The full review can be found at The Book Bratz

I said in my Altered review that I would be talking about these covers again. I am sorry, but I have too! I love how they are gray scale with the colored text. I want to say that was the first thing my eyes took it, but it wasn't. It was Sam's yummy looking chest. Like I've said: Favorite covers with a model on them hands down.

In my review of Altered I didn't talk about Dani at all. So I'll talk about her a little now. Long story short, Anna had an older sister named Dani. Sadly she is dead. Before Sam's memory was wiped him and Dani were in love. He went back to The Branch for her. I didn't talk about it in my Altered review because of spoilers and all but it isn't that big of a deal. Bigger things happen in Altered then that.

In Forged we learn how Dani first entered The Branch. She was naive and did it to protect her sister. At the time she didn't know Sam and she was desperate for Anna to have a better life then she did. Their father was addicted to pain pills and alcohol and their mother was a harsh woman who learned from her husband. Under the promise that if Dani went and work for The Branch her home life would be fixed. She accepted. It isn't until the end of this 32 page novella does Dani realize she made a HUGE mistake.

I love how this novella makes you like Connor (He is the head of The Branch and a horrible person in Altered) Honestly, I didn't realize how young he was. I expect a man in his fifties, sixties even! But Connor seems barley old enough to drink. For a few pages I actually shipped him and Dani. Then I realized that Dani ends up with Sam. I expected the novella to focus more on her and Sam falling in love, but it was more of Dani falling into place with in The Branch. We don't officially meet Sam until the last several pages.

I have too say, I did like this novella. I am not a fan of novellas because I typically like more in a story so I tend to avoid them. But if I like a series enough I will give them a shot. I am pretty excited now to start on the other novellas in this series. Suggestion though: Read Altered before Forged!

The full review can be found at The Book Bratz closer to the release date!

The White Rose was deliciously written, packed with drama, mystery, betrayal and plot twists fans of The Jewel will love it! I finished in less then two days (Note: This review was written in May), so I abandoned studying and preparing for prom to finish this, I loved it that much!

The White Rose picks up right were The Jewel ended, Ash is locked up and Violet stuck in her room. When we thought things couldn't go worse the Duchess arrives, and if you have any hope that she has a kind bone in her body, you are wrong. Lucien manages to get Violet, Raven and Ash out of the Jewel and into the farm lands to a place called The White Rose, where the head of the rebellion is located. Lucien things Violet is the tool they need to bring down the royalty and end surrogacy for good.

I loved the growth of Violet from The Jewel to now, her growth is amazing. I spent a good majority of my The Jewel review complaining that Violet did nothing to gain her freedom, even when things were going down hill. Finally in The White Rose she took those leaps she needed. Amy expanded on all of her characters in this novel, especially Raven who had quickly has become one of my favorites. One of Violet's strong suits is loyalty to the people she cares about, she refused to give up on Raven, she supported Ash and trusted Lucien even when his choices were questionable.

Another complain I had with The Jewel was the Auguries, and the history of the island not being explained well enough. Things aren't what they seemed to be though, history has been twisted. The way the Auguries had come about wasn't something I expected, but it was an interesting twist and the already screwed up history of the island.

I am going to believe that Amy likes to make her readers suffer with cliffhanger endings. Considering I found the ending to The Jewel predictable I was thinking the same was going to happen with this one. Boy was I wrong. I never saw that ending coming, and I am dying to know what is going to happen. Overall I really did enjoy The White Rose.

The full review can be found at The Book Bratz closer to the release date!

What I liked:

-I LOVED the setting. 1800s? Insane asylums? Sign me up!
Mindy obviously did a lot of research on the time period and asylums. The world building was incredible!
-I really loved the main character Grace. When we first meet her she is pregnant, locked away in the asylum due to her pregnancy.
All the characters were well done. As I said, a lot of research went into this book. How patients were treated, what was big during that time. Each character was well defined and entertaining in their own way.
-There is no love interest in this book. The story worked well with out it.
-This book is gruesome and cringe worthy. Mindy's work is metaphorical and jumps off the page. A Madness so Discreet was beautifully written!
That cover! It is gorgeous!

