Blog Tour: Book Review: Hero by Samantha Young

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Buy: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Book Depository

Format: Kindle 

Publishers: Piatkus (Little Brown Book Group UK)

Published: 3rd February 2015

Pages: 416

Genre: Adult, Contemporary Romance, 

Main Characters: Alexa, Caine   
Date Read: 12th February - 17th February 2015

Rating Given:

Synopsis:
The emotional and unforgettable new romance from the New York Times bestselling author of the On Dublin Street series.
Alexa Holland’s father was her hero—until her shocking discovery that she and her mother weren’t his only family. Ever since, Alexa has worked to turn her life in a different direction and forge her own identity outside of his terrible secrets,. But when she meets a man who’s as damaged by her father’s mistakes as she is, Alexa must help him.
Caine Carraway wants nothing to do with Alexa’s efforts at redemption, but it’s not so easy to push her away. Determined to make her hate him, he brings her to the edge of her patience and waits for her to walk away. But his actions only draw them together and, despite the odds, they begin an intense and explosive affair.
Only Caine knows he can never be the white knight that Alexa has always longed for. And when they’re on the precipice of danger, he finds he’ll do anything to protect either one of them from being hurt again…

I was given a review copy via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I do like this cover as I love the use of colour but also the overlay of different pictures really works well but for some reason I prefer the American cover as I prefer to see more of the model and he looks better in that one (yes I know you can't see all of the face but the bit you can looks better on the other version).

Having only read one other book by Samantha Young that I enjoyed but didn't love I wasn't sure what to expect from this book but I shouldn't have been worried, this book has to go down as one of my favourites of the year so far and I would even go as far as saying one of my all time favourite books. I absolutely hated having to put it down and when I had grudgingly done so I couldn't stop thinking about it and now I've finished it I already want to read it again because I keep remembering how much I loved it. The only thing that I would loved even more about this book was if we got to hear some things from Caine's side as I love an alternating pov as then we get a better understanding of what everyone's thinking and I definitely want to know Caine's thoughts on his actions. The actual overall plot of the book was a bit dark however some of the dialogue was so funny that I kept laughing out loud which was a much needed light relief giving it the perfect balance. The chemistry between Caine and Alexa was smoking hot they just sizzled when in the same room even when he pretends he hates her but then with certain actions he shows that he loves her really. There was a few twists and turns in this book that I never saw coming but I did say to myself that something major needs to happen before Caine admits to anything but I still didn't see what was to come towards the end half of the book. The ending was a brilliant end to this book because everything was cleared up and the epilogue was a few years into the future which I always love and I especially loved what had happened.

I loved pretty much all the characters even when I found it hard at times I just couldn't help myself. Alexa was a great female character and it was pretty much her whit that had me laughing out loud. She was flawed but her past had made her so but I didn't mind this because even when everything was going against her she still had a smile on her face. You would think that I would hate Caine as he was very annoying at times even mean but you wouldn't be more wrong as I loved him. His childhood was awful and he was definitely scarred on the inside which made me feel so sorry for him but there was times when with Alexa that brought out his sweet and soft side but also his funny side. There was a few side characters that I loved as well especially Effie she was brilliant.

Overall an amazing story that I would highly recommend to anyone this book was pure class!

About the author:

Samantha Young is the author of the runaway bestselling On Dublin Street, which sold over 150,000 copies within five weeks and has now been sold in more than 25 countries. Published by Penguin UK until recently, her first book with Little Brown (Castle Hill) was one of the top 10 Hachette ebooks for 2014. This year she has been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Author and Best Romance. She lives in Stirlingshire, Scotland and is available for publicity purposes, along with corresponding regularly with her 22,000 fans on FB and 15,000 Twitter followers.

You can visit her at www.samanthayoungbooks.com

Praise for Samantha Young:

‘This steamy romance is mysterious, all-consuming and pretty damn good’ Closer ‘Ridiculously incendiary chemistry.’ Dear Author

‘A true gift for storytelling’ Daily Record

‘Young writes stories that stay with you long after you flip the last page’ Under the Covers

Blog Tour: Book Review: Thoughtful (Thoughtless, #1.5) by S.C. Stephens

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Buy: Amazon UK | Amazon US |

Format: Kindle 

Publishers: Sphere (Little Brown Book Group UK)

Published: 24th February 2015

Pages: 560

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance, 

Main Characters: Kellan, Denny, Kiera  
Date Read: 20th January - 1st February 2015

Rating Given:

Synopsis:
In Thoughtless, Kiera told her story. Now it's time for Kellan Kyle to share his side in Thoughtful . . .
The only place Kellan has ever felt at home is on stage. Gripping his guitar in a darkened bar, he can forget his painful past. These days his life revolves around his music and his band mates, and that's the way he likes it. And then one woman changes everything . . .
Kiera is the kind of girl Kellan has no business wanting - she's smart, sweet, and dating his best friend. Certain he could never be worthy of her love, he hides his growing attraction . . . until Kiera's own tormented heart hints that his feelings might not be one-sided. Now, no matter the consequences, Kellan is sure of one thing: he won't let Kiera go without a fight.

I was given a review copy via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I do like the cover for this book as I am a huge fan of black and white images with a hint of colour plus I can imagine the guy as Kellan.

