My New Treasures #20

My New Treasures is a weekly feature here at Paperback Treasures to showcase all the books I received over the previous week. I do not take credit for this idea.

Bought:

Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher (Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)

OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu (Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)

Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos (Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)

Every Day by David Levithan (Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)

For review:

Death, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia by Jenny Torres Sanchez (Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)

BEA:

Hereafter (Shadowlands #2) by Kate Brian (Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)

Divergent by Veronica Roth (Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)

Leaving Paradise (Leaving Paradise #1) by Simone Elkeles (Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)

Return to Paradise (Leaving Paradise #2) by Simone Elkeles (Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)

Love Drugged by James Klise (Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)

Sparks by SJ Adams (Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)

The Latte Rebellion by Sarah Jamila Stevenson (Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)

Interview & Giveaway with Juliana Haygert (Breaking the Reins Blog Tour)

Today we have Juliana Haygert here for an author interview and a giveaway! This post is part of the blog tour for Bittersweet Junction, hosted by Xpresso Book Tours. 

Interview

1. Without spoiling anything, could you tell us what was your favorite scene to write in Breaking the Reins?

The monster truck race scene!
Let’s just say that the original scene was “hotter” than it is right now, but it’s still pretty hot ;)

2. What is the best writing advice you've ever received?

Bah, there are so many.
I would say for someone starting this journey now: study craft. A lot. You won’t always follow all the rules, but you should know them before you break them.

3. If you had to pair up your main character Hannah with any other character from any other book, who would it be and why?

Do I really need to? Lol That’s so unfair. She’s perfect with Leo. Period lol
Okay, okay … I would say with Trick from The Wild Ones by M. Leighton. Because he loves horses as much as Hannah does, and he has this yearning to tame a wild horse – which is similar to what Hannah does in Breaking the Reins.

4. What comes easier for you, description or dialogue?

Dialogue. When writing a fast dialogue scene, I skip all description and just follow the characters’ “discussion.” Then I come back to it, and try to slow down the scene and add the details.

5. How do you go about naming your characters?

I have a list of names I like (including their meaning) and I always chose a name for my protagonists from there. I also try not to choose very common names that are used in a lot of books (like Anna, for example).

6. What is one message you'd like readers from Breaking the Reins?

Hm, this is hard one. I guess I would like readers to take Hannah as an example of how strong they can be – to break free from domestic violence, to go after what seems an impossible dream, or whatever their hearts desire.

Giveaway

As part of the blog tour, the author is giving away a signed paperback of Breaking the Reins, an ebook of Breaking the Reins, a signed paperback of Destiny Gift, an ebook of Destiny Gift, and a $25 Amazon/B&N gift card, open internationally. Enter using the form below!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Make sure to check out all the other stops of the tour, and keep your eye out for Breaking the Reins, which has already been released.

Breaking the Reins by Juliana Haygert
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Horses, mansions, tea parties, and lies are twenty-year-old Hannah Taylor’s life. To others, her family and her relationship with Eric is perfect. But she knows the truth. She lives it.
After a fire takes her grandma’s life and kills her horse, Hannah’s immaculate life spirals out of control. Her father disapproves of her decision to run her grandma’s ranch instead of focusing solely on learning the family business; Animal Control brings her Argus, a mistreated horse that she can’t turn away even though she’s not ready for another horse; and her boyfriend, Eric Bennett, a world famous polo player, becomes possessive and authoritarian. Despite her best efforts to disguise it, Hannah grows wary of him.
Then, Leonardo Fernandes struts onto the polo scene. A cocky rookie with a messy life of his own, he’s drawn to Hannah and isn’t afraid of showing it, even when Eric makes it clear she is his and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep it that way. Hannah suffers for Eric’s jealousy. The abuse only gets worse when Leo steals the title of best polo player in the world from Eric.
But the title isn’t enough for Leo. He wants Hannah too, and she can’t deny her attraction to him either. Somehow, she must find a way to break free from abusive Eric before he breaks every bone in her body.

Review: The Truth About You And Me by Amanda Grace

Title: The Truth About You and Me
Author: Amanda Grace
Publisher: Flux
Release date: September 8th 2013
Pages: 264
Genre: Young Adult contemporary romance
Source: BEA - I received a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks!
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Madelyn Hawkins is super smart. At sixteen, she's so gifted that she can attend college through a special program at her high school. On her first day, she meets Bennet. He's cute, funny, and kind. He understands Madelyn and what she's endured - and missed out on - in order to excel academically and please her parents. Now, for the first time in her life, she's falling in love.
There's only one problem. Bennet is Madelyn's college professor, and he thinks she's eighteen - because she hasn't told him the truth.
The story of their forbidden romance is told in letters that Madelyn writes to Bennet - both a heart-searing ode to their ill-fated love and an apology.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I love the set-up of this story. The entire novel is told in letters from Maddie to Bennett, explaining and apologizing for her actions while narrating the story. This format - especially the way Bennett is always referred to as "you" - took some getting used to, but once I did, I really enjoyed it. It adds another level of emotional intensity to the story.

The main issue of The Truth About You and Me is a difficult one, but Amanda Grace handled it really well. It blurs the lines between right and wrong, and whenever I wanted to judge these characters for their actions, I just couldn't. The way Maddie's relationship with Bennett develops is relatable and realistic, making it so much harder to form an opinion on whether what happens in this book is right or wrong, which I really appreciated with an issue like this one.

