Yearly Archives:: 2013

Monday, April 29, 2013

Review: If You Stay by Courtney Cole

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If You Stay
Courtney Cole
Series: Beautifully Broken #1
Genre: NA Contemporary
Publication date: February 5th 2013
by  Lakehouse Press

24-year old Pax Tate is an asshole.

Seriously.

He’s a tattooed, rock-hard bad-boy with a bad attitude to match.
But he’s got his reasons.

His mother died when Pax was seven, leaving a hole in his heart filled with guilt although he doesn’t understand why. What he does know is that he and his dad are left alone and with more issues than they can count.

As Pax grew up, he tried to be the kid his father always wanted; the perfect golden boy, but it didn’t work. His dad couldn’t overcome his grief long enough to notice and Pax couldn’t keep up the impossible perfect façade.
So he slipped far, far from it.

Now, he uses drugs and women to cope with the ugliness, the black void that he doesn’t want to deal with. If he pretends that the emptiness isn’t there, then it isn’t, right?
Wrong.

And it’s never more apparent than when he meets Mila.

Sweet, beautiful Mila Hill is the fresh air to his hardened frown, the beauty to his ugly heart. He doesn’t know how to not hurt her, but he quickly realizes that he’d better figure it out because he needs her to breathe.

When memories of his mother’s death resurface from where he’s repressed them for so long, Mila is there to catch him when the guilt starts making sense. Mila is the one…the one who can save him from his broken troubled heart; from his issues, from the emptiness.

But only if he can stop being an asshole long enough to allow it.

He knows that. And he’s working on it.

But is that enough to make her stay?

-Source: Gifted from Amy at Book Loving Mom

Starting with a bang–and I mean really: check out the opening paragraph for yourself ;)–If You Stay is narrated mainly by Pax, a drug addict with a past that has led him to want to give no shits about his life. Our second POV is a sweet and innocent young girl, Mila, who meets Pax in the most unfortunate of ways. I think this is one instance where a single POV would have been much better for me. While I understand the appeal of a dual POV when it comes to a love story, especially of this nature where both characters are such opposites, I felt like one character (Pax) was much more developed than the other, more likeable, too, which might seem improbable when you first meet him, turning this book into a good read that could have been great if only I had cared for both sides equally.

Fortunately for me, it’s Pax’s story above all. We meet him in his lowest of the lows as a drug addict who just doesn’t give a f*ck. He’s the ultimate bad boy whom every girl should stay away from. He’s not created for us to “like” him as a character, not to mention a love interest, but he was created as an obviously broken character who you have the strange impulse to want to fix. This is what makes his character sympathetic. You get to understand what’s going on in his head and how badly he wants to change–which makes all the difference. I came to see him as someone very sweet who needs to be given a chance. Mila takes that risk. This girl, though, did not click with me. She is the definition of a “good girl”, but this is not the reason why I disliked her. She was simply too naive for my taste. She jumps into a relationship with this guy with the immediate belief that he will change to become the perfect boyfriend material, even after Pax tells her that “he will try not to her her”–he emphasizes on “try”. Automatically, this would have become a red flag for me, Mila seemed to be oblivious to this warning, giving her heart to him so easily. I also didn’t like how she reacted when Pax finally unfolded his past. Getting pissed at how he shut her out when he was dealing with such a traumatic memory was just not ok for me. He needed someone to understand and leave him to deal, not someone who made him guilty for it. Our personalities just did not mesh, mine and hers. Even without our clashing minds, however, I never felt like I truly understood or got to know Mila. She wasn’t as fleshed out a character as Pax, which leads me to think I would have enjoyed this book much more had we not gotten her perspective at all, and only saw her through Pax’s eyes.

The romance in the book is extremely hot and definitely R rated, they also do not lack chemistry, but on that note it’s a primarily physical relationship. Instead of taking time throughout the book to get to know each other on a more emotional level, they focus on their physical attraction; which, in reality, is fine as some couples do base themselves on their physical relationship, but as a reader I felt like the romance was more superficial.

This book, however, is more than a love story. It’s ultimately about Pax dealing with his past, and finding a way to get through it without ruining his life in the process. It was an emotional read, for sure, with some very hard to imagine scenarios where you can’t help but want to put yourself in the MC’s shoes to try to take some of their pain away. This is the part of the book that I liked the most and I think it was well executed.

Hard to read at times, but If You Stay is also an inspiring story when you consider how far Pax comes. While I didn’t love both characters, I predict that Mila will resonate with some readers better than I, making it a great reading experience all around as it’s far from being a bad book.

3.5 Hot Espressos

Xpresso Weekly: Stacking the Shelves (53)

Posted by on 04/28/2013 • 48 Comments

Xpresso Weekly is my edition of Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga’s Reviews featuring the books I got this week, and I also mention blog news/happenings of the past week. This week at Xpresso Reads

How is everyone this week? Spring is finally starting to show its face and I’m so happy! And is everyone ready for BEA, too? I know I am and am stoked to meet everyone there! 😀 So this week on the blog was pretty giveaway-tastic! For my Canadian peeps you can win a copy of The Beautiful and the Cursed! And my international lovelies can win book 1-3 of the Revenants series by Amy Plum which is awesome!

Reviews on the blog this week:

Xpresso Book Tours

NEW Tours open for sign ups:— Identified: The…

Fresh Batch (April 28th – May 4th)

Posted by on 04/27/2013 • 19 Comments

Exclusively titled for Xpresso Reads, Fresh Batch features the hottest releases of this upcoming week.

Flavor of the week:

Sweet Peril Wendy Higgins  Series: The Sweet Trilogy #1Publication date:  May 1st 2012by HarperTeen

Anna Whitt, the daughter of a guardian angel and a demon, promised herself she’d never do the work of her father—polluting souls. She’d been naive to make such a vow. She’d been naive about a lot of things.

Haunted by demon whisperers, Anna does whatever she can to survive, even if it means embracing her dark side and earning an unwanted reputation as her school’s party girl. Her life has never looked more bleak. And all the while there’s Kaidan Rowe, son of the Duke of Lust, plaguing her heart and mind.

When…

Giveaway: The Beautiful and the Cursed

Posted by on 04/27/2013 • 26 Comments

The Beautiful and the CursedPage Morgan Series: The Dispossessed #1Genre: YA Gothic Publication date: May 14th 2013by Delacorte Books for Young Readers 

After a bizarre accident, Ingrid Waverly is forced to leave London with her mother and younger sister, Gabby, trading a world full of fancy dresses and society events for the unfamiliar city of Paris.

In Paris there are no grand balls or glittering parties, and, disturbingly, the house Ingrid’s twin brother, Grayson, found for them isn’t a house at all. It’s an abandoned abbey, its roof lined with stone gargoyles that could almost be mistaken for living, breathing creatures.

And Grayson has gone missing.

No one seems to know of his whereabouts but Luc, a devastatingly handsome servant at their new home.

Ingrid is sure…

Review: The Program by Suzanne Young

Posted by on 04/26/2013 • 27 Comments

The ProgramSuzanne Young Series: Program #1Genre: YA Dystopian Publication date: April 30th 2013by Simon Pulse

In Sloane’s world, true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.

Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.

Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can….

If I Should Die Tour Stop: Guest Post + Giveaway

Posted by on 04/26/2013 • 77 Comments

Being a fan of this series I’m excited to have the If I Should Die blog tour drop by the blog today. We’ve got a fun Video-filled guest post featuring Kate’s (the MC) favorite fight scenes, and a fab giveaway!

If I Should Die Amy Plum Series: Revenants, #3Publication date: May 7th 2013by Harper Teen

I will not lose another person I love. I will not let history repeat itself.

Vincent waited lifetimes to find me, but in an instant our future together was shattered. He was betrayed by someone we both called a friend, and I lost him. Now our enemy is determined to rule over France’s immortals, and willing to wage a war to get what they want.

It shouldn’t be possible, none of it…

Review: Reboot by Amy Tintera

Posted by on 04/25/2013 • 0 Comments

RebootAmy Tintera Series: Reboot #1Genre: YA Dystopian Publication date: May 7th 2013by HarperTeen

Five years ago, Wren Connolly was shot three times in the chest. After 178 minutes she came back as a Reboot: stronger, faster, able to heal, and less emotional. The longer Reboots are dead, the less human they are when they return. Wren 178 is the deadliest Reboot in the Republic of Texas. Now seventeen years old, she serves as a soldier for HARC (Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation).

Wren’s favorite part of the job is training new Reboots, but her latest newbie is the worst she’s ever seen. As a 22, Callum Reyes is practically human. His reflexes are too slow, he’s always asking questions, and his ever-present smile is freaking her out. Yet…

Book Girls Don’t Cry: Blogging Schedules

Posted by on 04/25/2013 • 40 Comments

Inspired by Book Buzzers, Book Girls Don’t Cry is a weekly feature where we each discuss/vent/advise on the chosen weekly bookish topic. Don’t miss Jenni on Mondays, and Amy on Saturdays:  

Planning is half the battle!

When you start a blog most people go in with absolutely no clue what it entails, nor how much organization goes into running one–especially if you want good constant content AND respect what publishers ask as far as reviewing the books they send to you on time.

My first few months of blogging were craz-ay! I was not using anything to keep track and just going about it with the flow, and it got pretty unorganized. I would forget tours I had signed up for, and I lost track of what was due…