DNF Review: The Peer and the Pupper

Title: The Peer and the Puppet 
Series: When Rivals Play #1 
Author: B.B. Reid 
Genre: New Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Publisher: Bebe's Reads LLC
Publication Date: July 22, 2018 
Source: Bought 

THE PUPPET
Borrow the bike. Win the race. Collect the cash. It should've been an easy job. Ran out of town with a broken leg and a lawsuit, my mother's latest flame swoops in like a knight in gilded armor. Blackwood Keep is a place I don't belong, and I'm not the only one who knows. To the boy across the hall, my savior's only son, I'm a stray looking for a bone.
He's lord of the manor.
King of the academy.
And number one on my shit list.
THE PEER
I have no intentions of becoming a happy family with the social climber and her wild daughter. A bottle of Jameson and a cracked skull gets my problem shipped to reform school, but I didn't bank on her returning.
Four's out to get even, and she almost had the perfect plan: expose the privileged kid moonlighting as a gangbanger. She's smart, but she'll have to be smarter. Sending her away won't be good enough this time. I'm going to have to tame the little troublemaker. To the girl across the hall, the one without a name, I'm nothing without my silver spoon.
She's lady of the trailer park.
Queen of the swamps.
And my new favorite pastime.

Goodreads | Amazon 

Well, this book was a mess. 

Honestly, I wanted so badly to love this one. It sounded right up my alley -- enemies to lovers, a strong female protagonist, and the two main characters are thrown together! I mean, that's a recipe for an entertaining read. Unfortunately, this one turned from entertaining to infuriating pretty soon after I started it. There was just so much going on that it annoyed me. It felt like the author couldn't quite balance all the different plot lines and it left me feeling confused and irritated while I was reading. I ended up DNFing it at 77%. 

Okay, so I straight up couldn't stand the main characters. First of all, their names. The girl was named Four, the boy named Ever. 

Four. Ever. 

. . . Yeah. 

They were also just both very annoying. I didn't get what was Ever's problem?? Like, I get that the author was going for the irresistible, bad-boy, jerk hero we so often see in books like this but it absolutely didn't work. Ever had the personality of a saltine cracker and all the "dangerous" things about him made me think he was just dumb. I really do hate feeling this way but I just couldn't find it in me to root for him or even like him. I didn't enjoy reading about him and it just made me sad for Four, honestly. I hated that she even gave him the time of day. He didn't treat her well at all, even in the moments when he was supposed to be like a "nice guy" but Four fell for it and it just . . . ugh. It was so frustrating. She really didn't turn out to be the strong female character I thought she would be which was sad. 

Like I previously said, the plot was really disjointed and all over the place.  It was going in too many different directions and it made it hard to follow and feel connected to the characters. What made it even harder was the fact that the author just didn't explain anything. Like, I get not wanting to spoon-feed your readers information but it got to the point that the author was keeping things so vague that I was left feeling stupid, like I was missing something I should have got but the information just wasn't there. 

I could honestly keep going on but I don't want to. In all, this book just wasn't for me. None of the elements in it sparked my interest (like I said, many of them ignited my annoyance). If you've been a fan of this author's previous work, you may have more luck with this one than I did. 

“You are the karma I deserve.” 

One out of Five Teapots

Review: Jock Row

Title: Jock Row 
Series: Jock Row #1 
Author: Sara Ney 
Genre: New Adult, Romance, Contemporary 
Publisher: Self-published 
Publication Date: May 3, 2018 
Source: Bought

Scarlett is always the sensible one: The sober driver. The planner. The one holding your hair back while you're worshiping the porcelain gods.
Week-after-week, she visits Jock Row with her friends—the university's hottest party scene and breeding ground for student athletes. And if keeping her friends out of trouble, and guys out of their pants, was a sport, she'd be the star athlete.
Being a well known jock-blocker gets her noticed for all the wrong reasons; just like that, she's banned from Jock Row. NO GUY WANTS A GIRL AROUND WHO KEEPS THEIR JOCK FRIENDS FROM GETTING LAID.
"Rowdy" Wade is the hot shot short-stop for the university's baseball team—and the unlucky bastard who drew the short straw: keep little Miss Goody Two-Shoes out of the Baseball House.
But week-after-week Scarlett returns, determined to get inside.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble 

Talk about a refreshing read! Jock Row was exactly what I needed. I had been in a bit of a reading slump when I picked it up and I was instantly sucked into this story (much to my relief)! Honestly, reading this book felt like a breath of fresh air. I'm so used to unnecessary and often-times frustrating drama and angst in contemporary reads but this one had none of that! It was a sweet, fun, and relaxing book to sit down with and made me excited to see what else I can read by this author!

