Stolen by Lucy Christopher

Title: Stolen
Author: Lucy Christopher
Summary: A stunning debut novel with an intriguing literary hook: written in part as a letter from a victim to her abductor. Sensitive, sharp, captivating!

Gemma, 16, is on layover at Bangkok Airport, en route with her parents to a vacation in Vietnam. She steps away for just a second, to get a cup of coffee. Ty--rugged, tan, too old, oddly familiar--pays for Gemma's drink. And drugs it. They talk. Their hands touch. And before Gemma knows what's happening, Ty takes her. Steals her away. The unknowing object of a long obsession, Gemma has been kidnapped by her stalker and brought to the desolate Australian Outback. STOLEN is her gripping story of survival, of how she has to come to terms with her living nightmare--or die trying to fight it.

My Thoughts:
Stolen is the most intense, twisted, and mind-blowing book I've ever read. From the minute I read the first sentence to the final page, I could not get this book out of my head. I rushed through dinner and dishes just to get back to the book and when I finished, my mind was reeling.

Stolen is Gemma's letter to her captor. It's not told in traditional letter format but the narrator often uses "you". While it is a little weird at first, in the end it makes the story much more emotional, especially at the end.

Lucy Christopher is one talented writer. She tugs the reader right into the world of her characters, tears their heart apart, and makes them question everything they thought they knew. I, for one, never thought I could feel anything but hatred for someone that kidnaps a girl and I'm sure everyone else feels the same. But STOLEN will at least make you think, if not make you understand people a little more. Both Gemma and Ty are such complex characters that it's impossible to not feel attached by the end of the novel.

Another thing that made this novel stand out so much was the setting. The outback of Australia just fit the plot so perfectly and it adds an extra sense of desperation to the novel. If this had been set in an American suburbia or the countryside, it would not have had the same effect. Poisonous snakes, desert, and camels just make everything better.

Overall, Stolen in an absolute must-read. It's a powerful book that you're guaranteed to never forget. I definitely recommend picking up a copy today!

Harmony Returns!

Yes, you read that right - I am officially BACK!

I never meant to leave but as I'm sure you can see from my lack of posts from July to January, I ended taking a very long break.

There were a lot of reasons for this. My summer was crazy and hectic. When school started up, I was beyond overwhelmed. I'm doing two years at once to graduate early and the course-load is far from easy. I moved in October and that, on top of college application stress and my already huge school load, meant I had a very small amount of free time.

However, if I'm being totally honest, none of these excuses were the real reason that I haven't been blogging. Because I could have fit time in there, to read and to blog about the books.

The truth is that reviewing was killing my desire to read. I was in a huge reading slump and I can honestly say that a huge contributing factor was the big stack of books that I *had* to read and the feeling of no matter what book I read, I was going to end up letting someone down. So I just quit reading.

I've been thinking about making this post for a while and while this may only be interesting to other bloggers, I felt that it was important to get that out there. The girls at Bloggers [Heart] Books said it better than I ever could here. I highly recommend reading that post because it says everything that I was feeling.

Before I go any further, I want to make something clear. I am so grateful for every person, whether author, publisher, or publicist, who has ever sent me a book, who has ever taken the time to email me with a request. I would be nowhere without any of you. So thank you!

The fault does not lay with anyone but myself. I got too carried away by the desire to try books that I would not necessarily read. I said "yes" too much and "no" far too rarely. Saying yes to books I'm not positive I'll like doesn't work for me.

I was pretty miserable for a while, after I stopped reviewing. Because not only did I stop reviewing, I stopped reading. Me, the girl who can often read a 200pg book a day, reading no books at all. It was pretty bad but it seemed that every book I picked up couldn't hold my attention past page 30.

Luckily, my love of reading has returned. I don't know when or why. It may have been just because I let myself take a break from it for so long or it may have been that shiny new Kindle Fire that I received for Christmas. Either way, I have been INHALING books lately. Seriously. I've been practically reading a book a day lately.

Because, guys, did you realize how many AMAZING young adult books are out there? I've read so many wonderful books lately...DON'T BREATHE A WORD, STOLEN, and THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY, just to mention a few! It makes me so excited.

What makes me even more excited than all of these awesome books is that I want to talk about them and share them with everyone else. That's why I started this blog in the first place and it is why I will continue.

I have a stack of reviews written and a list of more to write. I have a bunch of books that I'm ready to dive in to. I have opinions and thoughts and excitement over these books. I AM HAPPY TO BE BACK.

I'll be doing things a little different this time. The biggest change is that I will be much more selective in what I accept for review. Please see my updated Review Policy for more information. It will mean saying "no" more often but it will also ensure that I am better able to promote and share my feelings on the books that I do review.

I'm also now reviewing self-published books, mostly ones that I purchase on my Kindle.

I may be adding a few more non-book-related posts here and there and I may not be blogging 5 days a week.

However, I'm here to stay and I hope that you'll stick around for all the fun things I have planned!

Remember to follow me on Twitter @harmonybreviews!

xoxo
Harmony

Top 10 Books I'd Hand to Someone Who Says They Don't Like to Read

This post is part of Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the Broke and the Bookish! Check out their blog and participate in Top Ten Tuesday on your blog!

Below are a list of books that I've personally handed to people when they tell me that they don't like to read. All of them are books that I absolutely adored and while I wouldn't give all of them to the same person, I think that this list encompasses people from a variety of different interests.


1.) Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert. I recommend this book to EVERYONE. Ever since I first read it a few years ago I've been handing it out to anyone that will stand still for a few seconds. The best part? Most of them, even if they don't read, end up loving it.

2.) Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken. I hand this out to people who like action-fantasy movies or fans of Harry Potter. This book has magic, action, romance, and it's written so well that one can almost forget that they're actually reading a book.

3.) Stolen by Lucy Christopher. I just read this over the weekend but when a friend who normally doesn't read beyond Ellen Hopkins asked me if there was anything I could recommend, this was it! It's intense, twisted, and mind-blowing. Plus, it's short and it flies. Those two things combined make it a great read for a reluctant reader.

4.) Saving June by Hannah Harrington. I have a friend who is kinda punk, totally addicted to music that never reads and after I finished this book, I threw it at her and demanded she read it. Guess what? She loved it! This book has music, a roadtrip, a hot boy, and characters that force you to care. A perfect combo for almost anyone.


5.) Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder. Books in verse are the way to go for people that don't like reading. Even if there are a large number of pages, there are fewer words and still short. The poetry format cuts down on unnecessary words and descriptions and keeps the book straightforward, making them more accessible to slow readers. While I love all of Lisa's novels, Chasing Brooklyn is by far my favorite and I recommend it all the time.

6.) Don't Breathe a Word by Holly Cupala. This is another of my all-time favorites. I tend to recommend it to people who are intense and like things honest. This book tackles the tough subject of teen homelessness and introduces the reader to a whole new world. Once you start reading, you immediately become attached to the characters, which makes it difficult to put down. Short, sweet, and intense.

7.) Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Sometimes I think that it is easier to convince people to read a book when they can be enticed with watching the movie afterwards. I suggested Water for Elephants to multiple adult family members and nearly all of them loved it.

8.) Vampire Academy by Richelle Meade. This one is for all of the people who say "Twilight is the only book I like". It has action, romance, and vampires, just like Twilight but it's so much better. Plus, it's a series which means that people won't just be reading this one book.

9.) Ordinary Beauty by Laura Weiss. I'm cheating with this one because I recommend it to adults who read adult fiction but stick their noses up at YA. While Ordinary Beauty is technically a young adult book, it also exhibits qualities of adult fiction. Because the characters deal with mature themes and are close to adulthood, it is easier for adults to sink their teeth in it. Plus the book just flat-out rocks. Once they're addicted to this, I start handing them the other books mentioned on the list.

10.) Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready. Real life with a dose of paranormal plus boys in kilts and music. Shade has something that will appeal to almost any reader out there. I recommend this over and over and I've yet to find someone that doesn't love it.

Honorable Mention:
Sirenz by Charlotte Bennardo and Natalie Zaman. I recommend this to my fashionista friends and those who may not enjoy paranormal or a really intense novel. It's cute, short, and fun. Always a hit.

Don't Breathe a Word Trailer Release!

Today, I am excited to share the trailer of one of my all-time favorite books, DON'T BREATHE A WORD BY HOLLY CUPALA. The book released back in January but the trailer releases today and Holly is hosting a HUGE giveaway in honor of that! So watch the trailer below, enter the contest, and then purchase a copy of the book because it freaking rocks! (Review coming soon!)

PRIZES:

Five Grand Prizes:
Signed copies of Don’t Breathe a Word, Tell Me a Secret, the TMAS special edition audiobook, bookmarks, stickers, and other swag*

Ten Runner-Up Prizes:
Don’t Breathe a Word flyers, bookmarks, stickers, and a TMAS button*

Plus the first forty people who buy the book at this link between now and Valentine’s Day get DBAW bookmarks, stickers, and undying book love from me!*

*Must include mailing address with entry. (US + up to 20% international winners)

HOW TO ENTER:

1. Click here to go to the DBAW trailer link, then click the Share button to send to your Facebook, Twitter, Google+, MySpace, blog, or other social network. 5 pts each

2. Buy the book at this link for more chances to win (include in your entry below)!

3. Click here to enter with your links and/or purchase!

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Title: The Beautiful Disaster
Author: Jamie McGuire
Publisher: self-published
My copy: Purchased for Kindle
Summary: The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate percentage of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance between her and the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend America, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs—and wants—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the charming college co-ed. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his charms, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’ apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.
(Summary from author's website)

My Thoughts:
Beautiful Disaster may be the title of the book but it also heavily reflects the content. Between the covers, the reader finds a mish-mash of everything wonderful and bad thrown in to one novel, providing an end result of disappointment.

The first half of Beautiful Disaster is wonderful. It is fast-paced, intriguing, and everything else that a superb novel should be. The reader is introduced to a cast of characters that are both complex and lovable while keeping the reader curious about their motives in relationships. The relationship between Travis and Abby is, at first, what keeps the novel from becoming just another one of "those" books where the girl meets the bad boy and forgets any standards that she ever had. The fact that Abby is able to keep her standards and stand up for herself for the majority of the novel may be one of the best things about it. Another thing that makes Beautiful Disaster good is the unique setting - The Circle at Eastern University, where secret fights happen. This certainly adds intrigue and tension to the overall novel.

Unfortunately, despite all of the great things about the novel, there are also a lot of bad things. After the half-way mark in the novel, the entire thing goes downhill. The plot is rushed, actions taken by certain characters are abrupt and unjustified, and anything negative in the first half is magnified.

The first thing that falls apart is the relationship between Abby and Travis. Throughout the first half of the novel, their relationship is unique and it makes sense. Abby does not let him get away with anything and she stands up for herself. However, at this point in the novel she seems to lose all self-respect and begins to do anything he says. Even more disturbing than their relationship, however, is Travis himself. He is an angry boy with drinking problems and often resorts to violence and lies. At some points in the novel, the fact this is bad is clearly obvious but in the end, the general message that violence and lying are okay in a relationship is sent to the reader.

While there is a fantastic cast of supporting characters, including Abby's best friends and Travis' brothers, none of them are fully developed. The reader sees enough of them to be curious about them but the desire to know more is never fully fulfilled, particulars in the area of Travis' brothers. At times the actions are of the supporting characters are questionable, especially those of Shepley's.

The final quarter of the novel is rushed and very abrupt, leaving the reader going "wait, what?" and does not seem to fit the quality of the rest of the novel, leaving the reader disappointed.

Beautiful Disaster could have easily been one of the best books out there, had more time been taken to explain, develop, and resolve. Unfortunately, it fell short of expectations due to lack of development and erratic behavior from the characters. A possible sequel is in the works and the good parts of the novel may intrigue a reader enough to pick up a copy upon release.

In 9 hours, my childhood ends.

Some people are going to roll their eyes and scoff at this post. I feel sorry for the ones that do because they are clearly missing out on something truly amazing.

In less than 12 hours, my childhood will officially be over. Sure, I'm almost 17 so many would say it's been over for a long time but in 12 hours, the series that I grew up with, the series that got me through so many things, will end. Forever. No more books. No more movies. Yes, there's Pottermore but that's not the same.

Almost all of the characters I've loved for the past ten years will die. The rest will end their adventures I've followed so slowly.

Harry Potter has been a huge part of my life since the time I was in kindergarten. I was 6 years old and had 2 best friends. My one friend introduced the other two of us to Harry Potter. Every recess throughout the entire year we'd run around yelling random spells, using sticks as our wands. I was always Ron because my one friend refused to be a guy. I still remember how much trouble the two of us had pronouncing names like "Dumbledore" and "Hermione". Our school teachers even began referring to us as "The Trio".

I bought the first 3 books because my cousin from Florida said they were cool and I wanted to be just like him. It took me a while but once I got into them, I devoured them. Again. And again.I threw Order of the Phoenix at the wall and bawled when Sirius died. I wrote Remus and Tonks fanfiction as I waited for years as I waited for the final book to release. I forced my mom to take me to Kmart at midnight to buy the last book and put up with cranky salesclerks going "Harry Potter is so stupid" and "I'd never let my kid watch it!"

When I was 7, my cousin came over to spend the night. She was a few years older than me and therefore, everything she did was cool. She brought Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, on VHS (yeah, that long ago), and put it in. I remember being captivated to stay up, even after she fell asleep, and periodically waking her up to go "Is this part scary?! I'm scared!" until she finally gave up and shut it off for the night.

I've watched Prisoner of Azkaban, my all-time favorite movie, so many times that I can recite the lines. My friends and I, the original three of us, have attempted to watch all of them in a row more times than I can count. I saw Deathly Hallows Part 1 in the theaters multiple times, something I've never done for any other movie.

At one point, my life was covered in pictures of the cast. I ran a (very bad) fansite. I wrote fanfiction. I read fanfiction. I had dreams about the characters.

And now, in just 9 mere hours, it's all over. Sure, I can reread the books, watch the movies again, but it's never going to be the same.

All of those years, my childhood, it's officially ending.

And I'm not really sure how I feel about it.

Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs

Title: Tempest Rising

Author: Tracy Deebs

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Summary:

Tempest Maguire wants nothing more than to surf the killer waves near her California home; continue her steady relationship with her boyfriend, Mark; and take care of her brothers and surfer dad. But Tempest is half mermaid, and as her seventeenth birthday approaches, she will have to decide whether to remain on land or give herself to the ocean like her mother. The pull of the water becomes as insistent as her attraction to Kai, a gorgeous surfer whose uncanny abilities hint at an otherworldly identity as well. And when Tempest does finally give in to the water's temptation and enters a fantastical underwater world, she finds that a larger destiny awaits her-and that the entire ocean's future hangs in the balance.

My Thoughts:

Tempest Rising is a fantastic and original addition to the paranormal market. Deebs created a world and story that is believable and magical at the same time.

I was expecting a semi-cliche mermaid romance but Tempest Rising is far from that. It was nice to read about a character that KNOWS about mermaids, rather than spending half of a novel waiting for her to figure it out. Because of that, more of the novel was spent on developing the world and I loved that. The setting was easily my favorite thing about the novel. Deebs did so well at describing everything clearly without overdescribing and I really felt transported into the world.

I also loved that there was a love triangle where both of the guys were decent. There was no tall, dark, and broody boy in this story, which was a nice change. The romance doesn't overtake the story but it adds nicely to it.

Deebs took this story to places that I did not expect it to go. There were a few moments where I went "No, that won't actually be real" but then it WAS. I love when novels surprise me like that!

Overall, I really enjoyed Tempest Rising and I highly recommend it. I am hoping for a sequel sometime soon!