Freitag, 22. August 2014

Book review: Uncovered by Emily Snow



This book is so totally different from everything else Emily Snow has written so far. Different in the very best way!

My name is Lizzie Connelly, and I have it all. The gorgeous apartment. The new job most women would rip out their own souls for—working for Margaret Emerson at Emerson & Taylor. I have one of those lives you’ve always dreamt about, the kind you only see on HBO. But, the thing is, that life is a lie. A façade.

It all started with one call. “Everything you know about your story—your father’s story—is a lie. It’s up to you to uncover everything.” One call, and I turned my world upside down to dig my way into Margaret’s life—the woman who I’d never laid eyes on until recently. My stepmother who took everything after my father died fourteen years ago.

The plan was simple—figure out what role she played in my father’s death and expose her to the world.

But here’s another thing: simplicity doesn’t exist, and my plans are flawed from the beginning because I never anticipated Oliver. Sexy, too smart for his own goddamn good, and infuriating, he’s the one person who could blow my plans to uncover Margaret. She’s his mother, and in another life, that would have made him my stepbrother.

I want to pretend that none of that matters, that I can simply finish what I came to do without sparing him a second glance and another thought.

Like I said, though, there’s no such thing as simplicity.

My real name is Gemma Emerson.

And this is my story.

When Gemma Emerson arrives in L.A. she has only three things to do: Uncover. Expose. And get the hell out of there.
She puts on a façade and starts to live her life as Lizzie Connelly who digs through the circumstances of her father’s death to uncover the truth of what really happened. It should all be easy if there wasn’t Oliver Manning. He wasn’t part of the plan, getting involved clearly wasn’t part of the plan and falling for him is no option. 

“When we think of the past it’s the beautiful things we pick out. We want to believe it was all like that.”

When Gemma thinks of the past she sees herself as a teenager without parents, struggling to make it. Her father left everything to her stepmother and she was left with nothing. Or was she? After a mysterious phone call Gemma decides to go digging into the life her father and stepmother shared and expose the truth.


Emily Snow did it again and presents a book that isn’t purely romance. Gemma and Oliver are drawn to each other but there’s more than a stepmonster standing in the way. Gemma is hiding the truth about her real life, her real identity and mostly her real reasons why she started working at Emerson & Taylor. 

Maybe it’s her writing style, maybe it’s the words she chose, maybe it’s the story, or maybe it’s just the whole package. This book is so different from other novels. There are so many twists you lose count and so many reasons there possibly won’t be a happy ending that I anxiously turned each page, waiting for the moment when everything blows up right into Gemma’s face. And of course that happens. Because doesn’t it always? But how it happened wasn’t one of the options that were running through my head the whole time. 

Living so many lies that you’re not even sure anymore what’s true or not is how Gemma spends most of the time in Oliver’s presence. She tells herself not to fall for him, her best friend reminds her not to fall for him, but Oliver gives her every reason to do just that.

Can she be honest and tell him the whole truth about what his mother has been up to since her father died? Will he turn his back on her once he finds out? Or will she go back to her old life after getting the answers she needed?

This book is fabulous. I couldn’t put it down and loved every minute I spent with these characters.

Samstag, 16. August 2014

The truly selfish person




Again? You might think. Yes, again.

Suicide is selfish, that’s what everyone says these days. And I’m gonna jump on the train of those who say it’s not. 


They took the selfish way out, they say. They only thought about themselves, they say. There are a million different ways to handle depression. That’s what they say. But what do they know?

If you think suicide is selfish you’ve never been in a really dark place. You’ve never felt hopeless, helpless, alone, lonely. Those who don’t know the black, deep, seemingly never-ending hole that is depression think that it’s selfish to take your own life.

But they always say that the person who committed threw the people around them into a dark hole in return, all those who stay behind. They should’ve said something, should’ve sought help, fight.

What if they did fight? What if they did everything they could but it wasn’t enough? It can be like quicksand, pulling you further down when you fight as hard as you can. But maybe suicide isn’t as selfish as you think it is. Maybe it’s anything but.



“Until you've lost your soul to a sea of emptiness and darkness...you don't get to make judgments.”



