Dear Adam ~ Ava Zova

Dear Adam by Ava Zavora
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5++++ emotional, captivating, obsessively readable stars!!



Summary:
“You’re the more real to me than any man I’ve ever known … ”

To book blogger Eden, Adam is the embodiment of every literary fantasy she’s ever had. Intelligent, wickedly funny, sexy, and attentive – he and his fascinating life seem right out of a novel. Their whirlwind relationship is so intense and all consuming that soon she can’t imagine being with anyone else.

But there’s one little thing that’s keeping Adam and Eden from their happily ever after.

They’ve never met. She doesn’t even know what he looks like.

Despite how hard she’s fallen for him and how he makes her feel, Eden’s doubts begin to threaten their passionate love affair. Why is he so mysterious? Why does he seem reluctant to meet her? What is Adam hiding?

Afraid that she’s being made a fool of, Eden is forced to choose between her heart and her head. Is Adam too good to be true, as her common sense is telling her, or is the truth more startling than fiction?

It's not often that I come across a book that so completely consumes my life. This book had me from the first paragraph, and completely captivated me.

"The best things in life are worth waiting for. When it's right," he said in a voice that was unshakably certain, "Name the place. Name the date. Name the hour. And I will fly anywhere in the world to meet you."

Going into this story, I wasn't sure what to expect really. Honestly, I was kind of looking forward to reading a story that might, in some way, mirror an episode of my favorite guilty pleasure TV show.



~For those of you unaware of the term "Catfishing" - it describes a person who deceives someone they are in an online relationship with by lying about their appearance, age, location etc~

Such a silly, silly girl I am.

While the summary of the book was definitely intriguing, it in no way prepared me for the true emotional rollercoaster that Dear Adam turned out to be.

"How I wish I could explore the labyrinth of your strange mind..."

Eden is a 34 year old book blogger (you go girl!!), raising her teenage son. One day, she ends up having a conversation via Twitter with a man who complimented her on one of her reviews. What starts out as a seemingly random encounter with a fellow bibliophile, turns into an intense friendship between two seemingly lost and broken souls desperate for a connection.

"I don't want to interfere with your life. I want to be your life."


Adam tells Eden that he is an Englishman living in Sicily. He owns several properties, is extremely vague about his profession, but that he plans on retiring in 2 years when he's 30.



Naturally, Eden is skeptical of what Adam tells her. But, as he begins to open up about himself, his past and his life...she completely falls under his spell and wants so desperately to believe that what he's telling her is true so she is willing to go along with him on faith. The two have conversations via Skype almost every night, but Adam stubbornly refuses to allow Eden to see his face. He has a seemingly viable if far-fetched reason for this, but Eden tries to overcome her doubts.

If you think you know how this story plays out after reading this far into my review...you'd be wrong. Like I was. Even though I was totally hooked on this story, I had it set in my brain that I knew exactly what was going to happen and how. I was wrong. Almost at every turn.

There was a point, at about the half-way mark...when the story takes a decidedly unexpected turn. It wasn't a complete shift in the overall plot, just an added element to the story that I never saw coming. And it added a whole new dimension to this already intense story, and I loved it.

It was like a magician had peered into my soul, divined it's secrets, then conjured you - a mysterious, masked man from a distant land drawn to me by my writing.

He had picked her from a dusty bookshelf and read her as easily as an open book.

This book held my attention in a steel vice from the moment I started reading. I dreamt about the story. I thought about it while working. It just completely overwhelmed my senses in the best possible way. Ava Zova is such a talented author. She managed to weave so much intensity, and emotion into a book that never stopped surprising me.

There are so many things I want to talk about regarding this book. But honestly, I refuse to allow myself to spoil the story for anyone. No matter how many times my emotions got twisted, no matter how many times I wanted to yell at both Eden and Adam about various things they were both holding back from each other...I never, for one second stopped caring. And that speaks volumes.

And while finding a happy ever after is next to impossible in the Catfish world, sometimes miracles happen.




But, as with every other element of this book...the ending wasn't at all traditional. Ava decided to included an additional chapter...an epilogue...that proceeds to turn the entire story upside down. Again.

And...it...was...fucking...brilliant.

It has been a long time since I have been this excited to get people to read a book as I am about Dear Adam. I consider it my mission to get as many people as possible to give this author, and this book a shot. It will be a ride you will never forget.

You were all the books I had ever read, all the fairy tales I wished were true, everything I had ever wanted. Someone strong, principled, honorable, intelligent, soulful, funny, poetic...

If you are a fictional character, then I am spellbound by a lie.




**This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review**

Gemini ~ Penelope Ward

Gemini by Penelope Ward
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 30%

I tried. I really, really did. Honestly, i can't remember the last time I gave up on a book this early on, but I just couldn't take it any more.



I don't feel like sitting here and writing out all of the problems I had with this book, but I feel the need to mention a couple of things. First of all, the H & h were in their 30's. But they came off sounding so incredibly juvenile. Their inner monologues sounded like the thoughts of love-sick teenagers, which made it really awkward for me - especially with Cedric, who sounded more like a 13 yr old girl with a crush, than a 34 year old successful businessman.



This story also featured one of the fastest cases of insta-love that I have come across in a very long time. After one brief encounter, both Cedric and Allison are (internally at least) declaring how connected they feel and how they want no one else but each other.




There was much talk about a huge twist that happens at some point in the book, and that was the reason I attempted to keep going even though this book was on my bad side almost from the beginning. But frankly, I don't really care what the twist was, and I doubt it would have been able to save this reading experience for me.

Axel ~ Harper Sloan

Axel by Harper Sloan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars




The Axel Book Blog Tour is Finally here!!!


4 drama-filled, lusty stars!

Summary:
Isabelle has learned the hard way how hard life can be when fate isn’t by your side. It can hand you dreams on silver platters, but it can snatch them right back and hand you nightmares. One thing Isabelle knew for sure fate was consistent with was taking away everything she ever loved.

For the last two years Isabelle has been slowly clearing the clouds of her past. Happiness is finally on the horizon. She has a thriving business, great friends, and her life back. All she has to do is jump over the last hurdle…her ex-husband.

When problems start causing her to fear her new life, and memories that are better left forgotten start rushing to the surface the last thing she needs is a ghost from her past to come knocking on her door.

Axel never thought he would look into the eyes of Isabelle West again, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to now. He’s carried his anger for so long he isn’t sure he can just turn it off, but when he is faced with protecting her and an unexpected desire to have her again, life gets a little more complicated.

How will Axel and Isabelle deal when all their cards are put on the table and everything they thought was true blows up in their faces?

It's not often that the first few pages of a book grab me the way this one did. The prologue was incredibly powerful and sooo well done, that I knew I was going to be in for a wild ride with this book. And that was definitely true. When Axel begins, Isabelle is trapped in a terrifying situation, and it is only by sheer determination and strength that is she finally able to escape and attempt to create a new life for herself. And through it all, she can't help but know that she is missing out on the life she *should* have had.

One with the man that she was meant to be with, but who was seemingly ripped from her life in a very tragic way.



Writing this review is difficult for me because I really think this story should be read and experienced without knowing too much about the story beforehand. But, I will say that it is amazing for me to sit here and say that this is Harper Sloan's first book. She writes with a confidence that authors who have been around for decades would love to possess and I for one was truly impressed by how she crafted this story.



Having said that, my only true complaint with this book is that the drama was at times, way over the top. I have never been the biggest fan of an overload of angst in my romance novels, and this one has a lot. A LOT. But, even with that issue, this book fun, and addictive and I loved our H/h so much that I was able to mostly overlook it.

Isabelle & Axel truly are the definition of "soul mates". They may have had a long, hard road to find their way back together, but as a reader we never stop rooting for them and wanting them to find a way to back to each other.





As for the steam factor?!




I LOVED Axel and his dirty mouth. I loved that boy to such a degree that it might have been slightly harmful to my health. Harper Sloan definitely knows how to write sexy times in a way that will have you squirming and reaching for some ice cubes to cool off. Or for your partner to help relieve the...*in my best Frank-n-Furter voice*...tension. ;)



So...in closing, Axel was an amazing, if angst-filled, joyride. And I can't wait to see what else Harper has in store for all of us in the future!




**This book was provided by the author in an exchange for an honest review**

Cursive ~ Penelope Lane

Cursive by Phoebe Lane
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I seem to be the queen of unpopular opinions with books lately.

I went into this with high hopes based on all the people who recommended it to me (not to mention all the glowing reviews I saw posted). But unfortunately, this just didn't work for me the way it did for so many others.

First of all, the pace of the book was very slow. I stuck with it because I had invested myself in the characters and wanted to see if I was right about one of the major twists (I was). Also, I am not a fan of endless drama, and this book had enough drama for about 3 books.

**BIG TIME SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!**



**LAST WARNING!!**



I thought it was pretty obvious from the very beginning that Christopher was dead, and to a lesser extent that he had killed himself. Having said that, the way that the author had Aislynn confront her guilt over his death as well as her anger at being abandoned in that final scene between them, was very well done. However, the fact that Jace was dealing with cancer was a surprise. I was beginning to think that the book would end with him dying, considering how much melodrama there was going on...thankfully I was wrong about that. And once again...there was the old standby "ex-girlfriend wants her man back just when he's moved on" plot device that I am SO incredibly sick of. Seriously, romance authors really need to find another way to add a bit of angst to their stories without beating this dead horse. It's been overused and beaten to death! *steps off soap box*

There were some very serious issues being tackled in this book, and I hate to say it, but...certain parts of this felt very soap opera-ish to me. And I am all for the H/h getting their HEA, but the ending felt a little too perfectly wrapped up and tied with a big shiny ribbon, if that makes any sense? And like I said, I know this is not the way the vast majority of people who read this book feels...but the ending just didn't seem realistic to me.

Perhaps it's partly due to this annoying reading funk I'm in, but this book left me feeling more than a little 'meh.

View all my reviews

The Last Girl ~ Kitty Thomas

The Last Girl by Kitty Thomas
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was...different.

I am a big fan of Kitty Thomas' writing. Comfort Food is one of my all time favorite erotic/dark erotic books. So, I went into this one with high expectations. And though I still enjoyed her writing style, and the dark and twisty feel...I have to say this was a disappointment.

I loved the idea of a dominating hero who was a vampire. I loved the idea of him waiting 6 years to 'claim' her. However, I spent most of my time just not liking Christian at all. And it wasn't because he was an anti-hero (I have a weakness for them after all). The connection just wasn't there for me. And for the sake of full disclosure, I have to admit that part of my problem with the actual story was...

***WARNING MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD***

...Christian's need to take her virginity over and over...and over...again. I mean, he's a vampire, and he gets off on 'healing' her to the point where each time he has sex with her, she's intact? That aspect just really bothered me, for whatever reason. Also, the ending felt very rushed, though I had begun to warm up to Christian's character by then.

I have read a lot of dark erotica...so it wasn't like I went into this expecting hearts and flowers between the two main characters. After all, you can't get much darker than Comfort Food, and I loved every word of that book. But, I just wish there had been more emotion from Christian before the last few pages of the story.

Perhaps my expectations were too unrealistically high going into this. But, even though I was left feeling disappointed, I'm still a huge fan of this author's writing and will definitely read the rest of her work.

Tangled ~ Emma Chase

Tangled by Emma Chase
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

6 squee-inducing stars!!

Honestly, if I attempt to write a lengthy review right now, i will flail all over myself in fangirl glee and probably make absolutely NO sense. So, i will keep this short and sweet.

I ABSOFREAKINGLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK. Every word. Every page. Every egotistical boast that came out of Drew's impossibly pompous-sounding ass. Every last bit of it.

I have always loved reading a romance from the male POV, but I have to say when I started this book and started to see what an arrogant asshat Drew starts out as, I had my doubts that I would ever be able to fully warm up to his character.



Silly, silly girl.

Emma Chase somehow managed to take a character that is so inherently unlikable in the beginning, and transform him into someone you not only end up rooting for, but someone that you completely and unabashedly fall head over heels in love with.




I loved the way the author chose to tell the story in such a conversational way. Like Drew is sitting with a friend and explaining how he went from being a shameless manwhore, to being happily wrapped around the finger of his dream-woman. It felt so natural, and flowed so well that it made it next to impossible to stop reading this book once I started it. And not to mention that it seemed like every other thing Drew said had me laughing like a crazy person off their meds. I mean, my poor Kindle needs a rest after all the highlighting I did. I could have seriously highlighted 90% of the book. It was that damn good.



How many wives have told their husbands, "I'm fine," when they really mean, "I want to cut your balls off with a butcher knife?"

For God's sake, don't let her watch Cinderella. What kind of example is that? A mindless twit who can't even remember where she left her damn shoe, so she has to wait for some douchebag in tights to bring it to her? Give me a frigging break!

Old women have a thing for me. And I don't mean a pinch-my-cheek, pat-my-head kind of thing. I mean a grab-my-ass, rub-my-junk, why-don't-you-push-my-wheelchair-into-the-broom-closet-so-we-can-get-nasty kind of thing.
It's f*cking disturbing.

'He moved his trunk-like manhood toward the weeping petals of her womanly center.'
Who the f*ck talks like that?!

You get the idea.... ;)

This book was SUCH a wonderful breath of fresh air and I can't express how much I enjoyed getting a peek inside Drew's twisted, perverted, & immensely entertaining mind!

Play With Me ~ Kristen Proby

Play With Me by Kristen Proby
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

6 ridiculously romantic stars!!

It's official. Kristen Proby is the QUEEN of feel-good, angst-free, romance! This series (thus far) has managed to find just the right balance of sweet romance, with hot and heavy sexy-times.

And Will Montgomery? I thought it would be impossible to surpass Luke as my favorite KP hero, but well...Will is just about my idea of the perfect romantic hero (and man).



This book was exactly what I needed, and I flew through it in less than 24 hours.

I love how simple KP's stories are. And I don't mean simple as in boring with nothing going on. I mean KP tells the kind of love stories that are so damn hard to find these days; stories that are (mostly) free of angst and needless drama. I love reading about a couple who are in love and don't have a million and one things pop up out of no where to keep them from being together. No psycho ex girl/boyfriends coming out of the woodwork. No deep dark secrets that threaten to destroy the lives of our everyone around them. Do the couples have things to work through? Yes. But they work through them...and it doesn't take 300 pages for them to do it. They have hurdles in their way, but they make their way around them and get on with their lives. I for one LOVE the fact that when a crisis pops up, KP usually have the characters deal with the problems head on and within a few chapters our couple are moving on to something else. This kind of simplistic kind of storytelling might not be for everyone, but I absolutely LOVE it. And wish I could find more authors like Kristen doing it these days.

Will & Meg's relationship was sweet, romantic, and oh so sexy. One of the things I ADORE about Will is the fact that he has absolutely no problem telling Meg (and everyone else) how he feels about her. I've seen some people say that the heroes in these books are just too good to be true and therefore not realistic. Well, I don't know about you, but, one of the reasons I love romantic fiction so much is because it can take me away from the overwhelming stresses of my day to day life and transport me into a world where men like Will Montgomery CAN exist, and and where an 'average' girl like Meg (in other words someone like me) can somehow steal his heart. That's why I keep coming back to romantic fiction, and that is why Kristen Proby is one of my favorite authors.




"You are not a dirty little secret," I murmur into her ear. "You are everything."

"Just the thought of you not being in my life is my undoing. When you feel safe enough to say what I know you feel, it will be the best moment of my life."

