BOOK REVIEW: Time of Our Lives by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka

MY SYNOPSIS

Juniper has a chaotic life at home in Springfield, Massachusetts. She lives in a multi-generational household and yearns for the freedom an out-of-state school would provide.

Fitz lives in New Hampshire with his mom and feels a great deal of pressure to take care of her (she carries the gene for early onset Alzheimer's). Although he's resigned himself to a future attending a nearby college, he begrudgingly agrees to tour several universities in the northeast to appease his mother.

Juniper and Fitz meet each other while on their college tour and wonder if their friendship could turn into something more.

MY THOUGHTS

GENRE: Young Adult

POV: Alternating 1st Person

SETTING: Mostly NYC

TROPES: College, Coming of Age, Family Life, Love Triangle, Opposites Attract

STORYLINE: ⭐⭐💫

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 🧑🏽🧑🏽🧑🏽

ROMANCE: 💑💑

TIME OF OUR LIVES had so much potential but fell far short for me. There are several plot holes and too few romantic moments to qualify as Young Adult Romance. The focus is much more on the family dynamics of each character (which is okay!) than I was expecting. 

 

Perhaps, I would have found it more enjoyable had I not been expecting an adorable, feel good romance. But I chose to read this particular book, at this particular time, because I believed it would be similar to the YA romance stories previously published by this author duo and that isn't the case.

To read my full review (spoilers included), you can find it on Goodreads >>> here.

RELEASE BLITZ - Violent Triumphs by Jessica Hawkins

THE WAIT IS FINALLY OVER!

VIOLENT TRIUMPHS

WHITE MONARCH SERIES - Book #3

BY JESSICA HAWKINS

Contemporary Romance
Release Date: November 12, 2019

The highly anticipated conclusion to the “emotional, steamy, and dangerous” USA Today bestselling White Monarch series.

I’ve become a queen to the forsaken, a leader to thieves, and the wife of a man who instills fear in all who cross his path. He was the husband I didn’t want. Now, I can’t fathom life without my king.

I should’ve been ready for anything. Like the caterpillar that feeds on poison during metamorphosis, I was raised in the dangerous world of cartel crime. But nothing could’ve prepared me for Cristiano de la Rosa, his brother’s poison, or the Calavera cartel.

This is still a story about a love strong enough to topple households, unite enemies, and divide brothers. Resilient enough to bring down those who would try to destroy it . . . and selfless enough to make the ultimate sacrifice.

But I was warned, and so were you. Death’s day always comes. This time, it will find what was once a caterpillar is now a butterfly—and hell hath no fury like the White Monarch. 

Violent Triumphs is not a standalone and must be read after Violent Ends and Violent Delights.

ADD TO GOOD READS

AMAZON | APPLE BOOKS | GOOGLE PLAY

NOOK | KOBO

Audible Alert ➜ http://bit.ly/videaudioalert

Start your binge read with book 1 ➜ https://www.jessicahawkins.net/violentdelights.html

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jessica Hawkins is a USA Today bestselling author known for her "emotionally gripping" and "off-the-charts hot" romance. Dubbed "queen of angst" by both peers and readers for her smart and provocative work, she's garnered a cult-like following of fans who love to be torn apart...and put back together.

She writes romance both at home in New York and around the world, a coffee shop traveler who bounces from café to café with just a laptop, headphones, and coffee cup. She loves to keep in close touch with her readers, mostly via Facebook, Instagram, and her mailing list.

BOOK TEASER -- Violent Triumphs by Jessica Hawkins

I have been (not so) patiently waiting for Jessica Hawkins to release the third and final book of the White Monarch series--VIOLENT TRIUMPHS. I'm not ashamed to say that I've been so obsessed obsessed with this series! The second book was released back in July and ended with a killer cliffhanger. After an agonizingly long four months, and re-reading the first two books twice, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

ONLY FIVE MORE DAYS!

PLUS -- Jessica Hawkins has released a new juicy teaser today. 

VIOLENT TRIUMPHS

blurb + cover 

Release Date: November 12, 2019

Genre: Contemporary Romance

The highly anticipated conclusion to the "emotional, steamy, and dangerous" USA Today bestselling White Monarch series.

I'v become a queen to the forsaken, a leader to thieves, and the wife of a man who instills fear in all who cross his path. He was the husband I didn't want. Now, I can't fathom life without my king.

I should've been ready for anything. Like the caterpillar that feeds on poison during metamorphosis, I was raised in the dangerous world of cartel crime. But nothing could have prepared me for Cristiano de la Rosa, his brother's poison, or the Calavera cartel.

This is still a story about a love strong enough to topple households, unite enemies, and divide brothers. Resilient enough to bring down those who would try to destroy it . . . and selfless enough to make the ultimate sacrifice. 

But I was warned, and so were you. Death's day always comes. This time, it will find what was once a caterpillar is now a butterfly--and hell hath no fury like the White Monarch.

Reviews of the first two books in this series are listed below:

Violent Delights  <<< BOOK ONE

Violent Ends   <<< BOOK TWO 

BOOK REVIEW: Violent Ends by Jessica Hawkins

WOW.

WOW.

WOW.

WOW.

WOW.

This series is SO *&$@#! GOOD that I'm legit at a loss for words.

There are no words.

VIOLENT ENDS, the second book of the White Monarch trilogy by Jessica Hawkins, is a nail-biting, page-turning, gripping-your-hair-out-of-frustrated-anticipation kind of good. 

VIOLENT ENDS picks right back up where VIOLENT DELIGHTS left off -- with my jaw on the floor. Natalia Cruz, the sheltered and naïve daughter of one of the most powerful drug lords in all of Mexico, has just been betrayed by the man she loves. To protect her family and everyone she loves, Natalia sacrificed her future happiness and agreed to a wedding that felt more like a funeral. By accepting her role as the wife of a powerful cartel kingpin, she is now legally and spiritually bound to the one thing she so desperately wanted to escape.

When Natalia finds out that Cristiano is not the man she expected, she struggles to sort through her warring emotions. As lines continue to blur, Natalia isn't sure if she should fear or hate her new husband, or if she should feel something else entirely. The only thing she knows for certain -- she will never stop searching for the answers to her questions. 

There is so, so, so, so much that I love about this book. The simmering heat. The power struggle. The witty banter. 

ALL. THE. FEELS.

"I lost my breath at the sight of his ass. I could've flicked a quarter at it and ducked as it ricocheted right back at me. Smooth with bronze, concave cheeks, it had more definition than his top-of-the-line TVs."

But man... that cliff hanger is brutal.

I don't know how to survive the next few months without knowing how it all ends. I can only hope and pray, and cross my fingers and toes, that the title of book three, VIOLENT TRIUMPHS, means the end will be a triumphant one. 

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.

Trust me, you need to read this book. 
You can thank me later.

Amazon ➜ http://smarturl.it/violentendsamz

Apple Books ➜ http://bit.ly/violentendsapple

Google Play ➜ http://bit.ly/violentendsgp

Nook ➜ http://bit.ly/violentendsnook

Kobo ➜ http://bit.ly/violentendskobo

Add on Goodreads ➜ http://bit.ly/whitemonarchgr

Audible Alert ➜ http://bit.ly/videaudioalert

Book 1 ➜ https://www.jessicahawkins.net/violentdelights.html

Listen to my self-curated Violent Ends Playlist on Spotify >>>

Violent Ends Playlist on Spotify

Unfoolish - Ashanti
Bad Boyz - Shyne
Mr. Wrong - Mary J. Blige (feat. Drake)
Head Above Water - Avril Lavigne
Poison & Wine - The Civil Wars
Tragic Endings - Eminem (feat. Skylar Gray)
Let Me (Acoustic) - Belle Mt
Wreck Me - Chord Overstreet
Kiss Me - Ed Sheeran
Electric - Alina Baraz (feat. Khalid)
Never Be the Same - Camila Cabello
Hate to Love You - The Revivalists
Never Let Me Go - Florence + the Machine
Worth of You - Plested
Sail - AWOLNATION
Live or Die - Noah Cyrus & Lil Xan
Hold On - Chord Overstreet

My review of VIOLENT DELIGHTS (White Monarch, #1) can be found >>> here.

RATING: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

SUSPENSE: 😬😬😬😬😬

STEAM: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

*An ARC of this book was provided to me by the author in exchange for my honest review. The thoughts and opinions expressed on Life as a Jane Doe are solely those of the blog owner (me) and have been written in my own words. 

BOOK REVIEW: When Elephants Fly by Nancy Richardson Fischer

A heartwarming coming-of-age tale about mental illness, tolerance, and the beautiful bonds that can form between animal and human. WHEN ELEPHANTS FLY, at its heart, is about the importance of fighting for what you believe in, living in the moment, and never giving up hope. 

Lily Decker has spent most of her life fearing the day she becomes her schizophrenic mother. The same mother who attempted to kill her when she was 11-years-old. 

Because schizophrenia is largely genetic and deeply ingrained in her family's lineage, Lily lives life by a specific code of conduct. It's what she refers to as her "12-Year Plan". The plan consists of living life by logic rather than emotion and adhering to a clean living lifestyle, to avoid the well-known triggers of schizophrenia -- stress, lack of sleep, hormonal changes, physical, emotional or sexual abuse, alcohol and drug use. To implement her plan, Lily runs three miles every day, meditates, and avoids parties and high-stress situations. The only problem with Lily's plan -- it's BORING.

Lily is nothing if not apathetic about life. That is, until an internship at her local newspaper brings her to the zoo, where she bears witness to an elephant trying to kill its three-week-old calf, Swifty. (Ya know, like Lily's mother once tried to do to her.) She can't bear to turn her back on the news story, or the baby calf, but Lily knows she'll need to abandon her "12-Year Plan" if she wants to help. So, when she learns that Swifty is dying from grief, Lily makes a life-altering decision that could not only break her sanity, but also, her heart.

Life may not always be a fairy tale, but there are many forms of happily-ever-after. This story was inspiring, heartfelt, and adorable.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!

RATING: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

*A big thanks to both Netgalley and the publisher for granting me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book. The thoughts expressed in this review are my own personal opinions and have been written in my own words.

Publish Date: September 4, 2018
Publisher: Harlequin Teen