Book Review: No Way Back; By Chloe Adams

Wow. Just WOW. I am quite overwhelmed now. I am not sure how to go around this one, plus I don’t really know where to start. 

Oh! before I start, I guess I should warn you, this book is highly descriptive and might trigger anybody who are on the survivor list.

Now on to my thoughts.

The cover caught me from first sight. The model did right job in posing for it. It’s just pure perfect. Then, the blurb is just heart tugging. I honestly feel sorry for the main character. The author did an awesome job in humanizing Mia Abbott-Renou throughout this book.

Everybody said, don’t drink from the glass a stranger bought you. Nor drink from your own glass which you has left for a while. Why? Your drink might get spike with drugs by strangers. This book is all about that.

I must say, for some, it’s pretty much graphic, the event, and her post-trauma. It’s a hard book to read. It’s really heart wrenching on what Mia have gone through. I’m afraid to put the book down because I didn’t want to leave Mia alone in her troubles.

How people who are supposed to protect her, support her ended up making her feel alone. It sad how she blamed herself for what happened, especially when another victim died. I do wish her father showed her much support instead of just running around doing "”damage control” and running his election campaign. Her uncle Chris however, regardless how “profession front he has been showing, I’m glad he actually showed a bit of compassion to Mia of what she went through.

Ari has been an awesome, wonderful good friend for Mia. That was an upside of things. And then there's Dom. He was her personal rock who reminded her of her grandfather. He just made you go.. aww…. (I’m not kidding)

Personally, Jenna deserved it. *hehe*

What pissed me off, the way it left me hanging at the end. Grr cliffhangers! I seriously need to stop reading cliffhangers books!  Otherwise It has been a good emotional read. God, this book is amazing!

No Way Back (Mia’s Way #1)
By Chloe Adams

Sometimes bad things happen to beautiful people.
The wealthy daughter of a high-ranking politician, seventeen year old Mia Abbott-Renou has everything: designer clothes, wealth, spring breaks in Monte Carlo. She lives blissfully unaware of her family’s secrets, until the night she is raped by the son of her father’s greatest political ally.
Her father forbids her from going to the police and threatens to throw her out if she does. It’s a critical election year, one that his party might lose, if the public sours on his doting father image when they realize his daughter is an underage lush and party girl. He can’t risk splintering the party in a nasty court battle that’s certain to draw way too much press, even if that means sacrificing his daughter.
Mia’s world is shattered twice, once by the men who hurt her, and once by the betrayal of her family. She does what her father says. But the rapists strike again and beat their next victim near death.
With the help of her best friend and a couple of unlikely allies, Mia must decide: does she risk losing everything to do what’s right? Or does she turn her back on the truth and preserve the family name?
What’s privileged girl to do, when her perfect little world isn't so perfect anymore?

Finished Reading: 14th April 2013
Acquire: 23th March 2013
Rate } ♠♠♠♠♠
Genre } Fiction | Abuse | Young Adult | Teens
Release Day }  27th October 2012
Publisher }
Format } e-book
ISBN } B009Y8D9R0
Pages } 179 pages
Source } Bought
Age Group } pg 15 yo +
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Friday Finds; Stacking The Shelves; In The “Mailbox” Monday

In My Mailbox hosted by The Story Siren
Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga’s Reviews.
Friday Finds hosted by Should Be Reading. 

No Way Back (Mia’s Way #1)
By Chloe Adams

Sometimes bad things happen to beautiful people.
The wealthy daughter of a high-ranking politician, seventeen year old Mia Abbott-Renou has everything: designer clothes, wealth, spring breaks in Monte Carlo. She lives blissfully unaware of her family’s secrets, until the night she is raped by the son of her father’s greatest political ally.
Her father forbids her from going to the police and threatens to throw her out if she does. It’s a critical election year, one that his party might lose, if the public sours on his doting father image when they realize his daughter is an underage lush and party girl. He can’t risk splintering the party in a nasty court battle that’s certain to draw way too much press, even if that means sacrificing his daughter.
Mia’s world is shattered twice, once by the men who hurt her, and once by the betrayal of her family. She does what her father says. But the rapists strike again and beat their next victim near death.
With the help of her best friend and a couple of unlikely allies, Mia must decide: does she risk losing everything to do what’s right? Or does she turn her back on the truth and preserve the family name?
What’s privileged girl to do, when her perfect little world isn't so perfect anymore?

