Giveaway Time !

Tis the season for a giveaway, FA LA LA LA LAAA , LA LA LA LAAAAA !

Okay everyone, I am super excited to present to you guys my very first giveaway! I received both lovely titles, but was also sent duplicates of both, so instead of keeping them, one lucky winner has a chance of snagging not one but both ARC copies! Exciting right?

The first ARC is The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon. If you aren't familiar with this title, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ? No I'm just kidding . . .  okay no I'm not lol. This is actually the sequel to The Bone Season. Check out the synopsis on goodreads if you want more information. 

The second ARC is We Are Pirates by Daniel Handler. This book is from the author of Why We Broke Up, who is also known for his work under the pen name Lemony Snicket. Again if you want more information, check it out here.

One thing I want to say is that there aren't many rules to this giveaway, however, I do want the winner to review both titles by their release dates. Or atleast one. We receive ARCS (which aren't cheap) for this mere purpose, and I want to make sure all participants are willing to do this. I know anything can happen in our busy lives, but I will greatly appreciate it if an attempt is made to review one or both titles. That's pretty fair. 

The Mime Order release date: January 27th

We Are Pirates release date: February 3rd

Update: 

So it was brought to my attention that bloggers and or readers were apprehensive about entering the giveaway because of a previous comment made under my post. I'm being completely honest when I say a winner has not already been chosen. I'm giving everyone a fair chance of winning, therefore anyone can enter! If you were confused thinking someone was already getting the ARC of The Mime Order, nope! That baby is up for grabs just like it's buddy We Are Pirates. My apologies for any confusion guys. Now enter away people! I'm looking forward to see who wins it all at the end of this month :)

And I will be stalking your blog or goodreads to check future winner! * insert smiling devil emoji here *

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The TayTay Book Tag

I was tagged by Ellen over at Moon Eyes Random Smiles to participate in this book tag dedicated to the lovely Taylor Swift. Thank you girlie, now time to get down to business. 

We Are Never Ever, Getting Back Together.

Pick a book or series you were pretty sure you were in love with, but then wanted to break up with.

Ignite | Lily Paradis

The first 15% of the book I'm thinking, " Ohh, I'm going to love this!"

Uhh . That changed pretty quickly. 

Red

Pick a book with a red cover. 

Ready Player One | Earnest Cline

I recommend all video game lovers to read this book. 

The Best Day

Pick a book that makes you feel nostalgic.

Where the Sidewalk Ends & A Light In The Attic | Shel Silverstein 

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie | Laura Joffe Numeroff

Encyclopedia Brown ( Super Sleuth ) | Donald J. Sobol

First of all, these were some of my favorite books when I was a kid. I can't wait to add them to baby Mer's book collection!

I knew you were trouble

Pick a bad character you couldn't help but love.

Cress | Marissa Meyer

In the beginning (starting with Cinder) I absolutely despised Queen Levana. But, by the time I reached the book Cress, I had grown to love her evilness.

Innocent 

Pick a book someone ruined the ending for.

Anna & The French Kiss | Stephanie Perkins

The hype around this book kinda ruined not just the ending, but the entire story as a whole. I still enjoyed it, but not as much as I may have hoped to.

Everything Has Changed 

Pick a character from a book who goes through extensive character development.

Icy Pretty Love | L.A Rose

I haven't even finished this book yet, but I know Cohen is going to go through a complete character transformation, and I can't wait to witness it!

You Belong To Me

Pick your most anticipated book release.

* sings * If you don't know, now ya know!

Fairest | Marissa Meyer

I want this book, and I want it now! January.27th can not come fast enough. This baby will be mine !

Forever And Always

Pick your favorite book couple.

This book is already mentioned above, but hands down, Rae and Cohen have the best fictional relationship I've ever read. Their chemistry is soooo devine and ugh. Cohen is so evil but Rae is certainly time enough for that ass. As my mother would say lol. 

Teardrops On My Guitar

Pick a book that made you cry alot.

Forbidden | Tabitha Suzuma

See the thing about Forbidden is, it'll break you into a million & one pieces, but it won't put you back together again . . . And that's fucked up Tabitha! I read this book back in July and I'm still not over what happened. That should tell you something lol. 

I want to cry just thinking about it. * enter crying face emoji here *

Shake It Off

Pick a book that you love so much, you just shake off the haters.

