Nicole Reads A Lot

so many books, so little time

Beauty From Surrender by Georgia Cates

Title:Beauty From Surrender
Author:Georgia Cates
PublisherSelf published
Publication Date:May 30, 2013
Publisher's DescriptionAfter Laurelyn Prescott walks away from the love of her life, she returns to Nashville to pursue the only dream she has left. Determined to find a distraction from the pain of losing Jack Henry, she immerses herself in her music. But with her old life comes old acquaintances and new expectations. When Laurelyn refuses her record producer’s outrageous demands, she finds herself without a career—until an unforeseen opportunity presents itself. From there it’s a rocket ride straight to the top where Laurelyn finds the success she’s always dreamed of. Will it be enough to bring her the happiness she so deserves, or will the absence of Jack Henry leave her wanting more?

Jack Henry McLachlan never expected to fall in love with Laurelyn Prescott—but he did. After he foolishly let her slip through his fingers, he spends three months searching for her, but their reunion doesn’t come easy. The woman he finds isn’t the same one who drifted away without a goodbye. No longer an insecure girl on an Australian adventure, this Laurelyn is a successful musician with a promising career. Her dreams are becoming a reality, and Jack is terrified his American girl won’t have a place for him in her new life. With only a month to convince her otherwise, will it be enough time to make her visualize a life beyond the glitz and glamour, a life that includes him?
My rating:0 stars

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At the end of the first book in this series, I would have given it 2.5/3 stars. The writing is good, and I’m thankful that Ms. Cates doesn’t have the apostrophe and comma troubles that plague many new adult authors, but just knowing where to put punctuation isn’t enough to win me over as a reader. Caution: spoilers abound and I’m too tired to wield the spoiler tag with any hope of success.

I really like romance novels, and I understand that there are certain conventions that most authors adhere to. I get that a lot of readers like their romance heroes [and oh, how I hate the language one uses to discuss romance protagonists; what, exactly, is it about these men and women that we are supposed to find heroic?] to be really macho, but Jack is just bad news. He takes his strength of character and, instead of building her up, repeatedly uses it to mold Laurelynn into who he wants her to be, her wishes be damned.

Jack is basically a really big toddler, and is completely okay with throwing tantrums or being petulant, as long as it gets him what he wants in that moment. How is this guy a successful businessman? He seems to lack both patience and the ability to compromise. For Jack, Laurelynn must either give up everything she’s ever worked toward or they’re not going to survive. When he wants something to be a certain way, there’s literally no other option in his mind. This guy is a squjillionaire, and he can’t think of any way that maybe the two of them can both achieve their dreams? Like, not at all? Couldn’t they split the year in their respective countries? Couldn’t he hire a manager to help run his vineyards for the time when he’s in the States with Laurelynn, supporting her career the way he assumes she will for her? Oh, right, no. Because everything is all about Jack. Talk about a failure of imagination.

Maybe this book gets better. Maybe Laurelynn’s parents become less awful and Jack pulls his head out of his butt, but I’m done. I couldn’t make it past yet another person in Laurelynn’s life thinking that they knew better than her and telling her that what she wants doesn’t matter as much as what others want for and from her. Laurelynn: cut your hair, change your name, and go off the grid for a few years. Girl, get your mind right.

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Beauty from Pain by Georgia Cates

Title:Beauty From Pain
Author:Georgia Cates
PublisherSelf published
Publication Date:January 29, 2013
Publisher's DescriptionThey agreed on three months...but their love knew no boundaries.

Jack McLachlan is a winemaking magnate and easily one of Australia’s most eligible bachelors. His success and wealth make him no stranger to the complications of romantic relationships and that’s why he goes to extreme measures to avoid the hassle. He prefers simplicity in the form of a beautiful female companion with no strings attached. He arranges relationships like business deals and they’re always the same. No long term relationships. No real names.

It’s his game and his rules. He’s content to play as usual, but when Laurelyn Prescott enters his life, his strategy must change because this player is like none he's ever encountered. His world is turned on its head after he begins a three month affair with the beautiful American musician. Nothing goes according to plan and as he breaks more and more of his own rules for her, she’s exceptionally close to becoming something he never thought possible. His ultimate game changer.

Not recommended for younger readers due to sexual content and language.
My rating:**.5

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You guys, Jack is a sexist egotist. He’s not some self-assured, sexy alpha man. He’s a guy who is completely okay with running roughshod over Laurelynn and expecting her to make all of the sacrifices in their relationship. He lies when he finds it convenient and doesn’t even tell her his real name, yet wants to be in every part of her life. I nearly gave up on this book halfway through, but then I convinced myself that he wasn’t as bad as I’d thought. I started to see Jack as somebody who had a lot of growing up to do, and who was becoming a better person.

Ha, no. Halfway through the second book, I had to be honest with myself: Jack is awful (more details to follow in that review).

 

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Full Measures by Rebecca Yarros

Title:Full Measures
Author:Rebecca Yarros
PublisherEntangled Publishing
Publication Date:February 10, 2014
Publisher's DescriptionThree knocks can change everything…

"She knew. That’s why Mom hadn’t opened the door. She knew he was dead."