Me Since You
By Laura Wiess
Expected Publication Sept 2013

“Laura Wiess’s masterful prose kept me turning the pages. This is the first book in a very long time that made me say, ‘Wish I’d written this’” (Ellen Hopkins, author of Crank, onSuch a Pretty Girl).
Sixteen-year-old Rowan is still reeling from her father’s suicide four months ago, after he failed to stop a man from leaping off an overpass to his death. The only witness is Eli, a teenaged boy wrapped deep in mourning for his own father, killed in action in Afghanistan. When Rowan and Eli meet, they recognize kindred spirits, and begin to navigate grief and its aftermath together.
Rowan can’t understand how her father could choose to leave her, and acts out, pushing away friends and taking risks with her safety. Rowan’s mother, wracked with her own guilt and sorrow over failing to save her husband, stops going to work and collects stray cats for comfort. Grief, fractured and unpredictable, rules their lives now. Rowan is lost—and sinking. But Eli represents a lifeline for Rowan, and as they struggle to make sense of what’s gone and what is left behind, they begin to fall in love. Me Since You is Laura Wiess at her finest—a beautiful, gripping and painfully honest examination of adolescence.

Wide Awake
By Shelly Crane

A girl.
A coma.
A life she can't remember.
When Emma Walker wakes up in the hospital with no knowledge of how she got there, she learns that she's been in a coma for six months. Strangers show up and claim to be her parents, but she can't remember them. She can't remember anyone. Not her friends, not even her boyfriend. Even though she can't remember, everyone wants her to just pick up where she left off, but what she learns about the 'old her' makes her start to wish she'd never woken up. Her boyfriend breaks up with the new girl he's dating to be with her, her parents want her to start planning for college, her friends want their leader back, and her physical therapist with the hazel eyes keeps his distance to save his position at the hospital.
Will she ever feel like she recognizes the girl in the mirror?

Forsaken – An American Sasquatch Tale
By Christine Conder

Sasquatch with heart.
A Sasquatch mother, still devastated by the disappearance of her daughter a year ago, is shocked when she gets word her girl may be alive.
Not just alive, but human.
Liberty Brewster has started to accept she may never know what happened to her daughter, Sage. There are other things to worry about now. Her widowed, human advocate is dying. When he passes, she and her mate will be forced to relocate.
When another member of their colony claims to have seen Sage, however, all of that changes.
Willing to break every Sasquatch rule in the quest to find her daughter, Liberty sets out to discover the truth, uncovering a secret about her ancestors that threatens to unravel everything she knows about her legacy in the process.

Treasure Tides (The Coins #1)
By Deniece Greene

Becki Stephens is living the dream in a beach house along the coast of South Carolina. A diving expedition leads to the discovery of more than sharks' teeth when she discovers a crate on the ocean floor.
Royce St. John is a Special Operations Team Leader for the Secret Council of Elders. "The Council" consists of both mortal and immortal members. Their primary function; to make sure humans continue to believe Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, and other mythical beings were just that, a myth.
Royce’s mission - to recover a set of missing coins. The coins originally belonged to Merlin, who "spelled" each of them centuries ago. Stolen by rogue warlock, they have fallen into circulation among the general population. Royce had successfully recovered the first coin in the set, when things went terribly wrong.
Damn Witches! They boxed him up like last year's Christmas decorations and dumped the spelled crate into Charleston Harbor. When Royce regains consciousness, he is trapped in a box, pissed, and two years behind schedule! He fumes as he waits, not so patiently, for the moon to trigger the crate's unlocking sequence. He only hopes his body is fully restored by then, and that all of his parts are located in their proper places!
Becki’s world is about to change in ways she never dreamed possible. Her crate holds secrets she may not be able to handle, and a man who steals her heart the first moment she sees him.... walking naked through her living room!

