Tag Archives: 1 Heart

Michael: A Scrooged Christmas

By F.G. Adams

Synopsis

Do holiday wishes really come true?

For kindergarten teacher, Holly Mary Edwards, she’s banking on a miracle when the man of her dreams returns from duty abroad.

Decorated army doctor, Michael Barnes, is not ready to face the holiday season after his fiancé leaves him for another man. Michael is convinced it’s time to put happiness in a tight little box and ship it back to the North Pole.

He wasn’t expecting Holly. And when the sexy Holly-jolly nymph takes it upon herself to divest him of his Mr. Scrooged attitude, she’ll do anything to bring him into the jingle bell jolly.

Can Holly convince him ‘tis the season for love?

Review

Unfortunately, MICHAEL: A SCROOGED CHRISTMAS was a DNF for me at the 18% mark. I usually try to last a little longer than that, but I just couldn’t continue on when a flashback scene appeared out of nowhere and had no connection to the scene I was reading. At least, I think it was a flashback scene. I honestly can’t be certain. It appeared so randomly and without notice that I thought I’d missed an entire page, so I went back two pages and re-read everything, but the result was still the same: great confusion about what I was reading. So I made the decision to stop reading and move on to another book. I researched the author’s work and found out that the two people Michael was angry at⏤Grayson and Ella⏤had their own story already, and I wonder if the flashback would have made more sense if I had read that other book first.

Michael: A Scrooged Christmas

My Rating:

Buy Links: Amazon

Visit F.G. Adams: Click Here

Crank (The Gibson Boys # 1)

By Adriana Locke

Synopsis

This is one mistake Sienna Landry can’t buy her way out of.

As Walker Gibson looks at her, then at the damage to his precious truck (that she may or may not have accidentally inflicted), she knows she’s in trouble. It’s not the busted headlight and dented grill that’s sunk her though. It’s the downright sinful man in front of her that’s the problem.

The small town mechanic is broody. Rough. Smells like engine grease and gasoline and Sienna isn’t sure why that’s so sexy, but it is. It so is. She’s ready to peel off her panties at the drop of his wrench.

He wants her too. She can feel it when he brushes against her. Experience it as he presses her against the wall of the shop. It’s thinly veiled in his deep, brown eyes when he looks at her like she’s everything he’s ever wanted. So why won’t he give in?

The damage to Walker’s truck is the first of many mistakes between the two of them, ending with truths that rock Sienna’s world. Nothing can fix her broken heart except the love of a man that won’t, maybe even can’t, love her back.

Review

With the huge amount of glowing reviews CRANK gets on Amazon and Goodreads, I had high hopes for this one. Sadly, I’m clearly in the minority because no matter how hard I tried, I could not get into this book. It took me three days to finish and, even though I only finished reading the day before writing this review, I cannot remember anything at all about the characters or the story. All I remember is how I felt reading it, which was a combination of frustration and boredom.

Referring to the very few notes I took, I wasn’t a fan of how rudely Walker treated Sienna simply because he was attracted to her when he didn’t want to be. I also wasn’t a fan of how almost all the men in this story talked about and treated women, with the worst being when one of Walker’s brothers talks about having a girl after his brother is done with her. If they were supposed to come off as humorous playboys, they missed the mark with me. I can’t say anything about Sienna because I didn’t take any notes about her at all.

I really wanted to like this book; the cover is cute and the blurb sounds really good, but this story did nothing for me. In the three years I’ve been reviewing, I’ve only given eleven books a 1❤️ review, but CRANK becomes my third this month alone. This has me wondering if maybe it’s really a case of “It’s not you, it’s me.” I’ll let you be the judge.

