Sunday, July 8, 2012

The Burning Star ~ Book Review


     The Burning Star is a self published Young Adult paranormal romance novel, written by the writing team "Jessie Lane".  


Before I begin my review,  here's the book blurb:
"She'll have to believe the unbelievable to survive.
The doctors have told Kay that she will die before she reaches her eighteenth birthday. Her mother’s determination to save her life leads them to a move outside of Asheville, NC to a new set of cancer specialists in the hopes to help her. But it’s not what Kay and her Mom find in the doctor’s offices in Asheville that lead them on the journey to save her before time runs out. It’s what Kay finds in the woods outside of Asheville, and an inhumanly gorgeous guy named Ryan, instead.
Myths and fairy tales come to life before Kay’s eyes, bringing her closer to the ultimate cure if she can stay alive long enough to get there. And if the cancer doesn’t kill her before she finds the cure the secrets her mother has hidden from her may be the beginning of the end.
Can she reach her destiny before tragedy strikes?"

Review/Summary:    
     As I mentioned above, The Burning Star is YA Paranormal Romance, and being a hopeless addict of this genre myself, I jumped at the chance to review this book. When first reading the book summary/blurb, I expected a large part of the story to focus on Kay in the human world, where Kay would struggle with her cancer- but writers Jessie Lane jumped right in to the "Paranormal" world early on in the book- which I loved!
      Kay discovers an interesting boy named Ryan, a faerie Prince who helps to unravel a big secret about Kay. Ryan is one of the two cross-species/love interests in the book! Yes, I said love triangle =) Shortly after, she meets Nick, who is able to transform into an alluring black wolf. Nick, Ryan, and Kay work together to discover who or what Kay really is and how it will change her life forever as she knows it.

Things I liked:   
   I loved the amusing dialogue between characters. All the characters in this book were well developed- I enjoyed how the two boys bickered back and forth. Too often in YA love triangles one of the boys just kind of gets tossed to the side or gives up, but both boys are strong-willed  in this book (YAY for that!).  and I especially loved Kay's inner dialogue- she is hilarious. For being diagnosed with terminal cancer- which I couldn't even imagine how distressing and terrifying that would be, she is able to continue on and keep a positive mindset.

Things I disliked:    
      There were a few spelling /grammatical errors that could be easily fixed with an editor.

      Overall, I really enjoyed reading The Burning Star, with the witty dialogue and well developed characters, it kept me entertained.
I give it 3 mochis. 

     A big thank you to the writing team Jessie Lane for sharing your novel with me! Best of luck to you girls in your writing endeavors.
     

Switched Review (Book 1 of Trylle Trilogy)




Book Summary from Goodreads: When Wendy Everly was six-years-old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. It isn't until eleven years later that Wendy finds out her mother might've been telling the truth. With the help of Finn Holmes, Wendy finds herself in a world she never knew existed - and it's one she's not sure if she wants to be a part of.



Thursday, July 5, 2012

Feature & Follow Friday!


Feature & Follow Friday



Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read


Here is this week's question:

Q: Jumping Genres: Ever pick up a book from a genre you usually don't like and LOVE it? Tell us about it and why you picked it up in the first place.


I always like to try new genres, but I tend to steer towards YA fiction, especially Paranormal Romance. My latest read that was NOT YA or Paranormal was "The Undomestic Goddess" by Sophie Kinsella. I picked it up because the summary made me laugh. It's a fluffy, fun summer read and it's now one of my favorite books.


Summary from Goodreads: 


Workaholic attorney Samantha Sweeting has just done the unthinkable. She’s made a mistake so huge, it’ll wreck any chance of a partnership. 

Going into utter meltdown, she walks out of her London office, gets on a train, and ends up in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she’s mistaken for an interviewee and finds herself being offered a job as housekeeper. Her employers have no idea they’ve hired a lawyer–and Samantha has no idea how to work the oven. She can’t sew on a button, bake a potato, or get the #@%# ironing board to open. How she takes a deep breath and begins to cope–and finds love–is a story as delicious as the bread she learns to bake. 


But will her old life ever catch up with her? And if it does…will she want it back?