Category Archives: New Adult

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

Review: Rush by Nyrae Dawn

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Review: Uncovering You: The Contract by Scarlett Edwards

20512700Uncovering You: The Contract
(Uncovering You, #1)
By: Scarlett Edwards
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: March 27, 2014
Genre: New Adult Dark Erotica
Rating:
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When I wake up in a dark, unfamiliar room, I have no idea what’s waiting for me in the shadows. My imagination conjures up demons of the worst kind.

Reality is much worse:

A collar with no leash. A prison with no walls. And a life stripped of meaning.

I am presented with a vile contract and asked to sign. It outlines the terms of my servitude. The only information I have about my captor are the two small letters inked at the bottom:

J.S.

Armed with only my memories, I must do everything I can to avoid becoming ensnared in his twisted mind games. But in the end, it all comes down to one choice:

Resist and die.

Or submit, and sign my life away.

 

1thoughtsThis is more of a set-up short story for the series than an actual story in itself. Lilly has flashbacks of both her childhood and the time leading up to her capture. It’s with these flashbacks that she pieces together who her captor is.

Maybe now that that is out of the way the story will take off in the next book. You really don’t know anything about the two people yet. Just that Lilly is being held against her will and the only way to escape is to sign a contract saying that the willingly signed over her rights to JS.

I wish there was a little more meat to this book because nothing really happened. It was just a snippet of Lilly being in an unknown room as she goes in and out of consciousness with dreams of her past. I will keep an eye out for the next volume as I’m sure that’s where the real story begins.

 

1favequote“It was the illusion of freedom that got to me most, not the promise of food. In that moment, I saw just how desperate my situation had become. Every aspect of my life was governed by a madman. He would continue feeding me, barely enough to live, while tempting me with the relief that would come when my signature scratched on the empty line of that filthy piece of paper.”

kRISTIN

Review: Four Seconds to Lose by K.A. Tucker

17571140Four Seconds to Lose
(Ten Tiny Breaths, #3)
By: K.A. Tucker
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: Nov. 4, 2013
Genre: New Adult Romance
Rating:
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Owning a strip club isn’t the fantasy most guys expect it to be. With long hours, a staff with enough issues to keep a psych ward in business, and the police regularly on his case, twenty-nine-year-old Cain is starting to second guess his unspoken mission to save the women he employs. And then blond, brown-eyed Charlie Rourke walks through his door, and things get really complicated. Cain abides by a strict “no sleeping with the staff” rule. But being around Charlie challenges Cain’s self-control…and it’s been a long time since any woman has done that.

Twenty-two-year-old Charlie Rourke needs a lot of money, really fast, in order to vanish before it’s too late. Taking her clothes off for men makes her stomach curl but Charlie tells herself that at least she’s putting her acting and dancing skills to good use. And though her fellow dancers seem eager to nab their sexy, sophisticated, and genuinely caring boss, she’s not interested. After all, Charlie Rourke doesn’t really exist—and the girl pretending to be her can’t get distracted by romance.

Unfortunately, Charlie soon discovers that developing feelings for Cain is inevitable, and that those feelings may not be unrequited—but losing him when he finds out what she’s involved with will be more painful than any other sentence awaiting her.

 

1thoughtsI’m not going to lie, when I saw that K.A. wrote her hero as a strip club owner, I just about fell out of my chair with excitement. I’ve never read a book where the main character is a strip club owner, while still managing not to give me the creeps. I’m sorry but, you own an establishment that exploits women. However, Caine didn’t give me the heebie jeebies. I wouldn’t say that I was totally head of heels in love with him but he wasn’t a total sleazeball.

I liked that the author tied a great background story to Caine that gave him some noble qualities to his job. The fact that his sister was a stripper and was doing extra on the side to earn money was what fueled him to open his own place. He wanted a club that women in that profession could find a safe place to do their business, while he offered as much help to get them on their feet. For instance, there was a scene with a stripper and her abusive/drug dealing ex-boyfriend. Caine takes it upon himself to protect the girls who work for him, and that means keeping them clean, helping them get the education they need or helping them break free from bad relationships. The fact that Caine is a stand-up guy who is only interested in being a safe haven for those who must go into the business to support themselves was quite noble of him. However, the fact remains that he owns a strip club.

“I want to help out every woman who feels she needs to take her clothes off to survive but I’m only on man, and not every woman is strong enough to avoid the pitfalls of this industry.”

What would a good romance be without a little conflict. Charlie is everything that Caine stands against. Her stepfather forced her into a life of crime. She’s a heroine peddler, Caine lost his whole family to a drug related crime. Charlie doesn’t enjoy her job at all but anytime someone has crossed her stepfather or attempted to get out, they wound up dead. So she bides her time while in Miami with a “job” stripping in Caine’s club in the hopes of earning enough money on the side to run away and disappear. Some of the things that happen to her while at these drops definitely had me on the edge of my seat. This was definitely a gritty romance all the way around.

