Mini Reviews: Wait for You + Trust in Me

WAIT FOR YOU
Wait for You #1
Jennifer Armentrout/J. Lynn
Contemporary New Adult
384 Pages
William Morrow Paperbacks
Available Now
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Amazon)
Some things are worth waiting for . . .

Traveling thousands of miles from home to enter college is the only way nineteen-year-old Avery Morgansten can escape what happened at that fateful Halloween party five years ago—an event that forever changed her life. What she never planned on was capturing the attention of the one guy who could shatter the precarious future she's building for herself.

Some things are worth experiencing . . .

Cameron Hamilton is six feet, three inches of swoon-worthy hotness, com-plete with a pair of striking blue eyes and a remarkable ability to make Avery want things she believed had been irrevocably stolen from her. Getting involved with him is dangerous. Yet ignoring the simmering tension that sparks between them—and brings out a side of her she never knew existed—is impossible.

Some things shouldn't be kept quiet . . .

But when Avery starts receiving threatening e-mails and phone calls, she's forced to face a past she wants to keep buried and acknowledge that someone is refusing to allow her to let go of that night when everything changed. If the devastating truth comes out, will she resurface with one less scar? And will Cam be there to help her?

And some things are worth fighting for . . . 

MY THOUGHTS
Wait for You is pure pleasure; a read not unusual in its setup but sweetly sinful in its delivery, giving us a romance gloriously slow to develop and fraught with tension thanks to a number of weighty unspoken secrets. Avery is absolutely adorable in her wariness and her quiet reserve–markers of a painful past discerned through just enough hints to have us filling in the traumatizing blanks–her awkwardness with Cam throughout endearing her to us more and more with each chapter we’re in her head. She’s the first to admit she’s a runner when it comes to emotional challenges, and while this tendency is frustrating at times (something she freely admits to herself and us as readers), the brief flashes of life before she came to West Virginia are enough to have us tempted to stick our heads in the sand right alongside her, hoping the threat of emotional discovery simply goes away just as much as we wish for her to simply step up and face it.

Cam is a true highlight of this story, his initial introduction raising our eyebrows in question at his apparent overconfidence and abundance of self-love, but we quickly see that his self-congratulatory statements are all in jest, meant to goad Avery into responding to him even if that response is laughably insulting in nature. He's infinitely patient with Avery, there for her simply as a friend for much of the book before he oh-so carefully tries to steer them into trickier waters. When Avery’s past gets the better of her, he takes an understandable step back to give her space, but he never retreats entirely and he thankfully doesn’t play any jealousy games with her to get her to see what she’s missing. He lets realization come to her on her own terms, and we can’t help but want to hug him for his maturity and his unwavering understanding of Avery even when she doesn’t understand herself.

Flirty and beautifully romantic but with no shortage of dark undertones, Wait For You is one destined for the re-read shelf.

Rating: 4/5

TRUST IN ME
Wait for You #1.5
Jennifer Armentrout/J. Lynn
Contemporary New Adult
William Morrow Paperbacks
Available Now
Source: e-ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
It’s Wait for You as you’ve never seen it. Trust in Me lets you in on Cam’s side of the #1 New York Times Bestselling story.

Cameron Hamilton is used to getting what he wants, especially when it comes to women. But when Avery Morgansten comes crashing into his life – literally – he finally meets the one person who can resist his soulful baby blues. But Cam’s not ready to give up. He can’t get the feisty and intriguing girl out of his head.

Avery has secrets, secrets that keep her from admitting the feelings Cam knows she has for him. Will persistence (and some delicious homemade cookies) help him break down her barriers and gain her trust? Or will he be shut out of Avery's life, losing his first real shot at the kind of love that lasts forever?

