"Eruption"

My rating: ★★★★☆

Author: Adrienne Quintana

Series: Eruption duology series (Volume #1)

Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller, Adult

Page Count: 288 (Paperback)

Release Date: January 13, 2015

Places to order:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books & Things

About Adrienne:

Adrienne Quintana is the second of nine children born to professional oil artist, John Horejs, and his wife and business partner, Elaine. She spent her early years playing on the banks of the Snake River in southern Idaho while her father built a geodesic dome house. When the family wasn’t traveling around the country to art shows, Adrienne spent many happy hours reading in her unfinished, tent-like bedroom.  Love of reading soon blossomed into a desire to write. If the family’s antiquated computer could be resurrected, a collection of short stories involving local characters and their epic battles with fire-breathing dragons would be sure to entertain.

After completing high school via correspondence, Adrienne studied Music Education at Mesa Community College.  She took an 18 month break to serve a church mission in Montreal, Canada, where she gained invaluable life experiences and a few pounds from the local delicacies.  After the completion of her mission and a month abroad in Europe, Adrienne moved to Utah with the intention of continuing her education at Brigham Young University, but these plans were short-lived when she met her husband-to-be while working at an investment company.  Soon after their marriage, the Quintanas packed up and moved to Minnesota, where Adrienne worked while her husband earned a Law degree.

After four children and a move to Arizona, Adrienne completed her Bachelors of Science and Communication at the University of Phoenix.  In the throes of housekeeping, potty-training, and carpooling, Adrienne discovered that she could find time to accomplish her goals—often in the quiet hours after the children were in bed.  Since her graduation in 2012, those quiet moments have been used to fulfill a life-long dream of becoming a writer.

Website // Instagram // Twitter // Tumblr // Pinterest 

Synopsis:

Information terrorism. Complete network blackout. Global panic. Above the chaos, one company rises to restore order, achieving complete political and military takeover: Omnibus.

Stanford graduate and new Omnibus employee Jace Vega faces these sobering images, appearing to show her future, when a cutting-edge Omnibus tablet mysteriously falls into her hands. Reeling from the recent tragic death of her mother, socially reclusive Jace struggles as she carries the weight of this foreknowledge.

When Corey, an acquaintance from Stanford shows up, he becomes central in helping Jace try to stop Omnibus. But because the plan involves getting close to Damien, the charming, smooth son of Omnibus founder, Victor Trent, Jace becomes conflicted with a barrage of new emotions. Both men profess allegiance, but she doesn’t know who she can trust.

As Jace wrestles to understand how to change the future, vivid dreams and waking visions unmask her obscured past and her true identity.  In the ultimate test of self-trust, Jace must harness her unique internal power and use it to stop Omnibus.

My review:

This review is a *NON-SPOILER* review! And a special thanks to Adrienne for sending me a copy of her book in exchange for an honest review and for letting me interview her on my YouTube channel! (See below for the link to the interview!)

"Eruption" is a fantastic, time travel debut novel filled with such suspense and mind-blowing plot twists, it will surely knock you off your feet.

Okay, lets get down to business. First off, this story focuses on the main protagonist, Jace Vega, who is a recent graduate from Stanford University and just landed a job at Omnibus in Minnesota. She works in the PR department of this technological company--which I find really cool since I hope to work in PR (Public Relations in the future!)--and strange things start to happen to her. One day, she comes across a device on a run that is similar to a device being designed and manufactured at Omnibus, but with different modifications and advancements. Little did she know that this device would be the key to saving the future.

Onto the secondary main characters: Damien and Corey. These guys play an important role in solving the mystery in this book with Jace while also being love interests to her. There are plenty of other contributing characters, including Jace's father and Victor Trent (Damien's father). So, lets start with Corey!

Corey graduated from Stanford, just like Jace, and they knew each other (not very well) while they attended college together. But when Jace finds out that they both work for Omnibus, Jace finds this to be too much of a coincidence. He's the first person she shares information with about the strange Omnibus device she found and later, they are working together to figure out this device and the secrets that it holds.

Damien is very different from Corey. For one thing, he happens to be the son of Victor Trent (aka the man who owns Omnibus). And he's also charming and intelligent, because when Jace starts asking around if there's a new device they're working on, Damien figures out that she's hiding something. He (as well as Corey) is faced with the problem of fully gaining Jace's trust, so there's lots of "questioning loyalties" and "keeping secrets" that make this story much more interesting and engaging.

This book has time travel! I haven't read many books with time travel as part of the plot, but the way it was interwoven into this book was incredible! Adrienne's writing style made it easy to see the blend modern day technology (and futuristic technology) with time travel--without making the book feel like there's too much science-fiction. So, to say the least, this book seems like a contemporary novel, but add in some time travel and disasters that befall on the characters later in the book, and presto! It's a novel with an original idea about time travel and includes a crap ton of amazing plot twists!

Besides time travel and futuristic technology, this book also deals with government corruption, which plays a huge roll later in the novel. The first half of the novel deals with Jace figuring out who to trust (Corey or Damien plus a few other characters) and trying to put the clues together that she's been given (won't say what they are because I don't want to spoil anything for anyone!) about future things to come and how she's the one that can stop certain events from happening in the future.

