Death, Doom, and Detention by Darynda Jones

Goodreads Blurb

The normal part of Lorelei MacAlister’s life didn’t just slip away quietly the day Jared Kovach came to town. Nope. The normal part of her life shattered. It exploded. It burst into a gazillion shards of fleeting light.

It went out with a bang.

Goodbye normal.

Hello dark and eerie.

While her best friend, Brooklyn, is focusing all of her energy on helping Lorelei hone her abilities, Lorelei is dealing with the reality that Satan’s second in command has taken up residence inside her body. Oh, and the fact that she has a crush on the Angel of Death. But what a beautiful death it is. If those weren’t bad enough, something sinister has come to town and it wants nothing more than to hear Lorelei’s dying breath as it strangles it out of her. Thank goodness the gang has a supernatural champion. But what happens when the only being who can save them switches sides midstream? How can a group of misfits capture one of the most powerful beings ever created? And will they find out how to bring Jared back to them before it’s too late?

I honestly think I've fallen in love with this series. Seriously! This is one of my favorite angel/demon stories! And that's a hard list to top.

Death, Doom, and Detention was a perfect sequel for me and I loved it (almost) as much as Death and the Girl Next Door! My only complaint was that there were a few crucial things to the plot at Lorelei didn't mention until, oh my, it came back to bit her in the butt. I reall wanted to strangle Lorelei for "forgetting" a few very important details.

Now the absolute best thing was Lorelei and her snark. She made me laugh out loud so many times, I think a few of my classmates may think I'm schizophrenic. (I may be exaggerating. Maybe) She was a hilarious character that definitely didn't seem like our typical (sometimes whiny) heroines. She was a lot more reluctant and a lot more wary than what you usually seein books and I definitely appreciated that!

The relationships between the characters were definitely a thing of fascination! There was definitely a ton of tension present and the way they all reacted to each other was fun to read about. You could just feel the animosity in the book's atmosphere and I definitely had to hand it to Darynda--she managed to write unique characters who both made you sit up straighter in shock and make you laugh out loud!

The plot was predictable in some parts, but was, for the most part, completely unexpected! Jones always manages to throw something right in your face once you think everything's fine and settled--I'm still deciding if I love it or hate it! 

Taking a usually overused paranormal element, Darynda Jones manages to write a completely unique story about a girl who's lost in her own way, an angel who's darker than he seems, and a prophecy that's scaring everyone and anyone. It seems like your typical story, but it's far from it!

Pages: 320

Genre: Paranormal

Series: Darklight #2

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Release Date: March 5, 2013

Rating: 4 stars

Blog Tour: Poison by Bridget Zinn

I'm thrilled to be part of the blog tour for POISON by Bridget Zinn. I found out about her parting a few months ago and I definitely cried some. She never got to experience the full author experience or meet her fans. So we're going to help her dream come true by telling you about the epicness of POISON. 

Review

Goodreads Blurb

Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means she’s the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom’s future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend.
But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart . . . misses.
Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game of hide-and-seek with the king’s army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At least she’s not alone. She’s armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and Fred, the charming adventurer she can’t stop thinking about. Kyra is determined to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?

This book was amazing and definitely different. Even before deciding I wanted to read it, I was told that it was a lighter read and more innocent, even with the potions and witchery and assassination attempts! Of course, I didn't quite believe them. But then, there was a pig. But then, it still wasn't quite enough to convince me. I'm sorry!

Because now, I totally get what they meant. This may be the genre where most books are bloody and deadly, but that definitely wasn't the case with Poison. It was more...deception than war, I guess. Does that make sense? Of course not. It's me we're talking about.

But all you need to know was that this was seriously adorable and amazing. And if that put you off (like it did a bit for me--I'm more of a suspicion and evil kind of girl...that sounded a bit sinister), take a chance! I was pleasantly surprised by how much I just adored this! It's sweet and innocent and SO REFRESHING. No matter how many times I say that, I think that's the most true it's ever been. I've been reading so many dark books, it's a bit of a relief to read something that's just fun!

The characters were wonderfully written as well! I loved Kyra who was such an...interesting character to read about. She was feisty and she was actually pretty indifferent and cold in the beginning story. She was willing to kill her best friend for her kingdom and that was pretty...sacrificial. Fred was seriously my favorite character in this book! He was the fun one who I'd associate with the pig, actually, not the wolf we meet him with. Also, I love their first meeting! Talk about hilarity!

I love the way this story was told! We start after the assassination attempt and as we go on, we read about Kyra's memories, so it was like reading two storylines at once--the time leading up to the assassination attempt, and the escape afterwards. Surprisingly, it wasn't choppy either, like I'd usually expect. The two stories fit together seamlessly and created an immensely enjoyable read!

