Marked, Elisabeth Naughton

Casey has been living her life for 27 years without anything interesting happening and then within moments of meeting Theron it all changes.

Theron prides himself on his loyalty and doing the jobs his king has set for him, being an Argonaut was his life but when he meets Acacia he thinks that he’s found his soul mate.

I love reading books based around Greek Mythology like the Starcrossed series by Josephine Angelini and the Covenant series by Jennifer L. Armentrout so if I don’t like the first couple of a book I won’t carry it on knowing I won’t be hooked from the beginning. I must say Elisabeth Naughton’s Marked didn’t disappoint. Like most Greek Mythology books for Young Adults it is based not around the gods itself but a breed of people in-between Gods and humans.

Although Marked may be a short book it did not lack details and descriptions about the characters and places along the journey. I enjoyed the relationship between Theron and Casey and the constant battle Theron had with himself for him to do the thing he thought was right, Acacia was his soul mate so he couldn’t let her meet her sister so she could die. And the constant battle Theron faced with Casey being human and him having feelings for a human was unheard of, but when he found out she was a misos (half-breed)is even more unheard of as most of the Argoleans even know they exist. But he believed she was his soul mate and his love for her kept growing even with him fighting it.  

I enjoyed the fact that each individual character had their own background story which leads on to the follow up books that go on following another set of characters around as Theron and Casey have managed to get their happily ever after at the end of that story. Although they will appear in the other books they won’t be the prominent characters.

The sexual chemistry between Theron and Casey is hard to ignore, you get a feel for it the first time they meet, the sensations that run through Casey’s body, the dream Theron has after his attack. The way each touch between them is described will make everyone woman want to be in Casey’s position under Theron’s muscly body.

I liked how the book was rounded up and how towards the end Hades made an appearance to ‘fix’ everything but also cause trouble that would provide him entertainment as well as give Elisabeth a way to carry on writing this series.

I really enjoyed reading this book and give it a 4* rating. I look forward to reading Zander's story in the next book of the Eternal Guardians series, I give this book a 3* rating.

Undescribable, Shantel Tessier

Sam’s life was perfect; she has just moved from Dallas to St. Louis with her boyfriend Jax and made new best friends with Holly and Micah.

Slade is the ultimate playboy, sleeps with a different girl every night, in the corner of the bar, in the toilets anywhere it doesn't matter, but when Sam calls him looking for Jax his whole world changes.

I enjoy when the author writes from the point of view from the different characters, it gives you an insight into each of their thoughts and the reasoning behind their actions. So when I saw that Shantel Tessier had done this I was happy. I enjoyed the way Shantel had 3 main stages in her book, Larry’s the bar, Slade’s house and Slade and Micah’s parents’ house, these 3 stages contain drama, important talks and love shared.

What Shantel did which is different from a lot of books I have read is have the leading man (Slade) fall for Sam just by hearing her voice, getting mesmerized by the way she says his name over the phone. I also enjoyed the way they met, Slade inviting Sam to have a threesome with him and Ginger in the toilet of Larry’s without even knowing who she was – not the best footing for a relationship but it was really funny to read.

Now I do love a side story and this book had a couple, I enjoyed the relationship between Micah and Holly and liked how now and again it would pop up into the story in the right places and then after they had their happily ever after when Micah proposed there was another one that only got started between Josh and Courtney, which didn't progress much as it happened at the end of the book, but you can imagine it working out well for them.

Even though Sam and Slade’s relationship involved a lot of arguments it wasn't too repetitive as their arguments  led to mind consuming make up sex, and the details about the movements and the thoughts Shantel went into helped you get a real idea of the relationship between Sam and Slade.

In true Sam and Slade style when they said ‘I love you’ wasn't like your usual fairy-tale ‘I love you’ when Sam finally talks to her mother again she has to deal with losing her all over again when she dies, Sam has a break down and realizes that she can’t be without Slade, she doesn't want to lose him like she lost everyone else in her family, and even though she was trying to hide her love for him to protect herself she can’t hide it anymore.

