Author: Chelsea (Page 82 of 111)

BOOK REVIEW – Wait for You (Wait for You #1) by J. Lynn

August 20, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

Wait for You (Wait for You #1)
by J. Lynn
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Jennifer has done it again-hooked me, line and sinker, to another of her compelling novels. I’m so glad she decided to do this “sekrit project”, lol, because I don’t know if I could have survived without her quirky writing style until the release of her 4th Lux novel or her other standalone coming this summer.

Let me start by saying that Cam…wow…there just aren’t enough words to describe how sweet and attentive he is. From the beginning he emits an air of confidence with a mix of playfulness and sexual innuendos that will have you grinning like an idiot in public, or in the office in my case :/, and laughing out loud on numerous occasions.

What I love most, though, is that while Cam is sure of himself and pushes a very close friendship with Avery, he never once forces his hand when he starts getting feelings for her, thus ruining the friendship. That is a very refreshing and redeeming quality and I can’t quite help but to love him even more for just that. He realizes something is off with Avery, but gives her the space she needs. And who wouldn’t love a guy with a turtle named Raphael?? Adorable. A definite nostalgic reference that related to me. Nice.

Avery is another great character. She made me laugh with her quirky inner dialougue and hilarious references. However, she has some demons in her past she hasn’t yet faced and this gets in the way of her possible relationship with Cam. OF COURSE this drove me mad the entire novel, but hey, complete and total intsa-love so isn’t for me, so what would be the fun without some angst along the way?

These character traits and lifestyles are the reasons Jennifer is one of my favorite authors, and I say this because I know I can always pick up her latest story and count on her for a fun, passionate read. I would suggest this story to anyone, really any of her stories, and know that others would enjoy it too. Hopefully she has a few more “sekrit projects” or perhaps just secrets she isn’t telling us, her loyal fans, so we can see some more of her work sooner rather than later.

Reading Order & Links: Amazon (click on covers), iBooks (click on titles) & Book Depository (click on book #) *Each book can be read as a standalone, but best enjoyed in order.*
Wait for You #1 Reviews: Chelsea	Trust in Me #1.5 Cam's POV-Wait for You Reviews: Jen	Be with Me #2 Reviews: Jen
Stay with Me #3 Reviews: Jen Chelsea	Fall with Me #4 Reviews: Jen	Dream of You #4.5 Reviews: Jen
Forever with You #5 Reviews: Jen	Fire in You #6 Reviews: Jen

BOOK REVIEW – Never Too Far (Rosemary Beach #2) by Abbi Glines

August 20, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

Never Too Far (Rosemary Beach #2)
by Abbi Glines
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Oh gosh. I feel as though I should start this review with an awesome quote that represents the story…but there were way too many! How can I just pick one perfect Rush quote? They’re all too perfect to choose just one.

I absolutely loved Blaire and Rush’s story. Rush goes to the ends of the earth to prove he is worthy of Blaire and her love, and it made the story all the more intriguing. I couldn’t help but smile every time Rush got overprotective for Blaire. As sad as it sounds, I loved the caveman tendancies that Rush displayed everytime another man came into the picture. Who wouldn’t love a handsome man tending to your every need? I’d love it. Yes. That’s all there is to it.

While Blaire still assumes way too many things, and doesn’t listen to what Rush constantly tries to tell her, she still grows more mature as the story continues, and in some cases she doesn’t overreact when many people would have; she comes into her own and I enjoyed reading about her HEA. I don’t know that I could have handled another cliffhanger like the last one…ugh..horrible.

I found Rush to be so passionate that I couldn’t help but to be obsessed with his quest to make Blaire forever his, and obviously finished within 24 hours…okay, a lot less. My only complaints about the story might be the lack of character closure. Yes, I believe there are going to be more stories about the other characters like Woods, but how come we had to deal with so many loose ends in THIS story? As much as I despised her character, I would have liked to have known more about Nan and Blaire’s coexistence-and Grant, Bethy, Jace, and Cain for that matter. What happens in THEIR lives? What about her relationship with her father? They were all just so abruptly tossed out of the picture near the end..it felt kind of like a cop out. They are secondary characters, though, so I guess I will have to live with it if I don’t continue to read more.

