Enchant by Micalea Smeltzer

Blurb:
Mara Pryce never imagined that her life was anything but normal and then a strange gray-eyed young man appears at her graduation. When he vanishes without a trace, she’s convinced he’s a figment of her imagination. Then he appears again and shatters her whole world.

Mara is an enchanter, part of an ancient line of Wiccan power, and a war is raging—one of good and evil—between the Enchanted and the Iniquitous.

The Iniquitous want her dead and it’s Theodore’s job as her protector to keep her safe.

When Mara and Theodore arrive at a safe house, where Mara will remain hidden while learning about her powers, they find that the real threat might be a little closer to home than they want to believe.

     

My Review:
2 stars — I received a free copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

I hate when this happens.  I actually won an ARC of this book, but it just did not work out for me.  And that always bums me out.  I’ve never read anything by this author before, but I’ve heard great things about her contemporary books…so I’m uncertain if it’s just that her voice doesn’t shine through as well in non-contemp books?  I’ll maybe give those a try before I decide if we’re just not a match.

So what didn’t work for me?  Well, for one thing, I didn’t like ANY of the characters.  ANY of them.  I didn’t really hate any of them, but I couldn’t care less about them and what was happening to them.  They felt very shallow, both in attitude and in how they were represented…I needed more dimensions.  I honestly couldn’t really tell you very much about them.  And what I can tell you, I didn’t really like.

Mara was very flat.  She barely reacted to anything that happened to her, and her emotional reactions to the bad things were short-lived (except the dream/vision…that one was better, I actually felt for her).  She didn’t seem to form connections with anyone, or when she did it was immediate and we weren’t shown what drew them to one another.

And Theo…well he was a dick.  And I get he was supposed to be a dick, but the moments that were supposed to swing me to his favour just didn’t work for me.  They did not supersede his bad attitude.  And holy volatile!!  I can’t tell you the number of times he just started screaming at people (usually his sister) out of nowhere!  They were over the top reactions in my opinion.

As for secondary characters, nothing from them either.  We barely met her BFF Dani before she was out of the picture, or her father (though he might have been cool).  Adelaide was OK, but mostly she came across very self-absorbed and whiny…she felt younger than her age.  And she and Mara together were mean girls, the way they thought/talked about Naomi…I was NOT impressed.  Winston was whiny and oblivious, I didn’t even feel for him like I should.  And I couldn’t figure out Finn or Ethan, we got no time with either of them.  Though I guess I did like Nigel, the cat.

As for the paranormal aspect, well quite frankly I didn’t really learn enough about it to form an opinion.  Most of the book was about the push and pull between Mara and Theo.  Honestly, I was pretty bored.  It wasn’t until 95% into the book before something really action-y happened.  Uh, that’s WAY too late to get my interest.

*sigh*  I could probably elaborate, but that will bring me into meaner territory, and I try to avoid that.  Honestly, this book had quite a lot of potential.  It has a lot of the same basic setups of many of these paranormal books (girl doesn’t know anything about the paranormal world, but is apparently a chosen one, falls for a bad boy), but I don’t mind that.  In fact I’m often attracted to that.  I feel like the author just needed someone to tell her when she was being repetitive, both in phrases (how many times did I need to read “why does something so wrong feel so right?”) and in plot points…when she had inconsistencies…when she needed to tell the reader how Mara felt about learning her whole life had been a lie, when she needed to give the reader MORE.  *sigh*

Basically, good bones, poor execution.  Needless to say, despite that killer ending, I won’t be reading further.  But I will try out this author’s contemporaries, perhaps I’m just pickier when it comes to my non-contemps.

Temporary by Sarina Bowen and Sarah Mayberry

Blurb:
The most beautiful man I’ve ever seen is the same one who can ruin everything.

The first time I lay eyes on Callan Walker, I know he’ll be trouble. With his smug grin, hot Aussie accent and thousand dollar shoes, he’s just the kind of rich guy who always gets what he wants.

And he wants two things: a night of sin, and my cooperation as he outmaneuvers his powerful mother to take control of his uncle’s estate.

I can’t afford either one. I’m the only thing standing between my little sister and the foster care system. He may have money and charm on his side, but I have something even more powerful — pure desperation. This temp job at his mother’s company can become a full time job for me. It has to.

But when Callan’s eyes rake over my body, sometimes I forget my obligations. His piercing gaze finds the fun, optimistic girl I used to be and not the tired person I’ve become.

