Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Title: We Were Liars
Author: Emily Lockhart
Published: May 13th 2014
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

I have not stumbled upon a negative review for this one yet. Yeah, a few DNF mentions among my GR friends, but mostly just “mind-blown”, “so good”, “loved it”, “brilliant”—these are the words and phrases come to mind from the reviews and thoughts that I have seen. After reading Tanja’s review and wanting to get out of a huge slump, I really wanted to give it a try.

Blogger Interview: Happy Indulgence

Hey, guys! July is coming to an end and August is just around the corner. Where did July go? O______O This summer has totally flown by and while it's actually not that awesome, I have an awesome thing to show you all today. Remember how I said that July is wonderful since 3 blogger interviews? Well, scratch that, because let's make it 4! I'll try to do at least 3 next month so that this huge list of people I have with your names would somewhat lessen and I'll get to introduce you all to each other :)

Anyhow, today I'm bringing the lovely Jeann over from Happy Indulgence. She's such an inspiration to me: her reviews and content is always very professional and classy, yet she always manages to get her point straight across and make me excited about all kinds of books. She's also a gamer, so if you play any games? Make sure to follow her blog since her new feature provides you with all kinds of gamer information. Plus, you'd make great friends with this friendly girl :) Want to know more about her? I'm not going to hold you here any longer. Everyone, meet Jeann! Jeann, meet everyone! :)

Profile

Name: Jeann
Age: 26
Origin: Asian
Blog name: Happy Indulgence
URL: http://www.happyindulgencebooks.com
Blog’s age: 2 years
Favorite book of all time: This is a hard one, I'd have to say The Book Thief.

Review: Sweet Peril by Wendy Higgins

Title: Sweet Peril (Sweet Evil #2)
Author: Wendy Higgins
Published: April 30th 2013
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Anna Whitt, the daughter of a guardian angel and a demon, promised herself she’d never do the work of her father—polluting souls. She’d been naive to make such a vow. She’d been naive about a lot of things.

Haunted by demon whisperers, Anna does whatever she can to survive, even if it means embracing her dark side and earning an unwanted reputation as her school’s party girl. Her life has never looked more bleak. And all the while there’s Kaidan Rowe, son of the Duke of Lust, plaguing her heart and mind.
When an unexpected lost message from the angels surfaces, Anna finds herself traveling the globe with Kopano, son of Wrath, in an attempt to gain support of fellow Nephilim and give them hope for the first time. It soon becomes clear that whatever freedoms Anna and the rest of the Neph are hoping to win will not be gained without a fight. Until then, Anna and Kaidan must put aside the issues between them, overcome the steamiest of temptations yet, and face the ultimate question: is loving someone worth risking their life?

Buddy-read this gorgous thing with Rashika and had so much fun discussing it. Sweet Evil was one of the first YA books that I just about died while reading, because I was too busy swooning over the love interest. Yes, I’m fully team Kaidan and proud of it! While I adore Wendy Higgins to pieces, loved the first book a lot and know that the fans were satisfied with Peril, I was hesitant. Why? Well, I knew that Kai wouldn’t be in the first half that much, so I honestly didn’t know if Anna and her own adventures would be captivating enough to keep me hooked. Were they?

Review: Thrive by Krista and Becca Ritchie

Title: Thrive (Addicted #2.5)
Author: Krista and Becca Ritchie
Published: July 18th 2014
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Two years will change them forever.

When rumors spread like wildfire—like having three-ways with her boyfriend’s rock climbing brother—Lily Calloway spirals into a dark place. Her bedroom. Loren Hale is more confident and determined to keep their sex life private, even from their friends, and he helps Lily in the only way he knows how. But how much love is too much?

Their lives are filmed, watched, and criticized. And through it all, Lily and Loren have to face enemies they never thought they’d see, demons they don’t know if they should bury, and setbacks they didn’t think they’d meet. Not this soon.

And one rumor could be too much for them to handle. It will test their greatest limitations, and if they don’t hold onto each other, someone is going to drown.

