Freefalling

Author: Darlene Susan Girard
Stars: 5 out of 5

** Book was given to me by the author in exchange for a honest review**

Back of the Book
FREEFALLING is an uncompromising view of the world as seen through the eyes of a 14 year old runaway caught up in a world of drugs, prostitution, and violence - living on the street, learning to survive, and not really caring if you don’t.

Powerful, poignant, sensitive, and sometimes overwhelming; Freefalling is a two and a half year journey that begins with the loss of innocence and ends with the death of a young girl in a skid row hotel room. And the story of everything that happens between is Freefalling.


My Review
It starts with a young girl Melinda who is only 14 when her father starts to rape her, she runs away away and into the life of prostitution. Melinda spends 3 years on the streets before her death. Within this time she learns about the streets and being smart and safe through her new friend Angel. Melinda has a child CeeJay by the age of 17. Melinda continues her downwards spiral into drugs and working to get her next hit. 
Such a moving story of a young girl forced to grow up. I felt so bad for her and I wondered why her sister never went to look for her. Melinda is such a brave character, I wished her survived for her daughter. One part that got me is when CeeJay met her "father" she called him "grandpa" which I thought was really creepy. That dude should just rot in hell.

One of the best books I've read this year. Such a sad story about a young girl Melinda who grows up to fast. This book touches on incest, prostitution, drugs, sex, rape, crime and love. 

10 years after her death Angel and CeeJay reunite, they form a bond and together try to heal and learn from each other. 
But other than that I demolished this book in one sitting. A good read for everyone.

Dead Girls Dont Lie

Author: Jennifer Shaw Wolf
Stars: 5 out of 5



Back of the Book

Rachel died at two a.m . . . Three hours after Skyler kissed me for the first time. Forty-five minutes after she sent me her last text. 

Jaycee and Rachel were best friends. But that was before. . .before that terrible night at the old house. Before Rachel shut Jaycee out. Before Jaycee chose Skyler over Rachel. Then Rachel is found dead. The police blame a growing gang problem in their small town, but Jaycee is sure it has to do with that night at the old house. Rachel’s text is the first clue—starting Jaycee on a search that leads to a shocking secret. Rachel’s death was no random crime, and Jaycee must figure out who to trust before she can expose the truth. 

In the follow-up to her powerful debut, Jennifer Shaw Wolf keeps readers on their toes in another dark, romantic story of murder and secrets.

Summary

One of the best mysteries I've read in a while. I have been having luck with this genre of book so far this year. Another golden pick here and I must say I was little creeped out reading this at 1am in the morning it felt like i was in Lake Ridge being hunted down. 
Jaycees best friend is killed in her own room days later she receives a text and a video on her phone of her decrease bff. Jaycee believes there is a lot more to her death. Jaycee starts to look into her death with the help of Eduardo one of the people she was closes to before she died. Her bff has left clues along the way that only Jaycee would notice and understand, as she continues to dig, she becomes the new target of the people who killed her bff. 
Jaycee also doesn't know who to trust Eduardo the gang banger with a pass or the town's people she's grown up with her whole life.

One of the things that had me constantly banging my head was how gullible and naive Jaycee was. She ability to believe what everyone says was really frustrating. Another thing that I thought that was sad was the segregation between the Mexican migrant workers and the towns people but this is sadly a reflection of reality in some places.


The authors writing through the whole book makes you think you know who the killer was and to suspect every character. I didn't think the killer would be someone so close to Jaycee I was thrown off. One of the last people I expected was the killer and because of this I had to give the book 5 stars because usually mysteries I can figure out pretty early who the guilty person is.

Tampa

Author: Alissa Nutting
Stars: 4 out of 5


This has been a very controversial book which makes it a lot more fun to read and gauge everyone's reaction.

Back of the Book
But Celeste's devotion lies elsewhere. She has a singular sexual obsession—fourteen-year-old boys. Celeste pursues her craving with sociopathic meticulousness and forethought; her sole purpose in becoming a teacher is to fulfill her passion and provide her access to her compulsion. As the novel opens, fall semester at Jefferson Jr. High is beginning.
In mere weeks, Celeste has chosen and lured the lusciously naive Jack Patrick into her web. Jack is enthralled and in awe of his teacher, and, most important, willing to accept Celeste's terms for a secret relationship—car rides after school; rendezvous at Jack's house while his single father works late; body-slamming encounters in Celeste's empty classroom between periods.
Ever mindful of the danger—the perpetual risk of exposure, Jack's father's own attraction to her, and the ticking clock as Jack leaves innocent boyhood behind—the hyperbolically insatiable Celeste bypasses each hurdle with swift thinking and shameless determination, even when the solutions involve greater misdeeds than the affair itself. In slaking her sexual thirst, Celeste Price is remorseless and deviously free of hesitation, a monstress driven by pure motivation. She deceives everyone, and cares nothing for anyone or anything but her own pleasure.


My Review
Celeste is a predator. 

Her prey are 14 year old boys.
Her hunting grounds are the classrooms of Jefferson High. 
She will stop at nothing to get what her wants. 

