ARC Review: Patch Up by Stephanie Witter

Summary: Skye followed her long time boyfriend to Seattle for their first year of college, but he dumped her after only a week. The relationship brought only pain and destruction in Skye's life, and yet, she can't bring herself to open up and live her life.

"What if I am already broken into pieces?"

She hates to be touched, hiding under her oversized shirts and behind her wild frizzy hair. Even her bubbly roommate can't reach her. And yet ...

"I'm the guy who knows how you can hurt so much that your insides feel like they're cut and bleeding."

The tall, handsome, and tattooed TA in her psychology class changes everything when he literally collides with her and confronts her. For the first time in a long time, she wants to try and open up to this guy whose dark, intense eyes can't hide his own pain despite his dazzling smile getting to her.

However, just when she's starting to live again, her ex-boyfriend comes back, breaking her time and time again, making it all the more complicated.

She wants to fight for herself and for this building thing with the TA, even when he pushes her away, but can two broken people patch each other up?

"I never thought colliding with someone could change lives, but it is possible."

***

**I received a copy in exchange for an honest review**

Patch Up was a really emotional read. Abusive stories are always really hard to read I think. But I've also found them to have wonderful character development and plot. And I definitely found that here. There was tons of emotional turmoil especially with Skye. I just felt so bad for her and wanted her to just stick up for herself and stop hiding but I understand that years of abuse made her think it was all her burden and no one else's.

I think my favorite part was how Skye and Duke met. She's in a psych class and he's a TA for the psych class. Who better to figure out something is wrong with someone else than Duke? And he could even tell right away that there was something going on with Skye and I just really, really liked that.

It was also nice that the plot wasn't predictable, at least to me. I was definitely surprised by lots of things that happened throughout the course of the story, and can I just say that the ending was so emotional that I had no idea how it would end!! I didn't think a hea could've been possible but of course I shouldn't have doubted a story with resilient characters.

One thing I didn't like was the back and forth fighting/ignoring/making up again aspect of the story. Otherwise I enjoyed it! 4.5 stars. 

ARC Review: Gathering Frost by Kaitlyn Davis

Summary: Will his kiss be enough to revive her frozen heart? 

Once Upon A Time meets La Femme Nikita in GATHERING FROST, a dystopian romance from bestselling author Kaitlyn Davis that reimagines the classic fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty.

Jade was only a little girl when the earthquake struck. Before her eyes, half of New York City disappeared, replaced by a village that seemed torn out of a storybook. Horses and carriages. Cobblestone streets. A towering castle. And, above all, a queen with the magical ability to strip emotions away.

Ten years later and Jade has forgotten what it is to feel, to care...even to love. Working as a member of the queen's guard, she spends most of her time on the city wall staring at the crumbling skyscrapers of old New York. But everything changes when the queen's runaway son, Prince Asher, returns. Jade is tasked with an unusual mission--to let the Prince capture her, to make him trust her, and then to betray his secrets to the crown. In return, she'll earn her freedom. But life outside the queen's realm is more than Jade bargained for. Under Asher's relentless taunts, her blood begins to boil. Under his piercing gaze, her heart begins to flutter. And the more her icy soul begins to thaw, the more Jade comes to question everything she's ever known--and, more importantly, whose side she's really on.
***

**I received a copy, as part of the blog tour, in exchange for an honest review**

Initial Thoughts: I absolutely loved it! I love retellings and I love a wonderful plot and characters. I was completely into the story and had such a hard time pulling away from this beauty. I can't stop saying enough how much I enjoyed Gathering Frost.

The Characters: I really loved Jade. For some reason, I just connected with her from the start which I thought would be hard because she is emotionless, but nope, not the case. Maybe it was because I just knew she would be a good person with a kind heart which she is. She's a great fighter as well as a really caring person even though she doesn't see herself with high regard. Jade felt completely genuine and I adored her for that.

Asher. Well swoon is all I can say! He's probably my favorite part of the story! Probably because he's the type of guy I like to see in books. He's really sweet, smart, and willingly to give his life up for others. I also loved how he helped Jade through her transition from the Queen's spell and was always kind and loving to her. He was perfect!

