November Wrap Up

Hey everyone I haven't been around blogging lately not because I haven't had time, I just haven't felt like blogging this month. But I have been reading, a lot and I have completed my Goodreads goal of 200 books for the year! Although I have read over 200 books, I don't include re-readings of books. I was also supposed to go a book buying ban this month after buying The Fiery Heart but I found a few too many good e-books for a $1.

Review Copies:

• These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
• Empower by Jessica Shirvington (The Violet Eden Chapters #6)

Thanks Allen and Unwin and Hachette!

E-ARCs:

• Love Match by Monica Seles (The Academy #2)
• Keeping Her by Cora Carmack (Losing It #1.5)
• Finding It by Cora Carmack (Losing It #3)

Bought:

• Red Hill by Jamie McGuire 
• Losing It by Cora Carmack (Losing It #1)
• Faking It by Cora Carmack (Losing It #2)
• The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead (Bloodline #4)

Bought e-books:

• My Favourite Mistake by Chelsea M. Cameron
• Love Unexpected, Love Unmatched & Love Untouched by Anne Leigh
• When You're Ready by J.L Berg
• Forever by Rachel Van Dyken 
• One by Mari Arden
• Simple Perfection by Abbi Glines
• Private Message by Danielle Torella
• Come Away With Me, Fight With Me, Play With Me, Safe With Me and Rock With Me by Kristen Proby
• Wrong Side Of Town by Kormal Kant
• Hold Us Close by Caisey Quinn
• Secrets of the Fall by Kailin Gow
• Sometimes Never by Cheryl McIntryre
• Jack Undone by Penelope Ward
• A Beautiful Struggle by Lilliana Anderson
• Something Great by M. Clarke
• Finding You by S.K Hartly
• Out of Line by Jen McLaughlin
• Infatuated by Elle Jordan
• Sudden Response by R.L Mathewson
• Tall, Dark & Lonely by R.L Mathewson
• Without Regret by R.L. Mathewson
• Tall, Dark & Heartless by R.L Mathewson

Borrowed:

• The Cinderella Moment by Jennifer Kloester

As you can see by the amount of e-books, I gave up on my book buying ban...

Let me know in the comments what you got this week/month!

Keely xx

Waiting on Wednesday #11

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that allows readers to showcase eagerly awaited upcoming releases. The week I have been waiting on Fallen Crest Public by Tijan!

Sam's first day at Fallen Crest Public doesn't go well. Some girls want to be her. Some girls want to destroy her. And some just don't like her. All in all, despite being protected by Mason and Logan, it's still only the strong survive. Sam will not only have to survive, she needs to learn how to conquer too, but there's another battle growing. Things are about to come to a disastrous end between the towns, Roussou and Fallen Crest. Sam's other main dilemma? Keeping Mason and Logan from getting arrested or hospitalized.

Cannot wait for this one to come out! After loving the first two books in the series of Fallen Crest High and Fallen Crest Family I am super excited to read this one!

So let me know below what you are waiting on this Wednesday!

Keelyxx

Review Time #49

Empower by Jessica Shirvington

Now I was one lucky blogger who go to go to Sydney at Hachette HQ to meet Jessica & get a signed copy of Empower! Jessica is such a wonderful author and it was so lovely to meet her. I also got to catch up with Jaz from Fiction in Fiction who also was lucky enough to meet Jessica as well and Kim from two girls and novel who works at Hachette!

It has been two years since Violet Eden walked away from the city, her friends, her future and - most importantly - her soulmate, Lincoln. Part angel, part human, Violet is determined to stand by the promises she made to save the one she loves.

Living in the perpetual coldness of a broken soul she survives day to day as a Rogue Grigori in London.

But when an unexpected visitor shows up at her door, the news he bears about someone she swore to protect leaves Violet with no choice.

Even worse, she fears that this might all lead back to the night she tries hardest to forget. And what was taken without her permission.

Violet is going back to New York ... and she knows exactly who is going to be there.

With Phoenix in her dreams and Lincoln in her heart she knows it is only a matter of time before the final choice must be made.

Two years have passed since Violet left New York and left Lincoln after returning his soul to him. Living as a rouge Grigori an old enemy from when Lilith was destroyed has found Violet and he has a message for her. In her time with Gray, a rouge Grigori, from Greece helps Violet block out her emotions and keeps the coldness that she feels from having an almost completely shattered soul from when she returned from after Phoenix killed her. 

