BOOK TOUR : GIRL'S GOT SECRETS - LINDA KAGE

                        Book Blurb 

Here’s the same old “girl posing as a boy” story but with a rock-n-roll twist.

Remy Curran dreams of one day being in a band, except the group she wants to join refuses to hire a girl drummer. So, she auditions as a guy...and makes the cut.

Becoming “Sticks,” a member of Non-Castrato, isn’t quite what she dreamed it would be, though. She spends most of her time keeping up the subterfuge and learning how to walk, talk, act, and drink like a man.

But what’s even harder to deal with is acting oblivious when the band’s heartthrob lead singer, Asher Hart, treats her like one of the guys and not a woman. She never imagined he’d be so much more than a pretty face with a nice voice. But he’s better than perfect. He’s perfect for her.

When love and lies combine, Remy must keep up the act or lose everything. But who knew lying to reach one dream could prevent you from attaining an even bigger dream?

On Goodreads :
Book :  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27389653-the-girl-s-got-secrets?from_search=true&search_version=service 
Series : https://www.goodreads.com/series/120350-forbidden-men 

BUY IT NOW : on

Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Kobo

Sneak Peaks 

Excerpt 1 :

"...You look just perfect. I would so throw you down on your bed and ride you right now if I didn’t know you were really a girl in there. Hell, I’m tempted to, anyway.”

I rolled my eyes but chased it with a smile. “Thanks. I think.”

“Now practice your man walk,” she demanded, waving out her hand.

I faltered. “My what?”

She sighed. “You’re not going to pass for a dude if you stroll in there with your hidden girl hips swaying and flattened tits pooched out on display.”

My mouth fell open. “Excuse me. I do NOT walk like that.”

She snorted. “Oh...own it, puta. You’re a hot piece of ass, you can’t help the girly swagger.”

“But I don’t—”

“Hunch your shoulder over a little more, concentrate on keeping your hips in line, and try to jut your cock forward when you strut.”

“Do...what?”

“That’s how hot guys walk, like they’re leading with their junk.”

I could only shake my head. I had honestly never seen a guy walk as if he were trying to poke his pecker out ahead of him. “Where do you come up with this shit?”

“Just do it, puta.”

I sighed but used her suggestions, trying to overdramatize the cock-and-go strut, as I was thusly dubbing it.

“What do you think?” I asked.

She purred out a promiscuous growl and clawed the air in my direction. “How do you say ‘I want to sit on your face’ in Spanish?”

Excerpt 2 :

Remy and I bent at the same time to turn on the karaoke machine.

“Sorry,” we murmured together when we nearly bumped foreheads. Then we shifted an inch apart but still both going in to get the machine up and running.

“Holy shit,” she murmured under her breath, turning toward me slightly. “You smell really good.”

I didn’t want it to, but my body reacted, remembering every touch, lick, and kiss she’d ever given me. I glanced at her face, and her eyes flared as if she was in trouble for saying such a thing.

“Sorry.” She lifted both hands in some kind of surrender. “It’s just...it’s new. You’ve never smelled like that before.”

Lust stirred through me. I tried to bite it back, tried to cling to the fact I was mad at her, but a need unlike any I’d ever experienced with any other person roared through my blood.

I had to shake my head and blink myself back to the present, remind myself where I really was and what I was doing. And that was most definitely not Remy Curran.

“It’s, uh...Eva gave it to me as the best man gift. I figured I should wear it today.”

She nodded, agreeing. “Well, it’s amazing. I think I just got pregnant.”

