Wednesday, May 01, 2013

New Releases May 2013

New releases:



How I Lost You by Janet Gurtler
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Release date: May 1st 2013
Grace and Kya always do everything together, and nothing can get in the way of their friendship. They have a pact: Sisters Before Misters. Buds Before Studs.
Only Grace knows what Kya's been through, or how much she needs someone to stick by her. No Matter What. Besides, Kya keeps life exciting-pulling Grace into things she'd never dare do on her own.
But inch by inch, daring is starting to turn dangerous. And Grace will have to decide how far she can go to save her friendship with Kya...before she ends up losing everything else.


Our Song by Jordanna Fraiberg
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Release date: May 7th 2013
Olive Bell has spent her entire life in the beautiful suburb of Vista Valley, with a picture-perfect home, a loving family, and a seemingly perfect boyfriend. But after a near-fatal car accident, she’s haunted by a broken heart and a melody that she cannot place.
Then Olive meets Nick. He’s dark, handsome, mysterious... and Olive feels connected to him in a way she can’t explain. Is there such a thing as fate? The two embark on a whirlwind romance—until Nick makes a troubling confession.
Heartbroken, Olive pieces together what really happened the night of her accident and arrives at a startling revelation. Only by facing the truth can she uncover the mystery behind the song and the power of what it means to love someone.




How My Summer Went Up in Flames by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski
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Release date: May 7th 2013
Rosie’s always been impulsive. She didn’t intend to set her cheating ex-boyfriend’s car on fire. And she never thought her attempts to make amends could be considered stalking. So when she’s served with a temporary restraining order on the first day of summer vacation, she’s heartbroken—and furious.
To put distance between Rosie and her ex, Rosie’s parents send her on a cross-country road trip with responsible, reliable neighbor Matty and his two friends. Forget freedom of the road, Rosie wants to hitchhike home and win back her ex. But her determination starts to dwindle with each passing mile. Because Rosie’s spark of anger? It may have just ignited a romance with someone new…




Golden by Jessi Kirby
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Release date: May 14th 2013
Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost may be a distant relative of Robert Frost, but she has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a mystery in her lap—one that might be the key to uncovering the truth behind a town tragedy, she decides to take a chance.





The Language Inside by Holly Thompson
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Release date: May 14th 2013
Emma Karas was raised in Japan; it's the country she calls home. But when her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer, Emma's family moves to a town outside Lowell, Massachusetts, to stay with Emma's grandmother while her mom undergoes treatment.
Emma feels out of place in the United States.She begins to have migraines, and longs to be back in Japan. At her grandmother's urging, she volunteers in a long-term care center to help Zena, a patient with locked-in syndrome, write down her poems. There, Emma meets Samnang, another volunteer, who assists elderly Cambodian refugees. Weekly visits to the care center, Zena's poems, dance, and noodle soup bring Emma and Samnang closer, until Emma must make a painful choice: stay in Massachusetts, or return home early to Japan.


The Rules for Disappearing by Ashley Elston
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Release date: May 14th 2013
She’s been six different people in six different places: Madeline in Ohio, Isabelle in Missouri, Olivia in Kentucky . . . But now that she’s been transplanted to rural Louisiana, she has decided that this fake identity will be her last.
Witness Protection has taken nearly everything from her. But for now, they’ve given her a new name, Megan Rose Jones, and a horrible hair color. For the past eight months, Meg has begged her father to answer one question: What on earth did he do – or see – that landed them in this god-awful mess? Meg has just about had it with all the Suits’ rules — and her dad’s silence. If he won’t help, it’s time she got some answers for herself.
But Meg isn’t counting on Ethan Landry, an adorable Louisiana farm boy who’s too smart for his own good. He knows Meg is hiding something big. And it just might get both of them killed. As they embark on a perilous journey to free her family once and for all, Meg discovers that there’s only one rule that really matters — survival.


The Sweet Dead Life by Joy Preble
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Release date: May 14th 2013
“I found out two things today. One, I think I’m dying. And two, my brother is a perv.”
So begins the diary of 14-year-old Jenna Samuels, who is having a very bad eighth-grade year. Her single mother spends all day in bed. Dad vanished when she was eight. Her 16-year-old brother, Casey, tries to hold together what’s left of the family by working two after-school jobs— difficult, as he’s stoned all the time. To make matters worse, Jenna is sick. When she collapses one day, Casey tries to race her to the hospital in their beat-up Prius and crashes instead. 
Jenna wakes up in the ER to find Casey beside her. Beatified. Literally. The flab and zits? Gone. Before long, Jenna figures out that Casey didn’t survive the accident at all. He’s an “A-word.” (She can’t bring herself to utter the truth.) Soon they discover that Jenna isn’t just dying: she’s being poisoned. And Casey has been sent back to help solve the mystery that not only holds the key to her survival, but also to their mother’s mysterious depression and father’s disappearance.



