YA Crush Tourney Match Win

So yesterday one of my fictional boyfriends won his YA tournament. And Jennifer L. Armentrout promised that if Daemon Black (from the lux series) won she would release an Origin photo teaser for the upcoming book. So here is the photo for all to view. 

So excited and can't wait for Origin's release. Also keep an eye open for upcoming matches because if Daemon wins the whole tournament then Jennifer will sit down on July 14th and write the last chapter of Opal in Daemon's point of view....which let me tell you will be AMAZINGNESS!!!! Now I haven't done my review yet for the start of the Lux series, but it's in queue to be done...so look for it in the upcoming weeks. 

And I stole a few other photos from Jennifer's blog.

Teaser Tuesday Quote

Her gaze clashed with another stare –a cold, bright blue-eyed stare that somehow stood out from the rest. Pulling her attention away from just the eyes, she noticed the boy's jet-black hair. And just like that, she remembered. 

She remembered him.

She remembered...her cat. 

Damaged 2 by H.M. Ward

First I wanted to thank H.M. Ward for selecting me as one of those who got this as an ARC. This was my first one and I can't even begin to say how excited I was. And it was an awesome read so that makes it all the better. And hopefully she will continue to do these so that her fans can help show their support with their blog posts and reviews.

I also want to give a big shot out because recently H.M. Ward found out that she has sold over one million books since she started self publishing in 2011. YEY!!!! I'm very excited and happy for her to have met such an accomplishment in such a short period of time!!

This book is considered New Adult Romance and I would tend to agree with that rating. There are some parts of this book that aren't for everyone to read.

WARNING

***GRAPHIC SEXUAL CONTENT***

Overview: 

Home isn't supposed to be dangerous, but for Sidney it is. Returning home means that she has to face her past. It's not just the man who hurt Sidney that makes it horrible, but the family that didn't believe her. They were dead to her, but now that her mom is really dying things seem different. It's a chance to set things right.

What Sidney doesn't realize is that she's dragging Peter into a collision course with his past. Peter must deal with the demons haunting him if he wants to move forward with Sidney. He's willing to give up everything for her, even wade deeper into his past life to help her move forward. But, Peter isn't sure if he can get over what happened to him in New York.

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First I would like to draw your attention to this book cover. Now don't get me wrong the cover is steamy and makes me excited to see how that plays out in the book, however, when I look at this guy compared to the hottie from the first cover.....they are different. First this guy is not as muscular and this guy has the dark hair and I would say that the first cover the guy kind of has more of a sandy blonde hair. But yeah that's just a side note.

This story picks up right where the last one left off. However, I will say I'm not sure if I've ever experienced so many different emotions in such a short time span as I did with this book. Also as a side note this book co-insides with another series by H.M. Ward, which is the Arrangement series. However, it is not mandatory that you read this series (although I HIGHLY recommend it because it gives you a better sense of the new characters that are introduced in this book).

One of the first things that happens in this book is that Peter asks Sidney what she knows about the Ferro family. As she is slightly confused as this question she begins to answer him. It isn't until she really gets into some of the details about the father, mother and three sons that she realizes who it is that Peter really is. Instead of Dr. Peter Granz standing in front of her she knows that he is really Pete Ferro who has quite the history. Also if anyone is curious where the Granz came from….his dead girlfriend/fiancée. Now while on some level I understand this, it is also kind of weird. I mean really what if 5 years down the line Sidney and Peter decided that (in a different world) they wanted to get married….she’s going to be taking the name of his dead girlfriend/fiancée…..awkward much? Well anyways when finding out this information everything goes downhill. They start fighting because the reality of the situation is that Peter would probably never have told her the truth if he didn’t have to. For her he lied at the core of everything and she puts him up there with craptastic Dean. And of course with any argument those that have the Y chromosome tend to be extra dumb and say things they really don’t mean and this situation was no different. Peter tells Sidney, “Walk through that door and don’t come back.” And what does my girl do? Walk out the door and not look back.

Sidney is still going to make the trip up to Jersey to see her mother before she dies. The original intention was to go with Peter, but since that currently is not going to happen, she decides to go by herself. Because I’m sure that is a fantastic idea considering all the facts and everything. Two points for the smart chick. Well thank god for best friends because Millie talks Sidney into letting her go with her and Sidney tells her everything that happened and when I mean everything I mean everything and they have a “good” bonding moment between the two of them. 

Eventually they need to stop for gas and out of all of the places to stop they stop at the same one douche bag Dean is at. So of course Dean does what Dean does best walks up and says, “Hey baby.” Really? Not been together how long? You saw her with another man and you still going to call her hey baby? Ewww. Anyways of course an altercation starts up because we need drama in our reading. But it also escalates besides a few choice words thrown at each other and dun dun dun duh Peter comes to the rescue and then some. Go Peter Go Peter kick douches butt!! WOOT WOOT!!

After this it is decided (by Peter) that Millie will no longer be joining the trip with Sidney, but Peter will be with her for the rest of the trip and what an awkward trip it is. They make a stop at a motel for the night and end up in the honeymoon suite. hehehe and it’s even more awkward than the silent care ride, but very amusing, especially since the nice old lady who owns the place knows Peter Ferro personally.

From here tension just builds and builds and it’s not just the sexual tension, it gets to the point that Peter tells Sidney, “I gave you a chance to know me like that and you threw it away. I don’t give second chances, Colleli. You have no right to ask me anything like that anymore.” Ouch….I mean kinda harsh…yes she kind of deserves it, but at the same time she doesn’t and she has gone through a lot of stuff….come on now.

At this point in the story is where the humor (among other emotions) starts to come into play. Sidney wears a towel (over her clothes) to bed…you’ll have to read to find the humor behind why she does this. I love that she tells Peter, “If you try to take it from me, I will kill you.” So if there was any doubt about not touching or removing the towel those have been answered. And then a little later in their fighting when Peter truly sees something that is behind a lot of Sidney’s emotions he has an aww….moment. “I won’t hurt you Sidney. No matter what happens between us, I promise you that.” See…..awww…..such a sweet twisted man.

After Sidney goes to sleep that night we truly find out the first time Dean…..violated (and that is putting it mildly) Sidney. After reading this part I had tears in my eyes and I guess for lack of a better understanding, felt sick. I know the imagination can do a lot, but reading this, it felt “real” in a sense and gave me a truly better understanding of Sidney’s character and how far she has truly come in her life. Ohhh and it also makes me want to kick the crap out of Dean (if he were real) over and over and over again.

When they are on the road again one of my favorite scenes happens. Sidney is driving and there are birds in the road, thinking they are going to move she keeps going and one bird doesn’t move. So instead of hitting the bird in the middle of the freeway, Sidney swerves to miss and then her and Peter go get the bird out of the middle of the road. If that wasn’t enough….she takes the bird and is going to get it fixed because obviously he is hurt. She keeps calling it a Turkey, but that’s really not what it is. The best part is the fact that the “turkey” is with Sidney the rest of the book…..it has some pretty awesome moments…for a bird and all.

Peter and Sidney need to take a detour through New York to meet up with Peter’s eldest brother Sean before heading to Jersey. I honestly think this was my favorite part of the book…..I laughed so hard at the whole thing. Sean and Avery are from the Arrangement series and it is told by Avery’s point of view so in this book we get Sidney’s point of view and the reader actually get’s to see how someone perceives Avery. By the way I love Avery. I have a love-hate relationship with Sean and that’s only because he can’t get his head out of his ass to see straight and speak up like he does about everything else in his life. I will only give a few lines from this scene because it has to be read to fully appreciate the whole context, but when Sean goes to introduce Avery to Peter and Sidney it goes like this, “This is Avery Stanz, my…” “Your, what?” Avery says, as she leans forward and bats her eye lashes at him. And because Sean remains silent Avery states, “I’m Avery Stanz, his favorite call girl.” OMG really if you were Sidney meeting these people for the first time what would you think?? So I find the whole situation comical especially because Sean doesn’t like Sidney because she throws his crap right back in his face constantly.

After this a lot happens. We meet the rest of the Ferro family. That’s an interesting family that Peter belongs to. I grow to hate Sean some more. I slightly like the youngest Ferro, Jonathan. There are some sad tearful moments. And some HELL YEAH moments. Some more aww…moments and I like the way the book ends. Peter and Sidney go through a lot of stuff through the book....since starting off the road trip on a bad note. Sidney finally comes to terms with the whole her and Dean issue and I must say I love that part. However, the book gives the reader enough closer for this story, but is able to continue on because of two other series that H.M. Ward is writing. Overall this was an excellent read and I read it in one day because I just couldn't put it down. I laughed, I cried, I was happy, I was sad, and some many other emotions all rolled into one. I recommend this as a MUST read.

As a final last note....I will still say that I am sad because my character Mark doesn't make an appearance in this book and it makes me sad.....I really wanted something to happen for him in this one. 

Incinerate

Damaged by H.M. Ward

So I know my last review was a book by H.M. Ward, but what can I say I love the woman and her books. But actually the reason I want to squeeze this in is that Damaged 2 comes out next week and I want to make sure to get this out so that you can read this one in time for the next book and continue reading about Sidney's life to see what happens.

Overview:

Life sucks. And, as soon as Sidney picks up the pieces something always knocks her back onto her butt. It's never pretty, but this time is different. This time pretty isn't even the right word.

Peter is the personification of perfection. It's like he fell off his angel perch in purgatory, because let's face it--any guy that hot has got to be naughty. He was probably sent here to ruin her life.

Peter is beyond beautiful with his sexy blue eyes, dark hair, and toned body. Add in his charming wit and Peter is everything Sidney ever wanted in a man, but when things get hot and heavy Peter shows her to the door. Sidney takes the walk of shame and leaves. It's the end of the worst blind date ever. Her life couldn't possibly reach higher levels of suckage, but it does.

