bandherbooks's Reviews (3.65k)

"I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrates and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk." --back cover excerpt.

Nastya has a dark secret past she never wants to reveal. Anyone Josh has ever loved (mother, sister, father, grandmother, grandfather) is dead. Their isolation brings them together, but will Nastya's refusal to let Josh in on her secrets kill any chance of healing?

Beautiful, haunting, and will stay with me for a long time. Best read so far of 2013.

Elise and Ben's nine day marriage ends after he is killed when going out to get her fruity pebbles. Only together for six months, how will Elsie ever move on from the love of her life?
Pretty sad staet to a really sweet story. Elsie and Ben's courtship is interspersed wirh her mourning which is a really effective technique. Bittersweet and moving. nice to see how a charachter can really grow from a tragedy, and spoiler alert, with the women of her life. Glad we avoided the find new love cliche.

Super cute romance of boy meets girl by reading her flagged-for-content work emails. Lincoln and Beth's journey to love is tons of fun to read and filled with awesome banter between the characters (both spoken and in their emails). Rainbow Rowell's first novel, and an author I have totally fallen for myself. I will read anything and everything she writes.

I slightly adore childhood neighbor romances, and this one is especially endearing. Cricket (the boy) earns Lola's crush after he starts wearing these fancy pants that show he is into clothes (like she is). They have many many months of flirty behavior, then he breaks her heart and moves away to help further his twin's ice skating career. Several years, and one MUCH older boyfriend later, Cricket is BACK. Yup, that crush never went away...

The characters in this novel are fun, fully-fleshed out, and made me love them. So fun to see a character who likes to dress up every day, and also nice to see a character being raised by two dads. Cricket can climb in my window anytime.

Good palate cleanser between more challening reads. Too bad the steamy stuff was kept mostly for flashbacks, and the stuffy librarian cliche was pretty lame. And if a guy can really see beyond spray-hilighted hair and hooker heels to see someone's "true sparkle" I don't know him :).

This is very similar to Rock Me by Cherrie Lynn. Bad boy, tattooed (and tattoo artist) Rule is a self-proclaimed manwhore. Shaw is pre-Med, blonde, innocent, and has been in love with Rule since she was 15. Everyone thinks she was Rule's now dead twin's girl, but she has always been in love with Rule. He never noticed her lust for him until one drunken night (and one scandolous outfit) changes everything.

Again, so very similar to a different book I've already read, but it was ok.

Perfectly fine, but nothing to exciting. I hate the hand-cuffed to someone trope and I didn't really connect with this tale. I much preferred Fine's previous title with main characters Pixie and Levi.

**Reviewed from a free ARC provided by www.netgalley.com

Nick went to prison for a murder he didn't commit and is then released once firm evidence is found. He is still considered an ex con and has problems finding employment until a famous televangelist hires him as a glorified house boy.

Then Nick falls in lust (what he calls love) with the Reverend's innocent, virgin, blonde, angel daughter. If he touches her, or gets caught anyway, it will be the end of his job.

Reverie is 16, a pledged virgin with a promise ring, and has her pants on fire when she sees Nick shirtless by the pool. She starts rebelling against her strict parents (who are jerks, so fine) by dressing "sexier" to impress Nick, wearing makeup, and acting out. She is soooo in love, and Nick is worth it all, even if he has a trashy ex and a record, and it will make her parents furious. The reader gets her POV through sappy, childish diary entries that made me sad.

This was way not for me. There was no established reason why these kids loved each other besides hormones, I felt Nick's attitude toward the girl who he was more than happy to have sex with constantly before meeting the virgin was suspect, and Reverie basically a stereotype.

Thank you to www.netgalley.com for the free copy.

A New Adult romance set in Australia that tries to set itself apart from the masses with a main character who has OCD, but this was more of a plot point than a story-driver.

Fans of the genre will enjoy the hot surfers and Aussie lingo.