"You were so beautiful, but so hard, so cold. When I looked at you, I saw caged fire. Your spark was almost gone. It was smothered, slowly dying. And all I wanted to do was set you free." ~ Asher

The Story: The book starts off with Jade as a little girl in New York as the modern world and a older, magical world cross over and combine. The Queen from this older world takes over and anyone put under her spell is emotionless and Jade was one of the first be put under. Years later, Jade a trained fighter and still emotionless, goes out to check on some explosion that was triggered by the perimeter and that is where she meets Asher, the Queen's son who had ran away as a little boy and was never seen of again. Of course she goes to the Queen and tells her she saw his son and the Queen wants Jade to do something about this. Now I'll leave the rest of the story for you to find out but believe me, it's full of love and intrigue and mystery and absolutely wonderful!

The Romance: Jade and Asher's romance starts slow because well, Jade is emotionless and it's hard to love when you don't feel anything. When she does start getting her emotions back, their interactions are just so cute and love how they work together even though they still have secrets that they hide. So their relationship develops over the course of the book and Jade and Asher are so wonderful together. I love them soooo much. Everyone needs an Asher in their lives.

End Thoughts: Loved it! It's a great retelling and I think everyone can and should read Gathering Frost. Read it. It's an amazing story and I loved it. 5 stars.

Stacking The Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and is about sharing the books that you have received during the past week! The books can be print, digital, borrowed, won, or anything else imaginable!

So last week was pretty slow book wise. I only got a few books but I think this week will be a lot better because I've tons of books on their way from the library and I'm so excited for them to come!! I still have plenty of reviews to post as well - 4 of them to be exact and if this week goes as planned they will all get published. There is also a blog tour tomorrow so stop by for that as well!! Happy Reading.

eBooks I Bought 

Books I Got From The Library

(ebooks)

(physical)

Books I Received For Review

Lots of thanks to: Catherine Green!!

ARC Review: Soul Crossed by Lisa Gail Green

Summary: One Demon.

One Angel.

One Soul.

Josh lived a reckless, selfish life, so upon his death, escaping the eternal torments of Hell by assuming the role of a powerful, soul-corrupting demon is an easy choice. His first soul assignment doesn’t seem too hard: the mortal Camden is already obsessed with weapons, pain, and torture. If only Josh wasn’t distracted by Cam's beautiful friend, Grace.

Grace never expected to die violently at age sixteen, but now she’s an Angel, responsible for saving a soul. She can already see past Camden’s earthly flaws, so the job should be be easy. If only that handsome, playboy Josh would stop getting in the way.

It’s forbidden for an Angel to be with a Demon, so if Josh and Grace stop resisting each other, the results would be disastrous.

And only one can claim Cam’s soul.

***

"Perhaps she meant for me to save the boy behind him."

Initial Thoughts: I've always had a thing for forbidden romances. I mean, who wouldn't? I know for the most part that they end in HEAs but I love reading about the journey to get to that end, and I really enjoyed following Grace and Josh's journey.

The Characters & Story: Grace and Josh both die and end up in Heaven and Hell respectively. Josh decides to become a demon and Grace and angel. Their first task to save or damn a certain person's soul and that person is Cam, also known as the Anti-Christ. He just hasn't quite reached that point yet.

The short chapters alternate between Grace and Josh's point of view and it was interesting and funny sometimes too being able to see each others side and the different characters on each side and their roles. A really wonderful part of the book I thought, was that there is great character development. These characters had depth and for the case with Cam. It was utterly fascinating how he was able to act so differently with Grace and be sweet and light yet around Josh be scary and dark. *shudders* Great development I tell you. Not to mention great change too in people, like Josh who's completely full of himself in the start.

"I wait until she catches my eye, then wink. It was inevitable she'd look over eventually. I mean, I am sitting right behind the dork and I mean, I'm me."

Well that's Josh for you but the great part of books is that we get to see characters change and develop! Yay, now you must read it to see how this happens for Josh and Grace and just everyone in Soul Crossed.

Now, I'll just add that the romance isn't the complete focus of the story. Saving, or guess damning too, Cam's soul is a huge part. But I think both aspects of the story worked well together to create a fast moving plot with twists and revelations and mystery along the way.

