Monday Book Review: Out of Bounds, by Jillian Quinn

Out of Bounds, Love in the End Zone, Book 1, by Jillian Quinn
Published August 2017 by Penn Publishing

About the Book:

A misunderstanding cost them everything. Now, they have a second chance...

Sebastian Prince has it all—money, looks, women, and The Heisman. But he can’t get the one thing he wants. Two years ago, Bash lost the only girl who ever made him feel something. And he wants her back.

Tori Reynolds hates football. She hates Bash even more. After a not-so-chance encounter at a game, Bash has another shot with the girl who got away. While Bash might be a different person than before, Tori is hesitant to let him back into her life. But Bash has never turned down a challenge. This time, he’s not just looking to score.

Are you ready to meet Bash? One click to discover why readers are calling Out of Bounds their favorite second chance football romance.

My Take:

This is the first book I've read from this well established, international best-selling New Adult author, and highlights both the best and worst parts of this genre. The story is told he said/she said in first person POVs, with an awful lot of thought repetition from chapter to chapter, almost as if the story first appeared in serial form and needed to remind readers of the salient points each time the POV was onstage.

The sex scenes sizzle off the page, with the confident alpha male acting well beyond a college senior... But the self absorbed and somewhat whine-prone heroine kept rubbing me the wrong way. I understand that the author was trying to show her as "strong" but strong shouldn't always have to equate with prickly or bitchy.  To the point where she makes it hard to understand why the hero puts up with her shit or why he's been pursuing her for so long.

The backstory was thin at best, and if you are going to actually go there and have your main character be diagnosed as bipolar, you need to do more with it than use it for an excuse to miss two months of school. Bipolar is manageable with medication, but it's a constant, and also should mean the girl is more aware about drinking, partying, her mood swings, etc. I was not only disappointed by the one and done reference, but also by the casual portrayal of a serious medical condition.

The secondary characters were stereotypes instead of fully fleshed out, including the best friend and the main antagonist, the bitchy rich cheerleader who wants the hero for herself. But with NA this isn't unusual and works fine if done well. Or if you get so invested in the main characters that the rest are just background anyway. Which I didn't.

But the sex scenes are pretty hot.

I'd be willing to try another book from this author, because I do understand that the bipolar thing might have been the main reason I disliked this story and these characters. If you want to check it out for yourself, grab a copy on AMAZON

Monday Book Review: Dirty English and Filthy English, British Bad Boys Books 1&2 by Ilsa Madden-Mills

Dirty English (British Bad Boys, Book 1) by Ilsa Madden-Mills
Published October 2015 by Little Dove

About the Book:

A scarred fighter.
A girl with rules.
One night of unbridled passion.

There are three things you need to know about Elizabeth Bennett: she’s smart as a whip, always in control, and lives by a set of carefully crafted rules. She’s learned the hard way that people you love the most always hurt you in the end. But then she meets Declan Blay, the new neighbor at her apartment complex.

A tattooed British street fighter, he’s the campus bad boy she’s supposed to avoid, but when he saves her from a frat party gone bad, all her rules about sex and love fly out the window. She gives him one night of unbridled passion, but he longs for more.

With only a cardboard-thin wall separating their bedrooms, he dreams of possessing the vulnerable girl next door forever.

One night. Two damaged hearts. The passion of a lifetime.

*A modern love story inspired by Pride and Prejudice*

Filthy English (British Bad Boys, Book 2) by Ilsa Madden-Mills
Published July 2016 by Little Dove

About the Book:

A smokin' hot British player...
A jilted girl...
One night of mistaken identity...

Two weeks before her wedding, Remi Montague's fiancé drops her faster than a drunken sorority girl in stilettos. Armed with her best friend and a bottle of tequila, she hops a plane to London to drown her sorrows before fall semester begins at Whitman University.

She didn't plan on attending a masquerade party. She sure didn't plan on waking up next to the British bad boy who broke her heart three years ago--the devastatingly handsome and naked Dax Blay. Furthermore, she has no clue how they acquired matching tattoos.

Once back at Whitman together, they endeavor to pretend they never had their night of unbridled passion in London.

But that's damn hard to do when you live in the same house...

One night. Two damaged hearts. The passion of a lifetime.

*A modern love story inspired by Romeo and Juliet*

MY TAKE ON BOTH:

Twins.
British Twins.
Sizzling hot British Twins.

