Tag Archives: ARC

Truth or Beard (Winston Brothers #1) by Penny Reid

Posted on July 13, 2015 by charmouabb
Truth or Beard (Winston Brothers #1) by Penny Reid

Truth or Beard

Beards, brothers, and bikers! Oh my!
Identical twins Beau and Duane Winston might share the same devastatingly handsome face, but where Beau is outgoing and sociable, Duane is broody and reserved. This is why Jessica James, recent college graduate and perpetual level headed good girl, has been in naïve and unhealthy infatuation with Beau Winston for most of her life. His friendly smiles make her tongue-tied and weak-kneed, and she’s never been able to move beyond her childhood crush. Whereas Duane and Jessica have always been adversaries. She can’t stand him, and she’s pretty sure he can’t stand the sight of her…
But after a case of mistaken identity, Jessica finds herself in a massive confusion kerfuffle. Jessica James has spent her whole life paralyzed by the fantasy of Beau and her assumptions of Duane’s disdain; therefore she’s unprepared for the reality that is Duane’s insatiable interest, as well as his hot hands and hot mouth and hotter looks. Not helping Jessica’s muddled mind and good girl sensibilities, Duane seems to have gotten himself in trouble with the local biker gang, the Iron Order.
Certainly, Beau’s magic spell is broken. Yet when Jessica finds herself drawn to the man who was always her adversary, now more dangerous than ever, how much of her level-headed heart is she willing to risk?

I have been acting like some next level creeper-stalker person over this book… Ever since I read the excerpt for this story in the Shiver Anthology last year I’ve been counting down the months until I could get my hands on ALL of the story. So when I finally got hold of it last week I was a very VERY happy human. Since everyone knows my Penny Reid fan status (Big, HUGE fan) I’m going to try and keep this review less on the fan-girl side and more on the explaining why I’m fan-girling so much side…. So here goes!

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters most, in the end” – Ernest Hemingway

Truth or Beard is the first instalment in the series that Penny Reid has dedicated to the 6 Winston brothers who were first introduced to us in Beauty and the Mustache. I love this idea, I love how this series connects with the Knitting in the City series. I love how we are going to get a (much) more in-depth look at each brother and his story, because they were so intriguing in BatM. And most of all I love how I just know that Penny will take each brother and create a story that is as unique as he is. Starting here, with Duane.

I love Duane! Yes, he comes across distant and broody on the outside, but once I got into his head he was so much more. The depth of his feelings made him a complex character. For a lot of the book he was battling his own emotions as much as he was battling Jessica’s. He had big plans for the two of them and no matter what he wanted to make sure everything was planned and executed to perfection so that he could give her everything that he felt she deserved. However, what Duane didn’t take into account was that life can’t be organized perfectly, sometimes you just have to live and chase your dreams. He was so busy trying to do the right thing by everyone that he almost missed out on his own dream in the process.

He nibbled on my ear, whispering my name like it was a dirty word – but not a curse word – a dirty word. Something erotic and scandalous. I had an odd thought then, that I liked my name on his lips more when it was whispered.

Jessica was instantly likeable. I loved that she was busy obsessing over travelling and experiencing the world rather than obsessing over finding a husband and a white picket fence. She had long dreamed of all of the places she would go and she was determined. So determined, that when her heart started to travel on it’s own path she had no idea what to make of it or how to reconcile the fact that even if she hadn’t planned on love, it may have found her and if it had found her, then how on earth was she going to be free to embark on her childhood dream?

Penny Reid is super duper talented at dual POVs. She knocks it out of the park every time. The tone, the subtle details, these things really make all the difference when you’re the reader. She always gets it right and this book is no different. So I LOVED having the book set up like this, the story called for it. It really added to the back and forth between Jessica and Duane. The angst of not knowing what to do next with their feelings, the hotness of the hot looks, the intricacies of their relationship and themselves… All of these things were magnified from being able to look through both sets of eyes.

…I wanted to hold on to this moment for as long as possible, because it was the first time – and maybe the only time in my life – I felt truly seen, known and understood. And I wanted to give him everything in return. I wanted him to know I saw him. I knew him, too.

