Starcrossd by Josephine Angelini

I would first like to congratulate Josephine on her debut novel STARCROSSED, absolutely amazing and above all captivating.

The beginning of STARCROSSED is completely different from any of the other books-the anger that you feel from Helen and Lucas is raw and unrelenting. Its pretty amazing that their anger is so intense that it drives them insane when they are in close proximity that it actually sends them into the need to kill. As the book says "blood for blood"

When we first meet Helen, she comes across as this shy young woman that is so afraid of her gifts that she slouches to keep herself from being protected. She also fears her gifts and has come to believe over  the years that if she kept them hidden, doesn't use them then she will not become the monster she knows herself to be. As the story continues and the "feud" between Helen and the Delos family come to end we see her take an entire 180 degree turn, she embraces who she is as a person and no longer sees her gifts as a curse but as a part of her. Lucas also helps her realize that she doesn't need to hide herself from the world, she isn't the monster she's believed she was but just a normal (as normal as Scion) can be.

Her friendship with Claire is unique in its way. Helen is driven by the need to keep her in the dark for her protection but what she doesn't know is that in a way Claire has been protecting her for some years. Claire is the complete opposite of Helen, almost her ying to Helen's yang. I feel that Claire and Helen are more than best friends and almost like sisters just from different parents.
We also see how their friendship has its ups and downs but no matter what happens they are there for each other.

Helen's father is the most important person to her. She keeps in the dark about who she really is but when danger comes knocking and it threatens her father's safety, she makes sure that he is protected above anything else before she will allow protection for herself. Helen believes that her father was hurt many years ago when her mother walked out them and she refuses to do the same thing to him, she believes that if she leaves him that it will hurt him tenfold and she isn't sure that he will recover from the loss, but I'm not sure I agree with her. Jerry is a pretty strong character and he has kept her safe for a number of years even with her gifts. She doesn't give him enough enough credit but hopefully he will be able to prove her wrong.

The Delos family comes across very humble. We see it from the beginning when the anger is all consuming but when they discover what Helen is they go out of their to protect her. As the story continues we see how they willing accept her into their life at home and Noel is almost like a mother figure to her. The family put themselves at great risk by protecting her which again points out for me that family is important and protecting each other no matter which House they come from in a way everyone is family.

I would just like to make a reference to the book, there is the mention of the Trojan War and how it came to be that Helen of Troy left her husband as she had fallen in love with Prince Paris. There is also another mention in the book that they do not want to start another war. I had my suspicions and thankfully they where answered so it leaves me wondering what will happen next.

Near the end of the book a strange woman joins us and for the life of me I can't seem to trust her the way the majority of the characters do, she has an agenda and for her to lie so convincingly that no one picks me up actually scares me. To ruin 2 lives is so not cool in my book and I'm only hoping that together Helen and Cassandra can bring this woman down on her knees and make her pay for what she done.

I'm going to end her because I'm pretty sure that I can ramble on and ruin the book for those who have not yet read STARCROSSED.

Again congratulations to Josephine. I absolutely loved your debut book. Everyone will be influenced to pick up a copy to see why I am so enthralled in STARCROSSED :)

Happy Reading :)

Gillian
xxx

Exclusivebooks.com: STARCROSSED by Josephine Angelini

Everlasting my Alyson Noel

It has been a long wait for me, but well worth the wait.
I'm a huge IMMORTAL fan and when Alyson announced last year that EVERLASTING would be the final book in the Immortal series, I was both excited and devastated at the same time, but with every story it has to draw to a close or else it just looses the appeal and the storyline becomes repetitious. I'm upset to see the story close but excited at the prospect that finally Ever and Damen get the ending we've been hoping for you.

I'm going to start review off with the truth, I hid my book from my sister so I could read the final installment before her. I remember the first time I came across EVERMORE and it was by accident, Mandi couldn't help me decide if I should get the book or not so I figured it couldn't hurt and I have been hooked ever since.

From the moment I read the first page I was hooked and a bit scared to reach the final pages, would it be a happy ending or the worst ending leaving me in tears. Alyson has out done herself in EVERLASTING, it has been the one of the books that has answered all our questions and left us with nothing hanging at the end of the series. It was a clean ending with a few surprises thrown in.

