Category: ARC

Welcome Home for Christmas (Hero’s Welcome: Book 4) by Annie Rains

Welcome Home for Christmas: A Hero's Welcome Novel by [Rains, Annie]

4 Stars

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Loveswept, Loveswept

Date of Publication: November 8th, 2016

Genre: Romance

Series: Hero’s Welcome

Welcome to Forever – Book 1

Welcome to Forever-Starting Today – Book 1.5

Welcome Home, Cowboy – Book 2

Welcoming the Bad Boy – Book 3 (review here)

Welcome Home for Christmas – Book 4

Where you can find this book: Barnes and Noble

Book synopsis:

Three-hundred-and-sixty-four days a year, Allison Carmichael doesn’t mind being single. It sure beats dating another loser, and it keeps her heart safe. Then there’s that three-hundred-and-sixty-fifth day: Christmas Eve, the traditional time her entire family gathers together—and gangs up on her, demanding to know when she’s going to get married. This year, she swears, is going be different. And that’s why, at a charity auction she’s throwing on-base, she buys herself a man.
 
Sergeant Troy Matthews insists that he’s not for sale. His time is, though, and he’s happy to donate it. Happier still when he learns the identity of the winning bidder: the redhead with the killer good looks and smart mouth who runs the veteran’s center. Allison needs Troy’s help to fool her family into believing they’re an item, and he’s all too happy to indulge her. But by the time Christmas Eve rolls around, their little charade is working a little too well . . . because Troy’s falling head over heels.

My review:

Allison was perfectly happy being single until it hits Christmas time. Then she gets all sorts of stressed out. Why does she get stressed out? Because normally, she doesn’t have a date for her family’s Christmas party. And if she does have a date, her mother, a psychiatrist, analyzes him and then tells Allison what she thinks of him. Which normally isn’t a lot and she has predicted Allison’s breakups. So, yeah, that would stress anyone out.

Troy is an MP on base who is a love them and leave them type of guy and Christmas is not his favorite holiday. This year, instead of celebrating Christmas, he was planning on spending it alone. The reason why he was planning on spending it alone? He was still smarting over a fight that he got into with his brother over 2 years ago over Troy being in the Marines instead of running a business. Which to be honest, it struck me as a stupid reason to be mad at someone. But I have seen relationships with families ruined over less so this did strike me as totally believable.

Allison and Troy meet, unknown to both of them when Allison is picking up wine for a charity event at the Veterans Center that she runs. Troy, who happened to be behind her, warned her about partying too hard and Allison gave him this funny, flip answer before leaving. The next time they meet was when Allison buys Troy at the charity auction she was running. Her reason for buying him? She needs him to pretend to be her boyfriend at her family’s Christmas party and she was willing to spend extra money for the extra hours (ie dates) for them to get to know each other.

The book gets pretty standard from that point on with Allison and Troy. They both fall into having sex with each other. That kinda annoyed me because Allison made a huge deal about not jumping into bed with him and then bam, two chapters later, she did. Not that I minded the sex scenes, they were pretty hot and there was one with pretty inventive use of a 6″ purple, sparkly vibrator. Speaking of that, I was cracking up laughing when she realized that she left it out when she thought she was getting robbed and Troy noticed. I literally couldn’t breathe, I was laughing so hard.

The three subplots (one being Allison’s issues with her mother, the other being the robber and the 3rd being Troy’s issues with his brother) that was wrapped up pretty quickly. But the storyline with the children’s home wasn’t wrapped up until the epilogue and I LOVED how it was wrapped up. I had a huge permagrin on my face.

Speaking of the ending, I loved it and it totally fits with the book!!!

I would give Welcome Home for Christmas an Adult rating. There is sex. There is language. There is violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread Welcome Home for Christmas. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**

Wind River Wrangler (Wind River Valley: Book 1) by Lindsay McKenna

Wind River Wrangler (Wind River Series Book 1) by [McKenna, Lindsay]

4 Stars

Publisher: Kensington Books, Zebra

Date of publication: October 25th, 2016

Genre: Romance

Series: Wind River Valley

Wind River Wrangler – Book 1

Wind River Rancher – Book 2

Wind River Cowboy – Book 3

Where you can find this book: Amazon |Barnes and Noble

Book synopsis:

Still waters run deep . . .

From the moment Roan Taggart picked up the pretty redhead at the Jackson Hole airport, his training and experience told him she was spooked. She’s left New York City to visit the Wind River Ranch, where Roan is a wrangler, and just as he can pick up a horse’s mood, he can feel the tension coming off her body. And that vulnerability is triggering all his protective instincts. . .