So! Like I promised, fan-girling moments aside… I  FREAKING loved this book! Penny Reid is an exceptionally talented writer who never shies away from writing exactly the type of story she feels like she needs to write. I’m positive this is why her books always hit the mark and why every time I read a new one I find it harder and harder to have a firm favourite. This is a definite must read whether you are familiar with Penny Reid’s work or not. This book… This freaking book… It’s definitely made it into my top reads of the year that’s for sure,

ARC received in return for an honest review

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Book Review – Attraction (Elements of Chemistry #1) by Penny Reid

Posted on April 22, 2015 by charmouabb
Book Review – Attraction (Elements of Chemistry #1) by Penny Reid

ATTRACTION

One week.
Private beach.
Invisible girl.
Jerk-faced bully.
What’s the worst that could happen?
Kaitlyn Parker has no problem being the invisible girl, which is why she finds herself hiding in various cabinets and closets all over her college campus. Despite her best efforts, she can’t escape the notice of Martin Sandeke—bad boy, jerkface bully, and the universe’s hottest, wealthiest, and most unobtainable bachelor—who also happens to be Kaitlyn’s chemistry lab partner.
Kaitlyn might be the only girl who isn’t interested in exploiting his stunning rower’s build, chiseled features, and family’s billionaire fortune. Kaitlyn wants Martin for his brain, specifically to tabulate findings of trace elements in surface water.
When Kaitlyn saves Martin from a nefarious plot, Martin uses the opportunity to push Kaitlyn out of her comfort zone: spring break, one week, house parties, bathing suits, and suntan lotion. Can she overcome her aversion to being noticed? Will he be able grow beyond his self-centered nature? Or, despite their obvious chemistry, will Martin be the one to drive Kaitlyn into the science cabinet of obscurity for good?

I actually read this first instalment of the Elements of Chemistry series twice. I’m not usually a huge NA reader, in fact I find it quite hard to find a book in that genre that really captures my full attention so pre-Attraction I was a little unsure… Also to be honest, I didn’t know how I felt about the name Martin?  But very quickly I was totally immersed in the world of Kaitlyn Parker and Martin Sandeke AND I realized that actually Martin as a name was more than fine, also more specifically, I was super excited to discover that even when Penny Reid ventures into the NA genre she still creates characters that you can’t help becoming infatuated with.

Kaitlyn (Parker) is quirky, freaking hilarious and everything that is amazing about Penny Reid creating characters. She is more than just a quiet nerdy type college girl. She is sweet but feisty, she is inherently good, she is instantly likeable, yet she still is a bit of a puzzle, even to herself at times. Parker does her best to keep out of the way of pretty much everything going on outside of classes at college. Until she is unwittingly privy to an ugly plan which could really hurt her lab partner Sandeke… And you know, being inherently good and all that, Parker knows she needs tell him what she knows.

In hindsight, I realized I’d been acting like a crazy person. Proximity to Martin made me lose my sense. I’d been senseless. Without sense. Not any sense. No sense. Nonsense.

But what she doesn’t know is Sandeke has had her on his radar. Martin Sandeke is someone who is used to getting exactly what or who he wants. Hot, popular, domineering, charismatic and completely in control (seemingly) he isn’t used to girls being unaffected by him, in fact, he isn’t used to a lot of what Kaitlyn is all about. But the heart wants what it wants and by sheer determination he manages to convince Kaitlyn to go away over spring break with him.

What follows is a week of so many things. SO MANY THINGS! Kaitlyn is convinced that there is no way on this earth they would ever work together, so Martin really has his work cut out for him. Cue all of the ups and downs you would expect to follow when a bunch of college students are on a luxurious island… What prevents this from reading like another non-descript NA is the quirk, not enough can be said about the importance of being truly original. When the main character is talking about a (figurative) Bunsen burner in her pants you know you’re reading pure Penny Reid!

As long as I live and breathe, as long as I have a shred of humanity left, as long as I have it in me to care, I will be here for you. Always.

So while this book does contain a lot of the ‘usual’ NA type plot points, it didn’t read as though it did and I certainly didn’t eye-roll my way through it. I really appreciate that Penny Reid has made an effort to mix it up and challenge what we think of particular genres, I for one know that’s what I needed. My only serious complaint is I seriously felt like angry slapping a certain someone at the end…Rarrrrr!!!

ARC received from author in return for an honest review ❤

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Book Review – Love Me to Death (Underveil) by Marissa Clarke

Posted on October 27, 2014 by charmouabb

Received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Medical research scientist Elena Arcos has always lived her life under the radar, which is not easy to do when you live with the craziest woman in the world. But eccentric Aunt Uza is a picnic compared to the other people who enter her orderly life after she is shot in a convenience store robbery.

Elena finds herself rocketed from comfortable predictability to supernatural insanity courtesy of her own private angel of death who happens to have the sexiest accent on earth and a body to match. Her death angel is convinced she’s some kind of freaky half vampire thing and that her deceased dad was the real deal: a blood sucking monster.

Yeah, right. She’ll play along, but then she doesn’t have much choice seeing how as the guy claims to be some immortal law enforcer and has taken her prisoner.

* * *

Nikolai Itzov had expected to fight the urge to torture the progeny of his father’s murderer, but he’d never anticipated battling the urge to kiss her her.

