Reading to Unwind: March 2017

Friday, March 31, 2017

{Blog Tour} The Slope Rules - Melanie Hooyeng (Review & Giveaway)

The Slope Rules
by Melanie Hooyeng
Publisher: Left Handed Mitten Publications
Release Date: February 24th 2017

Genre: Romance

Synopsis:

Fifteen-year old Cally accepted her fate as one of the guys, so when she meets Blake, a hot snowboarder who sees her for more than her aerials on the slopes, she falls fast and hard. But their romance can only last as long as vacation.

Or so she thinks.

A twist of fate—well, her Dad opening another brewery in a new town—lands her in Blake’s school, but the charismatic boy she fell for wants nothing to do with her, and worse, the Snow Bunnies, the popular clique, claim her as their newest recruit.

Cally must learn to be true to herself—all while landing a spot on the ski team and figuring out who she is without her old friends. And when she finds out what Blake is hiding, she learns the rules on the slopes apply to more than just skiing.

Review:

This book follows Cally who is an avid skier, while on vacation she meets a snowboarder Blake and they have an instant connection. The only issue seems that vacation only lasts so long, but then fate steps in and the vacation was really a business trip for Cally's dad so they end up moving to Colorado. Cally has to adjust to a new set of friends as well as a new high school.

I loved Cally as a main character. She did have a few issues, but she was very upfront about them while you where reading. I felt connected to her and was rooting for her during the entire book. She has a very strong personality and is great in expressing herself. I also liked that she helped others to stand up for themselves it felt like she was really looking out for people.

Blake was a more complex character for me. I really enjoyed the first section of the book where Cally and Blake meet. The chemistry is great and the author just really creates a connection. Then Blake sort of flakes out and isn't being honest. Without giving to much away at the end of the book you can't help, but love Blake again, but I wish we didn't have to go through the bad Blake stage since he also has a lot of issues in his personal life that I wish we got a little more insight on earlier.

This book has a few complex issues that it deals with. The main issue would be the loss of a loved one. I felt the author did a decent job going into the issue. There was a part towards the end where loss was again brought up, but I felt like there could have been a lot done at that point. They were all different forms of loss and a lot to have in one book. The author didn't really expand onto all the different losses and I felt like there was a lot of potential to explore everyone's feelings a little more.

The idea of bullying was brought up in the book and I think that author did a great job with this topic. The bullying was handled in several different ways with teachers being involved as well as students standing up for themselves. Also, I liked how not everyone immediately recognized it as bullying and it was good to point that out that not everyone thinks the same way or sees the same thing.

This book is told through the point of view of Cally. I would have liked to get another point of view such as Blake. He had several issues going on in his life and I would have liked to get more information about them. I would have loved to meet his family and find out their dynamic.

I would suggest this as a weekend read. I got sucked into this book easily into this book and ended up reading in quickly. I felt like it was very fast paced and harder to put this book down.

I received a copy of this book from The Fantastic Flying Book Club in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book.

My Rating: 4/5

Melanie Hooyenga first started writing as a teenager and finds she still relates best to that age group. She has lived in Washington DC, Chicago, and Mexico, but has finally settled down in her home state of Michigan.

When not at her day job as the Communications Director at a nonprofit, you can find Melanie attempting to wrangle her Miniature Schnauzer Owen and playing every sport imaginable with her husband Jeremy.

The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club & Pink Polka Dot Books - Welcome Pos

Collector of book boyfriends - Promotional Post

Wishful Endings - Review + Interview

Zerina Blossom's Books - Interview

Reading to Unwind - Review

LadyTechie's Book Musings - Review + Favourite Quotes

Never Too Many To Read - Review + Favourite Quotes

Giveaway

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{Blog Tour} Meant for You by Michelle Major (Review & Giveaway)

Will a ploy to impress old high school classmates turn into a second chance at love for Jenny and Owen? Find out in MEANT FOR YOU by Michelle Major.

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Synopsis:

Single mom Jenny Castelli has a temper to match her red hair. When the former mean girls of her high school insult her son, Jenny fires off a big lie—that she’s engaged to a rich, handsome guy and is bringing him to their ten-year reunion. Now she needs to find the perfect fake fiancé for one night. And only one man fits the bill.

Geek turned tech entrepreneur Owen Dalton already had his heart broken by Jenny Castelli. Still, he finds himself agreeing to her proposition—even as he struggles to remember that the chemistry sparking between them isn’t real. But when Jenny’s ex makes a play for custody and Owen is forced to deal with the family who always treated him as “second best,” their arrangement suddenly becomes very personal. And that lie they’ve been telling everyone? It isn’t nearly as big as the one they’ve been telling themselves.

Pre-order at: Amazon

Add to your Goodreads TBR pile!

Review:

This book follows single mom Jenny who has a very strong personality and mouth. Sometimes her mouth gets her in trouble and that is exactly what happened when she ran into her old classmates and they started talking about a reunion. Unfortunately, Jenny got ahead of herself and ended up saying she was engaged to her old boyfriend Owen who is a very successful entrepreneur.

Jenny was such a strong character in the book she was successful in her own right. Her main goal in life was making sure her son was well taken care of. She did have the tendency to become closed off to protect herself from getting hurt.

Owen is one of my favorite characters I have read in a while. The author tells this story from both Owen’s point of view and Jenny’s point of view. It was a great to be able to get into Owen’s head and see exactly what was going on. Owen has his own issues that he is diligently working through. I liked that we got to see all his emotions as well as his actions during the book. The author did a great job developing Owen to be a complex yet enjoyable male lead character.

I loved that we got a real look into Owen’s family dynamic in this book. He has a lot of issues with his family and the author did a great job looking at these issues and expanding upon them. We also got to see the relationship between Owen and each member of his family, which helped me to fall for Owen’s character.

The author does a great job with the storyline in this book. It flows along from one crazy idea to the next idea. I enjoyed the other issues the author brought up about single parents and the struggles that they go through. I also loved how the story just expanded and the chemistry was perfect in this book. This by far was my favorite book in this series.

One part I just didn’t love was Jenny did start to flip flop a lot in her head and it started to drive me nuts. If both Jenny and Owen could just have an open conversation I feel like a lot of the tension might have disappeared.

You don’t need to read the other books in the series to know what is going on with the other characters, but it helped me with reading this book. I felt like I knew the other characters the author was talking about and could feel connected to them as well. Plus, I know some of their personalities so it was easy to take that knowledge from the other books and add that into this book. I would highly recommend reading this series the books are easy to read and have such cute fun stories.

I would suggest this as a nighttime read. Although I could sit down and read this book in one sitting, I felt like the story was a cute one that would take your mind off the long day you might have had and take you to a cute romance world.

I received a copy of this book from Barclay Publicity for the purpose of providing an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book.

My Rating: 4/5

About Michelle Major:

Michelle Major grew up in Ohio but dreamed of living in the mountains. More than twenty years ago, she pointed her car west and settled in Colorado. Today her home includes her husband, their two children, several furry pets, and a couple of well-behaved reptiles. She’s grateful to have found her passion for writing stories with happy endings

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

{Blog Tour} The Bone Witch (#1) - Rin Chupeco (Review & Giveaway)

The Bone Witch (#1)
by Rin Chupeco
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: March 7, 2017
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal

Synopsis:

The beast raged; it punctured the air with its spite. But the girl was fiercer.

Tea is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift for necromancy makes her a bone witch, who are feared and ostracized in the kingdom. For theirs is a powerful, elemental magic that can reach beyond the boundaries of the living—and of the human.

Great power comes at a price, forcing Tea to leave her homeland to train under the guidance of an older, wiser bone witch. There, Tea puts all of her energy into becoming an asha, learning to control her elemental magic and those beasts who will submit by no other force. And Tea must be strong—stronger than she even believes possible. Because war is brewing in the eight kingdoms, war that will threaten the sovereignty of her homeland…and threaten the very survival of those she loves.

Review:

This book follows Tea as she learns she is a bone witch and very powerful. There aren't many bone witches and they don't have the best reputation in all of the towns. Tea must now leave her hometown to learn how to handle her powers. Although while she heads to the location of her training everything might not be what she is expecting. Tea needs to learn a lot about her power as well as politics and expectations quickly in her new role.

Tea is a very interesting character. I think she has a lot of potential to be a great character, but she has some flaws. We get to learn how strong she is with her powers throughout her training. I also enjoy that we get to hear what is going on in her head a lot during the book. Tea has a lot of growing up to do since she is so young and still working on her training. I would have loved to get more from Tea on her feelings during the book she had a lot of insight that was interesting when reading and I would have loved more.

The author does a great job describing what is going on with the characters as well as the scenery. I felt like I could picture what was going on in the book as well as what the characters where wearing. The daeva beasts where also described in great detail and I felt like they could be real. The author has a great eye for details.

My major issue was there is so much information given to the reader at one point it makes it very challenging to follow along in the story. I felt confused and having to reread multiple sections of the book to figure out what is going on. Also, the book flips back and forth to current time and sometimes those sections are even more confusing because they are talking about things that might not have happened yet in the story.

