REVIEW; Beauty From Pain (Beauty #1), by Georgia Cates

Rating: ★★★★★

Genre: New Adult, Romance, Drama

Recommend: 1000x YES

SPOILER-FREE

Summary:

Laurelyn Prescott is off on a 3month holiday with her best friend Addison, to stay with her brother Ben in Australia. After believing she had her heart broken, she is not looking to get with anyone… Enter Mr Jack Henry McLachlan. He doesn’t do relationships but he does agreements. He makes it clear from the start that each fling is solely exclusive sex with no emotional attachments and the women don’t get to know his name or anything private about him.

As soon as he sees Laurelyn he wants her. Proposing the best three months of her life, he does everything he can to get her. Going by her middle name Paige, she agrees to be his for three months and vows that if she starts to feel anything for him, she will run. But their agreement meets obstacles along the way, and as both get to know the true person behind the façade, they wonder is this just a three month agreement or is there more?

My Thoughts:

OH MY GOD THIS BOOOOOK! I AM MIND BLOWN AND ASTOUNDED AND IN SUCH A BAD BOOK MOURNING I CAN’T THINK STRAIGHT.

Where do I even begin with this fantastic piece of golden string of words?!

Laurelyn: She is brilliant! She’s 22 and not the typical shy and inexperienced scared little virgin. She’s not as experienced as Jack but she doesn’t let that intimidate her in the slightest. I do think she was a little bit brave and naïve to trust him so quickly at the start, going off alone with him before even knowing him. But then accepting their agreement, she had a new sexual confidence that she probably would’ve lacked if it had been a more emotional relationship. I got so annoyed when she believed Audrey!!! It was understandable but I HATE when people don’t just confront the person about the supposed lie. But it was integral to their story so I can forgive her! 

Jack/Lachlan: Forget book boyfriend, hello book Husband. He was unbelievable! From reading the blurb about this book I expected him to be a lot more selfish and focused on his own needs, but he was always about pleasing both of them. His immense caring for Laurelyn was so endearing, as he bought her meaningful presents (not just buying expensive crap for the fun) and remembered what she said and how she did things.

Writing: If anything, this is a masterpiece of writing. There is a great element of show not tell and we’re not spoon-fed information. It was SO CLEAR he had fallen for her in just how he spoke and treated her, but we knew that before he even realised it and it was poignant. It was good how not every single sexual encounter was documented but the important ones were. It kept it seeming more real as with every relationship certain events stand out more than others. There was no huge back story plonked in randomly for both characters, but rather a suitable flow that dropped little relevant bits here and there.

Story: I loved the whole idea of this. A girl off on holiday and meets someone and gets to have a great time but with no long term catches or contact. What happens on holiday stays on holiday…right? GAHHHHH BUT NO! At 89% I was so annoyed, upset, frustrated I wanted to whack my head off a wall. WHY WOULD SHE DO THAT TO HIM!?!?! And then the story ends at 90%! (Thankfully there is a sneakpeek of book 2 so there’s a little less of a chance of having a heart attack.) Their whole building relationship made such a captivating read. Starting off with no strings attached, and then Jack admits their friends and he enjoys her company outside of sex (swoooon) and so on until she meets his family. And what worked so well was both of them were hesitant to admit their feelings; Laurelyn wasn’t head over heels for him at the start, or probably even in the middle- it was a gradual thing and that made it so raw and beautiful. She wasn’t some naïve clingy woman; she accepted the terms and knew what it was and wasn’t and even though she did fall for him she still abided by the rules and THEN THE UNFORGIVABLE HAPPENED BUT I'LL REMAIN QUIET COS SPOILERS!

~~Sidenote: I’ve seen this novel as being labelled as BDSM, Erotica etc etc… it wasn’t though. Obviously the story is all centred around a sexual agreement so yes, there is steamy sexy time. But it’s not taboo, there are no whips and chains. Jack wants her to be his but he’s not a dominant or anything. They’re both equals and a perfect match! The title may be misleading but it all makes sense at the end. This is a beautiful story and suitable for all 18+ ~~

Overall: 

I can't recommend this enough. It had everything I want in a book. It was an original idea and the bigger main plot was obviously predictable, but the whole read was a rollercoaster of laughs and tears. It punched me at the end and I wanted to scream that I didn't have the second book - and I bought the rest of the series immediately and they jumped up on my reading list. If that doesn't convince you that you NEED to read this... then I don't know what will! 

- Oh, and this book is free so you have no excuses!

