Jumble Your Genres Reading Challenge 2014: March - Urban Fantasy ~ Between the Lives by Jessica Shirvington

This year Readers Live A Thousand Lives, Corrie The Book Crazed Girl, and Lovin' Los Libros have teamed up to host the Jumble Your Genres Reading Challenge! For this challenge, the goal is to mix up the genres/categories we read. We have all had those times when we have gotten stuck in the genre/category we are currently reading and read nothing else for a while. The goal here is to mix that up! Each month a different genre/category will be featured and the goal is to read and review one book or more in that genre/category during that month.

For March the genre / category is ~ Urban Fantasy

My Choice:

Between the Lives

by 
Jessica Shirvington

Above all else, though I try not to think about it, I know which life I prefer. And every night when I Cinderella myself from one life to the next a very small, but definite, piece of me dies. The hardest part is that nothing about my situation has ever changed. There is no loophole.

Until now, that is... 

For as long as she can remember, Sabine has lived two lives. Every 24 hours she Shifts to her ′other′ life - a life where she is exactly the same, but absolutely everything else is different: different family, different friends, different social expectations. In one life she has a sister, in the other she does not. In one life she′s a straight-A student with the perfect boyfriend, in the other she′s considered a reckless delinquent. Nothing about her situation has ever changed, until the day when she discovers a glitch: the arm she breaks in one life is perfectly fine in the other.

With this new knowledge, Sabine begins a series of increasingly risky experiments which bring her dangerously close to the life she′s always wanted... But just what - and who - is she really risking?

My Thoughts:

I came across Between the Lives a while back while browsing in a bookstore and became immediately intrigued by the blurb. It is an amazing story of love, loss and coming to terms with a life that is uniquely different. Yes, living in two parallel worlds is a fantasy, but Jessica has done a great job of making it seem real and possible.

Since the day she can first remember, Sabine has led two lives. One in a world where everything seems perfect, and the other in a world where hardship plagues her. She doesn't know why its happening and there is no one she trusts enough to ask. Jumping back and forth between the lives is taking it's toll on her and she would like nothing more than for it to end.

'"I want to know that if I drift off to sleep by accident one day, I'll wake up in the same place. I want to live each day once, the best that I can live it."

Then one day, something happens which gives her hope that there might be a way to terminate one life so that she can lead the other in peace. Using what she has discovered to guide her, she performs a series of experiments which are not altogether safe, and from the outside, make her appear suicidal (which I strongly point out is not the case). Unfortunately though, the father in her less perfect world discovers what she is doing and has her imprisoned in a medical clinic. While there, she meets a young man - Ethan. Ethan is a beautiful character, and the only one who is willing to listen to Sabine and believe that there might be some truth in what she tells him.

As you can probably guess, Sabine and Ethan fall in love and it is that love and Ethan's acceptance of the truth which finally convinces her to appreciate the two lives she has and not the single life she thought she craved.

Not meaning to give away any spoilers, I will say that the ending is a little tragic (and I, who rarely cries, even shed a tear). However, having said that, the final pages do leave the reader with a sense of hope and the ability to write in their own HEA.

My Rating: 5 out of 5

Swoon Thursday # 83 ~ Amethyst by Heather Bowhay

The fabulous girls over at YA Bound created this super HOT meme.

Here's how it works. From the book you're currently reading, or one you just finished, tell us what made you SWOON. What got your heart pounding, your skin tingling, and your stomach fluttering.

Shout it out on Twitter with the hashtag#YABound, post it here in the comments, or grab the adorable button above and share it on your blog!

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

My Swoon for this week comes from:

Amethyst
(Guardian #1)

by
Heather Bowhay

First - The Blurb:

College-bound Lexi Adams leads no ordinary life. Premonitions dictate her every move compelling her to rescue strangers day and night. After years of self-sacrifice, she decides to ignore one, but innocent people die. So, when the next premonition depicts her own death, Lexi has a decision to make.

Except more complications arise when a series of strange illnesses and murders devastate her small town, and co-worker Jessica Nelson insists Lexi can help. According to Jessica, everyone is born with an inner energy called Essence. Only a select few, Amethysts, can control Essence and heal people. Jessica claims to be an Amethyst and asks Lexi to join her and a group of her friends as they track the murderers.

Lexi considers helping them only to find out that not only do Jessica's friends have a hidden agenda, but they also harbor extraordinary abilities. Even more unsettling, they have connections with the Ray-pacs – the sadistic killers who are preying on human Essence. Ultimately, Lexi must decide if life, not death, equals salvation. And if so, is she willing to make sacrifices and join her friends in eradicating the Ray-pacs?

