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What I'm Reading Wednesday

I’m Reading The Way We Fall

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It started late at night, after I’d finished a pretty decent NA con rom called Stupid Girl (see last week’s post). I needed something to read, even if it was just a bridge book until the next really great one came out. I saw the cover for this one, and though I’m not usually a cover geek, it did catch my eye. I found the blurb a little confusing, but hey, I was young and I needed the money. Oh, no, wait, wrong justification. It was late and I needed a read.

It was a little slow at first and just a tad confusing. But pretty soon I caught onto the drift of the story line: girl runs into old college boyfriend, he’s married but there’re still sparks. . .we all know where this is going, and since it’s con rom, I could be fairly certain that there had to be something up with the ex-boyfriend’s wife or with their marriage. I wasn’t wrong on either count.

The plot of this book isn’t bad. It’s interesting, and it’s not trite. The characters are fairly well-developed, or at least the main ones are. A few seem to float in and out of the story like seaweed on the ocean.

It’s the execution of the story that left me a little less than satisfied. There are multiple flashbacks, and they go back to different places. The story takes place in present-day, five years ago, six years ago. . .like a confused time-traveler,I was constantly having to determine where and when I was. There are two key past events that influence the present, and those are slowly revealed.

I would’ve been okay with the flashbacks. I even could’ve dealt with the dual POV in both present and flashback. But then we jumped into the POV of another important but as yet unexplored character–just for one short chapter–and I was left even more confused.

And then. . .it ended. Mid-emotion, mid-plot thread, mid-climax. . .it just ended. I might’ve thought a page had been left off if there hadn’t ben an announcement about the next book.

Will I read book 2? Probably, eventually. I’d love it if the author could pull all these threads together and redeem the first book through the second. If you enjoy angsty reads, you’ll like The Way We Fall by Cassia Leo. Maybe wait for book 2 to come out.

Between Colleen Hoover’s Never Never and this one, I’m experiencing a long case of bookus interruptus. And I don’t love it.

Friday Free For All

Five From Ava Branson

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Welcome to Five From Friends Friday!

Each week, I’ll share with you five quick and quirky questions and answers

from some of my favorite author friends.

I think you’ll see some familiar faces in here, too.

 

Quickies from Ava Branson

Welcome to Ava Branson, author of the Blue Water Seduction books as well as three other erotic romances. I met Ava during a recent group promotion we did together, and I’m enjoying her book Rough Seas right now! Let’s see what she has to share with us today. . .

 

Q: You’re driving along, turn on the radio and it’s a country song. Do you turn it off or turn it up and sing along? 

A: If it were a rockin’, upbeat song, I’d sure as heck turn it up! As for singing along? I can’t think of anyone I dislike enough to do that to. It would be unkind, and I’m anything but unkind.

Q: You’re getting ready to leave for a full day of meetings and appointments. Suddenly, they’re all cancelled. What do you do with this free day?

A: Once upon a time, an unexpected free day would have meant a long, leisurely stop at Barnes and Noble followed by a mad dash home to curl up on the couch with my new treasures. Now (after deciding to write full-time) I’d shout the rafters down, do some odd, uncoordinated happy dance, change back into my yoga pants, and plop down at the keyboard, delighted to have bonus time with my characters.

Q: If you could bring one literary character to life to introduce to your best single friend. . .who would it be?

A: One literary character…hmm…just one???

Q: Disney World or Disneyland?

A: Disney World, good people! Native Floridian here

Q: What one food could you eat every day for the rest of your life?

A: What a tough question to ask an Italian, but if push came to shove – probably lobster. Honorable mentions would include pasta, good sausage and meatballs, pizza, nachos, smothered burritos, chocolate…and a collective shudder just ran through many a nutritionist.

 ***

avaHead shotAva Branson is a native Floridian, born and raised. She grew up in a boating family on the Atlantic coast and had sandbetween her toes from birth. A ten year span spent living in Colorado taught her a love and appreciation of the mountains, but the ocean called her back home and Florida is where she settled, raising two children and any number of cats.

 When she’s not writing (which is rare) she’s thinking of stories to write (which is always) and just hopes to be able to share a fraction of the countless romances she has dreamed up with readers.

