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Review: Following Me, by K.A. Linde

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“I just didn’t what you were running from, but I think, all along, you were running toward me.”

Devon is spending the summer in Chicago, with her best friend and her boyfriend. They think she’s just here for fun, but they have no idea what secret she is hiding and running from. And little does know that they are also hiding a secret of their own.

Devon wishes she could tell someone her secret, but she just can’t. She chooses to keep it close and always look over her shoulder ,not knowing that her secret is following her.

Hadley is her bestie with a secret that is slowly killing her. Devon tries to help her, but she doesn’t want help, until it’s almost too late.

Garrett is Hadley’s boyfriend and his secret is less physical damaging, but no less emotionally damaging. He is the one person who finds out Devon’s secret and powerless to help her.

Brennan is the cute bartender who falls for her and knows she is hiding something.

“Don’t you see that she’s here for a reason?” he whispered.

Devon tries to keep him at a distance, but she fails miserably.

When her secret follows her to Chicago, it almost takes her away. I was so upset reading it, I had to take a break. My stomach was in knots. I was terrified for her. TERRIFIED.

In the end the four of them save each other. It took some near death experiences, but it all worked out in the end. I was so happy, I cried.

“..my mama always told me that you are given a chance at greatness once in your lifetime…’when it hits you, you won’t know how you could have ever lived a day without. It’s like the universe aligned itself perfectly, just for you.’ I gave up hope on that long time ago, I think.”

“Belle…” he said softly, reaching for her.

“But I think I’ve known…well, especially after today,” Devon said. “I think I found what my mam was talking about. You’re my greatness.”

Someone please hand me a tissue….

~Melpomene

Buy it now Following Me

Review: Just One Day, by Gayle Forman

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“We are born in one day. We die in one day. We can change in one day. And we can fall in love in one day. Anything can happen in one day.”

I completely fell in love with this story. I was overwhelmed with emotions the entire time. I felt everything.

Allyson Healey, or Lulu, was in Europe for a youth vacation type of thing. Here she met Willem, the complete opposite of her. He was an actor doing an underground performance of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. The second they meet, something sizzled between them. He offered to take her to Paris for one day. Since she wasn’t able to go there on her trip, she decided to go for it and do something totally opposite of her norm.

She spent the entire day doing things that she never would have done. Willem opened her eyes to life’s possibilities. She learned more about herself, in that one day, than she did in the past 18 years.

She learned to take risks.

“I think everything is happening is happening all the time, but if you don’t out yourself in the path of it, you miss it.”

She learned about love.

“It’s something that never comes off, no matter how much you might want it to.”

“You’re comparing love to a…stain?”

…”Exactly.”

She also learns that life is about accidents and the scars they leave behind. The world is filled with them. You just have to take notice of them.

She spends all day and night with him and in the morning she wakes up alone.

Devastated, she goes home and tries to move on in a life that no longer feels like hers anymore. Nothing feels right. College is all about her parents wishes and she struggles with trying to figure out who she really is, Willem’s Lulu or plain Allyson. She spends the next year just getting by.

Seeing her heart break and watching her struggle with the every day things, broke my heart. I was devastated for her. It was just one day, but that’s all it took for her life to be completely upturned.

“I realize it’s not enough to know what someone is called. You have to know who they are.”

She eventually changes the direction of her life and embarks on a journey to find herself and a love that was lost, but not forgotten. The journey is filled with ups and downs, but totally it’s worth it, if you find yourself along the way.

5 emotional stars

~Melpomene

Buy it now Just One Day

Review: Watch Over Me, by Tara Sivec

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This is another of those books that suck you in, break you in pieces and then slowly puts you back together. I am typing through tears, as I think of this book. I was fearful at reading this, but it’s been on my tbr list for sometime now, so I just had to bite the bullet and read it. I’m so glad I did.

When I read the Prologue, I realized this wasn’t gonna be the usual book about moving on.

“Death changes everyone”

Those are the first words in this book. And boy, were they right.

Addison was like your typical teenager. She was fun, outgoing, and just living life as normal as possible. Until her mom died unexpectedly. Her father and her choose very different and drastic ways to move on. But really, how does one move on after your best friend dies?