I liked that even though this was a romance, the author always made sure to keep the stepfather in the picture. Whether it was interactions via phone between Charlie and him, memories of her life before he had her working for him, or the drops that Charlie was doing, the suspense was always there. Sometimes the romance overrides that suspense but the author always kept the danger lurking the background the entire time.

Even though I couldn’t really get over the fact that Caine was the owner of a strip club, no matter how noble his reasons were, I still liked that he was a strip club owner. He was different from your average hero. Owning that club set him apart from every other male lead I’ve read. He wasn’t your typical alpha male with a bigwig job. No, he was an alpha male who took it upon himself to watch over women who would otherwise be prostituting to make a living.

This was a great story that was both gritty and steamy at the same time. I wasn’t able to put the book down. There were so many things going on that I just had to know what would happen next. I was slightly disappointed with the ending. I felt like it was all a little too coincidental. Maybe it’s just me but that did earn a slight eye-roll from me. However, the entire story was pretty awesome. I cannot wait to read the next story in Ten Tiny Breaths.

 

1favequote“I don’t know how the monks survive. Probably not by watching  live strip shows daily.” -Caine

kRISTIN

Review: Unfixable by Tessa Bailey

21527270Unfixable
By: Tessa Bailey
Publisher: Entangled
Published: April 14, 2014
Genre: New Adult Romance
Rating:

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He’s the last thing she wants…but the only thing she needs.

Willa Peet isn’t interested in love. She’s been there, done that, and has the shattered heart to prove it. Ready to shake the breakup, she heads to Dublin, Ireland. But there’s a problem. A dark-haired, blue-eyed problem with a bad attitude that rivals her own. And he’s not doling out friendly Irish welcomes.

Shane Claymore just wants to race. The death of his father forced him off the Formula One circuit, but he’s only staying in Dublin long enough to sell the Claymore Inn and get things in order for his mother and younger sister. He never expected the sarcastic American girl staying at the inn to make him question everything.

But even as Willa and Shane’s fiery natures draw them together, their pasts threaten to rip them apart. Can Shane give up racing to be with the woman he loves, or will Willa’s quest to resurrect the tough-talking, no-shit-taking girl she used to be destroy any hope of a future together?

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Review: Charade by Nyrae Dawn

CharadeMockCharade
(Games, #1)
By: Nyrae Dawn
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: Oct. 22, 2012
Genre: New Adult Romance
Rating:
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Nineteen-year-old Cheyenne tries to portray the perfect life to mask the memories of her past. Walking in on her boyfriend with another woman her freshman year in college threatens that picture of perfection.

Twenty-one-year-old Colt never wanted college and never expected to amount to anything, but when his mom’s dying wish is for him to get his degree, he has no choice but to pretend it’s what he wants too.

Cheyenne needs a fake boyfriend to get back at her ex and Colt needs cash to take care of his mom, so they strike a deal that helps them both. But what if Cheyenne’s past isn’t what she thought? Soon they’re trading one charade for another—losing themselves in each other to forget about their pain. The more they play their game, the more it becomes the only thing they have that feels real.

Both Cheyenne and Colt know life is never easy, but neither of them expect the tragedy that threatens to end their charade and rip them apart forever.

 

1thoughtsI thought this was going to be a cute romance but there were some really heavy topics in this story. You see, Chey’s mother left her at her aunts house 10 years ago and never came back for her. So Chey’s lived her life never really needing anyone. So when her boyfriend cheats on her, she’s left to fend for herself in his world. Since after all, she came to this college to be with him. At the same time Colt is dealing with a mother who is losing the battle with cancer. He does everything he can to make sure she has everything she needs and that there’s enough money to pay for the medical bills. So when Chey comes to him with the opportunity to not only stick it to her ex-boyfriend (who he’s not fond of) as well as get paid for it, he takes her up on her offer. However, while they are playing this game, the game changes.

Like I said, I was surprised by some of the more heavier parts that take place in this story. However, it’s the heavier parts that make this story awesome. This could have easily been a bad boy meets good girl new adult romance but Colt isn’t really that bad, he’s just trying to cope with his mother’s condition. I will admit that there were a couple of parts where I got teary eyed. This is definitely not a light romance.

