Love and Other Games is a collection of four short love stories centered around the athletes of the winter olympics. I am super excited for the actual winter Olympics to start in a couple of weeks, so this book was perfect to get me in the mood. If only the real Olympics were this fun and lovey dovey. All of the stories were a ton of fun and I enjoyed them all. I think my favorite out of the four was Trouble with Gold by Melinda Dozier. I just loved the fun loving dynamic between Nadia and Ty.

But there wasn't a single story that I didn't enjoy. Each of them were pretty short, but none of them felt rushed or incomplete. I think that each of the authors did a great job at giving a cute, fun, sporty happily ever after for each of the athletes. I loved the setting of the Olympic village. I now want to read more Olympic themed stories. I think that is just such a fun backdrop for a love story. These athletes all work so hard, but they also seem like they know how to let loose and celebrate when the right time comes. Each of the stories also wove together a central theme of the legend of the ancient torch. The legend says that the holder of the torch will win the gold. It brings them good luck, but only for 24 hours. Then you are supposed to hide the torch and let it's magic work for someone else. How fun is that?

If you love the Olympics like I do, you will eat up Love and Other Games. It is pure sexy, romantic fun. Perfect for a theme read. It leaves me wanting more Olympic love stories. Make a part two!

Afterparty is a tough book to write a review on without just spoiling everything. A lot happens in this story. A LOT! It's kind of one of those books that you just have to experience for yourself. The book starts out by teasing you with a flash into the future of the story and then it backtracks and you get to read the whole rest of it to see how it happens. (but even the ending has some surprises up it's sleeve.) Afterparty is not a happy go lucky book. I felt like it explored kind of a darker side to friendship, and peer pressure.

The characters really took center stage in this story. Ann Redisch Stampler did such an amazing job portraying the kinds of inner conflict that a person goes through, especially where friends are involved. Emma is the main character of this story, and for the most part I really liked her. She is a good person at her core, and because of that you could really see her inner struggle with some of the things Siobhan was pushing her into doing. Siobhan is a whirlwind, by the way. And not a good one. Even though she was technically a secondary character, she demanded a lot of the attention throughout the story. She is a manipulative little brat, that's for sure. At least, that was my take on her. Throw in a boy and you know the story is going to get crazy.

Afterparty deals with all sorts of things that teens go through on a daily basis. Lies, betrayal, peer pressure, doing things to please friends, growing and figuring out who you are going to be as a person. Afterparty is something that I could easily see happening. The book just has a very realistic feel to it. Sometimes the characters are over dramatic, sometimes they make bad decisions, and sometimes they are indecisive. But they are 100% teens.

A few times I wanted to shake Emma and get her to see just what kind of person Siobhan was. That was the frustrating part of the story for me. A few times Emma seemed to be too much of a pushover for her own good. I wanted her to grow into her own person. And she does do some growing on her journey, but not always in the ways you would expect. Even though I was frustrated with Emma and Siobhan sometimes (well Siobhan pretty much all the time) the saving grace was the realistic-ness of it all. This is how teens are, especially nowadays. It is something that I have seen happen all too often. Afterparty is an intense and dramatic journey. No matter whether I was loving what was happening or frustrated by the characters, I still could not put the book down. The twists and turns are crazy. This book totally took me by surprise.

London Falling is based around a class project. And I have to say, that professor seems more than a little eccentric, but so cool! I loved the way she structured her class and the projects that they had to do. It was a communications and social media class, and each group of partners was assigned a different reality tv show and they had to use the different communication theories that they learned in the class to create a hands on semester long project based on their show. And being a bit of a reality tv show junkie, I ate it all up. The show that London and Beau got was Love Match, which is basically exactly like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. Which, incidentally, is one of the few reality shows that I have never watched, but I know the concept of it. London and Beau both think the show is stupid and can't possibly be real so they create a blog and set out to prove that you can't force people to fall in love with each other by just by making them go on these crazy dates.

London Falling is such a fun book. London and Beau seem to be complete opposites on first glance. London is totally focused and Beau is so free and fun-loving. Beau is a well known campus blogger at the college and his senior "bucket list" is like a personal mission of his. I loved that they each worked items from his bucket list into their dates. I thought that was such a cute addition to the story. I really enjoyed the dynamic of London and Beau. They each pushed each other. I could tell right away that Beau was really falling for London. In fact, everyone could tell except her. The book is told completely from her POV so we only get her take on things, but TA Foster does such a great job with her characterizations that I still felt like I got some of Beau's point of view and his feelings. I really felt like I got to know him just as well as I got to know London and that is impressive from a single narrative book.

I don't want to spoil anything in the book. I was a little sad about a couple of the decisions they made with regards to their project and I was a little more than sad at a few of the choices they each made in their personal lives because I became so invested in the thought of London and Beau together. But the way everything plays out in the book is kind of perfect. Even though I was sad a couple of times, I wouldn't change a thing.

