Keen Cover Friday: Kill Me Softly (Beau Rivage) by Sarah Cross

Hosted by Keep Booked

 

 

Kill Me Softly

by Sarah Cross

 

My pick for Keen Cover Friday this week is Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross, because I think the cover is really cool. I love the rose, half white, half red, and how the red float from the rose, and looks kind of like blood (I love roses in general, though, so maybe it's just because it's a rose). And I also think it's pretty cool with the thorns on the letters. It's pretty obvious, if you really look at the cover, which story it's based on.

 

Summary: Mirabelle's past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents' tragic deaths to her guardians' half-truths about why she can't return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined.

In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who's a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.

But fairy tales aren't pretty things, and they don't always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy tale curses of their own . . . brothers who share a dark secret. And she'll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns. (summary from Goodreads)



 

Thursday Quotables: City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1) by Cassandra Clare

Hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week.  Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

This week, I picked City of Bones as my Thursday Quotables, because I am currently re-reading it, and I'm falling in love with the characters all over again, so here are some of my favorite quotes (although not all of them, but if I were to put all my favorite quotes from CoB here, this post would never end):

 

I just love Simon's sarcasm!

 



Now to some more sarcasm, this time by lovely Clary.

After all that sarcasm, we need something really meaningful. This quote has me crying everytime. I just want to jump inside the book and hug Jace. Or kiss him. I just don't know how Cassandra Clare can come up with all these perfect quotes. It's part of what makes her series so great. Re-reading TMI will definitely be as good an experience as it was the two first times I read it.

So, what did you think of the quotes? Did you love them as much as I did, or did you have another favorite part in the book? Or did you have another Thursday Quotables? Comment your thoughts!

Review: Pushing the Limits (Pushing the Limits #1) by Katie McGarry

Title: Pushing the Limits
Author: Katie McGarry
My rating: ❤❤❤❤❤
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Release date: July 31st, 2012
Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Summary: After one horrible night that she can’t even remember, Echo Emerson goes from popular and dating jock Luke, to being gossiped about and hiding in the library at lunch. All she wants is for everything to go back to normal.

   Noah Hutchins is a classical ‘bad boy’; bad attendance, different girl every week, smokes pot. But he also has a secret, and he seems to understand Echo like no one else does.

   What happens when the two meet?

Swoon Worthy Saturday: Jace from The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

Hosted by Stay Bookish

 

*SPOILER ALERT: CONTAINS SPOILERS. DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU HAVE READ City of Glass*

 

My pick for Swoon Worthy Saturday this week is Jace Herondale from The Mortal Instruments.

 

About Jace:

• Throughout the series, he has four different last names; Wayland, Morgenstern, Herondale, Lightwood
• He hates ducks, cucumber, bergamot and Earl Gray tea
• He's lefthanded
• He plays piano
• He knows many languages; French, Latin, Italian, Rumanian
• His biological family is Stephan and Céline Herondale. His adoptive family is the Lightwoods (Robert and Maryse, Alec, Isabelle and Max)
• His parabatai is Alec Lightwood
• His haircolor is blond and his eyes are golden
• He's tall
• He's portrayed by Jamie Campbell Bower in City of Bones, and will be portrayed by Dominic Sherwood in the TV-show Shadowhunters, which premieres in 2016

Swoon Worthy Moments:

 

“And now I’m looking at you,” he said, “and you’re asking me if I still want you, as if I could stop loving you. As if I would want to give up the thing that makes me stronger than anything else ever has. I never dared give much of myself to anyone before – bits of myself to the Lightwoods, to Isabelle and Alec, but it took years to do it – but, Clary, since the first time I saw you, I have belonged to you completely. I still do. If you want me.” 

Am I the only one who had a mayor swoon moment? I have to say this; I love Herondales and their beautiful speeches. They're perfect.

“There is no pretending," Jace said with absolute clarity. "I love you, and I will love you until I die, and if there is life after that, I'll love you then.”  

*fangirling*. Oh my God. I wish there were guys like this in real life.

So, what did you think? Do you think Jace is Swoon Worthy, too, or do you have any other Swoon Worthy guy this week?



 

Review: Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss #1) by Stephanie Perkins

Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Rating: ❤❤❤❤❤
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Release date: December 1, 2010
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Summary: Anna has a happy life in Atlanta, with a loyal best friend, and she’s in love with her co-worker, who just recently started to return her feelings, so she isn’t thrilled when her father decides to send her to Paris for her last year in high school.

   She goes to Paris, and starts her last year in School of America, knowing only how to say ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’ in French.

   In Paris, she meets Meredith, Rashmi, Josh and they become friends. Not to mention Étienne St. Clair, who soon becomes her best friend. Anna’s year in Paris – “the City of Love” – might not be as boring as she thought…

My thoughts: I loved Anna and the French Kiss. It had it all; romance, heartbreak, friends, school drama, family. It was truly an emotional roller-coaster. I fell in love with Étienne with Anna. I cried with her. I laughed with her. It was a long time since a book woke that many emotions in me, which is what makes it so great; it made it impossible to put it away. I just had to know how it went for Anna and Étienne.

   The main character, Anna, was really relatable. All of the characters were. Anna is a really sweet girl. She loves her family above all, although she’s mad at her father for sending her to Paris and for leaving her and her brother, Sean, when they were small. She’s very caring, although she can seem a little egotistical sometimes, a little too caught up in her own problems to notice everyone else’s problems, but when she does notice them, she’s there for them and tries to come with advice. What I loved so much about Anna was that she knew that she wasn’t perfect and could admit when she made mistakes.

   Étienne was a very lovable character. Sure, he made mistakes, and it took a long time for him to grow some balls, but I can forgive him for that. He has some major family problems, with his father being an idiot, and he doesn’t really talk about him a lot. He takes on the task of showing Anna Paris, and he soon becomes her best friend. They have a lot of fun together.

   Bridgette and Toph are her friends from Atlanta. Bridgette, or Bridge, is Anna’s best friend in Atlanta, and is one of the reasons why Anna doesn’t want to go to Paris. Toph is her co-worker, friend, and maybe-something-more, and he’s also a big reason why she doesn’t want to leave Atlanta.

   Her new friends in Paris are Meredith, who is in love with Étienne, Josh, who is very artistic and dating Rashmi, who at first seems to hate Anna.

   I love Stephanie Perkins for not feeling the need to write about perfect characters that never make any mistakes, like some authors do, because it’s not realistic. No one is perfect, and just because a character isn’t perfect doesn’t mean the reader won’t like him/her. On the contrary, readers like when the characters have flaws and make mistakes (at least, I do), because it makes them more relatable.

   Another thing I really loved about this book was that the characters really grew throughout the book. I’m not going to make any examples, because I don’t want to spoil anything, but the characters learned from their mistakes. It took a while sometimes, but they did learn and grow. They didn’t excuse their behavior. They didn’t deny to doing anything wrong.

   I also loved the setting. I'm really love Paris, and dream of going there, and this book made me want to go there even more than I did before. It was really believable, and it almost felt as if I was there.

   So overall I'm really impressed with Stephanie Perkins. More often than not, I reas books that have either good plot, good characters or good setting. Anna had it all. 

   And the romance was truly magical. Sparks, butterflies, the lot, but it also showed the backside of being in love.

   And the cover is really cute.

   This book was très bien.

Keen Cover Friday: Evertrue (Everneath #3) by Brodi Ashton

Hosted be Keep Booked

Evertrue

by Brodi Ashton

My pick for Keen Cover Friday is Evertrue by Brodi Ashton, because that dress is really cool, and I love how it is mixed with the smoke, it makes a really cool effect. I loved all the covers in this series, but this was definitely my favorite. 

Summary: Now that Nikki has rescued Jack, all she wants is to be with him and graduate high school. But Cole tricked Nikki into feeding off him, and she's begun the process of turning into an Everliving herself... which means she must feed on a Forfeit soon - or die. 

Terrified for her survival, Nikki and Jack begin a desperate attempt to reverse the effect using any means possible. Even Cole, who they expected to fight them at every turn, has become an unlikely ally - but how long can it last? Nikki needs to feed on Cole to survive, Cole needs Nikki to gain the throne in the Everneath, Jack needs Nikki because she is everything to him - and together, they must travel back to the Underworld to undo Nikki's fate and make her mortal once more. But Cole isn't the only one with plans for Nikki: the Queen has not forgotten Nikki's treachury, and she wants her destroyed for good. Will Nikki be forced to spend eternity in the Underworld, or does she have what it takes to bring down the Everneath once and for all. 

In this stunning conclusion to the Everneath trilogy, Brodi Ashton evokes the resiliency of the human spirit and the indomitable power of true love. (Summary from Goodreads)

Swoon Worthy Saturday: Adrian from Vampire Academy & Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

Hosted by Stay Bookish

 

My pick for Swoon Worthy Saturday this week is Adrian Ivashkov from Vampire Academy and Bloodlines written by Richelle Mead.

 

About Adrian:

• He's a royal Moroi, and uses the rare type of magic called Spirit
• He has deep emerald green eyes, dark chestnut brown, messsy hair
• He's 22 years old
• His parents are Daniella and Nathan
• He's brave, selfless, openminded, always ready to help people, even at the cost of himself, intelligent, arrogant, cocky, rebellious, and sarcastic
• He drinks and smokes to handle the aftermath of Spirit
• Adrian had low self-esteem, and Believe that he is a failure, like everyone expects him to be

Swoon Worthy Moments:

“My God, Sage. Your eyes. How have I never noticed them?"

That uncomfortable feeling was spreading over me again. "What about them?"

"The color," he breathed. "When you stand in the light. They're amazing... like molten gold. I could paint those..." He reached toward me but then pulled back. "They're beautiful. You're beautiful.”  

 I'm not going to say anything to spoil the reading for you, but let's just say I did a lot of swooning.

“Thanks for looking out for her, Sage. You're okay. For a human." 

I almost laughed. "Thanks." 

"You can say it too, you know." 

I walked over to Latte and paused. "Say what?" 

"That I'm okay...for a vampire," he explained.  

I shook my head, still smiling. "You'll have a hard time getting any Alchemist to admit that. But I can say you're okay for an irreverent party boy with occasional moments of brilliance." 

"Brilliant? You think I'm brilliant?" He threw his hands skyward. "You hear that, world? Sage says I'm brilliant.”

And my last Swoon Worthy moment with Adrian is from VA.

"Don't worry, Little Dhampir. You might be surrounded by clouds, but you'll always be like sunshine to me." 

So, what did you think of the quotes? Did they make you swoon as much as they made me swoon?

Keen Cover Friday: Sweet Evil (The Sweet Trilogy #1) by Wendy Higgins

Hosted by Keep Booked

My pick for Keen Cover Friday this week is...

Sweet Evil

by Wendy Higgins

 

I love her dress! And it has a mysterious feel to it, which definitely draws me in. The trees and the fog... it a recipe for a perfect YA cover. I hope that whoever designed this cover, will design my furute book covers, because this is just perfection.

 

Summary: Embrace the Forbidden

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?

This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.
Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but it isn't until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He's the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns? 

Waiting on Wednesday: Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4) by Marissa Meyer

Hosted by Breaking the Spine

 

Waiting on Wednesday is where bookworms share books on their TBR lists (which is, by the way, definitely overflowing, am I right?).

 

My pick for Waiting on Wednesday this week is...

 



Winter

by Marissa Meyer

 

Winter! The fourth and last book in The Lunar Chronicles, because I can't wait to find out what happens to everyone! Meyer had me caught at the first page of Cinder, the first book, and the others didn't disappoint me. I'm really excited to see what she does with Snow White.
  
So far, my favorite in the series was Cinder,  because, let's be honest here, that is a very hard debut to beat.
  
And let's not forget the cover. It's simple, yet beautiful. And am I the only one, or does that apple look like it's made of glass?

Summary:
Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend–the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters? (summary from Goodreads)

I really do hope they all get their happily ever afters!

So, what do you think? Do you look forward to Winter?

Review: Stay With Me (Wait For You #3) by J. Lynn

Title: Stay With Me
Author: J. Lynn
My rating: ❤❤❤❤
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Release date: September 23, 2014
Genre: New Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Summary: At 21, Calla hasn’t done a lot of things. She’s never been kissed, never seen the ocean, never gone to an amusement park. But growing up, she witnessed some things no child ever should. She still carries the physical and emotional scars of living with a strung-out mother, Mona—secrets she keeps from everyone, including her close circle of college friends.

But the safe cocoon Calla has carefully built is shattered when she discovers her mom has stolen her college money and run up a huge credit card debt in her name. Now, Calla has to go back to the small town she thought she'd left behind and clean up her mom’s mess again. Of course, when she arrives at her mother’s bar, Mona is nowhere to be found. Instead, six feet of hotness named Jackson James is pouring drinks and keeping the place humming.

