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Hopeless by Colleen Hoover Review

Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

★★★★★

Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies…

That’s what seventeen-year-old Sky realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she’s never had before. He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of just one encounter, and something about the way he makes her feel sparks buried memories from a past that she wishes could just stay buried.

Sky struggles to keep him at a distance knowing he’s nothing but trouble, but Holder insists on learning everything about her. After finally caving to his unwavering pursuit, Sky soon finds that Holder isn’t at all who he’s been claiming to be. When the secrets he’s been keeping are finally revealed, every single facet of Sky’s life will change forever. (Goodreads)

Sky had never been attracted to anyone before she met Dean Holder. The hopeless boy who swooped into her life and expressed a variety of different personalities and emotions. He ran hot and cold, and she couldn’t figure him out. Meeting him triggered events that spiraled her life out of control, but she also needed him to regain control again. There was a lot more to Holder than his good looks and bad temper.

I cannot put into words how amazing this book is and how much I love it. It deserves more than my highest rating of five stars. That is how epic this book is. I read this book in one sitting the first time and couldn’t go to bed before I finished this beautiful, heartbreaking story. I was thinking about it continuously for days after until I re-read it again a few weeks later with my good friend Michele from A Belle’s Tales. She was the one who told me about the book to begin with; and boy, am I glad! Hopeless is now one of my all-time favorite books. These characters and this story will stay with me for a long time; they have not let go of me yet.

The story is breathtaking, and I had no idea where it was taking me; the author did an incredible job keeping me in the dark about what was going on. There were plot twists and turns I didn't see coming. Some things I was able to kind of figure out, but it still took me a while. The mystery and intriguing words kept me propelling forward, jumping off each cliffhanger chapter to get to the next. There were things I never saw coming and moments that made my heart stop.

The author made me feel like I was part of this book; I felt every raw emotion and felt like the things the characters experienced, I experienced. The author's writing and style was amazing, and I really can’t wait to read more of her work.

This was a work of art, perfectly put together and done flawlessly.

The author recently announced that she would be writing Hopeless in Holder’s point-of-view, and all I can say is I can’t flipping wait. This is a book that I will definitely re-read again in the future, and I highly recommend it.

Some Quotes:

"Somehow, in the course of sixty seconds, this guy has managed to swoon me, then terrify the hell out of me."

"And here I was, thinking I would actually have a conversation with just one of his personalities today. So much for that."

"An hour and a half ago, he walked away from me in a pissy mood. Now he’s smiling at me like he’s just seen his best friend for the first time in years. Yep. He’s got issues." 

"How the hell does he incite these kinds of feelings from me from clear across a parking lot? I think I’m in need of an intervention."

“Do you wish to reveal your offering, hopeless boy, so that I may decide who shall accompany me at the classroom throne today?” Breckin looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. Holder laughs and picks his backpack up off the desk. “Looks like someone’s in need of an ego-shattering text today.”

"Every now and then he places his hand on my leg or rubs my back or kisses the side of my head, and he’s going through these motions like they’re second nature, but to me not a single one of them goes unnoticed."

Buy Now!

Teaser Tuesday (18)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Apollyon by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Fate isn’t something to mess with… and now, neither is Alex.

Alex has always feared two things: losing herself in the Awakening and being placed on the Elixir. But love has always been stronger than Fate, and Aiden St. Delphi is willing to make war on the gods—and Alex herself—to bring her back.

The gods have killed thousands and could destroy entire cities in their quest to stop Seth from taking Alex’s power and becoming the all-powerful God Killer. But breaking Alex’s connection to Seth isn’t the only problem. There are a few pesky little loopholes in the whole “an Apollyon can’t be killed” theory, and the only person who might know how to stop the destruction has been dead for centuries.

Finding their way past the barriers that guard the Underworld, searching for one soul among countless millions, and then somehow returning will be hard enough. Alex might be able to keep Seth from becoming the God Killer… or she might become the God Killer herself. (Goodreads)

*TEASER* "I smiled, and then a second later I planted my fist in his stomach with everything I had in me."

-Apollyon by Jennifer L. Armentrout, Page 122 in ARC

Teaser Tuesday (17)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Requiem (Delirium #3) by Lauren Oliver

They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past.

But we are still here.

And there are more of us every day.

Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.

After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor.

Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings.

Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it.

But we have chosen a different road.

And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.

We are even free to choose the wrong thing.

Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge. (Goodreads)

*TEASER* "She's wearing an old, ink-stained backpack that I recognize as one of Lena's hand-me-downs. Across one of its pockets two names are colored in black bubble letters: Lena's and mine."

The Magic Warble by Victoria Simcox Guest Post and Giveaway

Welcome! Today I have a special guest on my blog today, the author of The Magic Warble, Victoria Simcox. I am spotlighting her first book in her independent reader series and the author has generously offered to giveaway 3 e-book copies of the book. I hope you all get excited about this book, I look forward to reading it when I have time. I have won this book and the next one in giveaways and was very excited.  I have heard great things about this book, especially from Michele's daughter, Katertot from A Belle's Tales. With her permission I'm going to also share her review with you all in this post. I hope you enjoy the spotlight and Q&A with the author. Here is a huge welcome to Victoria! Thank you for being on my blog today.

The Magic Warble by Victoria Simcox

Twelve-year-old Kristina Kingsly feels like the most unpopular girl in her school. The kids all tease her, and she never seems to fit in. But when Kristina receives an unusual Christmas gift, she suddenly finds herself magically transported to the land of Bernovem, home of dwarfs, gnomes, fairies, talking animals and the evil Queen Sentiz. In Bernovem, Kristina not only fits in, she's honored as "the chosen one," the only one who can release the land from Queen Sentiz's control. But it's not as simple as it seems. To save Bernovem, she must place the gift she was given, the famous "Magic Warble," in its final resting place. She must travel through the deep forest, climb a treacherous mountain, and risk capture by the queen's "zelbocks" before she reaches her destination. Guided by her new fairy friends, Clover and Looper and by Prince Werrien, a teenage boy, and an assortment of other characters, Kristina sets off on a perilous journey that not only tests her strength but her heart. (Goodreads)

Kristina Kingsly, a twelve-year-old girl who receives a mysterious gift from her teacher before Christmas break, is awoken one night by a buzzing noise coming from somewhere in her bedroom. The gift she was given by her teacher, Miss Hensley, came in some sort of hatbox, and she had carelessly tossed it under her bed the day before when she couldn’t open it. But now, as the buzzing seems to be growing louder… and seems to be coming from underneath her bed… Kristina pulls out the box and opens it, only to find a tiny, silvery, tarnished ball. What kind of gift is that? Just as she is about to go back to sleep, she suddenly finds herself in a different place! Not like one of those times when you close your eyes and feel like you’re somewhere else… she literally appeared in a beautiful garden in a pile of leaves. Afterwards, she learns she is the “Chosen One,” brought to this land, Bernovem, to place the little tarnished ball… or the Magic Warble… in its resting place. 

Currently, Bernovem is ruled by the tyrant Queen Sentiz. She knows Kristina is attempting to place the Magic Warble in its resting place and is bound and determined to kill Kristina and Werrien (the boy who is helping Kristina on her mission), take the Magic Warble, and destroy it, also destroying the only chance Bernovem has of being saved. 

While this book was very exciting and kept me on the edge of my seat, it also really touched my heart, especially when dealing with certain matters near the end; however, I can’t say any more without giving away too much. I’ll be honest, I cried near the end, and I agree with my mom - she says, “You know you’ve read a great book when it brings out that kind of emotion in you.”

This book is absolutely wonderful - 5 stars! Victoria Simcox is incredibly talented. I enjoyed her writing thoroughly and adored all the characters! Fairies, gnomes, dwarfs, AND talking animals? I’m hooked! The cover also intrigued me… what a beautiful book! A spectacular read by a spectacular author, The Magic Warble is a new favorite of mine! I will most definitely be reading the sequel, The Black Shard, as soon as possible! 

Thank you Katertot for allowing me to use your review in my post!

Guest Post/ Q&A:

Q: What gave you the idea for a fantasy book like The Magic Warble and The Black Shard?

A: I remember I was sitting in the movie theater watching the first Harry Potter movie when I envisioned my main character, Kristina, walking down a snowy sidewalk. At the time that was all of story I had. I went home that night and wrote my first page not knowing where the story would go.

Q: If/When you have writers block what do you do?

A: I used to get writer's block, but then I realized it came to me when I got too stressed out and felt like I was pressured to write. I had to remind myself why I started writing to begin with—because I enjoyed it, not because I had to; then I relaxed. If you are an aspiring author and going through writer's block and feeling like there's nothing you can come up with to write about, or your imagination has run dry, then take a day off—go see a flick, or do something you enjoy to relax. You'll be surprised how ideas come to you when you're in a happy relaxed state of mind.