The characters in this were both so sweet and so caring and so mature. It was a lovely change to have two characters who weren't constantly causing problems with each other because they didn't communicate well or they jumped to conclusions. Both Scarlett and Rowdy were very honest with each other and clearly devoted to staying with each other once they had moved from being just friends to being more. Seeing a couple who actually had a healthy relationship was amazing. 

Scarlett and Rowdy also had a sloooooow burn romance. And I loved it. Their relationship took its time developing from strangers to friends to more. It was lovely to witness and gave me all sorts of fluttery, happy feels. Everything felt so much more gratifying once they got together. 

Jock Row was an amazing, refreshing read. This is one of the best romances I've read this year -- I loved the lack of unnecessary drama and the maturity and openness of the two leads. While I haven't read anything else by Sara Ney, I definitely plan to check out her other works!

“What the hell could he possibly want?

And why is he so damn handsome?” 

Five out of Five Teapots

Review: A Court of Frost and Starlight

Title: A Court of Frost and Starlight 
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #3.1
Author: Sarah J. Maas 
Genre: New Adult, Fantasy, Romance 
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA 
Publication Date: May 1, 2018 
Source: Bought 

Hope warms the coldest night.
Feyre, Rhys, and their close-knit circle of friends are still busy rebuilding the Night Court and the vastly-changed world beyond. But Winter Solstice is finally near, and with it, a hard-earned reprieve.
Yet even the festive atmosphere can't keep the shadows of the past from looming. As Feyre navigates her first Winter Solstice as High Lady, she finds that those dearest to her have more wounds than she anticipated--scars that will have far-reaching impact on the future of their Court.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

I'm a happy little peach whenever I get to read a new Sarah J. Maas book. Her writing has inspired me so much as I've worked on my own writing and stories. A Court of Thorns and Roses has been one of my all-time favorite series since I read the first book and while I'm not a huge fan of novellas, I knew I would read this one when it was first announced! While I enjoyed spending time with these characters and in this world, it sort of felt like something was missing from this novella for me. 

Feyre, Rhysand, and the Inner Circle are so much fun to read about -- I love learning more about their history and seeing the way they all interact with each other. Sarah does an incredible job of creating and developing unique and dynamic relationships between each of them individually as well as a whole group. It felt like this novella was mostly spent just exploring these relationships further and setting things up for future novels in the story. We did get a couple of new perspectives -- I think it was Cassian and Mor, which I really enjoyed, though this did make the story feel a bit disjointed. As much as I love Cassian and Mor, their POVs felt a little forced in this and like they was just set up for future books. 

My biggest issue with this book was the lack of plot. This is a problem I tend to have with novellas just in general but I was a bit disappointed to see it happen with ACOFAS. Most of the story revolved around Feyre finding her own space in Velaris and preparing for the Winter Solstice. It just . . . felt like nothing very exciting happened? It was nice hanging out with the characters but it made me wonder exactly how necessary this novella was. I did set up for the next books a bit but I feel like the next books would've been fine without this one. 

While this wasn't amazing, I still had fun reading about these characters and this setting. I definitely don't think this is a super necessary read -- you could probably get through the series without reading this and you wouldn't really miss anything. If nothing else, it made me even more excited for the next actual novel in this series; it follows two characters (one in particular) that I absolutely love.

“Stars flickered around us, sweet darkness sweeping in. As if we were the only souls in a galaxy.” 