Five Summers by Una LaMarche
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Release date: May 16th 2013
Four best friends, five summers of camp memories...
The summer we were nine: Emma was branded “Skylar’s friend Emma” by the infamous Adam Loring...
The summer we were ten: Maddie realized she was too far into her lies to think about telling the truth...
The summer we were eleven: Johanna totally freaked out during her first game of Spin the Bottle...
The summer we were twelve: Skylar’s love letters from her boyfriend back home were exciting to all of us—except Skylar...
Our last summer together: Emma and Adam almost kissed. Jo found out Maddie’s secret. Skylar did something unthinkable... and whether we knew it then or not, five summers of friendship began to fall apart. Three years after the fateful last night of camp, the four of us are coming back to camp for reunion weekend—and for a second chance.




The Book of Broken Hearts by Sarah Ockler
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Release date: May 21st 2013
Jude has learned a lot from her older sisters, but the most important thing is this: The Vargas brothers are notorious heartbreakers. She’s seen the tears and disasters that dating a Vargas boy can cause, and she swore an oath — with candles and a contract and everything — to never have anything to do with one.
Now Jude is the only sister still living at home, and she’s spending the summer helping her ailing father restore his vintage motorcycle. No one wants to end up with a toaster on wheels, so they hire a mechanic to help out. Is it Jude’s fault he happens to be cute? And surprisingly sweet? And a Vargas?
Jude tells herself it’s strictly bike business with Emilio. Her sisters will never find out, and Jude can spot those flirty little Vargas tricks a mile away — no way would she fall for them. But old warnings fade fast, because Emilio turns out to be the first guy in forever she likes. Really likes. Jude’s defenses are crumbling, and if history is destined to repeat itself, she’s speeding toward some serious heartbreak… 




All I Need by Susane Colasanti
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Release date: May 21st 2013


Skye wants to meet the boy who will change her life forever. Seth feels their instant connection the second he sees her. When Seth starts talking to Skye at the last beach party of the summer, it’s obvious to both of them that this is something real. But when Seth leaves for college before they exchange contact info, Skye wonders if he felt the same way she did—and if she will ever see him again. Even if they find their way back to each other, can they make a long-distance relationship work despite trust issues, ex drama, and some serious background differences?




Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown
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Release date: May 21st 2013
Ashleigh's boyfriend, Kaleb, is about to leave for college, and Ashleigh is worried that he'll forget about her while he's away. So at a legendary end-of-summer pool party, Ashleigh's friends suggest she text him a picture of herself -- sans swimsuit -- to take with him. Before she can talk herself out of it, Ashleigh strides off to the bathroom, snaps a photo in the full-length mirror, and hits "send." 
But when Kaleb and Ashleigh go through a bad breakup, Kaleb takes revenge by forwarding the text to his baseball team. Soon the photo has gone viral, attracting the attention of the school board, the local police, and the media. As her friends and family try to distance themselves from the scandal, Ashleigh feels completely alone -- until she meets Mack while serving her court-ordered community service. Not only does Mack offer a fresh chance at friendship, but he's the one person in town who received the text of Ashleigh's photo -- and didn't look.




Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith
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Release date: May 28th 2013
Things you earnestly believe will happen while your parents are away:
1. You will remember to water the azaleas.
2. You will take detailed, accurate messages.
3. You will call your older brother, Denny, if even the slightest thing goes wrong.
4. You and your best friend/bandmate Lukas will win Battle of the Bands.
5. Amid the thrill of victory, Lukas will finally realize you are the girl of his dreams.

Things that actually happen:
1. A stranger calls who says he knew your sister.
2. He says he has her stuff.
3. What stuff? Her stuff.
4. You tell him your parents won’t be able to—
5. Sukey died five years ago; can’t he—
6. You pick up a pen.
7. You scribble down the address.
8. You get on your bike and go.
9. Things . . . get a little crazy after that.*
*also, you fall in love, but not with Lukas.


