Timeless: Is love strong enough to bridge the gap of time?

Timeless by Alexandra Monir is a beautiful romance novel that leaves you yearning for more. I found it captivating on a level I haven't felt for quite a while.  Michelle has to deal with the loss of her mother while moving in with grandparents she barely knows, rich grandparents. There are key facts missing about her past and things start to line up when she starts to travel to the pass, meeting her ancestors. All of this is a beautiful mystery until she meets a man with striking blue eyes that she's dreamed about all her life. When she falls in love time will tear them apart...

Each time they are pulled apart it's breathtakingly sad. You wonder just how long they can keep up this charade. This book is about love, and about being selfless about it. They have to let each other go, but can they? If they do... can the love they feel really bridge time? Every time they're ripped apart I feel like this..

This book will leave you breathless and it questions if love truly is timeless.

The Devouring: A Thrilling tale of Fear itself

The Devouring by Simon Holt is a chilling novel. I have to say I give it 4 out of 5 stars. It's good, but it doesn't quite explain everything I want it to. However, I do know I couldn't put it down, from both fear and anticipation. Reggie doesn't believe in the Vours she finds written about in a book, creatures that take over a person's body on the winter solstice, pushing their souls into a fearscape (a world made from their worst nightmares) until they can never return. However, when she reads a loud on Sorry Night (winter solstice) she starts to believe when one takes over her little brother, Henry. This book was terrifying and exhilarating

...
That is pretty much how I felt after reading this book. I don't like the dark, and these creatures are the very essence of why! Let me put it this way, this is what I found on the back of the book that made me read it:

“When dark creeps in and eats the light,
Bury your fears on Sorry Night.
For in the winter's blackest hours,
Comes the feasting of the Vours, 
No one can see it, the life they stole,
Your body's here but not your soul...” 
― Simon Holt, The Devouring

Needless to say, I pretty much read the book like this...just hoping our little Heroine wasn't too late...

Everneath: Deceit, Deception, and little plot line

Everneath by Brodi Ashton is a unique romance novel. I always love books dealing with the after life but have a hard time finding any that actually meet my expectations. I'd say this book gets a 3 out of 5. It's not that it's a bad book because I actually find it quite good, but it does have some things that really irk me. Nikki is a good character, but honestly she is a little shallow minded. I don't like pretty girls that can do nothing but stare at the camera.  So just...

for a girl that literally GOT HERSELF INTO THE SITUATION. I mean, she hung out with a guy she knew she shouldn't. Nikki is a big fan, so she (very predictably) falls for one of the band members even though they don't seem quite right. Problem is she already has a boyfriend. Though later it does mention that she was seriously physically attracted to him. You shouldn't hang out with a guy you're physically attracted to that seems off if you have a boyfriend especially. So, she comes back to the surface after he took her down to get the life force drained out of her in "the feed". She survived, a rare occurrence. Yet, her boyfriend races against time with her to try to find a way she can stay. One boy chases her, trying to get her to be immortal (the one that kidnapped her in the first place) as he falls in love with her, but instead of dealing with the mess she got herself into she pines for a life that she can't have putting everyone she loves in danger. 

Looking at the picture above, that is literally all she does to try to keep those she loves safe. Letting one get put in danger for her and letting the others go unknowingly into the line of fire. She puts in danger everyone and doesn't care! So this is yet another story where a girl puts her own desires above everyone elses, and tries to pretend that it's in the name of love. She also gets stuck between two men, when really only one is an option. Oh god, not again. 

Fifty Shades of Grey: A comedic romance

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James isn't the best book in the world. I'd honestly give it 2 out of 5 stars. It's funny, but it's nothing special. The BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism, masochism or slave and master) is soft core. It's not for someone who really gets their rocks off on something hard core. I swear that when this person was writing this their brain had to look like this...

The plot is sub-par, but it's funny. If that's not what he was going for I've no idea if the book was really good at all. There are some parts that are sexy. Don't get me wrong, if it's between consensual adults then BDSM play is perfectly acceptable, but Mr. Grey's attitude is more like ...

He didn't warm her into the lifestyle and expected her to live 24/7 in it. Our main characters are Christopher Grey and Anastasia Steele. He's an experienced, rich dominant and she's an inexperienced girl that stumbles into his hands. She finds this sexy but frightening. The plot line is extremely predictable. Her over use of inner goddess and ...

really put a damper on it all too. Not so sexy if you're imagining him. Well, at least he can turn spanking from this 

to this

Though I mostly think that's because of the sheer amount of verbal glitter he puts on BDSM entirely, and I can't say I really think that's sexy or hot. 

