Review: Dark Dates by Tracey Sinclair

Synopsis:
All Cassandra Bick wants is to be left to get on with doing her job. But when you’re a Sensitive whose business is running a dating agency for vampires, life is never going to be straightforward – especially when there’s a supernatural war brewing in London, a sexy new bloodsucker in town and your mysterious, homicidal and vampire hating ex-lover chooses this moment to reappear in your life…

Witty, sharp and entertaining, Dark Dates is a heady mix of vampires, witches and werewolves – with the occasional angel thrown in – and introduces Cassandra Bick, a likeable heroine destined to join the ranks of fantasy’s feistiest females.

Publication Date: April 2012
Genre: Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Source: Thanks so much to the author for providing me with a review copy!

Review:
I was so impressed with Dark Dates. I'm a huge fan of books with a fierce heroine that gets tangled up in the paranormal, and this is a great addition to those ranks. It easily stands on its own merit with a unique approach to the idea.

The world that Cassandra Bick lives in is a world tinted with the paranormal, and she's completely used to that.  I loved her personality and wit . . . and her temper.  She's an ordinary woman, which her kind-of-but-not-really boyfriend Cane likes to point out in the most matter of fact way, with a strong backbone, a healthy dose of self respect and independence with just the right amount of womanly petulance. She isn't some jaw-dropping vision of perfection, and that makes her even more relatable.

Her relationship with Cane is immensely interesting.  Over the years he flits in and out of her life, going off to do some secretive paranormal hunting.  Cane's sex appeal oozes off of the pages, but he's not all hearthrob. He's actually quite an ass most of the time. The glimpses of his softer side had me very intrigued about his past, the things he has seen and done.

Dark Dates has a strong character base and compelling storyline. Within this genre I think I'm hard to impress, and I seriously thought this one was great. I am Tracey Sinclair's newest fan and I can't wait to see what the next book holds for Cassandra in this series. 


You can find Dark Dates on Amazon and Goodreads.

You can connect with the Author via her Blog or Twitter.

Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Synopsis:
"I won't tell anyone, Echo. I promise." Noah tucked a curl behind my ear. It had been so long since someone touched me like he did. Why did it have to be Noah Hutchins? His dark brown eyes shifted to my covered arms. "You didn't do that-did you? It was done to you?" No one ever asked that question. They stared. They whispered. They laughed. But they never asked.

"An edgy romance that pulls you in and never lets go. I was hooked!"-Gena Showalter, New York Times bestselling author of the Intertwined series

So wrong for each other...and yet so right.

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal. But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible. Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

Publication Date: July 31, 2012
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Romance
Source: Thanks so much to Harlequin Teen for making this title available though Netgalley.


Review:

I can't remember the last time I cried actual tears while reading a book. Pushing the Limits kind of crept up on me. It just kept ratcheting up my emotions (in a good way) and hitting all the right nerves. I ACHED for these characters. I felt their pain. I love a book that kind of beats me up along the way. But don't get the wrong idea, this isn't a depressing book. It's very profound and touching and beautiful. I loved it! Echo is an amazing MC. Omg. Looking back after finishing the book her tra...moreI can't remember the last time I cried actual tears while reading a book. Pushing the Limits kind of crept up on me. It just kept ratcheting up my emotions (in a good way) and hitting all the right nerves. I ACHED for these characters. I felt their pain. I love a book that kind of beats me up along the way. But don't get the wrong idea, this isn't a depressing book. It's very profound and touching and beautiful. I loved it! Echo is an amazing MC. Omg. Looking back after finishing the book her transformation is breath-taking. Book perfection. She has lived through a traumatic event that she can't remember and it defines her life. She's stuck back in that black hole of not knowing and although she wants to move forward she's basically just living a shadow of a life. Trying to be normal. Noah is another great character. He's got his own issues that are holding him back and keeping him from being the person he wants to be. Their mutual school counselor throws them together and they pretty much rock each other's worlds. They recognize the broken parts of each other and are drawn together like magnets. What was great to me was that although these were two dysfunctional characters, their relationship was amazingly functional. They made each other better. The tension just builds and builds in this one and tied me up into so many knots along the way before finally smoothing them out. I love those moments in books where you just keep reading faster and faster to get to the resolution. I have a hard time stopping before that point :) This is such a beautiful and satisfying-to-the-soul kind of read.