Month: July 2013

Review: Material Girl (The Fancy Lives of the Lear Sisters) by Julia London

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material girl cover4 stars

Robin Lear is a successful businesswoman at her father’s giant freight corporation. Or so she thinks. Once she meets Jake — the guy renovating her new house — she realizes she’s little more than an arrogant, spoiled child who can’t see outside her fancy bubble. When Robin’s feelings for Jake begin to deepen, she knows she must shed her material girl image and find her real self, the self she can share forevermore with a man like Jake.

This is a fun romance with a happily-ever-after ending. I enjoyed reading about Robin’s material girl lifestyle: her jetsetting weekend trips, designer bags, expensive taste in wine. But I really loved watching her fall out of love with her fancy life and fall in love with Jake and his family. Jake is a little bit sappy, but strong when it counts most: vying against slick corporate Evan who chases Robin like he’s trying to win a carnival prize.

London did a great job endearing me to the main characters. She fleshed out the ancillary characters enough to make me want to read about Robin’s sisters and estranged parents in the next two books of the Lear Sisters trilogy. And best of all, London told a great love story, rife with ups and downs, arguments and make-ups, picnics and unmet expectations, and misunderstandings and kisses.

-Calliope

Buy It Now Material Girl (The Fancy Lives of the Lear Sisters)

Review: The Biscuit Witch by Deborah Smith

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biscuitI first ran across Deborah Smith by accident. I was new to e-book technology and ran across a free book of hers that was titled “The Crossroad Café”. At that time I had very few book titles on my kindle. I expected a quick fluffy read that would entertain me, but soon leave my mind completely….however, years later I still love that book…it took me completely by surprise and was so much more than I ever expected….I seriously love Deborah Smith. She has a wonderful writing style. Very real. She makes the characters come to life. So when I heard this novella was coming out revisiting the characters I had first met in TCC, I was so excited! I started this book the minute I got my copy.

This short novella was a very nice way for me to go back to Crossroad Cove for a visit. I usually do not care for novellas, but this one was a nice break for me. I’m not sure if it was a formatting issue (I am reviewing a copy from NetGalley) or just how the book was written, but it was confusing at parts when the point of view jumped between the lead characters. It was easy enough to figure it out, but it should have been seamless, and it was not. I understand that this is one part of what will eventually be three novellas to make one book….two sibling stories are to follow….however, I feel that there was plenty of story between the Tal, Doug, and Eve to merit a full novel. I felt this was rushed and I missed the building up of their story. I can easily see where 200 +more pages could have been written about them. There was so much history before they all came together, more time should have been made to hear their full stories. I still love Smith’s writing style, but I feel she cheated us on this one….I wanted more!!!!

*spoiler*
My major complaint (besides the rushing of the story) is the rushing of the characters. I don’t necessarily agree that a small child calls a stranger Daddy two days after meeting him. This really bothered me. If this had been a full-fledged novel, this could have been avoided and would have been a moot point…instead, it’s something that left a bad feeling for me.

Still really enjoyed the book and am now more firmly cemented as knowing Smith is a “need to read” for me….

Review copy provided by NetGalley

~Urania

Buy it now The Biscuit Witch (A Crossroads Café Novella, Book One of the MacBrides)

Review: REAL, by Katy Evans

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I love Remington Tate!!

OK, now that that’s out of the way, I can continue.

Remy is a fallen boxer who takes to underground fighting, after he was kicked out of the professionals. He is gorgeous, super sexy, and damaged.

Brooke specializes in sports rehab therapy and works hard to prevent injuries. So she isn’t happy to be to be dragged to one of his fights, by a friend. However, she instantly feels connected to him, just after seeing him from across the room. (typical, I know) He chases her down and she thinks it’s for a hook up, but turns out he wants to offer her a job and his personal rehab therapist. She takes the job even though she is utterly attracted to him, and wonders how she’ll be able to be professional.

They continue in this kind of flirting relationship. She likes him, but he won’t take it any further. But yet, he won’t let anyone else have her. The sexual tension is very enjoyable. 🙂

“I don’t want to be yours. I want to be your fucking REAL.”

Eventually you find out that he’s bi-polar and that’s what makes him “speedy”. I’m not crazy with the way he’s handled in some situations. I won’t spoil it, but it doesn’t seem right. So he has a hard time being with or without Brooke.

Eventually they get past the flirting.

“Have you ever been anyone’s?”

“No. And you?”

“I’ve never wanted to.”

“Neither have I. Until I saw this lovely girl in Seattle, with big gold eyes, and pink, full lips… and I wondered if she could understand me…”

About 80% I was dying!! Something very awful happened. I kinda saw it coming, but yet, I didn’t how how exactly it would come out. I was heartbroken for both Remy and Brooke.

I was so very happy with the ending though. It all turned around and we weren’t left with a cliffhanger.

Thank goodness!!

Buy it now Real

Review (Another Look): Escaping Reality by Lisa Renee Jones

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ER I know Melpomene reviewed this book earlier in the week but I wanted to offer my take on the book because it’s a bit different from hers since we all have our own opinions!

I wanted to like this book. A lot. I’ve heard good things about the author and her other books but had never gotten around to reading those due to my huge TBR list. But I saw this listed as the New Adult genre and it drew me in as I’m quickly becoming obsessed with all things NA.

Amy is on the run from her past and has help from an unknown benefactor. She gets word she needs to leave her current life that she’d gotten used to over the last 6 years in New York. While on the plane to Denver she meets a handsome man who sweeps her off her feet and happens to live across from her new apartment building. Amy quickly gets caught up in an affair with Liam who is a rich architect. We get glimpses into her past here and there but nothing clear. The book comes to a surprising conclusion.

I just could not get into this book. If Amy was supposed to be on the run why on earth would she fall madly in love with a stranger on a plane? She did a horrible job of keeping things secret. Liam seemed to fit into the oh so popular demanding rich boyfriend trope that I’m getting tired of currently. Amy fit into the helpless I need you but I don’t girl that is so hot right now.

We literally never learn anything in the book about her past so there was a huge cliffhanger. I’m ok with cliffhangers but there was the actual literary cliffhanger and then on top of that the cliffhanger of WTF is up with this girl? Due to that there is no way I’m reading the next book. Why would I when I didn’t find out enough about the main character in this one? Is the author going to wait until the third book to reveal anything? I cannot handle that!!

I also felt that this book didn’t quite fit into the New Adult genre. I’ve read a ton in this genre and this one didn’t seem right to me.
2 stars.

I received this ARC from Netgalley in return for an honest review.
~ Clio

Buy it Now Escaping Reality (New Adult Romance) (The Secret Life of Amy Bensen)

Review: The Mistress by Tiffany Reisz

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ImageSneak Peek – Release date July 30, 2013

The Mistress is the fourth book in The Original Sinner’s Series by Reisz.  If you are faint of heart, I can only warn you, don’t dare read them.  These books have just about every sexual scenario you can imagine in a D/s relationship, plus a few you n.e.v.e.r dared imagine…I wasn’t too sure about this one…since I have read the other titles in the series, I was pretty sure I knew what to expect….however, I was wrong!  It didn’t start out slow per say, but it was so different from the other books in the series. I enjoyed it from the start, but I was almost disappointed in everything that was (and WASN’T) happening…

Once I reached the point where I just figured Reisz had decided to take this book in a safer, more vanilla relationship, the floodgates opened…..I reckon Ms Reisz has a bit of a sadist in her as well as her characters! She seriously made us all wait a very long time with a bit of foreplay to get to where we all expected to be in one of her Sinner’s novels! As we gave up hope of this happening, she showed me that she hadn’t really showed anything in her previous novels!  This was a long wait Sinner behavior to occur, but it was by far some of the best Sinner behavior EVER!!!!  I have to say that it was soooooo worth it!

For me, nothing will ever compete to take the place of “The Siren”…it was such an amazing read….however, this one is no doubt my second favorite in the series. I loved hearing more of the background history of the characters and I seriously loved every single word I read about/from Søren…after reading all of the other novels in the series I didn’t think it was possible for me to like him more…..having read this one I now know it was possible for me to LOVE him more….The ending leaves no doubt that this story will continue…but it does leave much doubt as to HOW it will continue….oh my…..Ms Reisz, I am, as always, your adoring fan…..

ARC provided from NetGalley

~Urania

Buy It Now The Mistress

Review: Being Me, by Lisa Renee Jones

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I had IF I Were You for a few months, but never read it. I thought it was gonna be like 50 Shades, so I wasn’t in a rush. Then I received an ARC of Being Me. So I figured I Had to give it a shot. And boy was I surprised!! I really had no idea what the story was about. I don’t like reading book reviews or descriptions, cuz they tell me too much. So I was totally and completely shocked!!

The first book I was trying to figure out what was gonna happen. I had to give up. I had no idea what was going on. Just when I thought I knew, I was slapped in the face. The sexual tension between the characters was awesome.

And to top it off, THERE WAS A CLIFFHANGER!!!! I screamed at the end. If I didn’t have the next one to read, I think I would’ve just died right there.

The second book was WAY more intense than the first. It had everything I love in it, sex, emotion, love, and a great deal of angst. Perfect!

Sara is still obsessed with Rebecca’s journals and starts to learn things about herself, just from reading them. You see a bit of her past and why she’s the way she is.

Her relationship with Chris, the super sexy artist, is smokin’ HOT. The scenes are so filled with sauce, I was feeling the emotion. The ways he takes her……*fans face* You see a little bit more of what makes Chris tick. But he is so complex we’ve only scratched the surface.

Her boss, is still sexy, but she thinks he knows more about Rebecca than he lets on. He also tries to help her in ways that muddle up her perception of him.

The twists and turns this book makes, was so wild I could barely keep up. The last 25% of the book was so shocking all the way around. I never saw it coming. But in the end it starts to make sense.

I can’t wait to read the last installment. I just have to know how they all continue on with their super screwed up lives. 🙂

After I read this, the author released Rebecca’s journals, which are in ebook form only. They take place between book 1 and 2. I highly recommend reading them also. It adds way more to the story.

~Melpomene

Buy now If I Were You (Inside Out Trilogy)

Buy now Being Me (Inside Out Trilogy)

Buy now Rebecca’s Lost Journals, Volume 1: The Seduction

Buy now Rebecca’s Lost Journals, Volume 2: The Contract

Buy now Rebecca’s Lost Journals, Volume 3: His Submissive

Buy now Rebecca’s Lost Journals, Volume 4: My Master

Review: Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight; Narrated by Khristine Hvam

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15776309 I saw this book on a list of books to read before they make it into the theater. I was curious and when I saw it was narrated by my favorite narrator – Khristine Hvam -I checked it out of the library right away.

Kate Baron gets a call from her daughter, Amelia’s, private school explaining that she’s been suspended. By the time she arrives there her daughter is dead, has committed suicide by jumping off of the roof of the building. Kate is devastated and cannot believe that her well behaved and high achieving daughter would ever do such a thing. When she receives an anonymous text message Kate begins the arduous process of attempting to reconstruct Amelia and exactly who her daughter was.

What she discovers during this process is both overwhelming and surprising. During her journey to find the truth of her daughter we get to relive the last 6 weeks of Amelia’s life. We get to see how bullies, love and jealousy all played a large part in the reconstruction of Amelia.

This is told from multiple points of view and multiple points in time as well as in different ways – blog postings, text messages, emails and traditional first person POV as well. Personally, I really enjoy when books use these different ways to tell a story as long as they use them right, and McCreight definitely did. I think that this is also where narration can come in and make a book even better than when simply read.

What I found so great about this book were the many layers of story that it holds. Kate is dealing with being a single, working mother and after Amelia’s death she tries to cope with intense regret and guilt over feeling as if she wasn’t around enough. Amelia is struggling to come of age and to find who she is – whether that is with a new group of friends or a friend who makes her feel badly about herself yet has always been there.

On top of those main storylines are secrets. Everywhere. It’s difficult to know which secret had the potential to bring about the answers that Kate is desperate for. The characters in this book aren’t super likeable but that didn’t bother me – it was very well written, especially for a debut novel.

I’d highly recommend this book – 4 stars for the book and 5 stars for the narration.

