Valkyrie Rising by Ingrid Paulson

Having a protective older brother as a sophomore is horrible. Having her brother's best friend, who is extremely good looking and knows it, and also having him be overly protective of her isn't any better.

So when Ellie gets to go to Norway for the summer to visit her grandmother, Ellie is excited. No protective older males to boss her around and scare all of the boys away before she can get five words out.

Except Graham (brother) and Tucker (friend) decided they are going to come out for a few weeks in the summer too, disappointing Ellie just a little bit.

But when she gets to Norway, things are different than 2 years ago when she was there last. The locals are giving her stares and dirty looks, telling her to go back home, that they don't want her there.

And guys, 18 or older, are starting to disappear. They will be with a group of friends and then a minute later, they are just gone. Some have seen a group of guys following strange, beautiful girls to an SUV, so they know that the guys are getting kidnapped in public, though the group of friends they were with don't remember them leaving.

When Graham gets taken, Ellie decides she has to find out the big secret her grandmother has kept from her, and why everyone in Norway hates her on sight.

Turns out that Ellie is half Valkyrie, an ancient Norse Mythology story where the Valkyrie's would take the dead soldiers from battle to join Odin's army.

And now Ellie needs to hone into her Valkyrie heritage in order to save her brother. Though there are, obstacles ahead to getting her full powers that Ellie needs to overcome.

While struggling with this task, Ellie is also finding herself falling for Tucker's flirting. The only thing is, Tucker does this to any female within five feet of him, so she shouldn't take him seriously. But it's very hard when it seems like Tucker is being serious about his feelings...sometimes.

Can Ellie figure out how to save her brother? And what is the secret that Tucker is keeping from her? Read Valkyrie Rising by Ingrid Paulson to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
This was a great book! I wasn't sure what to expect but found myself reading this book in one sitting - it was that good!!

I'm an older sister of two, so I can't compare myself to Ellie's situation with having an older protective brother, but I can imagine that Ellie's experience was dead on.

And I was so envious of her going to Norway! The way the author described the area made me want to go myself!

The action scenes from when Ellie was fighting the other Valkyrie was really well written as well. And even though I'm not up to date on my Norse Mythology, I felt like I've been studying this subject for awhile with the way I was able to understand the myth of Odin and Loki.

The best part was with Tucker, though (well for me anyway). He's such a player but acts differently around Ellie. One, because of Graham but also because he can talk to her and not have to act like a player when around her.

I really, really enjoyed this novel. And it's Ingrid Paulson's first novel! She is extremely talented and I will be looking out for more of her works when they come out!

I'm not sure if this is part of a series?! I know that there is a short story called Valkryie Symptoms from Tucker's point of view that is before the setting of this novel. If you want to read it, it's at this website now for a limited time.

I recommend this to everyone! It's a really great novel, written extremely well and I loved every minute of it. I think others will too! And, again, I will be keeping Paulson on my radar for future novels!

Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park

Julie goes from high school in Ohio to college in Boston, MA. Mainly to start over and to find friends who really appreciate her love for reading old literature novels about the past.

But when she arrives to Boston and finds out that her apartment that she bought on Craigslist is really a burrito restaurant, things weren't looking too good for her.

Thankfully, Julie's mom called in a favor from her old roommate, Erin Watkins, when she was in college - who just happened to live near Julie's college.

And they had a spare bedroom that they were happy to let Julie use until she found a different apartment.

After awhile, when Julie found out that getting an apartment in a college town with a limited spending fee was extremely hard, Erin offered for her to stay at their house in exchange for picking up her youngest daughter, Celeste, from school.

And speaking of Celeste... she's a bit different than other 13 year old girls. Very different. In fact, she carries around a life-size cardboard figure of her old brother, Finn, who Celeste calls Flat Finn everywhere she goes. Everywhere.

Finn is traveling around the world and Julie is assuming Celeste created Flat Finn because she is having a hard time without Finn around.

Then there is the middle boy, Matt, the 21 MIT genius who wears geeky slogan shirts and is a very big nerd. But he is so good to his sister and does a lot to manage the house when his parents go AWOL.

So Julie is not bored at the Watkins house.

