Showing posts with label Julie Cross. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Julie Cross. Show all posts

Thursday, April 9, 2015

That's What HE Said Thursday #24

Image courtesy of Kei at The Lovely Pages Review

That's What HE Said is a weekly meme hosted by the wonderful ladies at Chapter Break. It's a chance for us to spotlight and gush over a quote from our current book crush to the object of his desire. We like to pretend it's us ;)

What better way to celebrate our book boyfriends?

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Nat has this week's quote from Whatever Life Throws At You by Julie Cross. You can read Nat's review here.


Jason Brody trying to comfort Annie Lucas during her first Tornado warning experience:

And then Jason Brody, hot rookie pitcher, is whispering Spanish verbs into my ear. “Estoy hablando, estás hablando, está hablando, están hablando.”

Heat crawls from my belly up to my neck and eventually my cheeks. “You’re going to be my tutor this week,” I whisper. “What about working and running and playing and sleeping…? Actually, just make up anything and say it in Spanish.”

He laughs softly and moves his hand lower, rubbing circles between my shoulder blades. He continues speaking into my ear, low and sexy, and it’s such a turn-on, I close my eyes and get lost in it. “Anoche soñé contigo y esta mañana no me quiero despertar… me haces feliz… Me gustaría poder decirte lo que siento… Quiero decirte todos mis secretos…”

She learns the translation later:
Last night I dreamed about you and this morning I didn't want to wake up… you make me happy… I'd like to be able to tell you what I feel… I want to tell you all my secrets... 

~ Jason to Annie
Whatever Life Throws At You
by Julie Cross
Whatever Life Throws at You


Thursday, October 30, 2014

Whatever Life Throws at You by Julie Cross

Whatever Life Throws at You
* * * *

Life loves a good curveball…

Seventeen-year-old Annie Lucas's life is completely upended the moment her dad returns to the major leagues as the new pitching coach for the Kansas City Royals. Now she's living in Missouri 
(too cold), attending an all-girls school (no boys), and navigating the strange world of professional sports. But Annie has dreams of her own—most of which involve placing first at every track meet…and one starring the Royals' super-hot rookie pitcher.

But nineteen-year-old Jason Brody is completely, utterly, and totally off-limits. Besides, her dad would kill them both several times over. Not to mention Brody has something of a past, and his fan club is filled with C-cupped models, not smart-mouthed high school “brats” who can run the pants off every player on the team. Annie has enough on her plate without taking their friendship to the next level. The 
last thing she should be doing is falling in love.

But baseball isn't just a game. It's life. And sometimes, it can break your heart…



Review:

When Jim Lucas is offered a job as a pitching coach for the Kansas City Royals, his daughter, Annie, makes him take it.  Annie realizes that this is not only an amazing job opportunity for her former MLB pitcher dad but she also thinks it  might be the perfect way to avoid her wandering mother who only shows up time to time to wreak havoc on the Lucas household.  But although there are amazing perks to moving to Kansas City (a new house, an amazing school with the best track team in the state, a caretaker for Grams) there are also some obstacles.  There’s the fact that the team owner is not amused with the team manager’s decision to hire Jim Lucas.  His job is tenuous at best.  The other obstacle?  Jason Brody.  He’s super hot.  He’s not much older than her.  And he’s completely off limits.

The ball club is buzzing with rumors about rookie pitcher, Jason Brody.  He’s a drop out.  He’s an ex-con.  He killed a man.  Just kidding.  Not that last one.  Fortunately, Brody is smart and he keeps his mouth shut as his teammates talk shit about what he may or may not have done in his past.  The only rumor he’s willing to confirm or deny is the fact that he’s an amazing pitcher.  He might be young and new but Jason Brody is determined to show the world that he and his new coach, Jim Lucas, are indispensable. 

Julie Cross does an amazing job of treading that sometimes fine line between Young Adult and New Adult.  Since Brody and Jim are constantly working together, it’s no surprise that Annie and Brody become friends.  Annie is a seventeen year old high school junior.  In a different world, the 1 ½ year age difference between her and Brody would seem rather inconsequential.  But considering he’s a rising MLB star that is constantly in the limelight and she is just a regular kid that still has a year and a half before heading to college, the gap between their ages and their current positions in life seem insurmountable.   Annie feels like a kid next to Brody and the life he is leading.  Brody definitely doesn’t see Annie as a kid, but a relationship between them would cause all sorts of issues.  With Jim Lucas.  With the team owner.  With the media.  Together, Brody and Annie need to figure out if the relationship they both want so much is possible and if the risks are worth it.

