BOOK REVIEW: ROCK CHICK (Rock Chick, #1) by Kristen Ashley

Rock Chick by Kristen Ashley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ramblings. Yes, I'm still in my "prolonging The Redemption of Callie & Kayden" phase. It's such a good day today and it'll be such a waste for my mood and energy to just be sucked right into the depressing and sad story of that book. That's why I decided to read this one. The summary of this book got my attention starting from: "Indy Savage, cop's daughter, rock chick and used bookstore owner, has been in love with Lee Nightingale, once bad boy, now the man behind Nightingale Investigations, since she was five years old." Yep, pretty much the start of its blurb.

Immediate thought after reading this book. Is it just me or this book is really loooooooong? Rock Chick was definitely a very long roller coaster ride (I may or may not have this urge to get off the ride already in some parts of it).

My thoughts. Kristen Ashley without a doubt truly has a way with words and totally gets playful with it. She knows that she has it and she uses it in full power. Even if the situations thrown upon the characters were scary and could certainly give readers shivers and goosebumps, she uses words to diffuse those feelings and manages to crack smiles on readers’ faces. I totally enjoyed that she could do that, even highlighted/bookmarked a number of scenes where it made me cackle BUT then I find the whole book quite wordy. I don't know about you but I get the "wordy feel" when the character's thoughts gets jumbled and tangled. Then it ends up or comes out in a variety of phrasings.

Towards the end part of the book, it feels like it’s quite dragging already. One hurdle after another and another, gets old already by the time it hits the last page of the book. The author could've lessened the number of curveball these characters experienced in the story and should've given more focus unto my next thought which is ...

I could’ve like this a whole lot better and even given it 5 stars if they got together months/weeks after they have rekindled their friendship and all. Some of you may be disagreeing with my sentiment and may even be saying that they’ve waited years already for a THEM to happen. Yes, they may have the hots and fell in love with each other years before the present time but for a decade they haven’t been interacting well with each other… I can say that ten years is a long time and some things about them are bound to change in the years in between. I think, TIME is needed in that kind of situation.

Though, I found it very heart-warming that they ended up with each other. Thinking of Iittle Indy having a crush on the young boy Lee and looking at them now in this book ... feels like a fairytale.

All in all, I still enjoyed reading this book. If you want to laugh while reading tense action packed scenes, then this book's the one for you.

Bye x

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BOOK REVIEW: EPIC FAIL by Claire LaZebnik

Summary of Epic Fail

At Coral Tree Prep in Los Angeles, who your parents are can make or break you. Case in point: 

- As the son of Hollywood royalty, Derek Edwards is pretty much prince of the school--not that he deigns to acknowledge many of his loyal subjects. 

- As the daughter of the new principal, Elise Benton isn't exactly on everyone's must-sit-next-to-at-lunch list. 

When Elise's beautiful sister catches the eye of the prince's best friend, Elise gets to spend a lot of time with Derek, making her the envy of every girl on campus. Except she refuses to fall for any of his rare smiles and instead warms up to his enemy, the surprisingly charming social outcast Webster Grant. But in this hilarious tale of fitting in and flirting, not all snubs are undeserved, not all celebrity brats are bratty, and pride and prejudice can get in the way of true love for only so long.

Ramblings. As I've mentioned in my review for The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden, I planned to read all three books from The Coincidence Series by Jessica Sorensen in the next few days (yes, including the 3rd one because I managed to snag a copy of it from Netgalley). BUT then The Redemption of Callie & Kayden, the second book, keeps on getting me frustrated and all which leads to me always putting the book down. Not to mention that my mood ends up quite off after reading just a few pages from it. 

With that dilemma, I was trying to look for something light and cutesy read on my list. Then I got caught up in Facebook commenting back and forth with a friend of mine. It ended up with her recommending to look up books written by Claire LaZebnik, with that I logged back in on Goodreads and randomly chose this one. 

Immediate reaction upon reading the book. I WANT MORE!!! When everything's going fine, cuddle-y, fluffy and all, you cut the story out ... I would just want more cute scenes with Derek and Elise. 

My thoughts. Epic Fail is a short, light, cute and sweet read. It truly took my mind/mood away from the impending reading slump if ever I would've carry on reading yeah you know what book already. This is one of the books that you could totally finish reading in one sitting, not only it is a short read but you can easily slip into the story and to the characters. 


Yes, there's drama in here but it's the normal kind of drama teenagers face when they are at that certain point of their lives. So it comes off as a very bearable and understandable drama. I could totally deal with this one. And besides, this book is also a modern/high school setting take of Pride and Prejudice which LaZebnik handled really well. 

