January Wrap Up

For the past year I've watched people among blogosphere and booktube wrap up their previous months when it comes to reading, set goals for the next and just talk and gush about all things bookish. I always love reading two of them especially: Amber's [Books of Amber] and Rachel & Jasprit's [The Reader's Den]. Edit: since I forgot to add the giveaway and poll, then these will be added in the next month's wrap up post with double amount of books to choose from. 

January reviews (click on the covers for the links)

Books read in total? The total amount of books I read in January is 20. A LOT, I know. For me it is, at least. I just kind of had the month off except for work, because I managed to do so well last semester that I had zero exams. Plus, three of the books I read were novellas which read extremely fast. February will be a lot more laid back for me.

Lowest and highest ratings were 4.9 and DNF. I gave 5.0 to Under the Never Sky when I re-read it, because I realized that I love absolutely everything about it (even though I gave 3.5 when I first read it.. yep, I don't know how that happened...), but since it's a re-read then it doesn't count in my eyes, so 4.9 it is.

Book boyfriend of the month is a tie between Perry and Roar. I just love them both equally and you cannot make me choose to save my life. The runner-up is Braden Carmichael which Aman totally approves of, I'm sure ;)

Love triangles? There was only one book that had a decent love triangle and that is Hallowed by Cynthia Hand where Christian Prescott *scowls* and Tucker Avery *beams* fight for Clara's heart. Other than that, there were books that held some love-triangely tension, but I wouldn't call them love triangles because the choice is very, very obvious.

What I'm planning on reading... I'm so bad with tbr-s, you have no idea. If I make a tbr, you can be certain that I won't read anything from the list. Though, since Nick is reading The Bone Season this month, I'm planning on reading it with her. Perhaps I'll join the Angelfall readalong with Aman and Janhvi. Perhaps I'll read Cress right away depending on how bad I need it after Scarlet. What's for certain though is that I will read Into the Still Blue BECAUSE. Because!!! I need it more than my next breath basically. So I'm definitely reading this pretty thing:

That's it for me on January. I think I'll take it slow this month, because it's the beginning of spring semester and my final one (hopefully) before I get my BA degree. I need to work on my thesis, finish the semester, graduate, go to work (hopefully more often than last fall), hopefully read some awesome books and hopefully blog without taking huge breaks. Anyhow, I have some questions for you, because I'm nosy like that and want to know :) ...

What were your favorite books last month? Any new book boyfriends I should know about? (Or any old crushes returning to the pages you were reading?) ;) How many books did you read? What are you planning on reading this month?

Review and Giveaway: Rome by Jay Crownover

Today I'm happy to kick off the new year with a review for a kick-a New Adult blog tour. I can't wait to see what everyone thinks of this book and I'm happy to share my thoughts as well as a giveaway. I hope you enjoy and if you want to follow the rest of the tour, you can do so here.

Title: Rome (Marked Men #3)
Author: Jay Crownover
Published: January 7th 2014
Publisher: William Morrow and imprint of HarperCollins Publishing
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Barnes & Noble
iTunes | IndieBound | The Book Depository
*An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review*

Sometimes the wrong choice can be just right...
Fun and fearless, Cora Lewis knows how to keep her tattooed "bad boy" friends at the Marked in line. But beneath all that flash and sass is a broken heart. Cora won't let herself get burned again. She's waiting to fall in love with the perfect man—a baggage-free, drama-free guy ready for commitment. Then she meets Rome Archer.
Rome Archer is as far from perfect as a man can be. He's stubborn, rigid, and bossy. And he's returned from his final tour of duty more than a little broken. Rome's used to filling many roles: big brother, doting son, supersoldier—but none of those fit anymore. Now he's just a man trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life while keeping the dark demons of war and loss at bay. He would have been glad to suffer through it alone, until Cora comes sweeping into his life and becomes a blinding flash of color in a sea of gray.Perfect may not be in the cards, but perfectly imperfect could just last forever...

I remember reading Jay’s debut Rule when it first came out as a self-published book. While the content was good, the editing was the worst I have ever seen. I tried to look past it though and since I knew that Jay is a great contemporary author, I was more than certain that with a well-established team behind her, she could bring it big time. I was right!

"Love isn't perfect. It's hard work and sometimes it's more effort to be in love than it is to just run away. If you keep looking for perfect, the real thing is going to pass right by you." (taken from an ARC and could be changed in the actual book)

You don’t always have to be marked with tattoos and ink to be marked you know. Rome had marks on his body—scars from the war—as well as a scarred mind from all the horrible things he had to endure during his time in the army. Since I had already met him in the first installment, I knew something of his behavior. In addition to seeing him through Rule and Shaw’s eyes, we got the exclusive in being inside his head and I could see the sweet, honorable, thoughtful and caring guy in him that everyone was going on and on about.

Cora was such a fun character. I didn’t really remember her from Rule, probably since I read the first book such a long time ago, but she’s a fire cracker with a good, humble heart. She is a feisty one at that. While I was surprised and honestly a bit repelled by the fact that she poured beer on Rome when he was having a down moment, she redeemed herself quite nicely. I wouldn’t mind having a friend like her.

