The Reading Realm

Stacking The Shelves #5

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves.

I got some really great books this week! I'm especially excited about the first two and yes, there may have been a little fan girling going on! :)

Netgalley & ARCs for Review:

Uninvited by Sophie Jordan

A huge thank you to Amanda Diaz & Harper Collins Australia for sending me this arc! I was so excited when is arrived in the post, I pay have frightened the Postie Guy just a little ;)

The Only One by Magan Vernon

A humungous thank you to the awesome Magan for sending me an early arc! You know how we all say "I can't wait to read…" well I have been waiting months to read this and I seriously can't wait to get stuck into John & Melanie's story - be jealous ladies! ;)

All of You by Christiana Lee

From Netgalley (Penguin Group)

Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles

From Netgalley (Bloomsbury Publishing UK & ANZ)

Purchased:

Off Sides by Sawyer Bennett

Naturals by Tiffany Truitt

Taking Back Forever (The Kindrily) by Karen Amanda Hooper

Precious Things by Stephanie Parent

FREE on Amazon (Woo Hoo!!):

Jordyn (A Daemon Hunter Novel) by Tiffany King

Just Breathe by Heather Allen

Radio Gaga by Nell Dixon

The Fallen Star by Jessica Sorensen

Well that's what's new to my bookshelf - what about you?

Feature & Follow Friday #18

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"The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read."

Q: If you could only have ONE – one book – for the rest of your life. Don’t cheat…what would it be?

This is a cruel and unfair question and I don't like it!!! *pouty face*

But if I absolutely MUST choose it would probably be Embrace by Jessica Shirvington, because this book is A-MA-ZING and has everything I could ask for in a book; paranormal/fantasy, humour, drama, romance and plenty of angst!

Thank you so much for stopping by - you can follow me by Bloglovin (preferred) or Twitter

Follow @AmyReadingRealm

You can also follow via Linky, RSS, Google + and Goodreads! If you follow by more than one let me know & I'll return the favour!

Happy Friday :)

Swoon Thursday #19

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Swoon Thursday is a weekly event hosted by YA Bound.This is how it works:

From the book you’re currently reading, or one you just finished, tell us what made you SWOON. Shout it out on Twitter with the hashtag #YABound, post it here in the comments, or grab the adorable button above and share it on your blog.

This week, I’m SWOONING over:

Title: Out Of Play

Author: Jolene Perry & Nyrae Dawn

Published: August 6th 2013

Genre: YA Contemporary

Source: eARC provided by publisher for honest review

Rating: 4/5

Goodreads | Amazon | Review

Swoon 1

He groans, but slides his shirt over his head. Our bodies come together at the same time as our mouths. The heat from his skin on mine tingles its way through my body, fueling my need to be closer, to have more. His hands dig into my back as he pulls us together, and I’m matching him pressure for pressure, touch for touch, kiss for kiss, as deep as we can go. I stumble backward as he slowly leads us toward my blanket and pillow pile. No matter how much of him I feel, it’s not enough.

Swoon 2

My stomach tightens with anticipation and the feeling of being wanted. His eyes come back to mine, and something’s different. Slower. Like he wants every touch to count. Every movement to count. He teases me with his lips a few times before I wrap my arms around him and pull him down. So this is why people say they “melt together.” I’ve always wondered. Like melting candle wax, and blending colors—the more we’re together and kissing, the less I can tell where I stop and he starts. His weight’s on me again. I want him. Seriously want him.

I couldn't decide which one to pick, so you get both!

This was such a sweet, but meaningful story and I really enjoyed Penny & Bishop romance!

So what's making you swoon this week?

RELEASE DAY: Girl On Tour (by Caisey Quinn)

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Girl on Tour, the highly anticipated sequel to Girl with Guitar, is

AVAILABLE NOW!

at the following retailers:

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | KOBO

Synopsis:

An up and comer trying to make a name for herself...

KYLIE never expected to be stuck on a tour bus with a pampered princess and her boyfriend’s ex.

A troubled artist struggling to hold onto his career...

TRACE thought he was finally getting to do things his way. Until the label added co-headliner Gretchen Gibson, the only person in country music with more issues than him, to his No Apologies tour.

