{Romance Minute Review} Come and Get it (The Bonifay Family #1) by Keira Cole

Sexy Dixie Rose Bonifay has sunk her roots deep in the Texas hill country she calls home. Having dedicated her life to the one thing she loves most—cooking—she’s built her own successful mobile food business catering to the construction workers in the area, and she’s stirring up the appetite of every man around, in more ways than one.

When smug California architect Quin Halladay comes to town, he sets his sights on Dixie’s ranchland—and on Dixie herself. Confident and charming, he can’t wait to bed the alluring Dixie and add yet another notch to his bedpost. What Quin doesn’t realize is that Dixie can match wits with him every step of the way, and before Quin knows it the Texas beauty has turned the tables on him and he can’t get her out of his head.

As the two get down to business in a romantic Texas two-step, it’s a battle of wills and wits between small-town smarts and big-city arrogance. And with all the local men circling their wagons to protect the woman they’ve come to love and respect, Quin will have to prove himself and choose between the city life he knows and the Texas rose he’s come to love. (Blurb via Goodreads)

{Details} ebook, Published May 22nd 2013 by Beyond the Page Publishing

(first published May 17th 2013). Source: Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

{Rating} 2/5 - I didn't like it.

{Review}

"Dixie Rose Bonifay hadn't been born in Texas." (page 1, line 1)

Come and Get It just wasn't for me. I never got attached to the characters, there was very little in the way of character development - there was just lots and lots of sex. And the end? Dixie just lets him off the hook? Quin needed to grovel and beg and grovel some more. The HEA was too easy, and as such, not rewarding. On the positive side though I did like the strong family and community connections Dixie had.

{YA Minute Review} Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

 {YA Minute Review} Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

Your mother hollers that you’re going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don’t stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don’t thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not—you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner.
Only, if it’s the last time you’ll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you’d stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.
But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran.
Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.

In Emmy Laybourne’s action-packed debut novel, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart. (Blurb via Goodreads)

{Details} Hardcover, 294 pages. Published June 5th 2012 by Feiwel & Friends. Source: library

{Rating} 2/5 - I didn't really like it

{Review} I was engrossed, I'll give it that but engrossed in that it was like watching a bus crash, but I couldn't connect with the characters or care what happened about them, most of them I flat out disliked. On the positive side, it had a big cast of characters and Laybourne did do a pretty good job of giving each of the characters distinct personalities. It also felt very adult for a YA book - sex, drugs, alcohol, assault, etc. There's a sequel, Sky on Fire, but I don't plan to read it. 

 

Unleashed by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie -- YA mini review

Unleashed by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie -- YA mini review

Katelyn McBride’s life changed in an instant when her mother died. Uprooted from her California home, Katelyn was shipped to the middle of nowhere, Arkansas, to her only living relative, her grandfather. And now she has to start over in Wolf Springs, a tiny village in the Ozark Mountains. Like any small town, Wolf Springs has secrets. But the secrets hidden here are more sinister than Katelyn could ever imagine. It’s a town with a history that reaches back centuries, spans continents, and conceals terrifying truths. And Katelyn McBride is about to change everything.

Broken families, ageless grudges, forced alliances, and love that blooms in the darkest night—welcome to Wolf Springs.

(Blurb from Goodreads)

Details: Delacorte Books for Young Readers, Released November 22, 2011, ebook, 382pages
Genre: YA
Source: Library
Links: Goodreads

Stars? 2/5

Review:

It was forgettable.  I had to look up the blurb on Goodreads to find out the main character's name, she was that forgettable. She was also insipid, clueless, naive, easily swayed and seemed to forget everything that meant something to her.

I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. It didn't. At least not until the end of the book but it certainly wasn't the payoff I expected. Maybe the storyline will get more interesting in future books but this one wasn't intriguing enough for me to find out.

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff -- YA Review

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff -- YA Review

Griffins are supposed to be extinct. So when Yukiko and her warrior father Masaru are sent to capture one for the Shogun, they fear that their lives are over. Everyone knows what happens to those who fail him, no matter how hopeless the task.

But the mission proves far less impossible, and far more deadly, than anyone expects – and soon Yukiko finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in her country's last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled griffin for company. But trapped together in the forest, Yukiko and Buruu soon discover a friendship that neither of them expected.

Meanwhile, the country around them verges on the brink of collapse. A toxic fuel is slowly choking the land; the omnipotent, machine-powered Lotus Guild is publicly burning those they deem Impure; and the Shogun cares about nothing but his own dominion. Yukiko has always been uneasy in the shadow of power, when she learns the awful truth of what the Shogun has done, both to her country and to her own family she's determined to do something about it.

Returning to the city, Yukiko and Buruu plan to make the Shogun pay for his crimes – but what can one girl and a flightless griffin do against the might of an empire?

Details: Thomas Dunne Books, Released September 18, 2012, Hardcover, 322 pages
Genre: YA
Source: Library
Links: Goodreads

Stars? 2/5

In one sentence? A book with everything from rape, incest, mythical creatures, swords, death, torture, infidelity, betrayal, sex, divided loyalties, surprises, victory and defeat.

Review:

This was another book I wanted to like. It had all the elements of an amazing book: mythology, heroes, villains, a great destiny, a griffin. I expected epic, I got bleh.

I found the descriptions flowery and overwrought, and frankly, annoying. I didn't like any of the characters expect Buruu. I didn't much care what happened to any of the characters except Buruu.

I thought the main character's romance was contrived and meaningless. I felt like the author thought his audience expected Yukiko to have a romance and pushed her into Hiro's arms - and bed. I skimmed, a lot, just to find out how it ended and even that disappointed me, I expected more. When I got to the end I was just relieved it was over.

Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan -- YA Review

Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan -- YA Review

Image Via Goodreads

Just because Mel lives in New Whitby, a city founded by vampires, doesn't mean she knows any of the blood-drinking undead personally. They stay in their part of town; she says in hers. Until the day a vampire shows up at her high school. Worse yet, her best friend, Cathy, seems to be falling in love with him. It's up to Mel to save Cathy from a mistake she might regret for all eternity

On top of trying to help Cathy (whether she wants it or not), Mel is investigating a mysterious disappearance for another friend and discovering the attractions of a certain vampire wannabe. Combine all this with a cranky vampire cop, a number of unlikely romantic entanglements, and the occasional zombie, and soon Mel is hip-deep in an adventure that is equal parts hilarious and touching. Blurb Via Goodreads

Details: HarperTeen, Released 2012, Hardback, 352 pages
Genre: YA
Source: Library
Links: Goodreads

Stars? 2/5

In one sentence? Which team are you on: vampires or humans?

Review: It wasn't for me. I found it depressing BUT it had some great bits. I thought Mel was a strong, resilient, interesting character who was artfully kept from being too perfect and one dimensional.

And Kit. I loved Kit. I loved how Mel and Kit represented the two different worlds, vampire and human, and the ways that was demonstrated, the 'I'll call you' and 'what a kiss means' scenes.