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.

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?

The Selection ~ Video Book Review

Summary from Goodreads: "For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in the palace and compete for the heart of the gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself- and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined."

*edit- after filming, I realized I didn't talk about Aspen! Aspen is her boyfriend from back home- he is in a lower caste than America. He was the one who suggested to America that she enter The Selection for bigger/better opportunities. Her family doesn't know about the relationship with Aspen- due to him being in a lower caste. 

Feature & Follow

Feature & Follow Friday

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

Here is this week's question:

Q: If you could "unread" a book, which one would it be? Is it because you want to start over and experience it again for the first time? Or because it was THAT bad?

This is probably a lame answer, but I would say there would never be any book that I would want to un-read because is it was bad... I think any book reading experience is a good one, you can learn from poorly written work! Books that I would love to experience again? hmm there is a lot on my list! If I had to choose one, I suppose it would be Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. This book taught me a lot about my goals/dreams and how to achieve them. I just got that "ah ha!" moment whilst reading it- I would love to experience that feeling again.

Review- Vanish by Sophie Jordan

Here is a silly little video review I made for the second installment of the Firelight series- Vanish! If you haven't read Firelight yet, be sure to check out my written review first! Hope you enjoy. More videos to come.
 

Waiting on Velveteen

Velveteen Monroe is dead. At 16, she was kidnapped and murdered by a madman named Bonesaw. But that’s not the problem.

The problem is she landed in purgatory. And while it’s not a fiery inferno, it’s certainly no heaven. It’s gray, ashen, and crumbling more and more by the day, and everyone has a job to do. Which doesn’t leave Velveteen much time to do anything about what’s really on her mind.

Bonesaw.

Velveteen aches to deliver the bloody punishment her killer deserves. And she’s figured out just how to do it. She’ll haunt him for the rest of his days. 

It’ll be brutal... and awesome.

But crossing the divide between the living and the dead has devastating consequences. Velveteen’s obsessive haunting cracks the foundations of purgatory and jeopardizes her very soul. A risk she’s willing to take—except fate has just given her reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot and completely off-limits coworker.

Velveteen can’t help herself when it comes to breaking rules... or getting revenge. And she just might be angry enough to take everyone down with her.

Hardcover, 464 pages

Expected publication: October 9th 2012 by Random House Children's Books

Looking forward to it's release- beautiful cover and thrilling summary! It already has some great reviews on goodreads! 


Happy Reading!