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Review: If I Stay, by Gayle Forman

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Summary:

On a day that started like any other,

Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, admiring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. In an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left. It is the most important decision she’ll ever make.

Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting, and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving.

 

This is my second time reading this. I’ve been seeing all the still shots, from the movie, on Gayle Forman’s FB page and it got me in the mood to reread it. Since I’m a fast reader, I tend to read a lot and therefore forget a lot. I remembered bits and pieces, but as I saw the pictures I realized I was missing bigger pieces. So I bit the bullet, grabbed a box of tissues and my kindle and settled down for an emotional ride.

Let me tell you, this book caught me off guard. I knew what it was about, but I wasn’t prepared for how the scenes would play out and how they would affect me. These kind of books are why I’m always buy tissues by the case and why I get so excited when I find someone who enjoys reading. The release I get, from these crazy crying books, leave me feeling content.

18 yr old Mia thought her hardest decision was following her musical heart and going to Julliard or following her love heart and staying with her family and the love of her life. Never did she realize how simple those choices would be. Now an accident has taken everything away from her and she is now caught in between and she’s trying to decide to stay or go. She spends her time watching as her family and friends grieve and hold vigil for her, and remembering the past and how it’s shaped her and gives her the ability to make this decision.

As her dad would say, “Sometimes you make choices in life and sometimes choices make me.” She struggled with knowing that if she stays, her life would never be the same. But leaving just doesn’t feel right either.

Seeing her past memories and how they shaped her, makes her decision even harder. But the music part of her, tugged on my heart. I found myself listening to Yo-Yo Ma and feeling all those emotions with her.

But I really loved seeing her with her rock star boyfriend, Adam. The shy and awkward phase was so sweet. Watching them, grow to love each other, made me smile. When we sees her, lying battered and bruised, in the hospital bed, tears were pouring out of my eyes. I had to set my kindle down, cuz I couldn’t see past my tears.

“Please Mia,” he implores. “Don’t make me write a song.”

My heart was breaking every time someone came and spoke to her. They were trying to help her make her choice. But truly, how could you choose??

“Dying is easy. Living is hard.”

Here is the movie trailer. I am super excited for this!! I get chills just watching it.

~Melpomene

Buy it now If I Stay

Review: Kentucky Christmas by Sarah Title

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Kentucky Christmas is an upbeat, festive, romantic novella with pretty cool characters. Billie works in her dad’s vet office, and Andrew is a traveling salesman selling… yes, vet supplies. Only he’s a horrible salesperson. And he’s completely smitten with Billie. She returns the sentiments, and boom, romance ensues.

What I love about Kentucky Christmas is Billie’s insouciance and Andrew’s seriousness. Billie is up for anything, likes to party a little bit, and amps up Christmas with more kitsch than you can shake a leg at. Andrew appreciates Billie’s fun-loving attitude, just as she appreciates his way with electronics, his Clark Kent glasses and the way his trousers fit. 🙂

This isn’t a serious book. Sometimes you need a pick-me-up, and Kentucky Christmas did that for me, with tinsel.

-Calliope

Buy it now Kentucky Christmas

Review: Before We Fall, by Courtney Cole

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“Before we fall, we fly.”

WOW!! I need to collect the pieces of my heart before I can even type another word…

This is the first book I’ve read by Courtney Cole. But this will definitely not be the last. This was such an emotional book. Not in my usual cry my eyes out, but in a raw and dark emotional type. It made me all twisted inside.

Dominic Kinkaide’s been closed up and in a very dark place, for the past six years. He’s been hiding it from the world. Only his close family knows something happened, by they don’t know what. But whatever happened, it’s left him dark and seriously twisted. Seriously twisted and very broken. He was basically just a shell of the man he once was. He doesn’t let anyone get close to him and he doesn’t like people. He thinks everyone will let him down, so he won’t take any chances.

Jacey is a strong willed, no holds barred kinda girl. But she is also a bit broken inside. You don’t really realize what she’s been through til about half way through. You just know she’s looking for something to fill a void in her life, but hasn’t quite found it yet. So she’s just wandering around. When she first meets Dom, she is drawn to him and knows there is more than what he lets people see. She is determined to save him from everything that hurts him, even if it’s himself. She believes he’s a good man, no matter what he thinks.

After an unfortunate incident, they must work together, and their personal issues start to come to the surface and they’re forced to deal with them. Dom and his hot and cold behavior and Jacey’s need to fix things, bring out emotions that they both wish would be kept closed up.

There where so many emotionally charged scenes in this book. I was all over the place. Dom’s brokenness completely destroyed me.

“Fix me, Jacey…If you can.”

Watching him slowly come to the realization that there may be another person who loves him for him, was so powerful. Dom felt he was so unworthy of any type of love. He even told Jacey not to love him. But of course, she didn’t listen.

