Wednesday 29 April 2015

Top 5 Wednesday: Series Enders

Top 5 Wednesday is a meme started by Lainey at Ginger Reads Lainey. Find the list of all the #T5WFamily here.


This weeks topic is:


Top 5 Series Enders!

To keep spoilers at a minimum, I'm just going to say that these five books ended very satisfying. They did the series justice and made Brittany a very happy(possible also sad(but in a good way)) fangirl.








What are some of your most favourite series enders?

Happy reading!

Brittany



Tuesday 28 April 2015

Review: Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: April 28th, 2015
Pages: 320
Source: ARC from publisher**I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review**
Rating:
Add to Goodreads

Neil Gaiman’s Stardust meets John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars in this fantasy about a girl caught between two worlds... two races…and two destinies.

Aza Ray is drowning in thin air.

Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to breathe, to speak—to live.

So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of her medication. But Aza doesn't think this is a hallucination. She can hear someone on the ship calling her name.

Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Jason, who’s always been there. Jason, for whom she might have more-than-friendly feelings. But before Aza can consider that thrilling idea, something goes terribly wrong. Aza is lost to our world—and found, by another. Magonia.

Above the clouds, in a land of trading ships, Aza is not the weak and dying thing she was. In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power—and as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war is coming. Magonia and Earth are on the cusp of a reckoning. And in Aza’s hands lies the fate of the whole of humanity—including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie?


Magonia is not going to be an easy book to review. Its intriguing premise(and cover) drew me to it originally. Quite unique sounding. I thoroughly enjoyed Magonia. I think I did anyhow. I'm having a really hard time figuring out my thoughts. Well reading along I continually kept saying, "I'm liking this. But what is this?" My brain was so confused.

I don't really like book comparisons either. I don't think it's fair to the new book, even when it's compared to a best seller. But in this case the comparison to Neil Gaiman is spot on. Of course Magonia is its own story, but it has the essence of a Gaiman book and I think his fans would find this right up their alley.

I'm really not going to give away much about the what Magonia is about because 1. it's hard to describe and 2. the synopsis is vague for a reason. The reader should go in not knowing what they're getting themselves into. Aza is sickly. She has a very rare disease. So rare that it's named after her. Aza is dying a slow death. Her lungs don't work properly, among other things. She spends a lot of time in the hospital, pretty much just trying to keep herself alive. One day Aza thinks she sees something in the sky. Something that shouldn't be there. That leads to a pretty big freak out that puts her in the hospital where the doctors discover a feather in her lung. And the story just progresses from there. Until Aza finds herself in Magonia. A world in the sky. Magonia isn't to happy with humans. For many reasons. But the humans don't know about the Magonians. And Aza is torn between her home and what is her new home. Aza needs to prevent a war that the humans don't know is coming.

Aza was really cool. She started off kind of pretentious. But I quickly got over that and realized she was a bit of a nerd who just likes facts and had a vivid imagination. Interesting and unknown facts. Aza of course knows she's dying but she's not depressed about it. You can see she's scared, but also accepting. Aza is going day by day. She just had a really unique attitude. When Aza finds herself in Magonia, a place where she can breathe and live, she's accepting yet doesn't let anything pass her by. Aza can be someone else there. Maybe someone she was meant to be. Aza had a fantastic character arc. From this sickly girl to a savior. Where her personality never changed. I'd be her friend.

Jason is Aza's best friend. Only friend. I absolutely adored them together. A very very solid friendship. They were made for each other. There's some chapters from Jason's POV and they were my favourite. Jason is a super intelligent guy that is either going to take over the world or destroy it. He's already made millions by coming up with products that should have already been available. Jason is like Aza in that he like his weird facts and has weird interests. Well I guess not weird, just different from most teenagers. Jason has the connections and ways to get whatever he needs. That includes trying to find a cure for Aza. He will do absolutely anything to save her life. Even when he doesn't exactly know where she is. I feel like I'm having a hard time putting Jason into words. I just absolutely adored him. Him and Aza are so super sweet together.

Aza and Jason also had awesome families. Jason's moms encouraged him to be himself but also worried. It was a really good combination and parenting tactic for a kid like him.
Aza's mom, dad and sister let her live a normal life. The love and bond between the four of them was really heart warming.

