Review: The Lovely Reckless

The Lovely Reckless by Kami Garcia
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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

I have been wanting to read this book for forever and was so happy that I not only got an eARC but also a print ARC from Baker and Taylor!

And I was very happy with this book. I loved Frankie - after everything she went through with Noah dying and her not remembering, she was lost. But she had been living a life that she didn't like, always having to pretend in front of others. When she was transferred to Monroe school, though, she started to do things that she actually liked and stopped pretending to people's faces. She became more real and started to live her life the way she wanted it instead of how her parents wanted her life to be controlled and lived out.

The reaction between Marco and Frankie seeing each other and having that connection was a bit much for the very first time seeing each other and not even talking to each other. Believe me, I know it happens but it was just a lot to believe the way Garcia wrote it.

I didn't really care for the whole defiance that Frankie was doing against both of her parents. Rather, I liked that she was doing stuff for herself and that she was figuring out what she was going to do with her life.

The racing was okay. I've read better Young Adult books about racing cars than this one and this was just mediocre. In fact, there wasn't too many scenes where it involved racing. But it was okay. I will just recommend that if anyone is thinking this is all about racing: it's not. Don't read it if that's the main part you are wanting to read about.

Overall, I really enjoyed it! There was mystery, murder, suspense, insta-love, friendships, and life - so it's a book that a wide variety of readers will like! Definitely glad I got my hands on this and look forward to more by this author!

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Review: A Beautiful Funeral

A Beautiful Funeral by Jamie McGuire
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh. My. Gawd.

This was an amazing, tearjerker, joyful book. I'm so glad that I finally got around to reading this. It took me awhile because I didn't want to finish the series. I didn't want to find out who the funeral was for, because I didn't want one single person in this series to die.

But I finally got around to reading it, and it was, in one word, "beautiful". It was insane and chaotic because, let's face it, it's about all of the Maddox's and they are a riled up bunch. But it was amazing to see all of the brothers back home with their dad and their families and Shepley's family all together again.

I was devastated by the end of this book. I was literally bawling my eyes out and I couldn't stop crying from the last 30 pages. It seriously ripped my heart to feel the devastation that this family was going through but being able to see the person's memories and having that person watch the family grieve was heart breaking.

I loved that we FINALLY got to read the guy's point of views for a few of the chapters. Besides Travis, we haven't been able to get inside of the brother's heads so it was amazing to get their perspectives on their family and jobs and life and everything.

Jamie McGuire created a great short novel to end this series. There is of course more to each character that can go on and on, but at some point she has to stop. This was a perfect ending to an amazing series and I know once I recover from this novel I will be re-reading it over and over again :)

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Review: Endlessly Beautiful

Endlessly Beautiful by Jamie McGuire
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I can't seem to find this on Wattpad anymore, so I assume Jamie has taken it down for one reason or another. Either way, I read this when she was uploading it weekly/monthly, whenever she did and absolutely loved it! I've never kept it a secret that I love Travis the most, and being able to read more about their relationship always makes me happy! :)

I dearly hope this will be a paper copy soon to be added to my collection on my shelf, because I love looking at all of my pretties!

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Review: Beautiful Burn

Beautiful Burn by Jamie McGuire
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have had this book for forever and have finally gotten around to read it. Like the majority of the Maddox Brother's novels, I definitely enjoyed it, but it is not my all time favorite. I was spoiled by Travis and apparently no other brother can defeat him in the series that McGuire writes. But that's okay, I love me some Travis and I certainly enjoyed all of the other novels. I own them!

Tyler's story was pretty good. We had seen him and Ellie throughout the other novels in the series, but seeing the story through Ellie's eyes was good to understand their personal demons. Even though we didn't get to read any of it through Tyler's perspective, I definitely loved the way he pursued Ellie and wasn't giving up - no matter what. He knew what he wanted and he was going after it - just like any other Maddox brother. I loved how he was there for Ellie and I especially adored his family with the fire crew!

The issues that I'm always having with the Maddox Brothers series is the female character. Ellie was especially one that I did not care for from beginning to end. She was a spoiled rich kid living a life where she could make any mistake that she wanted knowing there would be no consequences and that her parents would just pay someone to fix it. I hate people like that. Ellie said that it was her parents fault for letting her get away with it, but that's only part of it. She decided to make those decisions and as an adult or even a teenager, the decision is all theirs and they know what will happen. I was actually very disgusted with Ellie at the beginning of this book. And she did get better as a person and a character in the novel. But the damage was done at the beginning with her outlook of life and her attitude that I never really liked her during any of the novel.

Overall, this was a good book. I know Jamie has mentioned it before on how she writes the characters through the eyes of the female characters, but I think I would have given every book a 5 star rating had they all been through the brother's point of view. The readers are dedicated to this series because of the brothers because that is who the story is really about: the Maddox family. So going into all 4 brothers stories, only to have to read about the girl we don't know and finding out their story instead of Thomas, Trent, Taylor and Tyler's thoughts was a bit disappointing and let us down. Maybe one day Jamie will come back to this series and write the novels through the guys point of view like she did for "Walking Disaster" which would be amazing!

I think a dedicated fan of "Beautiful Disaster" will enjoy this novel and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it!

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Review: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 1: Squirrel Power

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 1: Squirrel Power by Ryan North
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ahh!!! A Comic Book about SQUIRRELS!!! I love squirrels. So much. So this comic book is amazing for me. I loved seeing all of Squirrel Girl's little squirrels and how awesome Doreen Green can kick some butt. She is very confident and always optimistic, which is amazing. No matter how down a situation can get, Squirrel Girl finds the 1 way to brighten it up and save the day.

I love how she talks to the enemies and has a conversation with them. As if talking to them will fix their mission to destroy human life! But if that doesn't work, she will do the necessary dirty work to save her planet!

I took my time with this and it actually lasted 3 or so days, even though it's a comic and only 130 pages! I can't wait for the other volumes to come out and one day I will own this series to add to my squirrel statue collection :)

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Review: Carnival of Souls

Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Here is my original review from Sept 22, 2012: http://jeracalea.blogspot.com/2012/09...

I re-read this again for my YA book club, and loved it just as much as I did 4 years ago. I dunno, the world that Melissa Marr created was fantastic. It had a hint of The Hunger Games but it was more mystical and magical than Suzanne Collin's world, making it it's own story. I loved how there were multiple viewpoints and the reader could gather more information because of that, even though we may still be a little lost overall about the story and where it will end up.

I can't believe that it's been 4 years and there is still no sequel... I want to find out what happens with everyone! Especially Mallory and Kaleb - when Mallory finds out what Kaleb did to ensure she was safe. Because Mallory is pretty strong willed and I doubt she will appreciate Kaleb's efforts to help her.

And I think Belias and Aya's story would get pretty heated as well. It's obvious they like each other, so Aya might have gone through the whole ordeal for no reason!

Evelyn and Adam's story would be very interesting to get more information on as they are very powerful characters and obviously have an important role to play out in the next novel. Oh, and another note, I want to know what happened to Mallory's mom.

Ahh!!!! So many questions, not enough answers! Hopefully sometime Melissa Marr will write the next novel and answer all of the unsolved answers!

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Review: A Monster Calls

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book because I want to watch the movie, but wanted to experience the book first. I'm so mad that it took me to them making a movie before I finally read this book, because it was so wonderful. So real. So heartbreaking and raw and amazing!

Connor knows that his mother is very sick. He can't do anything about it and it's making him feel vulnerable and useless. He knows things are really bad when both his grandmother and his father come to see his mom and Connor. But his mom is going to get better and everything will go back to normal after that. Connor just knows it.

Every night, at 12:07am, Connor has a visit from a Monster. This Monster wants to tell him 3 stories, if Connor will then tell him his 1 nightmare. At first he was resistant, because, really, what would he want to know about those 3 stories. But the Monster is persistent and they go through with their deal. But the deeper Connor gets involved with this Monster, the more he regrets it.

And not only is Connor dealing with his sick mother, annoying grandmother and father, and the pushy Monster, he is also being alienated at school. Everyone is either ignoring him and pretending he is invisible because they know about his mom and they feel sorry for him, or he is being bullied by 3 guys at school who won't leave him alone.

Everything comes crashing together at once and it is too much for Connor. He breaks. But hopefully he can get himself back together again before it's too late.

This is such an amazing novel. I loved how there were graphics involved in the story. It wasn't needed to imagine what was happening, but it gave off such a dark and gloomy feel that you need to have in order to really get the meaning and story behind this novel.

I'm so glad that I read this book and I will definitely be recommending it to other readers and possibly my book club when the movie is released and it's not so popular.

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