The Devil of Jedburgh

This would probabaly be closer to 4 1/2 stars. A hot love interest who wears a kilt and talks with a Scottish accent? Um, yes, please!!

I've been reading outside my YA genre lately, and since I love historical fiction, I decided to give historical romance a try. Since Breghan is only nineteen in the book, I guess that it isn't far disposed from YA!

I loved that Breghan was a sassy, spunky woman of the 17th century. Even though she'd heard horrible stories about Arran, she always stood her ground and stood up to him and the patriarchal society she found herself in. Their chemistry was red hot from the first moment they met(even though he didn't know who she was). Of course, her spunk sometimes drove her away from Arran and would have served her a few times to read things between them a little differently.

Arran's devil reputation was only the product of legends. Instead of being a beast, he's a hottie with a sad past in love that leaves him emotionally stunted when it comes to love. Sure, he wouldn't mind a roll in the hay with Breghan, but he doesn't want to marry her bc he totally separates marriage and love. Plus, he only wants a wife to give him heirs.

Would totally recommend this to anyone who loves historical romance, and even though I read the eARc, I'll probably buy this one when it comes out. Great steamy scenes, historical tidbits interspersed(had never heard of handfasting, which is where a man would take a woman for a year as a trial marriage. If he liked her, he'd marry her, if not, he'd send her back to her family), and swoonworthy hero....and a sweet romance!

The Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver

Hot damn, a book that takes place in Hot-lanta!!!

Demon Trapper Riley Blackthorne just needs a chance to prove herself—and that’s exactly what Lucifer is counting on…

It’s the year 2018, and with human society seriously disrupted by the economic upheavals of the previous decade, Lucifer has increased the number of demons in all major cities. Atlanta is no exception. Fortunately, humans are protected by Demon Trappers, who work to keep homes and streets safe from the things that go bump in the night. Seventeen-year-old Riley, only daughter of legendary Demon Trapper Paul Blackthorne, has always dreamed of following in her father’s footsteps. When she’s not keeping up with her homework or trying to manage her growing attraction to fellow Trapper apprentice, Simon, Riley’s out saving citizens from Grade One Hellspawn. Business as usual, really, for a demon-trapping teen. When a Grade Five Geo-Fiend crashes Riley’s routine assignment at a library, jeopardizing her life and her chosen livelihood, she realizes that she’s caught in the middle of a battle between Heaven and Hell.


So, I'm not much of a demon, YAUF kinda girl. But one of my students brought this book to my attention the other day. She'd gotten it for Christmas, already devoured it, and was reading the 2nd book. When I found out the author lived in Atlana and the sights and sounds of the city were highlighted(5 Points, Oakland Cemetery, and the Tabernacle), I thought, "Okay, I'll give it a chance!"

Yep, I gave it a chance by devouring it one night!! It was that good! It was a totally different take on demons and demon trapping. The opening scene in the library was so Ghostbusters almost, and I loved it...I also loved the usage of angels and the spiritual quest for belief/continuing belief that Riley found herself on.

As for Riley, I loved her. She was strong and tough and took no shit off anyone--especially Beck. I really loved Saint Simon(somepeople go for the bad boys, I love the goody boys!). At the same time, Beck was pretty hot and tormented and then surprisingly a father figure all rolled into one.

There was some great futristic bits like Necromancers that leased dead bodies to be slaves for rich people. Grieving familes who needed money could rent their deceased loved one! It was crazy!

Really looking forward to reading Book 2 and more by this author!!

The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines

Wow, gotta love me some hot, Southern YA! Trust me, The Vincent Boys sure does deliver on that note. But the cover could use some serious help to help deliver the note of steamy Southern summer nights.

Here's a quick summary:

Being the good girl isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Ashton Gray has grown weary of playing the part to please her parents, and to be worthy of the town’s prince charming, Sawyer Vincent. Maybe That’s why she’s found herself spending time with Sawyer’s cousin, Beau, while he’s away for the summer camping with his family. Beau is nothing like her perfect boyfriend. He’s the sexiest guy she’s ever seen, dangerous in ways she’s only day dreamed about, and the one guy she should stay away from.
Beau never envied Sawyer his loving parents, his big nice home, or his position as quarterback. He loves him like a brother. Which is why he's tried everything in his power to keep his distance from Sawyer’s girlfriend. Even if he has loved her since the age of five, Ashton is Sawyer’s girl, so therefore she’s off limits. But when Sawyer leaves for the summer, Ashton, the one girl Beau would move Heaven and Earth for, decides she wants to get into trouble. Stabbing the one person who’s always accepted him and stood by him in the back, is the cost of finally holding Ashton Gray in his arms. Is she worth losing his cousin over?.... Hell Yeah.