Like I mentioned earlier, I'm keeping Magonia vague. Just know that Maria has created a very intricate and different world in the sky. It's so very vivid. I could easily imagine and conjure images of everything that was being described. It was easy to believe that this fantasy world could be real.
The Magonians blame earth, the humans, for their poverty and way of life. But how is that fair when humans no nothing of these creatures living in the sky? I agree that we don't take enough care of our planet. It's like aliens attacking earth, wanting to go to war against humans just because we exist. Humans don't know what they're doing to the Magonia. But because Magonia relies on our crops they feel they have every right to be mad at the humans for destroying the earth.

"They willfully destroy the earth they live on, and in doing so they destroy us," says Zal". pg.192
Maria's writing is poetic and beautiful. Like the world she's created, it's unique and flows really easily. Magonia was a surprise of a read in all senses. It's hidden messages hit me where it counted. Maria has serious skills in world building and writing fantastically awesome characters. So I was very happy to get to the end of the book and realize that there is no way this is a stand alone. I cannot wait to see what Aza and Jason find themselves having to overcome in the sequel.

Happy reading!

Brittany

Saturday 25 April 2015

Weekly Wrap-Up April 18th-24th


I managed to finish six books this week. Two of them were audio and one e-book. And five of them were YA. Kind of breaking out of my very, very long NA kick.


If I Tell by Janet Gurtler ****
I really cannot recommend Janet's books enough. She can just write YA contemporary so well. There is a few cute moments, but mostly they hit on different themes. Like this one, the MC, Jasmine, is struggling with being bi-racial in a town that is pretty conservative. Her mom was 17 when she had her, so she's been raised by her grandmother. And her mom has been more like a sister. I felt a lot of rage in reading this one. Jasmine had closed herself off and could come across as unsociable. It was her coping mechanism. I totally understood why she'd be like that. Just another great book from Janet.


Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman *****
I reviewed this one this week. Find the review here.


I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler ****.5
I knew going in that this one dealt with cancer. So I was prepared for an emotional read. But I was not prepared for some heart punches Janet decided to toss in on top of everything else. I'm not sure, but this might be my favourite of Janet's books to date. The bond between sisters and how their relationship shifted and grew during a trying time was done so well. Tess had to be the rock and grown up of her family because her parents were assholes and couldn't deal with being there for their daughter in such a terrible time. Tess had to push aside her dreams to be there for her sister, which she didn't think twice about, but she shouldn't have had to. God, her parent's were just awful in every which way. Tess is super intelligent and art is her passion. They constantly told her to get over her hobby. I just can't even. But Tess was strong and would call them out on their terrible attitudes and actions.


Rites of Passage by Joy N Hensley *****
Never has a book made me feel so out of shape and sluggish. I had this one on audio and would listen to it well running and I just kept thinking this isn't enough. Such a good book though! Sam is the epitome of a kick ass girl. Not only could she out last and out perform most of the guys, she had a strong attitude too. Mentioning rage, this book! I cannot believe how much a man's club the military still is. Sam was one of the first girls to attend this military school and she was treated like absolute shit by 90% of them. Sam never let that get her down. She just used it to fuel her desire to show them up even more. The romance is far from the focus here, but of my heart. I sooo needed that ship to sale. Talk about tension. I also don't think I've need a sequel(that probably won't ever happen) to be in the works. A NA sequel would be perfection!


Beautiful Secret(Beautiful #4) by Christina Lauren ****
I listened to this on audio as well. I was a little apprehensive going that route because it's an adult romance with the sexy times. Better get my ear buds in... But I actually quite enjoyed it. The two narrators did a really good job. The Beautiful series is just fun. And Beautiful Secret saw Christina Lauren's two series' meet up with these two MC's, Ruby and Niall. Niall is a sexy Brit, but kind of an idiot. Being married for over a decade really emasculated him. I couldn't believe that Ruby being 7 years younger was kind of teaching him. He honestly was clueless with women. I did really like Ruby. She was smart and didn't hold much back. Ruby wants to talk everything through which I really appreciated because that's not the usual in romance. Usually feelings are so secretive. I did believe their relationship though. It was cute beyond Niall's idiotic thoughts. The best, and my favourite parts was when we say the previous characters. When the gang is together it is always hilarious.


Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley  ****
Review will be up on Tuesday.

How was your week? What did you all read?

Happy reading!

Brittany

Thursday 23 April 2015

Disney Princess TAG

This tag originated over on YouTube and was created by TurtleSympathy.

Thanks to Charnell Reviews From A Bookworm for tagging me!


Anna & Elsa
A book involving siblings: Since I just devoured this series, I'm going to have to go with the Addicted series. There's four sisters, but three of them are just so close. Very solid relationship. They are there and behind each other with everything that happens. Good or bad.

Rapunzel
A book that made you emotional: Not many make me cry. I've got a black heart. So the last one to make me have ALL THE FEELS, one I just read, I'm Not Her. I knew it was a cancer book, so there's those feelings. But I was shocked by something else that happened. Totally made me shed some tears.

Merida
A book featuring a female warrior: There's really no other answer than my top kick ass lady; Celaena Sardothien from the Throne of Glass series. She's an assassin, might be a little bit crazy, which is understandable. But there's also so much more to her. She gets more and more bad ass as the series has gone on.

Tiana
A book that features realistic struggles: I just read and absolutely LOVED Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Simon is gay but hasn't come out yet. So he's struggling with how to go about that. Plus just being a teenager and trying to handle life. This book is perfection!

Belle
A literary book or classic: Yea, I don't read them classics. Just not my thing. But I have read and loved The Great Gatsby. That's a modern classic. 

Pocahontas
A nature themed book or book by a naturalist: In the Healer Trilogy nature plays a huge part in a lot of the magic systems. One of the MC's, Kerrick can touch the ground and blend in. That's just a bit of what his magic consists of. 

Jasmine
A book about the desire to be free: This might be a little off the meaning of this question, but whatever. I'm going to say The Martian. Mark is stranded on Mars and trying to survive four years by himself until the next shuttle arrives. I'd say he's trapped and would want nothing more than to be free of his restraints on Mars(like lack of breathable air).


Mulan
A book featuring war or battles: Can pretty much pick any fantasy series because there is always a war(s) and/or battle(s) between kingdoms or even within a kingdom. So that's what I'm going with. And since I can't pick one, a few of my favourites are The Lumatere ChroniclesThe Ascendance Trilogy and The Lord of the Rings.


Ariel
A book featuring curiosity or learning: Besides Harry Potter, nothing else really came to me. With HP we learn a ton along with Harry as he attends his lessons and just learns all about the magical world. And his fate too.


Cinderella
A book featuring manual labour:  I don't really know why I found this one so hard. So I'm just going to go with Outlander. There's plenty of times throughout the series where characters are working hard to survive or are in a prison where doing back breaking work day in and day out.


Sleeping Beauty
A book featuring sleep: I thought about going the not so PG way with this question. Made myself chuckle over some answers. But instead am going with The Women Who Stole My Life. The MC isn't technically asleep during a portion of it. She does end up with a very rare neuro disease that keeps her in a hospital bed for years of her life where she can only blink. I'd pretty much compare that to being a sleep for years of your life.


Snow White
A book featuring one of the seven deadly sins: Ummmm.... I'm kind of drawing a blank here. The only one I can think of is a book I didn't really enjoy, but has a solid following. Sweet Evil is centered around kids who's parents embody a certain sin.


Megara
A book featuring Greek mythologyPercy Jackson. Obviously. Absolutely adore PJ and than The Heroes of Olympus. Never has reading for fun made me learn so much.


Alice
A book featuring nonsense or an usual other world: I was having trouble thinking of any books outside Alice in Wonderland or any of the re-tellings I've read. Than I thought of the Theatre Illuminata series. It's a bit of a contemporary world outside the Theatre itself. But the Theatre Illuminata is a magical place where all the characters from every play are bound. It's magical, unusual and the story is a bit confusing at times. Very unique though.


Maid Marian
A book with a canine: You guys know my love for the Elemental series, it's fantastic, yes. But it also has my favourite fictional dog, Casper. He's just a regular dog. But he's sooo smart and adorable and I just really want him to be real. Real and my dog.


Nala
A book with a feline: Okay, I'm definitely not a cat person, but from the moment I met Grimalkin from The Iron Fey series, I was like that is how a cat would totally be if they could talk. He's a clever, cheeky smartass. Also he's really loyal under all his jerkish gestures. Grim constantly made my laugh and shake my head. He's fantastic.


I'm not going to specifically tag anyone. So if anyone wants to do this, than do it and just link me to your post.
What would some of your answers be to any of the questions?

Happy reading!

