Stone of Thieves (Robbin' Hearts #2) by Diane J. Reed

The Stone of Thieves . . . for centuries its magnetic draw has twisted the hearts of ambitious men and women with the promise of power, passion, and intrigue until it fell into the hands of unlikely thieves Robin and her boyfriend Creek. But can they steal their destiny away from the curse that pursues this magnificent ruby heart? As the stone begins to spread its sorcery, Robin races to find her long-lost mother in Italy in the hopes of discovering the truth about her unique gypsy heritage and the ruby heart that is rumored to steal souls. Yet when the desire for this stone by powerful members of her family threatens their very lives, Creek decides to take matters into his own hands to protect Robin, his greatest treasure of all . . .

Stone of Thieves is a sensual, stand-alone new adult novel and the sequel to Robin in the Hood in the Robbin’ Hearts Series. Due to mature themes, readership is advised for ages 17+

• Genre: Contemporary romance, Magic, Magical realism
• Age: young adult, mature young adult
• Source: owned paperback: Copy courtesy of author Diane J. Reed in exchange for an honest review
• Read from July 20 to 22, 2014

 FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, #1) by Susan Ee

 

It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

• Genre: Paranormal, Supernatural, Dystopia, Urban Fantasy, Dark, Post apocalyptic
• Creatures: angels
• Age: young adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from February 25 to 26, 2012 (1st time) and from November 19 to 21, 2013, read count: 2 

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Parasite (Parasitology, #1) by Mira Grant

A decade in the future, humanity thrives in the absence of sickness and disease.

We owe our good health to a humble parasite - a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation. When implanted, the tapeworm protects us from illness, boosts our immune system - even secretes designer drugs.

It's been successful beyond the scientists' wildest dreams. Now, years on, almost every human being has a SymboGen tapeworm living within them.

But these parasites are getting restless. They want their own lives...and will do anything to get them.

• Genre:Horror, Science fiction, Dystopia
• Age: adult/new adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from November 18 to 19, 2013 

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

The Devil's Reprise (Devils #2) by Karina Halle

Given a second chance, music journalist Dawn Emerson and guitarist Sage Knightly are reunited, only to have their lives threatened again by a demonic bargain. The sequel to THE DEVIL’S METAL, from USA Today bestselling author Karina Halle.

When Dawn Emerson got the chance to go on tour with her favorite metal band, Hybrid, she thought she landed the writing gig of the century. But what started off as a dream for the budding music journalist quickly turned into a nightmare that she and guitarist Sage Knightly barely escaped alive.

Now, months after they went their separate ways, Sage invites Dawn to accompany him on his first solo tour across Europe and write about it for Creem Magazine. But like the last tour, nothing is as easy as it seems. Sage is a broken man on the path to self-destruction and Dawn isn’t sure if she’s the right person to save him. And aside from having to pick up the pieces of their burgeoning relationship, they have to negotiate the mysterious new photographer assigned to Dawn’s story, as well as vindictive promoters and demonic groupies they thought they’d never see again.

Because this time, it’s Dawn who made a deal with the devil and the only thing worse than having to uphold a bargain with the prince of darkness is not remembering how you’re supposed to pay it back.

It may be with their souls.

THE DEVIL’S REPRISE is the sequel to THE DEVIL’S METAL and the final book in this series.

• Genre: Paranormal, Horror, Supernatural, Mystery
• Creatures: demons 
• Age: new adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from November 03 to 06, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

The Iron Traitor (The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten #2) by Julie Kagawa

In the real world, when you vanish into thin air for a week, people tend to notice.

After his unexpected journey into the lands of the fey, Ethan Chase just wants to get back to normal. Well, as "normal" as you can be when you see faeries every day of your life. Suddenly the former loner with the bad reputation has someone to try for-his girlfriend, Kenzie. Never mind that he's forbidden to see her again.

But when your name is Ethan Chase and your sister is one of the most powerful faeries in the Nevernever, "normal" simply isn't to be. For Ethan's nephew, Keirran, is missing, and may be on the verge of doing something unthinkable in the name of saving his own love. Something that will fracture the human and faery worlds forever, and give rise to the dangerous fey known as the Forgotten. As Ethan's and Keirran's fates entwine and Keirran slips further into darkness, Ethan's next choice may decide the fate of them all.

• Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary,Urban fantasy, Magic, Paranormal, Romance, Supernatural
• Creatures: faeries
• Age: mature young adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from November 11 to 12, 2013

  FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Finnikin of the Rock (Lumatere Chronicles, #1) by Melina Marchetta

Finnikin of the Rock and his guardian, Sir Topher, have not been home to their beloved Lumatere for ten years. Not since the dark days when the royal family was murdered and the kingdom put under a terrible curse. But then Finnikin is summoned to meet Evanjalin, a young woman with an incredible claim: the heir to the throne of Lumatere, Prince Balthazar, is alive.

Evanjalin is determined to return home and she is the only one who can lead them to the heir. As they journey together, Finnikin is affected by her arrogance . . . and her hope. He begins to believe he will see his childhood friend, Prince Balthazar, again. And that their cursed people will be able to enter Lumatere and be reunited with those trapped inside. He even believes he will find his imprisoned father.

But Evanjalin is not what she seems. And the truth will test not only Finnikin's faith in her . . . but in himself.

• Genre: High Fantasy, Romance, Epic Fantasy, Dark, Magic
• Age: mature young adult / new adult
• Source: owned ebook
• Buddy read with my darlings Nab & Basuhi & Hershey  
• Read from June 24 to 25, 2012, read count: 2  , Reread Date: 24th July - 26th July 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Cloak & Silence (The League #6) by Sherrilyn Kenyon

One of the fiercest soldiers the Phrixians have ever produced, Maris Sulle has been an outsider the whole of his life. He grew up with a secret that cost him everything- His birthright, his family and his military career. In all his life, he’s only had one love and he has sacrificed his own happiness to see his best friend reunited with the woman he loves. But now that his good deed is done, he feels lost and adrift. Even though they do their best to include him in their new family, he’s once again on the outside looking in.

Ture has spent his life hiding from everyone around him while trying desperately to fit in. His family, the world, you name it. Badly hurt by everyone he’s ever known, he trusts no one except his own best friend. And honestly, he can’t understand why he trusts her. Nor can he believe her when she describes a loyalty between friends the likes of which he’s never seen.

But when he is in his darkest hour, he’s saved by a hero he thought only existed in novels. A man who is every bit as scarred and mistrusting as he is. One who has no interest in being dragged into another relationship with anyone.

Having spent his life as a living study of doomed relationships, Maris is well aware of the courtship and fiasco that invariably follows. Still, there is something about Ture he can’t resist. Something that won’t let him walk away when he knows he should.

But when old enemies return to threaten them both, they either have to stand together or die alone.

• Genre: Paranormal Romance, Science Fiction romance, Aliens, Futuristic, Space
• Age: adult, glbt
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read on July 11, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Divide & Conquer (Cut & Run, #4) by Abigail Roux & Madeleine Urban

Cut & Run Series Book Four - Sequel to Fish & Chips

Baltimore, Maryland, is a city in alarming distress. Rising violence is fanning the flames of public outrage, and all law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, are catching blame. Thus the FBI’s latest ideas to improve public relations: a municipal softball league and workshops for community leaders. But the new commitments just mean more time Special Agents Ty Grady and Zane Garrett have to spend apart when they’re happily exploring how to be more than by-the-book partners.

Then the latest spate of crime explodes in their faces—literally—throwing the city, the Bureau, and Ty and Zane’s volatile partnership both in and out of the office into chaos. They’re hip-deep in trouble, trying to track down bombers and bank robbers in the dark with very few clues, and the only way to reach the light at the end of the tunnel together requires Ty and Zane to close their eyes and trust each other to the fiery end.

• Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Contemporary, Romance
• Age: adult, Glbt
• Source: owned ebook
• Read from April 25 to May 01, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn

When you’ve been kept caged in the dark, it’s impossible to see the forest for the trees. It’s impossible to see anything, really. Not without bars . . .

Andrew Winston Winters is at war with himself.

He’s part Win, the lonely teenager exiled to a remote Vermont boarding school in the wake of a family tragedy. The guy who shuts all his classmates out, no matter the cost.

