Nicole Reads A Lot

so many books, so little time

Feb 12

In Bloom by Katie Delahanty

by Nicole
Title:In Bloom
Author:Katie Delahanty
PublisherEntangled Publishing
Publication Date:February 10, 2014
Publisher's DescriptionMy name is Olivia Bloom and I. Am. Free.
I left for LA with everything I owned piled into my old Volkswagen and dreams of becoming a costume designer. Little did I know I’d wind up designing for a lingerie company—yeah, not sure how I landed this gig—and taken under the wing of two young Hollywood insiders. The fashion shows and parties were great, but life really got exciting when the seriously hottest lead singer of my favorite band started to fall for me.　
How does someone like me, an ordinary girl from Pittsburgh, wind up in the arms of the world’s sexiest rock star—surrounded by celebrities, fashion, and music—and not be eaten alive? Berkeley is everything I've ever dreamed of in a boyfriend, but the paparazzi, the tabloids, the rumors, it's all getting a bit too crazy. My life has become every girl’s dream come true, if only I don’t blink and lose it all...
My rating:*

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This book didn’t work for me at all, and I’m not quite sure why. It sounded like something that I would, if not like a lot, at least like well enough. Although my interest was piqued by the blurb, it wore off pretty quickly once I actually started reading the book. The first chapter reads like any late ’90s, Early Aughts chick-lit novel. Scrappy single girl moves to the big city. Check. And immediately experiences something that shows her she’s not in Kansas (or Pittsburgh) anymore. Check. And is so gosh-darn awkward with the guy we’re 98% sure she’ll be with by the end of the novel. Check, check, and check. Okay, so this book isn’t breaking any new ground. That’s not a crime, right?

The problem was that there didn’t seem to be any heart underneath the familiar plot. The central conceit (okay, central to the first 26% of this book, which is when I threw in the towel) is that, on the strength of one less-than-stellar encounter with a celebrity, Olivia must allow Blair and Preston to Eliza Doolittle her into an It girl. One, what? Two, what? Three, why does she go along with this? None of the answers make any sense, and it makes me think worse of everybody involved that this plan was given any credence at all.

This novel managed to be as vapid as the worst drivel ever published by Red Dress Ink and, to add insult to injury, boring at the same time. I can’t imagine that I’ll ever make it to 27%, so I’ll just have to say that the part of this novel that I did get through didn’t work for me on any level.

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

1 Star Books 2014 Book Reviews Chick Lit Contemporary Did Not Finish Musician Romance

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Feb 11

Full Measures by Rebecca Yarros

by Nicole
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.

2014 4 Star Books Contemporary Military Netgalley New Adult Romance

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Jan 21

Impasse by Sylvie Fox

by Nicole
Title:Impasse
Author:Sylvie Fox
PublisherPenner Media
Publication Date:November 2013
Publisher's DescriptionHot nights, huge consequences.

Divorced and done with her dry spell, Holly Prentice is ready to get back in the game. But with two conditions: her future mate can’t be married to his career, and he has to have a couch. Nick Andreis loves his job, and his only furniture is a king-size bed. He’s also single, sexy, and six years Holly’s junior. Any guy this hunky and carefree can’t be serious about the future.

After one spontaneous and explosive night, Holly decides that her search for Mr. Right can wait. Nick can be Mr. Right Now.

Nick has waited years for Holly. Now that she’s dating again, he’s determined to be the only man in her life. He wants what Holly wants: forever. Convincing her of that won’t be easy, but Nick agrees—with fingers crossed behind his back—to Holly’s idea that they can be bed buddies until someone serious comes along. His plan: use the time between their passionate nights to convince her that he is the one.

Will Holly’s unexpected pregnancy change the rules of their games? Or can they both decide to play for keeps?
My rating:**.5

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I loved the first 50% of this book, and then hated almost all of its second half. Initially, Nick was a great character. He’d carried a torch for Holly for a couple of years, and was excited about getting back in touch with her after she’d distanced herself from everybody during her divorce. He made a serious play for her, then recalibrated his strategy once he recognized how hesitant she was to enter into a relationship with a guy six years her junior. I’m Holly’s age, and while I felt that her initial concerns about dating a 26 year old man in LA were valid, I thought she did Nick a disservice, treating him more like an age than a person. Nope. As it turns out, Holly was so, so right.

