Book Review: Julia Karr's "XVI"

Nina Oberon's life is pretty normal: she hangs out with her best friend, Sandy, and their crew, goes to school, plays with her little sister, Dee. But Nina is 15. And like all girls she'll receive a Governing Council-ordered tattoo on her 16th birthday. XVI. Those three letters will be branded on her wrist, announcing to all the world - even the most predatory of men - that she is ready for sex. Considered easy prey by some, portrayed by the Media as sluts who ask for attacks, becoming a "sex-teen" is Nina's worst fear. That is, until right before her birthday, when Nina's mom is brutally attacked. With her dying breaths, she reveals to Nina a shocking truth about her past - one that destroys everything Nina thought she knew. Now, alone but for her sister, Nina must try to discover who she really is, all the while staying one step ahead of her mother's killer.

This book was suggested to me by a follower on Novel Nerds and took me a while to figure out if it was worth buying. I read the synopsis online on Amazon and whilst it seemed interesting, nothing really grabbed me enough to want to buy it really badly.

I did eventually end up buying it as a side purchase, but as my initial thoughts suggest I didn't fall irrevocably in love. The synopsis pretty much tells you what happens in 70% of the book, which is a shame because I had hoped for a lot more but on the other hand the book is definitely a quick read at 272 pages.

I enjoyed the romance aspect of the novel - first loves are always adorable to read! It was especially interesting since as you can tell from the synopsis; any non-family relationship between a teenage girl and boy is an extremely big deal in the world of XVI; especially for Nina who is completely against turning into a traditional sex-obsessed sixteen year old girl. I also liked the use of "media" and "advertisements" as brain washing instruments used by the Government. It's not something unique since a lot of writer's use the media as a form of control in dystopian fiction, but I felt like it worked really well here.

On the other hand, I felt like there were too many coincidences in the book. The problems in the book all got solved ridiculously easily and because of this the events in the book all happened rapidly. I guess rapid pacing should be seen as a good thing, but it annoyed me because I felt like the author could have spent time on telling us more about the other characters. I was also surprised by the ending - which I hated. Everything happened in a matter of pages and whilst I just found out that XVI will have a sequel called Truth (which will be released January 19th) I'm still not happy. Most of the loose ends were tied in the ending, leaving nothing for your imagination whatsoever. I'm guessing the author will be introducing brand new problems into the sequel but I don't really see the need for it considering the ending.

All in all, I'd recommend the book if you're bored and want to kill a few hours without thinking too much. I'd also suggest buying it from Amazon because in no way would I have been happy to pay full price for it.

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Book of the Month: December

Interestingly, according to my Goodreads account I only managed to read and finished during December. Deadlines got the better of me last month, but all is not lost since I can always make up for it this month! 

So what's my book?

Kathleen Morgan's "Child of the Mist (These Highland Hills, #1)"

In the harsh Scottish highlands of 1564, superstitions threaten a truce . . . a traitor plans his attack . . and a new love is born.

An arranged betrothal was never the course Anne MacGregor imagined her life would take. Yet when her father explains that her cooperation is the only hope for peace, Anne sees no other choice. Even one year of commitment to Niall Campbell, after all, would win a long-sought truce between the feuding families.

But as Anne soon discovers, peace is not so easily achieved. Before she even arrives at her new home, rumors about her abound and her safety is threatened. Meanwhile, Niall's ascension as leader of his clan is in jeopardy, as a traitor works to bring about his downfall.

As Niall and Anne begin to see beyond each other's defenses, love takes them by surprise. But will it be enough to defeat their foes? Or will the truce be broken, their lives forfeit, and war return to their beloved land?

The book seems a bit daunting at first considering it is set in Scotland during the 1500s and is not written in modern day English. But I found myself able to quickly adapt to Morgan's style to the extent that once invested in the book; I hardly noticed it.

I had no expectations at all when I first started reading this and I was left pleasantly surprised. I downloaded it after noticing that it was on Amazon's Top 100 Kindle books and also happened to free for download. In retrospect though, the book is worth so much more. I'm happily planning to buy the other books currently available by Kathleen Morgan because I enjoyed her writing that much.

I will admit there were points in the book where I felt conflicted towards Anne (the female protagonist). There were moments where I loved her, moments I hated her and moments where I was worried about her well being. There was particularly controversial scene (no spoilers 'cause I'm feeling nice) which leaves me feeling a bit disappointed, but I took it with a pinch of salt and continued reading.

