Aestas Book Blog

Book Review — Dearest Clementine by Lex Martin

June 14, 2014 by Aestas · 81 Comments

I’m not going to let anything happen to you, darlin’.

Buy DEAREST CLEMENTINE (Kindle)

Dearest Clementine was a sweet college romance mixed in with some mystery about a girl whose trust in friends, family, and men had been broken and the sweet, loving guy who helped her rebuild it. I really enjoyed it and swooned hard over Gavin Murphy!

So, the whole story was told to us by Clementine who had sworn off dating after her high school boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend and then her college writing professor crossed waayyyyyy over the professional line and finally resorted to violence and stalking. Let’s just say that this girl had not been lucky in love. In her own words, “It’s not like I’ve never dated. I merely gave up trying to find someone who wasn’t a shithead. Or a cheater. Or a stalker. Yeah, guys suck.”

What she did love to do though was write. “On a good day, if the stars align and the fates agree, I can write my ass off.” But she wrote fiction so when she accidentally signed up for a romance writing class in her senior year, she felt lost. With no personal experiences to draw on and no real desire to ever have anything romantic to do with guys again, she had no idea what to write about.

This was where Gavin Murphy came in. He was a sexy RA and guitarist in a band and he had his sights set on her. This guy was pure swoon and sweetness. He totally understood that she wasn’t looking to date and wasn’t ready for any sort of relationship but he definitely wanted to get to know her more so he made a proposal…. he’d help her get “inspiration” for her writing by acting as a real life book boyfriend. Just friends, right? 😉 And without even knowing it, she found herself falling for him.

“I want to warn you.” His voice is husky and deep. “I’m going to kiss you and you’re going to like it. A lot.” …

“Gavin, I don’t think — “

He rests a finger over my lips.

“I’m doing this in the name of academics. You need inspiration? You’re looking at it. Now shut up and let me kiss you.”

Teehee!!

Meanwhile, there was a case of a missing student on campus that Gavin was investigating for the newspaper and everything began to get a little scary when Clementine became the next possible target!

I totally loved Gavin! This guy was fun, flirty, and oh-so-sweet. He was all about the endearments, flowers, little affectionate gestures, and all the little things that make us all swoon like crazy.

“I’ve never been into musicians. Never saw the appeal. I always thought they were too mercurial. Too undependable. Too capricious. But Gavin isn’t any of those things. He’s a steady, even force who’s loyal and good and, dear fucking God, hot.”

He gave her love, safety, and support — three things no one else had ever given her. Clementine had several totally understandable insecurities and I loved the way Gavin was constantly reassuring. Not to mention, he could be scary protective of his girl when needed too.

“Don’t apologize,” he says, pausing to look at me in the eye. “You don’t have to explain yourself. I choose you. I want you.”

I absolutely loved all the parts of the book that were focused on their relationship — Gavin made my heart flutter and the way he was so careful with her and patient and protective was all kinds of gorgeous. Not to mention that all of his “help” with giving her inspiration for her writing was HOT!! But I especially loved the way he seemed to totally “get” her. He understood what she was scared of, respected her need to take things slow, and really was able to help rebuild her trust and heal her heart. You could tell from the start that he was ready to give them a long-term shot. It was incredibly endearing!

I will just mention that while there were a lot of hot kisses in this book and Gavin and Clem had a really great dynamic, there was not a lot of actual steam in this book. Personally that isn’t something that bothers me but I do like to know what to expect in advance so I’m just mentioning it here.

Overall, this was a really sweet read with a little bit of humor, fun, drama, and mystery. I’ll admit that I did wish there was a little bit more of a focus on the main relationship though. There was a lot going on in the plot and I sometimes felt like that overshadowed the romance. There was also a turn of events part way through the book which kept them apart from each other for longer than I would have liked but I’ll just reassure you now that there is no cheating between the main couple. And finally, I did want a little more out of the ending somehow… but, I do promise that there is a fully resolved ending with an epilogue.

Rating: 4 — 4.5 stars. Standalone.

Buy DEAREST CLEMENTINE (Kindle)

Both are standalones.

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Book Review — Burned by Tara Sivec

June 13, 2014 by Aestas · 8 Comments

“I would have sacrificed everything to make your dreams come true.”

WOW!!!!

Burned was fast-paced, emotionally charged, and scorching hot. You do not want to miss this book!!!

I wasn’t even intending to read this today, but I just took a tiny peek at the first page and HOLY HELL!!!! What. A. Prologue!!!!! When I read it, my jaw just dropped. Shivers ran through me and I just had to read more!!! So, I literally just sat there and inhaled this whole book in one sitting!

But seriously, tell me this blurb doesn’t just BEG you to read this book??

Seventeen years old when he broke my heart.
Seventeen days later when another picked up the pieces.
Seventeen years together.
Seventeen thousand problems.
Seventeen days of reliving my past and finding a new future.
Seventeen minutes until it all went up in flames.
Seventeen breaths until I took my last.
This is my story…and it’s going to burn.

Whoa, right??!

Honestly, I don’t want to tell you too much about the story. It’s actually not that long (181 pages) so if I tell you too much, it’ll take the fun away from discovering it on your own so I’ll just tell you the very basics:

It’s a second-chance romance where the hero and heroine were high school sweethearts reunited after seventeen years apart — but neither the distance between them, nor her failed marriage to another man, or any misunderstandings in their past stopped them from reconnecting as though they’d never been apart.

“We have a history and, even though it was another lifetime ago, there are some things you just don’t forget or get over.”

Ooooooooh, and…. he’s a firefighter. 😀

This was one of those books where I just instantly connected to the characters. The writing drew me right in and I loved that the story was always engaging. Each page gave more to the story. Something was always moving things forward and there were absolutely no slow points. I really couldn’t put it down. Even though this book isn’t that long, it never felt rushed. It told everything that needed to be told with no unnecessary drama and a whole lot of swoon!

Now, this is definitely a scorching hot erotic romance — trust me, you’ll be fanning yourself!! — but I loved that the story was genuinely relationship-focused. These characters had a real, emotional history together and this book had a solid plot. I loved the balance and really felt that the sex complimented the story.

But seriously. I’ll say it again: IT. IS. HOT. 😉

Like I said, I read this in one sitting and loved every word. This really was the package deal and an absolutely gem of a romance that left me with a smile on my face. The writing was fantastic, I fell in love with Collin and Finnley, and their story was smoking hot and wildly addictive.

In an ideal world, I might have liked it to be a little bit longer but honestly, today I didn’t have time for a longer book and was so happy to have found one like this that delivered a complete story in a slightly shorter package. I was glued to the page from beginning to end. This book was unputdownable and I strongly encourage you to just dive in!! It’s a wonderful read and I highly recommend it!

I’ll just end this with an awesome quote from the hero….

“I’m an open book. If you want to know something, all you have to do is ask. I know this is fast and everything about it is fucking insane, but everything about it also feels right. I have thought about you every single day for seventeen years. I don’t know where this thing is going with us … but I’m not going anywhere.”

Rating: 4.5 stars. Standalone (with epilogue).

Both standalones. Click covers to purchase.

Book Review — My Skylar by Penelope Ward

June 11, 2014 by Aestas · 12 Comments

“From the moment you came into my life all those years ago, you made me feel like I had a purpose on this Earth. Over time, I discovered what it was. It was to love you.”

Ok… this review is going to be a little different than my usual ones. But before anything, I’m going to show you the blurb of the book (which was all I knew about it going it) and you’ll probably be able to understand why I immediately HAD to read this book… seriously, this blurb made my heart squeeze!!

… a friends-to-lovers story of longing, passion, betrayal and redemption…with a twist that will rip your heart out.

Skylar was my best friend, but I secretly pined for her. One thing after another kept us apart, and I’ve spent the last decade in fear of losing her forever.

First, it was the cancer, but she survived only to face the unthinkable at my hands. Because of me, she left town. For years, I thought I’d never see her again.

But now she’s back…and living with him.

I don’t deserve her after everything I’ve put her through, but I can’t live without her. This is my last chance because she’s about to make the biggest mistake of her life. I can see it her eyes: she doesn’t love him. She still loves me…which is why I have to stop her before it’s too late.

I honestly don’t think I’ve ever had such a LOVE-HATE relationship with a book before. I started out loving this book. My heart went right out to these kids and I connected to them and their story very quickly. But, I’m not going to lie, there was a point about half way through the book where I was so furious at the storyline and characters that I was this close to throwing my Kindle at the wall and putting the book down for good… but dammit, I cared for these characters even though I was beyond frustrated with them so I kept reading. Truthfully, by now I was so angry that I didn’t even have pity for them any more. They’d each made SO many stupid decisions that I was at a point where I was just like “Well, you fucking deserve to be miserable!!” But… the thing is that in between all of their infuriating decisions, I’d also really, truly fallen in love with them — both individually and together — and I couldn’t help but want them to find happiness.

You know how they say that you can be hurt strongest by the ones you love the most? Maybe the reason I was SO angry and upset by their decisions was because I cared about them so much? ‘Cuz there was no doubt about it, despite the fact that I was ready to just stop reading, I still freaking CARED. Ugh, I wish I didn’t but I totally did. The romantic in me couldn’t deny that these two were meant for each other, that they loved each other with all their hearts even if they kept making the wrong decisions over and over and over and over and over and fucking over again…. so I was rooting for them. I couldn’t help it. I just wanted them to find happiness — *sniff* — and they did of course, it just took a helluva lot of pain and more than fifteen years of self-inflicted emotional torment to get there. But love always finds a way, right? There really isn’t a strong enough word for how PISSED OFF I was over their past, but as mad as I was, I couldn’t stop myself from feeling the joy of their reunion. By the end of their story, I had happy tears in my eyes.

Gah. This really was a rough journey for me. Honestly, it was almost too much. See, I like to read books where it’s “them against the world”, not “them against each other” …. and in this book, even though they both loved each other with all their hearts, their endlessly repeated wrong choices made their past more of a “them against each other” situation. They were their own worst enemy. This is just a personal thing, but I have a really hard time reading that kind of storyline. I think it’s one of the most frustrating things ever when you literally have no one to blame for the pain they’re going through but THEM. And honestly, if I look back over the course of their past, I blame both of them equally for all the mistakes. For every one of her mistakes, I can name you one of his so it’s not even like I can blame one while loving the other.

See, in my opinion, in order to maintain any semblance of a functional relationship, when one person acts dumb, the other person needs to work doubly hard to gets things back on track . That’s the only way to make things work because inevitably people will fuck up in life, no one is perfect. The problem here was that they each made mistake after mistake but neither one of them EVER balanced the other out so they were stuck in this never-ending cycle of fuck-ups and at the half way mark, I was at the point where I’d lost any sense of pity for them because (other than her illness), their hurt was entirely self-inflicted.

So yeah, I was at the midpoint and seriously was about to put the book down for good, not review it, and try my best to forget about it. But like I said…. I just couldn’t let go. Fucking hell. As much as I hated their decisions, I did love these guys SO MUCH and every time their lives brought them back together in some way, it was SO clear that they’d never stopped loving each other that my heart would just melt and even though I was furious beyond all reason, I still so desperately wanted them to find happiness.

***** DEEP BREATH ****** (PS, this was me at this point)

I did however love the “present” day part of the book. Ok, not quite true, it took me a while to warm up to it because I was still really angry BUT I did feel for it. Their spark, their intense connection, their chemistry, everything was so strong. THIS was the story I wanted to read. Honestly, I feel like their past was written too extreme — there were TOO many mistakes, too many fuck ups. I’m still really angry about them.

But I really LOVED that this book showed that time didn’t matter for love. When you love someone and you lose them and then you’re faced with that that person again, regardless of the hurt, the pain, or the emotional devastation, in the deepest part of your heart, it’s like no time has passed. If it’s real, true love, those feelings don’t fade… even if it’s been a lifetime.

I was a mess. I was so pissed at them and yet I was also rooting for them so strongly. I had tears in my eyes when they finally came back together and gahhhhhh I don’t even have words. It was pretty powerful and was like the biggest jumble of feelings you can imagine. There’s especially this one GORGEOUS line in the epilogue that literally made me burst into (happy) tears the second I read it.

One thing is for sure: this book really hit almost every emotion on the spectrum for me.

So, I have a serious love-hate relationship with this story. But see, I think the most important thing for me to take away from this book is that looking BACK on it, I have to admit that my feelings are all mostly positive even though while I was reading it there were a lot of times when I absolutely hated it. And by that, I genuinely mean that I had about the most extreme negative reaction I’ve ever had to a book. But the fact that it’s the positive feelings from the second half that stayed in my heart the strongest after having finished it is something that I feel speaks very strongly for the book as a whole.

I’m not going to rate this book BUT that’s not a bad thing. Here’s why. I loved the beginning — like in a 4.5 star way. I loved how strong their love for each other was — like in a 5 star way. I’m still really pissed by their past and their choices — like in a 2 star way. But I loved their present — like in a 4.5 star way. But an average of those isn’t fair. I wouldn’t call this a 3 star book. But because of their past, I just can’t put a super high rating on it without feeling wrong about it. But…. gah. This book made me feel, it made me care, it put me through every emotion (even though many of those emotions were really not ones I wanted to feel), and I loved the depths of their love for each other. But I just can’t label my feelings with a number.

PS — as a comparison point, I would say this book reminded me a little bit (emotionally speaking, not necessarily in plot) of the Love Me With Lies trilogy and also Present Perfect.

I’m going to be very honest here… I can understand people LOVING this book (and most readers seem to be feeling this way). But, I can also understand people being so frustrated that they give up half way through. However, I do think that if you go all the way through to the end, you’ll end in a good place.

Dammit. Ok, I’ll just admit — I’m still really pissed but I did really like it.

Oh, and it’s a standalone.

Book Review — Say The Word by Julie Johnson

June 7, 2014 by Aestas · 8 Comments

The heart isn’t like the liver; it doesn’t regenerate, no matter how much time passes. Once it’s gone, it’s gone for good. I’d left mine with Sebastian when I walked away that day, and I hadn’t seen it in the seven years since.

Buy SAY THE WORD (Kindle)

I loved this book!!! It captured the intensity of a once-in-a-lifetime, heart pounding romance that was given a second chance and mixed it in with suspenseful drama and lighthearted fun. From the moment I started reading, I could not put it down!! This is definitely one of my favorites of the year!!

I knew I was off to a good start as soon as I read the dedication. Then the prologue gave me tingles and I was already hooked and desperate for more before I’d even started the first chapter.

But before anything else, I’ll tell you a bit about the story…

Lux and Sebastian (Bash) fell in love in high school. They were young, but it was forever love. The kind of love you don’t move on from. Even though they were in the same class, they were from such different worlds — he was the son of a US Senetor and she was dirt poor “white trash” (her words) but neither of them cared about that. The only thing that mattered was how strongly they felt for each other.

“For a brief span of time, I’d been complete. I’d been his, and he’d been mine, and nothing and everything made sense all at the same time.”

Then, right before college, Lux was forced to make the hardest decision of her life. She shattered the heart of the boy she loved and broke her own in the process when she unexpectedly left town.

“I’d known then, at eighteen, that my case of heartbreak was terminal, incurable. It wasn’t “puppy love” or “first love” or any of the loves that supposedly fade with time and large quantities of ice cream. Because when you walk away from your soul mate – when you take real, true love and throw it in the fire and watch as it burns down to ashes – you know you’ll never be the same.”

Seven years later, she’s working as a writer for a prestigious magazine when a twist of fate has her suddenly face to face with Sebastian, the guy she never once stopped loving but hasn’t seen since the day she left him. Naturally he’s hurt and angry and she’s holding on to secrets too but their intense connection is still there, strong as ever, and Sebastian will stop at nothing to find out what made her leave.

Woven in with this already-intense romance was a suspenseful side-plot centering around a case of missing girls Lux was investigating that was linked to deep political corruption. And the deeper she dug, the bigger the case got. I’m not going to lie, this section of the book gave me chills!!

I’ve also left out a certain part of the story in my description on purpose because it’s not mentioned in the blurb but I think you’ll enjoy the story more overall if you don’t know everything going in.

I swear to you though, at only 3% in, I was already swearing my undying love for the book. This book put me through more emotions in the first two chapters than some whole books combined. I was highlighting quotes left, right, and center. Even just in those first few chapters, I already had butterflies, my heart was racing, I was excited, curious, heartbroken, laughing and just completely invested in the story!

I really loved the layout of the chapters — Then, Now, Then, Now…. — it was brilliantly balanced between the past and the present, giving us just enough to hook us into story then taking us either backwards or forwards in time to find the next piece of the puzzle that was Lux and Bash. It was so cool to see these pieces slowly come together to build this bigger picture and reveal the truth of what happened and uncover the secrets that had influenced their lives.

When I read that first break up scene though, my heart broke right along side theirs. I had so many questions… Why was this happening?? What made her do this?? It was still very early on in the story and I barely knew the characters, I was already feeling for them so strongly and I needed answers!!!!!

Ohhhhh and that moment when they first met again, my. heart. stopped. It was such an emotionally charged moment and so well written!! Their heart break and longing was conveyed so powerfully.

“We stared at one another, two strangers bound eternally by a shared past of lies and broken promises, and I wanted to throw myself back in his arms… I wanted to erase the past seven years and kiss him until he forgot how I’d destroyed us.”

Lux was such an awesome heroine! This girl was strong, sassy, and fun. She’d had to make the most heart breaking decision of her life and lived every day with the guilt and pain that was left behind but she still held her head high and tried to make the most of every situation she was put it. Totally a ‘glass half full’ type of person, even when her whole life was falling apart.

Bash was just pure swoon-material. I loved him SO much!!!! This guy was the kindest, most understanding, patient, and loving man you can imagine. He had a heart of gold so when I saw it get broken, I just wanted to cry. Check out this quote from him…

“You might think you’re the villain in my story, Lux, but what you don’t seem to realize is that I don’t care. Princess or Evil Queen, I want you standing by my side when this tale comes to an end.”

The writing was absolutely fantastic! I love this author’s style and I loved the way the whole story was built. It started strong and stayed strong throughout. The past and present were woven together seamlessly along with a great balance of romance, heart ache, hilarity, suspense, drama, fun, and hotness. I really loved that even though this was by no means a comedy, there was just enough wittiness mixed in to keep me laughing every few pages.

Towards the end of the story, tears were pouring down my face (the good kind!!! I promise) as the emotions intensified and then my heart started racing as the suspenseful subplot reached it’s peak. I personally loved the way the subplot was woven in — it incorporated a bit of mystery, suspense, and action into an already emotionally charged romance and it began building from quite early on so I felt it was very well balanced. I can see how someone who doesn’t like suspense at all might find it a little distracting from the romance but it totally and completely worked for me. I will say though that I might have wished for things to have been a little bit steamier but, on the flip side, I felt Lux and Bash’s connection so strongly that I really didn’t feel like I was missing anything even though it would have been a welcome addition.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book! It had a little bit of everything — romance, drama, suspense, humor, strong emotions, great writing and a story that kept me glued to the page from beginning to end. Oh, and the ending was totally gorgeous and we were treated to a wonderful epilogue! I highly recommend it!!

“I think that if two people are meant to be together, nothing can ever truly separate them. Time, distance, other people — it doesn’t matter. They’ll circle back around to each other eventually.”

Rating: 4.5+ stars. Standalone romance (w/suspense)

Buy SAY THE WORD (Kindle)

SALES, NEW RELEASES, PRE-ORDERS, & RECOMMENDATIONS

June 7, 2014 by Aestas · 2 Comments

Wow, this is a big list!!! Lots and lots of options to choose from!

First up are a few featured books starting with Say The Word (an amazing second chance romance with a dash of suspense that I loooved), then comes Burned (a scorching hot erotic drama), then My Skylar (quite the roller coaster!), then OMG Wallbanger is on sale (this is a MUST read romantic comedy), then of course The Bronze Horseman (my #1 favorite book which is still on super sale), and finally the amazingly emotional Emi Lost & Found series is bundled together on sale. Next, my favorite Kristen Ashley series is still on sale for $0.99 per book (*squee*). Then, finally, there are a bunch of other series and standalone sales that you should definitely check out too! Next, I’ve listed a bunch of new releases that sound really good!! And finally, I’ve listed a bunch of my latest recommendations and a whole lot of preorders 🙂

…

Book Review — Infinity + One by Amy Harmon

June 6, 2014 by Aestas · 3 Comments

Bonnie Rae Shelby is a superstar. She’s rich. She’s beautiful. She’s impossibly famous. And Bonnie Rae Shelby wants to die.

