google-site-verification: google935433b691795853.html KRISTY BERRIDGE: 2012-11-25

Friday 7 December 2012

Follow Friday #50


Happy Friday everyone!
Yes, it’s that time of week again where bloggers unite to participate in the Follow Friday venture. The idea behind #FF is to promote traffic to your own blog, make new friends with other like-minded bloggers and discuss new and interesting topics each week.
Participating is simple. First you need to follow my blog because I’m totally awesome, then you can follow me on Twitter @kristyberridge (actually you don’t have to do this, it’s wishful thinking), but do follow my blog or assassins will get you …
Then you must follow our illustrious hosts Rachel of http://www.parajunkee.com/ and Alison of http://www.alisoncanread.com/ If you want more details on how to enter your own blog in the follow and hop, all directions are on their webpages
Now, once you’ve followed, check out my answer to this week’s questions and don’t forget to leave a comment so I can do the right thing and follow you back!

This week's question: Activity! Who do you want to be? If you could choose any character from a book. What do you think that character looks like and what do you have in common?

My answer: Truthfully, my character Elena Manory from The Hunted Series is pretty much me as a teenager but with a set of big, brass balls. While writing, I just kept thinking to myself, what would I do? What would I say? I don't think I planned it that way, it's just that this five book series is very close to my heart and I couldn't help but inject a bit of myself into it.


Wednesday 5 December 2012

Book Review: Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick

Crescendo is the second book in the Hush, Hush series, and thankfully, it does continue on much where the first book left off.
We still follow the story of Nora, a seemingly ordinary girl placed among the most exceptional of circumstances. Angels and the half-breeds known as Nephilim seem to suffocate her world, plaguing her memories of a past unknown and straining to dictate her future. There is no exception to this as new characters of the Nephilim rank are introduced, once again intertwined with the murder of her father and current relationships of a more personal nature intent on shaping her views of the truth. 
Patch, her now guardian angel and the apparent love of her life, continues to keep a myriad of secrets from Nora - some beyond his control due to the restrictions of his new rank among the divine. Naturally Nora is torn between the logic of her blinding affection for Patch and suspicious of these secrets slowly unraveling. No one appears to be trustworthy, including the apparitions of her dead father, the spoken words of her own mother, or perhaps even those she'd considered friends in the past.
Once again Becca Fitzpatrick delivered a stable and consistent story with flowing dialogue and easily relateable characters. Imagery was sedate, though adequate in description. However, there were some aspects that were trying. For one, I didn't enjoy that over three quarters of the book was spent following Nora's inner tirades of jealousy. Some of her thought processes were overly naive and childish given the age group we are following. But what I did appreciate was the author's ability to keep the reader guessing throughout the story, never quite knowing who is who and where the story will end. I can honestly say that I was left guessing right until the turning of the very last page and I very much look forward to diving into the next novel. I rate Crescendo and easy three out of fangs. It would have been four fangs if Nora hadn't become so tiresome.

Synopsis:

Nora Grey's life is still far from perfect. Surviving an attempt on her life wasn't pleasant, but at least she got a guardian angel out of it. A mysterious, magnetic, gorgeous guardian angel. But, despite his role in her life, Patch has been acting anything but angelic. He's more elusive than ever (if that's possible) and what's worse, he seems to be spending time with Nora's arch-enemy, Marcie Millar.Nora would have hardly noticed Scott Parnell, an old family friend who has moved back to town, if Patch hadn't been acting so distant. Even with Scott's totally infuriating attitude, Nora finds herself drawn to him - despite her lingering feeling that he's hiding something.If that weren't enough, Nora is haunted by images of her murdered father, and comes to question whether her Nephilim bloodline has anything to do with his death. Desperate to figure out what happened, she puts herself in increasingly dangerous situations to get the answer. But maybe some things are better left buried, because the truth could destroy everything - and everyone - she trusts.

Kristy :)

Saturday 1 December 2012

Book Review: Impossible by Komal Lewis

Impossible is a YA contemporary fiction, a novel so far outside the realms of my usual genre that you're probably wondering why I would delve into the teenage world of love, angst and sexual inexperience when I'm so clearly devoted to the supernatural/paranormal romance genre.
The quick answer is that "Impossible" was part of a blog tour obligation, one I have found to be surprising, enticing and all together a very pleasant experience!
Impossible follows the story of Ashton and Luca, friends since childhood and next door neighbours now estranged thanks to a life altering event from the past. Ashton is a selfish, acidic-tongued teen with ambitions of popularity and needless attention from the miscreants of her social circle. Luca is a reserved, thick-skinned rocker determined to ignore the stigma of his individuality and the unpoularity that it brings.
A strange twist in fate and the selfish desires of Ashton's whims of highschool sucess see her crossing paths with the neighbour she swore she would never speak to again. A social outcast, Luca is offlimits and clearly unsuitable, but underneath all the gothic make up, clothes and dismissive attitude lies a stud in the making and perhaps Ashton's chance to re-climb the ladder of the school heirachy.
Chemistry soon explodes between these two frenemies and the past is once again uncovered, Ashton and Luca diving deeper into the reasoning behind their initial rift. Bound by combined grief and the promise of a future, we soon see that perhaps Ashton can find substance - Luca being the one to bring it out in her.
Like any teen drama we are greeted with a lot of cliche's but somehow Komal Lewis finds a way to keep this relatively ordinary story of boy meets girl, boy loses girl and then finds girl again adrift with non stop emotional drama. I can honestly say that there were many moments of levity, sadness and even supreme depravity that the author explores through real emotional dilemas and significant reactions from her characters.
Dialogue was realistic and flowed concisely. Characterisation was consistent and interestingly explored via the perspective of two main protagonists - one male, one female - both completely different in thought process.
Congratulations to Komal Lewis on her debut novel, a succinct, entertaining and emotionally lucrative story that I will happily be rating four out of five fangs.

Synopsis:

Ashton Summers is on her way to becoming the most popular girl in school and nothing—or no one—is going to stand in her way. Especially not Luca Byron, her freak neighbour, with his tattoos, loud music, and distracting green eyes.
Luca Byron has three goals in life: get through high school with a low profile, make sure his garage band becomes something more than a hobby, and try to forget about his insufferable ex-best friend, Ashton, who he can’t get out of his mind.
The last thing Ashton and Luca want to do is rekindle their friendship, but when Ashton takes a tumble down the social ladder, Luca—with his new makeover—is the only one who can help her rise up again by pretending to be her boyfriend. At first, being together is unbearable and annoying, but things start to change as Ashton and Luca discover the real reasons they drifted apart seven years ago. 
Now, keeping their hands off each other seems impossible.