Review: Jasper by Amy Miles

Jasper by Amy Miles
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this free eARC novel from the author and Red Coat PR in exchange for my honest review.

Aspen is all alone in the world. She is an orphan - no siblings, and now no parents after sickness has taken them both away. Now she lives in London, working and living with her roommate, Callie - the only friend Aspen really has anymore. Actually, Callie is more like a sister now.

Aspen works as a service girl, but she is not the girl to take on dates and expect something extra by the end of the night. She goes out with her clients, and goes back to her apartment. It's a job and Aspen makes sure that everyone understands that.

When she goes on a date with J.T., Aspen doesn't realize what she is getting herself into. In fact, that night changes everything for her. Because J.T. is really Jasper, and Jasper is a ridiculously handsome guy who is the only one that Aspen has even thought about going home with.

And because of that, Aspen knows she needs to stay away from Jasper, because he is nothing but trouble. In fact, Jasper even says that he is not the one for her, and she has seen that he has very deep, dark secrets.

When girls go missing from Aspen's job, everyone is on high alert - even Jasper. He is insistent that she stop working ad to let him take care of her.

But Aspen doesn't understand everything that is going on. She is a snooper and is trying to figure out all of the missing pieces, but nothing in her wildest dreams would have prepared her for what is about to happen in her life.

This was an interesting book. A different book. Not what I was expecting and certain things happened that I didn't really like overall, sad to say. It's not your typical New Adult novel, which would be good or bad depending on what you are looking for.

I enjoyed this book in the beginning and was really liking the story, but toward the middle and end, there felt like there were huge gaps missing and I was getting lost in the shuffle with the missing information. I started feeling disconnected from the characters and it became more of a story being told to me rather than a story that I was a part of.

Aspen is a smart girl and she is her own self. She doesn't let anyone boss her around, and she is always wanting to find information for mysteries. She talked about Nancy Drew a lot, which always made me smile and Aspen wanted to be the London's version of Nancy Drew, haha.

We have a few chapters where it's Jasper's point of view, but none of them made too much sense overall. Now that I finished the book, I understand what was going on, but during those chapters you don't really get a good insight of Jasper, and that was what I was looking for.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. Like I said, it was different. I despised one particular scene which kind of made this book a downhill spiral for me, but if I were to take that out of the equation, I would say it was a good book. I may or may not seek out the second book when it is published - just depends on how I feel about it when the time comes and if I want to see what happens with Jasper and Aspen.

I am very glad I got this as an eBook and I think New Adult/Adult genre fans will enjoy this new, dark, and mysterious novel!

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Review: Othersphere by Nina Berry

Othersphere by Nina Berry
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

After a disastrous meeting with Ximon and one of their own died, while another student left, Dez is kind of a mess. She used to be the fearless leader who knew all of the answers, but now she is doubting even the littlest things.

When her birth parents keep crossing over to Earth by possessing humans around Dez, Dez realizes that she has to meet them and see who her birth parents really are. But she also needs to see her home, the place she was born, to finally realize what she wants in life.

But to do that is very dangerous, and she isn't going to be alone because her birth father kidnapped a student to lure Dez there. Now, Dez needs to get that leadership role back in place and make sure that she won't lose anyone else that she loves during this last and final battle of the otherworlds.

I admit, this series fell flat for me. I can't tell you why, but it just did. I think all of the characters got on my nerves a lot and they just didn't redeem themselves. I know they are teenagers and are prone to be bi-polar, but I despise people like that. That's probably why I didn't have too many friends in high school...

But not only did Dez and Caleb, who I had issues with in the second novel, do that, but also the side characters. They were so easy to blame everyone around them and they switched sides way too easily for me to be comfortable to call them friends. They are all just really flakey.

The thing with Dez and Lazar blew my mind at the very beginning. I didn't think Dez was that stupid, and honestly, how it ended with the love triangle? I wish that two of them ended up alone and miserable and the third one found a great person to be with and rubbed it in the other two's faces.

