Sizzle (Bad Boy Rockers #1) by Lexi Buchanan

Thalia is twenty-one and has just finished her sophomore year of college, and is trying to avoid going home to her stifling parents who have a curfew of nine every night, and have a bad habit of treating her like she's still ten years old. Her new boyfriend, Liam, invites her to spend the summer with him and his family, so as she’s been unable to find a local job to keep her at college, Thalia jumps at the chance. Liam tells her that she can be his guest at his brother, Jack’s, wedding at the end of the summer.

Jack is twenty-five and feels as though he’s drowning. He’s engaged to Mia, against his will, because it’s always been drilled into him, family comes first. Jack’s studying for a law degree, and wants to go out on his own once he graduates, specializing in criminal law. His father wants him to accept a junior partnership in the law firm owned jointly by him and Lewis, his fiancées father, to practice family law.

Then he meets his brother’s girlfriend, Thalia, and he can’t get her out of his head. He needs her to keep her distance, because every time she smiles in his direction, he wants to carry her to his room and do really naughty things to her.

Then Saturday night arrives and Liam takes Thalia to a new bar that has opened on the outskirts of town, where she discovers Jack’s big secret. By day he’s the good looking, slightly older brother with a chip on his shoulder, who gives her hot looks, and by night he’s Phoenix, singer/guitar player for bad boy group ‘Deception’, who makes her sizzle to the core!

He has muscle.

He has tattoos.

He has piercings.

He has a mouth that makes her panties wet every time he opens it. He is supposed to be getting married.

He is also her boyfriend’s brother....

3.75 Stars

“You’re my brother’s girlfriend, and I’m engaged.” 

“I don’t understand.” The anger drained out of me as I moved closer to him.

“I know you don’t, but you need to stay away from me, because I’m not sure I have the strength to stay away from you. There’s something about you…” 

I added this book to my TBR a while back, anticipating its release. First off, who could resist this cover? Holy hotness! Second, the series title included the word rockers in it, so you know I couldn’t refuse. So when I searched Amazon and found out it was released, I was all over this. 

I tore through this book in one day, but I have to confess that the last 30% of the book got a little annoying and I’ll tell you why in a little bit. For the most part, it was a good read and not as angsty as I thought it was; which was a relief by the way. Sometimes too much angst makes my blood pressure go up and I have no choice but to put it down and breathe. However, this story was actually far from angsty. Believe it or not, there wasn’t really any real cheating involved. Can you believe it? I mean, after reading the blurb, I thought for sure there was going to be an abundance, butnope, nada, zero, zilch -- no cheating. I don’t want to give anything away, but let me just say that the story could’ve been more complicated, and it was, but then again it wasn’t. LOL. Did you get that? 

The one huge positive in the story was the Hero, Jack – VERY swoon worthy, and very honorable. Not to mention the fact that the man has got some tattoos and some well placed piercings **smirks**. Another positive is his band mates, Donovan and Reese. Holy shit, these guys are H.O.T. Just so you know, these guys are best friends, who like share things. Get my drift? Hot, hot, HOT! I’m seriously looking forward to their stories. 

However, Jack and his crew can only take a story so far. There were a number of things that prevent me from giving this at least four stars. Here are a few minor negatives:

One: This wasn’t really a rock star story. It just so happened that Jack, Donovan and Reese played together. They’re not famous, yet. So I really wouldn’t consider this a rocker story.

Two: Welcome to reasoning behind why the last 30% of the book annoyed me. lol. For most of the story, Thalia, our heroine, referred to Jack as Jack. It wasn’t until later on when she found out he goes by the name of Phoenix on stage. From then on she referred to him by Phoenix. Yea. I wasn’t feeling that name, especially when she was screaming and moaning it. Yep. Definitely wasn’t feeling it. 

Three: The reasoning behind the forced marriage was a little extreme, particularly on the bride’s father’s side. When I found out why he was so adamant on having Jack as a son-in-law, I was just like What?! That’s it? Really?! That’s pretty lame. To find out that all this drama was because of that was a bit of a let down. 

All in all, the story was pretty entertaining. Plus the steam factor in this story is high on this one, too, so I wasn’t disappointed in that department. I’m definitely going to be on the look out for Reese’s story due out next year. But for now, I hope you guys enjoy Jack’s piercings…oh, umm, I mean… story. :)

Left Drowning by Jessica Park

What does it take to rise from life’s depths, swim against the current, and breathe?

