Oh. My. Goodness! I am going to try and keep my gushing down to a minimum but no promises. This is my favorite book of 2012 to date! Cold Fury is the kind of book that makes me wish that I had a rating higher than 5 gavels. It is in the superstar league that I reserve for Harry Potter and The Hunger Games (in my opinion). I felt like it was written specifically for me. It felt super personal and I absolutely loved every page, every word, and every second of reading it!

Let's start with Sarah Jane. Not only is Cold Fury my favorite book of 2012 so far- Sarah Jane is my favorite heroine ever. That’s right- I said EVER. She is just so cool! I instantly connected with her. Her critical skepticism and starkly realistic view of the world made her a girl after my own heart. Plus she is a fighter- both literally and figuratively. She's literally a boxer, and figuratively she never gives up. This is a girl I want on my side all the time. But the awesome thing is that she was so well rounded, but not perfect. She is pretty but she has an Italian nose. (which is a nice way of saying big nose. But I am allowed to say that because I too am an Italian with the same prominent facial feature) There are just so many quotes and lines from this book that I loved and completely captured my thoughts and emotions. I could honestly made a really cool composite of Cold Fury words of wisdom and quotes and hang it up in my room.

Sarah Jane isn't the only cool character. Willy is hilarious and Sarah's brother is so smart. Cold Fury is full of mystery, intrigue and tons of kick ass action and fighting. It deals with the Chicago mafia, and that aspect of it kind of reminded me of Mob Wives Chicago. Some of the stuff they say is hilarious. "once a rat, always a rat!" (I can't be the only one to watch that reality show! Such a guilty pleasure)

Cold Fury has you running through the streets of Chicago and through secret doors all over the place! And the way that background information and "mafia history" is flawlessly incorporated into the story had me engrossed from cover to cover. The writing is excellent, the story line even better and the characters are three dimensional and magnificent. This is going to be a hard book to top for me. Run, don't walk to your nearest bookstore on July 24th to snag a copy of Cold Fury. You won't be sorry, I promise!

Pretty Sacrifices was a good follow up to Glory. I think the story line was a little bit stronger in the first book, Glory, but its sequel was still entertaining. Glory leaves us with a cure for the crazy pandemic that was sweeping the nation but Pretty Sacrifices is not the happy go lucky story you might imagine. We are left with a pretty bleak aftermath, and people are just trying to get by.

Pretty Sacrifices was more about how people fall to the temptations of evil, and as such there were a few more religious undertones in this book than the first one. Glory is the same as ever, and I enjoyed her character just as much as I did in the first book. Dominic was more of a main character in this book, which I loved. We got to know him a lot better and I am thinking more and more that he is really the right choice for Glory.

Zane made a semi appearance but it was kind of complicated and honestly, it was my least favorite part of the story. I still like Zane but I am becoming more and more of a Dominic fan. NYX in Pretty Sacrifices corrupts people with pure evil, and a lot of people fall to her tactics. Plus throw in Glory's long lost sister and there is more than enough action and adventure in the story. I really liked that aspect of it.

Pretty Sacrifices is a good follow up to Glory. I think the religion in it might bug some people, but it didn't bug me. I thought it was an interesting take on how evil can influence people. I liked Glory overall more but I enjoyed Pretty Sacrifices all the same. There is action, a little romance, and good v. evil. If you enjoyed the first book, I think that you will also enjoy Glory.

Each book I have read from Kailin Gow I have enjoyed more than the last one. Circus Summer is my favorite one yet. The concept is creepy, interesting and really well developed. It's a dystopian, I have noticed that a good amount of dystopians start out with a similar base. This book is kind of like the Hunger Games, in that there is a super corrupt government and there are teenagers competing to be named champion. But that is pretty much where the similarities stop. In Circus Summer, the teenagers actually have to choose on their own to try and join this super dangerous and creepy circus. They each have their own reasons, but no one is forced to join. I liked that. Even though I can't imagine that I could even come up with a good enough reason to make me join after seeing so many people get injured or die from the circus.

Leela is the main character and she is a strong girl. She is also pretty inquisitive, which I loved about her. She doesn't simply accept things at face value. Actually both of the main characters have a healthy dose of skepticism, and I don't blame them. The world is at war with these people called "the invaders" and no one seems to know that much about them at all. Even the readers. The invaders are never really fully explained, because I think at this point in the story they are still a mystery to everyone. I am dying to find out more about them.
Zachary is her potential lover interest/fellow competitor. He is a very interesting character. I really enjoyed reading parts of the book from his point of view. I really like that about Kailin's books. She normally splits the point of views up by chapters, which is a style that I simply love!

