I read the first book Austentatious, when it first came out and I fell in love with the magical love story and that mysterious journal from none other than Miss Jane Austen herself. I thought it was such a cool idea to have Jane Austen giving advice through a journal, so I jumped all over this book when I got the opportunity to read it. And guess what? I think I liked it even more than the first one, if that is even possible! This book seemed a bit spunkier and I really liked the dynamic between the two main characters.
Cate, and her alter ego Kat, are so spunky and fun. I loved her banter and witticisms. Plus Ethan knows how to push all of her buttons and that is just so much fun to sit back and watch. I really got a kick out of seeing the two of them interact with each other. Cate and Ethan are both teachers and they are also good friends and scrabble buddies. I thought it was hilarious how Cate’s mom kept popping up. She was quite the character. (You will see what I mean when you read the book)
As soon as Cate found the journal and got her first response, my excitement about the book doubled because I remembered how much I loved Journal Jane’s responses. And Cate totally took them to heart and she started to step outside of her shell. It was more like a giant leap out of her shell, actually. She became a total bombshell over night. And oh man, the first time Ethan saw her as Kat, was priceless. I loved his reaction.
Austensibly Ordinary has plenty of little surprises up its sleeve for the readers. We find out some secrets about a few characters that certainly caught me off guard. There may even be some ghosts creeping around in the book. I love Alyssa Goodnight’s writing style. She creates books that never fail to grab my interest. I love the way magic is woven in through the journal, but the rest of the book is contemporary. Its real life with a dash of magic. Which I think makes everything more interesting. Let’s put it this way, If I could I would be hopping a plane to Austin, TX right now to track down this journal. I could use a little Jane Austen wisdom in my love life!

4.5/5

I love me a book that deals with super powers. And the characters in Dazzle certainly had some cool powers, but there was also a really unique twist. Kind of a paranormal almost dystopian twist in the book. There are two kind of mysterious groups that exist in this world. One “good” and one “bad”(I’m just calling them that for simplicity). If you follow the good one then these tattoos appear on your arms to mark the significant events in your life. It is also a way of signifying who is a follower and who isn’t. The “bad” group is not allowed within the confines of the town, and their followers are marked on their forehead with a brand of fire.

Dazzle follows Delaney and Micah, both of whom have super powers. Micah is super strong and Delaney has visions of things that will happen in the near future. Early on they rescue a girl that also has powers, named Ariel based on one of Delaney’s visions. I thought it was kind of strange that Ariel was the first person Micah and Delaney met that also had powers. People with powers are followers of the good ruler and they are meant to be his warriors if the bad guys rise up. They also have to keep their identities a secret.

Then insert Sam into the story. He wants to become one of the bad guys so he can escape the town and leave his dad. He suspects that Delaney has powers so he tries to get closer to her to find out. I really enjoyed seeing the gradual shift in the way Sam views Delaney. At first, he can’t stand her. And that feeling lasts for a while, which I thought was pretty realistic. He didn’t just wake up one day and decide that he likes her all of a sudden. It was slow and happened over the course of the whole book. I thought it was really well done. I had no problem believing in the depth of their emotions for each other by the end of the book.

Delaney is such a likable girl. She just wanted to be normal. She wanted to have more friends than just Micah, and she wanted to focus on normal things instead of training and keeping her secret all the time. I felt her pain. And while I liked Micah, he got on my nerves sometimes. How dare he not believe Delaney ALL THE TIME. Seriously, she is your best and only friend dude! She has been there for you YOUR WHOLE LIFE. I just didn’t think he was a good friend to her all the time. I really felt for her when she went to Micah and shared her thoughts and theories with him and he just shot her down because he was a silly teenage boy. As you can see, I am slightly team Delaney. I just think she is a cool girl.

There are also plenty of action and twists to keep me entertained with Dazzle. I finished it in one reading because I just couldn’t put it down. There is a cliffhanger ending, and it certainly left me wanting to read more. I don’t know who I felt worse for- Delaney or Sam? Fans of paranormal superpower books need to check out Dazzle and the whole Delaney’s Gift series. I think you will really enjoy it! The romance aspect is great, as is the action and suspenseful plot. This book is an example of multiple plot elements working together in a great way.

When I’m With You is the third book in the Jane Austen Academy series. I really enjoyed this book. I think it is well known by now that I am really love this series. The writing is great and the characters make the stories come alive. The third installment in this series is the same in those two aspects but overall it had a different feel from the first two books. This book takes place away from the academy, and many of the main characters were gone. Kat tags along with Josh over winter break when he goes to film a new movie. At first I thought that I would miss Lizzy and the rest of the gang because I love them so much, but Kat’s story turned out to be so great that within the first two chapters, I actually forgot about the rest of the characters and I was completely focused on Kat.