Crank (The Gibson Boys # 1)

My Rating:

Buy Links: Amazon

Visit Adriana Locke: Click Here

Time Out

By Jill Shalvis

Synopsis

NHL coach Mark Diego’s plan to spend his offseason volunteering in his hometown goes awry when he learns that not only is he coaching teenage girls, but that the program is coordinated by energetic (and five feet two inches of trouble) coordinator Rainey Saunders, his childhood friend—and the woman he could never stand to see dating any other guy…

When their tempers flare, Mark and Rainey discover their fireworks don’t just burn angry— they burn very, very hot! But that’ll just sweeten the victory. Because Mark always plays to win. And with Rainey, he’s planning on playing very dirty, too…

Review

Sadly, TIME OUT was a DNF for me. I don’t like starting a book and not finishing it, but I found I just couldn’t continue on after chapter seven. I tried to get into it, but I wasn’t feeling the characters, their chemistry or their story. Despite that, I would try reading from this author again.

Time Out

My Rating:

Buy Links: Amazon | iBooks

Visit Jill Shalvis: Click Here

Wish You Were Mine

By Tara Sivec

Synopsis

Five years. I would’ve stayed away longer if I hadn’t received the letter. Not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought about her, haven’t missed her smile, haven’t wished that things were different.

The last time I saw my two best friends, I vowed to not stand in the way of their happiness, even if that meant I couldn’t be a part of their lives. Cameron James and her emerald-green eyes were too much of a temptation and I couldn’t stay and watch them together. Cameron deserved better than me. She deserved him.

But now that I am back, things are different. I’m not going to stand by and watch the woman I’ve always loved slip away again. I’m done living my life with regrets and I’m ready to tell her the truth. And I’ll do whatever it takes to show her that I always wished she was mine.

Review

I’m sad to say that I really struggled getting through WISH YOU WERE MINE. I found myself wanting to give it up several times, but I’ve read and liked this author before, so I kept going. Unfortunately, by the time I got to the end, my feelings towards this book did not improve.

WISH YOU WERE MINE is the story of Everett and Cameron, who have been in love with each other for about twenty years, but neither have had the courage to confess their feelings. Their inability to be open and honest with each other takes up the first 75% of the story, which I found very frustrating. What was more frustrating was that when they finally did get together, it did not bring about an end to the drama. In the final 25%, their relationship is endangered two times, which I won’t go into because of spoilers. Ultimately, it was just too much drama for me to take to get to the happy ending.

I also didn’t like that Cameron and her best friend called almost every other woman in this story a skank. Worse, Cameron thought Aiden’s manwhore ways were a part of his charm, yet the women who slept with him were all skanks. It’s a derogatory word that was used too easily and frequently throughout the story, and it’s hard to like a character who speaks about her fellow women that way.

WISH YOU WERE MINE is a friends-to-lovers stand-alone that comes with a HEA for Everett and Cameron. It is told in dual POVs and also includes flashbacks. In fact, the first half of the story is told in a mixture of the past and the present, and this did affect the flow of the story a little bit. However, the flashbacks into the past were informative and showed the times that Everett and Cameron had missed their chance to say something to the other.

Wish You Were Mine

My Rating:

Buy Links: Amazon | iBooks

Visit Tara Sivec: Click Here

Delivery Girl (Minnesota Ice # 1)

By Lily Kate

Synopsis

Good things come in extra-large, smoking hot packages.

Things like pizza.

The very pizzas that I deliver for my dad’s restaurant, Peretti’s Pizza. It’s a temporary job, something to pay the bills until I graduate from school, but it does the trick. In fact, it’s working quite well until Ryan Pierce of the Minnesota Stars decides to order a pizza from me, and life as I know it turns upside down.

You see, Ryan Pierce doesn’t just open his front door. He opens it buck naked. And suddenly, I’m not the one boasting the biggest, hottest package in the room. However, it’s what happens next that gives me butterflies whenever my phone beeps. Ryan starts to call, and then text, and then fifteen pizza deliveries and one fantastic night later, we’re friends with benefits.

So when he asks me to be his fake girlfriend at his brother’s wedding, I’m happy to help. But the longer we pretend, the more I worry that this is one package I might not be able to handle.

Review

I had DELIVERY GIRL on my TBR list for six months before I finally got around to reading it. With all the positive reviews, along with the great sounding synopsis and it being about a hockey player, I thought it was a shoe-in for being a great read. Unfortunately, I really struggled with this book. It took me three days to read it and several times I considered not finishing it, but ultimately I kept going in the hopes it would get better. For me, it did not.

