BOOK REVIEW: TWO PRINCES by VICTORIA DANANN - SONS OF SANCTUARY MC # 1 - MC ROMANCE

By: Victoria Danann
Published By: 7th House Publishing
Released: Available Now
Details: Kindle Purchase, 310 Pages

RATING: 3.5 STARS

Blurb: Goodreads

New Biker Romance series from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Victoria Danann. No cliffhangers.

Two brothers, one a player, one a playboy, are on a crash trajectory with destiny and two broken hearts.

BONUS PREQUEL INCLUDED: Intro to the Sons of Sanctuary MC. A Season in Gemini

Brigid was a graduate student at the University of Texas. She had no trouble getting her thesis approved, but finding a Hill Country motorcycle club willing to give her access to their lifestyle was looking impossible. Then she got a lead. A friend of a friend had a cousin with family ties to The Sons of Sanctuary. Perfect. Or was it?

What Brigid wanted was information to prove a proposition. The last thing she had in mind was falling for one of the members of the club. Especially since she was a feminist academic out to prove that motorcycle clubs are organized according to the same structure as primitive tribal society.

Brash was standing in line at the H.E.B. Market when his world tipped on its axis. While waiting his turn to check out, his gaze had wandered to the magazine display and settled on the new issue of “NOW”. The image on the cover, although GQ’d up in an insanely urbane way, was… him. 

After reading the article, Brash threw some stuff in a duffle and left his only home, a room at The Sons of Sanctuary clubhouse, with a vague explanation about needing a couple of days away. He left his truck at the Austin airport and caught a plane for New York, on a mission to find a mysterious guy walking around with his face.



BOOK REVIEW:

This is my second Victoria Danann read, my first being My Familiar Stranger, Knights of Black Swan # 1.

I really enjoyed the bonus prequel story A Season In Gemini. It is a great background introduction.

I did have a little trouble with Two Princes.

Two grown men going to one hell of a lot of trouble to play at essentially ‘The Parent Trap.’ It did feel a little…erm… what is the right word? Immature?

I found it hard to believe an MC guy and a billionaire (twins) wouldn’t just straight up talk to their parents. It felt kinda lost on me the energy they spent setting it all up.

I have to rate this book in the lower range of 3.5 STARS as it just didn’t feel realistic that a billionaire couldn’t just straight up talk to his mother and an MC guy couldn’t just speak to his father about it. Not the way this story was written anyway.

There was no obstacle put in the path of the twins to make them choose the path they took (swapping identities) only to do the big reveal and the parents didn’t have a major reason to not have told two grown men about their brother. There wasn’t like a dirty reason or anything. I think I was looking for some major reason for the whole shenanigans apart from the mother’s father which was kinda lame.

I needed there to be a real purpose to going to the lengths they did rather than just talking it out.

There were other things like Brigid paying $250,000 for something so she could write her thesis. I don't care how much money a student has got, that just seems preposterous to think it's okay to spend that kind of money to get information for a thesis. If it's gonna cost you that kind of money, pick a new idea for your thesis. 

I get what Victoria was doing, but a little OTT.  

BOOK REVIEW - TWENTY-EIGHT AND A HALF WISHES by DENISE GROVER SWANK - ROSE GARDNER MYSTERY # 1 - COZY MYSTERY

By: Denise Grover Swank
Published By: Bramagioia Enterprises
Released: Available Now, FREE on AMAZON
Details: Kindle purchase couple years ago, 374 Pages

RATING: 3.5 ROSE & MUFFY STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

For Rose Gardner, working at the DMV on a Friday afternoon is bad even before she sees a vision of herself dead. She’s had plenty of visions, usually boring ones like someone’s toilet’s overflowed, but she’s never seen one of herself before. When her overbearing momma winds up murdered on her sofa instead, two things are certain: There isn't enough hydrogen peroxide in the state of Arkansas to get that stain out, and Rose is the prime suspect.

Rose realizes she’s wasted twenty-four years of living and makes a list on the back of a Wal-Mart receipt: twenty-eight things she wants to accomplish before her vision comes true. She’s well on her way with the help of her next door neighbor Joe, who has no trouble teaching Rose the rules of drinking, but won’t help with number fifteen-- do more with a man. Joe’s new to town, but it doesn’t take a vision for Rose to realize he’s got plenty of secrets of his own.

Somebody thinks Rose has something they want and they’ll do anything to get it. Her house is broken into, someone else she knows is murdered, and suddenly, dying a virgin in the Fenton County jail isn’t her biggest worry after all.

BOOK REVIEW:

Hot on the tails of reading my first two Stephanie Plum books I decided to keep up the mystery solving and dust off Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes which had been sitting patiently for too long on my Kindle.

As of today, with over 4,800 ratings on Amazon and over 20,640 ratings on Goodreads I felt it was time to see what Rose Gardner was all about.

I am finding I am very much enjoying these very clean ( in the sex department) sleuthing reads. They certainly get people reading and rating them.

Now I am gonna say, I found this first installment a little eye rolling in places and I had a bit of trouble working out what Rose was actually solving. It wasn’t that clear a line for a mystery with her name attached to the series title in this first installment. Others were solving things, but Rose was doing lots of different things.

Muffy was kinda hilarious. In Australia we had a TV show many moons ago called Skippy and how the kid talked to the kangaroo…well…hehehe. Muffy seemed a bit more clued in than Rose at times.

I did enjoy Rose's visions. I would probably react the same as she did and blurt out what I saw.

I think I need to not read a Stephanie Plum and a Rose Gardner close together as they both have Joe's in it. Note to self. 

I can see many, many more books come after this one, all with thousands and thousands of ratings, so it is an ever popular series.

I like to call this one the Pilot read for me personally. Like you have in a TV series when they first start up.

I am giving this read a solid 3.5stars for many reasons. I found connecting with Joe a little difficult. I wanted to feel more for him. I liked him, but I wanted to like him more.

Rose was a little over the top ditzy at times. I get there is humor thrown in, but I like my female lead to be a bit smarter and not so blase about things that are quite serious. I felt like we changed directions several times and the plot was a little transparent when it should be a real mystery.

I can see from review ratings that I am quite within the area that a lot of readers rated and then of course thousands and thousands of four and five stars.

I think with this first installment for me, it was just, okay, but I will certainly be plowing my way through this whole series as I am rather addicted now to these fade to black ( in the sex department) mystery reads where the chick has this male sidekick who pops up when needed and shenanigans abound.

It is currently FREE on Amazon, so give it a go for yourself. You may well be a five or four star rater when you have finished.

I think this one would float about all over the place in ratings, depending on what you want from a good and humorous mystery read.

Onto, Twenty-Nine and a Half Reasons, next month.

BOOK REVIEW - AFTERSHOCK by JILL SORENSON - AFTERSHOCK # 1 - HARLEQUIN - SUSPENSE ROMANCE

By: JILL SORENSON

Published By: HARLEQUIN HQN

Released :Available Now

Details : Paperback from library, 374 Pages

RATING: 3.5 STARS

Blurb: Goodreads

THERE'S A FINE LINE...

As an emergency paramedic, Lauren Boyer is dedicated and highly capable. Until an earthquake strikes, trapping her beneath the freeway with a group of strangers--including Iraq war veteran Garrett Wright... 

...BETWEEN PERIL AND PASSION

Handsome and take-charge Garrett aids Lauren in her rescue efforts, even as the steely look in his eyes seems to hide dark secrets. When a gang of escaped convicts goes on the attack, Garrett's bravery makes him more than a courageous bystander to Lauren. If they can save the others before time runs out, maybe, just maybe, they can explore the fire igniting between them--if the truth about who he really is doesn't pull them apart forever....

BOOK REVIEW:

This is gonna be a tough review for me to write, but from seeing many a review citing some of my own thoughts, I realize that I am well within my reasonable opinion on Aftershock.

This is my first Jill Sorenson read and it probably won’t be my last.

In Australia, Cyclone Tracy in 1974, Darwin was our last devastating catastrophe of that nature. We don’t get earthquakes, maybe a tummy rumble every X amount of years.

My point being I can’t imagine what it is like in an earthquake situation like what happens in Aftershock where freeways come toppling down on each other crushing cars and leaving people buried and fighting for their lives.

Lauren Boyer an emergency paramedic is trapped beneath a freeway. Enter handsome ex-war veteran, Garret and throw in some prisoners who escaped their bus and shit is gonna get bad. The author has thrown in a small group of survivors fending off Jeb and Mickey. An unlikely friendship follows with Owen and a pregnant girl.

The two lead characters who should have led the way,  I had trouble believing in. I needed something more from these characters and I kept looking for it. 

I really liked Owen and Penny and I could have read about them the whole book. Garret and Lauren weren’t connecting with me. Things felt too contrived or rushed, or something. 

I felt as a reader story line was unfinished in places. I needed some more fleshing out and more emotion.

I still enjoyed this read. It just felt too staged is probably what I am trying to say. I give kudos for the gore and violence as Jeb and Mickey played their roles well.

To me this book read like the characters were in an apocalypse. If you hadn’t read about the start and what happened and you came in a few chapters in, that is how it honestly felt for me personally. It was a real fight for survival in a dark place where you had to forage for food, water, power. Not that this is a bad thing how I felt. I think Jill wrote that aspect well.