End Thoughts: There is great character development as well as many surprises throughout Soul Crossed. The short chapters did take me awhile to get used to but they did make they story feel like it was speeding by, in a good way. And of course there is forbidden romance and it was hard to stop because I just wanted to see how everything would work out! Soul Crossed is a really easy, fun, and thoughtful book. 4 stars.

Blog Tour: Soul Crossed by Lisa Gail Green

Soul Crossed (Of Demons and Angels, #1)

by Lisa Gail Green 

Release Date: 02/25/15

252 pages

Summary from Goodreads:

"A wickedly romantic story that will have you cheering for Lisa Gail Green’s addictive storytelling. SOUL CROSSED is devilishly delicious!" — Martina Boone, author of COMPULSION and the Heirs of Watson Island trilogy

"Soul Crossed blurs the lines between good and evil with addictive characters and plot that will have you eagerly turning the pages." ~Kelly Hashway, author of the Touch of Death series.

One Demon.

One Angel.

One Soul.

Josh lived a reckless, selfish life, so upon his death, escaping the eternal torments of Hell by assuming the role of a powerful, soul-corrupting demon is an easy choice. His first soul assignment doesn’t seem too hard: the mortal Camden is already obsessed with weapons, pain, and torture. If only Josh wasn’t distracted by Cam's beautiful friend, Grace.

Grace never expected to die violently at age sixteen, but now she’s an Angel, responsible for saving a soul. She can already see past Camden’s earthly flaws, so the job should be be easy. If only that handsome, playboy Josh would stop getting in the way.

It’s forbidden for an Angel to be with a Demon, so if Josh and Grace stop resisting each other, the results would be disastrous.

And only one can claim Cam’s soul.

Add to Goodreads

Buy Links:

Amazon│Barnes & Noble│Kobo Books

My Review: 

"Perhaps she meant for me to save the boy behind him."

Initial Thoughts: I've always had a thing for forbidden romances. I mean, who wouldn't? I know for the most part that they end in HEAs but I love reading about the journey to get to that end, and I really enjoyed following Grace and Josh's journey.

The Characters & Story: Grace and Josh both die and end up in Heaven and Hell respectively. Josh decides to become a demon and Grace and angel. Their first task to save or damn a certain person's soul and that person is Cam, also known as the Anti-Christ. He just hasn't quite reached that point yet.

The short chapters alternate between Grace and Josh's point of view and it was interesting and funny sometimes too being able to see each others side and the different characters on each side and their roles. A really wonderful part of the book I thought, was that there is great character development. These characters had depth and for the case with Cam. It was utterly fascinating how he was able to act so differently with Grace and be sweet and light yet around Josh be scary and dark. *shudders* Great development I tell you. Not to mention great change too in people, like Josh who's completely full of himself in the start.

"I wait until she catches my eye, then wink. It was inevitable she'd look over eventually. I mean, I am sitting right behind the dork and I mean, I'm me."

Well that's Josh for you but the great part of books is that we get to see characters change and develop! Yay, now you must read it to see how this happens for Josh and Grace and just everyone in Soul Crossed.

Now, I'll just add that the romance isn't the complete focus of the story. Saving, or guess damning too, Cam's soul is a huge part. But I think both aspects of the story worked well together to create a fast moving plot with twists and revelations and mystery along the way.

End Thoughts: There is great character development as well as many surprises throughout Soul Crossed. The short chapters did take me awhile to get used to but they did make they story feel like it was speeding by, in a good way. And of course there is forbidden romance and it was hard to stop because I just wanted to see how everything would work out! Soul Crossed is a really easy, fun, and thoughtful book. 4 stars.

About the Author

Lisa Gail Green lives with her husband the rocket scientist and their three junior mad scientists in Southern California. She writes books so she can have an excuse to live in the fantasy world in her head. She likes to share these with readers so she's represented by the lovely Melissa Nasson of Rubin Pfeffer Content. She has a parrot but would most definitely get a werewolf for a pet if she weren't allergic. 

Lisa loves YA. She believes with all her heart that teen readers are ready and willing to experience things that some adults have closed their minds to, that books are the safest way to explore, learn, and escape, and that imagination is the key to just about everything. 

Author Links:

Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Tour Organized by:

YA Bound Book Tours

Review: Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis

Summary: Princess Snow is missing.

