Come one, come all!! Welcome to my review of Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles!

Gulping down the three books in the Perfect Chemistry series (Perfect Chemistry, Rules of Attraction and Chain Reaction), I still didn’t have enough. I loved Simone Elkeles, her writings style, and the way she built relationships between her characters. On my hunt for more, I learned that she had another series out called Leaving Paradise, which I was dying to get my hands on!

“Nothing has been the same since Caleb Becker left a party drunk, got behind the wheel, and hit Maggie Armstrong. Even after months of painful physical therapy, Maggie walks with a limp. Her social life is nil and a scholarship to study abroad—her chance to escape everyone and their pitying stares—has been canceled.

After a year in juvenile jail, Caleb’s free . . . if freedom means endless nagging from a transition coach and the prying eyes of the entire town. Coming home should feel good, but his family and ex-girlfriend seem like strangers.

Caleb and Maggie are outsiders, pigeon-holed as “criminal” and “freak.” Then the truth emerges about what really happened the night of the accident and, once again, everything changes. It’s a bleak and tortuous journey for Caleb and Maggie, yet they end up finding comfort and strength from a surprising source: each other.”

Leaving Paradise changes points of view in every chapter, going back and forth between the two main characters, Maggie and Caleb, which allowed the reader to really get into their heads, see what they’re thinking and learn what the truth is.

Having spent the last few months in juvenile prison, due to the accident, Caleb’s release day had finally arrived, but upon his arrival, nothing is the same. Not his sister, who has gone Goth and barely talks to him, his dad who doesn’t take the lead, nor his mom, who is doing drugs.

Just like Caleb, Maggie’s life has changed from a year ago. After months of being in the hospital and physical therapy, Maggie is finally out of her wheelchair and is able to walk again, but now with a limp.

Hearing that Caleb is back in town, Maggie starts to worry, and both try their best to avoid one another. But staying away from someone, who lives in the same small town, and goes to the same school, can be pretty hard to do.  Maggie and Caleb both start working for the same elderly lady; Maggie doing any housework that Ms Reynolds needs help with, and Caleb building her a gazebo in her backyard.

Spending so much time together, and having no one else to turn to with their pain, the two become very close, and two people who hated and blamed each, gradually come to have feelings for one another.

Simone Elkeles always has romantic twists for her characters as well as her readers. Instead of being “love at first sight”, its hate, common ground, and then finally love, which is what I really like about this series, and the Perfect Chemistry series. I feel that real love isn’t at first sight, it happens gradually over time.

Both Maggie and Caleb were easy to relate to, and down to earth. They act like normal teenagers would, especially in such a situation; they aren’t over dramatic, or too love-dovey, which is one of the biggest reasons why I enjoyed reading more and more about them.

The book does leave off with a little bit of a cliff-hanger, because Caleb has yet to confess the truth about the night of the accident, but it’s a great stepping stone into the second book, Return To Paradise!

The story was fantastic, the two main characters were perfect, and I absolutely loved the ending and the way things worked out for Maggie and Caleb! Overall the book was good, and finishing it up, I am excited to read Return To Paradise.

(In no real order!)

Cinder by Marissa Meyer – Was one of the first books I read in 2012, and couldn’t get enough of it. I’ve seen and read many different versions of the Cinderella story, but Cinder put a new, and futuristic twist on it. I hope to read more of these types of stories from Marissa Meyer in 2013, including Scarlet!

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green – This one I read during the summer while laying out, tanning. The Fault in Our Stars is one of a few books that brought tears to my eyes in 2012 and really changed the way I think about life, and cancer. This book caused me to feel so many emotions from complete happiness one minute to sadness and tears the next.

