Review- The Marriage Mistake by Jennifer Probst

Summary-

Carina Conte has had a crush on her brother Michael’s best friend, Max Gray, since she was a teenager. Now she’s earned her MBA and come to work at Michael’s new venture, America’s fastest-growing bakery empire. But some things never change: her family still treats her like a child. With three drop-dead gorgeous siblings, she’s still the ugly duckling of the bunch. And Max, the company’s new CEO, still barely notices her.

Max knows Carina Conte is strictly off limits. But hot-blooded lust wins out at a conference when the two share a scorching one-night stand—and are busted by her mother! Now, forced by old-world Italian tradition into a marriage he’s not ready for, Max is miserable—and Carina is furious. Her new husband is about to realize that hell hath no fury like a woman transformed….


Review-

I was left feeling a little disappointed after reading The Marriage Trap but The Marriage Mistake has definitely changed things for me. In a good way of course. You can find my reviews of The Marriage Bargain and The Marriage Trap. It is not completely necessary to read this series in order. This book could stand well as a stand alone too but all the couples from the previous books make an appearance so it would be better if you read them in order.

The Marriage Mistake is the story of  Carina Conte, she is Michael's sister whom we'd met in the previous book. Carina has always had a crush on her brother Michael's best friend Max. She'd spent her teenage years pining after him and trying to catch his eye to no avail. Now after a few years she's accomplished and independent and still Max doesn't notice her.

Max has always know Carina was strictly off limits but when she reappears in his life after a few years he can't help noticing the changes in her and seeing her for the beautiful woman she's become. It was fun seeing Max trying to fight his attraction to Carina with no success whatsoever. The whole "Forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest" theory applied here.

Both Max and Carina were well defined characters. The romance between them was simply hot. Their sizzling chemistry came through the pages and I ate up every bit of it. Their banter was engaging and story moved smoothly from one point to another. It was a little bit unrealistic, the circumstances and conditions under which Max and Carina get married. But it IS fiction.

It was nice to see what was happening in the lives of Alexa and Nick and Michael and Maggie. We see a lot of the Conte clan and there is going to be a book called as The Marriage Merger which if my guess is correct, will be the story of Julietta and Sawyer who we got to meet in this book. The Marriage Mistake was really very good. If you're looking for a sigh worthy romance novel you should definitely read this.

 X 4.5

 Janhvi

Review- Ten things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski

Goodreads Summary:

2 girls + 3 guys + 1 house - parents = 10 things April and her friends did that they (definitely, maybe, probably) shouldn't have.

If given the opportunity, what sixteen-year-old wouldn't jump at the chance to move in with a friend and live parent-free? Although maybe "opportunity" isn't the right word, since April had to tell her dad a tiny little untruth to make it happen (see #1: "Lied to Our Parents"). But she and her housemate Vi are totally responsible and able to take care of themselves. How they ended up "Skipping School" (#3), "Throwing a Crazy Party" (#8), "Buying a Hot Tub" (#4), and, um, "Harboring a Fugitive" (#7) at all is kind of a mystery to them.

In this hilarious and bittersweet tale, Sarah Mlynowski mines the heart and mind of a girl on her own for the first time. To get through the year, April will have to juggle a love triangle, learn to do her own laundry, and accept that her carefully constructed world just might be falling apart . . . one thing-she-shouldn't-have-done at a time.

