Perfect Chemistry - Simone Elkeles

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Summary

Brittany is starting her senior year of high school, and she is bound and determined to make this her best year yet, but it seems that her life hasn't caught up with her ideals. First she gets stuck with the schools biggest trouble maker and gang member, Alex Fuentes, as a lab partner in Chemistry, but troubles at home with her sister have been increasing. Her parents seem to be as disconnected as ever. On top of all that, things with her boyfriend, Colin, just aren't what they used to be. Is it him or her? And what is it about Alex that keeps her from thinking straight anyway

Review

While the idea of taking characters who have an assumed life or personality and giving them depth has been done before, I really enjoyed Simone Elkeles's version. Gang members are (and probably rightly so) considered dangerous and, like Alex, they are probably stereotyped as being trouble makers and slackers. Alex, however, had reasons for everything he did, and honestly did not enjoy being "that guy" that everyone was afraid of, despite the fact that he tried hard to portray that person outwardly. Likewise, while Brittany was the super popular, extremely rich cheerleader, she was far from the perfect person she made everyone believe that she was. I think, especially as teenagers, many people hide behind similar masks. Not to this extreme of course, but we have a version of ourselves that we let people see - and then we have the person we wish we were.

Another secondary storyline that I also loved about this story was the crossing of racial and class structure boundaries. This is another reality that even I remember from school. Clicks in High School are very popular, and can be divided based on anything; grades, musicians, race, class, etc. I liked how both Brittany and Alex at some point in this book were working toward crossing those clicks and boundaries and showing their classmates that their assumptions and ideas about other people weren't necessarily founded on facts.

I do recommend this book for the reasons above, however I do caution - this book is defiantly meant for older "young adults," and not teenagers or young teens by any stretch of the imagination.

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Call Me Irresistible - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Call Me Irresistible by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Summary:

Meg Koranda flies to Wynette, TX to be the Maid of Honor in her best friend, Lucy’s, wedding only to find out that Lucy is having doubts about the whole thing. After helping her realize that Lucy was getting ready to make a grand mistake which resulting in her leaving her groom, Ted waiting at the alter, Meg becomes the most hated person in town. Unfortunately, being bankrupt and cut off by her family, Meg is stuck. She is left to stick it out and make what she can of herself in Wynette until she can get her feet back under her and a little money in her pocket. That is until she gets all tangled up with the town’s need to build a new, environmentally sound golf course, a project that Wynette’s towns people are counting on to bring the prosperity to their dying city. This also results in Meg getting all tangled up with the towns perfect citizen and mayor, AND her best friends dumped fiancé, Ted Beaudine.

Review:

As always, Susan Elizabeth Phillips writes the perfectly sizzling romance, which includes the rich, famous and perfect. Honestly, every single time I pick up one of her novels I always think, “I don’t care about the rich and famous, and I don’t really want to be reading a romance novel about them,” and every single time she sucks me in. I think it’s the fact that these perfect people end up not being so perfect, they have flaws, defaults, make mistakes and act stupid. Never mind the fact that Susan Elizabeth Phillips has a tendency to cause you to laugh out loud at least once in every book.

I always fall in love with the characters, and really enjoy seeing them return in other novels as well, but this time I was a little bit annoyed with Meg. She was perfectly sassy and had lots of attitude and determination, but I absolutely hated how she always made herself the scapegoat, throwing herself under the bus every chance she got. I was thinking that this was a character flaw that she would eventually stand up against in the end, but no – even in one of the final scenes she stands up and declares how everything was her fault and making up excuses. Ted was also a little but oblivious to everything Meg was going through. He acted like he knew, especially when he visited Meg’s parents, but Meg was harassed non-stop throughout the entire book. She was getting it from the left and right, and even though she did act as a buffer, protecting Ted from what was going on, all he would have had to do was open his eyes and pay attention.

I absolutely looooved the very last scene of the book – of which I’m not telling you about – it made the perfect ending!

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The Lost Saint - Bree Dispain

The Lost Saint by Bree Despain

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Summary:

Grace is working on using her wolf skills without actually letting the wolf take control, a skill that Daniel once was on board with, but is starting to take a step back and rethink the wisdom in the training. Determined to find her brother, Jude, and to do good with the lot that she has been given, Grace stumbles upon another of her kind – Nathan Talbot, who agrees to help her train and quickly becomes her mentor and the one other guy besides Daniel who causes her blood to stir. Between training and kicking some demon butt, the wolf inside Grace is making his voice known, causing her to say and do thinks that she normally wouldn’t.


Review:

I was so disappointed in both Grace and Daniel throughout this book. The characters that had so much fire and passion, who had demonstrated acts of true love in The Dark Divine have fizzled out to silliness and immaturity in The Lost Saint. Grace, who is so smart and level headed doesn’t seem to recognize the wolf voice within her, or maybe she does realize it it, but I would have thought she would have been able to understand that the voice was obviously manipulating her. I’m disappointed in both of them because of their desire to keep secrets under the guise of “protecting” the other, when really both Grace and Daniel were thinking about only themselves, and what they wanted. An ounce of communication would have eliminated a pound of frustration, disappointment, and hurt. Neither were willing to give, even when Daniel was suspected of doing things on the sly – things that seemed like would be getting him in trouble. Given the fact that Grace knew that he was keeping secrets and showing up at places he probably shouldn’t have been, it’s no wonder that she started looking to Talbot more and more.