I liked how even though it started off as somewhat like a story based on the NYT bestseller formula, it didn’t suffer from it—especially as it got towards the end of it. I was waiting for the huge break up and for the characters to be stubborn and not talk for a few weeks/months etc., but it wasn’t like that. Yeah, they had their issues to work out, but it was all good and more like a small obstacle on their way towards happiness.

I love how we got to know Nash more and I’m so excited for his story. I had a feeling about his story, but we get conformation in the epilogue and it couldn’t have been a more perfect set up, especially with the cute nurse ;) Also, music is very important to Jay as a writer, as I have come to understand. Since I'm a big fan of everything music, I can't complain on the playlists for every book. Since she loves her music, I'll share mine. I think Hero of War by Rise Against describes Rome (and the people around him) perfectly. 

This series is not to be missed! Intense, fun, emotional and sexy—this is every woman’s fantasy right here. I hope you guys give these books a try and enjoy them as much as I have. They’re perfect for a cold day to warm you up next to the fireplace or for a rainy day to cheer you guys up. I’m everexcited for Nash's story and I’m sure it’ll be just as good as the previous books have been. Read on, lovelies!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Meet the author

I’m supposed to share interesting details about myself so that my readers get to know me so here we go in no particular order: I’m an natural redhead even though I haven’t seen my real hair color in years, I’m a big fan of tattoos and have a half sleeve on either arm and various other pieces all over the place, I’ve been in the bar industry since I was in college and it has always offered interesting insight into how men and women interact with each other, I have 3 dogs that are all crazy, I live in Colorado and love the snow, I love music and in all reality wish I could be a rock star not a writer or a bartender but I have zero talent so there is that. I love to write, love to read and all I’m interested in is a good story with interesting characters that make the reader feel something.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Thank you to Literati Author Services, Inc., William Morrow Books and Jay Crownover for a review copy.

Giveaway

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Review: Rule by Jay Crownover

Title: Rule (Rule #1)
Author: Jay Crownover
Published: December 30th 2012
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon

I had loved Rule Archer since the first moment I ever laid eyes on him. He was everything I shouldn't want and the only person I went out of my way to not try and please. He only saw me as a brat, and an entitled, stuck up princess but worse than that all he saw when he looked at me was his deceased twin's girl. It broke my heart. We tolerated each other, barely and had forged an uneasy alliance until one night I had too much to drink and changed the way we were forever. Suddenly life long secrets were no longer hidden and the one thing I always wanted for myself seemed obtainable as long as I was willing to go through hell to hold onto it.

Shaw Landon was a class act and I had no idea what to do with her. She was tied to my family, tied to the person that was my other half so I tolerated her and her haughty attitude when I didn't have any other choice. Some people thought I hid behind all my tattoos and piercings, that I tried to distance myself from my dead twin, Shaw saw through it all and wasn't scared of what was underneath. We weren't supposed to be together, weren't supposed to be anything but uncomfortable acquaintances but that all changed in the blink of an eye. Now I had to figure out just how a girl like her and a guy like me were supposed to be in love without destroying each other. Add in her custom made ex and two disapproving sets of parents and the whole situation sounded like it was more trouble then it was worth.

Oh my, this cover? Yuck. Sorry. This story needs a better cover for sure. And those grammar and spelling mistakes? Let's just say that I'm not a native English speaker and yes, I do have mistakes in my writing and speach, but I think this book deserves better. Luckily, Jay has hired someone to do it from now on and a new edited version is up on Amazon so if you guys read any reviews and get all that whining about spelling/grammar, then know that it's been taken care of. Okay, so the story, right? Told between alternating point of views, Rule was surprisingly good!

“That’s the thing Shaw; I never thought I did until you.  I never thought I needed anyone or anything until you got into my head and started breaking down all the walls I had built around all my feelings.” 

We stared at each other in a tense silence.  Until she sighed softly and uttered, “I’m not sorry.  It’s not a bad thing to feel, it’s not awful to care about other people.”

Shaw is a good girl from a very prestigious family. She was close with the Archers when she grew up and Remy was her best friend. All the outsiders thought they were dating. Were they? No. No, because all Shaw has ever had eyes for was Remy's twin Rule. The tattoed, rough around the edges guy who went through girls like they were a new pair of underwear to wear for each day. Haha, that sounded weird, but it's true! He's like a man-whore with no feelings. Or so he thought..

Shaw is living in a mental box surrounded by the expectations of her parents, but all she wants is out. When Shaw and Rule start to bond, Rule gives that out to her in more than one way and Shaw is starting to become her own person. It's wonderful to see, but all the while her ex keeps torturing her. If you've read Easy by Tammara Webber, you know how difficult an ex is to deal with and Gabe was similar to Kennedy in his attitude and backround. He is that type of a character you love to hate!

“I’ve never trusted anyone all the time. It’s the people I care about the most that always seem to do the most damage.” 

All those spelling/grammar mistakes in my copy aside, the story was very enjoyable and I thought this guy with tats and a thing for metal music and women was so broken and torned inside that he made me see how easy it was for Shaw to fall in love with him in the first place. Someone among my GR friends recently posted this on their wall: "All girls want a bad boy to be good for them.. All boys want a good girl to be bad for them." I think this thought is perfect to describe this book and I can't wait to see what's to come for Jet, Nash, Rome and Rowdy in the upcoming companion novels.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Meet the author

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