Blurred Lines by SC Montgomery is Now Available & Reviewed

What would you do to be free?

Trapped in a home full of rage and violence, Jonah King has had to fight for every scrap of good that life has ever tossed his way. But will it ever be enough?

Will he?

Sometimes, the lines are blurred between good and evil, love and hate, and when Jonah meets Autumn Garrett, he finds that he’s not the only one fighting for salvation.

Can love this raw be real? More importantly, will they survive to find out?

Gritty and emotional, Blurred Lines is a gut-wrenching, heartrending roller coaster ride through the ups and downs, twists and turns of life, showing us that the most brilliant beauty can be found in the darkest reaches of despair. More than Romeo and Juliet retold, this is no fairy tale. This is survival at the most basic level—the heart.

***Reader Warning*** This book touches on serious issues, meant for mature readers. My characters may be seventeen going on eighteen, but they deal with things far past their years. There are major themes of abuse, as well as some foul language and sexual content. Please read at your own discretion.

Also, Blurred Lines can standalone, but to avoid any big spoilers, I’d highly recommend reading Lines in the Sand and Two Blue Lines first. Happy Reading!

Book 2
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I leaned in slowly and let my eyes fall shut. I breathed in the sweet scent of him and the ocean as his lips touched mine gently. He kissed me like I was a precious thing and tears threatened.

Drawing back, he ran his fingers through my hair and cupped the back of my head. “I think I like you a little too much.”

“How can you like someone too much?”

“When they have the power to break your heart.”

I met his dark eyes, saw the things he kept hidden. “You’ve had your heart broken.” I didn’t ask, I could see it.

“Not by a girl.”

“Then who?”

He let me go and sat back. “Everyone else.”

I didn’t know what to say to that so I didn’t say anything. How could he not see we were the same? Scared and alone in this world, never fitting in. Until now. Until each other.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Mary Jo – ☆☆☆☆
Tackling the issues of domestic violence and physical abuse is hard at any age, but when it involves teens, it makes the story all the more heartbreaking. Each family in this story has varying degrees of success or failure which leads to episodes of violence toward the wives and children.

What we learn is that domestic violence transcends socioeconomic factors and impacts each family in horrible and tragic ways. Jonah's older brother died after a bar fight and Autumn's father kicked her brother, Gavin, out of the house for standing up to him. Each teen is older and wiser than their years suggest, and they do their best to keep their relationship from becoming tainted by the anger that surrounds them.

As their romance progresses, both Jonah and Autumn have to face hard truths about their families and whether or not their happiness is worth sacrificing the people who love them.

A very realistic story in which the author takes a heartbreaking and heartfelt issue and pens a story that I think every teen should read.

SC Montgomery is a self-proclaimed nerd and readaholic.  She has dabbled in telling stories since she was very young by letting her imagination play out with her Barbie dolls and her bestie many a weekend.  She also writes Contemporary adult romance under the pen name Shauna Allen, and it was in one of those novels that the YA bug bit when she wrote in a teenager loosely based on her own son.  Her first story, Lines in the Sand, was penned as a gift for her mother, but was published with her blessing, and it’s just taken off from there.

SC is married with three children—one son in the Air Force and two teenage daughters—who give her plenty of inspiration and advice, and are a constant source of laughter and new terminology.  Besides writing, she loves reading, movies, singing and dancing reality shows and going to the beach.

Connect with SC

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Blurred Lines (Crossing the Line #2) by S.C. Montgomery to read and review for this tour.

Finding Perfect by Kendra C. Highley

How far will you go for perfection?

For "Perfect Paige" Westfeld, today is "D" Day. As in, she just got one on her calculus test. With her dreams of Stanford, her reputation, and her parents' expectations at stake, Paige needs to find a way to save face before everything she's worked for goes up in flames.

Ben Franklin (yes, he's related) is from the wrong side of town, with the wrong clothes and the wrong kind of life. He also knows an opportunity when he sees one, and he'll be happy to tutor Paige-if she makes him into the kind of guy her best friend, the hottest girl in school, will date.