But that's just how I feel...

The story ended exactly I how knew it would and honestly, nothing really popped out as amazing during this book, which is such a shame. I was really hoping for a great story to keep with me.

That's what I get for getting swayed by the amazing covers of the beautiful red-head. But I will still keep judging books by their covers and I will have to feel this letdown of what could have been.

I am glad that I read them, but I'm very glad I didn't buy them. I think other readers will enjoy them more than I did, though, and will recommend them to any reader who likes supernatural and shifter books :)

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Review: Othermoon by Nina Berry

Othermoon by Nina Berry
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Dez is struggling to keep everything normal in her crazy life. But when her mom gets possessed by a spirit in the Otherworld, Dez realizes that nothing will be normal again.

The only way to stop things from escalating out of control is to try and stop Ximon from destroying Dez's new life.

But because the other kids in her band of merry friends are not so keen on trusting Lazar, who truth be told was on the other side of the team not too long ago, Dez has to decide on who to trust and who to keep in the loop.

Because Dez wants to stop Ximon for good, and the only way to get inside their new compound is to trust Lazar. And by trusting him, Dez could be risking all of her friends' lives, and risk losing them all for good.

Sadly, Dez has been put in this situation, and she must make a decision fast, before time runs out.

So...this series...I like it. I do. I love shifter books. But for some reason, there is something missing for me... I'm reading all three books, don't get me wrong, but I dunno. Maybe I'm not connecting that much with the characters or the book just doesn't have enough to keep me going, but this book was a bit of a struggle to get through for me.

Dez is a leader, but she wasn't like that when we first met her, so it's a bit unrealistic for me that she would become the leader after she shifted when she was a shy, awkward teenage girl in high school. Plus, she's a little bit bossy. Granted, everyone looks to her to get directions on what to do when they are in a middle of a battle, but she takes this new role way too seriously, to be honest.

And I know I was a bit against team Dez and Caleb, but after this book I think I like Caleb so much more. He was justified in everything that he said and why he felt the way he did, and Dez had no excuses to give for it. She treated him very badly, and now I want Caleb to have his own book and find a girl that is worthy of him.

I'm hoping things get better in the 3rd book, and that things get to my liking again. But, then again, having it go the other way would be okay too. I'm going to read it no matter what, so we shall see what happens!

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Review: Otherkin by Nina Berry

Otherkin by Nina Berry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Dez is a normal girl who is very shy and is somewhat embarrassed... because she wears a back brace and has worn it for the last 3 years. No one but her parents and best friend Ivy knows about it. But when a boy asks her to prom and tries to show her how to dance, only to accidentally touch her back brace, Dez goes home and begins to panic. Now someone knows about her brace and she will be made fun ot.

The more and more Dez thinks about this, the angrier she gets. Until she gets so angry that she turns into a tiger.

A bit extreme, right?

Dez has no idea that she is a shifter, and can shift from human to a tiger. She was adopted when she was a baby and has no information about her birth parents.

When she wakes up in a cage next to another boy in a different cage, Dez starts to get some answers about a world she never knew existed. But a world that she is thrust into the middle of it since a group of people want to kill all of the shifters.

Now Dez has to leave the only life she has ever known and learn how to be a shifter with a bunch of strangers. The more she is around the different animal shifters (bear, wolf, rat, eagle) the more she learns about the life she could have had if she had lived with her birth parents.

But the group who kidnapped her when she first shifted is still out there, and they are hunting her down. Dez needs to figure out how to control her tiger before it is too late.

I adore books about shifting into an animal. I'm not sure why, just the idea that I would be able to shift into another form and be a ferocious animal if I needed to just sounds awesome!! So when I saw all three of these books were available at the library, I had to check them out and see what it was all about.

