My Best Everything by Sarah Tomp

I received a free copy of this book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

This is a sweet little romance with a side order of desperation and a dash of crazy. I was drawn in from the first chapter, I was laughing at Lulu's experiment to see what her alcohol tolerance would be and how she met Mason.

Lulu finds out that her daddy has lost the money for her college education and things take a wacky turn from there. She is desperate to go to college and comes up with a plot to make and sell moonshine, something that is highly illegal. But Lulu is determined not to stay in Dale, she wants out of the town as soon as possible and manages to persuade her best friends and the outsider Mason to help her set up and get a still going.

I wasn't sure at first if what I was reading was a letter to a dead person, a letter of apology or a letter explaining and asking for forgiveness. It wasn't until I was part way through that it fell into place. It's definitely an apology with a question added at the end.

She didn't plan on getting attached to Mason. He was just supposed to help her get the still up and running but love has a way of tripping people up and throwing spanners into the works.

This is a lovely read, it has a great cast of characters, the story line is entertaining and well-written but it's not too sweet. There is some heartache in there too, not just for Lulu but also for her best friends.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a great read.

Undertow by Michael Buckley

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was hooked from the very beginning, the storyline is interesting and although not unique, is done in a way that makes it seem fresh and new. It is well-written with a great cast of characters that are both interesting and charming.

When the Alpha's first arrived en-masse, they were forced to live on the pier and beach at Coney Island, now known as Fish City. Now the Government are trying to integrate them into their lives. Starting with sending some of the Alpha teenagers to school.

Our leading lady, Lyric Walker is caught between a rock and a hard place, she has to balance school life, a friend who is being abused, a manipulative head teacher, a crazy senator who is hell bent on getting the Alpha's locked up or killed and being forced to spend time with Fathom, the Alpha's prince, all whilst keeping a dark secret that could get everyone in her family killed or worse.

I will be honest, this book made me cry in places but it also made me laugh and I cannot wait for the next book to come out. Talk about leaving me hanging.

Unraveled (Woodlands #3) by Jen Frederick

Another great book by Jen Frederick.

I love Gray and Sam, they are a sweet couple even with all their baggage.  

 

Gray has a big decision to make, whether or not to re-enlist or get out of the marines.  He has three months leave and decides to visit Bo and Noah, his old marine buddies.  Whilst there he meets Sam, a young widow whose husband was in the army.  They are both attracted to each other and try to fight the attraction but they can't seem to avoid each other.

With a crap load of baggage apiece, nothing is easy but they eventually get sorted.  

This is definitely more adult themed, the sex scenes are well-written and not over done.  They definitely make the pages sizzle.

Unspoken (Woodlands, #2) by Jen Frederick

I received a free e-copy of this book from the author with the condition that I post an honest review.

When I finished the first book in this series, I knew it was going to become one of those series that I don't want to wait for.

I have to say it was worth the wait even though it wasn't a long one. Bo and AM make a great couple, even with their flaws. I love the way that they bring the best out of each other, the fact that they can't keep their hands of each other when they finally get together, they are extremely likable and their flaws and troubles only make them a strong pairing.

AM is very studious and only wants to get through college, get her degree and have no-one notice her. She is aware of the names that the other students call her, it's one of the reasons that she only goes on campus for classes. Due to the lacrosse team spreading nasty rumours about her, she has taken to avoiding campus life and campus parties.

Bo is a marine who doesn't know what he wants to do with his life now that he's not in the Corp. He followed his friend, Noah and enrolled in college to buy himself some time to decide what he wants to do.

When they get partnered together in class sparks fly. Bo is taken with AM as soon as he meets her and although she finds him very attractive, AM tries to fight her feelings. As she gets to know him, she stops fighting it and soon finds herself in love with him. Both have their own demons but they get through them together.

This is a well-written story with great characters and some of the subject matter is very traumatizing but handled delicately and not glossed over or trivialized.

I look forward to the long epilogue and the next book in the series.

A Bad Boy is Good to Find by Jennifer Lewis.

I received a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm in two minds about this book. The way that every thing is described is very detailed and brings the scenes to life. The characters, however, are another thing altogether.

The fact that Lizzie assumed everything about Conroy just shows how naive she is and how Conroy just let her believe it speaks volumes about a serious lack of trust. The fact that he thought he could marry her and not tell her about himself, just goes to show that he was only interested in one thing. He may say that he could marry her and make her happy but when the money is taken off the table, he quickly changes his mind.

When she does a runner, he tracks her down and tries to help her get back on her feet but she is only interested in making him pay for using her. She decides to get even and talks him into marrying her but only for show, or in this case, a tv show.

She decides to sell their story to a tv network that her cousin works for, getting them to foot the bill and also pay her $50,000. He agrees but doesn't realise that she's going to make him pay in the worst way. She insists that they go back to the small town on the Bayou where he grew up. Somewhere he hasn't been to since he ran away from at the age of 14.

What is supposed to be a show about their wedding soon turns into the Conroy Beale show as he finds out about his family and his past. The network decides to follow up on his story and Lizzie gets pushed to one side.

