Jumping Genres in June Giveaway Hop

 

 So this hop is for books outside our usual genres. I'm not entirely certain what my usual genres are...I know I'm big on romance. Usually paranormal or contemporary. So I guess fantasy would be outside of my usual genres?

Yeah, let's go with that.

FANTASY.

For this hop, I'm giving away one copy of...

OR  

The winner gets to choose which of these they want. I loved the crap out of them both, and I honestly have no clue which I like better. I flip flop between them both all the time. So whichever one the winner chooses, it's all good. Fantastic. WOOT.

Details: 

- One winner will be randomly chosen to receive one of the books listed above.

- This giveaway is US ONLY.

- My giveaway policy applies, so please check it out before entering!

- Fill out the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

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Blog Tour: Perfectly Messy by Lizzy Charles (Review of Effortless With You & Giveaway)

 

Click on the banner above to check out the full tour schedule!

Effortless With You by Lizzy Charles 

Release Date: 2013

Pagecount: 249

Publisher: Swoon Romance

Series: Effortless With You #1

Source: Publisher in exchange for an honest review

Buy It: Amazon | B&N | Kobo

Description from Goodreads:

School is out and Lucy is ready for the perfect summer: lazy days at the pool, invitations to the most exclusive parties, and romantic dates with her hot new boyfriend. That is, until she lands in trouble one too many times and her parents issue the ultimate punishment: a summer job. Suddenly, the summer can't end fast enough.

To make matters worse, the job is painting houses with Justin, the most popular, egotistical guy in school. Spending all summer with Justin might be other girls' dreams, but definitely not Lucy's. After all, Justin is cocky, annoying, and a jerk. So what if he's the most beautiful jerk Lucy's ever seen? Or that his grin makes her forget she’s mad at the world? Or that maybe, just maybe, there's more to Justin than Lucy realizes. Only one thing is certain: it won’t be the summer she wanted, but it might be exactly the one she needs.

I was kind of skeptical about this book at first. From what I could tell, this would be a cute book that I'd enjoy, but right at the beginning I kind of started to question that because the main character danced along the lines of one that would bother me the whole time. After getting used to the character and her personality, and getting into her story, I ended up enjoying Effortless With You so much.

Lucy has an attitude. Not really a snarky kickass attitude, but the kind of attitude some teenagers have that make you want to slap them. She starts out with a questionable relationship with her parents, and she's one of those mean girls who isn't outright mean, but stands by as her friend is mean. Oh, and she must have the hot I'm-only-here-to-get-in-your-pants boyfriend to top it all off. It kind of takes a bit to get to know Lucy and realize that she isn't terrible all the time. Actually, she isn't terrible at all. She just insecure and trying to do the best for herself in the way that she thinks is best--which is hard because she isn't too in tune with herself and who she is. 

And THAT is why I ended up loving Lucy. Not only does she have a magnificent character arc, but she turns out to be such an easy character to relate to. Don't get me wrong, I still wanted to slap her for her attitude problem, but by the time the story was over I actually felt like I could be friend with Lucy. You know, if she were a real person and not a fictional character. 

Justin, on the other hand, was likable from the very beginning. Yeah, he had that perfect golden boy thing about him, but he wasn't a douche. His perfect thing wasn't a cover for the A-hole he really was. He was just a super nice guy who tended to send mixed signals all the freaking time. That was my only real problem with Justin, though--that he was so clueless. And even if he wasn't clueless, it bothered me that he never really went for it with Lucy--that she had to. I LOVE that she did, but if Justin had feelings for Lucy for as long as he said he did, then he should have spoken up. Seriously. 

The storyline turned out to be a mix of Lucy's shenanigans and the happenings that lead to Lucy becoming more in tune with herself. Pretty close to everything that could go wrong for a teenage girl goes wrong for Lucy in this book. I'm not even kidding. This girl has some bad luck. I loved seeing Justin there through it all, though, even when he was sending his silly mixed signals. I especially loved watching Lucy's relationship with her mother transform. That was literally perfection, in my opinion.

And now, because I'm thinking about things going wrong for our lovely MC, I'm just going to say: ZACH PISSED ME OFF. So. Much. Not even because he was a jerkwad. Nope. Because of what he said when that thing happened at Matt's party. I honestly had to stop and say, out loud, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" when he said it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wanted to punch things at that part. Ahem. "Why are you wearing that dress if you didn't want this?" Or something to that effect. Whatever. Pissed. Me. Off.

