Bridger by Megan Curd (Review)

Genre: Paranormal/Fantasy

Number of Pages: Unknown

For ages 13+

"Ashlyn McVean doesn’t believe in fairy tales. That is, until Ashlyn is thrown into the crosshairs of grudges her grandmother created long ago. After finding out she is one of two people able to cross between faerie realms, Ashlyn is faced with trying to understand her abilities, along with navigating a new relationship with her boyfriend, Liam. As if being on a centuries old hit list and dealing with crazed pixies isn’t enough, her new abilities mean trouble for Liam. Knowing her new life puts everyone she loves in danger, Ashlyn must decide what’s most important in her life between friends, family, love, and ultimately, realms." -Goodreads

My apologies for not posting yesterday! I got a Kindle Fire. Something I have been wanting for a WHILE and have been begging to get. I was pretty much hypnotized with that the whole day. So I pretty much resorted to reading all day. Oh how I love winter break. <3

I had read this book when I was in about sixth grade. This was before I was a reviewer and before this book was even published. My mom knew Megan,the author, and told Megan I loved to read. So I beta read it for her. I loved it then and I still love it now. It's absolutely phenomenal.

By the first couple of pages, you know that Ashlynn is going to be a pretty strong main character. And by the end you are attached to this girl. And you know, there's no going back now. I liked how Ashlynn wasn't over confident. She had an innocent side to her that didn't make her seem cocky. I also LOVED the relationship between her and Memaw once they finally progressed. What can I say? I loved this book.

The romance in this book was FANTABULOUUUSSSSSS. Liam is to. die. for. He and Ashlynn make the perfect couple. And while I did hate him for a little while, (can't tell you why until you read it!) by the end, I was lovin' him again. He's not your average male character. He has black hair and bright blue eyes, and he's irish! I don't know what it is but it seems to me male characters with accents get to us girls. Liam was the perfect gentleman and treated Ashlynn right. It also helps that he is her sworn protector. *SWOOONNNN*

Megan was also great about tension. She kept you at the edge of your seat. And instead of the fight scenes being plain boring because, what can I say, those aren't my favorite scenes, she made them actually really interesting to read. Ashlynn is one bootie kickin' machine.

Another character I REALLY liked was Ashlynn's memaw, or Emily. She was a great mentor to Ashlynn who really helped her understand who she really was. She taught her what she needed to know and made things easier on her. I also LOVED Reese, Ashlynn's guy best friend. He's the only one of her human friends who can actually tell him about her situation. He's one of those characters that helps the main character deal with all of their crud.

I give this book 5 out of 5 diva crowns! It was fantastic. I recommend this book to all paranormal or fantasy romance lovers.

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Also, even though this has NOTHING to do with this post whatsoever, I just wanted to post this song on here since I CAN'T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD. It's called Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift for the sound track for the new movie The Hunger Games. I'm so stinkin' excited for that movie, by the way.

I may do this from time to time. Just to show you guys what songs have been going through my mind non-stop that week. Thanks for reading! :)

Mixin' it up a little bit!

So, it's Sunday, and that's when I usually review a book. I've had QUITE a busy week this week with Musical practice, homework, then going back to school for dance practice for the musical and to top it all off I had a forensics tournament on Friday and Saturday. I can't review my book because I haven't finished it. I'm so super duper close, but I need to get some other stuff done so I decided to do something a tad different. (*Caution: this may be a little rant-y.*)

I was on Goodreads just browsing through different reviews of different books and I kept reading these nasty reviews with just flat out rude statements. I couldn't believe that people could just say these rude things without even backing them up with examples. Now maybe I've just been doing too many seminar questions in English Lit and Comp. where I have to pretty much back every single thing I say up with some literary example, but I think that's a tad ridiculous. It's also shown me though, that it's mostly my generation. Teenagers.

I know first hand teenagers, they (or should I say WE) can be nasty. Trust me, I'm around them every day. And we are the target audience for all YA books. So yes, authors should expect some reviews that are not-so-nice. But this is kind of a touchy subject for me. My own mother is an author. So I know first hand that authors read the reviews they get. I've seen people say they flat out hated a book IN THEIR REVIEW. I think this is highly inappropriate. Other people may not think so but someone has put their blood, sweat, and tears into this piece of work and someone has ripped it to shreds. Of course authors are going to have to expect it, especially if it's YA because teenagers are extremely opinionated.

I have a policy where if it's lower than 3 stars (or should I say Diva Crowns (;)for me, then I'm not going to review it. There's no reason. If I do have some criticism for a book, I do the Oreo cookie method. I learned this method in Forensics when we would critique someone's performance after they performed it for the class. We would first say what we really liked about the piece, something they could work on, and then another fantastic thing. Now, I know that authors can't really change what they've already written after it's published, but I still think it's a good idea. If I'm going to criticize something I'm going to always add something afterwards to keep the author in good spirits, in case they're reading.

