I like to think I’m fairly observant. (I have to be for my job).
A pretty good judge of character. (Except with Hans from Frozen. Wasn’t expecting that).
I can usually spot plot twists coming. (GONE GIRL).

However, this book caught me off guard.

I was NOT expecting anything that happened in that last half of the book. (Which I devoured, by the way).

And it frustrated and excited the hell out of me.

Julia Vann has changed her name and switched schools.

Now, Lucy Black leads a seemingly normal life. No one should expect that her brother was the sociopath behind a horrific school shooting a year earlier.

The only thing I did pick up on was the fact that she was hiding something. Something seemed off, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

But it was all there. I could have picked up on every clue if I had suspected something was really off. Reread my steps and solved the mystery.

I don’t want to give too much away, so I will just say the following:

Two people, one for sure, could be every person in House Lannister. A Lannister who always repays her debts.

Damage Done is a dark and well written book. If you like to be stumped and shocked, it’s a consuming read.

Review at YABC!

Play of Light summarized in a few words. Or a brief look into “The Awesome Spencer Pierce and Those Other Douchebags.”

Sweet.
Funny.
Frustrating.
Cute.
Heartbreaking.
Sexy.
Charming.
Satisfying.
Adorable.

Y’all, it has been a while since a book has made me giggle and grin and cry as much as this one did. It’s so simple, yet so complicated that I couldn’t help but get caught up in the madness.

My Kindle arc is riddled with highlight marks of all the beautiful little quotes I wanted to look back on. So many things that captured my heart and played with my emotions. Little pieces of perfection that spoke to me on a deeper level.

Some of my favorite things:

Riley.
Riley with Colby.
The Great Tequila Shortage.
Sara Smile. (I had to download that song to fully understand how much it meant to Sarah).
Uncle Russ.
Would you ever.
Sarah’s drawings.
Spencer’s tattoos.
The dunes.

Short and sweet. I devoured this book in a few days. Once I started, it was hard to get away from it.

Play of Light is a book worth checking out if you want to have your heart strings tugged. A beautiful book worthy of ending 2014 with. (It’s a book I need a physical copy of so I can give it a hug)!

There’s a point towards the end where I was thinking “wow, I really don’t see what’s wrong with this girl. Why is she in a crazy hospital? I’m no doctor but I can diagnose her as not crazy, just under pressure with all the drama going on, it’s really mean for all these people to make her seem like she is insane” and then BOOM, holy shit, now I see why.

And I immediately mentally went back trying to see how this could be and yeah, the pieces are there I just wasn’t putting them together

Because we’re reading from her perspective so we’re the patient. And that tripped my mind up.

SO FUCKING GOOD.

These are becoming my favorite types of books. (the second with this particular disorder that I’ve read this year (and I still didn’t see it coming!) and I’m seriously intrigued).

Dark physiological thrillers. Head fuckers.

I was sickened once everything really started for Naomi and Lana. It was a punch in the gut I wasn’t expecting and not something I’ve read about ever. Not once. And I almost puked in my mouth. 

And once it almost wrapped up, I was still sick. Because it was still going on. Even now I’m pissed just thinking about it! What’s wrong with people!?!

Lachlan and Max.

Ah, boy. Most of that was really, really hot.
And then it was sweet.

The story is a good one, it is done well. It is done in such a way that it is not tacky, which is how this book could’ve turned out very, very bad. Unravel is incredibly detailed and complex.

The back story alone is touching and worth the read (and there were so many clues, why didn’t I see!?!?!!).

A well written, edge of your seat page turner. An unbelievably, moving rapture of feelings. Unravel is one of my favorite books this year.

I was sick (still am a bit) the entire time I read this book. I was in a constant state of a Nyquil induced haze and that could be why I found this book so aggravating. Why it grated on my nerves and I struggled to finish it. Maybe if I read it again in the future I would feel differently, but at the moment I feel indifferent.

