Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Dare You To by Katie McGarry

• Pub. Date: May 28, 2013
• Publisher:Harlequin Teen
• Pages:462
• Series: Pushing The Limits #2
• Goodreads/Amazon/Book Depository

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."

"No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again....

"I dare you..."

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

First Line: I'm not interested in second place.

Review: If you have already read Pushing  The Limits you already know about all the hype surrounding Dare You To and the hype is very well deserved. Thanks to a sneak peak first chapter that I read a while back of Dare You To I already knew that this book wasn't going to be a Beth and Isaiah love story but Beth and a new character named Ryan, even then I was still holding out hope that maybe she will end up with Isaiah until about midway through the book when Ryan started to really grow on me and I realized that he is what Beth needs, someone to take a hold on her and wrench her out of the downward spiral that is her life.

I knew I was going to like Beth from the very beginning even though there were moments when I just wished I could knock some sense into her because of her stupid decisions such as taking the blame for her drug addicted mom and trying to help her when clearly she didn't care for any help. The girl is broken badly, she comes from a messed up situation and the worst of it is she has lost all hope herself for anything better. There were so many times when she just broke my heart and when it comes down to it I found myself really rooting for her and wanting better for her.

Now Ryan took some getting used to. One because well he wasn't Isaiah and two because in the beginning he just seemed immature especially with the whole dare that started it all. Well needless to say I misjudged Ryan, he comes from a dysfunctional family, his family gives off the image of the perfect family but it's far from it. Not to mention I did feel his character grew a lot and I found myself thinking how awesome he is about midway. All I know is by the end of the book I got why Ryan was what Beth needed.

Overall this was an excellent read. Katie McGarry did it again creating an emotional roller coaster of a book with characters that were very realistic. 

Memorable Quotes: ~ "A muscle near my eye ticks. On rare occasions, bunnies can develop rabies, and Scott did warn me she was rough around the edges. He failed to mention that razor blades are her softest layer."

"A silver of hope sneaks past my walls and I slam every opening shut. Emotion is evil. People who make me feel are worse. I take comfort in the stone inside of me. If I don't feel, I don't hurt."

"...I'd love to kiss her right now. Not the type of kiss that makes her body come alive. The type of kiss that shows her how much I care - the type that involves my soul."

Review: Wicked Kiss by Michelle Rowen

Wicked Kiss by Michelle Rowen

• Pub. Date: February 26, 2013
• Publisher: Harlequin Teen
• Pages:448
• Series: Nightwatchers #2
• Goodreads/Amazon/Book Depository

MY KISS CAN KILL. 

I used to be ordinary Samantha Day, but that's changed. Now, after one dark kiss from a dangerous boy, I can steal someone's soul...or their life. If I give in to the constant hunger inside me, I hurt anyone I kiss. If I don't...I hurt myself. 

Bishop is the one whose kiss I crave most, but if I kiss him, I'll kill him. Then there's another boy, one I can't hurt. One whose kiss seems to miraculously quell my hunger. They're both part of a team of angels and demons that's joined forces in my city to fight a mysterious rising darkness, an evil that threatens everyone I know and love. I just wonder if I'll be able to help Bishop-or if I'm just another part of the darkness he's sworn to destroy.... 

NIGHTWATCHERS 

When angels and demons must work together, something beyond evil is rising...

First Line: Crave used to be a prime hangout for dangerous monsters, but tonight I seemed to be the only one here.

Review: So Wicked Kiss starts right up where Dark Kiss left off. Samantha is still in search of her soul and Bishop is still slowly losing his mind. The Gray's are still increasing in numbers and some are becoming quite strong.  There are a few new characters introduced and a couple of characters from the previous book with bigger roles for instance Cassandra, an Angel sent down from heaven who has secrets of her own and a mission that is separate from the others, and then there is Jordan, she was in the last book as the mean girl but she ends up having a bigger role in this book and I have to admit I'm starting to like her character and the slowly building friendship that her and Samantha are developing.

One word that I can use to describe Samantha in this book would be "determined". Her hunger was growing to where she was having a hard time controlling it and she didn't let anyone stop her from finding her soul. She took matters in her own hands which I loved. She is also discovering more of her powers and what it means to be a nexus and I loved the moments she learned about Bishop's past , there was a lot of bad things in his past so it was interesting to see how she dealt with it while still feeling the way she did about Bishop. 

There was a ton of twists and turns in this book at times it felt like too much was going on but it still held my interest. Also safe to say there is no love triangle. 
I really thought with the way things were going with Kraven in book one there would be one developing but nope...nothing. Although at the same time I do like Kraven more so I guess secretly I was hoping she would go for Kraven since he makes things more entertaining.

Overall I enjoyed the book and the series to where I would pick up the next book...if there is a next book, I'm not sure since everything was wrapped up in a pretty little bow in Wicked Kiss. Although I'm hoping there is since even though things were wrapped up there seems to be a lot the author can work with to write another book. And I'm curious to see what happens next with not just the main characters but also with Jordan and Carly.

Review: Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz

Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz

• Pub. Date: June 21, 2011
• Publisher: Harlequin Teen
• Pages: 352
• Series: Spellbound #1
• Amazon/Goodreads

What's a girl to do when meeting The One means she's cursed to die a horrible death?

Life hasn't been easy on sixteen-year-old Emma Connor, so a new start in New York may be just the change she needs. But the posh Upper East Side prep school she has to attend? Not so much. Friendly faces are few and far between, except for one that she's irresistibly drawn to—Brendan Salinger, the guy with the rock-star good looks and the richest kid in school, who might just be her very own white knight.

But even when Brendan inexplicably turns cold, Emma can't stop staring. Ever since she laid eyes on him, strange things have been happening. Streetlamps go out wherever she walks, and Emma's been having the oddest dreams: visions of herself in past lives—visions that warn her to stay away from Brendan. Or else.

First Line: It's always embarrassing to have someone take you to school.


Review: I finally picked Spellbound up, I was kind of swayed away from reading it before because of all the cliches that this book followed but I caved in and bought it because I really do love books that have to do with reincarnation, curses and star-crossed lovers. And true this book has a ton of cliche but somehow the author made it work. Spellbound I found to actually be a very fast paced read and actually somewhat of a page turner.

Emma's had a pretty messed up life, brother died and then her mom soon after. Her step-father is a drunk who practically killed her in an accident, so she sets off to live with her extremely wealthy aunt in New York. She has all the lies planned out so no one will figure out who she is since her story is posted all over the internet. She ends up going to some exclusive private school where she makes friends and enemies. What she didn't expect was Brendan to walk into her life and the insane instant attraction she had towards him.

Okay first off if you are a follower of my blog you know how much I hate any kind of insta-attraction/love it bugs the crap out of me, and I was ready to shove this book aside but I kept reading and I can't believe I'm going to say this but the curse that was put on them well the insta-attraction was justified, it made sense. I think this the only book I can say that about so far.

As far as the characters Emma was the star of the book. She went through a lot of tragic events but yet she is still coming out strong and growing. And I loved how she stood up to the bullies at her new school. As for Brendan he was sweet, but he was just...too perfect. The secondary characters were okay not as fleshed out as I would have liked them to be. 

The best part about the whole book for me was the curse and learning about the background history of it and how it all came to be. Overall this was a fun read. 

Review: Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry

Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry

• Pub. Date: July 31, 2012
• Publisher:Harlequin 
• Pages: 416

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.

But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

First Line: : "My father is a control freak, I hate my stepmother, my brother is dead and my mother has...well issues."


Review:

Contemporary is not something I read. I've only read two this whole year including this one. And Pushing The Limits has had such an impact on me that I am now actually adding more contemporary books to my must reads. Plain and simple McGarry has created such a riveting and heart wrenching story about two characters who even though complete opposites couldn't be more alike.


Echo and Noah have been through a lot. Echo is the popular girl gone loner and considered a freak with all those horrible scars on her arms which she can't remember how she got them. Her world has been turned upside down. Her brother is dead, her mom has something to do with that horrible night that changed her entire life, and her dad is married and having a baby with her former babysitter.

Noah...oh man this boy is complex, he is the bad boy at least that is what everyone sees on the surface but deep down there is so much more to Noah. He lost both his parents to a fire and is being bounced around foster homes while trying to figure out how to get custody of his two little brothers who he thinks is living in a home where they are being abused.

I can go on and on about the two main characters, they were so real and believable never once did I find them to be unrealistic. And not just them but all the characters in the book from Beth, Isaiah, even Mrs. Collins and Echo's dad were all multifaceted which made even reading parts that included them in it just as gripping as the parts that only involved Echo and Noah.

I experienced a whole whirlwind of emotions while reading Pushing The Limits. I caught myself on the verge of crying at some points while others I would be laughing or angry and at times nervous and full of worry. It was really a rollercoaster of a book and I highly recommend it.

Early review: Dark Kiss by Michelle Rowen

Dark Kiss by Michelle Rowen

• Pub. Date: May 22, 2012
• Publisher: Harlequin Teen
• Pages: 352
• Series: Nightwatchers #1

http://www.michellerowen.com

" I don't do dangerous.  Smart, über-careful, ordinary Samantha-that's me. But I just couldn't pass up a surprise kiss from my number-one unattainable crush. A kiss that did something to me...something strange. Now I feel hungry all the time, but not for food. It's like part of me is missing-and I don't know if I can get it back. Then there's Bishop. At first I thought he was just a street kid, but the secrets he's keeping are as intense as his unearthly blue eyes. If he's what I think he is, he may be the only one who can help me. But something terrifying is closing in, and the one chance Bishop and I have to stop it means losing everything I ever wanted and embracing the darkness inside me.... NIGHTWATCHERS When angels and demons must work together, something beyond evil is rising..."

Review: Dark Kiss was a quick read. It was interesting to see angels and demons actually working together to keep the balance in heaven and hell. Samantha was a character who I could at times sympathize for especially after the kiss that should never have happened and stole her soul away. I liked the mystery around her and learning who and what she really was right alongside her. 


Bishop was the angel sent down to lead the group of demons and angels to save Trinity but something happens and for the most part of the book he is constantly having to deal with keeping focus since his brain gets fuzzy, and the only way things clear up for him is with Samantha's touch. And because of that I didn't really find him swoon worthy actually I found him to be weak. Who I really liked was Kraven. He is a demon and is supposed to be all evil but there are times in the book when he is not busy getting under Samantha's skin he shows hints of something else...something not evil, like there is more to him then meets the eye. 


This book had a little bit of everything, it held my interest all they way to the very end and I'm actually curious enough about the characters and how things will workout for them that I will be picking up Wicked Kiss.

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