PLBR Book Reviews 2018 - ELLES BOOK BLOG

ELLES BOOK BLOG

MY DARK VANESSA BY KATE ELIZABETH RUSSELL

4/4/2020

My Dark Vanessa is an excellent piece of literary fiction that will chill you to the core. It's a dynamic and complex read, one that will hit each reader differently.

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: March 10, 2020
Genre: Literary Fiction
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 384 pages
Format: eBook. ARC

Exploring the psychological dynamics of the relationship between a precocious yet naïve teenage girl and her magnetic and manipulative teacher, a brilliant, all-consuming read that marks the explosive debut of an extraordinary new writer.

2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher.

2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who

HEARTS AND THORNS BY ELLA FIELDS

1/9/2020

Hot damn! This book is good. Ella Fields has once again written an agst filled forbidden romance of the BEST kind. I read this book in one sitting because I was so obsessed with it!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: January 3, 2020
Genre: Forbidden (stepbrother) romance
Series: Magnolia Cove #3 (can stand alone)
Pages: 265 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

I love you; I loathe you

Jackson Thorn was my best friend and worst enemy, but that didn't stop me from wanting him.
From first words to high school halls, our childhood years braided a bond that wove in a direction neither of us could predict or outgrow.

Forbidden became a word we ignored.
It wasn't that we didn't care.
It was that we cared too much.
We had it all planned out.
We thought we could make it.
We thought we'd been careful.
But all we managed to do was prolong the inevitable.
Our destruction.

BREAKING MR. CANE BY SHANORA WILLIAMS

11/8/2019

Breaking Mr. Cane is the second book in the Cane series. This series must be read in order! If you are into age gap, forbidden romances this series is a must read!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: July 12, 2018
Genre: Age Gap. Forbidden Romance.
Series: Cane series #2 (must be read in order)
Pages: 316 pages
Format: eBook. Borrowed with Kindle Unlimited.

The gripping, steamy follow up to the bestselling forbidden romance, Wanting Mr. Cane...

KANDY
I was left broken, my heart beating a little bit harder in order to survive. I'd tried picking up the pieces, but when it came to Cane, it was hard to let go.

The way we touched was special and we promised to never forget one another. I had him right in the palm of my hand--thought everything was perfect--but in the blink of an eye, he was gone, leaving me with no choice but to pretend that what we had never existed.

CANE
She was off-limits to me, but I pushed the boundaries anyway. Now, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, my career

THOUGHTLESS BY S.C. STEPHENS

8/22/2019

This book had me wanting to rip my hair out! The cheating, the back and forth, it all got to be a little too much for me. Normally I can take a book with cheating but this one...

Rating: ★★★
Release Date: June 11, 2011
Genre: New Adult. College Romance. Love Triangle.
Series: Thoughtless #1
Pages: 530 pages
Format: Paperback. Purchased.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author S.C. Stephens comes a powerful and emotional contemporary romance featuring a young woman in a new city who finds herself torn between her handsome, reliable boyfriend and a sexy local rock star.

For almost two years now, Kiera's boyfriend, Denny, has been everything she's ever wanted: loving, tender and endlessly devoted to her. When they head off to a new city to start their lives together, Denny at his dream job and Kiera at a top-notch university, everything seems perfect. Then an unforeseen obligation forces the happy couple apart.

Feeling lonely, confused, and in need of comfort, Kiera turns to an unexpected source—a local rock star named Kellan Kyle. At first, he's purely a friend that she can lean on, but as her loneliness grows, so does their relationship. And then one night everything changes... and none of them will ever be the same.

THE REBEL OF RALEIGH HIGH BY CALLIE HART

6/16/2019

While I liked the idea of this book, the execution was lacking. The author threw so many issues at us but never resolved them. It made for a very frustrating read.

Rating: ★★★
Release Date: April 27, 2019
Genre: New Adult. High School. Bad Boy Romance.
Series: Raleigh Rebels #1 (can stand alone)
Pages: 377 pages
Format: eBook. Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited.

* The Rebel of Raleigh High is the first book in the Raleigh Rebels Series. Please be advised, this book comes with a trigger warning. Intended for readers 17+ *

Silver

Hit me.
Kick me.
Hurt me.
Hate me.

There’s nothing that the students of Raleigh High can do to Silver Parisi anymore. Over the past year, she’s had to endure more pain and suffering than most people are asked to bear in their lifetimes. She’s a pariah, an outcast, a ghost. She’s also never been one to take shit lying down, though…despite what half the football team might say.

PRETTY RECKLESS BY L.J. SHEN

6/12/2019

L.J. Shen has started this series with a bang and you don't want to miss it! If you enjoy angst, bully romances between highschoolers this is your book! While these kids are technically teens, I consider the novel to be New Adult!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: April 21, 2019
Genre: New Adult. High School. Bad Boy Romance.
Series: All Saints High #1
Pages: 362 pages
Format: eBook. Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited.