While trying to pick up the pieces of her life, alone, she is stuck with responsibilities she never wanted. She is just barely making it, until she meets Zander and reads the note he leaves her.

Can life really be filled with happiness and love and not just sorrow and pain??

“You don’t have to try and pick up all the pieces at once, sometimes you only need to use a few at a time.”

“…If it falls apart, it doesn’t mean it’s destroyed. It just means you have to pick up the pieces and start again…You can still pick up the pieces, Sugar. They fell apart for a while, but it doesn’t mean anything is damaged. Everything can be fixed. And you don’t have to fix it alone. There’s always someone who will help you rebuild.”

At that point I was sobbing.

Someone was watching over her and pointing her in the right direction. It will take her a while to get there, but she does. And you’ll feel everything right along with her.

“Everyone has at least one individual in their life that they know will always be there for them no matter what. They will be your rock, your shoulder to cry on, someone to laugh with and confide in, and someone who will call you on your bullshit and tell it to you straight.”

I hope all of you have one of those.

~Melpomene

Buy it now Watch Over Me

Review: One Week Girlfriend(Drew+Fable#1), by Monica Murphy

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This book completely caught me off guard. I saw NONE of this coming!!

Drew has to go home for Thanksgiving and he doesn’t want too. He hasn’t been home in two years and he likes it that way. So he decides he needs a buffer and asks Fable to act like his girlfriend for the week. There is no way he’s going back there on his own!!

Fable lives with her useless mom and 13 yr old brother. She works two jobs just to take care of her bother, since her mom doesn’t care about anyone but herself. She hates her jobs and feel alone. She hates being alone. So when Drew offers her money, in exchange for one week of pretending, she jumps on it. How hard can it be?? Little did she know…

The secrets and lies that surround Drew are so horrible, I felt awful. No wonder he never goes home.

Fable didn’t understand why he didn’t wanna go home every chance he got. After one week, she knew why. And things will never be the same again.

Word of warning, this ends in a minor cliffy. But at least the second one is out, so you can jump right to it. So no worries.

~Melpomene

Buy it now One Week Girlfriend: A Novel

Review: Like Falling by Jaden Wilkes

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17995429Like Falling (Surfaces #1) is another take of my current favorite angst filled genre, New Adult. I can’t help it – I can’t get enough of it. I’ve read the good, the bad and the ugly in the genre so far and believe me there has been some very ugly! But this one seems to fit pretty much right smack dab in the middle of the genre- in a good way.

Sarah Miller comes from a Mennonite family who wants her to marry as soon as possible and have lots of Mennonite babies. She wants to go to college and her parents decide to let her and Sarah explores her boundaries while there, in every way. Sarah lives with her Mennonite friend Nic, who quickly introduces Sarah to all the joys of college life.

Sarah seems at times to be almost over the top, but then I remember people who I’ve known who felt repressed and she acted pretty much just like they did. She is wide eyed and trying to experience different things from cursing to kissing. I did laugh at her text messaging and dealing with her roomate’s girlfriend.

This book was part amusing, coming of age story, and part angsty romance between two people who obviously should be together. It does end in a cliffhanger, but does so in such a way that did not make me angry. The author pointed out that the the 2nd book is in the process and it will be part of a trilogy as she felt that the story was too much for one book.

I received this ARC from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Solid 3 stars

~Clio

Review: The Redemption of Callie and Kayden, by Jessica Sorensen

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OK. Let me start out by saying that I have been dying for this book to come out. I read The Coincidence back in December and no one told me it was a cliffy!! A super duper horrible cliffy!!! I was so upset. Seven months is a long time to wait, but I did. So if you haven’t read it, stop right now and go grab it. This review will spoil it for ya.

This book takes place a few days after the last one ended. Kayden is in the hospital and Callie is trying to figure out how to survive without him. She doesn’t wanna leave him. She knows he’s hurting and wants to help, but he wants her to stay away from him. He thinks he’ll drag her down. But he doesn’t realize that she needs him.

He’s one of two people who knows why she’s broken and she needs him.

“You’re the only person who I can ever feel whole with.”

