Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly post created by Breaking the Spine , that features our most anticipated book to be released. My WoW choice this week is Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda which will be released on April 7th, 2015! What are you waiting on?
Monthly Archives: January 2015
Review: Amour Amour by Krista Ritchie & Becca Ritchie
Amour AmourMy rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Received: bought
Publication Date: December 12th, 2014
Publisher: Indie
Point of View: 1st Person & Female
Genres & Themes: New Adult, Contemporary Romance, Family, Friendship, Circus, Hopes & Dreams
BLURB:
Love is a circus
“Every day,” he says lowly, “I hold a person’s life in my hands. The circus is based one-hundred percent off trust. I give it all to someone, and they give it all to me.”
The best aerial technique won’t land 21-year-old Thora James her dream role in Amour—a sexy new acrobatic show on the Vegas strip. Thora knows she’s out of her element the second she meets Amour’s leading performer. Confident, charming and devilishly captivating, 26-year-old Nikolai Kotova lives up to his nickname as the “God of Russia.”
When Thora unknowingly walks into the crosshairs of Nikolai’s after-show, her audition process begins way too soon. Unprofessional. That’s what Nik calls their “non-existent” relationship. It’s not like Thora can avoid him. For one, they may be partners in the future–acrobatic partners, that is. But getting closer to Nik means diving deeper into sin city and into his dizzying world.
Thora wants to perform with him, but when someone like Nikolai attracts the spotlight wherever he goes—Thora fears that she’s destined to be just background to his spellbinding show.
This sexy and exhilarating New Adult Romance can best be described as Cirque du Soleil meets the steamy, athletic romance of Center Stage.
*standalone & no love triangles—recommended for readers 18+ for mature content* Continue reading
Review: Jackaby (Jackaby #1) by William Ritter
My rating:2 of 5 stars
Received: borrowed
Publication Date: September 16th, 2014
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Point of View: 1st Person & Female
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Historical , Mystery, Paranormal
BLURB:
“Miss Rook, I am not an occultist,” Jackaby said. “I have a gift that allows me to see truth where others see the illusion–and there are many illusions. All the world’s a stage, as they say, and I seem to have the only seat in the house with a view behind the curtain.”
Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with a keen eye for the extraordinary–including the ability to see supernatural beings. Abigail has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, which makes her perfect for the position of Jackaby’s assistant. On her first day, Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: A serial killer is on the loose. The police are convinced it’s an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain it’s a nonhuman creature, whose existence the police–with the exception of a handsome young detective named Charlie Cane–deny.
Doctor Who meets Sherlock in William Ritter’s debut novel, which features a detective of the paranormal as seen through the eyes of his adventurous and intelligent assistant in a tale brimming with cheeky humor and a dose of the macabre. Continue reading
Guest Post: Vani (The Recession Groom)
The Recession Groom
Publisher: Leadstart Publishing
Twitter handle: @Vani_Author
Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon
BLURB:
Parshuraman Joshi, 27, handsome, Hindu-Brahmin, IT Professional, settled in Canada, earns a high-figure salary.
These are credentials that would make any young man hot on the Indian wedding market, so it’s no wonder that Parshuraman’s family is inundated with matrimonial proposals. While so far all attempts to ‘settle’ him have gone kaput, he has bigger issues vexing him – such as Jennifer, his ‘fireball’ of a colleague, and their efforts to save Project Infinite. To top it all, as the credit crisis grips the global economy, the little world he’s created for himself begins to fall apart. Will he be able to pull himself together to face the challenges posed by a tough economy? More importantly, will this Recession Groom be able to find his ‘perfect partner’?
GUEST POST
Writing for an International Audience
I know that sounds easy. Not so easy when you read this.
Review: Playlist for the Dead by Michelle Falkoff
Playlist for the Dead by Michelle Falkoff
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Received: Won
Publication Date: January 27th 2015
Publisher: HarperTeen
Point of View: 1st Person & Male
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Contemporary, Suicide, Death, Love, Friendship, Music
BLURB:
A teenage boy tries to understand his best friend’s suicide by listening to the playlist of songs he left behind in this smart, voice-driven debut novel.