Shiloh Gallagher likes the gray-eyed cowboy’s dry humor—and the Special Forces background that lends him a stoic, powerful presence. But she’s been scarred by trauma and her mother’s murder . . . and knows a strong man can be dangerous. She came to wide-open Wyoming to flee a threat that’s left her unable to write her novels. Now, as she rides horses with Roan and helps him build an isolated cabin, she’s slowly letting down her guard. But danger has followed her west, and they won’t have a future together unless they defeat a killer from her past. . .

My review:

I am guilty of yet again judging a book by its cover. I went into reading this book thinking that it would be one of those slam, bam, thank you ma’am romance novel. Instead, what I read was something that kept me glued to this book.

Shiloh Gallagher is a successful romance author who is stressed beyond her limits. She is being stalked and her breaking point came when her stalker started to turn her doorknob on her apartment….even though it was locked. At the end of her rope, and with no help from the police or the FBI, she called her mother’s best friend Maud Whitcomb and asked if she could seek shelter at her ranch. Of course, Maud says yes and Shiloh heads out to Wyoming and the Wind River Ranch.

Roan is an ex-Army Special Forces operator who had come to work at the Wind River Ranch 2 years previously….after leaving the Army. He is told about Shiloh from Maud. See, Shiloh has undergone a lot of trauma in her life. Her father died when she was 7 and 3  years later, her mother was murdered, in front of Shiloh, by her stepfather. The reason why Maud was telling him this….well Shiloh would be bunking with him in the Employee’s only house for the duration of her stay.

When Roan meets Shiloh at the airport, sparks flew and of course, Shiloh tries to ignore them. As they get to know each other, Shiloh’s trust in Roan grows and she tells him the one horrible thing that she had only told the police about her mother’s murderer and her stepfather, Anton Leath. Not going to tell you what but oh my, did my heart-break for her. Because after she told her mother what she told Roan, her mother was murdered in front of her.

Now, I did figure out who the stalker on was pretty early on in the book. There were enough hints that it was pretty easy to figure out. Not that it took away from the book because when the stalker does show up in Wyoming and the events that unfolded, it was pretty surprising.

The sex scenes between Roan and Shiloh were hot, hot, hot. But, unfortunately, the author had to go down the “Hey, no protection…so are you clean because I am and let’s have unprotected sex route”. Which, if you have been following my blog for any length of time, I don’t like….lol. As I have said before and will say now, I am going to start a movement: Bloggers for Safe Sex of Fictional Characters (or BSSFC for short and OMG, I am killing myself here….lol)

The ending was pretty typical and all the storylines were wrapped up in satisfactory ways. I do wish that there was an epilogue (never thought I would say that) so we could peek in on Shiloh and Roan but seeing that there are two other books in the series, I am going to pray that they make an appearance.

I would give Wind River Wrangler an Adult rating. There is sex. There is language. There is violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread Wind River Wrangler. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**

Poinciana Road by Margaret Way

Poinciana Road

1 Star

Publisher: Kensington Books

Date of publication: October 25th, 2016

Genre: Romance, Thriller, Suspense

Where you can find this book: Amazon |Barnes and Nobles

Book synopsis:

It’s been six years since Mallory James left Moonglade, a former sugar plantation in the shadow of Australia’s magnificent rain forest. Now love and loyalty have called her home—but unspeakable secrets may compel her to flee once more…

A successful child psychologist, Mallory has no wish to return to the tropical hideaway where she experienced so much pain. But her Uncle Robert is ailing and it’s only right that she be there for the man who came to her rescue when she was a lost, lonely child. At least he is not alone—his protégé, and Mallory’s rival for his affections, is also at his side. Blaine Forrester hasn’t lost his knack for getting under Mallory’s skin, taking her breath away and leaving her unsettled at the same time.

While Robert recuperates, Mallory is shocked to learn that Jason Cartwright is on the payroll of his estate—the very man whose humiliating betrayal led her to leave North Queensland on the eve of her wedding. Confronting him—along with his wife and his manipulative twin sister—is a trial, though she can’t help forming a bond with little Ivy, Jason’s sickly daughter. But as tragedy strikes Moonglade, Mallory and Blaine will discover a darkness hidden within this deceptively beautiful world and their enigmatic circle—one that will either unite them at last, or tear apart the promise of paradise…

My review:

I am not a picky reader and I honestly do not like reviewing books and giving them bad reviews. I am one of those “let’s try to find the good in every book” type of person. But, I have run across a few books that I just cannot like and, unfortunately, Poinciana Road is one of them.

What aggravated me was that it had such a good storyline to it. A woman comes home to care for an ailing father figure and gets embroiled with her ex-fiance, his twin sister, his wife, and his daughter. It should have been good…..but it wasn’t. It was very painful to read and I almost DNF’d the book.

