Sneak Peek: Easy by Tammara Webber

I recently saw the Goodreads  page for the book Easy by Tammara Webber. Never heard of it? Well, here's the synopsis from Goodreads:

When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup. After two weeks in shock, she wakes up to her new reality: she's single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, stalked by her ex's frat brother, and failing a class for the first time in her life. 

Her econ professor gives her an email address for Landon, the class tutor, who shows her that she's still the same intelligent girl she's always been. As Jacqueline becomes interested in more from her tutor than a better grade, his teasing responses make the feeling seem mutual. There's just one problem - their only interactions are through email. 

Meanwhile, a guy in her econ class proves his worth the first night she meets him. Nothing like her popular ex or her brainy tutor, Lucas sits on the back row, sketching in a notebook and starting at her. At a downtown club, he disappears after several dances that leave her on fire. When he asks if he can sketch her, alone in her bedroom, she agrees - hoping for more. 

Then Jacqueline discovers a withheld connection between her supportive tutor and her seductive classmate, her ex comes back into the picture, and her stalker escalates his attention by spreading rumors that they've hooked up. Suddenly appearances are everything, and knowing who to trust is anything but easy. 

So, after that long synopsis, I think this sounds like a great book to read!

One problematic part? It's only an eBook. But if you have a Kindle, it's just a few clicks away on Amazon!

And, if you go to it's page on Amazon.com you can get the beginning of this book for free to test try it out! I've already downloaded the free version on my computer Kindle app and am eagerly waiting to start reading it to see if it's any good! 

I wanted to share this with you in case you would be interested in this type of novel. If I decide to get the whole novel on my Kindle, I will do a review on it as well :)

White Cat by Holly Black

This is the first novel in The Curse Workers series by Holly Black.

Cassel is the youngest brother in a very well-known Curse Worker family. Unfortunately, Cassel doesn't have his own curse.

With just the touch of their hand/finger, any curse worker can make the person they touch do whatever their ability is: change their emotion, break bones, make them become lucky, etc.

The magic of the curse worker is illegal, making all curse workers turn to con artist events or go to the mob to work.

Cassel, as not having any powers, has still lead a life of a con artist. At his prep school he is a bookie, taking bets of silly random events that students want to bet against. Cassel can also con his way out of anything - he knows the tricks to lie very easily and to stay undetected when needed.

But when Cassel sleepwalks and is forced to leave the school until a doctor says his sleepwalking is under control, Cassel is forced home to live with his older brother, Phillip. Soon, his other brother Barron comes home but things seem very weird between the two of them.

Around the same time as his sleepwalking started, Cassel also had a dream about a white cat who needed his help with a curse. That didn't make any sense, though, since Cassel doesn't have curse worker magic.

When the cat comes to Cassel in real life, though, Cassel knows there is something going on - something bad. And there is also a very big secret that involves the white cat, his brothers, and an old friend named Lila.

Hopefully Cassel's con abilities will get him out of this problem.

My Thoughts/Reflections
I love Holly Black. I've read all of her books and have enjoyed them, and this book is no different.

I will admit, it did take me awhile to get into this story. I put it down a couple of times but I didn't give up because a lot of my friends really enjoyed it.

And in the end, I'm very glad that I kept with it! The world that Holly Black created is somewhat hard to grasp at first, but once everything clicks, the story goes really fast and the reader is racing through the ending along with Cassel.

I think this book could interested anyone - especially because it is a male narrator so it might draw attention to guy readers as well.

There is a lot going on in this novel but the main theme is magic and crime. The curse workers are forced into crime because they are not trusted by normal/non-curse workers and they need to make money to live.

Now that I've gotten a handle on the atmosphere and the "rules" of this book, I'm very excited to read the second book in this series!

The List by Siobhan Vivian

The List Results

Ugliest:
Danielle Demarco - Freshman
Candace Kincad - Sophomore
Sarah Singer - Junior
Jennifer Briggis - Senior

Prettiest:
Abby Warner - Freshman
Lauren Finn - Sophomore
Bridget Honeycutt - Junior
Margo Gable - Senior

It happens every year, on the first Monday of September. At Mount Washington High, the lives of 8 girls will change for the rest of the school year, giving them a label that the school will not forget.

For each girl, different things will happen to them over the next 7 days. Events will unfold because of what the list said about them, and the true colors of each girl will come out.

