Review: Long Way Home (Thunder Road #3) by Katie McGarry

   

The highly anticipated third book in Katie McGarry’s Thunder Road Series is being released on January 31^st! LONG WAY HOME is a Young Adult Contemporary Romance being published by Harlequin Teen! Pre-order your copy of the next book in this emotionally charged series, and don’t miss Violet and Chevy’s story! Check out all of the stops on this awesome tour and be sure to pre-order your copy for the amazing bonus scenes!

Title: Long Way Home
Author: Katie McGarry
Series: Thunder Road
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Young Adult
Publisher: Harlequing Teen
Publication date: January 31st 2017
Pages: 448 (hardcover)
Source: Netgalley
Buy links: Amazon | Kobo | BAM | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | IndieBound
Don’t Miss the First Two Titles in the Thunder Road Series:  Nowhere But Here Walk the Edge

Seventeen-year-old Violet has always been expected to sit back and let the boys do all the saving.

It’s the code her father, a member of the Reign of Terror motorcycle club, raised her to live by. Yet when her dad is killed carrying out Terror business, Violet knows it’s up to her to do the saving. To protect herself, and her vulnerable younger brother, she needs to cut all ties with the club—including Chevy, the boy she’s known and loved her whole life.

But when a rival club comes after Violet, exposing old secrets and making new threats, she’s forced to question what she thought she knew about her father, the Reign of Terror, and what she thinks she wants. Which means re-evaluating everything: love, family, friends . . . and forgiveness.

Caught in the crosshairs between loyalty and freedom, Violet must decide whether old friends can be trusted—and if she’s strong enough to be the one person to save them all. 

"An intoxicating and unforgettable story that kept me glued to the page."

—Kami Garcia, #1 New York Times bestselling author, on Walk the Edge

Goodreads

I have no idea how Katie McGarry keeps doing it. She writes such beautiful books with strong storylines that I just cannot get enough of. She seriously has an amazing talent and that is one of the many reasons why I just have to read every book that she publishes.

Long Way Home follows the lives of Violet and Chevy. It was so easy to immerse myself again into this motorcycle world that Katie has created and it was so easy to connect with the character. Katie has a knack for creating strong and likeable characters and Violet and Chevy were no different. At first I was not too sure about Violet, she always seemed a bit standoffish in the previous book and I did not always like her behavior and actions towards the other characters. But know I finally got to know her better and I could understand her better. What she was going through was not easy and it was easy to see why she acted the way she did. By the end of a Long Way Home I could only respect her. She is a young, strong, passionate and independent girl. When she has set her mind to something she will do whatever it takes to get there and that is one of the biggest thing that I loved about her. Chevy was the other main character of this book. And seriously Katie has to stop to make her mail characters so swoon worthy. Chevy was a very loyal guy, but at the same time he also respected the feelings of the people around him. He had a though life walking on a thin line between his school life and the terror since he did not know what kind of life he wanted. And afraid to hurt anyone he keeps walking that thin line even if it exhausts him.  It was impossible not to like him and he is definitely one of my favorite characters so far in the Thunder Road series.

I really liked the romance in this book. It was different from her other books since the two characters had already a history with each other. But the romance was well paced and had so many swoon worthy moments. Sometimes I wanted to yell at them to make up already and to be happy again with each other. But then again I am glad that Katie did not rush anything because it made the book so much better in the end. Both Chevy and Violet had so many issues that they had to work out, both together and apart. So it was good that they took their time and Katie did a great job resolving all these issues.

The plotline of this book was so interesting as well. There were so many unexpected twists that it made it even harder to put this book own. I just constantly had to know what was going to happen next. And then one of the revelations that were made near the end. I cannot express how excited I am to see how this will develop further in Katie’s next books.

Overall I really enjoyed Long Way Home it is another brilliant book by Katie McGarry. And it was filled with action, drama and romance, so basically everything that I could have wished for. If you are looking for a new YA contemporary romance series to read than I would definitely recommend this one.  