The next morning everything comes crashing down. The insanely hot guy from last night, the one that saw her half naked, is teaching at the front of the class room.

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First let me say that I love this book. I'm pretty sure that H.M. Ward hasn't written a book that I haven't fallen in love with and just can't put down....just something about her writing that hooks me. With that said I thought when I read the synopsis and first started reading that it was going to be one of those books; boy meets girl by chance happening, they try the apart thing for some horrible reason from their past, fall in love and YEY there ya go and now are inseparable. Now while this book does have some of those, it also has soo much more and more twists and turns to truly keep the reader interested and wanting more, wanting to know what will happen next. When reading this book I went through so many different emotions from the beginning to the end that sometimes I questioned myself and my emotions.

From the beginning of the book the reader knows that something terrible has happened in Sidney's past that she ran away from and is still trying to overcome whatever it was that happened. She even cut off her family and up and moved to go to college; where no one knows who she is and no one can find her. The beginning of this book makes it obvious that Sidney isn't comfortable around guys and yet she is still going on blind dates with her best friend Millie. I found myself laughing as Sidney talks about being on this blind date meeting up with some guy name Dustin and looking around the restaurant for him, because Millie and her boyfriend Brent will be a little late. As she is looking around she feels someone looking at her and as she looks she sees a pair of eyes that are as blue as gemstones staring at her. Sidney assumes this is her date (and you know what they say about assuming) and she just walks up to the table, as the hott sexy man looks her over, and when she gets there she says, "Hey" and sits down. He politely give a "Hey there" back. She goes ahead and orders herself a glass of wine and says to him, "You know, you're nothing like I thought you'd be." He responds with a, "Really? So, tell me what you think now." She responds by telling him that she thinks the night will be a good one, which is a rarity for her. I love his response because he tells her, "It's going to be interesting to say the least." They carry on a little more this way, until Millie comes over and says that the man in front of her is....SURPRISE.....not Dustin and they need to go to their table. At this point I was laughing because some random dude just let a girl sit down and help herself to ordering and made it seem like he's her date. Poor girl, hates going on blind dates because she doesn't like most of the guys because they remind her of her past and here she finds someone she actually is attracted to and she doesn't even know him.

So as Sidney goes to meet her real blind date Dustin, she wishes she would have stayed with the stranger, and I do too. Dustin a typical looking cowboy from Texas and has way too much money from the way he is dressed. So Dustin or Dusty is kinda a tool when Sidney sits down he says, "So....it's a good thing it's not raining tonight." As Sidney asks why....my thoughts were already on some cheesy pick up line and sure enough I was not disappointed. Dusty's answer is, "Because sugar melts in the rain." Really? Does that actually work on women? I think I would have told the dude...ewww.....and left right there. But no Sidney decides to stay for her friend. Her thought process is that even though everything in her is telling her to run and leave, she decides to stay and "get" through this and try and make it work. So as Dusty keeps giving her little touches (that freak her out) and eventually touches the back of her hand, she keeps telling herself, don't yank your hand away. 

**Word to the wise....if you have to tell yourself not to be disgusted and to not yank your hand away because you're uncomfortable...DO THE EXACT OPPOSITE AND LISTEN TO THAT LITTLE VOICE IN YOUR HEAD**

So as they continue to carry on a conversation Dusty keeps moving closer to her and touching her in different places. He finally places his arm over her and rubs her shoulder. As Dusty keeps telling her how hot she looks (he keeps creeping me out) he finally decides that after just maybe 10 minutes or so of meeting that he is going to put his hand on her knee and very slowly slips his hand under the hem of her dress and works his way up her thigh. Again really? Creeper? Holy hell you just met the girl.....gave her some cheesy line and then after talking to her about generic stuff thinking that is going to happen?? Ewww first off and yeah...no. So what does my girl Sidney do? Well if something bad hadn't happened to her she might have handled it a little different....but that's not what happened. She freaks out and stands up out of the booth super quick, hits a waiter that was walking by and food goes flying everywhere and she just takes off.

Now knowing that something bad with a guy is in her past I was shocked by what happens next. She runs into the sexy guy she sat down with and he is having car trouble. So let's pick up the random dude we just met and offer him a ride home. Then let's go into his apartment. Again my really question comes out. What is wrong with people. But anyway one thing leads to another and after talking they start making out and some clothes start to come off and then the phone rings and everything stops and Peter (the sexy man) pretty much kicks Sidney out of his place. Well I guess she won't be doing that again any time soon.

So the next day as Sidney gets some unfortunate news about one of her professors that she is the TA for, she heads to class to only find Mr. Tall Dark and Sexy Dr. Peter Grantz as the new professor and new boss. Pure Awesomesauce is what that is. So as Sidney tries to make it through this.....ummm...bump in the road, it seems these two are kind of fated to be in each others lives. Not only is she his TA, but they also share another passion; sing dancing and they are both AMAZING at it. Just to get an idea of some of the stuff they do I found a video on YouTube from Dancing with the Stars that shows what some of the advanced moves can look like.