Plus, we got all sorts of new characters to make up for the ones that we left behind at the school. We got to get to see a familiar face with Josh, although I was not really impressed with him. We also got to meet Henry and Izzy. Right away, I liked Henry, but it took me much longer to make up my mind about her. I just couldn’t be sure whether she was playing Kat or not. I’m not going to tell you which way she goes because I think that is part of the fun while reading. Getting back to Henry, he is just plain adorable. I loved all the hats he wore, he was lovable and kind of wacky, but it just endeared him to me. Henry is the perfect addition to the story for Kat.

I was surprised by how much I really liked Kat. I never really disliked her in the first two books but I wasn’t screaming her praises from the rooftops. But I really got a better look at the kind of person she is in When I’m With You. She is smart and funny and just a genuinely good person. I was really impressed with the caliber of person Kat was in this book. I LOVED her! She has a little stubborn streak but I just thought it gave her spunk.

If you liked the first two books in the Jane Austen Academy series, you should read When I’m with You. It is a solid installment for the series. I have read enough of Celia’s books now that I know I the quality will always be exceptional. I know there will be great writing, great characters and a storyline that just makes you fall in love with the characters. She writes cute stories like it’s effortless. This is such a great series. Plus, the ending look at the next book makes me think it is going to be incredible! We will be back on the hunt to save Jane Austen Academy and I. CAN’T. WAIT.

Alice in Everville reminded me of The DaVinci Code right off the bat. It was what initially interested me in the book, but what ended up keeping my interest was Alice herself. This book is much shorter and much less puzzle solving intensive than the Da Vinci Code. Rather, it is a story of Alice, and I really enjoyed getting a glimpse into her life.

Alice is a girl that has a tough life. Her mom has served many stints in the "crazy" hospital and her sister is prone to very public and very humiliating outbursts. And Alice is stuck in the middle and left to be the responsible one. Everything kind of falls on her shoulders. I have no idea how she watched her little sister all the time by herself. She really was very mature for her age. I also really liked that most of the book took place in the Everville mall. I thought that was a unique setting to have a whole book in.

The code part of the book was interesting. Alice was trying to find out who Slyvie Plath's killer was. And along the way she met a guy and found some adventure. I would have liked a little bit more development. I loved the writing and the characters but the book felt very short to me. I would have liked a little bit more plot and character interaction. I felt like there was a build up to a cute romance and then it just kind of fell off the map and was never brought up again. I wanted to see what was going to happen.

The ending was cool and I appreciated how Alice fit the answer into her life overall. I thought it was a pretty cool theme for the book to have. I just wanted to keep reading. I was a little disappointed when the book ended because I thought there was more that could have been done. Mostly I just liked everyone so much, that I didn't want to say goodbye to them yet. I think Alice in Everville was a unique idea and it worked really well. I loved being invited into Alice's life.

The boys of summer is the perfect beach read. I really loved this book. In fact, I didn't want it to end. All of the characters brought a smile to my face and the oslow boys, well lets just say I really, really liked the oslow boys. The Boys of Summer is about Tess and what I think is a pretty important summer in her life. Tess grew a lot as a person in this book and it thought it was great that we got to go along for the ride with her.

I felt so bad for her at the start of the book when everyone was calling her tic tac Tess. I wanted to punch her stupid ex boyfriend in the face. He is such a jerk. But it's not all bad for Tess. She has two really great friends that stuck up for her. I loved Adam and Ellie. Sure, they got into their little squabbles sometimes but they always bounced back from them in true friends style. Plus, when two or all three of them get together, they are a hoot! Adam gets them their summer jobs at a bar and restaurant and its their that they meet the Oslow boys. I really liked Sean, Toby, and Stan. I was surprised how much I ended up liking all of them. I thought for sure I would like one and tolerate the rest but they were each really different and adorable in their own ways.

The great thing about this book is that you get a whole crew of characters to love. There is always something going on because I was really invested in all the characters story lines. Normally, I like the main character and her love interest and I will catch myself reading the other parts of the book a little faster, but here I loved everything so much that I didn't speed read my way through any of the parts.

