NICOLE'S REVIEW: No Place to Fall by Jaye Robin Brown

Title: No Place to Fall

Author: Jaye Robin Brown

Format Acquired: eARC/Hardcover

Publication Date: December 9 2014

Publishing House:  Harper Teen

ISBN: 9780062270993

Source of Copy: Edelweiss/Purchased from Fully Booked

Summary: 

Amber Vaughn is a good girl. She sings solos at church, takes care of her baby nephew after school, and spends every Friday night hanging out at her best friend, Devon's house.

But when Amber learns about an audition at a prestigious arts school, she decides that her dream - to sing on bigger stages - could also be her ticket to a new life. Devon's older brother, Will, helps Amber prepare for her one chance to try out. The more time Will and Amber spend together, the more complicated their relationship becomes...and Amber starts to wonders if she's such a good girl after all.

Then, in an afternoon, the bottom drops out of her family's world - and Amber is faced with an impossible choice between her promise as an artist and the people she loves. Amber always thought she knew what a good girl would do. But between "good" and "bad" there's a whole world of possibilities.

        (Image and information courtesy of Goodreads; Summary lifted from actual book)

Review: 

Nothing screams good girl like singing church solos, babysitting your nephew and staying out of trouble. At least that's what Amber's definition of good is supposed to be. Good girl Amber also has a dream to sing on bigger stages and become a superstar. When auditions for an art school are dangled in front of her face she grabs at this chance to a new life. But in the span of a few bad decisions, Amber's whole world comes crashing down and she's torn between the good, the bad and everything in between.

I am not a fan of Amber. She's the supposed good girl - singing in church, hanging with friends, doesn't get into any trouble. But then from the get-go she was portrayed as sort of a party girl. She hangs out with hikers in the hopes of getting hot and heavy with one - because no regrets and they're out of town, who's going to spill her secrets right - smoking weed, doing drugs. She came off as a hypocrite and that didn't endear her much to me. The secondary characters weren't any better. 

I did not like the plot. It was confusing and messy and I didn't really feel like the story was going anywhere. Amber also makes a lot of stupid decisions that puts people she cares about into trouble. It's incredibly annoying. I wasn't a fan of all the cheating too. It happened again and again and again which made it incredibly hard to finish the book because it was just so...stupid! Add to that the endless stream of pointless drama and I had to resist banging my head up against a wall. 

Time and time again we hear about how Amber is such an amazing singer and she is always put on the spot. You know, I got it. She's a great singer. So? Doesn't mean I'll like her any more what with the incredibly asinine choices she's made and, because I'm petty, the overalls she always sports. Her signature, psh. Sure.

All in all, No Place to Fall just wasn't for me. The plot is incredibly slow and nothing really happens throughout the whole book. The whole incident that would supposedly change her family's life was rather anticlimactic and boring. The cheating was a definite downer and Amber is a huge hypocrite. 

Rating: 

                     

[Blog Tour] More than Music by Elizabeth Briggs

Title: More than Music
Author: Elizabeth Briggs
Format Acquired: ePub

Publication Date: June 17 2014

Publishing House: Elizabeth Briggs Books

ISBN: 9781499607994
Source of Copy: Blog Tour

Summary:

Music major Maddie Taylor just finished her junior year of college and has a summer internship lined up with the LA Philharmonic, yet every night she practices guitar and secretly dreams of a louder life. But geeky girls like her don't get to be rock stars. That is, until tattooed singer Jared Cross catches her playing guitar and invites her to join his band on The Sound, a reality TV show competition.

Once on the show, Maddie discovers there's more to Jared than his flirty smile and bad boy reputation - and that he's just as big a geek as she is. With each performance their attraction becomes impossible to ignore, but when the show pressures them to stay single they're forced to keep their relationship secret.

As the competition heats up, Jared will do whatever it takes for his band to win, and Maddie must decide if following her dream is worth losing her heart.

(Image and information courtesy of Goodreads; Summary lifted from actual book)

Link to the giveway on the sidebar!

Review:

I'm going to start off this review by saying that this was better than expected. My forays into the New Adult genre have always flopped and that made me afraid to give this book a go. But I believe in  second chances, and thirds and fourths and so I joined the tour. This book gets an instant 3 stars for the mention of Anberlin and all the music references. I love them so much so forgive me for being a little biased. Heh.

Maddie Taylor's about to take up an internship with the LA Philharmonic despite the fact that she secretly plays guitar and has rock star aspirations. As fate would have it, Jared Cross, lead singer and guitarist of Villain Complex catches her rocking out and invites her to join the band because they badly need her so they can join The Sound, reminiscent of The Voice, a reality TV battle of the bands kind of thing. Of course, once on set Maddie realizes that Jared isn't all about flirting and girls and doing the nasty. He's actually kind of a geek and kind of an okay guy. How is Maddie supposed to resist? 

Truthfully? I was never fond of rockstar romances but this book made it okay, less cringe-worthy. Maddie is multi-talented; she plays guitar, piano, sings a little and does a little clarinet. She's a decent character, a little shy, a little relatable, a little annoying with how she put Jared so high up on a pedestal. 

Jared on the other hand is typical of YA/NA. The tortured artist, the guy who leaves behind a trail of broken hearts, the one all the girls pine over. I mean he's a geek and I suppose that added a bit to his charm but still, as sexy as he is I don't know if I want to touch that with a ten-foot pole. He has big issues and out of control hormones but that's not to say that he wasn't a decent character. He was. He's just...typical of the genre.

So basically this book is like The Voice except it's The Sound and instead of singers they feature bands. It's like one of those reality TV shows except in text format but probably way more entertaining. It's got drama, romance, music and kissy scenes that lead to more kissy scenes if you know what I mean. 

If you're looking for a romance that features hot musicians and fluff then this one's for you. A quick read that will definitely satisfy and this book gives me hope for NA. (Or maybe it's just really my bad luck that all the NA I've ever tried was just....no.) So thank you Elizabeth Briggs. I'm looking forward to the Hector Novella set in Comic-Con.

Rating:

                         

[BLOG TOUR] MICHELLE'S REVIEW: Infinite Sky by C.J. Flood

Title: Infinite Sky
Author: C. J. Flood
Format Acquired: Borrowed ARC

Publication Date: May 20 2014

Publishing House: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

ISBN: 9781481406581
Source of Copy: Dianne of Oops! I Read a Book Again

Summary:

A truly beautiful book about the summer that changed one girl's life, as her mum leaves home, travellers set up camp in the family's field, her older brother goes off the rails, and she falls in love for the very first time. Opening with a funeral, Iris is mourning the boy in the casket - but who is it? Sam, her tearaway brother, or Trick, her tentative boyfriend? Over one long hot summer, we find out just how their three lives were turned upside-down.

(Image and information courtesy of Goodreads; Summary lifted from actual book)

Review:

You know those kinds of novels where you just keep reading these almost "normal" narrations, but then you find yourself get gutted (and heart-wrenchingly wounded) time and time again? C. J. Flood's Infinite Sky is exactly like that.

Right in the beginning of her pubescent years, Iris is learning how to cope with an angry brother, a distant father, and the non-presence of a mother who would rather see the world. Her horizons are further broadened when she meets Trick, the son of the Gypsy household that settles illegally on their land. Iris' father won't allow their presence on his land, so how he reacts when he finds out Iris and Trick's secret and forbidden friendship is not surprising. Out in the fields, under the stars, not everyone can see just how limiting life can usually be... Except for Iris and Trick.

Infinite Sky does make use of British slang, so for people who aren't really used to them might find some details incomprehensible. I must admit that I was a bit off-put sometimes because I just couldn't get the hang of it, but nevertheless, the almost unintentional prose really pushed me to keep reading. Infinite Sky actually has a simple storyline, and probably because of its non-embellishments, it kind of works. In a way, it captured Iris' curiosity for the world as well as the beginning changes in her "journey to womanhood" (I hate this phrase I coined, but if the shoe fits, yeah?) and the tremulous relationships within their family and with the much-shunned Gypsy family. The first bloom of romance is very tender and sweet, and it was like that with Iris and Trick.

To sum it up, this is the kind of book that you reach for when you feel bogged down by weighty matters. At the end of the book, readers will end up surmising about life, and the more serious problems we ignore on a day-to-day basis.

Fans of Jandy Nelson's The Sky is Everywhere will undoubtedly find a familiar, yet younger soul in Infinite Flood's Iris. 

Rating:

     

              

MICHELLE'S REVIEW: Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott

Title: Heartbeat
Author: Elizabeth Scott
Format Acquired: eARC

Publication Date: January 28, 2014

Publishing House: Harlequin TEEN

ISBN: 9780373210961
Source of Copy: Requested from publisher via NetGalley

Summary:

Life. Death. And... Love?

Emma would give anything to talk to her mother one last time. Tell her about her slipping grades, her anger with her stepfather, and the boy with the bad reputation who might be the only one Emma can be herself with.

But Emma can't tell her mother anything. Because her mother is brain-dead and being kept alive by machines for the baby growing inside her.

Meeting bad-boy Caleb Harrison wouldn't have interested Old Emma. But New Emma - the one who exists in a fog of grief, who no longer cares about school, whose only social outlet is her best friend Olivia - New Emma is startled by the connection she and Caleb forge.

Feeling her own heart beat again wakes Emma from the grief that has grayed her existence. Is there hope for life after death - and maybe... for love?

(Image, summary and information courtesy of Goodreads)

Review:

I encountered my first Elizabeth Scott novel, Perfect You, from a book fair which took me a few re-readings and a few years to appreciate. I've also read her other works, so when this one popped up on NetGalley, of course I had to request for it!

Emma's more than angry and hurt. Her mom is being kept alive because of the baby inside of her, and that's all that her new stepdad seemingly cares about. Emma would much rather have her mom back rather than a new addition to a family that seems to be on the fast-track to falling apart. Try as her best friend might, Emma can't help but feel so alone... except for Caleb Harrison who seems to know what it is exactly she needs.

My heart goes out to Emma and her devastating circumstance, but there were some times I couldn't really say why she was so angry at her stepdad all the time! Of course her stepdad is going to be concerned for the baby - it's the only living reminder of their love, aside from Emma, whom he loves just as much, even if she is not his. I guess what pisses Emma off is seeing her dead mom on a bed, "living" for a growing baby, and knowing that her mother is never coming back home, which is like a sucker punch in the gut every time Emma visits her in the hospital. 

The romance was okay, and Emma was very lucky to have found someone who understand where all her anger is coming from, but I just wished that Emma could have found and healed herself at her own time and pace. When two souls are broken, I don't think that Emma and Caleb relying on each other for support is quite healthy, especially if and/or when it ends at some point. 

Scott is an already established teen reads expert writer along with Sarah Dessen, so she obviously has writing and themes pat down. If you're on the market for a contemporary that's on the medium to borderline heavy side of drama, Heartbeat is an okay choice.

Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott will be available on bookstands on January 28, 2014, as per publisher information.

Rating:

               

MICHELLE'S REVIEW: Forever by Karen Ann Hopkins

Title: Forever
Author: Karen Ann Hopkins
Format Acquired: eARC

Publication Date: January 28, 2014

Publishing House: Harlequin Teen

ISBN: 9780373211067
Source of Copy: Requested from publisher via NetGalley

Summary:

All I want is my happily-ever-after.

That's all I've wanted since meeting Noah Miller.

From the day we met, the world has tried to keep Noah and me from being together, but now that I'm carrying his child, no one will be able to tear us apart. Or so I hope. But Noah and I have made some mistakes along the way, and the consequences are impacting the people we love. Worse, there's a storm on the horizon, and it's sure to cause serious devastation.

If we can get through this, we'll finally be Rose and Noah; a family, forever.

But first we have to survive the road ahead. And happily-ever-after is a long way off.

(Image and information courtesy of Goodreads; Summary lifted from actual book)

Review:
*Edited on Feb. 3, 2014 due to grammatical errors.

(This is the final installment in the Temptation series so there are bound to be some little spoilers ahead if you haven't read the first books. My reviews for the first and second books, Temptation and Belonging can be found here and here.)

Noah knows that the only way he and his family can get back into the good graces of the Amish community is by giving them time to recover from jilting his Amish fiancee, especially when the father of said ex-fiancee blocks their every move and is making their life difficult. But Noah doesn't know that what he needs most is the one thing Rose can't give. Rose is pregnant with his child, and it's high-time that both of them took a final stand in order for them to finally be together.

I don't know how and I don't know why but every Noah and Rose I know seem to be walking disasters. In the second book, Noah got into an accident, and a psycho was after Rose. In this one, Rose has an accident, Noah and Rose get caught between a tornado (because hey, dramatic stand-offs) and hey look, psycho neighbors. Considering that Rose was pregnant most of the time in this one, to say that the couple has been through A LOT, cultural differences and forbidden romance aside, is an understatement. In truth, I didn't expect anything less because the second book, Belonging, was already rife with drama, and the only way to really end the series is to pile that drama on. 

Rose and Noah seem to finally get the idea that this couple thing is beyond the both of them. Everyone around them is affected, especially Sarah, Noah's younger sister, who seems to be falling for Constance's brother Micah, yet another tricky relationship. In Forever, Noah finally let go of his stubbornness and this is what really makes me sag in relief. Noah was actually pretty tough on compromising, but I guess he finally grew up and realized that they both needed to be in this together if they were really starting a family. While I am happy for Rose and Noah finally ending up together (come on, that wasn't even a spoiler), I did hope that they had more time before finally committing to each other. While their chemistry was there, I hoped that the readers were clued in as to actually why and how they deemed that they were perfect for each other. I mean, Rose and Noah are hot and they love each other, but that's all I really observed from them. 

Forever does include a little side-story and I thought that that was a pretty nice touch, but then Hopkins does the unthinkable and pulls the rug out from under us. Seriously, I thought that that would have made a pretty cute spin-off.

Even though Forever was quite cheesy and, given the disaster-thing I've mentioned, quite ludicrous, it was a pretty fitting ending to the series. As soon as I found out that I was given access to the title, I immediately downloaded the title and finished it in one sitting. Despite being over-the-top with its drama, Forever is engrossing and it was very hard to look away. I would recommend this series to people who are hardcore romance enthusiasts, and I do quite wish that there would be a spin-off to this series. 

Rating:

             

The Twins on "Thursday": The First Lie by Diane Chamberlain

"The Twins on Thursday" is reserved for the Twins' joint reviews. It is a special feature of our blog that discusses books that we either both like, dislike, or have mixed feelings about. This is also the day where we post reviews for books (and ARCs/Galleys) that have been sent to us by authors/galley sites/publishing houses. And because we don't believe much in uniformity, we'll be trying to mix things up a bit by adding random stuff in relation to our review (well, mostly for books we purchased anyway).

Title: The First Lie
Author: Diane Chamberlain
Format Acquired: eARC

Publication Date: June 4, 2013

Publishing House: St. Martin's Press

ISBN: 9781466839403
Source of Copy: Invited by publisher for review

Summary:

An e-original short story that sets the stage for bestselling author Diane Chamberlain's upcoming novel Necessary Lies (September 2013).

The First Lie gives readers an early glimpse into the life of thirteen-year-old Ivy Hart. It's 1958 in rural North Carolina, where Ivy lives with her grandmother and sister on a tobacco farm. As tenant farmers, Ivy and her family don't have much freedom, though she and her best friend, Henry, often sneak away in search of adventure... and their truest selves. But life on the farm takes a turn when Ivy's teenage sister gives birth - all the while maintaining her silence about the baby's father. Soon Ivy finds herself navigating the space between adolescence and adulthood as she tries to unravel a dark web of family secrets and make sense of her ever-evolving life in the segregated South.

(Image, summary, and information courtesy of Goodreads)

Review:

The great thing about The First Lie is that it is quite an immersive read. Chamberlain has managed to give Ivy an undeniably realistic voice, and you can't help but go along with Ivy as she narrates a snippet of her life in 1958 North Carolina. Ivy is a very persuasive character, and we have to give props to Chamberlain for managing to capture that innocence so aptly. We enjoyed reading about Ivy's relationship with the people around her; with Henry, her sister and even Mary Ella.  She's a perceptive child and it doesn't hurt that she's got an engaging voice. When the novella ended we couldn't help but want more. 

The First Lie, as a prequel e-novella, has done its job of making us interested in Chamberlain's upcoming title, Necessary Lie. We can't wait to delve back into the 1950s and reconnect with the characters we have met with.

Rating:

      

     

MICHELLE'S REVIEW: The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

Title: The Moon and More
Author: Sarah Dessen
Format Acquired: Hardcover

Publication Date: June 4, 2013

Publishing House: Viking Juvenile

ISBN: 9780670785605
Source of Copy: Purchased from Fully Booked

Summary:

Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun.

He and Emaline have been together all throughout high school in Colby, the beach town where they both grew up. But now, in the summer before college, Emaline wonders if perfect is good enough.

Enter Theo, a super-ambitious outsider, a New Yorker assisting on a documentary film about a reclusive local artist. Theo's sophisticated and exciting, and best of all, he thinks Emaline is much too smart for Colby.

Emaline's mostly absentee father, too, thinks Emaline should have a bigger life, and he's convinced that an Ivy League education is the best route to realizing her potential. Emaline is attracted to the bright future that Theo and her father envision.  But she also clings to the deep roots of her loving mother, stepfather, and sisters. Can she ignore the pull of the happily familiar world of Colby?

Emaline wants the moon  and more, but how can she balance where she comes from with where she's going?

(Image and information courtesy of Goodreads; Summary lifted from actual book)

Review:

Ever since I read This Lullaby and Along for the Ride, I basically threw myself at all the Sarah Dessen books I could find. When I found out that she was releasing a new one, I immediately put it on my to-read shelf and grabbed a copy when the book became available here.

Imagine my surprise when a few pages of the book suddenly came apart in my hands. (Of course I panicked. That was a new copy, and a signed one at that!) That couldn't be a good omen, I thought to myself. And true enough, I found The Moon and More disappointing and slow.


When Emaline's father backed out of his promise to support her Ivy League education, she feels disappointed, but is relatively okay with the turn of events. Colby, her hometown, is safe, boring, and predictable - and she reckoned that maybe it was just the life she was supposed to live. When Theo stumbles into her life, Emaline can't help but join in with his big-city charisma and ambitions of grandeur. Hey, dreaming of a different life is free after all. But when she is already being wired into someone else's plans for the future, Emaline must think for herself about the way she really wants to run her life.

Come on. This is Sarah Dessen, so of course the writing is spectacular, and the descriptions are so vivid I could already feel the sun scorching my back and the wind turning my hair into a sticky, salty mess. The characterizations are real as all get-out and when I close my eyes I could just hear Emaline narrating the turn of events as she goes. I love the fact that Emaline is a strong, independent girl who can rightfully think for herself, and I love that she is handling things well. I love that Dessen is on a different path with The Moon and More, even when I was kind of hoping to moon over a Dessen boy here as they are swoon-worthy most of the time. I love the way she writes about the family component and think that this is something that she can probably patent because she's that good at it.

So what the heck is my problem with The Moon and More?

Well, for one, I thought it was painfully slow. Because of the slow start, I cannot think of Emaline without thinking of the words anal retentive, obsessive-compulsive, and control freak. I have no problems with her being one (I honestly think it's kind of fun messing with people like these.) but Dessen keeps on establishing the fact that this girl does not like her clutter and hates it when her sister Amber and her mom are inside her room. I get that it's supposed to show how resistant to change Emaline is, what with the house going through another renovation despite just getting one, and how she almost always ends up trapped inside her room because of it. 

Another thing that irked me was their treatment of Theo. I don't like the guy (at all, seriously), but it somehow irritates me when Emaline's friends mock him just because he does all the tourist-y and embarrassing stuff. And yes, even if he wears "girl jeans", as Luke calls his designer pants. Theo honestly doesn't know any better about any of the girls' traditions or the things they already do around Colby, so if they would lay off his back about that, that would be really nice.

First time Sarah Dessen readers are better off getting a copy of This Lullaby and Along for the Ride.

Rating:

              

MICHELLE'S REVIEW: Anything But Ordinary by Lara Avery

Title: Anything But Ordinary
Author: Lara Avery
Format Acquired: Hardcover

Publication Date: September 11, 2012

Publishing House: Hyperion

ISBN: 9781423163862
Source of Copy: Purchased from Fully Booked

Summary:


Bryce remembers it like it was yesterday. The scent of chlorine. The blinding crack and flash of pain. Blood in the water.

When she wakes up in the hospital, all she can think of is her disastrous Olympic diving trial. But everything is different now. Bryce still feels seventeen, so how can her little sister be seventeen, too? Life went on without her while she lay in a coma for five years. Her best friend and boyfriend have just graduated from college. Her parents barely speak. And everything she once dreamed of doing - winning a gold medal, traveling the world, falling in love - seems beyond her reach.

But Bryce has changed, too, in seemingly impossible ways. She knows things she shouldn't. Things that happened while she was asleep. Things that haven't even happened yet. During one luminous summer, as she comes to understad that her dreams have changed forever, Bryce learns to see life for what it truly is: extraordinary.

(Image and information courtesy of Goodreads; Summary lifted from actual book)

Review:

After waking up from a five-year coma, Bryce is disoriented with all the changes that took place without her. For one, she's now twenty-one, and not a seventeen-year-old Olympics-bound diving prodigy. Her little sister who used to hang on to her every word is now a surly and rebellious teenager, and her boyfriend and her best friend are getting married to each other. Just when she's trying to make sense of her new life, Bryce gets flashes - visions of things that have happened when she was lying in her bed, comatose, and of things that have yet to happen. And that's where it all starts to go horribly wrong.