We Were Liars | E. Lockhart

I don't care what anyone says, We Were Liars was a fantastic story. I will continue to stand by this book and it's beautiful-ness, and if you thought the writing was " gimmicky"  then please explain Shatter Me. I'll wait :)

Blank Space

Pick the most over-hyped book or series that didn't work for you at all.

This is another book that is already mentioned within this tag. I won't say that this book didn't do it for me, because I did enjoy the story. However, I didn't see why there was so much hype surrounding the book. I just felt like I've read better romance stories. 

Invisible 

Pick the most under-hyped book or series that you think deserves the spotlight.

The Chaos Walking Trilogy | Patrick Ness

Everything Patrick Ness writes is gold, and these three books are no exception. The Chaos Walking Trilogy is literally literary per-fucking-fection. Whenever I see people talking about their favorite series or trilogies, I hardly ever see TCW trilogy mentioned which is absurd! If you haven't picked these up, please do! They're nothing short of amazing!

They Story Of Us

Pick a couple you think should end up together. 

To All The Boys I Loved Before | Jenny Han

The sequel P.S I Still Love You comes out next year, and Lara better end up with Peter Kavinsky or i'm going to be all types of pissed!

Love Story

Pick a forbidden love in a book or series.

Well this is a no-brainer lol. 

Maya and Lochan's relationship was completely forbidden. I mean hellooooo, they are brother and sister. However, they were just so beautiful together ............

Cries hysterically. 

* Clutches heart *

* Grabs handful of tissues *

* Wipes tears frantically, while blowing snot everywhere *

* Runs to the nearest tub of icecream and grabs a roll of cookie dough. Grabs a cup of milk while I'm at it *

* Turns on Lifetime *

* Drowns in my sorrows of the heartbreak this book has put me through *

Okay I'm done lmao

So that's it everyone. The Tay-Tay book tag is complete! Now on to the fun part. 

I will be tagging:

Blessie at Mischievous Reads

Erin at Hardcover Lover

Jules at The Book of Jules

Cari at My Addiction Books 

Cari why I am just noticing you're from Virginia! Woot, Woot shout out to us bloggers living in the DMV ! 

Okay I didn't tag too many people in this because I have 3 more tags to catch up on, and I'm tagging more people in those so stayyyy tuneddd guys !

Friday 56 (2)

Hey guys! Welcome back to another installment of The Friday 56! This meme is hosted by Freda's Voice, and it consists of the following rules:

1. Grab a book, any book.
2. Turn to page 56, or 56% in your e-reader. (If you have to improvise, that's okay.)
3. Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grab you.
4. Post it.
5. Add your URL (post) below in the Linky (on her blog). Add the post URL, not your blog's. 

I'm Currently Reading

I am absolutely in love with this story, to the point I don't want it to end!

Page 56

 And despite his attitude, those instincts had whispered to me that Cohen was a kind person, deep down . . .  Guess I'm not as smart as I thought. 

" Time," I say firmly, wiping away a tear.

She stares at me. For a second she looks almost angry. The she smooths herself over and stands up.

" Of course, darling. I understand perfectly. You can come to me with anything, I want you to know that. "

" Thank you." I say again. Those words are starting to burn on my tongue.

Finally, she leaves. I'm left alone. The apartment seems bigger and emptier than it ever had before. Cohen's bedroom door, still shut, now looked like the eyelid of a closed monster's eye. A monster that I don't want to rouse. 

I will be finishing this baby off today, stay tuned for the review coming in a couple of days!

Hearts To Follow by Dana Burkey | Mini Review

Hearts To Follow Novella Series (1-3) | Dana Burkey
Pages: 116
Genre(s): YA, Contemporary, Romance
Published: October 2014
Format: Paperback
Source: Author

I received this book for the author in exchange for an honest review.

Hey fANGIRL readers,

First and foremost, I want to give a special thanks to Ms.Dana Burkey for sending me a signed copy of her novella series! Now down to business . . .