It’s great to see Penny and Owen get a story in, Badlands, Aftershock # 3. Owen was a great character even though he could really have won the good guys over by simply explaining why he had the tattoos he had. Again, this is where I say the story in parts felt forced rather than organic.

I did mostly enjoy this read. Lots of five stars have been thrown down and lots of three’s have as well. I think you are either gonna dig it, or be simply okay with Aftershock.

BOOK REVIEW - DANE by LILIANA HART - THE MACKENZIE FAMILY # 1 - ADULT CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

By: Liliana Hart

Published By: Liliana Hart

Released: Available Now

Details: Kindle, 51 pages

RATING: 3.5 DANE STARS!

Goodreads: Blurb

This is book #1 of the MacKenzie Brothers Quartet!

Bad boy, Dane MacKenzie, is coming home to Surrender, Montana. It's been ten years since he left the woman he loved behind to make a name for himself, and now he's bound and determined to claim her once and for all.

But Charlotte Munroe has no desire to welcome home the Prodigal Son with a fatted calf. The bitterness of Dane's betrayal runs deep, and she has no plans of letting him back into her life.
Especially since she's trying to protect the son Dane isn't aware exists from heartbreak, since she's sure he's only going to walk out of their lives again.

BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

I finally cracked open a Mackenzie brother read.

Dane is free on Amazon.

It is short.

I checked on Goodreads and my rating is about average as I feel soooo terrible when I rate under four stars for a book.

I read a lot.

I review a lot of books.

I think I am very fair with my rating being 3.5 stars.

There isn’t a lot of meat in this sanga, but I really enjoyed the meat I got to taste.

Dane has good meat.

That shouldn’t sound dirty, not really.



He was harder than he’d been at twenty-two. His rangy body corded with muscle, and his skin darkened by the sun. His golden hair hung shaggy over his ears and collar, and his eyes—God, his eyes were the same pale, crystalline blue—but they were harder, steeled by things she could probably never imagine.



An uber quick read that would have shined for me with some fleshing out of the characters and story line.

I got an entree of what could have been a decent hearty feed for myself, but at the same time the taste I got, I enjoyed.

I shall be going onto the next course shortly because once you get a taste...

Michelle

#1.1

INTRODUCTIONS by C.L. STONE - THE GHOST BIRD # 1 - YA CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

By: C.L. Stone

Published By: Arcato Publishing

Released: Available Now

Details: Kindle, 280 Pages

RATING: 3.5 STARS

Blurb: Goodreads

With an agoraphobic mother and a barely-there father, Sang abhors the isolation keeping her in the shadows. The only thing Sang craves is a fresh start and to be accepted as ordinary by her peers, because for her being different meant being cast out alone.

When her family moves to a new school district, Sang infiltrates a group of boys nearly perfect in every way. Grateful for an influence outside of her parents’ negativity, she quickly bonds with the boys, hoping to blend in and learn from them what it means to have a natural relationship with friends.

Only the boys have secrets of their own and they’ll do anything to keep her safe from the knowledge of the mysterious Academy that they've sworn allegiance to. Bit by bit, Sang discovers that her friends are far from the normalcy she expected. Will her loyalty change when she's forced to remain in the dark, or will she accept that she's traded one house of secrets for another?

Meet Kota, Victor, Silas, Nathan, Gabriel, Luke and North in a story about differences and loyalty, truth and mystery, friendships and heart-throbbing intimacy.

The Academy, ever vigilant.

BOOK REVIEW by Michelle

I am going to admit that I had to sit and think about this review for a couple days.

I have had this free on Amazon for quite some time and I have also bought some of the other books in this series.

Where to begin?

Ok, I think this is one YA book where I am left a bit all over the place how I feel about it.

There is good and bad for me personally and this is just my personal thoughts, but in saying that I am rather addicted to read more.

Hence...why I am feeling a bit all over the place.

There are seven lads, they are all introduced one by one in this book, aptly titled, Introductions.

There is not much else.

These lads are all yummy. Gabriel, I am still trying to work out. He just made me laugh with what he wanted to do with Sang.

Gabriel was about Victor's height though a little slimmer in the hips. His hair hung long around his chin but brushed back away from his face. Two locks of hair, one tucked behind each ear, were colored a lighter shade of blond. The rest of his hair was a rich brown. His eyes were crystal-like, bright blue, excited and wild. He had a couple rings on each of his hands and stud earrings in each ear, his right ear had three more rings going up along the top. He wore jeans and a neon green tank shirt which showed off lean, but defined biceps.


