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Rain's Reviews: Dorothy Must Die by Dannielle Paige

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado—taking you with it—you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little blue birds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still the yellow brick road, though—but even that's crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy.

They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm—and I'm the other girl from Kansas.

I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.

I've been trained to fight.

And I have a mission.~Goodreads

Review

Dorothy Must Die was original, predictable, and odd.
The lead character Amy Gumm is a Kansas dwelling miserable teen with a drunk mother and a hard school life. She arrives at Oz on a tornado and it all goes South from there. She is sarcastic, but not witty. She is a fighter, but not confident in it. Amy has been put in a situation that requires commitment, a strange mixture of trust and mistrust, common sense, and a sense of self preservation. She owns almost none of those things. She has commitment and that is about it. Despite this and her occasional stupidity induced embarrassing moments I actually liked her. Nox (cool name right?) right away and forever more reminded me of Four from Divergent.. He is the complicated, dark, serious guy that is in every fantasy novel. He had a glimmer of innocence to him that intrigued me but over all he was predictable.
Overall I think predictability is my biggest complaint. The writing style and character development were fine but I knew what was coming from a mile away and it wasn't because it was a retelling. Despite the wonderment this story contained and could have potentially contained I think that somewhere along the way it fell short.
~Rain

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"No matter how tough you think you are, there are certain things that just get to you, and they are usually the little things. The one you don't expect." Danielle Paige, Dorothy Must Die

Liberty Bay Books: Dorothy Must Die
Goodreads

***Hey guys! Friendly reminder. I am an affiliate with Liberty Bay Books and while that in no way effects how I review these books (as you can probably tell by my review) It benefits a great locally owned shop and myself if you purchase these great books through the link above. Thank you bunches!***

Housekeeping

Hey! I know I've been MIA, I've missed posting SO much but I just have not been able to. And then I stopped reading for a while. Not really for any reason other than that I was flat broke and NOTHING was looking appealing. A long overdue trip to the library fixed that and I am out of my slump. I am currently reading Tremor by Patrick Carman, Grayson by Lynne Cox, and Anna Karenina by (as I'm sure you know) Leo Tolstoy. So, I should be done with two of the three books by the end of the week and I am hoping to get back to posting at least once a week. SO that should be it right about now. Just some housekeeping. Thanks for sticking with me :)
~Rain

Rain's Review: Trust Me I'm Lying by Mary Elizabeth Summer

Trust Me I'm Lying by Mary Elizabeth Summer

Fans of Ally Carter, especially her Heist Society readers, will love this teen mystery/thriller with sarcastic wit, a hint of romance, and Ocean’s Eleven–inspired action.

Julep Dupree tells lies. A lot of them. She’s a con artist, a master of disguise, and a sophomore at Chicago’s swanky St. Agatha High, where her father, an old-school grifter with a weakness for the ponies, sends her to so she can learn to mingle with the upper crust. For extra spending money Julep doesn’t rely on her dad—she runs petty scams for her classmates while dodging the dean of students and maintaining an A+ (okay, A-) average.

But when she comes home one day to a ransacked apartment and her father gone, Julep’s carefully laid plans for an expenses-paid golden ticket to Yale start to unravel. Even with help from St. Agatha’s resident Prince Charming, Tyler Richland, and her loyal hacker sidekick, Sam, Julep struggles to trace her dad’s trail of clues through a maze of creepy stalkers, hit attempts, family secrets, and worse, the threat of foster care. With everything she has at stake, Julep’s in way over her head . . . but that’s not going to stop her from using every trick in the book to find her dad before his mark finds her. Because that would be criminal.
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Review

Trust Me I'm Lying was a very captivating book. It was a mystery with a criminal edge that keeps you awake at night reading. I wasn't able to guess at things that was going to happen (though I can't usually anyways). The characters were OK. I'm not a big fan of love triangles but this one was really understated and I'm not sure that I would call it a love triangle. The romance that did happen was cut but I ffel like it was stuck awkardly in there far to out of proportion to the issue at hand. The action- well I really liked it. There wasn't a ton of guns firing life or death stuff but there was fun stuff like car chases, narrow escapes, and snooping. It was totally up my alley.
Julep was great fun-except for when Tyler was around until she got used to him. It wasn't the the interection that botherd me so much as the self talk that became really repetitive. Other than that she wa a breave, smart, strong female character that gives me a reason to keep reading young adult romances.
Sam and Tyler were both nice of a bit tragically  under developed but I think that that's just me being greedy.For the story they got their job done with no gaping holes in their story or the books plot. They were both really fun to read though I personnaly liked Sam better (shhh....).
The book overall is deffinitly something I would recommend. The language and romance were clean and though some of the action was shocking none of it was inapropriate. Happy reading y'all and pick this up in stores in Oct!
~Rain
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Liberty Bay Books: Trust Me, I'm Lying
Goodreads

