REVIEW: Every Word (Every #2) by Ellie Marney

James Mycroft has just left for London to investigate a car accident similar to the one that killed his parents seven years ago...without saying goodbye to Rachel Watts, his 'partner in crime'.

Rachel is furious and worried about his strange behaviour - not that Mycroft's ever exactly normal, but London is the scene of so many of his nightmares. So Rachel jumps on a plane to follow him...and lands straight in a whole storm of trouble.

The theft of a copy of Shakespeare's First Folio, the possible murder of a rare books conservator, and the deaths of Mycroft's parents...Can Watts help Mycroft make sense of the three events - or will she lose him forever?

Sparks fly when Watts and Mycroft reunite in this second sophisticated thriller about the teen sleuthing duo.

My Thoughts:

I have seen the aftermath of death, the incredible mechanism of the body laid bare, and I know now that each person is a kind of miracle. A spark nestles like a bird inside our chests, so deep that we can't find where it lives, but it is everything. It's what makes us dream and think and feel and laugh and sing. And it is a mystery, and it is mundane, and, above all, it is fragile. Any moment could be our last.

I actually finished reading Every Word a few months back but didn't post a review because I was just so blown away and couldn't find the words to adequately express my love for it. And now, months later, I still don't have the right words to sum it up. But the story is so fantastic that I have to say something, even if those words could never do the book justice. Just please, excuse my rambling and scattered thoughts.

When I read the first book in this series, Every Breath, I was immediately drawn into the story and when I got to the end I was so satisfied and happy to have discovered the writing of Ellie Marney. When Every Word came up for review I eagerly put up my hand. Little did I know what I was stepping into and how much this book would impress me and mess with my emotions. 

Every Word picks up a little way after Every Breath, and it doesn't take long for things to quickly heat up. Mycroft suddenly jumps on a plane to London to investigate a case very similar to the accident that killed his parents. Rachel is shocked, confused and angry since Mycroft failed to inform her that he was leaving. But after a little thought and investigation she decides to follow Mycroft and offer him whatever help and support he needs. 

I'm struck, in this moment, by the sheer Englishness of him. I mean, I knew he was English, but now it hits me - his height, his wild hair, the leanness of his body, the black jeans and the scuffed shoes, hid red-and-white striped jacket...

I adore James Mycroft. I love him with everything that I have. There is something about a broken boy that I'm immensely attracted to. I can't help it. He carries around this past that is full of heartache and it tortures him. It's so heavy and the weight of it drags him down. It's like he doesn't believe he deserves happiness and love. He broke me in this book. My heart ached for his pain.

The thing that I love about Rachel is her strength and her loyalty. They are such wonderful qualities to possess and she has them in spades. She is so supportive of Mycroft. She puts aside her feelings to be what he needs her to be. Yes, she can be impulsive at times, but that's also a part of her charm. In this book she is amazing and brilliant and strong and loyal and caring. I was just blown away by her.

A look, a word, a scent - I'm like a tuning fork that resonates to one deep-thrumming pitch. The sound of Mycroft's voice is enough to send wings through my insides, make my skin go nuclear. And a touch, even a gentle one...

Ellie Marney portrays Rachel and Mycroft so expertly. Teenagers are impulsive. They make rash decisions. They swear. They are raging hormones. And we get all of those in this series. Their chemistry is amazing. Not just in the physical sense, which is scorching, but they click so well on every level. 

The tension, the suspense, the mystery, the action... It was perfect. Absolutely perfect. And can I say chapter eighteen!! Oh. My. God!!! The emotions that I went through just in that one chapter alone. I was a mess!! But it was also more than that one chapter. I found this book to be much more detailed and descriptive than the first one. Everything seemed heightened to me. The violence, Mycroft's pain, Rachel and Mycroft's attraction... I loved every minute of it.

I love this series. I love this author. I want Ellie Marney and her books to have all the high praise and all the accolades that they so richly deserve. Beautifully descriptive and detailed, without being overly so. It's the easiest thing in the world to picture exactly what the author is describing. Every Word, is without a doubt in my top ten books read in 2014. Heck it could even be in my top five.

"You're in the centre, Watts. Right here." He touches his chest, over his heart, with his other hand. " You're always in the centre."

5/5 James Mycroft Stars

A huge thank you to Allen & Unwin Australia for providing me with a paperback copy for review.

BOOK PROMO & INTERVIEW: Amber Alert Series by Sara Schoen

Amber Alert ( Amber Alert #1)

Anna was taken... 

Taken from her home to live out a sick game that a guy has been playing for the last ten years.

With no certainty that anyone is looking for her, and seemingly hours away from home, she's forced to play housewife with a man that has had twelve other 'wives'.

Each of them now dead... 

With 12 rules and the obvious exits blocked, from the previous girls attempts to flee. Is Anna's only way out to play along and become a 'loving wife'? Or will she die during the chase?

Would anyone even know what happened to her?

Or would she be labeled as a runaway?

And where is she in the first place?

Abducted (Amber Alert #2)

Audrey Thomas had been raised by overprotective parents and is sick of it… 

After the kidnapping and recovery of her mother, Anna Cowles, eighteen years ago, parents had a harsh awakening as they realized any child could be taken for any reason. 

New laws were set in place to protect children, but those same children, ignored the rules and went out of their way to get into trouble. 

Audrey has always done what she wanted, no matter what the consequences were… 

But what happens when her choices lead her to being taken by the one man people feared everyday for the last eighteen years, right up to his execution. 

Will she make it out like her mother did?

Or will she suffer the fate of the previous twelve girls?

Name: Sara Schoen

Author of Amber Alert Series

If this book is part of a series, tell us a little about it? It’s about three girls, that are connected through the series, going through a kidnapping. The main character’s are typically normal teenage girls ripped from their daily lives and forced to fight for their lives. The last girl, the main character of the third and final book, has had her life controlled by being taken at a young age and now she’s fighting for other girls not to go through what she and the other two girls did.

What made you write about a kidnapping? Well, it’s an uncomfortable topic, very few people discuss it, and I think that’s an issue. We never talk about it until it’s too late. Someone goes missing, and if they aren’t seen or no one knows what happens to them, then we don’t know if we will ever see them again. I hope that people will read the book and know that they have to think about it, but they can’t let it take over their lives. Some people prepare for the apocalypse, but what about a danger that’s here right now? I don’t know what I would do if I was taken, but I wanted to raise awareness so people can learn that they have to take a few precautions.

What made you have the characters interact the way they do? I made Steve creepy because I thought, what person would take a girl, much less thirteen of them? Then you have to think of a reason why he did it, and whether logical or not to readers, it had to make sense to him. No one likes him as a character, but he was a driving force of the story. He needed a reason, he needed something to live for, and I gave that to him. Garrett was raised with Steve, so he does what he feels will protect him, but he also wants to protect the girls that come into the house. It’s just how he is, he knows it’s dangerous, but he wants to help them. Anna is this empty shell basically, when you think about her she isn’t dynamic, she’s flat in a way until the middle of the book. She’s been torn away from her family, trying to figure out what happened, why it happened and her feelings. She feels the only way to live through this is to play along. She feels defeated until she has something to fight for and that’s when you see her change.

How was it to write the book? It was both exciting and complicated. You have to touch on a lot of sensitive topics. The families affected by these things, the girls and boys themselves, and the possibilities that the individual could go through. No one wants to think about it, but sometimes I believe it’s better have a worse case scenario and work to prevent it instead of pretending it doesn’t happen or ignoring it.

What do you think people will think of the book? I had my work on a website for a few years, and I got a lot of mixed reviews. There were mostly good words said, and it became very popular and I had a few readers tell me that they were going to be more cautious when going out at night. I’m not telling you to be suspicious of everyone, just be cautious about your surroundings. Keep yourself safe and learn what looks dangerous, or even what looks harmless, but could cause trouble. Then there were a few people that had the opposite opinion, they told me that I was basically the devil and that I didn’t deserve the book to become popular, that I was against religion and many other things. While those were the minority of the readers I had, I realize the book is an uncomfortable topic and few people want to think about it. I don’t apologize for starting the topic, and I just hope people who read will understand that I just want them to be vigilant.