Here is a little swing dancing video: 

So while I love Peter and Sidney together.....I could also just have them be friends and be okay with it. I only say this because this is probably one of the only books where I like the main character, but my heart is kind of with another one....and he doesn't come up a ton, but it's enough for me to want Sidney to want to be with him. Mark first comes up on Peter's second day of class. Sidney has to fix the microphone and in order to do that she has to get under the the podium and as she fixes it and gets up that Mark yells for the class, "Let's hear it for the techie TA!" with a woo to go along with it. This is the first time that Sidney actually "sees" Mark and even though he's a year younger than her, he smiles and beams at her and she can't help but smile back at him. And at that moment Peter is actually jealous....even though they can't be together because of University guidelines. Although in what story does anyone ever follow those? Anyways this is about Mark. So there is another night where they Sidney and Mark run into each other and he's super sweet and makes her laugh and smile and he is flirting with her. But my favorite part of Mark is when he explains what kind of guy he is, even though Sidney's attention is on someone else at the moment. He tells her, "I'm not a rebound guy, Sidney. I'm a lover-her-with-my-whole-heart kind of guy, and since I really like you, it's so damn hard not to kiss you right now. But, I can't.....Forgive me?" Awww.....it was at this moment that I would have forgotten all about the Professor/Boss that is out of reach and not touchable and run into Mark's arm's and kissed him like no tomorrow. But alas it isn't and won't be meant to happen.....so I'm at least hoping something good does happen for him in the next book. He's my little underdog guy that I'm rooting for.

So Peter and Sidney both have messed up pasts that come out in the book and it's probably why they are so comfortable around each other....they both recognize the screwedupness that is their lives. They both ran from their previous lives to start over somewhere new. However, everyone knows that eventually past and present always collide and nothing good ever comes from it. So that is pretty much what happens to Sidney, we find out why she cut off her friends and family and moved thousands of miles away to Texas to start over. Why she doesn't like to be touched and why she is the oddity that she is. We also find out about Peter's past and what his own particular scars hold. 

Sidney's past wasn't at all what I was expecting...I mean it carried a little of what I thought, but once you learn the extent of it....I want to go around smacking stupid people. I just can't believe someones family would do that. I'm telling you anymore parents need to take some kind of test to become parents. So Sidney's brother pops back up in her life after sending her letters and he brings someone with him that shouldn't be there.

I see a smack down happening in the near future. So questions that need to be answered. What will Peter and Sidney do? Will she quit college? Or will he give up his job? Or will they go their separate ways and try to be with other people? What happens when her brother shows up? What will she do? Is she going to confront her past? What will Peter do? What will happen when mystery boy shows up? What rumors are going to spread now? OMG what about Mark? lol Sorry I needed to add that...like I said I really like him. But this was an amazing read and kept me interested from the first moment Sidney sat down at the wrong table. Make sure to read this because Damaged 2 comes out 6/24 and I'll have my review up that day. 

Incinerate

Teaser Tuesday Quote

I recognize the handwriting. I stare at it, unblinking. A wave of shock nearly knocks me over. He found me.

Frigid by J. Lynn

Okay so this blog post is a little different. I was lucky enough to get into this and it's for one of my favorite authors. J. Lynn's (or Jennifer L. Armentrout) new title Frigid that is set to release  on e-book at the end of July. And I'm excited to share it with you. Already Frigid has been given the honor of being named a Romantic Times Top Pick.

So there are 4 things you should know. 

1. Because there is a lot of excitement surrounding Frigid, there will be a special e-book pre-order promotion. It has been worked out that the distributor will....wait for it....release Frigid a full two weeks early -- on JULY 15th!!! -- if the pre-order goal is met. EEEEP!!! I'm excited are you excited? So if you want to be able to read Frigid in its entirety before its original release date, all you have to do is PRE-ORDER THE E-BOOK NOW! What are you waiting for? GO! Pre-order it!

 Pre-Order Links: Barnes & Noble / Amazon

2. So what is there to do in the mean time? Well if you need something to hold you over until Frigid releases you can start right now, you can read the first three chapters of Frigid for free! Just read below!

Here is the link to the website or you can copy an paste the link below. 

Frigid

http://www.scribd.com/doc/148100523/Frigid-Sneak-Peek

3. So what do you think about the Frigid cover? Want to see some behind the scenes photos that are sure to make you swoon? You’re in luck! Below you can watch a slideshow of all the behind the scenes photos from the photo shoot! Go on and watch it. We’ll wait, because there is still one more great surprise! Here is the link to the website or you can copy an paste the link below.

 Slide Show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je7Lo2wqAAg&feature=youtu.be

4. And last but not least, if you live near Philadelphia, PA, you're in for a very special treat -- Jennifer will be in Philly in November signing not only Frigid but also the last book in her immensely popular Covenant series, Sentinel!! AMAZINGNESS!!!! (I'm very jealous because I don't live near there...*sigh* but still excited!!) But that's not all, Adam, the super hot cover model from Frigid will be there as well! So, yes, you'll get to meet Jennifer and Adam! Plus, there will be other great prizes that you seriously won't want to miss out on (dinner with the author and model, perhaps?)! Stay tuned for more details to come!

