Saturday, November 16, 2013

Review:Rachel Higginson's "Starburst" (Book Two of the Starbright Series)

 
 
Author: Rachel Higginson
Title: Sunburst (Book Two of the Starbright Series)
 
 
Blurb:
 
Stella Day will one day be the Protector of Earth, but right now she’s focused on other things. Surviving high school, having a winning soccer season and balancing the two guys in her life all vie for her attention. She isn’t ready for her future or the massive destiny waiting for her.

Unfortunately for Stella, destiny isn’t patient. Stella’s life becomes complicated when the Darkness won’t leave her alone. She’s plagued by Shadows at practice and in school. Seven, Seth’s deranged sister, is stalking her. And Aliah has made it his life’s mission to destroy her before she turns eighteen and comes into the fullness of her powers.

In a risky effort to save her life, Seth makes a deal with the devil that changes everything. Suddenly, it’s no longer her own life that Stella is desperate to save. She must find a way to protect her Counterpart before he becomes the worst threat of all.

As Stella grapples with the intensity of her feelings for both Tristan and Seth, her choice might just be made for her. While the Darkness demands her attention, humanity and the high school life she loves will fade into the background as she embraces the purpose she was given and the most complicated battle yet.

This time it’s not just her life on the line, but her heart as well. Choosing which boy to love might not mean a happily ever after. Choosing between Seth and Tristan might just lead to a heartbreak she never imagined.


Sunburst is the second installment in the Starbright Series.
 
Be sure to add Sunburst to Goodreads
 
 
 
 
 
Buy Links (for ALL of Rachel's books):





 
  

 
 My Review:

Rachel picks up "Sunburst" where she left us in "Starbright". Stella and Seth are still  training  hard with Jupiter to learn how to keep humans safe from the darkness. Aliah and his army of Fallen Angels aren't waiting for Stella and Seth to take on their rolls as protectors of the Earth and has decided to close in on the humans and bring an outrageous amount of Fallen into his twisted plan.
 
Meanwhile, Stella begins to realize just how perfect Seth is ( not that I don't scream that at my iPad every few pages). There are some AMAZING scenes between these two, my favs are when Stella goes to Jupiter's house to check on Seth and when Stella talks to Seth before her team practice at school. I was so relieved to see things fall into place with these two!!
 
 
This is me reading Stella and Seth!!
 
In order to save Stella, Seth makes a shocking deal with the devil and must leave Stella's side. This decision not only forces Stella to face the Darkness alone, it pins her against her. Now choosing which boy holds her heart doesn't mean the perfect life she always hoped for.
 
What I Thought:
 
OMG y'all, this book was literally an emotional ride for me! I went from completely ecstatic to absolutely distraught.  I loved the romance between Stella and Seth, it was sweet, funny and sexy! Yet underneath all that innocence, there's a smoldering river of lust just threatening to boil over. They both understand not only are they meant for each other, they just can't live without the other!  No worries all you Tristan lovers, he's there too. I have to say I really respected him in "Sunburst" because he stood on the sidelines patiently waiting for Stella to make her choice. Not that he didn't have a few hilarious comments about Seth. Keep an eye out for the scene between Tristan and Stella on the way to prom, very sweet ( have a tissue handy).
 
 
Ok are y'all ready for the distraught part?? When Seth left I was SO brokenhearted *sniffle, sniffle*.  I love the reason why he had to leave, but to have to read about how he and Stella were crumbling inside was just so very devastating!! *sniff, sniff*
 
 
Yep, me!
 
 
Don't despair ladies, Rachel wouldn't make it all sad!!  The sweet romantic heartfelt words Seth always had for Stella were the elixir to the reader's wounds!! Let's not forget Stella's cheeky friend Piper!! She will keep you laughing throughout with her happy lighthearted attitude on boys and life!! Oh and the last battle between good and evil was movie worthy!!  Stella's family and  fellow Stars were incredibility outnumbered by the Fallen and it unfolded like a beautifully choreographed ballet in my head. Swards clashing, sweat, blood and battle cries!! Yet in the middle of it all chaos (of course moving in slow motion) were Stella and Seth, truly mesmerizing!!
 
My only complaint.......the end!!!! Rachel, the Cliffhanger Queen, really you're killing me girl, K-I-L-L-I-N-G  ME!!! How could you leave us hanging like that!!?? You seriously owe me a new iPad!! I threw  it at my wall!!! Ok, alright, * big breath* I'm ok, I'm calm now *big breath*
 
me when I finished! notice the emotionless stare!!
*glares at Rachel*
 
 




 
 
Meet the Characters:
 
 
Gabriella Wilde as Stella Day
 
 
 
 
 
Kellan Lutz as Seth *sigh*
 
 
 
 
Penn Badgley as Tristan Shields
 
 
 
 
Terence Stamp as Jupiter
 
 
 
 
Aliah I may become evil, just for him!!
 