I wanted a break from all the paranormal / dystopian books I've been reading from cover to cover as of late, so I picked up Anything But Ordinary from my growing TBR pile, expecting a light read about a girl who has to pick up from where she last hit pause on life. Little did I know that my plan of spending a nice, quiet evening would be shot, all because I thumbed through Anything But Ordinary like my life depended on it.

It's actually pretty hard, writing this review, all because I don't want to spoil you guys from finding out for yourselves how brilliant this book is. Avery's writing is perfect for me at this  point because she straddles the line between storytelling for young adults and adults. Don't get me wrong; I love snarky YA protagonists and all, but I needed some fresh air. And just when I needed it most, Avery gave me that. 

I really, really felt for Bryce. She almost had it all, gold medals, a guy who may just be The One, only to have all of that slip away because of a bad fall. When she wakes up five years later, everyone else seems to have moved on without her. And Bryce isn't used to that. She's been so used to being the center of attention that at first, she struggles with the fact that this is all actually happening to her. But even when Bryce is confined in the hospital, her parents' attention is focused on her, much to the resentment of her younger sister, Sydney. I won't even harp about her boyfriend Greg getting engaged to her best friend Gabby. All the while I was muttering to myself how crappy her friends were, Greg and Gabby kept pointing out that the reason they got together was to fill the void that she left behind. (Baloney.) But there's Carter, even though I wasn't really feeling him at first. I'm not entirely sure how and/or why books depict that you will eventually get that shiny new love interest just when you've hit rockbottom, but Carter eventually won me over anyway.

The ending is very, very unreal, and I still couldn't believe that that happened. The pacing was going really well, but the conclusion was abrupt and unforeseen. Avery will definitely keep your emotions fastened - and not securely, at that - on a roller coaster ride, and it's definitely how I like my books. Avery's Anything But Ordinary has earned its rightful place on my bookshelf, and I strongly encourage you to pick it up, if only because it is definitely anything but ordinary.

Rating:

       

MICHELLE'S REVIEW: Belonging by Karen Ann Hopkins

Title: Belonging
Author: Karen Ann Hopkins
Format Acquired: eARC

Publication Date: April 30, 2013

Publishing House: Harlequin Teen

ISBN: 9780373210817
Source of Copy: Requested from publisher via NetGalley

Summary:

I left everything I knew behind.

But it was worth it. He was worth it.

No one thought an ordinary girl like me would last two minutes living with the Amish, not even me. There are a lot more rules and a lot less freedom, and I miss my family and the life I once had. Worst of all, Noah and I aren't even allowed to see each other. Not until I've proven myself.

If I can find a way to make it work, we'll be Noah & Rose

together forever.

But not everybody believes this is where I belong.

(Image, summary and information courtesy of Goodreads)

Review:

From where we last left off in Temptation, Rose is convinced that the only way she and Noah can be together no holds barred, would be if she became Amish. With her family convinced that she'll come home running in no time and most of the Amish community of Meadowview believing that it's just a fleeting teenage romance, everyone is sure that Rose is doomed to fail. In Belonging, the sequel to Temptation, bonds will be tested, and difficult questions will be answered. With only love keeping Rose and Noah afloat, will it ever really be enough to keep them together?

Belonging is what I was really expecting the first book to be like. Hopkins takes the next step further by adding plot elements that may sound familiar to television drama aficionados, but let me assure you that it works as the relationship is very fragile and delicate. 

Rose is a very strong character, what with having to endure chores and other things that she didn't even really bother with back when she was home. The upside is seeing Noah, but finding a moment for the two of them seems to be just as difficult, especially since everyone's eyes are on her. Noah is coming off a bit better in this one as well, but I couldn't help but think it's because he got Rose to come over to his side. To some, Rose's family may be a bit harsh for what they've done, but I think it's only natural for any family to be very concerned for her, especially since she's a minor. But what I've observed from Rose is that she sticks to her guns, and even if there are times she doesn't seem to understand what she wants, she somehow has an inkling of it. Hopkins' characters have a bit more depth to them this time around, because while not everyone may be on board with their romance, at least Rose and Noah are forced to face questions that they usually evade. 

There is a scene in Belonging that I find kind of bizarre and over-the-top, so I couldn't bring myself to give this one four stars. But other from that blip, Belonging really explores the circumstances of their situation and Noah finally, FINALLY, gets it that it takes two to tango, and that he shouldn't be leaving everything up to Rose. The novel ends with a surprising twist that has me once again confused whether I am supposed to be happy with the new development or not. Rest assured, however, I am still enthralled by the story, and will be eagerly anticipating the next installment. 

Rating: