My Last Kiss Review and Giveaway Blog Tour

 

My Last Kiss

Bethany Neal

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Release Date: June 10th 2014

Read 5-29-14

Format: E-book

Source: Blog Tour with The Fantastic Flying Book Club

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What if your last kiss was with the wrong boy? 

Cassidy Haines remembers her first kiss vividly. It was on the old covered bridge the summer before her freshman year with her boyfriend of three years, Ethan Keys. But her last kiss–the one she shared with someone at her seventeenth birthday party the night she died–is a blur. Cassidy is trapped in the living world, not only mourning the loss of her human body, but left with the grim suspicion that her untimely death wasn’t a suicide as everyone assumes. She can’t remember anything from the weeks leading up to her birthday and she’s worried that she may have betrayed her boyfriend. 

If Cassidy is to uncover the truth about that fateful night and make amends with the only boy she’ll ever love, she must face her past and all the decisions she made–good and bad–that led to her last kiss.

I like mystery stories and this book sounded like it could be really good.  Cassidy we only see alive for the very first chapter and for the rest of the book she is following others around trying to solve the questions behind her own death and falling into memories as she recovers them.  One part I did enjoy was seeing how people reacted to her death, like her family and closest friends.   Aimee and Ethan were the characters I liked the most.  They were very devoted to Cassidy and great people to her.  Madison I never really liked from the beginning because she was so back and forth.

There were a bunch of time jumps since there are so many flashbacks as Cassidy gains memories and we fall into them with her.  At several points it confused me when we went into the past because there wasn’t a clear transition all the time, but it becomes easier the more you read.  For me, there weren’t any characters that were super amazing, but most of them were likeable.  Others could be hard to keep up with because we didn’t really see them enough to care to really remember their names.

Several points of the book were predictable, aside from one that I can think of.  And though there was a lot of predictability, I still enjoyed following Cassidy’s story as she unraveled what happened to her and what happens between her and Ethan.  Though this book isn’t amazing, it is still an enjoyable read and I recommend it to those who enjoy mysteries and ghost type stories.

Follow the FFBC Played blog tour and don’t miss anything! Click on the banner to see the tour schedule.

Bethany Neal writes young-adult novels with a little dark side and a lot of kissing! She is obsessed with (but not limited to): nail polish, ginormous rings, pigs, pickles, and dessert.

You can find her locked in her Writertorium for insane amounts of time. But, hey, insanity is fun! My Last Kiss is her first novel.

Giveaway is open to US & Canada | Must be 13 or older to enter 

Win (1) signed hardback of My Last Kiss + a Swag Pack ( MLK Button, MLK Notebook, & Cassidy’s watermelon lip gloss)

 

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Tour co-hosted by Bethany Neal and The Fantastic Flying Book Club

 

*Review* Impostor – Susanne Winnacker

 Imposter

Susanne Winnacker

320 pages

Read 2-23-14

Format: E-book

Source: Netgalley

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 Tessa is a Variant with extraordinary abilities. She could be a hero, but all she wants to do is fall in love …

Tessa is a Variant, able to absorb the DNA of anyone she touches and mimic their appearance. Shunned by her family, she’s spent the last two years with the Forces with Extraordinary Abilities, a secret branch of the FBI. There she trains with other Variants, such as long-term crush Alec, who each have their own extraordinary ability.

When a serial killer rocks a small town in Oregon, Tessa is given a mission: she must impersonate Madison, a local teen, to find the killer before he strikes again. Tessa hates everything about being an impostor – the stress, the danger, the deceit – but loves playing the role of a normal girl. As Madison, she finds friends, romance, and the kind of loving family she’d do anything to keep.

Amid action, suspense, and a ticking clock, this super-human comes to a very human conclusion: even a girl who can look like anyone struggles the most with being herself.

This book sounded very interesting, so when I saw it on Netgalley, I requested it and was lucky enough to get approved.  I also found this alternate cover, which I like even more than the original cover.  I liked the other cover a lot, don’t get me wrong, but this one is smoother and better fitting for the story than the original.

Tessa has a really cool power, she can morph into anybody she has touched, and she is given this really dangerous mission.  She has a lot of internal conflict over her mission, which is very understandable since she has to deceive so many people by posing as one of their loved ones.  Tessa was on okay character, but she could have been better.  I felt at some points she was a bit too obsessed with crushing at the wrong times, but did like Alec when he was being sweet to her and could understand why she would crush on him.  I also liked seeing her struggle with being part of a “normal” family.

As for the killer and such, it wasn’t really hard to figure stuff out and it didn’t surprise me at all who it was, but the ending scenes with the killer did get a bit exciting.  There were a couple small things that were left unanswered, so I hope that there will be some explanation in the next book.  Also, there was a character in this story that I hope had a bigger part in the next story since he was a bit pointless in this one.  The writing was pretty good, but there were some things that became a bit repetitive, not a lot though.

All in all I enjoyed the story and will be looking forward to the next book.

Interesting, good writing, good story, though no surprises in the end.

 

*Review* We Were Liars – E. Lockhart

 We Were Liars

E. Lockhart

Read 1-24-14

Source: Netgalley

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 A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
 
We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. 

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

I went into this book half blind and decided to request it from Netgalley since I had seen a few high star reviews, so I decided to give it a shot and I am certainly glad I did.  There was a lot I really enjoyed about this story and it has stayed with me since I finished it and I think it will stay with me for a while after.

The main character, Cadence, is part of a group of friends that call themselves the Liars.  I am not sure if I just didn’t pick up on something, but I’m still not sure why they call themselves the Liars, especially since the adults lied more than the group did.  But, anyway, Cadence we get to see before and after her accident and how it affects her.  Her friends are each very different from one another and have different personalities, so they stand out well from each other.

“Gat seemed spring-loaded.  Like he was searching for something.  He was contemplation and enthusiasm   Ambition and strong coffee.  I could have looked at him forever.”

Though there wasn’t a lot of action going on, I enjoyed the writing style, which felt lyrical and poetic.  It isn’t fast-paced, but it still keeps a hold on you and makes you want to read more.  For me, it is beautiful and honest writing.  One of my favorite things about this story was the ending.  Generally, it takes a lot to surprise me, and this story did it and it will tug at your heart strings in the process.  Also, there are some time jumps back and forth a few times, so if you are someone who gets confused by time jumps, just be warned because sometimes flashbacks just jump right in.

Definitely a book I recommend, especially if you are a contemporary fan or enjoy surprise endings.  Beautiful and tragic, one you won’t quickly forget.

Beautiful writing, surprise ending, enthralling, powerful.

*Review* Dangerous Girls – Abigail Haas

 Dangerous Girls

Abigail Haas

400 pages

ISBN: 9781442486591

Read 8-18-13

Format: Hardcover

Source: Library

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Paradise quickly gets gruesome in this thrilling page-turner with a plot that’s ripped from the headlines and a twist that defies the imagination.

It’s Spring Break of senior year. Anna, her boyfriend Tate, her best friend Elise, and a few other close friends are off to a debaucherous trip to Aruba that promises to be the time of their lives.

But when Elise is found brutally murdered, Anna finds herself trapped in a country not her own, fighting against vile and contemptuous accusations. As Anna sets out to find her friend’s killer, she discovers harsh revelations about her friendships, the slippery nature of truth, and the ache of young love.

Awaiting the judge’s decree, it becomes clear to Anna that everyone around her thinks she is not only guilty, but also dangerous. And when the whole story comes out, reality is more shocking than anyone ever imagined…

This was quite an exciting read and it was very fast paced. However, my mind was not blown like I hoped.  I saw a few reviews where people were really shocked by the ending, but I was not shocked and I think that some of the possibilities I was thinking up were so much more out there than the actual ending that when I finally finished it, I was like “oh, okay, yeah sounds right.”

The beginning was just a little confusing at first since there were so many people in there group, but eventually you get everybody straight. All the characters were really well written and seemed like real people and I think that the media was portrayed well with how things can get skewed and misinterpreted.  Several times I found myself wanting to strangle the reporters.

