Unbroken Cedar Cove by Melody Grace

Unbroken (Cedar Cove) By Melody Grace 5 Stars

"Mom always told me there are two kinds of love in this world: the steady breeze, and the hurricane. Emerson Ray was my hurricane...."

Overall Review- I Absolutely loved this book. I cannot describe it. This book is for anyone who has ever been consumed by love and wanted a second chance at that love story. I never cease to be amazed to how an author can draw me in and keep in on the edge of my seat, simply hooked by the chemistry she has created with her characters and the passion infused in her writing. 

Goodread Synopsis: 

Juliet McKenzie was an innocent eighteen-year old when she spent the summer in Cedar Cove—and fell head over heels in love with Emerson. Complicated, intense Emerson, the local bad boy. His blue eyes hid dark secrets, and just one touch could set Juliet ablaze. Their love was demanding and all-consuming, but when summer ended, tragedy tore them apart. Juliet swore she’d never go back, and she’s kept that promise… Until now.

Four years later, Juliet’s done her best to rebuild the wreckage of her shattered life. She’s got a great boyfriend, and a steady job planned after she graduates. Returning to Cedar Cove to pack up her family’s beach house to prepare it for sale, Juliet is determined that nothing will stand in the way of her future. But one look from Emerson, and all her old desire comes flooding back. He let her go once, but this time, he’s not giving up without a fight. And Emerson fights dirty. A heartbreaking history. An unstoppable passion. Torn between her past and future, Juliet struggles to separate love from desire

My Jules

Emerson

Cover: Sexy
Rating: R 
Overall: LOVED THIS BOOK!
Characters: 
Plot: Intense, Sexy, Alluring 
Page Turner: 
Series Cont.? No
Recommend: YES!!!
Book Boyfriend: Emerson
Genre: New Adult Romance Novel
Sex Scenes: Yes
Setting: North Carolina Beach

Plot- Wow. This book was intense. I could not put this book down. To be honest, the characters are really what drove this book forward more than anything else, I was interested in knowing what happened to my characters. This book is about a young woman in college going back to the beach town where her mom died to pack up the beach house to be sold but along with going back, she begins to relive her memories from that fateful summer and all the feelings that she left behind four years ago. 

The plot is nothing new or different. Generally speaking its not anything different in the plot. Whats great though is the way that the author writes this novel is exisquite. I loved going through the story with the characters. Every emotion was raw, genuine and I felt every single moment that I was reading this book. As I read the book I became invested and inspired and thats the kind of book that invigorates me and keeps me interested. I think the authors writing abilities and style was perfect and well suited for this type of novel. I didnt feel as though there were pieces of information missing, instead the story played out, filling in the holes I didnt always know where there. For instance, the way her mom died. Its painfully obvious that her mothers death affects her, but the author doesnt make you recognize the impact until later in the book, when so much more of the death is explained. 

The book moved at a natural speed too, not to slow not too fast and considering the history all the characters had, the events made sense as they occurred. To be honest I havent loved a book this much since Beautiful Disaster and Thoughtless. Unbroken, broke me, I was touched to the core as to the love and passion and the beautifully written words of the author. She did a fabulous job of expressing love and passion into print and making the reader feel every word of it. I am in awe. LOVED this book.

Characters-- 
I absolutely love Emerson. I love him. I want him as my own. He is so sexy and beautiful and sweet and caring. And even though he's mean he has his reasons (what guy doesnt!) When I first met Emerson I wasnt sure what to think, and as I continued reading I realized that he isnt a bad guy but he has some secrets, though it was never clear what those were (until the end of course) regardless he made you fall for him because of how Jules sees him, how her heart aches for him. I think for anyone who has ever loved so passionate, like a hurricane, then you understand that love never dies. The love that Emerson and Jules shared was so amazing too, because it was raw, it was passionate it was ever changing to the core of the person. 


Daniel is a great guy, he means well and he obviously loves Jules, though I admit, from the beginning though that as the reader you love Emerson, because you can tell Jules' heart still loves him. But I totally understand Daniel, hes the sensible guy, and just as the beginning quote says theres a hurricane and a steady breeze....I liked Daniels character,  I think anyone with a broken heart understand this one. 

