Kindle Fire review!

Sorry, I’ve been MIA all week but the break was very long overdue. I needed the rest and relaxation badly. Anyway, happy new year! At the beginning of the break my Kindle decided to quit on me, and though I blame all of you damn authors and your super hot books that actually crazed my kindle to death, it couldn’t have happened at a better time… Christmas! I took advantage of the opportunity to ask my ever so thoughtful boyfriend for a new kindle. I initially wanted a Kindle Paperwhite but after messing around with the Kindle Fire at BestBuy, I had to have it.

 

I am loving it so far. As an e-reader, it is amazing! I love that I can read in color and in the dark in bed, though it is a tad on the heavier side so reading on your back with the risk of dropping the kindle fire onto your face is definitely a no-no (it hurts like a b*tch). It also shows recommended books underneath the current book being read so once I’m done with a book I can check out other similar books and add them onto my TBR list on Amazon. However, as a tablet, it’s okay. I might be a little bias on this side of it because my boyfriend owns an iPad and it doesn’t come close to measuring up to it. But it does what (I assume) every other tablet does… email, internet, games/apps, etc. I probably won’t be using it too much for movies or music but I did download and test out NetFlix and Pandora and both work just fine. If you think you are going to be using it to watch movies a lot, you should probably invest in the Kindle Fire HD. But for me, the Kindle Fire is perfect. I love it as an e-reader and all the extra stuff it does is a bonus.

Fallen Too Far by Abbi Glines

Book description via Amazon:

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.

I absolutely loved this plot!  And I loved the main character, Blaire. But who wouldn’t love a strong, gun-toting, cellphoneless, nineteen-year-old girl from Alabama?! She’s been through a lot and deserves much much more than what she’s got at this point in her life. Under very unfortunate circumstances, she looks to her father, whom she hasn’t seen or spoken to in years, for a place to stay while she looks for a job and saves up for her own place. But when she gets there, she encounters the ever so HOT Rush, her ‘stepbrother’ so to speak. At first he wants nothing to do with her, but after he realizes that they may share a mutual disdain towards her father, they try to be civilized. But it doesn’t last long when they can no longer fight the attraction they have for each other.

I wanted to like Rush. I wanted to fall for him with Blaire but something was lacking between them… It took me a while to believe in their relationship and chemistry, it just felt so rushed. I didn’t believe in their strong attraction to each other because they never really got to know each other. I never really got to know Rush so I had a hard time connecting with him. And dialogue that should have been significant in getting to know each other was just put out there so quickly. However, I was eventually able to look past the disconnection, and once I invested myself into this couple, I was able to connect with the story.

Abbi Glines is such an amazing author that even though I didn’t feel a strong connection with Rush and Blaire, the storyline was written well enough to pull me in. When it comes to sexy scenes and angst, Abbi Glines knows exactly what she is doing! I was surprised at how much my heart ached when a plot twist was revealed and prepare yourself for a cliffhanger as well. I am 100% sure the next installment will not disappoint. March 2013 cannot come soon enough! Definitely going to pre-order that sucker.

The Edge of Never by J.A. Redemski

Book description via Amazon:

Twenty-year-old Camryn Bennett had always been one to think out-of-the-box, who knew she wanted something more in life than following the same repetitive patterns and growing old with the same repetitive life story. And she thought that her life was going in the right direction until everything fell apart.

Determined not to dwell on the negative and push forward, Camryn is set to move in with her best friend and plans to start a new job. But after an unexpected night at the hottest club in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, she makes the ultimate decision to leave the only life she’s ever known, far behind.

With a purse, a cell phone and a small bag with a few necessities, Camryn, with absolutely no direction or purpose boards a Greyhound bus alone and sets out to find herself. What she finds is a guy named Andrew Parrish, someone not so very different from her and who harbors his own dark secrets. But Camryn swore never to let down her walls again. And she vowed never to fall in love.

But with Andrew, Camryn finds herself doing a lot of things she never thought she’d do. He shows her what it’s really like to live out-of-the-box and to give in to her deepest, darkest desires. On their sporadic road-trip he becomes the center of her exciting and daring new life, pulling love and lust and emotion out of her in ways she never imagined possible. But will Andrew’s dark secret push them inseparably together, or tear them completely apart?

