Review: Not for Me (The Windy City Chronicles #1) by Kat de Falla

Book info:

Title:  Not for Me
Author:  Kat de Falla
Series:  The Windy City Chronicles #1
Genre:  Adult contemporary romance
Release Date:  May 24th, 2018
Source: E-book from YA Bound Book Tours for review which did not influence my opinion
My rating:  3.5 stars

Synopsis:
Manda Wolfgram is a struggling literary agent who is looking for the perfect manuscript to land in her lap and the perfect man to land in her bed. When the sixth-floor hottie finally asks her out, she get more than she bargained for. How can a girl wrap her brain around a Shakespearean actor who writes erotica? 

Harry Sackes leads a double life: making a career as an author by day and dipping into the dark underworld of criminals at night. The moment he sees Manda in his twin brother's arms, his whole life becomes his personal Shakespearean trag-comedy of mistaken identity and unrequited love in this fast-paced chick lit romance.

My Review:
So, this story was a little different than I expected.  In the end I did enjoy it, but it took a bit to get into.  There were definitely humorous parts, a few that had me laughing out loud. There were some emotional parts as well, bringing a tear to my eye.  But I wasn't expecting it to quite go in the direction it went.  It sounds like it will be the usual romantic comedy from the synopsis.  But if you read the synopsis carefully, you'll find the one line that kind of slipped past my attention on first glance.  Now that I read back through it, I see where that came from.  I wish maybe we'd gotten a little more background for Harry, earlier in the story, or maybe more throughout it.  I feel like fleshing some of that out would have maybe made it a little better.

As I mentioned before, it was still good, and I loved the bit of adventure we had at the very end.  As it seems to be a series, I can say I might be interested in reading on.  The characters, what we got of them, were funny and endearing, and everything really did all tie together in a pretty bow at the end.  It was an easy read, other than the few bits toward the beginning that I wasn't quite sure what was happening, until we got a little bit more filled in later in the story. 

Release Blitz: Hot Blooded Prizefighter (Windy City Bad Boys #2) by Mickey Miller and Holly Dodd

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Book info:

Title:  Hot Blooded Prizefighter

Series:  Windy City Bad Boys Book 2

Author: Mickey Miller and Holly Dodd

Release Day: May 16th, 2017

Connor

I'm the king of trash talking, but this time my mouth has signed a check I'm not sure I can cash. Now, I'm fighting in the biggest publicized spectacle, with a chance at a massive payday. I have two months to make this work and prove that I'm the true world champion.

Except, my handlers think I need refinement. You can't fix perfection, but that doesn’t stop my new style coach from trying. Crystal Lawson is set on keeping our relationship platonic, but I can see the lust in her eyes and feel the craving in her touch. We're supposed to keep this professional, but I f*cking love a challenge. I might be an animal in the ring, but I am a beast in bed. Before our time is through, she's going to be screaming my name.

Crystal

I should have walked away. My sanity isn't worth being secluded on a remote island with a barbarian. I should be having the time of my life. I'm doing the job of my dreams, surrounded by the best fighters MMA has to offer and gorgeous beaches.

There's just one problem; Connor McGrath. The arrogant and sexy-as-hell Irish fighter tests my every nerve. I hate him for dragging me into this situation. But every time I see him, I long to trace his tattoos and lick his abs. I’m stuck in paradise with him for sixty days with no way out, and a runaway libido.

As the nights grow hotter, and the chemistry between us threatens to erupt, I can't help but wonder if beauty ever tamed the beast.

#ChicagoBadBoys  #HotBlooded #PrizeFighter #FreeKU

Amazon Links:

US → http://amzn.to/2osRCcx

UK  → http://amzn.to/2pZdSAe

AU → http://amzn.to/2qsYtIa

CA → http://amzn.to/2qsAqJq

Stalking Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authormickeymiller/

Mickey’s Misfits: https://www.facebook.com/groups/112649979205719/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MickeyMiller29

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mickeymillerauthor/

Website: http://www.mickeymillerauthor.com/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/HollyDoddAuthor/

Holly’s Hive: https://www.facebook.com/groups/HollysHive/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/HollyDodd80

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/HollyDoddBooks

Pinterest: http://www.pintrest.com/HollyDoddBooks

Website: http://hollydodd.com/

Review: Perfection by J.L. Spelbring

First thanks to Spencer Hill Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  It actually came out this July, at least in the US.  And I think the sequel, Flawed, which I also have an e-galley of, comes out in August.  So it is nice having them to read together.  Although I tend to read an e-book/galley then a physical book, so as to try to keep up on all my TBR piles, both real and virtual.  So I will be reading the sequel after the book I'm reading now.  Anyway, I was intrigued by the synopsis of this book.  It is dystopian for sure, but it is also an alternate history story, something I haven't read much of, but have always been intrigued.  This one is set in a world where Hitler won the war.