A heartwarming and fun read, I would recommend this to anyone. I don’t know that anyone can withstand Rush Finlay’s charms, and I am more than willing to recommend this series to friends and family so they can get their “Rush crush” on. Enjoy!

BOOK REVIEW – Warm Bodies (Warm Bodies #1) by Isaac Marion

August 20, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

Warm Bodies (Warm Bodies #1)
by Isaac Marion
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

At the start of the book, I think I expected a warm and fuzzy latter half. There were not many deliveries in that department, and that isn’t a bad thing necessarily. It just wasn’t what I would have thought. Zombies eating people? Of course-I understood that concept and totally expected it. Boneys (not sure if that is the correct way to pluralize the names of these creepy creatures), not so much. They were so odd and so…frightening.

Whenever they were in the story I felt a sort of chilling effect throughout my body. They honestly just creeped me out.

We find ourselves in R’s mind as the narrator. He can imagine things in his mind, he just can’t entirely express them to those around him-like all the other zombies. R is already kind of the outsider of the zombie group when we enter the story, but only because he feels remorse for eating the living. He can’t help what he is or that he was plagued with this disease, he just knows he’ll deteriorate if he doesn’t eat, no matter how morally wrong it is to him.

One fateful day his gang attacks a group of humans that includes Julie, his love interest. He ends up protecting her, and thus brings her back to his lair. We see visions of Julie’s, and her dead ex boyfriend’s, past as a result of the aforementioned attack. I think this is what really turned me toward not liking the book as much. I felt bored and less sympathetic to Perry’s character the more we see the visions. At one point I felt bad, but I just got tired of him being a part of the story. I think I wanted it to be mostly placed in the present, and a lot of the story was not.

I loved R, he was a great hero, don’t get me wrong. I loved that he was so protective of Julie and that he was different than other zombies, I just didn’t like the supporting characters-like Julie’s dad, the past of Perry, and some of the hornier zombies…those scenes were kind of disturbing on a whole other level.

Honestly, I will most definitely see the movie, but as a book, I don’t feel better for reading it. I didn’t dislike it, and I didn’t love it. It is placed somewhere in the middle. On the one hand, I loved the insight to R-he was a sweetie. On the other hand, I don’t entirely know how I felt about Julie; she was just okay. I liked her enough, I just didn’t find her to be my favorite heroine in a novel. So, for those of you who love the offbeat romance or zombie path alike, I feel you will like it. For me, I will just simply remember it and chalk it off to a quick, okay read.

BOOK REVIEW – This Girl (Slammed #3) by Colleen Hoover

August 20, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

This Girl (Slammed #3)
by Colleen Hoover
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Wow. I devoured This Girl. Probably 6 or 7 months ago I read Slammed and gave it only a 3 or so-I can’t quite remember. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the story, because ultimately I read Point of Retreat and gave it 5 stars. I think I just hated that Will seemed to just be okay with everything or that he kept doing shit that would lead Layken on and then inevitably break her heart all over again. In his side of the story, we get to see how freaking obsessed he is with her and how hard the whole situation is for him.

We see how he would have done anything possible to be with her, even quit his job when that was what was supporting Caulder and himself.

I cannot express how undeniably sweet, and yes, CORNY, this novel was. It was the best kind of corny and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I literally wanted to highlight something on every other page. Seriously-Every. Other. Page. Will’s inner thoughts and turmoil were so adorable that I was second guessing how I ever thought he didn’t care in the first Slammed. The story fills in little blanks that we never even knew existed, and that Will was never for one second a saint when it came to his teaching job or what he felt about the whole situation. I liked this-it was refreshing and it helped me to understand Will better. He is mature for his age, but still, at times, breaks down as a 21 year old with the burdens he carries should.

We get to see the present as well as the past in an alternation of chapters, and this helped us see they still have flaws, but ultimately love each other more than they ever could have imagined. They are so happy and their loving banter was enough to make anyone smile goofily.

Also-I wanted to litter my review with cute quotes but there were just so many I don’t see how I could just do a few. So I decided to skip the quotes, lest my review become ALL about the adorable-ness that is Will.

All in all, I have to say based on Point of Retreat and This Girl, that obviously I like being in Will’s far more than Layken’s. Lake is very likeable, but Will is just something else. Colleen Hoover restored my faith in redoing stories from the male’s POV, because not too long ago I found myself in the middle of a horribly written redo in male POV and it was, quite frankly, dreadful. So thank you Colleen Hoover for restoring my faith in the redone M POV, because I have always been a sucker for a guy’s perspective. 😀

******

Wow. Just…wow. I really connected with this book. Review to come…and thank you Colleen Hoover 🙂

BOOK REVIEW – The Redemption of Callie & Kayden (Coincidence #2) by Jessica Sorensen

August 20, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

The Redemption of Callie & Kayden (Coincidence #2)
by Jessica Sorensen
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Oh my gosh, it pained me to rate this any less than 5 stars, but when it doesn’t do it for you, it just doesn’t do it for you. I was ecstatic to start Redemption after the cliffhanger we were left with in book 1. I had waited for most of the summer and was getting anxious to see Callie and Kayden’s fate. What I didn’t realize when I started reading was that I was in for a lot of “rinse and repeat”.

The last thing I see before I pass out is the most beautiful blue-eyed, brown hair girl I’ve ever laid eyes on. The only girl who’s ever owned my heart and I hold onto the image with every ounce of strength I have. Otherwise, I’d probably lose the will to breathe.

I loved the beginning of this book. My status updates make it quite clear I was really enjoying myself. Kayden was as sweet and vulnerable as ever, and Callie was determined to make sure Kayden had the best life he could possibly have. I was highlighting like crazy-I could hardly finish a page without having to stop and make a mark so I could go back and re-read all the sweetness that stained these bitter pages.

Seth: We’ll be there in a little bit. We had to stop at the store.
Me: For what?
Seth For stuff.
Me: Is something wrong?
Seth: No…we just think you two might need a few minutes to yourselves.
Me: When will you be here?
Seth: Soon. And remember: Skittish cat.

~~But then something happened~~-No, wait, and then the repeating happened. For those who truly just sped through this book and swore to ♥ it 4eva, this was a subtle detail that they will probably never notice-and while I was/wanted to continue to be one of those girls, I couldn’t. How many times can one thing happen in a story before it gets redundant? How many times can you run from someone who cares about you, straight into a home where you clearly aren’t loved or cared for? I know there is absolutely no way I can begin to understand what it’s like for the victims of these horrible circumstances, but if someone makes it clear they love and want to help me….I’m most likely not going to run away 20 times. Maybe a couple, sure, I’d try to be noble, but there comes a point and time where you have to realize who’s trying to help you and who could give a shit about you. It took our main man quite a while to get his ducks in a row, and I about went mad waiting for it to happen.

I can’t say it’s all Kayden that attributed to my annoyance level. But I also can’t say that Callie did anything wrong…per se. She was insistent with Kayden, which, I suppose you have to be with someone who needs help and is going through a very dark time, but the dialogue did get a tad obnoxious.

I don’t know. Maybe something is wrong with me. It was a cute story, I just wanted more from it, but maybe in this case: less is more. Had this story been 50 pages shorter, more condensed, I believe Callie and Kayden’s struggle would have had a stronger impact, a deeper level of sorrow and struggle, therefore leading to a more uplifting redemption. Left as is, I felt the pages dragged a little and I found myself thinking of other books and what I was going to be reading next. It’s a shame, because this story had so much going for it, so much potential to be something great.

All in all, a cute read. I had missed Kayden and his loyal demeanor, how he cared so much for Callie and what he would do to keep her safe and happy-even at his own expense, even in this second installment. It’s adorable and commendable, but not enough to make me love this story. There has to be more than a character’s personality and supposed good looks to make a story whole and complete, and for me, this story was just a multiple repeat of the same scenario, different situation. I wish this book nothing but the best, but it just wasn’t a win for me.