kept my attention right until the very end of the story.

What I was not fond of with this story...
I loved this story from start to finish and cannot come up with anything that I was not fond of...

About the Author

Fern Britton, an English television presenter, was born on 17 July 1957 in Ealing, London. She was educated at Dr Challoner's High School in Little Chalfont and underwent training in stage management at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She is the daughter of the English actor, Tony Britton and Ruth Britton. Fern Britton spent the early days of her life at Buckinghamshire. Her older sister, Cherry Britton, is a script writer and her younger half brother, Jasper Britton, is an actor. She is married to the celebrity chef, Phil Vickery and lives with her family at Holmer Green in Buckinghamshire.

Fern Britton worked with a touring theatre company and in 1979, she started her career with Westward Television in Plymouth. She worked as a newsreader and continuity announcer on Westward Diary, the nightly local bulletin. Later, she switched to present BBC’s Southwest news programme, Spotlight. She became a known as the youngest national news presenter to present News After Noon on BBC1. Fern Britton then moved to work for TVS in Southampton, where she hosted the South edition of the news programme, Coast to Coast, together with Fred Dinenage. She has also presented other programmes, like Coast to Coast People, The Television Show and Magic Moments.

Since then, Fern Britton has hosted several programmes, which include Carlton Television's After Five, BBC's Breakfast Time, London News Network's London Tonight and BBC 1’s Holiday. She also featured in the first two series of The Brian Conley Show and in 1994, Fern Britton went onto present the famous television cookery game show, Ready Steady Cook. She hosted the show for a long span of six years until she was succeeded by chef, Ainsley Harriott. She joined hands with the British television presenter, Phillip Schofield to host the famous television magazine show This Morning. Since 1999, Fern Britton has been hosting the show and the couple was known for their hilarious presentation. The show was a big hit and won the 2003 & 2004 TV Quick Award for the ‘Best Daytime Viewing’. It also clinched the 2004 National Television Award for the ‘Most Popular Daytime Show’.

Fern Britton anchored the Pride of Britain Awards in 2002 and was one among the panellists on the satirical panel show, Have I Got News for You.

In 2006, the song, “The Fern Britton Experience”, which featured in the album, Hang The DJ was named after her by the UK DJ Shitmat. She hosted the reality television show, Soapstar Superstar, and the British Soap Awards 2006. At the Royal Albert Hall, on 31 May 2007, Fern Britton presented the Classical BRIT Awards and also co-presented the British Soap Awards that year.

Fern Britton anchored her own ITV1 Saturday night series, That's What I Call Television in 2007. In December 2007, she went on a secret trip to Basra to broadcast behind-the-scenes footage of the troops. She appeared as a guest presenter for the show, Have I Got News for You on 27 April 2007 and again on 17 October 2008. On 12 January 2008, she was the winner in the first episode of Thank God You're Here, a television comedy series hosted by Paul Merton. In April 2008, Fern Britton together with her colleague, Phillip Schofield was the presenter of the revived 'all star' version of the super hit ITV show, Mr and Mrs. The show was broadcast on Saturday nights as a six-part series.

Apart from television presentations, Fern Britton has also featured in advertisements for Ryvita Minis. She performed the title role in a Cinderella pantomime in 1988. In March 1998, her first book, Fern’s Family Favourites, was released and in October the following year, she launched her second book Winter Treats and Summer Delights. Fern, My Story was published in November 2008 by Michael Joseph and it ranked among the Top Ten Bestseller list by The Sunday Times.


Best wishes

Debs :-)

Waiting on Wednesday - The Thiings You Kiss Goodbye by Leslie Connor

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


Expected Release Date: 24th June 2014
(Release date obtained from Goodreads)

Goodreads link is here.

Bettina Vasilis can hardly believe it when basketball star Brady Cullen asks her out, and she just about faints when her strict father actually approves of him.

But when school starts up again, Brady changes. What happened to the sweet boy she fell in love with? Then she meets a smoldering guy in his twenties, and this “cowboy” is everything Brady is not—gentle, caring, and interested in getting to know the real Bettina.

Bettina knows that breaking up with Brady would mean giving up her freedom—and that it would be inappropriate for anything to happen between her and Cowboy. Still, she can’t help that she longs for the scent of his auto shop whenever she’s anywhere else.

