Super Six Sunday: Authors I’d like to meet/loved meeting :)

Super Six Sunday is a meme created by Bewitched Bookworms and inspired by "Top Ten Tuesdays" by The Broke and Bookish.

Author’s I’d like to meet/loved meeting

I have a confession to make; I think I’ve only met one author in my entire life. There were several opportunities for me to meet some of my favourite authors over the past few years, however I was always either busy/something important came up on the day.  Examples include Becca Fitzpatrick, Lauren Oliver, Gayle Forman and Abbi Glines. This list will therefore be comprised of ONE author I’ve met & 5 I’d love to meet one day!

*RACHEL VINCENT*

I had the opportunity to meet Rachel Vincent during the Harlequin Summit held earlier this year in February. Rachel was so lovely and absolutely hilarious! I lost count of the number of times I cracked up when she talked to us :)

*J.K ROWLING*

Harry Potter is my all-time favourite series<3 It would be such an honour to meet J.K Rowling in person!

*KATIE MCGARRY*

Katie McGarry’s books are an automatic buy for me. Pushing The Limits was definitely my favourite book of 2012 and I also loved Dare You To so needless to say, I’d LOVE to meet Katie in real life! Hopefully she’ll visit Australia one day!<3

*GAYLE FORMAN*

Unfortunately, I missed Gayle’s event in Sydney earlier this year :( Gayle’s meet and greet in Sydney was on the same day as my friend’s mock court trial and since I’d promised I’d go support my friend, I wasn’t able to attend the event. It’s a pity I missed it, but hopefully there’ll be another chance for me to meet Gayle in the future!

*JULIE KAGAWA*

I’ve been a fan of Julie's since her debut novel The Iron King came out in 2010! Ash quickly became my favourite book boyfriend of all time and I’d like nothing more than to meet the mastermind behind the creation of one of my favourite characters ever<3 Hopefully Julie will visit Australia one day as well! :)

*COLLEEN HOOVER*

I LOVEEEEED Slammed and Point of Retreat!!! (So did my friends when I lent the books to them!!) Colleen’s my favourite NA author so I hope I get to meet her and have all my books signed one day! 

What about you? Who are some of the authors you've met or who are you dying to meet? :)

Review: Between the Lives by Jessica Shirvington

Between the Lives
by Jessica Shirvington
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia

Release Date: May 1st, 2013

Format: Paperback, 336 pages

Above all else, though I try not to think about it, I know which life I prefer. And every night when I Cinderella myself from one life to the next a very small, but definite, piece of me dies. The hardest part is that nothing about my situation has ever changed. There is no loophole. 

 Until now, that is... 

 For as long as she can remember, Sabine has lived two lives. Every 24 hours she Shifts to her ′other′ life - a life where she is exactly the same, but absolutely everything else is different: different family, different friends, different social expectations. In one life she has a sister, in the other she does not. In one life she′s a straight-A student with the perfect boyfriend, in the other she′s considered a reckless delinquent. Nothing about her situation has ever changed, until the day when she discovers a glitch: the arm she breaks in one life is perfectly fine in the other. 

 With this new knowledge, Sabine begins a series of increasingly risky experiments which bring her dangerously close to the life she′s always wanted... But just what - and who - is she really risking?

I’ve heard so much praise over the years for Jessica Shirvington’s Violet Eden series (which I own but have yet to read), so I was very excited when I heard about Jess’s new book, Between the Lives coming out in May. I got even more enthusiastic about starting the book when 4-5 star reviews began showing up on my GR updates and I was like “ Could this be THAT amazing?”. Sadly, Between the Lives wasn’t as brilliant as I expected it to be, but it was a refreshingly original and praiseworthy book nonetheless.

While the concept was so creative (kudos to Jess for thinking up such an imaginative and unique concept!), I couldn’t quite engage with the story. Sabine is meant to take on the role of two completely different characters 1) Herself in Roxbury 2) Another self in Wellesley. Despite being 2 different people, Sabine sounded exactly the same in both worlds. Now, this can be interpreted as both a good thing and a bad thing. On one hand, I liked how she sounded the same because it obviously meant she never ‘lost’ herself during the shift and she’s still the one and only Sabine. On the other hand, I felt her thoughts, actions and image in Wellesley were so contradicting, there was no way she could be this perfect, materialistic rich girl. It didn’t help either, that her voice was so bland and indistinguishable from so many other YA heroines.