The beginning started off a little slow, but I think Adrienne's intent was to give us, as the readers, a full understanding of the world that she has built and how it's different from our own, while also having us really see Jace's thoughts and the emotional struggle she deals with.

But in the last 50 pages of the book, Adrienne started dropping bombs one after the other--page after page. Then the ending was..... INSANE. I still can't understand (in a good way!) what had happened and why *it* happened! So good!

Overall, I loved this book! It was a little slow in the beginning and had a lot of Jace's thoughts rather than dialogue, but once you past the halfway point, things start to roll and get really interesting. Also, this book may be under the "Adult" category, but I promise that readers who love YA (Young Adult) novels will really enjoy this!

I also interviewed Adrienne on my YouTube channel, so if you want to check it out, I'll leave the link here!

"Queen of Shadows"

My rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5/5)

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass series (Volume #4)

Genre: YA, fantasy, action, adventure

Page Count: 656 pages

Release Date: September 1, 2015

Places to order: 

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

IndieBound

Book Depository

Books-A-Million

iBooks

Kobo

**If you HAVE NOT read the previous books of this series, DO NOT CONTINUE READING**

**Come back when you've read the first three books! I promise that you'll like it!**

Synopsis:

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she's at last returned to the empire-for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past...

She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight. 

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen's triumphant return.

Celaena's epic journey has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions across the globe. This fourth volume will hold readers rapt as Celaena's story builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.

My review:

            Prepare yourself…this is going to most likely be the longest review I will ever write. 

            Because this review is going to be extremely long/I have a lot of things I want to talk about, I've titled each paragraph what it's about/the significant events I want to talk about (you'll see). And I'll be jumping around a bit (but I'll come back and edit more stuff in!)

            Warning: this review will contain LOTS of words in caps to express my feelings and thoughts, plus some cursing since this book was frustrating and insane!

            P.S. this is review will contain MAJOR SPOILERS (so if you haven’t read this series yet, DO NOT PROCEED)

            Before I start, I’m going to remind you that Celaena is Aelin, and Aelin is Celaena. So don't get confused if I switch her name back and forth.

            The fire-breathing bitch queen is back. Queen of Shadows is epic, dark, intense, action-packed, heart pounding—basically the definition of a badass book. The plot twists are even more twisted and unexpected, leaving you begging for the next installment.

            

Bye, bye #Chaolaena:

            First off, my Chaolaena feels with obliterated. The second that Nesryn was introduced, I knew immediately that Chaolaena was over. I figured out that Aelin would end up with Rowan, and Chaol would end up with Nesryn. But when he sold the ring he gave to her in "Crown of Midnight"…. holy crap, I had to stop reading to try to process that they were officially done. 

Aelin vs. Chaol:

At the beginning of the novel when Aelin and Chaol finally meet up again, I wasn’t too happy with the attitude they had with each other—and this is not because of my Chaolaena feels. In this book, Aelin and Chaol are constantly at each other’s throats, biting each other’s head off and saying the cruelest things to each other. I totally understand that in “Heir of Fire,” they were both apart from one another and were off doing their own things, but it still didn’t make sense for them to be so… cruel to each other. Chaol was threatening to hurt Aedion if Aelin tried to kill Dorian, but Aelin was threatening to kill Dorian if he tried to hurt Aedion... It just didn’t make any sense. It was just really painful to read and watch them act this way towards each other; they both lost trust in each other and didn’t respect each other anymore, which I found strange since I thought that they had at least patched a few things up before Aelin left to go to Wendlyn. 

Overall, their whole encounter/relationship throughout the first half of this book really annoyed me. I thought I was the only one that was feeling that way, but after talking to other people who have read the book and finished it, they felt the same way (about how they didn’t like Aelin and Chaol’s relationship). I think the problem was that Chaol was waiting to see Celaena, the Assassin again but instead got Aelin, the Queen of Terrasen. Aelin came back and started to criticize Chaol for leaving Dorian and not fighting for him, and she got annoyed when he called her Celaena since she claims she's gone. First of all, she doesn’t know what happened in that room with the King of Adarlan, and she just jumped to yelling at him for doing something that Dorian asked him to do (he asked Chaol leave because the King would have killed him).

Aelin pretending Celaena never existed/that she's gone:

            Okay, I get that Aelin wants to get rid of her past as Celaena Sardothien and pretend that "she" never existed—BUT THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS. You can't just leave your past behind; everything that happened to her as Celaena has shaped her into the person she is today. Yes, she went through a lot of shit (becoming an assassin for Arobynn, Sam's death, enslaved in Endovier, becoming King's Champion), but all of those hardships that she went through literally shaped her into the badass queen that she is now. So if she wants to pretend that Celaena never existed, that means she would have to forget about Sam because she never told him who she really was—he only knew and loved her as Celaena. But that's obviously not going to happen. And she learned all of her fighting skills when she was under the instruction of Arobynn, and as much of a psychopath he was, he helped her become stronger. 

Rowan’s Appearance:

Okay, now here’s where I got confused. When Rowan showed up in Rifthold, I had to reread that part. I thought that in “Heir of Fire” he said he couldn’t come to Rifthold and/or Adarlan because he is Fae and would be way too weak to go to a place without any magic. (Can someone refresh me or remind me of how he is able to be in Rifthold?) Anyways, I was shocked that he showed up; I thought that we (as the readers) would see Rowan in a different country or place since in “Heir of Fire,” he said he was going somewhere (I can’t remember where). And because he showed up, that also confirmed my suspicions that Aelin would choose him and not Chaol. 

