Book Review: Lessons Learned by Sydney Logan

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:

Release Date: September 4, 2012
Publisher: The Writer's Coffee Shop
235 Pages

A young girl needs to spread her wings, but a young woman needs roots.

English teacher Sarah Bray never thought she’d return to Sycamore Falls, but a traumatic event at her inner-city school leaves her desperate for the sanctuary of home. By returning to her roots, an older and wiser Sarah hopes to deal with the demons of her present and confront the ghosts of her past. 

She discovers a kindred spirit in Lucas Miller, a teacher from New York with demons of his own. They quickly become friends – bonding through Lucas’s culture shock and their mutual desire to build new lives. When they open their wounded hearts to each other, their friendship effortlessly evolves into romance. 

Their love is put to the test when Matt, the quarterback of the football team, shares his deepest secret with Sarah. When the conservative community finds out, Sarah and Lucas – along with the town of Sycamore Falls – are schooled in the lessons of acceptance, tolerance, and love.

VISIT THE AUTHOR:

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FIND THE BOOK:

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Review:

Lessons Learned in an endearing tale about a man and woman who come together in a small town after both suffering some traumatic experiences. Throughout the novel, they learn to let go of their hurt, anger and fear so that together they can fight against the obstacles they face and come out strong on the other side.

Sarah Bray is coming back home. Witnessing the death of a student has her in desperate need of the place she grew up in. In the small town of Sycamore Falls, secrets don't exist and progression is a joke. So when she first meets Lucas Miller, she is reluctant to start anything more than a friendship with him. She needs to work our her own issues and having a boyfriend will not help that. They fall into a relationship slowly, but their love comes quickly. When a young boy's secret is discovered, Sarah and Lucas work together and take it upon themselves to look after him and find justice in the situation. Fighting not only for this boy's safety, but for their own relationship will teach them more than just how to keep a strong relationship, but how to be strong people as well.

I liked this novel, but I didn't love it. I have to admit that my expectations were super high because I've read some of the authors previous work and absolutely adored it, but this just didn't hit home for me. Many aspects of the novel were so cliche that I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Not all of the book was that way, but the romance really was. The plot was actually extremely interesting and original. I believe that I would've like the novel better had the romance not been like every other romance novel and up to par with the plot.

The characters were enjoyable though none of them really stood out to me besides Matt. He was such a sweetheart. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and hug him forever. I liked the main characters as well, but they didn't really "pop" for me. There were some likable characters, there were some lovable characters and there were also characters that you hated with your entire being. 

Ms. Logan is a wonderful storyteller. I am a follower of her online stories and was really looking forward to reading her first published piece. It's a great start, for sure. She portrays emotion excellently and even had me in tears at one point. That's where she has her strongest talent. Her ability to really reach out the characters' emotions is what made the book for me. The subject that she writes about in Lessons Learned is a controversial one and I think she handles it with grace. The way Ms. Logan can make the plot feel realistic will really help her along in her writing career.

I'm sure I would recommend it to fans of romance novels, but it isn't the first book that would come to mind. It deals with some issues that aren't often found in that genre, but I think that romances lovers of all kinds would take something out of it.  Personally, I'm a big romance fan and while it just came up as an average romance novel for me, I think many other people will adore it. That being said, I will definitely be reading Ms. Logan's future work! She is very talented and while Lessons Learned might not have been a novel that will really stick with me, I did enjoy reading it.

I received an e-copy of this novel from the publisher via Netgalley for my honest opinion and review.

Top Ten Tuesday (44)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!