I also feel like there is a lot going on with the folklore in the story. While I may just not be remembering every detail from The Dark Divine, but I was a little taken back by the different types of wolves, the vampires, and then the demons. Yet it all seemed like a small part of the book's point, and more of a way for Grace and Talbot to bond than a really important part of the book. Also, I was a little surprised at the lack of Jude, given the fact that he called Grace in the very beginning, and then Grace’s little brother was having nightmares and “seeing things,” which also seemed to drop off suddenly. Then there were Jude’s comments and messages to April. All of that, also, seemed to be a rather insignificant part of the book. It just seemed like there was so much more potential for story movement within the other aspects of the book outside of relationship (Grace/Daniel; Grace/Wolf; Grace/Talbot), which seemed to be what the book seemed to focus on the most.

The Lost Saint is obviously the tension of the entire series. There is so much friction and so many unknowns. It’s at this point when you sit and think, “what is going to happen next?” and every fangirl is going to come up with their own desired HEA for book number 3. In any series, this is the shaky ground – the final book will determine whether this series is a pretty good series or one that is just okay.

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Discounted eBooks - (some for free)

*Note to all readers, I have not actually read any of these books, this is just for your information! Discounted eBooks

To Defy a King By Elizabeth Chadwick $2.99 "The best writer of historical fiction." --Historical Novels Review The adored and spirited daughter of England's greatest knight, Mahelt Marshal lives a privileged life. But when her beloved father falls foul of the volatile and dangerous King John, her world is shattered. The king takes her brothers hostage and Mahelt's planned marriage to Hugh Bigod, son of the Earl of Norfolk, takes place sooner than she expected. Mahelt and Hugh come to care for each other deeply, but Hugh's strict father clashes with the rebellious Mahelt. When more harsh demands from King John threaten to tear the couple's lives apart, Mahelt finds herself facing her worst fears alone, not knowing if she--or her marriage--will survive.

Sins of the House of Borgia By Sarah Bower $2.99 A Notorious Duke An Infamous Duchess An Innocent Girl Violante isn't supposed to be here, in one of the grandest courts of Renaissance Italy. She isn't supposed to be a lady-in-waiting to the beautiful Lucrezia Borgia. But the same secretive  politics that pushed Lucrezia's father to the Vatican have landed Violante deep in a lavish landscape of passion and ambition. Violante discovers a Lucrezia unknown to those who see only a scheming harlot, and all the whispers about her brother, Cesare Borgia, never revealed the soul of the man who dances close with Violante. But those who enter the House of Borgia are never quite the same when they leave--if they leave at all. Violante's place in history will test her heart and leave her the guardian of dangerous secrets she must carry to the grave.

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Darcy's Voyage By Kara Louise Free A Tale of Uncharted Love on the Open Seas In this enchanting and highly original retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet sets out for the new world aboard the grand ship Pemberley's Promise. She's prepared for an uneventful voyage until a chance encounter with the handsome, taciturn Mr. Darcy turns her world upside down. When Elizabeth falls ill, Darcy throws convention overboard in a plan that will bind them to each other more deeply than he ever could have imagined. But the perils of their ocean voyage pale in comparison to the harsh reality of society's rules that threaten their chance at happiness. When they return to the lavish halls of England, will their love survive?

World from Rough Stones

By: Malcolm Macdonald
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The unforgettable first novel in the classic Stevenson Family Saga from epic master Malcolm Macdonald

John Stevenson is a just a foreman when a near-fatal accident bring young Nora Telling into his life. Her nimbleness of mind and his power of command enable them to take over the working mill and rescue it from catastrophe. Together with their friends the Thorntons--who are troubled by a marriage mismatched in passion--they are willing to risk any dare, commit themselves to any act of cunning on their climb from rags to riches.

The first novel in the classic Stevenson Family Saga, The World from Rough Stones is the epic story of two ambitious but poor young people who, at the very start of the Victorian Era, combine their considerable talents to found a dynasty and go on to fame and fortune.

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Anna and the French Kiss - Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Summary

In her senior year of High School, Anna's father, a now famous sappy tragic romance book writer, decides that Anna should spend the year studying abroad in Paris. Torn from her best friend, Bridget, and her almost-boyfriend, Toph, her brother, Sean, and everything she knows - Anna reluctantly goes to Paris and is immediately struck with homesickness and a feeling of being lost, and a fear of sticking out like a sore thumb. Thankfully, with the help of a group of friends, Anna finds herself able to navigate the streets of Paris, at times even alone. She's learning French, and seeing things she's never even dreamed of being able to see. She's also finding herself torn between Toph, and her new best friend St. Clair (Etienne), the sexy American with an English accent and a French father. The friendship that sparks immediately quickly flames into much more.

Review

I loved this book. It was so fun and entertaining and just beautiful. It had a certain "Twilight" appeal that I think I've finally figured out the source of; the book focuses almost entirely on the two main characters. Everything else in the book is sort of part and partial. You get to know the main characters, in this case Anna and Etienne, so well that they become a part of your mind. They are like friends or alter egos or something. You want to keep going and going with the story, even though there is just no more to tell. I'm pretty sure the same thing with Bella and Edward applies...it has nothing to do with sparkly vampires, and everything to do with knowing the characters completely. Anyway....

I almost don't even know what else to say. I think I really enjoyed the progress between Anna and Etienne. I loved the light teasing and playfulness between them that just continued to spark and grow as the book moved forward. I enjoyed the lightness of the book too. There were no major serious undertones. I don't want all off the books I read to be that low on content, but I love a break from seriousness. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that before though.

So I have one major MAJOR problem, and I don't think that this has anything to do with the author, and I'm sure it has nothing to do with the book. Has anyone noticed the vast amounts of grammatical, technical and spelling errors that comes with reading an e-book?? Why is that? Some of the technical stuff I understand, because converting text often does that. I have that problem just moving something from work, into email, then opening it up at home. But spelling errors? What, are we getting the 2nd or 3rd draft instead of the final? I have wondered more than once if the actual book was published that way, and I'd wager to say no...but since I'm reading the e-book, I can't be positive about that.

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