#BooksRead2016 – Page 2 – Cindy's Love Of Books

Review/ Monument 14

Posted on March 4, 2016February 25, 2016 by Cindy

Monument 14 (Monument 14, #1) by Emmy Laybourne
Published by Square Fish on May 28th 2013
Pages: 352
Goodreads

This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.

Your mother hollers that you're going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don't stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don't thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not—you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner.Only, if it's the last time you'll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you'd stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran.Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.
In Emmy Laybourne's action-packed debut novel Monument 14, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart.

I can’t believe that I haven’t read this book sooner. Its been sitting on my shelf for a little while now and I finally took it down and read it.

This is the first book in a three book series and a debut novel. I have the following reviews coming up next week so be sure to check back for those.

When I first picked up the book to read I didn’t realize that I was going to be sucked in right away. I pretty much tried to read this in a few sittings but it was hard to do that. I really love reading books like that. Books that will suck you in right away and give you the ride of your life. This was one of those books.

This seems to be one of those series that was flown under the radar because I don’t recall alot of reviews on it or hearing much about it when it came out.

Emmy Laybourne did a fantastic job with the writing. As I was reading it could actually envision this happening in the future with the wonky weather, the chemical warfare and everyone going bonkers due to all the chemicals in the air.

Alex and Dean wake up one morning thinking this was just going to be a ordinary day with going to school and then coming home like normal but they soon realize that things are about to change. On the way to school the weather turns with huge hail falling from the sky. The bus that Dean is on flips over due to the damage of the hail and the size of the hail. The bus that Alex is on manages to follow and rescue the kids. The driver drives her bus into a Greenway, which is a huge grocery store. I should warn you that there is alot of blood and death in the book.

The bus driver leaves the kids (6 high school, 2 eight graders and 6 little kids) secure in the Greenway to go for help and before long the high school kids have taken over to bring some order to the place once the security gates close them off from the outside world. At first its all fun and games but when the teenagers realize that they are on their own with the little kids and its not pleasant outside they all go into survival mode. They seal the gates up properly so that the chemicals won’t enter their air supply. The make the Greenway their home until they get rescued and they realized that someone had to step up to lead the way and I think that worked for them.

It was nice to see how the kids seemed to mature as the book progressed. At times I felt there was too many characters but I think it worked just perfectly with the book granted I had to keep a little note inside the book just so I could remember who was who.

This book was non stop action and sitting on the edge of the seat the whole way through. I had a hard time to put the book down at night. Thankfully the book ended with a cliff hanger so I didn’t have to wait long for the next book because it was sitting on my shelf.

Momument 14 is told from Dean’s writing that he has started inside the store. Its documented daily. Which I have to say I really enjoyed this aspect of the story telling.

Can you image being stuck in a huge grocery store? What would you do first?

Review/ SEAL Wolf In Too Deep

Posted on March 3, 2016February 25, 2016 by Cindy

SEAL Wolf In Too Deep (Heart of the Wolf, #18) by Terry Spear
Format: Paperback
Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca on February 2nd 2016
Pages: 352
Goodreads

Debbie Renaud is a police diver working on criminal cases with SEAL Allan Rappaport. She admires him greatly for his missions in the Navy, plus he's just plain HOT. Allan seems to share her attraction, but what she doesn't know is that her partner is wolf shifter.
Allan is really hung up on his smart, beautiful dive partner, but he can't get involved with a human outside dive duty. Yet when she gets between a werewolf hunter and his intended victim, one of the members of Allan's pack, they run into real trouble, and their lives are altered forever.

What can I say about Terry Spear’s that I haven’t already said except to say that she is so amazing. I love her writing and her books. I am so happy that I was introduced to her books a few years ago. Terry is my automatic buy author and I don’t say that about alot of authors.

SEAL Wolf In Too Deep is her 18th book and its part of her SEAL Wolf series. You can read each book as a stand alone because each book has their own story the only thing you might find is previous characters being mentioned in this book. Its okay it won’t affect your thoughts on the book.

This was a page turner like all her other books and I always manage to read them rather quickly even though I try to savour the books I just can’t. She sucks you in right from the get go. Which is one of the reasons I love reading her books I know I will never be disappointed.

In Too Deep is Allan’s story and if you have read the previous books in this series you will discover that he was mentioned before so it was nice to see Allan get his own book and storyline because he was a character I always wanted to know more about.

Allan is a shape shifter and a diver with the local police. When his partner gets injured he is forced to work with a new one and that new one happens to be Debbie who comes highly recommended. At first their relationship is strictly professional and he is trying to keep the wolves a secret to her but gradually he is no longer able to do that when she gets shot at. Someone is killing humans and wolves thinking they are one of the same.

