Friday Reads: My Hellion, My Heart by Amalie Howard and Angie Page: ARC Review!!!

Hello guys!

*once again dusts off blog*


I keep on trying to return to more regular blogging and I keep on failing... but I really don't want to give up on my blog!

I love books, I love sharing that love with the world and I love shouting about the books I love and helping authors get the word out there about their books, so how come I'm failing SO MUCH at blogging and reviewing??

Today I want to share my love for the latest installment on a historial romance series I've adored from two authors I love, Amalie Howard and Angie Page! Big shout out to my girl Alyssa of The Eater of Books for getting me into reading more romance and giving historical romance a try, btw! *waves at Alyssa*

I was so lucky to be approved for an early ARC on Netgalley for My Hellion, My Heart by the publisher, (THANK YOU!!!) but you guys can grab the book right now because it published this Monday, so GO GET IT!


My Hellion, My Heart by Amalie Howard

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I'm what I'd call a recent convert of the historical romance genre, so I'm by no means an expert but I've so thoroughly adored this entire series!

I really loved the previous books in the series, and I thought that the previous book, My Darling, My Disaster, all about North and Lana would be my favourite because I adored both characters since they were first introduced, BUT I was wrong! From the moment I started this one, Irina and Henry became my absolute favourites!

We met Irina as Lana's spirited little sister and when we meet her at the beginning of the book a few years have passed, but she's lost none of her spirit! As a princess she's a darling of society but also considered a bit of a hellion. She's been avoiding London and its season but finally returns after being nudged there by her friend, to both be closer to her sister and secretly to see again her first love.

I simply loved the interactions between Irina and Henry, there was so much chemistry from the very first moment! I had been a bit concerned about the age difference and how it would play in their relationship, but I soon realized it was handled great, without adding creepiness to the initial interactions between them in the previous book.

Henry has gone through so much since the previous book... When we met him, he was in the service of the Crown and on dangerous missions, but now he's trying and somewhat failing to return to normal life and Society. He's clearly suffering from PTSD after having survived very dangerous missions and having been captured and tortured as a spy & prisioner of war. He also feels rather guilty about his intense attraction to Irina, since she had been his ward as a young girl.

I love how Irina decided to own her fears and fight them and not let Society dictate her actions, because as a princess she has so many eyes on her but she also has a freedom that not many people enjoyed. She decided that she would not fight her love and attraction to Henry, even if she felt it made vulnerable, and once she saw it was not entirely one-sided, she decided to fight and get Henry to accept it and stop fighting the attraction.

Amalie and Angie did an amazing job to show the vulnerabilities and strenghts of both characters and how they could understand and help each other, and not just their amazing chemistry (have I mention that the attraction and sexual chemistry was so well done and off the charts? because oh boy, it so was!).

There's a thread of mystery and intrigue all along the book but it explodes towards the end, with betrayal and danger in a way that I wasn't expecting and that added that "dammit, not that everything seemed to finally be going well!" sort of feeling and I'm so very happy with how it was resolved!

All in all, an amazing book that I've loved! I really hope that Amalie and Angie will co-write many more historical romance books because I will be devouring them all!! 4.5 to 5 stars for sure!


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Mark This Book Monday: The Warrior by Victoria Scott!!

As the second and final entry for this week's Mark This Book Monday, I have an unexpected one! I didn't expect to get approved by Entangled Pub on NetGalley for it (THANK YOU!) and  that prompted a change of reading plans!

It was all for the best, since now I have another series in the bag for my 2014 Series Challenge and another ARC done for my 2014 Review Pie Reading Challenge!

The Warrior by Victoria Scott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


When I requested The Warrior on NetGalley I was crossing my fingers and hoping I'd get approved, and was extremely happy to see the e-mail from Entangled Pub that told me I was! It was the right motivation to finally finish the Liberator.

I will do my very best to keep this review spoiler free cause there are loads of events and twists and casualties (it's the big battle after all) and I don't want to spoil the reading experience for anyone! You can expect spoilers for The Collector and The Liberator, so proceed with caution at your own risk!

