by Nicole
| Title: | Nerd Girl |
| Author: | Sue Lee |
| Publisher | Sue Lee |
| Publication Date: | December 2, 2013 |
| Publisher's Description | Everyone knows that office romances can be risky, but how much are you willing to sacrifice for love?
Julia Hayes is beautiful, successful, sometimes nerdy, and perpetually single. She lives in Seattle and just landed her dream job at one of the most iconic technology companies in the world.
When Julia embarks on a new career opportunity, a serendipitous event literally throws her in the path of Ryan McGraw, the hot and charming VP. As the attraction grows between them, it's not long before Julia realizes that things are more complicated than they appear.
Nerd Girl is a heartwarming love story about a woman at the crossroads between true love and her career. It's about deciding what’s most important in life and taking chances to get it. But most of all, it's about not letting your mind prevent you from following your heart. |
| My rating: | **** |
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, but I would have bought it anyway. I really liked with Julia, who, at the start of this novel, is a somewhat reserved woman getting over her ex’s betrayal. I felt like Ms. Lee really captured what it is like to be a bit removed even in the midst of one’s romances, and showed how Julia’s relationship with Ryan led to changes in the way that Julia thought about everything. I like that she wasn’t a pushover, even when it came Ryan, with whom she was madly in love. I finished this book in one evening, and have gone back to look at specific passages several times in the days since. If you like sexy contemporary romances that feature smart and mature characters who nevertheless are still figuring things out, this may be the book for you.
Also, the thinly veiled Microsoft stuff never got old for me, and made me think of Douglas Coupland’s Microserfs, which may have made me light this book even better than I already did.
2013 4 Star Books Book Reviews Contemporary Story Cartel
by Nicole
| Title: | A Second Blessing (Life in Blessing Tales) |
| Author: | Anne Keller |
| Publisher | Amazon Digital Services |
| Publication Date: | October 31, 2013 |
| Publisher's Description | 38-year old Abbey Carr was living her dream life – married to a successful chef, mother to two great kids, and living in a nice house in the Los Angeles suburb of Hollywood. But all of that changed the day she discovered the love letter from her best friend in her husband's pants pockets.
Now, ten months and one divorce later, Abbey finds herself living the crazy life of a single mom in Long Beach, California, raising two tweenies by herself while trying to keep a roof over their head working as a freelance PR specialist.
As her first Christmas alone approaches, she can't help but wonder what she will do with herself. The kids would be away at her ex-husband's family reunion in Florida and most of her freelance public relations clients were closing down for the holidays. It looked as though it was just going to be her and her mom all alone around a lonely, little Christmas tree.
Unbeknownst to her, fate had other plans…
A last minute business trip sends her a thousand miles away to the idyllic mountain community of Blessing, Colorado where she just might find her SECOND BLESSING. |
| My rating: | *** |
I received this book for free from Story Cartel in exchange for an honest review.
Abbey was a great protagonist. She was realistic and easy to identify with. I felt bad that so many people in her life were giving her static about dating/sex so soon after her divorce, but her relationship with Bill felt natural and unforced (even with the helpful pushes they received from others). Bill was a likeable hero, and the two of them together made a lot of sense. Being privy to his internal dialog was helpful. Abbey’s ex made a satisfying villain, although he, like many of the other secondary characters in this novel, seemed to be underdeveloped and propped up by stereotypes. Wendy was 100% a caricature of the remorseless home-wrecking shrew, and it was impossible for me to understand why Abbey would have been friendly with such a vile person.
