Pause Time

Thursday, September 3, 2015

[New Releases] September 2015

This is a monthly post that will be up the first Thursday of every month.
I'll be featuring books that are coming up in that time frame.
You'll be able to check out the titles, covers, genre and release date for each of them in the blog. If you want to find out more about any of the books, just click the title and you'll be redirected to the book's Goodreads page.

I'll feature mostly Young Adult & New Adult books, since that's the orientation of this blog, although I occasionally might feature some Adult books.

All the information is taken from Goodreads website and featured in this blog in a somewhat orderly fashion for your convenience.

September 1st

Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass #4) by Sarah J. Maas. Young Adult Fantasy.
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon. Young Adult Contemporary Romance.
Queen Song (Red Queen #0.5) by Victoria Aveyard. Young Adult Dystopian Fantasy.
The Copper Gauntlet (Magisterium #2) by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare. Middle Grade Fantasy.
Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between by Jennifer E. Smith. Young Adult Contemporary Romance.
The Fate of Ten (Lorien Legacies #6) by Pittacus Lore. Young Adult Sci-Fi.
Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman. Young Adult Historical Fiction.
Fire Walker (The Worldwalker Trilogy #2) by Josephine Angelini. Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy.
Cut Both Ways by Carrie Mesrobian. Young Adult Contemporary GLBT Romance.
Hunter (Hunter #1) by Mercedes Lackey. Young Adult Dystopian Fantasy.
A Curious Tale of the In-Between (Pram #1) by Lauren DeStefano. Middle Grade Paranormal Fantasy.
Your Voice Is All I Hear by Leah Scheier. Young Adult Contemporary Romance.
Shades of Doon (Doon #3) by Carey Corp & Lorie Langdon. Young Adult Fantasy.
Catacomb (Asylum #3) by Madeleine Roux. Young Adult Horror Fantasy.
Truest by Jackie Lee Sommers. Young Adult Contemporary Romance.
The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands. Middle Grade Historical Fantasy.
Anne & Henry by Dawn Ius. Young Adult Contemporary Romance.
Dream Things True by Mari Marquardt. Young Adult Contemporary Romance.
Infinite In Between by Carolyn Mackler. Young Adult Contemporary Romance.
The Wanderers by Kate Ormand. Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy.
The Shadow Behind the Stars by Rebecca Hahn. Young Adult Fantasy.
The Suffering (The Girl From the Well #2) by Rin Chupeco. Young Adult Horror.
The Fix by Natasha Sinel. Young Adult Contemporary.

September 3rd

The Secret Fire (The Alchemist Chronicles #1) by C. J. Daugherty & Carina Rozenfeld. Young Adult Fantasy.
September 8th

Dumplin' by Julie Murphy. Young Adult Contemporary Romance.
Sweet Temptation (The Sweet Trilogy #4) by Wendy Higgins. Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy.
Fans of the Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa. Young Adult Contemporary GLBT Romance
Stand-Off (Winger #2) by Andrew Smith. Young Adult Contemporary.
The One Thing by Merci Lyn Curtis. Young Adult Contemporary Romance.
The End Game by Kate McCarthy. New Adult Contemporary Romance.
Darken the Stars (Kricket #3) by Amy A. Bartol. Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy.
Serpentine (Kingdom of Xia #1) by Cindy Pon. Young Adult Fantasy.
The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz. Young Adult Historical Fiction.
Drowning Is Inevitable by Shalanda Stanley. Young Adult Contemporary.
Lessons in Falling by Diana Gallagher. Young Adult Contemporary.
September 10th

Paper Hearts (Hearts #2) by Claire Contreras. New Adult Contemporary Romance.

