(May contain spoilers)

We're back with Desi in the second instalment of the Princess for Hire series. Desi is now a Level Two substitute princess for the Façade Agency. Being a Level Two sub comes with new challenges as Desi is given complicated sub placements. As she learns more about her magic and how its used at Façade she realizes that not everything is as perfect as the agency makes it seem. We all know that Desi wants to make an impact and uncovering Façade's secrets might be the biggest impact of all.

I think I said in my review of the first book that this series would make a awesome TV show with each episode featuring a different princess--and I still do in fact.

Desi is becoming such a great role model. She tries her best when subbing for the different princess...always keeping in mind that she's in someone else's shoes and doing what they would have wanted. Plus she's someone who will always lend a helping hand whenever someone is in need even if its not in her best interest to do so.

In the first book we got to see very little of Desi's "real life" when she's not subbing for princesses. In this book, we got to see a lot more of it including her more of her relationship with her mother and the friendship between Desi and Kaylee. She even lands a subbing job where she gets to be herself which leads to lots of worrying for Desi and some fun moments for us readers.

For the ending, I sort of had an idea of what was going to be revealed and I actually got it right this time. The reveal was cute to read and now that I think about I can't believe I never thought of the issue in the first place.

For anyone who's ever dreamed of becoming a princess consider picking both Princess for Hire and The Royal Treatment as it will definitely put a smile on your face when reading.

In Ashes, Ashes the world has been hit with a series of natural disasters including drought, floods, wild weather and the most crippling of all a plague that has killed 99% of the human population. Lucy, a survivor, lost her entire family to the plague and now lives alone in the wilds of New York trying her best to survive day to day.

Lucy is pretty tough chick. Whereas other survivors have banded together and have formed little communities, she has spent the last year alone and out in the wild, managing to survive with lots of hard work and perseverance. Lucy meets Aiden when she is attacked by a pack of dogs and he manages to save her. Aiden lives with a group of survivors on an island across from Central Park and is impressed by what Lucy has managed all by herself. Due to an unforeseen circumstance, Lucy seeks out Aiden's camp and ends up joining them.

Seeing what the world has become with is changing landscape, crumbling buildings yet in the face of all this destruction people still manage to find ways to survive. Its both terrible yet extremely hopeful.

Ashes, Ashes ends on a satisfying note for both Lucy and Aiden yet leaves enough promise for either a sequel or companion book. I'm really hoping that there might be one as there's still so much the world that has yet been explored.

At the start of the story Alex is a fourteen year old "nobody" (according to her)...no friends, no boyfriend and not really noticed by others. Her older brother persuades her to learn to play the bass and join his friend's punk rock band. Being in a band changes everything for her. She feels like she fits in now but with this new persona comes new temptations. Alex never wavered and even though she is surrounded by people who do drugs, she knows that that's not the life she wants to lead.

This was a quick read with the actual story itself is just under 100 pages. In the back the author also provides some tips on playing the guitar and writing your own song lyrics. I wanted the writing to go into more detail with the characters and the story. What I got was a story that is written in a way that would be more suitable for a middle grade audience. There were illustrations throughout that don't add anything to the story and that I don't think teen readers would appreciate as much.

I did like the message the story sends to teen girls as it's a pretty empowering read with lots of girl power throughout.

Many years ago Darri's younger sister Callie was sent to Ghostland to become the future bride of Prince Kestin. She tried everything to stop it but alas failed. Now Darri has a chance to travel to Ghostland and her only goal is to rescue her sister. When that doesn't go as planned she comes up with a new plan and one way or another she will set her sister free.

The main problem that I had with Mistwood was that I couldn't get into Isabel's head What she's thinking and feeling...I just didn't get it. With Darri she never got over the fact that she couldn't stop her father from sending her Callie to Ghostland. She still feels guilty over it and it spurs her on to rescue her sister. What she never planned for was that maybe Callie doesn't want to be rescued.