When I was reading this book my feelings towards the characters kept changing. I found them both to be both likable but also really annoying. They both needed a boot up the backside and a good shake at times. They both had their own agenda but if they had just been honest with each other, they would have been able to resolve their problems and avoid all the pain they put themselves through.

The rest of the characters are funny and the story is interesting but I don't know that I would buy this book if I was browsing in my local bookstore

Ice Games by Jessica Clare

I found this to be a well-written, funny and entertaining book. I didn't realize that it was part of a series but it made no difference. It definitely stands on its own.

Sparks fly when Ty and Zara meet on the show Ice Dancing With The Stars and not the good kind, at least not to begin with. He describes her as "a stick with a mouth". And no-one is interested in Zara as she's just a replacement skater, a has-been.

After she covers for him after he head-butted her and broke her nose, he agrees to buckle down and train hard. With the audience behind them they get through the first round but realize that the choreographer isn't going to help, they sack her and Zara does the choreography for their next dance.

As they get to know each other they see that they are alike as they both have screwed up in their careers and are using the show to get back into the public's good graces and hopefully win the show.

Zara soon starts to fall for Ty and as luck would have it, he seems to like her too. Both decide that nothing can happen while they are still in the show but when they get voted off that changes. The next morning Zara is told by the shows management that she is no longer needed and that a car will be sent to take her home. She can't bring herself to say goodbye to him, as she's falling for him so she just leaves.

Trying to get over Ty, she's back to teaching kids at the mall how to skate when she gets a call asking her to go back on the show for the finale. She agrees but says she will only go back for the last day, refusing to go back to train with Ty as she thinks it will be too painful.

When she gets there, Ty is angry with her and ends up making her cry. They eventually talk and both admit how they feel and we get a happy ending.

Both Ty and Zara are extremely likable and the story is very detailed, I could see and hear their skating routine in my head. The sex scenes were very detailed and graphic but not in a bad way. Some authors over-do the description in sex scenes but these were just graphic enough to be entertaining and not pornographic.

I will be looking for more books by Jessica in the future.

Mist giveaway and blog tour.

I'm doing a giveaway, you can find it here http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/107153-mist-giveaway

I'll be doing an interview with Susan Krinard and posting the interview and my review of her book, Mist on the 24th of July.

Winners of the giveaway will be chosen on the 8th of July.

Undeclared by Jen Frederick

To be perfectly honest with you all, I found this story to be drawn out and long-winded. The idea was good, the characters were ok, although I think if more was explained about what Noah went through before he came back for Grace, it might have made it more interesting. The same could be said for Grace, although there was the occasional mention of how devastated she was to receive the Dear Jane letter, I think more could have been said about what she went through.

I did find the ending more enjoyable but it was more along the lines of "about time". I just thought it took too long for them to get together and then the split was a bit contrived, it was also glossed over with a quick apologetic fix at the end.

Overall, interesting idea but fell short on delivery, I hope the next book is better.

Omens by Kelley Armstrong

This is a book that I won, it is the first time I've won anything so I was over the moon, especially as it is by one of my favourite authors.  I will post a more detailed review nearer to the release date.

Without giving too much away, Kelley has done it again. This book has great characters, a brilliant storyline, it moves along at a good pace (not too fast, not too slow), it doesn't bog you down with over descriptive scenes and it's got easter eggs. I don't mean the chocolate eggs, although that would be cool. I mean secret little words and phrases that you can look up and try to work out what's happening before Olivia does. I was tempted but decided not to, I went along for the ride with Olivia and I'm glad that I did.

Now the downside..... I've got to wait for the next book and I don't know when it will be available. What will I do?

For all the fans of Kelley Armstrong, of New Adult and a twist of paranormal this book is a must, whether you like one or all of the above.

Wait For You by J. Lynn

I received this book from the publishers with the intent to give an honest review.

First of all, I have to say I found the characters to be quite believable and likeable. I thought the subject matter was handled with care and was very well-written.

I liked the fact that Cam was a decent guy who admitted to having a few faults, well, eventually. He was quite charming and the Sunday morning breakfast routine was hilarious. I loved his pet tortoise, he should have had a bigger role. Lol.

Avery was a very sweet and shy girl, she had gone through a very difficult period and although she moved away from home, she didn't really move on with her life. Her past had a very strong hold on her.

Jacob and Brit were like a breath of fresh air. Jacob with his wonderful comebacks and Brit with her totally random comments. They made the perfect friends for Avery.

I found the story to be slow at first, it took a while to get engaged with Avery and once the story got going I found that it seemed to flow better.

I liked how she went home and confronted her parents and I totally understand the need to talk to Molly, although the blame lay firmly at Blaine's feet, along with his parents and Avery's.

Now I'm probably going to get shot for this but my one fault that I could find with this book was the fact that there was no mention of safe-sex. Yes, Avery was a virgin but Cam wasn't and he admitted to hooking up with Steph and he was supposedly a bit of a man-whore in high school so why wasn't there any mention of using condoms. I'm not saying that the sex scenes were bad, they definitely weren't but it doesn't exactly promote healthy sex.

I look forward to book two in this series and I would certainly encourage any one else to give it a try. :-)