Nestled in a Book

4.5 Stars!

I finished reading the last page of Missionary Position by Daisy Prescott and let out a contented sigh, a large grin on my face. I loved this book, and for so many reasons. The way that Selah first meets Gerhard and Kai is cute, fun, and different. Her adventures to Amsterdam and Ghana are enthralling, and you really feel like you're tagging along on a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It's a nice change of pace to read a love story about a 40-something woman who's independent, hard-working, and knows what she wants. It's also so much fun to see her be proven wrong.

Selah Elmore is a professor of the human form and embarks on a six month expedition to Ghana to study sculpture and art, but on her way she makes a stop in Amsterdam. That's precisely where she's headed, still in the airport in fact, when she meets an intriguing woman who insists that Selah meet up with her brother when she arrives.

Enter Gerhard. He's a sexy, suit-wearing banker and exactly what Selah has been avoiding due to her past experiences. That is, until she spends some time with him and realizes that underneath the suit, he's actually pretty great. He's extremely sexy, engaging, funny, and interesting. He sweeps Selah off her feet during her short time in Amsterdam, and when he leaves her at the airport, she's left wondering how she got so attached in such a short amount of time and if she will ever see him again.

Selah arrives in Ghana, prepared to spend the next six months there. Ms. Prescott does a fantastic job during this portion of the book making you really feel like you're there. I saw the things Selah saw, tasted the food she ate, made friends with the people she talked to, and learned a lot about an entirely different way of life.

When the woman she's staying with insists that she meet a man named Kai, who visits often, Selah doesn't show much interest. She's still thinking about a certain alluring Dutchman that haunts her dreams and graces her private fantasies. But when Kai unexpectedly shows up, she's powerless to resist his charms. He's adventurous, funny, smart, altruistic, charming, and sexy. He takes her on adventures and teaches her new things, not the least of which is something about herself. He makes all of her preconceived notions and foregone conclusions about herself go right out the window. He surprises and scares her.

But the time for both of them to go home comes before long and now Selah is left changed by both Gerhard and Kai. Who does she end up with - Gerhard or Kai? Or is she merely left forever changed to write her own future, one she never imagined possible before?

Missionary Position is a captivating story about life, love, supernova hot sex, and an exciting and unintentional quest for self-discovery. I loved Selah. She's funny, independent, strong, and a genuinely good person. I felt like I was her best friend quietly tagging along on her life-changing adventure. Daisy Prescott did an absolutely fantastic job with this book. I'm a huge fan of hers. I first read Ready to Fall and while it's one of my all-time favorites (review here), Missionary Position was by no means a let-down. I'm often afraid when I discover a book that I love that the author got lucky and struck gold once and any book that follows won't live up. But lucky for me, and you, and everybody else, it's Daisy who is gold. She's remarkably talented and I'm in love with the beautiful tales that she weaves.

Don't miss out on this awe-inspiring, sweet, sexy, romantic story. You won't be sorry. Bravo, Ms. Prescott! You've wooed me all over again!

This is a spin-off novel but you do not have to read Geoducks are for Lovers or Ready to Fall prior to reading this book.

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Confessions of an Alli Cat has been on my to-be-read shelf for a while. For some reason it never screamed "READ ME!" and so it just stayed on the back burner. But I've been in a bit of a book funk and so I've only been interested in reading sexy romantic comedies. Of course it has me questioning why on earth I waited so long!

This is my story. Welcome to Crazy Town. I hope you enjoy your stay.

Enter Allison Lancaster. She was exactly what I needed! She's funny, sexy, hard-working, and scorned so she has a sassy attitude that made me want to shout "You go, girl!" like I was in a cheesy 90's movie. This book was so much fun!

Alli was married for 15 years to a man who earned himself the name "Rick the Dick" by cheating on her with multiple women. He truly is a complete dick. I wanted to make him eat his own balls on more than one occasion. But thanks to Alli's best friend Sara who is tired of seeing her love life stalled out, she's moving on with her life. Sara completely takes her out of her comfort zone by making her do things she normally never would have dreamed of doing. She's determined to help her friend find her inner sexy, and it's a blast to witness.

One of my favorite things about this book are the hilarious, ridiculous, awkward, and embarrassing situations that Alli repeatedly finds herself in. Watching her try to recover from them is absolutely hysterical! My other favorite thing was completely unexpected. While I knew that there would be some sex, I had no idea how panty-meltingly hot it would be! I mean seriously!

The only reason I'm giving it 4 instead of 5 stars is because (without giving too much away) I felt a little misguided for a good part of the story. Even though the end works out great, it wasn't initially how I wanted it to go. I kind of wish the story focused a little bit more on the guy she ends up with. Overall, I'm happy with how it ended and it makes total sense.

This is technically the first book in The Cougar Chronicles, but seeing as this book was released in 2012 and there's been little mentioned about another, it makes me very nervous that there won't be another one. This was my first Courtney Cole book and I would love to see another hilarious cougar book out of her!

In any case, Confessions of an Alli Cat was like chicken soup for my soul. And not those sappy books full of short stories that were popular over a decade ago. I mean really. It was a good old fashioned romantic comedy that you watch while eating ice cream in your pajamas. Only with hot sex, and dildos named Geronimo, and painful first-time Brazilian waxes. You know, the good stuff.

Wyatt. The end.

Oh, boy. I loved this book! I only discovered the wonder that is Jill Shalvis a few weeks ago, because I have apparently been living under a big stupid rock or something. I read Simply Irresistible and fell in love! I knew I'd found something special, and apparently thousands of other people had found her first!

So as soon as I saw Then Came You on NetGalley I requested that puppy as fast as my finger would click! When I got the e-mail saying I'd been approved, I actually shouted "YES!! in my very quiet office. People gave me looks. It's okay, they're growing accustomed to my outbursts.