Excerpt 

CHEVY
     “Chevy,” Cyrus calls near the entrance, “We need to talk.”
     Damned knot in the tug-of-war-rope and I’m starting to feel frayed. Mom doesn’t blink as she waits for me to say something. To tell Cyrus he can wait. To tell her what she wants to hear. But as much as I love her, I’m also drawn to the club. She’s right, I do want both.
     “I’ll be back to pick you up later,” I say.
     Mom throws the towel she had expertly throttled into the sink behind her, walks to the other side of the bar and the strobe light casts a red haze around her. If I didn’t know her better, I’d buy the flirty smile and the way she giggles in happiness as she leans on the bar to take a drink order. But that’s not her real smile and that’s not her real laugh. It’s part of her job, part of her act, because that’s what working her requires—performing.
     With a kick to a barstool, I head for the exit. Cyrus walks out into the night and I follow. Once outside, Cyrus turns to me and his warm breath creates a cloud in the cool night. “We’ve had some trouble tonight with the Riot.”
     The Riot would be a motorcycle club north of us in Louisville. They’re pissed at the Terror for myriad reasons, the main one being we’re a legit club and they deal in illegal. They’re also angry at one of our main members, Eli. They feel he stole their daughter and granddaughter from them. Eli didn’t steal a thing. Can’t call someone’s free will in walking away from crazy a crime.
     Life sucks for the Riot and I’m fine with that. “Everything okay?”
     “Yeah. Everyone’s safe, but we’ve had word that they’ve ridden past the boundary lines we set with them a few months back. It’s all rumor and no one on our side has confirmed it. Could be someone’s overactive imagination, but I’ll feel better knowing you’re off the road.”
     I’m under eighteen, still a kid to him. Cyrus used to act this way with my two best friends, Oz and Razor, but both are eighteen and full members of the club now. The babysitting twists my gut, but then again, I’m not ready for the decision eighteen will bring. “How about Violet?”
     “I’m on my way now to look for her. She’s also not answering her cell.”
     Yeah. A lot of that going around. “If she took Stone to the game, she would have headed straight home. I’ll check on her on my way to Mom’s if you want.”
     This gives me the excuse I need to see Violet. Because I won’t be able to sleep without knowing she’s okay. So I can thank her for what she did for me with the note. To gauge whether or not Violet is waving the white flag.
     Cyrus lays a hand on my shoulder. “I’d appreciate that. I need to head back to the clubhouse to take care of some business. I’m serious about what I said though. Me and a lot of guys would love to hear about the game.”
     I know they would and I’d enjoy being with them, but Mom’s already sore that I walked out on her to talk to Cyrus. “I’m beat. After I check on Violet, I’m crashing.”
     Cyrus gives me a fast pat and a hug. We both mount our bikes and start our engines with a growl. My grandfather takes the lead and I follow him as long as I can before taking the path that leads away from him and toward where Violet lives.

Giveaway

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     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, NOWHERE BUT HERE and WALK THE EDGE 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.  

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Pre-order LONG WAY HOME by Katie McGarry, and fill out THIS FORM, to receive three previously unreleased bonus scenes featuring important “firsts” in the lives of your favorite characters from the world of Katie McGarry! Complete the form to register your pre-order at https://wyng.com/campaign/820152. Offer Ends 1/31/17 at 11:59pm EST.

Elien

Review: Four: A Divergent Story Collection (Divergent #0.1-0.4) by Veronica Roth

Title: Four: A Divergent Story Collection
Author: Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: July 8th 2014
Pages: 208 (paperback)
Source: own it

Two years before Beatrice Prior made her choice, the sixteen-year-old son of Abnegation’s faction leader did the same. Tobias’s transfer to Dauntless is a chance to begin again. Here, he will not be called the name his parents gave him. Here, he will not let fear turn him into a cowering child.

Newly christened “Four,” he discovers during initiation that he will succeed in Dauntless. Initiation is only the beginning, though; Four must claim his place in the Dauntless hierarchy. His decisions will affect future initiates as well as uncover secrets that could threaten his own future—and the future of the entire faction system.

Two years later, Four is poised to take action, but the course is still unclear. The first new initiate who jumps into the net might change all that. With her, the way to righting their world might become clear. With her, it might become possible to be Tobias once again.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth comes a companion volume to the worldwide bestselling DIVERGENT series, told from the per-spective of the immensely popular character Tobias. The four pieces included here—THE TRANSFER, THE INITIATE, THE SON, and THE TRAITOR—plus three additional exclusive scenes, give readers an electrifying glimpse into the history and heart of Tobias, and set the stage for the epic saga of the DIVERGENT trilogy. 