September 15th

Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales. Young Adult Contemporary Romance.
Dark Wild Night (Wild Seasons #3) by Christina Lauren. New Adult Contemporary Romance.
Ash & Bramble by Sarah Prineas. Young Adult Fantasy.
The Marvels by Brian Selznick. Middle Grade Historical Fiction.
The Fiery Trial (Tales From the Shadowhunter Academy #8) by Cassandra Clare & Maureen Johnson. Young Adult Urban Fantasy.
Lock & Mori (Lock & Mori #1) by Heather W. Petty. Young Adult Contemporary Mystery.
Mirrored by Alex Flinn. Young Adult Fantasy.
The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore. Young Adult Magical Realism.
The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen by Katherine Howe. Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy.
Movie Game by Michael Ebner. Young Adult Contemporary Romance.
The Affiliate (Ascension #1) by K. A. Linde. Young Adult Fantasy.

September 22nd

After You (Me Before You #2) by Jojo Moyes. Adult Contemporary Romance.
Library of Souls (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #3) by Ransom Riggs. Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy.
Walk on Earth a Stranger (The Gold Seer Trilogy #1) by Rae Carson. Young Adult Fantasy.
The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow. Young Adult Dystopia.
Blood and Salt (Blood and Salt #1) by Kim Liggett. Young Adult Horror.
What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler. Young Adult Contemporary Mystery.
Ungodly (Goddess War #3) by Kendare Blake. Young Adult Fantasy.
Beastly Bones (Jackaby #2) by William Ritter. Young Adult Historical Fiction.
Dreamland by Robert L. Anderson. Young Adult Fantasy.
I Crawl Through It by A. S. King. Young Adult Magical Realism.
This Monstrous Thing by Mackenzi Lee. Young Adult Sci-Fi Steampunk
Nightfall by Jake Halpern & Peter Kujawinski. Young Adult Paranormal Dystopia.
Never Never by Brianna Shrum. Young Adult Fantasy.
Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate. Middle Grade Fantasy.
The Unquiet by Mikaela Everett. Young Adult Dystopia.
Sound (Salvage #2) by Alexandra Duncan. Young Adult Sci-Fi.

September 29th

Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo. Young Adult Fantasy.
Forever With You (Wait For You #5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout. New Adult Contemporary Romance.
Menagerie (Menagerie #1) by Rachel Vincent. Young Adult Urban Fantasy.
Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics. Young Adult Historical Horror.
The Shrunken Head (The Curiosity House #1) by Lauren Oliver & H. G. Chester. Middle Grade Fantasy.
A Mad Zombie Party (White Rabbit Chronicles #4) by Gena Showalter. Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy.
Untwine by Edwidge Danticat. Young Adult Contemporary.

That's all I have for now.
If you find another title released this month, let me now in a comment and I'll add it to this list!

Love,

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

August 2015 Wrap-up!

August was a surprisingly good month for reading. I didn't think I would read as much as I did, since I spent most of my time going to doctor's appointments, physical therapy and sleeping like a bear. But I managed to finish every single book on my August TBR and I was able to even read some books I hadn't planned on reading this month.

Here's a recap of this month's reading and reviewing stats:

Books read: 18
Pages read: 6,545
Average rating (books read): 3.7/5
Titles read:

Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) by Sarah J. Maas
Red Blooded by Caitlin Sinead
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3) by Sarah J. Maas
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
Discovering Delilah (Harborside Nights #2) by Melissa Foster
The Kiss of Deception (The Remnant Chronicles #1) by Mary E. Pearson
A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1) by Sarah J. Maas
The Selection (The Selection #1) by Kiera Cass
The Elite (The Selection #2) by Kiera Cass
The One (The Selection #3) by Kiera Cass
The Heir (The Selection #4) by Kiera Cass
To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before #1) by Jenny Han
P.S. I Still Love You (To All the Boys I've Loved Before #2) by Jenny Han
Starcrossed (Starcrossed #1) by Josephine Angelini
Embers (The Wings of War #1) by Karen Ann Hopkins
Gaia (The Wings of War #2) by Karen Ann Hopkins
Guiding Lights by Jessica Florence

Reviews written: 19
Average rating (books reviewed): 3.8/5
Reviewed titles:

Top Books of the Month

And that was my August 2015 Wrap-up. I hope you all enjoyed this month on my blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Love,

Waiting on Wednesday [21]: Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming books we are looking forward to being released.