London Falling takes you on all kinds of ups and downs. Fake feelings, real feelings, hurt feelings, oh my! I was rooting for London and Beau from day one and I also was rooting on their project being a success. This book was every bit addictive as a realtiy show. Bring on the guilty pleasures!

Soul Slam is a fun action adventure story told with Egyptian history and magical mythology woven in. Allie Burton starts the story off with a bang...or should I say, slam. (I couldn't resist) Olivia is trying to steal an ancient amulet from the middle of a museum, (likes that's no big deal!) and she ends up interrupting a magical ceremony gone wrong and somehow she ends up with King Tuts soul, and powers, inside her body. All within the first 20 pages or so. It was then that I knew this book was going to be past paced excitement. And I was very right.

Olivia is spunky and has energy to spare. There are so many people after her, and she is on the run pretty much from page 1. Even though she is fiercely independent and has a take no prisoners attitude, she also has a soft part to her personality. It is just buried deep down inside of her most of the time, because she is so used to always having to be tough. You could see her softer side peek out sometimes around Xander. Not all the time mind you, because even I didn't always know what was going on with him, so she was guarded a lot, but sometimes you could really see them connect and it was sweet in the midst of everything crazy going on. There is not an overwhelming romance in this story, which was good because there was already a lot going on. But what romance there was, was a nice complement to the action.

Olivia has to learn how to master her powers, while running all over the city was pretty cool. There was never a dull moment. I liked the infusion of Egyptian mythology into the story. I thought Allie Burton did a great job with details in the story. I felt like I really got to know all of the characters, even some of the minor ones that we just met on the journey had decent backstories. One thing I wish was explained better were Olivia's powers. They seemed kind of all over the place. But overall, I enjoyed Soul Slam. I liked the ending and I think it set up the next book nicely. This book is great for people who like action adventures with a bit of magic and mythology mixed in.

From Continue is the first book in the Tellers of Destiny Series. While it is classified as a Young Adult fantasy, I felt like it read much more like a classic high fantasy general fiction story, with a young adult aged heroine. I have read my fair share of Young Adult fantasy as well as general high fantasy books, and the young adult fantasy books are closer to paranormals, I have found that, while some can be excellent, for the most part young adult books are shorter and therefore have more limited world building, which is essential for fantasy novels. High fantasies tend to be much more elaborate and they just throw you into a new crazy world and leave you to fend for yourself and find your own bearings.(note: please don't take this in any way, as me "bashing" young adult fantasies. I really enjoy them, I am simply trying to make a contrast as how I think this book is different from your average YA fantasy.) From Continue is a story starring Raphere, a 16 year old girl but it read very much like a high fantasy novel. The world building was rich and complex, which I loved, but it was also kind of confusing because everything was so foreign to me. It took me a while just to keep everything straight.

From Continue has lots going on. There is plenty of magic and new creatures, action, adventure, evil galore and a quest type story. I love quest stories. From Continue kept me engaged and immersed in its world for the whole story. I was confused more than once, but you just have to keep reading because everything will eventually make sense.

Raphere comes a long way throughout the story. She is fierce and strong, but just like any 16 year old she has a lot of growing up to do, and figuring out who she is. I also really liked that this story worked a romance into the storyline as well. Being that it was a high fantasy, so many times you get so deep into the main plot of the quest and adventures that there isn't much time for anything else. But the romance makes it feel more young adult, and I think that it really added to the story. Fans of traditional fantasy as well as young adult might be interested in this story.

This is the second book that I have read about the Indigo Phenomenon/Indigo children and I thought Jacinda Buchmann did a good job with the story. I found it interesting and engaging. It was very dialogue heavy and that allowed you to get to know the characters easily. I felt like I saw each of the characters different personalities through their dialogue.

The story initially centers around twins Toby and Tyler, but they are soon joined by others with special powers. I enjoy superpower books and telepathic skills have always fascinated me. I just loved listening in on the different conversations they each had, and I thought the author did a really good job varying the abilities that the characters possessed. I found it all very interesting. Aside from the cool abilities, there is a very fast paced plot. There are government agents looking for kids with powers. One of the twins (Toby) is taken and his brother has to round up a group of other Indigo Children to try and help him find Toby. Plus the government wants them for their own. I thought the storyline had plenty of twists and turns to hold my interest. It was always moving, always something happening. But it wasn't all just action and suspense.

There were more than a few cute moments thrown in throughout the story. I really enjoyed Tyler and Liliana's relationship, as well as Toby and Rebekah. I thought they each had a cute dynamic. I think I enjoyed Tyler and Liliana a little more because I just thought their telepathic conversations were too funny. I felt like they were the comic relief in the story.