Weighted down by the loss of her parents, Blythe McGuire struggles to keep her head above water as she trudges through her last year at Matthews College. Then a chance meeting sends Blythe crashing into something she doesn’t expect—an undeniable attraction to a dark-haired senior named Chris Shepherd, whose past may be even more complicated than her own. As their relationship deepens, Chris pulls Blythe out of the stupor she’s been in since the night a fire took half her family. She begins to heal, and even, haltingly, to love this guy who helps her find new paths to pleasure and self-discovery. But as Blythe moves into calmer waters, she realizes Chris is the one still strangled by his family’s traumatic history. As dark currents threaten to pull him under, Blythe may be the only person who can keep him from drowning.

*This book is intended for mature audiences due to strong language and sexual content.

Note: due to mature content recommended for Ages 17+

3.5 Stars

I love Jessica Park; I really do. That's why I wanted to read this when it released. However, this wasn't one of those couldn't-put-it-down type book like Flat-Out Love was. It took awhile for the story to get going. I wanted to stop on numerous occasions, but my curiosity got the best of me and so I kept going. I had a feeling the Hero and heroine were connected somehow. As the story unfolded, I formed some of my own theories and in all actually, when everything was all said and done, my theory wasn't too far off. 

The story itself was good, for the most part. It kinda had thatColleen-Hoover-Hopeless-vibe to it. Something was connecting the two characters. Both had traumatic pasts and that are now affecting the present. They're both damaged, and when they meet at Matthews College, they instantly connected. 

I guess I'm in the minority when I say that I didn't connect with these characters. Blythe to me just seem so indifferent, especially when it came to Chris. Yes, she loved him. Yes, she didn't want anyone else, but throughout the story, she didn't seem to fight for what she wanted. They had this truce that they weren't going to be anything but friends, even though it was obvious that the two were crazy for each other, and I didn't understand their blasé attitude about their relationship, or lack thereof. It just felt off for me; I don't know. I was rooting for these two from the very beginning and just when I thought they were going to be together....they ended not to be. It took a long time for that to happen, too, and for them to just go back to before, really frustrated me. Oh! And when Chris broke her heart after what they went through?! OMG, I was LIVID. Like I said, I just didn't get their relationship. 

Anyway, I'm sure a lot of you will LOVE this story, but it wasn't meant to be for me. I liked it, but I didn't outright love it. I hope you guys have better luck with this than I had.

Fear of Falling by S.L. Jennings

I can’t remember the last time I felt completely safe. Security seemed more like a luxury to me, reserved for those who were fortunate enough to have picture perfect childhoods. For those who didn’t bear the ugly scars that keep me bound in constant, debilitating fear. I’ve run from that fear my entire life. But when I met him, for once, I couldn’t run anymore.

He scared the hell out of me in a way that excited every fiber of my being. It wasn’t the tattoos or the piercings. It wasn’t the warmth that seemed to radiate from his frame and blanket me whenever he was near. It was just…him. The scary beautiful man that threatened to alter 23 years of routine and rituals, and make me face my crippling fear.

My name is Kami and I am constantly afraid. And the thing that scares me the most is the very thing I want.

“Don’t worry,” he smiled, pulling me into the hard warmth of his chest. “I’ve got you. I’ll always catch you when you fall.”

And just like that, Blaine had staked his claim on the untouched part of me that no living soul had ever moved. He had captured every fear, every reservation, and crushed them in the palm of his inked hand.

Author Disclaimer: Abuse is real- verbal, emotional, physical and sexual. It takes place all around us; it doesn’t discriminate against race or gender, wealth or poverty. It affects us all- those of us who’ve had to live through it, or watch it happen, even those of us who’ve only heard about it. We are all affected. We are all forever changed. 

This is not a story for the faint of heart; this is the story of one woman’s very real struggle through a world against her, the people who hurt her, her real life demons and the people who showed her that every gray sky, no matter how dark, has a sun waiting to break through.

***Inspired by true events***

4.75-5 Stars

The scariest part about love isn’t love itself. It’s letting go and plunging into the unknown. It’s trusting someone with the very most sacred part of your heart. It’s allowing yourself to feel something foreign and uncharted, despite how much it terrifies the hell out of you. 

It's been a couple days since I finished this book and I still don’t know what to say. I really don’t. One thing for certain is that I loved this book. This wasn’t easy an read; it’s emotional and I have to warn you, there were times where I had to put it down, take deep breaths, and compose myself before continuing. More than just that, I had to constantly remind myself of the heroine’s mindset, otherwise I would've gone crazy. 