REVIEW:

April is named April because she was slated to be born in April, but was born in March. Her parents are divorced and she decides to stay with her dad while her brother, Matthew moves to France with their mom and step-dad. April's father remarries Penny, who decides to move to another city. April is not cool with it at all and is firm on staying in her home town at her friend Violet's place. This comes in perfect timing with Vi's mom moving elsewhere for a movie shoot. 
Just imagine the idea of spending the rest of your school year with your best friend with your parent's consent and having an entire place all to yourselves! Tempting, right? That is exactly what April and Vi have. They lie, make fake calls, fake email ids, fake pretences but they have a blast and make the most of their time alone and end up learning something. 
Soon, April and Vi's home alone scenario turns out to be a huge party involving almost half their school. Throw in April's boyfriend Noah, her not-so-sure crush Hudson, Vi's oh-I-don't-know-if-I-like-him guy and Hudson's brother Dean, April's second BFF Marissa and a stalkerish yet adorable neighbour Lucy and you have a full house full of fun! 
I really liked April as a character and she used her brain well by doing what she thought was right. Vi was fun to have around. She seemed a little crazy at first and I always thought that there was something off about her, but she was awesome and my suspicions were just that- suspicions. Marissa was also a really nice girl and so was Lucy. The mess that these girls create was mayhem in the most ridiculous way possible. 
The guys in the book- Noah, Dean and Hudson were funny and extremely adorable. They were each different in their own way and they were all cool. Each character has been written about in such a simple and realistic manner that it makes you want to be there with them. 
A teenage mess as I like to call it, Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) was- if I am to sum it all up in one word- FUN. I mean it when I say that I enjoyed reading EVERY page of it. It was a nice, light-hearted, cool and totally awesome read. Author Sarah Mlynowski's writing keeps you awake throughout the book and you end up laughing out loud. I had a blast reading this book and I couldn't help but wonder how awesome it would be to be in April or Vi's place. This was totally my type of book! 

REVIEW:

X 4

Sarika

Feature & Follow Friday #18

Feature and Follow is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read.

Today's question is:

Q: WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM BOOK BLOGGING THAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW BEFORE ABOUT THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY?

My answer:

I think I've just learned more about how the whole process of publishing takes place and how it requires a lot of time and patience. I've also seen how authors promote their books. Plus I didn't know as much about galleys and ARCs as I do now.

I would love to know your answer :)

Follow us and we'll follow back!

Happy Friday everybody! :)

Janhvi

Review- Lucid by Adrienne Stoltz and Ron Bass

Summary-

What if you could dream your way into a different life? What if you could choose to live that life forever?

Sloane and Maggie have never met. Sloane is a straight-A student with a big and loving family. Maggie lives a glamorously independent life as an up-and-coming actress in New York. The two girls couldn't be more different--except for one thing. They share a secret that they can't tell a soul. At night, they dream that they're each other.

The deeper they're pulled into the promise of their own lives, the more their worlds begin to blur dangerously together. Before long, Sloane and Maggie can no longer tell which life is real and which is just a dream. They realize that eventually they will have to choose one life to wake up to, or risk spiraling into insanity. But that means giving up one world, one love, and one self, forever.


Review-

I am completely at a loss how to best describe this book and what it got me feeling. I was fascinated by the whole concept of Lucid after reading its blurb and some fantastic reviews. The only way I can think of explaining it is that it was good in an Inception kind of a way, where you don't really understand what's happening but you still like it.

Sloane and Maggie are two girls with the same full name. They are as different as two girls can be with Maggie being dark haired and an actress who lives in New York and Sloane being a student with blonde hair and who goes to a high school in a small town. The only way they are connected to each other is through their dreams.

When Maggie falls asleep she dreams of Sloane's day and when Sloane falls asleep she dreams of Maggie's day. None of them really knows who is actually dreaming of who and which is real and which is just a figment of one's imagination. Its a secret they can't tell another soul because if one of them ever stopped dreaming of the other one of their lives would cease to exist or at least that is what they think.

But soon the lines between reality and dreams start getting blurred. Maggie starts falling in love with Andrew and Sloane is still getting over her loss of her best friend Bill while having mixed feelings for Gordy and James. Both of them were vulnerable in ways only they knew and even though I was rooting for a happy ending for at least one of them I knew it was going to be next to impossible.

