ARC Review: Against Reason by Scatlet Blackwell

Against Reason
by Scatlet Blackwell
Published by Samhain Publishing
Ebook (received from publisher via NetGalley)
Adult, LGBT, novella, contemporary, romance

He lost his heart once. Is it too damaged for love to find it again?

In the five years since the love of his life abandoned him at the altar, Jake Morgan hasn’t left his house. The locals in this small, English town have dubbed him “Mr. Havisham”, but he’s too preoccupied wrestling his demons to care about Dickensian comparisons.

Forced to admit he’s losing the battle to keep up his large estate alone, he reluctantly places an advert for help. The striking young man who answers his call shakes him to the core.
When Darius answers the ad for the position at the mysterious mansion, the bitter, lonely master of the house tugs at his heartstrings. Setting aside his own run of bad luck, Darius batters at Jake’s emotional walls with kindness and determination that defy all attempts to drive him away.

Just as tendrils of new love begin to intertwine, though, a terrible voice from the past intrudes. And threatens to drive Jake back into the shadows where Darius can never reach him.

I feel a little bit conflicted about Against Reason. The premise was promising and interesting, and I felt connected with the characters; Darius, who was desperate to get a job in order to keep his apartment, and Jake, who was a recluse because his fiance left him on the altar on their wedding day. Darius was a sweetheart, desperate but still so nice and sincere, and he really fell for Jake. I felt for Jake at first: he wasn't as broken as he thought he was, he was a bit rude as he wanted to be left alone but he couldn't take care of the estate alone anymore. So the beginning was good, I liked both Darius and Jake, and there was a chemistry between them even though Jake tried to deny it in order to protect himself from getting hurt by love again.

As the story progressed, I became less and less invested. Some things and facts were glossed over, there was black holes and tons of unanswered questions, such as how Jake had a large estate and lots of money he inherited if his parents were still alive. Jake himself started to be more jerk than a man who was conflicted because of his feelings. Jake was moody, rude and treated Darius badly because he couldn't let go of the past or decide what he wanted. It started to get a little tedious: every step closer meant three steps back when Jake had two minutes alone to obsess over things. And then there was the twist, which wasn't surprising at all, and the way Jake reacted to this twist made him even more jerk than he was before. In the end, he redeemed himself a little bit, but while I liked Darius a lot, I did not like Jake in the end. He was selfish and jerk, and Darius deserved better. I understand why Jake was how he was: his heart was broken by Marc, his ex-fiance, and he was alone too many years when he grew a bit bitter and his trust issues grew way too big. But it doesn't change that I would have liked him more, if he'd apologized and if he'd made amends to Darius.

In the end I think the problem was not the characters or even the plot. It was the length of the story, or how the length was used. It was fairly short, one hundred pages, but if some things would have been explained even in a few sentence, and if the ending would have been a little more detailed - for instance, Darius and Jake could have talked a bit - and not so rushed, it would have made the story and romance better. Jake could have used a little less time wallowing in self-pity and hate, and that time could have used to explain few things or to make the ending more detailed and less rushed.

Overall Against Reason was fairly good novella, and Darius was great.

3 of 5 stars.

Against Reason on Goodreads.

Thank you, Samhain Publishing, for giving me a chance to read and review Against Reason!

(A copy of this ebook was provided in return for an honest review.)

The Unpopular Book Tag

All of these are my personal opinions, so no hate, please.

1. A popular book or series that you didn't like.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver. I loved the idea and the concept of the book. But it felt flat, and the main character didn't click with me. I also got spoiled about what happens in the second and third book, and I'm kind of happy I never continued to read the series. That kind of love triangle and other stuff around it isn't the kind of books I enjoy to read.

2. A popular book or series that every one else seems to hate but you love.

Hate might be a little bit strong word, but indifferent or just dislike might be more correct in this case. It's pretty much tie in between The Maze Runner by James Dashner and Half Bad by Sally Green. I love both of them until the end of times, but it seems that people didn't like Half Bad and many didn't keep up with The Maze Runner series. However, I love both of them and I will defend them until my last breath. They're amazing, brilliant and my loves.

3. A Love Triangle where the main character ended up with the person you did NOT want them to end up with OR an OTP that you don't like.

Spoilers for The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Wuthering Heights.

This happens a lot to me. Generally I root for the other one, not the one the main character ends up with - which is why I hate love triangles (well there are other reasons, but this is the main one). I've learned to avoid love triangles (which is why I still haven't read Throne of Glass as I heard there's a love triangle and I really don't want to subject myself to it). But yeah, to name a few where the character ended up with the person I didn't want them to: The Hunger Games (if I have to choose between Peeta and Gale, I choose Gale), Harry Potter (well, it was not love triangle but I really dislike Ginny and Harry would be so much better off with ANYONE else) and Wuthering Heights (I mean, I love this book to bits and will always love, but Cathy and Heathcliff belongs together! But I wouldn't change anything about this book, I just didn't like with whom Cathy ended up with even though I totally understand why it happened)

4. A popular book genre that you hardly reach for.
High fantasy. I like fantasy, I really do, even though I might lean more on paranormal side. But I'm just not fan of high fantasy elements (such as the normal hero/heroine even though there's nothing normal in them, or the quest to defeat the evil, or the romance that's so predictable, or the love triangle that usually happens, etc.) Give me a rule breaking high fantasy and I will devour it, but until them I'm wary of everything labelled as high fantasy. Just give a high fantasy from the point of the villain or LGBT high fantasy, or anything that breaks the element rules high fantasy seems to have.

5. A popular or beloved character that you do not like.
Augustus from The Fault In Our Stars. He was creepy. Plain creepy and if a guy like that would have approached me, I'd run away screaming. Maybe I'm being harsh. He did redeem himself in my eyes a little bit towards the end, but I still didn't get the love everyone had towards Augustus.

(Please don't kill me for saying this, just my personal opinion.)

6. A popular author that you can't seem to get into.
John Green. I'm digging a grave for myself, aren't I? I just, The Fault In Our Stars was okay. Papertowns was better but still nothing really special. Will Grayson Will Grayson was really good, but I still liked the David Levithan chapters way more. So I've kind of given up even trying more of John Green's books. He's funny and intelligent person but for me his books aren't anything special.

7. A popular book trope that you're tired of seeing. (examples "lost princess", corrupt ruler, love triangles, etc.)
Well, I already ranted about love triangles so I'm going to answer something else. I'm really tired of seeing the whole "I'm nothing special, just a normal human being, except I really am not" trope. I mean, usually it's a girl, she's so normal except she only has one or two friends and she's stubborn and alone and plain looking - except when the plot thickens, she's the special flower and at least two or three guys will fall in love with her (so much looking plain and nothing special). Usually this follows some lost princess/lost important person/not entirely human trope.

8. A popular series that you have no interest in reading.
The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare (or any other series from her). I heard the plot twist thing at the end of first book and everything else, and I'm just not up to that kind of deceiving and dragging from heartstrings. And there was the scandal years ago and yeah. Not my cup of tea. 

9. The saying goes "the book is always better than the movie", but what movie or T.V. show adaptation do you prefer more than the book?
Paper Towns. I liked the book well enough but I think the movie was better and the actors did a good job.

Also, The Maze Runner movies I loved to bits. I'm not saying I prefer them over the books, I'm just saying that for once I don't care if they're different from each other as I love the books and I love the movies. I take them both.

Do you agree/disagree with me? What are your unpopular opinions?

I'm A Book Bigamist. Are You, Too?

Some time ago I read a great article about being a book bigamist - you know, reading multiple books at the same time because you're simply incapable (or unwilling) to focus only in one book at the time. You can read the article here. While the author of the article have overcome his book bigamist ways, I have to confess that I do the same thing, and I'm incapable of stopping.

Once upon a time there was a time when I only read one book at the time. I devoured the book and moved to next one. That was when I was in primary school, so almost a decade ago. I started to really read again after the high school (well, I did read a lot in high school but I mostly read fanfiction, not literature). Few months I was able to stick reading one book at the time. Then I started slipping. First I read an ebook and a physical book at the same time - mostly because ebooks I have are review copies and I can't always take a physical book with me, but I always have my phone and the Kindle app. But now, well, I have way too many books I'm currently reading.