Review Here : http://feel-to-read.blogspot.in/2015/12/girls-got-secrets-linda-kage.html

Giveaway : 

Rafflecopter Giveaway (Lots of Chances to Win! $20.00 Amazon eGift Card (x1), $10.00 Amazon eGift Card (x1), $5.00 Amazon eGift Card (x2), a Paperback copy of THE GIRLS'S GOT SECRETS and a Paperback copy of winner's choice from the Surviving Series by Ada Frost)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Author Info :

Linda grew up on a dairy farm in the Midwest as the youngest of eight children. Now she lives in Kansas with her husband, daughter, and nine cuckoo clocks. Her life's been blessed with lots of people to learn from and love. Writing's always been a major part of her world, and she is so happy to finally share some of her stories with other romance lovers.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

GP with Author

Favorite Scene to Write

I’d have to say my favorite scene to write in The Girl’s Got Secrets was where Asher catches Remy in the shower. He still doesn’t know girl-Remy exists yet, so for him, he thinks he’s meeting a new person completely.  I have no idea if I wrote it well enough for everyone else to feel the sparks, but I certainly felt them when I was writing. It was fun and entertaining for me to create as it was steamy too, which totally made my day.  When  Asher went and flirted with her, I just melted.  I’d never seen him in flirt mode before, and I just gotta say, I like it!  So does Remy...though she had to try to hide it. 

Here’s a little peek into that scene:

I jogged to the hotel and retrieved my key card from my pocket as I approached my room.

The light was still off as it’d been when I’d left a few minutes earlier, but the bathroom door had changed. It was shut most of the way so only an inch of a crack showed, revealing the light was on inside. The sounds of a shower and singing filtered out into the hotel room.

“...And a hug around the neck. A hug around the neck...,” a clearly feminine voice serenaded from the bathroom.

I froze, frowning hard, as the lyrics to Doris Day’s “A Bushel and a Peck” continued. At first, I wigged out, afraid I’d just entered the wrong room. I began to backpedal, afraid to be caught in someone else’s room, but then I wondered why my key had gotten me in. So I flipped on the light.

My laptop sat on my bed and the blankets on Remy’s side were rumpled and unmade. Plus his familiar suitcase and my duffle sat on the floor, so I knew I had the right room.

But who the hell was in our shower? From the sound of it, I would’ve thought Sticks had snuck in a woman, except he wasn’t into women.

Wrinkling my brow, I inched cautiously toward the crack in the bathroom door. Using the tips of my fingers, I reached out, standing as far back as possible, and gently nudged the entrance open. Steam exited, clouding around me as the woman’s voice grew louder.

“...You make my heart erect,” she continued to wail with a pretty decent set of pipes. I lifted my eyebrows, intrigued.

I have no idea why, but I said, “Remy?” I already knew that wasn’t him in there.

In answer, the woman screamed.

“What the—” Confused as all get-out as to what was going on, I reached for the shower curtain and yanked it open.

Inside, the naked, wet woman yelped again, instantly shoving one arm over her breasts and splaying her free hand between her legs to cover herself.

“Holy shit!” I gasped.

We gaped at each other, the water spraying down on her and forcing her long dark hair to clog into her face.

Rationally, I knew I should turn away, but yeah...for some reason, I’d kind of lost the ability to think rationally. Instead, I shook my head, and demanded, “Who’re you?”

She shoved her hair out of her face so she could see me, probably forgetting that she had to uncover her breast to use her hand, because suddenly, I was being flashed some very nice tits indeed.

My gaze instantly dropped to her chest, and she gasped, slapping her arm back over herself. A split second later, she snatched the shower curtain and wrapped it around her, concealing all the best parts.

“No hablo inglés,” she panted in this super-hot sexy voice that had my hormones raging even harder.

Ah, shit. I shook my head, still completely flabbergasted. “You don’t know English?”

“No.” She shook her head. “No hablo inglés.”

“Fuck.” I wiped my hand over my face, glad I hadn’t started drooling or anything, because...wow. There was a very hot Spanish-speaking chick in my shower. “Well, I know crap Spanish.” Glancing behind me, I muttered to myself, “Where the hell is Remy when you need him?”

Behind me, shower girl repeated, “¿Remy?” I spun back to her and she babbled something in Spanish, her hand waving the entire time.

I blinked, understanding absolutely nothing. But she’d said Remy’s name, so I slowly asked, “You know Remy?”

She nodded, her eyes lighting with recognition. “Sí. Remy.” Then she spouted off something else. I was sure I caught the word amigo in there, so I snapped my finger.

“Amigo,” I repeated. Yes, a word I understood. “Friend. Okay. So...he let you in to take...a shower...alone?”

