Review: Nowhere But Here (Thunder Road #1) by Katie McGarry

Title: Nowhere But Here (Thunder Road #1)

Author: Katie McGarry

Published: 1 June 2015
Publisher: Harlequin Teen Australia
Source: HarlequinTeen Australia in return for an honest review
Reviewed: Sapphired Dragon
Rating: **** 

My Review:

I went into this novel expecting to love it as its Katie McGarry and I love all her novels so I was extremely excited about this new series.  I am so glad I was right. 

This novel has everything you expect from a Katie McGarry novel, real, authentic teenagers dealing with complex situations and/or feelings and a story that always leaves you wanting more.

Main characters Oz and Emily have grown up in totally different worlds but are very similar in their desire to not to venture outside their little piece of the world. Happy to stay with what is comfortable and safe. Then Oz is given the task of protecting Emily whilst she is staying with her father and her father's motorcycle club and all of a sudden both find their blinkered views being challenged in more ways than one as they get to know and to feel more about each other.

I love Ms McGarry's characters, be they main or peripheral as they always seem to have their own distinct voice. Emily, Oz, Eli, Violet, Chevy and Olivia to name a few, all had their own charm that made you want to get to know them and their stories better and the way Ms McGarry wrote the relationships between them be they good or bad really helped you to feel all the emotions that were brewing under the surface of these characters.

At the end of the day, what really drove this story was indeed the story itself. Following Emily's journey as she struggles to reconcile what she has always been told about her family and her past,, with the truths that lie before her that say otherwise and what that means for her future. I also loved the story of Oz and Emily and felt like I could have continued reading more about their story for ever.

I enjoyed this story immensely. As always, with Ms McGarry's books, I finished the story eager to know what comes next and immediately looked the series up on Goodreads to find out what I could about book number 2.

An awesome new series from Katie McGarry, I give this novel 4 stars

Sapphired Dragon xx

About The Book:

Nowhere But Here (Thunder Road #1) by Katie McGarry

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon | Booktopia | Harlequin

An unforgettable new series from acclaimed author Katie McGarry about taking risks, opening your heart and ending up in a place you never imagined possible.

Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighborhood. Sure, she's curious about her biological father—the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent—but that doesn't mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both.

Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They're the good guys. They protect people. They're…family. And while Emily—the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club's most respected member—is in town, he's gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it's his shot at his dream. What he doesn't count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down.

No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home.

Teaser Tuesday: Nowhere But Here (Thunder Road #1) By Katie McGarry

Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too muchaway! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

4. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My current read is Nowhere But Here (Thunder Road #1) by Katie McGarry and my two lines are from page 262

"All joking aside, if you get scared, rest your head on my back, close your eyes and wrap your arms around me.  I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

Nowhere But Her (Thunder Road #1) by Katie McGarry

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon | Booktopia

An unforgettable new series from acclaimed author Katie McGarry about taking risks, opening your heart and ending up in a place you never imagined possible.

Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighborhood. Sure, she's curious about her biological father—the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent—but that doesn't mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both.

Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They're the good guys. They protect people. They're…family. And while Emily—the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club's most respected member—is in town, he's gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it's his shot at his dream. What he doesn't count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down.

No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

Stacking The Shelves #29

Welcome to Stacking The Shelves! Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga Reviews and is a meme to share those books, both print and e-book, that have been added to your shelves in the last week/s.

It's been an awesome book week this week.  With some very very awesome titles coming my way.  Also been a good week on the blog with my reviews for A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas and Rogue by Julie Kagawa going live this week.  You can check out these reviews here and here.

Coming up next week on the blog, reviews of Cold Burn of Magic by Jennifer Estep and City of Fae by Pippa Da Costa.

Have a great week!

Review - Print ARCs (with thanks to Harlequin Teen Australia) 

Extremely excited about getting a print copy of this.  I love Katie Mcgarry's books and this one looks like it will be just as good :-)

Nowhere But Her (Thunder Road #1) by Katie McGarry

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon | Booktopia

An unforgettable new series from acclaimed author Katie McGarry about taking risks, opening your heart and ending up in a place you never imagined possible.
Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighborhood. Sure, she's curious about her biological father—the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent—but that doesn't mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both.

Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They're the good guys. They protect people. They're…family. And while Emily—the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club's most respected member—is in town, he's gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it's his shot at his dream. What he doesn't count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down.

No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home.

Review - E-ARCs (Balzer & Bray via Edelweiss)

Another Arc I am extremely excited to get this week.