If you are looking for a great contemporary romance book, look no further. This is it. I would say its new adult but maybe could pass for young adult. I liked the pacing of the story. Nothing felt rushed or forced. It really went through the whole summer. Tess got to know the guys and they really seemed to get Tess which I appreciated. The only critical thing I can even think of about this book is that a few times I was reading and I got confused about minor details. It was nothing major that affected the story but I remember once when they were all getting ready to go out on the boat, Ellie was super excited and then not. And I couldn't figure out why. They said Stan canceled but I couldn't find where it said he canceled anywhere until pages later when it was mentioned again in passing. It was just a small thing that caused a momentary confusion. But I am really grasping for straws here because I was completely captivated by The Boys Of Summer. I loved it. I loved every romantic, juicy, funny, and even frustrating moment of this book. The writing is excellent. CJ Duggan has a way of writing romance characters that have you dying to read more about them. I couldn't get enough of the Boys Of Summer and I don't think you will be able to either.

I have read a few books from Karice Bolton by now, and other than the fact that she is one of the nicest ladies around, she writes great books. I always know that the quality level will be high when I pick up one of her books. I have also come to learn that she really steps up her game in the second book in the series. What I mean by this is that second books tend to either be a hit or fall flat for me. But in the Witch Avenue Series, as well as her Watchers trilogy, she takes the characters and plot to a new level. She really keeps on building things and working details into the story and I love that about her books.

Altered Souls was even better than Lonely Souls. I really enjoyed getting to know Triss and Logan better. I mentioned in my review of Lonely Souls that it seemed kind of dark and that was one of my main thoughts while reading Altered Souls as well. Karice Bolton explores some darker magic in this book and it was creepily delicious.

The thing that I loved the most about Altered Souls was Triss. She really seemed to come into her own in this story. She became more confident and sure of herself, which is especially important when you throw in the magical elements of the story. Triss and Logan stay pretty strong throughout the book and I really liked that. It seemed like their relationship only grew. This won't come as a surprise to anyone that has read the book, but Logan is flat out awesome. He just does the sweetest things sometimes.

Altered Souls has plenty of action to keep you entertained the whole time. There was a lot packed into this book. Including some new characters. I don't want to to talk too much about them because they were a new twist in the story and I don't want to ruin anything. I learned a lot and many of my questions from book 1, and from this book, were answered. I appreciated that I wasn't kept in the dark the whole time like I am with some books.

Altered Souls, and the Witch Avenue Series is a unique paranormal series. It is very character driven, but the magic is also front and center. If you liked Karice Bolton's Watchers Trilogy, then you need to check out this series as well. You will love it.

With a Kiss is the first book in the Twisted Tales series. It is about faeries, which I really enjoy reading about. I liked that that this version of the faery came right from Shakespeare himself. I loved the quotes at the start of each chapter and the way that a midsummer's nights dream was woven into the book first through the school play at the start and then through the various characters. I thought it was a great way to kind of describe who everyone was and also to give some background information on the characters and on the boundaries and workings of the faery world.

The main character is Halley. She basically had lived her whole life without feelings. I can't even imagine how that would be. And then when her heart was "jumpstarted" as she liked to call it, she started feeling everything! It must have been so intense for her. At first, I thought it all seemed kind of unrealistic how attached to everything she became, but then I started thinking about it and the way she described everything in such an escalating fashion- her emotions just kept becoming stronger and stronger- and then it made more sense to me.

Hobs was interesting. I couldn't quite get a hold on him or how I felt about him for a good portion of the book. I liked him, but he was tricky. He was a total enigma, but I would have liked to get to know him a little better. Halley was a better character, in my opinion, because I was able to connect with her much easier. At the start of the book, I didn't always agree with some of her motivations but I cut her some slack because I can understand that she was acting rashly because of the curse and the circumstances.

The faery world that Stephanie Fowers describes is wonderful. I think it was my favorite part of the story. I really enjoyed how she portrayed everything. There is always a lot going on, and at times it seemed like a bit too much to keep track of. As a result, a few times I was kind of confused about everything going on, but if you keep reading you get the hang of everything. That is not to say that you will have all the answers all the time, there is a lot left unanswered in With a Kiss, but it just made me want to read the next book to find out the answers to my questions.

Overall, With a Kiss is a really interesting start and I am certainly interested in continuing the trilogy. I liked that each book introduces a new character to be the "main" girl, but it seems like Halley will still play a big role in all the books. I think this is a good way to do it. You get to know new people, but if you love Halley you won't be ready to see her go in just one book. Fans of the faery should check out this series!

Deadly Kisses is a book about reapers. I still remember a time last year when I hadn't read a single reaper book at all. Now I have read a handful of them and I can honestly say that I like them but that there isn't too much variation between each of them. What I really liked about Deadly Kisses was that Kerri Cuevas actually didn't try to make reapers super attractive. This book is told from a guy's point of view, and she didn't make him traditionally good looking, which was really refreshing actually. He didn't like his own looks and Bee even described him as bony and gross at the start. So right away, I knew this was going to be a slightly different take on reapers.