I'm reviewing both books together, because once I read the first I was hooked and had to read the second twin's story. I totally recommend that you do the same. Actually, to be perfectly honest, I read the second story first and then desperately wanted more so went and bought the first book. Each is a standalone story, neither has any loose ends or dangling storylines - I just wanted more. I devoured both in less than 48 hours, and yes, I even had time to sleep and feed the family.

Smart, fast paced, and sassy in all the best ways, Ms. Madden-Mills writes with passion as well as a wink to her literary inspirations (Jane Austen in Book 1 and Shakespeare in Book 2.) The heat level is way, way up there (trust me, the dial is turned up to 11 in each book) both because of the sexy British bad boys, but also because their devilish exteriors hide gooey, emotional centers that the heroines uncover bit by amazing bit.

The hot hunky brothers are both emotionally scarred from the loss of their mother at a young age and the emotional distance of their father. The two heroines are damaged in different ways - in Book One, the story begins with a prom night gone wrong, the consequences being that two years later, Elizabeth still doesn't trust men, and certainly not with her heart. *Trigger warning* While the actual rape isn't described (the book starts the morning after) it is discussed multiple times, and lies at the root of her problems. In Book Two, our heroine finds herself with un-refundable honeymoon tickets to London, but without the husband who left her the week before wedding... so Remi takes her best friend along to make the best of it. Running into the guy from college who broke her heart freshman year is just icing on her heartache, but little does she know he never got over her either.

The stories unfold naturally, the well-paced narratives keep you flipping pages as fast as you can to see what happens next. New Adult is not always my favorite genre, frankly, because they all seem so similar after a while, always first person, usually full of sizzling sex scenes after very little buildup or serious dating of any sort. But this author adds literary spark and a little something extra to the internal monologues as we flip from He said to She said (especially with the twins using British vocab, despite being U.S. college students, so cute!) as well as adding actual tension to the situations between the hero and heroine that are not as straightforward to resolve.

If you like NA college stories that are a little more grown up, give this author a try. And to be clear, there is a third book in this series (starring their British cousin, whom you meet in Book 2) but I ran out of reading time this week. The author has a slew of other books available as well, which I'm adding to my TBR list for summer vacation for sure.

Grab DIRTY ENGLISH and FILTHY ENGLISH on AMAZON.

Monday Book Review: Dearest Clementine, by Lex Martin #NewAdult

About the Book:

Twenty-year-old Clementine Avery doesn't mind being called bitchy and closed off. It's safe, and after being burned by her high school sweetheart and stalked by a professor her freshman year of college, safe sounds pretty damn good.

Her number one rule for survival? No dating. That is until she accidentally signs up for a romance writing class and needs material for her latest assignment. Sexy RA Gavin Murphy is more than happy to play the part of book boyfriend to help Clem find some inspiration, even if that means making out...in the name of research, of course.

As Gavin and Clem grow closer, they get entangled in the mystery surrounding a missing Boston University student, and Clem unwittingly becomes a possible target. Gavin tries to show Clem she can handle falling in love again, but she knows she has to be careful because her heart’s at stake…and maybe even her life.

DEAREST CLEMENTINE is a stand-alone novel with two companion novels. This New Adult romance is recommended for readers 18+ due to mature content.

My Take:

From the title, I somehow thought there would be cowboys. There aren't. The author never even references the song I thought she might. You know, "My Darling Clementine." Never went there.

I enjoyed this well-written NA/college romance, liked the characters, hated the bad guys, all the things you're supposed to feel when reading New Adult romance. It kept me entertained and reading through to the HEA, which thankfully was there and satisfying, as I've read a bunch of NA books lately that end with cliffhangers. I hate cliffhangers. I don't mind if there are unresolved issues that tempt me to read the next book in the series, but for goodness sake, at least finish the current book with some sort of satisfaction for the reader. Seriously. So despite being the first of a series, this book does make you smile at the end and not cringe with a "to be continued."

And yet.

As an author, I took issue with several of the plot points. Okay, I know romance is a cliche-ridden field. We all use them. Readers almost expect them. But I felt like this book used a few too many tropes as red herrings. And the whole she wrote and published a best selling book so easily while still in college and has an agent and uber rich parents but is still struggling to pay her tuition bills? She spends all her free time working in the college bookstore but still has plenty of time when she needs it to further the plot? She finds out her stalker is back on campus but still feels it's okay to run all alone along the Charles River at night? Mmmm, we're into the realm of unbelievable. And that's only the tip of the iceberg.
 
