Waiting on Wednesday {13}:

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. Today I'm featuring Touching the Surface by Kimberly Sabatini.

Synopsis from Goodreads:  Life altering mistakes are meant to alter lives…

When Elliot dies for the third time, she knows this is her last shot. There are no fourth-timers in this afterlife, so one more chance is all she has to get things right. But before she can move on to her next life, Elliot will be forced to face her past and delve into the painful memories she’d rather keep buried. Memories of people she’s hurt, people she’s betrayed… and people she’s killed.

As she pieces together the mistakes of her past, Elliot must earn the forgiveness of her best friend and reveal the truth about herself to the two boys she loves…even if it means losing them both forever.

Goodreads / Amazon

Touching the Surface will be released by Simon Pulse on 10/30/2012.

Okay, so that's mine. What's your WOW pick this week? Also, if you want to participate, head on over to Breaking the Spine and link up!!

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Stacking the Shelves {2}

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and is a way to showcase the books we've received for review or purchased, borrowed, etc. If you'd like to participate please check out Tynga's website for more information.

I had a small book week and I didn't end up purchasing any so there's only 3. I did however get Throne of Glass, which was my WOW pick last week so you can imagine how spectacularly excited I was to receive it.

For Review:

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1), Sarah J. Maas

Source: ARC from publisher

Release Date: 8/7/11, Bloomsbury

Goodreads / Amazon 

Insignia (Insignia #1), S.J. Kincaid

Source: ARC from publisher

Release Date: 7/10/12, Katherine Tegen Books

Goodreads / Amazon

Scars, Cheryl Rainfield

Source: ebook from JKS Communications

Release Date: 5/25/11, WestSide Books

Goodreads / Amazon

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A HUGE thank you to all the publishers, JKS Communications, Edelweiss and Netgalley. That's it for me this week. Leave me a link to your mailbox post and I'll be sure to check it out!!

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Review: Firelight (Darkest London #1)

Firelight (Darkest London #1), Kristen Callihan

Rating: 5 of 5 Stars

Age Group: Adult

Publication: 1/31/2012, Grand Central Publishing

# of Pages: 372 (Paperback)

Source:  I received an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis from Goodreads:  London, 1881

Once the flames are ignited . . .

Miranda Ellis is a woman tormented. Plagued since birth by a strange and powerful gift, she has spent her entire life struggling to control her exceptional abilities. Yet one innocent but irreversible mistake has left her family's fortune decimated and forced her to wed London's most nefarious nobleman.

They will burn for eternity . . .

Lord Benjamin Archer is no ordinary man. Doomed to hide his disfigured face behind masks, Archer knows it's selfish to take Miranda as his bride. Yet he can't help being drawn to the flame-haired beauty whose touch sparks a passion he hasn't felt in a lifetime. When Archer is accused of a series of gruesome murders, he gives in to the beastly nature he has fought so hard to hide from the world. But the curse that haunts him cannot be denied. Now, to save his soul, Miranda will enter a world of dark magic and darker intrigue. For only she can see the man hiding behind the mask.

My Review:  This may be my new favorite genre if I could figure out where the hell it falls. Part Gothic Romance, Part Historical, Part Paranormal, Part Mystery, Part Fairy Tale Retelling. It all adds up to = Pure Awesome.

Seriously, I've never seen elements of so many of my favorite things in one place, except for maybe if you include the breakfast I like at IHOP with the stuffed French toast and the bacon and the hash browns (great, now I'm hungry). Firelight is like that breakfast for me. Only instead of feeding my hunger, it's fed my soul. Ha. So corny. You'd never know I was a writer. This book has turned me into a babbling idiot. I'm practically tripping over myself in the bookstore to shove it into people's hands. And I don't work at the bookstore. I'm assaulting strangers.

Kristen Callihan started with a simple premise, a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. Then she set it at the end of the 1800's in London with an incredibly masculine, enigmatic, and swoon-worthy Beast. Then she gave us a kick-ass Beauty with some sort of fire-controlling superpower. And then to top it off, like the whipped cream tops my French toast, she added a murder mystery. Viola! Just like that, I'm sated and couldn't be happier. I feel like this book (or at least my poorly executed food metaphor) has caused me to gain five pounds.

As with any novel I love, Firelight has a smoldering hero in Lord Archer. He's charming and witty, bruised but not broken, challenging, and amazing and awesome and—see, incoherent babbling. Let me summarize and simply tell you that I adore Archer. Of course, I also adored Beast in the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast. He's my favorite prince. I was rather distressed when he changed back into a human at the end. I liked him better large, hairy, and a bit surly.

Anyway...

Firelight is a spellbinding debut that will light a fire within you, burning you and leaving you begging for more. Callihan is a master of sexual tension. My lip still hurts from biting it the entire time I was reading. It was pure torture. And the funny thing is, I'm not really a big romance reader, but she's made me think I've been missing out all these years. Highly recommended. Not just to romance readers, but to readers like myself who love to mix our genres.

Goodreads / Amazon

Waiting on Wednesday {12}: Throne of Glass

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. Today I'm featuring Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. It's being billed as the teen girl version of Game of Thrones, and, well, how could I NOT be dying to get my hands on a copy?

Looking for the teen girl version of Game of Thrones? Find it in this sweeping fantasy debut—that already has thousands of loyal online fans.

Synopsis from Goodreads:  After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men—thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the kings council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Goodreads / Amazon

Throne of Glass will be released by Bloomsbury on 8/7/2012.

