ARC Review: Breathe Into Me by Sara Fawkes

General information:
Title: Breathe Into Me
Author: Sara Fawkes
Publisher: St. Martin's Press 
Genre: New Adult
Series?: Stand alone
Ending: HEA
Pages: 288

Blurb: How did my life get so broken?  It’s a question Lacey St. James asks herself every day.  Stuck raising her little brother in a trailer park while she works a dead end job at a grocery store, she has a stalker exboyfriend, a bad reputation, and no way out.
And then, she meets Everett, who changes her entire existence.

Everett is an outsider who’s housesitting his family’s mansion off the coast, and for reasons Lacey can’t understand, he’s completely transfixed by her. He seems determined to show her that life can offer more than she’d ever hoped for, if only she believes in herself.  She desperately yearns to trust him, but what happens when she finds out that everything he’s told her is a lie?







I feel like I must warn you. I don't mean to sound like the Lemony Snicket books - but this book is most definitely not a feel good book. It's ugly and difficult and pretty much highlights everyone's greatest character flaws. Does that make it a bad book? No.

"“You seem eager to get rid of me.” “Maybe.” There was no conviction in the word. It had been a long time since I’d just talked to a boy like this, and it was nicer than I cared to admit. Most were after only one thing, which made the game old and depressing. Everett had come to my rescue in the bar, however, something that deserved more than the cold shoulder. Unfortunately, old habits die hard.
“Why?” He lifted one arm and took a dramatic sniff. “Do I smell?”"

Lacey hasn't had the most easiest life. After her father died she, her mother and 4 year old brother moved into her grandmothers trailer at a trailer park. She has a horrible relationship with her grandmother and her mother is nothing but a useless drunk. A slew of horrible and even more terrible guys have come and gone in the last couple of years and when we first meet Lacey in chapter 1, she is with the worst of them all; Macon.

The first two chapters are very troubling and didn't make me feel very good. Honestly, I wanted to smack Lacey with all the rotten salmon in the world. Why in the world would you even want to be with a guy like that? During one of the outbursts from Macon, she meets Everett.

Everett is an interesting character. He seems decent, but I was suspicious of him and thought he may not be all who he seems to be. You'll have to read it yourself to find out if I was right. Overall, I liked Everett, but I do think that Sara Fawkes wants to have the exremely horrible and abusive a-holes in one corner and the perfect can do no wrong love interest in the other corner. A lot of the guys in this book are massive jerks and Everett just seems to be a little too perfect during most of the book. Understandebly, Lacey has trust issues and has a hard time trusting that Everett is not out to use and hurt her. I think the idea is that we as readers MUST understand that he really is trustworthy and that's why it's all a little too much of the goodness. It makes Everett appear less than human and that was one of the things that bothered me.

"“you’re a tough nut to crack.” I gave him a bemused stare. Pot, meet kettle."

Lacey herself was an interesting main character. I struggled with her sometimes - as the beginning is not the only time I'd liked to have slapped her silly. She doesn't really make the best choices in life. But she does have a very hard day to day life - having to do it all on her own. She also has some issues from her past that she hasn't really worked through. She seemes a bit overly dramatic at times and I just found that I sometimes had a hard time connecting to Lacey. It was nice to see her take steps to try and better her life.

This book has some nice secondary characters. Horrible people like Macon and former friend Ashley and nice people like Clare, Trent, Cherise and Andrew.

The writing style of the book is perfectly fine, and for the most part I liked reading it. It got better as the story moved along, but I never reached a level of loving it. I'm not entirely sure if it's due to the characters, the setting of the story itself. I don't mind some struggles or darkness in my books, but this book really is chock-full of them and sometimes it felt like the story was drowning a bit in all the misery.

Overall, I liked reading this book and I think that readers who love new adult books and don't mind a bit - well.. a lot - of darkness to their story will love this book.

“Never be ashamed to go your own path. Sure as hell ain’t easy. I’ll tell you that, but it makes life worth living.” 

ARC review: He's Come Undone by Theresa Weir

General information
Title: He's come undone
Author: Theresa Weir
Publisher: Belfry Press
Genre: New adult
Series?: Stand alone
Ending?: HEA
Pages: 214

Blurb: Penniless and behind on rent, college student and once famous child actress Ellie Barlow takes on the role of a lifetime when she's hired by a group of young women to break the heart of the campus player who cruelly dumped them. 

