Hard Ride: Opal Carew

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Since Drew: J. Nathan

**ARC Copy provided by author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

 I'm officially out of the book slump! WOOT!

I really loved this book. I read one similar a while ago, but I don't remember the title. I will not forget this one so soon. Although it was a bit predictable (it was a bit obvious something fishy was going on with the whole Drew thing, I kept getting a Sixth Sense vibe from all of their encounters) I still was curious as to what exactly happened and why it happened.

Drew was such a sweetheart...not. Let's be honest in that he was a total dick there for a while. But he redeems himself after the appropriate amount of groveling.

Andi was tough. She was devastated after what happened, as anyone would be, but man she took it in stride and proved that she could take on anything that was thrown her way. I was impressed with everything that she dealt with, and all that she accomplished. I thought she was an amazing person for trying to help Drew through everything he was going through, knowing she was dealing with some heavy shit as well.

Drew really pissed me off with the way he treated Andi sometimes. I understand that he is a football god and whatnot, but it made it hard to cheer for a happy ending with them.

The banter between Drew and Andi was perfect, it had me laughing and made me enjoy the book even more. Their relationship was so easy and fun and flirty, and Andi worked hard to get it back. I didn't expect such great things from this book, but it kept me interested the whole time, so much that I read it all in one sitting.

I loved this book as a romance, but as a suspense it wasn't that great. Plot twist wasn't so twisted that it made no sense, instead it made me curious how the characters were going to resolve it.  Loved the HEA, but I want to know what happens with both Andi and Drew's best friends.

Persuading Him: Michelle Dare

**Copy provided by author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

So I must be in a book slump lately, normally something like this would have me much more excited than I am. That being said, I did have a few problems with book in general.

One: It just seemed to drag on, no real hook so suck me in.



It just went on and on until the very last page, where I was hooked. 

Two: Kasi. She was great, but she was a bit too stuck up for me. She didn't really act like she gave a shit about anyone else except for her. Not that I blame her. With the crazy paparazzi stalking her I am glad she was wary of trusting people.

There were several things I did like about the book though.

One: Radek. I really liked him, even though he has made some questionable decisions in his life.

Two: Kasi's father. He seemed like a good dad, or at least, he tried to raise Kasi right. He never judged Radek for what happened, and did whatever made him happy.

The writing was great, the author did a good job with the characters. Watching the relationship develop between Radek and Kasi. Radek was such a good guy, he kept trying to protect her from his past mistakes so that she wouldn't get a bad reputation. I enjoyed getting a background (even though it was small) from Radek, and I wish we could have gotten a better one for Kasi.

Hopefully we get more in the next one. Speaking of the next part in the series. That ending. It has me so curious as to what Radek's old flame wants!? I need to KNOW!

Again, I must be in a book slump because that is all I have to write for this one. I recommend it to people who love a good flirty, racy romance.

As Red as Blood: Salla Simukka

**Copy provided by author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

For a book that had a quote as awesome as this:

"Once upon a time, there was a girl who learned to fear.
Fairytales do not begin this way. Other, darker stories do."

I was expecting something much more exciting that a book that just left me like this...




This book was a mix of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Hangman's Daughter, and some weird version of a not as intelligent Sherlock Holmes. I think the main problem I had with the main character was that she was only in high school. Ugh, she showed it too much. She made some of the stupidest decisions ever. Not that I blame her, think back to yourselves at that age....yeah, not great to be sleuthing around with some pretty dangerous people right? Right.

Add to that the fact that we are supposed to cheer for a little rich girl as a side character and it was too much. The side characters were so flat they were basically stickers. Sorry, but it is true.

Now onto what I liked about the book, instead of just trashing it. I loved some of the things the author wrote, she did a phenomenal job of writing some pretty vivid and intense scenery. There were entire pages filled with amazing writing and quotes as stunning as the one above. I felt like I was really there with the characters. After about 50% through the book, it really picks up, and then I had a hard time putting it down, just because I was curious as to how it ended.

There were a few unanswered questions that I hope will be explained more thoroughly in the second book. Such as...Who is this mystery man that our female lead cannot get over? What will become of Polar Bear? And Elisa stays in contact, will she become a central character? Guess I'll find out.

