BKHorne

Okay, I'll be reading the entire back catalogue of a Susan Elizabeth Phillips books. Blue and Dean were great. Just great. This book has so much heart. Phillips also writes incredible, strong, believable characters, but I really LIKED Blue and Dean, which isn't always the case. Dean was completely dreamy, hunky and alpha-y without being a jerk. Blue has a sharp tongue, strong opinions and watching her verbally spar with Dean was downright hilarious.

As with all of her books Phillips has a a number of supporting characters. She doesn't disappoint. Jack Patriot and April, Dean's mom had a romance in the past and they see each other again in this book. Theirs was probably the most engaging side romance I've read in a long time (it doesn't help that I'm a sucker for a rocker romance.)

What elevated this book from just a fun enjoyable read to a 4 star was Blue. She is such an interesting character, from her physical description to her personality. I'm not 100% sure how to even explain her, but she is fun to read about. I also didn't get irritated with her decision not to get into a relationship, physical or otherwise with Dean for most of the book. Her internal conflict seemed legitimate. She doesn't want to be another notch on Dean's belt and figures he only wants her because she is playing hard to get. Dean doesn't present like your typical player, for one thing, he is more likeable than the player hero. He doesn't have a lot of rough edges. Both he and Blue have quite a bit of baggage, but neither one of them strays into New Adult angsty, emo territory even with all that.

Overall, this is a fun read with a lot of character depth.

I read "It Had to Be You," which strangely I didn't love, but it still made me a fan. Phillips write great characters and that kept me coming back for me.

I enjoyed this story, with all of its supporting characters more than "It Had to Be You," but the hero kept it from being a 4 or 5 star read. Bram was VERY hard to like for most of the book. He spends a lot of the book hiding who he has become from our heroine, and while reading you sort of know that there is more too him than he is letting on, but at the same time, you can't see it and so you don't like him. He's a total ass to Georgie, especially in the beginning. Though Georgie is REALLY down on her luck at the beginning, she still manages to hold her own with Bram, which makes her more likeable. If she behaved like a woe-is-me doormat this book wouldn't have been anywhere near as enjoyable. And of course there is my favorite trope-- the accidental marriage. I love it when characters that hate each other are forced to hang out together.

I also don't normally like secondary romances in my romances, but Phillips does them well. There is a secondary romance between Paul, Georgie's father, and Georgie's agent. There's another between the housekeeper, Chaz and Georgie's assistant. That one I wished had had it's whole book. I thought Chaz was a really interesting character. Phillips does a really good job painting her supporting characters even though they don't have that much time on the page.

Part of the reason that this book worked for me was that I enjoy the "movie star" trope and dsince this was between two movie stars, it was entertaining. Others commented that this seems to be based somewhat on the Brad Bitt/Angelina Jolie/Jennifer Aniston situation, I agree and that worked for me too.

This is a book you either love or you hate. Looking at the reviews you can see they are pretty evenly divided.

I gave up around 40%. I read the reviews and realized that the story probably wasn't going anywhere. The writing is pretty, but I agree that the use of 3rd person present for the narration created a lot of emotional distance between the reader and the characters. There is A LOT of description, which was nice at first, but this is quite a long book for having so little action, and I got bored. Others also said that the story just sort of sits there while the description swirls around, it does. It is all about mood, and setting-- but for me, that wasn't enough to want to plod all the way through this book.

I almost didn't read this. The blurb had a bit of a catch, but it made Evan sound like your typical player in the new adult genre. This book is more YA than New Adult. Evan is technically in high school throughout. I also thought that the title was flashy and attention grabbing, but made me think that this would be a smutty book-- it is not. The cover art vaguely makes sense now, but I think that it would appeal to more readers with a different title and cover. So, I almost didn't read it. I'm glad that I did. I wasn't convinced that I should read it even after the free sample. The sample doesn't get you all the way through the inciting incident, where Evan is beaten nearly to death by a group of boy who are out for blood after Evan gets it on with girls they consider "theirs." I feel like that sort of event could have been written badly and played out for the reader worse in so many ways, but Mesrobian does a GREAT job.

After Evan is beaten, hospitalized and heads with his dad to their ancestral family home on Pearl Lake in Minnesota, the book really takes off. This book has a good amount of both sex and violence in it, but it's not particularly gratuitous, and it's really not about the reader playing the voyeur to that type of thing as some books are. This is an excellent portrait of a guy dealing with the aftermath of a trauma and really coming to terms with himself and who he is.

This book is classified as YA, but I don't know how I would feel about teens reading it. The message is a good one. Evan does eventually heal and find himself-- and not in the obnoxiously angsty way that so many heroines and heroes do in YA and New Adult literature in particular-- he more comes to terms with things and works things through in a surprisingly realistic and believable way. But I wouldn't feel good about reading this aloud to a class per se because there is A LOT of sex, drug use, violence and language. I read this book for pleasure and so I found it compelling, honest and realistic, and I know that the situations that Evan is during his summer on the lake are probably pretty common for teens, but it is a bit heavy for a teen audience.

