Review: Dead Over Heels by Alison Kemper

Title: Dead Over Heels

Author: Alison Kemper

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Publication date: September 29th 2014

Format: ebook | 269 pages

Genre: YA 

Goodreads

The end of the world just might be their perfect beginning…

Glenview, North Carolina. Also known―at least to sixteen-year-old Ava Pegg―as the Land of Incredibly Boring Vacations. What exactly were her parents thinking when they bought a summer home here? Then the cute-but-really-annoying boy next door shows up at her place in a panic…hollering something about flesh-eating zombies attacking the town.

At first, Ava’s certain that Cole spent a little too much time with his head in the moonshine barrel. But when someone―or something―rotted and terrifying emerges from behind the woodpile, Ava realizes this is no hooch hallucination. The undead are walking in Glenview, and they are hungry. Panicked, Ava and Cole flee into the national forest. No supplies, no weapons. Just two teenagers who don’t even like each other fighting for their lives. But that’s the funny thing about the Zombpocalypse. You never know when you’ll meet your undead end. Or when you’ll fall dead over heels for a boy…

 

 

My thoughts:

After a deadly rabie-like virus spreads all across the world, Ava finds herself following neighbour, Cole, into the woods to escape mindless, rotting cannibals that could once call themselves people. In order to find both Ava and Cole's parents and get to a place of safety, Ava has to place her life entirely in Cole's hands as they trek for days through the woods. Cole is the one with the survival skills, so Ava has to try her best to be a help and not a hindrance to a boy she's slowly coming to like very much.

This read, for me at least, was split pretty much right down the middle. I liked it, but there was a lot I didn't like as well. The most annoying of which was the sound the 'zombies' made. It may have been meant to be funny and cute, but I don't necessarily want funny and cute in a zombie novel. The romance would have been enough to satisfy any need for my 'awww' moments. The zombies said 'rawr'. Also, a bear played a minor part in the book and it said 'grr'. Every time I saw it, I wanted to bash my head against the wall. I'm sorry but that's just so stupid. If you want a book to have a comedic feel, then give it that element, but don't throw in death defying situations and expect me to take them seriously when a shambling zombie catches up and says 'rawr' before it eats someone's face off...

Weirdness aside, that was the only thing that had me wanting to scream. The only other point that frustrated me was how fast and furious Ava and Cole got. It's not a spoiler when I say they have feelings for each other, it's pretty obvious just reading the synopsis that it's going to happen. I didn't feel that they moved into a relationship too fast per se, considering what they went through, I just don't understand why they got to the point of furiously making out so quickly. It wasn't done right in my opinion. It just didn't seem like a priority, obviously, at the time - maybe a nice kiss but a furious make out session? It seemed a little too much.

Anyway, the rest of the read was good. It had a lot of action and suspense and I did like the characters. I loved how Cole doubted himself and how Ava really stepped up towards the end of the book. They both really came into their own by the end.

All in all it was a good read but what I didn't like about it seemed to be a the forefront of my mind constantly which ruined it a little. Sadly, I actually think my reading so much, including books featuring zombies, made me a little too critical. To each their own though. 

My rating: 6/10

Alison Kemper:

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Review: Priya in Heels by Ayesha Patel

Title: Priya in Heels

Author: Ayesha Patel

Publisher: Entangled Embrace

Publication date: September 15th 2014

Format: Ebook

Genre: Contemporary | New Adult

Goodreads

Love doesn’t conquer all…does it?

Priyanka Patel is the epitome of an obedient daughter. She’s finishing up her medical residency at one of Houston’s busiest emergency departments, and has agreed—albeit reluctantly—to marry the man her family has chosen for her. The only thing that can derail the “perfect” life laid out before her is the sexy musician down the hall who wants into her life…and into her bed.

Tyler O’Connor has been infatuated with Priya since she treated his sprained ankle in the ER, and after saving her from a brutal attack, he can't get her out of his head. When Priya puts her family's wishes before their relationship, agreeing to an arranged marriage with another man, Tyler is devastated. 

But love is fierce and unreasonable and clashes with the carefully sculpted life her parents want for her. Is going after her heart such a big deal, or will it truly unravel Priya’s world?

 

 

My thoughts:

Priya in Heels is a contemporary romance following Priyanka, an Indian doctor barely out of med school and her struggle between following her heart and sticking like glue to the cultural norms her family lives their life by. Should she accept the marriage proposal of a successful Indian man who would make her parents happy for her, or does she have a relationship with the sexy musician across the hall who would bring shame to her family - her head or her heart?

 

I want to begin this review by saying I started this book expecting a light, fluffy romance full of clichés and maybe even insta-love. I mean, it's so dominant in this genre nowadays that I might as well go into a read expecting it so I don't get so mind numbingly frustrated and start ranting about how annoying it is and whatnot - everybody's seen enough of it. It's a more than popular topic that readers and bloggers are shaking their fists at in a fit of rage. Never a good thing.

