Review: The Rogue's Princess by Eve Edwards

England, 1586

Mercy Hart, daughter of one of London's wealthiest and most devout cloth merchants, is expected to marry her equal in rank and piety. Certainly not Kit Turner, a lowly actor and playboy, who also happens to be the late Earl of Dorset's illegitimate son. But when a chance encounter throws them together, Kit instantly falls for the beautiful Mercy's charms . . . and Mercy can't deny the passion that Kit stirs within her. She seems ready to defy her father's wishes--ready to renounce her family and her family name for true love.

Then Kit finds himself accused treason.

Will Mercy have the strength to stand by him? Or will she succumb to pressure and break his heart?

I absolutely loved the first two of Edward's Lacey Chronicles books, Will and James were amazing characters and luckily Kit did not let me down. The third Lacey brother was amazing and sweet and so funny, he totally takes the place of my second fave (Will is always going to be my favorite!). 

What I like about this series is that whilst the books revolve around the girl, the series revolves around the boy. This means that we get to keep meeting new girls but also seeing the characters from the other books in this series. It was awesome to read about Will and Ellie and their kid and James and Jane and their life and I loved the appearance of Diego and Milly.

I wasn't as fond of Mercy as I could have been I think that this may be because she dddn't have as much spunk as I like and she seemed too obedient and good for me to like. It was nice when we did see her break out of her mould though. I really loved Kit since he was so funny and bad but he really did try for Mercy and I loved seeing the more serious side of things - those were the points where I rooted for their romance the most. I'm such a fan of the youngest Lacey brother, Tobias; I would LOVE a fourth book about him.

As with the first two books the storyline of this one isn't too deep, it's enough to make you keep reading and short enough that the pace never seems to slow for the length. This is a series that I would recommend for fans of easier historical YA.

Overall, despite not being my favorite book in this series, I loved Kit and the story was easy to follow. I recommend this series to fans of cute romance and easy historical reading.

Overall Rating: B

Book released July 7th 2011 by Razorbill
Book bought by myself.

Other books from this author:
The Other Countess (Lacey Chronicles #1)
The Queen's Lady (Lacey Chronicles #2)

Review: Poltergeeks by Sean Cummings

15-year-old Julie Richardson is about to learn that being the daughter of a witch isn't all it's cracked up to be. When she and her best friend, Marcus, witness an elderly lady jettisoned out the front door of her home, it's pretty obvious to Julie there's a supernatural connection.

In fact, there's a whisper of menace behind increasing levels of poltergeist activity all over town. After a large-scale paranormal assault on Julie's high school, her mother falls victim to the spell Endless Night. Now it's a race against time to find out who is responsible or Julie won't just lose her mother's soul, she'll lose her mother's life.

I knew that I was going to enjoy Poltergeeks, I just knew it. From the second that I saw that colorful and uber awesome cover and read the description (and noticed the lack of a love triangle and the hints at LOTS of action) I knew that i was going to really enjoy this book, and I did.

This book has it's flaws and whilst I didn't absolutely ADORE this book, I really did enjoy it and am very impressed with Cummings. The pacing and the storyline blew me away - the beginning of this book seriously grabs you and you can't put it down until the last page, there were no slower bits and the action just keeps coming, there is also a bit of a mystery which will keep readers on their toes. I had kind of guessed who the 'bad guy' was by the end, but I was still gripped. The climax of this book was awesome as well, the action at the end had me on the edge of my seat, it was so exciting!

Julie and Marcus are fantastic characters. Julie is a sarcastic and honest narrator and Marcus is a fantastic loyal friend, the two of them make an amazing investigative team and they seemed so real. I also really liked the romance between these two, it was slow, awkward and real, just as it should be between fifteen year olds - it also took a back seat to the main story, which I love in books like this. 

I did feel like at times the story came across as very cliche and corny, as though Cummings was trying a little too hard to be original and stand out.... I also would have liked a little more character and world development, as I didn't feel like we got to know Julie's Mother enough, and we didn't quite learn enough about the magic or Betty or the other magical character. i'm not sure if there will be a sequel, but if there was I'd hope to see a little development on that.

Overall, Poltergeeks was a fun read that stands out in todays YA market. I'd definitely recommend it to younger readers due to the fun narrative and the action packed plot.

Overall Rating: B

Book released October 4th by Strange Chemistry
Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Reviews for other books by this author:

STUDENT BODIES

Letterbox Love - 8/9/12

Letterbox Love is a UK based alternative to the popular US In My Mailbox meme and a fun way for British (and non-British) bloggers to share the fab books we may have got this week.

Check Out: GIVEAWAY - Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (INTL!)

GIVEAWAY - Blackwood by Gwenda Bond (UK)

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This weeks haul is pretty awesome, not a MASSIVE amount of books, but what I have is pretty amazing :)

REVIEW (BOTH NETGALLEY)

Doomed by Tracy Deebs - Bloomsbury, January 8th 2013

Splintered by AC Howard - Amulet, January 2013

Both of these sound awesome, DOOMED is a sci-fi thriller type retelling of Pandora's box which sounds awesome and SPLINTERED is a reimagining of Alice in Wonderland that was my WOW a few weeks back.

