Author: The Novel Girl

The One (The Selection, Book 3)

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the one cover

Author: Kiera Cass

Series: The Selection

Genre: Romance/Dystopian

Publisher: HarperTeen

Pages: 368

In this installment, The Selection is now down to the final four. Against all odds, America has made it. After her last stunt, the king really wants her gone, and is willing to do anything in his power to make that happen, but Maxon wants her to fight. She has decided that she wants to fight, too. She loves Maxon, and wants to be his wife. She has finally made up her mind. With so much against her, and with the uprising in the country to add to the already stressful situation, will she be able to strengthen her resolve enough to push past all of her feelings and doubts to win The Selection?

This was definitely the best book in the series, yet! I could not stop reading it. There was much more action in it than in the previous books. There were also a couple of nice little sharp turns in there that you really don’t see coming, which will keep you needing to know what happens next. I really hadn’t planned on reading past the initial trilogy, and finding out what happened with The Selection. I’m reconsidering that now. I may need to continue on to see what happens after that ending!

I’m So Excited!! 

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This weekend is the weekend that I wait all year for! The Friends of the Library Book Sale starts this Friday, and I can’t wait! This is where I stock up on my hardbacks, especially those that are hard for me to find and complete out my collections with. It’s like Christmas!! I get great discounts, and help out the local library system in the process. Win-Win! I can’t wait to show you guys what I end up with!! Stay tuned!! 

-T

Bloodlines (Boodlines, Book 1)

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bloodlines cover

Author: Richelle Mead

Series: Bloodlines

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Razorbill

Pages: 448

Bloodlines is a spinoff series from Mead’s beloved Vampire Academy series. It centers around the same Moroi world, and we see a lot of the same characters that were introduced in the original series, but this time the story is being told from the Alchemist, Sydney’s, point of view. This story picks up almost right where Last Sacrifice left off. Jill is being targeted by rogue Moroi who don’t want Lissa on the throne, so she has to be moved in to hiding at a human private school in Palm Springs. Sydney, still in trouble after her role in helping Rose out of her ordeal, is tapped to play her older sister to help keep her safe. Eddie, Rose’s dhampir friend (whose status is also still in question after the events in Last Sacrifice) is also along to guard Jill. To further complicate Sydney’s world, Adrian is in Palm Springs to “help” and keep an eye on Jill. There are a lot of issues that are uncovered along the way, between Sydney and the Alchemist in charge of the area, Keith. Along with the issue of keeping Jill safe, there are some other odd things happening in the Palm Springs area that Sydney is determined to figure out.

Sydney is a very different type of narrator than Rose was, but that is good because she has a very different view point. I wasn’t too sure about having the VA story told from the Alchemist POV, because I thought that it may be a bit jaded, but Sydney’s feelings kind of caught me off guard. I won’t say that I like it as much as VA, from this first story, but I did enjoy it. I’ll keep reading it to see if it keeps growing on me.

Hawaiian Heartbreak

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hawaiian heartbreak

Author: Libby Cole

Genre: Romance

Publisher: CreateSpace

Pages: 98

First, I would like to thank Libby for sending this to me for review. She follows my blog, so she knows that Romance is not my primary genre, and trusted me with her book anyway, and I really appreciate that! Now…On to the review!

After four years of dating, Kayla’s boyfriend cheated on her. What’s a girl to do? Take a solo vacay to Hawaii, of course! She just needs some alone time to lie on the beach and collect her thoughts. She’s not looking for anyone to fill the so-called void that he left in her life, but along comes Jay, the cute tour guide/marine biology student whom she meets on her first day on the island. They end up having a great time together while Kayla is there, but this is just a vacation fling, right?

Honestly, this was a pretty enjoyable, quick read. It was a nice, light break after the last book that I read, which was a bit dark. It does end on a cliffhanger, so I’ll warn you about that ahead of time! There was a lot of witty banter between the characters, and the characters are likeable. As far as the romances go, this one was good!