What made you make it a trilogy? It got really well known on the site, and I felt like I had more to say. The second books talks about what would happen if we took too many precautions, those same rules we made to protect people would cause them to act out and in some causes worse things would happen. It’s just a balance like everything else in life. The topic should be known, and we should take precautions, but it shouldn’t be the sole focus. We can’t stop bad things from happening completely, but we can raise awareness of them.

What was the hardest part of writing your book? It was complicated, the characters, the setting and even just the story. It’s uncomfortable to write, and even uncomfortable to discuss with friends because they think it’s so strange that I choose this topic to write about.

Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it? You learn a lot about yourself when you write a book, and I mean more than just if you can finish or not. I learned with this book that the stories on the news are very real, they aren’t characters in a story that I can control and work with to give a happy ending to. They are real stories, and they don’t always end happily, and the ones that do are very lucky. It’s difficult to think about it like that, but it’s true. I wish we didn’t have to experience those stories, and attempt to understand the pain the families feel. I learned that it’s impossible to know them, and what they went through. All we can do is think we understand, when really we have no idea what it’s like, and that’s what scary to us.

What are your ambitions for your writing career? I hope to get a few more topics out into the open, and even a few stories that I’m just excited to share. I still go to college, so school comes first and writing will be a hobby until then.

What else have you written? I have dipped into a lot of genres, but I really enjoy Thrillers and Suspense the best. It’s exciting to write and I hope it’s just as exciting to read for those that read my books.

What’s the best compliment you got on the work? A few people told me that if it became a movie they would pay money to go see it. It’s fantastic as an author to hear that, because you rarely think someone will like the book after being turned down by so many publishing companies, but that one person just keeps you going.

Can we expect to hear more from you? A lot more, like I said I have so many stories I can’t wait to share with fans, friends and family. It’s exciting to find someone that wanted to work with me on the series and I hope they like working with me because I love working with them.

Can you share a little of your current work with us? It has to do with one of my favorite characters, I don’t want to give too much away since I’m still working on planning the second book. It’s another series; three books with about three stand alone books that go with the series. I hope to have it out by next year, after I finish the Amber Alert series. So I really hope this launch goes off well because I’m really excited to share that story with everyone. It’s my personal favorite.

Where can people find you to keep up with you? Twitter at SaraNSchoen, facebook (look up Sara Schoen and look for the Amber Alert banner), wattpad (xxnightstripexx) and goodreads, just look for Amber Alert by Sara Schoen.

BOOK BLITZ & GIVEAWAY: Breaking Saint Jude by Nikki Godwin

Nikki Godwin, author of Chasing Forever Down and American Girl on Saturn among others, has a treat for you! In celebration of her newest contemporary M/M YA romance novel Breaking Saint Jude releasing this January 14, her LGBT YA novel Falling from the Sky is FREE this week across all retail sites! Yes, you read that right!

Read more about these two novels right here and don't forget to get both!

Title: Breaking Saint Jude

Author: Nikki Godwin

Date of Publication: January 14, 2015

Genre: Contemporary LGBT YA romance

When sixteen-year-old Jude Calvert sets out to steal stained glass from a broken cathedral window, he finds more than shards of red. He finds Max Rangel - his eye candy from his new LGBT support group - hauling a giraffe carcass across an abandoned part of town with a pack of guys. And he still accepts Max's dinner invite a few days later.

Still, animal lover Jude can't get the giraffe out of his mind. It doesn't take long for him to confront Max, who gives him partial answers and introduces him to a secret brotherhood of not-so-typical game hunters. Unable to tell his mom (the savior of black cats everywhere) or his dad (the zoo's head veterinarian) and unwilling to go back to his overbearing therapist, Jude quickly finds himself sucked into the underground world of taxidermy, theft, and drug deals.

At first, he's willing to do anything for the brotherhood just because he's so thankful to belong to someone again after serious drama with his ex-clique and ex-boyfriend. But when his underground life collides with his life above, he realizes he may have bitten off more than even the biggest animal can chew.

Purchase from Amazon l B&N l Smashwords (For only $2.99!)

