Review: Andy Squared, by Jennifer Lavoie

Author: Jennifer Lavoie

Title: Andy Squared

ISBN: 9781602827431

Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (September 18^th 2012)

Disclaimer: Copy received for review

Buy your copy: Paperback | Kindle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Seventeen-year-old twins, Andrew and Andrea Morris, have always been close. They share everything—from their friends to a room—and they both enjoy star positions on their high school’s soccer teams. All’s right with the twins...or is it?

When new student Ryder Coltrane moves from Texas to their small New York town, he spins Andrew’s world upside down. All of Andrew’s past relationship troubles begin to make sense and his true feelings start to click into place after Ryder comes out to him. His friendship with Ryder turns secretively romantic, but secrets, they soon find out, are hard to keep. Once rumors start to fly, so-called friends turn on them, and the boys’ relationship turns into a bomb about to explode. But Andrew never expected it would be his own twin, Andrea, holding a lighter to ignite it” GoodReads’ blurb

You know that, from time to time, I wander into the topic of this book in search of a compelling, moving, real story. I’m usually left wanting, but, and this is the big BUT, not this time!

Andy Squared was a sweet, tender love story that I completely fell for. The characters, as usual, did most of the job for me: the way Andy started to accept himself and to accept his feelings was gradual and easy to believe. I also enjoyed his relationship with his twin, the other Andy, which starts out great and then turns out all kinds of... wrong.

Review: Stormdancer, by Jay Kristoff

Author: Jay Kristoff

Title: Stormdancer

Series: The Lotus War (#1)

ISBN: 9781250001405

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Disclaimer: Copy received for review

Buy your copy: Hardcover

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"A DYING LAND
The Shima Imperium verges on the brink of environmental collapse; an island nation once rich in tradition and myth, now decimated by clockwork industrialization and the machine-worshipers of the Lotus Guild. The skies are red as blood, the land is choked with toxic pollution, and the great spirit animals that once roamed its wilds have departed forever.

AN IMPOSSIBLE QUEST
The hunters of Shima’s imperial court are charged by their Shōgun to capture a thunder tiger—a legendary creature, half-eagle, half-tiger. But any fool knows the beasts have been extinct for more than a century, and the price of failing the Shōgun is death.

A SIXTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL
Yukiko is a child of the Fox clan, possessed of a talent that if discovered, would see her executed by the Lotus Guild. Accompanying her father on the Shōgun’s hunt, she finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in Shima’s last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled thunder tiger for company. Even though she can hear his thoughts, even though she saved his life, all she knows for certain is he’d rather see her dead than help her.

But together, the pair will form an indomitable friendship, and rise to challenge the might of an empire." GoodReads’ blurb

Japanese Steampunk, indeed. I’m pretty new to the steampunk genre, but it’s one of those things I love to dabble on whenever I have the chance. And if you’ve been reading me or talking to me on the media, you know I’m a somewhat fanatic of Japanese culture. The latter is a double-edged weapon, because I’m extra picky: any guy/girl swinging a katana won’t just cut it for me.

So, what did I find when I went into Stormdancer?

VBT Review: Arise, by Amber Garr

Welcome to the Syrenka series book tour! Here at Stories of my life, you'll have the chance to read reviews of all three books through its duration, and if you want to check out other great stuff like excerpts or guest posts (and other reviews too!) you just have to check the master schedule, clicking on the Tour Banner above.

There's two surprises: one is a tour-wide giveaway where you can win signed paperbacks of the whole series plus some cool swag... And the other is exclusive to Stories of my Life and consist on a giveaway for your e-book of choice of the series. You'll find instructions on how to enter at the end of the post.

And now that the deets are out of the way, I give you... Syrenka!