A Kiss by Design by Christy Hayes

Emily and Dylan...what can I say? Well, for one thing, Dylan is a sweetheart. He is totally willing to disregard the feelings he has had for Emily since they were children in order to give her the happiness he so believes that she wants to be a part of. But, seriously dude, family is family and love is love, and sometimes family is just not enough when you truly love someone. I felt so sad for him throughout some of this book. He truly is conflicted. He does not want to hurt anyone, but yet everyone could be hurt if he decides to follow his heart. But the person he truly loves could be the most hurt if he just decides to back off and let her be. Poor guy cannot win either way.

Emily, I believe, is a girl lost in the comfort and familiarity of her current relationship with Dylan's brother. So lost, in fact, that she cannot see the truth that is right in front of her. That fact that Dylan is her confidante, her heart, her shoulder to cry on. He is her rock, whereas in contrast, she has yet to truly confide in her current boyfriend. Love sometimes takes a while to hit us, and in Emily's case, it has definitely taken a while.

The Three Amigos: Shelby, Kayla, and Reagan. I loved these girls to death. They were witty, supportive, sarcastic when the need arose, and even plotting little minxes when the occasion called for it. They are the delicious filling in this word-filled cake, and I adored every moment they hit the page. They each reminded me of me in some way, and I just could not get enough of them. Every woman has a friend, or two or three, that resemble at least one or even all of these girls, and what would we do without 'em?

Now, I guess I had better talk a little bit about the boyfriend in the middle of all this mess. Dylan's brother, Zach. Throughout this book, Zach seemed to me to be a bit in the same predicament as Emily. He is blinded by the comfort and familiarity of his and Emily's relationship. I think that might be the initial reason why he decides to propose in the first place. I won't dare to call him inconsiderate or an air-head, but I will say that this book does not really shed him a good light. It's not a bad light, but I was put in a position to dislike this character. Or at least root for Emily and Dylan more. I cannot wait for Book 2 when Zach's point of view will be shown. Who knows, the roles might be reversed. I might begin to like Zach more and see his way of thinking. I just know that I have vowed not to be biased until his story is released.

I loved this book. It was a very entertaining read and had me glued to each page in anticipation of what was going to happen next.

Ghost Hand by Ripley Patton

Olivia Black's life is pretty much as normal as it is going to get. The fact that she has a ghost hand does cause quite a few stares and disbelieving glance, but since she has dealt with it since she was born, it is really nothing new to her. So when her hand suddenly starts to act seemingly on its own, even she is quite freaked out.

But a strange boy who is new to town doesn't seem at all surprised or disturbed by her hand's sudden actions. In fact, he doesn't seem disturbed by her hand at all and the fact that you can see right through it and it glows blue. BLUE!!! Normal hands do not do that. So why isn't he running in the opposite direction?

These are the very thoughts that I imagine running through Olivia's mind in the beginning of this book. How can a person so new to town be so calm around something so unexplainable and rare? As the pages turn and the plot unravels, Olivia finds that he knows more about her condition than he lets on. In fact, he may know enough to save her from a fate worse than death in her supposedly safe little town.

I absolutely devoured this book. The story is one that I have never read before, and I could not get through each chapter fast enough. All in all, it was a phenomenal read and I am definitely going to have to check out the second in the series, Ghost Hold, really soon.

Ratpaths by Angelika Rust

I absolutely loved this book. The main thing about it that I loved was the fact that it is a fantasy tale, but without all the things associated normally with a fantasy tale. I mean, I adore fantasy tales with elves, dragons, even magic, I absolutely thrive on them, but this book takes you on a journey that enraptures you in every second of the story without the need for those things. Well…it enraptured me at the very least.

Nivvo is a very likeable and seemingly independent character who knows what he is capable of doing, due to the fact that he has encountered so much hardship since the young age of six. He knows how far he is willing to go for those he loves, and he is also willing to sacrifice his own self, happiness, and freedom to make sure those he loves are safe.

I love the that I wasn’t just told Nivvo’s whole story from the very beginning. On the contrary, he was just thrown into the story at his present age and the writer gradually introduces him throughout different daydreams and memories the character experiences.

I also love the character of Reka. She is so feisty and bold. I absolutely adored reading every part she was in, because she is a fighter. She will fight tooth and nail for the things she wants to protect.

This book made me want so much more. I cannot wait for anything else this author can dish out.

Switchback by Drew VanDyke and David VanDyke

Okay, so I received this book for an honest review, and boy am I going to be honest. Now, let me first say that I was surprised that this book was written by two beings of the male gender. The reason being that the characters, well at least the three main woman characters, are so perfectly written out that I was amazed at their personalities. WELL DONE, MEN!

Now on to the story.

It was entertaining from the very beginning. You find that the main MAIN character, the character we most focus on, was shot in the butt. Yes. Let me repeat one more time...shot in the butt. How did that exactly happen? Well, let's just say that a hunter might have mistaken her for a wolf? Okay, so they may have not mistaken her as one so much as she IS one. That's right. Wolf-girl in the hizz-ouse.

Anyway...

There is also a lurv interest in this book, between the main character and her high school on-again-off-again boyfriend. However, it is somewhat hard to become involved with someone when you are A) haunted by a terrible event from your past, brought to life by the fact that you have moved back to your home town involuntarily, and 2) you're a werewolf!

