Showing posts with label new adult. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new adult. Show all posts
Series: #Sinners of Saint, #4
Pages: 354
Genre: New Adult
Bane
Naked surfer. Habitual pothead. A con, a liar, a thief and a fraud.
Last I heard, he was extorting the rich and screwing their wives for a living.
Which is why I’m more than a little surprised to find him at my threshold, looking for my friendship, my services, and most puzzling of all—looking humbled.
Thing is, I’m on a boycott. Literally—I cut boys from my life. Permanently.
Problem is, Bane is not a boy, he is all man, and I’m falling, crashing, drowning in his sweet, perfect lies.
Jesse Carter
Hot as hell, cold as ice.
I wasn’t aware of her existence until a fat, juicy deal landed in my lap.
She’s a part of it, a little plaything to kill some time.
She is collateral, a means to an end, and a side-bonus for striking a deal with her oil tycoon stepdad.
More than anything, Jesse Carter is a tough nut to crack.
Little does she know, I have the teeth for it.
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| * |
I've already given up on L. J. Shen's books last year because I already figured they aren't for me, but I found this book on my kindle and I don't even know when I bought it (and why), so I decided to give this author another chance, but it just wasn't working. A part of the reason why I gave this book such a low rating is because I gave up on it at 80 % because it really wasn't working for me from the beginning.
I have quite a few thoughts about this book. I already wrote about this author stealing other authors' words and never crediting them and while I understand a lot of authors do that, I honestly and truthfully have never seen someone do it so blatantly. It's like throwing a bunch of quotes from Pinterest in the book and call them yours.
Even in the very beginning before books starts she wrote: "Spoiler: the princess saves herself in this fairytale", referencing a book The Princess Saves Herself in This One by Amanda Lovelace. Just from this, I had a feeling things won't go smoothly in this book, even though this wasn't such a big deal for me.
Moving on, she used some more of other poets' words without ever giving them credit, but just passing these lines as her own. Now - this is where it really started to bother me and rub me in wrong because - seriously, we're doing this again?
- "You don't need a prince, princess. You need a sword." - L. J.
"She wasn't looking for a knight, she was looking for a sword." - Atticus
- "I can't drown my demons. They know how to swim." - L. J.
"I can't drown my demons. They know how to swim." - Bring Me The Horizon
This just shows for me that L. J. lacks originality and I don't like this kind of thing, it always bothers me with her books.
Moving on from this, the majority of us know who Vicious is. Although I did not particularly enjoy that book, I just can't help but laugh at how stupid L. J. made Vicious look in this book. "Bane is awfully similar to Vicious, wouldn't you agree?" These are the exact words Vicious said to Bane at their meeting. I just couldn't help but LOL because she proved my point that Vicious is a stupid ass.
And then also, what the heck is with the weird comparisons? I know L. J. is known for that, but sometimes ... things just don't make sense? He was wrapped head-to-toe in Brioni, with sleek black hair and porcelain white skin. He looked like a Michelin-starred steak, and I looked like a greasy drive-thru cheeseburger. Seriously - what?
All in all, this was a typical Shen book with a manwhore male character (this time quite literally because he was selling his service (sex) to 46 women) and an inexperienced, innocent girl who suffers from a tragic sexual experience and past (rape). Sometimes, L. J. Shen's perception of tragedy and 'healing' baffles me, especially when Jesse told Bane about what happened to her and right immediately after that, they have weird, unprotected sex, even though Jesse was pregnant once and even though Bane is a known manwhore. Yup, sounds about right.
Also, the lack of understanding and compassion also shows in Jesse not being able to let any male in her life touch her or come close to her, but then Bane comes and she's suddenly all over him and wants to have sex with him before getting emotionally involved. These things don't heal overnight.
I didn't quite dislike this book that much and I gave it a higher rating only because of showing that girls like Jesse can live on and can take their lives back in their hands, especially in a sexual way. And that's pretty much the only thing I actually liked in this whole book.
It was a boring read, the story was dragging on and I wasn't invested or interested in it. This was not her typical enemies-to-lovers, but it was more on the tame side (thankfully) and Bane was actually a likeable character.
With this book, I am now officially done reading books by this author because ... they just don't work for me.
L.J. Shen is USA Today and Washington Post bestselling author of contemporary romance books. She lives in California with her husband, son and lazy cat.
When she's not writing, she enjoys reading a good book with a glass of wine and catching up on her favorite HBO and Netflix shows.
Yeah, she's a badass like that.
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Release date: October 7th, 2014
Series: Burying Water #1
Pages: 354
Genre: New adult
The top-selling, beloved indie author of Ten Tiny Breaths returns with a new romance about a young woman who loses her memory—and the man who knows that the only way to protect her is to stay away.
Left for dead in the fields of rural Oregon, a young woman defies all odds and survives—but she awakens with no idea who she is, or what happened to her. Refusing to answer to “Jane Doe” for another day, the woman renames herself “Water” for the tiny, hidden marking on her body—the only clue to her past. Taken in by old Ginny Fitzgerald, a crotchety but kind lady living on a nearby horse farm, Water slowly begins building a new life. But as she attempts to piece together the fleeting slivers of her memory, more questions emerge: Who is the next-door neighbor, quietly toiling under the hood of his Barracuda? Why won’t Ginny let him step foot on her property? And why does Water feel she recognizes him?
Twenty-four-year-old Jesse Welles doesn’t know how long it will be before Water gets her memory back. For her sake, Jesse hopes the answer is never. He knows that she’ll stay so much safer—and happier—that way. And that’s why, as hard as it is, he needs to keep his distance. Because getting too close could flood her with realities better left buried.
The trouble is, water always seems to find its way to the surface.
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| * |
First things first, K. A. Tucker always has the best story covers. I always find them so captivating. Not only that, her books are usually a perfection.
Now, onto the book - this was a nice story, but I felt it was dragging on for too long. It was slow, but to the point where it got boring.
It was about Alex trying to get her memory back after being beaten and raped by her abusive husband. The POVs are dual and they're switching from past to present and it kind of made me quickly lose interest.
Jesse and Alex met when she was married and he spent a lot of time at her house because her husband asked him to repair one of his cars since he was known for being a very good mechanic.
Alex married young and she married an older man. She was unhappy in her marriage, her husband treated her badly and he was disloyal. No one could do anything about it because he was a dangerous man, known to be mixed with the mafia and feared all over around.
This was a nice read, a little bit harder at some parts, especially when Jesse knew what was happening and he couldn't do anything about it until it was too late.
Overall, I felt like Jesse and Alex didn't have enough chemistry and their story just didn't pull me in like I expected it to. I wanted more moments of them together because with how things went here, I just didn't care for them anymore. I really missed the romance.
K.A. Tucker writes captivating stories with an edge.
She is the internationally bestselling author of the Ten Tiny Breaths and Burying Water series, He Will Be My Ruin, Until It Fades, Keep Her Safe, The Simple Wild, Be the Girl, and Say You Still Love Me. Her books have been featured in national publications including USA Today, Globe & Mail, Suspense Magazine, Publisher's Weekly, Oprah Mag, and First for Women. She has been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance 2013 for TEN TINY BREATHS and Best Romance 2018 for THE SIMPLE WILD. KEEP HER SAFE made Suspense Magazine's Best of 2018 list for Romantic Suspense.
K.A. Tucker currently resides in a quaint town outside of Toronto.
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Series: / standalone
Pages: 376
Genre: New adult
The rich and popular Sharks rule at prestigious, ivy-covered Camden Prep. Once upon a time, I wanted to be part of their world--until they destroyed me.
The last thing I expected was an anonymous love letter from one of them.
Please. I hate every one of those rich jerks for what they did to me. The question is, which Shark is my secret admirer?
Knox, the scarred quarterback.
Dane, his twin brother.
Or Chance, the ex who dumped me. . .
Dear Ava,
Your eyes are the color of the Caribbean Sea.
Wait. That's stupid.
What I really mean is, you look at me and I feel something REAL.
It's been ten months since you were here, but I can't forget you.
I've missed seeing you walk down the hall.
I've missed you cheering at my football games.
I've missed the smell of your hair.
And then everything fell apart the night of the kegger.
Don't hate me because I'm a Shark.
I just want to make you mine.
Still.
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| * |
For real. It's been a very long time since a book made me stay up late at night to read it and this book truly took me by surprise because I did not expect that.
This was a typical enemies-to-lovers, sans the hardcore bullying that I despise so much in other books. I loved loved the characters.
Ava was such a strong, self-assured character. She came back to prove her attacker didn't break her and she's just a badass.
And Knox is ... I have had heart eyes for him the whole book. He's a moody ass, but he's also a moody possessive ass that writes poetry to Ava and would hurt anyone that would even look at her wrong.
I give Knox my heart. Man, he can have it all.
This book deals with a very heavy subject: rape, which made me love it so much more because it shows that Ava chose to live her life and it shows what she had to go through because people refused to believe her and even bullied her for it. Ava was an outcast in the school.
But not for Knox. For him? She was literally everything he saw, but since she was his friend's ex, he had some moral and stayed away for the sake of it, but he always had her back. Always.
I just can't get over how good this book was. I truly, truly recommend it! It's not like other Madden-Mills's books that were mostly just 'okay' for me, but this one? She really went deep with this one and delivered pure perfection.
