Tag Archives: review

Release Day Review: Elastic Hearts by Claire Contreras

Posted in 3.5 hearts, Reviews by

Elastic Hearts by Claire Contreras
Series: Hearts #3 (full reading order below)
Publication Date: March 20th 2016
Links: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
Source: I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review

Victor Reuben.
Most sought out divorce attorney in LA.

Nicole Alessi.
Soon to be ex-wife of Hollywood’s biggest star, Victor’s latest client and his boss’s daughter.

In such a high profile divorce, they can’t afford any extra drama. Luckily, neither one of them has anything to hide.
Unless you count the mind blowing sex they had…
Once…
Twice…
Three times all those years ago.

As long as they leave the past where it belongs, they’ll be fine. But with her wearing those tight dresses and him giving her those heated glances, keeping their hands to themselves is proving to be more difficult than either one of them realized.

It won’t be long before the paparazzi start to smell smoke, and where there’s smoke…

I’m a big fan of Claire Contreras’ Hearts series, so I was so excited when I heard Victor would be a getting his own book! If you’ve enjoyed the previous Hearts books, you should know that Elastic Hearts is a bit different than Kaleidoscope Hearts and Paper Hearts. It’s not quite a second chance romance, so there isn’t as much angst in this book, but it is more of a forbidden love story. While I liked Victor and Nicole’s book, I didn’t really love it as much as KH or PH. I just didn’t feel engaged as much as I wish I did, so that ended up affecting how I enjoyed the story. Still, it’s a well-written contemporary romance, and if you love the Hearts series, you just might love Elastic Hearts too.

“I’ve worked so fucking hard and this case is going to blow it all to shit,” he said, inching his face closer to mine. I stopped breathing. “All because I need this more than I’ve needed anything else in my fucking life.”

We first met Victor Reuben in Kaleidoscope Hearts as Estelle’s older brother. It didn’t seem like he was that much into relationships then, so I was excited to see him falling in love. Victor is one of the most popular and successful divorce attorneys in L.A. and he’s got one more case to handle before he can make partner at the firm he works at. But it turns out that the divorce case he’s handed just so happens to be the daughter of his boss… and the woman he used to hook up with all those years ago.

Nicole Alessi, a costume designer for celebrities, is ready to finish through with her divorce and move on with her life and away from her soon-to-be ex-husband, a famous actor in Hollywood. She doesn’t expect Victor to be handling her divorce, or for the sizzling chemistry and attraction that combusted years ago to still exist today. Nicole always thought of Victor as the one who got away, but he was too anti-relationship back then to truly make something out of a relationship with him. Now, Nicole tries to tempt him into their crazy-hot hookups again, but Victor is very hands-off with clients. But there’s only so much temptation Victor can handle before he once again falls for Nicole’s allure.

Elastic Hearts moved very, very slow. That was my main problem with the book – I really wanted the pace of the romance to move faster. Plus, Victor was too frustrating and hot-and-cold with his feelings for Nicole. I kind of felt bad for her every time he would pull her in, only to push her away. It also took a bit too long for my taste for Victor to realize that he’s not so anti-relationship or anti-love as he thought.

“I don’t stretch. I don’t mold. I don’t conform, and despite what people say about my career, I’m not a liar. So when I tell you I’m in love with you, Nicole, it’s because I’m in fucking love with you.”

I liked this book for the most part, but I wouldn’t say it was anything special or unique. I had to skip forward a bit at some slow parts, but overall, I did have fun reading this book. It’s hot, sweet, and totally sexy – I just wish I could’ve connected better with Nicole and Victor and really FELT for their characters. Nonetheless, even though I didn’t fully love this book, I would still recommend it for Claire Contreras fans and the Hearts series fans. Especially since you’ll get to see a lot of Estelle, Oliver, Mia, and Jensen!

3.5 hearts
lacey

Quotes are taken from the arc and are subject to change in the final version.