New in paperback:



First Comes Love by Katie Kacvinsky
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Release date: May 7th 2013


Lke his name, Gray is dark and stormy. Dylan, a girl always searching for what's next, seemingly unable to settle down, is the exact opposite: full of light and life. On the outside, they seem like an unlikely couple. But looks can be deceiving and besides, opposites attract.
What starts as friendship, turns into admiration, respect and caring, until finally these two lone souls find they are truly in love with each other.
But staying in love is not as easy as falling in love. If Dylan and Gray want their love to last, they're going to have to work at it. And learn that sometimes love means having to say you're sorry.


Waiting by Carol Lynch Williams
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Release date: May 7th 2013
Twelve-year-old Hope's life is turned upside down when her older sister Lizzie becomes an elective mute and is institutionalized after trying to kill herself. Ever since their dad died Hope and Lizzie have relied on each other from a young age. Their mother is a reluctant and unreliable parent at best, and it's up to Hope to discover the terrible secret that's eating away at Lizzie before it's too late.




The S-Word by Chelsea Pitcher
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Release date: May 7th 2013

Lizzie wasn’t the first student at Verity High School to kill herself this year. But the difference is, she didn’t go quietly.
First it was SLUT scribbled all over the school’s lockers. But one week after Lizzie Hart takes her own life, SUICIDE SLUT replaces it—in Lizzie’s own looping scrawl. Photocopies of her diary show up in the hands of her classmates. And her best friend, Angie, is enraged.
Angie stopped talking to Lizzie on prom night, when she caught Lizzie in bed with her boyfriend. Too heartbroken to ask for an explanation or to intervene when Lizzie got branded Queen of the Sluts and was cruelly bullied by her classmates, Angie left her best friend to the mercy of the school, with tragic results.
But with this new slur, Angie’s guilt transforms into anger that someone is still targeting Lizzie even after her death. Using clues from Lizzie’s diary and aided by the magnetic, mysterious Jesse, Angie begins relentlessly investigating who, exactly, made Lizzie feel life was no longer worth living. And while she might claim she simply wants to punish Lizzie’s tormentors, her anguish over abandoning and then losing her best friend drives Angie deeper into the dark, twisted side of Verity High—and she might not be able to pull herself back out.






Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
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Release date: May 7th 2013

Taylor's family might not be the closest-knit – everyone is a little too busy and overscheduled – but for the most part, they get along fine. Then they get news that changes everything: Her father has pancreatic cancer, and it's stage four – meaning that there is basically nothing to be done. Her parents decide that the family will spend his last months together at their old summerhouse in the Pocono Mountains. Crammed into a place much smaller and more rustic than they are used to, they begin to get to know each other again. And Taylor discovers that the people she thought she had left behind haven't actually gone anywhere. Her former summer best friend is suddenly around, as is her first boyfriend. . . and he's much cuter at seventeen than he was at twelve.
As the summer progresses, the Edwards become more of a family, and closer than they've ever been before. But all of them very aware that they're battling a ticking clock. Sometimes, though, there is just enough time to get a second chance – with family, with friends, and with love.





Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
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Release date: May 7th 2013

Up until senior year, Greg has maintained social total social invisibility. He only has one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time - when not plaing video games and avoiding Earl's terrifying brothers - making movies, their own versions of Coppolaa and Herzog classics. Greg would be the first one to tell you his movies are f*@$ing terrible, but he and Earl don't make them for other people. Until Rachel.
Rachel has leukemia, and Greg's mom gets the genius idea that Greg should befriend her. Against his better judgement and despite his extreme awkwardness, he does. When Rachel decides to stop treatment, Greg and Earl make her a movie, and Greg must abandon invisibility and make a stand. It's a hilarious, outrageous, and truthful look at death and high school by a prodigiously talented debut author.


In Honor by Jessi Kirby
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Release date: May 14th 2013
Honor receives her brother's last letter from Iraq three days after learning that he died, and opens it the day his fellow Marines lay the flag over his casket. Its contents are a complete shock: concert tickets to see Kyra Kelly, her favorite pop star and Finn's celebrity crush. In his letter, he jokingly charged Honor with the task of telling Kyra Kelly that he was in love with her.
Grief-stricken and determined to grant Finn's last request, she rushes to leave immediately. But she only gets as far as the driveway before running into Rusty, Finn's best friend since third grade and his polar opposite. She hasn't seen him in ages, thanks to a falling out between the two guys, but Rusty is much the same as Honor remembers him: arrogant, stubborn. . . and ruggedly good looking. Neither one is what the other would ever look for in a road trip partner, but the two of them set off together, on a voyage that makes sense only because it doesn't. Along the way, they find small and sometimes surprising ways to ease their shared loss and honor Finn--but when shocking truths are revealed at the end of the road, will either of them be able to cope with the consequences?