It's the perfect arrangement. And Paige is determined not even the inconvenient-and utterly imperfect-attraction simmering between her and Ben will ruin it...

This Entangled Teen Crush book contains swoony situations, adult language, and a perfectly imperfect hero with an eye for calculus and a heart of gold.

Book 1
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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆
4 Teenage Angst Stars

Perfect Paige's life is imploding from too much stress. Everyone asks her for help and expects her to, not only do it, but to do a perfect job. Committees, student council, volunteering, schoolwork, piano.

At 17, in the beginning of her senior year, her entire life is already mapped out for her by her parents. Her father wants her to take over his practice when he retires, and her mother sees Paige's accomplishments as her own – to do well is to make her parents proud. Set on the career path of neurology, Paige must be better than 4th in her class, because she needs to get into Stanford – her father's alma mater. Unlike the rest of her fellow students, Paige's course load is heavy, and Calculus is bringing down her GPA, especially with a D.

Ben is #3 in the senior class, smart but from the wrong side of the tracks, working several jobs to survive while working even harder in school for scholarships. He's a nice guy, labeled as a geek because he's intelligent. He's had a crush on Paige's best friend for two years, and he'd do anything to get a date with her.

Ben has what Paige needs, and she has what he wants. Ben will help Paige in Calculus, for payment: get him a date with her popular BFF.

We all see where this is going, right? Imagine The Duff mixed with She's All That, but in reverse, and you have a recipe for the perfect Young Adult novel.

Kendra C. Highley is a new-to-me author, and I found her writing style fluid, flowing rapidly and engaging, with realistic, age-appropriate characterization. Paige was written as an A-type personality, yet a people pleaser. She's always been in the shadows of her BFF. Ben was a boy, who wanted the popular girl because of her looks and status, coveting someone he didn't even know, as if only appearance matters, which is more insulting than flattering but that's classic guy behavior.

The conflict of the tale was Paige's parents, but I felt they were written realistically, and I could see both Paige's and their stance. The BFF was written as supportive instead of back-stabbing and manipulative.

Finding Perfect elicited the warm glow of a first crush, the fear of rejection, and unrequited love. I recommend this title to young adults and those young at heart, and I look forward to the next in the series.

Young Adult age-range: 13+. Kissing.


Jordan – ☆☆☆☆
Paige Westfield, also known as "Perfect Paige," has it all figured out: get into Stanford University, get into medical school, and take over her father's family practice. There's just one tiny hitch, she's failing calculus and she's starting to see her perfectly laid out future slipping through her fingers.

Ben Franklin is a smart guy, but he's from the wrong side of town and wearing the wrong kind of clothes. Fortunately, Ben has been crushing on Paige's best friend, Zoey, the hottest girl in school, for as long as he can remember, and he'll help Paige pass her calculus class if she can make him into the kind of guy Zoey would date.

I really liked Finding Perfect, it was a nice quick read with the perfect blend of romance! Paige is such an easy character to relate to, and Ben was just too cute! Also, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I ended up liking Zoey, her best friend, and I am totally looking forward to reading her own story in book two. I will say some of these YA books make me feel like I'm too old to be reading them, but this definitely isn't one of them. If you're looking for your next summer beach read, this one will be a perfect fit!

For fans of Kasie West and Jenny Han, this book is a must read!

Kendra C. Highley lives in north Texas with her husband and two children. She also serves as staff to four self-important and high-powered cats. This, according to the cats, is her most critical job. She believes in everyday magic, extraordinary love stories, and the restorative powers of dark chocolate.

Connect with Kendra

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Brought to you by

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Finding Perfect (Finding Perfect #1) by Kendra C. Highley to read and review. Review copy was purchased by the blog.

Finding the Upside of Down by Dionie McNair

Broken by bullying, Tabitha volunteers and finds just what she needs to mend her life.

Being bullied has always been part of Tabitha Cockell’s life. Since first grade her tormentor, Amelia, has hounded her with cruel taunts, name-calling and nasty rumors both face to face and online. She attempts suicide, but is saved in the nick of time by the guy she has just started dating after he reads her suicide note on Facebook.

