Review: On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves

Book: On the Island

Author: Tracey Garvis-Graves

Published: October 2011

My Rating: 5/5

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Book Description:

When thirty-year-old English teacher Anna Emerson is offered a job tutoring T.J. Callahan at his family’s summer rental in the Maldives, she accepts without hesitation; a working vacation on a tropical island trumps the library any day. T.J. Callahan has no desire to leave town, not that anyone asked him. He’s almost seventeen and if having cancer wasn’t bad enough, now he has to spend his first summer in remission with his family – and a stack of overdue assignments – instead of his friends.

Anna and T.J. are en route to join T.J.’s family in the Maldives when the pilot of their seaplane suffers a fatal heart attack and crash-lands in the Indian Ocean. Adrift in shark-infested waters, their life jackets keep them afloat until they make it to the shore of an uninhabited island.

Now Anna and T.J. just want to survive and they must work together to obtain water, food, fire, and shelter. Their basic needs might be met but as the days turn to weeks, and then months, the castaways encounter plenty of other obstacles, including violent tropical storms, the many dangers lurking in the sea, and the possibility that T.J.’s cancer could return. As T.J. celebrates yet another birthday on the island, Anna begins to wonder if the biggest challenge of all might be living with a boy who is gradually becoming a man.

My Review:

Oh my god! What a book! I think I’ll never quite recovered from the emotional roller-coaster this book provided. A forever favorite, that’s for sure.

I’ve wanted to start this book since the moment I found it, but you know how it is. Life isn’t always on our side, I ended up putting it down for a little while, but I’m so glad I read it now. So glad! I was hooked since the very first chapter when we meet 16-year-old T.J, and his tutor 30-year-old English teacher Anna.

Review: Losing It by Cora Carmack

Book: Losing It

Author: Cora Carmack

Published: October 15th 2012

My Rating: 4/5

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Book Description:

Virginity.

Bliss Edwards is about to graduate from college and still has hers. Sick of being the only virgin among her friends, she decides the best way to deal with the problem is to lose it as quickly and simply as possible– a one-night stand. But her plan turns out to be anything but simple when she freaks out and leaves a gorgeous guy alone and naked in her bed with an excuse that no one with half-a-brain would ever believe. And as if if that weren’t embarrassing enough, when she arrives for her first class of her last college semester, she recognizes her new theatre professor. She’d left him naked in her bed about 8 hours earlier.

My Review:

Losing It was a great book. I’m still grinning just thinking about it, and I finished reading it last night.

Bliss Edwards is almost done with her college career and she’s still a virgin. What a dilemma. She’s fun, sometimes a little shy and self-conscious but pretty hilarious if she wants to be. She was DYING pretty often, and that just made me laugh. It kind of made me think of myself with my OMG-ing all the time. Yup, Bliss is definitely my kind of girl. Well, she’s an actress, too, so it was to be expected. Maybe.

Review: On One Condition by Diane Alberts

Book: On One Condition

Author: Diane Alberts

Published: February 2012

My Rating: 4/5

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Book Description:

Kindergarten teacher Johanna hates Valentine’s Day. She hates romance, hates commercialism, and definitely hates her school’s annual charity date auction. She never expects her pre-auction night of drinking to land a sexy Brit in her bed. Or for that Brit to show up at the auction, bid thousands just to talk to her again, and get down on one knee in front of everyone and ask her to marry him.

Viscount Damon Haymes has never met anyone like Johanna. She’s neurotic, fascinating, and fun. She also doesn’t care about his title and doesn’t want his money, which makes Johanna perfect to fulfill a surprise clause in his father’s will: marry within three months and remain married for a year, or lose his fortune. A relationship is out of the question, but when passions ignite and the two fall in love, their marriage of convenience becomes anything but

My Review:

Ah! I’m in love. With Damon.

Joanne is a kindergarten teacher in her mid-twenties. She has a strong personality, and is pretty stubborn, but she has a huge kind heart. She also happens to hate Valentine’s Day to the core. So what happens when she wakes up on the very day with a man in her bed? A man she didn’t even remember bringing home the night before? What happens? She kicks him out, without as much as a look. Strong personality I tell you, and strong will to kick someone like him out.

Review: Slow Burn (The Fitzgerald Family #1) by Ednah Walters

Book: Slow Burn (The Fitzgerald Family #1)

Author:  Ednah Walters

Published: May 2011

My Rating: 4/5

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Book Description:

She doesn’t want to deal with the past…

Ten years ago, Ashley Fitzgerald witnessed the death of her parents in a tragic fire and blocked the memory. She pretends to have moved on, is a successful artist and photographer, until the morning she opens her door to a stranger she assumes is a model and asks him to strip to his briefs .

He wants to expose the truth….

Wealthy businessman Ron Noble has the body, the jet, the fast cars and the women, but he hides a deadly secret. His father started the fire that killed Ashley’s parents. Now someone is leaving him clues that could exonerate his father and they lead to Ashley’s door. Blindsided by the blazing attraction between them and a merciless killer silencing anyone who was there the night of the fire, Ron dare not tell Ashley the truth. Yet the answer he seeks may very well tear them apart.

My Review:

I don’t seem to be particularly inspired today to write a review. I don’t even know how to start. But hey! That doesn’t mean the book wasn’t good or anything, it just means that my brain doesn’t want to cooperate today.

Okay…

Waiting On Wednesday: Unravel Me by Kendall Ryan

“Waiting on” Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights an upcoming release we are greatly anticipating.

This week’s selection is:

Book: Unravel Me

Author: Kendall Ryan

Release Date: October 1st 2012

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Book Description:

Psychology student Ashlyn Drake’s neat, orderly life takes a turn for the crazy when she finds the perfect subject for her amnesia thesis – a young man without any memory of his previous life, including the murder he’s accused of committing.

Against all common sense, Ashlyn’s drawn to him like a moth to a flame. Perhaps it’s that he’s so incredibly male, and even handcuffed to his hospital bed he could pass for a cologne ad – Scent de Insanity. Or perhaps it’s because she’s spent too many lonely nights studying. Either way, she’s determined to help him solve the mystery of his past. She begins to unravel who he was before, using his cryptic tattoos, and his paintings that scream of a dark past as her only clues. When she finally learns his secret there’s no telling which one is the real him, the gentle lover she’s fallen for or the troubled man with a dark past.

Why I’m waiting:

I had to give some thought to today’s WoW. I have tons of books that I’m dying to read that are not yet released, but I thought I should spotlight a book that’s not really out there, a book that not everyone is talking about and waiting for, but that everyone should be talking about. And I think I have a few of this kind of books, but today I’ll go with Kendall Ryan’s Unravel Me.

I don’t really know what draw me to this book. Maybe it was the cover, that is completely gorgeous and intriguing; or maybe it was the summary that promises an intense and emotional ride. Or maybe it was both. What I do know, though is that I’m definitely dyyyyyyying eager to get my hands on it. And with a little less than a month away Unravel Me shall prove to be a  not-so-painful wait.

So, what are you waiting on?  Leave a comment with your WoW link below and I’ll make sure to check it out!

Stacking the Shelves #2

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga’s Reviews. It’s all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. You can include books you buy in physical stores or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and ebooks.

This past week I’ve acquired a lot of awesome books, books I can’t wait to read. But sadly it will take some time to sort through them and the other million I still have to read. I’ll get there, I’ll get there! For now, why don’t you take a peek at what I got?

1. Reflection by Jessica Roberts

  Book Description:

right, spunky Heather Robbins has escaped her small hometown and is anxiously beginning her freshman year of college. Rising above her rocky childhood, she’s found a place where good things are finally starting to happen: her own private apartment, refreshing college classes, and an intense attachment to a mysterious and rugged classmate, Nick Richards.

But when her dreamy college life turns out to be nothing more than a wonderful dream while resting in a coma, questions threaten.

Now, Heather must press forward to unlock the real past, and find the answers buried deep in her mind. What she unlocks instead is a roller coaster ride through flashbacks, embellished memories, and a whirlwind romance.

And when it’s all over and she comes face to face with the truth, will she lose everything she’s fallen in love with?

2. Lengths by Steph Campbell & Liz Reinhardt

Book Description:

Nineteen-year-old Whit Conrad leaves her conservative Pennsylvania home for sunny California, looking for independence, a fresh start, and a place to stash her grief. She promptly finds a job at a tattoo parlor, a craptastic first apartment, and one friend—Ryan—who is a little less friend, a little more benefits.

Deo Beckett is a soulful surfer with a passion for tattoos and beautiful women. On the eve of his twenty-second birthday, he finds himself living with his grandfather, recently unemployed, and seriously adrift. He doesn’t know much about what he wants out of life, but he does know his current situation isn’t cutting it.

When Deo meets Whit, she’s all sexy makeup and fierce, smart-ass fun. It doesn’t take him long to see past her tough shell. And when he gets a good look at what’s under all the superficial stuff that usually gets his attention, it leaves Deo wondering if there might be more to life than living fast and free.

Too bad Whit has a past she doesn’t plan on sharing—no matter how hot Deo is. She might want him, but she knows better than to let her guard down.

Deo falls for Whit, and falls hard. But everything about her, down to that mysterious tattoo and the way she thrashed in her sleep, tells him that the girl he loves is hiding something. And the more he pushes for answers, the more Whit pulls away.
Having your guard up is one thing, but are the lengths Whit goes to protect her secret worth throwing away the second chance she has at happiness with Deo?

3.  Dancergirl (WiHi #1) by Carol M. Tanzman

 Book Description:

Ever feel like someone’s watching you? Me, too. But lately it’s been happening in my room.

When I’m alone.

A friend posted a video of me dancing online, and now I’m no longer Alicia Ruffino. I’m dancergirl. And suddenly it’s like me against the world.— everyone’s got opinions.

My admirers want more, the haters hate, my best friend Jacy,— even he’s acting weird. And some stalker isn’t content to just watch anymore.

Ali. Dancergirl. Whatever you know me as, however you’ve seen me online, I’ve trained my whole life to be the best dancer I can be. But if someone watching has their way, I could lose way more than just my love of dancing. I could lose my life.

Review: Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Book: Beautiful Disaster

Author:  Jamie McGuire

Published: May 2011

My Rating: 4/5

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Book Description:

The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate percentage of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance between her and the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs—and wants—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

My Review:

I’ve caved in. I read it. Finally I read it!

This is a difficult review to write. I’m trying to stay honest and not turn this into an endless ranting, but it’s hard. Who am I kidding? It’s not going to work! Rant here I come!

Beautiful Disaster is a train wreck (in a good way). Travis’ and Abby’s relationship is a train wreck, one that just didn’t happen to end on tragedy. This book is a train wreck and it will mess with your head. You will either love it or hate it, there’s no in-between.