"And what do you call this look? Wet shag?" His fingers fell over my hair, lightly tugging at the knots.

Victor toed at Gabriel's back to poke at him. "Leave her alone."

"Hey, I'm fixing it." He smoothed out my hair at the tips, starting with combing out the ends. "I'm going to detangle it, but we're going to wash it out and then dry it."


Gabriel patted my now smoothed strands of hair. Soft curls fell around my shoulders, still wet but now brushed. "Your color is amazing," he said." How is it so many different colors?"


..."Let's go wash it. I want to blow dry it and see how it looks."


Anyhoo, I tangent.

The actual story is quite simply written. There isn’t any great depth to it and it feels kinda like, seven dwarves ( although they are far from dwarves ), a princess, a wicked mum, a rather out of the picture dad and this really weird reverse harem.

I only just learned what a reverse harem aka RH was.

These lads are kind of weirdly and sorta intimately all over Sang, but they have only just met her, one by one, one after the other.

Silas was on my right, his arm behind me against the back of the couch. North and Kota were on the floor in front of us. We were watching the roadrunner and the coyote battling it out. I had taken my sandals off and put them by the door. I felt North's hand on my foot. He traced the edge of my small toe. At least I think he was. He was stone still otherwise. I wasn't sure what to do. As it was Silas's arm warmed my shoulders. I couldn't calm myself down enough to focus on cartoons.

I'm trying to work them out, as they can be toon watchers and then all Ninja, then hair washing and all in touch with their new friend feelings.

Mum’s character feels very forced. That is the best way I can describe her. I was like Wt... is your problem? I wasn't quite sure of what her problem was. It just seemed to be there, serving a purpose for the story.

Onto the lads.

Kota, aka Dakota, Victor, Silas, Nathan, Gabriel, Luke ( reminds me of the early days Travis Fimmel) and North ( twin to Luke) are all buff, gorgeous lads.

I can only assume they are all around seventeen years old.

Then we get Dr. Green and Mr Blackbourne.

Now to give you a better picture of these lads, visually, I have copied ( sharing is caring) another reviewer’s casting to help you see these lads, better.

Here is link to said reviewers , review, just so I am crediting where credit is due. 

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1235211261?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1 

Nathan smoothly touched the bottom with a palm. His shirt and shoes were off. When his head and chest rose out of the water, I was in awe of the muscles that were defined in his body. Unlike Silas whose bulk of muscle was smooth, Nathan was a precision machine. The ripples of muscles along his abdomen fit together like a living puzzle.

On Goodreads the whole series rates very well and I can see I am in the minority. I would put it down to being very well read over many genres and age brackets and expecting more from a YA read and its characters. I may well get that in the next book and so forth, but this is how I felt about the first book.

So, it is kind of me and how I am personally feeling as the majority are 4 and 5 star ratings, which is awesome. I'm very happy that so many other readers got so much out of this book.

I think what made me all weirded out is all the lads act quite personally towards Sang and she is a bit of a naive bunny, due to reasons, and having seven lads quite into you straight up is...well...kinda weird. No build up. Insta friends.

I was going to take another bite of my sandwich when Gabriel reached over and took my wrist. He looked right at me, never wavering his gaze and then brought the sandwich to his face, with me holding it still, and took a small bite.


But from a younger reader’s perspective, that would be one heck of a nice feeling to have. These lads are all easy on the eye and simply took to her like a fish to water, taking bites from her sandwich, doing her hair, buying her a phone, looking after, spending the night...

BAM! Sang is our friend and that is that. I think that is what I was looking for...build up. 

I am so intrigued to read more because naturally there is much more to tell.

I won’t say what little more I learned in the last few percent of the read, but I will be definitely reading more.

I feel addicted to know more.

And why couldn't I stop thinking about how affectionately they had touched me? Or the way their eyes looked at me? Over and over again, I saw Luke's happiness as he daydreamed about the diner in the chapel, and North's smile after the ride on his bike. I thought of Victor's purchase of Winter, and Silas holding me to his body, of Gabriel doing my hair, Nathan's shirt, and Kota's hands as he held mine.

Yup! Every young girls dream to have seven guys so into her.  

I need to know more!

Note to self; Hubs needs to be pulling a few of these moves. Hair washing and blow drying sounds kinda nice. Dudes gotta lift his game, Sang has seven of them all over her.

SEVEN!!!!

