Review: Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott

Title: Heartbeat.
Author: Elizabeth Scott.
Publication Date: January 28th, 2014.
Publisher: Harlequin Teen.
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult.
Format: Paperback, 304 pages.
Source: ARC Provided By Publisher.
My Rating:

Life. Death. And...Love?

Emma would give anything to talk to her mother one last time. Tell her about her slipping grades, her anger with her stepfather, and the boy with the bad reputation who might be the only one Emma can be herself with. But Emma can't tell her mother anything. Because her mother is brain-dead and being kept alive by machines for the baby growing inside her.

Meeting bad-boy Caleb Harrison wouldn't have interested Old Emma. But New Emma - the one who exists in a fog of grief, who no longer cares about school, whose only social outlet is her best friend Olivia - New Emma is startled by the connection she and Caleb forge. Feeling her own heart beat again wakes Emma from the grief that has grayed her existence. Is there hope for life after death-and maybe, for love?

 

Review

I have to say that I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I first started reading Heartbeat. I’d read so many different reviews and heard so many different opinions about it; people seemed to either really love it or they hated it, so I was eager to find out what side of the fence I would fall on. Whilst reading Heartbeat I was teetering on the edge of really enjoying the book and wanting to flush it down the toilet – and by the end, I think I pretty much fell smack down in the middle of both emotions. Heartbeat was far from a fantastic novel, with confusing dialog at times and text that seemed to veer vastly away from the subject it was focused on. However, it was also a very emotional and quite heart-wrenching and beautiful story in its own weird and kind of quirky way.

Emma is our main protagonist, and although I didn’t hate her character – I wasn’t particularly fond of her either. For about 90% of Heartbeat, Emma was a complete and utter bitch to her step-father. I understand that the situation was a delicate and conflicting one, but some of the things she said to Dan were just plain spiteful. However, in the times that Emma acted like a regular human being, mostly when she was around Caleb, Emma turned out to be a really sweet and interesting character. My feelings for her are pretty conflicted, but she was going through a loss that has completely turned her world upside down. By the end of the novel though, Emma’s character turned into someone completely different, not the selfish cow she’d be acting like, nor the focused and grade-a-student she was before, but someone who’d been whole all that grief, but had came out the other end stronger. And I’m pretty sure that’s one of the morals of Heartbeat’s story.

Caleb is the love interest in Heartbeat, and I really loved his character. Everyone knows I love a good bad boy character, and Caleb fits the bill quite nicely. It’s always great to read about a guy trying to live with his choices and situations. Underneath the ex-drug user and grand-theft-auto, there is this amazing character – with a beautiful personality that Emma helps bring to the surface. Emma and Caleb were drawn to each other, like magnets, having so much pain, anger and loss in common that they just seemed to fit together and I loved their relationship. It wasn’t insta-love, they weren’t destined to be together from the start, something just happened in Emma’s life, and her whole being changed, she became a completely different person – and was drawn to someone she’d never considered an option beforehand. Caleb and Emma balanced each other out, saw beneath the lies and the pain and the tears and the anger, and found each other and I thought it was really beautiful.

Overall, I really did enjoy reading Heartbeat, but there were too many flaws for it to gain more than the 3.5 star rating I gave it. It seemed like it took me forever to finish reading this novel, and I just wasn’t as invested in the storyline as I hoped I would be. Heartbeat had the potential to be an incredible novel, but was let down by a writing style that was all over the place and the utter spitefulness of our main character, Emma. Writing this review has been pretty confusing, and to be perfectly honest, my opinions about this book vary from hating it, to crying at some of the scenes. Although I wasn’t the biggest fan of Heartbeat, I still want to read more from Elizabeth Scott in the future. Who knows, maybe with a different storyline and different characters Elizabeth’s writing will thrive – I certainly hope so!

Quotes

When someone you love...when they die, you want it undone. You'd do anything to have them back, and it's easy to believe that if only this had happened or that had happened, everything would be fine. And that's what makes you angry. What makes you hate. You don't want to believe that sometimes bad things happen just because they do.

I see what grief does, how it strips you bare, shows you all the things you don't want to know. That loss doesn't end, that there isn't a moment where you are done, when you can neatly put it away and move on.

We just look at each other, and I don't care that he's gorgeous and screwed up. I care that he really gets what's going on. Sees it. Sees me.

Review: Anything to Have You by Paige Harbison

Title: Anything to Have You.
Author: Paige Harbison.
Publication Date: January 28th, 2014.
Publisher: Harlequin Teen.
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult.
Format: Paperback, 304 pages.
Source: ARC Provided By Publisher.
My Rating:

Nothing should come between best friends, not even boys. Especially not boys.

