Annaberry Reads: January 2016

Cover Reveal for Impact by K.A. Sterritt

Today, I get to share the cover for Impact, by K.A. Sterritt! It is a sequel to Collision (The Fight for Life Series).

Impact is set to be released on April 8, 2016.

Title: Moonlight on Nightingale Way
Series: On Dublin Street, # 6
Author: Samantha Young
Date Published: June 2, 2015
Publisher: NAL
Rating: 4 Stars

Logan from Echoes of Scotland Street is back with his own smoldering story, as the New York Times bestselling On Dublin Street series returns…

Logan spent two years paying for the mistakes he made. Now, he’s ready to start over. He has a great apartment, a good job, and plenty of women to distract him from his past. And one woman who is driving him to distraction…

Grace escaped her manipulative family by moving to a new city. Her new life, made to suit her own needs, is almost perfect. All she needs to do is find her Mr. Right—or at least figure out a way to ignore her irresistible yet annoying womanizer of a neighbor.

Grace is determined to have nothing to do with Logan until a life-changing surprise slowly begins turning the wild heartbreaker into exactly the kind of strong, stable man she’s been searching for. Only just when she begins to give into his charms, her own messy past threatens to derail everything they’ve worked to build…

Title: An Ember in the Ashes
Author: Sabaa Tahir
Publisher: Razorbill- Audio
Date Published: April 28, 2015
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Narrators: Fiona Hardingham & Steve West

Laia is a slave.

Elias is a soldier.

Neither is free.

Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.

But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.

There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

The Great Hunt, by Wendy Higgins, sounds so good!

Coming: March 8, 2016

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Today is a 'freebie' week, so I thought I'd list ten books that I would have liked to end differently. I still enjoyed a few of these, but the rest? Yeah, we'll just leave it at that. ;)

Title: Everything, Everything
Series: Standalone
Author: Nicola Yoon
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Date Published: September 1, 2015
Audio Version
Narrator: Bahni Turpin
Rated: 5 Stars

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Title: Echoes of Scotland Street
Series: On Dublin Street, #5
Author: Samantha Young
Publisher: NAL
Date Published: October 4, 2014
Rated: 3.5 Stars

Shannon MacLeod has always gone for the wrong type of man. After she drifted from one toxic relationship to the next, her last boyfriend gave her a wakeup call in the worst possible way. With her world shattered, she’s sworn off men—especially those of the bad-boy variety.

Cole Walker is exactly the sort that Shannon wants to avoid—gorgeous, tattooed, charming, and cocky. But his rough exterior hides a good man who’s ready to find “the one.” He’s determined to pull Shannon from her self-imposed solitude and win her heart.

As Shannon opens up in the face of Cole’s steady devotion, the passion between them ignites to blazing levels. But when Shannon’s past comes back to haunt her, her fears may destroy the trust Cole has built between them—and tear them apart for good…

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

I am a huge fan of Lisa T. Bergren's River of Time series. When I found out she was writing another book, with different characters, I could not be more excited! I need this book now!

Three Wishes, book one of the River of Time: California series, is expected be released in April of this year.

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Okay, so I know I said that I wasn't going to participate in any more challenges, but the A Series a Month Reading Challenge was just too tempting to pass up. It is being hosted by Danielle over at Love at First Page.

Basically, the goal is to read and complete a series each month. Or, in my case, finish a series that I've started. And I have a lot of series that I have started, but just haven't finished for some reason. Don't worry, I'll be starting and finishing new (to me) series too! Here are all of the details.

Title: Power Play
Series: Pilots Hockey, #2
Author: Sophia Henry
Publisher: Flirt
Date Published: February 16, 2016

In Sophia Henry’s blistering follow-up to Delayed Penalty, hailed as “sexy, fun, and full of angst” by L. P. Dover, a good girl and a hockey hunk face off against expectations—and this match is guaranteed to see plenty of action.