Goodreads

It had been a couple of years since I had read the Divergent trilogy and I really loved the series, especially the first two books in the trilogy. Up until now I had never read any of the novellas but this year my mom gifted Four to me for Christmas. And immediately I got excited to read and emerge myself again into the Divergent world.

This compilation of short stories don’t really deliver any new information, most of it you already found out by reading the Divergent trilogy. It is more like an extra; you got to experience some of the things from Four’s point of view. But it wasn’t the same thing repeated just from a different point of view. It showed how he experienced some of the events, for example how he made the decision to join Dauntless and how he found out about the attack on abnegation. I also loved that we got to see more of his personality, of his friendship with Zeke and Shauna.

I always used to love Four while reading Divergent; he’s such an interesting and complicated character. And this collection of scenes proved again why it is that I liked him so much.

Four is a fun collection of scenes and if you like the Divergent world than I would definitely recommend it that you read it.

Elien

Band of the Month January: The Gospel Youth

Music has always been a huge part of my life. I love going to music concerts and to music festivals. My iPod is next to my ereader my best friend. I never go anywhere without my music. So I figured that it was about time that I introduced some music in my blog. From now on I will feature one of my favorite bands each month. Maybe you know them, maybe you don’t. Maybe you’ll like them, maybe you’ll hate them. But anyway I think that this is going to be lots of fun! 

The Gospel Youth is a pop-rock band from Brighton, UK, that was formed in 2014 when they released the EP Kids. From that moment on they shared with some pretty good bands like Mallory Knox, Deaf Havana and Hands Like Houses. In 2016 they released 12 singles as part of their ‘Team TGY’ singles club. And I highly recommend that you go check out those singles because they are really good.  What I like so much about this band is that they put so many emotions in their songs, they are not afraid to tackle any topic. But the most exciting this is that they got signed to Velocity/Rise records at the end of 2016, and that record label is probably one of my favorites. 

Elien

Review: The Gilded Cage (A Canary Club Novella) by Sherry D. Ficklin

Title: The Gilded Cage
Author: Sherry D. Ficklin
Series: Canary Club 
Genre: Historical Fiction, Young Adult
Publication date: December 1st 2016
Pages: 80 (kindle)
Source: Netgalley






Masie, the flaxen-haired daughter of notorious boot-legger Dutch Schultz, returns home from boarding school to find her family in crisis. Her mother is dangerously unstable, her father's empire is on the brink of ruin, and the boy she once loved has become a ruthless killer for hire. To keep her family's dangerous secrets Masie is forced into a lie that will change the course of her future - and leave her trapped in a gilded cage of her own making. As she watches her world fall apart, Masie must decide whether to take her place in the hierarchy, or spread her wings, leaving the people she loves, and the life she despises, far behind her.

Two worlds collide in Gatsby era New York, in a time of dazzling speakeasies and vicious shoot-outs, of gritty gangsters and iridescent ingénues, where not everything that sparkles is gold.

*This is the first of the Canary Club series and is a short story introduction into the forthcoming novels.

Goodreads

In general I am a big fan of historical fiction and lately I got really interested in the roaring ‘20s and The Gilded Cage is set in that time period so I had to read it.

The Gilded Cage is a fun short read, normally novellas don’t really interest me since the characters never achieve their full potential in it but this novella got me pretty excited for the full novel.

Masie gets whisked away from boarding school in the middle of the night because of a family emergency.  Masie is the daughter of bootlegger Dutch Schultz but she doesn’t have a real place in the family since she’s females and what can they do in a world that revolves around smuggling alcohol and other illegal activities. The 1920’s what an exciting time but also a dangerous one and the novella portrays that really well.

The Gilded Cage is an introduction to the full novel so the direction that the story line will follow is still a bit vague and there is not much character development. But it definitely gets you interested in the remaining of the story. So I believe that it achieved its goal and I cannot wait until the full novel gets released.

Elien

Waiting on Wednesday #140: Traitor to the Throne (Rebel of the Sands #2) by Alwyn Hamilton

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine. It spotlights books that have not yet been released, but ones that you should pre-order today! This week's book that I am anxiously awaiting is:

Traitor to the Throne
by Alwyn Hamilton



This is not about blood or love. This is about treason. 

