Wrapping up ALL the rest of the Reading Challenges I did in 2015

If I include the Cannonball Read (and I really think I should), I signed up for and completed 25 separate challenges last year. I have not counted the regular Goodreads or BookLikes reading challenges, which I think of as just a tally for how much I've read at any given time of the year.

Last year, I spent a really long time, meticulously listing and linking every single book for every single challenge, which is really rather pointless for a lot of said challenges, when I've collected all the books for each challenge on separate shelves in Goodreads. The separate posts for the ones that I feel require detailed lists with links are now up. Here are all the rest.

The Alphabet Soup Challenge 2015, hosted by dollycas - Completed on the 20th of November

What an Animal VIII, hosted by Socrates' Book Reviews - I signed up for 13 or more books, and had the challenge completed by April 3rd. In total, I read 42 books that fit into this category.

Finishing the Series, also hosted by Socrates' Book Reviews - I signed up for the highest level - four or more series, completed by January 31st. In total, I finished 23 series, reading 48 books.

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, hosted by Passages to the Past. I signed up for the highest level, 50 or more books and completed it on the 16th of November. In the end, I read 68 books for this one.

The 2015 TBR List Challenge, hosted by Bookish. I signed up for the highest level, 50 or more books and completed it by the 14th of September. I ended up reading 90 books. I don't want to know how many I added to the TBR pile over the course of the year, though.

The I Dare You to Challenge, hosted by the All Challenges All the Time group on Goodreads. I completed as much as I could by December 13th.

The Graphic Novel/Manga Challenge, hosted here. I signed up for the lowest level (12-24) and still only managed to complete 13 by New Year's Eve. So I completed it, but only in the nick of time.

The Women Challenge, hosted by Peek a Book, is probably meant for people who don't read primarily female authors. I signed up for the highest level, 20 or more books written by female authors, and decided I would never count the same author twice on the list. I had completed the challenge by the 26th of March and went on to read books by 77 different female authors in 2015.

The Dive Into Diversity challenge, hosted by Rather Be Reading, asked people to read more diversely. I signed up for 20 books initially, and completed the challenge by the 28th of July. In total, I went on to read 42 books that fit the categories, and I will try to read more diversely in the coming year too.

The New Author challenge, hosted by Literary Escapism was basically to try as many new authors as possible. I signed up for an initial goal of 15, which I'd completed by March 29th. I ended up discovering works by 46 new authors over the course of the year.

For the Historical Romance challenge, hosted by Herding Cats and Burning Soup, I signed up for 48 books, which in previous years wouldn't have been all that difficult. But this year, I read a lot more in other genres, and so didn't complete the challenge until the 11th of December. In the end, I managed to complete 52 books by the end of the year.

For my NetGalley/Edelweiss challenge, hosted by Falling For YA, I signed up to read at least 10 books. I had completed that by the 17th of April, but didn't do so well the rest of the year, reading only 12 books in total from my NetGalley ARCs. Going to try to be better this year.

The Let Me Count the Ways challenge, hosted here, was really all about reading a set amount of pages. I signed up for the highest level - over 10000 pages, and had completed it by March the 1st.

There was the RIP X challenge, running only in September and October, hosted by the Estella Society. I completed it by the 28th of September.

You Read How Many Books? was hosted by Book Dragon's Lair, and I signed up for 100 books (because occasionally I like to set myself achievable goals). I completed it on the 28th of September and went on to read 159 books that counted for the challenge.

Last, but not least, I signed up for the Reading Challenge Addict, for the highest level (16+ entered and completed). I think I more than covered that.

#CBR7 Book 74: "Nowhere But Here" by Katie McGarry

Page count: 400 pages
Rating: 4 stars

I got this review copy from NetGalley in return for a fair and unbiased review. The book is available now. 

Emily lives a nice, safe, uneventful life with her mother and adopted father Once a year she meets up with her biological dad for an awkward day, usually spent shopping, but she tries not to think too much about him or his side of the family. After all, he willingly signed away his parental rights and wanted nothing to do with her as a baby, right? However, when her mother receives word that Eli (her bio dad)'s mother has died, she insists they have to return to Kentucky for the funeral. What they discover there turns Emily's life on its head and challenges everything she ever believed about herself, her mother, Eli and his family.

Oz has wanted to be a member of the Reign of Terror, motorcycle club that Eli is a leading member of, for as long as he can remember. He's finally turned 18 and is eligible as a prospect for the club, when Emily bursts into his life and complicates it massively. For reasons no one wants to explain, a rival MC gang are trying to get to Eli through Emily, and Oz is tasked with keeping her safe. While he finds her easy on the eyes, she's also a total pain in his butt, and no matter how pretty she is, hooking up with the boss' daughter is a terrible idea. Emily also turns her nose up at everything Oz loves and admires, so just as he's determined to prove his worth to Eli and the other heads of the Reign of Terror by making sure not a hair is harmed on her head, Oz is determined to prove to her that she is wrong about the bikers and their community.

I really like the YA books I've read in Katie McGarry's Pushing the Limits series, so when I heard that she had a new series out, and was able to request the book on NetGalley, I jumped at the chance. As with her other books, the chapters alternate between the heroine and hero, who usually start out from very different places, and gradually gain knowledge and understanding of the other. The setup for the book takes place over more or less twenty-four dramatic hours, when Emily and her parents go back to her mother's hometown in Kentucky to attend a funeral. Emily is persuaded to stay on with Eli and get to know more of his family, both biological and chosen. Due to her mother's stories about her time there, Emily is anxious and reluctant to stay, but also curious about Eli. When her beloved adopted father assures her that he doesn't feel threatened by her curiosity about her biological father's extended family, she's reluctantly convinced that staying in Kentucky is ok.

Oz lives and breathes for the biker club all the men of his acquaintance are a member of. Despite his parents' wishes that he go to college and use his brains to get a good degree, all he wants is to become a full member of the club, working for the security firm they own. He likes coaching little league teams and working with kids, but it's the club that is his only focus. He's asked to help guard Emily during her first twenty-four hours, and when he briefly nods off on duty, she and her parents are nearly attacked by their rivals, and Oz' chance at making prospect suddenly look very weak. So when Emily is persuaded to stay, and Eli gives Oz a second chance to prove his worth, Oz swears he'll never leave her side.

There are clearly secrets about Eli and Emily's mother's shared past that neither Oz and Emily know enough about, but members of Eli's family really want Emily to dig into her roots. While their relationship begins as deeply  antagonistic, the more time they spend together, the closer they grow. In the series description for Thunder Road, of which this book is the first, it claims it was pitched as West Side Story meets Sons of Anarchy, which seems pretty apt. Emily and Oz come from different worlds, but the more time Emily spends in Kentucky, the more she discovers that their heritage is very much the same, she's just been denied hers.

I liked the book, but it didn't captivate me like the best of McGarry's earlier books. I will be looking out for the next book in the series, and there are a number of troubled teens introduced over the course of the story that the reader will no doubt see find their own happy endings in future books.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 69: "Uprooted" by Naomi Novik

Page count: 448 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer! I got this as an ARC through NetGalley in return for a fair and unbiased review.The book is available now.

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its power at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman to be handed over to him every ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows - everyone knows - that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things that Agnieszka isn't, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

While this remarkable novel by Naomi Novik isn't actually a retelling of some traditional fairy tale, it feels like it should be. The book moves slowly, thoroughly establishing the sleepy little environment Agniezka and Kasia live in, with the terrors of the slowly encroaching Wood so close by. Once someone disappears in the Wood, they will hopefully stay lost. Should they return, they are like creatures possessed spreading its malevolent influence. It's because the dangers that threaten them constantly that the villagers accept having to sacrifice a young woman to the mysterious and reclusive wizard who lives in the tower nearby. He keeps them for ten years, when they return to their families briefly, apparently unharmed but inevitably changed. They never seem content to stay in their home villages, usually going to the capital, rarely to return.

The Dragon always chooses the most promising and accomplished of the women, and so everyone in the area are expecting Kasia to be the next young woman to be taken. It's a huge surprise to everyone, not least Agnieszka, when she is the one selected to go with the wizard. She barely gets time to say good bye to her loved ones before the Dragon sweeps her away. Now, terrified and confused, because while the women who return from the Dragon's service always appeared healthy and unmolested, there were always rumours. They lived alone with a man for a decade after all. The impatient and surly wizard seems completely uninterested in her physically though, and after finding a note from a previous occupant of her room, Agnieszka is relieved that she won't be molested in any way. She tries to follow the orders of her new master, but because the Dragon isn't exactly very clear in what he actually wants, it takes her quite a while to understand that he's trying to teach her magic, and his lessons are not going as expected. It's only when she finds the dusty spell book of a legendary witch that she seems to get the magic to work for her.

At first the Dragon doesn't believe that Agnieszka's brand of magic could have any effect. Only after several attempts does it become clear that his way of using magic is more intellectual and book based, while Agnieszka's is more emotional and intuition based. As the threats from the Wood become greater, it's clear that they need to find a way to work together. One terrible day, when the Dragon is called away to deal with a crisis, Agnieszka receives word that her village is being threatened as well. When she discovers that her dearest friend Kasia has been taken by the creatures of the Wood, she risks everything to rescue her. Now she needs to find a way to free her friend from the Wood's influence, even if such a task has always been believed to be impossible.

To begin with, Agnieszka seems like one of those women who only seem to exist in fiction, too clumsy for words and completely out of her element. We are told that while Kasia is all that is beautiful, talented, graceful and accomplished, Agnieszka can't go through a single day without getting her clothes torn or stained or in some way screwing things up. No one expects her to be the next woman to go with the Dragon. She is terrified and confused, unclear about her duties and feels absolutely horrible from the simple spells the Dragon makes her do. Because he's more than a century old, used to girls with more aptitude for magic (because that's what he does, he trains them in magic so they can help him keep the Wood from taking over more of the area), he's not used to having to explain his methods or motivation. He is also appalled when Agnieszka explains to him what everyone in the surrounding villages believes is his ulterior motive for selecting the girls.

Because Agnieszka has always been unfavourably compared to Kasia, and is so completely unable to grasp the tenets of the Dragon's magical spells, she, like everyone else underestimates herself greatly. It takes time for her to realise that she has value and gifts of her own and that she is has a gift for magic, just not one that has been seen in the country for a long time. She truly begins to find her strength and powers when her best friend is threatened. Doing the impossible, she rescues Kasia from the Wood and refuses to give up on her. In the process, she is also forced to examine her feelings of inadequacy and jealousy towards her dear friend, because even best friends aren't always charitable in the ways they think of one another, and there will always be times when we are jealous, insecure and petty. Moving through and past this, Kasia and Agnieszka's friendship is changed, but stronger as a result.

In the second act of the book, so to speak, Agnieszka has to leave the world she's always known, as well as the safety of the Dragon's tower and go to the capital, to deal with political intrigue, other wizards and discovers that the sinister forces that control the Wood are present even there and bent on causing destruction and havoc not only in her home country of Polnya, but also the neighbouring country. Because of Agnieszka's miraculous rescue of Kasia, the youngest prince of Polnya is determined to reclaim his mother, the missing queen, who allegedly ran away with her lover nearly twenty years ago. They both disappeared in the Wood. Is what they rescue from the forest, at terrible loss of life, truly the lost queen, or something much more sinister?

The last third of the book got a bit wearying, with what felt to me to be unnecessary and repetitive violence and finally a rather puzzling explanation of what the motivation behind the terrifying force of the Wood actually was. I can't stress enough how creepy and sinister I felt the Wood and its many "minions" was. It's such a great villain, for all that it's not one thing, but this seemingly unstoppable and relentless force, with feral wolves, giant preying mantises, evil trees and other monsters at its disposal. Still, I got a bit tired and confused towards the end, just wanting things to wrap up.

Overall, this is such a great read, with Agnieszka as a wonderful heroine at its centre. Her friendship with Kasia is heartwarming and her slowly developing powers and confidence feels empowering in all the right ways. The medieval style kingdoms felt extremely real and the whole story feels as if Naomi Novik found some treasure trove of old Eastern European fairy tales and just reinterpreted them. There is a romantic subplot in the book as well, and one of my other complaints, along with the dragging last third of the book, is that the romance isn't more fully developed. It has so much promise, damn it, and I felt cheated that there wasn't more of it. The only thing I'd read by Novik before this, was Temeraire (or His Majesty's Dragon, as it's also known). While that didn't appeal to me that much(even with dragons, there was too much military history, not my thing), this was great. For anyone with an interest in fairy tale narratives with strong, female friendship at its core and some real horrors to be overcome before there is a chance at a HEA, this is a book for you.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 48: "Along Came Trouble" by Ruthie Knox

Page count: 416 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer! I was given a free copy of this through NetGalley in return for a fair and honest review.

Single mother and entertainment lawyer Ellen Callahan just wants to live a quiet life, which is not as easy after her twin brother, an international pop superstar, fell in love with and was photographed spending time with her pregnant next-door neighbour. Now she keeps having to throw paparazzi off her lawn, which is vexing, to be sure, but it's not like she needs a bodyguard.

Her brother disagrees, and Ellen finds security expert Caleb Clark on her doorstep, determined to do his job, whether Ellen likes it or not. The locks on her doors are flimsy, she hasn't got adequate lighting on her porch, her yard is completely open for anyone to wander in - it's a nightmare from a private security point of view. Ellen grew up in her famous' twin's shadow, always pushed to the side by their ambitious and fame-hungry mother. She then went on to nearly abnegate herself completely during her marriage to a narcissistic, cheating alcoholic, but finally had enough when she discovered she was pregnant and demanded a divorce. Having spent the last few years, raising her boy alone, learning to be self-sufficient and independent, she is not about to have anyone tell her how to run her life or fence her yard, not even someone as handsome and charming as Caleb.

