Book Tour: Belonging by Karen Ann Hopkins

Belonging – Book 2  on Goodreads

Get a copy of Belonging : Amazon | B&N | Indiebound

I left everything I knew behind.

But it was worth it. He was worth it.

No one thought an ordinary girl like me would last two minutes living with the Amish, not even me. There are a lot more rules and a lot less freedom, and I miss my family and the life I once had. Worst of all, Noah and I aren’t even allowed to see each other. Not until I’ve proven myself.

If I can find a way to make it work, we’ll be NOAH & ROSE  together forever. 

But not everybody believes this is where I belong

About Karen Ann Hopkins

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A native of New York State, Karen Ann Hopkins now lives with her family on a farm in northern Kentucky, where her neighbors in all directions are members of a strict Amish community. Her unique perspective became the inspiration for the story of star-crossed lovers Rose and Noah. When she’s not homeschooling her kids, giving riding lessons or tending to a menagerie of horses, goats, peacocks, chickens, ducks, rabbits, dogs and cats, she is dreaming up her next romantic novel.

My Thoughts

Unfortunately, I haven't quite finished Belonging due to timing issues. However, I am almost done and am liking it so far. At this point in the book I am really rooting for Rose. She has decided to make the ultimate sacrifice and so far has been stronger than I had expected her to be. Still, I wonder if Noah realizes what Rose is giving up for him.

My full review will be up here soon. Until then don't forget to enter the giveaway.

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Review & Giveaway: Temptation by Karen Ann Hopkins

Temptation (Temptation Book 1)

Author: Karen Ann Hopkins

Publication Date: June 26th, 2012

Age Group: Young Adult

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Your heart misleads you.

That's what my friends and family say.  

But I love Noah. 

And he loves me.  

We met and fell in love in the sleepy farming community of Meadowview, while we rode our horses together through the grassy fields and in those moments in each other's arms. 

It should be  

ROSE & NOAH  

forever, easy. 

But it won't be. 

Because he's Amish. 

And I'm not.

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About Karen Ann Hopkins

Blog | Goodreads | Facebook

A native of New York State, Karen Ann Hopkins now lives with her family on a farm in northern Kentucky, where her neighbors in all directions are members of a strict Amish community. Her unique perspective became the inspiration for the story of star-crossed lovers Rose and Noah. When she’s not homeschooling her kids, giving riding lessons or tending to a menagerie of horses, goats, peacocks, chickens, ducks, rabbits, dogs and cats, she is dreaming up her next romantic novel.

My Review

Rose has had one hell of a year. First she loses her mother to cancer and then her father decides to move her and her brothers out to the middle of nowhere far away from her friends and her dancing. Things start looking up for Leah when she meets next door neighbor Noah. Only problem is Noah is Amish and well Leah isn't. 

First I have to say one thing. Leah and Noah "fell" WAY TOO FAST!!!!! Four days is just way too fast. Ok now that I have gotten that out of the way. I can talk about what I liked. 

I really, really liked Noah. He is a genuinely nice guy. He has always followed the rules of his community, he loves his family and has never wished he were anything other than Amish. I liked Leah and her whole family dynamic. What I loved the most about Temptation though was that even though these two fell in love extremely quickly once they had to make a decision about whether their relationship could continue or not neither of them took it lightly. They weren't all oh just become Amish or oh just stop being Amish. Reading about the heartache they went through to make such an agonizing decision felt very real to me and I was so glad that Hopkins didn't take the easy way out here. 

Plot: A romance with an original twist.

Characters: Angsty, hormonal teens. Yeah that sounds about right. 

Writing: Good. I really enjoy alternating point of view stories.

Ending: Kind of a cliffhanger but actually could have ended here too.

Content: Lots of kissing and innuendos of what could/would come if they were married. And some teen drinking. 

Overall: Temptation has been on my radar since it came out last year so I was really excited that I was able to find a spot for it as part of the Belonging tour. I'm happy to say that Temptation didn't disappoint. I look forward to reading more of Leah and Noah's story. 

Traced by Megan Squires Blog Tour and Giveaway

Tessa can’t sleep.

But when your parents are dead and the government directs your path in life, sleep shouldn’t come easily. Lately, Tessa’s fitful nights are growing even more predictable, almost like déjà vu. And she’s beginning to think that something greater is at work—something her society has taken drastic measures to keep hidden.