Nearly a year has passes since Amani and the rebels won their epic battle at Fahali. Amani has come into both her powers and her reputation as the Blue-Eyed-Bandit, and the Rebel Prince's message has spread across the desert - and some might say out of control. But when a surprise encounter turns into a brutal kidnapping, Amani finds herself betrayed in the cruelest manner possible.

Stripped of her powers and her identity, and torn from the man she loves, Amani must return to her desert-girl's instinct of survival. For the Sultan's palace is a dangerous one, and the harem is a viper's nest of suspicion, fear and intrigue. Just the right place for a spy to thrive... But spying is a dangerous game, and when ghosts from Amani's past emerge to haunt her, she begins to wonder if she can trust her own treacherous heart.

Goodreads

Why I Can't Wait

I read Rebel of the Sands last week and I really enjoyed it. Amani is fun character to follow and the world this series is set in is pretty great. I am excited to find out what will happen next to all of them. And I want to find out who it is that betrayed Amani. 

Expected publication: February 2nd 2017

Elien

Top Ten Tuesday #101: Top Ten 2016 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn't Get To (But TOTALLY plan to)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Broke and Bookish. This weeks topic is Top Ten 2016 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn't Get To (But Totally Plan To)

1. The Sleeping Prince (The Sin Eater's Daughter #2) by Melinda Salisbury

2. The Glittering Court (The Glittering Court #1) by Richelle Mead

3. The Star-Touched Queen (The Star-Touched Queen #1) by Roshani Choski

4. The Rose & the Dagger (The Wrath & the Dawn #2) by Renee Ahdieh

5. P.S. I Like You by Kasie West

6. The Unexpected Everything  by Morgan Matson

7. Chasing Impossible (Pushing the Limits #5) by Katie McGarry

8. Defending Taylor (Hundred Oaks #8) by Miranda Kenneally

9. Night Study (Soulfinders #2) by Maria V. Snyder

10. Stalking Jack the Ripper (Stalking Jack the Ripper #1) by Kerri Maniscalco

Elien

Review: Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Title: Heartless
Author: Marissa Meyer
Genre: Fantasy, Retelling, Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Publication date: February 9th 2017
Pages: 464 (paperback)
Source: Netgalley






Long before she was the terror of Wonderland - the infamous Queen of Hearts - she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. 

Long before she was the terror of Wonderland - the infamous Queen of Hearts - she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.

Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her own terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

In her first stand-alone teen novel, the New York Times-bestselling author dazzles us with a prequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Goodreads

Alice in Wonderland is such an amazing story and one of the most complex characters is probably the Queen of Hearts.  So of course I wanted to find out what exactly made her become her so twisted. So when Heartless got released I knew that I had to read it, especially since Melissa Meyer is such an amazing author.  And Heartless did deliver, it had the right combination of everything, romance, action, drama and of course a lot of weirdness how else can it be set in Wonderland.

You do not need to know Alice in Wonderland to read this book; it stands completely on its own. It is not a retelling of the story, it has an own unique and amazing plot with a great set of characters. Heartless follows Catherine, daughter of the Marquess of Turtle Rock. The King of Hearts took a liking to her and every girl in Hearts would want to be in her shoes but not Catherine. Becoming the Queen of Hearts would mean giving up her long life dream of opening her own bakery. That is all she has ever wanted to do but when you are the daughter of the Marquess you cannot make decisions of your own and you have to follow the rules of society. All Catherine can do is feel frustrated and angry and hope that the King will shift his attention to someone else.

At first I could not see how Catherine could ever turn into the Queen of Hearts that we know. She is good hearted and cares about the people in her life. But bit by bit you can see the changes in her and to be fair I cannot blame her entirely. So many things happen to her. She falls in love with the court joker, and I was rooting for Jest. He is such a great guy and couldn’t help but love him. But at the same time that I was rooting for them I knew that their story would not be one with a happy ending.  But what happened to them still makes me sad and that is why I cannot blame Catherine for turning in the person she is as at the Queen of Hearts.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and I completely get what the buzz is all about now. The book throws you back to your childhood with all the feeling of a fairytale but at the same time it keeps you on edge since you know what will happen but you just do not know how exactly it will happen.  It was really hard for me to put this book down and I cannot wait to read more of Marissa Meyer’s books.

Elien