Surrounded by tabloid rumors and people they can't trust, Kylie and Trace need each other more than ever. But the choices they make will change everything.

Because chasing your dreams and following your heart don’t always lead you to the same place…

Excerpt:

He pulled out her chair and she sat, watching his every move as he made his way to his own seat. “I hope this is okay. This is the most private table they have.”
“It’s perfect.” She tried to breathe normally and ignore the strange feeling in her stomach. Trace grinned, revealing the boyish dimples that framed his perfect mouth.
“They have the best steak here. Seriously. You better order one for yourself because you’re not getting any of mine.”
At that, she laughed and her nerves eased up a bit. “Oh, I bet you’d give me a bite if I asked nicely.”
He eyed her from over the top of his menu. “Do you ask for things nicely? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do that before.”
With her stomach clenching from the heat in his stare, Kylie put her menu aside. “Maybe you’ve never had anything I wanted badly enough to ask nicely for.” He raised a brow and opened his mouth to respond. But at that same moment, a waitress appeared and asked for their drink order. Kylie didn’t miss how flustered the girl became when she got an eyeful of Trace. It would’ve been irritating, but really, with the way he looked tonight, Kylie couldn’t blame her. She was still trying to get a handle on her own self.
When the waitress left, Trace leaned across the table. “Actually, I take that back. I’ve heard you ask nicely a time or two. Matter of fact, it bordered on begging. I think it went something like, ‘Oh God, yes, please. Trace, please.’”
Heat crawled over her skin at his imitation of her. Barely keeping the grin of embarrassment from her face, she shook her head. “You’re not right. What kind of thing is that to say to a girl on a first date?” He grinned back, the promise of something dark gleaming in his eyes.
“Considering this date is going to end with that dress on my bedroom floor and your legs wrapped around my neck, I think it’s a perfectly acceptable thing to say.” Good Lord. What was she going to do with this man? Oh yeah. Exactly what he’d just described.

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author:

Caisey Quinn lives in Birmingham, Alabama with her husband, daughter, and other assorted animals. She is the author of several New Adult Romance novels featuring country girls finding love in unexpected places. She is currently working on Girl in Love, the third and final book in the Kylie Ryans series. You can find her online at www.caiseyquinnwrites.com.

You can also find her on: Twitter | Facebook | GoodReads

Blitz & GIVEAWAY: Life, Love & Lemon by Magan Vernon

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This is a fabulous book - check out my 5 STAR review

Title: Life, Love & Lemons

Author: Magan Vernon

Published: August 20th 2013

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Goodreads | Amazon | Review

BLURB:

When life hands you lemons, sometimes you have to say screw the lemons and bail.

Seventeen-year-old Bentley Evans had it all. Then her Dad got laid off.

Now she has to move across town to a small apartment and leave her life of luxury for public school and a job at the local burger place. Just when her world seems like it's crumbling she finds solace in the unlikely punk boy next door, Kai Stone. But as their relationship blossoms, a jealous ex-girlfriend and a secret to tell that threatens to bring disaster back into Bentley’s life.

EXCERPT:

"You know I'm pretty sure that all that's involved in high school dancing is just dry humping and swaying back and forth," I said as Kai helped me move my parent's couch back.

"Well, I don't want to dry hump or just sway back and forth," he said with a big grin on his face before setting the couch down.

"We don't have to do this right now either. It's a Sunday morning and all." I walked over to the front of the couch, not taking my eyes off of him.

"Homecoming is Saturday, and the only dance I know is the Hokey Pokey." He shrugged. "Besides Mom and my sisters are at small group and your parents can sleep through anything, so why not now?"

"Okay." I let out a deep breath and opened my computer. "But you really didn't take any kind of dance classes? I had ballroom dancing freshman year in gym."

"Bentley, I've gone to public school all of my life. The only dance we ever learned was line dancing when I was in grade school up in Wisconsin, and I'm not doing that at Homecoming." He laughed.

I started up the song and set my laptop down and stepped in front of Kai, putting my right hand up toward him. “I definitely don’t think there will be line dancing at Homecoming,” I said, putting my hand in his.