Unwind: A tear jerking tale with morals to spare

Unwind by Neal Shusterman was a book that brought tears to my eyes. I'd give this book five stars and a lot of used tissues, as I had to keep them on hand. I knew this book would be dark when I started it, but I didn't know how dark it was and how much it's concepts would hit close to home. It shook me up. The morals found in this book are amazing. Compassion seems to be the underlying theme.

When Pro-Life and Pro-Choice have it out, this is our future. With a bill that allows retro-active abortions. It says that all life is sacred until the age of 13 when they can be retro-actively "unwound". This sounded bad to me at first but when I found out what it really meant... I felt like this...

They take the child and cut them into pieces, while keeping them alive. The child's parts are then used in others (such as if someone has lost a finger or needs a new heart). This was gruesome. This story follows three AWOL unwinds and how they try to find compassion in a world that seems to no longer have any.

Though the world here is crumbling into the fringes of human emotion, it's still captivating. The author really shows us just how much turning our heads from those that are in need can hollow us out, and leave the world empty and cold. There are characters in this book to whom all I'd want to say is ..

Follow Connor as his parents give him up to be unwound *cough* chop shop *cough* because he's too much to handle, Risa as she's scheduled for an unwinding because she's a ward of the state and it's budget cut time, and Lev being given up for his religion, as they try to escape their unfair fate. Along the way you might just learn a little bit more about yourself. I know I did. 

The Selection: A Romantic Drama

The Selection by Kiera Cass is a compelling novel about doing what is both good for your heart and for your family. I really enjoyed this book. America Singer, our main character, struggles to be the girl everyone wants her to be. America has fallen into ruin, and that's what our main character is named after. There is now a caste system in the country, and America is in a lower class but falls in love with someone who is even lower than her. Her marriage to him would be unacceptable. The selection is where girls can rise above their caste and become the queen of the kingdom, by marrying the prince, thereby becoming a princess. They're picked from a random lottery and even though it tears her to go, she'll do so when she is picked to receive the weekly money for her family. Soon, a heart felt breakup between her and her love follow, because Aspen (of a much lower class) does not wish to hold her back. 

She's then told that whatever the prince wants... it'd be wise to give it to him. Here, girls have to be virgins or it's punishable by death. Well, when the prince is being completely innocent she freaks out and basically does this... 

So, maybe our hero isn't going to be the perfect princess. She looks just about as funny as this when she tries...even requesting pants...

However, this character is someone most girls will be able to RELATE TO. I think that's the most important part about this book. The character doesn't just fall for one thing. She's not the smartest, she's not the prettiest, she's not the most popular. However, she has a shot to be a princess, and yet she doesn't do it at first. She's naive and wants love. Love that turns out to be so much more difficult than she ever imagined. America must discover the secrets of her own heart as well as the secrets of her country. There's so much more going on here than romance. When it becomes clear, her head getting straight, then the author will spin it around on you.

This isn't my favorite book, but it's a good one, and when the author left me with a cliffhanger for book two I felt like this:

Gorgeous: Confidence, Intrigue & Comedy

Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick is a comedic experience you don't want to miss! You'll either be laughing or crying the entire time. I absolutely loved this book. The dialogue was it's biggest asset, but what else could we expect from a play writer? Becky Randle is a very nerdy girl. She's from a trailer park and her mother weighs over 400 pounds. Though it starts out with her mother's death it was done with such a comedic tone it took an edge off of the sorrow without downplaying it. As her last clues Becky gets a phone number from her mom after making a mysterious promise to say yes to the magic when it comes. Tom Kelley, one very handsome and very famous designer, decides he's going to turn geeky becky from this:

....to this... 

In Tom Kelley's words she'll become "the most beautiful girl in the world". Though this isn't some shallow book. Our dear Becky turns into Rebecca, but Tom is going to make her learn what love is by having her go after the Prince of Wales. Becky will struggle like most of us do, with love, with death, and with living a life where you're just confident in who you are.

This is definitely a book I recommend. I think most girls should read because it teaches both valuable life lessons without making us look too deeply into ourselves at one time. The reflection comes with each chapter, and for me the realization of what i learned didn't come until the end.