Review: Red At Night by Katie McGarry

Book Title: Red At Night

Author: Katie McGarry

Release Date: April 1st, 2014

Publisher: Harlequin Special Releases

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Standalone (e-novella)

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Link: Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In Red at Night, Stella and Jonah are total opposites. She’s the girl with purple hair from the wrong part of town. He’s a high school senior who hangs with the cool crowd. Until a car accident leaves him haunted by guilt, and Jonah starts spending time at Stella’s favorite refuge…the local cemetery.

Stella knows she should keep her distance—after all, she spent her girlhood being bullied by Jonah’s friends. Once he’s sorted out his tangled emotions, Jonah won’t have time for her anymore. Too bad she’s already fallen for him.

Disclaimer: This book was a freebie from Amazon.

Review:

So I’ll read anything this woman writes. Oh my goodness, I never would have thought that so much emotion could be in a e-novella that was only 87 pages. Clearly I underestimated McGarry’s talents in condensing the story but not allowing the emotion to suffer. This book wrecked me nearly on the same level as Pushing The Limits did.

My heart ached so badly for Stella. She didn’t think there was any hope for her in life. She was resigned to her fate to work a full time job with no college since she couldn’t afford it and she didn’t have the type of family support she deserved. She had long ago learned that hoping doesn’t change the facts and that it was useless to hope for more. She had learned to be realistic and that dreams were just that, dreams.

“If I don’t hope for more, then it can’t hurt as bad.” -Stella

See, what did I tell you? Feels aplenty.

Then we had Jonah, who had the family Stella deserved but he couldn’t get past watching a complete stranger die on the road one night. He hated all the press that came with it. He hated being called a hero, because he wasn’t. He was just there at the right time and did what any decent person would do.

“His last words to me and on this earth were that he lived his life wrong.”-Jonah

I think everyone has that fear. That fear, that you’ll get to the end of your life and you’ll realize that you made some mistakes and maybe even lived your life wrong. Dying with regrets has got to be one of the worst feelings in the world because you can’t change it.

I loved Jonah and Stella’s relationship. I loved that he was willing to tell off his best friend, Cooper for making fun of her. I loved that he sided with her and was willing to defend her no matter what. The chemistry leapt off the page and it made me smile a lot.

“I know who I want to be and I want you by my side as I become that person.”

That quote is one of the most beautiful quotes I’ve ever read in a book. Oh my goodness, just reading it again, gets me all choked up. To have someone feel that way about you, has got to be one of the best feelings in the world.

This book packed an emotional punch from the very beginning and did not let go. I absolutely ADORED this book, and like I said before, I’ll read anything this woman writes. She’s that fabulous and her books are amazing, full of emotion and always, ALWAYS have amazing, and well written characters. 5 stars to this book that made me think of life, love and the choices we make in this world.

Meet My Furbabies

Hello everyone, nope no review today but after reading Molli’s post about her furbabies as well as Kara and Lynn’s post on their rescue animals, I decided to take some time to talk about my own furbabies. First of all,I want to introduce you to a very special cat who is no longer with us.

Here I am at five years old with a teeny tiny kitten that I named Molly. She was a present given to me by my grandmother’s 2nd husband who was more like a grandfather to me than my actual grandfather. I had just had serious, life-saving surgery and he got me this kitten as a present while I recovered.We lost her to Lymphoma shortly before my 18th birthday. Nine years later, I still miss her.

I have had cats in my home pretty much all of my life. I remember some of their names and what they looked like.

• Tiger-Tiger striped female. She ran away to die at 19.
• Pee-head- Gray fat cat who we found dead under the house.We believe she died of kidney failure.
• Molly- Siamese female who we lost to Lymphoma.
• Angel- All white cat except for a gray spot (or halo) between her ears and with one green eye and one blue eye.She died last October at age 19.
• Eclipse- All black female cat who died 4 years ago due to her being overweight.She was 14.
• Stevie-All gray female who we believe was carried off by a coyote 3.5 years ago.She was 13.
• Fuzzy- Himylan female who died in her sleep.She was 12 years old.

