REVIEW: Archer's Voice (A Sign of Love) by Mia Sheridan

Title/Series: Archer's Voice | A Sign of Love
Author: Mia Sheridan
Publisher: Mia Sheridan
Published: January 25th 2014
Format: eBook | Pages: 345
Genre: NA, Contemporary, Romance
Source: Amazon
★★★★★ (5/5) Stars!!!!

Mia Sheridan | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

When Bree Prescott arrives in the sleepy, lakeside town of Pelion, Maine, she hopes against hope that this is the place where she will finally find the peace she so desperately seeks. On her first day there, her life collides with Archer Hale, an isolated man who holds a secret agony of his own. A man no one else sees.

Archer's Voice is the story of a woman chained to the memory of one horrifying night and the man whose love is the key to her freedom. It is the story of a silent man who lives with an excruciating wound and the woman who helps him find his voice. It is the story of suffering, fate, and the transformative power of love.

THIS IS A STAND-ALONE NOVEL. The first three books in the series need not be read to enjoy this book. New Adult Contemporary Romance: Due to strong language and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18.

It has taken me a very long time to finish reading this book. We're talking probably close to 8 months. Not to give you the wrong idea thinking it's horrible or anything like that. On the contrary, I loved it so very much. It was just really hard to get through on occasion. I had to stop and start reading over and over so many times it's not even funny. I'm just a huge wimp.

Some days I felt like I was barely holding on to my emotions from moment to moment.

You know how sometimes you will really, really love a character and someone or something has hurt them/is hurting them/is going to hurt them? Or any combination of the three? This is the dilemma I faced with this book. Either something would happen to Archer or I just knew that something was coming around the corner to hurt him in some way and my heart couldn't take it. So I'd put it down and walk away. Only to pick it up once again days, weeks, a month later and try the process all over again.

Maybe there was no right or wrong, no black or white, only a thousand shades of grey when it came to pain and what we each held ourselves responsible for.

This is going to be a short one because I don't want to spoil anything. Especially when all I want to do is go on and on about it. So I'll just say that, plain and simple, this was one of the most beautifully written and heart wrenching books I have ever read. This story and Archer both have carved themselves a nice little place in my heart and it's not one I'll find very easy to forget. It quite often left me and my emotions all tied up in knots. My heart was just a mess. My heart is still...a mess.

Sometimes an understanding silence was better than a bunch of meaningless words.

While I've already mentioned already that I have a lot of love for Archer, Bree was just as likable. Though it was a scary thought having two completely broken people fall for each other. At times I worried that it would end up being a complete disaster. Somehow though, it actually worked, quite well. As the book progressed I became more and more sure that there was truly nobody more perfect for one than the other.

Awkward boy. Sweet, silent Archer Hale.

I'm not sure what else I can say about this one. I'm afraid if I allow myself to go on like I usually do I'll wind up saying way too much. I'm so glad that I never gave up and eventually pushed through the parts that hurt to read. Archer's Voice was fresh and unique, it brings out the whole range of emotions. It wasn't all painful which I feel like I've made it seem up to this point. Yes, there were lots of tears. But it was so much more than that. I was laughing and smiling and oh the swoons. I could read it again and again.

REVIEW: Making Faces by Amy Harmon

Title/Series: Making Faces
Author: Amy Harmon
Publisher: Amy Harmon
Published: October 12th 2013
Genre: YA/NA, Contemporary, Romance, Drama
Format: eBook | Pages: 405
Source: Amazon
★★★★★ (5/5) Stars!!!

Amy Harmon | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Ambrose Young was beautiful. He was tall and muscular, with hair that touched his shoulders and eyes that burned right through you. The kind of beautiful that graced the covers of romance novels, and Fern Taylor would know. She'd been reading them since she was thirteen. But maybe because he was so beautiful he was never someone Fern thought she could have...until he wasn't beautiful anymore.

Making Faces is the story of a small town where five young men go off to war, and only one comes back. It is the story of loss. Collective loss, individual loss, loss of beauty, loss of life, loss of identity. It is the tale of one girl's love for a broken boy, and a wounded warrior's love for an unremarkable girl. This is a story of friendship that overcomes heartache, heroism that defies the common definitions, and a modern tale of Beauty and the Beast, where we discover that there is a little beauty and a little beast in all of us.

