Review: Beautiful Disaster

Synopsis

The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University's Walking One-Night Stand.
Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs—and wants—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

When I first picked up this book I didn't know much about it but the cover drew me in. Later it became one of my all time favorites. Everything about this book is amazing; The story, characters, the feels!
I literally couldn't put this book down.
Beautiful Disaster is the first book in Beautiful series by Jamie McGuire. I really enjoyed this story. It was funny, beautiful, and a tear-jerker and if you are looking for something like that, this series is for you.

Okay ladies... Here comes your new hottie.

"Shake in your boots, boys, and drop your panties, ladies! I give you: Travis ‘Mad Dog’ Maddox"

Travis is impulsive, erratic, hot tempered, but perfect in every other way. With his sexiness, tattoos and charms who would be immune?

"Don't you remember, Travis? You ruined her sweater."
Travis smiled. "I ruin a lot of sweaters."
"Gross," I muttered."

But there's more to him than his looks. He's also sweet, kind and vulnerable and that makes impossible not to fall for him.

"To douchebags!" he said, gesturing to Brad. "And to girls that break your heart," he bowed his head to me. His eyes lost focus. "And to the absolute fucking horror of losing your best friend because you were stupid enough to fall in love with her."

And for Abby, she is an amazing character. I really liked her, and in times I found myself relating to her. She's a good girl, doesn't drink, doesn't get in trouble, pretty much Travis' complete opposite. But somehow, they are drawn to each other.

I loved seeing the dynamic between Travis and Abby and what really intrigued me was Travis' obsession with Abby. It's unhealthy, disturbing and dangerous, but that's what makes this book so good.

"You need to walk away, Pidge. God knows I can't walk away from you."

"-It's over. Go home.
-You're my home."

"He was afraid of nothing. Until he'd met me."

Jamie McGuire's writing is marvelous. This woman has a way with words. Every time I pick one of her books, they seem to always keep getting better!
If you haven't read this book you are totally missing out. It's freaking mind blowing! 5+ STARS!!!

Beautiful Disaster Playlist
Imagine Dragons - Radioactive
Amber Run - I Found
Vaults - One Last Night
London Grammar - Stay Awake
Tim Halperin - Too Close ft. Macy Maloy
BIRDY - Shelter
Nick Jonas - Levels
Major Lazer - Powerful ft. Ellie Goulding & Tarrus Riley
Demi Lovato - Waitin For You ft. Sirah
Zella Day - Hypnotic

About The Author
Jamie McGuire was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She attended Northern Oklahoma College, the University of Central Oklahoma, and Autry Technology Center where she graduated with a degree in Radiography.
Jamie paved the way for the New Adult genre with the international bestseller Beautiful Disaster. Her follow-up novel, Walking Disaster, debuted at #1 on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Beautiful Oblivion, book one of the Maddox Brothers series, also topped the New York Times bestseller list, debuting at #1. In 2015, books two and three of the Maddox Brothers series, Beautiful Redemption and Beautiful Sacrifice, respectively, also topped the New York Times, as well as a Beautiful series novella, Something Beautiful. Beautiful Burn is soon to be published.
Jamie is the first indie author in history to strike a print deal with retail giant Wal-Mart. Her self-published novel, Beautiful Redemption hit Wal-Mart shelves in September, 2015.
Jamie lives in Steamboat Springs, Colorado with her husband, Jeff, and their three children.

Review: The Opportunist

Synopsis

Olivia Kaspen has just discovered that her ex-boyfriend, Caleb Drake, has lost his memory. With an already lousy reputation for taking advantage of situations, Olivia must decide how far she is willing to go to get Caleb back. Wrestling to keep her true identity and their sordid past under wraps, Olivia’s greatest obstacle is Caleb’s wicked, new girlfriend; Leah Smith. It is a race to the finish as these two vipers engage in a vicious tug of war to possess a man who no longer remembers them. But, soon enough Olivia must face the consequences of her lies, and in the process discover that sometimes love falls short of redemption.

An emotional roller coaster!
I just finished "The Opportunist" for the fourth time and OMG, it never gets old. Tarryn never ceases to amaze me. She writes about real life issues, not the fairy tale type where everything is immaculately tied up with a pretty little bow on top.

This book made me feel.

"I will love again, Olivia, you will hurt forever. What you’ve done is…You are worthless because you make yourself that way. You will remember me every day for the rest of your life because I was the one and you threw me away."

It's really hard to describe these characters, I mean, they are so flawed, but in the end, that's what makes them real. Olivia is just a weak and broken girl who hides herself behind a tough and manipulative facade. Sometimes I really hated her, but she's the character you love to hate.

"I’m Olivia Kaspen, and if I love something I rip it from my life. Not intentionally… not unintentionally either."

Caleb tho is the notorious Casanova, but in times just as weak as Olivia.

"A man is only as good as what he loves most, right?"

Incredibly wrong for each other, but something brings them together every time.

"The Opportunist" is such an amazing book that show us how desperate people can be and how far are they willing to go and risk everything for love.

"Oh what do you know about love ? You've never cheated to have it."

"I knew what I was going to do, something that would hurt him more than he hurt me. That’s the way I fought, dirty. An eye for an eye."

This is really refreshingly different and challenging read with unexpected twists that will drew you in with no signs of letting go.. 5 STARS!!!
I haven't read "Dirty Red" because I really hate Leah (like REALLY, REALLY) but "Thief" blew my mind just like "The Opportunist". I'm not going to make any spoilers, sooo, check it out. You won't be able to let it out of your hands.

The Opportunist Playlist
Jenny Lane - Heartless
Coldplay - Yellow
Dua Lipa - Be The One
Shawn Mendes & Hailee Steinfeld - Stitches
London Grammar - Hey Now
Kodaline - High Hopes
Jaymes Young - I'll Be Good
RHODES + BIRDY - Let It All Go


About The Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Marrow, Mud Vein, F*ck Love, The Opportunist, Dirty Red & Thief. Co author of Never Never (3 part Novella series) . She is the co-founder of Clothed Caption, a fashion blog she runs with her friend, Madison Seidler. Tarryn resides in the Seattle area with her family. She loves rainy days, Coke, and thinks Instagram is the new Facebook. Tarryn is represented by Amy Tannenbaum of the Jane Rotrosen Agency.

Review: Burial Rites

Synopsis

A brilliant literary debut, inspired by a true story: the final days of a young woman accused of murder in Iceland in 1829.
Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.
Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes's death looms, the farmer's wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard.
Riveting and rich with lyricism, BURIAL RITES evokes a dramatic existence in a distant time and place, and asks the question, how can one woman hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others?

Brilliant!
I really don't know where to start with this one. Everything I say will be redundant.

“To know what a person has done, and to know who a person is, are very different things.”
Based on a true story, Burial Rites is a deeply moving novel about personal freedom: who we are seen to be versus who we believe ourselves to be, and the ways in which we will risk everything for love.
“Everything I said was taken from me and altered until the story wasn’t my own.”

I've read this book for the first time about a year ago and ever since then I wasn't able to get it out of my head. It's the type of book that sticks with you and leaves you in tears in no time. Seriously, I cried from the page one till the very end (and hours later, but who counts). Once you start reading it you won't be able to do or read anything else.

It is really hard for me to write anything without making any spoilers, but even so, from the first sentence in the book it is clear what would happen to Agnes. There is no guessing. But what keeps us reading is Agnes' confession about her life and the love for the wrong man.

“They will see the whore, the madwoman, the murderess, the female dripping blood into the grass and laughing with her mouth choked with dirt. They will say “Agnes” and see the spider, the witch caught in the webbing of her own fateful weaving. They might see the lamb circled by ravens, bleating for a lost mother. But they will not see me. I will not be there.”

“I don't want to be remembered, I want to be here!”

Wonderful novel. Beautifully written. The setting, the atmosphere, the feels... Unforgettable!
Hannah made these characters extremely alive and real.
I'm in awe. 5 STARS!!!

I highly recommend this book, you won't regret it. Burial Rites will haunt you for a long time.

P.S. There's this song "Oh Death" by Jen Titus and it's so consuming and fitting in the Agnes' story that will leave you breathless. You should definitely check it out.

About The Author
Hannah Kent won the 2011 Writing Australia Unpublished Manuscript Award for her manuscript, Burial Rites, and is currently mentored by Geraldine Brooks. She is the co-founder and deputy editor of Australian literary journal Kill Your Darlings, and teaches Creative Writing and English at Flinders University, where she is also completing her PhD.

In 2011 she was a judge of Melbourne University/The Australian Centre’s Peter Blazey Fellowship for Life Writing. Her creative and critical writing has appeared in The Big Issue, Australian Book Review, The Wheeler Centre, Kill Your Darlings and Voiceworks, amongst others.

Review: Wuthering Heights

Synopsis

Wuthering Heights is a wild, passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine's father. After Mr Earnshaw's death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine's brother Hindley and wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return years later as a wealthy and polished man. He proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries. The action of the story is chaotic and unremittingly violent, but the accomplished handling of a complex structure, the evocative descriptions of the lonely moorland setting and the poetic grandeur of vision combine to make this unique novel a masterpiece of English literature.

Wuthering Heights are my all time favourite book and I wanted to start this blog with it. I can't remember the first time I started reading it but ever since then it has my heart captured. I have never read anything quite so beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.

Unlike most novels, Wuthering Heights' protagonists are anti heroes. Heathcliff and Catherine are selfish and petty, but they are two of a kind. Their relationship is one of the most unique and heartfelt relationship in the era of mankind. They fight, storm and rage against each other, destroying themselves and everyone else in the process.

This book shows us how love can save and damn one man. It's not happily ever after kind of story; this is demonic, tragic and devastating love story that destroys human soul. These protagonists are just so real that almost everyone can relate with them. Even if you haven't experienced their struggles you can't help but sympathize.

"My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff's miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning: my great thought in living is himself. If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of it. My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being. So don't talk of our separation again: it is impracticable."

These are my favourite words from book and OMG! The feels! So perfect... Beyond perfect.

Wuthering Heights are beautifully written and the story always takes my breath away. I loved every page of it. It was beautiful, devastating and realistic.
These characters are so wrong for each other, but in other ways so incredibly right.

"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."

5 STARS!!!


About The Author

Emily Jane Brontë was a British novelist and poet, now best remembered for her only novel Wuthering Heights, a classic of English literature. Emily was the second eldest of the three surviving Brontë sisters, being younger than Charlotte and older than Anne. She published under the masculine pen name Ellis Bell.