Stay With Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Calla hasn’t done a lot of things. She’s never been kissed, never seen the ocean, never gone to an amusement park. But growing up, she witnessed some things no child ever should. She still carries the physical and emotional scars of living with a strung-out mother. Calla now has to go back to the small town she thought she'd left behind and clean up her mom’s mess again. Instead of finding her mother she finds, six feet of hotness named Jackson James working as a bartender/Manager of her mother's bar.

Today marks a day that I thought would never come... Thought would never happen... Today is the day I read a Jla book and didn't love it.  

This book had me saying "What the F am I reading" at least once ever chapter.

We have my first issue and that's Calla,the tormented girl with the dark past. Then there's my second problem, Jax, the slore turned nice guy. And then there's my final issue, the whole plot line. Calla is boring, cliche, and uninteresting in every since of the word. She often describes herself as dumb, and I have to agree. I thought she was. Jax looks-wise is all you'll ever want in a man. He even comes with a sexy back story. But that's pretty much all I liked about him. That and he said "Honey" a lot, which I found oddly sexy. Besides that I didn't connect with either characters. Jennifer writes characters that time and time again I've fallen in love with, and if this was any other writer I would have given this book a lower ranting and thrown into my DNF file. Everything from the way they met, to the secrets that "build" their relationship was a big  turn off for me. Found it all rather tacky.

Jax from the start, though hot, is gross. He basically just short of pulls out his P on the girl and verbally assault her to get her into him. Yes he turns out to be more likeable by the end but not a whole like more. I think the whole "my face has a scar" thing with Calla was taken WAY to far! It was brought up, one too many times aka every two seconds. I also think I saw someone say that it was too highlighted that Calla must look like this blushing virgin, and I think that description hits the nail on the head. She is this super good girl whose never done anything with her life. Ya girls never even eaten pie... Like come on B they sell that at publix and I know you work near a Walmart and there's not a single one of those that isn't a super store now... Go to the Deli section and get yourself a pie and stop crying!

Then there's the intro of these random characters that are even more pointless than this plot line. Aimee, Jax sorta Ex, only exists to make Calla jealous, me angry, and as a failed attempt at a plot twist. There are with that plot twist other failed plot twist, THAT YOU WILL SEE COMING FROM A MILE AWAY!!!! The whole story is a bunch of thrown together small stories, that try to build this bigger crazy story, but then falls flat on it's face. Also sidenote: there was no real point in her mom, you really could have completely erased any and everything about her and the story would have held up the same. Everything about this story to me just didn't play out well. Jla has finally let me down, and it freaking sucks!

This is the book I'm just going to straight pretend Jla didn't write. If someone mentions it I'm going to play Calla and be super clueless and naive. I'm all up for girls relying somewhat on a man (IN STORIES!!!) but when all is said and done I like my leading ladies standing on their own two feet with no one holding them up. Calla could have been this character, but instead needed the semi stalker Jax to do her work for her. Sigh just Sigh.

3/10 Stars 
-Angela  

(Stay With Me BookDepo)

Fictional Book Boyfriends Pt 3

About once a month we like to gather a small list of  what we and others like to call Dream-cast or Fictional Book Boyfriends. We've said it in the past we LOVE putting faces to the characters in our books (especially the men). We also LOVE seeing page to premieres. So we combined the two to do our spin on dream casting. We picked a few titles and show you who we imagined the leading men to be. We'll put the link to the previous ones at the bottom of this page. 

Slammed by Colleen Hoover 

girl moves to Michigan and falls for poet neighbor

Aaron Johnson as Will Cooper 
Because who doesn't think Aaron Johnson is beyond charming?!

Red Rising by Pierce Brown 

Boy disguise himself in a higher class to help lead a rebellion to free the suppressed lower classes. 

Douglas Booth as Darrow

All those rough edges has us love Douglas booth.

Never Never by Tarryn Fisher and Colleen Hoover  

Best friends since they could walk. In love since the age of fourteen. Complete strangers since this morning.

Brando Eaton as Silas 

That boyish charm...Swoon.

Broken Skies by Theresa Kay 
Aliens have invaded earth and have always kept their distance until now. 

Wade Poezyn as Lir

Slap some scales on him and try and tell us he doesn't look like Lir!!

pt 1

pt 2

<3 A&L

Angela's January Read-Cap

Holy doughnut holes where did the month go?!! Is January seriously over??? And did I seriously read 25 books? Rhetorical question or not, the answers are both yes. I can't really put a finger on if this month was a good month for reading or not. The highs were high and the lows were low. I did get a lot of simple reading done... aka I read more novellas than normal. Managed to finish some series I didn't get to last year, and started some new ones I was really excited about. Below are all the books managed to slam into this wickedly quick month. (Click the titles to go to the reviews)

Inexcusable- Chris Lynch
Hooked on the Game- C.M Owens
The Conspiracy of Us- Maggie Hall
Elixir- Jennifer L. Armentrout 
Apollyon- Jennifer L. Armentrout
Sentinel- Jennifer L. Armentrout
Stay With Me- Jennifer L. Armentrout
Bound by Duty- Stormy Smith
The Invitation- Roxy Sloane
Broken Skies- Theresa Kay
Hardwired- Meredith Wild
Red Rising- Pierce Brown
Golden Son- Pierce Brown
Losing It- Cora Carmack
Blackbird- Anna Carey (broke up with)
Reborn- Jennifer Rush
Flawed- Kate Avelynn
Never Never- Collen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher
Slammed- Colleen Hoover 
Ignite- Lily Paradis
Dark Places- Gillian Flynn
The Duff- Kody Keplinger
An Abundance of Katherine's- John Green
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children- Ransom Riggs
Collide- Ella Adams

Guess now that I'm looking over my list, January was a really good reading month. As far as my top picks go, I have quite a few. Broken Skies, Red Rising, Golden Son, Never Never, and Slammed  are without a doubt my favorites. Broken Skies is the start to a new series about my favorite subject... YES ALIENS!!!! Then there's the Red Rising Series which includes Golden Son, which if you follow me on any social media you know I'm obsessed with. And finally to wrap up my favorites is Slammed and Never Never. Fisher is a new author to me but this book wont be the last of hers I'll read, and I'm pretty sure you can't say the name Colleen Hoover and NOT have someone say "omg I love her". All five of these books were books I ranked five stars on goodreads and ten stars on our blog.

My favorite surprise scandy read was definitely Hooked on the Game. Yup the name is awful, the book was cheese, but dang it if I didn't love it anyways. So good bad!

But on too the books that let me down... because sadly there were more than I would like in this month. The Invitation is the book that I believe I rated the lowest, giving it a one star on goodreads. It was just so pointless! It was a novella that also served at a prequel... hated it. Next was BlackBird which I failed to finish. I just couldn't get behind the leading lady, or the story. Stay With Me was just a WTF in itself. I think my biggest let down was The Conspiracy of Us. I was SO excited when I saw and heard about this book. It seemed to have everything I was looking for in a YA novel, but ended up having nothing I wanted. It had such hype and didn't live up to the high reviews on goodreads.

Well there you have it... Another month, another list.
See ya in February!
-Angela


Don't forget if you'd like to purchase any of these books use out BookDepo list on our home page.

Leah's January Reads

Half Blood by Jennifer Armentrout

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

Spell Bound by Rachel Hawks

Fever by Maya Banks

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Paper Towns by John Green

Broken Skies by Theresa Kay

Never Never by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher

Erased by Jennifer Rush

Bound by Duty by Stormy Smith

Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Charmed by Michelle Krys (ARC)
Inexcusable by Chris Lynch
Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahren 

This year has started off so good with reads!! I've started SO many good series and finished a few. It's nice to tie up some loose ends and start some new beginnings. Even though I've super late to the game, I'm super excited to have started The Covenant series by Jennifer Armentrout. Y'all know our love for JLA runs deep, and I just LOVE this series so far. I've only read the first book, but I'm planning on ordering the rest next month. Two other exciting opportunities I got this month was when two up and coming authors approached us to read their books: Broken Skies by Theresa Kay and Bound by Duty by Stormy Smith. I loved both of the books so much that they are instantly on my 2015 favorites list. YES, REALLY. I'm so excited for the sequels of both to come out. I loved reading books that are being made into and have been opted for movies. Paper Towns (seriously, can John Green write anything bad??), Miss Peregrine's, and Red Rising were all so good. I also got an amazing opportunity to receive an ARC of Charmed by Michelle Krys which doesn't come out until May. Thank you Brittany from Brittany's Book Rambles for the ARC! Y'all got check out her blog, it is one of my favorites! Angela and I also did another book swap, so I have loads of new books to read next month.