So I'm gonna be the person to be spreading the cheer and throwing sparkles on everyone, because that's what I love to do. Make people happy with my reviews. Especially authors who read my reviews and know that their hard work is worth it. Because, honestly, without authors, I wouldn't have things to enjoy in my free time, I wouldn't have such a large vocabulary, and I wouldn't be able to connect with so many awesome people on twitter and my blog who all share the same love for books as I do. So thank you, authors! :)

Anyways, sorry for that rant-y post. I needed to get that off my chest. I also want to know how other people feel about this. Do you find it a problem, or do you think it's fine? Feel free to tell me how you feel about this "situation." Ta Ta for now!

Tattered Blog Tour!

Katie: This is sooooo cool! I'm so happy we got to stop on your blog on the tour. I may have done some begging... just sayin'. I guess I should do all the formal stuff, huh? I'd like to thank Jewelz for hosting the Tattered tour.

For today's prize of a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with an autographed copy of Here by Denise Grover Swank, who just happens to be Jewelz' mamma, simply comment and specify you are entering on this post and leave your email.

To get a free ebook copy of Misfit McCabe:

Put together the puzzle and write down the code. Each day will give another part of the coupon code. Please note at the top whether it is for eBook or Print.

Once you have collected the entire code, go to Smashwords and purchase Misfit McCabe input the code and download whichever ebook version you need for free.

To get 50% off the print version of Misfit McCabe:

Put together the puzzle and write down the code. Each day will give another part of the coupon code. Please note at the top whether it is for eBook or Print.

Once you have collected the entire code, go to Griffie World Store and purchase Misfit McCabe input the code and receive 50% off the purchase price.

To win the KINDLE FIRE

Support this tour by commenting on each of the daily stops -- It's only 11 days, not even as long as the 12 days of Christmas.

And since Jewelz was nice enough to help me promote my new book, please follow her on this blog!

And just so you know, Denise Grover Swank is a writing machine. In addition to Here, she has Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes, Chosen, and Hunted out. You should check them out.

Tattered is the third novel in the heartwarming young adult series, Misfit McCabe. A little about the book:

What do Sunday afternoon court proceedings, cheerleader tryouts, and a book burning have in common? Katie McCabe is back in action.

After her nemesis Harvey is found guilty and sentenced to community service, Katie wants to believe her troubles are over, but Harvey wonít rest until he gets revenge. When blackmail rears its ugly head, sheís caught between friends and enemies putting her growing relationship with Tom at stake. Books go up in flames and Katieís world rains down in tatters.

What next? Oh yeah... this is where LK usually goes on about how she met the host (Twitter)... blah, blah, blah.. and then she tells everyone I'm fourteen. I guess you could say that Jewelz and I met because of Twitter. I mean, if LK and her mamma hadn't met, then we probably wouldn't have met, but whatever. The main thing is that we're friends. She's into drama and sings and competes in forensics... all of which I think is totally cool. One of the reasons we got to be good friends is that we both lost our dads. So we can talk about how things feel sometimes. Anyway, on to today's topic... my cousin, Sarah.

Sarah is absolutely gorgeous and makes me feel like I'm not put together quite right on most days. Not intentionally. But she just seems to have it all together most of the time, and I SOOO don't. It's kinda a weird thing, because she's a cousin... and I only got to know her recently, but she's also telling me what to do most of the time, 'cause Uncle Charley put her in charge. But... I don't know... sometimes I feel like she kinda takes the place of my mamma. I never really knew my mamma 'cause she died when I was so young. And Daddy would never talk to me about things like boys, but Sarah does. And I wonder sometimes, like when Sarah gives me a hug, if that is what it would have felt like if Mamma were still alive. So it was weird when Sarah said she was engaged to Jim, I felt like I was losing her before I even had her. They're not married yet. In fact, they haven't even picked a date yet. It was strange to feel happy and excited for her, but at the same time feel like I was losing another person in my life. Haven't I lost enough already?

Whoa! Sorry Jewelz. I didn't mean to get so serious on you. I didn't think I would. I thought we'd take turns talking about how strict Sarah is and how unreasonable she can be. Cracking jokes, stuff like that. Oh and for those of you who don't know Sarah, deep down, I know she's not unreasonable... she just wants to keep me safe.

Put the puzzle below together for part of the code to receive a free Misfit McCabe ebook. And make sure you visit Rhonda Cowsert on tomorrow's stop on the tour. And for all details on the tour, the prizes, and the stops, please visit Griffie World.

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