20/6 - Meh. I didn't like Brennan very much, he was way too self-absorbed to start with and you know what they say about first impressions - they last. And my first impression of Brennan lasted through the rest of the book. This didn't really turn out to be the book I thought it was going to be. I was imagining a story that focused more on the renovations and showed Mia and Brennan stuck in the house, nearly alone together for days, weeks while she oversaw the work and he tried to work on his music in peace. Instead there was too much of Skylar and her aunt, too much of the other guy (I forget his name) and barely any renovating (I love renovation shows, so a renovating romance sounded like my kind of book).

The cover image for the book is really wrong, Mia looks nothing like the way she's described. The woman on the front cover looks like a shy, quiet librarian, not the creative artist with the unique dress sense that Mia is in the story. I hated Skylar and can't imagine why Mia put up with her, family or not. She was the most shallow, celebrity-obsessed groupie you can imagine with no thought for anyone other than herself and how she can get close to any celebrity that might be around (I got the feeling that she wouldn't have cared which celebrity it was, along as they were on the cover of a magazine). I hope London has no plans to give her a book because I can't imagine how she'll become a character worthy of a HEA. Despite how underwhelming I found this I would still pick up the next book in the series, if I saw it at the library.

20/6 - There were many, many problems with this but I just loved it. The editing gets 1.5 stars (mistakes of all kinds everywhere - missing words, missing letters, incorrect words, typos, incorrect tenses, etc.), the general writing gets 2 stars (lots of repetition of words/phrases), the dialogue gets 2 stars (some pretty stilted conversations made worse by awkward phrasing, the plot gets 3 stars (so predictable), the characters get 5 stars (oh Ash! *swoon*). All that adds up to '4 I loved it, but I can't overlook all the faults' stars. Damn, I wish I could edit out the errors as I read and have it translate to all the other copies because the plot and characters deserve better treatment than they got.

I loved Asher! His chapters/scenes were my favourite, especially when he was sneaking into Nat's apartment. Lots of sex from both PoV with possibly an excessive amount of swearing, especially the F word (I don't think anyone used the phrase 'have sex' once in the whole book).

This, and the first book in the series, are books I would read over and over (I finished this two days ago and I already want to read it all over again) and really enjoy but I just can't buy a book that needs so much more editing, so if I ever do buy it, it won't be till it's been gone over by someone with a better eye for detail than whoever did it this time. I can't wait to get my hands on Sugar Rush the next book in the series (am I living in a dreamland for hoping it will be better edited?).

This review may contain spoilers

6/6 - The first 50% of this was a real struggle, there was just too much soccer (for those of you yelling "It's football!" at your screens, it's soccer in Australia, football is Aussie Rules/AFL and sometimes even rugby) and too much of Rey being an asshole. It's like he's never heard the expression 'first impressions count'. If I'd been in Sal's place our relationship wouldn't have gone past his insulting of my father and when she kept forgiving him for each subsequent incident I just wanted to shake some sense into her and slap some manners into him. I very nearly gave up, but I kept going because I DNFed our previous buddy read, The Royal We, and I didn't want to become 'the quitter' of the group (even if I was right in the middle of a very tense horror book that needs to go back to the library on the 8th). In the end I'm really glad I stuck with this one, the second half of the book made up for the tediousness of the first half. Unfortunately it couldn't make up for the editing mistakes I picked up throughout the story, which is why this isn't getting five stars from me. I found examples of everything from use of the wrong word, incorrect spelling, and bad grammar to the near indefensible (and completely illogical) use of the phrase 'I could have cared less' (on numerous occasions for all). On the up side the punctuation seemed to be pretty spot on.

If I'd known going in that this was going to be like 200 pages of the hero and heroine hating each other (or at least seeming to, from Sal's point of view) I don't think I would have joined the buddy read. That's just too much 'slow burn' for me, especially as it wasn't so much a case of 'slow burn' as it was a case of fiery dislike and insults. I really couldn't see how their opinions of each other were going to do such a radical 180, from distrust, disrespect, disgust and a whole lot of other dis- emotions to anything like love. I think I finally really started to enjoy the story when Rey went home with Sal to her parents' house and we got to see him out of his 'coach' persona. To be continued in the morning when I will go through some of the editing mistakes I caught...