 

Okay, so that's mine. What's your WOW pick this week? Also, if you want to participate, head on over to Breaking the Spine and link up!!

ARC Review: When You Were Mine

When You Were Mine, Rebecca Serle

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Young Adult

Publication: 5/1/2012, Simon Pulse

# of Pages: 334 (Hardcover)

Source:  I received an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis from Goodreads:  In this intensely romantic, modern recounting of the greatest love story ever told, Romeo’s original intended—Juliet’s cousin Rosaline—tells her side of the tale.

What’s in a name, Shakespeare? I’ll tell you: Everything.

Rosaline knows that she and Rob are destined to be together. Rose has been waiting for years for Rob to kiss her—and when he finally does, it’s perfect. But then Juliet moves back to town. Juliet, who used to be Rose’s best friend. Juliet, who now inexplicably hates her. Juliet, who is gorgeous, vindictive, and a little bit crazy...and who has set her sights on Rob. He doesn’t even stand a chance.

Rose is devastated over losing Rob to Juliet. This is not how the story was supposed to go. And when rumors start swirling about Juliet’s instability, her neediness, and her threats of suicide, Rose starts to fear not only for Rob’s heart, but also for his life. Because Shakespeare may have gotten the story wrong, but we all still know how it ends….

My Review: Hmmm. I think I wanted this to be so much better than it was. My fault. The highest expectations often lead to the biggest disappointments. It wasn't that I thought it would be some moving, life-altering, legendary piece of literature. I just wanted a great love story.

This is how it's billed on Goodreads: In this intensely romantic, modern recounting of the greatest love story ever told, Romeo’s original intended—Juliet’s cousin Rosaline—tells her side of the tale.

Is it too much to ask then that this reworking offer me something intensely romantic? I just didn't feel it. I'm sorry. Rose & Rob's love wasn't sweeping and epic. It was two childhood best friends deciding to give the whole, let's-see-if-we-should-be-more-than-friends thing a go. Then the instant another pretty girl walked into his line of sight, he forgot all about Rose. Huh? If they were so meant to be together, IMO, Juliet wouldn't have been able to tear them apart merely by existing. Seriously, Juliet had Rob hooked and tore him away from Rose a mere two days after her introduction. They had spoken maybe twice before then.

It wasn't a terrible book though, so I won't take my disappointment out on it. I liked the growth of Rosaline's character, how she came into her own towards the end and started to see that there would be a life after Rob. I also really enjoyed her budding relationship with Len, though why he liked her in the first place, I'll never know. She was awful to him.

In the end, When You Were Mine is just a good book that failed to live up to my expectations. Doesn't mean you won't love it, so give it a go. If you do choose to read it, or have already read it, I'd love to hear what you think.

Goodreads / Amazon

ARC Review: Jersey Angel

Jersey Angel, Beth Ann Bauman

Rating: 2 of 5 Stars

Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult (Warning: Explicit Content)

Publication: 5/8/2012, Wendy Lamb Books

# of Pages: 208

Source: I received an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis from Goodreads:  It’s the summer before senior year and the alluring Angel is ready to have fun. She’s not like her best friend, Inggy, who has a steady boyfriend, good grades, and college plans. Angel isn’t sure what she wants to do yet, but she has confidence and experience beyond her years.

Still, her summer doesn’t start out as planned. Her good friend Joey doesn’t want to fool around anymore, he wants to be her boyfriend, while Angel doesn’t want to be tied down. As Joey pulls away, and Inggy tours colleges, Angel finds herself spending more time with Inggy’s boyfriend, Cork. With its cast of vivid and memorable characters, this tale from the Jersey shore is sure to make some waves.

My Review:  In a market filled with good girls discovering extraordinary powers, or surviving supernatural ordeals, Angel Cassonetti is ordinary. She's not a good girl. She's not a super-intelligent girl. She's just a girl. A girl who makes mistakes and does stupid shit. A girl trying to find herself. There's no right or wrong. No good guys versus bad guys. Each of these characters is morally ambiguous and very human. And because of that this book is going to get skewered.

It's a novel that's crass, and honest, and unapologetically so. There is foul language. And sex. Lots of it. Not to mention a female teenaged protagonist who enjoys sex and seeks it out. And then there's the lying and the cheating and the whole best friend betrayal thing. I mean, come on, the girl sleeps with her best friend's boyfriend on multiple occasions, and not because they couldn't help it and fell in love, but because they were both horny and needed a hookup. It doesn't stand a chance.

I however, tried to just take it for what it was and do my best to read Angel's story without getting all judge-y on her. And say what you will about Angel Cassonetti (and if you read this book you will have plenty to say, trust me), but she's nothing if not compelling. While I didn't agree with most of her behavior, it didn't make me want to turn away from her story. I wanted to see what conclusions she would come to about her life. I wanted to see her straighten up and see that there's more to her than being sexy.

That being said, my problem with this book stems from the fact that there seems to be no plot, no character growth or redemption. But maybe that's the point. Maybe since Angel never saw her actions as really wrong, there's no place for redemption. Or a satisfying conclusion to her story. Or maybe something profound happened here and it just went over my head.

At the end of the day, if you take away the shock value, you're left with little more than a below average contemporary. It's only saving grace is its interesting (if not sympathetic) characters and spot-on dialogue. It's not going to make my list of favorites for the year. And it is most certainly not for those opposed to sex or language in YA.

Goodreads / Amazon