Love Spells and Other Disasters by Angie Barrett

Love Spells and Other Disasters by Angie Barrett

Publication Date: February 1, 2021

Publisher:  Entangled Teen

I didn’t know when I wrote the first love spell that it would actually make things happen. Like, actually make people fall in love with each other…

How could I have known something like that? I mean, magic isn’t real, right?

But here’s the thing—the spell does work and so does the next one and the next one...and suddenly I’m getting a whole lot of attention from everyone at my high school. Me, Blend-into-the-Walls, Please-Let-Me-Introvert-in-Peace Rowan Marshall. And not only that, but I’ve also caught the attention of Luca Russo, a godlike, football-playing hottie who claims he likes me just the way I am. Ummm...

But as I’m about to learn, playing around with things you don’t understand means when things go wrong—like really, very awfully wrong—you don’t know how to fix them.

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Love Spells and Other Disasters is such a cute and fun story. I really enjoyed it and it was the perfect mix of a contemporary story with a little realistic magic mixed in. 

After the unlikely duo of Rowan and Abby are partnered for a marketing project, they come up with a booth that sells crush spells. Things start getting a little weird when the spells Rowan writes actually work. 

I really liked Rowan. She is so comfortable with herself and that’s not saying she doesn’t have some insecurities. I think it’s the little things she doesn’t even realize. Like if she does a makeover she isn’t going to cut her hair because she likes it. She might dress differently for a party but she doesn’t throw out all her comfy clothes. Even as her friends and life might change a bit, she’s still Rowan.

I loved that Rowan’s mom is a ghost hunter. My FIL was actually a ghost hunter before he passed. He was part of a group that would go to houses for free to help ghosts move on. So I enjoyed having that be a part of her mom’s life. I also liked that they seemed to have a solid relationship. No relationship is perfect but even though Rowan is not a fan of her mother’s activities, she still supports her. 

I also love her relationship with her best friend, Ethan. I love a story that has some strong relationships already established. I think he reminds me of friends I had in high school so I had a fondness for him. 

I loved the plot! It’s one of those ones where you keep reading because, first you know things are going to go bad somehow and you want to know how. Then you keep reading because you want to know how they are going to get out of the situation. It is such a cute and unique idea as well. It is fast paced and engaging.

So if you are looking for something light and fun. This is a great read. Gives you those good vibes.

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Author Angie Barrett lives in a small town in Ontario, Canada in an old century home that is also known as the “cat house” because, well, Angie likes cats. A lot. She also likes shopping for books, or for anything really, and spending time RVing in the summer with her family. She has worked for sixteen years as a high school English teacher and Librarian and is currently a Curriculum Consultant for new teachers. Angie has always dreamed of being a published author and strives to create worlds where there are strong, relatable characters who maybe are not always perfect but who understand the meaning of friendship and loyalty and who will use their collective strengths to overcome adversity.

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In The Penalty Box by Lynn Rush & Kelly Anne Blount

Blog Tour! 

The Cutting Edge meets Friday Night Lights in a sizzling new hockey romance from bestselling authors Kelly Anne Blount and Lynn Rush!

In the Penalty Box 
by Lynn Rush and Kelly Anne Blount  
Genre: YA Contemporary 
Release Date: January 5, 2021
Entangled Teen 

Summary: 

Willow: Figure skating was supposed to be my whole world. But one unlucky injury and now I’m down...but I’m definitely not out. I just need to rehab—a boatload of rehab—and who’d have thought I could do it on the boys’ hockey team? Of course, the infuriatingly hot captain of the team seems to think I’m nothing but sequins and twirls. What’s a girl to do but put him in his place? Game on.

 Brodie:  Hockey is my whole world. I’ve worked my tail off getting my team in a position to win the championships—hopefully in front of major college scouts, too—so what’s a guy to do when a figure skater ends up as our new goalie? Of course, the distractingly sexy skater thinks I’m nothing but a testosterone-laced competitive streak. And surely she’s only biding her time to heal, then she’s gone. Game over.

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REVIEW

When I started In The Penalty Box I was hooked. I think the immediate chemistry between Willow and Brodie and just the general awesomeness of Willow sucked me in.

I really enjoyed Willow. She is hardworking and tough. Even though she hurt her achilles, even though she was taking longer to rehab then she wanted. She kept at it and was absolutely determined to get herself in shape. No matter what it takes. I find people like that amazing because I would consider myself on the lazy side.

Brodie is also a great kind hearted guy. He has some struggles in his personal life but he is a devoted brother and good friend. Sometimes though I felt a little frustrated with him when he was making some of Willow’s things about him. He’s also 17 though and that is what you do at 17. I also liked that there are some things in his life that are not magically fixed. Like it’s something that is a process and is going to have to take beyond the book.

The romance is cute and I did really enjoy the banter and chemistry between characters. Again towards the end I had some frustrations. I’m still not sure how I feel about it but I guess if that’s what the characters wanted that’s what they wanted.

It also addresses discrimination against girls and what people think figure skaters are like. Figure skaters are hard workers, just because they wear sequins and make up doesn’t make them any less so. I was a dancer and I remember when there was a whole football team that would come in for a class to help with their balance. I think you see the same thing here with figure skating and hockey crossover. I really enjoyed that part of it. I also enjoy sports in books even though I rarely watch sports in life. It’s kind of funny.

So this is a great quick read. I’m still conflicted about the end but it doesn’t take away from what the story is at all. 

About the Authors:

 

Lynn Rush: New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author, Lynn Rush, is a full-time writer, wife, and trail runner living in the Sonoran Desert, despite her fear of rattle snakes. Known as #TheRunningWriter, Lynn can’t resist posting epic sunrise pictures while running in the desert with her trail sisters, even if she has to occasionally hop a scorpion.

When she’s not running or writing, she’s watching movies that fuel her everlasting love of superheroes, vampires, and all things Supernatural. The books she reads usually carry the same theme, but this former college athlete loves reading sweet sports romances as well.

She’s madly in love with her Ironman husband of 20+ years who is the inspiration for what true love is. You can find her on social media as @LynnRushWrites and her website is: www.lynnrush.com 

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Kelly Anne Blount: USA Today Bestselling author and Wattpad Star Kelly Anne Blount has more than seventy-three-thousand followers on social media. Her Wattpad stories have been read more than twenty-million times. She’s contributed to Tap, Wattpad’s new app for chat-style stories, where her work has been “tapped” more than fifty-million times. She is a writer and reviewer for SpoilerTV, which has allowed her to develop an incredible network of film and TV stars.

Two of her Wattpad works, including Captured (seventeen-million reads), have been optioned for film by Komixx Entertainment, and she is regularly invited to present seminars about social media at author events.

Stop by any of Kelly’s social-media platforms (@KellyAnneBlount) and stay tuned to this website for announcements and information about upcoming releases and events.

Kelly Anne Blount is represented by Jennifer Wills (jennifer@theseymouragency.com) and Nicole Resciniti (nicole@theseymouragency.com) of The Seymour Agency.

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Book Tour Created by YA Bound Book Tours 

My Last Kiss by Bethany Neal #BlogTour #Excerpt #BookReview #Giveaway

My Last Kiss
by Bethany Neal
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date: June 10th 2014

What if your last kiss was with the wrong boy?
Cassidy Haines remembers her first kiss vividly. It was on the old covered bridge the summer before her freshman year with her boyfriend of three years, Ethan Keys. But her last kiss--the one she shared with someone at her seventeenth birthday party the night she died--is a blur. Cassidy is trapped in the living world, not only mourning the loss of her human body, but left with the grim suspicion that her untimely death wasn't a suicide as everyone assumes. She can't remember anything from the weeks leading up to her birthday and she's worried that she may have betrayed her boyfriend.
If Cassidy is to uncover the truth about that fateful night and make amends with the only boy she'll ever love, she must face her past and all the decisions she made--good and bad--that led to her last kiss.
Bethany Neal's suspenseful debut novel is about the power of first love and the haunting lies that threaten to tear it apart.

 

Chapter 1

It’s snowing or maybe it’s raining. . . no, it’s snowing. I can feel the wet flakes gathering in the corners of my eyes, melting down my cheeks like tears. The warmth from the sun I felt on my face only an instant before is gone. When I blink, the only things I see are blotchy white bits of trees and clouds and lights. Where are those lights coming from? I stumble onto my feet and my legs feel Jell-O-y, like I’ve been swimming for a really long time and now the ground feels too rigid.

I take one step and suddenly my whole body stings. I fall to my knees and clutch my middle. The worst pain I’ve ever felt invades my limbs, like when your foot falls asleep except it’s my entire body and it’s epically stronger. I’m screaming and gripping my sides, writhing in the fluffy white snow. And then the pain stops; as fast as it came, it stops. Filled with relief, I do a quick once-over of my body. I even pinch my arm to check if I’m dreaming. How dumb is that?

I manage to open my eyes enough to see a silhouette standing above the waterline among the trees in Dover Park. He—at least I think it’s a he—is staring at me, but not at me, me. He’s staring at the bloody, twisted mess of me on the rocks along the riverbank.

Why are there two of me?! And how did I get in the river?

I run toward my other, mangled body. I must be having a nightmare—but it’s like there’s a force field around me. I sort of melt into the air, then get flung back. I land on my butt in a massive snowbank at the water’s edge, waiting to feel the cold from sitting in waist-deep snow.

A jagged chunk of ice floats by, sparkling in the early-morning moonlight.

I still haven’t felt the cold.

The silhouette is talking now. I hear him, but the words are muffled as if he’s talking underwater. I press my hands to the sides of my face and squeeze my eyes shut, concentrating. His voice comes clearer. . . He’s telling me he didn’t mean to.

Mean to what?

Now he’s telling me this isn’t how it was supposed to go. This is her fault.

Is “her” me?

I open my eyes to check if he’s talking to me, me. He’s not. I look at my Other body, broken and folded in ways a body should never bend over a mound of gray rocks. In one of my Other hands I’m holding something, maybe a piece of paper, but I can’t see it clearly. Snow piles high again around my eyes and my cheeks and now on my shoulders. It comes down, harder and harder, until I feel buried in it. I can’t even see it and I’m buried in it so deep that I can’t breathe.

Slowly a thought creeps in, settles in the front of my mind. It tugs at something I feel like I know but can’t quite remember. I open my mouth to speak it, but I don’t see my breath the way I should in early March. I glance up at the silhouette. He’s crying or maybe he’s yelling; either way, I can see his breath.

I’m not breathing. I don’t need to. The words float past my lips like a rehearsed chorus: “I’m dead.”

My Last Kiss was pretty addicting, especially in the beginning. We have Cassidy who is a ghost and we start off the book with her looking at her dead body. She knows that something must have happened to her but she is missing big chunks of memory from the last 3 weeks before her death. She realizes that she must be a ghost for unfinished business reason but not exactly sure what that is.

The book revolves around the mystery of Cassidy’s plunge off the bridge behind her best friends house. The thing I liked about it was the complexity. It was a gradual progression. It seemed like everything was so simple but then things kept getting more and more complicated as Cassidy pieced together the clues. Although I figured out parts before the end of the book, I loved how the subtle hints were laid throughout. Things that Cassidy didn’t catch on to in life, but seemed to understand more in death. Towards the end I did feel like things were coming at me fast and it was hard to keep straight who was where and when. I wouldn’t have minded some of that being peppered in a bit more earlier. I can also see how the fear might be to give too much away too early. It’s hard when you write a mystery. The writing kept me interested in finding out what was going to happen next. I needed to know how all of the pieces of Cassidy’s story fit together.

Cassidy herself is actually complex. I liked Cassidy in ghost form but the things she did leading up to her death made me really dislike her. It’s one of those things where hindsight is 20/20. It seemed to me that Cassidy in ghost form was more true to herself than she was in her memories. She could see how she had become a different person and was ashamed with herself.

The romance is definitely different in this story because there really can not be a happy ending. My Last Kiss is not about finding love, it’s more about forgiveness than anything else. I really liked this different look at it. I loved looking back on some of Cassidy’s interactions with the boys even though I was pissed at some of the things she did.

There is a great friendship between Cassidy and Aimee in the book. It’s probably one of my favorite girl friendships that I have read. I expected for some reason for Madison and Aimee to be all mean girl about Cassidy but I was pleasantly surprised. Aimee is a hard core true friend to Cassidy even after her death. Even when some things come to light about situations Cassidy had gotten herself involved in. Amee never wavered.

I really enjoyed My Last Kiss because of the slowly progress complex mystery that is involved in it. The book also has one of my favorite friendships between two girls and the romance has a different approach that I really liked.

Bethany Neal writes young-adult novels with a little dark side and a lot of kissing! She is obsessed with (but not limited to): nail polish, ginormous rings, pigs, pickles, and dessert.