Towards the end of the book we can see both of them spiraling towards insanity and it all gets extremely hard to keep up with. But still Lucid was a book which pulled you in and made you feel all the emotions Maggie and Sloane are going through. The writing style was just plain beautiful. I do have a theory on how I think the book ended but me saying it would just spoil things. I think everyone is just meant to come up with their own theories on the end of Lucid. It was a different book and if you're looking for an unusual read you should give Lucid a try.

 X 4

Janhvi

Review- Six Moon Summer by SM Reine

Goodreads summary:

Rylie's been bitten.

She's changing.

And now she has three months to find a cure before becoming a werewolf... forever.

Rylie Gresham hates everything about summer camp: the food, the fresh air, the dumb activities, and the other girls in her cabin. But the worst part is probably being bitten by a werewolf. Being a teenager is hard enough, but now she's craving raw flesh and struggles with uncontrollable anger. If she doesn't figure out a way to stop the transformation, then at the end of summer, her life is worse than over. She'll be a monster.

REVIEW:

Being a big fan of werewolves, I was pretty eager to get started with Six Moon Summer the moment I bought my Kindle copy of the book from Amazon.

Rylie's parents are about to legally finalize their divorce and decide to send their daughter to Camp Silver Creek for the summer. Reluctant to go, Rylie has absolutely no idea what awaits her at Camp. As a character, I found it both easy and difficult to relate to Rylie. She is a nice girl, though quite rebellious, which is understandable. What I really liked about her is that she maintains a journal. It was great to read some tiny snippets from her diary. She wanders alone in the forest and that's when she gets bitten by a werewolf. It was plain mesmerizing to read about her transformation and even the changes she starts noticing in herself after the bite. I especially appreciated the concept of keeping the change from man to wolf depending upon the phases of the moon, which made it so much more authentic, slightly creepy and beautiful, all at once. There's a complicated relationship between Rylie and werewolf hunter, Seth. I hope they both get their happily-ever-afters in the books to come. I also liked that the set-up was at Camp. I thought that made the story more believable and simple. My most favorite character, however, was the Silver Creek Camp Counselor, Louise. She was so sweet and supportive.

Six Moon Summer was a fascinating book, full of mystery and charm! I would definitely recommend it. I can hardly wait to get started with the next book in the Seasons Of The Moon series.  

RATING:

X 3 Sarika

Waiting On Wednesday #18

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

When You Were Here by Daisy Whitney

Publication Date: June 2013

Goodreads Summary:

When You Were Here, Lost in Translation meets Where She Went, is about an American teenager who travels from California to Tokyo to uncover the secrets surrounding the death of his mother, all while trying to both hold onto and let go of the girl he’s been in love with his whole life.

Wow! A lovely cover, a comparison to Where She Went, guy's point of view... Everything about When You Were Here seems perfect. I can't wait for this one. 

What are you waiting on?

Sarika

Teaser Tuesday #18

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's my teaser-

"It's amazing how you can say a lot of words that are all true, and completely obscure the truth at the same time. I was an expert at that. I spend my life spinning a web of half spoken truths; an armor weaved of words that do nothing but hide who I am."

-A Song For Julia by Charles Sheehan-Miles

Summary-

Everyone should have something to rebel against.

Crank Wilson left his South Boston home at sixteen to start a punk band and burn out his rage at the world. Six years later, he’s still at odds with his father, a Boston cop, and doesn’t ever speak to his mother. The only relationship that really matters is with his younger brother, but watching out for Sean can be a full-time job. The one thing Crank wants in life is to be left the hell alone to write his music and drive his band to success.

Julia Thompson left a secret behind in Beijing that exploded into scandal in Washington, DC, threatening her father's career and dominating her family's life. Now, in her senior year at Harvard, she's haunted by a voice from her past and refuses to ever lose control of her emotions again, especially when it comes to a guy. 

When Julia and Crank meet at an anti-war protest in Washington in the fall of 2002, the connection between them is so powerful it threatens to tear everything apart.

What's your teaser tuesday?

Janhvi