Ice Like Fire (Snow Like Ashes #2)  by Sarah Raasch

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon 

It’s been three months since the Winterians were freed and Spring’s king, Angra, disappeared—thanks largely to the help of Cordell.

Meira just wants her people to be safe. When Cordellan debt forces the Winterians to dig their mines for payment, they unearth something powerful and possibly dangerous: Primoria’s lost chasm of magic. Theron sees this find as an opportunity—with this much magic, the world can finally stand against threats like Angra. But Meira fears the danger the chasm poses—the last time the world had access to so much magic, it spawned the Decay. So when the king of Cordell orders the two on a mission across the kingdoms of Primoria to discover the chasm’s secrets, Meira plans to use the trip to garner support to keep the chasm shut and Winter safe—even if it means clashing with Theron. But can she do so without endangering the people she loves?

Mather just wants to be free. The horrors inflicted on the Winterians hang fresh and raw in Januari—leaving Winter vulnerable to Cordell’s growing oppression. When Meira leaves to search for allies, he decides to take Winter’s security into his own hands. Can he rebuild his broken kingdom and protect them from new threats?

As the web of power and deception weaves tighter, Theron fights for magic, Mather fights for freedom—and Meira starts to wonder if she should be fighting not just for Winter, but for the world.

Purchased - Print Books

Again, excited to received these this week as it one of the few series by Jennifer L Armentrout i haven't read yet.  I can't wait to get my read on with these.

White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements #1) by Jennifer L Armentrout

One kiss could be the last.

Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she's anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses.

Raised among the Wardens—a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe—Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most. Especially Zayne, the swoon-worthy, incredibly gorgeous and completely off-limits Warden she's crushed on since forever.

Then she meets Roth—a tattooed, sinfully hot demon who claims to know all her secrets. Layla knows she should stay away, but she's not sure she wants to—especially when that whole no-kissing thing isn't an issue, considering Roth has no soul.

But when Layla discovers she's the reason for the violent demon uprising, trusting Roth could not only ruin her chances with Zayne… it could brand her a traitor to her family. Worse yet, it could become a one-way ticket to the end of the world.

Purchase: Amazon | Booktopia  | Book Depository

Stone Cold Touch (The Dark Elements #2) by Jennifer L Armentrout

Every touch has its price

Layla Shaw is trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life—no easy task for a seventeen-year-old who’s pretty sure things can’t get worse. Her impossibly gorgeous best friend, Zayne, is forever off-limits thanks to the mysterious powers of her soul-stealing kiss. The Warden clan that has always protected her is suddenly keeping dangerous secrets. And she can barely think about Roth, the wickedly hot demon prince who understood her in ways no one else could.

But sometimes rock bottom is only the beginning. Because suddenly Layla’s powers begin to evolve, and she’s offered a tantalizing taste of what has always been forbidden. Then, when she least expects it, Roth returns, bringing news that could change her world forever. She’s finally getting what she always wanted, but with hell literally breaking loose and the body count adding up, the price may be higher than Layla is willing to pay…

Purchase: Amazon | Booktopia  | Book Depository

So what did you add to your shelves this week?

Stacking The Shelves #28

Welcome to Stacking The Shelves! Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga Reviews and is a meme to share those books, both print and e-book, that have been added to your shelves in the last week/s.

So yet another two weeks has gone by since my last stacking the shelves as the our newly minted NBN internet worked brilliantly for a whole week and a half till suddenly the great deluge in Sydney last week, we lost connection again.

Assuming it had something to do with the rain, we finally had the workmen out to inspect the line only to discover that our dogs had gotten in under the house and chewed through the optic fibre cable :O_O

Still its fixed now and we are in the process of dog proofing the cables so heres hoping there are no more problems. In the mean time a number of awesome titles have headed my way in the last fortnight and I can't wait to star reading them.

 

Review - E-ARCs (Harper Teen via Edelweiss)

Got a couple of interesting looking titles from Edelweiss this week that are due out in September in two very different genres.  Am looking forward to reading them.

Ash and Bramble  by Sarah Prineas

Goodreads | Book Depository | 

When the glass slipper just doesn’t fit…

The tale of Cinderella has been retold countless times. But what you know is not the true story.

Pin has no recollection of who she is or how she got to the Godmother’s fortress. She only knows that she is a Seamstress, working day in and out to make ball gowns fit for fairy tales. But she longs to forsake her backbreaking servitude and dares to escape with the brave young Shoemaker.

Pin isn’t free for long before she’s captured again and forced to live the new life the Godmother chooses for her—a fairy tale story, complete with a charming prince—instead of finding her own happily ever after.