 
 
 
 
 AAAAAAANNNNNND you're welcome lades!!!
 
 
 
 
 
 
OTHER WORKS:
 
 



Star Crossed Series




Reckless Magic (book 1)

16 year old Eden Matthews has been in and out of private schools for the last two years. Kingsley is her last chance to finish high school and she is determined to simply do that. But when she meets Kiran Kendrick and her world opens to something she thought only existed in fairy tales, she's unsure what her future will hold. Suddenly she is captivated by a boy who seems to be the source of all of her problems and struggling to rescue her best friend from a foreign prison. When attempts are made on Kiran's life, Eden alone must save him. Thrust into a world that is more make-believe than reality, Eden has to find her own destiny without losing those she loves most. Reckless is an intricate story of mystery, adventure, magic and love. Eden Matthews is an unlikely heroine set on a path to save the world and her loved ones before its too late.



Hopeless Magic (book 2)

After returning home from Romania, and successfully saving her best friend Lilly, Eden Matthews must now come to terms with her future as an Immortal. She is in love with the Crowned Prince, but he is betrothed to someone else.
Her family desperately wants her to join their rebellion, but that would mean fighting against her one, true love, Kiran Kendrick. She must fight off assassins that want her dead, an Immortal rite of passage that takes her to India and a deadly disease that no one has thus far survived. Danger seems to lurk around every corner as Eden Matthews struggles to keep her true identity a secret and protect those that she loves.
Eden must find a way to be with Kiran, or turn her back on him forever and fight to save her people. Hopeless Magic is the second installment of the Star-Crossed series.



Fearless Magic (book 3)

Eden Matthew's world is in shambles. Her grandfather viciously murdered, her twin brother held without magic, and her best friends imprisoned, all at the hands of the one man that was supposed to love her for eternity. She has been betrayed, and now she is being hunted by a king that wants her dead. Eden must pick up the pieces of her life and stand alone against the tyranny that threatens to destroy her world. Alone she must find a way to rebuild the Resistance, locate her missing parents, save her loved ones and take down the monarchy. Everything is against her, including forbidden feelings of a love that she thought was buried. She has declared war and now stands on the precipice of defeat. Losing is not an option however, and Eden must find a way to overcome her emotions, fight through her pain and restore the magic to her kingdom. Fearless Magic is the third installment of The Star-Crossed Series.



Endless Magic (book 4)

In the final installment of the Star-Crossed Series, we find Eden Matthews a prisoner in the very household she set out to destroy. She is without magic and engaged to the same boy who betrayed her and everyone she loves. With her wedding looming on the horizon, conditions for her people continue to worsen and her goal of offering her kingdom freedom seems further away than ever. Her brother is free however, and building a Rebellion that hopes to rescue her. Eden's parents are working with the Resistance and inside the Citadel Eden finds more allies than she thought possible. However, there is more at stake for Eden than just an unwanted marriage. Her heart is on the line too, as she fights the pressures of palace life, the prejudice ingrained in her people and a seemingly unbeatable king. Endless Magic is the fourth and final installment of the Star-Crossed Series.



Reluctant King (book 5)

Avalon St. Andrews has endured Hell and war in an attempt to secure freedom and immortality for his people. Raised and conditioned to be both warrior and leader, he now sits on a throne with his sister Eden, governing the Kingdom in peace. While his people enjoy the benefits of his struggle and loss, he is restless, bored and alone.
Avalon is summoned to fight to save his people once more as the Kingdom is threatened by a brand new evil. In addition to reigning in a kingship he doesn’t want, he is fighting against the very people he has fought so hard to protect. They are determined to throw away their newfound freedom and their newfound leaders.
In this war and in this kingship he feels alone. And for the first time he feels hollow. That is until Amelia Cartier shows up, invading his every thought and shaking up his carefully controlled world.

 

currently Episodes 1-10
Zombies- as if that wasn’t enough to ruin any girl’s dream of a happily ever after.

Reagan said goodbye to love when she was forced to run her high school boyfriend over with her mom’s car just to keep him from eating her for dinner. Now, two years later, and in need of a serious shower, she’s just over the entire concept of a soul mate- or really, any kind of mate.

Well, mostly anyway. When she runs- literally- into a group of boys holed up in a relative utopia of peanut butter and bottled water, maybe all hope in the love department is not lost.

But at the end of the world, nothing can be simple. And with a horde of Zombies after her, Reagan is going to have to schedule falling in love between hunting and surviving. Hopefully she can last long enough find out if true love can still exist when everything else has started to fall apart.

Love and Decay, Episode One, the first in a novella series in a Dystopian Romance about Zombies, the end of the world and finding someone to share it with.
This story takes place over multiple episodes, with a release date every two weeks. Approximately 20,000 words.
 
 
 

Avalon St. Andrews has endured Hell and war in an attempt to secure freedom and immortality for his people. Raised and conditioned to be both warrior and leader, he now sits on a throne with his sister Eden, governing the Kingdom in peace. While his people enjoy the benefits of his struggle and loss, he is restless, bored and alone.
Avalon is summoned to fight to save his people once more as the Kingdom is threatened by a brand new evil. In addition to reigning in a kingship he doesn’t want, he is fighting against the very people he has fought so hard to protect. They are determined to throw away their newfound freedom and their newfound leaders.
In this war and in this kingship he feels alone. And for the first time he feels hollow. That is until Amelia Cartier shows up, invading his every thought and shaking up his carefully controlled world.


 
A life not her own—A future already decided.

Every facet of Ivy Pierce’s life is meticulously planned out and plotted. Cynical and jaded by sixteen, Ivy’s only hope is to escape the legacy she was born into.

She has a plan, a carefully thought out, feasible plan. She just has to play by the rules until everything falls into place. Unfortunately as predictable as her life can be, she never sees Ryder Sutton coming. He tumbles into her life unimpressed and untouched by her and the life she lives. He’s an enigma to her. A gorgeous, frustrating, sincere mystery and a complete phenomenon in the ugly world she lives in.

What blooms between them is a fiercely intense attraction that cannot be ignored. Even though they would both be better off without each other—Even if both their lives depend on staying apart.

 
 

Written with Lila Felix

Cami Montgomery stole a car and smashed it into the front of a building in upscale Beverly Hills after a lousy date with the epitome of sleaze balls. The worst part, her parents are following through on threats after this latest plea for attention. Banished from her L.A. paradise and plunged into the Appalachian Mountains with her industrious aunt and uncle, Cami is about to find out how precious life really is.


Stockton Wright has been thrust into a hard life. He sacrifices everything to give his family and community what they need. He’s exhausted from life and work—and he’s only twenty four. What he needs is some change, and some sunshine. Even he will agree to that. He just doesn’t expect to find it in a stuck up, pompous, entitled Californian.


Cami bursts into Stockton’s life like wildfire, consuming all his thoughts and tangling him in her web. What starts out as a contentious rivalry evolves into a desire neither of them expected. When hammer meets metal, will they crack under pressure or be forged as one?


Cami and Stockton might just end up being exactly what the other one needs, but first their love will have to be drawn out in fire.




Starburst

Stella is a Star, sent by a Council of Elders to live on Earth and protect the planet from the Darkness, a terrifying evil that would suck the good from every living thing and leave the planet empty and desolate. She has until her twenty-fifth birthday before the Protectorship becomes hers and Earth is left solely her responsibility.
Stella’s fate goes on fast forward as she struggles to balance the rest of high school with the duties of protecting humanity from the deadliest kind of evil.
With her parents and Seth, the boy intended to be her Counterpart, by her side she faces down demons and fallen angels in an effort to protect the last inhabited planet in the universe.
But evil is not her only enemy. She also fights her future as she tries to decide if she’s willing to give up her human relationships, especially that of her best friend Tristan, in order to save humanity.
 
 
 
COMING SOON!!!
 
 
 
Five Stages of Falling in Love
 
Her husband of eight years, the father of her four children and the love of her life died six months ago from cancer. When Grady was diagnosed, they knew his chances were slim, but Liz never gave up hope that he would make it. How could she, when he was everything to her?

Six months later, she is trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life and get the kids to school on time. Both seem impossible. Everything seems impossible these days.

When Ben Tyler moves in next door, she is drowning in sorrow and pain, her children are acting out, and the house is falling apart. She has no time for curious new friends or unwanted help, but Ben gives her both. And he doesn’t just want to help her with yard work or cleaning the gutters. Ben wants more from Liz. More than she’s capable of ever giving again.

As Liz mourns her dead husband and works her way through the five stages of grief, she finds there’s more to her life than death. And more of her heart to give than she thought possible. But the guilt and heartache from her first love do their best to keep her from falling again.
 
 

And more Episodes of Love and Decay!





 About my girl Rachel:




I was born and raised in Nebraska, but spent my college years traveling the world. I fell in love with Eastern Europe, Paris, Indian Food and the beautiful beaches of Sri Lanka. But I came back home to marry my high school sweetheart and now I spend my days raising our growing family. In those few spare moments I have, I am either reading or writing Young Adult Fiction, because I am obsessed with it.
Five other things I'm obsessed with right now:
1. My Kuerig Coffee Machine. Genius.
2. 90's music. Oh man, the 90's speak right to my soul.
3. Chocolate smelling body wash. Who doesn't want to walk around smelling like a bakery?
4. Colored Chapstick. And if it's Dr. Pepper Flavored, that's kind of my nirvana.
And.
5. Spotify. It's like the mixed-tape of this generation and I have probably three hundred hours of music on there. Can't get enough




Where to Stalk Rachel:











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