Review: The Hotter You Burn by Gena Showalter

Title: The Hotter You Burn (The Original Heartbreakers #2)
Author: Gena Showalter
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: July 28th 2015
Page Number: 416
Rating: 4.5/5

Summary:

Beck O'ckley is ruthless in the boardroom...and the bedroom. He's never been with the same woman twice, and vows he never will. With a past as twisted as his, meaningless sex keeps the demons at bay. His motto: One and done. No harm, no foul.

Harlow Glass is the most hated girl in town. The beautiful artist is penniless, jobless and homeless. When she sneaks into Beck's home—her ancestral estate—for food, she's shocked by his early return...and her immediate, sizzling and intense attraction to him.

For the first time in Beck's life, he can't get a woman out of his mind. All too soon, friendship blooms into obsession and he'll have to break her heart...or surrender his own.

REVIEW

 

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and with Beck being one of my favourite male characters, I was excited to see his backstory into what made him who he is today. And Gena did not once disappoint. I got everything I wanted and more. Cute scenes that made me have butterflies, sexual tension that could have burned the pages in my hand and a former bully who had me rooting for her from page 1.

 

In the second book of the Original Heartbreakers series we follow our Hero, Beck who's a known playboy never being seen with the same woman twice. Our Heroine is Harlow Glass a former bully in school and now known for being a layabout after getting kicked out of her home by the bank because she supposedly wouldn't pay the rent. One of the thing Gena did so right about Harlow was that she created a character that everyone would either love to hate. It's human genetics. We all love to hate someone and vice versa.

 

However, Harlow is actually misunderstood a lot. She didn't have the best home life and like they say: You can choose your friends but you can't choose your family. And that goes heavily for Harlow. When her and Beck first officially meet it's because Harlow has stolen a pie from his fridge (Harlow's house is now owned by Jase, Beck and West). He chases her down and demands she pays him back otherwise he'll go to the authorities. To me this is the essential scene for the whole book.

 

The romance between these two was a little like child's play. But it keeps you on your toes, anticipating the moment they finally say those 3 precious words. I love you. And with Beck's past you can honestly understand why. His upbringing wasn't an easy one and he's lived with the guilt of lying to the police so his friend can take the shit for him. And we all know guilt can eat a person alive.

 

Was this book better than the first one? Absolutely. I actually loved Harlow's naivety because the person she was as a teenager was actually a character to hide the person she truly was. And her relationship with Beck is special because he's her first. I just honestly love anything Gena Showalter writes.

 

 

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Review: The Closer You Come by Gena Showalter

Title: The Closer You Come ( The Original Heartbreakers #1)
Author: Gena Showalter
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: March 31st 2015
Page Number: 434
Rating: 4/5

Summary:

Just released from prison, Jase Hollister has a dark and twisted past. And now, he has only one goal: stay out of trouble. Strawberry Valley, Oklahoma, sounds like the perfect place for him and his two brothers-by-circumstance to settle down and live a nice, simple life. But model citizen isn’t exactly this rugged bachelor’s default setting—especially when it comes to a certain hot-blooded Southern beauty…

Brook Lynn Dillon has always been responsible. Not that it’s done her much good. The down-on-her-luck waitress is broke, single and fun-deprived. Until Jase comes along. He is dangerous, stunningly protective, breathtakingly sexy and as tempting as sin, and the passion sizzling between them is undeniable. But can it melt her resistance? After all, the right kind of trouble might be just what they both need.  

REVIEW

 

The Original Heartbreakers series was one of those series that I had my eye on for a while. Because they're all adult contemporary romance they were all published within a short time span of each other. So being able to marathon the series was one of the things that attracted me to it. And major factor that made me want to read this series is that Gena Showalter is one of my favourite authors. Her White Rabbit Chronicles series is an all time favourite.

 

The story follows our Heroine, Brook Lynn Dillon and our Hero, Jase Hollister who try the path of love while overcoming all their difficult obstacles. Brook Lynn has been fired from her job, she's basically babysitting her older sister and she's fighting her feelings for Jase and all the while Jase is just trying to overcome his past by hoping Strawberry Valley will give not only him, but his foster brothers a fresh chance at life.

 

Brook Lynn was definitely a fun, fresh and fierce character. She had an obsession with Zombies and believed a Zombie apocalypse was definitely going to happen. She also had a hearing impairment, which meant that she sometimes had to read lips. Jase has a bad past with prison but really he's judge a big lovable guy under all his hard exterior. And one of the things he does best is love fiercely. I loved him and Brook Lynn together. They had the banter that bounced off each other and that made me fall so much more in love with them.

 

There were a few things I didn't appreciate but the one thing that stood out for me against the rest was the use of the word Whoremones. Like being sexually attracted to a guy made Brook Lynn a slut. We can't help who we fall for and who we have chemistry with. Sexual attraction happens and it's just a part of our human mechanisms. It's not something that needed to be a guilty thing.

 

Overall, I enjoyed this one immensely. It was super cute and gave me the butterflies.

 

 

 

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Books to TV Series #1 | The White Rabbit Chronicles

So 'Books to TV Series' is going to be a brand new series on my blog where I focus on a book or series that I think would be great as a TV show or series. I really want to go in depth of the books/series and also talk about who I think would be some great casts. Of course, these are all my opinions but I just thought it seemed like a lot of fun.

To start of the first series I have picked The White Rabbit Chronicles by Gena Showalter. It's a YA Paranormal series that I finds really mixes both the girly and manly sides perfectly together. If you love TV shows like Gossip Girl and 90210 or The Walking Dead then I think you'd especially love this series since it has the drama, gossip of 90210 and, of course, the action and zombies of The Walking Dead.

 

I discovered this series in 2013 after I was looking for a different take on Alice in Wonderland. Initially I was looking for a leather bound edition of the book and then came across Alice in Zombieland. The title stood out and I really loved the cover, however, I decided to read up some reviews and didn't hear the best things about it. But that did not dampen my desire to pick it up. I read it the day it arrived and quickly became obsessed. I loved the unusual take on the story and Kat had to be the most hilarious character I have ever read about. She reminds me of myself when I go into my 'alter-ego' mode. My love for the series took off from there and I am so glad I didn't let other reviews stop me from giving the series a chance.

 

People have said they'd like a movie of this series but I have to disagree. I think this would relate so much more for TV. There's a world that needs the room to expand and a movie wouldn't be able to do that. Looking at the iflist there have been some great fan casts, but I think I have fan casted some great actors.

 

Alice Bell // Skylar Samuels // American Horror Story, The DUFF, Scream Queens

 

Cole Holland // Stephen James // Former footballer, now model

 

Kat Parker // Marie Avgeropoulos // The 100

 

Kat Parker // Sarah Hyland // Modern Family, Vampire Academy

 

Frosty // Jamie Campbell Bower // Twilight, The Mortal Instruments

 

Bronx // I can't think of anyone for him, sadly.

 

Mackenzie Love // Zoey Deutch // Beautiful Creatures, Vampire Academy

 

Reeve Ankh // Daniella Monet // Victorious, Fred 2 & 3

 

Trina Brighton // Hayley Kiyoko //  Lemonade Mouth, CSI: Cyber, Insidious Chapter 3

 

Emma Bell // Mia Talerico // Good Luck Charlie

 

Justin Silverstone // Gregg Sulkin // Wizards of Waverly Place, Faking It

 

I really do think that with the right producers, directors and writers the books would make excellent TV. I can imagine it this very second, and what I imagine makes me very excited. Mainly because of the blood. A shit ton of blood.

 

 

 

 

Who would you fan cast as these characters?

Let me know in the comments!

Review: Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Title: Alice in Zombieland
Author: Gena Showalter
Genre: YA Paranormal/Romance
Publisher: Mira Ink
Published: October 5th 2012
Page Number: 404
Rating: 5/5

Summary:
She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

REVIEW

This is honestly one of the best YA books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I've always been a fan of Alice in Wonderland, so I started to look for re-tellings and came across this. The reviews were decent and I had never read a zombie book before, so I was killing 2 birds with 1 stone. I was hooked from the very first page.