Firstly, I can’t remember anything personal about Ryan and Andi, and I didn’t feel any chemistry between them. What I do remember is that they spent almost the entire story trying to figure out their relationship. Is it just friendship? Is it friendship with benefits? Is it a relationship? If so, can it work? Is it real? Is it fake? The status of their relationship was brought up by both parties in almost every chapter, and that kind of repetitive thinking quickly became irritating.

Secondly, I thought it was odd that Andi knew who Ryan was before she met him, knew that he was a famous hockey player who is predicted to become very big in the NHL, yet she knew nothing about the game, going so far as to call the puck a “little black thingy”. If the man stars in your fantasies, you’d be watching his games just to see more of him and would therefore quickly learn a lot about the game.

Thirdly, why would an up-and-coming player, one without a history of bad behavior, have to beg for a new agent and a new team? If he’s really that good and has great potential, agents and teams would be knocking down his door to get him.

Finally, the agent’s behavior bothered me greatly. What kind of agent prefers their clients to be manwhores over being in committed relationships? What kind of agent threatens a potential (yes, potential) client with ruination if he doesn’t break up with his girlfriend before signing with them? The agent gets the next book in the series, but I disliked her so much that even if I loved this book, I’d have no desire to read her story.

DELIVERY GIRL is told in dual POVs and comes with a nice HEA for Ryan and Andi. The story takes place during the off season, so if you’re after some hockey action, you won’t find it here. I know my complaints may seem minor, petty and too technical to some people, but when they affect my overall enjoyment of the story, I can’t help but fixate on them. It pains me to give a bad review, especially to a debut author, but going by all the positive reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, I’m clearly in the minority with my opinions.

Delivery Girl (Minnesota Ice # 1)

My Rating:

Buy Links: Amazon

Visit Lily Kate: Click Here

Minnesota Ice Series

Vegas Love (Love # 1)

By Jillian Dodd

Synopsis

Hollywood actress, Ashlyn Roberts, just had the worst week of her life. Her ex released a sex tape of them and just when she was convinced her current boyfriend was a keeper for standing by her side, he breaks up with her at a friend’s wedding. She’s planning to drown her sorrows in booze when she meets a sexy stranger as she’s leaving the wedding and they end up in Vegas, married.

Cash Crawford is offered a dream job working with his brother as a junior talent agent. He’ll put his shiny new law degree to good use and make a bunch of money in the process. His first task is simple: Keep Ashlyn Roberts out of trouble and don’t sleep with her.
Which might be kind of tough, since they definitely consummated their Vegas wedding.

Will this one night stand end in the quickie divorce they promised each other? Or will they realize they got lucky in love?

Review

VEGAS LOVE is a book I’d seen around Amazon for a while now, and when I saw it was available through Kindle Unlimited, I downloaded it right away. I wanted something light and fun, and I thought this would fit the bill.

Unfortunately, the writing had me thinking about giving up several times by the 30% mark. The story moved at an incredibly fast pace. I’m talking warp speed. It moved so fast that I didn’t have time to get emotionally invested in the story or it’s characters. Most chapters were broken down into several smaller scenes, which I found not only odd and annoying, but also added to that rushed feeling. There were so many repetitive and abrupt changes in thoughts and topics that I thought I’d end up with whiplash trying to keep up with it all. Finally, if you’re after some sexy reading, you won’t find it here because all the sex either happened behind closed doors or was over with in less than a page.

VEGAS LOVE is told in dual POVs and comes with a HEA for Cash and Ashlyn. While I considered not finishing this story, I kept giving it a chance and made it to the end. But sadly, even the sweet ending wasn’t enough to save this book from a 1❤️ rating.

Vegas Love (Love # 1)

My Rating:

Buy Links: Amazon

Visit Jillian Dodd: Click Here

Love Series

Between Clouds and Stars

By Sharlyn G. Branson

Synopsis

My life is perfect. I have money, power, good looks and countless women ready to do anything to get their hands on me, and my rather large package. My business brings in billions every year and my airline has the fastest airplanes in the world. In short, I have everything a man can dream of. Or so I thought until I met Estelle Klide.

