Book: The Countess by Lynsay Sands

Published January 2011 by HarperCollins|224 pages

Where I Got It: nook store

Series: Madison Sisters #1

Genre: Adult Historical Romance

You can find The Countess on goodreads & Lynsay Sands on Twitter and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

The fairy tale courtship did not turn into a happily-ever-after…

Not until her husband dropped dead, that is. He had been horrible enough to Christiana during their short marriage, and she was not going to allow the traditional period of mourning to ruin her sisters’ debuts as well. So she decides to put him on ice and go on as if nothing’s happened…

Until the real earl appears. Richard Fairgrave had every intention of confronting his villainous twin who had robbed him of his name and title…only to discover that he had died. Quietly assuming his identity, Richard must now deal with a maddening desire for his ravishing inherited “wife”— certainly a gold digger and possibly a murderess. And Christiana must deal with an unwanted new “husband”…and they both must figure out what to do before the ice melts!

What I Thought: 

I don’t read a lot of romance (at least in terms of adults) but every single time I do, i’m reminded of how much I actually like the genre!

The Countess is definitely a lot of fun, and it was absolutely hysterical at times.  I didn’t expect it to be funny, but it definitely was refreshing, because historical romance usually doesn’t result in me laughing frequently. It’s definitely light-hearted and silly and so much fun.  It does start off serious, but it’s not long before it becomes less serious.

I was so glad to finally George go, because he really is a horrible, horrible person.  And I loved Richard and Christiana, and how they have to deal with everything that happened between Christiana and George.  I also liked the relationship she had with her sisters, and even though this is a romance novel, I kind of wanted more scenes with her sisters.

I like Richard and Christiana as a couple, but I wasn’t completely convinced of their relationship- maybe it’s because of how easily Christiana and Richard fell for each other, and how horrible George was.  Still, they are cute and I like that Richard is a good guy who sees Christiana as an equal.

I’m normally not one who cares much about historical accuracy in any sort of historical fiction, but…I kind of forgot that this book was set in Regency England at times, even though there are mentions of carriages and dowries and such.  Still, it didn’t bother me much, but if you are someone who cares about historical accuracy, keep that in mind if you decide to pick up this book!

Let’s Rate It: 

The Countess is definitely entertaining, and different than the other (few) historical romances I’ve read.  It’s silly and light-hearted while also dealing with some serious stuff.  The Countess gets 3 stars.

Book: City Of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

Published May 2014 by Margaret K. McElderry Books|514 pages

Where I Got It: Nook store

Series: The Mortal Instruments #6

Genre: YA Paranormal- Angels

You can find City Of Heavenly Fire on goodreads & Cassandra Clare on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

ERCHOMAI, SEBASTIAN HAD SAID.

I am coming.

Darkness returns to the Shadowhunter world. As their society falls apart around them, Clary, Jace, Simon and their friends must band together to fight the greatest evil the Nephilim have ever faced: Clary’s own brother. Nothing in the world can defeat him — must they journey to another world to find the chance? Lives will be lost, love sacrificed, and the whole world changed in the sixth and last installment of the Mortal Instruments series!

What I Thought:

I have really mixed feelings about City Of Heavenly Fire.  There were things I liked, but there were also things I didn’t like.

I really love the world that we see in this series.  I feel like there’s so much we don’t know about this world, and I like that we see how detailed this world really is.

I think I have a love-hate relationship with this series.  I love the overall idea of the world, and it seems like the world is very well thought out.  But at the same time, I’ve liked the series less and less as it went on.  I’ve enjoyed the entire series but I also felt like the series could have ended with the third book.

I’m really struggling with what I think of City Of Heavenly Fire.  I liked it, and I’m glad that things were (mostly) resolved.  I wasn’t particularly fond of what happened with a certain character, and while I like said character, I also found I didn’t particularly care about what happened to them, or that things will seem to work out for them.

I found that Magnus is, by far, my favorite character.  I’m not sure if he’s getting his own series, but his story was infinitely more interesting, especially with what we learn in this book.