The Boy Recession by Flynn Meaney
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Release date: May 21st 2013
The boy recession has hit Julius P. Heil High, and the remaining boys find that their stock is on the rise: With little competition, even the most unlikely guys have a good chance at making the team and getting the girl. Guitar-strumming, class-skipping Hunter Fahrenbach never wanted to be a hot commodity, but the popular girls can't help but notice his unconventional good looks. With a little work, he might even by boyfriend material.
But for down-to-earth Kelly Robbins, the boy recession is causing all sorts of problems. She has secretly liked her good friend Hunter for a while now, but how can she stand out in a crowd of overzealous Spandexers?
As if dating wasn't hard enough without a four-to-one ratio!



Crazy by Amy Reed
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Release date: May 21st 2013
Connor knows that Izzy will never fall in love with him the way he’s fallen for her. But somehow he’s been let into her crazy, exhilarating world and become her closest confidante. But the closer they get, the more Connor realizes that Izzy’s highs are too high and her lows are too low. And the frenetic energy that makes her shine is starting to push her into a much darker place. As Izzy’s behavior gets increasingly erratic and self-destructive, Connor gets increasingly desperate to stop her from plummeting. He knows he can’t save her from her pain...but what if no one else can?



The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth
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Release date: May 28th 2013
When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief she’ll never have to tell them that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl. But that relief soon turns to heartbreak, as Cam is forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and not making waves, and Cam becomes an expert at this—especially at avoiding any questions about her sexuality. Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. To Cam’s surprise, she and Coley become best friends—while Cam secretly dreams of something more. Just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, her secret is exposed. Ultrareligious Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to “fix” her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self—even if she’s not quite sure who that is.

Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker
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Release date: May 28th 2013
Sophomore year broke Clementine Williams’ heart. She fell for her best friend’s boyfriend and long story short: he’s excused, but Clem is vilified and she heads into summer with zero social life. Enter her parents’ plan to spend the summer on their sailboat. Normally the idea of being stuck on a tiny boat with her parents and little sister would make Clem break out in hives, but floating away sounds pretty good right now. Then she meets James at one of their first stops along the river. He and his dad are sailing for the summer and he’s just the distraction Clem needs. Can he break down Clem’s walls and heal her broken heart? Told in alternating chapters that chronicle the year that broke Clem’s heart and the summer that healed it, Unbreak My Heart is a wonderful dual love story that fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Susane Colasanti will flock to.





A Girl Named Digit by Annabel Monaghan
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Release date: May 28th 2013
Farrah "Digit" Higgins may be going to MIT in the fall, but this L.A. high school genius has left her geek self behind in another school district so she can blend in with the popular crowd at Santa Monica High and actually enjoy her senior year. But when Farrah, the daughter of a UCLA math professor, unknowingly cracks a terrorist group's number sequence, her laid-back senior year gets a lot more interesting. Soon she is personally investigating the case, on the run from terrorists, and faking her own kidnapping-- all while trying to convince a young, hot FBI agent to take her seriously. So much for blending in . . .

Wow, so many great books coming out this month! What May releases are you most excited about?

Monday, April 29, 2013

Review: Jane by April Lindner

Title: Jane
Author: April Lindner
Publisher: Poppy
Release date: September 23rd 2010
Pages: 373
Genre: new adult contemporary romance, retelling
Source: Bought

Forced to drop out of an esteemed East Coast college after the sudden death of her parents, Jane Moore takes a nanny job at Thornfield Park, the estate of Nico Rathburn, a world-famous rock star on the brink of a huge comeback. Practical and independent, Jane reluctantly becomes entranced by her magnetic and brooding employer and finds herself in the midst of a forbidden romance.
But there's a mystery at Thornfield, and Jane's much-envied relationship with Nico is soon tested by an agonizing secret from his past. Torn between her feelings for Nico and his fateful secret, Jane must decide: Does being true to herself mean giving up on true love?
My rating: 2 out of 5 stars

I was so excited to finally read Jane - a contemporary new adult novel with mystery and romance sounds perfect for me, and I'd heard great things about the book. Sadly, though, I didn't end up loving it - I couldn't get myself to want to keep reading and had to force myself to finish it.