My other issues where in the story itself; at points it felt very fast paced and then at parts the author went into great detail and it was just easier to read. Towards the end there where some sections I wasn't 100% sure why they were in the book. The pacing just didn't work for me in this book.

I would suggest this as a weekend read. It was a little challenging for me to follow along so I needed more brain power to get through this book. I read a little a night and just felt tired having to go back and forth.

I received this book from the Fantastic Flying Book Club in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book.

My Rating: 3/5

Despite uncanny resemblances to Japanese revenants, Rin Chupeco has always maintained her sense of humor. Raised in Manila, Philippines, she keeps four pets: a dog, two birds, and a husband. She’s been a technical writer and travel blogger, but now makes things up for a living. The Girl from the Well was her debut novel.

March 26

Read, Don't Judge- Review & Favorite Quotes

Never Too Many to Read- Review

Taking it One Book at a Time- Review

(1) Signed Hardback Copy of The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

(2) Bottlecap Neclaces

(2) Tea Crocheted Dolls

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Thursday, March 16, 2017

{Blog Tour} Seven Days of You - Cecilia Vinesse (Review)

Seven Days of You

by Cecilia Vinesse

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Release Date: March 7th 2017

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

Sophia has seven days left in Tokyo before she moves back to the States. Seven days to say good-bye to the electric city, her wild best friend, and the boy she’s harbored a semi-secret crush on for years. Seven perfect days…until Jamie Foster-Collins moves back to Japan and ruins everything.

Jamie and Sophia have a history of heartbreak, and the last thing Sophia wants is for him to steal her leaving thunder with his stupid arriving thunder. Yet as the week counts down, the relationships she thought were stable begin to explode around her. And Jamie is the one who helps her pick up the pieces. Sophia is forced to admit she may have misjudged Jamie, but can their seven short days of Tokyo adventures end in anything but good-bye?

Review:

This book follows Sophia as she has a week left in Tokyo before she moves to New Jersey. Sophia is trying to figure out how to say goodbye to her friends since she believes she will never make any again. Sophia wants to put off moving as long as possible. Sophia is also trying to figure out her relationships with her friends before she moves and see what true friendship means.

The author did a great job with all the descriptions of Tokyo I felt like I was there with the characters when they were out in the city. The descriptions really helped to create a vivid picture of what was going on during the book. I enjoyed reading about all the food that they were having as well as the places they were visiting. The author did a great job with describing all the different locations as well the people in the streets.

Sophia was a very well developed character. The author takes her time to explore Sophia's personality as well as getting her to admit to her true feelings. At first it feels like she is holding some things back, but as the story continues we really get a much larger picture of Sophia. Sophia has some issues that she needs to work through in this book. I enjoyed getting to hear about the relationship that Sophia had with her mother and sister this really helped to explain who Sophia is today. I also liked that she valued their opinions a lot.

The book has a very fast paced feel since timing is involved. It was easy to get sucked into the book and want to read more. I loved that the author was able to develop all of the side characters as well in the book. I enjoyed reading about Mika and Sophia's friendship. I would have loved to get more on Mika she was an interesting character and had her own set of issues that could totally be explored.

My one complaint is some of the characters come into the book quickly and with limited background. The author does explain everything as the stories continues but I would have liked to get more details right when someone is entered into the story. I felt like it was a little hard to follow at first.

My other issue with the book is the ending. I wanted so much more from the ending. It is cute and does tie together, but I wanted more.

I would suggest this as a weekend read it was very fast paced and a quick read. It would be the perfect book to sit down in front of fireplace and read for the day!

I received a copy of this book from The Fantastic Flying Book Club for the purpose of providing an honest review. This does not effect my opinion of this book.

My Rating: 3/5

About the Author:

PI was born in France but then moved to Japan. And then to the States. And then back to Japan. And then back to the States. When I was 18, I moved to New York where I was homesick for nearly seven years. After that, I got a job in a cold, snowy city in northern Japan and, from there, I headed to Scotland where I got my master's in creative writing and lived off tea, writer tears, and Hobnobs.

I still live in the U.K. and spend most of my time writing, reading, baking, and getting emotional over Tori Amos albums. Hobbies include pretending Buffy the Vampire Slayer is real, collecting a lipstick to match every Skittle flavor, and listening to a thousand podcasts a day.

A pup named Malfi and a Renaissancist named Rachel are my favorite things in the world. That, and books. I should probably mention the books again.