Caught between self-discovery and government conformity, she’ll have to choose either the boy who can help her reveal this new truth or the one that can provide her with the security of familiarity.

Tessa’s faced with a weighty decision. And she’s going to need more than a good night’s sleep to make it.

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Traced Teaser

2:34.

Seriously? Not again.

It’s so frustrating that those three numbers harbor so much meaning. For anyone else it’s just one of 1,440 other minutes in a day. It quickly ticks by in sixty seconds, and chances are, a normal person is completely unaware of its coming and going. But too many times those numbers stop me in my tracks. Or wake me out of a sound sleep. No other minute of the day causes me anxiety, but 2:34 sets into motion a full range of emotions so vast that every time it passes it’s as though life comes skidding to a halt, yet again.

2:34 p.m.

I never read the coroner’s report, nor cared to know the details. I knew they had crashed—that something in one of the plane’s engines malfunctioned shortly after takeoff. When I saw the officers pulling onto the long, dirt drive just as I had placed the last plate left from lunch into the wire dish rack, I knew it was bad news.

That’s all I needed to know. I didn’t want more details because I didn’t want my last memories to be about the facts of how they died. They lived life too fully to be summed up in a two-sentence statement regarding their death. So all I inquired about was the time of the crash.

That I did want to know—the precise minute when my life changed forever.

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About Megan Squires - website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads
Megan Squires lives with her husband and two children just outside of Sacramento, California. A graduate from the University of California, Davis, Megan is now a full-time mother, wife, and dreamer – though her characters don’t often give her much opportunity to sleep.







Check out the rest of the Traced tour here

Due to circumstances beyond my control my review of Traced will be posted at a later date. 

Blog Tour: Mia's Heart (The Paradise Diaries #2) by Courtney Cole and Giveaway!

Mia's Heart
Author: Courtney Cole
Release Date: November 13, 2012
Genre: YA Contemporary
Published By: Lakehouse Press
Source: Kismet Book Tours

My name is Mia Giannis.
I am seventeen years old.
I live in Valese, Caberra.
 
This has become my mantra and my lifeline, having recently lost my memory due to a scary natural disaster.
Yeah.  I have amnesia.  Messed up, right?
 
You don't know the half of it.  

Not remembering anything has turned my world upside down. My parents try their hardest to “remind” me of who I was, but it doesn't feel right. Or, if what they're saying is true and that really was me, I'm not sure I like that person very much.  

And then there’s my love life.  Apparently, Gavin Ariastasis is my oldest and best friend in the world. Also, apparently, we’ve never dated.  But now, noticing him for what feels like the first time, he’s making my heart do somersaults.  He knows me inside and out—the real me.  Plus, he’s sexy and charming as hell.  Sounds perfect, right?  

But then... there’s the new guy. Quinn McKeyen – tall, gorgeous and deliciously American.  His mischievous grin and slow Midwestern drawl turn my insides to mush in two seconds flat making me question who I really am and what I really want.  

Seriously. What am I supposed to do with all that?!  I feel torn between them, but I barely even know who I am, let alone what I want.
 
I just hope my indecisive heart will clue me in.  And sooner rather than later…before I lose what little of my mind that I have left.

My Thoughts: 

I have been anxiously awaiting the return of Mia, Gavin, Quinn, Reece and Dante. Dante's Girl was such a sweet, fun read and I couldn't wait to find out if Mia was going to get her happily ever after as well.

Poor Mia! Really, I can't imagine waking up and not knowing anyone, not even yourself. How terrifying not to know anything about who you are, how you feel about someone, what you like or hate! If that's not enough, now she has the added stress of falling for a gorgeous guy. Wait...make that two gorgeous guys. She now has to decide which boy she's in love with and which one is just a friend. The stunning boy she's known all her life but can't remember or the rugged cowboy that makes her heart race? 

Luckily her best friends Reece and Dante come back ready to help Mia get her memories back and to help clean and rebuild the beautiful city of Caberra. There is a lot to love about this novel but one of my favorite parts was how gentle Reece was with Mia. She is always there for her and selflessly helps her through every scary, confusing moment. Even though Mia can't remember Reece she can see why Reece was her best friend.

I really enjoyed the way Cole had Mia grow without the edge of all of the resentment she had held onto with her mother. It was interesting to see her become basically who she had been without all that anger. As for the boys I definitely had my favorite picked out well before Mia did. 