When tragedy strikes, Bettina must tell her family the truth—and kiss goodbye the things she thought she knew about herself and the men in her life.

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Book Review / The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks

"Everyone wanted to believe that endless love was possible. She'd believed in it once, too, back when she was eighteen."

In the spring of 1984, high school students Amanda Collier and Dawson Cole fell deeply, irrevocably in love. Though they were from opposite sides of the tracks, their love for one another seemed to defy the realities of life in the small town of Oriental, North Carolina. But as the summer of their senior year came to a close, unforeseen events would tear the young couple apart, setting them on radically divergent paths.

Now, twenty-five years later, Amanda and Dawson are summoned back to Oriental for the funeral of Tuck Hostetler, the mentor who once gave shelter to their high school romance. Neither has lived the life they imagined . . . and neither can forget the passionate first love that forever changed their lives. As Amanda and Dawson carry out the instructions Tuck left behind for them, they realize that everything they thought they knew -- about Tuck, about themselves, and about the dreams they held dear -- was not as it seemed. Forced to confront painful memories, the two former lovers will discover undeniable truths about the choices they have made. And in the course of a single, searing weekend, they will ask of the living, and the dead: Can love truly rewrite the past?

Published:     7th August 2012
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Not part of a series
Source:  Bought

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My Review

About the Author

As a child, Nicholas Sparks lived in Minnesota, Los Angeles, and Grand Island, Nebraska, finally settling in Fair Oaks, California at the age of eight. His father was a professor, his mother a homemaker, then optometrist's assistant. He lived in Fair Oaks through high school, graduated valedictorian in 1984, and received a full track scholarship to the University of Notre Dame.

After breaking the Notre Dame school record as part of a relay team in 1985 as a freshman (a record which still stands), he was injured and spent the summer recovering. During that summer, he wrote his first novel, though it was never published. He majored in Business Finance and graduated with high honors in 1988.

He and his wife Catherine, who met on spring break in 1988, were married in July, 1989. While living in Sacramento, he wrote his second novel that same year, though again, it wasn't published. He worked a variety of jobs over the next three years, including real estate appraisal, waiting tables, selling dental products by phone, and started his own small manufacturing business which struggled from the beginning. In 1990, he collaborated on a book with Billy Mills, the Olympic Gold Medalist and it was published by Feather Publishing before later being picked up by Random House. (It was recently re-issued by Hay House Books.) Though it received scant publicity, sales topped 50,000 copies in the first year of release.

He began selling pharmaceuticals and moved from Sacramento, California to North Carolina in 1992. In 1994, at the age of 28, he wrote The Notebook over a period of six months. In October, 1995, rights to The Notebook were sold to Warner Books. It was published in October, 1996, and he followed that with Message in a Bottle (1998), A Walk to Remember (1999), The Rescue (2000), A Bend in the Road (2001), and Nights in Rodanthe (2002), The Guardian (2003), The Wedding (2003), Three Weeks with my Brother (2004), True Believer (2005) and At First Sight (2005) all with Warner Books. All were domestic and international best sellers and were translated into more than 35 languages. The movie version of Message in a Bottle was released in 1999, A Walk to Remember was released in 2002, and The Notebook was released in 2004. The average domestic box office gross per film was $56 million -- with another $100 million in DVD sales -- making the novels by Nicholas Sparks one of the most successful franchises in Hollywood.

The film rights to Nights in Rodanthe, True Believer and At First Sight have been sold, and Nicholas Sparks has written the screenplay for The Guardian, though he has not offered it for sale at this point.

He now has five children: Miles, Ryan, Landon, Lexie, and Savannah. He lives in North Carolina with his wife and children.

His ancestry is German, Czech, English, and Irish, he's 5'10" and weighs 180 lbs. He is an avid athlete who runs daily, lifts weights regularly, and competes in Tae Kwon Do. He attends church regularly and reads approximately 125 books a year. He contributes to a variety of local and national charities, and is a major contributor to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame, where he provides scholarships, internships, and a fellowship annually.

