Monday, February 23, 2015

Acting Out - Book 7 in the Rosewood Series by Katrina Abbot & Giveaway

THE ROSEWOOD SERIES BY KATRINA ABBOT
COVER REVEAL FOR ACTING OUT! 
I THINK THIS MAY BE MY FAVORITE COVER IN THESE SERIES -- LOVE IT!

BOOK #7 IN THE ROSEWOOD SERIES ACTING OUT BY KATERINA ABBOT COMING SOON! 
"Seychelles Spencer—Chelly to her friends—is the resident bombshell at The Rosewood
Academy for Academic Excellence; Westwood boys want her and Rosewood girls want to be
her. But being the popular girl isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be, especially when that girl is
all an act. Oh, she’s not exactly lying about who she is, it’s just that the confident, outgoing
exterior is quite different from the girl inside.

Not that it’s ever been a problem for Chelly. Until now. Because now that she sees her
friends settling down with boyfriends, she’s decided she no longer wants to be the carefree girl
who gets all the boys’ attention. Now she wants to draw the attention of one guy and get herself
a steady boyfriend.

But before she can make that happen, a game of truth or dare that was supposed to be stacked
in her favor goes terribly wrong and Chelly finds herself at the center of a dare that will make
sure she never gets a guy. Still, she’s determined and will do whatever it takes to get herself a
guy of her own.

But who? And at what cost? And most importantly, is she ready to drop the act?
Acting Out is the seventh installment of The Rosewoods, a Young Adult series for readers
who love fun, flirty love stories."




Taking the Reins  (The Rosewoods #1) 
by    
Brooklyn Prescott (if that's even her real name) is the new girl at The Rosewood Academy for Academic Excellence, now that she's moved back to the States after two years living in London. Rosewood, a boarding school for children of the rich and famous and known for its celebutantes, is missing just one element important to any junior's education: boys. But luckily for Brooklyn, and the rest of the Rosewood girls, there's a boys' boarding school, The Westwood Academy, just a few miles away. On her very first day, Brooklyn meets Will, a gorgeous and flirty boy on campus to help with move in. But is he who she thinks he is? And what about Brady, the cute stable boy? Or Jared, the former child actor with his grown-up good looks who can always make her laugh? As Brooklyn settles in at Rosewood, she's faced with new friends, new challenges and new opportunities to make herself into the girl she always wanted to be. Whoever that might be. Taking The Reins is the first installment of The Rosewoods, an exciting new Young Adult series for readers who love fun, flirty love stories. 

Jennifer's Review of Book # 1 Taking the Reins:
Taking the Reins was a good, light, fun book that will make you laugh out loud. My only complaint -- it is pretty short and I finished it in a couple of hours. This first book in the series revolves around Brooklyn -- a feisty but shy, young girl.  She is the new girl at the Rosewood Academy for Academic Excellence. Having moved back to the states from the London this book takes us with Brooklyn while she struggles to establish herself within a boarding school where there are already established and long standing friendships, and all the while tries not to be distracted by the Boys at Westwood Academy for boys. We follow her as she is swept into a whirlwind of events including riding at the Rosewood stables, friends, school, and cute boys: Will, Brady and Jared are three boys who capture her interest - - but who will she pick?

I got a recommendation for this book with a link to get it for free on Amazon. So I figured I would check it out. I am glad I did -- it was a good light summer read -- fun & flirty! and then i got totally hooked on this series!

Taking the Reins is the first book in the Rosewood series. Brooklyn Prescott is the new girl at The Rosewood Academy for Academic Excellence. She is back in the States after being in London for a couple of years with her parents. I would say this book was all about introductions.  On her very first day, Brooklyn meets Will, a gorgeous and flirty boy on campus to help the girls move in. He is from the all boys school Westwood. As the book progresses we meet too other boys -- Brady, the cute stable boy and Jared, the former child actor. 
As we follow Brooklyn as settles in at Rosewood -- she vows to take this opportunity to make herself into the girl she always wanted to be -- a little more fun, flirty, etc...

