***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

You know what makes me happy? That YA Westerns are finally becoming a thing. One of my favorite (and most anticipated books of the year) was a YA Western and as soon as I heard thatVengeance Road was a YA Western (AND SAW THAT BEAUTIFUL COVER), I was sold. I ached with the need to read this book. I could already see I would fall head over heels for this tale of revenge and was so excited to dive in. This book was amazing but the reason I cannot say that this book is the best thing ever is because of the few minor issues I had.  BUT LET ME TELL YOU, this book does the genre justice.

I am going to start off with my few criticisms and then move on to why this book was flipping amazing.

My no.1 problem with this book was how Native Americans came up in the book. There was a lot of distrust between Native Americans and the Caucasians at the time and the author does a good job in portraying that distrust. The problem is that I wanted something more, something that would go beyond just acknowledging the hypocrisy and would go into the details of the injustice being committed. Especially since one of the secondary characters in the book happens to be Native American. But some of the things the MC said were from a place of privilege and I wanted to see another side of her that acknowledges these privileges and that there was a LOT of injustice committed by her people.

My other problem was that sometimes the cowboy slang (idk what else to call it) being used grated on me.Now, I won’t say that I am a huge stickler for proper grammar because I make mistakes all the time, but after a while the Is get annoying.  That being said, I think that for the most part, Bowman nailed the language aspect and the fact that it grated on me doesn’t really speak on whether or not I thought Bowman made a good choice. Personally, I think it actually brought the story to life and made me feel like I was right there in the wild west.

Moving on to the good bits, Kate is an AMAZING female lead. She is someone you cannot help but root for and I had so much fun watching her go on this adventure. After her father is brutally murdered, she is out for blood. She wants revenge and her blood is filled with this need for vengeance. So our adventure begins. Along the way, Kate meets two men and one of them will come to mean a lot to her.

My favorite thing about Kate is how strong she is despite her loss. I love that she is able to hold her own and is just as badass as any other cowboy out there. She may not always realize when having other people around is a good thing but given that she was disguised as a boy, one can imagine why she would go out of her way to avoid hanging out with people.  But she also develops over the course of the book and learns what is really important and I loved being there with her and enjoying the journey with her.

Then we get these amazing secondary characters that join Kate on her journey but they don’t seek vengeance, they seek GOLD. Jesse and Will are so much fun to read about. Will may be someone who comes off as immature but he managed to surprise me when it came down to important stuff. He was never naïve and was always aware of the risks, perhaps even more so than Jesse. Jesse could sometimes be too ambitious but he was also sweet, closed off and SO ADORABLE.

One of my favorite things about this book, besides the characters is how fantastically Bowman brings this historical setting to life.With her choice of words, her choice of scenes, everything. There are gold hunts, gun fights, running away in the dark, and just good ole riding off in the dusk. Everything in this book screams western and I LOVED it.

There is this one twist towards the end that I didn’t necessarily enjoy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very interesting twist and I didn’t see it coming but I also saw no need for it. It didn’t really twist my mind the way one would expect something like that would. It just seem like something that was thrown in but never fully explored and thus I felt as though the book would have actually been better off without it.

Never the less, this was a very good read for me and one I won’t fail to recommend because who doesn’t love them some cowboys and a good ole fashioned adventure?

Note that I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

When I read the blurb for this book, I knew I would love it. It sounded like such a Rashika book and I could already imagine how much fun I would have with the book.

We are thrown right into the action so it was, at first, quite hard for me to keep up. I was confused about what was happening and as I progressed, the initial confusion made it so that I would have to flip back to the beginning to understand what was happening. So yes, that did become a problem for me (to the point where I wasn’t sure of a character’s approximate age until the end of the book, and I was off by a LOT) but, once you get into this book, it will suck you in and have you flipping pages and looking at the clock, hoping that you still have plenty of time left to read.

The identity of the Rook surprised me a little (you find out early on but the only reason I won’t mention it is because it’s fun to find out for yourself) but I am glad the author chose that character to be the Rook because they are so strong and clever and just so fantastically themselves.

Sophia is a great main character. She is badass in the actual sense of the word. There are so many things she pulls that made me want to high five her. She is the kind of character I love in spite of her faults. Never once did I want to shake her, even if she did something I wasn’t completely okay with me because I was a 100% on her side.

Rene was a beautiful creature and I beg that you keep your slimy little paws off of MY RENE (yes I just laid my claim to a fictional character in my review for the book). He is just so fantastic and I imagine that had this been an adult book rather than a YA, there would be cold showers involved. He is a swoon worthy character AND I LOVE HIM. He is more than just a love interest. He is a fishy little creature who is clever and won’t fail to charm your pants off.

Their relationship is also a thing of beauty. They get off to a rough start and once the sparks start flying, the lack of relationship drama is actually surprising. There are so many ways the author could have made their relationship a hot and cold thing yet it was never that. It was  just pure gorgeous development with one major bump. They trust each other, she confides in him and she actually, for the most part, doesn’t have secrets from him. ISN’T THAT BEAUTIFUL?

This book also had a very enjoyable plot line even if I wanted more in terms of action. It isn’t that there isn’t much going on -- the stakes were pretty damn high – but I just wanted a little more in terms of what they were doing and how they were doing it, and just some more of ass-kicking ya know?