The only thing that I didn't love was that there were some random things that popped up. Why did Arlo do what he did? What did he get out of it? It's like he had 2 plans and they really just cancelled each other out...but I can't explain this without ruining it! And the Gypsy caravan just popping out of nowhere was a bit startling too, and a bit too convenient really.

Pages: 288
Genre: High Fantasy
Series: Stand alone
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release Date: March 12, 2013
Rating: 4 stars

First

SO. I HAVE DECIDED TO TALK ABOUT MY FIRST AUTHOR SIGNING/EVENT. Also known as possibly the most embarrassing thing EVER. 

I was in NYC (WHY didn't I meet my bloggy friends before this? NOOOO. I HAD TO FRIEND THEM AFTER) and I'd heard about a Teen Author Carnival in a library that was hosting the authors of some of my most anticipated titles. OF COURSE I WENT.

It was so incredibly embarrassing.

I was late to the first talk because of subway troubles (they're so incredibly,incredibly confusing) and the second one was SO FUN. I GOT BOOKS. But after...well. So I'm pretty sure I embarrassed myself in front of a few authors (Fiona Paul, Gennifer Albin, Tiffany Schmidt, K.M. Walton, Lauren Morrill) and thank God they don't remember the awkward girl who just stood in the corner, making shifty eyes. Well maybe they do. I wanted the OH SO PRETTY SWAG. But I wasn't sure if we could just...you know, TAKE it. So I asked. It was awkward. You had to be there. I then went up to Fiona and asked when ARCs would be sent to bloggers. SO SHE GAVE ME HER ARC. I SQUEALED SO MUCH. And thus embarrassed myself. *cough* Im going red from typing this.

Author

Bridget grew up in Wisconsin. She went to the county fair where she met the love of her life, Barrett Dowell. They got married right before she went in for exploratory surgery which revealed she had colon cancer. They christened that summer the "summer of love" and the two celebrated with several 
more weddings. Bridget continued to read and write until the day she died. Her last tweet was "Sunshine and a brand new book. Perfect."

Bridget wanted to make people laugh and hoped readers would enjoy spending time with the characters she created. As a librarian/writer she loved books with strong young women with aspirations. She also felt teens needed more humorous reads. She really wanted to write a book with pockets of warmth and happiness and hoped that her readers' copies would show the watermarks of many bath time reads.

Other stops

52 Reasons to Hate my Father by Jessica Brody

Goodreads Blurb

Being America’s favorite heiress is a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it. 
Lexington Larrabee has never to work a day in her life. After all, she’s the heiress to the multi-billion-dollar Larrabee Media empire. And heiresses are not supposed to work. But then again, they’re not supposed to crash brand new Mercedes convertibles into convenience stores on Sunset Blvd either.
Which is why, on Lexi’s eighteen birthday, her ever-absent, tycoon father decides to take a more proactive approach to her wayward life. Every week for the next year, she will have to take on a different low-wage job if she ever wants to receive her beloved trust fund. But if there’s anything worse than working as a maid, a dishwasher, and a fast-food restaurant employee, it’s dealing with Luke, the arrogant, albeit moderately attractive, college intern her father has assigned to keep tabs on her.
In a hilarious “comedy of heiress” about family, forgiveness, good intentions, and best of all, second chances, Lexi learns that love can be unconditional, money can be immaterial, and, regardless of age, everyone needs a little saving. And although she might have 52 reasons to hate her father, she only needs one reason to love him.

Ok, I'll be cutting this review a bit shorter than normally since I'm in a time crunch! Sorry, guys!
The short pitch: Hilarious and fun, this is definitely one to read if you need a good LOL moment!

Now the only thing that I didn't absolutely LOVE was the romance. While it was endearingly sweet, it wasn't very well developed or believable. The two characters were hating each other, slowly (like, turtle slowly) becoming friends, then BOOM. Love.It just didn't match and I really didn't like it. It was more like it was thrown in for the more...crazier stuff that happens in the second half of the book.

Character development is obviously a giant thing here and I loved that! Lexi was such a...well, let's face it. She was a huge, spoiled bitch in the beginning, but by the end, you have this fun character who jokes around, but knows what's right and that she's not entitled to everything. And it wasn't as sudden as the romance, trust me. You could see her personality change from spoiled to caring. She learns so much throughout the entire book and it was so...I can't say touching, since it wasn't, really. But it was amazing seeing how much she slowly changed. 

So I read this during the summer and let me say, it fit the season perfectly. It was a fun, light read that will make you laugh and make you smile. It will fill you with emotional turmoil, so BEWARE. 52 Reasons was a wonderful read that made me want to read more of Jessica Brody's books! And I have no doubt they'll be just as amazing and sassy as this one! Definitely pick this up if you've liked her other books or if you're tired of all those sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal books!