Flawless by Lara Chapman
****

Sarah has a flaw or does she? This is a cute retailing of Shakespeare's Roxanne. A coming of age story, how we perceive ourselves as to how others really see us. There were wonderful quotes at the beginning of each chapter here is one of my favorites: "I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may-light,shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful." by John Constable.
Sarah and her best friend Kristen start the new school year the same as always, except for gorgeous Rockford is the new amazing guy in their high school. Rock is handsome, smart, attentive, and fun. Well Sarah and Kristen both have a crush on Rock. Sarah has rarely fallen for a guy, while her best friend Kristen goes through guys fairly quickly. Once Kristen has her eye's set on something it is full steam ahead, and since Sarah thinks they look good together and she loves her best friend she agrees to Kristen's scheming to catch Rock. This story was fun and light, but at the same time delves into the topics of appearances and liking ourselves the way we are and not giving into the social acceptable perfect looks. So what her nose is a little big, but does her nose have to define everything about her? Does it make her ugly? Who defines ugly? The writing flowed smoothly, the characters were interesting. I enjoyed the best friend relationship, how they were there for each other. Sarah is smart, funny and witty, and self sacrificing almost to a fault. Kristen is the fluffy, beautiful best friend. A quick fun, light story, with a point.


fair amount of swearing
clean romance
one brief underage beer party pretty mild

Summer Wishes by Kailin Gow
****

What a book of revelations. Jocelyn is awaiting her 18th birthday to get her life's plan. She is very distraught about the hole ordeal because she and Matthew are in love and chances are won't be in each others life plan. Matthew wants to leave Arcadia, just like Jocelyn's brother Jacob and girlfriend Melanie did. What would life be on the outside, are they ready to give up the familiar? Then a blue heart arrives and everything changes! Is Arcadia as perfect as it appears or are there secrets that are to inconceivable to even think about? Great little story had me cheering and cringing often. I love the character development, the flow of the writing, and how I feel transported to Arcadia. I can hardly wait for the next book, I have really enjoyed this series.

clean language
clean romance

Legacy by Cayla Kluver
*****

WOW! This book was amazing! I loved everything about it, the characters were well developed, the storyline was intriguing, the romance was great, descriptions of surroundings were wonderful. It was the perfect book for me. I love fairy tales and fantasy books and this just became my favorite. I am trying to think were to begin it was all so good,and I don't want to give anything away. Princess Alera of Hytanica Kingdom is coming of age to marry. Her father is ready to relinquish his title to whom ever Alera marries. However who ever Alera chooses to marry must be approved by her father, and their is thus far only one man that he feels can take his place, Steldor. Steldor is handsome and full of chivalry but.... he is also full of himself and rightly so. Steldor is amazing he is the best of the best. Best Knight, best in his class,he is charming, all the women adore him, and he drives Alera crazy with his arrogance. Then enters Narian a handsome and mysteries young man. He has arrived from a rival kingdom, many questions are raised about him, is he a threat, why is he their, what does he want? On top of all of this there are secrets of ancient origins that threaten to tear Hytanica apart and bring her to war. This book is a wonderful romantic, intriguing, adventures, mysterious gem of a book.

I loved Alera, she was the perfect 17 year old, she was strong, witty, knew what she wanted but wasn't sure how to get it. I liked this aspect of Alera, to often books of this kind the lead woman character is so strong and things just happen because they can. With Alera we see her coming of age and trying to over come some of her immaturity, and naivety. Her father is king and she shows him the respect he deserves, even when she doesn't want too. At times this frustrated me, but if I looked at it from a 17 year old living in her time period, it was very real her emotions and reactions. I really appreciated that Ms. Kluver kept Alera true to who she was. Alera wasn't wimpy she stood up to her father and others, but she was respectful of protocol,and her kingdom. Steldor is gorgeous and swoon worthy, and utterly irritating. Yet at the same time he does try to be good to Alera and win her over. so I do have respect for the guy. I developed a love hate relationship with Steldor. Narian is handsome to but not quite as much as Steldor. He is smart and witty full of chivalry and good to Alera. Another of my favorite characters was London, he is Alera's bodyguard and he is tuff, sensitive, and just amazing with Alera, he was one of my favorites. There are many other wonderful characters in this story that I will save for you to explore. As you can tell I really loved and enjoyed this book. If you haven't read it go get it! I can hardly wait for book two and three, please hurry and release them!!