The second I saw her, I decided to make her mine.

Her body was sinfully sexy. She had amazing, mesmerizing indigo eyes. Her sweet scent was the epitome of temptation and evoked images of wild, animalistic sex in my mind.

I couldn’t help but fall for her – hard. Letting her slip through my fingers was not an option.
In involving myself with her, I entered waters I’d never thought I’d have to swim in. I set off on a journey filled with mystery, fear and a lot of love.

The only thing that threatened to ruin this paradise and destroy everything, was her ex-husband, who turned out to be a real monster.

* BETWEEN CLOUDS AND STARS is a standalone romance novel, which takes place in the fantastical world of the future.

Review

When I started reading BETWEEN CLOUDS AND STARS, I wasn’t aware that it was set in the future, so that was a bit of a shock. But that’s ok, it wasn’t a problem for me and so I kept reading.

So why the low rating? The story moves extremely fast and has way too much happening for a novella. Within the first few pages I thought that if I were to blink while reading, I might miss something important. Because of how fast it moves, you cannot connect with the characters or what’s going on because there simply wasn’t enough time to do so. Even the characters themselves don’t have time to react or be emotional before they’re moved on to the next part of the story. I get that this is set in the future and that it’s fiction, but I still expect a book to be somewhat realistic. Spoilers ahead. How did Estelle’s ex-husband escape from jail? Why was she not notified by the police that he had escaped, given that he tried to kill her? How did he tamper with Nick’s plane? Why wasn’t the crash of Nick’s plane investigated? Why would a couple lie about Estelle dying as a child so they could adopt her, only to treat her like crap her entire life? How could they just adopt some random child without proof of birth? Why would her family believe a doctor saying she had died and not speak to the police? All these questions tell me that the story was full of holes and loose ends.

While writing this review, I tried really hard to think of anything I liked about it. Sadly, the only part I liked was the HEA ending. BETWEEN CLOUDS AND STARS is told in dual POVs and is a stand-alone.

Between Clouds and Stars

My Rating:

Buy Links: Amazon

Visit Sharlyn G. Branson: Click Here

The Sun And The Moon (Giving You… # 1)

By Leslie McAdam

Synopsis

She follows all the rules.

He’s going to teach her how to break them.

After a heartbreaking tragedy, successful attorney Amelia Crowley has numbed herself to the pleasures of life, clinging to a specific set of rules, finding strength in order and organization. When she meets easy going surfer Ryan Fielding, that organized life is turned upside down by a sea of washboard abs and sun-kissed hair.

Sexy and charismatic, Ryan looks for pleasure however he can find it in an effort to silence his own inner demons. Until Amelia crashed into his life the only thing he chased was the next wave. Refusing to break their connection and determined to break through her carefully crafted walls, Ryan sets out to throw out every rule in her book and show Amelia that pleasure can’t be planned.

Can Amelia let Ryan take the lead or will she cling to her rules and wipe out their chance at love?

Review

I hate saying this, especially when it’s an author’s debut novel, but I just wasn’t feeling this book. I don’t know if the problem was with me, or maybe I just wasn’t in the mood, so I put it down to come back to it later. But after doing that a few times and still not connecting with the story or its characters by the 44% mark, I decided it was time for me to move on. Most of the story up to that point was Amelia’s inner monologue narrating to the reader, and when Amelia and Ryan do talk, it sounded too clinical, too formal, and not natural at all. Maybe the story would have gotten better-it has great ratings on Amazon and Goodreads-but I just don’t have it in me to try and find out.

The Sun And The Moon (Giving You… # 1)

My Rating:

Buy Links: Amazon

Visit Leslie McAdam: Click Here

Giving You… Series

Nowhere To Hide (Delos # 1)

By Lindsay McKenna

Synopsis

Lia Cassidy left the Army scarred physically and emotionally after a vicious attack by two fellow soldiers. She turns to helping others, working at a Delos Home School Charity in Costa Rica that aids abused women and children. But when the deadly drug lord, La Arana, attacks the school, Lia finds herself on the run for her life. The only person she can trust is the ex-SEAL sent to protect her.

