Review: Broken Juliet by Leisa Rayven

OUR REVIEW:

Shel: Recently I read Bad Romeo and it was a fun and angsty (I know those don't normally belong together) read; one I was glad I read right before Broken Juliet was due to come out because the ending of Bad Romeo was a killer.

Broken Juliet continues the story of Ethan and Cassie and in the same format of its predecessor; so we get both the present day story in conjunction with the flashbacks of how things went terribly, terribly wrong for them three years prior. Knowing that their story wasn't going to be an easy one, I mentally prepared myself and dived in. 

As I suspected Ethan made me want to choke him and hug him and, actually, Cassie made me feel the same at times. Their stubborn natures, their unwillingness in their younger years to work through things (though to cut them some slack they were young), and the utter heartbreak of losing that intense love they had was all over the pages. But...so was their love, their humor, their patience and kindness...and as they grew older, their willingness to be more open and honest.

This novel was a quick read; it was entertaining and infuriating in all of the best ways and while there was a definite steam factor, it was more about their story than it was about their sexy times. I think readers wanting to know their back story and see how they find their HEA, this novel will be fully satisfactory.  And good news! It appears that there will be a new book that is a spin off of this series! 

NOTE: This review is an oldie but goodie--originally written about 4 years ago.

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/2ZNkMYl

SYNOPSIS:

How do you fix a love that's been broken beyond repair?

For years, Cassie Taylor tried to forget about Ethan Holt. He was the one great love of her life, and when he failed to return her love, a part of her died forever. Or so she thought. Now she and Ethan are sharing a Broadway stage, and he's determined to win her back. Claiming to be a changed man, he's finally able to say all the things she needed to hear years ago, but can she believe him? What makes this time different from all his other broken promises?

Ethan knows he can't change their tumultuous past, but if he's going to have any chance of being with the woman he loves, he'll need to convince Cassie that her future belongs with him.

Don't miss this stunning conclusion to the unforgettable love story that captivated over two million fans online.

REVIEW: Harvest of Sighs by Sierra Simone

 

  HARVEST OF SIGHS (Thornchapel #3) by Sierra Simone 

Release Date: May 1st   

  Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44451017-harvest-of-sighs  

    

OUR REVIEW:

Harvest of Sighs is an apt title for this novel because it harvested a lot of deep sighs from me. I mean reallllly, Sierra Simone? Really? You must be a sadist--not only are you torturing your characters, you're torturing us. These poor, poor people. None of them are going to remain unscathed from your wicked and inventive tortures, are they? Which means we're all feeling their pain. We're all hurting and curious about what it will take to heal all of these gaping wounds that are their hearts. Yeesh. I have ideas, as I think many of you will when you put this novel down, and I'm very eager to see which ones will come to fruition and which ones will not. I'm eager to see the twisted way that you'll bring Poe, Becket, Delphine, Rebecca, Saint, and Auden to their happily ever afters; I suspect the journey to get there won't be an easy one. 

As with the other novels in this series (which, by the way, you must read first or Harvest of Sighs won't be as meaningful for you), the setting seems to be just as much a character as the characters themselves. It's lush and animated and at times seems to activate emotions of our characters, at times motivate their emotions, and sometimes mimic them. Thornchapel, in particular, seems to be an antagonistic force, that rarely seems to be satisfied by its owners. 

Also, as with the rest of the series, this novel unveils a little bit more of the family and personal histories of the characters which continues to round them out and make their complexities that much more understandable and sympathetic. These novels also delve into their individual points of view--some get more page time than others--which helps us understand their motivations, rationalizations, and deep seated fears and hurts ... and loves. (Also shout out to a character we've seen before in Priest!)

I'll finish this hodgepodge mash up of thoughts with the one that every Sierra Simone readers knows: this novel was impeccably written and impossible to not read with a savage hunger to gulp it down in one sitting, while also trying to savor it like the delicious treat it was. I didn't want to put it down and yet with every paragraph closer to the ending, I found myself trying to slow down so that I would have a little longer with these characters. I'm so glad we'll have one more novel with this crew--I hope it's a long one. 

  AVAILABLE NOW! 

Amazon: sierrasim.one/kindlesighs

Amazon Universal: mybook.to/harvestofsighs 

Apple Books: sierrasim.one/applesighs 

Nook: sierrasim.one/nooksighs 

Kobo: sierrasim.one/kobosighs    

   START THE SERIES TODAY WITH A LESSON IN THORNS (Thornchapel #1) 

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2OgiJGp 

Amazon INTL: mybook.to/ALIT 

B&N: http://bit.ly/2UO1VsN 

Apple Books: https://apple.co/2HJxKiI  

  FEAST OF SPARKS (Thornchapel #2) 

Amazon US: http://mybook.to/feastofsparks 

Amazon INTL: http://mybook.to/feastofsparks 

Apple Books: https://sierrasim.one/iSparks 

Nook: sierrasim.one/NookSparks 

Kobo: sierrasim.one/KoboSparks  

    

  Blurb: The genius and the sunshine girl. As children, we fought bitterly and often, bickering every chance we got. But then we grew up. Then we came back. Delphine Dansey carries her heart on the outside of her body; she’s looking for love and chasing dreams. She’s spoiled and selfish, the kind of beautiful that’s made for money and fame. But somehow she’s ended up in my keeping: a pretty submissive I can’t seem to resist, a lover who obsesses and tempts me. I thought I’d locked my heart away a long time ago, along with all my other weaknesses. But some doors won't stay closed, no matter how hard I fight to keep them shut. She unravels me, just like our friends are unraveling, just like Thornchapel itself is unraveling. All year long, we’ve been sowing lust and jealousy and pain, heedless of the consequences. But a harvest is inevitable, and so now we must reap our sorrows. And our sighs. *Harvest of Sighs is Book Three in the Thornchapel series.*  

    

  About the Author: Sierra Simone is a USA Today Bestselling former librarian (who spent too much time reading romance novels at the information desk.) She lives with her husband and family in Kansas City.

 

  Connect w/Sierra Simone: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sierra-Simone-497450453680395/?fref=ts 

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SierraSimonesLambs 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSierraSimone 

Amazon : http://amzn.to/1PDR4K4 

Goodreads : http://bit.ly/1oo9WEh 

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

Website: http://authorsierrasimone.com/ 

Subscribe to Sierra's newsletter: sierrasim.one/getmyemails  

REVIEW: Lovewrecked by Karina Halle

From New York Times bestselling author Karina Halle comes a sexy new standalone romantic comedy about getting stuck on a deserted island with a man you hate to love and love to hate.

Lovewrecked is LIVE!

OUR REVIEW:

As a longtime fan of Karina Halle, I know she can create anything and I'll enjoy it. That being said, I'm so used to reading her angsty, intense characters that I forgot how much I enjoyed her lighter works. Lovewrecked gives us a lighter escape from the craziness of our current world. Thai and Daisy seem delightfully opposite from each other from the start and we all know that those couples who are so seemingly different are that much more fun to see fall for each other. It's always interesting to see how similar they are, despite the first impressions they give each other. He's got some interesting and tragic history and she's got some family baggage and together they are able to help each other move past the things that have held them back from the things they want. While their past informs their present, it's not the predominant feature of this novel; no, that would be their epic adventure that has them shipwrecked for a few weeks. It's that forced togetherness that really yields results, lol.

Lovewrecked's last few chapters before the epilogue are timely in their ability to capture how many of us are feeling in this quarantined time and timeless in that surely anyone would feel what they feel, should they find themselves in a similar situation. It's light on angst and heavy on fun characters, laugh out loud moments, and steamy romance--a definite escape from the daily grind.

Daisy Lewis is experiencing a relentless string of bad luck.

Fortunately, Daisy has her sister’s destination wedding coming up. A week of sand, sea, and sun in the South Pacific as the maid-of-honor is exactly what Daisy needs to forget her upturned life and focus on the positive.

That is until Daisy meets the best man.

If you take tall, dark, and handsome, and add a dash of rugged, a pinch of brooding, and a whole lot of sexy, you’ve got Tai Wakefield. Unfortunately he’s also a major grump, total alpha, and seemingly out to antagonize Daisy at every turn.

As if being part of the wedding party with Tai wasn’t bad enough, Daisy’s bad luck soon resurfaces when she ends up on a cramped sailboat with Tai and the newlyweds.

Which then shipwrecks on a deserted island near Fiji.

Okay, so they aren’t completely alone. There’s an oddball research scientist who has been isolated for far too long, they have rundown bungalows as shelter, stores of water and canned food, plus a feral goat named Wilson. It’s Lost…without the smoke monster.

But with rescue weeks away, Tai and Daisy realize the only way they’re going to get through this mess is to stop fighting and start working together.

And with their guards down, they get closer.

A lot closer.

Soon, Daisy realizes that the only thing worse than being stuck on a deserted island, is being stuck on a deserted island with a man she hates to love and loves to hate.

A man that can break her heart.

Download your copy or read FREE in Kindle Unlimited today!

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2W3wBIa

Amazon Worldwide: mybook.to/LovewreckedKH

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/39M4jqy

Meet Karina:

Karina Halle is a former travel writer, music journalist & screenwriter, and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal & USA Today Bestselling author of over 55 bestselling novels, ranging from horror and suspense to contemporary romance. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband, and her adopted pitbull Bruce, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.