Alice has had this extremely terrible thing happen in her life and while she's struggling with it, she's also not letting it affect her whole life. She's somewhat turning the negative into a positive, and I found it so fresh in YA fiction. Gena's characters are so iconic, they're dangerous and fun, and very relatable. I couldn't tell you how many times I laughed out loud because of Kat and he one-liners. She's hilarious!

Gena Showalter isn't just good at writing characters and romance - which literally had my heart beating rapidly. Cole, oh dear, Cole. Be mine, please - but she writes some amazing action scenes. I wasn't just reading a fight scene, I was in that fight scene with the characters watching from the side lines. It's incredible! I wanted more and more and more of this story, I was left feeling empty once I finished the book.

And that's what shows that Gena Showalter knows exactly what she's doing!

 

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My All Time Favourite Books

I'm quite a very fussy reader. Not every book I read I will like, especially if it's been over-hyped. But before I started booktubing (Don't do it anymore) and blogging, I found it so much easier to read a book without judging it on the hype because I never checked reviews for it. Out of the seven books/series (series counts as one) only one of them was actually read before I started blogging and booktubing, the rest I heard of because of my favourite booktubers. None of these have any rankings because, like I said, they're all my favourite books.

Don't forget that tomorrow is Top 5 Wednesday and the topic is Favourite Book Titles.





The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare.

I absolutely love this series and unlike everyone else, I actually prefer this series to The Infernal Devices. This is a fast-paced, action-packed series with some of the best characters ever created. Clary and Jace are amazing, so are Maia and Jordan. Also this features a Gay relationship. And that conclusion to the series? ABSOLUTELY FREAKING EPIC! Every book was rated a 5/5 STARS!





Slated by Teri Terry.

I  have raved so much about this Trilogy. The first two books are fantastic, the third one was a let down, but aren't most? This is such a unique and futuristic world that appears to be a very realistic vision for our future. What I love most is that this is probably the most intense Dystopian I've ever read. The only negative is the new boy/love interests that comes in every book.





Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry.

This is a darker contemporary, but for me it is so realistic and very relatable. I suffer with severe depression and have self-harmed, so I understood exactly how Echo felt. Worthless and undeserving of love. But what I loved most was the fact that two broken souls came together and fixed each other. If you're not into Teen romance stories then I guess this wouldn't be for you, but if you do then go for it. Their story continues in the sequel being published in December.




A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.

This is the book I was telling you about that I read before I started blogging. At that time I hardly ever read and this book just appealed to me, it became one of my favourite series. The series is a mix of Fantasy, Romance, History and Action. It has been compared to
Twilight, but it's definitely not like Twilight. These Vampires are dangerous and it has Witches in it. The characters are great and the historical context behind it all in amazing! I also met Deborah and she's super lovely.



Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell.

I've also met Rainbow Rowell. In fact I met both Deb
orah and Rainbow in the same month, a few days after each other. Eleanor and Park is set in the 1980's and follows their story of falling in love for the first time. Eleanor is such a relatable and unique character; she's overweight, has unruly red, curly hair and stitches weird things on her clothes. Park is Asian. The way the story is written and how they connect through Comics and Mixed Tapes was beautiful. I will say in warning that the ending will cause you to cry.




The White Rabbit Chronicles by Gena Showalter.

This will be featured in my T5W for my Halloween Recommendations post, and so they should. This is one of my all time favourite trilogies because it focuses on the family as well as everything else that's going on. These books have some of the best characters and the whole fresh twist on the zombies was such a surprise. I would like a TV Show or Movie on these books, but I'm not sure if we'll ever get one.




Last but not least.....


Slammed by Colleen Hoover.

This is a recent read of mine and I could not get over how amazing this book was. Colleen Hoover has to be one of the best writers out there, she reminds me of a female Nicholas Sparks. Slammed focuses on the importance of life and how we kind of take it for granted. This is one of the only books (apart from Eleanor and Park, Where She Went and Allegiant) that made me cry. So much love.

My ratings are so unusual. I have an All Time Favourites Shelf and a Favourites Self. A book can be rated 5 stars and only make my Favourites Shelf. My All Time Favourites are ones that I can heavily relate too and I never want them to end.

 

So....What are your favourites?

Review: Queen of Zombie Hearts by Gena Showalter

"ONE OF THE BEST SERIES OUT THERE."

