Dream Cast Blitz!

Today is the character dream cast blitz post for the A LITTLE TOO FAR series by Lisa Desrochers. Three groups of bloggers will be posting dream casts from one of the books in the series. Be sure to check out each group to see how each story is connected and which characters can be found in one of the other books.

 

This blog is featuring the dream cast from A LITTLE TOO MUCH.

 

Character Casting

A LITTLE TOO MUCH:

  We first meet Alessandro Moretti in A LITTLE TOO FAR. He is a transitional deacon studying in Rome, only months away from becoming a Catholic priest…until Lexie Banks stumbles into his life. She shakes him to the core and makes him question the path he’s on. He had a rough upbringing, and did some things he believes are unforgivable. He feels his only road to redemption is to give himself to the Church and devote his life to helping others. Lexie makes him see the flaws in his logic. Eduardo Verastegui is my perfect Alessandro He returns to New York to try to make amends for some of the wrong he’s done, and Hilary McIntyre is one of those things. He hurt Hilary in ways he can’t even admit to himself, and now he want to help her…but from a distance. But Alessandro finds that history catches up with him and he can’t stay objective when it comes to Hilary. Despite his best intentions, he’s falling in love with her all over again. Hilary is hard to cast because she’s the product of an Irish redhead and a Jamaican. Picture Paula Patton with faint freckles and a reddish tint to her black hair. Seeing Alessandro again rocks Hilary’s world. She’s finally got her life on track and there’s no way she’s going to let a ghost from her past derail it. And he can never know the true devastation he left behind. But as she finds herself falling for the man who, as a boy, both saved her and destroyed her, she has a decision to make. Risk everything for love, or walk away from her only chance at happiness. We see these two again in a pivotal scene neat the end of A LITTLE TOO HOT (book 3 in the A LITTLE TOO series).   ---------------------

 

BOOK SUMMARY: In the follow-up to Lisa Desrochers’ explosive New Adult novel A Little too Far, Alessandro Moretti must face the life he escaped and the girl he loved and left behind. Twenty-two year old Hilary McIntyre would like nothing more than to forget her past. As a teenager abandoned to the system, she faced some pretty dark times. But now that’s all behind her. Hilary has her life on track, and there’s no way she’ll head back down that road again. Until Alessandro Moretti—the one person who can make her remember—shows up on her doorstep. He’s even more devastatingly gorgeous than before, and he’s much too close for comfort. Worse, he sees right through the walls she’s built over these last eight years, right into her heart and the secrets she’s guarding. As Hilary finds herself falling back into love with the man who, as a boy both saved and destroyed her, she must decide. Past or future? Truth or lies?  

BUY LINKS FOR THE SERIES

A LITTLE TOO FAR Buy Links: Amazon: http://amzn.to/Q5sQhu B&N: http://bit.ly/NAKZlS
A LITTLE TOO MUCH Buy Links: Amazon: http://amzn.to/1k50NMu B&N: http://bit.ly/1bzqHhf
A LITTLE TOO HOT Buy Links: Amazon: http://amzn.to/Jx61jI Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1cpveCZ


AUTHOR BIO: LISA DESROCHERS is the USA Today bestselling author of the A Little Too Far series, courtesy of HarperCollins, and the young adult Personal Demons trilogy from Macmillan. She lives in Northern California with her husband, two very busy daughters, and Shini the tarantula. Find her online at www.lisadwrites.com, on Twitter at @LisaDez, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LisaDesrochersAuthor.

AUTHOR LINKS:

Website: http://lisadesrochers.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LisaDesrochersAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LisaDez

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3342174.Lisa_Desrochers

Review: "Deeper" by Robin York

In Robin York’s sizzling debut, a college student is attacked online and must restore her name—and stay clear of a guy who’s wrong for her, but feels so right. When Caroline Piasecki’s ex-boyfriend posts their sex pictures on the Internet, it destroys her reputation as a nice college girl. Suddenly her once-promising future doesn’t look so bright. Caroline tries to make the pictures disappear, hoping time will bury her shame. Then a guy she barely knows rises to her defense and punches her ex to the ground. West Leavitt is the last person Caroline needs in her life. Everyone knows he’s shady. Still, Caroline is drawn to his confidence and swagger—even after promising her dad she’ll keep her distance. On late, sleepless nights, Caroline starts wandering into the bakery where West works. They hang out, they talk, they listen. Though Caroline and West tell each other they’re “just friends,” their feelings intensify until it becomes impossible to pretend. The more complicated her relationship with West gets, the harder Caroline has to struggle to discover what she wants for herself—and the easier it becomes to find the courage she needs to fight back against the people who would judge her. When all seems lost, sometimes the only place to go is deeper.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review an ARC of this novel.