Natalie and Brooke have had each other's backs forever. Natalie is the quiet one, college bound and happy to stay home and watch old movies. Brooke is the movie—the life of every party, the girl everyone wants to be.

Then it happens—one crazy night that Natalie can't remember and Brooke's boyfriend, Aiden, can't forget. Suddenly there's a question mark in Natalie and Brooke's friendship that tests everything they thought they knew about each other and has both girls discovering what true friendship really means.

 

Review

I’ve only read one other book by Paige Harbison before, and I really enjoyed it – so I was very much so looking forward to reading Anything to Have You. I’m glad to say I was not disappointed and thoroughly enjoyed it! Anything to Have You is a fun, fast paced read with an emotional rollercoaster that’ll leave any love addict breathless. Although I thought the plotline was pretty predictable at times, there were plenty of twists and turns and I thought it was a really wonderful read that I just couldn’t put down!

Natalie is a quiet, smart and apparently gorgeous girl who prefers to stay in watching movies than to go out partying like her best friend. I loved Natalie’s character instantly, mainly because she was so relatable and always honestly tried to be the best friend she could. I was never the partying sort when I was younger, and preferred the quiet life, so I could totally understand what she was feeling. Sure, Natalie made quite a few mistakes throughout the book, but everyone does, it’s normal – and we’ve just got to live with the ones we do make. Natalie was a kind, caring and funny character that I just couldn’t help but love.

Brooke is a complete and utter social butterfly, with a flighty, bubbly and restless attitude to match. I had mixed feelings about her character whilst reading Anything to Have You, and I often thought it seemed like Brooke had two completely different personalities. Sure, Brooke could be a lovely character, kind and caring and funny, but she was also selfish, over-erratic and very self-obsessed. I didn’t like the way she treated Natalie a lot of the time, and I also thought she was way too pushy and put way too much pressure on Natalie.

The novel is split between our main character Natalie and her best friend Brooke’s perspectives, I definitely wasn’t expecting this and I really loved reading the storyline from Brooke’s point of view. I thought it was great to read about how she was really feeling, even if I didn’t like her character that much. As for the romance, there was little, but I loved it. I was rooting for Natalie and Aiden, the main love-interest in Anything to Have You, right from the beginning! Right off the bat I thought that Natalie and Aiden made a much better couple and to be perfectly honest, I didn’t think Brooke deserved him at all. I hated how poorly Brooke treated Aiden, as he really was a kind and stand-up guy who seemed to care a great deal.

Overall, I think Paige Harbison’s writing is really fantastic, and I think that it’s incredible how well she’s able to capture teenage emotions and create a storyline that’s not only interesting and fun but believable as well! I really don’t seem to understand why I’ve seen so many lower/negative ratings of Anything to Have You, sure, there are plenty of flaws – but there are also plenty of great things as well. I think it well and truly deserves the 4/5 star rating and I can’t wait to pick up even more from Paige Harbison in the future; she’s definitely an author to keep an eye out for!

Quotes

“I act how I act because the feeling is so addictive. The feeling that you are the girl in somebody’s montage. Even when a romance is a short-lived and lame, and disappointing, there’s that moment...that moment where you feel like...a girl. Not a queen, not a goddess, not a supermodel. A girl, in the way that boys are supposed to think about us. Like the golden sunlit, breeze-in-the-hair girl that we all want to be.”

" ...hanging around drinking disgusting beer that tastes like sewer water and taking shots of raspberry-flavored nail polish remover while someone's mom is out of town is not fun to me."

I bit my tongue and turned to him. His eyes scanned my face. My heart swelled. I didn’t just want to spend time with him. Or flirt with him. I didn’t even just want to kiss him or put my hands under his t-shirt. I wanted him to be my person. The one I could call when I was upset, happy, angry, any of it. And I wanted to be the person he needed.

Review: Pawn by Aimee Carter

Title: Pawn.
Series: The Blackcoat Rebellion, #1.
Author: Aimee Carter.
Publication Date: November 26th, 2013.
Publisher: Harlequin Teen.
Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult.
Format: Paperback, 296 pages.
Source: ARC Provided By Publisher.
My Rating:

YOU CAN BE A VII IF YOU GIVE UP EVERYTHING.

For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life in misery as s III, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.

If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked - surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.

There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed...and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose - and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand.

