Tag: New Adult (Page 38 of 47)

BOOK REVIEW – Loving Mr. Daniels by Brittainy Cherry

BOOK REVIEW – Loving Mr. Daniels by Brittainy CherryLoving Mr. Daniels by Brittainy Cherry
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Beautiful.
Breathtaking.
Brilliant.
Blue eyes.

In all honesty, there were several good things and several bad things about this book. I was up and down on whether I liked it or not and more often than not I was debating what I really felt while I was reading. I think that this is one of those books that became extremely infected by the ‘rating disease’. I was internally conflicted as I read every page on what I was going to rate this and it really effected the overall feel of the book. But then, that’s also a very telling sign-this book never 100% had me. I fell in love with Daniel from the moment we met him, but never once really connected with Ashlyn. There was a particular bar scene that sticks out to me from about the 20% mark (or so) and I can honestly say, it was the last moment when I felt fully immersed with BOTH of the two main characters. It was cute, flirty, and was beginning to give me the butterflies. The two characters gelled and I was excited to see where the story went from there, because if it was even a fraction as good as that scene, I knew I’d love the story….but it was never like that again.

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BOOK REVIEW – Remember When 3: The Finale (Remember Trilogy #3) by T. Torrest

BOOK REVIEW – Remember When 3: The Finale (Remember Trilogy #3) by T. TorrestRemember When 3: The Finale (Remember Trilogy)
by T. Torrest
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Breathless. Spent. Euphoric.
Eyes wide open now. Awake.
His.

Aaaaaah and here we are at book three, the only book in the series that made me happy inside and out. There was angst (the RIGHT kind), there was uncertainty, and, most of all, there was love-Lots and lots of love. They fought, sure. Did they disagree on a ton? Yeah. Did they maybe solve things a little too quickly from prior books in the beginning? Absolutely (IMO). But…that’s the point. I didn’t want a perfect book, I wanted flaws and all-but the past books just didn’t have what I was necessarily craving, just bits and pieces. But in this one? They finally, finally talked their shit OUT.

I mean, GD guys, how many more times could they have skimmed over all the failures from the past?? How many more times could they screw shit up??

Layla Effing Warren. The most beautiful girl I’ve ever known. The girl who makes me laugh. The girl who loved me.
Who loves me.
Right?

So, I think I’ve exhausted the negatives over the past two reviews, so it’s time for the positives. Trip was everything I knew he could be in this book. He’s been battling demons, both physical and mental, and he still is-but now he has the girl he’s always loved by his side. They have a lot to work on out in California-things are different. People in Hollywood are living a lie, putting on a face. Girls, both those he has slept with and those who want to sleep with him, drape themselves all over Trip, and, oh yeah, the tabloids are having a ball with Trip’s new ‘tramp.’ And Layla isn’t loving any of it, aside from supporting the man she’s always loved.

He slipped a hand around the back of my neck, holding my teary eyes fixed to his. “You were my first love, babe. I want you to be my last.”

I think something that internally always bothered me about the past books was how they were always so aware of the opposite sex clinging to the person’s arm they secretly loved, but never made a huge stink about it….call me a drama llama, but I adore when the significant other gets crazy jealous and makes a scene. Guilty. So, I’ve been waiting forever for these two to flip their lid, and finally, finally, in the great state of California, they do. And I suppose all their drama in this one just felt…warranted. Like, it’s okay because they’re on the same page. I don’t know. I just really loved this one-It’s what I’m used to and always like to read, so I felt right at home.

“Shut up. Just shut up. You had me at ‘Damn the birds have gotten huge’.”

I’m not going to keep running on, because I’ve been writing reviews for this series for three days in a row and I am probably rehashing everything. Plain and simple? I loved book three. I loved that while there was a super bumpy road, Trip made me swoon the entire novel. I loved that there were disagreements and that not everything came easily to them. I loved that they could look back at the moments I adored from the previous two installments and make them stand out while reminiscing against all the negatives that shrouded those moments…and I loved that we got little bits and pieces of Trip’s thoughts. Ultimately, I love that I loved it, and that’s all there is to it. Finally.

BOOK REVIEW – Remember When 2 (Remember Trilogy #2) by T. Torrest

BOOK REVIEW – Remember When 2 (Remember Trilogy #2) by T. TorrestRemember When 2 (Remember Trilogy #2)
by T. Torrest
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

 

You find the man you know you’re supposed to be with, you do whatever you have to do in order to be with him.

