Title: Drowning Instinct
Author: Ilsa J Bick
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Quercus Books
Publication Date: 1st February 2012
Goodreads Summary: There are stories where the girl gets her prince, and they live happily ever after. (This is not one of those stories.)

Jenna Lord’s first sixteen years were not exactly a fairytale. Her father is a controlling psycho and her mother is a drunk. She used to count on her older brother—until he shipped off to Afghanistan. And then, of course, there was the time she almost died in a fire.

There are stories where the monster gets the girl, and we all shed tears for his innocent victim. (This is not one of those stories either.)

Mitch Anderson is many things: A dedicated teacher and coach. A caring husband. A man with a certain... magnetism.

And there are stories where it’s hard to be sure who’s a prince and who’s a monster, who is a victim and who should live happily ever after. (These are the most interesting stories of all.)

Drowning Instinct is a novel of pain, deception, desperation, and love against the odds—and the rules.

{ Review }

The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen.

Title: The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden
Author: Jessica Sorensen
Genre: Young Adult (17+ Mature content)
Publisher: Hachette Digital
Publication Date: 13th December 2012
Goodreads Summary: There are those who don’t get luck handed to them on a shiny platter, who end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, who don’t get saved.

Luck was not on Callie’s side the day of her twelfth birthday when everything was stolen from her. After it’s all over, she locks up her feelings and vows never to tell anyone what happened. Six years later her painful past consumes her life and most days it’s a struggle just to breathe.

For as long as Kayden can remember, suffering in silence was the only way to survive life. As long as he did what he was told, everything was okay. One night, after making a terrible mistake, it seems like his life might be over. Luck was on his side, though, when Callie coincidentally is in the right place at the right time and saves him.

Now he can’t stop thinking about the girl he saw at school, but never really knew. When he ends up at the same college as Callie, he does everything he can to try to get to know her. But Callie is reserved and closed off. The more he tries to be part of her life, the more he realizes Callie might need to be saved.

{ Review }

So I thought it was finally time for me to start tackling my massive ebook TBE pile, starting with The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden. Ordinarily I don't purchase ebooks, I simply download free books and buy the paperback edition of those that cost money, but I bought this book immediately, without any hesitation, after reading a review of it. It's been a whole aince I purchased it and I've been putting off reading it for some unknown reason, but I could kick myself for doing so because it was absolutely phenomenal!

This book is about two college freshmen, Callie and Kayden, who both come from the same town and used to attend high school together, though they were never friends. Both of them have hidden traumas that they can't and won't talk about but Callie is a social recluse and Kayden is the boy with the football scholarship. Four months before they start unviersity, Callie goes to pick up her older brother from a party at Kayden's house, where she sees Kayden and his father having an argument that results in Kayden's Dad violently beating him. Callie doesn't like talking to anybody, she doesn't have friends and she hates social interaction but not wanting to see Kayden being beaten to a pulp, she steps in and stops his father. After making sure that Kayden will be alright, Callie leaves with her brother and she goes off to university two days later. The story then jumps back to the present, when university is just starting and Kayden runs (literally) into Callie. At first he doesn't recognise her but when he realises who she is, he's determined to thank her properly for saving his life four months ago. Callie, on the other hand, is less than keen to make new friends as still is still dealing with issues from her past but coincidence seems to throw them together. I can't really say any more than that right now without revealing spoilers, because you find out more and more details about each characters' past as the story unfolds.

The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden is written from two narrative perspectives which alternate. Sometimes these sorts of stories bother me because one side of the story makes it pretty darn obvious what's going on in the other side, but that wasn't the case with this book. As both Callie and Kayden are hiding something, the double narrative is essential to the plot, otherwise we would have absolutely no idea what was going on.  There was just something about this book that felt really real. Obviously, I'm not a boy, but when I was reading Kayden's thoughts I felt like they were pretty authentic boy-thoughts. Whilst he was clearly emotionally damaged and even romantic at times, you could also see that he spent quite a lot of time thinking with his c*ck and not with his brain. This wasn't really a bad thing as Jessica Soresen has written this book in such a way so that you still fall head over heels for Kayden, despite his flaws. I feel that a lot of young adult books give teenagers completely unrealistic expectations of romance and boys and I'm not saying that this book is particularly realistic either, but the characterisation of Callie and Kayden felt pretty damn close to how I would act if I were in either of their situations, so at the very least this book is one step ahead of all the other young adult romances.

