Review: Unspoken (Woodlands #2) by

Unspoken
By: Jen Frederick
Release Date: September 16, 2013
Series: Woodlands #2

Description:
Whore. Slut. Typhoid Mary.

I've been called all these at Central College. One drunken night, one act of irresponsible behavior, and my reputation was ruined. Guys labeled me as easy and girls shied away. To cope, I stayed away from Central social life and away from Central men, so why is it that my new biology lab partner is so irresistible to me?

He's everything I shouldn't want. A former Marine involved in illegal fighting with a quick trigger temper and an easy smile for all the women. His fists aren't the danger to me, though, it's his charm. He's sliding his way into my heart and I'm afraid that he's going to be the one to break me.

Impulsive. Unthinking. Hot tempered.

I allow instinct to rule my behavior. If it feels good, do it, has been my motto because if I spend too much time thinking, I'll begin to remember exactly where I came from. At Central College, I've got fighting and I've got women and I thought I was satisfied until I met her.

She's everything I didn't realize I wanted and the more time I spend with her, the more I want her. But she's been hurt too much in the past and I don't want to be the one to break her. I know I should walk away, but I just can't.

Review:
A continuation of the Woodland's series and Jen Frederick did not disappoint int he telling of the story of Noah's best friend - Bo.  Although I was hoping he did get together with Grace's cousin Lana, that is not the case for Bo but he did have a great love interest in this book.  Very empowering to stand up for yourself and who you are. A great addition to this series.

We are meeting AM for the first time and she is constantly in hiding from people on campus because she was labeled as a slut, all this because of one drunken night with a Lacrosse player and another who felt dejected when she didn't want him.  Rumors are nasty little things that get out of control and cause a lot of damage unnecessarily because people just don't have the time to find out the truth, it's all about the gossip mill.  But Ann Marie Weston is fine, because she has her best friend Ellie, and her neighbors as well to keep her sane through all of this.  That is until she meets Bo in one of her classes and they become paired as partners on a project they have to complete.

Bo is Noah's best friend and has always been known as a ladies man, he's never thought of settling down with only one person, but there is something about AM that is different.  Bo is not an official MMA fighter like Noah is but he has his bouts and can never really become professional because he lacks following the rules.  But when it comes to AM all he wants to do is show her how good a person he can be with her and how good a person she makes him by being with him.  They both have their issues and sordid pasts but they compliment each other in all the right ways.

Their attraction is strong and as much as AM first protested it was only herself that was holding back and when she finally let him in that's when everything started going well for both of them.  They overcome things in their pasts that should have been taken care of before but together they were stronger and helped them achieve this.  I really enjoyed them as a couple and they definitely had some hot scenes together with no inhibitions at all.  Again they complimented each other in all aspects.

I really enjoyed this book and the secondary characters in this one as well.  We still had Noah and Grace and even Lana showed up a little but I love how they focused just a little bit more on Finn as well.  Maybe the next book will be about him (cross fingers), but all the guys who live in the Woodlands are great and I can't wait to explore more about them and their love interests.  It's always nice when things work out they way they should. 

Another great cover and this time I feel as if there is support shown between the two people on the cover and that is what this book was definitely about, support for one another and the love they share.  Great book, good continuation of the series.

Disclaimer:
I received this book from New Adult Book Club on Goodreads and the author, so that I may give my honest opinion and a review. Whether it is good or not please do not let it discourage you from purchasing/reading the book yourself and forming your own opinion. What might be good for me may not be good for you and vice versa. With that said, Happy Reading Everyone!!!

Review: The Wedding Date by Yolanda Allen

The Wedding Date (Sexy Romance Novella)
By: Yolanda Allen
Release Date:

Description:
For Mature Audiences 18+ due to strong language and sexual content

Jason Tuckerman is tired of being the single guy at the family functions, but the only woman he wants on his arm is engaged to another man. His brother's wedding is in two weeks, and he wishes his best friend, Whitney Ryan, would go with him.

After moving to New York to be with her fiancé, Brent, he breaks up with her! Now Whitney's stuck in a lease with a man who doesn't want her, and can't see any way out. She's drowning her sorrows at a bar when she thinks of Jason, and after too many cocktails, decides to give him a fateful call.

Review:
This was a very quick, easy and light read that is sure to tickle your fancy or something else. 

I personally don't normally read books like this because I thought it was a new adult but I got the feeling from the very beginning it was more of an adult romance book.  Nothing new adult about it really because I don't think they mentioned the ages of the characters.  Regardless it was a little more than I was expecting in one way and less in another.  The story is a general story which I love to read about how a best friend loves a girl, girl finally is alone and has a chance to be with that best friend.  I know you know the story and it's always fun to watch when realization hits the other person.  Because you know they are friends for a reason, because they so obviously belong together.

