Tell Me Tuesdays #29!!

Tell Me Tuesdays is a meme/feature created by the awesome ladies of Please Feed The Bookworm and La La In The Library, where we can share how we choose the book we are currently reading from our TBR pile!

I'm always curious about that, cause as much as I tend to make myself a rough schedule for books to read and the like, I'm quite a mood reader and sometimes I just HAVE to ignore my schedule and read something else!


I almost forgot to post my Tell Me Tuesday post this week! I was so tired yesterday and then this morning I was so busy with the kitchen thing, I nearly forgot!!

Public Enemies by Ann Aguirre


In Book 2 of the Immortal Game trilogy, Edie must learn the rules of the game . . . and then play better than anyone else.

Through a Faustian bargain, Edie Kramer has been pulled into the dangerous world of the Immortal Game, where belief makes your nightmares real. Hungry for sport, fears-made-flesh are always raising the stakes. To them, human lives are less than nothing, just pieces on a board.

Because of her boyfriend Kian's sacrifice, she's operating under the mysterious Harbinger's aegis, but his patronage could prove as fatal as the opposition. Raw from deepest loss, she's terrified over the deal Kian made for her. Though her very public enemies keep sending foot soldiers--mercenary monsters committed to her destruction--she's not the one playing under a doom clock. Kian has six months...unless Edie can save him. And this is a game she can't bear to lose.

 Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra & Dhonielle Clayton

 Black Swan meets Pretty Little Liars in this soapy, drama-packed novel featuring diverse characters who will do anything to be the prima at their elite ballet school.

Gigi, Bette, and June, three top students at an exclusive Manhattan ballet school, have seen their fair share of drama. Free-spirited new girl Gigi just wants to dance—but the very act might kill her. Privileged New Yorker Bette's desire to escape the shadow of her ballet star sister brings out a dangerous edge in her. And perfectionist June needs to land a lead role this year or her controlling mother will put an end to her dancing dreams forever. When every dancer is both friend and foe, the girls will sacrifice, manipulate, and backstab to be the best of the best.





Today I have a physical ARC that I got from the author's assistant and that might even count as my first ARC request ever, this one I'm only reading during the day because I fear how creepy the first book was and I think that Public Enemies will be even worse!

Then I've also started this month's book for the Reader's Lounge Book Club, and it's making me very happy I never got too serious about ballet! Oi!

And I'm also reading a 2016 ARC that I'm loving to pieces and that once I'm done I'll probably be pushing on every single one of you, but for now my lips are sealed!
  
So what are you all guys reading and how and why did you decide to pick up that book? Shiny new ARC? Comfort read? Scheduled for review? Must have new release? Tell me!!  

Waiting On Wednesday #85!!

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted at Breaking The Spine  that spotlights those can't-wait-to-get-my-hands-on-them books that we are eagerly awaiting!


So, what book am I dying to get my greedy hands on this week? The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things by Ann Aguirre!!

Goodreads Summary:

"Sage Czinski is trying really hard to be perfect. If she manages it, people won’t peer beyond the surface, or ask hard questions about her past. She’s learned to substitute causes for relationships, and it’s working just fine… until Shane Cavendish strolls into her math class. He’s a little antisocial, a lot beautiful, and everything she never knew she always wanted.

Shane Cavendish just wants to be left alone to play guitar and work on his music. He’s got heartbreak and loneliness in his rearview mirror, and this new school represents his last chance. He doesn’t expect to be happy; he only wants to graduate and move on. He never counted on a girl like Sage.

But love doesn’t mend all broken things, and sometimes life has to fall apart before it can be put back together again…"


Why am I eagerly awaiting The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things? Well, I've read and loved paranormal thrillers and contemporary NA written by Ann Aguirre, so I'm pretty sure I'm gonna love anything and everything she writes, so I'm quite excited to read this YA contemporary by her!


What are you all (im)patiently awaiting this week?