Four out of Five Teapots 

Review: The Deal

Title: The Deal 
Series: Off-Campus #1 
Author: Elle Kennedy 
Genre: New Adult, Romance, Contemporary 
Publisher: Elle Kennedy Inc.
Publication Date: February 24, 2015
Source: Bought 

She's about to make a deal with the college bad boy...
Hannah Wells has finally found someone who turns her on. But while she might be confident in every other area of her life, she's carting around a full set of baggage when it comes to sex and seduction. If she wants to get her crush's attention, she'll have to step out of her comfort zone and make him take notice...even if it means tutoring the annoying, childish, cocky captain of the hockey team in exchange for a pretend date.
...and it's going to be oh so good
All Garrett Graham has ever wanted is to play professional hockey after graduation, but his plummeting GPA is threatening everything he's worked so hard for. If helping a sarcastic brunette make another guy jealous will help him secure his position on the team, he's all for it. But when one unexpected kiss leads to the wildest sex of both their lives, it doesn't take long for Garrett to realize that pretend isn't going to cut it. Now he just has to convince Hannah that the man she wants looks a lot like him.

Find The Deal online!

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads | Book Depository 

I need to preface this review by saying that I am THE WORST. Seriously. I keep coming back to the blog, writing an "I'm Back!" post and then disappearing for another few months. I'm so sorry. Honestly, I've been so mentally and emotionally drained the last few months because of school and all the things that go along with graduating that I have not had the energy to write for this blog (or write anything besides what I'm assigned in classes -- whoops). I miss it though, and I've been brain storming ways to get back into the swing of blogging. I hope you guys will stick it out with me while I figure it out! 

On to the review . . . 

This book took me by surprise; I've seen the cover floating around the blogosphere for years and even read a sample of the book a while ago and decided it wasn't for me. The first chapter just didn't have that spark that I look for in contemporary romances. However, I bought it out of desperation before boarding a plane with no other new reading materials and ended up completely engrossed in it throughout the flight. I'm so happy I gave it another shot because I fell in love with these characters. 

First things first -- the characters. While it wasn't love at first read, they won me over pretty quickly. Hannah has experienced and dealt with some really horrible situations but still remained strong and was determined to not let them hang over her life. I appreciated the way she handled the struggles she went through; having experienced situations similar to Hannah's, it was nice and heartening to see her living her life without a constant cloud of worry and fear. She didn't let what happened in the past define who she was and I loved that. Overall, she was an amazing character -- strong, stubborn, hardworking, relatable, and fun to read about. She's the type of character I would want to be friends with. 

Garrett, like Hannah, was incredible. He's not the typical "New Adult" hero (i.e.: arrogant, possessive, aggressive), he was way better. Sure, he was a little full of himself at times and earned his status of a "player", but it never crossed the line into discomfort or abuse (like the behaviors of so many other heroes). Garrett was a funny, sweet, and down right adorable guy who was passionate about hockey and made an amazing friend to Hannah. 

I loved seeing their relationship slowly morph from hate to friends to more than friends. This progression felt natural and easy to believe; I was swooning and cheering for them the whole time. It's not easy to find a New Adult book that does this transition well but The Deal definitely accomplished it. 

As far as the plot goes, it was honestly pretty typical of the New Adult genre, though made more interesting and engaging by the characters. Hannah and Garrett strike a deal (ayyy, look at that) in which Hannah tutors Garrett in exchange for Garrett taking Hannah on a date to get the attention of a guy Hannah has a crush on. It's a fun concept and Elle Kennedy executed it well! 

Like I said, this book took me by surprise; I fell in love with the characters and thoroughly enjoyed reading their story. While it took me a couple chapters to get invested in, once I was invested, it was almost impossible to stop reading. I haven't read the second book in the series (and I don't know if I will), but I would highly recommend this book to anyone who thinks it sounds interesting!

“Sometimes people sneak up on you and suddenly you don’t know how you ever lived without them.” 

 Four Teapots

Waiting on Wednesday #112

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine which spotlights highly anticipated upcoming releases.

Title: Without Merit 

Series: None

Author: Colleen Hoover 

Genre: Contemporary, Romance, New Adult

Publisher: Atria Books 

Publication Date: October 3, 2017 

Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness.
The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.
Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines, when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.
Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.
Poignant and powerful, Without Merit explores the layers of lies that tie a family together and the power of love and truth. 

Find Without Merit online!

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads | Book Depository 

Why I'm waiting on Without Merit this Wednesday: I haven't read a Colleen Hoover book in a while but she tends to have really engaging and successful stories so I'm hoping reading this one revives my interest in her stories!

