Luminosity was certainly something new to me. Beatrice is a Seer who is known to have the clearest visions, with the exception of the Keeper, in the Institution. She is only 17 but got her raven wings when she was only 12. With her ability comes all kinds of attention she wished she wouldn’t get and a duty to be a leader to all other seers but how can she lead her team when she doesn’t even know what to believe in? Her people know disaster is on its way and war is looming with their enemy. They are told they must protect the Citizens of the City but at what cost? Like any other heroine Beatrice just wants answers so when someone starts to call out to her in her dreams she really wants to know what is going on. She has let the enemy into her head and quickly finds herself asking who can she really trust.

Although she wasn’t everything I thought she would be I liked Beatrice. She questioned everything that was happening but continued to remain cautious in order to protect herself and others. She was never trusted people 100% and in her world that was a good thing. She’s been trained to use a gun but she is still like any other girl. She still liked to be silly, to have fun with her girls (Connie and Mae) and worry about boys. And speaking of boys both Gabe and Echo have potential. I am not really rooting for anyone in particular but I liked her friendship with Gabe and that even though he got mad at her a lot for keeping things from him he still promised to always be there for her. Echo is the enemy and that always makes things interesting.
*Originally reviewed on Pages Of Forbidden Love

It took me a while to really get immersed into the story but it was always, even if just a little bit, intriguing. It was a little disappointing that Beatrice wasn’t as badass as I thought she would be. Her visions were awesome and she did have other training but I felt she was lacking a bit there. The romance wasn’t all I thought it would be either. It was there but I just wasn’t able to become fully invested in it. I am hoping as the series continues I can connect with them more.

Overall though I thought Luminosity was a good book and a good start to a series. It was really interesting reading about this new world of Seers and Dream catchers. I liked how it went back and forth between real time, Beatrice’s visions, and her dreams. I liked how it could always keep me suspicious. I always had my guesses but in the end I was still left in doubt just like Beatrice was. There was quite a bit of action and some parts made me sad but I what I liked the most is how this book really points out that we usually only ever get one side of a story. The end was a big “Wait it’s over!?” and I have no idea what is to come so I am looking forward to the second book in the series.

*Originally reviewed on Pages Of Forbidden Love

*3.5

Roz is a legally blind teen, she isn’t completely blind but she has spots in her vision that are hard to see around. The last thing she wants is for everyone to know she has the disability and she definitely doesn’t want anyone’s pity or help with anything. Unfortunately for her the school makes it mandatory for all students to take their Life Skills class making it harder for Roz to hide it and turning her world upside down. All of a sudden Roz is doing things she never thought she would and then one night really changes everything, too bad she can’t remember it. After Tricia is found Roz tries her best to remember but really all she has are vague memories and what people tell her. She decides she has to know what happened though and doesn’t quit looking for answers.

I liked how Blind Spot went back to before Tricia was found and then after she was found. I was able to get to know the characters better which helped me make guesses and assumptions of what really happened. I liked how not everything was obvious and I went back and forth questioning what was real just as Roz did. My guesses never changed drastically but as new information came in I would become skeptical. I think Laura Ellen did a good job with that. I think the characters were also well written, even though a majority of them made me mad off and on, they each had distinct personalities. The only characters that didn’t upset me were some of the people Roz meets in her Life Skills class. I really liked them. I felt like Roz was kind of dumb sometimes but other times I still felt bad for her and understood some of the things she did. I sort of loved Greg but unfortunately even he upset me sometimes. Although Tricia was clearly troubled, I really liked her character and wished I could have gotten to know even more about her.

Honestly though I am very confused as to how I feel about this book. I am not sure how many times I have gone back and forth deciding how many hearts to give it. When I read the summary I was really excited to read it. It sounded like it would be an exciting book full of suspense that would really keep me on my toes. Although it did keep me curious and not sure about the ending it just wasn’t filled with all the excitement I thought it would have. I won’t lie I did find it enjoyable many times but it just wasn’t exactly what I expected. I wanted more out of it. The thing that has me the most confused about my feeling though is the ending. I have this thing with endings. I can love a majority of a book but if I don’t like the ending it ruins the whole thing for me. I wouldn’t say I hated the ending but I was disappointed with it. It wasn’t at all what I expected and although most of the time that would be a good thing it just wasn’t right for me. Overall, I thought it was a pretty okay/good book though and I am curious to see what Laura Ellen writes next.

*Originally reviewed on Pages of Forbidden Love

Ever is only 15 and weighs 302 pounds. She wasn’t always so big but food became a comfort mechanism in her life and she kept gaining weight. Most, if not all, people have things we are self conscious about and sometimes worry that other people will notice those flaws we are so adamant we have but Ever has a voice in her head that will never let her forget it. Skinny whispers horrible things to her and refuses to let Ever forget her size. Skinny tells Ever what people are thinking about her and refuses to let her just be. From the very first chapter I felt bad for Ever. No one deserves to go through that much self doubt.

