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Book Review: Nowhere But Here by Katie McGarry

May 12, 2015

Nowhere But Here (Thunder Road #1) by Katie McGarry

Pages: 496
Publish date: June 1st 2015
Publisher: Harlequin (Australia), TEEN
ISBN: 9781743690956
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU –Harlequin Books

Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighborhood. Sure, she’s curious about her biological father—the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent—but that doesn’t mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both.

Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They’re the good guys. They protect people. They’re…family. And while Emily—the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club’s most respected member—is in town, he’s gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it’s his shot at his dream. What he doesn’t count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down.

No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home.

Nowhere But Here:

I received an e-copy of Nowhere but Here in exchange for an honest review from Harlequin (Australia), TEEN through Netgalley, this has in no what influenced my review.

If you know me well, you would know that I love Katie McGarry and I haven’t even read all her books yet. But when I saw Nowhere but Here on Netgalley I requested it right away because come one, anything Katie McGarry writes is pretty awesome.

I adore Nowhere but Here. It was brilliant and different to other McGarry books but still has the emotions and intriguing writing style of McGarry. Let me just say this, I want to have physical copies of all her books but I have no money and I want to cry and just, frustrating but anyway back to the review.

“Our fears are what strifle us and we’re only scared of what we don’t understand. Fear can be handed down generationally, kind of like eye colour. I love your mom, but I also love you. I don’t want to see your mother’s fears turn into chains that drag you down”

Nowhere but Here follow like all McGarry books two protagonist and I love them both. Emily is shy however has a devious side to her. She is timid but stands up for what she believes is right, Emily seems one dimension the outside but once you dig deeper into the book, you see that she has many layers to her.

Oz is my new book boyfriend. Holy hell. Oz is quite different from other Katie McGarry book, his family isn’t that dysfunction, and he loves them to pieces. He is caring, loving and would do anything for his family. Oz can be a hard head at times but that’s because he cares so much about his family that if anyone messes with them he wants ‘revenge’ in a way.

Emily and Oz come to together when, Emily and her family arrive in snowflake after an email from her biological father, which invites them to her grandmother’s wake. But everything is not what is seems.

It is quite rare when I love family in young adult novels. Everyone seems to be from a dysfunction family, or controlling parents but I adored Emily’s father’s side of the family.

“Because nobody deserves to be thrown into the middle of a tornado”

They all might not related by blood but they all treat each other like they are blood related and it’s so eccentric to see. I quite enjoyed Eli, Emily’s father. At the start you want to hate him for what he did to Emily and her mum but after things start to unfold the reader is able to see that he loves Emily with everything he has. I also liked the contrast of what Emily things of her father and what Oz thinks of him. It’s wired to see but it’s awesome as well.

I loved so many characters throughout the book that we would be here forever with me naming them all.

Katie McGarry hit a new high with Nowhere but Here, since it wasn’t just about the romance of the protagonist but more about family and finding yourself. We don’t see that a lot in young adult and it’s refreshing.

McGarry’s writing is as always brilliant, you just want to read page after page and not put it down. It’s simple and not difficult to read but has so much power and drive to it that it would appeal to both young adults and adults as well.

McGarry also knows how to write steamy characters, come on the tension between Emily and Oz was dazzling. Anyone could see it and it was awesome.

Another thing that I adore about Katie McGarry is that she knows how to break my heart and rip it in a thousand pieces.

Nowhere but Here is another stunning piece of work from Katie McGarry and I’m so excited to read more of this steamy, family orientated, beautiful series. If I could give it more than five stars I would.

Have you read Nowhere but Here yet? Are you going to do so?

Book Review: The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski

Apr 21, 2015

The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski

Pages: 400
Publish date: March 12th 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children’s
ISBN: 9781408858691
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Lady Kestrel’s engagement to Valoria’s crown prince calls for great celebration: balls and performances, fireworks and revelry. But to Kestrel it means a cage of her own making. Embedded in the imperial court as a spy, she lives and breathes deceit and cannot confide in the one person she really longs to trust …

While Arin fights to keep his country’s freedom from the hands of his enemy, he suspects that Kestrel knows more than she shows. As Kestrel comes closer to uncovering a shocking secret, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth.

Lies will come undone, and Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them in this second book in the breathtaking Winner’s trilogy.

The Winner’s Crime:

I received a copy of The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

I love fantasy, everything about this genre is memorizing to me and before about 3 years ago it was all I read. So when I was reading The Winner’s Crime I was just in love.

The Winner’s Crime is the sequel to one of my favourite fantasy books of all time The Winner’s Curse. And let me tell you, I have no idea how The Winner’s Crime could even be better than it but it was.

I am in awe of Rutkoski, her writing is absolutely gorgeous, her characters are intriguing, and that story line. I cannot really put in words how much I love this book.

“I don’t mind being a moth. I would probably start eating silk if it meant that I could fly.”

At the end of The Winner’s Curse we were left with a slight cliff hanger that left us readers in a world of our own, thinking ‘what the hell is going to happen next.’ And gosh we were answered in The Winner’s Crime. There was so much going on, that my head was spinning in a remarkable way.

Kestrel is probably one of my favourite female protagonist of all time. All through the book Kestrel is struggling to live knowing that she will be married soon, trying to live under her soon to be father in law all while trying to stay true to herself. Kestrel has a great deal on her shoulders and I like that we see that sometimes she cannot handle it. It shows that Kestrel is human, and not this superhuman that can handle everything in the world.

“Sometimes you think you want something,” Arin told him, “when in reality you need to let it go.”

I felt that Kestrel has grown so much throughout The Winner’s Crime from the first book. We see that she is trying to be strong, hold her feelings in and not let people see that she is close to breaking point.

Aria, gosh he frustrated me. I love him to bits but the way that he treated Kestrel through The Winner’s Crime got on my nerves. I understand that he felt betrayed and I would be to, but couldn’t he tell that Kestrel wasn’t happy and that she was helping him and his cause.

Furthermore, I love the world that Rutkoski has built, I adore that it’s rich in cultural and that even after two books we still don’t know everything about the world.

Jess, what can I say about her. Again like Aria, I understand that she is hurting like hell, but now she is all that Kestrel has at the moment and what she does hurts Kestrel more than she realises. My heart was breaking into pieces, it would kill me if I was in Kestrel’s situation and my so called best friend wasn’t there for me.

The ending…what can I say. Rutkoski knows how to kill her readers doesn’t she. I was so stunned when I read the last page, I just gawked. I could not believe what I was reading, but I loved it to pieces, Rutkoski is a queen at cliff hangers. I don’t know how I am going to wait till next year for the last book.

Overall, I loved The Winner’s Crime to pieces. I am in admiration of Rutkoski and her writing. She is able to manage an intriguing and rich world, layered characters and a gorgeous writing style.

Have you read The Winner’s Crime yet? Do you love it as much as I do? Are you going to read it?

Book Review: Confess by Colleen Hoover

Mar 11, 2015

Confess by Colleen Hoover

Pages:306
Publish date:March 10th
Publisher:Simon and Schuster (ATRIA paperback)
ISBN: 9781476791456
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Auburn Reed has her entire life mapped out. Her goals are in sight and there’s no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn’t expect to find a deep attraction to the enigmatic artist who works there, Owen Gentry.

For once, Auburn takes a risk and puts her heart in control, only to discover Owen is keeping major secrets from coming out. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything important to Auburn, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it.

The last thing Owen wants is to lose Auburn, but he can’t seem to convince her that truth is sometimes as subjective as art. All he would have to do to save their relationship is confess. But in this case, the confession could be much more destructive than the actual sin…

Confess:

I received a copy of Confess from Simon and Schuster Aus for review. This has in no way influenced my review.

Firstly Colleen Hoover is simply incredible, Confess is magic. Everything about this book is beautiful: The storyline, the writing, how the book is laid out. I cannot seem to fault this book in any way possible.

Colleen Hoover is an extraordinary writer and Confess proves that in every way and form. It doesn’t only read well but just looks exquisite, the artwork throughout Confess that are painted or draw by ‘Owen’ are; I cannot even begin to explain it. It adds complexity and beauty to the story in a way that no one that I know of has done before.

Some secrets should never turn into confessions. I know that better than anyone – Owen

Confess follows Auburn and Owen two very different people but yet are so similar. The novel starts off with a prologue that had me bawling on the train, when Colleen Hoover makes you cry, she makes me cry a waterfall. It was gorgeous and set the mood of the novel that follows.

The novel officially starts with Auburn in a Lawyer’s office and from that instant on the reader is left in the dark about something that broke my heart when I found out, I didn’t even guess it at all. I loved that the reader is left questioning what is happening from the moment they open the book.

I loved both the main characters of Confess. Aubrun is a mystery that is broken. Owen can be said to be the same and together they are incredible.

Owen is my new book boyfriend, my heart just breaks for him. The whole concept of his art studio is just perfect. He paints confessions and some of these confessions are just mind-blowing.

I’m scared I’ll never stop comparing my life without him to how my life was when I was with him – Anonymous confession

The way that this book starts and right up until the last word of the book is read is beautiful. I cannot explain it in any other way. I started this book on the train about 1 in the afternoon and finished it by 9 at night, while having class and doing other things. If I had time to read it in one sitting it would have happened.

Once you start reading you simply won’t be able to put it down. From the art to the words, all is one. They flow with each other and bounce off each other, I don’t know if this review is giving this book justice, you just have to read and see the beauty yourself.

Furthermore Confess is beautiful, intriguing and pulling at every moment. You absorb the whole book with each word that you read. There are twists and turns, some will shock you to the core, but some that are so beautiful that you will cry. But there are moments when you smile and grin like the Cheshire cat. There are moments where you want to scream or laugh. The reader will feel so many emotions in Confess that you will be left with so much to say.

Therefore in saying that, I hope that maybe Hoover might write a sequel but I am not counting on it, it is beautiful on its own. I just want more of Auburn and Owen.

Have you read Confess yet? What do you think of it? Will you read it?