My absolute favorite for this month, though, was Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover. This book was absolutely amazing. Definitely one of my all time favorites. We have the opportunity to go to a book signing for CoHo next month in Savannah and I AM SO EXCITED THAT I CAN BARELY BREATHE. She is becoming one of my favorite authors.

Losing It by Cora Carmack

Bliss Edwards decides the best way to deal with the problem of her virginity is to lose it as quickly and simply as possible and have a one-night stand. This plan fails when she freaks out and leaves the gorgeous guy alone and naked in her bed with an excuse that no one would believe. The plan fails even harder when she finds out that the man she left is now her new theatre professor. 

Okay so I'm gonna start off by saying that I know I'm going to be in the minority here with my rating... but whatever. Losing It to me was just so/so. I read the whole book in about two hours because it is a really short and quick read, which was nice. I think my main problem with the book though was that I read it after I read Unteachable... so now every time I read a book with a girl who falls in love with her teacher I will forever be comparing it to that book. Unteachable set the bar so high that it'll be near impossible to pass. If I would have picked up this book first I probably would have given it a higher rating. 

The characters however are lovely. Bliss is realistic and believable. She going through the same hurtles anyone her age would go through. Garrick, the professor, was about the same. He sound sound super yummy and could say Sup to me in a bar anytime... BUT their insta-love was a little to much for me to get behind. I felt like there was enough time for them to be dropping L-bombs, but there was nothing behind it to support why they were actually saying it. It didn't feel like the two had any build up, or really even got to know each other before they started saying it. 

I just didn't feel the chemistry between the two of them like I was hoping. The story however does flow smoothly through out and has a great pace. The really isn't much world building (which isn't uncommon for these types of books). I like the sub characters. I like how Cora didn't do a typical class and more of a play and how that all tied the story together. 

My main problem with this book was it's predictability. Everything that happened I saw coming. I never didn't know what was going to happen. Every thing from how they met to how it ended, I knew the play out few pages before hand. The other thing that irked me was the cover of the book... This might seem silly to some but I think most book lovers can agree... I HATE when book covers have people on the front that DON'T match the description of the people in the story... I just don't get it. Like I said, maybe that's just me. 

I'm probably judging this book a little more harsh than I should, because there is no doubt that Cora Carmack  is a talented writer. I will pick up her books in the future and will more than likely like them more than this. Losing It was just in the wrong reading place at the wrong reading time for me. 

5/10 Stars 
-Angela 

(Losing it BookDepository)

Flawed by Kate Avelynn

Sarah O’Brien is alive because of the pact she and her brother made twelve years ago. James will protect her from their violent father and their absent mother if she promises to never leave him. This has worked for them forever... Until her brother seeks more than a sister. Sam Donavon has been James’ best friend their whole lives. Now he is Sarah's boyfriend. Keeping their relationship a secret might be the thing that finally  breaks James. 

I picked up Flawed because I'd never heard it brought up without Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma being brought up after. Forbidden is one of my all time favorite books, so I knew I had to pick it up. I get why they are being constantly compared, but truth be told they have very little in common. If I would have read Flawed first I would have liked it more. That being said I still really enjoyed it. 


The back story between Sarah and James is dark and Kate leaves no detail unsaid. And I loved how dark it got. Her mom is practically comatose, and her father is an former boxer turned abusive alcoholic. The only person she can count on is James.The relationship between them starts off so sweet. A bond that many would love to have with a sibling. But then their relationship turns too something wrong and sour. Sarah's character is weak and throughout the story is trying to find legs to stand on. She's trying to figure out who she is. James character goes from a strong leading male to a weak breaking human. Seeing the two switch places made for an interesting read. Then there's Sam. WHOOSH swoon worthy Sam. The moment he is introduced was the moment I fell for him. Each character to me had so many thing to like about them and thing about them I disliked. But all were so well written. Sam was without a doubt my favorite thing about this book. I couldn't get enough of him. 

