Tag Archives: Did Not Finish

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

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

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

Chasing Midnight

By Shyloh and Alex Morgan

Sadly the time has come for me to do something I really don’t like having to do: Give a 1 heart review.

Chasing Midnight sounded very promising, but unfortunately I had to give up the chase just before the 50% mark. I have read over 500 books these past few years and I can honestly say I can count on one hand the number of books I haven’t been able to finish. I won’t say I hated it, but it did frustrate me to the point that I simply could not go on.

I didn’t want to be too critical, but here are the 5 main reasons I couldn’t finish it.

1 Too many characters (some I felt were unnecessary) are introduced at the beginning of the book and I was left struggling to remember who was who and who belonged to what family. Misery has at least three siblings (that I can remember) and for each sibling she uses their real name and their nickname, sometimes in the same sentence. I just couldn’t keep up.

2 POV changes constantly and without any notice. Because of the POV changes, there’s quite a bit of scene repetition and backtracking in time as you read about what was going through each of the character’s heads.

3 This book also includes secondary stories about Quinn’s brother Chance and sister Syra, and their love lives. This had me thinking I was going to read three stories in one and really drags out the book.

4 The repetitiveness of the characters dramas are too much. Mhisery’s father is a drunk and an embarrassment. Quinn raised his younger siblings after his parents died. Chance is worried about Alyssa’s reputation after being seen in public with him. We got it the first time. There’s no need to keep bringing it up.

5 The descriptive words that popped up only during the sex scenes left me discombobulated. Nothing fizzles out a fire quicker than having to look up the definition of a word: Mhisery educed Quinn’s shirt; and She wanted to feel his erection against her integument. One word was so weird I still have not been able to find a definition for it on the internet: Her hand apperceived his sizable erection. And I’m not sure why the authors had a problem with just using regular words: his teeth grazing against her derma (skin/flesh); She explored his portal (mouth) completely; Her hand smoothed over the surface of her smooth, ink-covered epidermis (skin/flesh); and He nipped her epithelium (skin/flesh).

Now while this book was not for me, you might enjoy it. On Amazon and Goodreads it does have at least a “4.6 out of 5” rating, so obviously most people are loving it.

I apologise to Shyloh and Alex if my review offends or upsets them, but I swore I was always going to be honest in my reviews.