Marie Landry

READING
It reads like a 'blue sky holiday'. Wonderful and light and somewhat simplistic and idealistic.
No wonder I keep expecting the other shoe to drop.

POST-READ
How should I put it?
Too... Perfect? Fast? Detached from reality?

I kept reading and feeling like someone slipped me a drug, the LSD kind. Alice-down-the-rabbit-hole kind of feeling. So surreal it makes my teeth ache.

Too picture perfect in the end. Too picture perfect all way through.
Not my thing.

Better books out there, believe me.

EDIT 2013/07/22
Saw its cover in the list YA Contemporaries and couldn't suppress a shudder. My instinctive mental flinch-away is a most vivid and colourful representation of my opinion on this book.
It makes it a rare specimen indeed, seeing how I am actually contemplating a second attempt at reading [b:1984|5470|1984|George Orwell|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348990566s/5470.jpg|153313] which was off-putting on my first attempt (didn't finish it).… (plus d'informations)

Rose Morgan has been in the same job as a waitress for three years, using her money to support her mom and keeping her tips for herself. She's about fed up with the way her life is going and after a lot of prodding from her best friend, she's starting to spread her wings. Enter Declan, handsome Scottish pub owner and overall good guy. He's not only offering her every opportunity to switch her life around, but also offering himself to her. He's far more than just his sexy accent and just as their relationship starts to take off Rose realizes she wants even more. Rose has to decide if she's finally where she wants to be or if her dreams are worth leaving Declan behind.

Rose has some great character development and growth throughout this entire book, I only had to ask myself about five times why she didn't start doing all of this freedom stuff sooner. She's incredibly capable, had the smarts and the drive, and was overall an interesting character to read. Declan sounds like a completely unbelievable guy, but I'll still take one of him if someone's got a spare responsible, hot, giving Scottish guy lying around. Ha. The character of Dante was really crucial to Rose's growth and I think he brought so much more to the story than other MC best friends often bring. I enjoyed the interactions of Rose and Dante more than anything else, because he seemed to bring her to life and from there the story just grew. I liked Rose's relationship with her father when it came around and how he pushed her. Rose is just one of those characters that needs shoved in the right direction and the story unfolds from there.

The faux love triangle drove me absolutely nuts. I was completely invested in the friendship between Dante and Rose, but a lot of the language and awkward hints in the book leads the reader to think Dante has a thing for Rose. It's completely unnecessary for the overall story and mostly just made me think something was going to happen that never did happen. Plus, the relationship between Declan and Rose is instant, so in it's newness it was odd to have feelings of jealousy coming from Dante. The ending comes quickly and any drama just wraps up seamlessly. I often struggle with characters who don't react as a real person would and this book had all those problems. Declan seems to be happy for...well everything, even where other feelings would've made more sense. Just didn't work for me.

I would have liked an epilogue, but overall this is a good New Adult novel from Marie Landry.… (plus d'informations)

Blue Sky Days by Marie Landry

First I want to thank Marie Landry for giving me the opportunity to read and review her amazing novel.

This novel is about a young woman becoming her own person, finding herself and finding true love.

Emma is a 19 year old woman, who has been raised by a very controlling mother she is demanding and critical; she has set impossible standards the no one including Emma could live up to. But Emma tried she worked hard all way through high school, yet her mother never recognized one of her accomplishments. Emma hoped one day her mother would at least show some pride in all Emma’s hard work but that day never came.

Emma realized that she has lived most of her life trying to get her mother’s approval and finally realizes she is never going to get it. With nothing to show for all her hard work Emma knows she has lost herself along the way.

With all her unanswered question Emma decides to go visits her Aunt Daisy for the summer, Aunt Daisy is an artist, she has a carefree soul, lives life to the fullest and Emma wishes she could be more like her. Emma travels to Riverview with plans of spending the summer with her aunt learning how to enjoy herself and hopefully figuring out whom she is and what she wants to do with her future.

The small town of Riverview is comforting and Emma feels at home for the first time in her life. Still not know what she is going to do with her life her aunt encourages her to just to relax and have fun.

Sitting in the park one afternoon Emma meets Nicholas Shaw, he is unlike any boy she has ever met. He is kind, respectful and very handsome; he enjoys life to the fullest he sees the small things around him and enjoys every moment. Nicholas asks Emma out on a date to show her around town. Emma is so nervous she has never gone out on a date; she hasn’t even had a first kiss. The romance that sparks between these two is amazing it is what us girls say what dreams are made from. Emma knows she is falling in love with Nicholas. The romance between these two is fresh, romantic and inspiring.