Juliet- I LOVED Juliet. I didnt like that she was a little whiny, but I think thats part of what made her real. Truth be told, most girls that age are unsure of themselves at time or self conscious or miss that one person that made them truly feel alive and I think that she was actually brave at times. I think her actions made sense though, maybe they were rash and maybe they were emotional and crazy but they were real and honest and thats what makes a characters relate-able and genuine. Someone I connect with, makes me more invested in the book and more interested in the outcome. 

At the end of the book though, I admit, I did not expect the turn of events. The passion that the characters have is quite amazing. It was like beautiful and magical and made my heart ache in a way that made me happy for everyone involved. 

UnRemembered by Jessica Brody

UnRemembered (Trilogy) by Jessica Brody 3.5 Stars 
Quick Review: I liked the book overall, but Im not attached to it. I enjoyed it while reading but Im okay with or without finishing the series.

Synopsis from Goodreads:
When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage—alive—is making headlines across the globe. Even more strange is that her body is miraculously unharmed and she has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories period. No one knows how she survived. No one knows why she wasn’t on the passenger manifest. And no one can explain why her DNA and fingerprints can’t be found in a single database in the world. Crippled by a world she doesn’t know, plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, and haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember, Seraphina struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. But with every clue only comes more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them. Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to know her from before the crash. Who claims they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget
Cover: Love it. Intriguing.
Rating: PG
Overall: Entertaining, but not amazing
Characters: Seraphina and Zen- S is well developed everyone else not so much
Plot: 16 year girl "survives" plane crash with no memories! Sounds pretty cool, very interesting.
Page Turner: Not until the end
Series Cont.? Yes
Recommend: Depends on what you like. 
Book Boyfriend: Zen

Overall, I enjoyed the book Unremembered, but cant say that Ill truly remember it. While reading the book I was fascinated, specifically though with the concept and the writing abilities, Sera/Violet amazed me, and I was drawn into getting to know her. I think the concept of this sci-fi(ish) book is absolutely fantastic. And I actually liked that so much was explained to the reader, it helps me understand. I also really liked that the ending was a TOTAL cliffhanger. Which is both good and bad. 

Vanessa Hudgens as Seraphina

Props definitely go to the author for a number of reasons. 1) it must have been very difficult to write this book as someone who knows nothing, literally. The idea of describing a cell phone to someone who's never heard of it before! Really awesome! 2) The concept is different that anything I've ever read before! erasing memories?

I also liked that I kept guessing, I was never really sure, what was going to really happen, I couldnt guess what was going to happen like I can in so many other books, which was truly enjoyable.

Unfortunately I must admit that this book didnt captivate me like I thought it would. Even though the writing was good, and the plot was interesting, it lacked in its character development.

The plot continued to build throughout the book, and was consistently building upon each chapter. I liked that things progressed forward, learning new pieces as we went, but also understanding them at a good pace. At some point though, it seems like things just "fall together" without actually being built upon.

Zen

I think what troubled me the most, was the character development. While Violet/Seraphina was developed beautifully, none of the other characters were and there were some missing pieces. Like the police? Social Services put her with a GREAT family who had a kid of their own? This 13 year old boy happens to know quite a bit for his age (stealing a car?!) Other characters were really confusing, like Maxxer. This person REALLY confused me, and came out of no-where with little explanation as to what they were doing there, other than explaining the purpose of the entire book. I mean, seriously? Some mysterious person knocks you out and then explains your whole reason for being dumps you off at your maker and you dont question it? Not to mention as the reader Im thinking WTF are you?! why are you even in this book? Rio, his development was odd, in fact there was also little to none on him....not even sure what to say on that one. Alixter, well, theres no development, but Im not THAT angry about him, because hes the bad guy. Zen, where to start. I dont know, I cant even figure out what he looks like! And theres little to no connection to this character and he is the love of Seraphina's life. He appears out of nowhere (That I get), I even get how they fell in love, mostly, but there is simply not enough regarding them in the present and about him to make me fall for him. I mean I dont want him to die....