From USA Today bestselling author L.J. Shen comes an intense, high school enemies-to-lovers romance with a twist.

Penn

They say revenge is a dish best served cold.
I’d had four years to stew on what Daria Followhill did to me, and now my heart was completely iced.
I took her first kiss.
She took the only thing I loved.
I was poor.
She was rich.
The good thing about circumstances? They can change. Fast.
Now, I’m her parents’ latest shiny project.
Her housemate. Her tormentor. The captain of the rival football team she hates so much.

THE SILVER SWAN BY AMO JONES

3/2/2019

An excellent and darkly entertaining read that has me hooked! I love books where the "hero" is a bully and the heroine is a sweet but sassay gal and this book hits those marks!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: March 7, 2017
Genre: YA Dark Romance.
Series: The Elite King's Club #1
Pages: 261 pages
Format: eBook. Purchased.

Riddle me this...
“I am neither dead, nor alive, and I’m not something little Madison can hide.
But you will be dead, by the time this is done...
the timer starts now, and the games have just begun…”

Madison Montgomery comes from money and power, but when someone close to her commits the ultimate crime, Madison must live with her tainted name for the rest of her life. When she begins Riverside Preparatory Academy, the private school her father has swept her into in The Hamptons, she hopes for a fresh start. What she wasn't hoping for was the pack of bad boys who run the school; ten, to be exact. When Madison gains the attention of their leader, Bishop Vincent Hayes, a whole new world that she didn't think existed is exposed to her. A whole world that starts and ends with The Elite Kings Club and these

BOYS OF BRAYSHAW HIGH BY MEAGAN BRANDY

2/20/2019

OMG. I am so obsessed with this book! It's got perfectly blended dark notes, a sexy as hell group of guys, and a kick ass heroine that anyone would want on their side. I highly recommend it.

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: January 15, 2019
Genre: Young Adult Romance.
Series: Brayshaw High #1
Pages: 386 pages
Format: eBook. Purchased.

"Girls like you aren't exactly welcomed at a place like this, so keep your head down and look the other way."

Those were the exact words of my social worker when she dropped me in my newest hellhole, a place for "troubled teens".

I didn't listen, and now I'm on their radar.

They expect me to play along in their games of hierarchy, to fall in line in the social order they've deemed me fit.

Too bad for them, I don't follow rules.
Too bad for me, they're determined to make sure I do.

Inconceivably attractive and treated like kings...these are the boys of Brayshaw High.
And I'm the girl who got in their way.

ONLY A BREATH APART BY KATIE MCGARRY

1/22/2019

Only a Breath Apart by Katy McGarry is a beautiful and emotional romance novels between two you adults who are struggling to come to terms with their families demons. If you are a fan of the author or the genre in general I highly recommend this!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: January 22, 2019
Genre: Young Adult Romance
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 368 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

Bestselling author Katie McGarry’s trademark wrong-side-of-the-tracks romance is given a new twist in the gritty YA contemporary novel, Only a Breath Apart.

Jesse Lachlin is cursed.

So the town folklore says, but while Jesse’s had his fair share of tragedy, the only curse he believes is in his grandmother’s will: in order to inherit his family farm he must win the approval of his childhood best friend, the girl he froze out his freshman year, Scarlett Copeland.

Scarlett Copeland is psychic.

Glory Gardner tells Scarlett she has hidden psychic abilities, but Scarlett thinks Glory is delusional. What is real is Scarlett’s father’s

THIRTEEN REASONS WHY BY JAY ASHER

12/30/2018

Thirteen Reasons Why is a compelling read from beginning to end. It's emotional, realistic, and an all around important read. I tihnk older young adults are a good fit for this one.

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: March 7, 2017
Genre: Young Adult. Social Issues.
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 320 pages
Format: Paperback. Purchased.

You can’t stop the future.
You can’t rewind the past.
The only way to learn the secret . . . is to press play.

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker—his classmate and crush—who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah's voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why.

Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah's pain, and as he follows Hannah’s recorded words throughout his town, what he discovers changes his life forever.

Need to talk? Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) anytime if you are in the United States. It’s free and confidential.

NINE PERFECT STRANGERS BY LIANCE MORIARTY

12/16/2018

Unfortunately, I didn't feel like this book was on par with Big Little Lies and The Husbands Secret (both of which I loved). Now I didn't hate it either. I just didn't feel compelled when I was reading.

Rating: ★★★
Release Date: November 6, 2018
Genre: Women's Fiction. Drama.
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 453 pages
Format: Hardcover. Purchased.

Could ten days at a health resort really change you forever? In Liane Moriarty’s latest page-turner, nine perfect strangers are about to find out...

