Melpomene

Review: Left Drowning, by Jessica Park

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17325147 “Your parents died. Your world fell apart.”
I nod.
He puts his hand on my cheek. “You were left drowning”
I nod again.
“And you’re struggling to breathe”
I am. It’s a constant struggle to stay near the surface I have just enough air to stop me from going totally under, but not enough to thrive.
“So do it. Breathe. Just Breathe.”

WOW!! I am speechless…I can’t even think enough to type this out. I haven’t read such a perfect book in a very long time. Well…perfect for me. This had love, loss, tears and great deal of angst. See?? Perfect. Most definitely belongs in my Top 10 books of all time.

Blythe’s parents died in a fire, four years ago. She has been drowning ever since. She pushes people away, without even trying. She knows she’s depressed, but she doesn’t know the first thing about how to get out of it. She’s just trying get through her last year of college and move one.

What she doesn’t anticipate, is meeting Chris Shepherd.

He is the past, the present, and the future.

Chris is a very sweet guy, with a past that is so hard to read, I had to take breaks. I don’t know how he managed to get through it all without losing his mind. But he had to do it for his siblings.

The Shepherd siblings bring the necessary comedic breaks this really needed. Sabin was the best!! I wish I had a Sabin in my life. He was the “Cakest of all my baby cakes.” You’ll understand that when you read it.

Watching the love bloom between Blythe and Chris was very sweet. There were a few saucy scenes that made me quite happy. 🙂

“Chris may be imperfect, and he makes mistakes, but I can feel his heart and I know that he is mine.”

*swoon* Seriously, major swooning.

“I was born to love you.”

It was all going well, til about 68%, then it all bottomed out and I though I was gonna die of heartache. I seriously wanted to through my Kindle across the room. Devastation that we never saw coming. I wanted to reach in and slap someone.

When Chris reveals his past and what he’s gone through, I thought I was gonna get sick. Unimaginable what someone is capable of.

We find out why they bonded so quickly. When their stories come together, it was amazing. It was fate. Plain and simple, it was fate. They don’t wanna believe in fate, but that’s what it was. They were each other’s savior.

“We’re like…puzzle pieces that fit together.”

There was a happy ending, after much crying and seething. I almost didn’t make it though. Ms. Park sure knows how to cut our hearts up and then glue the pieces back together.

“What are we doing? What are you doing?”

“Loving you,” he says simply. “If you’ll let me.”

“Always. God, Always.”

I may never get over this book.

~Melpomene

Buy it now Left Drowning

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: 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: 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: Escaping Reality(The Secret Life of Amy Bensen #1), by Lisa Renee Jones

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Cliffhanger??!! I hate cliffhangers!!!!!

So, now I’m not sure what to write. Cliffhangers throw me off…

OK, here goes…..

Amy is running from something or someone. Not sure what exactly. She doesn’t even know. She has little money and no one to help her, really. But she meets this handsome stranger on the plane to her next destination and her life seems to flip around. She falls for him, and him for her.

Liam is your typical controlling alpha male. Their attraction is so fast, I got whiplash. She knows she shouldn’t be with him, cuz she can’t be truthful about her past, and shouldn’t get close to anybody, but she doesn’t seem to care. His past, however, seems strangely familiar, but she can’t quite figure out why.

The people around her seem to be hiding things as well, but I can’t figure out what.

My thoughts are all over the place on this book. I’m not even sure what to write. Sometimes I wanna smack Amy and other times I wanna hold her.

Don’t get me started on the ending. I was shocked and yet not. I gotta know what happens!!!! I will be getting the next one.

See?? I told you cliffhangers throw me off. I can’t wrap my head around this one.

I received this ARC for an honest review.

-Melpomene

Buy it now Escaping Reality (The Secret Life of Amy Bensen) (Volume 1)

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: 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: 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