This week pick is:

Passenger

by Alexandra Bracken
Passenger #1
Expected Pub. Date: January 5th, 2016

Disney Hyperion

Young Adult Sci-Fi Fantasy

Premise:passage, n.
i. A brief section of music composed of a series of notes and flourishes.
ii. A journey by water; a voyage.
iii. The transition from one place to another, across space and time.
In one devastating night, violin prodigy Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Thrust into an unfamiliar world by a stranger with a dangerous agenda, Etta is certain of only one thing: she has traveled not just miles but years from home. And she’s inherited a legacy she knows nothing about from a family whose existence she’s never heard of. Until now.
Nicholas Carter is content with his life at sea, free from the Ironwoods—a powerful family in the colonies—and the servitude he’s known at their hands. But with the arrival of an unusual passenger on his ship comes the insistent pull of the past that he can’t escape and the family that won’t let him go so easily. Now the Ironwoods are searching for a stolen object of untold value, one they believe only Etta, Nicholas’ passenger, can find. In order to protect her, he must ensure she brings it back to them— whether she wants to or not.
Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by the traveler who will do anything to keep the object out of the Ironwoods’ grasp. But as they get closer to the truth of their search, and the deadly game the Ironwoods are playing, treacherous forces threaten to separate Etta not only from Nicholas but from her path home . . . forever.

Why am I waiting?

I absolutely loved The Darkest Minds Trilogy by Alexandra Bracken and I've been anticipating her next book for what seems like forever. I'm really excited about this one. I haven't read that many books about time-traveling, but I'm sure this one is going to be awesome! I can barely wait!

What do you think about this one?

I'd love to read your thoughts.

Leave me a link to your WoW in the comment section below.

If you follow me, let me know so I can follow you back :)

Love,

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

[Blog Tour] Guiding Lights by Jessica Florence (Review + Giveaway)

Guiding Lights by Jessica Florence

Published August 20th, 2015

New Adult Contemporary Romance

Premise:
He sings of suffering. His eyes hold the pain of living in sorrow.
The moment our gaze meets recognition flares within.
We are tortured souls drifting in a sea of darkness.
He knows I have secrets that I'll never tell.
I am numb
I am broken
I am dirty
I can never be the guiding light through the darkness he thinks I am.
I have forsaken my past, I rely on keeping myself shut off.
But he has secrets too, secrets that would destroy everything I have left.
I wish things were different, that maybe we could be each other's lifeline.
But destiny drags us down like an anchor.
The broken can only drift in the sea barely staying afloat.

Get your copy!

Review

My thoughts:

This is a beautiful story about two broken souls that recognize each other in the dark and together find their way to the light. The story is very gritty and powerful, it's a romance but it still has that darker quality of deep emotions that goes beyond the romantic relationship.

The book is written in first person, from Nera's point of view. Nera is twenty three but has experienced enough horrors for two lifetimes, and that has left her broken and afraid of trusting people. She feels the need to hide from life and for a while, Durness, Scotland has been the perfect hiding spot. There she works as a bartender in a pub called “Spurtle” which is own by Evan, and lives at a B&B owned by his wife, Aggie. Evan and Aggie are good people and have taken Nera in as a daughter. They really care for her and that warmth they bring to her life is exactly what Nera needs. I enjoyed their characters a lot and I think Nera deserved to have people like them in her life.

The thing about Nera's dark past is that you don't know right away what happened to her. You know she went through something horrible and since the very first page her past becomes the mystery you want to solve. I really liked this aspect of the book, it added suspense and allowed for a lot of character development for Nera.

