Review: Tempus by Holly Lauren

Tempus
Author: Holly Lauren
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Published: November 25th 2013
Publisher: GMTA Publishing
Source: Review copy via LibraryThing
Find: Goodreads

Chapel Ryan isn't crazy. At least, that's what she's been trying to convince herself of for most of her life. But after being hallucination-free for three years, Chapel finds herself facedown on her English classroom’s gritty linoleum floor. When she looks up, everyone around her is suspended in animation. Mouths hang open mid-yawn, feet hover mid-cross, Ms. Freeman’s arm flexes mid-sentence diagram. It's another hallucination. Or, is it?

Chapel prepares to tear herself back to reality when something happens. Something that has never happened before in any of her hallucinations--someone moves. And not just any someone—it’s the new guy with a scar over his lip and a reputation as black as his perfectly styled hair. And all of the sudden Chapel's white-knuckle grip on her life has slipped, and with it, her assurance that what she's experiencing isn't real.

Tempus is everything you expect in a young adult paranormal story. It's a fast-paced read with a hearty dose of action, romance, and mystery to keep you on your toes for most of the ride. Overall, I enjoyed it as it was.

For the first 25% of the book, I was confused and thought I misunderstood the genre of the book. I had to double check and make sure this book wasn't solely a contemporary book because it focused so heavily on the high school romance. Chapel Ryan is a senior in high school, but she has no idea what she'll do after she graduates. She does know, however, that she just wants to be normal and aside from creepy stepfathers, cheating exes, and the attention of the new guy school, her life is as smooth as it gets. The only hitch is that she sometimes have "hallucinations" where time and everyone around her completely freezes. When she finally discovers what these "hallucinations" really are and that she's not alone in the world with supernatural abilities, the story starts to pick up and move at a faster pace.

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Review: Fifty Million Reasons by Heather Wardell

Fifty Million Reasons
Author: Heather Wardell
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Published: December 4th 2013
Publisher: Holly Leaf Press
Source: ARC via Netgalley
Find: Goodreads

Angela has typical lottery-player plans: help friends and family, give more to charity, and escape her rut. But when she wins big, she faces angry relatives, her own unexpected greed, and a lawsuit from the person who put her in that rut. Almost nobody treats her normally, and they've got fifty million reasons not to.

She can buy anything she wants now, but can she buy the life she needs?

If you're looking for a light, heart-warming story to read this holiday season, this is the book you should be reading. This might not make sense to some, but the only word I can think of to describe my experience of reading Fifty Million Reasons is "soothing." It’s just rare to find a book that I can easily read through without pausing once to think, “Hmm, that doesn't seem right.”
For most of us, winning a million dollar lottery is nothing but a dream, a nice little fantasy we like to entertain ourselves with only in our wildest daydreams. For Angela whose dream just became a reality, however, she quickly finds out that there's more to being a multi-millionaire than living extravagantly and buying private jets. While there are definitely some perks, there are surprisingly a lot of downsides in which Wardell is unafraid to explore.

I spotted another group just beginning their walk, taking tiny steps like we had, and realized we were now walking as smoothly as the previous group had been. Amazing how quickly humans get used to crazy situations.

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