☆ VBB Weekly – 10.03.2016 ☆
WHAT I’M READING
| Reading Now: | Listening To: | Reading Next: |
 |
 |
 |
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
LAST WEEK’S RECAP
The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter
- About: String of murders connected to famous basketball players, Will Trent and team try to figure out who and why.
- Takeaway: Brilliant plotting, well-developed characters, big-time tension. Karin is a master in the genre and I’ll keep reading all her books.
- If you love this, try: Pretty Girls, but please note that it’s pretty disturbing crime fiction, so not recommended if you are new to crime fiction/thrillers.
Hide and Seek by M.J. Arldige
- About: Detective Helen Grace tries to solve gruesome murders inside a prison while her BFF and fellow detective tries to clear Helen’s name.
- Takeaway: I couldn’t love this series (and its characters) any more. So much tension and emotion, so many unforeseen twists before we finally see who is behind the crimes. Read these books in order – see reading order (book 5, Little Boy Blue, is out tomorrow).
- If you love this, try: Sara Blaedel’s Louise Rick series, starting with The Forgotten Girls.
NEW REVIEWS
 |
 |
 |
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
NEW RELEASES
Her Halloween Treat by Tiffany Reisz (Available Now)
Trick…or wicked treat!
It was a devastating dirty trick—Joey Silvia just found out her boyfriend of two years is married. What. A. Dick. Joey knows her best chance to get over one guy is to get under another. Of course, heading home to her family’s remote cabin in Oregon poses some challenges in the “available men” department…until she discovers this cabin comes with its own hot handyman!
Holy crap, Chris Steffensen. When did her brother’s best friend turn into a hard-bodied pile of blond-bearded hotness? He’s the perfect Halloween treat—and a surprisingly dirty rebound guy. For a couple of weeks, anyway. Except that Chris has other ideas…like proving to Joey that this blast from the past is a whole lot more than a naughty Halloween hookup.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Unsuitable by Samantha Towle (Available Now) – 99¢
Daisy Smith has spent eighteen months of her life paying for a crime she didn’t commit. Now out of prison, she has only one focus—to get back custody of her younger brother, Jesse, who is deep in the foster care system. Desperate to rebuild her life and show the system that she is responsible enough to care for Jesse, she takes on the only job available to her—working as a maid at the Matis Estate.
On day one of her new job, Daisy meets Kastor Matis, the only son of the owners and her new boss. An enigmatic, handsome Greek god of a man, Kas is closed off, cold, and…well, kind of a bastard.
The more time Daisy spends around Kas, she starts to see there might be more to him than just his cold, bastard ways. He may actually have a heart beating in that frozen chest of his.
But Kas has secrets, too. Secrets that he’s determined to keep.
Secrets make Daisy curious.
And you know what curiosity can do…
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Dare Me by Courtney Cole (Available Now)
They say she’s crazy.
She’s not.
They don’t know the truth.
She does. The problem is, she just doesn’t always remember it.
But I do.
My name is Dare DuBray.
I’m in love with a girl who is is erratic and beautiful, and a little bit mad.
But that’s ok.
We’re all a little mad, aren’t we?
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Second Verse by Emily Snow (Available Now)
Kinsey Brock knew Emmett Hudson would be a star the moment he swaggered into her life. Hell, by the time she was released for the crime his scheming sister accused her of he already had a number one single.
Now, eight years and a helluva lot of heartache later, Kinsey’s long since given up on the boy who stole her breath away and took all the love she had. She has someone in her life, and he’s all she needs. She’ll challenge anyone who tells her otherwise. But after a chance encounter sends Emmett hurtling back into her life, every emotion she’s forced herself to forget since he gave up on her is pushed to the surface.
Because this time, the country megastar’s not giving up on her.
No matter how furious he is about the discovery of the other man who’s become Kinsey’s world.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – Illustrated edition
Recommended
The Dursleys were so mean and hideous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he’s packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.
And strike it does. For in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls’ bathroom, and the unwanted attentions of Ron Weasley’s younger sister, Ginny.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
The Lovely Reckless by Kami Garcia (Oct 04) – Read my review
Seventeen year-old Frankie Devereux would do anything to forget the past. Haunted by the memory of her boyfriend’s death, she lives her life by one dangerous rule: nothing matters. At least, that’s what Frankie tells herself after a reckless mistake forces her to leave her privileged life in the Heights to move in with her dad―an undercover cop. She transfers to public school in the Downs, where fistfights in the halls don’t faze anyone and illegal street racing is more popular than football.
