Introduction: The 5 Muses

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Welcome to Random Book Muses blog!

There are 5 of us wonderful book Muses floating around who will be providing the book reviews on here. We are voracious readers who are extremely passionate about our love of reading and take it pretty seriously. At any time of day at least half of us are most likely reading a book.

But not only do we love to read books, we love to share our love of reading. Whether a book was wonderful, horrible or just meh, we all enjoy letting others know what we think. All of us write reviews for books so we decided to join forces and create one supersize blog.

Between the 5 of us our interests cover a wide gamut.  Among us we read Young Adult, New Adult, Classics, Non Fiction, Chick Lit, and even some Science Fiction and Fantasy. We read in the Mystery, Suspense genre, True Crimes and definitely just straight Literature. A few of us read Romance books – and the huge variation there is within that genre.

Basically we’re book lovers at the heart. No book snobs here, we read what we want to and review them based on our thoughts and feelings from the book.  All 5 of us have massive TBR piles that never seem to end and wish lists that grow all the time.

Calliope, Clio, Melpomene, Thalia and Urania  – the 5 Muses at your service here – will be posting the reviews.  We hope you enjoy!

Review: Exposed by Laura Griffin (Tracers series)

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After Maddie Callahan finishes her freelance job, she is mugged and her camera is stolen. She is interviewed by both the police and FBI agent Brian Beckmann and his partner. Across the street from where Maddie was doing her shoot, a key witness in a federal investigation was kidnapped.

Maddie is a little agitated with having to answer the questions (again) because she needs to be at a crime scene of a homicide. She’s a forensic photographer for the Delphi Center.

Maddie became a forensic photographer after the tragic death of her young daughter. Her marriage fell apart because of the tragedy. After many years, she’s still grieving, understandably, and unwilling to let anyone close. Especially not someone like Brian, who is younger than her.

This book book is heavy on the action. I was riveted from the start and read this in one sitting. Amidst the action of solving the complicated puzzles of the case, there is a romance between Maddie and Brian that is woven well. Maddie is reluctant and I appreciated Brian’s patience with her. I believed in their HEA.

Exposed is the 7th book in the series. There are recurring characters that work in the Delphi Center but you do not need to read the previous books to understand this one.

This another winner in this series. I look forward to the next one, which I just found out won’t be out until February 2014.

Thalia

Buy it now Exposed (Tracers)

Review: The Man Behind the Pinstripes by Melissa McClone

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Caleb Fairchild is the CEO of Fair Face, a billion-dollar skin care company that his grandparents started. His grandmother, Gertie, wants to start a dog skin care line. He meets the dog wrangler, Becca Taylor, who’s been helping Gertie develop and test the line.

Caleb is very suspicious of Becca when he discovers that Becca is also living Gertie’s estate. He believes that Becca is trying to take advantage of Gertie. To keep an eye on Becca, he reluctantly agrees to be the business consultant for the line even though he is busy with the launch of the baby skin care line.

I enjoyed this sweet romance of Becca and Caleb. They have prejudices of each other that each overcome. They go on dates and get to know each other. They talk. I can see them falling in love.

There are so many things to like about this book: Caleb, Becca, Gertie & the dogs. I hope Ms. McClone will write about Ty or Courtney in a future a book. In the meantime, I have her backlist to explore.

Thalia

Review: Letters From Skye: A Novel by Jessica Brockmole

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74627_597905486915923_2067879884_nI read this book non-stop. Dinner, social media and other distractions were forgotten as I read each letter. David sends Elspeth fan mail, expressing his love for one of her poetry books. David lives in Illinois. Elspeth lives on Isle of Skye, Scotland. They continue to write letters and become friends. David even has a nickname for her. She tells him that she is married but decides that it’s too formal for him to call her Mrs. Dunn. She tells him that he can call her anything that he wishes. He settles on Sue.

With each, the intimacy grows between them. They share their fears and dreams as well as have some laughs. However, things began to change as Great Britain goes to war against Germany.

Next you see letters that Elspeth has written to her daughter Margaret. Elspeth expresses concern that Margaret is falling in love to with her childhood friend, Paul. She cautions Margaret to think through Paul’s proposal.

A bomb nearby causes damage to Elspeth’s bedroom. Margaret goes in and sees that her mother is safe but she is trying to gather up letters that have fallen out the cracked wall. Margaret picks up one letter without her mother noticing. The next day, her mother disappears.

With this one letter, Margaret slowly pieces together what happened in her mother’s past and her relationship with David. With the support of Paul, Margaret unravels the mystery in hopes of locating her mother.

I adore epistolary novels and this one was a delight to read. Spanning two world wars, the letters speak much of love
and family. This book has historical elements. Don’t read this book if you are looking to immerse yourself in WWI and WWII history.

ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley.

– Thalia

Buy It Now Letters from Skye: A Novel

Review: Blackmoore: A Proper Romance by Julianne Donaldson

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This was simply a beautiful book.  The writing was beautiful, I fell in love with Henry, felt agony for Kate and hatred towards her mother. The literary descriptions of the moors, how desolately charming they are and of the Blackmoore estate with how hauntingly ideal they appear to Kate definitely call to mind novels of another era. But in a wonderful way.

Kate grows up feeling smothered in her house due to her overwhelming mother.  Kate witnesses her mother use under handed tactics to get her daughters married off to the best of the best. She has no shame and doesn’t mind blackmail or basically any means. Kate is horrified by the lack of love and doesn’t see marriage as anything to aspire to.

Kate wants nothing more than to be able to escape to Blackmoore- her childhood friend, Henry Delaforte’s estate. She’s heard all about it each summer and thinks it sounds wonderful.  Henry and Kate have played together since they were children, study together and when Kate figures out a way to go to Blackmoore for the summer she grabs it. She’s going to go there and then leave directly for India for adventure with her aunt. Her mother tells her the only way that will happen is if she receives and rejects 3 marriage proposals during her time there. Kate accepts the challenge and sets off to make it happen.

In the books description it says “It is Wuthering Heights meets Little Women with a delicious must-read twist”. I would definitely not say that because I hated Wuthering Heights with a passion, I thought it was boring and dull and this book is anything but that.

I’m not one to cry at book but at the last 20% or so I was on the verge of tears the entire time. Both good and bad tears, just waiting to see what would happen.  I would highly recommend this book.

5 stars to the first book that makes me want to go revisit my favorite classics in a long time.

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

– Clio

Buy it Now Blackmoore: A Proper Romance

 

Review: Out of Breath, by Rebecca Donovan

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What an amazing end to a powerful and emotional series!!

I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to finish it, but I knew I had too. The first two books were quite draining and pushed me way over. I’m glad I didn’t read them back to back. I don’t think I could’ve handled that. My nerves would’ve been shot. That being said, I’m glad this is over. 🙂

The book starts off about two years after Emma walks out on Evan and leaves him barely conscience. She is trying to move on, but still, she will never be the same. Her friends have tried to help her. They even encouraged her to date. But her heart’s not really in it. Her heart’s back in Weslyn, but she won’t admit that.

Unfortunately, life has a way of pushing us to do things and face things we really don’t want to. When Emma finds herself back in Weslyn, she can’t face it.

Evan and Sara find her passed out, from alcohol, and they realize that she is not the girl they knew and loved. They decide to spend all summer trying to put her back together. Emma doesn’t think she is worth the trouble. She still thinks that she has done unforgivable things and that no one should love her, especially not Evan. She wishes everyone would just leave her. But they know they can’t.

I wasn’t happy to see how she was behaving, in college. Part of me wanted her to be waiting for Evan, but I know that was unrealistic. So seeing her with someone else was hard. I don’t think she was very smart about her choices. She needed a good whack across her noggin.

Evan has had a horrible two years, since she left. He never understood why. But he wants closure and the truth, from her. He is determined to get it, even if he has to go through the hurt again. He wants her to be honest, for once. He spends all summer trying to crack her shell and see what she’s hiding and how she’s feeling.

Their friends are super supportive and don’t wanna see either of them hurt again. But they do try and help push things along. And not very subtle either. 🙂

I don’t wanna say anymore, at the risk of spoiling it. However, this ended just like I’d hoped. I was so very happy. It was a long time coming, but I’m glad I stuck around. Now I can put my Xanax away. 😉

-Melpomene

Buy it now Out Of Breath (The Breathing Series, #3)

Review: A Really Awesome Mess by Trish Cook and Branon Halpin

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17288907A Really Awesome Mess is told from 2 different points of view, with each author writing one. Emmy is struggling with being adopted and fitting into what she perceives as her perfect family. She’s dealing with being a minority in a white family and trying to become super thin in any way possible. An incident at school leads to her being accused of bullying and having the police involved. Her life is basically not going so great at the moment.

Justin is dealing with some depression and anger issues at his divorced parents. His father walks in on him in a compromising situation and things don’t go well from there.

Both Justin and Emmy end up at The Heartland Academy, a reform school that is meant for kids who need to clean up their act and need more than just regular school. Their parents are hoping it will help them to deal with their issues. There, they meet a cast of characters with their own issues and we get to see them interact with other teens as well as therapists and teachers.

I found this book to be a really funny and touching book. Parts of the story were hilarious as we got to see the kids interact with each other and what they thought of the others issues. Parts were intensely touching as we see exactly why Emmy was accused of bullying and why Justin is so angry.

Seeing the teens come together and form a close group was the highlight of the book for me. They come together to help each other, first in not so healthy ways and then eventually in slightly better ways. Having them interact at the Fair in particular highlights each of their issues and how they are actually seen by other people. The group of teens are such a random group of misfits they almost reminded me of the movie The Breakfast Club at one point.

I think this is a great book that teens could get a lot out of – it’s funny enough they should want to read it all the way through but with enough of a lesson in perception versus reality that they could learn something at the same time.

At the same time as someone who reads a lot of Young Adult books yet is not exactly a Young Adult herself, it’s also a book that people of different ages can enjoy. We can all relate to most of the feelings that the teens went through in this book. The authors did a great job of fleshing those out and making me relate to the characters.

4 stars.

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

– Clio

Buy it now A Really Awesome Mess

Review: The Siren (The Original Sinners #1) by Tiffany Reisz

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the siren

Where does one start to review a book such as this….I guess we just have to get the down and dirty out of the way…..yes, it has strong D/s players in it. Yes, there is what some would label violence in it. But in all honesty, there is less actual sex in this book then almost any historical or contemporary romance novel I have read. Yes, the sex is there…yes the violence (in some eyes) is all there…but is it left for the most part to the reader’s imagination.

Now that we have that out of the way, I already feel better….don’t you? bwahahahaha….seriously, this is what people want to imagine they read when they gushed over “Fifty Shade of Grey” (I seriously hate to even mention that book when discussing this one)….again, I won’t even to attempt to review what I don’t fully understand….the D/s relationship….except to say that Reisz seems to understand it much better. A sub needs to be a very strong-willed person…..They are not some timid little mouse that doesn’t know who they are and are easily bent to will……

okay….so see, I told you….I don’t even know where to start a review here…I only know I loved this book. One has to take into consideration face value vs reality here.

Face value….you have a young lady who is so much in control that she is TOTALLY out of control……Face value…..you have a young man who is so innocent that he appears fragile….even to those that know him best…..Face value….you have an older man who is so dominate that he is terrifying…..

Reality….you have a young lady that is so adrift in the world, she is fighting to hang on to anything…she is struggling to maintain control of a world she feels she can’t control…..Reality…..you have a young man who is so strong that he stays his course, no matter the temptations of his own desires….Reality….you have a guy that is so willing to give anything to the woman that he loves that he is willing to sacrifice all that he is….

So what does a woman such as Nora/Eleanor do? Does she cling to the person she KNOWS herself to be? Or does she become the person she WANTS to be? What happens if the two don’t coincide? How does one face these choices knowing that no matter what, someone she loves will be crushed in the end, perhaps even herself? How much of their wants/desires/needs/hurts should effect how she lives her life?

Finally, some quotes….what is a book without quotes that move you anyway????

“The world had fallen away in his presence and now that he was gone, she was left in the equally potent presence of his absence”

“What a beautiful wreck of a man”

“S&M is as psychological as it is physical and sexual, Zach. Imagine being as deep inside a woman’s mind as you are inside her body.”

“When Søren touched her she became his. When Wesley touched her, she became herself.”

“Nora…the siren and the goddess, the ship and the wine-dark sea. She would either save him or end him”

ARC provided by NetGalley

~Urania

Buy it now The Siren (The Original Sinners)

Review: Anybody But Him, by Claire Baxter

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1003328_597913686915103_1068385774_n4 stars

Anybody But Him is a cute, sassy, funny romantic comedy. It started out a little quirky and confusing, but midway through I was hooked on the story of Nicola being back in her small hometown. The characters, plot and dialogue were believable and well-written. The only idea I thought might have been farfetched was the initial meeting between the Nicola and Blair. Once they met, their interactions were natural and fun.

I was satisfied with the predictable happy ending – I like a happily ever after in romcoms and chick lit.

This novella struck me as a streamlined, briefer Jill Mansell-type story. I totally enjoyed it and will read more by Baxter.

My favorite detail in the book was the dog’s name. Quite clever.

This ARC was given to me in exchange for a fair and honest review.

–Calliope

Buy it now Anybody But Him (Random Romance)

Review: Losing Hope, by Colleen Hoover

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Give me a moment to collect myself……

5 stars isn’t enough. It’s a 10!!

I fell in love with Holder all over again. I remember being heartbroken when he talked about Les, in Hopeless, but hearing it from his POV was downright overwhelming. It broke my heart watching as he went through the loss of his twin, while still dealing with the loss of Hope. The poor boy.

I wasn’t expecting to feel any different than I did when I read Hopeless, but I was wrong. Holder lived and breathed his sister and finding Hope. But when she is taken from him, “It was like all our hope was taken right along with our Hope.” *wipes eyes*

When he meets Sky and starts hoping she’s not Hope, I started to lose it. I really didn’t want her to be Hope either, but I knew there was nothing I could do about it.

The best first kiss without even kissing…WOW! That was so very hot! “I need to know for sure that you’re feeling every single thing that I’m feeling the moment my lips touch yours. Because I want your first kiss to be the best first kiss in the history of first kisses.” *swoon*

When he found the notebook and starting writing letters, I felt my heart break after every one.

When he found the letter…I had to step away. I knew, but yet I didn’t know. I wanted to reach in and hold onto him and never let him go.

“In order to miss someone, that means you were privileged enough to have them in your life to begin with.”

Holy cow. I just can’t get myself together. This was an amazing book. Colleen Hoover just made my heart break and then slowly put it back together. I will never be the same though. This book did a number on me. As do all of her books. I don’t know how she does it, but I am thankful she does.

-Melpomene

Buy it now Losing Hope: A Novel