 

 

Title: Queen of Zombie Hearts (The White Rabbit Chronicles #3)
Author: Gena Showalter
Genre: Paranormal
Publisher: Mira Ink
Published: October 3rd 2014
Page Number: 464

Summary:

Alice "Ali" Bell thinks the worst is behind her. She's ready to take the next step with boyfriend Cole Holland, the leader of the zombie slayers…until Anima Industries, the agency controlling the zombies, launches a sneak attack, killing four of her friends. It's then she realizes that humans can be more dangerous than monsters…and the worst has only begun.

As the surviving slayers prepare for war, Ali discovers she, too, can control the zombies…and she isn't the girl she thought she was. She's connected to the woman responsible for killing—and turning—Cole's mother. How can their relationship endure? As secrets come to light, and more slayers are taken or killed, Ali will fight harder than ever to bring down Anima—even sacrificing her own life for those she loves.

 

Review:

 

I'm actually crying while I'm writing this because it's the end of a trilogy. No more books in this world, no more stories of the fantastic characters that Gena have created and shared with us. It's official over. Well, for me it has anyway.

 

The thing with this series is that each book gets better and better. Alice in Zombieland was crazy good and I never believed that Through the Zombie Glass could get any better, but it did. So for Queen of Zombie Hearts to come and knock them both off the pendulum it was a shock. This one is definitely my favourite out of the three.

 

Unlike so many Young Adult Paranormal series out there Alice is actually a kick ass character and if I had to match a song to her personality it would be Break the Rules by Charli xcx. But Alice isn't the only kick-ass character in this trilogy. There's Mackenzie, Cole, Frosty, Bronx and so many more, but what's so realistic is that they also have their flaws. Each and every one of them think like this

 

 

And they kind of rock. Unlike the first two books Queen of Zombie Hearts brings in new characters that are possibly some of my favourite in the trilogy. We have Helen a Witness who may or may not be evil (People who've read it will know.) and we also have sexy-as-sin River and his new group. River's group are full of slayers, but not all of them can be trusted.

 

What shocked me about this book was the instant Zombie attacks. I never noticed them coming, pretty much like this

 

 

 

Only these Zombies had more of an idea what they were going to do. Each and every Zombie scene was filled with action, but also had that little bit of un-trust in them as well. Because like I've said, not everyone can be trusted and some of them are on the opposing side. Ooops! Be careful who you side with in future.

 

Through out the book we see Alice and Cole trying to get through that bad case of sexual tension, but each scene was starting to get hotter and hotter by the minute. And I'm not talking about fighting Zombies. They were both good with their hands if you get my gist.

 

 

Overall it's pretty hard to review this book. I had so many feels and therefore I've decided to share with you my Goodreads progress bar and what I said. You may laugh. Or not.

 

Page 60: Ahh! So darn good. The action is unbelievable.

Page 140: SO GOOD!

Page 196: Damn! River and his boys are smoking hot. Hand me a fan, please.

Page: 220: That's it girl. You tell him!

Page 300: NO COMMENT. NO COMMENT.

Page 464: It's over. I'm done. Tears were shed and my heart was beating like I was in a marathon. Bye world. Bye Alice. By Emma. By Sexy guys. Ps, River will you marry me? No. Okay.

 

My biggest like about this book was that some of the side characters actually played the bigger part. Helen and Emma may have been Witnesses, but the team would never have done it without them. They worked as a team and brought the entire thing down. Burn, baby, burn!

 

My rating shouldn't count. This series is more than 5 stars, therefore, I give this book infinity stars.

Character That Deserve Their Own Books

Now I have so many favourite books. Different genre's, different characters, different settings. But sometimes I love them that much that I over work my little brain and start thinking about sequels that could be written, companionship novels, or even novellas written in my favourite characters POV. And in these five books they were no different.

5th - Levi from Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

This book was really good. Cath was quite annoying, but there's one character that I love, Levi. He made me smile, laugh and he's such an adorable book boyfriend. Rainbow also stated in an interview that she wasn't finished with these characters, so maybe she could be writing a companionship novel based on Levi. If not, then write it Miss Rowell! #LeviFans4Life









4th - Tim from Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Jamie is writing a new series based on the Maddox brothers, but I really want a book written in Tims' POV. I wouldn't mind it being set in today's time, but would rather it be about how he met Travis' mother, how they grew to love each other, getting married, having children and also how he felt when she died. It'd be an emotional rollercoaster but one that needs to be written.







