My Favorite Mistake - By Chelsea M. Cameron *Review* #COYER

My Favorite Mistake Series - Book 1 | Add to Goodreads
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Two secrets. One bet. Who will break first?

Taylor Caldwell can't decide if she wants to kiss her new college roommate or punch him.

On the one hand, Hunter Zaccadelli is a handsome blue-eyed bundle of charm. On the other, he's a tattooed, guitar-playing bad boy. Maybe that's why Taylor's afraid of falling in love with him, or anyone else. She doesn't want to get burned, so she needs him gone before it's too late.

Hunter himself has been burned before, but Taylor's sexy laugh and refusal to let him get away with anything make her irresistible. Determined not to be kicked out of her life without a fight, Hunter proposes a bet: if she can convince him she either truly loves or hates him, he'll leave the apartment;and leave her alone.

But when the man behind Taylor's fear of giving up her heart resurfaces, she has to decide: trust Hunter with her greatest secret, or do everything in her power to win that bet and drive him away forever.

This cover is so misleading! When I see this cover I think adults, sexy time and maybe one night stand gone wrong? I do not think college students, virgin, charismatic goofball male and wooing. Now don't get me wrong this is a great cover it just doesn't suit the book and when I finished reading the book, the cover just seem wrong. My problem with this is "My Favorite Mistake" is actually a lot more light hearted than the cover suggests. I would go as far to say it is a Young Adult novel yet the cover screams adult sexy time book. So how on earth will this book reach an audience that will hugely appreciate it with a cover that confines it to the adult shelf? I don't know y'all....

Besides the cover drama this is lovely read. Hunter is a charismatic misbehavior which means he usually break rules or does things that irritate people but gets away with them because he's charming - sound familiar? We all know one. Taylor was amusing and Hunter sums her character up perfectly when he states he's never bored around her because she doesn't act the way he expects. Similarly I am fascinated by the equal parts terrified and fearless Taylor, who may or may not be more likely to punch a guy in the balls than smile. She is entertainment and a half.

Their relationship is a perfect example of how love and hate are two sides of the same coin. For half of the book Hunter is trying to get Taylor to like him and Taylor is trying to aggressively deny it by any means necessary - hence ball punching. Eventually they both admit to the attraction with Hunter turning into the cutest wooing romantic ever. *sigh*

Their hidden secrets were horrific events but the story focused more on the healing process of both characters rather than dwelling in a slightly dark depressive zone which I appreciated. I don't think Hunter and Taylor's relationship moved beyond the teenage love stage which was a little disappointing. It felt a lot like a coming of age relationship story rather than the emotional depth and development I've come to expect from New Adult. Still, I hugely enjoyed reading this book and definitely recommend it!

Blades of the Old Empire - By Anna Kashina *Review* #COYER

Majat Code Series - Book 1 | Add to Goodreads
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Kara is a mercenary – a Diamond warrior, the best of the best, and a member of the notorious Majat Guild. When her tenure as protector to Prince Kythar comes to an end, custom dictates he accompany her back to her Guild to negotiate her continued protection.
But when they arrive they discover that the Prince’s sworn enemy, the Kaddim, have already paid the Guild to engage her services – to capture and hand over Kythar, himself.
A warrior brought up to respect both duty and honour, what happens when her sworn duty proves dishonourable?

For a book that advertises itself on the kick ass female Kara it was surprising to find the book revolve around the power and struggles of men. While the struggle of Kara is prominent we don't really get into her head, ever. All we know about Kara is that she is the object of Prince whatever his name and she is one of the highest ranking warriors in her faction. I wanted to wave my "I love this character" banner but I couldn't because the entire focus on Kara revolved around Prince whingey bags. She is SUCH a promising and complicated character and yet she is confined to LOVE INTEREST. WHY!? I understand the importance of the love story but it could have been part of a larger dynamic of Kara breaking through her emotional conditioning and beginning the journey to self discovery but no. I was so annoyed by this because I picked the book because of Kara and the possibility of her fricken' awesome character only to be disappointed with the lack of development.

There are a few female characters in a heavily male cast and the only other important female aside from Kara is Ellah. Ellah began as an annoying side character who just happened to be along for the trip but slowly developed into someone worth reading about. I became invested in her narrative arc which wasn't the easiest journey considering she is only a commoner and probably wasn't the best person to take on a quest. Despite this Ellah has an intense sense of loyalty, justice and perseverance. She never lets her inexperience be the reason others fail and continues to surprise those around her with brave actions. I absolutely adored Ellah by the end and was FURIOUS when she had to choose between love and her magic career. 

***SPOILER RANT***

Ellah was so earnest and courageous but completely shy when it came to love. She loved that idiot Diamond so much and continued to see the good in him - followed him EVERYWHERE - despite him obviously just playing with her. I hated him for that because why would you string along a young girl with no experience for YOUR OWN AMUSEMENT!? Asshole. She was nothing but kind and defended him to others but he was being a douchebag jerk. Ellah deserved a strong, powerful and amazing man to think she was everything he wanted in a woman but instead she gets a manipulative jerk who makes her feel unworthy of such love. How dare he?! AND! How dare that woman tell Ellah that she is not deserving of a man like that NUMBSKULL! I hated that not only was Ellah rejected in a moment of huge courageousness but she gets beaten down by other characters saying why would Ellah entertain such a romance, can't she see he's better than her? No ELLAH is better than HIM. End of story. She gave her everything in this story to end up with the shitty happy ever after. No thank you.

Side note - I thought it was ridiculous that douchebag diamond is in love with someone else. Worst twist ever!

