Book Haul #24

It was my birthday last week, but I didn't get any books since my friends and family know I read a lot and they prefer to gift me money instead of books that I may have already read or may already own. So.. I got myself a present with some of the birthdaymoney and ordered a bunch on TBD, but I did it just yesterday so they'll be here sometime in September. However, I did receive a little somthing--my gorgeous US paperback of Just One Day by Gayle Forman--and I purchased a few e-books in addition to one review copy. If you've read any of these, let me know so I can push them up on my tbr list and be sure to leave your links below so I can visit you back. Have a great weekend, lovelies!

Physical copies

Just One Day (Just One Day #1) by Gayle Forman

I was a little sad when I saw that they had changed the original cover design for paperback version, but when I held this pretty in my hands, trust me--it's so incredibly gorgeous. Can't wait to read this book!

E-books

Indelible (The Twixt#1) by Dawn Metcalf (arc from Harlequin Teen)

Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay

All Our Yesterdays (All Our Yesterday #1) by Cristin Terrill

Fire with Fire (Burn for Burn #2) by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

Good (Too Good #1) by S. Walden

Broken and Screwed 2 (Broken and Screwed #2) by Tijan

Infraction (Breach #2) by K.I. Lynn

This week's 'thank you' goes to Harlequin Teen and Netgalley.

Oh, and if you haven't yet, take a chance and participate in my birthday giveaway of a book of your choice from my favorite reads. You can find the giveaway here. Good luck!

What did you get this week? Leave your links below and I'll check out your goodies :)

In My Mailbox is a weekly event hosted by The Mod Podge Bookshelf and Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Review: Fallen Crest Family by Tijan

Title: Fallen Crest Family (Fallen Crest High #2)
Author: Tijan
Published: June 18th 2013
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon 

Samantha and Mason are together. Everyone knows it. Not everyone is dealing with it. While Mason’s ready to give them the middle finger, there’s one not going away. Her mother. Threats are issued. Ultimatums are given. Even blackmail is used, but only Samantha can put a stop to Analise. However, when a trauma from her past is triggered, she may not have the courage or strength to do what’s needed. If she doesn’t, Mason’s future could be destroyed.

Even though I read the first book Fallen Crest High recently, I felt like it took forever for the sequel to be published. I was in the middle of reading or listening to 4 books in total and it didn’t really stop me from starting Fallen Crest Family as soon as it loaded on my Kindle. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Was I disappointed? Unfortunately, yes.

"I won't get run off from you. I love you, Sam. I said it before and I mean it. I won't let your mom control my life."

The story. The sequel follows Samantha and her step brothers. She has a romantic relationship with one of the brothers and a brother-sister relationship with the other. Sam and Mase have quite a few obstacles ahead of them and number one being Sam's crazy-a mom Analise. Their parents are all mixed up in this crazy relationship that affects their kids and the kids’ friends-enemies don’t make the whole mess better either.  If you’re willing to give this series a try, expect a lot of drama and crazy coming your way.

My emotions. Look, I am a huge fan of Sam and Mason’s relationship and I adore their chemistry. Did I expect lots of make-out scenes and their romance blossoming even more? Yes, I did. I just didn’t think it’d take about half of the book describing the feelings Mase created in Sam. *falls asleep* I liked that their relationship wasn’t all about the sexual chemistry in this book, but rather it evolved into something deeper and I truly believed them when they expressed their love. I also enjoyed Logan’s friendship with Sam which unfortunately wasn’t there that much. Oh, and I really, really like that new girl Heather. Sam needs a great friend and I can tell you that I like her a hell of a lot better than that Becky chick who's the second coming of Gossip Girl *rolls eyes* She's the kind of friend you don't want to have and I think Sam is too generous to constantly forgive her.

So what disappointed me the most, you ask? Hmh.. Let’s just say that Sam’s mother Analise seemed like a lunatic before, but now she’s an even bigger mystery to me. The whole 11-year-old-Sam-and-her-mom plot felt so off to me, I didn’t connect to that at all. I felt like there were plot wholes throughout that entire storyline and I why didn't we see that coming? There was not even a mention of this jazz in book one so it felt more random than anything to be brought up now out of nowhere. Moreover, nothing else happened in this book that we didn’t know before. Sam and Mason love each other, Logan and Mase excepted Sam into their family. Analise is a lost case as are the rest of the trio’s parents. Also, Sam just became so girly and emotional and.. weak. In #1 she stood up for herself and didn't take BS from anyone, but now.. I knew she would break down at some point though what with shutting out all her emotions.

To sum up my thoughts, I’d say that I liked it, but I expected more. I didn’t connect with Sam in her ‘tragic’ childhood drama she had to relive and I didn’t feel like the story progressed anywhere. However, I read the original 4 chapters on Tijan’s Wattpad and I think that re-drafting and re-writing this book benefited in this case. If you're up for a crazy ride of drama and rich kids, this series may be the one for you. I can tell you that the first installment is anything like the New Adult novels as we've come to know them. Even though I found this installment to be just meh and okay, I am very much looking forward to what comes next for this bunch of lunatics. LOL. That sounded funny, haha.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

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Review: Fallen Crest High by Tijan

Title: Fallen Crest High (Fallen Crest High #1)
Author: Tijan
Published: October 31st 2012
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon

Mason and Logan Kade are two brothers who did their own thing. They were rich and expected to attend her school, Fallen Crest Academy. They chose public school and now Samantha has to live with them. The problem is that she doesn't care at all: about them, about her friends, about her cheating boyfriend, or even about her parent's divorce. But maybe that's a good thing. Maybe change is a good thing.

