BOOK REVIEW - WALK THE EDGE by KATIE MCGARRY - THUNDER ROAD # 2 - HARLEQUIN TEEN - YA CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

By: Katie McGarry

Published By : Harlequin Teen

Released : Available Now

Details : Paperback purchased, 438 Pages

RATING: 4.5 YA MC ROMANCE TENSE STARS!

One moment of recklessness will change their worlds.

Smart. Responsible. That's seventeen-year-old Breanna's role in her large family, and heaven forbid she put a toe out of line. Until one night of shockingly un-Breanna-like behavior puts her into a vicious cyber-bully's line of fire—and brings fellow senior Thomas "Razor" Turner into her life.

Razor lives for the Reign of Terror motorcycle club, and good girls like Breanna just don't belong. But when he learns she's being blackmailed over a compromising picture of the two of them—a picture that turns one unexpected and beautiful moment into ugliness—he knows it's time to step outside the rules.

And so they make a pact: he'll help her track down her blackmailer, and in return she'll help him seek answers to the mystery that's haunted him—one that not even his club brothers have been willing to discuss. But the more time they spend together, the more their feelings grow. And suddenly they're both walking the edge of discovering who they really are, what they want, and where they're going from here.


BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

I absolutely adore Katie McGarry’s story telling.

YA is her niche. She's got this age bracket well and truly covered.

Katie brings the tension and romance to young adults lives, when really they should be just out having a good time in life.

But where would the good YA romance writing be then?

So bring on in this case, the blonde hunk Razor and his Reign Of Terror MC and the girl from the other side of the tracks, who falls for him.

Bring on all their problems.

Bre’s problems are her large family and Kyle and a boy with a cut and a bike.

Katie went out of her way for the reader to really have not much love for Bre’s family. She piled it on thick and high. In real life, people who have that many kids and behaved like that...well they should only have a few kids.

NOT NINE!

My father is one of eight, so don’t judge that comment I just made.

Not to mention the behaviour of the other kids in the family.

Sheesh!

Then bring on Razor’s parent dramas, one alive and one dead and it goes to show even a small, barely there, biological family has its own simmering dramas ready to boil over.

Throw in the Riot MC and their way of worming into each instalment, just to add that little bit more danger and intrigue and you have the very apt title, Walk The Edge.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next book in the series.

Michelle

BOOK REVIEW - NOWHERE BUT HERE by KATIE MCGARRY - THUNDER ROAD # 1 - YA BIKER CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE - HARLEQUIN TEEN

By: Katie McGarry
Published By: Harlequin Teen
Released : Available Now
Details: Digital copy via Net Galley for honest review, 496 Pages

RATING: 4.5 OZ STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

An unforgettable new series from acclaimed author Katie McGarry about taking risks, opening your heart, and ending up in a place you never imagined possible.
Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighbourhood. Sure, she’s curious about her biological father — the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent — but that doesn't mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father, and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both.

Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They’re the good guys. They protect people. They’re...family. And while Emily — the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club’s most respected member — is in town, he’s gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it’s his shot at his dream. What he doesn’t count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down.

No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home.


BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

Katie McGarry is one of my fave YA authors, I love her Pushing The Limits series.

Katie has ventured into YA biker contemporary romance and I really enjoyed Nowhere But Here.

I haven’t read a book in YA that covers the MC romance before and I really liked how she has done her homework and explained terms in her story to the younger reader who may not be familiar with how a biker club works.

“You didn’t say what old ladies were.”

“Wives or serious girlfriends of club members. It’s this special designation that means you belong to a guy and no one can mess with you without serious consequences.


This is a book an adult would enjoy too. I read adult MC romance and I liked the way Katie brought this adult life into a YA age bracket.

“If I get a rope and tie it around my neck, will you help push me off a cliff?”

“I’m serious,” I say. “I don’t understand why you want to live like this. You’re supersmart and superawesome when you want to be. I’m just saying that the rest of the world isn’t cloak-and-dagger. It’s easy and peaceful.”

Oz scratches the sexy stubble along his jaw. “Know what I don’t have to deal with in my world?”

“Sanity.”

He grins. “I could say the same about your world...”



