The awkward moment when…

You realise there still 2 more years to wait until the release of a book you’ve already been waiting 3 years already to read. Yep this book better be worth the 5 years wait!

Yes Maya banks has confirmed that she is planning to release Highland Ever After in 2018! We still have quite some time to wait.

That is unless it gets pushed back to be released again. This is me waiting for Highland Ever After

Am I the only one still holding out on this book?

P.s. If you are wondering where I have been I’ve handed in my notice at work because it just was not for mew anymore. So i’m trying to find a new job, you forget when you’ve been in permanent employment for some time how long a job application takes. Please wish me luck 🙂

New book unboxing – Forbidden Planet

My excitement knows no bounds today as I receive my first order from forbidden planet which contained one of my favourite author’s Nalini Singh books. I love her guild hunter series and have been reading these books for years, and will continue to read the series as there are more books planned. Imagine my disappointment when I learned she was coming to London, which is only an hour and a half drive away from where I live to sign Archangels Enigma at Forbidden Planet but I couldn’t go because of work. I know the joys of working life. However Forbidden Planet the wonderful people that they were selling the signed books for people who wanted them and couldn’t make it. I already own archangels enigma but I couldn’t turn a signed book by one of my favourite authors down. So I ordered it and it finally came today!

So I thought I’d share the unboxing.

  
  

Forbidden Planet unfortunately don’t have signed copies of the book left but if you live in the Uk and are interested in purchasing the normal book from them, then click here. This is one of my best book buys this year, it going to be a prized possession on my bookshelf. I paid for this book and the post is not sponsored or anything 🙂

Happy Reading! Has anyone else purchased any new signed book or any book you’re excited about recently?

Don’t you hate it when..

Someone spoils a book or film for you by telling you the ending or a major spoiler?

I did a blog post earlier on the fact that I was ordering Me before you by JoJo Moyes as I saw the film trailer and decided the book was a must read. Well I was discussing at work my new book purchase and how I was looking forward to reading it and how from what i gathered from the trailer I thought it would make me cry. The person I was talking to then proceed to tell me how she had heard about the book, thought about buying it but decided to check the story out on wikipedia instead and then told me the entire ending. THE ENTIRE ENDING AND TWIST! I was like what!!

My face was literally like:

On the plus side the book arrived and I love the cover. My copy just arrived from book depository. There were other covers but I liked this one the best. (Ignore the copy of Lean in 15! I thought i’d give the recipes a go as it was on offer)

On the downside I now have the book but I know the entire story essentially and so don’t want to pick the book up yet.

I mean really why must people give spoilers? Has this ever happened to you?

Disillusionment with Maya Banks

Book Depository Website

Amazon UK website

I am disillusioned about Maya Banks publishers ever releasing the title Highland Ever After. I preordered it again on Book Depository as it was scheduled to be released on 1st January. Well it has not been, nothing, nada. No email saying what’s going on or when it will be released as I haven’t received a confirmation of dispatch. Today is 11th January and nothing at all, I checked my order status and it says awaiting publication. This has been the story of my life for the last 3 years. I am literally done, I will read the book whenever it comes out but i’m no longer wasting my time anticipating it and pre-ordering it, there is no point. I have emailed Book Depository to see if the publication date is soon otherwise I am asking for a refund. I’m not trying to be negative but it is frustrating that the last book was released 3 years ago and the reason the book was not released at first in 2014 as Maya was changing publishers but the book was near completed. So much time later and we are still waiting on the publication but other books by her have been released. I’m sorry Maya I am very disappointed.

Has anyone else come across anything like this with a book release? Or is anyone else waiting for this book to be released?

 

Cutters vs. Jocks – Elizabeth Marx (Binding Arbitration/Chicago Series 0.5)

This review includes spoilers

I picked this book up as it is a essentially a prologue to Binding Arbitration, a book I wanted to read. I purchased both this and Binding Arbitration a couple of months ago when I was in my reading funk and they have bee sitting in my TBR pile. I am so glad I picked this book up. It was definitely worth a read and it did set the scene for the actual book. If you are going to read Binding Arbitration then pick this up or pick it up just as a stand alone as the book is worth it.

Synopsis:

Love at first sight versus lust you can’t fight.

Libby Tucker is a cutter—a nobody waitress in a college town—at least that’s what everyone believes. But admission to law school is Libby’s ticket out of Indiana and her escape from small town life forever.

During a night on the town, Libby beats the most competitive athlete on campus at pool and draws more attention from him than she’s prepared for.