A full-length New Adult Romance that bridges the gap between the second and third books. Thrive must be read before Addicted After All if you have not read the Calloway Sisters spin-off series.

*There are NO spoilers whatsoever in this review for any of the previous books nor for Thrive.*

Hiii, y’all. So it’s that day again on le blog where I get to fangirl endlessly. Do you guys even take me seriously anymore when I mention this series to you? Honestly, it’s not my fault these books are so devourious (not a word, I know, but it should be: these books are meant to be devoured!). In all honesty, this book and series can be summed up in two words: READ. THIS.

Blogger Interview: The Daily Prophecy

Hiiiii, lovelies! This month is pretty darn special since 3 blogger interviews :) Today I have the pleasure to introduce one of the most wonderful and humble bloggers out there: Melanie from The Daily Prophecy. Everyone, meet Melanie! Melanie, meet everyone! :) What I knew about Melanie was that she's a fellow Captain Swan shipper, loves fairy tales and fantasy above all and is endlessly in love with Disney and Harry Potter. When editing her interview and reading through her answers, I discovered a lot more about her and I hope you will too :) Without further ado, here's the interview.

Profile

Name: Melanie, but Mel is just fine.
Age: *whispers* 23.
Origin: Netherlands!
Blog name: The Daily Prophecy.
URL: http://thedailyprophecy.blogspot.com
Blog’s age: at this moment 2 years, 5 months and 9 days.
Favorite book of all time: Why are you doing this to me? I'm going to cheat and you can't stop me. Historical: The book thief. Fantasy: Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix. Fairytale: Tiger Lily. Adult: Daughter of the forest.

Top Ten Tuesday: Deserted Island

Today’s TTT is a very fun one. I love traveling and I love books so.. heh. While a deserted island isn’t my dream destination, it’d be a very adventurous experience with this cast of people I’ve selected, I’m sure. Let me know if you would pick the same ones or who did I miss!

Review: Crash Into You by Katie McGarry

Title: Crash Into You (Pushing the Limits #3)
Author: Katie McGarry
Published: November 26th 2013
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

The girl with straight As, designer clothes and the perfect life—that's who people expect Rachel Young to be. So the private-school junior keeps secrets from her wealthy parents and overbearing brothers...and she's just added two more to the list. One involves racing strangers down dark country roads in her Mustang GT. The other? Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Walker-a guy she has no business even talking to. But when the foster kid with the tattoos and intense gray eyes comes to her rescue, she can't get him out of her mind.

Isaiah has secrets, too. About where he lives, and how he really feels about Rachel. The last thing he needs is to get tangled up with a rich girl who wants to slum it on the south side for kicks-no matter how angelic she might look.

But when their shared love of street racing puts both their lives in jeopardy, they have six weeks to come up with a way out. Six weeks to discover just how far they'll go to save each other.

Katie McGarry is one of the best at writing swoony, adorable, yet heart-wrenching and emotional contemporary books. I have enjoyed all that in Pushing the Limits and Dare You To. Now we have my favorite character Isaiah on his way towards happiness and I couldn’t have been happier to crack his book open and devour every single word of it. Let’s just say that it wasn’t what I was expecting, but I thoroughly enjoyed what we got.

Review: Tempest by Julie Cross

Title: Tempest (Tempest #1)
Author: Julie Cross
Published: Januay 17th 2012
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.
Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.
Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

I think this book (series) is better to be read when you have a full day (depending on how fast you read) to absorb all the goodness, because reading a chapter or two per night did nothing for my excitement, to be honest with you. I liked the story as a whole and there were a lot of things that took me by surprise, but did I love it to no lengths? Nope, not exactly.

Tour & Giveaway: Thrive by Krista & Becca Ritchie

Hiii, lovelies! You [probably] all know that I'm such a fangirl of Krista and Becca. They've created a horrible obsessed minion out of moi for this series and these characters. You have no idea how hard it has been to wait for Thrive, the next installment in the Addicted series, impatiently. It's been forever since I last read from Lily and Lo's POV and I cannot wait to see what they've been up to during Kiss the Sky and Hothouse Flower (the companion novels to this series). Lucky for us, Thrive comes out this Friday!!!