“I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”

“You exist.”

I was teary eyed for the last 15% of the book. But when I read that Epilogue, it was all over. My poor spouse thought something was wrong with me. I am so glad I read this. I know there is more I want to say, but it would give too much away.

~Melpomene

Forever
Buy it now Before We Fall: The Beautifully Broken Series: Book 3

Sneak Peek Review: Crash Into You by Katie McGarry

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17233800 I have loved this series from the beginning – I gave the first book 5 stars, and the second 4 stars (as I wasn’t a big Beth fan). This is Isaiah’s story and he intrigued me from the first time we saw him in Pushing the Limits. I can’t help it, I like guys with tattoos. Guys with tattoos AND feelings? That’s not even playing fair in my opinion!

Isaiah has a crappy life, has been in foster care has a crappy Mom who was in prison but is now out. But he has a few things going for him and he knows it – Noah, his best friend being the most important. They’ve been through hell together and when Noah got out of the foster system he promised to take Isaiah with him and he hasn’t let him down yet. The other thing he has is his mechanical abilities – Isaiah knows he’s talented in that area and he uses it the best he can to make any money he can. He had a third thing – Beth his other best friend, but she disappeared into a better life.

Rachel, however, has a perfect life. She has wealthy parents and brothers who love and protect her…and no friends, crippling anxiety and too many secrets to count. The only thing that makes her happy is taking off in her Mustang. One night she ends up in a street race and when Isaiah saves her from Eric, a street thug who mean business, neither can figure out what just happened.

They have 6 weeks to get Eric the money he thinks they owe him or they are both completely screwed. Meanwhile, Rachel is drawn to Isaiah in ways she didn’t think she could be and Isaiah wonders what exactly she could see in him as messed up as he is.

What I love about Katie McGarry’s writing is that she really gets the details of every little thing. Every aspect of the book felt very fleshed out. From the minor background characters at the street races to the major characters like Rachel’s brothers. I really appreciated finding out in book 2 that Beth did not end up with Isaiah but what I appreciated even more in this book was that the romance did not falter at all. Obviously they had their ups and downs and big obstacles to overcome but there wasn’t hot and cold when it came to the emotions of the main characters. I felt that Rachel balanced Isaiah out much better than Beth ever could have.

I really, really disliked Rachel’s family and there is a scene in the book I all but stood up and cheered. Everyone but Isaiah took her for granted and no one appreciated her. It seemed like she was how many girls feel to the extreme.

Just a small taste of what I liked about the romance –

I don’t want to be without you. I like who I am with you, and I don’t want to go back to who I was before. I love you, Rachel. So this will work. No matter what or who stands in our way.

Overall this book had just about everything I could ask for in a young adult/new adult book: romance, action, family drama, guys with tattoos. OOH – also for fans of this series I just about died when I got to the end and found out that IT’S NOT DONE! She’s writing MORE! The next one will continue on with one of Rachel’s brothers. Who I really despise right now so I will hold out on judging it at the moment. But I love this author’s writing so YAY!

I received this ARC via the Publisher in return for an honest review from both NetGalley and Edelweiss.

5 Stars

Links for all 3 books below because all 3 are great!!

~Clio

Buy it Now (Book #3 ) Crash into You (Harlequin Teen)

Book #1 Pushing the Limits (Harlequin Teen)

Book #2 Dare You To

Review: Four Seconds to Lose, by K.A.Tucker

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I believe you don’t have years, or months,
or weeks to impact a person’s life.
You have seconds.
Seconds to win them over,
And seconds to lose them.
–Cain

This was definitely not the like the first two books. It was still good, but just different.

Cain wasn’t your traditional strip joint owner. He set out to help girls get back on their feet. He knew if he didn’t help them they’d end up lost and forgotten. He’s very good at his job and he never wanted to mix business with pleasure.

Well, that was until he met Charlie.

Charlie needs cash. And she needs it FAST. She is in a horrible situation and need is desperate to get out of it. So desperate that she’ll become a stripper to do it.

Soon she finds herself falling for Cain, but she knows she can’t. She can’t risk him knowing who and what she really is. She doesn’t want him to get hurt or worse.

She tries everything to get away from him and her new friends, but she is so lonely she doesn’t want to leave.

Cain doesn’t want to let Charlie go. He is determined to help her with whatever she needs help with. He doesn’t care what she’s done in her past. He wants to be in her future. He’s done things in his past that he’s not proud of, so he understands why she’s leery.

When everything comes out in the open, they both need to make some very hard decisions. Decisions that will tear them apart, before they can even think of being together.

We get a glimpse of the past friends from the other books. Storm and Dan play a bigger roll than Ben, Kacey, Trent and Livie do, but they all play a minor roll.