Her home planet is filled with violence and corruption at the hands of King Matthias and his wife as they attempt to punish her captors. The king will stop at nothing to get his beloved daughter back—but that’s assuming she wants to return at all.

Essie has grown used to being cold. Temperatures on the planet Thanda are always sub-zero, and she fills her days with coding and repairs for the seven loyal drones that run the local mines.

When a mysterious young man named Dane crash-lands near her home, Essie agrees to help the pilot repair his ship. But soon she realizes that Dane’s arrival was far from accidental, and she’s pulled into the heart of a war she’s risked everything to avoid. With the galaxy’s future—and her own—in jeopardy, Essie must choose who to trust in a fiery fight for survival.

***

Initial Thoughts: Oh. my. gosh. I loved it! I had great world building, lots of action, and amazing characters. It’s a sci-fi twist to Snow White yet it’s still a completely unique story. It is definitely a favorite book of mine.

The Characters: Meet Essie, or ya know, Princess Snow. She is one awesome, kickbutt, take no crap person. She’s a mechanic, a fighter (literally), and she’s really smart. I loved how she handled situations, wouldn’t back down, and would keep on fighting her way through life and all the hardships she’s gone through. She’s a great example of a strong, well developed character!

Dane. Sigh… he’s pretty amazing. Though I just knew he was up to something when he met Essie. The little jerk. Anyways, Dane has great character development as well and ugh! I can’t spoil things but he’s smart, caring, and a really great friend to Essie and other people.

The Story: Essie is living on Thanda which is a really super cold planet. It actually reminded me of where I live because it’s basically cold seven/eight months of the year. Bleh. While on Thanda she’s a super smart mechanic and fights to get money too. She also has these robots that are hilarious and named after certain characteristics; there’s dimwit, cusser, zippy and so on. One day, Dane crashes near her house and upon finding him, finds out he’s treasure hunting, for stories.

“So why are you here?”

“You’ll laugh.”

Unlikely. I told him so without a word.

“I’m treasure hunting.”

And so their story begins. There are lots of secrets from everyone, suspence, action, planets to see and people to visit, people to avoid, and people you out right wish were dead. There was also this one thing that I suspect from the start and when it was confirmed, just aw! evil, evil people. Also, what’s a scifi story without some characters having some pretty cool abilities?

The Romance: Essie and Dane’s realtionship that starts off as tolerant of each other, then friends, then frenemies, then tolerant, then friends again, and then in a relationship which I absolutely adore. They just work so well together! I love them. You’ll have to read to find out all the in-betweens of their journey!

End Thoughts: It’s snow white combined with scifi, I think much more needs to be said… besides the fact that I love it and it is now a favorite of mine. 5 stars.

Stacking The Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and is about sharing the books that you have received during the past week! The books can be print, digital, borrowed, won, or anything else imaginable!

Of course last week, a week where I has some days off of school, I get sick. Boy do I have the worst luck ever. I do have good news though that in between being sick, school, and work, I do have plenty on reviews I was able to type that I will be releasing over the week. I wanted to wait to post these this week because last week was just bad, the aforementioned - sick. And because life is just busy, I am/ will be trying to post meaningful posts as often as I can. I don't think I'll be doing any memes on Tuesdays for awhile because that's a work day and I'm never home until really late. Wednesday's are fine, I just missed last week because I was sick. I guess that's all the updates and don't worry I'm getting back to writing more reviews for you all! Have a great week and Happy Reading!!

Books I Bought 

(I actually just bought Invaded but I thought putting both covers next to each other would be pretty because they are really pretty!)

Books I Won

(e)Books I Received For Review

Special thanks to: Author, Author, Alyssa @WithTheBanned, and New Adult Book Club & Stephanie Witter.

Stacking The Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and is about sharing the books that you have received during the past week! The books can be print, digital, borrowed, won, or anything else imaginable!

These are all the books I have received in the past two months since this is my first official Stacking The Shelves post. I hope you enjoy! Happy Reading.