Now THIS is what a New Adult novel should look like, and feel like, and just BE like!  Robin York is my new heroine of the genre!

I think I'm kinda in love with this book (in case you couldn't tell from my previous gushing).  I love Caroline, and I love West!  They're both pretty kick ass in their own ways.  So let's break it down, shall we?

Caroline

• I love that she didn't head for the hills when those pictures surfaced online.  I hate to admit it, but I think that's exactly what I would have done if I were in her shoes.
• I love that she gets into rugby.  It's such a gnarly sport - I don't know much about it, but I have a bunch of friends who play, and I think it's just so cool!
• I love her relationship with her dad.  Something about father/daughter moments make my eyes well up.
• I love how she's tongue tied and flustered around West - so cute!
• I love how her best friend didn't judge her and stuck by her throughout her scandal.

West

• I love how he pretty much raised his little sister.
• I love that he works in a bakery.  A guy who can bake?  Seriously, how great is that?
• I love that he can hold his own in a fight.
• I love that he doesn't baby Caroline.

I didn't really love that West was into some illegal stuff, but it definitely fit within the context of the story, and it didn't make West any less lovable.

Not sure what else I can say that hasn't already been said, but if you're looking for a New Adult read and you want to skip the rest and go straight to the best, pick up "Deeper" for yourself.

My rating:

Review: "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner

Despite all my best intentions, I was still only able to read one "real" book last month.  I struggled a bit with "The Maze Runner", but I'm glad I finally read it because it's been on my TBR list for so long!  Here's what I'm hoping to read for the Real Book Challenge over the next three months:

Quite the pile, I know!  I'm soooo intimidated by that Stephen King book, I don't know how I'm going to get through that one!!!

So, I might as well kill two birds with one post - read on for my review of "The Maze Runner".

"If you ain't scared, you ain't human." When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He's surrounded by strangers--boys whose memories are also gone. Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It's the only way out--and no one's ever made it through alive. Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.

This is one of the rare cases where I think the movie might surpass the book.  I had a hard time getting into the book at first, but I pushed on, and I"m glad I did because I'm quie excited to see the setting and action of "The Maze Runner" on the big screen.

One think I really got a kick out of was the slang/swear words the boys in the glade used.  I wonder what people would think if I called my car a piece of "klunk"?  I think I might try to incorporate some of these into my everyday language - might keep me out of trouble!

The glade and the maze were easy for me to imagine.  The boys, on the other hand, kept getting mixed up in my mind.  I never had a clear image of Thomas, and once the other boys were introduced and described once, that was it.  I think Alby was African American, and I think Newt was blonde, but honestly, if you told me the opposite was true, I wouldn't be surprised.

The action was somewhat sporadic, making the plot a bit slower than other dystopian YA novels I've read, but if you don't mind taking your time with a book, "The Maze Runner" is worth a read.

My rating:

Review: "Sapphire Blue" by G. Doucette

WARNING: DARK THEMES, EXPLICIT CONTENT Has Mara lost control, or has it been taken from her? Mara Cantor’s life is boring and uncomplicated, and she likes it that way. She has her internship at the museum—a job she shares with her roommate, Davis—and while it is low-paying and occasionally mind-numbing, it gives her all the free time she needs to finish her thesis. And that is just fine. But when Argent Leeds, the internationally famous playboy and raconteur, visits Mara’s museum, he brings with him the most exciting archeological discovery in decades: the Pazuzu gemstones. Long assumed to be nothing more than a myth by most scholars, the gemstones are rumored to possess mystical powers. Between Argent, his gemstones, and Davis, Mara’s boring life has suddenly gotten very complicated. Now she is caught up in a sexual adventure that is either the most exciting time of her life . . . or the most terrifying.

 Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review an ARC of this book.