With this book I had a bit of a love hate relationship with it as during the beginning I didn't like it to the point where I wanted to put it down but thankfully I carried on and ended up enjoying it although during those times I did get annoyed with it but those moments never lasted to long. I do feel like it was too long and maybe that's why I couldn't get into it at the beginning as everything was dragging on. When Kiera and Kellan where together I felt that they belonged together as they had a great chemistry that sizzled with just one look but then when Denny was in the picture I felt annoyed by Kiera and the way in which she treated Kellan and even Denny. I do think that maybe I would have enjoyed this book better if I had actually read the first book but without realising that this wasn't the first one I said I would do a blog tour with it and with it being the same as the first one but from Kellan's pov I would be ok and for the most part I was but I needed to know what on earth was Kiera thinking. The ending was great as I felt like if I didn't want to continue with the series I wouldn't need to as there was no cliff hanger but I'm sure I will finish his series including the one I missed out on.

The characters in this book was easy to love but then some of them made it hard to continue to like them. Kellan I fell in love with from the moment I started this book even if he was broken inside it just made him al the more endearing. Even though I know that Kellan was in the wrong at times I just couldn't help but still loving him plus he had such a caring side to him that outweighed his bad traits. Kiera had moments when I liked her and I could see where Kellan was coming from but then the things that she did made me not like her at times but there was one particular scene towards the end that she did something so stupid but amazing at the same time that made me forgive her plus I know I need to read the first book to see her side of things and maybe then I will feel different. Denny I kind of liked but then what he did towards the end made me not like him at all even if they did hurt him Kellan didn't deserve what Denny did to him. I loved all the D-Bags even the annoying ones was a fun addition to the story.

Overall I enjoyed this book but there was times when I didn't think I would be able to get through it.

Author Bio: S.C. Stephens is a New York Times #1 bestselling author who spends her every free moment creating stories that are packed with emotion and heavy on romance. In addition to writing, she enjoys spending lazy afternoons in the sun reading, listening to music, watching movies, and spending time with her friends and family. She lives in Washington State with her two children. Follow her on Twitter @SC_Stephens_

For more information please contact Clara Diaz on

020 7911 8962 | clara.diaz@littlebrown.co.uk | @ClaraHDiaz

Book Review: Fathomless (Fairytale Retellings, #3) by Jackson Pearce

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Format: Hardback

Publishers: Little Brown Books for Younger Readers

Published: 4th September 2012

Pages: 294

Genre: YA, Paranormal Romance

Main Characters: Celia, Lo

Date Read: 3rd June - 7th June 2014

Rating Given:

Synopsis:
Celia Reynolds is the youngest in a set of triplets and the one with the least valuable power. Anne can see the future, and Jane can see the present, but all Celia can see is the past. And the past seems so insignificant -- until Celia meets Lo.
Lo doesn't know who she is. Or who she was. Once a human, she is now almost entirely a creature of the sea -- a nymph, an ocean girl, a mermaid -- all terms too pretty for the soulless monster she knows she's becoming. Lo clings to shreds of her former self, fighting to remember her past, even as she's tempted to embrace her dark immortality.
When a handsome boy named Jude falls off a pier and into the ocean, Celia and Lo work together to rescue him from the waves. The two form a friendship, but soon they find themselves competing for Jude's affection. Lo wants more than that, though. According to the ocean girls, there's only one way for Lo to earn back her humanity. She must persuade a mortal to love her . . . and steal his soul.

“The cruelest thing, hope, the way it strings you along, the way it makes you believe.” 

When this first came out I never even knew about this book but as soon as I found out about it and that it was a Little Mermaid retelling I jumped at the chance at getting myself a copy. The only thing is it wasn't nearly as good as the first two books in this series...

I love the new covers for this series I just wish they wouldn't change them halfway through the series as now mine don't match what so ever. The reason why I prefer these covers to the old ones is because of the muted colours and they have a metallic look about them as well. I love the hint of red in the cover as it is relevant to the story which is always a plus for me.

With The Little Mermaid being one of my all time favourite Disney film I was so excited to finally have a retelling as to my knowledge there hasn't been one but for me this book fell flat. I couldn't really get into it from the start but there was times throughout the book that did have glimmers of what could be a great book it just didn't continue it that way. I felt bored throughout most of this book as for me there wasn't much interesting going on. The romance side of the story was just as boring as the rest of the book as I just didn't find it believable one bit. I did like the some of the parts in which it was more about self discovery as that was what held my interest (barely). I loved the different take on the mermaids as I have not read about them in this manner. There was no scales or fins they just lived in the sea but they were born human that turned into the ocean girls. I also liked the way in which Celia and her sisters where human yet they where able to see the past, present and future. I'm not too sure about the ending as it was ok in the way in which there was a lot more action happening that got me very excited but for the most part it felt more like a cliff hanger waiting for the next book to find out what happens, but the next book in this series is a different fairytale retelling (which I will still read as the first two books where really good).

I think that the main problem with this book was the unlikeable characters as most of them was selfish. There was times when each of the characters had there good moments but for the most part I just didn't like them. Out of all the characters I would say the most likeable would be Celia as she was the one I felt most sorry for as everyone around her was lying to her or not treating her like an equal but on the other had she was the same with the others just not as much. I never knew if Celia could trust Lo as she did go behind her back a lot. The love interest wasn't really in it enough for me to get anything from him but what I did know was he was a bit of a hypocrite.

Overall I should have known that I wasn't going to love this book as I haven't loved a mermaid book yet but I'm still holding out that there is one out there that I will love it's just sad that this wasn't the one that did it for me.

“The song sounds like the ocean- it rises and falls, notes splash forward and harmonize with the sea behind me.”