PHYSICAL BOOKS I BOUGHT

BOOKS I HAVE WON (ALL ARCS)

BOOKS I RECEIVED FOR REVIEW

AND THESE TWO LOVELIES ARE SIGNED

EBOOKS FOR REVIEW

                                                      (In a few days I will be receiving 

                                                        this book for a blog tour)

Lots of thanks to: @ARCycling, My Friends Are Fiction @Kris10MFAF, Jon @ScottReadsIt, BookOutlet, BenBella Books, K.R. Conway, and YA Bound Book Tours!!

Mini-Review: Pretty Girl by Amy Heugh

Summary: If there were one day that she could change it would be the day she was taken. 

After her parents’ divorce, seventeen-year-old Izzy Scott and her mother move to the old town of St. Augustine to begin a new life, a life beyond the media attention and the memories of the traumatic experiences that left an everlasting affect on their family. 

The former ballerina is trying to adjust to the outside world without suffering a panic attack and exposing who she is - all while getting through her senior year at a new school. That’s easy to say until she meets local boy Mason Winchester, a boy with a tragic past. 

Mason has a reputation for violence, but a love for motorcycles. At the age of eleven he lost his mother to cancer and from then he has been running from something, but could never really get away. 

Like any other angry teenager, he just wants to be left alone and to have nothing to do with anyone else because he believed that he had nothing to offer. That changes the moment he saw what was in the new girl eyes. 

Tragedy wasn't new to either of their lives but among the secrets and the memories the one thing they both never excepted was to find hope.

***

**I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review**

I really like the characters, I really liked the story. There was tons of emotion and well crafted plot and it was really unique I would say. The only thing I didn't like was the writing style. It was very descriptive and I just wasn't into it at all. I'm not really a person who likes in depth description and I just couldn't find myself enjoying it. 

Now I know people who would love the writing in this book. I didn't but that's okay. I still really loved the story and the characters and I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to have read this book. Heugh is very talented and I hope to read more from her in the future. I might even reread this book again because, who knows, maybe my mood played a part into the whole descriptive aspect of the book and I'll want to try again. It's just that I can't make myself skim books if I get bored, even if I'm really bored, and because I didn't skim parts of the book, it just made it feel like it was dragging on and on. Basically, I loved the story but didn't like how it was written. So in the end, this is still a very good book and I hope you think so too. I especially loved the ending. 3.5 stars.

Mini-Review: Tentyrian Legacy by Elise Walters

Summary: The legacy begins in the sands of Egypt in a time when an ancient city called Tentyris flourished. Its secretive people, ruled by the Council of the Zodiac, lived peacefully alongside humanity. That time was 53 B.C. More than two millennia later, the power of the Tentyrian people has been all but forgotten. The remnants of memory that live on have been turned into twisted folklore about vampires and astrology.

One girl on the cusp of womanhood is about to discover just how real that folklore is.

With telepathic powers that made her parents send her to a mental institution, Arianna Parker always knew she was different but she never thought a job interview would lead to the discovery of her being a prophesied descendent of an ancient Egyptian vampire race. Nor for that matter did she think she would fall in love with Maximos Vasilliadis, a 2,225 year old vampire. Maximos is the creator of the Tentyrian Brotherhood a secret order of warriors, pledged to prevent a catastrophic event predicted to wipe out Earth.

Maximos believes Arianna is a descendent of his kind the Tentyrian vampires and she has been destined to lead their cause in saving the world. With her 25th birthday approaching, an event that will change her forever, Arianna finds herself caught in the middle of warring vampires some of whom intend to use her and her power of telepathy for evil.

***

**I received a copy from LoP group on goodreads in exchange for an honest review**

I really, really enjoyed this book! It had wonderful world building, amazing characters and plot, romance, vampires, history...I loved it! It was so unique. 

The first part of the book is alternating between the past (53 BC, Egypt) and the modern day. This set up the back story and world building and I thought it was brilliant. Then the next parts are only modern time but some years later. So Ari, the main character, is around 25 and that's where things get interesting.

And let's not forget the romance. I love Ari and Maximos together, so perfect, sigh... Well anyways I really liked their relationship and how it was developed. Loved it actually! Also, I loved Ari's relationship with Raad, her personal doctor. You can see how she's the daughter he never had and their friendship felt very genuine and a great part of the story. 

So in the end, this is a great book. The only thing is I wished the first part of the book went faster because I just wanted to get to the story! 4.5 stars!