Who is behind the killings and will they be caught before its too late?

What will Allan do when he discovers what the pack has done?

If your looking for a fun and exciting series of books I highly recommend these books hands down you won’t be disappointed.

Review/ November 9

Posted on March 1, 2016February 19, 2016 by Cindy

November 9 by Colleen Hoover
Format: Paperback
Published by Atria Books on November 10th 2015
Pages: 310
Goodreads

Beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover returns with an unforgettable love story between a writer and his unexpected muse.

Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day before her scheduled cross-country move. Their untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last day in L.A. together, and her eventful life becomes the creative inspiration Ben has always sought for his novel. Over time and amidst the various relationships and tribulations of their own separate lives, they continue to meet on the same date every year. Until one day Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist.

Colleen Hoover has been one of those authors that I have always wanted to read and I am not quite sure why I didn’t pick up her books sooner. I know I have a few on my Kobo and Kindle app that I picked up along the way but for some reason I never read but after reading this I have to say that I will be digging into those ebooks to read.

I didn’t realize that when I picked up this book that I would be walk till all hours of the morning reading this and I read it pretty much in one sitting. I had such a hard time putting the book down. I was literally sucked into the book from the get go and even still I think about the book.

November 9 is a roller coaster of emotions and I should say you should have some tissues on hand just in case as I doscovered.

This is a standalone book so you don’t have to worry about reading her previous books.

The only thing I know about the book is that two people, Fallon and Ben meet each other every November 9 and that was all I wanted to know about the book. I didn’t want to know to much because I wanted to go into this not knowing anything else and I have to say I am happy that I didn’t know more.

Fallon was a child star who lost it all in a house fire that left her scared and no one wanting to work with her or touch her. For Fallon her career as an actress ended abruptly. Her father is also a actor and you can see they are completely like night and day and he comes off as a real jerk who discourages Fallon any chance he gets it seems like.

Enter Ben who is a college student and he is sitting behind Fallon and her dad and he hears their conversation and he feels for Fallon and he swoops in almost to save the day and pretends to be Fallons boyfriend and tells her dad a think or two to put him in his place.

Ben knows Fallon is moving to NYC so they make the best of the little time they have together. He lets Fallon know that he is a writer and that he thinks their story would make the perfect book. He thinks that documenting the next five years could be fun and the reason its five years is because of something Fallon’s mom had said and I think personally I love that idea because if its meant to be then it will be.

So with this arrangement of meeting on November 9 for the next five years they each give the other a little home work assignment to be completed before the next meet. They can’t communicate via texts, calls anything.

I have to say that I loved Ben because he looked past the scars Fallon had and he made it his mission to make her feel pretty and comfortable with herself and that she was pretty no matter what and at first I found it hard to believe because so many guys base things on girls appearances and nothing else matters.

It was sweet to see this relationship develop and how they managed to keep it going was amazing. I don’t think i could have done that once feelings started to develop. Could you?

I have to tread lightly because I know I am going to give away the book and I really think you should go and pick up a copy to read as soon as possible so that you can experience this feeling too.

With that I am just going to say that i felt like I was on a roller coaster reading this book, My feelings were all over the place but I have to say I am happy that I finally read this. I look forward to reading Colleen’s other books.

Other books by Colleen Hoover:

Slammed Series:

Slammed
Point of Retreat
This Girl

Hopeless Series:

Hopeless (have this on my kindle app)
Losing Hope
Finding Cinderella (have this on my kindle app)

Never Never Series:

Never Never 1/3, 2/3 and 3/3 (have part one on my kindle app)

Maybe Someday:

Maybe Someday
Maybe Not

Standalones:

Ugly Love
Confess

Review/Those Girls

Posted on February 16, 2016February 13, 2016 by Cindy

Those Girls by Lauren Saft
Format: ARC
Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on May 3rd 2016
Pages: 336
Goodreads
Genres: Adolescence, Dating & Sex, Friendship, Girls & Women, Love & Romance, Social Issues, Young Adult

This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.

Some girls will always have your back, and some girls can't help but stab you in it. Junior year, the suburbs of Philadelphia. Alex, Mollie and Veronica are those girls: They're the best of friends and the party girls of the school. But how well does everybody know them--and really, how well do they know one another? Alex is secretly in love with the boy next door and has joined a band--without telling anyone. Mollie suffers from a popular (and possibly sociopathic) boyfriend and a serious mean streak. And Veronica just wants to be loved--literally, figuratively, physically...she's not particular. Will this be the year that bonds them forever or tears them apart for good?In a debut novel that is raw, honest, hilarious, and thought-provoking, Lauren Saft masterfully conveys what goes on in the mind of a teenage girl and how often even the closest of friends walk the thin line between love and hate.

I received this book for free from publisher/pr firm in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

As I was reading Those Girls it made me wonder if this is what girls are really like in a private school setting? Granted school is so much different from when I was in high school some 20+ years ago and I don’t recall if it was like that when I was there.

The book is told through each girl so you get to know the girls a little better.

Alex, Mollie and Veronica basically claim that they are all best friends but in reality I think they were more like frenemies then anything else. They are all nice to each others face but as soon as their backs are turned it basically any man for himself. There is jealousy amongst them.

I think the only one I liked in the book was Alex. She is starting to see the drama between them and you can see she doesn’t want to be a part of it so she starts doing things on her own like join a band which I think was good for her because it caused her to come out of her shell even though she was comfortable who is was. The one little thing that got to me was that she was in love with her best friend but he has no clue because she keeps it hidden (and we discover that is mutal) and then when she pushes Veronica to him and they connect she gets jealous.

Veronica is that party girl and she drinks, partyies and sleeps with guys to get the one thing that she truly longs for and that is unconditional love and she doesn’t realize she is going about it all wrong. Then when she has it she ruins it. Her parents aren’t there and always seem to be away so she is basically raising herself and doing what she thinks is best but its not.

Mollie is a whole other character. She is jealous, she is mean (and I don’t think I would ever cross her and get in her bad books) and she knows on some level that her boyfriend cheats on her but she puts up with it because it seems like that is all she knows.

I feel bad that I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I was hoping that I would. When I first heard about the book I was excited to read it and as I was reading it I was making my way through it because I wanted to know what was going to happen with all three girls.

All I can say is thank god I am no longer in school especially if this is what is going on now amoung the girls.

This is a debut novel and I have to say that I would give Lauren another chance because I did like her writing.

Review/ The Sweet Spot

Posted on February 11, 2016February 11, 2016 by Cindy

The Sweet Spot by Stephanie Evanovich
Published by William Morrow on July 8th 2014
Pages: 225

A sizzling story of everyone’s favorite couple from amazing Stephanie Evanovich’s New York Times bestseller Big Girl Panties: hunky professional baseball player Chase Walker and his sassy wife Amanda.

When pro baseball player Chase Walker first meets Amanda at her restaurant, it’s love at first sight. While Amanda can’t help noticing the superstar with the Greek-god-build, he doesn’t have a chance of getting to first—or any other—base with her. A successful entrepreneur who’s built her business from scratch, Amanda doesn’t need a Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet. And a curvy girl who likes to cook and eat isn’t interested in being around the catty, stick-thin herd of females chasing Chase and his teammates.

But Chase isn’t about to strike out. A man who isn’t interested in playing the field, he’s a monogamist who wants an independent woman like Amanda. His hopes rally when she discovers that squeaky-clean Chase has a few sexy and very secret pre-game rituals that turn the smart, headstrong businesswoman on—and into his number one fan.Then a tabloid discovers the truth and turns their spanking good fun into a late- night punchline. Is Amanda ready to let loose and swing for the fences? Or will the pressure of Chase’s stardom force them to call it quits?

Back in May of 2013, I got to meet Stephanie Evanovich at a BEA event I went to and she was one of the sweetest funniest authors. She was promoting her debut novel Big Girl Panties and I read it and loved it so I was excited when she released her second book The Sweet Spot.

I should mention quickly that you don’t have to read the books in order. Chase & Amanda were briefly mentioned in the previous book. So it was nice to see her bring Chase & Amanda’s story out because I really liked them and they seemed like the it couple. We get to know more about how Chase & Amanda came to be and everything they have struggled with. Lets just say its a roller coaster ride.

The Sweet Spot is Chase & Amanda’s story before they were married. So this is the prequel to Big Girl Panties.

Amanda is a successful restaurant owner who has built her business from the bottom up on her own. She has no interest in finding someone to be with and life is just the way she wants it. Enter Chase a famous, handsome baseball player who has become smitten with Amanda. There is something special and intriguing about her that has captivated his attention.

From their first meeting you can see the sparks flying between the, but Amanda has no interest in Chase and she knows all about him and what he wants and she wants no part of that. Amanda is a private person and she wants nothing to do with the spotlight and being with Chase will thrust her there.

Amanda is the kind of girl that Chase wants and needs in his life. He stops at nothing to get her attention and informs her that he will continue to do so even if that means daily visits to her restaurant. Finally Amanda gives in and goes out with him.

For Amanda she keeps waiting for the other shoe to fall. This is too good to be true and she knows something is bound to happen. Can Chase be honest and true or is he hiding something?

