Release & Review - Over Us, Over You by Whitney G.

Image and blurb from Goodreads

Title: Over Us, Over You
Author: Whitney G.
Release Date: December 7th, 2017

Age Category/ Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

From New York Times bestselling author Whitney G. comes a falling for my older brother’s best friend romance.

Subject: Delete this message after you read it...

Dear Hayley,

I'm assuming you're still hungover, so I'll make this brief.

Last night, you slipped under my sheets (without my permission), and we almost had sex. I got the hell out of the bed once I realized it was you, and I took you home.

That's the story.

The end.

Period. 

Just in case you've forgotten, you're my best friend's little sister. We will never be anything more. (We can't be anything more.) Our previous friendship is still unresolved--or "over" in your terms, so I'd prefer if we worked on becoming 'just friends' again since you're in town.

Nonetheless, I'm not a man who leaves questions unanswered--even the drunken ones, so to properly close our inappropriate conversation:

1) Yes, I liked the way your lips felt against mine when you were on top of me.
2) Yes, I do "prefer" rough sex, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't rough with you.
3) No, I had no idea you were still a virgin...

This message never happened,
Corey

Goodreads

Buy Links: Amazon

2 “What happened?” Stars

Even though I think I haven’t reviewed them, I’ve read a few novels and novellas by this author, and I’ve enjoyed them. But this book was a complete mess. I can barely believe this was written by the same author as Sincerely, Carter, which I really liked.

I first heard about Over Us, Over You a few weeks ago during the cover reveal tour, and I was so excited to see it was a “falling for my best friend’s little sister” romance. I patiently waited for its release, but it disappointed me beyond words.

First, Hayley is one of the most irritating, unlikable, immature main characters I’ve read about in a while. She’s supposed to be in her mid-twenties (I think), but she sounds like a spoiled fifteen-year-old.

I was initially okay with her despite the fact that she took the money her brother sent to pay college tuition and invested in a small café business that didn’t survive a few months. It was a little silly and immature, but okay, I was willing to overlook that because she made it sound like she’d worked hard to make it work, but had been unlucky. I was wrong. After getting to know Hayley a bit better, I realized she was simply lazy and not all that smart.

Hayley really got on my nerve when, after losing her business and getting thrown out of her apartment, she decided to go back to San Francisco and ask her brother for help. Her big brother, who also happened to be super overprotective and a self-made millionaire. Oh, that’s when Hayley shows her true colors. Her brother doesn’t hesitate to get her on a private plane, get her  freaking huge house and create a position for her at his company. A company he built from nothing. What does Hayley do? Refuse to move into the house until her friend and former business partner comes to town—a friend who’ll also be getting a job at Hayley’s brother’s company simply because Hayley asked for it. There’s some excuse about how Hayley has problems sleeping so she doesn’t want to be alone in the house, but honestly, none of it is explained in a way that makes much sense. Hayley obviously doesn’t care that she’s creating a problem for her brother and instead of trying to fix her situation, she waits for him to do so, which leads him to ask his best friend (the love interest) to take Hayley in.

Does Hayley seem grateful for that? Not really. Does she go on and respect that rules Corey, the best friend who let her stay with him, set for her to live in his house? Not really, either. Were these rules pretty absurd? Sure, but I don’t know about you, but if someone was letting me stay at their place for free, I wouldn’t be wearing their clothes without permission or playing music at night just because I couldn’t sleep. *rolls eyes*

But that wasn’t even my biggest problem with Hayley. Her behavior at work was. Dude! Dude! The woman couldn’t be bothered to get to work on time or do anything useful even when her brother had practically created a position for her so she wouldn’t be sitting home doing nothing. A little appreciation wouldn’t hurt, woman! Just get there on time and do a decent job, at least. Try to show him you’re grateful he’s buying you a house and giving you a car! I can’t understand what the author was thinking when she wrote Hayley the way she did. Between her brother giving her anything she wanted and Corey taking her on private planes for short vacations around the world, she didn’t have to work for anything and she couldn’t even bother to be grateful?! No. I can’t get behind that. A lack of work ethic is something I simply can’t forgive in a protagonist. No one likes leeches.

Corey wasn’t that much better. He had some big jerk moments for no reason, but at least he seemed to have worked hard for his money. And I was honestly too pissed at Hayley to really pay much attention to Corey. On the plus side, I thought the story had a lot of potential judging for their backstory. With the right vision, those two could’ve had a really touching love story.

Another thing that felt extremely off about this story was the dialogue. It was so unrealistic, I can’t even explain how bad it was. There were so many scenes that caused me to roll my eyes and go “I can’t believe this is happening”. I honestly don’t understand what happened here.

I had high hopes for Over Us, Over You, but unfortunately this book didn’t work for me at all.

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

Release & Review - Begin Again (Again #1) by Mona Kasten

Image and blurb from Goodreads

Title: Begin Again
(Again #1)
Author: Mona Kasten
Release Date: October 10th, 2017

Age Category/ Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Bastei Entertainment

He makes the rules. She breaks them all.

A new start. It's the only thing keeping Allie Harper going, when she packs up her life and moves across the country to Woodshill, Oregon. She's about to start college, desperate to leave the ghosts of her past behind her. Even if that means never talking to her parents again.

Now the hard part - finding an apartment before classes start. Just when it seems she'll have to live out of her car, Allie visits one more place. It's beautiful. With one exception: can she stand being roommates with campus bad boy Kaden White? Sure, Kaden is sexy with his tattoos and careless attitude, but he's also an arrogant jerk. With nowhere else to go, Allie moves in.

The first thing Kaden does is make a set of rules. Either Allie obeys, or she's out:

1. Don't talk about your girl problems.
2. Keep your mouth shut if I bring someone home.
3. We will NEVER hook up.

Easy enough, thinks Allie. Who would want to get involved with a brute like Kaden? But the more she gets to know him, the more she sees beyond his gruff facade. He, too, is harboring some painful secrets. For Kaden and Allie, it gets harder and harder to ignore the sparks between them. And the lines between the rules start to blur-

Begin Again is a beautiful romance that shows us just how possible it is to start over. To find freedom in heartbreak and love in the most unlikely places.

Goodreads

Buy Links: Amazon

2 “Listen to your friend” Stars

ARC via NetGalley.

Thank you!

I can see Begin Again being big during the NA golden years a while back. It had the key elements: young people going to college and making dubious choices, lots of drama, bad boy hero and a nice girl heroine. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work for me now.

I’m not saying I’m over New Adult. I’m not. I read two NA books this week alone that I absolutely loved, but they didn’t feel as stilted as Begin Again.

I understand this book was initially written in German, so I’m blaming the stilted and sometimes uncomfortable dialogue on translation problems, but I don’t think I can blame translation for the rest of the issues I had with this book.

First, I didn’t dislike Ally, but I didn’t like her, either. She lacked the backbone needed to make me connect with her. Spineless main characters are one of my biggest pet peeves, and the way Ally let her family and Kaden walk all over her didn’t work for me.

Kaden…Well, Kaden, I’m all in for alpha males, but you took things a little too far, huh, buddy? Kaden is a jerk. There’s no nice way to say it. To his credit, he admits to being one. To my credit, his reason to being a jerk didn’t convince me.

Kaden’s trauma wasn’t big enough to justify his actions, especially one toward the ending—the break up scene. What he did was cruel, unnecessary and I was Scott (Ally’s friend and the most sensible person in this story) the entire time after Ally confessed what Kaden did to her.

Scott is the best part of this story. His constant “Sorry, people, but that doesn’t work for me” comments about Kaden’s behaviors gave me life.

I felt represented by Scott throughout this story, because he wouldn’t go all “aww, cute” whenever Kaden showed up after screwing up. He’d try to make Ally see some sense, though that seemed to be a lost battle.

I did enjoy some of the moments between Kaden and Ally mid-book, because I thought he was progressing toward opening up to her and being less rude for no apparent reason. But then he’d do something stupid and I’d take that step back.

Maybe if Ally had been more sure of herself and stood up for what she wanted, I could’ve enjoyed this book. But with Kaden being a jerk and Ally lacking a backbone, plus the problems with the dialogue, this book was a lost battle for me. 

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

Release & Review - Chasing Red (Red #1) by Isabelle Ronin

Image and blurb from Goodreads

Title: Chasing Red
(Red #1)
Author: Isabelle Ronin
Release Date: September 5th, 2017

Age Category/ Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Find out why millions of readers love Chasing Red

Chasing Red is the Wattpad phenomenon with over 130 million reads, and one million reads each week. Revised and with new original content, it will be published in two volumes, Chasing Red and Always Red. New readers and fans alike will fall in love with Red and Caleb--over and over again.

HER HEART MIGHT BE THE ONE THING HE CAN'T WIN...
When cynical straight-A college student Veronica "Red" Strafford gets kicked out of her apartment, notorious basketball player Caleb Lockhart offers her a place to stay. Intensely drawn to her, Caleb wants something for the first time in his life. But Veronica's painful past makes trusting difficult, and her heart might just be the one thing Caleb can't win.

They said she was going to be my ruin...then let her ruin me. 

Goodreads

Buy Links: Amazon

2 “Color me disappointed” Stars

ARC via NetGalley.

Thank you, Sourcebooks Casablanca!

I'm definitely one of those New Adult fans saddened by the fact that the genre didn't stick. Sure there was that BOOM a few years ago, but traditional publishers seem to avoid NA books at all costs, and it's been hard to even find self-published material lately.

So I was intrigued when I saw Chasing Red on NetGalley.

A Wattpad phenomenon, Chasing Red promises exactly what I look for in NA books: college kids falling in love and lots of drama. The problem was I didn't like the drama and I didn't fall in love with the characters.

Told from the POV of both main characters, Caleb and Veronica, the book simply lacked any wow factor for me. Caleb's POV chapters were a little better than Veronica's, but not good enough to impress me. As to Veronica, I simply didn't care for her that much. I couldn't connect with them, which means the book didn't have much of a chance of intriguing me.

I was mainly disappointed because the premise in itself usually hooks me. I'm a sucker for "the girl in trouble goes to live with bad boy and they fall in love" kind of story, but the lack of chemistry between Caleb and Veronica, the stilted dialogue, and my lack of connection with the characters kept me from fully enganging with the story.

No matter how hungry I was for another college romance book, Chasing Red didn't do it for me.

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

Review - Hate 2 Lovers (2 Lovers Series #2) by K. Webster and J.D. Hollyfield

Title: Hate 2 Lovers

(2 Lovers Series #2)

Authors: K. Webster and J.D. Hollyfield 

Publication Date: April 4, 2017 

Category/Genres: Adult Contemporary Romantic Comedy

She hates him and his big head. He likes her and her big t*ts. She hates him because she somehow ends up naked every time she sees him. He likes her because she somehow ends up naked every time he sees her. She hates him because the big oaf knocked her up with his kid. He likes her because she’s carrying his child. She hates the way he gets inside her head. He likes the way she lets him see glimpses of her heart. Andie: I hate you. Roman: I know…but I’m going to change that. ***This is book two in the series. It is best if you read book one first to fully understand this couple’s story.***

Goodreads

Buy Link: Amazon

2 “Too much bickering” Stars

ARC provided by the authors.

Thank you.

I'm the biggest fan of the hate to lovers trope. I'll grab a book just because of the premise of getting a good enemy-to-lovers romance. You put that on the title and you sure get me salivating. The problem is (I never thought I'd say this) this time it didn't work for me. At all.

First thing I'll say, definitely read the first book in the 2 Lovers series because part of the reason I didn't like this one was because it felt like I was starting the story in the middle. To be completely fair, there's a warning saying "It's best if you read book one first" before the blurb, so I take full responsability for not doing as instructed.

I could've ignored the fact that I started Andie and Roman story in the middle. It wasn't that much of a big deal. The fact that I didn't like Andie (and sometimes Roman) at all was, though. And disliking the main characters wasn't my only problem, either.

5% in I wrote on my Kindle notes:

"A few pages in and we already have:

1. Story starting midscene

2. Sentences ending in ?!

3. A pregnant MC ordering drinks

4. So much slut shaming."

Maybe I was being a little harsh, because Andie didn't drink what she ordered and the whole ?! isn't that much of a big deal (another round of edits can fix that), but the slut shaming was too hard and too constant in this book.

And Andie did most of it. She was really annoying. The way she talked about other women as if they were all (aside from her BFF) sluts really got on my nerves. Can we not have that? Please? Can not all women in romance stories other than the MC and her inner circle be bitches? I just hated how she called women "skank" and thought every woman in the story was trying to get to Roman or already sleeping with him, which also makes her seem jealous and insecure.

Roman wasn't much better in his treatment of other women. While he let Andie do whatever she pleased, he was rude to other women she felt threatened by when they were just basically doing the same thing or even less offensive things than Andie. It just pissed me off.

Andie was way too imature to be likable. She was constantly screaming at everyone, accusing Roman of cheating or lying or whatever. She threw objects at Roman, which is not cool. Not cool at all. She didn't give a shit about professionalism or ethics. She was just too much. For me, Andie is an example of "too much voice". The authors tried to hard with her and it showed.

Since I couldn't stand Andie and Roman wasn't that much better, the chance I liked the romance was pratically zero. I didn't feel the chemistry because I was too busy cringing whenever Andie screamed or screeched or overreacted. So, yeah, it didn't work for me.

Like I said in the beginning, I expected to love this book because it promised me one of my favorite romance tropes with lots of humor, but unfortunately it didn't work for me at all. Judging from all the great reviews on Goodreads, maybe you'll feel completely different, so if the premises interest you, maybe read those reviews before you make your decision.

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

Release & Review - The Prince's Plan by E.M. Youman

Image and blurb from Goodreads

Title: The Prince's Plan

Author: E.M. Youman

Publication date: February 7th, 2017

Category/Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

She can’t trust him…or her desire for him.

Marnie Ducello is way past second chances. Most days she’s fighting to forget the past and stay sober—a combination she doesn’t always pull off. She’s done waiting for Prince Charming. So when a sexy stranger turns out to be an arrogant, cab-stealing jerk, Marnie isn’t surprised. If only her rash reaction to his rudeness hadn’t resulted in her arrest. . .

Singer Danny Roland is no prince. He has fame, fortune, and a not-so-hidden addiction. He’s running from memories of the lives he’s ruined. Keeping his personal demons under control and out of the tabloids is what Danny wants more than anything. After a simple drug deal goes very wrong, Danny decides to make karmic amends—by finding the woman he abandoned to the police. Marnie’s a recovering addict, too, so he offers her the deal of a lifetime: a job as his personal assistant and a safe space in his home to live in if she stays sober.

Marnie is soon swept up into Danny’s world of prying paparazzi and vengeful exes. She can’t help the burning attraction between them, but she can’t trust Danny—or herself. And when Danny’s brother begins to pursue her, Marnie and Danny must both come to terms with the painful secrets that haunt them. They’re both broken…but maybe together they can be unbreakable.

2 “Sex, drugs and a little music” Stars

ARC provided by the author.

Thank you.

Here’s another book I expected to love based on premise and great ratings on Goodreads, but couldn’t connect at all.

The premise is quite promising: two broken people trying to get past their addiction and start a new life get together and fall in love. The problem is, 50% into the book and there isn’t a sign these two are falling in love.

This review is about to get spoilery, so… warning:

Don’t get what I said about the “falling in love” part wrong because I’m not a insta-love fan at all. Having said that, by the time I’m reaching halfway into a romance story, I want these people to have developed strong feelings for each other if they’re not already acting on those feelings. Instead of having that, though, we have the LI having sex with someone else in front of the MC.

I mean… That’s a big no in romance books, isn’t it? Well, it has to be.

When I pick up a contemporary romance title, I don’t want to see the LI and the MC having said with anyone else, unless it’s a ménage story or it features a love triangle; but none of that represents The Prince’s Plan.

And that’s not the only problem I had with the book.

For starters, I believe this story suffers from the “started too early” syndrome. The author didn’t need the first few chapters or Danny’s (the LI) country singer girlfriend at all. The book could’ve easily started with Danny getting in trouble because of relapse, risking his sister’s safety and then having a wake-up. Everything else felt unnecessary and just prolonged what I really wanted to see: Marnie and Danny together. Plus, again, I didn’t want to see Danny having sex with a third person.

My second and probably biggest problem was Marnie. I simply couldn’t connect with her whatsoever. I didn’t find her likable and I struggled with her lack of conviction or desire to get out of the life she was living. I wanted her to want to fight, and for the first half of the book she simply didn’t. It just got on my nerves that she had that opportunity handed to her and at the first sign of someone offering her drugs, she was more than ready to take them. Sure relapses are part of an addict’s story, and it made for good drama, but it could’ve worked a lot better if she had at least tried to resist it.

Danny wasn’t that much better. While his attitude toward drugs and his addiction was better than Marnie’s, the same can’t be said about his attitude toward women. I didn’t like how he treated his ex-girlfriend (no matter how awful she was), Marnie or his other hookups. How he acted like nothing was happening while he practically forced Marnie to stand in a room and talk to him while he was having sex with someone else? Disrespectful to all involved.

The side characters were also problematic, especially the women. For almost the entire first half of the book, the women seemed to pretty much hate or get jealous of Marnie; or they were pretty insane, like Danny's ex-girlfriend. Oh, well, that's a  very problematic portrayal, if you ask me.

And bringing in that super long flashback halfway through? Not the best way to keep me reading when I'm already having the problems mentioned above.

With the first half of the book focusing on everything else but the romance, and the characters not being likable enough to keep my attention, when the romance finally kicked in I was already disconnected from the story.

On the positive side, the writing was pretty solid. There were the eventual POV shifts, but other than that, the writing was good.

Again, I expected to really like this book and, if you can get past the issues I had with the story, you might, too. Just take a look at the other reviews before you make that call.

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

Review - This is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

Title: This is Where It Ends
Author: Marieke Nijkamp

Publication Date: January 5th, 2016

Category/Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

10:00 a.m. The principal of Opportunity High School finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve.

10:02 a.m. The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class.

10:03 a.m. The auditorium doors won't open.

10:05 a.m. Someone starts shooting.

Told from four different perspectives over the span of fifty-four harrowing minutes, terror reigns as one student’s calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.

Goodreads

Buy Links: Amazon 

2 “I just  can’t” Stars

I just can’t get behind this book. I don’t like being mean on reviews, but this is such a serious topic that I’m afraid my review will come out a little mean. So, warning ahead (and apologies in advance):

Warning: slightly mean review. Probably best not to read it if you loved the book. If you do read it, though, please don’t curse me.

“This is Where It Ends” is a NYT best seller, and I can understand why this book was on that list. It has a lot of strong elements that could make a great story (and there are plenty of reviewers who think it did make a great story): a strong concept, a topic that will sure touch the heart of many people, a diverse cast of characters and good writing. The problem I had with this book was its execution. I don’t understand why this book was written the way it was.

For fifty-five minutes, we watch a student shoot his fellow classmates and teachers. And that’s about all that happens.

Don’t get me wrong here. I am terrified of this type of situations. I’m not American (not that I’m saying this only happens in the U.S.A, but it sure happens a lot there), and I’ve never gone through something similar, but thinking about all the horrible shootings that had happened still makes me want to cry. That was something I expected from this book, too… But it failed to touch me on that level.

I admire the author’s idea and the risks that come with writing a book about school shootings, but unfortunately this book brought nothing new to the picture. At times, I felt like I was reading the news. It didn’t have any depth. It was just four people talking about a lunatic with a gun. I still don’t know who those people really were. I sure as heck don’t know why the shooter acted the way he did—sure there was a motive thrown in there, but it didn’t feel realistic. The way I see it, he was just a lunatic with a gun. That’s it. And that’s so not what I wanted from this.

I expected so much more from this story. In fact, I expected a story, and not a retelling of facts that we (unfortunately) see on the news more often than any of us wish we did. I wanted to see the shooter break… I wanted to understand what made him break. Truly. Not what was given to us in a rush. I know some people are uncomfortable with the idea of having the shooter’s POV (I might be one of them), so I’m not saying we needed that. But we needed to experience what drove a boy who protected his little sis to grab a gun, lock dozens of students and teachers inside a room (his little sis, included) and simply shoot them.

And there was so much death. The fact that I didn’t know those characters made it even worse. Not because I couldn’t feel anything when they were shot and killed… I did. I felt many things. Sadness. Anger. Grief. But not exactly for those characters. It was for everyone who’s ever died from mass shootings. For all the innocent lives lost. While I have to congratulate the author for evoking those feelings (see the 2 stars up there), those still weren’t directed to the characters in her book, which makes me think there’s something seriously wrong with the story.

While I don’t disapprove of the choice to have four POVs, I can’t say I connected with them, either. I didn’t like Autumm at all. I’m sorry, I just… I couldn’t get behind her. There were too many situations where her actions just made me dislike her instantly. I won't go into details because of spoilers, but let's just say that as her sister and, apparently, the main reason he was there shooting innocent people, she should've tried harder to stop that before he made all those victims.

Claire just didn’t do anything for me.

Sylv and her brother were a bit better. But I still expected more from their connection. I think Tomas was a better character than his sister, though she was the one in the spotlight with Autumm. When it came to those siblings, Tomas' feelings were a bit more clear than Sylv's. I definitely expected a different reaction from her in the end.... Or better yet, I expected a reaction, but I don't think she had one and that was a major WTF moment.

Something else that stood out was how slow and innefective the cops were. I mean... the shooter terrorized the school for almost an hour and no police? Seriously? I mean... Seriously? Nope. 

I could’ve ignored all (or most) of this if the story had brought something… anything different or unique. I needed more. I needed something different from news report or the things we can find on Google or Wikipedia. I realize this is harsh, but if you’re going to touch such an important subject, you can’t just play safe. You need to make sure readers understand why this book was written. You need to add layers and layers, and with this book, I couldn’t find one.

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