Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

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Beautiful Disaster
Series: Beautiful #1
Author: Jamie McGuire
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: Personal Purchase
ISBN: 9781476712048

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand. 

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs—and wants—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

MY THOUGHTS

I have contemplated just how I was going to write this review for days.  I am finding it difficult putting my feelings into words and I am finding it even harder trying to make sense of my feelings about this book.

This book has been out for a bit and if you haven’t heard what this story is about by now, then just take a look at the thousands of reviews it already has.  For me, I am going to skip the rundown of the synopsis and just try to make my emotions cooperate long enough to explain my thoughts as best as I can.

I want to say that the first part of this book — say about a quarter of it — I really liked the characters of Abby and Travis.  Before they become a couple and the bet is wagered, I loved their interaction and hidden emotions.  Travis was playful, Abby was borderline flirty, but they establish friendship first before falling into bed.  This was a plus for me because so many books skip straight to sex and forget about the friendship part of a relationship.

Now this is where the story started to go downhill for me.  Travis — is for lack of descriptive terms in my head at this moment — a beautiful disaster.  He is possessive, violent, destructive, and borderline psychotic.  Now in some books this could work to the advantage for a tortured and redeemable hero.  In this book though it was not.  I seriously started thinking that this man needed to be locked up somewhere and treated for mental illness.  Yes, he could be sweet at times with a little bit of playfulness thrown in on some pages, but the majority of the time he was just a wreck.

Abby didn’t have much backbone either in the fact that she kept putting up with it and running back to him.  Seriously? This is what you expect in a relationship? I think after the first violent episode of destruction from Travis, I would have took my belongings and ran as far away as possible.  There were so many parts in this book that Abby was out of character. For example, if she is trying to be a better person why is she encouraging Travis to beat the crap out of a boy just for whistling at her in a cafeteria?  She also sits in her room and cries when Travis goes off on a little tantrum and brings TWO girls home one night and sleeps with them ( noises and laughter included ) in the living room.  How can a woman love someone who thinks this is acceptable and okay.  (Lord forbid my husband and I ever have a fight and he tries to do this. He would be out on the curb in two seconds flat.)

With all this being said though, I did carry on and finish the book.  This is in no way a happy-go-lucky or feel-good romance story.  This is a dark and edgy book that will leave you on either side of the review camp.  Some will think this story is one of the best books on the market right now, while others will be appalled and cringing when they hear about it again.  I for one would be on the good side for the first part of this book, but I wanted to run and hide for the last half of it.

MY RATING

If the library doesn’t have it, don’t worry about reading it!

Knight by Kristen Ashley

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Knight
Series: Unfinished Hero #1
(E-Book Edition)
Author: Kristen Ashley
Genre: Adult Erotica
Source: Personal Purchase
ISBN: B007SFBPFY

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Anya Gage has learned that to get anything good in life, you have to work for it. She has no expectations, no dreams.

Then she finds herself at a party where she doesn’t want to be and she meets Knight.

Knight Sebring knows who he is, what he wants and what he likes. And he gets it. But he never expected something as sweet as Anya Gage to wander into his bedroom during a party he did not expect to be having to borrow his phone.

Knight tries to leave Anya to the life she deserves of white picket fences and a man who watches football on Sundays – good, normal and clean. But when Anya comes to his nightclub and finds herself in a situation, he knows someone has to look after her, he can’t fight it anymore and he decides that man will be him.

Knight teaches Anya that, just as with the bad, in life you should also expect the good. And he teaches her this by giving it to her.

But Knight has a dark past and just as he desires Anya for exactly who she is, he fears when she finds out exactly the man he has become and always intends to be, she’ll leave him for good, normal and clean.

MY THOUGHTS

After hearing how much everyone states that the books by Kristen Ashley are like crack for book addicts,  I decided to venture into this new addiction.  Most people have told me that if I want to get addicted to this particular author I shouldn’t start with Knight.  After finishing up this book, I find myself agreeing with this.  Knight to me was ‘meh’ and one that gave me the heebie-jeevies several times while reading it.