Mia's Heart is a sweet novel that [aired up with a cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter's night just might have the ability to make your teeth ache (in a good way). I'm really curious to see what and who the next book has in store for us.

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About Courtney Cole

website | twitter |  facebook | facebook fan page

Courtney Cole is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could.
She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds.
Every Last Kiss is her debut novel and she followed it with the rest of The Bloodstone Saga (Every Last Kiss, Fated, With My Last Breath and My Tattered Bonds).
Courtney lives in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming, her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from their mother) and a small domestic zoo.
Learn more about Courtney and her books at www.courtneycolewrites.com

Check out Dante's Girl - the first book in the Paradise Diaries Series  
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Mia's Heart Release Day Blizz and Giveaway

 

About Mia’s Heart

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My name is Mia Giannis.
I am seventeen years old.
I live in Valese, Caberra.
This has become my mantra and my lifeline, having recently lost my memory due to a scary natural disaster.
Yeah.  I have amnesia.  Messed up, right?
You don't know the half of it.
Not remembering anything has turned my world upside down. My parents try their hardest to “remind” me of who I was, but it doesn't feel right. Or, if what they're saying is true and that really was me, I'm not sure I like that person very much.
And then there’s my love life.  Apparently, Gavin Ariastasis is my oldest and best friend in the world. Also, apparently, we’ve never dated.  But now, noticing him for what feels like the first time, he’s making my heart do somersaults.  He knows me inside and out—the real me.  Plus, he’s sexy and charming as hell.  Sounds perfect, right? But then... there’s the new guy. Quinn McKeyen – tall, gorgeous and deliciously American.  His mischievous grin and slow Midwestern drawl turn my insides to mush in two seconds flat making me question who I really am and what I really want.Seriously. What am I supposed to do with all that?!  I feel torn between them, but I barely even know who I am, let alone what I want. I just hope my indecisive heart will clue me in.  And sooner rather than later…before I lose what little of my mind that I have left. 

Excerpt of Mia's Heart:

I flip over and suddenly, I’m terrified.
I’m panicky.
The sea is so very vast.
And I’m so very alone.
I scream. I can’t help it. And as I do, I accidentally gulp in a huge mouthful of
water. Everything that follows is a blur.
I start coughing and flailing my arms and even though I’m wearing a life-jacket, I’m
thrashing around like a lunatic. I hear the boat motor start up and then I feel the wake
of the boat as it crests up to me. Gavin is next to me and before I know it, he’s hauling
me over the side of The Shining.
I’m in his lap, on the floor of the boat and he is holding me and I am shaking.
OhMyGod.
I’m such an idiot.
I’m such an idiot.

And I must be repeating it out loud, even though I don’t mean to, because Gavin is
telling me, “No, you’re not.”
But I am.
I really am.
“I don’t know why I got so afraid,” I tell him. “I think I had a panic attack.” My voice
sounds pathetic and I hate it.
Gavin tightens his grip on me, his strong arms are wrapped around me and I
suddenly realize that his skin is pressed against mine and it feels really, really good. I
push into him harder and clutch him to me.
Because for some insane reason, I’m still unnerved.
“It’s okay,” he tells me softly. He’s stroking my back and I’m trying to catch my
breaths like a normal person. “You’ve been through a lot. I shouldn’t have let you float
like that alone. You seemed like you were doing fine, so I climbed up onto the boat to
watch you and I must have fallen asleep. I’m so sorry. This is my fault, Mi.”
I look up at him. He’s so sexy and concerned and my heart melts.
“It’s not your fault that I’m insane,” I tell him firmly. “I don’t know why I panicked. I
can’t even explain it. Everything just all of a sudden felt so big and I felt so small and
alone. I guess I kind of freaked out.”
Understatement of the year.
Gavin’s dark eyes are soft as he stares at me. He brushes a thumb across my
cheek and says that he is so very sorry.
“It makes sense, Mia,” he tells me. “You can’t remember who you are. So you feel
sort of alone in the world. And when you fell asleep while you were floating and woke
up, the sea felt big. And everything came down on you at once. It’s okay. I get it. But
you’re never alone. I want you to know that. You will always have me. You always
have and you always will.”
My heart swells until it might burst.
It feels so incredibly, amazingly good to have this beautiful boy tell me that. To
know that he has always been my friend, that he knows me inside and out. And then I
do something unexpected.
I lean up and kiss Gavin.
On the mouth.
Sweet Angel of Mercy.
His lips are soft and warm from the sun. I can taste the sea on them and I weave
my hands into his hair, pulling him closer. He tightens his grip on me and kisses me
back; hard, hard, harder. He tastes like fruit and smells like sunshine.
It’s really nice.
Wonderful.
Amazing.
My heart is doing flip-flops when I finally pull away.

Gavin stares down at me in shock.
“I’ve always wondered what that would be like,” he admits. “Kissing a firecracker, I
mean.” I smile.
“And?”
“It’s really too difficult to say from just one kiss,” he says, his dark eyes twinkling.
“We should try it again so that I have more to go on.”
He cups my face in his hands and dips his head, his lips meeting mine.
He tastes of butterscotch and man.
Twenty-five beats of my heart later, he pulls away.
“And?” I breathe.
“You’ll do,” he grins.

About Courtney Cole 

 

website | twitter |  facebook | facebook fan page

Courtney Cole is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could.
She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds.
Every Last Kiss is her debut novel and she followed it with the rest of The Bloodstone Saga (Every Last Kiss, Fated, With My Last Breath and My Tattered Bonds).
Courtney lives in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming, her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from their mother) and a small domestic zoo.
Learn more about Courtney and her books at www.courtneycolewrites.com

Check out Dante's Girl - the first book in the Paradise Diaries Series  
goodreads | amazon | B&N  

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Review: Dante's Girl

Author: Courtney Cole
Publisher: Lakehouse Press
Release Date: June 22, 2012
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
Pages: 356
Source: Publisher and Kismet Book Tours
Summary from publisher:

I have spent every summer since I was ten years old with my father in London.  Every summer, since I was ten years old, has been uneventful and boring.
Until this year.
And this year, after a freak volcanic eruption strands me far from home, I have learned these things:
1.  I can make do with one outfit for three days before I buy new clothes.
2.  If I hear the phrase, “You’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto,” even one more time, I might become a homicidal maniac.
3.  I am horribly and embarrassingly allergic to jellyfish.
4. I am in love with Dante Giliberti, who just happens to be the beautiful, sophisticated son of the Prime Minister of a Mediterranean paradise.
5.  See number four above.  Because it brings with it a whole slew  of problems and I’ve learned something from every one of them.
Let’s start with the fact that Dante’s world is five light-years away from mine.  He goes to black-tie functions and knows the Prime Minister of England on a first name basis.  I was born and raised on a farm in Kansas and wear cut-off jeans paired with cowboy boots.  See the difference?
But hearts don’t care about differences.  Hearts want what they want.  And mine just wants to be Dante’s girl.
My heart just might be crazy.


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My Thoughts:
I don't think I've ever read a more perfect summer romance than Dante's Girl. Courtney Cole did an amazing job of capturing teens at their best and worst in this novel. She hit on the perfect mixture of teen angst without over doing it and making the characters annoying or overly mature for kids about to be high school seniors.


The Characters:

The characters made this book for me. I loved how Courtney Cole wrote each and every one of them. Reece our main character had so many layers and like a real person I didn't love every layer. She had some great qualities and some that drove me crazy but that's why I loved her so much. Dante's major flaw was that he wanted to make everyone happy. If you've ever tried to do that then you know it's impossible. I was rooting for him to grow a pair and make himself happy for a change. Reece and Dante have such wonderful chemistry, they played off of each other so well throughout the entire book.

The Setting:

Cole did a great job painting a picture of Dante's beautiful homes and the island of Caberra where he lives. She really made me want to get up and travel except maybe not on a plane. That whole thing with the plane really freaked me out.

The Plot:

Parts of this book are your typical girl and boy meet, they fall in love, ect. However, there were definitely some twists that I never expected and never once did I think hey, this book reminds me of...

The Writing:

Cole's writing is easy to read and very engaging.

The Ending:

I knew how I wanted this book to end and I was pretty sure it was heading in that direction but then the direction changed. I think I was even happier with Cole's ending than I would have been with my own.

The Cover:

While the cover is cute and it really does capture the theme of the book it's just a little busy for me.

Mature Situations:

There is some teen drinking, though technically the legal age is lower in Caberra. Some mentions of sex and some making out, but nothing over the top.

Overall:

I think it's pretty obvious that I really enjoyed this book. I'm happy to recommend this book, especially to those who enjoy a good young adult romance.

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