Fracture by Megan Miranda

Review by Jen

Paranormal romance.....this is a relatively new genre for me. Sure, I read Twilight and a couple select reads that would fall within this genre, but overall, it really isn't my turn-to genre. However, this came up as a recommended Nook book to read and after reading the synopsis, I thought, "Why not? Seems intriguing enough." So, low and behold I began a complicated relationship with this book. So let me explain why........

The book's main female character is Delaney. She is a senior at a school in Maine and is fairly popular, but the nerdy/smart type of girl popular. Her best friend and neighbor, Decker, is one of those guys who she hangs out with and has fun banter with, but can never tell how she feels about him. She doesn't tell him, you, or even herself, really. During an outing to meet her pals, Decker has Delaney walk across the "frozen" lake. But the lake isn't frozen through and Delaney falls in only to realize she can't find the opening to help herself out. Here is where the tag line comes in: "A lot can happen in eleven minutes." This is the amount of time that Delaney was under water before being pulled out with a rare chance to even be alive.

So, after being pulled out, she is rushed by ambulance to the hospital where she is in a coma for multiple days. Decker being the guilty best friend he is, stays by her side the entire time, except when she wakes up. The doctors are astounded that Delaney is as "normal" as she is, especially since her MRI shows significant brain damage. But what the doctors don't realize is that that brain damage gives Delaney a special ability to tell when someone is about to die. She gets this "itching" feeling within her brain that travels down her spine and to her fingers each time she senses it, causing major twitching within her hands. And after several instances of her "seizure" type behavior, her parents really begin to freak out and question what Delaney is hiding-even going as far as thinking she might have caused someone's death.

Megan's concept for this book was quite good. However, a character by the name Troy pretty much ruined this story for me. Is he good? Is he bad? And then after some time you are left thinking, "Goodness, is this character leaving anytime soon? Please say yes!!!!" See, Troy comes quite literally out of nowhere and somewhat stalks Delaney. He has this secret that makes him much more like Delaney than anyone else around her, and feels they are forever connected. But, it's Delaney's wishy-washy relationship with him that may drive the reader to dislike the story even more. While consistently getting jealous of Decker and his new "girlfriend," Delaney goes back and forth from hating Troy to liking him, and it's utterly painful to read.

Delaney expects Decker to just understand how she is feeling without actually saying anything to him....which we know is quite common for teenagers. However, the amount of anger she carries around about Decker seems forced and misplaced. He continues to try and be a good friend, as she continues to pout and get mad and change her mind about Troy.

The other issue I take with this book is that she never really speaks up with her doctor about what she is able to sense after awakening from the coma. There is a scene where she is at her neurologist's office and can sense a young boy dying and goes totally ballistic in the waiting room warning everyone.....as they all watch her like she's a total psychopath. And later her neurologist tells her that the waiting room episode saved him from dying. But she never just tells the doctor why she was able to tell he was dying-and he never asks. It just seemed very out of character for her. But then again, she was lying and hiding things from almost every character in the story....so maybe not.

Right after finishing this book, I told people it was really good and I liked it. But the more time that passed and the more I was able to really think about the characters, I really felt let down. The concept was so cool and I really WANT to feel a connection to the story, but in the end....Troy was a story killer and Delaney was just annoying.

Delaney does have redeemable qualities which help you attempt to like her character. She feels alone, like she's living in hell having this death telling ability, and desperately wants to find a way to help the people she senses dying. In the end though, you just get sick of her beating around the bush, want her to get over herself, and just finally be honest with everyone around her.

Six Months Later by Natalie Richards

Reviewed by April:

I grabbed the Kindle version of this book on a Christmas sale after seeing it posted on none other than the Best "Read" Wine Book Blog Facebook page by Jen!  I jumped into it right away and was up late last night and awake bright and early this morning reading this mystery into the afternoon, and here I sit this evening just itching to review it so I can share it with other readers looking for a great book with which to end the year...or ring in the new year, however you want to roll with it!!

Chloe is finishing up her junior year of high school when she falls asleep in study hall one day and wakes up to the same classroom, only six months later and in her senior year with no memory of the time in between.  As she slowly uncovers the details needed to put the pieces together she finds that she is not only missing six months of her life, but that her life itself is also now very different than it was when she fell asleep.  But she, and we, soon figure out that Chloe is not in fact starring in the Twilight Zone, nor has she crossed over into the paranormal, but rather was involved in someone's sinister plans....plans they cannot afford to have revealed, no matter what.

This is a YA mystery which I cannot say I've had any experience with, and while I've read nearly every of Sue Grafton and Mary Higgins Clark books, those definitely fall within the Adult mystery genre so I was curious as to whether a YA mystery could really hold the same appealing qualities I find in a good mystery.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that while this book certainly had a lighter feel to it, it was still full of the same suspense and thrill of the details chase that I'm used to.  It is also a clean novel with regard to romance, so while Ms. Richards is definitely talented in conveying the butterflies in the stomach chemistry between Chloe and Adam, nothing more than kissing happens in this book so its a good choice for an older teen mystery as well.  Coming from someone whose daughter reads at a much higher level than her age and has trouble finding content appropriate books for, that was something that happened to stand out for me while reading this book!

While I thought the suspense in this book was great, and the pace at which the details were uncovered was just right, there were still some loose ends I wish had been tied up before the end of the book and I was a little frustrated to see that final page come when it did, without having the answers to all of the questions I'd mentally cataloged along the way, which I find to be the best part of reading a mystery.  However I think I've gotten so used to authors lately giving us an Epilogue, and then sometimes even a sequel Novella, that I rarely ever finish a book with no stone left unturned anymore so I probably noticed that more than I would have a few years ago!  Nonetheless, Natalie Richards is definitely an author I'm looking forward to reading more from in the future!!

Sweet Home by Tillie Cole

Review by Jen

I.can't.get.this.typed.fast.enough. I read this book in 12 hours straight after finding out I had a snow day from my day job (the privilege of working in a school besides summers). I had my daughter invite friends over and told them immediately, "Your job is to entertain yourself, I'm reading on this unexpected day off!!!!!" (Hey, no judging, you would TOTALLY do it too!!!!!) What I didn't realize is the love affair that I would suddenly take on between myself and Miss Tillie Cole. Her story grabbed my heart, almost from go, and I say that this is one amazing love story that had me reading slower and slower knowing I was getting close to the end.

First off, this cover. I mean, REALLY????? How could you resist? If covers were meant to be judged, I would definitely pick this one RIGHT OFF the shelf.

But enough about everything happening outside the book, it's time to just get to it. The story starts out in a small town in England where sweet 6 year old Molly finds out from her grandmother that something tragic has happened to her father. This all happening after already losing her mother at birth. Molly doesn't know what to think, she doesn't understand why this keeps happening to her. It's a very sad scene that truly leads you to understand the challenges and complications that Molly will have moving forward with her life. Molly feeling that life is disappointing and feeling emotions just hurts way too damned much.

The story quickly moved to the United States where Molly is now studying for her Masters degree in philosophy at The University of Alabama. She has two crazy, very different roommates who are trying to quickly pull Molly out of her shy shell and to enjoy her college life to the fullest. First off there's Lexi, the goth roommate who is dying to live her cheerleader dreams. Then there's Cass, where large explains everything about her. She has a larger than life body and personality to go with it. She tells it like it is and doesn't take anyone's crap. And Molly loves them both like sisters.

Molly, running very late for her philosophy lecture as a teaching assistant, is verbally assaulted by the campus belle and bitch, Shelly, when she smacks into her in the corridor-causing her papers to fly all over the floor. Wearing bright orange Crocs and her glasses, with her frizzy hair pulled up in a messy bun, she is suddenly given a hand picking up her papers by none other than Romeo "Bullet" Prince, the starting QB for the UA Crimson Tide. He is tall, blonde and gorgeous and he was looking at her with wonder because she didnt immediately recognize him like every other female on campus.

The story quickly turns into an unlikely relationship between a shy Brit and an All-American quarterback, which all started with the words, "Hey Mol," after a sorority hazing kiss.

Their communication isn't the greatest, and they are both scarred beyond repair from pasts that have changed their lives forever. Romeo, called Rome by everyone other than his parents and Molly, grew up with money and parents who hate him. He is expected to marry Shelly, the campus belle, in order to help an oil deal between their two daddys. Molly, has never let anyone in after so much death in her life. She has run from everything in her life once it gets complicated. But they need each other and need to find a way to get past their horrible pasts.

As their relationship grows, Molly suddenly becomes a good luck charm for Rome on the football field. And she becomes hope for the Tide fans who are hoping to see their "Bullet" take them to the Championship game. She is becoming more and more emerged into this American lifestyle, and is starting to let down her guard and letting Rome in.

I won't go into the whole story, because I don't want to spoil the whole story for you, but be prepared to have some very emotional moments through the last half of this story. The one thing that Tillie does so well is create a total feeling towards a character. There was not a single character that I felt on the fence about. There was either strong love and loyalty or strong loathing. She does such a great job with character development. And although their relationship happens over the course of a few weeks, you never feel as though she rushed it. They started strong and strange (I mean his name is Romeo and her last name is Shakespeare!) and then she just developed their relationship from there. She also does a great job connecting all the characters of the story so you feel that they are one big family.

This book is not for teenagers, and is definitely geared towards adults as the sexual moments of the book are graphic. It isn't the most graphic I've read, but it certainly gives you enough information that you know exactly what's happening. The only thing that bothered me about the entire book was actually during some of the intimate moments when Rome kept screaming, "Do you get me," but I understood her reasons for having him say it.

