Whitefern (The Audrina Series Book 2) by V.C. Andrews
Whitefern by V.C. Andrews
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Whitefern is the long awaited sequel to My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews. After nearly a quarter of a century we now get a look into Audrina’s life as an adult after she had found out the secret that her family had hidden from her for her entire life.
Picking up Audrina’s story after her father has passed away Audrina is still living in the Whitefern mansion raising her mentally challenged sister Sylvia and married to Arden. Audrina’s father has left controlling interest of the business to her causing Arden to pressure her into signing it over and Sylvia is making progress in life and developed an interest in art.
Whitefern was actually better than I had expected it to be but to me still not quite as good as the earlier works written by Ms. Andrews herself. This was one of the better stories that I’ve read since the ghostwriter had taken over writing under the V.C. Andrews name though.
Somehow when reading along though I kept getting the feeling of deja vu as if I had read this book before. I can’t think of any particular book the events in the story remind me of so I’m almost wondering if it weren’t just the predictability of the story that made me feel I knew what was coming. Part of the edge missing from this one also may have been the lack of Vera in the story as she centered around a lot of the earlier controversy in My Sweet Audrina.
Also, I kind of felt all throughout the story that Sylvia’s character felt a bit off for the way she’s described. In the earlier book it was written that Audrina was trying to teach her to be as normal as possible but in this continuation it seems a bit contradictory at times in how she is written. One minute it’s said she is still completely dependent but the next speaking in full sentences and carrying on a normal conversation along with doing a lot of things that I wouldn’t expect.
Overall, a bit predictable but not too bad overall of a continuation from the earlier work. Almost as if this was a duller version of the first gripping novel, not quite up to the standards of the first but closer than some of the other later works from the ghostwriter era.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Nerve by Jeanne Ryan
Nerve by Jeanne Ryan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Vee is used to being the one behind the scenes, she does the costumes for her school production and really wants to go into fashion. But when she feels a bit slighted from her friends she decides to do one of the easier dares from the online game NERVE never expecting it to get any views or be picked for further competition.
With the enticement of bigger and better prizes on the line though Vee finds herself unable to walk away when she’s picked to continue on in the competition. Getting paired up with the hunky Ian is definitely not a bad deal for Vee either. But just how far will the pair be willing to go before they lose their nerve as the stakes get raised in the game?
Nerve is one of those books that while the synopsis sounded interesting I just hadn’t made the time to pick it up. Now that the movie previews have come out I knew that I needed to give this one a chance since it looks like the movie will be a good one.
Taking place in what seems like not too far into the future as the technology is a bit more than what we have yet but getting pretty close this seems to be something that may come up in our reality obsessed society. Some of the book too seems to serve as a reminder of just how much can be found out about someone from just social media and online presence.
A pretty fast paced and intense story all the way throughout. The only thing really for me to not rate this one a bit higher was I wasn’t completely sold on the ending dares. Looks like the movie is changing the action a bit so now after reading the story I’m looking forward to seeing this one played out on the big screen.
Lavender in Bloom by Lily Velez blitz with giveaway
Lavender in Bloom
Lily Velez
Publication date: July 25th 2016
Genres: Historical, Romance, Young Adult
It’s the year 1802 in Avignon, France…
Noah Capet has spent most of his young life living simple and unvaried days in the hushed countryside of southern France. Quiet, reserved, and diffident, his preference for existing is to do so in solitude, keeping to himself both in town and on his family’s farm—a predilection that’s altogether disrupted when a newcomer to town by the name of Jeremie Perreault begins an unremitting quest to befriend him.
Jeremie is everything Noah is not. Charismatic and gregarious, he leaves a trail of charmed admirers in his wake wherever he goes. Expressive and idealistic, he talks without end about his deep love for old books and his spirited dream to one day travel the world on a literary pilgrimage.
Over the course of a single summer, the two form an unlikely friendship, but just as quickly as it develops, it soon entirely dissolves as they’re forced to face the truth of what has unexpectedly emerged between them.
Lavender in Bloom is a tender and tragic coming-of-age story about first love and self-discovery, and a poignant reminder that time is fleeting and always takes with it the choices we’re too afraid to make.
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EXCERPT:
“I think of you almost every moment, Noah. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep. I am utterly tormented by these things I feel for you.”
It was as if lightning had struck Noah. He was paralyzed by the admission, stricken silent, and at his core, an inferno devoured him. Its heat filled his veins, spread from ligament to ligament, muscle to muscle. Jeremie had once read aloud a poem regarding a phoenix making its nest in a person’s bosom. Noah felt the phoenix now, felt her awakening, shifting, extending her wings and beating them powerfully so that he was left breathless, but no more breathless than by what Jeremie did next.