***SPOILER RANT END***

Overall, it wasn't a bad fantasy novel but it's not a kick ass female fantasy. The storyline was interesting and despite disliking almost all of the males for getting more page time than the ladies I liked it. The bad guys were more irritating than ominous which made for a strange good vs. evil dynamic. The romance is drawn out and not well developed beyond puppy love so if you were wanting intricate romance it's not here. In saying that it is strong on the fantasy plot so might be good for Young Adult Fiction. 

Copy received from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

Angelbound - By Christina Bauer

Book 1 - Angelbound Series

Eighteen year old Myla Lewis is a girl who loves two things: kicking ass and kicking ass. She’s not your every day quasi-demon, half-demon and half-human, girl. For the past five years, Myla has lived for the days she gets to fight in Purgatory’s arena. When souls want a trial by combat for their right to enter heaven or hell, they go up against her, and she hasn’t lost a battle yet.

But as she starts her senior year at Purgatory High, the arena fights aren’t enough to keep her spirits up anymore. When the demons start to act weird, even for demons, and the King of the Demons, Armageddon, shows up at Myla’s school, she knows that things are changing and it’s not looking good for the quasi-demons. Myla starts to question everything, and doesn’t like the answers she finds. What happened seventeen years ago that turned the quasi-demons into slave labor? Why was her mom always so sad? And why won’t anyone tell her who her father is? Things heat up when Myla meets Lincoln, the High Prince of the Thrax, a super sexy half-human and half-angel demon hunter. But what’s a quasi-demon girl to do when she falls for a demon hunter? It’s a good thing that Myla’s not afraid of breaking a few rules. With a love worth fighting for, Myla’s going to shake up Purgatory.

I didn't think I would love this book, especially reading it immediately following a 5 star book like "Becoming Alpha"... But sweet mother of mercy "Angelbound" is beyond fabulous! Bauer creates a whole new world that had me bowing down and praising the universe for whatever is responsible for inspiring this creative genius. I haven't been this in love with something since my King and Queen Beyonce. Argh I didn't think anyone could pack this much amazing into a book anymore! I don't know where to start my loving.

Becoming Alpha - By Aileen Erin (#COYER)

Tessa McCaide has a unique talent for getting into trouble. Then again, it isn’t easy for a girl with visions to ignore what she sees. Luckily Tessa and her family are leaving California and moving halfway across the country, giving her the perfect opportunity to leave her reputation as “Freaky Tessa” behind.

But Tessa doesn’t realize that kissing the wrong guy in her new Texas town could land her in far more trouble than she ever imagined. Like being forced to attend St. Ailbe’s Academy, a secret boarding school for werewolves.

Even if the wrong guy did accidentally turn her into one of “them” and doom her to attending the weirdest high school ever, Tessa can’t help her growing attraction to the mysterious Dastien Laurent.

When vampires attack St. Alibe’s and her visions pinpoint an enemy in their midst, Tessa realizes that boy drama and her new found canine tendencies might just be the least of her problems.

I have discovered very recently the genre labelled "New Adult" which had me stumped since I started blogging this year. I was totally confused thinking is this some kind of weird adult genre or is it another form of young adult, tween fiction? I had no fucking clue. Thanks to Wikipedia I have been enlightened  - New Adult is a genre aimed specifically at 18-25 year olds. Which explains why I have suddenly found myself loving novels more mature than young adult, not as stuffy as adult novels and being unable to categorize them as either - BEHOLD THE NEW ADULT NOVEL! So why am I banging on about this right now? Because my dear readers, "Becoming Alpha" is a New Adult novel and I feel super fancy for being able to label it so! But enough of my la-dee-da nonsense - to the Bat-mobile! I mean review...

Discovery - By Brina Courtney (#COYER)

Teagan is a budding artist and in love with her boyfriend Jason. But Jason goes missing and there are no
clues to his whereabouts or body. Teagan decides to move in with her Grandma after months of grieving for the man she thought she would marry. Moving to Salem seems like a great idea for Teagan until weird things start happening and people seem to know more about Teagan's past than she does.

This story is a typical witch novel - Teagan doesn't know she is a witch and no one has taught her to use her powers etc. Initially I was really excited about the book, it has a very sexy opening scene but after that scene I became more and more irate. While the novel ages Teagan at 21 and the listed genre is new adult fantasy, it reads like a YA novel even with the single implied sex scene. I knew Teagan was some kind of witch with a guardian protector after the first "overheard" conversation. That conversation and the many others were glaringly obvious pointers to Teagan is a witch with powers (also it's set in Salem - duh) but these less than subtle conversations, hints and clues weren't what irritated me the most. No, it was the second to last scene.

Finding Cinderella - By Colleen Hoover (#COYER)

I admit, I was hesitant to read this book. It seemed like one of your typical young adult, teen fiction, high school novels of which I am not a fan. But I had seen a lot of great reviews and excitement around Colleen Hoovers novels so being curious I wanted to see what all the hype was about. After finishing this novella my first thoughts were "these kids are still in HIGH SCHOOL?! No way!" followed quickly by "WOW! I get it now" and "this is much too good to be free!" This novella is nothing like those typical high school young adult romances that leave me dry heaving like a cat hacking up a fur ball. "Finding Cinderella" is a beautifully written novel that manages to grasp the intensity and difficulty of young love while being on the cusp of adulthood with a refreshing maturity and wit. Majority of young adult novels these days rely on overwritten characters that exaggerate emotions and events with excessive extravagance (holy alliteration). But where other novels have characters that aren't easy to relate to and fail to emotionally connect with the reader, Hoover gives us Daniel and Six who invite you to find in them, that hopeful but jaded teenager, you once were.

Now being 22, I'm not that far from those whirlwind teenage years but I still find myself unable to relate to younger characters. As I said before I was shocked that these characters were only 18 but I found Six so easy to relate to. I was lost in Six's journey to rediscover her inner strength, the confidence to be herself and not allow others to affect your inner core, that essential definition of who you are.