Review: The One That I Want

Title: The One That I Want
Author: Jennifer Echols
Release Date for ebook: 6 Dec. 2011
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 288
Rate: Lovable

Synopsis from Amazon

Gemma can’t believe her luck when the star football player starts flirting with her. Max is totally swoon-worthy, and even gets her quirky sense of humor. So when he asks out her so-called best friend Addison, Gemma’s heartbroken.
Then Addison pressures Gemma to join the date with one of Max’s friends. But the more time they all spend together, the harder Gemma falls for Max. She can’t help thinking that Max likes her back—it’s just too bad he’s already dating Addison. How can Gemma get the guy she wants without going after her best friend’s boyfriend?

My Thoughts

The One That I Want is about teenagers dealing with popularity, friendships, dating. Well, about teenagers pretty much sums it up. Gemma is constantly being put down by her best friend, and she has to learn to stand up for what she really wants. Jennifer Echols is one of my four favorite authors, so I was ecstatic to get my hands on this ebook. It was definitely not my favorite of her books, but it was still an entertaining and cute read.

So, I watch a lot of Japanese live action drama shows, I know people from Japan, and I am very familiar with Japan; I just need to go there. Max being Japanese definitely made him more awesome in my eyes. Him and Gemma were cool people. Nice main characters to follow. They had problems and were growing. They are characters you would want to be friends with.

When reading this book, I was frustrated with Addison. She was annoying, she was using Gemma, and she was mean to her! I couldn't believe Gemma had stuck with her for so many years.

There was little conflict. Rather, there was conflict, but it was so obviously solvable or easy to see how completely right Gemma was and how wrong the other person was. It was still a cute and enjoyable story. I was actually pleased to see the way it ended, but it wasn't much of a nail-biter.

Review: Tempest

Title: Tempest

Author: Julie Cross

Release Date: 17 Jan. 2012

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Pages: 352

Rate: The Best to Love

Synopsis from Goodreads

The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

My Thoughts

This book is going to be famous.  It is already being turned into a movie.  Foreign rights have already been sold in 12 countries.  This book is going to be everywhere, and it should be.

When I began reading it I was only partially intrigued, but this book was crazy, epic, awesome, spell-bindingly amazing.  Seriously, I was unable to put it down until I finished it.  The intensity of the time traveling was fantastic.  There is mystery, action, romance all crammed into this one great book.

Jackson can't trust anyone in this book.  Everyone is fighting for themselves.  I felt bad for him because he was so alone.  Holly didn't even know he could time travel.  I kept wishing she did know so he could have someone other than Adam to talk to. 

I was more interested in finding out about his dead twin Courtney than I was hearing about Holly.  His story with Holly is good and dandy, but the mysteries with Courtney are even better.  Everything concerning Jackson and Courtney was touching.

Julie Cross wrote a fantastic page-turner.  You must get this book when it comes out! I'm also stoked for the movie.  I'll be looking into it a lot.

Review: Hushed

Title: Hushed

Author: Kelleye York

Release Date: 6 Dec. 2011

Publisher: Entangled Publishing

Pages: 242

Rate: Lovable

Synopsis from Amazon

Eighteen-year-old Archer couldn't protect his best friend, Vivian, from what happened when they were kids, so he's never stopped trying to protect her from everything else. It doesn't matter that Vivian only uses him when hopping from one toxic relationship to another. Archer is always there, waiting to be noticed.

Then along comes Evan, the only person who's ever cared about Archer without a single string attached. The harder he falls for Evan, the more Archer sees Vivian for the manipulative hot-mess she really is.

But Viv has her hooks in deep, and when she finds out about the murders Archer's committed and his relationship with Evan, she threatens to turn him in if she doesn't get what she wants...

And what she wants is Evan's death, and for Archer to forfeit his last chance at redemption.

 

My Thoughts

 

This book is dark, and horribale, and completely wonderful.  The characters are messed up and amazing.  My entire focus is on the characters. 

 

Archer has weird rules for himself.  He wants to help, but his idea of helping is twisted and wrong.  Yet, you cannot help but love him and root for him.  You want him to do the right thing and to end up with the right person.  It's hard to see archer as a killer when you are so attached to him.  I wanted him to be happy.

 

Vivian makes me cringe.  From the start of the book I couldn't stand her.  I wanted her to see everything she could do differently.  I wanted her to see that she could be a better person.  I wanted her to appreciate Archer fully, or let him go. 

 

This book brings out strong feelings.  You know that feeling of utter love for a character?  You know when a character makes you so happy that it makes you giggle?  Archer and Evan gave me that feeling.  Evan, oh, sweet Evan...  The adorable swimmer who is so kind and cute. 

 

Kelley did a fantastic job with this book.  There were tricky and horrific subjects with lovable characters.  I don't really want to tell you many details about this book because I want you to read it.  I'm not going to spoil it for you, so just read the book!