2013 Ebook Challenge

Review: Don’t Bite the Bridesmaid by Tiffany Allee

May 25, 2013 by Barbara at Basia's Bookshelf 3 Comments

Don’t Bite the Bridesmaid
By Tiffany Allee
Publisher: Entangled: Covet
Publication Date: May 27, 2013
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Source: Publisher

Alice Shepard needs one thing: a date for her sister’s wedding. And not just any date. A hunk who will make her fiancé rue the day he left her for her best friend. Her drop-dead gorgeous neighbor fits the bill—even if he is a bit quirky and never comes out during the day—and Alice has downed just enough appletinis to ask him. But she makes it quite clear that there will be no funny business.

Spending a week on a cruise ship full of humans while sleeping close to his sexy next-door neighbor sounds like a helluva bad idea to vampire Noah Thorpe. But his friends need time to get him out of a shotgun wedding—a vampire bonding that will tie his fate to a female vampire he’s never met. And Alice’s offer comes at just the right time.

What could possibly go wrong?

Goodreads Summary

Are you in the mood for something fun and sexy? I’ve been waiting for a nice little paranormal romance, something that doesn’t make me have to write down the genealogy, power structure, all about the world and how it got there, who’s going to kill them – you get the picture. I just wanted something uncomplicated, like a nice frisky werewolf story or a nibbly vampire tale. I was so happy to get my hands on Don’t Bite the Bridesmaid. It was fun, so, so smexy and a tiny bit angsty to round out the experience.

Alice Shepard is desperate for a hunky man to help her prove to her ex-fiancé that she’s moved on and she needs him really soon. Her sister’s getting married and she’ll be stuck with the cheating dirtbag on a cruise ship for a week – hence the need to find someone to prove she’s not a total loser at love. She’s noticed – okay, ogled – her yummy neighbor more than a few times and she screws up her courage and pops the question. He says no until he has a little problem of his own and has to skip town for a week and a cruise with Alice becomes a very good idea.

It’s not that Noah doesn’t like Alice or want to spend time with her, he just afraid it’s not a good idea. Vampires aren’t great with sun and the fun he wants to get up to with Alice is horizontal and includes his teeth in her neck at some point. He’s hoping he can stave off his cravings long enough to get back home, but when her ex starts bothering Alice again, he’s not about to let her get hurt. Noah decides it’s time he and Alice play girlfriend and boyfriend, which leads to a lot of steamy glances and smexy alpha behavior.

I loved both Alice and Noah, but the best part of the book for me was the romance of it. Alice had a lot of trust issues left over from her relationship with her smarmy ex but it was fun to see her brain go all foggy whenever Noah was around. She was so smitten with him, it was kind of funny how much she wanted to jump his bones and because of his own issues with the pointy-teeth thingie, he had to run away. Noah was ridiculously hot, protective of Alice and even a sweetie all in touch with his feelings – say it with me – awwwww. They were so good and smoking together that I loved the dance between them and since it felt like they had gotten to know each other as neighbors, it wasn’t rushed at all.

There are some terrific side characters, especially Alice’s vivacious sister Cindy and her outrageous mom Edna. Edna is a widow and now she likes younger men – she really really likes younger men and she’s hilarious about it. I hope if there are more books in the series that we see more of her. She and Cindy were a riot.

I had so much fun reading this that I’m going to go back and check out Allee’s backlist. This was just the right combination of paranormal and fun, sexy romance to make me happy and gave me a new author to check out. I didn’t see that there were any sequels already listed but by the cover and some hints in the book, I’m hoping that there’ll be more. I’ll definitely be there to read it.

My Rating: A

Filed Under: *A Rating, 2013 Ebook Challenge, Barbara Recommends, Paranormal Romance

Review: The Caged Graves by Dianne Salerni

May 21, 2013 by Barbara at Basia's Bookshelf 13 Comments

The Caged Graves
By Dianne Salerni
Publisher: Clarion Books
Publication Date: May 14, 2013
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery
Source: Publisher

17-year-old Verity Boone expects a warm homecoming when she returns to Catawissa, Pennsylvania, in 1867, pledged to marry a man she has never met. Instead, she finds a father she barely knows and a future husband with whom she apparently has nothing in common. One truly horrifying surprise awaits her: the graves of her mother and aunt are enclosed in iron cages outside the local cemetery. Nobody in town will explain why, but Verity hears rumors of buried treasure and witchcraft. Perhaps the cages were built to keep grave robbers out . . . or to keep the women in. Determined to understand, Verity finds herself in a life-and-death struggle with people she trusted.

Inspired by a pair of real caged graves in present-day Catawissa, this historical YA novel weaves mystery, romance, and action into a suspenseful drama with human greed and passion at its core.

Goodreads Summary

I love historical fiction but with all of the other genres I review, don’t have time to read much of it anymore. When I saw the synopsis for The Caged Graves in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt catalogue I was completely captivated by it and immediately requested it, hoping it would not only be great but the YA genre would make it of interest to everyone who reads the blog. After reading it, I can only say that YA or not, perfect fit or not, I would have had to review this for you – this was an absolutely gorgeous, captivating story.

It’s 1867, and Verity has returned to the small rural town she was born in to fulfill a childhood promise to marry Nathaniel McLure. She was sent away from home by her father when she was two, so Nate is a stranger for all intents and purposes, except for the letters they’ve been exchanging. They’ve been sweet, romantic letters and Verity has developed a regard for Nate so she’s disappointed when they meet and he’s nothing like that. During one of their stilted conversations and walks, Verity comes across two graves near a church. They’re outside the church’s hallowed ground and have bizarre iron cages built around them. A closer look reveals them to be Verity’s mother and her aunt, who died within days of each other right before Verity was sent away.

No one wants to talk about the caged graves, including her own father. The more Verity searches for answers, the more ugly rumors she hears, from curses to grave-robbers, hidden treasure to witchcraft. When even her father won’t tell her the truth, Verity takes drastic steps to uncover why her mother and aunt were ostracized from the community after their deaths, why their names are whispered with venom and why even those who knew and loved them want to continue the cover-up.

This is one of those stories with a large cast of characters, nearly any of whom could have something to do with what happened fifteen years ago to Verity’s mother and aunt. It was a deliciously rural small town of that era, with all of its class snobbery and racism in place. The area had been a hotspot during the war and after being originally settled with British, Sioux and American, became the local melting pot. One family that had a generous line of Sioux blood was extremely prolific, very poor and discriminated against in the community. It was made known to Verity that most people in town thought Nate was marrying her to gain a large portion of her father’s extensive land through her dowry, even though his family was well-off. I loved having so many characters weaving in and out of the story both helping and hurting Verity’s search – there were suspects and motives everywhere.

Verity was a wonderful character, with flaws that I thought were consistent for a girl of her age in her time. She’d come from a sheltered, fairly affluent situation, expecting a happy reunion with her father and a romantic marriage and found a dusty, spare home, a father who doesn’t know what to do with her and a young man who isn’t what she’d hoped for. Her upbringing meant she was headstrong, outspoken, unapologetic and secure enough to think she could choose her own destiny, which wasn’t always the case with women in the 1800s. I loved her devotion to the mother she’d never known and the lengths she was willing to go to for her, to have her name restored and her grave placed on hallowed ground. I think it was realistic that a young girl like Verity would have doubts about her feelings for Nate, but I didn’t like the sort-of love interest triangle that developed between Nate, Verity and a young doctor’s assistant. I think it was taken a little bit too far, even if it was romantically dramatic.

I don’t want to say a lot about Nate or Hadley, the doctor’s assistant, because they’re both vying for Verity’s hand and she does choose one – the right one, in my opinion. They both brought different things to Verity in a relationship and in different places I went back and forth between them before settling on the one that I knew would have her heart.

The Caged Graves was more than just a good book I picked up. I was completely captivated by the occasionally dark story, by Salerni’s gorgeous writing and the search for the truth behind the burials of Verity’s mother and aunt. I loved that even though there was one true answer in the book there were a few other plausible answers too. The resolution of the mystery was well done and the romantic ending was satisfyingly sweet and believable. I can’t wait to see what Salerni does next.

