Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday Review

Title: Deadly Cool
Author: Gemma Halliday

Paperback, 303 pages

Published October 11th 2011 by HarperTeen 

Plot:

Hartley Grace Featherstone is having a very bad day. First she finds out that her boyfriend is cheating on her with the president of the Herbert Hoover High School Chastity Club. Then he’s pegged as the #1 suspect in a murder. And if that weren’t enough, now he’s depending on Hartley to clear his name.

But as much as Hartley wouldn’t mind seeing him squirm, she knows he’s innocent, and she’s the only one who can help him. Along with her best friend, Sam, and the school’s resident Bad Boy, Chase, Hartley starts investigating on her own. But as the dead bodies begin to pile up, the mystery deepens, the suspects multiply, and Hartley begins to fear that she may be the killer’s next victim.

My Thoughts:

The first thing that caught my attention about this novel was the incredible voice. The main character, Hartley, pulled me in right away. Her inner thought process was so sharp and witty. I felt like she was real. The opening paragraphs were great. Hooked me right away and I rooted for her from the beginning to get to the bottom of her boyfriend dilemma.  


I love mysteries. I haven't read a really good who is the killer one since I read Clarity and The Body Finder series...until now. I love books where the main character turns all Veronica Mars and gets down to the bottom of the story.


The only thing I didn't like about this story was the fact that Hartley helped her cheating boyfriend in the first place. I myself would have said sink or swim on your own, baby. But, to each their own I guess and I am glad she did get pissed at him several times over the whole cheating thing. She had every right to HATE his guts. 


Overall, I recommend this novel. Fans of murder mystery series will love this series.

The Weepers: The Other Life (The Other Life #1) by Susanne Winnacker Review

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Title: The Weepers: The Other Life (The Other Life #1)

Author: Susanne Winnacker

Hardcover, 352 pages

Published May 15th 2012 by Marshall Cavendish (first published February 1st 2012)

more details...

Series: The Other Life #1

 

 

 

 

Plot:

 

3 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days since I’d seen daylight. One-fifth of my life.

Sherry and her family have lived sealed in a bunker in the garden since things went wrong up above. Her grandfather has been in the freezer for the last three months, her parents are at each other’s throats and two minutes ago they ran out of food.

Sherry and her father leave the safety of the bunker and find a devastated and empty LA, smashed to pieces by bombs and haunted by ‘Weepers’ - rabid humans infected with a weaponized rabies virus.

While searching for food in a supermarket, Sherry’s father disappears and Sherry is saved by Joshua, a boy-hunter. He takes her to Safe-haven, a tumble-down vineyard in the hills outside LA, where a handful of other survivors are picking up the pieces of their ‘other lives’. As she falls in love for the first time, Sherry must save her father, stay alive and keep Joshua safe when his desire for vengeance threatens them all.

 

 

My Thoughts:

 

This novel had me hooked from the jump. When we meet the main character,  Sherry, in this novel we discover they have been living in this underground bunker in their home for over three years and they have just ran out of food. You can feel the desperation from the pages. Imagine yourself with a family to feed and not having anything to feed them. Desperate times, my friend, desperate times.

Sherry sets out with her father to try and locate food, while the rest of the family stay behind.

The tension is so thick at the beginning because you're not sure exactly what they are going to be up against. We they run into their first pack of Weepers, humans turned into mutated beasts with puss spilling from their eyes, the action takes off.

While Sherry escapes the Weeper attack with help from the mysterious Joshua, her father goes missing. And Sherry is willing to risk anything to get him back. Joshua agrees to help her move her family to a safe haven and try to locate her father in the Weeper ridden city of Los Anglos.

I adored this novel. Ms. Winnacker pounds out the action and kept me hooked the entire ride. The romance element between Sherry and Joshua was just enough to be believable in their crazy world. I can't wait to get my hands on book two and find out what happens to them because there were some twists I didn't see coming!

 

Read this is you like I AM LEGEND mixed a little HUNGER GAMES.

 

 

 

Happy Hemlock Release Day!

Title: Hemlock
Author: Kathleen Peacock

Plot:

Mackenzie and Amy were best friends. Until Amy was brutally murdered.

Since then, Mac’s life has been turned upside down. She is being haunted by Amy in her dreams, and an extremist group called the Trackers has come to Mac’s hometown of Hemlock to hunt down Amy’s killer: A white werewolf.

Lupine syndrome—also known as the werewolf virus—is on the rise across the country. Many of the infected try to hide their symptoms, but bloodlust is not easy to control.

Wanting desperately to put an end to her nightmares, Mac decides to investigate Amy’s murder herself. She discovers secrets lurking in the shadows of Hemlock, secrets about Amy’s boyfriend, Jason, her good pal Kyle, and especially her late best friend. Mac is thrown into a maelstrom of violence and betrayal that puts her life at risk.

Kathleen Peacock’s thrilling novel is the first in the Hemlock trilogy, a spellbinding urban fantasy series filled with provocative questions about prejudice, trust, lies, and love.

Buy it on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Hemlock-Trilogy-Kathleen-Peacock/dp/0062048651/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336512685&sr=8-1

And all other book retailers today!!  

5 Must Read New Adult Novels with College Aged Characters

1. Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn't drink or swear, and she has the appropriate percentage of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance between her and the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend America, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University's Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs-and-wants to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the most-eligible college co-ed. Intrigued by Abby's resistance to his charm, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis' apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has finally met his match.

2. Thoughtless by S.C. Stephens

For almost two years now, Kiera's boyfriend, Denny, has been everything she's ever wanted: loving, tender and endlessly devoted to her. When they head off to a new city to start their lives together, Denny at his dream job and Kiera at a top-notch university, everything seems perfect. Then an unforeseen obligation forces the happy couple apart.

Feeling lonely, confused, and in need of comfort, Kiera turns to an unexpected source – a local rock star named Kellan Kyle. At first, he's purely a friend that she can lean on, but as her loneliness grows, so does their relationship. And then one night everything changes...and none of them will ever be the same.

3. Fifty Shades of Gray

When literature student Anastasia Steele is drafted to interview the successful young entrepreneur Christian Grey for her campus magazine, she finds him attractive, enigmatic and intimidating. Convinced their meeting went badly, she tries to put Grey out of her mind - until he happens to turn up at the out-of-town hardware store where she works part-time.

The unworldly, innocent Ana is shocked to realize she wants this man, and when he warns her to keep her distance it only makes her more desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her - but on his own terms.

Shocked yet thrilled by Grey's singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success – his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving adoptive family – Grey is man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a passionate, physical and daring affair, Ana learns more about her own dark desires, as well as the Christian Grey hidden away from public scrutiny.

Can their relationship transcend physical passion? Will Ana find it in herself to submit to the self-indulgent Master? And if she does, will she still love what she finds?

Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.

4. Vicious Little Darlings by

Sarah Weaver wasn't looking forward to starting at an all-girls school. But that was before she met Maddy. Maddy and her best friend, Agnes, are fun and rich and interesting-and for some reason, they seem to really like Sarah. Before long, Maddy and Agnes have moved Sarah into a big house off campus, where they cook together, buy each other presents, and share each other's secrets. So why does Sarah feel like something's bizarrely wrong? As more and more cracks start to show in Maddy's and Agnes's perfect veneers, Sarah notices some strange and disturbing things: Maddy's compulsive lying, Agnes's obsession with Maddy, and the deterioration of their friendship. And just when Sarah begins to question her own sanity, things turns deadly.

5. The Ivy by Lauren Kunze, Rina Onur

Congratulations! You have been admitted to the most prestigious university in the world. Now what are you going to do?
Callie Andrews may not have money or connections or the right clothes, and she may have way too many complications in her love life, what with

Gregory
the guy she loves to hate ...

Evan
the guy she'd love to forget ...

Cli



...moreCongratulations! You have been admitted to the most prestigious university in the world. Now what are you going to do?
Callie Andrews may not have money or connections or the right clothes, and she may have way too many complications in her love life, what with

Gregory
the guy she loves to hate ...

Evan
the guy she'd love to forget ...

Clint
the guy she'd love to love ...

and Matt
the guy she really should love ...

all vying for her attention.

But she has three fantastic roommates (best friends or her worst nightmare?) and a wholesome California-girl reputation (oops) and brains and beauty and big, big dreams.

Will it be enough to help her survive freshman year at Harvard?

The Gathering (Darkness Rising #1) by Kelley Armstrong

The Gathering (Darkness Rising #1)

by Kelley Armstrong

Hardcover, 359 pages

Published April 12th 2011 by Harper (HarperCollins), New York
Source: Personal Collection

Plot:
Sixteen-year-old Maya is just an ordinary teen in an ordinary town. Sure, she doesn't know much about her background - the only thing she really has to cling to is an odd paw-print birthmark on her hip - but she never really put much thought into who her parents were or how she ended up with her adopted parents in this tiny medical-research community on Vancouver Island.

Until now.

Strange things have been happening in this claustrophobic town - from the mountain lions that have been approaching Maya to her best friend's hidden talent for "feeling" out people and situations, to the sexy new bad boy who makes Maya feel . . . . different. Combine that with a few unexplained deaths and a mystery involving Maya's biological parents and it's easy to suspect that this town might have more than its share of skeletons in its closet.

In The Gathering, New York Times best-selling author Kelley Armstrong brings all the supernatural thrills from her wildly successful Darkest Powers series to Darkness Rising, her scorching hot new trilogy. 

My Thoughts:

This novel to me just set up book two. I feel like Ms. Armstrong allowed us to dip our toes in the story with this one. I finished this novel with more questions than what I had while I was the middle of the plot. There are so many things I am curious about and I can't go into detail because that would just spoil the book for you guys, but I can tell you the mystery surrounding the town and her biological parents has me hooked. Sure there are parts of this novel that seem just like every other paranormal on the shelf, but this book has more mystery than just the paranormal elements. And that is very refreshing. 


I loved Maya's ability to get close with animals. It made me curious about her. Also I am still puzzled about the best friend who drowned. She actually start out with the friends death scene, but never get our answers about what really happened to her. Maybe we'll get that in book two...


Oh and Rafe. More of him please! He was one hot love interest. He was the token new guy who all the girls wanted but only had eyes for out main character, Maya. That seems to be the formula in YA now-a-days. And Daniel, Maya's closest friend...I'm left to wonder if he is hiding some secrets of his own. I kinda liked him and rooted for him and Maya to become something more.


If this series is anything like the Darkest Powers plot line, I know each book is just going to keep getting better. Can't wait for book two! I need these questions answered!


Pick this one up if you are into paranormals with animal-like bad boy love  interests.