Clean language
Clean romance

Lifeblood by Werner A. Lind
****

This was a delightful story, about vampires told from the more traditional folklore. The writing was wonderful and flowed so smoothly, and had such a wonderful descriptive nature to it. This is a story about a women named Ana who is forced into becoming a vampire. Her back-story is so sad and tragic, but yet hopeful. Ana has amazing kindness, strength, courage and love. I really came to care for her, and wanted life to be good for her, and some how be different for her. I felt sorry for her, she seems so human and so gracious and yet so stuck in her situation. Unlike most vampires she survives off animals and not humans.Joshua is the amazing man in this story, he is patient, kind, god fearing, hardworking, willing to sacrifice and in love with Ana. Theirs is a sweet love story. Joshua amazes me at one point in this story,it was so touching. This story has lots of mystery and suspense to it as it unfolds it's self. This story has deeper meaning as well, one for instance that I thought about was, what does it mean to be human or monster? I absolutely loved how it all played out to a wonderful, wonderful ending!


2 language issues
clean romance

Babe in Boyland by Jody Gehrman
***

This book had some really funny parts to it, and was well written. I loved the friendship/ relationship between Natalie, Darcy and Chloe. They were amazing friends, who really watched out for each other, had fun together, got in trouble together, and were there for each other. They were great! The premise of the story is cute and fun. Natalie a student journalist, wants a story, a really good story about the inner workings of the male species. What does Natalie decide to do, well what any good reporter wood do, go under cover to the all male academy in town. Natalie learns a lot of things about boys as well as about herself. Along the way she falls for her cute roommate, but how will that work out for she is a boy. Quit the adventure Natalie gets herself into, but with good friends and perseverance who knows what will happen. A very cute story, reminded me of the movie "She's the Man".
Okay now the things that gave this story a 3 star rating verses higher rating. I did not like all the underage partying with alcohol, with no parental supervision. Really grated on me. Their is a lot of sexual talk that quit honestly reminded me of my little boy when he goes around talking about farts, and butts. It just wasn't very tastefull, or funny. That's just in my opinion.

fair amount of language
clean romance, but sexual talk, misunderstood situation not appropriate. Not for my teen

Trial by Fire by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
*****

I really enjoy this serious, it has depth, great plot, and characters you know and care about, plus the added bonus it's a romance. This story takes off were it left off.Bryn is Alpha of the Cedar Ridge Pack, and getting accustomed to what that means to her the human non werewolf girl. I really like Bryn she is spunky, smart, speaks her mind, cares about whats hers, has a big heart, and is willing to sacrifice. She has lots of responsibility to her pack, and she takes it seriously. This story has an appearance of a mysteries girl, and a mysterious wolf boy who shows up on their front doorstep. Who is this mysterious boy who as been beaten, who sent him and why. This story was a tangled web of pure adventure and mystery and I loved every moment of it. The ending through me for a loop I had no idea that was going to happen! Bryn uses her wits, smarts and knowledge she has learned from dear old Cullen to unravel all the threats facing her and her pack, it takes time and is a process that we the reader get to enjoy right along with Bryn. There is a wonderful romance to to this story, being Chase and Bryn, I love their deep connection, like they know what each other needs before it is even spoken. Chase is beautiful, tortured, strong, gentle, and swoon worthy. Chase is a perfect match for Bryn he is her quite strength. I love Ms. Barnes writing style, great description, words flow smoothly from the pages. Great sequel and I hope PLEASE LET THERE BE A THIRD BOOK!! from what I could find there is no definite third book yet. So, so good!!


no language
clean romance

Lisa T. Bergren
*****

I absolutely love this series, it is so,so good! It is one of those books you just cant put down and don't ever want it to end! Cascade starts off were Waterfall left off. Gabi and Lia are back in present day Italy. Gabi is completely heartbroken to have left Marcello( as was I). There were a few things they had to do in modern Italy, and then they head back to 1300's Italy. This was one adventure after another, some were good and some had me heartbroken. Mrs. Bergren writes a wonderful romance, I loved watching Marcello and Gabi's love grow and blossom into something special and real. Marcello, Marcello he is so amazing, he is always there for Gabi physically saving the day as well as opening his heart to her completely! There are some wonderful surprises to their relationship, that I will not spoil and let you find out for yourselves. Lia and Luca's relationship is great too. I like how it is moving slowly and I love Luca he is so hilarious with all his little one liners. He is also handsome, full of chivalry and totally into Lia, he is also very patient with her as she is trying to figure out what she wants. They all work together to fight for their family and lands. There are so many other wonderful characters from the first book that we get to be with again, as well as some of the villians we don't like. I couldn't flip pages fast enough, I love this series, so well written and intriguing, with a wonderful romance. I don't want to wait until September for book 3, and I really don't want this series to end!! Can't it just go on forever?


no language
clean romance