My Rating: A

Filed Under: *A Rating, 2013 Ebook Challenge, 2013 Standalone Challenge, Barbara Recommends, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult

Review and Giveaway: Runes by Ednah Walters

May 20, 2013 by Barbara at Basia's Bookshelf 16 Comments

RunesTourBanner

Runes (Book One)
By Ednah Walters
Publisher: Firetrail Publishing
Publication Date: May 20, 2013
Genre: YA Fantasy
Source: Netgalley for Xpresso Book Tours
Follow the rest of the tour!

Seventeen-year-old Raine Cooper has enough on her plate dealing with her father’s disappearance, her mother’s erratic behavior and the possibility of her boyfriend relocating. The last thing she needs is Torin St. James—a mysterious new neighbor with a wicked smile and uncanny way of reading her.

Raine is drawn to Torin’s dark sexiness against her better judgment, until he saves her life with weird marks and she realizes he is different. But by healing her, Torin changes something inside Raine. Now she can’t stop thinking about him. Half the time, she’s not sure whether to fall into his arms or run.

Scared, she sets out to find out what Torin is. But the closer she gets to the truth the more she uncovers something sinister about Torin. What Torin is goes back to an ancient mythology and Raine is somehow part of it. Not only are she and her friends in danger, she must choose a side, but the wrong choice will cost Raine her life.

Goodreads Summary

Purchase Runes at:
Amazon | Kindle (US) | Kindle (UK) | Kindle (CA) | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

I haven’t done this in a while, so I hope I’m up to the challenge. There will be some serious gushing about a YA fantasy coming up, including some sort-of inappropriate fantasizing about a hot guy. The only problem I’m going to have is avoiding spoilers – Torin keeps telling Raine there are a lot of things he can’t tell her and that’s going to be the theme of my review too.

Raine meets the super sexy Torin when he moves next door into her childhood friend Eirik’s house. He’s a little arrogant, a lot cocky and there’s something kind of strange about him that he jokingly calls magic. Raine is completely tongue-tied and usually irritated around him but can’t stop looking to see if he’s around. Torin seems pre-occupied with her too, always there when she’s in trouble or just on the periphery of her sight when she’s thinking of him. When three new students show up at school and there are actual attempts to harm Raine, it’s Torin who comes to her rescue, displaying otherworldly powers that stir something inside of her.

I sort of knew which direction Walters was going just by the title of the book, since the general area of mythology that uses runes are limited. I was still thrilled with her vision of things and the way she worked it all into a contemporary YA setting. From the outside, this may look like a typical fantasy, but it’s creative, a little violent and a fast ride. There are a number of twists, some I saw coming, some I didn’t. I’ve remarked before that one of my pet peeves is that a lot of YA protags don’t have parents present and I’m happy to say Raine has a loving mother here who actually cares about curfew, dinner, her car and classes. Her father has been missing for three months after his plane crashed into the ocean, and it’s a significant plot in the story too.

Raine was an…interesting character. I can name a lot of things about her character that annoyed me that should have made me not like her, but I still did and I really wanted that happy ending for her. She was ridiculously blasé about all of the insane things that were happening, about a momentous development – several momentous developments – near the end and she went running into trouble so many times after she was told not to. I wasn’t happy that she encouraged Eirik’s romantic feelings for her when all along she and Torin were really practically making fire with the sparks they were throwing, not to mention I kind of saw Eirik with someone else. I still liked Raine a lot though – she had a funny, snarky way about her sometimes, she was sweetly vulnerable and I loved the scenes she had with her chatty and fun friend Cora.

Torin was hot and sexy personified. I’d feel really gross writing that about someone his age, except he’s not really his age. Cryptic, huh? I know I complained a little about his arrogance earlier, but on him, it worked. I loved that he called Raine, “Freckles,” and that even though she hated it when anyone else did, from him it was nice. Sure, it’s kind of stereotypical, but he rode a motorcycle and, hello? Another sexy point. I didn’t understand why he couldn’t explain to Raine what he was, but I think that had more to do with Walters warping the mythology than any character flaw.

