Dizzy by Nyrae Dawn and Jolene Perry

Title: Dizzy
Author: Nyrae Dawn and Jolene Perry
Blurb:
Dylan doesn’t do relationships. He and his older brother watched their dad go through hell and back, so they made a pact years ago—no girl would come between the Gibson boys. But his brother sells out. He's getting married anyway. To the sister of a chick Dylan met at a party, who's probably the angriest girl he's ever met. Unfortunately, she happens to be hot, too.

Ziah’s life is upside down—her safe boyfriend turns out to be not-so-safe, and now her sister is getting married before college is over to the older brother of a spoiled, party boy who drives her crazy. And also makes her heart beat too fast.

There’s no denying the attraction, but there's also no denying how much they irritate each other. When they’re thrown together as forced wedding planners, they find an ally in each other--neither wants this wedding to happen.

But instead of putting a stop to the crazy nuptials they find themselves at fittings and cake testing. And maybe even…a few dates?
Dizzy is a novel about what happens when two people who are determined not to fall in love, maybe do anyway. Maybe.


Links:
Dizzy on Goodreads
 
 Kala's Review:
I'm so glad I discovered Nyrae Dawn because I pretty much love every contemporary that she has written, ever. Including this one.

Dizzy is a collaboration and I had never heard of the other author before. I will be checking her out now! I heard that Nyrae Dawn wrote the Dylan parts and Jolene Perry wrote the Ziah parts. Both were very well done!

As with all of her books, Dawn's characters are always complex and interesting and they always have issues. Ziah and Dylan both have trust issues, Ziah's thanks to a cheating ex boyfriend and Dylan's thanks to a flighty mom who abandoned him. Their relationship progresses slowly as they both learn to deal with their own personal demons as well as each others.

I also like how Alyssa was dealt with here. Ziah was betrayed when her seemingly perfect boyfriend, James, cheated on her with her best friend Alyssa. I don't want to go in to details about how things turned out, because that would spoil it, but I thought it was handled realistically and I felt really happy with how things ended up between Ziah and her best friend.

Great book, as always! Can't wait to see what Nyrae Dawn writes next!

4 out of 5 stars.

Link to Kala's review on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/451619004

Kiss Me by Jillian Dodd

Title: Kiss Me
Author: Jillian Dodd
Blurb:
I've always written scripts for my perfect life.
But no way could I have ever scripted this.
My life is so far from perfect, it’s not even funny.
All because of a stalker.

I’m at a boarding school where I have to lie about who I am.
I can’t see my family.
I’m tutoring a Hottie God that tortures me with his smile.
The most popular girl already hates me.
But there’s this boy.
This hot, sweet, sexy boy.
So I’m going to stop trying to script my life and just live it.
Because who knows how long I have left.
 
Links:
Kiss Me on Goodreads
 
 Kala's Review:


I wasn't planning to read this because the first book made me so mad, but I decided what the hell and gave it a shot.  I didn't hate the first book because of the writing and I still liked That Boy (though I wasn't a fan of the sequel).  I was hoping and praying this one would redeem Stalk Me for me.  And it kind of did and kind of didn't?  It's hard to explain.

If Keatyn had started off at boarding school and I hadn't spent 300+ pages in Stalk Me getting to know a bunch of other characters, only to have them ripped away and have her tossed in with a bunch of new ones, I would have liked this book a LOT better.  Probably not more than 3-stars better, but still better. 

Unfortunately, that's not what happened.  What happened is that I read Stalk Me.  I got attached to the characters Keatyn spent the first 300+ pages of the book with, especially Cush.  If you read my Stalk Me review, you'll see how much I liked Cush.  Cush was THE ONLY male love interest that jumped off the pages and just made you fall for him.  He was lively and real and SO perfect for Keatyn's personality.  Brooklyn came across as a dick for the entire book, and even more so in Kiss Me.  Sander was alright, but hello, GAY.  The other boys Keatyn made out with were all introduced in the last few pages of Stalk Me and I was so pissed off at that point that I just hated them all instantly.  After reading Kiss Me, I still pretty much hate them all (except Dawson).