And it works–if only for a moment. Our night together was a mistake. I can’t afford to get sucked into his high-powered family’s treachery. But the closer I get to Callan, the more layers I find beneath those expensive clothes. Though I can’t forget this is temporary. He’s temporary. I have too much to lose.

Too bad my foolish heart didn’t get the memo…

     

My Review:
4.5 stars — I won an ARC of this book through a contest, but this does not affect my honest and unbiased opinion.

I am a HUGE fan of both of these authors, and in a stroke of luck I threw out the wild guess that they were collaborating in a contest that probably didn’t expect winners, I managed to…well…win.  So I had really high hopes for this book, and can I just say that it lived up to EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM??  This book was everything I loved about both authors, so if you’re a fan of either one, you won’t be disappointed.

The thing that has always sucked me in with both authors writing was their focus on fantastic, relatable characters.  Characters that you root for, characters that you fall in love with.  And Callan and Grace were no exceptions.

I felt the desperation and struggles that Grace faced, trying to provide for her sister and give her a stable home.  I felt her wariness of starting relationships when she’d had such a bad track record of being left behind.  And OMG, she had such a smart, sassy mouth on her…what I loved is that it was kind of subtle, not in your face sassiness.  She was strong, independent, with a big heart and a beautiful soul.

And Callan surprised the crap out of me.  My heart ACHED for his grief over his beloved uncle…so much so that *I* mourned for Uncle Jack.  I wish I’d known him.  The situations he faced at the hands of his mother, both in the past and in the book, just made me want to throw down with him and punch her in the throat.  I really understood how his experiences shaped him, and I loved getting to see that there was a LOT more there than met the eye.  And his humour and his own brand of sassiness were just infectious.  I can’t even tell you how many times he made me laugh.

And Grace and Callan together made my heart happy.  I followed them from flirting to more, and their chemistry was palpable.  I desperately wanted them to work, regardless of the odds they were facing.  Even when mistakes were made, I waited patiently for them to make it better (and they did).

I even adored Olivia, despite her teenage sauciness.  I thought the balance between teenage snark, bad attitude, vulnerability, and sassiness was perfect.  I appreciated that she wasn’t forgotten about.

So yeah.  I got “stuck in” and now I want to go listen to some Aussie accents.  And dare I hope that this is the start of a series??  Please please please please please….

Hook by Elisabeth Grace

Blurb:
From USA Today Bestselling Author, Elisabeth Grace, comes her most suspenseful, sexy, and thrilling book yet!

Women loathed me without even knowing my name. Men coveted the very idea of me.

Escort. Call girl. Prostitute. Hooker. Wh*re.

I’d heard it all. Done it all.

Over the years I’d felt a lot of things about my occupation…but not regret–never regret. I had my reasons for doing what I did and nothing and no one had ever made me question them.

UNTIL MARCO VALENTI.

He’d changed me and I’d naively fed into the fairy tale.

But Marco wasn’t my Prince Charming. He had secrets of his own. Secrets that would eventually rip away everything I held dear.

     

My Review:
3.5 stars — OK, so I will admit that I tend to shy away from mob/mafia feeling books, and with a name like Marco Valenti and a guy with secrets, I had a hunch something like that would appear.  It’s the same as I shy away from Motorcycle Club books, I just have a hard time falling in love with a hero who does questionable things.  But the hooker part intrigued me.  And since the author is going to be at a signing event I’m attending, and gave away this book for free, I figured I’d give it a shot.  And I must say, I was actually pleasantly surprised for the first more than half!!

For one, it was nice to have a woman in a questionable profession who isn’t some virginal girl, but who owns the choices she’s made to get where she’s at.  And who doesn’t regret them.  And when you learn why she’s chosen this path for her life, I could buy it.  A son with MD can NOT be an easy financial burden, especially as a young single mother.  And I think that’s particularly where our heroine shines, in her love for her son Daniel.  I really felt her love for him, her worry, and you could see the different choices she was making to truly give him the best life possible.  And I LOVED that she had goals outside of that too.  Like, with the amount of money she was making, she could have just coasted, but she was going to school, and she had dreams of something more.  It really made her a more interesting and 3 dimensional character.  That caught me by surprise, and I was impressed with that.

Marco was a bit harder to love, but I also didn’t hate him.  He had some spectacular moments (such as how he handles Daniel), and I loved how forceful he was about reminding our heroine that she is not just her profession.  I thought the balance was good.  He could be a bit…emotionally volatile?  Or something.  That wasn’t really a turn on for me.  But he had lots of sweet moments as well.

Honestly, I almost rated this one a full 4 stars because I really enjoyed the first part, even despite some reservations…  But I started to get a bit impatient/bored near the end of the book, b/c I had forgotten that it was a duet, and so I was wondering when we were going to get some resolution.  Answer?  We weren’t.  Cliffhanger.  Which is fine.  It was my fault for forgetting.  And so it just lost a bit of the good steam it had going.

So what were my reservations?  Well, what exactly drew Marco to her in the first place?  He was quite infatuated.  That was mitigated in that at least we got to see them get to know each other, so I could accept the development of the relationship past that point.  The name thing was a bit weird too…it went on longer than I was anticipating.  And it did pull a few things directly from Pretty Woman, which I didn’t feel like it had to be so close (the kissing thing, the opera).

And then we get to the ending.  Well, I’m a bit of a skeptical girl, so I don’t buy it all.  It felt a bit like a cheap play on emotions.  And I REALLY don’t like where that takes our heroine and hero.  In fact, the ending didn’t make me super keen on continuing on (despite the fact that having a cliffhanger is supposed to do the exact opposite).  So I read a few bad reviews for the next book, and I know darned well that my personal tastes are going to run towards that end of the spectrum, so I think I’ll just leave it at this.  Once that decision was made, I read some spoilers so I could at least have a question answered.  No regrets.  Enjoyable book, just not quite in my wheelhouse enough to continue on.

In Your Dreams by Ginger Scott

Blurb:
Casey Coffield has a growing list of personal flaws he keeps locked away in his head:
He’s never on time.
His list of IOUs to his best friend is endless.
Money is always short.
Goals are never in reach.

Oh, and he’s decided to add college drop-out to that list, too. He doesn’t really think that last one’s such a bad thing, but his family insists it is, so it stays on the list.

On paper, he’s a zero. But in person, when he’s mixing tracks for a sea of bodies at the hottest clubs and parties, he’s downright irresistible. Just-right stubble on his chin, body of a boxer and a smirk that stimulates all the right nerves—women have never been a problem. They flock to his swagger and fall for his charm…fast.

All except for this one.

Purple hair, gray eyes, a raspy voice and sass, Murphy Sullivan is a little bit country and a little bit rock-n-roll. And her and Casey? They have history. He can’t remember it, but she wrote a song about him—and it’s not exactly a love song. But it is good. Damn good. And uncovering her inspiration just might be the key to solving a few of his shortcomings—not to mention open doors to his own big break in the music industry.

But sometimes dreams get messy when they collide. Sometimes life changes patterns. A past paints the wrong picture and futures get cloudy. The only question that remains is who will you choose when the dust settles—you? Or the girl of your dreams?

** This book is a Falling Series spin-off. It can be read as a standalone. **

     

My Review:
5 stars — I don’t even know why this one is a full 5 stars for me, I just feel it in my bones, you know??  I just loved this whole book, I really really did.  It just made me feel good and happy and squeezed my heart and made me feel all those things that Ginger Scott has always makes me feel with her books.  I don’t know why it took me so long to get to Casey’s book, I should have read this right after release!!  *sigh*  Makes me want to go back and reread the whole Falling series.  It’s the series where I fell in love with Ms. Scott.

This one is going to be really hard to review, b/c I’m not sure how to accurately express exactly what it was about this book that just got to me so much.  I think Casey just surprised me a whole heck of a lot.  Now, my memory is crap when it’s been a bit since I’ve read a book, so I didn’t have detailed memories of him, but I don’t remember being particularly enamoured with him…not that I didn’t like him, I just didn’t have strong feelings one way or another.  And Casey was really complicated and flawed.  I think maybe that’s where the surprise came in.  He had way more depth than I had been expecting.  He was such a strange combination of a bunch of different personality quirks that somehow worked together, and I was still left in love with him.  Like really in love.  He could definitely be cocky and arrogant and an a-hole, but there was so much going on inside his head too.  He was sensitive, and easily hurt, and WANTED to be more.  But almost afraid of it too, you know?  He was shaped by the environment in which he grew up, and even that was strange and unique.  Not full out horrible, but not awesome either.  I LOVED the way he soaked up the love from Houston’s family and eventually Murphy’s.

And Murphy was fricking awesome too.  Her story and history with Casey were not at ALL what I was expecting, and I really appreciated that it didn’t follow the typical formulas, you know?  It shaped her, but there was a LOT that shaped her that had nothing to do with Casey.  And she was just someone I could empathize with, she reached to my heart as well with her mix of sass and shyness.  She just fit with Casey so well, and I was invested in her story all on her own.  Casey may have been my shooting star in this story, but Murphy held her own.  I LOVED her songs too.

And Lane was such a surprise.  He brought out the best in both Murphy and Casey.  I LOVED the way he fit into the story, he really brought a lot of heart.  And I loved Murphy’s parents too, they made me laugh and love.

And hot damn!  The chemistry was fantastic, and while the physical component came later, holy smokes was it hot when it came!  DAMN, the dancing scenes killed me.  I want to go to a club where Casey is DJing.

*sigh*  Yup, it was all just so nicely balanced with difficult topics, hard situations, heartwrenching scenes, sexy time and humour.  And Casey just may be the most surprising book boyfriend on my list, he won me over hook, line and sinker, even despite his flaws.  *happy sigh*

Casted by Sonya Loveday

Synopsis:
“My mind absorbed everything in the spell book I clutched tightly to me. Pages ruffled inside of my head, urging me to remember things and then to forget them. Voices chanted with tempo rising at the breaking points of pain until the book vanished and words to an ancient spell scribed across my arms. Each stroke brought blood to the surface, imprinting words I could not read; words that would forever change who I was.”

Jade had spent the majority of her life running from the Triad. A powerful group, who would stop at nothing to obtain Jade and the missing spell book for leader, Lorenzo’s, nefarious plans. And now that she has absorbed the highly coveted magic contained inside the missing book, there is nowhere left for her to hide.

With the help of her friends, Jade steps out from the shadows and learns how to fight back. But no one is prepared for Elinor-the woman bound inside of the book that’s trapped in Jade’s mind. Now she not only needs to protect herself from the Triad, but from what’s hiding inside her mind as well.

Jade never expected the answer to it all would revolve around love.

Edge is dark, mysterious, and a sworn member of the Triad. He also hides a secret past that threatens the thin line he walks between good and evil. Lives are at stake when Jade and Edge’s two worlds collide. Can Jade learn to trust him when he says he is her pre-ordained and vows to do everything he can to protect her? But more importantly, can she trust herself and the woman in her mind?

    

My Review:
DNF @ 31% — There wasn’t some huge badness about this book, I was just simply not engaged.  I felt like I was forcing myself to read, and when I have 40+ books I want to read in just over a month, well, I just have to make some tough decisions.  I have a feeling this book would have ended as a 2.5 or 3 stars if it maintained where it was going, and I doubt I would have read more in the series.  I wasn’t feeling any connection for any of the characters, most especially not for Jade our heroine.  She wasn’t necessarily annoying or bugged me, I just didn’t care about her and couldn’t really tell you much about her except some facts.  There was a depth missing there.  I guess she did annoy me a little with how she quickly she trusted people (like Jessa and Rainy).  It felt a little bit suspect, what with her being on the run for unknown reasons since she was young.

As for the paranormal aspect, I found that it was kind of laid out in facts too, and I just wasn’t enchanted.  I wasn’t clamouring to learn more.  And occasionally I found myself kind of confused — almost like there were pieces missing that would have helped the story flow better (for example when Dagger all of a sudden tells Jade about being there with the vial…when?  Was this when her parents died?  Why did he all of a sudden bring that up?  It didn’t feel like it flowed naturally from what they were doing or talking about).

So yeah.  Just not a book for me.  It’s too bad too, b/c I won it.  For some reason I feel an obligation to finish books when I don’t buy them for myself, you know?  Oh well.  On to the next!

Not the One (Lost in London book 1) by Amy Daws

Blurb: My name is Reyna Miracle. Even though a part of my name is Miracle, there’s nothing miraculous about me. My body portrays the tales of my life. Every feeling, every heartbreak, every emotion. Marked. Inked. Stained. A walking canvas of my messed up truth. But there’s one confession I can’t put in a tattoo. A confession that will kill me to tell, but my best friend died before I had the chance. Now I’m left with him. The only one who can hold me in the night and squeeze that spot on my neck that feels like my lifeline between sanity and chaos. But we don’t work together. We’re absolute poison for each other. We’re a stifling, suffocating, sickness of darkness. But I feel safe…because I’ve made an art of pushing people away. Now he’s pushing back… And making me believe… Making me wonder… Maybe, just maybe… I could be the one.

 

5 Stars

This book was awesome!  This is the first time I have ever listened to a book that I have never read.  And I was pleasantly surprised.

I love this narrator. She breathed life into these characters with her accents, her tone and the inflection.  I believed her when she did the male voices. It was like there were several different narrators, thats how good she was!  I still hear them in my head. I am new to audio books (this is my 4th) but if this is the talent I have been missing I am definitely gonna start buying more.

This book hurt my heart. It was such a sad, tragic story that I thought for sure was not going to end the way I expected it too. I have never been so happy to be wrong!

I get her guilt, It was a real weight dragging her down.  But the real stand out for me was Liam. His vulernability still gives me the shivers. And Hayden’s downward spiral was painful to listen to as well.

The ending kinda blew me away, it wasn’t rushed, like, she wasn’t better overnight. She had a constant struggle to come to terms with her skewed verson of herself she saw in the mirror every morning. It was very internal.  The pacing was perfect for me. I am for sure going to read the next one.

Beacon by Angela Brown

Synopsis:
***When ignorance is bliss, Bliss is power.***

Tsunamis reduced the USA into a shell of itself, called The Fold. Surviving humans and vampires joined forces to form The Colony, where registered citizens do as they’re told.

They donate blood quarterly and dream of being chosen as Attendees for the Jubilee celebrations, that is, everyone except Macie Breen. With high school graduation near, she’s anxious to ditch the rules in hopes of starting a new life with Thane, an unregistered and also her best friend.

Her hopes fizzle when Macie is selected as an Attendee, forever registered. Any future with Thane…impossible. Being chosen comes with another unexpected price.

Truths about The Colony blaze into ashes and lies when she discovers the vampires haven’t kept their part of the bargain. Worst still, Macie’s life unravels as her stint in the city of Bliss forces her to face daunting truths about who, and what, she really is.

    

My Review:
2.5 stars — I probably should have DNF’d this one.  I could tell fairly early on that it probably wasn’t my kind of book, but I’d won it in a contest so I kind of felt like I should give it a better chance.  (Also, it’s Black History Month, and this was the one book in my TBR that appeared to have a POC in it, so I was striving for diversity)  But it just never got better for me.

The writing starts out very descriptive…I’m not a literary kind of girl, but it felt like taking the whole “show, don’t tell” thing to another level.  It just didn’t flow naturally for me.  Might be a personal taste thing.  If you’re like me, you would totally notice it in the first few pages, so you could always sample it and see…  Strangely enough that sort of petered out as the story went on, so it was really only predominant in the first third of the book.  What’s really strange is that for all of the description that was given, I had a hard time picturing things — like the devil spawn…it didn’t really incite fear in me.  It more made me think of a Star Trek The Original Series creature.  Maybe it was the furriness?  Maybe it was just me….

I never became all that attached to the characters…there just wasn’t enough connection for me.  Some really horrible/terrifying things happen in this book, and quite honestly I NEVER felt enough emotion from our heroine, Macie.  Seriously.  People die.  She’s forced to *kill* people.  She learns all sorts of lies and about all sorts of new creatures (including things about herself).  And through it all she just sort of dealt with it.  Not that she had *no* reaction, it just felt like a blip and then it was over and it was on to the next crisis.

The pacing also felt weird to me.  There was a LOT that happens, but it was never a big buildup, mostly just these little hills and then we would move on to the next hill and the next.  Even the climax didn’t feel all that big to me, just felt like yet another hill.  I guess I was just never really that engaged with what was going on.

I didn’t really feel a lot of chemistry with Thane  either.  I almost felt more for Rig, and that went in a completely different direction than I was expecting.

It’s funny, b/c it almost felt like there was too much going on that it was hard to keep track of, but at the same time I felt kind of bored.  *sigh*  I don’t know.  😦  I hate writing reviews for books I don’t enjoy.

How I Fall by Anne Eliot

Got this and the next book in a 2 book bundle, so finally going back and finishing this series.  So had to reread this one again — thus includes my original review as well as a reread note.

Synopsis:
*WHAT IF YOU HAD AN IMPOSSIBLE CRUSH?*
Impossible because she’s Ellen Foster. The beautiful, smart, and possibly fragile photography-girl. You’re Cam Campbell. The guy who plays football 24/7 with no life. But what if during junior year, you decide to finally try for her phone number—until this glitter-crazed new girl ruins your plan. Worse, the girl is Irish, awkward, and insists you and Ellen should become best friends—with her! Only, you don’t want to be friends with a human tornado, and you think Ellen might need to stay a crush. This is because after one interaction you’ve discovered Ellen Foster really is fragile. Your problems and secrets are too big for anyone to understand.

*WHAT IF YOU COULDN’T RESIST?*
But what if the three of you wind up assigned to a group photography project, where rumors are already circling about the new girl being ridiculous? You know she’s nice but very alone, so you convince your crush to help protect the new girl. Suddenly, working on the project makes hanging out, texting, talking—and even high school—seem fun and completely normal when it’s anything but normal.

*WHAT IF YOU KISS*
What if you kiss Ellen Foster and it’s perfect enough to make you believe in things you shouldn’t. You tell her secrets and share your dreams. You make the kinds of promises and create plans to be together that might be impossible to keep when you’re only sixteen and your parents control your entire future,
but…

*WHAT IF YOU HURT HER…*

    

My Review:
ON REREAD: Probably would round down to 4 instead of up to 5.  The things I noted in the review below bothered me a bit more this time around.  But I’m going to leave it on here b/c I could be just in a mood.

4.5 stars — this book had me mega grinning from practically the first page.  Honestly, there was so much to love about the characters, and it was just one of those sweet ya romances….well, that is until they ran into conflict and my heart was ripped out when I discovered this was actually a 2 book series!!!  Seriously, how did I not know that??

REALLY had a hard time deciding whether to round up or down on this one.  The parts that I LOVED had this book at a 5++++.  But there were a few little things that bugged me, and one of those was the naivety of Cam.  I really disliked how blinded he was to his parents….well, sometimes I felt like he totally saw them for the snobs and jerks they were, but then he’d be like “don’t worry, when I explain it will all be good.”  I just don’t get where that came from?  It was the same with his friends.  Was he really that oblivious to how Ellen was treated?  But then I think, maybe it’s b/c he was only 16 and truly just thought that good would prevail and all that.  So yeah, not sure how I ended up feeling on that in the end.  I mean, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Cam.  Seriously, LOVE that boy.  And he and Ellen together were so sweet and just OMG <3’s everywhere awesomeness.  So maybe that’s why I was disappointed in him?

Regardless of that little niggle, I LOVED the characters.  I am chagrined to say that when I read the synopsis, I somehow got it into my head that Laura was either younger, or had perhaps a developmental handicap.  Honestly, I HAVE NO IDEA where I got that from.  Going back and rereading it doesn’t enlighten me, so feel free to laugh your butts off.  Seriously.  Laura was hilarious.  She was such a nice addition to the cast, along with Patrick.  So it wasn’t just a romance developing, but an expansion of both Ellen *and* Cam’s friend group.  Loved the dynamics between the 4 of them.

Some of the bits in the climax bordered on unbelievable, but it didn’t bother me as much as it has in previous books by Ms. Eliot.

And on a weird side note, as a Western Canadian, and HUGE CFL (Canadian Football League) fan, I found the football notes irksome on occasion….but that’s a TOTAL personal thing.  Honestly, I’m from Saskatchewan, and it’s like a religion over there.  So to see the CFL sort of relegated to lameness or second best rose my hackles.  😉  But since Timmie’s was appropriately worshipped in the book, I will forgive the American author.  Besides, maybe it’s different over in Ontario, especially closer to the border like the town was.

And now that I got rid of that silly aside, I will just say that it is BY FAR my favourite Anne Eliot book.  Seriously, most of it had me grinning and laughing and just happy so much my cheeks hurt.  Now I will have to impatiently wait alongside the rest of the fans for the conclusion.  *leg starts tapping uncontrollably*  HURRY!!!

