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Book Review: Collide (Vol 1) by Gail McHugh – FIVE STARS!!!

Book Review:  Collide (Vol 1) by Gail McHugh – FIVE STARS!!!

OMG!!!!  I just finished this book!   I started it yesterday and was up until 3am reading it this morning, when I finally had to force myself to go to sleep because I had to be up at 6.  As soon as I got home from work, I immediately dove it.   My emotions, right now, are all over the place.  I am hoping I can put coherent thoughts together long enough to make a decent review.

Holy Cow – where do I begin….Let’s start with the synopsis:

A missed first encounter…

Colliding with a second chance…

On the heels of graduating college and trying to cope with her mother’s death, Emily Cooper moves to New York City for a fresh start.

While harboring secrets of his own, Dillon Parker takes care of Emily through her grief. Knowing he can’t live without her by his side, he’s sweet, thoughtful, and everything Emily has ever wanted in a man.

Until she meets Gavin Blake—a rich and notorious playboy who is dangerously sexy and charming as hell. Emily tries to deny the instant connection she feels, but Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome is not inclined to let go so easily. Recovering from his own painful past, Gavin will stop at nothing to win Emily over.

This unexpected encounter compels Emily to question her decisions, forcing her to make a choice that will destroy friendships, shatter hearts, and forever change her life.

This book (the first of a 2 part series) encompassed it all…..

I empathized with Emily with the loss of a parent, and fear of the unknown.   At briefly appreciated the first signs of possessiveness of her boyfriend, Dillon.  I mean come on, what girl doesn’t want their man to feel a little possessive every now and again.  And how he took care of her….how can you not love him for late?  Later, I wanted to beat the crap out of the guy. 

Emily drove me nuts……how can she believe a guy who lies to her over and over and not believe the one who is honest?    Yet, I felt for her……to feel obligated to one love and so passionate for another.   To stare at temptation…….i remember that feeling and remember how scary it is trying to make the right decision.

I immediately fell in love with Gavin.  I loved his playfulness, his passion, his banter, his will-power and yet the lack of will-power.  My heart broke for him.  I became his #1 cheerleader.  Inside my head, I SCREAMED at him when he made one very stupid decision. 

“Your mind and your body will never forget the things I’m going to do to you tonight.   Every…single…inch of your body if going to feel me”

HAVE MERCY!

And what a cliffhanger ending!!!  I gotta change my ways – waiting for sequels is killing me. I keep saying I am no longer going to read a series until each book has been published.  But I am such a sucker and must enjoy being tortured.  This book ended with my pulse quickened and breathless.   Summer can’t get here soon enough – when Pulse, book 2 of the 2 part series, is released!!!!

Book Review - The Edge of Never by J.A Redmerski - 5 STARS!!!!

Book review – The Edge of Never by J. A. Redmerski

 

I read this book in early February and LOVED it! Definitely 5 STARS....one of my favorite books ever read so I had to sit down to write a review.  I was a little hesitant to read it at first, because the characters are younger that I really wanted read.  However, I am finding that is the case with many of the books I am loving right now.  Surely exciting things happen to people above the age of 30.  Right???   OK – don’t answer that – it could depress a lot of people. 

OK – back to the book.  Here is the synopsis:

Twenty-year-old Camryn Bennett thought she knew exactly where her life was going. But after a wild night at the hottest club in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, she shocks everyone-including herself-when she decides to leave the only life she's ever known and set out on her own. Grabbing her purse and her cell phone, Camryn boards a Greyhound bus ready to find herself. Instead, she finds Andrew Parrish.

Sexy and exciting, Andrew lives life like there is no tomorrow. He persuades Camryn to do things she never thought she would and shows her how to give in to her deepest, most forbidden desires. Soon he becomes the center of her daring new life, pulling love and lust and emotion out of her in ways she never imagined possible. But there is more to Andrew than Camryn realizes. Will his secret push them inseparably together-or destroy them forever?

I gotta tell ya, I can’t really explain the connection I felt to the characters is this book.   This book pulled me in on such a personal level.  So the book starts in Raleigh, NC…near where I live.  The main characters meet on a Greyhound bus….um, my parents met on a Greyhound bus, fell in love and were married for over 30 years, until cancer took my father when he was too young to die.  I fell in love with these characters.  I loved their inner struggles and the struggles with each other……I loved their quick banter (their Wal-Mart banter had me giggling like a school girl), I loved their journey.  It was fun and suspenseful and sexy and emotional….it was inspiring and it was exhausting.  I laughed, I cried.  OH GOD, did I cry!!!!  I remember reading on my lunch break at the office.   My coworker heard me sniffling and asked if I was crying….those cries became emotional sobs…..like body quivering kind of sobs….with the walnut chin (you know what I am talking about – everyone who does the ugly cry gets that walnut looking chin – don’t say you don’t!)  I was probably pretty useless the rest of the day. My lunch break ended and I was about 85% through the book.   I did complete my work for the day, but I can’t say my work was efficient and accurate….I am sure I was in a daze for the remainder of the day because those words put on paper CONSUMED me.  At quitting time, I was very surprised I did not just sit in my car in the parking lot to finish the book.  But, I wanted to be in the privacy of my own home when the emotional breakdown that I just knew was coming hit.   

"For the first time in my life, I've felt whole, alive, free.  You were the missing piece of my soul, the breath in my lungs, the blodd in my veins.  I think that is past lives are real then we have been lovers in every single one of them.  I've known you for a short time, but I feel like I've known you forever." - Andrew

The author pulled me in and sucked all emotion form me.  I was done……and I will read every book this author publishes.

Discovered a few goodies last week

Last week was a heavy reading week.  I was able to log some good mileage on the treadmill, but that was followed up with a day of rest with a good book when I was not feeling well on Sunday.  After finishing up Reckless last week, I picked up a few other books.  I am finding that many of the books have characters that are younger than I might like to read.....but I guess no one wants to read about those in their 40's :)   I really liked them all!

**Please note - all photos below will link you to amazon link for the book**

Fallen Too Far by Abbi Glines
Description:

To want what you’re not supposed to have…

She is only nineteen.

She is his new stepfather’s daughter.

She is still naïve and innocent due to spending the last three years taking care of her sick mother.

But for twenty-four year old Rush Finlay, she is the only thing that has ever been off limits. His famous father’s guilt money, his mother’s desperation to win his love, and his charm are the three reasons he has never been told no.

Blaire Wynn left her small farmhouse in Alabama, after her mother passed away, to move in with her father and his new wife in their sprawling beach house along the Florida gulf coast. She isn’t prepared for the lifestyle change and she knows she’ll never fit into this world. Then there is her sexy stepbrother who her father leaves her with for the summer while he runs off to Paris with his wife. Rush is as spoiled as he is gorgeous. He is also getting under her skin. She knows he is anything but good for her and that he’ll never be faithful to anyone. He is jaded and has secrets Blaire knows she may never uncover but even knowing all of that…

Blaire just may have fallen too far.

 Blair and Rush's story continued in Never Too Far.  I won't post the synopsis of this one, to eliminate spoiling the outcome.    There will be a 3rd book, but it will focus on a different character that we met in books 1 and 2.  The author has recently shared that she has decided to give us more of Rush and Blair in book 4, but no title or release date has been shared.


Beauty From Pain by Georgia Cates
Description:

A New York Times and USA Today Bestseller....

They agreed on three months...but their love knew no boundaries.

Jack McLachlan is a winemaking magnate and easily one of Australia’s most eligible bachelors. His success and wealth makes him no stranger to the complications of romantic relationships and that’s why he goes to extreme measures to avoid the hassle. He prefers simplicity in the form of a beautiful female companion with no strings attached. He arranges relationships like business deals and they’re always the same. No long term relationships. No real names.

It’s his game and his rules. He’s content to play as usual, but when Laurelyn Prescott enters his life, his strategy must change because this player is like none he's ever encountered. His world is turned on its head after he begins a three month affair with the beautiful American musician. Nothing goes according to plan and as he breaks more and more of his own rules for her, she’s exceptionally close to becoming something he never thought possible. His ultimate game changer.

Beauty From Pain is an adult contemporary novel and is not intended for younger readers due to mature content.

Rule by Jay Crownover  **note - this one had quite a few spelling and grammatical errors, but still a very good story and the author take note of his editing errors in the closing....not bad for one of his first books**

Description:

I loved Rule Archer since the first moment I ever laid eyes on him. He was everything I shouldn't want and the only person I went out of my way to not try and please. He only saw me as a brat, as an entitled, stuck up princess but worse than that all he saw when he looked at me was his deceased twin brother's girl. It broke my heart because as much as I had loved Remy Archer there was never anything romantic between us and no matter how hard I tried to convince myself that loving Rule was a terrible idea, my poor heart just wouldn't listen. We tolerated each other, barely. We forged an uneasy alliance until one night I had too much to drink and changed the way we were forever. Suddenly life long secrets were no longer hidden and the one thing I always wanted for myself seemed obtainable as long as I was willing to go through hell to hold onto it.

Shaw Landon was a class act and I had no idea what to do with her. She was tied to my family, tied to the person that was my other half so I tolerated her and her haughty attitude because I didn't have any other choice. What I didn't know was that a short skirt and too many cocktails on her birthday was going to change my outlook on her for the rest of my life. Some people thought I hid behind all my tattoos and piercings, that I tried to distance myself from my dead twin, Shaw saw through it all and wasn't scared of what was underneath.

We weren't supposed to be together, weren't supposed to be anything except uncomfortable acquaintances but that all changed in the blink of an eye. Now I had to figure out just how a girl like her and a guy like me were supposed to be in love without destroying each other. Add in her custom made ex and two disapproving sets of parents and the whole situation sounded to me like it was more trouble then it was worth.

Recommended for mature readers due to sexual content, language and drinking

All good things come to an end.......

I waited and waited.....finally March 5 arrived.  No - it was not a birthday, not an anniversary - it was the release date of RECKLESS, by S. C. Stephens.  This was the final book in the Thoughtless Trilogy.   I had been counting down the days, had alerts set on my iPhone calendar.  I was prepared and anxious as could be.  I am usually a night owl, but the night of March 4th, I was so tired!   I wanted to stay up until midnight, in hopes that Amazon would have the link to the ebook live and ready to purchase.  I didn't make it....sleep took over.  HOWEVER, I am not entirely certain that I did not wake up at 3am, grab my iPhone beside me and look on Amazon to see if the link was live for purchasing.  It either happened, or it was a dream....either way, is that pathetic?   I woke later, at 5am and quickly made my purchase and began reading as soon as it downloaded on my Kindle.  I was able to squeeze in an hour of reading before I had to get up and get ready for work. At the end of the day, I rushed home, guilty of all kinds of traffic violations.... immediately changed into my workout gear and jumped on the treadmill.   After about 3.5 miles, and my lungs still recovering from a sinus infection, I had to give up the walking.   I am not sure if it was the treadmill or the book that was leaving me breathless.  I LOVE THIS TRILOGY.  I love the drama, the passion, the angst, the intensity, the characters, I love everything about it.   I sat there reading, for the next 6 hours.   As much as I could not wait to read the entire book....to find out what emotions and treasures I would find within, I knew that I should slow down and give it a rest because I knew I never wanted it to end.   Finally, at almost 1am, I forced myself to put the book down and let sleep take me ......I woke the next morning, an hour before my alarm went off.....normally I would have gone right back to sleep....I am SO not a morning person and value my sleep......but no, I grabbed the Kindle to squeeze in as many pages as I could before having wake my son and start our morning routine for work and school.   Let me tell you, the work day could not end soon enough!  After a quick errand, I was home, in my happy spot, Kindle in hand!!!!  I read for hours and then the disappointment set in - not because it was not the ending that I was looking for, but because it had to end at all.   Reading those last pages and closing the cover, a sadness set it.  The only negative thing I can say about the book is that it was the end......and with that it left me wondering, now what????  How can one author suck me in and get me so attached to these fictional characters??