Waiting on Wednesday #3

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 FOR THIS WEEK:

Title: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Author: April Genevieve Tucholke
Publisher: Dial
Release Date: August 15th, 2013
Series: Between #1

Synopsis via Goodreads

You stop fearing the devil when you’re holding his hand…

Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town…until River West comes along. River rents the guesthouse behind Violet’s crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more? Violet’s grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery...who makes you want to kiss back. Violet’s already so knee-deep in love, she can’t see straight. And that’s just how River likes it.

WHY I'M WAITING: 

I've had my eye on this book for a while now. I'm not usually into Gothic atmospheres when I read, but the synopsis intrigued me so much that I just had to add this to my to-read list. The synopsis kind of reminds me of Abbi Gline's Existence Trilogy, except maybe a little more dark.

Plus, that cover! Wow. It's usually the cover first and then the summary that hooks me in, and this book was no different. Since I've been hearing mixed reviews on this one I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high, but Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea will definitely be on my radar until its release date.

Teaser Tuesdays #3

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. To play along with Teaser Tuesdays, you just need to: 

• Grab your current read.
• Open to a random page.
• Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
• Be careful not to include spoilers! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author too so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers. 

This week's teaser comes from Kelley Armstrong's The Gathering. Weirdly enough, Kelley Armstrong hadn't been on my radar prior to about three weeks ago. Her name had been slightly familiar if I heard someone talk about it, but I had no idea what she'd written or that she'd apparently been wildly popular from her Darkest Powers series. Which I've yet to read, but it's sitting cozy on my want-to-read pile. Anywho, here's the teaser:

Teaser :

" 'I don't think anyone put anything in your drink. I think you faked it.' "

 Synopsis via Goodreads

Sixteen-year-old Maya is just an ordinary teen in an ordinary town. Sure, she doesn't know much about her background - the only thing she really has to cling to is an odd paw-print birthmark on her hip - but she never really put much thought into who her parents were or how she ended up with her adopted parents in this tiny medical-research community on Vancouver Island.

Until now.

Strange things have been happening in this claustrophobic town - from the mountain lions that have been approaching Maya to her best friend's hidden talent for "feeling" out people and situations, to the sexy new bad boy who makes Maya feel . . . . different. Combine that with a few unexplained deaths and a mystery involving Maya's biological parents and it's easy to suspect that this town might have more than its share of skeletons in its closet.

 

Waiting On Wednesday #2

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 FOR THIS WEEK:

Title: Origin
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Harlequin HQN
Release Date: August 27th, 2013
Series: Lux #4

Synopsis via Goodreads

Daemon will do anything to get Katy back.

After the successful but disastrous raid on Mount Weather, he’s facing the impossible. Katy is gone. Taken. Everything becomes about finding her. Taking out anyone who stands in his way? Done. Burning down the whole world to save her? Gladly. Exposing his alien race to the world? With pleasure.

All Katy can do is survive.

Surrounded by enemies, the only way she can come out of this is to adapt. After all, there are sides of Daedalus that don’t seem entirely crazy, but the group’s goals are frightening and the truths they speak even more disturbing. Who are the real bad guys? Daedalus? Mankind? Or the Luxen?

Together, they can face anything.

But the most dangerous foe has been there all along, and when the truths are exposed and the lies come crumbling down, which side will Daemon and Katy be standing on?

And will they even be together?

WHY I'M WAITING: 

With that cliffhanger ending JLA left us with in Opal, there's no way I'd miss this. Plus, since this is one of my favorite series' of all time, to be doing anything less than vibrating in my seat with excitement is unnaceptable. August 27th cannot come fast enough!

Teaser Tuesdays #2

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. To play along with Teaser Tuesdays, you just need to: 

• Grab your current read.
• Open to a random page.
• Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
• Be careful not to include spoilers! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author too so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers. 

This week's teaser comes from Melissa Marr's Carnival of Souls. I've been putting this book off forever but I'm so glad I finally started it! So far, it has everything I look for in a first book of a series. Strong female leads. A hint of romance. And nonstop action from the first page.