When a very public accident happens Ever decides she can’t take it anymore and decides to get surgery. People just want her to be healthy but they worry about her getting the surgery. Is it safe? Can’t she lose the weight another way? But Ever can’t and she insist the surgery is what she needs to do and with the help of her best friend Rat she begins her weight loss journey. Ever hoped so much that the surgery would solve everything. That she would be skinny and her troubles would be gone. As she begins to lose weight though Skinny is still their whispering to her, telling her the same hateful things, and Ever finds out that things aren’t going to magically change with her jean size.

Although, I felt so bad for Ever she made it very easy to dislike her as well. I hated hearing about all her self self doubts. It was just heartbreaking to read about how much she struggled with things but she had irritating qualities that came along with that doubt that made me very mad at her. Like I didn’t really like how often she spoke about her amazing singing voice that she was hiding from the world. I loved that she had an amazing voice and had something to be proud of but I feel like she was too confidant about it. Another thing I didn’t like was how she just assumed no one else had problems. Her step sister Briella was thin and beautiful so Ever just blew her off like her life was perfect. She never stopped to think or even notice that she had problems too. I was pained by Ever’s story but I really felt for Briella as well. Ever also ended up pushing people away. She didn’t really mean to but it still happened.

I had a lot of ugh moments but also a lot of awww moments while reading Skinny. I really did enjoy the story and could connect with Ever and how she was feeling. I loved reading about Briella’s character and Rat was a great best friend. He was always trying to help Ever and really got her through the beginning weeks post surgery. I loved how it would flash back to Ever thinking about the past. I felt like the emotions and doubts Ever had were very well written and believable. For me there was a lot to like about this book but I was sad that it was such a quick read. I felt like there were a couple things that should have been talked about more and that more could have happened before it was over but I was still very happy with the ending at the same time. I’ll definitely be looking out for what Donna Cooner comes out with next.

*Originally Reviewed on Pages Of Forbidden Love

When I read the summary for Evie’s Knight I thought it would be a book I would really enjoy. I was very excited to start reading about Evie and Calvin’s romance and the curse that could end everything for them. The idea of it all intrigued me and I was eager to dive in. Unfortunately, I set my bar too high and, although it still had its good qualities, I myself ended up being disappointed in the end. I felt like the story started out strong with the prologue because it gave me a little taste of the beginnings of the curse and that really sucked me in. It had me wanting to dig right in and see where everything was going to go but then as the story progressed I found myself slowly being drawn away and even wanting to speed along (don’t worry I didn’t) to get to something more exciting. The story did eventually get back on track for me later in the book but not before it confused me for a bit which I’ll explain in a bit but first I need to talk a little about Evie and Calvin.

Evie was a likeable character but she also bugged me a little at times. I liked that she knew what she wanted and didn’t want. She knew what her values were and she stuck with them no matter what. She wouldn’t let anyone change that even when it caused previous relationship problems and drifting apart with other people. I will admit I would have liked to see her be a little more social with more people and not just Calvin. I felt like she was an independent person that could hold her own and who wouldn’t really deal with other people’s crap. She had abandonment issues though that made her question if everyone was bound to leave her and if its all her fault. She was also a total good girl. This isn’t a bad thing but at times I wasn’t the happiest with her. She wants Calvin to respect her choices and he does but then she is upset when he isn’t all over her. I understand her wanting to know she is wanted but I didn’t think that was really fair to Calvin. In the story though she is the kind of person to back down and she doesn’t let a scary scenario get the best of her and I really liked that.

When I got my first glimpse of Calvin I wasn’t sure how I was going to like their relationship. Evie was a goner fast but this ended up not being a bad thing. Calvin was in her art class and instead of immediately falling in love they got to know each other. Calvin never took the legend of his families curse seriously but as he gets closer to Evie it slowly begins to scare him more and more. He begins to get nightmares, which I thought was a nice touch to the story, and begins to worry if his relationship with Evie is the best thing. I liked that Calvin was gentleman and respected Evie’s wishes while still teasing her. I just have to say that girl has some will power.

Calvin and Evie’s relationship sans the curse makes them one of those cutesy perfect couples. I swear they never really had any problems, they always did things together, and everyone respected everyone. Without the curse it would have been cute but very boring to read about them which brings me to some of the problems I had with this book. I was very excited about the curse and I was looking forward to get to know more about it and what it entails throughout the book. Instead I felt like there was a bit of mystery and suspense with it early on and then it was dropped for the longest time and only centered on Evie and Calvin going out and Evie saving herself. I didn’t want instalove and I am glad I got to read about them getting to know each other but I felt like ore of the curse could have been incorporated into those chapters. Also, I know this is a clean romance but I got it pretty quick that Evie had no plans to have sex and I feel like it was brought up way too much.