This is a big book and it is a little slow going but I soon realized why. Katie is cleverly getting the reader invested in the characters and the relationship dynamics. There are many, with Emily the main female lead learning about her family and what will become a different type of family to her.

Katie is letting us get acquainted with the Reign of Terror club and its characters, we need time to watch Emily learn these people and what they will mean to her.

There are a lot of dynamics to take in and absorb with Emily and Olivia, Oz, Eli her biological father and her step father among other characters.

Violet is a character I want to know more about too. We see her only in one light in this book.

“Don’t let the pretty muscles fool you,” she says, catching me ogling. “Oz is married to the club and we both know that once you’re married anything else becomes the dirty mistress.”



We get to see the politics involved in the biker world because they do live by their own set of rules and their world isn’t that of a civilian.

I really enjoyed watching Emily and Oz together and am quite curious about Chevy and Razor.

Amazing how someone so innocent and beautiful can wreak so much havoc.



I think this first book in the series needed the slower pace for a reasonable amount of the story line because a foundation for the series had to be put into place. What I really liked was seeing the pressure put on Oz to succeed at being prospect and becoming a full patched in member. I liked watching what is expected of the male and what the club means to them all.

Katie brings the right edge to this YA biker romance. You can't write in this genre and not bring the romance, but it's toned down, but still exciting in its YA way. She brings the hard knocks, she doesn't shy away from it.


MC books are the flavor at the moment and have been for some time now and bringing a YA one into the mix in a very adult world I thought was clever and I highly recommend Nowhere But Here.

Michelle

AUSTRALIAN PROMOTION - NOWHERE BUT HERE by KATIE MCGARRY - THUNDER ROAD # 1 - YA CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE - HARLEQUIN TEEN

HARLEQUIN TEEN AUSTRALIA 

have their own promotion going on for

 Nowhere But Here by Katie McGarry.

Go to this link to pre order :

Anyone who pre-orders will get Chasing Amy free.

 https://offerpop.com/campaign/734349

ALSO

Here is the product page where you can read all about

 Nowhere But Here - Thunder Road # 1

http://www.harlequinbooks.com.au/product/9781488797842

NOWHERE BUT HERE Synopsis:

An unforgettable new series from acclaimed author Katie McGarry about taking risks, opening your heart and ending up in a place you never imagined possible.

Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighborhood. Sure, she's curious about her biological father—the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent—but that doesn't mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both.

Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They're the good guys. They protect people. They're…family. And while Emily—the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club's most respected member—is in town, he's gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it's his shot at his dream. What he doesn't count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down.

No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home.

TRAILER REVEAL - NOWHERE BUT HERE by KATIE MCGARRY - THUNDER ROAD SERIES - YA CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE - HARLEQUIN TEEN

We are absolutely thrilled to bring you the Trailer Reveal for Katie McGarry's NOWHERE BUT HERE! NOWHERE BUT HERE is a Young Adult Contemporary Romance being published by Harlequin Teen and is a part of Katie McGarry’s Thunder Road Series. It is being released on May 26^th, 2015!!

NOWHERE BUT HERE Pre-Order:

Amazon ** Kobo ** B-A-M ** Barnes & Noble ** iBooks ** IndieBound

Add it to your Goodreads Now!

   

Pre-Order NOWHERE BUT HERE, Register your Pre-Order and you’ll get the eBook you’ve been asking for, Abby’s Story, CHASING IMPOSSIBLE absolutely free! PLUS, you’ll also be entered to win a $500 VISA Gift Card! Register at http://bit.ly/1Mt8cjr. 

And check out the amazing trailer for

NOWHERE BUT HERE!

 

NOWHERE BUT HERE Synopsis:

An unforgettable new series from acclaimed author Katie McGarry about taking risks, opening your heart and ending up in a place you never imagined possible. 

Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighborhood. Sure, she's curious about her biological father—the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent—but that doesn't mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both.

Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They're the good guys. They protect people. They're…family. And while Emily—the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club's most respected member—is in town, he's gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it's his shot at his dream. What he doesn't count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down.

No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home.

   

About Katie McGarry:

Katie McGarry was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.