Marco Leone is the fastest street racer in the Downs. Tough, sexy, and hypnotic, he makes it impossible for Frankie to ignore him…and how he makes her feel. But the risks Marco takes for his family could have devastating consequences for them both. When Frankie discovers his secret, she has to make a choice. Will she let the pain of the past determine her future? Or will she risk what little she has left to follow her heart?
Your own heart will race with each page turn of this heart-stopping star-crossed love story.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Something in Between by Melissa De La Cruz (Oct 04)
She had her whole life planned.
She knew who she was and where she was going.
Until the truth changed everything.
Jasmine de los Santos has always done what’s expected of her. She’s studied hard, made her Filipino immigrant parents proud and is ready to reap the rewards in the form of a full college scholarship to the school of her dreams.
And then everything shatters. Her parents are forced to reveal the truth: their visas expired years ago. Her entire family is illegal. That means no scholarships, maybe no college at all and the very real threat of deportation.
As she’s trying to make sense of who she is in this new reality, her world is turned upside down again by Royce Blakely. He’s funny, caring and spontaneous—basically everything she’s been looking for at the worst possible time—and now he’s something else she may lose.
Jasmine will stop at nothing to protect her relationships, family and future, all while figuring out what it means to be an immigrant in today’s society.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Replica by Lauren Oliver (Oct 04)
Two girls, two stories, one epic novel.
From Lauren Oliver, New York Times bestselling author of Before I Fall and the Delirium trilogy, comes an epic, masterful novel that explores issues of individuality, identity, and humanity. Replica contains two narratives in one: Lyra’s story and Gemma’s story. The stories can be read separately, one after the other, or in alternating chapters. The two distinct parts of this astonishing novel combine to produce an unforgettable journey.
Lyra’s story begins in the Haven Institute, a building tucked away on a private island off the coast of Florida that from a distance looks serene and even beautiful. But up close the locked doors, military guards, and biohazard suits tell a different story. In truth, Haven is a clandestine research facility where thousands of replicas, or human models, are born, raised, and observed. When a surprise attack is launched on Haven, two of its young experimental subjects—Lyra, or 24, and the boy known only as 72—manage to escape.
Gemma has been in and out of hospitals for as long as she can remember. A lonely teen, her life is circumscribed by home, school, and her best friend, April. But after she is nearly abducted by a stranger claiming to know her, Gemma starts to investigate her family’s past and discovers her father’s mysterious connection to the secretive Haven research facility. Hungry for answers, she travels to Florida, only to stumble upon two replicas and a completely new set of questions.
While the stories of Lyra and Gemma mirror each other, each contains breathtaking revelations critically important to the other story. Using hotlinks in this electronic edition, readers can decide how they would like to read the book, as with the print version. They can read the story of Gemma or Lyra straight through first, followed by the other girl’s story, or they can move between chapters in Lyra’s and Gemma’s sections. No matter how it is read, Replica is an ambitious, thought-provoking masterwork.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Little Boy Blue by M.J. Arlidge (Oct 04) – Read my review
Recommended Thriller
Detective Helen Grace faces her own dark compulsions in the twisty new thriller from the author of Pop Goes the Weasel and Eeny Meeny.
In the darkest corners of the city, there is a thriving nightlife where people can let loose and cross the lines of work and play, of pleasure and pain. But now that sanctuary has been breached. A killer has struck and a man is dead.
In a world where disguises and discretion are the norm, one admission could unravel a life. No one wants to come forward to say what they saw or what they know—including the woman heading the investigation: Detective Helen Grace.
Helen knew the victim. And the victim knew her—better than anyone else. And when the murderer strikes again, Helen must decide how many more lines she’s willing to cross to bring in a devious and elusive serial killer…
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Coffin Road by Peter May (Oct 04)
In his latest mystery set in Scotland and the Outer Hebrides, award-winning author Peter May spins a tale about three disparate cases that may or may not be linked…
On the remote Isle of Harris in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, a man washes up on a deserted beach, hypothermic and completely disoriented. He has no idea who he is or how he got there. The only clue to his condition is a map of the island showing a desolate, ancient path called the Coffin Road. With a sense of dread and no clear idea what lies at the other end, he knows he must follow the trail if he has any hope of discovering his identity.