I wanted to read about there romance but also the curse and like I said I felt like it was dropped all of a sudden and then when it did pick back up I was a little confused. Weird things just started happening out of nowhere and it took me a while to get used to it. Once I did though I enjoyed it more. I was happy to get to hear more about the curse and read about a little more preparing and action. The whole time I was waiting for a big surprise moment in the end because things never go according to plan in these kinds of situations. Although finishing up the story was suspenseful I didn’t get my GASP moment. I guess overall though I just mostly wanted a little more balance.

*Originally reviewed on Pages Of Forbidden Love

I am so incredibly torn on how I felt about this book. I don’t even know where to begin. After reading it I couldn’t bring myself to give it a rating on Goodreads. I thought if I waited until I wrote a review to rate it I would eventually decide but I still don’t know about that. I sometimes really loved this book. I devoured it in a night but I don’t know…I guess I was just left feeling cheated and disappointed at the end. I mean to the point where it took me forever to fall asleep because I just couldn’t come to terms with how the whole book turned out. On one hand this would usually be a sign of an amazing book, one that keeps me up thinking, but the problem is I couldn’t concentrate on how heartbreaking the story was or how sad I was for Anna. Instead I was thinking of how different the book ended up being than I had originally expected (not all a bad thing) and about the ending…Ugh that ending!

Okay sorry maybe I should start explaining a little more. When I say the book was different than what I expected I mean that although I knew the story would be an emotional one I was still expecting it to maybe be kind of a fun book also. That maybe it would have some really cute moments and maybe a laugh or two between all the seriousness. It wasn’t. For me it was all very sad and extremely serious. This was not a deal breaker for me. I really didn’t mind this at all. In fact I loved that it made me miserable to read about poor Anna who was once the center of her moms world when she was very little then just tossed aside, losing all her moms attention, when her mother got too lonely and started her multiple searches for the man of her dreams. I was so angry at her mother for not being there for Anna and not making sure that Anna still felt wanted and loved while she herself searched for love but I also felt bad for her. She always needed someone else in her life for fear of being alone. She had no boundaries set for Anna and didn’t provide the consistency that Anna needed in her life. I don’t doubt that she loved Anna but she really just didn’t know how to be a mother.

Like her mother Anna also needs to feel loved. She felt like her moms whole world when she was really little then all of a sudden she didn’t really matter anymore. She became too old to hear her mother stories and left out of most of her mothers life. Left alone a lot, Anna just wants a connection so when she finally gets some attention, although not the kind she needs, she soaks it all in, lets it continue, and eventually initiates it. Boys can make Anna feel less lonely so even though she loses friends and everyone talks about her she turns to them to feel like part of a family. You have no idea how much this made me cry for Anna. It just broke my heart.

The above was great. It made it the kind of story I really enjoy but there were things that really disappointed me. For example, I was expecting Sam to come into the story much sooner than he did. I knew there would be multiple guys throughout Anna’s story but I was expecting Sam to be a more current fixture in her story. I was just waiting and waiting for him to show up. I felt like I didn’t get enough time with him and his family. He was great for Anna but I felt like i would have enjoyed it more if he would have come in sooner and things happened more gradually.

Toy was another characters story that wasn’t what I was expecting. Okay truthfully I didn’t know what to expect with her from the summary or while reading but I was left with little information about her. Anna and Toy become friends but Anna is always secretly envious of Toy. I could never really figure Toy out and was hoping for an explanation. I sort of got one but not really. Makes me wonder if we are going to get her story in another book or if that’s just it.

Uses For Boys let me get emotional for its characters and where the story was going, for the most part, made me really enjoy the book but somewhere towards the end my feelings just took a turn. I felt like things happened kind of quickly all of a sudden and then it was over. The worst part for me was that I couldn’t feel any closure whatsoever. I was not a fan on how the book ended but although I sometimes think I really disliked it I just can’t say that I didn’t like it because at times I did find it great (even loved it). See… torn.

*Originally reviewed on Pages Of Forbidden Love

I have only read a couple fairytale retelling but I really enjoy them. I had never read a retelling that was in the Adult genre though and when I read the summary for Ember I was pretty excited to buy it. I noticed that it was only a short story (less than 100 pages) but I had to get it anyway. In my head a story like this had so much potential. It sounded like such a different and unique take on the story and I couldn’t wait to read it.

As an infant Prince Charming was “blessed” with Charm. People would want to be him and no one would be able to deny him. As Ember got older her mother would forbid her to look at him but then the day comes when Embers mother is too ill to enforce that rule and Ember is overcome with feelings of wanting the prince. Refusing to allow those feelings continue Ember finds a way to not be as vulnerable to his charms but of course Charming isn’t going to let her get away that easily. With the help of her stepmother and sisters she does her best to stay away from him but he is clever and makes that difficult for Ember. Ember knows she will never stop wanting him but she continues to find ways to resist him.

Ember wasn’t exactly what I was expecting but it was still a good new twist to the story. Many things changed in this story and I found it very interesting. I thought the magic and the curse was a great change. I liked how many things had a cost in the story and how it also incorporated other fairytales very briefly and twisted them too. The whole story was very clever and although I did not dislike it I just didn’t love it.