 

1favequote “It’s easier to hide in the dark…but easier to let go too.”

kRISTIN

Review: The Wicked We Have Done by Sarah Harian

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Review: TAUT by JA Huss

FORD

18807831Taut: The Ford Book
(Rook & Ronin Spinoff)
By: JA Huss
Publisher: Science Future Press
Published: Jan. 18, 2014
Genre: New Adult Erotic Romance
Rating:
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Ford Aston is known for many things. Being an emotionless, messed up bastard, a freakishly smart social outcast, and a cold, domineering master who keeps “pets” instead of girlfriends.

And after Rook broke his heart, he plans to keep it that way.

Ashleigh is known for nothing, and that’s exactly what she’s got going for her. She’s broke, stranded in the mountains with a three month old baby, and Ford Aston is screwing with her head.

Big. Time.

And she plans to mess with his right back.

It’s a coy game at first, filled with flirting, and innuendo–but Ford soon realizes something is not quite right with Ashleigh. In fact, something is seriously, seriously wrong and the closer they get to their final destination, the closer Ford gets to the truth.

One night of devastation, self-loathing, and emptiness turns into the best thing that ever happened to Ford Aston. But one day of in-your-face reality threatens Ashleigh’s whole existence.

 

1thoughtsThis is not a spinoff that you should read without reading Rook & Ronin first. Granted, Ashleigh is a new character but Ford is not. He plays a huge role in the last book of the trilogy and his character is very complex. It’s found out in the trilogy that he has Asperger Syndrome but he still ends up developing feelings for the main character and well, I’ll just let you read the story. Trust me on this, you have to read the original trilogy before you can dive into this. I don’t care what anyone tells you. Otherwise it will be a half-ass read. And no one likes half-ass reads.

Ford has been a fascinating character since he came on the scene in the Rook & Ronin series. I was really sad when the series ended because I really wanted to know what happens to Ford. So, suffice to say that I’m extremely happy with this novel. I didn’t read the little novella that came before this (I personally don’t think it was necessary) and honestly had no idea that it existed until after I finished Taut. That was kinda just a teaser for anyone wanting more Ford. This one however is his story, his HEA, and I LOVED it.

“I trust you. But I like soft kisses. So in between the rough stuff you like, be careful with me. Give me something soft, because I really need it.”

Ashleigh was a very interesting character as well and I feel like she compliments Ford nicely. She’s a little messed up in the head as well and has her own issues. But two things are certain, she likes to be naughty when it comes to Ford and she adores her infant daughter. I never thought babies in a story could work but I could not imagine this story without Kate. Heck, without Kate, this story would probably be a 4 star review. That’s how important to the story she is.

“She smiles at me and I melt a little and pick her up. She flings her little fists around in agreement. I take her back over to the couch and sit down. She’s got her head on my shoulder, just kicking it, so I flip through channels until I get to the news.”

The second we meet Ashleigh and get a glimpse at her key chain I knew right then and there what the outcome of her story would be. I may not have known the twist and turns that Huss would take us through to get there but being in that lifestyle myself, I knew it the moment I saw it. That’s not to say that I didn’t react when the time came though because I honestly balled my eyes out. Yes, even the expected pulled an intense reaction out of me.

I swear, I could go on and on about this book. I loved everything about it but I was a bit confused by the semi-rushed ending. I didn’t understand Mr. Li’s change of heart so suddenly. I felt like maybe I was missing a page or two. However, that wasn’t enough to detract a star. I was already head over heals in love with Ford and his “team”.

 

1favequote“Ashleigh wants a Jedi and all I’m capable of giving her is the Sith.” -Ford

 

Previous reviews from Rook and Ronin
Tragic
Manic
Panic

 

author

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JA Huss is a SF and new adult romance junkie, has a love-hate relationship with the bad boys, and likes to write new adult books about people with real problems. She lives with her family on a small acreage farm in Colorado and has two donkeys named Paris and Nicole. Before writing fiction, she authored almost two hundred science workbooks and always has at least three works in progress. Her first new adult romance is called TRAGIC.

Website | Facebook | Twitter

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Review: With You by Nashoda Rose

18812737With You
(Tears Asunder, # 0.5)
By: Nashoda Rose
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: Dec. 20, 2013
Genre: New Adult Romance
Rating:
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Sculpt is an illegal fighter.

He’s also the lead singer of a local rock band.

No one knows his real name.

And from the moment I met him, he made me forget mine.

In order to convince Sculpt to give me self-defense lessons, I had to follow his one rule—no complaining or he’d walk. I didn’t think it would be a problem. I could handle a few bruises. What I hadn’t anticipated was landing on my back with Sculpt on top of me and my entire body burning up for him.

I tried to ignore it.

I failed of course. And having a hot, tattooed badass on top of me week after week, acting completely immune to what he was doing to my body—it was frustrating as hell, so I broke his rule—I complained.

Then he kissed me.

 

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