Top Ten Tuesday #5

Top Ten is run by The Broke and the Bookish 

Top Ten Books Dealing With Tough Subjects

Stolen - Lucy Christopher

If you haven't read this book then read it. Seriously, READ IT! It's amazing and really had me feeling so many emotions. It's a shocking book which I became very wrapped up to the point where all I could think about was what was going to happen next. It's not a true story but everything about it feels real. 

Stay - Deb Caletti

I feel like I am going to repeat myself with each book by saying how powerful this book is but it really is powerful. It's about a girl in a abusive relationship who tries to get away. The character building in this story is amazing. 

But I Love Him - Amanda Grace

I was so excited to get my hands on this book and had huge expectations. Although I didn't give it 5/5 I definitely loved this book despite the difficult subject.

Comfort Food - Kitty Thomas

Not quite on the same level as the previous books but this book is about a girl who is held captive and the person who took her won't talk to her. I found it really interesting to see what isolation can do to someone and how emotions work. Good read!

Bitter End - Jennifer Brown

A very raw book about an abusive relationship which took me on an very raw roller coaster. 

Wonder - R.J. Palacio

This is a story about a young boy with a face deformity and how it effects the people around him, not just him. The most powerful thing about this book for me was seeing how it doesn't just effect  him but his family's and friends life and having to deal with everything. 

Whisper - Chrissie Keighery 

This is a story about a deaf girl and how she goes about her life with her disability. A very interesting book which had me seeing things in a different light.    

Trafficked - Sophie Hayes

This is probably the most shocking and hardest read in whole list because this is a true story written by the girl who went through some terrible events. It's about a British girl who is kidnapped and has to become a sex slave. 

Hostage Three - Nick Lake
This isn't a powerful book or anything as such but deals with a girl who is kidnapped by pirates. The relationships in this story and how they change while in captivity was really interesting.  

Cover Crazy #92

Consume - Melissa Darnell
Oh I love this cover! The white and red being used as main colours isn't something I have seen before but it really works and makes the cover bright and stand out. 

I love this cover because :

- The red and white together. It makes the colour red seem very powerful and so pretty.
- The girl's dress is so pretty and reminds me of summer which I love. 
- I like the tagline under the title but feel the tagline itself isn't that great, it doesn't draw me.
- I like the font of the title, it just suits the cover. I think if it was in fancy writing it would look silly because you have all the pattern around the edge of the cover. 
- Love the like little red 'fairy lights'. Magical. 

Resist - Sarah Crossan
I don't ADORE this cover but I do really like it. What makes me like it even more is because I know from looking at it that this is in the same series as Breathe, also by Sarah. It's so nice to have covers which are alike in the same series!

I love this cover because :

-  Like I said above, love how it's like the first cover in the series.
- Love the little poppy at the front! 
- Covers which info you it's part of a series, I straight away love them, why don't all books have this?  
- Inside the bubble is such a pretty scene, I love all the green and branches over the top of the bubble too.
- I think this is an improvement on the 1st cover.

Waiting on Wednesday #90

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Hollywood Holiday - Sasha Summer
Published : 7th December 2012
So I know this book is already out but I didn't actually know about it and thought it deserved a WoW even though it's already released.
I loved the first in this series which was Hollywood Ever After, the writing and character building was so good I straight away wanted to read more books by Sasha. When I found out about Hollywood Holiday I straight away added it to my list, definitely recommend this series and will hopefully read this soon. 

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The Blurb :

All she wants for Christmas is for Hollywood to love her again. But once she meets him, her Christmas list changes.

Jen’s only Christmas wish: Hollywood falling back in love with her. Meeting ex-Marine Gunner was a bonus. She likes that he isn’t impressed by celebrities or the movie biz. She likes that he’s funny and sweet … and drop-dead gorgeous. And she loves that he has no idea who her alter-ego is: Jen Fleming, Hollywood bad-girl and paparazzi target number one. Why ruin an amazing affair when he’s leaving after the new year?

But the closer they get, the harder she falls, and the more she wants to tell Gunner everything. Especially once he shares his secret with her.

Her new Christmas wish: Gunner accepts and loves her for who she really is.

*Review* Kept by Shawntelle Madison

   Kept - Shawntelle Madison

Series : #2 Coveted

Released : 27th November 2012

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Format : Paperback

Source : Author (Thank you)

Buy : Amazon Paperback (UK/USA)/Book Depository 

Overall rating

 .................................... The Blurb  ....................................

Fresh from defending her pack in battle, Natalya Stravinsky, a whip-smart werewolf with a lovable neurotic streak, wants a little rest and relaxation. Once an outcast, she’s now eager to rejoin the ranks of her New Jersey pack, and has even gotten a handle on her obsessive urge to hoard holiday ornaments. Yet Nat barely has time to revel in her progress before the next crisis comes howling at her door.

Nat’s father has suddenly gone missing, captured by the Russian werewolf mafia. And as Nat steps up to save her dad from a mob boss’s deadly game, two men step in to play another round for her heart: her gorgeous alpha ex-boyfriend, Thorn, and her new flame, the sweetly sensitive wizard Nick. With her life growing more harried by the minute, Nat must stay cool, calm, and collected . . . or else risk losing everything.

 .................................... My Thoughts   ....................................

In Short

- The storyline was constantly 'throwing' different things at me, so much going on at once.

- I really liked that the characters continued to grow in Kept.

- Thorn is a very addictive character who brings so much to the story.

- I was gripped right until the end. 

In Long

Kept follows on nicely from the first book in the series, Coveted. However I found myself getting into Kept much quicker than Coveted. Everything seemed to move more quickly in Kept, the storyline constantly has something going on.

All the characters grew in Kept which I really liked. I always think characters should never stop growing and Shawntelle made sure her characters continued to grow. I became even fonder of Nat in this book, she is such a strong character who deals with everything in the way she sees best, often putting herself last. Her character is such a realistic one because she does have her flaws but at the same time there is such much to like about her.

Thorn is so swoon worthy, he really keeps me guessing as to what his thinking which I love about male characters. His all mysterious and then he will suddenly open up but at the same time hold back from revealing everything. It definitely kept me guessing throughout the whole book. One moment I think something then his next actions make me think something different. It was like it’s own little storyline within itself.

Kept is such a different sort of paranormal book, I love how werewolves are the main paranormal creatures but there are also wizards, mermaids and many other paranormal creatures involved. It’s so interesting to see them altogether and how Shawntelle puts them into the storyline in a way which could make the storyline go in many different directions.

The ending is a great one, so much is still going on right up until the last sentence!! I could never predict the exact ending, although I thought it might end in a certain way I was never totally sure and I was definitely ‘on the edge of my seat’ throughout the book, especially the last 50 pages.

Final Thoughts

Kept is a great follow on from Coveted. I actually enjoyed Kept a bit more than Coveted which was a nice suprise.

Waiting on Wednesday #89

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Playing Tyler - T.L. Costa
Published : 2nd July 2013
I did a Cover Crazy for this on Monday but felt like I had to do a WoW post too because I am pretty excited about this book and even more excited now the lovely publishers, Strange Chemistry, are sending me a proof copy!
I really want to read more books where the main character is a male and this book achieves that. I love the sound of this book, with so much going on, so many different emotions and things for Tyler to try and control. I just hope I like Tyler's character as it could make it break the book for me!

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The Blurb :

When is a game not a game?

Tyler MacCandless can’t focus, even when he takes his medication. He can’t focus on school, on his future, on a book, on much of anything other than taking care of his older brother, Brandon, who’s in rehab for heroin abuse… again.

Tyler’s dad is dead and his mom has mentally checked out. The only person he can really count on is his Civilian Air Patrol Mentor, Rick. The one thing in life it seems he doesn’t suck at is playing video games, and, well, that’s probably not going to get him into college.

Just when it seems like his future is on a collision course with a life sentence at McDonald’s, Rick asks him to test a video game. If his score’s high enough, it could earn him a place in flight school and win him the future he was certain that he could never have. And when he falls in love with the game’s designer, the legendary gamer Ani, Tyler thinks his life might finally be turning around.

That is, until Brandon goes MIA from rehab and Tyler and Ani discover that the game is more than it seems. Now Tyler will have to figure out what’s really going on in time to save his brother… and prevent his own future from going down in flames.