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Bloody Bookaholic's Commandment:

Thou Shall Read Till Thy Eyes Bleed

Thursday 27 February 2014

Review: Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Fielding



Title: Bridget Jones Diary
Author: Helen Fielding
Series: Bridget Jones
Book #: 1
Pages: 288
Reading Level: Adult
Book Rating: Photobucket.7
Goodreads Rating: 3.59
Published: May 24th 1999
by Penguin


"130 lbs. (how is it possible to put on 4 pounds overnight? Could flesh have somehow solidified becoming denser and heavier (repulsive, horrifying notion)); alcohol units 2 (excellent) cigarettes 21 (poor but will give up totally tomorrow); number of correct lottery numbers 2 (better, but nevertheless useless)"


This laugh-out-loud chronicle charts a year in the life of Bridget Jones, a single girl on a permanent, doomed quest for self-improvement--in which she resolves to: visit the gym three times a week not merely to buy a sandwich, form a functional relationship with a responsible adult, and not fall for any of the following: misogynists, megalomaniacs, adulterers, workaholics, chauvinists or perverts. And learn to program the VCR.


Caught between her Singleton friends, who are all convinced they will end up dying alone and found three weeks later half-eaten by an Alsatian, and the Smug Marrieds, whose dinner parties offer ever-new opportunities for humiliation, Bridget struggles to keep her life on an even keel (or at least afloat). Through it all, she will have her readers helpless with laughter and shouting, "BRIDGET JONES IS ME!"


Taschima's POV:


 Incredibly funny. Bridget Jones is the kind of gal you just want to have a drink with and complain about men, cause you know shell understand you perfectly well.


 The book consists of a whole year of Bridget Jones life. It starts, like most of our years, with promises and new year's resolutions. Not going to smoke, not going to drink- really who on earth completes their new year's resolution?. Bridget haves a whole bunch of issues, with her mother, boyfriends, self esteem, she smokes, she drinks, she parties, and is always in search of Inner Poise, But all of this only makes her more real, more human. She is not the perfect character, nor any other character in the book is, but isn't that just swell? It's like taking a break from all the expected perfection to the cold and ugly truth. 
 Now Mr.Darcy, I had a problem with him at first. Too damn shy! And I swear if he asked her one more time what book have she read I was going to hit him (in my mind he was going to look all kinds of bad) but fortunately he came off at the end as the perfect man. 


Downside:


 Sometimes the book got a little repetitive, but it was minimal, and when you noticed this it quickly went away like a scared cat. Also I wish I had a chance to get to know Mr.Darcy a little better, then again I think that's what the second book is for.


 If you are expecting to find some mind blowing intellectual reading where all the secrets of life will be answered, do not pick up this book. If you want to spend your afternoon laughing out loud then by all means devour it.

Wednesday 26 February 2014

Review: Homecoming by Tonya Hurley (Ghostgirl #2)



Title: Homecoming
Author: Tonya Hurley
Series: Ghostgirl
Book #: 2
Pages: 285
Reading Level: Middle Grade/YA
Book Rating: Photobucket
Goodreads Rating: 3.66
Published: July 1st 2009
by Little Brown Young Readers



Heaven couldn't be a phone bank, could it?


Charlotte Usher discovers that the afterlife isn't quite what she pictured when she's forced to intern at a hotline for troubled teens. Before she can officially cross over, she'll have to be a source of guidance for one such teen. The problem is she doesn't have much advice to offer since dying hasn't exactly boosted her confidence level.


But when Hawthorne High's leading, love-to-hate cheerleader Petula and her gothic little sis' Scarlet find themselves suddenly resting-in-peace in comas, Charlotte's opportunity to save them will prove to be the risk of a lifetime-for all of them.


Taschima's POV:


Where back in the afterlife with Charlotte, and things don't look so good. After graduation Charlotte seems to be all alright with herself, who she is, and where she is heading. Thing is after the glamour goes off, she is back where she started, being invisible. All her friends are busy with afterlife phonecalls, and reunions, to even glance at her. This doesn't bother her so much, that is until her new friend Maddy come's into the picture.


Maddy likes to feed Charlottes insecurities. Why? I won't tell you, read the book! And bonus Scarlett is having doubts about her relationship, and Petula seems as selfish as ever, even more so now.


