Category: B reviews (Page 17 of 74)

Written On His Skin by Simone Stark

December 12, 2017 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: One of my friends rated this one very highly and it was only 99c so I bought it.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Letters are magic, don’t you think?
You could be anyone. I could be anyone.
And then, suddenly, we’re more than anyone.
We’re someone…

When Abigail Trent agreed to write a letter to a soldier deployed overseas, she expected it to be a fleeting exchange. A friendly back-and-forth that ended barely after it began. She didn’t expect Theodore LaRoux.

It isn’t strange that writing feels so good. It’s right.
Here’s my secret: I like making you feel good…

Abby didn’t expect Roux to be a living fantasy, either–sexy, smart and strong enough to star in every one of her dreams. So, was it any wonder that when he asked for a photo, she sent one that would star in his dreams? The fact that it was a picture of someone else wouldn’t be a problem. After all, it’s not like they’d ever meet…right?

Wrong.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): I do have a soft spot for an epistolary romance. (This novella isn’t only letters but they form a fair chunk of the story.) I did like the book but there were a few things I had to get over.

In seven tours of Iraq and Afghanistan as an Army medic, Special Forces operator and commanding officer, Sergeant Theodore LaRoux knew the drill.

Sergeants aren’t commanding officers. There may be other errors as well – I only checked that one. Roux’s military history didn’t sound right. If accuracy and authenticity is important to a reader, Written On His Skin is probably not going to work that well. Continue reading

November Round Up

December 2, 2017 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Review

Edited 11 March 2018. Given the events of the last week. I won’t be reading or reviewing Santino Hassell’s work again. Go here for more information and, if you have a spare hour or ten, here and here.

Coming Soon

on Audio

Reviews of these books will be up soon at AudioGals.

Links

Here’s what you may have missed:

Wild Thing by Liberty Laine

at AudioGals

Complicated by Kristen Ashley, narrated by Erin Mallon & Lance Greenfield
After the Game by Abbi Glines, narrated by Charlotte Penfield & Jason Carpenter

at Dear Author

Someone to Wed by Mary Balogh – joint review with Janine
The Love Experiment by Ainslie Paton
The Sea King by CL Wilson
Haven by Mary Lindsey
Sweet Tea & Sympathy by Molly Harper – joint review with Jayne
A Duke in Shining Armor by Loretta Chase – joint review with Jayne

Wild Thing by Liberty Laine

November 14, 2017 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: One of my friends recommended it to me as a short fun read. Plus, it was only 99c.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) I’ve waited my whole life to catch her. They call her a criminal. A con-woman. A thief and too wild for her own good. But me? I just call her mine. –Officer Nathan Trent.

He’s one of the good guys. Honorable. Reliable. I’ve loved him since we were kids. But there’s no way I’ll let my wild ways tarnish his squeaky clean reputation. No matter how badly I wish he was mine. –Tillie Coletrain

What worked for me (and what didn’t): At just under 70 pages, Wild Thing is a short read. I knocked it over in one night without any trouble.

Tillie and Nathan have known each other since they were in high school. Nathan has had a thing for Tillie since they were 16 years old. The conceit of the story is that Nathan knew back then she was the one for him and he’s been biding his time since then. (I may have rolled my eyes a bit at this.) I realised that the story was over the top pretty fast and one has to just go with it really.

October Round Up

November 2, 2017 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Review

Suddenly in Love by Julia London, narrated by Cristina Panfilio – B+ I recently listened to Suddenly Engaged and loved loved loved it. I bought the other audiobooks in the series immediately because I had found a great new narrator and wanted more. Each book in the loosely linked Lake Haven series stands alone well so it hasn’t been a problem to listen out of order. Suddenly in Love is actually book 1. Mia Lassiter returns to East Beach near Lake Haven from New York, her dreams of being the next big thing in the art world having crumbled to dust. She’s broke and living with her parents and trying to work out what’s next. Taking a job with her aunt and uncle in their design business, she is spending time at Ross House, a lovely house with hideous decor which has just been purchased by Nancy Yates. Mia’s aunt is quoting for the refurbishment and Mia is helping with the task. She comes across what appears to be a bum (he’s unkempt and smelly) who turns out to be Nancy Yates’s son, Brennan.

Brennan is actually Everett Alden, an international rock star and the lead singer of the band Tuesday’s End. He’s at a similar crossroads to Mia, albeit he’s not broke. Mia’s straight talking helps him to sober up and have a shower and put on clean clothes – which results in a much-improved Brennan. Continue reading

Falling from the Sky by Sarina Bowen, narrated by Tanya Eby & Aiden Snow

October 23, 2017 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I received a review copy via the publisher.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) She’s the woman he doesn’t remember. He’s the man she can’t forget.

Bad boy Hank “Hazardous” Lazarus used to have everything: a gorgeous girlfriend, a career as a freestyle snowboarder and a spot on the US Olympic team. Nine months ago, after a bad crash in the half pipe, he woke up in the hospital, unable to move his legs. Now he’s landed there again, but gravity is not the culprit. With his family pressuring him to try a groundbreaking treatment, Hank self-medicates with too much tequila instead.

Doctor Callie Anders has the courage to restart a patient’s heart with a thousand volts of electricity, yet she’s afraid to risk her own. So she doesn’t confess to her newest patient they they met just before the accident, an encounter that he doesn’t remember. Even as their friendship develops, she won’t admit that she regrets turning down his dinner invitation, or that her heart stutters every time those inked shoulders roll through the door of the therapy department.

With another Vermont winter coming again, Hank needs a hand out from under the avalanche of his disappointments. If only Callie were brave enough to take the job.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): I’ve had the ebook version of Falling From the Sky on my TBR (of Doom) for ages but never found the time to read it. Tanya Eby is one of my favourite narrators and I’ve heard good things about Aiden Snow (although many of his romance audiobooks seem to be geo restricted for me so I previously had limited opportunity to give his narrations a try). My TBL is shorter than my TBR and I was motivated to bump this one up the queue.

As is commonly the case with audiobooks, I didn’t read the blurb before I started listening. I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting but it wasn’t that the hero was going to be rendered paraplegic in the first chapter, or that he would not make a miraculous recovery. So the book went in a different direction than I thought it might. That’s not a complaint and really, if I had read the blurb I’d not have been surprised at all. Still, I did experience a bit of a gut wrench when I found out that Hank had been so seriously injured so there is something to be said for not reading blurbs first IMO. Continue reading

After We Fall by Melanie Harlow

October 12, 2017 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I picked this one up recently for the bargain price of 99c. Go me.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Jack Valentini isn’t my type.

Sexy, brooding cowboys are fine in the movies, but in real life, I prefer a suit and tie. Proper manners. A close shave.

Jack might be gorgeous, but he’s also scruffy, rugged, and rude. He wants nothing to do with a “rich city girl” like me, and he isn’t afraid to say so.

But I’ve got a PR job to do for his family’s farm, so he’s stuck with me and I’m stuck with him. His glares. His moods. His tight jeans. His muscles.

His huge, hard muscles.

Pretty soon there’s a whole different kind of tension between us, the kind that has me misbehaving in barns, trees, and pickup trucks. I’ve never done anything so out of character—but it feels too good to stop.

And the more I learn about the grieving ex-Army sergeant, the better I understand him. Losing his wife left him broken and bitter and blaming himself. He doesn’t think he deserves a second chance at happiness.

But he’s wrong.

I don’t need to be his first love. If only he’d let me be his last.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): Margot Thurber Lewiston is a rich white city girl from old money. She is the very definition of privilege. She knows it. She’s also awesome, compassionate, funny and smart, good at her job and quick to laugh at herself. I pretty much loved her from the first chapter when she was throwing scones at her shitty ex-boyfriend at a fancy social function. Her uptight WASPy mother basically banishes her from “polite society” until the “scandal” dies down. So she heads to the country to help a farm with a marketing issue and there, she meets grumpy farmer, Jack Valentini.
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