MY THOUGHTS
Trust in Me gives us Cam’s insight into his sometimes-difficult-but-ultimately-hugely-rewarding relationship with Avery, a treat for Cam lovers everywhere who always wondered what was going on behind the charmingly self-aggrandizing statements. The beginning is a bit tedious simply due to the fact that the main draw in the very beginning of Wait for You was the outrageousness of the things that came out of his mouth as he tried to woo her with varying degrees of seriousness, but the anticipation of “what will he say next” is absent in this story because we already know the answer given the dialogue is obviously unchanged. The things we're really interested in knowing come later, our curiosity lying almost completely in how the small clues about what happened to Avery in the past affect him, and in that regard, this novella does not disappoint.

The highlight though is the fleeting glimpse of Jase’s life Cam’s perspective gives us, our knowledge of him perhaps a single step above zero after spending our time in Avery’s head first, and there are clearly innumerable facets to him that never registered with us until now. With his and Tess’s story next on the horizon, Trust in Me builds the anticipation beautifully until we’re practically salivating in the end, desperate to see how these two will fit together, and extraordinarily curious to see how Cam will handle one of his best friends making a play for his sister.

Rating: 3.5/5
 

Find Jennifer:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

Mini Reviews: Fair Coin, Thief's Covenant, and Range of Ghosts

Hey Everyone!

Well, I'm still without power. It sucks. Luckily for me, I have pretty fantastic in-laws and they have ever-so kindly let me and Kevin, as well as our dogs, move in with them temporarily even though they already have my brother-in-law and his wife living with them while they're building a house. Win. 

So, I'm back online and back to the blog, and today the fun with my in-laws continues as I have my mother-in-law Cathy back to give us her thoughts on some recent reads!

FAIR COIN

E.C. Myers

Paranormal Young Adult

250 pages

Pyr

Available Now

Received from publisher for review

CATHY'S SUMMARY

Ephraim arrives home to find his mom has attempted suicide. He finds out that his mother believes that Ephraim has been killed. As he goes through his mother's purse he finds the belongings of the dead boy, who could have passed for his twin. Among the boy's possessions, is a coin. The coin begins to grant Ephraim wishes, but there are side effects with each wish and he feels the need to make a correction which leads to another wish. This is where the journey begins and Ephraim has a mystery to solve. He has quite an adventure as he tries to improve his life but sees how it changes the lives of others, not always in the best way. It's a wild and twisting journey that is decided by the flip of a coin.

CATHY'S THOUGHTS

This is a very interesting book. It's a cross between magical thinking and sci-fi. It is a well written story that grabs your attention and keeps it throughout the entire book. The only stumble was that Mr. Myers tried too hard to explain the scientific reasons for why things were occurring instead of allowing his readers to just believe and accept the storyline. He developed great characters that you either grew to care about or hate. There were several lessons in the book such as being happy with what you have and not wishing your life away, all of which were delivered in a subtle manner.

Rating: 4/5

THIEF'S COVENANT

Ari Marmell

Young Adult/Fantasy

273 pages

Pyr

Available Now

Received from publisher for review

CATHY'S SUMMARY

This is a fantasy adventure that blends mythology with the allure of courtly times. Widdershins/ Adrienne is a young girl that grew up in the streets of Davillon. She learned to live by her wits. For a brief time she was taken in and learned the life of the aristocracy. This lasts only a few years until a mass murder occurs and she is the prime suspect. She is forced to return to the streets and becomes a master thief. She finds herself in a continuing spiral of misfortunes that never seem to end. With the aid of her own personal god, Olgun, she fights all the odds and tries to save her friends and herself.

CATHY'S THOUGHTS
I enjoyed this book once I read several chapters. There are too many date changes at first that make the story confusing until you have a better picture of the characters. Mr. Marmell did a good job with character development and with weaving an adventure that draws you in. Because you come to care for Widdershins, you experience vast emotions as she tries to save herself only to have forces work against her to make a happy ending seem impossible. This book has a little of everything: fantasy, love story, conspiracy, and revenge – all the things that make for a great read. This is the first in the series and you will want to find out what Widdershins next adventure will be.

