Monthly Archives: May 2014

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Review: Played by Liz Fichera

16177036Played
(Hooked, #2)
By: Liz Fichera
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: May 27, 2014
Genre: Contemp. YA
Rating:
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This Game Is Getting All Too Real

He said: I like to keep under the radar and mostly hang out with my friends from the rez. But when I saved Riley Berenger from falling off a mountain, that rich suburban princess decided to try to save me.

She said: If I can help Sam Tracy win the heart of the girl he can’t get over, I’ll pay him back for helping me. I promised him I would, no matter what it takes.

 

1thoughtsIt’s not that this book is a roll over from the previous book in the series. However, the two main characters in this story were also in the last story. Plus, Fred and Ryan from Hooked are in this story a lot. So even though it’s not 100% necessary to read the first book, I highly suggest it.

Sam and Riley live on two separate ends of the teen sceene. Sam is a boy from the Reservation who keeps to himself. Riley is Ryan’s (the popular boy in school) younger sister. However, when on a camping trip, the two get paired up for a scavenger hunt and find themselves stranded in the middle of a thunderstorm. With Sam’s quick thinking, he’s able to get them through the freezing wet night. Sam tell’s Riley about is love for Fred (Riley’s brother’s girlfriend) and Riley gets it in her head that she’s going to cause a rift between the two love birds and find a way to get Fred to fall madly, deeply in love with Sam instead.

I will admit that even though the premise of the story is rather juvenile, the content of the story is not. Not only was the story interesting with the two becoming friends and getting into all sorts of trouble, but there some heart stopping moments as well. I like that the author could’ve just made the store one dimensional and had it based on only the romance the entire time, but she added little surprises that kept me flipping pages faster and faster to see what would happen next.

Even though the story is predictable, the author added in a few twist and turns to keep the reader glued to the book. I hope that in the future books we get more Sam, Riley, Fred and Ryan. I wonder who Liz will bring to the forefront next.

 

1favequote“In all the chaos of the past few weeks, I had come to realize that he had been the only constant. He saw me and that crazy ninja alternate-personality who lived inside of me and didn’t run away – well, not totally. He saw me at my worst and found a reason to still be my friend.”

 

Previous reviews from Hooked
Hooked

kRISTIN

Review: Ghouls Rush In by HP Mallory

18663205

Ghouls Rush In
(Peyton Clark, #1)
By: HP Mallory
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Published: May 20, 2014
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Rating:
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Do you believe in love after life?

Looking for a fresh start, Peyton Clark becomes the proud owner of a piece of New Orleans history: an Antebellum-era two-story house in the Garden District. It’s going to take time and a fat wallet to restore the fixer-upper to its former glory, but after her recent divorce, Peyton could use the distraction.

It’s not long before Peyton discovers she’s moved into the haunted home of a flirtatious paranormal prankster. She’s receiving kisses from unseen lips and caresses from a ghostly hand, and soon she begins to have vivid dreams, bringing her face-to-face with the incomparably handsome ghost of Drake Montague.

When Peyton grows closer to her general contractor, Ryan Kelly—who is as charming as he is alive—the chill in the air could only suggest Drake’s jealousy from beyond the grave. But even though she’s definitely attracted to and interested in Ryan, Peyton also can’t get Drake out of her dreams, or her heart, as she begins to uncover the frightening truth behind his death a century ago…

 

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Review: Stay by Allie Larkin

7348523Stay
By: Allie Larkin
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Published: June 10, 2010
Genre: Chick-Lit Romance
Rating:
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Savannah “Van” Leone has been in love with Peter Clarke ever since she literally fell head over heels in front of him on the first day of college. Now, six years later, instead of standing across from him at the altar, Van’s standing behind her best friend Janie as maid of honor, trying to mask her heartache and guilt as Janie marries the only man Van’s ever loved. Before, Van’s mother died, she told Van never to let Peter go, but as the couple exchanges vows, Van wonders if her fairy tale ending will ever come true.

After the wedding, Van drowns her sorrows in Kool-Aid-vodka cocktails and reruns of Rin Tin Tin, and does what any heartbroken woman in her situation would do: She impulsively buys a German Shepherd over the Internet. The pocket-size puppy Van is expecting turns out to be a clumsy, hundred-pound beast who only responds to commands in Slovak, and Van is at the end of her rope… until she realizes that this quirky giant may be the only living being who will always be loyal to her, no matter what.

