Eden

Author: Jamie McGuire

Series: Providence # 3

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult

Publisher: CreateSpace

Released: 3 April 2012

Summary: courtesy of goodreads.com She had seen the unspeakable.
She would learn the unknowable.
Now, she would fight the invincible.
In the third and final installment of the Providence series, Nina Grey will marry the wrong man, carry the child that was never supposed to be born, and fight a war she can't win.
Faced with the impossible task of protecting his new wife and unborn child against the throes of Hell, Jared Ryel is allowed no mistakes. Pressured to return the Naissance de Demoniac to Jerusalem, he revisits St. Ann's to learn the answers were in front of him all along.
Together, they must survive long enough to let their child save them - and the world

For Fans Of: Providence, Requiem, and Breaking Dawn

My Review: Wow!  Eden perfectly wrapped up this series for me!  Such a lovely end to a fun and eventful series!  The two minuscule problems I had with Requiem were perfectly accounted for and settled in this one.  (Thank heavens for Claire! She and Ryan are perfection.)  This series was so much fun to read, and though Jared got progressively over-protective I still felt like it came from a good place, and he didn’t stop Nina from doing what she wanted altogether.  The only thing I did have a hard time with was towards the end when Nina has a panic attack.  You’ll know what I’m talking about when you get there.  It just seemed kind of out of character for her.  After everything that happens to her throughout the series, for her to panic and freak out like she does seemed strange.  However, she IS pregnant which probably contributes to the strange behavior, and I was kind of waiting for her to crack after everything that had happened to her over the last three years.  All in all, this was a great series for summer, fun, fast reads, and I really enjoy McGuire’s writing style, her dialogue and banter is very well thought out and witty, especially the swoon-worthy things that Jared says (cue: the vows holyfreakingcrap) If you liked books that were in the same vein as Twilight and Hush, Hush you will definitely love this series, I know I did.

Angelfall

Author: Susan Ee

Series: Penryn and the End of Days # 1

Genres: Paranormal, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult

Publisher: self-published

Released: 21 May 2011

Summary: courtesy of goodreads.com It’s been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back. Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel. Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl. Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels’ stronghold in San Francisco where she’ll risk everything to rescue her sister and he’ll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

For Fans Of: Unearthly, Under the Never Sky, and Blood Red Road

My Review: Angelfall was totally the angel book that I have been waiting for and the one that I hold every angel book I’ve read since against.  There were so many incredible things about Angelfall that make it a recommendation for me.   The relationship between humans and angels is really believable, and Raffe’s views religiously are also ones that I felt like reality as opposed to some of the pictures that are painted in other angel books.  Susan Ee’s angels are really gritty and dirty and not completely perfect, and I really enjoyed that aspect.  The relationship between Penryn (love that name!) and Raffe is one of my favorites to read over and over again because of its simplicity.

Penryn and Raffe are two people thrown together in extenuating circumstances and the way in which they both resist and fall into love with each other is amazing.  Not only that by Penryn is such an amazingly strong female character.  She reminds me a lot of Katniss Everdeen (from The Hunger Games)  in that her need for survival and the survival of her family supercedes the need for everything else.  And because the book is told from her point of view you see her strength but also her vulnerabilities.  Ee does such a great job at showing the dynamic of the characters and their place in the world.  She also does an incredible job at unraveling the mystery that is the angels and what they’re really doing on earth.

Angelfall, as I mentioned is so incredibly dynamic and multi-layered.  I can’t remember that last time I read a book with such wonderful characters.  Characters definitely make or break a novel for me and the characters in Angelfall really made the novel because of their dimension.  They were all fighting for different things but that you get to see that, even though it is told through one point of view shows Ee’s strength as a writer.  Also, look out for the relationship between Penryn and her mother, and the heartbreaking scene between Penryn and Raffe that is towards the end.

For everyone who has an e-reader I highly recommend that you spend the money and download this one because it was a truly great read.

Flat Out Love

Author: Jessica Park

Series: stand-alone

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic, Romance

Publisher: Self-Published

Released: 11 April 2011

Summary: courtesy of goodreads.com Flat-Out Love is a warm and witty novel of family love and dysfunction, deep heartache and raw vulnerability, with a bit of mystery and one whopping, knock-you-to-your-knees romance.
When Julie's off-campus housing falls through, her mother's old college roommate, Erin Watkins, invites her to move in. The parents, Erin and Roger, are welcoming, but emotionally distant and academically driven to eccentric extremes. The middle child, Matt, is an MIT tech geek with a sweet side ... and the social skills of a spool of USB cable. The youngest, Celeste, is a frighteningly bright but freakishly fastidious 13-year-old who hauls around a life-sized cardboard cutout of her oldest brother almost everywhere she goes. Flat-Out Love comes complete with emails, Facebook status updates, and instant messages.

For Fans Of: The Truth About Forever, Something, Maybe, and Perfect You

My Review: Flat-Out Love is a book that I think of as a perfect weekend read.  It has everything you want in a; what I like to call “couch potato book” (aka books that you tend to nestle into the couch for hours to read on a rainy afternoon).  A little bit of mystery, a little bit of adventure, an incredibly dysfunctional family (emphasis on the ‘fun’ part) and a lot of romance (not gross romance, honest to goodness, true blue romance).   I thoroughly enjoyed how much this book played on the idea of social networking, especially facebook.  I personally don’t have a facebook account, but facebook as so integrated itself into our lives and I felt the dialogue read so smoothly, and quickly.  It was almost like reading someone’s journal, “today so and so fb chatted me” etc. etc.  There were a lot of *swoon* moments between the characters and the ending was so sweet and perfect.  The family dynamic between the Watkins is also something to really pay attention to.  It is such a wonderfully dysfunctional family, and Celeste stole my heart from her first appearance.  She is the sweetest and most exceptional character in the story. 

I also liked the way that Park explored the emotions between the characters in the book, especially the family dynamic. Not only of the Watkins, but also how Julie fits into their lives, as well as Julie’s relationship with her parents.  Although the only thing I did seem to struggle with is that Julie’s dad is talked about, but nothing is ever resolved between the two of them.  Everything else is tied together quite nicely, maybe this will jump off for a sequel?  I know I wouldn’t mind that…

The other thing I want to stress is how this book didn’t feel self published at all.  I’ve read a few self-pub’s before and could tell right off the bat, either through spelling errors, or massive flaws in the character consistency or holes in the plot line.  Flat Out Love was not like that at all.  I didn’t even realize it was a self pub until after I had read it and gone to the author’s website.  So please, don’t let the self pub branding deter you, this book was exceptional for the beach, the bus, the feel really good about love,  or couch potato read.  I’m hoping to get a copy on the enhanced version sooner or later, because I think that would be pretty fantastic too.