From the beginning on, I was bored by the characters; they're flat and stereotypical. Jane is just so... plain. She's the typical quiet, shy girl, and it's just so overdone that it got annoying. Nico Rathburn is... I couldn't get myself to like him, at all. And the secondary characters are not even real characters; they're more like plot tools. None of them have a real personality, and I couldn't get myself to care about any of them.

What bugged me even more, though, than the characters, is the romance. Jane's relationship with Nico frustrated me to no end. The two of them have absolutely no chemistry, and I have no idea how they even developed feelings for each other - one minute he's just her boss, and on the next page, she's totally in love with him. And I just didn't see it. Once they get together, their relationship gets even more unrealistic - it moves way too fast, it's way too melodramatic, and it  just had me rolling my eyes the entire time.

The mystery aspect is really strange. I don't even know what to make of that storyline, or what else to say. Just... strange.

Maybe I can't properly judge Jane because I haven't read the original - maybe, if I could see all the parallels between April Lindner's retelling and the original, I could appreciate this book more. But without knowing the original, there was really nothing redeeming about the novel - the flat characters and unrealistic romance storyline made it hard for me to even finish this book.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Review: Speechless by Hannah Harrington

Title: Speechless
Author: Hannah Harrington
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Release date: August 28th 2012
Pages: 288
Genre: Conteporary Young Adult
Source: Bought
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Everyone knows that Chelsea Knot can't keep a secret.
Until now. Because the last secret she shared turned her into a social outcast--and nearly got someone killed.
Now Chelsea's has taken a vow of silence--to learn to keep her mouth shut, and to stop hurting everyone else. And if she thinks keeping secrets if hard, not speaking up when she's ignored, ridiculed and even attacked is worse.
But there's strength in silence, and in new friends who are, shockingly, coming her way. People she never noticed before. A boy she might even fall for. If only her new friends can forgive what she's done. If only she can forgive herself.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Like everyone else, I loved Hannah Harrington's debut, Saving June, so I was very excited for another one of her novels. Speechless is a much lighter read than Saving June, so her style is very different in her second book. And even though it can't compare to my love for Saving June, I still really enjoyed Speechless.

Chelsea should be a hard character to like. At least in the beginning, she's the kind of person that I wouldn't be able to stand in real life - obnoxious and self-righteous. But, for some reason, I still felt for her - I always love when living in someone's mind makes us like someone we wouldn't normally have a connection with. Over the course of the novel, as expected, Chelsea grows a lot, and I really enjoyed being there alongside her.

The secondary characters are fully developed, too, for the most part. I loved Chelsea's relationship with Sam, the boy she meets once she's exiled from her usual crowd - subtle, slow, understated, and perfect. I still wish her friendship with Asha would have gotten a little more attention, though, because she seems like a really interesting character as well. Even Kristen, Chelsea's ex-best friend and antagonist of the story, has some depth - I especially enjoyed reading about Chelsea's dynamic view of Kristen.

The whole vow of silence thing is strange, at first. I was worried about how Hannah Harrington would pull off this story without any real dialogue, or at least without the main character being able to say anything, but she makes it work. The only problem I had was at the beginning of her vow of silence - I wish we could have seen Chelsea struggle a bit more with not speaking. There are plenty of times when it's hard for her to hold back, not to talk back to someone, but I mean the smaller things she would've struggled with. I don't think any of us could imagine how hard it would be not to speak for a month, just because we're so used to it - honestly, I think there'd be a couple of times where I would simply forget and accidentally start talking. Chelsea didn't struggle with that at all, which I found kind of unrealistic.

I don't want to give too much away about this because I appreciate that the summary stays vague, but I really liked reading about the secret Chelsea spilled. I wish we could have gotten to know more about the boy whose secret she spilled, how all of this affected him. I wanted to know more about everyone's reaction to all of this, too - Chelsea's high school reacts as one big mass, but I would imagine an issue like this to spark some kind of controversy, maybe divide people into two sides, something like that. I wish that whole issue could have been explored more.

Other than that, though, Speechless is a great read. It's poignant and the perfect balance of sweet and heartbreaking. I loved it, and I can't wait for even more from Hannah Harrington!