Rain's Reviews: There You'll Find Me by Jenny B. Jones

There You'll Find Me by Jenny B. Jones

Grief brought Finley to Ireland. Love will lead her home.

Finley Sinclair is not your typical eighteen-year-old. She’s witty, tough, and driven. With an upcoming interview at the Manhattan music conservatory, Finley needs to compose her audition piece. But her creativity disappeared with the death of her older brother, Will.

She decides to study abroad in Ireland so she can follow Will’s travel journal. It’s the place he felt closest to God, and she’s hopeful being there will help her make peace over losing him. So she agrees to an exchange program and boards the plane.

Beckett Rush, teen heartthrob and Hollywood bad boy, is flying to Ireland to finish filming his latest vampire movie. On the flight, he meets Finley. She’s the one girl who seems immune to his charm. Undeterred, Beckett convinces her to be his assistant in exchange for his help as a tour guide.

Once in Ireland, Finley starts to break down. The loss of her brother and the pressure of school, her audition, and whatever it is that is happening between her and Beckett, leads her to a new and dangerous vice. When is God going to show up for her in this emerald paradise?

Then she experiences something that radically changes her perspective on life. Could it be God convincing her that everything she’s been looking for has been with her all along? ~GoodReads~~~

Rain's Reviews

I was waiting to read this book for over a year. I got kind of stuck in a I'll buy this one next cycle and never really got out of it until I went on a major Library book haul. And omageeze I am astounded at how spectacular this book was.
I expected it to be a Romance with some traveling and her finding her happiness in her famous boyfriend that she finally started dating after an entire book of fighting with this guy.
BUT, it was positively 100% better. I probably would have realized that if I had done my usual research and realized that the author was a Christian Fiction author. I was so happy with this book. The writing style was phenomenal. The story line was edge-of-your-seat fantastic. The characters were all a joy (well you know, they were constructed well), Only one or two of the characters seemed under developed in their roles but it was easily over looked.
Finley has gone through the past few years in devastation and personal failure. She has everything riding on her audition and she thinks that God has stopped caring about her. She is lost and hurt and angry and completely losing control of everything in her life. She tries to do everything she can to fix it and she honestly thinks she is doing the right thing. I connected with her so well and could really put myself in her shoes. I have never personally gone through every single thing she has but I still felt a connection.
Beckett Rush is misunderstood. Plain and simple. Everyone thinks he is someone he isn't and even Finley is surprised by who he is after she thinks she has it all figured out. I am not going to say to much about him but he was a joy to read and though romance was definitely not the sole purpose of this book it still had some great elements.
Finley's host family in Ireland is funny, loving, and fun and I absolutely fell in love with them all.
Finley meets some challenging people and they all get under her skin in different way's but she treats each situation exactly how she knows is best I am proud of how she did it.
This book made me want to read every single book Jenny B. Jones has written and makes me want to visit Ireland tomorrow. I am definitely going to buy this to put on my permanent shelf and I hope you enjoy it as much as me.
~~~

Buy Links

Goodreads
Amazon

The Open Heart Chronicles

FINDING ME AGAIN by Amber Garza:

I know most people don’t find the love of their life at sixteen. But I did. At least that’s what I thought when I fell in love with Tripp Bauer. That’s why it was so hard when we drifted apart after high school graduation.

But I’ve never stopped loving him.

On a trip back to our hometown, I run into Tripp and the spark between us is undeniable.

Is it possible for us to find our way together again? Will I really get the happily ever after I’ve longed for?

Don’t miss the stunning conclusion to Tripp and Hadley’s story!

CONSEQUENCE by Shelly Crane:

Maggie and Caleb are married, leaders of their people, parents to their children, and happier than they ever dreamed, even with the visions they saw of it to prove it so. The council is still rebelling against Maggie’s changes, but this time it’s different. It’s almost as if something…or someone is behind them, pulling the strings and making decisions for them.

And Maggie is having strange visions that only she can see, leaving Caleb helpless to help her. But when her visions start to warn her that their daughter, Ava, will one day be in danger, they’ll do anything it takes to find out what’s going on and how to stop it, even paying a visit to a previous Visionary.

Maggie and Caleb must find out who or what is behind it all and stop them before Maggie is one vision too late.

~~~
HEART BREAKER by Lila Felix:

Breaker James isn’t the boy who is imprisoned in his home anymore. He’s not the guy who is afraid to leave the house. He doesn’t need Ash twenty four hours a day anymore.

Hell, he might not need her anymore at all.

He’s a heart breaker, pure and simple.

Love is easy when you’re secluded from the world within four walls.

Ash now has to learn how to let Breaker love her—without being his crutch.
~~~
ALWAYS by Amity Hope:

~Always is a companion novella to Ditched.

Now that Holly and Max are finally together, life in Harmony Bay should be nearly perfect. Their first Valentine’s Day together is quickly approaching. Between school, interfering family, and long lost friends that have reappeared it has the potential to turn into a complete disaster.

Or it could turn into the kind of night that neither of them will ever forget.
~~~
BREATHLESS MAGIC by Rachel Higginson: 

And they lived happily ever after…

Or that was supposed to be how the story ended. Unfortunately for Eden Kendrick, a new enemy threatens her beloved Kingdom, one more dangerous and deadly than ever before.

After enjoying a deliciously elongated honeymoon, Eden returns to the Citadel with her husband and happiness intact. She’s unexpectedly pregnant, but that’s just one more blessing to add to her blooming happiness.

Eden’s heart is full and her endless life has never been more happy. That is until Dmitri Terletov returns from the dead and threatens everyone she loves and the Kingdom she worked so hard to build.

This time around, Eden is supposed to be shielded from the conflict. She has her growing babies to protect now and Kiran wants her as far from the battle as possible. Although she’s a little stir-crazy with idle hands, she agrees that keeping away from Terletov and his deadly experiments is definitely the right course of action.

Unfortunately, Terletov doesn’t agree. And when he arrives at the Castle, uninvited and desperate for the Magic Eden once stole from him, she has no choice but to fight once again to save the people she was born to protect.
~~~

DERIVE by Jamie Magee:

Aden, son of Tarek, is a seer—an elite member of The Selected which stands guard before The Fall, the border between light and dark realities. Darkness was foretold at his birth along with the words ‘lavender waters will set you free.’ What Aden assumed to be a mythical prophecy, is eventually manifested in a ravishing beauty with long, lavender hair.

Skylynn had seen their future, the sacrifice and divide set before them. She told him they had three days—three days before they must part to meet in a distant future. Aden dares to challenge the limits set before him by empowering his innocent lover with words and energy as he plots to face the darkness predicted before it claims her—and their rightful future together.

Failure and Sadness

So today is a little off kilter. I havn't been able to read to much at the moment, well I mean I have but I'm reading War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust (Critical Issues in World and International History) by Doris L. Bergen (Yes, for fun) and I just recently finished The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow which I think I am going to do a review on (Believe me it deserves one.) but I haven't gotten around to it yet (Curse you college!!!!). But yesterday I sat with my nine year old brother and read the greatest book I read as a child and since then. I love many, many books and just like in life there are different kinds of love and for my the love I reserve for this book is the deepest purest love I could give to any book.
The Giving Tree is the sweetest, saddest, most meaningful book any child could read. Shel Silverstien was and is my favorite misc. author and he is an absolute genius. And this book is no different. My bro is a rock ( a scrawny rock but a rock no less) he doesn't cry at sad parts or aww at the sweet ones. But this book broke him. And you might think why on earth would I want to read a book that I know will make me so sad. And I won't lie, it will. I am having a hard time right now but you will never regret your decision. It is layered in meaning and love. Its a book that you child will read and years and years later still remember it. I'm rambling but take my word for it. If you never trust me again in you blogging life trust me this once I love this story. 

The Giving Tree   <- Buy Link.