Review Leo by Mia Sheridan (Goodreads Author)

Leo by Mia Sheridan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Leo is the debut novel by one of my favourite authors, Mia Sheridan. I've read a few that she has written after this one, which I have really liked, but this one...let me just add that I am in the minority here...didn't work for me. It failed to excite me.......

I'm going to try and keep my "rant" as short as possible.

The writing was nothing like the other books...it was just okay. No great quotes stood out to me!!!

There were so many things that glaringly reminded me of 50 Shades of Grey.....all that internal dialogue, the broken and dominant hero, the sweet and virginal heroine, etc, etc

So, the heroine is still at a virgin....she promised to wait for Leo, remember.......and then..........presto.............2 dates and she sleeps with the hero...who is not Leo!!!!

Can I do some eye exercises here please!!!!!

I actually liked Evie, the heroine. She was a really sweet and likeable characters......but when she starts telling her besties and friends all of Leo's secrets and how much she loves him....blah blah..........I just couldn't believable that any sane person who do that, even if it's her very best best BFF...............

I couldn't engage with Jake, the hero.........his whole attitude was ...ooh I'm so great.........and quite honestly, I can't believe a guy that age would be running a company like he does!!! Oh, did you say he's like Mr Christian Grey????? Really!!! Guess there's a lot of hot hot very very rich very very young zillionaires out there that I am not aware of!!!Or not!!! Ummm

Yes, some more eye exercises after this......

Evie sleeps with Jake....lots and lots and lots of times and she never never ever sees the ginormous tattoo on his back.........what, they just do the missionary position in the dark!!!! Seriously!!! And to test my intelligence further....Evie DOES NOT recognize Leo when she sees him after all those many years........come one...(view spoiler)[so, he's had plastic surgery but still, I found this part very hard to swallow....... (hide spoiler)]

So when Evie discovers Jake's big secret - she's heartbroken for him...naturally!!! She's a sweet and loving and caring person.......and she's totally so understanding......really!!! The guy has slept his way through the years.....she's remained a virgin.........allright, so I can't exactly expect a person to keep their virginity in this day and age......but why can he be a slut and she has to be a virgin!!!!

Jake's sob story ..............I was like......

Despite the disappointment, I am still going ahead and reading the remainder of MS books........and I can't wait.

As they say, you can't win them all..............

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Review: Becoming Calder by Mia Sheridan (Goodreads Author)

Becoming Calder by Mia Sheridan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Becoming Calder is the 1st book in a 2-book series and tells the story two people whose courage, goodness and love triumphs over evil.

“I had dreams as well. In that moment, right there and then, I admitted to myself that I longed for more for my life and maybe those dreams were beautiful too. Brave. I had always pushed that desire away, ashamed of it, thinking it sinful, selfish.
But maybe, just maybe, my own dreams weren’t as sinful as I’d always thought them to be…somehow.”

Mia Sheridan has written an extraordinary tale of conquering your fears despite the many obstacles that face you and how truth and goodness always find the light in your life.

“But of course, life never worked that way. You had to live every minute of the hard part in order to get to the good.”

This book begins with the two protagonists, Calder and Eden first meeting as children when she's brought to the religious community that he has lived since he can remember, as their leader's future wife.

Under the most pervasive and sinister circumstances, a bond of friendship and love blooms between these two engaging characters. Their love story takes place over several years as the two face the hardships and struggles that come with their finding happiness together. Their story touched me deeply....they have this innocence...and at the same time something so powerful, deep and consuming that is so poignant and so touching.

The characters development is very well done. They're memorable, they drive the story and transport you into their lives.

I found Calder and interesting character. He questions what he has believed in most of his life - what if there something else, something more.......

Eden just pulled me in from the first moment she's introduced.........

In this place, there is a girl with the face of an angel and a heart full of courage. To her family, she is the vision of obedient perfection. But she dares to want that which she has been told can never be hers.