I'll admit that when I saw a typos/grammatical errors on the first page, I got a sinking feeling in my the pit of my stomach. You know the one that self pubbed books are crap? Yeah, that one.

Luckily, that feeling dissapated quickly, and I got completely and totally sucked into the book! I totally got Ashton's dilemma of always being what other people expected of her, but at the same time wanting to be a little rebellious. I didn't quite agree with one major rebellious thing she did(baby steps, Ashton!), but at the same time, she'd been so smothered in the small town and being a preacher's kid. She sees her entire life being lived for her by the expectations of her parents, her church family, and Sawyer--sometimes even her group of best friends since their friendships have run deep for many years.

I think the beauty of the book is that you fall in love with Beau as Ashton is recognizing her feelings for him. When we first meet Beau, he's your stereotypical drunken, manwhore player. But then we start seeing him differently--that he has a good heart and a caring spirit despite his unfortunate upbringing. There's a particular scene where he really comes through for Ashton that will make you go, "Aw, that's such love!" While a lot of his focus is on Ashton's looks, he's loved and cared about her since they were kids. He loves the fire she has within her--the sassiness that she doesn't show very much.

Didn't really root for Sawyer even though I always go for the good boy. He seemed to only want Ashton because she was a trophy girlfriend--what was expected of him. And then he let some not nice things happen that really, really mad me dislike him...not to mention we find out our Golden Boy is a little tarnished.

I can't wait to see what the sequel is like!!!

Pretty Crooked review

Pretty Crooked by Elisa Ludwig

Katherine Tegan Books

March 13, 2012

368pgs.

Willa’s secret plan seems all too simple: take from the rich kids at Valley Prep and give to the poor ones.

Yet Willa’s turn as Robin Hood at her ultra-exclusive high school is anything but. Bilking her “friends”—known to everyone as the Glitterati—without them suspecting a thing is far from easy. Learning how to pick pockets and break into lockers is as difficult as she’d thought it’d be. Delivering care packages to the scholarship girls, who are ostracized just for being from the “wrong” side of town, is way more fun than she’d expected.

The complication Willa didn’t expect, though, is Aidan Murphy, Valley Prep’s most notorious (and gorgeous) ace-degenerate. His mere existence is distracting Willa from what matters most to her: evening the social playing field between the haves and have-nots. There’s no time for crushes and flirting with boys, especially conceited and obnoxious trust-funders like Aidan.

But when the cops start investigating the string of thefts at Valley Prep and the Glitterati begin to seek revenge, could Aidan wind up being the person that Willa trusts most?

First of all, love, love the cover!!! Second, I’ve been a fan of the Robin Hood story since I was a child and watched the animated Disney version. So I was really excited about the story being set in high school. Pretty Crooked was a totally fast and fun read!

I loved the fact that Willa is a strong female character with a great sense of humor. Her voice really brings the story to life. She’s also led a different life than most MC’s. Her mom is artist, kinda flighty, they’ve moved around a lot, etc. It kinda reminded me of the mom in Mermaids with Cher and Winona Ryder. Then the mom sells some paintings for a lot of moola, and that’s when they move to Arizona.

Willa gets enrolled in Valley Prep, which has the usual suspects of spoiled rich kids and Mean Girls in Kellie, Nikki, and Cherise—although Cherise does have a heart and a conscious compared to the other two girls. She gets sucked into their Mean Girl world as well as draining some of her mom’s newly acquired money on fashion. She totally morphs into someone she isn’t, and fortuantely, she gets a wake-up call and realizes what's going on(plus her mom is superpissed about her spending!). That’s when she has the epiphany to stand up to the Mean Girls by becoming a modern day Robin Hood. She especially wants to help out the scholarship girls, Sierra and Mary, that Kellie and Nikki are making fun of because of their poverty through a malicious online blog.

As for the characters, I totally loved the LI Aidan! He was your typical rich, popular kid, but at the same time, he wanted to break out the mold. And for him, breaking out of the mold meant doing crazy stuff to get kicked out of school! I loved how his usual charms didn't work on Willa and that made him work even harder! He kinda reminded me of Logan from Veronica Mars! I also loved the character of Tre—the bad boy turning good who gives Willa some Robin Hood lessons! Her training sessions with him were great.

I did wish there had been more of the Robin Hood scenes and a little less of Willa getting settled into Valley Prep and life with the Mean Girls. It was really not until the second half of the book that we got to see the premise acted out in all of its fun mayhem! I'll be interested to see what happens in the second book since there's several lose ends left that I want to see tied up.

Overall, a really enjoyable read! 4 Stars!

The Jersey Shore Version of Twilight

Okay, I died laughing at this because it combines two of my guilty pleasures. Twilight and Jersey Shore. Check It out!

Our 5 Star Book List of 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

It's time for us here at Reading, Writing and Waiting to round up all the novels we've reviewed during 2011 that received the coveted five star rating. I want to thank all of my review partners for their hardwork this year! I am so glad you came on board with me. I couldn't have got through all the reviews without you!! So, without further ado, here's the Young Adult novels we went Gah-Gah over last year:



Clarity by Kim Harrington
"First off, um, WOW!! This book has easily pushed its way to one of my favorite novels. True crime mysteries in YA are few and far between, and Clarity helps fill that void. This novel totally reminds me of a psychic Veronica Mars, and those of you who know me know how much I loooooooooove Veronica Mars. I know I'm not alone on that one. :)"--Annie



Demon Glass by Rachel Hawkins
"I loved every second of this book and it's so hard not to spill the beans because I could go on and on about the plot. There are so many things that happen in this book that make me think WTF, and OMG what's gonna happen next. This book is a must read for the Sophie Mercer fans out there."--Annie



Wither by Lauren Destefano
"There's just something about a forbidden love that hooks me every time. Rhine's relationship with Gabriel is risky. They'd be killed if anyone ever found out she liked anyone other than her husband, Liden, and that heightens the stakes tremendously. "--Annie



Vicious Little Darlings by Katherine Easer
"A good young adult contemporary novel, to me, is gritty and real, with a plot that is reasonable, yet has a great twist. A twist I can't guess by the second chapter of the novel. Well, my friends, I am so happy to tell you I found that in Vicious Little Darlings."--Annie



Secrets (The Ivy #2) by Lauren Kunze
"The drama kept me turning the pages. I just had to know what was going on, plus book one left off with a huge cliff hanger, so I was immediately hooked into book two."--Annie 



Lure by Stephaine Jenkins
"The voice in the first paragraph hooked me right away and told me this was a girl I could totally be friends with. She isn't afraid to call someone out on their crap, which in my eyes makes for an awesome female lead character. She will keep you on your toes."--Annie



We'll Always Have Summer: Jenny Han
"OMG, you guys. That's all I have to say about the final book in this series. I liked the first book, really liked the second book and absolutely LOVED the third. The third book was so emotional."--Annie



The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa
"I literally carried this book around with me everywhere until I finished it. Not since Edward in Twilight has a love interest hooked me this way. He has so many inner demons and Meghan is the one person who can get beneath that frigid layer of ice that surrounds his heart. Love him!"--Annie



Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini
"Gah! I love, love stories. Especially when the two people in the relationship want to kill each other all the time!"--Annie



Crush Control by Jennifer Jabaley
"I read through CRUSH CONTROL at lightning speed because I couldn't stop myself! I remember reading about this sale in Publisher's Marketplace and thinking how awesome it sounded, and it didn't disappoint. I loved it!"--Jamie



Hourglass by Myra McEntire

"I just finished this novel and it was AWESOME. This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2011 and I’m happy to report it didn’t disappoint. This time travel novel defiantly stood out among the sea of paranormal books out there on the YA shelf."--Annie



The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler
"Added to the dual main characters are their two best friends--an on again, off again couple--who are fun and quirky. The ending is sweet and satisfying--not over-done or under-cooked. I give THE FUTURE OF US five stars! (Who didn't see that coming?) :)" --Jamie



Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally
"All I can say is wow. I absolutely adored this book, the cast of characters was well-rounded and not what I was expecting AT ALL. A girl who is not only the leading quarterback, but captain of her team, respected and loved by the team mates? Never would've thought it could be pulled off and with such talent."--Jenn



Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
"This is one of those books, either you love it or you hate it. I've seen this novel referred to as literary crack before, and I have to say I agree. This novel grabbed me from the moment the bad boy love interest stepped on the scene. He was amazing. He did things that I didn't expect and I was shocked. SHOCKED and appalled by some of the things he did in this book, which in large part hooked me even more."--Annie



Everneath by Brodi Ashton
"I love it when a novel is so out in left field, it defies ever rational thought I have about what the underworld is suppose to be like. Plus, anything that can tie in Greek mythology and make you wonder if some things could actually be true…is a fantastic book. EVERNEATH grabbed me by the arms and yanked me into it’s world. I could not put it down. I read it in, like, two sittings. It’s that good!"--Annie



Lola and the Boy Next Door Stephanie Perkins

"What can I say? Stephanie Perkins creates contemporary magic. LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR was witty, and quite simply, irresistible. I couldn't put it down. "--Annie

You can find full reviews of our five star novels HERE.

We love bringing you book reviews and would like to thank all of our followers, commentors, and guests for an awesome year. 2012 is gonna rock!! Thank you all for checking us out! We love you all!