Follow Ava here: Newsletter/Website/Email/Facebook /Twitter/Pinterest

 

Emmy Ryan. A young, beautiful doctoral candidate finds herself at crossroads, questioning the path of a life she’d once believedRough Seas large so certain and the impulsive decision that may change it forever.

Stavros Maragos. Head of his family’s vast corporate empire. Driven and intensely passionate about those he loves. But when he becomes the only family member left living, he erects an emotional wall to buffer the pain left behind.

One multi-million dollar mega-yacht in the Caribbean. One new crew member. A very rich owner. Two vastly different worlds collide with stunning force and raw need.

Can Emmy find her footing in Stavros’ world? And is Stavros’ need for Emmy powerful enough to destroy the emotional fortress he lives in?

The stakes are high in this scorching tale of lust and love. 

Rough Seas – Book One, Blue Water Seduction

Amazon/Nook

What I'm Reading Wednesday

I’m Reading Stupid Girl

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So I’ve exhausted all the Kristan Higgins books until August (August! Do you know how long away that is?? Does she not care for my well-being??), Alice Clayton has nothing until the fall, and Nora’s next hardback isn’t out until April. What’s a girl to do? I was relegated to trolling the scrolls at the ‘Zon.

I came across a promising looking book called Stupid Girl by Cindy Miles. It was NA con rom, and those don’t usually let me down. I started it one morning, and the beginning pulled me in.

Now I have to admit, there’s nothing new here. It’s what I call formula NA: girl arrives at college hiding some horrible event from her past. There’s usually a death somewhere, whether it’s her high school boyfriend, her sibling, her parent, a random passer-by. . .whatever. We got the angst going, right? And then once at college, this girl, who usually is a virgin, or at least very inexperienced and often considers herself shy or plain or a geek, has a meet-cute with The Hottest Guy On Campus. Yes, he has a title that must be written in all caps. And this dude, who is a major player and sleeps with anything that moves, falls suddenly and deeply in love with our hometown sad girl.

Of course, she’s warned off him by her friends, by classmates, by his exes and by random passers-by (not dead ones. Usually.). But she doesn’t listen because she is In Love, and although she’s afraid of a) being hurt b) him finding out her angsty secret c) being made a fool of in front of entire school, she risks it all. But dang it if a, b and sometimes c don’t happen, and then we have more angst and will they end up together? Of course they will. This is con rom.

Don’t get me wrong. I happen to love me some good formula NA books. If done right, they grab you and stick in your mind for months. But they must include some crucial elements: strong, believable characters, a little humor so we don’t get too bogged down in the angsty-angst, and a story arc that makes us root for the Couple Least Likely To Succeed.

I’m happy to report that Stupid Girl covered most of those bases. I liked both Olivia and Brax. I liked that Olivia had a great passion–astronomy–which made her more than just a two-dimensional cutout girl. The story arc made sense, and there was enough of the funny to keep me from sobbing into my tea the whole book long.

On the negative side, some of the plot was a tad contrived, and there was a part near the end that felt too vague. I was hoping girlfriend would say, “Umm. . .what? Can you be a little more clear?” But she didn’t, and I was left having to trust that his explanation somehow made sense to her. Also, the side characters, which are so important in these books, felt a little flimsy. Olivia’s roommate was a tad stereotypical and there was not enough build-up to their relationship.

But overall, if you need a fast and fun NA, and you don’t mind a little pathos, try Stupid Girl. I may gamble on the next book in the series, too. Stay tuned.

Friday Free For All

Five From Sarah Ross

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Welcome to Five From Friends Friday! Each week, I’ll share with you five quick and quirky questions and answers from some of my favorite author friends. I think you’ll see some familiar faces in here, too.

 

Quickies from Sarah Ross

Welcome to Sarah Ross, author of YA and NA paranormal, contemporary and thriller novels. She’s releasing her next book, Never Gonna Tell, next month. Check out her Q and A. . .

Q: You’re sitting at a bar, waiting for a friend. What’re you drinking?

A: Amaretto Sours. It’s been a favorite of mine since college. I’m not a big drinker, but I do like sweet drinks.

 And if they don’t have that, Red Sangria. You can’t go wrong with wine and fruit! 

Q: What was the first book that made you cry?

 A: I am not a big fan of books or movies that make me cry. I’ve never read John Greene or Nicholas Sparks for that reason. I want a HEA with the emphasis on the Happily!

 There was this book I read in middle school called “A Summer to Die” by Lois Lowry. Bawled my eyes out. I think after that book, I decided no more sad stories. I went on to read IT by Stephen King. I cried for a whole other reason reading that! (Scared the beJesus out of me!) 

Q: What song always makes you turn it up and sing along when it comes on the radio?

 A: If you ever have the displeasure of pulling up next to me at a red light, you’ll see me jamming out to something. There are soo many songs I love to sing in the car- and for the ears and listening pleasure of the outside world, I do it with my windows rolled up.

 I think some of my classic favorites are Bohemian Rhapsody, Summer of ’69, Jack & Diane, Pour Some Sugar on Me, Don’t Stop Believin, Livin on a Prayer. And newer ones like Take me to Church, All About that Bass, any Ed Sheeran or Mumford & Sons.
Q:It’s February. What’s your favorite cold-weather activity?

Curled up on the couch under fuzzy blankets with my Kindle and hot chocolate. That’s all. No, seriously, that’s it. I abhor the cold. It’s the number one reason I moved from Pittsburgh to Florida. I couldn’t stand the cold. Anytime it’s too cold for flip flops, it’s too cold for me!
Q: What television show, past or present, would be top on your list of must-see TV?

A: When I was a kid, my favorite TV show was I Love Lucy. They would show reruns of it on TVLand at like six in the morning. I would get up early, even in the summer, just to watch a few episodes before school started. It’s one of the all-time best TV shows ever made, so that has to top my list.

***

Sarah started her obsession with reading at an early age, often sneaking BabySitter Club and Nancy Drew books into math class. She would read any book she could get her hands on. Her love of reading quickly evolved into a love of writing and stories began to pour out of her. SarahAuthor

She grew up in Pittsburgh, graduated from The University of Pittsburgh with a degree in English, and taught eighth graders to love reading as much as she does for several years. Sarah will always be a proud member of the Steelers’ Nation, but couldn’t take the cold and moved her frozen tush to Florida where she now lives with her husband, daughter, and two cats. You will find her now with her trusty Kindle in hand and toes in the sand!

Sarah’s debut novel, AWAKEN, released in January, 2012. Other novels include AVENGE, ATONE, ECHO OF AN EARTH ANGEL, INHALE EXHALE, and NEVER GONNA TELL (Releasing March, 2015). 

Follow Sarah here: Website/Facebook/Twitter/Instagram

 

Never Gonna Tell-hi-res

My name is Reagan Wilcox: high school senior by day, kick-ass investigative journalist by night. I’ve always loved observing people—especially when they think no one is paying attention. 

I thought I was ready to cover any story. Work any angle. 

Nothing could have prepared me for what happened that night. I wasn’t ready for what I saw. And I certainly wasn’t ready for him. 

I always knew I’d write the headlines. Now, I just might become one. 

NEVER GONNA TELL 

March 17th Preorder here

What I'm Reading Wednesday

I’m Reading Never, Never

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This week, I’ve just finished reading Never, Never by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher.

I discovered Colleen Hoover a few years ago, when a friend recommended Slammed. I enjoyed it, and then Point of No Return. . .and of course, Hopeless. Her more recent books have been even better. So when I saw this one, I was excited. I didn’t read the blurb or any reviews, I just dove right in.

From the beginning, it was. . .different. A little confusing, but I was willing to bear with it. And before too long, I was hooked. The premise is intriguing: both of the main characters, Charlie and Silas, apparently have an odd form of amnesia. Neither can remember anything that happened before 11 o’clock on the morning the book begins. How they cope–and what they learn–begins to paint a troubling picture.

Just when I was drawn in, wrapped up and ready to find out just what happens next. . .the three worst words appeared on the page.

To Be Continued

I came closer to throwing my Kindle across the room than I ever have. What?! I went back to Amazon, and I saw the truth. It’s a novella, the first in a series. When does the next one come out? May 17th. Do you how many days away that is? Like, 100. Okay, 88. But close enough.

I still do recommend you read it, but if you want to save yourself some angst, wait and read it on May 15th.

Until then, come back next week and we’ll see what I’m up to then.