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

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coldest girl in coldtown

Author: Holly Black

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Little Brown

Pages: 448

In Tana’s world, everyone knows about vampires. Once someone is bitten and infected, they go cold. If they give in to the virus and drink human blood, they turn. Tana has seen this happen first hand, when her mother was bitten when Tana was a child. One morning, Tana wakes up from a party to find all of her friends slaughtered, except her ex and some guy that she doesn’t know, who are tied up in the bedroom. Her ex has been bitten, and is turning cold, and the guy is a vampire. As Tana is in the middle of her rescue plan to get them all out (because the vamps are still in the house), one of them barely bites her on the back of the leg. She doesn’t know if it was enough to make her turn cold. She does the only thing that she knows to do, takes them all three to a coldtown. Coldtowns are where all of the vampires and those that are bitten are quarantined off, so that they can’t infect the rest of the population. Along the way, they meet up with some others trying to get there, because they want to be turned. They all get there…that’s where the adventure begins.

This book took me a little bit longer to get through than I expected. I’m not sure why. It just moved a little bit slower for me than I thought that it was going to. The premise for it was really unique, which was refreshing for someone who reads a lot of vampire novels! Overall, I would definitely recommend the novel, but not if you are just wanting a quick read. Definitely dive in to it when you have a little bit of time to spend with it.

Labor Day!!

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Hi everyone!

I’m sorry that it has been a while between posts, but things have been a bit crazy around here with work and home. I hope that you enjoy the two that I just put up! I’m reading a couple of books right now: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, Unseen, and I’m finally getting around to finishing up Percy Jackson so I’m reading House of Hades right now as well. I should have a couple of more reviews ready for you this week. In the mean time, I hope that you guys have a great Labor Day weekend!!

As always, thanks for reading!

-T

Wicked Charms (Lizzy and Diesel, Book 3)

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wicked charms

Wicked Charms (Lizzy and Diesel, Book 3)

Author: Janet Evanovich/Phoef Sutton

Series: Lizzy and Diesel

Genre: Mystery

Publisher: Bantam

Pages: 320

This series is a spin-off of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, which includes the hot “unmentionable”, Diesel. He teams up with sweet, cute Lizzy, who found out in the first novel in this series that she is also an unmentionable. Since the beginning, they have been attempting to find all of the Saligia stones. Lizzy is one of two people in the world who are able to “feel” the stones, and other empowered objects, when they are near. Diesel’s crazy, but charming, cousin, Wulf also wants the stones, and has the other person. In this novel, they are attempting to gain possession of the stone of Avarice. This stone makes the person in possession of it incredibly greedy. This leads to an all-out treasure hunt, some kidnapping, and complete mayhem and hilarity.

As this is a spinoff of the Stephanie Plum series, it is written in that same style. It holds within it Evanovich’s typical humor, mixed in with action and mystery. It is a fun, light read. It’s perfect if you need a little pick-me-up.

The Elite (The Selection, Book 2)

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The Elite

The Elite (The Selection, Book 2)

Author: Kiera Cass

Series: The Selection Series

Genre: Romance/Dystopian

Publisher: HarperTeen

Pages: 352

The Elite is, obviously, the continuation of the first novel in this series, The Selection. The girls have been whittled down to the final six, vying for Prince Maxon’s hand in marriage and the title of Princess. America is still undecided about whether this is the life that she wants: is she cut out to be a princess, and does she want to be Maxon’s wife, or is it Aspen- the boy whom she has been in love with for years that she is meant to give her whole heart to?

As I said in my initial review of The Selection, this is not my typical chosen genre, however- in this second novel there were some very interesting turns of events that made me much more invested in this book than I was in the first one. Don’t get me wrong, there are still a lot of romantic elements to the novel, but this one has more action- both physical and political- that kept me intrigued and wanting to know more. Now, I can’t wait to get to the next one to see what happens!