• Buy I LOVE YOU TO DEATH for Kindle
• Buy I LOVE YOU TO DEATH in Paperback 

4 – 4.5  stars

“He can’t take his eyes off you, Ash. You’re all he sees… He’s just waiting for you to see him”

Ash has been surrounded by death her whole life. By the age of 25, twelve people who were dear or important to her have died, including all of her immediate family and her beloved boyfriend, and she feels indirectly responsible for their deaths because, in a way, she actually is. Not in any sort of ‘on purpose’ way, but indirectly, through continuous and completely horrific twists of fate, she does things that eventually lead to their deaths. And at the time the book starts, the death that she is reeling from and that is hitting her the hardest is that of her boyfriend, Sam.

The constant fear of causing any more pain or devastation to anyone else’s life causes her to distance herself from any and all relationships. But she’s lonely, and its a  miserable, bleak existence.

Going back to work after Sam’s death is like hell. She doesn’t want to go on with life but its what he would have wanted so she does her best to keep going. At work, they have hired a new guy. Luke. He steps into her life. And doesn’t walk out.

From the beginning, this book had me on the verge of tears and by 3% in, I was crying. Any author that can make you care instantly and deeply for a the death of a character that you have never officially “met” is a gifted one! Usually my main problem with post-accident books is that I find it hard to connect enough with the pain of loosing the deceased characters, but in this book, I was pulled right into Asha’s emotions and pain and loss.

Maybe it was the music posted at the start of each chapter that helped? Maybe it was the writing style? Or the heart-wrenching story line?  Who knows… but I was completely immersed into this story.

The story line moved forward from a point a few weeks after Sam’s death but at the same time, we get flashbacks and memories that serve to connect you more deeply to each of the other friends and family members she has lost – especially Sam. Seeing them as a couple, with what his presence meant to her and felt like in her life, mean that in no time, I was missing him too. He was one of those good guys – you know, the swoony heroes us readers melt over? So trust me when I say that you really feel his loss.

So when it came to Luke, I love that the whole relationship with him was very slow to develop. As the reader, you instantly felt a connection with him as the ‘hero’ of this story, but I loved that he really took his time in regards to Ash. It never felt like he was trying to replace Sam. There was no insta-love. Nothing was rushed. The progression felt natural and beautiful.

You can tell that Luke could sense that something was wrong in her life and he respected her and cared for her enough to give her the time to heal while never pushing her but always being there for her. He was a really gorgeous hero character. He was a bit of a local rock star and the perfect blend of sweet and swoony. The kind that, when you read about something he did, makes you smile to yourself.

“I can’t explain it, Ash. I look at you and I just can’t look away. I look at you and even though I see all of the sadness and pain that you carry, what I really see is a beautiful soul buried beneath it. A beautiful soul who desperately wants to be happy. Who I want to make happy, more than anything else in the world….I, I can’t explain it, I just want to fix that for you.“

He brought life to a girl surrounded by death. That concept was really beautiful. He slowly, with care and tenderness, brought her out of the shell that the fear of death had build around her giving her security, trust, friendship, care and finally love.

“He walked into my life and slowly, gently he showed me how to smile again, how to start living again. He gave me a reason to breathe again. Showed me that living was worth it and it was worth fighting for. That it was worth taking a risk and making the choices you wanted to make. That he was choosing me, fighting for me and he wanted me to fight for him, for us.”

Also, the lyrics to some of the songs Luke writes and sings in this book are beautiful. Like I mentioned, Luke is a singer in a band and 2 of the songs that he wrote for Ash brought tears to my eyes <3

I felt so bad for Asha. Here was this sweet girl with a big heart who loved so many people in her life just to have them wrenched away from her. I felt for her. I understood her frustration and pain and wanted to make it go away. When Luke showed up, I felt so relieved. I immediately trusted him and never doubted that if anyone could be her savior, it would be him.

The only things that I didn’t like was that the love scenes were all fade to black. I felt that in a book with characters in their mid-twenties that are going through a seriously emotionally connected relationship, that I was missing out a little on feeling fully connected to them by not having those scenes…. like they had something that I wasn’t quite able to feel because I didn’t ever read about that connection fully developing – rather it was implied. So despite feeling for them a lot, it disconnected me just a bit… .and I also did find myself wanting just a little touch more at the end (an epilogue perhaps? to guarantee a few things) despite there being a happy ending. *****EDIT: I didn’t realize there would be more books in this series at the time I wrote my review… Now that I know that, I’m happier with the lack of epilogue and am looking forward to the next books.

But still, it was a wonderful read and I’d definitely recommend adding it to your TBRs 🙂

• Buy I LOVE YOU TO DEATH for Kindle
• Buy I LOVE YOU TO DEATH in Paperback 

CASTING:

• Luke and Asha —> Click here

 

• Buy SEDUCING CINDERELLA (Kindle)

This was a yummy 3 star read for me.

“Heart. Any fighter can win against any odds if he has more heart than his opponent.”

It was short, predictable and more-than-a-little cheesy, but still, it was cute and had a fuzzy HEA.

Reid is a highly successful, smokin’ hot MMA fighter. He works hard at his job, is dedicated and right now does not have the time to be injured. Which is what leads him to Lucie. Lucie works as a physical therapist. She’s a cute, clumsy bookworm who is utterly infatuated with another doctor at her clinic who won’t give her the time of day and lacks the confidence to do anything about it. With Lucie desperate to go out with her doctor love and Reid desperate for more time around Lucie, he offers to move in with her so that she can give him around the clock physical therapy and he can give her “hands on lesson[s] in Seduction 101” *rolls eyes with a smile* … hmmm… I’m guessing I don’t need to spell out where this all going, riiiight?? 😛

“Maybe the best way to teach you how to seduce,is to let you feel what it’s like to be seduced.”

There are a lot of “picture perfect” things about this book… I mean, its got “Cinderalla” in the title… its a little fairy-tale over the top perfect – cute and clumsy girl meets fuckhot tattoed filty rich bad-boy-with-a-soft-artistic-side fighter… moves in with him instantly… just can’t resist the chemisty etc.  But at the same time, if you just approach it as a fun, light read then its pretty cute.

I did really love that Reid wasn’t just pure fighter – he cooked, painted, sculpted etc. He wasn’t afraid to show all his sides and it only added to his hotness!  Seriously, I need to find me some more MMA fighter guy books!

“Because when I make you come for the first time I don’t want you holding back. I want to hear every hitch of your breath… Every moan… And I won’t be satisfied until you scream my name.”

The sex is hot and there’s a fair bit of it.  There were several moments where I wanted to slap or throttle both of them but the ending is all wrapped up in a little bow and there are no surprises or twists to the story.

I liked it, but I found it very easy to put down and I prefer my stories with a little bit more depth. But if you are looking for something light, short, with steam and a HEA, then this is might be the book for you.

• Buy SEDUCING CINDERELLA (Kindle)

 

• Buy IF I WERE YOU  (Kindle)  – full reading order below

*** Note: This book is now part of a completed series. At the time I read it, this book (the first of the series) was the only available book and so my frustration that you’ll see in the review is due to the fact that it was a great book, with a ton of mystery but it left me hanging with a lot of unanswered questions and the other books weren’t available. 

If you were to read it now though, you’ll be able to just read straight though to the rest of the series 🙂

_________________________

NONE OF MY QUESTIONS WERE ANSWERED!!!! 

and I literally mean none  of them *lip quiver*

I feel a little cheated… I mean, it was a really good book – it totally hooked me into the story, made me care about the characters, got me all hot and bothered, and filled my mind with approximately 4 hundred bajillion questions and theories and then…  left me hanging!!! 

O_O

I don’t really know what to say. I feel like I know about as much now as I did at the beginning of the book 😐

“People arent always what they seem… The art does not always mimic the artist. You never know the real person until you slide beneath their surface.”

The story follows Sara, a high school teacher whose passion in life is art and ends up getting possession of a storage locker that belongs to a mystery woman named Rebecca, whose journals Sara finds and reads. The journals are erotic and mysterious telling the story of Rebecca’s spiral into a relationship with a dangerously sexy and controlling Dom.

The story is addictive – draws you RIGHT in. Its a deliciously thrilling and dangerously erotic mystery with a dual storyline going on between the current day life of Sara and the life of Rebecca as read in her journals.

These are the beginning lines of the book:

“Dangerous.
For months I’ve had dreams and nightmares about how perfectly he personifies the word. Sleep-laden, alternate realities where I can vividly smell hi musky male scent, feel his hard body against mine. Taste the sweet and sensuous flavor of him — like milk chocolate with its silky demands that I indulge in one more bite. And another. So good I’d forgotten there’s a price for overindulgence. And there is a price…. It started out as any other erotic adventure with him. Unpredictable. Exciting. I barely remember how it all went wrong. How it took such a dark turn. 

See what I mean? You kinda just need to know more!

The more Sara discovers about Rebecca, the deeper and darker the mystery gets. New journal entries lead to more questions which in turn lead to a plethora of possibilities.

Since the last journal entry was rather ominous, Sara decides to try and find Rebecca, but, having no idea where to start, she goes to the art gallery where Rebecca worked as a starting point. There she meets the gallery manager, Mark Compton, who is sophisticated, powerful, controlling, arrogant, and alluringly sexy who offers her Rebecca’s job while she is ‘away’. On the same day, Sara also meets one of the famous artists whose work is displayed at the gallery, Chris Merit – he’s a rebel, tattooed, doesn’t play by the rules, gorgeous, raw, mysterious and with a dark side that he keeps trying to warn her away from. Drawn to him and intrigued by the gallery manager, Sara slips deeper and deeper into Rebecca’s world. And the more she is drawn into the mystery of unraveling Rebecca’s life, the more her own life starts to entwine with hers.

This book was HOT – those journal entries were scorching!! I can see how some people have compared it to Fifty Shades. I wouldn’t compare it personally, but it definitely had Fifty-ish vibes in certain places but the story stands completely alone. The relationship that Rebecca talks about in the journals is a BDSM one with some mystery guy. We can suspect who he is, but honestly the evidence could point in any number of directions so we don’t really know.

And the heroine made some choices and decisions along the way that I didn’t fully see as being understandable, so that did disconnect me here and there from the story a little, but I just tried to be understanding and so it wasn’t a huge deal but I still did go ‘hmmmm’ a few times…

I totally loved the hero (or, rather, one of them? again, I’m not really sure). He had that delicious flawed aspect with just the right amount of mystery to him to make me love him and yet wonder about him.

“Be warned, Sara. I’m no saint. If I take you upstairs, I’m going to strip you naked and fuck you the way I’ve wanted to since the moment we first met.”

The ending is a HUGE cliffhanger. Literally the story just stops at an “omg” moment… I will say that I’ve never been fond of cliffhangers and I think I would have been more fine with this one had I had a few more questions answered (or any for that matter). Either way *sigh* yes, I will totally be going on to book 2…. I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!!!!!!

I have a feeling that when I finish reading all the books in the series, these may end up on my favorites list, but for now, I’m just a frustrated mess…

*runs off to find herself a guaranteed HEA book*

Rating: 4 stars. First book of a series.

CASTING:

• There are just so many characters to cast in this that I’ll just leave you with this shot… I think it compliments the book quite perfectly –> Click here

___________________________________________

** COMPLETE SERIES READING ORDER **

All the books are out now! Click the cover to purchase 🙂

   

•  Buy REFLECTED IN YOU for KINDLE (Amazon)

6+++ stars!

SQUEEEEE SQUEEEEE SQUEEEEE SQUEEEEE!!!!!!! 

THIS. BOOK. WAS. ABSOLUTELY. UTTERLY. PERFECT.

I loved every, single moment of it!

If I had custom ordered this book straight from the deepest book desires of my heart, it could not have been any better.

Gideon Cross (oooo even his name gives me shivers) and Eva Tramell are one of my TOP favorite book couples ever. It was absolutely beautiful to watch a couple who were just so messed up but who wanted, with every fiber of their beings and every corner of their hearts, to do everything in their power to make their relationship work. Who were willing to sacrifice anything for each other. Who were willing to apologize. To never give up. To try again. And again and again and again until they made it work. Together.

Absolutely beautiful!!!! 

The strength of their attraction, desire and need for each other is palatable. You can feel it rolling off the page. It hits you every single time. Its scorching. Consuming. Riveting. Intoxicating. But lust isn’t enough to make a relationship truly work. In order for their love to have the room to properly and healthily develop, they have to learn to trust each other. And that truly is what is at the heart of this book. Trust.