Van affectionately names her dog Joe, and together, they work to mend the pieces of Van’s shattered heart. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that Joe’s vet is a rugged sweetheart with floppy blond hair and a winning smile. But when the newlyweds return from their honeymoon, Van is forced to decide just how much she’s willing to sacrifice in order to have everything she ever wanted, proving that sometimes life needs to get more complicated before it can get better.

 

1thoughts

This is a cute chick-lit romance about a woman who’s best friend/ secret love marries her other best friend. Van is feeling rather lonely and makes an impulsive online purchase while drunk. She thinks she’s getting a cute little fur-ball of a puppy but when she goes to pick up the dog from the airport, it’s a 5 month old massive German Shepherd puppy. On Joe’s (GSD) first vet visit, Van meets Alex (the vet). They hit it off and pretty soon Van is forgetting all about the heartbreak she experienced over her best friends.

Like I said, this is a cute story. There’s no heavy romance, no major drama, no suspense. Just a cute love story with an adorable German Shepherd who brings everyone together. Some of the story was a bit cheesy but I sort of expect that when it comes to chick-lit romances. There was some humor that had me laughing out loud.

There were also parts of the story that I enjoyed simply because of Joe. Van’s never had a dog before, so even though Joe is well trained as a working dog, she doesn’t know all the ins and outs of owning a dog. Sorta like me when I got my first dog. One of the things I loved was that the author literally got one of my moments in the book. For instance, there’s a scene where Van comes home to find out that Joe’s chewed the leg of her bed like it was a stick. My dog did that to my bed. I’ve no idea how long he sat under the bed gnawing on it but one day I found the leg to be nothing more than a twig compared to it’s former self. The fact that the author added little things like this to the book really made the book that much better.

I’m new to the authors work but I really did enjoy this story. I will have to check out her other books and keep an eye out for new stuff. If you’re in the market for a light read, than this is definitely a must.

 

1favepartThis is the moment that Van finds out that the puppy she’s supposed to pick up from the airport isn’t the tiny thing she was expecting.

“I had a tiny black puppy collar with little silver stars on it tucked in my purse along with a skinny black leash. It didn’t look like it would fit around this beast’s leg. I pictured myself leading a big black wolf through the airport with a collar on his leg.”

kRISTIN

Review: A Dark & Stormy Knight by Suzie Quint

17558568A Dark & Stormy Knight
(McKnight Romance, #3)
By: Suzie Quint
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: March 24, 2014
Genre: Contemp. Romance
Rating:
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Georgia McKnight would do anything for her daughter Eden, but the one thing she’s failed to do is to provide her daughter with a model of a good marriage. To remedy that, she’s set her sights on converting her friendship with Daniel, the divorced father of Eden’s best friend, into a romance. Unfortunately, she has to leave Dallas for the summer to help her parents in Hero Creek, where her ex-husband waits, scheming to win her back.

Sol McKnight has three passions in his life: riding bulls, his daughter, and the woman he married right out of high school. He’s pulled some underhanded tricks over the years in order to keep his ex-wife single. He doesn’t regret a single one of them because, well, they worked. But now, she’s come home and he has a chance to win her back for good. If he’s smart about it, maybe he can make her see that she belongs with him.

 

1thoughtsThis is one of those second chance romances, only with cowboys. Georgia up and left her husband eight years ago because she was afraid of his rodeo career. Afraid he’d get hurt, afraid he’d be killed, and afraid he’d run off with a “buckle bunny”. So instead of talking about her worries to her new husband, she took off. Now, eight years later she’s back in town taking care of her parents while their daughter spends the summer with her father on his family’s ranch.

Georgia was a pretty stubborn person throughout the book. You can tell she still has feelings for Sol, but she fights them tooth and nail until the bitter end. Her resistance to accept her feelings was a little tiresome after a while. I felt like, considering the history between the two of them, and the fact that they have a daughter together, why fight against your feelings when you know the other person is head over heels in love with you?

However, I enjoyed reading about the two coexisting with each other for the sake of their daughter. After a while they started to soften up around each other and you started to see that old spark come back between them. I honestly don’t know how Georgia didn’t just melt the second that Sol interacted with their daughter. He had such tender moments with her, especially after the whole horse incident.

My one and only complaint was the mustache. I know it seems trivial but when the author kept constantly bringing up the “Tom Selleck” mustache with things like…

“He licked his lips then rolled his lower lip up over the edge of his mustache as he peered into the empty glass.”
“She brushed the corner of his mustache with her fingertips. It was soft under her touch. Had she ever told him how sexy she thought Tom Selleck was?”
“She leaned into him and nibbled on his mustache near the corner of his mouth.”

