The Harvester by Katy Glemser

The Harvester by Katy Glemser
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Summary: 

THE HARVESTER is the first book in a new trilogy simmering with conspiracy, insanity, and illicit romance - and a broken girl's struggle to break free.


Unbeknownst to modern America, a wealthy family is recycling their Southern plantation for the growth and harvesting of drugs. Eighteen-year-old Eden is one of their harvesters. From the moment she awakes to blazing sun and a Nixed mind in the middle of Master Uriah's poppy field, she begins her new life of harvesting opium. Uriah calls this - his growing, refining, and delivery of medicines to aid an elusive underground fight - his "holy work."

Eden calls it her hell.

But when Uriah's son, Todd, returns home to conduct the tests of an exclusive new drug with unparalleled abilities, Eden is chosen to be the testing subject. By meeting with Todd again and again inside the estate's mansion, she becomes entangled in his family's world of bloodlines and agendas. It is then that her own fight begins - a fight against the effects of the drug, her growing attraction to Todd, and the screams in her head that beg for the truth.

Welcome to McAvoy Manor.

I just finished reading this book a few hours ago and I am still hanging on... wanting to read more! Wow! Just WOW! My head is still spinning wondering what just happened! From the beginning, this book was like being dropped from the air...IN THE DARK. Not knowing when or where it was going to land had me so hooked, it was all I could think about when I HAD to put it down!

Starting the book, I felt as lost as Eden when she woke to a world that was strange and horrible. Her memories were gone, didn't know who she was, where she came from, or even her name. I felt like I was living Eden's life, trying to fit things together right along with her. Eden's character was one I could identify with in some ways. I do NOT like to be told what to do, especially without good reason! I felt myself cheering Eden on, even when she was being punished for being so disobedient.

Todd, the attractive(well.. hot,actually)son of the "evil drug-lord" comes along and my own judgement of character goes out the window! I struggled trusting him, even though I wanted to so badly. Being thrown into such a crazy place, trusting anyone would be difficult, but Todd was the "normal" one. He wasn't exposed to his fathers kind of crazy. There was promise of hope and love.

I had some reserves about reading this at first, because of the drug world. Thoughts of the Godfather, and mobsters was what I was expecting. BUT... that was far from the truth. Drug use was never praised or brought into a light that would be tempting to anyone. The plot is pretty heavy and for that reason I wouldn't recommend this book to my teens until they were 17. But I would recommend this book to any adult! If you are one who loves a fast-paced thriller, this one is for you.

Glemser's writing is such a pleasure to read, it's flow had me not noticing when chapters ended or began. I would come up from it, realizing I had been reading for hours!

My only complaint... THE CLIFFHANGER! I have a love-hate relationship with those because without it, I wouldn't want to read the next one so bad!

A few people recommended this book to me, including a friend of mine who happens to be a sister-in-law to the author. So I dove in head-first and I am so happy I did!

The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp

The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Summary:  

So, my girlfriend, Cassidy, is threatening to kick me to the curb again, my best friend suddenly wants to put the brakes on our lives of fabulous fun, my mom and big sister are plotting a future in which I turn into an atomic vampire, and my dad, well, my dad is a big fat question mark that I’m not sure I want the answer to.


Some people would let a senior year like this get them down. Not me. I’m Sutter Keely, master of the party. But don’t mistake a midnight philosopher like me for nothing more than a shallow party boy. Just ask Aimee, the new girl in my life. She saw the depth in the Sutterman from that first moment when she found me passed out on the front lawn. Okay, so she’s a social disaster, but that’s where I come in.

Yes, life is weird, but I embrace the weird. Let everyone else go marching off into their great shining futures if they want. Me, I’ve always been more than content to tip my whisky bottle and take a ride straight into the heart of the spectacular now.
Lesson learned: Just because there is a movie out there about a book does not mean the book is spectacular.

I cannot say I didn't enjoy this book, because I found myself laughing down right out loud while listening to this audiobook at work. Sutter's personality was outrageously great! I think we all had a Sutter character in our midst during our young teen years, the one who did all the crazy fun and outlandish stunts, making life just more entertaining.

But like most things in life, you have to face growing up. This is something Sutter doesn't want to do. So instead he find someone he is going to "help" come out of their shell and enjoy life. The problem with that is where do you draw the line. Do you pretend to like someone just to help them? Do you drag them down your miserable road thinking it is help?

I was torn between liking this and being annoyed by it. This takes place in a small town in Oklahoma with what sounds like nothing else to do but drink and party. Even though I loved Sutter's carefree way of thinking and his heart was really in the right place most of the time, I just couldn't get into this idea of leading on a girl by lying to her so he could give her experience and strength. It really rubbed me wrong. So it was an ethical question for me.

Lets just say I hated the ending! Without giving away much, I was so disappointed by the ending, it is the only reason I gave it 3 stars instead of 4. The ending is what leaves you with the taste in your mouth about the whole book. This one left me sour! I haven't seen the movie yet, not sure if I will because of its rating of R, but lets hope they changed it enough in the end to make people feel like it ended SOMEWHERE instead of dropping off into an abyss!

Here is the movie trailer... Enjoy!




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*New Adult* Holding On by Meg Jolie

Holding On by Meg Jolie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Summary:  

Quinn Johnson has known the McGrath boys for as long as she can remember.


Luke has been her best friend for most of her life. He’s always been there for her, catching fireflies with her, maneuvering the hazards of high school with her, attending college parties with her, and protecting her. He was the boy that she could always trust, the boy that stole her first kiss.

His older brother, Jake, was the one who teased them mercilessly while they were growing up. Yet, he was the one who would ultimately steal Quinn’s heart.

A surprise pregnancy and an unexpected tragedy are about to change everything.

Forever.

Friendship and family will be tested.

Quinn will find out that sometimes the only way to get through life is to hold on with everything you have. And other times…the only thing you can do is let go.

This book was a freebie I found on Kindle. I sometimes enjoy a good New Adult book if it's pretty clean. This one was cleaner than most and the story line was pretty good.

Most of the book felt like it was just character building. Don't get me wrong, I love diving into characters thoughts and getting to know them, but I just felt it was all the book was doing. In the middle of the book, I said.. Oh great, I know exactly where this is going.. so I kept waiting for something to happen, waiting for the big BAM of SOMETHING! When it did finally happen I was actually SHOCKED! Even though I felt like it was a long time coming, I didn't have a clue what it was going to be. It wasn't what I thought would happen!

I couldn't decide if I liked it to 4 stars or not, or maybe a 3.5. I think I didn't give it a 4 because it didn't give me much to latch on to until the end. I'm not sure if I will continue with the series, but my curiosity has grabbed me now.

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