Under the Trees by Ashley Maker | Cute characters who ignore politics

Under the Trees

By Ashley Maker
Published March 21, 2016
232 pages
Young Adult, Romance



This book was provided to me from YA Bound Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. I swear on my bookshelf that this has not affected my opinion of the book.

Desperate to prevent an abusive arranged marriage, Princess Araya flees to a neighboring kingdom, only to land at the mercy of the impulsive Crown Prince Thoredmund, who provides refuge in a secluded forest and teaches her survival skills. Her surprise at the unexpected hold the prince has on her heart mirrors his shock at falling for the one girl he can’t have. 

As the young couple’s feelings for each other grow, the fragile alliance between the two kingdoms threatens to break apart. With a vengeful duke and an enraged king fast on their trail, Thor and Araya must decide how much they’re willing to risk for love. 

Even if staying together means starting a war.

Top Ten Tuesday | It's Not You, It's Me

This is a weekly list meme hosted by the wonderful bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish. 

Even though I have no experience breaking up with people, I am going to have to break up with a couple of books today. Sometimes, books are perfect for a certain point in your life, but then you move on and realize that they were never really that good for you in the first place. Today, I am listing some of the books that I originally really enjoyed, but now have to say goodbye to.

The Midnight Sea by Kat Ross | Fantasy Persians are awesome

The Midnight Sea 

By Kat Ross 
Fourth Element #1 
Published on May 10th 2016

326 Pages
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

This book was provided to me from Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. I swear on my bookshelf that this has not affected my opinion of the book.

They are the light against the darkness.The steel against the necromancy of the Druj.And they use demons to hunt demons….
Nazafareen lives for revenge. A girl of the isolated Four-Legs Clan, all she knows about the King’s elite Water Dogs is that they bind wicked creatures called daevas to protect the empire from the Undead. But when scouts arrive to recruit young people with the gift, she leaps at the chance to join their ranks. To hunt the monsters that killed her sister. Scarred by grief, she’s willing to pay any price, even if it requires linking with a daeva named Darius. Human in body, he’s possessed of a terrifying power, one that Nazafareen controls. But the golden cuffs that join them have an unwanted side effect. Each experiences the other’s emotions, and human and daeva start to grow dangerously close. As they pursue a deadly foe across the arid waste of the Great Salt Plain to the glittering capital of Persepolae, unearthing the secrets of Darius’s past along the way, Nazafareen is forced to question his slavery—and her own loyalty to the empire. But with an ancient evil stirring in the north, and a young conqueror sweeping in from the west, the fate of an entire civilization may be at stake…

Amazon 

The Problem with Forever by Jennifer L. Armentrout | Release Blitz

The Problem with Forever

By Jennifer L. Arementrout

Released on May 17, 2016

480 pages

Published by Harlequin Teen

Young Adult, Contemporary

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout comes a riveting new story about friendship, survival, and finding your voice.

For some people, silence is a weapon.
For Mallory “Mouse” Dodge, it’s a shield.
Growing up, she learned that the best way to survive was to say nothing. And even though it’s been four years since her nightmare ended, she’s beginning to worry that the fear that holds her back will last a lifetime.
Now, after years of homeschooling with loving adoptive parents, Mallory must face a new milestone—spending her senior year at public high school. But of all the terrifying and exhilarating scenarios she’s imagined, there’s one she never dreamed of—that she’d run into Rider Stark, the friend and protector she hasn’t seen since childhood, on her very first day.It doesn’t take long for Mallory to realize that the connection she shared with Rider never really faded. Yet the deeper their bond grows, the more it becomes apparent that she’s not the only one grappling with lingering scars from the past. And as she watches Rider’s life spiral out of control, Mallory must make a choice between staying silent and speaking out—for the people she loves, the life she wants, and the truths that need to be heard.

Grab your copy of THE PROBLEM WITH FOREVER:

Amazon * Barnes and Noble * iBooks * Kobo * Indiebound  

Top Ten Tuesday | Books that Fate Wanted Me to Read

This is a weekly list meme hosted by the wonderful bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish. 

This week's topic was surprisingly difficult. The impossible task was to find books that I picked up on a whim, without knowing anything about it before. Ever since I have started blogging, I have read hundreds of book reviews, so it has become a habit to read book reviews before I pick up a book. Now, I hear about books months before they are even released. I had to do a lot of digging in my Goodreads shelves to find these books. 

But there were some instances where I read a book without any previous knowledge, as if fate wanted me to read it. 

Manic Pixie Dream Girls Give Me Nightmares | Thanks for the Trouble by Tommy Wallach

Thanks for the Trouble

By Tommy Wallach
Published February 23, 2016
368 pages
Simon & Schuster

“I’ve got some questions for you. Was this story written about me?”
I shrugged.
“Yes or no?”
I shrugged again, finally earning a little scowl, which somehow made the girl even more pretty. It brought a bloom to her pale cheeks and made sharp shelves of her cheekbones.
“It’s very rude not to answer simple questions,” she said.
I gestured for my journal, but she still wouldn’t give it to me. So I took out my pen and wrote I can’t on my palm.
Then, in tiny letters below it, I finished the thought: Now don’t you feel like a jerk?
Parker Santé hasn’t spoken a word in five years. While his classmates plan for bright futures, he skips school to hang out in hotels, killing time by watching the guests. But when he meets a silver-haired girl named Zelda Toth, a girl who claims to be quite a bit older than she looks, he’ll discover there just might be a few things left worth living for.

Sunday Street Team + Interview | Summer of Sloane by Erin L. Schneider

The Sunday Street Team is a group of bloggers led by the marvelous Nori @ ReadWriteLove28 who aim to bring well-deserved attention to new and upcoming books and their authors. 

It seems like spring is (slowly) transitioning into summer and I cannot be more excited! I am so tired of cold, rainy days that spring brings. Fortunately, this month's SST is a wonderful summer-themed novel that will chase the last of the spring blues away. I am spotlighting Erin L. Schneider and her debut novel, Summer of Sloane.

Summer of Sloane
By Erin L. Schneider
Published on May 3, 2016
304 pages
Disney-Hyperion

Warm Hawaiian sun. Lazy beach days. Flirty texts with her boyfriend back in Seattle.
These are the things seventeen-year-old Sloane McIntyre pictured when she imagined the summer she’d be spending at her mom’s home in Hawaii with her twin brother, Penn. Instead, after learning an unthinkable secret about her boyfriend, Tyler, and best friend, Mick, all she has is a fractured hand and a completely shattered heart.
Once she arrives in Honolulu, though, Sloane hopes that Hawaii might just be the escape she needs. With beach bonfires, old friends, exotic food, and the wonders of a waterproof cast, there’s no reason Sloane shouldn’t enjoy her summer. And when she meets Finn McAllister, the handsome son of a hotel magnate who doesn’t always play by the rules, she knows he’s the perfect distraction from everything that’s so wrong back home.
But it turns out a measly ocean isn’t nearly enough to stop all the emails, texts, and voicemails from her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend, desperate to explain away their betrayal. And as her casual connection with Finn grows deeper, Sloane’s carefree summer might not be as easy to find as she’d hoped. Weighing years of history with Mick and Tyler against their deception, and the delicate possibility of new love, Sloane must decide when to forgive, and when to live for herself.