Category Archives: 4 Flames

WHEREVER NINA LIES
Author: Lynn Weingarten

• Reading level: Young Adult
• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Point; 1 edition (February 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 054506631X
• ISBN-13: 978-0545066310

SUMMARY:


Nina was beautiful, artistic, wild . . . and adored by her younger sister, Ellie. But one day, without any warning, Nina disappeared.

Two years later, Ellie can’t stop thinking about her sister. Although everyone else has given up hope that Nina will return, Elile just knows her sister is out there, somewhere. If only Ellie had a clue where to look.

And then she gets one, in the form of a mysterious drawing tucked into the pages of a book. Determined to find her sister, Ellie takes off on a crazy, sexy, cross-country road trip with the only person who believes she’s got a chance — her hot, adventurous new crush.

Along the way, Ellie finds a few things she wasn’t planning on. Like love. Mysteries. Lies. And something far ore shocking — the truth. 

MY THOUGHTS:

I had no idea what to really expect with this book.  I knew it was about sisters, one of them goes missing, and the other sister never gives up hope.  That was my general understanding of what this book was going to be about.  As I read the book though, it had so much more than that!

While I didn’t like only getting flashbacks of Nina, the author did do a wonderful job letting the reader know about Nina through her sister, Ellie. Ellie has never given up hope that her sister is still out there alive.  Even though everyone tells Ellie that she needs to move on, Ellie can’t let it go and stop searching for her.  When Ellie and her best friend find a card that Nina has drawn on in a donation box, Ellie gets her hopes up again.  Amanda doesn’t want to see Ellie get hurt, but she tries to help at first in locating her.

When Ellie and Amanda show up at a party, Ellie meets Sean.  Something about Sean captivates her and she finds herself attracted to him.  When they meet at Ellie’s job the following day, they hit it off.  One thing leads to another, and they are off on an adventure road trip finding clues along the way of what happened to Nina.

I loved how the author sucks you into the story of this book.  She gives you enough hints and even sketches throughout the story that makes you feel like a detective.  I will say that they twist in the middle of the book was great.  The only problem with the twist, was how quickly it wrapped up the book.  I feel the author could have added a few more chapters to the story to make the ending flow at the pace of the beginning.

A great read if you are looking for a young adult romance with plenty of suspense and twists.  I look forward to finding out what the author will write next!

MY RATING:

• Reading level: Young Adult
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse (February 8, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416994815
• ISBN-13: 978-1416994817

EVERLASTING DESIRE
Author: Amanda Ashley
Source: Author Submission
* I received this ARC free of 
charge in exchange for an honest
review *

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Zebra; Original edition (September 28, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1420104446
• ISBN-13: 978-1420104448

SYNOPSIS:

Desire Burns Forever

The clientele at Shore’s clothing store includes some of L.A.’s sexiest bachelors. But none of them affects Megan DeLacey as deeply as the dark-eyed stranger who strides into her boutique one evening-and keeps returning, night after night. Megan is drawn to Rhys Costain even as she fears him. Because his reason for being there is clear – he wants Megan, with an intensity that’s both tempting and terrifying…

For almost five centuries, Rhys has lived alone, using women as it pleased him and never wanting more. As Master of the West Coast vampires, it’s his duty to eliminate the ancient vampire who’s draining humans on his turf, putting all of their kind at risk. But Megan’s lush beauty and vibrant warmth is blinding him to a danger that will soon engulf them both – and tear him from the only woman who can satisfy his darkest hunger…

MY THOUGHTS:

I love Amanda Ashley books! When she contacted me asking her to review another one of her vampire stories, I jumped for joy at the chance!  If you are unfamiliar with this authors tales, where have you been? After all  the hype of sparkly and cute vampire tales, sometimes I need a break with dark and brooding vampires to make me remember why I fell in love with these sort of paranormal creatures in the first place.

In Everlasting Desire, we meet Megan and Rhys. Rhys Costain, who is the Master of the West Coast Vampires, finds himself drawn to retail consultant Megan DeLacey. After swearing off love and thinking he will spend his Immortal life without happiness, Rhys is surprised at the feelings and emotions that Megan DeLacey makes him feel.  She is a mortal and Rhys knows that there isn’t much hope for a vampire and mortal to be together.  When another Master Vampire decides he is too bored, Rhys finds not only himself in danger, but also Megan.

I loved this book. I have loved almost every single book by this author and automatically buy anything that comes out by her! I love how she is true to the original Vampire tales.  They are not sparkly and they are not always happy.  They have the darkness that you would expect from a Vampire.  Rhys is mysterious, only comes out at night, rich, and of course sexy as hell.  I loved every single thing about Rhys. What was not to love about him? He showered Megan with attention, roses almost every hour of the day while he courted her, and was very protective of her.

Megan, on the other hand, was not a character I would have as a friend, but she was not bad as a character. She was so naive at times. Her character was good, but at times I felt she acted a little dense. She kept changing her feelings about Rhys, one moment head over heels in love with him and in the next breath scared of him.  Then about halfway through the story, she starts to come around and warm up to the reader.