Just Pretending

The first story in this novella series follows a young girl named Cam. Over the summer she had a crush on her next door neighbor Nick, who was only in town for the season at his dad's. When the summer came to an end, Nick went back home to his mother's to attend school, and just a month after was in a relationship. This broke Cam's heart, being that she felt their feelings for each other were "mutual". A school year ends, summer begins, and Nick is back in town . . . with his girlfriend. So to get back at Nick and give him what I call " a taste of his own medicine, " Cam's good friend Josh pretends to be her boyfriend to make Nick jealous, in hopes that he would break up with his girlfriend and pursue Cam. With their plan in full effect, and receiving the results they were hoping for, Josh and Cam eventually build their own feelings for one another. Are Cam's feelings mutual this time around with Josh? If so, what about Nick?

Well, I must say that Just Pretending was my least favorite of the three novellas. The main character Cam was indeed in high school, but lord did she read as someone in the 5th grade. I didn't relate to her at all, and felt annoyed with her for 95% of the time. Alot of her actions were a bit childish, but on the other hand it made the story so cute. I just wanted to pinch her cheeks, and tell her how adorably irritating she was. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

I will say, that I loved me some Josh. He was so freaking sweet. Ugh, I couldn't get enough of him. I did feel like he was a bit over-dramatic in some situations, but hey, he didn't want Nick to have his bae! I get it boo, I get ya.

Nick wasn't as douchey as I thought he would be. (Hehehe, douchey. I'm learning new words guys!) I thought he was going to be a complete a-hole, but was surprised to see a totally different side to him in the next novella.


Changed?

In this story the title is very fitting. As I just mentioned, Nick made a complete 360 this time around, and it all started with Summer. Or shall I say " The season girl". (If you've read this book then you will definitely get that. I was cracking up for 5 minutes straight when I read it lol)

Anywho, Summer encounters Nick at a party. It isn't really her scene, but being dragged there by her friends who are trying to make their way into the "In" crowd, she is forced to tag along. Not into drinking, or indulging in other wild & crazy teenage activities, Summer parts ways from her friends to find a quiet room. There she is accompanied by a drunk Nick, who has also embarked on the quest to find a vacant room away from his friends. Having been kicked off the baseball team for poor grades, deemed as a cheater on two of his girlfriends, and who drinks like a frat boy with his popular crowd of friends, Summer knows he isn't someone she should be friends with. Or is he?

After helping him during his drunken state at the party, Nick and Summer build a friendship. They meet up at games, text late at night, message each other on their computers when homework should be done . . . you pretty much get the point. They've grown extremely close, but Summer isn't ready to share him with the world, let alone her judgmental friends. Is Nick the guy everyone paints him out to be, or was his childish ways just a facade of the charming boy he really is?

First of all, Changed was my favorite of all three novellas. I loved Summer as our main character. She was a shy girl who had a huge passion for theater, who was also very mature for her age. With a great head on her shoulders, she wasn't really into partying and things of that nature. Instead, you could find her in the library, studying scripts for an upcoming role. Nick is my second reason for loving this story. He was a completely different guy from his appearance in Just Pretending, and when I say different, I mean different. Before he was incredibly childish and arrogant, but after meeting Summer, you begin to witness his facade slowly dissolving as he realized how much she meant to him.

Their chemistry was very realistic, and I appreciated the fact that even though Summer had a huge crush on Nick for years prior to their friendship, when he announced he wanted to take things a step further, she didn't accept. Instead she wanted to focus on theater, and asked for some time until they became anything more.

The ending to this novella had me smiling from ear to ear. I'm pretty sure you can guess why.


Stage Lights

In Stage lights we meet Tessa, who had also made a cameo in Changed as a new theater friend of Summer's. Tessa has just landed a big role in her school's play as Juliet, and has an even bigger crush on the college guy playing her Romeo, Anthony. Eventually they begin to hang out, and with her hormones getting the best of her after a party they attended, she kisses him. But things didn't seem to heat up between them as she expected they would. They continued to hang out together, but his brother Ian always seemed to be in attendance. After getting some advice from one of her close friends, Tessa begins to show Ian more attention in hopes of winning his brother over. Probably not the best idea Tess. Things eventually get pretty messy after Tessa FINALLY realizes that it wasn't her dear Romeo that liked her after all.