Q: Are some characters harder to write than others?

A: No, I have a vivid picture of my characters in my head which makes it not to difficult for me to form their personalities. I think I draw a lot from people in my life. But I create a character from different character traits of more than 1 person.

Q: If you could meet any person dead or alive...who would it be?

A: C.S Lewis: His Chronicles of Narnia have been such an inspiration to me. It would be so cool, say for instance, to have lunch with him and pick his brain on how he came up with his beloved stories.

Q: What do you prefer coffee, tea, soda, water...

A: I prefer coffee to tea and I admit I'm pretty religious about having my coffee each morning and afternoon. I try not to drink soda other than when I go out to eat or to a movie, then I always have a diet coke. Eight glasses of water is my daily goal though I rarely meet that goal it's more like 4 if that.

Check out Victoria's personal blog @ www.victoriasimcox.blogspot.com

About Victoria:

Victoria was born in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, to an Austrian immigrant mother, and a Dutch immigrant father. She now lives in Western Washington with her husband, Russ and their three children, Toby, Kristina, and William. Her other family members are a Chihuahua, named Pipsy and two cats, named Frodo and Fritz. Besides being an author, Victoria is a home-schooling mother of twelve years and an elementary school art teacher of eleven years. In her spare time, Victoria enjoys managing her two older children's Celtic band. She also loves writing, reading, painting watercolors, hiking, good movies, and just simply hanging out with her family and friends. 

Find Victoria:

| Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads |

Giveaway:

The author has generously provided 3 e-book copies of the book for an international giveaway! Just use the rafflecopter form below to enter for a chance to win one of the three copies! I hope you all enter and good luck!

Teaser Tuesday (16)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrates and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.

Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.

Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.

Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to.

The Sea of Tranquility is a rich, intense, and brilliantly imagined story about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.

*TEASER* "so that means you're, like, free to do whatever the hell you want?"
 "Apparently so." He turns the ruler and traces a line along the edge of it with a pencil. "Of course, I can't murder anyone, so it has its limits,"

Fractured Soul by Rachel McClellan Blog Tour [Review + Giveaway]

Hey everyone! I'm very excited to be a part of the Fractured Soul by Rachel McClellan blog tour today. I have been excited about this post since I asked Rachel to be a stop on the blog tour and she said, YES. I met Rachel a year ago and she was a ton of fun to talk to and very humble about her book. I told her, "It's a good sign when your first book is published in hardcover." That is what I think anyways, I'm not saying only good books get published in hardcover, because that isn't the case. I have read some fantastic books that were paperback and even only available in ebook at the time. Now she has another book published, so she is definitely doing something right. I love her books, which you will hear about in my reviews. For the blog tour I did a review for Fractured Soul, but I also provided my review for Fractured Light. I hope you all like the reviews and become interested in the books! I'm excited to feature them today and spread the word. The Publisher & Author are also generously giving away a copy of Fractured Soul at this stop, so be sure to enter at the end of this post. Thank you to everyone who reads this post and a huge thank you to Rachel McClellan for having me on this tour.

Fractured Light by Rachel McClellan

★★★★☆

Llona Reese is used to living on the run. After the Vykens killed her parents, she knew they would eventually come for her too. She can’t take any chances. But when she starts to make friends for the first time in her life, she gets careless and lets her guard down. Big mistake.

As an Aura, Llona can manipulate light and harness its energy. But if she wants to survive, Llona will have to defy the Auran Council and learn to use her power as a weapon against the Vyken whose sole desire is to take her light. Now she’s caught in something even bigger than she can understand, with a power she can’t wield, and no one she can trust, except, just maybe, a mysterious stranger.

| Goodreads | Amazon | B&N |

(currently only $2.99 for the kindle book)

Llona lost her parents at a young age and had been living with her Uncle Jake ever since. She was forced to be the adult since Jake was still in a depressed state. Llona was special and had to hide what she was and refused to go to the school that promised people like her. She didn’t have any friends other than May and kept everyone at arms' length... until Christian came into her life. She learned to let people in, and she learned more about herself and the power she held inside.

This book was awesome, and I really enjoyed it. It took me a bit to get introduced to the story and learn the names of things; but once I got used to it, it was a fast, fun read. I enjoyed the characters and the subtle hints that were thrown my way. The book kept me guessing, but I got my AHA moment near the end. The characters felt real, and I really enjoyed seeing Llona change and the relationships grow between her and her new friends -- especially May and Christian.

