Book Review: Winning It All (Hometown Players, #4) by Victoria Denault

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Format: Kindle

Publishers: Forever Yours

Published: 6th September 2016

Pages: 352

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance, Sports Romance 

Main Characters: Shayne, Sebastian
Date Read: 1st October - 24th October 2016

Rating Given:

Synopsis:
All's fair in love and hockey. . .
As his team's enforcer on the ice, Sebastian Deveau is America's favorite fighting Frenchman. But he's just as likely to get into trouble off the ice--especially when it comes to women.
Shayne Beckford is so over hockey. It ruined her parents' marriage. It spoiled her brother's dreams. And let's not even talk about her college boyfriend . . . So when Sebastian Deveau walks into her brother's gym, she has no idea who he is. All she knows is that he's one gorgeous man with the sexiest accent she's ever heard. And since she never has to see him again, she lets him give her the best orgasm of her life right on top of the gym's dryer.
But Sebastian isn't going to let this one-night stand get away so easily. He fights for what he wants, even if it takes fighting a little dirty . . .

I have pretty much loved this series so when I received a Amazon voucher for my birthday this book was the first one I brought.

Out of all of the covers in this series so far this one is my favourite as it feels more real than the others as well as even though you can't see the guy's face in full I can still say he looks better than any of the other guys that where used and he actually reminds me of Sebastian as well.

I think that if the characters where different I believe it could've been a brilliant book but that wasn't the case and because of that I wasn't able to enjoy this book like I have done with the previous books in this series. When reading most of the other books in this series I always hated to put it down but this time round I didn't want to pick it back up, I just didn't get lost in this book. I didn't believe in the 'romance' for most of this book although there was moments that where enjoyable. I don't think there was much to the actual story it just kind of repeated itself throughout. I liked the ending as I felt there was closure there I just would've preferred if it went into the future to see how they're getting on because her issues can't be changed overnight and only time will tell.

Like I said it was the characters that brought this book down although not all were as bad as each other and for the most part it was mainly one character that that fell on. Shayne was the most annoying female character that I have ever read, in a way I could understand her in some ways with the Daddy issues but for her to say all ice hockey players are cheaters was quite annoying. Not only did she not want to get involved with a hockey player she also didn't want to be friends with anyone who is married/engaged to one which really wound me up. Sebastian was for the most part the best part of this book as he had humour and determination, although I didn't get why he grew to have feeling for someone who treated him the way Shayne did as he came across more shallow than anything else. It was nice to see the couple from the first book to see how they are getting on.

Overall, this book was a bit of a let down but that's not going to stop me from continuing with the rest of this series as hopefully it will go back to the winning formula as the others.

Book Review: A Fine Mess (Over the Top, #2) by Kelly Siskind

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Format: Kindle

Publishers: Forever Yours

Published: 2nd August 2016

Pages: 340

Genre: Adult, Contemporary Romance, 

Main Characters: Lily, Sawyer,
Date Read: 16th July - 22nd July 2016

Rating Given:

Synopsis:Some guys should come with a warning label . . .
Sawyer West is Mr. One-Night Stand. He doesn't do relationships or promises or feelings. He's never cared enough to get involved. Until Lily Roberts. She's sweet and shy and sexy as sin, and resisting her is testing his self-control. She believes Sawyer can be a better man, and for the first time in his life, he wants to be. But change isn't easy, and Sawyer would do anything to protect Lily from his past self. Even break his own heart . . .

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

I love this cover it's so cute and romantic plus it helps that it's in black and white which is always a favourite of mine. The hint of colour in the title really sets the whole cover off.

Another book that I was expecting so much more from and then for me it just fell short of what I was expecting. With the first book I was laughing out loud so when I knew that this book had Sawyer who made me laugh so much in the first book, I was even more excited but for some reason I just didn't find him or even very much of the book funny which is what I think disappointed me the most. I didn't believe in the romance for most of the book as I just didn't see how Sawyer could get over all his issues. There was a subject tackled in this book that I haven't seen tackled before so that was nice to see. There was a part of the book during the mid section when I really got into the book so much so I really thought I could end up giving it a lot higher rating but then it descended after they left the holiday. Once they got back I got more and more annoyed with how things where played out especially with Sawyer. I felt that the ending felt a bit too cheesy even for me and I also felt it was all a bit too rushed.

I thought I was going to continue to love the characters from this series however that wasn't the case for this book. Lily was my favourite in this book as she was sweet and had a lot of issues that could've easily gone against her but everything that she did do made me like her all the more. Sawyer was the one annoyed me the most which surprised me but he just did and said things that just annoyed me and I wasn't able to forgive him. I liked seeing more from Shay and Kolton and how they were getting on with each other.

