Seduction in Session Review

Seduction in Session
by Shayla Black and Lexi Blake

Spoilers

Synopsis:

Privileged, wealthy, and wild: they are the Perfect Gentlemen of Creighton Academy. But the threat of a scandal has one of them employing his most deceptive—and seductive—talents…

Recruited into the CIA at a young age, Connor Sparks knows how dirty the world can be. Only when he’s with his friends can he find some peace. So when an anonymous journalist threatens one of the Perfect Gentlemen, Connor vows to take down the person behind the computer, by whatever means necessary—even if it means posing as his target’s bodyguard.

Publishing a tabloid revealing Washington’s most subversive scandals has earned Lara Anderson the ire of the political scene—and a slew of death threats. To keep herself from ending up a headline, Lara hires a bodyguard, a man as handsome as he is lethal.

When the bullets start to fly, Lara is surprised to find herself in Connor’s arms. But as they begin to unravel a mystery that just might bring down the White House, Lara is devastated when she discovers Connor’s true identity—and finds herself at the mercy of forces who will stop at nothing to advance their deadly agenda. 

My Thoughts:

I gave this book 4 stars. I liked it a bit less than the first book, it dragged a little in the beginning, but the plot line that carried over from the first book was more than enough to keep me reading.

Lara really annoyed me at first. I don't know exactly what it was about her that just completely rubbed me the wrong way. Things did eventually get better, but she was just very naive in the beginning. In the first book I loved Everly because she was smart and had a lot of common sense, but I feel like Lara is missing a lot of that common sense. She blindly trusts everyone around her, like Niall. She didn't know Niall, he didn't even exist. She trusted Connor who was actually pretending to be Niall to get close to her. Lara just isn't careful about the things she does and that really bothered me. She's like that girl who dies first in a horror film because she let the killer into her house because he claims to be hurt. She did learn some life lessons the hard way throughout the book, and I guess that's all we can ask for. 

Most of this series is very unrealistic, but I find that their ages are very realistic. I mean the Perfect Gentlemen, not their love interests. These Perfect Gentlemen all have these incredible jobs, their rich and some are famous. Now a lot of the time in books where the men are filthy rich, they're in their late twenties or early thirties which seems pretty unrealistic. No one is that successful at such a young age unless you're a legacy or you're a super genius. These men, if my math is correct, are 40, which in my opinion seems that being rich and successful is more likely after many years of work.

This is most definitely a stretch, but I have a theory that Deep Throat is actually Maddox. This may just me being delusional about his death, but I still hold onto hope that he's alive. I mean, he seems to have all this information about what's going on, plus why would he help them if he had nothing to gain from it? He could easily disguise his voice, it isn't that hard. Plus him pretending to still be dead protects him from the people who tried to kill him the first time. So, I mean it could happen. We also know that there is more than one person being Deep Throat, so is Maddox possibly behind all of this? I hope so. Unlikely, but there is a sliver of possibility.

We get a few tidbits about Everly and Sara's new friendship, which is exactly what I wanted from the first book, so I'm pretty happy about it all. Even though it was very briefly mentioned I'm glad to see those two girls getting along so well.

As for the main couple, their decision making skills sucked. I love Connor, but he's a total caveman and not always in a good way. He continuously lies to Lara about who he is and tries to justify his lying by saying how much he loves her, then he wants to get her pregnant just so she can't completely cut him out when she does find out. Lara is just so naive about the fact that she is being manipulated by him that all I want is for her to grow a spine. As much as I love Connor, he needs to not be such a dick sometimes.

We get so a few flashbacks to the olden high school days, and I must say from the small glances we get into their pasts I really just want a book about all of their shenanigans together. They sound like they got  into so much trouble together and those are my favorite types of stories. If that were to ever happen I would be over the moon.

Overall, this was solid instalment in the series. I'm most likely going to spend the rest of the series thinking of conspiracy theories where Maddox ends up being alive still. 

City of Fallen Angels Review

City of Fallen Angels
by Cassandra Clare

Spoilers

Synopsis:

The Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She’s training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And—most importantly of all—she can finally call Jace her boyfriend.

But nothing comes without a price.

Someone is murdering Shadowhunters, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second, bloody war. Clary’s best friend, Simon, can’t help her—his mother just found out that he’s a vampire, and now he’s homeless. When Jace begins to pull away from her without explaining why, Clary is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: she herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.

My Thoughts:

I gave this book 4.5 stars. More of a filler book until the better things come in the next two books, but nonetheless, it was still a Cassandra Clare book which means I really loved it. It was a lot more calm than the last book, but it's still something that is worth reading.

Jace likes to pretend that he's all strong and brave, which he is, but that doesn't change the fact that every time something goes wrong, it's because he was manipulated. I swear, no one else in this series gets manipulated as much as Jace does, which is especially evident in this book when Max came to him in a dream and Jace just completely bought everything Max said to him. It never even occurred to him that it was some sort of demonic presence masquerading as his little brother.

The Alec and Magnus drama drove me crazy. I can see where both sides are coming from. This is Alec's first relationship ever, he's completely insecure and has only just come to terms with being gay and being open about that. At the same time he was just being an overall douchebag to Magnus about what Magnus couldn't really control: the past. On the other end of the spectrum I honestly think Magnus could have been a little more understanding of the fact that Alec was new at this. What bothers me the most was when Magnus was talking to Camille, whom he was obviously not happy with or even seemed to like, and when it was over Alec revealed he had heard the whole thing, but instead of latching  on to the part where Magnus said Alec was his future, he instead latched on to the part where Camille said Alec looked like Will. I honestly don't think it was relevant enough for Alec to be mad about it.

What I love about this series that the other two series's in the Shadowhunter World don't have, is that it's a two part series. There are two different story arcs. We get more of these characters we love, but the plot doesn't get old because Cassie has just done an amazing job of keeping things fresh. I think it was a very good idea to have two different stories in one series.

Another thing that drove me crazy was the "love triangle" between Simon, Maia, and Isabelle. I hate that Simon was dating both of them without them knowing about each other. It feels like cheating, but I know it isn't because neither couple were exclusive. I just feel like Simon should have better common sense than that. On the flip side, Isabelle pissed me off because of the fact that she was mad at Simon dating other girls because she saw herself as "out of his league" and should have been grateful for it. Isabelle, you need to be knocked down a peg or two. There is a fine line between confidence and being an asshole. I found Maia completely blameless in this whole thing. Maia is a very chill character who I've never found a reason to hate and so I will keep liking her.

While both Alec and Magnus, along with Izzy and Simon had some relationship problems. I was glad to see that some of it was resolves by the end of the book. Not all, a storm is still to come, but I'm glad that it ended on a semi happy note instead of a heartbreaking one. The same cannot be said for Jace and Clary. Can't wait to get onto City of Lost Souls.

Luke and Jocelyn are the perfect couple. They are couple goals, the relationship that future me wishes to have. Seeing them happy together and being together no matter what society told them was beautiful. I hope they are very happy together and maybe have some little Shadowhunter/werewolf babies if that is genetically possible. I think Clary could use some siblings. Luke and Jocelyn aren't that old, they could still have babies if they really wanted to.

The whole Lilith aspect of the book makes me very uncomfortable. She completely hijacked Jace's mind and killed Maureen and basically tried to kidnap Simon, all so that she could bring back Sebastian. I still don't understand what he motivation for that is. I know she claims that she's basically his mother, but I doubt she has any maternal feelings towards him. It's probably more of her wanting to complete her science experiment or wanting to just create chaos. Actually what creeped me out most about her was the going around and killing babies just because she feels like it. It makes me think of that scene from Game of Thrones, the one where Daenerys is like "Eight thousand dead babies" in a dry manner. I tried to find the Gif, but it eludes me.

Quotes:

“You're just worried they'll hire a male instructor and he'll be hotter than you." Jace's eyebrows went up. "Hotter than me?" "It could happen," Clary said, "You know, theoretically.""Theoretically the planet could suddenly crack in half, leaving me on one side and you on the other, forever and tragically parted, but I'm not worried about that either. Some things," Jace said, with his customary crooked smile, "are just too unlikely to dwell upon.” 

“You're the first Shadowhunter I've ever met." “That’s too bad,” said Jace, “since all the others you meet from now on will be a terrible letdown.” 