The way Cush was handled in Kiss Me infuriates me even more.  First of all, we get this near the beginning:

And I know I told Cush that I loved him at my party. But he bought me boots! The. Perfect. Boots. And I maybe got a little caught up in the moment.

This right here showcases all of the big issues with Keatyn in a few short sentences.  She constantly is telling boys she loves them, or internally saying she loves them.  She told a boy she loved him because he BOUGHT HER SOMETHING.  Never mind that the boy has been in love with her for years, treated her like a freaking goddess, has similar interests to her, and loves her for who she is (unlike Brooklyn who only loves her when she acts the way he wants her to act).

But whatever.  That was pretty bad.  But the worst is yet to come.  About 5-6 times Keatyn internally mentions that she misses Cush, but she then instantly forgets about him when she starts making out with one of the three boys she kisses during Kiss Me.  Then at around 70%, the bombshell that is the reason why this book is getting 2 stars instead of 3. 

SPOILERS!!

At around 70%, Keatyn for some reason is able to access her Facebook account that she's been denied access too because of the stalker.  On there is a letter from Cush where he tells her that his mom bought those boots, not him.  He also says that he moved to Oregon and before he gave her the boots he got a girlfriend.  He got caught up in the moment at Keatyn's party and that whole love confession thing that happened right before the stalker tried to kidnap Keatyn was a sham.  He's now happily dating this girl in Oregon.

And that's the end of Cush.

Seriously?

I don't even know what to say.  It's depressing that Dodd would take THE best character and have it turn out like this.

UGH!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways.  This book mostly focuses on a love triangle between Keatyn and Aiden and Dawson.  Keatyn makes out with both a bunch.  She thinks she's in love with Aiden, but he acts like a weirdo douchebag most of the time so she starts dating Dawson (who is the only other decent character in this entire series).  I can't help it.  I don't hate Dawson.  He's not as fun and interesting as Cush, but he's not unbearable.  I just can't help but be so emo about Cush that I can't really get in to the Dawson/Keatyn relationship that much.  It appears, from reading other reviews, that I'm the only one, but I can't help what I feel.

I don't know if I'll continue the series.  I probably will, because I have this weird complex about finishing series (it took me slogging through five terrible awful books to finally give up on the Celestra series).  I'm really disappointed in how this is going though. :(

2 out of 5 stars.

Link to Kala's review on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/469114558

Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor

Title: Days of Blood & Starlight
Author: Laini Taylor
Blurb:
Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.

In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.

While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.

But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?


Links:
Days of Blood & Starlight on Goodreads
 
 Kala's Review:
Daughter of Smoke & Bone absolutely blew me away and I've been completely terrified that Days of Blood & Starlight would fall into the usual mediocre second book trap. Instead, the complete opposite. This book surpassed the first, by a LOT. It was different, though. It wasn't what I was expecting. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this definitely was not it.

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil held a wishbone between them.

And its snap split the world in two.

Days of Blood & Starlight starts shortly after Daughter of Smoke & Bone ends. The bridge scene has caused quite a ruckous with the media and civilian people are predicting the apocalypse. Karou is missing. Akiva is devastated by how everything turned out in Smoke & Bone. Akiva is searching for signs that Karou is alive, and her friends are trying to figure it all out as well.

Eventually, we discover Karou is in fact alive and has taken over Brimstone's job as resurrectionist. She's torn, knowing that she's building an army not only to save her people, but also to exterminate Akiva's people. While she hates Akiva, she's still uncomfortable with all of the brutal killing. As Madrigal, she and Akiva had dreamed of peace, and she doesn't have faith that their dream is possible any longer. Akiva is struggling in a similar fashion, being forced to kill innocent chimaera while trying to figure out how to keep his and Madrigal/Karou's dream alive somehow. He knows Karou hates him, and he's trying to figure out a way to atone for all the horrible things he's done.