Why I do this to myself? Well, it's quite simple. Sometimes I'm into the book until it hits a point where I don't feel like reading it. I want to finish the book and I will, but at the time it's slow and I just don't want to pick it up - but I want to read and love something. What do I do? Why, of course, I pick up another book! Possibly something that keeps my interest - and sometimes I end up devouring the said book in a few days. Also, I usually have one classic or non-fiction I read when I'm feeling like reading something challenging. I'm a mood reader, and a book bigamist.

I have a picture for you to show how out of control my currently reading pile is. 

These plus two ebooks are all of my currently reading books. Quite few, eh? But I have reasons for each and every one!

Sophocles's plays I have read the first one. I'm reading this one when the mood strikes me.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home - I started reading this last spring, but I kind of put it down. Not because it's bad, because I love it. It's just hard to read because it's so emotional. I intend to start it from the start some day soon.

The Scorpio Races, well, I read it a bit by bit when the mood strikes me. It's not fast pacing enough for me and I have a problem with one of the characters so I don't always feel like reading it. But I want to finish it, and I've read almost two hundred pages already.

Watching the English is a non-fiction book. I read first part of it before summer but I had to take it back to the library. Now I picked it up again last week and I'm loving it, and I tend to read ten to twenty pages or so per day or two.

Fox Tales is a review copy of short stories and I started reading it, but I got distracted. I really need to pick it again.

The Rest of Us Just Lives Here is the newest addition. I started reading it this Friday and I'm making a pretty good process - I think I'll finish this fast!

Cress, oh boy. I flew through Scarlet. I read half of Cress quite fast. But. Well, I just don't feel like picking it up. I got bored with Cress and Thorne's chapters. There's not enough Wolf and Scarlet for me. I want to finish this so badly because I want to read Winter - but I don't want to force myself to pick it up when I'm not feeling like reading it. I'll try to finish Cress before Christmas, though.

Are you a book bigamist, or do you read one book at the time? Leave a comment, I'd love to know!

And well, I'm a book bigamist. It has it's good points and the bad points.

Top Ten Tuesday: Quotes I Loved From Books I Read In The Past Year

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week participating bloggers can create lists of topic given by the host, and share them with others!

I'm sucker for quotes. I love them. I devour them. The book is perfect if it has great things to quote.

Here are ten lovely quotes for you!

"It is definitely annoying that straight (and white, for that matter) is the default, and that the only people who have to think about their identity are the ones who don't fit that mold. Straight people really should have to come out, and the more awkward it is, the better. Awkwardness should be a requirement."

Becky Albertalli, Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda

"'Shall I tell you something I've only recently discovered,' I replied, not attempting to hide the tears rolling down my face and not the least bit ashamed of them. 'Boys don't cry, but real men do.'"

Malorie Blackman, Boys Don't Cry

"Because humans are complicated beasts, the monster said."

Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls

"We know that some of you are still scared. We know that some of you are still silent. Just because it's better now doesn't mean that it's always good."

David Levithan, Two Boys Kissing

"Hope is determination, you think. Hope is desperation. Hope is a yearning you can't deny. And hope is just plain old-fashioned insanity."

Hal Duncan, Escape from Hell!

"Death is water's close companion, and neither of them can be separated from us, for we are made of the versatility of water and the closeness of death."

Emmi Itäranta, Memory of Water

"When is it okay to break the rules?

  When your heart tells you the rules are dysfunctional."

Cordelia Jensen, Skycraping

"We accept the love we think we deserve."

Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

"I think I realized that I would rather die because I betrayed them, than live because I betrayed you."

Marissa Meyer, Scarlet

"I lied to you about a lot of things... but I meant every apology."

Marissa Meyer, Scarlet

...Of course I had to choose two quotes from Scarlet. Wolf ate my heart, and I could quote everything he said.

Stacking the Shelves (39)

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews, and is all about sharing the book you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!
Purchased

Half Truths by Sally Green Winter by Marissa Meyer
I'm so excited about both of these! Although, I still need to finish Cress before I can read Winter.