There's something magical and beautiful about her that draws you in.

Another character I liked, was Xander, Calder's best friend. They have an incredible bond and I am interested to finding out how their friendship develops in the next book.

The author's depiction of the community's daily life is filled with a sense of evil.....you can feel it ....the menace that permeates around the members who may question the cult leaders words is pretty scary and chilling.

This book ends in a huge cliff-hanger and Calder and Eden's story continues with Finding Eden, the next book.

A beautifully written and captivating story.

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Review: Wrecked by Emily Snow (Goodreads Author)

Wrecked by Emily Snow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2,5 stars

I have read some really great books by this author, but Wrecked was a bit of a disappointment for me.

It's a sweet YA romance which did not make a huge impression to me....I didn't feel that the two main characters had a connection or chemistry with each other. I liked Rhys more than Eve...she started to annoy me to no end....all her angst and drama.

The story moved at a slow pace and hell, did it take ages and ages before the big REVEAL is finally here!!!! And the usage of the word WRECKED......what was that all about????

Let me just say that it was an okay story...but not anything great!! I have read much better books written by Emily Snow.

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Review: Twisted Palace (The Royals, #3) by Erin Watt (Goodreads Author) (Pseudonym), Elle Kennedy (Goodreads Author), Jen Frederick (Goodreads Author)

Twisted Palace by Erin Watt
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

1,5 stars

Finally, we get to all the answers in Twisted Palace, the 3rd book in Erin Watt's The Royals Trilogy.
After not one but two cliff-hangers that ended in Broken Prince, I wondered how much more drama and more twists and secrets and revelations would there be!!!

This book was my least favourite of the three novels. In fact, I totally did not like Twisted Palace. Even the characters I liked before, I started to feel so disappointed in them.

Let me jot down a couple of things that made me so not love the Royals and their stories:

The drama just continues and continues...........everything just felt forced and totally not believable!!!
Reed Royal...........

He just drove me crazy with all his yes, no, maybe I should.........make up your mind!!!
And Ella.......

what the hell happened to the sassy, take no shit girl............why she took her now alive and appearing father's crap was beyond me!!!!

The teenagers portrayed in this series are beyond awful and horrid. Spoilt, rich, entitled, cruel, envious, egotistical, empty.............

In fact, there were more characters I disliked in this series than I liked.......

The ending, where the baddie/s are revealed was just too unbelievable for words.........

By the last page, my feelings about the Royals and their world, were something like this...


Now, I haven't given up totally on this series!!! I liked the first two books and I would be interested in reading some of the other Royal brothers stories!!!! Yeah, sucker for punishment!!!

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Review: Broken Prince (The Royals, #2) by Erin Watt (Goodreads Author)

Broken Prince by Erin Watt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Broken Prince, book #2 in Erin Watt's The Royals Trilogy......starts off with a bang after the most unexpected cliffhanger in Paper Princess https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... Royals are back with a vengeance!!!

Reed Royal had done it!!! It's not looking too good for him when it comes to hoping that Ella Harper will ever give him another chance!!! Will he be able to redeem himself after all the lies and deception?

Drama, more drama, secrets, lies, betrayals, angst - it just continues with the Royals. It never lets up.

I love how Ella is coming into her own. She's strong and shows backbone when things are thrown at her. It's great to see the positive influence she's having on the Royal family.

I have to admit that my liking for Reed Royal keeps growing. Yes, he's made some bad choices in the past but he's trying to become a better person which I admire in him.

The cliffhanger...yes, there's yet another one here.......wow!!!! Never expected that one...okay, Brooke....twisted bitch that she was...still didn't think it would come to this...........

So, now ....waiting for the final book......where will all this drama go to next????

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Review: Paper Princess (The Royals #1) by Erin Watt (Goodreads Author) (Pseudonym), Elle Kennedy (Goodreads Author), Jen Frederick (Goodreads Author)

Paper Princess by Erin Watt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Paper Princess, the 1st book in The Royals Trilogy by Erin Watt is a fun and easy read.....

