Review: Pivot Point by Kasie West

Pivot Point (Pivot Point #1)
by Kasie West
Published: February 12, 2013




Buy from Amazon

Knowing the outcome doesn’t always make a choice easier . . .

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without.

Review: What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang

What's Left of Me 
(The Hybrid Chronicles #1)
by Kat Zhang
Published: September 18, 2012




I should not exist. But I do.

Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t . . .

For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable-hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet . . . for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.

Review: How to Love by Katie Cotugno

How to Love
by Katie Cotugno
Published: October 1, 2013




Before: Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he’s never seemed to notice that Reena even exists…until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated—and pregnant—Reena behind.

After: Almost three years have passed, and there’s a new love in Reena’s life: her daughter, Hannah. Reena’s gotten used to being without Sawyer, and she’s finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. Reena doesn’t want anything to do with him, though she’d be lying if she said Sawyer’s being back wasn’t stirring something in her. After everything that’s happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?

In this breathtaking debut, Katie Cotugno weaves together the story of one couple falling in love—twice.

December Reads + Monthly Recap + 2013 Wrap-up

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! It's 2014 now but even if that is the case, I still have a few things to say about 2013..

December was an incredibly busy month. We had our prelim exams, club outreaches and then Christmas break! I really hoped I would have time to catch up with blogging because of this. My mom had other plans, though. She made me do a lot of her office works (tons of encoding) since, yeaaaah, it's break. So I was only able to make.. like.. 10 posts?

Top 10 of 2013: Best Book Boyfriends

Hosted by Fiktshun, Two Chicks on Books and Magical Urban Fantasy Reads

Now, to the hardest top 10 list to make.. BEST BOOK BOYFRIENDS OF 2013! It MUST be from a book released in 2013 and from a book I’ve READ in 2013.

Top 10 of 2013: Best Couples

Hosted by Fiktshun, Two Chicks on Books and Magical Urban Fantasy Reads

For this post it's blogger's choice of the best of 2013. Choices: Villains, Contemporaries, Dual POVs, Novellas, Adult titles, New Adult titles, Love Triangles, Couples, Bad Boys, Debuts and I chose COUPLES from books I read this 2013. Without further ado..

Top 10 of 2013: Best Book Covers

Hosted by Fiktshun, Two Chicks on Books and Magical Urban Fantasy Reads

Merry Christmas! Day 2 is for the best book covers I've seen this year. The book MUST be released in 2013 and since there are a lot of gorgeous covers I've seen around this year, I chose my top 10 from the books I've also read this year to narrow down my choices. By the end of this post, you'll know that I love book covers that actually tells me something about the story.

Top 10 of 2013: Best Books I've Read

Hosted by Fiktshun and Two Chicks On Books

It's kind of tough to think about picking my Top 10 this 2013 out of more than 100 books I've read this year. And it has been a wonderful reading year for me. Looking back, it's actually not as hard as I imagined to pinpoint the books that have left a huge mark in me. There are a lot of them. Now the problem is to choose 10 that tops it all. And I have mine here now! These book are the ones that made an impression that even though hundreds of books and days have passed since I last read it, just hearing about it again makes me travel back to that time when I am actually reading it.

So here they are:

Review: Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan

Untold (The Lynburn Legacy #2)
by Sarah Rees Brennan
Published: September 24, 2013




Free from bonds, but not each other

It’s time to choose sides… On the surface, Sorry-in-the-Vale is a sleepy English town. But Kami Glass knows the truth. Sorry-in-the-Vale is full of magic. In the old days, the Lynburn family ruled with fear, terrifying the people into submission in order to kill for blood and power. Now the Lynburns are back, and Rob Lynburn is gathering sorcerers so that the town can return to the old ways.

But Rob and his followers aren’t the only sorcerers in town. A decision must be made: pay the blood sacrifice, or fight. For Kami, this means more than just choosing between good and evil. With her link to Jared Lynburn severed, she’s now free to love anyone she chooses. But who should that be?

November Reads + Monthly Recap

Hello and happy December! I know I haven't been a very productive reviewer lately but I have other things to be happy about like reading 16 books this November!