This week's theme is: 

Top Ten Bookish Goals for 2013

1. Complete all of the challenges I've joined this year.
- I plan on doing five. Yeah...  I'm crazy.
2. Catch up on writing reviews and stay on track.
- I'm so far behind right now. It's ridiculous. I really just need to buckle down and write.
3. Reorganize the blog.
- Speaks for itself.
4. Make more bookish friends!
- I'm always up for a chat! I'm all over the interwebz. Find me, if you'd like!
5. Read all of my outstanding galleys.
- Ehhh, this probably won't get completed, but I'd like to read most of them!
6. Connect with more authors and publishers.
- This times twelve. I need to expand my horizons and put myself out there more!
7. Don't overdo it.
- I'm not really good at saying "when." I'd like to get better at that and not be overwhelmed as often this year.
8. Read books I already own before buying new ones.
- This has to happen. My wallet can't handle much more.
9. Schedule my posts.
- I've got a busy semester ahead and I'm going to need to schedule my posts all the time to keep up with blogging and schoolwork. I'm taking seventeen credit hours, so this are going to get crazy.
10. Read and review at least 100 books.
- I can do it! (I think.)

What goals do you have for this year?

Teaser Tuesday: Crash (Visions #1) by Lisa McMann

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading!

To participate all you have to do is:

•Grab your current read

•Open to a random page

•Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page

•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!) 

 Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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"We ease out of the alley in the meatball truck. Today's trip to school is brought to you by two girls with big balls."
Chapter 6, 11%
Crash (Visions #1) by Lisa McMann

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Making the Grade's Bookapalooza Scavenger Hunt

We are excited to join Making the Grade in their one year blogoversary celebration, Making the Grade's Bookapalooza Scavenger Hunt! This event was created not only to celebrate Making the Grade's one-year mark of blogging, but to celebrate the authors and bloggers involved in the young adult book industry and our mutual love of reading!

Emily's Blogging Experience and Love of Books

Blogging has become a very important part of my life in the past year. Since the start of Ed and Em's Reviews, I, personally, have made a lot of new friends from all over the world, I've met some of my all time favorite authors and I have been given opportunities that I never would've had, if I hadn't joined my GOOD friend, Edwin in the great endeavor that was the start of our blog!

Being a book blogger is great, but before I was a blogger, I was just your average, run-of-the-mill bibliophile.

I've always been a reader. I've been in love with books since before I was born. My mother instilled my love of literature while I was still in the womb. She read to me and listened to audio cassette (yes, I am that old) constantly. Growing up, I was surrounded by piles and piles of stories that would take me to different worlds and every night I would fall asleep listening to my Dr. Seuss's classics on cassette, until my tape was destroyed (I cried for a week). And when I spent my weekends at the library instead of parties during high school, my parents said, "Better books than drugs!" My family is nothing if not classy!

Books are a huge part of my life and always have been. Starting this blog, and being able to share my opinion on books, and connect with other people who loves reading as much as I do has been absolutely amazing. I wouldn't trade this past (almost) year for anything in the world (besides maybe a date with Garrett Hedlund).

I really want to thank those who have made this experience what it has been. Because of our friends and followers, Ed and Em's Reviews has flourished into the blog it is today. We hope to have many more years with you!

And joining in the celebration and bookish spirit, we are having, what we consider to be, a great giveaway below!

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Giveaway Details:

- One winner will receive a paperback copy of Everneath and an ARC of Everbound by Brodi Ashton

- Open internationally

- One entrant per household

- Cheating results in immediate disqualification

- Winner has 48 hours to respond to notification or a new winner will be chosen

- We are not responsible for lost/damaged packages

- Ends 01/20/2012

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Did you find our secret word in the post above? You can find the next secret word at Ketch's Book Nook! Take the nine secret words you gather from each of the participating blogs (find the blog roll HERE) and enter the words in the CORRECT ORDER in Rafflecopter forms for 25 bonus points! And if you can correctly name the author and/or book from which the quote is from, you can get an extra 10 bonus points for Making the Grade's giveaways!

The following two giveaways, hosted by Making the Grade are open to US/Canada citizens only, to entrants aged 13 and older.

Bookapalooza Big Box of Bookish Fun Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bookapalooza Signed Books by the Dozen Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Big thanks and congrats to the Making the Grade gals for letting us participate and for their one year blogoversary!