One of the things I loved about Stage Lights, was that it centered around theater. I participated in a few plays while in school, and this book truly reminded me of my experience. Although I liked Tessa's character overall, certain situations left me feeling a bit irritated. The fact that she was oblivious to very obvious things, (The situation between Anthony, Ian, and herself) will seriously have you thinking, "how old is she again?" I think my problem is when I read a book that's YA, I prefer when the characters are a bit mature. I think I easily relate and better connect with characters that even though in high school, they read as maybe 17 or 18 years old. I always find it a bit difficult to get into YA novels that come across as middle grade.

All in all these novellas were very cute stories. Being only 100 or so pages, it's a super quick read, which can be read in between other heavier material. If you're a lover of Young Adult contemporaries and romance stories, then the Hearts to Follow series is for you!

Until Next Time, 

All I Want Anthology | Promo Post

These 9 fabulous bestselling authors are giving you 9 HOT novellas to brighten your December. 


Interested in spicing up your holiday season? Looking for stories so steamy, they could melt Jack Frost? Well add The All I Want Anthology to your TBR! 

( Yall like how I put that huh? lol )


Goodreads | Pre-Order

Snowflakes & Fire Escapes by J.M Darhower - Cody Moran and Gracie Callaghan wanted nothing more than to escape the life they'd been born into, but it's the kind of life that doesn't like to let go. A story of love and heartache spanning the streets of Hell's Kitchen to far, far away, where it doesn't snow.

Winter Kiss: Ryley and Ash by L.P. Dover - Now that his time for revenge is over, Ryley wants to make the season special for the woman he loves. Not only will you hear the sound of Christmas bells during the holiday, but maybe another type of bell followed by the pitter patter of little feet.

A Merry Mitchell Affair by Jennifer Foor - Come join the entire Mitchell clan for a very merry Christmas and a surprise wedding.

Hit or Mistletoe by HJ Harley - London and her twin brother Trent are headed home for the holidays. This year Trent has brought home his hockey teammate Pratt Montegomery. Who if wasn't for Trent, would have spent them alone. London is convinced Pratt is just another beer drinking jock, until she sees a completely different side of him when he opens up to her.

Stranded by BJ Harvey - Stranded in Chicago just two days before the holidays, Porter Daniels and Harlow Wilson have to clear the air. Can they finally stop circling each other and get what they really want for Christmas?

12 Days of Forever by Heidi McLaughlin ( A Beaumont Novella ) - The Christmas trees are trimmed and the bells are ringing. For one lucky couple in Beaumont, Christmas has a whole new meaning.

Adam by K.A. Robinson ( A Torn Series Novella ) - In Tamed, you heard Amber's side of the story. Now, it's Adam's turn. What happened after Tamed? What was going through Adam's mind in key scenes of Tamed? It's time Adam had his say.

Lost in Translation by S. L. Scott - When two opposites attract in Paris, can the language of love bring them together or will they be Lost in Translation?

Fighter by Tijan - Jax Cutler is one bail jumper Dale doesn't want to help her family catch, but he soon becomes the one she can't let go.

Marionette by TB Markinson | Book Blitz

Marionette

by T.B. Markinson 

Release Date: 11/07/13

Summary from Goodreads:
At the age of seventeen, Paige Alexander had it all planned. She wrote a letter, sat in the bath, and slit her wrists. Her plan failed.

Her best friend, Alex, is dead.

Paige can't get over her twin sister blaming her for a tragic event in their past.

Colorado is in the midst of voting on lesbian and gay rights and Paige is terrified to come out of the closet, fearful for her life.

Many people in Paige's life are keeping secrets from her. Will she piece everything together before it's too late?

In this gripping first-person narrative, a young college student grapples with more than first loves or coming of age. In a world filled with homophobia, suicidal feelings, and a dysfunctional family, Paige cuts her wrists in an attempt to free herself from the crazy life that's all she's ever known.

Could there be new lessons in store for Paige? With the help of her girlfriend, friends, and a compassionate therapist, can Paige find the safe space she needs to heal, grow, and cut her strings?

Buy Links:

Amazon US│Amazon UK

Excerpt

I know people say they have emotional baggage. Do they know what they’re talking about? I have baggage. I’m not bragging about it. I’m just stating the simple truth. I’m an effed-up individual who dwells on the past and tries to numb myself constantly. I don’t use drugs, although I’ll drink. I just numb myself by disappearing when I’m with people.

Jessica thinks I need to stop my destructive behavior. Sure, sure. I’ll just plant my feet firmly on the ground and stop. If only it were that easy. If it were, then I’d do it. At least I think I would do it.

I don’t mean to knock Jessica. I love her. God, I love her. But I don’t know how to explain to her … how to tell her that I’m broken. Beyond repair. There’s not enough glue to put me back together.

Maybe the issue is me. I know that seems obvious. I slit my wrists, after all. No one made me. I did it. But hear me out. Millions of people have difficult lives, yet they still function. Again, I swear this isn’t a Bell Jar moment. I’m not bonkers. Confused: yes. Scared: check. Angry: most definitely. I spend most of my time annoyed with people. Why do they have to be so fucking stupid?

I like to study history. The history of the little guy. Don’t get me wrong, kings, queens, explorers and shit, they’re all cool, but I like to see how the little guys make it. How do they survive hardship? Like Elie Wiesel—he survived the Holocaust for Christ’s sake, and then he wrote a book about it. I read that book a lot. If he could survive that, why can’t I survive my past? Why do I always go back? I didn’t live in Auschwitz. My home life sucked. Sucked big time. My parents are horrible people. They do not like me, not one bit. But my home isn’t Auschwitz, and my parents are not Nazis. Why can’t I be a survivor, be like Elie?

It isn’t like I always go back to a particular incident. I’m not a time traveler. (This isn’t a Slaughterhouse-Five scenario either. I’m not Billy Pilgrim.) I just check out. I don’t know where I go, but I’m gone. I’ll stop talking—that’s another way to become invisible. I might nod my head, act like I’m listening. I’m not. Most people, though, don’t really care whether anyone else is listening. Many people don’t even notice. They just want to talk. They just want to feel as if someone is listening. How many people really care what others think? Not many, from my experience. That’s one of the hardest things to live with, feeling alone. Even when I’m with others I feel alone. Even more so. I don’t think many people can relate to me. I know I can’t relate to them. I feel like I’m on the outside, looking in.

Disappearing all of the time has perpetuated this feeling of being alone. Logically, I should stop disappearing. But my brain doesn’t think logically. I’m not sure how it thinks, but I don’t feel logical.

I feel … well, I don’t know how I feel. Confused. Scared. Angry. Alone. But now that I think about it, I’m not sure that’s true. At times, I’m sure I feel all of those emotions. Other times, I don’t feel. Not at all. I don’t get it. I wish I could, but I don’t.

Explanations—that’s what I seek. I’ve always been one who wonders who, what, and why, which is just another reason I love to study history. Every history test has those “who am I?” questions, and I nail them every time. In fact, I’m a brilliant student. I don’t mean to brag. I’m just stating the facts. School and I get along. I have a photographic memory; some think that’s cheating, but I can’t change it. It’s nice if you want good grades.

But when it comes to asking those questions about myself. Who am I? What am I? I can’t really answer them. They seem fairly obvious, right? I’m me. I’m a girl. And I’m not one who wants to be a boy, even if I’m in love with a girl. I think people who think that are idiots. Usually, though, they don’t see that. I wish idiots would recognize that they’re idiots. Life would be so much easier if others said, “Don’t bother with me, I’m an idiot.”

Let’s start again, at the beginning. I slit my wrists. My girlfriend came home. She went ape-shit. I got stitches in both arms. I felt a little like Frankenstein—the monster I mean, even if that’s not really correct. Everyone thinks the monster’s name is Frankenstein, so I’m not about to correct them and tell them it was the doctor’s name. My point is that I was patched back together and told to be normal, to be human. Victor Frankenstein, the scientist, didn’t try to teach the monster, but at least Jess is trying to teach me how to be normal. How to be human.

About the Author

T. B. Markinson is a 39-year old American writer, living in England, who pledged she would publish before she was 35. Better late than never. When she isn't writing, she’s traveling around the world, watching sports on the telly, visiting pubs in England, or taking the dog for a walk. Not necessarily in that order. She has published two novels: A WOMAN LOST and MARIONETTE.

Author Links:

   

GIVEAWAY:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blitz Organized by:

New Year, New Look!

So. fANGIRLconfessions is going under a re-design, for the third time this year! (I'm addicted to designing things sorry guys lmao) 

Okay correction, not a re-design, more like a re-tweak? Yea that. I'm just tweaking a few things. Well, alot of things actually.

