The Write Man For Her by Christie Walker Bos

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The Write Man For Her
Author: Christie Walker Bos
Genre: Romance / Contemporary
Source: Personal Purchase
ISBN: 9781419957611

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Work, work, work. That’s how Jessica Anne Singer has dealt with the loneliness since her divorce. Except for her squawky cockatiel, Merlin, Jessica hasn’t had a date in years, but all that’s about to end. Jessica’s best friend, Cath, has decided that Jessica needs to meet her dreamy online professor, Brant Wilson. Creative writing professor Brant Wilson is intrigued by one of his online students, Jessica Singer. She seems more worldly than most of his students and has a penchant for arguing with him over just about everything, which he finds oddly enjoyable. But when she asks to meet with him in person to discuss her grades he immediately refuses. He never meets with his students face-to-face. Never. Undeterred, Cath hatches a harebrained plan to find the reclusive professor. When the plan actually works, Jessica uncovers the real reason the professor doesn’t meet with his students. Stunned by her discovery, Jessica must decide if she’ll listen to her head or her heart when it comes to determining if Professor Brant Wilson is the right man for her.

MY THOUGHTS

Can I first say thank you to author Christie Walker Bos for stepping out of the box and writing a hero with a disability?  Thank you!  I was so excited to read about a sexy main character who isn’t the normal you find in books.  The author stepped out of the usual zone and made Brant Wilson a paraplegic.

Now while I enjoyed the characters of Brant and Jessica, their journey to happily ever after wasn’t one of my favorites.  I did enjoy the book, but not as much as I would have if the author would have cut some of the longer parts of narration down to half.  I wasn’t a fan of having to read how each character’s house was decorated or how much food they ate from where.  It became repetitive and unneeded.

I also liked how the author incorporated writing a novel into the story.  It was cute to read a story within a story and it seems to me that doing so was probably a challenge for any author.

While this may not be a book I would reread again, I am glad I took the chance in buying it.  It had its moments of dragging, but it also brought an experience of right in the fact that disabled can also equal a romantic lead/hero.

MY RATING

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

Measuring Up by Nyrae Dawn

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Measuring Up
Author: Nyrae Dawn
Source: Personal Purchase
Genre: Young Adult
ISBN: 9781479313235

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Seventeen-year-old Annabel Conway is tired of the Hillcrest High School elite making her life miserable because she’s not a size two. This summer, she’s hiring a personal trainer to help her lose weight. 

Annabel doesn’t expect her trainer to be a gorgeous guy around her age. Boys like Tegan are jerks. They pretend to like girls like her so they can make an idiot out of them. Been there, done that. Totally not going there again. She kind of hates him on principal. Blond. Muscular. Funny. It doesn’t help that he knows her measurements!

Soon, Tegan’s so much more than that. He’s the boy who teaches her to box when she has a bad day. Who jogs with her and lets her set the pace. Who kisses her until she melts. He makes her feel beautiful regardless of what the scale says. Unlike her mom, he doesn’t expect perfection, and he doesn’t try to shield her from the world like her dad and best friend. Tegan likes her the way she is.

But what happens when he’s not there? He can’t always be there… 

Will Annabel be able to stand on her own and learn that she already measures up? That her worth doesn’t lie in what the world thinks, the scale says, or even what Tegan tells her—but in herself?

MY THOUGHTS

After finishing up a previous book by this author and having a few problems with her writing, I decided to give it another chance and try something again.  The last book had a better second half of the story, but this one had a better first half.

While I enjoyed reading about a character who is struggling with being overweight, I felt the author tended to focus on it a little too much.  It seemed like every page the reader was having to hear the character of Annabel complain about her weight.  I know the main part of this story is in dealing with weight and finding love in a skinny world, but it did get to the point of too much.

Again, there was inconsistency in the story as well.  It flowed in parts, but other parts were choppy.  If an author is going to include texting as well as dialogue, the author needs to know how to make that defined and not have the reader trying to guess what is text and what is speech. That is something that really irked me about this book because I had to reread it several times to grasp what was what.

I also was not a huge fan of Tegan.  His issues seem valid, but not enough to become believable in the extreme of why he does what he does near the end.

This book is full of cliche teen angst and drama, but it still wasn’t a bad read.  I have come to the conclusion that this author is just going to be another okay author in my reading tastes.  While this is not a bad thing, it isn’t a great factor as a returning reader of the future works by her.  Younger readers will more than likely enjoy this more than older adults.

MY RATING

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

Charade by Nyrae Dawn

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Charade
Series: The Game Series #1
Author: Nyrae Dawn
Genre: Romance/New Adult
ISBN: B009V5VG3A
Amazon Kindle E- Book Edition

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Nineteen-year-old Cheyenne tries to portray the perfect life to mask the memories of her past. Walking in on her boyfriend with another woman her freshman year in college threatens that picture of perfection. 

Twenty-one-year-old Colt never wanted college and never expected to amount to anything, but when his mom’s dying wish is for him to get his degree, he has no choice but to pretend it’s what he wants too. 

Cheyenne needs a fake boyfriend to get back at her ex and Colt needs cash to take care of his mom, so they strike a deal that helps them both. But what if Cheyenne’s past isn’t what she thought? Soon they’re trading one charade for another—losing themselves in each other to forget about their pain. The more they play their game, the more it becomes the only thing they have that feels real.

Both Cheyenne and Colt know life is never easy, but neither of them expect the tragedy that threatens to end their charade and rip them apart forever.

Mature content: language, drug references and sexual situations.

MY THOUGHTS

As I slowly watched this book climbing the Amazon Seller’s list, I decided to cave and give it a try.  I am a sucker for a fast moving book.  I figure if it is moving that fast, it must be a winner right?  I admit, I liked the book.  There were a few problems with it, but I still enjoyed it overall.

I think the main problem I had with this book was the choppy beginning.  The way it flowed and stilted at times, it made me think I was reading a short story — or a novella.  I thought it moved quickly, the story would jump around and expected to have it end quickly.  This wouldn’t be so bad if it were actually a novella  and I was expecting it.  With Charade though, it is a full length book and it definitely needs to have that worked out.

Once you get past the first half of this book though, it evens out and I found myself enjoying it.  While Colt is suppose to be this bad boy, I never could see him as that.  Yes he cusses a bunch, but cuss words do not make a bad boy.  He is actually sweet, caring and smart.  Cheyenne was not a favorite character of mine.  She came across weak and whiny, something I don’t think the author really wanted her portrayed as by the end of the book.  Colt was the character that carried this story until the end.

The side characters were predictable and fell into the roles they were meant to.  We have Andy, who is Cheyennes dorm mate who just happens to be a best friend when pages need to be filled.  We have Adrian who is suppose to Colts druggie best friend, but actually has times of deep thought processes when a great listener is needed.

This book will also pull on your heart strings as a character is suffering from cancer.  You hope for a good outcome, but sometimes life doesn’t give you that.  So tissues are recommended for those parts.

Overall, a good book that I am glad I read.  I hope the author can create a better beginning though for the next book in this series so a reader is not tempted to put it down before getting to the good parts!

MY FAVORITE QUOTE

“Don’t cry, Princess. You know what they say. You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you meet your prince.”
— Colt

MY RATING

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

Tempting the Best Man by J. Lynn

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Tempting the Best Man
Series:  The Gamble Brothers #1
Author: J. Lynn
(AKA: Jennifer L. Armentrout)
Source: Publisher
Genre: Romance
ISBN: B007WY7T7Y
E-Book Edition

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Madison Daniels has worshipped her brother’s best friend since they were kids. Everyone thinks she and Chase Gamble would make the perfect couple, but there are two major flaws in their logic. 1) Chase has sworn off relationships of any kind, and 2) after blurring the line between friends and lovers for one night four years ago, they can’t stop bickering.

Forced together for her brother’s wedding getaway, Chase and Madison decide to call a truce for the happy couple. Except all bets are off when they’re forced to shack up in a tacky 70’s honeymoon suite and survive a multitude of “accidents” as the family tries to prove their “spark” can be used than for more than fighting. That is, if they don’t strangle each other first…

MY THOUGHTS

Yes, this is by an author well known for writing young adult books.  I was shocked to realize this and didn’t make the connection until after I started reading it. Now granted, I haven’t read her young adult books yet, but I hear she is an amazing writer.  So I decided to take a chance on reading her adult themed book.  This is the first in The Gamble Brothers Series with a new cover as well.

This book started out with promise.  Childhood friends who secretly have pined for each other into adulthood is a common plot within the Romance Genre world.  Who doesn’t like a good romance with a couple who actually start out as friends and have been for a long time.  Even with the great plot though, the story did have its problems.

The main problem is the back story and the characters falling in the “miscommunication” trap.  I wish we could have had read about more of the childhood that Chase had to make him think he wasn’t worthy of Madison.  We get a small piece here and there, but flashbacks would have been welcome in this story.  It would have filled out better and gave the reader a better understanding on how he shaped into the man he is today.

Again, the way writers solve the problem of finding a problem to create a story by using the age old “assuming instead of speaking” route.  This story could have been solved in half the amount of pages if the two would just talk instead of bickering and denying their attraction.  Of course, then we wouldn’t have much of book, but it also wouldn’t start to have our interest wane.  I started to get bored with the story, and if it weren’t for the bickering between the two characters –or hilarious side characters–I would have probably put this book down sooner instead of finishing it.

I am hoping the author gets the groove for the next book in the series because it did have promise.  I am hoping we get a better glimpse into the Gamble Brothers history in the next book as well.

MY RATING

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

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

Laid Bare by Lauren Dane

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Laid Bare
Series: The Brown Siblings #1
Author: Lauren Dane
Genre: Erotic Romance
Source: Personal Purchase
ISBN: 9780425229712

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Unexpected Desire…

It’s been ten years since clean-cut, sexy-as-hell police officer Todd Keenan had a white-hot fling with Erin Brown, the provocative, wild rocker chick next door. Their power exchange in the bedroom got under his skin. But love wasn’t in the cards just yet…

Now, life has thrown the pair back together. But picking up where they left off is tough, in light of a painful event from Erin’s past. As Todd struggles to earn her trust, their relationship takes an unexpected and exciting turn when Todd’s best friend, Ben, ends up in their bed–and all three are quite satisfied in this relationship without a name. As the passion they share transforms Erin, will it be enough to help her face the evil she thought she had left behind?

MY THOUGHTS

I am really hesitant in writing this review since so many are fans of this series.  I wanted to be blown away by it since the reviews I have read have been favorable.  Unfortunately, my feelings fell in the middle for this one.

The beginning felt really rushed to me.  I understand the author need to set up the relationship between Todd and Erin, but it ended up feeling forced and at times unbelievable.  I had hoped after the prologue it would even out and become better.  I love how the two of them reconnected.  I loved the D/s aspect of the relationship.  I even loved the other characters in the book as well.  Ben was even a good character even if I felt he got the short end of the stick in the relationship.  What bugged me about it was the way the relationships were handled and the back story of their lives while separated.

Erin’s back story I can believe.  Anyone who loses a child and suffered what she did would have a different outlook on life and love.  Todd’s on the other hand felt like just a quick excuse to get him back to Erin.  He got married after running away from Erin 10 years before because he thought his kink was wrong.  He grew up thinking his curious fetishes were not normal.  So he takes a pretty trophy like wife, tries the marriage thing for bit, then almost dies in the line of duty which also leads into a divorce.  After the divorce is over he moves back to his home town for a new job.  It seemed pretty extreme for me, but I went with it.

The relationship between Todd and Erin was just okay.  Then the author throws in Ben as another character in play for this relationship.  He is not an affair for them, but an addition in the bedroom and in their lives.  Ben is a long time friend of Todd’s so I guess the reader is suppose to just take it as it is.  Unfortunately, I didn’t feel any real spark between the three.

There is plenty of sex in this book to appease the naughtiest of readers with kink thrown in on certain scenes, but the plot and characters just left me feeling okay.  I wasn’t blown away as I wanted to be, but I still think I will keep going in the series.

MY RATING

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!