With a couple with as many issues, hang-ups, and fuck ups as Gideon and Eva, yes, I admit it was sometimes frustrating to read through their problems. But the thing was, despite some of them being irrational and over-the-top, I sympathized with both of them about their insecurities and worries. Everything they felt, I understood. Sometimes it was painful, but always understandable.

They were not perfect people. They both had secrets. They both had a lot to learn about how to trust each other, find safety in each other, heal each other, save each other… and in doing so, find a way to save themselves.

But as messed up as they both were, they worked through EVERYTHING!! A couple after my own heart. **SQUEEEE**

“I didn’t know I was looking for anything until I saw you.”

Gideon is the epitome of a complex, tortured, flawed, and mysterious hero. But my dear God does he make my heart (and my panties) melt!!! I swear, flaws and all, that man is pure perfection to me. I absolutely adored everything about his character. Everything.

And we get a lot more insight into him- into his secrets, his nightmares, how he became so rich, what he felt when they first met. For a story told entirely from Eva’s perspective, we do learn a lot about him in this book.

Eva is one of my favorite heroines as well. Never once have I wanted to throttle her. She, just like Gideon, is seriously flawed and scarred by her past. She has real insecurities,  jealousies, worries, but I sympathized with them all and loved her spirit, her dedication and her decisions.

As a couple, they were just so functional!!   Watching them work so hard at their relationship, where no matter what went wrong, letting nothing tear them apart… it was inspiring, heart warming, and beautiful.

This book put my heart through a delicious ringer. It made it race, flutter, melt, burn, freeze, drop, pound, stop… It broke my heart and it healed my heart. I loved every minute!!!

Let me tell you though, in this book, Gideon will test your trust, patience and faith in him to the absolute limit. He asks for Eva’s trust, but as the reader, I felt for her SO strongly that it was MY trust I was putting out there. I realized before all the drama started that I had a choice and a decision to make: Did I trust him? Or didn’t I?

I realized that I loved his character enough to trust that he wouldn’t ever betray her… I was patient with him way past the point where I’d have lost patience with any other character. But again, and again, and again I trusted, he tested, I waited, I trusted and he tested some more. Serious props to Ms. Day for putting me RIGHT in the heroine’s mind. When you feel for what a character is going through with all your heart, that’s a sign of absolutely brilliant writing.

Please please please… if you are going to read this and hit that point where you think you are going to lose faith in Gideon, just hang on. Trust me, the ending is worth every moment of heart ache!!!

He caught me to him, his arms banded tight around me. His face pressed into my throat. “Where do we go from here?”
I held him. “Wherever this takes us. Together.”

I can’t tell you how absolutely happy the ending made me!!!! Seriously, I felt like I could fly!!

  “I am obsessed with you, angel. Addicted to you. You’re everything i’ve ever wanted or needed, everything i’ve dreamed of. You’re everything. I live and breathe you. For you.”

**PS. If you haven’t read book 1, BARED TO YOU, yet, do be sure to start with it. This is a continuation of the story that started there, it is NOT a standalone.

CASTING:

• Gideon –> Click here
• Eva –> Click here

*** CROSSFIRE SERIES READING ORDER *** 

BARED TO YOU (Crossfire #1)
Buy on Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

REFLECTED IN YOU (Crossfire #2)
Buy on Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

ENTWINED WITH YOU (Crossfire #3)
Buy on Kindle | Buy  in Paperback | Read my Review

CAPTIVATED BY YOU (Crossfire #4)
Buy on Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

ONE WITH YOU (Crossfire #5)
More info coming soon.

“Did you think of my lips when he kissed you?… Do you still want me? Because if you do, I’m all yours.”

• Buy DOWN TO YOU (Kindle)

This seems to be the “it” book of the moment and now I know why!