What's your favorite Colleen Hoover novel?  Are you looking forward to this one?  What are you waiting on this Wednesday?  Let me know in the comments below and leave a link so I can visit your posts! 

Review: Deeper

Title: Deeper 
Series: Caroline & West #1 
Author: Robin York 
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, New Adult 
Publisher: Bantam 
Publication Date: January 28, 2014
Source: Bought

In Robin York’s sizzling debut, a college student is attacked online and must restore her name—and stay clear of a guy who’s wrong for her, but feels so right.
When Caroline Piasecki’s ex-boyfriend posts their sex pictures on the Internet, it destroys her reputation as a nice college girl. Suddenly her once-promising future doesn’t look so bright. Caroline tries to make the pictures disappear, hoping time will bury her shame. Then a guy she barely knows rises to her defense and punches her ex to the ground.
West Leavitt is the last person Caroline needs in her life. Everyone knows he’s shady. Still, Caroline is drawn to his confidence and swagger—even after promising her dad she’ll keep her distance. On late, sleepless nights, Caroline starts wandering into the bakery where West works.
They hang out, they talk, they listen. Though Caroline and West tell each other they’re “just friends,” their feelings intensify until it becomes impossible to pretend. The more complicated her relationship with West gets, the harder Caroline has to struggle to discover what she wants for herself—and the easier it becomes to find the courage she needs to fight back against the people who would judge her.
When all seems lost, sometimes the only place to go is deeper.

Find Deeper online!

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads | Book Depository 

This book is so complex and interesting and it deals with some hard topics.  It hit me hard at parts while reading and made me uncomfortable in a way that felt important, especially in the way it shed light on consent and sexual abuse.  This was obviously a hard topic to read about but it is so important.  The author handles this issue so well and I was given a different perspective on the motivations and results of this sort of abuse and manipulation.  

What I liked most about this book was Caroline. She's the main character and I found it inspiring to see the way she handled the situation she was put in.  Her ex boyfriend posted sexually explicit pictures of her online without her consent and she had to deal with the fallout.  It made me so angry seeing how much this effected Caroline and her life and how her ex had almost no change in his life.  I was furious that she was being punished, despite having done nothing wrong.  But she was so strong throughout all of this, and learned how to deal with the fallout and grow from it.  I especially loved the group of friends she surrounded herself with.  They were all so supportive and kind to her -- they lifted her up rather than pushing her down like the rest of the world was doing.  

The only part of this book that made me feel not so great (in a way the author didn't seem to intend, at least) was the romance.  West just . . . rubbed me the wrong way.  I get that he was supposed to be super sexy and irresistible and badass BUT the way he sometimes acted toward and thought about Caroline made me uneasy.  Like, he knew all too well what Caroline went through and that she was feeling pretty vulnerable and yet he still seemed to take advantage of that vulnerability.  Not all the time, only sometimes, but sometimes was too much.  I just didn't like him much at all.  

This definitely wasn't the end of Caroline and West's story, but I don't know if I'll be reading the next book.  I loved watching Caroline grow and gain confidence and strength throughout this book and I'm worried that if the story continues, she'll take steps backwards rather than forwards.  That was the most important part of this series for me and I'm not as interested in the romance aspect.  I don't know, I meant end up picking up the second book eventually.  

“You arm yourself with love, friends, knowledge. You figure out who you are. What you want. You figure it out, and you go after it with everything you've got. And that means sometimes you have to let yourself be scared.”

Three Teapots

Review: A Court of Wings and Ruin

Title: A Court of Wings and Ruin 
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #3 
Author: Sarah J. Maas 
Genre: Romance, Fantasy, New Adult 
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books 
Publication Date: May 2, 2017 
Source: Bought

Looming war threatens all Feyre holds dear in the third volume of the #1 New York Times bestselling A Court of Thorns and Roses series.
Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin's maneuverings and the invading king threatening to bring Prythian to its knees. But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit-and one slip may spell doom not only for Feyre, but for her world as well.
As war bears down upon them all, Feyre must decide who to trust amongst the dazzling and lethal High Lords-and hunt for allies in unexpected places.
In this thrilling third book in the #1 New York Times bestselling series from Sarah J. Maas, the earth will be painted red as mighty armies grapple for power over the one thing that could destroy them all.