Revived by Cat Patrick – Revived is another one of my summer reads that I enjoyed along with a few hours of sun, and one or two cold glasses of lemonade. The story is something I’d usually never pick up (especially during the summer time). It follows a teenage girl, who isn’t what she seems to most people. She has a tendency to die, once due to a accident, a bee sting, and few other different scenarios, but every time she did, her “dad” and “mom” would quickly revive her, pack up their things and move somewhere new. I don’t want too give away too much, so I better stop there…

We’ll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han – I loved this summery trilogy, and I refused to read it during any other season of the year! This book contained a character I could connect so well with, a love triangle I couldn’t get enough of, and a ending I could never foresee.

Shine Light by Marianne de Pierres – This is the most recent book I’ve read, and loved! Starting this series I fell in complete love with the first book, and I admit the second was pretty good, but I still liked the first better. When finally receiving this one in the mail, I was a excited, but yet still determined that Shine Light would never top Burn Bright. To my surprise it did. What I enjoyed most was the characters and the way they developed throughout the third book.

I’m not very sure which books I’m most excited to read in 2013. I haven’t given it much thought. But I do hope to read well over 80 books before this time of year, next year comes around!

Hello and Welcome to my review of Naturally Charlie!

I’m so excited to share with you how much I loved this book, and couldn’t force myself to put it down!

Here’s the summary:

“Twenty-five year old Charlotte “Charlie” Barrow is caught between her old life and the one she is beginning to build when she crosses paths with a handsome stranger on the subway. Not looking for romance, she closes her heart off to the possibilities of love. With a knack for mishaps, Charlie maintains her sense of humor while befriending the kind stranger who seems to be there at all the right times. New York freelance writer, Charlie Adams, is forging his own path beyond the expectations of the society circles of his childhood. Rejecting family money, and fast-lane friends, he is snubbed by his family as he follows his own compass to a life more extraordinary. Through a coincidence of events, they come to rely on each other for comfort. This is the tale of two Charlies learning to trust again while fighting their fates to create their own destiny.”

Naturally Charlie follows the journey of Charlotte and Charles, both who go by the nickname Charlie, and are going through rough times in their lives. While Charlotte is dealing with a broken heart from an intense break up, and death of her ex-fiancée Jim, just six months later, Charles is dealing with many changes in his life, his thoughts and morals, as well as the death of his aunt (the only family member he could ever really relate to!).

Bumping into each a few different times throughout the story, Charlotte and Charles decide to attend one another’s family funerals, not exactly the ideal first “date”, but it doesn’t matter to either of the two. They both need someone to lean on during these rough times.

From attending the funerals to spending Saturday afternoons, napping and watching movies together, the two get really close, and start having feelings for each other (even though neither want to admit to it).

But while Charles wants to not only help Charlotte get through her last break up and her ex-fiancée’s death, but also he wants to take their own relationship farther, he doesn’t want to “just be friends”, he wants much more! Unlike Charlotte who wants time to herself, to clear her head, and heal. Charlotte wants to end one part of her life, before she starts any other part.

Even though I received this book for review, Naturally Charlie was the perfect little love story I’ve been looking for! I really liked both of the characters, Charlotte was down to earth and I could connect to her many times throughout the story, and Charles was the perfect guy and girl could dream of!

LOVED it! If you haven’t picked this up yet, you should!

Welcome to my review of Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins! This is the second book in the Hex Hall series, the first being, Hex Hall. If you haven’t picked up this series you really should. I can’t wait to see how the story continues in the third and final book, Spellbound!

Here’s the synopsis:

“Sophie Mercer thought she was a witch, which was why she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (aka witches, shape-shifters, and fairies). But that was before she discovered she’s a demon, and her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping her kind off the face of the earth.

What’s worse, Sophie has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is why she decides to go to London for the Removal, a risky procedure that will either destroy her powers forever—or kill her. But once Sophie arrives, she makes a shocking discovery: someone is raising new demons in secret and planning to use their powers to destroy the world. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they’re using Acher to do it. But it’s not like she has feelings for him any more. Does she?”

Though I loved Hex Hall and never thought the second book could be better or even nearly as good, it was! With Demonglass, Rachel Hawkins hit it out of the park.