Callie, with the help of Seth and Luke, bring him on a road trip, in the hope that it will help him to open up and break free. She learns his secret and tries to help him with it. But it’s something he has to wanna do. Callie can’t do anything but love and support him. Kayden has been so broken for so long, he doesn’t know how to live a normal life. He doesn’t think he’s even worthy of it.

Meanwhile, he faces battery charges from the beating he put on Caleb. His parents are trying to do everything they can to get him out of it. But he doesn’t want anything to do with them. The only way out of it would be if Callie came forward with her secret, but he can’t ask her to do that.

“Callie, tell me what you need.”

“I need the world to stop being such an ugly place full of hurt.” Tears slip out of her eyes. “I need to wake up and really believe everything will be okay instead of hoping it will be. I want to be one of the lucky ones who has a good life.”

My heart was breaking from these two. So much hurt and pain. I wanted to reach in and hug them both. And perhaps beat up one a few people also. I’m a scrapper, I could take them. 😉

Seth and Luke were very good friends to them. They brought a bit of the necessary comedic breaks the book needed. You see a small glimpse into Luke’s life also, and you know there is more to him than what he’s showing. BTW, his book is next.

I was glad when they faced their fears and told someone. That was hard to read though. People’s reactions to horrible situations like theirs, are very difficult to read. I didn’t know if they were going to believe them. I’m glad they did.But they are able to move past them and slowly put their lives back together.

“I think the leaves made it back to the trees.”

~Melpomene

Buy it now The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden

Buy it now The Redemption of Callie & Kayden

Review: Thief, by Tarryn Fisher

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OK. I really wanted to like this book. I really truly did. But sadly, I didn’t. This was the last in the trilogy and I had high hopes of angst and emotion. But all I got was frustration and anger.

The first book, The Opportunist, had me in knots. I was a wreck!! The angst almost got the better of me. The lies put me over the edge. It was CRAZY!!

The second book, Dirty Red, filled me with hate. Red was so mean, I wanted to reach in and smack her. She was a HORRIBLE mother. I mean horrible. I had to take breaks after reading what she was doing and how she didn’t even care. It made me sick. But I liked the book, even though it ended on a semi cliffy. I was shocked!

This book made me mad, just plain mad. I don’t like reading books with this theme. the “I love her, even though she’s married, and I will do everything I can to show her I still want her.” And let’s not forget the “I’m married, but he’s not here right now…” See where this is going?? I’m not even gonna right more. There is nothing I agree with in here.

OK, if you can handle that, then this book is for you. So disappointed.

~Melpomene

Buy it now Thief (Love Me With Lies #3)

Review: A Different Blue, by Amy Harmon

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“Once upon a time there was a little blackbird, pushed out of the nest, unwanted.”

WOW!!! This was an amazing book! I kept hearing about this book and that people were crying and emotionally drained afterwards. So I knew this was right up my alley.

Blue Echohawk has no idea who she is or where she came from. She doesn’t even know her real name or how old she is.

What she knows is that the man, Jimmy Echohawk, who raised her, from age 2 til 10 wasn’t her father. She was left in his truck, by her mother, and he was afraid to turn her in, after finding out her mother was killed in the motel he was parked outside of. So he took her and cared for her, until one day he went out and never came back. She was then raised with her step aunt and put into school for the first time.

The story takes place during her senior year of high school, where she is forced to revisit her past, what she knows of it, by her 22yr old good looking, British, cello playing, History teacher, Mr Darcy Wilson. Poor guy had a P&P lovin’ mom. 🙂 He forces her to think about who she thinks she is.

“You may not be a work of art, but you are definitely a piece of work.”

What she discovers is more than she bargained for.

This entire book is about her quest to find out who she really is. Mr. Wilson helps her in ways no one else ever could. As they grow closer, Blue is faced with a difficult decision and He is there to get her through it. It was one of the hardest scenes I’ve ever had to read. Ugly tears were falling. Love in the most beautiful and purest form, was shown here. I had such a hard time getting through it.

“I keep wishing you had had a better life…a different life. But a different life would have made you a different Blue.” He looked at me then. “And that would be the biggest tragedy of all.”