And I really enjoyed this story. There was a lot of background story that had to be told, so it was a bit boring during those times, but for the most part I really loved the storyline and how all of the characters were so suspicious during the entire novel - which I don't blame them. And I loved the action scenes where everyone was transforming from human to animal and fighting their way to freedom.

Dez took being a tiger very well, I must admit. Even though I said I would love to change into an animal, it would definitely freak me out. But after the initial reaction, Dez was pretty chill about the whole thing, all things considered.

The romance between her and Caleb was too forced in my opinion. Plus I really hated Caleb when he was keeping all of those secrets and that made him less attractive to me. I'm hoping in the second book their might be another live interest to make Caleb realize how great Dez is and to have him fight for her, because he was definitely wishy washy with his feelings for my liking.

I love all of the other shifters - November is a chatty little rat, but very loyal. London is very serious, but she is a wolf so I can see that. Siku has such a great personality since he is a giant bear and I love the thing between him and November. And Arnaldo is a sneaky little eagle, who I will definitely be keeping my eye on.

So far I'm really liking this book and I hope more good things happen in the next book!

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Review: Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West

Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this free eARC novel from Edelweiss and HarperTeen Publishing in exchange for my honest review.

Abby is an aspiring artist, and loves to paint. It is her true passion and what she wants to do for a career. Right now, during the summer before senior year, she is working at the museum being surrounded by art every day and she is also hoping to be one of the artists featured in the yearly art gallery where all proceeds go to a charity.

The only problem is that she does not meet the age requirements...by ONE year!! But she decides to try since she works for Mr. Wallace and has an "in" now.

Except Mr. Wallace said Abby has no heart in her art. They are mere copies of standard pictures. He said that Abby needs to experience and grow in her artwork before she will be considered a true artist and be seriously considered in the art world.

Which broke Abby's heart because art is her life. If she's not good at it, then what's the point? But Abby's not going to give up. In fact, she's decided to make 5 entirely new paintings before the exhibit and try again, and this time, she is going to challenge herself to do 11 things on a list to live life and change her painting style.

And who better to do that with than her best friend Cooper. Who she might have a crush on. But after a failed attempt of telling Cooper her true feelings a year ago, Abby is working hard to keep her best friend instead of losing him because she has stronger feels than he does for her.

So together, they go through the list of things for Abby to try and experience and see if it will make her paintings have more heart.

But trying new things and going out of comfort zone makes Abby realize a lot of things. And most of them are not the great news category. In fact, this whole summer has opened her eyes and has made Abby realize that she needs to do the things that make her happy, otherwise is she really living?

I adore Kasie West's books and have read all of them that have been published so far, so I was so excited to get this next installment! And I loved it just as much as her previous books!!

I felt so much for Abby. First she gets rejected by her best friend who she has been in love with for a very long time. Then she gets told that her art is not that great and she has a lot to learn. For being 17, that is a lot of rejection to have already!

But Abby doesn't let that stop her. In fact, she takes all of that rejection, and she decides to fix it, rather than let people put her down with their negativity. Abby channels all of that criticism and decides to better herself and grow as a person to achieve her life long goals. And that is something to admire so much, because many people in the world do not respond in that way.

I also loved how she had to make really tough decisions, not only about Cooper and her feelings toward him, but also with her mother. After taking baby steps around her mom and trying to help her get better, Abby just exploded at her when her sickness made her miss a really big night of Abby's life. And instead of treating her mother like the glass doll everyone has been doing lately, she decided enough is enough and gave her some tough love. I loved every minute of it.

I'm really glad that Abby decided to try to make new friends over the summer. It's nice to have a close knitted group of friends, but it's also great to get out there and make more. It doesn't mean that she has replaced any of her friends, but that she is learning to go out there, meet more people, and have fun.

Abby had a really crappy summer, but it was so full of new experiences that she will take with her for the rest of her life. It made her grow into the person that she will one day become, and it made her realize that life is not always fair, but we will get through the tough times so we can enjoy the amazing times after the struggle.