Sorry but mustaches are creepy and remind me of the famous sketch of the Unabomber. There’s just nothing sexy about snot catchers, and the constant reminder that the “sexy cowboy” had one, really threw me off and all I could see in my minds eye was a mustache. A big hairy mustache.

Aside from my issues with that particular form of facial hair, all was well with the book. I enjoyed Sol and Georgia’s story about their second chance at love.

 

1favequote“Without passion, you’ll never get through life’s rough spots.”

 
Previous reviews from A McKnight Romance
All’s Fair
Knight of Hearts

kRISTIN

Sunday Wrap-Up #33

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Review: Stupid Girl by Cindy Miles

23123Stupid Girl
By: Cindy Miles
Publisher: TKA Distribution
Release Date: May 13, 2014
Genre: New Adult Romance
Rating:
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Only fools fall in love…

After her senior year of high school leaves behind nothing but heartache, Olivia Beaumont is sure of this: She’s no stupid girl. She sets out for Winston College, promising herself that she will remain focused on her first and only love – astronomy. But all it takes is cocky sophomore Brax Jenkins and an accidental collision with a football, to throw her entire year off course.

A quick-tempered Southie who escaped the inner city streets of Boston to pitch for Winston, Brax is known to play way more fields than just the baseball diamond. So, when his name is drawn to take part in his fraternity’s hazing dare, Brax eagerly accepts the mission to take Olivia’s virginity. But he doesn’t plan on falling hard for the sweet and sassy Texas girl who sees right through his bad-boy persona.

As Olivia and Brax battle their feelings for each other, echoes of the past year begin to surface. A boy who once turned Olivia’s whole world upside down reappears, and “harmless” pranks wreak havoc. Pretty soon the aspiring astronomer is on the verge of revealing her most difficult, heartbreaking secret. All the while, Brax must wrestle with the irrevocable dare, and Olivia struggles against all logic as she does the one thing only a stupid girl would do: fall in love.

 

1thoughtsThe only reason this gets 2 stars instead of 1 is because I actually stuck with it until the end, even though there were a lot of times where I was ready to throw in the towel.

There is nothing original to this story. It is your typical new adult romance mold. However, that’s not the bad part. The main character, Brax, is a Bostonian who the author never lets us forget about his accent. Every conversation with Brax was then repeated in italic with a the way he sounded. You know like, “stahvin”, “fahkin”, “chowdah”, “fahtha”… and the list goes on and on and on. Good lord, I wanted to strangle the “southie” right out of him. Especially when the author drilled into us over and over that his “southie” was who he was.

Another negative was the abuse in this book. I mean, I’m all for alpha males but goodness, Brax was insane. Like certifiably psycho. He was always showing up with black eyes, bloody knuckles and once had blood covering his shirt. I thought, he must be a wannabe MMA fighter like every other leading male in new adult. Nope! Homeboy just likes to use his fists to solve every problem. For instance when he was grabbing Olivia’s wrist at a bar, crowding her, and the bartender told him to leave her alone, that she said to back off. What does Brax do? He pummels the crap out of the guy. And what’s worse, later in the book there’s a moment where a video of him going bat shit crazy on someone goes viral, Olivia’s mom sees the video and tells her that she’d give Brax a second chance if she were in her shoes. Uh, hold on, your mom said what?! I’m not talking about the next chapter, or later on in the book, we are talking like the next paragraph after they see the video the mom is saying to give this psycho another chance.

There was just a lot of things that were poorly done. If it wasn’t for my crazy drive to finish a story, I’d have put it down after the first psycho beating because the accent was already doing me in. I stuck with it though. Unfortunately, the storyline just never got any better.

 

1favequoteI found this quote hilarious. For one, it’s a little ridiculous for college freshman to be saying. For another, my boss always asks me, when there’s a room of screaming obnoxious children, “Doesn’t that just make your ovaries flutter?” … The joke being that I don’t ever want kids and instead have fur-babies.

“Now lick your glass, Liv. Ash is watching you. God, he makes my ovaries quiver.”

kRISTIN

Review: Breakable by Tammara Webber

17936925Breakable
(Contours of the Heart, #2)
By: Tammara Webber
Publisher: Berkley
Published: May 6, 2014
Genre: New Adult Romance
Rating:
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He was lost and alone. Then he found her.
And the future seemed more fragile than ever.