You haven’t walked a day in their shoes, you haven’t felt the pain they endured, you haven’t been there on their darkest days and nights, you haven’t seen them laughing on the outside and knowing they’re crying on the inside, you haven’t been bullied like they have been. You haven’t felt that all at once, so you don’t get to judge someone by their inability to hold on any longer.

Suicide isn’t as selfish as everyone makes it. Don’t judge those who committed if you don’t know what they really went through. Maybe it’s not the right way out, but maybe sometimes it’s the only way left for those who are truly hopeless, helpless, alone, lonely. 

Selfish are those who think they have a right to judge the ones who weren't as strong, or those who were strong enough for so long and couldn't hold on any longer. Those are the selfish people, who think they have a right to think that that certain person had a job to hold on for them. 

Dienstag, 15. Juli 2014

The thing about being a writer...




…is that we think too much. We overthink, we think things through, we try to see things from every possible angle. We like to know what other people think, we watch people, we even eavesdrop on stranger’s conversations. We ask ourselves a million questions when we meet someone, but we still mostly want to know what that person thinks right then. At least, I do. Do you? I guess so. 

We try to control situations by giving characters in our stories some meaning; a point in their being.
But that’s fictional, it all is. It’s not real. Real life is a challenge. Feelings aren’t as shiny as they are described in your favorite love stories. Meeting your significant other isn’t always like fireworks. Love isn’t easy. The made-up conflicts from your story suddenly become your conflict. And that’s the mean thing. That’s what sucks. 

Conflicts. You have them every day in real life. You have to deal with them. And you put them on characters and let them deal with them to get the story going. You solve the whole thing within the story and at the end there’s most likely a happy ending. 

But what do you do when it’s not a story anymore? When fiction becomes reality? When you can’t control the outcome anymore because it’s not a story you write. You don’t know what every individual thinks, you don’t control the situation. You have to wait on their actions. 

So for me being a writer is to deal with problems, dumping problems on characters, and not knowing how to deal with them when they’re dumped on me. I love to write and I love to read, but I hate real life problems that are pretty easy to solve if there weren’t the other people who might think God knows what. It would be nice if it’d be as easy as solving a character’s problem in a book.

Samstag, 5. Juli 2014

GIVEAWAY TIME!

Like I promised a few days ago there will be a big giveaway and here it is. Jennifer L. Armentrout kindly provided the copies.
Please share the link with your friends on twitter, facebook and other pages.
Participants MUST have a mailing address in Germany, Austria or Switzerland! 
You can find the rafflecopter giveaway when you scroll all the way down.

There is one more copy to give away. ****ONE hardcover copy of "Ti Aspettavo" ****
If you are from Italy or Switzerland leave a comment telling me that you want the book and your email address (in English or German please) and one winner will be picked randomly. 

ALL BOOKS ARE SIGNED!





********************



Wie vor ein paar Tagen versprochen gibt es Bücher zu gewinnen und Swag Packs.

Teilt den Link mit euren Freunden auf Twitter, Facebook oder anderen Seiten.
Die Gewinner MÜSSEN eine Adresse in Deutschland, Österreich oder der Schweiz haben!
Es ist ein rafflecopter giveaway und wenn ihr ganz runterscrollt, dann könnt ihr mmitmachen.

Es gibt noch ein weiteres Buch.
**** ONE hardcover copy of "Ti Aspettavo" ****
Wenn du aus Italien oder der Schweiz bist, dann hinterlasse einen Kommentar und sag, dass du das Buch willst mit deiner email Adresse zusammen (in English oder Deutsch) und ein Gewinner wird durch Zufall gezogen. 

ALLE BÜCHER SIND SIGNIERT!














May the odds be ever in your favor! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sonntag, 29. Juni 2014

Giveaway Announcement!

Hi everyone,

so I don't normally do this BUT a massive giveaway is about to happen. Jennifer L. Armentrout kindly provided copies of her books for me to give away along with booksmarks and other swag. 
The giveaway will be posted sometime next week and I will post the link on my twitter. So don't miss out.

I've got:
TWO paperback copies of "Dämonentochter - Verbotener Kuss"
TWO paperback copies of "Dämonentochter - Verlockende Angst"
ONE hardcover copy of "Obsidian Schattendunkel"
ONE hardcover copy of "Ti Aspettavo" 

All copies are signed by Jennifer L. Armentrout.

