Motorcycle Man
Series: Dream Man #4
Author: Kristen Ashley
Genre: Contemporary Romance
ISBN: B0085CIEHG
(E-Book Edition)

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Stuck in a colorless world, Tyra Masters decides to chuck her old life and starts searching for something. She doesn’t know what it is until she meets her dream man. The goateed, tattooed, muscled, gravelly voiced motorcycle man who plies her with tequila and gives her the best sex of her life. But she knows it isn’t the tequila and sex talking. He’s it. He’s who she’s been daydreaming about since she could remember.

Until he makes it clear she isn’t who he’s looking for.

Tyra slinks away from his bed, humiliated. The problem is, he’s her new boss. She just may or may not have forgotten to tell him that part.

Kane “Tack” Allen has a rule. He doesn’t employ someone he’s slept with. And he lets Tyra know that in his motorcycle man way. Tyra fights for her job and wins it using sass and a technicality. Tack challenges her that if she hits his bed one more time, she loses her job.

Tyra is determined to keep her job and keep away from Tack. But she makes a big mistake. During their head-to-heads, she lets it all hang out and shows Tack she is who he’s looking for. And Tack has had a good woman slip through his fingers, he’s not about to let that happen again.

Although Tack colors Tyra’s world with a vibrancy that’s blinding, being with him means she has to live in his Motorcycle Club world. Full on, no holds barred. And since Tack’s world, not to mention Tack, is a little scary, Tyra isn’t so sure.

It’s Tack’s job to convince her.

MY THOUGHTS

Mandi, you are an evil woman!  When Mandi from Smexybooks gifted me with a copy of this book to read, I was a little hesitant in reading it.  I read Knight awhile back — even though I was told not to start with it — so I wasn’t sure what to expect with Motorcycle Man.  She told me that I would really enjoy this one, so I caved and read it over the weekend.  I am still trying to figure out if Mandi is evil or genius.

First, I want to point out that Tack is not a nice man.  Oh no.  He is an arrogant, rough, and sexy alphahole as I was told and quickly found out.  He is to the point of where you want to grab his jewels, rip them off, shove them down his throat and then suck them back out with your mouth.  Oh yeah.  You will hate him, but fall for him at the same time.  He is possessive, outspoken when it comes to what he wants, and he will not settle for less.  He will own you body, heart and soul before you are finished reading this book.

Tyra took a little of warming up before I truly enjoyed her character.  I think the best scene with Tyra was when she went after a man who dared messed with Tack’s teenage daughter.  I cheered and was disappointed when Tack told her to stop.  I wanted to read more and wanted her to beat the crap out of that man even more.

I think the only thing that I didn’t really like about this book was the Russian Mob part of the plot.  I understand that is a big part of the story, but I just couldn’t process it as a believable one.  Even though I felt that way, I didn’t stop reading it.  Nope.  Kristen Ashley is crack for readers.  I will bow down to Mandi and her reviewers for that being spot on.  I am not too proud to admit that they were right and I was wrong. I was never a motorcycle club type of girl before, but I am starting to see the appeal to those rough and rowdy men!

MY FAVORITE QUOTE

“Got it all scheduled,” he noted.
“Yes,” I returned.
“What’s a huge-ass wedding?”
“Don’t ask that,” I advised. “Just show up.”
His grin turned wicked and I liked it. That was, I liked it until he enquired, “You askin’ me to marry you, Red?”
I wasn’t even sipping coffee and, still, I chocked. Then I pushed out, “What?”
“I accept.”
I shook my head and kept shaking it when I requested clarification, “Let me get this straight. Did you just accept my non-marriage offer?”
“Non-marriage?”
“I didn’t ask!” My voice was rising.
“So you just wanna shack up?” he asked but didn’t wait on my answer. “I’m good with that too.”
Gah!
“I’m getting my huge-ass wedding,” I declared.
“So you are askin’ me to marry you,” he noted.
Gah! Gah! Gah!!
Sharp as a tack.
Someone kill me.”

MY RATING

Very Good! I would recommend this book!

Down To You
Author: M. Leighton
Source: Author Submission
Genre: Adult Contemporary
ISBN: B009FG00N2
(Ebook Edition)

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

The scorching tale of one girl, two brothers and a love triangle…that’s not.

Olivia Townsend is nothing special. She’s just a girl working her way through college so she can return home to help her father run his business. She’s determined not to be the second woman in his life to abandon him, even if it means putting her own life on hold. To Olivia, it’s clear what she must do. Plain and simple. Black and white.

But clear becomes complicated when she meets Cash and Nash Davenport. They’re brothers. Twins.
Cash is everything she’s always wanted in a guy. He’s a dangerous, sexy bad boy who wants her in his bed at any cost. He turns her insides to mush and, with just one kiss, makes her forget why he’s no good for her.

