Gemina (The Illuminae Files #2) Cover Reveal

I just started Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff and I’m already so excited about the second book of the series, Gemina. Look how gorgeous this cover is!!! (you can find the original article here)

From bestselling author duo Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff comes the second edge-of-your-seat installment in the trilogy that reviewers are calling “stylistically mesmerizing” and “out-of-this-world-awesome.”

While Kady and Ezra are fighting for their lives aboard the Alexander, Jump Station Heimdall is facing a different wave of the Beitech assault. Meet Hanna and Nik: she’s the station captain’s pampered daughter, while Nik runs with Heimdall’s dangerous black market scene. When an elite team of Beitech assassins targets Heimdall, Nik and Hanna are thrown together to fight the enemy–and the assassins are just the beginning. With deadly alien creatures slithering through air ducts, a second fleet of attack drones headed their way, and a phenomenon threatening the wormhole near the space station, Hanna and Nik aren’t just critical to the Kerenza fight–they may hold the fate of the very universe in their hands.

The Mistake (Off-Campus #2) (Elle Kennedy )

He’s a player in more ways than one… 

College junior John Logan can get any girl he wants. For this hockey star, life is a parade of parties and hookups, but behind his killer grins and easygoing charm, he hides growing despair about the dead-end road he’ll be forced to walk after graduation. A sexy encounter with freshman Grace Ivers is just the distraction he needs, but when a thoughtless mistake pushes her away, Logan plans to spend his final year proving to her that he’s worth a second chance.

Now he’s going to need to up his game… 

After a less than stellar freshman year, Grace is back at Briar University, older, wiser, and so over the arrogant hockey player she nearly handed her V-card to. She’s not a charity case, and she’s not the quiet butterfly she was when they first hooked up. If Logan expects her to roll over and beg like all his other puck bunnies, he can think again. He wants her back? He’ll have to work for it. This time around, she’ll be the one in the driver’s seat, and she plans on driving him wild.

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I won’t lie: I was a bit worried about the whole “Logan lusting after Hannah” thing that was going on at the end of The Deal. I mean, I get it, but I was worried. I was also thinking that he wasn’t into Hannah, not really, just what she and Garrett had… =)

I absolutely freaking loved the beginning of this book. It’s no secret that I’m a sucker for the male’s POV on NA books, and Logan was hilarious from the get go – even if he was complaining about his best friend doing the girl of his dreams and all :P.

Logan won my heart though. He’s freaking awesome. But my heart was breaking for most of the book, because of the future he was facing :(.

I loved Grace from the start, that girl was fierce! I loved her babbling when she was nervous, and how she didn’t totally crumble when her friend Ramona did what she did and the whole situation with Logan. She came back stronger, and OMG, did I love to see Logan beg her and do anything she wanted him to. I hated Ramona though… really really hated her… I mean, who does that?

I really liked the plot and the romance progression. One of my favorite things about these books is how we actually get to see the couple being a couple, and not only them getting together. And Logan and Grace as a couple? Visiting her dad and stuff? ADORABLE!

Another thing I really liked was seeing the constant presence of Garrett and Hannah – still love puppies as always, and the rest of the gang. I love the guys’ friendship on these books, it’s so freaking awesome. I loved that Tucker was aware of what was going on with Logan from the start, I loved that Dean made fun of Logan for his doubts, and that Garrett was the best friend he could have hoped for. I really liked to see Hannah be a part of the guys’ lives, it was so awesome to see her interacting with Dean and Logan without Garrett around.

Other great thing of this series – so often absent of NA and YA for that matter – is the inclusion and the importance of the parents. They are always important for the plot, on one way or another, and I love that.

I was squeaking at that little gem in the epilogue, because I needed to know that they would all be ok :D.

To end this review… I think I’m in love with this series!!

Musical Mondays: Portugal by Walk the Moon

I found this music last week, not even really sure how, but I think it was on someone’s Top Ten Tuesday from last week. Either way, I love it!

I know everyone you know
You know everyone I know
Our Venn diagrams are one circle

You grow up when I’m not looking
We grow apart without knowing
And all of a sudden I’m leaving

So I say I’m sorry I can’t, I’ve got plans
As I watched the time slip through my hands

What you don’t know now,
One day you’ll learn
Growing up is a heavy leaf to turn
A heavy leaf to turn

Take me with you
‘Cause even on your own,
You are not alone

Take me with you
‘Cause even by yourself, my love
You are something else

One summer turns into ten summers
One lover turns into ten others
But this memory is still with me

So close bring me in so close
Your clothes underneath my clothes
Once upon a time in Portugal

So I say I’m sorry I can’t, I’ve got plans
As I watched the time slip through my hands

What you don’t know now,
One day you’ll learn
Growing up is a heavy leaf to turn
A heavy leaf to turn

Take me with you
‘Cause even on your own,
You are not alone

Take me with you
‘Cause even by yourself, my love
You are something else

No matter what you want,
Somebody else wants it just as bad
No matter what you got,
Somebody else has got it worse
No matter when I got to you,
Somebody else got to you first

So I say I’m sorry I can’t, I’ve got plans
As I watched the time slip through my hands

What you don’t know now,
One day you’ll learn
Growing up is a heavy leaf to turn
A heavy leaf to turn

Take me with you
‘Cause even on your own,
You are not alone

Take me with you
‘Cause even by yourself, my love
You are something else

Take me with you
‘Cause even on your own,
You are not alone

Take me with you
‘Cause even by yourself, my love
You can carry with you anyone else