Monthly Archives:: November 2015

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Review: Consent by Nancy Ohlin

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I received this book for free from Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review: Consent by Nancy OhlinConsent by Nancy Ohlin
Published by Simon Pulse on November 10th 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, YA
Source: Simon & Schuster
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three-half-stars

In this sexy and intriguing novel, an intense—and passionate—bond between a high school senior and her music teacher becomes a public scandal that threatens the reputation of both.

Bea has a secret.

Actually, she has more than one. There’s her dream for the future that she can’t tell anyone—not her father and not even her best friend, Plum.

And now there’s Dane Rossi. Dane is hot, he shares Bea’s love of piano, and he believes in her.

He’s also Bea’s teacher.

When their passion for music crosses into passion for each other, Bea finds herself falling completely for Dane. She’s never felt so wanted, so understood, so known to her core. But the risk of discovery carries unexpected surprises that could shake Bea entirely. Bea must piece together what is and isn’t true about Dane, herself, and the most intense relationship she’s ever experienced in this absorbing novel from Nancy Ohlin, the author of Beauty.

This book was a bit tough for me. It was a good book, and I knew what it was about going into it, but reading it made me feel a bit icky at times. I liked the MC and her best friend was pretty good too, but Dane just gave me the creeps. I thought that it was a well done story though, and of course it isn’t unheard of to have student/teacher relationships. Besides the relationship aspect though, it really goes into family issues as well and I really liked that.

Bea is a senior in high school and thinking about her future. She has a super smart best friend and she has these grand plans for Harvard. It’s not an unlikely dream either. They are both smart, and could both get in. Bea isn’t so sure though. Even though she has never told anyone, she dreams of a future in music. She’s a self taught pianist. A fantastic one at that. Only when she ends up with Dane as a teacher does she actually think she can live her dream. He makes her believe in herself. He also stirs up all sorts of feelings in her too. She is totally drawn to him and as he helps her with her piano playing and even setting up a time for her to play at Julliard, she begins to fall in love with him. She feels like he is the only one who really sees her. Really know her. Her brother is very distant, and her father is always so busy with work that she is barely a second thought. That and she doesn’t think that he would approve of her wanting to play piano. She is a bit naive, but she’s a teenage girl. She hasn’t experienced real life and she doesn’t always think rationally. I did like her, but sometimes wanted to scream at her to stop being so stupid.

Dane didn’t do anything for me. He’s supposed to be the hot teacher who plays piano like an angel, and is everything that Bea could wish for. Well, he’s a friggin teacher and he is totally all about Bea. Red flag!! HE SHOULD KNOW BETTER!! And he’s 10 years older than her. She’s not even an adult! Anyways, he tries to play it cool at first, but of course he can’t resist. Creepy ass dude!! He does some really, really stupid things and then things turn bad. I mean, what the hell did he think would happen. It’s not like he was super careful about trying to hide it. I mean, they were supposed to, but come on. It was probably so obvious to others. So anyways, Mr. Creepy Pants has all sorts of hidden history as well that we discover and that’s that. I didn’t like him and I couldn’t get behind the whole romance.

I’m not even going to get into the romance since it made me feel all shivery. And not in a good way. I could understand Bea having a crush because we all know we had that one hot teacher right? But we also knew that they were our teacher and that anything real would have been so not okay. But Dane, oh he was giving signals like he was a traffic light. Of course she is going to become more and more interested thinking that he actually wanted her back. She was stupid to actually act on it because she really should have known better, but once again, daddy issues and all that. Dane made her feel important and paid attention to her. The things that she really wanted.

What really made this story good for me though was seeing the change in the family dynamic. Bea was almost always at her best friends house because her family was so nice and they had family dinners and all of that. Home for her is lonely and it was surprising when her father took interest in her. Her mother died, her brother moved away, and her father is a very busy guy with work. It’s not that he doesn’t care though. As the book progressed we could see the change in her father and I really loved that. He really came around and he’s there when it matters. So underneath all of the ick of the student/teacher romance thing, this was a good story. There is much more to it than what the synopsis suggests and it was mostly enjoyable.

three-half-stars

3.5 Hot Espressos

Review: Soundless by Richelle Mead

Posted by on 11/17/2015 • 13 Comments

A fantasy with a Chinese-inspired setting? An isolated village high up in the mountains, full of deaf people? A heroine who regains her hearing back and aims to use it to make a difference? WOW, BADUM-TSS!

