Relic(ARC) by Renee Collins

"After a raging fire consumes her town and kills her parents, Maggie Davis is on her own to protect her younger sister and survive best she can in the Colorado town of Burning Mesa. In Maggie’s world, the bones of long-extinct magical creatures such as dragons and sirens are mined and traded for their residual magical elements, and harnessing these relics’ powers allows the user to wield fire, turn invisible, or heal even the worst of injuries.

Working in a local saloon, Maggie befriends the spirited showgirl Adelaide and falls for the roguish cowboy Landon. But when she proves to have a particular skill at harnessing the relics’ powers, Maggie is whisked away to the glamorous hacienda of Álvar Castilla, the wealthy young relic baron who runs Burning Mesa. Though his intentions aren’t always clear, Álvar trains Maggie in the world of relic magic. But when the mysterious fires reappear in their neighboring towns, Maggie must discover who is channeling relic magic for evil before it’s too late.
Relic is a thrilling adventure set in a wholly unique world, and a spell-binding story of love, trust, and the power of good."

Relic(ARC) by Renee Collins
400 pages

Renee Collins has created an amazing, interesting world based on our mundane history of the old west. The old west revamped into a magical world filled with extinct mythical creatures we could only dream of meeting in reality.

Relics are the remains of magical creatures that used to inhabit the earth(much similar to the long extinct dinosaurs of the real world) that still possess some of the powers of said magical creatures. Humans have been mining for them and using them for years. The powers are mainly the 5 main elements of the world(water, fire, earth, wind, and spirit).

Maggie Davis is actually one of the more regular characters in this novel. Her family is the most important thing in her life and she just wants to basically give her little sister the world after their parents and brother die because of a mysterious group of people. Moving into Burning Mesa, Maggie tries to get their lives back on track by working at the town's local saloon. Of course, her little sister can't exactly stay with her there. Her sister is forced to stay somewhere else while Maggie is busy making money by cleaning tables.

Álvar is the rich, young, charming hacienda that owns most of Burning Mesa. By fate(or coincidence), Maggie meets him and begins to work at his saloon. Is Álvar just being kind and generous or does he have his own hidden agenda?

Throughout this whole novel, Maggie is forced to make decisions that affect the well-being of her sister and herself. She gets entangled in things of her past and things that she's just discovering about herself. Between making new friends and trying to solidify her life, she can't possibly be crushing on some cowboy, right?

This is actually one of those books where I am pretty set on buying a copy of. I will admit, at first, I thought this would not be the kind of book for me. I shudder just at the thought of the old west. Renee Collins has transformed my opinion on this. She's sucked me into this world and I am very, very, much looking forward to a sequel to this. Definitely a 5 of 5 stars book!

Since You Asked(ARC) by Maurene Goo

"A humorous, debut novel about a Korean-American teenager who accidentally lands her own column in her high school newspaper, and proceeds to rant her way through the school year while struggling to reconcile the traditional Korean values of her parents with contemporary American culture."

Since You Asked(ARC) by Maurene Goo
262 pages

If the summary up there doesn't interest you, then I don't know what will.

Holly Kim is a realistic, albeit very dramatic at times, sophomore in high school. Like any other student with strict parents, Holly has been forced to maintain straight A's and to stay off the radar of the school's cliche pyramid of popularity. She's also part of The Weasel Times, her school's newspaper. One very boring day, Holly basically rewrites a whole entire article and chaos ensues.

Not without the help of her three best friends, of course.

From writing her column to hanging out with her friends, Holly has a lot to work with. What happens when she can't make everyone happy with her snarky articles?

Hey, let's not forget that Holly has to deal with secret admirers, Thanksgiving dinner, and big misunderstandings. Holly deals with all of these events and more while living out her everyday life of a student.

I could barely put this book down, let alone not give it 5 of 5 stars!

Maureen Goo has created a humorous, realistic story with quirky characters and moment-ruining guys that you'll absolutely love! I mean, there are mother to daughter arguments every so often that get a bit over-the-top, but there are also those moments where you just have to close the book and sort of making a dying whale sound. In a good way, of course.

I love how Holly eventually uses her column and changes the way everyone starts thinking about things in their everyday school life. Holly battles unjust systems within her school, is forced to do things she'd never do otherwise, and is basically experiences life. She slowly becomes more of herself and she starts taking a bit more risks, regardless of the problems ahead. A bit dauntless, but what's life without some risks?

Now I just have to go to the nearest book store and buy this whenever I get the chance!

Promise Me Something(ARC) by Sara Kocek

"As if starting high school weren't bad enough, Reyna Fey has to do so at a new school without her best friends. Reyna's plan is to keep her head down, help her father recover from the car accident that almost took his life, and maybe even make some friends. And then Olive Barton notices her. Olive is not exactly the kind of new friend Reyna has in mind. The boys make fun of her, the girls want to fight her, and Olive seems to welcome the challenge. There's something about Olive that Reyna can't help but like. But when Reyna learns Olive's secret, she must decide whether it's better to be good friends with an outcast or fake friends with the popular kids. . . .before she loses Olive forever."

Promise Me Something by Sara Kocek
320 pages
To be released on September 1st, 2013

To be honest, I was pretty sure I was going to end up disliking this book. I'm happy to say that that isn't the case at all!

At first, I absolutely could not stand most of the characters. Take Reyna, for example. She is stuck in the past, for lack of a better way to put it. Her mother passed away when she was a kid and now her father was almost killed. By a car accident that his girlfriend, Lucy, caused by going past a stop sign. Needless to say, Reyna isn't a very big fan of her. Reyna's trying to make friends, but Olive isn't exactly what she's looking for... Sadly for Reyna, she'll just have to take what she can get.

Olive is the outcast of the school. She's a very big complainer and she's very bitter about everything. Even with Reyna's reluctance to be her friend, Olive is determined to stay.

Throughout the whole book, Reyna is wishing that she was with her best friends, at the high school that she was originally supposed to go to. What happens when Olive isn't as bad as she thought she was? And then there's that secret Olive's been keeping...

Reyna isn't really used to not having any friends. She has a group of best friends she's known since she was a kid. They've been together through good times and bad. What happens when Reyna's feeling left out, not a part of the group anymore?

The plot is probably my most favorite part of the whole book. I mean, some things were a bit obvious, but the main thing totally blew me away. Sara Kocek has written a very truthful and realistic story that you can't stop reading. The humor will have you grinning, you'll be feeling for the characters, and you'll read about something that's happening out in the real world. I love the topics discussed in this book and although I wanted more from the ending, I can't help but to give this 5/5 stars!