Having spent years on deployment in Iraq, Caleb feels a heavy responsibility to take care of his family after such a long time away. His mother is over-protective and still clearly convinced he'll up and leave them at any second. His father, always vibrant and physical in the past, is recovering from a stroke and can no longer take as active a role in managing the apartment complex he owns. Caleb's younger sister Katie shares a house with him, having returned after nearly a decade in Alaska without her boyfriend and no apparent wish to talk about the subject. The security business he started on his return to Camelot is still in the early stages of development and a high profile client like Jamie Callahan is Caleb's chance to really make it a success. So he really needs to convince both Ellen and her neighbour, Carly, neither of whom seem interested in listening to him at all, that they need to adapt to change their behaviour and shield themselves from the sudden press attention, or he's going to be replaced real fast. The raging attraction he feels towards his client's sister is a complication he wasn't expecting at all, and it's causing quite a lot of complications when he really needs to keep his focus crystal clear.

I'm making a concerted effort to read a whole bunch of the books I've been granted through NetGalley in the past year or so, and it seems that every time I go digging and pick up one of the books, I am so very pleasantly surprised and regret not reading the book ages ago. This book is no exception - it's just such a delightful contemporary romance, between two head-strong individuals who nonetheless seem very realistic. Even though Caleb is determined to keep their relationship purely professional, as he's working for Ellen's brother, his resolve lasts for less than forty-eight hours after actually meeting Ellen, helped along by both his old friend Carly and his sister Katie. Ellen doesn't exactly have a lot of casual experience with men. but decides she wants a no strings attached fling with Caleb, the first guy she's really been interested in since her marriage ended. Caleb, who as well as being very attracted to Ellen, starts bonding with her little boy Henry the minute they meet, rather quickly realises that he wants something a lot more permanent with the stubborn and opinionated lawyer.

In addition to the main romance between Ellen and Caleb, there's the secondary plot involving her brother Jamie and Carly, who are already in the complication part of their romance when the book kicks off. Really interestingly, it seems Knox initially set out to write about a Justin Timberlake-alike pop star falling in love, but the secondary characters kept stealing the scenes, so she retooled the book to be about them instead. When the book starts, Jamie is off in LA, having fled Camelot after he and Carly was caught on camera by a paparazzi after a somewhat careless post made by Carly on her blog. A big argument later, and the two are separated. Carly has spent years trying to get pregnant, only to find that by the time she achieved her goal, her husband no longer really wanted her or the baby. Then, already pregnant and determined to be a single mum (inspired in part by Ellen next door), she met Jamie and they fell in love. It's clear that Jamie, while a nice guy, has never really met many challenges, having been spoiled and pampered by his fame-hungry mother, then living the life of a celebrity. He's never had to fight for anything at all in his life, and having to really work to win Carly back, is oh so good for him.

Both Ellen and Caleb are professionals who are very good at their jobs. They start out with very different expectations for their relationship. Ellen needs it to be very casual, because having been submissive to people for so much of her life, only to finally establish herself as a competent, independent and self-sufficient woman and mother after her divorce, she's afraid to rely on anyone else ever again, believing it will lead to her becoming subjugated and weak again. Caleb, having spent so long as a soldier in dangerous areas of the world, has none of Ellen's confidence issues. Returning to his home town and seeing how much his family members need his help now, he's got no problem with the idea of settling down himself, and getting a ready-made family in Ellen and Henry (who he insists calling Hank every chance he gets, because he loves how it annoys Ellen) would just be a bonus.

One of the things I really liked about the book is that both the primary and secondary heroine are single mothers, one who's already proven that she can manage to raise her child more or less on her own, with her friend determined to do the same, while both the heroes, Caleb and Jamie, seem to have absolutely no problems stepping into a fatherhood role for kids who are not their own biological offspring, without this in any way diminishing their masculinity in any way. Frankly, I found both of  them more attractive exactly because they were so willing to step up and take an active paternal role to children not originally their own.

This is only the second ever Ruthie Knox book I've ever read, but based on the way she writes really relatable and believable protagonists, as well as a fully formed cast of really nice supporting characters, I really should make it a priority to check out more of her books as soon as possible. I plan to glom my way through the entire Camelot series on my way to finishing my Cannonball.

Crossposted on my Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 37: "Twelfth Night" by Deanna Raybourn

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer! I was granted a copy of this through NetGalley in return for a fair and honest review. 

This is one of the novellas Deanna Raybourn wrote about her intrepid heroine Lady Julia Grey, who the reader can follow in five very enjoyable Victorian set mysteries, where she solves murders along with her delightful husband Nicholas Brisbane. While this novella can absolutely be read on its own, you shouldn't deny yourself the pleasure of starting at the beginning, with Silent in the Grave.

The large and very eccentric March family are all gathered at the family estate, Bellmont Abbey to perform the Twelfth Night revels. This is something they do every ten years and Lady Julia's father is directing the rehearsals like a general in the field. Lady Julia and Brisbane are somewhat distracted by the mystery of who abandoned a newborn infant in the helmet they were intending for St. George. Julia's father, the earl, asks them to locate the child's mother (although they mustn't miss rehearsals while they investigate).

As the younger generation of Marches present seem just as peculiar and unusual as Lady Julia and many of her siblings, Julia and Brisbane are aided by their some of their nieces and nephews. The clues seem to suggest the baby may have originated in an abandoned and rumoured to be haunted cottage at the edge of the village. The couple are surprised when they discover who is seeking refuge inside.

It's been several years since I read The Dark Enquiry, the fifth and final full novel about Lady Julia and Brisbane. I had actually forgotten about Ms. Raybourn's books for a while, and was delighted to discover that not only had she published four e-novellas continuing the story about one of my favourite Victorian sleuthing couples, but some of her more recent novels are at least loosely connected to the Lady Julia mysteries, with one of them being about one of her nieces. This is a fairly short novella, but it reminded me how funny these books can be and what an amazing supporting cast the many colourful March siblings make up. I am absolutely going to be reading the remaining three novellas as well, the final of which I suspect sets up the ground work for the more recent books, set in the early 20th Century.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 34: "Dear Mr. Knightley" by Katherine Reay

Page count: 336 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer! I got this from NetGalley in return for a fair and honest review. 

Samantha Moore has spent most of her life in foster care. Having tried to hold down a job on her own, she reluctantly accepts a scholarship offered by an anonymous benefactor, to Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. The scholarship will only be available as long as she completes her degree, and writes about her progress to the foundation, care of the CEO, who hides behind the name Mr. Knightley. Samantha has always had trouble relating to people in the real world, hiding away in classical literature, where she finds solace. She has trouble making connections with others, since she speaks more in literary quotations than actual words, afraid to really be herself or let anyone close to the real her.

Because George Knightley is such an admired hero of Sam's, she accepts the stipulation, and begins to write regularly. Mr. Knightley never responds, but Sam knows her missives are beign read, as very occasionally, she receives a note from the CEO's assistant, responding if it is required. To begin with, Sam finds journalism extremely difficult, wanting instead to focus on a career in creative writing. Because of her difficulties in opening up and properly communicating with other people, her journalistic work is stilted and impersonal. As well as in her many books, Sam finds escape through running. On the running track, she slowly starts bonding with Kyle, one of the other foster kids, but as they are both wounded and slow to trust others, their friendship is difficult to really build.

As she struggles to discover who she really is and overcome her academic challenges, Sam gradually manages to emerge from behind her affected literary personas and make genuine connections. She makes a couple of female friends at college and through a series of coincidences befriends her favourite author, the crime writer Alex Powell. She gets a boyfriend for the first time, and her letters to Mr. Knightley become more like a personal journal than reports on her academic progress. Will she ever find out the real identity of her mysterious benefactor, and how will she react when she does?

I get a fair amount of books through NetGalley, mainly because I can't stop myself from requesting everything that looks even vaguely interesting to me. Sadly, I am really not as good about reviewing the books I am granted ARCs or review copies of, frequently forgetting about them unless they're by an author I especially love (and even then there are so many other shiny books out there to distract me). This is one of those books I forgot about completely and only remembered again when I was looking for epistolary novels for my Eclectic Reader challenge. The fact that it also fit into my key word challenge for March was just a bonus.

While I can see on Goodreads that quite a lot of people (at least of the reviews I browsed) found this book disappointing, and a pale copy of the children's book that it's inspired by, Daddy Long-Legs, I found it very sweet and it reminded me a lot of another book I really like, The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. It also features a heroine with a long history in the foster care system, who is wounded and needs to learn to find her place in the world. I can absolutely understand why readers may find Sam annoying. I'm fairly sure she's supposed to be. The entire premise of this book is that she is so guarded and distrustful that she's unable to make any real connections, seeking refuge in books and hiding all her true feelings and ineptly channelling fictional characters when forced to talk to others. She's a complete train wreck, but there are good reasons for that. While the book starts when she is 23, this book is clearly a coming of age narrative, and Sam needs to grow up and learn to face reality, both the painful and the joyful parts.

As far as I can tell, the epistolary aspect of the book, where she has to write letters to the mysterious Mr. Knightley is to make it as close to the premise of Daddy Long-Legs as possible. I'm sure I'm not the only reader of the book who started suspecting the true identity of her benefactor fairly early on, because really, I'm not even sure if it's supposed to come as a surprise to anyone who's read more than a couple of books in their life. There are only so many people it could be. It didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book, although I think said person could have come clean sooner instead of continuing to deceive Sam. It still didn't ruin my suspension of disbelief.

Reading and enjoying this book has also made me decide to check out the book that it's based on, and that so many Goodreaders are enthusing about. I'm very glad I re-discovered this book in my NetGalley pile, and will happily seek out other books by this author in future.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 33: "The Winner's Crime" by Marie Rutkoski

Page count: 417 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer! I was granted an ARC of this book through NetGalley in return for a fair and objective review. The book is available now. 

This review will contain some spoilers for The Winner's Curse. I will try to be vague, but it's pretty much impossible to review this without mentioning some of the important stuff that happened in the second half of the first book. You have been warned. 

You still here? On your own head be it. Kestrel is now firmly settled in the capital, trying to put off her wedding to the crown prince of Valoria, without making it too obvious to the emperor that that is what she's doing. She desperately wants to see Arin, now the governor of the newly liberated Herran territory, but she's also not sure she can trust him and whatever happens, she needs the emperor to think her completely indifferent to her erstwhile captor. So when he arrives in the capital for her engagement celebration, she skilfully lies to him, again and again, all the while risking her own life to help the Herrani spymaster gather information against Valoria.

Every time Arin thinks he's been able to figure out Kestrel's words and actions, something happens to convince him otherwise. After he is nearly assassinated in the capital, he travels to the furthest reaches of the Valorian empire in search of allies for Herran. He endures all manner of dangers to keep his country safe, not realising that Kestrel is risking her life for the very same things, playing a very dangerous game of strategy against the emperor himself.

Anyone who was complaining about Kestrel's lack of awareness and empathy for the slaves of the Valorian empire, should be happy that in this book she is trying her very best to atone for all the unfairness she and her countrymen have inflicted on the territories they occupy. She knows she is surrounded by spies and informants and that the emperor is watching her every move, scrutinising her every statement in order to catch her in a lie or action sympathetic to the Herrani rebels. She needs to appear overjoyed at her betrothal to the crown prince, Verex, who himself is none to pleased with their coming alliance. The emperor clearly deems his son weak and disappointing and sees the marriage between his favourite general's daughter and his son as a great way to win the affections of his armies, while grooming Kestrel into a more satisfactory heir.

The romance between Arin and Kestrel is more in the background as the intrigues and intricacies of court life come to the forefront. If they could just talk openly with one another about their fears and feelings, so many misunderstandings and complications would be dispersed with, but of course, Kestrel can't be honest with Arin. She doesn't know if she can trust him, and she needs to drive him far away from her to keep him from being used as a weapon against her. For much of the book, she successfully pulls the wool over Arin's eyes. When he has figured out the truth, and confronts her with it, he chooses the worst possible moment. She has to lash out to protect herself, and manages to drive him away once more. He doesn't realise that his actions have doomed her completely.

The book ends on a very exciting cliff hanger, leaving Kestrel in very real peril and Arin apparently determined to forget about her forever. I will be very disappointed if they are not reunited in the third book, although I hope Kestrel manages to rescue herself, having shown such (sometimes foolish) bravery and ingenuity in these previous two books. Sadly, The Winner's Kiss (a promising title that seems to suggest a satisfying ending to their star-crossed romance) isn't out until March 2016, so I have a bit of a wait ahead.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 30: "Cracked" by Eliza Crewe

Page count: 327 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer! I got this book from NetGalley in return for a fair and objective review. 

Andromeda "Meda" Melange isn't a very nice person. Frankly, she eats people, well, their souls anyway. She tries to limit herself to the souls of bad people, usually killers whose victims' ghosts have a tendency to show up and pester Meda until she does something to avenge them. Meda has always believed herself to be unique and invincible (she's faster and stronger than mere humans, and her skin has a metallic quality to it - plus there's the ability to see ghosts and eat souls), so she has a very rude awakening when she's faced with three sinister black-clad dudes, who are not only like her, they're faster and stronger and want her dead. Lucky for Meda, a handsome young man shows up to dispatch them before they succeed.