Beneath her innocent facade, Gabriella Bertucci has her reasons to be standoffish with guys. Especially guys like Landon Taylor, a star defenseman on the minor-league Detroit Pilots and the object of a serious crush since he first walked into her family’s market. But when Landon comes through for her in a moment of crisis, Gaby starts to wonder if there might be more to Landon than hard muscles and fast skates.

Landon isn’t afraid of telling Gaby that he’s got it for her bad. The problem is, she seems unwilling to believe it. And though Landon enjoys his reputation as a cool-headed athlete, he hates losing—both on the rink and off. It’s his competitiveness that makes him so damn good at what he does . . . but it also makes him just a little bit complicated.

One minute Gaby’s tempted to give in; the next, she’s getting cold feet. How can she trust a guy who’s destined for bigger and better things to stick around? Then again, when Landon pulls her close with those powerful arms, the only thing that matters is right now.

I wasn't going to take part in any challenges this year. I had signed up for a couple of them last year, and didn't do so well. However, I was thinking about all of the books that I own, whether they be on hardback, paperback, or my kindle. The ones that I still have not read. I want to change that and read as many of them as I can this year. So I am signing up for the #RockMyTBR Reading Challenge, hosted by Sarah K over at The YA Book Traveler.

My goal is to read 36 of my books (that I currently own) this year. I figure that's 3 books a month and totally doable.

If anyone is interested in a buddy read, just let me know!

Review: A Different Blue by Amy Harmon

Title: A Different Blue
Series: Standalone
Author: Amy Harmon
Date Published: March 29, 2013

Blue Echohawk doesn't know who she is. She doesn't know her real name or when she was born. Abandoned at two and raised by a drifter, she didn't attend school until she was ten years old. At nineteen, when most kids her age are attending college or moving on with life, she is just a senior in high school. With no mother, no father, no faith, and no future, Blue Echohawk is a difficult student, to say the least. Tough, hard and overtly sexy, she is the complete opposite of the young British teacher who decides he is up for the challenge, and takes the troublemaker under his wing.

This is the story of a nobody who becomes somebody. It is the story of an unlikely friendship, where hope fosters healing and redemption becomes love. But falling in love can be hard when you don't know who you are. Falling in love with someone who knows exactly who they are and exactly why they can't love you back might be impossible.

Title: Jewel of Darkness
Series: Gypsy Healers, #3
Author: Quinn Loftis
Date Published: December 29, 2015

Dalton Black never thought he'd find his true mate. His dark past convinced him that he could never be worthy of one, but the Great Luna did not agree. She saw fit to give him a gypsy healer, the purest of heart among their kind. And now that he's finally found her, she slips through his grasp and into the hands of Volcan, a corrupt high fae driven mad by his own need for power. Now Dalton, with help from his own powerful friends, must find Jewel and rescue her before Volcan can use her blood to create witches and once again throw off the balance of good and evil.
As their journey begins, Perizada will once again lead a group of wolves on a hunt to bring down evil, but little do they know that Volcan is just a drop of blood in the sea of supernatural beings about to darken their path.

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

There were a lot of books that I wish I had gotten to last year, but time ran out. Hopefully, I will get to all of them in 2016!

Mini Reviews: Captive in the Dark and Tears of Tess

So, I decided to venture a little out of my comfort zone. I've read some BDSM books in the past, but it's not the norm for me. However, I have heard great things about Captive in the Dark and Tears of Tess, so I thought, why not?
Sadly, I was a little disappointed. Not so much because of the sexual content, but because of the plot and character development.

Title: F*ck Love
Author: Tarryn Fisher
Series: Standalone
Date Published: December 31, 2015

Helena Conway has fallen in love.
Unwillingly. Unwittingly.
But not unprovoked.
Kit Isley is everything she’s not—unstructured, untethered,
and not even a little bit careful.
It could all be so beautiful … if he wasn’t dating her best friend.
Helena must defy her heart, do the right thing, and think of others.
Until she doesn’t.