As a Slayer, an elite law enforcer descended from Azrael himself, his charge from the Underveil General is clear: Kill her or die. He has been told she is one of them–an Undead. Nothing but a parasite to be destroyed. But he has been told wrong.

Nikolai and Elena find themselves in a life and death battle to stop a plot designed to lift the Underveil and enslave humans.

With her analytical mind and his centuries of training and experience, they might be able to foil the plot with their lives and maybe their hearts intact. But in order to succeed, he must help her become the very thing he hates the most: an Undead.

When I say that from the very first chapter you’ll have your eyes glued to this book you better believe it! We’re dumped straight into the action, no introductions, on softly softly about it… And it really works! Elena has been living a normal life up till this point, but being in the wrong place at the wrong time means that low blood sugar is the least of her worries from here on in. This is also where we’re introduced to Nikolai with a jolting start. To Elena, he is the angel of death… except she doesn’t die. For centuries Nik has been following orders without question. He is an enforcer. It’s all he knows, he does what needs to be done without question or hesitation. But soon he begins to realize that sometimes life is not so black and white, there are shades of grey everywhere and sometimes you don’t even see your destiny coming until it’s already happened…

The chemistry between Elena and Nik is one of the main parts of this book that got me hooked so quickly AND kept me hooked. It was electric and pretty much all over the show. They were fighting themselves, each other and other people and events over their feelings. Literally it was a whirlpool of love/hate and in this instance it really worked. Nik is supposed to HATE what he thinks she is. It’s the natural order of things… And Elena of course is terrified and pissed off and unsure of who to trust or what to do. None of this makes falling for the other easy. Slowly but surely we got to see nearly every angle of both these characters. I really loved that in this book there was no other possibility for either of them. They were it. It just came down to whether they could get themselves together enough to see the other person clearly.

And this, she realized, was why she was so attracted to him. He was a good man who longed to do what was right, and something in her had recognized that from the moment of their dubious first meeting.

Which brings me to the storyline, it was good! Entertaining for sure. There were parts there where I couldn’t put it down. Where I had to know what was going to happen next. The world and creatures were absolutely spellbinding. I absolutely LOVED Stefan, the Time Folder. He was definitely one of a kind. I loved that he was so mysterious, yet so calm and collected at the same time. Nothing ruffled his feathers easily. He also provided some comic relief to bring relief to the sometimes super heavy interactions between Elena and Nik. I am hoping against hope that we will see a lot more of Stefan in the next book and also, a lot more of his story. There are so many unanswered questions when it comes to him…. And I need to know what’s going on!

Aunt Uza or Uzana as she is really known as, is another fav of mine. This character was just hilarious. I loved her! Her mannerisms and terms of endearment… ‘hotty tottie’ she was just honestly freaking awesome. She also had one of the creepiest lot of creatures in the whole book. If you have never really given cats a second thought then be prepared to be totally and completely creeped out.

I was very quickly engrossed in this story. I couldn’t put it down and stayed up way too late to finish it, I loved the world building and characters within it. This is a really great fast paced beginning to a well set up series. I can’t wait to see where this story is heading and what is to come for Elena and Nik.

Love Me to Death (Underveil)

By Marissa Clarke

 photo credit: Pannonius♛ via photopin ccphoto credit: wilding.andrew via photopin cc

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Release Day Blitz!!! Giveaway + Review – Home is Where You Are by Tessa Marie

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Kristal

RELEASES SEPTEMBER 30 2014

FIND IT ON AMAZON: http://bit.ly/HomeAmazon

Anna’s life reads like a check list. 
Straight A’s (Check)
Editor of the school paper (Check)
Volunteering time at the local soup kitchen (Check)
Ivy League (So close she can taste it) 
Falling in love with a homeless boy (Not on the list) 

Dean has a plan too. Survive. After being subjected to his foster father’s violent attacks, Dean made the hard choice to leave. Now he lives on the streets doing everything he can to get by, refusing to let people help him. But when he meets Anna, he realizes not everyone is out to hurt him. 

Slowly, Anna and Dean let each other in, blending their two worlds into one. But when a series of events brings Dean’s world into perspective, he pushes Anna away. Not willing to accept the line that divides them, Anna sets out to bring Dean back to her. Her determination and faith in their future puts her on the tracks of danger, and he is the only one who can save her

Home is Where You Are was the type of book that immediately pulls you into an emotional connection with it. I’ve said before that I’m not really a crier, but within the first couple of chapters of this book I already had tears in my eyes. This is a sweet and emotional story about showing courage in the face of adversity and about how love rises above all social barriers.