And those quotes (along with a bunch of others I could post), show why Will Montgomery is pretty much the perfect romantic hero. He's sweet, kind, funny, possessive and too damn sexy for words. And I am so grateful I got to spend some time with him. ;)

I can't recommend this book (and this series) highly enough!

Quickie #7

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars

This book was a mixed bag for me. I struggled to get through it, so much so that it took me 3 tries before I actually succeeded.

Part of my problem with the book was that i had a very hard time accepting Daemon as a hero and a leading man. Yes, he was cute and had some good one liners, but he was also incredibly mean at times. He might has had his reasons for what he did, but honestly, he came off more as a bully than an appealing leading man.

Katy was a strong woman (and i loved that she was a book blogger), but as strong as she was she still somehow managed to fall under Daemon's spell no matter how often he treated her like crap.

Not a huge fan of the alien aspect, but it ended up being a somewhat interesting twist.

Catch Me by Lisa Gardner
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

What a huge disappointment this turned out to be.

Being a huge fan of this series, I went into this book with high expectations that up until now Gardner had always managed to live up to. This book unfortunately fell flat. Everything about it, the character interactions (DD Warren is usually one of my favorite female protagonists, but here she seemed to be a whiny shell of her former self, the "evil doer" and their story was uninteresting and pretty much the entire mystery aspect was boring.

One of the most disappointing reads of 2012 for me.

Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rating: 4 stars
Scare Factor: Intense (Gretchen is one mean mama-jamma!)
Depth of Character: 4 stars
Steaminess: Warm (one highly inappropriate but still so-wrong-i-feel-dirty-but-i-can't-help-but-like-it sex scene)

The second installment in the warped and twisted world of Archie & Gretchen nearly liv=ves up to the first.

This book delves much deeper into the hold that Gretchen has over Archie. We know that she is evil...that she will be Archie's destruction if he gives in to his inexplicable desire to be with the woman who has not only killed countless people, but tortured and kidnapped Archie several years ago. But damn if seeing the two of them together again wasn't a fascinating, if beyond warped roller coaster ride that i enjoyed the hell out of.

The Raven Boys ~ Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I seem to have a love hate relationship with Maggie Stiefvater.

On the one hand I absolutely loved her Wolves of Mercy Falls series. And on the other I was completely confused and turned off by her book The Scorpio Races. I was hoping that my experience reading TSR was a fluke. But, unfortunately I had a similar experience reading her latest book, The Raven Boys.

Granted, Stiefvater's trademark beautiful writing style is still very much on display. But this story was confusing and disjointed from the first page. I had a very hard time trying to keep track of which character was which, and what their cloudy backstory was...to the point of actually giving myself a headache trying to process everything.

When I began this book, I felt like I had been dropped off in the middle of the story, and I kept waiting for things to become clearer as the book went on. Yes, i had some of my questions answered and some of the murkiness of the characters resolved themselves, but overall this book felt like a jumbled mess.

I am not yet ready to give up hope that Stiefvater will once again write a book that captivates me the way that her Mercy Falls trilogy once did. But, I hope it happens sooner rather than later.

Quickie #8

Broken Hart by Ella Fox
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

It's pretty sad that within a few days of finishing this book I actually had very little memory of what the story was about, apart from there being a lot....A LOT...of sex scenes. Now, I am all for a quick smutty read once in a while, but I usually prefer there to be some kind of plot that doesn't involve the main characters having wild monkey sex.



The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Having been a HUGE fan of the Percy Jackson books, i was of course super excited to read the first book in the spin series, Heroes Of Olympus. For the most part, this book didn't let me down.

Riordan has a knack for writing wonderfully quirky characters that i grow to love very quickly. And while I can't say that i didn't miss the presence of my beloved Percy (because I did. A lot.), i had a blast reading this book. In fact, I honestly think that it is impossible for me not to enjoy a Riordan book. They are always a fun, action-packed escape from reality that is much needed in my day to day life.

And even though the new set of misfit children born of the gods and goddesses of Olympus were engaging, I have to say I am thrilled that the next book is much more focused on Mr Jackson.