Saving Aedion:

*will enter thoughts in later*

Arobynn Hamel being a psychopath: 

            When Arobynn slipped that ring on Aelin’s finger, I thought it was all over. If she was controlled by him, everything—and I mean everything—about this book would have turned to a  completely different and darker direction. Can you imagine having to figure out how to save Dorian from his collar AND save Aelin from the ring?? Good lord. It would have been a shit show. But let's thank god that Aelin was smart enough to trick Arobynn into thinking that he could mind-control her. 

Arobynn’s Death (YASSSS):

            I was really surprised when Aelin didn’t kill Arobynn because he ordered Sam to be killed and that was one of the first life-altering moments for Celaena. I thought that since Sam was the first thing that she held so dear and loved so much, she would get the chance to get revenge for him. Arobynn was the one who took her family necklace (forgot the name), manipulated her all those years into becoming a heartless assassin, took Sam away from her and sent her to Endovier. Because she had a lot a beef with him for the past that has affected her future, I thought she would kill him…But I won't pout since Lysandra was the second-best person to kill him. 

SAM *cries*:

            When Aelin went to visit Sam’s grave, I was gone—I was SO gone. That scene destroyed me. It was so sad to see that Aelin loved him so much and thought that he could have been with her, had Arobynn not been an insane man, and she said that he would have been a great king… * dies * Sarah did a great job with that scene and with Aelin’s speech to him. My god, I was crying so hard reading this. And I really hoped that he was somehow still alive—I even had theories that he was Abraoxos (Manon's wyvern aka dragon).

CHAOL’S (almost) DEATH:

            OHMYGOD. I was reading this scene when I was on an airplane and literally started sobbing, and my parents and some passengers were staring at me. Before I read this book, I knew in my head that something REALLY BAD was going to happen to Chaol, but my heart simply said NO. And when I read the part where Chaol sacrificed himself to give Aelin more time to bring Dorian back, I bursted to tears. I will always love Chaol because of his undying loyalty and love for Dorian; they have a true bromance. I remember in "Heir of Fire" when Dorian said, “I love you” to Chaol and I was literally dying because of how tragic the whole situation was. But THANK GOD that Aelin was a genius and put the Eye of Elena in his pocket before she went after Dorian. If that necklace wasn't in his pocket, he would have been dead for sure. 

Manon:

            I definitely like Manon a lot more as a character because when I was reading "Heir of Fire," because I didn’t really understand her character since she was a brand new player. I was also trying to figure out what kind of importance she held for throughout the series (and now I know). But in QoS, we get to see different sides to her and her character growth (aka not just being cruel and following the rules, but thinking about what she’s doing before she acts). She watched over Elide, the girl who fled from Terrasen and has witch blood. Another thing I really liked reading was her relationship with Asterin, who was her second-in-command for many years, throughout this book. Manon was really cruel and cold towards Asterin, who was only trying to make Manon understand that following the rules is not always right. 

Elide:

            Her mother was the one who saved Aelin that night when her parents were killed; she gave her time to runaway. *MIND BLOWN* The connections that Sarah weaves together is absolute insanity—complete insanity. 

*will write more about her soon*

PERRINGTON (HOLY SHIT, DIDN’T SEE THAT COMING):

            THAT TWIST. WOW. When it was revealed that Perrington was Erawan (aka the Dark King), I was truly shocked—that was truly a great plot twist and made a whole lot of sense after thinking about the things he’s done/what he’s been involved in (Ironteeth and Yellowlegs witches). And to finally see that it wasn’t the King of Adarlan that was the big, bad guy, but PERRINGTON. 

Lysandra (GHOST LEOPARD):

            Lysandra is a returning character that we met in “The Assassin’s Blade” (prequel novel) and honestly did not like her. But it this book, she returns and becomes friends with Aelin since they share a mutual hatred for Arobynn. We later find out in the novel (through Rowan) that Lysandra is actually a shape shifter! The way she currently looks is not her true face, and she can't remember what her real face looks like. And at the end, she shape shifted into a GHOST LEOPARD and SAVED ROWAN & AEDION’S ASSES. And I totally foreshadowed that she would eventually shift into a ghost leopard since Aelin was talking about how cool it would be if she did shift into that to scare people, and how Aedion was scared of them (page 406 in U.S. edition).

Kaltain (SHADOWFIRE):

            Total badass. When I first read about Kaltain in "Throne of Glass" (first book), I absolutely despised her since she almost got Celaena killed; but after the first three books of this series, she has changed drastically. I really like Kaltain in this book and when the plot twist was revealed that she broke free from the collar’s control but had been secretly hiding it all along, I was doing the slow clap. She managed to BREAK FREE from being controlled by a Valg Prince AND managed to hide it for so long! Dorian couldn’t even do that! She was an amazing, haunting character in this book. But I was really sad to see her die… but she did it in the most badass way possible…. She burned the whole place down with her SHADOWFIRE, like, WOAH.

PLOT TWISTS Breakdown:

• Aelin not getting manipulated by Arobynn
• Lyssandra being taken by the King
• Perrington being the bad guy
• The King was actually manipulated by a demon the whole time
• Chaol * almost * died
• Dorian kills the King
• Chaol is paralyzed from waist down

Things I REALLY liked about this book:

• Manon and Aelin’s fight scene (YASSS)
• Aelin saving Manon
• Aedion’s rescue scene
• Dorian and Aelin vs. the King
• Manon saving the servant girl
• Manon and Asterin’s talk

Theories I Had: 

• Sam still alive
• Abraoxos being Sam (LOL)
• Chaol dying (well, he almost did)
• Dorian and Manon getting together (YUP)
• Aelin killing Arobynn
• Aelin killing the King
• CHAOLAENA (definite no…)

Theories about the next book:

• Ansel is coming back (she's from "The Assassin's Blade" prequel book)
• Aedion dies (or Rowan…)
• More characters introduced (especially from the Southern Continent)
• See the healer from “The Assassin’s Blade” again
• Terrasen and Adarlan fight together (alliance)
• The Valg witchlings are used as weapons

            Overall, I gave this book 3.5 stars out of 5. This DOES NOT mean that I didn’t like the book or that I didn’t like the previous books in this series! I just didn’t understand the first 1/3 or the first half of the book because of Aelin and Chaol’s and how it continued to be a problem throughout this book. I thought we were past them being tense around each other in “Heir of Fire,” but this book made it like 500x worse.

           Sorry that this review was EXTREMELY long; this book was massive, which means there was lots to talk about. I still have more that I wanted to talk about, but I'll just come back and add some stuff in soon! Thanks for reading!

"Hollywood Witch Hunter" Cover Re-Reveal!

Hello everyone! I (among other bloggers) am so so happy to reveal the BRAND NEW cover for Hollywood Witch Hunter by Valerie Tejeda, which was first revealed earlier today on USAToday.com! Now, before I reveal the new cover, here's a little intro about Val and the links to find her! (p.s. she and her husband, Brent, are absolutely HILARIOUS on Snapchat so make sure to follow them! (*username in the About section!*)

And there's also a Rafflecopter GIVEAWAY for HWH swag, a gift card, & more! So make sure to check out the link to the giveaway all the way at the bottom of this post!

About Valerie: 

Entertainment journalist and author Valerie Tejeda spends her days reporting on books, television, and all things pertaining to pop culture, and spends her nights writing novels for teens. She holds a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology and is currently based in California with her husband where she reads loads of books, binge-watches Netflix, and drinks tons of coffee. Hollywood Witch Hunter is her debut novel.

Twitter // Instagram // Website // Facebook // Tumblr // Goodreads // Snapchat username: authorvaltejeda

And now for the cover reveal!

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Here it is!! Hope you guys like it, because I absolutely LOVE IT!! Leave in the comments if you like it too! ♥

Synopsis: 

From the moment Iris first learned the truth about witches she knew she was born to fight them.

Now, at sixteen, she’s got witch hunting down to a science. As the lone girl on the Witch Hunters Special Ops Team, Iris has to work twice as hard to prove her worth. But when an A-list actress is murdered on her watch, that task becomes a hell of a lot harder.

But murdered celebrities are just the start…a mysterious new hunter has arrived on the scene, and he’s as cute as he is deadly. But there’s more to Arlo than meets the eye, and there’s more at stake than Iris’s reputation.

Evil is rising in the hills of Hollywood, and it’s up to Iris and Arlo to end this battle. Iris is ready to protect the human race at all costs, even if it destroys her.

Because that’s what witch hunters do.

Places to buy "Hollywood Witch Hunter":

*To celebrate the new cover, HWH is on SALE now for $0.99 until Friday, October 2nd*

B&N

Amazon

iBooks

Kobo

Google Play

Books-A-Million (BAM!)

GIVEAWAY link!
(*It begins September 28th and ends on October 4th!*)

*CLOSED*

Thank you for visiting my blog and reading this post! I highly recommend this book to everyone who loves supernatural/fantasy YA books with a kick-ass heroine! Plus there's tons of swooning and heart pounding action! Make sure to check out Val's social media links, because she's such an amazing person that I had the pleasure of meeting and continuing to support since I know there will be great things coming her way!

"Hollywood Witch Hunter" (ARC Review)

My rating: ★★★★★

Author: Valerie Tejeda

Series: Book #1 ("Hollywood Witch Hunter" series)

Genre: Supernatural, Action, Romance, Young Adult

Page Count: 232 (e-book)

Release Date: July 20th, 2015

Publisher: Bloomsbury Spark

Places to order:
Amazon (Kindle)
Barnes & Noble (eBook)
iBooks
Kobo

About Valerie:

Entertainment journalist and author Valerie Tejeda spends her days reporting on books, television, and all things pertaining to pop culture, and spends her nights writing novels for teens. Her stories have appeared on a variety of different publications, including but not limited to: Vanity Fair, MTV, The Huffington Post, Teen Vogue, She Knows, Latina, The Fix, Salon.com, Cosmopolitan, and more.

As a journalist, Valerie has conducted interviews with best-selling authors as well as fashion designers, celebrity stylists, including Selena Gomez’s stylist Basia Richards, professional athletes, and actors and producers from hit shows on FOX, CW, and ABC.

