CategoryBook Review

A Political Affair by Mary Whitney

A

Series: Standalone

Release Date: November 6th, 2012

<strong>Synopsis:</strong>
No one expected Stephen McEvoy to fill his father’s U.S. Senate seat at such a young age, least of all him. The scion of a revered political dynasty, he’s appointed to the Senate after his father’s untimely death. Now he’s in a tough election battle against an archconservative.

When clever Anne Norwood interns in his office, he dismisses her as another pretty face—until her independent streak catches his attention. She soon finds him far more interesting than his Senator McEvoy persona.

They’re both too smart to fall for one another, yet they do. Their relationship becomes a political gamble in a tight election, and all the while, his opposition lies in wait for him to make a mistake.

As Stephen’s past catches up with him, he and Anne must fight for their future. Their lives mean more than politics, and campaigns—like love—are either won or lost.

<strong>Ending</strong>

HEA
<strong>Representation</strong>
No strong representations of the following:
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
<strong>Possible Triggers</strong>
• No abuse
• Death of father
• Grief
<strong>Safety Rating:</strong> Safe with Exceptions
No cheating
No descriptive sex scene with OW/OM
Does have OW drama
Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away
Does not have a separation between the Hero and Heroine
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Rating: 4/5 stars

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The Falconer (The Falconer, #1) by Elizabeth May

T

Series: The Falconer

Release Date: May 6th, 2014

<strong>Synopsis:</strong>
Heiress. Debutant. Murderer. A new generation of heroines has arrived.

Edinburgh, Scotland, 1844

Lady Aileana Kameron, the only daughter of the Marquess of Douglas, was destined for a life carefully planned around Edinburgh’s social events – right up until a faery killed her mother.

Now it’s the 1844 winter season and Aileana slaughters faeries in secret, in between the endless round of parties, tea and balls. Armed with modified percussion pistols and explosives, she sheds her aristocratic facade every night to go hunting. She’s determined to track down the faery who murdered her mother, and to destroy any who prey on humans in the city’s many dark alleyways.

But the balance between high society and her pirate war is a delicate one, and as the fae infiltrate the ballroom, and Aileana’s father returns home, she has decisions to make. How much is she willing to lose – and just how far will Aileana go for revenge?

<strong>Ending</strong>

 Cliffhanger
<strong>Representation</strong>
No strong representations of the following:
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
<strong>Possible Triggers</strong>
• Murder (of Heroine’s mother)
• PTSD
• Violence
<strong>Mature Themes</strong>
• Cursing
• Allusions to sex
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Rating: 4/5 stars

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The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave, #1) by Rick Yancey

T

Series: The 5th Wave

Release Date: May 7th, 2013

<strong>Synopsis:</strong>
After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker.

Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother-or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

<strong>Ending</strong>

 Cliffhanger
<strong>Representation</strong>
No strong representations of the following:
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
<strong>Possible Triggers</strong>
• Violence (Blood and gore)
– Weapon violence
– Gang violence
• Death (of parents and children)
• Death camps
• Separation (abandonment) from loved ones
<strong>Mature Themes</strong>
• Cursing
• Allusions to sex, but (see below)
• Sexual activity doesn’t go beyond kissing
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

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The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

T

Series: Standalone

Release Date: January 7th, 2014

<strong>Synopsis:</strong>
For the past five years, Hayley Kincain and her father, Andy, have been on the road, never staying long in one place as he struggles to escape the demons that have tortured him since his return from Iraq. Now they are back in the town where he grew up so Hayley can attend school. Perhaps, for the first time, Hayley can have a normal life, put aside her own painful memories, even have a relationship with Finn, the hot guy who obviously likes her but is hiding secrets of his own.

Will being back home help Andy’s PTSD, or will his terrible memories drag him to the edge of hell, and drugs push him over? The Impossible Knife of Memory is Laurie Halse Anderson at her finest: compelling, surprising, and impossible to put down.

<strong>Ending</strong>

HFN
<strong>Representation</strong>
No strong representations of the following:
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
<strong>Possible Triggers</strong>
• PTSD
• Suicide
• Depression
• Violence
• Abuse
<strong>Mature Themes</strong>
• Cursing
• Sex
• Teen drug use
• Underage drinking
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

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The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine

T

Series: Standalone

Release Date: December 31st, 2013

<strong>Synopsis:</strong>
Wren’s Caswell is average. Ranked in the middle of her class at Sacred Heart, she’s not popular, but not a social misfit. Wren is the quiet, “good” girl who’s always done what she’s supposed to – only now in her junior year, this passive strategy is backfiring. She wants to change, but doesn’t know how.

Grayson Barrett was the king of St. Gabe’s. Star of the lacrosse team, top of his class, on a fast track to a brilliant future – until he was expelled for being a “term paper pimp”. Now Gray is in a downward spiral and needs to change, but doesn’t know how.

One fateful night their paths cross when Wren, working at her family’s Arthurian-themed catering hall, performs the Heimlich on Gray as he chokes on a cocktail weenie, saving his life literally and figuratively. What follows is the complicated, awkward, hilarious, and tender tale of two teens shedding their past, figuring out who they are – and falling in love.

<strong>Ending</strong>

HFN
<strong>Representation</strong>
No strong representations of the following:
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
<strong>Possible Triggers</strong>
• Blackmail
• Threatening behaviour
• Criminality (including theft and plagiarism)
– The Hero and his friends had been conning girls romantically and then robbing them
<strong>Mature Themes</strong>
• (Kind of) cheating (Heroine kisses a different guy twice and the Hero attempts to pull another girl while the Hero and Heroine were dating)
• Cursing
• Implied sex
• Underage drinking
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

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The Lonesome Young by Lucy Connors

T

Series: Standalone

Release Date: April 8th, 2014

<strong>Synopsis:</strong>
Get swept away in the first book of the sensational romantic drama that is Romeo & Juliet meets Justified.