#1 Amazon Charts, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and USA Today best-selling author Ilsa Madden-Mills pens angsty new adult and contemporary romances.
A former high school English teacher and librarian, she adores all things Pride and Prejudice, and of course, Mr. Darcy is her ultimate hero.
She's addicted to frothy coffee beverages, cheesy magnets, and any book featuring unicorns and sword-wielding females. Feel free to stalk her online. ☺
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Series: / standalone
Pages: 307
Genre: New adult
I don’t want you.
You mean nothing to me.
I never loved you.
I turned my words into swords.
And I cut her down. Shoved the blade in and watched her fall.
I said I’d never hurt her, and I did.
Years later, I’m faced with all the little lies, the untruths, the false realities, the damage I inflicted, when all I wanted was to indulge my obsession.
Lavender Waters is the princess in the tower. Even her name is the thing fairy tales are made of.
I used to be the one who saved her.
Over and over again.
But I don’t want to save her anymore.
I just want to pretend the lies are still the truth.
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| * |
Typically, I'm really not into assholes as main characters because they're rarely ever done right. Especially the male ones because it can quickly cross some lines for me.
This book is definitely a much better read than the Pucked series (in case you didn't know - Lavender is Violet and Alex's daughter from the books Pucked and Forever Pucked).
But this one was an intriguing read from the beginning. I just couldn't put the book down because the story was compelling and it really pulled me in.
Kodiak was an asshole to Lavender, there was no denying that. He pushed her to her limits and that made Lavender fight back even harder.
And Lavender didn't just cave in that easily. She was strong and fought back. She wasn't just a punching bag for him.
And she knew how to break Kodiak enough to snap out of his behaviour and grovel for her forgiveness. She overcame her weaknesses and came back stronger and more fierce, even though everyone around her still thought she was made out of glass.
Lavender had it pretty hard as a child and when going to college, she agreed to live with her brothers, although that turned out to be a mistake because everyone just thought she's still so breakable they have to protect her all the time. And Kodiak was just adamant to make her college experience even more difficult because Lavender just couldn't escape him.
Kodiak couldn't leave her alone. He told himself he couldn't be with her, but he couldn't stay away from her, either, and God forbid anyone else would have her.
This was a beautiful story about two broken souls who were always destined to be together because it was obvious they're each other's soulmate.
Release date: January 16th, 2018
Series: / standalone
Pages: 370
Genre: New adult
It should have been easy.
I needed the money. He needed a babysitter to keep him from snorting himself to death.
I was cherry-picked especially for him. Responsible. Optimistic. Warm. Innocent.
The worst part is that I should have known better.
Alex Winslow. British rock star. Serial heartbreaker. Casanova with whiskey eyes.
“Don’t get near the devil in a leather jacket. He’ll chew you up and spit you out.”
Guess what? I didn’t listen.
I signed the contract.
World tour. Three months. Four Continents. One hundred shows.
My name is Indigo Bellamy, and I sold my soul to a tattooed god.
Problem was, my soul wasn’t enough for Alex Winslow. He ended up taking my body, too.
Then he took my heart.
Then he took my all.
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| * |
It's not this book, it's me.
This one didn't do it for me and I couldn't finish it because I was bored and tired of the pointless, childish drama.
To give you a quick summary of the story: it's a book about a rockstar that's about to go on a tour. They're looking someone who's going to look after him while he's there (making sure he doesn't drink, stays away from his ex and just doesn't go off the rails). Indigo applies to the job because they pay is amazing and she wants to help her family financially.
Indigo gets warned about Alex and she tries to keep her distance while they're travelling, but she soon finds out that's going to be harder than she thought because Alex can be persistent.
I couldn't connect to the characters. Alex was a major asshole. He was acting like a child, playing all these mind games that I absolutely hate in books. He got on my nerves and I just couldn't bring myself to like him. And a grown man needing a nanny to look after him? So not my type.
And Indigo ... she was way too indecisive and contradicting. She didn't know what she wanted and she second-questioned everything. She was just too unsure about everything.
The book was just way too cliché from my taste and something I wouldn't expect from Shen. The whole ex-girlfriend and parents drama is so overused that it just annoyed me.
I actually put this book down two times and then went back to it to see if I can finish it or if it changes my mind. It didn't help. This one just didn't work for me.
Release date: September 15th, 2020
Series: / standalone
Pages: 436
Genre: New adult
Series: / standalone
Pages: 436
Genre: New adult
A broken boy on the path to destruction.
A scarred girl without direction.
A love story carved in secrets, inked with pain and sealed with a lie.
Grace Shaw and West St. Claire are arctic opposites.
She is the strange girl from the food truck.