Jessie <3 NYC by Keris Stainton

Emma <3 LA by Keris Stainton

Della Says: OMG by Keris Stainton

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

(All from Cait at The Cait Files)

Team Human by Sarah Rees Brennan and Justine Larbastier

(From Reese at Reese's Reviews)

BOUGHT/GIFTED:

Starling by Lesley Livingston

The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna

Erasing Time by CJ Hill

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff

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The Week in Review:

SATURDAY

Review: The Forsaken by Lisa M Stasse

SUNDAY

Review: The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Long

MONDAY

Review: Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

TUESDAY

Review: The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke

WEDNESDAY

Waiting on Wednesday

Review: Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

Cover Reveal: Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers

THURSDAY

Review: Speechless by Hannah Harrington

Author Interview and Giveaway - Gwenda Bond: Blackwood

FRIDAY

Review: The Crimson Thread by Suzanne Weyn

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Next Week:

Reviews:

Inbetween by Tara A Fuller

Poltergeeks by Sean Cummings

The Rogue's Princess by Eve Edwards

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Arise by Tara Hudson

Origin by Jessica Khoury

Ordinary Magic by Caitlen Rubino-Bradway

Guest Posts:

Sarah J Maas - Throne of Glass UK Blogtour

Caitlen Rubino-Bradway - Ordinary Magic Blog tour

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Review: Inbetween by Tara A. Fuller

Since the car crash that took her father’s life three years ago, Emma’s life has been a freaky — and unending — lesson in caution. Surviving “accidents” has taken priority over being a normal seventeen-year-old, so Emma spends her days taking pictures of life instead of living it. Falling in love with a boy was never part of the plan. Falling for a reaper who makes her chest ache and her head spin? Not an option. 

It’s not easy being dead, especially for a reaper in love with a girl fate has put on his list not once, but twice. Finn’s fellow reapers give him hell about spending time with Emma, but Finn couldn’t let her die before, and he’s not about to let her die now. He will protect the girl he loves from the evil he accidentally unleashed, even if it means sacrificing the only thing he has left…his soul.

This review is a hard one to write because I really liked this book, I really did, but there were points that I started to lose interest and a few 'YA cliches' that I just struggled to take. This book itself fits pretty comfortably into the cliche YA romance mould. Immortal/dead guy with stalker-ish? Check. Clueless but tough girl? Check.  Insta-luv? Kind of (I'll get into that later!). I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the YA mould, if it's done well (which for the most part, Inbetween was) the book can be really enjoyable, I'm just saying it seems like Fuller didn't try amazingly hard to be original.

Fuller does display some originality with her portrayals of Hell and Finn's humorous reaper friends (I particularly liked Easton). There wasn't even a love triangle (though one between Cash, Emma and Finn would have been hilarious after something that happens during the book), but the romance just annoyed me a little. So Emma's getting on with her life whilst Finn spies on her (to protect her), then he actually comes into her life and Emma falls straight in love,  but that's okay right, because in her past life (or afterlife, whatever) they were lovers.

NO! It is not okay! Giving the characters a backstory does not mean that you can forget about relationship development and skip straight to the love, especially if one character doesn't remember said past life, NO! NO! Readers (like me) pick up YA paranormal romance books in order to watch the relationship developing and the obstacles in the way and quite frankly I am getting TIRED of the insta-luv.

Well, at least there isn't a love triangle, otherwise I would be in total *RAGE MODE* right now.

Okay, had to get that off my chest, sorry.

BUT! This book wasn't bad at all, in fact the romance is the only thing that really bothered me. I really enjoyed Fuller's writing, it was absolutely fantastic and managed to grip the reader, never once did I feel bored during this book, it was basically un-put-down-able. The ending was maybe too nice, especially after all of the confrontation throughout the book, but I guess I like a happy ending. The bad guy was awful and terrifying, not kidding - Maeve scared me to death!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, but seriously, the insta-luv has got to end... please!

Overall Rating: B-

Book released August 28th 2012 by Entangled Publishing
Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Review: The Crimson Thread by Suzanne Weyn

The year is 1880, and Bertie, having just arrived in New York with her family, is grateful to be given work as a seamstress in the home of textile tycoon J. P. Wellington. When the Wellington family fortune is threatened, Bertie's father boasts that Bertie will save the business, that she is so skillful she can "practically spin straw into gold."

Amazingly, in the course of one night, Bertie creates exquisite evening gowns--with the help of Ray Stalls, a man from her tenement who uses an old spinning wheel to create dresses that are woven with crimson thread and look as though they are spun with real gold. Indebted to Ray, Bertie asks how she can repay him. When Ray asks for her firstborn child, Bertie agrees, never dreaming that he is serious...

When I first bought this book I was completely unaware that this was a retelling of Rumplestiltskin as the blurb of the UK paperback doesn't give anything away really, so it was only a few chapters into this book that I realised that this was a very loose retelling of Rumplestiltskin.

