Review: Wait for You by J. Lynn

Book: Wait for You
Author: J. Lynn
Series: Wait for You
Publication Date: February 26th, 2013
Publisher: J. Lynn

Some things are worth waiting for…

Traveling thousands of miles from home to enter college is the only way nineteen-year-old Avery Morgansten can escape what happened at the Halloween party five years ago—an event that forever changed her life. All she needs to do is make it to her classes on time, make sure the bracelet on her left wrist stays in place, not draw any attention to herself, and maybe—please God—make a few friends, because surely that would be a nice change of pace. The one thing she didn’t need and never planned on was capturing the attention of the one guy who could shatter the precarious future she’s building for herself.

Some things are worth experiencing…

Cameron Hamilton is six feet and three inches of swoon-worthy hotness, complete with a pair of striking blue eyes and a remarkable ability to make her want things she believed were irrevocably stolen from her. She knows she needs to stay away from him, but Cam is freaking everywhere, with his charm, his witty banter, and that damn dimple that’s just so… so lickable. Getting involved with him is dangerous, but when ignoring the simmering tension that sparks whenever they are around each other becomes impossible, he brings out a side of her she never knew existed.

Some things should never be kept quiet…

But when Avery starts receiving threatening emails and phone calls forcing her to face a past she wants silenced, she’s has no other choice but to acknowledge that someone is refusing to allow her to let go of that night when everything changed. When the devastating truth comes out, will she resurface this time with one less scar? And can Cam be there to help her or will he be dragged down with her?

And some things are worth fighting for…

I can basically dumb this book down for everyone else who hasn't read it yet with 10 basic sentences.

1. Girl with dark, secret past that she's ashamed of telling to anyone because it'll make people see her differently moves to a new place.
2. Girl tries to avoid deep connections with other people, especially attractive males who seem to be potential boyfriend material.
3. Girl runs into Boy on first day of class (literally). Boy is attractive (surprise!).
4. Boy is very interested in Girl even though Girl turns down his every advance (actually, maybe that's exactly why he's interested...).
5. Girl finally lets Boy in. They do lots of fun things, like going to a drive-in theater, meeting parents, feeding each other eggs...
6. Girl finds out that Boy is definitely worth it, and so she pushes him away.
7. Boy and Girl fight because Girl is still insecure even though Boy has made it completely clear that he would do anything for her.
8. Boy and Girl get back together because they're both masochists (especially Boy).
9. Boy and Girl fight again because Girl can't get over anything and would rather cry.
10. Boy and Girl get back together and Girl suddenly decides to forget her past and move on.
11. SEX. Or, as Avery words it, "swesomely amazing sex."

I definitely was reminded of Beautiful Disaster while reading this. It's the exact same formula, with less throwing things and abuse on the male's part. Actually, I think Avery is pretty much guilty of all abuse in this book. I must say that if there's one thing that Armentrout is good at, it's her male leads. Despite all their moments of douchiness, they turn out to be upstanding men, and that's what Cam was. He had astonishingly good moments. There was this one part when Avery says, "Cam, you're a good guy" and he replies with, "I'm only good with you." Pretty heart-melting stuff. His biggest character flaw was getting involved with the hot mess that was Avery. I don't know what to think about the way sexual abuse is addressed in this book. I thought it was overdone in that it was mentioned too much without any details, and it told me nothing new. In a way, it was more a device to further the plot than anything else. In addition, there was an explosion of spelling/grammatical mistakes, and some of the characters have the tendency to speak like middle schoolers who still have to put quarters in the swear jar.

Overall, I didn't really enjoy this. Unlike a lot of people, I actually like the tired, trite formula, just because I'm a sucker for the cliche. But I guess this moment was bound to happen sometime. Now I'm going to expect to bump into a hot guy my first day at college, and what a disappointment that will be.

P.S. WHY IS THIS BEING MADE INTO A SERIES?
P.P.S. Still don't get the title. It was like it was drawn out of a hat marked "Typical YA Romance Titles," and then J. Lynn forced it to relate to the plot.  

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Review: Entangled by Nikki Jefford

Book: Entangled
Author: Nikki Jefford
Series: Spellbound
Publication Date: February 20th, 2012
Publisher: Nikki Jefford (self-pubbed)
Rating: 3.5 Stars

Two months after dying, seventeen-year-old witch Graylee Perez wakes up in her twin sister Charlene’s body.

Until Gray finds a way back inside her own body, she’s stuck being Charlene every twenty-hour hours. Her sister has left precise instructions on how Gray should dress and behave. Looking like a prep isn’t half as bad as hanging out with Charlene’s snotty friends and gropey boyfriend.

The “normals” of McKinley High might be quick to write her behavior off as post-traumatic stress, but warlock Raj McKenna is the only person who suspects Gray has returned from the dead.

Now Gray has to solve the mystery of her death and resurrection and disentangle herself from Charlene’s body before she disappears for good.

***Entangled is a young adult paranormal fantasy romance suitable for ages 15 and up.***

The supernatural version of Freaky Friday! Ah, I love that movie. The Pre-Lindsay Lohan Drug Addict & Rehabbed Drama Queen days. Entangled is about a teen witch named Graylee with a particularly depraved sister. Graylee dies and gets put back in her sister's body every other day, which naturally, causes a couple of problems. Some of which are her inability to understand French every other day in French class and that she has to kiss sexy warlock Raj in her sister's body.

It does take a while for Entangled to get to the good, death-and-switched-bodies part. Jefford spends a couple pages detailing what kind of world Graylee comes from and the characters that surround her. It was fun experiencing high school through Graylee's eyes, since she has a sarcastic, jaded voice that I really enjoyed. Fortunately, this voice doesn't go away as the book progresses; in fact, it gets stronger as Graylee has to deal with her sister Charlene's body and Charlene's gropey boyfriend and insipid friends.

The plot of the book is easy to follow; I finished the book in a couple days, and I was surprised by how easily I could get sucked into it within minutes of reading. There are some questions left unanswered, like what exactly those poisonous chocolates were for, or what happened to Charlene's annoying friends, Raj's family issues, and what Graylee's mom was up to. It's a light-hearted book, with problems to be found in being unable to conjure clothing into place, or muting people, or coveting invisibility. However, this brevity also takes away from some of the more intense problems. The end happens quickly, and I felt that there wasn't enough devoted to the resolution.

Raj and Gray share the narrator's position, and I really liked Raj. He's an example of a sensitive bad boy done well, though I thought his affection for Gray was a bit sudden. It was nice reading from both their perspectives, from Gray's biting tone to Raj's harder but more regretful one. I would've loved to know what exactly happened after he handed his Zippo over, but I guess I'll have to content myself that he and Graylee are now free to suck face forever.

If you want a light read about bitchy witches, make sure to check this one out!

Thank you Netgalley for giving me a chance to read and review this book.

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Review: Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park

Book: Flat-Out Love
Author: Jessica Park
Publisher: Self-Published
Pages: 400
My rating: 3 Stars

Goodreads Summary:
Flat-Out Love is a warm and witty novel of family love and dysfunction, deep heartache and raw vulnerability, with a bit of mystery and one whopping, knock-you-to-your-knees romance.

Something is seriously off in the Watkins home. And Julie Seagle, college freshman, small-town Ohio transplant, and the newest resident of this Boston house, is determined to get to the bottom of it.

When Julie's off-campus housing falls through, her mother's old college roommate, Erin Watkins, invites her to move in. The parents, Erin and Roger, are welcoming, but emotionally distant and academically driven to eccentric extremes. The middle child, Matt, is an MIT tech geek with a sweet side ... and the social skills of a spool of USB cable. The youngest, Celeste, is a frighteningly bright but freakishly fastidious 13-year-old who hauls around a life-sized cardboard cutout of her oldest brother almost everywhere she goes.

