Month: March 2016

BLOG TOUR: REVIEW & EXCERPT – WALK THE EDGE by Katie McGarry

Posted March 31, 2016 by Emma in Blog / 8 Comments









Hello Everyone! Long time no see! I’ve been away on holiday and now I’m back to my home roots so slowly getting back into reading and blogging once again. Seems to be the same story of late. Anywho, I’m digressing – Today I’m so excited to be part of Katie McGarry’s tour of the second novel in the Thunder Road series and it’s a smokin’ read. Today I bring to you, my review, an excerpt and a giveaway. So be sure to keep reading till the end of the post. But first here is a little more about the book…

Walk the Edge (Thunder Road #2)
by Katie McGarry
Publisher – MIRA Ink/Harlequin TEEN
Release Date – March 29th 2016
Buy – Amazon | Book Depository

One moment of recklessness will change their worlds.

Smart. Responsible. That’s seventeen-year-old Breanna’s role in her large family, and heaven forbid she put a toe out of line. Until one night of shockingly un-Breanna-like behavior puts her into a vicious cyber-bully’s line of fire—and brings fellow senior Thomas “Razor” Turner into her life.

Razor lives for the Reign of Terror motorcycle club, and good girls like Breanna just don’t belong. But when he learns she’s being blackmailed over a compromising picture of the two of them—a picture that turns one unexpected and beautiful moment into ugliness—he knows it’s time to step outside the rules.

And so they make a pact: he’ll help her track down her blackmailer, and in return she’ll help him seek answers to the mystery that’s haunted him—one that not even his club brothers have been willing to discuss. But the more time they spend together, the more their feelings grow. And suddenly they’re both walking the edge of discovering who they really are, what they want, and where they’re going from here.

My Review

We return once again to Kentucky, home to the Reign of Terror motorcycle club where trust, love and family matter more than anything. Breanna Miller is number 5 of a family of 9, but she is also the odd one out – she’s invisible, she hides, but what she is is freakishly smart and people just don’t know how to handle her apart from label her. She has a photographic memory although she doesn’t like admitting to that. She gets twitchy when her brain can’t shut down. It isn’t her fault. So when she’s stranded at orientation – the stuff of nightmares aka Razor of the Reign of Terror comes to her rescue. Thomas Turner aka Razor has always been the troublemaker of the group. But the day when a detective turns up on his doorstep about his mother, he’s been having second thoughts. But not only does he rescue her, but they each rescue each other.


What I love about all Katie’s novel is the sheer depth of them. Not just in one aspect but all – the plotline, the characters, the romance, the connection, the passion – family, trust, and honor. Through dual POV you really do get the bigger picture and I never for once did Katie’s writing to disappoint me on that. I don’t really know if I can put Breanna’s and Razor’s relationship into context. What I felt is an explosion of emotions right now, just know that your heart will beat that bit faster, you’ll have butterflies in your stomach and your forever smiling throughout this book. 
Reign of Terror is just the beginning of that, I sort of imagine them as a family tree as it just keeps on growing and growing, whether they are blood related or not. They are the source, of both the pain, the fear which transcends into love, happiness and most of all family. It’s who they are, it’s how Kate perceives their life to be that I find just magical. The Reign of Terror just keeps on evolving… 
Another thing I loved was the integration of labels. We use them all the time without really realising it. They are harmless but they can also be poison. I think that what Katie explores through both the RoT as whole, Razor and through Breanna’s character as well.

Katie McGarry is just one of those authors you will always love. I mean every year a new novel comes out and it’s on the top of my most anticipated list. I’m always there reading it, I’m always loving it, and I’m always lusting after the bad boy. Katie creates a stonking smokin’ read. What I found bizarre but in a good way. was that I tend to fall for her sequels. I did the same with her Pushing the Limit series, my ultimate favourite was Dare You Too and now I find myself that Walk the Edge will be the favourite of the Thunder Road series.


Rating – 5

Please do keep reading for an excerpt and a giveaway….

Excerpt
The colors and sights of the club merge.
There’s too many people. Too much noise. A few feet away a trio of girls from
school are staring at me—watching me and Kyle. One gestures toward me. The
other two laugh.
                Nausea
knots my intestines. I didn’t mean to be the girl people laughed at. In fact, I
craved the opposite. I wanted to be me for once, but to be me without the
judgment and hate.
                Wetness
stings my eyes and I pivot away from Kyle. His fingers circle my wrist and he
slides in front of me again. “Don’t be upset. I can make this better. For one
year, don’t you want to be someone more than the weird smart girl?”
                Sadness
sinks past my defenses and creates an ache of pain, but then a flash of anger
whips through me like a storm gale through trees. I tilt toward him as if he
should be scared of me. “I am not that girl!”
                “When
did you stop? New clothes don’t change who you are, but I can help.”
                He
said it. Out loud. My fingers form into a fist. I should hit him. I should
throw a punch into his face and hurt him exactly how he’s torturing me.
                “Let
me get you another drink.” His grip on my wrist lightens and his thumb slowly
moves across my pulse point. His touch sickens me. “And we’ll talk.”
                “Leave
me alone.”
                Kyle
releases me then sags like I crushed him and I find him confusing. He’s the one
causing me to suffer. He’s the one causing the tears flooding the rim of my
eyes.
                “I’m
not trying to make you cry.” He crams his fingers into his hair. “I’m saying
this wrong. Doing this wrong. I swear, I’m not trying to make you cry.”
                I’m
terrified to peek across the room again—afraid the girls from school will be
cackling like hyenas. I desperately try to cling to the anger, but it slips
through my fingertips.
                I
turn and there’s Addison. The elation that was on her face wanes as her eyes
crazily take me in. “What happened?”
                “Nothing.”
My lungs burn and I want so badly to curl into a ball and cry, but I can’t. Not
in public. Not with everyone gawking.
                When
she spots Kyle she rolls her shoulders back. “What did he do?”
                “Nothing,”
I say, and I’m moving. Through the crowd. Past guys who ask me to dance. Past
Reagan who’s all smiles and tries to snatch my hand to join her and another
friend. Past tables and chairs. I run past my name being called by multiple
people.
                I
need air. I need to disappear. I need out of Snowflake and out of my home and
out of this life and out of my skin and just out and with a push of my hands on
the door, I am out.
                I
suck in a breath when my heels click against the blacktop, but then the door
bangs shut and my heart jumps. No, I went out a side door. Not the front door.
I spin and my fingers graze the smooth steel where a handle should be. It’s a
security door and I’m officially locked out.
                “Crap!”
I shout into the night, but no one is around to hear.
                To
the right is a Dumpster. To the left is another alley. Both are shadowed. I
choose left and pray once I reach the corner there will be light. But as I go
to walk the world becomes disoriented. I throw my hand out to the wall when
stumbling seems easier.
                “Alone
again?”
                My
head snaps back to the entrance and a surge of adrenaline shoots through my
veins. Emerging out of the darkness is a large, looming figure. I stagger back.
Away from the night of the alley, toward my hope for light, but there’s a
crunch of glass under my feet. I trip, my ankle twists and a spasm blasts from
my foot up to my leg.
                My
already bad balance is completely thrown. My arms flail, there’s a pain near my
elbow as it connects with the brick and my body topples back.
                I
close my eyes, bracing for the impact of the ground, but as fast as I was
falling, I hit something and then I’m ascending. My eyes fly open and I’m
greeted by the most beautiful blue eyes. But then I shiver. Those eyes are as
frozen as ice.
                “You
have the worst luck,” he says.
                It’s
Razor and he’s cradling me in his arms. As my skin vibrates, there’s a part of
me that agrees with his assessment. But a small dissenting voice wonders if, in
this moment, I’m lucky. 

About the Author

Katie McGarry was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.

Katie is the author of full length YA novels, PUSHING THE LIMITS, DARE YOU TO, CRASH INTO YOU, TAKE ME ON, BREAKING THE RULES, and NOWHERE BUT HERE and the e-novellas, CROSSING THE LINE and RED AT NIGHT. Her debut YA novel, PUSHING THE LIMITS was a 2012 Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction, a RT Magazine’s 2012 Reviewer’s Choice Awards Nominee for Young Adult Contemporary Novel, a double Rita Finalist, and a 2013 YALSA Top Ten Teen Pick. DARE YOU TO was also a Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction and won RT Magazine’s Reviewer’s Choice Best Book Award for Young Adult Contemporary fiction in 2013.

Giveaway

Divider

MINI REVIEWS #2 – BEAUTIFUL BROKEN THINGS by Sara Barnard & THE LIFE NEXT DOOR by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Posted March 14, 2016 by Emma in Blog / 10 Comments
MINI REVIEWS #2 – BEAUTIFUL BROKEN THINGS by Sara Barnard & THE LIFE NEXT DOOR by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Beautiful Broken Thingsby Sara BarnardPublisher – Macmillan Children’s BooksRelease Date – February 25 2016Buy – Amazon | Book Depository I was braveShe was recklessWe were trouble Best friends Caddy and Rosie are inseparable. Their differences have brought them closer, but as she turns sixteen Caddy begins to wish she could be a bit more like Rosie – confident, funny and interesting. Then Suzanne comes into their lives: beautiful, damaged, exciting and mysterious, and things get a whole lot more complicated. As Suzanne’s past is revealed and her present begins to unravel, Caddy begins to see how much fun a little […]

Divider

MINI REVIEWS #1 – THE DARK DAYS CLUB by Alison Goodman & PLUS ONEbyElizabeth Fama

Posted March 3, 2016 by Emma in Blog / 10 Comments
MINI REVIEWS #1 – THE DARK DAYS CLUB by Alison Goodman & PLUS ONEbyElizabeth Fama

Hi Everyone. It feels like it’s been a while. I haven’t really solidly been blogging for a while… I’ve been ill which has taken me a while to get back up and running. I’ve been pretty good over the last year not to get a cold or anything until now. Typical. Then some personal issues as well has taken presidencie the last couple of weeks too. I’ve read some brilliant books but just wanted to do a short review rather than a long one. The Dark Days Club (Lady Helen #1)by Alison GoodmanPublisher – Walker BooksRelease Date – January 21st […]

Divider