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??

FIVE more days!!!!!

Only FIVE more days until the release of Reckless (Thoughtless, #3) S. C. Stephens.  Guess this tells you what I will be doing as soon as I get home from work on Tuesday!!!  If you have not started this trilogy, GET ON WITH IT ALREADY

New 5 Star Review - Groupie by Ginger Voight

Updated:  OMG!  Why do I torture myself with these emotionally draining books?.  I am not a big roller coaster fan, but I can't stay away from these!   SO - I just finished Groupie by Ginger Voight.  It is the first book in her Groupie Trilogy.  I LOVED it!  Again, I have a thing for bad boys :)  This book had me all over the place.  Haven't we all fallen for the one we can't have? There were times my heart broke her, times I wanted to slap the crap out of her and ask her how naive she can really be.  I felt my pulse quicken ....I often had to read past the lump in my throat......I found myself releasing breaths that I did not know I was holding.....its full of angst and intensity and I love it!  Bring on book# 2:  Rock Star!!! 

Update:   WOW - books 2 and 3 were just as fabulous!!!!!  Rock stars, love triangles, groupies, crazy people, deception, lies, danger, fear, murder, and love - this triolgy has it all.

Book Description:

Into any girl's life a star could fall, but there's a thin line between love and obsession.

Andy Foster never expected lightning to strike when she met the enigmatic frontman of an up-and-coming rock band, but Giovanni Carnevale left her thunderstruck. At first it is easy to use her freelance writing career as an excuse to indulge the steamy flirtation from city to city. As she gets ever closer to making her lascivious fantasies a reality, however, she finds herself entangled in the fake and sometimes dangerous world of celebrity where nothing is as it seems, including the celebrities themselves.

She hangs on to find something real amidst the illusion, while Giovanni balances what he wants against what he fears most. Over three years they come together and blow apart with the same kind of combustible passion. This keeps them orbiting in the others' stratosphere despite new relationships and bitter betrayals. They are bound together by something they can't fight, something that draws the ire of another fan determined to claim Vanni all to herself.

Unknowingly they all race toward a dramatic moment of truth that will leave two people injured, and one dead, with a twist of an ending you may never see coming.

Decisions are the worst!!! (Kindle overload)

So - it's Wednesday and Wednesday are "my nights".  That is one day when I do not get on the treadmill, I try not to cook dinner or do anything that requires effort.  Tonight I wanted to curl up with a good book for a bit and then watch some mindless television.  Problem is, I have too many books to choose from and don't know where to begin.  I am not kidding you when I say that I currently have over 100 books on the 'cloud' that I have yet to read.  How is one to decide when there are so many to choose from????  Decisions are the worst!!!! I can think of a couple that I would like to download, but I have NO BUSINESS downloading more books (free ot not) until I read more of the ones I have.  Help a girl out - What are you currently reading?  Comment on this post with your reading recommendations!!!

As of right now, I think I might give Groupie, by Ginger Voight, a try.  Looks like its a trilogy with all 3 books published.  Wonder if I can finish them all before Reckless (Thoughtless, #3) by S.C Stephens comes out on March 5?

"Booked" on Series

I love a good series.  I love following along, from the very start, getting to know each character along the way.  While you can find my 'Best of 2012' reads listed on the right sidebar of my page, there were so many more that I have loved and will continue to read, if the series is not yet complete.   While many books in a series can be read stand-alone and not in a particular order, I am one of those who HAS to put them in order.   Book 1 may mention a character who will be the lead in Book 4, and while Book 4 could have been read first, I know so much more about the Book 4 character, from having picked up on little pieces along the way in Books 1, 2, and 3.   Even if an author states that there is no reading order for their books, I tend to still read them in order of publication......it's just my 'thing' and certainly not one you have to adopt.  I am like that with TV shows too - if I do not catch the first episode, I am likely to never watch the show.

Anyway - here are some of my favorites:

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Racing On The Edge series - by Shey Stahl



I fell in love with these little treasures and all the characters in it.  Nascar Bad boy and fun romance.....everyone might need a man like Jameson and his camshaft :)  **giggle, giggle**  I started this series after some other very intense and emotionally draining reading and at the time, it was just what I needed....to fall in love with new characters and a different feel to the story.  Not that there were not intense moments, because there were and I loved them.....but I also loved the moments that had me giggling like a school girl.  As the series continued, I enjoyed them all.....they were fun, suspenseful, romantic, sexy......hubby is a Nascar fan, so I had fun with conversations with him about the use of race talk lingo etc.  A very good series,  I still giggle and blush thinking about it :)

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Fool's Gold Series - by Susan Mallery



I have loved every single one of these books and novellas.  Please note that Only Us and Almost Summer are e-Novellas.  The above pictured covers are what has been published to date, but there are 4 more coming soon, to be released in May, June, July and August  -  a treat for each month of our summer, to enjoy while lounging at the pool or beach :)    I fell in love with every character AND with Fool's Gold, California.  I found that I lost myself in these books.....like I was living there in Fool's Gold, and these people, these characters became my friends...my family.  OK -  so maybe I get a little TOO involved and TOO attached to my reading sometimes, but isn't that the purpose.....to be taken away to another place, another life?  I could so see myself living in a place like Fool's Gold and loving every moment.  Go for a visit, starting with Chasing Perfect, Book #1 in the series.  I promise you will love it there :)

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The Sullivan Series  - by Belle Andre



From the authors website:

The Sullivan Series

In Bella's sexy, emotional and funny contemporary romance series, each member of the Sullivan family will eventually find true love...usually where he or she least expects it.

I found these little gems when books 1-5 were on sale for $.99.   I fell in love with the Sullivan family.  Each book features a new family member.  You could read them in any order, or stand-alone, but you will get so much more out of them if you read them in order.  Note:  book 8, Always On My Mind, has yet to be released.  It's release date is March 5.  You can bet I will be downloading that one first thing that morning :)