Book Review: Patch Up by Stephanie Witter

Author: Stephanie Witter
Release Date: September 11th 2013
Publisher: Anchor Group Publishing
Series: Patch Up #1
Pages: 296
Rating: 4 stars
Buy on: Amazon
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* Due to some shocking scenes, this novel is for readers of 18 and up.

Skye followed her long time boyfriend to Seattle for their first year of college, but he dumped her after only a week. The relationship brought only pain and destruction in Skye's life, and yet, she can't bring herself to open up and live her life.

"What if I am already broken into pieces?"

She hates to be touched, hiding under her oversized shirts and behind her wild frizzy hair. Even her bubbly roommate can't reach her. And yet ...

"I'm the guy who knows how you can hurt so much that your insides feel like they're cut and bleeding."

The tall, handsome, and tattooed TA in her psychology class changes everything when he literally collides with her and confronts her. For the first time in a long time, she wants to try and open up to this guy whose dark, intense eyes can't hide his own pain despite his dazzling smile getting to her.

However, just when she's starting to live again, her ex-boyfriend comes back, breaking her time and time again, making it all the more complicated.

She wants to fight for herself and for this building thing with the TA, even when he pushes her away, but can two broken people patch each other up?

"I never thought colliding with someone could change lives, but it is possible."
 

My Thoughts:
 

This ARC was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Although the story started immediately, really I am not kiding, its one of those books that cut to the chase and I just loved it, but the sentences were too short, the emotions too shallow and even from the first few pages I found myself contemplating my next read BUT I was so wrong. I am so glad I gave it a chance because by chapter three the book transformed like a phoenix to something so deep, complicated and painful that I couldn;t believe what I was reading.

Stephanie Witter is my new favorite author. In the steps of Jessica Sorensen she delivers a book so emotional and deep, so real that I found myself tearing up in some scenes. Skye was such a complicated woman. Dealing with her depression and an abusive relationship under her belt that made her doubt herself and stomp on her self appreciation, hiding from everyone and from everything she comes face to face with her TA, Duke.

Duke is one of the most heart broken characters I have ever read, dealing with his own depression and loss, he founds refuge in the complicated life of Skye. Their friendship is just mesmerizing. Two broken people find solace on each other by helping each other face his/her fears and demons. By accepting who they are, how things were and how they can have a bright future ahead of them . The past is the past.

“I’m the guy who knows how you can hurt so much that your insides feel like they’re cut and bleeding.”

I liked the fact that we get all of their background information as the story progresses, as they get to know each other more and more.

There were times that I wanted to throw my kindle on the wall because Skye was being really annoying and she was full with contradictions. She wanted something and then she changed her mind again in order to change her mind again later. That was crazy. Some situations kept repeating until it became predictable and annoying and felt like the book went in a circle for a while.

Still, the feels were just over the top. I just couldnt believe it, and the worst part was that they came in powerful waves that you could nothing to stop them but just drown in them. Desperations, pain, humiliation, sadness, embarrassment and happiness, from love and affection we fly over to the land of guilt and remorse. It was just astounding.

The writing captivated me completely and I finished this book within a few hours and right now I just cant find the second part to be released.

This is a story that deals with tough situations,abuse depression, the power of finding yourself again and take control of who you are and facing your fears. There were a few disturbing scenes that made the book even better – from an emotional point of few always- and had me aching for both Skye and Duke.

I totally recommend this book.

Efterpi

Book Review: Dirty Rocker Boys: Love and Lust on The Sunset Strip by Bobbie Brown (with Caroline Ryder)

Author: Bobbie Brown with Caroline Ryder
Release Date: November 26th 2013
Publisher: Gallery Bookes
Pages: 272 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Buy on: Amazon
Add on Goodreads

SHE'S MY CHERRY PIE. Tastes so good, make a grown man cry.

Who could forget the sexy 'Cherry Pie' girl from hair metal band Warrant's infamous music video? Bobbie Brown became a bona fide vixen for her playful role as the object of lead singer Jani Lane's desires. With her windblown peroxide mane, seductive scarlet lips, and flirtatious curves, she epitomized every man's fantasy. But the wide-eyed Louisiana beauty queen's own dreams of making it big in Los Angeles were about to be derailed by her rock-and-roll lifestyle. . . .

Ever wonder what it 's like to f*** a rock star?

After her tumultuous marriage to Jani imploded, and her engagement to fast-living Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee ended in a drug haze-followed by his marriage days later to Pamela Anderson-Bobbie decided it was time Hollywood's hottest bachelors got a taste of their own medicine. Step one: get high. Step two: get even.

In a captivating, completely uncensored confessional, Bobbie explicitly recounts her encounters with some of the most famous men in Hollywood: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kevin Costner, Mark McGrath, Dave Navarro, Sebastian Bach, Ashley Hamilton, Rob Pilatus of Milli Vanilli, Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, Orgy's Jay Gordon, and many more. Who's got the most titanic dick in Tinseltown? Whose bedroom did Bobbie (literally) set on fire? No man was off limits as the fun-loving bombshell spiraled into excess, anger, and addiction.

Bobbie survived the party-barely-and her riveting, cautionary comeback tale is filled with the wildest stories of sex, drugs, and rock and roll ever told.

My Thoughts:

This book contains strong language, descriptive sex, drugs, booze and disturbing scenes.