"I have no idea what he sees in me. Strength, he says. Beauty. A big heart. I see none of these things. I see fear, flaws and a heart so full of blackness I can't give up on my own selfish wants to set him or my brother free."

The pace of this book is steady through out, and doesn't pick up much speed until the last handful of chapters. The ending more than made up for anything the plot lacked. It was the main reason I loved this book so much. Everything went down in the most perfectly heart pounding and heart punching ending ever. If this stories first half would have been as strong as the last half I would have given this book a higher rating. I even feel having it in dual POVs might have given it a little more edge. Either way it will be a book I recommend to many in the future. If you're looking for something a little on the darker emotional side Flawed is a good fit. 

Flawed is heavily weighed on one thing and one thing only... When stuck between a rock and a hard place, what choice would you make? 

8.5/10 Stars 
-Angela 

(Flawed Book Depository)

 

Slammed by Colleen Hoover

After the unexpected death of her father, 18-year-old Layken is forced to be the rock for both her mother and younger brother. Will Cooper is the attractive, 21-year-old new neighbor with an intriguing passion for slam poetry and a unique sense of humor. Within days of their introduction they go on a heart-stopping first date, only to be slammed  with a shocking revelation that puts their new relationship to a sudden halt.
 

“Push your boundaries, that's what they're there for.” 

It's currently 2:10 in the morning... I finished Slammed over 30 minutes ago... And I just stopped crying. I went into Slammed ONLY knowing that this book involved slam poetry. I've never even read the synopsis too this story (after reading Ugly Love I knew that when it comes to Hoover books you have to go into it blind). The odd thing is of all of Colleen's books, I own this one I've had the longest and I'm just now reading it. I HATE MYSELF FOR THAT!!!!

I would never believe that this was Hoover's debut novel. It's so strong that I assumed it was a 4th or 5th book. Nope. She never fails too incorporate something new and unique into her writing, if it's paintings, music, or even poetry she really has a style all her own. There are only three writers I will drop everything I'm  reading to pick up their work... That's John Green, Jennifer Armentrout, and Colleen Hoover.

Slammed follows the story of new Michigan transplant, Lake, as she is forced to start a new life her senior year of high school. After her fathers untimely death her mother can't afford to keep them living in Texas. First day in the new place Lake's brother befriends the boy next door... Introducing Lake to Will. The charming, handsome, and sweet poet.

The characters in this book feel so real! Lake and Will are written too perfection. Lake, though mature for her age has the same immature moments as the rest of us. Will is just so sweet, speaking in a way that will have you swooning all over the place. Both their love towards there family captured my heart 200%. Both characters physical appearance is described just enough to give you and idea then left you to make your own decision. As the characters develop in the story the story itself grows into something so hard to capture in words. I thought that the insta-lust that happen right away was going to ruin this book for me. But at the end I realized that this story might have involved love but it's not the love you except. I wish I could explain that more but it's the only way I can say it. It about a deeper kind of love than just being with someone. The sub characters like Eddie and the baby brothers are PHENOMENAL. Colleen has it so they are sub characters that manage to shine so much light without ever over powering.

The plot has this pace between fast and medium, and it was at a rate I'd never experienced before. Then of course there's the whole poetry and music aspect that was put into this story. It's what takes Slammed to the next level. The poetry is introduced in the first handful of pages. I didn't know how I was going to feel about it... BUT WOW. Seriously the first poem had me in tears and they only got better from there. The quotes from The Avett Brothers are perfect placed and were just a nice little treat at the start of every chapter. Like I said, this is a story you need to go into blind, therefore I can't, even though I want to, go into more detail. This book started strong and then had me a blubbering mess by the end. I don't know if I should be mad or thankful that Colleen is constantly finding new ways to tear my heart out of my chest. I don't think I've ever not been a mess at the end of one of her books.

This story made me laugh a hundred times, and cry at least five. Slammed is one beautiful, quotable, and poetic line one after another. Slammed touched me on such a personal level and I probably cried harder than most. This book is a must read, and definitely made it's way into my all time favorites.

10/10 Stars 
-Angela 

(Slammed Book Depository)