Aaaaand end rant.

Back to the actual review. The romance was cute and sweet, but it did take a while to establish itself. More than once I wondered if Lucy would end the book single. That wouldn't have bothered me TOO MUCH, so long as she and Justin were still besties. But no worries. They work things out and they're adorable. I even loved a majority of their working up to being a couple. They're both good people and I liked the happiness. My only real problem was how long it took them to become a THING. 

Overall, I positively enjoyed this incredibly sweet story. Lizzy Charles has written a fabulous novel with an enthralling story and characters that won me over and had me rooting for them all the way through the very last page.

Perfectly Messy by Lizzy Charles 

Release Date: May 27, 2014

Publisher: Swoon Romance

Series: Effortless With You #2

Buy It: Amazon | Kobo

Description from Goodreads:

Popularity isn't everything it's cracked up to be. Justin Marshall knows this better than most. For the captain of the basketball team, small business owner, and son of Minnesota's next governor, life can get pretty overwhelming. But Justin can handle anything as long as he has Lucy, the girl who fell for the man he’s trying to be.

But for Justin and Lucy, finding time together proves challenging. Stolen kisses and whispered promises just aren't enough. That is, until scandalous photos of the couple are leaked to a press intent on creating a juicy scandal during Justin's dad's gubernatorial campaign. And when Lucy becomes fair play for the tabloids and gossip pages, Justin does the only thing he can to protect her: he breaks her heart.

For Lucy, junior year is everything she hoped it would be: new friends, second chances, and a boyfriend she can’t stop kissing. That is, until the boy she’s pretty sure she loves chooses the life his family wants for him, over her.

Now it’s up to Lucy to teach him what it really means to have everything. Because for Justin, being who everyone needs him to be just might cost him the one person he can’t live without.

When Lizzy Charles isn’t scrambling to raise her two spunky toddlers or caring for premature and sick babies as a neonatal intensive care nurse, she’s in a quiet corner writing or snuggled up with a novel and a few squares of dark chocolate. Black tea keeps her constant and she loves guacamole. She married her high school sweet heart, a heart-melting musician, so it’s no surprise she’s fallen in love with writing contemporary YA romance novels.

Author Links: 

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook

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I'm Not on Hiatus

But I probably should be.

I've been slacking recently, I know. I've been slacking at pretty much everything except school. And why is that? Because I am ALMOST DONE. With high school, at least. I'm kind of coasting my way through everything else until after graduation, when I'll have the summer to make up for how completely behind I am.

So I'm not on hiatus. I'm just being lazy pants.

I graduate on the 7th. After that (well, probably the Monday after, because I have plans on the 7th and I'll probably spend the 8th sleeping) I will be all over blogging and bookish stuff like cray cray. I have some posts scheduled between now and then--like a review for tomorrow!--so I won't be totally absent. Plus, I've posted a little over on Bookish. And I plan to post again next week. So I have plans to be around. Just not as much as usual.

And of course I'll be on Twitter. Am I ever NOT on Twitter? Hmm.

So yeah. I just wanted to give y'all that quick little update because I'd kind of disappeared from the blog and I wanted to let you know what was up with that.

We're good now, right?

Yeah. We're good.

Blog Tour: Biggest Flirts by Jennifer Echols (Review & Giveaway)

 

Click on the banner above to see the full tour schedule! 

Biggest Flirts by Jennifer Echols 

Release Date: May 20, 2014

Pagecount: 336

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Series: Superlatives #1

Source: Publisher in exchange for an honest review

Buy It: Amazon  

Description from Goodreads:

Tia and Will’s lives get flipped upside down when they’re voted Yearbook’s Biggest Flirts in this sassy novel from the author of Endless Summer and The One That I Want.

Tia just wants to have fun. She’s worked hard to earn her reputation as the life of the party, and she’s ready for a carefree senior year of hanging out with friends and hooking up with cute boys. And her first order of business? New guy Will. She can’t get enough of his Midwestern accent and laidback swagger.

