Review: Hollywood Princess by Monica Corwin

Hollywood Princess by Monica Corwin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this eARC from the author. This is my honest review.

Since this is such a short novel the synopsis of the book on Goodreads basically sums up what happened in this book. So I won't be giving my own synopsis of it.

There's not a lot of content in this book because it's so short but to me it seemed Cathy was a bit desperate. I'm sure in the next book more will be explained and more will happen between the two characters but this was pretty much a tease to get the readers invested in the story for the next book to come out.

I'm not sure that I'll be buying the next book but if I happen to get an eARC of it I would be more than happy to read it and see what happens. There's definitely a lot of mystery and suspense and the sexual tension between Heath and Cathy is definitely there so it should be a good installment for the next book. I'm glad that I got this novella to read to get me interested and I'll be keeping an eye out for the next book!

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Review: Ruthless King by Maya Hughes

Ruthless King by Maya Hughes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Life pretty much ended for Emmett and Avery in their senior year of high school. Both loved each other immensely but because of circumstances that needed to be secrets their breakup was pretty brutal. In fact to this day they can't even be in the same room without anger and hatred.

Since then Emmett has gone off to play professional hockey and Avery has been able to take care of her sister and got her to graduation.

After much sacrifice every now has a chance to do what she's been wanting to do which is go to college and start her future. But when she gets invited to hang out with her high school friends she decides to take the chance and have fun for once. When Emmett showed up though things took a turn to the worst and now she has to deal with his anger after the misunderstanding of their breakup.

This is the first time they've been near each other and 4 years for a long time and both Emmett and Avery cannot deny the attraction that they still feel for one another. But with all the secrets that are still stuck between them the future that they dream about in high school may not be able to come true if they can't be honest with each other.

I have been waiting for this book since the novela to introduce these characters!!! The brutal way that they ended the relationship and the unanswered questions have been killing me this whole time! So I am so glad that I have finally been able to read their story to see exactly what happened between them! And I definitely was not disappointed by all of the answers that were revealed!

I love Avery so much! She is one tough chick and is bad ass in the kitchen and is loyal to a fault. Even though it almost killed her that she broke Emmett's heart she had her reasons and she stuck with it no matter how hard the last 4 years have been.

And Emmett... he's been gone doing professional hockey for the last few years so he really wanted this time to hang out with his friends who he hasn't seen in a while. And I get why he was mad at Avery but I felt like he should have listened to her once he calmed down and got the shock over what had happened. I could never imagine what they went through and why they went through it.

This book definitely answered questions I had and I loved seeing Avery and Emmet reconnect with one another. All of the Kings are sexy as hell but they all have their issues too so it's really great to see them work through all of that and their stories. Now I'm extremely excited to read Ford's story and will be impatiently waiting for that one now!

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Review: Listen to Your Heart by Kasie West

Listen to Your Heart by Kasie West
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kate is in love with the lake life that she has grown up with. Whenever she gets any free moment you can always find her on the lake either working or enjoying just being on the lake for fun. She hates when school starts back up because that means that it'll be less time for her to be at the lake where she is the most content.

And now with school starting she realize that when her friend Elena talked her into doing the podcast class that Kate was not going to enjoy it after the first day. And then when her teacher made her one of the host of the podcast she was definitely not happy. Kate likes a quiet subtle life not the voice of attention for a very popular podcast at her school.

And if that wasn't enough Elena started crushing on Diego. That's normal except when Kate realized she may be crushing on him as well.

The more she practiced for the podcast the more she realize that she liked it. But with the podcast comes secrets and Kate seems to be finding herself involved in a lot of secrets. By the end she realizes that secrets may need to be revealed but at what cost?

I adore Kasie West. All of her books are just the feel-good kind that have a happy ending and it's definitely a novel that I am excited to start reading. And this book was definitely one of those novels!

I love how passionate Kate was about the lake but I'm also glad to have seen her grow as a person and realize that she has other interests besides just the lake. I also enjoyed seeing her realize that her ex was not the only person in the world and she also moved on from that. There is definitely a lot of character development that happened in this novel and it was amazing to see Kate go through all of that.

I also adored Diego. He's very soulful and definitely more mature then his actual age. He's going through a lot of rough stuff at home so it was nice to see him open up to Kate and just talk about his feelings which you don't see often in teenage boys.