I also found the plot to be pretty believable considering that the Rook isn’t actually old. The Rook doesn’t do all the things on their own, the Rook actually has a group of people they trust to help them and I also really liked the way things worked out. With the people taking charge of their situation instead of the Rook. The Rook, while having seen their suffering and the pain, cannot possibly take leadership for something like that since they haven’t had to put up with it and I really liked that.

I also really liked the secondary characters! My favorite being Tom, followed by Benoit. I love that none of these secondary characters are just there, they actually play a part, and they have stories that we get to know. They have miniature arcs and along the way, we get to learn more and more about them which just made me love them all the more.

I was a little disappointed by the world building. This book is set in such a gorgeous location and I wanted to see that explored a little more. This book is also set in a post-apocalyptic world but we only get minimal information on that, just enough for us to understand the world some and while I was upset we didn’t get more, it was also understandable since there are other things going on in this story for everything to be fit into one standalone novel.

This was such a spectacular read and I loved almost every minute of it.  It does take a while to get into but once I adjusted to the situation, I devoured the book and had lots of fun. It is definitely a read I’d recommend to all you readers who is looking something adventurous set in the future.

***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

It’s so hard to describe this book because, while it isn’t particularly special and will probably not blow your mind away, it’s also a fantastic read and something that combines youthfulness, young love and the difficulties one faces when you have to grow up, and it is done in such a fresh manner. There is something great when a book manages to merge those elements together--and I Want it That Way is that kind of great.

The New Adult age group has become known for tons of sex and plenty of bad points, such as not having enough character development. A lot of the NA books coming out lately are starting to change how we see these kinds of books and are starting to really explore the potential this demographic holds. I Want it That Way is one of those books. It’s why I ended up adoring this book in spite of the handful of problems I had.

For starters, the characters are fantastic. Both the main and secondary characters (Lauren aside) are well developed, are easy to like and have depth to them.They all have their own sets of problems, yet they aren’t really a depressing bunch. Even Ty, which is surprising considering what he’s been through. He may come off as somewhat bitter in the beginning, but it’s more of a "once bitten, twice shy" kind of thing. He doesn't mope around and whine about how life isn’t fair.

Nadia was such a likeable female lead and was SO relatable. I loved how in spite of all the heartbreak that was in it for her, she never really gave up on Ty. Even when they had their ups and downs, she wasn’t tempted to go run and jump the first guy she came across. She handled a lot of the situations she found herself in like an adult and was mature, but at the same time, she also acted like her age. What I loved more about her, though, was how she was around Sam (Ty’s kid) and her friends.  She is the kind of friend anyone would want and is just all-around likeable. What really sold me on her was, when after hearing Ty’s story, she didn’t take his side. She didn’t take any side, for that matter. She neither condoned nor condemned his actions and just understood him instead. A character who doesn’t just butt into everyone’s business and just lets people talk, just LISTENS and offers comfort (instead of lies) is bound to be a good character.

Ty was just swoon-worthy and he also complemented Nadia perfectly. He needed someone who could help him get outside the solitary circle he had created for himself--someone who would push him to do things--and in that manner, they worked well together. That aside, what really made Ty endearing was how much he loved his son. He never saw him as a burden or someone that stopped him from living more. There were obviously things he missed from "before", but at the same time, he never really blamed his son. He was also a sweetheart and definitely not a jerk. He was always straight with Nadia about how far they could take things and never really tried to lead her on. He cared enough about her to know that at that point in life she might not be ready to give everything up and he knew that being with him wouldn’t just be about him because he also had Sam to think of.

Their romance did have the insta-love vibes, and while that should have disturbed me me, I wasn’t all that bothered since the two complemented each other. Their relationship wasn’t purely sexual and there was so much going on. The two took their time to actually talk to one another. They talked about their favorite things, dreams and aspirations, etc. Plus, there is the fact that we, as readers, weren’t privy to all their interactions. In the end, they made a good couple and were very easy to ship--isn’t that all that matters?

What stopped me from absolutely loving this book was Lauren, and then the Lauren-and-Max drama. I felt like the whole issue between the two was unnecessary, not to mention painful to read about! It would be a great build-up for the third book and would probably add to Max’s tortured-ness but… is it really Lauren’s fault that she didn’t fall head over heels for him (even though I happen to think he is fabulous)? I just feel like, in Max’s book, Lauren might be seen in a negative light for "breaking his heart", and I don't like that. All that aside, I wasn’t even a huge fan of Lauren in the first place. I absolutely hate it when people hide secrets from their best friends. The fact that Lauren spent such a huge chunk of time hiding stuff from Nadia--and ended up only telling her when necessary--didn’t really make me like her. They're supposed to be best friends--she shouldn’t be scared to tell her things, no matter how Nadia might respond! What are you doing, calling yourself her best friend when you cannot even do that?!?!

With all that said, this really is a story worth reading. I might have had some problems with the book, but I was thoroughly invested in it and wasn’t let down in the least. It may not have blown my mind but not all novels are meant to. Sometimes, for a novel to be something we can relate to, it doesn’t have to be totally amazing. It just needs to be down to Earth. I’d definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a good NA novel to read.

FUN FACT: The first song I listened to after finishing the book was NOT in fact I Want it That Way by Backstreet Boys... it was Bye Bye Bye by 'N Sync.