Little Update: Reviewing Slump

Hello everyone! Sorry for the quite long absence from the blog so I thought I'd come on here and talk a bit. Let's start off with the good news and that is BOOKCON 2015 is coming up this Saturday and I'm super duper excited. Let me know in the comments below if you plan on attending!

Now on a bit of a more down part I've been experiencing a pretty big reviewing slump. For the months of March and April I was on fire keeping up with reviews but with May everything's been slowing down. I have a ton of deadlines in the beginning of June regarding series that need to be read and reviewed so that's where my focus has been. I've also completely botched my deadlines regarding two Entangled Crush releases last week, one of which I'm still working on reading. So if any chance Entangled that you're reading this I'm so sorry and will try to have my reviews up ASAP!

I have a couple reviews formatted but they're lacking the middle review part. For some reason I keep opening the links and I can't get myself to sit down and type something. Even this post has been taking me a while which is starting to worry me. I'm going to attribute it all to stress with APs during the beginning of May and all the final projects whose deadlines are approaching way faster than I'd like. Anyway I just thought I'd do a little update with what's going on and hopefully I can get a review up sometime this week if I can clear my head from school.

So the big question of the day is what are some of your ways to get out of reviewing slumps? Please leave your thoughts down below. When I get out of this slump and start blogging at a more consistent speed again I want to make a little list of tips. :)

Foreverly Obsessed,

TOUR STOP: Come, the Dark

Come, the Dark by Rebecca Hamilton

ASIN: B00P54AKPG

Pages: 361

Publication Date: January 6 2015

Source: Xpresso Book Tours

Appearance:

Summary:

TRIGGER WARNING: This book deals with the sensitive subject of sexual abuse. 
Rose desperately wants to escape the abuse of the father who impregnated her and the dark spirits that haunt her life. Being thrust from Georgia 1961 into the era of Salem’s infamous witch trials isn’t what she had in mind, and now her daughter is left hopelessly out of reach. 
The only way to return to her daughter is by facing certain death to banish the dark spirits that plague Salem. If she doesn’t eliminate these dark spirits in time, they will destroy civilization and trap her in this strange new place, ages away from her daughter. 
Even if she can complete the task in time to return home to save her daughter, there’s still one problem: she’s falling in love with a man who can’t return with her. Achieving her goals will force her to choose between the only man who has never betrayed her and a daughter she can’t quite remember but will never forget. 
A heart-wrenching tale of a mother’s love for her daughter, this romantic paranormal fantasy underlines the depravity of both historical and modern society while capturing the essence of sacrifice and devotion.

Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog for the Come, the Dark by Rebecca Hamilton. This is the second book in the Forever Girl series but as far as I can tell you can read it as a standalone as everything is explained to the reader in the beginning. As always, be sure to click the tour banner up above to check out all the other tour stops! 

Rose is pregnant with her father's child and she counting the days till her daughter's birth so that she can escape with her child and build a new life away from her father's control. The day her daughter is born is on the best days of her life but quickly followed by tragedy when her father takes her away. Rose tries to follow and finds herself in Salem, Massachusetts at the beginning of the Witch Trials. In a desperate attempt to get back to her daughter, Rose now known as Cordovae by the Ankou and Abigail by the Salem people agrees to join the Elemental War to prevent the incoming dangers of the Mort spirits who plan on taking over the world.

This book was all sorts of crazy in the best way possible. I didn't read the first book but now I really want to because honestly this world is so intricate and well built. As I didn't have any background context when beginning the book, I spent the first fifty or so pages utterly confused because I had no clue what was going on. However that confusion soon melted away and I became enraptured by Rebecca Hamilton's beautiful writing. As the trigger warning states, there are some dark topics in this book and the author doesn't take the easy way out - you're confronted with the stark truth from the start. The world of the Elementals is cool beyond words and while a bit confusing at first reveals itself to be such a complex world that is so well thought out and executed.

Rose is probably the epitome of struggles for lack of a better description. She goes through so much trouble and her only desire is to get back to her daughter even though she has to win a war first. Most of the story is written through her head and that gives you a better perspective of her character and also allows you to get a closer insight to her character development.William and Tess are two people who play an important part in Rose's development and both of them has unique personalities. William has also been through quite a lot in his life and the connection he has with Rose doesn't exactly help the current situation. However it added a tiny touch of romance that in some parts helped to provide hope when everything seemed to be hopeless. Tess is amazing with her tough attitude with a secret soft middle that makes her almost irresistible. All the characters, major or minor, had their own personality and were surprisingly extremely well developed.

As mentioned before there is an Elemental War going on and I can bet you that this is going to take you on a crazy unforgettable ride. I desperately need to pick up the first book because the writing style is so unique and powerful that I just got completely wrapped up in the story. Highly recommend this for anyone looking for a good paranormal read and not afraid to feel their emotions rip them apart at the same time.

GIVEAWAY 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author

Rebecca Hamilton is a USA Today Bestselling Paranormal Fantasy author who also dabbles in Horror and Literary Fiction. She lives in Florida with her husband and four kids. She enjoys dancing with her kids to television show theme songs and would love the beach if it weren’t for the sand. Having a child diagnosed with autism has inspired her to illuminate the world through the eyes of characters who see things differently. She is represented by Rossano Trentin of TZLA and has been published internationally, in three languages. You can follow her on twitter @InkMuse

To learn more about Autism Spectrum Disorder, please visit the website below.

http://www.autisticadvocacy.org

Author links:

http://beccahamiltonbooks.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5295294.Rebecca_Hamilton

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorRebeccaHamilton

https://twitter.com/InkMuse

4 out of 5 stars

 

Foreverly Obsessed,

COVER REVEAL: Tarnished

Tarnished (Perfected #2)

by Kate Jarvik Birch

Release Date: 2015

Entangled Teen

Summary from Goodreads:

Freedom comes at a cost...

Ella was genetically engineered to be the perfect pet—graceful, demure...and kept. In a daring move, she escaped her captivity and took refuge in Canada. But while she can think and act as she pleases, the life of a liberated pet is just as confining as the Congressman’s gilded cage. Her escape started a revolution, but she’s trapped, unable to get back to Penn—the boy she loves—or help the girls who need her.

Back in the United States, pets are turning up dead. With help from a very unexpected source, Ella slips deep into the dangerous black market, posing as a tarnished pet available to buy or sell. If she's lucky, she'll be able to rescue Penn and expose the truth about the breeding program. If she fails, Ella will pay not only with her life, but the lives of everyone she's tried to save...

Book One:
(cover linked to Goodreads)

Praise for Perfected:

“Compelling, imaginative, and unique. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough!”

— Mary Lindsey, author of Shattered Souls

Read my review of Perfected HERE

Buy Links:
Amazon * Barnes & Noble

About the Author:

Kate Jarvik Birch is a visual artist, author, playwright, daydreamer, and professional procrastinator. As a child, she wanted to grow up to be either a unicorn or mermaid. Luckily, being a writer turned out to be just as magical. Her essays and short stories have been published in literary journals including Indiana Review and Saint Ann’s Review. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband and three kids. To learn more visit www.katejarvikbirch.com

Author Links:

   

Cover Reveal Organized by:

Haunted Love

Haunted Love by Jessica Frances

ISBN: 1507619928
Pages: 492
Publication Date: February 23, 2015
Source: Xpresso Book Tours

Appearance:

Summary:

My name is Thea Bell and I was murdered.
I always assumed that death was the end. So when my life was cruelly taken away from me, I never thought I would get a second chance to say what I needed to.
But then I was given a choice, a choice that allowed me to see the people I had left behind, and I knew I had to take it.
I wanted to say a proper goodbye. I needed justice for what happened to me.
But even in death, things rarely go to plan.
I never expected to meet him. I didn't anticipate falling in love. I hadn't considered the repercussions of coming back. I never realized I would put another person in danger.
I didn't know my actions were going to haunt us forever.

My name is Detective Aiden Mercer, and I think I have gone insane.
I am seeing the murder victim of my current case alive and in the flesh, and that is simply not possible.
I can see her, hear her, touch her. She’s real to me, however I know this cannot be real. Right?
But try telling my heart that, because as I grow closer to catching Thea’s killer, I also fall deeper into trouble.
Because love is rarely anything but trouble and I know this love will haunt me forever.

Hello everyone! School absolutely hates me because right after APs we have PARCC so excuse my pretty extended absence in terms of reviews this month. I was originally going to post my Entangled Crush reviews before this one but I didn't have time...either way I'll get to them this weekend because praise the heavens we have a long weekend! Anyway, enough of this random talk, let's focus on this review~

Theresa Bell makes one mistake the night of her murder. She walks into her house and let her guard down. When she wakes up, she surrounded by light and introduced to a man whom she dubs Santa Clause for his white beard. Santa tells her she has two options, she can move on to the Afterlife or return back to the mortal world. The catch is that she can't choose who sees her and the first person to see her is the only one who can and she is bound to him or her. Thea chooses to go back because she needs to know if her killer gets justice and if her younger brother Flynn will be okay. When she goes back she finds herself bound to Detective Aidan Mercer who is working on her case. What starts off as a deal to bring Thea's murderer to justice turns into a relationship that can only end in heartbreak.

This is just a heartfelt story with the perfect amount of suspense and romance interwoven together. The rising suspense and the tension balances the softer romance aspect of the story. I knew that this book was going to have paranormal aspects to it but I didn't think that it would be so well done. Just how vivid the characters seemed made the relationship occur very naturally. There were just so many parts where I cracked up because Thea and Aidan were once again at each other's throats about something, but each time they worked through a problem their relationship strengthened and the hole in my stomach got bigger.

The character development in this story is amazing. Thea is snarky and so full of compassion for everyone she meets. She's the perfect example of an innocent victim who has so much potential in life to do great things and the injustice of her death makes you all the more determined to find the killer and make him suffer (is that too extreme?) Aidan is your perfect good hearted guy who just happens to be married to his work. He's dedicated but finds himself easily overwhelmed with the sheer amount of work and has a couple cracking points. With Thea, he can act his age and take things easy. What man doesn't appreciate a well cooked meal? Thea's brother Flynn goes through a lot in this book from dealing with his sister's death to finding a new family - so to speak. If possible, I want to give him a big hug for everything he's been through. Then there's Aidan's grandmother who is possibly my favorite character just because she's so cool and fun. Her faith in the unbelievable and her love for Aidan is so amazing and overwhelming. I might have shed a tear at the end...

The suspense, like I said before, is a perfect contrast to Thea and Aidan's relationship. It offers a feel of tension that wraps the story and heightens every second Thea has with Aidan. The revelation is a mix of "oh I saw that" to "that is seriously messed up" which in my book is a pretty good combination. It was a bit expected but not with the special twist thrown in. The ending had essentially two parts. Part One had me sobbing my heart out and I think we can guess why while Part Two had me half sighing from cuteness and half rolling my eyes because I wanted a more exaggerated ending. Not exaggerated with fanfare per say and in some cases it was heroic, but I couldn't help but feel like I wanted something more.

Overall, definitely recommend this. I can't get it out of head and I swear every time I think about this book I get a smile on my face.

4 out of 5 stars

 

Foreverly Obsessed,

Planning Ahead (10) + Bout of Books 13.0 Wrap Up

Hello everyone! It's been a while since a Planning Ahead post but APs are FINALLY done which means I can get back into the swing of blogging. I thought I'd combine this scheduling post with my Bout of Books 13.0 Wrap Up since today is also the last day. Even though it's still early I have a bunch of things to do today as well as all my homework since I spent most of yesterday on a bus reading. So let's just get straight into the wrap-up first and then transition into next week's plans~

Haunted Love by Jessica Frances

This should come as no surprise that the first book I finish is not on my TBR...but this is probably my favorite read out of all the books so at least it turned out to be a win-win situation.

 Rating: 4/5 stars

Priestess of the White by Trudi Canavan

I FINALLY FINISHED THIS BOOK! Excuse the CAPs but I was very excited to finally finish this book after reading it for almost 2 months. This didn't exactly live up to my expectations but I'll go into more detail in my review which (sadly) won't be up this week as you will soon see in the schedule.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Mia and the Bad Boy by Lisa Burstein

Oh look! Another non-TBR book. I realized after looking at my calendar that this book was releasing on May 19 and I hadn't finished it yet so I decided to get on it. This is the second book in a series but I think it's okay to read them separately...
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

The Broken Kingdoms by NK Jemisin

I FINALLY FINISHED THIS BOOK #2! That's all that needs to be said.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

So overall I think this read-a-thon is a big success. I managed to finish two books that I have been dragging on for forever so that is a huge accomplishment in itself. I also managed to read two other books and start a couple others. 

Center Ice by Cate Cameron

This is also releasing on the 19th so I managed to get started but I'm only about 10% through the book. It's okay, I still have time. Don't have much of an opinion yet but that's one mad squirrel...

Come the Dark by Rebecca Hamilton

I'm participating in a blog tour for this book on Friday the 22nd. I'm about 40-50% of the way through and everything is just a complete "WTH is happening." I didn't read the first book in the series but I have been told that they can be read as standalones. It's good, just confusing.

(In Order of Review)

Mia and the Bad Boy by Lisa Burstein

Center Ice by Cate Cameron

Haunted Love by Jessica Frances

Come the Dark by Rebecca Hamilton

That's all I've got! This post turned out to be quite long...either way, if you participated in Bout of Books let me know down below how you did!! Thanks for reading and I'll talk to you all later~

Foreverly Obsessed,

Bout of Books 13.0 - Day 1

Hello everyone! Happy Bout of Books 13.0 Day One! I don't think I'm going to do updates every single day, but I'm currently in procrastinate mode so I'm reading a bit and thought I'd do an update as well as today's challenge! Today's challenge is the Bookish Survey, hosted by Writing My Own Fairy Tale and contains five simple questions: 

1. How do you organize your shelves? 

I don't really have an organization plan when is comes to my bookshelf. Speaking of shelves, I'm in desperate need of some new ones because my old ones are sinking and I've created a pretty large pile of books on the floor. I use three shelves on my bookshelf with the four reserved for my dad's large computer books. The current order goes something like this:

Shelf 1: Rainbow TBR - I've read a couple but they're mostly TBR books

Shelf 2: My Nicholas Sparks books + Random Favorites/Other

Shelf 3: Massmarket Paperback Fantasy Novels and Classics

Floor Shelf: Everything Else

2. What is one of your favorite books that’s not in one of your favorite genres? 

Read My Review!!

I absolutely adored this book, words cannot even express the feels that overcame me. The best way I can categorize this book is NA Paranormal which is definitely different from my usual fantasy preference.

3. What is the last 5 star book you read? 

I'm pretty picky about 5 star ratings - it takes a lot to blow me away which kind of makes sense that The Final Empire was my last one. I've been reading a lot of 4 star books lately but haven't hit a new 5/5 yet.

4. What book are you most excited to read during the read-a-thon? 

While I only want to make progress on this book and not necessarily finish it, I'm super excited to start! I've read the preface and part of Chapter One and the language is just so beautiful!

Honorable Mention: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

Book I actually want to finish: Priestess of the White by Trudi Canavan

5. What book do you recommend the most? 

Besides stating the obvious answers, a brand new 2015 release that I absolutely loved is The Thorn and the Sinking Stone by CJ Dushinski. It's a fantastic retelling of Romeo and Juliet that just completely blew my mind and expectations towards the story.

(Click cover for review)

Alright, moving on to my meager progress report:

Priestess of the White: 10 pages

Well of Ascension: ~8 pages (1 Chapter)

The Picture of Dorian Gray: Preface + 3 pages of Chapter 1

So that's kind of sad, but I had school, an AP test, and piano lessons. Hopefully I can read a bit more while doing homework! I'm going to try to do updates on Twitter so be sure to follow me there @crzybunni96

Foreverly Obsessed,

Summer by Summer

Summer by Summer by Heather Burch

ISBN: 0310729637
Pages: 288
Source: BookLooks/Harper Collins

Appearance:

Summary:

When Summer took a job as a nanny for a couple vacationing in Belize, she imagined it would be a fresh start before starting college in the fall. And while she adores her charge, Josh, she can’t say the same for her employers’ oldest son, Bray. He’s cocky, inconsiderate, and makes her feel she’s a chore he has to put up with. In short, he’s everything she dislikes in a guy.
Bray had a plan for the summer: party, hang out with friends, and forget all the responsibilities waiting for him back home. But every time he’s forced to be around Summer, her dour, serious mood sets him off. Not to mention she has a habit of picking up on what he already knows is wrong with him.
Then the two find themselves on a dive trip gone wrong, stranded on a remote island. As they focus on survival, their differences melt away, and they find being together may be what both needed all along.

Hello everyone! Welcome back to another review, so I'm FINALLY posting my Summer by Summer review because it's been a while since I said I was going to put my review up. Let's get right into it~

Summer is beyond thrilled when she is accepted to be a nanny for Josh Garrison and tag along the annual Garrison family trip Belize. It is going to be the perfect summer vacation before she starts college in the fall however she soon discovers that the vacation may just have one pretty major annoyance in the form of Bray Garrison. He's everything she despises in a person and worst, Mrs. Garrison is constantly pushing for them to spend time together. When Summer and Bray go on a diving trip and end up stranded on an island, they have to work out their differences to find out a way to survive.

I was originally super pumped for this book because it seemed like a really fun read. The beginning of the book just hooks you in and you can't even stop turning pages. However, the more I read, the more exhausted I became. The story is full of really common cliches involving stranded island thrillers, romance, and survival. There are some parts of the story where I was rolling my eyes so hard because there was a line or scene that you could replicate over a couple stranded island movies or books. For me that kind of killed the story because I started anticipating things that I knew were coming based on how present things were going. Also, while being stranded is no fun experience, Summer and Bray were definitely really lucky over the course of things.

The unique aspect of the story definitely came through in the characters. While Bray does identify as your rich frat boy, he shows more depth and a different side to him as the story progresses. He's got some wicked survival skills and definitely someone I want with me if I'm ever in that position. Summer is like a mish mosh of stereotypes. She hates rich people but her reason is actually quite surprising and it makes your sympathize with her more. She's passionate about children (as seen with Josh) and writing. At the same time she's protective of who she lets inside her heart because she's been hurt too many times. The characters overall made the story more alive, but they still embodied a cliched relationship especially with that ending.

For me in particular, I was expecting something more with the story. I can't exactly place what, but going into it knowing that it was Christian Lit kind of had me anticipating being blown away. However, if I overlook that for a minute, this book wasn't that bad. It had the right elements to keep me interested to some extent through the entire story and while some parts were a bit hard to get through because of certain parts, it still delivered a solid story. 

3 out of 5 stars

 

Foreverly Obsessed,