With Latina, North African and Jewish ancestry, Valerie is passionate about not only promoting diversity, but also, writing stories with diverse characters.

Valerie Tejeda holds a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology and is currently based in California with her husband where she reads loads of books, binge-watches Netflix, and drinks tons of coffee. Her debut young adult novel HOLLYWOOD WITCH HUNTER will be published worldwide by Bloomsbury Publishing under their Spark imprint in 2015.

Website // Twitter // Instagram // Goodreads

Synopsis:

From the moment she first learned the truth about witches…she knew she was born to fight them.

Now, at sixteen, Iris is the lone girl on the Witch Hunters Special Ops Team.

But when Iris meets a boy named Arlo, he might just be the key to preventing an evil uprising in Southern California.

Together they're ready to protect the human race at all costs. Because that's what witch hunters do.

My review:

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury Spark for a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. (This is a *NON-SPOILER* review!)

Step aside Katniss Everdeen and Tris Prior, get ready to meet the new heroine on the block. Iris Maria Bently is a kick-ass, Latina witch hunter who's ready to show Hollywood what she's made of.

Hollywood Witch Hunter is fast-paced and witty with a unique set of characters that aren't what you typically see in an action-packed, supernatural YA novel. This book will surely capture the attention of fans of "Supernatural," The Mortal Instruments and "Buffy The Vampire Slayer."

When Valerie emailed me about her debut book, I was immediately intrigued and had to look up the synopsis, because the title Hollywood Witch Hunter got me wondering what kind of book this was going to be. After I read the synopsis, I definitely wanted to get the chance to read this and thank god I looked it up on NetGalley. This novel is a new favorite, for sure, because Valerie incorporated so much into this novel AND was able to keep the story rolling at an incredible speed to point where I was sitting, wondering where the rest of the pages went and realized that I was already done (you can imagine how upset I was that there wasn't more...). Now I'm going to talk about the main characters and how I liked their roles in the story.

Iris. This girl is definitely a new favorite amongst the list of heroines that I feel each represent a different side of YA that a reader can relate to. Iris is a half Columbian witch hunter--the first ever female witch hunter--and she is tough, snarky, loyal, and passionate. She has the characteristics that I feel that everyone wants to have and admires because even though she's stubborn at times, she's passionate about her job as a with hunter and just wants to feel like she's truly part of the witch hunting world. But throughout the novel, Iris has to go through a lot as a first-ever female witch hunter and being a teenager, as if that wasn't already hard enough. As a witch hunter, she has to deal with the men witch hunters who tell her that she has not right to work in the field and that she wasn't good enough just because she's a girl (*insert eye-roll*). And on top of all that, she has to deal with being a teenage girl: dealing with boys, jumbled up emotions, and finding her way in the world.

Knox. As someone who's an only child, I would love to have Knox as an older brother. He's a flirt that likes to goof-off with Dex (Iris and Knox's cousin) like any other 18-year old, but he protects Iris and loves her fiercely, which is something I admire in an older brother. When his and Iris's father has to leave for a witch hunting job, he puts Knox in charge which makes him responsible for Iris and the decisions that he has to make for the Hollywood witch hunters. With all this responsibility, he has to step up and make the hard choices while also trying to give Iris the opportunities to advance as a witch hunter since he's fully aware of the crap she has to go through as the only female witch hunter.

Arlo. Out of all the YA I've read in my life, I don't think I've ever encountered a character quite like Arlo. For the closest comparison that I could think of, Arlo is similar to Simon Lewis from The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. Arlo is nerdy (in the best kind of way), easy-going, open, and kind. He is one of the two love interests in this story that is brand new to the witch hunting world. He was found by the witch hunters in San Francisco and because he had no idea he was a witch hunter, they decided to send him Hollywood since the witch hunters in Hollywood have a better training facility and program for him. Immediately upon arrival, something sparks between Iris and Arlo. He's extremely friendly and curious about the world that Iris lives in and it's her job to help and guide him through what the witch hunters do and the rules that are set. As the story goes, him and Iris have an interesting relationship that gets complicated because certain people enter the story (aka Silos and Belinda).

Silos. OK, this guy is a YA character that I would love to meet in real life. He's from Scotland (*swoons*) and his role in this story is rather interesting since he is the other love interest and he shares the same strange dreams as Iris, which draws them together. Silos is extremely good looking but mysterious as he enters Iris's life, which complicates her feelings for Arlo. There are multiple things that occur between Iris and Silos that bring them closer together but there are also instances where, as the reader, you know that there's something not quite right about him and that he's keeping something from Iris. At the end of the novel, it made it very hard to pick between Silos and Arlo because Silos starts to really care for Iris, which makes him even more swoon worthy (besides his Scottish accent).

