Saturday, November 29, 2014

Ember (Darkest London 0.5) [Miranda Ellis & Benjamin Archer] by Kristen Callihan

Saturday morning, waking up lazily and reading before I get out of bed. Usually it's so lazy I fall back to sleep after a while then wake up fully and leave the comfort of my bed. Today I just kept turning and turning the pages (more pressing the Kindle screen though..) even though I know how this one will end since it's the prequel to Firelight I just finished. It CAN'T have a really happy ending as I know the state of both characters in the beginning of Firelight. They both want a happy ending, or rather a sort of adventure yet they are still each in his / her own mind and basically alone even while having people around them.

Friday, November 28, 2014

Firelight (Darkest London #1) [Miranda Ellis & Benjamin Archer] by Kristen Callihan

Such a BEAUTIFUL story! I loved every second of it! and I SHOULD say that I'm not usually into Historical Romance. But after reading Tami's review I KNEW I have to give this one a go, and as I saw that she was keeping on reading the next ones and enjoying it so much I decided to put in on my immediate list. "Lucky me" I had so many disappointments and DNF this month I had a little "free time" book wise. 

First off, this is no "regular" Historical Romance it's a Paranormal Historical Romance which is GREAT. I loved that idea. There are so many futuristic Paranormals or current Paranormals but I haven't seen any books that are of the Historical kind. I might just don't know about them for lack of real interest in this genre... (which I should probable remedy) But anyhow that's not the only thing I absolutely loved about this book - It was also a new tale of "Beauty and the Beast". I'm not sure if the other ones in the series have the same concept of "fairy tale" reinvented but if so - it's simply awesome! (I should say that the next one TOTALLY feels like a reinvented fairy tale, you'll get the hints in this one)

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Four Years Later (One Week Girlfriend #4) [Owen & Chelsea] by Monica Murphy

I'm 23% into this book and I'm just bored.. I don't feel any pull from either MC. Chelsea is a total bore, and Owen's problems are also not that interesting (mainly his mother that pushes him into ditching his commitments..). So sadly, I'm putting this one aside and in general I'll be VERY picky about trying new books by Monica.

Beyond Possession (Beyond #5.5) [Zan & Tatiana Stone] by Kit Rocha

This was good! really enjoyed it! I think I liked it even better for not being so much about the sex or maybe for not having so many sex scenes and actually being about the heroine and what she wants in / from life. 

Tatiana Stone had a good life growing up, well, others might think that as she was the daughter of the previous ruler of Section 4 before Dallas put him down. He was a ruthless tyrant and taking him out has been a good thing for the sector but not so good for her and her little sister. While she has nothing against the O'Kane's she is scared of lifting her head too high. Especially now that her sister is in a relationship with someone who opposes Dallas. It's even more complicated as she KNOWS that the guy who opposes the O'Kanes isn't really into her sister he just uses the "image" of the daughter of the previous ruler. She is scared shitless of what's going to happen but she isn't willing to bind herself to the O'Kanes and be a kept woman or side with a person she hates and endangers her sister. 

Sunday, November 23, 2014

If You Leave (Beautifully Broken #2) [Maddy & Gabe] by Courtney Cole

I was actually having a good feeling about this book as I started reading it. After the first installment "If You Stay", I thought that maybe my experience with "The Minaldi Legacy" by Courtney was some kind of a bad fluck. Yet almost right from the beginning there were a few problems that annoyed me. 

First how Maddy was described. If you go back to the first book, Maddy was the one going out a lot, going with guys home and she kept telling Mila to go out, do things, meet guys etc. Yet here, she is described just like Mila in the first book with Mila telling her she should date. Now Maddy is the one that people say she is too serious and isn't "herself" from before her parents death. Why change a character I ask? For someone like me who just finished the first book it's REALLY obvious. Second thing is the fact that Maddy "shielded" her sister from their parents' fights. I WOULD get that if we weren't talking about grown women. When Maddy was abroad and Mila stayed living at home while being in college she MUST have seen things that even if she didn't notice that much as a child are OBVIOUS to a grown woman. Yes, I agree that two people can react differently to certain situations, and it's a possibility that Maddy would be more affected by her father's violence than Mila. But saying that Mila wasn't THAT aware of it? Why? It doesn't make any sense.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

If You Stay (Beautifully Broken #1) [Pax & Mila] by Courtney Cole

I must admit I was a bit reluctant to read this series. After reading The Minaldi Legacy and being REALLY annoyed with it, I had my doubts about trying anything else by Courtney. I've heard that The Minaldi Legacy was her first Contemporary (she usually writes New Adult) but that wasn't a good enough excuse for the plot problems there. So with many doubts I opened the book and started reading anddd loved it! 

The story was beautiful, heart breaking and the twist that was revealed near the end was truly shocking and left me with a bleeding heart. 

Monday, November 17, 2014

My Haunted Blender's Gay Love Affair, and Other Twisted Tales by Abigail Roux, Andrea Speed & Anne Tenino

Anthologies are a certain bet I guess especially if you don't know the authors of most of the authors but here I felt like this is a bet I'm REALLY ready to make - two great authors - Abigail Roux of Cut & Run which was the first MM Romance series I've ever read and Anne Tenino which I just recently read two books by her (in the Romancelandia series) the other author - Andrea Speed - I didn't know. For me she was the bet I guess and yet her story was the best of the three IMO. 

I didn't bother read the synopsis of the Anthology , figured, they are short anyway.. so I totally missed the fact that this one is a Paranormal MM Romance. Was trying REAL hard to think of how to explain the weird things that were happening in the first one I picked hehe. It was a nice Anthology but not very engaging, the three stories were quite slow going. 

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Drew + Fable Forever (One Week Girlfriend #3.5) [Drew & Fable] by Monica Murphy

After the previous two books that in my eyes were kind of disappointing I didn't know what to expect but since it's a short novella and we return to Fable and Drew I decided to give it a go. 

The first four chapters (which I should say are a THIRD of this short novella) were boring as hell, soooo sappy I almost died of sugar overdose. It was all about them getting married. I kept waiting for SOMETHING to happen or intrigue me but it was like a summary of the relationship from both their views (NOT necessary) then sappiness galore of how they love each other SOOOO much and want to have sex all the god damn time. Everything was so pink and totally overdone. 

Monday, November 10, 2014

Three Broken Promises (One Week Girlfriend #3) [Jen & Colin] by Monica Murphy

Sadly, this one is a DNF at 40%. I just couldn't be bothered to keep on reading. Both MC made no sense to me, I was reading each one of their POVs and keep saying to myself "what? why? really? no.. no.." 

We met both Colin and Jen in the second installment of the series. Colin, Fable's boss was REALLY strange in the previous book, I didn't understand him AT ALL. I kept thinking he was somehow a creeper especially when we learnt he was housing Jen - a fellow waitress that works for Colin as well. But then we learn that they share a past together and here comes their story of HEA. Well, I guess they get it, where I finished reading they were being secretly stupid in love with one another but mostly just being stupid with each other or in general behaving stupidly. 

Second Chance Boyfriend (One Week Girlfriend Quartet #2) [Drew & Fable] by Monica Murphy

This one started as a great read, but somewhere around the middle I got a bit tired of both main characters so I'm not sure how to rate this one. I guess somewhere between 3.5 to 4 stars. 

Though the previous one ended with a note of hope - Drew leaving Fable yet leaving behind a note that says he loves her and wants to be with her, when Fable tries to reach out for him he doesn't respond. The plot line continues two months later with Fable getting a new job offer (which was kinda strange. Colin [her new boss] in general was really strange), it's a a waitressing job yet it's a better place with better payment and tips. Drew have been lost for the past two months yet he still somehow started working on himself, started going to therapy (I was really proud of him!) and trying to be more social but mostly trying to gather his courage to talk to Fable and bring her back to him. 

Saturday, November 8, 2014

One Week Girlfriend (One Week Girlfriend Quartet #1) [Drew & Fable] by Monica Murphy

What a ride!!! I LOVED this book. I guess I'm a sucker for those angsty New Adult stories where we have a crushed hero (I call it the "Z syndrome" ;)) and an amazing woman who is willing to stand by his side and help him deal with his demons and naturally there's a love story which is much more satisfying with all those small and big demons dancing around. 

When We Met by A.L. Jackson, Molly McAdams, Tiffany King, Christina Lee

I've been waiting for this one FOREVER, ever since I glimpsed the cover and saw Christina Lee's name on it. I LOVE her New Adult series "Between Breaths" so when I saw she is participating in this anthology (even though I didn't know the other authors) I KNEW I'm going to grab it the second it's out.

Misha, Indy, Courtney and Chloe are four roommates in college, they are very different from one another yet they became good friends while living together. These 4 short stories tell us of them getting their HEA. Each novella is about 90 pages and while the other girls (and guys) have an appearance in each of the novellas, it's pretty much minimal so you can read this one in any order that you want and they ARE stand-alone novellas. 

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Cherish (Covet, #1.5) by Tracey Gravis-Graves

This is a short novella telling us of Daniel's "whereabouts" after the ending of Covet. It'a a BEAUTIFUL story of how he and Jess (his ex-wife) get back together. 

While the ending of Covet gave us a HEA for Claire and a glimpse of Daniel and Jess we still didn't get the whole story of what happened between them after their son died of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) and naturally we didn't know what happened after he was shot in the line of duty. 

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Of Blood and Bone (The Minaldi Legacy #1) by Courtney Cole

While I didn't really know what to expect from this book what I DIDN'T expect is an absolute and total disappointment! The story itself had it's potential but it was ruined by too many things. With all the hailing reviews I can't believe that I'm giving it one star but I can't say that I found this book interesting, maybe the prelude was, but the story itself and mostly the way it was written felt cold and detached to me so I couldn't feel anything during the whole ride. The mystery could have been good (even if it WAS a bit predictable) but the writing and mostly Eva the main character was just unrealistic and not even true to character.