Cicely Loves Books

The Beginning of Everything by  Robyn Schneider ★★★☆☆ Release Date: 2013 Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books Age: YA Genre: Contemporary Romance, Tragedy, Love, Coming of Age, High School Format: ebook Source: Library Buy it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble Golden boy Ezra Faulkner believes everyone has a tragedy waiting for them—a single encounter after which everything that really matters will happen. His particular tragedy waited until he was primed to lose it all: in one spectacular night, a reckless driver shatters Ezra’s knee, his athletic career, and his social life. No longer a front-runner for Homecoming King, Ezra finds himself at the table of misfits, where he encounters new girl Cassidy Thorpe. Cassidy is unlike anyone Ezra’s ever met, achingly effortless, fiercely intelligent, and determined to bring Ezra along on her endless adventures. But as Ezra dives into his new studies, new friendships, and new love, he learns that some people, like books, are easy to misread. And now ...

In This Moment by Autumn Doughton ★★★★☆ Release Date: August 2013 Age: New Adult Genre: Contemporary Romance, College, Drama, Tragedy Format: ebook Source: Purchased Buy it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble Every moment possesses its own kind of magic... Aimee Spencer learned the hard way that for some moments, there are no take-backs, no rewinds, no do-overs. A year ago her world imploded and Aimee has been running ever since. She doesn't want to feel. She doesn't want to remember. To bury the ghosts that haunt her, she is living a life that has become unrecognizable. Cole Everly is a golden boy with a cocky smile and an attitude to match. He's grown accustomed to girls throwing themselves at his feet, but when Aimee trips and literally lands in his lap one afternoon, she's not at all what he expects. Difficult, damaged, closed-off. If Cole needed to make a list of qualities to avoid in a girl, Aimee would probably match up with every single one of them. He knows that he sh...

  There is No Light in Darkness (Darkness #1) by Claire Contreras ★★★★★ Release Date: January 10, 2013 Age: Mature New Adult, Adult, 17+ Genre: Contemporary Romance, Best Friends, Orphans, Family, Drama, Crime, Love, Suspense, Drama, Famous Format: ebook Source: Purchased Buy it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble   Currently only $.99!! A past hidden in darkness. Her present cloaked in secrets. The future holds the only truth that cannot be escaped. After the mysterious and violent death of her parents, Blake Brennan finds comfort with an unconventional family. As the dramatic loss of her parents continues to haunt her—and hinders her from reciprocating love that others give freely—Blake embarks on a harrowing journey in search for the truth. Living in a constant state of fear and need for control, vivid nightmares reveal details that lead to perilous situations. The past begins to collide with the present, and Blake must decide if the truth is worth losing the ones she loves. Can l...

Stay With Me by Elyssa Patrick ★★★★☆ Release Date: August 2013 Age: New Adult, 17+ Genre: Contemporary Romance, Drama, Love, College, Famous, Rock Star, Actor Format: ebook Source: Author via Netgalley Buy it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble With one look, I’m his . . . With one touch, he’s mine . . . With one kiss, it changes everything between us . . . I’ve been famous since I can remember. Singing, acting, dancing—I’ve done it all. The tabloids cover my every move, but I don’t want that anymore. I want to be normal, whatever that is. When I leave Hollywood for college in Vermont, I’m on my own for the first time in my life. This is my chance to figure out who I am and what I want in life. But it’s a lot harder than I expected. I can’t escape my image. Classes are difficult, and I’m struggling. And then there’s Caleb Fox. Sexy, intriguing Caleb Fox. Caleb is the one man who doesn’t want to use me. He breaks down my walls. He challenges me. He wants me. And I just don’t know if I can give...

Shooting Scars (The Artists Trilogy #2) by Karina Halle ★★★★★ Release Date: August 20, 2013 Publisher: Grand Central Publishing Age: Adult Genre: Contemporary Romance, Dark, Suspense, Drama, Con Artist Format: eBook Source: Publisher via Netgalley Buy it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble Sometimes the right choice can be the deadliest. When Ellie Watt made the ultimate sacrifice for Camden McQueen, she never thought it would be easy. But walking away with her ex-lover, Javier Bernal, in order to ensure Camden’s safety has brought a whole new set of dangers. With Javier’s plans for Ellie growing more secretive by the moment, Ellie must find a way to stay ahead of the game before her past swallows her whole. Meanwhile, Camden’s new life is short-lived. Fueled by revenge and pursued by authorities, he teams up with an unlikely partner in order to save Ellie. But as Camden toes the line between love and retribution, he realizes that in order to get back the woman he loves, he may have to lose h...

The Truth About You and Me by Amanda Grace ★★★☆☆ Release Date: September 8, 2013 Publisher: Flux Age: Young Adult Genre: Coming of Age, Contemporary Romance, Drama, Teacher, Love, High School, College Format: ebook Source: Publisher via Netgalley Preorder it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble Smart girls aren't supposed to do stupid things. Madelyn Hawkins is super smart. At sixteen, she's so gifted that she can attend college through a special program at her high school. On her first day, she meets Bennet. He's cute, funny, and kind. He understands Madelyn and what she's endured - and missed out on - in order to excel academically and please her parents. Now, for the first time in her life, she's falling in love. There's only one problem. Bennet is Madelyn's college professor, and he thinks she's eighteen - because she hasn't told him the truth. The story of their forbidden romance is told in letters that Madelyn writes to Bennet - both a heart-searing od...

The Art of Love by Anne Whitney ★★★★★ Release Date: June 17, 2013 Age: New Adult Genre: Contemporary Romance, Drama, Abuse, Art Format: ebook Source: Book Brats Buy it: Amazon  | Smashwords | Kobo Marina Phillips has spent her entire life as her father’s victim. But enough is enough. All it took was one moment of realization to send her fleeing across the country into the unknown of New York City with no plans and no money. A new life without the constant torture is all she wants, but what she finds waiting is something she never expected. Fitz is New York’s premiere playboy artist. Sexy, tattooed, and coveted by women and men alike, his performances are heralded as the coming of a new god of modern art. But when Marina wanders into his show, she becomes the inadvertent piece he’s always waited for – a girl to sculpt, to change, and to craft in his own image. She never expects to fall head over heels into the world of parties, drag queens, agents, and artists craving for her and ...

Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols ★★★☆☆ Expected Release Date: July 16, 2013 Publisher: MTV Books Age: Mature YA, New Adult Genre: Contemporary Romance, Music, Drama, Family Format: ebook Source: Publisher via Edelweiss Preorder it: Amazon Bailey wasn’t always a wild child and the black sheep of her family. She used to play fiddle and tour the music circuit with her sister, Julie, who sang and played guitar. That ended when country music execs swooped in and signed Julie to a solo deal. Never mind that Julie and Bailey were a duet, or that Bailey was their songwriter. The music scouts wanted only Julie, and their parents were content to sit by and let her fulfill her dreams while Bailey’s were hushed away. Bailey has tried to numb the pain and disappointment over what could have been. And as Julie’s debut album is set to hit the charts, her parents get fed up with Bailey’s antics and ship her off to granddad’s house in Nashville. Playing fiddle in washed-up tribute groups at the ...

Left Drowning by Jessica Park ★★★★★ Expected Release Date: July 16, 2013 Publisher: Amazon Children's Publishing Age: New Adult, 17+ Genre: Contemporary Romance, Drama, Family, Friends, College, Death, Depression Format: ebook Source: Publisher via Netgalley Preorder it: Amazon What does it take to rise from life’s depths, swim against the current, and breathe? Weighted down by the loss of her parents, Blythe McGuire struggles to keep her head above water as she trudges through her last year at Matthews College. Then a chance meeting sends Blythe crashing into something she doesn’t expect—an undeniable attraction to a dark-haired senior named Chris Shepherd, whose past may be even more complicated than her own. As their relationship deepens, Chris pulls Blythe out of the stupor she’s been in since the night a fire took half her family. She begins to heal, and even, haltingly, to love this guy who helps her find new paths to pleasure and self-discovery. But as Blythe moves into cal...

Reason to Breathe (Barely Breathing #1) by Rebecca Donovan ★★★★★ Release Date: June 2012 Age: Mature YA Genre: Drama, Contemporary Romance, Abuse, Family, Friendship, Format: Paperback Source: Purchased Buy it: Amazon |  Barnes and Noble "No one tried to get involved with me, and I kept to myself. This was the place where everything was supposed to be safe and easy. How could Evan Mathews unravel my constant universe in just one day?" He knows there’s something more to the girl sitting in the back of the class the moment he sees her. She’s beautiful, intelligent, and athletic – but she slips quietly through the crowded halls, trying not to exist. Determined to get to know the elusive girl, Evan soon discovers… Emma Thomas is hiding a terrible a secret. Reason to Breathe is an electrifying page turner from start to finish, a unique tale of life-changing love, unspeakable cruelty, and one girl’s fragile grasp of hope. I am still in awe with this story. I love everything about...

Second Chance Boyfriend (Drew + Fable #2) by Monica Murphy ★★★★☆ Release Date: April 6, 2013 Age: New Adult 17+ Genre: Contemporary Romance, Drama, Love Format: ebook Source: Purchased Buy it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble Lost. That one single word best describes my life at this very moment. I lost the last games of the season and both my team and my coach blame me. I lost the last two months because I drowned in my own despair like a complete loser. And I lost the only girl who ever mattered because I was afraid being with me would destroy her. But now I realize how truly lost I am without her. She has become my story…and even though she acts like she’s moved on, I know she still thinks about me just as much as I think about her. She’s beautiful, sweet—and so damn vulnerable, all I want to do is help her. Be there for her. Love her… If only I could convince Fable to give me a second chance. Then I wouldn’t feel so lost anymore, and neither would she. We could be found together. Forever...