Meanwhile, homicide detective George Gunn makes the rough ocean crossing to a remote, sea-battered lighthouse on a rock in the northern Atlantic, twenty miles west of the Outer Hebrides, to investigate a brutal murder. Despite its isolation, the tiny island has seen its share of tragedy: more than a century earlier, three lighthouse keepers disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again. And now there is a new tragedy, and Gunn must figure out what happened.
At the same time, a teenage girl lies in her Edinburgh bedroom, desperate to discover the truth about her father’s death. Two years after the discovery of the pioneering scientist’s suicide note, Karen Fleming still cannot accept that her father would willingly abandon her. And the more she discovers about the nature of his research, the more she suspects that suicide had nothing to do with it.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig (Oct 04)
Flynn’s girlfriend, January, is missing. The cops are asking question he can’t answer, and her friends are telling stories that don’t add up. All eyes are on Flynn―as January’s boyfriend, he must know something.
But Flynn has a secret of his own. And as he struggles to uncover the truth about January’s disappearance, he must also face the truth about himself.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
The Lost Boy by Camilla Lackberg (Oct 04)
Detective Patrik Hedstrom is no stranger to tragedy. A murder case concerning Fjällbacka’s dead financial director, Mats Sverin, is a grim but useful distraction from his recent family misfortunes.
It seems Sverin was a man who everybody liked yet nobody really knew — a man with something to hide . . .
His high school sweetheart, Nathalie, has just returned to Fjallbacka with her five-year-old son — perhaps can she shed some light on who Sverin really was?
However, Nathalie has her own secret. If it’s discovered, she will lose her only child. As the investigation stalls, the police have many questions. But there is only one that matters: Is there anything a mother would not do to protect her child?
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
The Trespasser by Tana French (Oct 04)
Recommended Thriller
Being on the Murder squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed it would be. Her partner, Stephen Moran, is the only person who seems glad she’s there. The rest of her working life is a stream of thankless cases, vicious pranks, and harassment. Antoinette is savagely tough, but she’s getting close to the breaking point.
Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers’ quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty, groomed to a shine, and dead in her catalogue-perfect living room, next to a table set for a romantic dinner. There’s nothing unusual about her—except that Antoinette’s seen her somewhere before.
And that her death won’t stay in its neat by-numbers box. Other detectives are trying to push Antoinette and Steve into arresting Aislinn’s boyfriend, fast. There’s a shadowy figure at the end of Antoinette’s road. Aislinn’s friend is hinting that she knew Aislinn was in danger. And everything they find out about Aislinn takes her further from the glossy, passive doll she seemed to be.
Antoinette knows the harassment has turned her paranoid, but she can’t tell just how far gone she is. Is this case another step in the campaign to force her off the squad, or are there darker currents flowing beneath its polished surface?
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Thief of Hearts by L.H. Cosway (Oct 04)
Seduce the teacher.
Meet the cousin.
Make a deal.
Steal the painting.
Andrea Anderson has no clue of the thoughts churning around in the dark and dangerous ex-con’s head as he enters her classroom. In fact, she’s momentarily lost for words. Not in her entire teaching career has she had a student who looked quite like Stu Cross.
A widow at just twenty-eight, love is something Andie hasn’t considered a part of her life for a very long time. However, when lingering touches turn to whispered words and hot, searching stares, she begins to wonder if maybe she should take a leap of faith.
But Stu is in her class for a reason, and it has nothing to do with love. He’s there to burrow his way into her life and repay a debt, otherwise his family will suffer. Andie is the first person to show him true kindness since he left prison, and though he doesn’t want to mislead her, he doesn’t have another choice.
Before long, Stu can’t tell whether or not he’s acting anymore, and his feelings for Andie could throw all of his carefully crafted plans into complete and utter disarray.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Four Letter Word by J. Daniels (Oct 04)
Fate. Hate. Love. Lies.✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Two by Two by Nicholas Sparks (Oct 04)
#1 New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sparks returns with an emotionally powerful story of unconditional love, its challenges, its risks and most of all, its rewards.
At 32, Russell Green has it all: a stunning wife, a lovable six year-old daughter, a successful career as an advertising executive and an expansive home in Charlotte. He is living the dream, and his marriage to the bewitching Vivian is the center of that. But underneath the shiny surface of this perfect existence, fault lines are beginning to appear…and no one is more surprised than Russ when he finds every aspect of the life he took for granted turned upside down. In a matter of months, Russ finds himself without a job or wife, caring for his young daughter while struggling to adapt to a new and baffling reality. Throwing himself into the wilderness of single parenting, Russ embarks on a journey at once terrifying and rewarding-one that will test his abilities and his emotional resources beyond anything he ever imagined.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Bedmates by Nichole Chase (Oct 04)
From the New York Times bestselling author of Suddenly Royal comes the first in a sparkling new series about America’s favorite royal—the First Daughter.
Everyone makes mistakes, especially in college. But when you’re the daughter of the President of the United States, any little slip up is a huge embarrassment. Maddie McGuire’s latest error in judgment lands her in police custody, giving the press a field day. Agreeing to do community service as penance and to restore her tattered reputation, Maddie never dreams incredibly good looking but extremely annoying vice president’s son, Jake Simmon, will be along for the ride.
Recently returning from Afghanistan with a life-altering injury, Jake is wrestling with his own demons. He doesn’t have the time or patience to deal with the likes of Maddie. They’re like oil and water and every time they’re together, it’s combustible. But there’s a thin line between love and hate, and it’s not long before their fiery arguments give way to infinitely sexier encounters.
When Jake receives devastating news about the last remaining member of his unit, the darkness he’s resisted for so long begins to overwhelm him. Scared to let anyone close, he pushes Maddie away. But she isn’t about to give up on Jake that easily. Maddie’s fallen for him, and she’ll do anything to keep him from the edge as they both discover that love is a battlefield and there are some fights you just can’t lose.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Not A Hero by Sarah Robinson (Oct 04)
Former Marine, Miles Kydd, is trying to readjust to civilian life after ending his career and returning to his small home town when he learned his father was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Once the town hero and star quarterback, Miles no longer feels like the man he was, or who he’s expected to be–possibly because his demons have followed him home from Afghanistan.
Meeting Zoe Brooke, his father’s live-in nurse, gives Miles the slightest glimmer of hope that he can still find happiness despite the dark secrets he holds inside. The chemistry between them is undeniable, and together they are explosive–in more ways than one.
A helper at her core, Zoe is more than willing to care for Miles’s heart, but not at the expense of her own, and she’s not afraid to tell him that. She knows what having a painful past is like, and she wants to help him with his, if he’ll let her.
Things get complicated fast when Miles realizes burying his secrets isn’t actually the same as healing from them and if he wants the girl, he’s going to have to tell her the truth–the one thing he can’t do.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
The Bachelor Auction by Rachel Van Dyken (Oct 04)
Cinderella never had to deal with this crap.
Jane isn’t entirely sure that Cinderella got such a raw deal. Sure, she had a rough start, but didn’t she eventually land a prince and a happily-ever-after? Meanwhile, Jane is busy waiting on her demanding, entitled sisters, running her cleaning business, and . . . yep, not a prince in sight. Until a party and a broken shoe incident leave Jane wondering if princes—or at least, a certain deliciously hunky billionaire—maybe do exist.
Except Brock Wellington isn’t anyone’s dream guy. Hell, a prince would never agree to be auctioned off in marriage to the highest bidder. Or act like an arrogant jerk—even if it was just a façade. Now, as Brock is waiting for the auction chopping block, he figures it’s karmic retribution that he’s tempted by a sexy, sassy woman he can’t have. But while they can’t have a fairy-tale ending, maybe they can indulge in a little bit of fantasy . . .
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Down Shift by K. Bromberg (Oct 04)
The New York Times bestselling Driven series continues with a standalone story about finding love where you least expect it…
Behind the wheel, racing champion Zander Donavan is at the top of his game. But after too much excess in his personal life, he’s forced to step away. He needs to accomplish something all on his own—outside of his famous father’s shadow.
Getty Caster is running away from the abuse that clouds her past. She thinks she’s found the perfect escape—until she discovers a stranger in the beachside cottage she’d been promised. He’s undeniably sexy, but she’s there to heal. Alone.
Before long though, fighting with each other turns into fighting their attraction. And giving into desire sets off a chain reaction that has their pasts colliding. With an unexpected love on the line, can they overcome the fallout to build a future?
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Sweetest Taboo by J. Kenner (Oct 04)
In this irresistible Stark International Novel, J. Kenner ups the ante on Dirtiest Secret and Hottest Mess,proving once again with the S.I.N. series that she “may very well have cornered the market on sinfully attractive, dominant antiheroes and the women who swoon for them” (RT Book Reviews).