And don't forget to head over to Ketch's Book Nook to obtain the next secret word!

Blog Tour: Guest Post: AE Rought

Ed and I are happy to be a part of the Broken Blog Tour. Today we welcome AE Rought with a guest post about the classics!

Broken by AE Rought

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: January 8, 2012
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
384 Pages

Imagine a modern spin on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where a young couple’s undying love and the grief of a father pushed beyond sanity could spell the destruction of them all.

A string of suspicious deaths near a small Michigan town ends with a fall that claims the life of Emma Gentry's boyfriend, Daniel. Emma is broken, a hollow shell mechanically moving through her days. She and Daniel had been made for each other, complete only when they were together. Now she restlessly wanders the town in the late Fall gloom, haunting the cemetery and its white-marbled tombs, feeling Daniel everywhere, his spectre in the moonlight and the fog.

When she encounters newcomer Alex Franks, only son of a renowned widowed surgeon, she's intrigued despite herself. He's an enigma, melting into shadows, preferring to keep to himself. But he is as drawn to her as she is to him. He is strangely... familiar. From the way he knows how to open her locker when it sticks, to the nickname she shared only with Daniel, even his hazel eyes with brown flecks are just like Daniel's.

The closer they become, though, the more something inside her screams there's something very wrong with Alex Franks. And when Emma stumbles across a grotesque and terrifying menagerie of mangled but living animals within the walls of the Franks' estate, creatures she surely knows must have died from their injuries, she knows.

VISIT THE AUTHOR:

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FIND THE BOOK:

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GUEST POST:
What makes a classic book classic?

Thank you for having me on your blog to talk about classics! I’ve been chewing on this topic for a while. Even though I’m an author, describing a classic on my own terms has left me fairly tongue-tied. Terms like ‘that certain je ne sais quoi’ keep cropping up, and feel like a total cop out. So, I went looking for a more traditional definition of classic, as a noun. 

According to Merriam-Webster, classics are either authors or (capitalized as Classics) literary works from ancient Greece and Rome, and went on to say “a work of enduring excellence,” or “a typical or perfect example.” From there, I went to Dictionary.com and found these definitions: “an author or a literary work of the first rank, especially one of demonstrably enduring quality,” and “an artist or artistic production considered a standard,” and finally, “a work that is honored as definitive in its field.” 

To me, a classic has that certain “it factor” that makes it as good today as years from now (in either direction). They can stand apart and still define their genre. While some classics seem to defy genre definition—for example, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a Gothic horror, but it’s also often called the first sci-fi novel.

 A book I think might become like this? Across the Universe, by Beth Revis. It’s a blend of genres, and such a damn good example of YA dystopian fiction, and sci-fi, and murder mystery… Time will tell, but this is a new classic for me. Another example could be the Die for Me series by Amy Plum. (Yes, I’m a HUGE fan.) I think it’s a brilliant representation of YA paranormal romance and still manages to stand apart with Amy’s unique spin on life and love after death.

Classics, for me, are those books that do it better, the books that can be boiled down beyond story to pure element. They are the books that encourage us to strive for their greatness, invite us to study their elements and learn from them. And for me, it’s an invitation to look at their elements from a different angle, and imagine more. 

There are a plethora of retellings, revisits, reimaginings of classics, from fairytales to Gothic fiction and beyond. And I’m glad. 

There are as many angles to a story as there are readers to discover them. I’ve read a couple spins on Classics—Greek or Roman tales—and enjoyed their takes. I have Alice in Zombieland floating around the house right now, and am really looking forward to her riff on an American classic. My TBR pile is full of retellings, and I’m always on the lookout for suggestions, so… What about you? Do you like new spins on old classics? Do you have a favorite new classic? Tell me about them!

Emily is a huge fan of retellings! She never gets tired of them and loves seeing an authors spin on her favorite classics! 

How do you feel about retellings?

Book Review: Through the Ever Night (Under the Never Sky #2) by Veronica Rossi

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: January 8, 2012
Publisher: HarperCollins
352 Pages

It's been months since Aria last saw Perry. Months since Perry was named Blood Lord of the Tides, and Aria was charged with an impossible mission. Now, finally, they are about to be reunited. But their reunion is far from perfect. The Tides don't take kindly to Aria, a former Dweller. And with the worsening Aether storms threatening the tribe's precarious existence, Aria begins to fear that leaving Perry behind might be the only way to save them both.

Threatened by false friends, hidden enemies, and powerful temptations, Aria and Perry wonder, Can their love survive through the ever night?

In this second book in her spellbinding Under the Never Sky trilogy, Veronica Rossi combines fantasy and dystopian elements to create a captivating love story as perilous as it is unforgettable.

VISIT THE AUTHOR:

Goodreads.Twitter.Website.Facebook

FIND THE BOOK:

Goodreads.Amazon.Barnes & Noble

Review:

I can't remember my first thoughts as I started Through the Ever Night, but they were probably something along the lines of: "Please don't suck" and "Fifty bucks says this angst is going to kill me." Well, I can tell you right now that the book definitely did not suck. In fact, it sucked so little that it was on the very end of the suck-o-meter, in the "holy balls, this book is awesome" section. But someone owes me fifty bucks… 'cause dang… That angst. There's quite a bit and Veronica Rossi really knows how to hit you where it hurts.

In book two of the Under the Never Sky trilogy, Aria and Perry have finally reunited after months of being apart. But though their love for each other is as strong as ever, some things have changed and not all of those things are for the better. Perry is now Blood Lord of the Tides and Aria is working with people she never thought she would. The people of the Tides loathe ex-dweller, Aria, and are not afraid to voice just how much. Perry and Aria now face not only the threat of the Aether, but the threats of new enemies, old enemies and some of those they believed to be their friends. Can their love survive? Can they?

The world-building was so much better this time around. That was probably the biggest issue I had with the first book - the fact that I could not for the life of me picture the setting that Aria and Perry were describing. In Through the Ever Night, the world feels much more vivid and the picture is a lot clearer. It almost felt like something you could reach out and touch. It also fit beautifully into the story. Some settings don't really make sense with the plot (I've read quite a few of these kinds of stories recently), luckily, Through the Ever Night was able to pull me out of the funk and surround me in a world that I almost felt a part of.

The readers will continue to adore these characters. Though, personally, there were parts where I wanted to smack them all silly, I grew even fonder of Aria and Perry in this one. This novel only instilled my love of reading from dual point-of-views. I loved reading about how much they cared for each other. And seeing both of their perspectives during certain events only made the book more addictive. Roar and Cinder also play big roles in this novel. It was great to get read more about their backgrounds, and see their characters expand in the story. There are so many characters introduced, and reintroduced in this novel, but Ms. Rossi handles their additions with grace. It is never difficult to remember who is who.

Veronica Rossi will really toy with your emotions in Through the Ever Night. She makes her readers so happy during some parts, that we might burst, but then… BAM! She drags us down into the dirt and tries to smother us. Perry and Aria have a ton of obstacles to overcome and the road to doing so is not emotionally draining and extremely dangerous. This book is not only a thrilling adventure that will constantly keep you on your toes, but a real roller coaster of emotion. The suspense will drive you wild and capture your attention immediately and give you hell when you try to put it down.

I have so many feelings after finishing this novel, and even while reading it, there are parts that you will not see coming, parts that will leave you breathless, parts that will destroy your heart. Through the Ever Night was even better than its prequel. I think Ms. Rossi's writing was much stronger in this book. I look forward to seeing if she can keep up the tradition and make the third and final novel, Into the Still Blue, the very best in the series! And like I'm sure all of the fans of this series are, I am just dying to read the finale. In fact, I would totally sell my soul for a copy of it now. WHY IS 2014 SO FAR AWAY?! (But really… I want that book immediately.)