Here’s what Sam knows: There was a party. There was a fight. The next morning, his best friend, Hayden, was dead. And all he left Sam was a playlist of songs, and a suicide note: For Sam—listen and you’ll understand.
As he listens to song after song, Sam tries to face up to what happened the night Hayden killed himself. But it’s only by taking out his earbuds and opening his eyes to the people around him that he will finally be able to piece together his best friend’s story. And maybe have a chance to change his own.
Part mystery, part love story, and part coming-of-age tale in the vein of Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Tim Tharp’s The Spectacular Now, Playlist for the Dead is an honest and gut-wrenching first novel about loss, rage, what it feels like to outgrow a friendship that’s always defined you—and the struggle to redefine yourself. But above all, it’s about finding hope when hope seems like the hardest thing to find.
Review: The Giver (The Giver, #1) by Lois Lowry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Received: Borrowed
Publication Date: 1993 first published
Publisher: Ember
Point of View: 3rd Person & Male
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Dystopia, Life, Family, Friendship
BLURB:
Jonas’s world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community. When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.
Review: Princess Academy (Princess Academy, #1) by Shannon Hale
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Received: Bought
Publication Date: April 17th 2007
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Point of View: 3rd Person & Female
Genres & Themes: Middle Grade, Prince & Princess, Education, Fantasy, Magic, Love, Family, Friendship
BLURB:
Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have quarried stone and lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king’s priests have divined her small village the home of the future princess. In a year’s time, the prince himself will come and choose his bride from among the girls of the village. The king’s ministers set up an academy on the mountain, and every teenage girl must attend and learn how to become a princess.
Miri soon finds herself confronted with a harsh academy mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and her own conflicting desires to be chosen and win the heart of her childhood best friend. But when bandits seek out the academy to kidnap the future princess, Miri must rally the girls together and use a power unique to the mountain dwellers to save herself and her classmates.
Review: Under Different Stars (Kricket, #1) by Amy A. Bartol
Under Different Stars by Amy A. Bartol
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Received: NetGalley
Publication Date: December 19th 2013
Publisher: Indie
Point of View: 1st Person & Female
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Urban-Fantasy, Aliens, Romance (I assume – didn’t get that far)
BLURB:
Kricket Hollowell is normally not one to wish upon stars; she believes they’re rarely in her favor. Well versed at dodging caseworkers from Chicago’s foster care system, the past few years on her own have made Kricket an expert at the art of survival and blending in. With her 18th birthday fast approaching, she dreams of the day when she can stop running and find what her heart needs most: a home.
Trey Allairis hates Earth and doubts that anyone from his world can thrive here. What he’s learning of Kricket and her existence away from her true home only confirms his theory. But, when he and Kricket lie together under the stars of Ethar, counting them all may be easier than letting her go.
Kyon Ensin’s secrets number the stars; he knows more about Kricket’s gifts than anyone and plans to possess her because of them. He also knows she’s more valuable than any fire in the night sky. He’ll move the heavens and align them all in order to make her his own.
When everything in their world can be broken, will Kricket rely upon love to save her under different stars?
Review: Never Never (Never Never, #1) by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Received: Bought
Publication Date: January 7th 2015
Publisher: Indie
Point of View: 1st Person & Alternative
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, High School, Secrets, Drama
BLURB:
Best friends since they could walk. In love since the age of fourteen.
Complete strangers since this morning.
He’ll do anything to remember. She’ll do anything to forget.
Review: All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Received: Bought
Publication Date: January 6th 2015
Publisher: Knopf
Point of View: 1st Person & Alternative
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mental Illness, Death, Romance, Friendship
BLURB:
The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park in this exhilarating and heart-wrenching love story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who intends to die.
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Elle Fanning!
Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.
Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.
When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.
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