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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

The Knowledge of Good by C.A. Kendrick

7:48 PM 0 Comments


THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD  by C.A. KENDRICK (Trees of Eden Series #1)

Publisher: MindGrind Press
Published: October 14, 2011

After her parents are killed in a car crash, Delilah Kendall moves to the small northern California town of Sierra Lago to live with her uncle. Her efforts at trying to put her life back together are disrupted when she meets a beautiful but enigmatic young man in her English class. He is sullen and unfriendly and Delilah is drawn to him though she struggles to understand why.
Simon is just trying to adjust to living among mortals and learning to deal with their chaotic inner lives when a new girl shows up in his English class. Ever since his transformation to an immortal, he has the supernatural ability to sense the emotions, thoughts, and will of the mortals. With the help of his mentor, Simon attempts to understand why he is suddenly obsessed by this mortal girl. The more he is around her, the more he learns of his powers as an immortal and how who and what he is could affect her life - for good or for ill.
When Jav took on the responsibility of mentoring Simon, he determined that his apprentice would not make the same mistakes he did. But as he guides the young - not even a century old yet - and impetuous Simon on the tumultuous journey from human to immortal, Jav is increasingly frustrated as his apprentice disregards his counsel and advice. Not only is Simon intent on ignoring everything Jav is trying to teach him, but his young apprentice also insists on jumping ahead and wanting answers that Jav knows he is not yet ready for. Things only become more complicated when Simon becomes consumed with a young woman's inner life.




This is a beautiful piece of art. It’s soft, and it blooms in a magical way. Kendrick can make you see exactly what she’s talking about in this novel and make you feel her characters in a natural way.  At first I was a little lost, I wasn’t very sure what to expect from the summary and how the characters would work together. By the time I finished, I was surprised. And it was a very good one!

Delilah is one of those girls who’s so pure and good you want to keep around just so she rubs off on you. She was home schooled her whole life so starting at a high school is a new experience but while she might be clueless to the rules of socialization of high school, she isn’t clueless to people’s intentions. She doesn’t let people step all over her or lets other play with her. She knows what she wants and who to trust.

Delilah’s way of seeing the world is very mature so at points is like if she was an old soul, that’s what makes her so special for me, she’s caring and giving. She has seen the best and the worst of the human race and she has chosen to focus on the good to be able to get up every day. But after her parents death, things don’t look so good. She doesn’t want to feel anything she just wants to let life pass by.

Simon is a newly (or new-ish) transformed immortal who can feel humans emotions, so he chose to stay away from all of his classmates in order to avoid their unpleasant feelings.  At his first encounter with Delilah he feels fascinated by this girl who’s in total control of her emotions and even more surprising; her emotions are good, always. Yet there’s something about Delilah that worries him and he can’t figure it out.
This is where Jav comes in, he’s the mentor, the one who knows how immortality works, the one keeps secrets.

Jav and Simon’s relationship was probably the best things about the book. I was looking forward to every conversation between them. While things at some points where a little tense because of Simon and Delilah, they always find and easy going nature to their banter. There was always a joke when they talked about the past and present and very important lessons.
Another thing I loved was Simon’s POVs when he was drinking emotions, it was an amazing experience to read that descriptions and have your senses go overload, it’s not just what he feels, it’s what he sees, smells and tastes.

Kendrick keeps the mysteries until the last possible moment and surprises you with new twists and turns. While this book in particular doesn’t have action I have a feeling the next will. There’s a risk in having a relationship with a mortal, there’s a risk in involving romantically with someone when you don’t want to feel too much. 

** The sequel maight be out by the end of the year so pay attention for updates on the next book in the series!

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Review by: Cyny


Thursday, May 10, 2012

Amplified By Tara Kelly

12:07 AM 0 Comments

 AMPLIFIED by TARA KELLY

Publisher: Henry Holr and Co.

Published: October 25th, 2011

When privileged 17-year-old Jasmine gets kicked out of her house, she takes what is left of her savings and flees to Santa Cruz to pursue her dream of becoming a musician. Jasmine finds the ideal room in an oceanfront house, but she needs to convince the three guys living there that she's the perfect roommate and lead guitarist for their band, C-Side. Too bad she has major stage fright and the cute bassist doesn't think a spoiled girl from over the hill can hack it. . . In this fresh new novel by critically acclaimed author Tara Kelly, Jasmine finds out what happens when her life gets Amplified. 



