Crash (Crash, #1) by Nicole Williams - Review

Crash was the first book Nicole Williams book that I've read though I've seen her name all over the blogosphere. Again, diving further into the realm of the New Adult genre, this book seems to have gained some popularity over the past few months and so I thought I'd give it a whirl.


Lucy lives for dance and the dream of next year attending Julliard. And so her dancing and her dream are the only things that are going to get her through her senior year attending a new school as her family moves to their summer home, permanently. Lucy knows that all she has to do is keep her nose clean and work hard and she'll be away from her problems and her past but all that changes when she meets Jude Ryder. The local vigilantly and school bad boy, Jude is bad news and he has his sights set on Lucy. Will Jude be the one to destroy her future or her saving grace?

This wasn't my favorite New Adult book, but I really enjoyed reading it. Crash got away from the typical sexually abused past and raw emotional future and just brought forth a romance about a bad boy looking to change his ways and a good girl finding herself in the middle of his life.

I liked both Lucy and Ryder together and I thought that their characters were fun and interesting. Rather than having a build up and one big mistake that drives them apart time and time again Ryder messes up and finally loses Lucy. Of course, the story isn't over there as Lucy and Jude learn to overcome their pasts to work towards a better future.

This book wasn't boring and I read it rather quickly, but it wasn't the most exciting of books and didn't leave me gasping for breath. It was a quicky read that left me feeling satisfied and happy and didn't have me thinking to hard. Sometimes, you need those easy reads!

7 out of 10

Happy Reading :)

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Opal (Lux, #3) by J.L. Armentrout - Review

I said I wouldn't read another J.L.A. book... and then I did. I couldn't help it! I was nervous on a plane trip home to see my parents and I had forgotten I pre-ordered Opal on my Kindle. During a particularly turbulent point in the flight, I dove in to keep myself busy.

Now, I could say I kept reading out of principle. I had started the book so I needed to finish it, right? I would be lying.  Opal sucked me in and while it did take me a while to finish the book, I actually really enjoyed it.

Opal brings us back to the world of Katy and the Luxen. With her feelings for Daemon as strong as ever, it seems that nothing can stop the gang as the dive further into investigating the secretive and elusive government group set out to understand, destroy and surpass the Luxen. But not all is as it seems as Katy and Daemon learn the hard way that you can't trust anyone.

I don't want to give too much away for the readers who haven't started the Lux series yet as a lot happens in this 3rd installment... a lot. I have to say that I am slightly disappointed in myself for reading this book. After finding out that book 2, Onyx, was a copy off of a TV show about aliens AND after reading the first book in the Covenant series and finding myself reading a different version of The Vampire Academy, I was a little angry. I told myself I wouldn't read another one of her stories as I would be encouraging the unfair copy-cating. Something about the Lux series has drawn me in, though.

In my opinion, Onyx was not very well written, the plot didn't have me excited nor did it leave me swooning. I thought that the series would continue in this pattern and that I would be bored with book 3. That was definitely not the case. Armentrout brought her "A" game to the table in Opal and not only was the story action packed and exciting, but informative as well. We learn a lot more about the Luxen, the hybrids and the DOD.

Of course, you can look forward to many swoon worthy moments between Daemon and Katy too. Their dynamic and deepening love really made the story for me. They were done playing hard to get and messing around. Now, the pair began developing their feelings for each other and bonding on a different level. I really enjoyed their aspect of the story.

If you've read any reviews of Opal on Goodreads, you will notice that a developing trend seems to be exclamations of grief, shock, awe and all around disappointment with the cliffhanger ending that J.L.A leaves her readers. It's hard not to see that something about the ending of Opal really upset and devastated people. I obviously won't be giving away the ending, but I was understandably upset as well. It wasn't like the moments while reading Vampire Academy books where I cried alone in my room wondering why Richelle Mead felt the need to torture me so, but the cliffhanger of an ending was slightly heartbreaking and made me want book 4 to be released soon.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. With the thoughts of this being a copied storyline in the back of my head, I couldn't throw myself completely into the story but it was entertaining and I will most likely be reading book 4.

6 out of 10

Happy Reading :)

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Waiting on Wednesday (11): Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger

And it's time for Waiting on Wednesday again! This weekly meme is a way to feature the books that you just cannot wait for. For more information, head over to Breaking the Spine!
This week, I'm waiting on...

Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School, #1) by Gail Carriger

It's one thing to lean to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and thow a knife at the same time. Welcome to finishing school.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is the bane of her mother's existence. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper etiquette at tea -- and god forbit anyone see her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. She enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But little do Sophronia and her mother know that this is a school where ingenious young girls learn to finish, all right -- but it's a different kind of finishing. Mademoiselle Geraldine's certainly trains young ladies in the finer arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but also in the other kinds of finishing: the fine arts of death, diversion, deciet, espionage, and the modern weaponries.  Sophorina and her frends are going to have a rousing first year at school.

First in a four book YA series set 25 years before the Parasol Protectorate but in the same universe.

I've had my eye on this one for a while and I'm surprised to see I don't have to wait to much longer! It comes out February 5th!

Something about a finishing school that teaches young woman to curtsy and about modern weaponries has me chomping at the bit to get this book. I'm a big fan of Steampunk themed books (if they're done well) and so I'm hoping Etiquette and Espionage will be as great as I hope it will be! What are you waiting on?!

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Like This, Try This (7): Dragons, Cyborgs and Demigods!

Happy Tuesday! I'm so happy that I've finally made time for another round of  "Like This, Try This" from Krista over at Nawanda Files! This meme is "designed to introduce YA books that are similar to TV shows, movies and other books!" Make sure to hope over to Nawanda Files for more info on how to add this weekly meme to your blog! Let me know what you think!

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The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden (The Coincidence, #1) by Jessica Sorensen - Review

Over the holidays, I went a little overboard. I read about 6 books... in 7 days and they were all New Adult and romance books I got on my Kindle. I think I just needed some mindless reading to relax and those six romances really did the trick. The first book I bought was The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden. Whew, what a title! What first drew me to this New Adult book was the cover. I mean come on. How could this romance enthusiast resist that cover?

The Coincidence tells the story of shy and troubled Callie. Callie strives to be invisible her entire high school career because of an incident of abuse that happened when she was 12. Enter Kayden. He's attractive, popular and has the queen bee as a girlfriend, but all of his confidence is a show to cover the fact that he fights for his life on a daily basis. With Callie's past and Kayden's alcoholic father, college is the perfect escape for these two from different worlds. When their paths cross on campus, no one would every believe that Kayden and Callie would fall for each other as they come together to battle their demons. 

Both Callie and Kayden come from backgrounds of abuse and they find it in themselves to over come their problems. While one might think that they absolutely should not belong together because of their emotion issues, they are exactly what the other needs. They each understand what it's like to not feel whole.

I really liked both Callie and Kayden's characters. They both grew so much through out the course of the story as most teenagers will do their first year of college. Many people begin to realize that the friends they associated with in high school are not those that they want to be friends with in college. People mature and it was fun seeing both Callie and Kayden come into their own.

The plot of the story was pretty original. I found myself swooning at the lovey-dovey scenes and tearing up at the more gut wrenching ones. A really interesting part of the story is how you learn of Callie's abuse. We learn about Kayden's family problems in the first ten pages, but with Callie's issues, we only get snippets. You have to make your own guesses until at the end, all that's left for you to figure out is who is the person responsible for her trauma. This made for a really unique background story for Callie and I really liked this aspect fo The Coincidence.

While I did like the book as a whole, I did have a few problems with the story's ending. I tend to read books with a happy ending. While the story itself may be dark and tormented, the ending always brings a smile to my face and makes the hard parts worthwhile. This story ended on a very depressing note and while I'm sure book two will make sense of the ending, I wasn't a fan of being left hanging... devastated  It's not your typical frustrating cliffhanger where you just want to know what happens next. No, this ending will have you wondering why Sorensen had to put the most depressing point of the story at the end. I think this aspect made me feel unsettled when I finished the book and that is really why I have mixed feelings.

This book fits perfectly into the mold of "New Adult" and so if you're venturing into the genre as a new reader, this may be a good book for you.

6 out of 10

Happy Reading :)

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New Blog Design from Icey Designs!

Well guys,

With the start of the New Year, I decided that it was time for a change in my blog design. I wanted something a little more unique, a little more sophisticated and I happened upon Icey Designs.


I took a look at both her testimonials and her portfolio and I knew that I had to have her do a design for me. After making initial contact, Hafsah asked what I was looking for... after a very vague, confusing and I'm sure annoying response from me about how I wanted something "purple" "different" "simple" Hafsah came up with a beautiful, updated color scheme and went to work. I couldn't be more satisfied with my design. It's different, unique, simple and of course purple... but updated. Hafsah dealt with my crazy and seemed to know exactly what I was looking for and executed it perfectly. She even took my subtle changes after the initial template and completely read my mind. If you are looking for an update or this is your first time looking for a new blog design, I wouldn't sent you any where other than Icey Designs.

I obviously love my design, what do you think??

Thanks Hafsah!

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New Year, New Updates!

Happy New Year Everyone! I wanted to write a quick post to wrap up the great year that was 2012 and let you know what I'm looking forward to in 2013! This past year I...

Started Abibliophobic

Gained 133 followers

Read 65 books

Made new blogger friends

I had such a fun year, as I said in my 1st Blogaversary post (don't forget to enter the giveaway!) and so I had to think about what I want to do differently or rather, what I'd like to do more of in 2013! I've of course, come up with a list... I'm a list-er if you had't noticed. I wanted to branch out in my reading and blogging and try some new things! And so, in 2013 I would like to...

Read at lease 70 books

Read more Romance and New Adult books!

Read and review at least 2 Classics

Participate in some YA Reading Challenges!

Hopefully I'm not asking to much of myself but I'd like to do more in the blogging and reading department in 2013 and so hopefully I meet my goals! Below are the reading challenges that I'll be participating in!

The Debut Author Challenge @ Hobbitsies!

Reading at least 12 Debut Author Books

The New Adult Reading Challenge @ A Tapestry of Words, Tater's Tall Tails and Author Victoria H. Smith!

 I'm going for the "Moving Out" level in trying to read at least 10 NA books

YA Mythology Reading Challenge @ For Those About to Read

Read at least 10 YA or Middle Grade books about Mythology

Hopefully I'm not being too crazy, but these challenges got me super excited!! Check out my about me through out the year to check my progress! Thanks for being awesome viewers and followers! I'd love to hear what you're planning on doing in 2013! Link me up!

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