Twins? Nope, Triplets.

Shadows (Obsidian #0.5) by Jennifer Armentrout

Dawson, not particularly my taste, I like Daemon because he’s bad boy and cocky and arrogant and sarcastic.  Dawson is the sweet brother, always smiling and making jokes. 

I was glad that I read this story to have a better understanding of where Dawson and Beth were coming from.  I loved their first kiss.  We heard a little about it from Daemon’s perspective in one of the Obsidian books, but to actually be there in the room.  How crazy would that be to be kissing your boyfriend, and boom, you find out he’s an alien. 

I enjoyed that the book was from Dawson’s point of view.  He was a great character to read from and I can’t wait to read the last book of the series to see what happens between Beth and Dawson.  After the crazy ending in Origin’s I have no idea where the last book is going to go.  I know that Hunter and Dawson and some of these secondary characters are going to be big and I am highly anticipating what will happen to all of these characters that I have fallen in love with.

Keep reading (Even if it’s a Novella!) my Friends!

I have NO idea why this book is called Crash... Anyone?

Crash by Nicole Williams

Lucy doesn’t know that her day at the beach would change her life forever.  With a dog from the animal shelter and her flirting with the hot guy playing football, she has no idea what’s coming. 

Crash was a great book.  I loved the characters.  At first I did not like Lucy, but ended up feeling a little more attached to her by the end.  I think the reason I had to warm up to her is that when the author wanted the audience to know something about Lucy she just told us in her inner monologue instead of making it part of a conversation or in action.  In my opinion there were some missed creative outlets on how we could have gotten to know Lucy a little better, made bigger surprises and not changed the story, plot or outline of the book. 

I loved Jude Ryder.  He was the quintessential bad boy and he fell hard for Lucy.  At first we don’t know why he fell so hard and so fast, but it is revealed a little later (I won’t spoil it because it’s a great part of the story).  I also liked that he stood up for her and defended her and that he had such a reputation that everyone listens to him and does what he says.  I did not love his beanie, but I was glad that we got see what the deal is with that.  I had a greater appreciation for the beanie after this book was over.

I don’t know why, but it felt like the dancing idea was an afterthought.  It felt a little forced like Lucy had to have something that she was passionate about, but Williams didn’t know what.  I could (and I probably am) way off base.  It wasn’t a distraction, but a thought. 

I enjoyed Lucy and Ryder together.  Of course all good love triangles have to have a miscommunication of epic proportions and Crash didn’t disappoint.  Lucy misunderstood a situation and broke the only good thing going for her (ok, so she has dance going for her, but let’s be honest, Jude is the reason we read this book).  I was surprised how quickly she switched gears from Jude to Diamond.  If you are that enthralled with a boy then I think you are going to wait more than one day.  That’s just me though. 

There was a surprise at the end that I didn’t see coming, I also loved the last chapter, it was excellent.  I knew what was coming, but I got excited about it anyway.  I hope my blog didn’t chase you off from reading Crash or it’s following books, great book, just a weak blog about a good book!  Keep Reading my Friends!

Dystopian Thriller? Sign me up!

Legend by Marie Lu

A dystopian novel set in future Los Angeles, we meet June Iparis, a Prodigy in her world.  The Republic sets Trials for every ten year old to take, June is the only known person to make a perfect score sending her to college and graduating at 15 to join the Republic in the highest military ranking in the war against the Colonies.  She always marveled at the legend that is Day, a street criminal that the Republic has not been able to capture after 5 years of his antics.  After a heartbreaking plot twist, June is after Day, in what ends up being a fast paced, thrilling story of death, survival, and love. 

This dual point of view book kept my attention and was a quick read.  I enjoyed both Day and June’s character and I thought Lu did a great job of flashing back and giving the reader lots of details on the past in both of the character’s lives. I also love that the character’s scripts were different, June being in black and Day’s in brown, it’s just an artistic way of showing the difference in the voices. 

So, Day is worthy of a Man Crush Monday.  Lu doesn’t give us a ton of physical attributes so we are able to fill in the picture with our own thoughts and tastes which I love.  We know he has long white blonde hair, deep blue eyes, and  everyone calls him beautiful, we know that he has a little Asian heritage, but little else to go on.  Of course this is not what makes him crush worthy, it’s his beautiful soul.  He is so transparent for a criminal on the run.  We know that his first and only thoughts are for his family and Tess, his runaway adopted sister.  He saves June from the skiz fight that is pretty much his undoing, because as smart as June is, we know that she was no closer to finding him as she was the first day she was on the street.  He keeps his secrets for not only his safety, but for those that he cares about and his sole goal for this book is to find the cure for the plague that has come to his house in the poor Lake sector of Los Angeles.  So, we have this 15 year old bad boy criminal who has been on the streets since his trials and yet he isn’t jaded or changed in a bad way from his experiences.  Then we have the Republics sweetheart, well educated, rich, and ambitious and ready to take Day on face to face.  I’m excited to see where this story goes and what we’ll see happening throughout the lives of June and Day in the next two books.

