*Grabby Hands* Release & Review - 99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne

Image and blurb from Goodreads

Title: 99 Percent Mine

Author: Sally Thorne

Publication date: January 29th, 2019

Category/Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

Publisher: William Morrow Paperback

Crush: a strong and often short-lived infatuation, particularly for someone beyond your reach…

Darcy Barrett has undertaken a global survey of men. She’s travelled the world, and can categorically say that no one measures up to Tom Valeska, whose only flaw is that Darcy’s twin brother Jamie saw him first and claimed him forever as his best friend. Despite Darcy’s best efforts, Tom’s off limits and loyal to her brother, 99%. That’s the problem with finding her dream man at age eight and peaking in her photography career at age twenty—ever since, she’s had to learn to settle for good enough.

When Darcy and Jamie inherit a tumble-down cottage from their grandmother, they’re left with strict instructions to bring it back to its former glory and sell the property. Darcy plans to be in an aisle seat halfway across the ocean as soon as the renovations start, but before she can cut and run, she finds a familiar face on her porch: house-flipper extraordinaire Tom’s arrived, he’s bearing power tools, and he’s single for the first time in almost a decade.

Suddenly Darcy’s considering sticking around to make sure her twin doesn’t ruin the cottage’s inherent magic with his penchant for grey and chrome. She’s definitely not staying because of her new business partner’s tight t-shirts, or that perfect face that's inspiring her to pick up her camera again. Soon sparks are flying—and it’s not the faulty wiring. It turns out one percent of Tom’s heart might not be enough for Darcy anymore. This time around, she’s switching things up. She’s going to make Tom Valeska 99 percent hers.

Goodreads

Buy Links: Amazon 

4.5 “Perfect is overrated” Stars

After reading Sally Thorne’s “behind the book” section, I feel a little mad at myself for being mad at her for taking so long to write something new. After all, I’ve been waiting since 2016 for another book.

I know a lot of people have been disappointed by 99 Percent Mine, but I’m not one of them. I loved this book from the first chapter to the very end, which includes two epilogues (one for 99 and another for The Hating Game).

Don’t get me wrong, everyone’s entitled to their opinions, but I don’t get the big shock about Darcy not being the conventional heroine when Lucy from THG was just as quirky. That’s how Sally Thorne writes. Her main characters sound a little confusing at times, but they’re so interesting that I happily ignore that. Besides, they always make me laugh.

Sure Darcy was careless about her health and a little spoiled, but she was also a loyal friend, a supportive person and someone who had been mistreated for a big part of her life, so I wasn’t surprised she had issues. Everyone does. Even Tom, who was supposed to be perfect, had baggage.

But what really kept me up until 4 am was the amazing chemistry between Darcy and Tom. And the angst. Damn, I love angst. And the BFFs to lovers trope. I love that so much. And the slow burn--everyone knows how I feel about this.

I loved this book so much.

I loved alpha both of them were and how incredibly hot and desperate they were for each other.

I could feel Darcy’s love for Tom from the very start, as well as his love for her. And while I’ve seen some people complain about the “other woman” aspect, let me tell you that there isn’t one. Not really at least. It’s pretty clear from the start what the situation between Tom is really like, and Darcy is respectful until she doesn’t need to be anymore. There was no instance when I felt they were considering cheating as an option, and I truly appreciated that.

I only wish Darcy’s relationship with her twin brother Jamie had ended differently—with him at least acknowledging how crappy and unfair he was to her and doing something to change that. I know he has issues, too, but it was awful to watch him talk to her the way he did.

But overall, 99 Percent Mine was definitely worth the wait for me. I don’t know if Sally Thorne is planning on writing another book, but I will be here, anxiously awaiting.

*If you liked this review (or not), if you read the book (or not), come say hello and leave your comments bellow.

