Review: 99 Days by Katie Cotugno

99 Days
By Katie Cotugno

Hardcover, 384 pages

Published April 21st 2015 by Balzer + Bray
Average Ratingl 3.42

Day 1: Julia Donnelly eggs my house my first night back in Star Lake, and that’s how I know everyone still remembers everything—how I destroyed my relationship with Patrick the night everything happened with his brother, Gabe. How I wrecked their whole family. Now I’m serving out my summer like a jail sentence: Just ninety-nine days till I can leave for college, and be done.

Day 4: A nasty note on my windshield makes it clear Julia isn’t finished. I’m expecting a fight when someone taps me on the shoulder, but it’s just Gabe, home from college and actually happy to see me. “For what it’s worth, Molly Barlow,” he says, “I’m really glad you’re back.”

Day 12: Gabe got me to come to this party, and I’m actually having fun. I think he’s about to kiss me—and that’s when I see Patrick. My Patrick, who’s supposed to be clear across the country. My Patrick, who’s never going to forgive me.

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There are lots of mixed feelings about this novel. I can say I definitely have a more positive outlook on this novel than most.

I don’t know why I like this book so much. Maybe it’s because I read Cotugno’s first novel, How to Love and absolutely loved it. I own the book and I’ve been rereading it ever since, but I don’t know why I even picked up the novel in the first place. You can already tell by the blurb that there will be a love triangle. And the thing is? I despise love triangles. I hate them with a passion. I roll my eyes, I groan in frustration, the whole dang package, but I ended up reading this novel and rated it three and half stars…

Review: Conspiracy Girl by Sarah Alderson

Conspiracy Girl
By Sarah Alderson

Paperback, 320 pages

Published February 12th 2015 by Simon & Schuster

Average Rating: 4.03

Everybody knows about the Cooper Killings – the Bel Air home invasion that rocked the nation.
There was only one survivor – a sixteen year-old girl.
And though the killers were caught they walked free.

Now eighteen, Nic Preston – the girl who survived – is trying hard to rebuild her life. She’s security conscious to the point of paranoia and her only friend is a French Mastiff bulldog, but she’s making progress. She’s started college in New York and has even begun dating.

But then one night her apartment is broken into and the life Nic’s worked so hard to create is shattered in an instant.

Finn Carter – hacker, rule breaker, player – is the last person Nic ever wants to see again. He’s the reason her mother’s killers walked free from court. But as the people hunting her close in, Nic has to accept that her best and possibly only chance of staying alive is by keeping close to Finn and learning to trust the person she’s sworn to hate.

Fleeing across a snowbound New England, frantically trying to uncover the motive behind the murders, Nic and Finn come to realize the conspiracy is bigger than they could ever have suspected. But the closer they get to the truth and the closer they get to each other, the greater the danger becomes.

To survive she has to stay close to him.
To keep her safe he has to keep his distance.

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THIS IS SOO GOOD! I LOVE THIS BOOK. I’ve read it twice in one day ’cause I couldn’t get enough of it!

If any of you read Alderson’s Hunting Lila books, YOU WILL LOVE THIS. It was very similar to Hunting Lila in some aspects, in others not so much.

First, the story line. Beautiful. Mysterious. Captivating. Romantic. This is a dual POV novel, alternating between Nic Preston and Finn Carter.

Review: An Ember In The Ashes By Sabaa Tahir

An Ember In The Ashes (An Ember In The Ashes #1)
By Sabaa Tahir

Paperback, 464 pages

Published February 9th 2016 by Razorbill
Average Rating: 4.30

Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.

Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.

But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.

There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

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Review: November 9 by Colleen Hoover

November 9
By Colleen Hoover

Paperback, 310 pages

Published November 10th 2015 by Atria Books

Average Rating: 4.51

Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day before her scheduled cross-country move. Their untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last day in L.A. together, and her eventful life becomes the creative inspiration Ben has always sought for his novel. Over time and amidst the various relationships and tribulations of their own separate lives, they continue to meet on the same date every year. Until one day Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist.

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MY EMOTIONS. MY MIND. MY LIFE IS A MESS. THAT WAS SUCH AN INTENSE READ. I LOVE IT.

Like a true storyteller, Colleen Hoover does it again with another fabulous, captivating standalone novel that breaks hearts and puts them back together again in the most original and heart-breaking ways.

Meet our new couple that faces Colleen’s wrath of pain, love, sadness and joy: Fallon and Ben.

Review: RoomHate by Penelope Ward

RoomHate
By Penelope Ward

Paperback, 280 pages

Published February 3rd 2016 by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Average Rating: 4.24

Sharing a summer house with a hot-as-hell roommate should be a dream come true, right?

Not when it’s Justin…the only person I’d ever loved…who now hates me.

When my grandmother died and left me half of the house on Aquidneck Island, there was a catch: the other half would go to the boy she helped raise.

The same boy who turned into the teenager whose heart I broke years ago.

The same teenager who’s now a man with a hard body and a hardass personality to match.

I hadn’t seen him in years, and now we’re living together because neither one of us is willing to give up the house.

The worst part? He didn’t come alone.

I’d soon realize there’s a thin line between love and hate. I could see through that smug smile. Beneath it all…the boy is still there. So is our connection.

The problem is…now that I can’t have Justin, I’ve never wanted him more.

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How do I sum up my feelings about this book in one sentence? …

“A sexy, angsty read with intense heart-breaking and a happy ever after.”

Review: Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers (His Fair Assassin #1)

Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin #1)
By Robin LaFevers

Hardcover, 549 pages

Published April 3rd 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Average Rating: 3.94

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

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After reading the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas, I guess I have a thing for assassins. This novel is all about assassins. Badass female ones. 

Review: The Distance From A to Z By Natalie Blitt

The Distance From A to Z
By Natalie Blitt

Kindle Edition

Published January 12th 2016 by HarperCollins

Average Rating: 3.85

This full-length novel by debut author Natalie Blitt is a pitch-perfect blend of Stephanie Perkins and Miranda Kenneally that proves the age-old adage: opposites attract.

Seventeen-year old Abby has only one goal for her summer: to make sure she is fluent in French—well, that, and to get as far away from baseball and her Cubs-obsessed family as possible. A summer of culture and language, with no sports in sight.

That turns out to be impossible, though, because her French partner is the exact kind of boy she was hoping to avoid. Eight weeks. 120 hours of class. 80 hours of conversation practice with someone who seems to exclusively wear baseball caps and jerseys.

But Zeke in French is a different person than Zeke in English. And Abby can’t help but fall for him, hard. As Abby begins to suspect that Zeke is hiding something, she has to decide if bridging the gap between the distance between who she is and who he is, is worth the risk.

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OH MY GOD. MY HEART. MY HEART. IT’S NOT HANDLING THE EXTENT OF MY EMOTIONS RIGHT NOW.

This book. This book is beautiful.

After a long hiatus of reviewing, this is the book that finally brings me out from living under a rock. I’m back for a new year full of wonderful books that will both break and quicken my heart, , that will make me cry, laugh, scream and smile, all at the same time. Bring it on 2016.

Back to the book.