“And you make fun of my music?” Kai asked as the song crooned through the speakers on my laptop. I put Kai’s right hand on my hip, and then placed my left hand on his upper arm.

“This is Sinatra, I really don’t think there is anything to be making fun of, and besides I don’t think we could really do ballroom dancing to punk rock.”

“I’m sure we could try." He smiled and kissed my forehead.

I rolled my eyes. “Okay, now that we have the arm position it’s time to move our feet, and if you step on my bare feet I am going to punch you.”

He playfully hovered his foot over mine, so I pinched his arm. “If you don’t behave then I’m switching the music to country.”

He let out a big sarcastic sigh. “Fine.”

“Okay, so left foot then right foot then together,” I said as we moved in unison.

“Then right foot goes back and then the left foot meets it.”

We moved together doing a few box steps. It felt kind of silly to be dancing in my pajamas in the living room.

“You know, I really don’t think that anyone is going to be doing the waltz at Homecoming,” I muttered

I looked up to see him mouthing ‘left, right, together’.

“Well what do people usually do then?" He looked down at me and stopped mouthing the words.

The Sinatra song ended and a slower punk rock song played, one that Kai had actually put on my computer.

“Usually…" I put both my arms around his neck. “It’s kind of more of a close, swaying motion.”

“Oh." He wrapped his long arms around my waist and pulled me as close as I think two people can get when one was over six foot and the other was barely over five foot three.

“Like this?" He swayed slowly back and forth.

“Usually it’s not some sort of a giant dancing with a midget.” I laughed.

“Fine then." He bent at his knees and picked me up off of the ground, so that my legs were dangling in the air while he continued to sway back and forth. “Is that better, shorty?”

I wrapped my bare legs around his waist. “Now it is."

I leaned in and ran my tongue along his bottom lip, tracing the lines of his lip ring.

“I don’t think that’s part of the waltz." He smiled and pressed his forehead to mine.

“It is now." I kissed him, pretty hard, since he fell back into the couch with me still in his arms.

Maybe I should have taken him up on the night alone instead of Homecoming. It felt so good to just be in his arms, and the kissing wasn’t so bad either. I could forget about the world every time that Kai kissed me. It was like his lip piercing had some kind of magical powers that just made all my problems disappear as long as we were kissing.

AUTHOR BIO:

Magan Vernon is a Young Adult and New Adult writer who lives with her family in the insurance capital of the world. When not writing she spends her time fighting over fake boyfriends via social media.

***INTERNATIONAL GIVEAWAY***

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Out Of Play (by Jolene Perry & Nyrae Dawn)

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Title: Out Of Play

Author: Jolene Perry & Nyrae Dawn

Published: August 6th 2013

Genre: YA Contemporary

Source: eARC provided by publisher for honest review

Rating: 4/5

Goodreads | Amazon

BLURB:

Rock star drummer Bishop Riley doesn't have a drug problem. Celebrities—especially ones suffering from anxiety—just need a little help taking the edge off sometimes. After downing a few too many pills, Bishop wakes up in the hospital facing an intervention. If he wants to stay in the band, he’ll have to detox while under house arrest in Seldon, Alaska.　

Hockey player Penny Jones can't imagine a life outside of Seldon. Though she has tons of scholarship offers to all the best schools, the last thing she wants is to leave. Who'll take care of her absentminded gramps? Not her mother, who can’t even be bothered to come home from work, let alone deal with their new tenants next door.

Penny’s not interested in dealing with Bishop’s crappy attitude, and Bishop’s too busy sneaking pills to care. Until he starts hanging out with Gramps and begins to see what he’s been missing. If Bishop wants a chance with the fiery girl next door, he’ll have to admit he has a problem and kick it. Too bad addiction is hard to kick…and Bishop’s about to run out of time.

REVIEW:

The story:

I love how refreshingly different this book is; different in that it's set in Alaska, different in that the heroine is a jock and different in that one of the most important characters (other than the two narrators) is an elderly man.

Penny loves living in Alaska, she also loves hanging with the boys and playing hockey. She has a lot of pressure to take up one of the many college scholarship offers, but she's just happy to stay where she is and wishes nothing would change. But along comes Bishop to shake her world upside down. He's snarky, grumpy and has a perpetual frown on his face, but all that starts to change once he gets to know Penny. He doesn't want to be here in a cabin in Alaska because he claims he 'doesn't have a drug problem'. But after spending time with Penny, he starts to realise that he's been fooling himself and wants to change his life for the better.

There is also a side story with Penny's Gramps who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's & Dementia. This side story was very touching. Having a grandmother in a similar situation, many of the scenes brought tears to my eyes. I could completely understand the pain of seeing a loved slowly change and disappear - it hurts, and that emotion is portrayed beautifully in this story.

The characters:

I really liked Penny, she's a strong character who can match it with the boys in more ways than just hockey. She doesn't get broken easily, but her Gramps's illness effects her more than she's willing to admit even to herself. She tries to be strong, but learns that sometimes it's impossible to control everything. She's afraid of change not only with him but also with her own future, it's not until she meets Bishop that she starts to let go a bit.

Bishop was a little hard to like at first. I felt he was a little self-absorbed and unaware how much of an effect his bad decisions where having on the people around him. However as the story progresses he starts to learn things about himself and opens his eyes to the possibly that he can change for the better.

Gramps was a excellent character and in some ways is what makes this book so special. He's relationship with Bishop is exactly what both of them need. Bishop finds someone he can trust and talk to in a father like way - something that he's never had before. And Gramps feels like he can still make a difference in the world despite his illness. Their relationship was really beautiful.

The romance:

The romance between Bishop & Penny developed slowly over the course of book. It was clear they were both attracted to each other and I enjoyed watching them get closer as their friendship turned into something more. What was really beautiful was that while Penny's male teammates just see her as another friend because of her fierce tom-boy attitude, Bishop was different, he loved her for it.

The Writing:

I haven't read many books written by two authors, however if I hadn't of known before reading it, I don't think I would have been able to tell. Since Jolene wrote Penny's POV & Nyrae wrote Bishop's POV, I think it actually enhanced the book, by giving both characters different voices.

FINAL WORD:

Sometimes YA contemporaries can be a little immature and simple for me, but Out Of Play doesn't fall into that category. The characters have realistic flaws and they are faced with some serious issues. This is very much a 'coming-of-age' type book, and in a way straddles the lines between YA & NA. I really enjoyed this one and I could see possible spin off stories for some of the other characters.

CONTENT:

Sexuality: medium / kissing and heavy petting, discussions of sex (no sex scenes)

Violence: mild

Language: medium / several f**k

Drugs & alcohol: strong / drug use & addiction is a major theme throughout

Feature & Follow Friday #17

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"The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read."

Q: Book Selfie! Snap a picture of you and your current read.

I'm reading Girl On Tour by Caisey Quinn this weekend!!

Thank you so much for stopping by - you can follow me by Bloglovin (preferred) or Twitter

Follow @AmyReadingRealm

You can also follow via Linky, RSS, Google + and Goodreads! If you follow by more than one let me know & I'll return the favour!

Happy Friday :)

Swoon Thursday #18

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Swoon Thursday is a weekly event hosted by YA Bound.This is how it works:

This week, I’m SWOONING over:

Title: Life, Love & Lemons

Author: Magan Vernon

Published: August 20th 2013

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Rating: 5/5

Goodreads | Amazon | Review

We were finally alone, so what was I waiting for? I put the book down and placed my hands on his cheek and tilted my head toward his and lightly kissed his lips. Kai didn't waste any time as his lips trailed from mine and down to my neck and back up again…

…I could forget about everything else that was going on in my life when Kai was around. Somehow it seemed like when I was laying there in his arms that nothing else mattered. My parents, my lack of funds, everything just seemed to melt away as I was lost in his lips.

This was such a fresh and sweet romance with lots of humour. I loved Kai & Bentley's relationship!

So what's making you swoon this week?