This is what the book was about, and of course you have the ever jealous ex that he doesn't realize what he has until it's gone, or going or was there something else going on with him.  Typical story that always gets me going.  Only thing is I wasn't too fond on the way the characters talked, and I couldn't really connect with any of the characters, they felt forced and wishy washy which is annoying sometimes.  Just do it already, you know what I mean.  I just didn't get attached to the characters and couldn't genuinely root for them because I already knew what was going to happen I didn't have to.

Overall quick, easy ready that will get your temperature rising.


Quote:
I know that you're just probably doing this because you're hurt and upset and in some way you're trying to get back at Brent, but…Whitney…I love kissing you."
(Kindle Locations 245-246)

Disclaimer
I received this book from New Adult Book Club on Goodreads and the author Yolanda Allen, so that I may give my honest opinion and a review. Whether it is good or not please do not let it discourage you from purchasing/reading the book yourself and forming your own opinion. What might be good for me may not be good for you and vice versa. With that said, Happy Reading Everyone!!!

Review: Astarte's Wrath by Trisha Wolfe

Astarte's Wrath
By: Trisha Wolfe
Release Date: March 2, 2013
Series: Kythan Guardians #2

Description:
A tragic love story.

Two thousand years before Dez Harkly developed her secret powers, Guardian Astarte was vowed to protect by the binds enslaving her to the Egyptian pharaohs. Discover the prophecy that originated from a very different time, and spans generations to link two very different girls.

This is the beginning.

Set against the backdrop of the Battle of Actium, in the city of Alexandria, Star struggles with her guardian duties as her feelings for the newly named pharaoh of Egypt grow deeper. Not only is Caesarion her duty, he’s the son of Cleopatra, and he’s human. All of which makes their love forbidden.

But when a conspiracy linked to Caesar creeps into Alexandria, Star must choose between helping her fellow Kythan free themselves of their servitude, and protecting her charge—the last pharaoh—while Egypt burns around her.

New Adult/Mature YA: sexual content, drinking, drugs, violence, language, death, and other mature content intended for readers 17 and older. Astarte's Wrath is a companion novel to Destiny's Fire, but can be read as a standalone novel.

Review:
This book fascinated me in the best kind of ways.  Bringing back the beautiful scenery and stories, whether tragic or beautiful of the Ancient Egyptian time period when Pharoahs and Cleopatra were still around.  I've always been fascinated with this part of history and this book did not disappoint in the very least.  It made me more interested in Ancient Egypt overall and the people who lived in this time period.  I even had to look up a few gods here and there during reading this book because I wanted to learn more about them, but no worries as this great author gives you a tidbit on each character and place at the end of the book which I found very helpful and added to the fascination. 

The author says it best here in her preface:

The truth behind the fiction. This novel is a work of fiction, though many of the characters, geography, settings, scenes, and events are loosely based on a real people and a real time in history. Interlaced within the fictional text is the factual history as I’ve researched it through documentation, historians, and tomb hunters who have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of discovery of these great people and this great time. I’ve taken creative liberties with the history to write a fiction that can weave seamlessly into an imagined world within my stories.

We meet Astarte who is the guardian to the new Pharaoh Caesarion (Xarion) and even though she is bound to him to be his protector as a slave she has grown up with him since they were both young.  They have started out as friends but through time their feelings for each other have grown deeper than a friendship which Astarte has tried to deny herself because they are not of the same race and he is her master.  It's all very old school but sometimes you just can't help who you love.  It's inevitable if the stars aligned and it's meant to be.  We start their story in turmoil though as they are in the midst of a war. Octavian is dead set on capturing Xarion to end his life so that he can overtake Egypt.

It's all very exciting throughout the book with the different Kythan races and the interaction between all the characters.  Even the appearance of Cleopatra and the strength at which she loves her son is well known and shown in this book, as she obviously wants him to survive.  The relationship between Xarion and Astarte finally give in to their passion and it's so worth the wait.  They obviously belong together uniting the different cultures of the slave and the royalty.   Their love is a beautiful story with stolen kisses and brief hand touches, it's all very romantic in a good way.  But still there is chaos going on around them.

I don't want to give too much away about the war and who it involves as I think you should definitely read the book because it makes it that more exciting, and believe me when I tell you if you are as intrigued as I was reading this book then you too will start searching through Wikipedia on different Egyptian gods and goddesses.  Even the name Astarte was interesting on its own.  Sometimes it really is enjoyable to be able to learn some history or something new when you are reading a book that is a true tragic love story.  This author did a great amount of research to try and tie the truth and her fiction into this book and I applaud her.  I was rooting for the couple in the end and for everyone to get what they so rightfully deserved. 

Overall the story was grand, interesting and should make you want to read more about Kythan guardians.  Make sure to check out the next book in the Series - Destiny's Fire, which I also thought was a really great book.  This author knows how to thrust you into a world deep within the underbellies of Ancient Egypt and makes you excited about history.  I also have to say that I absolutely love the cover and can completely picture the girl on the cover being Astarte.  Can't wait to read the next story! 

Disclaimer:
I received this book from NA Book Club on Goodreads and Trisha Wolfe, so that I may give my honest opinion and a review. Whether it is good or not please do not let it discourage you from purchasing/reading the book yourself and forming your own opinion. What might be good for me may not be good for you and vice versa. With that said, Happy Reading Everyone!!!

Review: A Moment by Marie Hall

A Moment
By: Marie Hall
Release Date: March 12, 2013
Series: Moment #1

Description:
Ryan Cosgrove and Liliana Delgado are on a collision course with destiny. They don’t know it yet, but before the night is over their lives will be forever changed.

Spending Valentine’s Day at a burlesque bar, hadn’t been Liliana’s ideal way of spending a Friday night. She’d much rather be back on campus doing homework… until she meets Ryan. Tall, athletic, and gorgeous, Lili can’t keep her eyes off him, and despite his gruff manners and drunken disposition she’s intrigued.

Ryan’s got demons, and they’re deep, dark, and eating him alive. Regardless of his attraction to the petite brunette he’s tired of fighting, of pretending the last fifteen years haven’t been a daily struggle just to get out of bed every morning. That night he decides to end his pain, to leave it all behind and float away into the blessed darkness of oblivion. But fate has other plans for him, Lily finds and rescues Ryan, determined she’ll not only save his body, but his soul too.

This is their moment…

Review:

This book was unbelievably intense, raw, heartbreaking, and heartwarming and a book that kept you wanting to read more about their moment.  The characters are real, the situations are real, some are more unfortunate than others but its reality and it's raw.  This book was just really amazing.  The way the author told the story through main characters eyes, the anguish and the love that they shared for one another while trying to deal with life and demons from the past. 

I’m still riding an emotional high right now after just literally finishing the book minutes ago.  It was really a beautiful love story.  We first meet the two characters in the book in the hospital waiting room, Liliana is there to verify her suspicions of being pregnant at age fourteen, and while Ryan is there to check his wounds from a recent fight he just had.  Fast forward a couple years and it’s all it takes is a moment to happen and they somehow are bought back into each other’s lives through Alex, Ryan’s cousin.  At first it’s just a curiosity that Liliana has about Ryan, as they are meeting for the first time on Valentine’s date at a burlesque bar on her non date with Alex.  It’s weird where you can meet someone that is so perfect for you.  Through that chance meeting they can’t stop thinking about the other and Ryan asks her out. 

Throughout the book you see how close their relationship blossoms and how right he fits into her little family.  With her son who is autistic, her mother who is at the moment dying and Ade the person who helps with her mom, Ryan fits in perfectly.  Everyone has their issues and some are deeper than others, it’s really all how you deal with them but Ryan has yet to deal with his demons in a healthy way that would actually do him any good, instead he chooses to fight constantly (MMA).  Lili is okay with all of this but there is still something that is constantly nagging her, she knows there is something wrong with him and wants him to trust her with his secrets, but he’s stubborn as most men are.  She just wants to help him in every way that she can, will he finally tell her what his demons really are?

Their relationship is a beautiful thing to watch, and the interaction with her autistic son Javier is so sweet.  I love that this book bought in so many different social, family and health issues.  It bought light to those experiences and how to deal with them.  This book just literally blew my mind and I am still reeling with emotions from it.  I would recommend this book to anyone and hope that everyone gets a chance to read it because there is some intensity in this book that I think everyone should experience reading.  With the sneak preview of the next book in this series all I can say is, I really, really can’t wait for it.  It’s going to be really amazing I just know it.

I really love the author’s writing style and I’ve always been a fan of a story told through two sides so the back and forth between characters is a major plus in my book.  The cover I think is absolutely perfect.  I can completely picture the two people on the cover being the main characters; again I just can’t give this book enough praise.  I love it!

Disclaimer:
I received this book from NA Book Group (Goodreads) and Marie Hall, so that I may give my honest opinion and a review. Whether it is good or not please do not let it discourage you from purchasing/reading the book yourself and forming your own opinion. What might be good for me may not be good for you and vice versa. With that said, Happy Reading Everyone!!!