Overall, the book was ok, but not something I would recommend unless you really liked The Hangman's Daughter and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Letters Home: Rebecca Brooke

**Copy provided by author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

This was an extremely emotional book. Seriously, if you need a reason to shed a few tears, go ahead and get some tissues to cry into and dive in. I loved that this book was a dual perspective, which can sometimes be hard to master. However, this author has done it brilliantly. I loved that Danielle was so honest (well...sometimes). I loved that Tanner was so patient and did everything he could to love her.

But for some reason this book just wasn't great. It seemed to jump around a lot at the beginning, and then it settled down a bit, but the jumping from present to past to present to past wasn't smooth enough, and interrupted the story line too much for my liking. I got bored about 30% in and had a tough time continuing on with it. I think this was because of Nate, he came into the story and was a good person, but I didn't care for him as much as I thought I would. But Tanner made up for it.

I absolutely loved Tanner. He was perfect. He was ok going slow with Danielle, waited for her to do anything, never purposely hurt her, was always there for her, no matter what. He was just an all-around sweetheart. I just couldn't stop smiling with him.

The pace finally picked up about halfway through, but it seemed to go too fast. All of the falling in love happened so fast. The author could have made this book a bit longer and slowed things down and it would have been much better.

I did like that Tanner and Danielle talked things out (most of the time). Most of the time they just knew that something was wrong with the other and asked what was going on instead of avoiding it. They knew each other so well that they could do this, but I wanted to see them get to this point a bit more (again, it felt so rushed that we didn't get much of this type of stuff except the highlights). It was a pretty quick read, wouldn't take longer than a few hours to finish it.

Overall a beautiful book. But be prepared to cry. I recommend this one for all the hopeless romantics.

Rules of Seduction: Jenna Mullins

**ARC Provided by author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

The number one rule that everyone should learn from this book is:

This is literally the entire book. NEVER. TRUST. ANYONE. Especially in Hollywood, because they are all bad people.

Dani moves out to Hollywood a bright-faced naive person, and within one week, pretty much everything is terrible. Day One for example; no job, a roommate she thinks is crazy, her old friend asking her to do some crazy shit.

I mean seriously, what is wrong with these people. Nothing, other than they are self obsessed people with a separate room just for their egos. Dani grows up and gets thick skin pretty quick while working on the set of Vamp Camp (I found this title to be hilarious, because let's be honest, if this were actually a show, it would have just as high of a rating as it did in the book), and attempting to "seduce" the male lead Tate Lawrence. 

I really liked Tate, and what everyone did to him was crap, I would have been much more pissed off than he was. He and Elise were an interesting couple, but I'm glad that everything worked out the way it did.

I liked Dani's roommate, she cheered me up and make the book a bit more lighthearted. She was pretty funny, and I enjoyed all the craziness of what she cooked (or attempted to) and her love life. I think that Dani should have manned up much earlier in the book, and told Tate what was going on. She kept saying that she was sick of what people did to each other in Hollywood, but she acted just like them.

Tate and Dani's interactions were well written, and I looked forward to when they hung out together. Overall, a decent book, but pretty predictable. It was a fairly short read, but was so cute that it made me smile most of the time. I recommend this one to romantics who love HEAs with a bit of free time on their hands.

Just a Little Flirt: Renita Pizzitola

**ARC Provided by author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

This is only the second book I have read by this author. The first book was okay....but this one. This one...

I loved that I finally read a great book about not a bad boy, but a bad girl, and the guy, who isn't necessarily a saint, does NOT judge her. I mean just because of that right there, everyone should read it. But this book was also funny, the laugh out loud kind, sweet, the slightly sappy kind, and romantic. 

I loved Fallon's character so much, and Cade was so cool (plus he has a dog, who can resist that). He was understanding of Fallon's choices, didn't make her feel inferior for the things she had done, and let her be her own person. This book took me by surprise, not because it took any huge twists or anything, but because some things I expected didn't happen.

The side characters only added to the story. The fellow interns each had their own personality, and the author let that affect the main character, because Fallon had to see them every day. Fallon's sister was interesting, still not sure how I feel about her dating Fallon's ex....but at least she comes to her senses. It was all good by the end.

But overall, I loved it. I loved that we continued to see Brinley and Ryder's relationship. I loved that Fallon had priorities, she put her job first, because it meant something to her, that she decided to turn over a new leaf and said fuck you to anyone who wasn't part of the plan, or someone who didn't support her plan. I loved that Cade was a decent guy, showing that maybe they do still exist. I loved the writing style of the author, simple, yet I felt like I could relate to the characters. Looking forward to the next book!