Category: C reviews (Page 8 of 20)

Tell Me When by Stina Lindenblatt

September 10, 2014 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: This was a Dear Author Daily Deal I picked up for 99c. I have a thing for the rescue trope.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Amber Scott should be enjoying life as a college freshman. She should be pursuing her dream of becoming a veterinarian. She should be working hard to make sense of her precalculus math class.

She shouldn’t be waking up her college roommate with screaming nightmares. She shouldn’t be flashing back, reliving the three weeks of hell she barely survived last year. And she definitely shouldn’t be spending time with sexy player Marcus Reid.

But engineering student Marcus is the only one keeping Amber from failing her math course, so she grudgingly lets him into her life. She never expects the king of hookups will share his painful past. Or that she’ll tell him her secrets in return, opening up and trusting him in a way she thought she’d never be able to again.

When their fragile future together is threatened by a stalker Amber thought was locked away for good, Marcus is determined to protect her. And Amber is determined to protect Marcus…even if that means pushing him away.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): Tell Me When had a strong start but it stuttered for me toward the end. The last third became just too over the top for me and the added melodrama ended up making what was looking to be a B a C. Trigger warning: There is rape and torture referenced in the book. It is not “lovingly described” or anything but what Amber experienced was horrendous, with just about every awful thing you can think of happening to her. And then there was Marcus, who had his own traumatic background.

August Round Up

September 2, 2014 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Reviews

Frigid by J. Lynn (Jennifer L. Armintrout) – C+ I enjoy the friends to lovers trope and I liked Wait for You so I bought this one when it was 99c one day a while ago. Kyler and Sydney have been friends since they were toddlers and each has had deep romantic feelings for one another for quite some time. Kyler is a bit of a manwhore and enjoys a lot of one night stands. Sydney has only had one boyfriend and her sexual experience is very limited (and the one time she had penetrative sex it wasn’t very good and her boyfriend split up with her almost immediately after and complained to his buddies she was frigid). Both Kyler and Sydney think the other is out of their league for one reason or another but when they are stranded together at Kyler’s family ski lodge in a blizzard the truth finally comes out. The story is told from both main characters’ POV in alternating sections and, for the most part, the big misunderstanding the story is conceived on didn’t bother me too much. This is because things move apace and the whole book, in terms of their relationship, is about solving the puzzle, not setting up the misunderstanding. So, they spend the book learning how to be honest with one another and that gave them a kind of get-out-of-jail-free card when it comes to my dislike of the “Big Mis” trope. However, they just had to throw in one too many of the misunderstandings in order to have the grand reunion and that was one too many for me. There is also a suspense plot in there which I thought was kind of unnecessary and bizarre but overall, it was an easy read and not taxing on the brain.

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AMAZON KOBO

The Hook-up by Abigail Barnette – B This free short story takes place after the events of The Girlfriend and therefore contains spoilers for the earlier books. For that reason, I’d say best not to read it before the other two but if you don’t mind about spoilers, then I suppose you could. In this story, Neil is in London, away from Sophie who is in New York. He has a hookup with their mutual friend-with-benefits “Emir” and things don’t go the way one might expect. I enjoyed the story in part because it was sexy and hot. I liked that Neil’s bisexuality was shown on page and celebrated and it was nice to get some of Neil’s POV. I also liked the chance to enjoy a short which was low conflict. I expect there will be some other trouble ahead for Neil and Sophie – books would be boring without conflict – so it was nice to see them happy, even if they weren’t physically together in this instalment. Sophie wasn’t completely absent from the story, but she’s not the focus. It’s only 30 or so pages so it’s a short hot read and hey: free.

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SMASHWORDS

The Promise by Kristen Ashley

August 4, 2014 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I had this one pre-ordered from Amazon and a few of my Twitter pals and I did a buddy read. (Except I was late starting so I played catch-up most of the time.)

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Since his brother’s death, Benny Bianchi has been nursing his grudge against the woman he thinks led to his brother’s downfall. He does this to bury the feelings he has for Francesca Concetti, his brother’s girl. But when Frankie takes a bullet while on the run with Benny’s cousin’s woman, Benny has to face those feelings.

The problem is Frankie has decided she’s paid her penance. Penance she didn’t deserve to pay. She’s done with Benny and the Bianchi family. She’s starting a new life away from Chicago and her heartbreaking history.

Benny has decided differently.

But Frankie has more demons she’s battling. Demons Benny wants to help her face. But life has landed so many hard knocks on Frankie she’s terrified of believing in the promise of Benny Bianchi and the good life he’s offering.

Frankie’s new life leads her to The ‘Burg, where Benny has ties, and she finds she not only hasn’t succeeded in getting away, she doesn’t want to.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): Ordinarily, I’d expect I’d have some difficulty with the concept of a guy dating his dead brother’s ex-girlfriend – as a concept it doesn’t appeal to me much. But, I was sold on Frankie and Ben (I refuse to call him Benny – sorry, can’t do it) by the end of At Peace and Vinnie (the dead brother/ex) was kind of vague and amorphous but also not good for Frankie in many ways. So it didn’t faze me when that wasn’t an issue for most of the characters in this book. Frankie struggled with it for a while at the start of the story but no-one else did. Frankie and Ben so clearly belonged together, everyone was just happy it looked like it was happening.

July Round Up

August 2, 2014 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Review

Whisper Falls by Toni Blake – C I borrowed this book from the library after a recent DBSA podcast which mentioned that the heroine has Crohn’s Disease. Tessa Sheridan moved home to Destiny, Ohio some years earlier because she needed help due to her illness. Her mother lives close by and she has a part time job in a friend’s bookshop which allows her to work when she feels well but is very flexible if she’s unwell. She was an interior designer with a big Cincinnati firm but couldn’t keep up with the demands of her job. She has her own interior design business in Destiny but there’s little demand and she’s had no actual customers. Lucky Romo moves back home to Destiny after he took over at age 18. He didn’t plan to come back but he recently found out he has a son – the result of a one night stand some ten years earlier when he’d been (very briefly) in the area. There is little angst about the son and actually that was kind of refreshing. The big deal about Lucky is that he’s had a rough past. He was in an outlaw motorcycle gang for four years shortly after he left town and did some bad things. Part of the reason he stayed away was the potential for risk to his family.

It has all the ingredients of a cracking story but it was just okay for me. I admit I was kind of bored and I skimmed a lot of it. Tessa’s love for The Ellen Show was over the top and kind of nauseating. I liked a lot of the interaction between Lucky and Tessa and those were the bits where I read more closely. I did like that the book didn’t shy away from making the things Lucky did very bad things (they could still have been worse) and I liked that he had to work some things out with his family rather than being completely embraced as the prodigal son (though there was a bit of that). Crohn’s Disease wasn’t a huge focus in the story. Tessa has basically learned to manage it. She doesn’t want to be a burden and she doesn’t want people to define her by her disease so she prefers not to think about it. I liked how Lucky was happy to take care of her when she was ill and he had to push a bit to get her to allow that. I felt like she had a bit more balance by the end but I also think she had a relatively mild form of the disease. Some of the things which would have possibly changed my impression in that regard were glossed over – for instance, she had a limited diet but the story never disclosed what that actually looked like day to day.

Stories Beneath our Skin by Veronica Sloane

July 25, 2014 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: Some of my Goodreads friends enjoyed this one so I bought it.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Tattooing might have once been Liam’s passion, but he left it all behind along with ugly memories when he went to college. When his uncle’s health fails, Liam must come home at last to say his goodbyes. His days are spent at the hospice, leaving his nights to rake over the past. To fill those empty hours, he takes a job at Great Sin Ink. The close knit friendship of the workers there both intrigues and shakes Liam, who has spent the last four years keeping everyone at arm’s length. Neither Deb, the no-nonsense piercer, nor Goose, a manic tattoo artist, will let Liam get away with his isolationist ways for long.

If it were just those two, Liam might have stood a chance — but there’s also Ace, the owner of Great Sin. He hires Liam despite a thin resume, and that is a kindness Liam can’t forget. The two start up a tentative friendship, learning about each other as the summer days melt into each other. Slowly, Liam reveals a tender heart underneath the wall of quotes he uses to keep everyone out. Unfortunately, life doesn’t stand still, and both Liam and Ace have hard struggles before them that might break them up before they can even get together.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): I ended up liking this one okay but I admit I was ambivalent about it for a while at the beginning there. That may have been because I wasn’t sure of my reading mood. Once I committed to reading the whole book instead of wavering, things smoothed out. It’s a slow burn romance but once the romance appears it goes at warp speed. There’s an ensemble cast which I liked. The secondary characters, for the most part, felt like they had lives outside of Liam and Ace. I would have loved more about Frankie and Goose actually.

Better Than Good by Lane Hayes

June 18, 2014 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I saw some buzz about this one in my Goodreads timeline so I bought it.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Matt Sullivan understands labels: law student, athlete, heterosexual. He has goals: graduate and begin his career in law. One fateful night, Matt tags along with his gay roommate to a dance club and everything changes. Matt finds himself attracted to the most beautiful man he’s ever seen. All labels go flying out the window.

Aaron Mendez doesn’t believe in labels, and he’s leery of straight curious men. He makes it clear that he’ll hide his fabulous light for no one. While Aaron can’t deny the attraction between him and Matt, he is reluctant to start anything with someone who is still dealing with what this new label means—especially when that someone has a girlfriend.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): I enjoy a good Out-For-You story. I liked that here, Matt acknowledges that he’s always been attracted to men and women but it was just easier to go with the flow and date women. Until he met Aaron, the risk/reward ratio was such that he was happy to date only women and stay in the bi-closet. That’s kind of my catnip actually – someone you care about enough to take risks for. I had mixed feelings about the book however. I can’t say that I liked the writing style. It felt choppy and pedestrian to me most of the time but I was engaged enough by the story that I found myself keeping on reading anyway.