Katie is the author of full length YA novels, PUSHING THE LIMITS, DARE YOU TO, CRASH INTO YOU, TAKE ME ON, BREAKING THE RULES, and NOWHERE BUT HERE and the e-novellas, CROSSING THE LINE and RED AT NIGHT. 

Her debut YA novel, PUSHING THE LIMITS was a 2012 Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction, a RT Magazine's 2012 Reviewer's Choice Awards Nominee for Young Adult Contemporary Novel, a double Rita Finalist, and a 2013 YALSA Top Ten Teen Pick. DARE YOU TO was also a Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction and won RT Magazine’s Reviewer’s Choice Best Book Award for Young Adult Contemporary fiction in 2013.

Links:

Website: www.katielmcgarry.com

Twitter: @katiemcgarry

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katielmcgarry

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4575371.Katie_McGarry?from_search=true

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/katielmcgarry/

Tumbler: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/katiemcgarryauthor

Instagram: http://instagram.com/katielmcgarry

   

GIVEAWAY - BREAKING THE RULES by KATIE MCGARRY - PUSHING THE LIMITS # 1.5 - YA CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE - HARLEQUIN TEEN - RELEASE DAY BLITZ

 

We are so excited to bring you the Release Day launch for Katie McGarry's BREAKING THE RULES!

BREAKING THE RULES is a Young Adult contemporary romance published by Harlequin Teen, and is the follow-up book to Katie's PUSHING THE LIMITS. 

You do not want to miss Noah and Echo's story! Grab it today!

 

Amazon ** Barnes & Noble ** Books-A-Million ** Kobo ** iBooks ** Google Play

BREAKING THE RULES Synopsis: 

A summer road trip changes everything in this unforgettable new tale from acclaimed author Katie McGarry.

For new high school graduate Echo Emerson, a summer road trip out west with her boyfriend means getting away and forgetting what makes her so . . . different. It means seeing cool sights while selling her art at galleries along the way. And most of all, it means almost three months alone with Noah Hutchins, the hot, smart, soul-battered guy who's never judged her. Echo and Noah share everything--except the one thing Echo's just not ready for.

But when the source of Echo's constant nightmares comes back into her life, she has to make some tough decisions about what she really wants--even as foster kid Noah's search for his last remaining relatives forces them both to confront some serious truths about life, love, and themselves.

Now, with one week left before college orientation, jobs and real life, Echo must decide if Noah's more than the bad-boy fling everyone warned her he'd be. And the last leg of an amazing road trip will turn . . . seriously epic.

 

And don’t forget to read the first books in the Pushing the Limits Series…

PUSHING THE LIMITS

CROSSING THE LINE

DARE YOU TO

CRASH INTO YOU

TAKE ME ON

   

EXCERPT

From Noah’s POV

“Did you fall into some paint, Echo?” Isaiah asks, changing the subject.

Echo’s shoulder slumps as she pivots toward the mirror. She groans as she touches her cheek and forehead that are more red and pink than skin. “Dang it. Why am I such a mess?”

“I think it’s sexy as hell,” I say.

“I think I’m going to barf,” Beth mocks my tone.

Death radiates from the look I send her way. Enough that it should melt her. “Ever sleep in a tent, Beth?”

Beth focuses on the screen while raising her middle finger in my direction.

“Screw it.” Echo turns away from the mirror. “I need a shower.”

I smile, Echo blushes, then I laugh. Damn me for inviting Isaiah and Beth to share our room.

“Anyhow.” An excited glint strikes Echo’s eyes. “Are you ready? I hope you like it. It’s sort of…for you. But it’s not done, okay? I mean, something like this would actually take a while to perfect, so I guess I’m saying—”

“Echo.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s all good.”

“Okay.” Her fingers drum nervously over the top of the canvas before she repeats, “Okay.”

“I’m assuming that’s not the constellation Aires?”

“No. I’ll have to start on that tomorrow.” With a deep inhale, Echo pulls out a chair from the table and rests the painting on the arms and leans it against the back so it will stay upright.

Air rushes out of my body, and I sink onto our bed. It’s the same damned shock as when she drew my parents this past spring. There’s awe and joy and this ache that hits deep in my gut. I bend forward and rest my joint hands on my knees and stare at the sight in front of me.

Fuck me, my eyes burn. I shut them, attempting to get my shit together. It’s a painting. Only a painting. I reopen them, and it’s the same disorientation as a right hook to the head. It’s more than a painting, and that’s the reason my throat swells.

Last night meant as much to me as it did to her and she painted it, capturing it in a way unique to Echo. She’s right, it’s not done. It’s a skeleton compared to her other work, but I see enough to know what she desires, what she plans to design. Up close all those colors would look like chaos, but when viewed as a whole it creates this beautiful picture. In the end, that’s the best way to describe me and Echo, our relationship. Our love.

The bed dips as Echo eases onto it, settles behind me and props her chin on my shoulder. Her signature scent that reminds me of walking into a bakery becomes an invisible blanket surrounding me. “What do you think?”

“It’s us,” I whisper, and knots form in my stomach. Echo always finds a way to blow my mind. She tenses behind me and I continue, “It’s where we spent last night.”

“It is.” Echo relaxes, and her fingers curl around my biceps. “Do you like it?”

Struggling for composure, I place my hand over hers and pause. “It’s…”

I’m not Echo. I don’t have words for what happens inside me. If I did, I’d fail at describing this. I shift to rest my forehead against hers. “I don’t deserve you.”

“That’s my statement,” she says so only I can hear. “I wish we were alone again.”

I press my lips to hers, slide my hand through her hair and watch as the curls bounce back into place. “Me, too.”

 

About Katie McGarry:

Katie McGarry was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.

Katie is the author of full length YA novels, PUSHING THE LIMITS, DARE YOU TO, CRASH INTO YOU, TAKE ME ON, BREAKING THE RULES, and NOWHERE BUT HERE and the e-novellas, CROSSING THE LINE and RED AT NIGHT. Her debut YA novel, PUSHING THE LIMITS was a 2012 Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction, a RT Magazine's 2012 Reviewer's Choice Awards Nominee for Young Adult Contemporary Novel, a double Rita Finalist, and a 2013 YALSA Top Ten Teen Pick. DARE YOU TO was also a Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction and won RT Magazine’s Reviewer’s Choice Best Book Award for Young Adult Contemporary fiction in 2013.

Website | Twitter @KatieMcGarry | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Tumbler | Instagram

 

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BOOK REVIEW - CRASH INTO YOU by KATIE MCGARRY - PUSHING THE LIMITS # 3 - HARLEQUIN TEEN - YA CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

By: Katie McGarry
Published By: Harlequin Teen
Released: Available Now
Details: Paperback from publisher for honest review, 447 Pages

RATING: 4.5 ISAIAHHHH STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads  

From acclaimed author Katie McGarry comes an explosive new tale of a good girl with a reckless streak, a street-smart guy with nothing to lose, and a romance forged in the fast lane

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.


BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

Anybody who has read Pushing The Limits and has met Noah and Echo knows that Katie Mc knows how to write a contemporary romance.

She brings the feelings to her writing and she makes us break out the tissues and do some mopping up.

Isaiah has been a character I have been waiting on for a HEA. I simply have loved him from the start and haven’t known much about him other than his friendships with Noah, Echo and Beth.

All these characters have done it tough and needed support from each other and counselors. They have made their own family that they can trust and who are loyal to them.

Isaiah and Beth had some sorting out to do. Isaiah made my heart bleed in Dare You To.

It bled all over the pages.

Katie cracked my heart open with Isaiah's pain.

I really like Beth and Echo. Noah is kind of the wiser one, I feel. Almost like the leader of this group that have come together. Noah is there when Isaiah needs him.

Warm fuzzies.

Enter Rachel the girl Isaiah would end up loving, but he took on a debt to a dangerous teenage thug because of Rachel’s naivety. It wasn’t his debt, but he owned it and stepped up to the plate. He had money issues before this happened.

He needed this debt like a hole in the head.

Rachel’s character I had a frustrating time with in Crash Into You. She is from a very wealthy family. She has waaayyy too over protective , hypocritical brothers, a mum who made a child to try keep Colleen’s spirit alive but left her alive daughter feeling invisible.

I liked Rachel more when she had her Mustang and she was being herself. I thought she suited Isaiah. 

I wasn’t sure of Rachel when she gave up without much of a fight allowing Isaiah, somebody she didn’t know, to take over her debt. Sure she was naive, but she is from a very wealthy family. Now if she was poor or middle class, I could understand that more, it gave me a more validated reason why she accepted Isaiah's help. 

We do learn she has family issues, but Isaiah does too.

Isaiah also has money issues and he needs to feed and clothe himself and pay rent. 

He is putting himself through school.

Bravo to Isaiah.

He never complains.

He makes no apologies for his appearance. Never judge a book by its cover, something Rachel's family needed to learn.

"This is who I am, Rachel. Accept it or not. The tattoos won't wash off. The earrings will never change. I am who I am and nothing more. I'm loyal to a chosen few, I always keep my word and I'll protect you with my life. I scare the hell out of most people, but you will never have anything to fear from me."

Rachel saw how Isaiah was living, yet I didn't feel like she really took the time to stop and think about his situation. She accepted him for who he was without much hesitation. 

She saw Isaiah for the good guy he was.

I watched Isaiah hanging on by a thread to his life. He and Noah virtually couldn’t feed themselves, late on rent and Isaiah is fighting so hard the whole book to get the money to pay Eric for Rachel's debt.

There is one thing Isaiah is awesome at.

It is cars.

But there is a legal and illegal side to what he loves and he has to choose which side to stay on.

For his future.

The future he is trying so hard to make a reality.

I just loved him so much more watching him not hesitate to overcome the obstacles he needed to keep Rachel safe.

Beth let a good catch go.

My heart ExPlOdEd watching Isaiah have so much going against him, but he doesn't waiver. He knows no different. His life is a struggle. He just accepts it and tries to live each day as it came. 

Fight each battle the best way he knows how.

He makes mistakes. He is a kid from the foster care system. He has done everything to survive. Every day is a financial or emotional struggle.

Then ... Ethan and West do what they did to Rachel and I just fumed. They didn’t just do it to Rachel, they did it to Isaiah without knowing. I just thought they were so selfish and who actually does that. Just takes and shrugs it off.

You are family. 

Boys!

I got angry at Rachel for not jumping up and down and demanding it back and meaning it. I get her reasoning's, but, I still got my crank on.

I felt at times Rachel was a doormat who Ethan claims as his twin, his best friend but he still belonged to that over protective , hypocritical boys club.

This is a rich family that is very dysfunctional. Their parents do care about them , yet none of them felt like they could talk to their own parents about their problems.

5 kids enabled their parent’s behavior.

I wanted to tell Rachel to get a job to help pay her debt. I am so glad she found some of her own money, sold some jewelry. It made me have a higher opinion of her.

She took some responsibility for her actions.

Yes, they were her actions and I think she forgot that sometimes along the way.

Isaiah was her Knight before he really knew her.

I am a little over protective of Isaiah. Heheeee! 

I just felt like Isaiah needed a break and he just wasn’t getting it. I wanted Rachel to stand up to her family earlier on, for Isaiah and herself.

He did it for her without hesitation.

I wanted her to be his Angel. I wanted Isaiah to be saved, for once.

Rachel was upset about her family issues, which really just needed her telling everybody how she felt.

I know, easier said then done, and then we saw what Isaiah was going through, well, comparing notes she still had it more comfortable.

Her money issues were brought on by her own naivety. It was like watching a relay race and everybody passing the baton to help her out. 

Rachel has more than one Knight.

I'm not being totally hard on Rachel as I do understand her reluctance to talk to her family. I gained more compassion for her character when she finally stepped up to the plate and what happened. 

I really like Courtney. 

I really like Logan. When he came to my attention in Dare You To , I knew he was going to be a great character. I love he and Isaiah get along.

Abby is such a great character as you don’t know what she is going to do next. She decides eventually what side of the fence she wants to sit on and when she does she comes through. She has things hinted about her past, I am interested to get a book about Abby’s story.

I know West’s book is up next and l’m looking forward to reading about him.

I definitely know that Katie made me feel Crash Into You. I think it is the first time I have gotten a tad peeved at the female lead.


* whispers * It may be because of my fictional love for Isaiah.

The one thing for certain is Katie writes a darn emotional read. 

You will feel. You can't help but feel.