At first I thought okay he is a baseball player and Amanda turning him down all the time fueled him to pursue her even more. She was the one thing he wanted that he couldn’t get. I thought he was too good to be true as well.

Then Amanda discovers that Mr all American clean cut baseball player has kinky side to him. If you read Big Girl Panties you will recall this little tim bit of information about him. Chase has managed to keep this secret from everyone until an over zealous security guard has other plans.

When their realationship is thrust into the spotlight will Amanda be able to handle it or will it be too much for her to handle?

I really enjoy reading Stephanie’s book because they grab you in right from the get go. Her next book The Total Package is coming out in March and I am super excited and I can’t wait to read it. Its not part of a series, its a stand alone.

Review/ Scarlet Discovers True Strength

Posted on February 5, 2016February 9, 2016 by Cindy

Star Darlings Scarlet Discovers True Strength Series: Star Darlings #5

by Shana Muldoon ZappaAhmet Zappa
Format: Paperback
Published by Disney Press on January 5th 2016
Pages: 176
Goodreads
Genres: Action & Adventure, Chapter Books, Fairy Tales & Folklore, General, Readers, Young Adult

Scarlet has been keeping to herself. But she is convinced that her removal from the Star Darlings was a terrible mistake.With Vega's help she starts an investigation. Meanwhile, Ophelia is chosen to go on a Wishworld mission, for which she is hopelessly unprepared. Will Scarlet be the one to rescue Ophelia and the mission?

This is the fifth book in the Star Darlings series.

I think up until now my favorite Star Darling has to be Scarlet. I think I like Scarlet the most because she is one of those girls that will tell it like it is and if you like me you do if you don’t I don’t care kind of girl. She is like this rocker girl in my opnion.

Some girls in the Star Darlings things come easy to them but you can see Scarlet has to struggle and that is the appeal I like in her. She works hard and I think that is a good thing girls should know that yes some girls or kids things just come easy for them and other kids you have to work to make things happen and more kids should realize that.

Its nice to get a little background story on Scarlet and find out who Scarlet is and where she comes from. All the girls come from different places and from different walks of life which is nice because not all the girls have the perfect home life.

Scarlet is determined to find out why she got kicked out of the Star Darlings and why Ophelia got in. She knows something isn’t right and she is determinded to find out what happened. With the help of her room mates costumes she goes under cover to sneak into the records room to see what is up. The girls want Scarlet back with the group.

Also in this book the truth about the mysterious flowers is begin to be revealed and the more I thought about it I think a teacher is involved someway. I can’t wait for this to be revealed.

In this book its Ophelia that is sent to Wishland and you can see she is not prepared for it and this is when you wonder why she is in the star Darlings because she clearly doesn’t belong there but thankfully Scarlet is chosen to go and help and it was nice to read that Scarlet and Ophelia were getting along and workig together to help their wishling even though you clearly knew that it was Scarlet who would be rewarded.

This was one of my favorites in the series. Sadly I have one more book to review and then I will have to wait for the other 6 to be released.

Review/ Vega and the Fashion Diaster

Posted on February 4, 2016February 9, 2016 by Cindy

Star Darlings Vega and the Fashion Disaster Series: Star Darlings #4

by Shana Muldoon ZappaAhmet Zappa
Format: Paperback
Published by Disney Press on January 5th 2016
Pages: 176
Goodreads
Genres: Chapter Books, General, Readers, Young Adult

There are lots of strange things going on at Starling Academy these days: Leona is devastated about her Wish Pendant failure. Ophelia, the newest Star Darling, is completely clueless. Vega's roommate, Piper, is getting on her last nerve. And Scarlet? Who knows? She's nowhere to be found!So when by-the-book Vega gets sent to Wishworld on the next mission, she finds herself very distracted. Why is her Wisher so secretive? Vega needs to solve this puzzle fast. Time is running out and Starland needs every drop of wish energy itcan get!

This is the fourth book in the Star Darlings series.

The strangeness continues but gradually I think a few are realizing what is the cause of the problems amongst the girls. I am just curious to who sent the bouquets to the girls. Was it one of them? Was it someone else?

In this book we discover how shy and clueless Ophelia is and I question why she was brought into the Star Darlings. Is she behind the flowers?

The behavior of the girls is out of hand with the room mates fighting and I wonder why none of the adults are noticing this behavior. Is this part of a test?

Now is Vega’s turn to go to Wishland but she is having a hard time finding her wishling. Why is she so secretative? Its like taking candy from a baby and you can see Vega is stressed because she wants to go back with success but its hard to crack the case.

I think this cover was one of my favorites and I did enjoy the story. These are pretty fast reads and I think tween girls will like this series. Check back tomorrow for my 5th review.