Review: First Comes Love by Katie Kacvinsky

Title: First Comes Love
Series: First Comes Love #1
Author: Katie Kacvinsky
Genre: New Adult Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing
Format: Hardcover, 204 Pages 
ISBN: 978-0-547-59979-3
Release Date: May 8, 2012
Source: Borrowed from Wentworth Library
Rating: 5/5

Purchase Here: Kindle // Hardcover

Tagline(s): ~NONE~

Summary: Like his name, Gray is dark and stormy. Dylan is the exact opposite--full of light and life. It's definitely not love at first sight for these two. But slowly, fascination turns to admiration, which turns to caring, until finally these lone souls find love.

But staying in love is not as easy as falling in love. If Dylan and Gray want their love to last, they're going to have to learn that sometimes love means having to say you're sorry.

Review:

First Comes Love teaches about life and love. Gray stopped living after the death of his twin sister, but when he meets Dylan, a girl so much like his sister, she shows him how to start living life again, instead of just existing. Dylan is just the opposite. She's full of life and lives every day to the fullest. Dylan has met many people, but she's never made a real bond with anyone, until she met Gray.

What started as fascination quickly became something more. But life and love aren't without obstacles. As their lives take them in different directions, Dylan and Gray have to determine of their love is strong enough to overcome their differences.

I love stories that have an emotional punch, so I really enjoyed First Comes Love. I liked that the way Dylan and Gray met and fell in love was so natural. There are a lot of stories where the love is instantaneous and totally unbelievable. Dylan and Gray take the time to really get to know each other and develop feelings for each other. They go through the ups and downs. So their relationship is very believable and real.

The alternating POVs provide deeper insight into both Dylan and Gray. We see Gray's struggle to move on and Dylan's struggle with the bond she made with him. They both add their own experiences to the story. I always like stories with two or more narrators. The story has depth it otherwise wouldn't have with only one.

I'm really excited to read the next book in this series. I can't wait to see what happens with Dylan and Gray's relationship. It's bound to be another emotional ride.

About this Author:

Katie Kacvinsky was born in Wisconsin. She worked in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles, has lived in Phoenix, AZ, Redding, CA, Milwaukee, WI and currently Oregon. She taught high school English and worked for a young adult magazine before writing full time. She owes most of her writing inspiration to traveling.

Review: Never Eighteen by Megan Bostic

Title: Never Eighteen
Author: Megan Bostic
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Graphia Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing
Format: Paperback, 200 Pages
ISBN: 978-0-547-55076-3
Release Date: January 17, 2012
Source: Borrowed from Wentworth Library
Rating:  5/5

Tagline(s): ~NONE~

Summary: I had the dream again. The one where I'm running. I don't know what from or where to, but I'm scared, terrified really.

Austin Parker is never going to see his eighteenth birthday. He probably won't even see the end of the year. But in the short time he has left, there's one thing he can do: He can try to help the people he loves live--even though he never will.

It's probably hopeless.

But he has to try.

Review:

Never Eighteen is about life and what it really means to live it to the fullest; and it's about death and how to accept it with honor and dignity. Austin Parker only has a short time left to live before the cancer eventually takes over. Seeing the world through new eyes, Austin notices how the people he loves most are barely living their lives. With his life coming to an end, Austin wishes for his loved ones not to waste the life they have that he'll never get to experience himself. Whether touched by addiction, loss, or violence, Austin with Kaylee, his best friend and love of his life, sets out on a journey to change the lives around him and show what it means to really live life while facing death himself.

To use a few words from Never Eighteen, this book has "so much feeling, so much meaning, it cries out for attention." Forgiveness, memories, love: these are all the things Austin searches out for on his weekend journey, for himself and those who have left their mark on his life. He saw that they were barely living, given up in a sense; whether they were touched my addiction, loss, or violence; and he wanted to do something to help.

"I want them to feel peace, joy, and happiness. I want for them what I no longer have myself. Life."

Austin is so selfless in the face of his death. He wants his loved ones to LIVE life to the fullest. He wants them to reach out, to move on, to forgive, and to HOPE. Austin leaves his mark on the lives of those he visited on his journey just as much as they left their mark on his life. And when death finally comes, Austin faces it with honor and dignity to the very end.

Never Eighteen is thought provoking and bittersweet. You will laugh at times and definitely cry snot-tears of sadness. The message of this book, at its very core, is to LIVE. Because there are those who, like Austin, will never be eighteen, never get married, never have children, never really LIVE. So laugh, love, cry, and just live life to the fullest, because there are those who never will. And never forget those who left their mark on your life. Austin has definitely left his mark on my life and he will never be forgotten.

Book Trailer:

About this Author:

Megan (that's with a long "e") Bostic is a mere human trying to find her place in the universe and an all-around great girl. Despite the rain and gray (she's truly solar powered) making her extremely angsty, she's lived in the Pacific Northwest her whole life, and still does, with her two crazy beautiful girls.

She thrives on the challenges faced in her journey to publication and has documented it vlog style. You can find her Chronicles of an Aspiring Writer on Youtube.