Teaser :

" 'Do you kiss everyone that way? Or did that feel like...magic?' "

 Synopsis via Goodreads

In a city of daimons, rigid class lines separate the powerful from the power-hungry. And at the heart of The City is the Carnival of Souls, where both murder and pleasure are offered up for sale. Once in a generation, the carnival hosts a deadly competition that allows every daimon a chance to join the ruling elite. Without the competition, Aya and Kaleb would both face bleak futures—if for different reasons. For each of them, fighting to the death is the only way to try to live.

All Mallory knows of The City is that her father—and every other witch there—fled it for a life in exile in the human world. Instead of a typical teenage life full of friends and maybe even a little romance, Mallory scans quiet streets for threats, hides herself away, and trains to be lethal. She knows it's only a matter of time until a daimon finds her and her father, so she readies herself for the inevitable.While Mallory possesses little knowledge of The City, every inhabitant of The City knows of her. There are plans for Mallory, and soon she, too, will be drawn into the decadence and danger that is the Carnival of Souls.

 

Review - Elite - Rachel van Dyken

Title: Elite
Author: Rachel van Dyken
Publisher: Forever (Grand Central Publishing)
Release Date: July 9th, 2013
Series: Eagle Elite #1
Add to Goodreads | Purchase

Synopsis via Goodreads

For Tracey Rooks, life with her grandparents on a Wyoming farm has always been simple. But after her grandmother's death, Tracey is all her grandfather has. So when Eagle Elite University announces its annual scholarship lottery, Tracey jumps at the opportunity to secure their future and enters. She isn't expecting much-but then she wins. And life as she knows it will never be same . . .

The students at Eagle Elite are unlike any she's ever met . . . and they refuse to make things easy for her. There's Nixon, gorgeous, irresistible, and leader of a group that everyone fears: The Elect. Their rules are simple.

1. Do not touch The Elect.

2. Do not look at The Elect.

3. Do not speak to The Elect.

No matter how hard she tries to stay away, The Elect are always around her and it isn't long until she finds out the reason why they keep their friends close and their enemies even closer. She just didn't realize she was the enemy -- until it was too late.

My rating:

So I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that I hated this book at chapter one. I hated it so much it almost ended up in my don't-ever-read pile. The protagonist, Trace, seemed spineless and naive--characteristics that are annoying in their own right but unbearable paired together. By the tenth time I'd rolled my eyes I thought I'd save myself the pain of reading it and move on.

And I am SO GLAD I convinced myself not to.

Seriously. 4.5 fantastic freaking stars to the fresh, original and dangerously intriguing first installment of Rachel van Dyken's (whom I now tip my invisible but stylishly feathered hat to) Elect Series.

So now that I got the bad news out of the way, the good news is that I loved this book. It may've had its faults and I'll get to those later, but I loved it.

It starts out with Tracey "Trace" Rooks coming to her new school and immediately being introduced to the rules by a very rude and astoundingly attractive group of boys. Now, initially I thought I was in for something paranormal. Mysterious school. Mysterious guys. Mysterious rules. Eventually, I learned that paranormalcy wasn't the case. Nope. It was just a small group of people called the "Elect" (which seemed to be synonymous with "pretentious, self-entitled, self-centered dickheads") that ruled the school. Or, to be specific, it was Nixon, their leader and Trace's love interest that ruled the school. And when I say "ruled the school", I mean it. He, an alleged student, got to control when and what people got to eat for crying out loud.

Remember how I called Trace spineless and naive? Yeah, not so much. She didn't take kindly to their rules and she suffered the consequences. This book took "hazing" to the next level. Aside from that, though, I really liked Trace. Well, after I got over my initial hatred. When she wasn't a crying mess from all the crap she took from the other students, she was intelligent and witty. I admired her for sticking through the hazing and for her determination to create a better life for herself and her grandfather.