I’m legitimately starting to loathe psychiatric wards now. Not for the first time, I wonder how many patients are there not because they need to be there, but because the psychiatrists believe anyone ‘special’ or ‘different’ requires help. *sigh* Our male lead Ethan is a total sweetie, no doubt, but I couldn’t feel the chemistry between him and Sabine at all. No spark, no chemistry, no nothing. Just a guy and a girl who supposedly fall in love. Yes, I should love him because he’s so understanding, selfless..etc. but I couldn’t root for them. I just didn’t feel a connection with these two characters unfortunately.

Some readers/bloggers might’ve cried at the end; I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel anything, because well…I was sort of sad. I’m certain many readers will absolutely adore this standalone novel by everyone’s favourite Aussie author, however, this wasn’t my cup of tea. It’s a story I enjoyed, but not one I would read again. 

A massive thank you to HarperCollins Australia for providing a copy of  Between The Lives for review! 

Book Spotlight: Conquer Your Love by J.C Reed & Giveaway

Hey guys!!!! So I haven't been blogging much lately- blame Uni!- but since my hectic Uni exams are over now & I get over 1 month of holidays, I'm hoping to catch up on some reviews and blogging in general :) Today, I have a book spotlight for J.C Reed's Mature New Adult/ Adult Contemporary Romance Conquer Your Love, the sequel to Surrender Your Love which was released earlier this year. I'll be sharing an excerpt with you today and there will also be a giveaway for an $100 Amazon Gift Card. (SERIOUSLY YOU SHOULD ALL GO ENTER IT! THINK OF ALL THE BOOKS  YOU CAN PURCHASE!!!<3)

Conquer Your Love
by J.C Reed
Release Date: June 8th 2013

Meeting Jett was like bad luck. Dangerous. Unpredictable. And better avoided. In his game, the stakes are high. But are they worth the risk?
 Brooke Stewart, a realtor in New York, finds forgetting is hard, but forgiving is harder. When the man she trusted, betrayed her, the only way to forget is to move on. Brooke is determined to start a new life, until she meets him again: the green-eyed, sexy as sin, six foot two sex god. The man who played dirty. The man who played her. Sexy, handsome, and arrogant Jett Mayfield knows he has made mistakes. He could have any other woman, and yet it’s Brooke he wants. When second chances collide with secrets and Brooke is threatened by the past, Jett is determined to protect her. She accepts his help unwillingly because she needs him but she wants to play his game on her own terms. And she has no intention to forgive or let him back into her bed. When the man she is supposed to hate is the one she should trust, will he conquer her…or lose her forever?
A woman who can’t forgive. 
A man who has made mistakes. 
Two lives that are about to cross again and more secrets laid bare.

*Excerpt*

*Giveaway*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Whoaaaa that was pretty umm....hot :D You see, I usually avoid books with covers that scream THERE IS SEX IN THIS BOOK because....welllll, I was young and didn't want my innocence corrupted :P Nahhh I'm kidding! I just never had a chance to try adult contemporary romance since I usually only read YA. But this book/ series has received some amazing reviews/ ratings and I'm reallllyyyy looking forward to finding out what happened between Jett and Brooke :) heheeee

Oh and like I said above, GO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY! $100 WORTH OF BOOKS FROM AMAZON. AND A COPY OF A BOOK WITH SUCH A HOT BODY ON THE FRONT COVER. You can drool over it every second of the day if you win<3 :)

Review: Spirit by Brigid Kemmerer

Spirit (Elemental #3)
by Brigid Kemmerer 
Publisher: Allen & Unwin 

Release Date: May 22nd 2013

Format: Paperback, 294 pages

Hunter Garrity just wants to be left alone. He has learned the hard way that his unusual abilities come at a price. And he can't seem to afford any allies. 

 He's up to his neck in hostiles. His grandfather, spoiling for a fight. The Merrick brothers, who think he ratted them out. Calla, the scheming psycho who wants to use him as bait. 

 Then there's Kate Sullivan, the new girl at school. She's not hostile. She's bold. Funny. Hot. But she's got an agenda, too. 

 With supposedly secret powers rippling to the surface everywhere around him, Hunter knows something ugly is about to go down - which means he'll have to find someone he can trust. 

 POWER. ENEMIES. EVERYWHERE.