It’s not often I finish a book in the same day, let alone a whole trilogy in one weekend. But, for the first time in a long time, I managed to do just that. This trilogy came to me as a big blur of convoluted issues, miscommunications, and misinterpreted feelings for life-long love. It took my heart and crushed it into minuscule and insignificant little pieces. I was both happy and sad, pissed and relieved, broken in spirit and hopeful. I loved and hated it.

Cigs were made to be sucked into my lungs; Trip’s mouth was made to suck my lips.
Both were equally as dangerous to my heart.

I don’t…quite know what to say. What can I say when it’s obvious that while I both loved Trip and Lay together, I then grew to an all consuming anger the minute they misunderstood their feelings for one another time and again. There are glaring problems that killed me inside, but I also am torn because this does happen in real life. Maybe not as dramatically as this fictionalized story between two high school sweethearts, but it does happen.

At the age of twenty-six, I hadn’t yet mastered the art of growing up. Truth is, I was a bit lost. I wasn’t quite sure I knew who I was or if I’d ever be found again.

If I had a nickle for every time me and my significant other miscommunicated what we felt back in high school (and college, ugh, we never quite learned our lesson up until recently) I’d be a very rich 24 year old. It happens, it really does. I am a testament to that-but when it repeatedly occurs, each time worse and more threatening to them than the last, it kills me as a reader. It’s so funny-I was talking to one of my best GR friends on here and I came to the conclusion that if it’s paranormal or dystopian (or both) then I am all for the angst, all for the peril, all for the miscommunications because it causes conflict and action for the story-but make it a NA/YA and I flip my shit if the two main characters can’t figure it out. It’s the damndest thing.

I licked my lips, and the subconscious gesture must have served as an invitation. His words were the final attack that broke through my defenses. “I’m going to kiss you now. And when I do, you’re going to kiss me back.”

This book centered more around the idea that Trip is lonely over in Cali, he’s missing his old life, or namely-Layla, and when they see each other on a ‘chance’ encounter, they realize they haven’t missed a beat in the attraction department. Despite my rating for book one and book two, I am skeptical as to which one I liked more as a whole. Both stories killed me a little inside, but I think it deciphers based on my mood. In book one, it covered everything I hold dear-high school sweethearts finding their way to one another. I loved the playful moments, the moments that no one knew about, those secret times where he snuck to her window, stolen moments flirting at their high school video store job-I loved that aspect, but then I hated how they played games-it hurt. Then in book two we see them all grown up….and still flirting and playing games with one another. Both with, ahem, significant problems in their lives…I loved how they reconnected (especially that movie theater scene and the hand holding, awww) but again, it fractured me when they would get pissed at one another. And, I guess my largest complaint with the whole series (watch out, here it is)-the fact that they admit they are undeniably in love with one another in their own ways….and then they end up with or around other people. This ANGERS me. He loves her so much…but in both book one and two he flirted and played around with other girls/women? I just never got over that (until book three). And then HER. He OBVIOUSLY is obsessed with her. IRREVOCABLY so. But she has a hard time taking a chance? Nah-NOT okay.

His words caused a crack to form within my heart, splitting it down the middle, breaking at the thought of this incredible man questioning his value. The uncertainty he lived with, the need for me to confirm his worth. How could he even ask? Didn’t he know the amazing man he was? Nobody before or since had ever made me feel the way he did. Maybe it wasn’t everything, but it should’ve at least counted for something.

So, I don’t know. I love these two. They are adorable and I loved seeing them reconnect and how determined he was to be with her or spend time with her. This story will resonate with many people-second chances are so popular…I just wish I loved second chance stories more. So, to all who loved the first, you’ll likely adore the second. If not, guess you need to read to find out. 🙂

BOOK REVIEW – Walking Disaster (Beautiful #2) by Jamie McGuire

BOOK REVIEW – Walking Disaster (Beautiful #2) by Jamie McGuireWalking Disaster (Beautiful #2)
by Jamie McGuire
Purchase on: AmazoniBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Finally-the guy’s POV after a stunning novel that left us all breathless and begging for more…and I can’t help but to be a tad disappointed. What happened Jamie? Where’s the passion? Words are just words, there has to be fire to make a novel into a masterpiece, and there definitely was not. It felt like she only put time into Travis’s character, which she should since that’s what we wanted, but that doesn’t make it okay to forget about Abby, the girl we could relate to or love in the last installment. It felt so forced at times, like she was only writing the story for her fans and didn’t have the patience to be re-writing essentially the same story. But it really wasn’t the same story was it? A lot of times I felt conversations were cut from this edition that I had enjoyed in BD, and after finishing I feel slightly cheated.