Anyway, back to the book. I was actually nervous! Thinking "Dear God! What if it was a fluke? What if that first book was amazing and this one stinks? Please, please don't let it stink!" IT. DOES. NOT. STINK.

You guys.

WYATT.

Alright, alright. I'm getting to it.

Emily is so much like me it's uncanny. She finds comfort in lists, plans, organization, and knowing what to expect. She is goal-oriented and doesn't deviate from The Plan. And what is The Plan? Complete this internship in the middle of Nowheresville and then move to Los Angeles to be a Vet in the city of her dreams. So when she shows up the first day of her internship, she's completely gobsmacked to learn that the person she is shadowing is the very same Vet who she'd had a torrid one night stand with at a conference in Reno. The one night she'd gone plan-less. He was irresistible and she was weak, they agreed on one night of fun. So seeing Wyatt again, much less working along side him every day for the next year, was utterly unexpected.

They both acknowledge what happened, agree that it was a one-time occurrence, and plan to have a strictly professional working relationship. But what is it they say about best laid plans...?

They have an electric mutual attraction and suddenly saying is far easier than doing. They start forming a bond and relationship that nobody (including me) really knows how to put a label on. Whatever you'd call it, it puts a smile on my face for nearly the entire book. Wyatt had me in a pretty constant state of mush.

Just as the two of them are both beginning to develop something deeper and refusing to talk about or analyze it, Emily is presented with an opportunity to fast track The Plan. She wants nothing more than for Wyatt to ask her to stay. Wyatt doesn't want to put her in a position to give up her dream. Both are stubborn and unwilling to give, especially for something that they've never said was more than a good time.

Now, as readers of Romance, we know that the majority of the time there is going to be a happy ending. I know it with just about every book and I knew it with this one. Except when Jill, the evil wench, made me not know! I sat with tears in my eyes, reading unblinking, clenching my fists to the point that my husband looked at me and asked me if I was alright. I told him I didn't know yet.

This book was perfectly executed. The dialogue flowed effortlessly, the characters were relatable and I connected to all of them, and the story kept me totally engrossed and interested from start to finish. It kept a smile on my face and then put tears in my eyes. It made me laugh out loud and then made me hot under the collar. It was beautiful. I cannot wait for y'all to meet Wyatt and Emily!

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Who knew Alison Sweeney wrote books? Because I didn't! I remember my mom watching Days of our Lives religiously when I was a kid and I always remember thinking how beautiful Alison was. It feels strange now so many years later to receive an ARC of her book to review.

Scared Scriptless was a light hearted, entertaining read. It's obvious that Alison's background aided her in writing this novel, as the majority of it circulates around the behind-the-scenes aspect and making of a television show.

Maddy Carson is a script supervisor for a popular nighttime drama (think Scandal or Grey's Anatomy). She's an extremely organized, schedule-oriented, list-making, planner. Nobody could accuse her of being a person who can go with the flow. Most of the books is her work life, and it was a lot of fun to experience that aspect with her. This book makes you feel like you are Maddy's girlfriend, getting to tag along to quietly watch all of the excitement and ogle the hunky stars.

When she decides to take the plunge to create a reality show in hopes of helping out her family and hometown full of friends, you really get into the challenges she faces and the stress that she feels. It really makes you root for her and want her to come out on top.

There's also a love story and some turmoil surrounding that aspect of her life. She casually dates Craig, her boss (who I felt was a slimeball from the get-go), all while Adam Devin, hotshot new actor on the show, tries to sweep her off her feet.

While the love story and Maddy's personal transformation are meant to be the main focus of this book with the hollywood aspect being sort of a backdrop, it was really kind of reversed. I felt like so much of the book focused on her job and the behind-the-scenes that the relationships were a bit forced and glazed over. I really liked Maddy, and could connect with her on a certain level but I never really felt a strong connection with the guys, or anyone else in the book for that matter.

Her work life was enjoyable, but the rest I could kind of just take it or leave it. If you need a break from reading some heavier subject matter, this is a fun and quick read to break up the tension.

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Review originally posted on my blog here.

Let me try to explain something before I start this review. I love books, I love authors, I love the book and blogging community. I can only imagine how hard it must be to pour yourself into writing a book and then put it out there for the entire world to read and either love or pick apart. I would never endeavor to be cruel. I like Jasinda Wilder. Although I do not personally know her, in all her interactions I've seen online, she seems like a genuinely nice person. I read and thoroughly enjoyed her book Stripped.

With that said, I'm not doing my job as a reviewer and blogger if I only gush about the books I love. Why would you ever believe anything I say? Why take my word for it? Why would my opinion matter if I seemingly liked every single thing I read? That's disingenuous.

So I'm about to write my first negative review. I am going to attempt to remain as respectful as possible, and I know that a true professional can take criticism and use it to better themselves. Or they can choose to not believe that my opinion matters and continue to write how they want. Which is totally fine too, considering it's obvious that Jasinda Wilder has a pretty sizable audience, and maybe I'm just not it.

Alright, deep breath.... here we go....

1 STAR.

I'm going to begin by vaguely talking about my issues with this book so as not to spoil anything. I'll make it very obvious when you should stop reading to avoid spoilers.

When I first read the synopsis for this book, I got so excited! The premise sounded fantastic and I love a good dominating billionaire alpha once in a while. I got even more excited when I started seeing all of the raving 5 star reviews. And maybe that's why I've had such a strong reaction to it, because I expected so much more and I was greatly disappointed.

The dialogue was hollow and so exceedingly flowery at times that it was ridiculous, unbelievable, and laughable. The characters were vapid and I didn't connect with a single one. The story line was basically non-existent. The synopsis is a couple paragraphs shy of making up the whole beginning of the book. The middle, 80% of the book, is either talking about sex, teasing sex, thinking about sex, or actual sex. And not very good sex. Then the story picks back up for the last 20 or so pages of the book. It's somehow both predictable and completely unrealistic. There were so many plot holes and contradictions.

The main male character (I won't spoil his name yet since that's part of the "magic") is your everyday tall, wealthy, so-handsome-he-must-be-a-god, dominating, alpha male. He's arrogant and cocky, though God only knows why. I didn't find a single redeeming quality in this guy. He's pushy, domineering, oh yeah, and a kidnapper, apparently. The way he talks made me laugh out loud at times.

"Kyrie...Kyrie...so gentle, so responsive. Do you feel that? I know you do, my sweetest thing. I know you feel it... It's lightning, isn't it? Pure lightning, arcing between us."

Who talks like that? It's not unique and sexy, it's bizarre and nauseating.

The main female character, Kyrie is quite frankly an asshole. She was wholly unlikeable. She goes on an internal rant for two and a half pages about how annoying most men are because they show an interest in sports or the gym (god forbid they take care of themselves?), or something she doesn't believe one could possibly be interested in. How dare they!

I'd been on dozens of first dates in my life that had never gone anywhere, simply because I wasn't interested in inane babble...Shut up about the stupid football game. I couldn't care less about fucking football...If the conversation doesn't interest me, I'm out. Like, done, right now, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars, do not finish the date. I've stood up in the middle of a meal and said, "Thanks for the effort, but this isn't working out." I'd rather eat alone and in silence than make idle small talk.

A man has asked you out on a date, shown interest in you, paid for you to have a meal with him in an effort for you to get to know one another, and you don't even have the decency to finish eating with him? You can't deign to sit with a smile on your face, say "thanks for the evening" and then just not go out with him again? That's just common courtesy!

I wasn't impressed by guys who had muscles on muscles...If a guy was that beefed up, he'd obviously spent hours and hours in the gym...Good for them, sure great, go for it...I'm still not impressed by how much you can bench. Can you carry me to bed? Can you last long enough to make me come? Those are the important things. Get me to bed, get me off. If you can manage those things, I'll be impressed. This was why, at twenty-six, I was still single.

No dear, you're wrong. You're twenty-six and still single because you are a complete asshole. Just because a man takes care of his body and cares to look good doesn't mean that he's an imbecile. All you care about is your orgasm and he's the problem?

SportsmoviesIworkoutlookatmymusclesI'msobuff. Shut up, I DO NOT CARE. Use the muscle in your skull, and then the one in your pants...Figure out what makes me moan, and do that until I come.

Aren't main characters, especially those that are the voice of the book, supposed to be likable? Certain parts of that little inner monologue are missing, because as I said it's two and half pages of that self-absorbed, narrow-minded assholery, but I promise the full thing only serves to further my point. I don't understand why anyone would actually like this person!

Random things that bothered me:

He was still naked, and I couldn't take my eyes off his body, couldn't look away from his cock, which was still impressive, even flaccid.

I have news for you, Kyrie. The size of a man's penis while flaccid has no correlation to the size of the same penis when erect. Sorry to take you to health class, but I felt you must know.

I slid my fingers over his asshole, all ten fingers brushing the tight knot of muscle and back up.

Um, all ten? Including your thumbs? While you're in front of him, giving him a blow job? How does that work exactly? Because in my mind that's awkward as hell....

And then, of course, there's the matter of them having unprotected sex after just a couple of days. Forget pregnancy, let's pretend for a moment that they talked about it (spoiler: they didn't!) and she's on birth control. But diseases just aren't an issue? Neither of you know where the other one's genitals have been! And how very inconsiderate and stupid of both of you to not even talk about it.

"Are you drunk?" He sounded amused.
I nodded sloppily. "I'm kind of a lightweight."

She's kind of a lightweight? She had four beers. She "got blitzed" on EIGHT beers in the first chapter with her best friend, Layla.

And now, the one that I am most upset about.

I saw my come squirt out to coat his throbbing length, and then he drove into me and my eyes squeezed shut. His cock was tall and painfully hard, wet with my grool, bobbing as he moved.

I thought to myself "what the hell is grool?", my mind immediately going to one of my all-time favorite movies, Mean Girls. That's the only 'grool' I knew. Well, thanks to this book and Urban Dictionary, that has been effectively ruined.

DO NOT READ BELOW THIS IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS! SPOILERS INCOMING!

I mentioned previously that I was not a fan of the billionaire's name. It takes him a while but he finally reveals his last name to her, so she at least has something to call him. So for a while she just calls him "Roth". Which is all fine and well. I take no issues with this. But then he finally reveals to her that his name is.... Valentine. Are you kidding me? I've known one person named Valentine in my entire life. She's a woman.

But he's so perfect! So perfect that he can make her have an orgasm in the middle of a restaurant in front of his friend who owns said restaurant. And then this unconvincing thing happened. Cue the public orgasm.

I couldn't stop a muffled squeak from escaping.
"Signora? Are you okay?" Marco gave me an odd look.
I nodded, fighting to draw breath. "Yeah--" I coughed to cover another gasp. "Yeah, I just...ahem. Got some salad...in the wrong...down the wrong tube." I lifted the half-eaten piece of bread in my hand as evidence, then realized my gaffe. "Bread. I meant bread. It's--good. Oh...so good." The last phrase came out with shocking intensity, as yet another wave rocked through me, and now Marco was staring at me as if I'd sprouted a second head.
"She's just overwhelmed," Roth put in. "It's her first time in Little Italy."

Valentine also has a penchant for dirty talk, but horribly disturbing dirty talk that is trying so hard to be sexy and so over the top that it is decidedly unsexy. Some of their interactions are just ridiculous.