Find A Court of Wings and Ruin online 

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads | Book Depository

** Review contains some spoilers from first two books in series** 

I'M DEAD.  THIS BOOK HAS KILLED ME.  This book was so amazing, my heart gave out.  I'm slightly embarrassed, honestly.  I talked basically about nothing except this book in the days before its release (to the annoyance of my friends and roommates) and once I finally had the precious in my hands, I locked myself in my room to read.  I was so happy to be back with these character -- I adore them and this world so much.  

 I went through many emotions while reading this book.  Despair, pride, excitement, happiness, and all the others I can't think of right now because my brain is apparently on vacation.  I fist punched the air, I laughed maniacally, I danced around my room, and I definitely did some serious crying.  It was just too good.  The characters were so amazing and they went through a lot of growth and changes in this book.  It was interesting to see the inner circle interact in a time of deep stress like this.  They were still who we got to know in the second book, but more layers and dynamics were revealed that we hadn't seen before.  Perhaps the characters I was most excited to learn more about were Cassian (my baby) and Nesta (my scary baby).  I adored their banter and all of the interactions between them.  They definitely have that slow burn thing going and I will be DISTRAUGHT if one of the next books in the series isn't about them.   

Of course, Rhys and Feyre were just as amazing as ever, too.  I loved watching them learn to balance this new dynamic of Feyre being a high lady.  It wasn't a totally smooth transition and I am glad that Sarah showed them talking and discussing their feelings and concerns and coming to healthy conclusions.  Like, YES, this is how a relationship should be! No more of this brooding and not communicating with your partner nonsense.  

Most of this book surrounded the war with Hybern and I was pumped that this was actually a huge conflict throughout the novel.  I've read a lot of other books with wars in them where the battles take about three pages and the rest is made up of fluff and stuff.  ACOWAR spent so much time on strategizing, fighting, and finding a way to defeat Hybern and it was so epic and stressful, I loved it.  I was constantly worried about every single one of the characters in the inner circle while reading and my heart broke so many time throughout the novel, especially during the final battle scene.  But holy cow, does Sarah know how to write an action scene.  My heart was beating out of my chest and I literally couldn't sit still.  I was a pacing mess.  A MESS.  

Despite the years taken off of my life because of how stressed out this book made me, ultimately, I loved it.  I couldn't have asked for a better conclusion for these characters.  There were some strings left untied, though, so I'm happy we're getting three more novels in this series (about different characters, I believe).  Sarah is definitely an auto-buy author for me.  I can't wait to read more of what she writes.  

“Remember that you are a wolf. And you cannot be caged.”

Five Teapots 

Review: Easy

Title: Easy 
Series: Labeled #2
Author: Jordan S. Gray
Age Group: New Adult
Genres: Romance, Contemporary, 
Published: January 26, 217 by Overnight
Source: A copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you!

It’s been an entire month since Shayler Thompson has orgasmed from something not made out of silicone. If her sour mood is any indication, she needs to get laid like yesterday. So when she walks up to a sexy nerd at the bar and propositions him, it seems like a great idea. Until he rejects her and calls her easy.
Still reeling from his hurtful words, Shayler is surprised to find that the nerd, David, is a Teacher Assistant for the one college class she’s totally embarrassing herself in. When he offers to help her study, she accepts, thinking that maybe she’ll get laid after all. But David isn’t into casual sex, and Shayler refuses any sort of commitment. With enough chemistry to light his dumb Prius on fire, she’s sure one of them will eventually give in… She just really hopes it won’t be her.

Find Easy online

Goodreads 

This was my first book by this author and I've got to say, I enjoyed it quite a bit!  There were some things that annoyed me throughout the novel (some of which was because of the main character, Shayler) but for the most part, I found this to be a fun, quick, and *ahem* easy book to read!

So, lets get the not so fun parts out of the way, first. Shayler was a party girl.  Every single night it seemed like, she was at the club or the bar, looking to get drunk and hook up with a random guy.  Now that's all fine and dandy, but I found myself getting bored with reading about that over and over again.  It may just be me, because that sort of life style just doesn't appeal to me.  Whenever she wanted to do this (which was a lot), I found myself annoyed with her.  Every decision she made just rubbed me the wrong way.  She acted out terribly when things didn't go her way or when she felt backed into a corner and some of the things she did were absolutely horrifying.  That being said, she was much better in the time that she was just hanging out with her friends or with David.  When she settled down and wasn't going crazy at a club, she was a lot of fun to read about.  Charming, funny, and energetic.  I just wish we had seen more of that side of her in the beginning of the novel.  