You know this book is going to be good by its title, cover, its main character: Jasmine Kiss (awesome name), and the fact that she's in a house full of guys.  Some good looking guys at that.  Guys who play instruments.

That's right, a rock band… who doesn’t love a rock band? Guitar solos, people… Guitar solos…
Even better, The Guy is in the Rock Band. Musicians…. A guy in a band is the sexiest thing in the planet, everyone loves  a guy like that
But as if that isn’t enough, the GIRL is in the band too!

Now you have the band, the guy and the kick-ass girl in the rock band. Throw in an evil queen (or just a nasty bitch), and you got one of the greatest books ever.

Amplified is an amazing read. And a MUST for everyone.

The story doesn’t go too fast nor too slow. It moves to the perfect rhythm. 
If I’d have to use a music analogy (just because the book asks for it) I’d said is the PERFECT solo ever played: It starts in the middle of the song (or problems for Jasmine in here) and grows into an intense peace that makes you wish it never ends (Or make her problems grow into an intricate web of lies), that makes you get lost in the notes… and then it wraps itself again in a softer or slower melody that leads to a great ending (or as a normal review would say, Jasmine finds her place in the world where she truly belongs and can be herself)

The first lines of the books let us see that Jasmine’s, a 17 year-old and high school graduated, life is at a turning point: she’s homeless, her car broke down and she has little money… oh, did I mention that her one and only friend is off on vacation with his boyfriend? Yeah, not fun times for Jasmine.
However, what I love about her is her drive to do this. She doesn’t want to prove anything to anyone but herself that she can do it: she can become a real guitar player. That’s her dream and she’s ready to face whatever comes her way. She’s done everything that was expected from her all her life but this time it’s about what she wants and needs.  It’s not just a rebellion, is a way of finding herself in the only way she knows how.
And that is something that you can relate to no matter what because at one time or another everyone grows up (right?)

In this unexpected journey she meets C-Side, an Industrial Rock Band whose members are one more interesting than next in line. She’s determined to show the guys that she's just as good of a musician.  A determined girl with a kick ass spirit, such a hero!
The other girl in the band is Veta, an eccentric 19-year-old and singer in C-Side that makes the best BFF in the world, then we have Bryn, the womanizer drummer who wants nothing more than make his band the next big thing, we also have Felix, the band’s keyboard player who’s as cute as he’s big. And last, but definitively not least, we have Sean, the loner, bad-guy-type and bass player.
He’s sarcastic, a closet romantic and super hot. You can’t ask for more! Wait, you can, he has a tattoo!


As a girl band, Tara Kelly gives us more than just descriptions to the music, and The Music, my friends, is as important as the other characters in there. There are music terms that just make the whole read a lot richer, you can hear the music as background for the story. But don’t worry, if you don’t know the terms or what a specific instrument is, it doesn’t ruin anything and usually there’s a brief description on what it is so you’re not completely lost in there.

A LITTLE SIDE NOTE: 
I absolutely love this book (as if you couldn’t tell) and Tara IS writing a sequel!! So let’s show some support and let’s help her so her publisher knows we want need that sequel as soon as possible.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Tara Kelly adores variety in her life. She's a YA author, one-girl-band, web designer, video editor, digital photographer, and literary agent intern. She lives in Portland with her ten guitars, supercool bf, and a fluffy cat named Maestro.

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Review by: Cyny

Monday, May 7, 2012

Introducing: Reindeer Socks Elite Team!

12:44 AM 0 Comments

Hello lovelies!


Well I thought I make a little post in here so you all get to know who you'll be working with for the #daemoninvasion tasks.
After this first early task I'd say we started pretty good. I know that it was very short notice, the task was going to be longer but the whole #daemoninvasion is so big that they closed it earlier.

Now, is all better if you all know each other, right?

So let's start with my right hand and co-owner of this little blog!

DIANA
you can find her in here:
Twitter
Facebook
Or this blog

GABRIELA
twitter
facebook

AMBER
twitter

facebook
blog

MARY

twitter

DANIELA

twitter
facebook

NOE

twitter
facebook
blog


ELIZABETH
twitter
blog


VICTORIA
facebook



SALOMÉ
twitter
facebook

That's all of us!

xx Cynthia







Saturday, May 5, 2012