The world in Circus Summer is certainly not one that I would ever like to live in or even visit. There are crazy mutant animals, dangerous experiments gone bad, and little to no technology because the invaders are drawn to technology and they have somehow destroyed it all. How they accomplished this was never really developed. I would like to see some of these questions get answered in the next book.

It seemed crazy to me that the towns people would be ok with the circus after seeing all the horrific things the kids have to go through, but no one really protests it. I think the nation is so oppressive that no one really feels free enough to protest anything. There are some pretty big secrets in Circus summer and some twists and turns within its pages. It is such a great book. I really enjoyed every minute of it. I thought the pacing was great, and the series looks like it is going to be pretty darn awesome!

This book completely captivated me. That is the only way I can think to describe it. It was haunting and so, so great. I am dying to read the next book already! I honestly have no idea what is even going to happen in it and I am super intrigued.

It was really interesting to see a girl have to be head of the family. A lot of weight fell on her shoulders. She had to provide for her sister and twin brother that was permanently hurt from an accident. Her parents are gone and she lives in a very harsh climate place, which is putting it mildly. The setting kind of reminded me of the movie The Village or Red Riding Hood. Both creepy isolated villages and both with creatures that came out at night. But that is really where the similarities end.

I thought the juxtaposition between the two worlds was really cool. One was basically on a government controlled barter system. Each family had their own quotas and one specific job that they did to contribute and then everyone pools their contributions and gives out the rations to the families. From what I understand, no money was exchanged. It was very old school, but not in a good way. The mayor has complete control over everything and there are harsh penalties for those that do not meet quotas. On the other hand, the Farthers town has big cities and lavish parities and is industrialized in a futuristic way. We never went into this town in the story so I am just going on its descriptions. But the funny part was both towns hated the people from the other town thinking they were barbaric or tyrants.

Throw a lost Farther into the village, some creepy monsters that come out at night and a mystery and you have the making of an excellent story! I gobbled Frost right up and was anxious for more. I will say that I was really torn with the ending of the story. On one hand I thought it was satisfying and climactic, but on the other hand, my heart broke a little. I can't wait to see what is going to happen in the next book, who knows if we will see more of the farther or not, and I have a feeling that Adam, who didn't play too big of a roll in this book, will have some secrets up his sleeve. This is such an awesome start to a series and it has favorite series potential written all over it!

This was a really unique book. I have not read many books about bringing back the dead. I liked it! I genuinely had no idea how everything was going to get resolved(or not resolved), so I had no problem staying interested in the story.

It was strange because the character that I connected most with was not the main girl, Wren. Instead, I connected with Gabriel. I loved Gabriel. He was patient and helpful and really kind. Way more understanding than I would have been in his situation. My feelings for wren were kind of all over the place. There were times that I felt bad for her, and just as many(if not more) times when I was annoyed with her. And my annoyance level ranged from slight to overwhelming. I can understand that she missed him and didn't know how to deal with her loss, but then the way she would treat Danny would rub me the wrong way. I know she didn't know what to do or how to react, but she felt like the cold one at times. And then when Gabriel was being so nice and trying to help, she got too snippy in my opinion.

I warmed up to her slightly in the end, but it was mostly because of how much Gabriel liked her. I liked him so much that some of my fondness for him rubbed off on Wren. I'm not sure if this is going to be a series or not, but I kind of want to know what is going to happen with Gabriel and Wren. I think there could be a really cool book about them and about Wren's powers.

Cold Kiss was a really good read. I enjoyed it- I just think my annoyance with Wren prevented me from full out falling in love with it. However, Amy Garvey's writing was Wren's saving grace. The situation was what really annoyed me about her, but the really beautiful writing in Cold Kiss got me to see past that (most of the time) and it was almost enough for me to be on team Wren. She still bugged me though. Danny and Gabriel were the stars of the book for me. Which in a way, is a good thing- two hot guys. Can't go wrong with that! I would recommend this book to others, it is definitely worth checking out!

I have never read Pride and Prejudice (shocking, I know! I need to fix this ASAP) but I do know the general concept of the book and I have seen the movie and all that. But that is still not a substitute for the real deal. Regardless, I really, really enjoyed Fall for You! It was just such a cute, fun read.

When I first picked the book up to read it, I read a few chapters or so and I had to put the book down for a few days. When we are first introduced to Lizzie and Ellie we learn that they are best friends. Then they both started acting strange, and not saying how they feel. It was all very immature. It annoyed it. But once I picked the book back up again, I was drawn right into the story and didn't stop reading until the book was done. The story progresses wonderfully and you can really see the character growth with Lizzie. She is stubborn and a little immature but through all the events in the story, she really matures and you get to know her so well. I loved that about Fall for You. I even think that the initial immaturity, because it helped show me how far the characters really came by the end of the book. I just loved how everything came together.