Tattoos play a major symbolism for this book and what these characters have gone through or are currently going through. She uses beautiful lines to explain their emotions and bring out their insecurities.

This isn't a book I've heard lots of people talking about. None of my friends have heard of this book or of Author Tillie Cole. But I'm sure my enthusiastic banter will drive them to purchase this book, if only to get me to shut up about it. But in the end, I know that they will click that last page feeling the same fulfilling emotions I did, while being sad that the book is over.

But don't be too sad, for Sweet Rome (Book #2) comes out in January!!!!!!!! I think we will all be shouting, "Thank you Tillie!"

Remember When 3, The Finale by Tina Torrest

Review by Jen

First off, let me start with this.......if you did NOT read book 2, STOP READING THIS NOW!!!!!!! This book and review would be a major spoiler to the second book, which truly deserves its own read. Much of the content and emotion of this book is a follow up to incidents occurring within the first two books. And lets be honest, no one wants to just be thrown a spoiler with no warning....or maybe that's just me.

Ok, on with the book and review. I was told about this series by my blog partner April and we have a wonderful review of book 1 earlier this fall. We did not do a review on book 2 as our opinions of the book differed so much. This series captured my heart from the very first page. I grew up in the era of the first book, I understood so much of the content within the first book. But mostly, I connected with Layla on a personal level, because I felt her personality was so close to my own. In fact, sometimes I felt she could have been writing about me!

Book three begins with a look at Trip's POV while waiting in the hotel for Layla to show up (one of the last scenes in the second book). He is confused, frustrated, and mostly in serious need of a drink. When Layla doesn't show up, Trip gives into his innermost demons and gets wildly out of control drunk, setting up a span of many years dealing with the continued path of alcoholism that has plagued his family for years.

When the first chapter begins, we learn of Trips' fathers death. Layla, currently living at home in NJ with her parents, drops everything to be there for her long lost boyfriend and best friend. Over the last multiple years, Trip has been in rehab for alcohol abuse and also started a charity to give his life and money meaning, versus the phony notoriety that follows living a celebrity life. Layla has watched through entertainment magazines Trip's self inflicted demise and his rise back to the top. The pain caused from the misunderstanding between the two of them in book 2 has taken their toll on each of them. But the death of Trip's father will bring the two of them back together for the first time in years.

When their eyes meet for the first time in the funeral home, nothing matters.....not the engagements, misunderstandings, not the years that have passed between them. They both know in that moment that their love has always been for each other....no one else. This moment sets up the entire story for book 3 and how two people who have had so many misunderstandings over the years can make a timeless relationship work, even when things aren't always at their best.

It is clear from the beginning that Tina wants you to know we ALL want to see Trip and Layla together. And she does to. But just like with any relationship, especially one built through maturing years and oceans between them, not everything can come easily. Yes, their spark and physical attraction is undeniable. But their insecurities are patterns that have followed them throughout their 20 year history. How easy can it be to break those patterns?

When Layla moves to LA with Trip to finally be with the man she has loved almost her entire life, she finds out that having paparazzi and beautiful women around all the time is not exactly a walk in the park. Jealousy and impatience soon take over her being and it creates a tension filled environment where their relationship can be knocked over any moment. Trip is trying to do his job as an actor and charity director while trying to help Layla adapt to her new home. Needless to say, their past problems come crashing back again causing them to reconsider if together is the place they are meant to be.

I loved seeing the softer side of Trip in this book. I loved seeing him vulnerable and openly in love with Layla. This was something I think the readers have been waiting for. There is a moment that Trip is just hoping that everything they've worked for isn't going to fall apart. You get see him at his weakest in front of her, begging her to forgive him.

There are some great scenes in this book that will really take your breath away. The tree scene at the end of the book is likely to bring tears to your eyes, as it is such great symbolism to everything this book is about. There is also a throwback to Sixteen Candles which I absolutely LOVED because Jake Ryan is my ultimate dream man and that is my all time favorite movie.

The book can also be considered a reunion of sorts. Many of the characters from the first book show up during the funeral scene and also throughout other areas of the book. It was nice to know that "seeing" some old favorite characters 2 books later can be so nostalgic, even if they are only characters in a book.

Trip and Layla's journey could not be real if there were not significant bumps in the road. Sometimes the things that tear people apart are the things that ultimately bring them back together and makes them stronger than ever. But in the end, their love remains the center of the story and figuring out how to make their love story successful is what every reader wants, and Tina makes sure that you are satisfied without it being too fluffy.

Oh yeah, one warning......the very last line of the book had me bawling. I expected the first part, but was bursting with joy at the other. It was written so cleverly and cute that you cannot help to either bust out your biggest smile or your biggest tears of joy.