Tag: Contemporary Romance (Page 96 of 98)

BOOK REVIEW – Winter’s Passage (The Iron Fey #1.5) by Julie Kagawa

August 12, 2014 / Jen / 0 Comments

Winter's Passage (The Iron Fey #1.5)
by Julie Kagawa
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Meghan Chase used to be an ordinary girl…until she discovered that she is really a faery princess. After escaping from the clutches of the deadly Iron Fey, Meghan must follow through on her promise to return to the equally dangerous Winter Court with her forbidden love, Prince Ash. But first, Meghan has one request: that they visit Puck—Meghan's best friend and servant of her father, King Oberon—who was gravely injured defending Meghan from the Iron Fey.

Yet Meghan and Ash's detour does not go unnoticed. They have caught the attention of an ancient, powerful hunter—a foe that even Ash may not be able to defeat….

Review:

I’m so glad I continued this series! This novella was everything I wanted the 1st book to be. It had more Megan and Ash, more dire situations, less description of the scenery, less descriptions and appearances of the creatures (I’m just not a huge fan of creepy creatures) and lots of actions and words from Ash that made me completely melt and sigh out loud. Although he still gives his fair share of trying to curtail his feelings about Meghan, even though it seems fruitless.

Ash – My feelings for you don’t matter in the Winter Court, Summer and Winter will always be on opposite sides, and nothing will change that.

Meghan made a contract with Prince Ash in the 1st book. If he helped rescue her brother from the Iron King, than she would allow him to deliver her to his Queen. I kept hoping that this little itty bitty tiny detail would somehow be forgotten but alas it wasn’t. The book starts with Prince Ash showing up on Meghan’s doorstop ready to collect his end of their bargain. You get to follow Meghan and Ash’s journey to the Queen Mab’s palace and oh what a journey it is! Their journey was emotional, suspenseful and again when I reached the last page I was left with the incessant need to start the next book immediately!

Reading Order & Links: Amazon (click on covers), iBooks (click on titles) & Book Depository (click on book #)
The Iron King #1 Reviews: Jen Chelsea Anna	Winter's Passage #1.5 Reviews: Jen Chelsea	The Iron Daughter #2 Reviews: Jen Chelsea Anna
The Iron Queen #3 Reviews: Jen Chelsea	Summer's Crossing #3.5	The Iron Knight #4 Reviews: Chelsea
Iron's Prophecy #4.5 Reviews: Chelsea	The Lost Prince: Call of the Forgotten #1 Reviews: Jen Chelsea	The Iron Traitor:Call of the Forgotten #2
The Iron Warrior:Call of the Forgotten #3

BOOK REVIEW – The Temptation of Lila and Ethan (The Secret #3) by Jessica Sorensen

August 11, 2014 / Jen / 0 Comments

The Temptation of Lila and Ethan (The Secret #3)
by Jessica Sorensen
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
On the surface, Lila Summers is flawless: good looks, expensive clothes, and a big, beautiful smile. But a dark past and even darker secrets are threatening to bubble over her perfect façade. She'll do anything to keep the emptiness inside hidden-which leads her into situations that always end badly. Whenever she hits bottom, there's only one person who's there to pull her out: Ethan Gregory.

Ethan set the rules a long time ago: he and Lila are just friends. He doesn't do relationships. Although his tattooed, bad boy exterior is a far cry from Lila's pretty princess image, Ethan can't deny they have a deeper connection than he's used to. If he's not careful, he could be in serious danger of becoming attached-and he's learned the hard way that attachment only leads to heartbreak.

When Lila falls farther than she ever has before, can Ethan continue to help as a friend? Or is he also getting close to falling . . . for her?

Review:

Jessica Sorensen creates a beautiful world full of heartache, hardships and tragic pasts. Lila and Ethan are no exception to this and their story was heart wrenching.

I can smile on the outside, show the world how happy I am, since that’s what’s important, even if I’m dying on the inside.

Lila is a self-destructive mess. She was raised with parents that were unloving and had the amazing gift of making one feel more worthless than a tiny spec of dust. She has a secret from her past that helped mold her into the train wreck that she is today and her parent’s reaction only helped to exacerbate the situation. Then we have Ethan. His home life and secrets from his past hinders him from being able to be happy and move forward with his life. I wanted to root for them and I wanted to see their happily ever after. I wanted to fall back in love with this series. I really wanted that! Unfortunately, the same thing happened in this book that also happened in the previous book. The beginning was amazing and then I felt like I was reading the same thing over and over and over again.

Sadly I’ve realized that Jessica Sorensen isn’t for me right now. The further I get in a series from her, the further I dislike the characters. The ending of this book has convinced me that I will not continue this series. Her characters are continuing to make the same mistakes again and again, and therefore are going through the same struggles all over again. It’s very disappointing because I truly enjoy the way she writes and the characters she creates.

Our Reviews: (The secret of Ella and Micha – Jen) ★ (The Forever of Ella and Micha – Jen) ★ (The Temptation of Lila and Ethan – Jen)

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BOOK REVIEW – Reckless (Thoughtless #3) by S.C. Stephens

August 11, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

Reckless (Thoughtless #3)
by S.C. Stephens
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

5++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Stars

Words cannot describe how much I LOVED this final installment of the Thoughtless series. It was everything I hoped it would be and more. I didn’t believe it was possible, but I grew to love Kellan Kyle more and more with each passing page.

I didn’t know what to expect from such a scary title like Reckless, especially after Kiera and Kellan’s tremulous journey through the former two novels in the series. But, the novel exceeded my expectations and I couldn’t have been happier with the way this story was written. The length to which Kellan goes to show his love for Kiera is boundless and touched me at such a deep, emotional level I could barely contain my contented sighs and smiles.

