Tag: read 10/2015

Alex (Cold Fury Hockey #1) by Sawyer Bennett

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Hockey star Alexander Crossman has a reputation as a cold-hearted player on and off the rink. Pushed into the sport by an alcoholic father, Alex isn’t afraid to give fans the proverbial middle finger, relishing his role as the MVP they love to hate. Management, however, isn’t so amused. Now Alex has a choice: fix his public image through community service or ride the bench. But Alex refuses to be molded into the Carolina Cold Fury poster boy . . . not even by a tempting redhead with killer curves.

As a social worker, Sutton Price is accustomed to difficult people–like Alex, who’s been assigned to help her create a drug-abuse awareness program for at-risk youth as part of the team’s effort to clean up his image. What she doesn’t expect is the arrogant smirk from his perfect lips to stir her most heated fantasies. But Sutton isn’t one to cross professional boundaries–and besides, Alex doesn’t do relationships . . . or does he? The more she sees behind Alex’s bad-boy facade, the more Sutton craves the man she uncovers.”

Book: Alex (Cold Fury Hockey #1) by Sawyer Bennett (Goodreads)
Published: October 14th, 2014
Pages: 359
Genres: Romance, Sports, Athlete
Format: Kindle
Date Read: October 26-28, 2015
Rating: 5 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

I absolutely loved this book! The storyline, characters and Ms. Bennett’s writing made it so “real”. It felt like I was reading about someones life rather than a fiction novel as the characters were so life-like and had real issues that they worked through to be together.

I loved the end – Alex is so swoony and adorable. I think he’s so amazing. And Sutton was a strong heroine, perfect for Alex!

I also loved Suttons family, especially her brother Glenn – he was such an inspiring child. Truly.

This book was five stars, without a doubt! I highly recommend it to all!

I can’t wait to read the next book!

Room for You (Cranberry Inn #1) by Beth Ehemann

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Four years ago, my dreams were shattered in an instant.

I tried to pick up the pieces and glue them back together the best I knew how, but something was always missing.

A father for my two girls.

But then, Brody Murphy landed on my doorstep, literally. He was a carefree, playful hockey player who barged into my life and messed with my head. He left me more confused than I had ever been.

What if the one thing I thought I needed was the only thing holding me back?

Book: Room for You (Cranberry Inn #1) by Beth Ehemann (Goodreads)
Published: October 22nd, 2013
Pages: 359
Genres: Romance, Sports, Athlete
Format: Kindle
Date Read: October 20-26, 2015
Rating: 4 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔🥔

I really liked this book – I loved Brody and all of Kacie’s friends (Alexa and Lauren are AMAZING!) and the children are adorable! I loved Kacie’s mom as well – she’s a hoot! However, I absolutely could not stand Kacie. Other than her undying love for her children, I have no clue what Brody saw in her. She was annoying and idiotic – I found myself wishing I could slap her with this book to get her to wake up! I understood that she has been scarred by the past and she was trying to guard herself BUT then she shouldn’t have bothered with Brody in the first place if she was that scared. Right? Right.

The storyline was good, I loved it, the book didn’t dawdle at all. Although, if I could have continued reading about Brody I wouldn’t have cared if it carried on a bit longer! Such a sweet, romantic, man. He’s everything all wrapped up in nice package. Pun intended.

Will I be reading the next book? I’m not quite sure yet. I really did love Brody but I don’t know if I can deal with Kacie again… time will tell!

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!

The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

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Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers studies the rich like her own personal science experiment, and after years of observation she’s pretty sure they’re only good for one thing—spending money on useless stuff, like the porcelain dolls in her mother’s shop.

So when Xander Spence walks into the store to pick up a doll for his grandmother, it only takes one glance for Caymen to figure out he’s oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and that he’s one of the first people who actually gets her, she’s smart enough to know his interest won’t last. Because if there’s one thing she’s learned from her mother’s warnings, it’s that the rich have a short attention span. But Xander keeps coming around, despite her best efforts to scare him off. And much to her dismay, she’s beginning to enjoy his company.

She knows her mom can’t find out—she wouldn’t approve. She’d much rather Caymen hang out with the local rocker who hasn’t been raised by money. But just when Xander’s attention and loyalty are about to convince Caymen that being rich isn’t a character flaw, she finds out that money is a much bigger part of their relationship than she’d ever realized. And that Xander’s not the only one she should’ve been worried about.

Book: The Distance Between Us by Kasie West (Goodreads)
Published: July 2nd, 2013
Pages: 320
Genres: Romance, High School, YA
Format: Kindle
Date Read: October 7-13, 2015
Rating: 4 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔🥔

I tried so hard to like this book more than I did because of all of the wonderful reviews on Goodreads, really I did. The beginning started off slow for me and I nearly forced myself to continue reading the first 30% of the book. But, I soldiered on and I’m glad I did because it really is a good book!

I loved Xander, he was adorable! He definitely has book boyfriend potential! And I really did like Caymen’s sarcasm – I would reread this book just for that! But, I didn’t like her mom or the things she did. I understand her reasoning, in her mind anyway, for how she went about things but I don’t like her. Or the way she basically just left Caymen to run the store all the time. Not cool.

I really enjoyed this book but there’s something lacking in it that keeps me from giving it 5 stars… When I find out what it is i’ll have to let you all know. On the plus side, I will be giving Kasie West another chance with other books, she does weave a nice YA tale!

Article 5 by Kristen Simmons

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New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., have been abandoned.

The Bill of Rights has been revoked, and replaced with the Moral Statutes.

There are no more police—instead, there are soldiers. There are no more fines for bad behavior—instead, there are arrests, trials, and maybe worse. People who get arrested usually don’t come back.

Seventeen-year-old Ember Miller is old enough to remember that things weren’t always this way. Living with her rebellious single mother, it’s hard for her to forget that people weren’t always arrested for reading the wrong books or staying out after dark. It’s hard to forget that life in the United States used to be different.

Ember has perfected the art of keeping a low profile. She knows how to get the things she needs, like food stamps and hand-me-down clothes, and how to pass the random home inspections by the military. Her life is as close to peaceful as circumstances allow.

That is, until her mother is arrested for noncompliance with Article 5 of the Moral Statutes. And one of the arresting officers is none other than Chase Jennings…the only boy Ember has ever loved.

Book: Article 5 by Kristen Simmons
Published: January 31st 2012
Pages: 368
Genres: YA, Romance, Dystopia, sci-fi
Format: Kindle
Date Read: September 28-October 6, 2015
Rating: 3 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔

I’m giving this book 3 stars because I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either. To be honest, I’m not sure how I really feel about it. I loved the idea of it – the setting and the storyline – but I didn’t care for Ember’s character or half of the boneheaded things she did. Ember was very immature and didn’t act like someone who “always took care of her mother”. I know she always said she did but her actions were not that of one who does anything adult-like.
I really liked Chase but I felt like we didn’t get to know his character well enough – we knew why he did the things he did and that he really does care about Ember but we don’t know anything else. He’s very one-dimensional to me.
I can see why so many people love this book, it has a lot of potential, but it just didn’t do it for me.