L-L-L-Little Reviews - 4 Romances Read in the 4th Month of 2019

Gah!  This time of the school year is so busy, and with the weather getting nicer, it's harder to stay as ahead on my blog and reviews as I'd like. BUT, hey, I'm keeping up, kind of, by getting all the reviews of romances that are not part of a blog tour in this post!


First Down (Lucky Charms #1) by Michelle Sodaro:

Genre:  Adult contemporary sports romance
Release Date: February 3rd, 2017
Source:  Finished copy purchased
My rating:  3.5 stars

This is an author who used to be a good friend of mine.  She was an inspiration for me to write myself and actually I credit her for the reason I finished my first story ever the year she and I did NaNoWriMo as writing buddies.  However, our friendship suffered a couple years ago when she did not like the reviews I'd posted of her books.  In fact she told me I didn't need to bother to review any more of her books.  But this was a series I'd been very interested in, and so I took a chance and went ahead and bought a copy to read.  In the end, I feel like this book was definitely better than the others I'd read before, I could see improvements. But it started with some of the same issues I often have with self-published books, and ended with some of those same things.  In a way, I got about halfway through the book and was ready to post a review that would be really good, because I was sucked in and not noticing the things that had bothered me before. But then, towards the end, the final third or so, it changed right back to the issues.  Lots of buts in my review it seems.  So let's add one more. BUT, the banter between characters had a few really good moments.  I loved the swear jar, and I definitely loved having something taking place in my hometown of KC.  I enjoyed the book enough to bump it to a 3.5 stars, although if it had carried through the improvement to the end, I'd have probably given it 4 stars.  I did enjoy it enough that I do want to read book 2, especially since it is set with a Kansas City Royal's baseball player, my really favorite sport and team.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:
Josh Matthews had a childhood he would rather forget...and he never really knew what it meant to be in a family or to call a place home. His circle of friends are the closest he has come to a family as are his teammates on the Kansas City Chiefs. He is their quarterback and loves playing football. When he sees a fan holding a sign up in the first regular season game, his superstitious teammates tease him that she could be his lucky charm. Dillon Winters knows all to well how being star-struck can hurt you. She got away from her ex-husband and is working hard to take care of her daughter, Lilly. She goes to a football game to drum up business for her bar and meets Josh Matthews, who makes her realize that giving love a second chance can fulfill her life in ways she didn't even know she was missing. 


Tinfoil Heart by Daisy Prescott:

Genre:  Adult contemporary romance
Release Date: April 22nd, 2018
Source:  Finished copy purchased
My rating:  4.5 stars
  
Now, my rating on this is a depends rating.  You see, the author gave us two different endings.  Based on the synopsis below, you might think this is a bit of a science fiction/alien visitor type of story.  And you might be right. Depending on which ending you choose to go with.  Me, I loved the Believer ending, which would make it 5 stars for me.  But if she had just gone with the Skeptic ending, well, then it would have been only 4 stars.  So I compromised with the 4.5 stars finally.  From the minute I picked this one up though, I was hooked.  I wish I'd gone ahead and read it last summer right after I bought it at Book Bonanza, so that I could have stayed up all night reading it on a summer night with no school the next morning.  Instead, I waited, and there you go.  Loved the humor, the story, the angst, the setting of the story, all of it.  There was even one line that just kept me laughing out loud for quite a while after, even as I continued reading:  "The unicorn of orgasms".   

And since I got to meet the author at Book Bonanza last summer, I'll share that photo (even as horrible as I look!):

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:
A new romantic comedy about love, letting go, and little green men from USA Today Bestselling author Daisy Prescott.

My father was abducted by aliens.
Or so I believed for the last eighteen years.

After my mother's death, I moved to Roswell, capital of all things alien. I’m going to find out the truth and nothing will stop me . . . except Boone Santos.

Compared to the intergalactic tinfoil hat brigade, he's a god amongst mere mortals. Too handsome for his own good (and mine), with a grumpy arrogance, and the most beautiful smile ever—he smashes my plan to pieces like a UFO crashing into the desert.

I need a tinfoil hat for my heart.

Do I believe in aliens? I’m not sure.
What do I believe? I’m not going to fall in love with Boone. Definitely not . . . 