Reading Order: Hearts series

Kaleidoscope Hearts by Claire Contreras Paper Hearts by Claire Contreras 

#1 ~ Kaleidoscope Hearts: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#2 ~ Paper Hearts: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#3 ~ Elastic Hearts: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads

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Early Review: Collared by Nicole Williams

Posted in 5 hearts, Reviews by

Collared by Nicole Williams

Collared by Nicole Williams
Series: Standalone
Publication Date: March 22nd 2016
Links: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
Source: I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review

When a seventeen-year-old girl vanishes,
A community is shaken.
Parents turn desperate.
Friends hold vigils.
And the boy who loves her searches.

When a year goes by,
The community is recovering.
Parents feel hopeless.
Friends feel helpless.
And the boy who loves her continues his search.

When ten years go by,
The community has forgotten.
Parents cling to the past.
Friends move toward the future.
And the boy who loves her . . .
Brings her home.

Jade Childs spent ten years in captivity, but now that she’s back, the real battle for survival begins. The media shadows her. Flashbacks haunt her. Her old life evades her. Her so-called new life rejects her. She spent too many years in the dark to recognize the light. She spent too long repressing her feelings to remember how to express them. She spent a decade abandoning hope and cannot dare letting it back into her life. Jade’s not just defined by what happened to her—she’s collared to it.

When the twenty-seven-year-old woman is found,
A community wants to know the story,
Parents want to forget the story,
Friends want to be a part of the story,
And the man who still loves her faces the greatest challenge yet: letting her go.

OH MY GOD!!!!! I love love loveedddd this book so much. SO MUCH!!! I had no idea I would end up loving Collared as much as I do, but it was seriously perfection. I’ve loved Nicole Williams since I first read her Crash series a few years ago, but this, THIS BOOK, is for sure my all-time favorite read of hers now. I’m so in awe of the brilliant story Nicole Williams has woven in Collared. I loved this book so much I literally just bought myself the paperback so I could have it on my favorites shelf. AHHH!! I’m dying for this to release so everyone can read and experience the utter beauty of it!

“Find an emotional tether. Someone you trusted before and someone you can trust now. A person who can connect you to your past but can pilot you into the future. Someone who can pull you back from the ledge when you find it and from the dark when it finds you. Find that person, hold on tight, and don’t let go.”

I began this book intrigued by the blurb and cover. I don’t particularly LOVE kidnapping stories, but Collared’s blurb hooked me in and I prayed it would meet my expectations. I’m so happy to say this book went above and beyond anything I ever expected. I ended up reading this in one sitting, staying up until almost 3AM finishing it – I had to get up 4.5 hours later, but it was totally worth the lost sleep. I honestly couldn’t put this book down! It’s a captivating, haunting, utterly romantic story – a story of a girl kidnapped for ten years and brought home by the boy she loved before she was taken.

He’s not supposed to be the one I tether myself to, but it doesn’t change that he’s the one I already have. He’s not supposed to be the one . . . but he always has been The One.

Jade Childs was only seventeen when she was kidnapped, stolen away from her family and the love of her life, Torrin. For the next ten years, the boy she loved who loved her never stopped searching for her or giving up hope. Now, at twenty-seven, she’s finally come home – but can she ever live a normal life again? Or will her past continue to keep her shackled down, collared, unable to move on with her life?

As Jade struggles with being back home and interacting with other people, Torrin is right by her side the whole time. But she’s not the same girl she was when they were in love, and neither is he. There’s a twist in this book I did NOT see coming, that had me seriously OMG-ing, but I loved the way the author took the direction of the story with it. This twist creates complications for Jade and Torrin… and I love the angst and heartbreak that came with it. Collared made me FEEL so much, but the one thing that captivated me the most, that had me obsessing over this book, was the powerful, beautiful love story.

He stretches slower. His eyes refuse to blink. “You were my first. And you were my last.” His words echo in the small space. “A man could have a thousand different partners and settle down with an amazing woman, and I’d still hold the bragging rights.”

I am head over heels in love with Torrin and his unwavering, heart-stopping love for Jade. He is not a perfect man, but he’s utterly perfect for Jade. There really is no end to what he would do for her – he would literally give his life for the girl that he has never stopped loving. He’s a words and actions man, so the things he says and does because of his love made my heart MELT. I love Torrin!!!

His strong hand grips the side of my neck, and he aligns his eyes with mine. “I’ve been sure about you since I was fifteen years old. And I’ll be sure about you for the rest of my life.”

Jade herself is so strong but vulnerable. I don’t usually connect that well with heroines in kidnapping stories, but with Jade, I connected with her right from the start. The raw emotion coming from her struggles, her fear and helplessness, her desire to be whole again, made me feel as if I were fighting right alongside with her. I liked that Nicole Williams didn’t focus too much on her kidnapping – there were enough flashbacks to give us an understanding of what happened to Jade, but her story very much focuses on her healing and moving on.

Nicole Williams has written an unputdownable, gripping, heart-pounding read. Collared is emotionally devastating yet uplifting. It’s meaningful, heartfelt, and so, so romantic. It’s a fantastically-written, powerful story I loved with all my heart. If you love unique books with unforgettable love stories, I can’t recommend this enough.

5 hearts
lacey

Quotes are taken from the arc and are subject to change in the final version.

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ARC Review: I, Porn Star by Zara Cox

Posted in 2.5 hearts, Reviews by

I, Porn Star by Zara Cox
Series: I #1
Publication Date: March 14th 2016
Links: Ebook • Goodreads
Source: I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review

My name is Quinn Blackwood:

By day, I’m a billionaire CEO. Rich. Entitled. By night, I’m the exclusive porn star only known as Q. Why? Because I love women. If I believed in an almighty being, I’d thank him for creating them. They’re by far his most perfect creation… especially when I’m fucking one of them.

Oh, did I mention I’m an asshole? Fuck yeah. According to my shrink, I’m one twisted motherfucker. And that’s just the way I like it. Until she walks into my life…

My name is Elyse Gilbert, nicknamed ‘Lucky’ because according to my dad, I’m the unluckiest person alive, and I’ll die the same way I came into the world: naked, screaming, and dirt poor.

Yeah, my life is a twisted, seething mess. But that life changed the day I met HIM.He made me forget the cameras.He made me forget I was doing this for the money.He made me forget my shame.He made me forget everything. I was consumed by him. Only him.

But now my past has caught up with me.

If you’ve read the blurb for I, Porn Star, then you probably can understand why I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book. There’s just something about a porn star who gives it all up for the woman he loves that gets to me. While I enjoyed some parts of I, Porn Star, the story was completely not what I expected, so I’m still not quite sure what to make of it. It’s a lot darker than I thought it would be – there’s quite a bit of action and suspense going on in this novel. I didn’t love this book, but it’s a different and intriguing read with plenty of plot twists that kept my attention.

Elyse Gilbert, also known as Lucky, is on the run from someone and she’s in need of cash, fast. So when there’s a chance to earn a million dollars for doing porn, she signs up for it. The man she’s supposed to perform with, Q, is shrouded in mystery. Lucky is intrigued by him more and more with each encounter they have, but the thing about Q is that she has no idea who he is because he never reveals his face to her. Soon enough though, with each erotic encounter, she begins to fall for the enigmatic, powerful man.

Quinn is… messed-up, to say the least. He’s got daddy issues, mommy issues, and a plethora of other kinds of issues that have made him the man that he is today, so while he’s an interesting hero, he’s not one that I loved. There are just too many cringeworthy things he does in the novel that prevented me from loving him as a hero. I can tell the author was trying to write him as some dark, mysterious man with a painful past, but the way she portrayed him did not endear him to me at all. I want something redeemable in the hero when I read a romance, but it was took too long for Quinn to be redeemed in my eyes.

The main thing that prevented me from loving this was the fact that there were just TOO many things going in the book. I nearly couldn’t keep track of all the secrets Quinn and Lucky were hiding, there was so much going on. All the side stories took away from the romance, which was all I really cared about. This book is fast-paced, but I really wish the characters had more time to develop that didn’t include any action or suspense. I liked Zara Cox’s writing, but it was also a little all over the place as well. I’m not sure I could handle another book of hers if they’re all like I, Porn Star, but I’m intrigued to see what else she’ll be writing for this series.

2.5 hearts
lacey

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Blog Tour + ARC Review: A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole

Posted in 4 hearts, Blog Tours, Reviews by

A Thousand Boy Kisses tour

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole!

A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole
Series: Standalone
Release Date: March 15th 2015
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One kiss lasts a moment.
But a thousand kisses can last a lifetime.

One boy.
One girl.
A bond that is forged in an instant and cherished for a decade.
A bond that neither time nor distance can break.
A bond that will last forever.
Or so they believe.

When seventeen-year-old Rune Kristiansen returns from his native Norway to the sleepy town of Blossom Grove, Georgia, where he befriended Poppy Litchfield as a child, he has just one thing on his mind. Why did the girl who was one half of his soul, who promised to wait faithfully for his return, cut him off without a word of explanation?

Rune’s heart was broken two years ago when Poppy fell silent. When he discovers the truth, he finds that the greatest heartache is yet to come.

Standalone Young Adult Tearjerker Romance.
For ages 14 and up.

Buy Links:
Amazon US • Amazon UK • Amazon CA • iTunes • Kobo

review button

I don’t know how Tillie Cole does it, but she’s always able to write books that are so sad yet happy at the same time. They’re gut-wrenching and heart-melting, they hurt my heart and uplift it, and her latest release, A Thousand Boy Kisses, takes all of that to the max. This book is a lovely, lovely coming of age story, and I truly enjoyed reading about Poppy and Rune.

“Poppy and Rune. Two halves of the same whole.”

A Thousand Boy Kisses is definitely the kind of book that you want to go in blind. I do want to warn you that it’s not exactly the most light-hearted of books, despite what you might think of the adorable cover. There are times in this novel that my heart felt so heavy, my emotions were shot, and I was hurting for Poppy and Rune – but I promise, the journey and the end are totally worth all the emotional upheaval.

This is a young adult, coming of age story, and it’s also a mix of friends to lovers and a second chance romance. Poppy and Rune are high school students, so they’re not the usual sort of characters Tillie Cole has written in the past, but they’re very mature for their age. I adored these two together – their love is that once-in-a-lifetime love that anyone can only pray to find, and they find it at such a young age. Poppy and Rune love each other so deeply and tenderly, they made my heart swoon. Tillie Cole always writes the BEST love stories, and Poppy and Rune’s is one of her best yet.

Closing his eyes, Rune took my mouth in a kiss. And in this kiss I felt his outpouring of love. I felt a love, that at seventeen, I was blessed to have received.
A love that knew no boundaries.
The kind of love that inspired music that lasts through the ages.
A love that should be felt and meant and treasured.

It gets a little too sappy and cheesy at times, but for the most part, A Thousand Boy Kisses is poignant and heartfelt. I felt all of the emotions in this book deeply, both the good ones and the bad. It’s unique and gorgeously written, and I highly recommend it for those who love powerful love stories. I definitely won’t be forgetting Poppy and Rune’s romance anytime soon!

4 hearts
lacey

Quotes are taken from the arc and are subject to change in the final version.

about the author button

Tillie ColeAmazon & USA Today Best Selling Author, Tillie Cole is a Northern girl through and through. She originates from a place called Teesside on that little but awesomely sunny (okay I exaggerate) Isle called Great Britain. She was brought up surrounded by her English rose mother — a farmer’s daughter, her crazy Scottish father, a savagely sarcastic sister and a multitude of rescue animals and horses.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Instagram

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ARC Review: Porn Star by Laurelin Paige & Sierra Simone

Posted in 3.5 hearts, Reviews by

Porn Star by Laurelin Paige & Sierra Simone
Series: Standalone
Publication Date: March 8th 2016
Links: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
Source: I received an ARC from the authors in exchange for an honest review

You know me.

Come on, you know you do.

Maybe you pretend you don’t. Maybe you clear your browser history religiously. Maybe you pretend to be aghast whenever someone even mentions the word porn in your presence.

But the truth is that you do know me.

Everybody knows Logan O’Toole, world famous porn star.

Except then Devi Dare pops into my world, and pretty soon I’m doing things that aren’t like me–like texting her with flirty banter and creating an entire web porn series just so I can get to star in her bed. Again. And again.

With Devi, my entire universe shifts, and the more time I spend with her, the more I realize that Logan O’Toole isn’t the guy I thought he was.

So maybe I’m not the guy you thought I was either.

When I heard Laurelin Paige and Sierra Simone were collaborating on a work together, I knew it was going to be a HOT read. And then when I heard it was going to be about a porn star? Well, I had to see for myself what this book would be like. Porn Star actually surprised me – the authors’ take on the porn industry was interesting, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought this book would be sexy and fun and light-hearted, but it turned out to be more than that. This won’t be a read for everyone, especially if you don’t like your characters being with other people, but otherwise, Porn Star was a well-written, unique, fascinating take on the life of a person in the porn industry.

The fantasy of being in love.
Jesus.
I scrub my face with my hands, feeling liberated and also feeling pathetic. Who in this selfish, indulgent, spray-tanned city would ever guess that Logan O’Toole has a chewy caramel center? That under his I’ll-fuck-anything-that-moves veneer, there is a guy who just wants to love someone?

Logan O’Toole isn’t your typical hero. He isn’t even your typical guy. He’s a famous porn star who’s been burned by love (a woman who also works in the porn industry) and he’s quite the sensitive soul. He may be be all sexual and alpha in bed and while filming, but outside of that, he’s a normal guy who genuinely wants to find love. And he actually takes his job, not only as a porn star but also as a director, writer, and editor, very seriously. We get a lot of depth and information about this industry, and while I feel like the book focused too much on that, I did appreciate how it made the book feel more real and authentic.

Devi Dare went into the porn industry because she needed the money, but she only does girl-on-girl porn. The one time she was with a man was with Logan an his ex in a threesome a few years ago, and since then she’s never really been able to forget him. Lucky for her, Logan feels the same way about Devi, and the two agree to film a porn series about a couple falling in love. So what happens when real feelings get involved along the way? Can a relationship in the porn industry actually work… and last?

My theater teacher in high school liked to talk about the unities, where time and place and action all converged into one point. Well, Devi is my unity right now. Drawing my body and my mind and my heart into a single, crystalline point, fusing all the disparate Logans into one bewitched, infatuated man.
I’ve fallen for her.

My heart actually hurt a bit for Devi and Logan as they were navigating this new relationship balancing sex, porn, and love. When both people in a relationship aren’t on the same page, one of them is bound to get hurt. The problem here is that Logan doesn’t see anything wrong with doing porn with other women while having a relationship with Devi, but Devi eventually realizes she does. Even though I personally don’t agree with the way Logan views sex and love, I did understand him, but I really wanted him to open his eyes about love and Devi a lot sooner than he did. Again, if you don’t like your main characters being with other people, this book won’t be easy to read.

The highlight of this book is definitely the writing, with the steamy scenes coming in second. I adored Devi and felt for her and her struggles, and while I liked Logan, I wanted to shake him sometimes. This story really felt like an honest take on the porn industry, which was fascinating, buuut I didn’t really like all the time Logan spent with other women. If you’re looking for something well-written and different from your typical read, I would definitely recommend Porn Star.

3.5 hearts
lacey

Quotes are taken from the arc and are subject to change in the final version.

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