It was one of those boring evenings that I had nothing to do but youtubing random things...from how to's tutorials to music to top 10 things etc etc and then I found myself watching the first season of Ex Wives of Rock. Two of those ladies seemed familiar to me. One of them was Athena Lee which I had seen live with her then husband James Kottak of Scorpions at a Scorpions concert in Greece in 2008. Yay. The other one was Bobbie Brown and I remembered instantly from the video clip of Warrant, Cherry Pie.

To be honest I;m not into reality shows, I think they are stupid and pretentious and that there is no reason for someone to go on live TV with their personal lives especially if they are famous (they are all over the tabloids anyway). That , I realized when I was in the 7th episode of the show. Yay. And here;s how I ended up reading this book.

Bobbie went on and on about her book and how it failed with one of the publishers etc etc. During the show she says how Pamela Anderson stole Tommy Lee from her and how she was married with the late Jani Lane, lead singer of Warrant. I was intrigued ,because, if I like one thing its autobiographies.

The book was a drama, coming from a broken family, Bobbie was one thing but rebel. She was shy and she had boyfriends but not as many as we would probably think. She came second at the beauty pageant
competition and from then her fame skyrocketed. Agents called her from Los Angeles to model for them and soon 20 year old Bobbie found herself in the City Of Angels, a shy Louisiana girl turned into the most sexy and confident woman and then her downfall began.

It seemed to me that Bobbie had so many opportunities to make big in the scene but her desperation for love and acceptance came first. From what I realized she didnt want to be alone almost never, she always had a boyfriend and if she didnt, she would have sex with someone. She did a couple of video clips for some bands and when she landed the deal with Warrant she became so famous but that only came back to bite her in the ass. She got pregnant from Jani Lane and they rushed into a marriage that none of them was really sure if it would work (and it didnt). That experience alone it would mess up any sane person out there. Jani was over the top, came home drunk, cheated, lied, didnt have sex with her (which she hated) and she became such a b*** that it was disturbing. In the end their marriage failed and Bobbie with a 2 year old kid was moving back and forth all the tme between Louisiana and Cali. But while I was reading all of this and It was a big portion of the book I felt nothing. It was written in non descriptive way, with sentenced composed by a five year.

Meet Tommy Lee. I wont say a lot about this but in my opinion this was the most explosive relationship ever. Both made huge mistakes and both had issues and drugs didnt help at all.
It was like every rock relationship should be like. Sex, drugs and rock n roll with a touch of continuous fighting.

Bobbie Brown was a really kind, sensitive and a good woman that went after the wrong men. Men that she hoped they would provide what she needed but eventually they didnt.

The writing was ok if you consider she used a ghost writer but the dialogues didnt seem real, like they never happened or they were changed. The emotions were kind of flat for a memoir and in the end it left a bitter taste because you realise that Bobbie wasted 15 years of her life, her best years like someone would say, on finding the perfect boyfriend, drugs and constant self sabotaging. She would have made it big if she was a little more down to earth. I just felt sorry for her.

Efterpi

Mini Reviews Monday

On Dublin Street by Samantha Young

5 stars

Goodreads

This book had me captivated since page one. It was really easy to get into and the sarcastic, beautiful and smart characters had me immediately. The story developed slowly in order to get to know all the main characters and when it finally came into momentum I was swooning like crazy.

It is a sad, heart breaking story about two people, each with their own issues , which were down to earth, and overcoming their fears each in their own way. The story deals with real life situations and problems and that made it even more believable. An amazing read.

Memoirs of A Geisha by Arthur Golden

4 stars

Goodreads

 

I watched the movie years before I picked this one up and I regret the fact that I didnt do it earlier. The story was so much better and different than the movie itself and a lot more sad. Although, the book seemed to me like a real memoir it is a work of fiction that it is so well written. Astoundingly captivating. I liked the fact that the author although, he was saying a story the premise was based (and was subtly visible throughout the book) on how women got used for entertainment for men , worked their entire lives for their mistresses ,with no life of their own and how far can someone go for a revenge. The characters were so alive and perfect, each with it own bad habits and faults but with perfections as well. This is a great book that everyone should read.

Rush by Maya Banks

1 star

Goodreads

I dont have almost anything to say about this book because it was a DNF/Dropped. If you read 50 shades of Grey then you have read this book as well. Dont even bother. It is a fanfiction of the actual 50 Shades and to be honest I couldn;t read any more than page 47.

Efterpi

Review: Archer's Voice by Mia Sheridan

 Author: Mia Sheridan

Release Date: 28.01.2014

Publisher: Create Space Independent Publishing

Series: A Sign Of Love

Pages: 345
Rating: 5 stars

Buy on: Amazon

Add to Goodreads

When Bree Prescott arrives in the sleepy, lakeside town of Pelion, Maine, she hopes against hope that this is the place where she will finally find the peace she so desperately seeks. On her first day there, her life collides with Archer Hale, an isolated man who holds a secret agony of his own. A man no one else sees.

Archer's Voice is the story of a woman chained to the memory of one horrifying night and the man whose love is the key to her freedom. It is the story of a silent man who lives with an excruciating wound and the woman who helps him find his voice. It is the story of suffering, fate, and the transformative power of love.

 

 My Thoughts

This is one of the most heart breaking, heart shattering book I have ever read. Ever. Period. I found this book by pure luck and I am so glad I did.

The feeling that I experienced while reading Archer's Voice changed my point of view towards the world and towards giving people a second chance when they need it the most. I learned that no one is truly lost until everyone tried to bring him back where he belongs...with the rest of us.

From the very first pages I started to care for Bree and Archer. I was captivated by the beauty of the author's writing, the beautiful descriptions of the town of Pelion and how alive it felt to me. Bree was one of the mist beautiful characters crafted out there and Archer too.

We get the story mostly from Bree's point of view but we get a few flashbacks from Archer's memories when he was a child. The feelings...oh my god the feelings are just indescribable , so heartbreaking and sad and gloomy and then you move to happier scenes, scenes that make you swoon and think that your heart is going to explode from anticipation. It was a crazy emotional roller coaster at Six Flags.

The story builts in a good pace, not too fast not too slow, but in a perfect rhythm that had the characters spent quality time together in order to meet each other and fall in love slowly. The conversations between them and their thoughts seemed real, they were down to earth, Bree and Archer dealt with actual problems that any couple like them would face and that made the book amazingly real. I felt like I had all the time in the world to read this book, I didnt feel rushed or had this fear that the book would end soon and I would be left hanging.

The dose of romance in it had me swooning. I think thats how romance should be, thats how it is. It felt original, especially after all those books that I read and every single one seems like a fanfiction of the other. The scenes were beautifully crafted and blended with each other, even went it went from good to bad from soft to rocky everything blended the right way. I felt like I was in love.

Archers Voice is a book about overcoming your fears,discovering who you are, coming to terms with it and taking responsibility and your life in your own hands. Its all about courage. I loved, loved, loved this book.

Note: Although this book is part of the series Sign Of Love it can also be read as a stand alone.

Efterpi

Quintessentially Q by Pepper WInters (book review by Efterpi)

Author: Pepper Winters

Publisher: CreateSpace

Release Date: December 13th 2013

Series: Monsters In The Dark #2

Pages: 376

Rating: 5 stars

Buy on: Amazon

Add on Goodreads  

All my life, I battled with the knowledge I was twisted… fucked up to want something so deliciously dark—wrong on so many levels. But then slave fifty-eight entered my world. Hissing, fighting, with a core of iron, she showed me an existence where two wrongs make a right."

Tess is Q’s completely. Q is Tess’s irrevocably. But now, they must learn the boundaries of their unconventional relationship, while Tess seeks vengeance on the men who sold her. Q made a blood-oath to deliver their corpses at Tess’s feet, and that’s just what he’ll do.

He may be a monster, but he’s Tess’s monster.

 REVIEW:

For those of you that considered Tears Of Tess a dark and twisted book then you should not read this one. This is a much darker, twisted, painful book that you can possibly imagine. I had to stop reading at some parts just to get myself together from the shock, to register the fact that I was actually reading that particular scene or paragraph.

The book continues where Tears of Tess left off, we read one of the hottest sex scenes and I felt like everything would be okay in this book. Everything would turn out alright and Tess with Q would be able to do what they swore to each other.

The writing was great, the author did a great job with the point of view of Q and to be honest with thought and talked the way I had pictured him doing in the first book, so thats a plus for the story, when the author can actually sense what her fans need and deliver it. She also did a really good job with getting my heart ripped out of my chest.

Tess is being kidnapped under Q's nose and I wont spoil anything to you, I will just warn you that what you will be reading is games and fun, love and romance. It's violence to its extreme to the point that I panicked thinking even for a minute what trafficking victims go through. The only thing that I will tell you is that Tess will go through the 9 circles of Hell and back. As for Q, Q broke my heart into a thousand little pieces.

The writing like I said before was so good and this time the author gave Q a rather more animalistic side entwined with love for Tess. It was a scary narration since we see what a human can actually do if he has the means to take back what was taken from him. How can someone lose hope and find it to the weird places, how you shut down emotionally when someone you love is being forced to do the worst of tihngs, things that are no humanly imaginable and how you cope with these thoughts.

This is one great read with more adventure and pain that ever you ,will more than mesmerized by the talent of the author.

Black Box by Cassie Leo (book review by Efterpi)

Author: Cassie Leo
Publisher: Create Space Independent Publishing
Release Date: May 10th 2014
Pages: 394
Rating: 4 stars
Buy on Amazon
Add on Goodreads\

♥️ Three fateful encounters....
♥️ Two heart-breaking tragedies....
♥️ One last chance to get it right.

From New York Times best selling author Cassia Leo, comes an epic love story about rewriting destiny.

Over the course of five years, Mikki and Crush cross paths on three separate occasions. Their first encounter changes Mikki's life forever, but their second meeting leaves them both buried beneath the emotional wreckage of a violent attack. Mikki is left with more questions and grief than she can handle, while Crush is forced to forget the girl who saved his life.

Now nineteen years old, Mikki Gladstone has decided she's tired of the mind-numbing meds. She books a flight to Los Angeles to end her life far away from her loving, though often distant, family.

When Mikki and Crush cross paths for the third time in Terminal B, neither has any idea who the other person is; until they slowly piece together their history and realize that fate has more in store for them than just another love story.