Rating: 4/5

RANGE OF GHOSTS

Elizabeth Bear

Fantasy

336 pages

Tor

Available Now

Received from publisher for review

CATHY'S SUMMARY

In this fantasy adventure, Temur is the sole survivor of a battle to overthrow his family's kingdom. He begins his journey to safety and along the way meets Edena. Because Temur is in line for the throne, his opponent kidnaps Edena in an effort to use her as bait to kill Temur. On his way to rescue Edena, he bands together with a very unusual assortment of companions: a wizard, a monk, a pregnant princess, and a Cho-tse (a talking upright tiger). They have many obstacles to overcome and just when the end is in sight and you want to know the conclusion, Ms. Bear leaves you hanging and you find out what happens to our unusual group in the next book.

CATHY'S THOUGHTS
Ms. Bear tells quite a story and has developed an elaborate fantasy world and I almost missed it. I was not going to finish this book. At the start of the book, there are so many strange names and places that it's difficult to follow the story. If there would have been a glossary to refer to, it would have helped tremendously. I am glad that I finished it because she has layered characters that you grow to care for and want to find out where their journey leads them. By the end, you are definitely left hanging and want to read the next book.

Rating: 3.5/5

Mini Reviews: The Calling + Crossroads

THE CALLING
Ashley Lynn Willis
Adult Paranormal Romance (sort of)
360 pages
Self-published
Available Now
Received from author for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Mandy Hardy lost more than a breast to cancer; she lost her fiancé when he dumped her a week before her mastectomy. Her ego bruised and her self-esteem battered, Mandy’s sure she’ll never fall in love again.

Justin Seward is a headstrong Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer with a heart of gold and the supernatural ability to command the seas. He had to hide his feelings while Mandy was engaged to his best friend. Now that she’s free, he’s vowed to make her his.

Together, they may hold the key to each other’s salvation. But when Justin’s past catches up with him, and Mandy’s ex-fiancé wants vengeance, they realize they might not live long enough for happily ever after.

MY THOUGHTS
The Calling is a story difficult to adequately categorize, strong romantic elements accompanied by an interesting paranormal twist to give us something that should feel like a paranormal romance, yet something about that definition doesn’t quite seem to fit either, and we are left a bit adrift as we try to determine our overall reaction to this tale. Part of the issue lies with the world building, mainly the fact that there’s very little at all to help support and foster believability in the supernatural element. The world of The Calling is identical to our own in every conceivable way save the addition of Justin’s ability to manipulate and control water (a result of his being a descendant of Triton), and so his relationship to the sea feels a bit random in an otherwise contemporary and realistic world. If descendents of Triton exist, shouldn’t there be descendents of other gods as well? Where are all the other people who also have to heed the Calling? What are their lives like? We never learn much of the history surrounding this paranormal ability, and meet no other characters other than Justin’s father who share his gifts or similar ones, so we’re left with quite a few questions that if answered would have added a richness and tangibility to the reading experience.

Ms. Willis is a talented storyteller however, and her characters have little trouble carving out places for themselves in our hearts as we tangle ourselves in their lives and their trials. The relationship between Justin and Mandy feels genuine and is one we can easily root for knowing everything they’ve gone through on their journey to the warmth of one another's embrace, and we can’t help but have the almost irresistible urge to flip to the end just to ensure they find the happiness they both so clearly deserve. With the exception of one fairly large overreaction on Mandy’s part, both she and Justin are thoroughly enjoyable protagonists, and Ms. Willis is an author I will look forward to reading more of as her career progresses.

Rating 3.5/5


CROSSROADS (Crossroads Academy #1)
J.J. Bonds
Paranormal Young Adult
310 pages
Self-published
Available Now
Received from author for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
When Katia enrolled at Crossroads Academy she knew things weren’t exactly going to be easy. The sole heir to the worlds’ most powerful vampire, her presence was bound to cause a stir. But nothing could have prepared her for this. Whispers follow everywhere she goes. So does trouble.

But Katia will do her time at Crossroads. After all, she’s only enrolled at the prestigious school for pure blood vampires to fulfill a promise to her Great Uncle Aldo. Tucked away in the Green Mountains of Vermont, Katia hopes to shed the demons of her past and focus on her education. Raised blissfully unaware of the entire vamp world, she’s got a lot of catching up to do.

As Katia learns more about this dark society and her own legacy, protecting her past becomes increasingly difficult. Bodies start turning up in nearby Rutland and Katia is sucked into a twisted web of danger and deceit. Haunted by nightmares she can’t explain and a thirst for blood that is never sated, Katia will do whatever it takes to keep her past buried. What choice does she have? Exposure will shake the Elder’s Council to its core and likely result in a death sentence at the hands of the Linkuri.

Nothing at Crossroads is what it seems and Katia’s secrets may be the darkest of them all.

MY THOUGHTS
Nicely paced and entertaining, Crossroads yanks us into the halls of its title’s academy and thrusts us quickly forward through Katia’s tale, not necessarily blowing us away with the uniqueness of the vampire lore or the complexity of the characters themselves, but keeping us interested the entire way through nonetheless. More strongly plot-driven than character-driven, Ms. Bonds builds an interesting mystery as we go, flashes from Katia’s violent past causing our eyebrows to raise in question as to their relevance to her present, and though those eyebrows stay raised for quite some time, all the seemingly disparate elements are beautifully strung together to create a powerful and action-packed conclusion.

While the story is well executed and has us closing the back cover thoroughly satisfied with the way the all the individual pieces were crafted, the characterization leaves us longing for the same depth and care as is dedicated to the detailing of specific events. Katia is a bit sour and generally moody for majority of the book, and though she often recognizes her own negativity, she does little to improve her attitude and therefore repeatedly thwarts our attempts to reach out and connect with her. We know little of the reasons behind her despondency other than she simply doesn’t want to be at Crossroads, and that reason alone is not strong enough to have us fighting to claw our way through her melancholy to uncover the woman beneath.

Rating: 3.5/5

Mini Reviews + Giveaways: Deep Sky + The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Today I'm very excited to welcome my mother-in-law Cathy to the blog, she's a fellow book lover (and someone I've gotten addicted to many a book series) who's going to be helping me out every now and then with reviews when I get a little overwhelmed. She took over the reviews for Deep Sky and listened to the audiobook for The Adoration of Jenna Fox as I was unable to fit them into my schedule, so I just want to extend a sincere thank you to her for her help and look forward to her contributing more in the future!

DEEP SKY (Travis Chase #3)
Patrick Lee
Mystery/Thriller
400 pages
HarperCollins
Available Now
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Barnes and Noble)
The anomaly called the Breach is the government’s most carefully guarded secret.

But there is another secret even less known . . . and far more terrifying.

As the U.S. President addresses the nation from the Oval Office, a missile screams toward the White House. In a lightning flash, the Chief Executive is dead, his mansion in ruins, and two cryptic words are the only clue to the assassins’ motives: “See Scalar.”

Now Travis Chase of the covert agency Tangent—caretakers of the Breach and all its grim wonders—along with partner and lover Paige Campbell and technology expert Bethany Stewart, have only twenty-four hours to unearth a decades-old mystery once spoken of in terrified whispers by the long since silenced. But their breakneck race cross-country—and back through time and malleable memory—is calling the total destructive might of a shadow government down upon them. For Travis Chase has a dark destiny he cannot be allowed to fulfill . . .