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REVIEW; Tears of Tess (Monsters of the Dark #1), by Pepper Winters

Rating: ★★★★★

Genre: Adult, Romance, Abuse

Recommend: Yes

SPOILER-FREE

Summary:

Tess Snow loves her boyfriend Brax, although she wishes he'd be more adventurous, he's safe and loves her. She's more than happy to go away to Mexico with him for their anniversary. 

But after entering a dodgy cafe, she believes Brax to be murdered as she is hauled off, drugged and unaware. Waking with other beaten women, Tess is determined to fight for her freedom. After enduring the darkness of Mexico, she is sold to Q, in France.

He keeps his cards close to his chest and Tess hates him, as she becomes his slave. But not all is what it seems, and Q has a background that Tess is determined to uncover, whilst also wondering if she has come to have feelings for her owner. 

My Thoughts:

I knew this was going to be an uncomfortable read due to the level of abuse and trauma that was predicted for Tess, but the overall story drew me in and I loved it from the start! 


Tess: I love her! At the start when she wanted to try new things with Brax, I knew she had a fire to her. After being kidnapped, she didn't just collapse and give up, she fought back even though it meant being hurt more. Upon meeting Q, she defied her orders and she probably didn't see what this symbolised to Q, but it was such a turning point for her. Everything is from her POV and I couldn't help but sympathise for her throughout. Sometimes, with these stories I find it hard to relate to the kidnapped character, but Tess' responses and emotions and thoughts just seemed 100% expected and genuine. 


Q: Oh boy... At the start I didn't know if I loved or hated him. We knew nothing about him and to the reader, he was the villain. But as the story developed, we found out so much about him that made the reader fall for him... or at least feel for him. He had such unusual reasons for what he had done and was doing - but it all made sense. It was so fantastically orchestrated that I didn't see it coming, but it was like finally the jigsaw was complete and it was a completely different picture to what was expected. He was a monster, but he was perfect too and so conflicted. He clearly had his own demons but also a heart of gold. He was battling such a dichotomy and I just want to give him a hug! 


Writing: Oh WOW!!! Pepper Winters can write! Like, her talent is unbelievable!!! The character development of Tess is executed astoundingly as we really get an insight into who she is and what she wants, mainly at the beginning. This is so important as it means we really know who she is when she's been kidnapped so can properly feel for her. The pacing was perfect and twists and turns were dispersed at great moments that just held my attention for the whole book. 


Story: Wow Wow Wow... Obviously you get an insight into what will be happening overall but this story was just a dark storm that you know is dangerous but you can't stop but walk into it. I've never read something that draws the reader in so well. As Q and Tess fall for each other, it's not a sudden or instant thing and it's still tainted with hatred. It's a slow and steady process and more about looking out for each other than anything. Their story is hot and dangerous, but the reader ends up rooting for both of them. Q tries so hard to be careful with her and keep his desires controlled, but Tess yearns to be treated more roughly and ends up knowing him well enough to know how to push his buttons to get what she wants.


Whilst this was a dark read, there were mainly only a select few scenes that were dark. The majority played on the emotions and mental games and focused on other drama. This isn't a negative or a positive, just a note to the reader. I felt it had enough moments that had me worried or scared to keep my interest, but it wasn't overkill to make me want to give up either. 

Overall: 

I can't recommend this more. It is a mind-f*ck of a story and will leave you numb and confused but it's thrilling and captivating too. I loved the Captive in the Dark series, and read this as a recommendation from that and love this even more. There's a certain elegance to the harshness in this that just makes you fall in love with everything! 

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REVIEW; Carter Reed #2, by Tijan

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Genre: New Adult, Romance, Drama

Recommend: Yes

SPOILER-FREE

Summary:

After thinking they had their happily ever after when Carter leaves the mob, he finds himself back involved as an old friend returns. But Emma’s life is in even more danger and she quickly gets tired of hiding away. Finding out more about her family, Emma wonders if she can ever have a normal life without putting those she loves in danger. 

Meanwhile Carter is torn between stepping back into the Mauricio Family to help and protect Emma, or cut loose and face the consequences. As the threats get bigger, the war is beginning, and all wonder who they can really trust. 

My Thoughts:

Despite having already reviewed the characters in the first book's review, there was more to comment on this time round.

Emma: Again, I loved her fight. She wants to be involved and has accepted her fate and knows what she has to do to remain by Carter’s side. But sometimes I wanted to strangle her myself. She’d been in that life for a year and still went into dangerous and foolish situations thinking she was helping and ignoring very clear instruction from either Carter or the bodyguards. It was like she was completely oblivious to the extent of the danger they were in. I appreciate that she didn’t let Carter molly-coddle her and treat her like an incapable child, but there were times where I wished she’d just accept help or care and take the back seat for once.