20/6 - For me this was just okay. I've read two of the previous books in the series (The Mane Event and The Beast in Him) and one and a half of the books that follow this one (Wolf with Benefits and the first 214 pages of Bite Me). The last book I read, Bite Me became a DNF because I didn't feel any connection between Vic and Livy and I had the same problem with this one. No one seems like they have any romantic feelings for their mate, and why would you when you and your mate are constantly yelling at each other and calling each other insulting names. Dee Ann was more of a loner than some of the previous female characters so I wasn't subjected to having to read her constantly calling her 'friends' bitch, slut or whore, which is the main reason this is getting three instead of two stars.

The title of the book doesn't really correspond to the content - from the 'big, bad, beast' I was kind of expecting a domineering alpha male and Ric just wasn't that kind of guy. He was more like a muscly beta who likes to cook and main goal in life is make sure everyone has enough decent food to eat. Maybe the title is meant to refer to Dee Ann? I would say you definitely need to read this series in order because I didn't understand half of what they were talking about as it happened in one of the previous books that I haven't read yet.

This review may contain spoilers

6/6 - First of all: those damn kids, and why did it have to be the dog?!

20/6 - Finally getting around to finishing this review! I've been binge reading romance since I finished this and having internet problems that have left me feeling no desire to write, but now I have a huge backlog of reviews to write which are hanging over my head and every time I read I think about the fact that I'm probably forgetting more and more of the books I haven't written about.

Hex was one of those books where you're not sure where the scare, the evil is going to come from. To start with I thought it would be the expected scare - the idea of a 17th century witch who is allowed to walk through town, can't be contained or touched and must have her eyes and mouth kept sewn shut to prevent her evil from spilling out is pretty horrifying - but then at about the halfway point the terror of mob mentality began to show through - the idea of a town allowing three of its teenagers to be publicly whipped and those who weren't onboard feeling like they had to be onboard or face a similar fate is almost as bad. The atmosphere in the town reminded me of Nazi Germany (I'm also reading Schindler's Ark at the moment) or Stalinist Soviet Union with the constant surveillance and the way neighbour was encouraged to dob in neighbour to further keep control of the town. Sure, it started out as a protective measure for the townspeople's own good, but as soon as there was a problem it quickly deteriorated into chaos.

BIG SPOILER TO FOLLOW

I liked the geographical move that happened with the translation into English. Reading Heuvelt's explanation on his blog really made me think that the story and the horror would have been lost in translation if he hadn't rewritten it for English speaking audiences. The one thing I would like to know is how the original book ended, because this ending was a pretty bleak 'no one survives' kind of ending (not that I didn't enjoy that, I would just be interested to see how he wrote it the first time around).

1/6 - So much better than the second book in the series (I stayed up till 3 am finishing it and had to have a nap this morning to make up for it)! I couldn't stand Lauren and I felt no connection between her and Rob, with Courtney and Max I was grinning when they finally got together and tearing up when

. I was 'feeling' the connection all over the place and I could barely put it down, it's lucky it wasn't another 100 pages long, I probably wouldn't have gotten any sleep last night if it had been. After enjoying this one so much more than the previous book I will definitely look out for Nadia's story at the library.

31/5 - Why do they always have to change the book in order for it to become a movie?! Alexis Bledel is nothing like the way I would have imagined Lena (described as having the tanned skin of her Greek ancestry, while Bledel is quite white) if I had read the book first and her character's experience in the movie barely resembles that of her book's counterpart. Lena's relationship with Kostas progresses nothing like the way it is portrayed in the movie (although I have to admit that I found movie Lena more sympathetic than the original). The movie even changes how the pants are first acquired. As usual, I'm mostly baffled by the choices screen writers/directors/whoever's in charge of making these changes make.