He’s part Drew, the angry young boy with violent impulses that control him. The boy who spent a fateful, long-ago summer with his brother and teenage cousins, only to endure a secret so monstrous it led three children to do the unthinkable.

Over the course of one night, while stuck at a party deep in the New England woods, Andrew battles both the pain of his past and the isolation of his present.

Before the sun rises, he’ll either surrender his sanity to the wild darkness inside his mind or make peace with the most elemental of truths—that choosing to live can mean so much more than not dying.

• Genre: Mystery, Paranormal, Contemporary, Drama, Dark
• Creatures:  werewolves
• Age: mature young adult
• Source: owned ebook
• Read from June 29 to 30, 2013

  Buddy read with Nab & Vilda ♥

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Spirit (Elemental, #3) by Brigid Kemmerer

With power comes enemies. Lots of them.

Hunter Garrity just wants to be left alone. He’s learned the hard way that his unusual abilities come at a price. And he can’t seem to afford any allies.

He’s up to his neck in hostiles. His grandfather, spoiling for a fight. The Merrick brothers, who think he ratted them out. Calla, the scheming psycho who wants to use him as bait.

Then there’s Kate Sullivan, the new girl at school. She’s not hostile. She’s bold. Funny. Hot. But she’s got an agenda, too.
 
With supposedly secret powers rippling to the surface everywhere around him, Hunter knows something ugly is about to go down. But finding out what means he’ll have to find someone he can trust…

• Genre: Super powers, Paranormal romance, Supernatural, Urban Fantasy, Magic
• Age: young adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read on May 30, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

The Lost Prince (The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten, #1) by Julie Kagawa

Don’t look at Them. Never let Them know you can see Them.

That is Ethan Chase’s unbreakable rule. Until the fey he avoids at all costs—including his reputation—begin to disappear, and Ethan is attacked.

Now he must change the rules to protect his family. To save a girl he never thought he’d dare to fall for.

Ethan thought he had protected himself from his older sister’s world—the land of Faery. His previous time in the Iron Realm left him with nothing but fear and disgust for the world Meghan Chase has made her home, a land of myth and talking cats, of magic and seductive enemies.

But when destiny comes for Ethan, there is no escape from a danger long, long forgotten.

• Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary,Urban fantasy, Magic, Paranormal, Romance, Supernatural
• Creatures: faeries
• Age: mature young adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from May 20 to 21, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

The Iron Queen (The Iron Fey, #3) by Julie Kagawa

My name is Meghan Chase. In less than twenty-four hours I'll be seventeen. Although technically, I won't actually be turning seventeen. I've been in the Nevernever too long. When you're in Faery, you don't age. So while a year has passed in the real world, age wise I'm probably only a few days older than when I went in.

In real life, I've changed so much I don't even recognise myself.

I thought it was over. That my time with the fey, the impossible choices I had to make, the sacrifices of those I loved, was behind me. But a storm is approaching, an army of Iron fey that will drag me back, kicking and screaming. Drag me away from the banished prince who's sworn to stand by my side. Drag me into conflict so powerful, I'm not sure anyone can survive it.

This time, there will be no turning back.

• Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary,Urban fantasy, Magic, Paranormal, Romance, Supernatural
• Creatures: faeries
• Age: mature young adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from May 12 to 15, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Robin in the Hood (Robbin' Hearts #1) by Diane J. Reed

“Is it any wonder I became a bank robber?” said Robin.
But she never dreamed she’d fall in love…
15-year-old Robin McArthur thinks she has it all figured out when it comes to bilking her wealthy dad for guilt money as a substitute for his genuine affection. Until one day he suffers a stroke, and she learns the brutal truth.
They’re broke.
And everyone from bankers to bookies has come to collect.
His only saving grace is what he reveals to Robin in between drools: He truly does love her, in spite of all his mistakes.
Panicked and desperate, Robin figures she has two choices. Either surrender to the pestering caseworker and live in a skanky foster home, or take a chance and sneak her dad out of the hospital to make a run for it. Little does she know that stealing a car and hitting the road means that before the day is through, she will rob her first bank.
Now an outlaw, Robin finds a backwoods trailer park to hide her dad from authorities. There, she encounters Creek, a local bad boy who also commits crimes to provide for their motley neighbors. Realizing she could use Creek’s help, Robin proposes an ingenious plan—they should team up to rob banks together. But when their partnership leads to a romance that turns Robin’s world upside down, she soon begins to discover that people are more precious than pocketbooks, and real love means opening your heart to the kinds of treasures money can’t buy…