You can find her locked in her Writertorium for insane amounts of time. But, hey, insanity is fun! My Last Kiss is her first novel.

   

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Played by Liz Fichera #BlogTour #BookReview #DreamCast #Giveaway

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Played (Hooked #2)
by Liz Fichera
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: May 27th 2014

This Game Is Getting All Too Real

He said: I like to keep under the radar and mostly hang out with my friends from the rez. But when I saved Riley Berenger from falling off a mountain, that rich suburban princess decided to try to save me.

She said: If I can help Sam Tracy win the heart of the girl he can't get over, I'll pay him back for helping me. I promised him I would, no matter what it takes.

  

OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES

Adorably addictive is how I would describe Played by Len . I couldn't help myself from the minute I picked it up. I really enjoyed the banter between Riley and Sam and wanted to keep reading about them. I think Sam is definitely the stronger character of the two but I love how Riley can really affect him. They have a very cute romance.

This book had so many elements that I loved. It also managed to fit a bunch of them together without making it seemed weird or too fast. I had just been telling my husband (who was watching Can’t Buy Me Love at the time) that I love plots like this one. The story is fun a quirky. I love Riley and Sam’s interactions. I also enjoy the friendships that Sam has on the Rez. I’m not really sure how I feel about Riley’s friendship.

I like that there is a little bit about connecting with your family in here. Riley and Sam both have a hard time communicating to their parents and for Riley her sibling (Sam has a sister but his relationship seems fine.) Through the mistakes that are made they kind of see their parents in a new light.

I loved Sam. He’s a Native American that lives on the Reservation. His parents working at the casino. Although Sam is often judged by the fact he’s from the Rez and is really bothered by this. He can be judgmental himself at times. Especially the Berengers but he has other reasons to dislike them. Riley being one of them he is mean to her right out of the gate. Making assumptions about who she is. I liked Sam because his approach to things. He’s kind of a quiet stand offish guy but he let’s Riley drag him around but still bickers with her. I think sometimes he himself doesn’t understand why. I like how he can be really calm in a situation assessing the whole thing before acting. You have to really push him before he loses it.

Riley is a touch character in that she has that personality where she has always felt pressure to be perfect. With perfect grades does not come perfect social life, she is kind of an outsider. Looking and observing people. Drawing is her pastime (which is only lightly touched on). She tries to break out of her mold and this is where her character can get complicated because she starts doing reckless things and becoming a bit gullible. She thinks she is helping one person but doesn't realize that it may have consequences to others. Luckily she does come out of dreamworld at some point.

This book actually originally caught my eye because of it’s cover. Then I read the synopsis and decided to go for it. Now after reading it I can’t decide if I like it. I understand the playing field makes sense with the title but I kind of wish there was more desert or native american feel to it. Maybe include a dream basket. Now I really want a dream basket.

I really enjoyed this book, and I thought it was a fun read. Once I started I found myself addicted to the fun relationship between Sam and Riley. Wondering how long it might take for them to get together and how Riley’s mission would go. I think it’s a good book to add to your summer reading list.

RILEY

Ashley Benson

I figure she can pull off a couple pink streaks in her hair. Also I feel like she can pull off the talking a mile a minute too.

SAM

Alex Meraz

I guess I would have to say a younger version of Alex. I had a hard time finding someone for Sam because I had such a distinct image for him in my head.

I'm an American author living in the American Southwest by way of Chicago.
Born and raised in Park Ridge, Illinois, I moved to Phoenix, Arizona, after college, never expecting to live more than one year among cactus and people who’d never seen snow. I was wrong. It certainly didn't hurt that I met my future husband in Phoenix too.
Most of my stories are set in the American Southwest because I think the desert is a cool place. Living in Phoenix, I'm surrounded by Native American culture and influences, not to mention intriguing Hohokam petroglyphs and centuries-old canals. There are over 20 tribes in Arizona and I'm lucky to be neighbors to the Gila River and the Salt River Indian Communities.
When I'm not busy writing my next novel, I like to travel, visit museums, support local theater productions, hike, and pretend that I'm training for a triathlon. I post a lot of photos from my desert and mountain hikes on my Facebook and Twitter pages. In no particular order, I've been chased by javalinas, rattlesnakes, coyotes, and even one curious black bear.

     

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