Tis time again for Pages of Bookish Love, where Alexa & I (The Bookish Brunette) each pick a book for the other and review it on their site!

The Truth About Forever

by Sarah Dessen

Published: 5/11/2004 by Penguin Group Inc.

a long, hot summer…

That’s what Macy has to look forward to while her boyfriend, Jason, is away at Brain Camp. Days will be spent at a boring job in the library, evenings will be filled with vocabulary drills for the SATs, and spare time will be passed with her mother, the two of them sharing a silent grief at the traumatic loss of Macy’s father.

But sometimes unexpected things can happen—things such as the catering job at Wish, with its fun-loving, chaotic crew. Or her sister’s project of renovating the neglected beach house, awakening long-buried memories. Things such as meeting Wes, a boy with a past, a taste for Truth-telling, and an amazing artistic talent, the kind of boy who could turn any girl’s world upside down. As Macy ventures out of her shell, she begins to wonder, Is it really better to be safe than sorry?

The Bookish Brunette thought:

Pages of Bookish Love is … Alexa and I recommend books to the other… read them, then post reviews on eachother’s website!!!

Nightshade (Nightshade #1)
by Andrea Cremer
Published: October 19th 2010 by Philomel

From Goodreads:

Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she’ll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters’ laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything – including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

The Bookish Brunette thought:

Pages of Bookish Love is a new feature that Alexa (you are HERE) and I (Ashley, The Bookish Brunette) have concocted… Both of us will recommend a book to the other, then review said book on the other’s blog! I had Alexa read Anna Dressed in Blood and her review is posted over at my blog today! Alexa had me read The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie…

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (Highland Pleasures #1)
by Jennifer Ashley
Published: 4/28/2009 by Leisure Books

From Goodreads:

The year is 1881. Meet the Mackenzie family–rich, powerful, dangerous, eccentric. A lady couldn’t be seen with them without ruin. Rumors surround them–of tragic violence, of their mistresses, of their dark appetites, of scandals that set England and Scotland abuzz.

The youngest brother, Ian, known as the Mad Mackenzie, spent most of his young life in an asylum, and everyone agrees he is decidedly odd. He’s also hard and handsome and has a penchant for Ming pottery and beautiful women.

Beth Ackerley, widow, has recently come into a fortune. She has decided that she wants no more drama in her life. She was raised in drama–an alcoholic father who drove them into the workhouse, a frail mother she had to nurse until her death, a fussy old lady she became constant companion to. No, she wants to take her money and find peace, to travel, to learn art, to sit back and fondly remember her brief but happy marriage to her late husband.

And then Ian Mackenzie decides he wants her.

The first of a new historical series.

The Bookish Brunette thought:

I have a confession… an admission of sorts. I LOVE romance… more specifically- YA contemporary romance… erotic romance AND historical romance with lots of smexy goodness thrown in… that’s right, THE Zombie Queen herself- a complete sucker for a good, sappy love story!

I’ve wanted to read The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie for MONTHS… but because of other reading obligations- I never did! *sigh* Having never have read anything by Jennifer Ashley before this, I was especially intrigued! A mad Lord? Bring it on baby!!

Lord Ian Mackenzie tries to warn the beautiful, widow Beth Ackerley away from the perversions of Sir Lyndon Mather and then almost immediately proposes they get married as a way for her to escape him. She is then almost certain that the rumors of Lord Ian’s madness are VERY true!

“You make no sense, my lord. If you don’t care about my fortune or whether I love you, why on earth do you wish to marry me?”

“Because I want to bed you.”

Beth knew in that instant that she was not a true lady, and never would be.

Right? My kinda chick dude!!! Come to find out, the rumors of Lyndon’s debauchery are entirely TRUE. Beth PROMPTLY breaks their engagement and rushes off to Paris… and Lord Ian follows her. Awww…

I will admit this book sort of dragged toward the middle for me, and it turns out there’s QUITE a scandal happening among the MacKenzie clan! Throw in a murder/mystery (which usually isn’t my thing…), Ian having spent so many years in the asylum for being INSANELY intelligent and a really sweet romance to top it all off! This may not have ended up being my FAVORITE historical romance, but it’s definitely a great read!

I cannot WAIT to read the next installment though! Ian’s brother, Mac was an extremely interesting character! Lady Isabella and Mac have been… “separated” for FAR too long! I’m simply dying to find out how he wins her back in Lady Isabella’s Scandalous Marriage (Highland Pleasures, #2)!

Pages of Bookish Love is a new feature that Alexa (you are HERE) and I (Ashley, The Bookish Brunette) have concocted… We are each going to recommend a book to the other, then review said book on the other’s blog! I had Alexa read The First Days (my FAV book EVER) and her review is posted over at my blog today! Alexa had me read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer… (psst- the reviews below!). Get it? We’re exchanging Pages of Bookish Love. We both hope you love this new monthly feature!

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The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

by Michelle Hodkin

Published: 9/27/2011 by Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing

 

From Goodreads:

Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.It can.She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.There is.She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love.She’s wrong.

The Bookish Brunette thought:

OMG! I am SO ashamed that it took me THIS freaking LONG to read this book! *dies*

Mara Dyer starts out CREEPTASTIC with Mara, her best friend Rachel and her frenemy Claire playing with a Ouija board… And six months later Claire and Rachel are dead, and Mara wakes up in tethered to tubes in a hospital.

Then as Mara is struggling to remember the events that landed her in the hospital… I’m crying like a little girl. ON PAGE 12.

“She [her mother] was the first to reach me that night when my screaming woke the neighbors, and she wastage one who caught me crying in my closet the next day. But it was only after she found me two days later, dazed and blinking and clutching a shard of broken mirror in my bloody hand, that she insisted on getting me help.”

Holy crap right?

After the doctor’s suggest that Mara be instatutionanalized, she convinces her mother that they should move away from all the memories that haunt her every waking hour instead. So they pack up and head to sunny Florida!

I loved the way The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer was told… it flowed so easily and Mara was amusing, sarcastic and totally likable!

Jamie ROCKED my freaking face off with his overly flamboyant AWESOME! Not even joking you,

“Anna used to be the abstinence poster girl, but post-Shaw, you could write a comic book about the many adventures of her vagina. It could wear a cape.”

Things aren’t going so hot in Florida as she continues to see the ghosts of her dead friends lurking about every corner… and Mara starts noticing things that can’t be explained away. People are DYING. People she had wished dead.

Then there’s Noah…

Super hot, mysterious, arrogant, fantastically sarcastic, unapologetically irreverant, closet SWEETHEART… Noah *sigh*

“I find it hilarious that whenever I light up, American’s look at me like I’m going to urinate on their children.”

This book kept me UP and turning pages WELL into the night, left me guessing around every corner… I HAD to know how it ended!!! Needless to say- I’m DYING for the sequel now!

Mara Dyer is dark, suspenseful, haunting. heart-breaking… and FUNNY. Long story short- DO NOT wait as long as I did to read this book! It is AMAZING! The characters are to die for… *cough* Noah *cough*. The plot is twisted and filled with so many turns you can’t help but lose yourself inside Michelle Hodkin’s world of Mara Dyer!