All eyes are on us . . . and there’s nowhere to run.
Everyone has their own ideas about Dallas Sykes: He’s a reckless billionaire, a devilish playboy, a man who gets whatever he wants the minute he wants it. But I know the real Dallas behind the money, bravado, and power—and he’s completely, blissfully mine.
http://amzn.to/2apTeA1
We carefully guarded our secrets, and in each other’s arms we sought refuge from our dark past. Our pain became our pleasure, our control within the chaos. But we could only hide from the truth for so long.
Now we’ve let loose our inhibitions and are ready to face the future. And no matter what people think or say, coming clean is its own sweet reward.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
The Exposure by Tara Sue Me (Oct 04)
New York Times bestselling author Tara Sue Me’s Submissive series is back with a scorching new romance that proves the difference between excitement and pain is just point of view…
She’s ready for her close-up. . . .
Meagan Bishop gave up modeling after an ill-fated tryst with a sexy photographer left her career and heart in shambles. When that same sexy shutterbug makes a titillating offer to do a BDSM spread for his new photography book, she’s determined to refuse—until an anonymous blackmailer entices her to accept. Now her body is again at the whim of the man who broke her heart, and she’s finding his strong direction undeniably intriguing. . . .
Meagan is the muse Luke needs to make his shoot something special, even if it means keeping his hands off her. But each new erotic scene they capture makes it harder to ignore his need to command her in the bedroom as well as in the studio.
As their sexual tension explodes, Meagan’s arrangement with her extortionist becomes more perilous, putting in danger her darkest secrets and the fragile passion between Luke and her. . . .
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Beautiful by Christina Lauren (Oct 04)
Featuring the entire BEAUTIFUL series cast for one final hurrah!
A FREE-SPIRITED GIRL IN NEED OF A BREAK.
A MAN WEIGHED DOWN BY RESPONSIBILITY.
A ROAD TRIP VACATION WHERE ALL BETS ARE OFF.
OH, AND A LOT OF WINE.
After walking in on her boyfriend shagging another girl in their place, Pippa Bay Cox ditches London for the States to go on a drunken road trip with Ruby Miller and some of her Beautiful friends.
Scaling the career ladder is the default way to deal with heartbreak—and to just deal—for Jensen Bergstrom. Absolutely buried by his drive and workload, he rarely takes time for himself. But when his sister Hanna convinces him to join the gang on a two-week wine tour, he has a rare moment of cutting loose. Of course, it’s only once he’s committed that he realizes the strange girl he met briefly on the plane is coming along, too. She might be too much for him…or he might realize his life has become too small and needs her to make it bigger, crazier.
With this circle of friends there’s always something going on: from Chloe and Sara’s unexpected personality swaps to Will’s new domestic side to Bennett’s text message barrage and George’s own happily-ever-after. In short, their adventures in love, friendship, and hilarity are nothing short of Beautiful.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
The Black Key by Amy Ewing (Oct 04)
The thrilling conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Lone City trilogy, which began with The Jewel, a book BCCB said “will have fans of Oliver’s Delirium, Cass’s The Selection, and DeStefano’s Witherbreathless.”
For too long, Violet and the people of the outer circles of the Lone City have lived in service of the royalty of the Jewel. But now, the secret society known as the Black Key is preparing to seize power.
While Violet knows she is at the center of this rebellion, she has a more personal stake in it—for her sister, Hazel, has been taken by the Duchess of the Lake. Now, after fighting so hard to escape the Jewel, Violet must do everything in her power to return not only to save Hazel, but the future of the Lone City.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Aerie by Maria Dahvana Headley (Oct 04)
The stunning sequel to Maria Dahvana Headley’s critically acclaimed Magonia tells the story of one girl who must make an impossible choice between two families, two homes—and two versions of herself.
Aza Ray is back on earth. Her boyfriend, Jason, is overjoyed. Her family is healed. She’s living a normal life, or as normal as it can be if you’ve spent the past year dying, waking up on a sky ship, and discovering that your song can change the world.
As in, not normal. Part of Aza still yearns for the clouds, no matter how much she loves the people on the ground.
When Jason’s paranoia over Aza’s safety causes him to make a terrible mistake, Aza finds herself a fugitive in Magonia, tasked with opposing her radical, bloodthirsty, recently escaped mother, Zal Quel, and her singing partner, Dai. She must travel to the edge of the world in search of a legendary weapon, the Flock, in a journey through fire and identity that will transform her forever.