All Broke Down (Rusk University #2) by Cora Carmack:

Genre:  New Adult contemporary sports romance
Release Date: October 28th, 2014
Source:  Audiobook purchased from Audible
My rating:  5 stars

It's been a while since I listened to the first book in this series, but I had purchased this on Audible a while back, and decided I was in the mood to listen to it.  And boy am I glad I did, this one was so good!  One thing that was really funny for me as I listened, was at the beginning when I was getting so annoyed with one character going on and on describing stuff, and then the author totally wove that moment into the story so that her spacing out was annoying or causing issues for another character.  I loved chapter 7, it was extremely hot!  And then there was a lot of back and forth between the characters that fit perfectly for the most part, enough that it didn't even annoy me when it was a usual type of issue you see.  Then something happened at the end to one of the other characters, and I'm guessing that is who one of the next books will be about, and I'll need to read it soon!  Another great book from this author!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:
In life, you can't only fight for what you believe in . . .sometimes you have to fight for what you love

Dylan fights for lost causes. Probably because she used to be one.

Environmental issues, civil rights, education—you name it, she's probably been involved in a protest. When her latest cause lands her in jail for a few hours, she meets Silas Moore. He's in for a different kind of fighting. And though he's arrogant and not at all her type, she can't help being fascinated with him.

Yet another lost cause.

Football and trouble are the only things that have ever come naturally to Silas. And it's trouble that lands him in a cell next to do-gooder Dylan. He's met girls like her before—fixers, he calls them, desperate to heal the damage and make him into their ideal boyfriend. But he doesn't think he's broken, and he definitely doesn't need a girlfriend trying to change him. Until, that is, his anger issues and rash decisions threaten the only thing he really cares about, his spot on the Rusk University football team.

Dylan might just be the perfect girl to help.

Because Silas Moore needs some fixing after all.
  


Sweet Southern Secrets (Georgia Peaches #1) by Colbie Kay and Chianti Summers:

Genre:  New Adult contemporary romance
Release Date: April 28th, 2017
Source:  Finished copy purchased
My rating:  3 stars
  
I purchased this one last year when I got to meet the authors at Kinky in Kansas City, a romance author convention that sadly is going to not go on after this coming summer.  The authors of this book were the hosts of this convention.  This awesome convention is where I met Amy Daws for the first time, as well as the cover model Jonny James, just to name a few of the awesome people!  But anyway, I hadn't read these two authors before, so I purchased this book.  Now, normally I'm not the biggest fan of the baby on the cover like this one, that often turns me away. But the synopsis sounded most like what I'd be interested in reading so I bought it.  This book had the same things about it that my friend's book has that I know has to do with self-publishing.  That is where the 3 stars comes in.  It was an okay story, although I guess I didn't read the synopsis that well, because the whole baby plotline was not what I had assumed it was going to be, it went a whole different direction.  I don't know if these are authors I'll read more in the future by or not, but I won't say that I won't.  It would be fun to see where the other Georgia Peaches stories take them.  

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:
Dex Mitchell has wanted to play baseball for as long as he can remember. His life was going exactly as it should until a failing grade threatens it all. Dex has no choice, but to go looking for help and where better to look than the quiet girl that sits next to him. If Dex can get her to agree, he might end up needing her for a whole lot more than just tutoring.

Callie Fisher is scared, timid, and being held captive by a night that turned horribly wrong. She's happy being invisible to people around her. Except for the guy that sits next to her. He's always noticed her and now he needs her help. What Callie thinks is supposed to just be a couple lessons in the stars turns into a whole lot of unexpected. Callie never anticipated that agreeing to help Dex would in turn help her also.

These two come together when they need it most, but as the rules change can they still win the game or will secrets give them a loss?  

Review: Redeeming Trust by Michelle Sodaro (September Sequels #1)

Book info:
Title:  Redeeming Trust   
Author:  Michelle Sodaro
Series:  sequel to Broken Trust  
Genre:  Contemporary romance
Published:  August 15th, 2016
Source:  Purchased book myself

This is the sequel to the book Broken Trust, that I read and reviewed earlier this year.  You can read my review of it by clicking on the title linked in the book info above.  I was definitely ready to read and find out just where the author was going to take the dynamic character of Ali from the first book, and her attraction to Officer Biceps.