When I first set up my blog, I was online looking for free templates. I didn't find any that I truly liked, but I did settle on some type of blue watercolor layout that I wasn't really feeling. I couldn't customize the template to my liking, and after growing completely frustrated, I decided to take matters into my own hands. 

In comes the blog you see today. I opened up my favorite free editing program and I went to town. I created my blog's name first. I chose a "barbie" pink color for fANGIRL, but decided to leave confessions in black with a different font. I then couldn't think of what else I wanted to add to the header. It felt incomplete, and I wasn't exactly happy with having just "fangirl confessions" as my header image. So I started playing around with different things, and ended up making circles. Different sizes, different colors, I was having a ball (go figure lol) with my new image. 

I loved my outcome. I was so proud that I designed something myself, and decided that I would finish my blog by using the colors found in my header. I found a custom font that I thought was really cute for my blog posts, as well as another custom font for my tabs and sidebar headings. Then after that, I just started watching different tutorials, preforming various tweaks on my blog.

So, why change it? 

Well, my blog is exactly Me.

Yes my blog is cute, but I'm not even a " cutesy" type of girl. I'm still a tomboy, even though I have grown to love more "girly" things. Trust me, on a day where I'm just chilling, you'll still catch me in a tshirt, basketball shorts, and my favorite Jordans. I'll most likely have my hair in a bun, or another cute style, with some mix-match colorful socks. Nothing to extreme. (I only get cute when I have to go somewhere lol) 

If you come in my room, you'll most likely think, "oh this is nice! (thanks Ikea) but that's only because I re-decorated it to look more "sophisticated". Before my room looked like it belonged to a 12 year old boy. I've had the same spiderman blanket for about 5 years now, and I refuse to give it up lol. My PS3 is front and center on a shelf, surrounding by an endless collection of my favorite games. I've hidden most of my other boyish items in one of our closet downstairs, or just gave them away all together. But I'm sure you get the point I'm trying to make.

So with all this said, I want my blog to represent me in the best way possible. 

I hate pink! & purple! & bright colors!

and this is a challenge with finding a color scheme. My favorite color is actually red, but do you know how hard it is to find a scheme with RED ?!! I've teamed up with Blessie Mae from Mischievous Reads, to tackle this daunting task. Her photoshop skills will be used for my header, as well as my profile pic, review, and tab headings. (we didn't discuss that last part, but now you know Blessie! lol) She does such an amazing job with photoshop that I knew I had to ask her for assistance.

This will definitely be a hilarious experience. Blessie and I are on the same page with so many things, it's crazy how we click so well . . . BUT we are also different when it comes to some design aspects. Blessie is very clean cut and structured, which I love because her work always looks so professional. I on the other hand like a clean look, but for my header, I love messy lol. I like my words to go in different directions, to be overtop or under other elements of the design. I like swirly, and . . . look I just like things to be all over the place. I know plently of times she wanted to time me to fuck off. I can literally hear her saying:

If this bitch doesn't let me work lol.

Not to mention how I'm so anal about how certain things need to be. I'm so detail-oriented, (I was a interior designer in a past life lol) to the point things have to be nothing less of perfection. 

But I'm confident that we'll come up with something cool. I've come up with 3 elements I want to showcase in the header so we're fine tuning that at the moment. After the header is complete, I'll design the rest of the blog around it, and begin playing around with fonts and cleaning up my sidebar and such. I'm trying to step outside the box and to some different shit ya know? Hopefully I'll be done in a week, well less than that, being that I have alot of posts for this month.

So everyone stay tuned for my next look for fANGIRLconfessions. I promise it'll be just as cool as I am. Oh and she's also doing a re-design on her blog as well. We're in the process of sexing up her smutty blog, so be on the look out for that ! 

Breathing Black by Piper Payne | Blog Tour + Review

Breathing Black (The Black & White Duet #1)
Piper Payne
Pages: 392
Genre(s): Contemporary, New Adult, Suspense
Published: December 2nd
Format: E-ARC
Source: Author

Amazon | Goodreads

Want to view the offical tour schedule, to keep up with promo posts/reviews on Breathing Black? Then click here for more information!