• Genre: Contemporary romance, Magic, Magical realism
• Age: young adult
• Source: owned paperback: Copy courtesy of author Diane J. Reed in exchange for an honest review
• Read from May 09 to 12, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Ten Tiny Breaths (Ten Tiny Breaths, #1) by K.A. Tucker

Kacey Cleary’s whole life imploded four years ago in a drunk-driving accident. Now she’s working hard to bury the pieces left behind—all but one. Her little sister, Livie. Kacey can swallow the constant disapproval from her born-again aunt Darla over her self-destructive lifestyle; she can stop herself from going kick-boxer crazy on Uncle Raymond when he loses the girls’ college funds at a blackjack table. She just needs to keep it together until Livie is no longer a minor, and then they can get the hell out of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

But when Uncle Raymond slides into bed next to Livie one night, Kacey decides it’s time to run. Armed with two bus tickets and dreams of living near the coast, Kacey and Livie start their new lives in a Miami apartment complex, complete with a grumpy landlord, a pervert upstairs, and a neighbor with a stage name perfectly matched to her chosen “profession.”

But Kacey’s not worried. She can handle all of them. What she can’t handle is Trent Emerson in apartment 1D.

Kacey doesn’t want to feel. She doesn’t. It’s safer that way. For everyone. But sexy Trent finds a way into her numb heart, reigniting her ability to love again. She starts to believe that maybe she can leave the past where it belongs and start over. Maybe she’s not beyond repair.

But Kacey isn’t the only one who’s broken. Seemingly perfect Trent has an unforgiveable past of his own; one that, when discovered, will shatter Kacey’s newly constructed life and send her back into suffocating darkness.

• Genre: Contemporary romance, Drama, Death
• Age: New Adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from March 06 to 08, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Going Under by S. Walden

Brooke Wright has only two goals her senior year at Charity Run High School: stay out of trouble and learn to forgive herself for the past. Forgiveness proves elusive, and trouble finds her anyway when she discovers a secret club at school connected to the death of her best friend. She learns that swim team members participate in a “Fantasy Slut League,” scoring points for their sexual acts with unsuspecting girls.

Brooke, wracked with guilt over her friend’s death, decides to infiltrate the league by becoming one of the “unsuspecting girls,” and exact revenge on the boys who stole away her best friend. An unexpected romance complicates her plans, and her dogged pursuit of justice turns her reckless as she underestimates just how far the boys will go to keep their sex club a secret.

(This is a New Adult fiction book with mature themes. It contains graphic sex and language and a description of sexual violence.)

• Genre: Contemporary romance, suspense, dark
• Age: New adult
• Source: owned ebook
• Read from May 01 to 03, 2013

 Buddy read with my darlings: ♥ Nabk11 ♥ & ♥ Basuhi ♥ click on their names for their reviews!

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles, #2) by Marissa Meyer

The fates of Cinder and Scarlet collide as a Lunar threat spreads across the Earth...

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

• Genre:Paranormal, Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Dystopia,Science Fiction
• Creatures: Robots, Aliens, genetic manipulations, werewolves
  
• Age: young adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from February 10 to 12, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Harbour Falls (A Harbour Falls Mystery #1) by S.R. Grey

Best-selling author Maddy Fitch, researching material for a new novel, returns to her hometown of Harbour Falls to investigate a disappearance that has haunted the tiny Maine coastal town for the past four years. 

Maddy soon discovers that the case has gone cold, but the prime suspect, Adam Ward, is hotter than ever. Now living on an isolated island, Maddy takes up residence near the sexy Mr. Ward's home. As she begins to seek out answers, the mystery deepens, putting Maddy in jeopardy. 

Lies, secrets, deceptions. Nothing is ever what it seems in Harbour Falls.

A steamy novel that immerses the reader in an intricate storyline that will keep them glued till the very last page.

• Genre: Contemporary romance, Suspense, Mystery
• Age: Adult
• Source: owned ebook
• Read from March 05 to 09, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Willow Point (A Harbour Falls Mystery #2) by S.R. Grey

 

With the Harbour Falls Mystery solved, author Maddy Fitch hopes secrets and lies are behind her. But a cryptic letter from her former best friend would seem to indicate otherwise. Is the man Maddy fell in love with while solving the Harbour Falls Mystery, the gorgeous and rich Adam Ward, keeping a damning and potentially dangerous secret from her? Only the writer of the letter, Ami Hensley, knows for sure. But Maddy is hesitant to confront her, since the last time they saw one another Ami tried to kill her.

But if Maddy wants answers--ones that could potentially save Adam--then she must face her fears and visit her former friend. Unfortunately for Maddy, Ami is currently locked up in the creepiest place in Maine, an old gothic structure that houses the criminally insane, known simply as Willow Point.

Will this new mystery tear Maddy and Adam apart?
Who else is in on Adam's secret?

And will Maddy find the answers before it's too late?

Another heart-stopping page turner from the author of Harbour Falls. Willow Point promises to keep you on the edge of your seat.

• Genre: Contemporary romance, Suspense, Mystery
• Age: Adult
• Source: ARC, courtesy of the author S.R. Grey in exchange for an honest review 
• Read from April 20 to 21, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Raphael/Parish (Bayou Heat, #1-2) by Alexandra Ivy & Laura Wright

  

RAPHAEL

The brilliant and dangerous diplomat of the Pantera shapeshifters, Raphael has devoted his life to discovering the key to the infertility that is threatening the extinction of his puma race. Creating a vast network of spies worldwide, he never expected to discover that the answer might be beneath his very nose. But when Ashe, a beautiful human female, crosses his path, his most primitive instincts are stirred. Unable to resist, he takes her to his bed, and is shocked when she becomes pregnant with his child. It’s a miracle that might prove to be the salvation of his people, but only if he can keep her safe from the mercenaries determined to kill her.

PARISH 

Untamed and undeniably sexy, Parish, leader of the Pantera hunters, rarely leaves the magic of the Wildlands to deal with the humans he despises. But with the prized and risky Pantera birth on the way, puma shifter, Parish must travel to New Orleans to find and bring back a human doctor. The moment he sees the lovely, talented and all too human Dr. Julia Cabot he cannot resist the wild, potent drive to make her his. Betrayed and destroyed by love, Julia will not let her heart choose her path again. But as she and Parish fight to save the life of an unborn child, a fierce and overwhelming bond develops between them, threatening her frozen heart with the secret hope and ultimate temptation of love and family.

• Genre: Novella, Erotica, Paranormal Romance
• Age: Adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read in January 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Looking for Alaska by John Green

 

 A deeply affecting coming-of-age story, Looking for Alaska traces the journey of Miles Halter, a misfit Florida teenager who leaves the safety of home for a boarding school in Alabama and a chance to explore the "Great Perhaps." Debut novelist and NPR commentator Green perfectly captures the intensity of feeling and despair that defines adolescence in this hip, shocking, and emotionally charged work of fiction.

Miles has a quirky interest in famous people's last words, especially François Rabelais's final statement, "I go to seek a Great Perhaps." Determined not to wait for death to begin a similar quest, Miles convinces his parents to let him leave home. Once settled at Culver Creek Preparatory School, he befriends a couple of equally gifted outcasts: his roommate Chip―commonly known as the Colonel—who has a predilection for memorizing long, alphabetical lists for fun; and the beautiful and unpredictable Alaska, whom Miles comes to adore.

The kids grow closer as they make their way through a school year filled with contraband, tests, pranks, breakups, and revelations about family and life. But as the story hurtles toward its shattering climax, chapter headings like "forty-six days before" and "the last day" portend a tragic event―one that will change Miles forever and lead him to new conclusions about the value of his cherished "Great Perhaps."

• Genre: Contemporary romance, Coming of Age, Realistic fiction, Death, Drama
• Age: mature young adult
• Source: owned ebook & paperback
• Read on April 06 to 10, 2013 
  BUDDY READ WITH MORGAN!

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★