The other storyline - Maddie's coming-of-age and her family problems - is good too. It's the type of set-up we've seen a million times before, but with an unusual twist because of Maddie's parents' characters. I especially liked Maddie's relationship with her brother. I kind of wish Maddie's personal growth had been elaborated on more towards the end, but it makes sense why it isn't, given the set-up and circumstances. One thing that bugged me, though, is the way Maddie kept being referring to and keeps referring to herself as a smart girl; I found that to be overdone and a little offensive, too.

Amanda Grace's/Mandy Hubbard's writing is so easy to get lost in; her stories are always absorbing and entertaining. Equal parts sweet, heartbreaking, and thought-provoking, The Truth About You and Me is another great read from Amanda Grace!

Review: Fire with Fire by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian

Title: Fire with Fire (Burn for Burn #2)
Author: Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Release date: September 3rd 2013
Pages: 528
Genre: Young Adult
Source: BEA - I received an advance copy of this book at Book Expo America in exchange for an honest review. Thanks!
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Lillia, Kat, and Mary had the perfect plan. Work together in secret to take down the people who wronged them. But things didn’t exactly go the way they’d hoped at the Homecoming Dance.
Not even close.
For now, it looks like they got away with it. All they have to do is move on and pick up the pieces, forget there ever was a pact. But it’s not easy, not when Reeve is still a total jerk and Rennie’s meaner than she ever was before.
And then there’s sweet little Mary…she knows there’s something seriously wrong with her. If she can’t control her anger, she’s sure that someone will get hurt even worse than Reeve was. Mary understands now that it’s not just that Reeve bullied her—it’s that he made her love him.
Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, burn for a burn. A broken heart for a broken heart. The girls are up to the task. They’ll make Reeve fall in love with Lillia and then they will crush him. It’s the only way he’ll learn.
It seems once a fire is lit, the only thing you can do is let it burn...

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Burn for Burn was such a fun read, and Fire with Fire is just as entertaining. These books are perfect guilty pleasure reading - there's nothing deep or meaningful about them, but they're just so much fun to breeze through.

Both Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian have writing styles that I always enjoy. They write books that are always entertaining, simple as that. Both writing styles flow really nicely and make the pages turn quickly, even though this book is so long. Their styles work really well together. The characters they have created in this series are intriguing: no, they're not the most complex characters I've read about, but their stories are engrossing, and that's what counts. None of them are characters I can entirely agree with, but they're relatable nonetheless, and I enjoyed reading about them.

The story, though, I didn't enjoy as much in Fire with Fire as I did in Burn for Burn. In comparison, I feel like the sequel was lacking a certain drive. In Burn for Burn, the girls were brought together by their revenge plan, which pushed the plot throughout the novel. At the start of Fire with Fire, the girls have nothing of the sort to keep them together, so I didn't really see the point of the novel of at first. They do develop another revenge plan over the course of the novel, but it didn't seem as strong as the one in the first book. I wished the other girls' revenge plans that were mentioned in the first book had been elaborated on more in the sequel, instead of continuing on with the one that was already started in Burn for Burn.

In Burn for Burn, I was pleasantly surprised that the supernatural aspect didn't play too important a role in the story. That is still the case for most of Fire with Fire, up until the very end. And the ending... I really don't know what to make of that. The way it's left at the end of Fire with Fire, I don't think it makes all that much sense, to be honest. But I'm assuming the third book in the series, Ashes to Ashes, will elaborate on that storyline and hopefully make it all start to make sense.

Despite these smaller issues with the story, Fire with Fire is most definitely a fun read. If you're looking for a quick, entertaining read that doesn't require much thinking on your part, you should definitely give this series a try!

Review: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

Title: Rose Under Fire (Code Name Verity #2)
Author: Elizabeth Wein
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release date: September 13th 2013
Pages: 368
Genre: Young Adult historical
Source: I received a free advance copy of this book at BEA - thanks!
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While flying an Allied fighter plane from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet, Rose Justice, is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious women's concentration camp. Trapped in horrific circumstances, Rose finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery and friendship of her fellow prisoners. But will that be enough to endure the fate that’s in store for her?

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I think I would have enjoyed this book a whole lot more if it weren't connected to Code Name Verity. I probably wouldn't have read it at all if it weren't for Code Name Verity, but still. Code Name Verity is an amazing book, so of course I had to read the companion. And I really liked Rose Under Fire, too - I just think it pales in comparison to Code Name Verity.

What I loved most about Code Name Verity was the cleverness of the set-up - you have no idea what's going on and it doesn't start to make sense until the very end, making Code Name Verity an entirely suspenseful read. In Rose Under Fire, though, the set-up has the opposite effect: Rose is telling us about her time in Ravensbrueck after she has made her escape, switching back and forth between past and present, so we already know how things are going to turn out. I loved how Code Name Verity worked as both a historical novel and something like a thriller, and the thriller aspect was more or less missing in Rose Under Fire.

That being said, though, the historical aspect is still exceptionally well-done, just like it was in Code Name Verity. The details are thoroughly researched and expertly integrated into the story; Elizabeth Wein is most definitely a great writer. The stories of these girls are fascinating, in a completely horrifying way, and I loved getting to know all of them. I especially liked seeing how the characters in Rose Under Fire relate back to the story in Code Name Verity.

Rose Under Fire is a good historical novel, educational, emotional, and fascinating to read. But in comparison to Code Name Verity, I found it underwhelming. It lacks the spark and the thrill that every word in Code Name Verity held for me. The story felt a lot more basic than the captivating, crazy-plot-twists one we got in the first novel. I liked Rose Under Fire, but I will not be forcing everyone I know to read it, the way I've been doing with Code Name Verity.