What I didn't like:

-There were a few slow moments in the plot but overall things kept a steady pace.
-I felt like the big conflict was resolved too easily. They spent more then half the book looking for this murder... and then in the span of two pages it was over.

Overall:

I really enjoyed this one. I loved Mindy's other two books so I knew I would love this one just as much, There were several "oh shit" moments. Despite my dislikes I do highly recommend this one to everyone who enjoys a good mystery, thriller, or horror novel.

The full review can be found at The Book Bratz

First off, lets talk about the cover. I like shirtless guys. I like tattoos. I especially like shirtless guys who have tattoos. This cover model, I want a full face view of him. I am pretty sure he is someone I would drool over. Alright, enough about the cover. I will talk about them more in future reviews. This is my second time reading Altered, and damn. I forgot how much I loved it! There are so many twists and turns that I never even remembered happened. It was pretty much like reading this for the first time all over again.

Since the time Anna was a young girl there has always been four boys living in her basement. Her Dad is a scientist, part of The Branch who are trying to make "the perfect solider" by biologically altering these boys. For five years Anna has sneaked to visit the boys, until she is caught and then eventually given permission to work beside her father. During the day Anna draws blood, files chart, and bring the boys treats. At night she sneaks down to visit them with out being monitored. When The Branch comes to Anna's ranch and declares the boys ready she isn't ready to let go and neither is her father. After a gun fight Anna and the four boys are off to learn the secrets about their past lives and not fall back into the hands of The Branch. A long the way though Anna learns who she really is, and maybe not everything she has been told is true.

I loved the set of characters in this book. Besides Anna you have Sam, Cas, Trev and Nick all who have lived in Anna's basement ever since their memories were wiped by The Branch years before. Cas is funny, flirty and constantly hungry, Trev is the book worm who has the mind of an older man, Nick is just plain angry and hates the sight of Anna and Sam is the leader, and he has also stolen Anna's heart. I am not going any deeper into the characters since there is a lot of them and I will just end up rambling about them. But I loved how determined Anna was, and how she actually thought things out and didn't get herself captured or killed in the process.

The plot was constantly moving and there were very little slow moments. Jennifer dropped enough information in at certain moments so the reader wouldn't feel overwhelmed but mostly because they would begin to read faster wanting to know what was going to happen next. If they weren't focused on figuring out their pasts, then Anna was focusing on her feelings for Sam and if it wasn't the feelings she was trying to figure out who she really was. The plot moved steadily keeping me engrossed through it all. I enjoy books about genetic engineering and secret companies who are being paid off by the government. This book was my cup of tea.

I loved the romance. It started off as one of those unrequited and slowly built from there. There were several moments in the book were I was pretty much screaming in my head for Sam to just kiss her. The romance ins't simple though, and Anna and Sam are entwined in other ways then their growing feelings for each other.

Overall, I really liked Altered. Luckily my library had all three books in and I purchased the novellas on my kindle so I will probably finish this series out in the next week or two. I am going to recommend this one to anyone who likes action thrillers and science fiction. I am apologizing in advance for who ever I am going to be pushing it on next.

The full review can be found at The Book Bratz

Here is my biggest issue now, in Sweet I thought they never knew that the addiction and then turning into a zombie (I am kidding....well, sorta) side effect was part of Solu. Now is Expelled, it is shown that is ALWAYS has been. How did they not fix this!? Maybe it was a marketing thing but they saw how horrible the results were on Carolann! Especially with how Sweet ended, the world is pretty much over after this!

I don't know why I was under the impression that Li Jing was an older woman in Sweet, she was still in college in the novella, having just been expelled because of her experiments. In Sweet there wasn't much about Li Jing, so we never got to fully understand how Solu really came to be and how she ended up working for the owner of the biggest soda company in the world. I liked how Emmy included Li Jing's father into the mix, implying he is an abusive alcoholic and some sketchy things done to get Li Jing into this college in the first place.

Sadly, there isn't enough writing for me to actually reviewed Expelled properly, but I figured since I never reviewed Sweet I can feel some what accomplished with these book. But, Expelled is a really good prequel to an amazingly creepy, realistic story about weight loss.

The full review can be found at The Book Bratz

Believe it or not I am not a big historical fiction fan, I've always refused to read it. Lately though I been coming around to the genre more and beginning to like it. Despite the genre, Velvet Undercover is something I been looking forward to since the first time I saw its cover.

When Samantha is bribed into becoming a La Dame Blanche (LDB) in return for news of her father's disappearance a few months ago she can't get out of this. The need to know if her father is still alive is too great. Samantha formerly a girl guide and messenger for the intelligence organization MI5 she has a knack for mathematics and codes. Making her perfect for what they need her for. An operative by the code name "Velvet" was sent to Berlin to gain knowledge on a new German weapon. But her handler is killed, and LDB needs to get her out of there before she is next. It is up to Samantha to do this. Taking on the identity of Sophia (The dutchess of Berlin's younger cousin) she infiltrates the palace, in search of Velvet. Only Velvet isn't who she seems, and neither or the people who Samantha has grown to trust.

Samantha's character took a little while to grow on me. In the first chapter she is in a competition, where she silently mocks her competitors. This was on the first page too. So, I got the idea that she was going to be one of those characters. Thankfully, Samantha grows so much through the novel. She learns who to trust, and what to do and not everything you hear is necessarily the truth. I especially enjoyed how she wasn't perfect, she had her flaws and made mistakes. She even owned up to those mistakes. It is hard to talk about other characters with out involving spoilers, but don't trust anyone that you meet in this book. You never know which one of them is going to turn around and stab you in the back.

As much as I was hoping there would be romance in this book there wasn't. Maxwell and Samantha flirt a couple of times and he says some pretty swoon worthy things there isn't really much in the romance. Which just proved that books don't need to have a love interest in order to be good!

I found the story to be a little predictable at times, I totally guessed who Velvet was (and I was right! You probably won't expect it. I guessed literally two pages before it is revealed) and I had a feeling about who was going to betray who. Besides being predictable the world is amazingly built. I was able to recall some things I learned in history class my sophomore year to help me understand what was going on. I LOVED the ending to this book! The last two pages wrap everything up so nicely and left me with a big grin on my face!

Overall, I liked Velvet Undercover. The newbie Historical Fiction reader in me enjoyed a plot where I actually understood what was going on in that time period instead of being helplessly loss like I have been in other books.

The full review can be found at The Book Bratz

That cover is stunning, the typography, models and colors all go together so well and draws your eyes too it. Originally that is what caught my eye, then the tattooed guy. I LOVE tattoos. Some covers seem very cheesy when a guy has tattoos but this one was anything but cheesy. Now that I talked about the cover (I am sorry, I had to!) let me move on to the story. Holy crap. So many emotions went through me as I read this. I finished it in a little over two hours, and with my current attention span that is a very good thing.

Ash hasn't had an easy life. When she was a young girl who mother remarried and her new step-father wasn't a decent human being at all. For years Ash was abused both emotionally and physically, shaping her into the girl she is now. Six months ago her step-father kicked her out of the house and burned all her belongings in the backyard as her mother watched on. Ash is desperate not to go back, sleeping in her car, eating Ramen almost every night and now renting a crappy apartment with a roommate who parties every night. At work she meets Emily, a feisty twenty one year old that insists that it is time for Ash to get her tattoo of a guys name covered, a bit hesitant Ash agrees and lands herself in Lanes shop. Lane is an ass. At a very young age he had to learn to be responsible. He can't help the undeniable attraction to this shy but beautiful girl that walked into his shop to get her tattooed covered. But due to his responsibility to Harper he knows he could never have her.

Written on my Heart switched between Ash's and Lane's POV. When we first meet Ash she isn't in the greatest place. She is finally off the streets but it doesn't mean she is happy. After years of emotional abuse the tiniest things set her off. Cleaning especially. That is how her and Emily meet, there was a mishap at the coffee shop she worked out and Ash nearly had a panic attack before Emily intervened on her behalf. I know I always talk about character growth in my reviews but this book is a big one on it. I am not joking at all. Ash from the beginning of the novel to the end are two different people. Thanks to both Lane and Emily. She started out with no friends to now having Emily. Basically Lane is a gigantic asshole, but we get to see through that. He is rough on the outside but he is a beautiful person on the inside.