Review: Friday Night Alibi by Cassie Mae

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Title: Friday Night Alibi

Author: Cassie Mae

Published: July 29th 2013

Genre: NA Contemporary Romance

Source: eARC provided by publisher via Netgalley for honest review

Rating: 2.5/5

Goodreads | Amazon

BLURB:

Rising star Cassie Mae introduces New Adult readers to a practical soon-to-be college freshman who seems to have everything—until a special guy shows her what she’s been missing.

In the wealthy town of Sundale, Kelli Pinkins has hatched the perfect plan to capitalize on her sweet reputation. For a generous fee, she will be every trust-fund baby’s dream: a Friday-night alibi, the “girlfriend” or “BFF” that parents dream about. With college approaching in the fall, Kelli’s services are in demand more than ever, which means that her social life is nonexistent. But Kelli is A-okay with that. She’s raking in cash for school. Besides, relationships are tricky, and sometimes very messy. She’d rather be at home on Xbox LIVE, anyway. Then the unexpected happens: She meets college stud Chase Maroney.

Chase isn’t like the preppy, privileged guys Kelli usually meets in Sundale. For starters, he’s twentysomething, always wears black., and he shoots back one-liners as fast as she can dish them out. But Kelli’s attempts to drive Chase away falter when she realizes that he treats her like he really knows her, like he cares about knowing her. When Kelli finally gives in to the delicious kiss she’s been fighting for so long, she faces a tough decision: make Chase a real-life boyfriend and risk her heart . . . or keep her clients and lose her first true love.

I hate giving low rated reviews, but I hope this is more of a constructive review, rather than just plain negative. I feel perhaps I wasn't the right audience for this book, and hopefully this review will explain why

REVIEW:

The story:

Firstly this story is labeled as a New Adult book, however I would strongly disagree and say it reads more like a Young Adult novel. The characters may be aged 18-21, but they certainly don't act like it. I don't think a book has to have sex or swearing to to be classified as NA, I do however feel that the characters and issues they face need to be more mature than YA stories, and that is why I feel this book is NOT NA.

Although Kelli is wealthier than Richy Rich she still runs her own little side business as a Friday Night Alibi - covering for all her other wealthy friends so they can go out and have a fun Friday Night. I found this to be quite a unique storyline. There are many questions I had for her motivations - she certainly didn't need the money and she had a best friend who wanted her to go out to parties or the movies, so why did she continue to be the Alibi and sit at home on a Friday night. It soon became obvious that she liked being needed, and that is the strongest part of this story.

The characters:

Kel is 18 and has just graduated from high school, but to be honest, she acts more like a 13 yr old girl. She refers to breasts as 'boobies' and uses phrases like 'naughty bits, 'his under area', and quite often 'blows raspberries' at people when she's annoyed. Her actions where very juvenile and quite selfish at times. For example, when she crawls on the floor at the bowling ally and gets her $400 jeans dirty, she immediately gets upset and throws them and her expensive shirt & shoes in the bin the minute she gets home - could she not just have washed them or perhaps given them to a second hand store?! I thought perhaps by the end of the book she would have grown as a character, but unfortunately she pretty much stays the same.

Chase, well there's not much to say about him, basically because there is very little we really know about him. Early on we know that he wears a lot of black and never really mentions his family. After Kel stalks his Facebook page she see's heaps of pictures of him with a young boy - the photos only span 1 year and then…nothing. Now although we do find out what all this means, I felt like this storyline was very under developed and as a result I don't think we got to know Chase as well as we could have.

The romance:

The romance was sweet with Chase appearing to be the typical hot boy player and Kel being the preppy good girl. But Chase works very hard to prove to Kel that he's not a player and in fact only has eyes for her. I really liked the way they played pranks and teased each other at the beginning, and how it slowly developed into something more.

The Writing:

Sadly I wasn't a fan of the writing style, I felt like the author tried too hard to use 'adolescent' language, but it just came off as very immature. Words and phrases like, 'boogers', 'deets' 'convo', 'yuckville', 'sucktacular' and 'sup', made college age character appear like they were 13 year olds. There was also a lot a repetition of phrases, such as the 'popcorny' feelings Kel got around Chase. It was cute at first, but got old quickly.