Review

Black box its not your typical love story – in fact its so much different and fresh that any love story out there. Written in a masterful way the author promises heartbreak, gloom and sadness and rejoice in a whole other level.

It all starts with Mikki a girl suffering from bipolar and a past full with unhealed wounds that hunt her everywhere. She feels her past everyday, she sees them, breathes them, she changed completely because of them but she never got over them. That memory never erased no matter how many meeting she had with her phycholgist no matter how many times she tried to kill herself. They are there but under the shadow of her scary past lies a mystery, her savior.

Meet Crush a sexy, sad and rich man who tries to hide from his friend death that happened four years ago,a guy who carries a burden and the worst of guilts on his shoulders a guy who tried to find the only person that made him feel and saved him without her knowledge, a girl that he will never forget no matter what...until he finds her in the most weird place – an airport.

It all started there at the airport a journey of two people that were ''strangers'' until they realised that they know each other and they had met under the most gory and sad circumstances. Their separate tragedies entwine to reveal the utmost purpose of fate. While the days the have together they explore themselves and their limits they also become close. Mikki never had so many first in her entire life but within a few days she managed to find herself and love herself for who she is and for what she wants to be. She embraced life and saw hope in the future for the first time.

The book is written really well but what put me off was the insta love and the too many coincidnces that really made some parts of the book cliché. Other than that the writing was really good, we had a double POV which for me was a huge plus since you get the whole story with no loose ends or gaps.

Its a great read that will make your heart ache from sadness but in the end you will rejoice with utmost excitement.

Tidal by Emily Snow (book review by Efterpi)

Author: Emily Snow
Release Date: December 14th 2012
Publisher: MagnoliaB Publishing LLC
Pages: 313
Rating: 4 stars
Buy on: Amazon
Add to Goodreads

Now that Willow Avery is out of rehab, she's got one chance left to prove herself before she’s officially on every producer’s shit list. At least, that's what her parents and agent are claiming. She doesn't really give a damn if she never makes another movie or not—she just wants to get on with her life, get back to her friends, and find her next escape. But Willow is broke. And whether she likes it or not, acting is the only job she knows how to do.

When she accepts the lead in a beach drama, Willow finds herself in Hawaii. And in Hawaii, she finds Cooper, the gorgeous surfer hired to train her for her new role. With the bluest eyes she’s ever seen and the sexiest Australian accent she’s ever heard, Cooper’s different from the men she’s used to. He doesn’t want to use her. And he refuses to let her fail. But when an old friend re-enters Willow’s life—a friend whose toxicity she’s been drawn to time and time before and whose presence brings about the painful memories she's tried so hard to suppress—Willow will have to choose between the girl she was and the person she’s becoming. The lifestyle that helps her forget the pain and the guy she’s falling hard for.

Review:

This little book was just amazing. I had it my nook for god know how long and I just regretted the fact that I didnt read it sooner.

Let me start by saying this: The characters were so well built, so scrutinized tot he last detail, so amazing that It made my heart swell with pain and love and confusion as the book went on.

Meet Willow, a 20 year old actress already on the verge of failure thanks to her shenanigans around the Los Angeles club scene. Being the victim of alcohol and drugs, having two rounds of rehab under her belt she is finally out and already on her last chance to make a good movie before she ends up in porn.

From page one I knew that this would be a tough book, addressing not only celebrity problems, but self confidence and self appreciation, the need to take control of your life and the need to be understood by everyone who think you are someone you are not. Willow is the perfect character, she has sadness in her, she perceives the world differently and she is not acting like high and mighty that most people do in the Hollywood industry- she is just plain and empty on the inside. She is afraid to love and she is afraid to dare, she doesnt care anymore because caring on of the biggest secrets in her life she is exhausted. She just wants to do what she is supposed to and be left alone and then she meets Cooper.

In one word Cooper is brilliant. He is a surfer and has this funny, assholish, bad boy attitude, I want to get in your pants style that makes him one of the best book boyfriends ever. He is broken himself, lost his mother from drugs and was always under the glare of his abusive father, Cooper tries to find his way in the world through surfing – until he meets Willow. Then everything explodes of both of them and its just amazing to watch.

This is not like other books where the girl falls for the guy within chapters, its slow, torturing and beautiful because the narration is just great. The author did a really good job and while we get tortured we get to see the perfect personality of Willow. Get an insight in her world and trust me I felt every single thing,i felt like I could be friends with her.

The author skipped some parts in the book, like the filming of the movie but I dont think that this was important enough, there were the basic scenes and scenes that we should read about but nothing redudant. The book takes place is Honolulu, Hawaii and the description is really good, bringing Hawaii to my feet (almost felt the sand) and being able to draw a picture of the blue sea and the trees etc.

I loved that the ending was not rushed unlike some other, ehm, books and that it close beautifully.

The Heroin Diaries: A Year In The Life of a Shattered Rock Star by Nikki Sixx (book review by Eleni)

Author: Nikki Sixx
Release Date: September 18th 2007
Publisher: VH1 Books
Pages: 413
Rating: 4 stars
Buy on: Amazon , Barnes and Noble

Set against the frenzied world of heavy metal superstardom, the co-founder of legendary Motley Crue offers an unflinching and gripping look at his own descent into drug addiction.
When Motley Crue were at the height of their fame, there wasn't a drug Nikki Sixx wouldn't do. He spent days - sometimes alone, sometimes with others addicts, friends and lovers - in a coke- and heroin-fuelled daze. THE HEROIN DIARIES reveals Nikki's personal diary entries alongside commentary from the people who know Nikki best including band mates Tommy, Vince and Mick. The book is a candid look at a nightmare come true: a punishing heroin addiction that brought Nikki to the edge of losing his talent, his career, his family and finally to a near-fatal overdose which left him clinically dead for a few minutes before being revived. Brutally honest, utterly riveting and shockingly moving, THE HEROIN DIARIES follows Nikki during the year he plunged to rock bottom and his courageous decision to pick himself up and start living again.

Review:

This is one of the best autobiographies i have ever read. Its so true and you know that it happened because it is a diary, something really personal and secret is being opened in this book for all the fans to read.

I am not a huge fan of Motley Crue but i always admired Nikki for his ability to write good songs and play the bass , so i decided to pick up his book and see what he had to say , what i read screwed up with me completely.

We all know that with fame comes money and with money comes ..well...hobbies..or drugs or whatever. It depends how one will use it. In this case Nikki used his money for coke and heroin and other drugs. You see a rockstar ..an artist spiral down to the bottom of the abyss through what i call Hell. He explains how messed up he is because of his difficult childhood and how he blames his mother for everything. You get to see how a person loses touch with reality and how this artist forgets everything about music and fans and concerts and the only thing he cares about is drugs ,how, when and where he will do it.

While reading his diary entries people that actually were there tell their stories and memories of that era and you really think WTF? I read things that i didnt consider possible to happen ,how can someone OD and then just go home and shoot up again? Along the way Nikki was shooting up with other rockstars like Slash and Duff from GN'R when they were touring together.

As the book progresses you see that Nikki knew the situation he was in...he tried to get clean but that lasted for a couple of weeks and within two weeks he comes around again as a totally different person. He completely changes and then he falls again and then it gets ugly. Along with the drugs comes depression and a continuing remembrance of his awful childhood. He even kicked his mom and sister out of the hotel he was in , he didnt hang out with anyone and wanted to be alone all the time in spite the fact that he hated loneliness. 

I think this is a great example on how someone can reach bottom and then come around suddenly and change his whole life , his whole ideas about life and death. I think this is a book everyone should read because in the end you can see hope.

How To Love by Katie Cotugno book review by Eleni

Author: Katie Cotugno
Release Date: October 1st 2013
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Pages: 389
Rating: 4 stars
Buy at: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Before: Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he’s never seemed to notice that Reena even exists…until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated—and pregnant—Reena behind.

After: Almost three years have passed, and there’s a new love in Reena’s life: her daughter, Hannah. Reena’s gotten used to being without Sawyer, and she’s finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. Reena doesn’t want anything to do with him, though she’d be lying if she said Sawyer’s being back wasn’t stirring something in her. After everything that’s happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?

In this breathtaking debut, Katie Cotugno weaves together the story of one couple falling in love—twice.

Review:

I AM SO CONFUSED AND CONFLICTED OVER THIS BOOK THAT I KEEP THINKING AND THINKING ABOUT IT.
The book tells the story of Sawyer and Reena two completely different individuals who fall in love and do everything wrong or at least wrong in the eyes of a 20-year old that went through this shit and thought it was right. sigh. 
  Reena was in love with Sawyer since she could remember herself and at the age of 15 - socially awkward and by nature quite sees her best friend hooking up with Sawyer - then life goes to hell.
She stops speaking with her friend and spends 7 months alone working after school and trying to cope with life and heartbreak until Sawyer reaches out to her.
The book is divided in before and after chapters making it totally exciting for the reader (no sarcasm there) to want to read more from the Before and more of the After story. Now here comes the conflict. I don;t know if i hate Sawyer from the Before or I love him because he is an 18 year old that messed everything up for himself and Reena due to personal problems and drugs but he is there every time for her because he loved her. 
Now that I think about it i have an explanation for his actions - it was Reena, because she wanted to leave the shitty town , travel the world and leave Sawyer behind to bear with heartbreak. Eventually he is the one that walks out on her leaving her pregnant (he didn't know) and alone to cope with her religious father and a judgmental town.

The After story is two years later when Reena has a baby and suddenly Sawyer returns from the dead. No one knew where he was or what he did and of course they were not sure if he was alive. She turns her life upside down and the old feelings start to resurface again once she spends a little time with him. She makes some hasty decisions right there and then and goes back to his house for ''dinner'' and she totally loses it when they kiss -so she takes 5 steps back. I hated the After story because the only person that actually showed some kind of emotion was Sawyer and at some point i really really threw the book on the wall because Reena was so stupid. 
The writing makes the reading even more interesting and simply you can;'t put the book down no matter how much you want it to. I loved the characters but I would like to see a little more emotion and a little more of Sawyer. Reena was a Snow Queen with absolutely no expression of emotion and that was really frustrating because -lets all admit it - who likes a character like that?
Otherwise the book is an amazing read that I totally related with the characters and the story itself because as a sketchy teenager I was i went through the same shit- sans the pregnancy - and now I am married to the boy that made my life so interesting and crazy.