I loved the romance. It felt a little fast to me, but there are so many other things to actually consider that make the speed of the romance understandable. Any scene with both Ash and Lane was beautifully written. You can see that both of them are trying to come to terms with their pasts and trying to move on with their futures. There was one part that I had to stop and take a deep breathe, I wasn't sure how it was going to play out AT ALL. I was a bit afraid of it taking on a 50 Shades twist (Don't worry, it didn't) in the end we saw what Lane was going for and how he did it. It actually made sense.

I won't lie. This book will make you tear up, the last twenty or so pages I had a few tears streaming down my face. But Written on My Heart was a beautiful romance, and I'm not kidding you when I say I wish there was more.

The full review can be found at The Book Bratz

Confession: This is my first Noelle August book, but I can tell you what. I will be looking forward to her writing in the future. Never mind the fact I can't wait to get my hands on the other books in this series now. Bounce was both refreshing and entertaining story of a girl who never planned to be a star and a troubled boy who couldn't help but fall for her.

Bounce is told in dual POV, switching between Skyler and Grey. I'm not going to bother sitting here and describing what happens throughout the novel. Honestly there is so much that goes on that it will take me all night to type anyway. Shortened version: Girl meets boy, boy is filling in for a movie star at a reading, girl sucks face with boy, a bunch of other things happen, happy ending. Just with a lot of drama in between. I enjoyed most of the characters, besides Sky and Grey I really loved Garrett. He reminded me of an over enthused over caffeinated puppy at moments.

FINALLY! A leading female who doesn't blush every time she is around a guy. Their is constant flirting between Sky and Grey, and of course she blushes. She wouldn't be human if she didn't. But she could say "penis" in front of him and not turn as red as a tomato. Sky wasn't unsure of herself in most situations, and that is what I loved most about her. She didn't question or over analyze the things she would say to Grey. Grey on the other hand was the opposite. He second guessed everything he said and his body temperature would spike when she was around. Both characters are dealing with a lot when they meet at Sky's audition. They never expect to see each other again, then Sky scores the leading role, playing the love interest to Garrett who's current assistant is Grey. So naturally, never seeing each other ever again didn't work out. I loved how they balanced each other out at times. Grey could calm Sky down and vise versa. They are a perfect match and I wanted to punch Grey every time he said he couldn't have her. (I wouldn't though. He has such a pretty face.)

Most New Adult sex scenes are heavy breathing, touching, and asking if they sure they don't want to stop, ect. Grey and Sky were able to laugh and joke around, be their selves in that moment. Plus, it wasn't as raunchy as other New Adult books I have read. It was a bit refreshing actually. I would basically rate this book for 15+ based on the sexual content, it wasn't too much like other New Adult books.

My biggest issue with this book is how Sky's view changed about her body. She said in beginning of Bounce that she knew the bottom half of her was fuller and she understood and accepted that. But after she lands the role of Emma, her weight starts to bother her. The girls in wardrobe handled the situation pretty shitty in my opinion. They could lie through their teeth that it was fine, but they looked at each other and made a face. Did they not expect her to see that?Then, one goes and offers Sky a weight loss/water pill thing like she is some sort of drug dealer. Maybe that is how things work on a movie set? But it annoyed they hell out of me. They basically made Sky feel ashamed that she wore a size ten in jeans. No body else cared. Grey thought that she was gorgeous. Brook still wanted to go out with her. Wardrobe could have ordered her clothes a size up. But I see how her weight was able to push the story along, and help with how everything wrapped up.

Besides the sadness I feel because I finished such an AMAZING book and wish I could live in Grey's and Sky's world longer I can easily rate this one five stars. It had everything I look for in contemporary books plus more. My blogger friends better watch out! I am going to be pushing this one on them!