The story felt a bit underdeveloped and the ending rushed, but I would have given it a higher rating if it had been better edited. I went into this book thinking like a reader, and not an editor, but was pulled out of what was happening by the grammatical errors, poor word choices, and typos that I encountered. This is not a complex story, but it is an enjoyable read, and I wish that more care had been taken in its presentation. As this book one in a series, I can understand why certain aspects of what happened in Blessing weren’t given more attention, and I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
2013 3 Star Books Book Reviews Contemporary Romance Story Cartel
by Nicole
| Title: | Sneaking Candy |
| Author: | Lisa Burstein |
| Publisher | Entangled Publishing, LLC |
| Publication Date: | December 9, 2013 |
| Publisher's Description | All I ever wanted was to make a name for myself as Candice Salinas, creative writing grad student at the University of Miami. Of course, secretly I already have made a name for myself: as Candy Sloane, self-published erotic romance writer. Though thrilled that my books are selling and I have actual fans, if anyone at UM found out, I could lose my scholarship…and the respect of my faculty advisor, grade-A-asshole Professor Dylan.
Enter James Walker, super-hot local barista and—surprise!—my student. Even though I know a relationship is totally off-limits, I can’t stop myself from sneaking around with James, taking a few cues from my own erotic writing…if you catch my drift. Candy’s showing her stripes for the first time in my real life, and I’ve never had so much fun. But when the sugar high fades, can my secrets stay under wraps? |
| My rating: | **** |
I enjoyed this book; having never been overly steeped in an academic lifestyle (my courses of study never required as much from me as Candice’s did from her) initially, I wasn’t quite sure what the fuss was about, or why Professor Dylan was such a jerk. Over the course of the novel, as I learned more about Candice, I felt like I understood why she struggled the way she did with how to reconcile her erotic and serious writing, and why she was so messed up over her attraction to James. At the end of the book I did have a few questions (how did Candy get so many fans in just one month? how is she on people’s favorite author lists on the strength of only one book? what constituted the fraud that required her to give back part of her stipend? how could the whole situation with Professor Dylan have been resolved so quickly? who pissed in her parents’ cornflakes??), but I generally enjoyed the ride. The secondary characters in this novel were a bit underdeveloped and weren’t as well-realized as Candice and James. I found Amanda to be a especially annoying and unforgivably reckless with Candice’s life. James felt a little too good to be true. It’s good that he was able to stick with Candice long enough for her to determine what she wanted but, even though it wasn’t her intention to hurt him or play with his feelings, she jerked him around a lot in this story and I don’t think that anybody could have blamed him for deciding that he didn’t want to pursue a relationship with her.
I like this New Adult book on its own merits, and also because of the refreshing lack of horrific backstory on the part of either main character (distant, disappointing parents and a crappy ex barely rate when compared to some of the truly awful things other NA characters have experienced).
I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
2013 4 Star Books Book Reviews Erotic Romance Netgalley New Adult Romance
by Nicole
| Title: | Just One Night, Part 1: The Stranger |
| Author: | Kyra Davis |
| Publisher | Pocket Star |
| Publication Date: | January 21, 2013 |
| Publisher's Description | Kasie knows who she’s supposed to be. But one passionate night with a mysterious stranger will teach her who she wants to be.
You should sleep with a stranger, her best friend whispers in her ear as they take to Vegas for one last pre-wedding fling. Despite her best intentions, when Kasie Fitzgerald enters the casino and sees him, a man whose tailored clothes belied a powerful, even dangerous, presence, she loses herself to the moment. Maybe it’s the dress, much shorter than she’d ever normally wear, or the Scotch, but something makes her give herself over to him more completely than she's ever done with a man before.
It was supposed to be just one night. But right as she’s thinking she wants more, he shows up in her office with an agenda. As the billionaire CEO of a company that’s engaged her PR firm, his demands just became her reality...and he desires so much more than just some attention in the boardroom. |
| My rating: | *** |
I am a fan of Kyra Davis’s previous books, both her series and standalone titles, so I was exited to see a title by her in the NetGalley catalog. I always like to see authors work in different genres, so I was interested to see what her foray into erotica would bring. After having read Just One Night, I will say that while I don’t think that it is a great read, it interested me enough that I will read the next installment.
