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
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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
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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.