4 stars

Book Review — DRIVEN (The Driven Trilogy #1) by K. Bromberg

February 20, 2014 by Aestas · 9 Comments

“I bet he fucks like he drives — a little reckless, pushing all the limits, and in it until the very last lap.”

Well, I’m officially in love with Colton Donavan and hooked on this series!

I’d been looking forward to starting this series for quite a while now. Honestly, I’d loved the sound it from the day I first heard about it but, because of the cliffhangers, I was waiting to be able to read them all at once. Now that I’ve started it though, I totally get why so many readers are obsessed with these books!

The story followed Colton and Rylee. Rylee was a strong woman who had control over life and who dedicated her time towards working for a wonderful cause helping children in need. Colton was a reckless bad boy — a famous race car driver known for his skills both on the track and in the bedroom. They were polar opposites in so many ways and what she needed was something he couldn’t give.

“Let’s face it, you’re not a spend the night kind of guy, and I’m not a one-night stand kind of girl.”

And yet, they kept being drawn back to each other… 🙂

I loved Rylee right from the start. She was a feisty, unintimidated and kind hearted. My first impression of Colton though was more of an arrogant, cocky manwhore… in Rylee’s words, an “egotistical asshole”. But I liked him! There was just something about him that hinted that there was much more to him than met the eye. Plus, he was just hot as hell!!

“I may be a man, but I’m nowhere near gentle. In fact, I think you’re a little curious just how I like it. Step over the edge with me, Ryles…I’ll be anything and everything but gentle.”

As Rylee soon found out, there was a lot more to him. Behind the bad boy that the world saw was deep rooted pain from a very dark past that he didn’t want to talk about. I really felt drawn to his character. What can I say, I’m a total sucker for the tortured bad boys. They get to me every time.

“The man is captivating in every way and the epitome of sexy. From that boyish grin that disarms me in seconds to his sexy swagger… He exudes virility, evokes desire, and commends attention… He’s edgy and reckless and you want to go along for the ride hoping to get a glimpse of his tender side that breaks through every now and again. The bad boy with a touch of vulnerability who leaves you breathless and steals your heart.”

Colton was dominant and possessive. He knew what he wanted and was determined to get it no matter what. But he kept his heart locked away. He was used to purely physical relationships with women, and was simply not ready to commit to anything more.

“I assure you, romance is not something I actively subscribe to. There’s no such thing as happily ever after.”

What I loved was that Rylee brought out a new side of him he’d never allowed to show through before — she meant more to him than anyone had before and that scared him. I loved the two sides of him — on one hand he was cocky and arrogant, but he also had a deeply caring side. It was the side of him he hid from the world that drew me to him. I could feel how much he wanted “more” and it broke my heart that he didn’t think he could ever have it.

“I know all about baggage, sweetheart. I have enough of it to fill up a 747 and then some… My shit can’t be fixed. I’ve been broken for way too long for that miracle to happen.”

And I just want to share this line here because this was the moment that fully sold me on the series…

“I’m seeing the true Colton Donavan – the unmasked version with a vulnerability that makes me want to reach over and take the hurt that often flickers through those green eyes and make it better. To show him that love and commitment are possible without complications. That it is real and pure and much more powerful than ever imagined when it is built and shared between two people.”

Another part of the story I loved was that, as I mentioned, Rylee worked for an organization whose goal was to help orphaned children and she did these shifts at The House which was where many of them lived. On it’s own, this part of the story was deeply emotional but guys, seeing Colton with these kids was just… WOW. My heart melted — it was just so beautiful and moving!!!

I’m not going to lie though — this book was a bit of a rough start for me for several reasons. But everyone kept telling me to hang in there because it got better and they were right!! It did get better and I’m so glad I stuck with it because now I’m hooked on this series!!

Ok – now there’s something which I kind of have to mention here… *twists lips* … ok — I’m just going to say it: this book has several strong similarities to both Fifty Shades and Crossfire. I’m not going to list them because I’m not one to nit pick but you’ll notice when you read it if, like me, you’re a fan of those two series. But, here’s the thing… take as a whole, the story is not the same and so, even though those elements made me a little uncomfortable while I was reading, my advice is to just overlook them. That’s what I did.

I’d say that overall, my enjoyment of this book was a steady upward climb. There were a few stumbles along the way, a few cases of deja vu, but all in all, it got better and better as it went and now…

I’m hooked, intrigued, and I want more!! Colton is very much the type of hero I most easily fall for — tortured, mysterious, and a little bit dangerous, but protective, dominant and kind hearted. Rylee is the kind of strong heroine who I can respect. Overall, I liked the pacing of the story, I enjoyed watching Rylee and Colton try to figure out their relationship and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

I would absolutely recommend this book, but my advice is to be patient with it in the beginning. I’m glad I started it, really glad I stuck with it, and am now ready to dive straight into the next book.

This is a hard book for me to rate because there were 3.5 star sections and 4.5 star sections for me so I’m going to round it off to 4 stars.

PS – there is a giant cliffhanger at the end and I am so freaking glad I waited to read these books back to back because if I had read this without having the next one, I would have been quite upset. But now that I have the next book ready to go, I’m just giddy with excitement to dive right into it 😀

*** SERIES READING ORDER ***

Book #1 — DRIVEN
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

Book #2 — FUELED
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

Book #3 — CRASHED
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback| Read my Review

Book Review — A Girl By Any Other Name by MK Schiller

February 7, 2014 by Aestas · 5 Comments

Well this was really different read and I liked it!

From the moment I heard about this book, I wanted to read it. The blurb alone gave me goosebumps and had me so intrigued. Check it out…

Ten-year-old Caleb Tanner wants nothing to do with Sylvie Cranston, the annoying weird girl who moves next door to him and gets him in trouble for swearing. But at twelve, they become friends when he teaches her how to hook a fishing line and she shows him the value of a selfless act. At fourteen, he falls in love with her.

At sixteen, she dies.

Or so he’s told. But Cal never believes it. Sylvie has become part of his soul. He knows her like the steady beating of his own heart. He’d know if she was dead. Cal looks for her, prays for her and finally he just waits for her.

Nine years later, she walks into the community college English class Cal is teaching. Only this girl claims her name is Sophie Becker and she doesn’t know him. Cal knows better. He’s determined to get the girl he loves back—and protect her from the danger that took her away all those years ago.

See?? Woah, right?

I loved the premise and the story had me hooked me right from the very first page with this quote…

“I never planned for Sylvie Cranston to be my best friend. I never expected her to be the muse in all my dreams, or the girl who later haunted my nightmares. I certainly never planned to fall in love with her, but that was exactly what happened.

Everyone told me I needed to move on. That was like asking me to pierce my own flesh and crush my empty, beating heart. They wanted me to toss it away and continue to breathe. How could a man function without his heart?”

I loved the way the first half of the book was laid out. It was told in a mixture of present day events where Caleb was an adult living his life but searching for this girl who he was convinced was still alive, and those chapters were intermingled with flashbacks to their childhood together that started when they were both 10 years old on the day when Sylvie’s family moved in next door to Caleb’s.

Something about the whole story really drew me in…. almost as though there was a whole lot more beneath the surface that I just wasn’t seeing yet. I loved that about it. It kept me guessing and theorizing and trying to piece the story together as I read. OMG some scenes gave me chills and shivers!! I kept looking for clues because I knew everything in the past was leading up to her supposed death and I was trying to see if I could understand what was happening.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re behind a locked door under the covers or walking around in the middle of the night. If something’s gonna get you, it’ll get you no matter what.”

There was something very endearing about the way Caleb and Sylvie’s friendship built. It just made my heart squeeze. And it had that beautiful quality of being able to be light and carefree one moment and then delivering a line that just really hit your in the heart the next.

“The girl didn’t have to win my heart. She owned it outright.”

I also really enjoyed the way the flashback scenes were mixed in with the present day. In the present day, I couldn’t help but wonder if this new girl really was Sylvie, or was she someone else? Was he crazy for holding on to the idea of her being alive? Or was he the only sane one of them all? It sounded like he was a little crazy but there was a chance he was right.

“I restrained myself from grabbing her arm, snatching off those sunglasses and releasing her hair from the baseball cap. It was a surefire way to get myself canned or grant me a one-way hall pass to a psychiatric hospital… I was searching for a dead girl after all.”

I really loved that I didn’t know the whole story up front and that it all got revealed in these little bits and pieces, in layers. Each time, I figured something out, I had a little mini ahah!! moment in my head.