As a child, Landon Lucas Maxfield believed his life was perfect and looked forward to a future filled with promise — until tragedy tore his family apart and made him doubt everything he ever believed.

All he wanted was to leave the past behind. When he met Jacqueline Wallace, his desire to be everything she needed came so easy…

As easy as it could be for a man who learned that the soul is breakable and that everything you hoped for could be ripped away in a heartbeat.

 

1thoughts

Easy told the story of Jacqueline and how she handled a situation that would have led to her being raped. Breakable is Lucas story about his life after his mother was raped and murdered one room over from him when he was a little boy and his road to recovery. Yes, this is essentially the same story as easy, however, at least half of the book is of Lucas’ life growing up that led him to live with the Keller’s in the first place.

I’m not usually a fan of companion novels since they generally seem to be the same story regurgitated back to you, only in a new POV. I’m glad to say that this isn’t all Breakable had to offer. The sections where we go back into Lucas’ past was very fascinating. I like how the author separated the chapters/sections by titling them “Landon” or “Lucas” depending on which time frame we were looking at. Especially since that is how Lucas looks at himself, the boy before he moved away to begin to heal (Landon) and the guy he is now (Lucas).

I don’t think you could read this story without reading Easy. The author doesn’t really go into all the details between the interactions of Jacqueline and Lucas. It was easy to fall back into their story since I’ve read Easy, but I think if I hadn’t, I’d have felt a little disconnected with the relationship between the two. Which, actually worked out for me since I think I’d have been bored if the author rehashed out every little detail that these two had together.

However, even though this was so much more than I thought it was going to be, I really only gravitated to Lucas’ story when he wasn’t interacting with Jacqueline. Maybe it was because it was a fresh new story? Maybe I wanted to get the full story on the Lucas I’d met from Easy? Who knows, but I found myself looking forward to when I’d see the headliner “Landon”. It was great to finally get Lucas’ story of his life leading up to the responsible demeanor he has. Boy, did he come a long way. However, I wish that this was more of a Landon only story leading up to Easy instead of half of it being things I already read before. Either way, I still enjoyed it.

 

1favequote“There’s no right or wrong way to be a survivor, Jacqueline. There’s no script.”

 

Other reviews from Contours of the Heart
Easy

kRISTIN

Spotlight: Fighting for Infinity by Karen Amanda Hooper

InfinityFighting for Infinity
(Kindrily, #3)
By: Karen Amanda Hooper
Publisher: Starry Sky Publishing
Published: April 30, 2013
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

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Every moment, every lifetime, every decision—including her choice to erase—has led Maryah to this.

Two outcomes are possible: an infinite happy-ever-after with her kindrily or the final severing of her relationship with Nathan.

Closer to the enemy than ever before, Maryah unravels the diabolical plan that Dedrick has been manipulating into place for centuries. Revelations, secrets, and lies surface faster than Maryah can process. She doesn’t know who to trust, what to believe, or how to save her loved ones from the desolate future Dedrick is so close to executing.

Guided by an enigmatic raven-haired prisoner, Maryah fights body and soul to save Nathan, her kindrily, and countless others. But is her love strong enough to alter a prophecy written in the stars?

 

I’m a twisted little pixie who dances down rabbit holes and rides shooting stars while playing a never-ending game of “Imagine If…” Then I write about my impossible and fantastical musings and call myself an author. Ahem, aspiring author.

Born and bred in Baltimore, frolicked and froze in Colorado for a couple years, currently sunning and splashing around Florida. I go wherever life (and my imagination) takes me.

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Spotlight: The Concealing by D.E.L. Connor

 

SWSThe Concealing
(Spirit Warriors, #1)
By: D.E.L. Connor
Publisher: Booktrope
Published: Nov. 24, 2013
Genre: YA

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Sixteen-year-old Emme Belrose has it all: four best friends, a horse of her own, a hidden tepee hangout, and a blossoming romance with tall and handsome Charlie. These friends also have a secret. They can move their spirits into animal bodies: an osprey, a mustang, a grizzly, a mountain lion and a coyote. But when Charlie, who has a gift for seeing the future, has a vision of Emme drowning in the icy Yellowstone River, the Spirit Warriors must train their animal bodies to kill an enemy they know is coming… but know nothing about. Suspenseful, romantic, and awash in Native American magic, Spirit Warriors captures the tragic enchantment of the American West—and confirms the power of friendship.

 

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Review: Rush by Nyrae Dawn

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