I squinted because there was no way that sounded as if it were even plausible.

“Dios,” she moaned, clutching the shower curtain closer to her breasts. Then she bit her lip and waved me away with a free hand, sputtering something in Spanish that went way over my head. But the shooing motion and desperation on her face made her plea obvious enough.

“Shit, sorry.” I suddenly realized how badly I’d been gawking. Lifting my hands, I backed up a step toward the half closed bathroom door behind me until I nudged it with my spine. “I’ll...let you finish.” But I couldn’t seem to take my gaze off her. She was just...stunning. “And I swear, I’ll look away...soon. Once the blood stops rushing to my dick and returns to my head and I can think rationally again, because...wow.”

TASTY BOOK TOURS
Link to follow tour : http://www.tastybooktours.com/2015/10/the-girls-got-secrets-by-linda-kage.html 

Girl's Got Secrets - Linda Kage

Here’s the same old “girl posing as a boy” story but with a rock-n-roll twist.

Remy Curran dreams of one day being in a band, except the group she wants to join refuses to hire a girl drummer. So, she auditions as a guy...and makes the cut.

Becoming “Sticks,” a member of Non-Castrato, isn’t quite what she dreamed it would be, though. She spends most of her time keeping up the subterfuge and learning how to walk, talk, act, and drink like a man.

But what’s even harder to deal with is acting oblivious when the band’s heartthrob lead singer, Asher Hart, treats her like one of the guys and not a woman. She never imagined he’d be so much more than a pretty face with a nice voice. But he’s better than perfect. He’s perfect for her.

When love and lies combine, Remy must keep up the act or lose everything. But who knew lying to reach one dream could prevent you from attaining an even bigger dream?

*Thank you Tasty Book Tours for giving an ARC in exchange for a review and a blog spot.*

This is the seventh book in the series Forbidden Men and it has taken my heart just like all others.  Linda Kage has become one of my favourite authors because her ideas are so original and all the characters have developed such strong characteristics that you think they are real people and you want to meet them some day.

This story was about ( wait for it…) well known Asher Hart who we have all fallen in love with in the previous books.  ( Atleast I have ).  The close friend of Zoey and the confidante of Caroline he loves to anger Ten.  Everyone loves to anger Ten though.  

We are introduced to a new character Remy Curran who wants to be in a band really bad.  However Asher Hart’s band Non-Castrato does not accept a girl so, she auditions as a guy and gets in.

Acting as a guy became harder than she thought.  Especially because she started have feelings for Asher.  Suddenly the only person who she was worried about hurting was the one person who would be hurt the most.

I loved Asher and Remy’s relationship.  It showed that sometimes love does not develop just because of the sex.  Couples who really love each other, love each other because of the comfort they get around each other.  “Sticks” and Asher had that comfort though all Asher thought was that “Sticks” was a really good friend.

Linda Kage was so good at making Remy into two personalities that even I started believing it and I knew the truth!

I liked all the side stories as well.  The relationship developing between Brandt and Sarah was adorable and I have a feeling that is going to be the next story.  How cool is that?  Mason’s sister and Noel’s brother.

Also the growing relationship between half brothers.  Pick and Asher.  Asher was finally finding out that he deserved love after a rough childhood being with his half brother and all the bartenders who had become his close friends.  Those guys at the Forbidden bar are like family, and the respective others that come along with them are really hard not to love.  Especially if you have read about all their stories and how hard it was for all of them to get where they are now.

There were some hot sex scenes.  Some use of handcuffs.  People who have read the book, know what I am talking about.  The ending was adorable.

Anyways Linda Kage delivers again and this series is recommended to everyone who is reading this review who likes new adult and who is looking for something like this.

I will be reading more books by Linda Kage in the future.  That is for sure.

Before I Fall - Lauren Oliver

With this stunning debut novel, New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver emerged as one of today's foremost authors of young adult fiction. Like Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why and Gayle Forman's If I Stay, Before I Fall raises thought-provoking questions about love, death, and how one person's life can affect so many others.