Michelle

BOOK COVER REVEALS - SOME BOOKS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO READING - Michelle - NOVELS ON THE RUN

26th NOVEMBER 2013 - PUSHING LIMITS # 3

HARLEQUIN TEEN

From acclaimed author Katie McGarry comes an explosive new tale of a good girl with a reckless streak, a street-smart guy with nothing to lose, and a romance forged in the fast lane. 

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.

27TH AUGUST 2013

ENTANGLED PUBLISHING

LUX # 4

Daemon will do anything to get Katy back.

After the successful but disastrous raid on Mount Weather, he’s facing the impossible. Katy is gone. Taken. Everything becomes about finding her. Taking out anyone who stands in his way? Done. Burning down the whole world to save her? Gladly. Exposing his alien race to the world? With pleasure.

All Katy can do is survive.

Surrounded by enemies, the only way she can come out of this is to adapt. After all, there are sides of Daedalus that don’t seem entirely crazy, but the group’s goals are frightening and the truths they speak even more disturbing. Who are the real bad guys? Daedalus? Mankind? Or the Luxen?

Together, they can face anything. 

But the most dangerous foe has been there all along, and when the truths are exposed and the lies come crumbling down, which side will Daemon and Katy be standing on? 

And will they even be together?

21ST JANUARY 2014

BALZER & BRAY

EVERNEATH # 3

No Blurb

23rd SEPTEMBER 2013
PERFECTION # 2

Woods had his perfect life mapped out for him. Rise up the ranks of the family business. Marry the rich girl of his parents’ dreams. Pretend that wealth and privilege was all he’d ever wanted. Then a girl named Della breezed into town, a beautifully imperfect stranger who captured his heart and opened his eyes to a new kind of future. Woods is ready and willing to sacrifice everything for her when the sudden death of his father leaves him with his mother to care for and a business to manage.

Della is determined to be strong for Woods, even as she’s quietly falling to pieces. No matter how far from home she’s run, the ghosts of her past have never stopped haunting her. Struggling to hide her true feelings from Woods, Della fears she can’t be his rock without dragging him down into the darkness with her. But is she strong enough to let go of the last thing holding her together?

Michelle

BOOK REVIEW: DARE YOU TO by @KATIEMCGARRY

DARE YOU TO

by

KATIE MCGARRY

Publisher:  Harlequin Teen

Acquired: Digital copy for review from Publisher via NetGalley

MARISSA'S RATING:

5 DOUBLE DOG DARE STARS!

GOODREADS DESCRIPTION:

 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....

 MARISSA'S REVIEW:

Katie McGarry does it again! 

After reading the first few chapters of PUSHING THE LIMITS,  I knew Katie McGarry was thrusting us into a series of NOT TO MISS books. Focusing on the damaged and flawed instead of the perfect and popular - McGarry gives us a set of characters that, individually, have amazing strengths and so many layers that each well deserves their own book.  And DARE YOU TO is Beth's story.......

DARE YOU TO captures the reader's mind and heart, gives it a hard shake and pours out a cocktail of emotions you only had reserved for watching The Notebook!

Beth Risk is a broken soul in need of mending.  She's had it pretty bad and as a result deals with life by not "feeling" - turning her heart and mind to stone when required makes moments pass without too much emotional damage.  She's a rough cut diamond that Ryan is determined to dig up and polish - and make his own.

Ryan Stone is a sports star in the making and with his dad's single minded guidance, will be the next big baseball star to come from their town.  His dad's persistence in staying on track has driven a wedge of resentment between father and son - one that a stubborn father refuses to see and a "good son" refuses to admit.  Life isn't always perfect and Ryan's family has a few home truths that can knock them off their pedestal.

Beth is placed in the care of her uncle, Scott Risk.  The only person left that can save her (well try) - but of course her reluctance is  understandable - her left and her mother when she was little to the unloving hands of her father (Scott's older brother)....he promised to come back and take them to safety but never did.  How can she possibly trust the one adult that she idolised a long time ago?  If it gets too hard will he just leave her again?

Beth's reluctance to be in Scott's care is compounded with her persistence that she is better off in her own world with best friend Isaiah.  They are each others' rock and survive their lives just fine.  

