Gemma is 16 and traveling with her parents when she runs into Ty at the airport while getting coffee. Even though she felt like something was off, she sits down with him and this leads to the rest of the story. Ty ends up getting her out of Bangkok and to some desert area in Australia.

The author does a great job of conveying Gemma's evolving feelings throughout the novel. She is a normal teenage girl that happens to be in an out of the ordinary situation. Surprisingly Ty's goal was to "save" her and he was completely convinced that bringing her to this place was the way to do it. As a reader, you know he did something completely wrong by taking Gemma but by reading the letter through her voice, I was brought into the story and could see her feelings and the way she saw Ty changing.

Spoiler

I was honestly a combination of happy and sad to see that Ty sacrificed his freedom to save Gemma. He absolutely could have let her get on that plane and stayed where he was with no fear that anyone would ever find him again but he made the decision to stay with Gemma to make sure she felt safe.

This story was beautifully written and I enjoyed it. I do feel a bit like I didn't get any closure by not finding out what happened after the letter was completed but not so much that it had a negative impact on the story.

Review to come.

This one sounded promising to me...about 60 pages in I had an idea that it wasn't going to be a favorite.

The story itself was good - there is a girl who doesn't know that she is half darkling, half human and then the back story of the Experimentals and this other realm...all sounded great. Unfortunately I hated the main character. In order for me to really enjoy a book I have to love them and these just didn't do it for me.

First, Keira was annoying. I get it, you love music and you're "gorgeous" but for real, there wasn't really anything that made me say she would be someone I would want to be friends with. Susan, who is supposed to be Keira's best friend, isn't that great either. She seemed a bit self-absorbed...maybe that is why they were friends??

Perhaps the only redeeming piece to this story is Walker and that is only because I love swoony boys and he is definitely that. He says all the right things and treats Keira like she is the best thing he has ever come across...even though she was (in my opinion) not always deserving of it. He definitely has a story and to be honest was probably the only thing that kept me reading as I wanted to find out what it really was.

Overall this one was only ok for me.

Review to come.

Unraveling was a great, quick read. This was full of action and definitely different from other books I've recently read.

Janelle happens to get hit by a truck and dies...yep - dies. Thankfully Ben happens to be around and he brings her back. I'm not going to give anything away here - just know that this is where the story really gets interesting.

I loved the characters in this book - Janelle is smart and she isn't afraid to do what she thinks is right. Ben is the guy who pretends to be something he isn't just so he doesn't draw any attention to himself. The dynamic between Ben and his friends was an interesting aspect to the story as well.

Take my word for it, go read this book and know that I am waiting (somewhat impatiently) for my sister to finish the next book of the series.

I enjoyed this one. It was a super quick read (seriously - I think I finished it in under 2 hours) and although it is short, I was engaged in the story.

The pacing was quick in this one and as it always is with short stories, it was tough for me to really connect with the characters but I think the author did a good job by showing a bit more of who Sophia is through her current situation.

No recap here - the overview tells you what it is all about and if that interests you enough, you should go and read this.

This is the first book in a series and it will be interesting to see where the story picks up and what happens with Derek and Sophia in the next book.

A solid 3 stars from me for this and I would probably rate the entire series the same.

I was a bit underwhelmed on this one although I probably feel the same about this one that I do about the second book - at least it didn't end poorly.

Rhine is back under the care of Linden (actually his uncle Reed, who I loved!!) while trying to heal from her ordeal with Vaughn and is looking for her brother Rowan. At the same time, she has no idea where Gabriel is and believes they both think she is dead. There are twists and turns and honestly, I wasn't surprised by some of them. With that said, one of them did throw me - completely unexpected and because of that, I won't say anymore about it as I don't want to ruin anything.

I wasn't sure where DeStefano was going with the characters here. I think my biggest issue was that in book two Gabriel was "the guy" and in book three, there isn't a lot of him. Instead, Linden is the focus and I'm not going to lie, I actually liked him more in this book. DeStefano gives us a glimpse into who Linden is (more so than before) and how Rhine's actions really impacted him. He really did care about her and I think Rhine assumed he just did whatever his father told him. Knowing more about him and who he was, it kind of made me uncomfortable for Rhine in the scenes that included Linden, Cecily, and Rhine. The whole sister wife aspect was off for me. Nevermind that these are kids....

Regardless of all of that, I did enjoy the series. It is complete now so if you are intrigued, go ahead and start it...you won't have to wait for any of the books to finish it out and you might enjoy it.

Review to come.

Overall this entire series was about a 3 for me.

The biggest complaint I have is that although the underlying story was great, the books continued to make the main focus the love triangle. I get it, Calla had a choice to make. The fact that it was dragged out for 3 books was a bit too much.

To not ruin this for anyone I am spoiler tagging the rest so proceed with caution.

Spoiler

Calla is definitely a tough character and as proven by the end of the book, truly a wolf at heart. I have mixed feelings about Shay. Maybe because of Ren...whatever it was, I couldn't understand what it was that drew her to Shay. I get it, he was a wolf without the wolf part for a while and truly belonged with them but that seemed to be all there was other than the fact that he wasn't Ren and the one she was being forced to partner with.

Ren - what to say here. I was disappointed with the way his story was ended....to say the least. It was so abrupt and although Calla had made her decision by that point (in her head and shared it with Shay) she hadn't really said anything to Ren. To be honest, I was rooting for him the whole series. Yes, he had a checkered past and was being forced into the union as well but he truly cared about Calla and she just didn't see any of that until it was too late.

I did enjoy the secondary characters in this book - Conner, Adne, Sabine, and Ethan. Although I will admit that the relationship between Conner and Adne - after hearing their ages and back story felt a bit icky to me. I might have felt this a bit less if Adne were older.

My issue with the story may be that I read the prequels (Rift and Rise) before I read this series. I know there is a larger story underneath about the evolution of the Searchers and the Keepers along with the Nether World. I just wish we would have gotten to hear more of it.

If you read this series, be prepared for a lot of action as well as some angst and heartache.

All the feels with this one.

I am sitting here wondering what the heck I am going to write that will do this book any kind of justice. This story had everything that makes reading a book one of my favorite things to do. Eleanor and Park are not those perfect teenagers with perfect lives that meet, fall in love and live happily ever after but that is really what makes this book.

It is 1986 and Eleanor is living with her mother, 4 brothers and sisters, and her step-father after having been away for a year. Eleanor will do what she needs to in order to survive and I loved that about her. Park is one of those kids that is on the fringe…not popular but also not at the bottom of the food chain. He completely recognizes it and even realizes that his life could be worse if it weren’t for kids like Eleanor.

Her first introduction to Park was awkward and somewhat humiliating…being the new kid and trying to find a seat on a full school bus – definitely not a fun situation. He eventually takes pity on her and the situation and tells her to just sit down. With that, the uncomfortable silences eventually turn into sharing of comic books, music and then eventually more.

This story about how these characters fall in love is wonderful and with the switching point of views we get glimpses into the heads of both Eleanor and Park which I thought was important. Where Eleanor was tough and at times putting up walls, Park was trying to tear them down and really get to know her.

When I say I had all the feels with this book, I’m not kidding. The range emotions evoked by this story and these characters was almost ridiculous and that is why this will stay on my favorites list.