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.

This is not that world.

This book is about way more than the two of them though. While Daughter of Smoke & Bone may have been about their love story, both the most recent and the past, Days of Blood and Starlight is about the aftermath of their lustful decisions. It's about genocide and war and morality and death and life. And still a little about love. But I'd say the Akiva/Karou love story takes a backburner to the bigger story, which is the war between the angels and the chimaera.

I love this book. And this author. And I'm incredibly emo that I have to wait so long for the third book in this series. These two books are, by FAR, some of the most phenominal stuff I've read. EVER.

5 out of 5 stars.

Link to Kala's review on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/451617120

Pulled by A.L. Jackson

Title: Pulled
Author: A.L. Jackson
Blurb:
For nine years, they drift through life, unable to forget the one who holds the strings to their hearts. In an attempt to escape the pain of her past, Melanie finds herself trapped in a loveless marriage, while Daniel loses himself in a career that means nothing without Melanie by his side. Now, when their lives intersect, neither can deny the connection they felt so long ago. But will the power that drew them together be enough to heal the wounds from their past, and do they have the courage to overcome the insecurities and fears that threaten to keep them apart? Pulled is a story of attraction and separation, of destiny and duty, of a love so strong it refuses to give up even when all others have.

 
Links:
Pulled on Goodreads
 
 Kala's Review:
I didn't like this book much at all.

The two main characters, Melanie and Daniel, meet while in high school. They fall instantly in love as soon as they lay eyes on each other. They literally see each other, fall in love, he takes her hand and leads her up the stairs where they go make out for hours.

Through a series of unbelievable and unfortunate events, they break up several months later. Melanie is so upset by this that she goes out, meets a man 20 years older than her, has sex with him a few minutes later, and agrees to marry him and basically be his slave. She knows he is abusive, but she doesn't care. If she can't have Daniel, her life isn't worth living (UGH).

Daniel is emo about it too and has a series of one night stands ending up with one of the girls getting pregnant. This happens 9 years after the breakup of Daniel/Melanie and coincidentally occurs on the same day that Daniel meets Melanie again.

The whole "souls speaking to each other" thing was absolutely ridiculous. When Daniel and Melanie are near each other, they both start shaking and their "souls" constantly "speak" to each other somehow. It's really silly.

Throughout the entire nine years apart, they each are sickly sweet and overly sappy, doing things like crying themselves to sleep saying "I miss you Melanie/Daniel" into their pillows. It's cheesy and I spent SO much time facepalming and eyerolling while reading this. Terrible!

The plot continues, getting even more and more ridiculous as it goes on. The ending is even worse as everything somehow works out perfectly for Daniel and Melanie to get everything they ever wanted, even what was impossible.

2 out of 5 stars.

Link to Kala's review on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/460367847

The Edge of Never by J.A. Redmerski

Title: The Edge of Never
Author: J.A. Redmerski
Blurb:
Twenty-year-old Camryn Bennett had always been one to think out-of-the-box, who knew she wanted something more in life than following the same repetitive patterns and growing old with the same repetitive life story. And she thought that her life was going in the right direction until everything fell apart.

Determined not to dwell on the negative and push forward, Camryn is set to move in with her best friend and plans to start a new job. But after an unexpected night at the hottest club in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, she makes the ultimate decision to leave the only life she’s ever known, far behind.

With a purse, a cell phone and a small bag with a few necessities, Camryn, with absolutely no direction or purpose boards a Greyhound bus alone and sets out to find herself. What she finds is a guy named Andrew Parrish, someone not so very different from her and who harbors his own dark secrets. But Camryn swore never to let down her walls again. And she vowed never to fall in love.

But with Andrew, Camryn finds herself doing a lot of things she never thought she’d do. He shows her what it’s really like to live out-of-the-box and to give in to her deepest, darkest desires. On their sporadic road-trip he becomes the center of her exciting and daring new life, pulling love and lust and emotion out of her in ways she never imagined possible. But will Andrew’s dark secret push them inseparably together, or tear them completely apart?


