After an awful terrorist attack, the government responds by hand picking couples to have genetically engineered children. These children become property of the Program and are super intelligent and gifted physically. A small sample of these children have discovered extra abilities - ones they can't understand and don't know where they came from. Cleo is one of these children.

Deviation was quite an adventure. We start out somewhat in the dark - just as Cleo is - and discover some pretty incredible things. There are also some pretty incredible people - one of which is names Ozzy. He seems to be everything she hates about the Program, but she can't seem to stay away from him either. He's too perfect and she can't get him off her mind. He ends up being right in the middle of all the drama going on around her, so she can't trust him.

All of the characters in this book were amazing. They were easy to identify with and fun to read about. I even loved the ones I hated, which is hard to do. I really wanted to be the one code names Mimic Octopus - such a cool person. The relationships between these people also develop and go in so unexpected ways.

There was only one scene near the end at the roller skating rink that I got really confused and had to read several times before I understood what was going on. It was a chaotic scene to begin with, but some of the cues to what the character was seeing weren't quite enough for me to get it right away.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

- See more at: http://hotofftheshelves.blogspot.com/2014/08/review-deviation-by-christine-manzari.html#sthash.q6RcEtlx.dpuf

This was a fun read and was a nice change from an overly serious political romance I had tried to read. While the concepts of bribery, environmentalism, and political fraud are serious, the story had plenty of light and fun points to balance it all out. Chloe is an amazing character, but I don't think I'll ever quite understand why she agreed to marry Knox to begin with. I'm glad she did and it turned out to be a wonderful thing, but it didn't look that way at first.

Knox was an interesting character as well. A handful of cliches mixed with some more unique characteristics lead to a great character. While he is afraid of love, he's working towards overcoming that - even if he doesn't realize it yet. His move to help Chloe at the end really shows how great of a guy he is. He would be a catch for any girl.

The scandal that Chloe digs up is personal on multiple levels, and she knows that it will hurt a person she loves deeply. But the journalist in her knows that it must be brought to the public's attention so they know what their politicians are doing. The investigation is mixed in very nicely and it isn't really the center of the story. Sarah Ballance doesn't dwell on it more than she needs to in order to tell Chloe and Knox's story.

Overall, this was the perfect mix of intrigue, politics, and romance. Knox left me a little wanting for a good chunk of the story and some of the sex scenes (or lack thereof) seemed to be drawn out or repetitive though.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

Avian is just about a perfect sequel to Fledgling. It's a DragonRiders of Pern for aimed at Young Adults. Jaevid is center stage again as he is set to start his second year of training - his Avian year. This year starts with some pretty amazing changes for him. He discovers some Gray Elf heritage the hard and painful way as his body finally develops. He also discovers some hidden gifts that are pretty scary to be honest. His gifts manifest in different ways and grow throughout the story. They play a very key role in his future and the future of the kingdom.

His friends and enemies are back, and we get to see his crush from home, Beckah, a little bit as well. This crush was the one thing that didn't sit quite right with me. It seemed to be a bit overdone and the fallout was a little awkward. It ended too many times when it could have been done with simply without the added drama. There is a new romance for Jaevid that is developing, a very good one, but with a girl that is pretty much off limits to him. I'll be very interested to see where this goes. She is about as non-traditional as he is and they are a good fit.

The land is seeing lots of unsettling changes as animals seem to be going crazy - attacking for no reason and causing a boat load of problems. Even Jaevid can't get through to them with his special animal speaking skills - their free will seems to be gone. No one knows what is causing this, but the dragons are particularly upset about it.

Jaevid's second year of training is a tough one. He is forced to make some incredibly difficult decisions and take part in some horrific training. He knows that he will have a major part to play in the upcoming events and in the war against the Gray Elves, but he's not sure what that part will be yet. This was a very exciting book two that kept me turning the pages as fast as I could to see what would happen next. I loved seeing his old friends and trainers and meeting a few new ones. I can't wait to see what book three will have in store.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

- See more at: http://hotofftheshelves.blogspot.com/2014/08/blog-tour-review-and-giveaway-avian.html#sthash.kKsL0iXY.dpuf

This was a really great cozy mystery. The main character, Willa, is an ex-crime journalist that has returned home to run her grandmother's book store. She has a hard time keeping her nose out of investigations and likes to know what's going on. When she finds the local librarian dead - it doesn't look like an accident and the librarian's ghost confirms it. Knowing the ghost won't give her any peace until the murderer is found, she dives right in.