For popular high school senior Samantha Kingston, February 12—"Cupid Day"—should be one big party, a day of valentines and roses and the privileges that come with being at the top of the social pyramid. And it is…until she dies in a terrible accident that night.

However, she still wakes up the next morning. In fact, Sam lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she ever imagined.

Named to numerous state reading lists, this novel was also recognized as a Best Book of the Year by Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, The Daily Beast, NPR, and Publishers Weekly. It has been optioned for film by Fox 2000 Pictures.

Supports the Common Core State Standards.

Samantha Kingston narrated this story “Before I Fall”.  It was a first person narration.  The narrator was a reliable source about her own feelings and thoughts but, not everybody else’s.   This book was set in a small town where Samantha goes to high school and she is a popular teen there.  The setting makes a difference as the book revolves around high school teenagers and their issues.  Including but not limited to bullying and suicide and drinking and drugs.   

I think what the book was trying to say was that sometimes thing you say and do have a bigger impact than you realise and sometimes it is like a domino effect.  There was a quote which showed this message “It amazes me how easy it is for things to change, how easy it is to start off down the same road you always take and wind up somewhere new. Just one false step, one pause, one detour, and you end up with new friends or a bad reputation or a boyfriend or a breakup. It's never occurred to me before; I've never been able to see it. And it makes me feel, weirdly, like maybe all of these different possibilities exist at the same time, like each moment we live has a thousand other moments layered underneath it that look different.”   

The book was contemporary with a slight bit of romance.  However, it was more about death.  A lot of other books which I have read in this genre are similar.  There is a lot of hope in these books.  A lot of wondering what is going to happen next.  A lot of praying that somehow things are going to turn out alright.  Even though you know that is probably not going to happen and these type of books if they are written well always make me cry.

The author’s name is Lauren Oliver and I have not read any other books by her.   So I can’t really compare other books because I don’t know.

So, basically Samantha died while her best friend was drunk driving and they crashed.  However, instead of dying she had to relive her last day 7 times.  Each time Samantha started realising things about her life she hadn’t before and it shocked her and she tried to change it.  Sometimes there are only certain things you can change and yet you hold all the power.

I liked the book.  I was glad that Samantha realised what a bitch she was by the end of the book.  I think it was fitting that you cannot change death but, you can make as little changes as you can in other people’s lives.  I liked the idea of reliving her last day seven times.  I wonder what I would change if I relived my last day seven times.

I loved a quote in this book and I keep on going back to it.  “So many things become beautiful when you really look.”  which is so true.  You go to life just glancing at things.  Everyone does it so you can’t even deny it.  Sometimes you really need to observe.

One thing I did not like about the book was her relationship with Kent.  The relationship as a whole was sweet but,  ( now I guess this is personal opinion ) I thought what she did to him was unnecessary.  She knew she was going to die.  I thought it was mean to make him go through that.  But, then again he might have gone through it anyways and how do you stop self - realisation I guess.    Saying goodbye must have been so hard for Samantha.  

I would read other books by the author.  Completely.   Though some of her books are science fiction.  I really liked this book so the author deserves more books to be read which are by her.  

I would encourage other people to read this book because I want other people to realise what a big impact actions can make on people.  How they can make and break people’s lives.  Also because I loved the book :)

4/5 Umbrellas :)

Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer ( Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1 ) - Rick Riordan

Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother’s mysterious death, he’s lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.

One day, he’s tracked down by a man he’s never met—a man his mother claimed was dangerous. The man tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.

The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.

When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision.

Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die . . . 

Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer is a new series by the world famous Rick Riordan.  He is Annabeth Chase’s cousin.  If you have read Percy Jackson, you know who I am talking about.  If you haven’t go and read it! You are missing out ( then you will know who I am talking about and you would have fallen in love with her, just like I have ).

Anyways, we are not talking about Percy Jackson here.  We are talking about Magnus and he is pretty hilarious.  One thing I love about Rick Riordan is that his characters never act mature and like they know exactly what the world has in store for them.  They are sarcastic.  They mess up an amazing amount of times and they are real.  I love Rick Riordan’s characters ( which now include Magnus and Blitz and Hearth and Sam and all of the other secondary characters which had an impact in this book ).