Oh, and another thing? She's been having very long conversations with real Finn through e-mail and Facebook, getting to know the eldest Watkins very well.

And she's sorta, kinda, maybe just a little bit falling for Finn - a guy that she has  never met before in real life but is quite charming over the Internet.

But Julie still wants to know why Flat Finn is there. The family is not a normal family - they definitely have their quirks. Not that Julie minds, but she wants to find out what really happened to make them like that.

However, when Julie really finds out what happened, there is no turning back. The connection between Julie and the Watkins will be stretched so far that there might not be a chance to go back to before. No matter how hard they try... Read Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park to find out what happens!

My Thoughts/Reflections 
When I first heard about this book, it was always connected with Jamie McGuire's novel Beautiful Disaster, which I absolutely loved (and reviewed here)! So I had extremely high hopes for this novel!

And was sorry to find out that I didn't love it as much as I wanted to... There was just something about the characters that I wasn't able to connect with. The way they talked and rambled about random stuff. The way they kept repeating the same thing with different words.

Where I really loved this book was at the very end. When the reader found out the big secret. I was able to guess what happened 3 pages before it was revealed to me and that is when I fell in love with this novel. But that was so close to the end that I didn't get to appreciate my love I gained for this book that much before it ended.

What I also loved was the way Julie became a part of the Watkins family. The way she treated Celeste was amazing. Flat Finn had a brain and Celeste made it known. And Julie didn't even blink by the life-size cardboard brother. She went along with it right from the beginning and had her own conversations with Flat Finn! It was pretty adorable I thought.

So there were good and bad parts to this novel. I did enjoy it, and loved the ending, but it was lacking something. Plus, if anyone compares a book to Beautiful Disaster, I am almost always disappointed because my love for that book is over the top.

However, for readers who want to read about an odd family who a strange girl slowly heals from an event that broke them, just to become a family member herself and falls in love with each and every one of them, this would be a perfect book for you.

Also, this is a New Age book, meaning between YA and Adult. College setting. This genre is starting to become more and more popular lately, which I'm really enjoying!

I'm glad that I finally got to read it and see what everyone was all hyped up about. It was a great story line and definitely makes me look at things differently!

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

When the Garretts moved in years ago when Samantha was 5, her mother said, "Oh, no, not one of those families" and told her two daughters to never talk to them.

What Samantha's mom meant was, the Garretts have 8 children, a messy house and yard, and nothing is ever quiet or in their proper place. A total nightmare for Samantha's mom.

But an intriguing setting for Samantha to observe. She's always been fascinated by the Garretts and has envied their lifestyle, since it's just Samantha and her older sister Tracy with their single mother.

Now, years later at 17-years-old, Sam's mom is the senator of the state, and Sam has grown up in a very strict household to keep her mother happy.

And it's also the first time Samantha has talked to Jase Garrett - Number 3 in the eight kid household and also 17-years-old.

Soon, Samantha finds herself lost in the Garrett household. She visits their house more often than staying at her own house and has now learned how to feed an army of 8, while also changing her first dirty diaper.

Samantha finds out, though, that she is a natural at it and really enjoys the insanity that happens everyday.

She is also finding herself falling very much in love with Jase. But Samantha is okay with that. She just needs to find a way to tell her mother without being evicted from the house or "ruining" her mother's chance for re-election come November.

Things that are too good to be true often show the dark, ugly side later, as Samantha found out the hard way. Everything is going amazing until her mother ruined not only Samantha's life, but another family's life.

Now Sam has to make a decision. Keep quiet and let her mother run for office with a clean slate, helping her chances of winning again, will ruining a family's life, or betraying her mother to do the right thing, the moral decision that she was raised to do.

Whichever choice Samantha picks, she is going to hurt someone in the end, and Samantha isn't sure what is the right thing to do anymore... Read My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick to find out what Samantha does!

My Thoughts/Reflections
I've been eyeing this book on Goodreads for awhile and was very happy when I checked it out from the library. However, I have to say this book didn't live up to the hype I thought it had originally...

Don't get me wrong, I really liked the storyline even though most of it was just being a rebellious daughter and dating a boy her mother doesn't like.

And there were tons of topics in this novel, like the political side with Samantha's mother and the sport aspect with Sam loving swimming and Jase training to get a football scholarship for college after senior year.

But for some reason I wasn't able to connect with the characters as well as I wanted.

I think the beginning of the book was the worst, especially when Jase and Samantha first talk to each other after 12 years of silence. Jase seemed really weird and his style of talking was abnormal.

Toward the middle and end, though, when Jase and Samantha became comfortable around each other, their personalities got better. But then it just felt like Samantha was trading families and moving from one lonely house to a house with too many people to keep track of.

One thing that I absolutely loved about this novel was Jase's family. Just think, a family of 8 - 10 if you count the parents. It's like 7th Heaven only a little bit more. And a lot more chaotic. Yet Jase's parents made it work, from having a 20-year-old to a some-odd-number month old baby. And I absolutely loved the scenes with the younger Garretts because they talked about the most random topics - just like normal kids to today.

So, this was a good novel, but not a great novel. I would like to see if I can connect with other novels from Fitzpatrick in the future, since this is her debut novel. I think I could get into her writing after reading her style a few more times.

Anyone who wants another read like Maureen Johnson and Sarah Dessen will love this novel. A summer romance ending in a twist, showing how life throws twists and turns in a relationship and whether love can outlast betrayal and family.

Wildefire by Karsten Knight

This is the first novel in the Wildefire series by Karsten Knight.

Back in New York, Ashline Wilde witnessed a horrible accident. Even though she didn't commit it, Ashline still feels responsible for what happened so she moves to California to a boarding school in the middle of nowhere.

Things were going fine until she got paired up with other "unnatural" students who are at Blackwood Academy: Raja, Rolfe, Ade, Lily, and Serena.

Turns out that all six of them are gods/goddesses. Raja is the Egyptian Goddess of the Dead; Rolfe is the Norse God of Light; Ade is the God of Thunder; Lily is the Goddess of the Blossom; Serena is a siren. But for some reason, Ashline doesn't know which Goddess she is - only that she is special just like the other five.

Oh, and Ashline's older sister Eve is also a goddess - the Goddess of Weather. And she doesn't use her powers for good all of the time...

Now the teen gods/goddesses are finding out that others are trying to capture them for their unique talents. But Ashline has no idea what hers is... Until it erupts out of her - quite literally. She has a knack for fire, but her real title is the Volcano Goddess.

Then Eve comes back after the horrible accident in New York. And she is starting to cause trouble for Ashline in California as well.

Before, Ashline couldn't stop Eve, but now that she knows her power, can Ashline figure out how to use them in time before Eve strikes again? Or will it be too late and Ashline will be haunted by more of Eve's destruction when she is finished? Read Wildefire by Karsten Knight to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
Another book about Gods/Goddesses! Normally I wouldn't be excited for the same topic, but Knight did a wonderful job bringing a new tale and a very different journey with this subject that I was kept very entertained and intrigued throughout this first novel.

I felt for Ashline when she was devastated by what her sister had done in New York. But she toughed it out and moved across country to start over and try to live as normal as possible. Which of course, wasn't that normal when she found out she was a goddess in a mortal body.

I really liked her though. Not only is she a kick a$$ goddess, but she's sporty! She plays tennis and is quite good at it - a way to release the anger inside!

And it wasn't as romantic as it could have been. Sure, there were romantic scenes, but Ashline wasn't one of those girls that needed to have a guy around to save the day.

In fact, Ashline was pretty good at taking care of herself. And there were a lot of fighting scenes in here as well!

This is the first book in a series (so far I know of 3 books in the series - not sure if that is all or if there is more to come though). And the second novel, Embers and Echoes is already out in print! I've ordered it and will hopefully get it soon from the library.

For anyone who is a Percy Jackson fan or fans of mythology, I would definitely recommend this to you! It is told through Ashline's point of view, so there will probably be more girls than guys reading it, but I think guys might enjoy this story as well!

Dark Companion by Marta Acosta

Growing up through foster homes has made Jane very leery and on guard. She doesn't trust many and can figure out if someone wants more than what they are saying.

It also made her work extremely hard to succeed and get an education to get out of the slums of town. So she was happy to get a scholarship at the Birch Grove Academy for Girls who has a prestigious reputation and mostly rich girls go there.

Right away the headmistress Mrs. Radcliffe took Jane under her wing and gave her clothes, food, and a place to stay.

And on the plus side, Jane got to tutor the headmistresses handsome son, Lucien - aka Lucky. But she also saw the other son, Jacob, or Jack, even though it seemed that he hated her.

With the two Radcliffe brothers stealing Jane's attention, she has to really focus and make sure that her grades didn't drop.

But things are very odd at Birch Grove Academy. And Jane is trust right into the weirdness of the history.

Not only does Jane have to adjust from living in the slums to having her own cottage on campus, but now the Radcliffe's are asking her to be a Companion - something that most would jump at the chance to be.

Jane, though, has always looked over her shoulder, and does intense research. When she starts looking into the past of two girls who disappeared from Birch Grove Academy, she realizes that everything is not as it seems. Can Jane get out of this situation before it's too late? Or will she decide to stay and be wanted for once in her life? Read Dark Companion by Marta Acosta to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
This was an...interesting novel.

Jane has had a hard life. After her mom died when she was 6, Jane grew up in foster homes. The last place she was at she was there for 4 years before she was able to transfer to the Birch Grove Academy. But being in foster homes and living on the wrong side of the block made her very protective and she knew what to do to get out of horrible situations.

But the way Jane acted around Lucien and after she found out about their secret, I couldn't feel pity for Jane anymore. She ignored her own health and her own wants, thinking only of what would be best for Lucien.

Sounds good in theory, but this girl has been fighting for the past 4 years to get to a better place and she wanted to dehumanize herself just to be like the "rich" people.

Thankfully Jane came to her senses and redeemed herself in my opinion by the end of the novel, but throughout most of the novel I just kept shaking my head at her.

The two characters I loved were Mary Violet - one of Jane's new friends at Birch Grove Academy. She said the most random and hilarious things that I found myself laughing out loud.

The other character I loved was Jack. He was so random and extremely different from his brother. I couldn't wait for the next time he randomly popped up in the book to have an odd conversation with Jane.

So, this book just wasn't for me. But for anyone who wants a Dark Gothic novel about an orphan girl trying to find her way in life, I would definitely recommend it to you.

Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski

When April's dad told her that they (dad, April and step-mom Penny) were moving to Ohio, April was not having it. Everything was going wonderful for her in Connecticut  She had great best friends (Vi, Marissa) and a wonderful boyfriend of 3 years, Noah.

So April and Vi came up with a great plan - have April stay at Vi's house!

Only April's dad is very strict. After an incident 1.5 years ago, April has a 10 pm curfew; and she's 16! So when April heard that Vi's mom will be traveling and not be home, everything is doomed.

Until Vi pretended to be her mom and okayed everything with April's dad! Now they will be living together, just the two of them, as grown ups and no parental control.

Amazing right?

Except things weren't going as planned. April has never lived on her own, so she was testing Vi's patience. April needed to keep all of the lies straight so she wouldn't get caught. But now her and Noah could finally take the next step in their relationship! Except thing seem a little strained for some reason.

And why was April somewhat, sorta, possibly attracted to Hudson, a potential drug dealer since he has so much cash and no one knows where he works at?

But then April gets a call from the doctors and everything blows up. Now she's not sure what to do, who to trust. And she has no parents to go to since her dad is in Ohio and her mom is in Paris.

How could a simple living with a friend to be close to friends and her boyfriend go so dreadfully wrong? Read Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
This was an entertaining and random book that I really enjoyed reading! It was also very fast paced and I read it in one sitting, so it must have been good, right?

I did think that April was a little naive and stupid. She did a lot of mistakes, but I think it was good for her to learn before she moved out on her own. Her parents spoiled her rotten so it was nice that her character really grew into a mature and responsible adult (well, sorta!).

And by the way, I don't know any parents that would let their kids stay with a friend and not meet the parents - even if they had a good reason for being away. That would have seemed fishy to normal parents, I would think.