Author Website:  http://nicholassparks.com/


Best wishes

Debs :-)    

Book Review / The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

When U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman half-buried in the dirt during his third tour of duty in Iraq, his first instinct is to toss it aside. Instead, he brings it back to the base for someone to claim, but when no one does, he finds himself always carrying the photo in his pocket. 

Soon Thibault experiences a sudden streak of luck—winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat that kills two of his closest buddies. Only his best friend, Victor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph—his lucky charm.
 

Back home in Colorado, Thibault can’t seem to get the photo—and the woman in it—out of his mind. Believing that she somehow holds the key to his destiny, he sets out on a journey across the country to find her, never expecting the strong but vulnerable woman he encounters in Hampton, North Carolina—Elizabeth, a divorced mother with a young son—to be the girl he’s been waiting his whole life to meet. Caught off guard by the attraction he feels, Thibault keeps the story of the photo, and his luck, a secret. As he and Elizabeth embark upon a passionate and all-consuming love affair, the secret he is keeping will soon threaten to tear them apart—destroying not only their love, but also their lives.


Filled with tender romance and terrific suspense, The Lucky One is Nicholas Sparks at his best—an unforgettable story about the surprising paths our lives often take and the power of fate to guide us to true and everlasting love.

Published:     30th September 2008
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Not part of a series
Source:  Bought
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●● Waiting on Wednesday - The Winter People by Rebekah L Purdy ●●

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


Expected Release Date: 2nd September 2014
(Release date obtained from Goodreads)

Goodreads link is here.

An engrossing, complex, romantic fantasy perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore or Maggie Stiefvater, set in a wholly unique world.

Salome Montgomery fears winter—the cold, the snow, the ice, but most of all, the frozen pond she fell through as a child. Haunted by the voices and images of the strange beings that pulled her to safety, she hasn't forgotten their warning to "stay away." For eleven years, she has avoided the winter woods, the pond, and the darkness that lurks nearby. But when failing health takes her grandparents to Arizona, she is left in charge of maintaining their estate. This includes the "special gifts" that must be left at the back of the property.
 


Salome discovers she’s a key player in a world she’s tried for years to avoid. At the center of this world is the strange and beautiful Nevin, who she finds trespassing on her family’s property. Cursed with dark secrets and knowledge of the creatures in the woods, his interactions with Salome take her life in a new direction. A direction where she'll have to decide between her longtime crush Colton, who could cure her fear of winter. Or Nevin who, along with an appointed bodyguard, Gareth, protects her from the darkness that swirls in the snowy backdrop. An evil that, given the chance, will kill her.

Book Review / Purity by Jackson Pearce

A novel about love, loss, and sex -- but not necessarily in that order.
Before her mother died, Shelby promised three things: to listen to her father, to love as much as possible, and to live without restraint. Those Promises become harder to keep when Shelby's father joins the planning committee for the Princess Ball, an annual dance that ends with a ceremonial vow to live pure lives -- in other words, no "bad behavior," no breaking the rules, and definitely no sex.

Torn between Promises One and Three, Shelby makes a decision -- to exploit a loophole and lose her virginity before taking the vow. But somewhere between failed hookup attempts and helping her dad plan the ball, Shelby starts to understand what her mother really meant, what her father really needs, and who really has the right to her purity.


Published:     24th April 2012
Publisher:  Little Brown
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Not part of a series
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

●● Waiting on Wednesday / Of Metal and Wishes by Sarah Fine ●●

 

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


Expected Release Date: 5th August 2014

(Release date obtained from Goodreads)

Goodreads link is here.
 

There are whispers of a ghost in the slaughterhouse where sixteen-year-old Wen assists her father in his medical clinic—a ghost who grants wishes to those who need them most. When one of the Noor, men hired as cheap factory labor, humiliates Wen, she makes an impulsive wish of her own, and the Ghost grants it. Brutally.

Guilt-ridden, Wen befriends the Noor, including their outspoken leader, a young man named Melik. At the same time, she is lured by the mystery of the Ghost and learns he has been watching her … for a very long time.

As deadly accidents fuel tensions within the factory, Wen must confront her growing feelings for Melik, who is enraged at the sadistic factory bosses and the prejudice faced by his people at the hand of Wen’s, and her need to appease the Ghost, who is determined to protect her against any threat—real or imagined. She must decide whom she can trust, because as her heart is torn, the factory is exploding around her … and she might go down with it.