David was a great addition to the story!  I love how sweet and caring he was and how patient.  He and Shayler really did feel like friends before anything romantic began happening and I loved that.  He was really helpful, too.  I liked that he didn't play games and that he genuinely wanted to help Shayler with both her school and personal life.  Overall, he was a really nice guy and a wonderful character to read about.  

Shayler's group of friends was a blast, too.  I loved the dynamic they had and I really enjoyed the fact that they made it a priority to hang out with each other as often as possible.  I will say though, there was a lot of characters in this story and I found myself mixing them up constantly.  I feel like that may be because I started this series on the second book rather than the first but, yeah, I had some name troubles while reading.  

Overall, this was a quick and fun read.  I had some issues with the main character but I liked seeing her development and her interactions with her friends and David.  

"His texts made her smile.  His voice made her light-headed.  His touch made her body ignite from the inside out."

Four Teapots

Waiting on Wednesday #84

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine which spotlights highly anticipated upcoming releases.

Title:  Royally Screwed 
Series:  Royally #1
Author:  Emma Chase 
Genre:  New Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Publisher:  Emma Chase, LLC
Publication Date:  October 18, 2016

Nicholas Arthur Frederick Edward Pembrook, Crowned Prince of Wessco, aka “His Royal Hotness”, is wickedly charming, devastatingly handsome, and unabashedly arrogant—hard not to be when people are constantly bowing down to you.
Then, one snowy night in Manhattan, the prince meets a dark haired beauty who doesn’t bow down. Instead, she throws a pie in his face.
Nicholas wants to find out if she tastes as good as her pie, and this heir apparent is used to getting what he wants.
***
Dating a prince isn’t what waitress Olivia Hammond ever imagined it would be.
There’s a disapproving queen, a wildly inappropriate spare heir, relentless paparazzi, and brutal public scrutiny. While they’ve traded in horse drawn carriages for Rolls Royces and haven’t chopped anyone’s head off lately—the royals are far from accepting of this commoner.
But to Olivia—Nicholas is worth it.
***
Nicholas grew up with the whole world watching, and now Marriage Watch is in full force. In the end, Nicholas has to decide who he is, but more importantly, who he wants to be: a King... or the man who gets to love Olivia forever. 

Find Royally Screwed online

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads | Book Depository

Why I'm waiting on Royally Screwed this Wednesday: I absolutely loved Emma Chase's Legal Briefs Series so I was so excited to learn that she was released more books.  And this one just sounds awesome.  I'm a sucker for the whole prince and commoner falling for each other thing, and this one sounds extra amazing (especially because of how swoon worthy the hero is shaping up to be!) 

What are you waiting on this Wednesday?

Review: Wicked Heart

Title:  Wicked Heart 
Series:  Starcrossed #3
Author:  Leisa Rayven 
Genre:  New Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher:  St. Martin's Press
Publication Date:  May 17, 2016
Source:  Bought

The one guy she can’t have is the one she can’t forget.
Liam Quinn is one of the biggest movie stars in the world…and the only man Elissa Holt has ever truly loved.
After being out of her life for six years, he and his gorgeous fiancé are set to star in the new Broadway show Elissa is stage managing. The only trouble is, when late night rehearsals bring Elissa and Liam together, the line between what is and what could have been gets blurred. Now one moment of weakness is about to create a scandal that will echo around the world.
Elissa knows that falling for Liam again would be a tragedy in the making, but as any good romantic knows, love doesn’t always follow the script.

Find Wicked Heart online

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads | Book Depository

Okay so . . . before this book was released, I read an excerpt for it and for some reason it made me think that the relationship developed would be between Elissa and her best friend?  Like, I hadn't read the blurb or anything before getting and starting it (because it's a Leisa Rayven book and I was definitely gonna read it no matter what) so when I did start, I was just waiting the entire time for things to get all heated between Elissa and Josh (her bff).  Well, obviously that didn't happen and I'm actually glad it didn't because I liked Liam.  I mean, he was no Ethan, but he was still pretty awesome!