Nash is everything she’s ever needed in a guy. He’s successful, responsible and intensely passionate. But he’s taken. Very taken, by none other than Marissa, Liv’s rich, beautiful cousin. That doesn’t stop Olivia from melting every time he looks at her, though. With just one touch, he makes her forget why they can never be together.

Black and white turns to shades of gray when Olivia discovers the boys are hiding something, something that should make her run as far and as fast as she can. But it’s too late to run. Olivia’s already involved. And in love. With both of them.

Both brothers make her heart tremble. Both brothers set her body on fire. 

She wants them both.

And they want her.

How will she ever choose between them?

MY THOUGHTS

When author M. Leighton asked me if I wanted to read and review Down To You before release date,  I immediately said yes and made my friends green with envy.  I might have rubbed it in that I was reading it before release date and became a child on twitter with “nahnahnah” and ” neinerneinerneiner” being tweeted to them.  I apologize for my actions, but I don’t apologize for my excitement.

Let me warn readers right off the bat — you will not be able to choose Team Cash or Team Nash.  It is just not possible for your heart to choose.  With that being said, can you imagine how Olivia felt having to choose?  I felt for the girl.  I wanted to help her so much.  Let us go over the details of characters first.

OLIVIA:  Shy but won’t-take-crap-from-mean-people heroine.  She is thrown into a love triangle she does not see coming.  Refuses to settle for a bad boy again.  Looking for the good guy that will treat her right, but seems to always fall for the bad boys. Can also make kicking cocktails because she is one great bartender.

CASH:  Sexy, tattooed bar owner of Dual.  Use to be the high school bad boy and screw up of the family.  Can make a woman drool from 5 paces and likes to flirt with women.  Doesn’t have a close relationship with his twin brother — or does he?

NASH:  The clean cut twin of Cash who is one hell of a lawyer-to-be.  Dating Olivia’s rich and spoiled cousin.  Instantly attracted to Olivia and flirts with her every chance he can.  Agrees to Olivia’s terms of not acting on the flirtations in respect to her cousin.  While he is the good boy of the family, he also harbors secrets that could crumble his good-guy image.

When Olivia is attending her friends party, Cash walks into the room to announce that their stripper has arrived.  Before he can make the announcement, the girls rush him and assume he is the stripper.  The girls convince Olivia to be the one to relieve him of his clothes.  She is hesitant and shy at first, but with Cash daring her on, she quickly gets into it.  Before she makes it to his pants though,  the real stripper walks in and Olivia figures out the mistake.  She is embarrassed and humiliated but just drunk enough that she hopes she won’t remember it morning.  Unfortunately, she wakes with a hangover and dirty thoughts of Cash.  She walks into her kitchen the next morning and sees her cousin with her boyfriend.  When she looks over to her cousins boyfriend, she gets a shock.  He looks exactly like Cash and accuses him of what happened.  Her cousin laughs when she realizes Olivia has just been introduced to the twin brother of Cash.  Her boyfriend is named Nash and he is the complete opposite of Cash.

Seriously, how is a girl not suppose to fantasize about two hot twin brothers who happen to flirt with her?
Oh there is a plot involved that does involved murder, mobs, and actual heartache,  but the guy factor alone is enough to keep a reader going.

I will give you a hint to this book though.  Just when you think you have your decision of who Olivia should be with, you are wrong.  Don’t argue with me!  You. Are. Wrong!  Also, pay attention to the smallest of details that the author provides in the narration and such.  It does mean something and is in no way words to fill pages to make a word count.  Again, everything you think will happen will be in the wrong and you will have plenty of jaw dropping moments that you will have bruises on your chin by the end of the book. Also be prepared for an ending that will be open for another installment.

Down To You brought sexiness and hot guys Down To Me and I want more!!!  I am just going to make my own Team Hashtag for this one and start using #TeamCNash !!!

MY RATING

Outstanding book that will stay on my bookshelf for rereading!

*I received an ARC ebook copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review*

From now on I will be posting My Book Haul on Saturdays.
Feel free to link up in the comments if you would like to share your mailbox post 
with me (and others) to check out.

This is two weeks worth of Book Haul.  I didn’t have a chance to do it last week, so I am 
combining the two this week.

—————————————————
FOR REVIEW


Head Over Heels by Susan Andersen
Sacrifice the Wicked by Karina Cooper
The Enchanted Land Jude Deveraux
Lord of Temptation by Lorraine Heath
My Scandalous Viscount by Gaelen Foley
The Lady Risks All by Stephanie Laurens
How A Lady Weds A Rogue by Katherine Ashe
Thanks to AVON/Harper Collins

Thanks to Wunderkid PR

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Thanks to Scholastic

Ghost Town by Jason Hawes & Grant Wilson
Thanks to Gallery Books

Thanks to William Morrow

What’s Left of Me by Kat Zhang
(Contest Win)
Thanks to Epic Reads and Harper

—————————————————

GIFTED
Thanks to the wonderful and awesome M. Leighton, I received a signed copy of The Wild Ones and a T-Shirt.  The inscription that she wrote to me brought me to tears and she is a dear friend I will always treasure!  Thank you so much M!


