I think I need an intervention.

I love books & reading- always have.  Reviewing is a bonus and the advent of ebooks was a mixed blessing.  As of this moment I have about 30gb of ebooks sitting on an external drive...

Not a typo: 30 Gigabytes. And I'm always acquiring more.  

Between purchases, giveaways, ARCs, freebies, NetGalley, Kindle listings & promos I've got a TBR pile that would make Sisyphus shake his head and wonder what the fuck was wrong with me.  It's only Wednesday and check out what this week's haul already looks like:

AlS

Oh, and did I mention I'm getting ready for NaNoWriMo?

...send help... or at least a shitload of coffee.

YA Fantasy / Fairytale retelling of The Swan Maiden with a blood feud twist like Romeo & Juliet?  Say whaaaat?

Welcome to the cover reveal for

Love Me, Love Me Not by Alyxandra Harvey

presented by Entangled Teen Crave!

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Dating isn’t easy when you’re in the middle of a blood feud.

 

Anastasia Vila’s family can turn into swans, but just once she’d like them to turn into responsible adults.

 

After hundreds of years, they still cling to the blood feud with the Renard family.

 

No one remembers how it started in the first place—but foxes and swans just don’t get along.

 

Vilas can only transform into their swan shape after they have fallen in love for the first time, but between balancing schoolwork, family obligations, and the escalating blood feud, Ana’s got no time for love. The only thing keeping her sane is her best friend, Pierce Kent.

 

But when Pierce kisses Ana, everything changes.

 

Is what Pierce feels for her real, or a byproduct of her magic? Can she risk everything for her best friend? And when the family feud spirals out of control, Ana must stop the fight before it takes away everything she loves.

 

Including, maybe...Pierce.

 

This Entangled Teen Crave book contains language, violence, and lots of kissing. Warning: it might induce strong feelings of undeniable attraction for your best friend.

Love Me, Love Me Not by Alyxandra Harvey Publication Date:  February 22, 2016 Publisher:  Entangled Teen Crave

Alyxandra Harvey lives in a stone Victorian house in Ontario, Canada with a few resident ghosts who are allowed to stay as long as they keep company manners. She loves medieval dresses, used to be able to recite all of The Lady of Shalott by Tennyson, and has been accused, more than once, of being born in the wrong century. She believes this to be mostly true except for the fact that she really likes running water, women’s rights, and ice cream. Aside from the ghosts, she also lives with her husband and their dogs. She likes cinnamon lattes, tattoos and books.

Connect with the author:  Website | Twitter | Tumblr | Goodreads

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I really should put off reviewing this until after I reread it, but I'm going through and doing reviews now and this one is next up on my list. Maybe I'll do a better review later, but for now, this'll have to do.

I borrowed this from the library last year and loved it enough to buy my own copy. I do believe this was my second favorite YA read of last year (the second book in this series was my favorite). The world building, characters, and magic system were all spot on. The story held my attention right from the get go. I devoured this 400 odd page book in less then a day. All three of the girls had distinct personalities that complimented each other. While Emma was the "main character" in this book, she wasn't a "Chosen One" cliche. The thing I loved the most about this story was the bond between Emma, Gretchen, and Penelope. So many YA titles, no matter the genre, are always pitting girls against each other. Even if a group of females are fighting for the same team, they're still fighting each other. Each of these girls are willing to admit another girl might be stronger then her in one way or another.

The second book in the series, Whisper the Dead, was even better then this title. Gretchen is the main focus in Whisper and I really look forward to spending more time with Penelope when the third title comes out

           Arc provided by Entangled Publishing through Netgalley

            Release Date: March 10 th

I am afraid this turned out to be an average paranormal YA romance, of the type that features a mysterious gorgeous boy with secrets, and a girl who promises not to fall under his spell and pretty much fails at that agenda, _especially when the boy in question behaves like an idiot through most of the book _ "five" minutes after they're introduced.

Also there is quite a number of cheesy lines in this book that may induce the reader in some painful sugar inducted comma:

"Air was unnecessary, dust and ash.
His mouth was every kind of sweet drink and every bite of dessert I’d ever had. It was chili peppers and chocolate, cinnamon candies, cherry cupcakes."

-_- *runs away screaming*

 But this story's biggest problem _ yes, besides the previous ones _ is that it lacks development. 

Practically in everything.

Things happen in the blink of an eye and that's it. The reader just has to go with the flow..while it gets bombarded with YA clichés from all sides.

The worst thing, is that it had potential. The author comes out with some good twists in the end, _what happens to the villain for instance_ but the story doesn't have solid grounds.

This needed to be developed. It feels as if half the story is missing. Yes, it may be the boring one. But it was needed.

To compensate what is missing, _yes, I am being sarcastic _ there is one too many Ya clichés this book relies on.

YA tropes this book relies on:

Absent parents:

Girl gets into trouble, dad sends her off to live with grandmother and that's it. One daughter dispatched and we never hear from the guy again. He could at least have called once in awhile, right?

And does the grandmother take the time to have a serious talk with the girl? You know, regarding her problems?

Of course not. Waste of time. Let's get the ball  romance rolling.

This ends up being even more idiotic and irresponsible when some facts are revealed.

Special snowflake alert:

"You're not like the other girls at Havencrest," he said.

Says the love interest who only pretends to be an ass through most of the book to deviate attentions from...something.

In reality he's a bloody prince knight charming. Of course.

Bad Boy romantic interest:

" There were already so many versions of Ethan, but this one was clearly the most dangerous.

I could actually like this Ethan."

Of course, because nothing is hotter than a wacko.

Mr Prince Charming Perfect:

" I could recite all of Hercules's trials before I could recite the alphabet."

*snort*

Yes, yes...but can you make bread?

Hot and You're Cold

One moment they're having a polite conversation as friends, next second the guy's telling her to use the servants entrance to the castle.

 That's right. People refer to the mansion as castle...and I am not talking about the insane one who writes books and has a big crush on Beckett -_-.

Of course the guy is acting this way out of concern for the girl. In reality he's every girl's dream come true.

Result: Boring.

Girl on Girl Hate

Haven't we had enough of this already? Also what's with the logic of kicking Kia _ am I the only one who immediately "sees" a jeep in her mind? _ out of school for her own protection?

What's with this logic? 

At least when she was in school she wasn't sticking her nose where it didn't belong.

In the end, a story that comes out severely lacking, whose only redeeming qualities rely on some undeveloped plot twists that appear near the end.

Author Official's Site