Amethyst is the first novel in the Guardian series, a spellbinding young adult, urban fantasy series laced with paranormal elements.


Second - The Swoon:

My mouth on his mouth was fiery hot. I'd never felt more sure of anything in my entire life. Abandoning the slow, leisurely kiss, I tilted my head and forced his lips open. When I found his tongue, I ravaged it with my own. I demanded his surrender, yet begged for his acceptance. Deepening my kiss, I devastated him with weeks of pent up passion and longing. I provoked him until his body was shaking. With my hands clasped around his neck, I held on for dear life.


This kiss was a long time coming. Although Lexi (aka Alex) and Jason are strongly attracted to each other, there is a wall between them which takes most of the book to breakdown.

An interesting read with many questions raised and the answers only being revealed towards the end.

My rating: 4 out of 5

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

Okay, so what do you think?

If you liked my Swoon, please leave a comment below!

Teaser Tuesday # 82 ~ Fall Guy by Liz Reinhardt

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

My Tease for this week comes from:

Fall Guy
(Youngblood #1)

by

Liz Reinhardt

First - The Blurb:

Evan Lennox is going nowhere fast. She's living with her grandparents after her parents bailed on her, she got kicked out of her posh private school, her ex-boyfriend proved to be the biggest sleaze imaginable, her former best friend is a back-stabber, and her current best friend is stuck in backwoods NJ. To top it all off, one teeny, tiny fire she lit to burn some memories of her ex goes a little out of control and winds up igniting a good piece of a very powerful family's pecan orchard.

Evan lands her pampered behind in court and gets sentenced to community service. Which she knows she deserves. But the hard labor and humiliation may be her undoing.

Until she meets Winchester Youngblood on the site. 

Everything about him is tricky, confusing, not at all what it seems, and so sexy, Evan can't resist pulling closer. But every step she takes to get to know him gives her more of a reason to back up and put him as far out of life as she possibly can. Because Winch is one hundred percent complicated, and Evan isn't looking for that. At all. She needs to meet a nice, responsible guy, not share searing kisses with the charming hustler she met after they both got sentenced in court.

But Winch is so much more than what he seems, and Evan finds out that she's falling hard for the guy everyone underestimates and writes off. And Winch realizes that Evan is the one person who's ever challenged him to ask for more out of his life, and her courage inspires him to try to be the person she sees when she looks at him. With every single odd stacked against them, Evan and Winch need to find out whether they have what it takes to fall for each other.


Second - The Tease:

"I'm not asking. Asking means you might be crazy enough to say 'no', and I'm not taking 'no' for an answer."

Okay, so do you want to know what happens next? Of course you do.
And here it is...

I kiss her hard, pulling at her until she's firmly on my lap and caged in my arms. I kiss her until I feel the breaths rasp out of her mouth and taste her sweet little moans. I run my hands over her body, hot and smooth under the practically nonexistent shirt and shorts she's wearing.


Oh yeah, I loved this book. Winch is all kinds of hot and sexy, and Evan is just perfect for him. Together they make an awesome couple. Liz Reinhardt certainly knows how to write a good story and keep her readers captivated.

My rating on this one:  5 out of 5

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

Okay, so what do you think?

If you liked my Tease, please leave a comment below!

TBR Tuesday # 38 ~ Avenging Amethyst by Kaitlyn Price

My good friend Sharrice from Reese's Reviews: My Addiction to Fiction came up with the idea of 'TBR Tuesday'. 

If you want to join in the fun, then just do the following:

From your book shelf or your e-reader, pick a book that you own that is still on your TBR list. Post it however you want to, then leave a link below so others can see what's waiting to be read.

This week for me its:

Avenging Amethyst

 (Immortal Eyes #1)

by

Kaitlyn Price

Avery and her mother have always been on the run. After her mother is murdered by something supernatural, she is left to fend for herself, alone and filled with questions. She receives a note by a stranger, giving her the opportunity to get some answers, and Avery warily accepts. She would rather face the truth than continue to be on the run.

What she discovers is nothing like she could’ve imagined. The stranger’s name is Felix, and he’s part of a race of creatures called Lovac. He tells Avery that she is a Lovac, too, and that they’re the distant descendants of the ancient vampire Nosferatu, along with two other races—the Nesmyr and Zhulik.

However, the Lovac are doomed to insanity, and nearly all of them lose their minds in their early twenties. The only way to be saved from the curse is for a Lovac to find their Dimidium, the one creature that can calm the darkness.

Nightmarish visions, kidnappings, and a lifestyle she never knew existed consume Avery’s life as she begins the search for her Dimidium and to get revenge for her mother’s death.

SO NOW IT'S YOUR TURN!

Leave a comment and tell me what's waiting on your TBR pile.