Currently Reading..March 30, 2017

This week so far, I've only read one book but I really enjoyed it!


I read:

 I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was a fun, light read. I'll be posting my full review soon, so keep an eye out for that.


I am currently reading:

So far, I am loving it! I LOVED Egomaniac so I'm hoping I love this one as much after I finish it. So far, the odds are in Bossman's favor.

A Book Review: Egomaniac by Vi Keeland

Egomaniac is the first book I've read by Vi Keeland, but it will not be my last!

The first night Emerie met Drew Jagger, she believed he was a robber breaking into her office. She soon finds out that it is actually her office and she was conned into "renting" it. Conned out of her life saving and having no where to start her practice, Emerie begins to panic. Drew feels a pull towards Emerie the minute she threatens him with her Krav Maga skills. On a whim, he decides to let her stay in his office in exchange for her answering his phone and working on his schedule while his secretary is out on surgical leave. Emerie is grateful for the opportunity, but soon finds out that there is much more to the egotistical divorce attorney. The longer they work together, they realize that the attraction they have for each other is building and getting harder to fight.

I was hooked on this book the moment Emerie and Drew met. I loved their relationship. Their banter was hilarious. I laughed-out-loud so many times while reading this. I loved that they had a friendship before it moved into relationship territory. Drew was not the typical bully a lot of guys are in these types of books. He was definitely a ladies man and, at times, and egotistical bastard, but he never intentionally hurt Emorie's feelings and I loved that. They messed with each other constantly but were also there for each other when needed.

There were a lot of steamy scenes in this book, but, unlike most office romances, the sex was not the center of the book. The center was definitely Emerie and Drew's relationship. They formed a friendship while working together, and from that stemmed their relationship. They did not fall in love right away. It was a slow process that had a few bumps and was completely realistic. This book was seriously perfect. I loved it.

I read this book in a little over a day because the story and characters were so addicting and perfect. I could not put it down. Go pick up this book now!

Five Stars

★★★★★

A Book Review: "Till Death" by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I want to start off by saying that I will read literally ANYTHING Jennifer L. Armentrout writes. I have loved every book that I've read by her and "Till Death" isn't any different.

Sasha Keeton is a survivor. She escaped the twisted serial killer, The Groom, that terrorized her hometown. After she escaped, she left her hometown with hopes of starting over, but she wasn't really living her life. Ten years later, she returns home to help her mom run the family's inn. Everything begins to feel normal again, especially when an old flame, Cole Landis, shows up and vows to protect her in ways he was unable to ten years ago. Everything feels right, until one women disappears. And then another. Then Sasha starts to receive disturbing surprises. Soon it becomes clear that the Groom's reign of terror is not over just yet.

Sasha was such a strong character. She was able to live with so much more than what most normal people would be able to handle. Even when she realized that they had another serial killer in their town, she never broke. And Cole Landis, a hot FBI agent, helped her through everything. He was sweet and caring and totally sexy. Cole stuck by her side when most people would have ran in the other direction screaming.

While the romance was epic, it wasn't the main thing in this book. The suspense and mystery was just amazing. Every chapter brought up a new twist and turn. And the final twist blew my mind. I had my theories while reading, and while I did guess it about 75% into the book, reading the ending was still thrilling.

I do not know how Jennifer L. Armentrout does it, but she is just amazing.

★★★★★

                              FIVE STARS

A Book Review: 'Corrrupt' by Penelope Douglas

        

    Revenge. Betrayal. Horror. Romance. Corrupt by Penelope Douglas has it all.

            I first decided to read this book because at the time, I had read one other book by Penelope Douglas and had already fallen in love with her style. It also has a 4.04/5 star rating on Goodreads. By the time I actually picked up this book to read it, I had read a total of three books by Penelope: Bully, Rival, and Falling Away. I could not wait to jump into Corrupt. Not only is this book in my favorite genre, New Adult, but it also has a Cruel Intentions and 90’s horror flick feel to it. Horror is not something I usually like reading, but just by reading the summary of Corrupt I could tell that it was definitely for me. It is also the first book in a companion series, meaning each book is about a different couple. I enjoy these kind of series the most because you get to see different characters grow and build relationships and still see previous characters, but you don’t get bored with the story since you’re not reading about the same characters in each book.

            Corrupt is about a girl named Rika, who is in college and wants nothing more than to get away. Get away from her life, her friends, her family, her ex-boyfriend. It’s not that they’re bad; she just wants a fresh start at a new place where no one knows her. She wants to be free to be herself. She’s only really felt like herself once. It was one night many years ago, when she was able to be with someone who showed her it was okay to really be her.

Being in the city as a college student where no one knows her is crushed pretty quickly, because Michael Crist, her ex’s older brother lives in the same building as her. Michael is a pro basketball player. He’s out for Rika, and not in a good way. He and his friends want revenge for something that happened a while ago that changed their lives forever. Rika doesn’t understand the “whys,” but she knows they're up to something and she’s not giving in.

I thought Douglas started off this novel fantastically. Immediately, this book had me hooked. A lot happens within the first two chapters that really sets you up for the rest of the book, and that is a perfect way for an author to pull a reader into a story. You can tell right away that Rika and Michael are going to have a very intense, back-and-forth relationship. But then you also start wondering about how Rika ended up with Michael’s brother, Trevor, if she has feelings for Michael.

            As the book progresses, the point-of-view and time period changes in each chapter. It switches between Erika’s POV and Michael’s POV, as well as past and present. This is also a very interesting aspect of the book. Readers don’t immediately find out what happened between Michael and Rika when they are younger. Douglas gives us bits and pieces, and that is what really makes this a page turner. Every chapter ends in a situation where you need to know happens next, but then it switches from the past to the present or vice-versa. It’s very aggravating, in a good way, at times because I needed to know what was going on.

            As it switches back and forth, readers get to see different sides of all the characters. Young Erika was very curious, but very shy and dependent on others. Older Erika is not as curious and wants to do things for herself. Since her family is wealthy, everything comes easy for her, which is why she transferred out of a college where Trevor was and where her friends from high school were close. She does not want to have to depend on anyone but herself, which I admire. She is also very different with Michael. When she is younger, she wants to be near him and be with him and wants his approval. When she is older, she wants nothing to do with him, even if she is a little drawn to him.

Young Michael is intrigued but wary of Erika. He and his friends believe that women are only good for one thing. But as the story progresses in the past, Michael softens with her. Older Michael still has a soft side, but he is more focused on making life hard for Erika as a way to get revenge on her for what she did to get Will, Kai, and Damon sent to prison that night three years ago. Will, Kai, and Damon have all been damages by their experience in various ways.

              After finishing this, I was filled with mixed emotions. While I really enjoyed this book, I had a higher expectation for the horror. I expected there to be scenes that made my heart race and while they guys were definitely horrible to Erika, I thought they could have went a little further than what they did. They taunted, threatened, and assaulted her but they really didn’t take it that far. There were no moments when I wanted to “cover my eyes” because I was scared. Erika’s enemies never went to the length I’d expected. That left me a little disappointed. I have read other reviews where the reader thinks Douglas takes it too far, but I disagree with them.

The pacing of the story was fantastic—until the ending. I thought she paced all of the events and the chapters perfectly so that you were really hooked in the story and couldn’t put the book down. I was completely in love with the story until I hit the last twenty pages. I’m a huge fan of ending fight scenes where you’re not sure who is going to die and if they’ll defeat the bad guy. This one happened really fast. There was a sense of urgency but there was no heart-dropping moment when you think one of the main characters died or that they were never going to get out of this. It was all very rushed. It was like Douglas took too much time setting everything up in a way that lead to a perfect ending then realized she was running out of time and rushed it. It was a little too perfect.  I think she could’ve branched off with this a little more than she did. However, she did wrap everything up nicely. There were no loose ends and all of the questions that were raised while reading this were answered.

Douglas did one other thing right along with wrapping everything up in the end. The plot twist about a quarter of the way through was amazing. Some others cannot pull off a plot twist perfectly. They either give away too much information so readers figure out what’s going to happen before it even happens or they don’t give enough so when the twist happens readers are confused because it doesn’t fit together. I did not see the plot twist in this book coming at all I had to put the book down and just take a minute to process what had happened because it was so well done.

            I thought that the character development was done really well. Switching back and forth between the past and present helped. Readers get to see them when they were younger and then how they changed in the three year gap. Rika was a great main character. She never backed down from a challenge and faced what some people would never be able to handle

Will and Kai definitely had a soft side when it came to Erika, in the past and present, and I really liked that about them but there wasn’t much development beyond that. However, since Will, Damon, and Kai will be getting their own book in this series, I wasn’t disappointed in the lack of development since this was really Erika and Michael’s story. There was definitely some character development with Damon. From past and present, he stayed the same with his attitude towards women, but the longer the story went one, hate built up more and more in him. I’m anxious to see how he got that way and what caused him to be so hateful towards women.

            My absolute favorite part of this book was the romance! This is definitely more of a hate story than a love story, since this book is based around the guys’ need for vengeance. Throughout the entire book, Michael is both fighting his attraction to Rika and trying to hate her for multiple reasons. However, when they end up coming together, they work for a little bit and then end up butting heads. Their relationship is not pretty most of the time. It’s downright volatile at times, but I grew to love them both. They were a perfect storm, and it worked.

            Corrupt is definitely different from the other Douglas books that I’ve read. While Rika is only 19, I would actually categorize this book as an Erotic New Adult romance. It was definitely sexually explicit, and the scene in the steam room with Rika, Kai, and Michael was almost too much for me to read. And while I wouldn’t compare this book to Fifty Shades of Grey, since it wasn’t all sex, it had an actual story line, and did not have as much controversial content, I definitely do not recommend this book to anyone under the age of 18 years. Older readers who like dark romance and are looking for a hate/love story that’s twisty, intense, and sexy should go buy this book right now!     

Overall, I give Corrupt by Penelope Douglas a 4/5 star rating. Even though I was disappointed with the mediocre horror and the poor pacing at the end, I fell in love with the characters and the story. It didn’t have everything I felt it needed to be a five star read. Nevertheless, I cannot wait to read Will, Kai, and Damon’s books and see how they grow and develop and, through their stories, see how Michael and Erika grow as a couple. I am definitely invested in The Devil’s Night Series by Penelope Douglas. 

Disclaimer: 

I know this review is long! Not all of my reviews will be this long. This is a review I wrote for my Advanced Comp. class. This review is way more in depth than I would usually do, but I figured since I already had a review written I did not need to write another one. 😊

Currenly Reading..March 20, 2017

Spring break has officially ended! :(


I only read two books over break, but with all the hours I worked, I'll consider that a win.

I read:

 

I am currently reading:

Since the show comes out on April 4th, I decided to reread the book so I am fresh and ready to watch it!

Currently Reading March 14,2017

I am currently on spring break, but I have not done as much reading as I had hoped to do since I have worked everyday since I came home. Thankfully, I am still 4 books ahead on my reading schedule.

I am currently reading Royally Matched by Emma Chase. I LOVED Royally Screwed so I am so excited to be reading the sequel.

Currently Reading March 8, 2017

Hey guys!

I am having an awesome reading month so far. I've already read three books this month and I am so excited about it! All of them were on my TBR for this month and a lot of previous months as well. I am so happy that I finally read them. These are the books that I've read so far:

 I am currently reading Obsession by Jennifer L. Armentrout. This is the New adult/Adult spin off of the Lux series. I am so excited to be reading this because it has been on my TBR for a very long time and I just love the Lux world and am so happy to be back in it. I have about 80ish pages left and I do not want it to end. Hunter is just as infuriatingly sexy as Daemon!

Currently Reading....March 1, 2017

Happy March!!!

This year is going super fast. Ugh. 

So, getting to my current read....

I decided to start With This Heart by R.S. Grey. I started it today and I cannot put it down. Luckily, my night class was cancelled so I was able to read read read. I am about 63% through it already and will most likely finish it tomorrow. I'm really sad because I want to read more by R.S. Grey, but my other book by her is at home. ☹ But, I'll be there Friday so hopefully I'll be able to start it then!