Showing posts with label (2014). Show all posts
Showing posts with label (2014). Show all posts

Monday, 27 April 2015

The Here and Now by Ann Brashares

The Here and Now (2014) (Hodder Children's Books)
Ann Brashares
Grade: C+
Genre: young adult / time travel
Source: own / NetGalley
General RBC 2015: A book set in the future 

Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.

These are the most important rules of Prenna’s community – the rules that she knows she must abide by if they’re to blend in and appear normal. Ethan is the first and only person who makes Prenna want to risk revealing her community’s secret: that they’re from another time … In the future, a mosquito-borne disease is rapidly killing huge swathes of humanity. The early twenty-first century is identified as a ‘safe haven’ where those who have managed to avoid the disease can start over. But the restrictive rules about never revealing where they’re from, never dramatically changing the course of history and never being intimate with someone from outside their community are put to the test as Prenna and Ethan are drawn into a course of events that has the potential to destroy the world – and history – as they know it …

Friday, 10 April 2015

The Game and the Governess by Kate Noble

The Game and the Governess (2014) (Headline Eternal)
Kate Noble
Grade: C
Genre: historical romance
Sex scenes: mild
Source: bookbridgr
Winner Takes All: (1) The Game and the Governess

Lord Edward Granville, Earl of Ashby, has never been short of luck. From his time on the battlefield to his way with the ladies and at the card table, he’s more than earned his nickname of ‘Lucky Ned’. When Ned is challenged to a wager with his best friend and secretary, John Turner, he can’t say no. John doesn’t think that Ned can win over a lady without the benefit of his title, and so the pair agree to switch identities during a trip to visit one of Ned’s properties.

Governess Phoebe Baker wants nothing more than to keep her employers happy whilst making sure that her students are getting a good education. There’s no one she’d rather avoid than the Earl of Ashby. Phoebe has a past with the Earl that she would rather keep private and so when she discovers that he’ll be staying for a week with his secretary, it’s her worst nightmare. Thankfully, she doesn’t see much of the Earl, but his secretary is persistent in crossing her path … and making her pulse flutter …


Friday, 3 April 2015

The Executioner's Daughter by Jane Hardstaff

The Executioner's Daughter (2014) (Egmont)
Jane Hardstaff
Grade: C
Genre: children's
Source: own
The Executioner's Daughter: (1) The Executioner's Daughter 

The people of London love a good beheading. The streets are always bustling on beheading day as spectators jostle to get the best view and satisfy their bloodthirsty curiosity. Moss can imagine nothing worse, but unfortunately, she’s present at every single one. As the daughter of the executioner, it’s her job to catch the poor soul’s head in her basket. Living with her father, Moss has never seen outside the Tower’s walls and longs to follow the river and be free of their current life. Then Moss meets Salter, a boy living independently off his wits on the river. But London – and especially the Thames – is no place for children this harsh winter. Word has it that something lurks in the water and it’s targeting children …


Sunday, 22 March 2015

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars (2014) (Hot Key Books)
E. Lockhart
Grade: A
Genre: young adult
Source: own 
General RBC 2015: A book without a love triangle

“Welcome to the beautiful Sinclair family. No one is a criminal. No one is an addict. No one is a failure.”

Cady, Johnny, Mirren and Gat. Gat, Mirren, Johnny and Cady. The family call them the Liars after Gat first arrived on Beechwood Island in summer eight. Though the four lead separate lives during the year, they are utterly inseparable during their summer months on the family island. To the outside world, life for the Sinclair family is privileged, effortless and enviable – that is, until summer fifteen. All Cady knows is that she had an accident on the island and the past two years have been spent in a haze of pain and pills, as her selective amnesia prevents her from remembering much of what happened. Now, Cady is back on Beechwood for summer seventeen, the first time since her accident two years ago and everything has changed irrevocably. What is the truth? What is a lie?

Saturday, 31 January 2015

It's Not Me It's You by Mhairi McFarlane

It's Not Me It's You (2014) (Avon)
Mhairi McFarlane
Grade: B-
Genre: chick lit
Source: NetGalley
General RBC 2015: A book with more than 500 pages 

When Delia Moss proposes to her boyfriend of ten years, the last thing she expects is to discover the existence of The Other Woman. When she’s asked to gently put a stop to a serial commenter from leaving mildly insulting and insinuating comments on the council’s website, she doesn’t expect to resign from her job at the Council over it. Given the slightly tumultuous path that her life has taken, Delia decides that a move to London to stay with her best friend Emma, is her last chance to start over. Accepting a job working for the charismatic Kurt in his start-up PR company, Delia believes she can really make a difference … until she meets investigate reporter Adam West who Kurt warns her to steer clear from, with the fate of her job hanging in the balance. This is a story of dodgy jobs, crazy bosses, bad-boy reporters, loyal old (and new) friends, rediscovering her passion for The Fox (a lot more innocent that it sounds) and one woman’s chance to find her place in life …

