"Where the Road Takes Me" by Jay McLean

Chloe has one plan for the future, and one plan only: the road. She’s made a promise to herself: don’t let anyone in, and don’t let anyone love her. She’s learned the hard way what happens if she breaks her rules. So she’s focused on being invisible and waiting until she can set out on the road—her dream of freedom, at least for a little while.

Blake Hunter is a basketball star who has it all—everything about him looks perfect to those on the other side of his protective walls. He can’t let anyone see the shattered pieces behind the flawless facade or else all his hopes and dreams will disappear.

One dark night throws Chloe and Blake together, changing everything for Blake. For Chloe, nothing changes: she has the road, and she’s focused on it. But when the so-called perfect boy starts to notice the invisible girl, they discover that sometimes with love, no one knows where the road may lead.

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Where the Road Takes Me by Jay McLean
Completed: 30.03.2015

*I received this book from Amazon Publishing via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Where the road takes me was a much more difficult read for me to actually get into, there were a lot of issues for me, starting with the connection between Chloe and Blake, I really could not relate to the attraction that Blake had for Chloe. There was a lot of indecisiveness on Chloe's half, she kept pushing him away, and to be frank, I don't believe any guy has the patience for the amount of 'running away' that she does.

Chloe as a character did not have that reader-character connection for me, I guess it was mostly due to her general attitude towards life? I'm not too sure. But I did take a liking to Blake further on into the story, he would come up with the most cliche things to say, some were sweet, and some were just a little bit too corny for my liking.

The story in general was alright, and had so much going for it. I'm still at a loss as to why I couldn't get into it, as I normally do with other books. There were a few inconsistencies in the writing, that really threw me off, and the story did not flow nicely throughout the book, and has taken me this long to actually finish reading it.

Overall, I am so disappointed with this book, as I was so excited to read it as the blurb made it sound like such an amazing story. I really hate to give such a negative review, especially to authors like Jay McLean who has written such excellent books, I'm a huge fan of her More Than Series, but this just did not cut it for me.

Three Stars.

"Too Many Reasons" by Kristen Strassel (Spotlight Series Book #2)

"Abby Gauthier is close to getting everything she's worked so hard for. The band she manages, Sinister Riot, has been offered a major record contract. But it comes with a catch: the band must add Eli Jamison, winner of the talent show The Spotlight, to the lineup.

Devon Sinclair is the singer of Sinister Riot, and he's Abby's best friend. She's in love with him, but fears she'll lose him if she makes the first move. Devon knows adding Eli to the band is a mistake, and he's right. Eli's interested in more than just making an album. He wants to take control of the band, and he wants to get to know Abby better. A lot better. When tensions between Devon and Eli threaten to destroy Sinister Riot, Abby must act on her true feelings or lose everything she's ever wanted."

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Too Many Reasons by Kristen Strassel (Spotlight Series Book #2)

Completed: 04.02.2015

* I received this title as an ARC by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Abby is the manager of Sinister Riot, and has always been in love with the lead singer, Devon. When Sinister Riot is forced to add Eli into their band, a move that could make them big, tensions are high. Will Sinister Riot finally make it to where they want to be?

This book is for fans of band-based romance, and love-triangles! The author made the relationship between each individual character very differently. Which I found extremely refreshing, because not everybody got along with everybody - and it wasn't the typical situation where a protagonist comes along, and you feel like he would be the 'annoying one' throughout the entire book. No, it was nothing like that. Everybody had their plus points, as well as their bad sides.

This is the first time I've read any book by Kristen Strassel, and I was pretty impressed, to be honest. The book was really well written, and the characters were realistic. The only reason I won't be giving this book four stars is because I'm not too keen about love-triangles. There were parts of the book where I found myself wanting to smack someone. I won't spoil it for you, but I would definitely recommend this book for anyone looking for band romance, as well as, a little something different!

Three Stars!

PS: Do you have to read the first book in the series in order to enjoy this one? Nope. Not at all, Too Many Reasons is great as a stand alone novel.

"Fae" by C.J. Abedi

"The battle between Light and Dark is about to begin. 

Caroline Ellis sixteenth birthday sets into motion a series of events that have been fated for centuries. A descendant of Virginia Dare, the first child born in the lost colony of Roanoke, and unaware of her birthright as the heir to the throne of the Light Fae, it isn’t until she begins a tumultuous relationship with Devilyn Reilly that the truth is revealed. 

Devilyn is the only one of the Fae who is both of the Light and of the Dark, and struggles to maintain that precarious balance to avoid succumbing to the power of the Dark within him. He is the only one who can save Caroline from those who would destroy her and destroy all hope for unity among the Fae. He promises Caroline that he will protect her at all costs, even when it means protecting her from himself. 

Told from the alternating perspectives of Caroline and Devilyn, FAE draws on mysteries, myths and legends to create a world, and a romance, dangerously poised between Light and Dark."

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Fae by C.J. Abedi

Completed: 04.08.2013

C.J. Abedi have created a world of their own, based in Roanoke the storyline combines folklore with what I like to call "fae-lore".

I do admit that there is a bit of work to be done when it comes to descriptions (or the lack thereof at certain parts of the book) and the overall editing of the book, but nevertheless, this book was an easy read, I loved that each chapter began with quotes and especially how we got to see things from both Devilyn and Caroline's point of view. It really made all the difference!

I commend the effort put into writing a book; especially the first book. So if anyone were to ask me whether I'd read the next book in this series, I'd definitely say yes, because that ending... MAN, THAT ENDING. I need to know what happens!

*I received this book as an eARC from NetGalley*

Three stars! 

"Tempest Revealed" by Tracy Deebs (Tempest #3)

"Half-mermaid Tempest Maguire is trying to have it all: fulfilling her duties as second-in-line to the merQueen Hailana while periodically returning home to the California coastline to be with her family and longtime boyfriend, Mark.

Living under the sea and rebuilding Coral Straits is grueling work, while being back home reminds her of everyone she loves and misses. But when her old flame Kona arrives bearing news that Hailana has died and Tempest is now officially merQueen, she returns permanently to Coral Straits, even though it devastates her family and rips her apart from Mark.

Once there, she discovers that an old enemy has resurfaced, hell-bent on taking over her throne... with or without her. As Tempest prepares for her final showdown against Tiamat and anyone who stands with her, she must decide what - and who - is really important to her. Because there will be few survivors in the ultimate sea battle that is brewing - and Tempest isn't sure she will be one of them."

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Tempest Revealed by Tracy Deebs
Completed: 02.08.2013

After waiting for what felt like eons for this books to come out, I was considerably excited to read this book, seeing as it's the final installment... Let's just say that the excitement started to disappear as I continued reading, and within the first five chapters, I completely lost it.

Starting with the fact that Tempest, who I thought was a strong female character, has turned into the most infuriatingly dependent person. Always expecting someone to fix her mistakes, or deciding to run away instead of facing her problems head-on, not to mention the fact that she's become extremely whiny. I also found that the book had a large amount of loose-ends, so many things left unexplained, or even just certain parts of the book didn't feel... justified.

Then comes the love story. WHAT IN THE GOOD LORD WERE YOU THINKING, TEMPEST? From book one, I had never liked Mark, not that I had anything against him as a character, but I found that he was always so possessive and dominative over Tempest, telling her what to do, where to go, how to deal with things. Gah!

The final book in a series, definitely has to be, for me, one of those books that go out with a BANG! But this one just seemed so, anticlimactic. Now don't get me wrong, there were some parts in this book that had my heart racing, and adrenaline pumping, but I just didn't feel like the author packed enough of a punch into her final book.

Three stars.