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Eulogy for Cora {Once Upon A Time}

Before I continue, let be say if you haven’t really caught up with Once Upon A Time series and at the moment following it up, hates spoilers, stop reading now.

The reason why I do this post is to pay my respect to Cora, Regina’s mother. As a reader, Cora has been part of my life, and even more, it was wonderful to have her included in the TV series Once Upon A Time. She was a wonderful character, strong and evil. Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis had beautifully integrate her into OUAT’s storyline. This is her eulogy from me.





Cora was the Miller’s daughter.
  She spins straws into gold.
    Became one of Rumple’s love interests.
  Mother of the Evil Queen Regina.
Snow White’s step-grandmother.
   Wonderland’s Queen of Hearts (off with their heads!)
Turned Mad Hatter’s mad…

Compare to the Evil Queen Regina, Cora was Heartless, Truly Heartless.

Yes… it did make sense… Too bad she died.. minutes after getting her heart back, then realized this huge love she had for Regina. Oh, how much she love her and how she missed all that. She, who turned her daughter as dark as her…

Cora, the one who tainted the purest heart of Snow White with the speck darkness.

Cora will be missed.

Rest In Peace.
♥ Cora ♥

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Book Review: Poseidon and the Sea of Fury (Heroes in Training 2); By Joan Holub, Suzanne Williams

Yeah, as you can see, I’m on a Joan Holub & Suzanne Williams reading roll! Being sick, these series seems to be my comfort read. It’s a delightful wonderfulness for me.

This is a fast pace, page turning next in line of the adventures of our teens Olympians to defeat the Titans and trying to find the Goose! (Pst it’s actually Zeus, but he doesn’t know yet.) But of course, it’s Poseidon turn to get his Trident. It is quite umm.. there was a huge "angry” moment when Hera left the troupe. I do wish she didn’t leave the boys on their own!

Oh well.

Snapping crab claws *chuckles*

Ok one thing I don’t like about this book is, much different to the Goddess Girls series, much to old tradition when it comes to Zeus, everything orbits around him… *again*. Well. most of it. I was expecting more of like the other mainstream series, ie the book is suppose to be about the feature character. This don’t really happen here. I was expecting to read Poseidon thoughts and character development, and less ion Zeus, but that um.. oh you see when you read it. 

But plot is good, setting is awesome, but yeah. I still miss Hera! Waiting for Hades turn!     

Poseidon and the Sea of Fury (Heroes in Training #2)
By Joan Holub, Suzanne Williams

A young Poseidon must triumph over aquatic terrors in this Heroes in Training adventure. The merciless Cronus and his Titan buddies are in hot pursuit of Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon, who plan to travel across the treacherous boiling sea in order to save a fellow Olympian. They have a boat, but they also have a problem: Poseidon can’t swim and is terrified of the water (well, really of the creatures that lurk in its depths). The group faces danger after danger as they battle singing sirens, a fishy and ferocious Titan named Oceanus, and people-eating monsters sent by Cronus himself. Can Poseidon overcome his fears and help his fellow heroes escape Cronus and his cronies?

Finished Reading: 21th March 2013
Acquire: 19th March 2012
Rate } ♠♠♠♠
Genre } Fiction | Mythology | Young Adult | Teens | Middle Grade
Release Day }  04th December 2012
Publisher } Aladdin
Format } Paperbook
ISBN } 9781442452657
Pages } 128 pages
Source } Bought
Age Group } PG 12 yo +
Interests } Mythological junkies like me. 
Support my reading by getting your copy }

  

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Book Review: Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom (Heroes in Training 1); By Joan Holub, Suzanne Williams

Zeus. The King of the Olympians.. Well... not yet. But he’s the start of this series. Meet the Olympian in their teens! It’s not enough to read about the second generation Olympians in their teens, I have to get my paws on the original Olympians teens.