The ending of the book surprised me, which I was happy about. Usually with these types of books it flashes forward a couple of months or a year and there’s a wedding or a baby between the two main characters. This book didn't do that, it ended with Slade saying ‘I’m ready to give her the world, starting with my last name’ yes that put the idea of a wedding in your mind, but you don’t see it and you don’t see all the other couples getting together and living happily ever after, you are able to make up the ending for the characters, which is great.

I really enjoyed reading this book and give it a 4* rating. 

Tall, Tatted and Tempting, Tammy Falkner

Kit was keeping secrets from everyone, but Logan was going to be her undoing.

Logan’s life was far from perfect, but as long as he had a girl in his bed at night he didn't care – until Kit came along and turned his life upside down.

This story is your classic happy ending romance story, it was good but not great – it had the potential to be so much better. I found that it was quite rushed it went from Kit wanting to get a tattoo, punching Logan in the face to sleeping in his bed and having feelings for him all in the space of 2 days. If Tammy Falkner made the story longer, included more about their back stories or their lives now before they met and took longer for them to get together I think the story could have been great.

That being said, I enjoyed the story line and I liked the twist of Logan being deaf as at the beginning you read from Logan’s point of view and you think he is just your standard cocky bad boy, but the twist of him not being able to hear grabbed my attention more than it would have if he wasn't, however I wish they focused more on Kit learning sign language for him when she can’t read more than just once and then her suddenly having learnt it.

I also enjoyed the twist of one of Logan’s brother’s having cancer, but again I think Kit calling her father after running away should have been lengthened as well as when Kit goes home and her mum suddenly wants to help her and there’s this country wide press conference.

This book is good, but should have been longer with a lot more explanation and detail. 

I give this book a 2* rating.

Escaping Me, Elizabeth Lee

Whitney has escaped her ex-boyfriend by spending the summer with her mum and sister. The last thing on her mind is a new guy so why does she keep bumping into Cole?

Cole got kicked out of his house by his brother and the last thing he wants is to draw attention to himself, so why did he help her?

When I read the reviews of this book, I thought this book was right down my street and I was right.

I was expecting the book to start with Whitney walking in on her ex-boyfriend in the middle of having sex with some random girl, but it didn't and too my surprise I was happy that it didn't as the way it started held my attention more because it was different. It started off with Whitney and Cole’s first encounter and from that moment I was hooked.

Whitney’s perfect looks and Cole's bad boy image I knew that they would be together and their sexual chemistry was insane. Though the book had a lot of drama and a lot of arguments between different characters it held my attention the entire way through and not once did I think it was repetitive.

This stories ending was different than most, as Cole was moving to Georgia to start up his own business Whitney was going to stick at the school she was already at and try at a 2 years of a long distance relationship, I like how neither of them were going to change their lives for each other until Whitney was able to transfer to a school in Georgia, you never see their relationship get that far you see them struggle as they have to do long distance for 4 months and see the strength of their relationship.

This book makes you think that no matter where you are both from and who or what gets in the way, love can conquer all if you let it.

I enjoyed this book a lot and will happily give it a 4* rating.

College Girl, Shelia Grace

Alexis Reed has learnt to disconnect herself from feeling anything like love after her father walked out on her for a life of drugs and alcohol.

After losing his brother in a car accident Ryan Bennett never wanted to have the fear of losing someone again, so he never got close enough to let it happen.

This story gripped my attention from the beginning, watching Alex fall in love with someone who spent the whole book trying to fight his feelings for her and seeing her experience new feelings she didn’t know her body could feel. Although parts of it were a bit repetitive as Ryan kept leaving her, because he believed he was not good enough for her and Alex constantly getting herself into helpless situations.

The whole ‘forbidden love’ angle wasn’t played out as much as I thought it was going to be with Ryan being Alex’s Calculus TA which I enjoyed; they focused much more on the age gab and insecurities of both of the main characters.

Although I enjoyed the book, I was disappointed in the ending. Throughout the book Alex kept bringing up how she wanted her ‘happy ending’ and Shelia Grace gave her, her happy ending by Ryan proposing to her and of course she said yes. I knew the book was going to end happily, but I thought the ending was a little bit hard to believe in a real life situation as it happened after Ryan had again left her with a note after a night together saying “Don’t wait for me.”

I would recommend this book to any YA book reader, giving it a 4* rating.