The Raft

Author: S.A. Bodeen
Goodreads Rating: 3.57
My Rating: 2.5 Stars
Pages: 231
Reviewed by: Nicole

Robie is an experienced traveler. She’s taken the flight from Honolulu to the Midway Atoll, a group of Pacific islands where her parents live, many times. When she has to get to Midway in a hurry after a visit with her aunt in Hawaii, she gets on the next cargo flight at the last minute. She knows the pilot, but on this flight, there’s a new co-pilot named Max. All systems are go until a storm hits during the flight. The only passenger, Robie doesn’t panic until the engine suddenly cuts out and Max shouts at her to put on a life jacket. They are over miles of Pacific Ocean. She sees Max struggle with a raft.
And then . . . she’s in the water. Fighting for her life. Max pulls her onto the raft, and that’s when the real terror begins. They have no water. Their only food is a bag of Skittles. There are sharks. There is an island. But there’s no sign of help on the way.

Pushing The Limits

Author: Katie McGarry
Goodreads Rating: 4.34 Stars
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pages: 384
Reviewed by: Nicole

"I won't tell anyone, Echo. I promise." Noah tucked a curl behind my ear. It had been so long since someone touched me like he did. Why did it have to be Noah Hutchins? His dark brown eyes shifted to my covered arms. "You didn't do that-did you? It was done to you?" No one ever asked that question. They stared. They whispered. They laughed. But they never asked.
So wrong for each other...and yet so right.
No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal. But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

TEN

Author: Gretchen McNeil
Goodreads Rating: 4.29
My Rating: 4 Stars
Pages: 304
Reviewed By: Nicole

I was so excited to check out TEN when I heard that it was going to be at BEA, so this was one of my "Must Haves" when I went. Clearly I got a copy, and I was so glad that I did for a few reasons that I'll tell you below.

Goodreads Synopses:

And their doom comes swiftly.

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school’s most eligible bachelor) and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury.

But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.

Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?

So, I'm really glad I got this in the galley format because had it been hardcover, I think it would have been harder to lay on my bed on the cruise and read it while trying to maneuver my body under the covers without using my hands. No joke, I couldn't stop reading, not even for a pee break. Thats the best endorsement you're ever going to get. Quote that on the book. But in all seriousness, I refused to leave the bed until I knew who the killer was. My logic, of course, was that if I didn't finish the book then the killer was going to get me before I found out who it was.

Logic. 

Anyway, the beginning was a little slow in my opinion, mostly because Meg and Minnie got confusing, and I was being introduced to this whole cast of characters within the first 3 chapters which I can understand why it had to be done, but I found myself confusing a few people as I went. I also think part of that has to do with how little we know about these characters. When the first person was offed my first thought was "I don't remember this person," mostly because they were unmemorable to me. Once you get everyone straight, its super easy to follow.

I won't say who it was, but I had out killer pinned almost from the start but not exactly. I had my suspicions, but then again, as you go through the book, everyone looks suspicious. That was one of the things that I loved about this book was that it made you question even the nicest people in the way of the killer.

The plot was still wonderfully drawn, although from my understanding this book was a re-telling of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None". I have never read this book, and I don't think that I will. I enjoyed TEN for being the suspenseful, edge of my seat book that I wanted it to be. As much as we didn't get a deep characterization for most people, it didn't matter, chances were they were going to bite the dust faster than it takes to sneeze. 

All in all, this book is action packed with suspense and mystery which is all great fun when it comes to teenagers on an island. It was a really quick read (I finished it in a night) and an enjoyable one at that. I found myself on edge while I progressed through the story, and I'm sure you will too.

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A Simple Thing

Author: Kathleen McCleary
Goodreads Rating: 4.30
My Rating: 3.25
Pages: 297
Reviewed by: Nicole

I got this book from HarperCollins as part of the blog tour hosted by TLC Blog Tours.