Book Blitz + Giveaway: Dead Ringer by Jessie Rosen

Review: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

A Monster Calls
by Patrick Ness
Published by Walker Books
Paperback (purchased)
Middle Grade, fantasy

Conor has the same dream every night, ever since his mother first fell ill, ever since she started the treatments that don't quite seem to be working. But tonight is different. Tonight, when he wakes, there's a visitor at his window. It's ancient, elemental, a force of nature. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.

It wants the truth.

A Monster Calls surprised me. More than that, it blew my mind right from the start and it kept me so captivated that I had to read it during short breaks between classes (I usually never read at university). I simply couldn't put it down because I needed to know the truth, which Conor was hiding. The story is full of mystery and so beautifully terrifying quotes. It hits right in the feels and takes no prisoners. I'm still drawn to it - I want to read it again. Definitely one the top reads of this year!

I don't want to tell too much about the story, because I went in only knowing what the blurb said. I feel like that's the best way going in this book, just taking it and reading (and letting it to captivate you). However, I want to say that Ness is a genius when it comes to characters. Conor, the main character, is brilliantly crafted because even though the reader is kind of in his head, it reveals nothing. The monster is also so brilliant, truly a force of nature. There's also tons of secondary characters who feel so real that it hurts. Utterly brilliant characters!

I highly recommend this to every person. Everybody needs to read this! Technically it's a middle grade book as Conor is thirteen years old, but I feel like it's perfect for people of any age. Read it!

5 of 5 stars.

A Monster Calls on Goodreads.

Wrapping the Month: October Edition

What's greater way to start new month than taking a look at previous one?

Blogging wise, October went so much better than September. I actually managed to do some reviews, participate few book blitz's and meme's. Still I wasn't as active as I wanted to be, but when you study approximately forty hours per week, start doing sports actively again, do all the housework and read a little, there's not much time left to do anything else. Also, my sister spend her autumn break here so I did some sightseeing. And met James Dashner at Edinburgh Waterstones Event. That was probably the best thing in my life this year (and I got into university and moved my dream country so that should say a lot!) I should get a detailed post about that event up soon, so look forward to it if you want to hear about the magical day I met James Dashner.

October was amazing month book wise. I won an ARC of Skyscraping, which was brilliant! Fox Tales I received for an exchange of a review and my sister got me the last book of Don't Wipe Tears With Bare Hands trilogy. Dashner's book I bought from the event, and from the same trip to Edinburgh I bought signed copies of Boy Meets Boy and Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between.

The Harry Potter boxset is my precious. I've always wanted to own HP books in English but I don't want any other editions but the original UK children paperbacks, and I found that beautiful boxset from a charity shop. It cost me £11 and the books are in really good conditions, never read actually. That's a bargain if something! Now I only need to get Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows with the matching covers.

And here's all the beautiful books I got signed at the James Dashner event.

I have to say, David Levithan has an awesome signature!

October's reviews:

Skyscraping (5 stars)

Better When He's Bad (2 stars)

Boys Don't Cry (4 stars)

I certainly started October with a bang - I read Skyscraping by Cordelia Jensen and totally fell in love with it. I need to read more books in verse sometime in the future. I finally finished Better When He's Bad by Jay Crownover, and it was a big disappointment as there wasn't enough badness and I was just glad it was over. I also finished Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta, and I really loved how unique it was! I surprised even myself when I read A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness within two days - yes, it's a short read but it was so captivating, which is the actual reason why I read it so fast. During the last two days of October, I managed to read a little over half of Scarlet by Marissa Meyer. Obviously I'm not done with it yet, but I'm confident I'll finish it during the first days of November.

I was behind horrendous twelve books on my Goodreads Reading Challenge until I decided to lower it from 70 books to 60. There was no way I could have completed the challenge since three weeks of November I will spend writing essays and the end of November / the beginning of December will be exam weeks. I think I can read sixty books (I'm now four books behind) as the last part of December I have nothing but time to read.

I'm still getting used to living in Scotland - or rather how to have time to do everything I need to do. I'll try to be more active here and blog more but November is going to be busy with university so no promises. December and January will be different as I will have a break between semesters.