Thursday, 11 December 2014

Waistcoats & Weaponry by Gail Carriger

Waistcoats & Weaponry (2014) (Orbit)
Gail Carriger
Grade: A
Genre: steampunk / young adult
Source: own
Finishing School: (1) Etiquette & Espionage, (2) Curtsies & Conspiracies, (3) Waistcoats & Weaponry
Young adult RBC 2014: A book set in another world 

At Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality, Sophronia Temminick and her friends are trying to finish their education in espionage to the best of their abilities (i.e. by flaunting the rules as much as possible), but school isn’t quite the same as it was. After an experiment gone wrong, their vampire teacher Professor Braithwope has gone a little loopy in the head, Sophronia’s friend and resident scientific and technology whiz Vieve has sneaked off under the guise of a boy to get her own education at Bunson’s School for Evil Geniuses, and despite the fact that they’ve yet to learn the fine art of seduction techniques, Sophronia continues to receive (not wholly unwanted) advances from two wholly unsuitable suitors: Lord Felix Mersey, beautiful peer but unforgiveably, son of a Pickleman, and Soap, sweet sootie from the Academy’s engine room. Fortunately, Sophronia has now found her deadly weapon of choice: the steel-tipped fan and is eager to get as much practice as she can – including thinking of new places to hide one about her person.


Saturday, 29 November 2014

The Jewel by Amy Ewing

The Jewel (2014) (Walker Books)
Amy Ewing
Grade: A
Genre: young adult / dystopian
Source: own
Young adult RBC 2014: A book with music 

Tomorrow, Violet Lasting will be gone forever. While living in Southgate holding facility for the last four years, Violet had her every whim catered for: the best clothes, food, the chance to learn and excel at the cello – everything but freedom. Born into the Marsh, the lowest ranking and poorest of the five circles (The Jewel, Bank, Farm, Smoke and Marsh), she’s one of many other Marsh girls born with a genetic make-up that makes them perfect surrogates for bearing the children of The Jewel’s Royalty, who are themselves incapable of bearing anything but defective offspring. Taken away from her family at puberty, Violet has seen nothing but Southgate’s walls for years. Today is her final chance to say goodbye to her family forever. Tomorrow, she becomes Lot 197, destined to be sold to the highest bidder at the annual Auction and a life in The Jewel, surrogate mother to another woman’s child.


Friday, 21 November 2014

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

We Should All Be Feminists (2014) (Fourth Estate)
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Grade: A+
Genre: non-fiction
Source: own
Fiction RBC 2014: A book of non-fiction 

Watch the TEDx talk here.

Adapted from her phenomenal TEDx talk of the same name, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie draws upon her experiences growing up in Nigeria and uses her gift for storytelling to put forward a persuasive argument for why we should all be feminists and what every man, woman, boy, girl and parent can do to contribute towards the equality of the sexes.

Friday, 7 November 2014

What a Girl Wants by Lindsey Kelk

What a Girl Wants (2014) (Harper)
Lindsey Kelk
Grade: B+
Genre: chick lit
Sex scenes: mild
Source: library
About a Girl: (1) About a Girl, (2) What a Girl Wants
Romance RBC 2014: A book with 'girl/woman' in the title 

Not so very long ago, Tess Brookes had her life turned upside down. Her job at an advertising agency was her life, so when she’s made redundant, she thinks her life is over. This tumultuous period leads to Tess making a host of other bad decisions, including sleeping with her best friend Charlie and impersonating her bitchy housemate Vanessa and taking Vanessa’s place on a photoshoot in Hawaii. It is during this trip that Tess rediscovers her love for photography and realises that she is actually really good at it.


Thursday, 30 October 2014

Panic by Lauren Oliver

Panic (2014) (Hodder)
Lauren Oliver
Grade: A-
Genre: young adult
Source: bookbridgr
Fiction RBC 2014: A book with a mystery

Panic started in the town of Carp, population 12,000, for two reasons: because it was summer, and because there was nothing else to do. Now, Panic has become an institution. Played by recent high school graduates, participants sign up to compete in literal life-or-death challenges for the chance to win $67,000. People have died and two years ago, a girl was left paralysed from the waist down after her car was tampered with so that she would lose at the last hurdle. Still, Panic goes on.


Sunday, 26 October 2014

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

The Geography of You and Me (2014) (Headline)
Jennifer E. Smith
Grade: B
Genre: young adult
Source: bookbridgr
Young adult RBC 2014: Free square 

When Lucy and Owen meet, they’re stuck in the lift of their apartment building during a blackout that shuts down the whole of New York during high summer. Lucy has lived in New York her whole life, but this is the first time she’s been alone in the city while her twin brothers are at college and her parents have jetted off to Europe on holiday. Owen has just moved in with his father, the building’s new super. They left their house in Pennsylvania to start afresh after Owen’s mum died and he’s fiercely opposed to New York.


Wednesday, 22 October 2014

The Moment Collector by Jodi Lynn Anderson

I'm stepping up my game in order to try and complete my three RBC 2014 challenges before the end of the year, as well as review as many as I can, too. I still won't be able to finish it in time, but I'm going to be posting reviews every other day and try.

The Moment Collector (2014) (Hachette Children's Books)
Jodi Lynn Anderson
Grade: C+
Genre: young adult
Source: NetGalley
Young adult RBC 2014: A book you heard about online 

Maggie is the new girl in the tiny town of Gill Creek. Her mother has had to accept a job in town after losing her job in Chicago, and her father gave up his several years ago when he took the decision to home-school her. Now, Maggie is struggling to adapt to life at 208 Water Street, their old, supposedly haunted house. Luckily, she has an instant friend in her closest neighbour Pauline and Liam, the boy who loves her.


Monday, 20 October 2014

Every Day by David Levithan

Every Day (2014) (Egmont)
David Levithan
Grade: A-
Genre: young adult
Source: own
Young adult RBC 2014: A book with an epic love story 

A wakes up in a different body every day – A doesn’t identify with any gender and has become used to his abnormal life. Boy or girl, fat or thin, homosexual or straight, athletic or academic, nasty or nice, A has experienced it all. For the purposes of this review, we’ll refer to A as a male. A closes his eyes at night and know that when morning comes, he will be in another body, ready for another day of pretending to be another stranger.


Thursday, 16 October 2014

The King by Tiffany Reisz

The King (2014) (published 25/11/2014 / 5/12/2014) (Harlequin MIRA)
Tiffany Reisz
Grade: A
Genre: erotica
Sex scenes: HOT
Source: NetGalley
The Original Sinners: (prequel) Seven Day Loan, (The Red Years): (1) The Siren, (2) The Angel, (3) The Prince, (4) The Mistress, (The White Years): (5) The Saint, (6) The King 
Romance RBC 2014: A book with a title referencing the peerage 

The year is 1993 and Kingsley Edge is ready to drink himself to death while sleeping with half of Manhattan in the process. The year before, he was shot while working as a spy for the French Foreign Legion and dying from an infection in a hospital in France. He remembers little of his time there, except Søren appearing out of the blue one day after ten years, demanding that the doctors treat and heal Kingsley. Once discharged, Søren is gone but Kingsley has the best part of $30 million dollars in his bank account – blood money from Søren. Now, he lives in a palace in the city that never sleeps and owns a strip club where, behind closed doors, the rich and sexually deviant can give in to their erotic desires.


Thursday, 9 October 2014

Captivated by Megan Hart & Tiffany Reisz

Captivated (2014) (short story collection) (Harlequin)
Featuring 'Letting Go' and 'Seize the Night'
Megan Hart & Tiffany Reisz
Grade: B- (average)
Genre: erotica / contemporary romance
Sex scenes: hot
Source: NetGalley
Romance RBC 2014: A book with a 'marriage of convenience'

In Letting Go, Colleen visits The Fallen Angel bar every Thursday night, ordering a whiskey but leaving it untouched. Bartender Jesse is enchanted with the beautiful but troubled Colleen and determined to make something of their connection. Colleen is wary: her ex-husband always accused her of being frigid and cold and she hasn’t yet got over their divorce. It isn’t until a snow storm forces them to spend time in each other’s company that Colleen rethinks her perspective on a new relationship and is confronted with her newfound desire for kinkiness in the bedroom …

In Seize the Night, Remi Montgomery knows that something is shifty is up with two of the biggest Thoroughbred racing farms in Kentucky, Arden farms and Capital Hills. She would do something to confront the problem, but Arden farm belongs to her parents, and Capital Hills, belonging to the Brites family, is their greatest enemy. To top it off, she and Julien, the Brites’ only son were the source of the original rivalry. Five years ago, a night of unbridled passion turned the two families against each other and it’s now up to Remi and Julien to get to the bottom of it …

