ARC Review: Wish (Indigo Dreams #1)

Wish (Indigo Dreams #1) by Grier Cooper

Publisher: Dancing Poodle Press, 2014
274 pages, kindle edition

Source: Xpresso Book Tours

Genre: Young Adult, Dance, Contemporary

Link: Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

For Indigo Stevens, ballet classes at Miss Roberta’s ballet studio offer the stability and structure that are missing from her crazy home life. At almost 16, she hopes this is the year she will be accepted into the New York School of Ballet. First she must prove she’s ready, and that means ignoring Jesse Sanders – the cute boy with dimples who is definitely at the top of Miss Roberta’s List of Forbidden Things for Dancers.

But Jesse is the least of Indigo’s concerns. When she discovers her mom is an alcoholic, it simultaneously explains everything and heaps more worry on Indigo’s shoulders. As her mom’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic, Indigo fights to maintain balance, protect her younger brothers from abuse, and keep her mother from going over the edge. When the violence at home escalates, Indigo realizes she can no longer dance around the issue. At the risk of losing everything, she must take matters into her own hands before it’s too late.

My Review:

Loved this story about a teen girl striving to become a professional dancer while dealing with a stressful and chaotic family situation. For anyone who's family felt out of control and dysfunctional, particularly readers who have family/friends who are alcoholics, I think this will really resonate. This book was engaging and funny, despite the intense subject matter. I also enjoyed being behind the scenes in the ballet world and watching Indigo develop her skills and confidence as a dancer.

My Rating:

ARC Review: Three Christmases (No Weddings #4)

Three Christmases (No Weddings #4) by Kat Bastion

Publisher: Kat Bastion

Source: Netgalley

Genre: New Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Erotica

Links: Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Lust and friendship brought us together, but with the increasing demands of my two businesses, Hannah’s thriving bakery, and our successful event-planning company, stability becomes my focus.

Then a once-in-a-lifetime career opportunity takes me to the West Coast, and everything goes into a tailspin.

Laughter, love, and excitement fill our lives, but Cade refuses to settle into the wonderful bliss we’ve found—he wants spectacular fireworks and an unshakable foundation. Driven like no one I’ve ever met, Cade insists a dream job across the country will be better for our future together, but I worry about whether we can survive the present apart.

When intimate time diminishes…and lives get more hectic…

Will a little bit of faith be all that it takes? Or will the sacrifice to get there be too great?

My Review:

With their past behind them, Cade and Hannah promised to put each other first before anything else. But When Cade gets offered a job of a lifetime on the other side of the country. Trying to keep their relationship afloat seems to be a lot more challenging than they thought it would be.

One thing is for absolute certain distance cannot tame the heat between the pair. I mean come the hell on, sex on a car, in a bloody parking lot in broad daylight. Should I need to say more? Absolutely nothing can douse the heat these 2 make. They are fire every time they see one another.

The No Wedding series has a group of such amazing characters, you can’t help but relate to them and feel the emotions in every situation they encounter. This is another story that has made me feel a lot of emotion.

My Rating:

ARC Review: One Wish Away

One Wish Away by Kelley Lynn

Publisher: Bloomsbury Spark, 2014
213 pages, ebook edition

Source: Netgalley

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Links: Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Be careful what you wish for…

Lyra has always been ahead of the curve. Top of her class in school, a budding astronomer, and with a best friend like Darren she barely has time to miss the mother who abandoned her family years ago. She's too busy planning to follow in her father's footsteps, and to become the youngest astronomer at Space Exploration and Discovery.

When a star goes missing Lyra is determined to get to the bottom of it only to discover her braniac dad is the mastermind of a top-secret government experiment. They promise to build a perfect world, one galaxy at a time, but with every tweak of the present, a bit more of the future starts to crumble.

Lyra has to go undercover to reveal the truth and let humanity decide if the consequences are worth more than wishing on a star.

My Review:

If you could wish upon a star and change the world? What would your wish be? But what kind of side effects would it have? These are questions that pop up in One Wish Away by Kelley Lynn.

The family dynamic is something I enjoyed the most in this novel. Lyra has had a complicated home life with her mom who disappeared when she was little and a dad who has buried himself in his work ever since the disappearance. When a wish is granted from a star that changes things in her life in ways predicted the story gets very interesting, I like that her family issues was the main part of the book.

Darren also has had some family issues of his own to deal with (which did seem unnecessary to add) but I liked his relationship with Lyra. It was not an in your face this is all the book is about things. It was a sudden instant love connection thing, but it was still sweet and light.

But I did have some issues with this book. Mostly with things just falling into place. I did also love the concept of the Cricket Project. It is also unique and thought it would be right up my alley, the kind of thing I would love to read about. But the specifics of how I worked were not explained at all. I wanted more Sci-fi, also the way some of the highly intelligent scientist and the government reacted to things was unbelievable for me.

My Rating:

ARC Review: The Perfect Gift

The Perfect Gift by Dani-Lyn Alexander

Publisher: Pocket Star, 2014
63 pages, kindle edition

Source: Netgalley

Genre: New Adult, Romance, Contemporary

Links: Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

It’s the season of second chances in this heartwarming, contemporary holiday romance where two single parents find each other—and another chance at love—in the most unexpected of places!
’Tis the night before Christmas…and businessman and single father Jason is scrambling to find the dollhouse of the season for his seven-year-old daughter Emily. But when he finally strikes gold at an obscure toy store, he’s met with resistance—literally, as a beautiful woman named Leah is grabbing onto the dollhouse box from the other side of the aisle, determined to get the same Christmas present for her own daughter.

Desperate not to let the other win, Jason and Leah forge a pact: stay together until they find the same dollhouse at a different toy store. It sounds simple, but ten stores and many hours later, they still come up empty. They might not be finding another dollhouse, but they sure are finding a lot to talk about and, as their mutual...

My Review:

A sweet, short story, holiday romance that will make you realize that the perfect gift is not as simple as something that can be seen or touched. It has to be felt.

Nothing much to be said about the book with only 63 pages that will not give away the story. I promise that this is a good read for this season of you are looking for a fast, easy read that will make you go “aahhhh”. This is one of the stories that has a good plot and ending but at the same time, you’ll be wanting for more.


My Rating:

ARC Review: Puppet

Puppet by Pauline C. Harris

Publisher: Patchwork Press 2014,
246 pages, paperback

Source: Netgalley

Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Paranormal

Links: Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Penelope lives in a world of advanced technology but many claim society has yet to catch up. Marionettes have advanced in the form of robots; lifelike creations remote controlled to perform super human tasks.

When Penelope makes a deal with Jed, a marionette-obsessed scientist, she doesn’t fully realize what she’s getting herself into. In order for Jed to take her away from the orphanage she lives in, she must first agree to undergo his experiments and tests, ultimately creating something no one ever dreamed possible; the first living marionette.

As Jed shows off his scientific creation to the world, concerns arise surrounding Penelope’s abilities and what she’s capable of doing. Ordered to somehow lessen her abilities, Jed makes a desperate attempt to change Penelope to make her more human, more vulnerable. After Penelope lies to the officials about her past, Jed makes sure it’s the last one she’ll ever utter. The truth is now the only thing she is capable of telling.

As Penelope struggles with her past, her disturbingly new present, and her uncertain future, she is thrust into a magically twisted world of mayhem in search of the one thing she wants, but knows she can never have. The chance to be just a girl again. To be normal. To be real.

My Review:
The synopsis of this book really intrigued me into choosing this book to read. I hardly ever get to read sci-fi but I read a lot of paranormal and fantasy books but none of them are about puppets. Im really happy that I did. The writing in this novel is very good, also the characters were like-able, the world that the author created was interesting.

This is a young adult novel that also adults can very much enjoy too. It says it is a retelling of Pinocchio but I think it was way more than that. Maybe because it was an orphaned 16 year old who was becoming a puppet? Sometimes it was very hard to read some of the loneliness and heartache Pen had went through in the orphanage. But how being someone’s experiment was a better alternative. I do not want to give so much of the story away. It is more fun being surprised what is about to happen next. As I have stated before I read a lot and am always looking for something different to read and this book definitely fit the bill. I so RECOMMEND YOU read this book.
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My Rating:

New Releases: January 2015

New Releases of January 2015

This idea come from Xpresso Reads - But to write it in monthly release format is Rachel's Reading Corner idea. So lets begin.

These are the January 2015 Releases:

Contemporary/Romance:

  

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven 

Love, Lucy by April Lindner

The Boy Next Door by Katie Dan Ark

  

We Can Work It Out by Elizabeth Eulberg

I'm Glad I Did by Cynthia Weil

Twisted Fate by Norah Olson

Mystery/Thriller:

  

Cut Me Free by J.R. Johansson

All Fall Down by Ally Carter

There Will Be Lies by Nick Lake

Dystopia:

The Prey by Tom Isbell

Paranormal/Sci-Fi/Fantasy:

 

The Way We Bared Our Souls by Willa Strayhorn

Tunnel Vision by Susan Adrian

Atlantis Rising by Gloria Craw

THe Ghost of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick

January Review Copy Clean Up

January Review Copy Clean Up:

(Created by YA Buddy Readers Corner)

This challenge is simple, and has one aim - get those review copies read! This obviously means that you will have to have review copies to take part in this challenge - either from Netgalley, Edelweiss, Publishers, Authors, ARR programme, etc.

Read

Puppet by Pauline C. Harris

The Perfect Gift by Dani-Lyn Alexander

One Wish Away by Kelley Lynn

Three Christmases by Kat and Stone Bastion

Wish (Indigo Dreams #1) by Grier Cooper

Driving Lessons (The You Know Who Girls #2) by Annameekee Hesik

One Song Away by Molli Moran

I Found You (Starting Out #1) Jane Lark

Just You (Starting Out #2) by Jane Lark

I Need You (Starting Out #3) by Jane Lark

Beneath The Moon And The Starts by Amelia Thorne

Disturbingly Beautiful (A Paradox In Time #1) by J. & L. Wells

Written On Her Heart The Callaway Cove #1) by Paige Ryan

Accepting Fate (Destiny Book #2) by Deanna Chase

Accepted by Coleen Lahr

The In Between by Olivia Pierce

VIP (Rock & Release #1) by Riley Edgewood

Storm Fall (Rebel Wing #2) by Tracy Banghart

Impulse (Submerged Sun #2) by Vanessa Garden

Forever Wild Series by Magan Vernon

Rivulet (Web of Hearts and Soul #11) by Jamie Magee

Imitation by Heather Hildenbrand

Infernal Ice by Joceline Farrah

Still Beautiful by Amy Patrick

Swep Away (Volume 1, 2, 3 and 4) by J. Haymore

Secret Santo by Carla Caruso

A Father's Fight (Fighting #5) by J.B. Salsbury

Withering Hope by Layla Hagen

Past Heaven by Laura Ward

Kickback (DI Nick Dickson Crime Series #3) by Damien Boyd

Love Hurts by Malorie Blackman

What about you? What does your Review Copy look like? Leave a comment in the section below. Happy reading everyone