I have a confession.  I've been unfaithful to the American League.  I’m a White Sox fan.  So you would think I’d be cheering on the Kansas City Royals during this year's World Series.  But no, I’m a fickle baseball fan.  I have so much shame (not really) in admitting that I think Buster Posey (San Francisco Giants catcher) is cuter than fluffy puppies, prickly hedgehogs and smiling turtles.   And I pretty much would do anything to again see that cuteness rushing the pitcher mound after winning the Series.   And by “anything”, I mean cheering on the Giants. 
But today?  After reading Whatever Life Throws at You?  As I simultaneously write this review and watch the second game of the Giants/Royals series?  Today I’m feeling a little guilty.  You see, I’m also a little in love with Jason Brody.  And although he might be a fictional character, I can’t help but imagine him up there on that pitcher’s mound when the Giants are up to bat.   And if a book can make me consider switching baseball loyalties to support its main characters, then that’s a good book indeed.

If you love romance and baseball do yourself a favor and buy yourself a copy of Whatever Life Throws at You by Julie Cross.  You won’t be disappointed.


Nat

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Third Degree by Julie Cross

***
I used to be "Isabel Jenkins, child prodigy." As lame as that sounds, at least it was an identity.  But now I'm not sure what I am.  I just failed the most important exam of my life - the emotional readiness test required to get into a medical residency program - and it turns out my parents can't stand each other.  Now I'm trying to figure out how to pick up the pieces of my life, and that means re-enrolling as a college freshman, but this time I'm shutting the books and majoring in being eighteen.  

But so far, my roommate hates me and I'm not into the party scene.   The only good thing about school has been getting to know my insanely hot RA.  Marshall Collins makes me wonder about everything I missed while I was growing up too fast.  Pretty soon we're hanging out constantly, but for the first time, I find myself wanting more than a no-strings-attached physical relationship.  And the lesson I really need is one Marsh definitely can't teach me: love.  Because I'm going to be alone forever if I don't learn fast.  

Isabel is a cross between Doogie Howser and Sheldon Cooper, which makes for some hilariously awkward moments.  She has absolutely no concept of inappropriate behavior or tact, so it's hard to feel anything for her.  Despite her high IQ, she's childish, immature and emotionally stunted.  I couldn't agree more with her supervisor's decision that she was not emotionally ready to be a doctor.  

Marsh on the other hand is awesome.  He's smart, dedicated, driven, sweet and understanding.  And hot, let's not forget hot.  I can't really figure out why he would fall for Isabel, he's far too good for her.  

With the funny social awkwardness and hot boys, Third Degree is an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.  If you like new adult romances, you should check this one out.

~Shel


Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Waiting on Wednesday (92)


Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that highlights future releases that we are excitedly anticipating.



Third DegreeBy Julie Cross
Publication Date: March 25, 2014

Fans of Monica Murphy and Tammara Webber will savor this New Adult novel—a story about coming of age in the heat of the moment—from Julie Cross, the internationally bestselling author of the Tempest trilogy.

I used to be “Isabel Jenkins, child prodigy.” As lame as that sounds, at least it was an identity. But now I’m not sure what I am. I just failed the most important exam of my life—the emotional readiness test required to get into a medical residency program—and it turns out my parents can’t stand each other. Now I’m trying to figure out how to pick up the pieces of my life, and that means re-enrolling as a college freshman, but this time I’m shutting the books and majoring in being eighteen.

But so far, my roommate hates me and I’m not into the party scene. The only good thing about school has been getting to know my insanely hot RA. Marshall Collins makes me wonder about everything I missed while I was growing up too fast. Pretty soon we’re hanging out constantly, but for the first time, I find myself wanting more than a no-strings-attached physical relationship. And the lesson I really need is one Marsh definitely can’t teach me: love. Because I’m going to be alone forever if I don’t learn fast.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday (41)


Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that highlights future releases that we are excitedly anticipating.




By Julie Cross
Publication Date:  January 15, 2013


Julie Cross's Vortex is the thrilling second installment of the Tempest series, inwhich the world hangs in the balance as a lovelorn Jackson must choose who to save
Jackson Meyer has thrown himself into his role as an agent for Tempest, the shadowy division of the CIA that handles all time-travel-related threats. Despite his heartbreak at losing the love of his life, Jackson has proved himself to be an excellent agent. However, after an accidental run in with Holly—the girl he altered history to save—Jackson is once again reminded of what he's lost. And when Eyewall, an opposing division of the CIA, emerges, Jackson and his fellow agents not only find themselves under attack, but Jackson begins to discover that the world around him has changed and someone knows about his erased relationship with Holly, putting both their lives at risk all over again.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Happy New Year Giveaway Hop!




We are happy to be participating in the Happy New Year Giveaway Hop hosted by I Am A Reader and Not A Writer and Babs Book Bistro from now until January 3, 2012.  2011 has been a good year, in addition to many personal achievements for the BiblioJunkies, 2011 marked the year we finally stopped talking about a book blog and actually started a book blog!  The five months we have been the BiblioJunkies has been so much fun and we have gotten to meet and get to know so many fantastic people. 

We are looking forward to an even better 2012 and hope you all continue to share our love of books, boys and pie in the new year!  So to get 2012 started out right, we are giving away an ARC of Tempest by Julie Cross and a signed copy of Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (because let's face it, we could all use a little Patch to keep us warm on a winter's night).  Unfortunately, this is a U.S. giveaway only.




