Tag: new-adult

The Air He Breathes (Elements #1) by Brittainy Cherry

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I was warned about Tristan Cole. “Stay away from him,” people said. “He’s cruel.” “He’s cold.” “He’s damaged.”

It’s easy to judge a man because of his past. To look at Tristan and see a monster. But I couldn’t do that. I had to accept the wreckage that lived inside of him, because it also lived inside of me.

We were both empty. We were both looking for something else. Something more. We both wanted to put together the shattered pieces of our yesterdays. Then perhaps we could finally remember how to breathe.

Book: The Air He Breathes (Elements #1) by Brittainy Cherry
Published: September 25th, 2015
Pages: 308
Genres: Romance, New Adult
Format: Kindle
Date Read: September 29-October 2, 2017
Rating: 4 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔🥔

He gestured toward the house. “Hold her tight each day and night, because nothing’s promised to us. I just wished I would’ve held on tighter.”

Okay, now that I’ve finished bawling my eyes out until there are no tears left to shed…

I don’t recall ever reading a book that has made me cry as often as this one did. And oh boy did it pull on my heart strings! Giving birth to my son 5 months could be helping to influence my emotions, but maybe not.

This book was such a great read from start to finish. I truly didn’t want to put it down! I loved Tristan and Elizabeth, they fit together so perfectly. Two characters who were completely broken and just needed someone to help pull them out of the fog they were living in – they just made sense together. And we can’t forget about Elizabeth’s best friend Faye! Oh how I loved reading about that quirkly, foul-mouthed woman!

You know that place in between nightmares and dreams? The place where tomorrows never come and yesterdays don’t hurt anymore? The place where your heart beats in sync with mine? The place where time doesn’t exist, and it’s easy to breathe? I want to live there with you. –TC

This book had so many powerful messages but I feel like the main one is – live life to the fullest because tomorrow is never promised. And it’s absolutely true. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a nice romance that will have you reaching for the tissues faster than you can say Tristan!

Only for You (Unforgettable You #1) by Beverley Kendall

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College freshman Olivia Montgomery is thrilled at the chance to start over, escape the rumors that plagued her in high school. And she can finally put her juvenile crush, Zachary Pearson, where he belongs–in her past. Then her unrequited love strolls into her French class, shattering Olivia’s newfound peace, and the feelings she’d thought buried for good come rushing back. Now she can’t shake her unwanted attraction to the one guy who can twist her stomach into knots with just a smile…but has never given her the time of day.

Zach’s good looks may have always gotten him his pick of girls, but it’s the star quarterback’s skill on the football field that gives him his pick of the Big Ten colleges. To escape the crushing demands of his win-at-all-costs father, Zach opts for a private university in upstate New York where…his present and past collide. And the one girl he’s always wanted but can’t have–and a class trip to Paris–turn out to be the ultimate game changer that has him breaking every one of his rules.

Book: Only for You (Unforgettable You #1) by Beverley Kendall
Published: December 30th, 2012
Pages: 294
Genres: Romance, New Adult, Freebie On Amazon, College
Format: Kindle
Date Read: September 25-29, 2017
Rating: 3.5 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔

I’m not sure how I feel about this book. I almost wanted to take a day and think about how I wanted to word my review. Did I enjoy the book? Yes. Did I love it? No. Would I read it again? Probably not.

It was a good book, I enjoyed a lot of the characters and it was a decent read but there was nothing that made me want to block out the world for a few hours in a mad rush to finish this book. It kept me engrossed enough to continue reading but there was nothing extraordinary about it, at least for me.

That being said, check this book out – you might feel differently than I did. This review can also be found on my blog The Book Potato

Give Me Love (Give Me #1) by Kate McCarthy

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Evie Jamieson, a former wild child, is not only a headstrong, smart-mouthed trouble magnet, she is also a lead singer with a plan. That plan involves relocating her band, including her two best friends guitarist Henry and band manager Mac, to Sydney to kick off their dreams of hitting the big time.

Jared Valentine is the older brother of Evie’s best friend Mac and also the man determined to make Evie his. They strike up a long distance friendship which suits Evie because she’s determined to avoid the distraction of love, not only because it doesn’t fit in with her plan but because twice in the past it has left her for dead. Moving to Sydney however, has put her directly in Jared’s path and he has decided it’s the perfect opportunity to make his play.

Unfortunately Jared, co-owner in a business that ‘consults’ in dangerous hostage and kidnapping situations, makes an enemy who’s determined to enact revenge. When this enemy puts Evie in his sights, Jared not only has a fight on his hands to make her his own, but also to keep her alive.

Is accepting the love he’s so desperate to give worth the risk to both her heart…and her life?

Book: Give Me Love (Give Me #1) by Kate McCarthy
Published: March 15, 2013
Pages: 328
Genres: Romance, Musician, New Adult, Freebie On Amazon
Format: Kindle
Date Read: September 13-15, 2017
Rating: 3.5 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔

I’m not really sure where to start with this review. Did I like this book? Yes. Did I love it? No. Did I enjoy a lot of the characters? For the most part.

Evie and Jared were a great couple, when they were together. I understand they both had their hangups due to previous relationships and that they were each having trouble overcoming them. I get it. But it was like the movie groundhog day – the same thing kept happening over and over. Something would happen and Jared would freak out and disappear while Evie would deal with the pain in her own, unproductive way. It got old, quick. However, I am happy that they were finally able to get their crap together and work everything out!

I’m not really sure where I stand on Mac’s character. I have a very love/hate relationship with her since one minute I was happy with her and the next I wished she would disappear. Maybe, if she gets her own book, I’ll understand more of her feelings and get some clarity as to what was going on with her in this book.

I enjoyed Evie’s bandmates and would have liked to have seen a bit more of them – I’m sure they have a bigger role in the other books. And I loved Jared and Mac’s brothers – I definitely would love to read more about them.

I enjoyed this book but I’m not sure if I’m going to read the rest of the series. Then again, you never know!

My Stepbrother, My Lover (My Stepbrother, My Lover #1) by Alice Ward

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I should have known better.

The moment Jackson Montgomery III showed up for his tutoring session, I knew he was trouble, but I ignored my intuition.

Soon, I couldn’t get my mind off him and he had no trouble letting me know that he wanted more than lessons from me.

The only problem was, he was the heir to a family fortune and I was the product of a single, feminist mother and working to supplement my financial aid at Harvard.

We shouldn’t have been together, but I’m proof that opposites attract and I was definitely attracted to him and wanted him in a bad way.

Temptation weakened my resolve and I ended up having the most erotic night of my life with Jackson, but by the next afternoon everything took a turn for the worst.

The sexy frat boy that just rocked my world was in his ex’s arms and I was devastated.

Then, a surprise engagement announcement from my mother revealed yet another unbelievable turn of events.

Book: My Stepbrother, My Lover (My Stepbrother, My Lover #1) by Alice Ward
Published: May 4th, 2015
Pages: 440
Genres: Romance, New Adult, Freebie On Amazon
Format: Kindle
Date Read: September 11th, 2017
Rating: 4.5 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔🥔

I don’t usually read this type of books (step-siblings falling in love) since its tpyically taboo for me, for some reason. However, I thought this was very tastefully done. I loved the relationship between Kennedy and her mother and that they both only wanted the other to be happy. And I loved Kennedy and Jackson’s relationship once they actually got together. I understand Kennedy’s reasonings for fighting true love but when you know, you know. Like other reviewers, I really wanted to hit her over the head with this book to get her to wake up and see what was right in front of her!

I also loved a lot of the secondary characters as well. But, Lauren was definitely a favorite of mine – I love that our heroine had such a loyal best friend. I would love to read a book about Lauren in the future!

Check this book out, definitely worth the read!

Happenstance 3 (Happenstance 3) by Jamie McGuire

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Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it all. Now that Erin has learned the truth about the girls who tortured her, and about the boy she loves, she finds her time before graduation dwindling at an alarming and exciting pace. What used to be summer break was now a countdown to her final days in Blackwell. Her parents, Sam and Julianne struggle with the fear that just when they’ve found Erin, they must let her go, and the tension is higher than it’s been since Erin discovered who she really was.

Finally with the girl he’s loved since childhood, Weston grows more desperate as the summer days pass. He and Erin will go to separate colleges. His biggest fear is that this means they’ll go their separate ways. Plagued with making the best of the time he has left with Erin, and finding a way to make it last, Weston finds himself in a different state of mind hourly. He is just beginning to realize that hope is like quicksand. The harder Weston struggles, the faster Erin sinks.

Book: Happenstance 3 (Happenstance 3) by Jamie McGuire
Published: February 2nd, 2015
Pages: 246
Genres: Romance, New Adult, Novella, High School
Format: Kindle
Date Read: April 9, 2015
Rating: 5 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

I absolutely loved this novella series! Jamie McGuire hits another home run! Weston… loved him, so adorable. Erin was strong and independent – I loved her for that! Highly recommend this read!

Walking Disaster (Beautiful 2) by Jamie McGuire

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Can you love someone too much?

Travis Maddox learned two things from his mother before she died: Love hard. Fight harder.

In Walking Disaster; the life of Travis is full of fast women, underground gambling, and violence. But just when he thinks he is invincible, Abby Abernathy brings him to his knees.

Every story has two sides. In Beautiful Disaster, Abby had her say. Now it’s time to see the story through Travis’s eyes.

Book: Walking Disaster (Beautiful 2) by Jamie McGuire
Published: April 2nd, 2013
Pages: 433
Genres: Romance, New Adult, Tattoos/Piercings, Swoony Males, Sexy Alpha Male
Format: Kindle
Date Read: April 02 to 03, 2013
Rating: 5 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

TRAVIS MADDOX! Five stars! That is all. I mean really, what else do you need to know? Its Trav!

Hopeless (Hopeless 1) by Colleen Hoover

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Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies…

That’s what seventeen-year-old Sky realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she’s never had before. He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of just one encounter, and something about the way he makes her feel sparks buried memories from a past that she wishes could just stay buried.

Sky struggles to keep him at a distance knowing he’s nothing but trouble, but Holder insists on learning everything about her. After finally caving to his unwavering pursuit, Sky soon finds that Holder isn’t at all who he’s been claiming to be. When the secrets he’s been keeping are finally revealed, every single facet of Sky’s life will change forever.

Book: Hopeless (Hopeless 1) by Colleen Hoover
Published: December 17th, 2012
Pages: 488
Genres: Romance, New Adult, Swoony Males
Format: Kindle
Date Read: February 23, 2013
Rating: 5 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

Love, love, love this book! Holder and Sky have such amazing chemistry! For such a heartbreaking storyline I found myself smiling more often than not. Holder is simply wonderful, he truly loves Sky and wants nothing but the best for her. Not many men would think or act the same way!

Five stars without a doubt, even though it was a bit predictable at times.

If You Stay (Beautifully Broken 1) by Courtney Cole

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24-year old Pax Tate is an asshole.

Seriously.

He’s a tattooed, rock-hard bad-boy with a bad attitude to match.
But he’s got his reasons.

His mother died when Pax was seven, leaving a hole in his heart filled with guilt although he doesn’t understand why. What he does know is that he and his dad are left alone and with more issues than they can count.

As Pax grew up, he tried to be the kid his father always wanted; the perfect golden boy, but it didn’t work. His dad couldn’t overcome his grief long enough to notice and Pax couldn’t keep up the impossible perfect façade.
So he slipped far, far from it.

Now, he uses drugs and women to cope with the ugliness, the black void that he doesn’t want to deal with. If he pretends that the emptiness isn’t there, then it isn’t, right?
Wrong.

And it’s never more apparent than when he meets Mila.

Sweet, beautiful Mila Hill is the fresh air to his hardened frown, the beauty to his ugly heart. He doesn’t know how to not hurt her, but he quickly realizes that he’d better figure it out because he needs her to breathe.

When memories of his mother’s death resurface from where he’s repressed them for so long, Mila is there to catch him when the guilt starts making sense. Mila is the one…the one who can save him from his broken troubled heart; from his issues, from the emptiness.

But only if he can stop being an asshole long enough to allow it.

He knows that. And he’s working on it.

But is that enough to make her stay?

Book: If You Stay (Beautifully Broken 1) by Courtney Cole
Published: February 7th, 2013
Pages: 351
Genres: Romance, New Adult, Tattoos/Piercings, Swoony Males
Format: Kindle
Date Read: February 10 to 13, 2013
Rating: 5 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

Love love love this book! For a good portion of it I just wanted to hug Pax and take all of his pain away. Poor kid.

Ahhh Pax. He truly was an asshole (especially in the beginning). He was also funny, sexy, romantic… Pax was everything all rolled up into one effed up ball. But, you couldn’t stop yourself from rooting for him and wanting him to get his act together, for his sake as well as Mila’s!

As I write this I still have tears in my eyes from the feelings this book brought out in me. Pax and Mila are the epitome of the phrase, “opposites attract” but it worked for them! Such chemistry! I loved this book so much, it had it all – a couple who truly are two halves of a whole, a fascinating storyline that wouldn’t let me put the novel down and flawless editing that made it such an easy read.

Wonderful book from start to finish. Awesome job Miss Cole! Brava!

Dante's Girl (The Paradise Diaries 1) by Courtney Cole

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I have spent every summer since I was ten years old with my father in London. Every summer, since I was ten years old, has been uneventful and boring. Until this year.

And this year, after a freak volcanic eruption strands me far from home, I have learned these things:

1. I can make do with one outfit for three days before I buy new clothes.
2. If I hear the phrase, “You’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto,” even one more time, I might become a homicidal maniac.
3. I am horribly and embarrassingly allergic to jellyfish.
4. I am in love with Dante Giliberti, who just happens to be the beautiful, sophisticated son of the Prime Minister of a Mediterranean paradise.
5. See number four above. Because it brings with it a whole slew of problems and I’ve learned something from every one of them.
Let’s start with the fact that Dante’s world is five light-years away from mine. He goes to black-tie functions and knows the Prime Minister of England on a first name basis. I was born and raised on a farm in Kansas and wear cut-off jeans paired with cowboy boots. See the difference?

But hearts don’t care about differences. Hearts want what they want. And mine just wants to be Dante’s girl.

My heart just might be crazy.

Book: Dante’s Girl (The Paradise Diaries 1) by Courtney Cole
Published: June 22nd, 2012
Pages: 224
Genres: Romance, New Adult, Swoony Males
Format: Kindle
Date Read: January 23 to 24, 2013
Rating: 5 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

This book was just what I needed today – a lighthearted romantic comedy. Reece and Dante are just too cute, I loved them. So perfect together! And Dante? *fans self* What a romantic gentleman! If only they still made guys like that! Haha.

Check this book out, you won’t be disappointed!

Bad Rep (Bad Rep 1) by A. Meredith Walters

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“Who gives a damn about their reputation? Oh, that would be me! Especially since mine had gone straight to hell in the span of thirty minutes”.

Maysie Ardin is soaking up the summer before her junior year of college, shopping, hanging by the pool and shopping some more. But when her black belt in spending lands her in trouble with her parents, she is forced to take a second job at a local bar to dig herself out of a deep financial pit.

She thought she’d be miserable. But then Maysie didn’t count on Jordan Levitt, the hot, pierced and tattooed, drum playing bartender who also happens to be very interested in her. And the feelings are totally mutual.

It had the makings of the perfect romantic set up. Boy meets girl. Boy likes girl. Boy has girlfriend? Okay, maybe not.

But attraction is a hard thing to ignore and soon Jordan and Maysie find themselves in the middle of a gossip induced firestorm. Maysie has to learn whether she can set aside her fear of public disapproval in order to be with the one she wants. Or will she let the opinions of others dictate her life and her heart?

Book: Bad Rep (Bad Rep 1) by A. Meredith Walters
Published: December 21st, 2012
Pages: 444
Genres: Romance, New Adult, Tattoos/Piercings, Swoony Male
Format: Kindle
Date Read: January 01 to 02, 2013
Rating: 5 Potatoes! 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

I was only going to give this book 4 stars but I loved Jordan so much I decided he’s worth more!

Mays really pissed me off, the only thing that kept me reading was Jordan. I understand her hangups and its easy to see why she’d have all of her insecurities but enough is enough. Jordan did everything he could to reassure her and it still wasn’t enough!!!! At one point I wanted him to stop fighting for her and find someone worthy!

*spoiler alert* Thank God they got their acts together in the end! When things were good between them they really were a perfect couple, such chemistry! So yeah this book gets five stars simply for the fact that I loved Jordan so much! He’s so yummy! This book was worth the read just for him alone so check it out!