Review: Melt

Melt by Selene Castrovilla

 

Title: Melt

Series: none

Author: Selene Castrovilla

 

Published: Last Syllable Books; 2014*

328 pages, kindle edition

 

Source: Jen Halligan PR

 
Rating: 2.5 stars
 

Description (from Goodreads):

Melt is a brutal love story, set against the backdrop of The Wizard of Oz. Sixteen year old “good girl” Dorothy just blew into the small town of Highland Park – where the social headquarters is Munchkinland (Dunkin’ Donuts.) There, she meets Joey – a “bad boy” who tells no one about the catastrophic domestic violence he witnesses at home. Can these two lovers survive peer pressure, Joey’s reputation, and his alcoholism? And then there’s his family's secret – about to be unleashed.

Told in dual first person, Joey's words are scattered on the page - reflecting his broken state. Dorothy is the voice of reason - until something so shattering happens that she, too, may lose her grip. Can their love endure, or will it melt away?

My Thoughts:

2.5 stars Before I start let me admit that I may or may not have enjoyed this more if I went in expecting a contemporary romance in verse. I was not expecting that at all. Why wasn't I? Well, maybe because the description implies a Wizard of Oz retelling and this certainly isn't one - naming a character Dorothy and creating a plotline that is supposedly a "journey like a metaphorical Yellow Brick Road" does not count. I feel cheated. I also want to point out the I don't read verse books for a reas... 2.5 stars Before I start let me admit that I may or may not have enjoyed this more if I went in expecting a contemporary romance in verse. I was not expecting that at all. Why wasn't I? Well, maybe because the description implies a Wizard of Oz retelling and this certainly isn't one - naming a character Dorothy and creating a plotline that is supposedly a "journey like a metaphorical Yellow Brick Road" does not count. I feel cheated. I also want to point out the I don't read verse books for a reason. I am not a fan of poetry. Sure I love poetic writing, in fact, I love poetic writing when it is in the right sort of book. I do not want to read books that are written in this choppy lines thing however. It gives me a headache and brings back my nightmares about Shatter Me. I had no idea this book would be dictated in this way or I would not have accepted a review copy. I don't want to have to write a negative review just because this sort of books is a personal peeve of mine. Getting to the actual book... the plot was just a little too dull for my liking. It wasn't until about the 60% mark that it picked up some pace, but even then it wasn't exactly riveting. The characters were the only real highlights for me. I enjoyed their heartiness and they were easily loveable. The romance would have been better if it hadn't been another case of insta-love. I am so sick and tired of that rubbish but that is a rant for another time. Overall, I am disappointed that this wasn't a book that grabbed me. I had already marked it as a possible new favourite and I am really disheartened. For fans of verse it might be worth a shot but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. Note: a copy was provided courtesy of Selene Castrovilla and Jen Halligan of Jen Halligan PR in exchange for an honest review. No compensation was given or taken during this process.

 

 *Release: November 6th, 2014

Cover Reveal: Walled

Cover Reveal of Walled:

 

Title: Walled

Series: The Line, #1

Author: Anne Tibbets

 

Publisher: Carina Press (HQN)

 

Genres: new adult, dystopia

 

Links:   Goodreads

 



Description:

 Freedom means brutal choices.Rebel lovers Naya and Ric have survived one year in hiding, raising Naya’s twins from infants to toddlers in the shadow of the brutal Auberge dictatorship.  They’re alive, and they’re together, but the city is crumbling around them and the haunting memory of Naya’s dark days on The Line have never fully left them. Living in isolation won’t be an option forever.

When a mysterious revolutionary seeks their help to infiltrate  Auberge’s electronic heart and shut it down, it’s an opportunity—it’s risky, yes, but if it works they’ll get out of the city and taste freedom for the first time. Naya needs this. They need this.

Beyond the broken walls of Auberge, Naya and Ric find the paradise they’ve always longed for. But with anarchy reigning and Naya’s children lost amidst the chaos, they’ll need to forfeit their post-apocalyptic Eden…or commit an unspeakable act.

 

About The Author:

Anne Tibbets is an SCBWI award-winning and Smashwords Best Selling author. After writing for Children’s television, Anne found her way to young/new adult fiction by following what she loves: books, strong female characters, twisted family dynamics, magic, sword fights, quick moving plots, and ferocious and cuddly animals.

Along with CARRIER, Anne is also the author of the young adult fantasy novella, THE BEAST CALL and the young adult contemporary, SHUT UP.

Anne divides her time between writing, her family, and three furry creatures that she secretly believes are plotting her assassination.

 

Author Links:

Facebook  |  Twitter (@WriteforDoffee) | Website  | Goodreads

Book Blitz (+ Cover Reveal) of Like

Book Blitz of the Social Media series:

 

 

Social Media is a brand new novella series by JA Huss that will feature one book released every other Wednesday for twelve weeks.

Release dates are:

27th of August - #1 Follow
10th of September - #2 Like
24 of September - #3 Block
8th of October - #4 Status
22nd of October - #5 Profile
 5th of November - #6 Home
 

Cover Reveal of Like:
 

 Title: Like

Series: Social Media, #2

Author: JA Huss

 

Publication Date: 10th of September, 2014
Genres: adult, contemporary romance

 

Links:   Goodreads  |  Amazon (pre-order)

  Description:

 #WhatADick
 
Vaughn Asher. I’ve stalked him relentlessly. I shaped and formed my lust into the perfect dirty hashtag…day after day… weekend after weekend. He was my prince. My fairy tale. My fantasy. I gave him the best years of my online life and what did he do for me? Ruined my social media experience one tweet at a time. That’s what.

#Fantastic #BackToNatureFucking

#MissingSomething #You

And now #TheDickWhoIsVaughnAsher thinks he can weasel his way back into this filthy blue bird’s Twitter account? He’s wrong. His public fantasy is about to collide… ah, fuck it. He’s hot as hell, bitches. I need more than a free sample. This time I want it all and I’ll do whatever it takes to get it.

 

 

About The Author:

 

J. A. Huss likes to write new adult books that make you think and keep you guessing. Her favourite genre to read is space opera, but since practically no one reads those books, she writes new adult science fiction, paranormal romance, contemporary romance, urban fantasy, and books about Junco (who refuses to be saddled with a label).

She has an undergraduate degree in horses, (yes, really–Thank you, Colorado State University) and a master’s degree in forensic toxicology from the University of Florida. She used to have a job driving around Colorado doing pretty much nothing but shooting the breeze with farmers, but now she just writes, runs the New Adult Addiction and Clean Teen Reads Book Blogs, and runs an online science classroom for homeschoolers.

 

Author Links:

 

Facebook  |  Twitter |  Website  |  Goodreads 

Review: Darkness Falls

Darkness Falls (Reveler #1) by Erin Kellison

 

 

 

Description:

Agent Malcolm Rook hunts for people with the rarest of talents — the ability to master dreams. He finds the undeniably gifted Jordan Lane, but she’s wary of mysterious Rook and resists his pursuit as long as she can. When the dreamwaters they enter are too exhilarating to resist, their attraction explodes into passion. But delving too deep stirs a nightmare — one they must defeat together, or be forever lost to darkness.

My Thoughts:

This book was a really pleasant surprise. I picked it up by accident and I don't regret it one bit. It was just so much fun! Sure it was a little... raw? Is that the word? It was just that tad too unpolished, but it had an easy reading style and I flew threw it quickly.

The concept of it, singularly,  was brilliant. We had this entire new dream world to explore with demons, monsters, little boy ghosts and so much more. I loved the creativity. I've never read anything like it before which is always welcomed - a million times better than having to suffer through another clichéd-riddled paranormal romance!

The characters and romance were also very well written. It does have a small case of insta-lust though which is always a big no-no. The couple however were really sweet together. If the author had taken a little more time to develop their relationship it would have been spot on.

Altogether this was an easy story to breeze through with great characters, great romance and a great plotline. There isn't much more you can ask for. If you're into adult paranormal romances I would easily recommend you give this a go.

Note: a copy was provided courtesy of Erin Kellison and Aspendawn Books, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. No compensation was given or taken during this process.

3.5 stars

Review: The Hit

The Hit (The Unknown Assassin #1) by Allen Zadoff

 

Title: The Hit (originally Boy Nobody)

Series: The Unknown Assassin, #1

Author: Allen Zafoff

 

Published: Orchard Books; 2014

352 pages, kindle edition

 

Source: Netgalley

 
Rating: 3 stars
 

 Description (from Goodreads):

Boy Nobody is the perennial new kid in school, the one few notice and nobody thinks much about. He shows up in a new high school, in a new town, under a new name, makes few friends and doesn't stay long. Just long enough for someone in his new friend's family to die -- of "natural causes." Mission accomplished, Boy Nobody disappears, and moves on to the next target.

When his own parents died of not-so-natural causes at the age of eleven, Boy Nobody found himself under the control of The Program, a shadowy government organization that uses brainwashed kids as counter-espionage operatives. But somewhere, deep inside Boy Nobody, is somebody: the boy he once was, the boy who wants normal things (like a real home, his parents back), a boy who wants out. And he just might want those things badly enough to sabotage The Program's next mission.

