#Review: Rocked by the Billionaire by Mandy Baxter

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Rocked by the Billionaire by Mandy Baxter

 

Bad-boy Luke “Lucifer” Blackwell is living the life. Being the lead singer for the rock group Riot 59 has brought him everything he could ever want—billions of dollars, endless parties, and enough groupies to last a lifetime. But when Luke’s wild life starts to wear him down, he returns home to Texas—and ends up in the arms of the one woman who’s always made his heart beat faster than a pounding drum…Kayleigh Taylor likes being a small-town girl, so she’s always been wary of Luke Blackwell’s fast-paced life—and of Luke himself. Fully expecting never to see the sexy singer who broke her heart years before, Kayleigh is completely shocked to find him back home, avoiding the spotlight and pursuing her instead. Kayleigh knows this can’t be right–his heart was always devoted to his music. But as they spend more and more time together, Luke is awfully convincing that his heart belongs to someone else… 

This is book 3 in The Billionaire’s Club Series.

First of all, can we all take a moment to drool over this cover!

*drools*

Okay, now that the drooling is over with we can get to the review.

A second chance romance involving rock stars had me eager to read this story.  I admit that I didn’t know it was part of a series at first. While I wouldn’t say you have to read the other books, I did find that if I had read them, this story and characters may have been better liked.

I have to say that I wasn’t a huge fan of this book. While the writing was okay, I just couldn’t click with the characters enough to enjoy their story. I don’t know if it is the “billionaire burnout” or if this series just isn’t for me.  If this book would have had a bit more dialogue instead of descriptive and over telling of narrative words, I think this book would have been a bit better for me.  I felt held down by all of the filler text.  Out of the two characters, I would have to say that Luke was my favorite — mainly because he is described as a hot rock guy who is sexy.

I think I am going to start at the beginning of this series and give it a try again after I finish the first two.

[sc:rate3 ]

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#Review: Back to Buckhorn by Lori Foster

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back to buckhorn lori foster

 

For odd-girl-out Zoey Hodge, the best thing about Buckhorn, Kentucky, was leaving it behind. And now she’s back—at least until she can nurse her mother back to health and hightail it out of there anew. But there’s one person she doesn’t mind seeing again. Garrett Hudson was one of the few who was always kind to her. Now he’s a firefighter—still one of the good guys, but with a sexy alpha charm that’s tempting her inner bad girl.

In school, Zoey was smart, witty and unafraid to be herself. Garrett fell hard back then, and he’s falling even faster now. As far as he’s concerned, there are all kinds of reasons Zoey should stick around. Her pet grooming business. Her mom. And the chance for him to prove that he can be her real-life hero in every way that matters…

This series is the one that made me fall in love with author Lori Foster’s writing. I love her Buckhorn boys! Be forewarned though that you will want to start at the beginning of this series.  Not only will starting at the beginning give you all the back story, but you will understand how each person is connected in this story.  Also, this is novella length –Amazon has it listed at 90 pages– so don’t expect a huge read either.

As a person who doesn’t usually enjoy quick novellas, I found that Back to Buckhorn was actually pretty good lengthwise.  It flowed better than other novellas and didn’t feel rushed to me.  I loved thecharacter of Garrett and I even came to like Zoey by the end of the story.  While the plot line was pretty good, I did have some issues with it -namely that quick ending, it wasn’t enough to turn me off from reading more in this series.

Again, if you haven’t had the pleasure of reading any books in this series, I urge you to please start with one of the earlier books, if not at the beginning.  It can be read as stand alone, but you might find yourself a little confused at some of the character references.

[sc:rate4 ]

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#Review: Stubborn Love by Wendy Owens

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Stubborn Love

 

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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#Review: Ivan (Her Russian Protector #1) by Roxie Rivera

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ivan

 

Desperate to find her sister, Erin goes to the only man in Houston who can help her–Ivan Markovic. The intimidating, tattooed Russian operates one of the most elite mixed-martial arts training centers in the world but it’s his shadowy past and reputed connections with Houston’s underworld that interest her most.

To find her sister, she’ll need the help of her big, scary Russian protector—but asking for help from a man like Ivan carries a steep price, one that might just include her heart.

What was the reason I started this one? Oh yes — it was a free read.  I am not a huge lover of novella length.  Short stories never can cut it in the romance department for me because it is always instant love. I want build up. I want to learn about the history of the characters. I am not a fan of being complete strangers in chapter one and falling madly in love by chapter two. Yet I found myself clicking on the download button and reading it.

Ivan held great potential.  The first few lines of the book even lured me in and hooked me right away. It could have been great. Then we have the instant love and weak story unfold. The ending didn’t even end on the right foot for this reader.  It was over, but it wasn’t. There was more to the story that was needing to be told, but part of the story was somewhat settled.  It left me on the so-so fence of my feelings for this short book.  The secondary characters seem interesting enough for me to possibly read another in the series, but probably only if they are free reads again.

“Be careful what you ask for, Erin,” Ivan warned. “I’m not the kind of man to walk away from something I want.” His thumb caressed the side of my neck. “One taste of you and I won’t be able to let you go.” –Ivan

[sc:rate2 ]

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#Review: Dirty Rowdy Thing by Christina Lauren

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21411902

 

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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