Category Archives: Video Book Club

Wilder – Video Book Club

Title: Wilder
Series: The Renegades # 1
Author: Rebecca Yarros
Release Date: September 19, 2016


br-wilder

Christine’s Review

I rate this book 4 1/2 Hearts. This is also my first book for Rebecca Yarros. The book had a few slow places for me but the ending was well worth the wait. I also felt like something was mssing from Leah to make her character complete. Maybe she was mssing a sisterly bond that I thought since Penna became her accidental roommate that maybe she would fill that role but that didn’t happen. What I did love about Leah was her inner strength. She was ready to move on with her life again and start living after a terrible trauma that happened early in her life. Paxton Wilder lives up to his title of original renegade. He is an adrenaline junkie that really shows no fear. He has motives for everything that he does in this book. Even down to sacrificing his own happiness. I think the one thing he didn’t plan on was his feelings for Leah.

I really liked this book the only thing that I would say stopped me from giving a full 5 Hearts was that Leah’s trauma was continually repeated through out the book and I wish that she had just told him earlier. And Paxton also had events that haunted him throughout the beggining of the book that I wish he just would have delt with.

My favorite part of the book was when Leah was about to zip line which was way out of her comfort zone and she started praying. And one of the things she promised was to broker for world peace. I loved it.

My Rating:  4 Hearts 1/2


Lulu’s Review

I rate this book 4 Hearts and this is my first book by Rebecca Yarros. Started slow for me but by 30% mark I was hooked and needed to find out all the secrets this group of Renegades were keeping and probably the biggest one I did not pick till right before reveal.

The one character that I loved was Leah, although the title will have you believe it is about the Renegades to me this was her story of reclaiming life after tragedy. I do not know much about the X Games and it was just weird being on a boat but I got over that after attaching myself to the characters and their stories. One character I would love a story on is Paxton’s brother Brandon, I immediately felt something for this guy and wanted to know his story, considering these two grew up together they were so different but so loyal to each other in the end.

Now onto the ending, I felt a bit flat I have to say, the romantic in me would have loved for them to be back at Mykonos declring undying love even a month on. Now onto Mykonos, my all time favoiurite part of the book, yes I know it is when they make love for the first time but so much else is revealed to me by both characters. Rachel was an intersting character to the whole story and I would love to read Landon’s story considering his manwhore ways and then his revelations at the end. Penna was probably one of the first charcters who immediately jumped at me, she has a vitality that captured you from the start. Whilst most of the X Games terminilogy was lost on me I did enjoy reading about their tricks which also encorporated the ultimate suspense and mystery of the storyline. I really also loved the first time they had sex, the build up over the days before was perfect and I honestly would have cried if they did not do it at the point in time at the book when they did – perfect location.

My Rating:  4 Hearts

Vicki’s Review

I enjoyed WILDER and thought it was a great start to a new series from Rebecca Yarros.  In this series we have a trio of adrenaline junkies⎯Wilder (Pax), Nova (Landon) and Rebel (Penna)⎯who are the Renegades.  They’re taking a year off competing in order to finish college, but will film a documentary showcasing all their crazy stunts performed around the world while they spend the school year at sea.  Because of his busy schedule, Pax needs a tutor to help him graduate, and Leah has been chosen for him.

Leah is recovering from a traumatic event and just getting on the ship is the craziest and bravest thing she’s done in two years.  On her first day, she meets Pax and is thrown into a situation that terrifies her.  But she’s strong and brave and handles it like a champ.  She would normally never consider doing the crazy things that Pax does, but he makes her want to step out of her comfort zone and live a little.  I liked that while she thinks about her traumatic past, she doesn’t use it as a reason not to be with Pax.  Pax is cocky and arrogant, but he’s also a nice guy who would do anything for those he cares about.  He’s also haunted by a traumatic event for which he blames himself for, but it’s not his fault at all.  He’s determined to graduate college, gain access to his trust fund and finish the documentary to honour a friend.

There was one thing I didn’t like about the story, and that was how many times Pax and Leah’s “secrets” were alluded to before finally being revealed.  Leah’s traumatic event.  Pax hiding something from Leah.  Pax being the cause of Nova’s man-whore ways.  They were talked or thought about so many times that by the time the secrets were revealed, they weren’t shocking because they’d become easy to predict, and that was disappointing.  But other than that, I liked the story and it’s characters, and I am looking forward to reading Nova’s books next, which comes out in February 2017.  WILDER is told in dual POVs and is the first book in The Renegades series.  It doesn’t end with a cliffhanger and comes with a HEA for Pax and Leah, who I’m sure we’ll see again throughout the series.