Aidan Palowski is one of those jocks your friends warned you about—the kind that never loose—the kind that put notches in their baseball bats. As the closing pitcher on the best baseball team in the Big Ten, he’s on his way to the major leagues. Aidan always gets what he wants and Libby is the final home run he wants to hit out of the park.

The last thing Libby needs is to get sidetracked by a superstar jock. Afraid that she might be on a collision course with love at first sight Libby keeps her distance, but the longer she holds out the more Aidan realizes it’s a case of lust he can’t fight.

What happens when worthy opponents refuse to play their hearts out?

Rating: 5 Stars (I would give it more)

Review:

I am won over by Elizabeth Marx’s writing, this book is only a couple of chapters but I was so engrossed in it. It made me feel a range of emotions is is amazing since this is a novella. It made me want to cry i was so involved with the characters

The chemistry between the two main characters was great and so well written. You could literally feel the sparks of the pages.

“From the moment I laid eyes on her she was trouble to my concentration, my libido, and my mental health. After six weeks of pursuit, I’d trapped her between my upraised arms against a book case, somewhere betwixt Shakespeare and Voltaire. “I want the witchcraft in your lips,” I’d whispered. Instead of arguing, she grabbed me by the ears. She’d been soft lips, liberal tongue and nipping teeth. I’d contributed a willing body and a vulgar groan. She’d drawn away, licked her lips and ducked underneath my arms. When she was about three yards from me, she’s tilted her head up like a siren on the bow of a ship and pursed a devil-may-care smile at me before she bowed. She’d challenged me to pursue her, and I’d intended to, but when I pushed off, the bookcase fell backwards. I tumbled into a heap of literary tombs. I could still hear her laughing when the library’s elevator door chimed closed.”

What I love more is that the relationship between Libby and Aidan was just not lust. This novella takes place over a year and a half and they are friends. There is obviously lust involved but it is not the main factor.

I just adore Libby’s character, she is a strong independent woman who knows what she wants. Even when she has to give up her dreams she does not moan about it and becomes bitter but accepts it and try to make the best of the situation at hand. We do need more heroines like this in books and films.

Aidan a great character too, he was a jock and cocky but so sweet I was totally won over and bowled over by him. However he also broke my heart at the end of this book. He ‘courts’ Libby for a year and a half and once he got what he wanted which was sex he kind of backed off a bit. I know Libby is also at fault here as she started the distance but if you want someone would you not do anything to be with them? Especially when he found out Libby was pregnant I don’t think he was supportive or sensitive at all to it. He just saw the baby as a problem, which is why I feel Libby is less at fault for the problems between them. I mean you wouldn’t give up on the person who you wanted for a year and a half or love  if they started to avoid you?

I could not believe when he drove away from Libby when she waited for him at the end, both were at fault for the problems but I really blame Aiden the most. His reaction to her news was not what it should have been. You would think it would have been different but no. I can see why this needed to happen as there is the actual story but it was so nice to read this back story it helps to make the characters more relatable and real. Honestly read this!! I shall be reading it again sometime!

Happy Reading 😀

Sweet Talking Cowboy – M.B. Buckner

Synopsis:

Even though he was eleven years older than her, Briann grew up thinking of Slade as her best friend. She never understood why he went to Texas while she was in her teens, but when she turned twenty and was considering marriage to his younger brother, suddenly Slade returns home.

They share a surprising night of passion only to be torn apart by a vicious lie that sends Briann running from the only man she’ll ever love.

Then fate brings her home again with a child he never knew he’d fathered.
Can they get past the changes in their lives and the betrayal they felt?

Rating: 1 Star

Review:

I dislike giving books a low rating as I understand how much work and effort goes into writing a book. So this is what I think about it, you might enjoy it. I personally did not enjoy this book at all, it was a short read as it only had 7 chapters but I had to force my way through it, it actually felt like it was dragging. The ending and main issue in the book was wrapped up in the last 4 pages. I was like WHAT?!

I can condense this book into a couple of sentences. Slade comes to live/help out at Briann uncle’s ranch when Briann is young, she grows up as his friend, he leaves when she’s 15 to go train horses in Texas, she misses him but moves on by dating his half brother. So 5 years after Slade left, Bri and Slade’s half brother are talking marriage after he graduates. Slade comes home and they go to a horse show together, Slade and Bri are attracted to each other, they have sex (I would like to say Bri had not broke up with the half brother at this point). They come home, Bri is going to meet Slade at his house, but bumps into his step mother instead who says she and Slade have been sleeping together for year and had done that night. So instead of talking like any rational being to Slade she runs and leaves the country telling her aunty and uncle to not tell Slade where she is ever. Bri find out she’s pregnant, she never tells Slade about the baby considering she loves him but he betrayed her. So she marries a gay man instead to give her child a name and to stop rumours about him being gay. He dies, she moves back home with her daughter Tris as her uncle has cancer, he also dies. Slade is away at this point. Fast forward a couple of months he comes back, sees her daughter and realises the daughter is his. i have no idea how Bri thought she was going to hide Tri’s heritage as we’re told she looks like Slade. Slade and Bri argue as he wants to marry Bri to be his daughter’s father and she does not want to marry him as she loves him but only wants to marry him if he loves her. The misunderstanding about Slade sleeping with his step mother is cleared but Bri still does not understand why he thinks it wrong she never told him he was a father and he missed 5 years of his daughter’s life. Some more arguing and angst and then Bri admits she loves him to Slade, he says it back and voila happy family. The end. I mean WHAT?!!

Grrrrrr Briann was so so childish and selfish. She says about who she is an independent woman who made the best decision she could regarding her child but that’s not true. I really had a problem with the fact that Bri had no plans at all about telling Slade he was Tris’s father even when they had moved back home from Atlanta. I really dislike heroines who hide the fact that the hero is a father. If there is a valid concern then maybe like domestic abuse then that is the right decision. I do not accept a misunderstand as a good reason to hide the fact that the hero is a father, he should be told that he is and if he wants nothing to do with the baby then that is his choice. You have done what is needed and then it’s his loss.

Ugh I was just not a fan of anything in this book. I guess the only good thing is the writing was ok. The story was not though.

Sorry for such a negative review but this is how I felt about this book. I am 95% sure this was a free download from Amazon which I downloaded about 8 months ago. I really hope so. I swear I need to buy a new book as a reward for reading this.

Most Important Accessory – My Kindle Cover!

Last year for my birthday I received one the best presents ever from my parents. If your thinking books then your right but also wrong. They purchased me a new Kindle Paperwhite. I did have the Qwerty Keypad Kindle but it was packing up and not working. So they brought me a new Kindle. For me the more important item than the kindle is the Kindle Case.

The reason behind the case being so important is first a practical one which is it protects the e-reader from being scratched or crushed in your handbag etc. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I am not a fan of the silicone type of Kindle cases. They look really pretty but I do not think they are very practical, I mean if I drop my Kindle a proper case is more likely to protect it than a silicone one.

I get asked all the time on Instagram and in real life where I purchased my Kindle cover from so I thought i’d share it with you guys too.

This is a Klevercase. I adore it because it is handmade within the UK and it looks like a book and feels like you are holding one even though it’s a e-reader. The designs this is available in are so beautiful. My specific one is the My Book Vintage Hardback Book Cover Case. The case is £25.00 but it is worth the price if you ask me as it lasts for ages and it is just so pretty. As I mentioned this case is so much more durable that a silicone one, and if you want to fold the cover back then it has enough flexibility to do so. Though I would say continually folding it back will damage the case spine.

I purchased this one from Amazon UK. Click here if you want to check them out on Amazon UK. Though the Klevercase does have it’s own website as i’ve now learned. They do cases for phones aswell, and other products like diaries. Their website has so many amazing products. If you want to check it out click here.

Heres a peak at some of the other designs from the Klevercase website.

I would like to say that this is not a sponsored post I purchased the cover myself and just love it so much that I had to share it.

Enjoy!

Salt Bride: A Georgian Historical Romance – Lucinda Brant (Salt Hendon #1)

Synopsis:

England, 1763. The Earl of Salt Hendon and squire’s daughter Jane Despard share a secret past of mistrust and heartache. Forced into a marriage neither wants, the patient and ever optimistic Jane believes love conquers all; the Earl will take some convincing. Enter Diana St. John, who will go to extremes, even murder, to hold the Earl’s attention. Can the newlyweds overcome past prejudices and sinister opposition to fall in love all over again?

Rating: 4 Stars

Review:

This book starts off with Jane the main character at the age of 18 going through a miscarriage. She is given a medical concoction for this. We learn that Jane’s nurse who gave her the medicine was told it was to help with the morning sickness but it was actually given to start labour pain and abort the child. Jane’s father decides to do this as he is disgraced that his 18 year old unwed daughter was with child and she will not tell him who the child’s father is. The way this scene was written actually made me cry. The writing in this book is just so good.

Fastforward 4 years and Jane is living with minimum comforts in her uncle’s house who has just passed away. She was thrown out of her father’s house due to her disgrace. Jane has to marry as in her uncle’s will, Tom her step brother cannot inherit the money he needs without her marrying. She is due to marry Salt as he made a promise to her dying father. Salt and Jane have history, I mean who else could have been her unborn child’s father? Jane thinks Salt seduced and then left her and Salt thinks Jane told her father of their ‘affair’ and betrayed him by moving on under the ‘protection’ of Mr Allerton who is her uncle due to her disgrace. Misunderstanding anyone?

I really did not like Salt as a character at the start of this book, I actually hated him and I could not see myself warming up to his character. Lucinda Brant however managed to redeem him in her writing and change my opinion of him through the book though. I wanted him to have a happy ending.

I liked Jane, she in a way did not hold grudges and she firmly believes in looking to the future not living in the past which is nice. However I did think Jane forgave Salt too quickly, she suffered not on losing a child and had to listen to all his cruel remarks at the start of the book, I wanted to see more grovelling from him. I just think Salt was forgiven too early in the book for my liking. If you are looking to a strong kick ass heroine then Jane is not it, she is lovely and nice.

I enjoyed the secondary characters in the book, especially Jane’s step brother Tom. He is one of my favourite characters and I hope he is in the next book in this series. The villain in this book is very melodramatic, Lady Diane St John is mentally unstable and has loved and wanted to be with Salt for years and so will do anything to achieve that goal.

One of my problems with this book is what they decide to do with the villain at the end, I disagree with it.  She should have been punished either by hanging or by the law or banished somewhere completely remote and out of country. That is not what I would have done and I think has that really solved the problem? The answer is no because I have just read the synopsis of the next book and guess what the Lady Diane is back.

I will be reading the 2nd book in this series too, I have to admit I broke my rule about buying a new book when I have read 5 but I had to buy the next book to see what happens. Plus in my defence it is an ebook and not going to take up space on my book shelf. The next book in the series is based on Caroline and Anthony, but I hope we get some updates about Salt and Jane.

This was a very well-written book, it is set in the Georgian Era. The descriptions of what it was like back then and how things were were good and I believe well researched.

Happy Reading!

Slave to Sensation – Nalini Singh (Psy-Changeling #1)

One more book down from my TBR! Maybe I should buy a book for each one I finish….haha no I won’t do that, it would not solve my problem about lack of space.

This book has been sitting on my kindle for a long time now. I purchased it about a year or so ago as I really love Nailini’s Guild Hunter series. That series is one of my favourites and I love how she writes her characters. In essence usually the female characters are strong willed and a match for their partners which I like to read because there is nothing wrong with a damsel in distress story but sometimes you want a change.

I think I say this a lot but Nalini Singh is one of my favourite authors, I would highly recommend her guild hunter series and after reading this book her other work aswell as long as you are not opposed to sex scenes. I find the story’s that she writes also shows the development and the progression of romance rather than being multiple sex scenes and a happy ending.

Synopsis:

In a world that denies emotions, where the ruling Psy punish any sign of desire, Sascha Duncan must conceal the feelings that brand her as flawed. To reveal them would be to sentence herself to the horror of “rehabilitation” – the complete psychic erasure of everything she ever was…

Both human and animal, Lucas Hunter is a changeling hungry for the very sensations the Psy disdain. After centuries of uneasy coexistence, these two races are now on the verge of war over the brutal murders of several changeling women. Lucas is determined to find the Psy killer who butchered his packmate, and Sascha is his ticket into their closely guarded society. But he soon discovers that this ice-cold Psy is very capable of passion – and that the animal in him is fascinated by her. Caught between their conflicting worlds, Lucas and Sascha must remain bound to their identities – or sacrifice everything for a taste of darkest temptation.

Rating: 5 Stars

Review:

First Lucas so did not look like the cover of this book in my mind, his scars on his face were so much sexier, well Nalini made it sound so anyway. I adored this book, I could not put it down and literally wanted to finish it in one sitting, which did not happen.

In 1979 to try and end violence and crimes the psy race implemented a protocol called the silence, this would condition the mind and body to stop feeling human or animalistic emotions and therefore be the end of serial killers and violence. Sounds like a perfect plan right? I mean if there are no emotions then there no cause for people to do things like that.

