Monday, March 19, 2018

Upcoming Book Release: Finding Felicity by Stacey Kade


Description:

Felicity meets Fangirl in this contemporary novel about a young woman who must leave behind her fantasy life—inspired by her favorite WB show from the 1990s—and create a real one at college.

Caroline Sands has never been particularly good at making friends. And her parents’ divorce and the move to Arizona three years ago didn’t help. Being the new girl is hard enough without being socially awkward too. So out of desperation and a desire to please her worried mother, Caroline invented a whole life for herself—using characters from Felicity, an old show she discovered online and fell in love with.

But now it’s time for Caroline to go off to college and she wants nothing more than to leave her old “life” behind and build something real. However, when her mother discovers the truth about her manufactured friends, she gives Caroline an ultimatum: Prove in this first semester that she can make friends of the nonfictional variety and thrive in a new environment. Otherwise, it’s back to living at home—and a lot of therapy.

Armed with nothing more than her resolve and a Felicity-inspired plan, Caroline accepts the challenge. But she soon realizes that the real world is rarely as simple as television makes it out to be. And to find a place where she truly belongs, Caroline may have to abandon her script and take the risk of being herself.

Why you should read Finding Felicity:

I have read almost all of Stacey's books and enjoyed each and every one of them.  She has said on more than one occasion that readers will enjoy Finding Felicity even if you haven't watched the television show, but I felt like I needed to have a basic understanding of the characters if I wanted to fully appreciate the book.  All of the episodes are available on the ABC app, so I watched the first two and was pleasantly surprised.  I had no idea what the show was about, but I found it to be very funny and highly entertaining. Now I can hardly wait to read Finding Felicity!  The timing couldn't be any better because I leave for spring break the Thursday after the release.  Thanks to Stacey I already have a copy of the book downloaded to my eReader, so you can count on a review shortly after my return. 








Links to Purchase the Book:

If you would like to purchase a copy of Finding Felicity here are a couple of links.


Chapter One Excerpt:

Bustle posted an excerpt from the first chapter, which can be found here.


Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Review: Invaded by Melissa Landers

Invaded (Alienated, #2)

Invaded is the second book in the Alienated series.  In the first installment, we were introduced to some L'eihr exchange students who were sent to earth to help foster an alliance. We didn't really know why their leaders were interested in an alliance, but it was clear none of the exchange students really wanted to be there.

Things didn't exactly go as planned during the exchange.  As a result, Cara is sent to L'eihr to help establish the new colony that is intended to integrate the humans and L'eihrs.  Her boyfriend Aelyx and his friend Serene must return to earth to repair the alliance.  As much as he hates life on earth, he will do anything to be able to return to L'eihr to be with Cara. Cara, however, is beginning to question her decision to move to L'eihr.  The food is terrible, there is no privacy, their version of gym class is equivalent to boot camp, and someone is trying to set her up for failure.

I enjoyed learning more about life on L'eihr and seeing what it was like for Cara to try and blend into such a different culture.  It is never easy being different, but this was taken to a new extreme.  She was top in her class at her high school on earth, but she is nowhere near as advanced physically or academically compared to her new peers.

Aelyx has his own issues to deal with.  There is an extremist group that continues to jeopardize his safety and the success of the alliance.  We also learn more about Serene and her abilities as an emotional healer.  She does a great job of helping others, but she doesn't have anyone on earth who can return the favor.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and have already started reading the final book in the series.  As you can imagine, a long distance relationship spanning a galaxy can certainly put a strain on a things.  Cara and Aelyx survived this difficult period and it is now time to sit back and relax on their new colony.  Unfortunately, the last few chapters hinted that there may be more drama to come and life on the colony may not be a walk on the beach like they are hoping for.

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Review: Love Show by Audrey Bell

Love Show

Goodreads Overview:

Hadley Arrington is the career-driven Editor-in-Chief of her university’s prestigious newspaper. Jack Diamond is a laid back student whose good looks have made things even easier than they need to be. She’s the girl who came out of nowhere and kissed him in the rain. He’s the boy who made her do something crazy.

When the stakes seem too high, they have to decide if they’ll let their love show or if they’ll walk away for good.

Review:

I am a fan of Tammara Webber's books and follow her on twitter.  A few years ago she recommended Love Show, so I added it to my TBR list and purchased the ebook.  It sat on my nook for quite a while, but it finally made it to the top of my TBR list when I finished the book I was currently reading at my son's swim meet.

Hadley is finishing up her senior year of college and wants to become a war correspondent.  She is fluent in arabic and is ready to jump into the action.  She refuses to listen to her family and friends about how dangerous her decision may be.  Her job choice also puts a strain on her unconventional relationship with Jack.  From the very beginning she created all sorts of rules for their relationship, which were supposed to protect her from the one thing she fears the most....falling in love.  Her mother has been married and divorced more times than you can count and she is determined to put herself ahead of any relationship, but she may throw away the one thing that has ever made her truly happy.  

Another story line involves her openly gay roommate who is dating someone who "can't" come out of the closet.  We get to see how that changes him emotionally as well as the hoops he has to go through in that type of situation.  The relationship is not a healthy one, but he refuses to see how it is impacting him until it may be too late.

Love Show was an outstanding read.  It is new adult, so there is definitely some adult content/romance throughout.  I loved the characters, even though I found Hadley's decisions to be extremely frustrating at times.  I wanted to shake her and make her see things more clearly.  Until the last few chapters of the book it was like she had tunnel vision and would only allow herself to focus on her career and her job at the newspaper.  She couldn't see what she was literally right in front of her face.  The ending was satisfying, but it wasn't an easy road to get there.