"I have to taste your beauty."

"So perfect, Kyrie. Your pussy is like a flower, pink and pretty and begging for me to open its petals."

"I won't fuck you. I hate that word as a term for sex. At least, where it concerns you. You are the most precious thing in my life, Kyrie. You deserve far, far more than a mere fucking. So try that again."

I'm sorry, am I mistaken, or haven't you only known her for a couple of days?

"Jesus, Valentine, I haven't even had coffee yet."
"You don't need coffee, babe. You just need to take this vibrator up your ass for me."

With lines like that, how can she not fall in love? And of course she does. In a matter of days, even though she knows nothing about him except for his name and what he can do to her with his penis. But in case you thought love would make her more likable, you only need to keep reading when she starts listing the things she wants with him, starting with all of the material ones.

I wanted him. I wanted this life. I wanted to go with him to Turks and Caicos and England and France and Italy.

A couple of days ago you couldn't afford rent, electricity, or food.

So anyway, he eventually reveals the big secret. He asks her if she recognizes him, she says she kind of did at first but couldn't place him, and then all he says is...

"I knew your father. You and I...we met before. Briefly. Seven years ago."

Now, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't remember someone that I saw one time seven years ago. And I have a pretty good memory. But what he said was all it took for it to "hit her like a ton of bricks".

"My freshman year of college. I was visiting Daddy at his office. I always just walked into his office when I went to see him... Daddy was standing behind his desk, facing the window. And...you. You were there. In a suit and tie. You both looked upset."

Not only does she remember him now, but she remembers everything about that day including where her dad was standing, the clothes that were worn, and the looks on their faces. Really?

Then he tells her he helped pay things off.

He'd "smoothed things out". And I'd never realized it. The cars. Jesus. He'd paid off the cars and I hadn't put it together. I'd had car payments, three of them.

I can buy her reason of being preoccupied with the funeral for a while, but she never thought about her three car payments at any time over the next seven years?

"I thought about just making them give you a job, but that would only have fixed things temporarily. So I sent you the first check. I hoped...stupidly, perhaps, that you would just...somehow be okay."

How does that make any sense? He only originally planned on sending one check because she was struggling, so his original message was just "You"? That message wasn't going to lead anywhere?

"But you weren't. Things were piling too high, and you couldn't ever seem to get ahead. And even if you ever did accomplish your career goals, it wouldn't solve your financial problems. So I kept sending checks."

Right. The next check with the message "belong" followed by another that said "to me". He didn't have that pre-planned? It wasn't planned that he would send her $10,000 every month for a year, then show up at her door a year to the day later to "collect" on her "debt"? Oh, and that date just so happened to be seven years to the day since that first day he saw her?

Right.

I'm sorry, I wanted so badly to like this book. I fully expected to. This book has a target audience and it's possible I'm just not it. As I mentioned in the beginning, there are heaps of raving 5 star reviews. Obviously there was a disconnect for me, where others couldn't get enough. The good news is we don't all have to love and hate the same things. Whereas it was a complete miss for me, it could be an all-time favorite for you.

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Review coming May 14th as part of my blog tour stop!

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They've done it again! That was all I could think and precisely what I tweeted them immediately after finishing this book. When I first read Beautiful Bastard, I became an instafan of these ladies. Even though every book in the Beautiful series was kind of it's own separate story, I was still nervous for them because this was different. I don't know why I ever doubted them.

Ansel Guillaume is perfection. And the French language has never been so sexy, despite the horribly butchered American way I read it in my head. My God! His whispered words sent literal goosebumps over my skin more than a few times. But before I can dish more on Ansel, I have to talk about Mia.

We meet her and her best friends, Harlow and Lorelei (also known as Lola), on their way to Vegas after graduating from college. Mia is preparing to move to Boston in the fall to start business school, but first she's going to have a no holds barred, completely carefree trip to Sin City with her best girls. She needs to celebrate as much as she needs to forget, if just for a few days, that she's about to begin leading the life that her father wants for her, rather than follow her dreams. Not that she really knows what those are anymore.

What she doesn't expect is to meet an attractive man with a deliciously dimpled smile and a faint accent, with his two best friends in tow. They join forces, laugh, and consume amounts of alcohol only (barely) acceptable by Vegas standards.

Imagine her surprise when she wakes up the next morning, sore in places she'd nearly forgotten existed, naked and with only a note to keep her company, and absolutely no memory of the wild night prior. As it turns out, Ansel is just as charming in the harsh light of day and without the influence of alcohol. He's heading back to France, and he wants Mia to go with him. Apart from being charming, he's also apparently very persuasive because she follows him. She justifies that if she's going to be living her father's version of her life soon, then she deserves a few summer weeks in Paris to play.

And play she does.

I wanted to shake Mia at times. I wanted to punch her dad in the throat. I wanted to fu... well, let's just say that I really loved Ansel.

This book is chock full of... everything. Hilariously mortifying situations. Playful banter. Heart. Adventure. Sexy French language, locales, art, food. French everything. Sexy everything. A gorgeous man in a suit. A gorgeous man in boxers. A gorgeous man in nothing. Christ!

Christina and Lauren have proven time and time again that they have immense talent, an undeniable creative chemistry, romantic hearts, and deliciously dirty minds. If you're a fan of the Beautiful series, you will absolutely love Ansel and Mia in Sweet Filthy Boy. If you've never read a Christina Lauren masterpiece, do yourself an enormous favor. Read this book immediately. If you have read a Christina Lauren masterpiece, do yourself another favor. Read this book immediately.

Now I'm off to dream about licking Ansel's irresistible dimple and to anxiously and impatiently await Dirty Rowdy Thing. Hurry up, November! You can't come soon enough.

Bravo, ladies! Bravo!

“I don’t know how to go back to where we were, to what we had… to what we were supposed to be… What we are meant to be.”

Jaaaack! Okay, I just had to get that out.

Forever, Jack picks up a few months after Eversea ended. Jack has been gone and Keri Ann has been doing her best to move on. She's been accepted to art school, she's been creating lots of pieces and having success selling them, and an exhibition featuring her work is on the horizon. It's been painful but she's moving on. She's stronger. Well, everywhere except where Jack is concerned.

And then one day, Jack is back and he's determined to win her back. But she lived month after month with no word, no explanation, no closure, and seeing countless pictures of him out with different women. Keri Ann is pissed. Winning her over is easier said than done.

I knew I couldn't have Jack in moderation. I wasn't capable of it. I'd opened my whole heart to him already, and it had ended in a nightmare. All I could do now was put the deadbolt on, close the shades, and pray for daylight.

He made her fall in love with him, gave her hope and made her consider the possibilities. And then poof! The pain is compounded by the fact that she has no idea what's happened and never expects to see or talk to him again. But Jack's reasons for staying away are surprisingly understanding and respectful, no matter how hurt and angry you are on Keri Ann's behalf. However, she doesn't want to hear it and tells him that he ever really cared about her then he will leave her alone, for good.

The thing about pain, whether physical or emotional, is there's no running away. You can't escape it and you can't hide from it. Not by ignoring it, not by drugging it, not by doing a swan dive into a bottle. Sooner or later you'll have to take a breath, let the pain rush in and get to the other side like your life depends on it. Because it does.

Jack feels hopeless and broken, seeking relief from the pain in the bottom of a bottle. But his friend Devon isn't going to let him wallow. He gives Jack a pep talk that has him refusing once again the back down.

"This is as real as it gets, Keri Ann. This is Technicolor, when everything else is black and white. This ... this ... what we have ... is extra-sensory overload ... where everything else is a silent fucking movie."

The two of them go toe to toe, determined not to give in. Jack is terrified to let her go, and Keri Ann is terrified to let him have her. There's a lot of revelations, painful admissions, and self-discovery. There's also a lot of delicious sexual tension.

It occurred to me that the moment in space and time before lips touch, the small exquisite sting of wanting, a beat of thirst, of yearning, was the most underrated part of kissing. There should be sonnets and epic poems written about the space before a kiss, and the thrilling rush that comes with the moment of contact.

I absolutely adored the touching, emotional roller coaster that is Jack and Keri Ann's story. I couldn't get enough of these two. This is the end of the line for them but the author is working on Jazz and Joey's story and of course they will be featured in it, so we may get to see more of them further down the road.

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I don't know what happened.  I don't know why I didn't read this book as soon as I heard about it.  I remember when it came out.  I remember seeing it all over some of my favorite blogs being raved about.  Somehow I just skimmed over it.  When trying to decide what book to read next, I saw this one and couldn't remember what it was about so I read the synopsis for a refresher.  As soon as I read it, I had to start it right then.  I don't know what happened for this not to have been my reaction the first time.  Because I literally couldn't get the book fast enough.  Then it was torture because I've been so busy between work and being a mom of a rambunctious two-year-old girl that I barely had any time to dedicate to it.  For two days I was like a junkie needing a fix, because I had just enough of a taste to hook me.  I knew I was  going to love it.  And those are the best kind, aren't they?  The ones that you know are special from only a few pages in.  It gives you the opportunity to really savor it and soak it all in.  And they're rare, so it's a special feeling when you know you've found one.

I went to bed at three o'clock this morning because I couldn't put it down.  I never do that.  Sometimes I read because I can't sleep, but I never can't sleep because I have to read.  Thank God it's the weekend.  I slept later today than I have since becoming a mom.  Thank God for awesome husbands, too.  I got up just long enough to see my daughter get her Easter basket and then I was back in bed.  Winner of the Bad Mom Award, right here!

I just wanted you to get a clear picture.  Are you getting it?  This book hooked me, consumed my thoughts, made me fall in love.  But enough about me.  I think you get it.

He was like a bright and beautiful rogue planet. He pulled the entire galaxy into a gravitational wobble until he got close enough to suck you in and tilt your axis head over heels.

Oh, Jack.  Jack.  Jack.  Jack.  Just reading, or saying, or thinking the name Jack Eversea gives me butterflies.  Alright... focus.

Keri Ann Butler is the leading lady and voice of this story and I love her.  She holds her own and gives as good as she gets.  She doesn't pull any punches.  She's quick-witted, sharp-tongued, and hard-working. (That's a lot of hyphenated descriptors.)  Death has claimed all of her family, save her brother, Joey, but she's stronger for it.  She lives in her family's historic home, nestled in the coastal town of Butler Cove, South Carolina, and works as a waitress while her brother finishes med school.  Then it will be her turn.

But things change when a mysterious stranger enters the restaurant, wearing a hoodie and a hat pulled down low, looking more like a dangerous criminal running from the law than the A-list movie star that he is.  Until he reveals himself.

I was just minding my own business and someone lobbed a grenade into my life— in the form of Jack Eversea.

Of course Keri Ann knows who he is.  He's the star of the film adaptation of her favorite book.  She's in love with his character.  But Keri Ann doesn't giggle and faint when she's nervous or starstruck, no.  She goes on the offense.  She scolds him, puts him in his place, tells him that he was rude and lectures him on proper manners and how he should behave.  She doesn't fawn over him, or tell him how talented he is, or ask for his autograph and it's so far removed from what Jack is used to that it completely takes him off guard.

Jack is trying to escape the latest scandal centered around his cheating girlfriend and the noise of Hollywood.  There is only one person who knows where he is, his friend and owner of the home that Jack has temporarily borrowed and he wants to keep it that way.  But that means that he is essentially a prisoner to the palatial house on the beach.  He can't even go to the grocery store, especially in a small town where word travels fast, without being had.

Since Keri Ann is now the only other person who knows his whereabouts, he swears her to secrecy and then propositions her.  If she will do his grocery shopping so he can at least keep from starving to death, then he will use his background in construction to help restore her family's historic home.  Deal!

The more time they spend together, the more they get to know one another.  The words coming out of her mouth let him know that she is unimpressed by him, but the desire she feels for him is written all over her.  She's been too busy dealing with the losses in her life and the aftermath of them to have any experience with men to speak of, so she hasn't mastered the art of taming her body's natural reactions to a tall, muscular, sometimes-shirtless, sickeningly beautiful man.

Keri Ann has always thought of herself as the simple girl next door, and the lack of male attention all her life only serves to reinforce that self-image.  But unbeknownst to her, that has more to do with the fact that her brother threatened anyone who might dare come near her.  She can't fathom that the hottest man in Hollywood would ever find her attractive, especially when he's been dating the hottest woman in Hollywood for the last few years.  What does a small town waitress have to offer versus a shiny, polished, talented, and beautiful starlet?

“It’s amazing… that you seem to have no idea how fucking beautiful you are.”

They exist for a few days in bubble, unaffected by the outside world, getting to know each other as just two people.  Just Keri Ann and Jack.  Their mutual attraction sparks and catches fire.  But when the reason for Jack's escape finds him and shows up unannounced, it's a bucket of ice water.

How could the perfect man come along and tell you he was feeling all the same feelings you were, but you couldn’t keep him?

Jack leaves Keri Ann behind without explanation, excuse, or apology.  How can she ever go back to living life the way she once did, as if nothing had ever happened?  Everything had happened.  But she's never let herself be the victim, and she won't start now.  Just add it to the list of losses in her life and move on.  That's the only option that Jack left her with anyway.

I was like a piece of that sea glass lying forgotten in a jar upstairs. A discarded shard that had been washed and tumbled back and forth by the momentum of the sea, only to wash up in Butler Cove and stay stuck and forgotten without any hope of becoming something more. Something more beautiful.

This book ends on a cliffhanger, but lucky for you (and me!), the follow-up book, Forever, Jack, is already available.  I'm going to start it right now!

I've been very lucky lately in that every book I've read has been so good.  I'm on a complete book high and I don't ever want to come down.  I've discovered several authors that I love, some of which are new and some of which are just new to me.  Natasha Boyd is one of those.  I feel like I've discovered buried treasure.  She's wickedly talented.  I can't wait to see what she will bring us in the future.

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Oh. My. GODDD!!! I can't remember the last time I loved a character as much as I love Lucas Fournier! I don't even have the words! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Top Five Reasons (Out of 100) I Am NEVER Coming Out Of This Blanket Fort
1) 220 hand-engraved invitations.
2) $18,000 hand-pieced Vera Wang gown.
3) 1500 Felicity roses imported from Ecuador.
4) Bridal portrait on the current cover of Wedding Chic magazine.
5) Text message from fiance calling off dream wedding a week before it happens.

Tucker Branch is a wealthy VP of sales for his family's corporation and the man who called off his upcoming wedding to Mia Devine via text message a week before the two were set to take their vows in front of hundreds of people. Mia is the ultimate planner. She thrives on making lists, planning every aspect of her life down to the day and the outfit that she will wear. It's so much a part of who she is that she built a business around it as an event planner. So when her plan of being married by twenty-eight and having a baby by thirty comes to a screeching halt, she panics. After she spends a week in bed, being one hundred different shades of angry and crying, her friends all but stage an intervention.

"Come on, we'll...make a list or something. You love making lists."
I did love making lists. They calmed me, made me feel like I was in control, on top of things, sticking to the plan. But all over the floor were crumpled and wadded-up lists with titles like Pooping Your Pants in Public and Other Things That are ALMOST as Humiliating as This but Not Quite and Not 10, Not 50, but 100 Reasons Why Tucker is a Fucker, and I was pretty sure making another one would not make me feel better.

She's supposed to be leaving for her week-long honeymoon in Paris the next day, a place she's dreamed of going since she was a little girl. Although it takes a lot of convincing and her friends all but pack her bag for her, they finally convince Mia that going on this trip is exactly what she needs to clear her head and pull her out of the funk.

"Don't think of it as a honeymoon. Think of it as Tucker's parting gift to you -- an all-expenses-paid luxury send-off!"
"I can't. That wasn't the plan."
"Fuck the plan for once, Mia!"

Once she gets there, she vows to enjoy the trip. But unfortunately for her, she's in the world's most romantic city and everywhere she turns she's surrounded by happy couples kissing and holding hands, and men romantically proposing marriage. Everywhere she looks she's suffocated by love and the constant reminder that she's utterly alone. She makes up her mind to go home the next day and work on moving forward with her life. But first she's going to get drunk and she wants to do it in a place that isn't full of hearts and flowers. She happens upon a bar that promises to attract mostly men who are into sports and beer.

"That's what I was doing when I came in, making sure there were no obvious couples in love in here. They're fucking everywhere in this city. You can't even walk down the street without seeing people hanging all over each other, kissing and hugging and being fucking happy together. It's like a crime to walk down the street alone."

The last thing she expects to find is Lucas Fournier, an attractive english-speaking bartender with long, unruly curls, and a scruffy jaw. When he finds out the reason for her visit to Paris and why she's about to return home after only one day in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, he makes her a proposition. And not of the marriage kind. He implores her to give Paris one more day, with him as her tour guide, and he promises to change her mind. And if not, she can leave the following day. She reluctantly agrees to meet him the next morning in the lobby of her hotel.