This book was set in Boston and a million other places.  It was set in the present time but, in a world where norse gods and Egyptian gods and Greek gods all exist.   I will not be surprised if Rick Riordan comes up with a book with the Hindu gods and goddesses once.  ( I would so love to read that book ).  

I think due to being set in such a world, it makes mythology so much more interesting.  Something we would learn about in our history lesson which would be really boring is suddenly something we want to learn about.  

The overall theme of the book was Norse mythology which I talked about in the previous paragraph.  It was about Norse gods and the different norse gods like Frey and Freya and Idon.  

Another thing about this book that I loved were the titles.  They were hilarious and they made the book so much more entertaining.  Every time I entered a new chapter, I tried to guess what the chapter was about based on the title.

The ending was great.  The heroes got what they deserved.  In the middle of the book I had been complaining that Magnus was not a fighter but, in the end that was confirmed that no Magnus was not a fighter but, that does not mean he could not stop the villains in other ways and that is exactly what he did.  He used his powers of healing and nurture and growth and goodness in his heart to stop the villains which may not work practically but, this book is anything but practical.

I have read a lot of books by Rick Riordan.  The famous Percy Jackson series.  Heroes of Olympus.  The Red Pyramid series.  This may not be as great as those books but, it certainly was up to that level.  So, I would obviously read more books by this author and I will recommend it to other people to read if they have not read it already.

Everything, Everything - Nicola Yoon

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Wow! Now that's a book to read! What I liked about this book was that it was ingenious. It was a different idea from most other books I have read and it was not generic.
I have never heard of a girl having an allergy to everything outside before and being trapped inside a house because it is impossible for her to go outside but, apparently it is a rare disease which actually exists which scares me. Imagine a life like that. I thought Madeleine was extremely smart for a girl who did not know all the obvious things most children would grow up with. Not knowing what it was like to be outdoors, hang out with friends, go out for movies or parties or shopping. I mean, there is so much out there which we just take for granted and Maddy is extremely strong willed not to miss any of that. But, then again how do you miss something when you never had it in the first place? But, wouldn't she want to know what was out there. Who was out there other than her mother and Carla, her nurse.
I loved her nurse, Carla. I thought she really believed in Maddy and I thought she was like the mother even though the mother was right there. She was always allowing Maddy to live and telling her that its ok to get the bad feelings as well as the good.
Ollie, Ollie, Ollie, I want a love interest like that. Just that amazing and caring and considerate and even though he knows everything about her, there is to be known and knowing how impossible being together is, still wanting to try, not running away at the first sign of trouble.
Her mother was interesting. I had nothing against her in the beginning of the book. I just thought that she was like a child. Like she wanted to be taken care of more than Maddy did. It was all about her mother. She gets lonely when Maddy does not spend time with her, even though she can still go outside and work and see the world when Maddy can't.
The book was well written. I loved the illustrations and the small chapters in the middle with the diaries and the dictionaries and all the other stuff. I just loved this book!! Everyone should read it!

☂☂☂☂☂

Fixer ( Fixer #1 ) - Jennifer Lynn Barnes

This thriller YA is Scandal meets Veronica Mars.

Sixteen-year-old Tess Kendrick has spent her entire life on her grandfather's ranch. But when her estranged sister Ivy uproots her to D.C., Tess is thrown into a world that revolves around politics and power. She also starts at Hardwicke Academy, the D.C. school for the children of the rich and powerful, where she unwittingly becomes a fixer for the high school set, fixing teens’ problems the way her sister fixes their parents’ problems.

And when a conspiracy surfaces that involves the family member of one of Tess's classmates, love triangles and unbelievable family secrets come to light and life gets even more interesting—and complicated—for Tess.

Perfect for fans of Pretty Little Liars and Heist Society, readers will be clamoring for this compelling teen drama with a political twist.