Hey fANGIRL Readers,

First of all, I want to start off by saying that this book completely exceeded my expectations. What I thought was going to be a simple contemporary, with a little romance and heartache, ended up being much, much, more than that. By the end of the book, my heart was just settling back into it's normal pace after all the suspense and plot twists had me on the edge of my seat . . . well actually my bed lol.

We follow alongside Larkin Grant, as she and her bestfriend June sweep away the ashes of their pasts to start anew. Larkin, having to live with her drug addict and alcoholic mother, she was forced to grow up alot sooner than her peers. Her life was never close to perfect, but when she finds her mother dead in a puddle of her own vomit, Larkin knows she must break free if she wants to save herself . . . and her sanity. June also faced a tough life at home, falling victim to sexual abuse caused by a family member. Both girls made a plan to escape their troubling childhoods back in Aspen to create a new start, in a new town of Salt Lake City.

Question:

What happens when someone from their past, comes in and turns the new life they've struggled to build and protect, upside down?

Answer:

All hell breaks loose. 

After taking a bit of time to get on their feet, the girls are finally living what they've silently wished for all these years . . . a normal life. Both June and Larkin have graduated college, and are living together in a small apartment. June is a nurse, and Larkin is a host for a radio station called Joy Media Group. There she met Max and Austin, their beloved male buddies who complete their tight knit circle of friends. On what she believed was going to be a typical day at work, Larkin encounters someone from her past she spent years trying to get over.

" I'd spent years running from my past, and as I walked the empty parking lot toward my office building, I never expected it, or should I say him to plow back into my life . . . " 

Meet Landon Black.

Landon Black is the one boy Larkin knew she could never have. He came from a privileged family, was extremely popular in school, and had the blonde haired girl of every guys, and maybe even girl's dreams. He was simply out of her league. Or so she thought.

When she blindfolds Landon on the football field, after June pressures her to finally talk to him, there is no denying the connection these two strangers share. Afraid to show him who she really is, she keeps him blindfolded while they conversate.

" So you're just going to remain some mysterious girl in an emerald coat? If you're so comfortable with your flaws then why are you hiding? Why not let me see you? " 

" I unclasped his black sports watch and took it off, pressing down on his pulse feeling it beat faster. 

Wild, fearless, and free. To actually live is rare. Your blood can pump, your heart can beat, and your lungs can breathe, but none of it matters if no one cares if all of it stops. "

From that day forth, Landon searched for the mysterious girl in the emerald coat. Even though they went to the same school and shared some of the same classes, Larkin made sure she always remained incognito. She didn't want to be noticed by anyone, especially Landon. So when years later, he runs into her again, his plan is to never let her out of his sight. But are intentions innocent, or does he have an ulterior motive?

There are so many things I loved about this story. First of all, these characters were so well written! They were so real, and complex, making you truly care them. You'll experience so many different emotions just by reading their dialogue. One minute you'll be laughing at how ridiculous but hilarious Max and Alex are, but you'll also yearn to hug or even cry with them, as they take us on the tour of their troubling lives. These could easily be people that you would befriend in real life, and that is what I call a great set of characters.

I found the writing to be my absolutely favorite aspect of Breathing Black. It's so deep and poetic, the words with it's nice flow, were smooth like warm honey. I remember as I was reading, I highlighted about 30+ quotes I wanted to include in my review. Of course all of them won't be showcased, but that's how splendid the writing style is. 

The plot will also be something I think you readers will enjoy. It's not something that you would expect, and that alone caught me completely off guard. As I mentioned earlier in this review, I figured this would be a typical contemporary, but was surprised when I found myself on a rollercoaster of emotions, suspense, romance, heartache, and everything in between! The mystery of why Landon is really back into her life, what really happened to her mother, and what boy will eventually steal her heart, is enough to make you dizzy from all the unpredictable twists. Oh, and how can I forget about the gorgeous design of the pages! As you flip your way through the story, you'll come across cute illustrations of some notes, and feathers that are actually a huge part of the story. 

Overall Breathing Black deserves far more than 5 stars. I'm itching to continue the story, to re-connect with the characters I've grown to love. I'm so #TeamJesse! If you're looking for a beautifully written, heart-wrenching, yet emotionally captivating story, that includes realistic characters, with real-life issues and believable connections, then this is most certainly the read for you! Whew that was mouthful ! lol


Happy Reading!