Title:Before Hadley

Author : J. Nathan

Series:n/A

Release date: 14 Mar 2016

Rating : 4 Stars

What’s worse than a cocky new guy at school? A cocky new guy with a killer body and the attention of the entire female student body. Hadley can tell the minute she lays eyes on Caynan that he’s someone to avoid. He may have looks and charm, but he’s also got heartbreak written all over his pretty face.Unfortunately for Hadley, Caynan has his sights set on her. She’s the one girl who doesn’t want him. The one girl who’s turned off by his charm. The one girl who challenges him like no other. And, though she couldn’t possibly know the truth about him, she seems to be the one girl who really sees him. But with Caynan, things aren’t at all what they seem. His secrets have secrets and everything out of his mouth straddles the line between truth and fiction. He knows better than to get involved with anyone, especially with his time limited in the new town, but he just can’t seem to get Hadley out of his mind. Too bad for him, secrets never remain secrets for long.

“Before Hadley” by J. Nathan is not your average teenage romance. You would not do the writing and character development justice if you claimed it to just that.

There is a lot more to this book than you might think at first.

Hadley and Caynan are an explosive couple and the development their relationship takes is far from average.

The characters development received a lot of attention by the author so it was an emotional rollercoaster to follow the events of the plot.

Just always remember – when you talk about a “Before” there is always an “After” and Love is not always pretty

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Title:Still

Author : Ann Mayburn

Series:Long Slow Tease #1

Release date:April 8th 2013

Rating : 4 Stars

Dr. Michelle Sapphire and Gunnery Sergeant Wyatt Callahan formed an unbreakable bond and an unacknowledged, forbidden attraction to each other while serving together in Afghanistan. Their lives are forever changed when a mortar attack grievously wounds Wyatt and Michelle brings him back from the brink of death. But when they both return to the civilian world, Michelle discovers that her rock-solid Marine is suffering from severe PTSD and may even be suicidal.Wyatt Callahan fell hard for the aristocratic blonde doctor the moment he laid eyes on her. After reentering civilian life in his hometown near Austin, Texas, Wyatt is plagued by nightmares of the death and suffering he witnessed during the war. He’d love to reach out to Michelle, but — Michelle is a Dominatrix, and she has made it very clear to Wyatt she isn’t interested in a relationship with anyone who doesn’t accept her lifestyle. An Alpha male to the core, he can’t imagine the appeal of being submissive. At the same time, the idea of serving Michelle, of being everything she wants and needs, rings true in his wounded soul.Michelle has dark secrets of her own, and together with Wyatt she will have to battle her personal demons during their emotional journey of healing, redemption, and love.

I doubt that there was any question what the nature of this book is when you look at its cover.

But it has been a long time that I was so confused about whether or no I should request an ARC of a book or not.

There is always “another first” (yes Christian Grey #eyeroll) for anything. So I read a lot of BDSM books with male Doms but this would have been my first female Dom (If I am not counting Lady Heather of CSI Vegas).

So where I was basically at a loss if I would like the story judging from that point of view – there was also the Blurb and that had me intrigued.

The approach to mix BDSM and PTSD was interesting so I kind of needed to find out if that might work.

In the End, I was staring a long time at the cover. And somehow this book confirms again to me the importance of a good developed cover idea (I have been ranting about that subject often lately – and I really start to hate places like IStock).

This cover is just perfect. It tells the story of the book without using words. It kind of made the story beautiful. So when I decided I wanted to read the book, I was not disappointed, the story could keep up with what the cover was promising.

The writing was good and well developed characters were greeting the reader with a story that was intriguing and kept me interested from beginning to end.

I am not sure it will be my favorite genre anytime soon as I somehow cannot totally relate to the submissive being male – but that is really ONLY me and has totally NOTHING to do with the book.

Because for this one book even I was “converted” to a believer.Because this plot just worked so please enjoy it …

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Title:Out of Play

Author :Nyrae Dawn & Jolene Perry

Series:N/A

Release date:August 6th 2013

Rating : 4 Stars

Rock star drummer Bishop Riley just needs a few months to relax and detox before his band’s next tour. But the last place he expected to do it is in Seldon, Alaska. And the last person he wants to do it with is Penny Jones.Fiery, headstrong Penny has zero in common with the cocky, too-hot-for-his-own-good Bishop, and she’d like to keep it that way. But the more Bishop gets under her skin, the more she wants to let him in. And the more Penny lets him see, the more Bishop wants to know this stubborn girl with the killer body and soulful eyes.The simmering heat between them won’t go away, no matter how hard either of them tries. Their time together in Alaska may be running out—but so is their resolve for not taking a chance on love.

This book was a surprise to me. I went into it expecting a light teenage romance – but I got a real good developed story that felt real. If the Blurbs sounds interesting to you – I would encourage you to read it.

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Title:Wasted

Author : Morgan Black

Series:Dirty Boys of Chicago Book 1

Release date:24 Feb 2016

Rating : 3 Stars

I wanted to kill that bastard.Xavier Santini ripped my family apart. Now it was my turn for revenge.I’d do whatever it takes to avenge the family name.I’d even pretend to fall in love with him.But then he looked at me, with those dark gray eyes.I was hooked.The family will kill me for what I’ve done.I fell in love with a murderer. I’ve wanted her since the moment I met her.But it’s been ten years.I’ve been in prison.Locked away from the one woman I couldn’t have.I’d kill again to keep her safe.To make her mine.Wasted is a FULL LENGTH, Standalone with NO CLIFFHANGER and a HEA.For a limited time, it also includes a bonus novel, Uncovered.

When I found “Wasted” the first book in Morgan Black’s new series “A Dirty Boys of Chicago” I was a little unsure if it would be a book for me.

In our Blog we have certain reading specialties and “Mob” books are usually more Lauren’s than my “Thing” but the Blurb had this Bad Boy flair about it so I thought I would try it.

And basically I was not wrong.

This book has on its Pro side a lot of bad boy vibes and while I could not really connect with the female lead – the connection with our bad boy lead was perfectly fine (#wink) …

But the con side of the book also weights heavy – while I thought I might have an issue with the mob subject – which turned out totally fine against my expectations. My problems came from a totally different side. It was the pace of the story that was off.

The story is missing a constant flow. At times the story runs like hell and at others it just drags on. And the reader feels like ends just do not meet up.

If I add that to the total Insta love feeling that is floating above the whole story I cannot help but only give the book 3 stars.

Still it is an interesting start in a promising new series – and as I have seen many series turn out totally fine even if their first books had hick-ups – I would not be surprised if this series would be one of them.

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Title:Cruel Water

Author : Freya Barker

Series:Portland, ME, novels Book 2

Release date: 03 Mar 2016

Rating : 4 Stars

Innocence marked her…Violation crippled her…Love left her raw…The life she carefully rebuilt is challenged when she is confronted with the sins from her past. The carefully applied protection is at once ripped away, leaving her exposed and vulnerable.Her single night of indulgence with the silver-eyed stranger is only the beginning. He sees right to the heart of her and she is unable to ward off emotions that have been deeply buried. With the sting of betrayal still fresh in her soul, she’s surprised to find herself opening up to the honest integrity of the sharp-eyed, rough-looking biker.When he lost everyone who mattered, he was left without roots and learned to be content simply living in the moment. Completely unprepared for the feisty blonde bartender with old pain marring her clear-blue eyes, he questions his own rules of detachment, as she unwittingly finds a way under his skin.Appearances deceive and when the masks fall away, revealing deep, dark secrets, there is nothing left but to hang onto each other and survive the storm.

“Cruel Water” is not my first rodeo with author Freya Barker. So I had a pretty good idea what I was getting myself into.

In comparison to “From dust” the first of the “Portland ME” series her new book is a little “less” intense.