Dean has been living rough of the streets for years now and has learned to depend on only himself. He trusts no one and carefully guards himself against others, even those who show him kindness. 
Anna’s family were torn about by a life changing event and now Anna spends most of her days working to maintain her perfect grades and fulfill her goal in life of getting into the ‘right’ college. However, she is desperately lonely and only the love of her best friend and her desire to achieve keep her going. 
When Anna and Dean meet at the soup kitchen where Anna is volunteering, they have an immediate connection. They fight it but their pull towards each other is undeniable and eventually they embark on a journey full of heartbreak, hope and love. 

 

Anna and Dean had the sweetest connection. Their romance was gorgeous, but the thing I loved most about them was their HOPE. They showed amazing strength and resilience in the face of life’s challenges. They definitely had their ups and downs and their moments of doubt but they managed to work things out and together helped to make a better life for Dean.

“There are a few stories where kids have been able to turn their lives around, but the luck shit is once in a blue moon. And my moon has been black for so long its practically dead.”

The supporting characters in this book were wonderful. However, I can’t help wishing we got to explore Deans relationship with fellow street kid, Wanda, a little more. They were both complicated characters but in spite of their issues they were willing to attempt a friendship. Knowing a little more about the dynamics of their friendship would have added a different angle and level of depth to this story.

I absolutely can NOT write this review without giving a little shout out to my favourite character, Marv. What an amazing man. He cared about Dean when it seemed as though no one else in the world did. If only there were more people like Marv around, this world would be a better place.

“You think I don’t lie awake at night, wondering if you got into the Y?” Marv stands, forcing the chair back with his legs. “You don’t think I care if you’re freezing your ass off out there? If you have enough to eat. Terrified that you might not make it through the night.” Tears build in Marv’s eyes. “Because I do. Every damn night.”

Overall, I really enjoyed this story. It was original and heartfelt, and kept me glued to the pages. I am looking forward to reading more from this author in the future.

RAFFLECOPTER: a
Rafflecopter giveaway

ABOUT THE AUTHOR –

Tessa Marie lives in the same town she grew up in on Long Island, NY with her long 
time boyfriend and their fish. Under her real name, Theresa Paolo, she released her 
debut novel (NEVER) AGAIN, a NA romance, in Fall 2013 with Berkley (Penguin) 
and (ONCE) AGAIN released this summer. She is also the coauthor of the Amazon 
bestseller KING SIZED BEDS AND HAPPY TRAILS and BEACH SIDE BEDS AND 
SANDY PATHS, a YA contemporary series. She has a hard time accepting the fact 
she’s nearing thirty, and uses her characters to relive the best and worst years of her 
life. She put her love of writing on hold while she received her Bachelor’s Degree in 
Marketing from Dowling College. When she’s not writing, she’s behind a camera, 
reading, or can be found on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.

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Posted in 4 Stars, YA and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Book Review – The Trap (Trapped) by Beverley Kendall

Posted on May 10, 2014 by Kristal

***ARC Received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.***

The Trap is a prequel to Beverley Kendall’s upcoming novel Trapped, which is due out on the 7th of July. Trapped is a short prequel (it took less than an hour to read), and sets the scene for the upcoming full length novel.

Looking back, I should have seen it coming. 

Paige didn’t like that I went so far away to university. But it was going to only be for two years. She’d join me after she did her two years at community college. I thought we could swing that no problem. We were solid. 

But she hated the distance. She hated not seeing me every day. She complained that I didn’t come home enough. She hated that for months on end, texting and phone calls were our only form of communication. It wasn’t enough. 

She’d ask about the girls on campus. She’d gotten it into her head that girls were always making a play for me. I laughed and told her, even if that were true, I’d never cheat on her. She didn’t seem completely reassured by that. 

The bottom line is, Paige thought she was losing me. She wanted me home with her. But I could never imagine the level she’d sink to—the trap she’d set to make that happen. 

And like an idiot I walked right into it.

And it’s a mistake I’m going to have to pay for the rest of my life.

Wow. This was a crazy prequel! The thing I liked the most about this short story, was the fact that it was very real. There is no doubt that a percentage of young men behave this way when finding out they are going to be a teen father. They take off, unable to cope, and leave fatherless children behind. We see it again and again. Mitch gave us some rare insight into what might be going through these young fathers minds when they make the decision to run for the hills instead of manning up and understanding that it takes two to tango!

I was outraged, like (no doubt) others reading this book. Yes, Mitch was an asshole, he shouldn’t have behaved the way he did, and he completely deserves whatever he gets in the upcoming novel, but I think it’s pretty accurate. It’s not right but it was the way it goes sometimes. 

I’m interested in reading the full length novel, if only to see how Mitch manages to redeem himself. Good luck to him! He has his work cut out for him. I don’t think Paige will be forgiving and forgetting any time soon. 

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