This is a great novel, and I think that it will appeal to so many readers out there! I'm so happy that I got an eARC and I cannot wait for the next book by Kasie West :)

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Review: Wolves and Roses by Christina Bauer

Wolves and Roses by Christina Bauer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this free eARC novel from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Bryar Rose is supposed to live the life of Sleeping Beauty - you know? Cursed to sleep until Prince Charming shows up and saves the day? Instead, Bry is a failed fairy tale. She takes medicine to fight off the sleep curse that she has, and her three godmothers already have her prince lined up: Philpot.

Except Bryar doesn't want to be Sleeping Beauty. She definitely does not want to be with Philpot either. What Bryar really wants is to be a normal human. Not too much to ask for, right? And hopefully, when Bryar turns 18 in three days, she will get just that, because the sleeping curse should be lifted when she turns 18. And then she can ditch Philpot and go to a normal high school and have a normal job.

This is what Bryar looks forward to the most. Oh, and sneaking into a jewel shop with her best friend Elle - you know Elle? Cinderella? Yeah, Elle steals the jewels to return to the rightful owners, and Bryar takes photos of an ancient Egyptian scroll that the company upstairs gets shipped. Because Bryar has been dreaming about this scroll, and she is determined to crack it and find out what it says.

Then Bryar meets the man in her dreams - bad boy Knox - along with the owner of the company Alec. Well...she meets them when she got into the office with the papyri illegally...

Turns out that they want her help to figure out what it says. And Alec is even willing to pay her for it, being the big bad wizard that he is. Knox is a little harder to figure out, especially when he seems not to want Bryar's help. But the werewolf can't seem to stop following her around and bossing her around.

All Bryar had to do was keep on the lowdown until her 18th birthday, but Bryar's never been good at that. And when it seems that there are a lot of people going after her for numerous reasons, Bryar realizes that she hasn't been told just exactly who she is and how important she is for a lot of people.

But she's going to figure it out real soon, and she's going to have a lot of important decisions to make before it may be too late.

I have never read any of Christina Bauer's novels before, so I was very excited to start with a new series and get a feel for her work. And I loved it! I loved the original storyline with very familiar fairy tale stories and how these characters are definitely not like the original ones they are supposed to be living.

Plus, this takes place in today's time, so they are in a major city instead of a palace or tower in the middle of the woods. It definitely added flavor to the novel overall!

Bryar is awesome. She is super smart and pretty funny actually. She knows her "duty" but hates it and wants something better for herself rather than living the life her godmothers want her to live. Plus, who would want to be shacked up with a guy named Philpot for the rest of your life if you don't even like the guy? Definitely not me.

Also, Bryar is a computer geek and she loves finding the mystery of the Egyptian papyri message. What more could you ask for in a girl? Then to top it off, she knows self defense and how to fight her way out of a sticky situation. It's no wonder Knox is infatuated with her :)

There was so much mystery and secrets involved in this book that the reader definitely isn't bored at all. There's no time! Plus there is so much action and adventure crammed into this book that I felt like I was on the go all of the time.

There were a few moments when I got confused with this new world full of werewolves, wizards and fairy's, but for the most part I was definitely along for the ride and enjoying every minute.

And can I just say that the scenes with Knox were amazing?!? I am seriously hooked on this guy and will definitely be picking up the next book to see what happens! I just wish it wasn't so far away from now to get my hands on #2, because I really want to read it now! Always the curse to getting ARC's, I suppose haha.

I am so glad that I got this eARC and if this is anything like Bauer's other novels, I can tell that her fans will definitely enjoy this one as well, along with new readers like me! :)

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Review: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Uprooted by Naomi Novik
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Agnieszka is from a small town that is 7 miles from the Wood - full of walkers and beasts who every once in awhile take children or adults who get too close to the edge of the Wood. But Agnieszka still loves the life of her village. She loves her family and her friends and the life she has.