So hopefully you are as excited as I am! So pre-order Frigid, read the chapters, and watch the slideshow. And enjoy and leave some comments with your thoughts!!

Collide: The Secret Life of Trystan Scott by H.M. Ward

My next review is another of my favorite authors that came out back in September 2012. This series is not a set of novels, but a set of novellas. The whole series is a short read of anywhere from 175 to 250 pages. H.M. Ward writes a lot of short novellas that are meant as in-between reads of other novels. I love H.M. Ward's work...now don't get me wrong sometimes I wish the novellas were a little longer and not soooo many cliff hangers....but I'm hooked on her work and cannot give her enough praise for her books.


About the Author:

H.M. Ward is a NEW YORK TIMES & USA TODAY bestselling author. Ward is a native New Yorker living in Texas. Ward enjoys writing novels and novellas with twisting plot lines and unexpected turns.  Her ability to shock the reader has grown a following of over 70,000 fans, and a social reach of over 17 million people.  Ward has strong marketing skills and became a full time writer less than a year after her first novel appeared on the market.

Ward was featured in the Washington Post for her debut novel Demon Kissed. Series by H.M. Ward include Secrets, Scandalous, The Arrangement, Demon Kissed, Vampire Apocalypse, and The Secret Life of Trystan Scott.She has also been one of the top 100 Amazon authors at various times.  This year, Ward sold her 100,000th book. 


Overview:

When Mari accidentally overhears that Trystan is in love, she can't believe it. He's pining over some girl that doesn't know he's alive. The confident swagger and endless stream of girls is a facade. It conceals his loneliness and hides how messed up he's really become trying to flee from a life that's battered him to his core.

Trystan tries to figure out how to make it clear how much he loves Mari, but every insincere kiss and every broken promise haunts him, because she knows them  all. Now, Trystan has to prove to the one girl he's actually fallen in love with that she's not just another conquest. 

Mari has no idea who Trystan loves, but she can tell that whoever it is has captured his heart entirely. Soon Mari sees the man behind the mask, the guy that Trystan tries so hard to hide. Everything about him is appealing, and too hard to resist. 

In a moment of desperation, Trystan uploads a love song he wrote for Mari, but before he can show it to her, the video goes viral. Everyone wants to know who he is, and the only thing shielding him is an anonymous account name and some thick shadows hiding his face. Trystan realizes that the consequences of revealing his identity will be disastrous. Everything he's tried so hard to hide will be exposed. It's a secret that is impossible to keep and the only girl who he wanted to hear it will never believe him.

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I love when stories give you first person point of view because you have a better sense of what the person is truly seeing and feeling. With third person you have an overview of everything, but in real life that isn't the case, so it almost seems like you are living through the character and it's your own life. With that said I also hate first person because I ALWAYS want to know about the other person and what they are thinking. For example; I love the Twilight series, but it's all from Bella’s point of view. If she doesn't see something or do something then it doesn't really happen. One of the things I loved that I wish Stefanie Meyer would finish is Midnight Sun because it's from Edward's perspective. I have a better sense of his true character (not just the way Bella sees him) and his thoughts and feelings. What he feels when he first sees Bella and the complexity of the situation and how he feels when he can't hear her thoughts. It's the little things like that. Another great example is the Fifty Shades of Gray series; they are all from Anna's perspective, however, at the very end of the third book we get a scene with Christian and Anna together and I LOVE IT because it is all from Christian's point of view. His complexity is amazing and I'd love to know what he truly thinks about things when they story is re-told by him. Now that I've gotten way off track back to Collide. I love first person point of view for this reason, but have always wanted it both ways, I've always wanted both characters to tell the story. 

Well H.M. Ward does it for me in this book. The reader gets both Mari (not Mary, but Mar-e) and Trystan's point of view. My issue with the way this book is set up is that I feel like I'm doing double the work reading the same scene over and over. As the book gets further in the re-doing scenes lessen up so that the reader doesn't have to read the scene of Mari walking down the stairs to see Trystan talking to Seth and how that conversation plays out. Then re-reading the exact same scene of Mari walking down the stairs seeing Trystan and him talking to Seth and how the conversation plays out from Trystan's point of view. After awhile it does get kind of repetitive and eventually it evens out so that the story still goes back and forth between Mari and Trystan, but at the same time it keeps moving forward.