For the reviews, I'll make it up this December. That's not a promise. However, THIS is: I'm going to kill that-review-pile this coming January 2014, the kickoff for the 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge hosted by Rachel @ Fiktshun and Reanna @ Phantasmic Reads. Check out the challenge button on my right sidebar for more info.

Review: Being Jamie Baker by Kelly Oram

Being Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #1)
by Kelly Oram
Published: June 14, 2010



An accident that should end in tragedy instead gives seventeen-year-old Jamie Baker a slew of uncontrollable superhuman abilities. To keep her secret safe Jamie socially exiles herself, earning the title of Rocklin High's resident ice queen. But during a supercharged encounter with star quarterback Ryan Miller she literally kisses anonymity goodbye. Now the annoyingly irresistible Ryan will stop at nothing to melt the heart of the ice queen and find out what makes her so special. Unfortunately, Ryan is not the only person on to her secret. Will Jamie learn to contain her unstable powers before being discovered by the media or turned into a government lab rat? More importantly, can she throw Ryan Miller off her trail before falling in love with him?

UPDATES: 2013 Reading Challenges

One month and 9 days left before 2014! 

Since we’re that close to ending this year I figured it’s time I do an update of my 2013 Reading Challenges which I haven’t done like, I don’t know, ever? I’ve joined seven this year and I’ve already completed five of them! You can head over HERE to check all my entries but if you want a shorter and less detailed version then keep reading. You know, it’s not too late to join if you’re still interested. Sign-ups and RC deets can also be found if you visit my 2013 Reading Challenges page.

Reading Updates

Hello! Since I am not feeling very well and can't concentrate much to write a review, I'm doing updates instead. First on that list.. second semester started this week! Can't be too surprised how short that break was since I was in and out of campus those times anyway. But I did go back to my hometown on Halloween to take care of my grandma since she wasn't feeling well. It was supposed to be just an overnight stay but it turned out to be almost 4 days.

Since school opened in the middle of the week, first day back wasn't very eventful. Most of the students are still on the process of enrollment (like me) because of the holidays so no classes to the majority, yet. I skipped class the following day because of the bad weather but it was announced later that afternoon that classes were suspended for the rest of the day until Friday. Storm signal #4. Since power was out and I don't have anywhere to go, I was in bed the whole day like a dying person, reading. I finished two books:

Review: Don't Look Now by Michelle Gagnon

Don't Look Now
(PERSEFoNE #2)
by Michelle Gagnon
Published: August 27, 2013




Noa Torsen is on the run. Having outsmarted the sinister corporation Pike & Dolan, Noa and her friend Zeke now move stealthily across the country, protecting runaways before they become test subjects for P&D's horrific experiments. Noa knows all too well what that feels like: Whatever they did to her has left her exhausted and scared.

Back in Boston, Peter anxiously follows Noa's movements from his computer, using his hacker skills to feed her the information she needs to stay alive. But he's desperate to do something more, especially when he learns what P&D has done to his ex-girlfriend Amanda.

Then, in an explosive confrontation, Noa and her team are trapped in the one place they thought was safe. It will take everything Noa and Peter have to bring down the corporation before it gets them first. And with no one to trust and enemies hiding at every turn, they may be the only people alive who can.

This stunning second book in the critically acclaimed Don't Turn Around trilogy raises the stakes to their absolute limit and will leave readers begging for the exciting conclusion, Don't Let Go.

YA Contemporary Books I Would Recommend

There are only few contemporary books that appeal to me. Mostly it's because the genre has repetitive storyline (like NA, only this one is recommended to older teens) but of course there are those that will surprise you eventhough you might think "Oh, please. I've heard all of that before." The number of contemporary books I've read might not be half as many as my paranormal, sci-fi and fantasy reads but I do pick up a lot of them still. It may not be my favorite genre but despite all that same plot of high-school romance and blah, blah, blah, wouldn't you find it amazing to find that one book that could compete with your most favorite book under your most favorite genre?

Well, if you ask me, my most favorite contemporary last year was The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and If I Stay and  Where She Went by Gayle Forman. TFiOS wasn't very popular yet when I read it so there was no hype and high expectations. Just pure amazing-ness. And If I Stay was an impulse buy/read. I just saw it at a bookstore and thought "I HAVE to buy this" then later that day our trip back home was delayed so I read it at the terminal while waiting. That's where I found one of the "love of my life"-s. So yes, I would love to recommend these YA Contemporaries I've read so far THIS YEAR.