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Review: Wintertown by Steve Emond

Title: Wintertown
Author: Steve Emond
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release date: December 5th 2011
Pages: 331
Genre: Young Adult contemporary
Source: Bought
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Every winter, straight-laced, Ivy League bound Evan looks forward to a visit from Lucy, a childhood pal who moved away after her parent's divorce. But when Lucy arrives this year, she's changed. The former "girl next door" now has chopped dyed black hair, a nose stud, and a scowl. But Evan knows that somewhere beneath the Goth, "Old Lucy" still exists, and he's determined to find her... even if it means pissing her off.
My rating: 2 out of 5 stars

To be honest, I bought this book because of the cover. I mean, just look at it - it's the epitome of what I wish all YA covers could be. I'd heard less-than-stellar things about Wintertown, but I couldn't resist buying it, just to own a book with that beautiful cover. Sadly, what I'd heard was right - the actual book does not live up to the awesomeness of the cover, and I ended up very disappointed by Wintertown.

The whole story just didn't work for me. Really, the description isn't even accurate. Yes, Lucy has changed from when Evan last saw her, but trying to get back to their old friendship is not the main part - that happens within the first 30 pages. What Wintertown is really about is how this childhood friendship develops into romance. Or maybe not romance, but some kind of relationship, even if it's one that's not exactly functional. And I honestly would have preferred the story that the description depicts; I love romance, too, but I didn't like how their issues were reduced to unnecessary romance-related drama.

Either way, focused on friendship or romance, this should have been a character-driven novel. And sadly, I found the character development to be lacking; both Evan and Lucy stay one-dimensional. Evan  is the typical repressed-artist type of character, doing whatever his dad tells him to get into a good college and become a lawyer just like daddy while secretly wanting to break free from the control of his family and work on his art. I don't always mind characters like that; if you add something new to it, that can be a great character scope. But there was nothing about Evan that really struck me as new, nothing that hasn't been done a million times before. Still, Evan's character disappointed me less than Lucy's. Lucy is supposed to be completely changed and oh so troubled, but... I just didn't see it. She died her hair black and got her nose pierced, and that's it - that's what makes her so different and such a "bad girl." Oh, and she had sex with her boyfriend, and she fights with her mom. So, basically, she's a teenager. There's nothing to her character that made me believe she actually is troubled, that the "Old Lucy" needs to be saved; nothing in Lucy's life is that big of a deal, really. I was expecting strong character development and lots of character growth, but these characters stayed cliched and one-dimensional.

These issues with the character development made it hard for me to get emotionally invested in the story. And that's the real problem here - I just couldn't get myself to care about what happened to the characters. I was just reading to read, not because I had any real interest in the characters' lives. When I don't love the characters, I can rarely relate to the story, which made it hard for me to get anything out of this read.

One thing I did like were the illustrations. The illustrations are quirky and add a lot to the story, and I love when authors do something different like that. The illustrations were probably my favorite part of the novel.

Still, that wasn't enough to save the novel for me. The underdeveloped characters made it impossible for me to get emotionally invested in the story, so I never really got into it. But I guess I'll be keeping the book on my shelf for the beautiful cover alone.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Cover Reveal: Touching Melody by RaShelle Workman


Today is the cover reveal for Touching Melody by RaShelle Workman!




Touching Melody will be released this June. Here's what it's all about:
Maddie Martin's first weekend at college is nothing like she's used to. It's wild, like the wilderness on which the University of Bellam Springs sits. Roped into going to a frat party, she literally runs into Kyle Hadley. The boy she's loved since she was nine. The boy she promised all of her firsts to. But that was before his father killed her parents.
Determined to stay away from him, she throws herself into her music. Practicing piano eases her heavy heart, calms the sadness, and pushes away images of Kyle's face. Until it doesn't.
Her music professor asks her to play a duet for their annual Graduation Gala. Doing so means she'll be assured another full ride scholarship. It's an opportunity she can't pass up. But Kyle is the other half of the duet. And that means hours and hours of practicing. Days and months of seclusion - just the two of them. And it's more than just music. It's passion like Maddie never believed was possible.
The inevitable happens. She falls in love with him all over again. But, will loving him be enough to erase all the hate in her heart for his father? Can she look at him, and not see the evil in his family tree?
And maybe it's all a set up. Maybe Kyle is only pretending to care so he can finish what his father started, and kill her too.
This book sounds perfect for me - new adult with romance and mystery! You can add it on Goodreads and stalk the author on her Website, Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.

What do you think of the cover?
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