Chi is a Crusader in training, called from birth to hunt and destroy demons. Meda pretty quickly figures out that the black-suited men were full demons, while she appears to be a halfling. Pretending to be a weak and confused victim, Meda latches on to Chi as a source of useful information about her true nature, and more importantly, how she can protect herself against demons and crusaders alike. As well as hunting demons, crusaders protect especially important humans, known as Beacons, and because Chi is wonderfully naive and trusting, he assumes Meda must be a Beacon - why else would those demons have been trying to kill her? His friend Jo, who followed him to the asylum where he meets Meda, is a lot more sceptical (with good reason) and doesn't think bringing Meda with them to the crusader headquarters is a good plan. She eventually reluctantly agrees, and they decide to pass Meda off as Jo's estranged cousin, who committed the massive betrayal of turning away from the crusader mission and as such has been shunned for years. No one really remember much about her, except that she was a bad girl. Meda trying to pretend to be a sweet, innocent girl trying to be bad is hilarious.

As Meda gets to know Chi and Jo better, while refusing to admit to herself that she actually enjoys having something resembling friends for the first time ever, she also discovers just how much kept from her. She needs to learn quickly, as now that the demons know who she is, they're not going to stop until they've tracked her down. She may pretend that she doesn't care what happens to the stupidly heroic Chi, the snarky and hostile Jo or the hero-worshipping kid Uriel, but she's not going to allow them to risk their lives when her demon relatives come knocking.

Whether you like this book or not, is probably strongly dependent on how you feel about the protagonist, Miss Meda herself. If you find her annoying and insufferable, the book is not going to work for you, as she has a very strong and sarcastic narrative voice. I thought she was fun as the hell that clearly spawned her, not that it stopped me from cheering a bit when she was taken down a peg and learned that she wasn't as special a soul-eating snowflake as she believed herself to be.

The whole book read as something that could exist in the same universe as Supernatural, with the crusaders being a different kind of hunter to the Winchesters. Given hereditary powers, they are trained until their late teens, when they go through a magical ceremony and come into their full abilities. Jo's cousin Emma apparently rejected the sacred calling and crusader gift, and as such disappointed everyone around her. Usually paired on their missions to hunt demons and protect beacons, there's also a lot of orphaned crusader children, as their parents frequently bite it in their fight against evil. I love that the crusaders ride motorcycles and live in trailer parks, basically masquerading as biker gangs.

The characters are a lot of fun. Meda may eat souls, but she really isn't as evil or heart-less as she'd like to believe herself, she just has never really been allowed to socialise a lot with kids her own age. Her mother, aware of her true nature, kept her sheltered and they moved around a lot. Hearing her dead mother's voice in her head as sort of conscience, Meda really tries to stave the terrible Hunger she feels for human souls by only eating those of murderers and abusers. She can see, but not talk to ghosts. If they touch her, however, she's able to get an impression of what they experienced in life, which can help her track down those that harmed them. She's prepared to kill to protect herself, but it doesn't take her much time among the crusaders to grow fond of her new friends.

Chi is almost too heroic for his own good. Constantly sneaking out to hunt demons, even though he hasn't graduated into his full powers, he figuratively shines with goodness and noble purpose. He's be insufferable if he wasn't also a fairly clueless teenage boy, completely oblivious to his former best friend's feelings towards him. Said best friend is Jo, who's mostly spikes and snark, having been injured while in training and now faces the prospect of never becoming a full crusader because of her damaged leg. She projects constant hostility, as dislike and contempt from the teenage crusaders in training is preferable to her than pity. Much more level-headed than Chi, she's rightfully very suspicious of Meda, although it becomes clear that some of that is jealousy at another girl's closeness with the friend who she loves, but feels that she has to drive away. While Jo and Chi might have been a natural pairing and future couple before Jo's injury, now her leg makes her a liability and she needs to make him look elsewhere for a prospective partner. The third of Meda's new crusader friends is Uriel, a boy who clearly worships Chi and tries to emulate him in every way. Uri is the one who gives Meda proper insight into the current and former relationship of the other two teens she's growing close to.

I'm ashamed to say I was granted this NetGalley copy ages and ages ago, and completely forgot about it until my friend Erica recently read and loved the book. The second book in the series was published last year and the third part comes out in August, unless the internet is lying to me. This is YA paranormal fantasy with a slightly darker twist and while there might appear to be tiresome love triangle for about a chapter or so, that's really more of a bluff, which I'm very thankful for.  I liked the world building, the premise for the series and the teenage characters, so this is a series I will follow to the end. I liked the book so much I promptly bought my own copy (the author appears to self publish) and I will be getting the other two books in the series as well.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 28: "Rock Hard" by Nalini Singh

Page count: 351 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer! I was granted an ARC from NetGalley in return for a fair and objective review. The book will be on general release 10/03/15.

Charlotte Baird is anxious and painfully shy due to some unresolved trauma involving her first, very unfortunately chosen boyfriend. When the company she works for hires a new CEO, known for his ruthless efficiency, to come clean up the mess left by corruption and mismanagement, she and pretty much everyone else is terrified they might lose their jobs. Yet Gabriel Bishop, popularly known as the T-Rex, doesn't fire the mousy Ms. Baird, he promotes her, quickly realising that she's been fulfilling most of the duties already, with the former CEO's secretary taking all the credit. Charlotte is gobsmacked and nervous, not to mention quite uncomfortable, as she's been desperately trying to hide herself away, physically and emotionally since her traumatic past experience and Gabriel Bishop is a deeply perceptive man who will not be ignored. 

Observant and efficient as he is, Gabriel Bishop, a former champion rugby star turned sought-after company fixer, cannot help but notice that Ms. Baird is an attractive woman, if prone to wear ill-fitting and shapeless outfits. During their first encounters, she's clearly scared stiff, but she's also a consummate professional, determined to do the best job she can, even if she's nervous. He keeps trying to provoke a rise from her and is delighted when the timid mouse starts snapping back. He knows that he's her boss and hitting on her would be deeply inappropriate, especially since she clearly suffered something in the past that still affects her deeply, yet he notices that she finds him attractive in return, and cannot help himself from fantasising about her constantly. He thrives on challenges and on fixing that which is broken. Ms. Charlotte Baird might be his biggest challenge yet, because patience and gentleness are not Gabriel's strongest qualities and that's what he's going to need a lot of to win her over.

This is the second full novel in Nalini Singh's Rock Kiss series, with Rock Addiction being the first and the follow-up, Rock Courtship, being an extended novella. I really didn't like that the couple in the first book hooked up after seeing each other across the room at a party, and then apparently found everlasting love after about a month together. It had some good sex scenes, but frustrated me more than it amused me. As the title suggests, courtship was a much more important part of the sequel novella, where the tension between the couple is built up convincingly over months of acquaintance. Charlotte, the heroine in Rock Hard is a supporting character in Rock Addiction, being the best friend of Molly, the heroine in that book. Some scenes from that book are actually repeated here, from Charlotte's point of view. The thing I liked the most in Rock Addiction was probably the female friendships, between Molly and Charlie and Molly and her sister Thea. They were caring, supporting and cheered each other on. Most of Molly's cameo appearances in this book is in phone calls, but she remains an important corner stone in Charlotte's life.

Charlotte is a strong and capable woman who went through hell because she was vulnerable, inexperienced and insecure and gave her trust and heart to the wrong person when she was younger. He turned out to be a complete psychopath and she is scarred physically and emotionally because of him. She also finds it very difficult to be around men, unless they are completely non-threatening. At the start of the novel, she's been in a pretty much platonic dating relationship with a shy geek called Ernest, because he is never going to demand anything physical from her. The only other male friend she has is the young mail room clerk at the office, who seems like a human puppy dog. Enter her new boss, who is extremely physically imposing, has a magnetic personality and oozes masculinity. He works hard and he plays hard. Forced to give up his promising rugby career after a knee injury, he is now a shrewd and successful businessman instead. He gets hired to come in and save foundering companies and thrives the more difficult a prospect he is faced with.

As in historicals where the aristocrat falls in love with the governess or housekeeper or some other woman in his service, the boss and the secretary could be an uncomfortable proposition, as the boss has so much power over his employee. It's made very clear from their very first meeting (when Charlotte thinks Gabriel is a burglar and throws a stapler at his head), however, that she finds him as attractive as he does her, and that it's her troubled history more than the inappropriateness of the workplace relationship that holds her back from flirting with him. As the months pass, with them working long hours, closely together, Gabriel tries to make Charlotte jealous by making her book dinner dates and send roses to scores of women. She in turn tries to sabotage his dates by finding dreadful restaurants and sending poor quality flowers. They grow closer and a trust builds up, but Charlotte is still very vulnerable.

One of the things that really frustrated me, but which is luckily addressed in the latter third of the book, is why Charlotte isn't in therapy to work through her issues. When the topic is finally brought up, it is explained why she's not seeing a therapist to get over her ordeal and steps are taken to get her to a good place emotionally.

While I still think Rock Courtship is my favourite, there is a lot of fun banter in this one, and the supporting cast, especially Gabriel's family is a good one. I don't think Nalini Singh is ever going to be one of my favourite contemporary romance authors (I prefer her paranormals), I don't regret spending time with Charlie-mouse and her T-Rex in this one.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 26: "Will Grayson, Will Grayson" by David Levithan and John Green

Page count: 308 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclaimer! I was given a copy of this through NetGalley in return for a fair and unbiased review. Honesty compels me to admit that I already owned the book when I requested it, I figured being given a copy would motivate me into reading it and reviewing it more quickly.

This book tells the story of two teenage boys, both named Will Grayson. They have alternating points-of-view chapters, one written by John Green, one by David Levithan. I shall call John Green's teenager Will 1.0 and David Levithan's teenager Will 2.0. Otherwise it'll just get real confusing.

Will 1.0 is your average, not very popular teenager. His best friend, the physically enormous, but ironically nicknamed "Tiny" Cooper, has nearly a thousand Facebook friends and is the centre of attention wherever he goes. He's also extremely gay, falls in love with someone new approximately twice a week and is so secure in his identity that he wants the school to fund a musical he's written about his own life. He also intends to choreograph, direct, stage-manage and in general do everything of importance connected to the musical, initially named "Tiny Dancer". Will 1.0 pretty much has two rules. 1) Try not to care to much about anything. 2) Keep your mouth shut. His apathetic attitude to the world is completely at odds with that of Tiny, who feels passionate about most things. Tiny is trying to set Will 1.0 up with Jane, the only other straight member of their schools gay-straight alliance. Will 1.0 likes Jane, but is also very taken with the idea of just having an unrequited crush on her, as that seems easier and a lot less likely to lead to heart ache.

Will 2.0 had a hard time winning me over, because his chapters were written entirely in lower case. as in he didn't use any capitals at all. everything is written like this, even the names of other characters, like his one and only friend maura, and it drove me UP THE WALL. See how useful capitals can be? Will 2.0 is a loner, who lives alone with his mother and appears to be quite heavily medicated for depression. It's never specified exactly what manner of mental instability, but as the book goes on, he's clearly not one of these, easily cured, just a bit down individuals. Will 2.0 has been chatting online with this guy, Isaac, for about a year, and hasn't admitted to anyone, least of all Maura, who seems extremely eager that he share all his deep inner pain with her, that he's gay. One day, Isaac suggests that the two meet up, and this is what leads to the two Will Graysons actually meeting in person.

Due to reasons I don't want to spoil, Isaac never turns up, but Will 2.0 meets Will 1.0 and they are both amazed and a bit baffled that they share a name. As Will 2.0 is quite upset after learning the truth about Isaac, Will 1.0 introduces him to Tiny, and soon Will 2.0 is not only openly gay at school, but has a larger than life boyfriend, who is very busy trying to get everything ready for the opening of his musical. Tiny's relationship with Will 2.0 makes him realise that his master work can't just be the Tiny Cooper story, it has to have a message. It needs to be mean something. He starts rewriting it, turning it into "Hold Me Closer" and in the process of being in love and making his musical happen, seems to forget all about his best friend, who's going through some emotional turmoil of his own.

The first quarter to a third or so of the book, before the two Will Graysons meet, was a bit slow, and I was unsure what everyone online was so enthusiastic about. The convoluted circumstances leading to the two meeting, and the immediate aftermath is when the book sunk its hooks into me, and after that, I had trouble putting the book down. Initially, Will 1.0 seemed the most likable and approachable of the two, but as the book goes on, Will 2.0 won me over more and more. They are both teenage boys, of course, prone to being self-centred, making all manner of dumb choices, not really great at expressing themselves and altogether quite exasperating at times. Sometimes I wanted to shake them, and sometimes I wanted to hug them. I very much appreciate the honest way in which Will 2.0's mental problems was handled. There's a lot of darkness in his life, and it was good to see that to an extent, he just needed to "snap out of it" a bit, he wasn't going to be magically cured by the power of love.

Tiny Cooper is a force of nature and I kept seeing Damian from Mean Girls in my mind's eye in every scene he was in. Unlike Damien, Tiny isn't at all "almost too gay to function", he's just gay enough. Openly gay since primary school, Tiny and Will 1.0's friendship is a long and loyal one and while at first, Tiny seemed as if he could be quite exhausting, being best friends with someone as non-committal and apathetic as Will 1.0 must also not be the easiest. Tiny wants what is best for everyone, and his match-making efforts to get Jane and Will 1.0 together are adorable. I desperately want this to be made into a movie, just so I can see the glory that is "Hold Me Closer" actually staged and performed. It's clearly the best high school musical ever featured in a YA book.

Once the book sank its figurative hooks in me, I didn't really want to put it down. I read it during every free second of the day and cursed the pile of correction work I had to complete before I could finish it. It made me laugh, it made me genuinely feel for the characters and I wish that I had a friend like Tiny Cooper, gay or straight, in my life to make it a better place. This is my second encounter with John Green's writing (after he slayed me with The Fault in Our Stars). Reading Will Grayson, Will Grayson has made me decide that I need to read all his other YA books too. I've never read anything by David Levithan before, but as long as he actually doesn't make it a habit to never use capitalisation in his other books, I will absolutely be checking out more of his books now too.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 17: "Veronica Mars: Mr. Kiss and Tell" by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham

Page count: 336 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer! I was given an ARC of this through NetGalley in return for a fair and unbiased review.

Readers should be aware that this is the second book of Veronica Mars mysteries. Readers should probably watch the movie (it's on Netflix) and read the first book before reading this. If you're not caught up, there will be spoilers in the review below.

Veronica Mars is hired by the insurance agents for the Neptune Grand, to prove that one of the hotel's staff members didn't assault a young woman and leave her for dead. The investigation is complicated by the fact that the crime happened several months earlier (around the same time Veronica was busy trying to locate kidnapped girls in The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line), the victim claims not to remember the events clearly and refuses to reveal who she was at the hotel to meet the night of the attack, the hotel refuses to share their reservations list and the accused attacker has been deported to Mexico. Never one to back down from a challenge, Veronica nonetheless throws herself into the case with her customary determination.

While Veronica is being recruited by high profile clients, Keith Mars and Cliff McCormack are trying to hit the Neptune Sheriff's Department where it hurts by helping Eli "Weevil" Navarro with a lawsuit. As Sheriff Lamb is busy trying to get himself re-elected, and there's a promising new candidate running against him, so the victory isn't automatic, the case building against the department could be very damaging.

On the home front, Veronica is trying to get used to living with Logan, who is home on shore leave. While she's firm in her decision that she wants to be a P.I., not a lawyer, she's having more trouble accepting that the US Air Force seems to be where Logan has really found his calling. He's taking Arabic lessons and all signs point to him wanting to go back on active duty, a prospect that scares hell out of Veronica.

If I can't have more Veronica on my TV, I'm really happy that the Kickstarter funds helped get these books created. The characters feel just as real as they were on the show, and Neptune is as authentic a location on the page as it was on my screen. I've seen several reviews complain that while the previous book barely had any Logan, this book was very light on Wallace. That complaint is a fair one, but as Wallace pretty much stole every scene he actually did get to be in, I still felt he played an important part and as always provided Veronica with much needed support in her mystery solving.

With Veronica and Logan's relationship being so passionate and stormy, and frequently quite toxic in TV show, it's both strange and wonderful to see that both characters have matured and grown up and now finally seem ready for a stable life together. I very much enjoyed the scenes of their domesticity, and while I can sympathise with Veronica's fears and worries about Logan going back on active duty in the Gulf, the book very clearly explains why being an Air Force pilot isn't just some adrenaline kick or game for Logan, but something that saved him when he was spiralling out of control. It's a vocation and something that gives his life meaning and purpose, just as Veronica's detective work is a vital part of who she is.

I really liked that the mystery takes Veronica several months to solve and the book clearly showed that it requires a lot of leg work, frustrating investigation, countless dead ends, patience and determination to solve a case like this. As always, spending time with the established cast from the show is great. The new sheriff's candidate, with her ties to Keith's past was also an intriguing additon to the cast. I really hope we get many more books about everyone's favourite tiny blonde P.I.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 14: "First Frost" by Sarah Addison Allen

Page count: 304 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer! St. Martin's Press gave me an ARC of this through NetGalley in return for a fair and honest review.

Ten years have passed since the events of Garden Spells. Claire Waverly has put her catering business on hold and branched out with boiled candy. The lemon verbena can soothe any throat or heartache, the rose candies can make you recall lost love and the lavender makes you calm and happy. After a feature article in a high-profile magazine made demand for her candy explode, Claire has had to hire in external help, as well as purchasing ready-made essences as the production needs far more than she can make from her own garden. While she used to love cooking and baking for her family, now she serves them take out, and she barely has time for her husband and daughter. Always uncertain about how deserving she was of the Waverley legacy, she keeps searching for answers in her grandmother's old journals and trying to figure out how she's going to manage her future. 

Her sister Sidney is happily married and running her own salon, wildly popular, because a haircut from Sidney Waverley is not only extremely flattering, but seems to bring luck and success. Yet Sidney is longing for a baby, a son for her husband Henry, who can help him run the farm, like he used to help his now dead grandfather. She puts up with the extreme unreliability of the newly hired receptionist Violet because with Violet in the salon, she more often than not tends to bring her toddler, Charlie, and if Sidney can't have a child of her own, at least she can spoil this scatter-brained young woman's when she has opportunity.

Sidney's daughter Bey, now in high school, has always known exactly where things belong. She could go into a completely new house and help put away dishes or bed linens, which tends to scare people as often as it impresses them. She knows, with every fibre of her being, that she belongs right there in Bascom, North Carolina, in the Waverley house, and that Josh Matteson, youngest son of her mother's high school sweetheart belongs with her. She foolishly wrote him a note to this effect some months ago, which has made her the laughing stock of her school, but she knows that if she patiently waits, he will realise the truth soon enough. While she waits, she helps her aunt Claire make sweets and hopes her mother will stop nagging her about the identity of the boy she likes.

It's October, and the Waverley women, as well as their men, are awaiting the first frost of the season, when the peculiar apple tree in the back garden will blossom. The weeks before this event always leads to some kind of craziness, and this year there is a mysterious stranger in town, with ties to Claire and Sidney's mother and stories to tell that could change all their lives forever.

I re-read Garden Spells for the first time in four years before I read this book, to remind myself of the story of the Waverley sisters. I don't doubt that you could read First Frost without having read the former, but as it's probably my favourite of all of Sarah Addison Allen's excellent and magical books, I'm not entirely sure why you'd want to. This book will be so much more satisfying if you have the back story of the characters, and it's a lovely book. So if you haven't already, go read it first. This book can wait until you're done.

I must admit, I was a bit worried when I heard this was a sequel. The first book ended on such a hopeful and happy note, and sequels rarely involve only sunshine and puppies for the characters. The blurb suggested that all was not right with the Waverley women who I'd come to love, and I was deeply concerned that this book was going to mess things up badly. Of course, I shouldn't have been. While both sisters are less than happy at the start of First Frost, and there are events in the book that could spell further misery and disaster, the strong relationship that has formed between the two women, not to mention the support of their families and friends is powerful enough that no external threat can faze them for long. Sarah Addison Allen, for all that she tackles dark themes in her books on occasion, is ultimately about the happy ending, and I'm sorry if you feel that I'm spoiling when I say by the end of this book I had a goofy grin on my face.

As well as showing us what has happened with the Waverley sisters and their families in the ten years since the last book, First Frost also sheds further light on their grandmother Mary and their unfortunate mother Lorelei. This book will be a very satisfying read for anyone who has enjoyed Sarah Addison Allen's previous books. She's a writer whose characters I want to be friends with and she writes places I wish were real, so I could visit or even live in them.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 10: "Trade Me" by Courtney Milan

Page count: 291 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclaimer! I was given an ARC of this through NetGalley in return for a fair and unbiased review. Of course, it being a Courtney Milan book, I had also already pre-ordered it, because I will buy anything she writes, even if said thing is a scientific treatise on spiders and cockroaches (the things that creep my out the most). If Ms. Milan ever reads this - please don't ever write a book like that. I will buy it, but I might not like it much. 

 Xingjuan "Tina" Chen is a mature student desperately struggling to make ends meet. Her goal is to become a doctor, so she'll make enough money that she and her family never need worry about paying the bills ever again. As it is, finding enough money to pay her own, and her parents' bills seems to be pretty much all Tina can think about. When she's not studying, she's working multiple jobs so she can send every spare penny home. Her father is unemployed and her mother is a cake decorator, proud every time a cake she makes turns up on "that website". She spends most of her spare time and whatever money she can find (including much of what Tina sends them) helping Chinese immigrants stay in the country and filing for citizenship. She's also a champion when it comes to emotional blackmail. Tina loves her mother dearly and admires her dedication on behalf of her community, but also feels exhausted constantly counting every penny in order to make sure her sister gets her medication and her parents' electricity isn't cut off.

So on the day when her ultra privileged classmate Blake Reynolds, trust fund billionaire and heir to Cyclone Technology (think Apple) first splashes her prized cashmere sweater with mud driving past in his sports car, and then tries to defend her in a class discussion about poverty, she pretty much loses it. She claims he wouldn't last two weeks living her life, let alone two months. Blake may not have known an hour of poverty in his life, but his cushy existence involves hard work and he feels crippled by the weight of expectation from his brilliant father. Having lived his life partly in the spotlight since he was a child, being the star of Cyclone's advertising, Blake is expected to take over the company. After his father's best friend and business partner died of a heart attack shortly before the launch of Cyclone's last big invention, his father, the legendary Adam Reynolds has just worked harder. He keeps hinting that he's ready for Blake to take over, though, and his son wouldn't dream of ever disappointing Adam. Even if it means keeping quit about the doubts and insecurities he's feeling.

So when Tina suggests trading lives, Blake is intrigued. While Tina may not think so, Blake has been admiring her from afar for a long time. He is also looking for a way to distract himself from the latest Cyclone launch and the serious conversation he's going to have to have with his father. He speaks to his financial advisors, and proposes that he and Tina actually swap places until the end of the semester. Tina will make enough money to put herself through college, and Blake will work and support her family while she works on the new Cyclone launch. Of course, to get access to the new Cyclone technology prototype, she has to sign a stack of non-disclosure agreements about as tall as herself and pretend to be Blake's girlfriend, convincing enough that Adam not hesitate to let her play with their expensive yet to be released toys.

Tina is adamant that the relationship be only pretend, and that she and Blake have no future together. Blake isn't going to push anything, allowing Tina her space, but the more time he spends with her, the more smitten he is. Yet while they're growing closer, and more attracted to each other, Blake isn't ready to share his secrets and fears with Tina either.

Anyone who has read my blog for any space of time, knows that Courtney Milan is one of my favourite authors. I consider her the best historical romance author writing at the moment and await each new release from her with bated breath. It was still a surprise when she revealed that she was taking a bit of a break from historicals to focus on contemporary romance, and New Adult at that. My experience with NA is that it tends to feature studious, often innocent and dissatisfied college women who fall for tattooed bad boys with dark pasts. There haven't really been all that many books slotted into the genre that impressed me. Of course Milan's book was one of the exceptions.

Milan's heroines are always awesome and deeply feminist role models living in a time when women had to fight to be seen or heard. Tina is a contemporary woman, but just as marginalised as many of her historical sisters in that she's an immigrant struggling to make ends meet. Seriously, Tina is dirt poor. There is a wonderful scene where Tina explains to Blake, who has a monthly allowance of 15 000 dollars just how long she can survive on a bag of rice and why it's necessary for her to do so. She can't afford to have her favourite sweater dry cleaned if her sister is to get her medication. The luxury she allows herself when she finally has Blake's income is mangoes. Nothing big, frivolous or flashy. Just fresh, ripe fruit.

Blake could have been unbearable. He's a young, charming billionaire, for God's sake. But Milan writes wonderful characters and Blake has real issues to handle, not just the fact that his father has used a public version of their relationship to advertise Cyclone since Blake was a small child. It's obvious early on that Blake has something big he's hiding from those close to him, and it's revealed every so gradually as the story progresses. I can't recall any other romances I've read where the hero deals with the same difficulties as Blake and it was an interesting take, just as I've come to expect from Ms. Milan.

In a lot of historical romances, the parents are either dead or awful. They aren't generally a feature in contemporary romances either, and if they are, the hero and heroine often have a strained relationship with them. Tina and Blake both struggle with the expectations their parents place on them, but there is never any doubt that Adam Reynolds or the Chens deeply love their children and want only good things for them. It was very refreshing to see such realistic and functional family relationships. Tina's family's good-natured teasing over Tina's obvious denials that she and Blake are a couple were great. Tina taking absolutely no crap from Adam (helped by the fact that when they meet, she's just pretending to date his son). So many good moments.

Then there is Maria, Tina's best friend, who is going to be the heroine of the next book in the Cyclone series. Maria and Tina met in college, where they were both the odd duck's out. The reasons why Maria didn't quite fit in with the rest of the girls and why she's had a lot of family drama is gradually and subtly revealed and I'm deeply impressed with the direction Milan is going. She keeps being a trail-blazer, and I was actually sorry to discover that I will have to wait until sometime late in 2015 for Maria's book, because I'm now super eager to find out more about her.

The only thing that kept this book from a full five stars is the ending, which was a bit too rushed and veered a bit too far into farcical melo-drama for me. I'm not going to deny that I laughed out loud during parts of it, but since the rest of the book was so plausibly done with such good pacing, the end just fell flat. Readers should also be aware that the book has more of a HFN (Happy for Now) ending than a HEA (Happily Ever After) and that Tina and Blake will get a second book later in the series. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

Reading Challenges 2015: NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge

Falling for YA is hosting the NetGalley/Edelweiss Reading Challenge 2015, and introduces it thusly:

Have you ever logged on to Edelweiss or NetGalley with the intention of "Just Looking" and then logged off having requested 5 new titles even though your TBR list is a mile long? This challenge will (hopefully) give you the incentive to tackle your review books, stumble on new ones, and get your NetGalley percentage to the desired 80%!

Levels:
Bronze - 10 books
Silver - 25 books 
Gold - 50 books
Platinum - 75 books
Diamond - 100 books 

While I severely doubt that I'll be able to get my NetGalley percentage to 80% (it's currently on a measly 14%), I am going to do my level best at reviewing a few more of the books I'm lucky enough to be granted ARCs of. Hence I'm signing up for the Bronze level and commit myself to reviewing at least 10 books from my NetGalley hoard this year. I will try to do better, but know myself well enough not to overreach with this challenge.