Now onto the story line for this book. I will tell you now it is really hard not to give too many scenes away in doing this review because there is so much I want you to know about these two. I really have a love hate for this book….but overall my love wins for it. Mari and Trystan are high schoolers and I’m just going to throw this out there….they are DUMB! Just dumb like OMG really? Kind of dumb. Trystan is the oldest in his senior class and Mari is the youngest in her junior class and it throws almost two years between the two of them. They are put together for drama class because Mari is very anal retentive and a huge control freak (although for Trystan it’s not that she’s a control freak….she just like things a certain way…aww….how cute….to anyone not in love with her it would be considered a CONTROL FREAK!!!) and therefore, is the best one to help Trystan make sure he stays on task and learns his lines for the school plays. This “relationship” of theirs goes on over the course of 3 years and it is through this relationship that Mari and Trystan become pretty close and friends, however, the friendship ends when play practice does. But it is during these times that Trystan truly gets to know Mari and when Mari gets glimpses of the real Trystan that he tries to hide to the world.

Okay basis of this book is that Trystan wants to tell Mari that he is in love with her; it’s for real, no games, no nothing else, he just wants to be with her. However, it should be known that Trystan is known as a hit it and quit it kind of guy and he goes through “relationships” like no bodies business. For Mari a kiss means something and she didn’t just give them away to anyone who came looking. What’s funny about this whole situation between these two is that if Trystan didn’t tell Mari that kisses didn’t need to mean something and pretty much how he “gets it on” he wouldn’t have to worry about Mari not believing him. It’s his own damn fault to begin with. However, with that said I still kind of like the guy. I mean he was given a crap hand of cards and makes the best out of what he can. Trystan has quite a few secrets that no one knows about him, which considering this day and age, I’m surprised no one knows anything.

Now onto to Trystan’s so called best friend….who I think is a douche and I do not like him at all and I’m calling it now….douche boy has a thing for Mari. Trystan confides in Seth about his feelings for Mari (which I think was dumb, but hey he’s supposed to be Trystan’s best friend) and what are the first words out of said douche’s mouth, “The girl’s a tease. What’s the point of chasing after her if she won’t put out? Don’t do it.” Furthermore, whenever and I mean whenever Seth sees Mari he is ALWAYS mean to her. Most of the time when he sees her it’s, “Hey Virgin” (so original) and then he will get annoyed with her and ask why she’s always with Trystan…looking for a pity bang? Or that poor Trystan has to put up with her and its such hard work for him and blah blah blah. And yet Seth will constantly look Mari over and check her out…ewww. Oh and I love Mari and Katie’s (her best friend) nick name for him…..Seth Sexbot. Anyways Seth is always blocking Trystan from trying to tell Mari that he likes her and I just have a feeling that there is more to the picture than meets the eye.

So another thing that pops up in this book is that there is a YouTube video posted from some guy name Day5705 that is of him singing, in the dark, a song about a girl that he is in love with and she doesn’t know he exists. Of course our mystery guy is none other than Trystan and of course he wrote the song for Mari…aww…again so sweet. Oddly enough as soon as Mari hears it she falls in love with it. YEY!!!

But for most of this first novella we have the establishing of characters, the drama that is going to fill the book, and the secrets that…ohhh no….what if they come out? Overall it was a good read and kept me interested and wanting to continue to the story to find out…is Trystan going to tell her? Does Mari love him? Even with all his flaws and around the block ways. What if it comes out that he’s Day5705? Does he want the fame? So many questions that I need answered……but must continue the series to find out. 

Soul Fire

Teaser Tuesday Quote

"Then her body followed, sneaking up on him like a ninja in the middle of the night." 

Daimon by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Okay so the next book review is on one of my favorite authors. This book came out back in early 2011 as a prequel to Half Blood which is part of the Covenant series. 

About the Author:

# 1 New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Jennifer L. Armentrout lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. 

All the rumors you heard about her state aren't true. 

Well, mostly. When she's not hard at work writing, she spends her time, reading, working out, watching zombie movies, and pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russel Loki. 

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories...which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. 

Jennifer also writes New Adult and Adult romance under the pen name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.  

Overview:

"Love in my world usually ended up with someone hearing 'I smite thee!' as she was cursed to be some lame flower for the rest of her life."

For three years, Alexandria has lived among mortals—pretending to be like them and trying to forget the duty she'd been trained to fulfill as a child of a mortal and a demigod.
At seventeen, she's pretty much accepted that she's a freak by mortal standards... and that she'll never be prepared for that duty. According to her mother, that's a good thing.But as every descendant of the gods knows, Fate has a way of rearing her ugly head. A horrifying attack forces Alex to flee Miami and try to find her way back to the very place her mother had warned her she should never return-the Covenant. Every step that brings her closer to safety is one more step toward death... because she's being hunted by the very creatures she'd once trained to kill.

The daimons have found her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This book or novella is a really quick read and gives the reader just a little tiny taste of what the future books have in store. This book opens up with Alexandria Andros' life when she is seven and she is being poked and prodded at and evaluated to determine where she will fall within their world. As a half blood Alex (as she likes to be called) has two options in life; 1. to be sent to the Masters and fall into servitude or 2. train at the Covenant and be a Guard or even a Sentinel. Luckily for Alex, who is always a trouble maker, doesn't like to be touched and as an old women looks down upon her and is ready to send her into servitude, Alex does the typical Alex and kicks the women in the shin. Alex herself even says she was prone to random acts of stupidity. She considered it to be one of her many talents. 