Carter: I liked at the start how much he cared for Emma and wanted to protect her, but his repetitive and constant denial to let her even learn to fight was just frustrating. Realistically, he should’ve jumped at the chance to teach her self defence back in the first book, knowing that at some stage she’d have to defend herself. Emma had murdered, it was clear she could handle herself to a degree and he needed to stop treating her like such a fragile child.

Aaaaand Moving on more positively.

Story: I much preferred the story in this book. I liked how Carter was torn between the two worlds and having to balance his loyalty. The twist at the last 15% was a lot more of an exciting end than in the first book. The added plot of Emma discovering more about her family was a great additive to the overall picture, adding in clever opportunities for more twists and drama. There was so much more action and secrets in this that kept my attention a lot more than the first one. 

Overall: 

This series has really confused me. I gave the first book 3 stars but yet I preferred the story in this one... but yet it wasn't a 4 star book. The characters' flaws annoyed me more, maybe because I'd put up with them for one book already so reading their negatives a second time round, I became less tolerant. It's made rating both books difficult as the first wasn't on a 2 star level so I can't reduce it. In the end, I guess I'm torn as both novels have positives/negatives. Either way, I'd still recommend them. 

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REVIEW; Carter Reed #1, by Tijan

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Genre: New Adult, Romance, Drama

Recommend: Yes

SPOILER-FREE

Summary:

Emma walks in on her roommate being raped by her boyfriend, and shoots him dead. But he’s a part of one of the most powerful Mafia families. Gone into hiding, Emma remembers her brother’s best friend when he was alive, Carter. He promised her that Carter would protect her when she needed him, so she turns to him.

Known as the Cold Killer, he’s a weapon to the main rival mafia family. He takes Emma in and vows to protect her from all harm, as both are thrown into a world of danger, death and romance.

My Thoughts:

Tijan is one of my favourite authors. I fell immediately for her writing from the Fallen Crest series and was so looking forward to starting Carter Reed. He sounded like a top Book Boyfriend who would challenge all that came before. 

Emma: I loved her as a main character. She wasn’t afraid to kill someone but yet wasn’t immune to the inevitable guilt associated with it. She wanted to be a part of what was going on and fight for herself, something that was admirable as she didn't fall into the helpless damsel. Although she did turn to Carter, it was still clearly a hard decision to commit to as she really wanted to be self-sufficient. 

Carter: Gahh… I’m so undecided about him. He seems so powerful and gorgeous but I didn’t fear him as much as I wanted to. I didn’t feel the killer vibe from him, maybe this was due to Emma trusting him, but there was no fear whatsoever and I wanted to sort of fear him. From the start he appeared to melt in front of Emma and let her in so easily... I was expecting more of a cold front and more mysterious and just a general bad-ass vibe.

Love: this wasn’t a love story like I expected. I know it was primarily the drama between everything but Emma and Carter got together so quickly with no chase whatsoever. There was no build up of tension but rather they just both admitted mutual feelings and became a duo. Even the steamy scenes weren’t steamy, something I’d have expected from Tijan. It all just seemed a little flat and... teenage? As a result, I didn't really feel their romance was genuine or there be much chemistry; rather it was just an outright declaration of their love. 

Story: Deep down, I loved the plot behind all of this. It went beyond the usual drama in a love story and the action was definitely more of the story than the romance was. I definitely kept reading this just to find out what happened amongst the Mafia crowd more so than down to Carter and Emma.

Overall: 

I am undecided with this. I would recommend it, especially to people that have read other works of Tijan. But overall, it really did lack for me. I wasn't as invested in the characters as I wanted to be and at times, I got lost with who was who in the mob scene. It was like the novel didn't know if it were a romance or an action, and it didn't work as a bit of both this time.

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REVIEW; 500 Days, by Jessica Miller

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

Genre: New Adult, Romance, Drama

Recommend: No

SPOILERISH

Summary:

Casper is a musician and has one night stands. But he can't get one girl out of his head from New Year's. 

Alex doesn't entertain any men. Raised by four protective brothers, she learned how to fight and be tough. But deep down she wants to be treated like a girl and experience things every other girl does. 

As their paths cross they're faced with a mix of hatred and love. They can't stand each other, but yet they can't stay away. Persistant to fight against their wants, will they see it through and overcome their own fears and demons?

My Thoughts:

Firstly, the cover... I really dislike it. It looks like a bad stock image edited in Word and it's difficult to read. Having an appealing cover is something I love in a book and this just didn't work. If I had come across this in a list in Goodreads etc, I doubt I'd click on it - it doesn't give any inclination into what genre/type of book this is meant to be. 

Names: One of the first thing that I spotted in this were the choice of names... Jaxson, Jasper, Jack, Jacob - four brothers. Add on a Jared into the mix somewhere... Then in another family unit there's Casper, Cayden, CiCi, Candace and Charles, and throw in a friend Colton. Seriously - what the hell? This bothered me so much as it was just so unrealistic, especially as it was both with the letters J and C and not just in a singular case. Then the main girl was called Alex (cool) and her friend was Declan... Now, I have no issue against going against defying gender specific names - but it was like every character had to have a quirky name! Why? 


Editing: There was none... or if there was then Miller needs to fire her editor and get a new one. To say this was a painful read due to the editing is an understatement. From the start it was plagued with errors; punctuation, mixing of tenses, incorrect/bad grammar. 

"He thanked me for the offer but decided to go surprise Jaxson now."- tense change.

"I'm glad your home" - That pained me to even write.

Sadly, this standard permeated the whole read. I am a Grammar Nazi and do make mistakes myself and understand they can be hard to spot - but the amount in this was just unacceptable. Also, Mobi format needs A LOT of work. The text sizes changed mid paragraph from this to something like this and it just pained my eyes.


Characters: UGH! Okay, to begin with there were way too many. Alex did not need those four brothers. Really, she needed one, two max. Casper's family - wtf? They were totally irrelevant and I couldn't follow ANY of their family conversations and there were just too many names (beginning with C) and no character depth or description to identify who was who. Everyone was just thrown at us in one go and the reader was expected to just jump on board and know immediately everyone inside out. Which brings me onto character development. This is a huge must for me in a novel. I want to feel like I really know them and understand them but there was none of that. Every. Single. Person. In this was one dimensional. They had no depth whatsoever and no building or development. 


Alexis: What a bitch! Was the intention to hate the main female in this book? She was so unlikable from the get go. She had herself so high on a pedestal and judged and stereotyped every single guy she met and as she felt they were judging her. Hypo. Crite. 

"Guys didn't use me. I used them."

Wow. What a tough girl, Alex. Or, you know... What a bitch! She hated on guys that wanted one night stands (even though the girl was willing in the first place so, slut shaming much?) But yet she played a much more manipulative game of purposely using guys regardless of whether they knew the deal or not.

"Better to be the heartbreaker than the one who gets their heart broken" 

This is 50/50. One way, I understand the point the author tried to get across - it's all a defense mechanism. But nothing gives you the excuse to purposely hurt people. Just no.


Casper: Meh. He's nowhere near the Book Boyfriend list. He's just boring and bland. Typical young guy who just wants satisfaction. He has no redeeming factors to make you feel for him or want him to get Alex or anything. It's just impossible to feel anything for any of them. He was a victim of Insta-Love and if you've read any of my previous reviews, you will know this automatically means you lose a star in the rating. IT'S SUCH BULL! The whole damn book is just him moaning about wanting her, not wanting her, wanting her again. 


Writing: The writing in this wasn't too great. Moving on from the grammar etc, it wasn't thought out well or executed properly. It was nigh on impossible to follow the mind-numbing conversations and it rarely said who was speaking and following person A speaking, it'd list person B's actions, and it just got hard to follow. The same conversations were repeated again and again and again and again... I've never seen the one point been dragged out so much. 

 "Alex swayed her hips to the beat and swung her arms in the air."

This is to show just how unoriginal everything is. Generic overused sayings are implemented instead of trying to describe her dancing in any imaginative or unique way.  The portrayal of every action just lacked any emotion or feeling and it all just fell flat. 

"Our dad died when we were young and our mom, well, she had to go away for a while. Jack stepped in and took over the role of both parents, and shopping for a girl was not something he knew how to do." 

This really annoyed me. I always commend Show Not Tell. This just felt like being face slapped with a big piece of information and it didn't fit in with Alex telling this to the reader. We aren't a character in the book so why is she hesitant to reveal information? This should have slowly emerged throughout a conversation with another character and not stringing the reader along. 

Overall: 

I really don't like posting bad reviews but I need to be honest. This was just a wreck. I'm so sorry and maybe it just wasn't for me as it has gotten some great reviews. I just couldn't connect or become invested in any aspect of this and in the end gave up towards the latter end. 

Thanks to the author for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review. I'm sorry it didn't work out.

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REVIEW; Just a Few Inches, by Tara St. Pierre

Rating: ★★★★☆

Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Drama

Recommend: Yes

SOME SPOILERS

Summary:

Carrie wants to fit into The Dress. It's less than a week until the Valentine's Dance and Carrie has the perfect dress to woo her boyfriend, but she needs to she a few pounds to fit comfortably and look the part. Resorting to the pull of diet pills, Carrie decides they're worth the shot to lose a few inches.

As the dance approaches, Carrie notices results when trying on her dress. Ceasing to take the pills as she has reached here desired level, everything has worked out... or so she thought. Carrie soon realises her height has been what's been reducing, causing her weight loss. 

Forced to come clean to her parents, her life is changed forever after one insecure decision. Battling losing an inch a day, Carrie sees life from a whole new level, and doesn't know when it'll stop...

My Thoughts:

I really loved the idea of this novel. The blurb drew me in as it dealt with such a common and serious issue, in a clever way with some humour and imagination.


Carrie: She was a great lead character and dealt with an issue many females can relate to. Her change of attitude and growth ~ lol ~ throughout the story was extremely admirable and enlightening. She resorts to the diet pills early on due to her insecurities that she's not good enough physically, and needs to change her appearance to be worthy of keeping her boyfriend or being anyone significant. As she goes through her shrinking and physical change, she slowly realises that nearly everyone wants to change something about them and very few are happy in themselves, a sad revelation really. By the end, both in her narration and blog, she really pushes that we are who we are and only have one body so just embrace it. There's nothing wrong with wanting to healthily improve aspects, but it shouldn't be anyone's main concern. 

Theme: This novel really works due to the deep and crucial theme that’s dealt with. It’s definitely one I can really relate to and its execution is probably one of the best. By incorporating the theme into a sci-fi, original and humorous manner, it subtly delivers a message of great importance. The media and inherent competition and envy has made nearly everyone to focus on the negatives of their body and what they deem “wrong” or in need of change by comparing themselves to other people, that are built differently and have different genetics, and to photo-shopped airbrushed pictures published by the media. In a world where perfection is glorified and want of a constant youthful appearance creating a mutli-billion industry, growing up we are subject to believing we can’t embrace our natural selves. This novel really portrays that everyone is different and whilst we can’t help but compare ourselves to others, we need to put our own body’s abilities first make sure we take care of our one body.

Story: As already said, this was also a great story if not looking too deep. It was definitely an original take on insecurities and self-image issues. Carrie gets down to being only 6 inches and it’s a captivating read as regular household objects prove to be of a lethal danger or troublesome to operate. There was great thought put into working out what actions we tend to overlook or take for granted, prove to be of great effort if we are to be smaller, e.g. reaching a doorknob or even operating a phone or keyboard. Add in a domestic pet that’s bigger than you, and the real danger is imminent.

Characters: The characters in this were well developed and realistic. I really liked watching the role Carrie’s two best friends played; Lauren and Trish. At first, I didn’t like Lauren much as I felt she wasn’t too supportive of Carrie and wasn’t too sympathetic towards what was happening. But really, she was probably the better friend as Trish acted like her publicity manager. Lauren actually cared for Carrie’s well-being from the get go, advising her against the pills from the start. She was described as curvy and not thin, but yet she had no want to change for the approval of others. Evan was beautiful; he clearly cared for Carrie at the beginning, before she started to change and he was such a crutch as she battled her issue. Whilst everyone focused on the change she was enduring, he helped her see that nothing else was changing and she was still the same gorgeous person he wanted to be around. 

Pace: Majority of the time, the pace was spot on in this. However, the shrinking began within the initial 20%, making me wonder where the story would lead. Whilst the story didn't drag, it did seem to reach the main point quite quickly as it slowly built up to the ending. Which brings me to the ending... there was a great high point towards the end where Carrie faces a danger holds great suspense, but the ending was a little bit of a let down. It seemed a little sudden and rushed to cap off the story, after such a good build up and preceeding content.

Overall: 

I would definitely recommend this so all NA/ YA/ teens. It holds such a powerful message, whilst highlighting the dangers of becoming obsessed with your appearance - albeit in a more sci-fi manner but there's emphasis on the mental aspect too. It was a great piece of original work and I loved reading it.

Thank you to the author for allowing me read this in exchange for an honest review! 

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