Book Review / Dead Silent by Sharon Jones (Book 2, Penny Sinclair Series)

People think of Mother Nature as a gentle lady. They forget that she's also Death...Sixteen-year-old Poppy Sinclair believes in quantum particles, not tarot cards, in Dawkins, not druids. Last summer, in a boating accident in the Lake District, Poppy had a brush with death. But the girl she finds face down in Scariswater hasn't been so lucky. As she fights to discover the truth behind what she believes is murder, Poppy is forced to concede that people and things are not always what they seem and, slipping ever deeper into a web of lies, jealousy and heart-stopping danger, she comes to realise - too late - that the one thing that can save her has been right there, all the time.

Published:     6th February 2014
Publisher:  Orchard Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Book 2, Poppy Sinclair
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher
 

Best wishes 

Debs :-)

Book Haul / 2nd April 2014

●● Waiting on Wednesday / Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray ●●

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


Expected Release Date: 5th August 2014
(Release date obtained from Goodreads)

Goodreads link is here.

As the above book is book 2 in the series, below is the blurb from book 1...

Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City—and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult.

Evie worries he’ll discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer.

As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho hides a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened.

The Booktuber Habits Tag

Book Review / Cavendon Hall by Barbara Taylor Bradford

Opening on the eve of the First World War, this is a dramatic novel set around the stately home of Cavendon Hall, its owners the aristocratic Ingham family and the Swann family who serves them.

Two entwined families: the aristocratic Inghams and the Swanns who serve them. The Earl and Countess have relied on their faithful retainers Alice and Walter Swann as their young family grows up.

One stately home: Cavendon Hall, a grand imposing house nestled in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales

A society beauty: Lady Daphne Ingham is the most beautiful of the Earl’s four daughters. Being presented at Court and making a glittering marriage is her destiny.

But in the summer of 1913, a devastating event changes her future forever, and threatens the Ingham name. Yet life as the families of Cavendon Hall know it – Royal Ascot, supper dances, grouse season feasts and a full servants’ hall – is about to alter beyond recognition as the storm clouds of war gather.

Published:     30th January 2014
Publisher:  HarperCollins
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Not part of a series
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

●● Waiting on Wednesday - Hexed by Michelle Krys ●●

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


Expected Release Date: 10th June 2014
(Release date obtained from Goodreads)

Goodreads link is here.

If high school is all about social status, Indigo Blackwood has it made. Sure, her quirky mom owns an occult shop, and a nerd just won’t stop trying to be her friend, but Indie is a popular cheerleader with a football-star boyfriend and a social circle powerful enough to ruin everyone at school. Who wouldn’t want to be her?

Then a guy dies right before her eyes. And the dusty old family Bible her mom is freakishly possessive of is stolen. But it’s when a frustratingly sexy stranger named Bishop enters Indie’s world that she learns her destiny involves a lot more than pom-poms and parties. If she doesn’t get the Bible back, every witch on the planet will die. And that’s seriously bad news for Indie, because according to Bishop, she’s a witch too.

Suddenly forced into a centuries-old war between witches and sorcerers, Indie’s about to uncover the many dark truths about her life—and a future unlike any she ever imagined on top of the cheer pyramid.

●● Book Haul / 24th March 2014 ●●

Book Lover Survet Tag [Originally from You Tube]

Series Review - Fracture and Vengeance by Megan Miranda

Below is the description for the first book, Fracture....

When Decker found Delaney kissing his best friend Carson, he told himself that it meant nothing. But then Carson calls to Delaney from across the vast frozen lake. Jealous, Decker insists they walk over the fragile ice. Halfway, he leaves her there ...Ten minutes without air, Delaney will be dead. Decker pulls her out of the icy waters after eleven. Delaney is alive, but now she is drawn to those who are dying ...and to stranger, Troy - someone Decker should see as a threat.

Fracture
Published:     13th February 2014
Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Book 1, Fracture
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

Vengeance

 Published:     13th February 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Book 2, Fracture
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

Best wishes

Debs