Whilst I enjoyed the book, I have to admit I wasn't completely satisfied with Anne. She started off as an independent woman with her own identity and slowly she lost her identity and became Niall's possession. The ending hinted that in the future she would gain her identity back somewhat, but I wish the author had made it more obvious.

Other than those couple of complaints, I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for something different to their usual romance books. :)

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My Free Romance Novel from Mills and Boon - Three Weddings and a Baby by Fiona Harper

Remember the free romance novel offer Mills and Boon were doing? Well my book arrived a week ago and I finally got the chance to read it! :)

I was originally expecting Surf, Sea and a Sexy Stranger by Heidi Rice which is what the website had told me I would be getting but I was pleasantly surprised to find a different book altogether.

Instead, I received Three Weddings and a Baby by Fiona Harper!

When three is most definitely a crowd… Do you believe in love at first sight? Jennie Hunter and Alex Dangerfield did, and they married just a few weeks after they met! But when Alex disappeared on their wedding night Jennie was left alone – and angry – in her honeymoon suite. A month later, and Jennie has given up hope of ever seeing her runaway husband again. Then Alex returns – with his toddler in tow! Shocked to learn Alex has been married before, her first instinct is to run. Her second instinct – well, even a hard-headed businesswoman can’t turn away a tiny girl who needs a nappy-change and a husband with sheer panic in his eyes… Compared to umpteen clients, one small kid will be a doddle…right?

The blurb is pretty misleading in my opinion but I guess they're just trying to sell the book.

The story is about Jennie Hunter - an events manager and socialite - and her newly wedded lawyer husband Alex Dangerfield. Alex leaves Jennie alone for a week during their honeymoon because of an emergency and because of this and his lack of communication, Jennie is heartbroken and runs away. She avoids all contact with him and continues to be heartbroken until Alex forces himself back into her life. 


It was a really light read - I managed to finish it in 2 hours whilst taking a break from an essay haha - and I enjoyed it quite a bit.


The story alternates between the perspective of both Jennie and Alex which is something I think it handles really well. We get to sympathise with both characters (perhaps more so with Alex) as we see what they're holding back from each other. We see how and why misunderstandings form and develop not only within their relationship but in man and woman relationships in general. It gives you a lot of perspective :)


On the other hands, there were some pages that I ended up skimming through because there wasn't much happening and they were a bit repetitive. Apart from that, the romance was adorable! I loved the added story that the baby brought in too!


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Book of the Month: November

My favourite book for November is Wicca: Book of Shadows by Cate Tiernan. Without giving too much away, the series is about Morgan and her journey through her teenage years, studying Wicca. Of course there's romance, magic and all that fun stuff but I loved reading about Morgan's real life teenage problems.

I've owned Wicca: Night's Child - the last book of the series (which I bought and read first like the teenage genius I was) - and recently decided to buy the previous books. Book of Shadows is the the first of the series and I loved every bit of it. The series reminds me of myself when I'd just entered my teenage years. Mainly because I read my first book of the series around that time, but also because books and series' like this one are the reason I fell in love with reading - but more on that in another blog post!

Reading this book to me felt like I was reading the prologue of Night's Child. Of course I couldn't put it down and finished it in a day and moved on to the next book! It was interesting that my mind still remembered details from Night's Child, but it was even more interesting when I remembered wrong and got surprised by the book!

The Wicca Series was written and published between the '90s - early '00s so there are a lot of references to old things that aren't really used/talked about anymore - which I love! (I'm talking about you Hanson!) On the flip side, the books are harder to find because of this. If you're interested in buying, I've been buying mine off Amazon and eBay :)

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Order a FREE Romance Novel from Mills and Boon

Mills and Boon are offering a free book to anyone over the age of 18 living in the UK for a limited time.

All you have to do is pop over to this website and order one now by signing up! Once you've done that, you are given the option of downloading an eBook or of having the paperback sent to you.

Additionally, you're given the chance to win £500! Once you've read the book you can sign back into the website and rate your "date" with Mills and Boon. Which is essentially just a review of your impression of the book and Mills and Boon overall. :)

Adorably, the first question looks like this:

I'll admit, it was a bit of a confusing sign up and I'm not exactly sure if you get to pick your book or not. The email they sent me referred to my "chosen book" but I'm not sure if I somehow chose it or if they chose it for me. Lol.

But I did somehow manage to order Surf, Sea and a Sexy Stranger by Heidi Rice which looks like it'll be entertaining. I do love taking a break from complicated plots, settings and characters sometimes to read cheesy romance novels  and Surf, Sea.. definitely sounds like it fits!

I love a free book, don't you? :)

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