The book is pretty short and like I said I feel like it was an introductions type (no direct plot but an intro of what is to come in future books)of to the main characters and the setting. The ending is rather abrupt -- normally that would bother me but since book 2 already exists I was able to dive right into that one to satisfy my curiosity of what happens next. 
The only issue I had was that there were three boys loving Brooklyn and since Brooklyn professes that she is a pretty plain, normal girl that boys had never fallen all over in the past I found that pretty hard to believe. I liked Brooklyn's personality so it was not a far stretch for one boy to fall for her and possibly even two but the third one (who had a great girlfriend) was the one that really threw me over in the believability. Not that is stopping me from moving on to book 2 :-)

 Ideal for the young reader {aged 12-16} or for those (like me) who love young adult stories that are fresh, engaging and convincing! I cannot wait to read more within the Rosewoods series that has sparked a sense of interest…

TAKING THE REINS IS FREE VIA THE LINKS BELOW SO GO CHECK OUT THIS GREAT ROSEWOOD SERIES 
BY KATRINA ABBOT

Taking the Reins BUY LINKS:

GIVEWAY: 


a Rafflecopter giveaway



KATRINA ABBOT -- @AbbottKatrina 


About Katrina Abbott -- 
A survivor of adolescence, Katrina Abbott loves writing about teens: best friends, cute boys, kissing, drama. Her main vice is romance, but she's been known to succumb to the occasional chocolate binge. She may or may not live in California with her husband, kids and several cats


MY REVIEWS ON THE REST OF THE ROSEWOOD SERIES -- BOOKS 2 - 6

Masquerade  (The Rosewoods #2) 
Halloween is coming and everyone knows what that means: costume party! For Brooklyn Prescott, the best thing about being the new school liaison was supposed to be planning the Halloween dance. Who doesn't want to escape herself, even if it's just for one night? But The Rosewood School for Academic Excellence has banned costumes and now Brooklyn's faced with the possibility of her first event being a total flop. Not to mention that she's planning the dance with Dave, the sexy and neglected boyfriend of her roommate, Emmie. Awkward!

It's not like planning the dance is her only concern either. On top of classes she's got equestrian team practice, and Coach Fleming has been acting very oddly. Talked into sneaking out to collect some intel with her friends, Brooklyn may have stumbled onto a huge, juicy secret that could involve the coach in a potentially career-ending scandal. And then there's Jared, who seemed to be into her, but has suddenly disappeared without a trace - not even a text message.

Things at Rosewood are getting complicated for Brooklyn, just as she's starting to fit in. The more she tries to uncover the secrets surrounding her, the more she realizes that her friends and even the faculty are all wearing masks. Does she dare look underneath them? Or does she put on one of her own?


Jennifer's Review of Book 2 Masquerade:
In book 2 of The Rosewoods series, Brooklyn Prescott finally finds herself as a part of the Rosewoods girls and as result is happy and secure. She is the Rosewood Academy's School Liason which puts her in the position to deal with Westwood Boys academy's Liaison quite a bit. Along with finding true friends, she also deals with the many boys in her life who got introduced to in book 1: Dave (AKA-Will), Emmie's boyfriend who clearly is off limits to Brooklyn but as we know -- they had a connection in book 1 and then are thrown together in this book as school liaison's team planning the school dances - things get tricky with this relationship and was my least fav storyline; Jared (Abe), Dave's roommate, who is a total sweetheart and Brooklyn starts dating him in this book; and finally Brady, Brooklyn's Equestrian coach, who due to him being a Coach at the school is off limits but they in my opinion have the strongest connection. So its a love square. I plus a lot of other readers may not love love triangles or squares but in this case its not a huge focus and you will definitely be rooting for just one of them -- totally Team Brady over here! The book does continue on from right where book 1 leaves us but does leave us with a MAJOR cliffhanger at the end! 