Lucas is equal parts French and American. He's a psychology professor at NYU and spends most of his summers in France. He's a laid-back, go-with-the-flow, in-the-moment type of guy with a passion and talent for music. He's exactly what Mia isn't and everything she needs. He takes her everywhere she's always dreamed of seeing, but also to some of the real non-tourist part of Paris. There are no lists, no plans, and no reservations. Lucas challenges Mia to just live for a change, with no rules, unchained and free.

When the mutual attraction between them becomes palpable and undeniable, Mia again throws caution to the wind.

We stared at each other for a long moment, during which my desire for him went from Butterflies in the Belly to Wet in the Panties. I no longer cared what my motivation was for wanting him. I just knew that I did.

What happens between them is scorching hot! But what happens when it's time for Mia to go home? Ohhhh, my heart! You have to read this book and find out!

"Just lie back and relax, love... Tell me if something feels good and scream all you want."

I'm pretty sure Lucas Fournier was created specifically for me, straight from my dreams. I want to pay Melanie Harlow to just write about Mia and Lucas for the rest of her life. My heart is refusing to accept the fact that their story is over. I can only hope and pray that by some miracle, she will feel compelled to continue their story. I need it! I need it like I haven't needed a book in a long time! Melanie Harlow is my hero this week. I want to kiss her on the mouth for bringing me these two. This book was laugh-out-loud funny, witty, sassy, fun, and definitely sexy. I could. not. get. enough. I'm not even joking when I say that I have to read this again. Is it too soon? Ask me if I give a damn.

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4.5 Stars!

Wow! What did I just read?! I can barely form a coherent thought right now. I don't know what I expected out of this book, all I know is that was not it.

Okay, let me attempt to review this one. First of all, let me just say that this is one of those books that is extremely hard to talk about because there's not much I can say without taking away from the story or spoiling it.

"Addison, it’s natural to form attachments to your teachers.”
“Is it natural to picture them fucking you?”

In case you didn't know, Veiled Innocence is a teacher/student forbidden love story, which right away makes me nervous. The premise always intrigues me but there are certain elements that have to be present and a certain way the story has to be written to avoid that ick factor. Ella Frank does. You also have to be careful of glorifying sensitive subject matter such as this. Ella Frank doesn't.

I looked at her—she looked at me. My ending, staring right at me from the very beginning.

Nothing about this story is glorified. The whole time you are on pins and needles, your stomach in a ball of knots, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Someone to walk around the corner or into the room, someone to catch on to a shared look, or overhear a hushed conversation. I had clammy palms through roughly 80% of this book.

"I never knew that I’d risk everything, even my freedom, just to touch someone. Just to touch you.”

Part of what takes away a bit of the ick factor is that the student, Addison Lancaster, is eighteen years old and a high school senior. Her history teacher, Grayson McKendrick, is thirty-two. Fourteen years is a sizable age difference, especially at that stage in Addison's life, but it's not unheard of. The other thing that you learn is that Addison has dealt with a lot of tragedy and pain that makes her a bit more than just a delusional teenage girl.

Another thing that keeps Grayson from being a villain is the fact that he isn't a mentally ill monster or sex predator. He's actually the one being pursued. Relentlessly. To the point of obsession and being stalked. And while he should have said no and kept saying no, you never hate him. In fact, you root for them.

It wasn’t wrong. No—it was just misunderstood.

But the whole book contains a sense of foreboding, a menacing dark cloud in the distance. It leaves you feeling that every tick, tick, tock is the sound of their time running out. And when it does... brace yourself.

In fact, I think if I had to sum up this book in one sentence or give any piece of advice to someone about to read this book, it would be exactly that. Brace yourself.

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I'm sooooo sad that it's over! A word of advice: If you read this book, and you should, do so slowly and make sure you soak in every word. Savor it, don't devour it. It's like the most delicious chocolate cake you've ever had and you love it so much that you nearly swallow it whole, and then feel like crying because it's gone. Savor it!

I knew when I first discovered this book that I would love it. There is something so special that Kristen Ashley puts into her books that no else can. It's something that can't be put into words. It's just there, like a living being within the book and it grabs ahold of you, pulls you under until you're immersed in the characters and the world that they live in, feeling everything that they feel, your heart feeling like it's on the verge of bursting with every word, until you read the last page and it's so warm and full that it feels heavy in your chest. Every time I finish a KA book, I sit unseeing in stunned silence, soaking it all in and trying to wrap my head and my heart around what I just experienced. Because that's exactly it. You don't read a Kristen Ashley book, you experience it.

Get ready for an experience.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that The Will is my favorite Kristen Ashley book I've ever read. I've loved every single one of her books but this one just has something. It's going right up on my All-Time Favorites shelf.

Josie survived a childhood that nobody should ever have to endure. Everyone she'd loved or who should have loved her in her life harmed her, with the one sole exception of her Gran, Lydia. Lydia was the one person who got a glimpse at the true Josie, knew her heart and her dreams. She kept those things hidden from everyone else. When Lydia passes away, it's all Josie can do to keep standing while the one person she truly had in life is gone.

She resolves to take care of matters and quickly return to her life, but unbeknownst to her, Lydia had other plans for her granddaughter. Josie is the only living family member that Lydia had any contact with, so it's a surprise when not only is she not the only one mentioned in the will, but the only other person is a man she has never laid eyes on before. Well, not before the funeral anyway. What Lydia's will says turns Josie's world upside down.

Jake Spear is the tall, dark, and handsome man who is the recipient of Lydia's most priceless and precious possession. Josie is confused and angry and still reeling from her Gran's loss as Jake and his three kids enter her life like a hurricane. They spin everything around, turn everything over, and change her mind about nearly everything that had always been a foregone conclusion. And while she's busy trying to figure out how she's going to live a life significantly changed and what it is that she wants, she's also surprising the hell out of everyone else. Although she's proper (to laughable extents many times) and poised, she's also a force to be reckoned with, and she does her fair share of turning everyone else's world upside down.