Belinda. In the witch hunter world (well, at least in Hollywood), Belinda is the witch that you wouldn't want to mess with. The books start off with a story about Belinda and how the witches were all cursed by her; in order for her to stay young and beautiful, Belinda takes the lives of young women who fit the profile of a stuck-up rich girl. And because of this, Belinda placed a curse on all the witches in Hollywood that forces them to take these types of lives in order to survive. In the beginning, things are black and white: witches are bad and witch hunters kill them. There are deaths that begin to occur in this story, and Iris immediately believes that Belinda is to blame since she's the leader of the witches and the first death to occur was a very high profile actress. But as the story continues, we get to see a different side of Belinda and this upsets Iris because, first, she gets jealous when Belinda meets Arlo and things happen between them, and two, Iris has been told to believe that all witches are bad, especially Belinda--so it's hard for Iris to change her opinion about her. Belinda plays a significant role in this story and especially in the ending. I enjoyed this character and can't wait to see what she's going to do in the next book.

I know that a lot of readers are sick of books with love triangles, but I assure you, this love triangle isn't crazy intense like Bella, Edward, and Jacob status; this book keeps most of the focus on the deaths that are occurring in Hollywood and how Iris, the other witch hunters, and some unlikely allies solve this mystery.

Now, in this book, there are different types of witches! Valerie did an amazing job creating and making up different classifications of witches instead of just saying that a witch does magic.

1. Ethas witch has access to elemental spells such as fire, water, air and earth. 
2. Matas witch has access to spells that can summon animals or insects.
3. Protas witch has access to telepathic and telekinetic spells.

At the end, Valerie dropped a couple cliff-hanger bombs for us.

One of the cliff-hangers got me like...

and another cliffhanger got me like.....

and now, this is me dying to read the next book

I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, VAL!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and gave it 5 out of 5 stars because this is Val's first novel and for a first novel, this one was packed with a little bit of everything and leaves you wanting to know what's going to happen next for Iris and the other characters! I think Val created an great, new-take on the world with witches and witch hunters, and I really liked how this novel is a diverse YA, because many readers these days have troubling relating to a protagonist and connecting with the story on a different level, but this novel is something that everyone can relate to and enjoy fully.

Here's the *super* shortened version of what goes on in this book:

• Fast-paced 
• Fun(ny)
• Variety of interesting characters 
• Not-too-complicated love triangle
• Kick-ass, Latina heroine
• New take on witches (Ethas, Matas, Protas)
• Plot twists

On a side note, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Valerie when she came down for the YA Book Bash and she was an awesome host! You guys, she's honestly so so kind and super sweet and it would amazing if you guys check her out via social media (in the "About Valerie" section at the top) and buy her book online!

"P.S. I Still Love You"

My rating: ★★★★☆

Author: Jenny Han

Series: Book #2 ("To All The Boys I've Loved Before" series)

Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult

Page Count: 352 (Hardcover)

Release Date: May 26th, 2015

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Places to order:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Book Depository
Chapters Indigo
Target

Synopsis:

Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter.

She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever.

When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?

In this charming and heartfelt sequel to the New York Times bestseller To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, we see first love through the eyes of the unforgettable Lara Jean. Love is never easy, but maybe that’s part of makes it so amazing.

My review:

This first half of my review will be *SPOILER FREE*, then the other half will contain spoilers (i'll notify when that will happen)

I have to admit, the first half of this book was slow, but I enjoyed how Jenny introduced the readers more to the Korean side of Lara Jean and the rest of the Song sisters as well as getting to meet other family relatives. Since I am Korean myself, I felt more connected to the story and the characters because Jenny talks about Korean New Year's and the traditions that take place (i.e. clothing, meaning, food). I also think this is really important for the readers to read about different cultures (for example, Korean culture in this series) because it shows that this book/series is considered "Diverse YA" and that's something that the YA community needs more of and I'm so so glad that Jenny was able to contribute to this new trend that we want to keep evolving and growing.

Another aspect of this book that I felt was important (-ish) to have was the world around Lara Jean and how she's growing up which means that she has to think about college, internships/jobs, and finishing high school, but Jenny wrote the story in a way that didn't make all of those outside factors feel overwhelming and make it feel like the central part of the story.

This book has new characters that play important roles in Lara Jean's life and old ones that are still involved in the story but not as much like in the first book (Margot and Josh), which is something I like in sequels or continuations. We get to see more Kitty (Margot and Lara Jean's youngest, feistiest sister) and meet a new character named Stormy, who lives in a retirement home that Lara Jean will meet and grow close to.

Onto Lara Jean.

Lara Jean Song Covey is the same as ever: super awkward, asks a lot of questions, extreme baker  and hopeless romantic. She finally decides that she wants to be with Peter and not Josh (her next door neighbor that she was in love with in the first book) at the end of "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" (at least from what I remember) and now, she's ready to dive into a relationship with Peter Kavinsky--aka total heartthrob and the boy she pretended to be dating in the first book. Well, maybe she's ready....

There were multiple times when I rooted for Lara Jean, but then with of the other times, I felt that she was acting childish and stubborn and defensive. But to be fair, those characteristics revolve around Lara Jean being extremely careful with her heart since she's never really dated anyone before and that she's terrified of getting her heart broken. One of the things I was a little disappointed about was how Lara Jean didn't really grow as a character; through most of the book, she had really bad trust issues with Peter (about certain things I won't say because spoilers) and kept making assumptions without getting all the facts/listening to him. But you still love her awkwardness and inability to think sanely when she's with Peter.

Now Peter Kavinsky.