What I liked about this book:

The characters:
Ella Harper is a smart seventeen year-old who has had a pretty hard life so far. She's resourceful, head-strong, sassy and totally unapologetic about who she is. I loved that she wasn't a broken-down, feel sorry for myself person. Rather, she showed grit and courage and adored how she saw the positive things in her life rather than the negative.

The impact that she has on the Royal Family is unbelievable. She will change their lives forever.........

“You belong with us. You’re the best thing that ever happened to this family.”
Surprise filters through me. Okay. Wow.
“You’re ours,” Easton mumbles.

The Royal Family wow, this is beyond a dysfunctional family!!!! I engaged with the father, Callum Royal from the first moment he's introduced. He has this sadness inside him and a kindness and love for his lovely that is truly lovely to see.

The 5 Royal sons.........

These are more than broken siblings. There's a sense of loss, loneliness in them that made me like them more than what I did when they are first introduced. My initial feelings were one of ..."what a bunch of spoilt awful kids!!! But as we get to know more about their lives, we see a side to them that makes one almost feel sorry for them. How they dealt with their grief of losing their mother made them somehow more human and less of assholes!!!!

The storyline:
In a nutshell..... a rags-to-riches tale where Cinderella is whisked off from a life of poverty and struggle to unimaginable riches and wealth.

How does one handle that kind of change?

“This will never by my home. I don’t belong in splendour. I belong in squalor. That’s what I know. It’s what I’m comfortable with, because squalor doesn’t lie to you. It’s not wrapped in a pretty package. It is what it is.
This house is an illusion. It’s polished and pretty, but the dream Callum is trying to sell is as flimsy as paper. Nothing stays shiny forever in this world.”

Ella & Reed
For most of the book, these two fought off the attraction they felt for each other. They have great chemistry.

These two have so much in common and I loved watching them getting to know each other and how they could help each other.

Overall, I liked this book and am looking forward to the next installment..........After the cliff-hanger........how could I not be?????

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Review: The Masked Truth by Kelley Armstrong (Goodreads Author)

The Masked Truth by Kelley Armstrong
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

1,5 stars

I am a big fan of Kelley Armstrong’s The Otherworld Series and after reading some of my GR friends reviews, which were mostly positive, decided to read her latest YA book, The Masked Truth.

By the time I had read a few chapters, I thought…hey this reminds me of something like The Breakfast Club movie!! Remember, a group of “troubled” teenagers are stuck in detention together and for the next hour and half, we get to listen to all their woes and tribulations and they get to know each other….

in The Masked Truth, we have a group of troubled teens who are going to spend a weekend of therapy together with their respective psychiatrists in a closed off derelict office building, cut off from the outside world and work out their issues!!! Within a very short time, they are taken hostage by masked gunman, who the teenagers give the most ridiculous names to!!!!

No, I don’t think I’m into this story!! But, okay, let’s try a few more pages….no….nothing is grabbing at me…

Allright, close the book….maybe come back to it later! After all, how can so many readers be wrong about this book? Everyone is raving about it.

A couple of days later…..let’s give it another try!!! Maybe there’s something here that will get me to say….OhMyGee…I was so wrong…this is fabulous! But NO…..NO…..NO…..Total disbelief……that’s what I felt as the pages turned….

Let me tell you why:

The characters:

Riley Vasquez can’t deal with the fall-out of not being able to help the family she was babysitting for being murdered and feels guilty about how she hid away with their young daughter instead of coming to their aid. OMG…her constant internalization that she’s not the hero people make her out to be and brushing off anyone who tells her they admire her courage…..hell, I just wanted to tell her to…

And she learnt how to be a hostage negotiator from her now dead SWAT member dad!!!! Wow, he must have been an amazing teacher!!!

Max is quite an odd character.