Cav Jordan is strong, honorable and gorgeous…and intrigued by Lia. He knows she has suffered pain in her past, and he is determined to break through her barriers and earn her trust. But as Cav slowly chips away at the walls Lia has built, ghosts from her past threaten to destroy their fragile relationship.

Review

Sadly, NOWHERE TO HIDE was a DNF for me. I stopped at the 43% mark when my guess from the start of the story about certain characters was confirmed, it was that obvious. Overall I had trouble getting into the story and the writing style was a little difficult for me to adjust to. You definitely need to read the prequel novella, LAST CHANCE, before reading NOWHERE TO HIDE as the attack on the school is not really explained in this book, it’s more of a before-and-after type explanation. If I hadn’t read the prequel novella, I think the story would have lost me from the beginning.

Nowhere To Hide (Delos # 1)

My Rating:

Buy Links:
Amazon.US: Nowhere To Hide
Amazon.CA:  Nowhere To Hide
Amazon.UK:  Nowhere To Hide
Amazon.AU:  Nowhere To Hide

Visit Lindsay McKenna: Click Here

Blindsided (By His Game # 1)

By Emma Hart

Leah Veronica is the daughter of Hollywood’s sweetheart, Grace Veronica. Leah’s dream is to become a famous fashion designer on her own merit, without riding on her mother’s coattails. Her designer name is Lea V. and is the world’s most obvious secret.

Corey Jackson is the LA Vipers star quarterback and son of a quarterback legend. His two greatest loves are the game and women, and he loves the fact that woman flock to him because of his name, his job or his money.

I was looking forward to reading this book, but in the end I felt really let down by it. I guess you could say I was Blindsided by how bad the book really was. Their relationship starts out as one big game, seeing which one can outplay the other. When the relationship starts to get serious, Leah is just waiting for the relationship to end, which is not a healthy way to be thinking. Their interactions and conversations were boring and failed to hold my attention. Leah is 22 and Corey is 24, but they seemed so much younger than that. Honestly, they sounded like they were in high school.

It’s rare that I don’t like the main characters, but in this case both characters annoyed the hell out of me. Leah shuns fame and the Hollywood lifestyle, yet she lives at home with her mother and lives quite lavishly for someone who doesn’t have a job. It’s not actually mentioned if she gets an income from her designs so I’m assuming she lives off her mother’s wealth, which is ironic given that her mother’s wealth is made from the lifestyle she shuns so publicly.

Corey initially looks at Leah as nothing more than a conquest, simply because she said “no” to him. All he wants is to just get her out of his system. He hassles her relentless and even tells her that all he wants is to fuck her. She comes to the conclusion that if she just gives in to him, if she gives him what he wants, he’ll then leave her alone. Um, rape-y much??? His inner monologue says stuff like “Her body belongs to me until I decide otherwise.” and “Leah Veronica belongs to me. And she will until I tell her that she doesn’t.”. I think the author was trying to make him sound like a dominant, an alpha, but instead he comes off as sounding like an absolute pig. And then while he’s trying to snag her, he complains that he’s fed up with the back-and-forth. Then leave her the fuck alone!!!

Both are extremely arrogant. Corey, because he’s the son of a quarterback legend, is a star quarterback himself, is rich and attractive. Leah because she says she doesn’t want to date him because what if he discovers that she’s the new chick in the fashion world with the most anticipated new line at New York Fashion Week? This pair are a perfect match for each other with their games and their arrogance.

Towards the end, I was skipping paragraphs just so I could finish. Pages and pages were spent with Leah’s inner monologue talking about love and how bad and wonderful it is. I don’t mind swearing, but I found it a bit much in this book, and often used at inappropriate times and in unrealistic ways. There’s also quite a bit of sentence duplication. I pre-ordered my copy so I’m hoping that issue has since been resolved. Sadly, this book was so bad I will not even consider trying the other books from this series.

Blindsided (By His Game # 1)

My Rating:

Buy Links:
Amazon.com: Blindsided
Amazon.ca: Blindsided
Amazon.uk: Blindsided
Amazon.au: Blindsided
B&N: Blindsided

Visit Emma Hart: Click Here