Audiobook review. I’m not a huge fan of audiobooks. Narrators’ voices can grate on my nerves, my mind wanders so I have to constantly rewind, and the pacing frustrates me. I can read a book in half the time it takes to listen to one, and if I increase the speed the voices sound even more annoying. Color me surprised then that I enjoyed the Beneath This Mask audiobook so much. The story held my interest and the voice actors are phenomenal.
When You’re Ready is a sweet second chance romance. Clare is a widowed mother of a preschooler, Maddie. She’s doing a fantastic job raising her daughter alone, but is neglecting her needs as a woman. Logan is a successful ER doctor, but he’s rather self-loathing and is essentially sleepwalking through life instead of opening himself up to any meaningful relationships. Life changes for both of them when Clare brings Maddie into the ER one night.
Renée Carlino is one heck of a writer. The characters she brings to life have great depth, and her stories are well plotted and very engaging, with awesome angst mixed in. Sweet Thing is no exception.
I’ve got to admit I was a smidge skeptical about Devil’s Kiss. As much as I adore Ella Frank’s writing, Finley, the precursor to this book, missed the mark for me somewhat, but man oh man does she deliver the goods with this one. I absolutely loved it, but I do not recommend reading Devil’s Kiss without reading Finley first.
Reading One True Loves felt a lot like falling in love. For me, it started out as a hesitant attraction to the story and quickly evolved into a passionate affair. I was fully invested and wanted the wonderful feeling to last. As things evolved, however, and complications arose, I braced myself for heartache. I was no longer certain what a fairy tale ending looked like. I just knew the love story would end, and someone would wind up getting hurt.
Why didn’t someone tell me about R.K. Lilley, and specifically about Breaking Him, before now?! This story is like book crack—positively addictive and emotionally lethal. It gutted me time and time again, and I couldn’t get enough.
Showmance is only the second book I’ve read that L.H. Cosway has written independently, but I have to say she has a knack for writing damaged heroes. I was captivated by Damon Atwood, the leery and painfully socially awkward former child star making his stage debut in Moulin Rouge on London’s West End. Rose is a choreographer’s assistant who has been burned in the past by falling for shallow actors. Despite her best attempts to guard her heart, she is understandably drawn to Damon and decides to take him under her wing.
Wow. Sugar Daddy is every bit as steamy as I’ve come to expect from a Sawyer Bennett novel, only edgier. It’s almost like an addictive, well-written X-rated soap opera. You’ve got a super nasty villain, a determined heroine, and a massively likable hero. Throw in a huge mystery, some devious plotting, and a wildly sexy romance, and I was sold.
There are some 500-page books that I can fly through reading and they don’t seem very long at all. Sempre isn’t one of them. It felt very much like it is 528 pages long. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the story, because I did. The mafia, human trafficking, sacrifice, vengeance, and forbidden young love are themes that kept me interested. However, the plot unfolds extremely slowly and is bogged down with more repetitive details than necessary. At times it seems like the reader is experiencing life in the DeMarco household not just day to day, but hour by hour. The story could be told in much less time and still be impactful.
I think the cover of EXRATED is misleading because it looks quite serious and erotic. The story is about a hot young porn star so obviously it’s got to be sexy. What the cover doesn’t convey, however, is just how freaking hilarious this book is. It’s basically a rom-com with erotic elements, so you should be prepared for foul language, dirty talking, explicit sex, and lots of tongue-in-cheek humor.
I’ve read mediocre books that I’ve loved and well-written books that I didn’t enjoy. My opinions are completely subjective and influenced by my ever-changing moods on a given day. I know many people loved King and perhaps I just wasn’t in a receptive mood, but this missed the mark for me. I tried so hard to remain interested in the story, but felt an overall sense of detachment. King was a puzzle to me—unfortunately, one that I was fairly ambivalent about solving. He freely admits he’s a bad man. His entire personality is steeped in violence and anger, even though he shows glimpses of tenderness. I was initially intrigued. What bothered me was that I couldn’t understand why King is so intensely attracted to Doe, or why he feels possessive toward his “pup” that he mistreats. He jerks Doe around so often that for the life of me I don’t know how she manages to fall for him. His mixed signals drove me nuts. He’s cruel to her then gentle; angry then loving; he pulls her close one minute and then pushes her away the next. In the end, I simply didn’t like King enough to care about his pain, his […]
Stuck-Up Suit is a cute opposites-attract story. Soraya and Graham meet in a fun and unconventional way. This seems to be a pattern for Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward—and I like it. Although they get off to a rough start, Soraya and Graham are able to look beyond outward appearances and they find themselves falling quickly for each other.