Life is wonderful and for the first time in her life Emma is happy. But things change, for two weeks Emma hasn’t seen Nicholas, deep down Emma knows something is wrong she finally goes to his house and confronts him.

Nicholas has been diagnosed with cancer. He offers her a way out but Emma knows she is in love with him and wants to be at his side every step of the way.

This story is about love, courage and strength and I will say it is one of the best books I have read this year.

Marie’s writing is fantastic; her words flowed so well you won’t put the book down, well maybe a couple times to wipe your eyes or blow your nose. I can honestly say I will be reading this book again and will be purchasing a hard copy of it when it is published.

I recommend this book to everyone. I know cancer is a deep subject but this isn’t about the cancer this is about the strength of love Emma and Nicholas have for each other and the love of their family and friends who stand by them to help them through the hardest times of their lives.

The question is can love really heal all things?
… (plus d'informations)

You know when you get a book, and it's much better than you thought it was going to be? Well, Ruby's Fire by Catherine Stine was definitely one of those books! I absolutely loved it, and it's definitely one of my favorite books that I've read in 2013!

Ruby is a 17 year old girl who, with her 8 year old brother Thorn, escapes from a cult which pairs young girls with much older men. Ruby and Thorn arrive at a school known as The Greening. Here she meets a whole cast of characters. When an act of bullying goes horribly wrong, Ruby and her brother Thorn are left with extreme changes that alter their DNA. When a contest in announces with a prize of a hefty cash sum, all the students are The Greening are excited! However, this competition reveals that all is not what it seems.

I do like the title, and I find it very interesting! However, I don't really get the meaning of it. Maybe I'm just being thick, but it makes no sense to me.

I think the cover does an amazing job at depicting the plot of the book. In fact, this is one of the best book covers I've ever seen that is actually relevant to the book. Whoever came up with this idea for the cover is a genius!

I enjoyed the setting of this book very much! I like the futuristic/dystopian world that Stine has created. Catherine Stine does an awesome job at making this world come alive. The world in which Ruby lives has become unbearably hot, and people must wear masks and burn suits if they don't want to burn. The author paints a vivid picture of this throughout the book. I can very much see this happening in the future.

The pacing was done really well! Not once in the book did I feel like the pacing was going too slow or too fast for my liking. I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next. If it was possible to eat books by reading them quickly because they are amazing, this would would've been gone in flash!

What an amazing plot! Besides the main plot, there were lots of sub-plots! Will Ruby figure out what is wrong with her and Thorn? Will she choose Armonk or Blane since she cares for both? Can she escape her past? That's just some of the questions answered in the book. Also, there is a fantastic plot twist that I didn't see coming!

All of the characters were written superbly! I loved Ruby and how willing she was to take care of her little brother. Ruby was a very down to Earth character who had went through a lot of hardships. I believe this made her a better person. What I didn't like about her was the fact that she kept going on about how beautiful she was. However, this is probably just a personal thing. I found Thorn to be so cute!! It would've been interesting to see things from his point of view as the book is told from Ruby's point of view. Armonk seems like such a sweet guy, and I loved how he was willing to defend his friends. I feel like Armonk was an all around nice guy. I really loved Blane! I like how he grew as a person going from a mean brute to a gentle warrior. It was nice to see this change in him. Like Armonk, I loved how he was willing to protect his friends at all cost.

The dialogue was fantastic! It is told in a first person point of view with Ruby being the narrator. I usually don't enjoy first person reads as much as third person ones, but this one was done fantastically! Some books that take place in the future have really cheesy dialogue, but Ruby's Fire wasn't one of those books. The dialogue was also easy to understand with no futuristic terms getting in the way. There are a few swear words though.

Overall, Ruby's Fire by Catherine Stine is such an amazing and interesting read! While it is a part of a series, it can be read as a stand alone. I usually don't read books out of series order because I feel like I'll miss so much information, but this book can actually be read as a standalone without missing much. (The first book in the series talks about a minor character in this book).

I'd recommend this book to those aged 14+ who want some adventure in their life!

I'd give Ruby's Fire by Catherine Stine a 5 out of 5.

(I received a free paperback copy of this book from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review).… (plus d'informations)