November 9 by Colleen Hoover

Title: November 9
Author: Colleen Hoover
Genre: New Adult, Romance
Summary: 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.

My Review:
So as usual, Colleen Hoover delivers an addicting read. I couldn't read it fast enough and the best part? She gives us what we want. You know those stories or movies where the two main characters only meet one day of the year and we get to see what they're up to when they're not together? Well Colleen didn't give us any of that. She gave us a little mini review of what happened over the year and then got to strait to the point- the relationship between Ben and Fallon.
Usually I can like any guy that is supposed to be paired with the main character, but I couldn't really get myself to like Ben (more on that in the spoiler bit).
Fallon was an interesting character. Her relationship with her father was complex. And her relationship with herself was a journey to see. She obviously wasn't comfortable in her own skin and to see anyone come to love themselves is always a great thing to see in books.

On to spoilers!
So most of this part is going to be spent talking about Ben. I don't get how this guy could get someone who was so uncomfortable with herself to strip down the first day that they met. Maybe it's because he admitted that he wanted to see her underwear. Which for me is a turn off. I don't want a guy I just met to tell me that he wants to know want kind of panties I'm wearing. Then there's that whole thing with his brother's widow! I get the getting closer to your dead brother's kid because it's something that you can hold on to (although trying to be an actual father to the kid is, I think, a bit to much), but getting with his wife? And within a year of him dying? Um... No thank you. 
There's this whole thing where he doesn't get the "alpha male" hype. Sorry to say but some of those alpha males are more gentlemanly than he is. 
The whole twist at the end, when Ben finally reveals that he's the one who set the fire to Fallon's house, I kind of expected it to be a where he's actually crazy and did it on purpose. But it was an accident... So I guess he gets off a little bit with that one.

Despite all the Ben flaws, I would recommend November 9. It's a quick read and it's entertaining to say the least. 

Happy Reading!

Winter by Marissa Meyer

Title: Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4)

Author: Marissa Meyer

Genres: Fairytale Retelling (Snow White), Science Fiction, Romance

Summary: Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

My Review: 

(Non-Spoiler)

If there was a way to make a perfect ending to a series this comes pretty close to it. The story takes you on a fun thrill ride (despite the horrors of worrying about if everyone is going to survive or not) and it doesn't disappoint, really. There was only one thing that I wished I could have seen more of. If you haven't read Cinder (the first book of the series) yet, you should go now and do so. It's so worth it!

(Spoilers ahead!)

I didn't expect to get as attached to Winter as I did. She's got to be my favorite heroine... Then again there's Cress, who I can relate too. But Winter was such an adorable, fun, little crazy person. I loved that we get to see how this lunar sickness works. The only thing is that I wish we could have seen how the treatment worked. As I said in the non-spoiler section, this is probably the only thing I wanted to see more of. Wait. I lied. 

I really ship Iko with Kinney (a palace guard). I wish I could have seen more of them interacting. They didn't get very far in the book. They're still in the dislike stage at the end. But I think you could tell that there might be something there in the future. 

The one thing I noticed in the book is that the group kept splitting up and never really stayed together at all till the very end. But when Scarlet escaped with Winter from the palace and finally seen Wolf... It was completely adorable! Just what I expected their reunion to be like. 

I really liked that we got to see more about some of the group's parents, even if it weren't all sunshine and rainbows. Hearing that Cinder's birth mother was as crazy as Levana was surprising. I wasn't expecting Cinder's mom to be the reason Levana was burned. I really want to read more about this. I think it's time to go pick up Fairest now.

Did I mention that all the boys in this series are completely swoon worthy? I loved getting to learn more about Jacin. As for my favorite, it would probably have to be Thorne. There's just something about the Space Pirate that I really like. By the way, does Thorne remind any one else of Han Solo? There were times where I thought he could have been Han. 

In case you didn't know, there is a Lunar Chronicles Anthology coming out on February 2nd.

Happy Reading!

Vampire Academy Movie Review

So a couple of days ago I saw Vampire Academy with my sister and mom, and surprisingly there were about 10 other people in there with us. Which was kind of disappointing since I really enjoyed the movie and I think that a majority of VA fans would have too. Yes, there were differences between the book (written by Richelle Mead) and movie (aren't there always??) but it was a decent adaption. I thought all the actors were great. But I do have a bone to pick about how they portrayed one character: Kirova. I kind of imagined her differently... and not so young. But at least the queen stayed the same! 

And I love how they did Rose's eyes when she was in Lissa's head

Favorite Parts:

The mall scene. 

Natalie and the wall.

From Dimitri doing this:

To Rose finally doing this:

Lissa and Rose's friendship.

All of those Dimitri-staring-at-Rose scenes.

Rose and Kirova and the Tranq.

I would give the movie 4.5/5 stars on being just a movie, but for it being close to the book I would it give it 3.5/5 stars. It held the same basic plot line but it was the little stuff that was different. But some of the little stuff I wish was the same as the book. But other than that, it was really good! I really wish more people took a chance with it. And I really hope (somehow) that Frostbite will come out.