The author had a very nice writing style that I found fluid and kept me wanting to read more. When she ended a chapter, it was difficult to stop with how they left off, which propelled me to continue reading more.

I met the author a year ago when she was at a book event at my college in Maine. I had seen Fractured Light around the blogging world and had already been interested in reading it, so I had to buy it when I saw her at the event. I love autographed books, of course. I actually had to leave the event, but she told me she was doing another event at Books-A-Million so I went to that one after, purchased her book, and got it autographed. My fiancé was with me and so was my friend Katie, and we ended up hanging out with her for the entire event and talking with her.

I arrived at Books-A-Million before she did and, at the time, knew a lot of the employees because they were previous Borders employees. They somehow had communication issues and didn’t know about the event; so luckily, I asked and they were able to get something set up for her. I wish there had been more awareness for her because she was a ton of fun to talk to (well, maybe I don't feel too bad since I was able to talk to her as much as I did), and now I know that her books are awesome.

 

It took me a while to begin reading it because this year has been crazy, but receiving the ARC of Fractured Soul so I could be a part of the blog tour was great incentive and at least this way I can start reading Fractured Soul right away.

I would definitely recommend this book to Fantasy readers. I’m really excited to start Fractured Soul and also look forward to reading more of Rachel’s work.

Fractured Soul by Rachel McClellan

★★★★★

Llona will do whatever it takes to protect her new found friends and home, but the dark plot that is threatening Lucent Academy, a school that’s supposed to be a safe place for Auras, may be too powerful for even Llona to defeat. This fast-paced tale of love, loyalty, and overcoming the darkness will keep you on the edge of your seat until the last page!

| Goodreads |  Amazon | B&N |

Llona graduated high school and decided to go to Lucent Academy, the school with people like her that she had fought going to. After recent events, she decided to go there with May to learn more about her powers and how to use them. The school is supposed to be safe, but Llona soon found out that was not the case. An evil plot was unfolding, and it was up to Llona and her friends to stop it.

My first thought after finishing the book was WOW. I just finished, and I’m reeling with emotions. I loved this book. I really loved the first book, but I loved this one even more. This one was packed full of action and Llona struggling through a lot of bad stuff. I don’t want to give anything away, but this book was killer.

Both books have made my heart sad, and I’m still having a hard time believing what happened in this one. If she hadn’t done such an awesome job making the book so gripping that I couldn’t let go of my Kindle, I may have thrown it.

The author does a fantastic job at making it so you can’t put the book down. The end of each chapter is a cliffhanger and the only thing you can do is jump off the cliff to find out what will happen next. I really like how she does this.

This was a very fast read and was an exciting journey every step of the way. The ending of this book seriously killed me, and the sneak peek of the next book made it worse. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book. I’m not sure how I’m going to wait for it. I’m going a little crazy right now.

This is a fantastic series that I will be continuing until the end.

I received this book from the author for review for her blog tour. I also received it from Netgalley after she sent it to me. Thank you both very much; I greatly enjoyed it and can’t wait for more.

What others are saying:

“I love these books! A kick-butt heroine and a hottie love interest, with a refreshingly original concept. Be prepared—once you start, these are hard to put down.”

—Paula Cotton, book reviewer at ReadingLark.blogspot.com

“Fractured Soul is a brilliant sequel, exceeding even the remarkable first book in the series. It will haunt your every waking moment between the times you’re reading it, and it will stay with you long after you’ve finished. It’s an amazingly well written and engrossing story that I highly recommend—after you’ve read the first one, of course.”

—Cindy Bennett, bestselling author of Geek Girl and Rapunzel Untangled

About Rachel:

Rachel McClellan was born and raised in Idaho, a place secretly known for its supernatural creatures. When she's not in her writing lair, she's partying with her husband and four crazy, yet lovable, children. Rachel's love for storytelling began as a child when the moon first possessed the night. For when the lights went out, her imagination painted a whole new world. And what a scary world it was...

Find Rachel:

| Facebook | Blog | Website | Twitter | Goodreads |  Book Trailer |

Giveaway:

The author and publisher are generously providing a copy of Fractured Soul for a giveaway. The giveaway is US only, sorry international followers and readers. This is a fantastic book to win, I would like to enter! Can I enter my own giveaway? Enter to win by using the rafflecopter form below. I only require that you are a follower of my blog to win, everything else is optional.