So this book still has the two characters, Sam and Ben, from the first book. Ben is Ali's brother, and he is getting ready to marry Sam.  One neat thing I liked in this book was that the author added a little bonus prequel novella, giving us the story of when Sam and Ali actually met for the first time, before the meeting at the beginning of Broken Trust.  Turns out that Sam was doing caricatures at the Renaissance Festival one time when she saw this very bright, spunky girl named Ali.  The two women didn't cross paths again until the first book.  Now things are going well for Sam and Ben.  So book two is supposed to be Ali's story.  And we have another main character, her love interest, Officer Biceps, otherwise known as Lieutenant Vincent Michaels.  

This story begins with a break-in and some graffiti at Ali's music store AliCat Records.  Vincent gets called in to the crime scene, and of course ends up on the case.  They're trying to find out who could be the one that broke in, and the spray painting gives a hint, something about always loving Ali?  So at that point, it seems as if maybe it was a kind of stalkerish guy that Ali had almost dated at one time.  Ali doesn't really date guys for too long, she's always been kind of a love in the moment person, not wanting to get too serious.  This is partly because of seeing what happened with her grandparents, when her grandmother died, and how it changed her grandfather.  So this is the main theme of the story, finding out who could be causing the trouble for or possibly be after Ali.    But we also have a pretty big part of the story that is still Ben and Sam.  It makes sense, as Ali was a big part of their story. But we're dealing with Ben and Sam preparing to get married, working on Ben's dream of opening his home for runaways, as well as other family issues that will pop up.

Now while Vincent may sound like he is going to be perfect, he has his own issues.  One being that he is kind of taking care of his sister's son Lucas, while she is in rehab or off in her own world.  Ali also worries that a man like Vincent, someone who has dedicated his life to upholding the rules/laws, will not want to be with her, or at least not unless she would tone herself down, and become more "normal".  Times where he has been a gentleman, and not taken advantage of situations that were emotional, well she felt he was rejecting her, and so does not know if he really wants her.  So you have that conflict in their relationship as well.

I won't tell you any more, you should read and find it all out yourself.

The story is a good one.  The characters are all pretty good as well.  As with the last book, there was a lot of potential in the story.  And I love the Kansas City setting, being as that is where I live, and have lived my whole life!

Unfortunately I still had some of my normal independently published book issues.  At first there was just the occasional type/grammar issue, that probably was just from not having several people do a good edit.  But at the end of the book, I'm guessing that the author was just really excited to get it finished and published, and possibly the editor was too into the story to catch things.  But there were several pages that had at least one error for either every other, or every paragraph.  Little things, such as "he" instead of "she", or other similar words that were real words, they just weren't spelled correctly or used grammatically correctly.  Again, while I figure that it was probably just due to rushing to get finished, at one point I almost wondered if something was happening in the final publishing program that cut letters off?  

I also had a little bit of trouble with some descriptions or words used to describe that felt like they were being used over and over.  I just found myself thinking, yeah, I get that already.  

Other than the little errors like typos that I mentioned above, the book definitely overcame the problems I was having by the end for the most part.  

While you're here, this is the first book that goes toward fulfilling my September is for Sequels Challenge that I'm hosting.  You can still sign up before the 15th, this Thursday.  Go check it out HERE.

Review: Broken Trust by Michelle Sodaro

I was excited to read this book after hearing the author talk about it as she was finishing it up and getting it ready to publish.  Michelle is a friend, and I would kind of say she was my writing partner for 2014-most of 2015.  She is the reason I feel I was able to actually complete my very first NaNoWriMo novel in November of 2014.  We tried again this past November, but between her having to move farther away from me, and the fact that my story idea wasn't really going where I thought it was going, and I got stuck, I didn't finish.  Of course I had to buy one as soon as she published it last June, but things kept getting in the way with all the review books I was trying to wade through, and it got put off until last month.  In a way that might be kind of good, because it is the first book in a duology, and the second book should be published soon. 

The book has two main characters really, with a very spectacular supporting character who will be a main character in book two.  The first character we meet is Ben.  Ben is an architect that comes from a somewhat well to do family.  In fact, his grandfather has a trust fund worth one mission dollars set aside for each of his grandchildren, the main stipulation being that they must marry a healthy, Catholic person that he approves of.  The reasons behind the stipulations have to do with their grandfather's loss of his daughter, Ben's mother, as well as his wife, their grandmother.  Ben's two older siblings have gone along to the letter of the rules in order to get their money.  Well, other than their marriages are pretty much as fake as can be, for show only, and to get the money.  And they choose to not work and just live with their spouses and kiss up to their grandfather.  Ben plans to get the trust and use it to fund his lifelong dream.  A home for runaways.  He has a woman that he has grown up with, Vicky, who just kind of seems to assume that she will marry him.  And for now, he just kind of goes along with the things she suggests, knowing that the trust money will be all he needs to take care of his dream. 

Our other main character is Sam.  Sam is an artist who has had a very hard life.  Her brother died when she was younger, and due to the issues with her alcoholic father, she was taken away and put into foster care.  Foster care wasn't good for her, but her art has helped her move on and keep her life going in a positive manner.  Sam meets Ben when Vicky has him stop by to do a portrait of the two of them for their wedding present.  They both feel a bit of a pull, not that either does anything about it.  I mean it is obvious to Sam that Ben is taken.  One night Sam stops at a music store that is nearby her art studio/apartment to try to get the CD she needs to listen to in order for her current painting project.  The store has closed, but the woman inside sees Sam outside saying that she has an emergency, and lets her in to help her get the CD she needs.  It is a strange request, just the 2nd CD in the Les Miserables soundtrack.  The woman who runs the music store is Ali, and Ali is actually Ben's younger sister.  Ali and Sam soon bond over their "uniqueness" and become best friends.  Ali is our third supporting/main character.

The attraction between Sam and Ben seems to grow, and Ben realizes that he's just been going along with Vicky, but really he doesn't like her in the way she likes him.  In fact, the more things begin to change between Ben and Vicky, it seems she really only likes him for the trust money that he will inherit once he marries her.  As Sam gets to know Ben more, and learns about his home for runaways idea, she falls for him even more.  You see, there was a time when if there had been a home like that available, she would have probably run away from her foster homes to be in a better place.  Ali hires Sam to do a mural in her music store, and Ben knows he wants Sam to do a mural for his runaway center as well.

One thing I really loved about the story is that it was set in Kansas City, and I loved all the references that only someone who had lived here would get right away.  A lot of the details in the romance were great, reminded me a lot of other romances I've been reading lately.  I love all the characters, Ali is so much fun that I can't wait till book two, Redeeming Trust, to read her story with Officer Biceps.  The issues I had with the book mostly have to do with the usual issues I have with self-published books.  There were a lot of mistakes that could probably have been fixed with one more set of eyes doing an editing run-through. Something that I know self-publishing authors don't always have like the big publishing houses do.  I feel that the love almost was a little too "insta-love" for me, when I looked at how many days the story seemed to take place over, or at least those parts of the story.  Also, Vicky kept coming by Sam's studio it seemed, but Sam never bothered to ask either Ali or Ben about it?  I mean, it seems to me, if I was supposed to be dating someone who said they weren't in a relationship with this other person that I'd thought they were at first, but it kept seeming like the other person thought they were in the relationship, I'd at least have asked my friend about it.  So that seems like kind of a loose end that could have been tied up.  I see why the author did it, for what happens at a pivotal moment at the end of the story, it just seems unrealistic to me that Sam never asked or mentioned anything about it to either Ali or Ben. 

However, even with the issues I've mentioned, I grew to really like the characters, and the ending was pretty perfectly written.  I had one tiny issue there with something supposedly being said out loud, but it didn't really say that, so the next part about that wasn't seamlessly fitting into the story for me.  As I also mentioned, I'm very excited to read on and see how Ali's story goes, and hope for more with Ben and Sam in the 2nd book as well, because their story isn't over yet!

Cover Characteristic: Books

The Cover Characteristic meme is hosted at  Sugar and Snark.   Here are the guidelines:

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite covers with that characteristic. If you want to join in and share your 5 favorite covers with the weeks particular characteristic, then just make a post, grab the meme picture (or make your own) and leave your URL in Linky (so we can visit).
You don’t even need to participate, just stopping by and saying hi would be great! Don’t forget to stop by the other participants!

Okay this week all I can say is WHOA!  I had so many books that had pictures of books on the cover.  So I tried my best to narrow it down to 10.  Although some of them have multiple books on one number.  I grouped together series and also I have one grouping of picture books.  So here we go!

10.  Picture books:

  9.

8.  Libraries or Bookstores

 7.

6.

5.

4.

3.  Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde - you'd think all would have books on the cover, but only 4 of the 5 I've read do.

  2.

1.  And my favorite of all is a book by my author friend, Michelle Sodaro.  I'll explain why after you see it.

So you're probably thinking, where is the book?  And this is kind of plain compared to the others. But what I like about it, is that as I read, I found out that this is the cover of the book that is the main part of the story, so I love that about it!

I'll bet you could give me a ton more ideas for covers with books. And there are so many that I will see at the bookstore where I work that I haven't read, or don't know that I'll ever read, so they didn't get included.   

Review: Arianna's Destiny by Michelle Sodaro (September Sequel Challenge #1 and TBR Pile Challenge #11))

So this was the first book I read for this year's September is for Sequels Challenge.  I had planned to read it this summer actually, but then I didn't find my copy until August. So I held onto it for the challenge.  This is a sequel to the book Arianna's Honor.  My friend Michelle Sodaro is the author.  Michelle is the friend that helped me to actually finish NaNoWriMo last November.  She's the friend I plan to work with again this November on another story.  So as I said with the review of the last book, this is a hard review.  But Michelle knows how I review and blog, and so she will understand my thoughts and comments about the books I hope.  If you haven't read the first book, you should stop here, click the link above to read my review of the first one, and then go read the book before you come read this review.

Arianna is back but she's spent the time between the last book and this one off in a cabin by herself.  After the horrible things she dealt with in the last book, the killing of the men she knew, the death of her youngest brother, etc.  But her brother Peter shows up at the beginning of the book to bring her back to Prince Nicholas's kingdom. There is a war coming, and they need her skills and talents to help train their army that has only known times of peace.  Peter has been put in charge of the army, and he wants Arianna to help.  When she arrives back, she is nervous to see Nicky at first.  You see, they had that one night together.  But she knows it is probably not meant to be more.  And she is proven right when the Prince's parents, the King and Queen, tell him a marriage has been arranged for him, to Princess Merriam.  Yet there is the Prince's friend, Zachary.  There is something about him, Arianna knows he's had a life with many setbacks like her own, and not only that, she can see things in him that are the same in her.  When someone in the kingdom is killed, war will truly start, and Arianna must help figure out how to win.  She will call on the gypsies for help, for what help they might be willing and able to give. There will be betrayal, but it will be someone that had sent up bad warnings before.  In the end, most everything will come up settled.  It's not an ending where everyone is just put into their final places, there is enough of a question about what Arianna will do next that there could be another book.  It just doesn't need to have one if not.

I did think it was a good story.  But as I've mentioned with other Self-Published books, there were many spelling errors.  Not in words spelled wrong as if someone didn't know how to spell them, just probably oversights as it was being written or typed.  I know that Michelle said she did kind of rush to get this 2nd book in the series out last year, that it could have stood another read-through, and I've offered if she needs that from now on, I'd be happy to do it.  :-)  There were a few things that did bother me about the story as well.  A lot of people said "Fair enough", a lot of times.  Enough that I noticed it.  Also, I get the wolf comparisons, and it worked for the story. But there were times that it seemed almost forced or overdone.  There were a few times a comparison was done by someone and really a wolf isn't the first animal that would have come to my mind for that action.  There's also a couple of times that Arianna pulled her sword or knife that seemed like major overkill.  I mean, as much as she loved her brothers, she would seriously pull a sword on them?  And then when someone was making a joking comment about Zachary she almost pulled  a knife on them. That was a little much for me.  But I guess that is her personality and she is so different from me, that I just must not understand doing that.

So to sum it up, a good story, with some issues that are probably mostly due to the self publishing aspect of not having the final professional edit, and a good conclusion to the first story.

Stacking the Shelves - July 26th, 2015

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is a way for us to share the new books we have collected.  This week I got several physical books, a few free e-books, and no egalleys.  I also got these cool Pop figures:

Physical books:

I've been wanting to read the new companion series to Flowers in the Attic, and I know that Secret Brother is one of them.  I just didn't realize the other two I'd seen were supposed to be before this one.  So guess I'll be on the lookout for them.  I'm hoping that I didn't already buy Red Hill, but I've wanted to read it for awhile, and it was on the bargain table for like $5, so I had to grab it.  I got Prodigy through the Books for Trade tag.  I've tried really hard to keep the coloring books out of my house so that I don't waste time on them, but I love peacocks so had to buy this one.  Broken Trust is by my friend Michelle Sodaro, and I finally was able to get together with her since she got them so that I could buy one.  And the last one is just a sampler of the actual Black Widow book that they were giving out at my bookstore during the Pop Culture Fangirl event.  

Ebooks:

Both of those were free ebooks.  They sound pretty good.  

So, what books did you add to your shelves this week?