"Strings Attached" by Judy Blundell

Okay guys, so I can't actually call this a review since I was only able to read two chapters in, but I still felt obligated to make a post to explain as to why I did not continue through with reading this novel.

Here is the synopsis of the story:

Every favor comes with a price.
When Kit Corrigan arrives in New York City, she doesn't have much. She's fled from her family in Providence, Rhode Island, and she's broken off her tempestuous relationship with a boy named Billy, who's enlisted in the army.
The city doesn't exactly welcome her with open arms. She gets a bit part as a chorus girl in a Broadway show, but she knows that's not going to last very long. She needs help - and then it comes, from an unexpected source.
Nate Benedict is Billy's father. He's also a lawyer involved in the mob. He makes Kit a deal - he'll give her an apartment and introduce her to a new crowd. All she has to do is keep him informed about Billy...and maybe do him a favor every now and then.
Judy Blundell traps readers in a web of love, deceit, intrigue, and murder. The result? One stunner of a novel.

I bought this book last year at my school's book fair because it was on special for only $4 and I thought the storyline sounded intriguing. I hadn't picked it up and actually begun to read it until just recently, but I'm regretting getting the novel. Instead of being "trapped in a web of love, deceit, intrigue, and murder",  I was caught up in a web of confusion and chaos within the first few paragraphs. One of my must-haves is for a character to be revealed partially to me almost right off of the bat, without having to search too hard for it in the beginning. This just didn't bring enough to catch my interest. Another thing was that, although Blundell's writing itself wasn't unsatisfactory, it was choppy and left you having to re-read paragraphs and pages repeatedly to try and catch something that wasn't made clear.

To be fair, I am not going to rate this book for the reason that I did not read it all the way through. Maybe later in the novel, the storyline and the character(s) may have developed into something more graspable, but I just could not bring myself to read anymore.

Happy MLK, Jr. Day everyone and I'll catch you next time for my new blog post!

Don't Forget To Read,
The Book Lioness.

January 2015 TBR Pile

Hey guys! To kick off my first post of the new year, I'm going to list off my tentative TBR pile for this month, or really just my TBR pile that I have for this year that I hope to get through by the end of this month!

(Re-Reading)
Maximum Ride (#3): Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson
Maximum Ride (#4): The Final Warning by James Patterson
Maximum Ride (#5): Max by James Patterson
Maximum Ride (#6): Fang by James Patterson
Maximum Ride (#7): Angel by James Patterson
Maximum Ride (#8): Nevermore by James Patterson
Ashfall by Mike Mullin (#1 of the Ashfall series)
What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang (#1 of the Hybrid Chronicles)
The entire Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare
The first 5 books of the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare

(Never Read Before)
Maximum Ride (#9): Forever by James Patterson
Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin (#2 of the Ashfall Series)
City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare (#6 of the Mortal Instruments series)
The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare
Strings Attached by Judy Blundell
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Branded by Abi Ketner and Missy Kalicicki (#1 of the Sinners series)
Altered by Jennifer Rush (#1 of the Altered series)
Legend by Marie Lu (#1 of the Legend series)
The Whispers of the Fallen by J.D. Netto (#1 of the Whispers of the Fallen series)
Rebellion by J.D. Netto (#2 of the Whispers of the Fallen series)
Once We Were by Kat Zhang (#2 of the Hybrid Chronicles)

"Negative Spaces" by Megan Duke Announcement

Today's announcement is more of a tweak to a previous update from author Megan Duke. The original plan for next year was to release four Small Circles short stories on e-book, staggered out in different release dates. These four novellas are still going to be released in 2015, but instead of staggering their release, they will be bound together in one paperback called Negative Spaces! This is set to be published in November 2015, so all of you who haven't read the Small Circles "series" should most definitely go check them out. Below I will post the books in both time order according to the characters' stories, as well as the order that the books were published in (the recommended order by Megan herself).

Story-Line Order:
~Ninety Degrees (a precursor to Small Circles)
~Small Circles
~Three-Sixty (a companion to Small Circles)
~Infinite Limits (a conclusion to Small Circles)



Publication Order:
~Small Circles
~Three-Sixty
~Ninety Degrees
~Infinite Limits
*THIS IS THE RECOMMENDED ORDER, PER THE AUTHOR*

For more information on any of these books or their (absolutely fabulous) author Megan Duke, check out her web page or her blog!

"The Selection Series" by Kiera Cass

Okay, so let me explain how I read these books. I read the first book, "The Selection", and then the second, "The Elite", before the third book, "The One", had been published for the public. So I waited a few months for it to come out, heard about two companion novellas that were being published as well and was interested, but I couldn't order them until they were of course published. Months after these were released I FINALLY purchased them through Barnes & Noble and a few weeks later they arrived. At that time, I was engrossed in The Mortal Instrument Series by Cassandra Clare, so I had to put off reading the /mostly/ completed series. Around last week, I picked up the first novella "The Prince", read that, then the first novel, followed by the second novel, THEN the second novella "The Guard", and then the book I had been dying to read for months. Let me just say that this series is not just a princess-prince, fairy tale love story. There is so much drama, and action, the complex characters leave you wondering who she'll choose at the end of the story. I think Kiera did an amazing job at balancing out the romance with the action, the cheesy moments with serious ones that make you stop for a moment. Definitely a recommended series. Below is the list of the series in order, along with more books in the series being published:
"The Prince" novella (#0.5)
"The Selection" (#1)
"The Elite" (#2)
"The Guard" novella (#2.5)
"The One" (#3)
"The Favorite" novella (To Be Published)
"The Queen" novella (To Be Published)
"The Heir" (#4~To Be Published)

Welcome to my Page!

Hey guys! My name is Catheryn, and I am the administrator of this blog! If you want to follow me on Instagram, my fandom account it @deathbyfandxms and my personal is @catherynbolick. I will uploading videos onto my YouTube channel over featured books and book series, and maybe a sneak peak at some of my books! Keep an eye out and I hope you guys subscribe to my blog!

Lots of Love,

~Catheryn ❤️