Those are all the cats who have crossed over to the rainbow bridge in my life. They all meant something to me. But enough sadness. Let’s meet the 2 newest additions to my life. Prince and Tiffany.

Prince

Here he is on the very day we got him. Now the circumstances are definitely not ideal but I am so grateful we were able to give him a home. First of all the lady we got him from assured us up and down that she was a rescuer and that she just wanted to find a good home for him. She assured us that he was in perfect health and that he was 11 weeks old.

Now does he look like he’s 11 weeks old?

Yeah…No. However we were worried about what she’d do to him if we didn’t take him and so we did.We made an immediate appointment with the vet and was told that not only was he not 11 weeks old, the vet estimated he was 8 weeks old. The vet tech we had that day said he looked more like six weeks old. Then we were told he had yeast in his ears along with ear mites, worms in his stomach and worst of all,he tested weak positive for Feline Lukemia.

   

I was heartbroken.He was such a sweet baby and I hated the idea of him suffering.We decided to nurse him back to health and then retest him. When we retested him he still was showing a weak positive. The vet then said, we’d test him a 3rd time and if that test was also positive we’d treat him as if he had Feline Lukemia. Well as luck would have it,January 6th, 2012 we got the third and final test results back…

It was negative.

That was the best news we had ever heard.I just remember crying and cuddling him pretty much the entire day.Plans were then made to neuter him.He did wonderfully with that surgery and it really mellowed him out.Before then he would attack us for no reason…a lot.He still did it after he was fixed but it was no where near at the level it used to be.

Oh and one day I was sifting through the stuff that the lady we bought him from, gave us and I found a blue TICA slip which told me that she was not a “Bengal rescuer” but a backyard breeder as she had known EXACTLY who Prince’s parents were.

Right around Christmas of 2012, we started talking about getting another cat.We had gotten the approval from the landlord so we began looking.This time we went through a reputable breeder.I had lost the fight with my mom to get a shelter cat.Shortly after a cardiac procedure I had in February, we found the kitten we wanted.

Tiffany

When she came to live with us, she was pretty shy initially and she still is shy with those she doesn’t know really well. She is such a sweetheart and really the complete opposite of Prince.She is so healthy which is a great thing. She has bonded with me as I was the main person who was with her when she first came to live with us.

Yet she and Prince get along great. I was worried about how Prince would do with a new cat as he is pretty protective of the three of us who live in this house.

Clearly I didn’t need to worry. They get along just fine.

The naming of the cats was tough, both times. We picked names out of a hat for both cats. Prince was named after the musician and Tiffany was named after Jennifer Lawrence’s character in Silver Linings Playbook.

So tell me about your pets!

Review: One More Dance by Valentine Cardinale

Book Title: One More Dance

Author: Valentine Cardinale

Published Date: July 12th, 2013

Published By: Outskirts Press Inc.

Genre: Mystery

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Link: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Synopsis (from Barnes & Noble) 

One More Dance is a powerful tale about two people looking for love, a family in crisis, and the search for a mysterious assailant. After Julian Case, a Manhattan realtor and widower, meets Alegra Rossini, a university professor and single mom, at a wedding in Italy, he’s confident he’s found new love. On the plane back to the States he’s already making plans to see her again. But when he enters his home in New Jersey, he discovers his son has been savagely attacked and left for dead. Fearing that whoever beat the young man into a coma will try to finish the job, Julian puts his life on hold to assist in the investigation to find the assailant. 

And so the mystery begins, taking the first of many telling twists and turns. Who did it? Is there a likely suspect? Will the attacker strike again? Can a father unlock the secret connection and find his son’s attacker before it’s too late? Will Julian lose his chance at new love as he throws himself into the chase? 