Title: Falling from the Sky

Author: Nikki Godwin

Date of Publication: February 21, 2014

Genre: Contemporary LGBT YA romance

All stability in sixteen-year-old Ridge McCoy’s life crashed and burned in the plane crash that killed his dad. This summer-long basketball camp is his chance to improve his skills and escape his problems back home. But his summer plans take a turn in an unexpected direction when he meets Micah Youngblood, the guy who runs the carousel at the local mall and has a reputation for devouring straight boys’ heterosexuality for breakfast, alongside his chocolate chip pancakes.

Ridge needs a way to avoid the guys at camp, whose only quest for the summer is to drown in beer and hook up with girls. So when Micah offers to explain how the ten unique horses on the carousel are significant to his tribe, Ridge takes him up on it. Still, Ridge can't decide if this is a bad thing or not. All he knows is that he hasn’t felt this alive since his dad fell from the sky, and as the horse adventures come to an end, Ridge finds himself falling as well – for Micah.

Purchase from Amazon l B&N (It's free from January 12 to 16!)

***

Lastly, it's also Nikki Godwin's birthday this January 14.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NIKKI!

Three celebrations, three swag packs to give away! Join the giveaway to get a chance to win swag items from Nikki. Open internationally!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Author Bio:

Nikki Godwin is a YA/NA/LGBT author. She can't live without Mountain Dew, black eyeliner, and music by Hawthorne Heights. When not writing, she internet-stalks her favorite bands and keeps tabs on surf competitions. Her life goal is to meet David Desrosiers of Simple Plan. Her favorite pro surfers are Jeremy Flores, Gabriel Medina, and John John Florence. 

Author Links:

Blog l Twitter l Facebook l Goodreads l Newsletter

WAITING ON WEDNESDAY #81: Not After Everything by Michelle Levy

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

A gritty but hopeful love story about two struggling teens—
great for fans of The Spectacular Now, Willow, and Eleanor and Park

Tyler has a football scholarship to Stanford, a hot girlfriend, and a reliable army of friends to party with. Then his mom kills herself. And Tyler lets it all go. Now he needs to dodge what his dad is offering (verbal tirades and abuse) and earn what his dad isn’t (money). Tyler finds a job that crashes him into Jordyn, his former childhood friend turned angry-loner goth-girl. She brings Tyler an unexpected reprieve from the never-ending pity party his life has become. How could he not fall for her? But with his dad more brutally unpredictable than ever, Tyler knows he can’t risk bringing Jordyn too deeply into the chaos. So when violence rocks his world again, will it be Jordyn who shows him the way to a hopeful future? Or after everything, will Tyler have to find it in himself?

Expected publication: August 4th 2015

I've just finished reading All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven and I'm an emotional wreck, so I think in my weakened state I'm automatically drawn to these emotional reads. But I do adore these types of books!!
What book are you patiently waiting for the release of?

LAUNCH DAY BLITZ - EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY: Best Kind of Broken by Chelsea Fine

Welcome to my stop on the launch day blitz for the paperback version of Chelsea Fine's Best Kind of Broken. I absolutely loved this book!! You can read my review HERE

BEST KIND OF BROKEN by Chelsea Fine (January 13, 2015; Forever Trade Paperback; $12.00)
PURCHASE:
Amazon l B&N l iBooks l IndieBound l  GooglePlay l Kobo l BAM!

SOMETIMES MOVING ON MEANS MOVING IN

Pixie Marshall wishes every day she could turn back time and fix the past. But she can't. And the damage is done. She's hoping that a summer of free room and board working with her aunt at the Willow Inn will help her forget. Except there's a problem: the resident handyman is none other than Levi Andrews. The handsome quarterback was once her friend-and maybe more-until everything changed in a life-shattering instant. She was hoping to avoid him, possibly forever. Now he's right down the hall and stirring up feelings Pixie thought she'd long buried . . . 

Levi can't believe he's living with the one person who holds all his painful memories. More than anything he wants to make things right, but a simple "sorry" won't suffice-not when the tragedy that scarred them was his fault. Levi knows Pixie's better off without him, but every part of him screams to touch her, protect her, wrap her in his arms, and kiss away the pain. Yet even though she's so close, Pixie's heart seems more unreachable than ever. Seeing those stunning green eyes again has made one thing perfectly clear-he can't live without her.