CATHY'S THOUGHTS
Deep Sky is the last book in a trilogy. It begins with the assassination of the President and the only clue is a cryptic message–See Scalar. This leads to our hero, Travis Chase and his partner Paige Campbell. Both work at Tangent, a secret facility that oversees alien entities that come through the Breach. They know this message has something to do with them but have to look for clues and use some of the alien entities to figure out what is happening. One in particular is an entity that lets them travel into a memory and seek out more than just what is remembered in that memory. They do all this while being pursued by the new President and members of his regime. There are lots of twists, turns, and surprises which I won't mention because I don't want to spoil the story. The ultimate theme of the story is–If you could alter history, would you and at what cost?

Mr. Lee writes a twisting and intriguing mystery. He gives lots of clues and quickly eliminates the possibilities which makes you want to find out what will happen next. He does a great job of making us feel like we're methodically putting a puzzle together, and the book moves at a good pace. I have not read the first two books in the series and felt I might have missed some background history on characters and events that might have made the ending a little clearer (and there was additionally an underlying science fiction theme that was not overly prominent until the conclusion of the book), but on the whole the story held its own.

Rating: 4/5


THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX (audiobook)
Mary E. Pearson
Paranormal Young Adult
Audiobook
Macmillan Young Listeners
Available Now
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Who is Jenna Fox? Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name. She has just awoken from a coma, they tell her, and she is still recovering from a terrible accident in which she was involved a year ago. But what happened before that? Jenna doesn't remember her life. Or does she? And are the memories really hers?

This fascinating novel represents a stunning new direction for acclaimed author Mary Pearson. Set in a near future America, it takes readers on an unforgettable journey through questions of bio-medical ethics and the nature of humanity. Mary Pearson's vividly drawn characters and masterful writing soar to a new level of sophistication.

CATHY'S THOUGHTS
This is my first audiobook and I found it a bit of a challenge. I love to read, feel the book, see the words on a page and go at my own pace. Because of this I found the audio version to be a little slow for me and found myself easily distracted. I will say that the narrator, a young woman, had an age-appropriate sounding voice. She mostly read from the main character’s point of view, which was Jenna, but also tried to vary her tone when reading other character parts. She read at an even and steady pace. Though audiobooks may not be for me, I can see a real purpose in them for those who have the time or need to use them.

The story is of 17 year-old Jenna Fox, struggling to find out who she is both figuratively and literally. It's set in the future with Jenna waking up from a coma and needing to rediscover who she is. As her memory returns, she finds out things about her past and her parents that she doesn’t understand or like. Because it's set in an age of biomedical engineering, Jenna is faced with some ethical questions and choices. It was a very interesting premise and does raise some questions about how far a parent would go to save a child.

I would give it a 3 as an audio book and a 3.5 as a book.

GIVEAWAY

Today I'm offering up both a paperback copy of Deep Sky and the audiobook version of The Adoration of Jenna Fox to one lucky winner. To enter, please just leave a comment on this post with a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. This giveaway is open to US residents only and will run through midnight EST on Friday, January 27th after which time a winner will be chosen and announced on the blog. Good luck everyone!

Mini Reviews: Anathema + Queenie's Brigade

ANATHEMA (Cloud Prophet Trilogy #1)
Megg Jensen
206 pages
CreateSpace
Available Now
Received from author for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Forget prophecy. Make your own destiny.

Sheltered from the outside world with no hope for escape, slave girl Reychel dreads her fifteenth birthday - when her master’s symbol is burned on the back of her bald scalp. Her best friend disappears the night before, leaving her to face the branding ceremony alone. She soon discovers nothing is as it seems when people desperate for freedom beg for Reychel's help.

Can Reychel learn to believe in herself?

MY THOUGHTS
Anathema is an incredibly quick read, having an almost fairy-tale quality to it as we watch a slave girl with no idea who she is learn destiny has a unique plan for her. The short page length is both a benefit and a detriment to this tale, drawing us into the story instantly but also denying us some of the rich character development we find ourselves hoping for, Reychel being someone we root for superficially instead of with our full hearts and minds. Her relationship with love interest Mark forms rapidly after only a couple brief interactions just as her friendship with fellow slave Ivy deteriorates with equal quickness, and our time with each of the two of these secondary characters is so short we feel a bit detached from the changes taking place, existing as spectators to the action rather than engaged participants.