In Italy, Alegra, who feels as strongly about Julian as he feels about her, can only continue teaching, caring for her eight-year-old daughter, and hoping. Will she let real love slip away from her? Can she wait as Julian deals with a family crisis that may take months, or years, to resolve while she struggles to get on with her life? The quest to find new love after the death of a spouse is understandable and a universal concern. But when it conflicts with a grave family matter, does it have to take a back seat? Should Julian be denied the chance for one more dance in his life?

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

When I received a request to review this book, I was intrigued. The premise looked promising and involved Italy, a place I have wanted to travel to for a long time. Unfortunately my initial excitement over the book’s premise faded as I began to read the book. It was a very quick read. In fact I finished it in less than six hours. 

The writing style did not appeal to me at all. It seemed as though very little thought was put into it as the descriptions of things seemed to use the least amount of words possible. Now I’m not saying every book has to be the size of J.R.R Tolkien’s classic Lord of the Rings books,but what I am saying is that this book read like an extended fan fiction. I found no spelling or editing errors in the book so that was definitely a plus.

I couldn’t connect to any of the main characters. I tried throughout the entire book to connect with Julian or Allegra or Florence or Leo or Frankie, but I just couldn’t. That’s when I really started to get frustrated with this book. If I cannot connect in some way to the characters, then I am more than likely going to hate the book. I liked Florence and Frankie enough but I just didn’t connect with them. I think, had Allegra been a bigger part of the book I would have liked her, but she wasn’t so I didn’t. I blame the lack of character development.

One of my biggest issues came near the end. I can’t specifically talk about what happened as it is a major book spoiler. But what I can say is that in involved a certain piece of medical equipment that the author clearly didn’t understand how it worked.

I was really annoyed at the supposed romance because I didn’t feel it. I need to feel like I can root for these characters and because of the lack of character development and the lack of chemistry between Allegra and Julian, I just couldn’t root for them. 

So I have to give this book 2 stars, the lack of character development, the poor writing and the lackluster effort towards this book are the reasons why. Maybe someone else will take a chance on this book.

Review: Poor Little Dead Girls by Lizzie Friend

Book: Poor Little Dead Girls

Author: Lizzie Friend

Publish Date: December 18th, 2013

Published By: Merit Press

Genre: YA Mystery/Thriller

Book Link: Goodreads

Pre-Order Link: Amazon 

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Is it a game? Or is it murder?

The first time she’s blindfolded and “kidnapped,” Sadie, a brand-new star athlete at a posh boarding school, is terrified. Luckily, it’s all a prank designed to induct her into a powerful secret society that her mom belonged to at Keating Hall. The circle has it all – incredible connections; fabulous parties; and, of course, an in with the brother society’s gorgeous pledges. The instant popularity is enough to make Sadie forget about the little marks on her arm, creepy black robes, and an unfortunate incident that befell a girl on the team years ago. So the next time Sadie is gagged and kidnapped, she’s only slightly annoyed – even though she should be extremely terrified of what’s to come.

Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC of this from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

Initially when I first started reading this the word pretentious was hanging around in my head. However pretty quickly I got sucked into this world that reminded me a lot of a darker version of Dead Poets Society, a 1989 movie that I love so much.All the mystery and intrigue in this book kept me guessing until the very end.Now that is the very thing that I look for in a mystery book.

Sadie has lived with only her father since her mother’s suicide.All this time she has believed her father’s stories and explanations about her mother and her illness. After only a few months at Keating,everything she has been told turns on its head.She is forced to figure out the truth. What really happened to her mother? Did the secret society that lives in the underbelly of both Keating and its brother school Graff, have something to do with May Marlowe’s death?  And what does the mysterious Anna who was the most recent casualty of Keating, have to do with all of this.

I really loved Sadie. She was not like the other girls of Keating.She was an esteemed lacrosse player and unlike the majority of the Keating girls, she was anything but rich. I am sure that’s what attracted her to the secret society initially. The secret society allowed her to appear rich when the opposite was actually true.It also allowed her to feel as though she belonged somewhere which was important to her as she was initially feeling like she didn’t belong at Keating.

