Blog Tour and Giveaway | Confessions of an Undercover Girlfriend

Title: Confessions of an Undercover Girlfriend

Author: Kay Marie

Series: Confessions #2

Format: Kindle 

Publication date: October 11th 2016

Genre: NA | Humour | Romance

Goodreads

Summary:

So, I'm no longer a virgin sex columnist—thank you, Ollie—but if I thought that was going to make my life easier, boy was I wrong! John is back in town determined to win my forgiveness. Blythe is more ready than ever to take me down. Bridget is totally onto the new twinkle in my eye. And, well, Ollie is just as distractingly delicious as usual.

So, naturally, I have a few more confessions to make.

Confession #1: I came up with what I thought would be the perfect plan to keep my relationship with Ollie a secret—pretend to get back together with John!

Confession #2: It backfired. A lot.

My thoughts:

If any of you have read my review of the first book in this series, Confessions of a Virgin Sex Columnist, you’ll know that I was really liking this series so far. I loved the protagonists quirky personality and the romance made for some hilarity that ended up being really cute. You can read my review for the first book here.

As usual, reading the second book of the series was a little nerve wracking - would it live up to my expectations? It did, it really did. But not in the way I was expecting.

The first book, to me at least, was just funny. It was a lot more than that of course, but I liked it because it let me have a little giggle and forget about my problems for a bit. This one however, felt more real somehow. Skylar really grew up throughout this read and it was more about her figuring herself out than the actual romance.

This book stood out. Cute romance novels like these always follow the same steps in the plot - the guy messes up ( that’s covered in the first book ), the girl gets upset and then the guy wins her back. It’s not the case here - Skylar is a mess. She does things in this book that almost has me banging my head against a wall, but she figures stuff out and she is the one that has to make up for her mistakes. There’s not a lot of books out there that feature a female protagonist being the cause of fights and breakups but this book is all about that and I appreciate it.

Also, I really liked the introduction of the new side of Blythe. It was nice getting to know the real her and she turns out to be a pretty great character. Of course all of the past characters play a big part in this book and it made for a great read. I really like this set of characters. Plus…Ollie is yummy.

All in all I enjoyed this read. It wasn’t as funny as the first book but it offered something different that made it stand out to me. I love Skylar because she isn’t perfect, far from it actually, and that made me relate to this book that much more. 

My rating: 8/10

Kay Marie:

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Review: Dead Silence by Kimberly Derting

Title: Dead Silence 

Author: Kimberly Derting

Series: The Body Finder #4

Publisher: Headline

Publication date: 25 Apr 2013

Format: Paperback | 400 pages

Genre: YA | Paranormal

Goodreads

HER GIFT MADE HER DIFFERENT

A murder leaves a mark. It imprints an echo on victim and killer, detectable by only a few. For a long time, Violet Ambrose saw this ability as a curse but her work as part of a special investigative team helped her see its benefits. Until, that is, she was the victim of a horrific kidnapping and acquired an imprint of her own. Now she is desperate to put the past behind her, to ignore the echoes of the dead and lead a normal life with her boyfriend Jay.

NOW SHE'S ONE OF THEM

But when she senses a murder victim's echo, she stumbles upon a terrifying scene unlike anything she's ever witnessed. Frenzied and twisted, the killer left a disturbing calling card for all to see - a cross sketched in blood on the wall. Haunted by the crime, Violet finds herself pulled into a deadly hunt for a vicious madman. A hunt that will endanger everything she holds dear. She has survived dangerous situations before, but keeping her loved ones safe is far more difficult than protecting herself…

THE STAKES HAVE NEVER BEEN HIGHER

My thoughts:

I really wasn't looking forward to reading this one. It wasn't even down to me hating the series or anything, I've really enjoyed reading the past books. The last book though, left me thinking something was going to happen that I didn't want to, and so, I was putting off reading this. Funny thing is, what I was worried was going to happen, didn't, so all is good.

Now that nonsense is out of the way, I really liked this read. I still can't say it's as good as the first - none of the books in this series were as good as the first in my opinion. There was just something about Jay and Violet exploring their new feelings and getting to know what Violet was capable of, that gave the book a different edge to the ones later on. I enjoyed this last book more than the ones in the middle of the series though for quite a few reasons.

What I noticed first about this read was that it took a new level of creepiness. The crimes involved were pretty grotesque and it left me with shivers going down my spine. The person responsible was even worse. When the time came for me to read more into him and his back story I was thoroughly creeped out. Not that that's a bad thing. It was great. I seriously couldn't wait for him to be brought to justice. •shudders•

 

I was also really, really please that what I was dreading happening didn't actually happen. I'm still so relieved a week after finishing this. I'm not going to say what it was I was so worried about, but safe to say, after all the new characters being introduced it becomes pretty obvious…I love Jay.

 

The only major problem I had with this read - and it's why I wouldn't give it a full 10 - is the ending. It felt way to rushed and I felt that the characters deserved way more after all they'd been through to sort of have a slow ending where everything's resolved in stages. There were a lot of things that didn't feel finished. Especially where the 'team' is concerned - I got the impression that the crime solving aspect of the plot would go a lot further in terms of finding out who's running things. That was really interesting so it was disappointing not to see it go any further - or even be ended in some way which it isn't. It's just…left.

 

Aside from the ending I really liked this read. I loved Jay and Violet's relationship and while I thought it was way cuter in the first book I still love the two of them together. I would definitely recommend this read as a change to the usual paranormal YA - the body finding ability is a nice twist to things so I say give it a go.

 

My rating: 7/10

 

Kimberly Derting:

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The Body Finder:

1. The Body Finder
2. Desires of the Dead
3. The Last Echo
4. Dead Silence