Let's talk about the characters and relationships in this book. I'm going to start with their parents, WHOA. They're totally a  brainy pair (both of them are teachers), live by certain principles and implements crazy stuff in their family household rules. But, of course I know that they mean well with it. (Though, Mama and Papa Benton could use some loosening up with their house policies.) Actually, I really appreciate how they're dealing with everything because most books that I've read in the past have or portrayed their matriarchs and patriarchs as people who always neglects their kids and never showed an announce of care to their offspring. In which it always makes me question if is it really a rampant situation in reality or people are just using those situations to add dramatic effects to the stories they're writing... 

The Benton Sisters. First of all, I'm totes irritated with Layla. All she ever did was to lie, complain, make excuses and pity herself in the book. I know she feels left out but she could've approached her sisters about it in a nice manner. And she doesn't have that. Psh. Annoying brat. 

However, I adore Elise and Jules relationship. I would really want to have that kind of relationship with an older sister, sadly I don't have one. 'Cause I only got a very playful relationship with my 10 year old brother. Anyways, I love how both of them get to be protective and caring about each other. 

Chase and Jules' relationship. TOTALLY CUTEEEEEE!!! They seem to be very sync with what they like and were like the female and male versions of themselves. 

LASTLY, DEREK AND ELISE! I know they've got into misunderstandings and prejudice set up but I uber love that they eventually had the courage to talk and work everything out. In one part, I commend their pairing when they set aside their differences and personal issues just to help Chase and Jules. Their conversations (which sometimes turns into a cute banter) were also very entertaining and shows how both of them are witty. The last bits of the book wherein Derek and Elise gonna couple-y already was sooooo cute and adorbs. And oh, the PIZZA and the KISS SDBSNFNNDJ! That's it, I'm done with this one. I absolutely recommend this book if you're up for some short read and would just want something to pass the time. I'm sure you'll end up having a good mood upon reading this. 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
This review is also posted on my Goodreads account.
Bye x

BOOK REVIEW: THE COINCIDENCE OF CALLIE & KAYDEN (The Coincidence #1) by Jessica Sorensen

Summary of The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden: 

Callie has grown up keeping her feelings locked away from the outside world, and as her painful past threatens to consume her life, most days it's a struggle just to breathe. 

For as long as Kayden can remember, suffering in silence has been the only way to survive, until one night when Callie and Kayden's worlds collide. 

After that moment, Kayden can't stop thinking about Callie and when they end up at the same college, he does everything in his power to convince her that it isn't coincidence - it's fate.

Ramblings. I've marked this book for quite some time already and I just haven't found the perfect time to read it due to me having a veryyyyyyyyyyy long to read list. Common problem among bookworms/booknerds. Sigh. 

Anyways, a couple of weeks ago I logged in onto my Netgalley account and noticed some approved requests. One of those was the third book of this series (YES woot woot!!)! Seriously, I just tried my luck in requesting a copy of it. Weyhey because for the the most part last month, my requests have been turned down lol! Maybe because I was just starting to review books and all in my blog. So it really came as a shock when my request for The Destiny of Violet & Luke got approved. 

But before I can read about Violet and Luke's story, I need to go through these first two books of the series. So yeah, this is a really fitting time to read, devour and marathon this series! I've saw posts and heard so many things about this book from my friends and was really excited to get started with it.

Immediate thought after reading this book. I NEED THE SECOND BOOK RIGHT NOW!!!! YES, RIGHT NOW! AT 2 FREAKIN' AM!!! The ending of this book was a HUGE CLIFFHANGER! So, I suggest to those people who haven't read this book yet ... PURCHASE BOTH BOOKS ALREADY BEFORE GETTING STARTED WITH THIS SERIES!

Story proper. The book obviously focuses on these two main characters - Callie Lawrence and Kayden Owens. Callie and Kayden's families have known each other for most of their lives, even inviting each other's family over Thanksgiving dinner or other social events. But Callie and Kayden revolves around two complete opposite poles. Kayden is the quarterback in their school's football team while Callie is dubbed as the girl who's Anorexic, Satan worshiper, blah blah and blah. Typical high school setting - one character being the star of everything while the other suffers from the hands of these vicious teenagers who thinks that they're the kings and queens of the world. 

But one COINCIDENCE brought Callie and Kayden together... 

And now that they are in college, they never would've thought that that night will pave way to bring them closer and will led them to be each other's anchor in being able to face their nightmares, fears and unimaginable sufferings from the past. Together they slowly (yes, slowly) face their haunting experiences. Together they help each other to recover/heal from everything that they've been through. Everything is a process and we witness how their story turned about in this book

My thoughts. I love the fact that the book was told from both of their POVs because it gave me the sense of having the complete experience in knowing their thoughts. It also gave me the satisfaction of feeling their immediate reactions/emotions in the different situations both of their characters go through during the entire course of the book. Everything just seems to feel raw when authors do that dual POV thing and let the readers have their way with the emotions of the characters. 

