What Lies Around The Bend...

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE NOT GOTTEN THIS FAR IN THE BLUE BLOODS SERIES, STOP NOW. DO NOT READ. THIS IS BOOK #7 "Schuyler Van Alen is running out of time. The Dark Prince of Hell is storming the Gates of Paradise, intent on winning the heavenly throne for good. This time he has his greatest angels by his side, Abbadon and Azrael - Jack and Mimi Force, as they are known in the coven. Or so he thinks. Even as Lucifer assigns Jack and Mimi the tasks of killing their true loves, the Force twins secretly vow to defeat the Dark Prince once and for all. But how far will Mimi and Jack go to conceal their true loyalties? Meanwhile, former vampire Bliss Llewellyn has joined forces with Lawson, the greatest wolf of the underworld, to free his people from their imprisonment in Hell. As they struggle against impossible odds, an ancient message, woven into the very fabric of time, reveals just how much depends on the success of their mission. Lucifer seeks the key to ...

"When Tish Everett forces open the ruby locket she finds at an estate sale, she has no idea that a deliciously rakish Bludman has cast a spell just for her. She wakes up in a surreal world, where Criminy Stain, the dashing proprietor of a magical traveling circus, curiously awaits. At Criminy's electric touch, Tish glimpses a tantalizing future, but she also foresees her ultimate doom. Before she can decide whether to risk her fate with the charming daredevil, the locket disappears, and with it, her only chance to return home. Tish and Criminy battle roaring sea monsters and thundering bludmares, vengeful ghosts and crooked Coppers in a treacherous race to recover the necklace from the evil Blud-hating Magistrate. But if they succeed, will Tish forsake her fanged suitor and return to her normal life, or will she take a chance on an unpredictable but dangerous destiny with the Bludman she's coming to love?" Content Guidance:  This series contains explicit content that...

"In Pelimburg - city of storm and sea and spray - magic is power. Both are controlled by the elite class, who inhale scriven dust to enhance their natural talents. As the only daughter of the city's founding family, Felicita has a luxurious but narrow life, one that is ruled by a list of traditionally acceptable and appropriate behaviors. When her dearest friend, Ilven, throws herself over the cliffs and into the sea to escape an arranged marriage, Felicita chooses freedom over privilege. She fakes her own suicide and escapes to the slums, leaving behind everything she's ever known, including the means to practice magic. Soon she's living in a squat, working as a scullery girl, and falling hard for the charismatic renegade Dash while also becoming fascinated by the strange, thrilling magic of vampire Jannik. Then translucent corpses begin to wash up onshore. As it becomes clear that Ilven's death has called out of the sea a dangerous, wild magic that the u...

"Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why. Even Ana's own mother thinks she's a nosoul, an omen for worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she'll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame? Sam believes Ana's new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana's enemies - human and creature alike - let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else's life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?" Review: S...

"When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her to the Louvre... to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria... to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own - scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, the gorgeous Hale, appears, pulling her back into the world she has only just escaped. But he has a good reason: a powerful mobster's priceless art collection has been stolen, and he wants it returned. Now. Only a master thief could have pulled off this job, and Kat's father isn't just on the suspect list, he is  the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat's dad needs her help. Kat's solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it's a spectacularly impossible job? She's got two weeks, a teenage crew, and, ho...

HAPPY FIFTIETH REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you to all who have supported me in my blogging and I hope I can continue for another fifty posts. "It's the summer of 1889, and Amelia van den Broek is new to Baltimore and is eager to take in all the pleasures the city has to offer. But her gaiety is interrupted by disturbing, dreamlike visions she has only at sunset - visions that offer glimpses of the future. Soon, friends and strangers alike call on Amelia to hear her prophecies. But when one of her darkest visions comes to pass, Amelia's world is thrown into chaos. And those around her begin to wonder if she's not the seer of dark portents, but the cause." Review: This book was really, REALLY, good. I've been having a lot of good luck with books lately and this was no exception. I loved how it began in the present, after Amelia's world is ravaged and then goes into what happened in the summer of 1889.What I wasn't expecting was the romance, and even...

"Andi Alpers is on the edge. She's angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and angry at the world for taking her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And her father has determined that Andi's accompanying him to Paris over winter break is the solution to everything. But Paris is a city of ghosts for Andi. And when she finds a centuries-old diary, the ghosts begin to walk off the page. Alexandrine, the owner of the journal, knew heartbreak also, and Andi finds comfort in the girl's words. Until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present." Review: This was a wonderful book. By wonderful, I mean devastatingly, tragically, fantastic. Andi and Alex's stories were equally impressive and the history was amazing and really had me thinking, even researching it all!! I loved the fireworks metaphor throughout...

SPOILER ALERT: THIS IS A SEQUEL. FOR BOOK 1, CHECK OUT ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD ! "It's been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost hunter Cas Lowood can't move on. His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live - not walk around half dead. He knows they're right, but in Cas's eyes. no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with. Now he's seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he's asleep, and sometimes in waking nightmares. But there is something very wrong... these aren't just daydreams." Review: Okay, I'll save you the trouble of reading this book and say that from the last page of the first book, to the last page of the second, nothing changes. I was rooting for Anna and Cas to be together. I had no idea how they would do it, but I'm the sap who believes that anything's possible, so, sorry Ke...

"Pia has grown up in a secret compound hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest. She was raised by a team of scientists who bred her to be the first of a new immortal race. Now those scientists have begun to challenge her, with the goal of training her to carry on their dangerous work. On the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia stumbles across a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home. Free in the jungle for the first time, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Unable to resist, she continues sneaking out to see him. As they fall in love, they begin to piece together the truth about Pia's origin - a truth with nothing less than deadly consequences that will change their lives forever." Review: This book was interesting. The way the characters of the scientists of Cam played out was definitely surprising, but Pia and Eio's relationship was predictably expected, which was disappointing. I realized that they would inevitably fall in l...

"Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kids Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten." Review: This was a wonderfully written book. Even though it’s about two kids with cancer, their wit and playful banter and of course all their inside jokes had me laughing till my sides hurt. I loved every minute of it...  except for the very end, for reasons I'll let you experience for yourself. And to those who are reading the book or in the middle of it, or, for future reference, those who will read it, An Imperial Affliction is not a real book. I checked. Update: It's been a couple years since reading this book and the movie has been out for some time, so I think I need to update myself on this book. It was a good book and I laughed ...

"Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that's all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone. Her father was right. The monsters are real. To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn't careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies." Review: This was an interesting and great new take on the world of zombies. I immediately assumed that this would be a post apocalyptic book, hence "zombieland", but that was not the case. And the zombies themselves were completely different from what other books lead you to believe. I also loved Alice and Cole's relationship but what I loved ...

"When Daniel is dragged to the Leisure World Holiday Complex for some "time away" with his depressed dad, his expectations are low. But then he spots a mysterious girl swimming in the fake lake, and everything changes. Lexi is funny and smart, but why does she have wounds that get worse each time they meet? Where are her parents? And is her watch really ticking backward?" Review: This book was pretty awesome, not going to lie. I can't exactly pinpoint what made it awesome, it just was. This kid, not the typical looker boys are in novels, who blames himself for breaking up his parent’s marriage. his father doesn't seem to care about his son so much and just drags him along on this trip. Lexi was a wild card that was thrown into the mix. Daniel and Lexi were a great pair and their story was phenomenal. My favorite part was the metaphor about a coup. Overall, this was really good and it's something someone who is going through the grief of a lost l...

"Regular kids have enough to deal with between school, homework, extracurricular activities, and friends. But Molly Bigalow isn't a "regular kid." By day Molly is a normal student, but after classes end, Molly is learning how to police and protect zombies. Yeah. Zombies. And how can you be a regular kid when, depending on which side of the equation you were on, your mother was either the most-feared or most-revered zombie hunter in the history of New York City. And she prepared Molly to follow in her legendary footsteps from an early age." Review: This book wasn't bad. I loved the twist Ponti had on the zombie population and how the Omegas policed AND protected them. The story did have faults, such as really cheesy jokes that appeared stupid instead of humorous. Also, it was hard to imagine Molly as only a grammar school student. For the story's sake, it would seem more logical to recruit Omegas in high school than in seventh and eighth grad...

"Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: he kills the dead. So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead - keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay. When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian house she used to call home. But she, fo...

"Caro Mitchell considers herself an only child - and she likes it that way. After all, her much older sister, Hannah, left home eight years ago, and Caro barely remembers her. So when Caro's parents drop the bombshell news that Hannah is returning to live with them, Caro feels as if an interloper is crashing her family. To her, Hannah's a total stranger, someone who haunts their home with her meek and withdrawn presence, and who refuses to talk about her life and why she went away. Caro can't understand why her parents cut her sister so much slack, and why they're not pushing for answers. Unable to understand Hannah, Caro resorts to telling lies about her mysterious reappearance. But when those lies alienate Caro's new boyfriend and put her on the outs with her friends and her parents, she seeks solace from an unexpected source. And when she unearths a clue about Hannah's past - one that could save Hannah from the dark secret that possesses her - Caro ...

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE NOT GOTTEN THIS FAR IN THE FALLEN SERIES, STOP NOW. DO NOT READ. THIS IS BOOK 4. FOR BOOK 1, CHECK OUT FALLEN . FOR BOOK 2, CHECK OUT TORMENT , AND PASSION FOR BOOK 3. "The sky is dark with wings.... Like sand through an hourglass, time is running out for Luce and Daniel. To stop Lucifer from erasing the past, they must find the place where the angels fell to earth.  Dark forces are after them, and Daniel doesn't know if he can do this - live only to lose Luce again and again. Yet together they face an epic battle that will end with lifeless bodies... and angel dust. Great sacrifices are made. Hearts are destroyed. And suddenly Luce knows what must happen. For she was meant to be with someone other than Daniel. The curse they've borne has always and only been about her - and the love she cast aside. The choice she makes now is the only one that truly matters. In the fight for Luce, who will win?" Review: ...

"Ruby dreams of escaping the Congregation. Escape from slaver Darwin West and his cruel Overseers. Escape from the backbreaking work of gathering Water. Escape from living as if it is still 1812, the year they were all enslaved. When Ruby meets Ford - an irresistible, kind, forbidden new Overseer - she longs to run away with him to the modern world where she could live a normal teenage life. Escape with Ford would be so simple. But if Ruby leaves, her community is condemned to certain death. She, alone, possesses the secret ingredient that makes the Water so special - her blood - and it's the one thing the Congregation cannot live without." Review: This book made me a raging ball of fury (redundancy necessary). Not to say this book was bad, in a sense, but the character just made me profusely upset. Most of the book, Ruby is near her breaking point and is about to fight back, despite what her mother says, "Otto saves. We sustain and endure." How...

"Annabel Greene is the girl who has everything. At least, that's what she portrays in her modeling shoots. But Annabel's life is far from perfect. Her friendship with Sophie ended bitterly, and her older sister's eating disorder is weighing down the entire family. Isolated and ostracized at school and at home, Annabel retreats into silent acceptance. Then she meets Owen - intense, music-obsessed, and determined to always tell the truth. And with his guidance, Annabel learns to just listen to herself and gains the courage to speak honestly. But will she be able to tell everyone what really happened the night she and Sophie stopped being friends?" Review: "I'm sensing a theme here" is a line I read that just so happens to apply to me when I'm reading Sarah Dessen's novels. Again, I stayed up all night reading this book. Why? I'm glad you asked. Because her books are so goddamn good! tears were brimming my eyes pretty much the entire ...

"Amelia is used to being upstaged by her charismatic younger sister, Charly. She doesn't mind, mostly, that it always falls to her to cover for Charly's crazy, impulsive antics. But one night, Charly's thoughtlessness goes way too far, and she lands both sisters in serious trouble. Amelia's not sure she can forgive Charly this time, and not sure she wants to... but the situation is far worse than either of them realizes. Amelia has no choice but to give up everything - her friends, her future, her dream - in order to cover for Charly's huge mistake. Amelia doesn't understand how her sister could do this to them both. What she doesn't know is that Charly is hiding a terrible secret - one with the potential to change everything." Review: This book surprised me right out of the gate. It was nothing I was expecting and that was wonderful. I related with the sibling feuding and Amelia's rebellious state (which by the way she had every ...

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE NOT GOTTEN THIS FAR IN THE FALLEN SERIES, STOP NOW. DO NOT READ. THIS IS BOOK 3. FOR THE REVIEW OF BOOK 1, CHECK OUT FALLEN AND TORMENT FOR BOOK 2! "Luce would die for Daniel. And she has. Over and over again. Throughout time, Luce and Daniel have found each other, only to be painfully torn apart: Luce dead and Daniel left broken and alone. But perhaps it doesn't need to be that way... Luce is certain that something - or someone - in a past life can help her in her present one. So she begins the most important journey of this lifetime... going back eternities to witness firsthand her romances with Daniel... and finally unlock the key to making their love last. Cam and the legions of angels and Outcasts are desperate to catch Luce, but none are as frantic as Daniel. He chases Luce through their shared past, terrified of what might happen if she rewrites history. Because their romance for the ages could go up in flames.....