Anyway, I haven't seen/didn't love the movie enough to constantly be saying "that didn't happen in the movie" to myself as I was reading, which was good, it left me to simply enjoy the book, which I did. I liked the way the story was told with letters to each other interspersed throughout the normal writing style, although the letters could have been a bit longer so we got a little more detail in each. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series.

Great book!! My first Cassandra Clare book. I just happened to see it on the new and recently returned books shelf. I loved the dark and grimy late 19th century London setting. Very atmospheric, almost a character in the book like Tessa or Will. I look forward to the rest of this series and to reading the original series too.

31/5 - Just finished a reread in order to write a more comprehensive review. Enjoyed it just as much (but, not more) this time as I did when I first read it. I picked up a few more nods toward The Mortal Instruments series that I don't remember noticing when I read it six years ago (I don't remember knowing where Church came from, for example).

I really didn't like Jessamine, she just seemed to be a horrible person more interested in looking good than anything else, even her own life almost. She showed some slight improvement in the last 50 pages, but it was too late by then my impression of her had already been formed. I didn't understand Will at all, his withdrawal from Tessa after

. Why is he treating her like that? Is it because she's some kind of

  and he doesn't want to 'want' her? Definitely intrigued to continue with the next book.
Why did Clare write two series with such similar characters/character dynamics? The fact that in both books there were two boys and a girl at the institute before a second girl comes along? The fact that Isabelle is like a slightly more mature version of Jessamine and Will is practically Jace with some hair dye. The fact that the institute is empty except for our main characters (where do all the other Shadowhunters live, if it's not in the institute?). Those bad plot choices are what led me to giving this four stars instead of five.

31/5 - This isn't working for me. The footnotes are bothering me particularly. I barely know anything about the Dominican Republic and I feel like Diaz expects me to be well versed in their history and their notable historical figures, as well as other pop culture references that are as clear as mud to me. For example, on page five he mentions Darkseid's Omega Effect and Morgoth's Bane and while there is a footnote it made me even more confused, it starts out with

'"I am the Elder King: Melkor, first and mightiest of all the Valar, who was before the world and made it. The shadow of my purpose lies upon Arda, and all that is in it bends slowly and surely to my will."'

and continues on waffling like that for another few sentences. I have no idea if that's from a book, movie, video game or something else entirely and that means that whatever Diaz was trying to tell me by including that reference in the book has been completely lost on me, and however many other readers don't understand the quote.

Another source of constant confusion, and thus frustration, is the use of untranslated Spanish phrases. I don't speak Spanish, I read Spanish even less so if you want to use another language in a book written in English there needs to be a translation within the text or a dictionary at the back. Not being able to read whole lines of dialogue because I don't read the correct language can really alienate a reader (this one especially). These few lines on page 26 encompasses all my frustration

'Listen, palomo: you have to grab a muchacha, y meteselo. That will take care of everything. Start with a fea. Coje that fea y meteselo!'

What does any of that mean?! It's not like it's a single word that I can determine the meaning of through the context of the surrounding words. It's all incomprehensible to me and means that the surrounding scene makes that much less sense.

I'd gotten to the point that before having a look at some of the other reviews I was thinking of DNFing. Now that I've read those reviews and understand that my problems are not mine alone and that they won't magically disappear by the end of the chapter has encouraged me to stop thinking of DNFing and simply do it. Life's too short to read books I'm not enjoying (and highly unlikely to begin enjoying at any time within the 335 pages of the book), maybe if there was a big revelation and turnaround I could will myself to keep going, but the reviews don't mention anything of the sort, so I just can't do it.

Buddy read with the Unapologetic Romance Readers Group

21/5 - Well, at least they didn't give Nicholas a tragically dead mother in order to resemble Prince William and his mother.

Thanks to the fact that this is an LP edition there are 725 pages in this book, that seems like a lot of pages to cover this story. I hope things pick up because if they don't this is really going to drag. To be continued...