We meet a lot of new characters, and I actually liked that we saw chapters from many different characters. Like the previous books, there’s a lot going on in this one, so it was nice to see a little bit of everything that was going on.  At the same, there were so many characters that it was hard to keep track of some of them, particularly those who were introduced in this book. It was hard to be invested in them when I had some trouble keeping up with them.

Let’s Rate It:

I liked City Of Heavenly Fire- basically, I like the world Clare was imagined, but I didn’t care about what happened to the characters.  It is sad that I’ve lost interest as the series went on, because I really want to LOVE this series.  It is a fun series, and very readable, but I think this series (FOR ME) has gone on a little too long. City Of Heavenly Fire gets 3 stars.

Book: Love Letters To The Dead by Ava Dellaira

Published April 2014 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux|327 pages

Where I Got It: bought the hardcover

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

You can find Love Letters To The Dead on goodreads & Ava Dellaira on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person.

Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to the dead—to people like Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, Amelia Earhart, and Amy Winehouse—though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating the choppy waters of new friendships, learning to live with her splintering family, falling in love for the first time, and, most important, trying to grieve for May. But how do you mourn for someone you haven’t forgiven?

It’s not until Laurel has written the truth about what happened to herself that she can finally accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was—lovely and amazing and deeply flawed—can she truly start to discover her own path.

In a voice that’s as lyrical and as true as a favorite song, Ava Dellaira writes about one girl’s journey through life’s challenges with a haunting and often heartbreaking beauty.

What I Thought:

I liked Love Letters so much more than I expected, but not as much as I hoped!

I love that the entire book is full of letters.  I love that she writes to them, and that she has connections to each of the people she writes to.  It very much felt like she was writing a letter to a true friend, and it really felt like she knew what they were going through.  I love that she shares her life with them, and that we get to see how she’s dealing with everything.

As much as I loved the letters, I also felt like they were something I just stumbled across.  I feel like it put some distance between me and Laurel, and I didn’t connect with her as much as I would have liked.  I also didn’t really care about May, and I really wish I cared more about May.  I think teenage-me would have LOVED this book, but as 28-year-old?  Not so much.  I was definitely expecting to be more emotional throughout the entire book, and not just at the end.

I will say that there is something about Laurel finally accepting what happened, and I really wish I felt that way during the entire book.

I did love seeing the friends that Laurel made, and seeing how much her friendships with them changed over the book.  I also loved seeing her relationship with her dad and her Aunt Amy, and I really wanted to see more of her relationships with her dad and her aunt.

I didn’t really like her relationship with her mom, and while it seems like there are some issues there, they didn’t seem to be explored as much as they could have been.  And part of me wants to have seen it, but at the same time, there are so many other things that Laurel is dealing with that it’s probably best it wasn’t really there.

Let’s Rate It:

I really liked seeing Laurel finally accept what happened with her sister May, and I love all of the letters, but at the same time, I felt a little distance from what was going on because of the letters.  Love Letters To The Dead gets 4 stars.

Book: Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

Published October 2014 by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers|303 pages

Where I Got It: Nook store

Series: None

Genre: YA Thriller/Mystery

You can find Black Ice on goodreads & Becca Fitzpatrick on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

Sometimes danger is hard to see… until it’s too late. 

Britt Pfeiffer has trained to backpack the Teton Range, but she isn’t prepared when her ex-boyfriend, who still haunts her every thought, wants to join her. Before Britt can explore her feelings for Calvin, an unexpected blizzard forces her to seek shelter in a remote cabin, accepting the hospitality of its two very handsome occupants—but these men are fugitives, and they take her hostage. 

In exchange for her life, Britt agrees to guide the men off the mountain. As they set off, Britt knows she must stay alive long enough for Calvin to find her. The task is made even more complicated when Britt finds chilling evidence of a series of murders that have taken place there… and in uncovering this, she may become the killer’s next target. 

But nothing is as it seems in the mountains, and everyone is keeping secrets, including Mason, one of her kidnappers. His kindness is confusing Britt. Is he an enemy? Or an ally? 

BLACK ICE is New York Times bestselling author Becca Fitzpatrick’s riveting romantic thriller set against the treacherous backdrop of the mountains of Wyoming. Falling in love should never be this dangerous…

What I Thought:

I definitely liked Black Ice!  There was so much going on, and it’s different than a lot of other mysteries/thrillers I’ve read.