As you can already see they're German copies of her books except for the last one. So Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy ONLY! Feel free to spread the word to get as many people to participate as possible.


Stay tuned,
E

Samstag, 12. April 2014

Book review: Late Call by Emma Hart

She’s a high class call girl. He’s taking over his father’s business.

Seven years ago, they fell in love in Paris.

They walked away at the end of the summer, never imagining they’d meet again.

Now he’s her client.



We fell in love the way you jump from a cliff. Hard and fast with a reckless sense of abandon. The six weeks we spent together changed my life, but at seventeen, I was naive. I was a dreamer. A believer.

Now I’m twenty-four and cynical. I don’t believe in love. There’s no place for such emotions as a high class escort. The only things I’m allowed to feel are physical – and that’s why it’s so damn hard when the client of a last minute job turns out to be the man I left in France seven years ago. When he buys me for six weeks at triple my rate, my agent makes it clear I have no choice but to take the job despite our previous relationship. And my heart makes it very clear I have to stay firmly on top of the cliff this time.

Because for six weeks, I once again belong to Aaron Stone.



*I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this wonderful book in exchange for an honest review.*
Late Call is the first book in the Call series.


Seeing their first and only love again unexpectedly after seven years was a surprise for both of them. So much has changed. Aaron Stone is about to take over his father's company, Dayton Black is a high class call girl. She hasn't experienced love or real pleasure for so long she can barely remember how it feels like.
When Dayton sees Aaron again he is not her lover like he was seven years ago, he's her client. She tries her best to see it that way, even after he hires her to travel with him around the world as his girlfriend for six weeks. Aaron uses every chance to remind her of the weeks they spent together in Paris seven years ago. He wants her to want him, waiting for his chance to give her everything she needs, showing her how it feels to feel loved.

Believe in what?” “Love. Always believe in love.”

I couldn't put this book down and it's been some time since I read a book this fast. Emma Hart's writing style is simply wonderful. Dayton is a cynical woman and kinda frustrated when it comes to her life. Aaron only adds to that frustration and she insults him more often than she is nice to him.

So bad that if you don't kiss me right this fucking second I might hit you!” - Dayton

Emma Hart describes her characters in a great way. Aaron is a rich man who works hard to take over his father's company. Dayton works as a call girl, first to support herself during her college time, and then she just made it her life. Aaron is the lovely man every woman would swoon over, but Dayton tries everything to be professional and see him as a client. He pays for her time and she is sure she wouldn't stay if he wouldn't pay for it. Or would she?

I can't believe he's fucking with my twenty-four-year-old mind as easily as he stole my seventeen-year-old heart.” - Dayton

It's not your typical romance book, it's erotic and hot, but what did you expect from a call girl and a rich guy who pays his ex-girlfriend to be his pretend girlfriend. I enjoyed this book so much. It was fun and Dayton is a strong character who knows what she wants until Aaron tries to make her want more. Everything.
There's a major cliffhanger, but I expected that after chapter twenty-three. Damn, I never expected that. Everything else but not that. Trust me when I tell you that this book will hold your attention.

I highly recommend this book to everyone who enjoys reading about women who know what they want, men who try to give them the world, and a big secret that will change it all.

I read a few of Emma Hart's books but this has been by far my favorite.

Mittwoch, 12. März 2014

Book review: 'Black Box' by Cassia Leo

♥️ Three fateful encounters....
♥️ Two heart-breaking tragedies....
♥️ One last chance to get it right.

From New York Times best selling author Cassia Leo, comes an epic love story about rewriting destiny.

Over the course of five years, Mikki and Crush cross paths on three separate occasions. Their first encounter changes Mikki's life forever, but their second meeting leaves them both buried beneath the emotional wreckage of a violent attack. Mikki is left with more questions and grief than she can handle, while Crush is forced to forget the girl who saved his life.

Now nineteen years old, Mikki Gladstone has decided she's tired of the mind-numbing meds. She books a flight to Los Angeles to end her life far away from her loving, though often distant, family.