Oddly enough, it wasn’t the erotica in this book that didn’t work for me; those were fine. Ms. Davis managed to blend the sexy fun times with an interesting plot. First first thing about this book that annoyed me was the language. This book is full of metaphors. It’s actually bursting with metaphors (that is a metaphor). I like figurative language as much as the next person, but at some point, I want things to be said. I think this problem is directly related to the second thing that bothered me: Kasie. Kasie was the one using most of the metaphors, because she wasn’t a fan of reality, and it seemed like the figurative language gave her another layer to hide behind. Since Kasie was not that into reality, sometimes I was not that into Kasie.
Likewise, Robert Dade is, in the vein of Christian Grey and Gideon Cross, far too good to be true. I know this is fiction, but come on. A super rich, sexy, sexually experienced and adventuresome guy who wants nothing more than to help some undersexed woman rectify her criminal lack of multiple-orgasmic experiences? Give the guy a prize. Obviously, I get why Dade is sexy, and I might even understand why he is attracted to Kasie, but what keeps him coming back? Her indecision got annoying pretty early on, and her fiance was so obviously wrong for who she really was that staying with him seemed more like cruelty than anything else. I award her no points for her selective fidelity or after-the-fact guilty freakouts.
Asha might prove to be interesting in further installments, but in this book, she was kind of annoying. She popped in long enough to say something that was equally insightful and bitchy, and then disappeared for another 40 pages. Alrighty then.
This book had problems, but they’re not insurmountable. The second installment is going to determine whether I stick with this series or call it a day.
2013 2013 NetGalley Challenge 3 Star Books Erotic Romance Netgalley Romance
by Nicole
| Title: | Defying the Odds: A Battered Hearts Series Book 1 |
| Author: | Kele Moon |
| Publisher: | Loose Id |
| Publication Date: | December 2011 |
| Publisher's Description | When struggling waitress Melody Dylan gives a handsome, lonely stranger a simple gift she has no clue her life is about to take a drastic turn.
The stranger ends up being Clay Powers, a famous UFC heavyweight fighter. Clay’s large build and dangerous fists have always intimidated. People in his hometown keep their distance and Clay is fine with that. Everything changes when a new waitress at the local diner buys him a piece of pie on thanksgiving. Touched by the gesture when it’s obvious she can barely afford to survive, her warm smile and lush body churn up powerful feelings that leave Clay wanting more from her than pie.
Melody is running from her past and the small, country town of Garnet is the perfect hiding place. With an ex-husband after her and scars from her abusive marriage etched deep, the last thing she expects is to fall for a man who makes a living with his fists, but she can’t resist Clay or the tender connection they share.
Finding love in the most unlikely of places, the passion is undeniable, but Clay and Melody know their haunted pasts and unpredictable futures leave the odds stacked against them.
Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual situations, graphic language, and material that some readers may find objectionable: violence. |
| My rating: | **** |
This book was a pleasure to read. I really liked how Ms. Moon established Melody and Clay’s personalities so quickly and clearly. I felt invested in them immediately, and was interested in every step of their relationship. Part of this was due to Ms. Moon’s keen ear for dialogue; the characters conversed believably, without long passages of backstory exposition. Speaking of dialogue, I normally have trouble getting into novels where the characters’ accents are written phonetically, but not here. I was so interested in this world that I didn’t care how the people sounded; if you knew me, you’d understand what a huge deal this is.
The erotic elements of this book were hot, which is a given in this genre, and well-written, which is not. I felt that they flowed nicely into the narrative bits of this book. It’s so jarring to read an erotic novel where the sexy bits seem as though they take place in a universe disconnected from the rest of the book, and I’m happy that that didn’t happen here.
The woman in danger trope isn’t a new one, but Ms. Moon’s kept it from feeling boringly familiar. In addition to having a way with dialogue, she also has a knack for creating believable and engaging supporting characters. I’d never read anything by Kele Moon before, but this book has made me a fan. I know that Defying the Odds is the beginning of this series, and I’m excited to read the rest of the books in it.
2013 2013 NetGalley Challenge 4 Star Books Erotic Romance Netgalley Romance