The whole school has an opinion of who is the "prettiest" or "ugliest" of the class, but the week before homecoming, the 8 girls will look into their own self, figuring out who they really are.

In the end, every girl will face their greatest fears and will be forced to redeem themselves not only to their classmates but to their own beliefs.

Will the girls follow their "label"? Read The List by Siobhan Vivian to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
I feel as if my synopsis does not capture the essence of this great novel. I didn't want to split it up with each girl because that might give it away, but it feels very bland and not too in-depth...

I really enjoyed this novel. At first, it was very difficult to keep track which girl was who (which is why, in my nerdiness, I made a list to refer back to!) but after awhile I remembered which girl was which grade and which label on the list.

Getting to know each of the 8 girls was great because the reader could see who they really were without having their label attached to their name.

It was also nice because the reader saw one girl as a swimmer, another as recently-homeschooled, one girl having issues with her looks and another who is haunted by her past. There are stories behind this horrible list that comes out each year.

And the ending for each girl is what the reader might least expect, but I feel it was the ending each girl needed based on their actions after the list came out.

While reading this, I was thankful that I never had to worry about the first Monday in September at my high school. High school is tough enough without having a list of Uglies and Pretties at school!

Siobhan Vivian is a great writer. I've read most of her books and have really enjoyed them so I would definitely recommend this book to any female reader, teen or adult. This novel hits a lot of subjects and different cliques that I think any female could relate to throughout her life.

A great novel! I really enjoyed it and it's a stand-alone (I think anyway) so no waiting for the sequel!

Jessica Rules the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey

This is the second novel in the Jessica series by Beth Fantaskey. 

Click here: Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side to read my review of the first novel.

There will be spoilers to the ending of the first novel, just to forewarn you before you go any further!

Now that Jessica has turned into a vampire and her and Lucius have gotten married, Jessica finds herself as the new vampire princess in Romania.

At first, she was unsure what to do. What does a newly graduated high schooler from America know anything about running a government?

Things get even worse when Lucius defends Jessica during an Elder's meeting, and the man he threatened was found dead the next morning - with his blood on Lucius's stake!

Jessica found herself ruling the vampire world on her own, without Lucius after that. Thank goodness his cousin, Raniero, was helping her at the request of Lucius before he was taken in confinement.

Along with Raniero, Jessica also had help from her best friend from America, Mindy. She and Raniero had a fling for awhile before finally breaking it off, but Mindy was in Romania to be with Jess and figure out her life.

The longer Lucius was in a cell, he was growing very weak. He was not allowed to get blood, which after a few days would put any vampire into a coma - only worse.

With little time to find the real killer, Jessica must start acting like a ruler - a queen - rather than a scared high school graduate.

Will Jessica, Mindy, and Raniero be able to find the right murderer and save Lucius before he loses his mind? Or will Jessica be without a husband and find herself ruling the vampire world alone? Read Jessica Rules the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
When I first picked this book up, I was a little hesitant. I really liked the way the first novel ended and was unsure where Fantaskey would go with this novel.

I'm glad I only hesitated for a few minutes! This is very different than the first novel. Now that Jessica has claimed her vampire heritage, she needs to start acting like it.

Only it's a little difficult for her to do that. How can one change from a high school graduate to a ruler of a species?

Well, when her husband is convicted of a crime he didn't do, that's how. Seeing Jessica transform completely was incredible. I was so proud of her and was definitely cheering for her the whole book.

This was told throughout 4 viewpoints: Jessica (Antanasia), Mindy, and, though letters to one another, Lucius and Raniero.

I was very irritated with Mindy as a narrator, because she uses the word "like" and "totally" far too often that I wanted to pull my hair out, but it was nice to get a different perspective of the vampire world through a human's viewpoint.

I was very pleased with this second novel, and I think fans of the first novel will enjoy it as well. We get to learn more about what happens after Jessica and Lucius get together and see Jessica because the leader that she was truly meant to be.

For anyone who wants a paranormal/supernatural story about vampires in a new twist, I would definitely recommend these books.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

This is the first novel in the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi.

It has been 264 days since Juliette has seen or talked to another person.

For 3 years, she has been taken to doctors, psychiatrists, legal offices, and, finally, in an asylum where she has been isolated from humans.