My Thoughts:

The Hit was one of those books that I know I would have enjoyed a lot more if I had read this when I was younger and going through that "spy kids" phase. I was in love with Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Alex Rider, CHERUB... you know the sort of books where young kids investigate crimes, are into turned spy or secret assassin or something equally epic? Reading this now, however, wasn't much of a thrill - in fact it was awfully tedious, dull and a bore.

The plot started well. It almost reminded me of the television show Elementary because the main protagonist shares the amazing ability to interpret the most minor and subtle of body language just like Sherlock can. It was fascinating to see something as common as your every day school class dissected and interpreted. I never even thought of half of the things that "Benjamin" noticed and I found it quite fascinating.

The rest was a major let down.

The spy side of the plotline could have been better if the author had decided not to venture down the completely cliché path of having his assassin fall in (real) love for the first time and start to question everything he had been taught... blah, blah, blah. We have all seen that scenario played out before. The ending attempted to bring a shocking surprise to hide the clichés but it didn't work too well at all.

It also would've helped if I could of formed any sort attachment to the characters. I could understand why we didn't want to necessarily relate to "Benjamin" because he was supposed to be robotic and emotionless and all that. I didn't mind that so much as it kind of worked out well. The other characters however were awful. I didn't like any of them. They were all too cold, aloof and distant. How we supposed to form attachments to people like that?

This book could have been better and while I didn't hate it, it won't be something I will be picking up again. It had the potential but fell a little short so I will leave it at that.

Note: a copy was provided courtesy of Allen Zadoff and Hachette Children's Books, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. No compensation was given or taken during this process.

Waiting on Wednesday #4

This is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine where bloggers spotlight upcoming releases that they are eagerly anticipating.

 

The book I am most eager for this week is:-

 

The Death of Lila Jane

by Teresa Mummert:

I love the sound of this. It has a simple tone but a great underlying air of mystery. Cannot wait to get my hands on a copy.



 

Description :

 

Freshman year of high school is supposed to be a time to spread your wings; grow from a little girl into a young woman. That's what the adults say anyway. It just meant harder assignments and less time to figure out what college I wanted to get into in four years. I didn't need to add any stress to my life my parents did that for me. They fight constantly and no matter how hard I tried it was never good enough. This year would be different. This year I was going to shed the little girl Lila Jane and
become a woman if it killed me. 

 Be careful what you wish for.

 

Release date: 1st of December, 2015

 

Series: standalone at the moment

 

Publisher: unknown

 

Genres: new adult, contemporary

Review: Dorothy Must Die

Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die #1) by Danielle Paige

 

 

Description:

 

I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado—taking you with it—you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little blue birds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still the yellow brick road, though—but even that's crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy.

They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm—and I'm the other girl from Kansas.

I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.

I've been trained to fight.

And I have a mission.

My Thoughts:

 

Dorothy Must Die had one of the most exciting premises of all the new releases to come out this year, yet it failed to deliver what it promised. The description made me picture all your basic rebel-against-controlling-government scenes but with talking scarecrows and yellow brick roads and magical red shoes and all that jazz thrown in to take us for a spin. What this was actually about was a very dull girl named Amy Glumm who got tricked by "Wicked" witches into joining some sort of revolutionary Order. She wasn't given any choice but to fight for them and she didn't really strike me as the type of kickass rebellious leader the story really needed to make it work. Amy didn't have much personality besides getting really ticked off all the time. I never came to care for her and really wouldn't have minded if she hadn't succeeded in her "mission".

What I loved though was the vividly-described apocalyptic Oz Danielle Paige has created. It was very well done. I loved the new versions of the Lion and the Scarecrow and the Tin Man and the Wizard and... just everyone! It was wonderful to see a retelling that completely flipped the original book and yet managed to keep it all linked together. There were times that I got a little confused though. I didn't understand much about Ozama or what the Wizard was up to. Also, I didn't like how we never found out why Amy was "summoned" to Oz in the first place but I think that is left for us to discover in the sequels.

The main thing that let this down was the fact that it seemed to drag on and on and on... and on! I read about five chapters and was so bored that I practically cried when I saw that that had only moved me about 3% closer to finishing. Luckily it did end with a bang - its one of those books that leaves all the best drama and action to the last couple of chapters.

I will be picking up the sequels when they are released as I am definitely intrigued as to what will befall Oz now. Alliances have shifted and new allies have been introduced. I am curious to see how everything will pan out.
2.5 stars