Let's talk about the characters.While reading this book I felt like I, and Charlotte along with me, where back at square one. She was as doubful about herself as ever. This did not go good with me. Scarlet went a few nodges down with me, in all, I didn't feel like MY scarlet was in the pages, not until the very end at least. Damen is a minor character, as always. but the character who impresed me in this book was Petula.


In the plot I'd have to say it crossed from unlikely to unbeliavable. Some things happen that would, or most likely could never happen, and that I didn't think was the best for the story. It started out very slow, a lot of inner chatter that really didn't gave us anything new. Heaven as a phone bank? I got it, sould in the afterlife being our inner chatter and guiding us, it was interesting to see another person's view of the afterlife.


This book has it ups, and it has its down, but all in all it's an ok read. I would read it for it being the second book in the series.


One thing I most liked about this, and the first book, its the intro's to the different chapters. It has messages that are very much true, like for example:


"Trust is not a given. In any relationship, it is the hardest thing to earn and the easiest to lose. In fact, the only words harder than "I don't love you anymore" are "I don't trust you anymore." The former has everything to do with somene else. There is nothing you can do about a change of heart. The latter has everything to do with you."


It makes you think doesn't it? There are a lot more of this in the pages. And finally the ending. While it was a good ending, I thought it resembled the first one too much. It was rushed, but not so, and at parts a little like 'when did this happend?'


Well there you go, my Ghostgirl:Homecoming review. I could go on rambling, but I can't give out spoilers- not any more anyways. Woot! A review! I thought this one would not see the light of day Lol



Monday 24 February 2014

Review: Red Rising by Pierce Brown (IN LOVE!)

Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy, #1)
Title: Red Rising
Author: Pierce Brown
Series: Red Rising
Book #: 1
Pages: 382
Reading Level: YA
Book Rating: Photobucket
Goodreads Rating: 4.32
Published: Jan. 28th, 2014

The war begins...

Darrow is a Helldiver, one of a thousand men and women who live in the vast caves beneath the surface of Mars. Generations of Helldivers have spent their lives toiling to mine the precious elements that will allow the planet to be terraformed. Just knowing that one day people will be able to walk the surface of the planet is enough to justify their sacrifice. The Earth is dying, and Darrow and his people are the only hope humanity has left.

Until the day Darrow learns that it is all a lie. Mars is habitable - and indeed has been inhabited for generations by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. The Golds regard Darrow and his fellows as slave labour, to be exploited and worked to death without a second thought.

With the help of a mysterious group of rebels, Darrow disguises himself as a Gold and infiltrates their command school, intent on taking down his oppressors from the inside.

But the command school is a battlefield. And Darrow isn't the only student with an agenda...

Taschima's POV:

description

description

"This is the future. It should not be this way for generations. My life is a lie."

Red Rising is the kind of book that makes you run to your friend's house just so you can thrust your copy into their arms and make them start reading it on the spot. Read it now bloodydamn, read it now. It's a strong read from beginning to end. Red Rising reminds me of Insignia by S. J. Kincaid in the way it is written. It is serious, imaginative, at times it can be quite hilarious, it can catch you off guard, and when you read it you get totally invested in the story. Read it in one sitting.

"You brave Red pioneers of Mars-strongest of the human breed-sacrifice for progress, sacrifice to pave the way for the future. Your lives, your blood, are a down payment for the immortality of the human race as we move beyond Earth and Moon. You go where we could not. You suffer so that others do not."

The summary is a pretty good indicator of what goes on in the novel so I feel like I don't need to add anything further. Once Darrow infiltrates this command school he and the rest of his class will be put through a series of tests that will measure his cunningness, ruthlessness, and leadership skills. The battlefield is exactly that, a battlefield. This part of the novel reminds me of The Testing by  Joelle Charbonneau in which the best of the best, or the best of the Golds, are rounded up, thrown into a battlefield, and ordered to survive and win. But still Red Rising differs in the end goal, for the Gold children are told they must conquer civilizations and not just cross the end goal. All of this is set with a backdrop of wars between planets in space so it also has another sci-fi layer unto it.