I knew I liked Cain, after reading the other two books. But after reading this, I REALLY liked him! Something horrible happened to him, in his late teens, but he chose to turn it around and make a better life for himself.

I can’t wait to see what trouble Ben gets into, in the next book. But I have to wait til February for that one.

~Melpomene

Buy it now Four Seconds to Lose: A Novel

Review: In the Clear by Tamara Morgan

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18627383 Fletcher Owens has not had a great life, but the one thing he could count on was his best friend Sean Sinclair and his twin sister Lexie. Their family became like his family while growing up and he would never do anything to risk that, not even act on his feelings towards Lexie. Fletcher is quiet, sensitive and afraid of blood. To conquer that fear he decides to volunteer for the Search and Rescue team, but doesn’t want the attention he knows that will bring so he keeps it secret from his best friends.

Lexie is outgoing and bubbly, a fundraiser for a local charity. She loves her twin brother and Fletcher but hates feeling like an outsider in the trio. When they hang out without her she feels left out as they are truly her best friends as well. When Fletcher’s secret is revealed in the local paper she is shocked that she really doesn’t know him as well as she thought. Lexie ends up on a rescue mission with Fletcher and what they discover about each other surprises them both.

I fell in love with this novella immediately, I love this romantic trope. I felt that the traditional gender roles in these kinds of stories were flipped, which I really appreciated. Often in romance novels we see the confident, outgoing males who will get what they want no matter want and in this one while Fletcher was definitely a strong male, he has his quirks and anxieties. Which made me love him even more. The rescue mission with Lexie interacting with Fletcher and the whole team was the best part of the book for me as it revealed Lexie’s strengths, that she didn’t know she had. The banter between Lexie and the other guys slowly revealed more of Lexie to Fletcher that he didn’t know was there.

Both characters have a lot of depth and are well thought out for a short story. I felt that I knew them very well. Fletcher and Lexie are almost opposites and seeing the two together and interact was very cute. Overall, this was an adorable Holiday novella. I would definitely recommend. PLUS it’s only 99 cents! That is a crazy good price a such a cute story. I would so buy it if I were you. Now!!

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

4 stars.

~ Clio

Buy it Now In the Clear (Winter Rescue)

We have a WINNER!!

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928584azg37ws6rj Wow! We had a pretty great turnout for our giveaway of the signed copy of Slammed by Colleen Hoover and the Atria Publishing swag. We’re a fledgling blog here and we appreciate everyone that entered. You guys are awesome! We used http://www.random.org to pick a winner.

Congratulations to … Morisa Kessler!!

Thanks everyone for entering! This was in part a celebration of our 3 month anniversary of our blog and in part a celebration of Colleen Hoover being awesome and coming to Dayton. Stick around, we will have more fun giveaways, and as always, more reviews!

Review: The Edge of Always, by J.A.Redmerski

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Since I LOVED The Edge of Never, I just HAD to read this one. And when I received an ARC, I was super duper excited to start it. But sadly, I didn’t love is as much as the first. I honestly think The Edge of Never was fine all by itself. But I can appreciate the need for some closer in these characters, since the ending of Never destroyed us.

I liked the duel POVs. It made the struggles more real. But some of the scenes made me so mad. I was disgusted and sick, at one particular. I felt so mad for Cam and Andrew.

I loved that we were able to see more of their families and friends. Since this book spans over many years, we get to see them all grow up to be adults. We get a glimpse of their happily ever afters and their not so happily ever afters.

Cam’s struggles were heart breaking. She didn’t know how to keep it together. I knew it was gonna be hard for her to move on, from her struggles. Even though she loves Andrew, I knew things were going to come up and devastate her. But Andrew’s love for her was so strong, he’d do anything for her. Even take her on another life altering journey.

“Camryn, you are the other half of my soul, and I will love you today and every day for the rest of our lives. I promise that if you ever forget me, I’ll read to you like Noah read to Allie.”

I may have teared up at that scene. Just a li’l bit. 🙂

All in all, I was very happy with the story. I liked the way she ended it, and yet it leaves it open for a side story. But I’m hoping not. Leave it alone. 🙂

I received this ARC for an honest review.

~Melpomene

Release date: November 4, 2013
Forever Romance
Buy it now The Edge of Always

Review and a GIVEAWAY#1!!!!

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Are you wondering what book??? One word……..SLAMMED. Are you excited??? Not only that but it is a SIGNED copy!!!

This is a book that is really hard to describe for me because it’s one of my favorites, by one of my favorite authors. Okay, I’ll start with a summary and try to go from there and see if I can make any sense.

At 18, Layken, her mother and her younger brother pack things up and relocate to Michigan after her fathers’ death. The first person she meets there is her neighbor across the street, Will, and his little brother. They have a sudden, intense attraction to each other that only intensifies after a fantastic first date. Layken is thrilled that this move isn’t turning out to be as horrible as she feared.

However, almost immediately after the first date they are shocked to discover they cannot see each other anymore. Layken and Will are both miserable, which is made even worse by having to see each other daily as neighbors and as their odd little brothers become best friends. They try to deal as best they can but Layken is ready to explode.

That description does absolutely nothing for the book because the book is awesome. The dialogue is incredibly funny between the little brothers who are both nerdy and ridiculous but adorable. The slam poetry is amazing. I found myself reading and re-reading each slam, trying to get the intonation that would make it sound best. Layken’s best friend Eddie, is great and provide both an outlet for Eddie and more laughter the book needs to balance out the seriousness it has.

I literally both laughed and cried while reading this book. I don’t cry a lot when I read. I mean, I did cry reading Little Women and Gone With the Wind at certain points if you know what I mean…not to give any spoilers away. But I don’t cry at the majority of books, and I read a lot of angsty stuff. This one made me cry, but I was laughing while I cried. It’s so hard to explain. But other Colleen Hoover fans get it because once you read Slammed you will want to read Point of Retreat. Then you realize she’s written a few other things. Then you’re pretty much hooked. You’re welcome for that!

A couple of us muses were lucky enough to go to a book signing this week and we have a few signed books to giveaway. In case you didn’t notice the #1, there’s more to giveaways to come. The first will be this wonderful, awesome, gut wrenching book. We’re also including some swag Atria Publishing was kind enough to give out at the signing! With the SIGNED book you will also receive a great Hopeless bookmark, an I ❤ Atria Authors card and a great purple Colleen Hoover bag! You know you want it. So we'll make it easy, just like our Facebook page and comment on this post and that's it. We'll keep it open til next Thursday. Good luck!!!

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Amazing book signing last night!

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Last night was the first night of Atria Indie Author’s fall tour with their 3 best selling authors – Colleen Hoover, Jamie McGuire and Abbi Glines! These authors are really huge in the New Adult/Romance world of books and 2 of us Muses have been pretty much beside ourselves with excitement and not doing a very good job of hiding it very well! Melpomene is a huge fan of Colleen’s and had introduced her books to me, and I promptly fell in love and read every single book she wrote.  We were both ecstatic to see all 3 authors coming to this area.

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The big day finally came and it definitely lived up to the hype! Melpomene was so excited that her fabulous husband drove her down early in the day and she basically cased the joint all day. However, she was not alone – there were a few hardcore fans there to keep her company on and off during the day. By the time I met her there she was pretty much telling others in line about our little blog and discussing the awesomeness of the authors. They were in line to get a line number to get books signed.  Our friend, Vi, joined us there and it was pretty great to be amongst our people – other people who loves books as much as we do.

Vi went upstairs to sit down and save 2 seats while we got our 2 line numbers. By the time I went to sit down another huge fan was reporting us to the bookstore for saving seats unlawfully or something. Which was very confusing because this other woman was in the front row and at this point the rest of the rows were pretty empty so I was confused as to why she was so upset, my line number was 16, the friends Melpomene had made were 13 and 14. Vi is a petite woman who was there only to meet us and this other woman kept talking about it very loudly for about 45 minutes so it was kind of hilarious to see her start a mini riot. We owe Vi lots and lots of favors! I would have gladly sat 3 or 4 rows back if this woman would have asked us to! So that was the mini drama of the night.

Then the authors came in – Colleen first, then Abbie Glines and finally Jamie McGuire.

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I just have to say that it’s not fair for authors to be this talented AND pretty! Then they had to open their mouths and be funny in person too. Colleen came out taking pictures of the crowd and when the commentator started asking them questions she immediately did not want to answer – as in she preferred one of the others answered first. What struck me the most is how much they seem to get along. I don’t know how it works in other publishing houses but either these three are superb actresses or they really are friends.

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Most of the time was spent laughing – the authors were charming and answered the questions about their current releases, their musical inspirations and their advice for aspiring authors. My favorite answer of the night was Colleen’s that she likes Eminem, but that’s just because I do too. All 3 authors signed a ton of books, bags, kindle covers, and pretty much whatever we asked them to. They were super friendly with the fans and took pictures. The place was packed but they didn’t give the impression that they were getting tired at all.

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I left a bigger fan because all 3 were great in person! If you can make it to one of their tour dates – GO!! Atria made it a very cool event with some neat swag and it was very organized. Plus you know the AWESOME AUTHORS kind of made it even better. I might still be on a weird kind of high this morning 🙂 I’ve been to multiple signings this year and it’s just so fun to be around people who love to read and people who are interested in what you’re interested in. We made friends sitting there, all of us talking about our favorite books, which authors we loves and getting recommendations for more. Such an excellent experience!!

Oh and you might want to stick around this week and next for some possible giveaways tied into this awesome signing!!

~Clio