There's scheming and plotting on both sides. At court the ghosts have outnumbered the humans and there's a fragile balance between both sides. Darri must walk the thin line of not knowing who to trust and who really wants her and her brother dead.

A lot of what Mistwood wasn't (for me) -- Nightspell is and I'm so glad I decided to read this book.

(May contain spoilers)

Mistwood sounded so good before I started reading it. Interesting premise, mystery, romance with a prince and a great trailer--unfortunately all those things fell short.

Isabel is a Shifter. When summoned, its her duty to protect the king. When Isabel is summoned by Prince Rokan, she willingly leaves the Mistwood with him to return to the castle. But something doesn't seem right. Isabel doesn't remember anything of her past, who she is or the fact that she can't tap into her Shifter abilities.

The fact that Isabel doesn't remember any of her past and has doubts of her allegiance is confusing. I don't know what her motivations are and I found it hard to connect with her. Every time she had a human emotion, she would try to suppress it telling herself that the Shifter isn't human and wouldn't be feeling these things. For the other characters, its hard to tell who's good and who's bad. There's lots of scheming and switching sides and always staying one step head of the other person.

I wanted more back story about Samorna and the Shifter. For the first couple of chapters, it felt like I and picked up a book and started reading in the middle and it did take me a while to get into the story.

The writing was good and descriptive especially the descriptions of the castle and the Mistwood. I would have love to read more of the Mistwood. I know there's going to be a second book so maybe I can.

The first half of the story was slow which I didn't mind as much as I got to get reacquainted with Sam, Grace, and Isabel along with a new character, Cole. Sam and Grace have some great moments together and its easy to see how much they truly love each other. Along with Sam and Grace, Linger introduces two new POVs in Isabel and Cole. Cole in particular is such a refreshing character. I had so many questions about him and just wanted to learn everything about him.

Initially, its pretty easy to figure out what's happening to Grace but when it actually does happen it still took me by surprise.

I definitely can not wait for FOREVER. After everything that has happened to Sam and Grace in both Shiver and Linger...and especially what happened at the end of Linger I'm truly hoping they will get their happy ending.

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What a reversal! After the events that happened at the end of SSDTU Ally's group of old friends have pretty much all separated. Chloe and Hammond have broken up, both Chloe and Jake are no longer talking to Shannen, leaving Faith stuck in the middle. What's more is that its summer in Orchard Hill which means that all the Crestie families will be heading down to the shore for summer vacation. Ally's heading down with her mom and her mom's new boyfriend while Jake is grounded and has to stay behind in Orchard Hill.

With the ways things ended in bk. 1 I couldn't wait to start this book. A lot of things are happening to Ally. Her dad is back and is looking to start fresh with his family but Ally's mom has a new boyfriend so it just makes things more complicated and strained. Down at the shore Ally meets a local boy and they start up a summer fling. Jake on the other hand is grounded because of his bad grades at school. He has to take a summer course to improve his grade and also look for a summer job to show that he is a responsible teen.

One of the highlights of this book were Annie's journal entries. If you've read the first book you will know that Annie has kept a journal with notes and observations on the Crestie kids. Well we finally know what she writes in there. Annie will do (almost) whatever it takes to get the scoop and what she writes is brutally honest and full of snark. It's a way for readers to keep up with Annie and to find out what's happening back in Orchard Hill since Ally is spending the summer down at the shore.

The ending is another one that will leave readers hanging. If you read the book you will know the story behind the story and that its not all as it seems. This series is one that's filled with teen drama, secrets, fights, and love -- all things that will have you coming back for more.

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April's parents are divorced and she's currently living with her dad and stepmother. Her mother has also remarried and lives in Paris with her little brother. After a sudden announcement by her by her dad that they are moving to Cleveland, April is not happy. She's not leaving her friends and boyfriend behind and instead comes up with a plan to move in with her friend Vi for the rest of the school year. Only problem is Vi's mom will be away too and April's dad will never let her stay in a house with no adults. So what do they do? They tell a little lie to April's dad and he believes it!!! Now that the parents are out of the picture and its April and Vi living together -- Let the fun and crazy times begin!