Mark This Book Monday: The Shape of My Heart by Ann Aguirre!!!

Hello guys!

Today is a weird kind of Monday. It is an official holiday here in Spain so people aren't working, except for those like me, so it is a working Monday, but since I've also worked the weekend, it's not a "terrible start of the week" kind of Monday!

I'm starting the week with an ARC edition of Mark This Book Monday! I got approved for this one on NetGalley by Harlequin HQN and I am oh so grateful because they always approve my requests! Since I ended up reading it once my preorder arrived, I've read the finished copy.

I did a buddy read for this one with the lovely Emma of Never Judge a Book by its Cover and it was great having someone to discuss the book while reading and share all the feels! I cannot wait till the Book Club she's organizing starts in Jan!

As an ARC this one will hopefully continue to improve my NG ratio and will count towards my 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge!

The Shape of My Heart by Ann Aguirre

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Ann Aguirre really knows how to write NA in a way that keeps me glued to the page, connects with me emotionally and makes me want to beg her to write more books!

I had read and loved the previous two books in the 2B trilogy and for this one I did a buddy read with the lovely Emma from Never Judge a Book by Its Cover, because we both were super excited for this one!

This is the story of Max and Courtney and quite unexpectedly, it is my favourite of the three of them. I connected to these two and their story in such a raw and personal way that I found myself bawling my eyes out more often than not.

Max we met on the first book since he was one of the original tenants of the 2B apartment, but we always saw only the façade he showed to the world, though we got hints at who he really was and what might be behind his bad boy looks and attitude. And boy did I love discovering who he really is! His past in no walk in the park and it's amazing the strenght that the character has.

Courtney is a more recent addition to the 2B apartment but she really got to me. I wasn't 100% sure of her when we met her as Lauren's replacement but being in her head in this book made me love her. She is one tough girl that defies expectations and conventionalisms to always try to be true to who she feels she is, and she's strong and emotional and broken and has flaws and simply is a fantastic character.

The relationship between Courtney and Max started from flatmates, to friends, to best friends to couple and it was done great, so much that it got me super emotional and super invested on their relationship. Not only they have to realize that they have feelings beyond friendship and trust but they have to deal with each other's ghosts, Max's family and Courtney's ex and her family.

There are many tough themes touched upon in this book like alcoholism, death, substance abuse, accidents, disabilities... but always presented in a realistic way and never felt cheap or done for the sake to stir drama. And as tough and realistic as they can get, there's always a current of hope and positivity through this book that makes you feel like even if things are bleak, they can get better. And the characters will fight tooth and claw to make it better.

I highly recommend this series to all of those who love NA or love Ann Aguirre or love contemporaries and to all the rest too because although Ann is now on my auto-buy list, I am not a big fan of NA or contemporaries and I've loved all three of these books! Ver well deserved 4.5 stars for this one!



View all my reviews

Tell Me Tuesdays #20!!

Tell Me Tuesdays is a meme/feature created by the awesome ladies of Please Feed The Bookworm and La La In The Library where we can share how we choose the book we are currently reading from our TBR pile!

I'm always curious about that, cause as much as I tend to make myself a rough schedule for books to read and the like, I'm quite a mood reader and sometimes I just HAVE to ignore my schedule and read something else!

The Shape of My Heart by Ann Aguirre


Some people wait decades to meet their soul mate. Courtney Kaufman suspects she met hers in high school only to lose him at seventeen. Since then, Courtney's social life has been a series of meaningless encounters, though she's made a few close friends along the way. Especially her roommate, Max Cooper, who oozes damaged bad-boy vibes from every pore. 

Max knows about feeling lost he's been on his own since he was sixteen. Now it's time to find out if he can ever go home again, and Courtney's the only one he trusts to go with him. But the trip to Providence could change everything…. 

It started out so simple. One misfit helping another. Now Max will do anything to show Courtney that for every heart that's ever been broken, there's another that can make it complete.

 The Here And Now by Ann Brashares

TIME TRAVEL AND FORBIDDEN ROMANCE FROM THE BEST SELLING AUTHOR OF THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELLING PANTS

Thrilling, exhilarating, haunting and heartbreaking, The Here and Now is a twenty-first-century take of an impossible romance.
There are rules.

Never reveal where you’re from.Never be intimate with anyone outside the community.And never interfere with history. 

Seventeen-year-old Prenna James emigrated to New York when she was twelve. But Prenna didn't come from a different country, she came from a different time - a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins.

Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules. Prenna does as she's told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth and take the lives of her younger brothers. But everything changes when she falls for Ethan.
She might be able to save the world ... if she lets go of the one thing she's found to hold on to.


I have just started these two today after finishing last night with Red Rising by Pierce Brown and loving it! The Shape of My Heart I've started as a buddy read with my friend Emma from Never Judge a Book by Its Cover. I'm a huge fan of Ann Aguirre and I'm only 5 chapters in and she's almost made me bawl twice! I got TSOMH as an ARC and I'm hoping to get my review up for it next week! The Here And Now is another ARC that I got from NG and so far it's a rather fast read, hopefully I'll have the review for it later this week!

 So what are you all guys reading and how and why did you decide to pick up that book? Shiny new ARC? Comfort read? Scheduled for review? Must have new release? Tell me!!

 

Saturday Pages: ARC Review of As Long As You Love Me by Ann Aguirre!!

Hello everyone & happy Saturday!

This week I'm back to having Saturday Pages around and it's all about another ARC review. I got approved for this one via NetGalley and I have to give a big shout out and thank you to Harlequin and all its imprints cause they always approve my requests! Thank you for the vote of confidence!

As an ARC it also counts towards my 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge and will hopefully help eventually reach the 80% ratio on NG!!

As Long As You Love Me by Ann Aguirre

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


NA is not exactly a genre I have ever felt very drawn to and as such I haven't really read much of it, but I can safely say now that I love the kind of NA that Ann Aguirre writes!

As Long As You Love Me is the second installment on her 2B trilogy and I really enjoyed this one too, I'm not sure if I can say if I liked this one more than I Want It That Way but I know it hit me in the feels more closely to home than the previous one, and made me cry a whole lot more!

This one is all about Lauren, Nadia's best friend and roommate that decides to give up on university and run back home. We barely got to know Lauren through Nadia's story, and all because Lauren was already steeling herself to leave. The book starts with Lauren returning to Sharon, to live with her mom again and to deal with all the gossip surrounding her return.

By returning to Sharon, Lauren has to face all her bad choices in university, has to face all kinds of gossip and has to return to a home life that was less than ideal when she left. She stumbles onto Nadia's brother, Rob, who was her crush since she can remember having a crush and who has always treated her like a second sister.

They start hanging out as friends at first, even if Lauren is well aware that she's never got over the crush, and little by little they find themselves unable to deny the attraction and the connection between them.

As with IWITW, the main couple is made up of two individuals with their own diffent issues. Lauren has become an expert of hiding who she is and what issues she has and Rob has spent his whole life being relegated to be considered nothing but a hot guy with no brains. They both work as the foundations of self discovery of each other, but they also need to learn to stand on their own feet alone before getting into a healthy relationship. And that's one hell of an important message here, even if it can lead to some momentary heartbreak.

Great characters, realistic and believeable relationships with the focus not only on the main couple, but also family dynamics, friends, ex's, and the sometimes oppresive for some and comforting for others, feeling of a small town.

I connected so much with Lauren and Rob and loved their relationship, how they supported each other and how they made a great team. I loved how Lauren was so supportive of Rob, his hobby and his worth, even to the point of confronting those who are supposedly closer to him. Despite all her issues, Lauren is not someone to stay back and let others push her into a shape that is not her, and she takes charge of her life and makes sure that Rob does too.

I'm still not sure if New Adult is a genre that I will read a lot of, but I know for sure that I will be reading any and all the NA that Ann Aguirre writes and I'm already really looking forward to the third book in this trilogy! Well deserved 4 stars for this one!



View all my reviews

Friday Reads: Mortal Danger by Ann Aguirre!!

Aaaand welcome to the final entry to this week's Friday Reads!

This book has taken me a bit to finish reading, not because I wasn't enjoying it but mostly cause I needed to take a break now and then from its glorious creepiness and cause I wanted to read as much of it during daylight hours as possible, something I failed at, cause I read the last 35% of it and probably the creepiest bits after work and dinner last night!

I've also discovered I really need to read more Ann Aguirre books cause I've loved all three of her books I've read so far!



Mortal Danger by Ann Aguirre

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Mortal Danger is a book that doesn't really hold any punches back. I'm still a bit shellshocked after everything that happened in this book and I'm really impressed with how it juggled tough contemporary themes like bullying and mixes it with a rich and creepy world of hidden power plays in a paranormal world.

Edit has suffered an extremely upsetting and enraging case of bullying from her peers for years at this exclusive high school, and that along with the way some of the adults around her dealt with it, making her feel it was her fault, drove her to the jumpers' bridge, ready to put an end to her suffering. But a beautiful stranger approaches her and offers her a better alternative, a way to change her life that means not having to give up but means a chance to getting back at her tormentors.

Edit seizes it, and even in her despair and immense sadness, she manages to keep her head and not walk into the deal completely blinded. She will find herself a bit way over her head, but she will not stop fighting and that's what makes her such a great survivor. She tries to get out of her older skin, try to shake her fearful and humiliated old self, and with her deal done, she takes a new leaf and tries to become a new person and get her revenge. But soon revenge takes a back seat with all the paranormal and inexplicable stuff happening around her, and she realizes that revenge might not be exactly what she wants anymore, not the way things start happening.

Kian is a character that I wasn't entirely sure about at first, but despite Edit's reasonable doubts I was sure quite early that he really was on her side, despite his tendency to keep secrets to protect her, which is a trait that I don't appreciate much in characters. No matter what, they're chemistry was great and I loved those moments that were about just them together and that they really learn to make a great team, relaying in one another.

One thing this book exceeded at was being creepy as hell. SO many creepy characters and moments would jump at you unexpectedly and would make me shiver and pause while reading (full disclosure, yes, I'm a wuss, but this book is very creepy!!) and now that I'm done with the book, I'm a bit afraid of going to sleep and having some nightmares, cause the descriptions and the ambience of the book were so vivid and creepy!

And another thing that was wonderfully done and that I've treasured every tidbit was the amazing mythology built around this paranormal creatures and happenings and the deals done in exchange of saving someone from death. I won't be getting much into it, but I found it so fascinating that I cannot wait to meet more characters and get more in-depth with it!

Be sure to be prepared to many many ups and downs with this book and remember that no one is safe and always wait for the other shoe to drop, cause holy hell does it fall! A fantastic book very much deserving of 4.5 stars!



View all my reviews

Tell Me Tuesdays #8!!

Tell Me Tuesdays is a meme/feature created by the awesome ladies of Please Feed The Bookworm and La La In The Library where we can share how we choose the book we are currently reading from our TBR pile!

I'm always curious about that, cause as much as I tend to make myself a rough schedule for books to read and the like, I'm quite a mood reader and sometimes I just HAVE to ignore my schedule and read something else!

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley



 In 1959 Virginia, the lives of two girls on opposite sides of the battle for civil rights will be changed forever.

Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend the previously all-white Jefferson High School. An honors student at her old school, she is put into remedial classes, spit on and tormented daily.

Linda Hairston is the daughter of one of the town’s most vocal opponents of school integration. She has been taught all her life that the races should be kept “separate but equal.”

Forced to work together on a school project, Sarah and Linda must confront harsh truths about race, power and how they really feel about one another.