This. Is. Me. My situation isn’t fucked up. I’m fucked up. Completely, irrevocably, fucked up to my core. 

Yep. Meet Kami, our heroine. This is her, in a nutshell. I’ve never met any character so set in her ways that it would take a bulldozer, a truck full of dynamite and a loaded cannon just to put a crack her wall. I’m not going to bullshit you, she will try your patience, but then all I had to do was remind myself that she’s extremely damaged and that alone would calm my twitchy palm. I will not go into any specifics, but just know her past is very traumatic. 

She does not believe in love. To her love brings nothing but pain and misery. The only people she trusts are her roommates, Dominic and Angel, both damaged in their own right. She has a connection to them in which she doesn’t have with anyone else, until she meets Blaine.

Him. It was all him. Blaine somehow made me forgetme. The me that wasn’t allowed to feel all these beautiful, exciting things. The me that didn’t believe in happy endings. The me that was unlovable, and in turn, could never ever love.

Blaine was my more.

I had finally found my exception. 

Oh Blaine -- sweet, wonderfully sexy, tattooed, pierced in all the right places Blaine. Not only does he make me squirm and my heart beat all tachycardic, but there’s so much more to him. So much, that my review will not be able convey how I feel about our Hero. He never gave up on Kami, no matter how hard she tried to push him away. He stood by her, meltdowns and all, and still remained non-judgmental at her side. I just LOVE HIM. 

When you know, you know. And you don’t fight it. You don’t deny the inevitable. You free fall because you know there’s someone there to catch you on the other side. 

There were a lot of little things that stood out for me that made this such a great read. Kami’s roommates are fantastic and I’m sure I’m not the first one to say this, but both Angel and Dominic need their own books. In addition, the narcissistic side of me loves the fact that the heroine was Asian (hi, fellow Filipino here **raises hand**). But the main and number one reason why I loved this book was because of all the emotion it evoked in me. It was difficult at times, yes, but Kami and Blaine’s story is so worth the read. Ms. Jennings: Bravo, Langaa. Bravo!

Frigid (Frigid #1) by J. Lynn

For twenty-one-year-old Sydney, being in love with Kyler isn't anything new. They'd been best friends ever since he pushed her down on the playground and she made him eat a mud pie. Somewhere over the years, she fell for him and fell hard. The big problem with that? Kyler puts the 'man' in man-whore. He's never stayed with a girl longer than a few nights, and with it being their last year in college, Syd doesn't want to risk their friendship by declaring her love. 

Kyler has always put Syd on a pedestal that was too high for him to reach. To him, she's perfect and she's everything. But the feelings he has for her, he's always hidden away or focused on any other female. After all, Kyler will always be the poor boy from the wrong side of tracks, and Syd will always be the one girl he can never have. 

But when they're stranded together at a posh ski resort due to a massive Nor'easter, there's nothing stopping their red-hot feelings for each other from coming to the surface. Can their friendship survive the attraction? Better yet, can they survive at all? Because as the snow falls, someone is stalking them, and this ski trip may be a life-changer in more ways than one.

Four Stars

This Is Forever. 

So this showed up on my Kindle late last night. (Thank you Amazon pre-order.) And so I started this at around 10:30pm and finished it at about 2:30am this morning. As much as it frustrated me at times, I couldn’t put it down until both parties cleared the air, but I’ll get to that later. 

I love Jennifer Armentrout, but her writing as J. Lynn, oh man! I knew I was in for something good. She’s a master at creating Alpha, man-whore-type characters; ones where I want to slap and kiss at the same time. Yea, the Hero in this was no exception.

Sydney was perfect – the actual embodiment of the perfect woman. She was practically pristine and fresh. She was untouchable.

She was everything to me. 

Kyler is a man-whore, there’s no doubt. That quote up there about swinging their shit around at anything that has a hole, trying to forget the one they want, well, that’s pretty much how Kyler acts. He’s always loved Sydney, but has always felt she was too good for him. As a matter of fact, he’s been scaring guys away because no one will ever be good enough for his Syd. 

“Guys are totally stupid when it comes to unrequited love. We females pine away and keep our thighs closed for the most part when we love someone we can’t have. Guys swing their shit around at anything that has a hole, trying to forget the one they want.” 

Isn’t that the truth? 

So we have Sydney & Kyler. They’ve been BFFs since they were little kids. As most of the friends-to-lover stories they both have kept their feelings for each other hidden, not wanting to ruin their cherished friendship. 

