Freitag, 31. Januar 2014

Full Measures - Rebecca Yarros

Title: Full Measures
Author: Rebecca Yarros
Rating: 4/5

Thanks to NetGallery and Entangled Publishing (Embrace) for giving me the chance to read this book before the official release date.

December's father is in the Army, but this Christmas he dies in Afghanistan. Everyone in her family seems to lose it, that's why she feels like she has to stay in control and take care of them all. Josh, her crush since freshman year in high school, sees through her act though and gives her comfort. For the first time ever, she learns what it's like to be just herself and taking care of others.

Ignore my summary, please. It is just as bad as always. I should stick with the ones written on Goodreads.

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. I started this randomly, actually, I picked it up randomly aswell. I browsed through NetGallery and thought that the blurb sounded nice and give it a try. I'm glad the publisher accepted my request, so first off - thank you for that! After the first few pages, I was blown away and surprised by how much this book really got to me. It was heartbreaking in the beginning and what happened when I got to the good part (readers will know the first GOOD part haha)... Yeah, my eReader battery died. Had to charge it and couldn't keep my fingers still, I swear. I wanted to continue. I wanted to know what happened next between Ember and Josh. I had to know. I thought of turning the computer on and read it via screen, but no. I controlled myself and waited patiently until my eReader was charged. So, I didn't get to finish it in one session. I wanted this book to last a little longer than the usual books I read and so I forced myself to put it down from time to time.

There were so many good parts about this book, I don't even know where to start. By the names of the characters probably? December, who is the main person, totally cool name. At first I thought she and Ember might be two different characters haha. I don't hear these name that often, that's why. Then there is April, Ember's sister and August "Gus", her younger brother. You think that's it? No, no! Then comes their mother and *ta-daaaaah* her name is June. I bet one of the grandmother's names is May or July. This is so cool, really.

And then there is Josh. *swoon* Totally the best of the best. Book boyfriend material. No, forget that. Book husband material. Once your read Full Measures yourself, you'll know what I'm talking about. So go on and read it, for the love of Josh, please!

Being with someone who's in the Army must be very difficult. I can't even imagine what it must be like to sit at home and wait, not knowing if your loved one is still alive or not. I don't want to go down that road if war is right or not. I think it's not. Most definitely not. So, I really don't want anyone of the ones I love to fight for their country. But that's a different topic. Let's not go there. Rebecca, however, created a very strong main character - Ember. Real people would have fallen apart and if not - I'm impressed then.

The only thing that annoyed me (a little bit) was all of Ember's "Josh" moments. She murmered it, she said it, she whispered it, she moaned it, she sighed it, she screamed it, you get the point. I would have left those parts or cut some of them at least. There were too much of them.

But all in all I really liked this book. I'm not usually the new adult chick. I read it and I like some stories fine, but they never really get to me like Full Measures did. I know why this book did though. It's new adult, but then again it has this young adult vibe and I am a sucker for young adult. I love it far too much. So, I admire Rebecca for actually finding an awesome balance between these two genres.

I would recommend this book to everyone I know. Seriously, everyone! Four stars and please give me April's book and Jagger's book and Sam's book and all the books you can possibily write for the characters Rebecca. Please, please, please!

Sonntag, 26. Januar 2014

Knowing Jack - Rachel Curtis

Title: Knowing Jack
Author: Rachel Curtis
Rating: 3/5

Thanks to NetGallery and Rachel Curtis for giving me the chance to read this book before most do.

Ever since Chloe had an affair with her professor, she gets bullied by other students and also a threat. Her parents decide that it's best for her to get a bodyguard. And that's when Jack comes into view - someone who struggles with his own demons and should know better than to fall for Chloe.

Alright... What kind of ending is that? Did I get the whole copy of this book? I doubt it. "What?" can't be the official ending. It just can't. Please tell me it's not.

When I read the blurb I thought about one of my favourite kind of romances in books: A teacher-student thing. I knew all along that the story wouldn't lead to a relationship between the professor and the main character, but I wanted to know more about their past affair. What did we get? A lousy scene. I'm sorry for my choice of words. It wasn't lousy written or anything, but it was far too less. I wanted more!

However, I loved Jack. How can you not? He is everything you're looking for in the typical-book-boyfriend department. Let me have him, but then again he seemed too nice at some points. I need more flaws. I like to think that Jack wasn't all perfect aswell. I can live with that.
"I can't help but remember all the reasons why I've always been so sure I can't be with her.
I'm her bodyguard. It's a boundary that shouldn't be crossed."
Also, the story itself really had me going. It was something different. You don't read about bodyguards that often. To be honest, I only read about this kind of story once and that was in Overprotected which I absolutely loved, by the way (and should re-read someday soon). I want to read more stories about bodyguards and their subjects of protection. Young adult, new adult, I don't care as long as it's not cheesy adult romance. Ugh.

I don't regret reading this book. I enjoyed it. As I got closer to the final, I felt disappointed though. The story seemed rushed at some point, and that's quite impossible with a story so short already. I'm glad I found this book though. I long for more stories like this and I really liked the writing. Not cheesy at all.