Category Archives: New Adult

Life for Emmie Hayes hasn’t been easy. After her reality is rocked by tragedy, she heads to New York City in hopes of finding herself again.

With a new school and a new outlook on life, Emmie is determined to not let anything distract her. Everything begins to fall into place around her until her roommate, Paige, shows up with the very distraction she tried so desperately to avoid, and he has no intention of being ignored.

His name is Colin Bennett and he isn’t part of her new plan. But with his smoldering eyes and perfect body, it would be difficult for any girl to ignore him. Only thing is, Emmie isn’t any girl. After her tragic past, there might not be any way into her stubborn heart.

A person can only be beaten down for so long before they begin to yearn for their spirit to be set free.

Clementine “Emmie” Hayes has a terrible secret. She used to be married and had told her husband she was going to leave him. Her husband commits suicide as she walks out the door and she leaves town after the funeral to live her life and bury the past.  She rents an apartment with a young woman she meets in a taxi who happens to be dating the landlords brother. The landlord is Colin Bennett. Emmie tries to resist him romantically and they build a friendship.  While the friendship slowly grows into something more, her past comes back to haunt her.

This story ended up being just an okay read for me.  I liked the character of Colin. He was a great guy who was financially well off, worked with his hands, sexy good looks, and all around good guy.  Emmie is led to believe that he is player, but he didn’t really come off as one to me.  Emmie wasn’t a character that I really enjoyed.  Yes, she had a tragic past, but it felt like it was forced on the reader to feel sorry for her.  The so called bad guys weren’t too much of surprise and in all honesty, I can’t even remember much about this book hours after finishing it.  It just didn’t stand out to me.

I would have to say that the only real thing I liked about this book was the characters of Colin and his brother Christian. I will more than likely end up reading the next book in the series, but it isn’t something I would rush out to buy.

[sc:rate3 ]

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Despite their rowdy hookups, Harlow and Finn don’t even like each other…which would explain why their marriage lasted only twelve hours. He needs to be in charge and takes whatever he wants. She lives by the Want-something-done? Do-it-yourself mantra. Maybe she’s too similar to the rugged fisherman—or just what he needs.

After finishing the first book in this series called Sweet Filthy Boy, I was desperately in need of the next book in the Wild Seasons series by author(s) Christina Lauren. The icing on the top of the cake was that we were going to get to read about Finn. And Harlow. Finn and Harlow together!

“Shh, Poodle. I’m having a Johnny Castle, Dirty Dancing moment right now.”
“Is this a good thing or a bad thing?” he asks, bending to lick up my neck.
“I carried a watermelon.” — Finn and Harlow

Finn has come to town to work out some details for his family involving a TV show to save his family business. Harlow of course is annoyed by this and dreads having to run into him again after their quickie marriage and divorce.

“And, my impression of you is ever evolving, now that you aren’t just a pretty face in my lap.”
“You’re one classy motherfucker, Finn.” — Finn and Harlow

Harlow is a fixer. She fixes her friends and family when they need help, and she puts her own life on the back burner. When Harlow finds out some devastating news from her parents, she wants to fix things. She wants to make life easier for them. While in the process of overdoing it for her family, she turns to Finn for a distraction from the problems.  What we get is to see how Finn and Harlow grow into a friendly relationship and eventually fall in love. Again. They share things together that they haven’t shared with others and still keep a sense of humor during the tough times of life.

The plots climatic twist wasn’t as great or what I would thought should have caused the main problem for the couple to fix near the end.  Yes, it was something that pushed the book to conclude, but it just seemed a bit tame.  Even with that being said, I truly loved this book!  I am so in love with fisherman Finn and he has met his match perfectly with Harlow.  The next book in the series is suppose to be about Oliver and Lola who are also a cute couple needing a push.

[sc:rate4 ]

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When Bree Prescott arrives in the sleepy, lakeside town of Pelion, Maine, she hopes against hope that this is the place where she will finally find the peace she so desperately seeks. On her first day there, her life collides with Archer Hale, an isolated man who holds a secret agony of his own. A man no one else sees.

Archer’s Voice is the story of a woman chained to the memory of one horrifying night and the man whose love is the key to her freedom. It is the story of a silent man who lives with an excruciating wound and the woman who helps him find his voice. It is the story of suffering, fate, and the transformative power of love.

The beginning of this book held great promise for me. I was interested in the characters — even though they did seem to speak and act younger than their age of mid twenties — and I was curious about Archer being unable to speak. Throw in Archer being a recluse virgin and I was hooked.  I liked the slow development from friends to lovers. It was paced quite nicely and believable.

Then as we head into the middle of the book, we start to see a stalling of sorts. It dragged on for me and I was wanting to skip ahead past the love couple just to get to some actual plot besides love making. (let us pause to mourn the fact that I actually wanted to skip the sexy scenes *sobs*)

As we reach the home stretch and start discovering the hidden details and the true plot of the book, it seemed rushed and completely out of character for Archer. Here we have a man who has been isolated from everyone and everything for years, who has anxiety issues and can’t stand for Bree to be away from him.  I am talking to the point of where he destroys his furnishings in his house and basically waits to die because her cell phone died for a day and was unable to be reached.  Then the author decides to let Archer spread his wings within the span of a chapter or so and go off into the real world alone to find himself and to see if he is capable of interacting with other people on his own. It wasn’t very believable for me and disappointed me in the ending.

A book that started out with such promise for me ended up being just an okay book in the end.

[sc:rate3 ]

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First Ink
Series: Wicked Ink Chronicles #1
Author: Laura Wright
Release Date: 12/17/2013

SUMMARY
From Goodreads

Rush
Women in his bed, celebs and rockers in his chair and a killer bank account at his disposal, life is pretty freaking swell. Then she walks back into it again. With her mismatched eyes, perfect pink mouth and a laugh that still haunts him, she gave him nothing but marvelous misery. Now she wants his hands on her again. Not for pleasure, but for pain. For Ink. A bleeding heart to match the one she left him with five years ago.

Addison
She can’t forget him. No matter how hard she’s tried. The pain she caused him in the past eats at her daily, and she can’t move on with her life. But she has a plan, a hope for redemption – a way for him to take his revenge out on her flesh. But it’ll only work if he lets her inside his exclusive world, under his famous artist’s needle and into his bed—and heart-once again.

MY THOUGHTS

For it being a quick read, the author made sure to give the reader a small bit of background to help understand the why and the how to the plot and conflict of the couple.  It is pretty easy to imagine through what words we are given to piece together what happened five years ago between Rush and Addison.  Now they need to see if it is able to be fixed, or if it is a mistake to even try. Usually short stories don’t have too much impact to me.  I will say though that I found the characters engaging and intriguing. There were a few minor things that were frustrating like editing and scenes that didn’t flow properly.  With that being said though, I really did enjoy this short story.  I am curious to find out what happens with Vincent and Lisa.  If these books were to expand and become full length novels, I think the author has what it takes to create a perfect novel.

MY RATING
[sc:rate3 ]

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