Let me state forth that Zeus isn’t in my “like” list of characters, but he *again in a Holub & Williams state of mind* has turned him.. oh.. adorable. Especially when he is in a quest of looking for a guy name Goose to return the Thunderbolt. Hera is always classy bossy, Hades as always moody, and of course, Poseidon is so cute when he’s afraid of water! Oh I would melt!

I wish I have a thunderbolt of a pet now.

I must say, if you love the Goddess Girls, you would love this series. I’m so sorry I had this book as one of my “Filler Reads”, I ended up hooked on this series. That is such good news for me, to find a new series to enjoy and to look forward to, *sighs* The agony of waiting for the next book. Oh boy!

Look, here’s the deal. Why aren’t you picking this up?! Read it! =3

The secret is, I actually got both versions of e-book and paperback for this one.

Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom (Heroes in Training #1)
By Joan Holub, Suzanne Williams

After pulling a magical thunderbolt from a stone, ten-year-old Zeus goes on the adventure of a lifetime in this thrilling start to a brand-new series! The terrible Titans—merciless giants who enjoy snacking on humans—have dominated the earth and put the world into chaos. But their rule is about to be put to the test as a group of young Olympians discover their powers and prepare to righteously rule the universe....      Ten-year-old Zeus is mystified (and super-annoyed) by the fact that he keeps getting hit by lightening. Every. Single. Year. He also longs for adventure, as he has never been far from the cave where he grew up.      Zeus gets his wish—and a lot more than he bargained for—when he is kidnapped by dangerous, giant Titans! In self-defense, Zeus grabs the first thing he sees—an actual thunderbolt he pulls from a stone that is covered in mysterious markings. Zeus is the only one who can decipher the markings, and sets off on a quest to rescue his fellow Olympians from the evil Cronus. Armed with his trusty thunderbolt (named Bolt, of course), Zeus is on an adventure of a lifetime—and a journey to fulfill his destiny as King of the Gods.

Finished Reading: 12th March 2013
Acquire: 25th February 2012
Rate } ♠♠♠♠♠
Genre } Fiction | Mythology | Young Adult | Teens | Middle Grade
Release Day }  04th December 2012
Publisher } Aladdin
Format } Paperbook
ISBN } 9781442452633
Pages } 112 pages
Source } Bought
Age Group } PG 12 yo +
Interests } Mythological junkies like me. 
Support my reading by getting your copy }

  

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In My Mailbox Monday, Stacking the Shelves (23 March 2013)

 
In My Mailbox hosted by The Story Siren.
Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga’s Reviews.

Alex Cross, Run (Alex Cross #20); by James Patterson
Beauty From Pain (Beauty #1); by Georgia Cates
Hard to Resist (Hard to Resist #1); by Shanora Williams
Starlight; by Debbie Macomber
The Sound of Broken Glass (Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James #15); Deborah Crombie

A Terrible Love (A Terrible Love); by Marata Eros
Wicked Nights (Angels of the Dark #1); by Gena Showalter
Bad Blood (Kate Shugak 20); Dana Stabenow
Barefoot Season (Blackberry Island #1) ; by Susan Mallery
Calculated In Death (In Death #36); by J.D Robb

The Nightmare Affair (The Arkwell Academy #1); by Mindee Arnett
Poison; by Bridget Zinn
Jenny’s First Adventure (My Very Unfairy Tale Life 0.5), by Anna Staniszewski
My Very Unfairy Tale Life (My Very Unfairy Tale Life #1), by Anna Staniszewski

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Book Review; Pandora the Curious, by Joan Holub, Suzanne Williams

Yes! Another excellent Greek Mythology retelling read. I will NEVER, EVER get enough of these… hopefully this will be a lengthy series! I must confess, the first book I’d picked out from this series was a “filler read”, but I ended up gobbling these like hot cakes. This was also my “comfort read” when I was sick and bedbound that whole week, hence the reason for the late review. 

