Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

Never Have I Ever (Lying Game #2) by Sara Shepard

MY PERFECT LIFE WAS A LIE.
NOW I'D DO ANYTHING TO
UNCOVER THE TRUTH.

Not long ago, I had everything a girl could wish for: amazing friends, an adorable boyfriend, a loving family. But none of them know that I'm gone--that I'm dead. To solve my murder, my long-lost twin sister, Emma, has taken my place. She sleeps in my room, wears my clothes, and calls my parents Mom and Dad.

And my killer is watching her every move.

I remember little from my life, just flashes and flickers, so all I can do is follow along as Emma tries to solve the mystery of my disappearance. But the deeper she digs, the more suspects she uncovers. It turns out my friends and I played a lot of games--games that ruined people's lives. Anyone could want revenge...anyone could want me--and now Emma--dead.

*********************************************************************************
==This book was alot more action packed. More anxiety. I actually thought we could finally come away with some real answers. I do admit that my heart was pumping when Emma was stuck in that cave. I almost wanted to cover my eyes, with fingers spread, like at a tense moment watching a movie. =)

I was bummed out that we have to go back to square one. But will eagerly look for the next book.==

********************************************************************************

The Lying Game by Sara Shepard

Pretty girls don't
play by the rules.
They make them.

Abandoned by her mother at age five, Emma Paxton has had a rough life in foster care, always longing for a familyu of her own. When she discovers Sutton Mercer, the wealthy twin she never knew she had, she leaps at the chance to meet her. But then Sutton disappears...

Mistaking Emma for her sister, Sutton's friends whisk her away. At first Emma plays along, eager to peek into her twin's life. Sutton seems to have everything Emma never got--an adoring boyfriend, fiercely loyal friends, and a close-knit family--but as Emma is drawn further into Sutton's world, she find that everyone is hiding dark secrets. Worst of all, Sutton may not be coming back--ever.

Now, to find out what happened to her, Emma must kepp up the charade. But one wrong move and she could end up missing as well.

Let the Lying Game begin.

**********************************************************************************
==I liked the story. It was nice to move away from the occult books. The style of writing the author has to offer is very refreshing. Who doesn't love a good mystery? I, of course, love Ethan. The voiolence in this book is just enough to get the point across. I was actually shocked at first that they would add something like this in a YA book. The author makes you actually feel the necklace around her throat. Every episode of fear is so real with this character.

The only bad thing, is that after I read this book, I watched the TV version of this book series. I didn't like it, and now it messed up my memory of the book. I need to remember to write the review of the book BEFORE seeing any other version, movie or TV. =(

**********************************************************************************

Insatiable by Meg Cabot

SICK OF HEARING ABOUT VAMPIRES?
SO IS MEENA HARPER.

Meena Harper is familiar with the supernatural. After all, she knows how you're going to die. (Not that you're going to believe her. No one ever does.)

But not even Meena's precognition can prepare her for Lucien Antonescu--whom she meets and then makes the mistake of falling in love with--a modern-day prince with a bit of dark side for which an ancient society of vampire hunters would prefer to see him dead.

The problem is Lucien's already dead. Maybe that's why he's the first guy Meena's ever met with whom she could imagine herself having a future. See, while Meena's always been able to see everyone else's destiny, she's never been able to look into her own. Lucien seems to be everything Meena has ever dreamed of in a boyfriend, though he might turn out to be more of a nightmare.

SO NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME FOR MEENA TO START LEARNING TO PREDICT HER OWN FUTURE...IF SHE HAS ONE.

**********************************************************************************
==I liked it. There is always items I wish the author would of done differently. But overall, the book was entertaining. But I do have to compliment the author on her set up for a sequel. It tied up the loose ends of the book, while also leaving the door open for more to the story to be added later. She didn't string you along with a piece of cheese like most YA authors do to their readers. Not saying that this was a YA book. If they had toned down the touchy feely, it could apeal to the older of the YA audiance. Even I felt a little uncomfortable.

I did roll my eyes how she spoofed Susan Lucci, the Twilight Series, The Vampire Diaries show, then rode the coat tails of Bram Stoker. But...no one is perfect. I will look for her sequel to this, and just may pick up another of Meg Cabot's books. I'm starting to like you Meg. ==
**********************************************************************************

The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

Travis Parker has everything a man could want: a good job, loyal friends, even a waterfront home in a small-town North Carolina. In full pursuit of the good life--boating, swimming, and barbecues with his close buddies--he holds the vague conviction that a serious relationship would only cramp his style. That is until Gabby Holland moves in next door.