He's still as charming and hot as ever, but this time, he's giving LJ a run for her money. He and LJ get serious in this book, since they're no longer pretending to be in a relationship, but what he doesn't really understand is the fact that LJ is going doubt or look for the worst possible things/outcomes of their relationship since she 1) doesn't want her heart broken and 2) has never been in a real relationship before, which scares the hell out of (because she doesn't want to lose him/feel inexperienced or lower to Genevieve since she was with him before LJ).

Hellooo John Ambrose McClaren.

John ("Johnny") appeared in the first book for a short hot second when LJ was at the Model UN event and saw him there (but didn't go up and say hi to him or anything). After that, John finally gets her love letter in the mail and now, LJ is all he's thinking about. He was Peter's best friend in middle school before he moved and was the kid that was "second" to Peter. He's sweet and awkward (not as much as LJ) and kind to LJ when he comes back, but then figures out that she and Peter were together. I liked how when he wasn't blatantly trying to get with LJ; he was polite and stuck by her side as a friend and never tried to make a move on her (which was very gentleman-like if I do say so myself). He's a great character to have in this story and because he was very different from Peter, I liked how LJ was when she was with him.

And finally we have KITTY.

God, I loved Kitty in this book. As the reader, you get to see more of her in this book and how she has grown as a character (unlike LJ) and how she's grown-up a little since TATBILB. Again, she is sneaky and very straightforward and strong headed, but she still has a soft side, and I also think it's good for her to watch how Margot and LJ handle their lives as teenagers so that she could learn from them (especially about love) when she grows older. Her role in this book has definitely increased and becomes a more involved character (unlike the first book where I feel like Margot was more involved).

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

*PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK*

Okay, let's get to the specifics.

When the end revealed how Genevieve's father was cheating on his wife/her mom with an 18-year old, I honestly felt bad for her; I knew that she was going through something really bad and but I was getting a little annoyed that LJ was so freakin' oblivious and didn't catch on that something was OBVIOUSLY wrong or upsetting her, and she should have trusted Peter a little bit more when he said he couldn't tell her what Genevieve's secret was (and it was a huge, personal secret)--granted, he should have told LJ the second he figured out that it was Genevieve who sent that hot tub video to "Anonybitch" since they made the contract saying that they wouldn't lie to each other--but LJ should have trusted him when it came to Genevieve...

I loved John because when I read the part where he confessed to LJ that he was planning to ask her to the dance in 8th grade, I almost fell out of my chair from feels. HE LIKED HER at the same time when SHE LIKED HIM. I was actually hoping that the end would have LJ with John and Genevieve with Peter because LJ could have easily been happy with John and he would, for damn sure, have tried to make her the happiest girl in the world. The part when he gave her the snow globe made my heart burst. *sighs* Also, I only say that I would have approved of Peter and Genevieve because he does know a lot about her family enough for Genevieve to turn to him since she couldn't talk to anyone else. But I guess I'm glad that LJ and Peter got together in the end, but I feel so SAD for John since he truly loved LJ. *cue deep sigh*

About the ending, I don't like how it ended so abruptly; when John came to see LJ at her school to give her her birthday gift, I was like, "YASSS I'm ready to ship LJ and John together." But then Peter comes out of NOWHERE and is like, "Oh, here, you can have the necklace back even though I was a total ass for taking it back. Now let's get back together." UGH that part didn't work for me at all... and then two pages later, LJ tells John that she wants to get back together with Peter and then *BOOM* they're back together and the book ends....

Like, wait... she IMMEDIATELY takes back Peter even though LJ is clearly leading John on and he even showed/proved to her that he wanted to really be with her. AND he doesn't have any baggage (*cough cough* ex-girlfriends *cough cough* Genevieve) and has been nothing but honest and helpful and supportive to her.

Yes, I totally agree that Peter is charming and caring and sexy and all, but he lied to her about knowing that Genevieve sent the video and that he couldn't have been more honest with LJ about Genevieve (i.e. telling LJ AHEAD OF TIME that he would be seeing Genevieve because she was suffering or alone). LJ probably wouldn't have liked the idea of that either, but at least she trust Peter more since he would have been more honest with her (if you catch my drift).

Also, I love Stormy in this book! She was a great add-in character who's connected with LJ (because she needed a job so she works at the retirement home) and John since she's his great-grandmother (by the way, I TOTALLY CALLED IT in the beginning when Stormy was trying to set LJ up with her grandson hehehe). She's a sassy, old woman who gives LJ advice about boys since Stormy has had her share of boyfriends when she was young and is a different adult figure that LJ looks up to and enjoys talking with her.

Overall, I really did enjoy this book and I think Jenny's writing, plot, and feels for these two boys make up for the things that I didn't really like and it breaks my heart that there won't be a third book since this was a duology, but I'm satisfied (-ish) with LJ's story ending here. ♥

That's it for this review and I hope you all enjoyed it! I would love to hear your thoughts on "P.S. I Still Love You" and if you either felt the same or differently than I did! :)

~Whitney Lauren

"Hello, I Love You"

My rating: ★★★★☆

Author: Katie M. Stout

Series: Stand-alone

Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Music, Travel, Fiction, Young Adult

Page Count: 304 (Hardcover)

Release Date: June 9th, 2015

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Hardcover: 978-1-250-05259-9

Places to order:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Book Depository
Booksamillion
Indiebound

About Katie:

I'm from Atlanta, Georgia, but I have a passion for travel, which has taken me all over the world. I've lived in Thailand and England, and I've visited five continents. I love Southern sweet tea and English sticky toffee pudding, and I work in social media and marketing for a Christian charity.