Overall, this one was not as good as the first book but I'm still excited to read the last book in the series though just to see how it the last couple get together.

The Aftermath Release Day Blitz + Excerpt

ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: The Aftermath

Author: R.J. Prescott

Series: The Hurricane, #2

On Sale: August 2, 2016

Publisher: Forever

Formats: Trade Paperback & eBook

Price: $14.99 USD (TP) / $3.99 USD (eBook) 

Add to Goodreads

Now available in Trade Paperback!

Cormac "The Hurricane" O'Connell's star is on the rise. Billed as the most promising young boxer of his generation, his new career is taking him to places he never dreamed. But O'Connell only needs one thing in life: his wife.

In her final year of college, Em cannot follow him around the world but together they make it work. Just when everything they ever wanted is on the horizon, the past resurfaces to haunt them, and O'Connell realizes that justice might not be a part of his happy ever after. He couldn't protect Em once before, but in the aftermath of the hurricane, he will make sure that never happens again.

THE HURRICANE SERIES

The Hurricane, #1

The Aftermath, #2

Series Page on Goodreads

BUY THE BOOK HERE

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

USA Today bestselling author R.J. Prescott was born in Cardiff, South Wales, and studied law at the University of Bristol, England. Four weeks before graduation she fell in love, and stayed. Ten years later, she convinced her crazy, wonderful firefighter husband to move back to Cardiff where they now live with their two equally crazy sons.

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Excerpt

It never occurred to me that mail was something to fear. Not until the day I came home and found Em sat on the floor, her arms wrapped around her knees, and a ripped open white envelope on the bed behind her.
“Sunshine, what’s wrong?” I asked. She swallowed hard and sniffed a few times like she was trying to hold back tears long enough to talk to me. I reached for the envelope, thinking it would give me some clue as to why she was so clearly freaked out.
“Don’t,” Em croaked. “Please,” she added pleadingly. I knew then, as a tear rolled down her cheek, that whatever was inside had to be bad. Contained within a folded sheet of plain white paper were about a dozen or so photos. They were different sizes and all taken at different times, but Em was in every one of them. The earliest photo was of a smiling happy nine year old. Just a normal kid out riding her bike. When the next one showed the same kid, fast asleep in her bed, I felt sick to my fucking stomach. The older that Em was in the pictures, the more invasive they became and none of them looked like they were taken with her knowledge. The last photo was really grainy, like it had been through a window maybe, or within a really bad camera, but it showed in intimate detail, her frail, bruised body taking a shower.
“Mother fucker,” I yelled, wanting to fucking hit something. Anything. I grabbed the envelope looking for some clue who’d sent it, like I didn’t fucking know. Frank was still in prison, pending trial, so someone on the outside must have sent this for him. The postmark on the envelope read London, which didn’t tell me much. The knuckles on Em’s hand were white where she gripping hold of her legs so hard.
“Shit love. You okay?” I said, hating that she looked so fucking scared. She nodded unconvincingly, but didn’t answer. I gathered up the pictures and stuffed them back into the envelope, not wanting her to see them anymore, but I knew we’d need to give them to police as evidence. The idea of her being on display like that to the police and the prosecution lawyers was as bad as knowing what she’d been through. Sitting down next to her, I wrapped my arm around her tiny body and pulled her into my chest. She was stiff as a board and shaking slightly. Rubbing up and down her arms, trying to get her warm I waited for her to talk to me. That was the way of it sometimes with Sunshine. She needed to think shit over before she could get it off her chest.
“I didn’t know about any of them. He’s been taking pictures of me for years. How could I not know? How could I let that happen?” she asked me.
“You didn’t let anything happen. He’s a violent, abusive rapist who’s sick in the fucking head. He did what he did because he’s a fucking whack job. Nothing you said or did gave him permission to do this.” I could see by her face that the pictures shamed her. Fuck that. There wasn’t a single fucking thing for her to be ashamed of.
“It was bad enough dealing with what happened, but he could have hundreds of these pictures and God only knows what he does with them. As if that’s not bad enough he knows where we live. Even in prison he can get to me. I’ll never be free of him will I?”
“Sunshine, even if it means killing him, I swear he will never touch you again. This is just a sign of desperation. In a few more months he’ll be too concerned about how to pick up the soap in the shower without getting arse raped to worry about getting you
back. He’s going away for a very long time and there’s fuck all he can do about it. This kind of shit just gives the barristers more ammunition against him.” I did my best to reassure her, but as I was as freaked out as she was. The fact that he could get hold of the pictures and post them from prison had me worried about what else he could do from the inside.
She wiped her eyes and leant across to give me a quick kiss.
“You’re right,” she told me. “A few more months and this will all be over.” It had to be, because I hadn’t been exaggerating. If Frank came after her again, I’d kill to keep her safe.