One night, at the pub, a really handsome singer named Wolfe, takes the stage and bares his soul through his music. His voice and heart-felt lyrics strike a chord with Nera and she realizes she's found another broken soul. A little shaken up by his performance, Nera goes outside to regain her bearings and the singer goes after her to make sure she's okay. I really liked this first scene between them, it really showed the connection between since the very beginning.

Wolfe is a mysterious character, he has this kind of bad-boy vibe but he's also incredibly sweet to Nora and I really enjoyed their relationship, especially at the beginning when they were at such ease with each other. The connection they shared was pretty much instantaneous, but their relationship grows little by little throughout the book. The secrets Wolfe withholds from Nora are intense and I understood why he had trouble sharing them, but it drove me insane that he took so long to come clean when he was clearly willing to do just about anything to get through to her.

What I liked the most about Nera was that she was a bookworm. That made her more relatable to me and I giggled a lot when reading about her nerdy clothes and her fangirl-ish love for erotica authors. It was something I wouldn't have expected from her and that gave her a lot more dimension.

The thing that bothered me the most about this book was the accent. I get that it's supposed to be set in Scotland, but I think it would've been easier for me to get into the story if the dialogues weren't written with Scottish accent, it would've been enough if it just said the characters had an accent, but with everything written like that I had a really hard time trying to figure out what they were saying and that prevented me from fully immersing myself in the book.

Overall, I think this is a powerful story about allowing yourself to be happy even when things have been rough. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a darker contemporary romance, especially to people who enjoy accents and books set in Scotland, because if you're into that I'd bet that you would fall head over heels for Wolfe!

Rating:

Reaction:

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the author

Jessica Florence makes her home in Southwest Florida where she runs her own business, and of course writing! She one day after reading a book a day for a year just sat down and started writing, thus finding a new amazing hobby that she was looking for, for years, and that was also very therapeutic.

She spends her days reading, writing, watching TV, working, playing with her cute as hell baby, and black German Shepherd Rogue aka Rogue-i-bear, and of course tormenting her husband ;)

She also enjoys taking naps, bubble baths, eating pickles like candy, and having Harry Potter marathons.

Facebook | Twitter | Website

Don't forget to check out the rest of the tour stops for more reviews and amazing content!

Blog Tour Schedule

August 21

What Is That Book About - Guest Post

A Beautiful Book Blog - Excerpt

Books Unhinged - Review

August 22

For The Love of Fictional Worlds - Review

The Dark Realm - Excerpt

Lostin Ever After - Review

August 23

Coffee Books & Art - Excerpt

Textteaser - Review

August 24

The Divas Book Lounge Book Club - Review

Adventures in Writing - Excerpt

Works of Fiction - Review

August 25

flirty fiction blog - Review

Mischievous Reads - Playlist

Romance Obsessed Book Blog - Review

August 26

Greyland Reviews - Excerpt

Typical Distractions - Review

August 27

Roxy's Reviews - Excerpt

Sarah & Kirsty's Book Reviews - Excerpt

Evermore Books - Playlist

Resch Reads and Reviews - Review

August 28

FMR Book Grind - Review

JordansBookReviews - Excerpt

This Literary Life - Review

August 29

Kris & Vik Book Therapy Cafe - Review

Nicole's Book Musings - Excerpt

A girl and her books - Review

August 30

Lita's Book Blog - Review

Book-Lover - Excerpt

deal sharing aunt - Interview

The Book Hookup - Review

August 31

Oh My Growing TBR - Excerpt

Kitty Kats Crazy About Books - Review

September 1

Pause Time Reviews - Review

Alpha Book Club - Excerpt

Word Forward - Review

Love Us Some Books - Review

September 2

Mama She's Crazy About Books - Review

Pages Abound - Review

G & T Indié Cafe - Excerpt

Ashley Book Blog - Review

September 3

Cosying Up With Books - Excerpt

Between The Lines - Review

Book Lovers Obsession - Review

Once Upon a Book Blog - Review

2 Girls Who Love Books - Review

Top Ten Tuesday [18]: Ten Characters I Just Didn't Click With

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish.