I'm willing to suspend disbelief - most readers are happy to do that, it's why we read, to escape - but sometimes you want your heroine to make sense - especially a first person narrative which makes you feel like you know this person and you expect them to make good choices - or at least choices that make sense for their character. My own characters frequently make bad choices - bad choices make for fun reading. But then there should be consequences and learning from mistakes.

I'll say again, I enjoyed the book. Fun, fast read that kept my attention even as I was berating bad choices.

Monday Book Review: FINDING MY PRINCE CHARMING by J.S. Cooper

Finding My Prince Charming, by J.S. Cooper
Published 2014

About the Book:

Can a Playboy Prince ever be tamed?

When Lola Franklin decided to study abroad she never anticipated embarking on a whirlwind weekend romance with a hot guy before classes started.

And she certainly never counted on the hot guy being her new professor. Or a Prince. Or the biggest asshole she had ever met.

Xavier Van Romerius is the playboy Prince of Europe and he loves his life. He doesn’t do relationships, and never wants to get married. But when he see’s Lola Franklin flirting with his little brother Casper, he realizes that maybe he needs to rethink his ideas about love before the wrong Prince gets the girl.

MY TAKE:

Told in alternating first person points of view between the main characters, Finding my Prince Charming is both disappointing and maddening on many levels.

This is a New Adult contemporary romance that tries to be Lolita mashed with 50 Shades, with a student/teacher relationship that borders on icky. The characters teeter on the edge of likeable, while the scenarios sit precariously close to the edge of unbelievable.

Lola is an American college student studying art history in London. She is the quintessential innocent abroad, and catches the wandering eye of a foreign prince who also just happens to be her professor, and who seems obsessed with Nabokov. It all goes downhill from there.

I kept wanting to like one or both of them but they kept doing and saying the most ridiculous things, and putting themselves in stupid and sometimes dangerous situations. I once was that American college student studying abroad, and admit I made one or two bad decisions along the way, but you don't keep repeating the same mistakes. The author gives Lola so little backbone it's utterly disappointing, and the girl doesn't learn anything except how to satiate the prince's twisted sexual fantasies.

The cover claims that Cooper is a New York Times best seller, but maybe her sales are in a different genre, or maybe there is a section of the NA audience who like their heroines submissive. Not my cup of tea, and won't be reading more from this author.

There are tons of great New Adult romances out there - this just isn't one of them. Feel free to leave your suggestions in my comment section, because I need to wipe the taste of this book out of my mind!

Monday Book Review: SOLDIER ON by Sydney Logan

Soldier On by Sydney Logan
NA, college romance
Published 2014 by Mountain Media



About the Book:

Will his call of duty break both their hearts?

Losing her father in Desert Storm has left Stephanie James with a bitter soul when it comes to the military. As a college senior juggling a full course load, Steph's only goal is to graduate with honors at the end of the semester. She’s focused, determined, and a firm believer in all work and no play. Then she meets Brandon Walker at a New Year’s Eve costume party. Despite his disguise, Steph finds herself attracted to the camouflaged soldier who curls her toes with a scorching midnight kiss.

Brandon is an engineering major and ROTC student from the hills of Kentucky. Growing up as the son of a major general has given Brandon firsthand knowledge of the struggles military families sometimes face. Now that his father’s memory is fading, Brandon is even more determined to make his dad proud and graduate as an officer in the United States Army. Then he meets Stephanie, and suddenly, his focus is less on his military service and more on the pretty brunette who has stolen his heart. When he becomes aware of Steph’s resentment toward the military, he worries their relationship is doomed.

Steph unexpectedly finds herself in need of a roommate. Brandon volunteers, thinking it’s the perfect opportunity to show her the real Brandon, before he’s forced to admit the truth about his four-year obligation to the army. Afraid that living together will be a distraction to graduating on time, Steph establishes house rules—rules they both find difficult to obey.

When faced with the realization that she's fallen in love with a soldier, can Steph’s wounds from the past be healed with love in her present . . . and in her future? 

MY TAKE:

Stephanie is in her last semester of college, focused on graduation and finding a teaching job. Between her class work and job, she doesn't have time to date, even if she found someone who interested her. Then on New Year's Eve she shares a midnight kiss with a stranger, and something changes. Suddenly she can't stop thinking about him, but she doesn't even know his name.

Brandon is also in his last semester of college, racing to finish his engineering degree before heading to Basic Training. On an ROTC scholarship, he's already committed four years of his life to the Army after graduation. Between classes, physical training, and his job at the local coffee shop, he doesn't have time for dating either, but that sizzling New Year's Eve kiss opened his eyes to the possibility of love.

Except there's a catch, of course.

Stephanie's dad died before she was born, killed overseas in Desert Storm. She wears his dog tags to keep him close to her heart, but can't forgive the military for taking away any chance for her to know her father.  She definitely doesn't want to repeat her mother's mistakes and fall in love with a soldier. And she has no idea that Brandon is ROTC.

I love the way the author fully develops each character, exploring the emotional complexities of both their motivations and their reactions to circumstances. The story is told in alternating first person POV, the chapters labeled with the narrator's name. I found myself as torn as the characters, hoping and rooting for a resolution that would allow love to triumph without sacrificing either of their dreams. The secondary characters are also engaging and fully developed with their own agendas.

Sydney Logan has a masterful way with writing emotional conflict, as well as dragging you into the story and not letting go. Not only does she write from the heart, she makes it all real -- I have a son currently attending a military academy and so much of Brandon's POV reminded me of him, and how he thinks about serving his country, that it struck a deep chord. I think readers with military connections will find this story especially poignant, but I totally recommend it to anyone who likes to read sweet college romance.

Monday Book Review: DEEP BLUE, by Jules Barnard, #NA

Deep Blue, the blue series
By Jules Barnard
Published 2014

About the Book:

In the Blue Series, love in Lake Tahoe means looking beneath the surface.

Recent college grad Cali Morgan thinks she has her life all figured out, until she returns to Lake Tahoe and runs into an old crush she barely recognizes. A serious accident pushed Jaeger’s life in a new direction, but he’s hotter than ever, his presence rocking the foundation Cali staked her future on. 

My Take

First let me say, I totally thought this was going to be a mermaid book. I know there is a series of mermaid books set in Lake Tahoe, and when I first purchased this, I thought I'd found it. It's not, and has nothing to do with paranormal or mermaids. FYI, that series starts with EVERBLUE and is written by Brenda Pandos. But that's another review.

This DEEP BLUE is a quick, contemporary NA read, set on the sunny shores of Lake Tahoe and narrated by a recent college grad. She starts the book a little self obsessed, and a little too sure of herself amidst the casino scene she grew up with. The first person POV is a little clunky and overly stuffed with adjectives, but I enjoyed the story and most of the characters. There are enough plot twists to keep the reader turning pages, though some of them are predictable... But then again, they're predictable because these things happen in real life, too.

The author introduces us to two recent college grads, the narrator and her best friend. The pair have come to Tahoe just for the summer to earn money for grad school.  It's the narrator's home town so they quickly get jobs and have people to hang out with. They also grapple with cheating boyfriends, issues with exes, bad bosses, old crushes, and some angsty what-do-I-want-to-do-with-my-life blues. Some of the secondary characters are interesting but most are wooden cut outs. I suspect the interesting ones get their own stories later in this series. (In fact, the author says as much in the Goodreads write-up.)

Not my usual cup of tea, but enjoyable enough. Really, the book title itself is what caught my attention and the cover drew me in. If you like contemporary NA that takes you away from your own angst and submerges you in someone else's (with not a whiff of the paranormal in sight) try throwing this one in your metaphorical beach bag. A quick, easy read, but not tempting enough to make me seek out the rest of the series.

This first book in the series is  currently free on Kindle, so grab a copy while the sale lasts.

AMAZON LINK

Monday Book Review: FLIGHT, The Crescent Chronicles #1, by Alyssa Rose Ivy

Flight, the Crescent Chronicles book 1By Alyssa Rose Ivy
Published August 2012

About the Book (from Goodreads):

Sometimes you just have to take flight.

A summer in New Orleans is exactly what Allie needs before starting college. Accepting her dad’s invitation to work at his hotel offers an escape from her ex-boyfriend and the chance to spend the summer with her best friend. Meeting a guy is the last thing on her mind—until she sees Levi.

Unable to resist the infuriating yet alluring Levi, Allie finds herself at the center of a supernatural society and forced to decide between following the path she has always trusted or saving a city that might just save her.

MY TAKE:
Alyssa Rose gives us a new take on an urban legend, with this New Adult paranormal series, The Crescent Chronicles. She creates brand new creatures at the top of the New Orleans food chain, moving the vamps and where's down the line and introducing us to Pterans, winged humanoids who seem part angel, but sometimes devilish in their actions.

The story is told from the first person POV of Allie Davis, a rich recent high school grad from NYC. She's taking the summer before Princeton to live in New Orleans at her father's newest acquisition, the venerable and historic Crescent City Hotel. On the very first day she spies Levi across the hotel lobby and sparks fly.

As she gets to know the Tulane senior, she finds that there's much more to New Orleans than meets the eye, and Levi has more secrets than he's willing to share. He opens his world and his heart to her, but is she willing to trade her dreams and plans for Princeton and her future...for something darker and more dangerous? Is she willing to let go and fall in love?

Will Allie get through the summer with her heart intact? Or for that matter, will she make it through alive? Believe me, these are all questions that you start wondering about pretty early on, and the author does a great job of making you need to find the answers.

Despite some spots where the writing gets bogged down, this was a fast paced totally engaging book with a fresh take on New Orleans and urban paranormal. I'm excited to see where the author takes these characters and what else she can throw at Allie. If you like NA paranormal, or if you're a fan of Sookie Stackhouse's version of the south, check out Alyssa Rose's FLIGHT.

Monday Book Review: One Little Lie, by Willow Monroe #NA

One Little Lie, by Willow Monroe
Published by Betsy Belle Books, August 2014

About the Book (from Goodreads):

Paisley is ready to go: graduation, summer, and then she’s off to college. That is, until the mysterious new stranger in town named Beacon stops her dead in her tracks. Beacon blows her mind and it isn’t long before he’s got her blowing off her plans, too.

But when catastrophe strikes – twice – can she defend her beautiful man against the people who want him gone? Or is Beacon really the bad boy that everybody warned her about?

MY TAKE:
I usually tend to paranormal when I read New Adult, but something about this blurb caught my attention. It was an easy quick read, filled with the angst of an 18 year old on the brink of graduation and adult choices. When Paisley falls for the new "bad boy" who recently moved into her small town, she decides she needs to keep their relationship a secret. After all, she's always been a good girl and feels she must live up to the expectations of her parents and brothers.

Beacon isn't as bad as his reputation makes him out to be, and as Paisley gets to know the real man behind the rumors, she falls head over heels in love. But after she already lied about not having a relationship with him, how can she tell her dad the truth?

The situations are believable enough, but the tension and problems felt rooted in the 1950s or small town 1960s rather than today's world. If the book had been set in an earlier timeframe, it would have been more powerful and believable for me. Even so, the writing pulled me along to the satisfying happily ever after.

Get your copy on Amazon

Book Review: CRIMSON FOREST by Christine Gabriel

Crimson Forest, book one in the Crimson Chronicles
by Christine Gabriel
Published August 2014 by Pandamoon Publishing

About the Book (from Goodreads):

 “Something horrible is happening in the Crimson Forest. I need you to promise me you’ll stay away from it.”

Eighteen-year-old Angelina Adams had every intention of taking that advice. She had no desire to disappear into the trees as so many hunters had done. But when her mother is brutally murdered in their home, and the attacker comes for her, she has no choice but to flee into the blood-red woodland that claimed her father’s life years before.

There she meets Nicolai, a handsome, mysterious stranger who vows to protect her from the dark forces bent on destroying her life. But can he be trusted? Is he who he says he is, or will he simply take what he wants from her and move on? Angelina soon realizes that nothing is as it seems in the Crimson Forest, a place where creatures known only to humans through myth and legend fight for love and survival. It’s a world where fairy tales thrive, nightmares become reality, and some secrets are better left undiscovered.

Crimson Forest is the first book in The Crimson Chronicles, an exciting new adult fantasy series from Christine Gabriel. Book Two is Crimson Moon

MY TAKE:
Christine Gabriel's debut New Adult novel creates a rich paranormal world deep in the woods of Wisconsin.

Angelina and her mother run an inn located in a small town on the edge of the Crimson Forest. Scary stuff happens in the woods and people routinely go missing, yet hunters flock to it for some unknown reason. Everyone has secrets, and mystery tinges every interaction, keeping the reader turning pages to figure out answers.

The book is told mainly from the first person perspective of Angelina, the main character who most of the mystery surrounds, but other chapters are told in third person from other character perspectives which I found jarring at first.

Several of the supernatural creatures are left undefined, which was a let down as it seemed like an interesting opportunity for the author to develop a new mythology. The author has a rich imagination, but her interesting take on the supernatural is never fully fleshed out for the reader to understand, leaving multiple questions unanswered. Will the second book help clear up the loose ends? Let's hope so. With her inventive mind and interesting turns of phrase, Gabriel could be an author to watch, but a firmer editing hand is needed to tighten the story.


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