Sexy and intense, Jax is in Calla’s business from the moment they meet, giving her a job and helping her search for Mona. And the way he looks at her makes it clear he wants to get horizontal . . . and maybe something more. Before Calla can let him get close, though, she’s got to deal with the pain of the past—and some very bad guys out to mess her up if she doesn’t give them her mom. (summary from Goodreads)

Teaser Tuesday: Stay With Me by J. Lynn

by MizB @ Should Be Reading

 

Teaser Tuesday is where you share teasers from your current read.

Stay With Me

by J. Lynn

 

My pick for this week is Stay With Me. Usually, I read Young Adult books, but since I love Jennifer L. Armentrout (J. Lynn), I had to give this series a try. And I didn’t regret it! Sure, I had to skip some parts (some very sexy parts, may I add), but apart from that, I’ve loved every second of reading it so far, and I’m really looking forward to Fall With Me.

Here are my teasers:

“He read? Oh my God, guys that read were like unicorns. They only existed in fairy tales.”

Because, seriously. It’s true. It’s sad, but true. At least from my experience.

“Stick with me, babe, and I'll change your life.”

So, what did you think about the teasers? Will you add it to you TBR?

Swoon Worthy Saturday: Roth from The Dark Elements by Jennifer L. Armentrout

by Stay Bookish

 

My pick for Swoon Worthy Saturday this week is Roth, aka Astaroth, Crown Prince of Hell, from The Dark Elements written by Jennifer L. Armentrout.

 

About Roth:

 

• 18 years old
• Over 6 feet tall
• Physical appearance: ark hair the color of obsidian that curls over his forhead and just below his ears, broad cheekbones, arched eyebrows over golden eyes with thick lashes and pupils that are vertical slits when he first wakes up, bottom lip fuller than his top lip, long fingers, deep voice, tattoos (the snake Bambi, who moves on his body, 4 lines in another language on the side of his body, circular tattoo on his right pec, the dragon Thumper on his stomach, with the tail below Roth's pants, the three kittens Nitro, Thor and Fury, who are white, black and black and white).
• Has a pierced tounge, among other things
• Smells sweet, musky, sugary wine, chocolate, wild
• His true form: polished onyx skin thinnedover bone, pupils stretched vertically and irises red-sometimes golden. Skin hardens, tips of dark wings have horns curved and sharpened to points, wings are 10 feet on each side, no horns.
• He has no soul, knows when someone is going to Hell, can smell human emotions, can become invisible and make others invisible by holding their hand, persuasive, and his touch causes demons to catch on fire.
• He drives a silver Porsche, likes muffins, reads Tales of Poe, gardens on the roof top, hums Paradise City.

 

Swoon Worthy moments:

 

"Free will, huh? Damn. It is a bitch." And then he smiled - he smiled - at me, a real smile, revealing those deep dimples. "I lost myself the moment I found you.”

Who doesn't swoon when reading that? That's just perfect.

"You've never been kissed before, have you?" 

"That's so not your business." I folded my arms as Roth waited for an answer. "I think it's obvious. I can't kiss anyone. You know, the whole soul-sucking thing makes it difficult." 

"Not if you're kissing someone who doesn't have a soul." 

I made a face. "And why would I kiss someone who doesn't-" 

He moved unbelievably fast. I didn't even have a chance to react. One second he was standing a good three feet away from me and the next his hands were gently clasping my cheeks. There was an instant when I wondered how something so strong and deadly could hold anything so carefully, but then he titled my head back and lowered his own."

If this doesn't have you swooning all over the place, I don't know what will.

Keen Cover Friday: The Heir by Kiera Cass

Hosted by Keep Booked

 

The Heir

by Kiera Cass

My pick for Keen Cover Friday is The Heir, by Kiera Cass, because, look at that cover. I just love that dress! And I really like the design. I don't know, but this cover speaks to me. The other dresses on the other covers were really great, too, of course, but this one was definitely my favorite so far. That dress is to-die-for.

Summary: Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won Prince Maxon’s heart. Now the time has come for Princess Eadlyn to hold a Selection of her own. Eadlyn doesn’t expect her Selection to be anything like her parents’ fairy-tale love story. But as the competition begins, she may discover that finding her own happily ever after isn’t as impossible as she always thought. (summary from Goodreads)

Release date: May 5th 2015

Review: Days of Blood and Starlight (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2) by Laini Taylor

Title: Days of Blood and Starlight
Author: Laini Taylor
My rating: ❤❤❤❤❤
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Yound Readers
Release date: November 6, 2012
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal
Summary: Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.


In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.

While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.

But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream? (summary from Goodreads)