Michelle

BOOK REVIEW - KING HALL by SCARLETT DAWN - FOREVER EVERMORE # 1 - ESCAPE PUBLISHING - YA PARANORMAL ROMANCE

By : Scarlett Dawn
Published By: Escape Publishing
Released: Available Now
Details: 

RATING: 3.5 EZRA STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

A fresh, meaty, sink-your-teeth-in-and-hold-on-tight new adult fantasy series kicks off with King Hall…

King Hall — where the Mysticals go to learn their craft, get their degrees, and transition into adulthood. And where four new Rulers will rise and meet their destinies.

Lily Ruckler is adept at one thing: survival. Born a Mystical hybrid, her mere existence is forbidden, but her nightmare is only about to start. Fluke, happenstance, and a deep personal loss finds Lily deeply entrenched with those who would destroy her simply for existing — The Mystical Kings. Being named future Queen of the Shifters shoves Lily into the spotlight, making her one of the most visible Mysticals in the world. But with risk comes a certain solace — her burgeoning friendships with the other three Prodigies: a wicked Vampire, a wild-child Mage, and a playboy Elemental. Backed by their faith and trust, Lily begins to relax into her new life.

Then chaos erupts as the fragile peace between Commoners and Mysticals is broken, and suddenly Lily realises the greatest threat was never from within, and her fear takes on a new name: the revolution.

BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

When a book starts with sex education and regular bananas and extra-large bananas and we are informed from the word go that Commoners, aka coms, aka humans, are regular banana sized and Mysticals are well endowed, much more so than a male Commoner, it made me look at the male Mysticals in this book in a new light.

What?

The bar was set.

I couldn’t help thinking that Ezra and Jack and Felix had an extra-large donger.

Mysticals are very sexual beings we have this explained to us. I did think from the get go with all this sexual talk that the book was going to possibly go into more detail, but I can report this is a very clean read. I think there was more of a tease going on. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I would probably put this book in YA genre. I know the blurb states New Adult but it simply didn't read like a NA read.

Rambling to the front of the room, Mrs Fowler sat the basket on her desk and dug into it. She cleared her throat, lifting an extra-large banana high into the air. “Mysticals are naturally more endowed than Commoners.” With her other hand, she raised a regular sized banana, holding them side-by-side. Point made.

I really liked the dynamics between the four future kings and queens. Ezra would be my fave, he would be the uber sexy future Vampire King. Pearl is the future Queen Mage and Jack is the future Elemental King.

Lily is our female lead and she is a very likable character. I liked her friendship with Ezra the most.

I am trying to be careful with what I say about story line so ...that is all I can say.

I did enjoy the current Kings and their process of training and teaching the future Kings and Queens. They did like to amuse themselves.

I would like to see more of Broderick Dressler, he was only in King Hall for a blink of an eye, but I kinda liked him.

I really enjoyed the couple twists I felt that grabbed me, in King Hall.

This review is a hard one to write because although I enjoyed King Hall and its characters and I can see from Goodreads how much the majority really loved it, I felt it was a good start to this series. I felt there were parts of the story line that jumped about a bit and some parts that were for me personally, slow and not necessary and a bit drawn out.

I think for a paranormal read I would have liked a bit more action and I am at a bit of a loss as to why they kept getting attacked. I think I needed parts fleshed out more for me personally. Sometimes I may have felt like story line was just there. If that makes sense? I think it came down to more meat in the sanga for me or I would have rated it a lot higher. There is action, but...

I could say more here but I won’t. A lot of readers absolutely loved this book. I am in a reasonable sized minority, ( Goodreads only) who didn't five or four star it . I liked it but I wanted to love it.

This review is just my one personal opinion.

I have been intrigued to read this series for some time now. I started King Hall a while back but got busy so I had to put it down. I am so ever glad I got to finally read it. I will definitely be reading King Cave. 

I'm expecting BIG things from King Cave after watching the trailer below.

Michelle

BOOK REVIEW - COUNTDOWN by MICHELLE ROWEN - YA DYSTOPIAN SUSPENSE - HARLEQUIN TEEN

By: Michelle Rowen

Published By: Harlequin Teen

Released : Available Now

Details: paperback from publisher for honest review, 

RATING: 3.5 STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

3 seconds left to live. Once the countdown starts, it cannot be stopped.

2 pawns thrown into a brutal underground reality game.

Kira Jordan survived her family's murder and months on plague-devastated city streets with hard-won savvy and a low-level psi ability. She figures she can handle anything. Until she wakes up in a barren room, chained next to the notorious Rogan Ellis.

1 reason Kira will never, ever trust Rogan. Even though both their lives depend on it.

Their every move is controlled and televised for a vicious exclusive audience. And as Kira's psi skill unexpectedly grows and Rogan's secrets prove evermore deadly, Kira's only chance of survival is to risk trusting him as much as her instincts. Even if that means running head-on into the one trap she can't escape.