I hadn’t planned on it, but I gobbled this book up in one sitting – sorry, laundry. I loved how fast it moved, the way the revelations about the mythology were doled out and the relationship between Raine and Torin. One thing I didn’t like was the ending. I. Hate. Cliffhangers. There’s no doubt that I’ll buy the next book because I have to know what’s going to happen, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t scream a little when I saw the last few paragraphs.

My Rating: A-

sig Barbara

EDNAH WALTERS grew up reading Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys and dreaming of one day writing her own stories. She is a stay-at-home mother of five humans and two American short-hair cats (one of which has ADHD) and a husband. When she is not writing, she’s at the gym doing Zumba or doing things with her family, reading, traveling or online chatting with fans.

Ednah is the author of The Guardian Legacy series, a YA fantasy series about children of the fallen angels, who fight demons and protect mankind. AWAKENED, the prequel was released by Pill Hill Press in September 2010 with rave reviews. BETRAYED, book one in the series was released by her new publisher Spencer Hill Press in June 2012 and HUNTED, the third installment, will be released April 2013. She’s working on the next book in the series, FORGOTTEN.

Ednah also writes New Adult paranormal romance. RUNES is the first book in her new series. She is presently working on book 2, IMMORTALS.

Under the pseudonym E. B. Walters, Ednah writes contemporary romance. SLOW BURN, the first contemporary romance with suspense, was released in April 2011. It is the first book in the Fitzgerald family series. Since then she has published four more books in this series. She’s presently working on book six. You can visit her online at ednahwalters.com or ebwalters.com.

Connect with Ednah:
Her Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

Ednah is holding a tour-wide giveaway (open to international entries) with 2 grand prizes. The first is for a signed copy or ebook of Runes plus a $25 Amazon gift card and the second is for a signed copy or ebook of Runes plus a $10 gift card from Amazon. Good luck everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: 2013 Ebook Challenge, Fantasy, Giveaway, Young Adult Tagged With: Ednah Walters

Review: Desire by Design by Paula Altenburg

May 18, 2013 by Barbara at Basia's Bookshelf 12 Comments

Desire by Design
By Paula Altenburg
Publisher: Entangled: Bliss
Publication Date: May 13, 2013
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: Publisher

He stole her job, and now she’s stealing his heart.

Eve Doucette finally almost has it all. She’s free from her mistake of an ex-husband and just landed her dream job: project manager for a new City Hall and drafter of the final design. That is, until a handsome architect sweeps into town to commandeer her blueprints.

Famous architect Matt Brison is unsatisfied with his mundane life in Toronto. So when the mayor of Halifax asks him to spearhead his City Hall project, Matt jumps at the opportunity. There’s just one problem: the feisty and beautiful project lead, Eve, who isn’t exactly thrilled about her new “coworker” hijacking her design.

But when the sparks begin to fly, they both find themselves falling for the colleague they shouldn’t want. And before they know it, their already shaky foundation might come crumbling down…

Goodreads Summary

Whether I want it to or not, my reading seems to go in one direction or another that I often don’t notice until I look back on a week or so of reviews and books read on my Kindle. I’ve been on an adult contemporary romance kick lately – my personal buying choices have ranged from meh to ugh and it’s been a little disheartening. Being offered a title from Entangled’s Bliss imprint was like getting to pick the first chocolate in the box of adult contemporaries – I know what I’m going to get and I know I’m going to like it, it just depends on how much. Desire by Design was chocolate-covered toffee crunch – yummy.

Eve Doucette is the project manager for Sullivan Construction, the company handling the new city hall project and while she doesn’t have a formal degree, her draftsman skills have been highly regarded on past jobs. She’s worked up a design for this one and expects to be able to present it to the mayor sometime before she kills him for trying to mess with her budget, but that dream goes out the window with the arrival of his nephew, hotshot architect Matt Brison. Mayor Bob already gave the design job to Matt, whose sleek modern style isn’t what Eve had in mind for her lovely Nova Scotia town.

