Sunday, March 31, 2013

Stacking MY Shelves ~ 3/31/13



Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  Make sure to checkout her post with links to all the other participates.

Review


Dare You To (Pushing The Limits, #2) By Katie McGarry
(From Netgalley - thank you)

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."

"No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again....

"I dare you..."


If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....




Faceless (Denazen #2.5) by Jus Accardo
(Received from publisher - thank you)

My name is Brandt Cross, and I died. Again… 

I'm living in the body of a Six named Douglass Cain, a certifiable scumbag whose ability is on Zendean Industries—AKA Denazen's—most wanted list. There’s some serious bad going down, and Ginger, the leader of the Underground, sent me undercover to obtain information because people are dying. 

My cousin, Dez, is dying…

Denazen thought they’d found a cure for the Supremacy decline, but they were wrong. That’s the bad news. The good news? Franklin Wentz. 

Wentz, the owner of a genetic research company, is brilliant and just a little bit crazy. He’s unwittingly created a formula that may cure the sick Supremacy kids, and everyone wants it—including Devin, the super hot Resident.

Get the formula. Save the day. Don’t fall for the hot spy. Piece of cake.





Twisted Summer by Lucy Morgan
(Received from author - thank you)

 A dark New Adult romance

You have to understand that we never meant for it to happen. We knew it was stupid. We knew it was wrong.

Eighteen-year-old Danni Warren has big plans for her last summer before college: a cool job, a concert she wouldn’t miss for the world, and spending time with her beautiful girlfriend, Esme. But after one hell of an argument, Danni’s mother packs her off to stay with her estranged step-uncle, Gabe, in his lodge on the English coast. So begins a weekend of the worst punishment imaginable: no phone signal.

With his sun kissed good looks and sarcastic manner, twenty-nine-year-old Gabe Asher isn’t anything like Danni expected. She wants to hate him—he’s her punishment for standing up to her mother—but between surfing lessons and beach hikes, Gabe and Danni grow close. Maybe too close.

Now Danni’s questioning everything: old family secrets, her future, her strained relationship with Esme. One sun stained afternoon, Gabe and Danni go too far. And then everything else falls apart…



Bought


Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker
(Picked it up for $1.99) 

 Sophomore year broke Clementine Williams’ heart. She fell for her best friend’s boyfriend and long story short: he’s excused, but Clem is vilified and she heads into summer with zero social life.

Enter her parents’ plan to spend the summer on their sailboat. Normally the idea of being stuck on a tiny boat with her parents and little sister would make Clem break out in hives, but floating away sounds pretty good right now.

Then she meets James at one of their first stops along the river. He and his dad are sailing for the summer and he’s just the distraction Clem needs. Can he break down Clem’s walls and heal her broken heart?

Told in alternating chapters that chronicle the year that broke Clem’s heart and the summer that healed it, Unbreak My Heart is a wonderful dual love story that fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Susane Colasanti will flock to.





Miss Me Not by Tiffany King
(Picked it up for free)

Miss Me Not is a beautiful story of self-discovery, forgiveness, caring, and love.

Madison Hanson's past demons have given her a shadow of an existence with little hope. With the sudden tragic death of a fellow student, Madison questions her own life choices, and is now forced to evaluate everything she thought she believed in. When fate intervenes and partners her with Dean Jackson, a popular "all around good guy" from school, Madison gets a glimpse of a life that is filled with sunshine that has the power to break through the darkness she has cloaked herself in.
With Dean's help, Madison discovers a desire to finally step out of the shadows, and embrace life and all its gifts.






Blue Hearts of Mars by Nicole Grotepas
(Picked it up for free)

Note from author: Blue Hearts of Mars has been selected as a quarterfinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest. Longer excerpts are available through the ABNA page on Amazon. Reader reviews and ratings are welcome and encouraged.

Seventeen-year-old Retta Heikkinen is in love with a boy--a thoroughly gorgeous, captivating, and mysterious boy known as Hemingway. The situation is rather ideal: he likes her, she likes him. There's just one little problem.

He's a blue heart, an android.