Not only does Red Rising have a terrific plot but it also has characters you will come to care about. Darrow always seems to rise to the occasion. When he does something wrong, makes a mistake, he always learns from it and builds upon it. His struggles and pains will get to you, an you will cheer for him throughout the whole novel. Red Rising also has a strong list of supporting characters-Roque, Cassius, Sevro (he is definitely my favorite), Mustang (kick-ass chick alert!), Nyla, Milia, Pax (love!). They all have very distinct personalities and I came to care for every single one individually. On the other hand there are a LOT of characters, SO MANY NAMES, and most of them are so freaking weird! If not weird they are ridiculously similar. Sometimes I had to go back in order to reassure myself what exactly was going on and who was speaking. So there's that.

Fair warning, things in Red Rising get ugly. A lot of characters die and their deaths are described in perfect detail. So it can get gory. Some characters may lose eyes, ears, hands... It's a battlefield after all, and there are always casualties in war. I wonder if, since they are Gold and all, they have awesome surgeries that will just fix them all up once they leave the battlefield. Probably

Red Rising is like The Testing (Joelle Charbonneau), Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins), and Insignia (S. J. Kincaid), came together and had an illegitimate child.  It is quite awesome in that it combines all the best elements from these novels and makes something completely new. It's sci-fi meets dystopian meets political war meets mythological origins. There's a lot of mythological influences behind Red Rising as each of the 12 houses bear the name of a mythological god or goddess and their students are thus chosen based on how their attributes fit set house.

A lot of the philosophies and struggles inside the pages resonates with the world today. The rich building their future in the backs of the poor, from their hard work and struggles. It makes you think. It also touches upon how the rich keep the masses in blissful ignorance, fat and happy, just to further increase their power. It touches on society's vanity, greed, selfishness, and the importance we put on things we don't really need but are made to think we do (via advertising mostly).

So Red Rising might just be the best debut novel of 2014, hands down. I strongly recommend you all give it a shot. I myself cannot wait until Golden Son hits the shelves! 2015, I'm gunning for you.

"...perhaps they think I'm still a child. The fools. Alexander was a child when he ruined his first nation."


Saturday 22 February 2014

So I'm currently reading Red Rising by Pierce Brown...

Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy, #1)


Red Rising may be this year's winner. Right off from the beginning it had a strong voice which drew the reader in. Learning about the main character's life and struggles, and then to see how he was betrayed by the society he so wished to make better... Well it makes for an extremely compelling read that makes you think. I really like Red Rising so far, specially how my preconceived notions of how the story should go, how the characters are to act, get blown apart every single time. I wonder how the story is to end... In some ways it reminds me of The Hunger Games, but not really. Sure the rich rule over the poor but while Darrow's life may resemble Katniss' in that they are both poor and just trying to survive Katniss is no actual slave. Katniss knows who her enemy is her whole life, Darrow has no real clue and when the blindfold comes off... well, it makes for a very interesting read.

Thursday 20 February 2014

Review: GhostGirl by Tonya Hurley




Title: Ghostgirl
Author: Tonya Hurley
Series: Ghostgirl
Book #: 1
Pages: 328
Reading Level: Middle Grade/YA
Book Rating: Photobucket
Goodreads Rating: 3.31
Published: August 1st, 2008
by Little Brown Young Readers



"Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
And if I die before I awake,
I pray the popular attend my wake"


Sometimes high school really is a matter of life or death. 
Charlottle Usher feels practically invisible artschool and then one day she really is. Even worse: she's dead. And all because of a guy and a gummy bear. 
In this satirical yet heartfelt novel, Tonya Hurley explores the invisibility we all feel at times and the lenghts we'll go to be seen.
Taschima's POV:


From the first moment I layed eyes in this book words like charming, cute, and enchanting crossed my mind. Now if I were going to describe the book in a single statement I would go with Gothic Fairytale. The book is written in a way that everybody can follow and know what the writer is talking about without going "what the bloody hell is going on!".


The story evolves around a girl called Charlotte. Charlotte was trying this whole new look in life, everything is going to go swell, birds singing, and then she ate a gummy bear and died. To say that she had unresolved issues is an understatement. Charlotte is in love with the jock at school, the old popular guy, named Damen, which is not working at her advantage.  Charlotte at times may seem a bit shallow and kinda of a stalker, but her weakness may be her strength as she is also a girl with a goal, who knows what she wants, ans just how to get it.