Following a cute meet-cute that’s a great indication of Altenburg’s sense of humor, the sparks flew between this unconventional couple. There’s no insta-love, and although the book isn’t long enough to let things percolate forever, Eve and Matt still take their sweet time working around each other’s prickly spots. Eve in particular has a lot of issues – as a woman in what’s typically a man’s job, she’s developed an aggressive exterior over what was already a tough hide from her weird family and a rotten first marriage. I sympathized with her, I really did – she kept getting knocked down as person after person hinted that she failed to meet their expectations, but she just got up again. It was frustrating that she kept Matt in the dark so long about her issues with her ex-husband Claude, but I might have done the same thing. I loved that she threw a punch just as well as any guy, not that I’m going to start enjoying heroines beating people up or anything. For this particular heroine though, it worked – Eve was a firecracker and I wanted her to be as physically able to take anyone on as she was intellectually.

I’m not normally a fan of beta heroes and I’m not sure if Matt was all beta, but he was close. He was a nice guy, a good complement to Eve’s storminess. I liked that he wasn’t a pushover for her but that he gave her space, made her come to him then pounced on her – then they repeated the process. It was a nice changeup, having the guy in the book being more in touch with his feelings than the woman, and I can’t believe I just wrote that, by the way. Feely Book Guys aren’t for me usually, but Altenburg made Matt really sexy in a cute, wish-he-was-my-boyfriend, way.

At some point, when I reach a certain number of books I’ve read from the Bliss line that I’ve loved, my reviews will consist entirely of, “Bliss – loved it, go for it.” Or maybe I’ll rate them just based on a box of chocolates and which ones are my top five or something, since none have been less than good. When I’m just in a blah mood, need something sweet and uncomplicated, I pick one of these up and am guaranteed a good story. Altenburg’s Desire by Design was fun, sexy and had some serious moments that made me sad for one of the characters, but ended with such a sweet note, I pulled out a Kleenex. This is a keeper for me and I recommend it if you’re in the mood for an adult contemporary romance.

My Rating: A

Filed Under: *A Rating, 2013 Ebook Challenge, 2013 Standalone Challenge, Barbara Recommends, Contemporary/Romance Tagged With: Paula Altenburg

Review: Love Me (Take a Chance #2) by Diane Alberts

May 11, 2013 by Barbara at Basia's Bookshelf 13 Comments

Love Me (Take a Chance #2)
By Diane Alberts
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Publication Date: May 13, 2013
Genre: Adult Contemporary
Source: Publisher

Thomas Jones has come to Vegas to win yet another account for his marketing company. But when he sits across from beautiful and sensual Brianna Faulk to deliver his pitch, his desire to leave Vegas as quickly as possible is replaced by the need to get close to her. Yet she resists his
charm.

Brianna knows a date with Thomas could jeopardize her job, but he’s so maddening and insistent, she has a hard time denying him just one date. But that’s all it can be: one date. Because she has to protect her job and her secrets, even if it means giving up a chance at a life she never thought she’d have again.

Goodreads Summary

After I put Love Me on my Kindle, I really couldn’t get it out of my head that I’d read Diane Alberts before or something – it turned out to be the “or something.” I had fallen in love/lust with two of her other books, Faking It and the first book in this series, Try Me, and purchased them but they’re still sitting there waiting to be read, which isn’t too abnormal with me. They’ve been pushed closer to the top of my TBR pile after reading Love Me, which was a sexy and surprisingly warm and fuzzy story that I enjoyed.

Ad exec Thomas Jones hasn’t just been unlucky in love, he’s been stomped on, dragged around and left for dead by it. Eight years later, he’s still bitter and has no intention of ever getting involved again. He’s currently throwing himself a little pity party while he’s in Vegas, waiting for the elusive Brianna Faulk to show up so he can wow her with his company’s plans for her casino then hightail it back to California. A brief encounter with a klutzy, irritable and luscious blonde has him rethinking his plans to join the priesthood – and wouldn’t you know, the curvy beauty is none other than Brianna.

Brianna has her own reasons for not wanting to jump into a relationship. She hasn’t been burned by love, but her heart is in a precarious place. It’s hard enough for her to get past the idea that she’s attracted to someone she’ll be working with, but then she has to sort out the parts about having sex with someone again. For her, sex and a stable relationship had always been intertwined, so to embark on that with Thomas was a giant step and there was a lot of stepping forward and stepping back. When they were together though? It’s scorchingly hot.

This is really a character-driven story and the main conflict comes because of character issues. Both Thomas and Brianna are holding things back and there are things in Brianna’s life that he’ll have to adjust to if he truly wants to be with her. Thomas was a character I really had to warm up to. In the beginning of the story, he was plain and simple, mostly a jackass. He had the fake salesman smile and persona down and the entire time he was pushing Brianna for her secrets, he put up big “no trespassing,” signs on his own issues. He was such an infuriating blockhead! Mid-book though, it was like a switch flipped and it wasn’t so much that he opened up, but he gave Brianna some slack for a change and quit being such a faker. The entire tone of the story changed and I started really wanting this guy to win her heart.

Brianna was such a wonderful character. Part of her secret explained why she had issues with Thomas but the rest I wasn’t expecting and it completely changed the way I saw her. She was so funny and spirited, I loved the way she was always ready to zap Thomas back into place if he got too pushy with her, yet she was so vulnerable that every time she ran from him, I understood why and would have been right beside her.

I really do need to get to those other two books of Alberts’ because I completely enjoyed her style and sense of humor in Love Me. Thomas and Brianna were a complicated couple whose story had much more depth than I thought it would. Their chemistry was smoking hot, they had a nice HEA and there was a great epilogue, like a little present.

My Rating: A-

Filed Under: *A Rating, 2013 Ebook Challenge, 2013 Standalone Challenge, Contemporary/Romance Tagged With: Diane Alberts

Descendant by Nichole Giles: Review, Playlist and Giveaway

May 10, 2013 by Barbara at Basia's Bookshelf 13 Comments

Descendant
By Nichole Giles
Publisher: Rhemalda Publishing
Publication Date: May 1, 2013
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Source: Author Tour
Available for purchase at: Amazon | B&N | The Book Depository | IndieBound

Seventeen-year-old Abigail Johnson is Gifted.

Blessed—or cursed—with Sight and Healing, Abby lives an unsettled life, moving from place to place and staying one step ahead of the darkness that hunts her. When she arrives in Jackson, Wyoming, she is desperate to maintain the illusion of normalcy, but she is plagued with visions of past lives mixed with frightening glimpses of her future. Then she meets Kye, a mysterious boy who seems so achingly familiar that Abby is drawn to him like he’s a missing piece of her own soul.

Before Abby can discover the reason for her feelings toward Kye, the darkness catches up to her and she is forced to flee again. But this time she’s not just running. She is fighting back with Kye at her side, and it’s not just Abby’s life at stake.

Goodreads Summary

Under the tutelage of her beloved grandmother, Abby has been learning to use the natural Gifts of Healing and Sight that she was born with. Abby can see flashes of the past and visions of people in the present, and with herbs and crystals, heal people (and her pet dog). According to her mom and grandmother, those same Gifts make them hunted, so each time they think someone may have noticed Abby, they have to move. When something horrible happens this time, it’s time to say hello to Jackson, Wyoming.

At school, Abby gravitates to a small group of friends, including the ridiculously influential Rose, her friend Jen and Eric, a boy who has a perma-crush on her, but the one boy she feels compelled to talk to keeps his distance until they get stuck together on a bus trip. When Abby looks into Kye’s eyes, she feels like she knows him and during their bus trip, the two talk like they do. Something strange, almost supernatural happens, and Kye reveals why it seems like they know each other, why Abby’s been on the run – he knows a lot more about Abby’s life than she does.

Wow. Well, there turned out to be a lot more to this story than the synopsis said. It took me quite a bit longer to read, since I had complete information overload at times, but it was quite an interesting story. Abby really was in the dark about her Gifts and her heritage. The story started as something relatively simple – if you can call the ability to heal and see into the past and have visions simple- then it added sprites, demons, elemental gifts and curses. It covered a few states and a few realms and a few people were sort of, kind of dead. Even though I had to take a couple of breaks, it was still a thrilling ride.