He is everything a husband should be and saying that doesn’t do him one bit of justice. What he feels for Kiera is beautiful and passionate and I love S.C. Stephens for coming up with this fabulous, FABULOUS series that has stolen my heart and found a permanent residence on my favorites shelves-both digitally and paperback. Like I said, there are just no words to describe how much I adored Reckless.

Each and every character got the ending they deserved, and some of the characters even found redemption from their less than stellar actions in the other novels. I was nervous at the beginning when I first started reading that he was going to be such a prominent entity, but I loved the presence of Denny, one of her closest and best friends. I love that we were able to see the progression in Denny’s personal life post-Kiera. It added a sense of peace, contentment, and finality that only added more, you guessed it, love and passion to the story.

While I am sad to see this series come to an end, because it is definitely one of my all time favorites, I am also glad it’s over and K and K got their happily ever after-they freakin’ deserved it. S.C. Stephens, ever the queen of angst, still had me on the edge of my seat, gritting my teeth, and getting angry at many of the secondary characters, one in particular, even though I just knew in my heart this novel had to have a happy ending. Kudos.. So I am excited to say I will not stop talking about Reckless to my friends and family members until they give this series a shot-because no matter how much crap all of these characters went through to get to their HEA’s, the journey you go through is so heartwarming and heartfelt, you will enjoy every, well…almost every, minute until you get to the satisfying and perfect ending for all the characters you have grown to know and adore.

BOOK REVIEW – Bared to You (Crossfire #1) by Sylvia Day

August 11, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

Bared to You (Crossfire #1)
by Sylvia Day
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

I don’t know how I feel about this book. There are a lot of factors that influenced my rating. For one: I stopped in the middle of this book to start another book I REALLY wanted to read and could not wait to start..so that’s not really giving this book a fair trial. I do think it says something that I could so easily leave this book, though.

I actually was surprised at how interesting and well-written it was at first, and I really liked Gideona and Eva.

But some things bothered me the more I kept reading, but I will stay with the positives first:

Like I mentioned before, I did like the characters a lot. I loved Cary, Eva, Gideon, etc. I didn’t even mind Magdelene, since she wasn’t such a beyotch near the ending. I liked that Day didn’t make it totally BDSM. I know, I know, when I started the book I expected it to be that way and when it wasn’t I really enjoyed it. So when Gideon eventually led into the “you’re submissive…”, I had to roll my eyes-maybe because I thought it wasn’t going to happen because most of the book was over when it did happen. I know when people start this book they like that aspect of erotica, but I guess that is the one thing about Fifty Shades I would liked there to have been less of. So to the point: I did not mind the way Day ended up making the Dom/Sub relationship. It wasn’t overly done and I liked that.

I really don’t know why I became more disappointed toward the ending, and this is the part where I can’t be totally fair. I DID interrupt the story to read another book, so this in turn did interrupt the proceedings of the novel. I can’t put a finger on why this wasn’t five stars, because when I first started reading I was hands down-“Oh this is better than Fifty Shades,” and “This is definitely 5 stars..”. I left this story, read a HANDS DOWN five star book, and I truly believe it made this less of a 4 or 5 star read for me.

Soo I will not analyze why I disliked parts of this book, because in a circumspect thought process, I was thinking about a totally different series and how I wish the next novel in THAT series was out so I could be reading that.

Overall a decent read, and it had a lot of promise. Maybe the next in the series will delve into their problems and make them a more steady, complete couple.

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BOOK REVIEW – Flat Out Love (Flat Out Love #1) by Jessica Park

August 11, 2014 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

Flat Out Love (Flat Out Love #1)
by Jessica Park
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

I have been asking people constantly for good recommendations for what to read next, and while they have all been good, this is the book I have been waiting for. The books don’t have to be over the top sappy romance (although I love those stories too ;)..), just well-written with the right amount of sass and a compelling story line. I was completely consumed and enthralled in this story and could not put it down. There was a certain amount of relativity that was easy to identify with, thank God, which I have been having a terrible time of lately.

Stunning, breathtaking, beautiful, heartbreaking and the perfect amount of angst and/or heartache are just a few of the words that come to mind when assessing Flat Out Love. Celeste, Matt, Finn, Flat Finn…just the best characters ever-especially Flat Finn lol. Celeste was the most intriguing character to read about, and I truly enjoyed the journey of Julie trying to help her leap out of her comfort zone. My breaking point? When Celeste tells Matty she loves him-can you cue the huge smile and awwwwwwwwwww? I teared up like crazy-nothing like a brother realizing how much his sister loves and idolizes him. I cherish those tender moments, because those are what real life is all about, and I couldn’t help but to relate that to my younger sister and I-the love we share (while when we were younger I swear we fought so much it almost led to hair being pulled out-a complete show of my inner strength as an older, more mature sis-yeah, right *rolls eyes*). You can’t help but to root for all the characters and wish them the very best, and this is a hard thing for the author to accomplish since in many books you just want to smack some sense into at least one of the main people.

An absolutely amazing read and I loved every second of it, even if I did see the ending coming within like….30 seconds lol. But that just goes to show you have much I LOVED this book! I hate complete and utter predictability, yet I couldn’t help but love every minute of the predictability. The perfect mixture of sweet, funny, witty, and entertaining I have ceaselessly been searching for; yet another staple to add to my favorites collection. I don’t know if the online plot could ever work for me again, but this author nailed it, and I am going to enjoy it in the here and now and continue to search for more books that have the stamina to match this one and many other of my long time favorites. I will most definitely be revisiting this read very soon in the near future.

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