Told in Maria Headley’s trademark John Green–meets–Neil Gaiman voice, Aerie is sure to satisfy the many readers who can’t wait to return to the spellbinding world of Magonia.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Holding Up The Universe by Jennifer Niven (Oct 04)
From the author of the New York Times bestseller All the Bright Places comes a heart-wrenching story about what it means to see someone—and love someone—for who they truly are.
Everyone thinks they know Libby Strout, the girl once dubbed “America’s Fattest Teen.” But no one’s taken the time to look past her weight to get to know who she really is. Following her mom’s death, she’s been picking up the pieces in the privacy of her home, dealing with her heartbroken father and her own grief. Now, Libby’s ready: for high school, for new friends, for love, and for EVERY POSSIBILITY LIFE HAS TO OFFER. In that moment, I know the part I want to play here at MVB High. I want to be the girl who can do anything.
Everyone thinks they know Jack Masselin, too. Yes, he’s got swagger, but he’s also mastered the impossible art of giving people what they want, of fitting in. What no one knows is that Jack has a newly acquired secret: he can’t recognize faces. Even his own brothers are strangers to him. He’s the guy who can re-engineer and rebuild anything in new and bad-ass ways, but he can’t understand what’s going on with the inner workings of his brain. So he tells himself to play it cool: Be charming. Be hilarious. Don’t get too close to anyone.
Until he meets Libby. When the two get tangled up in a cruel high school game—which lands them in group counseling and community service—Libby and Jack are both pissed, and then surprised. Because the more time they spend together, the less alone they feel. . . . Because sometimes when you meet someone, it changes the world, theirs and yours.
Jennifer Niven delivers another poignant, exhilarating love story about finding that person who sees you for who you are—and seeing them right back.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland (Oct 04)
John Green meets Rainbow Rowell in this irresistible story of first love, broken hearts, and the golden seams that put them back together again.
Henry Page has never been in love. He fancies himself a hopeless romantic, but the slo-mo, heart palpitating, can’t-eat-can’t-sleep kind of love that he’s been hoping for just hasn’t been in the cards for him—at least not yet. Instead, he’s been happy to focus on his grades, on getting into a semi-decent college and finally becoming editor of his school newspaper. Then Grace Town walks into his first period class on the third Tuesday of senior year and he knows everything’s about to change.
Grace isn’t who Henry pictured as his dream girl—she walks with a cane, wears oversized boys’ clothes, and rarely seems to shower. But when Grace and Henry are both chosen to edit the school paper, he quickly finds himself falling for her. It’s obvious there’s something broken about Grace, but it seems to make her even more beautiful to Henry, and he wants nothing more than to help her put the pieces back together again. And yet, this isn’t your average story of boy meets girl. Krystal Sutherland’s brilliant debut is equal parts wit and heartbreak, a potent reminder of the bittersweet bliss that is first love.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
When the Moon was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore (Oct 04)
Longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature
Anna-Marie McLemore’s debut novel The Weight of Feathers was greeted with rave reviews, a YALSA Morris Award nomination, and spots on multiple “Best YA Novels” lists. Now, McLemore delivers a second stunning and utterly romantic novel, again tinged with magic.
To everyone who knows them, best friends Miel and Sam are as strange as they are inseparable. Roses grow out of Miel’s wrist, and rumors say that she spilled out of a water tower when she was five. Sam is known for the moons he paints and hangs in the trees and for how little anyone knows about his life before he and his mother moved to town. But as odd as everyone considers Miel and Sam, even they stay away from the Bonner girls, four beautiful sisters rumored to be witches. Now they want the roses that grow from Miel’s skin, convinced that their scent can make anyone fall in love. And they’re willing to use every secret Miel has fought to protect to make sure she gives them up.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
UPCOMING RELEASES
(Click images to purchase – you will not be charged until book is released.
Stars indicate books I’ve already read and loved.)
★ Visit THIS PAGE for the full list of upcoming releases ★
Current sales list for Amazon U.S. Click on image to purchase; click here to search my reviews.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
YOUNG ADULT
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
NEW ADULT + ADULT
Subscribe for Updates:
On Instagram
Vilma Iris © Copyright 2024
Designed and Built with 
by Priceless Design Studio