May 30, 2015

Stacking the Shelves (46): May

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga´s Reviews, which showcases the books we've purchased, won, borrowed and received in the mail. 

These are the books I got in May.

FOR REVIEW
 

Thanks to the publishers, Edelweiss and Netgalley for the eARCs.


Proxy (Proxy #1) by Alex London
Guardian (Proxy #2) by Alex London

Funny story (sorf of), I received Proxy and Guardian for a blog tour last year and I read them but I never showcase them on my book haul because my sister borrow them, and just recently recover them.....they were on a plastic box in their store shed.

Thanks to the publisher. 

BOUGHT
Starcrossed (Starcrossed #1) by Josephine Angelini
Dreamless (Starcrossed #2) by Josephine Angelini
Goddess (Starcrossed #3) by Josephine Angelini

Thornhill (Hemlock #2) by Kathleen Peacock
Ask Again Later by Liz Czukas
La telarana de Carlota by E.B. White

FOR MY KINDLE
The Swap by Megan Shull
Relax, I'm a Ninja (Relax, I'm a Ninja #1) by Natalie Whipple
UnSouled (Unwind Dystology #3) by Neal Shusterman

Tamed (Tangled #3) by Emma Chase 
Tied (Tangled #4) by Emma Chase
Fall with Me (Wait for You #4) by J. Lynn, Jennifer L. Armentrout

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
Dark Needs at Night's Edge (Immortals After Dark #5) by Kresley Cole

What books did you get?
Leave me your link in the comments.

May 29, 2015

Review: Nowhere But Here by Katie McGarry


Title: Nowhere But Here (Thunder Road #1)
Author: Katie McGarry
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release date: May 26th 2015
Source: Netgalley
Format: eARC

Rating: 4/5

Buy onAmazon | B&N | BookDepository
An unforgettable new series from acclaimed author Katie McGarry about taking risks, opening your heart and ending up in a place you never imagined possible.

Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighborhood. Sure, she's curious about her biological father—the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent—but that doesn't mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both.

Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They're the good guys. They protect people. They're…family. And while Emily—the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club's most respected member—is in town, he's gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it's his shot at his dream. What he doesn't count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down.

No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home. 

I´ve read the first three books in the series Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry and I enjoyed them, some more than others, so of course I could not wait to read the Nowhere But Here, the first book in the new series Thunder Road, which apparently will consists of 4 books..

Nowhere But Here is told from the point of view of Emily and Oz, alternating between them. Emily is a girl, that has lived a sheltered life without running any risks and is happy to live in her comfort zone, she lives in Florida with her mother and her adoptive father to whom she loves and looks after like a hero and once a year, she gets to see her biological father, whom is a motorcyclist who belongs to a club called the Reign of Terror, she doesn´t know much about him or his family, she keeps him at arm's length and she´s happy to keep it that way.

Meanwhile Oz is an 18 year old guy from Kentucky that since he can remember, his dream is to belong to the club Reign of Terror like his father and work for the security company owned by one of the club members. And his dream is getting closer, because one of the stipulations is to finish high school (he just graduated), so his future looks just as he dreamed, or at least that is until his path crosses with Emily´s and his life gets complicated.

Emily and Oz meet because due to a misunderstanding, Emily travels to Kentucky in the summer and very reluctantly ends up staying a few weeks with Eli, her biological father and one of the most respected members of the club Reign of Terror. I liked that the romance is not instant-love, because when they initially meet, they don´t like each other, but end up spending some time together and they get to know each other, which leads them to act on their attraction.

The truth is that I don´t know a lot about motorcycle clubs (just what I´ve seen on TV), so I do not know if the book is realistic or not, its problems and if the part about how the motorcycle club is managed by its member is like that, because it was quite sexist.

Nowhere But Here is a book of 496 pages so I didn´t read it in a day or two, but it´s very entertaining, with a slow budding and tame romance, if I compare it with Pushing the Limits, besides it has less drama and angst, but I liked how at the beginning the main characters can´t stand each other, but Oz cannot stop flirting Oz at any time. Now I´m looking forward to read the next instalment, that apparently will be Razor´s story.

May 27, 2015

Waiting On Wednesday(174): Riders

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

The book I´m waiting this week is


 Riders (Riders #1) by Veronica Rossi
Release date: February 2nd 2016
For eighteen-year-old Gideon Blake, nothing but death can keep him from achieving his goal of becoming a U.S. Army Ranger. As it turns out, it does.

Recovering from the accident that most definitely killed him, Gideon finds himself with strange new powers and a bizarre cuff he can’t remove. His death has brought to life his real destiny. He has become War, one of the legendary four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Over the coming weeks, he and the other horsemen—Conquest, Famine and Death—are brought together by a beautiful but frustratingly secretive girl to help save humanity from an ancient evil on the emergence.