Abby was a likeable character in BD, but in WD, she was merely a character strategically placed in certain moments-she wasn’t a fully developed character like Travis was in BD.

I CRIED for Travis in BD, I SYMPATHIZED with Abby, and here, in WD, I didn’t know Abby, not really. If I had only read WD, I would have said Abby was a selfish bitch. That’s not the case, though, Abby was doing what she could to protect herself. That doesn’t translate if you don’t show emotion in the other main character. She seemed cold, distant, and calculating, and I felt she was put in an unjust light. In BD, we all knew she was being harsh, but there was a reason behind it, we saw her thought process and knew her hurt. In WD, anyone would question why Abby was Trav’s Pigeon. I hate rating a book I loved previously so low, but in all honesty, I really am only rating it so high bc of my love for BD and the last 1/4 of the novel, where I believe Jamie actually put some passion into writing. The rest, though? It was sterile and I had a difficult time finishing it and not skipping the end to read another book. I know I might get lynched by Travis fans, but hey, I’m a Travis fan too, he was my favorite for a while-but if the story doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.

There was some good too. For instance, Shep and America were great, and we really got to know them as characters-especially Shep. I loved that they got more of a roll in the story. We were let into their little inner circle, before Abby was a part of Travis’s life in a romantic way, and we saw the side of America where she was on Travis’s side the whole time. I really enjoyed that character development on her part, because you really never knew how much she was rooting for their relationship. My favorite part was the last 1/4 of the book, where Abby and Travis are getting back together again, and I especially loved the epilogue. It was a fun addition and I can tell Jamie really enjoyed showing us the future of Trav and Abby. I believe that if she had only done this epilogue and little pieces or chapters in Trav’s POV, it would have been more successful, because the latter part of WD was 4-5 stars.

Even though we put each other through hell, we’d found heaven. Maybe that was more than a couple of sinners deserved, but I wasn’t going to complain.

I get it, I finally get why authors only do tidbits and certain chapters from the male perspective unless the story was always meant to be told that way, like Beautiful Creatures for instance. WD ruined, for me, the integrity of the other novel we read or maybe just the author, I don’t know. I just understand all the authors’ reasonings now-sure, I’ll always be excited at the prospect of the male POV of my favorite novels, but I won’t obsess and pine for it like I once did. I waited 5 months in anticipation for WD and it came up short-which I really never thought could possibly happen with this particular story. It depresses me. But I’ve learned my lesson-don’t push what isn’t there. Noted.

BOOK REVIEW – Hopeless (Hopeless #1) by Colleen Hoover

BOOK REVIEW – Hopeless (Hopeless #1) by Colleen HooverHopeless (Hopeless #1)
by Colleen Hoover
Purchase on: AmazoniBooks
Add to: Goodreads

I have been struggling for days on what to say about this novel. It’s not because it wasn’t good, because it was, but I felt just..blah after finishing it. I found myself pushing to finish, and struggling to not look at the tv screen as good reruns of Friends were playing…a feat that is not normally so hard for me when I am reading-I would much rather be reading a good book than watching reruns of my favorite television series’!.

When I first started Hopeless, I loved it. I thought, ok wow, I like the start of this, it’s different. It was hard for me to focus at work and not want to hide behind my desk reading. But as the book progressed, I started to see myself drifting to other thoughts and places-and that really blows. It was all great material; I liked the twist, I liked finding out the reasons to why Sky was the way she was, why a certain tattoo was tattoed on Holder’s arm, the romance blossoming throughout…but SOMETHING..was just missing for me. It just missed a beat somewhere, and that’s where it lost a star for me.

For the record-I LOVED Holder the WHOLE way through. He was a great hero for the story. And I also loved Breckin and even Six. Let’s not mistake my sense of something missing for the lack of characters’ chemistry, because it was there. As was lots o’ drama. Maybe people were just making such a big deal out of this book that I thought…Idk what I thought. I was HOPEing (haha) for more.

People who love Colleen Hoover, and even those who don’t know or haven’t heard of her, will love this book; it was just not 100% there for me.

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