Sydney hates Kyler’s womanizing ways, but it comes with the territory with being his best friend. She’s seen so many girls come and go; the door always revolving. But she loves him. She’s had only one serious boyfriend, who turned out to be a huge douche, and she’s had her share of admirers, but no one could compare to Kyler in her eyes. 

Though Kyler did have some good Alpha/possessive moments, it wasn’t enough for me to give this five stars. What really bothered me the most about this story is how Sydney just lets Kyler walk all over her. There was a part in the book where Kyler reflects on how he’s treated Syd in the past, how he seemed to always chose the quickie hook up over hanging out with Syd, and it made me kinda sad. Kyler claimed to have loved her, but how could he consciously act like that around her? Did he seriously not see what he was doing to her? Was he that blind to see what others have seen? It seemed like everyone around them knew how they felt about each other except for them. It kinda got frustrating. 

The story did have some wonderful moments, and a good amount of sexy-snowed-in good times, enough for me to really enjoy the story. Plus I can’t deny that I couldn’t put it down; I badly wanted to know how it will all go down. Even though I didn’t love this like in her previous books, I will always look forward to her books. 

Jane's Melody by Ryan Winfield

--New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street JournalBestseller-- 

What boundaries would you cross for love?

That's the question a grieving mother must answer when she takes in a young street musician to learn about her daughter's death and finds herself falling for him. A touching love story that will have you equally tantalized and in tears, Jane's Melody follows a forty-year-old woman on a romantic journey of rediscovery after years of struggling alone.

Sometimes our greatest gifts come from our greatest pain. And now Jane must decide if it's too late for her to start over, or if true love really knows no age.

Jane's Melody may not be suitable for younger readers due to sexual content.

4.5 Stars

“Don’t you let fear have a place in your life, J. Not even a tiny place. Get rid of it from every hidden corner. Case it away with the truth, and do what you want to do while you can.” 

I’ve gotten a couple recommendations from reader friends to try this out. I was instantly intrigued by the older woman/younger man storyline, so I figured I’d give it a go. I must say I’m in utter awe. 

First off, don’t hate me, but I just have to say: I cannot believe a male author wrote this -- Is it horrible of me to say that? I’ve been constantly surprised when male authors attempt to write romance, but so far I haven’t been disappointed. This story was amazingly sweet, emotionally tender and so worth the time to read it. 

I didn’t cause it, I couldn’t control it. I didn’t cause it, I couldn’t control it. I didn’t cause it, I couldn’t control it. 

Jane has just lost her daughter Melody. No matter how hard she tried to help her, Melody was on downward spiral with no hope of controlling it. Jane is devastated. She wishes she could’ve done more, to have more of a connection to her, but alas, it’s all too late. 

As she sits in her car, staring at her daughter’s grave, she sees a man standing in front of it. Was he Melody’s boyfriend? She runs into him again in the city and is determined to find out how he’s connected to her daughter. What she finds is a man who calls to her soul. Caleb is sweet, honorable and is in need of some TLC. She takes him home, offers shelter, but he refuses to take her charity. Instead she offers Caleb work, as a gardener of sorts, as a form of payment until he can get on his feet. However the connection she feels towards him knocks her off axis. They’re attracted to each other, but she is reluctant to give in until she finds out how he’s connected to Melody.

“We’re you attracted to her?”

“I’m attracted to you.”

“What?”

“Everything I liked about her, I love in you.” 

This was such an emotionally charged book. The beginning kinda reminded me of a glum and gloomy rainy day in Seattle (which is perfect considering that’s where this is set…well, at least around that area). Anyway, as the story unfolds, you start to see a break in the clouds; rays of hope and sunshine start to emerge. Jane seems to be stuck in a rut after her Melody’s death, but with Caleb, she starts to slowly heal. 

As for Caleb…**Sigh**. He’s one of the sweetest Heroes I’ve come across in a long time. There’s no hidden agenda, just completely honorable. He’s so unbelievably sweet and I fell completely and hopelessly in love with him. 

The only reason I couldn’t give this book a full five stars was that I wished there was more dialogue and more interaction between Caleb and Jane. There was a lot of narrative, some of which I felt was a little repetitive. I cherished all the times Caleb and Jane interacted with each other. Their connection and the way they help each other heal and move forward is what made the story so wonderful. Oh! Wait. There is another reason why I couldn’t give it a full five stars: I wanted an epilogue!!! It just ended too abruptly for me, I wanted just a little more. Here’s hoping Mr. Winfield will write a little something extra for us readers. (Hint, hint, wink, wink).