As the sparks start to fly, Will wants to get serious. Tia’s seen how caring too much has left her sisters heartbroken, and she isn’t interested in commitment. But pushing Will away drives him into the arms of another girl. Tia tells herself it’s no big deal…until the yearbook elections are announced. Getting voted Biggest Flirts with Will is, well, awkward. They may just be friends, but their chemistry is beginning to jeopardize Will’s new relationship—and causing Tia to reconsider her true feelings. What started as a lighthearted fling is about to get very complicated…

 

This book was incredibly cute and fun. Our two main characters met right at the very beginning, and then the story took off from there, not leaving any room for the story to become a bore. I honestly enjoyed this whole story, though it did frustrate me at times. When it comes down to it, Biggest Flirts was fun to read and though I haven't read much of Jennifer Echols' works, I totally want to read more.

Tia, our protagonist, was actually not too bad of an MC. I did like reading the story from her point of view, and I liked her personality. She did annoy me a time or two, mostly when she got prickly or when she pushed Will away even though everyone in the whole world could tell she didn't really want to. It took her a while to get on board with how she really felt about things, but I did enjoy watching her take that little journey. 

Will was so cute and sweet. He wasn't absolutely perfect, but he was realistic, and if he were real, I'd definitely be friends with him.He had his own issues that he was working through while Tia dealt with hers, and I liked that. He wasn't there solely to aid Tia in whatever she did--he was a real person, with real conflicts, too. I didn't very much enjoy his need to find a girlfriend (or, more specifically, anything he did that involved Angelica), but he was such a nice guy that I kind of got over that by the end of the book. He won me over by that point.

Their relationship was both frustrating and adorably sweet at the same time. I loved them together--they were funny and clearly liked each other. But their rocky road to getting to that point got on my nerves sometimes. Mostly when Angelica was thrown into the situation, and Sawyer. And I really, really liked Sawyer. However, I was glad that their love story didn't play out completely the way I imagined it, and that Angelica played a smaller role in the story that I'd anticipated. As far as romance goes, though, I was satisfied with what brewed between Will and Tia. They were the cutest "friends" and then I was glad whenever things ventured into more. They made the more adorable flirty couple, and I definitely was rooting for them the whole way through this novel.

The story as a whole surprised me with how it went. I was expecting to be jealous as eff the whole time, because Will had a girlfriend and Tia "didn't want a boyfriend" and all that jazz. Instead, Will and Tia were good friends even when they weren't together and I got my fill of cuteness through that. Plus, Will's girl (if she can even actually be considered that, which I kind of doubt) wasn't too big of a deal. I ended up loving the path this story took, and the only part I didn't really like was the end. The book just ended too abruptly for me. I'd like to have gotten more from the ending--more with Will and Tia, and more with Tia and her family. 

Overall, I highly enjoyed Biggest Flirts. It was a quick, fun read, and I loved getting sucked into Will and Tia's story. I am seriously excited for more Superlative books, and more books by Jennifer Echols in general. I'm especially excited for Sawyer's book, which is going to be third in this series. Yay!

Jennifer Echols was born in Atlanta and grew up in a small town on a beautiful lake in Alabama—a setting that has inspired many of her books. She has written nine romantic novels for young adults, including the comedy MAJOR CRUSH, which won the National Readers’ Choice Award, and the drama GOING TOO FAR, which was a finalist in the RITA, the National Readers’ Choice Award, and the Book Buyer’s Best, and was nominated by the American Library Association as a Best Book for Young Adults. Simon & Schuster will debut her adult romance novels in 2013, with many more teen novels scheduled for the next few years. She lives in Birmingham with her husband and her son. 

Author Links: 

Website | Twitter 

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Cover Reveal & Giveaway: Forever Kinda Love by Clara Stone

Forever Kinda Love by Clara Stone

 Release date: August 15th, 2014
Series: Lovelly #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance  
Age Group: Mature Young Adult  
Cover Design: Regina Wamba at Mae I Design & Photography

Ebook will be available at: Kindle | Nook | Kobo |Smashwords |Paperback

Synopsis:

Life’s. Little. Surprises. The last thing seven-year-old Carrigan "Ace" Casper foresaw was an eight-year-old Heath Lovelly walking into her life the day her mother died. From that moment on, Heath sticks by her side, slowly becoming her strength, her confidant, and her entire world. What she doesn’t know is, she's his saving grace, too. Ten years later, Ace is handed another crippling challenge that threatens everything in her almost perfect life. Only, this time, she doesn't turn to Heath, hiding the truth instead. But Heath knows Ace too well and won't back down easily. He's ready to do whatever it takes and will stay by her side until she accepts that their love is the kinda love worth fighting for. Will he be her forever triumph or her unexpected downfall? Two lives. One story. And an unexpected journey to falling in love.