On a perfect, ideal day, this would have been an absolutely great treat. Just from these few sentences, we can already feel the diversity of the premise!

But, alas, it is not a perfect and ideal day, because this book is boring and dull as hell. But hey, there’s one thing positive from this: I’m done with it! Yay!

First of all, let me just say that I’ve read the first book of Vampire Academy and I’ve read her GAME OF X series which I absolutely, absolutely adore (to the moon and back). I’ve seen what…

Fresh Batch (November 15th – 21st)

Fresh Batch (November 15th – 21st)

Posted by on 11/14/2015 • 3 Comments

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

Flavor of the week:

Just Visiting Dahlia Adler Publication date: November 17th 2015by Spencer Hill Contemporary

Goodreads Purchase

Reagan Forrester wants out—out of her trailer park, out of reach of her freeloading mother, and out of the shadow of the relationship that made her the pariah of Charytan, Kansas.

Victoria Reyes wants in—in to a fashion design program, in to the arms of a cute guy who doesn’t go to Charytan High, and in to a city where she won’t stand out for being Mexican.

One thing the polar-opposite best friends do agree on is that wherever they go, they’re staying together. But when they set…

Review: Calvin by Martine Leavitt

Posted by on 11/13/2015 • 2 Comments

This book, though short packs quite a punch. It’s fun and quirky, but also serious as well. It follows Calvin who has schizophrenia on an extremely dangerous adventure. I enjoy reading books about mental illness when they are told in the POV of the person who has it. It is a scary and sad thing to know what they are going through, but my curious mind is always interested. I work in a field that deals with mental illness, so I am no stranger to it, but I am fascinated with how the brain works and I really do love books like this.

Calvin was a really great character in so many ways. He is smart, funny, and determined. Yes, he may have schizophrenia, but that is just one…

Review: Captive by A.J. Grainger

Posted by on 11/12/2015 • 4 Comments

I always find it hard to review books that I have no strong opinion of either way. I didn’t really like this book, but I didn’t dislike it either. It was readable, but it didn’t make me NEED to keep going. The main character wasn’t all that interesting, but I did kind of like her… sometimes. As you can tell by the title and synopsis, this book is about a girl who is kidnapped because she is the Prime Ministers daughter. She is the leverage to get what they want. So of course, she is being held captive and we learn about her history through her wandering thoughts. We also learn about the conspiracy that got her to this place by one of her kidnappers. The book opens pretty cool,…

Review: The Anatomical Shape of a Heart by Jenn Bennett

Posted by on 11/10/2015 • 14 Comments

I adored this book! It wasn’t perfect, but I really enjoyed it and didn’t want to put it down. I loved the main characters, but beyond that, I wanted so bad to learn their story. I was instantly drawn into this book and it was like I was there with them on their journey. It was great watching their romance form, and it was so heart breaking when they were going through awful things. I was very invested in them and where life would take them, and especially the past that had made each of them who they were.

Bex was an interesting character. She doesn’t have a whole lot of friends because people find her a bit weird. By weird, I mean morbid. She is fascinated by anatomy….

Review: We’ll Never Be Apart by Emiko Jean

Posted by on 11/09/2015 • 4 Comments

I’m always up for a book that is creepy and messes with your head, and this sounded like it was perfect for that. Sadly, it really fell short for me. It’s supposed to be a mind fuck, but it was too predictable. It was supposed to be creepy, but it just wasn’t. I didn’t really like the main character much because she was kind of boring. Even though she is breaking all the rules and is out for murder, she just seemed a bit blah for me. And the love interest… there always has to be one of those right? He didn’t do much for me. He’s the one who is supposed to be all dangerous, but helpful, and really a sweetheart. Yeah, he met all those stereotypes on the…

Fresh Batch (November 8th – 14th)

Fresh Batch (November 8th – 14th)

Posted by on 11/07/2015 • 8 Comments

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

Flavor of the week:

Winter Marissa Meyer Series: The Lunar Chronicles #4 Publication date: November 10th 2015by Feiwel and Friends

Goodreads Purchase

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend–the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her…