Survival means she has to face life, but she doesn’t know how until she sees a crew of State Emergency Service volunteers at work. She finds the courage to join, and her decision soon has her seeing and understanding life from a whole new perspective.

Reader Advisory: This book contains scenes of bullying, verbal abuse and an attempted suicide.

Publisher's Note: This book has previously been published elsewhere. It has been revised and re-edited for re-release with Finch Books.

Buy Links

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Finch Books

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆
Dionie McNair is a new-to-me author

3 Stars.

5 stars on the premise, minus the execution and lack of maturity in the characters. I can’t hand out a favorable review just because the book is about tough subject matter. If this book had been written in a younger age-range, perhaps 14 year olds instead of college-age adults, I could have forgiven the immaturity of the voice. To be totally honest, it felt as if a more mature person was writing this novel, envisioning how a college freshman would think, but ended up sounding more like a freshman in high school using adult words instead.

Finding the Upside of Down has a good premise and a well-written blurb, but the writing style isn’t delivering. Tabitha is a college freshman, who has been bullied since kindergarten by Amelia.

The first day of college Amelia shows up to bully Tabitha continuously. Why I find this not realistic and difficult to read: It’s almost a mockery of how it truly is to bully and be bullied. Perhaps if this took place during junior high or high school, I could have bought into it.

Amelia is almost comically bad at being a villain. The taunts, teases, and bullying tactics are more of a 10-year-old, not a grown adult in college. How small is this college campus and surrounding town to be everywhere Tabitha is without searching for her? Who has the time when they are paying for an education, studying, working, social and family life, to always be where Tabitha is, from day one. How did Amelia even know where to be, when Tabitha herself was just learning where she had to be?

Amelia was a step ahead, when Tabitha’s steps weren’t predestined but just taken at random. The odds of her knowing Tabitha’s class schedule, managing to be in said classes, and getting to locations prior to Tabitha when they left at the same time, knowing her brand new unlisted cellphone number… and so on. Knowing when she texted her friends and didn't receive a reply.

In a college class with 17+ year olds, one student is 22, maybe one or two would have laughed at Tabitha and found Amelia funny. But the other students would have found her as ridiculous as I did. Comically bad, juvenile, a disturbed mentality, perhaps mentally ill.

These students are paying for an education, and there to work. They are intelligent individuals and wouldn’t have time for Amelia disrupting a class in which they work hard to pay for it. The age range at a college, which provides continuing education for adults, would be up to retirement age. I can't see many standing by and accepting this.

I also need to add, stalking and harassment is a crime – not a ‘just ignore it.’ I would have taken the text messages and threatening notes and had Amelia arrested. The just ignore it felt irresponsible to read, especially since this is a young adult novel.

While I believe bullying is a huge issue people face on a daily basis, and a premise worth exploring in literature, I felt the execution of it during this novel was too over-the-top and juvenile for the age-range of the characters.

Examples:

Amelia leaving a box of pregnancy tests on the counter in a public bathroom at college. Tabitha was mortified someone would think they belonged to her. Why? Who cares? That’s an expensive prank with no payoff. What are the odds anyone would be in the bathroom at the same time? So what if someone thinks the tests belong to Tabitha the adult? Why would anyone jump to the conclusion the tests were Tabitha’s just because they were on the counter? This is shaming to women, as if getting pregnant is shameful. A woman may raise an eyebrow when seeing the test, but that's it. Maybe ask if you need some moral support. I don't know what world these grown women are from – junior high, I suspect. Wouldn't it have been more embarrassing for Amelia when she bought the tests, than to leave them on the counter for Tabitha to find? Checking out is in public, the restroom is in private.

Amelia knocking all the stuff off Tabitha’s desk, then snickering as she walked away, leaving Tabitha to feel mortified. I’m at a loss how this is humiliating for Tabitha – infuriating, yes. Mortifying or humiliating – how? I’ve accidentally knocked someone’s belongings over, and *I* felt like a moron and apologized, and the other person had no blame placed on them whatsoever. No one cares – they're in college to get an education. Just as they don’t know what’s in the notes placed on Tabitha’s desk (considering she sat at different desks, I was unsure how Amelia guessed which desk to place it on) so why would they all snicker as Tabitha opened a threatening note? Who cares? The other students don’t. They don’t know either of them, nor would they laugh for no reason.