Lost and Found by Nicole Williams ★★★★★ Release Date: May 7, 2013 Age: Mature YA/ New Adult Genre: Contemporary Romance, Drama, Family, Love Format: eBook Source: AToMR Tours Buy it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble There’s complicated. And there’s Rowen Sterling. After numbing pain for the past five years with boys, alcohol, and all-around apathy, she finds herself on a Greyhound bus to nowhere Montana the summer after she graduates high school. Her mom agreed to front the bill to Rowen’s dream art school only if Rowen proves she can work hard and stay out of trouble at Willow Springs Ranch. Cooking breakfast at the crack of dawn for a couple dozen ranch hands and mucking out horse stalls are the last things in the world Rowen wants to spend her summer doing. Until Jesse Walker saunters into her life wearing a pair of painted-on jeans, a cowboy hat, and a grin that makes something in her chest she’d thought was frozen go boom-boom. Jesse’s like no one else, and certainly nothing like her....

This Girl (Slammed #3) by Colleen Hoover ★★★★★ Release Date: April 30, 2013 Publisher: Atria Books Age: Mature YA/New Adult Genre: Realistic Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Drama, Love Format: ebook Source: Purchased Buy it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble There are two sides to every love story. Now hear Will’s. Colleen Hoover’s New York Times bestselling Slammed series has brought countless readers to their knees with a whirlwind of love, passion, and heartache. Layken and Will’s love has managed to withstand the toughest of circumstances and the young lovers, now married, are beginning to feel safe and secure in their union. As much as Layken relishes their new life together, she finds herself wanting to know everything there is to know about her husband, even though Will makes it clear he prefers to keep the painful memories of the past where they belong. Still, he can’t resist his wife’s pleas and so he begins to untangle his side of the story, revealing for the first time his most int...

After Math (Off the Subject, #1) by Denise Grover Swank ★★★★☆ Release Date: March 12, 2013 Age: New Adult Genre: Contemporary Romance, Drama, College, Friendship Format: ebook Source: AToMR Tours Buy it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble Scarlett Goodwin’s world is divided into Before and After.

Before she agreed to tutor Tucker price, college junior Scarlett was introvert, struggling with her social anxiety and determined to not end up living in a trailer park like her mother and her younger sister. A mathematics major, she goes to her classes, to her job in the tutoring lab, and then hides in the apartment she shares with her friend, Caroline.

After junior Tucker Price, Southern University’s star soccer player enters the equation, her carefully plotted life is thrown off its axis. Tucker’s failing his required College Algebra class. With his eligibility is at risk, the university chancellor dangles an expensive piece of computer software for the math department if Scarlett agrees to priv...

Crush (Crash #3) by Nicole Williams ★★★★★ Release Date: April 23, 2013 Publisher: HarperCollins Age: New Adult/ Mature YA Genre: Contemporary Romance, Football, Drama, Love, Format: Paperback Source: Purchased Buy it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble Football glory. A giant diamond. A wandering eye. Jude and Lucy are happily engaged . . . but that doesn't mean life's a bed of roses. Once again, Jude and Lucy are torn apart by football training and a summer job that creates new tensions. This time Jude's the one with trust issues. Will Lucy's life-changing news bring them back together or end their relationship for good? Can love triumph forever? I always find it extremely hard to:  A.  review a book that I love B. review a book that is part of a series and C.  review a book that I LOVE. I guess I'll sit here and use shouty caps and attempt to explain why these books hold a special place in my heart and either you can sit there and listen to me rant OR you can go buy Cra...

Twisted Perfection  (Perfection #1) by Abbi Glines ★★★★☆ Release Date: April 22, 2013 Age: New Adult/ Adult Genre: Contemporary Romance, Issues, drama, love, family issues Format: ebook Source: AToMR Tours Buy it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble Life outside of her house was a new experience for Della Sloane. The dark secrets of her past weren’t something she ever intended to share with anyone. They would never understand. No one would ever get close enough to find out. There was always a chance she’d go crazy sooner than they expected… Woods Kerrington had never been one to be attracted to fragile females. They seemed like too much work. He wasn’t in it for the work just the pleasure. A night full of naughty fun had been exactly what was on his mind when he’d laid eyes on the hot little number that didn’t know how to pump gas and needed some help. What he didn’t know was she was as fragile as they came.
The carefree girl who spoke her mind and didn’t care what the world thought of her ...

Going Under by S. Walden ★★★★★ Release Date: March 14, 2013 Publisher: Penny Press Age: New Adult, 17+ Genre: Contemporary Romance, Drama, Suspense, Abuse, High School, Love, Rape Format: ebook Source: purchased Buy it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble Brooke Wright has only two goals her senior year at Charity Run High School: stay out of trouble and learn to forgive herself for the past. Forgiveness proves elusive, and trouble finds her anyway when she discovers a secret club at school connected to the death of her best friend. She learns that swim team members participate in a “Fantasy Slut League,” scoring points for their sexual acts with unsuspecting girls. Brooke, wracked with guilt over her friend’s death, decides to infiltrate the league by becoming one of the “unsuspecting girls,” and exact revenge on the boys who stole away her best friend. An unexpected romance complicates her plans, and her dogged pursuit of justice turns her reckless as she underestimates just how far the boys...