Sarah Prineas’s bold fairy tale retelling is a dark and captivating world where swords are more fitting than slippers, young shoemakers are just as striking as princes, and a heroine is more than ready to rescue herself before the clock strikes midnight.

What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon | Booktopia

Kate Weston can piece together most of the bash at John Doone’s house: shots with Stacey Stallard, Ben Cody taking her keys and getting her home early—the feeling that maybe he’s becoming more than just the guy she’s known since they were kids.

But when a picture of Stacey passed out over Deacon Mills’s shoulder appears online the next morning, Kate suspects she doesn’t have all the details. When Stacey levels charges against four of Kate’s classmates, the whole town erupts into controversy. Facts that can’t be ignored begin to surface, and every answer Kate finds leads back to the same question: Where was Ben when a terrible crime was committed?

This story—inspired by real events—from debut novelist Aaron Hartzler takes an unflinching look at silence as a form of complicity. It’s a book about the high stakes of speaking up, and the razor thin line between guilt and innocence that so often gets blurred, one hundred and forty characters at a time.

Review - E-ARCs (Harlequin Teen Australia via Netgalley)

Nowhere But Her (Thunder Road #1) by Katie McGarry

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon | Booktopia

An unforgettable new series from acclaimed author Katie McGarry about taking risks, opening your heart and ending up in a place you never imagined possible.
Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighborhood. Sure, she's curious about her biological father—the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent—but that doesn't mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both.

Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They're the good guys. They protect people. They're…family. And while Emily—the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club's most respected member—is in town, he's gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it's his shot at his dream. What he doesn't count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down.

No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home.

Purchased - Print Books

This past month has seen a few book purchases arrive at my door

Confess by Colleen Hoover

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, a new novel about risking everything for love—and finding your heart somewhere between the truth and lies.

Auburn Reed has her entire life mapped out. Her goals are in sight and there’s no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn’t expect to find a deep attraction to the enigmatic artist who works there, Owen Gentry.

For once, Auburn takes a risk and puts her heart in control, only to discover Owen is keeping major secrets from coming out. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything important to Auburn, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it.

The last thing Owen wants is to lose Auburn, but he can’t seem to convince her that truth is sometimes as subjective as art. All he would have to do to save their relationship is confess. But in this case, the confession could be much more destructive than the actual sin…

Purchase: Amazon | Booktopia  | Book Depository

Purchased - E-Book

I borrowed the first book in this series and read it last Saturday.  I couldn't put it down and the ending shocked me so much that I had to have book 2 straight away.  I have to say though  that this one has held my attention as completely so far

After we Collided(After #2) by Anna Todd

Goodreads  | Amazon | Book Depository | Booktopia 

Book Two of the After series—now newly revised and expanded, Anna Todd’s After fan-fiction racked up 1 billion reads online and captivated readers across the globe. Experience the Internet’s most talked-about book for yourself!

Tessa has everything to lose. Hardin has nothing to lose…except her. AFTER WE COLLIDED…Life will never be the same.

After a tumultuous beginning to their relationship, Tessa and Hardin were on the path to making things work. Tessa knew Hardin could be cruel, but when a bombshell revelation is dropped about the origins of their relationship—and Hardin’s mysterious past—Tessa is beside herself.

Hardin will always be…Hardin. But is he really the deep, thoughtful guy Tessa fell madly in love with despite his angry exterior—or has he been a stranger all along? She wishes she could walk away. It’s just not that easy. Not with the memory of passionate nights spent in his arms. His electric touch. His hungry kisses.

Still, Tessa’s not sure she can endure one more broken promise. She put so much on hold for Hardin—school, friends, her mom, a relationship with a guy who really loved her, and now possibly even a promising new career. She needs to move forward with her life.

Hardin knows he made a mistake, possibly the biggest one of his life. He’s not going down without a fight. But can he change?Will he change…for love?

Library Books :

Only a modest library haul this week as I am still making my way through the last mammoth haul.  Though managed to find some titles I have been waiting to read for a while on top of a couple awesome new titles of which apparently i am the first person to borrow it since it came in :-)

Rebel belle (Rebelle Belle #1) by Rachel Hawkins

Goodreads | Book Depository | Booktopia


Infinity (Chronicles of Nick #1) by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon | Booktopia



Sister Assassin (Mind Games #1) by Kiersten White

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon | Booktopia


Sinner (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #4) by Maggie Stiefvater

Goodreads | Book Depository  | Amazon | Booktopia


Blood Magick (The Cousins O'Dwyer Trilogy #3) by Nora Roberts
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository | Booktopia 

So what did you add to your shelves this week?