Yeah, the whole wolf thing tends to complicate matters.

Also, it doesn't help when someone is threatening you at every turn. With the usual items, of course. Threatening letters, the occasional animal heart in a box...WHAT?
I guess if you want to delve into the madness that is my review, you will have to read this book. It is a wonderful read that made me laugh, gasp in surprise, and turn pages like crazy in order to find out what happened next.

So, go ahead, find out what it's like for yourself. But I'm warning you, you will not be able to put it down once you start.

Goodnight Tweetheart by Teresa Medeiros

I picked this book up at my local Dollar General after a few weeks of contemplating actually getting it. I am what you call a book hoarder, because I own more books than I have read, but while I am solving that issue by giving away the ones I have read, I still have quite a few to get rid of. Knowing that, I bought this one anyway.

Usually I can name the one thing that catches my eye when I first see a book that I want to buy. Sometimes it is the cover, sometimes the blurb itself, and sometimes it is both. But in this case, neither was what truly goaded me into buying this. I knew I had to buy it the moment I opened the book to a random spot and began reading. The spot I had opened it to was a page of tweets between the two main characters. The moment I saw that, a small laugh almost erupted from me. I thought it was kind of cool. A book based on tweets. How neat.

The story obviously does not start with tweets, but with an introduction to the main character. Abigail Donovan is an author who had a one-hit wonder years back, and who has been struggling ever since to finish her second novel with no luck. So when her publicist basically forces her to interact with her readers by making her a Twitter account, it seems like a hopeless endeavour. Until a man named Mark contacts her.
Mark breaks down her walls little by little as the pages go by, and he makes her see herself and her writing in a whole new light. He teaches her the value of writing for herself instead of for others and shows her that she has so many more stories inside of her just waiting to come out into the open.

This was an amazingly sweet book that made me laugh and feel a sadness too. It kind of taught me something as an aspiring author as well. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone willing to read it. It is phenomenal and did not disappoint.

Deep Blue Secret by Christie Anderson

Sadie is a girl who has a wonderful life. Boys love her, she has a best friend who would do anything for her, and her and her mother are immensely close. So if this is indeed the case, why isn't she happier? Sadie has been having bouts of depression and sadness. At first, they occurred quite a ways apart, but lately they have been getting closer and closer together with less and less time of true happiness in between. What could possibly be wrong with her? An encounter with a strange boy with sparkling green eyes could be the answer.

Rayne was assigned to keep Sadie safe. And he does just that when he saves her from drowning. She is only a job for him. Like any other assignment, he must keep a professional attitude towards her. But that becomes hard when they seem to forge a bond together. A bond that, in Rayne's eyes, is just the effect of his saving her. It is nothing to worry about, so long as he keeps his distance, which becomes harder and harder to do.

When a criminal of Rayne's world finds out about Sadie and threatens her life, Rayne will do anything to protect her. And in the process, he might just find how deep this bond really goes.

I absolutely loved this book. The descriptions of Rayne's eyes (which are very important to the story, by the way) and even Sadie's (again, important) are so vivid and beautiful. The characters are very realistic. The places and situations are described to the point where I feel like I am actually there. This author did an amazing job writing this, and I cannot wait to check out the other installments of this series.

Treacle Mountain (Annie's Story) by F.W. Pinkerton

Okay, so I must admit that this book seemed like two different stories. One a coming-of-age story of a girl who is trying to change the dark world she lives in to one of safety and stability. And the other a thriller about a girl suddenly thrust into a plot of smuggling and drugs. A plot that just seems to thicken with every turned page. By themselves, I can see how both stories would definitely make for good books, but together, to me it was just too much. I kind of wish that the author would have stuck more to the thriller aspect for this particular book. It seemed that it had a bit more substance to it. And also, I kind of did not like the person the main character was turning into when she was making the world she lives in “better.” I guess I should probably explain the quotes around better.

Annie, our main character, lives in a rundown place with a failing marriage behind one wall and a constant demand for pleasure behind the other. She absolutely hates the situation she is in. Hates it to the point where of course she wants to change it. But she goes about it, in my eyes, the wrong way. She basically delves into the terrible world she wants to get away from and uses it to her advantage. The advantage being she can get back at those who have pissed her off, such as a local drug dealer, the man who lives in the apartment beneath her, and at one point, even her supposed best friend/lover. I mean, every single thing she did was almost mind-blowing to me. Not because of what she did, but because of her justifications behind it. It just didn’t seem…right, I guess is the word?

And also, the author hints at various times throughout the story about an incident from Annie’s past. Supposedly it had haunted her for years. But it didn’t seem that way. I kind of wish the author had started the story with a flashback of the incident. And also, along with that, written in the character Fred’s point of view. Because he is very important to the thriller aspect of the story and is found to be indirectly connected with the incident from her past. Along with the whole plot of smuggling and drugs that Annie is suddenly thrust into, everything would have connected in some way. Because that is something I really did not get from this book the way it was written, a connection. Like I said before, this seemed like two stories instead of one. And neither really felt part of the other.

While in the end I did enjoy the story, I wanted more development.