Publisher: St. Martin's Press


Thursday, July 09, 2015

Review: Delicate Monsters by Stephanie Kuehn

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I received this book for free from St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review: Delicate Monsters by Stephanie KuehnDelicate Monsters by Stephanie Kuehn
Published by St. Martin's Press on June 9th 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Psychological Thriller, YA
Source: St. Martin's Press
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From the Morris-Award winning author of Charm & Strange, comes a twisted and haunting tale about three teens uncovering dark secrets and even darker truths about themselves.

When nearly killing a classmate gets seventeen-year-old Sadie Su kicked out of her third boarding school in four years, she returns to her family’s California vineyard estate. Here, she’s meant to stay out of trouble. Here, she’s meant to do a lot of things. But it’s hard. She’s bored. And when Sadie’s bored, the only thing she likes is trouble.

Emerson Tate’s a poor boy living in a rich town, with his widowed mother and strange, haunted little brother. All he wants his senior year is to play basketball and make something happen with the girl of his dreams. That’s why Emerson’s not happy Sadie’s back. An old childhood friend, she knows his worst secrets. The things he longs to forget. The things she won’t ever let him.

Haunted is a good word for fifteen-year-old Miles Tate. Miles can see the future, after all. And he knows his vision of tragic violence at his school will come true, because his visions always do. That’s what he tells the new girl in town. The one who listens to him. The one who recognizes the darkness in his past.

But can Miles stop the violence? Or has the future already been written? Maybe tragedy is his destiny. Maybe it’s all of theirs.

This book left me wondering what the hell I just read, but in a good way. Told in a few different POV’s you get a lot of what is going on. You get to see things from each person directly involved. This is one messed up and weird story that kept me going page after page. The characters have some major issues and I loved seeing what would happen next. This book definitely messes with your head and at the end you are left going WTF did I just read, but it was also really good!!

Sadie has some major issues. She really needs help. She loves to cause trouble. Cause pain. Mess with people’s heads. She has been thrown out of the school she was in because she almost killed some poor kid. She never led him on, he just was drawn to her and would listen to her no matter what. Now she is back home, but she is getting messages from this guy. She isn’t sure what to think or how to respond. She also finds that she is drawn to helping Miles, Emerson’s little brother. She likes to mess with Emerson though. She is manipulative, sneaky, and mean in a subtle way.

Emerson seems like a great guy, but underneath he has some major stuff going on too. He is disturbed. He has this thing for dead things, or things that appear dead. It’s pretty sick and creepy actually. He has hidden this part of him well, but with Sadie back, he is worried that this will change things. She could ruin him. He also has to take care of his family. His father is dead, and his mom has been through hell. His little brother is also sick. It makes things really hard. He needs to stay under the radar, but it is harder with Sadie being back.

Miles is a bit different. He has visions of the future. Of horrible things that will happen. He gets bullied and he tries to stay invisible. He also has some medical issues so he is sick a lot. I had a huge soft spot for him. Sadie did too. He’s a good kid who is smart, but since he is different from other people he doesn’t fit in. Not that he wants to, but it would be nice to not be picked on and beat up when all he wants to do is get through his days.

I really can’t say much about the story at all without ruining the experience of this. It will mess with your head. You will feel sorry for some of the characters. You will rage at others. This had me almost holding my breath at times, not for anticipation, but because my feelings and emotions didn’t know which way to go or what to do. This was the first book I have read from this author, though I have two others. I have to pick them up and read them ASAP. The writing is fantastic and I was totally sucked into the story. As messed up as it was I couldn’t stop. I highly recommend this book!!

Review: Ice Kissed by Amanda Hocking

Review: Ice Kissed by Amanda Hocking

Posted by on 05/29/2015 • 6 Comments

I’m sure you guys have seen my rather lukewarm review to the first book of this series. I was disappointed that the trolls here looked and acted like humans, and I hated some of what Bryn did at the end of the book despite her strong and amazing drive and personality. However, even with all these complaints, I still enjoyed the first book and was nervous to start the second one, lest it be lackluster.

Well, my doubts were surely unfounded because I actually… loved this. O_O

This time around, Bryn and Kasper were sent to the Kingdom of Skojare (imagine all blue and ice and sapphires) to assist in the investigation regarding the Queen, Konstantin, and the shadows lurking in the arena of Troll politics. And man, would it be…

Tour: All the Rage by Courtney Summers Review & Giveaway

Tour: All the Rage by Courtney Summers Review & Giveaway

Posted by on 04/27/2015 • 12 Comments

I’m super excited to be taking part in this blog tour. Today on my stop I have my review and a giveaway for one copy of All the Rage (US & CAN only)

This book is one of those gritty dark contemporaries, that although tough to read at times, is so engrossing that you don’t want to put it down. There is no fluff to this. It’s harsh reality and tragic circumstances. It covers small town politics, bullying, and rape among other things. It’s not an enjoyable book to read, but it is a good one. I find books like this refreshing actually. They represent real issues that people go through, and all the horrible things that go along with them. I really felt for the characters…

Interview with Courtney Summers!

Interview with Courtney Summers!

Posted by on 04/15/2015 • 12 Comments

I’m excited to have Courtney Summers on the blog today for a quick conversation on her newest release, All the Rage! Here’s more about the book in case you missed it:

Interview with Courtney Summers

Hi Courtney! I’m excited to have you on the blog today – I’m your biggest fan ever, by the way! 😉 Aw, thank you so much, Giselle! I appreciate that and I’m a fan of yours too. Thank you for having me on your blog. 🙂

Writing about a subject such as rape has to be incredibly difficult, what was the biggest struggle while writing this book?

Just writing it was the biggest struggle for the exact reason you’ve stated—rape is an incredibly difficult and challenging subject to approach. When you write…

Review: Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Review: Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Posted by on 07/04/2014 • 18 Comments

Landline is different from what I expected: first of all it’s an adult book which I only realized when I started it, but this is totally my fault and also not a bad thing. I was due for an adult book. And, unlike her usual contemporary reads, this one has a bit of a paranormal vibe to it. I’m not sure how I felt about this at first, I loved the mind-f*ck nature of it, but it has an element that very rarely impresses me [time-travel], so I was afraid of the direction it was going in. In the end, though, I can say I quite enjoyed the story. It has a bit of a fairy-tale quality to it, so have to go into it with an open mind, but…

Waiting on Wednesday (99)

Waiting on Wednesday (99)

Posted by on 11/06/2013 • 23 Comments

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

My pick this week:

This is the same author who wrote Charm and Strange that I really enjoyed earlier to year so I’m excited that she’s got a new book coming out. It sounds dark and creepy – you know me, right? 😀

What are you waiting on, this week?