Monday, July 2, 2012

Galley Galore 3.0

Welcome to the third installment of Galley Galore here at Confessions of a Bibliophile.  Today's issue includes the reviews of four books that I absolutely adored.  All of which are available for purchase from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.  I received these books from Netgalley from the publishers for an honest and unbiased review.  I truly enjoyed all the books I am about to feature for you and highly recommend them to anyone who loves books with a touch of mystery, romance, and learning just how important one moment in our lives can be.

Now, enough idle chatter, on with the books! 

Book Blurb: Kendra, fifteen, hasn't felt safe since she began to recall devastating memories of childhood sexual abuse, especially because she still can't remember the most important detail-- her abuser's identity. Frightened, Kendra believes someone is always watching and following her, leaving menacing messages only she understands. If she lets her guard down even for a minute, it could cost Kendra her life. To relieve the pressure, Kendra cuts; aside from her brilliantly expressive artwork, it's her only way of coping. Since her own mother is too self-absorbed to hear her cries for help, Kendra finds support in others instead: from her therapist and her art teacher, from Sandy, the close family friend who encourages her artwork, and from Meghan, the classmate who's becoming a friend and maybe more. But the truth about Kendra's abuse is just waiting to explode, with startling unforeseen consequences. Scars is the unforgettable story of one girl's frightening path to the truth.

This book made me cry, this book also gave me a more indepth understanding as to what drives people to cut, and how abusers use subtle manipulations to further harm their victims after the abuse has stopped.  This book made me sick at some points and yet I would greatly recommend this to anyone who cuts, anyone who has been a victim of abuse, or anyone who doesn't understand the mentality of a cutter or someone who has been sexually abused as a child.  I highly recommend not reading this without some tissues close at hand and forewarned you will get pissed off by the end of this book, but it will also touch your heart and it is one of those stories that will stick with you long after you've finished reading it.  Review: Scars by Cheryl Rainfield

Book Blurb: This was supposed to be the best summer of Maggie’s life. Now it’s the one she’d do anything to forget.
Maggie Reynolds remembers hanging out at the gorge with her closest friends after a blowout party the night before. She remembers climbing the trail hand in hand with her perfect boyfriend, Joey. She remembers that last kiss, soft, lingering, and meant to reassure her. So why can’t she remember what happened in the moment before they were supposed to dive? Why was she left cowering at the top of the cliff, while Joey floated in the water below—dead?
As Maggie’s memories return in snatches, nothing seems to make sense. Why was Joey acting so strangely at the party? Where did he go after taking her home? And if Joey was keeping these secrets, what else was he hiding?
The latest novel from the author of The Tension of OppositesOne Moment is a mysterious, searing look at how an instant can change everything you believe about the world around you.


This is another one of those books that will linger with you long after you've stopped reading.  It impresses upon you how important every single moment is, and how in the blink of an eye everything around you can change.  One moment things are going wonderful, everyone is happy and simply enjoying life and the next moment things have gone horribly, horribly wrong and the shroud of death hangs over a once happy gathering.  Friendships are tested, relationships are strained as Maggie tries to piece together those final moments up on the cliff, those final moments before Joey dies and her world is thrown into a spiral that she isn't sure she can get out of. Review: One Moment by Kristina McBride

Book Blurb: Oct. 11th, 1943—A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun.
When “Verity” is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn’t stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she’s living a spy’s worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.
As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage and failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy? 
Harrowing and beautifully written, Elizabeth Wein creates a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that shows just how far true friends will go to save each other. Code Name Verity is an outstanding novel that will stick with you long after the last page.


I love reading about different things concerning WWII and this book, though there is fictional elements to it, and the writer confesses to creating different jobs for the female roles in this story there is some level of truth to it.  I adored Elizabeth Wein's writing style and watching Verity struggle for survival in Nazi-occupied France while Maddie did her best to save her and further work for the resistance.  This book shows the development of a friendship through the struggles of War and how that friendship further blossoms as one friend tries to save another.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a fast paced, emotional read that will linger with you long after you've turned the last page. Review: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

The galley for this was originally titled The Bastard

Book Blurb: To some men honor is just a word... 
Jeannette Boucher, a young French beauty from a family left penniless by the revolution, must marry against her will to save them all from ruin. But almost immediately after the vows are spoken, she learns that her old English husband is impotent—and in his desire for an heir, he plans to compromise her in the worst way. Determined to escape such a fate, she stows away on one of His Majesty’s frigates. But a woman alone is in constant danger. 

To Lieutenant Treynor, honor means everything...
Born a bastard to a wayward marquise, Lieutenant Crawford Treynor was given to a poor farmer to raise and was maltreated until he ran away to join the Royal Navy. Treynor is determined to prove he’s as good as any other man and rise to captain his own frigate. But once he finds Jeannette aboard The Tempest he must decide whether to return her to the man he knows would abuse her—or risk everything, even his life, to keep her safe.


So, this is my romance novel of the selections, and I have to say, I did completely enjoy it and it was quite a fun read and I loved the development of the characters.  Jeannette did get on my nerves at times and Treynor was at times annoyingly too masculine (yeah, I went there), but beyond that they are quite a unique couple and the struggles that they face are quite fun, especially when Jeannette stows away on a frigate, pretending to be a sailor...how does a woman hide so well among a ship full of men? Read this stunning story and find out! Review: Honor Bound by Brenda Novak

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