Which might be due to the fact that the characters are already familiar and the plotline is not as mysterious.

But do not get me wrong when I say “less” or “not as” .. there is still a lot more to that story than many other stories have to offer.

It is just that “From Dust” was SO intense that it will always be difficult to compete with.

I already knew Viv from the first book and I was looking forward to her story. So Ms. Barker did not disappoint when she delivered.

There have probably been many man to try to solve the mystery that is Viv. But it wasn’t until Ike entered the picture that there was finally a man that had the slightest chance to even come really close to her.

And while he is trying to solve the mystery that is Viv he gets drawn in and in the end gets more that he signed in for.

The reader will have no other choice than to keep his fingers crossed that those two will finally see what is right in front of them.

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Title:Undone

Author :Callie Harper

Series:Volume 1

Release date:March 14th 2016

Rating : 4 Stars

Take one bad boy rock god. Mix slowly with one wholesome librarian. Add a dash of paparazzi, a twist of scandal, and you won’t believe how good this dish tastes.

Ash

It’s pretty easy being a rock god. Party. Perform. P*ssy. Repeat. I’m 26 and it’s worked for me for years. Until I was caught ripping out the heart of America’s Sweetheart in a video gone viral. Now #HatePlayerAsh is trending on Twitter, she’s writing a song about how much I suck and I’m in desperate need image rehab, fast. Good thing paparazzi chased me into that library. Had I not ducked under that desk I never would have found myself next to the long, sexy legs and disapproving gaze of Anika Ivanov. In my world of use and get used, she’s a unicorn. A kind, 24-year-old, hard-working, family-oriented children’s librarian. My agent agrees, she’s the one to set everything right. All she needs to do is fake a month-long public romance, let the world see me fall hard for her, then dump me in a brutal, public display. It’s genius. Now I just have to convince her to agree. And convince myself that the only reason I want to spend the month with her is to improve my image. It’s not her full, luscious lips or her soft, seductive laugh or those fantasies I keep having of tying her down to my bed as I make her quiver and pant and call out my name.

Ana

Ash Black. In my library. Under my desk. It’s hard to believe it happened. I’ve listened to his voice so many times, my favorite soundtrack as I walk the streets of New York. My secret bad boy crush, the smoldering, shirtless star of the tabloids, all muscles and tattoos. Then one day he shows up and kisses me in my break room. What’s even crazier is how he wants me to spend the next month. At his shows in L.A., San Francisco and Vegas, candlelight dinners in New York and Paris. He wants the world to believe he’s fallen in love. With me. I’ve got to say no. He’s a walking disaster with a dirty mouth and wicked hands that melt my panties right off of me. This month would take everything in my well-ordered, neat little life and shake it up like a snowglobe. Then why am I so tempted to say yes?

.

Opening an encyclopedia and check under “smug” you should probably find a picture of “Ash” … the newest leading character in Callie Harper’s book “Undone”.

He is so cocky it borders on annoying – but only borders… as he is also kind of endearing so far once you manage to ignore his attitude

.

Lets wait how he develops later in the next part.

## It’s pretty easy being a rock god. Party. Perform. P*ssy. Repeat.##

Ana – well she is a Liberian in so many ways, that you actually believe her part – but – then on the other hand she is totally not the “geek” or “nerd” or whatever you would have expected her to be… yes I guess

##Unicorn## is a good word for her.

The plot itself is not unique but the characters make reading it very enjoyable. The writing is good and so far the characters are likable. Lets wait on the next part to see how the story develops.

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Title:All of It

Author : Kim Holden

Series:N/A

Release date:December 4th 2013

Rating : 4 Stars

Seventeen-year-old VERONICA SMITH has it all: a loving family, a funky car named Jezebel, and a plan to go to college after graduation. On the first day of senior year, she meets DIMITRI GLENN–a mysterious transfer student with gray eyes and a mischievous smile who seems determined to win her heart. But there’s something odd about Dimitri, leading Veronica to wonder if there’s more to him than meets the eye. Before long, she finds herself in a whirlwind romance that seems too good to be true–until a series of devastating events leaves her questioning everything. It’s not until she chooses to think with her heart instead of her mind that she can rise from the ashes to learn the truth of their connection.

Re-Reading time ….

Not sure when I read the book the first time but it felt good to come back to it. When you need the feeling that “Everything will be OK in the End” than this is one of the “Go to” books.

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Slave to the Rhythm

Jane Harvey-Berrick

N/A

Release date : March 8th 2016

Rating : 5 Stars

Blurb :

DANCE. Guns.

MUSIC. Bullets.

RHYTHM. Pain.

Music in my head, dance in my body, the rhythm of my heart. How far can you fall in just one month?

How quickly can the human spirit be broken?

Where does evil hide in plain sight?

Ash wants to dance. Needs it. To leave behind a life of expectation and duty, to set his soul free. But life is never that simple. Every step is a journey on a new road.For every action, there is a reaction.

Every choice has a consequence.

And when you meet the wrong person, all bets are off.

Laney tolerates her limitations, pushing quietly at boundaries. But when Ash crashes into her world through rage and violence, it sets off a chain reaction that neither of them expected.

♫♪ ♫♪ ♫♪ ♫ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♫ ♪♫♪

A long time ago I made myself a promise not to say that I am a fan of an actor as long as that particular actor was only on my “good side” and I loved all of his roles.

Only when I could honestly say that I dislike – better yet – straight on HATED him in at least one role in the middle of several that I loved I would consider myself a fan. (that part is important for me – there must be roles before AND after I liked)

When I started reviewing for Blogs I noticed that there were so many authors out there writing great books. But how many books do you need to read from an author to consider yourself a fan – I wondered …

Soon it became obvious – basically the same rule applies like in the actors case. You need minimum 3 books and the second one in that calculation has to be one you do not like (in most cases because of the ending).

I read “Dangerous to Know & Love” and I loved Daniel with all of my heart. Then I read “Lifers” and I liked Jordan but it took until “Playing in the Rain” to find my LOVE-HATE book when it comes the author Jane Harvey-Berrick.

Now all I had to do was wait … Than I read the Blurb for her new book “Slave to the Rhythm” and I had this feeling that this will be IT – the book to officially make me a fan of Jane Harvey-Berrick.

When I read the first chapters … I was devastated – I thought I made a mistake – because those “wrong people” mentioned in the Blurb – they are the kind of people where I usually call my co-blogger Lauren in to review the book as they are not my favorite reading subject AT ALL.

Could I really be that wrong I thought ? I could not believe it – so I broke my 3 chapter rule (the rule that says – if a book does not catch me within the first three chapters – I should stop)

Don’t get me wrong – the book was great at that moment – just not for me because of the “occupation” of those “wrong people” (it is really hard to review without spoilers sometimes) … but I am so glad that I read on.

Because it was only short afterwards that I was drawn in irrevocably into that story and even though it strangely never made me cry or laughed – this book is still one of the most emotional ones I read so far this year.

The relationship between Ash and Laney has such a strong dynamic.

Ms. Harvey-Berrick managed to transfer all those emotions into the surrounding story I am not sure how she did it but in some ways the story goes backwards while moving forward.

Ash and Laney do not even realize how their relationship is developing – They consider themselves several things – some of them not good or even legal – never noticing what the reader already sees as obvious.

It takes outsiders to hold up a mirror in their face for them to realize. Interesting enough I can not even say that I fell in love with the characters – strangely I fell for the storytelling. The way the author told the reader how the relationship progressed.

At some points I wanted to poke Ash or Laney to point out the obvious.

This book has a strong story to tell to its readers and dating the 29th Feb 2016 I am officially a FAN of Jane Harvey-Berrick

Note to the author : you are still not forgiven for “Cody” #Playing in the Rain though … I always understood the reasons but I can not forget the “how”

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