Despite his attempts to be neighborly, the attractive redhead seems to have a grudge against him. Still, Travis can't stop trying to ingratiate himself with his new neighbor, and his persistent efforts lead them both to the doorstep of a journey that neither could have foreseen. THE CHOICE ultimately confronts us with the most heart-wrenching question of all: How far would you go to keep the hope of love alive?

****************************************************************************
==This is my first Nicholas Sparks book. The only one that I have ever considered reading. I won't lie, I have a copy of THE LAST SONG on my bookshelf, but I have never read it. I only bought it was because a friend of mine wanted to go see the movie of it. But I never read it or saw the movie. I have seen THE NOTEBOOK. After hearing how it was such a tear jerker, even my gay friends loved this movie enough to see it 100 times, I did see the movie. I guess that should of told me right there about the author. That movie was almost there--but not quite.

That's how THE CHOICE was for me as well. I gave the book some benefit of the doubt being a new author for me. Also the fact that it was an "adult" book, which I rarely desire to read. The only part that delivered was when Travis was sobbing at her bedside. The rest of the story, just wasn't enough. I didn't "feel" the story.

There are so many other of the author's books to choose from, yet I am not sure if I do want to read them. You would think that being so popular with the "heartbreak" in his books, you would actually get what was promised. I didn't cry or swoon. I'm disappointed. =(
**********************************************************************************

The Twin's Daughter by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

DOES NOT A CHILD RECOGNIZE HER OWN MOTHER?

Lucy Sexton is stunned when a disheveled woman appears at the door one day...a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to her own beautiful mother. The two women are identical twins, seperated at birth and raised in dramatically different circumstances: one as a member of high society, the other in a workhouse. Lucy's mother quickly resolves to give her sister the kind of life she has never known, and the transofrmation in Aunt Helen is remarkable. As time goes by, Lucy herself transforms into a young woman, falling in love with a childhood friend she was once sure she hated. But in what should be a happy household, something is very, very wrong. And as Aunt Helen and Lucy's mother become ever more indistinguishable, Lucy begins to suspect that her aunt's now familiar face may mask a chilling agenda.

****************************************************************************
== Once I read the jacket, I pretty much knew what it was going to be about. But I hated this book from the beginning. This book could of easily done without the turn of the century backdrop. That's why I hated it most. The only part I liked was Kit's letters to Lucy. I pushed through the book because it promised twists and turns and I had nothing else to read during my vacation at my in-laws.==
*****************************************************************************

The Lost Saint (a Dark Divine Novel) by Bree Despain

A FAMILY DESTROYED
A LOVE THREATENED
AN ENEMY RETURNS

Grace Divine made the ultimate sacrifice to cure Daniel Kalbi. She was infected with the werewolf curse while trying to save him, and lost her beloved brother in the process.

Desperate to find Jude, Grace befrinds Talbot, a newcomer to town. But as the two grow closer, Grace's relationship with Daniel is put in danger--in more ways than one.

Unaware of the dark path she is walking, Grace begins to give into the wolf inside of her--not realizing that an enemy has returned and a deadly trap is about to be sprung.


*******************************************************************
==It had been quite a while since I read the first book. I had to re-read it again before I tried this one. So when I first opened the book of The Lost Saint, it was hard to swallow the first few pages. I didn't want to hear about training, I feared this book was going to be cheesy. I groaned for a few chapters.

Even as Daniel started to drift away, I thought this story was only too expected. With the entrance of Talbot, I dove right into the story. I knew how it was going to probably end, but I didn't care anymore. I loved this book as much as I loved the first when I first read it so many years (months?) ago.

I didn't like how it ended...just like that. It could of ended a little earlier. It would of made sense if it did. But to give it such a "cliff hanger" it felt so much like late night novelas or old school Dynasty or Dallas. But this book and author are charming enough to get away with it.

I am only sad that I do not know when the next one is coming....I will continue with this series =)
*******************************************************************************

Hereafter by Tara Hudson

CAN THERE BE TRULY LOVE AFTER DEATH?

Drifing in the dark waters of a mysterious river, the only thing Amelia knows for sure is that she's dead. With no recollection of her past life--or her actual death--she's trapped alone in a nightmarish existence. All of this changes when she tries to rescue a boy, Joshua, from drowning in her river. As a ghost, she can do nothing but will him to love. Yet in an unforgettable moment of connection she helps him survive.

Amelia and Joshua grow ever closer as they begin to uncover the strange circumstances of her death and the secrets of the dark river that held her captive for so long. But even while they struggle to keep their bond hidden from the living world, a frightening spirit named Eli is doing everything in his power to destroy their newfound happiness and drag Amelia into the ghost world...forever.

*******************************************************************************
==I was a little disappointed in this book. I felt it was dumbed down too much for it's potential readers. Even though, this genere is Young Adult, authors like Stephenie Meyer and Suzanne Collins don't have to dumb the story down to enthrawl their readers.

The author spent more time explaining every detail of a characters body movements than the scene around them. It was very difficult to image yourself in the story world. I felt the only background she truly described was the backyard of the Mayhew's house.

The characters could of been more, especially Eli. I thought the ending was predictable with Jillian. I felt the way everything was ended and swept under the rug was diappointing. It's like the author dug herself so deep, that she didn't know how to end it. It felt like the shower dream from Dallas.

I just felt sad that authors today don't fully develop their stories in the first books. They linger and drag out the stories so they can have sequels. She left so much dangling, you kind of have to read the next one to know about rest of the story. But I think, this series I will skip. ==
******************************************************************************

Abandon by Meg Cabot

PIERCE KNOWS WHAT IT'S LIKE TO DIE.
BECAUSE SHE'D DONE IT BEFORE.

Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can't help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she's never alone...because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when some there wants you back.

But now she's moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid.

Only she can't. Because even here, he finds her. That's how desperately he wants her back. She knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven, yet she can't stay away...especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.

But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.

**********************************************************************************
==After seeing Meg Cabot books showing up in my usual book haunts, I thought about giving her a try. But it was another series entirely. I was unsure still to start a new author just for the sake of moving on in my reading. But when I saw Abandon, it was book love at first sight. I knew...this was the one for me.

I was excited to start this book. I do have to say that it isn't an easy transition into the book reality. I took me quite a few chapters before things started to make sense. It did get frustrating when the author kept certain past details still a secret. It's was like we were halfway through the book already, just spill it!

I liked John very much. From the first encounter, to the Underworld. Pierce seemed a little ditzy, but it was ok because she was so young (15) and probably a tree hugger. The story was going well until the scene in the cemetary in the beginning of the book. She would flash back so much that you forgot about the moment you were in. A very intense and angry passionate moment. By the time you got back to real time, it dimenished the emotion that was there. The part of him kicking in the gate and throwing her out was weak because of lost intensity of the moment.

I didn't care for the subplot. The popular kids and her cousin's beef with them. It seemed like an afterthought to tie in a second book. I was actually really disappointed with the ending of this book. I thought the story in Book 1 could of been so much more. The author doesn't need to quote Ice Cube in her book just to connect with the audience she is trying to reach out to. That only makes her seem like she is trying too hard and she shouldn't want to channel the "House of Night" series. Blah..

Overall, I like the story. I want to read more. I just hope the author gives it the passion it deserves. Don't dumb it down. Give us the pain and the love. It's death...afterall.==

*****************************************************************************

Incarceron (Series #1) by Catherine Fisher

IT GIVES LIFE. IT DEALS DEATH. IT WATCHES ALL.

Finn cannot remember his childhood. HE cannot remember

Beautiful Darkness (Series #2) by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

A few months ago,
I believed nothing would
ever change in this town.

Now I knew better, and I
only wished it was true.

Ethan Wate used to think Gatlin, the small Southern town he
had always called home, as a place where nothing ever
changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes,
who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain
sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets
beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A
Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful
Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible,
magical, life-altering events happen.

Sometimes life ending.

Together Ethan and Lena can face anything Gatlin throws at them,
but after suffereing a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping
secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have
been opened to the darker side of Gatin, there's no going back. Haunted
by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's
tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of
undergrond passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing
is as it seems.

************************************************************

Beautiful Creatures (Series #1) by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin
has ever seen, and she's struggling to coneal her power and a curse that
has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown
gardens, murky swamps, and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten
South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape
from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met.
When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation.
Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the
connection between them.

In a town with no suprises, one secret could change everything.

************************************************************

Misguided Angel (Blue Bloods Series #5) by Melissa De La Cruz

After inheriting the dark Van Alen Legacy, Schuylar fled to
Florence with her forbidden love, Jack. Now the two of them
must embark on the mission Schuylar was destined to complete:
to find and protect the five remaining gates that fuard the
earth from Lucier, lord of the Silver Bloods.

Back in New York, Mimi has been elected Regent of a
crumbling coven. Struggling with her heartache over the loss
of Kingsley and with her overwhelming desire to destroy
Jack, she must focus all her energy on a perilous new threat.
Vampires are being abducted and their captors are
planning to burn them alive online...for all the world to see.
Help arrives in the form of Deming Chen, a Venator from
Shanghai, who must untangle the web of deceptions before
killers strike again.

As the young vampires struggle for the survival of the coven,
they uncover a deadly secret, a truth first discovered by
Schuylar's mother during the Renaissance but kept it
buried for centuries. And as the Blue Blood enclave weakens
yet further, fate leads Schuylar to a terrible choice that will
ultimately map the destiny of her heart.

****************************************************************

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Balefire by Cate Tierman

Night's Child (Sweep Series #15) by Cate Tierman

MEET MOIRA BYRNE, THE DAUGHTER OF A PRODIGY...
JUST AS HER WHOLE LIFE IS ABOUT TO SHATTER.

TWENTY YEARS AGO, MORGAN ROWLANDS WAS THE MOST POWERFUL
YOUNG BLOOD WITCH TO COME AROUND IN GENERATIONS--MAKING
MAGICKAL DISCOVERIES, FACING AND CONQUERING UNIMAGINABLE
EVIL, AND SURVIVNG A DEVASTATING BETRAYAL. HER DAUGHTER,
FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD MOIRA, KNOWS THERE'S MORE TO HER MOTHER'S
PAST THAN SHE'S BEEN TOLD. AND THE SECRETS THAT LIE IN
MORGAN'S HEART COULD DESTROY MOIRA'S ENTIRE WORLD. WHEN
MOIRA LEARNS TWO PAINFUL TRUTHS ABOUT HER FAMILY, SHE
BEGINS TO PUT THE PUZZLE TOGETHER--AND REALIZES THAT
SOMEONE CLOSE TO HER IS IN GRAVE DANGER.

AN UNCOMMON FAMILY.
AN ENDLESS BATTLE. A NEW BEGINNING.

*********************************************************************

Full Circle (Sweep Series #14) by Cate Tierman

I THOUGHT THE WORST WAS OVER.
I AM FINISHED AS A SEEKER.

BUT NOW SOMETHING IS REACHING OUT FOR ME, FROM MY PAST.
THE ROAD AHEAD IS UNCERTAIN.

THANK THE GODDESS I HAVE HUNTER.
THOUGH MORGAN WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR ME...

I KNOW THAT TOGETHER WE CAN FACE ANY FOE.
I KNOW I MUST FACE MY FUTURE ALONE.

***************************************************************

Reckoning (Sweep Series #13) by Cate Tierman

SOMEWHERE, THERE IS A PLACE FOR ME.
THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND ME.
AND CAN EXPLAIN THE MYSTERIES OF MY PAST.

I HAVE TRAVELED FAR IN SEARCH OF THIS PLACE.

BUT INSTEAD OF KNOWLEDGE OR UNDERSTANDING,
I HAVE FOUND ONLY DANGER, HOSTILITY, AND FEAR...

***************************************************************

Eclipse (Sweep Series #12) by Cate Tierman

EVERYTHING AROUND ME SEEMS STRANGE AND DARK.
I AM NOT WHO I THOUGHT I WAS.

DANGER IS COMING; I KNOW THIS NOW.
EVERYTHING I BELEIVED ABOUT MY FAMILY IS A LIE.

I CAN STOP THIS. BUT I CAN'T DO IT ALONE.
HOW CAN I LIVE WITH THIS KNOWLEDGE?

I NEED HELP...
I NEED HELP...

*************************************************************************************

Origins (Sweep Series #11) by Cate Tierman

MY NAME IS ROSE MacEWAN. THE YEAR IS 1682.
IT IS A HARD TIME TO BE A WITCH.
AND AN EVEN HARDER TIME TO BE WODEBAYNE.

NOW THAT I'VE FOUND MY SOUL MATE,
I FEEL ALMOST SAFE.
I WILL DO ANYTHING TO KEEP HIM.

PITY THE WITCH WHO COMES BETWEEN ME
AND MY TRUE LOVE.

**********************************************************

Seeker (Sweep Series #10) by Cate Tierman

I LOVE MORGAN.
SHE IS MY SOUL MATE.
BUT I MUST FIND MY PARENTS.

NOW I HAVE INFORMATION.
THERE ARE LEADS THAT SEEM PROMISING.
I FEEL MYSELF GETTING CLOSER.

BUT AM I STRONG ENOUGH FOR WHAT I MIGHT FIND?

****************************************************************

Changeling (Sweep Series #8) by Cate Tierman

THE GROUND KEEPS SHIFTING UNDER ME.
I THOUGHT I'D DISCOVERED THE TRUTH ABOUT MYSELF.
BUT EVERYTHING I LEARNED TURNED OUT TO BE LIES.

I'LL DO WHAT I MUST TO FIND OUT WHAT I NEED TO KNOW.
I'LL SACRIFICE ALMOST ANYTHING.

I'VE GOT TO KNOW WHO--OR WHAT--I AM.

************************************************************************************