I like that it’s more surviving in the wilderness and what’s going on with the murders.  Granted, I did manage to figure out who was behind the murders quite a bit before it was actually revealed.  I don’t quite remember when I figured it out, but I did.  What kept me reading was wanting to know the motivation behind it.  Still, I felt like things were pretty unpredictable, and I was never completely sure of what was going to happen next, even though I wasn’t particularly surprised by how things turned out.

I LOVED the atmosphere of the book, and it really added to the craziness that happens on the mountain.  Of all of the crazy things that happened, I didn’t like the romance.  At all.

I didn’t care for it , and I didn’t really get the point of Britt and Mason falling for each other.  I get that they both understand what it was like to be up on that mountain- which is actually fine- but the romance felt like it was there just to be there.  In the sense that they know what the other went through, the romance does make sense.  I get that she both wants and doesn’t want Calvin, her ex.  That was actually pretty believable.

What I didn’t find believable was Britt’s friendship with Corbie.  I really didn’t get why the two girls were best friends, and I kind of wish that their relationship had something more to it, because it felt like a pretty shallow friendship.  I did like that Britt seemed to find a couple great friends that she met in college, and that her story was tied back to Mason’s in the end.

Let’s Rate It:

Even though some things weren’t believable or didn’t really work work for me, I wanted to keep reading to see how things would turn out.  Black Ice gets 3 stars.

Book: Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock

Published May 2012 by HarperCollins|276 pages

Where I Got It: Nook store

Series: Hemlock #1

Genre: YA Paranormal- Werewolves

You can find Hemlock on goodreads & Kathleen Peacock on Twitter, Facebook & her website

Goodreads Summary: 

Fans of Maggie Stiefvater and the hit television show True Blood will flock to this first book in the supernatural mystery series set in a town where werewolves live in plain sight.

Mackenzie Dobson’s life has been turned upside down since she vowed to hunt her best friend Amy’s killer: a white werewolf. Lupine syndrome—also known as the werewolf virus—is on the rise across the country, and bloodlust is not easy to control. But it soon becomes clear that dangerous secrets are lurking in the shadows of Hemlock, Mac’s hometown—and she is thrown into a maelstrom of violence and betrayal that puts her in grave danger.

Kathleen Peacock’s thrilling debut novel provides readers with a mystery that Kimberly Derting, author of The Body Finder, calls “clever and frightening,” while Sophie Jordan, New York Times bestselling author ofFirelight, raves: “Forget every werewolf book you’ve ever read. This one breaks the mold.”

What I Thought:

It’s rare for me to read about werewolves on their own, and even more rare for me to actually finish one.  But I liked it more than I thought I would!

I really like that there’s a werewolf virus.  Granted, it kind of reminded me of the different variations of illness turning people into zombies or vampires, but I like that there’s a werewolf version of that out there.

I do wish it was explained a little more, because really, all we know is that it was revealed by the government quite a few years before the start of the book.  I’m really curious about the government’s knowledge of the virus and how it came to be.  And the trackers, definitely interesting.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’ll be revealed in at least of the books to come.

I will say that I was struck by how much I was reminded of the different rights movements- in particular, it seemed to be a combination of women’s rights, civil rights and GLBT rights.  I have no clue if that was intentional on Peacock’s part, or if that’s just what I was reminded of.  I’m sure people who are much more knowledgeable about those topics could draw better conclusions/parallels than I ever could, but it is something interesting to think about.

Let’s see.  Characters.  Nothing really stands out about them, except for Amy, who makes random appearances in Mac’s dreams.  She’s the only one who stands out, and I don’t know if it’s because I’m reviewing this book a week after finishing it, or if it really is because they aren’t super-memorable.  Honestly, though, I didn’t really care for Amy, but there’s definitely more to what’s going on then what we get in this book.

Let’s Rate It:

I did like Hemlock, but I have so many questions that I want answered.  For whatever reason, I didn’t completely fall in love with it, but I am intrigued enough to keep reading.  Hemlock gets 3 stars.