Her writing process she lovingly calls "organized chaos". She writes on her laptop at the kitchen table next to the sliding glass door so she can absorb as much sun as she can. The "organized" part of the process mostly takes place in her head and involves the beginning and the end of her work in progress. The "chaos" part is pretty much how she sits down and writes with reckless abandon, not stopping to fix, revise, edit, or even breathe until she's done.

When not writing, Megan is usually chauffeuring her teenage daughters and their friends, watching her girls play soccer, watching movies and TV shows on Netflix, hanging out with friends, spending time at the ocean, or walking the Narrows Bridge.

Megan loves the color black, monkeys, and is a notorious Facebook addict. She's a proud member of The Class of 2K12 and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. You can also find her on Twitter, Goodreads, Jacketflap, and anywhere else cool authors hang out.

(isn't it awkward when people talk about themselves in third person?)

PART OF....

Review: Jessica Rules the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey

Title: Jessica Rules the Dark Side
Series: Jessica #2
Author: Beth Fantaskey
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Supernatural Fiction
Elements: Vampires
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing
Format: Hardcover, 309 Pages
ISBN: 978-0-547-39309-4
Release Date: January 10, 2012
Source: Borrowed from Wentworth Library
Rating: 5/5

Tagline(s): It's one thing to find out you're a vampire princess. It's a whole other thing to actually rule.

Summary: When Jessica Packwood found out she was a Romanian vampire princess, she had the shock of her teenage life. Turns out that was the easy part.

Now, married to Prince Lucius Vladescu, she has to claim her throne and convince a vampire nation she's fit to be their queen. But Jess can't even order a decent meal from her castle's Romanian staff, let alone deal with devious undead subjects who would love to see her fail.

And when Lucius is accused of murdering a vampire Elder and imprisoned without the blood he needs, Jessica finds herself alone, fighting for both their survivals.

Desperate to clear her husband's name and win his release, Jess enlists the help of her best friend, Mindy Stankowicz, and Lucius's mysterious Italian cousin, Raniero Lovatu. But both of them are keeping some dark secrets. Can Jess figure out who to trust--and how to rise to power--before she loses everything, including the vampire she loves?

Full of romance, mystery, and danger, the highly anticipated sequel to Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side shows that sometimes a princess has to earn her "happily ever after"--with a sharpened stake in hand.

Review:

Jessica Rules the Dark Side is the much anticipated sequel to Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side. Beth Fantaskey shows us Jessica's struggle to become and want to be royalty as she tries to free Lucius from a crime he didn't commit.

Some readers didn't like that the easy banter and jokes from Jessica's Guide weren't mirrored in Rules the Dark Side, but this sequel's story is more serious than it's predecessor and I was glad that the dialogue matched that. You can't be joking in a serious situation. Rules the Dark Side shows how Jessica, Lucius, and company had to grow up and become responsible adults.

I was amazed by Jessica in this book. Though in the beginning she's kind of weak, lazy, and royally unfit; when it comes time for her to step up and stand on her own two feet, Jessica shows the strength, power, and resilience befitting a queen. As Jess struggles to find evidence that will clear Lucius's name, Raniero helps her realize that she didn't have the drive or the want to rule. Once she realized this, it gave her the motivation she needed to claim what was rightfully hers.

I think my favorite part of the entire book was when Jess came charging into the courtroom wearing jeans and a t-shirt; marches right over to the one responsible and gives it to 'em. That is the first glimpse we have of Jess as the queen she will eventually be. And everyone in that courtroom knew it. It's the moment when the Jess from Pennsylvania and Princess Antanasia become one.

Other enjoyable things about Rules the Dark Side are the alternating POV's (I love the different views of the story and events), Mindy and Raniero's complicated relationship, the emails between Lucius and Raniero (we get more insight into Lucius's thoughts), and the political power plays.

I loved how Jess and Lucius supported each other and how their love for each other just grows stronger as time goes by (who would have thought that the Lucius from Jessica's Guide could love like that?). I really hope this isn't the last that we see of Jessica and Lucius. Lucius and his secrets! I'm still really curious about what he was actually doing during the time the Elder was being destroyed.

About this Author:

1. My favorite hobby is traveling the world - but my biggest fear is flying. 

2. My second-biggest fear is public speaking… but I’m a college professor (who sometimes teaches public speaking!) 

3. I have two 5-year-old kids - who AREN’T twins. 

4. My weirdest work experience was helping to “tan” deer hides using cow brains. (I was actually writing a magazine story about it.) 

5. I’ve only been fired once, from a job as a bookstore clerk.

6. My best educational experience was doing research in India on the Dalit (“untouchable”) struggle for human rights. (See maarpu.org)

7. My worst experience, ever, was getting food poisoning while riding my bike from the Missouri River to the Mississippi. (My friend told me the chicken tasted strange…) 

8. Whenever I visit a new country, I try as many ketchups as I can. (Best: Poland, Worst: China)

9. I am an uncommonly bad volleyball player…ask the team that ALMOST won a championship. 

10. I also suffer from mild “ichthyphobia,” or “fear or fish.” I don’t bother trying to overcome that one!