Due to sexual content and language, this book is recommended for 17+ – Adult Contemporary Women’s – New Adult Fiction
 
Links:
The Edge of Never on Goodreads
 
 Kala's Review:
This book wasn't terrible by any means, but I don't understand all the OMG GLOWING 5STAR THIS IS THE BEST BOOK EVER reviews.

The characters were, for the most part, likable and well written. I like how they both had fleshed out back stories and most of their stories were not dumped on us via weird monologues, but instead was slowly revealed over time.

I had some issues with the book though. At first, I really liked how Camryn was independent and interesting, but she ended up being a complete wuss. I also don't like how the author constantly had every male character (except the few good guys) turn in to a wannabe rapist. I hate that.

First, Camryn is at a club with her best friend. She's on the roof of the club chatting with a guy and her best friend's boyfriend shows up, beats the crap out of the guy, then tries to force himself on Camryn. Ok, he was a total douchebag and I get that. No problem.

Later on, Camryn is on the bus and she's chatting with Andrew. There's another guy on the bus who later tries to rape Camryn in the bathroom and she has to be saved by Andrew.

Okay, fine.

But then Andrew goes into this macho man mode that totally put me off. He tells Camryn that she can no longer travel by bus, he will not allow it. She MUST either take a plane home or go with him. She agrees. WTF? She barely knows this guy and she's letting him tell her what to do?

Fortunately, Andrew acts decently throughout the majority of the book so I didn't flip out too much by his "I'm the man, you will do as I say" behavior. But later on, he and Camryn have this weird conversation where he tells her that he won't have sex with her because he can't do that unless she agrees that he will own her.

Say what??

Then Camryn starts talking about how she's sexually submissive (girl, you are submissive in EVERYTHING, not just sex) and there is this whole dominant/submissive thing that's just thrown in there and seems completely opposite to Andrew's personality throughout the rest of the entire book.

I also just can't stand the whole "I can't breathe without you" or "I will die without you" or "I want to own you" crap, and there is a decent amount of that. Whenever I read that kind of stuff (and there's a decent amount of it in The Edge of Never) I want to just do this:



(sigh)

I didn't have a huge problem with the reveal Andrew made at the end, though I did think it was out of nowhere and went bad way too fast.

Overall, the book wasn't bad. I liked the main characters (outside of those issues above and most of that wasn't commonplace in the book, it happened sporadically). The plot was interesting and the writing was decent.

3 out of 5 stars.

Link to Kala's review on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/466521690

That Wedding by Jillian Dodd

Title: That Wedding
Author: Jillian Dodd
Blurb:
The gorgeous engagement ring on my finger mimics my happiness.
I feel so sparkly, glittery, and full of promise, because I absolutely know he's that boy.
The boy I want to marry. My prince. My happily ever after.

But then our pastor starts asking lots of questions.
His parents say I haven’t dealt with my past.
I have horrible wedding disaster dreams.
I can’t find the perfect dress.
I have to manipulate him to get my way.
An old boyfriend asks me to run away with him.
My best friend says I'm going to ruin everything.
And forever starts to sound like a really long time.

Which totally freaks me out and makes me question everything I know.

Should best friends get married?
Will my past affect our relationship?
Are my horrible dreams a warning?
Will I ever find a dress?
Could his sexiness be clouding my judgment?
Am I going to ruin everything?
Or is it just a case of cold feet?

And then I have to decide. Am I willing to give up on true love forever, or am I going to listen to my heart and marry him?

 
Links:
That Wedding on Goodreads
 
 Kala's Review:
I wasn't a big fan of this book. In fact, I struggled to finish it.

Main issues:

1) Jade is not the same character she was in That Boy. She's petty, manipulative, insecure, spoiled, and often a complete bitch. She treats Phillip pretty badly throughout the book, culminating in the whole "pity hire" scene. She was unlikable - all the negative qualities of Becky Bloomwood without the charming aspects.