"Briony has a secret. It is a secret that killed her stepmother, ruined her sister's mind, and end her life, if anyone were to know. Briony is a witch. And she can see the Old Ones, the spirits that haunt the marshes surrounding the town - The Dark Muse, the Reed Spirits, the Mucky Face, and the Wythes. She is the only one who can, besides the Chime Child who sentences witches to death. Then Eldric comes along with his golden lion eyes and a great mane of tawny hair. He is as natural as the sun, and treats her as if she's extraordinary. And everything starts to change...." Review: When I started reading this novel, my expectations were low. The book was very vague on the time period with which it was set, so it was hard for me to understand the language, however I soon caught on. And with that, the book went into full swing and it was great. The reviews and everything you heard is true. Chime is a classic of this generation and Franny Billingsley is a wo...

"Ever since her parents' divorce, Auden has been unable to sleep. She's built a routine that gets her through each night; but when the opportunity comes for her to spend her summer at the beach with her father and his new family, she jumps at the chance to break out of her rut. Life at the beach proves more challenging than Auden expects. In addition to trying to figure out how she fits in to her father's new life, she also has to navigate the girls at work with their gossip and friendship and crushes. And then there's Eli, a fellow insomniac who becomes her nocturnal tour guide. With an endless supply of long summer nights between them, almost anything can happen...." Review: I was a Sarah Dessen - virgin. This was my first time reading her work and it was inexhaustibly fantastic. I couldn't put it down. literally I stayed up all night reading this novel, maybe just how Dessen wanted me to. that is why I'm writing this at such an ungodly hour. Wh...

"Everybody knows, nobody's talking.... Seventeen-year-old Skylar Thompson is being questioned by the police. Her boyfriend, Jimmy, stands accused of brutally assaulting two young El Salvadoran immigrants from a neighboring town, and she's the prime witness. Skylar is keeping quiet about what she's seen, but how long can she keep it up? But Jimmy was her savior.... When her mother died, he was the only person who made her feel safe, protected from the world. But when she begins to appreciate the enormity of what has happened, especially when Carlos Cortez, one of the victims, steps up to demand justice, she starts to have second thoughts about protecting Jimmy. Jimmy's accomplice, Sean, is facing his own moral quandary. He's out on bail and has been offered a plea in exchange for testifying against Jimmy. The truth must be told.... Sean must decide whether or not to turn on his friend in order to save himself. But most importantly, both he and Skylar need to...

"Jael Thompson has never really fit in. She's changed schools too many times to count. The only family she's ever known is her father, a bitter ex-priest. And her mother - well, she was a five-thousand-year-old demon. That doesn't exactly help. When Jael turns sixteen, her life changes. On the awesome side, she gains strange and wonderful powers and the attention of a cute skater boy with a knack for science. But the homicidal demon seeking revenge on her family? Not so awesome. Steeped in ancient mythology, this is an epic tale of a heroine who balances old world with new, science with magic, and the terrifying depths of the underworld with the ordinary halls of high school." Review: Misfit wasn’t as good as it promised. I have been waiting to read this book for quite some time now and I was let down. On a scale of one to ten, it was a hard five. The characters weren’t very well written and the love interest was mediocre. The best part of the book, h...

"Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything? Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life... but then she meets the perfect boy in JFK airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's sitting in her row. After a long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the chaos of the airport upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more? Set over a twenty-four-hour period, Hadley and Oliver's story makes you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it." Review: This was a great book. It had an unusual love interest and a character I could relate to. I loved how it all tied together and the ending was simply priceless. It's a love story you'll be rooting for, crying for and even screaming for. It also is a good book for those who have parents who are divorced and remarri...

    "Meet Rachel White, a young attorney living and working in Manhattan. Rachel has always been the consummate good girl - until her thirtieth birthday, when her best friend Darcy throws her a party. That night, after too many drinks, Rachel ends up in bed with Darcy's fiancée. Although she wakes up determined to put the one-night fling behind her, Rachel is horrified to discover that she has genuine feelings for the one guy she should run from. In her wildest dreams (or worst nightmare?) this is the last thing on earth Rachel could ever have imagined happening. As the September wedding date nears, Rachel knows she has to make a choice. In doing so, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk all to win true happiness. " Review: Okay so this is pretty shameful to admit, but I saw the movie before I read the book. I was a little hesitant to begin the book, but I did anyway, and I ...