GAME OVER


BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

I love dystopian reads, the world authors can create for the reader can be outstanding, the book can make it to the big screen.

I have read previous works by Michelle and enjoyed them. 

Countdown was a read that I had some difficulty with.

There were parts I loved. I totally dug the start of this book, even if it gave off a strong SAW, the movie , vibe.

Two people unconscious, chained in a room, one wounded , both have keys to the others lock. Who trusts who?

Let the game begin!

I felt this was a strong start to this book with great potential. I really liked Rogan. I felt for him. I thought his character could have been amazing, but it took a bit of a backseat to the shit his life had turned into. I felt I was missing a character connection with both Kira and Rogan to me.

Now, this is just my personal one opinion and I have checked other reviews out prior to writing mine. Not something I do often.

I desperately wanted to love this book, because it is a genre I LOVE.

I love fast paced reads.

I found from just looking on Goodreads only, that readers either felt like me, or loved this book. It is awesome that other readers got so much more from this read than I did.

So I gather it’s just a case of some will , some won’t.

Hey, we can’t all like the same book. My thoughts are nothing against Michelle, they are just maybe my frustration at the story line.

My personal thoughts.

I felt the game felt too easily resolved in each level. The story had too much convenience in solutions to the drama Kira and Rogan were in.

“How did you know to ring the bell?”

I finally looked at him. “Lucky guess.”

“Yes,” a voice said. “Very lucky indeed.”

I didn’t believe from the start that Rogan was the guy portrayed to the reader. It felt a bit forced.

I think the number of pages turned, gave me indication in areas of how these two would survive. What I mean is, when you aren’t very far into the book and you are already a few levels out of six completed, I could tell they would make it.

Sometimes a book can be too fast paced for it’s own storyline good.

There were some twists to extend the story outside of the game, which I very much enjoyed.


I can’t help thinking that epic fail number 1 for any type of game/hunting situation, is not having a tracking doodah inserted into the players. Maybe the Producer was too confident in his levels and players abilities. I know they had implants, but that is different.

To me this led to convenience for the storyline.

I had questions about the storyline. Why was Kira’s family murdered and not her? I understand that her family got in the way. I know that a certain person was hired to do it, but if she was the target originally, by some mystery villain?? , why not come back for her at a later date. I just have questions about that part. She was obviously important enough that a person was hired to knock her off, two years earlier. This person just gave up after his first attempt didn’t pan out for him. It was a paid job. I understand she flew the coop, but...

WT!

Kira’s association with the Producer came from a more random entry. It felt too easy considering what we find later on.

I understand the weaving of characters being connected, but...?

Why would you shut your eyes in front of the person who has to kill you to advance in the game. I know they asked for you to use your PSI on them, but ultimately for them to survive the level, they had to kill you. I found that a bit odd. Then you take the time to search their mind. I know they asked you to, again, WT! I know it was so the reader got this information, but...WT!!

Characters gave up information, kind of easily. I felt myself rolling my eyes a fair bit while reading. Things appeared too easy so the story could move forward even though it was a difficult situation, if that makes sense.


Jonathan knew who instigated the virus, but never did anything about it??

WT!!

But wanted to, when it was nearly too late?? Considering , again, what we find out in the story.

Sometimes the dialogue annoyed me a little.

“Well that’s rude,” Gareth said, shaking his head. “Honestly, kids. You don’t even want to apologize to me for ruining my plans yet again?”



“There’s one more level beneath this one,” XXXX said. “I was supposed to start working down there soon.” He sighed. “I guess that’s not going to happen anymore.”


Now, if you knew the circumstances, you would understand why it annoyed me, but there were other things about the dialogue too. I think that is up to interpretation, but I found myself rolling my eyes.


“I’m recovering.” I hobbled along quickly on my injured ankle. “Call me crazy, but I don’t think sucking in poisonous gas until you’re almost dead is something you can just shake off.”


You and me sister, yet you did just shake it off. You got that shiz inside you, it is deadly.

I’m trying not to sound rude. I am frustrated. I am annoyed with myself for not loving this book. In saying that , I did enjoy parts of the book.

Some readers totally loved this book, so my opinion is very different to theirs.

Which is magnificent.

Give it a try if you like a dystopian, game read.

You may be a total lover of Countdown and think I am bat-shit crazy and throw a pillow at me.

And, I am ok with that :) 

Michelle

BLOG TOUR - REVIEW & GIVEAWAY - SPELLBOUND by SYLVIA DAY - WILLIAM MORROW

Synopsis:

By: Sylvia Day
Published By: William Morrow
Released: Available Now
Details: Digital for honest review, 208 Pages

RATING: 3.5 SYLVIA STARS!!