Priya Kanaparti lives in the beautiful city of Boise, ID. Unlike what most believe about Idaho, it’s more than a sack full of potatoes. When she’s not writing, you’ll catch Priya reading YA and NA books, mostly romance, and enjoying time with her family. She is a proud CW TV addict. She also write Mature YA and New Adult romance under the name Clara Stone. She is published through Reuts Publications.

Author Links:

Facebook | Twitter | Blog | Goodreads | Pinterest

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Dante Walker Readathon Kickoff!

Hey, everybody! Today kicks off the readathon Steph from Ohana Reads and I are hosting for the Dante Walker trilogy by Victoria Scott! I posted about this fun little event here, and now I'm going to rehash the details and add a few little updates. WOOT.

 -  The Readathonstarts today and ends on the 16th!

- Through the Readathon, we'll be reading all three books in the series. If you're curious about the reading order, then check this out:

 

(All the covers are linked to their Goodreads pages)

- When reading the books, tweet your progress with the hashtag #ReadDanteWalker. Or tweet a favorite (non-spoilery) quote. Or tell us how you adore the eff out of Dante. Just be sure to use the hashtag so we all can see it!

- We will be running a group on Goodreads and a group on Facebook, so there's MORE ways we all can chat about the awesome that is Dante Walker. I'll generally be running the Facebook group, while Steph will hold the reigns of the Goodreads group, but we can both totally join in and help out on either site if we want. It's going to be all kinds of fun!

 Goodreads | Facebook

- There will be giveaways! We have a few super cool swag packs to give away to some lucky winners participating in the Readathon (they will be randomly chosen from Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter).

- We will have a Twitter chat at the end of the Readathon, on May 16th at 8 PM CST. Victoria Scott will be joining us to answer some questions and give away some swag!

- If you want to only participate in part of the readathon (i.e. you only have time to read The Warrior so you only stick to one book instead of all three, or if you have to join late), that is totally okay! Everyone is welcome. This whole thing is to bring Dante readers together to interact and have some Dante fun. ;)

And that's it! Read some Dante, have some fun, and if you have any questions--any at all--feel free to contact me or Steph and we'll help you out. Pow! 

My Twitter: @jessbooklover
My email: makesmeworse12@gmail.com

Steph's Twitter: @OhanaReads
Steph's email: ohanareads@gmail.com

Blog Tour: Torn Away by Jennifer Brown (Giveaway)

 

Click on the banner above to see the full tour schedule!

Torn Away by Jennifer Brown 

Release Date: May 6, 2014

Pagecount: 288

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Buy It: Amazon 

Description from Goodreads: 

Born and raised in the Midwest, Jersey Cameron knows all about tornadoes. Or so she thinks. When her town is devastated by a twister, Jersey survives -- but loses her mother, her young sister, and her home. As she struggles to overcome her grief, she's sent to live with her only surviving relatives: first her biological father, then her estranged grandparents.

In an unfamiliar place, Jersey faces a reality she's never considered before -- one in which her mother wasn't perfect, and neither were her grandparents, but they all loved her just the same. Together, they create a new definition of family. And that's something no tornado can touch.

Two-time winner of the Erma Bombeck Global Humor Award (2005 & 2006), Jennifer's weekly humor column appeared in The Kansas City Star for over four years, until she gave it up to be a full-time young adult novelist. 

Jennifer writes and lives in the Kansas City, Missouri area, with her husband and three children.

Author Links: 

Website | Twitter | Facebook  

 

Jennifer's publisher is sponsoring a fabulous giveaway for a copy of Torn Away! Before I give y'all the Rafflecopter, though, just a few details:

- The giveaway is US ONLY.

- My giveaway policy applies.

- Enter through the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Blog Tour: The Warrior by Victoria Scott (Review & Giveaway)

 

Click the banner above to check out the full tour schedule!

The Warrior by Victoria Scott 

Release Date: May 6, 2014

Pagecount: 352

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Series: Dante Walker #3

Source: Publisher in exchange for an honest review

Buy It: Amazon | B&N

Description from Goodreads:

War between heaven and hell is coming, but Dante Walker makes it look damn good.