(Due to sexual content and language, this book is recommended for 17+ – Adult Contemporary Women’s – New Adult Fiction)

J.A. Redmerski… you’re an a**hole and I hate you… but I love you so much! Waahhh! How could you f*ck with my emotions like that?! HOW COULD YOU?! WHYYEEE?

*AHEM* Okay so this book was absolutely NOTHING I expected and went in a totally different direction than what I forethought and it f*cked with my emotions up to the very end. I cried… CRIED! A flippin tear came out of my eye and I swear to you, though there have been a few books that have made me tear up, it’s not too often that a tear or two actually escape onto my cheek. I can think of one other book that has done that to me and this is the second… and I hate that I love it so much because I’m done with it and now I have NOTHING left… NOTHING!

No really, with all dramatics aside, this book seriously raped my mind. Every single page was just… UGH. I can’t believe it’s a standalone.  I enjoyed every page, even when they were trying to build up their friendship at first. I completely fell in love with Andrew and Camryn. They’re both bad ass and don’t take shit from anyone, including each other. Individually, they had no problem holding their own, but together they were a force to be reckoned with. Though they met under abnormal circumstances and their relationship bloomed in a short period of time, their connection and chemistry were undeniable in every page. I had no choice but to fall in love with them and root for them through and through. I laughed, I fell in love with this couple, and when shit hit the fan, I cried like a b*tch.

J.A. Redmerski took my emotions and made them her b*tch. She seriously personified my heart, punched it in the throat, and brought it to its knees. You are an amazing author and I can’t wait to read more of your stuff!

Covert Seduction by Callie Croix

 

I received an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Book description via NetGalley:

Navy SEAL Reid Galvin is back from hell and eager to find comfort in Becca Anderson’s arms. He knows he hurt her when he cut contact during his deployment, so when his call interrupts her date with another man, he has only himself to blame. But he can’t forget what she means to him—or the sexy email she sent him—and he won’t miss this chance to claim her as his own.

It’s been weeks since Becca heard from the man she thought she was involved with. So when Reid wants to take up where they left off as if nothing happened, she refuses. Then he rescues her from a first date gone very wrong, and she realizes she’s not quite ready to let him go.

Reid and Becca have a lot to talk about, but since she’s not listening, he’s going to have to regain her trust another way—by bringing her most erotic fantasies to life. Making her surrender to pleasure just might be his most important mission.

After months of no contact, Reid shows up in Becca’s life again and wants to make things work. At first Becca is hesitant because she doesn’t want to get hurt again but she eventually gives in and lets him take the reigns. Hot Navy SEAL Reid rocks her world and makes all of her bedroom fantasies a reality. Except in the world outside of the bedroom, Becca’s life is in danger. Her co-worker leaves her with encrypted files that could uncover some shady business going on in the company she works for and someone wants to get rid of her and those files.

This was a very quick and steamy read. It is erotic and romantic with a dash of mystery added to the plot. The erotic parts were HOT; sexy, alluring, and adventurous. The romance was sweet; just enough to have me rooting for Becca and Reid. Callie Croix did a great job with building up to the erotic scenes rather than just diving right into it and she was able to tie in a little mystery and drama into the story as well, which made it a very enjoyable read.

 

Wallbanger by Alice Clayton

Book description via Amazon:

Caroline Reynolds has a fantastic new apartment in San Francisco, a KitchenAid mixer, and no O (and we’re not talking Oprah here, folks). She has a flourishing design career, an office overlooking the bay, a killer zucchini bread recipe, and no O. She has Clive (the best cat ever), great friends, a great rack, and no O.

Adding insult to O-less, since her move, she has an oversexed neighbor with the loudest late-night wallbanging she’s ever heard. Each moan, spank, and–was that a meow?–punctuates the fact that not only is she losing sleep, she still has, yep, you guessed it, no O.