Happy watching!

January Wrap Up

Hi!
I hope you all had a fantastic Valentine's Day yesterday!
This is the first of twelve posts coming this year that explain how my January went. Mainly I'll be recapping what books I read for the TBR pile challenge and I'll include all the books I've read this month. If there was a review for a certain book I'll include the link to it.

I read two books for the TBR pile challenge.

The Goddess Inheritance Review

Nightlight Review

I read 8 other books. For ones that I haven't reviewed, I'll leave a link to Goodreads.

Touch on Goodreads

Toxic on Goodreads

Burning Blue on Goodreads

 Bitter Sweet Love on Goodreads

The Distance Between Us on Goodreads

Bitter Spirits Review

The Clockwork Scarab Review

Crash into You Review

I'm hoping to read more for the later part of this month. I've been really busy... so busy that I've only read one book so far! Yikes! And it's not on my TBR shelf. I'm hoping to at least read one book from my TBR pile. Then I'm planning on getting some newly released books (like Cress by Marissa Meyer) but I might not get them till March. 

I hope your month is going better than mine!

Happy Reading!

Valentine's Day!

Valentine's day is quickly approaching and I thought I'd look through my shelves and find some books that I considered my favorites.
Fairytale retelling: Once by Cameron Dokey. This anthology has three retellings of Cinderella, Mulan, and Rapunzel.
Modern day classic: Howl's Moving Castle by Dianne Wynn Jones. I read this a couple of years back after watching the animation version. I fell in love with Howl and I think everyone else will too!
First romance ever read: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. I give this book partial credit for getting me into romance stories.
First classic: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. I read this for school, as most people have. But I loved the tragic love story .
Greatest classic: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Who wouldn't put this on their list?
First YA romance: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.
First book boyfriend: Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. Ah, Harry. The first fictional guy that I became obsessed with.
Other-worldly romance (paranormal romance): Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. I absolutely love this series! And its finally coming out in theaters!

What books would you choose as your favorites?

Happy Reading and have a nice Valentine's Day!

Nightlight by The Harvard Lampoon

Title: Nightlight
Author: The Harvard Lampoon
Genre: YA, comedy, Parody, Romance
Summary: About three things I was absolutely certain.
First, Edwart was most likely my soul mate, maybe.
Second, there was a vampire part of him--which I assumed was wildly out of his control--that wanted me dead.
And third, I unconditionally, irrevocably, impenetrably, heterogeneously, gynecologically, and disreputably wished he had kissed me.
And thus Belle Goose falls in love with the mysterious and sparkly Edwart Mullen in the Harvard Lampoon’s hilarious send-up of Twilight. 
Pale and klutzy, Belle arrives in Switchblade, Oregon looking for adventure, or at least an undead classmate. She soon discovers Edwart, a super-hot computer nerd with zero interest in girls. After witnessing a number of strange events–Edwart leaves his tater tots untouched at lunch! Edwart saves her from a flying snowball!–Belle has a dramatic revelation: Edwart is a vampire. But how can she convince Edwart to bite her and transform her into his eternal bride, especially when he seems to find girls so repulsive?
Complete with romance, danger, insufficient parental guardianship, creepy stalker-like behavior, and a vampire prom, Nightlight is the uproarious tale of a vampire-obsessed girl, looking for love in all the wrong places.
My review: So this book was not my cup of tea. It was kind of painful to get through. Luckily it was very short. I get that this is a parody of Twilight and it was supposed to be funny, but for me it wasn't. It was kind of bland, more a tell rather than show kind of book. But yet again, that might be because it's a parody of Twilight.
I would give it 2 out of five stars.

Happy Reading!

*This is a part of my January TBR Pile.

The Goddess Inheritance by Aimee Carter

Title: The Goddess Inheritance
Author: Aimee Carter
Genre: YA, Mythology, Romance
Summary: Love or life.
Henry or their child.
The end of her family or the end of the world.
Kate must choose.
During nine months of captivity, Kate Winters has survived a jealous goddess, a vengeful Titan and a pregnancy she never asked for. Now the Queen of the Gods wants her unborn child, and Kate can't stop her--until Cronus offers a deal.
In exchange for her loyalty and devotion, the King of the Titans will spare humanity and let Kate keep her child. Yet even if Kate agrees, he'll destroy Henry, her mother and the rest of the council. And if she refuses, Cronus will tear the world apart until every last god and mortal is dead.
With the fate of everyone she loves resting on her shoulders, Kate must do the impossible: find a way to defeat the most powerful being in existence, even if it costs her everything.
Even if it costs her eternity.

My Review: This is the last book in the Goddess Test series. And what a satisfying ending! It kept me up at night, biting my nail, and pulling my hair. I couldn't wait to see how it ended, especially after book two! This series is good at keeping you on your toes. If you haven't read the first book, The Goddess Test, you really should! 
I would give this 4 out of 5 stars!

Happy Reading!

*This is the first book in my January TBR Pile Challenge.