Like I just said, this book was told from a guys point of view, and I have such a soft spot for this. I just love the sneak peak into their heads. I can't help it. I liked Aiden a lot. I loved how internally emotional he was. He really seemed torn about his decisions and I could tell that he really thought about things. I loved seeing his thought process throughout.

Bee was a spit fire, that's for sure. She is so fiesty and I loved that about her but I loved even more that Aiden liked that about her. Even when she was being difficult, he liked it. I liked the two of them together, but it just seemed like there were so many circumstances outside of their control rooting against them. I felt kind of bad for them, but I still really enjoyed the progression of Aiden and Bee throughout the story.

Kerri Cuevas is great at building anticipation and she never rushed anything in the plot. I really appreciated that. I have to say that there was one thing I just couldn't get past. I couldn't stand that the grim reaper boss was Abraham Lincoln. It just bugged me. I was a history major and I actually studied Lincoln a lot. (I wrote my history thesis on him) so it just really rubbed me the wrong way that he was boss of grim reapers, but that is the only major critique I have. The book overall was enjoyable and a nice story. I liked getting to know the characters and I thought there were a few good surprises places throughout. (nope, I won't be telling you what they are. You will just have to read it for yourself.) If you like reaper books, paranormal romances and/or books from a guys point of view, you should check out Deadly Kisses!

I have now written this review three times because I lost it everytime I went to save it. (please keep that in mind haha.)

I have been in a reading slump lately. I have just been so busy that whenever I finally make time to sit down and read, I was so stressed that the books just seemed kind of meh. I am happy to say that Surface broke my reading slump. I was able to just lose myself in this book for a few hours and I really enjoyed it! It was kind of like a mermaid book. It really was a siren book but the closest thing I can describe it as was mermaid esque. I have never read a siren book yet so I'm not sure if their descriptions were pretty typical or unique, but I liked their depiction in Surface.

Theia has it pretty rough at the start of the story. I felt awful for her and I wasn't really sure the direction that the story was going in at the beginning. But after about 25 pages or so the paranormal element came to light and it was much smoother sailing for me from there. It was at this point that I got sucked right into the story and didn't "surface" until I was done a few hours later. Theia is a fighter. She is smart and practical and so sweet. I loved all of those things about her. I was really rooting for her and it was so easy to connect with her. Luc was also pretty cool but I didn't feel like I got to know him as much. I can't wait for the next book so I can get more of Luc's backstory and see his character develop some more.

Surface takes place partly under water, and I thought the underwater buildings and everything were so cool. I wish the world was described a little better because they had structures and indoor areas and I wanted to learn more about the logisitics of everything, but while I was reading I was fascinated with the underwater scenes.

There are multiple characters and storylines that all converge as the story goes on. I thought this part of the book was really well done. I liked how everything was woven together. Tiffany Daune did a great job with that. And as the story goes on, the more and more the action builds. Sirens are very sought after so it seemed like everyone was coming for Theia. But im putting my money on her. Every time.

Surface is the type of book that you can pick up and easily read in one sitting. It is fast paced and interesting and it was exactly what I needed right now. I can't wait for the second book. There is so much I want to happen in it. I want to learn more about the main characters and about the world- including that mermaids gate!

You all know by now how much I love mythology. I took all of the mythology courses my college offered and I have read the myths on my own, so I really enjoy reading interpretations and retellings of classic myths. Mything You is a retelling of Theseus and the Minotaur. And it is really well done. But what I really liked about it was that Greta Buckle very masterfully worked other myths into the story. I loved that, and it worked so well. The story of Mything You is well written and well told. If you like mythology, or even if you don't like mythology you should read this book.

Theseus and Ari are the main characters of the story and I thought they were adorable! I couldn't get enough of them. Ari is a spitfire. I loved how independent she is. It's a trait that you didn't see all that much in some myths. I loved how Greta portrayed her. It worked really well with the story. Normally when books have a hero and heroine, I am more drawn to the hero. But here Ari was so well done and so darn likeable that I ended up liking her more! Don't get me wrong, Theseus is a great hero and I really enjoyed him as well but there is just something about how strong Ari was that I gravitated towards.

Mything You is a very quick read. I gave myself a "quick study break" to start reading this book, and I got so wrapped up in the book and I ended up reading it in one shot. There was always something going on that made me need to turn the next page. Lot's of action and conflicts and romance to keep me wanting more and more. Mything you is a mythology re-telling done right! I loved how true it was to the back story of the classic myths, but in a modern and completely relate able way. I was really impressed with Greta's writing style. I thought it was engaging and really interesting.