If you have yet to read this series, I recommend you do so now. It has pretty much everything you could ever want in a young adult dystopian novel. Perfect book is perfect.

I received an e-copy of this novel from the publisher via Edelweiss.

Follow Friday (47)

Feature & Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read.

Q. What New Years blogging or writing resolutions have you placed on yourself?

A. I want to become more organized, and pretty much reorganize everything on the blog. I've already started, so hopefully I can keep it up. I also would like to reach out to more authors and bloggers. I want to lessen how often I participate in promotional posts and write more reviews! I have been slacking more than a little because of the holidays, but I'm back in full force!

What resolutions do you have this year?

Blog Tour: Book Review: Elder (Firstborn #3) by Raine Thomas

Today, Emily is happy to be a part of the Defy Blog Tour

hosted by Raine Thomas.

Find the other tour stops here.

Elder (Firstborn #3) by Raine Thomas

Cover created by Devan Edwards of Nimbi Design.

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: December 27, 2012
Publisher: Iambe Books

Clara Kate is one of the eight beings needed to activate the Elder Scroll, an ancient artifact causing tragedy and darkness on the Estilorian plane. She knows that her focus needs to be on finding the final piece and stopping the evil Mercesti, but Ini-herit isn't making it easy.

He’s working closely with Clara Kate on the quest to stop their enemies…too close for her comfort. His presence serves as a constant reminder of the love they shared on the human plane, a love that he no longer remembers at all.

Her life and the lives of those she loves are at risk, and she knows she has to put aside her personal problems. So far on their journey, she's endured heartbreak, terror, pain and loss. She’s even been brought to the brink of death.

She thinks things can't get any worse.

She's wrong.

VISIT THE AUTHOR:

Goodreads.Twitter.Website.Facebook

FIND THE BOOK:

Goodreads.Amazon.Barnes & Noble

View the book trailer:

Review:

Elder is the third and final installment in the Firstborn trilogy, so this review may have some spoilers for the first two books. You have been warned.

Elder is supposed to be the story of Clara Kate and In-herit, but written in multiple perspectives, it felt more like a finale for all of the characters. There isn't a whole lot that can be said about the plot that won't give away some aspect of the book. We begin almost immediately after book two, Shift, left off. Ariana and a severely injured Tate are locked in the library with Metis and Eirik, who plan to use them to find the final piece of the Elder Scroll. From there we go on an epic quest filled with twists and turns as the characters we've come to know and love fight to save the world.

While I enjoyed reading about Clara Kate and In-herit's relationship, and her struggles to return In-herit's memories of their relationship on the human plane, Tate and Zachariah are still my favorite couple. Tate's teasing and Zachariah's overbearing nature make for an odd pairing, but when you read about them together, they just fit. Ms. Thomas is excellent at giving her couples chemistry. Their relationships feel real, and unforced. Not only is the author good as writing relationships, but her characters all have realistic personalities. Each one was different, but they all meshed well together. No one felt like a filler, and everyone has their own role in the story.

The action in the plot was just as thrilling as in the first two books. Elder made me nervous in all the right places. It will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end! The plot was great. It was a fantastic continuation of the series! It tied in perfectly with the first two books. The novel also moved at a steady pace and will keep its audience engaged. I never felt bored while reading, which made me so happy. I've read a few stinkers lately, so it is nice that Elder was able to get me out of my rut and end the series on a good note.

The end of the novel felt very final, though it leaves you in a content place where you can imagine the future of the characters you've come to know in love, but you aren't left in need of answers. I think Ms. Thomas tied up the series perfectly and I'm sad to part with these characters as I have really come to adore them over the past year. I cannot wait to see what Ms. Thomas comes up with next!

I received an e-copy of this novel from the author for my honest opinion and review.