I hadn't even heard about this book until this past weekend when I stopped by my friend Jessica's STS post. She had a very short one with only two books, one of them being Making Faces and I liked the cover so I looked it up. I don't think I even got through the entire summary and my heart was going crazy and I needed to buy this book. There's no other way to put it. It was need. I quickly rushed to Amazon, purchased and started it immediately. 

I seem to be having this major burst of good luck when it comes to the books I'm reading lately. Which makes me feel like I'm being repetitive when I say once again, I. Loved. This. Book. I don't think I've ever felt anything so deeply, I also don't think I've ever really cried as much as I did with Making Faces. Truly in a good cry sort of way. In the best way possible, this book left me completely shattered. I did end up having to stop once, at around 85% for an entire day because I just couldn't deal with all of the emotions. And the constant tears.

We basically have two stories going on within this book. There's the story from the summary, but running parallel to that and equally as important to the book as a whole, is another storyline that is filled with just as much humor, warmth, grief and tragedy. You really get hit with the feels from all sides here. Both of the storylines were written absolutely beautifully.

She had floated through childhood without drama and with little fanfare, grounded in a perfect awareness of her own mediocrity.

I feel like, at this point, Fern is probably one of my all time favorite FMCs. What she lacks in self confidence, she seems to make up for in this never ending well of optimism. She was just so sweet and genuine. She had me under her spell from the very beginning and that's so very rare for me. She was the type of person to see the beauty in just about everything. And also to see that sometimes a beautiful package can contain something so very ugly and slippery inside. 

"I'll add you to my list," Ambrose promised suddenly, his eyes holding Bailey's in the mirror. "When the time comes, I'll write your name across my heart with the others."

Ambrose has everything going for him, yet he's still this really humble guy. Even before being changed physically and emotionally by war. Star of the wrestling team, the pressures on him by the entire town were really starting to weigh him down. Enlisting was a way to escape the pressures for him. He wasn't ready to go off to college and be the town golden boy. He got swept up in the moment and I don't think the possibility really comes to mind that you could be the only one of your friends to make it home from that. If you even come home at all.

"He left us sooner than we wanted him to, but that's how life is. We don't get to choose when we go or how we go. None of us do."

The thing about Making Faces is it's not just this incredibly moving love story. It has that and it's sweet and innocent. A refreshing change. I mean, don't get me wrong. I do enjoy my steamy and sometimes smutty reads. Though this book, and Fern and Ambrose, still did make me swoon, it was more of a YA type of swoon. It was perfect.. But it goes so much deeper than the love story. It's also about friendship and strength. Dealing with tragedy and loss. Embracing the imperfections that life deals you. Whether it's being born with a crippling disease, overcoming loss and disfigurement, or even growing up feeling quite unremarkable and plain. And a great lesson on the fact that what's inside of a person and who they truly are, is what makes them beautiful.

"Maybe everyone represents a piece of the puzzle. We all fit together to create this experience we call life. None of us can see the part we play or the way it all turns out. Maybe the miracles we see are just the tip of the iceberg. And maybe we just don't recognize the blessings that come as a result of the terrible things."

I think I should just leave it at this. It's been very hard to express what I'm feeling after reading this. And short of opening myself up so you could see inside all the beautiful emotions that this book stirred up in me, I don't think I'm going to find it any easier to articulate my feelings than what I've put down so far. I keep using this phrase but this book truly is beautiful and I feel like everyone should read it at some point. It's going to take a really incredible book to even come close to how this one made me feel and it deserves far more than 5 stars in my opinion.

ARC REVIEW: True by Erin McCarthy

Title/Series: True
Author: Erin McCarthy
Publisher: Penguin Group
Expected Publication: May 7th 2013
Format: eBook | Pages: 238
Genre: NA, Contemporary, Romance
Source: NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
★★★ (3/5) Stars!

Erin McCarthy | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

When Rory Macintosh’s roommates find out that their studious and shy friend has never been with a guy, they decide that, as an act of kindness they’ll help her lose her virginity by hiring confident, tattooed bad boy Tyler Mann to do the job…unbeknownst to Rory.

Tyler knows he’s not good enough for Rory. She’s smart, doctor smart, while he’s barely scraping by at his EMT program, hoping to pull his younger brothers out of the hell their druggy mother has left them in. But he can’t resist taking up her roommates on an opportunity to get to know her better. There’s something about her honesty that keeps him coming back when he knows he shouldn’t…

Torn between common sense and desire, the two find themselves caught up in a passionate relationship. But when Tyler’s broken family threatens to destroy his future, and hers, Rory will need to decide whether to cut her ties to his risky world or follow her heart, no matter what the cost…

Ugh, why does every book I read lately make me cry? I need to start buying picture books! Okay, in all seriousness I'm very torn about this book. I'll be honest. I came extremely close to DNFing this book just under 10% in. I was disgusted and just felt very wronged. I closed it and went on to Goodreads, my curiosity taking hold, I knew that many others had downloaded this book as well. I was certain there would be so many others like me who weren't going to read it. Instead I'm shocked...baffled. All I'm seeing are the occasional 3 stars but mostly 4s and 5s. Did these people read the same thing I just did? Then I started to doubt my judgement. Maybe I'm not giving it enough of a chance. So I opened it up again and continued on.

While eventually I came to enjoy it, for the most part. I still had quite a few problems with it. The only character I truly came to care for and even understand in any way was Tyler Mann. Actually Tyler and his brothers as well; Riley, Jayden and Easton. The four of them really made the book for me and their story was beyond touching.

Besides the incident within the first chapter of the book which just irritated me beyond all reason, I mean seriously it was a pointless situation and we could have gotten to the whole virginal plot situation some other way, but anyway what I couldn't get over was how everyone including Rory couldn't get over the fact that she was a virgin. The fact that she found it to be embarrassingly shameful makes me sick. I mean she was mortified by it. What the hell kind of message does that send out? And her friends? Don't even get me started on them. They acted like she had some kind of disease and she was going to die at any moment and the only cure was getting her laid! Are you serious with this? I mean every time they'd give her pity and start acting all slutified it was just disgusting. 

Okay seriously I realize the whole premise of the storyline was them hiring Tyler to "devirginize" her but it could have been done with a lot more class and in a more humorous way without making her two BFFs a couple of blonds who sleep around sending out the message that virginity is some shameful affliction that should be cured by hopping into bed with the first tattooed bad boy that can be bought off.

That being all off my chest...The rest of the story, that didn't revolve around lost virginity really was moving and enjoyable. I was serious about it even making me cry, a little bit, Tyler's family has an amazing story and I felt it deeply. I had high hopes for this book and feel like something really great could have been done with the plot. This just wasn't it for me. It wasn't executed to it's highest potential.

REVIEW: From Ashes by Molly McAdams

Title/Series: From Ashes
Author: Molly McAdams
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Published: December 11th 2012
Format: eBook | Pages: 288
Genre: NA, Contemporary, Romance, Drama
Source: Purchase B&N
★★★★✩ (4.5/5) Stars!

Molly McAdams | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Aside from her dad, who passed away when she was six, Cassidy Jameson has only ever trusted one man: her best friend, Tyler. So of course she follows him to Texas when he leaves for college. She just didn't expect to be so drawn to their new roommate, Gage, a gorgeous guy with a husky Southern drawl. The only problem? He's Tyler's cousin.

Gage Carson was excited to share an apartment off campus with his cousin. He didn't mind that Tyler was bringing the mysterious friend he'd heard about since they were kids . . . until the most beautiful girl he's ever seen jumps out of his cousin's Jeep. There's something about Cassi that makes Gage want to give her everything. Too bad Tyler has warned him that she's strictly off-limits.

Despite everything keeping them apart, Cassi and Gage dance dangerously close to the touch they've both been craving. But when disaster sends her running into Tyler's arms, Cassi will have to decide whether to face the demons of her past . . . or to burn her chance at a future with Gage.