Today I get to share the characters' dating profiles with you. YOU GUYS. Supah excited. Srsly. This gang is hilarious and every single one of them is so unique. I hope you have fun getting to know them if you haven't met them personally yet. All the same to people who already know the Addicted gang. I hope you enjoy the post which takes place pre-Thrive so no spoilers for people who haven't read Hothouse Flower or Kiss the Sky and thank you so much for visiting this tour stop *hugs* P.S. Visit the rest of the tour by clicking on the banner above.

Also, did you know that the series is on sale for 0.99$ for each book so grab it while you can! They're totally worth the purchase, I promise :)

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite TV Shows

Hii, lovelies! Today's TTT is something I'm thoroughly excited to see. I have two big loves in addition to reading: music and tv shows. Yep, no reason to deny that I'm a tiny bit obsessed with my favorite shows. I'm always up to watching more of them and I really need to drop some *glares at PLL and TVD* Since music is so much harder to narrow down to ten, I chose TV shows. Let's see if we have any in common :)

Review: Shadows by Paula Weston

Title: Shadows (The Repham #1)
Author: Paula Weston
Published: July 2nd 2012
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

It’s almost a year since Gaby Winters was in the car crash that killed her twin brother, Jude. Her body has healed in the sunshine of Pandanus Beach, but her grief is raw and constant. It doesn’t help that every night in her dreams she kills demons and other hell-spawn.
And then Rafa comes to town. Not only does he look exactly like the guy who’s been appearing in Gaby’s dreams—he claims a history with her brother that makes no sense. Gaby is forced to accept that what she thought she knew about herself and her life is only a shadow of the truth—and that the truth is more likely to be found in the shadows of her nightmares.
Who is Rafa? Who are the Rephaim? And most importantly, who can she trust?

This is so hard for me to review simply because I don’t want to offend anyone’s feelings. Don’t get me wrong, I liked this book, but since everyone was so excited about me reading it and saying how much they adored it? Um, I just don’t want to disappoint anyone by saying that it wasn’t as amazing as I thought it would be.

Review: Things I Can't Forget by Miranda Kenneally

Title: Things I Can't Forget (Hundred Oaks #3)
Author: Miranda Kenneally
Published: March 1st 2013
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Companion to Catching Jordan and Stealing Parker.

Kate has always been the good girl. Too good, according to some people at school—although they have no idea the guilty secret she carries. But this summer, everything is different…
This summer she’s a counselor at Cumberland Creek summer camp, and she wants to put the past behind her. This summer Matt is back as a counselor too. He’s the first guy she ever kissed, and he’s gone from a geeky songwriter who loved The Hardy Boys to a buff lifeguard who loves to flirt--with her.
Kate used to think the world was black and white, right and wrong. Turns out, life isn’t that easy…

This series has been tough for me in the sense that I loved Catching Jordan so much. It suited me well at the time and I still adore it to pieces, but Stealing Parker, while still enjoyable, was not exactly my cup of tea. I liked it, but not as much as the first book. After hearing how people felt like Things I Can’t Forget was a tad preachy.. Idk. I was expecting to feel lukewarm about it, but guess what? I actually liked this one!

Blogger Interview: Books of Amber

Hiii, lovelies! Are you ready for yet another introduction of an awesome blogger? ;) This month's second blogger interview is all about a hilarious girl from UK aka the shipper of all shippers. I love this girl to pieces for always making me laugh with her fangirling moments and feels. Seriously! You know nothing about expressing your excessive feels until you've seen Amber's tweets. She is very opinionated and never fails to leave an impression. Also, the girl loves her Disney! Not only do I look up to her as a blogger, she's also a great friend and I'm buzzing with excitement for you to get to know her a little better. So, without further ado, everyone, meet Amber! Amber, meet everyone :)

Profile 

Name: Amber. Or Vi, but only certain members of my family call me that.
Age: 21, unbelievably.
Origin: England, just west of London.
Blog Name: Books of Amber
URL: http://www.booksofamber.com
Blog's age: 3 years and 10 months. She's a wonderful toddler.
Favourite book of all time: *hyperventilates* I DON'T KNOW. Harry Potter!