Reflected In You by Sylvia Day book review by Eleni

Author: Sylvia Day
Publisher: Berkey
Release Date: October 23rd 2012
Pages: 338
Series: Crossfire
Rating: 4
Buy at: Barnes And Noble , Amazon

Gideon Cross. As beautiful and flawless on the outside as he was damaged and tormented on the inside. He was a bright, scorching flame that singed me with the darkest of pleasures. I couldn't stay away. I didn't want to. He was my addiction... my every desire... mine.

My past was as violent as his, and I was just as broken. We’d never work. It was too hard, too painful... except when it was perfect. Those moments when the driving hunger and desperate love were the most exquisite insanity. 

We were bound by our need. And our passion would take us beyond our limits to the sweetest, sharpest edge of obsession...

Review:

In the second book of the Crossfire trilogy we have the whole cliche plot...the chaos. The first book was amazing in its own way this one broke my heart even further although I couldnt connect to Eva as I connected to Gideon.

I felt Gideons feelings more in this book than in the first and I think it had to do with his absence. The couple fought all the time that Gideon always left and never came back for days. Both of them are stubborn and stupid but I hated Eva with all my heart in this one.

To be honest the second installation of the book isn't anything great because we all have seen this before (Twilight, Evermore, Fifty Shades etc etc etc) but Day has a way with words that keeps you reading and reading and reading until you reach a point where you say more. This book is a lot more intense and heart breaking than the first one and I wonder that the hell will happen on the third one.

I liked the way she connected things although some of them go unsolved or unmentioned and end up being lost in those snakepits where the reader just asks why did this happen? or what happened to this?

Put this aside you have a good book of sex (hm hm porn) with a little twist of romanticism and sadism (Submissive and the Alpha male), I like that a lot and like a said the way the book is written makes you want more.

To wrap it up, in this boo dont expect anything new its just a book of sex with some spices thrown in and a very good writer to move its strings.
On with the Third One.

Slash by Slash and Anthony Bozza Book Review by Eleni

Author: Slash and Anthony Bozza
Release Date: Ocotber 30th 2007
Publisher: It books
Pages: 458
Rating: 5 stars
Buy on: Amazon , Barnes And Noble

From one of the greatest rock guitarists of our era comes a memoir that redefines sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll

Here, for the first time ever, Slash tells the tale that has yet to be told from the inside: how the band came together, how they wrote the music that defined an era, how they survived insane, never-ending tours, how they survived themselves, and, ultimately, how it all fell apart. This is a window onto the world of the notoriously private guitarist and a seat on the roller-coaster ride that was one of history's greatest rock 'n' roll machines, always on the edge of self-destruction, even at the pinnacle of its success. This is a candid recollection and reflection of Slash's friendships past and present, from easygoing Izzy to ever-steady Duff to wild-child Steven and complicated Axl.

It is also an intensely personal account of struggle and triumph: as Guns N' Roses journeyed to the top, Slash battled his demons, escaping the overwhelming reality with women, heroin, coke, crack, vodka, and whatever else came along.

He survived it all: lawsuits, rehab, riots, notoriety, debauchery, and destruction, and ultimately found his creative evolution. From Slash's Snakepit to his current band, the massively successful Velvet Revolver,Slash found an even keel by sticking to his guns.

Slash is everything the man, the myth, the legend, inspires: it's funny, honest, inspiring, jaw-dropping . . . and, in a word, excessive.

Review:

I am a huge fan of guns and roses and naturally of Slash. When this books got into my hands I started reading an amazing and hard to believe story of one of the hardest and toughest rock stars on this planet.

Since I am a huge fan I knew some things but I didn't know others. This book took me aback. 
Slash start the book with where he was born and a brief telling of his first years. He then moves on to live in England and how he remembers his parents and of course the big move to L.A. and how that and the fact that he grew up in the seventies changes his life dramatically.

From a very young age drugs, music and excessive alcohol drinking lead his to weird and scary situations. He took those habits with him through the years and he never stopped living on the edge. In comparison to Duff's memoir Slash was tells all about the ugly side of GNR and how each member of the band and what lead them to eventually estrange from each other. It seems that everyone wanted the same thing - to perform and be a great band - but no one stood up when Axl did what he did. I think Axl had a really good ego and took advantage of it when he knew that the alcohol induced band mates wont bat an eye or confront him for his actions. 

From page one of the book you can see that Slash was indeed a very clever man but he didn't always use his brain when he had too part because of the drugs that kept him in a haze...i have to say that in some parts some situations either were the wrong date or he wasnt quite sure about them. Slash himself said that he was using some of his agendas to state a few facts because he wasn't sure if something happened or not.

I would like to know more about the lawsuits for the rights and everything after GNR broke up and a lot more about Axl although Slash tries to do its best to excuse his weird and ego centered behavior by saying that ''I'm sure Axl had his reasons''. Of course as Duff said Axl could be more than a good friend with you if you took him on your good side but overall he was a very unpredictable person.

After the GNR years you can see how difficult it was for Slash to create another band and how everything went to hell after the industry changed in the late 90's. Also you can see that those people were used a lot from the industry because simply they were dollar machines. The book describes the process of the creation of Velvet Revolver and how difficult it was for them to find a singer that fits with the group.

Both Slash and Anthony Bozza did a great job with writing the book and making it ''sound'' like Slash. It was a book of almost 500 big pages and small little letters it drove me crazy to finish it but I loved every bit of it.