Being in a relationship is its own complicated mess, but how long can a forbidden love last? Soon Retta discovers a secret that could destroy the uneasy truce between the blue hearts and humans, which makes life under the domes on Mars possible. Would exposing what she knows make things better or worse? And how can she know for certain without exposing the secret?




Gifts


The Collector (Dante Walker, #1) by Victoria Scott
(From Melanie at Entangled Teen for my classroom - thank you)

He makes good girls...bad.

Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple: weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.

Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal-opportunity collector and doesn't want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:

Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within ten days.

Dante doesn't know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect, he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector…and uncover emotions deeply buried.




The Love Game (Games #1) by Emma Hart
(from Dani Morales - Thank you)


His challenge? Make her fall in love with him.
Her challenge? Play the player.
Until life changes the rules of the game.

Maddie Stevens hated Braden Carter on sight. Arrogant, egotistical, and the playboy of the University of California, Berkeley, he's everything her brother Pearce has taught her to despise. So why, when the girls challenge her to play the player, doesn't she say no? She doesn't know either.

Braden wanted fiery little Maddie the second he laid eyes on her - and he'd do anything to have her, hence why he's agreed to make her fall in love with him. After all, it's the only way he'll get what he wants. Sex.

But, as Braden discovers, there's more to the girl from Brooklyn than he ever imagined - and he can't help but care about the broken girl behind those pretty green eyes.

Maddie finds Braden isn't just a walking erection - he actually has feelings. He can be sweet, funny and his good looks don't exactly hurt. That means trouble - but when her brother Pearce turns up in Berkeley begging for her help, she realizes Braden and Pearce aren't so alike anymore.

And maybe, just maybe, they're exactly what each other needs.





I received this beautiful custom made necklace from Heather ( @javalotta ) as a thank you gift.  I absolutely LOVE it!  It was made by Nair & Bjorn just for me!


Isn't it perfect! Purple & books - so me!
Thank you!!!



Lots of awesomeness up there!  What about you?  What's stacking your shelves this week?  Leave me a comment.

11 comments:

  1. AH! That necklace is toooo cute! I love it :) And ooh, The Collector was sooo good. I haven't heard of Twister Summer and The Love Game but they both look amazing! I need to add them to my TBR. I still need to read the rest of the books in the Touch series. I'm seriously behind! *squeee* I hope you enjoy all these awesomesauce books, Val!! <3

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  2. Wow! So many great ones! I have been eyeing The Love Game for awhile so I'm excited to check that out! And of course Dare You To and The Collector are also at the top of my TBR list! Happy reading!

    My STS

    Jessica@Lovin' Los Libros

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  3. Awesome books. I've been hearing a lot about The Collector. Hope you enjoy them all.

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  4. I have Dare Me To and The Collector two and I can't wait to read them. They both look amazing and I have been looking forward to them. Enjoy!

    Kristin @ Young Adult Book Haven

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  5. I LOVED Unbreak My Heart! I got Dare You To too and I can't wait to read it!!!! Enjoy Pal!

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  6. I've been wanting to read Unbreak My Heart for the longest time! I hope you enjoy everything you got this week :)

    My IMM

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  7. Nice books! I really liked Miss Me Not. And I see you took Twisted Summer! My new blog buddy is going to review that for my blog. The Love Game looks good! Enjoy!

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  8. Cute necklace!!! Loved Dare You To and The Collector. I grabbed Miss Me Not freebie too and I can't wait to read Faceless. Love Jus Accardo's series. Enjoy! Happy Easter!
    My Stack

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  9. Yay for Dare You To!! I know that you really wanted that one!! Twisted Summer sounds awesome! I liked Unbreak My Heart and for $1.99 that's a great deal!! So many awesome books this week Val. And that necklace is so cute!! Great haul!

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  10. Hi Val,

    I've been dying to read Dare you to, and I was excited to get it from NetGalley too! The Love Game looks like a good book! I'm going to have to check it out! I love the necklace! What a thoughtful gift! Happy Reading!

    Lindy@ A Bookish Escape

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