Donnerstag, 30. Oktober 2014

I Need You (Starting Out #03) - Jane Lark

Title: I Need You (Starting Out #03)
Author: Jane Lark
Rating: 3/5

Thanks to NetGallery and HarperCollins UK, HarperImpulse for letting me receive a digital copy before the official release.
Guilt can eat away at you, but love can cut like a knife...

Wanting his best friend's girlfriend is a cliché Billy knows well - it's the tightrope he's walked for years. But now Jason and Lindy have broken up and Billy can't help but be there for the girl he's loved from afar for so long. She's hurting.

Fighting to find a road to the future, Lindy's heart hurts. She's trying to escape the truth, but Billy keeps making her face it - and it's ugly. How can she keep living when everything is made of glass and it keeps shattering?

Her one constant is Billy. Only, rebound isn't his style and when Lindy starts to see him in a different light, he just can't trust her. He's no one's second best.
Billy and Lindy. Lindy and Billy. Hmm.. I first thought I was pulled into a novel taking place in the 80's.

I Need You is a great example for how wrong my first impressions of a book can be. I didn't like Lindy - at all. The idea behind the story didn't turn out the way I hoped. I basically thought to myself: "Just read this book already and write this dumb review, so you can start a better book."

The only good thing was Billy. Why? Oh, only because he was the male protagonist and let's face it - they are the best things about books in general, especially when they're swoon-worthy and that's the case, most of the time.

Lindy was a mental wreck and heartless and... Weird. Her boyfriend Jason dumped her a few months earlier for another girl, who also already had a baby once the story started to tell Lindy's and Billy's point of view. She's still not over Jason, constantly crying and even trying to kill herself.

And then there comes Billy. Awesome and adorable Billy. I got it bad, yeah, haha. He'd always love Lindy, even when before she started dating his best friend Jason. Yes, that typical 'friend falls for the best friend's girlfriend'. But this is better. And I don't even know why. The places, the talks, everything started being really good after the first few pages. Good thing I didn't stop and decided to drop it.

Billy seemed to be the only person trying to help Lindy while all the others already gave up on her, just like she gave up on herself too. I mean, how can you not love a character like that?! Simply impossible.

At some point, believe it or not, I wasn't even annoyed by Lindy anymore. Not as much as before anyway. I felt sorry for her and understood her actions a little better.

I didn't like Nial and his crew that much. I guess that was because he stood in Billy's way and I didn't want anyone to ruin his chances. Were Nial and his crew really that imporant? Did they have to be included in this book? I don't think so, but whatever... I'll accept it. No other choice for me, is there?

So, after a while I enjoyed this book and understood the story and the idea behind it. I found myself liking it more and more. The thing is, I won't read the others in the series. I am so sorry Jane Lark, but I just don't want to. I hated Jason and I hated Rachel. Not because they made Lindy act the way she did, but they just seemed so false, so fake. Maybe they were intended to be good persons, but I still didn't like them. There's no way I want to find out about their awkward story.

I Need You is a book I had to get used to. It wasn't what I expected, and though I first thought that might be a bad thing, it turned out to be not so bad anymore. Three solid stars, mainly because of Jason and Rachel, and perhaps Lindy because she thought about Jason waaaay to much.

Sideswiped (Off The Map #02) - Lia Riley

Title: Sideswiped (Off The Map #02)
Author: Lia Riley
Rating: 3.5/5

Thanks to NetGallery and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for letting me receive a digital copy before the official release.
Love is uncharted territory...

Sometimes in order to find yourself, you need to venture off the map.

Talia and Bran broke all the rules and navigated dark and stormy emotional waters to be together and now that they finally seem to have found their way back to each other, the winds of change threaten to blow their love off course yet again...
Lia Riley kidnapped us. Well, not really, but she made us dive into the story of Talia and Bran again. I really liked the first book in this series, Upside Down (review can be found on my blog, too), and I was relieved when I received an ARC of Sideswiped as well.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to read it before the official publication date, which I am so sorry for. But I read it now, and so let's start with the actual review...

While the first book focused on the basics of a relationship, such as first meeting, first (wrong) impressions and all that stuff, Sideswiped felt more mature to me. To me, it felt like getting to know Bran better and see things from his point of view. A relationship is great as long as you block out the problems, and that's what both characters had to face in this story.

They had a long-distance relationship for a short while and then Talia came back to Bran, but she wasn't allowed to stay with him forever. Her visa lasted for a limited time. In the beginning, only Talia seems worried about what will happen to them and their relationship after that time, but then you get to see how Bran thinks about it, and it may seem to be such a small problem, but it leads to bigger problems and worries and struggles and doubts and, and, and... I think the author captured that perfectly.

It's not all smiling teddy bears and beautiful colored butterflies anymore. It's real life.

Real life also means Talia's former mental situation is still a recent subject. Though I think it got worse comparing Sideswiped to Upside Down. We all knew she wasn't well in the first book, but now... I don't even know how to put it...

If you think it's all about their relationship only, yes of course it focuses on that, but I like hearing the characters talking and thinking about what they want to do with their lives too. All this "rescue the oceans" stuff is impressive, and I secretly wonder if Lia Riley is an expert or if she had to do some serious hard research in order to get all these informations.

At first, I was worried I wouldn't like this book. And yeah, I liked Upside Down better, because who doesn't like the idea of a happily ever after and forever sunny sunshine?! However, it's a very good sequel.

Also, I was surprised by how much I liked Bran's friend/mate/whatever Karma. Talia was so annoyed by him, and maybe that's part of the reason why I liked him. Will he get his own story? Please tell me he will get his own story!

As already mentioned, Lia Riley captured the emotions in this book great. And if you worry her jokes might be missing - they aren't. Her funny way of talking about things is still involved, so there are still lots of parts to laugh about.

If you liked the first book in the series, I suggest you read this one too. I can't add that much more (probably also because I am not that creative). Just read it and see for yourself.

New Point - Olivia Luck

Title: New Point
Author: Olivia Luck
Rating: 3/5

Thanks to NetGallery and Olivia Luck for letting me receive a digital copy before the official release.
Imagine the worst day of your life. Immerse yourself in the details. How did you feel? Who were you with? What were the consequences?

Recalling my darkest day is as simple as typing a few search terms into a web browser. It only took thirty minutes for me to become the center of a media frenzy that caught the attention of an entire country.

So I hid.

Nine months later and I'm getting better. Moved two hours from home, landed my dream job, and met a delicious new guy.

Healing is that simple, right?

Wrong.
New Point focuses on a subject that surprisingly isn't included in a lot of novels. I'd have guessed that guns and shootings in school hook more authors that want to write about that. Honestly, I don't like reading about it (good thing New Point is the second book I read with that topic), because I don't like to think of such terrible things to happen, though they happen way too often, especially in the USA. But let's not talk about the laws there and such things. Let's talk about the book.

I'll admit, knowing the main characters has mental issues, gives me a hard time reading a book. I envy all authors for being able to create such characters. I don't know why I don't like to read about characters like that, but sometimes it's hard for me to keep up with their thoughts. Or maybe it's my wish to help them, put my hands on their shoulders and shake them and scream at the book.

The second Zoe moves to New Point she meets Miles (not right the second she moves, but you know what I mean). You don't get to understand why she moves, you just know it's not because of regular reasons. Miles is her hot neighbour who gets to share his point of view from time to time. I've been looking forward to that all the time. He and Zoe are bounded by a special connection right from the start. Their chemistry doesn't grow, it's constantly there, even when Miles behaves like an ass. Can I say that? It's already said, so whatever.

The only other book I read about a shooting at a school was from a student's point of view. New Point is from Zoe's point of view. She wasn't a student when that guy stepped into elementary school and threatened to kill someone, she worked at the school's libary.

Once I got to the story point where Zoe reflected what happened that day, I realized what a strong character Olivia Luck had invented. Before that, I thought of Zoe as... Not exactly weak, but not that confident either. And when... Argh, I can't write about that. I'd spoil too much and I can't have that.

There's one thing I have to write about critically though. I hope it doesn't give away too many spoilers. It seems too much of a coincidence to tell the kids what they should do in case of an emergency and within and hour, they have to recall what Zoe told them. I think she should have told them sooner, but maybe it's just me...

Olivia Luck is a really talented author. I saw that by the way she thought of small details and ideas she came up with, like Zoe's and Miles' sister's relationship.

By now, I'm not sure if I'll read the sequel. The sequel is about Zoe's brother and his love affair or however you want to put it. The idea of their story doesn't make me want to read it as soon as possible. I'll probably put it on my list and see whether I'm in the mood to read it or not.