The main character is Ellyssa, and she was created by who she calls her father, Dr. Hirch.  He is planning to complete Hitler's dream of the perfect Aryan pure race.  And so he is creating children in his laboratory, at The Center.  Not only are they creating the perfect children, with special traits, they are also training those who are "almost" perfect to be the police force, basically a present day Gestapo.  The story begins with Ellyssa running away from the Center.  She's found something in the files that she isn't supposed to read that make her not want to be a part of all of the testing and plans.  It all began when she heard a young man saying "Kansas City" to her as he was being dragged down the hall.  But he wasn't saying this out loud, it was in her mind.  And he did this several times, until she knew that he was dead, killed as other Renegades were.  Renegades are the people that wouldn't be part of the Pure Race.  In this alternate time, people are blond, different shades, and only Ellyssa's white blond hair is really the "perfect" color.  Blue eyes are the norm, as well as the light color skin. 

Of course as soon as Ellyssa is found to be missing, they send out one of their Gestapo detectives, Ms. Petersen.  So now she is on the run.  She finally is able to get away and get on the train, she knows she must head to Kansas City.  That is where the boy told her.  But soon someone figures out she is on the train, and so now she must jump, even though the train is still going at normal speed.  She isn't really concerned, as her advanced physical traits should help her to make it off with as little injury as possible.  Unfortunately it isn't that easy, and she does become injured.  Not only that, she had to leave all her food and supplies on the train.  She trudges along, until finally she can go no more and sees a small ghost town.  I believe it is called Deepwater in the book.  When she stumbles into a store and thinks she will hide there from those chasing her, she runs into some renegades. And while her superior fighting skills help her at first, she is knocked out and taken back to their camp. 

This is where she meets Rein and his brother Woody.  The leader of this group of Renegades is named Jordan, and if he can accept her, then the rest of the group should too.  But as she grows to know them, and see just how wrong what her father was doing, she also knows that she is now putting them in danger, since she is being looked for.  And she doesn't know the lengths that her father will go to to get her back.  But knowing what the final plan is according to the files she found, she only knows she must protect these people, all people, and that will mean going back to the Center.

Definitely a good read.  I was very interested in how things were working.  I would like to know more about the actual society, maybe some more of the history of the time period between the end of the war and "today".  We did get some information later on in the story, which in a way, I kind of like now that I think about it after finishing the book.  When I started I felt like I needed to know more about what happened to make her run away.  But the way it was worked into the story was really pretty great.  As Ellyssa let down her guard and learned more about the world and people outside of her home, we also kind of learned more about her.  I will be interested to read the sequel and see what will happen after where we left off.  And, as I have lived in Missouri my whole life, I love that this story is set for the most part in so many Missouri places!  Places I've lived or been.  For instance, they talk about Warrensburg, and that's where I went to college!  So, I was hooked from that point on.  Plus, partly in Chicago, I am a big fan of the city Chicago.

Review: Pandemic (Infected #3) by Scott Sigler (Prequel/Sequel Challenge)

First, thanks to Crown Publishing and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this.  And extra thanks to whatever kept it from expiring on the date I had written, January 21st, since I wasn't able to get all the way through it until the 24th.  I was a little daunted at first because it was over 400 pages, and it had been awhile, since 2009, that I'd read the 2nd book in the series.  I am pleased to say that the way they did the kind of "review" mixed in at the beginning of the story was perfect for reminding me pretty much of all of it.  Not only that, the author's writing once again captured and pulled me right into the story.  And that many pages?  You might think it would be a ton of description and character building, boring stuff, and you'd be wrong.  Yes, all that description and character building is there, it is just done in such a way that it happens during exciting, edge of the seat action scenes.  I feel like this series is one that could make a few good movies, or even better, a tv series on the SyFy channel.

I'll try not to give too many spoilers out, but there are a few of course since this is the final book in a trilogy.  In the first two books, there was an alien virus/organism that was causing people to die, or even to change in ways that they would cause others to catch the same thing and then change to pass it on, or again, die.  The alien organism was sent by a society that sent them out to get rid of other life forms that might one day come back and kill them or cause them harm.  It sent several different parts, and each one could learn from the losses of the one before if something happened, as had happened in the last two books.  It got so bad in the last one that the government nuked Detroit to end it.  Which did mostly end it, other than one last part from the original machine which sunk to the bottom of Lake Michigan.  The government is searching for any last bits that may have made it out of the blast.  And they've found one.  They take all the precautions they think are necessary to try to safely get it into a submarine, and then back to a lab to test it/destroy it if needed.  Unfortunately, something goes wrong on the sub, it is obvious somehow the people get infected.  Clarence Otto, and Margaret Montoya, experts and heroes from last books, are called back in to try to stop it, and determine what is going on.  What they find is a much evolved organism, some of the ways it has changed they won't even notice, until it may be too late, and someone very important is infected.

And it's not just the alien organism they must deal with now, it seems another country has their eyes on getting ahold of this alien technology and using it for themselves.  Not realizing just how bad it can be for them if they don't follow all the protocols that even our heroes are using, at times unsuccessfully.

Such a great way that it all plays out, to the point that I was just figuring there was no way left to save the human race.  But the scientists must determine if there is any way to use the aliens' own technology against them in order to save ourselves.

Again, a great conclusion to the story, so glad I got to read it!  For my 2014 Prequel and Sequel Challenge, I will be able to count this as 2 points.  Unfortunately, since I didn't review the first two anywhere that I can find at the moment, I can't get the 10 points for completing the series.  Hopefully I will soon get my MySpace blogs sent to me from the past, and it will be there I hope.

Truth (XVI #2) by Julia Karr

I got this book as a stripped cover from the bookstore where I work.  I had read the first book, XVI, as part of doing the Debut Author Challenge through The Story Siren back in 2011, in fact, I think it might have been the first one I read for that challenge.  The story picks back up with Nina and her sister Dee living in with their grandmother and grandfather in an apartment in Chicago.  They are lower tier, but Nina is a "Creative" which means that she will have the opportunity to move up tiers later on.  Nina has her XVI tattoo, and wants to be able to add a design to it, as other Creatives are allowed to.  She is trying to get past what happened in the first book, meeting her father, who is a leader in the rebellion.  Killing her step-father, in order to save her friend.  A friend of hers from the past, Joan, who was in the FelS program has returned and is living on the streets homeless, having been turned into a sex slave and escaping.  She has her boyfriend Sal, and things seem to be going great.  Except, she's jealous of this girl named Paulette that works with him in the resistance group, and the fact that Sal seems to think that girls can't take care of themselves.  Then, the unthinkable happens.  Her grandfather, Pops, is using a scrambler while he talks to a friend, but doesn't stop talking when it quits working, and so he gets caught and arrested.  When this happens their grandmother has a heart attack.  She's taken to the hospital, where Nina and Dee once again are reminded of being lower class.  One mother is there trying to get the police to arrest a gang of boys who raped her daughter.  But because of the whole "sex-teen" image, it is not considered rape.  Something that makes Nina want to join a secret group called the Sisterhood that tries to fight against this whole system even more.  While they are waiting at the hospital, this one doctor wants to try an experimental treatment on her grandmother.  There is something about this doctor that Nina doesn't trust, but he is one of the best, so she allows him to.  When they go home to get their belongings, they find out they've been evicted from their apartment.  So now Nina and Dee move in with Nina's friend Wei and her family.  They are top tier, and own a building that has an extra apartment for Nina's family to live in, once they all get home.  Because of Pops being arrested, they also now face the government saying that Dee isn't in a fit living situation, and trying to take her away.  So now Nina has to fight for custody of her sister while her grandmother is still recovering.  And not only that, Dee has a new teacher, Ms. Maldovar, who seems to be taking an unusual interest in Dee, way beyond what a teacher normally does.  And from the first time Nina sees her, she doesn't trust her.  Even though Ms. Maldovar does come to the custody hearing and sticks up for them.  And she brings lots of Holiday gifts for both of them.  During these times, Nina learns something about Ms. Maldovar, and I figured out from this tidbit just who she was.  I won't give it away though.
All this is going on, plus Nina joins the Sisterhood, plus she begins to have doubts about Sal, and begins to feel something for Wei's brother Chris.  She works at her job at the art gallery.  She finds help in lots of situations, and does her best to help her friend Joan.  All ending up with a big scare for her, as well as a cliffhanger.
Now, from the way this book is set up, and how it talks about a "companion" novel being the first one, I kind of assumed when I began the book that the whole story was going to be concluded in this book.  Now, while it did leave at a sort of ending point, it left a ton unresolved, and I am so glad to see there is supposed to be a 3rd book coming out next year.  Because I need more!  A good book.  Really suspenseful, so much happens, it keeps you reading constantly.  I liked how we got a little bit more of the past history, how there was an all female government, and how some of the new laws probably stem a bit from that time when they were overthrown.  I also like hearing how other parts of the world fared in the situation, and knowing where might be safe for people to get away from all this.
This was my 5th sequel as part of my September is for Sequels Challenge.  So I'm glad I've passed my minimum, although I'm guessing I still won't quite reach my original goal of 8.  I've chosen another shorter book to read next, hoping I can get 6, or maybe even 7 done, and get closer to my original goal.  It's just that the first couple of sequels I picked were like almost 500 pages!