Nine people gather at a remote health resort. Some are here to lose weight, some are here to get a reboot on life, some are here for reasons they can’t even admit to themselves. Amidst all of the luxury and pampering, the mindfulness and meditation, they know these ten days might involve some real work. But none of them could imagine just how challenging the next ten days are going to be.

Frances Welty, the formerly best-selling romantic novelist, arrives at Tranquillum House nursing a bad back, a broken heart, and an exquisitely painful paper cut. She’s immediately intrigued by her fellow guests. Most of them don’t look to be in need of a health resort at all. But the person that intrigues her most is the strange and charismatic

TEN TINY BREATHS BY K.A. TUCKER

12/10/2018

An emotional new adult romance with a twist I did not see coming. K.A. Tucker knows how to write a good book and while this wasn't a favorite of mine I can see why everyone loves it.

Rating: ★★★
Release Date: September 24, 2013
Genre: New Adult Romance.
Series: The Ten Tiny Breaths Series #1 (can stand alone)
Pages: 289 pages
Format: Paperback. Purchased.

After a terrible car accident destroys her life as she knew it, twenty-year-old Kacey escapes to Florida, where she encounters an irresistible man determined to capture her wounded heart.

Just breathe, Kacey. Ten tiny breaths. Seize them. Feel them. Love them.

Four years ago, Kacey Cleary’s life imploded when her car was hit by a drunk driver, killing her parents, boyfriend, and best friend. Still haunted by memories of being trapped inside, listening to her mother take her last breath, Kacey wants to leave her past behind. Armed with two bus tickets, Kacey and her fifteen-year-old sister, Livie, escape Grand Rapids, Michigan, to start over in Miami. They’re struggling to make ends meet at first, but Kacey’s not worried. She can handle anything—anything but her mysterious neighbor in apartment 1D.

Trent Emerson has smoldering blue eyes and deep dimples, and

PUSHING THE LIMITS BY KATIE MCGARRY

10/28/2018

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. And the fact that this is a young adult romance blows my mind! If you haven't read this one, I highly recommend grabbing it!

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: July 31, 2012
Genre: Young Adult Romance
Series: Pushing the Limits #1 (series of standalones)
Pages: 392 pages
Format: Paperback. Purchased.

Book 1 in Katie McGarry’s award-winning, powerful and romantic Pushing the Limits series, perfect for fans of Jennifer L. Armentrout, Stephanie Perkins and Simone Elkeles!

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with “freaky” scars on her arms. Even Echo can’t remember the whole truth.

But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his surprising understanding, Echo’s world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can PUSH THE LIMITS and what she’ll risk for the one guy who might teach her HOW TO LOVE AGAIN.

THE CHASE BY ELLE KENNEDY

9/14/2018

I am really excited to see how Elle Kennedy develops the rest of this series because this is near perfection in terms of College Romances. I very much recommend this book!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: August 6, 2018
Genre: College Romance
Series: Briar U #1
Pages: 377 pages
Format: eBook. Purchased.

A sexy standalone novel from New York Times and international bestselling author Elle Kennedy

Everyone says opposites attract. And they must be right, because there’s no logical reason why I’m so drawn to Colin Fitzgerald. I don’t usually go for tattoo-covered, video-gaming, hockey-playing nerd-jocks who think I’m flighty and superficial. His narrow view of me is the first strike against him. It doesn’t help that he’s buddy-buddy with my brother.

And that his best friend has a crush on me.

And that I just moved in with them.

Oh, did I not mention we’re roommates?

I suppose it doesn’t matter. Fitzy has made it clear he’s not

THREE LITTLE LIES BY LAURA MARSHALL

9/8/2018

Three Little Lies is a fantastic book and I am so glad to have read it! Laura Marshall does it again in this brilliant book. I hope everyone gets a chance to read it!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: September 4, 2018
Genre: Mystery. Thriller. Suspense.
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 352 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

When Sasha disappears, Ellen fears the worst. Then long-buried secrets resurface, Ellen realizes she may not know Sasha -- or what she's capable of -- at all.

2005: 17 year old Ellen falls under the spell of glamorous newcomer, Sasha. As Ellen is welcomed into Sasha's family, she doesn't see the darkness that lies beneath their musical, bohemian lifestyle. At a New Year's Eve party, events come to a dramatic head, resulting in a court case (in which Ellen is a key witness) that means family life at the Corner House will never be the same again.

2018: Now 30, Ellen and Sasha are still entwined in each other's lives and sharing a flat in London. When Sasha disappears, Ellen fears the worst. She has gone missing like this before and the police won't take it seriously, but long-buried events in their shared past mean that Ellen has good reason to be frightened - not only for Sasha, but also for herself. Finding out the truth about

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