Determined never to go back to New York or where Lincoln is, changes when Onyx turns up with word that Spencer has been taken by the exile who took Violet's blood. On a mission to save her friend knows that things are going to change with Lincoln in charge of finding Spence.

We have watched Violet change and embrace her nature throughout the series none more so than in Empower. Violet is longer the confused and love stricken 17 year old we met in Embrace, (okay she is still in love) she has turned into a warrior, a weapon and a symbol. You can't help but feel for Violet and everything that she has been going through for the last two years. 

Lincoln doesn't know why Violet left him after she returned his soul to him and the anger that he has towards Violet is understandable. Lincoln has changed since Violet left him, becoming stronger and a better fighter pushing him up the academy's ranks. Phoenix, is well Phoenix and being an angel he tries to help Violet any way he can to save her. Gray, he is Violets rock when it comes to controlling her emotions and keeping it all lock away, we also learn about something funny that these two have done in London which is a great scene when they are in New York.

The challenges that they face in Empower makes what happened with Lilith child's play. Everything is on the line and only Violet has the final choice, after all she is the Keshet. 

I absolutely loved Empower, as soon as I was on the train back to Newcastle I was reading getting lost into this world wanting to know how it was going to end. I was slightly worried after reading Allegiant just as few days before but none the less it was an amazing end to this series. And so in the words of Onyx be 'Giddy with excitement... It's as if someone has rebooted your favourite movie just for you and you get to sit back and watch all over again.'

Rating: 5/5

P.S. I suggest having tissues and chocolate on standby!

Keely xx

October Wrap Up

You didn't read that title wrong I am actually doing a wrap up! October has been a busy month for me, finished my first year of university which is pretty exciting, I have moved back home and if you have seen the news New South Wales has been on fire, including one near me. But also it has been a great month for books! Lots and lots of books!

Review copies:

• Touch the Dark by Karen Chance (Cassie Palmer #1)
• Claimed by Shadow by Karen Chance (Cassie Palmer #2)
• United We Spy by Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls #6)
• Antigoddess by Kendra Blake

Thanks Penguin Australia and Date a Book!

E-ARCs:

• Covert Assignment by Missy Marciassa
• The Summer I Found You by Jolene Perry
• Waiting on the Sidelines by Ginger Scott
• Finding Home by Lauren K. McKellar
• Going Long by Ginger Scott

Thanks netgalley!

Bought:

• Embrace the Night by Karen Chance (Cassie Palmer #3)
• Curse the Dawn by Karen Chance (Cassie Palmer #4)
• Hunt the Moon by Karen Chance (Cassie Palmer #5)
• Allegiant by Veronica Roth (Divergent #3)

Bought e-books:

• Carter Reed by Tijan
• Finding Cinderella by Colleen Hoover
• Piece of Cake by Kate Forster

Borrowed:

• Every Breath by Ellie Marney
• Killing Rachel by Anne Cassidy
• Wildlife by Fiona Wood
• Apollyon by Jennifer J. Armentrout
• Requiem by Lauren Oliver
• Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley 
• The Dead and Buried by Kim Harrington 
• The Boyfriend App by Katie Sise
• Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill
• Paper Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard
• Every Day by David Levithan
• Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan 
• Love & Leftovers by Sarah Tregay
• Drake Academy: Lost Spirits by Gabriella Poole
• Hate is such a Strong Word by Sarah Ayoub
• When you were mine by Rebecca Serle
• By the time you read this, I'll be dead by Julie Anne Peters
• Something Like Fate by Susane Colasanti
• Dead Silent by Kimberly Derting

So that is my epically awesome haul this month! Next month shall have lots of goodies with Empover by Jessica Shirvington out and The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead! Just naming a couple!

So what did you get this week/month? Link me in the comments!

Keely xx

Things I love about YA

After procrastinating a lot during my final exams for the year, I read a lot. I found out that my library now has e-books! Which was a bad thing because I had five exams and they were maths, statistics, chemistry, biomechanics and sports psychology (psychology hates me guys). So I came to thinking that I would tell you why I love YA!

Gives you ideas on what you want to do in life:

In year 9 I did work education and I had work experience, I learnt from that week that I hated teaching. I found the Gracie Faltrain series by Cath Crowley and feel in love with the series. The series is about soccer, boys and everything that a teenager has to face in the final years of school. From the final book Gracie Faltrain Gets It Right (Finally) Crowley mentione


d that Gracie might want to do Sports Management, which is something that I thought would be interesting since I love sport. So, from searching the web for degrees that related to Sports Management,I found the degree that I am doing right now: Exercise Physiology. Books can not only help you understand what others go through but help you learn things about yourself, like I did by finding a degree that I would like to do.

Gives you perspective on things that you don't normally think about:

Last year I read Speechless by Hannah Harrington and it literally left me speechless. It covers the topics of bullying, the consequences of saying something that didn't need to be spoken about, homophobia and what true friendships are like. Every high school kid goes through either being bullied at least once or even bullying others it's a fact, but when things turn for the worst like beatings or even suicide makes it a real problem. In Australia we don't have a huge problem with people being homophobic unlike in the U.S, in Year 11 & 12 we had a least 20 people in the school who were either gay/lesbian/bi and no one cared, which I think is a great thing that Australia is moving towards. 


On the subject of bullying, when I read speechless I was also reading Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett. This book also deals with the problems that are faced in high school, especially bullying. I think that these two books should really be read by all high school students because it teaches an important lesson about bullying and cyber-bullying.

Takes you to a whole new world:

Fantasy, Paranormal or whatever, these books can take you to your imagination side. While I haven't been reading many of these lately, only to finish off series that I have already started, I do enjoy some of what fantasy and paranormal books have to offer. I enjoyed the Wings series by Aprilynne Pike, Fallen series by Lauren Kate, Hush Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick, Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead and more recently the Elementals series by Brigid Kemmerer. All these books give you a new world to look at weather it is magic or vampires, fairies or angels it takes you back to your childhood and imagination of what fairytales could be real.

Travelling through a book:

I love travelling and having only left Australia once, I can't wait to do it again. One trip made me want to see the world. I am sucker for contemporary novels not set in America or Australia, so of course I love Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, Just One Day by Gayle Forman, Meant To Be by Lauren Morrill and The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams. I think that it is great that these books take you places that you haven't been before and lets you learn new things about these places. 

Books by Australian authors and set in Australia:

I am loving that there are more Australian novels in YA! I love Cath Crowley's books, The First Third by Will Kostakis, On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta, Steal my Sunshine by Emily Gale, Finding Home by Lauren McKellar and Wildfire by Fiona Wood. I'm glad to see more Aussie novels getting out there and by Aussie authors too!

So that is some things that I love about YA! Let me know what you love about YA in the comments!

Keely xx

Review Time #48

Wildfire by Fiona Wood

Life? It’s simple: be true to yourself.
The tricky part is finding out exactly who you are…

In the holidays before the dreaded term at Crowthorne Grammar’s outdoor education camp two things out of the ordinary happened.
A picture of me was plastered all over a twenty-metre billboard.
And I kissed Ben Capaldi. 

Boarding for a term in the wilderness, sixteen-year-old Sibylla expects the gruesome outdoor education program – but friendship complications, and love that goes wrong? They’re extra-curricula.

Enter Lou from Six Impossible Things – the reluctant new girl for this term in the great outdoors. Fragile behind an implacable mask, she is grieving a death that occurred almost a year ago. Despite herself, Lou becomes intrigued by the unfolding drama between her housemates Sibylla and Holly, and has to decide whether to end her self-imposed detachment and join the fray. 

And as Sibylla confronts a tangle of betrayal, she needs to renegotiate everything she thought she knew about surviving in the wild.
A story about first love, friendship and NOT fitting in.

I absolutely adored this book and I was able to connect with the main girl Sibylla a.k.a Sib. Who wouldn't want a term away from school to be in the outdoors? Okay your still learning and doing school work but you get to do so many fun outdoor adventures! For Sib it all started with a billboard and getting kissed by the hottest/most popular guy in school, Ben Capaldi. Sib's life essentially changed overnight before going away on the wilderness camp and throughout the term she really found out who her friends were. 

Lou is the new girl at the school and is trying to move on from the past, while I haven't read Six Impossible Things I certainly am looking forward to reading it now with Lou appearing in it. Lou lost her boyfriend is a car accident is trying to come to terms of it without her other friends who are in France on exchange, their way of trying to move on. You couldn't help but love Lou while she struggled with all the emotions that she has in her mind she finds peace with Michael who is Sib's best friend, a running addict (he has a good reason) and might possibly be a genius. I loved the scenes between Lou and Michael because it was pure friendship dealing with the process of moving on and loving someone who only loves you as a friend.

Holly is Sib's other best friend whom from the get go I didn't like she remind me too much of someone who in high school was exactly like her. The way that she pressures Sib into a relationship with Ben isn't something that a true friend would do and then becoming best friends with him, telling Ben things that Sib doesn't want to do or talk about. This isn't a friendship but sadly that is the reality of high school, people use you to get what they want not caring if they hurt your feelings along the way.

Sib doesn't know what to do with Ben, she has never had a boyfriend before and he was her first kiss. I'm sure every teenage girl on the planet knows these feelings and then the pressure of sex on top of that relate able for everyone. The way the whole story is told allows you to connect with the characters, if you've been a teenager you should be able to connect with this book!

Wildfire is an amazing book that once you start you cannot put down! With stories of love, betrayal and friendship Wildfire is a book that everyone must read!

Rating: 5/5

Keely xx

Review Time #47

Covert Assignment by Missy Marciassa

Covert Assignment is a New Adult, Coming of Age Novel with a strong romantic element. Elle is ready for graduation and full-fledged adulthood: no more living like the leftover of her parent’s divorce. She’s about to graduate with her degree in Information Science (the 21st century term for Library Science) and has a ten-year plan as well-designed as any model for analyzing metadata: earn her JD/MBA, enjoy a couple of years as a single professional, then marry her college sweetheart, Adam, and start her own family. 

Yet Elle feels like she returned to an alternate universe her final semester. There are pictures of Adam with a classmate who must be surgically enhanced, but he insists he wants Elle. CIA recruiters show up on campus, and they aren’t just interested in recruiting Elle for future employment: turns out she’s already working for them since they’re funding her thesis. Hot operative Preston Raddick is tasked to work with her. Preston isn’t just hot: he’s hot for Elle, but is he offering happy ever after or happy for right now? A fling with Preston could be the beginning of a new life plan, which is exciting and scary, especially with espionage thrown in. Elle needs a predictive model to tell her which decisions have the greater likelihood for happiness…

Covert Assignment is about the unexpected turns life can take when making “adult” decisions.

If you follow me on twitter you should know that I love Covert Affairs and from previous posts on the blog you should know that I love the Gallagher Girls series. So naturally when I saw Covert Assignment I wanted it. Bad. 

Elle has done everything by herself since she has been to college, after her parents divorce and not fitting in with either families she is doing her career for herself despite what her father wants her to do. Elle's boyfriend Adam cheated on her whilst she was at home for winter break, wanting to see what happens she stays with him because two years is a lot to throw away after one mistake right? But then comes along CIA covert operative Preston, hot, older and he likes Elle. 

The way that the CIA approaches Elle is such a plausible way for someone to be approached. With the CIA funding her research, she sees that sometimes everything is planned out, bumps come along and new opportunities arise: your future isn't always planned. With Elle getting metadata from the game Sub Rosa and Preston using the data they are finding terrorists who are hiding their activities in the game.  

The great thing about Covert Assignment is that it is unpredictable with the aspects of the CIA, the romance isn't instant and Elle still waits to see where her relationship goes with Adam, even though he did cheat on her. Preston is a great influence on Elle, as he allows her to develop and help her understand that her future isn't set in stone, she doesn't have to follow in her father's footsteps. Elle's family was a piece of work and what they put her though I can understand why she wants to please them. 

The romance between Elle and Preston is funny when you understand the computer terms (thank you HSC IPT you weren't pointless after all!) and the way that he wants to help her is admirable. There is danger, it wouldn't be a spy book without it but with the CIA and FBI all over Elle shouldn't have much to worry about, you'd think. 

Covert Assignment is for those who love Covert Affairs and the Gallagher Girls series. It is a different spin on the New Adult genre and a must read for everyone!

Thanks netgalley for the review copy!

Rating: 5/5

Keely xx