WHAT HAPPENS when the teenage heirs of two bitterly FEUDING FAMILIES can’t stay away from each other?

The Rhodales and the Whitfields have been sworn enemies for close on a hundred years, with a whole slew of adulterous affairs, financial backstabbing, and blackmailing that’s escalated the rivalry to its current state of tense ceasefire.

IT’S TIME TO LIGHT THE FUSE . . .

And now a meth lab explosion in rural Whitfield County is set to reignite the feud more viciously than ever before. Especially when the toxic fire that results throws together two unlikely spectators—proper good girl Victoria Whitfield, exiled from boarding school after her father’s real estate business melts down in disgrace, and town motorcycle rebel Mickey Rhodale, too late as always to thwart his older brothers’ dangerous drug deals.

Victoria and Mickey are about to find out the most passionate romances are the forbidden ones.

. . . ON A POWDER KEG FULL OF PENT-UP DESIRE, risk-taking daredevilry, and the desperate actions that erupt when a generation of teens inherits nothing but hate.

<strong>Ending</strong>

HFN
<strong>Representation</strong>
No strong representations of the following:
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
<strong>Possible Triggers</strong>
• Drug addiction
• Gun violence
• Drug dealing and running
• Corrupt cops
• Blackmail
• Physical violence
<strong>Safety Rating:</strong> Safe
No cheating
No descriptive sex scene with OW/OM
Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away
Does not have a separation between the Hero and Heroine
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

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Me, Him, Them, and It by Caela Carter

M

Series: Standalone

Release Date: February 26th, 2013

<strong>Synopsis:</strong>
Me: Evelyn, closet good girl turned bad.

When she decided to earn herself a bad reputation, Evelyn was never planning on falling in love.

Him: Todd, supposed Friend with Benefits

She just wanted to piss Them off. To make people take notice.

Them: the cold, distant parents.

She wasn’t planning on ruining her valedictorian status or losing her best friend, and she definitely wasn’t aiming to get pregnant.

It: the baby growing inside her.

Now, Evelyn needs a plan. And someone to help with the heart-wrenching decisions that are coming up fast.

<strong>Ending</strong>

HFN
<strong>Representation</strong>
• Lesbian couple supporting characters
• Chinese supporting character
• Latina supporting character
• Black side characters
<strong>Possible Triggers</strong>
• No abuse
• Unprotected sex
• Teen pregnancy
• Discussion of abortion and adoption
<strong>Mature Themes</strong>
• Sex
• Infidelity
• Underage drinking
• Drug use
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Rating: 4.75/5 stars

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The Here and Now by Ann Brashares

T

Series: Standalone

Release Date: April 8th, 2014

<strong>Synopsis:</strong>
An unforgettable epic romantic thriller about a girl from the future who might be able to save the world … if she lets go of the one thing she’s found to hold on to.

Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.

This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time – a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated in a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins.

Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth.

But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves.

From Ann Brashares, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, The Here and Now is thrilling, exhilarating, haunting, and heartbreaking – and a must-read novel of the year.

<strong>Ending</strong>

HFN
<strong>Representation</strong>
• Asian biracial main character
<strong>Possible Triggers</strong>
• Deathly mosquito virus
• Death
• Murder
<strong>Mature Themes</strong>
• Sex
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Rating: 4/5 stars

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Stage Dive, A Series by Kylie Scott

S

About the Series

Kylie Scott’s Stage Dive series is based on the theme: what happens in Vegas stays there. But everyone knows that what happens doesn’t always stay there. And how true for the first couple of the Stage Dive series, Evelyn and David!

I’m happy to say that I get to add another series centred around a famous band, and these books are definitely worth a re-read or two. Each story is unique and hints at those frequented plots (married in Vegas, pretend couple and unrequited love) but with their own creative twists!

The review of the series includes reviews on each of the following books (listed in order of release):

Note: Each novel in this series is Standalone.

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Taste (Take It Off, #9) by Cambria Hebert

T

Series: Take It Off*

Release Date: July 25th, 2014

Synopsis
One taste is never enough …

Spencer Waller’s main purpose in life is to protect and serve. After spending years in the military, he gets a coveted spot on the Secret Service detail protecting the president. Spence doesn’t have time for women or all the work having a relationship with one requires. But just because he isn’t looking for a lady doesn’t mean he can’t appreciate a beautiful one when he sees her.

And he makes it a point to see one, in particular, every single day.

Elle Bond has literally chopped and fried her way to the top of the food chain. Earning a coveted position in the White House as the president’s personal chef, she figures her professional life can only get better. her personal life, on the other hand, could use a little bit of an overhaul, and because of that, she tries to ignore the charm-dripping cookie thief every time he comes into her kitchen. After all, she knows better than anyone that just one taste of something good is never enough.

One night after work, Elle is assaulted, threatened, and given an ultimatum. She can’t go to the police, and she sure as hell can’t do what she was ordered.

But she has to. Or else.

Pale, shaken, and scared to death, Elle confides in Spence, and his protective instincts take over. Together, Elle and Spencer have to uncover a sinister plot and stop it before someone ends up dead.

Ending

HEA
Representation
No strong representations of the following:
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
Possible Triggers
• Heroine is assaulted and threatened (on page)
• Someone is threatening the life of the Heroine and her son
• Near death situations
Safety Rating: Safe
No cheating
No descriptive sex scene with OW/OM
Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away
Does Not have a separation between the Heroine and Hero
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Rating: 3.25/5 stars

*Each novel in the series is Standalone

(more…)

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