If I remember correctly I was once Hunter Garrity’s biggest anti-fan. He annoyed me in the Storm because he was the other guy in the love triangle who was competing for Becca; and he annoyed me in Spark because well…if memory serves, he was untrustworthy. So basically, I didn’t like Hunter, and I definitely didn’t care for his story.  Though I never once considered not reading Spirit, I was a little apprehensive when I started reading it and for the first few pages I treaded with caution. HOWEVER, (and a hugeeeee however here), I shouldn’t have worried because several pages in, I started LOVING Hunter. (And possibly hating all the other characters in the book…but I’ll go into that later!)

After reading Spark and Spirit, I have one question that I can never get my head around – What is it with these guys always hiding what they’re actually feeling? I mean guys aren’t as expressive as girls (I think??) but seriously, why do they always have to hide the fact that they’re actually concerned for those around them and actually give a crap about the people they love. Why purposely pretend they’re the bad guys and have everyone misunderstand them? It’s exactly because of this that I didn’t like both Gabriel and Hunter. Luckily though, through Hunter’s perspective we got to see a different side of him. I don’t care how untrustworthy he seems to everyone else, I’LL ALWAYS SUPPORT YOU HUNTER<3

I felt so sorry for Hunter throughout the whole book. I can never understand how a mum can treat her child the way Hunter’s mother treated him. I don’t care what her reasons were, her actions were unforgivable. AND HUNTER’S GRANDFATHER NEEDS TO GET BEATEN UP ONE DAY SO HE KNOWS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE. I hated how everyone just automatically assumed the worst of Hunter just because of his piercings and overall appearance. I’ll admit that had I been one of the students from his school, I probably would’ve believed the rumours too, but reading everything from his POV just made me want to scream at the entire school to shut the hell up and stop judging Hunter. At one point, I even started having negative feelings towards Chris and Gabriel since they wouldn’t leave poor Hunter alone, and as for Becca…well…I’ve never really liked her much. As for Kate, the love interest, I definitely didn’t like her. She drove me up the wall with her blatant displays of slutty actions. Yes, that’s exactly how I’d describe her behaviour. I didn’t care for her much and I’m glad I didn’t have to endure her for long.

Spirit is distinctly different from the previous too books. It’s much bolder, more intense and there’s a lot more action. What Storm lacked, Spirit compensated. A little warning though, there’s violence and shooting and there’s no holding back when it comes accomplishing one’s goals. Spirit is an impressive addition to the Elemental series, and I can’t wait for the next book <3 

A massive thank you to Kensington and Allen & Unwin for providing a copy of Spirit for review!

This post is also part of the Spirit Blog Tour hosted by The Midnight Garden. 

For the full schedule, click HERE. 

The Boys of Summer Blog Tour: Review

The Boys of Summer
by C.J Duggan 
Publisher: Self-published 

Release Date: December 17th, 2012

Format: Kindle, 321 pages

It seemed only natural to nickname them the ‘Onslow Boys’. Every time they swaggered in the front door of the Onslow Hotel after a hard week’s work, their laughter was loud and genuine as they settled onto their bar stools. I peeked through the restaurant partition, a flimsy divider between my world and theirs. I couldn’t help but smile whenever I saw them, saw him ... Toby Morrison.

 Quiet seventeen-year-old Tess doesn’t relish the thought of a summertime job. She wants nothing more than to forget the past haunts of high school and have fun with her best friends before the dreaded Year Twelve begins. 

 To Tess, summer is when everything happens: riding bikes down to the lake, watching the fireworks at the Onslow Show and water bomb fights at the sweltering Sunday markets. 

 How did she let her friends talk her into working? 

 After first-shift disasters, rude, wealthy tourists and a taunting ex-boyfriend, Tess is convinced nothing good can come of working her summer away. However, Tess finds unlikely allies in a group of locals dubbed ‘The Onslow Boys’, who are old enough to drive cars, drink beer and not worry about curfews. Tess’s summer of working expands her world with a series of first times with new friends, forbidden love and heartbreaking chaos. 

 All with the one boy she has never been able to forget. 

 It will be a summer she will always remember.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a relaxing, ‘Summer-y’ book, and even longer since I’ve read one by an Aussie author! The Boys of Summer is the perfect book to read by the pool, or while you’re sunbaking or taking a break from your busy life; it was certainly my guilty pleasure!!