And there's that oldest brother, Finn: funny, gorgeous, smart, sensitive, almost emotionally available. Geographically? Definitely unavailable. That's because Finn is traveling the world and surfacing only for random Facebook chats, e-mails, and status updates. Before long, through late-night exchanges of disembodied text, he begins to stir something tender and silly and maybe even a little bit sexy in Julie's suddenly lonesome soul.

To Julie, the emotionally scrambled members of the Watkins family add up to something that ... well ... doesn't quite add up. Not until she forces a buried secret to the surface, eliciting a dramatic confrontation that threatens to tear the fragile Watkins family apart, does she get her answer.
Flat-Out Love comes complete with emails, Facebook status updates, and instant messages.

There is no denying that Flat-Out Love is a very well-done book. That despite Jessica Park's little team-up with Jamie McGuire, this book will make you feel. Even though she's not acting cordially through her her support of McGuire in attacks against reviewers, I do not regret reading this book. The behavior of an author does make my opinion of him/her fall considerably, but it doesn't stop me from reading a book that promises to be good.

The revelation at the end was mind-blowing. I had no idea it was coming until a couple pages before (probably because I was up at 3 AM finishing up). Park duped me, and I feel simultaneously gratified and offended.

The cast of characters...I loved the characters in this book. Celeste, Matt, Erin, Finn...Ha. The dialogue was quick and witty, and I couldn't put the book down. I read it, in fact, for 5 straight hours. It's beautiful. This messed up, dysfunctional family, was beautiful. Julie was plenty amazing, too, with the way she deals with the situation and her attempts to help. Even though it was hard to like her at first for her rejection of the quirks of the Watkins family, her behavior towards Celeste and Flat Finn was enough to redeem her in the end.

I need to reread all of the messages with Finn after this. Damn it, that was brilliant.

I decided to be diplomatic and rate it a fair 3 stars, because even though I gave my honest opinion in this review, I still can't completely forget Park's past behavior.

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Review: Easy by Tammara Webber

Book: Easy
Author: Tammara Webber
Publisher: Self-Published
Publishing Date: May 25th, 2012
My rating: 4 stars

Goodreads Summary:
When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup. After two weeks in shock, she wakes up to her new reality: she’s single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, stalked by her ex’s frat brother, and failing a class for the first time in her life.

Her econ professor gives her an email address for Landon, the class tutor, who shows her that she’s still the same intelligent girl she’s always been. As Jacqueline becomes interested in more from her tutor than a better grade, his teasing responses make the feeling seem mutual. There’s just one problem—their only interactions are through email.

Meanwhile, a guy in her econ class proves his worth the first night she meets him. Nothing like her popular ex or her brainy tutor, Lucas sits on the back row, sketching in a notebook and staring at her. At a downtown club, he disappears after several dances that leave her on fire. When he asks if he can sketch her, alone in her room, she agrees—hoping for more.

Then Jacqueline discovers a withheld connection between her supportive tutor and her seductive classmate, her ex comes back into the picture, and her stalker escalates his attention by spreading rumors that they’ve hooked up. Suddenly appearances are everything, and knowing who to trust is anything but easy.

I'm considering whether or not to create a new shelf titled swooning-like-a-schoolgirl, but I already have a similar one, which makes it redundant. This book should come up with a warning about fanning yourself and internal combustion. It made me want to go make out with my boyfriend (but I don't have one right now. boo.).

I honestly did not think that Lucas would be as sexy as he ended up being because I don't go for the tattooed, pierced type. It's just never been my thing. But Lucas blew all my petty annoyances out of the water. He was sensitive, smart, possessive (maybe overly so), and oh-so-sexy. If you read the blurb, you sort of expect a mildly stalkerish introvert. Which I suppose Lucas is, but Webber manages to portray him as a good, decent human being despite his bad boy appearance, and I loved him regardless. His gruesome past comes as a pretty big shocker, and I liked that this was emphasized in a realistic way, instead of through those big dramatic moments and hand-to-mouth gasps. And his complete devotion towards Jacqueline, as well as his lack of caring when she caught him staring at her? I was about to burst into flames from all the sexual tension, holy cannoli.