Additionally, allegiances shift with shocking speed to create a bit of confusion as to who is to be trusted and who isn’t, and though some of the befuddlement in this epic character chess match seems intentional, we are still left at the end a bit bewildered at how fast everything has happened. Overall, however, Ms. Jensen has written an intriguing first installment with a likable heroine who piques our interest as well as a world positively ripe with possibilities moving forward. Hopefully future installments will provide us with a way to sort through all the constantly-changing relationships so we can have a single focus to latch onto and hold tight.

Rating: 3.5/5

QUEENIE'S BRIGADE
Heather Massey
Adult SciFi Romance
e-book
Red Sage Publishing
Available Now
Received from author for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Captain Michael Drake desperately needs an army to save Earth after a crushing defeat by alien invaders. When his damaged starship docks at a remote prison colony, he discovers Earth’s last best hope—an army to replace the one he lost.

But, Queenie, the feral goddess ruling the prison, has other plans for the rugged star ship captain. After imprisoning Drake and seizing his ship, she prepares to lead her blood-thirsty band to freedom before the invaders track them down.

Despite her intentions, Queenie secretly falls for the sexy, hotshot captain. Drake makes it plain he wants to win back Earth with her by his side. But is following her heart worth betraying her people?

MY THOUGHTS
Queenie’s Brigade thrusts us forward in time to a world of space travel and science fiction, Earth faltering under the onslaught of a more advanced conquering empire as her remaining line of defense is reduced to a single ship. Despite the fact that this is a novella, Ms. Massey manages to make each word count, the Relentless and her crew as well as Queenie’s prison environment easy to picture given the information we’re provided, and the heavy threat of a seemingly unwinnable war is clearly felt.

Though the world and the faceless villains are well-executed, our hero and heroine themselves leave a little to be desired. This is a sci-fi adventure with underlying romantic themes, however, the romance itself is something we can't wrap our minds around quite as well as we can the situation we’ve been dropped into. Queenie is supposed to be a mix of toughness and vulnerability, but somehow neither trait is fully believable on her, and Drake’s fairly instantaneous attraction to her is a bit puzzling. He can’t help but notice some of her finer features while he’s being held prisoner, but such observations come to him at inappropriate times (like when she’s torturing one of his crew members), so it’s extremely hard for us to see through his eyes when what we’re seeing with our own elicits remarkably less positive emotions.

Ms. Massey does do a very nice job drawing the romance out so it’s not a case of two enemy strangers falling into bed and declaring love mere hours later, but even with the added time we’re granted with them, the story itself seems as though it would have held up perfectly well, if not better, if that element were removed entirely or explored more thoroughly in a later installment. There’s clearly a great deal of potential for more at the conclusion of this tale, and though the relationship didn’t quite appeal, it’s still a world I wouldn’t mind revisiting in the future.

Rating: 3/5

Mini Reviews: Happy Birthday to Me + Remembrance

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME
(Birthday Trilogy #1)
Brian Rowe
Paranormal Young Adult
314 pages
Self-published
Received from author for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Seventeen-year-old Cameron Martin has a huge problem: he’s aging a whole year of his life with each passing day!

High school is hard enough; imagine rapidly aging from seventeen to seventy in a matter of weeks, with no logical explanation, and with prom, graduation, and the state championship basketball game all on the horizon. That’s what happens to Cameron, a popular pretty boy who's never had to face a day looking anything but perfect.

All Cameron wants to do is go back to normal, but no one, not even the best doctors, can diagnose his condition. When he finds love with a mysterious young woman, however, he realizes his only hope for survival might be with the one person who started his condition in the first place...

MY THOUGHTS
Despite its supernatural premise, Happy Birthday to Me is written in a way that makes circumstances seem fairly believable, the emotional depth and poignancy achieved during certain scenes enough to have us blinking rapidly to stave off tears as our hearts beat with a sympathetic rhythm for Cameron’s unenviable predicament. Unfortunately, the beautifully crafted quiet moments are often overshadowed by some seemingly unnecessary situations and behaviors that have us shaking our heads in dismay, the over-the-top reactions of friends, family and classmates to Cameron’s “disease” yanking the veil of believability from our eyes as quickly as the meaningful moments are able to raise it. We can’t help but long for more of the intimate family moments between Cameron and his image-obsessed parents as they all mature and come to understand just how much precious time they wasted on superficial trivialities, as those are the ones that are the most intriguing.

There is one rather large issue I had with this book and it’s completely personal in nature so it will most likely not be problematic for most readers, but it bothered me enough that I feel the need to mention it. My point of contention is likely directly linked to the fact that I’m rapidly approaching my 30th birthday and am therefore a bit more sensitive to the age issue than I would be normally, so I fully acknowledge that upfront. With that said, I found the utter shock and awe both Cameron himself as well as his peers expressed at seeing him at ages 28 and 30 to be a little off-putting. Cries of “is that you in there?” from his friends upon setting their eyes on his apparently ancient 30 year-old face seemed a bit overdramatic, and I’d like to think that if my 17 year-old self and my current self were side by side, my 30 year-old visage wouldn’t be completely unrecognizable and mind-boggling compared to my 17-year old one. I freely admit the reactions were most likely ratcheted up a notch for dramatic effect, and granted aging fifteen years in only fifteen days would be quite jarring, but there was a certain extremity to the reactions regarding his progression from 17 to 30 that rubbed me the wrong way.

Personal age issue aside and despite the somewhat questionable sincerity of Cameron's overall change of heart toward the end, the touching moments are well-done and it’s clear that Mr. Rowe is a talented writer, so I do look forward to more from him in the future.

Rating: 3/5


REMEMBRANCE
Michelle Madow
Paranormal Young Adult
314 pages
Available Now
Received from author for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
New Hampshire high school junior Lizzie Davenport has been reincarnated from Regency Era, England ... but she doesn't know it yet.

Then Drew Carmichael transfers into Lizzie's school at the beginning of the year, and she feels a connection to him, almost like she knows him. She can't stop thinking about him, but whenever she tries talking with him about the mysteries behind her feelings, he makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with her. Reaching him is even more difficult because she has a boyfriend, Jeremy, who has started to become full of himself after being elected co-captain of the varsity soccer team, and her flirtatious best friend Chelsea starts dating Drew soon after his arrival. So why can't she seem to get him out of her mind?

Even though Lizzie knows she should let go of her fascination with Drew, the pair of them soon find that fighting fate isn't going to be easy.

MY THOUGHTS
Remembrance is a well-written debut from Ms. Madow with a nicely paced story that keeps our desire to turn the pages relatively high, however, the plot itself and the characters we follow as it unfolds have some frustratingly all-too familiar qualities. Prevalent YA fiction elements appear in all their recognizable glory, with a new hot boy at school and instant electric attraction that turns swiftly into epic and transcendent love failing to be done in a way that elevates them out of the realm of trite and into something new and refreshing.

Elizabeth is a difficult young woman to fully support as, instant love aside, she allows all those around her to be insulting and, at times, downright cruel without ever straightening her spine and defending herself. Drew blows hot and cold on a fairly unparalleled scale, either ignoring Elizabeth entirely or verbally berating her one minute and then comforting her and soothing the burns he caused the next. He’ll shred her heart with seeming ease and then come sauntering back cooing apologies and feeding her excuses she’s all too willing to swallow, somehow convincing her their love is stronger than anyone could possibly understand despite all evidence to the contrary.

Ms. Madow shows a great deal of promise in her creativity and writing style, her characterization in this book just presents more problems than we can ignore in order to become thoroughly engrossed in the story.

Rating: 2.5/5