My Rating:  4 Hearts

 

Ruthless – Video Book Club

Title: Ruthless
Series: Lawless # 1
Author: Lexi Blake
Release Date: August 9, 2016


Ruthless

Christine’s Review

RUTHLESS is a fantastic spin-off to the Masters and Mercenaries series.  I loved these brothers and sister.  The way this novel started broke my heart and just thinking of it now is making me emotional all over again.  This family has endured so much and deserves justice.

I really loved Ellie.  My heart hurt knowing that she had to be hurt in order for the family to receive justice.  I loved the fact that she has rose coloured glasses on. She believes that she can make things right and take her father’s company to a new level.  Not even her own father’s admissions to her on his death bed can change her outlook on the world.  It’s not until Riley comes along and rips those glasses off that she sees people for who they really are.  I almost wish, though, that she can put those glasses back on and regain that naivety.

There were several quotes that were very humous, mostly coming from Mia. But the one that I found very fitting was “The sins of the father were about to be visited on the daughter’s doorstep. Ellie Stratton would have to pay her father’s debt.”

Even though I want to hate Riley for what he was about to do Ellie, I knew that he needed to stay loyal to his family in order to move on with his own life.  Drew keep him focused while Bran keep him grounded. This family works so well together but even they can’t plan on the people that they are going to take down having an agenda of their own.

There were a lot of great moments both humorous and serious in this novel.  I’m glad that we got to see the continued story of Mia and Case.  They are so good together.  It felt like Case was the voice of reason for Riley which really nice to see how he grew as a character.

In closing, I really enjoyed this story and can’t wait for book two.

My Rating:  5 Hearts


Lulu’s Review

RUTHLESS was a fantastic read, even though I now know some of the major OMG secrets and explosive moments yet I know if I picked this up (which I will be doing before book 2 gets released) there would be other clues perhaps given that I may have missed.  I was so glued to watching Ellie miss all the signs and willing her to see all these awful people that I am sure I missed parts which I have so many questions especially regarding the Lawless family and I cannot wait to read book 2.

I was beside myself throughout the first half of this book knowing and waiting for Ellie to have revealed to her all the players. The surprise boardroom meeting scene is just epic and threw the whole storyline wide open – I was in shock I put the book down for 5 minutes I was so angry and hurt for Ellie.

My favourite quote came from Mia (the boys sister) talking about wanting Ellie to fall in love with her brother Reilly as she was sick of the “Sausuage Fest”, I mean anyone who can put Sausage Fest into a mystery/suspense novel and make me laugh while still having my heart broken and being scared for other characters being hurt by the bad guys – yeah I loved it.

Now moving onto the sex scenes – look we are given great moments – quickies on the desk at work, the first time they “do it”, my favourite was after Ellies emotional heart to heart with Bran and then she and Riley sleep together, now it was not so much the sex but the actions of Ellie to enable Riley to sleep all night with her – just kind of cemented them for me as a couple and I knew deep down they were going to be okay – well until the next curve ball was being thrown Ellie & Reilly’s way – I mean your heart does not stop beating until those last few pages – will we get a HEA for these two – I will not ruin the surprise – you need to pick this up!!

My Rating:  5 Hearts

Vicki’s Review

RUTHLESS starts out with the Lawless children grieving the loss of their parents who were murdered, but whose deaths are being ruled as a murder-suicide.  They spend the next twenty years planning their revenge on all those involved and now it’s time to start putting their plans into action, starting with Ellie, the daughter of one of the men involved.  Riley is sent in to get close to her, but his desire to make her pay for her father’s sins quickly changes when he discovers that she’s the polar opposite of her father.

I really liked Riley who, despite his desire to make those responsible pay for their crimes, wasn’t blinded by twenty years of hate and revenge.  When he gets to know Ellie, he was adamant that she not be hurt and he was devastated when that was exactly what happened.  I liked Ellie, who was very kind and caring, and my heart broke for her when she believed she had been robbed of everything and had no-one she could turn to or trust.  But while she’s intelligent enough to be the CEO of a multimillion dollar business, she did some really stupid things that annoyed me.

RUTHLESS is told in dual POVs and is part of a series where the books will not be able to be read as stand-alones.  It’s the first book in the spin-off from the Masters and Mercenaries series, but as someone who hasn’t read any of those books, I was never confused or overwhelmed by characters I should have known about.  The story starts off slow, but it really picks up with the boardroom scene just before the 50% mark, and after that scene it was really hard to put this book down.  I loved the mystery and suspense, and I felt that that side of the story overshadowed the romance side.  In fact, when it comes to Riley and Ellie’s relationship, I couldn’t understand how they both fell in love when we didn’t see them spend a lot of time together, except when they were at work…working.  I have a really out-there theory as to who the other person involved might be, and I’m definitely interested in reading more of the Lawless books to find out if I’m right.  Bran Lawless gets the next book, target and girl.

My Rating:  4 Hearts