FINAL WORD:

For me, the great thing about NA books is that you get a little more maturity than YA - not just from characters, but also the storyline and issues addressed - it's not just a matter of adding a sex scene and some swearing. So labelling this as a 'clean' NA book just doesn't fit for me. I feel like this book would be much more successful if it where marketed as a YA book. Even though this book was a little to immature for me, I still think many teenage girls will love this light and fluffy romance.

CONTENT:

Sexuality: mild / kissing and minor touching

Violence: none

Language: none

Drugs & alcohol: none

Review: Life, Love & Lemons by Magan Vernon

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Title: Life, Love & Lemons

Author: Magan Vernon

Published: August 20th 2013

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Source: eARC provided by author for honest review

Rating: 5/5

Goodreads | Amazon

BLURB:

When life hands you lemons, sometimes you have to say screw the lemons and bail.

Seventeen-year-old Bentley Evans had it all. Then her Dad got laid off.

REVIEW:

The story:

This story was refreshingly different to other YA contemporaries. I liked that the hero wasn't the typical jock, bad boy or popular guy. A punk kid working at a burger joint doesn't sound like the regular romantic hero, but it was so nice to read about a different type of character.

Told from Bentley's POV, we follow her and her family as they struggle with her father loosing his job, moving into a small apartment, leaving her private school for the rougher public school and swapping lunches with friends at the local sushi bar for working at the local Burger joint. At first Bentley struggles with the changes, but she's certainly not the typical shallow character. She does what she needs to do to save money for her college fund even though her father struggles to deal with unemployment and her mother…well her mother is basically a total bitch, there is no other way to describe her.

Bentley's old life soon becomes a distant memory and some of her friends start to turn on her in her new moneyless state. One highlight in her life is her new neighbour and co-worker Kai. At first they clash heads, but soon find common ground and their relationship was beautiful to watch grow.

The characters:

Kai Stone, the guy liner wearing punk with a seductively delicious lip ring. Okay so Kai may not be kind the guy I normally crush over, but damn I want me a punk boy! His personality shines through the stereotypical punk kid persona and underneath it all he really is a "knight in shinning Chuck Taylors".

Bentley Evans, grew up in the wealthy suburbs and attending private school. At first I thought she was going to be a typical spoilt rich kid, who's cranky she can no longer have to latest must have fashion accessory. But not long into the story, I realised she was a lot deeper than that and didn't whine and complain about her situation. She got a job, sold her car and basically took care of herself when her mum was too busy to care and her dad was wasn't really coping with his unemployment.

The secondary characters were also really interesting. Bentley's dad was such an embarrassing guy, but it a good way - he's a typically daggy dad and I loved that about him. Her mum was horrible & had very little respect for her own daughter. On the other hand Kai's mum worked so hard to support him and his sisters, that although she was a bit cold towards Bee at first, I really respected her.

The romance:

I always love an opposites attract story and this definitely qualifies as that. Kai & Bentley couldn't be more different on the surface. But underneath the clothes and guy liner they have a lot in common. They both respect each other's differences and don't try to change one another, instead they evolve & grow together throughout the story. It starts out as a sweet little friendship and developed into a beautiful romance - with a couple of yummy make out sessions!

The Writing:

I am a huge fan of the mix of humour & heart that Magan weaves into her stories. She writes stories with depth and her characters are never one dimensional. I love when an author can make me laugh and in this book even the chapter names where clever!

FINAL WORD:

Magan's stories always have a good amount of sarcasm and humour, which I absolutely love! But underneath that there is also a really sweet story here, about love, friendship & family. This was a fun YA story with heart, and some quirky characters. I now blame Magan Vernon for my sudden desire for wanting to kiss a guy with a lip ring, oh the lip ring!!!

CONTENT:

Sexuality: mild-medium / kissing, heavy petting and discussions of sex (no sex scenes)

Violence: mild

Language: mild

Drugs & alcohol: mild-medium / some references to prescription drug use/dealing

Stacking The Shelves #4

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Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves.

So I keep telling myself I need to cut back on requesting and buying so many books, because my TBR is so long, but…well…I have no self control, so this is what I added to my shelves!

Netgalley & ARCs for Review: