Tag: new-adult

When I Was Yours by Samantha Towle

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“Marry me.”
“What?” I stared back at him, unblinking.
He moved closer, taking my face in his hands. “I love you, Evie. I look into the future, and the only thing I see clearly is you. Marry me.”

What’s an eighteen-year-old girl who was madly in love with her nineteen-year-old boyfriend say?

Of course, I said yes.

Twenty-four hours later, I married Adam Gunner at a Vegas chapel to the sounds of “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi. Not the best omen. I get that now.

Then, exactly one week later, I left him. I walked out, leaving behind my wedding ring, annulment papers, and my heart, and he never knew why.

I haven’t seen him since. Not in ten long years.

Now, he’s here, standing before me. Looking at me with nothing but hurt and hatred in his eyes, he wants answers.

Answers I can’t give.

Book: When I Was Yours by Samantha Towle
Published: November 10th, 2015
Pages: 307
Genres: Romance, New Adult
Format: Kindle
Date Read: October 11-12, 2016
Rating: 3.5 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔

When I read the summary of this book I knew I had to get it, even though I’ve read quite a few books with a similar premise. I truly enjoyed both characters and learning how their relationship came to be. They are absolutely perfect for each other! Their names are Adam and Evie – does it get any more perfect than that?

That being said, I did feel that this book was so easy to predict. By about 20% in I already figured out what happened and why, hence the reason for not giving it 4 stars. That didn’t stop me from reading it though! The characters were so raw and honest, it was hard not to identify with them.

I can always count on Samantha Towle for a great, fast-paced romance read! Brava!

Tears of Tess (Monsters in the Dark #1) by Pepper Winters

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“My life was complete. Happy, content, everything neat and perfect.
Then it all changed.
I was sold.”

Tess Snow has everything she ever wanted: one more semester before a career in property development, a loving boyfriend, and a future dazzling bright with possibility.

For their two year anniversary, Brax surprises Tess with a romantic trip to Mexico. Sandy beaches, delicious cocktails, and soul-connecting sex set the mood for a wonderful holiday. With a full heart, and looking forward to a passion filled week, Tess is on top of the world.

But lusty paradise is shattered.

Kidnapped. Drugged. Stolen. Tess is forced into a world full of darkness and terror.

Captive and alone with no savior, no lover, no faith, no future, Tess evolves from terrified girl to fierce fighter. But no matter her strength, it can’t save her from the horror of being sold.

Can Brax find Tess before she’s broken and ruined, or will Tess’s new owner change her life forever?

Book: Tears of Tess (Monsters in the Dark #1) by Pepper Winters
Published: August 28th, 2013
Pages: 377
Genres: Romance, New Adult, BDSM, Erotica, Abuse
Format: Kindle
Date Read: October 7-10, 2016
Rating: 3.5 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔

From the summary of the book, I really thought this was going to be completely different than it was and I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.

The book was very well written so there is definitely no confusion as to how a character feels or why something is happening. The author did an amazing job! However, I’m just not sure I can get on board with this heroine. I get that she is unsatisfied with her love life, even though she loves her boyfriend and is “settled” in her relationship. I get that she wants more from him. But, what I can’t get on board with is where her thought process goes and her rationale after she gets kidnapped (I would say more but I don’t want to spoil the book for anyone).

From the summary of the book I assumed the book was going to be about a girl who is kidnapped and the journey she goes on waiting for her boyfriend to rescue her. I thought there would be parts explaining what said boyfriend does to get her back. Nope. This book is about a girl who eventually falls in love with her “master” – Stockholm syndrome at it’s best. Now, I can get on board with that – I’ve read A LOT of erotica where the girl fell in love with her kidnappers and there is nothing wrong with a book that depicts it. However, what happens to this girl before she arrives at her masters house and during just completely turned me off their relationship. I know that it’s a book and anything can happen but this one was a little bit of a reach for me.

The hero, however, I definitely liked. Q was a very intense, interesting man. I liked his backstory and what he was about. I can definitely see what made the heroine eventually fall in love with him and I would have loved to have read more about this character.

Overall, this was a very good book, it was, I just couldn’t get on board with everything in it. Maybe due to the issues that go on within it or maybe its just me. Why don’t you check it out and decide for yourself?

Rebel (Rebel Wheels #1) by Elle Casey

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Teagan Cross, college senior, rebel, and wiseass extraordinaire, goes from princess to pauper in a single phone call. Overnight, her life of privilege becomes one of survival, and no matter where she turns, it seems like the world is out to get her. She’s not going to fall apart, though. She’s a rebel and she’s strong … determined to live life on her own terms … and nothing’s going to stop her from getting things done and making things right. But when a twist of fate brings her to the doorstep of a different kind of Rebel, she’s forced to figure out when something’s worth fighting for and when something’s worth letting go.

Book: Rebel (Rebel Wheels #1) by Elle Casey
Published: October 29th, 2013
Pages: 294
Genres: Romance, New Adult, Freebie On Amazon
Format: Kindle
Date Read: June 10-13, 2016
Rating: 3 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔

Rebel is one sexy hunk of a man!

I truly enjoyed this book and didn’t want to put it down; such a good read! But, I felt like there were so many things that weren’t explained – Rebel’s back story could have been much more explained. I felt like some parts were just randomly added in, they didn’t “fit” with the storyline. Maybe it’s just me who felt that way, maybe not.

Another reason I’m not giving this book the 4 stars I feel it could deserve is because it just ENDED. Nothing was wrapped up, there were so many questions! Something big happens, we feel like Teagan is finally getting to the bottom of stuff and the books ENDS. Not cool, not cool at all. I understand wanting to leave the book open for the next one and for getting readers to want to purchase the next one but it still wasn’t nice.

Anyway…

All in all, good story, it has likeable characters (some not so much) and it definitely makes you want to read the next book.

This Sky by Autumn Doughton

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Gemma Sayers has spent the last six days rotting in a hotel room, wallowing in a noxious combination of gin, junk food and self-pity. She’s no stranger to disappointment but nothing could have prepared her for the chaos that unfolded when her celebrity boyfriend publicly humiliated her. Now the fairytale is officially over and Gemma is determined to put the past behind her and strike out to find a new dream. Just a few teeny-tiny details to work out: she’s currently broke, homeless and unemployed.

Landon Young has his own worries. Surfer by day and bartender by night, he doesn’t have the interest or the time to be anyone’s happily-ever-after. Weighed down by the memory of what happened two years ago, Landon can barely keep his head above water.

This Sky is the thoughtful and often funny story about broken trust, an unexpected love and the hopes we keep sewn in the linings of our pockets.

Book: This Sky by Autumn Doughton (Goodreads)
Published: August 12th, 2014
Pages: 334
Genres: Romance, Rom-Com, Athlete, New Adult, Freebie On Amazon
Format: Kindle
Date Read: March 23-25, 2016
Rating: 4 Potatoes! 🥔🥔🥔🥔

Can I just start of by saying how much I truly enjoyed the authors humor for this book? I loved Julie and her friendship with Gemma. Loved their discussions!

Landon and Gemma were absolutely perfect for each other. They each had their own demons but found a way to make things work for them. It was so refreshing to read a novel where the characters actually fell in love with each other over time! I’ve read so many novels where the characters meet and BOOM! they are happy and in love, yadda, yadda, yadda.

I really don’t have much to say about this one except that everyone needs to read it! Its has comedy, romance, drama. This book has it all and I truly enjoyed reading it. There was nothing that needed to be added or removed. The book didn’t dawdle at all and the characters were easy to envision in my mind.

I will definitely be reading other books by this author – she did an amazing job!

Within These Walls by J.L. Berg

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Within these walls, he became my solace, my sanctuary and my strength.

I am not strong. I am just a survivor of circumstance.
Isn’t that what we all do? Survive?

Each of us has our own set of circumstances to muddle through. Mine are just more…complicated. Born with a severe heart defect, I’ve seen the inside of a hospital room more than my own bedroom.

I was drowning, a prisoner to the illness that owned me, until he appeared. He thinks he’s blocked out the world with his tattoos and hard exterior, but I see the real Jude, the one he so desperately wants to forget.

But is he the answer to my prayers or will he break my already damaged heart forever?

My name is Lailah Buchanan, and this is our story of hope, redemption and sacrificing it all for the one you love.

Book: Within These Walls (The Walls Duet #1) by J.L. Berg (Goodreads)
Published: August 18th, 2014
Pages: 307
Genres: Romance, New Adult, Freebie On Amazon
Format: Kindle
Date Read: March 22-23, 2016
Rating: 5 Potatoes! 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

I am absolutely in love with this book! In Love!

I loved Jude and Lailah (love the way her name is spelled, even!)! Jude was a perfectly flawed character who managed to make Lailah, as well as me, fall in love with him! He was tattooed, angsty, mysterious, kind, funny, thoughtful, the list goes on and on. He was so wonderful to Lailah and she deserved all of it and more.

A lot of books like this upset me because they promise a strong heroine and that is almost never the case. With Lailah, I found myself applauding her at every turn! She was strong, courageous and such a great soul. My favorite scene (spoiler alert!) was when she stayed up late and pretended to sleep to catch whoever was leaving her chocolate pudding while she was sleeping. I think that scene shows so much about her character, not to mention that we get a good look at how spunky she is!

Lailah and Jude, Jude and Lailah – their names were truly written in the stars; they were meant to be together.

I loved every single thing about the characters and this storyline. I love all of the hospital nurses, doctors, administration and even liked Lailah’s mom! The author did such an amazing job weaving this tale and bringing these characters to life. I could picture everyone in my mind and this talented author gave me that. Brava!

This book is worth every bit of the high rating it has. If you haven’t read it yet, what the heck are you waiting for?

The Enforcer (NHL Scorpions #1) by Nikki Worrell

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Lacey Benoit is in need of a fresh start. Her best friend, Dr. Zoe Millis, has been begging her to make the move from Maine to California. Taking a leap of faith, Lacey does just that.

Living in San Diego definitely has its perks, such as, sunshine and beaches. The best part of moving to the west coast, however, is that Steven is still on the east coast. Catching your almost husband having sex with one of your bridesmaids on your wedding day would make even the strongest woman jaded. Therefore, Lacey has sworn off men for a while, especially men who travel a lot that have easy access to loose women.

When Lacey meets the new enforcer for the San Diego Scorpions, she thinks she might be in trouble. But she is determined to fight her attraction to the sexy NHL hunk. And she is successful…for about a day.

Book: The Enforcer (NHL Scorpions #1) by Nikki Worrell (Goodreads)
Published: March 7th, 2013
Pages: 320
Genres: Romance, Athlete, New Adult, Freebie On Amazon
Format: Kindle
Date Read: February 23-March 8, 2016
Rating: 3.5 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔

I’m not really sure what to say about this one. I liked the book well enough but I certainly didn’t love it. I did love the character of Jody – he was wonderful in every way! He was sweet, funny, athletic, a true alpha male and handsome to boot! But, there was something about Lacey that got on my nerves. To be honest, she wasn’t very smart and I didn’t agree with a lot of her decisions. The whole Stephen thing was just ridiculous!

All in all, this book was okay but it needed more “meat”. She met Jody and eventually agreed to go on a date with him but then it was like boom – they’re together and in love and happy, blah, blah, blah.

I may check out Vlad’s story, he intrigued me a lot. Time will tell!

Capture (Seaside Pictures #1) by Rachel Van Dyken

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Losing your ability to speak at the age of seventeen; it’s not normal or fair. But trauma, has a way of throwing normality out the window. Dani lives anything but a normal life. Her sister is married to one of the biggest names in Hollywood. Her best friends are rockstar duo AD2.And she has more love around her than most people experience in a lifetime. But that doesn’t change the fact their parents are dead. Or that it’s her fault.

It seems her new normal is being a mute, living on the inside, unable to actually communicate on the outside. That is until Hollywood’s newest heartthrob Lincoln Greene hires her as his assistant for the summer. He’s gorgeous, completely unavailable, and unobtainable. But that doesn’t stop her from wondering… if things were different…would he want her? If she was whole, would he be the other half?

Book: Capture (Seaside Pictures #1) by Rachel Van Dyken (Goodreads)
Published: August 20, 2015
Pages: 288
Genres: Romance, New Adult, Disability, Famous Hero
Format: Kindle
Date Read: February 9-23, 2016
Rating: 4 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔🥔

Where to start with this review? Did I love the book? Yes. Did I love all of the characters? Not necessarily.

I loved Lincoln aka Linc, he stayed true to himself throughout the entire book. You’d think that since he’s hollywood’s next heartthrob he’d be shallow, rude, demanding, etc. That wasn’t the case with him at all – he was kind, loving, and real. He wasn’t a shallow self-absorbed snob like the typical stereotype dictates.

Dani, Dani, Dani. I liked her at the end of the book, I did. But she was so immature for so much of it that it began to really make me mad. I know that shes only seventeen in the book and she’s just being a typical teenager but you can’t expect people to treat you as an adult when you think and act like a teen. That being said, she did go through a huge traumatic event and my heart really bled for the teen girl inside of her that had to go through it all.

Jay and Tris… I didn’t love their characters but I didn’t outright hate them. I would like to read their backstory in the future, I think it would help me understand their actions a lot more.

Zane! I loved him and I absolutely cannot wait for his story. Where can I find a marshmallow-eating, kind, funny, sexy man for myself??? I love Zane and I can’t wait to read book two so we get to learn more about what makes this awesome character tick!

Zane and Linc alone made me give this book 4 stars, had I cared more for Tris and Dani I would have given the book a 5 star rating without a moments hesitation.

The Score (Off-Campus #3) by Elle Kennedy

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He knows how to score, on and off the ice.

Allie Hayes is in crisis mode. With graduation looming, she still doesn’t have the first clue about what she’s going to do after college. To make matters worse, she’s nursing a broken heart thanks to the end of her longtime relationship. Wild rebound sex is definitely not the solution to her problems, but gorgeous hockey star Dean Di-Laurentis is impossible to resist. Just once, though, because even if her future is uncertain, it sure as heck won’t include the king of one-night stands.

It’ll take more than flashy moves to win her over.

Dean always gets what he wants. Girls, grades, girls, recognition, girls…he’s a ladies man, all right, and he’s yet to meet a woman who’s immune to his charms. Until Allie. For one night, the feisty blonde rocked his entire world—and now she wants to be friends? Nope. It’s not over until he says it’s over. Dean is in full-on pursuit, but when life-rocking changes strike, he starts to wonder if maybe it’s time to stop focusing on scoring…and shoot for love.

Book: The Score (Off-Campus #3) by Elle Kennedy(Goodreads)
Published: January 11th, 2016
Pages: 354
Genres: Romance, New Adult, College, Sports, Athlete
Format: Kindle
Date Read: January 27-29, 2016
Rating: 5 Potatoes! 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

Dean, Dean, Dean. I felt like I had to wait FOREVER to read his book. I have been a fan of this series since the beginning. I read the first one not long after if came out and immediately put the next book on my pre-order list. I love all of the characters in this series, they just pull you in!

When I first saw the summary that Dean was going to be paired with Allie I was a little worried. Allie had always been linked with Sean in the first two books, they were meant for each other (or so I thought!).

Dean and Allie fit so well together. He was able to bring out the care-free side of Allie and she was able to curb his man-whore ways. I loved their playful banter and the way their characters truly were two halves of a whole. And of course the sex was amazing. Why wouldn’t it be, with all of the “practice” Dean has had? Haha.

One thing I love about Elle Kennedy is that she is always able to incorporate humor in her books and oh boy did this one have some doozies. The break in scene, anything that has to do with Winston and of course Summer! I really want to read Summer’s story, I hope that is something in the works. That girl is a hoot!!

Five stars for Elle Kennedy, another smash hit!

Scoring Wilder by R.S. Grey

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With Olympic tryouts on the horizon, the last thing nineteen-year-old Kinsley Bryant needs to add to her plate is Liam Wilder. He’s a professional soccer player, America’s favorite bad-boy, and has all the qualities of a skilled panty-dropper.

* A face that makes girls weep – check.
* Abs that can shred Parmesan cheese (the expensive kind) – check.
* Enough confidence to shift the earth’s gravitational pull – double check.

Not to mention Liam is strictly off limits. Forbidden. Her coaches have made that perfectly clear. (i.e. “Score with Coach Wilder anywhere other than the field and you’ll be cut from the team faster than you can count his tattoos.”) But that just makes him all the more enticing…Besides, Kinsley’s already counted the visible ones, and she is not one to leave a project unfinished.

Kinsley tries to play the game her way as they navigate through forbidden territory, but Liam is determined to teach her a whole new definition for the term “team bonding.”

Book: Scoring Wilder by R.S. Grey (Goodreads)
Published: June 15th 2014
Pages: 356
Genres: Romance, New Adult, College, Sports, Athlete
Format: Kindle
Date Read: October 15-20, 2015
Rating: 4 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔🥔

This book was really more of a 3.5 star than a 4 star but I’m rounding up because I truly enjoyed Liam Wilder. Liam was sexy, funny and an all-around “good” guy. He treated Kinsley right and wasn’t afraid to go after what I wanted. You kind of have to admire the guy for that at least, right?

My feelings for Kinsley were mixed. I tried so hard to like her and sometimes it worked. Other times, I wanted to stop reading because she was so childish and annoying with her thought process. I just wanted to yell at her and tell her to grow up! I know her character is only 19 but she’s in college, she’s not a baby. She’s old enough to have sex so she should be adult enough to deal with a lot of other things.

I absolutely loved Becca – I hope there is a book about her and Penn. She cracked me up! And I loved her footsie pajamas. Then again, who wouldn’t?

The reason I am not giving this book a higher rating is something is lacking from within its pages. The writing was good, the characters were enjoyable, the plot was interesting but something was missing to give it a higher rating. I have no idea what it is so if someone figures it out, please let me know!

Tall, Tatted and Tempting (The Reed Brothers #1) by Tammy Falkner

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She’s locked up tight. But he might be the key.

Logan Reed is tall, tatted and tempting. Kit’s a woman with a mean right hook and a secret.

Kit wants a tattoo, but Logan sees more than she intends to share in the drawing of the tat she wants. He sees her in ways no one ever has.

Logan’s not disabled; but he hasn’t spoken in eight years. He hasn’t needed to. Until he meets Kit.

Logan doesn’t know everything about Kit. Kit doesn’t know anything about herself, until she has to sacrifice all she ever wanted to save what’s most important to him.

Book: Tall, Tatted and Tempting (The Reed Brothers #1) by Tammy Falkner
Published: June 17th, 2013
Pages: 323
Genres: Romance, New Adult, Disability
Format: Kindle
Date Read: October 13-14, 2015
Rating: 5 Potatoes! 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

While reading the first few pages I wasn’t sure I was going to like this book – Logan was very graphic in his description of Kit/Emily and I thought he was going to be such a pig. I am so glad I continued reading because he’s not like that at all – with Kit, anyway.

I loved Kit/Emily and Logan – they were such a cute couple, I loved reading as their relationship blossomed. So adorable! And I have to admire Kit/Emily for not giving into her parents demands and wanting to live her own life, not everyone has the strength to do what she did.

I am in love with the entire Reed family – I love the dynamics and how they are all there for each other. It’s so nice to see!

I am currently writing this review with a huge smile on my face as this book just made me so happy. I enjoyed reading it so much and it truly hurt me to have to put it down and have to deal with real life. It really did.

Love, love, love this book. I can’t wait to read the next one!