 

So Priya, in my opinion, did rush into a relationship and she did develop overwhelming feelings of love in no time at all. But it's okay, I expected it. What I didn't like was that she was such a cool character in the beginning of the novel. She was great! Priya was feisty, she was completely and utterly independent in every way, she knew where she was, what she was about, where she wanted to go in the future and she was comfortable with herself. I had just got comfy with the idea that Priya is going to carry this book on her shoulders and make me like it. She had the potential to carry the whole story. But of course, she had to go and change. As soon as the guys fully came into the picture, everything that made Priya an individual disappeared. There was no mention of her usual habits, hardly any mention of work and loads of talk about the guys and not much else. 

 

I thought Tyler was cute. He was a good character that fit well with Priya - I especially loved the whole nerdy thing they had going. Together they were great. I would have loved more of a backstory with Tyler though - not just for him to be there just to be with Priya.

 

That's another thing, if there's going to be a love triangle going on then it should be believable. I hated Manuk. I thought he was a major jerk. I also think that regardless of his character, Priya didn't give him enough of a chance in the first place before she decided anything. It was either get married to him or not but with Tyler it was be with him or not without marriage necessarily being an option. I would have liked to not know who was going to be chosen in the end.

 

I think everything I liked about this read came from the first third of the book. Like I said, I loved Priya's character, couldn't fault her. Tyler was amazingly adorable with the way he kept trying to go after her and how he dealt with rejection. I loved the supporting characters - both groups of friends (Tyler's and Priya's) made me laugh and they interacted great. Priya's family was adorable and the drama that went on within it was interesting.

 

By the way, if you're not familiar with Indian culture I think you'll find that side of the read intriguing. I have plenty of Indian friends so nothing in this book was new to me. 

 

My rating: 4/10

 

Ayesha Patel:

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Cover Reveal & Giveaway: Embers by Karen Ann Hopkins

Goodreads

There are descendants of angels walking among us. Ember is one of them. And she may be the only hope mankind has as the rapture approaches and evil rises.

Embers is an epic paranormal adventure about an eighteen year old girl who discovers that she's immune to fire and any other injury when she’s in a horrific car crash that kills her parents. Following a violent episode with her aunt's boyfriend, Ember flees Ohio to live with an old relative in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Ember's exuberance at escaping a bad home life soon turns to trepidation when she finds out that she's a Watcher, a descendant of angels. While Ember learns about her heritage and the powers that go along with it, she strikes up friendships with two young men who live in a frightening walled compound in the forest. Inexplicitly drawn to one of the men in particular, an impossible romance develops. But it is cut short when Ember discovers that her new friends are fighting on the opposite side of a war—one that’s been raging between two factions of Watchers for thousands of years. When the compound’s inhabitants threaten the townspeople, Ember takes action, sealing her fate in the ancient battle of good versus evil—and the grayness in between. Ember is up to the challenge, until she realizes that she isn’t only fighting for the lives of the locals and the souls of her new friends. She also might be one of the few champions who will make a stand for all of mankind as the rapture approaches and the end of days begin.

Embers is a dark and gritty YA novel that’s the first book in the series, The Wings of War.

Excerpt:

Ivan spoke with an excited voice. “Do you hear it, Ember?”

I tilted my head and listened.  It was faint, but there was a low rumble in the distance.  As we walked forward the sound grew.

“Yes.  Is that the falls?” I asked.

He nodded his head.  “We’re almost there.”  

Soon the noise was a deafening roar, vibrating in my ears.  When we stepped out of the cover of the trees, I was astonished.  Raven Branch Falls was much larger than I expected.  The water dropped from nearly seventy feet into a dark pool.  Giant boulders jutted out below the pool to create smaller falls, which led into a rapidly flowing rocky creek bed.

My gaze was drawn to a tree leaning out from the side of the falls where a large grey owl was partially hidden in the foliage.  There was something familiar about its eyes, and the way it was looking at me gave me the distinct feeling that I knew the bird. Could it be the same owl I saw racing through the air the day of my arrival?    

Ivan grasped my arm and tugged me closer to the falls.  He held my arm tightly as we stepped onto the boulders beside the deep water hole.  Spots on the enormous rocks were wet and slippery from the spray of the falls and I was grateful for his help.  He led me out to the farthest point we could go, where a carpet of soft moss blanketed the surface of a particularly large boulder.  Ivan gestured for me to sit, which I did, and then he bounded off, climbing along the boulders until he was a little ways downstream.

I watched him go, thinking what a nice boy—or wolf, he was.  

Without looking, I knew Sawyer was behind me.  The movements of my stomach and heart gave him away.   He sat down very close.   

“Where did you come from?” he coaxed softly.      

For a second I saw the boy from my dream.

The breath caught in my throat.  I gazed at him.    

He doesn’t seem evil to me.

Giveaway:

 

Karen is generously offering up a $25 Amazon gift card to one lucky winner! To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form.

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A native of New York State, Karen Ann Hopkins now lives with her family on a farm in northern Kentucky, where her neighbors in all directions are members of a strict Amish community. Her unique perspective became the inspiration for the story of star-crossed lovers Rose and Noah. When she’s not homeschooling her kids, giving riding lessons or tending to a menagerie of horses, goats, peacocks, chickens, ducks, rabbits, dogs and cats, she is dreaming up her next romantic novel. 

 

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