“So what was that all about?""I think," Jace said, "that she asked if she could touch my mango.""She said that?"Jace shrugged. "Yeah, then she gave me her number.” 
“But I watch my brothers give their hearts away and I think, Don’t you know better? Hearts are breakable. And I think even when you heal, you’re never what you were before.” 

“Still I pictured having you for fifty, sixty more years. I thought I might be ready then to let you go. But it's you, and I realize now that I won't be anymore ready to lose you then than I am right now. Which is not at all.” 

Scandal Never Sleeps Review

Scandal Never Sleeps
by Shayla Black and Lexi Blake

Spoilers

Synopsis:

They are the Perfect Gentlemen of Creighton Academy: privileged, wealthy, powerful friends with a wild side. But a deadly scandal is about to tear down their seemingly ideal lives...

Maddox Crawford’s sudden death sends Gabriel Bond reeling. Not only is he burying his best friend, he’s cleaning up Mad’s messes, including his troubled company. Grieving and restless, Gabe escapes his worries in the arms of a beautiful stranger. But his mind-blowing one-night stand is about to come back to haunt him...

Mad groomed Everly Parker to be a rising star in the executive world. Now that he’s gone, she’s sure her job will be the next thing she mourns, especially after she ends up accidentally sleeping with her new boss. If only their night together hadn’t been so incendiary—or Gabe like a fantasy come true...

As Gabe and Everly struggle to control the heated tension between them, they discover evidence that Mad’s death was no accident. Now they must bank their smoldering passions to hunt down a murderer—because Mad had secrets that someone was willing to kill for, and Gabe or Everly could be the next target...

My Thoughts:

I gave this book 4.5 stars. This was so much more than some smutty romance, which is what I expected going into it. It had an amazing plot line that just keeps you so completely engaged, along with lovable characters.

I picked this book up just because I felt like reading some romance, as I usually do. This book is completely marketed as an Erotica, but while that was pretty good, I wasn't even interested in the romance because the plot had me hooked. I just wanted to know what was going to happen next. My head would fill with all these theories of what I thought would happen and the romance was just pushed into the background.

The worst part was that I kept trying to convince myself that Maddox hadn't really died, that his death was somehow faked or their was a failed murder attempt that he survived. I just grew to love him so much even though I knew he was dead, I just felt so much hope that maybe he hadn't died. I'm actually crossing my fingers because I want him to be alive so badly.

All of the members of the "Perfect Gentleman's" club, (is it even a club?) all had such contrasting personalities that I couldn't help but love, especially when they were all together. It felt so nostalgic even if we never got a book with them as teens. They just fit so well together, there's no one who jealous of the other, no one that's resentful. This group of men are each others family and they are happy to be just that. I love groups of friends that are that tight, it reminds me of things like Stand by Me and Stranger Things. They make me happy.

Everly was the protagonist I always dreamed of. She didn't make stupid choices. When Scott told her he thinks Gabe was going to murder her, she thought about it instead of just sneaking away right away. She didn't just blindly trust him, she actually went and talked to Dax instead of being an idiot.

What made this book so good was that I couldn't guess what was going to happen. Usually I find that mystery novels are a bit transparent and I can pick up on what's going to happen before it does, but in this book it really was a complete mystery.

I'm a little disappointed that we didn't get a scene where Everly and Sara meet.. I would have actually loved to see that happen. Sara isn't really present that much in this book, but she is a huge influence on Gabe, being his sister and all, and from what I could gather she was also really important to Maddox. It seems like they had something real going on which is another reason I hope that he's secretly alive, so he can be a dad and marry Sara because I think he really loved her.

Maddox and Everly's relationship made me feel very warm and fuzzy. At the same time I was very sad that Everly didn't find out they were siblings until after he had died. I think they were just what the other person needed to have in their lives. Another reason that I hope Maddox is secretly alive.

Overall, I know I should be catching up on things I should be reading, but instead I'm going to start the next book. That should tell you all you need to know.

Best Book Adaptation: The Princess Bride

Time for another rant or rave! This week is a rave, as evident by the title. I just have to as that I'm so sorry it's been like two weeks since I've done one of these, I just kept going back and forth between two raves I wanted to do and just ended up settling on this one. Now let's get into it.

I read the Princess Bride a few months ago and loved it. Before I had read the book I'd seen the movie. Now obviously the movie is a classic, everyone and their mother has seen the Princess Bride. It's a necessity of life. What really cements the movie as worth a watch is that it is also incredibly accurate to the book.

I don't think anyone realizes just how true the movie is to the book. While I was reading the book I was just amazed that the movie had actual dialogue from the book, not just a line or two like most adaptation. This legit had entire scenes that were exactly as they were in the book. Honestly I could have watched the movie and read the book at the exact same time as reading the movie, just using the book as a script or something because it was that precise.

As for the casting choices, I think those were also fantastic. Especially Andre the Giant as Fezzik. The casting directors completely lucked out when they found him because all I could think whenever reading about Fezzik and what he looked like was that Andre was perfect for the role. Now the rest of the cast was also pretty good, especially Wesley who I have to admit was really attractive. Overall Andre was the best casting choice by far.

I might have even liked the movie a bit more than the book, it kept it more simple. In the book there is this entire subplot with the author and his fake life as an author and it was a bit confusing to say the least. On this not I thank the writers of the movie for just making it about a man telling a story to his grandson because that entire subplot in the book was just a huge whirlwind.

To end off, the story itself is truly one of a kind. It takes stereotypes and tropes and flips them on their head. Instead of being cheesy it's packed full of action, adventure, and true love. There is something there for everyone and that's what I think is the best part about the Princess Bride.

I can honestly say with 100% certainty that this was the best book to movie adaptation of which I have both read the book and seen the movie. This doesn't count those that I have only seen the movie or only read the book of.

Has anyone else read the book or the movie? What did you think?


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How to Remove Stickers from Books

We've all been through it, buying a book that has a sticker on it and that sticker doesn't quite come off cleanly. For some reason book sellers hate us and want us to suffer. I'm here to help you with all your troubles today by telling you how to remove a sticker from your book along with the sticky mess underneath.

As an example I'm going to use my 20th Anniversary Edition of Harry Potter.

Things you need:

• Rubbing Alcohol
• Several Cotton Pads
• Your Book

Step 1:

Peel off as much of the sticker as you can, the less of the paper part of the sticker is left on your book the easier it will be to get off the gunk.

Step 2:

Soak your cotton pad in rubbing alcohol, but not too much that it's dripping, you want it to just be damp enough that it will soak into the remains of sticker. You don't want to get any alcohol on your pages.

Step 3:

Press the cotton pad to the mess of sticker and give it a moment to soak in a bit, then start rubbing away at the sticker.

Step 4:

Use a dry cotton pad to wipe away the rest of the rubbing alcohol and goop left over from the sticker.

Step 5: 

If you didn't get rid of all the sticker the first time, then the rubbing alcohol will do that for you. There will be a bit of scraping necessary to get off the rest of the paper part of the sticker, but it won't damage the book. I promise, just as long as you don't use anything very sharp, just use your nail or the back of a knife. If there is still gunk left over just repeat steps 3 and 4 over until you're satisfied with it.

This process also works with getting sharpie off of your books. it works very quickly and easily.

I hope this helped some of you guys out, I know it changed my life when I stumbled across this knowledge.

Waiting on Wednesday

Turtles All the Way Down
by John Green

Release Date: October 10th, 2017

Synopsis:

It all begins with a fugitive billionaire and the promise of a cash reward. 

Turtles All the Way Down is about lifelong friendship, the intimacy of an unexpected reunion, Star Wars fan fiction, and tuatara. But at its heart is Aza Holmes, a young woman navigating daily existence within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts. 

In his long-awaited return, John Green shares Aza’s story with shattering, unflinching clarity.

My Thoughts:

I've waited five years for this. Honestly, I just about screamed when I noticed that there was a cover, synopsis, and a release date for this year. John Green is a very hit or miss author, but I almost always love his books and I'm sure I'll love this one too.

Top 5 Series's That Got Better

This one was surprisingly hard to narrow down, there are so many series's out there that started off on an okay note, but just developed into such amazing stories. I do stand by the ones I chose though, they are pretty magnificent.

5. The Vampire Academy

I enjoyed the first two books, but it just got so much better in the third book. I feel like the end of the second book was when the entire series just started to pick up the pace.

4. Gallagher Girls Series

The first book in this series was actually a bit boring. I had a harder time getting through that book than any other book in the series. I feel like it picked up a lot when Zach was introduced and he was all cute and mysterious. This is more of my preteen logic making it's way to the surface, but I still think it's plausible.

3. A Court of Thorns and Roses

The first book was in no way bad, but the difference between the first book and the second is so complete that if those two were in a contest I would instantly choose ACOMAF, because that was a trick question, there is no contest.

2. Shatter Me

The series got better as the main character changed. That was what shifted the story, the protagonist went from a pretty spineless scared little girl to a warrior. Also, my NOTP sank and my OTP got together.

1. The Mortal Instruments

Like the rest, the first few books weren't bad, I enjoyed them, but the series just got better and better as it progressed and is to this day, one of my favourite book series's.

What series's did you guys think got better? I'd love to know your thoughts!

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Top 10 Bookish Pet Peeves

Everyone having a good Tuesday? This was supposed to be ready last night, but I got a migraine, so I ended up getting up early just to make this post. I think it's well worth it though, I like my Top 10 Tuesdays.

1. Goodreads Ratings

More specifically when people rate books before reading them. I know this doesn't directly affect me, but actually, it kind of does. I look a lot at the ratings when I want to read the book, I want to know if it's worth my time, and I won't know the true consensus if people don't actually read the books before rating them.

2. Dog Eared Books

This was me in the fifth grade. All I ever did was dog-ear books and honestly, my copies of the Harry Potter series hate me. I hate me.

3. Spine Cracking

Another reason I hate fifth grade Jessie. I used to love cracking the spines to my books, I found it so satisfying but now it physically hurts me to do it. I was also guilty of doing this to my first copies of Harry Potter.

4. When people ask what book you're reading while you’re reading

Pretty self-explanatory, I don't want to be grilled on a book while I'm reading it. After I put it down, sure, I would love to tell you all about it, but not while I'm reading.

5. Running out of book space

This is currently my problem. I need more shelves, it's come to book stacking.

6. Buying a Book and Hating It

I honestly think there is nothing worse than taking a gamble and buying a thirty dollar hardcover book and then taking it home, reading it, and hating it. I just spent hard earned money on that book and it let me down.

7. When People Attack Your Opinion

I hate when I read a book and I didn't have good feelings about the book, but when I talk about these bad feelings people argue. There is nothing to argue about, these are my feelings and really don't have anything to do with other people. The only thing you arguing with me does is make me dislike the books even more because I then associate it with an argument that I don't want to be having.

8. Not knowing which book to read

When you just go through an amazing binge read of one genre and then you're out of that genre and you have to try and figure out what to read next. Impossible.

9. Character Names

Character names seems a little unspecific so let me just elaborate so this makes more sense. What I hate is when I read two books back to back and characters from the two books have the same names (I get confused). And it isn't fun, I feel like I have deja vu and I don't know how. This happens more than you think it does.

10. Reading Slumps

Different from Not Knowing What to read, because at least then I feel like reading. Reading Slumps are the worst because I don't want to read anything. I'll try and try but I just can't get into anything. Reading takes up most of my free time so when I can't read, I'm bored.

What Bookish Pet Peeves do you guys have? 

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Update Post

Everyone having a good Sunday? I spent my morning at the animal shelter spending time with all the animals I am allergic to. I regret nothing. I also had an insane craving for chocolate milk and stopped by the grocery store on my way home just to buy a litre of chocolate milk because I have no self control. Anyway, let's get to what you're here for.

This is a quick blog update. In case for any reason you went to the Book Review page here on my blog and you decided you wanted to read one of my reviews and you clicked on the link and it took you to a page saying that the page doesn't exist. It does still exist, I just decided I wanted to fix up a lot of my older reviews. They will be back up soon, I just wanted to have better reviews because those older ones really, honestly suck.

This is just to let you guys know so you aren't confused if you decided you wanted to read one of them. (Honestly I don't know why you would).

I hope you guys have a great day! Also, if you had any specific reviews or posts that you may want to see from me, comment it down below!


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