The Will is a spectacularly beautiful story that holds a huge, soft, gooey, place in my heart. I mean big. It took up residence and it's not leaving.

"You good?" he asked into the top of my hair.

I stared at the shadowed wall of his chest.

"Josie?" he called when I didn't answer.

"I'm afraid," I admitted softly.

His arms pulled me closer and I felt his lips on my hair when he answered, "Beat that back, honey. No reason to be scared. Not with me."

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Oh, Brody, how you make me swoon! I'm so sad that this story is over. I can always go back and re-read it but it's never the same as experiencing it for the first time. Brody and Kacie's story was one of those that I knew from the beginning was special, and I love that warm feeling you get in your chest when you just know that you've stumbled upon something special. It makes you savor the whole experience that much more. I can't wait to see what Beth Ehemann produces in the future. She is a master of romance and swoon-worthy moments.

This book picks up right where Room for You left off, with Brody and Kacie's relationship still very new. Kacie is starting her externship at the hospital, Brody's hockey season is beginning again, and the twins are starting school. Finding time to spend together with hectic schedules is hard enough as it is. Throw in Kacie's ex-boyfriend and father of the girls back into the mix, plus the fact that Brody's contract is up after this season and could possibly be traded to another team, and you have a lot of stressors.

There's something very special about a man who steps into the role of a father for children that aren't his. But as far as Brody is concerned, Lucy and Piper are. Sharing DNA has very little to do with actually being a parent and Brody proves that over and over.

I loved everything about this series so much. It's about trust, healing, redemption, friends, forgiveness, second chances, and above all else, love.

I happened upon this book by accident. I'd just finished reading a book, and was fully intent on reading a specific book next when I found this one. I read the synopsis and something in it called to me. I was not disappointed!

Room for You is one of the sweetest, most heartfelt, honest stories I've ever read. I love everything about Brody and Kacie. I also adore Lucy and Piper, Kacie's twin daughters, who are fondly known as "the Twinkies".

Kacie and her girls live with her mom while she goes to nursing school. They live in and operate the Cranberry Inn and Kacie helps her out there in exchange for having a place to live and helping her with the girls. When the worst storm in years rolls in, it dumps several people on their doorstep who've been stranded or can't travel in the weather any longer. One of those people is Brody Murphy.

I don't know what I was expecting when I knocked on the door to this inn, maybe a little old cat lady or a family of cannibals in the woods? Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't her. A pint-sized little cutie whose sparkling green eyes nearly knocked me on my ass.

Brody is an extremely famous hockey player but by a stroke of luck, nobody has recognized him. For a change, he just gets to be Brody Murphy - the guy, instead of Brody Murphy - Captain of the Minnesota Wild hockey team. He and Kacie get to know each other over the next couple of days while he's stranded there and he becomes interested in her. But Kacie's had a rough past and her heart is closed to anyone who isn't family.

"You were so scared, Kacie, just like you are about life. I wanted you to see that sometimes, even when something terrifies you, if you just give it a chance it's actually pretty incredible."

This is a sweet, romantic tale of a girl with scars who lives her life carefully and guarded, and a guy who is determined to make her enjoy life.

"Life is a sum made up of small parts, Kacie. Some are good; some are bad. You and the girls are definitely one of the good. The best good there is and I'll fight like hell to keep you here."

Room for You is the first book in the Cranberry Inn series, with the second book, Room for More, already available. I'm on my way to start it right now!

HOW have I never come across Jill Shalvis before?! This was my first Jill Shalvis book. In fact, until the other day, somehow I had never even heard of her. I had finished a book, written the review, and even with over one hundred books on my "to-be-read" shelf, I couldn't decide on which book to start next. Nothing was calling out to me. I've been in a constant state of reading a book for almost two years, so I couldn't sleep until I at least decided which one I was reading next.

It was just after midnight, I had to be up in a matter of a few hours for work, and I glanced at Twitter. I saw a fellow blogger tweet "Seriously, who hasn't read anything by Jill Shalvis yet?? You are missing out on some seriously SEXY HOT ALPHA MEN!". I immediately went to Goodreads, clicked on the first Jill Shalvis book that I saw and I swear I heard angels sing. I'd found it! And finally I could sleep.

Simply Irresistible was exactly what I needed! Jax Cullen was exactly what I needed. Plus there's always something that calls to me with books set in the mountains or the Pacific Northwest. I'm not sure why. Probably a combination of the fact that I've always dreamed of living in or around Seattle and the type of man that's typically in a book that's set there. Usually strong, rugged, sexy, down-to-earth, good guys (sometimes with a hint of bad).

Maddie's life is in shambles and she's looking for a do-over, a fresh start, anything other than what she just left behind. She's sworn off men and is solely focused on renovating and revamping the rundown inn that her mother left to her and her two sisters when she passed away.

Maddie and her sisters, Tara and Chloe, could not be more different from each other which makes for an interesting, hilarious, and fun dynamic. Her sisters have lives they want to get back to, and since Maddie is desperate to start a new one, it takes a lot of convincing on her part to get them to agree to give her a month to try to renovate and turn things around or they'll sell it and part ways.

The contractor that she hires is the last person she expects to shake up her world, but that's exactly what he does. With his rugged good looks, sexy smile, humor, and blatant interest in her, it's all Maddie can do to keep her distance.

I have a feeling Jill Shalvis is my new go-to author when I need a feel-good book. This was the perfect romantic comedy. It was funny, witty, steamy, and so much fun to read. I can't wait to read the next one!

This was a quick, fun read. I like the premise of two opposing attorneys. My main complaint is that it went very quickly from Playboy to I Love You.