I'm writing this at different points of finish. I normally really do wait until I'm completely finished reading a book with next to none or no notes taken. Just kind of write what I feel. But this book has me feeling so much that I'm needing to get it out now. There may be a few tiny spoilers but ones that shouldn't ruin the book for you in any way.

I'll start off by saying I was really surprised, baffled even by the sheer number of negative reviews and star ratings at 2 and below on Goodreads. And most of them stated DNF at the start. I really didn't read the reviews because too many people out there love dropping spoilers without properly hiding it or at the very least warning you like I did. So normally I just browse star ratings but still I really wanted to read this book. Sentence after sentence, paragraph after paragraph, scene after scene, chapter after chapter...I'm still baffled. I'm loving this book. Of course I'm outraged and hate Tyler with a fiery passion and hope that he rots in the deepest darkest spots of hell. But still, what love story doesn't have some dark evil force, *Cough*Tyler*Cough*, working against them. Still I'm loving the book.

 

It gets near 50% and everything is utter bliss. After facing obstacles we have love and passion, ohhh the passion *sigh*, and I'm thinking wow I read this pretty fast and I look down and realize holy crap there's like 53% left of the book still. Now I'm worried. Page after page I'm waiting for the bomb to drop. For the big explosion that will rock this sweet, tender love completely off it's axis.

 

So here I am at this very moment. It's 57-60% in. I say this because the bump starts at 57% and slowly starts ticking away at me until it's 60% and I am ready to explode. I really think I see and understand how so many people could throw their hands up and walk away. It's beyond frustrating and I have now gone from really liking and feeling so horrible for Cassidy and the complete crap her life has been until now to complete shock. Right now...I don't get her at all. I don't get her decision making, her motivation, I just--I wish I could be like the people who gave up. I'm that frustrated. But I can't not finish. It's not in my nature. I guess maybe at this point I'm still in it for Gage? I'm pushing myself because I know in my heart he deserves a HEA. So fingers crossed I hope he gets it and...I'm going back in. 

Now at 68% I'm starting to question my sanity for wanting to go on. I think if Gage winds up with Cassidy in the end it's only going to piss me off. He deserves so much better. So much. And everything is just getting ridiculous. There are too many people in this...this.. thing. Tyler and Gage is one thing. But Jesse? Connor? Do you think this is helping me to liking Cassi any better? NO. I don't care how screwed up her life was. At this point the only person she deserves to be with is Tyler. And I think he's a chump. So, yeah, there ya go.

Done reading now and there are two parts of me. One part wants to erase everything I've written so far and start over, while the other half wants to keep things as they are so someone contemplating reading can see the wide range of feelings I had towards the book at different stages and maybe not give up just like me and possibly like it in the end? You never know. I mean I can't believe this either after reading through everything I wrote at the start to the point I'm at now, because at the end of it all I'm happy I finished. I can't even tell you what just clicked in me to change it, all I know is I went from:

Start:

5 out of 5

57-60%:

3 out of 5

68%:

1 out of 5

72%:

2.5 out of 5

77%:

3.5 out of 5

The End:

4.5 out of 5

(Honestly I would've probably gone 5/5 but I'm taking off half a point for mental anguish :P)

I don't know how the hell it happened either!!! I mean one minute I'm sitting there fuming at all this stuff going on that makes no sense to me and then it's near the end and I'm crying and then I'm just... happy. Molly McAdams is some sort of evil genius! And I look forward to letting her torture me again in the future :)

REVIEW: Hopeless (Hopeless #1) by Colleen Hoover

Title/Series: Hopeless | Hopeless #1
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publisher: Colleen Hoover
Published: December 19th 2012
Format: eBook | Pages: 391 
Genre: YA, Romance, Drama
Source: Purchased B&N

 ★★★★★ (5/5) Stars!!!

Colleen Hoover | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Due to heavy subject matter and mature content, this book is recommended for ages 17+

From the NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of SLAMMED and POINT OF RETREAT.

Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies…

That’s what seventeen-year-old Sky realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she’s never had before. He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of just one encounter, and something about the way he makes her feel sparks buried memories from a past she wishes could just stay buried. 