   

DARE YOU TO continues along the raw, gritty and emotional line that McGarry gave us in the first book PUSHING THE LIMITS.  Outcomes can sometimes never turn out as you pre-empted - and this is one of those instances.  But with that, McGarry gives us the desire and need to impatiently wait for CRASHING INTO YOU - Isaiah's story and book 3 in this series. 

ENJOY!

MARISSA

 

BOOK REVIEW - DARE YOU TO by KATIE MCGARRY - PUSHING THE LIMITS # 2 - HARLEQUIN TEEN

By: Katie McGarry

Published By: Harlequin Teen

Released : 28th MAY 2013

Details : ARC Digital , 479 Pages

RATING: 5 I DARE YOU TO STARS!!

Blurb: Goodreads

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...



BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

I knew Beth’s story was going to rock my heart. What I didn’t know until I read the blurb and saw the book cover, was Isaiah wasn’t going to be in Beth’s heart the way he wanted her to be.

Assumption. Much.

I have to say, after reading Beth’s story, Isaiah’s book, ‘Crash Into You’, book # 3 can’t come quick enough, this book has left my heart wide open ...waiting to read Isaiah’s HEA.

It won’t close up until I read his story.

Isaiah really made my heart break in this book, the way Katie wrote Isaiah in ‘Pushing The Limits’, had me loving him. I loved his passion for cars, his friendship with Beth, his loyalty to Beth.

In this book ....... oh, be still my bleeding heart.

“I’m okay with silence, Beth.”

........ ”I need you.”
“I’m here.” And we sit in silence.


Isaiah just had me so upset over his love for Beth. I cried for his protectiveness, his love, his strength and loyalty....for the best friend he wants so bad.

For Beth who he thinks he wants...needs... more than a friend.


His eyes shut at the word friends and his jaw jumps as if I said something to hurt him. But we are friends. He’s my best friend. My only friend. 

Katie had me so torn between Ryan, who is this great guy who through a dare meets Beth, and Isaiah, her best friend.


This girl is sexy, but she’s also a handful. If I hadn’t accepted the dare, I’d toss her into avoid-like-the-plague territory. 

Beth being Beth makes it very hard for her walls to come down. She has Noah and Isaiah and her mess of a mother ,and now she has an uncle who has come to claim her...to in effect help save her... his name is Scott.

I LOVE Scott, he has an understanding of Beth’s life. His much older brother is Beth’s dad. Scott the boy who made good from the only thing he knew how to do, baseball.

Ryan and Scott have something in common, a love of baseball.

Ryan has a lot of skeletons in his closet he must free himself from.

Scott has tried to free himself of most of his skeletons, now he has Beth’s closet to help her clean out.

Big job!

Beth is stubborn, a fighter, loyal to those she can trust, except now love gets in the way and messes with Beth’s anger and distrust, messes with her plans.

Ryan is just a beautiful guy. I have to tell you, Katie had to convince me that Isaiah was not the guy for Beth. I soooo wanted Isaiah to be Beth’s ultimate saviour because Isaiah has always been there for Beth.

Her rock.

Her friend.


“When you kiss guys, do they drop dead from the venom that spews out of your mouth?” 

Ryan is who Beth needs. The life she needs. Isaiah has things he must do to free himself.


I’d love to kiss her right now. Not the type of kiss that makes her body come alive. The type of kiss that shows her how much I care - the type that involves my soul. 

I loved having Noah pop up. He and Isaiah are such loyal guys to have on your side. Even when one of those guys is making the reader grab for tissues as he wants so bad to be Beth’s ‘Knight in Tattooed Armour.’


With one touch, Isaiah could ground me. Keep me from floating away with his arms as my anchor. His steady beating heart the reminder he would never let go.


As I walk past him, Isaiah wraps a hand around my arm. “One more thing.” His eyes darken into shadows. “Call me. Anytime. I swear to you, I’ll answer.”

Gahhhhhhhh!! You are killing me Isaiah.

I loved all the sub characters, Chris and Lacy. Logan, he is an interesting character I want to know more about. Does he have a story to tell us ...Katie?? I feel like you were hinting to me that he does. Or do I just want to read one?