I was also hesitate about this book because there was purportedly no "romance" in it. That is true, there is no central romance that "saves" Evan from himself. He does all the saving himself. There are several girls who are involved with Evan throughout the book that added the necessary level of intrigue that a romantic plot usually provides.

I found Evan's voice refreshing and FUNNY. I laughed out aloud his descriptions and inner monologue more than once. The surrounding characters who spend time with Evan on the lake are also well-cast and well-written.

Overall, I highly recommend this book, especially if you were put off by any of the things that initially stopped me from reading: the blurb, the title and the cover.

Ruta Sepetys has made a fan out of me! Shades of Gray was a great, if dark read with a strong heroine. This book brings the same strength of character with Josie. The New Orleans setting was what really sold me. I visited a couple of years ago and found the city very captivating- there's so much character and history. Sepetys captures the spirit of the city and the times.

Also, Willie. The whorehouse madam is really something. Her character weaves all the other threads together. This book is part mystery, part straight historical fiction and 100% a great read from start to finish.

This book is older-- set in the 90s. The outfits were pretty entertaining. I particularly enjoyed Delaney's turtleneck and lime green, leather vest combo. But I think I liked it better for it being older. It is a satisfying romance. I'm not sure how else to explain it. I picked this up because I had previously read Simply Irresistible, which I also liked-- however I liked this more-- probably because I just found Nick absolutely too hot to handle. He and Delaney have a great back and forth. They positively sizzle right off the page. And when they finally get together for the first time, hold onto your hat! Nick is a total womanizer (aren't they all, sigh) but he has a little bit of different edge to him. What made his relationship with Delaney special and different from all the other hot, alpha-player heroes out there was he's always had a thing for Delaney from when they were kids-- he just never realized it. Because they grew up in the same town-- same father figure (Delaney's step-father is Nick's biological father) they have a deep relationship from the get-go. That made the book deeper and more enjoyable for me because there was none of this insta-love stuff, or even I love you because I'm in lust with you stuff that runs rampant. Though they've known each other for each other for years their chemistry is red-hot and they have a number of scenes where they don't get to the main event and it leaves you hanging. I stayed up very late one night just so I could get them to get together already!

I usually loathe everything about small town romances, aside from the actual romance itself. Normally I can't stand any of the side characters or the interactions with the people in town. I didn't mind Truly, Idaho. Certainly reading about the silly townspeople wasn't my favorite, but I didn't find myself skimming over those sections as I usually do. Gibson is a pretty funny writer and there were a few scenes were Delaney is chatting with customers in her hair salon that were pretty funny. I particularly enjoyed the little old ladies coming in to get their hair done, demanding a "senior discount."

Good enough to finish, but ends without resolution, solely for the purpose of allowing the author to write another book. I began the other book and saw that the writing so MUCH worse than the first book and gave up about 30% in. There are some sexy scenes in this book and Clay is a reasonably attractive, believable successful hero. Julia is a little bit irritating in her resolve to never, ever tell anyone about her problems to keep them out of them-- which is both ineffective and foolish.

Oh ugh...There is something 50 Shade-ish about this book, but mostly it just a poorly written, dull book with a lot of not very interesting sex in it. The writing is poor and the story isn't good enough to get past the bad writing.

Here are some gems:

My pants "were so tight they gave me camel toe." Who exactly feels sexy when describing their pants as giving them camel toe?

While Hudson is touching Alayna (can we talk about the spelling of this name?) he is described as " rubbing the inside of my walls." Does that feel good, because to me to sounds like a gynecological exam.

That was all in the first 25%.

The premise is that Alayna is a bartender with some sort of bizarre obsessive relationship disorder who falls into bed with the new billionaire boss. Side note here: The boss is OF COURSE the most successful man, ever, ever, ever and he's only 29! That was stupid in 50 Shades and it hasn't improved with time. Okay, back to the summary. Hudson of course is smitten with Alayna from first glance (though at least from the description of Alayna and her slutty outfit there is a reason Hudson starts ogling her). He pursues her for her body of course. And then, later, after Alayna has decided she is a have a "sex only" affair with Hudson while pretending to be his girlfriend for the benefit of his family Hudson says, "'Alayna, please don't group me with the other guys you know. I'd like to think I'm not like most of them. And I don't want to know or think about you having sex with other men. I don't share."

So my question is: if it walks like a relationship and talks like a relationship and acts like a relationship isn't it a relationship?

The conflict of this book is predicated on the idea that Hudson is "incapable of love." But if you hang out with someone, go on dates with them and then sleep with them all the time how is that different than a relationship? I guess Hudson is saying he is emotionally shutdown? Whatever, honestly I just didn't care by this point. And the obsessive relationship disorder had be vaguely but it wasn't developed well enough to hold my interest.

Skip it I say.

I think the getting-married-to-a-dying-man had me right out of the gate. I found this historical to be weighty and compelling. Also, though David was a genuinely good guy, I liked him-- a lot. That was strange because he wasn't alpha at all. He was what I'd call a stand-up guy-- someone willing to continue with annulment proceedings after he miraculously recovers even though he realizes that he in in fact in love with Jocelyn, because he wants her to be happy.

Some other reviews said that they found Jocelyn haughty and annoying. She wasn't for me. I enjoyed the fact that she was a strong, confident woman. Her confidence is just a front for her insecurity and I don't know why but it didn't bother me that she pushed David away.

Overall I thought this book had a lot of heart and depth of character. I was a big fan.

I found Karma initially abrasive. The opening scene is her waking up in the morning. She gets pissed at her dad, storms around angrily and tell us that she hates her dog. After she wakes fully up and her father arrives she tones it down, which is good, because I had no interest in reading about another angry, angsty teen, desperate to lose her virginity.

The premise of this book is pretty awful and not particularly original. Karma Points, 19, is desperate to lose her virginity because reasons. Karma and her friend sally forth to a club to divest Karma of her unwanted burden. There she meets tall, dark, and tattooed bouncer Jax. This was the next thing that threw me off. Jax is described as a bad-boy, but behaves in a manner contradictory to his description. I can understand having a character look one way and then behave in another, but this was confusing because it was almost like Jax's physical appearance was a suit that he was wearing-- for no good apparent reason-- which he later shrugs off to reveal a completely different person underneath.

So we have this hot, gigantic, tatted up guy who agrees to take a girl that he has just met home from a bar. I don't know about you but that description paired with taking a girl home screams bad body to me. But then strangely, Jax initially appears to be thanking his lucky stars that Karma has agreed to go home with him, like he's some kind of nerd that can't get a date. Karma is also pleased as punch that Jax wants her, since she has previously described herself as a chubby girl with mousy brown hair, who apparently can't convince ANYONE to sleep with her.

We find out from Jax that in fact Karma is a babe. We find out from Karma that Jax is a total stud. So why would a total stud at a club be acting like he was so incredibly lucky to have found someone to go home with? Seems like that would be an easy and frequent occurrence. I'm not sure. I think the author was trying to convey that Karma and Jax had an instant connection despite appearances, but I didn't get that from the book and I didn't understand why they were drawn together. If you want to read a book where the characters have an amazing love-at-first-sight connection read The Bronze Horseman. This not so much.

Jax takes Karma home and discovers that she is a virgin and refuses to go any further. In a truly amazing move Jax tells Karma that if she spends three weeks with him he'll agree to take her virginity. This still seemed far-fetched and not so believable, but I persevered.

However, after this initially rocky start, I did like this book. Jax turns out to be a fantastic guy-- certainly not the alpha-jerk you are expecting from his initial description. He is a sweetheart to Karma and he's very sexy. Karma is less annoying once she and Jax embark on their three-weeks together. They pursue a number of adventurous activities from Karma's fictional Bucket List. I liked the rest of their journey of togetherness and the climatic taking of the virginity scene is pretty good and unexpected.

I might have given it four stars except for the the sometimes ridiculous interactions between Karma and her father (who is gay, but still!) She calls him at the start of the book to ask what she should wear to the club to lose her virginity-- YIKES!

Next, Karma's mother is cardboard cutout villain, not a character. She storms in rages about how ugly and fat Karma is, gets yelled at by one character or another and then leaves again. She was unnecessary and not convincing in the least.

Last, Karma and Jax go white-water rafting and Karma gets hurt. Fine, you can get hurt white-water rafting, but my issue was that Jax and Karma are the only ones in the boat. I don't care if Jax is a fire-fighter, rafting companies don't just send people out of rafts without a rafting guide, for the exact reason that people get hurt. Case in point-- Karma falls out of the raft and almost drowns.

If you read the reviews this book has quite a bit of hype, describing it has a "different" from your typical NA book. There are some elements that make it different-- mainly the fact that the hero may or may not be a serial killer. I'm not sure it's as genre bending as it is made out to be. I read it from start to finish in one sitting, which is definitely something to recommend it, but that doesn't mean it is particularly original. This is a romantic suspense book marketed as a New Adult. Both the hero and the heroine have tortured pasts, which is the usual NA fare, but with the added element of a completely unreliable hero.

It's an engrossing read and while there is a "cliffhanger," not only do you know from page one exactly how the book will end, it is pretty easy to predict as you are reading how our couple ends up on the bridge at the end. I will probably read the next book, but I don't NEED TO KNOW what happens, because at least to me, it was pretty obvious what is going to happen next.