Hmmmm, how to describe this book?  Unique, erotic, and surprising.  Yep, that about sums it up for me.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I'd have to say the further I got into the book, the more surprised I became.  I think it was the paranormal aspect that drew me in, although initially I was leery of it.  I'm not usually much of a paranormal enthusiast, but something about the Pazuzu gemstones was really creepy-cool.

From the start, I could tell something was up with Argent.  He had some sort of hold and power over Mara, where he could coerce her into doing things she normally wouldn't even think of doing - Argent would just suggest something and Mara would go along with it as if in a trance.  The beginning third of the book was a bit slow, but it seemed to be laying the foundation.  Once I got through the preliminary groundwork, thing picked up and I just HAD to find out how - or if - Mara was going to get out of this warped relationship.

For G. Doucette's first foray into the erotica genre, I think he did a great job.  I would definitely be interested in reading more along this line from him.

My rating:

Review: "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" by Laini Taylor

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war. Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out. When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review an ARC of this book.  I also have a physical copy of this book.

This book was really just so cool!  I've never read anything quite like it.  The writing is absolutely beautiful, and I looooooved the overall setting.  The author takes us from Prague to Marrakesh and through to another world, seemingly effortlessly and with such description that I was able to vividly picture each location in my imagination.  Now that's talent!

I really enjoyed all the characters, most especially Karou's friend Zuzana.  Even the bad guys were memorable - I loved Razgut and Kazimir, and even Thiago!  Thiago is just so believably creepy.  The chemistry between Karou and Akiva is awesome.  I suppose some people might complain about the inst-lust between these two, but I think in the context of this book, it works.  The romance is not over the top, but definitely left me with some cool shiveries!

"Daughter of Smoke and Bone" is absolutely going on my 2014 list of favourites, and I'm very keen to see what happens next in this series.  If you like a bit of magic in your YA reads, you should pick this one up, ASAP!

Review: "Masquerade" by Nyrae Dawn

A biker. A tattoo artist. A love to last a lifetime. Maddox Cross has always had to be tough. When his father went to jail for murder, the teenager took care of his sister and mother. Now on his own and working security at a night club, Maddox wants to become a tattoo artist-a dream that comes closer to reality when he falls for the hottest, most tatted woman he's ever seen. She's wild and beautiful, and Maddox will do anything to be with her. Bee Malone came to town to open up her new tattoo parlor, Masquerade. Since being kidnapped as a young girl, Bee has had trouble getting close to anyone. But when she meets Maddox, she sees that under his hard biker's body is the sensitive soul of an artist. What starts out as a sizzling one-night stand soon becomes so much more. Bee wants Maddox to join her tattoo business, but letting him into her life means revealing all her most intimate secrets. And as the past begins to intertwine with her present, Bee fears their love may not be as permanent as their ink . . .

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review an ARC of this book.

I can't help but compare "Masquerade" to "Facade", the only other Nyrae Dawn book I've read and second in this series, and I'm sorry to say that "Masquerade" fell short by just a wee bit.  I can't put my finger on exactly why this happened, but it could have something to do with the fact that "Facade" was such an emotional journey, it would be hard to follow that up with anything! The bar was set extremely high!

In "Masquerade", we've got Maddox and Bee.  Both seem to be going through something of an identity crisis, and both definitely have attachment issues.  Once you get their background stories, it's easy to see why they each have their individual troubles.  Are they likable?  Despite their rough edges, I'd have to say yes.  I love how Bee is so forward about sex and what she does and doesn't want.  It's pretty cool.  And Maddox is the same way, only for a guy, sad to say it's more the norm.  I really enjoyed watching their relationship develop, especially since neither of them wanted one in the first place. 

There are a couple moments of crises, not exactly surprising or twisty, but heart-warming just the same.  In short, I found "Masquerade" a quick, enjoyable read and I"m looking forward to reading more from Nyrae Dawn.

My rating:

Top Ten Tuesday #4

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.  This week's Top Ten list is:

Top Ten All Time Favorite Books in X Genre (you pick the genre!)

So I decided to list my top ten favourite New Adult books (please note: this list is subject to change as I read more and more great New Adult titles!).

Have you read any of these books?  What did you think of them?  If you leave a link to your top ten list, I'll be sure to check it out!