Mothers Day | Moms in YA Books

Happy Mothers Day!

I decided to check my shelves and see what YA books that I've read have good moms. Here are the ones I picked. And their well deserved flowers.

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Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch 
 🌷To Lina's mom for wanting her daughter's future yo be a happy one even at the end of her life.

Mothership by Martin Leicht & Isla Neal
🌷Points to Elvie in Mothership for surviving a spaceship hijacking while pregnant.

No Love Allowed by Kate Evangelista 
🌷To Didi's mom for working hard for the money and being there for her daughter's mental health.

The Ghost and The Goth by Stacey Kade
🌷To Will's mom who trusted and believed her son when it counted.  The Ghost and The Goth.

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The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli 
🌷😚 to the awesome moms in The Upside of Unrequited.

Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
🌷To Simon's mom, who needs epic high fives for being cool and understanding.

Vengrance Road to substitute 
Retribution Rails by Erin Bowman
🌷To Kate. I don't have Retribution Rails. But I loved how awesome Kate was in that.

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Retribution Rails by Erin Bowman | Book Review

Book Review:
Retribution Rails by Erin Bowman

Spoilers?

Maybe some.

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Disclaimer:
This book was sent to me from NetGalley.com and the publishing company in exchange for an honest review.

Title - Retribution Rails 
By - Erin Bowman
Publication - November 7th, 2017 by HMH Books for Young Readers

Genre - Young Adult, Western, Thriller, Fiction, Historical

REDEMPTION IS NEVER FREE
When Reece Murphy is forcibly dragged into the Rose Riders gang because of a mysterious gold coin in his possession, he vows to find the man who gave him the piece and turn him over to the gang in exchange for freedom. Never does he expect a lead to come from an aspiring female journalist. But when Reece's path crosses with Charlotte Vaughn after a botched train robbery and she mentions a promising rumor about a gunslinger from Prescott, it becomes apparent that she will be his ticket to freedom—or a noose. As the two manipulate each other for their own ends, past secrets are unearthed, reviving a decade-old quest for revenge that may be impossible to settle.

In this thrilling companion to Vengeance Road, dangerous alliances are formed, old friends meet new enemies, and the West is wilder than ever. 

The Rating :

My Review:

My review in a gif. Which equals 5 stars.

via GIPHY

I want to say that this was sent to me for review from publisher and that, as all my reviews, this one is full of my honest opinions.

The Cover:

Although they say never judge a book by it's cover I believe the cover should represent what the book is going to be like or at least some aspect of it.

This cover is everything!
The cover artist has achieved perfection in the form of the cover. Now all I need is to own the first one and the second one in hardcover to have next to each other on my shelves. 

From what I can tell the cover consists of shades of brown, gold and a blue color tat borders on purple. And I love those colors together. The cacti are pretty and the rails. 


The Story:
This is not a sequel to the previous book Vengeance Road. It's actually a companion to that story and even features the two main characters from VR. 
RR has a female protagonist (Charlotte) that dreams of becoming a journalist while having to deal with her evil uncle who wants her and her mother's fortune. And a guy who rides with the Rose Riders gang (Reece) against his will. Together with Kate and Jesse they get involved and try to get along despite their original dislike.


Relationships:
There were more than one couples and relationships in this book but I will only talk about one of them.


Kate x Jesse
Again I believe that these two are amazing.
They have stayed together since the end of VR and now Kate is pregnant and will soon deliver. 
Their story was a tough one and the fact that they are still together just makes me so happy. 

Charlotte x Reece
These two did not get along. Like at each other's throats. And I loved that the transition from total hate and disgust turned into friendship and trust as so nicely done. I almost didn't even notice it until the end where I was like "but didn't you guys want to kill each other".


Settings:
 Its a western so you can expect deserts, cacti, horses, saloons, and trains. And I loved it. Nearly every place in this story was amazingly described without going too into detail. It gave me e good image of what was going on and I loved that.
I think I love the train scenes, and the scenes where they are on horseback. I can totally see great panning shots if it were a movie.


Overall:
Much like Vengeance Road, I loved reading Retribution Rails. 

I read it quickly. And I loved every page of it. Yeah, it was slow for the first 200 pages but not in a bad way. Through out we learned about the characters, their pasts, and watched them grow, in a way. It was perfect.

Reece was an amazing character that you hate at first till you understand whats behind his actions. And even though I found Charlotte annoying at first I loved her as a character and was happy she grew from what happened to her. 

via GIPHY

Having Kate and Jesse in the story was perfect. They were just great in RR. And seeing that they were still together 10 years later made me feel all warm inside. And with the description of an older Jesse I kept picturing a young Clint Eastwood. 
I especially loved reading just how smart they were in having two houses and having not shown off their gold, their fortune. And Kate being a bad ass even when she was 9 months pregnant, holding a rifle and her colts was amazing. 

And as I read the last pages I felt a sense of accomplishment. Like an "I saw these people grow up" feeling. Almost like if they were stories a grandparent tells you and your happy at the end.

Get a copy at:
Barnes&Noble  |  Amazon US  |  Signed Copy

Or get it here using my affiliate link. Please:
Book Depository

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Fancast | Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

I've been sick for almost two weeks now though tit definitely felt like forever but today I was a little better. I even went to walmart and that's good since I haven't been out of the house. I'm the type of person that gets sick and I cant do anything but suffer trough it so it was pretty bad so I'm glad that I'm getting better and to show how better I am I did a post so here it is.

This is the third book aesthetics/cast but because the second one being about my beloved the Mortal Enchantment series by Stacey O'Neale was giving me some problems because I couldn't come up with any good actors for the boys Rowan and Marcus but I did find a perfect Kalin so lets see.

For now lets enjoy what I came up with for the book Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman. I'm kind of proud of my selection.

Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

For this one I did something strange which was mix black and white photos (some that were originally like that and others I edited) and nature photos. Cacti, horses, mountains things like that with photos of actors from back in the day and some who are still with us a photo of the girl on the horse who looked like who I thought Kate was and a photo of an Apache girl who looked a lot like who I thought Liluye looked like. 

The one above is the original one I made but then I wanted to make one with all actors/actresses that were modern. Below is that version.

Here is my cast for the book Vengeance Road:

For Kate Thompson/Nate  - Shailene Woodley
I had a hard time putting a face to Kate because in the story ate cuts her hair and disguises herself as a boy Nate. So I kept thinking what actresses would look both good and convincing as a boy and I looked around and thought why not Shailene. Her short hair era would make her a perfect Kate/Nate.


For Jesse Colton - James Dean / Dylan O'Brian

I think I'm not the only one who finds James Dean very attractive but for me its weird because I've never seen any of his movies but I know who he is. So when I think of Jesse I think of James Dean. Specially in that photo because Jesse did exactly that a couple of times in the book. He would lower his hat and look all mysterious so I think James is a perfect Jesse.

My second choice is Dylan O'Brian why I just don't know but ever since I started watching Teen Wolf I've wanted to see those characters doing more things and I would've to see Dylan doing a western for some reason. Also in that photo he's doing the squinting that Jesse does.

For Will Colton - Montgomery Clift / Darren Criss

For Will I was originally thinking Scott Eastwood for what ever reason but when I was looking for the perfect photo that screamed Will I couldn't find a good one but I did find that photo of this actor from the past and he does look like Will. Montgomery Clift was a popular actor from a long time ago besides that I know nothing about him sadly.

I have the same feeling I had with Dylan. I would love to see Daren in a western and plus he just looks like will just add a bit longer hair I think.

For Liluye - Amber Midthunder

I actually had to search native american actresses because I couldn't think of any but when I saw the photo of this girl Amber I thought she would be a perfect Liluye. She looks like she could kick their butts and be a good leader.

For Henry Thomson -  Sam Ellliot / Tim McGraw

Do I need a reason I mean look at the man hes a perfect gold digging explorer/cool western dad.

I love country music and I've seen a couple of the movies Tim has done and I think he would be a great Pa. Even if he gets killed at the beginning.

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Also check out my Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman review.

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Disclaimer:
even though I edited this "collage" the photos are not mine and I found them on pintrest.

If you want to discuss please get me on my instagram where I posted the photo for this.

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Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman | Book Review

Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

This is a book that I got back in September of last year because I won it on Goodreads but I was so busy with uni and family and other things that I never had a chance to give my complete attention to this book. I'm glad I picked it up and as soon as I did I finished it in 2 days.

Does this review have spoilers?

YES.

Title - Vengeance Road

Author - Erin Bowman

Publication - September 1st, 2015 by HMH Books for Young Readers

Format - Paperback ARC, 327 pages

Source - Goodreads giveaway

Genre - Young Adult, Romance, Historical Fiction, Western

Goodreads

Rating - ★★★★★

Revenge is worth its weight in gold. When her father is murdered for a journal revealing the location of a hidden gold mine, eighteen-year-old Kate Thompson disguises herself as a boy and takes to the gritty plains looking for answers—and justice. What she finds are untrustworthy strangers, endless dust and heat, and a surprising band of allies, among them a young Apache girl and a pair of stubborn brothers who refuse to quit riding in her shadow. But as Kate gets closer to the secrets about her family, a startling truth becomes clear: some men will stop at nothing to get their hands on gold, and Kate’s quest for revenge may prove fatal.

My Review:

I  actually won this book on Goodreads a couple of days before it was released. But I  don't know what it was that I  couldn't get myself to read it and now that I  have I  completely regret not reading it as soon as I  got it and never stopping till I  was done.

This is a book that tells the story of a young girl named Kate who witnesses her father being tortured and hanged by a notorious gang named the Rose Riders that's lead by Waylan Rose a very awful person. After she has to bury her own father she is filled with pure anger and sets off to kill Rose and his men for revenge. Hence Vengeance Road.
Not only does she accomplish what she sets off to do but she finds that she's not alone in the world. Because along this anger filled road to get revenge she meets the Colton brothers, Will, and Jesse, who tag along with her even if she doesn't want them to and throughout all of this they don't know she's actually a girl because to them she's a short skinny boy named Nate.
Kate is such a strong-willed girl on the hunt to figure out just what happened and kill her father's executioner. She's so brave and awesome and definitely one of my favorite characters in the books I've read. She dealt with so much that I  was glad she had a happy ending.
As for the Colton brothers they were so cool yet a bit irritating for most of the story. My favorite brother was Jesse. Not because he went through so much and was still helpful to Kate but because Will didn't get a good backstory. He didn't even feel like a good character to me. I still managed to find him very handsome though. 

The hardback edition is so beautiful and awesome. Plus the book has a map, a map for a western and it's gorgeous. I'm definitely getting it as soon as I  see it.
I  loved the story I  loved it so much but I  kinda hated that some of the characters were boring. Like The Colton sister, Sara and her family, Roy (husband), Jake (son) and Clara (sister-in-law). And then there's Evelyn which was such an interesting character but she didn't get much of anything. Though I 
really loved Liluye’s whole story. How she was taken from her family because she was an Apache and how thanks to Kate getting her out of a burning building even though she had something to do with it she managed to get home safely and be with her big family and be at home.


Do I  recommend this book? Yes, thousand times yes. It's a fast read and a super refreshing.

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Mini Update #1 | Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

I'm currently reading The Martian by Andy Weir but next is Vengeance Road. I've already read like 15 pages and I really liked it so hopefully the rest of the book is as good if not better.

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