Jeremie came to him at once, erasing the last of the distance between them, and this time, Noah didn’t back away. The thin gap of space between their bodies sweltered. Still, Noah didn’t move. He didn’t move as Jeremie cupped Noah’s elbows, fingers grasping at bone. He didn’t move as Jeremie pulled him nearer. He didn’t even move when their faces were close enough for him to feel Jeremie’s warm breath against his mouth.
“Tell me you feel the same,” Jeremie whispered. It sounded like a prayer. His head was bowed slightly to be at level with Noah’s.
There was a pull in Noah’s stomach, an unfamiliar desire growing heavier. He was close enough now to see the velvet trimming on the collar of Jeremie’s coat, the paisley design of the white ascot at his neck. Jeremie’s lips lingered before his own, daring, eager, ravenous. It would’ve been effortless to give in, to lean his body into Jeremie’s, to be overtaken by the fever consuming him. He wanted to. Of that much he was certain, and it shocked him like nothing else ever had.
Tell me you feel the same, Jeremie had whispered.
And Noah, still fighting a war he hadn’t even known had begun long ago, had thought to, had nearly conceded to it. But then he saw an image of Jeremie’s father, cold and cruel, bringing his own son to ruins, and in the end, he couldn’t. He wouldn’t. For Jeremie’s sake, he couldn’t fall.
Firm in his resolve, he drew up his strength and stepped back out of Jeremie’s hold. The moment he did, the phoenix extinguished herself.
Tell me you feel the same.
Noah met his eyes, forcefully, meaningfully. “I don’t.”
Author Bio:
Lily Velez has been writing stories since she was six years old. Not much has changed since then. She still prefers the written word and her overactive imagination over the ‘real world’ (though to be fair, her stories no longer feature talking dinosaurs). A graduate of Rollins College and a Florida native, when she’s not reading or writing, she spends most of her days wrangling up her pit bulls Noah and Luna, planning exciting travel adventures, and nursing her addiction to cheese. All this when she isn’t participating in the extreme sport known as napping. You can learn more about Lily and her books at http://www.lilyvelezbooks.com.
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My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews
My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Audrina feels like she is always going to live in the shadow of her sister that died before she was born. Audrina was even named after her departed sibling that she never knew. Her family doesn’t hesitate to tell her every day just how special the first Audrina was, how beautiful and full of life.
Living in her family’s mansion cut off from society with her parents, aunt and a cousin that torments her at every turn Audrina begins to question her own sanity even at a young age. But with all the secrets and lies at every turn will Audrina ever learn the truth of what happened to the first Audrina and escape her shadow?
My Sweet Audrina is actually a reread for me as I read this one years and years ago. The story is typical VC Andrews in which this young girl is trapped in a family with secrets and different horrors awaiting her with each turn of the page. Since I have the sequel that is being released after twenty five or so years of waiting for the story to be continued I needed a quick refresher on the book before diving into the next.
I have to say even after all these years I still enjoyed rereading this tale as it’s one of my favorites from the VC Andrews catalog. Full of psychologically twisted turns all throughout it’s hard not to get involved in reading and wanting the answers to what had really happened to this little girl we meet in this story.
Overall, still a great read after so many years. Just a warning though with this one that rape is involved for those that wouldn’t like that as part of a story.
Cover Reveal: The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland by Rebekah Crane
The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland
Rebekah Crane
Published by: Skyscape
Publication date: November 8th 2016
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
According to sixteen-year-old Zander Osborne, nowhere is an actual place—and she’s just fine there. But her parents insist that she get out of her head—and her home state—and attend Camp Padua, a summer camp for at-risk teens.
Zander does not fit in—or so she thinks. She has only one word for her fellow campers: crazy. In fact, the whole camp population exists somewhere between disaster and diagnosis. There’s her cabinmate Cassie, a self-described manic-depressive-bipolar-anorexic. Grover Cleveland (yes, like the president), a cute but confrontational boy who expects to be schizophrenic someday, odds being what they are. And Bek, a charmingly confounding pathological liar.
But amid group “share-apy” sessions and forbidden late-night outings, unlikely friendships form, and as the Michigan summer heats up, the four teens begin to reveal their tragic secrets. Zander finds herself inextricably drawn to Grover’s earnest charms, and she begins to wonder if she could be happy. But first she must come completely unraveled to have any hope of putting herself back together again.
Author Bio:
Rebekah Crane is the author of three young-adult novels—Playing Nice, Aspen, and The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland. She found a passion for young-adult literature while studying secondary English education at Ohio University. After having two kids and living and teaching in six different cities, Rebekah finally settled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains to write novels and work on screenplays. She now
spends her day carpooling kids or tucked behind a laptop at 7,500 feet, where the altitude only enhances the writing experience.
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