British accented schizophrenia sufferer, who just by the way, was the only one I liked…..despite the rambling musings he kept having over and over again…..some of the chapters are told in his third-person POV which drove me batty trying to make sense of what he was thinking….

The plot

Over half the storyline takes place in the office building and Max and Riley and some of the other hostages, if not having been shot and killed off, spend most of their time running down corridors, up the stairs, through office doors and more office doors, whilst dodging the rather inept hostage taking gunmen!! Back and forward, from one exit door to another….hell, these poor kids…..


Just then, the setting changes…okay, I can’t say more…don’t want to do any spoilers here…..and that’s where my disbelief made my mouth open wide wide wide……..is this for real??? Is it at all remotely possible that these things can actually happen?

Yes, there are a lot of twists and turns and huge red herrings but when anything is revealed….I was like…NO, WHAT!!!!!

I am sure there are a lot more readers out there who will like this book….but me….hell, by the last page, I was a total ……wreck

I gave an extra ½ star because ---- I did like Max and Riley together!!!

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Review: Girl on Tour (Kylie Ryans, #2) by Caisey Quinn (Goodreads Author)

Girl on Tour by Caisey Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As I turned the last page of Girl With Guitar…..I delved right into Girl on Tour, the 2nd novel of Caisey Quinn’s fabulous Kylie Ryans’s Trilogy! Shut one book, open next book immediately!!

I am so loving Kylie Ryan’s journey to achieve her dream of making it as a music star and finding true love.

The story begins with Kylie being offered to do a tour, which will have her travelling on a tour bus for months away from Trace. He has been ordered by his recording company to go on a tour and informed that if he does not get his act together, that will be the end of it for him.

The separation is going to test their relationship and careers. Trace’s struggles haven’t suddenly disappeared. Dealing with his drinking problem, being pressured by his recording company to do a road trip with a problem musician, much like him….on a downward spiral of drinks and drugs…. and given an ultimatum – make sure the tour is a success, behave yourself…or else…he will be dropped from his contract.

Kylie’s star is on the rise. Going on the Vitamin Water Random Road Trip Tour could be her lucky break.

This tour couldn’t be more different to the one she was on with Trace. She will be sharing a tour bus, for some months, with two female singers, Mia, past American Idol winner and who we met in the first book, when she attended Kylie’s birthday party with Trace and Lily, cute 16 year old princess, whose famous music company owner father has just dumped her on the tour!

What fun it was – watching three girls stuck together on a bus….bitchiness, impatience, rivalry, jealousy…..And to watch the most unlike friendship that slowly grows over time, between the three. The interaction and dialogue between these three characters was entertaining and so engaging.

I’m totally engaged with Kylie and she’s one of those characters that find a place in your heart.

I love her spontaneity, spirit, strength, loyalty, protectiveness of the people she loves and cares for, honesty to not being afraid to say what she feels and thinks….check out the scene where she walks up to Lily’s father…a man of power and influence in the music industry…and tells him exactly what she thinks!!!! Way to go Kylie!!! She’s young and still a bit naïve, but we see her growth in this book. She’s learning very quickly how to survive the competitiveness and jealousies in the cutthroat music world. I loved that she never forgets what’s important to her and how determined and focus she continues to be. Her outlook in life is such a breath of fresh air…

The development of Kylie and Trace’s relationship is very well done. Showing us the struggles Trace is having on his tour and how he’s seeing himself through watching his tour partner, Gretchen, doing the same things he had done on his tour with Kylie. Also, how the separation between Kylie and Trace affects them in different ways. Loneliness, jealousy, insecurities, trust issues….and in the end, realizing that you are there for each other, whatever stands in the way. They have an incredible chemistry.

He grinned back, the promise of something dark gleaming in his eyes. “Considering this date is going to end with that dress on my bedroom floor and your legs wrapped around my neck, I think it’s a perfectly acceptable thing to say.”

Good Lord. What was she going to do with this man? Oh yeah. Exactly what he’d just described.

