Carpe DiEmily (Part 1) - Riley J. Ford

TRIGGER WARNINGS: SUICIDE AND MENTIONS OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

Emily Keane has her life organized, filed, scheduled, and color-coded, and now things are looking up:  Her boss, Darren, has a promotion she just knows has her name on it, and her longtime boyfriend, Lenny, is going to propose to her tonight.  Except... not.  Turns out the promotion is for her sleazy coworker, Simone Stevens, and Lenny bought her a break-up gift instead of a ring.  Now her life is in shambles, and decides to end her life.  She doesn't want it to end for nothing, though, and decides to donate her organs when she dies - and that's where Dr. Becker comes in.  Enigmatic and calculating, he gives Emily an offer: One million dollars and one year to do what she wants before he comes to assist her suicide and harvests her organs.  Now, with the clock running down, Emily tries to shake up her methodical lifestyle and do what she's never done before: Live spontaneously.

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Under the Burning Sky - Olivia Bersell

In 1969 Ex-Marine Ethan Coles, arrives at Stoney Creek, a cattle station in the remote Australian outback to take up his new position as the resident school teacher, and is instantly drawn to the beautiful eighteen-year-old half cast girl, Amarin.

The year is 1969.  Ethan Coles, an Ex-Marine, goes down under, to Stoney Creek, a town in a remote area in the Australian outback to teach.  He is instantly enamored by Amarin, an beautiful half-Aboriginal girl.  They quickly find themselves falling for each other, despite Amarin's mother's disapproval.  As they begin their summer romance, Ethan deals with getting accustomed to life in the Outback and trying to avoid a rival, while Amarin struggles to uncover the secrets to her birth, all while a mysterious murder shakes up the small town.

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The Color of a Memory - Julianne MacLean

ER nurse Audrey Fitzgerald believed she was married to the perfect man - a heroic firefighter who saved lives, even beyond his own death. But a year after losing him she meets a mysterious woman who has some unexplained connection to her husband.... 

Audrey Livingston is a nurse who meets firefighter Alex Fitzgerald on just an average day at the clinic. However, she quickly finds herself falling for him. When he dies on the job, she is devastated, and the story follows her in investigating whether Alex was faithful and Nadia, a woman who received Alex's heart.

My rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Seduced By Innocence - Karpov Kinrade

All my life I've been told that I will kill my first love. That the dark power I harbor within myself will destroy him.  Just like it's destroyed others.  Witches take an oath to do no harm, but I broke that oath even as a child, and so I hide within the invisible walls of my strange coven, keeping everyone at a distance.  Until I meet Derek.

Rose is a dangerous girl: she has the power to destroy someone's mind, leaving them an empty shell of what they once were. She's been told all her life by her mother and other members of her witch community that her powers are uncontrollable and that she is doomed to a life of celibacy lest she kills her lover. However, she meets Derek, a man she is inexplicably drawn to, right as her coven prepares to launch an attack on the Druids, their enemy.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

The Shadow and the Rose - Amanda DeWees

When ordinary high-school junior Joy Sumner visits a graveyard at midnight on a dare, she doesn't expect to end up sharing a kiss with brooding teen model Tanner Lindsey. And she definitely doesn't expect to make an enemy of Tanner's seductive, sinister mentor, the ageless supermodel Melisande--who may not be entirely human--or to find that her sleepy little corner of North Carolina is buzzing with supernatural energy. 

Joy Sumner, a junior attending Ash Grove, an extremely competitive performing arts high school, ventures out to a graveyard at midnight because of a dare.  What she doesn't expect to find is teen model Tanner Lindsey, an old student at Ash Grove.  She finds herself at odds with the new big celebrity in town, the beautiful Melisande, and works through her year to survive high school and uncover the mystery behind Melisande and Ash Grove.

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Investigating the Hottie - Juli Alexander

When Amanda spends a week with her aunt, Christie, she learns that her aunt is a spy. Christie admits that Amanda has security clearance and has already started her training. When her aunt asks her to investigate a teenage hacker, Amanda thinks that spending time with a nerd should be doable despite her social ineptitude. Unfortunately for Amanda, the hacker is a hottie.

Amanda Peterson, super spy. At least, that's the temporary occupation this high school sophomore takes when she spends her fall break at her aunt's place. Her assignment? To investigate a hacker who has promised something big come next Monday. So far, the top suspect is Will Middleton, who attends school near the area. Unfortunately for Amanda, the hacker is, in her words "yummy".

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

The Paparazzi Project - Kristina Springer

Livvie Peterson thought taking Interpersonal Communications her junior year would be an easy A. But when the first assignment is given, her world flips upside down. Here’s the deal: the class is assigned a six-week project and is split into three groups— Paparazzi, Tabloid, and Celebrities. The Paparazzi follow around the Celebrities taking pictures and grabbing any kind of quotes they can. The Celebrities try to navigate being tailed on a daily basis. And the Tabloid receives all the information collected by the Paparazzi and decides what makes the weekly summary report. Sounds harmless…and it’s all just pretend anyway, right? 

Livvie Peterson has just been assigned a project - to be a part of the paparazzi.  For school, of course.  Her junior year Interpersonal Communications class's first assignment is to recreate the relationship between celebrities, paparazzi, and the tabloids.  So she follows around the selected celebrities, taking pictures, and sending them to her tabloid contact, the cute Chas, to spin several articles a week, just like regular tabloids.  It starts off innocently enough, but exactly how much can someone take their personal life being broadcasted to the school?

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

In Your Dreams - Amy Martin

Sixteen-year-old Zara "Zip" McKee lives for three things: basketball, books, and bailing out of tiny Titusville, Illinois, where the junior high and high school are in the same building and everyone's known everyone else since birth. But when Kieran Lanier moves to town and passes out on her desk on his first day at school, Zip's life gets complicated in a way she never dreamed. 

Zip McKee is just a junior trying to get through school in the sleepy, small town of Titusville, Illinois.  However, the arrival of a new family in town shakes up her small world.  She finds herself growing closer to Kieran, the new boy with narcolepsy. However, she soon finds out that his narcolepsy isn't exactly normal - sometimes when he dreams, he dreams of the future. Together Zip, Kieran, and his family try to piece together why that happens. 

My review: 4 out of 5 stars