All because of an accident that Juliette didn't mean to do.

Every since she was a baby, Juliette has lived with her curse. She cannot touch another human being. If she does, she will kill them - with just one touch.

Juliette stayed far away from everyone, but when she was 14, she tried to help a little boy up. When she did that, though, she felt power and energy rush through her, making her stronger while she was accidentally killing the little boy.

So she was punished, taken to doctors to find out what was wrong with her. When no one could find any answers, they did the next best thing - lock her away from other people.

It was a surprise, then, when she got a roommate. And even more surprising? Finding out that her roommate was a boy, a boy she went to school with.

The Reestablishment has been trying to fix the ecosystem after everything had started to wither and die. Birds don't fly anymore, plants aren't growing, animals are sparse and hard to come by.

So when Juliette and her new roommate, Adam, were forced from their cell in the asylum into the real world, it wasn't very picturesque. However, to Juliette, it was Heaven. She hadn't had fresh air or felt sunlight on her skin in 264 days.

It wasn't so ideal, though, when she was in the company of the Reestablishment's leader, Warner. He wanted Juliette to use her power in his army, being a torturer by just touching the army's victim.

Juliette wanted no part of it. She fought off Warner at every corner, while she started to grow closer to Adam.

When Adam and Juliette decide they want to run away from the army and Warner, they come into trouble. Will both be able to escape and stay hidden from Warner, or will they get caught and make Juliette be a part of his torturous plan? Read Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
Wow. I loved this book. If you are a fan of X-Men, this is a book I think you will enjoy. In fact, Juliette really reminds me of Rogue in the first and second movie, and she's my favorite X-Men character :)

Juliette is one tough cookie. She was traumatized as a little girl, never wanting to hurt another person but wanting to be a normal person who her parents could love and hold.

She missed a humans touch, not only through skin but also touching another person's heart. With her "disease" everyone called her nasty names and tried to hurt her, so she never had a friend.

Except Adam. She never talked to Adam while they were in school from 3rd to 9th grade, but he sat closer to her than any other student, he stood up for her when the other students called her names, and he looked at her like a real person, not with evilness like everyone else.

So it was shocking when the one person Juliette would have called a friend just happened to be a new roommate at the asylum.

The world that Tahereh Mafi created was very realistic, with just enough description to describe the setting of the book but not enough to bore young adult readers. It was also helpful that Juliette was so attuned to the outside world, describing all of the things that she had missed throughout those 3 years of isolation.

Mafi's writing was a little unique, and I've read some reviewers who didn't like it.

I found it refreshing, if somewhat odd, where Juliette's thoughts were written in numbers and were repetitive. But I think it was very realistic as Juliette hadn't talked to anyone in almost a year and she remembered events through numbers.

This was an amazing novel. I already want to reread it to experience it again and I cannot wait for Mafi to continue this series to see what will happen next with Juliette, Adam and Warner. Unfortunately, I have to wait until February 2013 to read the second novel :/

I would definitely recommend this book, especially to teen girls as there is a strong, leading female who sticks to her beliefs and is has a very kind, generous heart toward everyone.

Dark Eden by Patrick Carman

This is the first novel in the Dark Eden series by Patrick Carman. 

15-year-old Will Besting has an uncontrollable fear that his doctor, Dr. Stevens, could not cure in over 2 years. To try and help Will, Dr. Stevens sends Will and 6 other teenagers (all of which are 15) to Fort Eden and a doctor named Rainsford.

When the group of teenagers start walking to Fort Eden, though, Will gets a terrible feeling about the place and decides to stay on his own.

After finding shelter in a different building, Will uncovers a bomb shelter which holds monitor screens recording certain rooms where the other 6 teenagers reside.

Will is not the only one with an unexplained fear. Each of the teenagers (Connor, Kate, Avery, Marisa, Alex, and Ben) have their own fears that they are going to try to be cured from.

Ben was the first to get cured, and Will watched the whole procedure. After watching each teenager get cured, Will decided that he didn't want to get cured - he wanted to get out of Fort Eden as quickly as possible.

Before Will could do that, though, Marisa went to get cured. Will wanted to stop her because he developed a crush on her, but he was too late.

Just when Will was going to leave, he found himself in his own room to become cured. Rainsford had to make special circumstances with Will because of his unique fear.

