Real by Katy Evans

Summary from Goodreads

A fallen boxer.

A woman with a broken dream.

A competition…

He even makes me forget my name. One night was all it took, and I forgot everything and anything except the sexy fighter in the ring who sets my mind ablaze and my body on fire with wanting…

Remington Tate is the strongest, most confusing man I’ve ever met in my life.

He’s the star of the dangerous underground fighting circuit, and I’m drawn to him as I’ve never been drawn to anything in my life. I forget who I am, what I want, with just one look from him. When he’s near, I need to remind myself that I am strong–but he is stronger. And now it’s my job to keep his body working like a perfect machine, his taut muscles primed and ready to break the bones of his next opponents . . .

But the one he’s most threatening to, now, is me.

I want him. I want him without fear. Without reservations.

If only I knew for sure what it is that he wants from me?

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17617277-real

My Review

When I saw Remington's name in the final list of the 3rd Annual YA Crush Tournament, I was really curious who the is this Remington is. i have heard most of the names in the final list, so how come I don't know who he is. i heard he is a fighter and he is super sweet. So, I have to know which book he came from.., so tahda! I'm done reading Real by Katy Evans.

M first impression was this is so much like Beautiful Disaster. Brooke first met Remington during Remy's fight, where he is "quite" popular. "Quite" is an understatement actually. Which is so much like he first scenes of Beautiful Disaster. But though there are lot of similarities from the two books, Real still has it's own uniqueness. Even though I find Remy's character a cliche, Brooke is a new character to me. She never mentioned herself as someone everybody admired, nor every guys love to have. She was a former star who lost the only thing she aimed for, but never stopped doing what could make her happy. I just wish I find the back story there. I never heard her cry over her Olympic dreams. I guess the story started at the time where Brooke has already moved on from her tragedy. 

What I love about this story is the combination of drama, action and music in the story. There's also sports but I'm not that much familiar with the double punch and everything. And to be honest, I did not feel much on the intensity of the fights since It's on Brooke's POV and all I can hear about is how much she's being turned on by Remy's fights. Hes, Remy is superduper sweet, I now understand why he's a finalist. and Brooke is an extraordinary woman and their love story is worth writing about but for me, it lacks the it factor, compared to other YA stories. 

All in all, I find the story direct and simple, you-get-what-you-read kind of book.

One Week Girlfriend by Monica Murphy

Summary from Goodreads

Temporary. That one single word best describes my life these last few years. I’m working at a temporary job until I can finally break free. I’m my little brother’s temporary mother since our mom doesn’t give a crap about either of us. And I’m that temporary girl all the guys want to get with because I give it up so easily. According to the rumors, at least.

But now I’m the temporary girlfriend of Drew Callahan, college football legend and all around golden guy. He’s beautiful, sweet—and he’s hiding way more secrets than I am. He’s brought me into this fake life where everyone seems to hate me. And everyone seems to want something from him. The only thing he seems to want though is…

Me.

I don’t know what to believe anymore. All I know is, I think Drew needs me. And I want to be there for him. 

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17202452-one-week-girlfriend

My Review

A cliche story, but not really. Looking in the plot, I was like... "here I go again with this type of story." But I honestly love this kind of stories, maybe because of the extreme sweetness of the male character and me being a frustrated romantic. :p

What makes this different from other stories? This is not love at first sight. The girl is not sweet, actually she's known tobe a slut who smokes. The guys is freakingly gorgeous and famous but hates to hooks up with girls. As we go on to the story, I might say this is an unusual story with an unusual lead characters which you'll only realize if you're almost done reading the whole book. To start, Drew is the jock, a famous one but doesn't like hooking up with girls much. That's why she ended up asking Fable, the famous slut to pretend as her girlfriend for one week, thus the title. Right from the start, a lot of familiar scenarios are being presented, but I guess the saving grace of this book is that it downright admitted how cliche the story is. Then, the story became very confusing, with all Drew's dark mystery I can't decipher and I'm finding too much drama... The reason for all of these better be butterflying reasonable. The gradual development of the story made me impatient to know what's really going on, but I guess it's really good, because even though the story seems to be just a simple love story, it turned out to tackle a very serious matter. 

The alternating POV suits perfectly well with the story, with all the secrets Drew is hiding and Fable's unusual character, hearing both their minds really helped to develop the story deeper than the story itself. I also love the quotes at the beginning of every chapter, it helped me in guessing on what to expect in that chapter. Simple words were use that made the whole story easy to understand, not that much detail but enough for reader to envision what's going on inside the story.

Dirty Little Secrets by Jennifer Echols

Summary from Goodreads

Bailey wasn’t always a wild child and the black sheep of her family. She used to play fiddle and tour the music circuit with her sister, Julie, who sang and played guitar. That ended when country music execs swooped in and signed Julie to a solo deal. Never mind that Julie and Bailey were a duet, or that Bailey was their songwriter. The music scouts wanted only Julie, and their parents were content to sit by and let her fulfill her dreams while Bailey’s were hushed away.

Bailey has tried to numb the pain and disappointment over what could have been. And as Julie’s debut album is set to hit the charts, her parents get fed up with Bailey’s antics and ship her off to granddad’s house in Nashville. Playing fiddle in washed-up tribute groups at the mall, Bailey meets Sam, a handsome and oh-so-persuasive guitarist with his own band. He knows Bailey’s fiddle playing is just the thing his band needs to break into the industry. 

But this life has broken Bailey’s heart once before. She isn’t sure she’s ready to let Sam take her there again…  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16058488-dirty-little-secret

My Review 

I could never put fiddle and love story in one sentence. That is until I've read this book. I wasn't expecting much from this story since I'm not that good with music, let alone play a fiddle. Honestly speaking, I'm not familiar with this string instrument, until google helped me out. All I wanted is a feel good story that will save my boredom for the day. This book had successfully done that, and more than that. I was entertained beyond my expectation and quite enjoy the complicated, annoying but adorable love story of Sam and Bailey.

It's all about music for this two, and family troubles in the sideline. At times, it feels like Bailey's problem is too shallow for the story. There are also a lot of background stories that they were not much elaborated. Though the background stories tells a lot about the characters, I didn't get enough emotional investment from them.

I was a bit disappointed since I prefer the story to focus on their family problems rather than their big dream, which is so wrong of me since this a music book. (That's what I'm calling it) Another disappointment for me is that I wasn't able to have a glimpse of any of Bailey's composition.It would be so much better if I did, then maybe the emotions Bailey is trying to say for her family and Sam would reach to me.

But what I love most in this story is when they introduced Dancin' away with my heart" by Lady Antebellum. I must admit that I don't know all of the songs mentioned in this book, except that one. Which is one of my favorite, thus this book notched up in my list. :)

The Human by Keary Taylor

Summary from the Book

When a group of outsiders come to the city, everyone is on edge. They have too many questions and not enough answers about where they are from or what they want. Just because they are human doesn't mean they can be trusted.

Eve made a choice–one that could have deadly repercussions. Desperate hearts bring about desperate actions. Now she must make another decision as her world continues to crumble: come to terms with who she really is, or risk her sanity. She thought she had unlocked all the secrets from her past, but there are truths still buried that leave her questioning what is real and what is not.

When a group of outsiders come to the city, everyone is on edge. They have too many questions and not enough answers about where they are from or what they want. Just because they are human doesn’t mean they can be trusted.

Eve made a choice–one that could have deadly repercussions. Desperate hearts bring about desperate actions. Now she must make another decision as her world continues to crumble: come to terms with who she really is, or risk her sanity. She thought she had unlocked all the secrets from her past, but there are truths still buried that leave her questioning what is real and what is not.

Eve made a choice–one that could have deadly repercussions. Desperate hearts bring about desperate actions. Now she must make another decision as her world continues to crumble: come to terms with who she really is, or risk her sanity. She thought she had unlocked all the secrets from her past, but there are truths still buried that leave her questioning what is real and what is not.

The city of New Eden is cleared, but it won’t stay that way forever. The Bane continue to advance in horrific ways that will wipe humanity from the face of the Earth. A storm is coming, one none of them could have dared imagine. 

My Review

First, I would like to thank Ms. Keary Taylor for the ARC copy of the book. After reading book 1, I immediately added the series in my to-read list. I was anticipating June for the book 2 release when I received an email giving me the opportunity to have an ARC copy. Of course, being the bookworm I am, I won't let this pass. So, here I am, done with the book in just one night. :D

Right form the first word of this book, you could feel the tension. Of course I was expecting it. Even if they now have the means to keep the Banes away from them, it doesn't mean all Eve's problems are gone. Like the Bane, Eve's problems are always there, though unreachable, they are there. West has woken up, not yet completely healed from the Bane infection, and obviously not healed from the heartache after Eve chose Avian over him. There's also the mystery of Eve's past that she still can't remember, the turning off of her emotional blocker that makes her depress often. Along with these problems, a new group of human seeks safety in the New Eden, but these groups are suspicious, with lots of questions and are not willing to answer any questions. So when worse came to worst, Eve found herself being experimented once again. With these came the memories flooding back about her past and more secrets revealed.

The book is not that much dependent on the first book. Though it's still necessary to  read the first book to relate on some parts, the story itself is a new one. Book 2 is like an introduction of something bigger that will come up on the third book. Some mysteries from book one were revealed, but not that much. More mysteries are introduced that readers will surely anticipate for the third book. Though I prefer the excitement and thrill I got on book one, book two made me excited to read book three. Also, the story has been consistent since book one and reading all the characters once again makes me lighthearted. Surely, I'll wait for book three! :D

About the Author

Keary Taylor grew up along the foothills of the Rocky Mountains where she started creating imaginary worlds and daring characters who always fell in love. She now resides on a tiny island in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and their two young children. She continues to have an overactive imagination that frequently keeps her up at night. She is the author of the FALL OF ANGELS trilogy, EDEN, and WHAT I DIDN'T SAY. To learn more about Keary and her writing process, please visitwww.KearyTaylor.com.

Book Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIHFvtnvKU4

The Rebound Girl by Tamara Morgan

Summary from Goodreads

Plastic surgeon Whitney Vidra knows all about getting over a cheating ex. She followed her boyfriend halfway around the world before she found out about his infidelity. Now she's focusing on her career and her friends, and using men just for single-serving, no-strings fun. Until she meets charming Matt Fuller.

Newly single Matt is captivated by the vibrant Whitney, in every way the opposite of his cheating ex-wife. When he confesses to Whitney that he hasn't had sex since his divorce, she volunteers to be his rebound girl. But Matt's not a no-commitment kind of guy—he's either all in, or all out.

Whitney is determined to remain attachment-free, but Matt is equally determined to prove to her that what they have is more than just a rebound fling.

My Review

A typical story of two persons moving on with their lives from a heart-breaking past and found each other. It's easy to find out where the story is going with the two main characters. But what made me continue reading is the chemistry of the two characters. Matt and Whitney are two persons you shouldn't put together, but with the story and set up, the author had successfully created a very adorable love team. Though adorable should be the last word that should describe them, I can't help myself. But before adorable, we could put hot, irresistible and entertaining. But I'll stand up on my adorable description. A conservative teacher and a liberated plastic surgeon's love story is something I cannot pass on hearing.

Though I know where would the story ends even before I open the book, this book intrigued me on how they will end up together. The humor, sexiness, and depth of this story is really entertaining. In this book, it's not the "how they met" or "how the book ended" what's important. It's what's in between. On how these two found forgiveness and acceptance when they found love together.

Ink by Amanda Sun

Summary from Goodreads

I looked down at the paper, still touching the tip of my shoe. I reached for it, flipping the page over to look.

Scrawls of ink outlined a drawing of a girl lying on a bench.

A sick feeling started to twist in my stomach, like motion sickness.

And then the girl in the drawing turned her head, and her inky eyes glared straight into mine.

On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they'll both be targets.

Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive.

My Review

It's nice to have a breathe of fresh air. And a story with Japan settings is something new for me.  At first, it's really confusing what the story is all about and how all the characters fit in. But as the story goes, everything is coming to its perfect place. I just find myself enjoying the love story between Katie and Tomo.  

The mystery surrounding Tomo is really intriguing that I almost got frustrated how Tomo denies everything when the truth is so obvious, but the story behind the truth is quite hard to get.  I'm not familiar with Kami or any other Japanese legends, so I was hoping that the story would give more details on it. Even how Tomo and Katie got involved in this legend was not elaborately explained, which I'm hoping would be shared in the next book. I guess it would explain a lot.

I also love how American and Japanese culture was mixed so naturally. I didn't even feel confused everytime Japanese words are uttered even though I have no idea what the words are, but as I said, it's quite entertaining to read something different.

What I also loved about this, other than the supernaturals, is how Katie found her home in a foreign place. At first, Katie is lost, a stranger in a foreign land, but as the story goes, Katie comes to love the place and found her place in a place she never thought she could find.  It makes me realize, that sometimes, changes are good. We just have to be open about it.

The After Girls by Leah Konen

Summary from Goodreads

Ella, Astrid, and Sydney were planning the perfect summer after high school graduation. But when Astrid commits suicide in a lonely cabin, the other girls' worlds are shattered. How could their best friend have done this--to herself and to them? They knew everything about Astrid. Shouldn't they have seen this coming? Couldn't they have saved her?

As Ella hunts for the truth, and Sydney tries to dull the pain, a chilling message from Astrid leaves them wondering whether their beloved friend is communicating from the after life. The girls embark on a journey to uncover Astrid's dark secrets. The answers to those questions--questions they never dreamed of asking--will change their lives forever. http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2568999292484262172#overviewstats

My Review

When their friend Astrid committed suicide, Sidney and Ella are left to pick up the pieces. Pieces of guilt, what ifs and memories of their friendship. Both tried to handle their grief in their own ways. Sydney was the one who wanted to let it go, move forward and just forget everything. I understand her, at least that way, she never have to be reminded of all the opportunities she could have in helping Astrid, and maybe, Astrid would not kill herself. In parties and drinking, Sydney could pretend everything is fine, and even for just a moment, she could forget that one of her best friend died. 

Ella on the other hand wanted to solve the mystery of Astrid's death. They thought everything is fine with Astrid, that all of them have planned the future together. Ella could not accept the fact that Astrid gave up and left them, that Astrid chose to end her life than choose to ask their help in whatever she's going through. She believes Astrid is telling her something, that her ghost is possible reaching out to her ,telling her a message, and he won't stop until she finds out all the mysteries behind their friend's death.

It shows two ways of moving on, one is Sydney's way-- forget everything and move on, and the other is Ella's, that is face all the feelings and facts before moving on. Both are effective I guess, it's the individual's character on how to cope up with the hurt of losing someone. Just one thing remains, both are hurting really bad. :(

It's a little bit confusing where the story is going. Is this a paranormal story or just a simple story of friendship, life and death. But in the end, it doesn't matter. What the books wanted to tell has successfully been expressed by the story regardless if ghosts are real or not. It's that in life, we lose some, we gain some. Losing someone would hurt a lot, it comes with regrets of things we could have done to save them, to stop them from leaving, but when it comes in the end, all we have to do is accept the fact the they're gone, but we still have our lives, to live it and move on and let ourselves be healed.