Twenty-one-year-old Crush has always channeled his blackest thoughts into his music, but he's never had great aspirations. He decides to fly to Los Angeles to record a demo of the only song he's never performed in public; a song he wrote for a girl he doesn't even know: Black Box. He has no expectations of fame and he's never felt like his life had any purpose... until he meets Mikki in Terminal B.

When Mikki and Crush cross paths for the third time in Terminal B, neither has any idea who the other person is; until they slowly piece together their history and realize that fate has more in store for them than just another love story.


This book made me hold my breath so often.

Cassia Leo did it again. A heartbreaking and wonderfully written book. She has a way of describing her character's feelings in a way that makes you feel like you sit right next to them, it makes them kinda real.
I didn't really know what to expect from this book, I just knew that the story would be totally different from what we've seen from Cassia Leo before.

Mikki had to go through tough times in her life and when she finally decides to go to California to end it all, she meets Crush at the airport, again. He seems familiar, but she doesn't know why. Crush feels the same, have they met before? Because of canceled flights they stay in a hotel till they get new flights in the next days, and get to know each other during these days.

I don't believe in fate, but I don't know what else could have out her there at that exact moment.” - Crush

Mikki tries to hide her pain, her thoughts, and all the things that went wrong in her life. Crush knows there is more to the girl in front of him. They slowly discover all the things, remember the times they first met, and even more than that. It's a shock and a relieve at the same time. And then there's Black Box. The mysterious book that has been the life line for Mikki since she got it. The last thing Mikki wants is to fall in love, she has other plans for her life. She knows that love isn't the right thing for her at that point in her life. But slowly she begins to make plans for her future without even realizing it, but Crush notices. He tries his hardest to make her see how beautiful life can be. But Mikki isn't the only one with a dark past.

She loves me and all the blackness inside me.” - Crush

I loved every single page of this book. It's hard to find the right words for a book that made you speechless. All I can say is that I totally loved this book.

Dienstag, 11. März 2014

Book review: 'Therapy' by Kathryn Perez

I’m needy.

I’m broken.

Cutting breaks through my numbness, but only opens more wounds.

Depression, self-harm, bullying....that's my reality.

Sex and guys....that's my escape.

The space between the truth and lies is blurred leaving me torn, lost and confused. And while the monsters that live in my head try to beat me-- the two men that I love try to save me.

This is my story of friendship, heartache, and the grueling journey that is mental-illness.

Sometimes you have to get lost in order to be found…


This book broke my heart in a million ways. It's amazingly written, and I hope it opens a lot of people's minds who still think that bullying people, and mental illness are jokes.
Jess's story shows how these things can affect a person's life, how it can bring out the worst in them and how it makes each day a struggle. A constant battle of holding on or letting go. Jess fights until she gives up because she thinks she has no reasons left to fight for, when Jace enters her life. She already knows him, but doesn't know him at all, at the same time. Jace wants to save her, he wants to help her, make right for those he couldn't save and lost in his life.
Jess struggles every day. Cutting, sex and alcohol are her escape, trying to numb the pain. She needs guys, needs their attention, clings to them to feel something until it always becomes too much and she's left alone. Bullied in school; it's her reality, her every day life. Because she's different they bully her, hurt her, make her feel worthless. All she does is try to numb the pain.

The thin line between pain and pleasure always sits just beneath the surface for me.” - Jess

Kathryn Perez has a way of describing Jess's emotions and her thoughts in a way that keeps you on the edge of your chair. I could barely put this book down.
The story and the ending were nothing I expected. Jess and Jace lose each other due to decisions made out of desperation and fear, and they find each other again when Jess finally has to get help. Jace still tries to save her until he realizes that she needs his pure love, not his need to save her.
Things that no one could have foreseen pull them apart and bring them back together. But there is still this constant struggle between the two. Can Jess leave her fears behind and finally love herself and accept who she is? She needs someone to accept the woman she is, not try to make what she was better. That's where Kingsley comes into the picture. He shows her what love really is, what loving another person feels like. Not because you feel the need to love them, but because you feel it. Just feel.

