I'm probably one of few minority on this one because this book just didn't work for me and hardly held my interest. I felt that the plot2.5 STARS! ★★☆
I'm probably one of few minority on this one because this book just didn't work for me and hardly held my interest. I felt that the plot was heavily under-developed and I couldn't find myself connecting to any of the characters at all. While I understood what motivated Tyler to be a priest and tried to be more empathetic, I just couldn't buy into his convictions. I didn't feel the 'struggle' he had by trying to deny the attraction which pretty much ruined the taboo aspect for me.
The heroine, Poppy on the other hand struck my nerve by 'confessing' her so-called sins that made her look she was playing the victim card which I couldn't sympathize at all. I didn't understand her intentions for those confessions (or dare I say, seduction) and she just came off as someone who was just manipulative and cheap.
In turn, I felt like both of them came off as these two-dimensional characters and sad to say, I didn't feel any sort of connections between these two. I ended up skimming a lot through the book. The only saving grace of this read is probably the steamy scenes but yeah, that was about it for me. I just needed more other than hot steamy scenes, y'know? But that's just my opinion and others may love it better than I did, so don't take my opinion as it is :)
ARC kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
"Even when we were apart, we were still together. Even when I thought you were gone, you still lived inside my heart."
This is one o3.5 STARS! ★★★☆
"Even when we were apart, we were still together. Even when I thought you were gone, you still lived inside my heart."
This is one of those reads that left me feeling a little conflicted on how I should rate it. On one hand, I really did like the story as a whole but on another, there were just some plot devices that I could've done without. This is my first from this author but with a blurb so tempting and the idea of a modern fairytale twist as such, I couldn't pass up the chance to read this.
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Never Let You Go is a modern fairytale twist of Hansel & Gretel, the story of two kids; a boy and a girl who got lured and tricked into captivity. In this version, we have Holden & Griselda who were foster kids that got abducted for 3 years and in an attempt to escape, one of them got left behind.
Almost 10 years later with either one thinking that the other is dead, fate reunites these two in the same town that they were abducted. As they find their way back to each other again, this is a story where we find if their love will be strong enough to mend their broken souls and battle against the cruel circumstances that they were left with since the tragic incident.
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Honestly I've been sitting on this read for a few days to figure out how exactly I felt about this book. I really liked the first half of the read, it was a huge relief when they reunited quite early on in the read and there is no doubt in your mind that they both belonged to each other. Throughout the read, there were flashbacks that actually let you witness what these two kids went through during their captivity and those scenes definitely tugged at my heartstrings. Especially those moments where you heart breaks over the innocence of these kids as they find comfort in each other during those dark times.
“Don’t look back, no matter what. Stone to Stone. I jump, you jump.”
The book really focused on these two coming to terms with finally seeing each other again after all those years and in a way, making up for the lost time since they were apart. I appreciated the author took the time to rebuild slowly their connection instead of jumping at each immediately and allowed us to see how the characters have grown since the tragic incident with the alternating flashbacks.
With all these emotional scenes that would have warranted a solid read for me, I was left rather disappointed when I ventured into the second half of the book instead. When the first plot bomb was dropped, I started to feel wary about the direction this read would take as it fell under one of my pet peeves. Personally, I really could have done without this plot device and thought it was just uncalled for just to stir up unnecessary drama.
I'm spoiler tagging this in case: (view spoiler)[So Holden's ex-girlfriend, Gemma suddenly got pregnant with his child when things were finally working out for both MCs. Gemma obviously makes him choose between her/the baby or Gris. Which then leaves Gris to go back all alone and back to her super douchebag of an abusive boyfriend who nearly killed her by beating her up. With all the baby drama and Gris near-death incident, Holden suddenly decides to get enlisted in the Marines because he wanted to be a better man for himself.
It was then later revealed also that Gemma purposely poked holes in the condoms to get herself pregnant (seriously I can't even). And to wrap up the entire baby drama, Holden signs parental rights to his best friend, Clinton who apparently loves Gemma for a long while (ah geez). Honestly, part of me was wishing that the baby's father was ACTUALLY Clinton instead. (hide spoiler)]
With all that above, mostly I was left rather annoyed by how everything was conjured up and not soon after, tied up neatly so quickly in the same amount of time. I felt like it didn't give much purpose to an already amazing story from the start and could have appreciated the read better without that entire chain of events. Perhaps I would have been more accepting of Holden's decision had it not been tied in with the events of the plot bomb.
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Overall I still think it was an emotionally charged read for the better part of the story and my mediocre rating is mostly attributed to my personal preference. The story also felt quite draggy at some points and in my opinion, could have been shortened at some parts. If you're a fan of a modern fairytale twist concept and in a mood for something a little heavy, I think you would want to give it a shot :)
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Never Let You Go is a NA standalone romance read and based on a modern fairytale concept.