Nick, whose unspoken thoughts were about how much he loved Holly, who made grand declarations of love, and repeatedly stated his desire to commit totally let her down when she told him that she was pregnant. Nick, the same Nick who confidently said that he was ready to accept whatever came of them not using protection the first time they had sex, dropped the effing ball and turned into the worst caricature of manchild unwilling to grow up and accept responsibility. Although still disappointing, this would have made sense if he’d been the person in the relationships to express doubts about its longtime viability, but he’d spent the entire first half of the book trying to convince Holly that they belonged together, and that he was serious about her. With serious like this, who needs deadbeats? His wishy-washy attempts to justify his awfulness just made me angrier.

Since this is a romance novel, I knew that Holly would end up with Nick, but I really wish that some non-asshole love interest would have shown up and illustrated to Drew and Nick exactly how badly they’d each messed up when they mistreated a great person like Holly. I really respect how Holly was able to pick herself up each time life knocked her down, and how she didn’t allow the selfishness of Drew and Nick to embitter her. I really didn’t believe Nick’s change of heart at the end of the book. What finally made him really what a jerk he was being to Holly? I was pretty much done with Nick during the conversation where he told his father Dominic that Holly was pregnant, but I only started to hate him around Thanksgiving.

Sophie and Dominic were the only two supporting characters who had distinct personalities. I really respected how Dominic managed to express his disappointment but still offered his son the emotional support needed to turn Nick back into a semi-decent human being. Sophie was mostly a good friend, although I felt that she gave Nick more credit than he deserved. Drew was more of idea than a person, and even when he showed up, he felt more like a plot device than a legitimate concern. Helena served no purpose that I could see, save to annoy me every time she was on a scene. Asha, Ryan, and Hayes were like so much background noise.

My dislike of the second half of this book greatly affected my ability to enjoy the work as a whole. Also, I wish that the title had stayed In the Nick of Time. I’m pretty sure that having such a cheesy pun for a title would have dissuaded me from reading this book, which might have been for the best. 26 year old men of the world: lose my number.

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

2.5 Star Books 2014 Book Reviews Contemporary Netgalley Romance

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Jan 20

Molly Gets Her Man by Julie Rowe

by Nicole
Title:Molly Gets Her Man
Author:Julie Rowe
PublisherEntangled: Ignite
Publication Date:January 27, 2014
Publisher's DescriptionWhen flaky Las Vegas hairdresser Molly McLaren overhears hears a Russian hit man planning to kill a US congressman and take out Hoover Dam in the process, she becomes a target for murder. Now, on the run from the assassin and a dirty cop, she winds up in an eighteen wheeler with an ex-cop sporting a bum leg, a bad attitude, and a body built for loving.Grey Wilson just wanted to be left alone. No more Las Vegas. No more casinos. And no more floozy women like the one his best friend sent him to pick up on the side of the road. She talks fast, but her endless curves and sensuous nature make him want to slow down. Which is not in the cards. Grey knows he needs to unload his excess baggage. And quick.But when someone tries to kill the Vegas beauty, Molly captures his heart with her backbone of steel, and brains to boot. Now in order to grasp the future that had once seemed impossible, Molly and Grey need to keep Hoover Dam, the congressman, and their love from being blown sky-high.
My rating:*.5

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From the description, this book sounded like something that I would really enjoy, and I’m sad that this did not turn out to be the case. Molly was an interesting character: she spoke several languages fluently, kept a cool-ish head in dangerous situations, and had overcome a lot in her life. I didn’t have a very high opinion of her decision-making skills, though: who tries to nonviolently negotiate with people who’ve twice tried to kill you?? That’s not optimism in humanity, that’s idiocy.

There were so many things in this book that didn’t make sense to me, as a person with at least a passing familiarity with logic. For instance, would any reasonable politician or his staff go forward with an event when a credible death threat had been made against him? At a specific event? By a suspected murdered? No. There’s idealism, and then there’s stupidity. I don’t always have the greatest opinion of electorates, but I have to believe a man this dumb wouldn’t have made it into office. The entire third act of this book makes no sense, in light of events that took place in the middle.

I get the feeling that Grey is kind of a terrible cop. He doesn’t seem to understand strategy well (Molly’s plan is kind of terrible, but it’s not her fault, since she’s not actually trained to do this stuff) and a person sharing the same hotel room as him is able to GET UP FROM THE SAME BED, GET DRESSED, AND SOMEHOW LEAVE THAT ROOM WITHOUT HIM KNOWING. Forget police work, how did he survive Afghanistan with such lackluster instincts? After reuniting with Molly, why doesn’t he do something productive with the bit of downtime that they have like, you know, confirm the identity of the different law enforcement officers who Molly had encountered since initially going to the police? This is why cameraphones and email attachments were invented. He is seriously like the worst. cop. ever.

Likewise, his buddy Mike seems like a terrible brother. How is he the one who tries to convince Grey that using Molly as bait is a good idea? Wouldn’t a brother be at least as unwilling to offer up his sister as bait as a guy who she hasn’t even known for one week? Aside from finding somebody to pick up Molly and being far too interested in her sex life, Mike doesn’t seem overly concerned about his sister.

I didn’t find Molly and Grey’s relationship to be believable. I’ll admit, the “we fell in love in three days” stories are always a tougher sale, but plenty of authors are able to pull it off. I wasn’t convinced here. At all. I have no trouble believing that they really like each other, but I wouldn’t place bets on their odds of still being together five years in the future. I figure that they might break up once they get to spend a solid month together.

Also, what was up with all the unprotected sex? They didn’t have one conversation about health or birth control Knowing somebody’s brother or fellow soldier doesn’t tell you anything about that person’s sexual health or birth control methods. Not unexpected, given these two dim bulbs, but still disappointing.

Overall, I found this to be a pretty underwhelming book.

1.5 Star Books 2014 Book Reviews Contemporary Netgalley Romance

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Jan 17

Almost Matched A. O. Peart

by Nicole
Title:Almost Matched
Author:A. O. Peart
PublisherThree Graces Publishing
Publication Date:November 2013
Publisher's DescriptionWould you take another shot at love? Or just settle on a friend with benefits?

THEIR HEARTBREAKING PAST WILL MOVE YOU. THEIR PASSION WILL MAKE YOU BLUSH. THEIR ANTICS WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH OUT LOUD.

Twenty-five-year-old Natalie Davenport lugs substantial baggage. One boyfriend after the next has been a total disaster, leaving Natalie distrustful toward the male population in general. So when Colin Hampton crosses her path, she’s cautious. Her heart (and some other body parts!) nudges her to go for it, while her head wants her to run for the hills.

Colin is one of those gorgeous guys who attract women, no matter the age or marital status. With a successful career at a popular Seattle radio station, hard body, and charming personality, he is the complete package. But something dark lurks in the corners of his soul; some murky experience that has changed him—maybe for the better, but maybe for the worse.

Will he steal her heart and stomp over it like other guys did?

Will she let him into her heavily fortified world despite herself?

Or will they settle somewhere in the middle—establishing the emotional boundaries to protect them from falling in love?

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This contemporary romantic comedy blends humor, sensuality, and angst, with zany characters and witty dialogue.

***Warning: contains sexual situations (some quite vivid!), profanity, and a high dose of sarcasm. Oh, and there is a lot of appletini and beer drinking.
May not be appropriate for readers under 18 years old. Not intended for prudes and killjoys with no sense of humor***

THE SERIES:
The Almost Bad Boys series are the stories of four feisty twenty-something women who refuse to let their past drag them down.
My rating:**

almostmatched

Although there were parts of this book that I enjoyed, it just didn’t gel for me. I liked that Natalie was a successful entrepreneur at 25, and that she didn’t apologize or excuse her success. I liked that she had strong friendships with several other women. I appreciated that she and her friends were so sex-positive, and could be honest with one another about what they thought or knew themselves to want from men. I appreciated that Colin genuinely adored Natalie, and that neither of them were into playing games. Those were the good parts of this book for me.

I found the dialog by turns artificial and stilted, but not even all of the descriptive text worked for me. Ms. Peart had a habit of not using contractions where almost every native English speaker would, which I found jarring and annoying. I didn’t like how Natalie had to contrast herself with her idea of feminism, in order to contrast herself with those men-hating feminists (how many women really hate having doors opened or chairs held out for them? not as many as romance novels would have you think, I’d bet). Dear Ms. Peart: You wrote a book about a sexually confident, young entrepreneur who excels at her job. Nothing I read in Almost Matched convinced me that Natalie wouldn’t like to have open to her any opportunity that would be open to a man of equal qualifications, so guess what: you wrote a book about a feminist.

I didn’t find Colin’s angst to be very compelling,  but that may be because the substance of it wasn’t revealed until what felt far too late in the book for me. I was annoyed by how whenever he did talk about his past, he just had to mention that, although he’d never loved in the intervening years since his tragedy occurred, he’d been with many women. Okay, dude. We get it. You were an emotionally unavailable baller.

I didn’t love how Natalie wanted to be supported by her friends but organized a shaming committee when Caroline confided in Natalie. None of the friends really had a storyline that didn’t somehow go back into providing an object lesson for Natalie, so I didn’t connect with much that happened to to (except that weird intervention that they staged on Caroline; that was cold).

I didn’t feel that this book delivered on the high levels of emotion promised in the blurb, and didn’t connect with this book enough to move onto the sequels.

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

2 Star Books 2014 Book Reviews Contemporary Netgalley Romance

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