Excerpt Blitz - A Fine Mess (Over the Top, #2) by Kelly Siskind

BOOK DETAILS

Title: A Fine Mess

Author: Kelly Siskind

Series: Over The Top, #2

On Sale: August 2, 2016

Publisher: Forever

Format: eBook

Price: $3.99 USD 

Synopsis:Some guys should come with a warning label…

Sawyer West is Mr. One-Night Stand. He doesn't do relationships or promises or feelings. He's never cared enough to get involved. Until Lily Roberts. She's sweet and shy and sexy as sin, and resisting her is testing his self-control. She believes Sawyer can be a better man, and for the first time in his life, he wants to be. But change isn't easy, and Sawyer would do anything to protect Lily from his past self. Even break his own heart…

THE OVER THE TOP SERIES

My Perfect Mistake, #1

A Fine Mess, #2

Series page on Goodreads

PREORDER THE BOOK HERE

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | iBooks | Kobo

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A small-town girl at heart, Kelly moved from the city to open a cheese shop with her husband in Northern Ontario. When she's not neck deep in cheese or out hiking, you can find her, notepad in hand, scribbling down one of the many plot bunnies bouncing around in her head.

She laughs at her own jokes and has been known to eat her feelings-Gummy Bears heal all. She's also an incurable romantic, devouring romance novels into the wee hours of the morning.

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Excerpt:

Sawyer steps close and waits for me to make eye contact. Slowly, I lift my gaze to his gold-flecked brown eyes, but I can’t find my voice. It’s like I don’t know how to talk to him anymore.

He grins. “Hi.”

From my angle it’s easy to see the scar running down his neck, the remnant of a fall he took through a coffee table while wrestling with his brother. I’ve always wanted to touch it, feel the puckered skin under my fingers. I drop my gaze, but it doesn’t help. The cuffs of his gray button-down are rolled to his elbows, roped muscle exposed below. Something else I’d like to touch.

I blink hard. “Hi,” I say to my feet.

“Look at me, Lil.” I rock on my heels, then do as asked. He raises an eyebrow. “How fucking weird is this?”

My giggle surprises me, and I loosen my grip on my wineglass. “Totally weird.”

Thank God for Sawyer’s candid nature.

He sips his drink, probably Scotch, and a sheen of liquid clings to his bottom lip.

Touch that arm. Kiss that scar. Taste those lips. None of these urges are new, but they’re heightened. Magnified. He watches me watching him, his gaze as probing as mine. What is he thinking?

Then the music changes.

A remix of Madonna’s “Holiday” plays, and Sawyer does Sawyer. He tips his head to the right, his shoulders following, then he pushes out his hip and rolls his torso through. The guy does body waves, alternating from side to side, like he’s in an eighties music video.

People stop. People look. People laugh.

I snort, an unattractive sound I make when my laughter takes over. Sawyer says it sounds like a hyena with sleep apnea. When I snort a second time, he dances harder, and I crack up. My belly aches as he gets into it, the entire room watching now.

I suck in a breath, place my empty glass on the table behind me, then clasp his shoulders. “What are you doing?”

He stops dancing. “Making things less weird.”

“Less? What about you channeling Paula Abdul is less weird?”

“Did you laugh?”

I grin.

Then he says, “I’m sorry.”

The music vibrates in my chest, or maybe it’s his proximity. “Sorry about what?”

“Last week, when you called, I was a dick. You caught me by surprise, and I didn’t handle it well. So, I’m sorry.”

His admission pumps through my core like helium, my body nearly weightless. The confession shouldn’t be surprising, not with how he speaks his mind, but it’s been a week of silence. I was losing hope things could return to the way they were, or progress past it. I step closer, so he can hear me over the noise. “Apology accepted, but do I get an explanation?”

He drags his gaze down my body. It’s a thorough perusal—intimate, penetrating—flames sparking along my skin. His eyes linger on me, but he doesn’t speak. He rolls the pinky ring on his left hand the way he does when he’s puzzling something out. An ache travels up my thighs, heat expanding below my ribs. The longer he stays quiet, the more my skin tingles.

Finally, he releases his ring and slides his hand over my lower back. He leans forward and whispers, “I’ve wanted to do very dirty things to you and with you since Aspen, but I care about you too much to act on it. Hence my dickishness and the weirdness.”

Book Review: Chasing Crazy by Kelly Siskind

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Format: Kindle

Publishers: Forever Yours

Published: 12th January 2016

Pages: 340

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance,

Main Characters: Nina, Sam
Date Read: 15th May - 17th May 2016

Rating Given:

Synopsis:
Dear Mom & Dad, I dropped out of school. I’m going backpacking. Sorry. Love you both.
At nineteen, Nina has endured two lifetime’s worth of humiliation. Tired of waiting for it to get better, she decides to get going—across the globe to New Zealand. There she soon faces what she most fears: a super sexy guy ready to be Nina’s next mistake.
Once Sam’s life was all about having fun. That was before the accident. Now his friends have bailed and his world is broken. But when a gorgeous girl on his flight looks at him with passion instead of pity, Sam feels his old self coming back to life. 
Now traveling together, Nina and Sam know this isn’t just a fling. They’re falling fast, hard, and deep. More than anything, Sam wants Nina to forget her fears. But to help her do that he must reveal his own painful secret—and risk Nina never seeing him the same way again.

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

I like this cover as it is very fitting for the story. I love that it looks romantic and soft as it makes it look cute. I also like the location because even though you can't tell where this place is what you can tell is it looks warm and exotic which with the story set in New Zealand I have a feeling that's a place that is warm and exotic.

I was looking forward to reading this book after reading and loving another written by Kelly Siskind which did kind of live up to my expectations however it wasn't as good. In true Siskind form Chasing Crazy had some hilarious moments as well some heartbreaking moments as well. The romance side of the story was a slow build and yes they where attracted with one another they didn't fall in love straight away which was nice and realistic. Even when they where just friends Nina and Sam where great together as the banter was really funny and then when they where together they were so sweet. What was refreshing with this book was that it was mainly about learning to love yourself quirks and all. The part that really ruined this book for me was the ending, things that happened was random and out of the blue and I just didn't get the other part that happened I felt like it wasn't a real ending.

There was many different sides to all of the characters which some surprised me. Pininfarina or more commonly known as Nina was a great character who was so accident prone it had me in stitches. She was sweet and just wanted to be accepted. Sam was another great character but there was a moment when he annoyed me but apart from that he was there for Nina and tried to get her to accept herself as well as himself. There was some good secondary characters that added something more to the story but then some of the other secondary characters annoyed me.

Overall, it was a very funny read and even though it wasn't as good as the other Siskind book that I've read it's still good enough to get me excited about her other books that are yet to be released.

Book Review: The Aftermath (The Hurricane, #2) by R.J. Prescott

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Buy: Amazon UK | Amazon US | 

Format: Kindle 

Publishers: Forever

Published: 15th December 2015

Pages: 231

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance, Sport Romance

Main Characters: Emily, Cormac
Date Read: 3rd April - 8th April 2016

Rating Given:

Synopsis:
When you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose. But what happens when you have everything you ever wanted? You fight to keep it.
Cormac “the Hurricane” O’Connell’s star is on the rise. Billed as the most promising young boxer of his generation, his new career is taking him to places he never dreamed. But O’Connell only needs one thing in life: his wife. In her final year of college, Em cannot follow him around the world but together they make it work.
Just when everything they ever wanted is on the horizon, the past resurfaces to haunt them and O’Connell realizes that justice might not be a part of his happy ever after. 
He couldn’t protect Em once before, but in the aftermath of the hurricane, he will make sure that never happens again.

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

I love the cover as it's in keeping with the actual story plus it kind of ties in with the first cover which I always love when they tie in as you then know it's a part of a series. The male model used on the cover I can see as O'Connell.

After loving the first book so much I couldn't wait to start book two and even though it wasn't as out standing as the first I couldn't bring myself rating it any lower as if I could book one would have received way more than five stars but this one deserves the full five stars. I love that in this book we get to read from O'Connell's perspective which was great as we were able to see inside his head to see what he was going through. The Aftermath was set after the event of the Hurricane and not everything happened that you would think it was even shocking at times as I didn't see the events coming. There was times when it was harrowing to the point it had me in tears and broke my heart but as well as that it also had me laughing and on the edge of my seat. I loved seeing more of O'Connell and Emily together as they make such a great couple with smoking chemistry to boot. The ending was perfect and even though I would love to see further into their future I didn't mind as the end was good enough for closure and hopefully we will hear more from them if there is more from this series.

Even though it was pretty much the same characters I still felt there was growth and I loved the new addition to the book. Reading this book from O'Connell's point of view I was able to get a better understanding of him than I did in the first book. I felt so sorry for him and he broke my heart when he wasn't able to get over certain things that had happened. It was nice to see Emily continue to grow into a much stronger person than she ever was in the first book.

Overall, I love this series and I hope we get more from some of the secondary characters in their own story. Fingers crossed.