Both of the teenagers in this book are dealing with some pretty serious stuff and I felt that they were both addressed really well. Jessica Sorensen doesn't dwell too much on the past, but more how these past events are affecting Callie and Kayden in the present which was much more interesting. If you're not a fan of books that are a bit 'deep', so to speak, then this probably isn't for you. There is also some mature content in this book which I thought was really well written. It's quite hard to get steamy scenes right without being too crude or unrealistic or just downright unnecessary but Jessica Sorensen integrated these scenes perfectly into the general flow of the book and they do actually serve a purpose to the plot.

All the reviews that I'd read of this commented on the cliffhanger ending and how it ruined everything for them, but I didn't feel this way. Yes, it was shocking, but I don't think it ruined the book more than any other shocking cliffhanger would. I suppose the effect of it was slightly lessened given that I knew something was coming but I still didn't find it all that shocking. It is quite annoying that we're not going to find out what happens next for a while but I'm pretty sure that the next book will be even better so there's nothing to worry about.

It's been a very long time since I've read a book that's given me that tingling sensation all over, but this book definitely did. I read the entire book in one sitting and I absolutely could not put it down. There are so many ups and downs and it really was an emotional roller-coaster. This is probably one of the best young adult books I've ever read and I'll definitely be recommending it to everyone, even adults.

Showcase Sunday #30.










So I know I'm uber late with my Showcase Sunday, but I thought it would be rebellious to post a SS on a Monday *cough* Anyways, onto the books - Woohoo! Finally got my hands on Les Mis by Victor Hugo. I absolutely loved the film and since I'm studying French at uni later this year I thought it was about time I read this absolute beast of a book. I've only ever read one other book with that many pages and that was Bleak House by Charles Dickens - don't even bother asking how long it took me. Anyways, I hope Les Mis lives up to expectations! I also got Drowning Instincts by Ilsa J Bick which is a lot more serious that the books I normally read. It's about a girl who has just been let out of a psych ward for cutting herself and then she starts seeing her teacher. It's all told retrospectively so I'm not really sure what's going to happen but so far so good!

What did everyone else receive this week? Leave your link in the comments below! :)

Tempest by Julie Cross.

Title: Tempest
Author: Julie Cross
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Macmillan
Publication Date: 17th January 2012
Goodreads Summary: The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

{ Review }

I've been meaning to read Tempest for a while now so when I saw it on a shelf at my school library I was delighted. Tempest is written from the point of view of Jackson, a 19 year old boy with the ability to travel in time. He discovered this ability a few months ago and has been experimenting with brief forays into the past and his nerdy friend Adam has been helping him compile all his research in an attempt to figure out what the heck is going on. Jackson is pretty happy with his life, he's in college with a beautiful girlfriend, but one day strangers turn up at his dorm room and his girlfriend, Holly, ends up stabbed. As soon as that happens, an uncontrollable sensation takes over Jackson and suddenly he's been transported 2 years into the past. However, this time things are different. This time Jackson is stuck in the past. Trying desperately to get back to the present and figure out who the hell those people were and what they wanted with him, Jackson looks for Adam and Holly in 2007, an Adam and Holly who don't know Jackson yet.

Tempest was a brilliantly original story, one like none other Ive ever read before. Time travel isn't something I've read about a lot but Julie Cross seems to have invented a pretty unique world. Jackson can travel into the past, but only to different timelines (kind of like parallel universes) so nothing that he does in them actually affects the present. At least that's what happens when you make a half jump (all that Jackson is currently capable). When you make a full jump, as Jackson accidentally does when he sees Holly stabbed, things get complicated and actions have bigger consequences. Even though there are lots of jumps to different years meaning that we see the same character at varying ages, it wasn't confusing at all. Everything is clear which is quite a feat now thinking back to what an intricately detailed world Julie Cross created. As the story was completely unique, I never had any idea what was going to happen next. There were quite a few twists and turns along the way, but none of them are too shocking.

Although it's written from the first person perspective of the main character, Jackson, I didn't feel like I had a massive connection to his character. This wasn't really a bad thing because we were given enough insight for us to like and sympathise with him and the plot carried the rest of the book forwards.

I really liked he character of Holly, Jackson's girlfriend. She seems like a girl who knows all about guys and what's pigs they can be so she's quite wary of them and there isn't any sort of insta-love between her and Jackson. The whole story is rooted in Jackson trying to save Holly from getting hurt, but it wasn't sappy and love wasn't the main theme of the book, it was so much more than that. I hate young adult books in which wonderful new worlds are created but never fully explored because a teenage romance becomes the focal point of the novel and thankfully that wasn't the case with Tempest.

Although a great book, I felt it was rather long and that perhaps the same story could've been told in a few less pages. It's not that I have an aversion to reading long books, in fact, this book isn't that long, I just felt that the story was dragged out a bit. Nevertheless, this was an excellent story and I can't wait to read the next book. The ending isn't what I expected it would be at all and I'm really curious to see what happens next!