{REVIEW} Watch Over Me by Tara Sivec

Sigghh I freaking LOVE Tara Sivec

She is such a versatile author who can write books that make me laugh so hard I pee myself to books that will gut punch and break my heart all at the same time. 

I never know what I am going to get when I crack open one of her books and I love that about her the most...

Watch Over Me was one of those books that left me cracked and had me thinking about it LONG after I was done reading it. 

Here is my review for: 

Addison Snow is your typical teenager. She has a family that loves her, friends that make her laugh, and she's wrapped up in the excitement of graduating high school and going off to college to pursue her dream of becoming an author. When her mother, who also happens to be Addison's best friend, dies unexpectedly, her world comes to a crashing halt.

Death changes everyone...

To make the pain go away, Addison and her father travel down separate, dark paths. She chooses to end her grief forever, while he drowns his sorrows in the bottom of a bottle. How do you learn to live again when the most important person in your life is gone?

Addison struggles to pick up the pieces of her life. Instead of getting back to being the carefree teenager she once was, she's stuck handling all of the responsibilities that should have been her father's. She has no time to grieve, no time for emotions, and no time for happiness...until Zander Reinhardt walks in. All it takes is one little handwritten note on a napkin to kick-start her back to life and help her realize that maybe there's more to that life than pain.

But can it really be that simple? Can she really trust this man who makes her feel alive again for the first time in a year?

Addison and Zander both have secrets they aren't ready to share. When the truth finally comes out, is it enough to tear them apart or has something bigger than themselves always been watching over them, pushing them together, making sure they both get their happily ever after?

My Thoughts

Death changes everything.. 

That phrase kept repeating inside my head. 

Everything seemed to change in Addison's life as soon as her mother passed away. Her father can't get over the grief, she has to take on the responsibilities of a grown woman instead of living her teenage life, happy and carefree. 

She's devastated by her mother's unexpected death, hurt by her father's unwillingness to clean up and depressed from the turn of events that has taken place. She wants to be free from her life so she does something dangerous to escape the constant pain.

"It's easy to forgive someone for the hurt they've caused you. Forgetting is impossible"

Afterwards, she starts seeing a therapist to help her cope with the obstacles that life is throwing at her, she remains in control of her parent's bakery, and her father is still damaged. But this is about the time that Zandar walks into her life and for the first time in a very long time she starts to feel hope. 

Hope for the future, hope in life, hope in herself. 

With the help of her therapist she starts to see things differently and starts to open herself up to Zandar, she needs someone to comfort her and be her rock when she can't take it anymore, Zandar becomes that and more but what happens when there is a secret that he has yet to tell her and breaks the foundation that they worked on building? 

"I don't want to do anything that will make him leave because I don't want to be strong anymore. I'm so tired of being strong"

This book... THIIIISSS book seriously did a number on my heart, mind, and beliefs. I won't give away the magic that happens in here but lets just say the comparisons that Addison kept making made me curious and then the note that was left in the office was a mixture of freaky and heartwarming. 

It took my mind off what is impossible and made me believe in the possibility , even if I didn't want to believe in it, Tara Sivec forced it on me and told me to swallow it down and made me feel like I have always believed in this impossibility. She took me out of my comfort zone and led me straight to the uncomfortable but she gently guided me through so it wasn't painful, it was soothing to my very soul. 

I have always been a spiritual type of person, not very religious but I do believe that I have loved ones watching over me and this book confirmed my beliefs in that.

I loved the relationship between Zander and Addison, he was good for her and she was just what he needed in his life. They were the epitome of two halves of a whole, ying to yang and all them lovely adjectives. They weren't annoying characters that needed to grow the fuck up and stop annoying the shit out of me.. I loved them, I loved how Addison grew not only as a person but as partner, someone who could be an equal to Zander, stand on her own and know when she needed to just let it all go and live her own life... 

"With the help of a boy who loved her more than she thought possible, and the of the most important person in her life watching over her, she learned how to move forward. She learned how to live"

Gahh just fan-fucking-tastic shit...

The only reason I am not giving it 5***** is because I felt it should have been a bit longer with a more rounded out ending. LOVED the epilogue but I wanted to know more about her and her father's relationship, how Meg was doing, just small things that I wanted to know more about.

I give this book a 4/5 and if you want to check out for yourself go here: 

NOOK USERS

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Unfinished Business by Carolyn Aspenson

I got this book from the author for an honest review. 
It is out of my "norm" and I honestly was feeling a little run down from all the angst, heartbreak, and love stories that I was happy to switch it up for a little bit and boy I not only switched out of my comfort zone but I got batted out of left field!!! 
With that being said I really enjoyed this book and was glad I got the honor of reviewing it for her. 

Now here is my review of: 

Unfinished Business 

Business; An Angela Panther Novel is the first in a series by Carolyn Ridder Aspenson. This book is a chick lit novel with a paranormal element.
The book is available as an ebook through Barnes & Noble, iTunes and Amazon. It will be available as a paperback on Amazon in May, 2013.
When Angela's mother Fran dies and comes back as a ghost, Angela's ordinary life turns into a carnival show, starring both Angela and her nosy, dead mother.
It seems Fran's got some unfinished business on earth and she's determined to get it done, no matter what.
When Fran returned, she reignited her daughter's long suppressed psychic gift, one she neglected to mention to Angela, and now Angela sees ghosts everywhere. And they won't leave her alone.
Fran can't help but stick her transparent nose where it doesn't belong, making Angela's life even crazier.
Now Angela has to find a way to keep her old life in tact and help the dead with their unfinished business, all while trying to keep her dead mother out of trouble. And it's a lot for one woman to handle.

My Thoughts

Gosh this book was really good. 

It was about ghosts, the love of family, the never ending love of mothers and their daughters, add some humor and it was the perfect combination of adult/chiklit/paranormal. 

So I am not a believer in ghosts or anything like that but I do believe that my grandfather is up in heaven looking out for me, I have to believe that because I lost him way too soon, I didn't have enough time with him before he left this world and this book brought a lot of those emotions back out. 

Angela is a married mother of two who's mom just passed away from cancer when one night her mother wakes her up to tell her that she isn't going to heaven because she has some stuff left to do, hence the title.

But her mother isn't the only ghost who has some unfinished business to attend too, there are others who need Angela's help as well.

"Flip me over and put a bun on me because I was done. I was seeing the ghost of my mother and she was telling me to redecorate"

Of course Angela freaks, I mean who wouldn't freak that they are seeing ghosts???!!!!! HELLOOO I would probably shit myself and check myself right into a loony bin with lots of padded walls!! 

But luckily Angela doesn't do that and 

once she accepts the truth of her future (its definitely a hard pill to swallow) she begins to see the good in helping the ghosts who need it. 

Some of the things she has to do is heartbreaking and will give you chills while bringing tears to your eyes.

As I was reading my husband asked why it looked like I have been crying, I told him that the book was a little heartbreaking.

He told me to sleep in guest room because that was embarrassing.

HuMMmmMpH- jerk

It was a really good story, there were some parts that were a little slow but overall I was entranced while I was reading, laughing at some of the dialogue, and praying that my daughter wouldn't become a sullen teenager full of angst (HA yeah right I know I am not THAT lucky). 

It's heartwarming because even though Angela's mother was a spirit and driving her absolutely CRAZY, she still thought it was nice that she could interact with her as if she was still living and thats something that nobody can take away.

This book is very relatable, especially if you have children or lost someone close to you. This author wrote from the heart and it was based on true events (not the ghost part but other parts of the book were). 

It seemed therapeutic to the author and you could tell she poured her heart into it.

Losing someone, especially a parent, is never easy and this author addresses that in heavy doses but she also adds humor to it making it lighter and easier to read. You will be so sad for the people in the book and then smiling afterwords.

"Sometimes being haunted by my mother was like having a toddler again"

This book was totally different from my normal reads

There were no love scenes, hardly any angst, barely any curse words but it was still a well-written book that kept me entertained. 

If you are looking for something different from your normal reads or even a beach read this would be perfect for you! 

I didn't think I would like it as much as I did but I really did and if you want to check it out for yourself here is the information for it: 

Book Trailer

Author's Page

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I give this book a 4/5 and if you want to check it out go here: