Wicked Heat (Feel the Heat, #1) by Nicola Marsh

Buy the book:

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBookstore

Author's:

Website / Twitter / Goodreads

My rating: 4.5 stars

***Copy of the book was provided by publisher, Entangled Brazen, in exchange for honest review.***

Book summary:

"Competitors by day, lovers by night…
Allegra Wilks has had the worst month of her personal and professional life. To save her company, she must go on her would-be honeymoon and land the luxury eco-island resort’s lucrative advertising account. But when a lingerie mishap leads her into the arms of a wickedly distracting Australian, Allegra’s tempted to skip the trip and explore the most sensual kiss she’s ever experienced. Too bad their chance encounter at the airport is just that.

Having recently lost his company to his former best friend’s shady business tactics, Jett Alcott is headed to a South Pacific resort to secure an advertising account that will resurrect his reputation and career. Realizing the tantalizing Allegra Wilks is on his flight, Jett envisions a week filled with business and pleasure. But Jett doesn’t know Allegra’s fighting for the same account, or that there’s more at stake than his heart."

     For starters, I have a confession to make. I love Australia. I love it since the first time I watched Heartbreak High, I think I was eleven years old, and I experienced my first fangirling moment. And don't let me start with amazing authors such as Melina Marchetta, Cath Crowley and Lucy Christopher. Now you understand why I just had to read Wicked Heat. Oh, and this: Jett Alcott looks like Alex O'Loughlin. 

     Story & Characters. Nicola Marsh is one smart woman. Why? Because she uses the best advantage she has - being a woman means that you know woman's heart and her secret desires really, really well. If you are a writer and your genre of choice is romance, that is something that will help you a lot if you use it wisely. Wicked Heat has everything that makes a good mainstream romance novel:

1.  lovable female character that will not annoy you and with who you can relate,
2.  male character that will make you swoon and "ohh" and "ahh", strong, but not too dominant.

     Main focus is on Allegra and Jett. It's all about their relationship, so it's understandable that very little part of the story deals with other characters. They are all in the background, which is good because Wicked Heat wouldn't be a good if it wasn't a case. I would say that this book is perfect choice for beach, but considering rain and low temperatures these last few days, it looks that summer is behind us. But don't let that stop you! If you are allergic on rain (*shivers*) like me, you need to read something that will keep you in your happy, sunny place.  

     But what I liked the most was way too hot part of this book. Of course.;) It is beautifully written without all of the sex-talk that you find in erotic romances - stupid lines is what I hate the most in this type of the books. And, man, Jett Alcott knows how to talk! In the bed and outside of it.

   One tiny little bit detail that I find lacking is the ending - certain parts of it were rushed, but still, that wasn't something that will make me diss Wicked Heat.

     What should you do? Nicola Marsh is writing second book of Feel the Heat series. Wanton Heat will be out sometime around beginning of 2014. which means that you have more than enough time to prepare yourself and meet Aussie hunk, Jett. Now, go, read! And tell me all about it!

xoxo

Deeper We Fall by Chelsea M. Cameron

Buy the book:

Amazon / B&N / Kobo

Author's:

Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

My rating: 3 stars

***Copy of the book provided by All Night Reads via Netgalley in exchange for honest review***

Book summary:

Two years after her best friend was involved in a car accident that caused a traumatic brain injury, Lottie Anders is ready to start her freshman year of college. Ready to move on. Ready to start forgetting the night that ripped her life apart.

Her plans come to a screeching halt when not one, but both brothers responsible for the accident end up back in her life again.

Zack is cruel, selfish and constantly rubbing what happened to her friend in Lottie's face.

Zan is different. He listens to her awkward ramblings. He loves "To Kill a Mockingbird" as much as she does, and his dark eyes are irresistible. His words are few and far between, but when he does speak, she can't help but listen.

The trouble is, Zan was the driver in the accident, and now Lottie's discovered he lied to her about what happened that night. Now she must decide if trusting him again will lead to real forgiveness, or deeper heartache.

What happens when you combine Star Wars, Nicholas Sparks, Oprah 

and eighteen year old kids? 

     I have to be honest here and say that I didn't like this book very much. I expected so much more, it has lot of potential to be a great, summer read, but at times I felt like I've been reading one big compilation of every possible cliché. Generally, that is the biggest problem with readers turned to be new authors (with all due respect, I am not trying to be mean or anything like that - just stating the fact). Whole time you keep thinking "Oh, that's so Kellan Kyle!" or "It reminds me of Beautiful Disaster." or "I think something similar happened in Easy by Tammara Webber."  I know that most of the readers will enjoy reading Deeper We Fall exactly because of that. It's just that I am not one of them.

      I know that my friends will know which was the first thing that made me want to scream. To Kill a Mockingbird. I believe that that book is one of the biggest American stereotypes. Like Paris with croissants and berets. Other thing? Virgins. Although, Lottie wasn't obnoxious as they can be in books like this. Third? Where do you people find those stupid nicknames??? Fourth? Melodrama worthy of Esmeralda or Dallas.

Felicity meets High School Musical

      That would be the easiest way for me to describe this book. "Older" generation remembers popular TV show about girl who follows her high school crush to college and we all know about that other disaster that makes your ears and eyes bleed. No, no one sings or dances here.
  
      I love reading about college experience. Heck, I was all about new adult more than a decade before everyone started to use that term. That was part of the story I liked the best. Deeper We Fall started really good. You get the idea where will things go, but you still enjoy reading about it because you want to see how did all played out. I liked the way Chelsea Cameron combined what is going on in present and mixed it with hints of the past events, but I just knew that whole big secret thing will not be quite satisfying part of the plot.
I know that most of the kids thinks that when they go away at college, they will find this new, big happy family. That is so not true, but it doesn't mean that I don't like reading books with that kind of fantasy twist. It's up to the author would he/she pull it off or not. One thing that didn't make it work for me was the way all characters talk. It's all Jedi/Gandhi/Oprah/Sparks wisdom mixed with dash of Rumi ( who, by the way, talks mostly about ways to get closer to God and not about actual love - Sufi symbols are religious and they have quite specific meanings, readers do not have much freedom in their interpretation - if you are talking about traditional approach to this type of poetry).

      Ignoring the fact that Deeper We Fall is labeled as new adult, I think younger readers will love this book more than actual first year students, unless you are suffering form "forever-sixteen syndrome" . If you are fan of Colleen Hoover, Rebecca Donovan, Nicole Williams, Abbi Glines or Fisher Amelie, Deeper We Fall is perfect choice for you.

Until next time,

     

Damaged by H.M. Ward

Book summary

"Life sucks. And, as soon as Sidney picks up the pieces something always knocks her back onto her butt. It's never pretty, but this time is different. This time pretty isn't even the right word.

Peter is the personification of perfection. It's like he fell off his angel perch in purgatory, because let's face it--any guy that hot has got to be naughty. He was probably sent here to ruin her life.

Peter is beyond beautiful with his sexy blue eyes, dark hair, and toned body. Add in his charming wit and Peter is everything Sidney ever wanted in a man, but when things get hot and heavy Peter shows her the door. Sidney takes the walk of shame and leaves. It's the end of the worst blind date ever. Her life couldn't possibly reach higher levels of suckage, but it does.

The next morning everything comes crashing down. The insanely hot guy from last night, the one that saw her half naked, is teaching at the front of the class room."

      Damn you sexy cover... I've made the same mistake. Again.

      Damaged is first book by H.M. Ward I've read, but I thought about reading her novels for a while now. Then something perfect happened - my girl Zemira from YA Fanatic asked me to buddy read Damaged with her.  I was all: "You want to read with me? Hot cover? Forbidden romance? Smexy scenes? Hell, yes!!!" 
      And than I started reading... 

      Usually in our group Zemira is the one with no patience for pathetic love stories and bad plots, but it seems that this time it would be me. She is going through serious case of hornyness and her usual self was reduced on drooling over Peter's abbs and what not.

      This could be really good book. It started good - Sydney sits at the wrong table and starts talking with wrong guy. It was so funny and different, I was internally screaming *Yessss!* while I was on this boring school meeting. And than she started whole "poor me" rant. Writing suddenly went from promising to downright pathetic. My hand started to twitch, I wanted to grab my favorite red pen and put big No! on margins. 

      Everything happened too fast - she loves him after two days, he thinks she is his second chance, she has crazy ex-boyfriend and oblivious parents, he has dead non-fiancee and they both are running away from something. Oh, one more thing - swing dancing. And whole drama "we shouldn't but we can't help ourselves" that leads to almost kisses and make out sessions on every third page.  Okay...

      This book is weird mix of Easy by Tammara Webber and Slave by Sherri Hayes (without kinky stuff). It could be  great book, it still needs much hard work, editing and, most important, plot development. This doesn't mean that I will not read next book - Damaged ended with cliffhanger and I need to see what will happen next. I just hope that it will be better that first one. 

Until next time,

xoxo

(Blog Tour) The Practice Proposal by Tracy March

The Practice Proposal by Tracy March

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release date: March 11th, 2013.

Publisher: Entangled: Bliss

Pages: 229

Blog tour schedule: Entangled in Romance

Buy the book:

Amazon / B&N

Book summary:

 "Liza Sutherland isn’t looking for love. Not from a charity-auction date she didn’t even bid on and especially not with Nationals first baseman Cole Collins, the guy she obsessed over as an awkward teenager. She won’t get involved with a notorious player, no matter how attractive Cole is.

Cole Collins is up for contract renegotiation, but after too many late-night parties, he’ll need some positive publicity before he can make the roster. His agent, Frank, pitches Liza as the perfect prop…only Cole didn’t account for Liza no longer being just a teenager with a crush. She’s gorgeous and smart and he’s instantly hooked.

When Frank makes Liza a deal she can’t refuse—a bet she will fall in love with Cole or a cool half mil goes to charity—the game is on. But neither bet on the real feelings that surface. Could a fake fling turn into an official forever?"

      The Practice Proposal by Tracy March is perfect novel for all of you who like good romance involving good girl and womanizing sports player. Bad boy will see everything wrong in his previous relationships and good girl will find her inner bad girl. A little bit predictable, but that is not a bad thing when it comes to this type of novels - that is exactly why we read them and what we want.

       If you are fan of Jaci Burton and her Play by Play series like me, you will love The Practice Proposal. Only difference is the cover - Burton's novels have those "let me lick your body - everywhere" covers. The Practice Proposal is tamer comparing to them, but story is even better, so please, hurry and pick up your copy of this novel - you can find Amazon and Barnes & Noble links in this post.

      The storyline. Really, really good. There are no loose ends, maybe I would like that some things were written differently in the end, but Tracy March is woman who knows how to get you interested. Being woman herself, I believe that she knows what is one of the biggest fantasies every one of us has and she used it. Do you remember that boy you not-so-secretly liked when you were teenager? And he acted like your friend or he didn't notice you at all because you were this awkward creature with braces, pimples or no feminine curves at all? Wouldn't you just love to meet him today and let him see what did he miss? Make him beg for your attention? Yep, that fantasy!

      Characters. Those of you who know me are familiar with my lack of patience for goodie two shoes/virgins/naive female characters. No, she is not virgin (thank you God), but Liza is good girl who obviously isn't aware of her appearance and how it affects opposed sex. Why did I like her? Because she is smart and independent. Cole is your typical sports player with everything that goes with that - parties and one night stands, but he is not jerk and (again, thank you God) he thinks about consequences of his actions. Don't let me start about all the reasons this man will make you swoon like sixteen year old One Direction groupie.

      What are you waiting for? Read this book as soon as possible and tell us what you think. In the end, I would like to say just one more thing.
      Dear Tracy,  thank you for this super sweet story and I wish you lot of good books and 5-stars ratings.

Giveaway

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Until next time,

xoxo

2013 Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge

This year The Books Vixen is hosting 2013 Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge - to sign up go here. 

Challenge details (copied from The Book Vixen)

• Runs January 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013 (books read prior to 1/1/2013 do not count towards the challenge). You can join at anytime. Sign up on The Book Vixen’s blog.
• The goal is to read at least 10 contemporary romance novels. 
• I’m going to elaborate on this a bit just for the sake of clarification: Books read for this challenge can be young adult, new adult, or adult. This reading challenge is specifically for romances between a hero and a heroine. Romances with the following elements do not qualify for this reading challenge: paranormal, historical, time-travel, fantasy, science fiction, or mystery/suspense/thriller.
• Books can be any format (bound, ebook, audio).
• Novellas that are at least 100 pages in length, as well as full-length novels, will count for this reading challenge.
• Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed.
• Grab the reading challenge button and post this reading challenge on your blog to track your progress. Please include a link back to this sign-up post so others can join the reading challenge too. You do not have to be a book blogger to participate; you can track your progress on Goodreads or LibraryThing.

Read and reviewed

1. Reckless by S.C. Stephens

2. The Practice Proposal by Tracy March

3. Damaged by H.M. Ward

4. Deeper We Fall by Chelsea M. Cameron

5. Wicked Heat by Nicola Marsh

Read ya soon, guys!

xoxo