31/5 - Ugh! I've barely given this book any thought since I put it down to read something more interesting last Thursday. I thought putting it down might re-enliven my interest in the story, all it did was confirm that I no longer had any interest in continuing it. There were three main reasons why I had to DNF this: one, I didn't like the writing style (going back and forth between the two time periods of 'waiting to get married' and 'two years ago' got old quickly); two, I didn't feel anything for either of the characters (and I read from other reader's spoilers that they behave atrociously later in the book, so that didn't give me hope) or their supposed romantic connection to each other; and three, I don't agree with the false advertising that this is a 'romance' (no on page sex makes this 'chicklit', IMO). So that's pretty much three strikes and you're out, or better put (for an Australian) a hatrick of badness that equals D.N.F. at page 209.

SPOILERS!!!

2012 - Great plot. Very suspenseful, which had me speed reading most of it to see what happened next. I kept expecting/hoping to find a connection between the characters from the prequel and the characters from this one. I was angered by the revalation of (view spoiler)[Clary and Jace being siblings (hide spoiler)] and am hoping to find some kind of loophole in one of the sequels. Looking forward to City of Ashes.

18/5 - Rereading this in order to write a more in depth review. To be continued...

19/5 - If you hated the movie, then you'll probably be pleasantly surprised with the book. The movie was a train wreck of bad casting and a case of trying to fit too big a book into too little screen time. Despite having read the book, most of the time I couldn't understand what was going on in the movie. This was one of the worst movies I've ever seen, coming a close second after Vampire Academy. Most people seem to either love or hate this, there's not much in-between. When I read this four years ago I loved it, I'll have to get back to you on my opinion with my older and more well-read brain. To be continued...

22/5 - Okay. I've done my reread and my opinions are a little different from what they were four years ago, but not drastically. I'm bringing the rating down one star because the writing isn't that great, but personally I would choose a great plot over great writing every time (see my reviews for books with 'great writing' for examples) and I really enjoyed the plot. I have heard/read some of the discussion regarding plagiarism but I don't really know what did, or didn't happen, so I haven't taken any of that into account in this review or the rating I've given the book this time around. I did notice one thing that I missed the first time, how similar it is to the Harry Potter series. Valentine closely resembles Voldemort (even in the first letters of their names), Luke's description of the Circle immediately made me think of the Death Eaters, but while I can see those similarities I'm also of the opinion that there is very little that can be called original in fiction these days. Everyone is influenced by everything and Clare being influenced by Rowling is only a bad thing if you didn't like Harry Potter, which is the complete opposite of how I felt about that series. Like a lot of other reviewers I liked the secondary characters more than Clary, Jace, Isabelle, and Alec (on his own). I really liked Simon and in my head he looked like Joe Dinicol from Blindspot (who is much better looking and would have been a better choice than the guy they cast for the movie)

and I look forward to seeing more of Magnus Bane in the next installment. I will definitely continue rereading this series, at least until I get up to where I stopped reading the first time, then I will simply be 'reading' for the first time around.

SPOILERS!!!

2012 - Great plot. Very suspenseful, which had me speed reading most of it to see what happened next. I kept expecting/hoping to find a connection between the characters from the prequel and the characters from this one. I was angered by the revalation of

and am hoping to find some kind of loophole in one of the sequels. Looking forward to City of Ashes.

18/5 - Rereading this in order to write a more in depth review. To be continued...

19/5 - If you hated the movie, then you'll probably be pleasantly surprised with the book. The movie was a train wreck of bad casting and a case of trying to fit too big a book into too little screen time. Despite having read the book, most of the time I couldn't understand what was going on in the movie. This was one of the worst movies I've ever seen, coming a close second after Vampire Academy. Most people seem to either love or hate this, there's not much in-between. When I read this four years ago I loved it, I'll have to get back to you on my opinion with my older and more well-read brain. To be continued...