From the moment I started this book to the moment I ended it, I do not think I got time to breathe. If people are looking for suspense in ya, this is the book for you. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I liked that there were no pretences, there was no holding back. The main character Tess was strong and confident and knew who she was where she lived. However, when she was sent to live with her sister Ivy, everything she knew was thrown for a loop. Ivy was a fixer, a problem solver in politics who made problems and messes go away or come out. She was powerful in the world of politics and Tess found herself being swooped up in that world.
In Hardwicke, a private school which she had been enrolled in, Tess started solving problems and becoming like her sister Ivy but, that was not always a good thing. The problems took her into secrets she should not have known and made her have a huge target on her back. With her friends she had made during private school who all had powerful parents who had something to do with what was going on, Tess found herself in a huge scandal which was a danger to everyone around her as well as herself.
Every secret uncovered was a breath I had to hold. Every mystery discovered made me grip the handles of my chair. I was scared 99% of the book and that was a good thing because it got emotion out of me.
In previous books I reviewed I always complained about there being no anticipation build up. No waiting for something to happen. Everything being told and therefore no excitement coming out of the books.
This book about made up for all those books that ran dry around double times.
I loved this book. I am not going into detail about the characters but let me tell you this. All of them, Tess, Vivvie, Asher, Henry, Ivy, Adam, Bodie and all those other politicians that made life hell for these people as well as the secondary characters were well developed. They all made an impact on the story in their own way. They all were smart, even the villains. The plot was great, the characters were great. I just want to read the next book!!! 

☂☂☂☂

Me Before You - Jojo Moyes

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

Well, this is interesting. I am not going to write much in this review because sometimes even if you liked a book, there is not much you can say which will not spoil the fun of the book for somebody else and  because there is not much I can say except that I loved this book. I loved this book with all my heart. I loved how it changed my outlook of life from existing to living. From just taking it a day at a time to taking it in a giant leap. I loved how it changed my outlook on taking one's life.
Lou was just looking for a job. She had a steady boyfriend, a loving family, she was just looking to make ends meet. Fate landed her with Will. A quadriplegic who lived in a wheelchair after a horrific accident. What makes it worse was that Will was extremely active before the accident and now he was helpless which made him bitter.
However, Lou made him see the light and she brightened up her day but, sometimes even being faced with pure love is not enough and Lou loved him and he loved her. They found love in the most unlikely of circumstances. Patrick had no time for her and she was spending day and night with Will. There were going to be some feelings emerging. Thats exactly what happened.  
I think this book was inspiring even though it had a sucky ending. I think we all expected it not to work out though because honestly who would want to live the way Will was living. I don't blame him. I honestly hope that Lou gets her happy ending because she deserves it after all the heartbreak she is going through and honestly Lou as well as we should thank Will, because Will taught Lou to live to her heart's content and in the end, thats all that matters.

☂☂☂☂

I'll Give You the Sun - Jandy Nelson

A brilliant, luminous story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of John Green, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell 

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

This radiant novel from the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.

I must say I was not very eager to read this book when I first started reading it. It took me some time to get used to the overload of thoughts and emotions that were overwhelming this book. However, I loved how the story was told in two parts by the different twins. It gives a sense of suspense and anticipation as well as mystery of what happened before to make it happen this way. It is interesting to see how these twins had split so far apart and yet were never far from each other. Never in the sense of position could they bear being away from their twin sibling. Whether it was protecting them through another person. Whether it was sneaking around, stealing stuff that was in their twin's possession, they never stopped loving each other and looking out for each which I found really sweet.
Jude and Noah couldn't be more of a different set of twins. They were complete opposites in every way. But, in a year when everything changed, they grew apart. They became acquaintances and their personalities changed completely making the other twin wanting their old personalities back and making them completely lost in who they were trying to be.
After all that they had been through, they deserved a happy ending and I am so glad they got one. I am so glad everything worked out for the better and they realising who they were and were confident in themselves. Being with them through the journey was amazing and so enlightening. This book tackled issues like gay rights, bullying, art, drugs and drinking, sex. All in one book and not even by tackling the issues specifically, just by bringing it up and making us understand how important and life altering these issues are.
All the secondary characters, Brian and the Italian sculptor and Oscar and how everything was interconnected was unbelievable. This book was all about thoughts and therefore you knew everything through Jude and Noah's eyes and that made everything so much.