3rd - Penryn's mother from Angelfall by Susan EE

Now I'm not sure if Penryn's mother is called named in the book. But she is such a character. She's crazy, but she comes across really funny and I definitely want a book based on her! She's kind of a killer, but can easily defend herself and has some of the most weirdest past times, but I love her. Move of Penryn and Raffe because your mother is out and about! SUSAN WRITE A NOVELLA OR SOMETHING. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'LL EVEN BEG!







2nd - Cole from Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Cole and Alice is perfect for each other, but I want to see what Cole's upbringing was like. When he first saw a zombie? When he started to fight them? How he met Frosty, Bronx, etc? All these questions are unanswered and we need them. Cole also has an awesome personality so it'd be awesome to have a book based on him.






1st - Sophie and Gideon from The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

AHHHHH! Sophie and Gideon are the definition of P E R F E C T. No joke. At first I hated both Sophie and Gideon, but over time I came to love them and watching their romance bloom was so special to me. It was like an actual movie playing in my mind. Also I feel like there was a lot more to come from them and if I'm honest I cannot live with Sophie and Gideon. Fan Fiction does not do it! Only Miss Clare can work her magic!






If you guys had to pick 5 favourite characters that you wanted to have a separate book/novella, who would they be and why? Tell me!

Book Review: Through the Zombie Glass by Gena Showalter

   Book Name: Through the Zombie Glass
   Author: Gena Showalter
   UK Release Date: Published in 2013
   UK Publishers: Mira Ink (Harlequin)
   Summary:

 

Alice Bell has lost so much.

Family. Friends. A home.

She thought she had nothing else to give.

 

She was wrong.

 

After a new zombie attack, her world gets even stranger. Mirrors come to life and she can hear the whispers of the dead.

 

But the worst? A terrible darkness blooms inside her, urging her to do dangerously wicked deeds that are impossible to come back from....

 

Praise for Gena Showalter:

 

'Readers will love the brave girl trying to reclaim her life...' RT Book Reviews

 

'Showalter has created a promising playground for future story instalments.' Kirkus Reviews

 

'...A zippy story with crossover appeal that highlights the power of guilt, faith and self-confidence.' Publishers Weekly

 

Review:

 

I must admit that after reading Alice in Zombieland I felt empty. I missed the characters that I grew to love, and I also, kind of missed the Zombies that I just wanted to destroy myself. But when I found out that the Sequel was out I jumped up with joy and ordered it straight away.

 

The book starts off with a dream, which I loved because over the time since Alices' parents had died, she'd grown up and become more mature, and just going back to see old Alice was great because we got to see the difference between them.

 

What I loved about this book was that I loved it even more than 'Alice in Zombieland.' It had a lot more action in it, in fact on page 72 there is an amazing battle scene. Zombies are killed and people are hurt, and that's what I loved about it. More gore. Blood. It had me wanting more! More! Also there was a scene that I couldn't help but laugh at (It was Midnight, I was tired.) Alice had texted her Nana about her grade and she replied back with 'WTF, An A?' it turned out that her Nana thought 'WTF' meant 'Well that's fantastic' of course we know better. But just having that realistic element in it really made it better for me. My mom thought 'LOL' meant 'Lots of Love' and that was up until four months ago....

 

Also in this book we are brought on a journey. A journey of destruction. People break up. People are kidnapped. There's a spy. Oh, yeah. There's also two new characters on the good side. Although I hated 'Ronny' she brought that extra jealousy.

 

Overall, this book was fast paced, action packed, full of sexual frustration and just absolutely amazing! That's why I gave it 5/5 Stars.

Can the third book be even better?

 

Talking about the third book - Queen of Zombie Hearts, here's the cover!

 



 

 

Isn't it beautiful? She looks like a bitch, but who cares, there's pink on the cover! pink!

 

My Quote:

 

'An amazing read for both adults and teenagers who just live for the f**king thrill' Bookbitchreviews.blogspot.co.uk