In the end, Im happy enough with the ending that I dont NEED to read the next installment, which by the way wont be out for another year! Meaning I likely wont read it. And if I do, it may be because Im bored, but considering the 3rd installment isnt due until 2015...the likelihood that I finish this series is slim, which is too bad. I think the concept here is really great. But the follow through just isnt there for me.

Blue Violet by Abigail Owen

Blue Violet by Abigail Owen 3.5 Stars

Synopsis from Goodreads:
When Ellie Aubrey leaves her only remaining family and moves to Colorado, she knows she's risking her life. But she can't ignore the possibility of what she might find there. What she didn't expect to encounter was a bewildering connection to one smolderingly sexy Alex Jenner. But when Ellie's worst nightmare comes true and threatens to destroy everything she holds dear, she must fight to save those she loves most. Even if it means sacrificing herself by revealing a terrible truth... sometimes not all monsters are make believe.


Genre: YA Paranomal Fantasy Romance Novel
Cover: Pretty but not amazing
Rating: PG
Overall: interesting 
Characters: The main characters were likable and well developed. 
Plot: Interesting (paranormal romance)
Page Turner: At times
Series Cont.?  Yes
Recommend: Yes
Book Boyfriend:  Griffin and Alex 
Characters: Alex, Griffin, Ellie....
Sex Scenes: None
Setting: Colorado Mountains 

Overall Review- Overall I enjoyed this book as a quick and interesting read, but I wasnt completely captivated and in love while reading this book. While interesting, I found parts to be in conflict with each other. Additionally, the beginning is extremely confusing with the introduction of too people at one time with not enough explanation.  This book was overall well written (Grammatically and spelling wise) and the author certainly is imaginative. This book is VERY similar to Reckless Magic by Rebecca Higginson (which I LOVED) and reminds me of Talented by Sophie Davis (also loved!). If you like magical books this book is for you. I am glad I read the book, and I Will be reading the next ones. Also, I really liked the fact that the book had finality to it. While the series does continue, the characters and the books move forward the ending of this book wasnt a cliff hanger that left me wondering OMG...which I really appreciate. I hate books like that. 

The reason the book only got 3.5 instead of more is because of the conflicting information and confusing character issues the I couldnt get past. 

Full Review-- 

Ellie? Jessica Lowndes

Plot--The overall plot was well thought out and quite imaginative. I enjoyed that the author took time to develop the relationships, the powers, the people, the purpose of the book was not the overall book, but instead the book built up to the end, which I enjoy more than the constant fighting that occurs in some books. I think the author did a great job of explaining and describing everything that was going on. It took me a little while to get used to the different perspectives that she used, but it was easy to follow, unlike it some books where its difficult to tell whos talking/thinking, here since it wasnt in first person it was easier to follow. The author was imaginative in the powers that people had too, I havent seen or heard of some of these powers which kept me interested. The ending was great though! I loved that it ended with closure but opened a door for more stories to come!

Characters ---

Alex- Jensen Ackles

I think overall the characters were well developed. Well...The main characters. :-) Since most of the story was from Ellies perspective she was the most developed. I liked her. She was confident and kind, but interesting and strong. She knew who she was and that didnt scare her. One of the things that can be annoying in a book is an initially weak heroine, but the author here used the strength of the heroine to instill strength in the later characters who needed it, which I think worked well in this scenario. 

Griffin-

I think the characters relationship built well over time.  No relationship was immediate and perfect. Even Alex and Ellie got to know each other before everything. And "watching " relationships be built instead of simply existing is appreciating especially when built over the length of a year. 



What I didnt like however was that too many characters were introduced at one time without enough of an explanation to understand who everyone was and where they came from. Also, the author continued to confuse LAW SCHOOL and COLLEGE for Alex. I realize this is the end all be all, but it was extremely frustrating and annoying because at first we dont know how old he is "supposed" to be.  I also wish we would have gotten to know more about Nate and Griffin. I enjoyed their characters a lot, but would have liked to know more about them. (Griffin's story is the basis of the next book so I expect I will learn all I want there but its not the same) 

I am looking forward to the next book, but dont think Ill be rushing to go get it, more of when I get around to it Ill read it, simply because I have too many other books that I love on my To-Read List. But I dont think that says anything about the author or her ability to write.