22/5 - Okay. I've done my reread and my opinions are a little different from what they were four years ago, but not drastically. I'm bringing the rating down one star because the writing isn't that great, but personally I would choose a great plot over great writing every time (see my reviews for books with 'great writing' for examples) and I really enjoyed the plot. I have heard/read some of the discussion regarding plagiarism but I don't really know what did, or didn't happen, so I haven't taken any of that into account in this review or the rating I've given the book this time around. I did notice one thing that I missed the first time, how similar it is to the Harry Potter series. Valentine closely resembles Voldemort (even in the first letters of their names), Luke's description of the Circle immediately made me think of the Death Eaters, but while I can see those similarities I'm also of the opinion that there is very little that can be called original in fiction these days. Everyone is influenced by everything and Clare being influenced by Rowling is only a bad thing if you didn't like Harry Potter, which is the complete opposite of how I felt about that series. Like a lot of other reviewers I liked the secondary characters more than Clary, Jace, Isabelle, and Alec (on his own). I really liked Simon and in my head he looked like Joe Dinicol from Blindspot (who is much better looking and would have been a better choice than the guy they cast for the movie)

and I look forward to seeing more of Magnus Bane in the next installment. I will definitely continue rereading this series, at least until I get up to where I stopped reading the first time, then I will simply be 'reading' for the first time around.

This is shameful! Publishing companies that cheat authors out... 

Why I’m suggesting you should NOT buy these books

photo purchased from Depositphotos

 

 

 

 

You might be gasping at the title of this blog post, and it almost makes me cringe to even type it. Because I’m suggesting that you do NOT to buy some of my books.

 

 

 

Here’s a little story:

 

 

There once was a young, naive author who signed contracts with not one publisher but two who have screwed her out of money and rights. Unfortunately this author didn’t know what the future held. With publisher #1, at least she got recognition and a name. It was a chance at being published that others hadn’t taken on her.

 

 

But publisher #2 was a good publisher (at the time). They were at the top of their game, doing every conference and book function in the industry. Some huge names were published there, so this stupid author signed a CONTRACT FOR FOREVER RIGHTS. Yes, you read that right–rights will never be reverted (except under a weird little clause, which I’ll tell you about later.)

 

 

This publisher has cheated hundreds of authors. Their big ship was the Titanic with a huge gouge in the side but unlike the Titanic, this motherfucker won’t sink. They keep floating along–how is anybody’s guess. They’re wanted for thousands in back taxes and they’ve been attacked on Dear Author and many other prominent blogs. Still, they’re still kicking. Ain’t no Raid bug spray that takes this vermin out.

 

 

They’ve gone from paying monthly to quarterly, but for some authors, they stopped paying them altogether. In case you haven’t guessed, I’m one of these authors. The last check I got was in December 2015 and it was for books sold around March 2015. Now, in this industry, this is complete and total bullshit, folks. Holding onto funds is not right.

 

 

Say you work at McDonalds and one day you stop getting a paycheck. They say you’re getting paid ASAP. That day never comes. YET THEY TELL YOU THAT YOU CAN’T QUIT UNLESS YOU GET YOURSELF AN ATTORNEY AND FIGHT THEM FOR IT.

 

Yep, that’s what I was told. You can’t have your books back. You can’t get paid either, so here’s the big fat middle finger. Sit and spin, Em. I told them they’d breached contract by failing to pay quarterly as per their terms. Their response was, and I quote:

 

 

Breach of clause 16 regarding royalties payments (or any other contract clause) does not void the contract nor revert book rights to you. When a contract is breached, the party claiming breach has the option of waiting for the other party to correct the situation or may pursue legal action to gain correction of the situation. In such case, the court would typically set a deadline by which time the situation must be corrected (“cured”), and if not corrected the court would decide on further action.

The only conditions set forth in the contract for reversion of rights are in clause 1.1. If your book qualifies (meets all the conditions listed), you may send a request for reversion of rights, stating it is based on clause 1.1.

Therefore your request for reversion of rights is not granted. Ellora’s Cave  Evil Publisher continues to hold all publishing rights to the contracted books. The author has no rights to distribute or sell these books in any format or channels.

 

 

 

So basically, they’re saying:

 

 

Nananananana! Get a fucking lawyer. Pay for it out of the grocery fund that feeds your 4 kids, Em. And good fucking luck to you, because chances are, you’ll be wrapped up in a legal mess forever. And we still won’t pay you. Oh yeah, we won’t give your books back either.

 

 

 

Oh, and Evil Publisher has also sold our rights back to us in many cases. Authors were mortgaging their fucking houses to get enough money to buy their own books back! I asked the price of my own books and was quoted $25,000 for my fireman series and $10,000 for each of the other titles.

 

 

 

Can I get a big FUCK NO?

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, here’s the real meaning behind my post today. If I get no sales on these titles, I can have rights back. I’ll let you make up your minds whether or not to buy these:

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

If it were me, I’d see these titles, close my eyes and flick on past them. Because buying them is equivalent to knowing little Asian toddlers are sewing your underwear 12 hours a day and losing fingers in the sewing machines.

 

 

With poor sales, I have a CHANCE at getting the rights back. Evil Publisher will return rights for poor sales (after they scratch their asses for undetermined amounts of time).

 

 

I feel like I’ve been silent long enough. Many other authors have come out about this bullshit, and it’s my turn. I’ve been waiting for the right moment when I could be heard and make a difference. If not to other authors, then dammit, to my own livelihood. As a single mom of 4 I want the money I’m owed. And if they won’t pay me, then I want these books back in my control so I can earn from them.

 

 

Instead of me asking you to help me shoot a book to the top of the charts, I’d like to see these rankings drop to 200 squillion on Amazon. WHEN I get these rights back (yeah, I’m gonna fight till the end of my days–or likely theirs), I promise to offer them all #FREE just because I can!

 

 

As for Publisher #1, they aren’t a concern to me. They gave me a start when nobody else did. To me, it’s like saying I got 5 beautiful kids out of my shitty marriage. What concerns me right now is a publisher who can say screw you, get a lawyer, we won’t help you at all.

 

 

I hope you’ll continue to buy my MANY other titles. You can see them all on my website.

 

 

Thanks for listening to my rant and for following me and my books. Each and every fan is important to me, just as every author should be important to publishers. Overall, the publishers I’ve worked with have been amazing and gone above and beyond for me. I will continue to write for several publishers as well as indie publish. Don’t worry–I’m not lying down and waiting for the experience to end me.

 

 

 

Em Petrova

 

 

Website

Goodreads

Amazon Author Page

FB Fan Page

Twitter

Bookbub

 

 

 

17/5 - I know barely anything about American Indians/Native Americans (not even what they would choose to be called, I'm going to go with what Alexie referred to himself as), and most of what I do know is probably not true seeing as it came from Avon romances from the 80s and 90s. I know my ignorance is going to be showing, but as I write this review I'm going to try very hard not to come across as racist too.

This was a really quick, easy read helped along by a 2.5 hour wait at the doctor's clinic today. I was a bit horrified by the descriptions of life on the reservation, when I first started reading I had to check the publishing info because I couldn't believe those conditions were current, they sounded more like something I would have expected of the 50s. I've only met one American Indian, he sold me a dream catcher in a little store in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. That's the extent of in person contact I've had with American Indians, so the only way I can attempt to understand their situation is to compare it to the way Indigenous Australians have been treated. Australian Aborigines have been battling to win back the rights to their own land for decades now and while it may never be completely over, there have been major steps forward. Despite government programs in place to change things Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders continue to have the lowest average life expectancy, be more prone to alcoholism and domestic violence, and have lower literacy rates. I assume American Indians suffer from similar problems in a higher proportion to the rest of the population of the USA. Where I'm going with this comparison is that I'm not sure I understand why American Indians would continue to live on a reservation that they were forced onto in order to get them out of the way while the Europeans waited for them to die. Many Aboriginals were forced onto church missions during the 20th century, but most of them have now left them to live where they choose - either in urban environments or small, remote settlements of their own choosing. Why haven't the American Indians done the same?