So anyways, while I sit here with my cup of herbal tea and Doctor Who on TV, I will attempt to convey my feelings for Beautiful Addictions. And as I can tell, the addiction part of this book was Josie’s terrible way she dealt with her past. I am not an advocate of drug use. EVER. And it hurt me that she killed the pain with it. (It’s a fuckin waste of money, that’s what it is). But when she meets Tristan, he became her addiction, and she became his. IT was indeed beautiful. I guess. Anyways. On with it.

Every Tom, Dick, and Harry has a POV in this book. No lie.

There are so many different perspectives to keep track of. However, I guess if we really didn’t have everyone’s view of things; the ending wouldn’t play out as it did. Which was predictable, to say the least. To say a little more would be that this story has been done before and I’m becoming bored with this tale.

The narration could have been done a tad more generously. There is no warning as to when we will be in someone else’s head. A sentence would be started within Tristian’s thoughts, but it would end with Monica’s. It was very scattered and very confusing for me. 

The writing was nice. All the characters were very lyrical and poetic. I loved some of the things Tristan would say to Josie. It was a very emotional novel that kept me interested, until about halfway through. It became bulky and I lost interest easily, resulting in me skimming many pages.

I loved Alex! He was probably my favorite character, just outside of Monica. 

Monica and Rob’s relationship was a thing out of an ABC Family original movie.

Tristan had a bit of an anger problem and he liked to butt heads with any dude who looked an eye towards Josie. He drove an Impala, which I can’t deny, is sexy.

Josie broke my heart. Her story was a sad one.

The past and the future of Josie and Tristan settles in Louisiana. I love reading books with my home state in them. Beautiful Addictions did it justice.

One very small thing that aggravated me (and I’m sure it was just me being weird) was Josie’s continuous need to mark up everything. I have nothing against art or graffiti, but damn, don’t disrespect people’s personal property. There is this part in the book where she is at a café with Tristan and she wants to tag her name on the chair. Dude, chairs aren’t cheap!

Beautiful Addictions is a good book if you’re looking to check out for a while. The background with Tristan and Josie is worth it alone.

Killing me. That’s what you’re doing, Mrs. Brenna Aubrey. You’re killing me with this couple.

This couple that doesn’t know what is best for the other. The couple that doesn’t know how to have a multiple sided conversation. These 2 people that are holding all these internal thoughts that are begging to be spoken, but instead say shit that messes everything up. But at the same time, I love them. And I want them to be happy. I need everything to be okay.

But let me ya’ll why it’s not okay.

Adam is extremely selfish. He HAS to be in control or else he feels like nothing will be done perfectly. He has issues with letting Mia live her own life. He’s interested in his own personal benefit without giving thought to what she would want.

And some of it is understandable because after all, Adam is a multimillionaire with a capital company who is used to playing dirty for what he wants, but you can’t run a relationship like a business. And after he finally realizes this, it’s too late.

Mia, on the other hand, refuses to let anyone help her (other than Heath)! Damn, woman. PLEASE! Just ask for help. Confide in the people closest to you. Otherwise, all the shit going on will eat at you a thousand times worse.

I loved reading from Adam’s perspective. Mrs. Aubrey does a male’s viewpoint very well, and I couldn’t see much resemblance in his and Mia’s.

At Any Turn has none of that money bullshit hovering over their heads. It’s a real relationship, not a contracted one.

And, lord have mercy, sexy as hell. (The mirror scene. That is all).

Even though I had an idea of what was coming, what the heartbreaking reveal of hers was going to be, it still shook me to my core. I had goose bumps at the final sentence and just cried for a few minutes after I turned my Kindle off. (A book hasn’t hit me that hard in a very long time. Like since The Fault In Our Stars or Thirteen Reasons Why or Hopeless.) Emotionally drained.

From where all of this is going, the next book is going to be hard to read. But I guess I have a while to mentally prepare until it is released!