I highly recommend this book to readers of all ages.  Keep Reading my Friends!

Jude is worthy of a MCM!

Clash by Nicole Williams

What emotions should a reader expect to experience while reading a good book?  Well it depends on what type of book it is, but for a good young adult/new adult book, I expect to laugh, maybe not out loud, but a small chuckle when a character says or does something in character that is funny, or you think “Oh, that Jude, he’s always finding himself in trouble.”

I also expect to be upset at one point.  One of the characters is going to do something that is upsetting, like find them in a hard to explain situation, for Jude that seems to always include another girl.  And the characters usually need a good sit down conversation where both parties are open and honest and trust what the other person is saying.  This does not always happen and that is usually where I get upset.  I’m thinking, please just sit down and explain yourself a little more openly and this mess wouldn’t be happening.  With Clash, I was upset with Lucy because she just kept getting in the way of the best relationship in her life.  I was upset.

I don’t always expect to cry, but if a book brings tears, it goes way up on the list of books that I enjoy.  I think when characters are so ingrained in you that you cry over the situation that is not really happening, but you feel it so deep within yourself to shed tears, that equals a good book to me.  I cried in Clash.  While Williams was explaining the looks on Jude’s face and the emotion that Lucy could see or hear in his voice.  I felt it.  I wanted to slap Lucy and hug Jude pretty much this whole book. 

I immediately started reading Clash after I finished Crash.  Both books were fast paced and easy to read.  I enjoy the characters and even the secondary characters like India (Lucy’s roommate) and Tony (the receiver that plays football with Jude).  I love the intimate moments between Jude and Lucy where we get to see their conversations and struggles within their relationship.  I also love that Lucy’s family is coming around.  It sounds like her dad is getting better and her mom is less “Ice Queen-ish” than in Crash.

Even though dancing is a huge aspect in Lucy’s life, I feel like we know more about Jude’s football than Lucy’s dancing.  She talks about it and says she went and practiced, but I just wonder if there should be more about what it means to Lucy, I just feel like it’s an afterthought and I felt like that in Crash as well.  My best friend was a dancer and everything about her screamed dance from the way she carried herself to how she walked, to how she talked about dance, every example from life could be brought back to dance.  All that to say, I think I figured out what I was missing in between Crash and Clash with the dancing theme feeling lost.  I wonder if we heard a chapter from Jude’s perspective if we would see more of who Lucy is as a dancer since Lucy obviously wouldn’t tell us how she walks, etc.

So, I liked it.  I can’t wait to jump right into Crush and see how this whirlwind ends up.  I’ll keep you posted!

Keep Reading my Friends!

Onyx- Not such a good Rock to have around

Onyx (A Lux Novel, Book Two) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Spoilers from Obsidian, book one!

I know this is a separate book from Obsidian, but without even pausing, I picked Onyx up directly after finishing Obsidian, because I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next.  Obsidian left us with Katy walking right out of Daemon’s arms, she blames their freaky alien connection from Daemon healing Katy for his new found feelings.  Daemon healed Katy after she killed her second Arum by actually tapping into Daemon’s powers and striking that evil alien scum down, but she also almost lost her life in the process.  But I digress.  The point is, that I think I loved book the Onyx even more than I loved the book Obsidian.  Obsidian did a great job of introducing the characters, the premise of what’s going on and of course it gives us Daemon Black.  Onyx expands the story and shows us a little bigger picture of what is really going on with the Department of Defense.  What the Blacks have believed all of their lives is what the Luxen elders have told them, now through the help of the new kid in school, Blake they are learning more and more about what the DOD is really after.  So, what are they really after?  I think I will let you read the Onyx to find out.

I love the names of the Lux Series.  The different kinds of rocks and what they can be used for in this new alien world that Katy has stumbled into is absolutely genius.  Armentrout leads us into this foreign world that she has created and makes us fall head over heels in love with the Blacks.

This book has some steamy scenes and all throughout the book I am longing for Daemon and Katy to get over the hurtles set in front of them and finally be together.  Of course you know what that means, in walks the love triangle, Blake.  He’s the new, drool worthy, boy in school and he focuses his attention on Katy much to my dislike and also to the chagrin of Daemon.  You can see the jealousy rolling off of him and it makes me like his character even more.  Daemon doesn’t like Blake or trust him from the first time he sees him.  Katy needs him to help her through this new life that she is being introduced to.  And also, she just wants to have a normal date with a normal boy, is that too much to ask?  Poor Katy, I think that it is too much to ask because Blake is just like Katy, a mutated human.  He also was healed by a Luxen and has absorbed powers and learned to use them. 

I loved the ending to this book, I cannot wait to read Opal, so I probably won’t.  This series so far is worthy of a read and I hope that you will read it soon!  Keep Reading my friends!   

One Choice Can Transform You

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent, a curse, a secret.  No one wants to be Divergent and no one wants them to be around.  It’s a death sentence.  Beatrice Prior has never heard of the term until she is labeled Divergent after she is prone to 3 of the 5 factions that rule her world. 

This has got to be one of the best books I have ever read.  The first two chapters were hard to get into, but after our heroine Beatrice Prior wakes up from her test, it picks up the pace and is like the train that moves throughout their city.  I loved Tris.  I loved her inner struggle throughout hiding who she is and also trying to figure it out at the same time.

I love Four.  I have a major book crush, even though his character is secretive and mysterious, he is major crushable.  I loved Four and Tris’ interactions during training and his strong character to protect her.  They have these moments that are incredibly written and wonderfully forbidden and sigh worthy. 

I loved the training month.  I loved that Tris has found friends in her new Faction like she has never had before.  I love how the training changes her and she becomes more Dauntless every day.  With addition of tattoos and changes in her behavior the audience gets to see her grow from the Abnegation “Stiff” that she grew up being to the hard fighting, brave Dauntless champion.  I love that even though she didn’t do great in the first round, she dominated round 2 and 3.  I loved that she jumped off the building first and that Four noticed her from the very beginning.  I can’t wait to hear more about his story and even hear it in his own voice. 

So, as you have noticed, I loved this book, I don't want to give any spoilers, the characters are unique, they are well developed and the story is addictive.  I would recommend this book to all ages and reading levels.  It's excellent on so many levels.  The author is also a Christian, so buy her book to keep money in the family!

The movie comes out in March and I can’t wait.  I hope they do it justice.  Until next time, Keep Reading my Friends!

The First Man Crush Monday Blog, Daemon Black!

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Let’s talk about “Man Crush Monday,” shall we.  I’m not sure that I can consistently complete a weekly blog where I talk about the best written, swoonable book guys, but I’m going to try.  I have to clarify here that these are my fictional crushes, and therefor not real, but I only have one real MCM and that is every day not just Mondays, which of course is the love of my life, my husband, Simon.  So back to the fiction, let’s start with Daemon Black.  Daemon is the bad boy example of a MCM.  He has the dark hair and the dark look with the penetrating eyes that has Katy ready to slap him and kiss him all at the same time.  Of course he can’t be bad boy 24/7, we start to see the cracks in his hard, muscled exterior pretty quickly as he gets closer to Katy while trying to protect his sister.  Daemon has all the great qualities of a bad boy, from the protective big brother, the rescuer from all things evil, and the smart mouth that has the reader giggling.  Daemon is MCM worthy, probably for more than just one week.    

I loved this book.  Correction, I LOVED THIS BOOK!  I know that a book is going to receive 5 stars on good reads, when I can’t put it down, that was Obsidian.  I started reading it Wednesday night and finished it Friday night with working eight hours, commuting about an hour, and still completing my wifely duties of cooking, but probably not cleaning (because I was reading).

Obsidian is about a girl named Katy that moves from sunny Florida to small town West Virginia after she and her mother could not move past her father’s death three years previous.  As she tries to find a grocery store, who shows up?  The “can’t believe he’s that hot” neighbor and his twin sister, but this book would be totally boring without a huge plot twist.  Within the first day of her arrival she sees the missing poster of a girl her age along with the creepy men in black that seem to lurk around the town and she knows that something is different about this town.  Katy also realizes that there is something different about her new neighbors.  She loves Dee, the sweet sister that is soon becoming Katy’s best friend, but she cannot stand Daemon, Dee’s cocky, arrogant, quick witted twin brother.  But she also can’t stop thinking about him either.  Well I can’t go into a lot of details because this book is so fun to read, you’ll just have to jump in and read it yourself to see what is going on, once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down, I hope you feel the same.

So, I have to say that I loved Katy, what an excellent lead character.  Her pain was so real from her father’s death, her unwillingness to start over in a new town and to make friends was tangible.  I hated the move for her.  I also loved Daemon, what an excellent antagonist.  I mean that in every sense of the word, he pushes Katy’s buttons from day one and his smart-alecky attitude and his arrogance make me love him even more.  Even though Katy has this anger in her heart against him, we all know that she is hot for him.  I also love that you can feel the tension between Katy and Daemon from the very beginning.  He wants to hate her, and she can’t stand him, but you can feel the yearning right under the current of the story. 

So, I have mention the great big pink elephant in the book, so beware: Spoiler Alert!!! 

Aliens, who doesn’t love a good sci-fi young adult novel?  I’m not sure, maybe idiots… just kidding, probably people who don’t like the paranormal, but that is not me.  I am always up for some hot alien action.  I loved how Armentrout invented what the alien’s true selves looked like.  I loved the picture of light vs. dark with the Luxen being the embodiment of light and the dark shadowy character of the Arum being the inky shadows lurking in the dark.  The Arum is the alien race that is out to kill the Luxen to take their powers.  Did I mention that Daemon and Dee along with their other alien friends have powers?  Of course I can’t leave our that the American government knows all about the Alien race and their seems to be more about the Department of Defense lurking in the background that I am sure we are going to hear a lot more about in books to come.

Well, not sure what else to say, except, this book is action packed, romance/hate filled and once you start, you can’t stop reading this book.  So, do it!  Keep Reading my Friends!