The Wild Ones- A Series Review

Morning, everyone! Happy Friday! I need the T.G.I.F. like you wouldn't believe. I hope everyone has a lovely weekend! For those of you in the path of the impending storm/hurricane we have coming to the states, stay safe! Hunker down with a stack of books... that's my plan, anyway.

 

As I stated in a prior blog post, instead of bombarding you guys with individual book reviews from a series, I'm going to finish the series (the books that are released at the time I grab them at least) and then give you all a review in a lump viewing. That gives me time to collect my thoughts and write something more thorough, and I don't have to post almost every single day. You'll get a break rather than being overwhelmed. That being said, let's get on with the reviews!

 

I spent half of this week with The Wild Ones series by M. Leighton. They were super quick reads, and kept me entertained as well. This review may contain a spoiler or two, so approach with caution.

 

Book one was titled The Wild Ones, the same as the overall series. The characters in this book had a bond that kept me turning pages and finishing the book before my work day was done. If it were longer and had some more detail, I probably would have enjoyed it even more.

I feel like this story went too quickly, and I know it's fiction, but parts of it I just couldn't get fully into because it didn't seem all that believable for the short time I spent with Cami and Trick.

There's a ton of attraction and tension for the first 100+ pages of the story, and I spent all that time waiting for Cami and Trick to FINALLY give into their feelings and get together, and when they do, it's like they were everything and then nothing within the blink of an eye. They had an intense night  together in  the horse stall of Cami's father's barn, and a weekend away with friends, and next thing you know, drama... Annnnnnnnd bam. It's over.

The last 40-50 pages were just annoying if I'm being honest. Both characters played stupid but 1) I couldn't get emotional over their sudden break up because they were barely tofficially together in the first place and 2) They both handled the break up stupidly by not talking to each other, not venting to friends after a period of time, and making ridiculous assumptions.

Give it a minute because it is a romance novel, but their make up/make up sex session just wasn't what I expected. You guys spent months apart and now you're just going to climb into bed because you don't feel you need to do much talking? The minute or so you took to say "why didn't you come to me?" "Why were we apart" was slightly nonsensical. I feel like they had a LOT of talking to do, and maybe they did talk, but I would've liked to have read about it.

I just wish that for a love as powerful as they made it out to be, I got more story out of it.

 

My Final Rating: three out of five stars

 

 

So, funny story, I read these out of order. I was going to skip the novella entitled Wild Child all together and just do the three main books, but it wound up being printed in the back of book two, Some Like It Wild, so I gave it a go AFTER I finished book two. I'm not sure why it was at the end of book two instead of one, but whatever. I digress....

Aside from the fact that I hate the name "Rusty" with a fiery passion, I enjoyed this little snippet of Cami's best friend, Jenna, and her main man. I was slightly "eh" going into this because Jenna didn't particularly win me over when I first met her in book one, (she just isn't the kind of girl I can relate to or would hang out with) but I liked seeing another side of her that was a bit deeper. I liked the chemistry and fun her and Rusty had together, while also trying to explore something more meaningful than a romp in the sack.

I do, however, despise that the characters in these stories NEVER communicate. They always assume and tip-toe around each other. I know that's how conflict comes to the front and makes for an angsty, tortured soul of a plot.. blah blah blah, but oh-my-GOD, it's INFURIATING as a reader. It sucks that it takes an act of either sudden emergency or tragedy to get them communicating again.

My heart shattered for Jenna when she lost her dad, but I adore how Rusty acted as soon as he found out, even if he was supposed to be in the hospital. When they reunite, everything is lovely and as it should be between them.

My favorite part was the bit with her belly at the end. Really precious and intimate. I hope I hear more from these two in the future.

 

My Final Rating: four out of five stars

 

Now let's get to book two, Some Like It Wild. I liked this installment so much better than book one, even if it had a bit of A Walk to Remember cheesiness to it. "Bad boy" gets tangled up with reverend's daughter and ta-da! Instant  "forbidden" fireworks!

Okay, so Jake isn't actually "bad" per say. I'm not sure why everyone refers to him as "bad". Apparently he's had a pretty loose past with women in the town, but other than random and quick references to "oh yeah, in my younger days", I don't see an element of true bad in the guy. He even says at one point that before Laney, he was flying solo and the like for over two months, which in guy time, might as well be forever.

Laney, as I said, is the reverend's daughter trying to shake her squeaky clean image after she catches her POS fiancé, Shane, in bed with her best and oldest friend, Tia. Rightfully so. Backtrack a second: Jake and Laney crossed paths once at a faire when she was only 18, so they have their own past, even if it was small. It was a start.

When Laney is the paralegal assigned to assess Jake's family estate, their flirtation obviously becomes the cure for any issues either of them seems to have at the moment. It's when casual transitions to the very gray area of serious that they both realize it's time to make some decisions that could affect their future.. Together or separate.

The roller coaster this book brought with it, mixed with just a bit of extra detail (maybe a couple of extra chapters), made it much more worth it for me than book one. I was definitely more invested.

 

My Final Rating: four out of five stars

 

Lastlty, we have the final book, number three, There's Wild, Then There's You. Aside from a hint of She's All That cheesiness going on in this book, I really enjoyed it, maybe even more than any of the prior ones.

Jet and Violet each have a bit of mystery around them when they meet in SAA, and for me, that added a shadow, or element of darkness to this story that I found myself drawn to instantly.

Kudos to Violet for her kind heart. She's a much better person than I'll ever be. The tolerance she has for those with addictions and emotional issues is something I could never deal with. She's there for her father and her best friend without the slightest hesitation. I'd take Jet's side and just stand by to say, "you deserve better". I have zero tolerance for babysitting a drunk, and even less for a cheater.

I'm surprised that Violet's hard heart finally took shape when she finds out the secret Jet has kept from her since the moment they met. I figured she'd have a soft spot for him and hear him out, but she seemed to be the toughest on him. I guess because she loved him the most, all her greatest hopes and fears went to battle at once on something she fought to refrain from for so long.

Jet- what can I say? Another amazingly flawed but decent man to love. Lord knows we can't get enough of them in the fictional world. They have to make up for the fact I'm almost certain they're extinct in the real world.

 

That's all for now! Have a lovely weekend and stay tuned for the next story!

 

My Final Rating: four out of five stars

 

Devil's Touch- A Review

Good morning, fellow bibliophiles! So I realized I have a little over 90 days to complete 60 books in order to meet my goodreads challenge. As I stated in prior entries, I apologize for bombarding you all with posts back-to-back. After this one, I'm going to begin a new series, so hopefully I'll give you a breather for a couple of days before posting another review.

Today's book is one I received through a friend of mine as an ARC. There's nothing more I love getting more than book mail, so I was excited to receive this on my doorstep. Unfortunately, when it arrived, I was eyeballs deep in the Outlander series, so this sat on my bookshelf for a few months while I finished some other books.

Devil's Touch by Tina Lindegaard is not what I expected it to be based on the brief description provided on the back cover. I thought I was approaching a quaint yellow house with white windows where the young sisters played outside on the swings, with a sinister feeling lurking around the corner. That's not quite what I got. Evy is a high end call girl, and her sister, Linda, is dead. They're not the innocent children depicted, but rather older, and with fate dealing them a bad hand.

Mystery surrounds Evy and every character linked to her. Perspectives shift, and there's always another layer being peeled away to reveal a surprise of sorts among our cast of players.

I'm not always on board with third person perspective because sometimes it has the tendency to lose me, and parts of this did. I did respect the author's style, it was something I've definitely never encountered before, but it wasn't always for me.

There are a lot of characters and numerous plots that wind up intertwining here and there, but there's also aspects of them that remain separate, so pay attention. I enjoyed the concept of leaving out mindless details, but I'd start to lose focus with the "he" and "she" interactions and no names given as to who was in the scene at the time. It kind of kept me from getting 110% immersed in the story and into the lives of the characters. I very much felt like the reader staring down at their thoughts and actions from the page above. It was just an element of removal for me. This can be either a good thing or bad.

Don't get me wrong, like I said, the story was entertaining. It had elements of thrill, murder, crime, and underworlds that aren't always happening out among the everyday folks. This is something I could see as a mini series or TV special on the Investigation Discovery Channel.. Which I'm slightly obsessed with... So, bravo to the author, on that front! Job well done!

My Final Rating: three out of five stars

 

Anything He Wants & Castaway- A Review

I'm honestly torn how I felt on this one... So.. Bear with me as I try not to ramble. Minor thing to start (I suppose, but major in my eyes), there were a few grammatical and proofreading errors. That was annoying. Also, the author used a lot of the same adjectives, adverbs, etc to set a scene and it got repetitive to the point I'd skim over things to keep going with the story. Lastly, there were a few names and ideas I read in this book that I've read in a gazillion others. I'm not sure who wro Hey all! Time to bring everyone another book review! I have been thinking... the next time I read a series, instead of posted about each book in an individual review, perhaps I wait and discuss each book in a compiled review of the whole series once it's done. Thoughts? For now, let's move on to the review. I spent my weekend with Anything He Wants & Castaway by Sara Fawkes. It was one of those two-books-in-one deals, and it has been sitting on my shelf for months, so I figured I'd get to it and kill two birds with one stone. Having finished it up last night, I'm honestly torn how I felt on this one... So.. bear with me as I try not to ramble and rant. Minor thing to start (I suppose, but actually major in my eyes), there were a few grammatical and proofreading errors. That was annoying. Also, the author used a lot of the same adjectives, adverbs, etc. to set a scene and it got repetitive to the point I'd skim over things to keep going with the story. Lastly, there were a few names and ideas I read in this book that I've read in a gazillion others. I'm not sure who wrote their books first, but I found some of the originality lacking. Been there, done that.. As you do. The main issue I had with this book? Here goes: so we meet Lucy and Jeremiah in an elevator when they're working in the same building. He seduces her on said elevator ride, so that's fine, totally grabbed my attention. Next thing I know, she's signing a contract to work for him, flying to Paris to enjoy the billionaire's lavish lifestyle, but basically occupies his bed and any other surface he so chooses. In the very very short time she works for him, I don't think she actually works doing an actual office-type task (maybe she answered a phone or something at one point but that's all I can remember). Shocker, Lucy falls head-over-heels for Jeremiah Bagillionare Hamilton instantly only to be rejected because he's closed off emotionally and incapable of love. This act drives her into the arms of Jeremiah's older (and much sweeter) brother, Lucas. He takes her hostage for negotiation purposes in his own enterprises and tons of action (and bedding) stems from it. I couldn't quite get on board with Lucy's looser habits. She seemed fine with it and tried to rationalize going between brothers, but I wasn't buying what she was selling. She seemed eager beaver to enjoy either one she could and who was willing to show her comfort for the moment. I also didn't quite understand where all the action came from and why it was necessary. These characters spend a LOT of this book dodging threats from assassins and terrorists, and while it's explained, it wasn't elaborated on enough for me to really get on board with the whole thing. At parts in this book, I really thought, "wtf am I reading right now?". Lastly, when we first meet Jeremiah, we realize he seems to be a bit into BDSM and the darker side of a relationship. Again, it's never quite pointed out or explained.. But then it disappears through the rest of the book only to pop up again in the pages of the bonus story as if it had been a quirk of his all along. The reason I'm giving the book three stars is because it was a quick read. It kept me entertained enough to turn the pages to get to the end and see how it all wraps up, so for that, I'm content enough with the story. It did its job of making me want to see how it would all end. My Final Rating: three out of five stars

Dark Wild Night (Wild Seasons #3)- A Review

Good morning, fellow readers. Bear with me this morning. I had a late night last night and an early start today. I'm trying not to think about my bed too much while I sit in my office until 5pm. The bright side to all of this? I got another book done! We all know I loved my journey with the entire Outlander series, but it put a big dent in my reading schedule. I'm currently taking part in the goodreads challenge and I set my goal to be 100 books by 2016. I'm only 34 books behind schedule! At the beginning of this week, it was 37, so time to keep on keeping on. Let's get to the review. 

If it's possible, Oliver Lore may have trampled right over the top of both Finn and Ansel. The bar on book boyfriends just keeps getting raised higher and higher, and with it, my standards in men become ridiculously impossible.

Lola, our main girl this go-round, was not my favorite, unfortunately. She was too wrapped up in her own head to notice that Oliver wasn't pushing her in their relationship. Unlike their friends, while they did get married in Vegas, they never ended up in a hotel room. They annulled their spontaneous nuptials, but remained the best of friends for months after their friends built lives as married couples. Obviously (spoiler), their friendship crosses into flirting, which puts them in this massive gray area. They realize how much they mean to each other and (cautiously) move things to another, more intense level. Lola is an artist, and completely crazed with a flourishing career. She gets too caught up with her maelstrom of a brain, which backfires on Oliver. When she believes Oliver is too good and finds herself becoming obsessed, she panics.

My heart absolutely shattered when Oliver confesses how he has come second to everyone and everything (lost his parents, and was raised by his grandparents) and he'd refuse to come second to her too because she's the only one he ever cared about enough to want to be first. The poor guy didn't do anything wrong except love and support her and still had his heart shattered when she began to panic. However, stories need conflict and drama, so I was forever holding my breath and waiting for the other shoe to fall.

I have a soft spot in my heart for a nerd, and maybe especially a hot, Australian nerd who runs a trendy comic book shop. Oliver is patient, sweet, feisty, and charming. Lola was lucky to find him and have him fall as hard as he did. It was refreshing to see the guy on the end of smitten kitten and see how a love story could unfold.

I hope to hear more from these two, because I know their story isn't over just yet.

My Final Rating: four out of five stars

 

Dirty Rowdy Thing (Wild Seasons #2)- A Review

Hello again! Since I just posted a slightly lengthy rant just moments ago, I'm going to keep this short and sweet. I just finished reading Dirty Rowdy Thing by Christina Lauren and needless to say, I have another book boyfriend. Shocker, I know.

While I did miss Ansel, Mia, and their magical escapades in the streets in Paris, I was prepared to meet the next pair of players, and booooooy.... Are they a pair! 

Finn- the brooding, strong, silent, rugged Canadian vs Harlow- the daughter of two Hollywood powerhouses and total Cali girl. 

Also married in Vegas alongside their friends on that drunken blur of a trip, they get a quick annulment, and with good reason. 

These two looooove to butt heads (among other things) and wind up eyeballs deep in territory that is completely foreign to them. Finn has a family business at stake while Harlow masks her family's bad news by loving and solving everyone else's problems. Friends with benefits rapidly becomes something new, something unknown to the couple, and things get dicey.

I enjoyed watching them navigate and tiptoe around each other. I wasn't quite sure when they'd realize they're just what the other needs in life, but I had complete faith they'd get around to it eventually.. And boy, do they ever! 

Their friendship is comfortable, and their attraction absolutely sizzles. A blurb on the back cover mentioned blushing, and I have to agree. These two are quite steamy once they get right down to business. 
Just when everything finally points in their direction and with a bright future ahead of them, conflict arises (as it so often does, especially in these books). Harlow and Finn have to decide if they're going to join forces and conquer life as a team, or let the best thing that's ever happened to them walk away forever. 

I know book three will bring me to Oliver and Lola's story, but I'm interested to see the continued incorporation of both Finn and Harlow and also Ansel and Mia as these installments progress. 

My Final Rating: four out of five stars

A Bookish Rant, Let's Discuss!

Greetings, all! Tonight, I will be posting my latest review, but first, I will be doing something I wouldn't normally do, and going on a slight tangent. My apologies, but I appreciate you sticking with me, and also, I'd love to hear some of your opinions on the matter as well. 


As any blogger, writer, reader, reviewer will know, taking time out to form an opinion and share it with the world can be exhausting, especially if they're done at a rapid-fire rate. Don't get me wrong, I adore reading, so therefore, I adore discussing books of any sort with the rest of my many reading communities and bibliophiles even more. Here's where the frustration comes in. Again, my apologies. Bear with me for a few paragraphs.

This morning I received a comment via one of my social media accounts that, to me, was down right rude.  I won't delve into details, and I feel awful even bringing it up instead of shutting up and moving on, but it's been on my mind all day, and since I really enjoy what I do in bringing reviews to you all, it put me off instantly. 

Book "shaming", especially among fellow readers, is unacceptable, at least to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a healthy debate and varying perspectives on plots, genres, characters, etc, but to outright make someone feel bad for the material they choose to enjoy is not fair. Am I alone on this? 

I understand that lately I've been reviewing numerous romance novels, but that should in no way discredit who I am as a reader. Everyone has their preference when it comes to books, as we do with almost anything we enjoy, so to publicly make someone feel down for their choices seems a bit of a low blow. Granted, I could just remain silent and not bring it up again, but I'm curious if others have felt this way in the literary community. 

On a personal note (and this will sound like bragging, but I PROMISE it's not. I'm just trying to plead my case and let you know who I am as a reader), I spent years at university with English as my field of study. I have two degrees majoring in English, and I'm also a member of the Sigma Tau Delta English Honors Society. I've spent countless hours and minutes dedicating myself to taking exams and writing thorough research papers on a variety of literary materials. I have a full shelf of all kinds of Norton Anthologies. I wrote my thesis (25 pages) on aspects of crime and corruption in F. Scott Fitzgerald's Gatsby. I've studied syllabi chuck full of James Joyce, Virginia Woolfe, Jane Austen, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Ernest Hemingway, Walt Whitman, Charles Dickens, Henry David Thoreau, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, John Steinbeck, Langston Hughes, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, and even the unknown poet of Beowulf (to name a few). I've thoroughly enjoyed aspects of American, World, and British literature as well as Romanticism, Transcendentalism, Journalism, Creative Writing, and the Structure and Origins of the English Language. 

Long-story-short, I am obsessed and passionate beyond words with all things literary, from both the reading and writing perspectives. I truly care 150% about what I've spent years at school learning, and even more so, networking with people across the globe about our shared adorations. I lose myself in many many many stories and a plethora of genres. Romance novels, for example (I use this genre because it seems to be the one I get the most criticism for reading), have their own niche and shouldn't be pegged with such negativity, nor should its readers. I'm not saying you have to LOVE a love story, but to immediately pass it off as a "sex book" with  zero substance and discredit the reader/reviewer is not the way to make your point and put someone in their place. Yes, these books have intimate scenes in them, and I'm not denying that, but they do also have a plot, a purpose, a story to tell, and characters with soul and spirit. They're the written version of a romantic movie or television show. The masses enjoy seeing it when it's on the screen, so please stop penalizing it when it's written on the page in front of you. I genuinely believe you can take away something from everything you read, so instead of letting negativity from a stranger go, I felt I had to say something and shed light on the overall situation. I know friends of mine have dealt with similar "shaming" situations, so I'd be really curious to see what you all think on this matter. 

All I ask is that we all attempt to respect each other and at least treat each other as adults when it comes to personal literary preference. If you don't care for my reviews or have no interest in the book I've chosen to discuss and share with you, don't read what I have to say. I won't be offended. I will, however, find it disrespectful when you take time out of your day to come to one of my pages and make me feel as if I lack intellect because I enjoy some of the books I do. Instead, I urge you to please move on to a book that sounds genuinely interesting to you and suits your style better. Don't make me (or anyone else for that matter) feel badly in the process. Nobody gains anything that way. I try to read a bit of everything and share it with you all, but honestly, romances are enjoyable and really easy to get through. After coming off of a big series or a large novel (as I just did with the Outlander series), I like to kick back with something a little lighter. Please don't make me feel guilty or silly in the process. 

On a more positive note, I thank those of you who have had kind words along the way and who make it worth while to keep going with my posts. Getting excited over a story is one thing, but to share a mutual love of the same story with people all over the world is something else entirely. That's honestly my favorite part out of reading and reviewing... getting to geek out and fan-girl with my fellow bibliophiles. I don't care what you read, the important thing is that you're reading. Don't you agree? 

Keep the noses in the books, people!

Sweet Filthy Boy (Wild Seasons #1)- A Review

Surprise, surprise, folks. I'm back again! What can I say? I had some down time at work and was able to binge-read my little heart out. I'm so glad, because I don't think I could have peeled myself away from this book boyfriend to save my life. The man in question is the one and only Sweet Filthy Boy brought to us by the fabulous duo of Christina Lauren. 

Ansel Guillaume. You're the kind of boy a girl dreams about. Truly. Sweet, caring, impulsive, fun, charismatic, I could go on. Mia couldn't seem to get enough of her across-the-bar stranger, and eventually, neither could I. 

When Mia Holland and her friends Lola and Harlow celebrate their college graduation in Las Vegas, what happens there winds up.... in the streets of Paris. 

I always admire the people who actually LIVE life, and do so a bit on the spontaneous side, so I really admired the path Mia and Ansel chose to take. Strangers who got drunkenly married in Vegas decided to live on a whim and see what would happen with their future instead of immediately chalking it up to a mistake. Granted, it's a story of lust, attraction, and love, so there's no un-written stranger danger involved, but I was obsessed with the antics of these two and had to live through them until the day I choose to make decisions the way they did. I secretly long for a day when I may meet someone and marry them on the spot. If only life were that silly. 

I semi-recently spent a weekend in Paris myself back in July, and reading this story made me wish I spent more time enjoying the nooks and crannies of one of the most beautiful cities in the world. While it was charming, it was overshadowed by a bigger excursion in London, so I didn't get to fully appreciate or spend enough time in the city of lights. Ansel and Mia make me want to return and discover something new (including an alluring French man S'il vous plaît). 

While I'm excited to get to book two in this series, I know Ansel and Mia will no longer be my key players as I move on (at least for now) so I'm sad to let them go, but I'm sure I'll meet up with them again soon! In the mean time, I have a new man to meet, and the crazy couple can get back to their impulsive bliss! 

My Final Rating: four out of five stars