Blurb: From the first moment I met her, I’ve wanted Pippa March. She’s sexy, smart, and funny. But she works for my band, managing us through our biggest tour yet, so she’s off limits.
Until one night, and one kiss. Once she gives herself to me, I know will never let her go. Unfortunately Pippa comes with baggage, namely her absent rockstar father. I have one night to convince her that I want her forever, and I don’t intend to fail.
My thoughts: I got this book for free during a promotion in which hundreds of ebooks were being given away for free.
Undeniable is a very short story, and though it was quite enjoybale for a short, erotic read, it was very predictable, a very ‘read it before’ kind of situation. Pippa is hot, in her mid twenties if I remember correctly, and of course she is a virgin. Gareth is older, been with a ton of girls but the virgin is the one he wants, obviously. Basically, there’s tension, they have sex, they fall in love, they get engaged, they get married. The end.
The book needs a serious edit too. Some of the sentences didn’t make sense / words were missing in sentences.
If you want a quick, easy read while you wait for the bus then this might be one for you.
When Leonie Baxter finds herself out of a job and out of a relationship, she’s at her wits end. Her life has just been turned upside down and she needs a plan, fast.
By chance, on a walk with her rescue puppy, Leonie stumbles across a striking house in the woods; fully furnished but unoccupied. As a journalist, she is determined to find out more, after all, reporting is in her nature.
But her attempts are thwarted by Lily Cruickshank who lives in the cottage next door. Why won’t Lily help Leonie? And who is the mysterious Flynn Talbot, whose letter Leonie finds inside the house?
And in uncovering the secrets of the abandoned house, will Leonie open her own heart and let love back into her life?
My thoughts: I got this book on an amazon deal, I think it was a ‘first reads’ pick through my prime benefit. It jumped out at me because I moved to the highlands last year but I was surprised when I found out that the cottage is close to Glasgow. I thought the cottage would at least be somewhere closer to Inverness.
Besides that, I found that the story started off very well. The author managed to create an array of characters who were very distinct. I liked Leonie, she made me laugh at times. The love interest, who came in at around half way through the book seemed more real, but was a complete jerk to begin with. He did grow on me but I felt like the romance between them went from enemies to lovers way to quick, so not much of a transition.
There was a lot of mystery to the story which made me keep turning the page, hence reading the book in a day. I would think that I had solved the mystery a number of times but each time I was wrong.
The part that let the book down for me was the ending. It all seemed slightly rushed and a unrealistic. I also noticed that a huge chunk of dialogue towards the end was just redigested stuff from the rest of the book which the reader already knew about.
Overall, it ewas enjoyable and I would recommend it as an easy read.
Blurb: Charlie, a highly-strung, openly gay over-thinker, and Nick, a cheerful, soft-hearted rugby player, meet at a British all-boys grammar school. Friendship blooms quickly, but could there be something more…?
Charlie Spring is in Year 10 at Truham Grammar School for Boys. The past year hasn’t been too great, but at least he’s not being bullied anymore. Nick Nelson is in Year 11 and on the school rugby team. He’s heard a little about Charlie – the kid who was outed last year and bullied for a few months – but he’s never had the opportunity to talk to him.
They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn’t think he has a chance. But love works in surprising ways, and sometimes good things are waiting just around the corner…
My thoughts: Heartstopper Volume 1 is the first graphic novel I have ever read. I’ve nothing against them but graphic novels are something I’ve just never been interested in, probably because I’ve never bothered to look at them before. I bought Heartstopper Vol. 1 about a month ago as it was on a Kindle Deal for 99p. I’d seen the series advertised on Netflix, but haven’t yet watched it.
I read this graphic novel in about an hour, not even that to be honest. I felt myself smiling throughout at the interaction between the two main characters, Charlie and Nick. Realistically, the novel consists of dialogue only and the author has done a great job in telling the story through this all while the dialogue flows naturally. The pictures are very cartoony, but I’m guessing graphic novels don’t have life like pictures in them as standard, but I enjoyed the imagery very well. I felt like the emotions stood out on the characters faces and the pictures showed the setting well.
Overall, I’m very impressed. I will definitely be giving the other volumes a read, and once I’ve finished Emily in Paris, I’ll most certainly give the Netflix series a watch too.
Blurb: Jude longs to have a Hallmark meet-cute with the love of his life. But he learns how fun a happily ever after can be when he falls in love with a man whose imagination is as lively as his own.
Jude Moore – What’s better than running into the love of your life in an airport while enacting a scene worthy of being in a Hallmark movie? That would be having the meet-cute gods snow us in together at a hotel with only one bed. Luckily, that’s only the start of my incredible relationship with Rigby. There’s so much more to our story because the real fun begins once we get home.
Falling for Rigby is easy because he’s tall, adorable, and an academic nerd that makes my heart do the fandango. He’s also a total sweetheart who knows how to make me swoon by indulging my wildest fantasies to make all of my wishes come true.
How could I not adore a man who gladly takes me on the trip of a lifetime to the Camelot of my dreams, where he’s the romantic King Arthur to my Sir Lancelot?
Rigby Pasquali – I never thought I’d be the “fall in love at first sight” type, but Jude makes me believe in romance and a happily ever after. He’s the first partner I’ve ever had who makes me feel safe enough to explore new sides of myself and discover what I want. When his creative imagination is as vivid as my own, it means there are no limits to the magical wonderlands we can create while we role-play scenarios that tick off all of the boxes on my wish list.
How did I get so lucky to end up with a boyfriend who can be everything I’ve ever desired and complete me in a way I never knew I needed?
My thoughts: I got this book free with about 300 other romance books when they all participated in a deal. Let’s get right to it. This book was… interesting, but unfortunately not the you’ve piqued my interest so I must read on kind of interesting, it was a What in the actual fuck am I reading, interesting.
This was not a story. It was 95% porn, 5% story. The story goes – man meets man at airport. Men go back to hotel room. Men go back home. Men go on date. Men go back to university. Men go on date. Friend of man one has a problem with girlfriend, man one helps. Insert sex scene after every fullstop. Now, before anyone says anything I am NOT being prude, and if you think I am, then you don’t know me at all but seriously there was no conflict or climax (apart from sexual climax’s for the two characters many times), there just wasn’t really a story.
Jude, one of the main characters was very full on, it was very cringy at times. Also, if a man came to me and said the things that Jude had said within the first five minutes of meeting him (meeting his family, getting married etc) I would have ran a mile. He was just way too intense. His inner monologue also drove me insane, if you had a shot for everytime he used the term ‘meet-cute’ or ‘meet-cute gods’, you’d be passed out by chapter two.
The sex scenes were frequent and very similar, then all of a sudden they are role playing as King Arthur and Sir Lancelot and then the Cheshire Cat and Alice. It was so cringy to read and the worst part of it was that how the dialogue was written – not just for these scenes but throughout the book – it just made it even more unbelievable. The dialogue just didn’t flow at any point during the story which stopped me from being able to dive in and connect with them. Not only that, they are having sex and just chatting away about their ex partners. All they seemed to talk about was their ex partners.
I know I’ve slated this one and I’m sorry. I always try to find the good in a book but I’m struggling with this one.
I don’t know how 2022 was for you all, but for me it wasn’t great. Bookwise however, it’s been a whirlwind. I’ve read some absolute crackers but I’ve also read some not so great crackers. I’ve had more DNF this year than I’ve probably has in my life. Here’s a look back on what I read in 2022.
Clients call me Lexi. Naked is my super power, and I work it like a boss. In New Orleans, pleasure is a public service and I’m happy to do my part. I know what women crave, and I help their men learn to give it to them– with plenty of kinky window-dressing and an air of delicious command. It’s just a game men and women play, one that leaves everybody satisfied.
Until the day I’m dragged into court on a ridiculous charge.
Now I’m playing the game with Erik Jensen, Esq., the man who looks more like a sexy pirate than an attorney. Suddenly, the stakes are higher than I could ever have imagined. Because Erik isn’t the man I thought he was, and neither is the game.
If I win, I keep it all: my business, my reputation, and my formerly invulnerable heart. If I lose…well, I won’t let that happen.
But it’s getting harder to tell which one of us is being mastered and before long, a safe word is the only thing standing between happily ever after and a pair of broken hearts.
My thoughts: I believe I got this book for free from a promotion in which there were over 300 free books, all from the romance category. Unfortunately, this book for me was a DNF (did not finish). It’s a shame really, as I try my best to get through a book but after reading chapter 3, I just had to give up.
I’m going to keep this short as I really don’t like slating anybody. I know how difficult it is to write a book, I’m trying myself and I’m still no where near publishing, so hats off to the author for getting her work out there. This book just didn’t work for me. Here’s the reasons why:
Constant switching of tense – past, present etc. This could be sorted with a decent editor
Waaaay too many characters introduced in the first couple of chapters – Lexi, Erik, lots of Lexi’s friends, lots of Erik’s friends – I just couldn’t keep up
Repetitive – Erik’s thoughts were just the same, no personality just sex.
A full chapter pretty much about taking an antacid.
He’s an abomination. She’s the only one who can save him.
1913. Austria-Hungary. Wendel may be devilishly handsome, a charming bastard with the manners of disinherited royalty, but he’s an abomination. His skin shivers with the icy fire of necromancy. With one touch, he can raise the dead. Worse still, he’s being hunted by assassins from Constantinople, and he would rather die than confess why.
Ardis escaped her own dark past, fleeing from America as a fugitive to become a mercenary for the Archmages of Vienna. When she discovers Wendel bleeding out on the battlefield, she saves his life with a ransom in mind. She never asked for him to fall to one knee and declare his undying loyalty, or for tension to smolder hot between them. Especially once she discovers his scars run much deeper than his skin.
My thoughts: Shadows of Asphodel is the first book in a trilogy with the genres of Steampunk, Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Romance. Though I agree with these genres, I believe a new term is needed – or perhaps this term already exists – Dieselpunk. You are probably wondering why, but without giving too much away the inventor of Diesel, Rudolf Diesel, is a character in this book.
The book is set in 1913 and the main character is a sword-weilding female mercanary. Though that sounds cool as f**k, I just can’t believe that would EVER happen. Back then, women were nurses or looked after the kids at home, we did not go out beheading people and getting into bed so quickly with a man you’ve just met. I know, I know… it’s a fantasy book, it’s make believe, so yes I suppose this could happen in Kincy’s version of the world, seeing as there is magic, airships, and necromancy but something about this just doesn’t sit quite right with me. I feel because a big part of this is historically accurate (I think), that it just doesn’t work. I also felt that Ardis, the female lead, talks and acts more like women from this time. She’s very up front with men, quite dominant, and her language is very casual, perhaps too casual compared to the women of 1913.
Sorry for the rant. Apart from the above, the story was unique and the writing was really good. The author did a really great job in describing scenes in great detail, enabling my imagination to form the world around me. I got lost many times and there were instances in which I couldn’t put the book down. The start of the book in particular had me up most of the night but I felt that once the main characters became romantically involved, it didn’t draw me in.
The romance between the two character’s had moments that I enjoyed but for the most part, it didnt work well for me as in, it was far too cheesy and soppy. I do love a good cheese-fest and I usually know what I’m getting myself into if I’m reading a pure romance book, but I didn’t expect it in a fantasy book like this. I also felt that the last sex scene between the character’s didn’t fit into the story well and perhaps was just there to plump up the book slightly or to cross the boundary from YA to Adult Fantasy.
Blurb: Six years ago federal agent Samantha Moon was the perfect wife and mother, your typical soccer mom with the minivan and suburban home. Then the unthinkable happens, an attack that changes her life forever. And forever is a very long time for a vampire.
Now working the night shift as a private investigator, Samantha is hired by Kingsley Fulcrum to investigate the murder attempt on his life, a horrific scene captured on TV and seen around the country. But as the case unfolds, Samantha discovers Kingsley isn’t exactly what he appears to be; after all, there’s a reason why he survived five shots to the head…
My thoughts: I have had this book on my kindle for so many years and never got round to reading it until now. Moon Dance is an enjoyable book which molds the Vampire sub-genre with the Mystery/Crime genre in a very clever way. The characters are written well with Samantha Moon, the female protagonist of this book, being well liked and relatable. This can not be said about her husband, who is a complete and utter Tuesday Wednesday And Thursday – which is what the author intended. The use of first person works well with this book as it helps draw you into Sam’s thoughts and reasons for what she does.
The story is enjoyable but I worked out who the killer was as soon as the character was introduced. I also feel like this book needs a very good edit as there were lots of mistakes aswell as flipping from past tense to present tense. Overall though, I would recommend for an easy read and may continue to read the series in the future.
1946, and Claire Randall goes to the Scottish Highlands with her husband Frank. It’s a second honeymoon, a chance to re-establish their loving marriage. But one afternoon, Claire walks through a circle of standing stones and vanishes into 1743, where the first person she meets is a British army officer – her husband’s six-times great-grandfather.
Unfortunately, Black Jack Randall is not the man his descendant is, and while trying to escape him, Claire falls into the hands of a gang of Scottish outlaws, and finds herself a Sassenach – an outlander – in danger from both Jacobites and Redcoats.
Marooned amid danger, passion and violence, her only chance of safety lies in Jamie Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior. What begins in compulsion becomes urgent need, and Claire finds herself torn between two very different men, in two irreconcilable lives.
My thoughts: This is the first audiobook I’ve ever reviewed. However, it hasn’t been the first audiobook I’ve ever listened too, though it’s the only one I’ve ever been able to finish. I’ll tell you why…
I’ll start with the good bits. The narrator, Davina Porter, has a voice made for storytelling. It keeps you awake, engaged and wanting more. I really can’t fault her in anyway. She puts so much personality and emotion into every sentence and she does a fantastic job with accent’s as well as both male and female voices.
The story of Outlander in general is one I am familiar with thanks to the sensational TV series of the same name. I absolutely love the tv series but I have got to say that I loved the story just as much. I don’t want to compare the tv series with the book but as you would expect, there is a lot more detail in the books that they just can’t get into the series (though they still did a bloody good job!). The relationship between Frank and Claire seems much stronger in the book and the relationship between Jamie and Claire seems deeper.
Now to the bad bits. Well, there aren’t many. First off, I felt like the book should have ended when *SPOILER ALERT* they arrived in France. That’s it, stop the story right there! But it didn’t and it just carried on… and on… and on… and I’ve got to tell you, those last chapters when they are in France bored the living outlander out of me! I completely switched off. Now I can’t remember if they were in the tv series (I definitely need a rewatch), but I don’t recall anything as boring as that. Finally, and I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t really think of this until I read a few reviews of the book myself, but I completely agree with the reviewer (I can’t find the review now but will name them if I do)… Claire just seems to happy and content being in the past. It doesn’t even come up that she’s even remotely thinking about going back to the future half the time, and she just seems accepting of the life she now has. She doesn’t really complain about their lifestyle, the lack of electricity, she just gets on with it. Now if that was me, I would be freaking out… apart from when I’m in the arms of Jamie but that’s not the point. She just seems to accepting that she fell through some rocks into the past. It doesn’t sit right with me.
What do you all think? I would love to hear your thoughts on this one.
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