Weightless by Kandi Steiner

Book Description:

Published: June 16, 2016

Kindle

Stars: 4

I remember the lights. 

I remember I wanted to photograph them, the way the red and blue splashed across his cold, emotionless face. But I knew even if my feet could move from the place where they had cemented themselves to the ground and I could run for my camera, I wouldn’t be able to capture that moment. 

I had trusted him, I had loved him, and even though my body had changed that summer, he’d made sure to help me hold on to who I was inside, regardless of how the exterior altered. 

But then everything changed. 

He stole my innocence. He scarred my heart. He took everything I thought I knew about my life and fast-pitched it out the window, shattering the glass that held my world together in the process. 

I remember the lights. 

The passionate, desperate, hot strikes of red. The harsh, cruel, icy bolts of blue. 

They symbolized everything I endured that summer. 

And everything I would never face again. 

Review –

“Natalie Poxton had always been overweight, but she didn’t realize how unfulfilled she felt until her boyfriend dumped her and his new girlfriend humiliated her. Her defining moment hit home, and Steiner did a masterful job of writing a relatable character. Of course, as someone who realized one day that she didn’t like the person that stared back at her, I understood why she wanted to do something. Anyone who has lost weight will connect with her—I did. I got the need to go for a long run, to lose yourself in the workout. Anyone who didn’t have a size four handed to them on a silver platter and had to work to sweat off the pounds will understand. It wasn’t about the weight, per se, but about how she saw herself. I loved Natalie for all her flaws, for how she didn’t always see herself as beautiful, and how she accepted that it was okay to find comfort in someone else loving her when she didn’t have the strength to. Natalie didn’t show weakness—she showed resolve. Her strength grew from the want and need to be a better person, to be a healthier person, and to be someone who didn’t take crap from anyone.

From the moment I met Rhodes, I expected it to end badly. The bad boy, the personal trainer with a not so clean clientele, and the broken twenty-one year old that felt trapped in Poxton Beach, South Carolina. He had a stubborn streak and an attitude that needed a major adjustment, but I commended Natalie for trying to break through to him. I enjoyed watching them fall for one another, even if I had the inklings of something bad sitting on the edge of things.

This is a new adult read, so there were some steamier bits. Rhodes was the older, more experienced guy, and Natalie was the innocent girl that had had her heart broken. The sexy scenes weren’t what made me—and Natalie—fall in love with Rhodes; I fell for how he treated her, the moments that he showed just how much he cared. It is intended for a more mature audience, but the story had a deep undertone behind it that will keep you guessing.” a leisure moment.com

This was my first read by this author. I totally enjoyed it (especially Rhodes!)

Girl Last Seen by Nina Laurin

Book Description:

Published: June 20, 2017

Format: Audio/OverDrive

Olivia Shaw has been missing since last Tuesday. She was last seen outside the entrance of her elementary school in Hunts Point wearing a white spring jacket, blue jeans, and pink boots. I force myself to look at the face in the photo, into her slightly smudged features, and I can’t bring myself to move. Olivia Shaw could be my mirror image, rewound to thirteen years ago. If you have any knowledge of Olivia Shaw’s whereabouts or any relevant information, please contact… I’ve spent a long time peering into the faces of girls on missing posters, wondering which one replaced me in that basement. But they were never quite the right age, the right look, the right circumstances. Until Olivia Shaw, missing for one week tomorrow. Whoever stole me was never found. But since I was taken, there hasn’t been another girl. And now there is.

Review –

Ten years after escaping from a kidnapper who held her prisoner for three years, a young woman must face the reality that he’s taken another little girl.

Thirteen years ago, Ella Santos existed. Now that girl is gone, replaced by Lainey Moreno, an bitter woman who subsists on cigarettes and whatever pills she can find, trying desperately to forget the years she spent locked in a basement with the man who raped her. Until she sees a missing poster for ten-year-old Olivia Shaw, privileged where Lainey was poor, loved where Lainey was neglected. Improbably, the detective on the case is Sean Ortiz, the traffic cop who found Lainey the day she got away, the only one who doesn’t think Lainey is broken beyond repair.

Lainey believes she is worthless but Sean sees her potential  and this happens over and over again as do the allegedly shocking but actually humdrum revelations about Lainey’s past and her connections to Olivia. It’s way overdone and becomes annoying as does the predictability of the plot, but there are a couple of twists that make every thing worth it and that’s why I rated it five stars!

 

Dirty Pleasures (The Dirty Billionaire Trilogy #2) by Meghan March

Book Description:

Published: December 29, 2015

Format: Audio/OverDrive

I did it. I married a billionaire.

My reasons are my own, but the last thing I expected was to feel owned.

I may have taken vows, but I’m still determined to be me.

Now his rules are taking over my world, but I’m not the kind of girl to just obey.

There’s only one problem: I might actually be falling for him…

I have no idea how this marriage is going to go, but holding onto a piece of myself while succumbing to his dirty pleasures is shaping up to be the ride of a lifetime.

Review –

I still don’t like that one of the main characters is a Country Western star,(just not my thing) but with Sebastian York narrating the male ‘s part, I listen to it gladly.

There is definitely a lack of communication between husband and wife and that’s what causes most of the problems in this book. That, and the fact that Creighton seems to think he can buy problems away, like Holly’s record label -which she knows nothing about).

All in all I liked it a bit better than the first one but I still only gave it three stars.

 

What I Want by L. N. Cronk

Book Description

Publication Date: November 29, 2013

Taking readers into the life of David andLaci’s youngest child, this stand-alone novel can be considered “Book 9” in the Chop, Chop series. Born with serious birth defects, Marco begins his story this way:Feisímo.

My entire life, people have called me this.

Most often, my sister Grace – hissing it into my ear whenever she thought she could get away with it. Other times it was my classmates, counting on their words to be drowned out by the noise of other children on the playground during recess. Sometimes it would be a little kid at a restaurant, blurting out the truth before a mortified parent could shush them into silence. Occasionally it might be a stranger on the street, not actually saying anything, but glancing away in embarrassment for me, saying it all the same, even without any words.

Throughout the years, many different people have told me in many different ways, and despite my parents’ constant attempts to convince me otherwise, I know exactly what I am . . . what I’ve always been.

I have always known.

Review –

Marco has some physical deformities and through surgeries they are  now not as noticeable he still finds it hard to relate to normal people especially girls. That’s why his whole life he has loved a blind girl named Bizzy but is this what God has planned for him? This is a faith based coming of age book. A pleasant read.

The List by

Product Description:

Published: April 1, 2012

An intense look at the rules of high school attraction — and the price that’s paid for them.

It happens every year. A list is posted, and one girl from each grade is chosen as the prettiest, and another is chosen as the ugliest. Nobody knows who makes the list. It almost doesn’t matter. The damage is done the minute it goes up.

This is the story of eight girls, freshman to senior, “pretty” and “ugly.” And it’s also the story of how we see ourselves, and how other people see us, and the tangled connection of the two.

With THE LIST, Siobhan Vivian deftly takes you into the lives of eight very different girls struggling with issues of identity, self-esteem, and the judgments of their peers. Prettiest or ugliest, once you’re on the list, you’ll never be the same.

Review –

This really wasn’t my type of young adult book but it was on my “to be read” list and my library had it available so I checked it out and finished it in an evening. A lot of teen-angst and drama and a lot of truth so all in all it was okay.  Anyone that prefers books of this nature would find it more appealing that I did but that’s why there are different genres for different people.

By The Time You Read This, I’ll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters

Product Description

Daelyn Rice is broken beyond repair, and after a string of botched suicide attempts, she’s determined to get her death right.  She starts visiting a website for “completers”— http://www.through-the-light .com. 

While she’s on the site, Daelyn blogs about her life, uncovering a history of bullying that goes back to kindergarten.  When she’s not on the Web, Daelyn’s at her private school, where she’s known as the freak who doesn’t talk.

Then, a boy named Santana begins to sit with her after school while she’s waiting to for her parents to pick her up.  Even though she’s made it clear that she wants to be left alone, Santana won’t give up.  And it’s too late for Daelyn to be letting people into her life…isn’t it?

National Book Award finalist Julie Anne Peters shines a light on how bullying can push young people to the very edge.  

Review –

 

This is not a book I would have normally chosen to read but it was given to me by my daughter whose passion is Young Adult Literature.

 

The story was just too depressing for me and I don’t recommend it for immature young teens. I had a problem with the ending because I like it spelled out not left to your imagination.  I always imagine a happy ending or at least one that isn’t so depressing or sad.

 Parents should read this and be mindful of the signs of  depression and thoughts of suicide.  It may help save a childs life.