Sky struggles to keep him at a distance knowing he’s nothing but trouble, but Holder insists on learning everything about her. After finally caving to his unwavering pursuit, Sky soon finds that Holder isn’t at all who he’s been claiming to be. When the secrets he’s been keeping are finally revealed, every single facet of Sky’s life will change forever. 

A couple of warnings first...be prepared to fall in love with this book. Second, have some tissues on hand...you're going to need them. Third, you really need to be ready because where this book takes you really isn't for the faint of heart. That being said, this book was absolutely fantastic. So emotional.

This book has everything. After Sky and Holder quit fighting their feelings there is such a sweetness...a passion to their relationship. I can't tell you how many swoon worthy moments there are, I lost track! 

“The moment my lips touch yours, it will be your first kiss.

Because if you've never felt anything when someone's kissed you, 

then no one's ever really kissed you. 

Not the way I plan on kissing you.”  

*Insert dreamy sigh here* I mean come on does it get any better than that? I swear I would gladly tell a guy I've never felt anything if he would respond the way Holder does. Book Boyfriend perfection!

But sweetness and love and passion aren't the only things they have between them. There is so much playfulness and humor. I couldn't stop myself from laughing out loud at times. Her best friend Six is in a foreign exchange program and while she's away she's told Sky she's going to text motivational type messages and at one point Holder reads one and is like are you kidding me? So he decides, in order to avoid her getting a big ego, he's going to be Mister Anti-Positive Affirmation so you get things like this:

Six:

   “Sky, you are beautiful. 

You are possibly the most exquisite creature in the universe 

and if anyone tells you otherwise, I’ll cut a bitch.”

Holder:

“You fell asleep right when she was about to find out her mother’s secret. 

How dare you. I’ll be back tomorrow night so you can finish reading it to me. 

And by the way, you have really bad breath and you snore way too loud."

Colleen Hoover definitely has a great sense of humor and it popped up through the book. Just enough to break up the seriousness and the tragedy that the book centers around. Like I said, prepare yourself for the worst because the closer these 2 get and the further they travel down the road of secrets they find the truth about the tragedies of their pasts and they are very heavy issues for a mature audience.

But regardless of the heaviness of this book, it is A-MA-ZING. You really should read it. Go on! Do it!! You'll thank me later. :)

REVIEW: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Title/Series: Thirteen Reasons Why
Author: Jay Asher
Publisher: Razorbill 
Published: October 18th 2007 
Format: eBook | Pages: 316 
Genre: YA, Realistic Fiction, Drama
Source: Purchased B&N

★★★★★ (5/5) Stars!!!

Jay Asher | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker—his classmate and crush—who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out how he made the list.

Through Hannah and Clay’s dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.

I can say, with much confidence, that at any point from now and in the future, if anyone ever asks me what my favorite book is I will say "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher.

I've had books touch me before but nothing could have prepared me for something like this. Not because I can relate to the topic matter. Well, I guess in a very miniscule sense I can, but in a much more removed way. I've only had someone who means something to me, have someone who meant something to them, take their life. But you don't have to have suicide touch your life in any way to fully appreciate this book.

Jay Asher is brilliant and he tells a story so beautifully that you feel like you're there, right along side Clay, listening to the tapes and working his way through town as Hannah tells the story of how thirteen different people helped to pull her into a downward spiral from which she saw no hope of ever coming back up. It's like that game Jenga. You pull out one block and it's really not that big of a deal. But the more you remove, the less stable the structure becomes, until finally...it falls.

Such an amazing book. I'll probably catch hell for saying this, but I think a lot of teens would benefit from reading this story. One could hope that reading it and seeing how their actions, even the smallest ones, can really affect someone. I realize there's always going to be bullies out there, people who can't be happy unless they tear others down and a story like this won't touch everyone as much as it did me, but like I said, one could hope.

It's a very realistic story and because of that it's very emotional but I cannot say this enough...you must read this book. And then after you do... do something nice for someone, say something nice to someone or even start with smiling at a stranger. You never know what a difference a smile can make :)