I feel like I don't read enough contemporaries. I have enjoyed most of the ones that I have read, so I have no idea why I don't read more of them. Saving You, Saving, Me is a gritty, real story. And I love that it's going to be a trilogy. I genuinely connected with and like the characters, something that is not as easy as it seems lately. Their story is complex and I feel like we are watching it unfold in real time, which is pretty cool!

What I liked the most about Saving You, Saving Me is that you get a lot of backstory on the main characters, but it doesn't feel like you are just reading about it. It is folded into the main story so nicely! And I like that it was really the story of a few different people. It wasn't all just about Sam, or all just about Collins. They each shared the stage. Kailin Gow really did a great job balancing all the characters and their own personal stories.

Sam is beautiful but she doesn't seem caught up in her looks at all. It was refreshing because so many people were obviously interested in her and she never lets it go to her ego. But she wasn't a mary sue(or is it mary jane? I can never remember) by any means. She was dealing with some issues for sure. After all, she is only human. Collins has more than his fair share of issues. When we first met, I wasn't his biggest fan- but he grew on me as the story progressed.

Overall, Saving You, Saving Me is a really good contemporary. I thought it was an engaging and enjoyable read. I loved the way the plot was laid out and the characters are the real superstar of the story. The writing was good, but there were a few issues with tenses not matching up and a couple clumsy sentences. But I had an ARC of the book so they just might be minor things with that. I really liked Saving You, Saving Me and I will be eagerly awaiting the next book to see what will happen! If you have read the book, what did you think of it?

I knew this book was for me right from the cover! I love me some hockey and especially some hockey players! I am a huge NHL fan(my team is the Florida panthers) so it was really cool to read a book where hockey was the main focus. Taking shots takes you through all the trials and tribulations a relationship can face. it's a great realistic but still romantic story.

Shea is a dream come true! For real- sometimes he seemed too good to be true. Let's just say he put up with a lot with elli. not to say that Elli wasn't totally sweat and adorable. I loved her little country twang and her southern tendencies. She has had to deal with A LOT and I could understand why she was the way she was. But at times I just wanted to shake her and ask her to “wake up and come to her senses.” She had to see how amazing Shea is! I think I actually shook my kindle at one point. I mean he is prince charming on hockey skates! (which is the best kind of prince charming if you ask me) He completely adores Elli from the moment he meets her. That is just so sweet, and their whole relationship just comes to life through Taking Shots. Toni’s writing is so vivid. I loved how easy the book read.

Even though I thought that Elli needed to pull herself together and get a hold on her insecurities a little bit more, I was still rooting for her and Shea the whole time. There is just something about the two of them together. You can tell they just work. And you always want an imperfect, but real relationship to work. At least- I do.

The details in Taking Shots were so spot on and perfect. All the characters were useful and all the background information helped to further the story along. Nothing was added just to fill space. This was a very complete story, which is AWESOME! I loved every minute of Taking Shots. Toni definitely scored with this book! (please excuse my lame attempt at a sports pun.)

The Kiss off is like the social media book of 2012. It incorporates so many different things of this new generation of the media. It has a little bit of everything going on- the paparazzi, the internet, the speed at which stars are born, scandal and how much people love drama. I especially liked that the main character became one of those YouTube sensations. Sarah Billington incorporated all the right slang expressions, but it never felt forced. I have read a few YA books that used all the "teen lingo", but it just felt like they were writing it in every other paragraph, which can be too much after a while. The Kiss Off uses the lingo really well. In fact, I really liked the overall writing style of the book. Sarah Billington is definitely an author that I want to read more of.

Poppy, which is an awesome name by the way, seems like a typical teenage girl. And like most teenagers, Poppy has a tendency to act first, ask questions later. She was a little rash, and it wasn't a trait that she grew out of by the end of the book either. But still, there is just something about her! I loved her. She is quirky and infectious and she just made me smile. I loved that she did YouTube videos.

The guys were harder for me because I liked both of them. I think I liked Ty more but that was only because I feel like we got to know him better than Cam. At least, I felt like there was more Ty interaction in the story. But they are both good guys. It was really refreshing to not see good guy pitted against a bad boy. But having two good guys makes it harder. I don't want to give the impression that this book is a big love triangle. It really isn't. There isn't much of a triangle at all for almost all of the book.

The Kiss Off is a great book because it serves two purposes- it's an awesome story and read, and also a kind of social commentary on the media age and what the internet and celebrity status can affect people. I loved that about the book. I could see so many parallels in our society. I also think that this might be a stand alone book, which is really nice! The story felt complete on it's own and it was great.

This is such a good book! The kind of book where you would do anything, ANYTHING to get your hands on the next one right then, because you can't even wait another minute to find out what happens next. I could keep gushing, but I think I will get to the actual review.

The Shapeshifter's Secret is like a mix between a paranormal and a fantasy, which is such a cool combination. I love the touches of magic too. So I don't give any spoilers, i'm going to go very general and say that Heather Ostler has some really awesome ideas and her attention detail make the story. History is also incorporated in a very nice way. (but then again, I am a history nerd so I may be biased. But this is cool history, trust me!)

Julia is strong, smart, inquisitive, and powerful. I would not want to face her in a fight, that's for sure. I loved seeing her progress throughout the story and I love seeing how much she cares for her friends and family. She is just so genuine that you can't help but love her. So naturally, the guys can't help but love her too. I am totally on team Caleb! He is everything I love my book crushes to be. Nice, loyal, a touch jealous, smart, and noble. Terrence is Julia's actual love interest in the book and he is nice and seems genuine enough but he is just not Caleb. Plain and simple, I am loyal to him.

One of the things that I both love and hate about The Shapeshifter's Secret is that I have no idea who she is going to end up with! I have no idea about a lot of the plot twists and turns until they were revealed. Normally, I am pretty good at predicting books- I mean, I read a lot. But I wasn't able to do that here and I love that so much. But, I really have no idea who she will end up with, and it's driving me a little crazy.

The book is long but the story trots along at a really good pace the whole time. There was always something happening but at time I really feel like I got to really get to know each and every one of the characters, the histories and the secrets. There is always another layer to peel back, always something still unknown in the Shapeshifter's Secret, and that is what's so awesome about it. I really hope that this turns out to be a nice long series because it is one of my favorite reads of 2012 for sure! The way the book ended KILLED me! I want, no NEED, to read the second book right now! The only thing that will tide me over till the next book would be some more Caleb. How amazing would seeing all this from his POV?? Beyond amazing- that's how much! My final advice to you, is read The Shapeshifter's Secret now. What are you waiting for? You should have started it already!

First of all, I have to say that I really love this cover! It grabbed my attention immediately. And the coolest part about it is that I totally pictured her as Tate the whole time. And I know that the whole point of having a cover model is to have her look like the character, but they don't always match up with the image I create in my head. But this one did- it was dead on. The cover just captures her essence really well.

Raine Thomas is like a master world builder. She made the coolest creatures and world. I loved learning all about it. But the one mistake I made was that I didn't read the glossary before I started reading the book. As a result, I was kind of confused. There are so many new terms for the kinds of people and things that they all became kind of jumbled up for me for a while. But the good news is that this has such an easy fix. Don't be overeager like me- take the time to read the glossary of terms at the start of the book. It helps to clear everything up! Plus it is kind of like a cool little history lesson.

I really loved seeing the bond that Tate and Tiege( her twin brother) share. It was really touching to watch him go to such great lengths for her. And Tate, well she is a bit stubborn. But then again she is a teenager, and like ALL teens she thinks she knows everything. (Hey, it happens to the best of us- we have all been there). This can get her into trouble sometimes, but she is savvy and that is what I loved most about her. She uses her head, and I really appreciated that we got to see her thought process. For example, I loved her checklist of things to do in order of importance when she was first leaving the cave.