Finn Clyde is a nobody. He’s broken. He’s brilliant. He’s impossibly cynical. And all he wants is a chance at life.

One girl. One boy. An act of compassion. A bizarre set of circumstances. And a choice – turn your head and walk away, or reach out your hand and risk it all?

When Finn saves Bonnie one night, he has no idea who she is. He just sees girl standing on the edge of a bridge and it’s a situation he can’t turn away from. So he makes a choice. But now she is faced with a choice of her own… to go back to her old life or take a chance and follow her heart.

Clyde’s eyes met mine. “You comin’?”

Finn wasn’t looking for any trouble. He’d had more than his share already and the last thing he needed was more but he still couldn’t resist helping the girl he talked down from the bridge. But unfortunately, being an international celebrity came with attention — whether that attention was wanted or not — and while Bonnie was trying to escape her troubles, they still followed her wherever she went.

“I just need time –“
“Time for what?”
“Time heals all wounds, right?”
“What wounds, Bonnie?”
“You want to hear the poor pop star complain, Clyde?”
“Yeah, I do.”

So one of them was running away from life and the other was trying to find it and these two strangers ended up on an impromptu road trip together. I loved that they were strangers because we got to learn about each of them as they were learning about each other. The little reveals and pieces of their past that we’d learn along the way all helped put together the pieces of the puzzle.

“The girl was trouble, but she was also IN trouble, and Finn knew he couldn’t walk away. Maybe it was Bonnie’s penchant for disaster. She’d apparently used up every bit of luck she was ever going to get in this life on the lottery of superstardom, because she was an accident waiting to happen. Everywhere they turned, everything she touched seemed to go south in a hurry. And yet here he was, beside her, trying to figure out what to do, what was best for her, and whether or not she’d be the death of him… or worse.”

I’ll let Finn describe Bonnie for you — “She was the most peculiar girl he’d ever met. Sad, sassy, temperamental, introspective, funny… and all of that in the space of ten minutes.” This girl just didn’t hold back. She was tired of her life being dictated and in her own words, her “give a damn” was busted.

Now, in Bonnie’s word, Finn was “big, bad, long-haired, and tattooed” but he was also incredibly smart. He was a brilliant natural mathematician — numbers and advanced theories came naturally to him and he saw the world from a different perspective than so many others.

The story was told in dual POV and I found it so interesting to see the contrast between how they both initially perceived each other and what they were each really thinking and feeling on the inside. And it was also wonderful to see how those perspectives evolved and changed as they began to know each other more.

“It wasn’t a soft kiss or a sweet kiss. It was a “you-scared-me-and-messed-with-me-and-I’m-mad-and-relieved-and-frustrated-as-hell” kind of kiss.”

This story had a little bit of everything. It’s slowly paced and overall had almost a quiet vibe with an undercurrent of something a lot stronger. It contrasted the thrill of adventure with the beauty of falling in love and wove it into a modern-day story of Bonnie and Clyde (though thankfully, with a happier ending).

“We’re Bonnie and Clyde! Wanted and unwanted. Caged and cornered. We’re lost and we’re alone. We’re a big tangled mess. We’re a shot in the dark. We’re two people who have nowhere else, no one else, and yet, suddenly that feels like enough.”

Overall, I didn’t find it quite as emotionally intense as I was expecting and there was one element which I don’t want to refer to in detail (a bit of a sub-plot/theme) that didn’t quite sit right with me. But I did feel strongly invested in these characters’ journey and really enjoyed how unique and unpredictable this storyline was. It was genuinely unlike any other I’ve read and it kept surprising me with the turns it took.

Amy Harmon is truly such a gifted story teller and I love her writing style. Her books take you on journeys through the lives of her characters and show you snapshots, special moments, and memories that all come together to tell a beautiful, lasting story. I can’t wait for her next book!

Rating: 4 stars. Standalone.

“There was a point, a place in time, where all roads but one are blind. And there is only one way you can go, one direction. For me, for Bonnie Rae Shelby, Finn Clyde was that road, and I wouldn’t give him up.”

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