Wouldn’t we all look guilty if someone searched hard enough?  pg. 255

Elise was somebody I liked sometimes and didn’t like other times.  She was a good friend to Anna, but as a person she wasn’t the best and she slept around a lot, but she was there for Anna when nobody else was. I liked Tate at first, but it didn’t last too long.

The storyline bounces around a lot from the vacation to the trial to the time she is waiting behind bars and so on, so if you get confused by back and forth changes be warned. I think the bouncing around added to the drama and the frenzy of what was happening.  The author even threw in TV transcripts and text messaging, very different.  I also found myself getting quite anxious when it came time for the verdict.  It was a very enjoyable read and it kept me turning the pages, so it was quite interesting, just not shocking.  I recommend it to people who like a good murder mystery and a twist ending.

Fast paced, full of tension, good  characters, not as shocking as I hoped.

*Review* Ten – Gretchen McNeil

 Ten

Gretchen McNeil

294 pages

ISBN: 9780062118783

Read 11-1-12

Format: Hardcover

Source: Library

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SHHHH!
Don’t spread the word!
Three-day weekend. Party at White Rock House on Henry Island.
You do NOT want to miss it.

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school’s most eligible bachelor) and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury.

But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.

Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?

I hadn’t read a good murder mystery in a while, so I was very happy when I fianlly got my hands on Ten.  I saw the book trailer and it was one of the most thrilling book trailers I had ever seen, so I knew this was a definite read for me.  This book had a great dreadful, gloomy feel to it right from the start and the rainy island setting was perfect.

It wasn’t scary for me at all, but it was wonderfully suspenseful as you started to uncover clues and wonder who was going to be next.  I was majorly analyzing everybody as I read trying to figure out who the killer was going to be and I am really good at figuring out endings (I even had a few quite twisted scenarios in my head for how it could end), but it still came as a surprise for me, which really pleased me.

I liked Meg.  She was a very logical kind of person and loyal to her friend Minnie (even though I never thought Minnie deserved it), and very strong for everything she had to go through.  Minnie was one of my least favorite characters.  She was selfish and very attention seeking, and I’m not quite sure how she was Meg’s best friend.  I liked T.J.; he seemed like a great guy, very nice and helpful.  Not all of these teen are what they seem!  I also liked how short the chapters were and it made the book fly by.  This was a great book that kept me guessing and was an excellent Halloween suspense.

Great twist, fast read, exciting, annoying best friend.

*Review* Kiss Me Kill Me – Laura Henderson

 Kiss Me Kill Me

Laura Henderson

272 pages

ISBN: 9780385734875

Read 7-10-12

Format: Paperback

Source: Library

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When 16-year-old Scarlett Wakefield transfers from St. Tabby’s to Wakefield Hall Collegiate, she is relieved that no one knows her dark, haunting secret. A few months ago, Scarlett was invited to an elite party with a guest list full of the hottest names in British society, including Dan McAndrew. Before the party, Scarlett had only imagined what it would be like to have her first kiss with Dan, but on the penthouse terrace, Dan leaned in close and she no longer had to wonder. Their kiss was beautiful and perfect and magical, and then . . . Dan McAndrew took his last breath as she held him in her arms. No one knows how or why Dan died, and everyone at St. Tabby’s believes Scarlett had something to do with it. But now that she’s safely hidden away at Wakefield Hall, Scarlett would rather forget that it ever happened. Only she can’t. Especially when she receives an anonymous note that will set her on the path to clearing her name and finding out what really happened to the first and last boy she kissed.

Ok, so I already wrote up one review, and that was before I realized what a dunce I was.  I don’t know why I didn’t know that this was the first in a series and I thought the story just…ended.  I was not happy with it, and then, I saw on Goodreads that it said Scarlett Wakefield #1 and found that there are 3 other books.  I admit that sometimes, I can be a doofus, so now, I am rewriting the review because the fact that it is one of four makes a big difference!  So…on to the new review….