Twenty years as an army brat and Ember Howard knew, too. The soldiers at the door meant her dad was never coming home. What she didn’t know was how she would find the strength to singlehandedly care for her crumbling family when her mom falls apart.

Then Josh Walker enters her life. Hockey star, her new next-door neighbor, and not to mention the most delicious hands that insist on saving her over and over again. He has a way of erasing the pain with a single look, a single touch. As much as she wants to turn off her feelings and endure the heartache on her own, she can’t deny their intense attraction.

Until Josh’s secret shatters their world. And Ember must decide if he’s worth the risk that comes with loving a man who could strip her bare.
My rating:****

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I really enjoyed this book. Ms. Yarros did a great job depicting the agony experienced by Ember’s family in the wake of her father’s death, and of showing how each family member coped and moved on. Ember was a great character; she was strong for her family and for herself, and I totally understood why Josh liked her so much. This novel was heavy, but the emotions presented always felt genuine, and not just there to up the novel’s emotional ante. I highly recommend this book to fans of new adult, military, and contemporary romance in general.

I received this book from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Before We Fall by Courtney Cole

Title:Before We Fall
Author:Courtney Cole
PublisherForever
Publication Date:December 2013
Publisher's DescriptionSometimes, one dark moment is all it takes to turn your world black...

For 24-year old Dominic Kinkaide, that moment took place on the night of his high school graduation. One dark incident changed him forever. He's a hardened actor now, famous in the eyes of the world, but tortured in his own. He doesn't care about much of anything, except for losing himself in the roles that he plays.

23-year old Jacey Vincent doesn't realize how much her father's indifference has affected her. She is proof that sometimes it isn't one specific moment that wrecks a person, but rather it's an absence of moments. She's like a bird with a broken wing-strong yet fragile, as she tries to float through life, finding acceptance in the arms of random guys, one after the other... to fill the void that her father left in her.

Until she meets Dominic.

After jaded Dominic and strong-willed Jacey are thrown together, his secret and her issues create a dark and damaged energy that will soon turn their attraction to each other into an explosive storm.

Even though when the clouds have cleared and the dust has settled, both of them are almost obliterated... they've learned a priceless lesson.

Sometimes, before we fall... we fly.
My rating:***

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I haven’t read the previous books in this series, but I enjoyed Before We Fall. I thought that Dom was an interesting character, and his particular hangup and kinks were not things that I’d run across before. I disliked that they were made out to be solely about how he coped with his previous tragedies. There are people who enjoy voyeurism and Dom’s other activities, not because they are atoning or compensating for past hurts, but simply because they like it. Jacey’s pop psychology wore on me, although I do think that Dom would benefit from some real serious attention from a mental health specialist.

Although I liked this book well enough, it didn’t pique my interest enough for me to read the previous entries in this series.

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Put Me Back Together by Lola Rooney

Title:Put Me Back Together
Author:Lola Rooney
PublisherSelf-published
Publication Date:November 2013
Publisher's Descriptionou’d Better Watch Yourself, Katie Kat

Katie Archer knows how to lie. After six years, no one really knows what happened That Night. Not even her twin sister. Choosing a college 3,000 miles away from the truth, Katie throws herself into art classes and a love affair with ice cream. Katie’s biggest rule? No boys. Ever.

But there is the little problem of Lucas Matthews. Former basketball star and total campus hottie, Lucas is the stuff girls have naughty dreams about—and he has the reputation to prove it! But that doesn’t stop liquid heat from running through Katie’s veins every time she sees him…

You’ll Never Get Away With It

Letting Lucas in is the hardest thing Katie’s ever had to do. And telling him the truth? Impossible. Then Katie starts to get threatening texts and she realizes Lucas is the least of her problems. Her past has caught up with her and it wants to settle the score.

I’m Coming For You

Now Katie must decide whether she wants to fight for her life, or leave everything—including Lucas—behind her forever...
My rating:****.5

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This is how an author does New Adult well.

I read so many books, for professional and personal reasons, that when I come across generic books, they tend to run together in my mind. Thankfully, I didn’t have this type of experience at all with Put Me Back together. This book was entirely unlike anything that I’d read before, and I found the story totally engrossing. Katie is such an interesting character! I felt that Ms. Rooney doled out details about Katie’s pre-university life at a good pace. She teased that there was more to know, but delivered new bits of information at regular intervals. And Lucas. HOW MUCH DID I LOVE LUCAS? A metric tonne (can you tell that I was thrilled to read a book that takes place in Canada)!

The mystery of what happened back in Kingston and why Katie feels complicit, to the point of not taking steps to protect herself from a determined stalker, is handled well and just adds to the book’s overall awesomeness. Lucas’s backstory is also complicated and fascinating. A lot of authors seem to think that New Adult books just require random tragedy, but everything that happens in this book felt necessary to the story, and not gratuitous or as if added merely for shock value.

This book is a thing of beauty to read. The grammar is perfect, the dialog sounds like it was written by a person who actually has had conversations before, and the emotion of the story felt incredibly real to me. I came to Amazon to buy whatever else Ms. Rooney had written in the past and was dismayed/overjoyed to see that this is the first thing that she has published. I’m sad that I’ll have to wait, but I hope that this book marks the beginning of her long and fruitful publishing career.

I received this book free of charge through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review and my most worn out marbles.

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