Ten Characters I Just Didn't Click With

1) Eliza from One Night That Changes Everything by Lauren Barnholdt: She's probably my most hated main character that's ever been written. I read this book a long time ago, but it still infuriates me just thinking about it. Picture this: You're not having the best day, and anyone who would look at your face would notice that something is not quite right. A nice person would either leave you the heck alone or ask you if you want to talk about it depending on your personality, right? Well, so, your best friend comes up to you and says "Hi" and just stands there like she's waiting for something. So, thinking that she's waiting for your cue to ask you what's wrong, and being the polite person that you are, you say "Hi, how are you". But, she is not a normal decent person who answers "Fine, how are you? You seem a bit down". Instead she starts talking about her boyfriend and how he won't call her every night before going to bed, and she goes on and on about how terrible her life is (when it's really not) and then, when she finishes and you don't answer right away because you're too baffled by her attitude, she looks at you like you have just offended her deeply and says "Jeez, thanks for nothing. You could at least pretend that you care about what's happening to me". And then she just takes off without even asking you if you were okay. That's Eliza for you. Just uggh!

2) Remy from This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen: I couldn't stand her. She slept around without a single care about who she was hurting in the process. She would freak out whenever she didn't get her way and throw a temper tantrum every five seconds. I just couldn't connect with her at all.

3) America from The Selection series by Kiera Cass: The decision making, good God! It was awful! I just couldn't understand her train of thought, it drove me insane most of the time. I appreciated her having strong principles regarding certain topics, but then all of her values would go out the window when faced with the decision between Maxon and Aspen.

4) Rhine from Wither by Lauren DeStefano: I just didn't believe her. She kept saying she was determined to get away from Linden and back to her brother, but then I would find her looking deeply into his eyes like she had no memory of talking trash about him ten minutes ago. I can't really connect with a character I don't trust.

5) Helen from Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini: The too-perfect-type is definitely not one I enjoy. Helen was way too beautiful, too powerful, too everything... And the amount of self-pitying she did in that book was ridiculous! Oh, poor me, I'm so beautiful everyone hates me... come on!

6) Nora from Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick: This is another one of those "type characters". Very average, very annoying, very whinny. She's the kind of character that usually drives me insane because she just lets things happen to her, and doesn't do anything to make the situations better. She just complains and stands there expecting other people to fix everything for her. Nope, we are just not compatible.

7) Samantha from Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver: She wasn't that bad at the end, but I really struggled at first to find something in her that I could relate to. She was one of the mean girls at school and was very self-centered, vain and she didn't seem to care about the people she hurt as long as she came up on top. It's always hard for me to relate to the bullies in a story, it's like I understand that most of them have gone through hard stuff but I can't condone taking it out on others just so you can feel better with yourself.

8) Noel from Keep Holding On by Susane Colasanti: It really annoys me when the characters don't have a backbone, I might be a little spoiled though, because I've read so many book with amazing bad-ass characters that every time I encounter someone who's not willing to defend her/himself it really bugs. Noel took so much crap from everyone in this book and it took her a really long time to see that she didn't deserve to be treated so badly. And even when she understood that no one had the right to treat her like that, she still didn't stand up for herself.

9) Heather from Panic by Lauren Oliver: She wasn't that bad, but I struggled trying to understand her motivations. She enters the game "Panic" not because she wants to get away from her awful mother, or because she wants the money to go to college, but because her boyfriend broke up with her? What? How does one thing lead to the other, what's the logical connection between the two events? She confused me, and that's why we didn't click.

10) Margo from Paper Towns by John Green: Hold your horses! I love John Green and I enjoyed Paper Towns very much. But... I just didn't click with Margo, I didn't understand what was so especial about her, I just found her really self-centered and honestly kind of mean. I wouldn't have gone through all the trouble Q did to find her, not in a million years.

Which character you just couldn't connect with? Let me know in the comment section below!

Love,