Rush Into You by Brianna Lee Blog Tour + Review

Rush Into You by Brianna Lee
Category: New Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: May 6, 2014

Synopsis: I had it all.

I was captain of the cheerleading squad and star of the debate team.
I was smart and popular and living the dream.

Until that night.
That one fateful night changed everything.

Now everyone hates me—everyone.
They stay far away.
It’s safer.

Drugs numb the pain, and sex pays for the drugs.
Being alive is my punishment.

Then I meet him.
Ryker Rosse.
Tattoos, sinful body…and his eyes. His eyes are irresistible.
He is captivating. He treats me with respect.
He sees me.

Ryker brings happiness into my life of regret, but I don’t know if I deserve happiness.
Some mistakes can never be forgiven.
Or can they?

Buy Links: 
AMAZON . SMASHWORDS . B&N . iTUNES

Review: I fell in love with the cover of this book before anything else. I know that we are told not to judge a book by its cover, but I am incredibly guilty of doing just that. Sure, I will give a book a chance even if I don't like the cover, but I cannot explain how an amazing cover can encourage me to pick up a book more quickly. It was certainly that way with this book. I mean, just look at the cover! I was thrilled when the book proved to be just as great as the cover itself. 

The prologue to this book was so intense and wonderfully written. It was so short, yet it was enough to make me sure that I needed to continue with this book as soon as possible. I honestly could not believe that this book was the debut novel from Lee, as the writing was very well done. We are introduced to Gabby and learn that she is dealing with severe guilt caused by a drunk driving incident. I loved that this book hit hard at something that is a serious issue, and that always needs to have more light shed on it. Even accidents can have serious consequences, and ruin the lives of many people. We see our main character hating herself for what she has done, unable to forgive herself, so she turns to drugs and sex in order to numb the pain. 

This is the thing that I love about New Adult books as I have begun reading them; they seem so real. This is something that new adults deal with; they drink and make poor decisions, and sometimes they have irreversible consequences. They deal with drug and sex abuse, and everything else mentioned in this book. While Gabby hates herself, it is difficult to hate her as a reader. She is obviously going through so much, and I could not help but feel for her. After all, we all make mistakes, and you never want to see anyone hit rock bottom like Gabby does. 

Enter Ryker, the one person that Gabby truly needs at the time; someone who is able to lift her from the place she has fallen and learn to move on again. He treats her well, and is understanding of her and everything that has happened. It is so nice to see a romance where the guy is so caring of the female character, I feel like we see a lot of "tough guys" in novels these days. While we had the romance in the book, we also got to see a story of moving on and self forgiveness, something that the majority of us suffer through. I still cannot believe that this is a debut novel by Lee. It was an incredible novel, and I do recommend it to any contemporary fans. I cannot wait to see what Lee does in the future.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

 Brianna Lee is an avid reader and flavored ice coffee addict. She is also a book blogger for Brianna Lee Book Reviews and lives in Massachusetts with her beautiful daughter.

As a busy mom and aunt, she often has to write her stories in a notepad app on her cell phone, but late at night you will find her typing on her laptop until she passes out on her keyboard...literally.

Brianna encourages readers to contact her as she loves to hear from you! Email her at authorbriannalee@live.com.

Links: 
FACEBOOK . WEBSITE . TWITTER . NEWSLETTER . AMAZON AUTHOR

 GIVEAWAY: 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Review: How I Got Skinny, Famous, and Fell Madly in Love by Ken Baker

How I Got Skinny, Famous, and Fell Madly in Love

by Ken Baker

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction       
Publisher: Running Press Kids     
Release Date: April 22, 2014
Edition: ARC
Page Count: 272
Source: ARC copy via publisher (THANK YOU!)

Goodreads Synopsis: "Thick. Heavy. Big boned. Plump. Full figured. Chunky. Womanly. Large. Curvy. Plus-size. Hefty." To sixteen-year-old Emery Jackson, these are all just euphemisms for the big "F" word—"fat." Living on a Southern California beach with her workout fiend dad, underwear model sister, and former model mother, it is impossible for Emery not to be aware of her weight.