And then we have Nixon, with whom I had mixed feelings about. I hated him in the beginning, too. Calling him an asshole would've been much, much too mild. He humiliated Trace constantly, and then claimed it was to protect her. (Which turned out to be true in the end, but when I didn't know that, I despised him.) He had this air of infallible arrogance about him. Maybe the arrogance was justified by his unquantifiable amount of wealth and power over EVERYTHING EVER but it was still aggravating. By the time he and Trace began their Romeo & Juliet-esque love affair, he'd redeemed himself a bit, but he was still a jerk.

Imagine my surprise when their romance ended up being my favorite part. Once Nixon stopped being a douche and we learn the real reason he was being a douche, it was easy to accept. With the end's "big reveal" also came the big reveal for Trace and Nixon. Their relationship was all kinds of endearing.

His breathing turned shallow. He closed his eyes and mumbled, "It was always supposed to be like this. Always."

They had swoon-worthy moments as well as steamy moments, and I soon found myself rooting for them. I'm a sucker for old, forbidden love, what can I say?

The thing is: I spent the majority of this book confused. If you don't like being confused, I don't recommend this book. Actually, I take that back because the big reveal is well worth it. Trace's world becomes utter chaos, and I loved the unraveling of her past and how Nixon and the Elect and her family tied into it.

The only problems I had with this book were the following:

1) They were supposed to be in college, but the atmosphere and the dynamic screamed high school. I had a hard time swallowing it.

2) The pacing was too fast. Things happened back to back to back and there wasn't a period where I could rest and think about all the things that were happening to Trace. I just wished R.v.D. had just slowed it down a bit.

3) The potential for a love triangle in the next book. I'm all for Team Nixon at this point, but I don't want there to be a love triangle at all. The sad part is, I'm 100% there will be one with the feelings (rapid feelings, at that) Trace developed for...someone who isn't Nixon.

Other than that, Elite provided just enough originality and arresting drama to keep me hastily turning the pages (or pressing the screen, since I read this on my Nook.) Bravo R.v.D. for turning this heavily sarcastic skeptic (that's me) into a fully-fledged fan and keeping me entertained when I was trying to escape from the heavy boredom of summer homework assignments.

 **ARC courtesy of Forever (Grand Central Publishing) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

Stacking the Shelves #1

Stacking the Shelves is a  weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews where we share books we're adding to our shelves, be they physical or e-copies.

BOUGHT/BORROWED

Days of Blood & Starlight - Laini Taylor

Left Drowning - Jessica Park

Truly Madly Deadly - Hannah Jayne

Defiance - C.J. Redwine

VIA NETGALLEY

The Edge of Never - J.A. Redmerski

Elite - Rachel van Dyken

Oh, I don't know where to start! They're all so pretty-looking! I think I MIGHT go with Days of Blood & Starlight just because I want to take a pause on all the New Adult I've been reading lately. And then maybe I'll swoop in on Elite.

Review - Frigid - By: J. Lynn

Title: Frigid
Author: J. Lynn
Publisher: Spencer Hill Contemporary
Release Date: July 15th, 2013
Series: Frigid #1
Add to Goodreads | Purchase

Synopsis via Goodreads

For twenty-one-year-old Sydney, being in love with Kyler isn't anything new. They'd been best friends ever since he pushed her down on the playground and she made him eat a mud pie. Somewhere over the years, she fell for him and fell hard. The big problem with that? Kyler puts the 'man' in man-whore. He's never stayed with a girl longer than a few nights, and with it being their last year in college, Syd doesn't want to risk their friendship by declaring her love.

Kyler has always put Syd on a pedestal that was too high for him to reach. To him, she's perfect and she's everything. But the feelings he has for her, he's always hidden away or focused on any other female. After all, Kyler will always be the poor boy from the wrong side of tracks, and Syd will always be the one girl he can never have.

But when they're stranded together at a posh ski resort due to a massive Nor'easter, there's nothing stopping their red-hot feelings for each other from coming to the surface. Can their friendship survive the attraction? Better yet, can they survive at all? Because as the snow falls, someone is stalking them, and this ski trip may be a life-changer in more ways than one.

My rating:

J. Lynn's Frigid was just the pick-me-up I needed after having just put two books at DNF about halfway through each. I've yet to read a story by this woman that I didn't love, and I can't say that about any of my other favorite authors, which is why J. Lynn (otherwise known as Jennifer L. Armentrout) ranks #1 on my "omg-why-can't-I-write-like-you" list of both contemporary & paranormal fiction authors. With Frigid she delivered like she always does. It was a quick and light read, yet still contained the deeply emotional undertones infused with the dry, witty humor that I've come to expect from J.L.

The novel's concept itself was enough to keep me interested. Two best friends both in love with the other but afraid to ruin their friendship. From the start, I sensed I was in for a gritty, relatable story with characters I'd sympathize with and a relationship I'd root for. And by the end, that's what I got. BUT there was a bit of frustration on my end that I had to endure before I could easily accept their HEA.

So, the book is told in dual first-person P.O.V. with the main characters being Sydney "Syd" Bell and Kyler Quinn. (Love that name, btw. Reminds me of Sleeping With Siren's lead singer Kellin Quinn.)

*insert dreamy sigh*

Now, where was I?

Oh, right. So Syd seemed sympathetic enough in the beginning, with her unrequited love for her best friend and all. She'd apparently been in love with him since he pushed her down in the playground when they were little. (My cliche detector bristled a bit at that, but it's J.L. so I looked over it.) As for Kyler. He'd always seemed to be yucking it up (or fucking it up, if you're not into sugar coating things) in a sea of endless women and booze since high school. (Which brings to mind other man-whore males in the genre, but that's a different story. Story in question? Namely: Thoughtless By: S.C. Stephens.)

All right, I'm done being sidetracked. Promise.

So, I have to admit, I was a little confused with their dynamic at first. I thought Syd simply had repressed feelings for her clueless best friend. And I thought the same for Kyler. Emphasis on REPRESSED & CLUELESS. Yet, within the first few chapters, they were both getting grabby. I had to stop myself and think: "Huh? I thought they weren't being open about their mutual lust. So why are they suddenly getting so touchy feely?" It all just seemed a little unfounded. Like, there'd been nothing leading up to it and them BAM! They're playing grab-ass (metaphorically--sort of) while I was still stuck on the part where they were just friends. But as the story progressed and I had the opportunity to really delve into their emotions, my confusion vanished so everything was cool by the end.

Most of their conflict consisted of these two young-and-restlessly-horny hard-heads confronting their love for each other. That's it. Simple, right? Uh, no. Like I said--hard-heads. Syd had to get over the insecurities of her past as well as her present insecurities over all the girls Kyler had "dated". And by "dated" I mean "had done the horizontal tango with". Or, in less corny terms, slept with. Anyway, that was Syd's problem. Kyler's problem was that he needed to 1) keep it in his pants and 2) get over his notion that he wasn't good enough for Syd. But with all the horizontal tangoing going on with countless girls, I could see how he'd get that idea. Just sayin'.

As for the conflict outside of their relationship: when they get snowed into a cabin on a ski trip, they find out some psycho is out trying to sabotage their lives. Now, I don't know if the culprit was supposed to be a mystery or not, but they weren't. I knew exactly who it was the WHOLE TIME. I'm surprised the characters themselves didn't figure it out. I mean COME ON. All they had to do was think "hey, who have we pissed off in the last day or two?" and the answer would've been right there. Yet, for some reason, when the culprit was revealed, Syd was still shocked. I felt like the chick in the movie theater yelling at the screen with this one.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Frigid. Then again, I'd expect nothing less from J.L. Seriously, I doubt I'll ever live to see the day this woman writes a horrible book. It's just impossible. No pressure or anything, J.L.!!!

Favorite Quotes

Grabbing my suitcase, he grunted. "What did you pack in here? A legion of fat and angry babies?"

***

He got his foot in a groove and propelled himself up to the limb closest to my window. Wrapping his hands around it, he looked at me. His cheeks were rosy from the cold and his eyes glittered in the moonlight. "If I fall and break my neck, will you say something nice at my funeral? Like 'Kyler was usually more graceful?'"

Waiting on Wednesday #1

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 FOR THIS WEEK:

Title: The Darkest Craving
Author: Gena Showalter
Publisher: Harlequin HQN
Release Date: July 30th, 2013
Series: Lords of the Underworld #10

Synopsis via Goodreads

Having endured weeks of torture in the bowels of hell, Kane wants nothing to do with his beautiful rescuer, Josephina Aisling. The half-Fae female threatens to awaken the demon of Disaster inside him—a beast he’s determined to kill, no matter the price.

Josephina is hunted by a brutal enemy—her royal family—and Kane is her only source of protection. He’s also the only male to ever set her aflame, and even he succumbs to the heat. But as they navigate the treacherous world of the Fae, they are forced to make a choice: live apart…or die together.

WHY I'M WAITING: 

I've been a loyal fan of Gena Showalter's "Lords of the Underworld" series since the beginning. These books are the main reason why paranormal romance became my first favorite genre ever. ("First" because I'm beginning to lean towards NA, but that's a story for another time).

In a world of alpha male vampires and werewolves, GS switched things up with the incorporation of Greek mythology. And these alpha males are something else entirely. They're each demon-possessed warriors, and are on a quest to find Pandora's box at all costs. Except, things don't exactly go as planned (And do they ever, really?) when each warrior finds their mate, and their number one focus shifts to something like : 

To Do List

1) Protect mate at all costs.

2) Find Pandora's box. 

Being a part of a series filled with laughs, amazing characters, and tons of nonstop action, GS's next installation of her Lords of the Underworld's The Darkest Craving is a book I will be anxiously awaiting for the next....*glances at calendar longingly, hoping that the days fly by* thirteen days. 

Teaser Tuesdays #1

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. To play along with Teaser Tuesdays, you just need to: 

• Grab your current read.
• Open to a random page.
• Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
• Be careful not to include spoilers! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author too so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers. 

This week's teaser comes from Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys. I've only just started it, but I already enjoy the heroine, Blue. She seems to have her own mind and is mature in a believable YA sort of way. Since I'm early into the book, I can only hope she doesn't contract Bella Swan syndrome once she meets the hero. But without further ado, here's the teaser:

"He didn't have a phobia of the dark. A phobia meant that the fear was irrational, and Adam suspected there was plenty to be afraid of in Cabeswater after the sun had gone down."

 Synopsis via Goodreads

There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

 

Review - Fifth Grave Past the Light - By: Darynda Jones

Title: Fifth Grave Past the Light
Author: Darynda Jones
Publisher: Piatkus
Release Date: July 9th, 2013
Series: Charley Davidson #5
Add to Goodreads | Purchase

Synopsis via Goodreads

Charley Davidson may not look like your everyday, run-of-the-mill grim reaper, but she has vowed to reap grimness wherever she goes despite this unfortunate fact. Sadly, she gets sidetracked when the sexy, sultry son of Satan, Reyes Farrow, moves in next door. As he is the main suspect in her arson case, she has vowed to stay away from him until she can find out the truth.

However, when dead women start appearing in her apartment—lost, confused and terrified beyond reason—Charley has no choice but to ask for Reyes' help, especially when it becomes apparent that her own sister, Gemma, is the serial killer's next target. With his ability to observe incorporeally, surely he can find out who's responsible. And even if he can't, he is the one man alive who could protect Gemma no matter who or what came at her. But he wants something in return: Charley. All of her—body and soul. And to keep her sister safe, it is a price she might be willing to pay...

My rating:

Excuse me while I make myself whole again after that ending turned me into a swooning, fangirling mess. Reyes. Why aren't you real? Why aren't you mine? Oh, the injustice of it all...

Now that I got my required dose of melodrama out of the way, can I just begin by saying that Darynda Jones is a genius. The perfect writer. The woman responsible for my insomnia, since sleep became a foreign concept as soon as I got a copy of this wonderful masterpiece of a sequel. NO ONE does sequels like D.J. NO ONE.

I dived into the story like there'd never been a long, excruciating period of time between this book and the last. Coming back to Charley's never-ending wit was refreshing. Her eccentric personality shined through like it always does, no matter how dire the situation is. And in the true Charley Davidson fashion, there were tons of dire situations.

Like usual, D.J. keeps the action nonstop with just enough subplots to make Charley's life crazy. So much was going on, and I loved it. It kept the pacing tight, never allowing a dull moment to creep through. We had Reyes as Charley's neighbor, where naughty times ensued. We had a psycho serial killer, and a twist at the end with the killer that I did NOT see coming. We had random dead blond women appearing in Charley's home and crawling on ceilings. We had the mysterious arsonist (who wasn't so mysterious as I read on). And I'm probably missing more, but after reading that ending, my head is more than a little scrambled.

That ending, though. Abrupt. Mind-blowing. Heart-swelling. Freaking spectacular. I actually did a mental happy dance, with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. I can't say what happens, of course, but just know that unless you have something against Reyes and Charley's relationship, you will NOT be dissapointed. And since I was a fan of them deepening their romance from the beginning, I was near euphoric at the end.

If you're like me, you'd want to know about any advancements with Charley's mysterious powers. Aside from the usual seeing ghosts & having them pass through her, there's quite a bit of new stuff. She slows time occasionally when she's aware of imminent danger. She gets to see things from a different plane, finally getting a glimpse of Reyes's surrounding shadow everyone seems to be going on about. During one scene, she causes a mini-earthquake. There's more and I don't want to give it all away, but her powers really do seem as endless as Reyes said they would be.

Supporting characters are a vital part of enjoying a novel for me. And D.J. has every single one of them down pat. Uncle Bob. Cookie. Officer Taft. Kim Millar. Rocket & Blue Bell. Strawberry Shortcake. Quentin. Amber. Gemma. All the characters we know and love are at the forefront once more in this edgy yet hilarious installment.

But I'm biased, so all of my attention was on the enigma that is Reyes Farrow. He was charming and wicked and sexy and amusing. And since he stayed corporeal the whole time, his moments with Charley got steamy very quickly. Observe:

A huge smile spread across his face. "True enough, so what's eating you? Because, sadly, it's not me."

Way to almost give a girl a stroke over here, Reyes. There's also stuff like this:

"Hey, wait," I said, pulling back, "you are the son of Satan. Maybe we need a safe word."
His grin morphed into something wickedly charming. "Okay, how about, 'Oh my god, it's so big.'"

Oh, Reyes, you dirty man. If that didn't keep me awake more than anything, I don't know what did.

Review - Beautiful Disaster - By: Jamie McGuire

Title: Beautiful Disaster
Author: Jamie McGuire
Publisher: Jamie McGuire
Release Date: May 26th, 2011
Series: Beautiful #1
Add to Goodreads | Purchase

Synopsis via Goodreads

INTENSE. DANGEROUS. ADDICTIVE.

Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby wants—and needs—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

My rating:

Just so you know, this review is really 

long and kind of rant-y so read at your own risk.

I went into Beautiful Disaster thinking I was going to either hate it or love it. Looking at its many reviews, everyone seemed to rate it either 5 stars or 1 star (since zero wasn't an option). That said, from chapter one I was already rolling my eyes and snorting to myself when I thought: "You know what? I'll actually give it a try." So I cleared all of the my initial thoughts and got into the story. Now, let me start by saying that I didn't hate the book...I hated the relationship between the main characters, as well as some most of the decisions they made.

So, we have Abby & Travis aka the Wanna-Be-Good-Girl and the Incredible Hulk sans green skin. Oh, wait. Green stands for jealousy, right? Leave the green skin then, since Abby couldn't have sneezed in another guy's direction without Travis huffing and puffing and threatening to break someone's face.

If you haven't noticed by now, I HATE it when jealousy consumes a relationship. Hate it, I think there's no reason for you to feel like you need to beat anyone down for glancing at your partner. Yeah, we're all human, but guess what? There's this thing called self-control. Maybe they were glancing (and I'm talking to you, Travis) because it's freaking college and Abby's a decent looking girl. You ever think of that? Gawd, I spent the later half of the book wanting to throw my iPod (it was an audiobook) across the room because hey, I'm an impressionable teenager and since it's okay for Travis to wreck nice things, why can't I?

*takes deep breath* But I can't blame this ALL on Travis. It's Abby, too. Abby, as an individual, is pretty damn decent. She's in college, trying to forget her past, carve out a new life for herself and all that jazz. In the beginning, when she meets Travis after his fight, she resists him.

And, let me just say, I liked Travis in the beginning too. Tattoos, nice muscles, and he seemed to have a friendly, charming personality before he turned into a raging psychopath. But back to Abby...I thought she was a complete, unnecessary bitch after her meeting with Travis. She judged him immediately without knowing him as a person. That frustrated me relentlessly & was her first strike for me.

So after getting to know him a bit, they decide to be "friends". And why is friends in quotes, you ask? Because it was a bullshit excuse. Well into the book, when they were getting drunk and dirty dancing and cuddling in the same damn bed, Abby was still crying "we're still friends!" Really? Fucking REALLY? It got worse because after they've SLEPT TOGETHER, she had the gall to still date a different guy and spout the same bullshit line. WE'RE JUST FRIENDS. Were you, Abby? Because I can honestly say I've never done any of those things with any of my friends. The whole time I was just like open your fucking eyes.

That was the only point where I felt Travis's anger was well-deserved. At that point, he'd fallen in love with her and taken her signals as any guy would do only to have her date some other guy, all while telling them both "we're just friends." Shit, I'd probably lose my marbles too if some guy I loved was giving me the run-around (mind the phrase) like that. That was Abby's second strike.

The third and final strike was when she and Travis and her friends America and Shepley (Travis's cousin) go out, and two guys hit on Abby at separate occasions, yet on the same night. Travis goes ballistic, trying to pummel the guys each time, and on the second occurrence, hits the guy and ALMOST HITS ABBY!!!

Oh, hell no! Oh, HELL NO! I actually had to put my iPod down and think about this one. He almost PUNCHED HIS GIRLFRIEND IN THE FUCKING FACE. And all because he couldn't control himself. It was here where I was like "NO, Abby, you need to escape this relationship NOW!" I mean, there'd been SO MANY warning signs leading up to it. Travis telling her she made him psycho/crazy, telling her he'd never let her go, telling her that if she slept with someone else he'd go to jail. But HELL NO. This scene put things into perspective for me. Abby reacted accordingly, I give her props for that. She went off, saying she wouldn't be the first girl he ever hit. And for a moment, I thought their relationship was over. But nope! Eventually, what was an unforgivable almost-punch WAS forgivable after all by Abby's standards.

For that, I'd forsaken both Abby and Travis, leaving them to their not-so-beautiful-actually-abusive-are-you-stupid-oh-wait-of-course-you-are disaster of a relationship. (Yet somehow I still forced myself to read/listen to the whole thing.)

This review is already too long, so I'm just going to wrap it up with a few points. First, I give it three stars because, although the relationship disgusted me, the writing was great and easy to follow. The plot was gritty and realistic, as well as filled with captivating drama. It took me through emotional highs and lows, even though disbelief and anger and incredulity ruled over me as I read/listened.

Second, I actually LIKED the heroine as the story progressed, so her involvement with Travis made me more dissapointed than anything. Abby was likeable enough once I got over her initial judgmental tendencies. She seemed smart and straight-forward with a good head on her shoulders. She recognized her relationship with Travis for the obsession that it was. Except, she crossed out all of her good characteristics by choosing to be with him anyway.

And third, there was nothing "beautiful" about their relationship, its utterly misleading and promotes the idea that its OKAY to be treated this way by your overly aggressive, controlling but OMG-he-has-tattoos-and-is-so-irresistably-HAWT-I-KNOW-I-can-change-him boyfriend. (And that wasn't entirely Abby's P.O.V. after they fell in love, but that's still what I got out of it.) It's not okay.

All right. I'm done. I'm exhausted. And I hope I never have to go through that again because I've never wished for a relationship to end as much as I did with those two dysfunctional people.