October Reads + Monthly Recap

Happy Holloween! Well, we're done with October and there are only two months left before 2014! Woah. Anyway, October has been a very good reading month. The first two-and-a-half weeks was really hectic because of finals but it was all better after that. I heard my aunt ask my mom a few days before where I was and my mom said: Where else? She's burying herself in her books while she's on break. Don't I just love my mom? She knows me so well. So this month I read 15 books! *victory dance a la Sam Henry* LOL.

Technically, I started three of them last month but I wasn't able to finish them on time. Still.

Review: Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson

Hunting Lila (Lila #1)
by Sarah Alderson
Published: August 5, 2011




17-year-old Lila has two secrets she’s prepared to take to the grave. The first is that she can move things just by looking at them. The second is that she’s been in love with her brother’s best friend, Alex, since forever.

After a mugging exposes her unique ability, Lila decides to run to the only people she can trust—her brother and Alex. They live in Southern California where they work for a secret organization called The Unit, and Lila discovers that the two of them are hunting down the men who murdered her mother five years before. And that they’ve found them.

In a world where nothing and no one is quite as they seem, Lila quickly realizes that she is not alone—there are others out there just like her—people with special powers—and her mother’s killer is one of them…

Review: The Iron Traitor by Julie Kagawa

The Iron Traitor
(The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten #2)
by Julie Kagawa
Published: October 29, 2013




In the real world, when you vanish into thin air for a week, people tend to notice.

After his unexpected journey into the lands of the fey, Ethan Chase just wants to get back to normal. Well, as "normal" as you can be when you see faeries every day of your life. Suddenly the former loner with the bad reputation has someone to try for-his girlfriend, Kenzie. Never mind that he's forbidden to see her again.

But when your name is Ethan Chase and your sister is one of the most powerful faeries in the Nevernever, "normal" simply isn't to be. For Ethan's nephew, Keirran, is missing, and may be on the verge of doing something unthinkable in the name of saving his own love. Something that will fracture the human and faery worlds forever, and give rise to the dangerous fey known as the Forgotten. As Ethan's and Keirran's fates entwine and Keirran slips further into darkness, Ethan's next choice may decide the fate of them all.

Review: Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon

Don't Turn Around
(PERSEF0NE #1)
by Michelle Gagnon
Published: August 28, 2012




In Michelle Gagnon’s debut YA thriller, Don’t Turn Around, computer hacker Noa Torson is as smart, tough, and complex as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’s Lisbeth Salander.

The first in a trilogy, Don’t Turn Around’s intricate plot and heart-pounding action will leave readers desperate for book two.

Sixteen-year-old Noa has been a victim of the system ever since her parents died. Now living off the grid and trusting no one, she uses her hacking skills to stay anonymous and alone. But when she wakes up on a table in a warehouse with an IV in her arm and no memory of how she got there, Noa starts to wish she had someone on her side.

Enter Peter Gregory. A rich kid and the leader of a hacker alliance, Peter needs people with Noa’s talents on his team. Especially after a shady corporation threatens his life in no uncertain terms. But what Noa and Peter don’t realize is that Noa holds the key to a terrible secret, and there are those who’d stop at nothing to silence her for good.

[BLOG TOUR] Review + Giveaway: The Faerie War by Rachel Morgan

The Faerie War
(Creepy Hollow #3)
by Rachel Morgan
Published: October 21, 2013



The fate of the fae world is in her hands ...

Violet Fairdale is in big trouble. Her home is gone, her beloved forest lies in ruins, the guy she gave her heart to has deserted her—and she doesn’t remember any of it. The powerful Lord Draven is taking over, brainwashing guardians into fighting for him. No one is safe from the evil spreading throughout the fae world.

As alliances are forged between the remaining free fae, Vi struggles to reclaim her identity and figure out where she belongs in this new world. When someone from her past shows up, life gets even more complicated. He brings with him a long-forgotten weapon and an ancient prophecy that places Vi at the center of the fight against Draven. With the future of the fae world at stake, can Vi carry out the prophecy’s instructions before it’s too late?