Down To You is a wonderful, addictive read that will have your heart fluttering, have you fanning yourself, with just the right amount of angst and a really cool twist… oh, and twins, REALLY HOT, panty-melting twins 🙂

Hmmm, I’m getting ahead of myself here…. k, about the panty-melting twins. Olivia is an accounting student who has moved back to her home town to help her now-single dad out on their family farm. The last thing she’s looking for is another bad-boy relationship. But not long after she moves, she meets Cash Davenport, the bike riding, club owning, seriously HOT, tattooed bad boy who wants her in his bed. Like now. He’s “cocky, sexy, charming. Untamed. Rebellious. Heartbreaker.” And despite her resistance to his charms, she can’t help desperately wanting him…

“You’ve never ridden a motorcycle before?”
“Nope.”
“What kind of bad-boy girlfriend are you?” I ask in mock dismay.
“Evidently a terrible one.”
I swing onto the bike…
“Nah, you just haven’t met the right bad-boy.”

**swoooooon**… but wait! It gets better… The next day, she meets Nash. His twin brother. Yes, twin! As in, identical, GORGEOUS, swoony, and drool-worthy. He’s the good boy, “incredibly handsome, charming  obviously intelligent, successful, grounded” – the complete opposite of Cash and the kind of guy she really should be in a relationship with. Unfortunately he’s dating her rich, snobby cousin Marissa who she’s living with, but it doesn’t stop them from being seriously attracted to each other.

“I feel like all of a sudden, my life is a train wreck. And most of the wreckage revolves around two guys. Two guys that, for totally different reasons, are tearing me up inside. Two guys I want. Two guys I can’t have. Two guys I can’t stop thinking about.”

She wants them both. They both are in her head, in her heart and they both make her crazy for them. And they both want her just as badly.

Let me start off by saying that I am not a fan of love triangles. I like knowing who ends up with who right off the bat and I’m not fond of characters wavering back and forth but, for whatever reason, maybe it was the great writing style, or the drool-worthy characters or what have you, I LOVED it in this book. Completely LOVED IT!!!!!

And you know, the funny thing about love triangle books is that usually, even if I like both guys, I always know which guy I want to end up being “THE” guy. You know?? But, with this book, I absolutely did NOT have a favorite. I wanted them both. Completely. Equally…. Seriously, no joke, I could. NOT. choose!!!!!!

“But it’s your rule.”
“I’ll break it for you,” he whispers.“

lol, and as usual, best friends really just give the best advice 😛

“Every hen house needs a cock, but only the special hens can handle more than one. Try ’em out then pick one and stick with it. You’re not old enough to play with two toys at once. That’s cougar territory.”

So… which one does Olivia choose?? You’ll have to read to find out!

And don’t try and find out in advance… its worth the surprise. There’s a really cool twist! I usually go into books knowing some basic spoilers (like who ends up with who, that kind of thing) and with this one, I went in blind (I was trying to be brave and fearless, its a work in progress) but I am SO SO SO happy I didn’t know. And that’s saying something coming from me. So for those of you who are wondering about it, take my advice and don’t go sniffing about for any details… Just read it!! Enjoy the yummy ride!

The story sucked me in and had no slow spots. I’ll admit, there was a moment or two that made me squint an eye skeptically at the page and go ‘hmmmmm’, but nothing that pulled me away from the story.

And about the twist, I’ll say that I didn’t see it coming. I thought it was a possibility, but I dismissed it (silly me!) … If I think too much about it, I’m still not 100% sure how the timelines would all match up and all but its fiction, right? And its hot, sexy, fun, engaging fiction with a story and characters I loved so I’m just not gonna dissect and analyze things too closely. Bottom line, it worked. And I did love the twist. It was perfect for the story.

Guys, the sex scenes in this book… seriously… I”m not kidding here, H.O.T. Like I think I need to go back and reread some of those scenes… wow! They are definitely adult – this is not a YA or NA read!

And yes, the book did end on a bit of a cliffhanger… but I was actually totally fine with it. I honestly found it to be more of a lead-in to book 2 than anything – in fact it was very similar to the cliffhanger in Fifty Shades Darker. One where you felt like the main couple was fine, but there were still bad guys out there…. Don’t let it stop you from reading the book.

But that being said, pleeeeeeease Ms. Leighton, can you please please please release book 2 soon?? *begs* I want MORE!!! 😀

**Edit: just heard from the author that she’s hoping to get book 2 out for early 2013. SQUEEE!!!

I highly recommended this book!! Everyone really has to meet the Davenport twins. Go go go!!

Rating: 4.5 stars!

Click covers to purchase books (Amazon links).