Review: Before Midnight: Reilly's Story (After Midnight #1)

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

From Goodreads:

Reilly is on top of the world. He's a major name in entertainment, especially in the eyes of most teenage girls. Still, when tour comes to an end, it's even more apparent that something's missing in his life. His holiday is filled with old friends and close family, yet he's still consumed with restless thoughts. He just needs a little change: A new friend, a new location, and new inspiration. At least, that's what he's hoping.

Pigeons and Carrots rocketed into fame and have just completed their longest tour so far. The band has now a few weeks of downtown before returning to the studios.

Review: The Colonel and the Bee

'' ''Ignorance weighs far more than knowledge.'' ''

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

From Goodreads:

The Amazing Beatrix works as an acrobat in a 19th Century circus, no home or family to speak of. When a daring escape from her abusive ringleader crosses Beatrix's path with that of the daring adventurer Colonel James Bacchus, the unlikely pair team up, fly to safety aboard the Colonel’s miraculous four-story hot air balloon, and begin a grand quest to find the most precious gem in the world, The Blue Star Sphinx.

If the heroes can outmaneuver the deadly treasure hunters, escaped convicts, and double-crosses that await them, they may win the treasure they seek, or better yet, a sense of true belonging.

Witty banter, colorful characters, and exotic locations pack the fantastical, globe-trotting adventure that reads like Sherlock Holmes meets Around the World in Eighty Days.

Let's be honest, I could not get in this book. I tried and tried to get in, to truly love the book and its colourful writing. Maybe it was the way it was written, maybe I couldn't understand the characters. Whatever the reason may be, the further into the book I got the less I enjoyed it.

Review: Titus Fogg (The Wyrd #1)

'' ''This stuff, magic, isn't what you think it is. The word makes it sound whimsical, fantastical, like it's a fairytale, but there are things out there that would feed on your sanity, kill you in ways you couldn't possibly imagine, not because they're evil, but because of how insignificant we are as a species.'' ''

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

From Goodreads:
Titus Fogg hates magic, and with good reason. Born into a murderous family of cruel and powerful casters in modern Massachusetts, magic has contributed to every bad thing that has happened to him since birth. After finally managing to banish the most likely evil (but definitely dirty-minded) entity called Shade from his body to the sidelines as his shadow, Titus has the chance to have a normal, magic free, high school life. But, when Tess Roe, his classmate, neighbor and model of justice at their school realizes she can see the creatures Titus calls the Wyrd too, Titus must return to the world of the strange to help her. Soon Titus's dark past comes to light as he must prove that he isn't responsible for the death of one of Tess's friends, and the theft of a magical book that could lead to the destruction of Arkham.

Titus is tired of everything. He hasn't slept well for ages and every time his head hits the pillow he can't escape the Dreamlands.

Review: China Rich Girlfriend (Crazy Rich Asians #2)

'' '' You survived my mother -- I think everything else from here on out is a piece of cake,'' ''

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

From Goodreads:

It’s the eve of Rachel Chu’s wedding, and she should be over the moon. She has a flawless Asscher-cut diamond, a wedding dress she loves, and a fiancé willing to thwart his meddling relatives and give up one of the biggest fortunes in Asia in order to marry her. Still, Rachel mourns the fact that her birthfather, a man she never knew, won’t be there to walk her down the aisle.

Then a chance accident reveals his identity. Suddenly, Rachel is drawn into a dizzying world of Shanghai splendor, a world where people attend church in a penthouse, where exotic cars race down the boulevard, and where people aren’t just crazy rich … they’re China rich.

The private jets get bigger, the spending gets out of hand, and the drama is on fire. And this time there's no avoiding it.

Review: The World Breaks Everyone

'' ''Ah, my dear, everyone has secrets.'' ''

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

From Goodreads:

A Gripping Cat-and-Mouse Suspense Novel

Every day, I wake up certain of only three things:
I am responsible for my mother’s death.
My father has vanished.
Someone wants me dead.

 
I’m on the run. It’s me against the world.
I cannot let it break me.

When sixteen-year-old Olivia Jacobs and her celebrity chef father are brutally attacked after his French Quarter restaurant opening, the shell-shocked Olivia finds herself on the run on the streets of New Orleans.

Who wants her dead? And why?

Fasten your seatbelt and prepare yourself, this family has more secrets to hide than the eye can see. Olivia has carried blame from her mother's death on her shoulders of her own will, and just when her life has begun to normalize itself, an unknown attacker puts her life in shambles again. Now, she has no other option but to run if she wants to stay alive.

I was supposed to read only the first two chapters the night I started The World Breaks Everyone. The quick reading session turned out to be a little longer one, me having read a third of the book before taking my eyes off the first time. The plot will keep you in its grip tightly, and the book will just fly past.