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Title:  Slammed

Author:  Colleen Hoover

Published:  2012 by Colleen Hoover

Genre:  Young Adult, Romance

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Layken, her nine-year old brother Kel, and their mom, have just arrived in Michigan after driving there from Texas.  Within a few moments her brother has made a friend, Caulder, who is also nine, and they begin playing zombies.  Layken gets out of the U-Haul to join the kids when she sets eyes on Will, Caulder’s older brother.

It turns out that Will and Caulder live right across the street.  Will and Layken find themselves drawn to one another and they don’t waste any time going on a first date.  Will takes Layken to a slam, where Layken pretty much gets blown away by the people performing their poetry and she convinces Will to slam as well.

Things are going great for them, until something happens in which they realize that it would be impossible for them to be together.  Feelings are hurt and life moves on as it does.  Will they be able to overcome this obstacle to be together?  Is it something that they are even able to overcome?

What’s a slam, you ask?  Its poetry, but it’s not just reading words.  It’s performing them.   Slamming is pretty powerful, just like this book.  This is a young adult book, but it’s not like the rest of them.  This book deals with real life problems, and how even when it really sucks, life does go on and you just have to go on with it.

I read this book within 24 hours.  It was really well done, and if you choose to read it, I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy it.  There were parts that definitely made me cry (a few times), but I’m going to leave you with a part that made me laugh.  This scene is between Layken and her new friend Nick.

“Hey, Layken,” Nick smiles as he sits in his new spot nearest me.  “Got another one for ya.  Wanna hear it?”

In the past week alone, I’ve had to endure at least three Chuck Norris jokes a day from Nick.  He incorrectly assumes that since I’m from Texas, I must be obsessed with Walker, Texas Ranger.

“Sure.”  I don’t try to deny him this privilege anymore, it doesn’t work.

“Chuck Norris got a g-mail account today.  It’s gmail@chucknorris.com.”

It takes me a second to process.  I’m normally quick with jokes, but my mind has been sluggish lately, and for a good reason.

“Funny,” I reply flatly in order to appease him.

“Chuck Norris counted to infinity.  Twice.”

As much as I didn’t feel like laughing, I did.  Nick did annoy me quite a bit, but his ignorance was endearing.

~Slammed by Colleen Hoover (I can’t give you the exact page number, because my Nook is telling me there are 1112 pages in this book, when there are only 314 pages.  Silly Nook.)

Go read it.  You won’t regret it.  I’m off to read the next one in the series!

My Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 stars

Happy reading!

~Pam

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Title:  The Bride

Author:  Julie Garwood

Published:  June 2011 by Penguin Group

Genre:  Romance

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The year is 1102.  Alec Kincaid, a widow and a Scotsman, is told by his king that he must pick a wife from a certain English family.  To Alec, this is not a big deal, for he sees a wife as nothing more than an accessory and something that he won’t give much thought to.

It is a much different story for Jamie’s family.  Her three sisters are in an uproar when they learn that because their father did not pay his taxes, their king told him that two of his daughters are to be married to two Scotsmen.  What’s worse is that there is an awful rumor attached to Alec Kincaid, that he killed his previous wife.

Jamie is the only sister with a level head on her shoulders, and she is also the sister that Alec picks.  They are married and start to travel to Scotland that very day; talk about no adjustment time, huh?  While Alec did not intend to have any feelings for his wife, he finds himself starting to care for her.  Will Alec’s clan accept an English woman?  Will Jamie be his next victim?

I thought this book was okay.  Nothing about it really had me excited.  Jamie’s sisters annoyed the hell out of me, but I suppose that was probably the point.  All they did was cry and whine and depend on Jamie, who was the youngest.  It was a bit ridiculous.  Jamie’s character was decent; she wasn’t a complainer at all.  She had a good personality, was smart, and she was a healer.  Alec’s character was okay; he was the laird of his clan and an expert fighter.  He also liked to egg Jamie on to get a rise out of her; it seemed to be his way of flirting.

I just feel like I’ve read similar stories that were much better.  It was one of those books that I just wanted to finish so I could move on to the next, but it definitely wasn’t bad enough to stop reading it either.  The Bride was an okay book, and for that reason, I rated it a 3.

My Rating:  3 out of 5 stars

Happy reading!

~Pam

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Title:  Sempre

Author:  J.M. Darhower

Published:  January 2012 by CreateSpace

Genre:  Young Adult, Romance

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Haven Antonelli is a modern day slave.  Her mother, who is also a slave at the same residence, tells her that she must run away because she fears for Haven’s life.  Haven does run, but she doesn’t end up with her freedom like she hoped, she ends up as a slave for Vincent DeMarco, a powerful man in the mafia.  However, the conditions are much better at the DeMarcos, and she meets Vincent’s two sons, Carmine and Dominic.

Dominic is the older son.  He’s down to earth and relaxed.  Carmine is a seriously troubled teenager.  He lost his mom when he was young, and he has never been the same.  He always gets in trouble, skips school, and isn’t afraid to talk back.  His old best friend is now his enemy.  He doesn’t have an interest in having a girlfriend; he just likes to sleep around.

The sons know that their father is involved in the mafia, but they don’t know who Haven is or why she’s at their house.  They both treat her kindly, and then Carmine finds himself thinking about her more and more.  But will Haven ever be able to open up to him even though Carmine is her master’s son?

I chose to read this book because of all the five star ratings it was getting from some other blogs I follow.   This is the first book about modern day human trafficking that I have read, and frankly the fact that slavery still exists is disgusting.  This was a good story with solid characters.  The POV changed from time to time, but the change was easy and not bothersome.  Usually point of view shifts drive me nuts, but here that was not the case.

In this story you get to see what it might be like to be a slave in today’s society through Haven’s eyes.  I think that anyone who reads this is going to have an eye-opening experience and start being more observant.  Today, the day I finished reading Sempre, I was browsing the Yahoo homepage when this article came up regarding slavery and how about 27 million people are slaves today!

Here’s the link:  http://news.yahoo.com/27-million-people-living-slavery-us-070112851.html

Back to the book; there is obviously violence in it, but nothing gruesome.  And although the book is about Haven being a slave, it is more about Carmine and her relationship, so I didn’t really consider it a dark read, which I totally thought it would be when I picked it up.  There are a bunch of light hearted moments that had me laughing out loud.  Here’s a sweet conversation between Haven and Carmine:

 “Romeo?”

“Like in the book, Romeo and Juliet.  They come from different sides but met in the middle.  We have the forbidden love part, right?”

“Yeah, but we’re not killing ourselves, Haven, so that’s about as similar as it gets.  Besides, Romeo’s an idiot.  Pick someone else.”

“How about Shrek?”

His brow furrowed.  “Shrek?  Really?  He’s an ogre.”

“Shrek and Fionna thought they were different when they weren’t.”

He contemplated that for a moment until he realized he was seriously comparing his life to a cartoon.  “Pick another one.”

“Titanic?  Rose and Jack weren’t supposed to be together.”

“Seriously?  He dies.  I’m not gonna jinx myself here.”

She was quiet for a moment, running her fingers across his abs and tracing his scar with her fingertips.  “How about we just be Haven and Carmine?” she suggested.  “We don’t know the ending, be we can always hope for the best.”

~Page  248

I gave this book four, not five stars.  Why?  It was a really good book, but it didn’t blow me out of the water.  A five star book is hard to come by, for me anyway.  However, I am so happy that so many people are reading it, enjoying it, and spreading the word.

My Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

Happy reading!

~Pam