I wrote this book called HELLO, I LOVE YOU, which is my YA debut and will be released in 2015 by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's. It's about cute boys, sassy girls, and K-pop, and it was described by one reader as "the country, Asian, YA pop version of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE," which sounds about right to me. I'm excited to get to share it with readers!

Website // Twitter // Instagram // Tumblr // Pinterest // Goodreads



Synopsis:
A teen escapes to a boarding school abroad and falls for a Korean pop star in this fun and fresh romantic novel in the vein of Anna and the French Kiss.

Grace Wilde is running—from the multi-million dollar mansion her record producer father bought, the famous older brother who’s topped the country music charts five years in a row, and the mother who blames her for her brother’s breakdown. Grace escapes to the farthest place from home she can think of, a boarding school in Korea, hoping for a fresh start.

She wants nothing to do with music, but when her roommate Sophie’s twin brother Jason turns out to be the newest Korean pop music superstar, Grace is thrust back into the world of fame. She can't stand Jason, whose celebrity status is only outmatched by his oversized ego, but they form a tenuous alliance for the sake of her friendship with Sophie. As the months go by and Grace adjusts to her new life in Korea, even she can't deny the sparks flying between her and the KPOP idol.

Soon, Grace realizes that her feelings for Jason threaten her promise to herself that she'll leave behind the music industry that destroyed her family. But can Grace ignore her attraction to Jason and her undeniable pull of the music she was born to write? Sweet, fun, and romantic, this young adult novel explores what it means to experience first love and discover who you really are in the process.

My review:

Thank you to Michelle Cashman and St. Martin's Griffin for a finalized copy of this novel in advance in exchange for an honest *non-spoiler* review.

Stout delivers a debut that will instantly have you packing your bags for South Korea to look for your own musical heartthrob and to get a taste of a different culture. This novel pulls on the heartstrings of family, unexpected first love, and learning to heal from the past to move to a better future.

When I first heard about this novel, I was immediately intrigued by the idea of South Korea being the main focus/setting in a young adult (YA) novel, because it's something new that most YA novels don't have. I, myself, am Korean but have never been to South Korea, nor know enough of the language to consider myself fluent. It's fun to see new diverse YA out in the world because it's fascinating to read about different cultures and characters with different ethnicities because it makes the story richer and full of life.

The main character, Grace Wilde, starts off in this book practically running away from her hometown in Nashville, Tennessee to an international boarding school in South Korea to escape from her family and some sort of conflict that she had with her brother--and famous country singer--Nathan Cross. She travels to South Korea essentially with no knowledge of the language, culture, people, and what she plans to do after her graduates--well, that's if she is able to pass her tough classes. But with the help of a new, bubbly roommate and her twin brother, Grace's rough transition begins to take a whole different turn.

Sophie Bae is Grace's roommate and constant companion when she first arrives at the Korean School of Foreign Studies. She is the type of friend that I would love to have because she immediately welcomes Grace to this foreign country by staying by her side and taking her under her wing. Sophie is sweet, dependable, and unafraid to be adventurous, especially when it comes to trying new things. As a character, Stout has done a great job of writing Sophie as the roommate/best friend, because the truth is that when you get a roommate, you have no idea what to expect and sometimes, you and your roommate aren't going to agree on certain things; this aspect makes this story much more believable and realistic.

Jason Bae. *sighs* He is Sophie's twin brother who also happens to be part of a KPOP (Korean pop music) group called "Eden" with two other band members Tae Hwa and Yoon Jae. Jason likes to wear skinny jeans, leather jackets, and secretly likes to play old school American rock music. In the beginning, he's an extremely tense character that doesn't reveal much to us, as the readers, and to Grace. As the story progresses, there's this tug-of-war thing that he has with Grace because they both start to fall for each other, but they both have reasons and secrets that keep them from trying to admit it to one another.

In the beginning half of the book, certain conversations or situations between characters seemed a little choppy or awkward, and there were times when Grace acted a little out of character too suddenly after an event has happened. Also, I feel like there were one-too many back-and-forth emotions/actions whenever she interact with Jason (i.e. Grace will want to be with him and then Jason starts to show interest, but then Grace will immediately shut down on him and he's left confused). This happens a couple times in the book and gets me a little confused of her actions and the way that she responds to Jason (this was the only reason why I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars). But later on, it was nice to see Grace grow and heal, especially when she has to deal with her past and confront her problems head-on.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this debut, and the ending was the cutest thing that made my heart swell up like a bright pink hot air balloon. As I got deeper into the story, I love love LOVE how Stout weaved in an appropriate amount of Korean culture and language (food, greetings, etc.) into this book to make it a great learning experience (or I guess, re-learning experience in my case) for me, as the reader. The storyline was intriguing and charming, yet had dark undertones that I didn't really expect at the end (thanks for making me cry, Katie...), which makes this a pretty great contemporary debut novel. I definitely wish that there was a sequel or a companion book from Sophie's POV, but alas, we'll have to wait to see what Stout has in store for us in her future novels!

~Whitney Lauren