Book Review: Fish Out Of Water by Hailey Edwards

Author: Hailey Edwards
Series: A Gemini Novella
Audience: +18
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: CrushStar Multimedia LLC
Release Date: September 18th 2016
My Rating: 5 cups
Source: Netgalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):

Harlow Bevans was a changeling mermaid working as a diving consultant for the Earthen Conclave. Then he came along. Charybdis. A serial killer who possessed her body and wrecked her mind. Now she's an inmate—patient—at Edelweiss Mental Institution.

When a haunting song lures her to the scene of a brutal murder, the calm of the past few months is shattered. A fellow patient is dead, and Harlow is caught standing over his body by a mysterious guard who hides his own secrets behind a pair of aviator sunglasses her fingers itch to remove.

Unwilling to be a pawn in another psychopath's game, Harlow sets out to discover the real killer. What she uncovers makes her a prime target, and the next song she hears could be her last. Curiosity may not have killed the cat, but it just might fillet the mermaid.

*Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this copy from Netgalley and CrushStar Multimedia LLC in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or my opinion of this book

The world of the Black Dog and the other connected series keeps getting bigger and bigger, and that makes me insanely happy. The latest book in the series brings you the story of Harlow, after she is rescued from Charybdis, and it shows her road to recovery.

What I love most about this book is that the story takes place in the facility where Harlow is recovering at. She's still struggling with what Charybdis did to her, she's not healed yet. Actually, this book shows Harlow go from the mute girl who would only make sounds as she's having gruesome nightmares about what happened to her, to the adventurous girl who will try to save everyone around her. So it's actually a book about healing, which I enjoyed a lot.

I feel like Harlow still has a lot to deal with, and there's a lot she still needs to face, to be fully healed, but she's getting there. Maybe she'll never again be that pink-haired mermaid that she was before being used as a pawn in a serial killer's sick game, but at least she won't be a living ghost anymore. She'll have a life, as normal as possible. I'm actually really proud of how much she's managed to accomplish in this book.

A character that intrigued me a lot was Lam. He's a mystery, and it isn't until very close to the end of the story that we get to find out more about him. I'd really love to know more about him, and more about his past.

We also get to learn what happened to the pregnant werewolf from the Gemini series, Bianca. Her story is still heartbreaking, it's still painful, and it seems that, at least for now, it will continue to be that way. However, I have hope. I love the little twist at the end, and what that kind of means for her future, so I have hope for her. I do wish we get to read more about her in the next books, especially in the Lorimar Pack series.

Speaking of series and future books, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more Harlow books. I love her so much, and I'd love to see how she recovers from being kidnapped and possessed, as well as learn more about Lam, and the patients at the Edelweiss Mental Institution.

The book was pretty well paced, and I read it pretty quickly. I'm very happy Harlow is on her way towards a happy ending, and I can only hope we'll get to see more of her in future series. If you still haven't started reading this series, trust me, you're missing out on a lot of fun.

Blog Tour Book Review: Confessions of an Undercover Girlfriend by Kay Marie

Author: Kay Marie
Series: Confessions #2
Audience: +18
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: October 11th 2016
My Rating: 4.5 cups
Source: Author
Blurb (from Goodreads):

So, I'm no longer a virgin sex columnist—thank you, Ollie—but if I thought that was going to make my life easier, boy was I wrong! John is back in town determined to win my forgiveness. Blythe is more ready than ever to take me down. Bridget is totally onto the new twinkle in my eye. And, well, Ollie is just as distractingly delicious as usual.

So, naturally, I have a few more confessions to make.

Confession #1: I came up with what I thought would be the perfect plan to keep my relationship with Ollie a secret—pretend to get back together with John!

Confession #2: It backfired. A lot.

*Disclaimer: I received an eARC from Kay Marie in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or opinion of the book in any way.

I've been super excited for this book to come out, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint.

Confessions of an Undercover Girlfriend picks up right where the previous book, Confessions of a Virgin Sex Columnist, ended, and it kind of felt like I was watching part two of a movie, which was awesome. We don't jump forward in time, weeks or days later, we're right there, when John knocks on the door in the morning after Skye and Ollie's romantic night.

Skylar is still the same girl from before. I love that sex didn't magically change her, it didn't make her have the self-confidence that her co-worker, Blythe has, nor the lack of fear that her best friend, Bridge, is known for. She's still the rambling, clumsy, awkward girl, that can't quite control her fear, and I liked that. We get to see her come to some conclusions about herself, her relationship with Ollie, her friendship with Bridge, and I'm actually proud of her. She kind of managed to make me want to shake her a few times, because her freak-outs in this book were even more epic than in the previous one, but that's her charm, in the end. There's a brilliant scene at the end of the book, where Bridge asks Skye how she manages to live with the anxiety and hyperventilating all the time, and Skye says it takes talent, and it's true. I can understand Skye though. I feel like everyone, myself included, has moments of self doubt, that, when seen from someone else's perspective, can seem strange, or exaggerated, or even annoying at times, but it really does take a special kind of talent to have that inside you and still manage to do all of the stuff you want to do.

I liked Oliver more in this book that before. He kind of grew on me, and I liked that he was willing to let Skye have her little meltdowns and moments of self doubt, and hold her until those moments passed. Sure, there was a moment when I questioned his resolve, but I didn't blame him.

I liked the dynamic between Skye and Bridge. At first I had mixed feelings about Skye wanting to hide her relationship from her best friend, but I eventually got it. She even says is at one point, what if this relationship isn't what she thought it would be, what if she realizes that Ollie is so not the guy for her, why risk a friendship over something that might not be true. But at the same time, I wanted to shake her, because if her best friend really loved her, it wouldn't matter. It shouldn't, and, in the end, it turns out okay. But what I love is that it showed how, even from the one person that we trust with everything and anything, we still get scared of rejection, of judgement. I liked that the book went there.

There were laugh-out-loud moments in this book, one of them involving a drink and someone's face, that made me laugh like a loon. The ending was super cute, and I absolutely adored it. Speaking of things I'd adore, you know what, I'd love to see how Blythe's story ends. I'd love her to get a happy ending, I'd love to see more of her. I couldn't stand her at first, but this book made me like her. I'd definitely read a book about her.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book, which was a really great ending to Skye and Oliver's story.

Release Week Blitz: All Laced Up by Erin Fletcher

 

Hello Readers!  Welcome to the Release Week Blitz for

All Laced Up by Erin Fletcher

presented by Entangled Teen Crush!

Swoon worthy hockey players?  Sign. Me. Up.

 

Happy Book Birthday, Erin!!

 

 

Everyone loves hockey superstar Pierce Miller. Everyone except Lia Bailey.

When the two are forced to teach a skating class to save the rink, Lia’s not sure she’ll survive the pressure of Nationals and Pierce’s ego. Not only can’t he remember her name, he signed her bottle of water like she was one of his groupies. Ugh.

But if there’s one thing Lia knows better than figure skating, it’s hockey. Hoping to take his ego down a notch—or seven—she logs into his team website under an anonymous name to give him pointers on his less-than-stellar playing.

Turns out, Pierce isn’t arrogant at all. And they have a lot in common. Too bad he’s falling for the anonymous girl online. No matter how much fun they’re starting to have in real life, she’s afraid he’s going to choose fake-Lia over the real one…

Disclaimer: This book contains a swoony hockey player (and his equally swoony friends!), one-too-many social media accounts, kisses that’ll melt ice, and a secret identity that might not be so secret after all…

All Laced Up by Erin Fletcher Publication Date:  October 10, 2016 Publisher:  Entangled Teen Crush

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Erin is a young adult author from North Carolina. She is a morning person who does most of her writing before sunrise, while drinking excessive quantities of coffee. She believes flip-flops qualify as year-round footwear, and would spend every day at the beach if she could. She has a bachelor's degree in mathematics, which is almost never useful when writing books.

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