Book ♥ Soulmates

Review: The World Without A Future

Title: The World Without a Future
Author: Nazarea Andrews
Publication: 2013
Reviewed by: Stephanie
Rating: 4 stars
Reason for Reviewing: Ebook provided in exchange for an honest review.

She was born the day the world ended…

Nurrin has lived her entire life with zombies—trapped behind walls meant to keep them safe. She’s mostly happy there. But when a zombie horde breach the walls of her Haven, she has to trust her brother, Collin, and his best friend to keep her alive.

He just wants his past to die…

Finn O’Malley has given up on voicing warnings that are ignored. No one cares that the zombies are changing. Now all that matters is keeping Collin and Nurrin safe from what’s outside the walls of a Haven. But when Nurrin’s best friend picks up a contact infection, he agrees to get the medicine needed to save his life. Forced together, relying on each other in a strange Haven, zombies aren’t the most dangerous thing they’re facing.

In their world, only one thing remains true: everything ends in blood.

This New Adult Zombie Dystopian story had me at the edge of my seat page after page. There are so many emotions and thoughts running through my mind right now about what I just read. Just wow...where to start? This world that the author, Nazarea Andrews, created is extremely frightening with the infected hordes of zombies taking over most of the world except gated communities called Havens. One by one these Havens get breached by these zombie hordes and humans are either infected or slaughtered. The way these zombies are described, from the way they move and scream, paints such a vivid gruesome picture. Instantly, I was transformed within these pages walking along side the characters and so fearful of what would happen next.

Let’s talk about the two main characters Nurrin aka "Ren" and Finn O’Malley. Nurrin is a beautiful, sassy, tough, young woman who is considered one of the “first” as she was born the day the zombie apocalypse world started. This makes her extremely sought after by the Order which is an organization who believes that sacrificing the first borns as tribute will bring about less zombie attacks. Yeah, a twisted way of thinking, but in this world nothing seems moral anymore. On that note, enter the extremely handsome, cocky, hot tempered Finn O’ Malley. He oozes sex and mystery which is very intriguing especially to Nurrin. These two characters have such great, complicated chemistry with each other. It’s obvious they want to jump each others bones, but they just can’t stand each other. Definitely a lot of teasing going on in this story, lol.

After I read the whole book, I just sat there and let it all truly sink in. I had so many mixed emotions about how the story ended. I kept thinking to myself, hmmm, when will the author start wrapping this book up because I still have so many questions that need answering. The ending leaves you hanging from the cliff...literally! Do keep in mind that this is the first book in the series so answers should be revealed in the following books. *wink* With all that being said, I really enjoyed this page turning fright fest. The steamy sex scenes almost made me forget that flesh eating zombie hordes are hiding in the shadows. In all, a great read if you enjoy zombies, horror, action, drama, sex, and fast cars. I can’t wait for book two! I need book two!!! *already twitching with zombie withdrawals* No pressure Ms. Nazarea Andrews. Haha.

Review: The Cutting Room Floor

Title: The Cutting Room Floor
Author: Dawn Klehr
Publication: October 8, 2013 by Flux
Reviewed by: Taryn
Rating: 4 stars
Reason for Reviewing: Ebook provided in exchange for an honest review.

Behind-the-scenes secrets could turn deadly for Desmond and Riley

Life in the Heights has never been easy for seventeen-year-old Riley Frost, but when she's publicly dumped and outed at the same time, she becomes an immediate social outcast at her high school. So Riley swears off romance and throws herself into solving the shocking murder of her favorite teacher, Ms. Dunn.

Riley turns to her best friend, budding filmmaker Desmond Brandt, for help. What she doesn't know is that Dez has been secretly directing her life, blackmailing her friends, and hoping his manipulations will make her love him. When his schemes go too far, Dez's web of lies threatens to destroy both of their lives.

“If I knew then what I know now, I never would’ve sent that text. I wouldn’t have done a lot of things. Yeah, if my life were a movie, I’d go back and edit out all the bad stuff. Leave it all on the cutting room floor.

But I can’t. And now I will have to pay.

Big time.”
~Dez, p. 7 of The Cutting Room Floor

Dez and Riley grew up as next door neighbors in the Heights, and they’ve always been close friends. But Dez secretly loves Riley. In fact, it’s more like an obsession. Dez goes to great lengths to interfere with Riley’s love life behind the scenes in the hopes that they end up together. But the problem is that Riley only sees him as a friend. She still has feelings for her ex, Emma, even though Emma outed her to the school and sent her to “social death row”. Tori, mean girl and mayor’s daughter, makes Riley’s life miserable as much as possible and teachers ingore the verbal abuse she endures.

The only teacher that Riley has ever trusted and truly connected with, Mrs. Dunn, was brutally murdered inside the school. Riley starts investigating the circumstances surrounding Mrs. Dunn’s death and makes some shocking discoveries that make her start questioning who she can really trust. She also discovers how Mrs. Dunn was connected to the mayor, which causes her to dig even further for clues and attempt to be friendly with Tori in order to gather more evidence.

The Cutting Room Floor was an intriguing, suspenseful read that kept me entertained as the clues unraveled and multiple characters became suspects. I really enjoyed the interesting use of the filmmaking theme--many scenes were written as if you’re seeing through the eyes of a film director. Flashback sequences were included frequently to reveal characters’ backstories. Also, the point of view switched back and forth between Dez and Riley, which kept things interesting and moved the plot along. There were a lot of secondary characters to keep track of, but Stella really stood out as someone who was a great friend to Riley and who accepted her for who she was. While some of the characters seemed a bit over the top, Stella seemed pretty normal and believable.

As a librarian, I think it has high teen appeal with its themes of bullying, self-discovery, and pursuing your passion. But older readers looking for a suspenseful thriller will also find something to enjoy.

Blast: Ixeos (Darian's War)

After the decisive Battle of La Defense, Darian and the rebellion try to cope with the loss of Landon and with his warning: It won't be as easy as you think. With the transporter under outsider control, and all the slaves and rebels willing to fight, Darian should be able to win. But the Firsts seem to have eyes and ears everywhere, and they have weapons and capabilities no one dreamed of. How can Darian wrap up a global war without destroying the planet the humans will need to rebuild their lives?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born and raised in Rockledge, Florida, Jennings spent her early years reading anything she could get her hands on, when she wasn’t spending time in and on the water. She won a prize in the 6th grade for her science fiction stories.

Jennings attended the University of the South and the University of Tampa, graduating with a B.A. in Political Science, and almost enough credits for B.A.s in both English and History. She spent time over the years doing various kinds of script doctoring, business writing, editing, and teaching writing, but mostly having and raising her family, homeschooling her children, owning and running a business with her husband, and starting a non-profit to Uganda.

Thanks to a crazy idea called NaNoWriMo Jennings got back into creative writing in 2011 and hasn’t stopped since. She’s written four novels and a screenplay in less than a year, with more ideas on the drawing board. She currently lives in North Carolina with her husband, also a writer, and two children, and travels extensively.

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Review: Gentlemen Prefer Mischief

Title: Gentlemen Prefer Mischief
Author: Emily Greenwood
Publication: December 3, 2013 by Sourcebooks Casablanca
Reviewed by: Taryn
Rating: 4 stars
Reason for Reviewing: Ebook provided in exchange for an honest review.

It's going to take a dash of mischief to bring these two together…

If it hadn’t been for the haunted woods, Lily Teagarden would never have spoken to her neighbor, Viscount Roxham. Known to the fashionable world as Lord Perfect, to Lily he’s a man she can never respect…and the careless rogue who broke her fledgling heart. But sightings of eerie lights among his trees are causing her trouble, and she needs his help.

Intrigued by this prim beauty who was once an ugly duckling, Roxham agrees to investigate, though hardly has he begun when she mysteriously undermines his efforts. The mischief she throws in his path awakens his sleeping heart, just as his touch stirs a passion she can’t accept. But Roxham is the last man to whom Lily would surrender, and it’s going to take everything he’s got to win her love.

Lily Teagarden is a serious, orderly, and restrained young lady. She has always been the responsible and dependable one in her family out of necessity. Her neighbor, Viscount Roxham (Hal), is quite the opposite. Known as “Lord Perfect,” Hal is charming and carefree with a scandalous reputation. Lily hasn’t seen Hal in a very long time. She’s still embarrassed that he caught her sneaking around in his bushes years ago, drawing pictures of him and writing about him in her journal. In fact, he stole her journal and she desperately wants to get it back now. When he returns home, she visits him to inform him of what’s happening in Mayfield Woods. Strange lights have been seen and now rumors are circulating about a Wood Fiend. Lily can’t selll her knitted shawls because people believe the sheeps have been possessed, and she needs the money in order to open up a school for girls in the village. She asks Hal to step in and clear up all this Wood Fiend nonsense.

Gentlemen Prefer Mischief is the second novel in Emily Greenwood’s Mischief series. I am actually somewhat new to reading historical romances set in Regency England, so I was excited to give this one a try. I was definitely not disappointed!

I really enjoyed the opposites-attract romance between two contrasting personalities. Hal was able to bring out Lily’s passionate side and get her to let loose a little. And once Lily got to know Hal a bit better, she realized that he wasn’t as shallow as she once thought. While their physical attraction was scorching hot, they also fell in love with each other more and more deeply, no matter how hard they tried to fight it. There were plenty of playful moments in which Hal and Lily stole the journal back and forth from one another. It was fun to read excerpts from the journal that Hal decoded.

My one minor complaint is that I think there was a little too much information included about the secondary characters and their relationships. I think it distracted a bit too much from the the main plot. But overall, I enjoyed the novel and raced through it.

If you like sexy and enchanting historical romances, look no further than Emily Greenwood’s novels. Gentlemen Prefer Mischief is a fun read, and I agree with Greenwood that “romance is the chocolate of literature”!