Hugs,

Henna

Book Blitz + Giveaway: Zola Flash by T. Marie Alexander

Book Blitz + Giveaway: Deranged by Niko McQueen

Deranged (Ivy Hollow Chronicles, #1)

by Niko McQueen
Publication date: February 11th 2014
Adult, LGBT, Romance

Adam Rossmore is a rich party boy who doesn’t answer to anyone. He’s played the orphan card for too long and it’s gotten him out of every DUI, arrest, and fine.

Until now.

When a judge slaps him with community service at the insane asylum, Ivy Hollow, Adam thinks it’s all a joke. Until the doors lock and he starts meeting the residents.

Christian Hale has lived at Ivy Hollow his entire life. He seeks solace in his music—and whatever orderly happens to be nearby.

When Adam hears Christian play the piano for the first time, the music draws him deep into Christian’s web and he must fight an arousal that is both confusing and exciting.

Add on Goodreads.

Purchase!

Amazon

Author bio

Niko currently lives in Charlotte NC with her four crazy roommates. She spends her days watching korean dramas and daydreaming of hunky guys falling in love with each other. She dreams of traveling the world gypsy style with her laptop and spinning awesome love stories.

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Excerpt
Zach chuckled like he’d just found a secret hallway that led to the Glee backlot. “Oh, you’d be surprised.” He wagged his eyebrows and bit his lower lip in an awkward impression of a seductive hooker.

“Dude. We have got to work on your moves. If not, you’re seriously going to die a virgin.”

Zachary’s face fell and Adam felt bad. “Sorry, but it’s true. Not even gay men are going to fall for that . . . Christ, they’re probably harder to please than women.”

He shuddered and slid his chair beneath the desk. “Not possible. Chicks are a no win.”

Adam laughed and they wandered down the hall toward the cafeteria. A sudden chill raced over his arms and yanked him to a stop. He grabbed Zach’s forearm and pulled him to a stop, then glanced over his shoulder.

Sure enough, Christian stood halfway down the darkened hall on the far side of the station. Adam forced his attention to stay on the upper half of Christian’s body. He’d pulled that dark sheet of hair back into a ponytail and wore a button-down white shirt, untucked, cuffs unbuttoned. He may or may not have

had the same dark jeans on, but Adam wasn’t about to look any closer. Even without dropping his gaze, he could tell that Christian was in his bare feet. The urge to look was nearly more than he could bear. A deep need to see if they were as slender and perfect as his fingers coiled tightly in Adam’s belly until it filled the space and extended lower. Adam felt like a sixth-grader peering into the girls’ locker room. He had to get out of here.

Zachary pulled out of his grip and marched down the hall toward Christian, shooing him away like a stray puppy. “You know you’re not supposed to be wandering around.”

Adam flinched. He didn’t feel good about Zachary’s unprovoked attack on Christian. Yelling at a psycho didn’t seem like the best policy. But he didn’t want to chase after Zach and get any closer to Christian, either. Christian’s gaze never left Adam’s, not even when Zach got within feet of him. He melted into the shadow and Zach stopped, hands on his hips.

“I’m serious, Christian. When we get back from dinner, you’d better be back in your room.”

Adam wasn’t about to fidget under the scrutiny, but he could feel the intense heat like Christian’s hands were doing the inventory instead of his eyes from fifty feet away. Tingles erupted across every inch of his skin and his balls tightened like he was about to come. Adam forced his arms not to move even though he wanted to cover himself. 

Two days ago, he’d have whipped around and marched into the cafeteria, but today he couldn’t seem to make his feet obey. And as bad as he wanted to believe it was because he didn’t want to leave Zach alone, an unsettling feeling told him there was another reason.

One he was going to have to explore in the darkness of his room later tonight.

Zach huffed and strolled back to Adam, a bizarre swing in his hips. Adam could have slapped him. No one walks like that. Not even hookers. Good shit he had his work cut out for him.

Zach brushed past Adam and through the double doors at the end of the hallway. Adam still stood in the echoing expanse of hallway. Somewhere in the darkness to his left, Christian watched.

He turned slowly and forced his hips not to swing even one inch. 

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