Then we are thrown into the future to Alex being about 15 or 16. She is on the beach with her boyfriend Matt and she is thinking about the last 3 years of her life. Alex (or as her mother calls her Lexie) and her mother have moved several times, leaving the Covenant and its protection and Alex doesn't know why they left to begin with. Some of those moves had been because they couldn't truly stay too long in one place for fear the Covenant might come looking and some of the moves had been because of Alex and her less than attention getting butt kicking ways. One guy grabbed her the wrong way...or as Alex put it mauled her and so what does any half blood girl do? Punch him and break his jaw of course....what else would you do?

So Alex is dating this guy Matt. Matt seems like an okay guy I mean he's shared his heart and soul with Alex and she doesn't really tell him anything....but I mean come on what is she going to say? I am a decedent of the Greek gods and my mother is a Hematoi and I'm a half blood because my mom had an affair with a mortal and hey here I am!!! Not likely...so as Alex and Matt are on the beach Alex looks into Matt's green eyes and yet thinks about her first crush, "The forbidden, older guy with thundercloud eyes –the one so far out of my league he might as well have been a different species." I find this little fact interesting...I mean how old is said guy with thundercloud eyes? Why is he out of her league? We do find out that he is a pure-blood guy and apparently in Alex's world Pures were off limits to half bloods like Alex........LAME!!

So anyway back to Matt...you know the guy in front of her she is currently dating and making out with and who has happy hands that Alex doesn't really want because she envisions Mr. Hot Pure blooded gray eyes that isn't there. Matt feels like he has done something wrong and between this and two dumb idiots that obviously had too much to drink and try to touch and beat the hell out of Alex she kicks their asses and while I'm all GO GIRL GO GIRL...Matt's not really into that kind of thing. Matt is the kind of guy who wants to save a dolphin...I mean whale. He wants to save whales.

The next day Alex is cleaning a little garden balcony and as she starts to work with her little garden spade, something "feels" off. Then she sees it....a daimon.....a creature Alex was trained to kill. When Alex goes to get her mother the world almost seems to stop because hovering over her mother is another daimon covered in her mother's blood sucking all of the aether out of her. As the daimon goes to attack Alex against the wall she still held the garden spade, which by luck was made out of titanium; which happens to be the only thing that can kill a daimon that's convenient, and the daimon goes poof into blue shiny powder. Almost like  magic or fairy dust....just its blue and not gold. As all of this is happening the daimon from the street is in the house and as Alex goes to make her escape she takes one last look at her lifeless mother's body and then flees out the two story window.

Alex is now on the run. She has no where to go and no other family. As time goes by she finally makes the decision to go back to the Covenant and the closest one from Miami is in Tennessee. So nasty, dirty, homeless Alex makes her journey to the only other place she knows as home. She runs into a little more trouble on the way because of course daimons are following her. I mean come on what else better do they have to do?

Alex had about four lessons she remembers from training; 1. daimons don't work well together, 2. they don't travel in packs, 3. they don't share food, and 4. they don't hunt half bloods. Apparently whoever taught Alex didn't get this memo because this is the hard situation Alex finds herself in. What will she do? How will she survive? If she dies....how will we ever know who the older thunderclouded eyes belong to?? So many questions that need to be answered. You'll have read Daimon and then half blood to find out the answers to these questions. This book gave me enough of an interest to want to read the next one to see what happens. Look for Half-Blood's review in the coming weeks.

Soul Fire

Sneek Peek Quote

As I stared into his green eyes, I thought about my very first crush –the forbidden, older guy with thundercloud eyes –the one so far out of my league he might as well have been a different species.

Existence by Abbi Glines

Okay so for my first post I chose a book that, yes I know came out back in 2011, but I just came across this series and fell in love with it. Who wants to talk about Death and him being tall dark and sexy....please raise your hands......or just keep reading…..

Overview:

What happens when you're stalked by Death? You fall in love with him, of course.

Pagan Moore doesn't cheat Death, but instead, falls in love with him.

Seventeen year old Pagan Moore has seen souls her entire life. Once she realized the strangers she often saw walking through walls were not visible to anyone else, she started ignoring them. If she didn't let them know she could see them, then they left her alone. Until she stepped out of her car the first day of school and saw an incredibly sexy guy lounging on a picnic table, watching her with an amused smirk on his face. Problem is, she knows he's dead.

Not only does he not go away when she ignores him, but he does something none of the others have ever done. He speaks. Pagan is fascinated by the soul. What she doesn't realize is that her appointed time to die is drawing near and the wickedly beautiful soul she is falling in love with is not a soul at all.