The thing about being cured, though? None of the patients could remember what had happened. They just knew that they were cured and didn't question it.

Except Will. He remembered everything. And when he was presented by more disturbing information, Will had to decide on what to do with that information.

Did everyone make it out okay from Fort Eden? Or is there something bigger going on than the 7 teenagers getting cured? Read Dark Eden to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
This was a very interesting novel. I liked the premises before I read the book - a group of teenagers going away to be cured from their all-consuming fear.

I also liked that this was narrated by a teen guy - Will. I said at the beginning of 2012 that I wanted to read more guy narrations (which I haven't done a very good job of) so this was a great novel to read!

There was a lot of mystery in this book as to what Fort Eden was all about, what each of the 7 teenagers fears were, and how each teenager were being cured from their fear.

With Will, the reader didn't find out his fear until the middle of the book, so while he seemed like a normal boy, the reader was still reminded that there was something off about him.

He had great survival instincts, though. He brought necessary items in case he went off on his own and he is a very smart boy - only 15 and was taking freshmen college classes.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel! It was definitely something different for me and not my usual type of YA book, but I was lost into the mystery and suspense of this adventure.

There is a second novel, Eve of Destruction, which is now available and continues the story of the 7 teenagers.

I would recommend this novel to any teens, no matter the gender. I think it will appeal to both guys and girls because of the narration and the mysterious story that will capture the attention of any reader wanting a good mystery.

Crave by Melissa Darnell

This is the first novel in The Clann series by Melissa Darnell.

Savannah Colbert has always been shunned by the Clann students - 22 students at her high school who are always together and always find a way to make Savannah feel crappy about herself.

It doesn't help that she used to be friends with a few of them (the Brat twins and Tristan Coleman, who she "married" in 4th grade) before they started to pretend they never knew each other and when her family told her she couldn't be around them anymore.

And the worst part? Ever since Savannah can remember, she's had a crush on Tristan. Sure, she hasn't talked to him in 7 years, but it doesn't change the fact that she knows exactly where he is when they are in the same room together by the twinge she gets in her stomach.

Everything changes, though, after Savannah gets sick for a week. She comes to school as a different person - a person who Tristan cannot ignore anymore, no matter the rules he was told to stay away from her.

See, Tristan is a witch, a descendant, who is supposed to follow his father's footsteps and become the next leader of the Clann.

And Savannah is also a descendant, a Clann member. But her family was forced out of the Clann when Savannah's mother married a vampire - the Clann's worst enemy. Not only does that make Savannah half witch, it also makes her half vampire - a half blood.

When Savannah starts to get her vampire abilities, no one knows what to do, as there has never been a half-blood before. But she is being watched carefully by the vampire council, making sure she doesn't give into the bloodlust that fledgling vampires are known for.

It's also a little harder because now that Tristan's decided to go against his Clann's rules, he's been on pursuit to be with Savannah.

But will their relationship be the end of a reluctant peace between the witches and vampires? Or will Savannah and Tristan be able to salvage their relationship along with the tension between their two worlds? Read Crave by Melissa Darnell to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
Now, I know, this is another vampire book. But it's also a witchcraft/magic book and a "Romeo + Juliet" book, so there's a lot to work with in this novel to appeal to a wide audience.

The situation that Tristan and Savannah are put in is probably worse than Romeo and Juliet. They've had this attraction toward one another since they were first introduced, and the time apart didn't change that.

In fact, it might have made it worse.

But because of Savannah's mixed species, she's a threat to Tristan. As a half vampire, she also has a demon species in her, an incubus. So whenever her and Tristan kiss, she's taking a part of his energy. And Savannah always has to fight the urge when she smells his blood.

I liked Savannah a lot. She was a fighter - probably fought longer than any other female would have fought with Tristan on her tail of trying to get her to date him. He was very persistent and she finally gave in.

I mean, if she HADN'T given in, I would have thought something would be wrong with her, but she put up a very good fight.

This was an interesting way to mix vampires and witches into a story. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't my favorite supernatural story I've read.

I will, though, read the rest of the series when it comes out. The second novel comes out in September 2012, so not too long of a wait to read the next barrier that comes between Tristan and Savannah.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants another vampire or witchcraft story. It is also told through both Savannah and Tristan's point of view, so it might attract teen guys to read it, but I would say it's mainly for teen girls.