Let me just say that its never boring when April and Vi together. April also gets $1000 a month from her dad as allowance which she doesn't always spend very wisely. Take for instance April's impulse buy (see #4 Buying a Hot Tub aka "Hula"). My first thought was that they are out of their minds and that they don't need a hot tub. But I was wrong. There were a lot of fun times in the Hula and in the end it turned out to be a worthwhile investment.

Noah is April's boyfriend and they've been together for two years. He's one of the reasons why April decided to stay because she didn't want to lose him. But its Hudson who stole the show for me even though he's not in the story that much. He was there when April needed help. When Noah refused to help, Hudson didn't hesitate and stepped in, no questions asked. Its such a mystery as to what Hudson's job is and how he makes so much money. It's so surprising once its revealed as its something probably no one would have been expecting.

Ten Things We Did was lots of fun to read. It will have you laughing and smiling from the first pages right till the end.

Alex attends the prestigious Themis Academy and is your typical teenager. She gets good grades, has a couple close friends and has her future mapped out. On a night out with friends she get a little too drunk, meets Carter, a student from her school and ends up making out with him. The next morning she wakes up in his room, naked, with him sleeping next to her and with no idea what ended up happening the night before. That is until the he informs her that they had sex last night, twice. Stunned, she returns to her dorm and her and her roommates piece everything together and come to the conclusion that she has been date raped.

How could something like this happen to her? At first Alex is in disbelief, tries push it aside, forget about it but she cant. She's reminded of it every time she sees Carter and what's worse is that he's told all his friends that she's easy and that she wanted it. Finally her friends convince her to speak up and enlist the help of The Mockingbirds, a secret student society created to enforce justice on the student body.

Alex is brave for speaking up, she could've wallowed away in her room for the rest of the school year but she didn't. She's got a great support system with her sister and her two best friends all behind her. Carter...what a jackass. It was so easy to hate him because he thought he got away with it and that he did nothing wrong. There's also Martin, a friend of Alex's who is very caring, sensitive and understanding of what she is going through. Throughout the story their friendship slowly develops into a romantic relationship as well.

Overall a wonderful debut novel by Daisy Whitney. I enjoyed going on this journey with Alex as she struggles with the aftermath of date rape, finding her voice and standing up for what's right. Date rape is another important issue that we don't see a lot of in YA which makes this another must read book for teens.

(May contain spoilers)

After spending Thanksgiving break back home in California Callie is not looking forward to returning to Harvard. Now that Lexi has found out about Callie's big secret, Callie will do anything to keep her quiet. Vanessa, Callie's BFF and roommate is no longer talking to her because of Callie's betrayal. And Callie's relationship with Gregory is as complicated as ever with the both parties trying to avoid the other. With all this going on she still has to compete for the FM COMP and somehow still find the time to study for final exams.

The Ivy was one of my favourite debut books that I read last year and the ending left off with a pretty big cliffhanger so I was pretty psyched to read Secrets and catch up with Callie again and find out what happens next. In Secrets, Callie is stuck in a hard place. Lexi knows her secret and is blackmailing her with it. Callie does eventually does take a stand but it takes her a while to and its understandable. She had to think things through and work up the courage to finally come out with it. Also a new character is introduced near the end of the book who I'm sure will cause more drama for Callie in the coming books.

On the relationship front its between Clint and Gregory and there's no way to pick between the two because they're both awesome. Clint is super sweet and seemingly the perfect boyfriend. He's willing to work things out with Callie even after she abruptly break things off with him. With Gregory there's an obvious attraction between the two. Their relationship in this book was full of misunderstandings and missed opportunities. If only one little thing happened differently then they would be together but unfortunately it didn't happen.

Both Lauren Kunze and Rina Onur know how to write a story with great characters that hook you in. With characters you love and ones you love to hate. This series has become my go-to guilty pleasure read. Full of lies, drama, secrets and scandals -- basically I couldn't stop reading and didn't want it to end.