I knew there was something up with Thayer almost immediately.I knew that she was probably involved in this group and in the initiation ceremonies as well. Her “boyfriend” Finn was an asshole as was his father Teddy. It wasn’t until the end that we realize exactly how important these two characters actually were.

“Try that again and all you’ll be seeing is the tip of my kneecap in your Cranston family jewels.” -Sadie

Finn was quite handsy with every single girl he seemed to encounter. On multiple occasions he attempted to “get with Sadie” but Sadie never fell for it. I felt horrible for Thayer. She was stuck on this guy who clearly didn’t respect her or any other woman.Near the end,I began to realize that Finn’s reactions and behavior was a facade for what he was really going through.

I loved Jessica so much from the very beginning.I had a feeling that she was one of the good ones and I was so glad that she stuck by Sadie through it all. As for the twins, I knew that there was more to them than met the eye. I had thought for the longest time that they were a part of this secret society and it wasn’t until the end that I got my answer.

Brett and Olivia were two other characters that were moderately important to the storyline. Brett more so than Olivia. I actually wished we had gotten to see more of Olivia than we did.

I adored Jeremy,he was a good guy,who like Sadie, got caught up in all this secret society stuff. When he realized the dangers of it,instead of simply continuing with it with no regard for Sadie or himself,he banded with Sadie to stop the craziness.

Something that Jessica said during the second half of the book really stuck with me.

“Trust me,the more you get to know these people,the more you realize that they’re really not untouchable at all. They’re just as screwed up as the rest of us-they just have better costumes to wear” -Jessica

This book was awesome. It was a struggle to put it down at night as I always wanted to find out what happened next.The pacing was great,the editing and grammar could use a little work but the book itself does not come out until December so many of the capitalization and punctuation issues will be fixed I’m sure.It was creepy and thrilling and so many questions were not answered until the very end of the book which I really liked.

So this book is getting 5 stars from me. If you like YA thriller type books,then you definitely need to give this book a try. With that, I will leave you with one final quote from the book.

“Don’t let them take you into the basement.”

Review: Asher’s Fault by Elizabeth Wheeler

Book: Asher’s Fault

Author: Elizabeth Wheeler

Publish Date: September 17th,2013

Publisher: Bold Strokes Books

Genre: YA/LBGT

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Pre-order links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Synopsis (from Barnes & Noble) 

The day fourteen-year-old Asher receives a Minolta camera from his aunt Sharon, he buys the last roll of black-and-white film and takes his first photograph—a picture of a twisted pine tree. He’s so preoccupied with his new hobby he fails to notice his dad’s plan to move out, his increasing alienation from his testosterone-ridden best friend, Levi, and his own budding sexuality. When his little brother drowns at the same moment Asher experiences his first same-sex kiss, he can no longer hide behind the lens of his camera. Asher thinks it’s his fault, but after his brother dies, his father resurfaces along with clues challenging Asher’s black-and-white view of the world. The truth is as twisted as the pine tree in his first photograph.

Disclaimer: I received this e-galley from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

This one caught my eye due to a number of factors. The coming of age concept,the burgeoning sexuality as well as the photography factor.So I was really excited to read this one and for the first two-thirds of it I had some significant emotions come out of me but the last third of the book was such a major disappointment.

Let’s discuss the characters first. Asher was a good kid who had gone through quite a bit in his life and was now having to deal with his parents divorce,the new kid Garrett and his little brother’s eventual death. He does go a little off kilter near the middle of the book but really,who can blame him? His father walked out,his mother is an emotional wreck,his brother Travis is dead and he’s trying to sort out his feelings for Garrett.

Photography is key and it’s Asher’s way of hiding. He hides behind the lens because he is not ready to face the realities of his life.When his brother dies at the exact moment that Asher is experiencing his first same sex kiss,he feels an immense weight of guilt crushing him to the point where he avoids Garrett’s calls.