Brittany


Wednesday 22 April 2015

Review: Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

Publisher:
Harper Teen
Publication Date: April 21st, 2015
Pages: 320
Source: ARC from publisher **I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review**
Rating:
Add to Goodreads

Caden Bosch is on a ship that's headed for the deepest point on Earth: Challenger Deep, the southern part of the Marianas Trench.
Caden Bosch is a brilliant high school student whose friends are starting to notice his odd behavior.

Caden Bosch is designated the ship's artist in residence, to document the journey with images.

Caden Bosch pretends to join the school track team but spends his days walking for miles, absorbed by the thoughts in his head.

Caden Bosch is split between his allegiance to the captain and the allure of mutiny.

Caden Bosch is torn.

A captivating and powerful novel that lingers long beyond the last page, Challenger Deep is a heartfelt tour de force by one of today's most admired writers for teens.


It's becoming obvious that 2015 is the year that YA is shedding light onto mental illness. We're finally starting to veer away from the paranormal and dystopian trend. There's of course always been the more powerful YA reads. But it was always like one a year. Now we've got a lot more to choose from that cover mental illness, suicide and LGBT. That's encouraging. Getting more discussion out there, especially with teenagers, is much needed. Even if they or I can't relate to a certain topic, I can definitely empathize and more than likely learn from it. And that's exactly what Challenger Deep achieved. I was able to see how someone like, Caden starts to spiral downward. How his mind is blurring the lines between reality and make believe. This is a hard book to read, but very powerful and one that should be read. Challenger Deep is very unique and vivid in the narrative. Very clever.

It's very clear that this is a very personal novel that Shusterman wrote. So when you get to the acknowledgements and see that he went through this with his son, I knew that this was more than a work of fiction. A fictionalized memoir would be more accurate. Either way Challenger Deep is very encompassing.

We meet Caden as he's starting to feel off. He's becoming anxious, paranoid, manic and overly compulsive. Thoughts go through his mind like what happens if he jumps, will that create a an earthquake in China? Or how he just all the sudden knows the secret to the universe.
"The things I feel cannot be put into words, or if they can, the words are in no language anyone can understand. My emotions are talking in tongues. Joy spins into anger spins into fear then into amused irony, like leaping from a plane, arms wide, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that you can fly, then discovering you can't, and not only don't you have a parachute, but you don't have any clothes on, and the people below all have binoculars and are laughing as you plummet to a highly embarrassing doom." pg.12
 Caden is also lying to his parents, teachers and friends. I know this is how someone falling sick can get over looked, the person becomes very good at hiding. Luckily Caden's parents are actual parents. They're supportive, involved, diligent and caring. So they are quick to notice the change in Caden's personality and behavior. They may have been scared for him, but they didn't let it show. They knew he needed help. It's really refreshing to see these type of parents in a YA book. Far too many times we see the parents brush off or ignore these type of situations.

There's also chapters where Caden is a crew member on a pirate ship. To begin with you're wondering what is happening. It's a bit confusing. Are we seeing how he falls so far into make believe? No fear, we soon learn that the pirate ship is paralleling Caden's life. It's his brain journeying into the deep. His mind battling to stay in reality is the pirate ship. Shusterman does a wonderful job of conveying how complex an organ the brain is. Caden has clear thoughts about what's happening on this ship. It's the hope that he can over come that line and bring himself back to the sky.

I definitely recommend giving yourself time to read Challenger Deep. It is a book that took me two weeks to read. Not only did I want to give it my undivided attention, but I also had to make time to digest what I was reading. I took something away from Challenger Deep. Learned something powerful. Caden was a great voice to help me empathize and realize just how encompassing the mind can be, even when we know somethings off. Shusterman provided a very real look at mental illness through Caden. I have no doubt that this story will stay with me through the years. I also did something I very rarely do, which is annotate and mark up a book. Not only have I tabbed a lot of passages, I also have notes on a lot of the pages. It was hard not to write down my feelings and thoughts. I had a lot of them.

Happy reading!

Brittany

Tuesday 21 April 2015

Release Day: Asa by Jay Crownover


Asa by Jay Crownover

Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: April 21st, 2015
Pages: 384
Series: Marked Men #6
Add to Goodreads

Jay Crownover’s New York Times and USA Today bestsellingMarked Men series continues with the much anticipated story of southern charmer and certified criminal Asa Cross.

Starting over in Denver with a whole new circle of friends and family, Asa Cross struggles with being the man he knows everyone wants him to be and the man he knows he really is. A leopard doesn’t it change its spots and Asa has always been a predator. He doesn’t want to hurt those who love and rely on him, especially one luscious arresting cop who suddenly seems to be interested in him for far more than his penchant for breaking the law. But letting go of old habits is hard, and it’s easy to hit bottom when it’s the place you know best.

Royal Hastings is quickly learning what the bottom looks like after a tragic situation at work threatens not only her career but her partner’s life. As a woman who has only ever had a few real friends she’s trying to muddle through her confusion and devastation all alone. Except she can’t stop thinking about the sexy southern bartender she locked up. Crushing on Asa is the last thing she needs but his allure is too strong to resist. His long criminal record can only hurt her already shaky career and chasing after a guy who has no respect for the law or himself can only end in heartbreak.

A longtime criminal and a cop together just seems so wrong . . . but for Asa and Royal, being wrong together is the only right choice to make.


EXCERPT:

I pulled the Nova to a stop in front of a duplex that had clearly seen better days. It wasn’t a rusted-out trailer in Kentucky, but it might as well have been. I turned off the ignition and sat back in the seat so I could turn to look at Ayden. She was watching me carefully and I could see how frustrated she was with the entire conversation in the way her shoulders were tensed up and the way her hands had curled into tight balls on her lap. It was the way she used to look whenever I got into trouble and she had to do something desperate and drastic to get me out of it. I reached out a hand and put it on top of her fists.

“I died in that hospital, Ayd. There were no angels playing harps. There was no redemption and repentance. I died and it was very clear that I was going to get exactly the kind of fate I had been courting with all the messed-up shit I had been doing to other people. All I could see was every wrong I had ever committed and every bad decision I had ever made exploding all around me. For once I could see how all of that affected you. I was dying, and I knew what was waiting for me on the other side, yet I couldn’t go knowing that was all you were going to have to remember me by. I had to come back and give you something else to hold on to, some kind of good memory to go with the endless miles of bad I laid at your feet. I wanted to have the chance to show you I could be the kind of brother you deserved all along, so no, I didn’t save myself—you saved me. Just like you’ve always done for my entire life.”

I saw her bottom lip tremble until she snapped her teeth around it to keep it still. Her fists unclenched below my palm and she curled her shaking fingers around my hand and her already husky voice rasped with even more emotion when she told me what I think I had needed to hear from her all along.

“I have always been proud that you’re my brother, Asa. Yes, there have been times in the past I would have gladly fed you to the wolves, and it’s no secret that I had to leave home because I didn’t know what to do to help you anymore, but we both made it out alive and are better people for it. I know you’re sorry for the way things went down when we were younger, but I need you to open your eyes and take some credit for the way you have turned it around to make things the way they are now. I’ve long since come to terms with the Asa from my childhood. What I want to do is love the Asa that’s here with me now. You need to let go of those boulders weighted with all the bad things from past that are dragging you down before you get crushed under them.”

It was eerily similar to what Royal had been telling me the deeper and deeper I sank in with her. I don’t think I was ready to let any part of those stones go just yet, but a sexy redhead was slowly and surely eroding bits and pieces of the rock the more and more time I spent with her. By the time she was done, maybe she would be able to carve out something that was worthwhile, something that didn’t eviscerate me to look at.

I leaned over enough that I could kiss Ayden right on the center of her forehead between her midnight eyebrows and I felt her let out a shuddering sigh.

“I’m never going to let you down again, Ayd. That is the one and only thing in the entire world that I can promise and know it’s a promise I will keep.”

We stared at each other for a long and silent moment. The seriousness of the words I had said to her and the fact that I could see that she understood that I really, truly meant them finally worked to absolve me of some of the guilt that seemed to suffocate me whenever I thought about the things she had done to keep me safe.

Don't miss out on the other books in the Marked Men Series:




About Jay Crownover:


Jay Crownover is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men series. She also introduced the dark and sexy world of The Point that started with BETTER WHEN HE'S BAD and is currently working on her newest series The Saints of Denver. Like her characters, she is a big fan of tattoos. She loves music and wishes she could be a rock star, but since she has no aptitude for singing or instrument playing, she'll settle for writing stories with interesting characters that make the reader feel something. She lives in Colorado with her three dogs.








Happy reading!

Brittany

Sunday 19 April 2015

Showcase Sunday #78

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme held by Books, Biscuits and Tea. It allows fellow bloggers to show off any books or bookish things they've compiled over the week.