I really liked Abby and how she managed to roll with everything Kye told her and she experienced through the Sight. She came up with some smart solutions when the two of them got into sticky situations and stuck with Kye, even knowing more than he did about the outcome of some things because of the visions she had. I thought it was funny that she was always waiting for him to put the moves on her and he was always literally dragging her around because she was tired – and eternally hungry – and they had to run. Kye was sweet and seemed much, much older than his eighteen years. In a lot of ways, he was almost too perfect for Abby. He had the platinum credit card, they did have that insta-connection, which blossomed into a fast love and because he knew things about the past before she did, it seemed like it was an excuse to be extra loving. Don’t get me wrong, it was very sweet and once it was combined with the action, a good amount of sweet, but he seemed to fall on the ultra-nice side of the boyfriend spectrum. I could just be reading too many jerk-boyfriend books lately too.

Rose, Jen and Eric all turned out to have their own little surprises, and were nice supporting characters. Eric in particular was a character who did things I didn’t expect. Kye had a sort of confusing list of people he lived with – I never could keep the names straight for some reason – that came in handy and his dad was funny in an absentee professor sort of way. I was sort of disappointed in Abby’s mom. She wasn’t as present as I’d hoped and Abby’s non-reaction to it bugged me too. I don’t really like this continuing trend of having invisible parents in YA.

Overall, I enjoyed Descendant a lot. It was hugely action-packed and had a big emotional past story that tied into the present story nicely. There was less focus on the Gifts than I expected from the synopsis and more on the fantasy elements, but the way it was put together worked well and Giles has a nice clean writing style that made everything easy to read. The ending tied the current story up nicely, the guy got his girl and although this looks like a standalone, there’s always room for more.

My Rating: B+

From Nichole: I tried to put these in order of scene—sort of. Obviously there’s not one for every scene, because that would be a ridiculously long list. So I tried to think of the story in terms of movie length, and these are some of the songs I came up with.

1. How Does it Feel by Avril Lavigne
2. Redemption Day by Sheryl Crow
3. Home by Philip Phillips
4. Open Your Eyes by Snow Patrol
5. Starlight by Taylor Swift
6. Naked by Avril Lavigne
7. Til Kingdom Come by Coldplay
8. Hold on to the Night by Richard Marx
9. Stranger by Secondhand Serenade
10. Catalyst by Anna Nalick
11. What I’ve Done by Linkin Park
12. Wait for Me by Theory of a Deadman
13. Far Away by Nickelback

Obviously, I have a wide range of taste in music. I hope my stories reflect that diversity as well. What do you think? Are there specific songs you’d add to this list?

About Nichole:
Nichole Giles was born in Nevada, and moved with her parents to a number of cities in and around the West. Writing is her passion, but she also loves to spend time with her husband and four children, travel to tropical and exotic destinations, drive in the rain with the convertible top down, and play music at full volume so she can sing along.

For the list of the awesomeness Nichole is giving away, click on the animated banner up top. You can also see the entire tour schedule there! The giveaway is US only and runs May 6th to June 5th.

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Praise for DESCENDANT: “A hot new spin on paranormal, Descendant is refreshingly imaginative and powerful. I can’t decide which was best — piecing together Abby’s sinister past or keeping up with her heartbreaking future. If you like your YA laced with melt-my-heart romance and a good helping of heart-pounding suspense, you’ll love this book!” — Michelle Davidson Argyle, author of The Breakaway

“Nichole Giles has crafted a story that breathes from the pages. Her characters are authentic, the action intense, with powerful emotions that will keep Descendant on your mind long after the book ends. Open your eyes to another facet of our world in Descendant and you’ll be sucked into an adventure with Abby and Kye, that will explore the power of gifts, courage, and love. With top-notch writing, Giles has crafted a story that breathes from the pages.” –Rachelle J. Christensen, award-winning author of Wrong Number and Caller ID

“Nichole Giles brings a fresh new voice and flawless writing technique to the world of Young Adult fiction. I was swept away to another place and never wanted to come back.” –Tristi Pinkston, author of Turning Pages and the Secret Sisters mystery series

“This debut novel delivers in all the right ways, with heart-pounding action and a delicious romance that sweeps centuries. I loved it!” –Elana Johnson, author of Possession and Surrender