Playing the Part  (The Rosewoods #3) 

Kaylee Bennett has never felt like she really fit in at The Rosewood Academy for Academic Excellence, but this year she feels even more like an outsider. Life has done a one-eighty for Kaylee and as she returns to the posh school for girls, she can’t bring herself to tell her secret to her friends and definitely not her long term crush, Phillip Carson. Not that Kaylee could ever imagine he would be attracted to a quiet bookworm like her anyway. But then there’s Declan Ryan, the gorgeous exchange student who seems to be interested, until Kaylee finds out his secret and why he might actually be into her, and it has nothing to do with her charm or love of English literature.
To complicate matters, Kaylee gets stuck running the school’s production of Romeo and Juliet, directing both Declan and Phillip with the help of Rosewood’s sexy first year teacher, Mr. Stratton—as if the Westwood boys weren’t enough of a distraction!
Determined to stay away from Declan and make things work with Phillip, Kaylee isolates herself from her friends and hides out in the house of cards she’s built to protect herself, but how long will it stay standing?
Playing The Part is a companion book to Taking The Reins and Masquerade, the first two books of The Rosewoods, an exciting new Young Adult series for readers who love fun, flirty love stories


Jennifer's Review of Book #3 Playing the Part:
Book 3 -- Well this was a game changer! This book is not told from Brooklyn's point of view. Its from Kaylee Bennett and seems to run parallel in time to book 2. For Kaylee, she is not new to Rosewood but coming back to Rosewood for her this year is much different than past years.  Her whole life went from being great to NOT - and its much more than financial hardship in her life. She has been allowed to return to Rosewood but on a scholarship. Since all of her friends are all rich she didn't want them to know this detail in fear that they would start to treat her differently. 
 Then there are her boy troubles with Phillip, the boy who she threw up on the year before at the dance and Declan, the new handsome Irish boy who saved her from embarrassment by asking her to dance. She has always had a crush on Phillip, but Declan -- he is nice, cute, and a little mysterious. However, when she finds out something that changes her mind about him, she's not so sure about anything anymore. Along with these troubles, she also has to run the school play due to her community service assignment. With no time to spare for herself, she feels like she's going to be driven insane.
This book could of gone two ways with a complete change of point of view from a secondary character and being written in the same timeline as the previous book -- as I don't think its easy to write in a parallel time and hook the reader in addition to bringing a secondary character into the starring role. Katrina pulled it off beautifully!  Kaylee was a sideline character in the previous two books but she had mystery to her. I enjoyed being able to see more into why Kaylee acted like she did in the other books. 



Reading Between the Lines  (The Rosewoods #4) 
   Brooklyn Prescott is starting to settle into life at The Rosewood School for Academic Excellence. Now that the masquerade ball is over and was a total success (whew!), she can return to her non-party planning life! She’s dating Jared officially now that he’s returned from Japan, and he’s even asked her to read his memoir of his life as a child actor, a great honor for Brooklyn, the wannabe journalist.

But just as things seem like they’re sliding into place, Emmie breaks up with Dave, who is suddenly showing interest in Brooklyn. More confused than ever, Brooklyn doesn’t know what to do—stay with the great guy who is obviously into her, or take a chance with the one she’s been crushing on since her first day on campus and risk alienating her friend and roommate? And what about Coach Fleming, who she has to resist every single day at equestrian practice?

One kiss starts the ball rolling and a second changes everything, causing a chain of events Brooklyn never could have imagined. As the holidays approach, Brooklyn needs to figure out who and what she is most thankful for. But then who she really is catches up with her and turkey dinners and horse shows are nothing compared to suddenly being faced with a life or death situation.

Reading Between The Lines is the fourth installment of The Rosewoods, an exciting new Young Adult series for readers who love fun, flirty love stories

Jennifer's Review:
The fourth book in the Rosewoods series continues with Brooklyn and her always changing life at Rosewood Academy. There were many things that occurred that I did not see coming at all. The first one being her brother Robert showing up on campus??? He definitely added a different element as we have focused so much before on the Westwood boys.  I actually not sure what to think of him yet but I am interested in seeing where Katrina takes his character and with who :-). Then there is what happens with Brooklyn and her array of boys; seriously, I just didn't see ANYTHING coming.  The boys: Dave, I'm not really sure what to think of their relationship, as I am totally partial to Brady. and the Brady -- what to say? Love him!
All in all, this book was another great read by Katrina Abbott with plot twists, laugh at loud moments and that ending was not at all expected. I can't wait to see the rest of the developments in book 5..  There are still so many questions to be answered... I think this is maybe the best book of this series. Still TEAM BRADY! 

