Book Review: VIP (Rock & Release, #1) by Riley Edgewood

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Buy: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Book Depository

Format: Kindle

Publishers: Indie 

Published: 17th November 2014

Pages: 128

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance

Main Characters: Cassidy, Gage
Date Read: 25th January - 31st January 2016

Rating Given:

Synopsis:
VIP is the first act of Rock & Release, Riley Edgewood's three-part new adult romance serial!
When Cassidy Evans scores VIP tickets to a concert, she decides to use them for one carefree night before beginning a summer internship at her father’s Fortune 500 company. But one carefree night turns into a few too many martinis—with two unexpected twists: A steamy encounter with Gage Logan, sexy singer and guitarist, and a tempting job offer from Gage's boss to work at the concert venue she now knows quite intimately. 
She definitely can't take the job. Her internship is an opportunity any business major would kill for. But the thought of working with her father, a man furious with grief over a family tragedy that struck six months ago, fills her with dread. 
Then there's Gage. Working with him all summer could be hot. Cassidy can't stop flashing back to their night together. Molten kisses. His hands smoothing across the skin of her belly. The weight of his body above her own… 
And suddenly the decision about how to spend her summer is much, much harder to make. 

  I received a review copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I usually like books that have a simplistic look about them but for some reason I'm not a fan of this one, I think it may have something to do with the washed out look about the background. I do think that the actual cover is fitting for this book.

When I first started this book I thought okay maybe this will be a good book and I had a look to see if I have the complete Rock & Release novel and I did so I went over to that one, but in the end I couldn't get into it so I went back to this one so I could read to the end of VIP. Maybe this would have got better but I just couldn't read anymore after VIP as I just couldn't warm up to the characters, plus I made the mistake of reading reviews about the complete version and found out something that I just didn't want to get up to. I didn't feel any chemistry between Cassidy and Gage and I just didn't like the way Cassidy was with Gage. I didn't understand how Cassidy moved in with a girl she had only met the night before and she was drunk for most of the night, the person she moved in with could easily have been a serial killer for all Cassidy knew. Also Cassidy was given a job in a bar without any hint of training and she was offered the job whilst she was drunk it just seemed unbelievable. The ending wasn't anything that made me think that I must read more from this series.

I don't think there was one character that I loved or even liked. Cassidy was so annoying I can't believe some of the things that she did it was so impulsive. Although Gage was the only character I felt I could grow to like I still didn't like him throughout VIP and I think it was because I just couldn't warm up to him and he felt very flat as a character. I don't know what was up with Cassidy's best friend she just came across awful I didn't like her one bit which isn't good when one of Riley Edgewood's other book is about her. Cassidy's new friends where okay but like I said above they could've been anyone and yet Cassidy seems to trust them.

Overall, the very beginning I thought this could've been a good book but the more I read it the more I was put off by it to the point that I don't think I will be able to read any more from this series.

Book Review: The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler

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Format: Paperback

Publishers: Simon & Schuster 

Published: 5th January 2012

Pages: 356

Genre: YA, 

Main Characters: Emma, Josh
Date Read: 13th October - 2nd November 2015

Rating Given:

Synopsis:It's 1996 and very few high school students have ever used the internet. Facebook will not be invented until several years in the future. Emma just got a computer and an America Online CD. She and her best friend Josh power it up and log on - and discover themselves on Facebook in 2011. Everybody wonders what they'll be like fifteen years in the future. Josh and Emma are about to find out.

I've had this sat on my shelf for a long while now ad have only just gotten around to reading it I just wished I loved it as everyone else but in the end it just wasn't for me...

I love the colourful cover as it makes the book stand out. I also like the realistic people on the cover as they look your everyday person that you would meet on the street. I'm not sure I see those people as Emma and Josh.

The thing about this book is in the beginning it was very addicting even though it wasn't something that I was enjoying that much yet somehow I was addicted to it. I loved the concept of the story but I felt there was no real reasoning behind it I felt like there was no real closure to the whole seeing what the future is going to hold for them and when they where so obsessed with the future a lot of things where just forgotten. There was a lot of hypocrisy happening in this book which was so annoying. I did like the friendship between Emma and Kellan as well as Josh and Tyson. I didn't like any of the romance from the two main characters but I did enjoy seeing Kellan and Tyson together as they where so cute and I just wish there was more from them. I did love all of the cultural references throughout the book as it made me feel very nostalgic. I hated the ending to this book because I felt it was rushed I felt like it needed to be a bit longer for me it ended rather abruptly.

I didn't warm to any of the main characters but there was a couple of secondary characters that I liked in fact I would have preferred if it was their book rather than Emma and Josh. Emma was my least favourite character and in fact she was my worst female character ever. She was so annoying, very selfish and very shallow. Josh had moments when I thought I was going to like him but in the end he annoyed me with the way he just gave in, he just had no backbone.

Overall, I was expecting a lot from this book but for me it was a let down.

Book Review: Avoiding Commitment (Avoiding, #1) by K.A. Linde

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Format: Kindle

Publishers: Indie

Published: 29th July 2012

Pages: 370

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance, 

Main Characters: Lexi, Jack, Ramsey 
Date Read: 11th January - 18th January 2015

Rating Given:

Synopsis:
Jack and Lexi never had a typical relationship. After 2 years without speaking, she receives a phone call that changes everything. He unexpectedly asks her to convince the new girl, Bekah, that he's ready to commit. Jack is calling now after everything they had been through because there is another woman. She can't believe it. 
Follow Lexi in this heart wrenching drama as she relives her past relationship, or lack thereof, with Jack, and not just in her own mind, but to his fiance-to-be. Throw in Bekah's hot brother who always seems to be in the right place at the right time, a past with more secrets to unravel than you can even imagine, and you get a recipe for disaster. 
Find out what happens to Lexi as she travels to Atlanta to get the closure she so desperately desires from Jack, and how the bumps of life seem to keep getting in the way.

I had bought this book awhile back now when it was only 77p and now that I have finally gotten around to reading it I kind of wished I hadn't.

I do like this cover in the way that it is in black and white as I always love that especially when there's a hint of colour. I do like the title font as it's not just plain and simple it adds character.

When I was going to start this book I thought I would just check a few reviews to see if I was picking the right one and it seemed that that was the case. So mind set up I started to read it and I was liking it but then I started to think something wasn't quite right for me it was just something that I couldn't put my finger on. I did read into it a bit further and I just felt like I wanted to stop reading it but I hate to do that so I carried on and hoped for the best but for me it got worse. Jack and Lexi just kept making the same mistakes over and over again the first time I was ok this could just be a mistake but then it kept happening it made me want them not to have a happy ending. I didn't feel any chemistry between any of the characters well maybe one couple but then that changed towards the end. I liked that it kept going back and forth in time as I was able to get a better understanding on what happened between them and it wasn't until the last time it went into the past that I thought why on earth would she give him the time of day even if they believe that they love each other they are just too toxic to be together and sometimes love just isn't enough, how she ever was able to trust him was beyond me. The ending was kind of good as she stood up for herself but knowing that the next two books are still about her and Jack and maybe even Ramsey makes me think that there is going to be even more drama but I think that this is as far as I go with this particular series.

I didn't really like many of the characters in this book apart from some of the side characters like Chyna who was there for Lexi and was a true friend. I just couldn't warm up to Lexi as everytime I was starting to think maybe I could like her she would make some huge mistakes plus she was a hypocrite so it was hard to even feel remotely sorry for her. Jack has to be one of my least favourite male characters ever as he was awful to Lexi even when he says he loves her he then goes and treats her the way he did just makes me want to never read about him again. I do usually like a bad boy in the books I read but he took it to a whole new level. Ramsey was one of my favourite characters for the most part as he was funny but then when things was revealed about him I just don't know what I think of him anymore but I do see he cares. All of Jack's girlfriends where annoying apart from the first one Danielle but that is because we didn't even meet her.

Overall this book just wasn't for me and I can't see myself continuing on with this series but I will read K.A. Linde's other books as I have read one that I loved so there is hope with her other series just not this on.

Book Review: Sleeping Beauty by John Phythyon

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Format: Kindle

Publishers: Indie

Published:12th June 2012

Pages:

Genre: Retelling, Romance

Main Characters: Beth, Carl

Date Read: 31st March 2013

Rating Given:

 

Blurb from Goodreads:  

Beth Shipman has been in a coma for two years. Now sixteen, her friends have abandoned her, and her mother is slowly going insane. Only one person remains interested in her — Carl, the young man who fell in love with her on the first day of Sixth Grade. He visits two or three times a week, talking to her and hoping she will wake.

Carl may just be the key to breaking the spell that holds Beth in its grip. Her mother has a desperate plan to free her Pretty Princess from eternal slumber, but it won’t be easy. Carl must overcome his doubts and believe in the power of love, and Beth’s father Rex isn’t interested in her waking up. After all, he’s the one who put her to sleep in the first place. Can True Love’s First Kiss really break the curse, or are darkness, insanity, and self-doubt too strong?

“Sleeping Beauty” is a creepy reimagining of a familiar story that explores what happens when parents go too far to protect their children. A cautionary tale, it reminds us there is a fine line between love and obsession, between care and cruelty.

I love retelling so when I saw that this was free on Amazon I jumped at the chance to get it but after reading it I'm not so happy as I didn't enjoy it as much as what I thought I would.

The cover is fitting to the story although the girl looks dead which I feel makes the cover look a bit morbid. I love that the colours have been kept similar as I think it makes it stand out.

When I first started this book I thought I was going to enjoy it but the more I read the more I started to dislike it. I felt that this book was a bit too short, I know I say that a lot with short stories but in this case it needed to be longer so I could find out what happened next as I think this was a stand alone book. I was disappointed with most of this book as I felt there wasn't many good characters which with it being a fairytale retelling I would have expected there to be more than one good character. The romance side of the story was a complete and utter let down as I felt it wasn't even in the story which Sleeping Beauty and any fairytale is mainly about romance so I was very disappointed in that side of the story. The other reason was that there was a few random parts to the story which never made sense especially with them not getting resolved. When I ended I was thinking was that it as it just seemed to end abruptly with no lose ends tied up.

The characters was very much one dimensional and I just didn't get to like them. There was no characters that evolved with the story but I think that has more to do with how short the story was.

Overall this book did have promise especially with it being based on one of my favourite fairytales but this book was a bit of a let down.

Book Review: Offside by M.G. Higgins

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Format: e-arc

Publishers: Darby Creek

Published: 28th January 2013

Pages: 112

Genre: YA

Main Characters: Faith

Date Read: 25th - 27th January 2013

Rating Given:

 

Blurb from Netgalley:

Between finishing late school projects and looking after her brothers and sister, Faith Patel barely has time to play soccer. And when she's at practice, surrounded by girls who can afford to play in club leagues, she doesn't even feel like part of the team. So when Coach Berg starts to give Faith extra attention, she feels . . . really special.
It might be crazy, but suddenly Faith has a crush on her coach. Can she keep her head in the game? The situation gets worse after Faith's frenemy Caitlyn decides that Faith's getting special treatment. Will Caitlyn tell the rest of the team—and make Faith into a total outcast?
 

With me I love films that are sport based so when I came across this book I thought I would try it and see if I liked it as much as sport films but unfortunately that wasn't the case here.

The cover is simple but it does tie in with the story but for some reason I don't like it, it just doesn't scream out 'read me'.

When I fist started this book I really did think I was going to enjoy it and then when things started to build up I thought here we go but nothing really came of it making me feel disappointed. I really did think I knew what was going to happen next but I kept getting it wrong which usually I like to be kept guessing but in this case I just didn't find what actually happened believable. I think that the reason that it didn't really get going was because the book was a bit too short  and therefore not giving the story enough time to progress.

I felt that the characters didn't get enough time to develop either. The main character Faith seemed like an okay character to start with but then as I got further into the book I felt she was easily lead into thinking something that she never seemed to feel before and also she seemed a bit selfish. There was some other side characters but we didn't really get to know them that well.

Overall I felt it had loads of promise at the beginning but I just thought it fell a bit flat.