Levi is Asher’s best friend and they have been friends for a long time but I spent nearly the entire book absolutely hating Levi for the way he treated Asher. I know people are going to say “Well it was the hormones” Please,that is NO excuse. I’m also completely flabbergasted that Levi did not attend the funeral. Really? His best friend’s brother died and he didn’t attend the funeral to provide support to Asher? Levi’s parents went,but not Levi.

Now we go to Asher’s mom Margaret,she was an emotional wreck throughout the entire thing. I still believe that she was being a big time baby over the divorce.I mean really she kept calling Asher’s dad “him” Come on,you were married to the man for a long time and now you carried with you a boat-load of anger.I mean Asher, Travis & their mother even went to the earlier church service to avoid seeing him with his new wife. Now THAT is totally childish.One rule of divorced parents is to never speak ill of the other parent. Asher’s mother definitely failed on that count.

Now I could have done without Asher’s dad and his stepmother but his connection to his dad’s house was important.I do think the author could have achieved the same result through other means though.I did like that Heather attempted to fix the camera after it met an untimely demise.I think she had some redeeming qualities but since Asher was committed to hating her,we never got to see those qualities. 

Now I need to go off on a small tangent,there was a lot about God & religion that really made me uncomfortable. I’m an atheist so there were some parts in this book that made me not want to finish this book.Had I known that there was a lot of religion in this book,I would not have requested it on Netgalley.

It was refreshing to see a teenage character who is openly gay. Generally we don’t get to see that. Most teenage characters who are gay,hide their sexuality for fear of being beaten to a pulp.So I liked that Garrett was so happy and confident with himself.I really wish we had gotten to see more of him.I wanted more interaction between him and Asher. 

Jennifer & Kayla were okay characters but I wasn’t really invested in either of them. It was obvious to me that Asher was using Jennifer to try and erase those strange feelings he had for Garrett.

And now,for my biggest pet peeve.I wish this book focused more on the LGBT aspect.I liked that it focused a lot on family but since this book was in the LGBT/YA category on Netgalley I was hoping that it would focus more on Asher’s feelings for Garrett. I don’t think those feelings were really explored at all and that was my biggest disappointment with this book.

So this book gets three stars from me. It was a beautiful 5 star book until the last third of the book and that’s when it went down.I also wasn’t satisfied with the ending so that’s another reason why it’s getting the 3 star rating. 

Review: Extremities: Stories of Death, Murder & Revenge by David Lubar

Book: Extremities: Stories of Death, Murder & Revenge

Author: David Lubar

Publication Date: July 23rd, 2013

Publisher: Tom Doherty & Associates LLC

Genre: Teen/Horror/Mystery

Standalone

Book link: Goodreads

Purchase links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Synopsis: Girls enact revenge on a sadistic PE teacher. Two stowaways find themselves on a ghost ship.An ancient predator stalks the wrong victim. These are just some of the taglines for the 13 short stories in this book.

Disclaimer: I got this book as a gift from Christina at A Reader of Fictions

Review: Like the book itself,this review will be quite short and quick. I had never heard of this book before so I was curious about it. It was downright spooky and creepy. I don’t know how Christina knew I’d be into it as I don’t think I asked her to send it to me.

But anyhow I finished the book in about a day. I decided not to read it at night as it kept freaking me out.Usually I am not that into short stories but these kept me engaged and interested to see what the next short story would bring and if I’d be hiding under the bed again.

I agree with the warning sticker on the back of the book. This collection of short stories is definitely not appropriate for kids. These stories would bring on nightmares for even the bravest kids so wait until the kid is a teenager.

I adored the cover. It was so creepy with the black,red & grey with a pinch of white. Perfect for the kind of book that this was.

The writing style & editing were interesting. The writing style definitely read like a MG book which was weird because this book was not recommended for kids in middle school. No editing issues either which was a relief. I’ve found that editing issues are more common in short stories like this.

I’m torn between a 3.5/4 star rating. It was a good,short read but not one I am likely to read again.