I love Alyson threw in another twist to the Damen and Ever saga, and it had be a bit confused at the beginning but the time I had wrapped my head around it, I was hoping it would never end. It was interesting to see how Ever was given the choice of finding herself without Damen and it came across as a very difficult choice and I was surprised and impressed with the decision she made.

Alyson brought the previous 5 books into EVERLASTING where the answers had been written and we get to see how everyone is linked to each other. If I remember correctly everything started from a lifetime lived by all the main characters that left a ripple effect to expand over the many centuries.

I'm going to end my review here, because I have so many points i would like to share but they all run the risk of spoiling the final book. So my lips are sealed.

Happy Reading :)

Gillian
xxx

Exclusivebooks.com: Everlasting by Alyson Noel

Penitence by Jennifer Laurens

I throughly enjoyed the follow up to HEAVENLY and yet again my tissues came in handy while I was reading.
With the ending of HEAVENLY you are left wondering what happens to Zoe, did she die or was she brought back to the world of living or was her soul taken hell? PENITENCE answers most of your questions that you had at the end of HEAVENLY but I'm still hanging onto some unanswered questions.

We watched Zoe grow as a person in HEAVENLY but after her accident in PENITENCE she takes a huge growth spurt and learns to love the people around her no matter what and one of the lessons I was able to take away from the book that forgiveness can help the healing process. For example, Zoe forgave the Hank for the accident even though she was badly injured she felt that she was alive and what was the point of carrying anger when he might be feeling the feeling the guilt of his actions and if he wasn't it didn't phase her one bit.
I know from personal experience that sometimes forgiving can be hard but if it helps lift some of the weight off your shoulders why shouldn't we try it?

I also noticed a tiny change in Luke on how he was more present in the family life but still had his problems with drugs that he seemed to be trying to quit for the best of himself and his family. There wassomething that Jennifer pointed out to us in the book that when stress is present in an addict's life it's pretty easy to relapse to feel that slight release from the drama of their world and we see how Luke is trying to win the battle and how Zoe understands it but still wishes that her brother could stop for the sake ofhimself firstly and for the rest of the family considering what they have been through.

We also get to see a dark side to the story, that Jennifer mentioned in HEAVENLY and I found pretty fascinating how the evil was portrayed by a character we where slighly intoduced to in HEAVENLY and I must say he scared me. From the moment he came onto the scene i didn't trust him but Zoe seemed to at first but things clicked in her head with the help of Matthias :) We see how evil plays apart in all our lives but what I liked about the storyline is that Jennifer was able to makeit both frightening and realistic at the same time-I hope I don't sound crazy.

I better sign off before I ruin the entriebook *BLUSH*

Happy Reading :)

Gillian
xxx

Exclusivebooks.com Pentience by Lauren Kate

Jennifer Laurens Midsummer Blog Hop

Another amazing giveaway from Jennifer Laurens, please see below for details on the giveaway and then head over to her blog to enter: Jennifer Laurens Midsummer Blog Hop



"I love blog hops. They're a great way for me to meet new reader friends. There will be 8 winners here. Each one can choose between any of my books or swag as their prize.So, if you've been dying to read A Season of Eden or get your hands on a Heavenly Tshirt this is the giveaway for you!

To be considered in the drawing:

Post your prize of choice.

Follow on Facebook, Twitter and HERE ( links on side ) If you have reader friends you KNOW will love my books, swag and giveaways then send them here and tell them to enter. Make sure they tell me you sent them, and I'll give you extra entry points :)

EASY!

Winner will be drawn at the end of the HOP. Winners will be announced on Facebook, here and Twitter so check. I don't chase down winners.

Read and let read ~

Jennifer"

Good Luck :)

Happy Book Releas Day WITCHES OF EAST END and Melissa de la Cruz

"Freya, Ingrid and Joanna Beauchamp love their sleepy life in the East Hamptons. A new engagement, promotion at work, a happy home - its all going perfectly. And, to top it off, no one's come close to discovering the secret of what they can really do in hundreds of years. But throw a few accidental love potions in the mix the Beauchamp girls are going to need more than a broomstick to clean up this mess..."

I would like to wish both WITCHES OF EAST END and Melissa de la Cruz a very Happy Book Release Day, all all the luck on the shelves.

I'm pretty sure they will be hard to come by if Blue Bloods is anything to go by.