Dante’s girlfriend, Charlie, is fated to save the world. And Aspen, the girl who feels like a sister, is an ordained soldier. In order to help both fulfill their destiny and win the war, Dante must complete liberator training at the Hive, rescue Aspen from hell, and uncover a message hidden on an ancient scroll.

Dante is built for battle, but even he can’t handle the nightmares where spiders crawl from Aspen’s eyes, or the look on Charlie’s face that foretells of devastation. To make matters worse, the enemy seizes every opportunity to break inside the Hive and cripple the liberators. But the day of reckoning is fast approaching, and to stand victorious, Dante will have to embrace something inside himself he never has before—faith.

It's strange to think it was only a little over a year ago when I was falling for Dante and his story. I've been so into this trilogy and this character, and now his story has come to an end. Lucky for all of us, Victoria Scott has cooked up the best ending we could have asked for to send Dante off with a BANG.

**I'm warning you now, if you haven't read the first two books, things are about to get spoilery up in here. It's kind of hard to review this book without spoiling the first two. I am NOT spoiling this one, though. So if you have yet to read The Warrior, then no worries. You're safe. EVERYONE ELSE, THOUGH. Watch out.**

The Warrior picks up where The Liberator left off. Aspen's in hell, Charlie's soul is in the enemy's hands, and Dante's got swag for days. They're preparing for war, and Dante is all over that. He pretty much wants to do anything to get Aspen back. And thus begins this installment of Dante Walker's story. The plot kicked off pretty much right away and flew straight through to the end. Seriously, this book flew by way faster than I wanted it to. Victoria Scott's writing is just as enthralling as it was in the last two books, and the story she wove was amazing. Plus, I totally cried at one point. Toward the end. Because of reasons.

Dante was still his snarky, arrogant self (like I said, he's still got all that swag), but it was nice to see how he's changed between the first book and this one. Yes, he still possesses his attitude, but he's better about it now. He's not rude with most of the thoughts that pass through his head. He's not perfect now by any means, but he's better, and I love that he's evolved to the point where he ended in the trilogy. I've always loved Dante Walker, but I'm glad to say he's improved. 

Honestly, though, he could have stayed the same and I'd still heart him. I can't help it. ;)

Charlie has turned into this strong, confident person, and I am pretty much in awe of her. She's so resolute now. Still kindhearted and great, but her tough side really pushed through in this book--sort of like the end of The Liberator but...more. Yeah. MORE. And Aspen...I'm not going to go into detail with her, but those dreams, man. Cray cray. In the awesomest way. And all the rest of the characters, I was so glad to slip back into the world they inhabit. Some of them have remained near and dear to my heart, while others I now want to slap/punch/kick because they deserve it. Kraven in particular is a character that I liked before but am legit in love with now. And there's a new character or two, and I enjoyed them. All of the characters (even though some of them make me punchy) were entertaining and awesome, in their own ways.

The romance in this book comes from a few places, the largest portion Dante and Charlie, of course. Those two...goodness, those two. They're just such a great couple. Dante's all attitude and snark and Charlie's all sweetness and caring. Together, they are seriously perfect. I would not change that pairing for the world. And then there's Annabelle and Kraven. I love Kraven, so I was totally on his side the whole time. That is all I'm going to say about that.

I've been trying so hard to pick a favorite book from the trilogy ever since I reached the end of this one. I know The Liberator is my third favorite (I enjoyed it, but definitely not my fav of the series), but I kind of feel like The Collector and The Warrior are tied. I love them both, and they're both my favorite--in different ways. The Collector introduced us to Dante and his world, while The Warrior was a breathtaking, kickass conclusion to one of my favorite trilogies.

Overall, The Warrior was a phenomenal end to the Dante Walker trilogy. There's action, there's sweetness, and there's sure of a heck lot of badassery going down within these pages. This book, and the trilogy as a whole, is definitely a must-read. Pow!

Victoria Scott is a teen fiction writer represented by Sara Crowe of the Harvey-Klinger Literary Agency. She’s the author of the FIRE & FLOOD series published by Scholastic, and the DANTE WALKER trilogy published by Entangled Teen. Her books have been bought and translated in eleven foreign markets including the UK, Turkey, China, Poland, Israel, Germany, Australia, Brazil, Taiwan, New Zealand, and the Netherlands.

Victoria lives in Dallas with her husband and hearts cotton candy something fierce.

Author Links: 

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Newsletter | Tumblr

 

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