This Point Forward  (The Rosewoods #5) 
Emmeline Somerville is the resident philanthropist at The Rosewood Academy for Academic Excellence. She cares deeply about human rights, animals, the planet and most of all, her friends at Rosewood. But sometimes caring so much about other people means the one person you should care about most—yourself—gets overlooked. Now that her former boyfriend Dave is with her roommate Brooklyn, Emmie tries to move forward, but it’s hard because maybe she wasn’t completely over Dave and perhaps she isn’t completely okay with him and Brooklyn dating. Or maybe the worst part is being left behind.

To add to Emmie’s troubles, in a moment of panic, she’s made an accusation against a member of the community—a troubled boy with a mysterious past—and now she must face the consequences of her split-second decision. Consequences she never could have seen coming. Consequences that will change both of their lives forever.

And then there’s Rob, Brooklyn’s older brother and the new handyman working on campus at Rosewood. He’s gorgeous and funny and shares Emmie’s love for movies. Sort of. What at first seemed like a fun way to pass time starts to turn into more than either of them bargained for. And when the Christmas holidays arrive, Emmie has to say goodbye to her friends and Rob to face the holidays on her own.

This Point Forward is the fifth book in The Rosewoods, an exciting new Young Adult series for readers who love fun, flirty love stories.


Jennifer's Review Book #5 This Point Forward:
So far I have loved the change of point of views that Katrina has done in the various books and this one did not disappoint! This particular book was told from Emmie's point of view. Emmie is a rich girl but as we all know money does not buy happiness. She's lonely, the holidays are approaching -- her parents have plans that do not include her and Brooklyn is leaving with no return date. To add it, Dave is pining over Brooklyn and she's crushing on Rob (Brooklyn's Brother). 

The one thing that this book had that the others didn't was the inclusion of the bad boy - loved him, his story and this story! Such a great pairing!
This may rival book 4 for me as my favorite. 




Making Ripples (The Rosewoods) (The Rosewoods #6)

Since Thanksgiving, life has gotten very complicated for Brooklyn Prescott. After being whisked away from Rosewood because of a threat on her life by terrorists—the bad guys her father is working hard to eradicate—she finds herself back in London. Now she has no friends, no boyfriend and is basically under house arrest courtesy of her father. But he’s just trying to keep her safe now that the unforgiving press splashed her picture all over the tabloids after seeing her with the famous Declan, known as ‘the Dashing Duke.’ Brooklyn has gone from being on the cusp of having it all to having the life of a hermit.

Trying to make the best of things, she uses her Christmas gift from her parents—a Moleskine notebook—to start writing, and even finds an intriguing subject to write about: the strange man who sits outside her window for hours at a time. As she creates his fictional story in her room at night, she starts to discover the real one by day. But as life begins to imitate art (or is it the other way around?), Brooklyn realizes she is in way too deep with this guy.

And what about the boys she left back at Rosewood? Will she ever see them again? More importantly, will they ever be able to forgive her for what she did?

Making Ripples is the sixth installment of The Rosewoods, an exciting new Young Adult series for readers who love fun, flirty love stories


Book # 6 Making Ripples -- Jennifer's Review
In the last book from Brooklyn's POV there was a security issue and as a result for Brooklyn's safety her parents pull her out of Rosewood and bring her back to London. This book follows Brooklyn in London and not in Rosewood. She is coping with the idea of possibly never seeing her Rosewood friends never again. Stuck in London wouldn't be so bad, but Brooklyn is literally stuck in the apartment by order of her parents for her safety. While stuck in the house Brooklyn notices a mysterious stranger that sits in the courtyard every day. 
This book has  a completely different feel than the rest of the books and given the setting it makes sense. While I liked this book and Katrina's slight dive into PTSD -- which brings some much needed awareness --  I have to admit I am ready for Brooklyn to get back to Rosewood and see what happens with Coach Brady and to get caught up with the rest of the girls. I kept anticipating Brooklyn to not only run into in London Kaley but also Brady (what happened to Brady while he was in London???) . I would also like to see Brooklyn to have one relationship and for that to be with Brady :-) 





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