Review: The Proposal by Katie Ashley

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The Proposal
Series: The Proposition #2
Author: Katie Ashley
Genre: Romance

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

In the weeks following Aidan’s betrayal, Emma has tried her best to move on. Ignoring his countless texts, voice mails, and flowers, she isn’t sure she wants to be won back by him. But Aidan isn’t going down without a fight—especially not until Emma lets him reveal the secret of his past that caused him to be so commitment phobic.

But fate intervenes when premature labor forces Emma on strict bed rest for two weeks. Aidan steps forward with a shocking proposal. To prove his love and commitment for her and their unborn son, he will take a leave of absence from work to care for her around the clock. Vowing to guard her heart, Emma reluctantly agrees.

While she is touched by Aidan’s attentiveness and tender loving care, Emma is thrown for a loop by the amorous attentions of ER doctor, Alpesh “Pesh” Nadeen. Pesh is everything Emma could ever want—successful, stable, and ready to settle down and be a husband and father. Pesh wants nothing more than to win Emma’s heart, but she is not sure she’s able to give it.

Her heart may still belong to the very man who broke it—the one who is so desperately trying to win her back.

MY THOUGHTS

After the way the previous book in this series ended, I honestly didn’t know how Aidan was going to fix his big mistake.  Even though he screwed the relationship up,  I still was cheering him on and hoped the author could fix it.

Aidan is desperate to win Emma back.  He knows he messed things up when he got scared with his feelings, but in this book it is Emma’s turn to throw it back in his face.  When Emma must take Aidan’s father to the hospital after a health scare, she meets the young and sexy Dr. Alpesh Nadeen.  Aidan recognizes him as competition for Emma and knows he is going to have to fight twice as hard.  Can I just say that Aidan has some serious groveling to do in this book and he goes all out.  Then throw in the McHottie doctor and we have some hard decisions for Emma.

Now for the parts I didn’t like too much.  I didn’t like the pace of the book this time around.  We start at one time, then it jumps two weeks, then two months, then just a few days, months again, then and epilogue 8 months later.  It would have been so much better sticking to just a monthly jump to have flowed better.  Also, after Emma makes her decision on which man she will be with, it is drawn out in sappy moments for few chapters.  When the climax is reached in the story you expect it to end, but with this one you get a series of small climaxes that took away from the best parts of the book.

While I did enjoy the book,  I found this one lacking compared to The Proposition. Overall a good book, but it does fall in the dreaded sequel trap of not being as good as the first.

MY RATING

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

Review: Escorted by Claire Kent

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Escorted
Author: Claire Kent
Genre: Erotica/Romance

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

She hired him to take her virginity…but now she wants even more.

Lori might be a popular romance writer, but she’s never been anything but a flop with sex and love in her personal life. Still a virgin at twenty-six and increasingly frustrated by her inexperience, she decides to take matters into her own hands. She hires a talented, sexy male escort to take care of her inconvenient virginity.

She assumes one time with Ander will be enough, but she never dreams how much pleasure he can make her feel. Once isn’t nearly enough. Twice isn’t enough either. Soon, she becomes one of his regular clients.

Lori knows that nothing would be as foolish as falling in love with her paid escort, but she’s never been wise with her heart. And, despite his professionalism, he doesn’t seem entirely immune either.

MY THOUGHTS

When I first started reading this book, I honestly didn’t think I was going to make it to the last page.  There were plenty of moments that had me giggling, rolling my eyes and wanting to shake my head from some of the to-stupid-to-live moments of the characters.

Lori is in her late twenties, writes romance novels, and it still a virgin.  After her cousin refer’s her to Ander – a male escort/gigolo – she decides to hire him to take her virginity.  I am a sucker for this type of story.  Ander was patient, sexy, and very skilled in his profession.

While I enjoyed the book, there were many things that I didn’t like.  First of all, the sex in the beginning was way too clinical in my opinion.  Ander is always explaining things to Lori and describing every little detail for Lori.  If this woman is suppose to be a best selling author of romance — which her pen name is the actual author of the books name — she should be able to at least have some understanding of the act.  I mean Google can be your friend even in this area of description.  Another thing I didn’t like was some of the over the top dialogue with a repetitive theme.  Each time these characters had sex, it was the same phrases and mannerisms.

Now, with all that being said, this book still was pretty good.  If you can make it to at least the 25 percent mark of the story, then you will enjoy getting to the 100 percent mark.  Yes the ending is slightly corny and cliched, but it does give you a fun ride in between those two points.  A guilty pleasure book that will become addictive without you even realizing it.

MY RATING

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

Review: Lexi, Baby by Lynda LeeAnne

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Lexi, Baby
Series: This Can’t Be Happening #1
Author: Lynda LeeAnne

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Alexis Sky Martine thinks of herself as the average girl-next-door that does what she has to do to get by, have fun and enjoy life. 
She is madly in love with her sexy, drop-your-panties-at-first-sight, hottie boyfriend who is equally in love with her; more like downright obsessed. He treats her like she is his heart; like he needs her to exist; like he would do anything in his power to make her happy.
Lexi knows Landyn James loves her just as much as she loves him, if not more. Deep down, she also knows high school sweethearts aren’t expected to last, but their relationship is different. They are soul mates. Their connection is unbreakable.

What could possibly go wrong when you have love like that…?
Everything.
What will the future hold…?
Only time will tell.

MY THOUGHTS

Let me warn readers of one thing before reading this book:  CRACK.  You can’t help but keep reading the book even with the cliches and grammar errors.  Throw in a drool worthy cover and I was a goner from page one. I honestly didn’t know if I should give this book a rating of a three or a four.  I wanted to give it the four for the rating, but predictability and cliches tampered the rating down.

Landyn, Landyn, Landyn.  Sex-on-a stick is the best way to describe him.  He is hot, has money, and possessive as hell. He makes a huge mistake that costs him so much.  While I can see the reasoning of Lexi dropping him like an old hat after this mistake, I won’t support her in the decision she makes involving Layla.  I can understand Landyn being mad as hell for this secret.

Ryan felt like an after thought for this plot.  It was like the author needed another cliche or black spot in the dynamics of the drama.  While I found this to be almost too much,  it still kept me reading just to find out what would happen to him.  That boy needs some help and I did notice on the authors website that he will be getting his own book.  After this story though, the author is going to have to bring me a miracle in redeeming this man.

Trish was the typical best friend that was a tad too protective. On the other hand, where was this type of friend when I was younger and needing a leaning post?  I will over look this though and go with the flow. Like, I said — book crack. Must. Keep. Reading.

Also be prepared for the prologue and epilogue to be more like a chapter a piece.  In my opinion, they should have been chapters due to the length of them being quite long.  While this didn’t really bother me, others might have a quirk about this.

The ending leaves the reader on a cliffhanger and ready for another fix. While I couldn’t make a real connection with Tony in this book — mainly because we never really get to read/interact with him except in mentioning — I am anxious to read what happens to him and Trish.  Supposedly, the next book features them both.

While this book won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, I can guarantee that this series and author is going to be addictive to others.  I will be in the group looking for more and hoping for the quick release of more!

MY RATING

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

Review: Sometimes Never by Cheryl McIntyre

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Sometimes Never
Author: Cheryl McIntyre
Genre: New Adult

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Hope didn’t have the best role model when it came to relationships. She’s content with her current no-strings-attached extracurricular activity with the lead singer of her band. She’s never believed in love and commitment.

Mason starts his eighth school in five years anticipating nothing more than the usual—boring classes, fighting more than making friends, and girls happily willing to succumb to his easy smile. He’s never put much stock into love at first sight—until he sees her.

Regardless of their painful pasts, Hope and Mason discover that sometimes never can become forever.

MY THOUGHTS

I don’t remember what first captured my interest in this book.  I think I heard someone raving about this author and her writing on Twitter.  Regardless of how I heard about it, I couldn’t help but start reading it just because of the summary.  I am a sucker for flirting bad boys who are trying to capture the attention of the girl who could care less.

While the author does have a great voice in writing,  I am having a hard time expressing my feelings on this book in my own words.  I found the side characters to be much more entertaining than the main characters with this read.  I will flat out say that I was not a fan of Hope.  I wanted to slap that girl so many times for some of her actions.  While I enjoyed the build-up of the romance between Mason and Hope,  at times it felt like it dragged on forever and was full of repetitiveness.

Overall I enjoyed the book, but I will admit that it was a book that could become a little bit boring at times.  I had to set it down several times and then restart it again.  I think the main reason of this was because I became so frustrated with the main character of Hope.  Not one I would reread again, but it did give me a new author to keep on my radar.

MY RATING

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

Review: Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

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Dead Until Dark
Series: Sookie Stackhouse #1
Author: Charlaine Harris
Genre: Paranormal Romance
ISBN: 9780441016990

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She’s quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn’t get out much. Not because she’s not pretty. She is. It’s just that, well, Sookie has this sort of “disability.” She can read minds. And that doesn’t make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill. He’s tall, dark, handsome – and Sookie can’t ‘hear’ a word he’s thinking. He’s exactly the kind of guy she’s been waiting for all her life.

But Bill has a disability of his own: He’s a vampire. Worse than that, hangs with a seriously creepy crowd, with a reputation for trouble – of the murderous kind.

And when one of Sookie’s colleagues is killed, she begins to fear she’ll be next …

MY THOUGHTS

I originally read this book around the time that True Blood first started airing on HBO.  At that time, the show had better appeal to me so I couldn’t remember how much the book differed from the show.  So after I quit watching the show for awhile, I decided to give this series another chance.  I am so glad I am giving them another try!

I think when I tried reading this book before, I kept comparing it to the characters and story line of the HBO show.  With the book I noticed certain characters are missing and the story plays out on a different time table at times.  I can definitely tell with the world building, character building and overall cast of characters that this book is more of a guilty indulgence than one that blew me out of the water.  It was even kind of childish at times with temper tantrums and a crew of Barney Five cops trying to solve the murders in town.

I am still on the fence about liking the cast of characters.  I can’t wait to read more about Eric, Pam and Lafayette.  Bill seems a little off to me but I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt and keep my fingers crossed that he is better in the next one.  And then we have Sookie. Sookie, Sookie, Sookie. Just saying her name makes me laugh.  I wasn’t a fan of her in this book, but I am curious to understand why she has this disability and what it could mean.

Overall, it had cheesy moments, sexy moments, detailed moments, and bloody moments as well since this is a book about vampires.  I am going to keep going with the series though just so I can see how everyone’s roles will play out.

MY RATING

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!