The thing is that Mason and Logan Kane are probably what you’d find in a dictionary if you were to look up ‘trouble’. These two along with their friend Nate don’t mess around. BUT, they’re also synonyms to loyalty, protection and love. Yes, love. If they love someone, they do it with passion and boy did Mase and Sam have passion. I am taken aback by Mason’s hotness, by the way. Every time he walked in, I had to fan myself, literally. He is soooooo hawt!! And Logan is hilarious!

“I run to run." (meaning: she runs physically to run away emotionally.)

It’s funny, because I cried more than once while I was reading Broken and Screwed, but I didn’t while I was enjoying this one. It’s so much darker and really twisted. I really liked different types of characters and their interactions. I loved how Mason and Sam have a relationship that has nothing to do with being step-siblings, but at the same time Sam has a bond with Logan too. After I finished FCH, I stalked Tijan’s FB page and read the teasers (oh, my, by the way!!) and there were lots of comments regarding Mason-Sam-Logan and not one person mentioned wanting Logan and Sam to be romantically linked so I hope Tijan takes that into consideration while writing the sequel.

As for the other characters, most of them were douches. Especially Sam’s Mom, Jessica, Miranda and almost everyone else. I still had fun watching them do stupid stunts and be teenagers, even if sometimes these intrigues were over the top. What do you expect from an elite school in literature anyway? Exactly! Oh, and what was up with Becky? That girl was seriously too obsessed with gossip. If she were to turn half as much attention to herself, just maybe she’d get the guy of her dreams. She’d give Gossip Girl a run for one’s money.

Ahhh, and that not-cliff-hanger-cliff-hanger? I want to know what happens next so bad, I can’t even tell you how much. All these feelings. *gaaahh* I literally thought about FCH for two days straight after finishing it and I re-read my favorite parts over at least three times if not more. The funny remarks, snarky attitudes, hot smexy scenes, layered characters – it was really good. I didn’t expect to like this book so much. I’m so glad I stumbled upon Tijan on GR. Since she’s just in the beginning of her writing career, there’s room for improvement, but the potential is remarkable. I didn't mind the somewhat makes-no-sense plotlines and these not so advanced vocabulary and storytelling issues, because I got so sucked into the story that I didn't even bother to turn my attention to everything imperfect. I give thumbs up to this one! (On a side note: yuck on the cover.)

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Review: Broken and Screwed by Tijan

Title: Broken and Screwed (Broken and Screwed #1)
Author: Tijan
Published: February 7th 2012
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon

Alexandra's older brother died the night he graduated. That day changed everything for her. No longer was she the party girl. No longer did she care about being popular and no longer was her family the happy unit she always thought existed. The only person who could help her heal is the same person who loved her brother as much as she did, his best friend. She only hopes to keep her entire heart from breaking when Jesse will move on, and she knows he will.

After Ethan died, Jesse excelled at basketball, partying, and girls. He used it all to turn his emotions off, but the irony was that Alex was the only person who could do that for him. She helped him forget, but she was the one person he shouldn't be with because the secrets he knows could shatter everything. They could shatter her.

Allrightyyyy. I didn’t know much of this book before going into it. I know I loved the sound of it when I first read the blurb and that cover is really beautiful so I thought 'why not give it a chance'. It was a hot mess, but I enjoyed it. I didn’t agree with all of these plot twists, relationships or decisions, but I did very much enjoy it indeed. 

 "I thought it stopped with you guys. He's going to destroy you. Don't you see that? Can't you stop it?"

Broken and Screwed (not a fan of that title) is about Alex and Jesse. And Ethan. Ethan is dead, but his presence is everywhere around the book and it all surrounds and involves him. Always him. Ethan died in a car crash and he was Alex’s brother as well as Jesse’s best friend. These two are like strangers now and they only get together when it’s a big date in relevance to Ethan – funeral, birthday – you name it. Being together eases the never-ending pain. Alex loves him, but she may as well torture herself, because it’s obvious he doesn’t feel the same.

I found Alex to be somewhat a pushover, but I can forgive her because she has lost her whole family. Her parents don’t even acknowledge her, her brother is dead, her friends are a bunch of lunatics. I know Angie was definitely a better friend than that bitch Marissa, but Angie stuck her nose in everyone’s business and that just put me off. As for Jesse, I liked him. I know it’s wrong and even though I found his and Alex’s relationship completely unhealthy, I do think he loves her. I hope he does.

It was a messed up book in the sense that I found the relationship between Alex and Jesse to be unhealthy, Alex’s friends to be selfish and her parents – I don’t even have the ability to say what they are. They’re some of the worst parents to have ever been mentioned anywhere. I’m not kidding! Even though my heart aches, I am stunned that I actually liked this book. It isn’t an international bestseller material, I think, but it was emotional and dealt with some heavy issues that are worth more exploring and I can’t wait to have my unanswered questions to be answered in August.

As for my rating, I want to give it a four, but I can’t. It was such an unhealthy relationship and the storylines were a little too all over the place. Nevertheless, I liked the pain and emotions so I’ll go with a three.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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