Boldly realistic and emotionally compelling, Lies We Tell Ourselves is a brave and stunning novel about finding truth amid the lies, and finding your voice even when others are determined to silence it.

 Mortal Danger by Ann Aguirre

Edie Kramer has a score to settle with the beautiful people at Blackbriar Academy. Their cruelty drove her to the brink of despair, and four months ago, she couldn't imagine being strong enough to face her senior year. But thanks to a Faustian compact with the enigmatic Kian, she has the power to make the bullies pay. She's not supposed to think about Kian once the deal is done, but devastating pain burns behind his unearthly beauty, and he's impossible to forget.

In one short summer, her entire life changes, and she sweeps through Blackbriar, prepped to take the beautiful people down from the inside. A whisper here, a look there, and suddenly... bad things are happening. It's a heady rush, seeing her tormentors get what they deserve, but things that seem too good to be true usually are, and soon, the pranks and payback turns from delicious to deadly. Edie is alone in a world teeming with secrets and fiends lurking in the shadows. In this murky morass of devil's bargains, she isn't sure who—or what--she can trust. Not even her own mind...


I got approved on NetGalley for Lies We Tell Ourselves and I'm doing a buddy read of it with my bloggy friend and awesomely talented Becca of Pivot Point Reviews and Pivot Book Totes! And I'm also finally reading Mortal Danger, after I got the sampler with the 5 first chapters and read some really great reviews from some of my bloggy friends!


So what are you all guys reading and how and why did you decide to pick up that book? Shiny new ARC? Comfort read? Scheduled for review? Must have new release? Tell me!!

Saturday Pages: ARC Review of I Want It That Way by Ann Aguirre!!

As the second and last entry for this week's Saturday Pages I have an ARC review that since was read last month, I won't count for ARC August but that will be counted towards my 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge!

I Want It That Way by Ann Aguirre

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I haven't been very much a contemporary romance reader, and even less the rather recent New Adult genre that has come up, but when I saw that Ann Aguirre had a NA trilogy coming and read her tweets about the books and saw the titles, that makes me sing BSB songs EVERY TIME, I knew I had to read them!

So when I saw this one NetGalley I immediately requested it and was lucky enough to be approved by Harlequin! And I was right to do so, cause I really enjoyed this book a lot!

I Want It That Way is the story of Nadia, a girl determined to make a good future for herself, focusing on finishing college while working to help her parents pay for it and then try to find a job as a special education teacher. She's always been very focused and even though she's still trying to enjoy some social life with her friends and roommates.

And it's exactly how the book starts, with Nadia moving into apartment 2B with her best friend Lauren and friends from college Max and Angus and meeting Ty, the resident of 1B. The first meeting isn't exactly heartwarming but after a chat on the balcony at night, they start a tentative friendship with a strong underlying attraction between them.

Ty is a single dad, with 3 year old and trying to juggle too many things, with night classes, a job and taking care of Sam, his son. He also has quite an amount of baggage and so he's not ready to get embroiled into an affair with the girl from upstairs and even less, allow himself to think about a relationship. Sam is his first and only priority.

The book is not only about how Ty and Nadia deal with their attraction and how they try to work with their relationship, but also with friendship and family. The relationship between Nadie and her roommates and how they help each other with their issues was great, the secondary character were well developed and never felt like just background noise.

There was no unnecessary drama between Ty and Nadia, and even when things weren't exactly peachy between them, they were always very honest with each other, no hidden drama, no cards kept up their sleeves. I loved how determined Nadia was to go for what she knew she wanted and not being afraid of facing the changes that pile up on her life.

Ann Aguirre knows how to write good chemistry, not overly drama filled or overly typical cliches stories and her characters feel genuine and you feel like rooting for them from very early on! I really enjoyed this one, despite how much the final part of the story made me cry. All in all, well deserved 4 stars for this one and I cannot wait to read the next NA books that Aguirre has coming soon!



View all my reviews