~Clio

Review: The Newcomer, by Robyn Carr

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3 stars

Book 2 in a new series by Robyn Carr (of The Virgin River series), The Newcomer (Thunder Point) tells a story of small town life. You’ve got the guy running the beachfront bait shop/ lunch spot, his love interest the pilot, her brother the football player, the football player’s girlfriend, the girlfriend’s best friend….

This book has a terrific ensemble cast and several secondary plots, but no main plot line as the focus. Teenage angst takes up a lot of chapter space in The Newcomer, as does parental responsibility. People fall in love, help each other get through their struggles, and come out smiling at the end. It’s light and enjoyable.

I enjoyed The Newcomer, but I liked the first book The Wanderer, even better. I look forward to reading the third Thunder Point installment — The Hero.

-Calliope

Buy it now The Newcomer

Review: The Edge of Never by, J.A. Redmerski

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“You were the missing piece of my soul, the breath in my lungs, and the blood in my veins.”

I cannot express how much I loved this book. I grabbed it only for the cover and I was completely shocked how wonderful it was.

Camryn was sick of her life and wanted more. She didn’t know what it was, but she knew she wasn’t gonna find it at home. So she packs a bag and hops on a Greyhound bus and sets out. Meanwhile, Andrew is on his way to see someone, but he really isn’t in a rush to get there. So he packs a bag and hops on a bus.

Little do they know that their quest is going to drastically change their lives. Even though they have completely different reasons for traveling, they slowly build a friendship that will help both of them in some very hard situations.

At first the book is in Camryn’s POV, which you find out that her life has gone down the crapper. She has had more heartache than someone twice her age. But then it switches to Drew’s when he takes notice of her. And it’s fun to hear what’s going on in his head. 🙂

As they travel, you slowly see their relationship grow from strangers to way more. It was really sweet to watch it unfold. When they sing together, I just cry. Now, when I hear Poison and Wine or Barton Hollow, by Civil Wars, I think of them.

“I think if past lives are real then we have been lovers in every single one of them. I’ve known you for a short time, but I feel like I’ve known you forever.”

Their trip has a few nerve wrecking parts, some sad parts, some fanning your face parts, and a few “HOLY CRAP, WHAT JUST HAPPENED?” And let’s not forget my favorite, the ‘OH MY GOSH!!! OH NO!! THIS CAN”T BE HAPPENING!!!” All in the name of drama. I don’t think I stopped crying during the last 25% of the book. Don’t even get me started on the Epilogue.

This is a standalone, but the author decided to write a second book, The Edge of Always. We have to wait til November for that one, but I think I’ll make it.

~Melpomene

Buy It Now The Edge of Never

Review: The Bookman’s Tale: A Novel of Obsession by Charlie Lovett

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ImageThis book started out wonderfully! It had so much potential and I loved every part of it….The shy hero who hid in a world of books and avoided the “real world”….the hero finding his true loves, first in books and then in a shy young girl….Shakespeare (seriously!!! How can you not get excited about a book that is partly about Shakespeare?)…..old books treated with love and great affection….Lovett gave us love, mystery, century old rivalries, serious bibliophiles, forgery, mystery, murder and personal redemption….however, somewhere along the way this simply turned into a poorly made for television movie that was oh so predictable at the end….

I’ve never read a book that fascinated me so much at times and bored me so completely at other times…Parts of the book were so detailed that I was enchanted with it…I found myself having to slow my pace down. I was so excited by what I was reading that I had to breathe deep and try not to rush ahead…..sadly, it seemed that the further the book went along that the detailed parts had no real meaning, and the parts that were important to the story had very few details. I felt that Lovett just put out a major puzzle piece to the story and just expected us to take it at face value and did not share with us the pieces that finally made the mystery complete. I felt greatly disjointed towards the last 3rd of the book….the great pain that Lovett seemed to take in the beginning to supply us with all the details we needed, seemed like it was too much a bother at the end. I felt that he just wanted to hurry and wrap things up to get this book off to the publishers. The ending really did strike me as a neatly packaged, wrap up everything in a pretty bow, type Hollywood ending…..my least favorite type….Even though I loved parts of this book, I’m not sure I would feel comfortable recommending it to others….

Review copy provided from NetGalley

~ Urania

Buy It Now The Bookman’s Tale: A Novel of Obsession