Other characters in the book are Scarlet (My favorite character), Damen, Pam, Prue, Petula, the Wendys, and the Dead Kids.


This story is about two things. Accepting yourself; loving yourself for just who you are. That the inner geek, gothic, nerd, or whatever you consider yourself will make you shine as bright as a star, as nothing else could or would. And also living life at the fullest, the things you want to do, do them, before its too late and the ship sails away



Monday 17 February 2014

Review: White Space (Dark Passages #1) by Ilsa Bick

White Space (Dark Passages, #1)
Title: White Space
Author: Ilsa J. Bick
Series: Dark Passages
Book #: 1
Pages: 560
Reading Level: YA
Book Rating: Photobucket
Goodreads Rating: 2.93
Published: Feb. 11th, 2014

In the tradition of Memento and Inception comes a thrilling and scary young adult novel about blurred reality where characters in a story find that a deadly and horrifying world exists in the space between the written lines.

Seventeen-year-old Emma Lindsay has problems: a head full of metal, no parents, a crazy artist for a guardian whom a stroke has turned into a vegetable, and all those times when she blinks away, dropping into other lives so ghostly and surreal it's as if the story of her life bleeds into theirs. But one thing Emma has never doubted is that she's real.

Then she writes "White Space," a story about these kids stranded in a spooky house during a blizzard.

Unfortunately, "White Space" turns out to be a dead ringer for part of an unfinished novel by a long-dead writer. The manuscript, which she's never seen, is a loopy Matrix meets Inkheart story in which characters fall out of different books and jump off the page. Thing is, when Emma blinks, she might be doing the same and, before long, she's dropped into the very story she thought she'd written. Trapped in a weird, snow-choked valley, Emma meets other kids with dark secrets and strange abilities: Eric, Casey, Bode, Rima, and a very special little girl, Lizzie. What they discover is that they--and Emma--may be nothing more than characters written into being from an alternative universe for a very specific purpose.

Now what they must uncover is why they've been brought to this place--a world between the lines where parallel realities are created and destroyed and nightmares are written--before someone pens their end.

Taschima's POV:

"Characters writing characters that bring other characters to life..."

Reading White Space was like willingly submerging myself into a nightmare. The story within the pages is like those hateful nights where your brain somehow decides that all you are going to do is run away from the monsters in your head. I usually don't read horror stories full of gore but White Space is a highly imaginative tale that piqued my interest and kept me glued to the page; that is when I was not scratching my head trying to figure out how exactly everything in the tale was possible or how it all worked.

White Space was a different experience for me because it was like a bunch of short stories coming together into one but at the same time they all belonged together. Also there was a LOT of blood, and cut off sentences where you knew something just incredibly creepy or scary was just about to or had just happened. It can definitely get your adrenaline going. For me the book was most about the intrigue and the puzzle, trying to fill the blinks that are like a movie in Emma's mind that gets paused at the most intriguing/frustrating moments.

Emma is the main character of this story. She is a fairly normal girl in that she likes frappuccinos, goes to school, and lives just like the rest of us. But she has also seen a lot of things she wishes she could forget. An abandoned beaten orphan she was taken in by her guardian, Jasper, at a crucial point in her life. Then there's the headaches and blinks that take her through a moving reel of what appears to be someone else's life. Trying to put some space between herself and the freaky parts of her life she, and her friend Lily, go out into the mountains only to get trapped in a snow storm. That's when she meets Eric and Casey under the most awful circumstances. Eric is the Marine boy with a heart of gold and Casey is the kind little brother. Then there's Rima, the teenager who can hear the whispers the death leave behind, Tony, the nice guy who reads horror stories, and then Bode, a soldier with a tragic past who is being haunted by his past mistakes. Together they are thrown into the eye of the storm into a true nightmare, a nightmare they don't seem to be able to wake up from.

The whole idea behind the novel is very interesting. It kept blending between the possibility of multi universes and different "book-worlds", both options where presented. There's one particular chapter in the novel in which the characters try to figure out exactly what is happening to them in which they discuss the many possibilities which was very helpful but it is still a little hard to get your head around it. I won't give it away in this review because I don't want to ruin it for the rest of you, but just know that the theory is very interesting when you start to unravel it in your head. Makes you wonder if you are really real or maybe not... (definitely real here, my life is too mundane to be part of a novel).

White Space is definitely more plot driven than character driven, at least to me it was. I really liked the character of Rima, Emma, and Eric, even Casey at times, but what made me come back every time I took a break from the book was the mystery. Some of the mystery I managed to figure out early on but not all (and that in itself is marvelous because some things did manage to get me by surprise). Even the ending was a mystery of itself, and I have no idea why the characters ended up in that position... but I would love to find out. Just be prepared to be confused, a lot. This may put some people off to be completely honest, but to me it only fueled me on.

The reason I gave it a 3 star rating was mostly because horror in itself isn't my cup of tea. I liked reading the novel and I loved the idea behind it, but a lot of it was really all in a sort of abstract reality where all your nightmares come true. Also, the book was really long (over 500 pages!). And yes, well, for the most part of the novel the reader is kept in the dark, with only slight glimpses of what might be real, and that can be a drag. Sometimes all you want is solid answers.

Once White Space's sequel comes out I will definitely be in line to buy it. The ending of this novel left me incredulous and so, much alike through the whole novels, I am in a need for solid answers. White Space is a thrill ride indeed, one who might leave you with a slight headache but a thrill nonetheless.

Saturday 15 February 2014

Review: Perfect Lies (Mind Games #2) by Kiersten White

Perfect Lies (Mind Games, #2)
Title: Perfect Lies
Author: Kiersten White
Series: Mind Games
Book #: 2 (final)
Pages: 232
Reading Level: YA
Book Rating: Photobucket
Goodreads Rating: 3.93
Published: Feb. 18th, 2014

Annie and Fia are ready to fight back.

The sisters have been manipulated and controlled by the Keane Foundation for years, trapped in a never ending battle for survival. Now they have found allies who can help them truly escape. After faking her own death, Annie has joined a group that is plotting to destroy the Foundation. And Fia is working with James Keane to bring his father down from the inside.

But Annie's visions of the future can't show her who to trust in the present. And though James is Fia's first love, Fia knows he's hiding something. The sisters can rely only on each other - but that may not be enough to save them.

Taschima's POV:

Perfect Lies was a great sequel which kept all the original intricacies of Mind Games while pushing these same details to the edge. While I enjoyed Mind Games a bit more than Perfect Lies I can still appreciate where Kiersten White took the story and how she built up the characters for the fantastical, yet anti climatic, ending. didn't it seem to anybody else that the big bad guy just died way too easily?

Perfect Lies has the same great mood and easy dialogue of Mind Games. Finishing the novel was a breeze. The characters are the real centerpiece of this world. Annie changed and grew up in this title becoming more strong and independent while Fia slowly unraveled. Fia went real scary crazy, always trying to do the right thing while not knowing how to really get to doing the right thing in the end. Half the time I couldn't quite understand her reasoning when doing some choices, and I thought Kiersten White was just turning her into the real bad guy who thinks she is in the right path. Which would have been quite awesome. It seems her inner power is broken while Annie's begins to grow.

Annie is way more likable in this title than in Mind Games because she starts to take some of the responsibility off Fia's shoulders and starts trying to learn how to defend herself. Seeing how they grow in different directions is quite interesting and one of the best aspects of the title.

One thing to be aware before you read is that the story is told from not only to different points of view but two different points in time. Annie is 4 months behind Fia's timeline, which can get a little annoying but you will get used to it... hopefully. It is a hard pill to swallow but well worth the annoyance in order to see where the sisters' lives interconnect without them even quite knowing.

Perfect Lies could have been a great middle novel, but in my opinion it is does not a great ending make. It was just not what I expected to be quite honest, I felt it was rushed and way too easy. Fia really unraveled and didn't even feel like herself by the end. We didn't get to enjoy seeing both the girls coming into their own skin and getting some sort of closure. The ending would have also made a lot more sense if Perfect Lies had a sequel with a much better bad guy (James, perhaps?), one that we got to actually connect to in some sort of way and that put up a better fight.

But still, even though the ending wasn't my favorite part of the book it is still well worth reading. The way Kiersten White writes the relationship between Annie and Fia is terrific, they are my favorite part of the book. Fia is a little psychotic, but that's okay. Annie is sheltered yet at the end she ends up being strong enough for both her and her sister.  Perfect Lies, the whole series actually, is strong and easy to read to the very end.

PS; Bravo to the cover artist, this cover is out of this world!

Thursday 13 February 2014

Cover Reveal Spotlight: Feral by Holly Schindler

It’s too late for you. You’re dead.
Those words float through Claire Cain’s head as she lies broken and barely alive after a brutal beating. And the words continue to haunt her months later, in the relentless, terrifying nightmares that plague her sleep. So when her father is offered a teaching sabbatical in another state, Claire is hopeful that getting out of Chicago, away from the things that remind her of what she went through, will offer a way to start anew.
But when she arrives in Peculiar, Missouri, Claire quickly realizes something is wrong—the town is brimming with hidden dangers and overrun by feral cats. And her fears are confirmed when a popular high school girl, Serena Sims, is suddenly found dead in the icy woods behind the school. While everyone is quick to say Serena died in an accident, Claire knows there’s more to it—for she was the one who found Serena, battered and most certainly dead, surrounded by the town’s feral cats.
Now Claire vows to learn the truth about what happened, but the closer she gets to uncovering the mystery, the closer she also gets to discovering a frightening reality about herself and the damage she truly sustained in that Chicago alley. . . .
With an eerie setting and heart-stopping twists and turns, Holly Schindler weaves a gripping story that will make you question everything you think you know.
While I may not know much about the story behind Feral I do know that a lot of my Goodreads friends, and various fellow Bloggers, are dying to get their hands on this hot upcoming title (quite frankly so am I). Who could blame them though when the author Holly Schnidler has written other great young adult books such as Playing Hurt, a contemporary love story, and A Blue so Dark, a tantalizing dark look at self discovery. Feral's cover seems to be in the same league as A Blue so Dark's, ominous and shrouded in mystery. Although to be honest I am not a fan of the word "feral" not being capitalized I will look past that in order to get to the juicy mystery inside.

Add it to your "To-Read" shelf now!

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Review: Crash Into You (Pushing the Limits #3) by Katie McGarry

Crash into You (Pushing the Limits, #3)
Title: Crash Into You
Author: Katie McGarry
Series: Pushing the Limits
Book #: 3
Pages: 474
Reading Level: YA
Book Rating: Photobucket
Goodreads Rating: 4.32
Published: Nov. 26th, 2013

From acclaimed author Katie McGarry comes an explosive new tale of a good girl with a reckless streak, a street-smart guy with nothing to lose, and a romance forged in the fast lane 

The girl with straight As, designer clothes and the perfect life-that's who people expect Rachel Young to be. So the private-school junior keeps secrets from her wealthy parents and overbearing brothers...and she's just added two more to the list. One involves racing strangers down dark country roads in her Mustang GT. The other? Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Walker-a guy she has no business even talking to. But when the foster kid with the tattoos and intense gray eyes comes to her rescue, she can't get him out of her mind.

Isaiah has secrets, too. About where he lives, and how he really feels about Rachel. The last thing he needs is to get tangled up with a rich girl who wants to slum it on the south side for kicks-no matter how angelic she might look.

But when their shared love of street racing puts both their lives in jeopardy, they have six weeks to come up with a way out. Six weeks to discover just how far they'll go to save each other.

Taschima's POV:

Crash Into You was another fantastic addition to the Pushing the Limits series. Katie McGarry has a gift of getting people so involved in the characters and their stories you can't help but fall in love. Crash Into You had all the elements we have come to expect from previous novels (danger, attraction, high stakes, vulnerability, etc) but it still manages to hook you in and create a completely different and captivating tale.