The end of Sophie’s first year at Hex Hall, is just around the corner, as is summer. While most of her friends and classmates are happy to finally leave school and be able to spend their summer doing what they please, Sophie agrees to spend her summer with her dad, the Council, Jenny (her best friend), and Mr. Hot, Cal! Spending the next three or so months in this huge mansion isn’t exactly what Sophie thought she would be doing for her holidays.

Demonglass introduces two new characters, Nick and Daisy, who are demons just like Sophie and her Dad. The characters in Hex Hall were amazing, each character was interesting and had depth, but Demonglass took them to a whole new level! I really enjoyed reading about the love triangle between Cal, Sophie and Archer! Sadly I still can’t say which team I’m on because I really like both. While Cal is more a delicious hot and good boy, Archer is more the bad-ass hot guy. Cal is more quiet and relaxed, letting Sophie decide how she feels, Archer is more open and aggressive in his relationship with Sophie.

The story line is a bit different this time. Hex Hall was more about Sophie, her love life, and school. Demonglass is much bigger than that. It included Sophie, her love triangle….and pretty much the rest of the demonic/paranormal world. But what happens when this demonic/paranormal world is in danger? What if someone is breeding demons to build an army and start a war? What will Sophie have to do to save her world? Will Sophie have to decide between Archer and Cal? Who will she pick? The guy her dad approves of, or the guy he doesnt?!

If you haven’t read this series, you really should get on it! I loved the first two books, and can’t wait to see what the third has in store for me!

Welcome to Life with Lisa!

With the holiday’s coming up, I love spending time online looking for new and interesting recipes, I could create and share with my friends and family! I love heading to the grocery store, picking up ingredients I’ve never even heard of, and going home to mix them all up and make something absolutely delicious out of them! But with the holidays nearing so soon, things can get a bit busy around here, so I usually plan out what I want to make around the beginning of November (for Thanksgiving) and December (for Christmas and New Years!)

My favourite thing to make this time of year would be cookies! There are so many out there it can be hard and stressful to pick the perfect type, but don’t worry! I have you covered with one of my favourite German recipes, Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Stars!).

Here’s what you’re going to need:

2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

4 1/2 cups sliced almonds

1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 egg whites, room temperature

2 teaspoons lemon zest

Here’s what you need to do: (this recipe makes about 24 cookies)

(Don’t preheat the oven yet, it will take a while to get the dough made, and all the cookies cut out!)

1. Make sure the powdered sugar is sifted.

2. In a food processor put 3 cups of almonds and 1/2 cup of sifted powdered sugar and process until the nuts are finely ground.

3. In a large electric mixing bowl whip the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. While whipping the egg whites, slowly add the rest of the powdered sugar, until the mixture is creamy and thick. If you want to decorate you’re cookies then make sure to set a little more than 1/2 of this mixture to the side.

4. Now fold the almond and powdered sugar mixture and the lemon zest into the electric mixing bowl to create a stiff dough.

5. Turn the oven on to 250 degrees.

6. Dust the counter you plan on using to roll the dough out lightly with some powdered sugar, so the cookies won’t stick, and will be easily removable after they’re cut out. Roll the dough out so it’s about 1/4 inch, you don’t have to be super accurate, but you don’t want your cookies too thick.

7. Cut the cookies and lay them about an inch apart from each other on the cooking sheet. Roll out the remaining dough again and continue you cutting out stars until there’s no more dough left.

8. Use a brush to spread the egg white and powdered sugar mixture on each cookie and then decorate as you wish with the remaining almonds!

9. Bake them until they’re light brown; which usually takes about thirty minutes or so.

(This recipe is a mixture between my mom’s recipe and a few I’ve found online! Since It’s just the beginning of December, I haven’t had the chance to make Cinnamon Stars this year yet. So I took a picture from online, so you guys know what the finished product looks like!)

Thank you so much for stopping by and I really hope you give this recipe a shot!