I've noticed that a few people said it took them a couple of chapters to really get into the story, and I had the same experience. I found the story a little slow in the beginning, but after the first 4 chapters or so the story really got into gear and I was hooked. Indigo Incite is much more of a plot driven story than a character driven story. I myself am typically a character driven reader, but I found the plot exciting and interesting and it left me wanting to read the next book. I will warn you that there is a pretty big cliffhanger at the end of this one though.

Wow. This was an intense book. It deals with some very real and some may say controversial issues. Naomi is kidnapped and the whole story centers around her and her captors and the various relationships they have. This book is masterfully done. I think Michelle Davison argyle's writing is incredible.

Naomi is very brave. I felt so bad for her throughout the whole book. She had a pretty rough life, and then of course this happens and she is basically a prisoner. The story starts off with her capture, so you don't really have a chance to know what her normal life was like. Right away, she was scared and in emergency mode, which was great. But I didn't know what she was normally like. I didn't have a baseline. But that being said, the beauty in Michelle's writing style is that she reveals all of that information throughout the vivid flashbacks. We learned about Naomi's family and her relationships all through memories and flashbacks.

Like I said before, this book is very intense. My emotions were all over the place while reading the breakaway. Her captors were their own little family, which was something Naomi felt she was lacking. I thought the breakaway was a fascinating look into the psychology of captor/captive behavior.

The relationship aspect if the book was equally as intense. Naomi was no stranger to abusive relationships. (This poor girl..- I think that was my most common thought while reading) so I think it was a little easier for me to understand why she acted the way that she did. I do have to admit that I don't think I would make the same choices she did, but then again I guess I can't really understand what she was going through. The breakaway is an intense ride, but I really liked it. It was though provoking and very rough and real.

I thought that Watch Me Disappear looked like a fun coming of age story where we would see some good character development and growth for the main character, Lizzie, but sadly that just what it turned out to be for me.

Lizzie is the new girl in school, and she wants to reinvent herself and start over fresh at this school. We really aren't given much of her background information to know why that is. The only thing that we do learn about her is that she has very strict parents. She isn't even allowed to go on the internet, so when she becomes a babysitter for a brother of one of the most popular girls at school, she sneaks onto her computer and makes a secret facebook account. Interesting idea for the story, but I had a problem with the characters. I couldn't connect with Lizzie. I felt like she was too immature. She was whiny and kind of self absorbed. And my biggest problem was that she didn't grow at all throughout the story. It felt like it was a younger ya story. But not completely because it dealt with some older concepts of parties and drinking and drugs.

I also thought that there were too many ya stereotypes. You had the overly strict parents, the "mean girl", the new girl who is trying to be popular. The story had the potential to be interesting, I just had a problem connecting with the characters. I know a lot of people who argue up and down that teens are self absorbed and immature and and whiny 24/7 and so having that in books makes them more realistic. This might be the book for those people. But for me, it didn't work. It was just too much. I had trouble getting through the story. Watch Me Disappear wasn't for me. That is not to say it won't be for others. I can see people who like younger feeling ya high school stories that might really enjoy it.

The Merchant of Venice Beach turned out to be totally different than I expect it to be. But in a really good way. I expected this book to be a fun romance story heavy on the romance and it way more of an adult coming of age story with a hilarious main character/narrator and while romance was a main theme throughout this book, I found it to be so much more about the characters and how they got to where they are in Venice. Celia Bonaduce did such an excellent job letting Suzanna tell her story. I loved her voice. We saw everything through her head and her thoughts and her thought process is so funny. I just found her so relate-able.

When I first started reading Suzanna was instantly taken with the hot dance instructor, Rio. So much so that she decided to take salsa lessons just to try and get to know him. When I first met Rio, I wasn’t impressed. He kind of seemed like a jerk. But as I read on, I realized that wasn’t even the point of the book. The Merchant of Venice Beach was Suzanna’s story. Celia Bonaduce created such an awesome group of characters. Suzanna, Eric and Fernando have known each other since high school, and they live and work together now. They are like a little family. They annoy each other sometimes, but at the end of the day you know they will be there for each other.
The Merchant of Venice Beach is divided into different sections. The story starts out in the present tense when Suzanna is 33. And then it “flashes” back to their high school and college days. But they were much longer than typical flashbacks. I felt like we were told two stories. The then and the now. It helps to make sure that you really get to know all of the characters so well. And I thought that Suzanna was the perfect voice for this story. She was so very relate-able. I could just picture so many of the things she was going through and doing, actually happening.
When I was about half way through the story, I realized that I still didn’t know who Suzanna’s love interest was going to be. There were so many possibilities. Was it going to be the life long friend? The hot dance instructor? The “office-cute” guy from dance lessons? I’m used to having some idea of how a story is going to unfold by the half way point, but I found myself even more excited to read the second half of the book because I didn’t know. So much of Suzanna’s life was up in the air and I had a blast going on this journey to figure some things out with her. This book wasn’t anything like I thought it would be, but it turned out to be even better! Character driven readers will enjoy this book.