I'm so glad I got a chance to read this book and I will definitely be keeping my eye out for future novels by West! I definitely recommend her books to all readers because not only are they a fast read but they all have a great message in them!

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Review: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Every year, on the Day of Sacrifice, the village of Protectorate takes the youngest baby and delivers him/her to the witch as a sacrifice to protect their village. It is a terrible thing to do, but that is what the witch demands as payment of her protection.

And each year, the parents of the baby girl or boy sadly hand over their bundle of joy and know that they will no longer be with the living because the witch is going to kill the baby. Except for the one mother, who would not hand over her child. She was yelling, screaming, hanging from the rafters of her house, and even bit her husband when he tried to take the baby.

But the Elders of the town eventually got the baby girl, and the mother went mad. She went so mad, she was locked in the tower with the Sisters of the Star until she was well.

The kicker though? All of this is a lie. The witch is not evil, and she does not eat the babies. In fact, one day, long, long ago - almost 500 years - she found a screaming baby outside of a town that was so full of sorrow and she took the baby with her on her travels, feeding it starlight to keep it nourished. Then, when she got to another town, she found a great home for that baby, parents and siblings who loved it so much the first time they met it.

And every year after that, the witch will find another baby on the same day, in the same place, and she will travel to another town to do her medicine routines and find another home for the baby that year. All of the towns celebrated the day that the witch came with a new baby, because they were celebrating another life being added to their lives.

As for the baby whose mother fought for her? The witch, Xan, was going through the same yearly routine. But she made a mistake. Instead of feeding the baby starlight, she fed the girl moonlight, which gave her magically powers. This isn't normal magic either, but magic that is seeped into her bones and thoughts and her very being.

Xan knew she made a mistake, but she also knew that no normal human could take care of such a baby with an enormous power. So Xan decided to name her Luna and keep her as her granddaughter to train her on how to use her magic.

With the help of the Swamp Monster, Glerk, and a Tiny, but Simply Enormous Dragon, Fyrian, Xan raises Luna. Not by training her to use magic, because of a terrible side effect of a spell, but they raise Luna to be a sweet girl of 13.

But when Luna gets closer to the age of 13, the more her magic is about to burst out of her.

And other big events are about to happen at the same time:
- a father is not willing to give up his son for the Day of Sacrifice - he is going to kill the witch instead
- the real witch of the story is about to see what happens when she up against a lot of love between a mother and her daughter
- the volcano is going to erupt after 500 years of being dormant

And much, much more.

Luna needs to figure out all of the lies that she has been told throughout the years, and figure it out fast to save all of the ones she loves the most.

I decided to read this book because I was making a list for work of the winners for the Newbery Awards for Children. The cover really caught my attention, and when I read the synopsis, I was snared and had to find a copy.

And this book definitely deserves the award! I so enjoyed the story and even though there were a lot of viewpoints going on throughout the novel, it was a very quick read that had an amazing moral and message.

I could only image what a 5 year old hooked on magic would be like. I know how a normal 5 year old acts, so having one with magic just makes me shudder. I don't blame Xan for what she did, because Luna would have been a terror if she continued the way she did.

I loved all of the side characters from the forest, to the village of Protectorate, and to the people of the other towns. There was a lot of information crammed into this book, but it was told in a way that didn't make the reader too overwhelmed.

I'm very glad that I decided to read this book, and it will definitely be a book that I recommend to other book lovers, no matter what age they are :)

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Review: Jane: A Retelling by Lark Watson

Jane: A Retelling by Lark Watson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this eARC novel from NetGalley. This is my honest review.

Jane has been in and out of foster homes pretty much her whole life. So now that she is an adult and is on her own finally, she finds that being a nanny to kids is the best job for her. Especially since she tended to take care of the younger kids in her foster house, she's already had years of practice.

When Jane gets a job that requires her to move into their remote location in the middle of nowhere to help a little girl speak English rather than Spanish, she knows that it will be different than any other nannying job she's taken. Not only because the "house" is really a mansion, but because there is an air of mystery around the master of the house: Mr. Thorneton.

Jane likes to be invisible among the parents. She just wants to work with the children and then go off to her room when she's done. But for some reason, Mr. Thorneton intrigues her more than any other person has done in her life. She knows when he is in the area, and her senses go up in alert.

Then, with the mystery of the house and strange things happening, Jane is wondering what she got herself into when she accepted this simple nanny position. One thing is for sure, though. Nothing will be the same for Jane ever again.

So, I've never read Jane or seen movies of Jane, which means that this storyline was all new to me. And for the most part I really liked it! I loved the way Jane is so tentative in life - even though that was because of her terrible childhood - and how she grew to be the woman she is at the end of the book because of how well loved and accepted she became with the family and staff at the Tower House.

And even though there weren't too many moments, the times where Jane and Thorne were together were great! The suspense was so thick between the two of them, and when the moment finally came where they caved to temptation? Amazing. It gave me goosebumps and I didn't want it to stop.

The issues I had were about Thorne's secret life. I just didn't quite get what was going on and then BAM it was all there, but still no really good explanation of it. In the end, I got over that issue, but I think the book would have been superb if that was fixed/eliminated.

The ending was great. I loved this novel. And it looks like Micah might get his own novel, so I'll have to see if I pick that up or not. I know I loved the way Micah and Jane became friends and tested poor Thorne with their innocent flirting, but I'm not sure how Micah's own story will be.

I'm so glad I got a chance to read this novel, and maybe I'll have to find the original to see how it compares!

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Review: The Dark Lands by Christina Bauer

The Dark Lands by Christina Bauer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this eARC novel from NetGalley. This is my honest review.

Myla is getting used to being the Great Scala, the Queen of Thrax, and now a mother to her beautiful baby boy Maxon. But when Walker needs her help, she's not prepared for the idea of losing her honorary older brother.

A new enemy is in town: Viper. And it seems that he has the ability (from one of Lucifer's many magic items) to take abilities or sins or anything from another person. And it seems that Walker has to face this person, because Viper hurt someone very close to Walker.

But when Walker disappears, Myla has to figure out all of Walker's secrets in order to find him and save him - without Walker disappearing out of her life forever.

This was a great novel. Myla has totally figured out life and has everything in control. I especially loved how Myla's dad was trying to train Maxon, a 6 month old boy in military format. Too cute and funny! The relationship between Myla and Walker was very strong in this novel, which is great because it gives the reader a chance to really see how much they mean to one another. We haven't really gotten that feeling during the series yet.

I loved how Armageddon was not the focus of this story, but a whole other side of the backstory came into play to show another side of the history of these characters. It was a nice change of pace, and I definitely enjoyed it! :)

And now here is the sad part... Amazon says the next book gets released in September 2019?? Sigh, that's 9 months of waiting to see what other great adventures Myla will go on. Oh well, I will just have to fill that space with other novels and hope they are as enjoyable as this series :)

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Review: Thrax by Christina Bauer

Thrax by Christina Bauer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Myla and Lincoln's honeymoon is almost over, and Myla doesn't want to go back to the real world. She wants to stay in their rooms all day long, but unfortunately life has a way of interrupting Myla's great plans. When Lincoln gets a gift from an old friend, only to have him disappear through a black smoke and Myla wakes up from a "dream", does Myla really know that the honeymoon is over and now she has to go find her husband.

Problem is that there is an imposter, Evil Lincoln, as Myla calls him, who is telling everyone in the palace that Myla is going crazy with pregnancy hormones, so no one should listen to her. Myla is becoming trapped in her own house, and she is tryinng to find a non-fighting way to get herself out. Having a bun in the oven is wrecking havoc on her fighting time.

Once Myla gets to Earth, she is on the hunt to find her husband. Thankfully Cissy and Zeke are there to help her, so they set on their mission to save Lincoln before it's too late.

And when Myla finally finds out the root of the evil that has taken her husband - they better run far and fast away from her before she gets her arrowed tail into them.

I'm feeling a bit sad for Myla and Lincoln. They just can't ever get a break and live life together for a short period of time. There is always something that is happening and in this case, they were separated for the problem. I just want to see them be normal people for a change, but 1. that would probably be a boring book and 2. that is just not the Myla and Lincoln we know.

I am very proud of Myla. She is trying to be a better Queen than an Arena fighter, and she did a tremendous job in this novel. And there were a lot of times she could have caved into her old Myla habits, that's for sure.

Also, this book really showcases just how smart Myla is. She came up with TONS of plans that usually were successful, and it just shows that she is going to be a great Queen when she can finally rule the Thrax.

I thoroughally enjoyed this novel, and now I'm about to dive into the next one!

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