The story kicks off with Sasha being told that she is incharge of overseeing a housing development for the changelings and so she will be working with Lucas Hunter who is a panther alpha of the DarkRiver pack. Sasha is a ‘broken’ psy as she does feel but she is trying to hide it behind a stotic and emotionless facade. The psy do not show affection or casually touch and then we have the changelings who constantly touch and show affection. You can tell the pairing of these two is going to be volatile. Not in a bad way but sparks are going to full and they do.

What to say about Lucas, I loved him from the first page. He was smart, he knew what he wanted, he had determination and he was sweet, which makes a lethal combination and who could resist that?

“She was his and he was hers. They had under-the-skin privileges.” 

“An hour of your life is worth more than a thousand people to me.”

Sasha is such strong willed and doesn’t let Lucas walk all over her but also understands when it’s best to let it go as Lucas is an alpha. Sasha is such a brave character, as just imagine growing up and hiding the fact that you are different from everyone else. One slip up and she would have be rehabilitated.

“She wished he’d stop touching her. Not because she didn’t like it but because she liked it far too much. It made her hunger for things that could never be hers. And if someone went hungry for too long, they started to starve. Started to hurt.” 

What starts of as a business relationship develops first into friendship, respect, trust, passion and the love. It was so nice to see the evolvement of the relationship between these two. Lucas handled Sasha tenderly at times to introduce her to her and his own emotions and what he wanted. He does not let Sasha stay behind her mask of silence and indifference because he understands her and knows that that is not true, that’s not her nature. Ofcourse Psy and changelings are not suppose to be together, but what’s a good romance without some forbidden love.

The writing of this book is amazing, Nalini is an amazing story teller, it the way the story is written. Even though the psy world is different it was explained is such a way that I understood it and I did not have to go back to reread certain chapters to remind myself of anything which sometimes happens in fantasy books. The style of the writing flows really well, it is engaging, interesting and unique. It is the right balance of romance and action.

All I can say is I really loved this is and will be continuing with the others in this series. Honestly give Nalini Singh’s books a try and you will not regret it.

Happy Reading! p.s. Has anyone else read this book or anything by Nalini Singh?

Hired Bride – Noelle Adams (Beaufort Brides #1)

Noelle Adams is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. I know I have not reviewed her books on my blog before but I have read 2 of her books now and I enjoyed both so much. Both books are based on the marriage of convenience idea which is one of my favourite types of books. If you have not read one of her books and like a good marriage of convenience books then give her books a try.

One less book on my TBR pile! Woohoo!

Synopsis:

For years, Deanna’s eccentric grandmother has been trying to marry her off to a rich man, and she’s finally managed to do it. Deanna has spent her life trying to take care of those she loves, and a six-month marriage should be a simple enough way to keep their historic Savannah house from falling down around their heads.

Sexy, obnoxious Mitchell Graves needs a wife to finalize a business deal, and he snaps up Deanna as the most expedient option. Because she’s quiet, he thinks she’ll be easy enough to manage as a wife.

He couldn’t be more wrong.

Rating: 4.5 Stars 

Review:

Ok I will be the first to admit that the marriage of convenience idea is not a original idea and has been done before but i love these types of books. As this books sounds from the synopsis to close a business deal Mitchell needs a wife to stop his potential business partner’s daughter from coming on to him without letting her know he’s not interested incase it affects the business deal adversely. What better way than to enter a fake marriage for 6 months? I know, but this book really is one of the better stories I read. The writing of this book is really well done, it is a short book but it doesn’t feel rushed. Nor did I feel at any point that the characters lacked depth or that they were not full fledged characters. The romance developed over time, sure the lust and attraction was there but it was nice read the romance developing between these two different people.

I liked Mitchell as a character, you could see him evolve as the story progresses, he is character is the one that develops the most, he goes from being the ‘typical’ guy who does not believe in relationships to why relationships are important and what they provide. He’s  a nice guy to start with but he gets better as the book goes on. I will admit both Mitchell and Deanna are bull-headed they do the normal, lets not communicate and talk about what we feel and what matters as the other should know how I feel. I’m sorry to say but from my experience of reading this never works out lol, and I would be correct. They end up communicating to make it a lovely happy ending but you do go through the I want to shake some sense into the both of you phase in the middle of this book.

Deanna was a good character but I think she was a bit too up tight at points. I understood her point of view but I think at points she slightly grated on my nerves. I did love how she would do anything for her family, that was so sweet.

I enjoyed the epilogue of this book so much, for some reason it was so nice to read both Mitchell and Deanna relaxing and having fun.

I look forward to reading the next book in the series, which I will buy when I am able to end my book buying ban.

Happy Reading!!