 

Review

Pawn has a really unique and interesting plot that will draw the reader in and definitely keep them on the edge of their seat! Right from the beginning of reading Pawn, I was well and truly hooked – I ended up reading over half of it in just one evening. You’re immediately drawn straight into Kitty’s world – and the action commences from the first few pages. Aimée Carter is a really fantastic author and the world building throughout Pawn was absolutely incredible and beautifully detailed. There are also so many twists and turns throughout it, that even though I kept guessing what would happen next, I don’t think I was ever right!

Kitty Doe is our main protagonist throughout the novel, and to be perfectly honest – I have mixed feelings about her. On one hand, I didn’t really feel like her character was that well developed, and seemed a little bland and boring a lot of the time. But on the other hand, there were quite a few instances where she had a real spark and fire in her, which I thought was amazing – even if they didn’t last for long. I did like Kitty’s character – but she wasn’t the strongest female protagonist I’ve read about. I hope that in the next book she’ll become a little more developed, stronger and starts acting more in control and less of a spineless little girl that she was in this book.

There are two male secondary characters in Pawn; Benjy, Kitty’s boyfriend and Knox, who was the fiancé of Lila; the Prime Minister’s niece. Thankfully though, there isn’t a love-triangle! Benjy was such a sweet, kind, caring and devoted boyfriend, he’d literally do anything for Kitty – even running away from everything they’ve ever known so they could be together. As for the Knox, I absolutely adored him as well; he really seemed to care about Kitty and about what would happen to her. Knox was constantly trying to protect her, doing everything in his power to keep her and Benjy safe. At first, I thought that Knox and Kitty would make a really amazing couple, but as the novel progressed, I changed my view, and thought that their friendship was like a brother-sister relationship. Either way, I loved both of their characters and I thought Kitty was very lucky to have two guys care about her as much as they did!

The rest of the characters are all so different, yet really interesting at the same time! The majority of the people that we are introduced to throughout the book are very blood-thirsty, merciless, cruel and sadistic in their own ways, but I think that it personally made the book even better. There doesn’t seem to be enough characters now days with these traits – and I found it really fun and interesting to read about them and their actions and thoughts. As for the romance between Kitty and Benjy; it isn’t really the main focus in the book, which at first I found a little disappointing. But as I got further and further into Pawn, I realised that it really didn’t matter – the book was just as great with the romance just as a sideline.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Pawn and I’m extremely curious to find out what happens next in the sequel and see where the characters end up! I believe Pawn well and truly earned the 4/5 star rating – and if Kitty’s character had been a little more developed, then it may have earned a 4.5, but oh well. I’d recommend this book to any dystopian fan, especially if you love an unpredictable novel. Aimée Carter’s writing is really wonderful and I’m eager to read more from her in the near-future – she’s definitely an author to look out for!

Quotes

"But the world is out there, and it understands that the illusion of knowledge and freedom is not the same as the real thing. Eventually it will fade, and there are those who will do whatever it takes to make that happen sooner rather than later."

"Kitty," he said, as if testing out my name. "Is that short for something?"
"Yeah," I said. "It's short for 'my mother was insane and had a thing for cats.'"

"Have you ever played chess, Kitty?"
I eyed her. What did a board game have to do with this? "Not really."
"You and I should play sometime. I think you would like it," she said. "It’s a game of strategy, mostly. The strong pieces are in the back row, while the weak pieces—the pawns—are all in the front, ready to take the brunt of the attack. Because of their limited movement and vulnerability, most people underestimate them and only use them to protect the more powerful pieces. But when I play, I protect my pawns."
"Why?" I said, not entirely sure where this conversation was going. "If they’re weak, then what’s the point?"
"They may be weak when the game begins, but their potential is remarkable. Most of the time, they’ll be taken by the other side and held captive until the end of the game. But if you’re careful—if you keep your eyes open and pay attention to what your opponent is doing, if you protect your pawns and they reach the other side of the board, do you know what happens then?"
I shook my head, and she smiled.
"Your pawn becomes a queen." She touched my cheek, her fingers cold as ice. "Because they kept moving forward and triumphed against impossible odds, they become the most powerful piece in the game. Never forget that, all right? Never forget the potential one solitary pawn has to change the entire game."

Review: Crash Into You by Katie McGarry

Title: Crash Into You.
Series: Pushing The Limits, #3.
Author: Katie McGarry.
Publication Date: November 26th, 2013.
Publisher: Harlequin Teen.
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult.
Format: Paperback, 474 pages.
Source: ARC Provided By Publisher.
My Rating:

The girl with straight A's, designer clothes and the perfect life - that's who people expect Rachel Young to be. So the private school junior keeps secrets from her wealthy family...and she's just added two more to the list. One involves racing strangers down dark country roads in her Mustang GT. The other? Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Walker - a guy she has no business even talking to. But when the foster kid with the tattoos and intense gray eyes comes to her rescue, she can't get him out of her mind.