Strap yourself in, ‘Dare You To’ with it’s very apt title will have you grabbing for the tissues, your heart can’t help but grieve for what unfolds in this book and you will be very impatient for ‘Crash Into You’, especially when Katie gives you a teaser at the end of ‘Dare You To.’

There is going to be a scene in this book, a few, but one in particular, that will have you just loving Ryan that bit more, and you will probably go ‘Awwwwwwwww’ out loud and that...... is when you will know why Ryan won you over.

I read this book , January 10th and I really haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I just adore Katie's writing. She has such a way with pulling the reader in and not letting us go until the last page. 

I am patiently.....or not so patiently waiting for Crash Into You. Due for release November 2013.

For some reason I have this thing about Isaiah. 

Well done Katie, I might just well be a Katie McGarry addict.

Michelle

  

BOOK REVIEW - CROSSING THE LINE by KATIE McGARRY - PUSHING THE LIMITS # 1.5 - NOVELLA - HARLEQUIN TEEN @KatieMcGarry

By: Katie McGarry

Published By: Harlequin Teen

Released : Available Now

Details : Digital, 61 Pages

RATING : 4.25 SHIRTLESS LINCOLN STARS!

Blurb : Goodreads

Katie McGarry captivated readers with her “riveting, emotional”* Young Adult debut, Pushing the Limits. In this gripping novella, she tells the story of Lila and Lincoln, who discover that sometimes it’s worth crossing the line for love…

Lila McCormick, Echo's best friend from Pushing the Limits, first met Lincoln Turner when tragedy struck both their lives. But she never expected their surprise encounter would lead to two years of exchanging letters—or that she’d fall for the boy she’s only seen once. Their relationship is a secret, but Lila feels closer to Lincoln than anyone else. Until she finds out that he lied to her about the one thing she depended on him for the most.

Hurting Lila is the last thing Lincoln wanted. For two years, her letters have been the only thing getting him through the day. Admitting his feelings would cross a line he’s never dared breach before. But Lincoln will do whatever it takes to fix his mistakes, earn Lila’s forgiveness—and finally win a chance to be with the girl he loves.


BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

I really enjoyed Lila and Lincoln’s novella. It was a nice little look at Lila and how she is connected to Lincoln, Echo and how she is handling her friendship with Echo and Grace.

I loved the little letters between Lincoln and Lila as chapter starters.

Lincoln is no Noah or Isaiah with their hardships and life, but he has a little story to tell us about his mistakes and loss and his link with Echo’s family.

When you lose a dearly loved family member the fall out of that loss can spread and find its way into the pores of the siblings.

I really like Lincoln and his rock climbing. I felt his passion and am glad he has found his direction. Sometimes in life we take two steps backwards before we can go forwards again. When you are a teenager, that is ok. You have time .

Vengeance was fun to watch. Loved it! 

A guy like Lincoln...well, I felt like I wanted more. He has a gorgeous personality. I really could have kept reading about him. 

Lila grew on me. Once she got her shiz back in order. Stephen the ex.....*boots him with my foot* 

I love the title of this book means more than one thing.

Katie has such a way with writing real life situations into her fiction. Her lads are always beautiful in more than looks. I can see why the girls fall for them. 
This is a great novella to bridge between Pushing The Limits and Dare You To. I have read Dare You To and I absolutely LOVED it. 

I can’t wait for Crash Into You. I have a huge place in my heart for Isaiah.



FAVE QUOTES:

Ah, hell , she smells like her letters; like lavender.



It’s crazy how you brought up feeling alone. I feel alone a lot. Oddly enough, I feel the most alone when I’m in a room full of people.



All the time, I fight the urge to cut my hair and buy new clothes. I mean, who exactly am I going to change into? I’m still me, but not.


Play this right, Lincoln. She deserves a man, not a boy.


“I didn’t want you to hate me,” I whisper as I respond to her last question. “Because I’ve fallen in love with you.”


His shirt’s back on, which is a sin. He could definitely give Echo’s guy a run for his money in the abs department.


And then I wonder what I would be like if he really was falling for me, because Lincoln in real life is a million times more intense than Lincoln in letters...and I’m seriously falling for him.



At the top of the rock, I read your letter and realized you were the one person I wished I could share the view with.”

Michelle