He had just kissed the spot that always reminded me of how broken I really was. He still wanted me anyway, and I loved him for it.” - Jess

What made this book extra special for me are the quotes in the beginning of each chapter. Loved it! This book is so deeply sad, but at the same time so wonderfully written that you sometimes forget how sad it really is. The love that is described between the pages is special, and it makes you see that there are different kinds of love. The love that makes you happy, and the love that makes you cling to it because the fear of being alone is bigger than realizing that you are not ready to love someone else before you can accept the person you are, and love that person.

He doesn't know that my monsters have infected my mind for so long that I no longer know where they end and I begin.” - Jess

In this book I've highlighted so many passages like never before. I'm a total sucker for quotes and this book is full of wonderful words.

Donnerstag, 23. Januar 2014

Book review: Take This Regret Series by A.L.Jackson


Take This Regret Series:

Heartbreaking. Wrecking. Absolutely amazing. Unbelievably emotional. Uniquely beautiful.

This is by far the best series I've ever read. I don't think there's ever been a book (series) that broke my heart as many times as this one did. My emotions were all over the place just like those of the characters. I'm almost sure that my words won't do this series justice, but it's so worth a review so here it is:

The series starts with Elizabeth and Christian meeting through college and they became study partners. The attraction was there from the first minute, but Elizabeth tried to fight her feelings, so they remained friends until neither of them could take it anymore and they almost exploded with feelings.

I didn't do flings. I fell in love, and falling in love with someone like Christian was a mistake I couldn't afford.” - Elizabeth (Lost To You)

Take This Regret follows their tough time while trying to decide what is wrong and what is right. There are flashbacks to the times when everything went wrong. Christian made a decision he will regret forever. He left Elizabeth when she needed him most, but he left more behind than just the woman he loved. He has to fight hard for what he wants. Harder than he might've ever imagined. He hurt the person he loved the most so deeply that there might be no second chance.

We had the power to destroy, to devastate and ruin, to lay the other to waste.” - Christian (Take This Regret)

They thought they made it, had it all until fate brings them down again. If Forever Comes deals with more heartache and emotion than the first two books of the series. Elizabeth spends her days in a haze, drowning in pain and sorrow. She can't stand seeing Christian, barely makes it through the days while the pain is eating her up from inside. It takes a long time until the reader finds out what really happened, what shattered their life together, but I had a suspicion and it turned out to be true.

And when we'd fallen, we had completely fallen apart.” - Christian (If Forever Comes)


I absolutely fell in love with A.L. Jackon's writing style. How she describes Christian and Elizabeth's feelings, their emotions, their heartache. A lot of authors can learn from that. She describes a feeling so detailed that you feel like it's your own pain, your own sorrow. I've never read something like this.

I described the books only shortly because otherwise I would give too much away of what happens during the series.
The stories were a roller coaster ride of emotions. Elizabeth and Christian were deeply in love, spend four years together, five years apart, until they eventually found their way back together. It took a long fight, a lot of pain, true and honest words, cruel words, and a whole lot of love. But fate shattered their just created life again, and made them fight even harder for what they wanted. They had to find out how much they could take.
It's a beautiful story about love, pain, betrayal, struggle, sorrow and strength.

Christian fought hard for his family, he had to earn their trust and their love. He had to show Elizabeth that he had changed, and that he was worth trusting. Elizabeth had to decide if she could bury the feeling of betrayal, and trust him again.
Even though they both had to go through so much, in If Forever Comes I really wanted to slap Elizabeth for being such a selfish woman. It wasn't just her who had to fight the battle. But even more I just wanted to hug her and Christian. This book made me so sad and my heart ached for both of them.

You are the most selfish person I ever met.” - Christian to Elizabeth (If Forever Comes)

This is one of those series that will stick with you. That makes you think about choices you've made. That words cut deeper than any knife ever could. That actions and words can't just be taken back.
If Forever Comes is more emotional than The Fault In Our Stars (by John Green), in a completely different way. I love this series to pieces, and I will definitely buy the paperbacks of this series so that I can cradle the books in my hands and look at them all the time.

This series was a huge inspiration for my own writing. A person who can write like this - describe emotions in such detailed ways without really repeating herself while describing pain and sorrow over and over again must be a wonderful person. Thanks A.L. Jackson for such a great series!