June Wrap Up

June was awesome in the sense that no exams, yay! I'm finally a BSc graduate and I got to see Kings of Leon live this month. Also, not to bad regarding the reading I did :) All in all, June was pretty darn amazing. Did you guys have a good month too? Rashika finally started watching Scandal after Jas and I totally got on her nerves about it, so that's a yay! She definitely has a few new tv-show-crushes ;) Anyhow, let's move on to the recap, shall we? :)

Mini-reviews: This Girl and Finding Cinderella by Colleen Hoover

Title: This Girl (Slammed #3)
Author: Colleen Hoover
Published: April 30th 2013
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

There are two sides to every love story. Now hear Will’s.
Layken and Will’s love has managed to withstand the toughest of circumstances and the young lovers, now married, are beginning to feel safe and secure in their union. As much as Layken relishes their new life together, she finds herself wanting to know everything there is to know about her husband, even though Will makes it clear he prefers to keep the painful memories of the past where they belong. Still, he can’t resist his wife’s pleas and so he begins to untangle his side of the story, revealing for the first time his most intimate feelings and thoughts, retelling both the good and bad moments, and sharing a few shocking confessions of his own from the time when they first met.
In This Girl, Will tells the story of their complicated relationship from hispoint of view. Their future rests on how well they deal with the past in this final installment of the beloved Slammed series.

My journey with Colleen Hoover and NA lit started in May 2012. Slammed is one of my favorite character growth and family-related stories, Point of Retreat is one of my favorite guy POV’s and sob-my-heart-out books. I love Colleen’s writing and Will, Lake, Caulder, Kel, Eddie, Gavin and everyone else so much. While I was happy to be back in the Slammed world and felt like this was such a neat way to give the other POV of the same story, I was slightly underwhelmed.

Blogger Interview: Realm of Fiction

Hiiii, lovelies! As you all probably know, every month I try to feature one of my bookish friends who's a regular here on Little Pieces of Imagination and give them a shout-out for being all kinds of amazing! Since my regular readership (read: the people who comment quite often) has grown into a bigger group, I decided to pair you up in a random order and use a random choice to pick a pair for each month. We still won't make it by the end of this year unless I figure something else out, but anyways, that's how it is for now. This month I have two lovely UK bloggers all to myself for one day and I get to share their responses to these silly questions I've come up with.

Today I want to introduce Sam to you. *ahem* *grins* Everyone, meet Sam! Sam, meet everyone! She's the blogger behind a well-known blog Realm of Fiction. She's talented with words and her blog is just completely adorable, yet very professional. She always has kind words for everyone and *shrugs* what can I say, she's a rockstar!

Profile

Name: Sam
Origin: Britain
Blog name: Realm of Fiction
URL: http://realmoffiction.blogspot.com
Blog’s age: 2.5 years
Favorite book of all time: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

Cover Madness Giveaway Hop

Hiiiiii, lovelies! Today is the day I finally and officially graduate from university and get my BSc. If you didn't see my tweet 1 and tweet 2 about all the excitement and missed my little thank you post, here's me still thanking all of you for keeping moi sane throughout all of the insane moments and offering your support and encouragement. THANK YOU! *hugs*

Today is also an exciting day for you guys! :) Some of you may already be familiar with this particular event Giselle and Jenni from Xpresso Reads came up with a while ago. Already from their first post ages ago (on 2012, le gasp! All of our blogs are getting so old!), I knew that if it ever turned into a hop, I'd want to participate. Unfortunately I couldn't participate last time, but this time? Hells yeah!

So what's this all about, you ask? The point of this hop is to gather all the gorgeous covers we've seen that have been revealed no more than 2 months ago and then offer one (or more) of these up for a giveaway. And what's best? The winner can choose whichever book they want. At least it's this way here on Little Pieces of Imagination. So are you guys ready to see what gorgeous pretties I've discovered throughout the past few months? :) Here we go!