The Hazards of Working at a Bookstore Vol. 2.1

I didn't work at the store at all last week, so didn't have time to do one of these, not to mention didn't look at any books either. Both of the books I have to share today are kid's books. I actually got to spend a little time in the kid's department last night, even though I was as usual in charge of the whole 2nd floor.

First is The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone. In the Children's Gallery of the Chicago Art Institute there are the Thorne rooms, 68 miniature rooms, each of which is designed in the style of a different historical period. This book imagines what if you had a key that made you shrink so that you could go inside each room? And as you went through them, what if you discovered other people had also visited and maybe left something behind? This sounds like a really fun read to me.

Second is Suddenly in the Depths of the Forest by Amos Oz. In a village, all the animals disappeared long ago. Only one old man, and a young teacher will talk about animals with the children, it is like no one wants to talk about it. There is one little boy who really gets into the animal stories, then disappears. Two girls, Maya and Matti decide to explore the woods around the village. There are dangers, something called Nehi, who is mountain demon. They find the boy in a cave, but also find a place where there are lots of animals. But is also the home of Nehi. Turns out Nehi used to be a boy in this town who was mocked and treated horribly. He has stolen all the animals. They must try to find out how to get them back.

2011 Debut Author Challenge 1: XVI by Julia Karr

I read this book as part of the 2011 Debut Author Challenge being sponsored by Kristi over at The Story Siren. I've really gotten into the YA books lately. In fact, it's almost keeping me from reading books by my favorite authors Stephen King and Dean Koontz. But anyway, on with the book review.

XVI, or the Roman numeral for 16 is set in a futuristic world. After we have settled on the Moon and Mars, and we have a government that keeps us from having wars. The 16 is for the age when a girl gets a tattoo, the roman numerals, that tell all men she is 16 and able to have sex. And they call it "sex-teen" in that it is the age when girls WANT to have sex supposedly, and all the ads make girls think that will be cool. There is an organization that virgins can get chosen for, and it is hope for girls who are in the lower tiers, or really the lower class girls. Our main character is Nina. She doesn't buy into all that sex-teen stuff. In fact, she doesn't want to have sex or become available for this program. Especially after seeing some perverted videos her mother's boyfriend left at the house. This is a world, similar to in the movie Minority Report, where as you walk past stores, you are constantly getting an audio of sales and such directed at you. There is a constant program, unless you listen to music, or are talking to a friend. Until girls are 16, they also have a GPS inserted under their skin.

The story starts out as Nina is going to visit her grandparents and some old friends in Chicago. (Which, as some may know, I love Chicago! The novel I have gotten the farthest with writing myself is actually set in Chicago.) There is a stop in this constant noise by some rebels, or NonCons as they are called. Then she sees a homeless boy getting beat up by some 'Letes, or athletes. Turns out this boy isn't homeless, his name is Sal, and his parents were friends with Nina's parents. Nina's father is dead, and at the beginning of the story, her mother Ginnie is killed. This leads to Nina and her younger sister going to live with their grandparents. Ginnie told Nina in her dying moments to keep her younger sister away from her boyfriend, Ed, who Nina believes to be her sister's father. Moving to the city, back to where Nina had lived until 4 years ago, she is now embroiled in a mystery, as one other thing her mother said to her, was that her father was still alive, and Nina should find him.

There was a lot of suspense in this book. Once I picked it up, I constantly wanted to keep reading it to see what was going to happen next. I don't know that I believe we could ever go back to a society where women were treated like sex slaves, or that 16 year old girls were treated that way. I just don't see that. But it is a different story line for a futuristic world, and I think that it left off that there could be a sequel. I hope there is anyway, I want to know what happens next.

This was the 1st in my 2011 Debut Author Challenge list of 12. And I'm really glad I chose to do this. I may even go back to read some of the other books that I didn't choose after I get my first 12 done.

Now, if I could only get my borrowed Nook to work one more day before I have to take it back to work tonight. I really wanted to read Unwind by Neal Shusterman tonight, especially since I have a snow day tomorrow. Oh well. I'm reading another really good book right now that I can't wait to blog about either.