If I had to hear Knight refer to himself as “Daddy” one more time while they were exploring their sexual relationship, I think I would have broken out in hives from the scared stranger-danger associated with sexual predators.  Seriously, “Daddy” is not a pet word that I enjoyed reading in the bedroom.

Ewwww.

Another thing that was a big turn off for me was the way Knight spoke.  I had to constantly reread what he was saying several times to even understand a part of what he was trying to say.  It was like a foreign language to me at times. Plus he had the bad habit of saying “F*ck” so many times in a sentence that I think it was his first word as a child.  Every other word out of his mouth — or every other sentence at least — had this word in it and I just couldn’t understand the reasoning in this.  Yes, he is a bad guy.  Yes, he is a tough guy.  Yes, we should be scared of him because he is truly a dangerous man.  Even with all of this taken into account, it still didn’t need to be applied to make the story enjoyable.  If anything, it brought the story down for me.

Anya was one I don’t think I could see myself being friends with either.  There was no depth to her character and I couldn’t bring myself to really care what happened to her.  She was plain and borderline boring for most of the story.

I will definitely try reading more from the author based solely on the recommendations to read her other stories for a better reading experience from other readers.  If you are a first time reader of this author, I recommend you starting with another series by her like I should have done.  Save Knight for last if you do plan on joining in on the addiction train.

MY RATING
If the library doesn’t have it, don’t worry about reading it!

The Tarnished Jewel of Jazaar by Susanna Carr

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The Tarnished Jewel of Jazaar
Author: Susanna Carr
Publisher: Harlequin
Genre: Adult Romance
Source: Author Submission
ISBN: 9780373528783

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)


Jeweled veil weighing heavily on her head, Zoe Martin waits for her sheikh husband-to-be. The shame of her adoptive family, orphan Zoe has endured six years of being kept as a slave—now she’s been sold into marriage…to a man known as The Beast!

Being discarded to the sheikh has one bonus—this could mean freedom! Zoe must play along with the three-day—and three-night—ceremony, but she isn’t expecting the blazing attraction from just one stolen glance at playboy sheikh Nadir.…

MY THOUGHTS

I am having a really hard time trying to figure out how to put the thoughts in my head about this book into some sort of review.  Was the writing good? Yes.  Was the story plot good? Yes.  Was it my cup of tea so to speak? No.

I have always tried to stay away from the Harlequin books that feature stories from far away lands for the simple fact that it throws me into culture shock.  I should be able to adjust to it since I do read paranormal and they are really out there sometimes.   I just have a hard time wrapping my mind around some of the differences in customs from different areas of the world. With that being said,  I caved and decided to give it a try to expand my reading experiences.

The author did have a good grasp on writing style.  The words and story flowed at an easy pace.  The story itself was one that I had a hard time enjoying.  I wasn’t a fan of the way the heroine had hopes and dreams but was forced into doing another thing.  Again, I think it was just the way the culture and customs are that made me not enjoy this story as much as a regular reader of this story line. I would read something by this author though again if it is in a different setting because her writing did flow nicely and beautifully.

MY RATING

If the library doesn’t have it, don’t worry about reading it!
*I received this book free of charge from the author in exchange for an honest review*

Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin

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Masque of the Red Death
Series: Masque of the Red Death #1
Author: Bethany Griffin
Genre: Young Adult Steampunk/Dystopia
Source: Amazon Vine
ISBN: 9780062107794

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Everything is in ruins.


A devastating plague has decimated the population. And those who are left live in fear of catching it as the city crumbles to pieces around them.


So what does Araby Worth have to live for?


Nights in the Debauchery Club, beautiful dresses, glittery make-up . . . and tantalizing ways to forget it all.


But in the depths of the club—in the depths of her own despair—Araby will find more than oblivion. She will find Will, the terribly handsome proprietor of the club. And Elliott, the wickedly smart aristocrat. Neither boy is what he seems. Both have secrets. Everyone does.


And Araby may find something not just to live for, but to fight for—no matter what it costs her.

MY THOUGHTS

When I was typing up the top portion of my review layout,  I had a hard time figuring out how to classify this book.  Young Adult? Yes. Dystopia? Yes. Steampunk? Yes.  So I just put it all together and made my own classification.  What grabbed my attention the most about this book before reading was the cover.  Oh my goodness!  It is gorgeous, dirty, gritty and mysterious all rolled into one picture.  It truly is a picture of many words.  Then I read the summary and thought I would give it a try.

I am having a hard time writing this review though.  I just finished it and frankly, I wasn’t a big fan of this book.  I have read so many reviews on this book and every other one is full of praise.  I must be blinded though by the cover, because I just can’t hold it in the same glorious light as others.  I don’t know if it is because I am still a little confused on how to actually place this book in a certain realm in the young adult genre, or if maybe my reading tastes should stay away from anything with Steampunk involved.  I just couldn’t bring myself to enjoy the world that was created.

On the other hand,  I did like a few of the characters.  There is nothing specific that made me like them, I just felt a connection with them which just shows the reader that the author can flesh out a character pretty well.  Beyond the characterization though, the story moved at a slow pace and drawn out in one too many places.  There was even times I wondered how much longer a certain scene was going to go for.

This is a darker themed book.  As others have mentioned, it has a certain Poe-like feel to it.  Yes, it does seem to have that feel to me as well.  Dirty. Angst. Death. Danger and tragedy.  All the makings for a dark and stormy night read.  While this isn’t one of my favorite books this week or even this month, I will still give the second book a try for the simple fact of the ending of the first book.

MY RATING

If the library doesn’t have it, don’t worry about reading it!

* I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review *

The Officer Says "I Do" by Jeanette Murray

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The Officer Says ” I Do”
Semper Fi #1
Author: Jeanette Murray
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Release Date: July 3rd, 2012
Source: Publisher (Sourcebooks)
ISBN: 9781402265402

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)
He’s a Marine…she grew up on a commune.

He always puts duty first…she’s a free spirit with an unshakable belief in Fate.

He loves routine and order…she brings chaos and creativity wherever she goes.

They’re going to balance each other perfectly–or drive each other completely, utterly insane…
On a wild pre-deployment celebration in Las Vegas, Captain Timothy O’Shay encounters free-spirited beauty Skye McDermott, and for once lets down his guard. Now his life is about to take off in directions he never could have imagined…
MY THOUGHTS
Formally titled Honor Bound, The Officer Says I do is a new series by Jeanette Murray.  Skye is a free spirit who believes in Fate when it comes to life decisions.  Tim is an OCD Marine who likes to make his own decisions in life with no belief if Fate or Destiny.  Put the two people together in a marriage and you have the cliche of opposites attract.  
To be honest, this was just an okay book to me.  Yes, it has some hot scenes in it, but nothing too over the top.  I think the main thing that bugged me was the way the two meet and make it to the alter.  If Tim is such a person to where order, routine and seriousness is all he lives for, then the way he gets drunk and marries Skye a few hours after meeting her was totally out of character for him.  I also wasn’t a fan of him not even remembering that he got married but he was able to remember the sex on the wedding night.  It didn’t seem in character with what the author was wanting Tim to be portrayed as.
I didn’t have a serious connection with the characters either.  If I had to pick one character that made the book enjoyable it would be Tim’s sister, Madison.  I really enjoyed her character and reading about her more than I did Skye.  I can definitely tell who is going to be the future couple for the next book. 
I would say that this is more of a pass-the-time book instead of an engaging read to keep you up all night.  It is interesting enough to read between chores and other books, but not one that kept me up until 2am to read the outcome of the last chapter.  I will give the second book a chance in the hopes that now that the story base is set up, the rest will fall into place with the next couple.
MY RATING

If the library doesn’t have it, don’t worry about reading it!
*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*