ARC kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
"Do you see those dimples? Yup. That’s the Julian Lefray I will be reporting to tomorrow morning."
The one thing that I can e3.5 STARS! ★★★☆
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"Do you see those dimples? Yup. That’s the Julian Lefray I will be reporting to tomorrow morning."
The one thing that I can expect when I pick up a RS Grey book is that I'll find myself reading something fun and hilarious with a dose of sweet romance. This one was no exception here and as I was flipping through the pages, I found myself chuckling at this author's witty, humorous writing!
Josephine is a small-town Texan girl with a big dream who runs a fashion blog called What Jo Wore. Moving to New York where she was about to attend a huge fashion event that could bring her closer to achieving her dreams, her stroke of good luck came in the form of one Mr Julian Lefray whom she bumped into that evening. Julian happens to be looking for someone to help him run his sister's fashion design company and being intrigued by Jo's character, he eventually interviews her and so the fun begins.
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I really enjoyed how this read was fun and light-hearted, completely drama-free and had characters all over the place that had me laughing over the things they say. Jo was a wonderful heroine and very relatable without even trying too hard. I loved that she was willing to fight for her dreams even when her family didn't believe in her but her optimism and creative ideas really pulled her through. Most of all, her inner monologues had me cackling far too many times.
"First, I needed a joke to break the tension between us. Why’d the chicken cross the hard body of Julian Lefray? To get laid. Which came first? The chicken or me? Shit. I was in trouble if I couldn’t think of a non-Julian related sex joke."
Julian also came as a surprise to me, he wasn't the typical rich, charming manwhore type. He couldn't deny the attraction he had for Jo but he was patiently sweet and fighting the blue balls when he's in close proximity with her. The flirtatious banters were just tethering the edge of an explosive chemistry. You can already imagine the sexual tension that was begging to be resolved and when it finally did, boy did it explode!
"The continuous tease of having to be around him the last few weeks had built up the desire in my veins. Each day the passion had built with no outlet for escape."
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Overall I would recommend this if you're looking for a quick read that is fun, sexy and hilariously entertaining! The read did however fell short for me as I found myself expecting a little more from the overall storyline. Perhaps I was hoping for some angst but this book being its light-hearted nature did serve its purpose which provided me a good laugh and kept me entertained. But it was just one of those reads that would not have a lasting impression on me.
Definitely looking forward to a spinoff book that features both of the MCs close friends- Lily and Dean. I think that'll be an equally fun one to read! :)
The Allure of Julian Lefray is a standalone contemporary romance read.
ARC kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
"If you fuck with me and what's mine, then yes, I am the judge. I am the jury. And sometimes when the situation calls for it, 5 STARS! ★★★★★
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"If you fuck with me and what's mine, then yes, I am the judge. I am the jury. And sometimes when the situation calls for it, I am the motherfucking executioner."
Mark your calenders everyone. June 15 is the day to live by because embrace yourselves for the awesomeness that is King. Pick up this book, read it, devour it and when you're done freaking out over that ending, let's all give each other mental support to make it through the next. Okay? Okay moving on.
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Brantley King is a man who lives outside the law. Just coming out from his 3-years stint in prison, his best friend and partner in crime, Preppy throws him a homecoming party. However King is anything but in the celebratory mood, struggling to adjust after being thrown back into the outside world. He does however finds solace in inking tattoos. On the same night of his party where he caught the gaze of a pair of blue eyes observing him in a middle of one of his inking sessions, something powerful stirs within the darkness in him.
Doe is a nobody, a girl who can't remember her name or her past memories. She's been living off the streets until she got picked up by a hooker named Nikki and took her in. They both ended up in the same homecoming party when Nikki convinced her that the only way to survive is to sell herself. A desperate act somehow led her into the confines of King and before she even realised what she had gotten herself into, she was about to become King's property.
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It shames me to say that I've not read anything by this author prior to this but when I saw that blurb, I just knew I had to read this one. So when I got a copy and went in with close to zero expectations, I sure as hell didn't expect to come out feeling like my brain has been blown into smithereens! I loved every single bit of the book- from the moment I picked it up till I put it down in an entire sitting, I was wailing in agony when it ended all too soon.
Both King and Doe were amazing as individuals but even more explosive when they came together. Equally they struggled with the attraction that had for each other; the lust and the confusion which brought out some well needed angst in the read. The author did an amazing job by creating these multi-layered characters and her portrayal of them will leave you feeling incredibly raw as you truly feel for these characters.
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If you love anti-heroes in your reads, then you'll enjoy King as much as I did. You'll first meet King as the scary and powerful alpha-male that you won't want to mess with, he's all kinds of dark and dangerous but you just can't stay away from him. But beneath that tough exterior is a man who is capable of great things and when the layers are slowly peeled off, it was just devastatingly beautiful to meet the real King.
"I'd found myself again in the haunted eyes of a girl was just as lost as I was. Or maybe, we didn't find each other at all. Maybe, we just decided to be lost together."
I really loved Doe as a heroine, she had a good amount of resilience albeit the vulnerability she possessed due to her memory loss. She was rather mouthy with King and didn't take any kind of bullshit from anyone, easily a feisty character with some spunk. But most of all, I loved that she had this internal struggle of not knowing who she really was. It really added on another dimension to her character that made me admired her even more. Can you imagine living in someone's body but not knowing or understanding that body at all? The portrayal of Doe being protective and not reckless of her ownself seriously garnered my respect for her character.
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Above all, it was the fantastic mix of secondary characters that really brought this book to a complete winner for me. I cannot wait for you guys to meet Preppy, he was such a great addition to the read that made it light-hearted amidst the dark nature of the story. There's also Bear and Grace; together all these characters developed such a strong bond that the focal point of the story doesn't lie entirely with the MCs. It's crazy how I've grown such a strong attachment with them that had me crying and laughing throughout the read.
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Although it's a relatively quick read, it sure packs one helluva punch. It's just one of those that you want to devour every single page slowly but yet you can't flip the pages fast enough to know what happens next. Even with a dreaded cliffhanger at the end, I had no complaints about this book at all. Every twist and turn was slotted in perfectly that was enough to blow my mind away. And thank God for the prologue teaser of the next book at the end to help tide the waiting!
It's dark, it's edgy, it will send you on an emotional rollercoaster that will enthralled you from start till the end; King is one masterpiece of a read that will knock the wind out of you when you're done. Undoubtedly another read that goes into my top reads of 2015, I definitely urge everyone to give this one a shot!
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King is the first book in the King series. The second book, Tyrant will be out on August 17th.
ARC kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
"In my experience, love is a destructive force, tearing hearts to shreds and forcing people to pick up the pieces. Even the best love 4 STARS! ★★★★
"In my experience, love is a destructive force, tearing hearts to shreds and forcing people to pick up the pieces. Even the best love stories are violent tales."
Another quickie review while I'm still away and I found this to be an easily enjoyable one while I've been travelling :) The Offer is a spinoff book featuring Bram who's Linden's brother from The Pact. You don't have to read the latter before reading this.
I enjoyed this a little better than The Pact (that was a friends to lovers story), this one focused more on the hero pursuing a single mother named Nicola who has a little girl, Ava. So Bram is the typical manwhore who only does flings and at first, it left me skeptical of his relentless pursue of Nicola. Like why suddenly swing the other way out of nowhere? I'm guessing Bram liked the challenge after being repeatedly turned down. Not to mention, his sexual innuendos directed at her were endless and don't even get me started on his dirty talk (damn you Scotsmen for murdering my ovaries!).
It took me a while to get their connection but I'm glad that Nicola resisted from Bram at least for the first half, it did allow both of them to build a proper friendship before allowing it to take a step further. We occasionally got Bram's POV too which at least gave us readers his perspective on his feelings for Nicola.
What I loved better about this book was the presence of Ava! Oh my god, she was so freakin adorable!! You know how kids say the darnest things and this had 5-year old Ava saying all the cutest things in the world that had me giggling and aww-ing. She even created a song for Bram, I kid you not. I love this kid!
My only issue with this is similar to what I had with The Pact which was the last minute kicker angst in the read. Thankfully it wasn't as infuriating as The Pact but I swear these Scotsmen need some good sense knocked into their heads. It felt like the plot bomb was dropped in the last quarter and later resolved a little too quickly for my liking.
Overall, it's a quick enjoyable read for me with sufficient steam and humor that kept me hooked onto the read :)
"Houston may be good with bad dreams, but I come bearing nightmares. I also come with regret."
Having love the first book This is Falling in this series and meeting its endearing characters, I was really excited to be back on this bandwagon. When the author said she was writing a book about Paige, I was a little apprehensive on how it'll be written because for those who've read the series, you'll remember that Paige is well...let's say she's not the poster girl for your typical sweet heroine.
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Paige Owens is the twin sister of Cass (her story was the 2nd in the series) and is the total opposite of her carefree twin; she's the confident one, the girl that owns the playground and all in all, she's pretty much Queen B right down to the blonde hair and in heels to strut. The story starts off with her in the Delta House where she stays with her sorority sisters that is led by an even more almighty Queen B called Chandra. All hell breaks loose when Paige had photographic evidence of Chandra messing with drugs and did the unthinkable by anonymously sending them out to her college media press as a plot to avenge for Chandra's demeaning actions towards Cass in the past.
Houston Orrs is no star athlete or a smart geek, he's just a boy who works off a grocery store and makes pretty damn awesome sandwiches. But his life is far from simple when he shoulders a heavy responsibility (view spoiler)[ being a widowed father to a beautiful 4-year old girl called Leah (hide spoiler)].
When both Houston and Paige first met, it was no hearts and butterflies as Paige lashed out with her icy exterior to Houston even after he defended her multiple times. Things starts to complicate even more when Houston offers his spare room to Paige when the whole Chandra situation was blowing up badly on her.
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Honestly this read left me feeling very conflicted. It was like part of me enjoyed this read but another part had me wanting to tear my hair out at these characters.
I'm not gonna lie, it was really tough warming up to Paige. She was nothing short of an ice queen with her rather cold-hearted attitude especially towards such a sweet gentleman like Houston. On a personal level, I just wasn't appealed by her character and it frustrated me helluva a lot as she does this push and pull thing with Houston. It doesn't help that she just goes around most of the time with that abrasive behaviour but only allowing us to see some of her tender moments.
And here is where I feel torn with this book because I do get it. I get why the author portrayed Paige the way she is, that harsh exterior she puts up for everyone but beneath that is a girl who's just struggling as much to keep it altogether with expectations she's placed on herself since young. She believes she doesn't need anyone's saving, so she just builds up a fort so strong and refuses to let anyone in. I admired that the author made Paige stayed true to her character almost throughout the entire read despite the fact that it makes me want to badly knock some sense into her at times.
But Houston...GAH loved him! I swear Ginger Scott writes heroes that I'd like to kidnap and cuddle with them all night long. It was amusing to see how he relentlessly pursued Paige even after she shot him down multiple times. Honestly, I'm still a little baffled by what Houston saw in Paige that drawn his attention in the first place. Their relationship was quite a slow-build one and rather frustrating with Paige making it difficult with her indecisiveness. But I did love how we got to understand more of Paige's choices later on and having Houston be the one who breaks through her defenses.
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Overall I still enjoyed this one but probably my least favorite in this series. Also, I really wished it was Paige that had to do much more grovelling albeit that really touching move she pulled off for Houston in the end. But I did love how they finally got their deservedly HEA and it was just one of those moments that were aww-worthy. Also the Preeter brothers still definitely have my heart since the beginning and I hope Ginger will write an extended epilogue or a novella for all these characters after they graduate (yes a girl can dream) ♥
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The Girl I Was Before is the third book in the Falling series and can be read as a standalone although it is recommended to be read in order.
ARC kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
I'm still trying to wrap my mind around how amazing this book was and to be left in awe by what the Courtney Lane has created her5 STARS! ★★★★★
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I'm still trying to wrap my mind around how amazing this book was and to be left in awe by what the Courtney Lane has created here with this read. It was brilliantly written, it had complex multilayered characters and a plotline intricately crafted by the author that makes it such an absolutely riveting read. This is one book that I'd highly recommend to all my dark junkies! :)
I felt like this read had my brain doing cartwheels and it constantly challenged my mind every step of the way. It's crazy addictive till I had to read it every chance I had, in which now I thanked heavens for subway rides while on my trip to give me that free reading time.
Both characters were very well-written, especially Elias who is the anti-hero of this read. Nothing screams anti hero better than a manipulative, twisted and cocky bastard that is driven and hell-bent in getting what he wants. No hesitation, no remorse and every move he makes is a calculated move. He was a complete enigma that had me questioning his motives right till the very end.
“If you think there is a fault inside my brain that makes determining right from wrong troubling for me, you’re wrong. I purposely ignore the line because I can."
I found the anti-heroine, Hanley to also be a refreshing character from my usual dark reads. She's equally driven with the revenge for her mother's death. Meeting with Elias was not by chance, it's all part of her plan and she'll do whatever it takes to take him down. She wasn't afraid to push Elias and test his limits.
The entire read is like watching one giant chess game with multiple players having their own agendas and not knowing who will top each other in the end. Tangled in a web of lies and secrets, it kept me guessing the entire time and while I wouldn't call it a total epic mindfuck, I was definitely blown away by how the entire thing panned out in the end. Brilliantly written, I mean...WOW. I wanna know how it's like to live inside this author's mind.
Delusive is a dark erotic thriller read and the romance here is very much a secondary element. Plus there's a very very twisted alpha-male anti hero whose words could very much evoke fear in you and simultaneously combust your ovaries. Which makes me love the book even more when they're so messed up like that.
To all my dark lover junkies, I very much recommend you to read this book!! If you love anti heroes to be dark in all ways possible, this is for you. Additional bonus if you love them talking dirty ;)
P/S: This book has certain trigger elements that some may find uncomfortable so I'll spoiler tag it here in case (view spoiler)[very rough sex, asphyxiation fetish, brutal murder, F/F, M/F/F. (hide spoiler)]
ARC kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
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