There were a lot of issues that were handled in this novel, but I think that Mlynowski did a great job with those tough subjects for teens and making it educational but fun at the same time.

Even though this book was focused around April and Noah's relationship, I really enjoyed the scenes with Hudson. Normally I would hate sequels, but if Mlynowski decided to write another novel about Hudson, I would be perfectly happy about that decision.

So, yes, this is a stand alone; no second novel to be pining over so all of your questions will be answered - hopefully.

I would recommend this novel to older teen girls. It's only through April's point of view and there are some content topics that I think would be best suited for older teens, high school kids. Although I think that many parents would argue and say that their daughters can't read this til they're an adult, but I think this novel could really help a girl answer some questions without having to talk to their parents (though they should if they are ever in a situation that April was in).

Great novel, very entertaining and so random that I think readers will enjoy it. I'll have to start reading more of Mlynowski's works!

Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols

Leah hasn't been very fortunate while growing up. Her mother has never had a job so she moves around where her boyfriends will "take care of her" and usually has to live in a trailer park next to an airstrip. It's the cheapest place to live.

So Leah decided that she is going to get a job at these airstrips because she constantly has to hear them and she's always been fascinated by the machines that look like they shouldn't be able to fly.

Mr. Hall, the owner of the banner planes (planes that drag banners for businesses) let her take flying lessons and after 3 years, when she turned 18, she was a professional at flying the banner planes.

When Mr. Hall dies, though, Leah finds herself working for his twin sons, Alec and Grayson. Who are also 18. Leah has known them for 3.5 years but has never really talked to them.

Grayson is the more outspoken, gloomy, and impulsive twin who never sticks with a plan that he starts. Alec is the popular, nice and fun twin. For some reason, Grayson has taken over the family business, and he wants Leah to work for him.

But Leah knew that working for an impulsive guy who gives up on all of his past plans is not a good idea. The only way he got Leah to work for him was to blackmail her. See, Leah's mother has no idea that she flies planes and makes a lot of money. Because Leah's mother would take all of the hard working money she's made and saved for college.

So she reluctantly agrees to work for him. But Grayson also has another condition: Leah has to find a way to start dating Alec.

The problem? Leah has had a crush on Grayson for 3.5 years, so she has no romantic feelings for Alec.

But in order to survive and continue to make money, Leah takes the deal so her mother won't find out. Unfortunately, things don't go as smoothly as Grayson and Leah want them to.

Will Leah be able to keep fooling her mother, and Alec? Or will her feelings toward Grayson be too obvious? And will Leah be able to keep her money to afford going to college, eventually getting a pilot's license? Read Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
Wow. This was an amazing novel! I've reviewed two novels by Jennifer Echols on this blog and both times I definitely loved her novels, so I think she's one of my favorite authors!

I think Echols did a great job depicting the social differences in this novel. Because Leah lives in a trailer park, she gets a lot of rude comments. Plus, because she's extremely gorgeous, all the guys try to get "favors" from her, thinking that just because she lives in a trailer park she'll do it.

Plus, since her mom is unemployed, for life, Leah has learned to take care of the bills, buy food when she can, go to school, work, and still find time to try and look presentable and "not poor".

I really like Leah's character.

And the twins! They lost their elder brother, Jake, when he was flying in Afghanistan and then their dad died a month after Jake's death. They lost so much recently that they were lashing out and not being their usual selfs, of course.

I wasn't a huge fan of Alec because he always seemed fake to me. But Grayson, he was genuine and smoldering, and hurting. I loved reading about him because one never knew how he was going to reaction to a situation.

Another thing I really enjoyed about this novel is the flying. I've never read a book this detailed about flying and how they do what, so it was really educational for me and something new in this time period of YA literature that everyone writes about the same topic.

So, I'm going to give away one of my questions from above (feelings toward Grayson) and say THE SCENES WITH GRAYSON AND LEAH WERE AH-MAZING!! They made me blush! That. Is. All.

I loved this book and would recommend it to any female reader, since it was through Leah's point of view. And I have to say, read Jennifer Echols books! So far they have not been a disappointment to me and I think others will really enjoy her work!