Whatever happens, Kylie will never give up on Trace! She’s not afraid to show her feelings, to say what she feels….even when Trace is having thoughts of not being good enough for her….even when he behaves like a twit with her…..it doesn’t matter to Kylie………she wants his happiness, knowing she loves and cares for him…always!

The development of the story is really good and well paced. New and engaging characters introduced. What I find interesting is how relatable the characters are and how the music scene and settings feel so real.

There’s not really a cliffhanger at the end but it does leave you thinking where the story of Kylie and Trace will go next!

I was totally and beyond captivated!!! And can’t wait for the next installment…..Girl in Love!!!

Loved this

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Review: Girl with Guitar (Kylie Ryans, #1) by Caisey Quinn (Goodreads Author)

Girl with Guitar by Caisey Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

You know a book that leaves you feeling happy and with a smile on your face? Well, Girl with Guitar, the 1st book in Caisey Quinn’s Kylie Ryan’s Trilogy, is totally so one of those!

I am beyond obsessed with rock star stories and when I need another fix….I look for another book to keep me happy.
Although I am not exactly a country music aficionado….rock is more me…but there is one country song that I totally love…allright…I’ll tell you…Jolene by Dolly Parton!!! Country musicians…hum….do I luvvvv Keith Urban!!!
So, here we have a book about country music and singers…and wow….I so got into the whole story and characters that I might …just might…become a bit more into the world of country music!

MY RAMBLING REVIEW:

The storyline:

Kylie Lou Quinn’s big dream is to make it as a country music singer and after her father’s death, she leaves Pride, the small town she has lived in all her life and with her guitar and a few dollars, follows her dream to Nashville.

Working in a bar, she’s offered a place as a warm-up act for a famous, sexy musician but on a bit of a down-slide, Trace Corbin.

Life on tour has its ups and downs – Trace is not thrilled about her going with him on tour. And Kylie soon finds herself having to deal with his drinking, missing shows and his attitude towards her.

Trace will have to deal with his personal demons, if he wants his career to survive. Kylie begins to learn how ruthless the music industry really is.

As the tour progresses, they find themselves attracted to each other.
But they will both have to work through the many misunderstandings that face them.

The characters:

Kylie: You can’t help falling in love with her. What makes her such an interesting character is that not only is she’s strong, independent, focused, fiery, not afraid to speak her mind, hardworking but she’s caring and kind and polite and has this kind of naiveté that makes her so endearing. She doesn’t allow Trace to push her around – she stands her “ground”.

Trace: Hell, this is one guy bent on self-destruction. Difficult, complex, complicated. Strikes back at the people who care for him…..believing he’s not worth being loved. I found the soft and kind side of him so appealing. His relationship with his sisters was very sweet.

Rea & Clare: Trace’s sisters!!! I fell in love with Rea. Her joie de vivre was engaging and charming.

The secondary characters are appealing and some very unforgettable.

The relationship:

The attraction and chemistry between Kylie and Trace is pretty obvious from the start…

Kylie was exactly what Trace needed to get his life back on track. She doesn’t give up on him, even when he pushes her away time after time. She’s determined to help him get his shit together, whatever way and means it will take.

The development of their relationship built up slowly with good and rocky times but I did feel that Trace really loved and cared for Kylie

Theirs is not a one way relationship – they both give each other love and support and caring.

The settings

Life on tour…..on a bus….just seems so exciting…

I loved going on the ride with these guys…..from small towns to large cities..

General:

Well-paced plot, great character development, fantastic and sparkly dialogue and loved the writing style, which made the slot flow really well.

Also have to mention that the lyrics of the songs in the story are really awesome. I am really impressed how good they were.

Not much of a cliffhanger at the end…was there a HEA? No, don’t think so…but guess you will just have to read this series to find out!!!

One of my favorite quotes

And hey, I can’t wait for Kylie & Trace’s next adventure – book #2 coming next….Girl on Tour….


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