I wouldnt recommend this book to a kid under 14 due to strong language and mature situations.

It's So Easy and Other Lies by Duff McKagan book review by Eleni

Author: Duff McKagan
Release Date: October 4th 2011
Publisher: Touichstone
Pages: 366
Rating: 5 stars
Buy At: Barnes and Noble , Amazon.

''A founding member of Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver shares the story of his rise to the pinnacle of fame and fortune, his struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction, his personal crash and burn, and his phoenix-like transformation via a unique path to sobriety.

In 1984, at the age of twenty, Duff McKagan left his native Seattle—partly to pursue music but mainly to get away from a host of heroin overdoses then decimating his closest group of friends in the local punk scene. In L.A. only a few weeks and still living in his car, he answered a want ad for a bass player placed by someone who identified himself only as “Slash.” Soon after, the most dangerous band in the world was born. Guns N’ Roses went on to sell more than 100 million albums worldwide.

In It's So Easy, Duff recounts GN’R’s unlikely trajectory to a string of multiplatinum albums, sold-out stadium concerts, and global acclaim. But that kind of glory can take its toll, and it did—ultimately—on Duff, as well as on the band itself. As GN’R began to splinter, Duff felt that he himself was done, too. But his near death as a direct result of alcoholism proved to be his watershed, the turning point that led to his unique path to sobriety and the unexpected choices he has made for himself since. In a voice that is as honest as it is indelibly his own, Duff—one of rock’s smartest and most articulate personalities—takes readers on his harrowing journey through the dark heart of one of the most notorious bands in rock-and-roll history and out the other side.''

Review:

I don't know what to say about this book or the author. Duff Fucking McKagan has been a huge inspiration to me since my early teens. Guns N' Roses is my favorite rock band and i love all the members but a little more Duff. I always knew that rock has to do with drugs but that was something else. To be honest i never read anything like that in my entire life. Neon Angel by Cherrie Currie is not even close to the things described in this book.

When i started the book i didn't know what to expect, i just wanted to read about Guns N Roses and the life they led before they become famous and its true that Duff did a great job with describing his early childhood/teen years and how everything shaped around the name of GNR. I was surprised from a lot of things and i needed more and more and more. I loved the way he wrote.

As the book progressed we could see how deep in addiction Duff and his bandmates fell and how fame and money eventually changed everything. How the band mates got estranged from each other and how a certain member suffered from megalomania which resulted in the band to eventually split in 1997. Although the book answered a lot of questions it created new ones and at some points i found myself screaming Why????

I would loved to have read a little more descriptive situations and especially about the fallout between Axl and Slash. For obvious reasons there is no sex scene descriptions in the whole book (im sure no rock star would want their daughters read about their fathers um....experiences (?)).

I was amazed on how Duff got out of the cocaine-alcohol addiction pit and did his best to recover and how to this day he is still suffering from his past. Although i think Duff doesnt realize it he got out from one addiction with another - exercising and i think although this is kind of healthy it can also destroy you if you are not careful. 

The book also focuses on the musical career of Duff before and after GNR and the differences that he saw. How people accepted him back then and how they accept him now - everything is easy when you are a legend.

Duff did a great job with a book and i would totally recommend it to any GNR fan out there and not only. 

A Trick of The Light by Lois Metzger book review

Author: Lois Metzger
Release Date: June 18th 2013
Publisher: Balzer and Bray
Pages: 209
Rating: 4 stars
Buy At: Barnes and Noble, Amazon

Mike Welles had everything under control. But that was before. Now things are rough at home, and they’re getting confusing at school. He’s losing his sense of direction, and he feels like he’s a mess.
 
Then there’s a voice in his head. A friend, who’s trying to help him get control again. More than that—the voice can guide him to become faster and stronger than he was before, to rid his life of everything that’s holding him back. To figure out who he is again. If only Mike will listen.

Review:

I picked up this book from the new releases section at the local public library. Actually I didn't even look at the cover of the book or the title. Sometimes i like that..not to know what im gonna read.
So the books starts with Mikes subconscious describing a scene with Mike and his friend Tamio. Initially i thought that someone else was looking at Mike I had no idea that Mike;s self narrated the whole book and it took me some pages to understand it.

A Trick of The Light is a really really weird read. Last year i went through some excruciating dieting myself, taking out valuable food and eating only greens - which resulted in a life that maintaining control and never exceed the 1200 calories that i had set myself as a daily nutrition intake. Sometimes i had to go to the bathroom and throw up due to remorse that i ate 200 more calories. Does it sound crazy? Exactly that's what i saw in this book - MYSELF EXACTLY A YEAR AGO.

As we follow Mike through the book through his mind;s eyes we see a totally healthy boy going through their parents broken relationship and eventually divorce. He finds himself alone and completely neglected by his family. To his weakest point his mind makes him believe that everyone around his is the enemy. No one want good things to happen to Mike and that starts when Mike sees himself in a weird mirror that he is fat and later a comment that comes from his coach make Mike a completely different person. He is starting to work out and cut back on his nutrition intake. His only friend seems to be a girl called Amber that plays a huge role over Mikes downfall.