The plotline was crazy good and so much potential. It really did take me back to when I went through my Gothic romance phase. If the author had just stuck to that, the book could have been good. But she started adding that Mallory could read auras, see and hear ghosts and can receive messages from ghosts through dreams and I kinda went “eh”.

The relationship between Blaine and Mallory didn’t feel real to me and actually felt kinda forced. She didn’t like him at the beginning of the book….was jealous of him and went out of her way to be rude to him. It wasn’t an instant dislike. She didn’t like him for years and years because her Uncle Robert looked at him as a son. Actually, she was jealous of Blaine. So I, as a reader, am supposed to believe that she did a turnaround in the 2 weeks that she was staying with her uncle?

Even the secondary characters were awful. Kathy, Jason, Jessica, Ivy….no personality or they were over the top. And the mystery of what happened to Kathy, what was happening to Ivy and the relationship between Jessica and Jason was pretty cut and dry and I figured out each of them in turn. Plus, I was getting sick of Mallory psychoanalyzing everyone.

The sex scenes, I will say, were pretty tastefully done and were no frills. Actually, I couldn’t tell if I was actually reading a sex scene or not.

The ending was pretty typical and there was an HEA.

I would give Poinciana Road an Adult rating. There is sex. There is language. There is violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread Poinciana Road. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**

Necessary Evil (Sentinels of Babylon: Book 1) by Jamie K. Schmidt

Necessary Evil (Sentinels of Babylon Book 1) by [Schmidt, Jamie K.]

3 Stars

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Loveswept, Loveswept

Date of publication: November 1st, 2016

Genre: Romance

Series: Sentinels of Babylon

Necessary Evil – Book 1

Where you can find this book: Amazon

Book synopsis:

In this steamy series opener from bestselling author Jamie K. Schmidt—whose writing has been called “hot and sexy, with just the right amount of emotional punch,” by Lauren Layne—a vigilante biker takes the power of love into his own hands.

Lucy Simmons comes from a rough family, but she’s a damn good public defender. Even though she hates to see criminals walk due to sloppy police work, the law’s there to make sure everyone gets a fair trial, and Lucy certainly doesn’t believe in the kind of justice meted out by the leather-clad ex-cop they call “Evil.” He’s stubborn, cynical, and out of control—but he plays her body like no man ever has. For once, both Lucy’s boss and her brother agree: The biker is trouble.

Evan Villiers took a sacred vow to let no killer, rapist, or pedophile go unpunished. When scumbags fall through the system, his motorcycle club cleans up the garbage. Although the Sons of Babylon and their methods may not be to Lucy’s liking, the beautiful lawyer has become Evan’s light in the dark. But his next hit is Lucy’s own brother—a murderer who got off on a technicality. Now, with his loyalties split, Evan must turn his back on his brothers . . . or lose the woman who has claimed his reckless heart.

My review:

Ok, normally I don’t complain about covers or blurbs that describe the book. I actually make it a point not to because there is a reason why the author chose the cover or the publisher wrote the blurb the way they did. But this time, I have to say something.

The guy on the cover does not match up to what the author wrote. See, Evan (aka Evil) has a beard, which was mentioned quite often in the book, and a huge tattoo of a spider on his chest, which was mentioned a few times because of Lucy’s extreme phobia of spiders. So I wasn’t exactly thrilled about the cover and if I had to suggest one thing to the author….change it. Get some awesome tatted hunk to pose for the cover and then put a huge spider tattoo on his chest. Seriously, just do it!!

Now onto the blurb. While some of it stays true to what the story is about but the bit about Lucy’s brother isn’t exactly true. He is suspected of murdering two people, not off on a technicality. Actually, he hadn’t been in jail for 5 years and lived out in CA before coming to NY to escape a psycho ex-girlfriend (or so he says). The suspicion of murder comes after he moves to NY. There is one person in the book who did get off on a technicality. They must have mixed them up.

I actually liked Evil, a lot. While I don’t agree with vigilante’s, I can definitely see where he, Warden, Sentential, Ryder, and the Judge are coming from. Evil is a retired homicide detective, Warden a retired prison guard, Sentential a retired Special Forces and Ryder retired CIA operative. They all have seen the worst of humanity and they all have seen obviously guilty people walk when they should have stayed in jail. Unfortunately, our justice system is flawed and it happens all the time.

Lucy, I was a little more on the face about. While she rocked at being a public defender, she sucked at her personal life (seriously). She supported her brother and made excuses for him. “He got picked up for everything because people automatically assumed he did it because our father went to jail” was the main excuse that she used and it made me want to smack her. Listen, I knew exactly where she was coming from. Having someone who you can’t trust or who is draining you dry of all your money is awful and that’s all I am going to say.

The slow burn, at first, between her and Evil, was delicious. Instead of instantly falling into InstaLove/InstaLust, the author made them have a 2-year history of wanting each other. And when they finally do give in (she went down on Evil in his bar), it is explosive and oh so good!!

I was a little put-off, though, by the amount of violence in the book. Also, I felt that while it was patterned after MC books, it wasn’t a full MC book. Basically, it was just 4 friends who are sick of the justice system and take matters into their own hands that happen to ride motorcycles. Also, there were a couple of loose ends. The slimy lawyer…what happened to him after the SOB’s visited him? And the storyline with the Pyros….it just disappeared after Lucy’s car got torched and the SOB’s took revenge.

The sub-story involving her brother was sad and the ending to that was awful. I felt bad for Evil to be put in that situation and for Lucy to have to be in it (want to know what happened? Read the book!)

The ending was not what I expected and I cried.

I would give Necessary Evil an Adult rating. There is mention of sex. There is mild language. There is mild violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread Necessary Evil. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**

Livia Lone (Livia Lone: Book 1) by Barry Eisler

Livia Lone (A Livia Lone Novel Book 1) by [Eisler, Barry]

5 Stars

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Date of publication: October 25th, 2016

Genre: General Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

Series: Livia Lone

Livia Lone – Book 1

Where you can find this book: Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Book synopsis:

Seattle PD sex-crimes detective Livia Lone knows the monsters she hunts. Sold by her Thai parents along with her little sister, Nason; marooned in America; abused by the men who trafficked them…the only thing that kept Livia alive as a teenager was her determination to find Nason.

Livia has never stopped looking. And she copes with her failure to protect her sister by doing everything she can to put predators in prison.

Or, when that fails, by putting them in the ground.

But when a fresh lead offers new hope of finding Nason and the men who trafficked them both, Livia will have to go beyond just being a cop. Beyond even being a vigilante. She’ll have to relive the horrors of the past. Take on one of the most powerful men in the US government. And uncover a conspiracy of almost unimaginable evil.

In every way, it’s an unfair fight. But Livia has two advantages: her unending love for Nason—

And a lifelong lust for vengeance.

My review:

I am going to warn you all, this book is not an easy read. Not an easy read at all. The subject of human sex trade trafficking is awful and I am sure it was not easy for the author to write about, much less research.

Labee/Livia was a 13-year-old girl living with her parents, brother and 11-year-old sister Nason in her Lahu village in Thailand. The Lahu people live in the mountainous forests along the Burmese and Laotian borders. Labee has no clue about modern technology and lives a simple, but happy, life. That happy life ends when Labee and Nason’s parents sell the girls to human sex trade traffickers. That’s when her happy, carefree life ends.

She is put into a van with her sister and several other children and is driven to Bangkok and put into a shipping container (yes, one of those metal ones but this one seems to be open at the top?) that is put on a ship. While she is on the ship, the unthinkable happens. The people guarding the shipping box chooses Nason to go with them. Labee offers herself up to them, to protect Nason, and is forced to do unthinkable things to the men. But that isn’t enough and Nason is taken. Only to be brought back in a canonic state (use your imagination here).

She is soon separated from Nason and is eventually rescued when a SWAT team raids where her box is being kept and finds her. She is adopted by the prominent Lone family and soon realizes that her life with them is far from perfect. The only thing keeping her going is her quest to find Nason and her desire to get back at the men who hurt her and Nason. She becomes a master at jiu-jitsu and used it as self-defense one horrible night. That’s when she was sent to live with Mrs. Lone’s brother, Ralph.

While that story is being told, there is also a parallel story of a grown-up Labee, now called Livia Lone. She is a sex crimes detective with the Seattle PD. But she is more than that. She is a serial killer, a vigilante killer, who tracks down the rapists and child molesters and kills them. She has a name for her itch to kill. She calls it her dragon and it was formed during her imprisonment and her time with the Lone family.

She is trying to hunt down leads on where Nason could be. I am not going much into the book from here but let’s just say that there is a huge twist in the book. There were hints as to what it was after Livia came to America but I was still very surprised when it was revealed.

I honestly felt bad for Livia. She was shaped into the person she was because of events in her life. I am sure if her father decided against selling her or Nason, it would have been a different story. But it wasn’t.

The end of the book was gory. Not going to lie. vengeance was served and it wasn’t pretty. There really wasn’t a happy ending, not that I was expecting it there to be one.

Like I said above, this was a very hard book to read. But, in a way, I am glad that the author chose to write so honestly about child sex trafficking (heck human sex trafficking period). More light needs to be shown on the atrocities committed against men, women, and children. If you are interested, here is a link to a site that could really make a difference in eradicating it

Polaris

I would give Livia Lone an Adult rating. There is mention of sex. There is mild language. There is mild violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread Livia Lone. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**

Esper Files (Esper Files: Book 1) by Egan Brass

Esper Files

4 Stars

Publisher: Inkitt

Date of Publication: October 26th, 2016

Genre: Science Fiction, Steampunk, Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal

Series: Esper Files

Esper Files – Book 1

Esper Files: The Sky Cult – Book 2 (expected publication date: January 25th, 2017)

Where you can find this book: Amazon

Book Synopsis:

When an experiment goes wrong in Victorian London, Espers, people with supernatural abilities are created. In order to counter this new potential threat, the Institute is set up to teach Espers how to use their abilities for good and how to hunt down those who want to use their powers for evil.

Gifted with a formidable but self-destructive ability, Nathan is one of the Institute’s top agents. When the evil Baron executes his plan to control the minds of London’s political leaders, peace is dependent on Nathan and his team.

Will he learn to control his powers in time to save the world? Or will he succumb to their self-destructive nature?

My review:

I was so excited when I realized that this was another steampunk novel. I must have missed it in the blurb.

This book is fascinating. It starts with the Professor giving a demonstration on Electro-Magnetic energy at The Oxford Academy of Science to a crowd of people, including some influential Lords. Unfortunately, there was an accident involving a storm that blew up the lab, which was called the Great Storm. But not only the lab was destroyed in the Great Storm. Something was released, and it began to affect 20% of the Earth’s population with paranormal powers and natures. That was the day that the Espers were created.

Fast forward 30 years into the future, and Nathan and James, who are Espers, are introduced. They are about to jump off an airship and use James’s power of teleportation (he can teleport anywhere he has seen once) to the Bank of England, where there is a robbery occurring. After a bloody and fire-filled fight (one of the rogue Espers could control fire), they end up back at the Institute with the rogue Esper, who was robbing the bank.

While Nathan is being healed that it is disclosed that he has a rare paranormal ability. Just by touching another Esper, he gets their abilities and the emotions associated with them. It is while interrogating Firebrand (the rogue Esper), they find out that there is a diabolical plan being set into action by a mysterious Esper named The Baron. The first plan was to rob the Bank of England for a mind-control device. The second plan is to kidnap a 9-year-old Esper called The Siren. The reason the boy is called The Siren is that he has a voice that can hypnotize people, and The Baron needs him for his diabolical plan.

That’s when Freya is introduced. She is The Siren’s (aka Cyrus) older sister and his protector. Freya is also an Esper, but she has repressed her powers until the night that a trio of blood-drinking Espers brutally murders her adoptive mother and father. After that, her brother is kidnapped by The Baron’s assassin.

Freya is rescued from the ice block she made of her house and neighborhood by Nathan and brought back to the Institute. There she is told about the plan to use Cyrus for a nefarious reason. That is when she decides to take action.

I felt terrible for Freya at first, but then she got on my nerves. She didn’t listen and found herself in some pretty dangerous situations while not knowing how to use her powers. I said to my Kindle, “Just listen to Nathan, you silly girl” during the last battle.

I liked Nathan, but I couldn’t imagine the toll his power had on him. What I liked, even more, was that he used Tai Chi to ground himself and to keep his emotions in check after gaining a new power. Plus, he was able to use it in battle at the end of the book when his powers wouldn’t have been able to help him, and I liked that. He was also a sarcastic, cheeky son of a gun, and his mouth did get him in trouble (and made me laugh).

Not going to go into the story from there but man, it was full of action and evil people doing evil things. There is one scene of an Esper taking over another Esper’s mind that freaked me out. Also, The Baron at the end of the book was downright spooky.

Not going to go into the story from there but man, it was full of action and evil people doing evil things. There is one scene of an Esper taking over another Esper’s mind that freaked me out. Also, The Baron at the end of the book was downright spooky.

There wasn’t a happy ending with this book. Some storylines were wrapped up, others were left open, and new ones were started. It paved the way for a second book, which I can’t wait to read

.

I would give Esper Files an Older Teen rating. There is no sex. There is mild language. There is violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 16 read this book.

I would reread Esper Files. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**

Another Chance (Austin Heroes: Book 3) by Kathy Clark

Another Chance: An Austin Heroes Novel by [Clark, Kathy]

3 Stars

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Loveswept, Loveswept

Date of publication: November 1st, 2016

Genre: Romance

Series: Austin Heroes

After Love – Book 1

Almost Forever – Book 2 (review here)

Another Chance – Book 3

Where you can find this book: Amazon

Book synopsis:

Homeland Security agent Luke Archer returns home to Texas on a dangerous mission—a hands-on fight against a terrorist organization that has infiltrated the United States—yet it’s a chance encounter with his high-school sweetheart that really gets his blood pumping. Luke considers himself a lone wolf who doesn’t need a woman in his life. But as memories of their sweet, innocent affair stir him body and soul, Luke starts to wonder whether he should give love another chance.

A high-powered attorney, Bella Shaw has never forgotton how Luke left her behind in Austin to chase his dreams. But when she’s being totally honest with herself, Bella can’t deny that Luke is the one man she ever truly wanted. Though he tells her that the terrorists are using her land, she’s more worried about defending her heart from the advances of the sinfully sexy lawman. Still, Bella is willing to trust him again—if Agent Archer proves he’s worthy.

My review:

I was taken aback by this book. I thought that this would be a clichéd 3rd book in a series. You know the one that is used to wrap up all the other storylines, which this one did, and kind of sucks because there is no plot, other than the hero and the heroine declaring Instalove after the first couple of chapters and then the rest of the book is them banging everywhere they can with misunderstandings all around until the end. This book isn’t like that.

See, Luke and Bella were friends since 3rd grade and boyfriend/girlfriend all four years of high school. They were each other’s firsts (first kiss and first time having sex) and were madly in love. They planned on becoming marine biologists and sailing around the world together after high school. From Bella and Luke’s flashbacks, it was a sweet (but hot and heavy) first love that ended when each of them got Dear John letters from the other person. They never got over each other.

So fast forward 14 years. Luke works for Homeland Security and is tracking terrorists that are coming over the border from Mexico. He happens to run into Bella after he was involved in a sting that failed to capture five terrorists and had one commit suicide by a grenade. She lived in the condo’s that happened to be on the same street as the building that was damaged when the grenade went off.

What happens next is what sets the book apart from other romances. Luke and Bella never fell out of love with each other. So no InstaLove or even InstaLust. It was just two people who had a history and who were madly in love with each other discovering each other again. There was no drama in that department. Once Bella and Luke hooked up, there was no one else, and no one tried to break them up. It was very refreshing to read. I love how Bella classified their relationship towards the end of the book.

Silly, silly man. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to love me. I don’t care if you’re a cop or a fireman or a janitor. I loved you when you beat up that little boy on the playground. I loved you before your voice changed. I loved you before you scored you first touchdown. I loved you when you just wanted to live on a boat and count starfish. I loved you when you risked your life to save me from that terrorist. You’re the strongest, bravest, most wonderful man in the whole world, and I promise I’ll love you forever, so might as well propose

I had tears in my eyes reading that and his reply was just as good (not going to put it in here because, well you should read the book to find that out)

The sex was hot, and there was the mandatory “I am on BC, so it’s OK not to use a condom” (I am going to start a safe sex for fictional characters fund…lmao) talk. I liked that the feelings that they had for each other showed while they were having sex, even before the “L” word was mentioned.

Now the two other storylines that were featured in the book were pretty good, but I thought the one where the terrorists just happened to be operating out of Bella’s barn was a little far-fetched. Not saying that it could happen but still.

The storyline with Grammy was excellent. She has to be my favorite secondary character ever, and I loved that she was given her happily ever after.

The ending was great, but everything was wrapped up all at once. I would have rathered read an epilogue 5-6 years in the future to find out what happened, then it happening all at once.

I would give Another Chance an Adult rating. There is sex. There is language. There is violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread Another Chance. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**

I Was a Bitch by Emily Ruben

I Was a Bitch: A Romance Mystery Book by [Ruben, Emily]

4 Stars

Publisher: Inkitt

Date of publication: October 10th, 2016

Genre: Romance, Young Adult

Where you can find this book: Amazon

Goodreads synopsis:

After waking up from a coma, Lacey Jones discovers that she is the ruling queen bitch of high-school and in the middle of a love triangle with two guys. If only she hadn’t lost all memory of it!

When Lacey Jones wakes up after a horrific accident, she realizes that she’s lost all memory of the last two years. In this time, she has turned from a wallflower into the gorgeous and popular Queen Bee of her high school. Adding to the confusion, she is confronted with two guys who claim to love her; her football star boyfriend and the mysterious and attractive Finn.

Now Lacey has to figure out who she can trust as she starts to put her life back together and slowly discovers what really happened on the night of the accident.

Will she be able to resist her developing feelings for Finn and stay loyal to her boyfriend?

My review:

I Was a Bitch is a book that you definitely shouldn’t judge by its cover or title. When I first started reading it, I thought it was going to be a Mean Girls knock-off. What I got, instead, was this excellent book where the main character has to discover not only herself but what happened to her the night got into the accident that led to her 2-month coma.

Imagine thinking that you are 16 again and being told, nope, you are 18 and almost graduating high school. It was a shock to Lacey. The passage where she sees her face was hilarious and a little sad

I had boobs. And my teeth were white and aligned like a model’s. My hair was a chestnut-brown with beautiful waves, framing my-dare I say-perfect face. But it wasn’t the most shocking thing. No, no. The thing was: I looked…way older. Like, eighteen-years-old girl older

When she meets Mel, Claire, and Derek, she can’t believe that these people who look like models are her best friends and boyfriend.

Then she meets Finn and omg, did the sparks fly between them. There was instant chemistry. Finn leaves her his laptop, and she finds out that there is something between them. What, she isn’t sure (remember that the last two years of her memory is gone).

She also realizes that she wasn’t a very nice person before her accident. She figures that out by reading texts and looking at pictures of her drunk at parties. She starts to feel very ashamed about some of the things that she did before the accident.

It isn’t very long for her to realize that there is something up about the night of her accident (Derek wasn’t exactly smooth about his questions). She is determined to get her memory back. When she starts to have memory flashes, she gets closer to what happened and the events leading up to it. Finn was a godsend to her during this time. He tried to jog her memory and was so sweet to her. I did “awwwww” during about 90% of his scenes with her.

Her romance with Finn was sweet, but it did seem to be a little one-sided at first. She kept stringing him along while still going out with Derek, and it bothered me. She was stringing him along before the accident, and she was stringing him along after the accident. In Lacey’s defense, though, she had no memory and people were telling her that she and Derek were still together. They also had no clue about Finn (maybe because he was her side guy).

Derek started nice and then morphed into something else. The comment about Finn’s mother started me down the path of not liking him, and by the end of the book, I couldn’t stand him. I cheered when Lacey did what she did to him. He deserved it.

The ending was perfect, and the epilogue, there are no words to describe it. I cried during it, that is how emotionally vested I got in Lacey’s (and eventually Finn’s) story.

I would give I Was a Bitch an Older Teen rating. There is sex. There is language. There is violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 16 read this book.

I am on the fence if I would reread I Was a Bitch. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**

November Fox-Book 1: Following Joy by E.E. Bertram

November Fox – Book 1. Following Joy: A Metaphysical Visionary Fable by [Bertram, E.E.]

5 Stars

Publisher: Conscious Fiction

Date of Publication: November 1st, 2016

Genre: Science Fiction, New Adult

Series: Following Joy

November Fox – Book 1

Where to find: Amazon

Goodreads Synopsis:

November Fox has never even heard of other dimensions when a teleporting magical cube appears on her doorstep. With a hole in her heart and a cosmic identity yet to be discovered, the orphan rock star accepts an invitation to find the key within herself that will unlock the mysteries of form.

Little does she know, The Architect, from the race of philosophical beings who create our world of form, has been watching over her all her life.

Grieving Erica, a teacher and writer from London, finds The Architect’s fascinating letter in a glass bottle washed ashore on Brighton Beach. Pages continue to magically appear as she, too, is compelled to follow November’s quest.

Realities eclipse as we embark on a metaphysical adventure through time and space. November learns that harnessing the power of her mind and heart is fundamental, if she wishes to unlock the cube and escape the sometimes sinister, sometimes wonderful dimensions into which she is propelled.

Combining elements inspired by the new thought movement, the law of attraction, magic, mysticism, wisdom and wonder, November learns that she can use the power of dreaming, imagination and positive thinking to remake herself and her world.

November Fox will be enjoyed by readers who liked wisdom-filled, visionary fiction fables like “The Alchemist,” the escapism of “Alice in Wonderland” or the Mind-bending nature of the movie “The Matrix.”

As an idiosyncratic fantasy/science fiction crossover, it is suitable for teens and adults alike.

It comes with 39 illustrations with an Augmented Reality technology feature, enabling readers to further expand their experience.

“Things aren’t always as they seem, do we wake or do we dream?”

My review:

November Fox is the first book that I have ever read that incorporates augmented reality in it, and it fascinated me. While I didn’t try it, I found the concept intriguing. Very intriguing and I can’t wait to see how this technology changes reading books in the future. For more information about augmented reality and what extras you could find in the book, click here and scroll down the page.

The main characters that make up the book were very interesting.

Let’s start with The Architect. He is from a race of philosophical beings that build worlds. In his words, he has created the Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House, along those lines. Forbidden from contacting humans, The Architect rebels. He finds a TV in a penthouse and discovers that it only follows an abandoned baby who is named November Fox. He watches over November her entire life and cares for her in his way.

The next character introduced is Erica. Reeling from the sudden death of a very close friend, she is inconsolable. She decides to leave London (where she is a teacher) and go for a walk on a beach. It is there that she finds a red bottle laying on the beach. Inside, written on papers, is a story about an architect and about a young woman named November Fox. As November’s journey grows and continues, more pages magically appear in the bottle.

Everything brings us to November Fox, the woman who the Architect has been watching all of her life. She had grown up to be a world-famous, vegan rock star who had just played the last show of her world tour. November awakens the next day, feeling a bit tired with her life on the road (for lack of a better word) and wants a more profound life purpose and a more balanced existence. So imagine her surprise when she goes out to find her dog, Honey, and find a package addressed to her. Inside the box was a cube and an invitation for her to join LOTNE (Leaders of the New Earth), her cube’s name and birthdate. With opening it, starts her journey to unlocking the mysteries of Form.

I won’t get too much into the book except each chapter is a lesson that everyone should heed. While I didn’t gain the insights that November did, the lessons were valuable.

I will say that Klaus was adorable. He is a baby elephant, obsessed with cake and his timepiece who happens to meet November in the first phase of her journey, and he keeps her company to the end. I also enjoyed Charlie the carpet.

Rebmevon had to be one of the creepiest characters that I have read. For some reason, I had visions of the little girl from The Ring whenever she came up in the book. And her storyline is tragic but the lesson associated is very valuable and unfortunately, November couldn’t face it.

The end of the book was fantastic. Erica and November’s storyline merged, and The Architect was still watching over November. The author did do a great job of setting up for the next book, and the twist thrown in threw me.

I would give November Fox an Adult rating. There is sex. There is language. There is mild violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread November Fox. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**

Black Widow (Jack Parlabane: Book 7) by Chris Brookmyre

Black Widow (The Jack Parlabane Thrillers Book 7) by [Brookmyre, Christopher]

Publisher: Grove Atlantic

Date of Publication: November 1st, 2016

Where the book can be found: Amazon

Series: Jack Parlabane

Quite Ugly One Morning – Book 1

Country of the Blind – Book 2

Boiling a Frog – Book 3

Be My Enemy, Or, Fuck This for a Game of Soldiers – Book 4

Attack Of The Unsinkable Rubber Ducks – Book 5

Dead Girl Walking – Book 6

Black Widow – Book 7

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense

Book synopsis:

Diana Jager is clever, strong, and successful, a skilled surgeon and fierce campaigner via her blog about sexism in medicine. Yet it takes only hours for her life to crumble when her personal details are released on the internet as revenge for her writing.
 
Then Diana meets Peter. He is kind, generous, and knows nothing about her past—the second chance she’s been waiting for. Within six months, they are married. Within six more, Peter is dead in a road accident, a nightmare end to their fairy-tale romance. But Peter’s sister doesn’t believe in fairy tales, and tasks rogue reporter Jack Parlabane with discovering the dark truth behind the woman the media is calling the Black Widow.
 
Still on the mend from a turbulent divorce, Jack’s investigation into matters of the heart takes him to hidden places no one should ever have to go.

My review:

This is a book where I had to struggle through the first couple of chapters. I was left wondering, did Diana do it? The book begins at a trial, and the author goes between the 1st person and 3rd person.

Diana Jager’s character was a hard one to like and to sympathize with. Her childhood is less than perfect, and her adulthood hasn’t been any better. She wrote a blog that called out Scottish surgeons for sexism in the hospital. Then her life came apart when she was hacked by hospital IT guys, and her personal information was leaked. She is let go from her job and immediately got a new one in Inverness….where she meets Peter.

I didn’t like Peter from the get-go either. He came across as too naive and too nice. Usually, that isn’t an issue, but it bothered me (and I am glad that it did). Plus, he was too secretive with Diana.

Add in Jack’s storyline, and I got a mystery that will kept me absorbed until the end of the book.

I usually don’t like it when the author switches between points of view. But in this case, it worked with how the story is being told. While it gives the impression of jumping around, it doesn’t. While it gives the impression of jumping around, it doesn’t.

The author did a great job of keeping a bunch of things hidden until the end. The ending messed with my mind because what I thought was true ended up not being authentic and it screwed with me.

How many stars will I give Black Widow? 5

Why? This is a genuine whodunit with false leads, red herrings and dead ends masterfully woven into the tale. The fact that this is the 7th book in the series isn’t even a point with me because this is a totally standalone book.

Will I reread this book? Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends? Yes

Age Range: Adult

Why? Sexual situations, some language

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**