*WARNING* Do not read without sitting/laying down since you might seriously swoon while reading this title.

description

The most important aspect of the Pushing the Limits series is its characters. They all feel so alive and individual that you couldn't possibly confuse who is who. They all have clear distinctive voices, and to boot they are all interesting in their own ways. This is not an easy thing to do so all the props go to McGarry's incredible talent. She is the kind of author you instantly add to your "BUY" list without even knowing the summary of the next book. It doesn't matter anyways, you know she will deliver.

description

Rachel Young. She is a very interesting character. Practically every male's fantasy, she is the kind of girl who doesn't just love cars she breathes them in. Cars are her thing, they are the way she survives in her cookie cutter world. She may be rich and cute but her situation at home is anything but a fairy tale. While her parents do care, more than other parents in the stories so far, she still has major identity issues they keep fueling. The sole reason she is alive is because her older sister died, of cancer, and her mother desperately wanted another girl. She wasn't quite expecting what she got however, a girl who is not a girly girl, and that is where the friction comes from.

While I appreciated Rachel's character, she is the cutest, I couldn't quite relate to her as a person. We just didn't have anything in common so I didn't feel a connection to her. I was kind of reading her story from afar. She could be the girl I could be friends with, but not the girl I identified myself with. So far in the series she is my third favorite character, behind Beth and then Echo.

Isaiah. I have loved him ever since Pushing the Limits. He is a fighter to his very bone. I felt so bad for him because at the beginning of the novel you could still see how he was suffering over losing Beth. But him and Rachel? They just clicked. I loved how Isaiah could be himself around Rachel and the way she made him feel. He called her his angel, because he just saw her as this light within the darkness that is his life *swoon* Believe me this book has plenty of passages that will make you swoon.

One of the things I absolutely LOVED about Crash Into You was that it introduced a lot of new characters (future books!!!). Rachel alone has 4 brothers: Gavin, Jack, Ethan, and West. While Gavin and Jack don't seem like they would fit the required age limit in order to be in YA there are still two more brother that do. The next book, [book:Take Me On|18333898], is already about West, the brother with a fighting problem. But my new favorite character would have to be Abby, the spunky drug dealer (yeah, you got that right). She is just unpredictable and somehow sweet. I can't wait until I read her book.

I really liked Crash Into You and would recommend it to everybody, specially if you have read the previous novels. The Pushing the Limits series is the one series that got me into contemporary reads and it is golden. A must read by any standards!!

Friday 7 February 2014

Cheap Young Adult E-Books: The Archived (Victoria Shwab), Uglies (Scott Westerfeld), Kiki Stike (Kirsten Miller) Legend (Marie Lu), Cinder (Marissa Meyer), and more!: $0.00-$5.00

Holy crap. I was browsing through amazon.com, as I usually do every day (damn you "Buy with one click" option!!), and I found a hole bunch of awesome titles (legit awesome titles) that are dirt cheap.

The Boys of Summer (Summer, #1)
$0.00

The Archived (The Archived, #1) Scintillate (The Light Key Trilogy, #1) Steel Lily (The Periodic Series, #1)
$0.99 - $0.99 - $0.99

Such Sweet Sorrow Forsaken (The Forsaken Saga, #1)
$0.99 - $0.99

Wake (Dream Catcher, #1) False Memory (False Memory, #1) Uglies (Uglies, #1)
$1.99 - $1.99 - $1.99

Firelight (Firelight, #1) Mistwood (Mistwood, #1) Embers and Echoes (Wildefire, #2)
Embers & Echoes is the sequel to Wildefire by Karsten Knight.
$1.99 - $1.99 - $1.99

When You Were Mine Inside the Shadow City (Kiki Strike,#1) Definitely, Maybe in Love
$1.99 - $1.99 - $2.99

Stolen: A Letter to My Captor Losing It (Losing It, #1) Faking It (Losing It, #2)
Click here to read a Stolen excerpt.
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$2.99 - $2.99 - $2.99

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, #1) Legend (Legend, #1) Frost (The Frost Chronicles, #1)
$2.99 - $2.99 - $2.99

The Selection (The Selection, #1) Obsidian (Lux, #1) Callum & Harper (Sleepless, #1)
$2.99 - $2.99 - $2.99

Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1) Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1) Hopeless (Hopeless, #1)
Click here to read Shiver excerpt.
$3.99 - $3.99 - $3.99

Eleanor & Park The Iron King (The Iron Fey, #1) Wait for You (Wait for You, #1)
Click here to read Eleanor & Park excerpt.
$5.00 - $4.99 - $4.99

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My wallet is hating me right now...

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