He is the mysterious underground fighter who stormed into her sleepy Texan college town on his motorcycle one day, and has been wreaking havoc since.
She is invisible to the world.
He is the town’s beloved bad boy.
She is a reject.
He is trouble.
When West thrusts himself into Grace’s quiet life, she scrambles to figure out if he is her happily-ever-after or tragic ending.
But the harder she pushes him away, the more he pulls her out of her shell.
Grace doesn’t know much about anything beyond her town’s limits, but she does know this:
She is falling in love with the hottest guy in Sheridan U.
And when you play with fire—you ought to get burned.
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| * |
Coming from L. J. Shen, this book was weirdly ... normal. When it comes to her, I always expect surprises (mostly unpleasant ones) because we all know she likes to go overboard with crazy relationships and the shit she calls love ...
This book wasn't perfect by any means, either. I only gave it three stars because the ending was absolutely beautiful and I liked the character development.
But, first things first, I didn't like West. I came to realise that I rarely ever like the male characters in her books because while I love the whole bad boy vibe and them being assholes, L. J. Shen tends to take it over the top and exaggerates it to the point they're not sexy anymore, they're just assholes and it's so hard to like them.
Also, the whole violent streak is cool to some extend, but it's not funny when there are lines like, "Or you'll leave me no choice but to slap the hysteria out of you.", "I'll flip you upside down and shake the answer out of you." Modern romance, I guess. Maybe I just don't get it.
Then, of course, it was West screwing someone else that looked like Grace and called her Texas (his nickname for Grace). And the whole hooking up with Tess the first night he officially met Grace. His exact words were: It was the same night I'd bent her over the Ducati and fucked her raw in the junkyard, barking at her to mind the paint.
Watch out, guys! We have a real charmer here! It's just so easy to fall in love with someone like him, don't you think so?
Also the sentence, "It looked way rape-ier than it actually was." What the hell does that even mean?!!
The only good thing in this book was Grace. She's precious. A good girl, of course. She deserves way better than West, but, hey, he gives her just a little bit of his attention and she's all for it.
Both West and Grace have a tragic background and that's basically what connects them the most.
This book was so normal that it got boring in the middle and I was struggling to read on, actually. West was being too much of an ass and it was hard to read about that for literally 3/4 of the book.
But the ending was beautiful and the growth in them was enormous, especially in Grace. And I have to give it to West, he wasn't (too big of an) asshole to Grace about her face and her past, but he accepted all her imperfections and didn't make a big deal out of them.
❝Because the worst day of your life gave me the best version of you.❞
I still hated this book a little less than other by her that everyone seem to absolutely love. I just don't really get the asshole type in her books and I absolutely hate the male characters she creates because she takes being an asshole to a whole new level to a point it's not cool anymore and it's straight-out concerning that people read it and think that's normal or, even worse, cute and romantic.
So, yeah. This was ok for the most part and there were some beautiful messages in the book that moved me and that's what made me rate it three stars.
❝Because at the end of the day, we are all just phoenixes, rising from our own ashes, taking flight to an unknown destination, our wingtips forged by flames.❞
When she's not writing, she enjoys reading a good book with a glass of wine and catching up on her favorite HBO and Netflix shows.
Yeah, she's a badass like that.
Keep up with L.J. on all platforms:
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Series: Crew #1
Pages: 372
Genre: Young adult
To survive where I live, you have two options.
You can be a Normal--a cheerleader, jock, member of the debate team, or on the yearbook committee. You pretend everything is normal.
Or you can be crew.
You insult us? We hurt you.
You hurt us? We really hurt you.
And if you screw with us, we will end you.
My name is Bren.
I'm the only female in the Wolf Crew--the best, fiercest, and most dangerous crew there is--and we have a rule: There's no falling in love.
Well... too late.
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| * |
I DNF-ed this book at 35 % because it just wasn't what I expected and it didn't interest me.
Honestly, I still keep giving Tijan's books chance since reading Bennet Mafia (my first book from her) and absolutely loving it, but I'm finding out that all the other books from her just don't do it for me.
I don't have much to say about this book other than it was boring and uninteresting.
With this story, I didn't know what was going on half of the time. I felt absolutely no chemistry between Bren and Cross and I wouldn't even know they're supposed to end up together if I didn't read the reviews.
I mostly skimmed through the book after 20 % because I felt like this was just some "wanna-be badass" story. I couldn't connect with the characters and this whole crew thing was putting me off, especially when it felt like everything was revolving around it.
So, yeah. This book is, unfortunately, a miss for me. Maybe one of these days I'll just give up this author for good because she clearly doesn't do it for me.
Except for Bennet Mafia. That book still has a special place in my heart and I 100 % recommend that one!
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