Amelia showing up at Tabitha's job...

The juvenile bent to the story, when set in an adult world, the voice of the narrator being at least five or more years younger than her age group, made reading a book which should have been profound, to be a chore.

Recommended for young adults, even if this is listed in the New Adult age-range. I would suggest actual children, not those who read the young adult genre as adults, as I do.

Will I read more by this author? To be honest, the writing style is not to my tastes.

Dionie was a closet writer for several years before she got brave enough to share her work with anyone until she joined Eyre Writers Inc, a creative writing group in the seaside town of Port Lincoln and really began to improve.

Her first book was a 100,000 words family saga novel, but after studying children’s literature at university she embarked on a new direction—writing a young adult fantasy novel.

After being made redundant from the job she loved in 2011 she became a carer for her frail, vision-impaired mother and turned to fulfilling her dream of becoming a writer.

When Dionie is not writing she enjoys spending time with family and friends, especially her mother, and three wonderful adult children and adorable grandchildren. She also enjoys egg decorating and carving, reading of course, painting, gardening and cooking.

Dionie currently lives in the beautiful ‘city of churches’, Adelaide South Australia.

Connect with Dionie

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Finding the Upside of Down by Dionie McNair to read and review.

Life After Juliet by Shannon Lee Alexander

Becca Hanson is a reader-a voracious reader. And with all those fictional friends, she never had time for real ones. Plus real ones come with uncontrollable quirks, like constantly filling a room with song, drawing on any available surface, and worst of all, dying. Real friends are more trouble than they're worth. Since her best-and only-real friend Charlotte's death six months before, Becca has returned to a life of books in order to distance herself from heartache and constant loneliness as her junior year at Sandstone High begins.

When a class project forces her into the Drama Club, she attracts the attention of not one, but TWO guys involved in the production, onstage and off. Meanwhile, she's still dealing with the grief of Charlotte's death--the fact that Charlie is away at MIT--and that she finally has to build a life for herself on her own terms. Ultimately she learns more about who she is, what she wants, how she feels--and how to find what she's looking for. (And while she isn't sure what comes next, she's pretty sure there'll be more kissing involved.)

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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Veronica – ☆☆☆☆
Becca is grieving the death of her best and only friend, Charlotte. She spends every minute she can with her head buried in a book, avoiding the world, her grief, and making connections with people. She is socially awkward and thinks people don't notice her. But they do.

When Becca face plants into Max's lap in class, and after a little pursuing from Max, they become friends and Becca starts to come out of her shell. She signs up for the school play and starts to live. Charlotte's death and grief hang heavily over Becca as happiness in her new life wars with guilt over moving on.

The lovely teen romance between Max and Becca moves slowly and is PG rated. Becca's relationship with Max is important in her new life, but so are the people around her. Max's best mate, Victor, provides comic relief while frienemy, Darby, helps hold a mirror up to Becca's life, forcing her to face things she'd rather avoid.

This is a beautiful story about a girl learning to move out of her comfort zone and live life after the death of a loved one. I note this is a companion book to Love and Other Unknown Variables but I read it as a standalone. Love and Other Unknown Variables has been added to my 'to read' list but knowing what I know, I'm not sure if my heart can take reading Charlie's story. Perhaps I need to take a leaf out of Becca's book and move out of my own comfort zone.

Shannon Alexander was compelled to write this story after the death of her best friend to ovarian cancer. She is a member of SCBWI and She Writes, and works as a copy editor for Sucker Literary, a showcase for new and undiscovered writers of young adult literature. She recently completed her seventh Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure in Washington D.C., and is an active supporter of cancer research.

Connect with Shannon

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Life After Juliet by Shannon Lee Alexander to read and review.