Thursday, 2 October 2014

Fast Track by Julie Garwood

Fast Track (2014) (Penguin Group Dutton)
Julie Garwood
Grade: B-
Genre: romantic suspense
Sex scenes: mild
Source: NetGalley
Buchanan/FBI: ... (12) Fast Track
Romance RBC 2014: A book with a 'best friend-little sister' relationship 

Raised solely by her father after her mother died in a car crash, Cordelia Kane isn’t ashamed to call herself a daddy’s girl. When he dies of a sudden heart attack, Cordelia is crushed – even more so when she discovers that her mother is still alive and well, having wanted nothing to do with her daughter’s life. Insanely curious about this woman that rejected her, Cordelia tracks her down to Sydney in order to find out more.


Monday, 22 September 2014

Concealed in Death by J.D. Robb

Concealed in Death (2014) (Piatkus)
J.D. Robb a.k.a. Nora Roberts
Grade: B
Genre: romantic suspense
Sex scenes: mild
Source: library
In Death: (1) Naked in Death ... (34) Celebrity in Death, (35) Delusion in Death, (38) Concealed in Death
Romance RBC 2014: A book with a cop/PI heroine 

When Roarke ceremoniously takes the first swing in demolishing a run-down building he’s got plans for, he’s hoping it will be the start of a successful venture. What he doesn’t expect to find is two carefully wrapped bundles of plastic, containing the bodies of two teenage girls who have been buried behind a false wall for fifteen years. A more thorough inspection of the building is thus only natural, eventually bringing to light an even dozen bodies.

This case hits hard to home for Lieutenant Eve Dallas. The building used to be a sanctuary for delinquents and teenagers who had nowhere else to go. This stark reminder of her own time in-and-out of foster homes only pushes her harder to find the killer, revealing an elaborate cover-up that has left far too many families wondering whether their daughters are still alive, for too long.

Friday, 19 September 2014

Roman Holiday: The Complete Adventure by Ruthie Knox

Roman Holiday: The Complete Adventure (2014) (Loveswept) (serial)
Ruthie Knox
Grade: A-
Genre: contemporary romance/funny
Sex scenes: hot
Source: NetGalley
RBC 2014: A funny book 

Ashley Bowman will do anything and everything she can to stop her late grandmother’s Florida Keys holiday resort being knocked down by a developer – even chain herself to a tree on the grounds just as a hurricane is about to hit. Once she meets Roman Diaz, she’s determined to prove to him exactly how his plans are going to affect the elderly community who have been visiting the resort for years – even if it means she has to drag him across the country to do it.


Thursday, 11 September 2014

The Last Good Knight by Tiffany Reisz

The Last Good Knight (2014) (serial) (Harlequin MIRA)
I: Scars and Stripes, II: Sore Spots, III: The Games Destiny Plays, IV: Fit to be Tied, V: The Last Good Knight
Tiffany Reisz
Grade: A
Genre: contemporary / erotica
Sex scenes: HOT
Source: NetGalley
Romance RBC 2014: A book published in 2014 

New York’s top dominatrix Nora Sutherlin is bored. When she stumbles upon sexy submissive Lance in Kingsley’s club, she can’t resist. On discovering that Nora is in danger, the ex-SEAL is appointed as Nora’s personal bodyguard and Kingsley stipulates no sex on the job, much to Nora’s disappointment. But however good Lance is in bed, he is loathe to hurt Nora the way that she needs and she soon discovers that he has secrets of his own …

Thursday, 4 September 2014

My Beautiful Enemy by Sherry Thomas

My Beautiful Enemy (2014) (Headline Eternal)
Sherry Thomas
Grade: A
Genre: historical romance
Sex scenes: mild
Source: bookbridgr
The Heart of Blade: (prequel) The Hidden Blade, (1) My Beautiful Enemy
Romance RBC 2014: A non-Regency historical

The beautiful and deadly Catherine Blade has arrived in London with a mission to complete. The illegitimate daughter of a Chinese courtesan and English adventurer who died before she was born, there had been a tub of water ready to drown her at birth if she were a girl. When it came down to it, neither her mother or her amah could go through with it and it was the latter who was responsible for her secret training in the martial arts. Her task in London is to retrieve a pair of jade tablets for Da-ren, the man who has been more like a father figure to Catherine than any man has ever been. What Catherine doesn’t expect is to bump straight into the man she loved and thought she left for dead eight years ago …