The side characters were just as fabulous. Shirl was annoying, yet it fit her character and it plays a major point in the story.  The bad vampire, Tomas, was the ultimate bad vampire.  He is the one of the oldest vampires, and mean as hell.  He pretty much has lost all of his humanity that he had left and doesn’t care one bit about killing humans.  When Tomas and Rhys have their showdown, I couldn’t help but hope he would get his butt kicked!  With appearances from characters from the previous books, it reminded me of all the fabulous vampires this author has created.

I can’t wait for the next installment that this author brings to the table.  She has me captivated with each story and keeps my pulse racing with the romance! Move over sparkle, hello dark and mysterious!

MY RATING:

NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL
Author: Siobhan Vivian
Source: Publisher
*I received this book free of 
charge in exchange for an honest review*

• Reading level: Young Adult
• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Push (September 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0545169151
• ISBN-13: 978-0545169158

SYNOPSIS:

Natalie Sterling wants to be in control. She wants her friends to be loyal. She wants her classmates to elect her student council president. She wants to find the right guy, not the usual jerk her school has to offer. She wants a good reputation, because she believes that will lead to good things. 

But life is messy, and it’s very hard to be in control of it. Not when there are freshman girls running around in a pack, trying to get senior guys to sleep with them. Not when your friends have secrets they’re no longer comfortable sharing. Not when the boy you once dismissed ends up being the boy you wants to sleep with yourself – but only in secret, with nobody ever finding out. 

Slut or saint? Winner or loser? Natalie is getting tired of these forced choices – and is now going to find a way to live life in the sometimes messy, sometimes wonderful in-between. 

MY THOUGHTS:

Not That Kind of Girl is a book that most teens will be able to relate to.  There are always the boys that goof around and talk about who is doing who, girls that are trying their best to get a boys attention, and kids that are always trying to be the respectful and good grade kind of teen.  In this book we get to see sides to every different teen.

Natalie has always been the school smart and straight laced teen.  She is always focusing on her studies and her senior year she runs for class president. Usually this is held by a boy, but that doesn’t stop her from running.  She is loyal to her friend Autumn to a point of reminding her of why they became friends in the first place all the time.  I didn’t care much for Natalie.  She came off as better than everyone else, snotty and always had to remind everyone that she was better than they were.  Her whole attitude was better-than-thou.  I wanted to knock her off of that pedestal so many times throughout the entire book.

Conner was a great romantic lead for Natalie. He was the high school quarterback and had a good head on his shoulders.  I loved how he was patient with all of Natalie’s different attitudes.  Autumn and Spencer were the most likable girls of the book.  They did their own thing and felt empowered by their actions.

The first half of this book dragged due to it being more about the election and building up Natalie.  After you get through the first half of the book, it starts to really pick up and the romance between Natalie and Conner starts to take off.  It also delves deeper into the problems with the friendships between Natalie, Autumn and Spencer.  Once I got into this part of the book, it was easy to be caught up into the whole teenage drama.

This book turned out to be a lot better than I first thought in the beginning chapters. I wanted to read more about the aftermath though and the story quickly came to an end before I knew it.  I do hope the author considers doing a sequel to the book just so I can see how things affected the characters for life after high school! I need more of this story to quench my need for teen drama!

MY RATING:

HIS EYES
Author: Renee Carter
Source: Gift

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Outskirts Press (August 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1432742132
• ISBN-13: 978-1432742133

SYNOPSIS:

Amy Turner’s about to graduate from high school and all she wants is a job. Actually, all she wants is to find a way to pay for college. Amy certainly isn’t looking for love when she answers an ad to baby-sit a boy-she just needs the cash. But the job has a catch: The boy is blind…and he’s her age.

Tristan Edmund may be hot, but he doesn’t want Amy’s help. Or so he thinks. After being blinded in a horse show-jumping competition, Tristan spends his days in the dark, refusing to accept his disability. Much to his annoyance, Amy bursts into his life and drags him into the light. But just as the two begin to see something in each other, Tristan’s beautiful ex-girlfriend shows up. Will the temptation be too much, or will Tristan choose the girl who really sees him?

MY THOUGHTS:

I have been wanting this book forever! When I finally received it, I dove right into the story!

Amy is hoping to get enough money saved up to go to college where she can intern for journalism.  She had been searching for job when she stumbles upon a babysitting ad. When she goes to the interview, she is stunned to find out that she will be helping a blind boy named Tristan who happens to be graduating from high school as well.  Tristan was blinded during a horseback riding accident and is having a hard time adjusting to being blind.  Amy takes the job since she is needing the money.

On the home front of Amy’s life, her brother has been gone for years.  When he suddenly reappears, at the worst time, it shifts some of the focus from the babysitting job to her personal life.  We get to glimpse into both plots of Amy’s life and actually get a taste of what she is going through.  Then we reach the next hurdle of Tristan’s ex girlfriend returning and trying to pick up where they left off. Tristan is being polite to her, but Amy feels that he is falling for her all over again.  Just when Amy thought they might be having a relationship bloom, his ex plots to win him back.

I couldn’t stand Tristan’s ex. She was a snotty brat who was only looking after herself.  I loved the romance between Tristan and Amy though. It was sweet and perfect for each one.  Even though the story could be a bit predictable, I still fell in love with this book.  That was the only problem I had with it really.  I read it in one hour and wanted more!  The ending was a perfect fit, and I hope the author will treat us to a follow up to this book!

MY RATING: