Book: Effortless (Thoughtless #2)
Author: S.C. Stephens
Publisher: S.C. Stephens
Date Published: June 13th, 2011
ISBN: 1469982994
5 out of 5 Stars

A continuation of the novel, Thoughtless...
A lot can happen in a year. You grow, you change, you learn from your mistakes. And Kiera had made a lot of mistakes to learn from. But she had learned, and she was determined to never cause a man pain again, especially the amazing man who currently held her heart. But life offers new challenges for every relationship, and when Kiera’s love is put to the ultimate test, will it come out the other side unscathed?

Love is easy…trust is hard.

This is the 2nd book in the Thoughtless series and I started it immediately after reading the first book and finished it in one day, yeah I loved it so much I didn't want to put it down. I absolutely fell in love with the characters in the first book and reading the second was bittersweet because I didn't want it to end.

This book focuses on life with Kiera and Kellan after the ordeal that was the beginning of their relationship, and the trust issues that they have to learn to work through. I love that the author addressed these issues, because if they'd had their 'happily ever after' immediately after the first book it really wouldn't have been realistic.

   When Kellan has to go on the road for the next six months, Kiera has to stay behind to finish her schooling. Both of them have to learn to trust each other, knowing that Kiera's separation from Denny played a big role in them getting together in the first place.

   I really enjoyed seeing how much Kiera & Kellan grew in this book. Kiera seems to gain a degree of confidence and independence that she didn't have before. Kellan is so sweet and does so many nice things for her that it makes their separation somewhat better. I loved that about him.

   We also get to see more of the side characters in this book, and the lives of the other band members also become a bigger part of the story, especially Griffin. Griffin is the main comic relief and I'm always waiting to see what he's gonna say or do next.

   Overall, it is a really good book. The story is wonderful, and for those of us who want more word is that S.C. Stephens is currently working on the third book now, yay!

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Book: Dearly, Departed (Gone With The Respiration #1)
Author: Lia Habel
Publisher: Del Rey
Date Published:October 18th, 2011
ISBN: 0345523318
Website
4 out of 5 Stars

Love can never die.
Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?

The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.

But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.
In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.

Well Jess suggested we read this book, but the cover along with the blurb would have had me hooked anyway. I mean the cover is very pretty, it really grabbed my attention and then I read zombies and thought "Wow. Something I haven't read before." This was the first book that I've personally read that used zombies in a story as a potential love interest.

Although I felt like it took a little while to really get started, it ended up being a pretty good read. The slow start was the only Real issue that I had with the book. I heard a lot of people complain about the switching of point-of-view from one character to another, but I liked knowing what the other characters were thinking, so this didn't bother me at all.

With this story what swayed my rating was that it is a really good story and it's very unique. The characters are mostly well written, and Bram especially was unforgettable.

Anyway, I really did like the book and I will definitely be reading the next one. Amazon has 'Dearly, Beloved' (Down with the Respiration #2) listed as a pre-order with a release date of September 25th, 2012, just in case you're interested in reading the 2nd one too.

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Book: Thoughtless (Thoughtless #1)
Author: S.C. Stephens
Publisher: CreateSpace
Date Published: June 16th, 2011
ISBN: 9781461091110
Website
5 out of 5 Stars...and then some!

For almost two years now, Kiera's boyfriend, Denny, has been everything she's ever wanted: loving, tender and endlessly devoted to her. When they head off to a new city to start their lives together, Denny at his dream job and Kiera at a top-notch university, everything seems perfect. Then an unforeseen obligation forces the happy couple apart.
Feeling lonely, confused, and in need of comfort, Kiera turns to an unexpected source – a local rock star named Kellan Kyle. At first, he's purely a friend that she can lean on, but as her loneliness grows, so does their relationship. And then one night everything changes...and none of them will ever be the same.

***Little Bit of a Spoiler***

(Not too much, I think it's kinda obvious from the Blurb)

   Okay, so I actually read this a couple of weeks ago, and this book has just stuck with me. I can't forget about the characters and all of the emotions that I felt while reading it. I loved it.
   As you can tell from the blurb, Keira moves with her boyfriend Denny to Seattle. The young couple move in with Denny's friend from high school Kellan Kyle. Kiera attends a university there and life seems perfect.
   Then when Denny's job takes him away Kiera has to remain, behind, alone...with Kellan. Teehee. You see where this is going. I hate to give anything away but it is obvious that things are going to happen between Keira and Kellan. While the subject of cheating isn't something that I would normally read about or endorse (well, okay, obviously I'd read about it), it is so well written that it makes you see how it is possible.
   Keira's is just a sweet (if somewhat naive) girl from Ohio, and she really is very likable, even if at some parts I wanted to stop her and ask her what exactly she thinks is going to happen with some of her choices.
   Denny is Keira's hot boyfriend with a cute Australian accent (really, who doesn't like accents?). He is just so nice and sweet that he doesn't really appear to have any flaws.
   Lastly, Kellan Kyle. He is a super sexy, local rock star with loads of talent and sex-appeal. One thing that I loved about Kellan (out of the hundreds lol) was that he had such a good voice, which is to say that when the author wrote about Kellan singing she described it so well that it felt like you could hear him sing. Seriously. Swoon.
   Anyway, it all goes together so well and is written so superbly, that I haven't been able to think stop thinking about it. It was awesome. Loved it.

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Book: Eden (Providence #3)
Author: Jamie McGuire
Publisher: CreateSpace
Date Published: April 3rd, 2012
ISBN: 9781475145571
Website
5 out of 5 Stars

She had seen the unspeakable.
She had learned the unknowable.
Now, she would fight the invincible.
In the third and final installment of the Providence series, Nina Grey will marry the wrong man, carry the child that was never supposed to be born, and fight a war she can’t win.
Faced with the impossible task of protecting his new wife and unborn child against the throes of Hell, Jared Ryel is allowed no mistakes. Pressured to return the Naissance de Demoniac to Jerusalem, he revisits St. Ann’s to learn the answers were in front of him all along.
Together, they must survive long enough to let their child save them—and the world. 

   Just finished, and wow, it was great. Spent the last part of the book crying like a baby lol, but I don't wanna give anything away :) I love books that do that to you, make you feel something so strongly you cry or laugh out loud or just have to express yourself in some way, and this is definitely one of those books.

   I loved seeing Nina's character grow through each of these books. Seeing her start out as a young, somewhat naive college student and turn into a strong woman was very rewarding for me to read about. Jared on the other hand stays a constant rock that she can lean on whenever she needs to and I really loved his unwavering stability. You never doubt for a minute whether or not he loves her wholeheartedly (even if I do usually like a lot of drama, I can really appreciate his lack of it in this story). 

   We also got to see more Claire and Bex (yay!), and I'm still hoping to hear more about them in the future. Even though the story has a definite ending & not a cliff-hanger, there is still plenty more to write about if the author chooses to (and I really hope she does).

   I have read all of Jamie McGuire's books now, and I really have to say that I haven't been disappointed in any of them, she is a really talented writer.

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Book: Requiem (Providence #2)
Author: Jamie McGuire
Publisher: Jamie McGuire, LLC
Date Published: June 7th, 2011
ISBN: 9780615487427
Website
4 1/2 out of 5 Stars

Jared paced, brooded, and once in a while, when his thoughts were particularly tormented, he winced. The color had long left his face as he played back the different scenarios in his mind. Back and forth he paced, so many times that I watched the floor, wondering when he would wear a trail. His inner turmoil could have set the room on fire. It was unbearable to watch, but I couldn't leave him; not when he was planning my death.”
Dreaming of the dead might mean a restless night for anyone, but for Nina Grey it was a warning.

Still healing from her last run-in with Hell, Nina struggles with not only her life as a Brown University student, but also as an intern at Titan Shipping, her father's company. Recurring nightmares about her father's violent death have become a nightly event, but being overwhelmed with guilt from Ryan's unexpected departure to the Armed Forces, and heart ache over Claire being across the ocean to protect him, Nina believes her sleepless nights are the least of her problems—but she's wrong.
Worried about Nina's declining health, Jared must steal back Shax's book for answers. Fighting new enemies, and with the help of new friends, Jared's worst fear comes to fruition. Desperate, he is faced with a choice: Fight Hell alone, or start a war with Heaven.

   Requiem was a great sequel to Providence. Where Providence seemed to be all about the developing relationship between Nina and Jared, Requiem really gets into the action of the story. A lot of questions I had from the first book were answered, including why Nina and her family were assigned guardians in the first place. That was something that bothered me in the first place, what made her family important enough that they would need protection. It's answered well in this book and has a lot to do with the main storyline.
  I really liked that Nina started taking charge of her life a little more, both at Titan and training. Just sitting around waiting for Jared to save her just doesn't seem smart to me, so I'm really glad that she's done with all of that.
 Jared was awesome in this book. Seriously, not only is he ridiculously handsome, he's willing to take on both Heaven and Hell just to be with the woman he loves. What more could a girl ask for?
   I also loved getting to see more of Claire and Bex, and I really think she could write novels about either one of these characters. Really hope to see more of them in the future!

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Book: Providence (Providence #1)
Author: Jamie McGuire
Publisher: Jamie McGuire, LLC
Date Published: November 20th, 2010
ISBN: 9780615417172
4 1/2 out of 5 Stars
Author's Website

In the old world shadows of Providence, Rhode Island, Nina Grey finds herself the center of a war between Hell and Earth.
Struggling with her father’s recent death, Nina meets Jared Ryel by chance…or so she believes. Although his stunning good looks and mysterious talents are a welcome distraction, it soon becomes clear that Jared knows more about Nina than even her friends at Brown University. When questions outnumber answers, Jared risks everything to keep the woman he was born to save—by sharing the secret he was sworn to protect.
When her father’s former associates begin following her in the dark, Nina learns that her father is not the man she thought he was, but a thief who stole from demons. Searching for the truth behind her father’s death, Nina stumbles upon something she never expected—something Hell wants—and only she holds the key.

   I loved this book! Jamie McGuire really does a great job of pulling you into the story and keeping you interested until the last page. I stayed up all night just to see how it would end.

  The characters are well developed and likable. Nina, while making some stupid decisions (that made me want to smack her lol), was just a nice average person that I could relate to. While she comes from money, she doesn't seem pretentious. She isn't as tough as a lot of leading women in the paranormal romance genre, but I think it just makes her seem more real. Jared is a complete sweetheart, it really shows in the story just how much he loves Nina. My favorite character has got to be Claire though, and I really hope to see more of her in the future.

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