The Warrior picks up right where the Liberator left us, with Dante and Aspen's failed mission to retrieve Charlie's soul from hell, and a very hefty price paid for it. The Liberators continue to train and try to prepare at the Hive for the final battle to come, while also bring in a old man & expert to translate the ancient scroll (given by Big Guy) to try and gather as much knowledge and intel on what's to come and how to prepare to have the upper hand against Lucille's forces (best nickname everrrr!!).

During the training we get a lot of conflicts addressed, and a lot of suspicion arise, cause the scrolls reveal that there's a traitor in their numbers. Dante fixates on a guy and fails to be right, but even though I ended up being right about one of my suspects, I was completely surprised and blindsided about the other! It's not all just training and translating, because the sirens and the Collectors continue to inflitrate the Hive in their pursue of grabbing Charlie and demoralizing the good guys.

Dante keeps on getting very restless, he feel tremendously guilty and blames himself for everything that goes wrong. And he becomes even more obnoxious the guiltier he feels, thankfully he is still on the road of accepting he is a Liberator and that he's no longer a demon, but it's a very slow road with loads of bumps! His humour is as awesome as always, though sometimes you just feel like smacking him a bit! His devotion for Charlie is fantastic, but so is his very guy attitude about her physically, which always feel very genuine.

Charlie, well... she's her adorable self, seeing the good in everyone and trying to help Dante see it in himself. She has to deal with some issues in this book and we get to see a very kick arse side of her that I really appreciated. Expect a few shocks and surprises when it comes to Charlie!

That is actually one thing you cannot fault this book for, there are plenty of surprises and shocks and twists and action, even with some lulls here and there. Reading this book was quite a mess of emotions, action and a few face palms here and there. I loved having the epilogue to tie everything together and see a peek of how the future would be.

A ver strong ending for a very different kind of trilogy. Even if Dante still annoyed me on occasion, I very much enjoyed this one, so well deserved 4 stars.





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Showcase Sunday #32!!

Showcase Sunday is a weekly feature hosted by Vicky of Books, Biscuits, and Tea where all book lovers can share with others what bookish goodness we got this week, be it purchased (physical or eBook), won, gifted or for review!

This week was pretty good on the book front even though some of my preorders from The Book Depository are still missing and haven't arrived in the mail, but between Easter days and now Labor Day and all that, there were only 3 days this week that the post was working so I'm not surprised. Really hoping for many awesome books arriving next week! To compensate for that my Kindle preorders arrived timely and I was approved for 3 books on NetGalley! So thanks a lot to Entangled Pub, Penguin and Tor Books!

Purchased (via Kindle app)

Sweet Reckoning by Wendy Higgins

Tease by Amanda Maciel (UK ed)

The Taking by Kimberly Derting

For Review (via NetGalley)

The Warrior by Victoria Scott

A Time To Dance by Padma Venkatraman

Unwept by Tracy & Laura Hickman

I decided to request A Time To Dance to put my money where my mouth is to support Diversity in YA & books in general, and although next week I have so many preorders coming and physical books arriving, I'm hoping to buy a pair more books the week after next to add even more diversity to my shelves!

What all did you get this week?

Showcase Sunday #21!

Showcase Sunday is a weekly feature hosted by Vicky of Books, Biscuits, and Tea where all book lovers can share with others what bookish goodness we got this week, be it purchased (physical or eBook), won, gifted or for review!

This week I got a fair bunch of books, and quite a mix of purchased and for review, with some very cool approvals on NetGalley this week!

Purchased (via The Book Depository)

I wanted to get all the Cahill Witches books in paperback so I'd have the matching covers, and the first one arrived this week!

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

Purchased (via Kindle app)

Spring Fevers (An Anthology) edited by Matt Sinclair

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

The War Inside by M Kircher

Howling For You by Chloe Neill

For Review (via Xpresso Book Tours)

A rather bad photo, but I got the ARC for the second book in the Hidden series and since the cover has not been revealed I didn't want to risk the final cover being similar to the one that the ARC has!

Broken Bargain by Clare Davidson

For Review (via NetGalley)

I want to say a big big THANK YOU to Strange Chemistry for its auto-approval on NetGalley, again! And a big THANK YOU too to Entangled Publishing!

The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare by M.G. Buehrlen

Such Sweet Sorrow by Jenny Trout

What all did you guys get this week?