Enter Simon Parker. (No, really, Simon, please enter.) When the wallbanging threatens to literally bounce her out of bed, Caroline, clad in sexual frustration and a pink baby-doll nightie, confronts her heard-but-never-seen neighbor. Their late-night hallway encounter has, well, mixed results. Ahem. With walls this thin, the tension’s gonna be thick…

In her third novel, Alice Clayton returns to dish her trademark mix of silly and steamy. Banter, barbs, and strutting pussycats, plus the sexiest apple pie ever made, are dunked in a hot tub and set against the gorgeous San Francisco skyline in this hot and hilarious tale of exasperation at first sight.

I totally fell in love with this book! I LOVED IT! In fact, saying that I loved it would be an understatement; words just can’t justify how much I loved this book. I couldn’t even begin to write  a review for it that would explain its amazingness! If the minds of R.L. Mathewson and Tara Sivec had a love child it would most definitely be Alice Clayton. I swear… I bet you all get together and discuss world domination…

Anyway! This was HILARIOUS and definitely on my favorites list! The author did such an amazing job with all of the characters, especially Caroline and Simon. I loved them! The sexy banter between them made me LOL throughout the book and their chemistry was oozing out of my kindle. I don’t want to say too much because I really don’t want to give a single thing away but let me tell you… prepare yourself! This will bring out your emotions in the best, most enjoyable way! Throughout the story, I laughed, I was sexually frustrated right along with Caroline, I was blown away by the super steamy scenes when they finally stopped living in denial, I even got a little teary-eyed when sh*t hit the fan.

I love Alice Clayton! She is an amazing author and I will no doubt be reading this over and over because I will never get enough Simon and Caroline! Definitely putting her Redhead series (The Unidentified Redhead and The Redhead Revealed)  on my TBR list like now!

Stand-In Star by Rachael Johns

I received an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Book description via NetGalley:

As an anthropologist, Holly McCartney is more comfortable in a museum than shopping on Rodeo Drive. She isn’t prepared for the media frenzy on her arrival in L.A. to accept a posthumous acting award for her late sister…or for her sister’s gorgeous friend Nate Devlin to come to her rescue. Though he resents her for some reason, she can’t fight their irresistible chemistry—especially when the paparazzi force her to stay at his mansion.

Photographer Nate only agrees to help Holly survive Hollywood for her sister’s sake, but she soon gets under his skin in a way no other woman has. The more time he spends with her, the more his attraction grows and he finds himself opening up to her in ways he never expected. But will ghosts of the past stand in the way of their perfect Hollywood ending?

This was a very cute read! The summary is pretty much spot on. Holly McCartney is off to L.A. from Australia to accept an Academy Award for her deceased actress sister, Daisy. The last thing she was expecting was for the media and paparazzi to hound her once she stepped foot off the plane. To her surprise, Nate Devlin shows up to save her from the craziness. But rather than being her knight in shining armor, he turns out to be a jerk! He comes off as an a**hole at first because he was fairly close to Daisy and from what Daisy told him, her sister Holly and her family had stopped talking to her years ago. So from the get-go, Nate thinks Holly is there just to mooch off of Daisy’s fame, and treats her with immense disdain.

Of course, Holly is the exact opposite of what Nate was expecting and the more time they spend together, the more they open up to each other. Nate switches from good guy to bad guy throughout the book, I totally had a love-hate relationship with him! They try to fight the chemistry and attraction but when they finally give in to each other, damn! It’s hot!

This is another one of those books you can relax and get lost in, if you need a break from angst and heartache. While it was mostly cute and light, it had some steamy scenes as well. Will definitely be reading more from this author

Red Zone by Sherri Hayes

I received an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Book description via NetGalley:

After a case ended badly for Rebecca Carson, she’s losing her mind sitting around her apartment waiting on her superiors to allow her to return to work. Since she was a teenager, the only thing she’d ever wanted was to join the FBI. Now that dream was in danger.
Gage Daniels has made a pretty good life for himself. A nice house. A career he loves. As a professional football player, he’s used to getting almost everything he’d ever want with just the snap of his fingers. This includes women. A well-timed smile is usually all it takes to attract the opposite sex, especially in Nashville.
When a stalker threatens Gage, the team owner calls an old friend, Rebecca’s ex-partner Travis Hansen, to help protect his star quarterback and find the person responsible. Hansen offers Rebecca the job, and she jumps at the chance. It’s work, and it will get her out of her apartment. How bad can it be?
Posing as Gage’s girlfriend, however, isn’t as easy as it seems. The man is relentless. Rebecca must work to protect Gage while staving off his advances. She’s there to do a job, nothing more. The last thing she wants is to be another notch on a hotshot athlete’s belt.
As the stalker continues to up the ante, Rebecca finds it harder and harder to keep her distance from Nashville’s star quarterback. He isn’t what she expected in one of the city’s most notorious playboys. Now all she has to do is keep him safe until they can find his stalker, and hope she doesn’t lose her heart in the process.

Red Zone is the second book in the Daniels Brother’s Series; however, it is a stand alone series.  Readers do not have to have read Behind Closed Doors to fall in love with Gage’s Story..(But they might want to in the end.)

In case you haven’t noticed by now, I love strong, independent females and relationships that start out fake (LOL). Lucky for me, this one has both. Rebecca is a straight-laced FBI agent. She is very by the book and doesn’t put up with BS. Gage is the hot football star player who is cocky and confident so of course when he meets Rebecca, he just has to try to bend the straight-edge that she is. Her assignment is to protect Gage and figure out who his stalker is under the pretense that she is his girlfriend. But things get tough when she also has to figure out a way to protect herself when she realizes she may have feelings for him.

This was a sweet, light read. The love scenes were steamy and written with class and there was no over-the-top drama. I enjoyed Gage’s and Rebecca’s relationship from beginning to end. At first, Gage comes off as a cocky jerk and flirts with Rebecca just to ruffle her feathers. She is able to resist him for a while but soon enough she gives in. By that time though, Gage’s pursuance changes into something more sincere. But because Rebecca refuses to shed her FBI-agent tendencies, she keeps herself guarded, forcing Gage to do things for her that he doesn’t usually do for other women. I especially loved them when they both finally had their guards down with each other and stepped away from their FBI agent/football star playboy roles. I also enjoyed the stalker plotline as well because it adds a little mystery twist to the whole romance-novel theme. Definitely a book to read if you want to take a break from heartache and angst-filled books or if you just want to relax.

I am very impressed with Sherri Hayes’ writing. I enjoyed the dialogue and there were barely any errors in this ARC. With a little internet surfing, I found her blog and found out that she has other books published! I will definitely be putting more of her books onto my reading list.

Uncovered By Love by Madeline Ash

I received an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Book description via NetGalley:

Vera Cole is a passionate sculptor whose dream is to study art in Spain.  But when wealthy investor Leeson Stone offers her work at his gallery, her dwindling bank balance forces her to agree.

Leeson is a man who measures himself by financial success, while Vera  couldn’t be less interested in material things. And both have secrets they are desperate to hide.

 Yet the more time they spend together, the more they struggle to resist the powerful attraction between them.

Knowing the truth would ruin him, Leeson avoids commitment. But when Vera works up the courage to reveal her past, Leeson falls hard for the bravest woman he has ever met. Can two people from very different worlds overcome their fears and learn to trust in love and one another?

A moving, contemporary romance about love against all the odds.

Rich playboy Leeson hires sweet Vera to work at his gallery for the next couple of months until she leaves for Spain for a year to follow her dream of studying art. It’s attraction at first sight for the both of them but Vera is hesitant to be intimate with him due to something she is very insecure about. However, little does she know that Leeson has a secret of his own. The more time they spend together, the deeper they fall but how painful will it be when they can’t conjure up enough trust to catch each other?

This was a very light and sweet read. I was afraid that it was going to turn out cheesy but it wasn’t like that at all. I loved Leeson and I loved Vera and her family, especially her younger protective twin brothers. Be aware that these characters’ secrets are not overly dramatic or damaging, which is why I enjoyed it so much. They are very relate-able and their issues are realistic. Though it was short, the chemistry was there and there was enough character development for the characters to be believable. It wasn’t filled with angst and sadness but there are some sad parts and some funny parts as well. This is another good book to read if you are stuck between books and need a break from angst, drama, and heartache.

This is the author’s debut novel and she did a great job with it; the dialogue was enjoyable and the errors were minimal. I will definitely be reading more from Madeline Ash.