Emery is okay with how things are. That is, until her "momager" signs her up for Fifty Pounds to Freedom, a reality show in which Emery will have to lose fifty pounds in fifty days in order to win the million dollars that will solve her family's financial woes. Emery is skeptical of the process, but when the pounds start to come off and the ratings skyrocket, she finds it hard to resist the adoration of her new figure and the world of fame. Emery knows that things have changed. But is it for the better?
 GOODREADS . AMAZON . B&N

Review:  Yay contemporary! I was so excited when I received the email about this book. I intended to be a part of the blog tour, but things did not work out in time. Despite that, Running Press Kids was great enough to still send a print ARC for me to read and review. Let me state that this is my first EVER print ARC, and I may have squealed a bit (or a lot) when it came in the mail. So, thank you again, RP! I really, really appreciate it. 

This book was so much more than I could have expected. I feel like it could have been far less detailed and exciting if Baker had simply wrote a book about a girl who went on a reality show to lose weight and get money for it. While that was a part of the plot, it certainly was not the whole thing at all. Instead, we have the character of Emery Jackson, who is one of the best female YA contemp characters I have read in awhile. She is an individual, spunky and sarcastic, and she is also a very real person with very real problems. 

The whole set up for the book was incredible. You have the former athlete father who now does motivational things and travels all of the time, so he is rarely around. You have the mom who spends too much time focusing on her appearance, and the appearance of her daughters (getting your daughter a book job at age seventeen? WOW!). You have the older, perfect sister who seems to only care about herself and how she looks. Then you have Emery. The black sheep in the family, though we find out more and more about why this is throughout the book. 

Ultimately, this book hit hard at a topic that is becoming a pretty big problem. I love how in the book, the f-word and f-bomb stand for something very different, and even more hurtful - FAT. Baker does not just focus on people being cruel because of weight, though. Based on vlogs that Emery does as part of the reality show, Baker writes parts of how awful we can be to each other about anything or everything. Someone is too skinny, too fat, too pretty, too ugly...too anything and suddenly that makes them worthy of ridicule. I love how Emery opens the readers eyes to this, and shows how it is definitely NOT okay. 

This book was everything I want in a contemporary novel; a strong female character who is going through difficult, relate able things. A realistic romance that goes through its ups-and-downs. I absolutely loved Ben and how much he loved Emery, not caring at all how she looked, and always having complete faith in her ability to be successful. Teenage girls need to know that they don't have to settle, that there ARE good guys out there, ones who will love them for who they are without needing to change. We have family problems, and huge secrets. Ultimately, this was a book I did not want to put down. I read it in one sitting, and I laughed and cried, and felt and thought so many things as I read it. I would certainly recommend it to everything, and I do believe that it is a book that every teenage girl needs to read. 

Rating: 5.0/5.0

Stacking the Shelves [11]

I am joining in on Stacking The Shelves, a weekly meme hosted over at Tynga's Reviews. It is an easy way to share what books you picked up that week, and to see what other people have picked up to read themselves.

How to Participate?

• Create your own Stacking The Shelves post. You can use my official graphic or your own, but please link back to Tynga’s Reviews so more people can join the fun!
• You can set your post any way you want, simple book list, covers, pictures, vlog, sky is the limit!
• I am posting Stacking The Shelves on Saturdays, but feel free to post yours any day that fits you.
• Visit Tynga’s Reviews on Saturday and add your link so others can visit you!

• Visit other participants link to find out what they added to their shelves!

 It is crazy to believe that this is already my eleventh Stacking the Shelves post. When I first decided to start this blog (after a lot of nerves and hesitation) I was not sure if things would go well for me and the blog. I am thrilled with everything, and have so enjoyed meeting so many other great bloggers. Along with that, I have just discovered booktube, and spent most of my morning watching videos. I'm thrilled to have this little corner of the internet, and thank you for joining along! :]

Here is my haul for this week. As some of you probably know, Half Price Books started a sale on Thursday where they have an extra 20% off everything through Monday, and I could not help but take a trip (or two). Here is what I purchased on my trips: 

The Elite by Kiera Cass (I already own The Selection and The One)
The Redemption of Callie & Kayden by Jessica Sorensen (they didn't have book one)
Tease by Amanda Maciel
Champion by Marie Lu (I already own Legend and Prodigy)
Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
The Last Forever by Deb Caletti
(Not Pictured: I also bought the first book in the Game of Thrones series for my husband) 


Library Haul: 

Part One: 
She is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick
The Opposite of Hallelujah by Anna Jarzab
A Death-Struck Year by Makiia Lucier
You Look Different in Real Life by Jennifer Castle
The Ring & the Crown by Melissa De La Cruz

Part Two: 
Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf
Something Real by Heather Demetrios
Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman
Sekret by Lindsay Smith

What did you add to your shelves this week?

Feature & Follow Friday [3]

It's Feature and Follow Friday time! I decided to join in again this week, and it is probably something that I will try to keep doing! I love meeting other book bloggers, and it seems like a wonderful way to do just that! Want more information on how the whole thing works? Check out the information HERE at Parajunkee.

This Week's Question: 
Have you ever convinced someone to read a book, a series, or a whole genre? What book(s) and who was it? Did they like it? 

My mom is the person that I usually try to convince to read the books I love. Well, it was always that way before, though now I have a couple of friends I do this to as well, along with my oldest brother. The one specific example I remember is when I read the Twilight series and then convinced  my mom to read it as well. She did enjoy it, from what I can remember.  

Inevitable by Lani Woodland Blog Tour + Review

Inevitable by Lani Woodland 
(The Yara Silva Trilogy #3)
Publication date: February 11th 2014
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult

 Synopsis:

Three years. So much has changed for Yara, yet much is still the same.

Yara has spent the last three years in Brazil, diligently studying with Vovó to develop her Waker abilities and desperately searching for a cure for Brent. Though her powers—and her control over them—have grown, every possible cure for Brent fails. And they’re running out of the only medicine that keeps him alive.

When a letter from the American Wakers recalls Yara and Vovó to California, Yara has to weigh the fading chance of saving Brent against the dangers of placing them all within the grasp of an old enemy. Not only has his power grown, but the barrier between our world and the spirit world is becoming dangerously thin. As the threat to the Wakers increases, Yara doesn’t know if she’ll be strong enough to defeat him.

Her only hope is to put her trust in some unexpected allies and fully embrace her Waker heritage. If she fails, not only could Brent die, but the power of the Wakers could disappear forever.

GOODREADS . AMAZON . B&N 

Purchase Book 1: AMAZON . B&N

Purchase Book 2: AMAZON . B&N

Review: Honestly, I feel like I should have started this trilogy a long time ago. It was only recently that I got back into the swing of the reading thing, but I am surprised that I had not come across this series on Goodreads as I was finding books to add to my to-be read list. Still, I was thrilled when I received the email about this blog tour. As this specific tour is for the third and final book in the series, I was worried I would not have a chance to read it. Not to worry! They kindly sent me all three books so that I could read the whole series, and I worked through them all pretty quickly as I enjoyed them very much.

I cannot say that I have read any other books that have had ghosts in them. I just keep getting more and more surprised by paranormal books - the genre is obviously far, far more diverse than I was expecting. (Speaking of diverse, the main character was a bit diverse herself, and I loved that!). I really liked the different elements that were brought into play in this series. While some of it was a little repetitive here and there, it did not ever bother me enough that I wanted to put it down or stop reading; I'm not sure how I could of by the time I got to book three!

One of my favorite things about book three is the focus on friendship and family, and not just on the romance that is happening (though I absolutely love the relationship between Yara and Brent. How could you not?). In a lot of trilogies, I feel that the last book always really focuses on whatever relationship is occuring, but I liked that this one was more than that. Yara's friends and family were there to help her through the tough things, and I thought that was an awesome addition to the story.

While there were a few things here and there that I did not love, overall I feel that it was a very good wrap up to a wonderful series. I hate that this series does not seem to have more attention, as it deserves quite a bit. It was incredibly enjoyable, and I loved reading about the characters through all three books. I do hope that this blog tour will help give the series more of the attention that it deserves.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

 

AUTHOR BIO:

I’ve been an avid reader since elementary school . In sixth grade I began writing stories and recruiting (with force when necessary) my  friends to act them out. I’ve always loved scary stories, and have a hard time enjoying any book without at least a little romance in it.

Author Links:

http://www.laniwoodland.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4104358.Lani_Woodland

https://www.facebook.com/lani.woodland

https://twitter.com/LaniWoodland