Transformed from slob slacker to jaw-dropping beauty, Ellie is dressed, styled, bleached and waxed, her chunky glasses exchanged for violet contacts. Along with physical prepping, she's coached on Julian's obsessions, which include long-distance running, Doctor Who, and J.D. Salinger. 

In no time, Julian is in pursuit of his custom-made next victim, but when Ellie goes off script and begins to fall for her target the newest broken heart in this risky game could be her own.

"So what's the job? An ad? Something for school?" All three girls lean forward. All three girls looked over their shoulder, back at me, then whispered: "We want you to break someone's heart."

Thats how Ellie get's roped into this and how the story really begins. She's not had an easy life and is need of serious money when she decides to take te job. It reminded me a lot of John Tucker must die for the first few chapters. But it's really not. This book is a bit of a wolf in sheep clothes. I was expecting a sweet fluffly romance novel like for example the love game by Emma Hart (Review). Instead, what you get is a story about two very broken people - one more broken than the other - who find each other and make each other better. 

Characters

Ellie was an interesting character with an interesting background. She's down to earth and unsure of herself. She takes the job because she needs the money. It's very obvious from the start that she'll fall in love with Julian (aside from it being said in the blurb). I mostly liked her, but she just didn't really feel like a normal person to me. She seemed like she could only live in this world created by Theresa Weir. I had a hard time connecting to her and I was glad when the chapters from Julian's POV came around. I liked Julian. He's hard a hard life and I liked following his story. I haven't read too many books where the guy is one with the most baggage and it was interesting to read about. Though, like with Ellie, I wasn't in love with him as a character either. 

""Once I realized I couldn't quit thinking about him, and once I realized I had a major crush on a guy who had sex with girls and then discarded them, I wanted out. I wanted to meet him with my real self so I could have sex and be discarded. No, wait""

Why 3 stars?

I think the biggest problem I had with the book is that it deals with serious issues, but it somehow never really got up close and personal with these characters. You watch them go through this little love story of theirs and I don't really feel connected to them or their story. It keeps feeling like you're looking through a window at them, but you're not right there with them. That takes a bit chunk out of my emotional response to this book and makes it hard for me to love it. Another thing that I wasn't too thrilled about is the speed in the novel. Some things seem very rushed and you jump from one thing to the next. In some books that works, but I feel like this book would benefit from a little more pacing and slowing down. I personally love a little build up to certain events, but that doesn't really happen in this book. I think it's the least angsty book I've read in this genre. Also the ending felt a bit rushed, but you'll have to read it for yourself to find out :).

Overall
I did enjoy reading this book and I liked it. It just never took it over the hill and made me love it. That's not to say that you won't. I think you'll really like this book if you're intested in characters who are damaged goods, a fast pace, difficult topics and little romance.

*ARC kindly provided by Belfire Press/Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Easy by Tammara Webber

 4.5/5 Hearts

I wasn't all that sure I was going to like this book. But I really did. I think I'm moving more in to the NA genre than the YA genre. I enjoy reading about people my own age. I know this book is a favorite amongst many NA readers, which is exactly why I thought I wouldn't like it. But I stand corrected!

The story is about Jacqueline, a student who just recently got dumped by her boyfriend of three years. She followed him to college and is feeling stupid for this mistake. One night after a party she walks back to her truck and something horrible happens. Lucas comes to her rescue, stopping it from becoming even more horrible. After that night, the mysterious Lucas starts to pop up at a lot of places. Getting closer to her, but also keeping his distance. Jacqueline is a little traumatized by the events and Lucas has his own problems to deal with. The two come together in a wonderful story that gripped me in ways I hadn't expected. 

Was it a one of kind masterpiece? No, it isn't. Some parts where very predictable. I also didn't really like that her entire life fell apart when Kennedy (the ex) broke up with her and how she didn't act on a certain situation. She seemed to have low self-esteem at times and from other reviews I understand that some people think that this book sets a bad example or something. 

But I didn't really care about these things, because the story and writing is just so... wonderful. Also, these things happen every day and there are plenty of people with low self-esteem and what not. So it's really not that far fetched and not every main character is supposed to be a role model. I think that we can learn a lot more from people who aren't perfect and often closer to reality.

Anyhow, I laughed, I shed a few tears and I stayed up until about 4am to finish it. So because of this I feel like it deserves 4.5 stars, because to me it was an amazing book. The characters haven't really left my mind since I finished it last night (review from july, 2013)

I'd recommend this book if you're in need of a little escape or if you're just searching for a book that'll take your breath away.

Read in July 2013