Blurb: Goodreads

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Sylvia Day comes a story of the ultimate seduction. . . 

Max Westin. Sex incarnate. She could smell it, feel it with his proximity. Everything about him was a little rough, a little gritty. He was a primitive creature. Just like her.

He held her hand a little too long, his gaze, under thick lashes, clearly stating his intention to have her. To tame her. . . .

"Victoria."

Her name, just one word, but spoken with such possession she could almost feel the collar around her neck.

"It's in your nature," he murmured. "The desire to be taken."

In this game of cat and mouse, everything is an illusion, but the passion is as real as it gets. . . .


BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

Ok, I am going to have to think a little differently when writing this review.

Why?

Beause I just LOVE Sylvia Day’s books. Crossfire Trilogy alone has garnered more than 422,500 ratings and the stars are around 4.24 on Goodreads, alone.

She has sold over twelve million books in Crossfire alone, around the globe.

The woman can write.

I have met her in person and she hugged every darn person in that line waiting for her signature and a moment of her time.

Such an uber nice lady.

So shiz got real when I read Spellbound.

I have to pretend in my mind that Sylvia didn’t write it, so I can write my review. Now I am not sounding mean. Far from it. I totally respect Sylvia but I have had to lower the stars on this book and it pains me to no end.

Because. I LOVE Sylvia.

I always deliver a honest review, so I must stick with it.

This is again just my personal opinion out of an ocean of thoughts from other readers.

Ok, my thoughts are.

I totally can see that Sylvia wanted to deliver a paranormal romance with lots of sex, an awesome Alpha lad and a girl that didn’t want to be tamed and she wanted to try something different. 

Or somebody wanted to try something different. The end result being Spellbound.

Spellbound is made up of three novellas. Which is cool. I love me a novella, but I felt a bit like I was speed dating the characters and I got me a bit of whiplash.

The time jumps were leaving me having to tidy my hair. Bam! Two weeks went by. By the end two years had flown by. 

I didn’t see them fly by.

I of course got told, but I felt like I was missing some good stuff that should be in there.

I think I wanted to know more. Let me just throw an example out there, 'Max, do you like Pino Colada's and getting caught in the rain?' Now I could probably say he doesn't, but you get my drift.

Now the sex. Like, dudes. There is lots and lots of sex. I am by far a prude.

Oh no.

E.L. James, Sylvia , Olivia Cunning and Joey W Hill, totally educated me on some of the more...um...well, you’ve most probably read some of these authors. You know the angle I am coming from with all the accessories etc.

I can't believe I am having a slight issue with the amount of sex. 

What I am probably trying to convey is that the ratio of story line/plot to sex was pretty close, especially in first novella. I think the sex out numbered the story line.

Slight exaggeration, possibly. 

I LOVED the idea, a Familiar, being Victoria, who falls rapidly in love with her Hunter, Max Westin. Warlocks are normally paired up with a Familiar. They don't fall in love.

Darius is her ex who has departed this world. He is a pretty cool guy.

Victoria doesn’t want to be tamed. She is feral, gone rogue, without needing to be put down. Max, the hunk of burning love...well, he loves her so he is risking getting into a spot of bother with The High Council, but, he says that famous one word we like to hear in a book.

MINE.

So that is that. She is his and all that jazz.

Then we get onto the second novella. And we burn through that puppy pretty quickly with a whole bunch of , sex and some more sex with a cherry on top.

Then we get to novella three and I gotta tell you this is where my rating went up. It was longer, more satisfying and yes there was lots of sex...and some more sex, but there was more of a story, too. Now in all fairness when they get jiggy with it, she transfers her power to him and he does something and it bounces back to her, whilst they do the funky chicken,on the wild side.

I got some of that filler inner I needed. There was a villain or two and a biatchhy ex and all that good stuff that builds a story up.

And I got me a quote, that I LOVED.

“I hunt and I catch. I caught you. I’ve kept you. And I’ll come home to you. Don’t try to leash me, kitten. I won’t have it and you wouldn’t want it.”

The good thing is after the third novella, I totally could see me reading a full length , juiced up novel on Max and Victoria and I liked the sound of Masters, too.

So, again I want to repeat. I feel pretty darn bad that I can’t be uber excited about Spellbound. But I still thought it had some great stuff in it, along the way. I will always pick up a Sylvia Day book to read.

Because, I do love her writing...99% of the time. Just this one teensy weensy time. 

It may be me.

Everybody else may read it and then throw pillows at my head for writing this review. To that I say, 'Awesome, I love that you loved it.'

I kinda feel like I should give Sylvia her hug back, but I will keep it for her next awesome book I read :) 

I mean, how many authors at a book signing , hug every single person when they get their items signed?

Michelle

About the Author: 

SYLVIA DAY is the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over a dozen novels. A wife and mother, she is a former Russian linguist for the US Army Military Intelligence Corps. She's been honored with the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award, the National Readers' Choice Award, the EPPIE Award, the Readers' Crown, and multiple finalist nominations for Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA Award of Excellence.

LINKS :

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SylDay

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSylviaDay

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19823.Sylvia_Day?from_search=true

Website: http://www.sylviaday.com

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BLOG TOUR & GIVEAWAY - ONE WEEK by ELISABETH STAAB - HALESTORM # 1 - ADULT CONTEMPORAY CORPORATE ROMANCE

One Week

(HaleStorm Series, bk #1)

By Elisabeth Staab

HE HAS A LEGACY TO SAVE…

Michael Hale's company is in jeopardy. In the wake of his father's death and transitioning to CEO, projects are circling the drain and that may cost him everything. Come to find out, the consultant hired to fix things is the "one who got away" many years ago. This time he's playing for keeps, and he intends to win.

SHE SHOULD NEVER SAY NEVER…

Elise Jackson swore she wouldn't come near Michael Hale again. He sucker punched her professionally, and he broke her heart. Still, a job’s a job, and they can both be adults. But high emotion and late nights working lead to passion neither of them can deny.

They have one week. Can the two of them pull Michael's company out of the fire and heal their old wounds?

Available for purchase at 

         

Excerpt 

“I should have looked for you.” He wrapped his arms around her and groaned aloud at the warmth and softness of her skin against his. The rough texture of her nipples against his chest, the dampness of her hair on his shoulder. “Just touching you makes me crazy. My God, Elise. I should have known. Fuck, I did know, and I ignored it. I’m so goddamned stupid.”

“You’re not stupid.”

“I am stupid.” Michael gripped her hips—fucking luscious, curvy hips—and ran his hands up that amazing hourglass arc in her waist and over her shoulders, reveling in the magic of Elise’s hands giving him the same treatment. “I’m stupid because I thought I could push you away all those years ago and I’d forget and find someone else who turned me on as much as your hand bumping my knee under a cubicle desk. Christ, I tried to tell myself it was all innocent, but I lived for every second.”

“Oh my God.” Elise’s eyes flew wide, her cheeks flushed in the low light of her bedroom. “I had no idea.”

“You must have, if you gathered up the nerve to kiss me.” He bent her back, one hand braced between her shoulders, the other gripping her ass, trailing kisses along her jaw. Their only-for-tonight agreement be damned, already he didn’t want to let her go.

“I hoped.” She gripped his shoulders, smiling. “If I’m being honest, all that accidentally bumping your knee wasn't so much an accident.”

BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

By: Elisabeth Staab

Published By: Elisabeth Staab

Released : Available Now

Details: Digital for honest review, 220 Pages

RATING: 3.5 CORPORATE ROMANCE STARS

I have really enjoyed Elisabeth’s Chronicles of Yavn, paranormal series. Now, Elisabeth has written an Adult Contemporary Corporate Romance.

One Week is the first installment in the Halestorm Series.

I’ve got to say , Elise kept surprising me with what appears quite a clean cut appearance at first, but then...she is full of surprises.

Michael Hale and Elise Jackson go back five years. She was an intern and only twenty one years old, he was thirty. A kiss lead to Elise feeling rejected and she hoped to never see Michael again.

Five years later she finds herself contracted to Halestorm and Michael is now heading the company and all its problems.

This is a story with sabotage on the menu. I have to admit, I thought I had the villain pegged, but I did not. I liked that Elisabeth gave me several possibilities.

Good job.

I did laugh out loud at Elise who is so organized and efficient, being a little low on ...err...clean clothes.

This was a quick read. I would have loved a bit more depth to the characters and plot. I did get a little brain muddled with the corporate office talk. That would be my fault as I have not been in an office in a very long time.

I really liked Elise’s little quirky purple stationary fetish and her roommate Jeff, the go go dancer. He was a bit of sidekick fun injected into the story.

An enjoyable corporate romance read from the lovely Elisabeth.

Michelle

About the Author

Elisabeth Staab still lives with her nose in a book and at least one foot in an imaginary world. She believes that all kinds of safe and sane love should be celebrated but she adores the fantasy-filled realm of paranormal romance the best. She lives in the Washington DC area with her family and one big scaredy cat, where she loves to spend time with good friends, go dancing, collect wacky coffee mugs from which to drink her favorite beverage, and sing off-key in her kitchen (when she isn’t making characters fall in love, that is).

You can stalk her, I mean find her at

         

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