Rumplestiltskin has always been one of my favorite fairytales and they there never seems to be many retellings of it around because it is so simple and basic, there isn't really much you can do with it. Suzanne Weyn deserves some respect just for tackling such a simple and neglected fairytale and coming up with something original and fun. This book didn't have a great deal of depth, I really didn't connect with it that much but for the length of it it was a quick and simple read.

The characters in The Crimson Thread are very basically developed. Patrick, Bertie/Bridget's father is simply a dreamer and none of her brothers are developed enough to be able to differentiate between them. Bridget/Bertie herself is a very undeveloped and simple character, though she does have some fire to her. Ray is sweet and mysterious but that's about it and James is smooth but that's all. Due yo the underdeveloped characters, which I didn't really connect with, I struggled to come to terms with the romance which was sweet but also very simple and I didn't really care for it.

The writing in this book didn't grab me, it seemed too simple and stoic to engage a reader and so i felt detached from the story at most times. Weyn can write better than this, I know she can, but I just failed to connect with this story. 

Overall, If I had to describe this book in one word it would be meh. I didn't care for the characters and felt detached from the story, so even though I finished it I didn't really like it. I do respect Weyn for tackling my favorite fairytale but I do not think that she did it justice.

Overall Rating: D

Book released in 2008 by Simon Pulse and re-released on July 5th 2012 by Scholastic, I am reviewing the 2012 Scholastic edition.
Book bought by myself.

Review: Speechless by Hannah Harrington

Everyone knows that Chelsea Knot can't keep a secret

Until now. Because the last secret she shared turned her into a social outcast—and nearly got someone killed.

Now Chelsea has taken a vow of silence—to learn to keep her mouth shut, and to stop hurting anyone else. And if she thinks keeping secrets is hard, not speaking up when she's ignored, ridiculed and even attacked is worse.

But there's strength in silence, and in the new friends who are, shockingly, coming her way—people she never noticed before; a boy she might even fall fer new friends can forgive what she's done. If only she can forgive herself.

This is a beautiful and deep book that absolutely EVERYBODY needs to read. After how much I loved Saving June last year, I didn't think that anything this author wrote could surpass it. I was wrong. Speechless is my new favorite book and Hannah Harrington is one of my most favorite authors right now,  I was blown away. Get the point yet? I loved this book!

Speechless is not your typical 'bitchy popular girl learns her lesson' book, because Chelsea is not one of those girls. Most books follow the main character as they change and become a better person, but I think that Chelsea was always good and sweet inside and this book follows her in her journey to accept that, and find her place. I honestly don't think this book would be as good without Chelsea being the perfect main character that she is, she's tough and sarky but she's also real and believable and for that, I love her. I also don't think this book would be as awesome without Sam, Asha, Andy and Kirsten being as wekll written and believable as they were. Asha was such a caring and generous friend, much like many people that I actually know and Andy and Kirsten's reactions seemed so honest and real that I really cannot fault them.

Sam... well he deserves his own paragraph. Sam may seem too good to be true but he is not, he is just perfect as he has his faults but he manages to stay... perfect. Sam was perfect. I loved Sam... I just.... *gush*. Seriously, he was sexy and he cooks! I so agree with Chelsea's opions n his 'vaguely erotic cooking expertise' (her words, not mine.) I bookmarked a few quote from Sam that made me giggle and swoon... I don't usually quote in reviews but I had to in this one:  

"I'm no Marc Jacobs and yes, I may have done a search for 'famous fashion designers' earlier solely so I could make that reference and impress you..."

Oh Sam, could you BE more perfect? (The answer is no).

Harrington;'s writing is gorgeous, she can write a saracastic and bitter character so honestly and yet manages to deal delicately with the hard-hitting subjects. This book deals with discrimination and bullying. Chelsea is bullied because she went against her best friend and told the truth and the topic of homophobia is so well dealt with that it slips in to the story so well but also manages to deliver a deep and serious message to the readers. I can honestly say that when it come sto writing about hard-hitting topics without makiing the bvook too sifficult to read, Hannah Harrington is the queen.

I could honestly gush about this book forever. I won't though. Instead I will just tell you to go out and buy this book, you will not regret it, this book was fun, deep and beautiful and I will not be forgetting it for a very long time.

Overall Rating: A+ 

Book released 28th August 2012 by Harlequin Teen
Book received as an eGalley for review via NEtGalley

Other books by this author:
Saving June

COVER REVEAL: Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers

We have a cover to the sequel to Grave Mercy!

Dark Triumph follows Ismae's sister nun Sybella, I'm hoping we get a glimpse of Ismae and Duval though. Fot those of you that haven't read Grave Mercy, I highly recommend it (my review goes up on Tuesday)

Here is the cover:

What do you think. I actually prefer it to the Grave Mercy cover because, although it isn't as striking it is darker, i love the brown tones and this one really does look like a fantasy book, it kind of reminds me of Poison Study? Plus, Sybella looks just as I imagined her!

Released - April 2nd 2013 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

What are your thought on the cover?