Avoiding Responsibility (Avoiding series #2) by K.A. Linde

Book description via Amazon:

Lexi has finally given up her once destructive relationships and moved onto bigger and better things with a sexy new man in town. Just when she is starting to figure it out with him, her world is tilted once again with a phone call from none other than Ramsey Bridges. A year after his entrance into her life, Ramsey is trying to make amends and does the one thing she never expects—invites her to Jack’s wedding.

The wedding she had evaded at all costs. But no matter what she does, Lexi can’t seem to escape her past with Jack. But does she really want to?

Despite the explosive chemistry between Lexi and Ramsey, she is skeptical about trusting him after everything that has happened. When things are amiss with him, she starts questioning his motives. Can Ramsey be the one to remove Jack from Lexi’s life permanently or should she move on with her blossoming new life?

F***ING WOW. It comes as no surprise that I loved this sequel since I absolutely loved the first book (I’ve read it three times). K.A. Linde does not disappoint! Forewarning to those who haven’t read the first book, you may not want to read this review… In fact, what the hell is your life? READ THE FIRST! GO! NOW! Come back after you’ve read it and then proceed…

Linde uses the same writing style as the first book and alternates the chapters between past and present. The chapters of the present pick up about a year after the first book ended; we find out early on that Lexi and Ramsey had tried to work things out but something happened between them that caused them to separate for a month. Ramsey contacts her again, wanting to fix things, but of course, that means having to cross paths with Jack and Ramsey’s venomous sister, Bekah. The chapters of the past pick up not too long after first book left off; Lexi goes back to New York but due to unforeseen events she reconnects with Ramsey again. These chapters highlight her blossoming relationship with Ramsey and work up to unveiling the reason why she and Ramsey separated in the first place.

Okay, so that totally sounds really confusing but I really don’t want to give anything away. Basically, this book focuses on Lexi trying to have a fresh start with someone else other than Jack, but given their tumultuous past, she never knew it was possible and she still isn’t 100% sure she can do it. She wants a chance at an honest relationship with Ramsey but there’s just so much sh*t to lay out on the table. And is she really over Jack?

In my review for Avoiding Commitment I mentioned that I was torn between the two hotties BUT if you’ve been following me on twitter, I may have mentioned a time or two who’s team I was on. I won’t mention it now but I totally loved the direction this story went in. Like the first, this was a very emotional read. Lexi is a very stubborn person, but I am definitely TEAM LEXI all the way! I love her so much! She has definitely grown a lot throughout these two books. Linde did an amazing job with her character. She also threw in a few shockers that I didn’t even see coming (Touche, Linde, touche!). I will more than likely be reading this series again and again.

I love K.A. Linde’s writing style and her ability to capture the attention and emotions of her readers. She is one of my favorite authors and I will definitely be picking up her future books!

Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry

I received an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Book description via Amazon:

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with “freaky” scars on her arms. Even Echo can’t remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.

But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo’s world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she’ll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

This was a very powerful young adult novel. I wish I read it when I was in high school because, though I never went through the same events in this book, I harbored a lot of the same feelings of feeling alone and misunderstood.

Echo was once the popular girl but a tragic event in her past has turned her into an outcast among her friends and she can’t even remember exactly what happened. Her father is an overbearing control freak, she hates her blonde bimbo stepmom, her arms are covered in scars, she just wants to feel normal again. Her new therapist wants to help her remember what happened to her but Echo’s afraid that if she remembers, she might lose her mind. Noah is the school’s hot bad boy with issues of his own. His parents past away a few years ago and all he wants is to gain custody of his little brothers and put his family back together. So he works with the school therapist to get his sh*t back together. He is assigned a tutor and pretends he is interested in going to college. Noah’s tutor ends up being Echo and their worlds collide. They can’t deny the attraction and chemistry between them. They soon realize that they are both damaged and finally have hope that maybe they can fix themselves together.

I loved the chemistry between Noah and Echo. It started out as the typical ‘bad boy wants good girl’ scenario but as we get a glimpse into their minds with the alternating POV, we soon learn that they are both far from typical and I couldn’t help but care about these characters. There was so much angst in this book, it was painful at times. This was a very powerful and emotional read and I wish I read it sooner. I loved it and will definitely read it again.