Such a controversial topic for a book and must I saw it was such a good read. To get inside the head of a totally twisted person who is selfish and does stop until she has had her fill. The writing itself is very descriptive as if you are actually there as the affair starts. Such a sad end to Jack who has a whole life ahead of him. 
The ending of the book solidifies Celeste twisted and selfish mind. 
Totally would recommend this because it's not your typically book where you could guess the scenario it's keeps you guessing and reading till the end.

7 Souls

Author: Barnabas Miller
Stars: 4 out of 5

Back of the Book
Mary expected her seventeenth birthday to be a blowout to remember, courtesy of her best friends, fellow New York City prepsters Amy and Joon, and her doting boyfriend, Trick.
            Instead, the day starts badly and gets worse. After waking up in a mortifying place with a massive, unexplainable hangover, Mary soon discovers that nobody at school is even aware that it's her birthday. As evening approaches, paranoia sets in. Mary just can't shake the feeling that someone is out to get her—and, as it turns out, she's right. Before the night is over, she's been killed in cold blood.
            But murder is just the beginning of Mary's ordeal. Her soul gets trapped in a strange limbo, and she must relive the day of her death through the eyes of seven people—each of whom, she finds, had plenty of reasons to hate her. As Mary explores the mysteries of her world, discovering secrets that were hidden in plain sight while she was alive, she clings desperately to the hope that she can solve her own murder, change the past, and—just maybe—save her own life.


My Review
Mary wakes up, but as someone else. Scott whom she uses to get homework answers from, she relives the day she dies but from Scotts perspective. She also learns that in Scotts bag she had tape and rope that was used to hang Joon that deadly night. Is Scott the killer?Mary wakes up as Joon, Dylan, Patrick herself and Ellen (her sister). These people are all apart of a ritual of 7 souls that take part in humiliating, betraying and ridding their life of this person. In this case it's Mary, she learns about how she affected the people she once thought of as close friends and family and how much they truly hate her. To Mary surprise she learns how to be selfless and help the people she has affected most in her life.


Mary wakes up in a strange bed and beyond display naked for the world to see. It's her birthday and she can't remember how she got there and who she was with last night. The rest of the day none of her friends remember her birthday, her bf breaks up with her and to top it off she has some strange marks on her back of three lines moving diagonal. Also Mary keeps seeing weird shadows and visions of a house. 
Later Mary is surprised by her bf with a surprise party that soon turns scary and deadly. One of the guys brings a guy and is asked to leave the party, which her bff leaves with. Mary soon receives a text from her bff Joon to help her. When Mary arrives at the location Joon is at with her other BFF Amy she realizes this is the place she has been seeing all day in her visions. Someone is out to get Mary but before Mary can figure out who it is she is shot in the head. 


The ending is not what you would expect, what happens to Mary started 10 years ago when her father died and their lives changed forever. SPOILER ALERT!!! Ellen is the person that shoots Mary in the head and was also the ring leader for the scheme. 

Take One With You

Author: Oak Anderson

Stars: 5 out of 5

Back of the Book

MURDER GOES VIRAL!

Charlie and Sarah, two disaffected teens dealing with depression, meet in an online chatroom and soon hatch a plan to bring meaning to their lives by encouraging other despondent individuals to help eradicate the "scum of society", such as pedophiles and rapists who have escaped justice. Anyone determined to commit suicide is urged to first kill someone who "got away with it" before taking their own life. Why not, they ask, "take one with you?"

The idea goes viral and things rapidly spiral out of control. As they develop feelings for each other, their worldwide followers begin to enact a very different version of their idea, perverting its original intent and threatening the thin line between civil society and criminal anarchy. Just as they find the hope of happiness together, Charlie and Sarah must deal with the monster they've created, a global epidemic of murder-suicide that threatens the very core of their humanity.

Take One With You is a unique crime thriller/millennial love story that poses the question: If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, would you kill someone tonight? Someone who had done something terrible. Someone who deserved to die. If so, who would it be? If you wouldn't go that far, what about your neighbor? Your friend? Your enemy? Who draws the line? Who decides who lives and who dies? And what if we all began to take justice into our own hands?

Review

TOWY aka take one with you.

If you were going to die, would you take one with you?
This is the question the books asks.
Would you leave the world a little safer , make your death have meaning, take someone who escaped the justice system and deserved to die?

We meet Sarah and Charlie who meet online in a chat forum. They had similar childhood, both were misunderstood, depressed and angry so they turn to each other. 
They start a project called TOWY. Added child molesters, pedophiles and rapists on the website for people to take one with them when they decide to end it all. Soon the website gains lots of attention and becomes out of control. Charlie and Sarah never realized just how much damage they created. How do you justify who you can take? And what happens when you have innocents in the crossfire?

There are many points of views from different characters. We get POV's from the creators of the website, Towy's themselves and the justice system. I've never read a book like this. As my first crime thriller, I think I shall start reading a bit more in this category. Oak Anderson is an amazing writer and I can't wait for what else he has in store. 
TOWY was a creative idea for a book concept and I can't say there are many books written that have you guessing as much as this book had. So many twists had you wondering what each character was plotting and how they relate to each other. 
One of my new favs!

I would also like to thank Oak Anderson for reaching out to me. Such an amazing person and good luck in the future. I can't wait to read what else you have in store for readers.