2) There!!!!! Are!!!!!! WAY!!!!! TOO!!! MANY!!!!!! EXCLAMATIONS!!!!!!! The author often uses 2, 3, 4 exclamations (and sometimes multiple question marks too). Jadyn constantly is EXCLAIMING! EVERYTHING! It's distracting.

3) Too much sex! I like steamy sex scenes as much as the next person, but these characters spend the entire novel having sex. Or talking about how awesome sex is with each other. Or talking with their friends about their prior sexcapades (which Jadyn apparently had MANY of behind the scenes in That Boy that we are just finding out about).

4) Boring! The book was WAY too long and not a lot happens. If Jadyn and Phillip aren't having sex, they're getting drunk. A lot. Jadyn spends SO much time drinking in this book - and the bar scene near the end was pretty awful. Nearly 400 pages of Jadyn drinking and whining about her wedding and EXCLAIMING EVERYTHING!!!! was probably 200 too much.

Sorry, but this book just wasn't that good. I ended up skimming the last 50 pages or so because I was so bored and I didn't want to NOT finish.

2 out of 5 stars.

Link to Kala's review on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/464291753

Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Title: Saving June
Author: Hannah Harrington
Blurb:
‘If she’d waited less than two weeks, she’d be June who died in June. But I guess my sister didn’t consider that.’

Harper Scott’s older sister has always been the perfect one — so when June takes her own life a week before her high school graduation, sixteen-year-old Harper is devastated. Everyone’s sorry, but no one can explain why.

When her divorcing parents decide to split her sister’s ashes into his-and-her urns, Harper takes matters into her own hands. She’ll steal the ashes and drive cross-country with her best friend, Laney, to the one place June always dreamed of going — California.

Enter Jake Tolan. He’s a boy with a bad attitude, a classic-rock obsession and nothing in common with Harper’s sister. But Jake had a connection with June, and when he insists on joining them, Harper’s just desperate enough to let him. With his alternately charming and infuriating demeanour and his belief that music can see you through anything, he might be exactly what she needs.

Except June wasn’t the only one hiding something. Jake’s keeping a secret that has the power to turn Harper’s life upside down — again.

 
Links:
Saving June on Goodreads
 
 Kala's Review:
It's the absolute best feeling ever when you go in to a book without expectations and come out going "HOLY CRAP THAT WAS AMAZING!"

I was given a free copy of this book via Netgalley (THANK YOU). Prior to this I had just read Speechless, by the same author, and loved it. Speechless was a 5-star read from me, and Saving June surpasses it.

The book starts off with the main character, Harper, reeling from her sister June's suicide six days prior. June was always the "good girl" and Harper was the delinquent. She struggles to figure out the reasons WHY June would take her own life. Harper's parents are too busy dealing with their own issues (her mother still upset about the divorce, her father busy with his new girlfriend) to offer any support for Harper.

When her parents decide they're going to split June's ashes in to two separate urns, Harper takes matters in to her own hands. She takes the urn on a road trip to California, with her best friend and a mysterious boy who had some sort of relationship with June that Harper doesn't quite understand yet. The road trip ends up being more of a self discovery thing for Harper, though it also helps her come to terms with her sister's life and death.

This book is just really really really good. The characters all feel so real and alive. Everyone is so believable and I also love to see an author tackling a subject this difficult with such care and consideration. Suicide is a serious issue that is fairly common among teenagers and Harrington did an amazing job showing the different ways suicide can effect people in a family. She also did a great job slowly unraveling June's character and motivations.

The romance that starts between Harper and Jacob is also so perfectly done. It starts off slowly and progresses realistically. These two are both wounded individuals, both impacted by June's death in different ways, and it takes time for them to figure each other out. The ending between them was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

I highly recommend this book! Harrington is going on my auto-buy list for sure. As of now, she's 2 for 2 with amazing books and I can't wait to see what she comes out with next.

5 out of 5 stars.

Link to Kala's review on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/468060020