Honestly though, I think my favorite part of this book was Elissa.  I had liked seeing her in the previous two books of the series (which focuses on her brother, Ethan and his love interest Cassie) but in this one, she was even more amazing.  She felt like someone I could hang out with and have a great time, whether it was spent exploring the city, watching movies, or just munching on snacks.  Elissa just was so real.  I especially could sympathize with how she felt about Liam when dealing with her past feelings for him while having to work with him and his SO.  Watching as she had to deal with all the emotions being dug up was so hard.  Like, I just wanted to reach into the book and give her a hug.  

Elissa's relationship with Liam was interesting.  I liked the fact that their story was mostly told in present day, unlike the previous two books which had mostly focused on flashbacks.  It was nice seeing how she and Liam got started but I was really enjoying watching the way they dealt with each other now, and with so many obstacles and messy emotions standing between them.

I had a hard time not comparing Liam to Ethan in this book.  While I really like Liam, he had nothing on Ethan in my eyes.  I adored Ethan in the previous two books.  In this one, I was happy enough with Liam and Elissa while they were together but I didn't have a whole lot of interest with Liam on his own.  Don't get me wrong, he was still super sweet and insanely attractive, but he just wasn't . . . Ethan.  Honestly, it's my fault for comparing them but I just had the hardest time separating them in my mind. 

I really enjoyed this book.  While it didn't quite meet the level of the previous two books in the series, I still had so much fun going through it and reading about Elissa and Liam.  They had an interesting dynamic and I felt like they complimented each other nicely.  It was cool seeing Elissa's story after seeing so much of her in the first two books!

“And I have the strongest feeling that having part of you is going to be better than having all of anybody else.”

Four Teapots

Review: A Court of Mist and Fury

Title:  A Court of Mist and Fury
Series:  A Court of Thorns and Roses #2
Author:  Sarah J. Maas
Genre:  New Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Publication Date:  May 3, 2016
Source:  Bought

Feyre survived Amarantha's clutches to return to the Spring Court—but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can't forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people.

Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms—and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future—and the future of a world cleaved in two.

With more than a million copies sold of her beloved Throne of Glass series, Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her seductive and action-packed series to new heights.

Find A Court of Mist and Fury online

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads | Book Depository

Okay, you guys, I think Sarah J Maas is trying to drive me crazy.  How can she release something as spectacular as this book and then make us wait a whole year to find out what happens next?  That's just cruel and unusual punishment.  

In case you guys can't tell, I really, really loved this book.  I mean, I loved the first book but this one brought the series to a new level.  It has easily made a spot for itself in my top five favorite series.  Almost immediately after finishing it, I started reading it all over again.  There were so many emotions this book brought out in me.  It made me smile, gasp, laugh, blush, cry, and everything in between.  Like, I honestly felt bad for my friends while I was reading this because whenever I wasn't reading, I was raving about this book to them because I just couldn't get enough.  I highly recommend it!

I don't want to talk too much about the characters in this book because there's some amazing surprises and twists throughout but let me just say the chemistry between all of the characters (romantic or otherwise) is off the charts.  They all just spark alive on the page.  Even the "side characters" are incredibly three dimensional and deep.  I loved digging into all of their backstories and seeing the way their relationships developed between each other.  BUT on a romantic note... I ship this couple so hard.  My new OTP.  I love them so much, they just compliment each other so perfectly.  Just thinking about them now makes me want to reread the book again so I can experience all the awesomeness between them!

Sarah has made such a full and complex world.  I love all the small details that make everything feel so real.  I'm really interested in the division between the human world and the faerie world and I loved how we saw so much more of the world in this book.  I'm excited to learn more about the different courts and rulers in the next book.  

Okay, so if I don't just stop now, I'm going to be rambling about this book all day.  Honestly, this is just a series you need to experience!  It has everything I love in a book - intense characters, a detailed world, and a plot that kept me up well into the night to see what happened next.  I'm already so excited to get my hands on the third book.  I don't know how I'll ever get through a whole year of having to wait! 

“No one was my master— but I might be master of everything, if I wished. If I dared.”

I'd give this book all the stars in the Night Court if I could but five will have to do