Monthly Archives:: January 2015

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Fresh Batch (New Releases February 1st – 7th)

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Fresh Batch, posted weekly, keeps you up to date on the hottest releases of the upcoming week.

Flavor of the week:

I’ll Meet You There
Heather Demetrios
Publication date: February 3rd 2015
by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

Goodreads Purchase

If seventeen-year-old Skylar Evans were a typical Creek View girl, her future would involve a double-wide trailer, a baby on her hip, and the graveyard shift at Taco Bell. But after graduation, the only thing standing between straightedge Skylar and art school are three minimum-wage months of summer. Skylar can taste the freedom—that is, until her mother loses her job and everything starts coming apart. Torn between her dreams and the people she loves, Skylar realizes everything she’s ever worked for is on the line.

Nineteen-year-old Josh Mitchell had a different ticket out of Creek View: the Marines. But after his leg is blown off in Afghanistan, he returns home, a shell of the cocksure boy he used to be. What brings Skylar and Josh together is working at the Paradise—a quirky motel off California’s dusty Highway 99. Despite their differences, their shared isolation turns into an unexpected friendship and soon, something deeper.


Other releases this week:
* In no particular order *




Keela (Slater Brothers #2.5) by L.A. Casey [Purchase]
Miramont’s Ghost by Elizabeth Hall [Purchase]
Get off on the Pain (Pain #1) by Victoria Ashley
Verum (The Nocte Trilogy #2) by Courtney Cole [Purchase]


All of Me (Inside Out #6) by Lisa Renee Jones [Purchase]
Beautiful Beloved (Beautiful Bastard #3.6) by Christina Lauren [Purchase]
Invaded (Alienated #2) by Melissa Landers [Purchase]
The Raven (The Florentine #1) by Sylvain Reynard [Purchase]


The Forgetting by Nicole Maggi [Purchase]
Hero by Samantha Young [Purchase]
Better when He’s Bold (Welcome to the Point #2) by Jay Crownover [Purchase]
Shutter by Courtney Alameda [Purchase]


Flirting with Felicity by Gerri Russell [Purchase]
Rough Justice (Sinner’s Tribe Motorcycle Club #1) by Sarah Castille [Purchase]
Saving Quinton (Nova #2) by Jessica Sorensen [Purchase]
Dearest (Woodcutter Sisters #3) by Alethea Kontis [Purchase]


City of Savages by Lee Kelly [Purchase]
City of Savages by Lee Kelly [Purchase]
Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman [Purchase]
Soulprint by Megan Miranda [Purchase]


Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear [Purchase]
This Is the Life by Alex Shearer [Purchase]
Die Once More (Revenants #3.5) by Amy Plum [Purchase]
We Are Pirates by Daniel Handler [Purchase]


Beastkeeper by Cat Hellisen [Purchase]
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah [Purchase]
Carswell’s Guide to Being Lucky (The Lunar Chronicles #2.5) by Marissa Meyer
The Hooker and the Hermit by L.H. Cosway and Penny Reid [Purchase]


Unspeakable by Abbie Rushton [Purchase]
Fish In A Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt [Purchase]
The Forgotten Girls (Louise Rick / Camilla Lind #7) by Sara Blaedel [Purchase]
Bet Your Life (Jess Tennant #2) by Jane Casey [Purchase]


Covenant’s End (Widdershins Adventures #4) by Ari Marmell [Purchase]
This Side of Home by Renée Watson [Purchase]
Shadow of the War Machine (The Secret Order #3) by Kristin Bailey [Purchase]
Blues for Zoey by Robert Paul Weston [Purchase]


Something True (True Love #3) by Kieran Scott [Purchase]
Paper or Plastic by Vivi Barnes [Purchase]
How (Not) to Fall in Love by Lisa Brown Roberts [Purchase]
Scripted by Maya Rock [Purchase]


Walking on Trampolines by Frances Whiting [Purchase]
Kiss and Tell (Truth or Dare #3) by Jacqueline Green [Purchase]
Love Is in the Air by A. Destiny and Alex Kahler [Purchase]
Dragons at Crumbling Castle: And Other Tales by Terry Pratchett [Purchase]


Casually Cursed (Southern Witch #5) by Kimberly Frost [Purchase]


What’s on your wishlist this week?

 

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Find previous Fresh Batch posts here!

Review: Get Even by Gretchen McNeil

Review: Get Even by Gretchen McNeil

Posted by on 01/30/2015 • 8 Comments

Are you looking for suspense, mystery, and thrills?

Are you looking for a revenge story in a prep school of les rich, complete with a raging, bully-enabling, hypocritical priest at its head?