☂☂☂☂☂

Court - Cat Patrick

Court was a book written in four point of views.  This got me a bit confused as I kept on jumping back and forth.  I liked all four characters to a point.  I started sympathising with Haakon in the middle of the book and hated him by the end.  I liked the way Cat ( the author ) developed the characters.   There were no black and white characters in this book.  They were all shades of grey.   There was no definite villain and you did not trust anybody in the beginning of the book.  Everyone was suspicious and kept up the suspense.   The book certainly kept up the suspense.   However, I think the book ended on an incomplete note, I think it was too open ended and we still want to know what happens next? Some people might like an open ended book but, I personally don't.  Thats my opinion.
The plot was basically about this country which was a monarchy in the middle of modern United States.   I found this a bit too unbelievable.  How could no one have found out about this different country.  Wouldn't someone have got suspicious?  I just don't think this is realistic.  Its not like a fantasy fiction where non - believable things are encouraged.  This is a dystopian fiction that is set in the modern world about a country which is hidden in one of the most developed countries in the world.

The Characters
Haakon - Haakon was an interesting character.  He vowed not to be like his dad when he becomes king and he changed the most from the beginning to end.   He was a bit of a player and he let drinks and drugs cloud his judgement as well as grief.  He was brainwashed very easily by people who did not want the best for the monarchy.
Alexander - Haakon's best friend who struggled going against the beliefs and the orthodox ways of the people in the monarchy.   He hated what his best friend had become and stood up against him.  I think Alexander needs to be developed further.  I wanted to know more about him.
Mary - A commoner in the monarchy whose mom left to go to United States leaving her and her father to fend for themselves.  I loved Mary's character.  I loved her bravery, her dealing with grief and her courage to stand out no matter what other people thought.  I commended her throughout the book for having a strong head on her shoulders and not believing everything that was thrown at her.
Gwendolyn - I was a little confused about Gwendolyn's character.  She had a bit of a insta love and I found her to be very chic - lit type, running away from her parents and her arranged marriage with Haakon.  I thought her friends in the democracy were her true friends and that got turned around.  In the end she suddenly got courage.  I don't think Gwendolyn's character was developed well.

All in All it was an ok book

I gave it three umbrellas

☂☂☂ 

Lailah - Nikki Kelly

Lailah - Nikki Kelly

This book was interesting.  It was basically about a girl who was very different from what she thought she was.  She had lived many lifetimes so she knew she was different.  She just didn't know how different.   There was a love triangle in the book.  However the author made it pretty clear who she wanted the main character the end up with.

The Characters
Lailah - Lailah was a confused girl in a confused surrounding, slowly finding out who she is.  I found her to be a strong character but she had lapses in judgement that made her more real to me.  Nobody can be perfect after all.  She was in a situation where there were vampires and angels.  Nobody can get their head around that in one sitting.  She constantly tried to be someone else during the course of the book but then realised there is nothing better than being herself.
Jonah - Jonah was the vampire that Lailah did not want to have feelings for but did.  She was forbidden but he ended up falling in love with her all the same.  I liked Jonah.  I found that even though he did not know the whole truth about Lailah and who exactly she was, he still managed to get under her skin.  He loved her for her and I loved him for that.  He was misunderstood during the entire book and I felt bad for him but that made his character grow stronger.
Gabriel - Gabriel was an ok character to me.  He was an angel who Lailah had always dreamed about but then they found each other.  I found Gabriel to be annoying truthfully.  He kept a lot of secrets from Lailah which he did not have to keep from her.  I think he molly coddled her and treated her like she was weaker than she was.  She was must stronger than he gave her credit for

All in all this book was a fast paced read.  Even the secondary characters who I have not written about in detail were well developed.  This was not a black and white novel.  There were certainly shades of grey.  A lot of them in fact.  It is a good book to pick up and I recommend everyone who has read this review to give this book a try cause thats what it deserves.

☂☂☂☂