He is Death and he's about to break all the rules

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Okay so this book got a lot of mixed reviews and when reading over what others thought about it I found myself laughing at a few different things. First, people were complaining about the names. Next, THANK YOU Abbi for not picking boring normal names that everyone else picks. Pagan is not that odd and yes while Dank is a different name it is short for Dankmar, which per the author, "Dankmar is a German name that means "famous for his spirit" I thought that meaning fit "Death" well. My uncle's nickname was Dank. He passed away when he was 16. I thought Dank would make a good nickname for Dankmar."  I also agree considering that Dank is an original deity from way back in Ancient Greece that the name is truly fitting.

So who doesn't want to be protected by Death himself? I mean really what can hurt you? Nothing!!! Because its Death and if Death decides it's not your time and he refuses to take your soul then what? Well those questions are answered in this book.

When Leif, the most popular guy in the school and star quarterback, whom Pagan pretty much hates, approaches Pagan to ask for tutoring help she doesn't offer her assistance at first. Both interactions between the two of them are kind of awkward because Leif seems bored and not really wanting to be anywhere near Pagan and Pagan just doesn't like Leif and she tells him as much. However, Leif accepts the unsaid challenge of changing Pagan's opinion of him and she also begins helping Leif with speech class because he is dyslexic and needs some help.

After spending time together Pagan begins to see a side of Leif she didn't know was there and she begins to like him and they are pretty much friends. However, the oddity of the situation is that Leif ignores her in the hallways at school and she let's it happen and doesn't think a thing of it. One would get the impression that Pagan would be considered the nerd or loser of her class, however, she was last years homecoming queen and her best friend Wyatt is the star basketball athlete already being scouted by colleges and her other best friend is Miranda, who is also Wyatt's girlfriend. Then Leif throws a curve ball out asking if Pagan will be going to the football game? She hates football and has never gone to a game before and Leif ignores her at school, but hey you coming to the game Pagan and maybe watch me play while you're there? Really? And I love that she says no and doesn't think anything more of it. It isn't until Wyatt points it out to her that Leif wanted Pagan to go and was asking her but that went over her head.

When Death (a.k.a. the soul because Pagan doesn't know he is Death yet) becomes intrigued with Pagan he seems like the "big brother" who is looking out for her and helping her. One of best lines he says to Pagan is after making her smile, "There that's better. I like it when you're smiling. If the football kid keeps making you frown I'm going to take matters into my own hands." hehehe I'd be pretty scared if Death himself came after me. So the next time Pagan sees Leif he says she does a lot of cute things, but isn't just cute. For being the star quarterback and Mr. Popular at the school and used to date the head cheerleader who of course is a nasty piece of work, he is TERRIBLE at flirting. After Leif misses a session with Pagan to "be with" Kendra (a.k.a head cheerleader and ex-girlfriend) Pagan is a little more than upset and ends up leaving school and gets into a car accident. Which is where Death comes in and instead of taking her soul he saves her and so begins their little adventure.

When Pagan awakes in the hospital she finds the soul by her side every night and he sings to her....songs created just for her. However, the interesting twist is that as she leaves the hospital she agrees to start dating Leif, who felt horrible about the accident and stayed all night to make sure Pagan would be okay. It's super cute the way he says it all to her, "I don't want you to just be my tutor. I want you to be the girl I look for in the halls every morning and save a seat for in the cafeteria. I want you to be the one waiting for me when I walk off the field at my games. I want you to be the one I pick up the phone to call just to make me smile." Aww........see....super cute...although if he hadn't been a douche to begin with maybe Pagan wouldn't be in the hospital.

So things get more interesting from here because once Pagan returns to school she and Leif are officially dating. However, there is a "new" sexy musician who joins the school and as Pagan goes to see who this Dank Walker is she sees "the soul" in human flesh. I feel the book is at its best during this time because Dank toys with Pagan and she always seems to be mad at him and yet attracted to him at the same time. He also catches and holds the attention of none other than Kendra....yey...NOT!! Leif hates Dank because he openly "gawks" at Pagan and since Leif and Pagan are dating that's a no no. Dank doesn't like Leif either and whenever Leif and Pagan kiss there is a growl that Pagan hears in her mind. Speaking of which Dank/Death can speak to Pagan through thoughts alone and Dank can hear Pagan's when she is afraid. I find this odd and cool at the same time, but why only with her? But again at the same time AWESOME!!! This actually comes in handy because since Death didn't take Pagan when he was supposed to others "try" to take her to right the wrong.

Most of the story consists of this love triangle between Leif, Pagan and Death. Death loves Pagan, but isn't meant to share his life with anyone, especially a soul since he is Death. Leif loves Pagan and would do anything to make her happy. Pagan likes Leif and is in a relationship with him.....however her heart is somewhere else.

There are happy moments, sad moments, a little heartbreak, crazy moments and stolen moments. When I started this book I was really rooting for one guy, but by the time I got half way through it and to the end I was completely in love with the other guy. Which is a rarity for me...normally the guy I choose in the beginning is the one I stick with. Then the ending is what really got me I was so EXCITED!!!!! And then I was like what???? What does that even mean??? Good cliff hanger for leading into the 2nd book Predestined.

Incinerate