The Secret Life of a Dream Girl by Tracy Deebs

Hiding in plain sight is harder than it looks…

Dahlia Greene—aka international pop superstar Cherry—is undercover as a normal high school student. She just wants to experience what real life is like, so when she overhears hottie Keegan Matthews nervously talking about liking a girl, she sees the perfect opportunity to live a real life and play a little matchmaker. What was not part of the plan was falling for a guy she can never tell the truth.

Keegan Matthews has been secretly crushing on Dahlia ever since she started at his school. Sure, Dahlia thinks he’s crushing on some other girl—not realizing his Dream Girl is actually her—but he figures, play along with her tips to woo someone else, let her get to know him, and then make his move. But with so many secrets in the mix, their romance is doomed from the start…

Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains adult language, references to drinking and drugs, and a kiss so steamy it’ll fog up your ereader.

Book 4
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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆☆
5 Angsty, banterific stars.

Tracy Deebs is a new-to-me author.

The Creative HeArts series is like 4 trilogies wrapped up in one large series featuring the same cast of characters in/around a performing arts school.

Excuse me for not giving a coherent review, as I'm going to go full-out fangirl on your behind. Reading every page voraciously, because I wanted to know what would happen next, I was dreading reaching the final page, because I never wanted the book to end.

For both young adult and those young at heart, The Secret Life of a Dream Girl has a Hannah Montana vs Miley Cyrus meets Lindsay Lohan feel. Dahlia, aka international ex-Disney star Cherry, has emancipated herself from her controlling father who leaks false information to the press to create more controversy around the 17-year-old girl. The version the public sees is not the true person Dahlia is.

Keegan is an all-around good guy, who happens to have a crush on Dahlia, the girl who sticks to the shadows, watching but never participating. Chatting with his friend, Jacen, about his dream girl, Dahlia overhears and decides to put herself out there by making a new friend after a conversation she had with Finn.

Obviously Keegan takes his crush up on her quest to get him the girl of his dreams as a way to be closer to her.

Yes, this premise has been written in countless young adult novels, but there is a reason the trope stands the test of time. It's an irresistible angsty, guilty pleasure that had me clicking the pages at a rapid rate. Keegan and Dahlia had great chemistry, camaraderie, and a realistic non-insta connection.

Added onto top of the romance is the realistic view of how celebrities have no privacy and are taken advantage, as well as Keegan's father going through a life-threatening cancer.

This book is not a standalone, the 4th book in a series of trilogies. While it is open-ended, it was a satisfying end to the novel, and a promising start to the next. Each book I end, I want the next before I'm even finished, even knowing in the cycle of books, it will be a different couple. The disappointment quickly fades, since I then get hooked on the next couple and the next...

Be patient – these are not instant gratification novels.

Here – have a guide (guesstimate by yours truly)

Sloane & Tru = books 1, 5, 9
Willa & Finn = books 2, 6, 10
Mariley & Cabot = books 3, 7, 11
Dahlia & Keegan = books 4, 8, 12

Authors? Yoohoo? Can we please add Jacen & Himish to this lineup? Pretty please? Just one book, even? A novella? Short story?

Young adult age-range: 14+ due to adult language. Kissing.

Also Available in the Creative HeArts Series

Book 1
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For reviews & more info, check out our Ten Things Sloane Hates About Tru post.

Book 2
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For reviews & more info, check out our How Willa Got Her Groove Back post.

Book 3
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For reviews & more info, check out our Crazy, Stupid, Fauxmance post.

Award-winning author Tracy Deebs collects old vinyl, new books and bold lipsticks and has been known to forget where—and sometimes who—she is when immersed in a great novel. At six she wrote her first short story—something with a rainbow and a prince—and at seven she forayed into the wonderful world of girls lit with her first Judy Blume novel. And from the first page of that first book, Tracy knew she’d found her life-long love. Now a successful author with 41 published novels to her various names, she loves spending her days writing in her pajamas, drinking too much tea and exploring fun and funky new places in her current hometown of Austin, Texas.

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The Secret Life of a Dream Girl (Creative HeArts #4) by Tracy Deebs to read and review.