They fail.

Now—bound, bloodied, and drugged—Gideon is interrogated by the authorities about his role in a battle that has become an international incident. If he stands any chance of saving his friends and the girl he’s fallen for—not to mention all of humankind—he needs to convince the skeptical government officials the world is in imminent danger.

But will anyone believe him?

Why I'm Waiting?
The story sounds really intriguing and also because I enjoyed her dystopian trilogy.

What book are you waiting this week?
Leave your WOW links 

May 26, 2015

Review: Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider


Title: Extraordinary Means
Author: Robyn Schneider
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release date: May 26th 2015
Source: Edelweiss
Format: eARC

Rating: 4/5

Buy onAmazon | B&N | BookDepository
Two teens with a deadly disease fall in love on the brink of a cure.

At seventeen, overachieving Lane finds himself at Latham House, a sanatorium for teens suffering from an incurable strain of tuberculosis. Part hospital and part boarding school, Latham is a place of endless rules and confusing rituals, where it's easier to fail breakfast than it is to flunk French.

There, Lane encounters a girl he knew years ago. Instead of the shy loner he remembers, Sadie has transformed. At Latham, she is sarcastic, fearless, and utterly compelling. Her friends, a group of eccentric troublemakers, fascinate Lane, who has never stepped out of bounds his whole life. And as he gradually becomes one of them, Sadie shows him their secrets: how to steal internet, how to sneak into town, and how to disable the med sensors they must wear at all times.

But there are consequences to having secrets, particularly at Latham House. And as Lane and Sadie begin to fall in love and their group begins to fall sicker, their insular world threatens to come crashing down. Told in alternating points of view, Extraordinary Means is a darkly funny story about doomed friendships, first love, and the rare miracle of second chances.

This is the second book I´ve read written by Robyn Schneider and I´ve have enjoyed both, something about her writing attracts me and that makes her stories leave a mark in me, especially The Beginning of Everything.

The story is told from alternating point of views of Lane and Sadie, both are sick of total-drug-resistant TB, which is a contagious and incurable disease because it does not respond favorably to any medicine, so that´s why the patients must be quarantined, and is fir this reason that Lane is sent to Latham House which is a mixture of hospital and boarding school, where teenagers with the disease are sent, there they´re monitored constantly medically through a bracelet that reports their vitals and they also have a half-day of classes and have relaxing physical activities, nothing strenuous and is expected that by balanced diet and relaxed activity, their illness symptoms improved and they can lead a more or less normal life, away from civilization.

Lane is a seventeen year old boy, in his senior year and whose goal is to enter Stanford University, so all his life so far - before his diagnosis - is school - he constantly studies - in addition to attending to clubs he belongs and model UN practice (as part of his curriculum) and volunteers at a health clinic, but all that changed when he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and sent to Latham House (since he cannot stay at home because he can infect his parents), once there he´s slow to adapt because he do not realize that he´s not the just for a few months and he´s working for when he returns to his normal life, but he´s really sick and can die at any time, but once he realizes his mortality, he begins to make changes in his habits and his way of seeing life, besides that Latham House he meets Sadie.

Sadie is a seventeen year old girl, who has spent a year and a half at Latham House, as herr disease does not improve, nor worse, so she´s "stable", but not cured. By the fact of having been living for so long in Latham, she isn´t very good at following the rules, she likes to challenge them and prefers to be different from the others patients, so she takes a more "free" life at Latham House than she had before she became sick, there with her group of friends she have fun and is happy with her life so far, until Sadie meets Lane and modify some of her rules.

This is a bittersweet and poignant story about how you start to live and appreciate every day of your life, when your future is uncertain. It's also about second chances, friendship and first love.

Book trailer

Ten Books I Plan To Have In My Beach Bag This Summer

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created bThe Broke and the Bookish

Ten Books I Plan To Have In My Beach Bag This Summer
(in no particular order)

I haven´t read any of these books, but I want to read some of them this summer.

YOUNG ADULT
Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson 

Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols
Paper Towns by John Green 

ADULT
Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella


¿What books will be in your beach bag this summer?
Leave me your link in the comments.

May 25, 2015

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Book Journey.
Each week we spotlight the books we are reading, planning on reading or just finished reading.

Click on the image to look description in Goodreads.

Finished reading

I´m posting my review on Thursday. It´s and enjoyable read.

Currently reading


What I´m going to read next?



What are you reading today? 
Leave me your links!

May 22, 2015

Review: Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews


Title: Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels #3)
Author: Ilona Andrews
Publisher: Ace
Release date: March 31st 2009
Reading level: Ages 18 and up

Rating: 5/5

Buy onAmazon | B&N | BookDepository

You can read my review of Magic Bites here & Magic Burns - here
When magic strikes and Atlanta goes to pieces, it’s a job for Kate Daniels…

Drafted into working for the Order of Merciful Aid, mercenary Kate Daniels has more paranormal problems than she knows what to do with these days. And in Atlanta, where magic comes and goes like the tide, that’s saying a lot.