One thing I could not picture, no matter how hard I tried, was seeing everyone appearing as the same age. Everyone looked like they were 17-19, which is awesome but also a really strange concept to me. As I was reading, even though I knew all the adults and elders appeared like a teenager, I still pictured them as middle aged. It is just a hard habit to break. That would be really hard for me to give authority figured the respect they deserve if they looked to be my age. I would see everyone as my peer, which I guess in a way is very equalizing and good. But still a little strange. Don't get me wrong though, I would love to not age anymore. I would be more than happy to be frozen at 24 forever :)

Defy seems to be the start of a really promising series. I can't wait to see what Raine has in store for us next. I have her Daughters of Saraqael trilogy, which I recently learned is the sister/earlier generation series to this one (the firstborn trilogy) and now that I have gotten a taste of this awesome world, I need more! I think I will be bumping up the Daughters of Saraqael trilogy on my TBR list!

Stealing Breath starts in the middle of a scene. So you get thrown right into the middle of a story first off. It's not confusing or anything but it starts out with a big action sequence right away. That kind of sets the mood for the book. There is a lot of action with only a few lulls in between. So the pace is fast and there was a lot going on. I enjoyed Stealing Breath; I thought it was a good book.

Sarah is so unique and I loved learning about all the lore and legend that surrounded everyone. I do wish there was a little more background info on their town and their beliefs. She did seem to be a little too trusting though. It seemed like she just met Evan and in no time she was spilling all of her secrets to him. I, on the other hand, was a little more skeptical. Skeptical of Evan and of some of the elders that Sarah knew. She is this incredibly unique and special person, and she lives very close to all these spiritual and magical people. (one of them was even her best friend's mom) So I found it a little hard to believe that Sarah really had no idea about some of the mystery surrounding herself. But I still found Joanne's ideas fascinating. I loved learning about skinwalkers, and I'm sure there is still a lot that we have to learn. There were certainly some unanswered questions that I am interested in seeing in the next book.

Evan was really sweet, but I was pretty skeptical of him for a while there. I would love to hear other people's take on Evan, so if you have read the book please let me know what you thought of him. I felt like there was a lot of learning going on in Stealing Breath. Especially between Evan and Sarah. Evan seemed so accepting of everything strange and crazy going on, which was weird at first. But I really enjoyed the way they discovered more about themselves as individuals through their time together. They work well as a couple.

Overall, Stealing Breath was a good book. There was a lot of action and fight scenes, and there were very few slow moments. I was a little skeptical of some things and how they worked out, but the plot was really interesting and I am certainly interested in reading the second book to see where Joanne Brothwell will take the story.

The world in Swipe is terrifying, innovative (even if the innovation did lead to a scary result) and fascinating! It's scary to think that this could be our future if things took a turn for the worse. Swipe is a MG/YA suspense/thriller that is really cool!

I loved Evan's descriptive writing. The attention to detail really made the story rich. I loved how he described houses as going up rather than across. Most of the houses have one room on each floor but can be over 20 stories high. (Because land is so scarce and expensive that lots are much smaller.) And all of these details are interwoven in Swipe that it makes this world come alive.

I both love and hate that Logan and Erin are so smart. It was the one snag in this otherwise 5 gavel book. The characters in Swipe are 13 years old. And while they may be on the smart side of the spectrum, they are otherwise normal 13 year olds. But their language and sense of humor and thought process were so adult. I just couldn't imagine any young teen talking or interacting at this level. They would have joke arugments between friends about the "letter of the law" v. the "spirit of the law", and their vocabulary was well beyond even high school SAT vocab. I love smart teens and I wish more people would upgrade their vocabulary, but I also want the characters to be realistic. So this bugged me a little bit, but it was the only thing I didn't love about this book.

The characters are likable and Logan is such a bright kid. My favorite part about them was how inquisitive they were. Always questioning things, never blindly accepting what they are told. It shows an independance that is really great to see. Swipe took me on a suspenseful joy ride. Swipe is a really good read.

I love a good suspense book, and when you add some romance in for good measure you have a very happy Michelle. Caller ID is intense and zips right along, and keeps you guessing! Any suspense/thriller book that can actually keep me guessing is an A in my book. There is nothing worse than an overly predictable mystery. It takes all the fun out of it. But Caller ID is full of twists and turns!

On top of the awesome mystery, there is a sweet romance. I loved the dynamic between Courtney and Jason. It was unexpected, but I loved it! Now the romance wasn't super easy and gushing sweet. It was under a layer or two of story and they were in some pretty stressful and intense situations but it worked really well. It was real because the characters were real. Jason has had his heart broken and Courtney has trust issues when it comes to men. So you can imagine the pair of them together, but I really liked them. I thought it was cute.

I have dealt with some of the legal implications and laws involved with the FBI and the DEA so I liked seeing the part that they played in the story. Caller ID is a fast paced thriller that I fully enjoyed! This book works really well on its own but there was I just found out there was a first book, called Wrong Number. I think Jason is in that one too, and I really, REALLY want to read it!

I had my whole review written and I lost it all, so now this is take 2.

My Merlin Awakening had some pretty high expectations to live up to. I loved the first book and I was really excited to read this one and I am happy to report that it did not disappoint at all. I loved it just as much, if not more, than the first book. This series is shaping up to be amazing and I am super sad that there is only one book left. Maybe Priya will change her mind and switch it from a trilogy to a series? (well, I have my fingers crossed just in case)

Vane and Matt are perhaps two of the yummiest brothers ever. I really love both of them. I liked Matt a lot more at the start of the first book and only a little more than Vane by the end of the first book. With My Merlin Awakening I was Vane pretty much the whole way. I understand that Matt has it rough, he has to live with visions and he feels the weight of the world on his shoulders and he is really likable. I know he has feelings for Ryan and that he wants to be with her, but there is just something about Vane that won me over. He just gets Ryan and you know that he would do ANYTHING for her. He is super intense and he totally won my heart over pretty much from the start of My Merlin Awakening. I really want Ryan to notice how awesome Vane is, and I think to some extent she does but she is still so hung up on the "what if" with Matt that she doesn't really give Vane much of a change sometimes. And that makes me feel for him. The poor guy.

The amazing thing about Priya Ardis' writing is that it totally sucks you into the story and makes you feel like you are a part of it. I felt like I was Ryan, when she was torn with a choice- I was torn. I just totally related to her on every level. To me, that is the mark of a great writer. My Merlin Awakening is such an awesome story. I never wanted it to end, and I am dying to find out what happens next. I will just have to daydream about Vane until the next book comes out...

This book was a really quick read for me. And its another mythology book for me. I am loving that mythology is a recent trend in YA fiction. The Dig is a fun read, and even though there were a few slightly hard to believe things, I really enjoyed it. For example, in this recently uncovered archeology site there was a giant "iphone" stone, which was magical. It was actually the vehicle for the time traveling. But when you are reading magical books you can't take things like that too seriously. I thought it was really creative. I liked it.

And while I really liked Zeus, I wasn't completely in love with him. I didn't dislike him or anything but I wasn't swept away by him. I actually liked him more at the start when I didn't know who he was exactly. And I think that Zoe is awesome- maybe just a little more awesome than Zeus. He has so much potential though, I know I could come to love him.

The gods and goddesses are all teenagers in The Dig, and they act like teenagers. They get jealous and sometimes act petty or immature. I have no idea how I would be able to just be around the same small group of people forever. It would drive me crazy, especially if most of the people have "paired up". But most of the Gods and Goddesses are pretty accepting and nice. Obviously there is going to be a little competition and hating going on from Zeus' ex, Hera. (I totally think Zoe could take her btw)

I thought the storyline was really interesting and a different take on mythology than your average tales. I really enjoyed the flow of the story and I can't wait to see where Audrey is going to take them next. Anyone who likes mythology should check out the dig. It's kind of like god and goddess high school. Light hearted, fun and entertaining.