The last thing Isaiah needs is to get tangled up with a rich girl who wants to slum it on the south side for kicks. But when their shared love of street racing puts their lives in jeopardy, Isaiah and Rachel will have six weeks to come up with a way out. Six weeks to discover just how far they'll go to save each other.

 

Review

Katie McGarry has done it again – she’s created an amazing and beautifully written contemporary novel that I just couldn’t put down! I laughed, cried and gushed over every little thing in Crash Into You, and although it was a large book, I sped through it incredibly fast. Katie McGarry is one of my favourite authors – if you’ve not read any the books in this series then you are well and truly missing out! I recommend them to anyone, it doesn’t matter if you’re older; I’m sure you’ll fall in love with Katie’s writing and characters. I’m running out of words to say how much I adored this book, and I think that it may possibly be my favourite of the three so far – but we’ll have to see!

Isaiah is smoking hot ball of passion and emotion – and I fell in love with him from book one. I was so excited to know that he was having his own book, because there just wasn’t enough of him in the previous books, and I really wanted to see him have a happy ending. Although Isaiah may seem like a tough guy, he hides behind his tattoos and piercings – hiding his dark past and has already assigned himself a bleak future. He’s really a kind, caring, brave, compassionate and gentle guy who just wants to be loved (even though he’d never really admit it!). I can’t find a single fault with Isaiah’s character, he’s amazing and I love everything about him, he’s had a hard life but is trying to turn things around and refuses to be sucked down by drugs and theft. Isaiah’s a motivated and slightly hot-headed guy, but I think he deserves nothing but the best.

Rachel is also an amazing character as well, and so different from every other female lead I’ve read about. Although I couldn’t relate about her love of cars, I understood her family troubles and I felt like I could feel all of her desperation and need to be seen for who she really was. Rachel may have had everything she’s ever wanted, with a big family and plenty of money – but behind the facade there are cracks. She’s constantly trying to live up to her dead sister who she was born to replace and tries to keep her real self confined to please her parents. However her mask is slipping and she is constantly struggling to be who her parents want her to be. Rachel is a beautiful character; kind, caring, shy and suffers from awful panic attacks. As a panic attack sufferer myself, I could understand how she feels and my heart well and truly went out to her.

Abby is Isaiah’s friend that he’s known since they were kids, at first, I wasn’t sure if I liked her that much at all, but as the book went on I grew to love her. She and Rachel struck up an unusual and wonderful friendship that made me smile like a complete idiot. She may not have been a huge part of the book, but I thought she deserved a mention! Moving on; Isaiah’s and Rachel’s relationship was on fast-forward from the beginning, but it didn’t feel like insta-love at all. They knew how they felt about each other from their first encounter and went from there and eventually fell in love. Their relationship was amazing and I loved seeing it progress and their reactions to each other and affection were definitely swoon-worthy!

Katie McGarry is a writing-genius and god all wrapped up into one. Her characters are incredible, loveable and her writing style beautiful, fun and heart-wrenching all at the same time. I wish I could read more about Isaiah’s and Rachel’s relationship as I want to read more about them, and I also wish that Katie McGarry would write lots more books in this series. I think a book on Abby’s character would be absolutely fantastic! If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would – but unfortunately that’s not really possible, so I’ll just finish with saying that Crash Into You was an phenomenal book that everybody and their mothers should read. I can’t wait to read the next companion novel in this series, and anything else Katie McGarry may write in the future. I’m completely hooked and I’m sure I will never stop loving Katie, this book, or the others in this series.

Quotes

"You can ignore me, Rachel, and you can try to treat me as a friend, but none of that will erase the fact that I think about kissing you every second I’m awake and dream at night of my hands on your body. And it sure as hell won’t erase that I’m terrified by how much I like you."

"One day I’ll get a tattoo for you."
Warmth explodes in my chest, in awe that he would mark himself for me. "You don’t have to."
"I will." His fingers trace my cheek and chills of pleasure run down my spine. "It’s what I do. Each tattoo represents the only happy memories I’ve had. And you, Rachel, you’re the happiest."

Maybe this is what happens when you fall in love. On the outside a lighter is nothing amazing, but it holds all the ingredients that can create something wonderful. With a few pushes in the right direction, you can inspire something so brilliant that it pushes back the darkness.