Irish Meadows by Susan Anne Mason

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Brianna and Colleen O’Leary know their father expects them to marry well. Yet despite his wishes, Brianna, the quieter sister, dreams of attending college. Vivacious Colleen, meanwhile, is happy to marry–as long as her father’s choice meets her exacting standards. When stable hand Gilbert Whelan returns from college and distant family member Rylan Montgomery stops in on his way to the seminary in Boston, the two men quickly complicate everyone’s plans. It will take every ounce of courage for both sisters to follow their hearts. And even if they do, will they inevitably find their dreams too distant to reach?

I have mixed feelings with this book. In some ways I absolutely loved it but I had quite a few problems with it too. Overall, the enjoyable things outnumbered my problems with the book and that helped me to not give the book a lower rating.

The thing that I disliked most was the characters. They all seemed to have no backbone and just went along with whatever Mr. O'Leary wanted them to do. It just about ruined quite a few of the characters lifes by making them marry people they didn't want to. Luckily it all got straightened out, or else my rating might have been even lower. Also I really did not like Colleen. She was so stuck-up and shallow. I'm just glad that by the end of the book she realized it and changed with help from the orphans that she helped.

I had no issues with the plot. It moved smoothly and I never got bored with it. For that reason I finished it fairly quickly and I feel like I didn't miss anything. It's a quick read even though it might look a little longer.

Rylan was probably my favorite character out of all of them with Brianna being a close second. They seemed to not listen to Mr. O'Leary as much as Gil and Colleen did and I liked that about them. 

There was a fair amount of romance, but it wasn't anything over PG-13 since this is Christian fiction. Brianna and Gil's relationship was very complicated, what with her father making him court someone else so that he could try and get a loan from her father. Overall I liked their relationship much more than Colleen and Rylan's, only because I didn't like Colleen in general. I can see why people might like them together though.

I would recommend this to anyone who wants some historical fiction as a nice change of pace or to anyone who wants to read some good Christian fiction.

***I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This did not influence my rating or review in any way.***

Thanks for reading!
~Bri

Tracked by Jenny Martin

Phee lives in Castra, a corporately controlled planet. When her car racing gets noticed, she is soon blackmailed into joining  Benroyal Corp, along with her best friend, Bear. When she finds out that Benroyal murdered her father years before, she joins a rebellion to try and make Castra a free planet. Will they be able to succeed or will she meet the same fate as her father?

I enjoyed nearly every aspect of this book. I feel the best part was how unique it was. I have never read a book anything like this. Sure, the competing sort of reminded me of The Hunger Games but it wasn't a fight to the death (obviously) and I think that the author did a good job writing a new book in terms of originality. That's seemingly getting very hard in the YA age group these days and I love seeing debut authors being able to do that successfully.

The plot moved faster than the cars in the book! I really couldn't put this book down and when I found myself needing to, I couldn't stop thinking about what might happen next. It grips you from the beginning and won't let go. I absolutely loved it.

It sort of had a love-triangle (ugghhhhhh), but I actually wasn't that bothered by it. Phee did the right thing and made it clear that she wasn't interested in Bear that way and wouldn't want to ruin their friendship. I really found myself rooting for Cash and I just hope that what happened at the end of this book can be proven to happen differently (fingers crossed!!!).

I would strongly recommend this to anyone who likes dystopian books or racing books. Go read it right away!!!

Thanks for reading!
~Bri

Blood of Toma by Lauren Lee Merewether

Toma has known her whole life that when she is older she will be sacrificed so that her village can live in peace for 50 years and the Gods will be satisfied. But after her father, the ruler, is assassinated, she escapes to the jungle. There she finds explorers from Europe. Unbeknownst to Toma, they want all the gold in her city- and more. Will she be able to save her people and overthrow her father's assassin? Or will she fall in love with one of the explorers and let them have all her villages gold?

I loved the Aztec aspects of this story. Before I read this, I honestly didn't know anything about that part of history, or of Mexico's history at all. I feel that this is what made me keep reading, and not want to put the book down constantly.

Now for the parts I didn't like. I hated how it had insti-love. It felt like the second that she met Arrio they were in love. It wasn't just attraction or a crush, it was LOVE. It annoys me to no end when this happens in YA books. I feel that this is a reason that more people don't read YA- they want a realistic relationship that is also healthy. Its very rare to find that and I just wish that more/all YA books would have it.