As the books moves on we see the aspects of anorexia and what can happen to people. How they change completely (body and mind) and how they see their surroundings. I never thought that this book will show the hidden aspect of anorexia and that it can affect boys too. The author did a really good job describing Mike and his thoughts and inner demons but also i loved that she payed attention to the fact that you can be helped and recover. She highlights the rehab centers and the actions that they take but also throws a message towards bad parenting and how a parent improves with methods after his child suffers an illness implying that parents should always be responsible and caring with the children.

She finishes a book with a great paragraph and i have to say that i will read this book sometime soon.

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma book review

Author: Tabitha Suzuma
Release Date: May 27th 2010
Publisher: Definitions
Pages: 432
Rating: 5 stars
Buy at: Barnes and Noble , Amazon

She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But... they are brother and sister.

Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As defacto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives—and the way they understand each other so completely—has also also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending.

Review:

I didn't even know such book existed...someone recommended it to me and i thank them so much.
The author is british and i have to say that i admire her guts to write and to publish such a book...in the western world.

i have read a lot of manga that have to do with incest or brother - sister love and sex and all of that (Angel Sanctuary,Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru) there are also anime...
what i dpnt understand is why Asians seem to be a little cooler with that issue. i know that is genetically weird to have a physical relationship with your brother or with a cousin but i know that a lot of us have seen a cousin and thought something improper..its just the nature of the human...we love to play with fire and when something is off limits subconsciously we want to make it ours.

Apparently the book wants to teach us not to be so judgemental of people and their likes. through my early childhood to my late adolescence i experienced a lot of judgemental people and i dont really do that. i know a girl that she has a relationship with her brother (not a broken family) and i have no problem with them since they dont do anything to anyone.

of course i am not saying that everyone has to go and have sex with a family member cuz after a generation the earth would be full with hybrids due to genetic anomalies but i want to say is that things happen and instead of judge people we should put our feet in their shoes and think how we would react if we were them.

To the book
i have never ever read something like that in my entire life. the book itself it was provoking and great. i would not recommend a hormone-unstable teen to read this due to descriptive sexual scenes and the theme of incest. it falls under the category of young adult but i would totally put it under the category of adult.

the characters were greatly developed to the point i cried with them, laughed, anguished and *hhmm* wanted them epicly bad to find some time alone. the book itself is good written, i felt like i was in the same room as Maya and Lochie watching them.

To be honest with you i didnt really like the ending but thats just me. i could have turned out completely different and i felt it was not fair for the characters.

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman book review

Author: Alice Hoffman
Release Date: August 3rd 2003
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Pages: 286
Rating: 2 stars
Buy At: Barnes and Noble , Amazon

The bestselling author of Second Nature, Illumination Night and Turtle Moon now offers her most fascinating and tantalizingly accomplished novel yet -- a winning tale that amply confirms Alice Hoffman's reputation not only as a genius of the vivid scene and unforgettable character but as one of America's most captivating storytellers.

When the beautiful and precocious sisters Sally and Gillian Owens are orphaned at a young age, they are taken to a small Massachusetts town to be raised by their eccentric aunts, who happen to dwell in the darkest, eeriest house in town. As they become more aware of their aunts' mysterious and sometimes frightening powers -- and as their own powers begin to surface -- the sisters grow determined to escape their strange upbringing by blending into "normal" society.

But both find that they cannot elude their magic-filled past. And when trouble strikes -- in the form of a menacing backyard ghost -- the sisters must not only reunite three generations of Owens women but embrace their magic as a gift -- and their key to a future of love and passion. Funny, haunting, and shamelessly romantic, Practical Magic is bewitching entertainment .

Review:

Seriously i thought i would die reading this book. i thought that it would never ever end...it went on forever.
ok so on this particular case the movie was way better than the actual book. The book in other words sucked. maybe i should have read the book first and then watched the movie but when you grow up with this movie and you live in a country where the book is not available what do you expect.


the book was awful. the writer had a way of telling things which in a way was both calming and nerve wrecking...while i was reading some peaceful paragraph the word f*** and p**** would suddenly appear making me think wtf?

i think that the book didnt have a plot. i felt like the writer just grabbed a piece of paper and started writing without a plan or something in her mind. people say that the book is all about witchcraft but i didnt see any actual witchcraft...the movie held that part a lot better.


i would not recommend this book to you...i would recommend the movie instead. so go and watch the movie.

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green Book Review

Author: John Green
Release Date: January 10th 2012
Publisher: Dutton Books
Pages: 316
Rating: 5 stars

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.







Review:

    Okay let me get this straight. this is the best novel I have ever read.period. I have never ever experienced feelings of happiness and sadness at such excess. ever. 

     While reading this book I felt myself laughing at the amazing humor and at the same time feeling depressed. it wasn't an emotional roller coaster...it was a roller coaster with two speeds. happy and sad and that was pretty much it. 

     I suddenly found myself sobbing tp the point my husband woke up asking me what was wrong and to the point I mumbled don't you ever die on me while trying to catch my breath. Cried while reading a book before? Never happened and I think it wont ever happen again.

     The whole theme of the book had to do with cancer and how people find a way to love and to forgive and appreciate life and family and friends. How through a disease a person can change so much and how love can be found...and lost. The book also concentrates on the side characters that also play an important role in the book and to the main characters. Enough with the analyzation just go read the book and get your minds blown away.
      I fucking totally recommend this awesome book.