Callie's situation was really predictable. Right off the bat, when I noticed that she was sooo closed off to everyone I sensed that something was really wrong with her. My first instinct immediately went to "someone did something to her", I don't know why but I think it's the most common reaction of NA girl characters given that situation. What's the recipe? Eh, Them going through drastic changes in their lives (physical appearance included) and trying their hardest to be invisible. As the story progresses, it really becomes clear and proved that my hunch was correct. So yeah quite predictable there. I still continue on reading this book because I tried to wait for a big moment for her character ... but then I didn't get that. Yes, Kayden knew about what she experienced but the scene just didn't come out as powerful as I expected. She blurted it out and Kayden consoled her. Done deal. It lacks some punches in the emotion department. 

If you thought that Callie is the only one here who has some heavy issues, then you're wrong. Kayden is carrying his own baggage too, which makes the story heavier (lol) - which makes the story even more. Both our main characters are tied down to their past and can't seem to escape it. With this book's ending, I think the direction of the story for the second book will follow through with Kayden's issue. And I just hope that it will also give me something that can resolve Callie's issue. 

Back to Kayden though, I really can't fathom that all those years he just allowed that to happen to him. Who cares if your father or mother is a high profile person in your town, when all they've known in their lives is not to care for you and just hurt you in every aspect of your being? I know it started out when Kayden was really young and pretty much clueless on how to handle it, but he could've done something to stop it when he was of age already. Being numb from the pain and used to it is quite a poor excuse for me. I don't know, man. 

Anyways, I quite like the progress of their relationship ... slooooow. Given their situations, I think that department was really handled well by the author. I really like those parts when they started to open up to each other. That's a way to let their past somewhat go and trust new people to enter their lives. I like that they were really there for each other, on how caring and sync they turned out to be. Thinking that from the beginning of the story they were the total opposite, but it turned out that inside themselves they have something in common, shared sentiments and powerful linkages that only both of them can understand. No matter how messed up they are and quite unsure of themselves, I was glad that they got together. They deserve to be happy, so let them be. 

"In the existence of our lives, there is a single coincidence that brings us together and for a moment, our hearts beat as one." - Callie Lawrence

Rating: 3 of 5 stars
This review is also posted on my Goodreads account.




About the Author: JESSICA SORENSEN

The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Jessica Sorensen, lives in the snowy mountains of Wyoming. When she's not writing, she spends her time reading and hanging out with her family.

Connect with her through: 
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[Vampire Academy] NEW Promotional & Character Posters/Photos!

Wow. It really is Christmas time, VA crew showered fans with loads of 'Vampire Academy' movie related stuff today!! Woot woot! And the pictures were A+++! Check all the photos here: 

'Vampire Academy' Main Cast 

 

Dominic Sherwood as CHRISTIAN OZERA

 

Lucy Fry as LISSA DRAGOMIR

 

 

 

[Vampire Academy] NEW PHOTOS + INTERVIEW OF ZOEY DEUTCH for Afterglow Magazine!

Q: What was you inspiration to start your acting career?
A: I'm just really emotional. Pretty sure acting is the only career that facilitates that sort of emotional instability. 

Q: What can you tell us about your upcoming role as Rose Hathaway in the Vampire Academy movie? 
A: The coolest thing about Rose is that she's a total badass heroine, but shes still just a teenager who makes a lot of mistakes. Mostly shes hilarous. Just really cunning and funny. 

Q: What was the experience like filming vampire academy? 
A: Sweaty, Long hours, lots of weird British chocolates. relentlessly teasing one another. Very fun. 

Q: What has been one of you biggest strugles to overcome in the industry? 
A: Its an extremely inconsistent and bipolar job. So i think one of the hardest struggles to overcome is learning to have faith that things are going to work out the way they are supposed to. 

Read the the entire interview here.

PHOTOS

Source

[Vampire Academy] 23 NEW MOVIE STILLS RELEASED!

With only two months away from it's movie release, Vampire Academy fans are being bombarded with LOADS of movie stills daily, every other day or in a weekly basis. Totally not complaining! I definitely would love to add more and more and more photos to my Vampire Academy Movie Stills collection. And so far, I'm really lovin' what I'm seeing from these stills they've released. I'm just hoping that the movie will deliver and be a good movie adaptation of the VA book. 

Here you go, guys ... 

Christian Ozera and Rose Hathaway probably in the Attic :)

via: DhampireLife

Tagged stills: @vampacademybg

3 Additional Stills: @spainbooks