This is a sweet romance with a happy ending, if you can get past the crying and the emotions. 🙂

~Melpomene

Buy A Different Blue

Review: Left Drowning, by Jessica Park

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17325147 “Your parents died. Your world fell apart.”
I nod.
He puts his hand on my cheek. “You were left drowning”
I nod again.
“And you’re struggling to breathe”
I am. It’s a constant struggle to stay near the surface I have just enough air to stop me from going totally under, but not enough to thrive.
“So do it. Breathe. Just Breathe.”

WOW!! I am speechless…I can’t even think enough to type this out. I haven’t read such a perfect book in a very long time. Well…perfect for me. This had love, loss, tears and great deal of angst. See?? Perfect. Most definitely belongs in my Top 10 books of all time.

Blythe’s parents died in a fire, four years ago. She has been drowning ever since. She pushes people away, without even trying. She knows she’s depressed, but she doesn’t know the first thing about how to get out of it. She’s just trying get through her last year of college and move one.

What she doesn’t anticipate, is meeting Chris Shepherd.

He is the past, the present, and the future.

Chris is a very sweet guy, with a past that is so hard to read, I had to take breaks. I don’t know how he managed to get through it all without losing his mind. But he had to do it for his siblings.

The Shepherd siblings bring the necessary comedic breaks this really needed. Sabin was the best!! I wish I had a Sabin in my life. He was the “Cakest of all my baby cakes.” You’ll understand that when you read it.

Watching the love bloom between Blythe and Chris was very sweet. There were a few saucy scenes that made me quite happy. 🙂

“Chris may be imperfect, and he makes mistakes, but I can feel his heart and I know that he is mine.”

*swoon* Seriously, major swooning.

“I was born to love you.”

It was all going well, til about 68%, then it all bottomed out and I though I was gonna die of heartache. I seriously wanted to through my Kindle across the room. Devastation that we never saw coming. I wanted to reach in and slap someone.

When Chris reveals his past and what he’s gone through, I thought I was gonna get sick. Unimaginable what someone is capable of.

We find out why they bonded so quickly. When their stories come together, it was amazing. It was fate. Plain and simple, it was fate. They don’t wanna believe in fate, but that’s what it was. They were each other’s savior.

“We’re like…puzzle pieces that fit together.”

There was a happy ending, after much crying and seething. I almost didn’t make it though. Ms. Park sure knows how to cut our hearts up and then glue the pieces back together.

“What are we doing? What are you doing?”

“Loving you,” he says simply. “If you’ll let me.”

“Always. God, Always.”

I may never get over this book.

~Melpomene

Buy it now Left Drowning

Review (Another Look): Escaping Reality by Lisa Renee Jones

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ER I know Melpomene reviewed this book earlier in the week but I wanted to offer my take on the book because it’s a bit different from hers since we all have our own opinions!

I wanted to like this book. A lot. I’ve heard good things about the author and her other books but had never gotten around to reading those due to my huge TBR list. But I saw this listed as the New Adult genre and it drew me in as I’m quickly becoming obsessed with all things NA.

Amy is on the run from her past and has help from an unknown benefactor. She gets word she needs to leave her current life that she’d gotten used to over the last 6 years in New York. While on the plane to Denver she meets a handsome man who sweeps her off her feet and happens to live across from her new apartment building. Amy quickly gets caught up in an affair with Liam who is a rich architect. We get glimpses into her past here and there but nothing clear. The book comes to a surprising conclusion.

I just could not get into this book. If Amy was supposed to be on the run why on earth would she fall madly in love with a stranger on a plane? She did a horrible job of keeping things secret. Liam seemed to fit into the oh so popular demanding rich boyfriend trope that I’m getting tired of currently. Amy fit into the helpless I need you but I don’t girl that is so hot right now.

We literally never learn anything in the book about her past so there was a huge cliffhanger. I’m ok with cliffhangers but there was the actual literary cliffhanger and then on top of that the cliffhanger of WTF is up with this girl? Due to that there is no way I’m reading the next book. Why would I when I didn’t find out enough about the main character in this one? Is the author going to wait until the third book to reveal anything? I cannot handle that!!

I also felt that this book didn’t quite fit into the New Adult genre. I’ve read a ton in this genre and this one didn’t seem right to me.
2 stars.

I received this ARC from Netgalley in return for an honest review.
~ Clio

Buy it Now Escaping Reality (New Adult Romance) (The Secret Life of Amy Bensen)