I didn't know this was semi-autobiographical, including his medical problems, despicable treatment by his peers, move from the reservation school to Reardan, and alcoholic father and that knowledge makes some of the events of his life that much more dreadful. A number of times during his depictions of life on the reservation I just couldn't comprehend how people could treat another person that way, especially the adult triplets. It was mind-blowingly horrible and I just wanted to shake those MEN and ask them what the hell's wrong with them. It actually reminds me of a Bowling for Soup song, 99 Biker Friends, which is about wishing a whole ton of really large men would come along to help the group beat up a guy who abuses his girlfriend (see how he likes it) - Chuck Norris, the A-Team, Bruce Lee, the 'dudes' from Danger, Danger (whatever that is), 50 Cent and a couple of prison guards are all mentioned as good possible members for the 'beat up the abusive asshole' team. I wish those triplets could meet Bowling for Soup's team, get a little of their own medicine.

I'm glad I finally got the chance to read this. I first added this to my to-read list because it's included in the official 1001 Books to Read Before You Die book. When I first came across this book I didn't know anything about the controversy surrounding the it or the fact that it was banned by numerous American school boards, but now that I've read it and am aware of everything swirling in the background I have to shake my head at those stupid school boards. To stop teenagers from learning more about the situation that their fellow teenagers from another culture survive through all because of a little bit of foul language (what, the school board/parents think the kids don't hear these words in every day life anyway?) is just ridiculous. These boards need to get a clue and start listening to more than just overly outraged parents! Okay, I've waffled on for long enough now. This really is a great YA book that everyone (young, old and in-between) needs to read someday before they die.

SPOILERS!!

16/5 - Josh annoyed me from the start with his insta-erection, but then after Gemma went back to Auckland she over took what was a small niggle with her even more annoying behaviour. Gemma's cheating, in spirit if not in deed, really irritated me and I probably wouldn't have picked this up if I had known about Nick (he's not mentioned on the back) and the fact that she goes from Josh's bed to Nick's to Josh's again (and who knows where next). The scene where she and Nick have sex (loudly!) within hearing distance of Josh was just wrong. How messed up is that!? She knows he can hear them, she knows that he came all the way to New Zealand for her and she admits (to herself, if not Josh) that she has feelings for him and that the bloom has gone off Nick's rose. Why would she want to do it to start with, and even worse to shove it in Josh's face. That's just cruel and unusual punishment and completely unnecessary to the story (unless you want me to lose all respect for Gemma). To be continued...

17/5 - One of the pages I marked as needing discussion was because of Halle mixing up Queenstown with Queensland (the first is on the South Island of New Zealand, the second the top right state of Australia) and I was going to question her level of research, but after reading her acknowledgements I now know that the problem isn't her research it's her editing. She spent a year studying in Auckland, so she should know the place reasonably well, but obviously her editing/proofreading needs work.

Funnily enough I also noticed an editing problem within her acknowledgements. She gets March 2003 mixed up with March 2013. She said that she first visited to backpack in 2000, then attended university in Auckland in 2013 (she was unable to get into a Vancouver uni due to an overselling scandal that effected the whole school), but only a few lines later she tells us that she went back again in 2009 for a friend's wedding, which would be impossible unless she's using time travel. Time travel seems unlikely so I figure that that's another editing mistake.

On page 294 Halle calls New Zealand the easternmost habitable country and the first to see the sunrise - don't worry people of Kiribati, I (and many others, I'm sure) know you're further east than New Zealand.

I didn't hate this, mostly it's just that I didn't really like either main character or the main theme of Gemma and Nick or Gemma and Josh. The last few pages of the book (not included in the page number count) are the first chapter of the next book in the series, Racing the Sun and after reading it I'm tempted to put it on hold at the library, but not until my reading schedule calms down a bit (I've got holds coming in left, right and centre and then there's the impulse borrowing that I don't seem to be able to quit doing).