Here’s the thing, I used to hate Pandora. She annoyed me the most amongst the all of the mythological characters, and I mean all!

I said, used to. This book made her lovable. Pandora is so adorable that I’m willing to get past her busybodyness and absolute total unnecessary curiosity. I love the way they represent the “evils” from the box as “Bubbles”, popping and whispered what evil it unleashed… of course, only Pandora could hear it. After a bit while of popping, I feel for her when alot of her friends had been bubble-bumped, and she’s left alone to save everybody. Oh dear.

My verdict? So, so, so, so, so, so, so reading another one! Brilliant! Just Brilliant! Oh yeah, I actually bought the e-book and paperback for this one, because I couldn’t stand to wait for the paperback to arrive. Yes, I’m geeky that way.

Pandora the Curious (Goddess Girls #9)
By Joan Holub, Suzanne Williams

Is Pandora about to open up a box of trouble?
One of the few mortals at Mount Olympus Academy, Pandora is famous for her mega quizzical nature—not that she thinks there’s anything wrong with being curious, of course!
Her curiosity kicks into high gear when a godboy named Epimetheus brings a mysterious box to school. Epimetheus is the nephew of an MOA teacher in whose class Pandora once opened another box that sent a few weather disasters to earth. Still, Pandora can’t help but take a peek inside this new box when it unexpectedly lands in her lap. What could be the harm in that, right? Little does she know that opening the box will open up far more trouble than she ever expected!
Authors Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams put a modern spin on classic myths with the Goddess Girls series. Follow the ins and outs of divine social life at Mount Olympus Academy, where the most privileged godboys and goddessgirls in the Greek pantheon hone their mythical skills.

Finished Reading: 10th March 2013
Acquire: 06th February 2013
Rate } ♠♠♠♠♠
Genre } Fiction | Mythology | Young Adult | Teens | Middle Grade
Release Day }  04th December 2012
Publisher } Aladdin
Format } Paperbook
ISBN } 9781442449350
Pages } 256 pages
Source } Bought
Age Group } PG 12 yo +
Interests } Mythological junkies like me. 
Support my reading by getting your copy }

  

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Keep Calm And Read More #Brunei

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Book Review: Mick Harte Was Here; by Barbara Park

I never thought I be sad for a book character.

And yes.. the narrator lied when she said, “this isn’t the kind of book where you meet the main character and you get to like him real well.” She made sure she fall in love with this character… only to tell us he died. No spoilers there.

This is a story about remembering Mick Harte. And this is the story how the people who left cope post-event.

It’s an emotional read, it shows how different people deals and cope with the death of a person they know. 

P/S Get tissues ready before you start reading this one.

Quote. “The upside to grief is it takes away your appetite. When people say you look good they really mean it. Nature's thoughtful that way.”

Mick Harte Was Here
By Barbara Park

How could someone like Mick die? He was the kid who freaked out his mom by putting a ceramic eye in a defrosted chicken, the kid who did a wild dance in front of the whole school--and the kid who, if only he had worn his bicycle helmet, would still be alive today. But now Phoebe Harte's twelve-year-old brother is gone, and Phoebe's world has turned upside down. With her trademark candor and compassion, beloved middle-grade writer Barbara Park tells how Phoebe copes with her painful loss in this story filled with sadness, humor--and hope. Chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of their Best Books of 1996. "A full-fledged and fully convincing drama

Finished Reading: 01st March 2013
Acquire: 06th February 2013
Rate } ♠♠♠♠♠
Genre } Fiction | Realistic Fiction | Young Adult | Teens | Middle Grade
Release Day }  26th January 2011
Publisher } Yearling
Format } eBook
ISBN } 9780307786821
Pages } 96 pages
Source } Bought
Age Group } PG 15 yo +
Interests } Realistic Fiction Readers 
Awards }
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