Full Measures (Flight & Glory book 1) by Rebecca Yarros

Synopsis: She knew. That’s why Mom hadn’t opened the door. She knew he was dead.Twenty years as an army brat and Ember Howard knew, too. The soldiers at the door meant her dad was never coming home. What she didn’t know was how she would find the strength to singlehandedly care for her crumbling family when her mom falls apart.Then Josh Walker enters her life. Hockey star, her new next-door neighbor, and not to mention the most delicious hands that insist on saving her over and over again. He has a way of erasing the pain with a single look, a single touch. As much as she wants to turn off her feelings and endure the heartache on her own, she can’t deny their intense attraction.Until Josh’s secret shatters their world. And Ember must decide if he’s worth the risk that comes with loving a man who could strip her bare.

 

5 Stars

I won this book from Unofficial Book Club on Facebook.  Which is weird because I rarely win books.  It looked good though, so I started reading it right away.  This story was incredibly sad tinged with a happiness that was balanced beautifully.  I cried multiple times.  It was so much more than a love story.  And honestly that wasn’t what really captured my interest.

It was the grief and the military aspect that did it.  It’s very detailed in how a military family deals with death as opposed to a civilian one.  The rituals that are adhered to were very informative and gave me a look into a different lifestyle than I am familiar with. There were little things that I could identify with.  The thing that really set it apart from a contemporary romance for me was that the love interest didn’t stand out as much as the five stages of grief did.

Somehow she navigated the grief and kept her life from falling apart. The strength that Ember shows is admirable and awes-inspiring.  She has a stubborn streak that I totally laughed at because I do that same thing with regards to asking for help.  The author was able to keep my emotions engaged without me losing interest.

I would definitely recommend this book to romance lovers.

Favorite Quotes:

His understanding softened me even further.  It was one thing to lust after him, but quite another to find myself…liking him as a person, not just a hot body.

But there was beauty in not knowing what was coming my way, in being unable to brace for impact.

He was like a puzzle where every piece was black, and I couldn’t tell what went where.

 

Roomies by Lindy Zart

I actually won a copy of this book a little bit ago, and it was the perfect book to pick me up.

Synopsis:

Graham Malone is my roommate, my personal eye candy, the reason I get up in the morning smiling (that could be from the illicit dreams I have about him too, I suppose. Let’s move on.). He’s also beautiful to look at, but his heart is where his true beauty lies. Take away the exterior and the interior still shines.

I love him. I mean, I’m pretty sure I do, having never been in love before. Anyway, it seems legit.

And now his brother Blake is here, and, well, he’s the complete opposite of Graham. Sarcastic, brooding, and totally available. But he’s leaving soon, and Graham’s the one I want. I shouldn’t have to remind myself of this, right? I wouldn’t have to if Blake would quit looking at me like I’m something yummy and he’s starving.

Here’s a toast to roomies; the ones you should never fall in love with. Or something.

Find it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23152710-roomies
Order it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1LmYfpz

My Review:
4 stars — OK, this was way crazier than I was expecting.  Kennedy’s inner monologue was HILARIOUS.  Sometimes I felt like it got in the way of what was going on (in the serious times), but I guess that’s just the way she was.  She is by far the most sarcastic, snarky heroine I have ever read…and I feel like I’ve read a lot of them.  Honestly, the things she thought and the things she said took my by surprise (and mostly made me laugh).

I only vaguely remembered reading the synopsis for this one, but I had a pretty clear idea of what I thought was going to happen based on what I remembered reading.  NOPE!!  Totally did not play out like I was expecting.  And yes, I know this is vague, but this is my review, I’ll write what I want!

Both male leads gave me tingles in this one….not to mention the feels.  I didn’t expect some of the deeper aspects of this story, but Ms. Zart totally tackles them in her own unique way.  I really appreciated how Kennedy saw when one of them really needed a friend, and offered that to him even when it made things complicated.  It was kind of a strange love triangle in that sense, b/c both boys were looking for something that Kennedy could provide.  But back to my original statement about tingles, seriously people, the swoon factor was high in this book.

In the end what prevented this from being a 5 star read for me was Kennedy’s oddball behavior…which is weird, b/c I also liked that about her.  I couldn’t always relate to her b/c she was so odd….there were some cringe-worthy moments where I just wanted to hide my kindle or skip to the next part.  But I guess most of all, I just wanted her to lay her heart on the line at the end, and I didn’t really feel like she did that.

I still highly recommend this fun read — it was quick, it was hilarious, and it gave me the feels.  And I wouldn’t mind seeing the “losing” boy get his own book….