Dangerous Lies

Dangerous Lies 

Rating: 4/5 

Buy or Borrow: Buy 

Source: Copy courtesy of NetGalley 

Stella Gordon is not her real name. Thunder Basin, Nebraska, is not her real home. This is not her real life.

After witnessing a lethal crime, Stella Gordon is sent to the middle of nowhere for her own safety before she testifies against the man she saw kill her mother’s drug dealer.

But Stella was about to start her senior year with the boyfriend she loves. How can she be pulled away from the only life she knows and expected to start a new one in Nebraska? Stella chafes at her protection and is rude to everyone she meets. She’s not planning on staying long, so why be friendly? Then she meets Chet Falconer and it becomes harder to keep her guard up, even as her guilt about having to lie to him grows.

As Stella starts to feel safer, the real threat to her life increases—because her enemies are actually closer than she thinks…

I am a HUGE Becca Fitzpatrick fan, the Hush Hush series was one of my favourites, I have them all in hardback because I couldn't wait for them to come out in paperback and the wait between books was brutal! I don't particularly like contemporary, it rarely holds my interest to be honest, just for no particular reason! I prefer something with a fantasy element or something! ANYWAY. I completely loved Black Ice despite it being a contemporary and I had high hopes for Dangerous Lies. I was not disappointed! 

I found myself lost in the book, completely gripped by events. Especially towards the end when I could see the percentage read getting higher and higher, closer and closer to 100% and I'm thinking "okay....anytime now something's going to happen, something bad" and then BOOM! An edge of the seat finale to the book! 

Over the course of the book I became so attached to Stella and Chet. I was trying to work out what had really happened that night, and I kinda guessed but it didn't take away from the enjoyment of the book as the scene was written so vividly and horrifyingly you felt for Stella. Chet also had a heartbreaking story to him, and I enjoyed how realistic and believable he and Stella where, as well as Trigger unfortunately. I mean, it's probably no a surprise he's a douche with a name like Trigger, probably became a douche to negate all the bullying he endured for his name! 

ANYWAY! I loved that the characters weren't perfect, they'd both done things they regretted and they where so authentic and you just LOVE them! Especially the two of them together. They gave me feels all the way through, I loved watching their relationship develop and change and everything. I loved watching them work through their issues and come to terms with things and they where just perfectly written. You really got a feel for them and connected to them in just this one book. Sometimes in standalones I find myself struggling to know the character but that's not the case here! Stella goes from a complete brat to a character you come to care for so much, it's insane! 

There where so many little mysteries in the book. What really happened that night? Where did Trigger recognise her from? What's the deal with Chet? and so on. I found myself pleasantly surprised, I mean I kinda guessed about the whole events of the night thing but not right away, but other things surprised me, like Reed and who he is. The book is written so compellingly that you lose yourself in the story and this tiny town. 

Don't get me wrong, there where still a few cheesy bits but I do love a bit of cheese every now and again! To be fair, it did start out kind of iffy and I was like "oh no...this may be the first book of hers that I don't like" as it took time for me to get in to it, but at the same time....I was still compelled in to reading to find out what happened, and then over the course of the book I got more and more addicted and more and more invested in the book. 

There's not all that much action, I wasn't sure what to expect because it was all "Witness protection" and then it was all proper American, I don't know what word I'm looking for, like deep American, there where cowboys and stuff. BUT despite the lack of action, there was tonnes of romance. TONNES. Love me some romance and at the time of reading it was just what I was after! All in all it started off weak and got better and better as the book went on, and I ended up completely obsessed with the book and the ending was SO INTENSE. Proper gripped to the page at that point! 

Top Ten Tuesday: Books From Our Kids/Teen Years

More specifically this is the ten books from my childhood/teen years that I want to revisit! There's never a time when I don't want to re-read books, Harry Potter should be on here, but I frequently re-read it so on my account, it doesn't count! haha

I'm going to pick ONE Meg Cabot, maybe two, I pretty much read every Meg Cabot book ever when I was a kid/teen and I always want to go back to them but don't have time, but so this list isn't all Meg Cabot I'm only gonna pick two...or one haha

1. Love You To Death- Meg Cabot
This is the first book in The Mediator series, and I believe it's now called Shadowlands, but I read these and loved them, and I've had the urge to re-read them for ages, but I haven't had the time! It was literally such a good series, with the romance and the ghosts and the mystery and the action and omg so perfect! 

2.  Sammy Keyes and The Hotel Thief- Wendelin Van Draanen
This is another series, and I remember going to Borders and buying the first two, and sitting in school during "form time" and "quiet reading time" reading this because another girl was talking about them. GoodReads also informed me that there's like 18 books in the series and I DEFINITELY didn't read that many! I think I lost track of them and then was more interested in YA. Sadly I'm also 90% sure I no longer have the books, so I think I'm gonna have to go to the library! 

3. Alpha Force- Chris Ryan
Okay, so this s another series, but EVERYONE at my school was reading them so of course I had to read them, and I loved them a ridiculous amount, I haven't read them in ages though, and I really need to find time to re-read them because they where a pretty good package of elements, action...fun...humour...I still insist this needs to be a TV show! 

4. Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging- Louise Rennison
We've all read this right? I mean most of us must have! Another book that everyone was obsessed with when I was at school, and I think I've read all of them except for like....the last two or three or something, they where just a load of fun, and they're nice and light so it'd be good to get a chance to read them again! 

5. The Diamond of Drury Lane- Julia Golding
I read these as a kid, and they where so perfect, you bought them as hardback and they have the prettiest covers you have ever seen! Although I was so gutted that book 6 came as a paperback with entirely different covers, because my entire set is all the pretty hardbacks and I was sad. So yeah. I'm 22 and I would still read another book in this series if the author does one! 

6. The Wee Free Men- Terry Pratchett
This was the first Terry Pratchett book I ever read, closely followed by the second book, and then The Amazing Maurice. I just loved this one, it made me laugh, I'm ploughing through Discworld but I kinda wanna just go back and read these books again! 

7. Septimus Heap- Angie Sage
So, this is a series I read as a kid, BUT I only read up to book 5, so I think I need to buy the remaining books to read them and finish off the series. And doing that would give me the perfect excuse to re-read the series....just saying.... 

8. Pulling Princes- Tyne O'Connell
So this is a set of 4 books all together, stumbled across them in Borders I think, read them while I was a teen, and I'm still so sad there isn't another book in the series! I'd love for there to be more books! This was one of my favourite series and I keep meaning to re-read it because they're a good laugh and just light and funny really! 

9. Hush, Hush- Becca Fitzpatrick
I was so obsessed with this series when I was a teen and I'm fairly certain that it finished when I wasn't strictly a teen but oh well. I really want to get back to this series because it was such an adventure, with so many plot twists and turns and some pretty colourful characters! Also I heard there might be a movie, and that's making me twitchy haha 

10. Matilda- Roald Dhal 
I read ALL the Roald Dhal books, I even remembering buying some with book tokens from national book day, and Matilda made the list purely because it was my favourite, and while I like the film, it's not quite the same as the book, so I need to get around to re-reading the book at some point in the future! 

Black Ice

Black Ice
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy!
Source: Copy courtesy of NetGalley

Britt Pheiffer has trained to backpack the Teton Range, but she isn't prepared when her ex-boyfriend, who still haunts her every thought, wants to join her. Before Britt can explore her feelings for Calvin, an unexpected blizzard forces her to seek shelter in a remote cabin, accepting the hospitality of its two very handsome occupants;but these men are fugitives, and they take her hostage.

Britt is forced to guide the men off the mountain, and knows she must stay alive long enough for Calvin to find her. The task is made even more complicated when Britt finds chilling evidence of a series of murders that have taken place there and in uncovering this, she may become the killer's next target.

But nothing is as it seems, and everyone is keeping secrets, including Mason, one of her kidnappers. His kindness is confusing Britt. Is he an enemy? Or an ally?

So, I'm a massive fan of the Hush Hush series, so when I saw this new book from the author on NetGalley, I had to grab it because I was so excited for more from the author and I was excited to see what direction this was going to go in!

Black Ice really draws you in, straight from the little chapter with the girl being murdered, you instantly want to know who did it, and why, and from that point on, you spend the entire book trying to work out who the killer is, I will admit, at about 75% I had worked out who Mason/Jude was, his relation to the dead girl, and who the killer was, but it was a merry chase. Every male character I'm like "WAS IT YOU?!". Black Ice keeps you guessing the entire way through the book, it keeps you intrigued, and it doesn't make it easy to guess. You also have the little puzzle of why Mason and Shaun are running and who they really are to work out near the beginning as well.

The book was fairly action packed, there was a moment when it slowed down, but for the most part there was action all the way through and plenty going on. I loved the romance, it's understated, subtle, not the whole point of the story. The story is a thriller, with hints of romance, and I loved how Fitzpatrick kept it as a thriller and didn't let the romance over power the story. It was a very believable romance, very natural and slow to develop and happened organically in an unusual situation.

I loved Britt, we spend the book fully in her shoes, feeling what she feels and being totally connected to her. You're right there with Britt trying to work out what to do, when she thinks Jude is the murderer, you think he is too (unless you're me, in which case you have a slight doubt....very slight...okay...not so slight) and I loved that at that point Britt reacted very naturally, like it was a weird situation, but I was so impressed with how she was fully like "He's a murderer and I slept with him" instead of letting the budding romance blind her, even if she was wrong, The same can be said for the actual killer. I thought she was so strong, and she was a real survivor, she wasn't a damsel in distress, she kept on being smart, making plans, and surviving, and it made me totally love her.

I didn't like Korbie at all, if I'm honest, she was kind of a shitty friend to Britt, the girl who's been her BFF and actually kept her alive ya know? She didn't believe Britt about the murderer and nearly got her killed. She wasn't in it much though, so it's all good!

I just can't get over how much of a rollercoaster this book is, I mean I liked Calvin at first and was like "yeah get back to Calvin *insert romantic music here* then obviously, I changed my tune! I thought Mason was a fantastic male lead, even when I thought he was a bad guy he was trying to protect Britt, and he helped Korbie out, not that she appreciated it, and he was willing to protect her and the ending was so sweet. Shaun was also a fantastic villain, he had the whole "I seem charming but check out the bad vibes I'm throwing off that are oozing off the page".

Fitzpatrick is fantastic at creating characters, main and secondary, who jump off the page, come alive, and make you feel all kinds of emotions, whether it's hatred, annoyance, love, or whatever. You always feel a connection to the female lead, and I just love how Fitzpatrick creates these characters that are full of depth and you can't work out what their angle is.

Black Ice is a thriller with  romantic undertones, the plot is complex and very twisty, it'll keep you guessing and it'll take you on a rollercoaster of a ride, the characters will capture your attention and the setting is so vivid it could be used to cool off in Summer! I'm excited to see what Fitzpatrick is going to do next!