This book reminds me a bit of "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn, because the author is trying to keep you guessing throughout. It doesn't succeed as well as that book novel, but it was fun to read just the same.

I'm not going to review this one very thoroughly-- I said it all in the review of the first book. I love Tania and Alexander and I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK down. We find out a lot about Alexander in this book. This book is mainly about war, where the first book was about first love in a time of war. This book is pain and strife and endless suffering for our hero and a nearly equal amount of suffering for our heroine. It continues to be epic. Tatiana comes into herself, into her complete and utter badness in this book. She is a force to be reckoned with. If there is a war on, I want her on my side.

The ending is happy, though for me, it wasn't enough-- I needed more. I needed an epilogue, or something. Book three is going to be my epilogue I guess.

This was slightly less awesome for me than the first two. The first 60% was unbelievable and EXACTLY what I wanted. Alexander has to heal after he gets back from a truly gruesome ten years at war and Tatiana is there to help him. It was sweet and perfect and also gritty and raw. I loved.

Once we get away from the war a while-- this book spans right up until the new millennium-- there is the business of being married. The part I loved about this book, nearly 60% of it, centers on Tatiana and Alexander's marriage. After Anthony gets older there is quite a lot to do with the children. While the events that unfold in the last quarter of the book were very interesting, I felt that it lost the essential thread-- mainly the relationship between Tatiana and Alexander. The last action is intense and heart-pounding, but the resolution after that left me confused.

The last pages came full circle and gave a lovely farewell to Tatia and Shura, but Simons probably could have cut the Coda without an issue.

I also desperately wanted a spin-off story for Anthony and his own great love-- (I won't say who it is in order not to spoiler) what a story that would be!

Gah! I LOVED this book. For me, this is up there with my all-time great reads. My two favorite couples ever, in the history of literature of Jamie and Claire and Scarlett and Rhett. Tatiana and Alexander have found there place among.

I have no idea why it took me so long to read this trilogy. I think I was nervous about it having a slow start. It does. I needed a reading moment when I would be able to savor a slow entrance to a story. The beginning of this book introduces you to a young Tatiana, her family and life in communist Russia on the day that the world war II begins for Russia.

This book had the two things that I love most: riveting historical details and two central characters involved in an epic love story. Though Tatiana's refusal to take what she wanted in this book grated on me. She steadfastly puts her family's needs and desires before her own, specifically, Dasha's desire for Alexander before her own. Simons wrote her characters so that you know there was no other choice for Tatiana. You are with her 100%.

I don't know what to say about Alexander other than that he is one for the record books. He is alive and breathing to me. He is vivid, but not perfect-- just perfect for Tania.

What pushes this book, really this whole trilogy over the edge and makes it not just another romance is the history. I was RIVETED to the page during the seige of Leningrad. I HAD to know what happened. I was devastated by what Tania endures and later elated with her reunion with Alexander.

The ending of this book is not well-resolved, you'll want to go straight into book two. But strangely, I don't think I would call it a cliff-hanger. There is resolution to the major conflict set up in this first book. You want to read on because you want to stay with Tatiana and Alexander for as long as possible, desperately hoping that they will find their happy ending.

This is a FANTASTIC book that touches on all sorts of big important things for kids. I loved it. I can't believe it took me so long to read this. If you are thinking about reading this book, do. Do it right now. You won't regret it. August and his family will make you feel good. I promise

This was a FUN read. I liked the country music angle, even though I'm not a fan. I haven't watched the show Nashville, but it seemed like this could fit for fans of that series. Kylie is a strong, doesn't take shit from anyone heroine. Trace is smokin' hot, tortured hero. I'm a sucker for a tortured hero. He is battling demons of addiction. Kylie is trying to make it big in country music and joins Trace Corbin's tour, in his last ditch effort to revive a career destroyed by his reckless behavior. The sexual tension is palpable between the two. It's a very sexy read, even though there aren't very many love scenes.

I did have issue the with the word choices during the love scenes. There were a lot of words thrown around that weren't very sexy, in fact, they conjured images of violence, which wasn't in context with the scenes. They were down-right jarring at times. There was a lot of words that took me out of the moment and just hit me wrong. They just didn't fit with the mood of the scene.


I did enjoy reading about Nashville. I used to live there and so it has a particular appeal to me. I've tried to read other books set there, but this one did a much better job of conjuring the feeling of the place. The music that was interwoven throughout was very endearing and the author did a good job with it. Overall, I would recommend this book, however I went on to read books two and three and wish that I had stopped with this one. There is a HEA, but it doesn't resolve all the issues surrounding Trace and Kylie, which makes you want to keep reading. Book two works, but the author chose to end on a cliff-hanger, which of course sucks you into book three. Number three is a complete waste of time. The ending could have been written into book two and saved everyone a lot of aggravation.