Now Mystic Notch is a special place, with some very special people and animals. The cats in particular are a special variety. They help keep evil from taking over the town and were a really great addition to the story. Pandora helps out whenever she can and I loved her personality. The mystery seemed to be a simple one at first, especially with some inside information from the ghost.

The mystery takes some interesting turns though and Willa finds she may be the next target. She needs to work with Officer Handsome and her sister, the Sheriff, to figure out what's going on. I was surprised several times at the turn of events the story took - and that's always a great thing in a mystery. The only downfall was right at the very beginning. The writing style took me a bit to get used to - at times it seemed almost like the author was taking down to me. Once I got used to it, it didn't bother me at all. It was just not what I was expecting going right into it.

Book two of The Hunted picks up after the disastrous firefight in the abandoned tunnels. The indigo kids have taken refuge with Gabe's family and are training to protect themselves. But there is a new kid with some really strange new powers to contend with. No one is quite sure who he is or what he can do right now.

This new kid is Oliver Blue and the Believers have him. They have a handful of others as well that will also play an important role in this story. While I didn't get into this storyline as well as the first book in a general sense, there were some very big scenes that I really loved. Many of these revolved around Oliver and how he learns to control his abilities and use them.

The ending of the story was one of the best I'd read in a long time. There was a lot of happiness, but the story was left slightly unresolved. This is definitely not a cliffhanger, but I wonder if at some point there will be a spin-off series or third book.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

- See more at: http://hotofftheshelves.blogspot.com/2014/08/review-crystal-fire-hunted-2-by-jordan.html#sthash.jRjZ7UsA.dpuf

The storyline on this one really threw me off a few times. The only reason Caroline agrees to work with the man she hates, Josh Martin, is because she is being blackmailed. This whole thread seems to be incredibly out of place. It only pops up a few times and the reasons behind it all seem very far-fetched. Now, if we pretend that didn't happen and just let Caroline work with Josh so she can get revenge on him for some things that he did to her and her brother - then we would have had a perfectly good story.

I loved Josh's character, but I've always had a soft spot for geeks. I find them too adorable to resist, and Josh definitely fit the role well. Afraid of crowds and without a good public image, he has a lot to work on with Caroline - the girl he's loved since high school. Caroline is an image consultant with a huge bone to pick. But she wasn't counting on falling for the guy she trying to take down.

There were a lot of cute scenes in the story that really showcased both characters. If only the whole blackmailing part had either been more prevalent and detailed or left out altogether I would have liked the story a lot more.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

This book started out in a very new way for me. We have little Addison, the activist, kidnapping the very muscular and hunky Bruno. The whole scene was a bit amusing - trying to picture her recruiting the help of the bar staff to load her "drunk friend" into a car had me chuckling. Now, Addison doesn't wish ill to Bruno in any way, she just wants her to listen to him about a tribe that lives on land he's about to sell to a developer.

Addison has a very one-track mind throughout this story. Everything she does is for this tribe and sometimes her single-mindedness got downright annoying. I totally understand why Bruno got tired of listening to her talk about it sometimes. Bruno wasn't much better. He's so set on pleasing his dying father and making amends for something that wasn't even his fault, that he doesn't realize what an ass he's being most of time.

Now the few moments (generally in midst of sex) that they lost focus on their goals, I really loved them. They worked well together and seemed to really enjoy each other's company. All their trust issues really hampered this for them, too. Neither one would let go and trust that the other would hold up their end of the deal.

The ending was really great though. I loved how things didn't just magically work out - there was some work involved, some hurt feelings, and having to literally chase down your dreams. Throw in a reconciling family and it was just happies all over.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

I'm really loving the characters and stories from Parable, Montana. Book two is just as laid back and casual as book one, but throwing in a four year old girl adds a bit of craziness in a good way. I loved Madison - the daughter Kendra adopted sometime between the two books. There's a short story all on its own there that is revealed as you read through the book, so I'll let you read the details yourself. I always love the antics of young children in these fun light-hearted romances, and Madison definitely fit the bill to liven things up a bit.

The opening of this story was not handled well though. I understand that Miller was probably looking for some shock factor, but starting with your leading man (Hutch) at his wedding to someone other than Kendra was very confusing. There was also a lot of things that happened in between books and I felt like I had missed an entire story. Too much happened "off pages" to have it flow well right off the bat.

Now once I figured out all the things that were going on, I really enjoyed the story. Kendra and Hutch have been crushing on each other for years, but never really acted on it. Kendra doesn't think Hutch is mature enough to be a father to her new little girl, and Hutch just seems to hold a grudge against Kendra for their last break up. Everyone around them begins to conspire against them though, and eventually they cave and decide to give it a go.

There is still a lot of doubt on both their parts though, and this continues Miller's theme of over-coming your past to move on with your future so you can be happy.

I was a little lost at the beginning of this book - I'm sure I felt the same way Salome felt when she saw the strange figures and heard the voices. I had no idea what was going on. Slowly several boys make their way into her life and you begin to wonder which ones she should really trust. You know they can't all be nice guys - there has to be a bad guy after all.

Salome's problem seems to be that winter (the season) hates her. She's terrified of anything that has to do with the season - snow, cold, ice, etc. Every winter it seems to get worse. She has episodes where she swears she sees figures and glowing eyes in the woods and voices all around her. This winter it has been much worse. She is being attacked and she doesn't understand why - and the people that do know why aren't able to speak of it.

The story has a mystery wrapped up in it as Salome tries to figure out the three boys in her life - Colton, Gareth, and Nevin. I kept going back and forth with all of them trying to decide which one was the good one. All three were well written and Purdy did a good job of keeping the mystery alive for a very long time without making it tiresome.

There is a lot of magic at play as well, but it is very subtle and plays around in the background of the story for the most part. Towards the end it becomes much more prevalent, but since we've been toying with the idea of it for most of the book - it doesn't come as a shock to see it. I really enjoyed this story - I wish I had known a bit more near the beginning so that I hadn't felt so lost as a reader though.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

- See more at: http://hotofftheshelves.blogspot.com/2014/09/review-winter-people-by-rebekah-l-purdy.html#sthash.XKu5Tdhz.dpuf

This was the most touching and heart-wrenching of the series so far. Sheriff Boone Taylor is such a sympathetic character that you want everything good to come his way and just make everything better. Miller works hard to make this happen for him in this book. Boone has a lot he's been dealing with - and not in the best way. When his wife died, he sent his young children to stay with family until he got his stuff together - but a few years later and they haven't come home yet. He misses them, but doesn't think he's good enough to take care of them. Fate takes that decision out of his hands, and places them firmly back in his life to stay and watching them get to know each other again was amazing. Boone is a great dad, he just needed to be reminded of that by his sons.

Tara is Boone's neighbor and chicken farmer - sort of. She's wanting to live life less hectic after coming out of a messy marriage and living large in the big city. Tara has some of her own baggage to deal with as well, but since she hasn't told anyone yet before this book - I don't want to give it away. It's a little surprising. Tara and Boone take an instant dislike to each other and this becomes a classic case of opposites attract.

Tara is convinced Boone is a lazy good-for-nothing man, but she doesn't realize he just needs a little help to deal with what life has thrown his way. Boone thinks it's hilarious that this "city girl" thinks she can hack it out in a farm on Montana and just tries to avoid her. But avoiding people isn't really possible in a small town - and when the locals gang up on them to try and get them together, they never stand a chance.

There is a small bit of action in this one, a little tragedy, and a lot of hope. Miller did a much better job with the intro of this one, and I didn't start with a feeling of being lost. There are tons of ups and downs and the set up for book four is great. This is a really fun series, but remember this is Parable, and their lives are lived just a little slower and more laid back than in the city. Lots of things happen, you just don't always realize it until the book is done.

- See more at: http://www.bittenbyromance.com/2014/09/review-big-sky-river-parable-montana-3.html#sthash.C09LVHn2.dpuf