Category Archives: New Adult

Four Seconds to Lose
(Ten Tiny Breaths, #3)
By: K.A. Tucker
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: Nov. 4, 2013
Genre: New Adult Romance
Rating:

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

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.

I’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.

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

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

Goodreads | Amazon

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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Believe
(True Believers, #3)
By: Erin McCarthy
Publisher: Penguin Group
Release Date: Jan. 21, 2014
Genre: New Adult Contemp. Romance
Rating:

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Robin used to be a party girl… until she got black out drunk and woke up in bed with her best friend’s boyfriend. Now she’s faced with being THAT girl, and couldn’t be more disgusted with herself. She can’t even tell her friends the reason for her sudden sobriety and she avoids everyone until she meets Phoenix—quiet, tattooed, and different in every way that’s good and oh, so bad…

Phoenix is two days out of jail when he meets Robin at his cousin’s house, and he knows that he has no business talking to her, but he’s drawn to her quiet demeanor, sweet smile, and artistic talent. She doesn’t care that he’s done time, or that he only has five bucks to his name, and she supports his goal to be a tattoo artist.

But Phoenix knows Robin has a secret, and that it’s a naïve dream to believe that his record won’t catch up with them at some point. Though neither is prepared for the explosive result when the past collides with the present…

Due to a mistake Robin made while she was black-out-drunk, she’s hated herself ever since. She’s gone from the outgoing party girl to the wear baggy clothes and stay in type. So when she gains the attention of her roommate’s boyfriends cousin who was just released from jail, the last thing she wants to do is start a relationship. However, she finds a kinship in him. Like herself, he’s lost and trying to start his life over as well.

I’ve never read any of Erin’s work before and was really looking forward to diving into this even though it was the 3rd book in a series. I mean, cmon, we’re talking about a guy who’s just been released from prison. I don’t think the hero in any of my books has a record. So I was pretty interested to see what this book had to offer.

This story was entertaining but unfortunately fell into the new adult mold. Aside from the whole prison thing, I didn’t really feel like this was an original story. The characters instantly fall in love. Drama arises. Then they live happily ever after. The beginning of the story when the two first start hanging out but lost interest about half way through. The author tried bringing up Phoenix’s time in prison with some guy who he used to know on the inside but it fell flat for me. It seemed out of the blue and didn’t really tie in with the story.

I liked that the author gave the characters self-redemption. She allowed them both to heal from their past and move on. However, this story just didn’t work for me in the end. It started out strong but soon turned into a bad boy with anger issues who falls in love for the first time with a girl he barely knows.

“Life is like waiting in line at the grocery store. You wait, you slowly move forward, you pay the price, then you exit unsatisfied and broke.” -Phoenix

Knowing Jack
By: Rachel Curtis
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: Jan. 17, 2013
Genre: New Adult
Rating:

Goodreads

I am not a slut, although I’ve been called one often enough. Yeah, I spent three months screwing one of my college professors, but I was crazy about the guy. Then he broke up with me.

I am not a bitch, although people like to say I am. I kept our relationship secret. I’m not responsible for telling the university administrators about it, but a lot of students still blame me for getting their favorite professor fired.

I am not a drama queen, although everyone thinks I am now. When I got a few nasty messages, I just deleted them. When I got the threat, I assumed it was someone being stupid. I still think that’s all it was. My parents worry, though, so they hired me a bodyguard. Now Jack follows me around, intimidating everyone who approaches me and looking obnoxiously hot.

This is what I am. I’m Chloe. I’m a twenty-year-old art history major. Kind of shy, although I pretend not to be. Stubborn enough to stay here for my senior year, even though everyone hates me.

And I’m stuck with Jack.

He calls me “Princess,” but I’m not a princess either.

Chloe slept with her professor resulting in the professor being fired from his job. Now the school (both teachers and students) are angry at Chloe over it. They view that it’s her fault he was fired and they lash out at her. Now she’s getting threats via text message and there’s a Tumblr page dedicated to her with some not so nice pictures of her with other guys. Which is where Jack comes in. He’s screwed up with his previous job and his father has decided to put him on a cotton candy case that’s supposed to be easy peasy. But when he meets the girl he’s supposed to protect, he finds that he needs to protect her from himself as well.

I thought the story sounded really interesting. I mean I’ve read bodyguard to lover stories before but the whole background to this one sounded like it would make for a great suspenseful read. However, it fell flat for me. The suspense just wasn’t there. It was cyber bullying at it’s finest. There were no real threats. Plus the writing was really choppy. The conversations between Jack and Chloe read as if someone scripted it as apposed to an actual conversation two people would have.

I also wasn’t a huge fan of Chloe. She was like a cat in heat. throughout the entire story. I don’t mean just because she was fawning over Jack either. There were times where he’d lean in to talk to her and she’d stick her chest out at him, or he’d push her away and say he couldn’t go there with her and she’s straddle his lap and kiss him. I just felt like the sex in this book was way over amped and it overshadowed the story.

“There’s no way I can hide it. I let my head fall backwards and arch my spine against the wall, pressing my breasts toward him without thinking. I let out a long, textured, embarrassing sigh. It’s almost-almost-a moan.”

The story had some promise but I think it needs some time with a good editor to work out some of the kinks and help it run a bit more smoothly.

“When you’re trained from kindergarten, from the cradle, to always protect, to always be strong, to control your surroundings, to let nothing slip by you, then it breaks the core of who you are when you fail.” -Jack