What I loved the most about Fall for You was that each of the characters had their own backstories. And they all got developed! What a nice, refreshing change from some stories that only focus on the the main guy and girl. Lizzie and Dante are a super cute modern day Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. Dante is such a guarded guy that it's kind of hard to get to know him. But he is super sweet and thoughtful and protective. I really hope in the next book that he starts sharing more about himself with LIzzie, instead of her just finding things out about him.

I will say that I hope Lizzie is still a major player in the next book. I want to see what is going to happen with Anne and Ellie and the rest of them but Lizzie has a special place in my heart. I have the biggest connection with her, so I still want her to be the main focus of the series.

Overall, Fall for You is a fun journalistic boarding school adventure. I love that this book is going to be part of a series, because I feel like I have started getting to know the characters really well and I can't wait to see what is going to happen with them. Will Lizzie and Dante get together? Who will get into Georgetown? I'm so excited to read the second book.

This book ended with a crazy cliffhanger! I still can't really believe that was the last sentence. In a way it was a good stopping point, but the part of me that really wants to know what happened is screaming in protest. REM is a really good book though. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it! I didn't feel like it was rushed at all, it was a pretty long story, which left plenty of room for good character development. I connected with each of the three main characters- Brady, Alexander, and Doug. And I know what you are thinking- two guys and a girl. That screams love triangle! But it really wasn't.

Brady has this unique gift, or as Doug would say a "superpower". She travels into people's dreams. Her power is really cool, but it seemed kind of broad. There isn't just one thing that triggers her power. Sometimes she goes into the dreams of people that she in contact with, sometimes its the people thinking about her, and sometimes she can jump into a person's dreams at will just by thinking of them. It seems pretty frustrating to me. It would be cool at first but then pretty tiring. I felt bad that Brady didn't really have much control over them.

Then you add Alexander to the mix and the story really takes off. I love a good crush turned relationship, and Brady and Alexander are one of those couples that seem too good to be true. Meant to be. They have their share of hurdles though- jealousy, secrets and all that fun stuff, but their feelings never waver and that was nice to see. It was so easy to root for them because they are just really likable characters.

This book started out fantastic for me. I was totally into the story, the romance was great, the dream hopping was super interesting and then the pace of the story started to slow way down. At about page 200 I started noticing the story seemed to be dragging a bit. It wasn't bad, but it didn't hold my interest as easily as the first part of the story did. I also thought it was a little unrealistic that they would find a doctor to help Brady with her "task" towards the end of the story.

Nevertheless, as a whole I really enjoyed REM and I will most certainly be excitedly awaiting the sequel, Comatose in summer 2013. The writing is great, and the characters are the real star of the story. If you are looking for a really cute and sweet romance with a neat supernatural ability thrown in, I would say that REM could be the book for you.

If you like elemental magic this is the perfect series for you. I have been reading this series from the beginning and it is so consistently good. I love how each book focuses on a different element. At first, I was a little confused because none of the three main characters are a water elemental. But I absolutely loved the plot line for Water. I thought it was super cool how everything was incorporated and it really made me want to read the original little mermaid story. (and don't go jumping to conclusions thinking there are mermaids all over the place. You won't know the connection without reading Water :p)

Shayna just keeps getting stronger and stronger power wise, but the thing that I really like about her is that she never lets it go to her head. She is very grounded. (get it? because she is the earth elemental? haha) but seriously, she is the anchor for the three friends and I love their dynamic. They get into little fights, but they are good enough friends that they can call each other out when they are being petty and they can just move on. This was not the case in the first book. I have really enjoyed watching all the characters grow.

As you can tell from the title, this book deals with water creatures. There are tons of awesome fight scenes. I really liked that Shayna, Jodi and Steven could call on their elementals to heal themselves. So for instance, Shayna would bury herself in the earth and it would heal her. That was a pretty unique power to me that I have not seen in most witch books.

One thing that bugged me about Water was the relationship between Shayna and Jenson. Specifically, how she treated him. I just felt so bad for him. She never really let him into her life. I had the same problem in the last book too. I was dissapointed that he wasn't in Water too much and then at the end he kind of just faded into the background and we have no idea what is going on with him or what the status of their quasi relationship is. Jenson is just so sweet and loyal and I felt for him. I hate to say this, but if Shayna isn't going to treat Jenson better, then she doesn't deserve him.

Water is a great installment in the elemental series. The creatures are creepy and my favorite yet! I thought the story line (which I am not going to reveal to you) is super interesting and riveting. Magic lovers should check out Water and the elemental series by Shauna Granger.

good second book. Review to come. 3.5