More than once, the story brought tears to my eyes. Initially the romantic element was slow building but in a way that naturally reflected them growing up together… As the story went on though, Sylvie kept keeping him at bay though and while this would normally have frustrated me, it didn’t here because I knew there was something more going on with her, something secret that I didn’t know yet.

“It doesn’t matter what we call ourselves. We belong to each other.”

Ok now, about the second half of the book. I felt a little differently about it than I did the first half. A big reveal is made exactly half way through that kind of takes the book in a different direction. After this point, I have to admit that the story lost a little bit of that spark that had me so connected to the first half of the book. So far, the story had been a little mysterious, a little romantic, and everything was building in these layers together and honestly, it was pretty awesome. But after the reveal, things changed and the whole vibe of the story felt… different. It was no longer quite as plot focused, and there was just a lot of sex. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind sex in books at all (heck, I read romance after all) but I like there to be a leeeeetle more plot mixed in with it all than there was here. So, I’d say the story fell a little flat to me for a little while. It wasn’t bad at all though, please don’t think that! But it just wasn’t quite the same for me as the first half. And there were also a few things here and there that kinda made me a squint skeptically at the page… But then it picked back up again!! There was a new twist that I swear I never saw coming (and I love when that happens!!) that again spun the book in a different direction again and really re-engaged me into the story. I also loved the ending and the epilogue was very sweet. The last line even made me teary.

Oh, just a random note — A few readers told me they thought the blurb reminded them a little of Hopeless and it’s true to a certain extent that there are similarities but I can say that having read the book and knowing the twist, the plot is actually not at all the same. It just seems that way a little until you find out what really happened.

So overall, I’d say I definitely enjoyed this book. It was really different and kept me guessing. I loved Cal’s devotion and how he never wanted to give up and I loved the way the whole story was set up. Also, it’s a standalone romance so you get the completed story told here with no loose ends.

Rating: 4+ stars

Book Review — Finding My Forever (Beaumont #3) by Heidi McLaughlin

December 29, 2013 by Aestas · Leave a Comment

I have to admit that I was so curious going into this book!!! The blurb had me hooked but really didn’t give any hint as to which characters the book was about… Turns out, it was about Jimmy and Jenna!

Everywhere I look, my friends are settling down – marriage, children, white picket fences; but not me. Marriage isn’t in the cards for me. I’m a ladies man.

A rock star.

I was born and raised in the industry.

I love everything about my life, especially the attention from the women that my status brings me. Women find me. I don’t chase. I know what they want and they know I’ll deliver.

But after one look, one touch, one night…
Now I’m the one doing the chasing.

I need to find a way to show her that I’m serious, that I can change.
I need to find a way to show her that I can love her fully, and only her.
I need to find a way to show her that she’s my forever.

Please note that while each book in this series is a standalone about a different couple, the series will be far better appreciated if you read these books in order (see bottom of post). The connection between the characters builds from one book to the next as do their relationships and histories.

This is a story of a one-night stand that changed two lives forever.

Jimmy had grown up in the music industry and came from a long line of men who refused to be tied down. He was also a little different than Liam and Harrison because he didn’t really live in Beaumont. He was in the band but he wasn’t quite part of the family in the same way they were.

“She’s out of my league. I’m not smooth like Liam or romantic like Harrison. I can’t offer her stability or even a seven-day relationship. I’m damaged and broken. I’m a heartless bastard who only wants one thing and has no problem getting it.”

Jenna had survived a brutal three-year marriage to a physically and mentally abusive jerk and finally had gotten away choosing to start her life over from scratch in Beaumont. But her ex caught up with her at the same time as she got unexpected news that could change her life forever. Luckily though, she was a part of the family in many ways, and her friends weren’t going to let anything happen to her.

“You’re family, Jenna. You’re important to me… to us. Please let us help.”
“He’s dangerous.”
“Yeah well my husband is big and likes to hit things so he can be dangerous too.”

I’m going to admit that Jimmy and Jenna’s relationship felt a little rushed in the first half of the book. While I was reading it, I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about some of the developments. But then the more I thought about it, I realized that life rarely hands you a perfect cards and their situation was far from picture perfect but it was what they had and looking back on it, I can understand the way they handled it. It wasn’t all hearts and flowers, but it was almost as if the point of this story wasn’t about how they got together, but about how they handled things once they decided that they were committed.

At the crux of it all, we had a man who’d sworn to never again commit and a woman who’d suffered the worst at the hands of a man and whose faith in them had been broken. Jenna started out very timid, with a lot of insecurities and an understandably untrusting outlook towards men and so that made it that much more wonderful to see Jimmy go the extra mile to work at proving to her that she could trust him and that he would never betray her.

As with the first two books, I loved seeing this core group of characters together. They were rockstars but they were also this beautiful family bound together by strong connections built through romance and friendship. Watching them together was just so touching.

I really don’t want to spoil the plot of this story but I will say while this book took me a little longer to connect to than the first two books, once I was hooked there was no turning back and it kept me up reading and flipping pages long into the night. I loved the ending and am eagerly awaiting the next in this series.

I’ll leave you with this quote that, to me, really represents this story…

“I know what people think of me. I know you and everyone else thinks I’m a man-whore or I’m too young to be tied down. Maybe this will be temporary or maybe it will be for life, I don’t know, but it feels right. I don’t do commitments, but when I look at you, I see a future. I see my future.”

4+ stars

** SERIES READING ORDER **

Book #1: FOREVER MY GIRL — Kindle | Paperback – Liam’s story

Novella #1.5: MY EVERYTHING — Kindle | Paperback – Nick’s story

Book #2: MY UNEXPECTED FOREVER — Kindle | Paperback – Harrison’s story

Book #3: FINDING MY FOREVER — Kindle | Paperback — Jimmy’s story

Book #4: FINDING MY WAY — Kindle — prequel (Liam)

Book Review — Stinger by Mia Sheridan

December 3, 2013 by Aestas · 3 Comments

“Tell me you’re mine,” he whispered.
“I’m yours. I’ve always been yours.”

What a wonderful read!! This book grabbed my attention from the first paragraph and kept me up all night flipping pages. It took me by surprise several times and I’m still smiling when I think back on it.

Before anything, I know that it says that this is a “Sign of Love” book and it is a part of that series but it is also a complete standalone and you do not have to read the other books in the series first.

The story starts out in Vegas, at a hotel hosting two very different types of conferences — one was the International Law Students Association Conference, and the other was The Adult Entertainment Expo — and this was where straight laced law student Grace Hamilton quite literally ran smack into Carson Stinger, Straight Male Performer. I have to share this hilarious little tidbit from the end of their first meeting:

“Have a good time… er, a nice time, um, enjoy,” I gestured toward his name tag, “the show. Or rather, not the show, but the… well, enjoy the weekend…”

And that’s when he burst out laughing… “I will, Buttercup. And you enjoy your weekend too. Let me guess, law student conference?”…

“Yes, actually. Is there something wrong with that?”

“No, not at all. Looks like we’re both here to learn to be the best at getting people off.”

Teehee!!

These two couldn’t possibly have come from different worlds but when they got stuck in a broken elevator together for a few hours, they were forced to get to know each other a little better and to see past the preconceived notions they’d both formed. And then this happened…

“Lose control, baby. Just for a weekend. Let me take charge. I’ll take good care of you, I promise.”

One elevator chat turned into a passionate, whirlwind weekend where they connected on every possible level. I totally fell in love with the idea of them. But throughout it all was an undercurrent of worry. Time was running out because come Monday, she’d have to return to her high powered, meticulously planned life, and he’d have to head off to a shoot… fate was just not on their side.

As the precious hours of their weekend slipped by, I felt my heart beginning to break. I felt their connection — it sizzled! — and that sizzle made it hurt all the more because with the way their lives were set up, they were caught between a rock and a hard place, and there was no right answer or easy way out.

And then came the twist.

I will admit flat out that I did not see the twist coming. I totally thought I had this book figured out in my mind — law student meets porn star, they connect, can’t be together, separate, get back together — I was so sure that was what was going to happen.

Welp, I should have remembered which author I was reading because she surprised me in her first book, Leo, and she pulled the rug out from under me again here. Have I mentioned how much I love books that can take me by surprise? My heart jumped right into my throat and I just couldn’t flip the pages fast enough. I literally couldn’t. I’m pretty sure I didn’t even blink for the entire second half of the book.

I’m not going to say a word about it though because literally anything I mention about the second half of the book is a spoiler. I’ve tried to think of a million different things I could say but they all give away too much so I’m just going to let you discover it for yourselves 🙂

“Sometimes you don’t even realize anything is wrong until someone comes along and changes you, and makes you want more.”

*Sigh* I loved Carson. Throughout the book, I went from swooning, to fanning myself, to almost crying, to flat-out squeeing, and sometimes to sitting there in utter shock with my jaw dropped at the reveals.

What started out as a fun “porn star meets lawyer” romance (which already had my attention even just at that) turned into a gorgeous heart-felt jouney that took me by surprise again and again. I truly loved it!

4 – 4.5 stars

Book Review — TROUBLE by Samantha Towle

November 21, 2013 by Aestas · 2 Comments

“I’m not an arrogant ass. I’m just aware of how I look. And most women like how I look. Okay, ALL women like how I look. It’s the hair and tattoos. They like the bad boys, and I’m bad. What can I say?”

Teehee! I just love that quote and had to start the review off with it! Trouble was a fun New Adult romance with serious undertones, a reformed bad boy and a twist I didn’t see coming! Plus it’s a standalone with a fully resolved ending so you get the complete story in one fell swoop 😉

“You know the saying ‘from bad to worse’? Well, my situation is kind of like that, but more like ‘from worse, to a diluted version of worse, but still shit nonetheless.”

The story starts out a little bit on the darker side, showing Mia’s violently abusive home life. After she finally breaks free , she sets out alone on a road trip to find her birth mother. All she has to go on is a name and address and when she finally arrives in the right town, she checks into a hotel. This is where she meets Jordan, a gorgeous tattooed bad boy who’s never allowed himself to be tied to any woman before. Now, however, he can’t stop thinking about the beautiful blonde girl who just walked right into his life.

Ok, the first thing you should know is that the overall tone of this story is NOT dark. The majority of the book is actually just a whole lot of fun but the beginning sets up Mia’s backstory by quite literally showing us the brutality of her home life. And as much as I despised her ex-boyfriend, I really appreciated that the author included those scenes in because it gave us a much greater understanding of where Mia was coming from as well as, again, showing us how she found the will to stand up for herself and get away.

Mia was pretty awesome. It was hard to hold her to any of her faults because where she came from made her fears and insecurities justifiable and I especially liked that she was a strong girl at heart and really tried to just but on a brave face and deal with whatever life threw her way whether it be good or bad. That being said, her years of abuse had made her expect the worst from men so her trust was nearly non existent.

Now, Jordan was a bad boy who was flat-out determined never to fall in love with a woman. He’d seen the damage his father had gone through when his mom died and he was determined never to put himself through that kind of pain so he just liked his women easy, uncomplicated and temporary. No relationships and certainly no “stage five clingers” 😉

“When it comes to women, I put my dick in and keep my heart out. It’s the easiest way… Why do all women think they can change me? I’m unchangeable. When will they get this?”

I really liked the flow of how this book began. The beginning really set Mia’s character up perfectly and then at exactly the right time, it switched over to Jordan’s POV and let us into the head of this gorgeous tattooed guy. And oh wow was it ever fun in there!!

Jordan’s POV was honestly the highlight of this book for me. It was certainly one of the best male POV’s I’ve read. I was laughing and smiling the whole way through and it genuinely felt like I was reading a guy’s thoughts. Everything about it was just pure awesome!! GOLD!! His thoughts were so direct but he kept wondering off on the most amusing tangents and was somehow also always hilariously focused on sex (even in the background) but he clearly also had a strong protective (and possessive!) side to him and just ahhhhhh the balance was perfect!! He was just impossible not to love!

“I need this hard on to disappear.
I can do this. My dick does not rule me. I’m in control here…
She smell good… I want to lean in close and inhale.
And possibly lick her.”

Lol! Oh, and this…

“Mia, I just want you to know that not all men are assholes.”
What. The. Fuck.
Not all men are assholes? Jesus Christ… Yes, we are. There are just varying degrees of male assholeness.

His thoughts were just priceless!! I have nearly all of his POV scenes highlighted in my book. Here’s a snippet from one of those scenes after they’re taking his dog home from the vet:

“Should I sit in the back with him again?” she asks, biting her bottom lip.
Jesus, I want to bite that lip. Lick it. Suck it. Fuck it.
I see Dozer’s head lift, and his ears prick up. “Nah, he’ll be fine. You’ll have more room up from here next to me.”
“Okay … if you’re sure.”
I see Dozer’s head drop on a grunt.
I hold back a smile as I watch Mia walk around the car and climb in the passenger seat. But as I’m getting in the car, I can’t resist giving Dozer a smug grim. Honestly, the look he’s giving me right now… I think if he could flip me off, he would.
Yep, you lose that round, Dozer.
I turn the ignition, feeling pretty satisfied with myself that I’ve got Mia sitting up front with me…
Then it hits me.
I was just in a pissing contest with my dog.
There are no words.
No. Fucking. Words.

I just loooooved the scenes with Dozer! What an awesome dog! His “rivalry” with Jordan was too funny!!

I also really appreciated that this book had a balance of both lightheartedness and also more serious undertones because, as fun as it was, the book had a slightly darker side to it as well. For Mia, her past had made it hard for her to trust men and Jordan was the first guy who ever made her feel safe and showed her what it was like to be a man who respected her. Underneath his cocky bad boy exterior, Jordan was hiding a world of pain and just the hugest heart ever. I mean, what a SWEET guy!!

“I’m here… I’ve got you… always. I’ll never let anyone hurt you ever again, Mia. I swear.”

There’s a cool twist to the story too. I don’t want to say anything about it but I’ll admit it wasn’t something I’d considered until the very last minute and I really like twists that surprise me.

Overall, this was just a really great standalone New Adult romance. It had a fully resolved with no loose ends and a wonderful epilogue 🙂

Rating: 4 – 4.5 stars (leaning more towards 4.5)

Book Review — Welcome To Sugartown by Carmen Jenner

November 4, 2013 by Aestas · 4 Comments

And you though small towns were boring… Welcome to Sugartown.

Buy WELCOME TO SUGARTOWN (Kindle)

Whoa!! This small town was most definitely NOT boring!!

I really enjoyed (even loved) a large part of this book (what a roller coaster!!) but there was one scene that I hated so much that I’m having trouble looking past it. That being said, since the rest of the book was really good and it’s been receiving great ratings, who knows, maybe it’s just me? I figure, I’ll just tell you the things I liked and didn’t like and let you decide for yourselves 🙂

I have to admit, when I first heard about this book and that the hero was a sexy, Aussie tattooed biker sex god, I was already excited to meet this guy! Then, when I heard that he heard a dark secret from his past, I was SOLD!! And this book really took me surprise (mostly in a good way) – while the first half was lighthearted and downright hilarious in places, the second half took a decidedly dark turn filled with all sorts of secrets, dangers and heartache really giving the reader a little bit of everything overall.

The story takes place in Sugartown, a tiny speck on the map smack in the middle of nowhere, where 19-year-old Ana is bored out of her mind. With nothing to do and no where to go, her life basically consists of baking pies day in and day out for her family diner… and. she. wants. more.

It’s at this point that Elijah Cade rides into town on his bike. Dressed in black and leather, covered in tattoos and wielding a heart stopping set of dimples, this is the kind of guy Ana knows she should avoid. But neither one of them can ignore the sparks that fly between them and neither one wants to stay away 😉

The beginning of this story was just hilarious!! Between Ana’s overprotective dad, trampy step mom, adorable little brother and loud mouthed best friend, they kept me laughing out loud and chucking to myself for the whole first part of the book.

Here are a few gems…. the first is from her dad and Elijah (this one is more sweet than funny):

“You hurt my little girl and I’ll put you to ground quicker than you can fucking blink. Are we clear, Cade?”

“I’m not gonna hurt her, Sir. Ana’s about the best thing to happen to me in the last ten year…”

“Just make sure you’re the best thing to happen to her too.”

… and from her little brother with his adorable lisp (omg that kid made me LAUGH):

“Daddy, why ith Ana thucking on Elijath’s face?”

and this too:

“Are you gonna kith my thirster again, cauth dude, thath tho grossth.”

… and from her overly inquisitive best friend who was desperate for the skinny on Elijah:

“I wonder what kind of orgasm face he makes?… Come on. You have to give me more details that ‘it was nice’. I mean, why the hell haven’t you strapped him to the bed and impaled yourself on his enormous cock yet?” …

“I didn’t say it was big.”

“Honey, you didn’t have to. Have you seen the guy? He’s a freaking giant!… If he’s not big, then there really is no god.”

… and from Elijah himself in all his swooniness:

“Hey, you’re safe with me. You know that right?”

So really, I loved the beginning of this book. Totally loved it!! Then, the second half got all kinds of crazy as Elijah’s secrets began to come out and the book took a very dark and dangerous turn (kinda think along the lines of bikers, revenge and more!) but I still found it exciting and was happy to just ‘go with it’.

Now, I need to address the one thing I hated because I really feel strongly about it and am having a hard time getting past it… there is (in my opinion) cheating in this book which is one of my ‘hard limits’. They weren’t officially “together” when it happened but, given the circumstances, they also weren’t broken up enough for me to justify it and I was really not okay with what happened to the point where I came this close to putting the book down for good when I read the scene. I’ll try to explain it with as few details as I can… the situation is where Elijah has kept his past a complete secret from Ana even though they’ve been going out but one night it all catches up to him in a serious way and sweeps her up in it too leading to a nightmare situation where she’s forced face-to-face with the dangers of his life and made to witness some truly gruesome things that he was forced to do. Needless to say, this really shakes her and she needs space and so she basically pushes him away and then they go three weeks without much interaction until she comes across him fucking the brains out of the town slut in the bathroom of the local bar. She catches him in the act, he goes after her and it’s at this point that he decides it’s a good time to tell her he loves her. *sigh* I can’t tell you how not okay I was with that whole scene. It just made me sick to my stomach and I honestly I just didn’t understand why it was in the story to begin with for several reasons — 1) I guess I maybe would have at least understood it’s purpose more if the author needed it to create drama and angst (?) but this was not the case. This story had a whole ton of drama and angst without this scene so I genuinely didn’t understand what the value of it in the story was. 2) It felt totally out of character for Elijah (in my opinion). Seriously. If you’d given me the whole book to read minus this one scene and then asked me if he was the type of guy to go bang some random chick while he was falling for another (even if she was pushing him away) instead of spending his time trying to win his girl back, I would say ‘hell no’. It just didn’t seem like the type of thing he’d do and I guess I just felt that it seriously weakened his character to the point of almost making me lose all respect for him. At least in my opinion, Ana’s reasons for pushing him away were understandable, and I really felt like given those reasons, he should have been more supportive and understanding and focused his efforts more on winning her back than wallowing in misery and fucking some whore (‘scuse my language, I’m a little bitter here). I just had a really hard time looking past it.

But…. I’m a softie at heart and the truth is this was really the only time Elijah did anything that bothered me. He was an awesome character and apart from this scene, I fell for him so, especially given his admission of “I fucked up, baby girl”, I really just tried to look past that scene and go on to rest of the book cuz apart from that one element, I really was enjoying it and it just seems rather tragic to ‘throw out’ a whole book because of one scene, y’know? Especially with this kind of swoon going on…

“With all the shit I’ve done, the hurt I’ve caused people… for all the worthless hours I’ve spend wandering through this mess I call a life, looking at this girl before me – who is so perfect and innocent, and downright trusting in every way – I know that, somewhere along the line, I must have done something right for her to want to let me in.”

… and this too:

“I know I don’t deserve Ana, I could work on redemption my entire life over and the next one, too, and I’d still never be enough for her. But I love her.”

*sigh* Yeah… I have to say I really did love Elijah (minus that one scene) and he did win me over.

While I liked the ending of the book, I also found it a little too abrupt. It was happy for sure — no cliffhanger — but I wanted maybe another chapter or a mini-epilogue set just like a month or two into the future or… something. I just wanted to see them talk through their issues more and deal with the problem that had been the focus of the book.

Overall though, I have to say I really enjoyed many parts of the book. It was a little extreme in places and a little rough around the edges but parts of it were just plain awesome and I totally admit to swooning hard over Elijah and liking all the rest of the main characters. So, it’s like on one hand, a part of me wants to be like “Yup! I loved it!!” and another part of me is still sitting here going ‘hmmm’.

I think the bottom line is it’s a fun ride with some hilarious moments and also several dark, angsty twists. If you’re okay with the things I’ve mentioned, then you’ll probably love it. I personally did love parts of it for sure and I’ll definitely check out the next book (which will follow side characters) when it’s released.

Rating: 4 stars (but just because of “that” scene, I was strongly tempted to drop my rating to 3 stars… the only reason I didn’t was because that was my only major ‘issue’ with the book and, like I said, I feel bad dropping the whole rating because of one scene so….. 4 stars it is because there were definitely parts of the book that even climbed up into 4.5 star territory for me so I feel like 4 stars is a fair balance)

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