But the time has come for the Dragon, the wizard, to collect the next girl who will live with him for 10 years. No one knows what happens. Just that when the 10 years are up, the girls are released and they move on in society. They seem to be almost too good for their little village now, and take their hefty dowry they receive and move on from their life before.

The Dragon only picks one girl who is of age 16-17 every 10 years. It just so happens that Agnieszka falls in that group. But so does her best friend Kasia, and everyone knows that Kasia is going to be picked. She is the most beautiful, the most poised, and her mother has been training her on how to survive the next 10 years in the town with the wizard. Kasia is ready when the Dragon comes, and is excited to leave the village to journey on her next adventure.

So when the Dragon is there and going through all of the right aged girls, it seems like a sure bet he is going to pick her. Except he doesn't. The Dragon picks Agnieszka, even though it seems like he doesn't want to. No one was ready for this, and Agnieszka doesn't even get to say goodbye to everyone she loves. The Dragon just whisks her away quickly, and with his magic they are in the tower within seconds.

Agnieszka doesn't know what to do. She doesn't know how to mend, how to cook, how to clean. She wasn't trained for this because they all thought that Kasia was going to be picked. So now she is blundering her way through things.

But she comes to find out that she was picked because she has magic inside of her, and as by law, the Dragon must train her to use this ability. Agnieszka thinks he's losing it, because she couldn't possibly have any magic. But the more she trains with him, the more she realizes that he may be right. But it is not the same kind of magic that the Dragon does, which makes training very hard and frustrating.

Before they can get too far in the training, there are riots and commotions of dangerous, rare monsters attacking the small villages next to the Wood. When the Dragon is out to fix this, another issue happens in Agnieszka's village, and she rushes to save them with the little magic she has been trained.

After confronting the Wood and finding out dark and dangerous things about the Wood, Agnieszka realizes that she has started an all out war between the kingdom and the Wood. And now there might not be any survivors after everything is said and done.

But Agnieszka is determined to win. Otherwise, everyone she loves and knows will be destroyed by the ancient evil that lives in the Wood, and the deep retribution they are in to condemn everyone around them.

Most wizards and witches don't get deep in their magic until at least 7 years of training, but Agnieszka is going to have to try with just a few months worth of training, with the Dragon's help.

My co-worker read this and loved it, so I wanted to read it and see what it was all about. And I'm glad I did because it was a really good book! I loved the world that Naomi Novik created and how twisted it became the more and more you read on.

Agnieszka is my favorite character. She is such a mess and is always getting dirty by one thing or another. And she doesn't give a hoot and a half. She knows she is messy, but she does what she wants and doesn't care if she messes up a dress. Or sure, she tries to keep it clean, but after 16 years she's come to expect nothing less.

So for her to start off as that kind of character who is shy and always in the background being invisible to the badass who marches into the kingdom yelling at the king to get what she needs done in order to protect the whole world from the Wood? Year, she's amazing. She doesn't even realize her power - she just wants to figure out the problem and help fix it before it is too late. And she doesn't let the wizards of hundreds of years intimidate her, but just tells them how it is and watch them while they figure out that she is right.

And she was such a brave girl for going with the Dragon when no one saw it coming. Sure, she was upset and scared, but she didn't let that stop her from what was expected of her and to find out what she had to do for the next 10 years.

But she is a wicked witch and I loved the scenes where she is pushing herself to the max to save the people around her in the Wood. There is so much power in her and she doesn't even know the half of it.

This is a very action packed novel and I was never bored through any of it. Sometimes I thought that there was a bit much and that the characters needed to rest, but Novik kept pushing them on and on to the point where I thought they would keep over with exhaustion. But that just shows how strong these characters are inside and outside.

There is so much that happens in this novel and i was very pleased with how everything ended. I'm glad that I ended up checking this book out after my co-worker talked about it, and now I have someone I can talk details with about it! :D

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