So, you know the drill.  Use the Rafflecopter below to enter.  On January 4 or 5 we will announce the winner.  We hope you all have a safe and fun New Year's celebration.  There are 202 blogs participating in the Hop, so good luck!

~Shel

Tempest by Julie Cross

* * * 1/2

The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.
Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.



When we received Tempest, I fully admit to trying to pawn it off on Shel and Bel.  The fact is time travel drives me batty.  The impossibilities and incomprehensible ramifications of it keeps me from fully enjoying and appreciating a time travel story.  I can't even watch Back to the Future without getting all worked up and starting an argument with The Executive Officer about how impossible time travel is.  So imagine my chagrin when I found out that Shel is not a big time travel either and Bel was already committed to a few other reads.  So I took one for the team and read the dreaded time travel story....

...and all I have to say is that Julie Cross is a genius.  Tempest manages to be the first time travel story that didn't make me want to pull my hair out.  The non-stop action never allowed me to overly dwell on the time travel issues that I have.  The book read like an action movie and consistently kept me on the edge of my seat so much that I couldn't wait to turn the page to see what happened next. 

I personally found the main character in this book pretty engaging.  Jackson starts out as a jackass commitment-phobe but grows considerably as he learns exactly what his abilities entail.  His friend Adam was the cliche genius that helps him find the answers to his abilites.  In the end though, he was a loveable character so I couldn't hold the cliche status against him. The most fascinating characters in this book were the more mysterious secondary chracters - Courtney, the little red head girl, Thomas and Jackson's father.  I look forward to learning more about these characters in the next two books.

The one thing that I didn't enjoy about this book was the romance.  Jackson and Holly's relationship lacked emotion and intensity.  Holly's character was nice enough not well developed which made the interest between the two of them seem rather one sided.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the next two installments in the trilogy.

Nat

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday (5)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that highlights future releases that we are excitedly anticipating.




By Lisa Kleypas
Publication Date: February 28, 2012

Lucy Marinn is a glass artist living in mystical, beautiful, Friday Harbor, Washington. She is stunned and blindsided by the most bitter kind of betrayal: her fiancé Kevin has left her. His new lover is Lucy’s own sister. Lucy's bitterness over being dumped is multiplied by the fact that she has constantly made the wrong choices in her romantic life. Facing the severe disapproval of Lucy's parents, Kevin asks his friend Sam Nolan, a local vineyard owner on San Juan Island, to "romance" Lucy and hopefully loosen her up and get her over her anger. Complications ensue when Sam and Lucy begin to fall in love, Kevin has second thoughts, and Lucy discovers that the new relationship in her life began under false pretenses. Questions about love, loyalty, old patterns, mistakes, and new beginnings are explored as Lucy learns that some things in life—even after being broken—can be made into something new and beautiful


By Julie Cross
Publication Date:  January 17, 2012


The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.
That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.
Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.



Sunday, November 6, 2011

A Peek in the Biblio-Bin #8

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. It is a way for bloggers to share what books they have won, received for review, bought from the bookstore, borrowed from the library or friend, etc.


This week Shel share her finds.





A modern retelling of the German fairy tale "Tristan and Isolde," Tris and Izzie is about a young witch named Izzie who is dating Mark King, the captain of the basketball team and thinks her life is going swimmingly well. Until -- she makes a love potion for her best friend Brangane and then ends up taking it herself accidentally, and falling in love with Tristan, the new guy at school




The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.





Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,

To storm or fire the world must fall.

An oath to keep with a final breath,

And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.


Percy is confused. When he awoke from his long sleep, he didn't know much more than his name. His brain fuzz is lingering, even after the wolf Lupa tol him he is a demigod and trained him to fight with the pen/sword in his pocket. Somehow Percy manages to make it to a camp for half-bloods, despite the fact that he has to keep killing monsters along the way. But the camp doesn't ring and bells with him. The only thing he can recall from his past is another name: Annabeth

Hazel is supposed to be dead. When she lived before, she didn't do a very good job of it. Sure, she was an obedient daughter, even when her mother was possessed by greed. But that was the problem - when the Voice took over he mother and commanded Hazel to use her "gift" for and evil purpose, Hazel couldn't say no. Now because of her mistake, the future of the world is at risk. Hazel wished she could ride away from it all on the stallion that appears in her dreams.

Frank is a klutz. His grandmother says he is descended from heroes and can be anything he wants to be, but he doesn't see it. He doesn't even know who his father is. He keeps hoping Apollo will claim him, because the only thing he is good at is archery - although not good enough to win camp war games. His bulky physique makes him feel like an ox, especially infront of Hazel, his closest friend at camp. He trusts her completely - enough to share the secret he holds close to his heart.

Beginning at the "other" camp for half-bloods and extending as far as the land beyond the gods, this breathtaking second installment of the Heroes od Olympus series introduces new demigods, revives fearsome monsters, and features other remarkable creatures, all destined to play a part in the Prophesy of Seven



Tell us what reads you are looking forward to this week!