But when Kate's werewolf friend Derek is discovered nearly dead, she must confront her greatest challenge yet. As her investigation leads her to the Midnight Games—an invitation only, no holds barred, ultimate preternatural fighting tournament—she and Curran, the Lord of the Beasts, uncover a dark plot that may forever alter the face of Atlanta's shapeshifting community… 

The Kate Daniels series gets better with each book and Magic Strikes is the best of the series so far. This is an excellent urban fantasy saga for adults.

In Magic Strikes, Kate´s friend and sidekick Derek - a young werewolf - gets into trouble and she feels responsible for it when he ends up beaten almost to death and when she learns that the perpetrators are participants of the Midnight Games, a secret tournament, without rules, where fights are to the death. So for Derek and other reasons she decides that the only way to help him and the other shapeshifter, is by participating in the tournament along with her friends, which is against her father´s training, but for her friends she´s ready for anything.

Kate is a tremendous hero, loyal, honorable and willing to do anything to keep alive her small group of friends and Curran. Kate was trained from very young to survive, to see for herself and to not make waves, to try to go unnoticed, which she has done most of her life, but now for her friends, she will fight with all she has to protect them.

In this installment we get to know a little more about Kate, her origins and for what she has been training all her life. Also there is finally more development in what refers to the "romance" between Kate and Curran, as they continue to antagonize each other, but there are some progress in their relationship and some sexual tension.

Magic Strikes was really a great read, funny, action-packed, with many revelations and sexual tension between the main characters.

I also read Midnight Games and Hot Tub short stories that take place during Magic Strikes and are told from Curran´s POV. And Kate's Origin and Naked Dinner events occurring between Magic Strikes and Magic Bleed (Book 3 and 4), all from Curran POV Collection.

May 20, 2015

Waiting On Wednesday(173): The Masked Truth

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

The book I´m waiting this week is

The Masked Truth by Kelley Armstrong
Release date: October 13th 2015
Riley Vasquez is haunted by the brutal murder of the couple she was babysitting for.

Max Cross is suffering under the shadow of a life-altering diagnosis he doesn’t dare reveal.

The last thing either of them wants is to spend a weekend away at a therapy camp alongside five other teens with “issues.” But that’s exactly where they are when three masked men burst in to take the group hostage.

The building has no windows. The exits are sealed shut. Their phones are gone. And their captors are on a killing spree.

Riley and Max know that if they can’t get out, they’ll be next—but they’re about to find out that even escape doesn’t equal freedom.

Why I'm Waiting?
Because I like Kelley´s books and can´t wait to read more.

What book are you waiting this week?
Leave your WOW links 

May 19, 2015

Review: Made You Up by Francesca Zappia


Title: Made You Up
Author: Francesca Zappia
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Release date: May 19th 2015
Source: Edelweiss
Format: eARC

Rating: 4.5/5

Buy onAmazon | B&N | BookDepository
Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. Made You Up tells the story of Alex, a high school senior unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. This is a compelling and provoking literary debut that will appeal to fans of Wes Anderson, Silver Linings Playbook, and Liar.

Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal.

Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up.

An addictive and irresistible read with an unreliable narrator, because she cannot distinguish what is real and what isn´t.

Alex was diagnosed with schizophrenia at thirteen years old and a year later was added paranoia to her diagnosis, so Alex is not sure if what she sees is real or not, so she carries a camera ans constantly takes pictures of all the things to help her discover if it's real. And she's about to enter her senior year at a new school, so she´ll be the new girl, which is a good thing for her because nobody knows about her.

At her new school she meets Miles, a quirky guy whom may or may not be someone she knew as a child and leave an impression. But Miles is not an easy person to deal with, he´s little anti-social and extremely intelligent. But somehow they work together and have a very good chemistry between them (is not instant love). I really loved them together!

Made You Up is a book that surprised me, because I didn´t expect to liked it so much, I LOVED IT !, why? because the whole time I was reading it, I was questioning everything, not knowing what was real and what was imagined by Alex and that was great. The plot is fresh and unique (at least for me). I recommend this book to those that like contemporary novels with a little of mystery.

Favorites quotes
“Sometimes I think people take reality for granted.” 
“Believing something existed and then finding out it didn't was like reaching the top of the stairs and thinking there was one more step.” 

Top Ten Most Anticipated Novels For The Second Half of 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created bThe Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Most Anticipated Novels For The Second Half of 2015
(in no particular order)
A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis
Spinning Starlight by R.C. Lewis

Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1) by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Their Fractured Light (Starbound #3) by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner 

ADULT

What books are you looking forward to read in 2015?
Leave me your links!