Excerpt:

The door to the dining room swings open again and this time Levi walks through, a box of tools in his hand.

Cougar Mable immediately lights up. “Morning, Levi!”

“Morning, Mable.” He smiles at her. He scowls at me.

I notice his face is now clean-shaven and a part of me misses his scruff—what? No. NO. I do not miss his scruff. Missing scruff is for weirdos.

I scowl back at him and start grating Swiss cheese.

“Where’s the fire alarm in here?” he asks in his work voice. It’s a very different voice than his get-out-of-my-way voice or his if-you-want-hot-water-wake-up-earlier voice.

Mable points to the wall, looking far too happy to be of service, and I keep my eyes down as he moves past me. As I sprinkle cheese over the quiche, I can’t help but notice how grated Swiss kind of looks like white scruff.

I’m not a weirdo.

Quiche finished, I turn to start sautéing vegetables and my gaze automatically darts to Levi. He’s so distracting. His arms are all raised, and his shoulders are all broad, and he’s fixing crap, and it’s just… it’s just… annoying.

You know what else is annoying? The fact that the freaking fire alarm is right by the stove.

With a huff and a puff and some choice words in my head, I grab my sliced bell peppers and force my feet to the stove. I throw the vegetables into a frying pan, grab a wooden spoon, and ignore Levi’s close proximity.

My body hums.

I ignore that too.

I steal a glance in his direction and watch as the corded muscles in his forearm flex as he unscrews something on the alarm box. Why does he have so many muscles in his forearm? That can’t be healthy.

I drop my eyes to the frying pan and focus on bell peppers, because bell peppers are interesting and they don’t have backs the size of Alaska or copious amounts of forearm muscles.

The forearm muscles that I’m not thinking about lightly brush my shoulder, and the humming inside my body knots together and zips around like a bumblebee on crack.

I casually turn down the heat on the stove, like that’s the reason I’m suddenly a human vibrator, and go back to stirring. Levi goes back to screwing.

Bell peppers.

I’m thinking about bell peppers.

Levi brushes against me again, except this time his forearm grazes my breast and my body immediately goes wild, like I’m some love-starved teenager, and the humming dives low in my belly and the stove gets hotter and my breaths get shallow and suddenly bell peppers are the sexiest vegetable on earth.

Welcome to Hotel Horny Women, home of scruffy cheese and sensual produce.

From the corner of my eye, I catch his Adam’s apple bobbing with a nervous swallow, which can mean only one thing. The boob brush was an accident.

Well, crap.

If he had been trying to cop a feel with his Hulk-ish forearm, I could have responded with some kind of snarky “you’re a pervert” comment. But it wasn’t on purpose and somehow that makes it sexier, and now the cracked-out bumblebee is buzzing in my nether regions and my hands are starting to tingle and why the HELL is this stove so hot?

I turn the burner down another notch and take a slow, deep breath. I have a boyfriend. A great boyfriend. So this sexual frustration I feel around Levi is nothing to get my bee-loving panties in a bunch about. I just need to calm down.

Levi lowers his arm for a moment, his eyes still on the alarm, and stretches his neck.

Ah, the neck stretch. The universal sign of stress. Well, at least I’m not alone in my frustration. My hot, distracting, pants-are-so-inconvenient frustration.

Wait, what?

Who said anything about pants? I am NOT thinking about pants—or lack thereof. Damn you, bell peppers!

I toss the wooden spoon to the side and move back to the counter, where the threat of being turned on by a handyman or, you know, a sautéed vegetable is much less severe.

I stare at the scruffy quiche and bite back a groan. What was I thinking, living under the same roof as Levi? There’s no way I’ll survive the summer.

Hell, I can barely survive breakfast.

About Chelsea Fine:

Chelsea lives in Phoenix, Arizona, where she spends most of her time writing stories, painting murals, and avoiding housework at all costs. She's ridiculously bad at doing dishes and claims to be allergic to laundry. Her obsessions include: superheroes, coffee, sleeping-in, and crazy socks. She lives with her husband and two children, who graciously tolerate her inability to resist teenage drama on TV and her complete lack of skill in the kitchen. 

Social Media Links:

Website l Facebook l Twitter l Goodreads

a Rafflecopter giveaway