Hey hey! Did you guys have a beautiful week? The weather was mid to late teens this week. A lot of sun. Sucks when I work in an office, but great for getting back outside to run. Didn't mean to not post anything this week. But I really didn't have any reviews to write(which means I didn't have much to say about the books I've been reading). It is what it is.
I've been pretty good on slowing down on the physical books I'm buying. Only four to show from the past two weeks. But I have been getting the e-books. I don't really count those towards my TBR anyhow. I've also already read a good bunch of the books I'm hauling this week.

Purchased
Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Asa(Marked Men #6) by Jay Crownover
I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler
If I Tell by Janet Gurtler

E-Books Purchased

E-Book Freebies


What did you guys get this week?

Happy reading!

Brittany

Saturday 18 April 2015

Weekly Wrap-Up April 11th-17th


I managed to finish 5 books this week. All 5 were New Adult #sorrynotsorry. And the first 4 were e-books. 

Hothouse Flower(Calloway Sisters #2, Addicted #2.2) by Krista & Becca Ritchie ****.5
Ah finally Daisy is legal so we can get her and Ryke's story. As per the time line of the books, it's very long awaited and under wraps. The big thing with their relationship was the age difference. Ryke being 7 years older. Before Daisy was 18 there was a bit of sexual tension between them, but it was pretty PG. They're friends. They're both a little wild, so they're drawn to each other. Although Ryke does bring the level headedness to the relationship. A lot of shit happens to Daisy and Ryke is literally the kindest and most selfless guy. I adore them together(and as individuals). So cute. It was just fantastic to see them finally come together, even when the world(and some of their family) is against it. #Raisy lives!

Thrive(Addicted #2.5) by Krista & Becca Ritchie ***
I wasn't 100% sure that I was going to read these one. I'm glad I did. But I did do a bit of skimming. See this book is Lily and Lo's POV's but it takes place over the span of about two years. The two years that the previous two books covered. Albeit those books weren't in these characters POV's. But even so I thought it might be a lot of rehashing of the events. My friend who's read the book told me it wasn't. Unfortunately I didn't agree. It definitely was rehashing. It was nice to see these events from Lily or Lo's POV instead but still I already knew the outcome. At least there were a handful of new scenes to keep me interested. I probably wouldn't be hesitant to let a potential reader know that if you've read the previous two books than this one really isn't necessary for story and character progression.

Addicted After All(Addicted #3) by Krista & Becca Ritchie ****
Very very satisfying ending to Lily and Lo's story. The growth and strength these two have continued to show is pretty admirable. Addiction is a life long battle but these two will definitely persevere. I loved seeing their relationship and family grow(babies!). Some of the story was a little repetitive over the coarse of their books, but overall a really raw look at two individuals dealing with addictions.

Fuel the Fire(Calloway Sisters #3, Addicted #3.1) by Krista & Becca Ritchie *****
As I'm sure you've noticed, this series has taken over my life the best two weeks. I kept saying after finishing each book that I would stop and get back on track with my TBR. Lies. There was no stopping. So now I'm caught up on all the published books. And let me tell you, this one was easily my favourite. I absolutely adore and ship Connor and Rose so very much. What a complex couple. Their minds and love is out of this world. I seriously cannot get over how intelligent these two are. The way they think and talk. Just in awe(and love). It might sound creepy but I want to be with these two through second of their lives. Like right there up in their faces and brains and yea... They really are my new OTP. But this story was also a little heartbreaking when Connor's past gets thrown out to the media. I felt his pain. Especially because people are quick to judge. Of course his way with words, perseverance and Rose and his friends standing by his side had me cheering. So beautiful! #coballoway for life!
Also I cannot forget to mention that Connor did a striptease in a pub. CAN THIS BE REAL LIFE?!


Asa(Marked Men #6) by Jay Crownover ****
Sob. I can't believe this is the end. I never want to leave the Marked Men gang. I wish this was real life. I would be right on infiltrating their friend group and than snagging me one of their men. Ahem. I think it was really fitting ending with Asa. He's the southern charmer with a scary looking past. But as this series is big on second chances, it really showed for Asa. And even Royal. They are definitely a spit fire kind of couple. They were clearly made for each other. I loved this book, like I've loved the whole series. Especially because of the friend dynamic and getting to see how the other couples lives are continuing on, I can only hope Crownover decides to re-visit these characters down the road.


What did you guys read this week?

Happy reading!

Brittany