Goodreads Synopses:

When Susannah Delaney discovers her young son is being bullied and her adolescent daughter is spinning out of control, she moves them to remote, rustic Sounder Island to live for a year. A simple island existence--with no computers or electricity and only a one-room schoolhouse--is just what her over scheduled East Coast kids need to learn what's really important in life. But the move threatens her marriage to the man she's loved since childhood, and her very sense of self.

For Betty Pavalak, who moved to Sounder to save her own troubled marriage, the island has been a haven for fifty years. But Betty also knows the guilt of living with choices made long ago and actions that cannot be undone. The unlikely friendship between Susannah and Betty ignites a journey of self-discovery for both women and brings them both home to what they love most. "A Simple Thing" moves beyond friendship, children, and marriages to look deeply into what it means to love and forgive--yourself.
I didn't hate this book, but there were parts of this book that made me want to pull out my hair. Those things of course, were things that were supposed to get a reaction out of a person, and so it was only fitting that I did have these reactions. For starters I wanted to kill Katie, the insolent teenager, through the entire book, at least until she became a real person at the end and not a spiteful child.

I felt for Susannah as she tried to protect her children, but her husband Mark was right when he said that she was running away and not just trying to protect her children. That actually really frustrated me about Susannah, because it was understandable that she had a lot of emotional baggage that got explained later in the book, but that is no reason to take your children out of school and move to another part of the country.

I enjoyed Betty's story, sad as it was, it showed that every situation is what you make of it. I totally hated her husband, but she made it work being on the island. I also loved learning about how she made it to the island. There didn't seem to be very much of a relationship between Betty and Susannah except for a few conversations, but I guess thats all it takes?

I guess back to why Katie made me so mad. Besides being a 14 year old, and just hating everyone, she was just an awful person, yes she was remorseful, but only when she seemed to get caught. The way that she spoke to her mother too, I mean, I know I wasn't a great teenager, but she was insufferable. I would probably have CPS called on me because I would hit my child if they called me a bitch (or I would be locked in my room crying about how much of a failure of a parent I was and how my kid hates me)(also, I know I'm a terrible person for saying that, but sometimes teenagers, myself included, need some sense knocked into them), either way, bad things.

I felt like the ending was a little bit abrupt, like McCleary realized she found a great ending, but then left a few things unresolved, so she jammed them in. It was hard not to feel that way when the rest of the book was very carefully constructed. Overall, it was a good book, it evoked a lot of strong emotions, but those emotions (which could go either way) didn't lead me to love the book like a lot of people did. It was well written, so go and enter my giveaway!

Fated

Author: Alyson Noël
Goodreads Rating: 4.21/5
My Rating: 4 Stars
Pages: 308
Release Date: May 22, 2012


I won this as part of firstreads, and I won't lie, I judge this book by its cover. I'm really glad that I entered to win because it was a great start to a series. The thing I like most about this new Soul Seekers series is that books will be coming out ever six months instead of once a year. That does kind of suck because that just means I need to wait longer than everyone else for the next book.


Goodreads Synopses:


Lately strange things have been happening to Daire Santos. Animals follow her, crows mock her, and glowing people appear out of nowhere. Worried that Daire is having a nervous breakdown, her mother packs her off to stay in the dusty plains of Enchantment, New Mexico with a grandmother she’s never met.

There she crosses paths with Dace, a gorgeous guy with unearthly blue eyes who she’s encountered before...but only in her dreams. And she’ll get to know her grandmother—a woman who recognizes Daire’s bizarre episodes for what they are. A call to her true destiny as a Soul Seeker, one who can navigate between the worlds of the living and the dead. Her grandmother immediately begins teaching her to harness her powers—but it’s an art that must be mastered quickly. Because Dace’s brother is an evil shape-shifter who’s out to steal her powers. Now Daire must embrace her fate as a Soul Seeker and find out if Dace is one guy she’s meant to be with...or if he’s allied with the enemy she’s destined to destroy.


Let your soul be guided to behind the jump to read my review.