*Grabby Hands* Release - The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker

Image and blurb from Goodreads

Title: The Simple Wild
Author: K.A. Tucker
Publication Date: August 7th, 2018

Category/Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Atria Books

Calla Fletcher wasn't even two when her mother took her and fled the Alaskan wild, unable to handle the isolation of the extreme, rural lifestyle, leaving behind Calla’s father, Wren Fletcher, in the process. Calla never looked back, and at twenty-six, a busy life in Toronto is all she knows. But when Calla learns that Wren’s days may be numbered, she knows that it’s time to make the long trip back to the remote frontier town where she was born.

She braves the roaming wildlife, the odd daylight hours, the exorbitant prices, and even the occasional—dear God—outhouse, all for the chance to connect with her father: a man who, despite his many faults, she can’t help but care for. While she struggles to adjust to this rugged environment, Jonah—the unkempt, obnoxious, and proud Alaskan pilot who helps keep her father’s charter plane company operational—can’t imagine calling anywhere else home. And he’s clearly waiting with one hand on the throttle to fly this city girl back to where she belongs, convinced that she’s too pampered to handle the wild.

Jonah is probably right, but Calla is determined to prove him wrong. Soon, she finds herself forming an unexpected bond with the burly pilot. As his undercurrent of disapproval dwindles, it’s replaced by friendship—or perhaps something deeper? But Calla is not in Alaska to stay and Jonah will never leave. It would be foolish of her to kindle a romance, to take the same path her parents tried—and failed at—years ago. It’s a simple truth that turns out to be not so simple after all.

Goodreads

Buy Link: Amazon

4.5  “Two love stories” Stars

Damn. How did I not know about this book before now?

The Simple Wild has quickly earned a place in my "best romance reads of the year" list, and I had the feeling that it'd get a spot after reading the first chapter. Funny enough, the first chapter isn't even about Calla's love story--nope, it's about her parents' tragic love, and that's why I say this is a book about two love stories.

First, let me say part of what kept me turning page after page so fast was that I wanted, NEEDED to know what would happen to Calla's parents. That love story tugged at my heart in a way that was actually painful (and it wasn't even the main love story). But it's not my fault the author decided to bring such angst with those two. I can't resist angst.

Everything was so tragic and messed up. I resented Wren, Calla's dad, for marrying a woman he knew wouldn't adapt to his lifestyle and still wanted to hug him because he loved Susan, Calla's mom, so damn much that he couldn't not marry her and take what little time they had together. Then I resented Susan for making Simon, Calla's stepdad, feel so much like "her second choice" when the man was amazing and so madly in love with her. But then, I wanted to hug her because I can't blame her for loving Wren so much two decades simply couldn't erase that love.

Damn... just thinking about them and how tragic and complicated and messed up the whole thing is makes me want to cry.

I did cry when that thing in the end happened. No spoilers, but it was beautiful and painful and I felt my heart breaking in tiny pieaces.

I was probably more obsessed with Calla's parents love story than anything else, but okay.

Now, Calla's relationship with her father sick father was another gut punch. Someone should've warned me this book would be that painful.

Wren was not an easy man to forgive, considering he was the one who decided to step back and not be in his daughter's life. Sure he later explained why, but it was still no reason to do what he did, so I got Calla's pain. Still, the man was dying and he was really, really good to Calla when she was there with him, so, yeah, again, I both resented and wanted to hug him.

Then comes Calla and Jonah and all the instant hatred and banter that was clearly just amazing chemistry and I'm dying because the romance is also slow burn and they're pranking each other and OMG, they finally kiss!

This book was almost too much. It was also almost a five-star read, if nothing for one little thing: I didn't like how Jonah was obsessed with poking fun at Calla's style and make-up obsession. Look, I'll be the first to say I don't understand how some people choose to wake up hours earlier so they can apply the perfect make up every single day before they step out of the house, but that's not my problem. Nor it's Jonah's, and the way he went about this was annoying and problematic. So, no, Jonah, you don't get to force Calla to wear less make-up just because you want her to by being an ass about it.

So, had that make-up BS not been part of the story, The Simple Wild would've been a five-star read for me, because it gave me two love stories to obsess over and it broke my heart and put it back together with that adorable ending.

*If you liked this review (or not), if you read the book (or not), come say hello and leave your comments bellow.

*Grabby Hands* Release & Review - Professor Feelgood (Master of Love #2) by Leisa Rayven

Image and blurb from Goodreads

Title: Professor Feelgood
(Master of Love #2)
Author: Leisa Rayven
Publication Date: September 16th, 2018

Category/Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

What's a girl to do when a man who's countless shades of wrong feels oh-so-right?

Ambitious book editor Asha Tate is a hopeless romantic. Despite her mediocre track record with men, she believes in swooning, sighing, and the everlasting love of true soul mates. Sure, sex is okay, but she’s not someone who’s ever been driven by her animal urges.


Until now.


When Asha stumbles upon the scorching hot Instagram feed of someone calling himself Professor Feelgood, she falls in lust for the first time. Not only is she left panting over the professor’s insane body, but his angst-filled poetry about losing his one true love speaks straight to her soul. 


Desperately in need of a bestseller for her struggling publishing company, Asha knows the professor’s potential to sell to his millions of loyal followers could be the lifeline her bosses need. However, the ink is barely dry on a book deal before she realizes she’s made a terrible mistake. Sure, the professor is incredibly talented and sexier than any man has a right to be, but the man behind the persona isn’t at all who she pictured. In real life, he’s intense, arrogant and infuriating, and his uncanny ability to rub her the wrong way turns her dream project into a total nightmare.

Knowing that the professor is everything she doesn’t want in a man should help Asha ignore her occasional urges to mount him, but she quickly learns that explosive, unwanted chemistry can make even smart people do stupid things.

Don't miss this sexy new standalone from the international bestselling author of Bad Romeo and Broken Juliet.

Goodreads

Buy Link: Amazon

4.5  “All the Feels” Stars

I absolutely love how Leisa Rayven, one of go-to romance authors, always comes up with interesting themes for her books. After an escort who makes romantic fantasies come to life in Mister Romance, she brings us an Instagram celebrity who writes poems about his heartbreak and the woman he loves.

Like Eden, the protagonist of Mister Romance, her sister Asha is another strong, likable woman who makes reading this book easy and enjoyable from page one. Falling for her takes no effort and her voice is just as strong as I’m used to in books written by this author.

I also thought the story developed in a similar way to Mister Romance (which isn’t a complaint AT ALL), with the identity of the love interest being a mystery for a good part of the first third of the book. When the reveal came and the banter kicked in, I had everything I needed because I knew how this would eventually end and I was ALL IN!!

  

I can’t say much about the reveal and the romance, because I don’t want to spoil the story too much, but the romance arc gave me two of the tropes I love the most: hate to love + BFF to love.

Then, the story hits the halfway mark and things start to get angsty and hot, which makes it PEERFFECT for me.

I have to say I knew what the twist would be, but I caught myself doubting it would happen a few times, and the way Leisa wrote the story is the one to blame for that. It only made everything sweeter. Sweet is also the perfect way to describe the ending.

So, once again, Leisa Rayven gave me a romance book to love and I love her for that.

*If you liked this review (or not), if you read the book (or not), come say hello and leave your comments bellow.

*Grabby Hands* Review - Someone Else's Ocean by Kate Stewart

Image and blurb from Goodreads

Title: Someone Else's Ocean

Author: Kate Stewart

Publication Date: July 31st, 2018

Adult Contemporary Romance

The first time I met Ian Kemp in the sparkling blue waters of St. Thomas, I was six years old and we shared a summer beneath the stars.

The second time I met Ian Kemp, he was a shell of the boy I once knew. Turbulent and infuriating, he refused my friendship at every turn. Like me, he was a casualty of life’s cruelty, but we were planets apart. 

We’d both sought refuge on the island, hoping to find our anchor. Instead, we found each other and managed to reclaim our stars...until we both got swept away.

Goodreads

Amazon

4.5 "Put your coffee down" Stars

This book made me feel way too much and I can only express my thoughts using gifs.

Reading the blurb

After checking the rating on Goodreads

Koti's development

Ian and his daughter

Koti and Ian

Me after the epilogue

Me finding out this author has other books

*If you liked this review (or not), if you read the book (or not), come say hello and leave your comments bellow.

*Grabby Hands* Release & Review - All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover

Image and blurb from Goodreads

Title: All Your Perfects
Author: Colleen Hover
Age Category/Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

Publication Date: July 17th, 2018
Publisher: Atria Books

Colleen Hoover delivers a tour de force novel about a troubled marriage and the one old forgotten promise that might be able to save it.

Quinn and Graham’s perfect love is threatened by their imperfect marriage. The memories, mistakes, and secrets that they have built up over the years are now tearing them apart. The one thing that could save them might also be the very thing that pushes their marriage beyond the point of repair.

All Your Perfects is a profound novel about a damaged couple whose potential future hinges on promises made in the past. This is a heartbreaking page-turner that asks: Can a resounding love with a perfect beginning survive a lifetime between two imperfect people?

Goodreads

Buy Links: Amazon

4 “No Black & White + Marriage” Stars

CoHo writes complex characters. I guess most people who are familiar with her books (or at least the ones I read) would agree that there are a lot of grey areas in her stories; meaning, the characters do shitty things and the situations they have to face are shitty, but you still feel for them because they’re only humans. That’s one of the things I love most about CoHo’s writing: she makes her characters flawed and humans. That makes it easier for me to relate to them and their stories.

It happened again with All Your Perfects, a book I’d been anxiously expecting for what felt like forever, but was actually less than six months.

Anyway… CoHo tackles another extremely important theme in this novel and it focuses on a (gasp!) married couple. I can’t remember the last time I read a love story between two people that have been married for a while, still love each other, but have been facing major problems.

For me, this was definitely a new and exciting reading experience. I loved how, even though Quinn and Graham have been married for 7 years, we still get chapters showing us how they fell in love, so we get to fall in love with them as they do for each other.

We also get to watch countless heartbreaking moments as these two struggle with something that is beyond their control (such an important topic and it was handled beautifully, in my opinion). It was impossible not to feel for Quinn and Graham, because they were dealing with the same problem but moving apart instead of coming together, which is what happens a lot of times in marriages.

Some might say, well, they could’ve talked about it, but a lot of times talking doesn’t come easy because the other person feels like what they have to say is too ugly/heavy, or they can’t even handle thinking about it, let alone speaking it out loud. I felt like some of that was what happened with Quinn, at least.

It was hard watching a couple that clearly loved each other deeply slowly fall apart because they were holding on to an ideal that wasn’t possible any longer. Sometimes we get so lost in what we want life to be that we forget to appreciate how it is. That’s a lesson Quinn and Graham had to learn the hard way.

And I’ll tell you, there was a moment there when I thought their relationship was unfixable. I’m keeping this review spoiler free, so I won’t get into details, but I was disappointed that CoHo chose to add that to the storyline. There was enough drama already, and this felt unnecessary and out of character. I’m trying to pretend it didn’t happen so it doesn’t ruin what was a beautiful, touching and important narrative.

Like all CoHo’s books I’ve read so far, All Your Perfects was feels upon feels upon feels, lots of angst, characters making good and bad choices, and me rooting for them to find their happy ending.

 

*If you liked this review (or not), if you read the book (or not), come say hello and leave your comments bellow.

Release Blitz & Review - Tiebreaker by P. Dangelico

Title: Tiebreaker
Author: P. Dangelico
Age Category/Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

Publication Date: July 25th, 2018

All is fair in love and second chances.

Professional tennis star and everybody’s darling, Maren Murphy is going home. Unfortunately, going home is the last thing she wants to do. She doesn’t know what’s worse, being named the executor of her grandfather’s estate, or having to deal with her grandfather’s business partner, Noah Callahan. That devil’s spawn may have broken her young, tender heart, but this time it’s advantage Murphy. If anyone’s calling game, set, and match, it’ll be Maren.

Re-match on.

Noah Callahan is a screw up. Well…he used to be a screw up. Bad boy reputations, however, are not easily shed. He’s been a successful business owner for over a decade. You would think the people in his hometown would’ve forgiven and forgotten already, but alas no. Until his one shot at redemption walks into his office. Maren Murphy is the only woman he ever loved––and the one he purposely drove away.

She’s vowed to hate him for all eternity. He’s vowed to love her forever. Can a second chance be the tiebreaker.

Read Today! 

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2LCe0zV 

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2A7Dq3X 

Add to Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2KSNguI

3.5 “Tennis and Second Chances” Stars

ARC provided by the author

Thank you!

First, let me make it clear that I will read anything P. Dangelico writes because she created Ethan freaking Vaughn and she’s up there with Mariana Zapatta as slow-burn queens for me. So there’s that.

I didn’t know about this book until I got an email about an ARC tour and I immediately clicked the PLEASE, I NEED AN ARC button. As soon as I got it, I started reading. That’s what happens when I get my hands on stories by my favorite authors.

First page and once again I’m hit by that feeling of “I’m going to love this”, because all the right elements are there: voice, great writing, humor.  Mid chapter 2 and I’m already madly in love with the entire thing and with Maren, the main character. She’s super funny, relatable and has such a strong personality.

I’m normally slow to warm up to second chance romance, but this had a childhood friends that were lovers and now hate each other theme, so it was much easier to get into it.

Another thing I’m usually not a fan of but ended loving here were the flashback chapters. Maren and Noah had some pretty adorable moments as kids, like this:

“Will you marry me when we get old? I promise I won’t fight with you.

It sounded like a good plan at the time. She liked sports, jumping off cliffs, and video games.

Something else I loved about this was Maren’s relationship with her family. There were some heartbreaking moments, but mostly they were adorable and fun together. Her sister, Annabelle, is already my favorite person and I can’t wait for her book.

So, about Noah…He didn’t narrate as many chapters as Maren’s, but I got to know him a little bit more through his POV. I still wish there had been more Noah in this book (especially more Noah working hard to earn Maren’s forgiveness). Sometimes it felt like Maren and everything else in her life had more space in the narrative than the romance between Maren and Noah; and I missed more scenes with them in between the reveal and the happy ever after.

It was pretty clear from early one what the reveal would be about. It’s something that usually makes me dislike the book, but I still wanted to give it a chance because of my love for this author’s previous work. Well, the reveal turned out to be what I expected, and the reasons for the character’s behavior was there. There were a lot of extenuating circumstances surrounding the whole thing. I’m just not sure if they made it better or worse for me.

In the end, this book wouldn’t have worked had it been written by a less talented author with a less relatable main character. Since those two elements were present, it made for a fun read, with a lot of great moments.

Dangelico loves romance in all forms, cuddly creatures (four legged and two), really bloody sexy pulp, the NY Jets (although she’s reconsidering after this season), and to while away the day at the barn (apparently she does her best thinking shoveling horse crap). What she’s not enamored with is referring to herself in the third person and social media so don’t expect her to get on Twitter anytime soon. Oh, and although she was born in Italy, she’s been Jersey Strong since she turned six.

Connect with P. Dangelico:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p.dangelico/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PDanAuthor 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pdangelicoauthor/ 

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2C91Fv7 

Website: http://www.pdangelico.com/ 

Stay up to date with all things P. Dangelico. Join her mailing list, today: https://www.pdangelico.com/contact

*If you liked this review (or not), if you read the book (or not), come say hello and leave your comments bellow.