The plot was well-paced but it was a bit confusing with the changing of perspectives. I had trouble remembering all the names of the characters so I kept on forgetting who the bad guys were and what they said about some things. That being said, I didn't really connect with many of the characters and they seemed one-dimensional. I also didn't like how selfish some of them were and how they didn't think about how the things they were doing might affect other people.

I might recommend this if you want a read with some romance and history. You might enjoy it more than I did if you are okay with insti-love, so go give it a try!

***I received this book from the author via bookblogging.net in exchange for my honest review.***

Thanks for reading!
~Bri

Nothing But Your Memories by H.B. Clementine

To avoid overcrowding and poverty, the government decided to let people live one year out of every ten, forever. Mira would give anything to be back in her old life with her family so when she finally wakes up she immediately joins a rebel group to try and escape the city. But when her only friend endangers herself trying to disconnect her memory chip, Mira knows she must do something before she seriously hurts herself. Is freedom worth giving up everything?

The best aspect of this book was the world-building. I feel that's what really made the book stand out for me. Without that it would have just been another average dystopian and it would have honestly been very boring. I liked how it included the back story of what the world was like for Mira before "The Shift" and I feel that added depth to the story.

I wasn't a big fan of most of the characters and they sort of got on my nerves especially West and Faustino who were the leaders of the rebel group Mira joins. Alexis, Mira's only friend, was okay, but at times I didn't like her either. I felt it was really unrealistic that there weren't any more groups rebelling and how everyone seemed to find new friends the day they woke up. I feel like it would take longer for everyone to adjust and get used to their new lifes without their families.

One thing I really did not like about this book was the fact that Mira did not have much of a reason to hate the government. I mean sure, they separated her from her family, but they could have somehow resisted. The only reason that I could think of was that maybe it was because they didn't wake kids up, but it seems like she hated them even before she woke up when she didn't even know about that. The ending was also a little confusing, what with changing the perspective for the first time in the book with no warning. I felt it would have been better if it had at least said the name of the new character or something like that. I felt really confused and reread the pages before it, making sure I didn't miss anything. Overall though, I didn't have very many problems with this book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a unique dystopia with good world building that might not be as well known as The Hunger Games or Divergent. If you enjoyed either of those, I can almost guarantee that this would be some good entertainment!!

***I received this book from the publisher via bookblogging.net in exchange for my honest feedback. This did not influence my rating or review in any way.***

Thanks for reading!
~Bri

Book Tour!!!

The Summer the World Ended by Matthew Cox

Genre: contemporary family drama

Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press

Date of Release­­: June 29, 2015

Cover Artist: Eugene Teplitsky

Find Online: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Goodreads

Description:

As far as Riley McCullough is concerned, her best friend getting ‘dragged’ off to Puerto Vallarta for the first two weeks of summer vacation was the end of the world―at least until the bombs fell.

Life in suburban New Jersey with her mother has been comfortable, not to mention boring, to an introverted fourteen year old. As if her friend’s surprise trip wasn’t bad enough, her expectations for the ‘best summer ever’ disintegrate when she gets sent across the country to stay with a father she hasn’t seen in six years. Adjusting to a tiny, desert town where everyone stares at them like they don’t belong proves difficult, and leaves her feeling more isolated than ever. To make matters worse, her secretive father won’t tell the truth about why he left―or what he’s hiding.

Her luck takes an unexpected turn for the better when she meets a boy who shares her interest in video games and contempt for small town boredom. In him, she finds a kindred spirit who might just make the middle of nowhere tolerable.

Happiness is short lived; fleeing nuclear Armageddon, she takes shelter with her dad in an underground bunker he’d spent years preparing. After fourteen days without sun, Riley must overcome the sorrow of losing everything to save the one person she cares about most.

About The Author:

Born in a little town known as South Amboy NJ in 1973, Matthew has been creating science fiction and fantasy worlds for most of his reasoning life. Somewhere between fifteen to eighteen of them spent developing the world in which Division Zero, Virtual Immortality, and The Awakened Series take place. He has several other projects in the works as well as a collaborative science fiction endeavor with author Tony Healey.

Hobbies and Interests: Matthew is an avid gamer, a recovered WoW addict, Gamemaster for two custom systems (Chronicles of Eldrinaath [Fantasy] and Divergent Fates [Sci Fi], and a fan of anime, British humour (<- deliberate), and intellectual science fiction that questions the nature of reality, life, and what happens after it. He is also fond of cats.

Find Matthew Cox Online:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Curiosity Quills Press (CQ) is a small hybrid publishing company specializing in genre fiction of the highest quality. With 150+ titles in our catalog already and approximately 6 new books coming out each month, there’s never a dull moment at CQ. We work with major retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Audible to ensure that you, the reader, can find whatever you are looking for at your convenience.

Founded in 2011 by Eugene Teplitsky and Lisa Gus, CQ was initially a resource portal for writing and publishing, created in an effort to help writers, like themselves, survive the publishing industry. After rapid success, CQ morphed into publishing press that over time has solidified its share in the market. Now we spend our days searching for the next great escape!

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

 

 

I was lucky enough to be picked as part of the June book tour for The Summer the World Ended. I really wanted to read it, but whenever I would open it and start reading my computer would randomly exit out of it. It really started to frustrate me until I finally got fed up of trying to find my page again and just gave up. It wasn't just this book that my computer has been doing that to though, I have had it happen numerous other times with different books. The first 30 pages seemed really good though and its possible that I would recommend it to some friends just based off that.

 

Thanks for reading!

~Bri

 

 

Endangered by Kate Jaimet

All Hayley wants to do over the summer is to write articles in her father's newspaper. Finally getting a big case with a possible murder, she is extremely excited, but quickly disappointed when she is forced to go on a boat trip so that she can pass the class preventing her from graduating. What seems like a boring trip to find a turtle soon turns into a full-out police case with drug-dealing and shootings. Is the endangered turtle somehow connected to the murder?

I requested this book the same time as I requested The Shadow of Seth and to be completely honest I was way more interested in this book. The other one sounded good, but this one attracted me with all the talk of the rare, endangered turtle. Endangered sort of disappointed me while The Shadow of Seth really surprised me. For some reason this one just really fell flat for me.

The main character, Hayley, sort of annoyed me. I didn't really like how it didn't really faze her that she was so very close to graduating and she would rather be a reporter than graduate from high school. I'm sorry to say it, but if in 20 years her father doesn't have his newspaper business she will never be able to get a job at another one without at least a high school diploma. She would be broke with no job. I know this isn't a real story, but sometimes characters annoy me when stuff like this happens.

I might have enjoyed this more if I had some background knowledge in reporting or the newspaper business, but since I do not I found myself getting a little bored. Overall it was an okay book for me but I can honestly say that I liked The Shadow of Seth more. I might recommend this to you because of what your interests might be, but I think I would be more likely to recommend The Shadow of Seth if you are looking for a fast-paced YA mystery.

***Thanks go out to the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, for sending me an ARC of this book and The Shadow of Seth to read and review. This did not influence either review or rating in any way.***

Thanks for reading!
~Bri

The Shadow of Seth by Tom Llewellyn

When Seth finds his mother dead, he knows it wasn't an accident. With barely any help from the police, he goes out to solve the mystery. Along the way he meets a girl that isn't as perfect as she seems, and he learns that barely anyone can be trusted. Can he find his mom's killer before he gets killed too?

 

I was really surprised with this book. Full of twists and turns, it grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go. Sure, I had my problems with it but at the end of the day those can be overlooked and you can still really enjoy the book.

 

I really did not like how the police treated Seth in this book. I hope that in real life they are a bit more caring and less concerned with what neighborhood Seth just happens to live in. I really respected him and his mom and how they got through everything together. I know for a fact that if I was in his shoes, after his mom got murdered, I definitely would not have handled it so well. Overall, he was a great character that I could really connect with.

 

Azura was a so-so character. I liked how she had a backstory and wasn't what she seemed, but at the same time I didn't like how she never seemed to have a backbone and just went with everything. I also didn't like how there wasn't much of a closure at the end between her and Seth. It leaves room for a possible sequel though, so that might be the reason for the semi-cliffhanger.

 

The mystery was okay. I could sort of see who killed his mom from the beginning, but at the same time I was sort of doubting myself throughout. This would be a really good book for people out there who love the Nancy Drew books. I, for one, used to be obsessed and I think I read every single one of them so this was a page-turner for me.

 

***Thanks go out to Poisoned Pen Press for supplying me with an ARC for reviewing purposes. This did not influence my rating or review in any way.***

 

Thanks for reading!

~Bri