Anna from Anna’s Book Blog sent me a box of happiness this week as well!! She knows I am on a Sherrilyn Kenyon kick so she sent me some swag of Dark Hunter goodness as well.  Below is my favorite part of the swag:



Isn’t this an awesome bumper sticker??!!  I wanted to put it on my car but the hubby said no to that.  He is a party pooper!  Thank you so much Anna!!!

—————————————————

So what did everyone else get this week?

Team Human
Author(s): Justine Larbalestier & Sarah Rees Brennan
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal
Source: Amazon Vine
ISBN: 9780062089649

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Just because Mel lives in New Whitby, a city founded by vampires, doesn’t mean she knows any of the blood-drinking undead personally. They stay in their part of town; she stays in hers. Until the day a vampire shows up at her high school. Worse yet, her best friend, Cathy, seems to be falling in love with him. It’s up to Mel to save Cathy from a mistake she might regret for all eternity

On top of trying to help Cathy (whether she wants it or not), Mel is investigating a mysterious disappearance for another friend and discovering the attractions of a certain vampire wannabe. Combine all this with a cranky vampire cop, a number of unlikely romantic entanglements, and the occasional zombie, and soon Mel is hip-deep in an adventure that is equal parts hilarious and touching.

MY THOUGHTS

How do you write a review on a book that is so different that what you were expecting?  When I first saw the cover of this book, I thought I would be reading about a group of teens and adventure.  Then I read the back of the book and thought that it might be a lighter than the normal drama and angst with some adventure still.  Then when I started reading the book I found it was so much different than what I thought.

This book actually had me laughing out loud at times.  I loved the humor that the authors injected in the paranormal world created. With all of the paranormal books that are out there, it is refreshing to read something that pokes fun at it sometimes. What I loved is how this book is written to be one that you don’t take to heart.  I also loved the witty and comical dialogue of the characters.

If you are looking for a read that will lift your spirits and revive your interest in vampires and such, then I recommend getting a good laugh from this book.  It pokes fun at things, keeps you smiling, and gives you just a feel good feeling when you are in a funk from paranormal overload.

MY RATING

Very Good! I would recommend this book!

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

The Lost Code
Series: The Atlanteans #1
Author: Kevin Emerson
Genre: Young Adult
Source: Amazon Vine
ISBN: 9780062062796

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

What is oldest will be new, what was lost shall be found.

The ozone is ravaged, ocean levels have risen, and the sun is a daily enemy.

But global climate change is not something new in the Earth’s history.

No one will know this better than less-than-ordinary Owen Parker, who is about to discover that he is the descendant of a highly advanced ancient race–a race that took their technology too far and almost destroyed the Earth in the process.

Now it is Owen’s turn to make right in his world what went wrong thousands of years ago. If Owen can unlock the lost code in his very genes, he may rediscover the forgotten knowledge of his ancestry . . . and that “less-than-ordinary” can evolve into “extraordinary.”

Kevin Emerson’s thrilling novel is Book One of the Atlanteans series–perilous adventures in a grimly plausible dystopian future, fueled by high-stakes action, budding romance, and a provoc-ative question: What would you do if you had the power to save humanity from its own self-destruction?

MY THOUGHTS

I have read many books in the Adult Genre featuring the mystery of Atlantis or at least has some sort of premise of Atlantis in the plot.  So when this book appeared in my review list, I decided to give it a go and see how it would fare in the Young Adult Genre.

While I enjoyed the book and the character of Owen,  I did find the book lacking in some ways.  To me, it seemed that the other characters dragged the book down.  I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy them that much.  It wasn’t any one particular thing about them, it is just what it is.  I loved the lore and mythology that is included with the book.  I actually learned a few things while reading it.  The story does start off slow and you really have to commit yourself to the book to get the pay off at the end of it.  I think it is because the world needed to be established and it brought the story down in that regard.  Now that I have finished the build up, I am hoping that the next book in the series will take off at a better pace.  This is the one thing about new series that authors have to learn to balance out for the reader.  Too much info in the first book could lead to boredom and not enough can leave the reader confused.  A delicate balance that I hope is figured out by the next book.

While this wasn’t my favorite book,  I did enjoy the fresh take on the plot.  Mythology mixed with modern day and add some dystopia makes a great new series for the young adult genre.  One to keep my eye on for future installments while hoping it gets better with book two.

MY RATING

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!
*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*