Are you looking for side characters that are absolutely cardboard cut-outs of the bitch, the jock, the junkie, the minion-of-the-bitch-who-is-actually-miserable-and-feels-happy-when-she-is-complimented-over-the-bitch (wow that was long), the best friend, the snarling physical education teacher – among other “stereotypical” characters – that are absolutely expected now in books like this?

Yes, you get all of these in Get Even. Now, don’t get me wrong. The characters may have been written in such a way that was seriously cheesy and mayhaps even exaggerated to the point that it’s hard to take any of them seriously, but if you like mindless fun, I have no…

Review: The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand

Review: The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand

Posted by on 01/29/2015 • 23 Comments

The Last Time We Say Goodbye is the story of a girl who’s been left behind. Her family is broken, her heart is broken, and her life will now never be the same. After her brother dies, Lex is now defined as this tragic girl with a dead brother; someone to pity, or to avoid completely which is not uncommon in these scenarios – people are simply uncomfortable towards death. If this wasn’t enough for Lex to deal with, there’s these nightmares that make her relive it all nightly…

As you can expect, this novel is full of emotional turmoil. It’s dark and depressing, yet very powerful. Important, even. We’re dealing with death, grief, depression, denial, and everything in between, and these emotions are all very real and unflinching. Lex…

Review: The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

Review: The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

Posted by on 01/28/2015 • 14 Comments

It’s been a while since I have read a fae book so I thought it was time. Besides that, I bought this when I went to the release day launch at a local book store and the little parts that the author read had me really wanting to read it. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t one that will go on my favorites list. The main character was really great and I loved that we discover her secrets and the truth about herself along with her. I really loved the writing too, it was very beautiful and descriptive. The fae world always intrigues me, and I loved getting to visit Faerieland. It’s enjoyable to read about fae when they are portrayed the way old folklore does it. As the creepy…

Review: Fairest by Marissa Meyer

Review: Fairest by Marissa Meyer

Posted by on 01/26/2015 • 29 Comments

If you thought Queen Levana was evil before, you will see just how corrupted she really is! I don’t often read novellas, but this one is a bit longer than average and completely worth it to be able to see Levana’s childhood and how she grew up to be who she is. It also gives us a glimpse at our beloved characters’ childhood so we get a real 360 look at what happened in the past.

Despite her evil ways and sometimes shocking delusions, Levana’s story is just plain sad. This hard-edged personality of hers was built from a tough childhood that lacked real parental guidance and, most importantly, love and affection. The fire tragedy that brought about her scars was horrifying, and some might consider it the beginning…

Giselle’s Stacking the Shelves [January 25th]

Giselle’s Stacking the Shelves [January 25th]

Posted by on 01/25/2015 • 18 Comments

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews featuring the books we got this week, and I also mention blog news/happenings of the past week. Hi bookish friends! How is 2015 treating you so far? I’ve been keeping busy, but things are great! And since it’s 2015 already, are y’all thinking about BEA yet? Who’s going? I’m pretty sure I will be there again this year, but nothing is set in stone yet. In case you missed it this week we’ve got a new giveaway for a copy of Half Bad and some hot chocolate which is kind of awesome if you ask me! So let’s see what goodies I got this week!

BOOK HAUL:

I received for review: –After by Anna…

Fresh Batch (New Releases January 25th – 31st)

Fresh Batch (New Releases January 25th – 31st)

Posted by on 01/24/2015 • 10 Comments

Fresh Batch, posted weekly, keeps you up to date on the hottest releases of the upcoming week.

Flavor of the week:

I Was Here Gayle Forman Publication date: January 27th 2015by Viking Juvenile

Goodreads Purchase

Cody and Meg were inseparable. Two peas in a pod. Until . . . they weren’t anymore.

When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything—so how was there no warning? But when Cody travels to Meg’s college town to pack up the belongings left behind, she discovers that there’s a lot that Meg never told her. About her old roommates, the sort of people Cody never would have met…

Review: Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

Review: Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

Posted by on 01/23/2015 • 15 Comments

Holy Jesus in a manger on the 25th of December… I think I just found a new fantasy series to love.

And here I thought the Young Adult demographic has forgotten to churn out awesome high fantasies. The last time I’ve ever loved a YA Fantasy with a female heroine this much was when I read The Girl of Fire and Thorns Trilogy by Rae Carson. Since then, the fantasies I’ve read didn’t even ignite any wonder or awe in me, didn’t make me feel as immersed, didn’t make me feel as involved or as engrossed. They paled in comparison and I was left to looking at non-YA fantasy books to give me my fix (hi, Brandon Sanderson!).

And then I read this beautiful book. Snow Like Ashes reminded me of the…