This book can't be argued as completely unique or outstanding, but Webber explores the topic of rape in a way that isn't overly preachy and that emphasizes the power that women have. When the sorority president gave her speech, I wanted to applaud. It was beautiful.

Jacqueline is a very likable character. She has her own regrets and bad decisions, but she comes to terms with them in a way that's reasonable. I also have to give Webber kudos for the side characters like Erin, Benji, and even Kennedy. They had developed personalities, and I never felt that they submitted to any specific cliche. I especially liked Erin, probably because of her obsession with groin-hitting. Heh.

That said, I love this cover. It has some understated elegance, I suppose. It doesn't hurt that I happen to love the shades of blue they've used.

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Review: Angelfall by Susan Ee

Angelfall by Susan Ee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

OH. MY. GOD.
I CANNOT. EVEN. FATHOM. WHAT JUST HAPPENED.
Review to come because I put off about 3 hours of studying for this.

Edit-Rating: 4.5 Stars
This book is incredible. The very first sentence just sucks you in, and I swear I tried, but I could not untangle myself from this story. I had to finish it, and finish it I did, at the price of not getting any work done. But it was well worth it. Why?

Because Penryn is a badass, that's why! And because Raffe makes all the girls' hearts flutter.

So, let's think about what you get from this book. You get a heroine who can actually kick some serious butt and has undying loyalty that gets her in bad situations but simultaneously makes her endearing and not whiny. In addition, she is not willing to sacrifice her strange family even for some hot stranger with wings (Hush, Hush, anyone?). You get a dreamy guy who is all suaveness and charm but gets some serious hurt throughout the story instead of somehow being untouchable. Also, he doesn't sound like some blathering romantic and actually is not emasculated by his time near possible love interest (*cough* Daniel Grigori *cough*). And you get a plot that leaves you reeling and basically sobbing for the next book.

A bonus? There are flesh eating creatures and some Mengele-esque experiments.

I think I've already given away too much, but it's safe to see here that this story is definitely original. Susan Ee knows what she's talking about, and she's not afraid of writing it. While I recommend this for slightly more mature young adult audiences, I think that everyone would get a kick out of this book. This is the first book in months in which I have actually been emotionally invested in, and that's a bad sign about the publishing industry, if they're publishing books like Fallen over jewels like this one. While I would have liked a bit more world building, like why Gabriel was flying around in the sky in the first place, that definitely didn't affect the pace with which I devoured this book. I seriously devoured it. I put my iPod in my bathroom, and after I finished showering, I stayed in the bathroom for an hour reading.

Engrossing. If you're looking for action, stop here. Right now, I believe this is the best post-apocalyptic book out of 2011 because of the amazing job Susan Ee has done with her characters and her plot. All of her characters have weaknesses and distinguishing points, with the exception of Obi, who I was little iffy about. The love relationship develops slowly and subtly, in a way that's believable. And I loved the voice that Ee gave to Penryn. She doesn't wax poetry or complain shallowly (Juliette from SHATTER ME and almost all other heroines), and her voice comes as painfully sincere. A teenager thrust into the boots of a grown-up who is taking the responsibility but holding on to who she is the way she knows how. The fact is that nobody in this book is perfect, and that's definitely a change from the usual la-la-la the world is blowing up around me but nothing's my fault trend.

This is also the best book about angels I've read so far. Daniel Grigori, Patch Cipriano, and the Churches can all burn in a bloody hellfire as far as I'm concerned. Ee did her research. She definitely didn't mess up with the Grigori and the archangels. Somehow, she has spun it to a darker angle than most would be used to. The end definitely made me clutch my chest. I had no idea what would happen to the characters, and I zoomed through the last 100 pages because I couldn't bear not knowing what would happen to everyone. It threw me for a loop, but the book did end on a hopeful note that closed it off but had me banging my head when I realized that I don't know when the sequel is out.

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