The Boys of Summer and I actually got off to a bad start; Tess was a pathetic and slightly annoying character. She was always relying on her friends to stand up for her, and never even attempted to stand up for herself. Her dialogue was childish at times (I don’t know if it was a 90’s thing, but did 17 year old girls honestly say BOY COOTIES?!). She was so selfish I was tempted to just…stop reading because I couldn’t tolerate her any longer. By page 44, I hated her. HOWEVER, all my hatred towards Tess disappeared when the ‘Onslow Boys’ made their appearance; from then on, I didn’t care how even though it's set in the 90's I couldn't tell until halfway through; I didn’t care how the dialogue sounded fake sometimes; I didn't care how Tess's character was so contradicting...I JUST FREAKING LOVED THIS BOOK!

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure most teenage girls (who read) love books set in Summer where the main character develops a crush on a hot, charming, unattainable  guy while on holiday ? Well, I certainly do J By the halfway mark, I didn’t care about the flaws…I was so invested in Tess’s Summer experience, there was no room in me to find any faults in the book. Tess’s massive crush on Toby was so relatable (I mean, haven’t we all had a crush on an older, out-of-our-league kind of guy when we were in our early teens/pre-teens?). Every time Toby smiled at her, I genuinely felt her happiness and I was gushing. Every time Toby looked at her and she blushed, I grinned. And every time Toby did something that sent mixed signals to Tess, I felt her confusion and pain.  This one is certainly a book filled with FEELS.

Other things I loved about the book include the year 12 muck up day theme, which was so similar to the theme for my friends’ schools last year. I liked how I’m finally able to go “YES. I KNOW WHAT THIS IS LIKE” unlike with books set in USA where I’m always so envious of the activities that take place over there!

In a nutshell, GO READ THIS BOOK. It’s a fast read, so no one has an excuse to not read this J  Tess & Toby’s Summer romance is one that is not to be missed!

                              

 A massive thank you to YA Bound and C.J Duggan for providing a copy of  The Boys of Summer for review! 

Review: Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Walking Disaster 

by Jamie McGuire 

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia / Atria Books 

Release Date: April 2nd, 2013

Format: ARC

Walking Disaster is Travis' POV. 

How much is too much to love? 

 Travis Maddox learned two things from his mother before she died: Love hard. Fight harder.

 In Walking Disaster, the life of Travis is full of fast women, underground gambling, and violence. Just when he thought he was invincible, Abby Abernathy brings him to his knees. 

 Every story has two sides. In Jamie McGuire's New York Times bestseller Beautiful Disaster Abby had her say. Now it's time to see the story through Travis's eyes.

I remember last year, in the midst of my HSC year, I became addicted to a certain book. I couldn’t concentrate for a whole two days at school because I couldn’t stop thinking about this particular book. I think I also suffered a book hangover upon finishing; it was just so addictive! That particular book was Beautiful Disaster, one of my favourite books of 2012. I was ecstatic when I received a copy of Walking Disaster, one of my most anticipated books of 2013, for review. While Walking Disaster certainly met my expectations for the most part, I have to admit it did lack the addictive quality that I loved about Beautiful Disaster, but it was still immensely enjoyable nonetheless J

Walking Disaster is pretty much Beautiful Disaster from Travis’s POV. I loved Travis’s voice; it was so distinct and authentic, I really didn’t want the book to end! There are some extra scenes that truly confirmed Travi’s undying love and devotion to Abby…and even though he’s impulsive, violent with a serious need of anger management, I loved how throughout the whole book, he was constantly trying to rein in his anger for Abby’s sake.

It’s fantastic I got to see everything through Travis’s eyes, but at times, when he was devastated or terrified, I couldn’t exactly feel the same way because I knew what would happen. I knew how everything would end and it prevented me from really empathizing with the characters. It’s such a pity especially since I did love the rare scenes when Travis expressed his emotions so strongly. There was also the problem with Abby; I found her to be an independent and capable  heroine in Beautiful Disaster and I never found any of her decisions to be overly annoying even if I didn’t agree with them. However, through Travis’s POV, I felt his pain, his anger, his confusion and I hated Abby for being such a b*tch to Travis. She was selfish and either completely dense or just irritatingly ignorant to her surroundings. Either way, I wanted to throttle her and kick Parker into the next universe!!

My review might sound like I didn’t like the book, but I genuinely loved it. It’s just Beautiful Disaster was so perfect that when I compare any other book, I can only find faults… I honestly think Ms McGuire is a very talented author; I mean, not every female author can make a male character sound so realistic and likeable despite having so many unfavourable flaws. All you Beautiful Disaster fans MUST read this book! You won’t be disappointed! 

A massive thank you to Simon & Schuster for providing an ARC of Walking Disaster for review!