Halle is represented by the Root Literary Agency and is both self-published and published by Simon & Schuster, Hachette & Montlake. Her work has been translated and published in 20 languages.

Hit her up on Instagram at @authorHalle, on Twitter at @MetalBlonde and on Facebook. You can also visit www.authorkarinahalle.com and sign up for the newsletter for news, excerpts, previews, private book signing sales and more.

Connect with Karina:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorkarinahalle/ Amazon: http://amzn.to/2vo9pq4 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorhalle/ Join her Reader Group: https://goo.gl/wpCBSS Stay up to date with Karina by signing up for her newsletter here: https://goo.gl/Ve4eCh http://authorkarinahalle.com

REVIEW: ALL THE RAGE by Courtney Summers

OUR REVIEW:
Shel: I was up until 1:30 last night/this morning finishing and thinking about All the Rage. My brain just kept turning over all of the THINGS that this novel immersed me in. This novel feels so important to me--what it says to be a girl/woman/female in this world is so horrifying and true. The daily slights, comments, condescending pats on the head, the fear of being alone in a dark and unfamiliar place--or even a well lit one--the subtle and direct comments about who you are or what you can do because you are a woman in the world, and the actions men feel they have a right to perpetrate...this novel brought all of that to the surface. 

Romy, our heroine, is living in the constant swirling current of what life has become in the "after" stage of what Kellen Turner has done. Her life is one full of slights, of weighing every action and word that comes to her or from her for what they mean. She lives as the pariah of her school and her community. She's the liar. The joke. The trouble maker. She lives this every day while also living as Romy--a daughter who loves her mother and wants to protect her (PROTECT her!) from what her life is really like, a daughter who works hard to make the people she cares about comfortable while she's suffering. Romy lives a life suspended in the before and after; she lives trying to shed her old skin and wear this new one in the best way she can while being constantly confronted with the old and the new. It's a wonder she didn't split wide open or explode one day on the sidewalk--she was carrying so much pain and hurt and shame and anger and yet still functioning and attending to the necessary jobs you must as a daughter, student, worker, friend, and enemy. 

In the midst of all of this functioning, a girl (Penny) goes missing and Romy is closely tied to this case, for various reasons. As the search for Penny intensifies, the scrutiny Romy feels--because of what happened the night Penny went missing and how Romy is associated with it--also intensifies. The memories and whisperings and gossip of that night come in more and more horrifying waves until the final revelation comes out and all we're left with is mindnumbing disgust and deep sadness. 

While I could go on and on about how repulsive many of the people and their actions or lack of action were in this novel (and how true that felt too), I think it's important to take a minute to discuss some of the characters who were bright spots: Leon, Caro, Leanne, and Todd, and Romy's mom, Alice. I thought each of these characters were perfectly imperfect; they enhanced how we came to know Romy. They were warm and honest and kind. They saw Romy and wanted good things for her. No matter how challenging she was or how prickly she would come off, they didn't let her go. I loved that they pushed back or let certain things roll of their backs--but they never let her go. 

It's taking me hours to get this far in this review; I find it hard to commit words to this review because I don't want to fail this book. It was so compelling. The observations of Romy and all of the interactions between characters-from the smallest things to the biggest-felt incredibly realistic and I know without a doubt that girls and women walk around feeling these exact same emotions. They've had to split themselves into various pieces and parts to be able to function in the world and grapple with who they are now-- before and after. 

Another thing that I appreciated about this novel was that it was never prettied up or overly dramatized and the ending didn't offer cliched solutions or loose ends all tied off in pretty bows. We're left with some answers, some conclusions and lots of questions and wonderings and what ifs...

It'd be easy for me to walk away from this and feel hopeless and helpless but Courtney Summers gives us a Romy at the end who takes a chance..refuses to be helpless and because of that, there is hope. 

ETA: I read and wrote this review about five years ago. It feels as relevant as ever.

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/2QGaIvZ

SYNOPSIS: 
The sheriff's son, Kellan Turner, is not the golden boy everyone thinks he is, and Romy Grey knows that for a fact. Because no one wants to believe a girl from the wrong side of town, the truth about him has cost her everything-friends, family, and her community. Branded a liar and bullied relentlessly by a group of kids she used to hang out with, Romy's only refuge is the diner where she works outside of town. No one knows her name or her past there; she can finally be anonymous. But when a girl with ties to both Romy and Kellan goes missing after a party, and news of him assaulting another girl in a town close by gets out, Romy must decide whether she wants to fight or carry the burden of knowing more girls could get hurt if she doesn't speak up. Nobody believed her the first time-and they certainly won't now-but the cost of her silence might be more than she can bear.

With a shocking conclusion and writing that will absolutely knock you out, Courtney Summers' new novel All the Rage examines the shame and silence inflicted upon young women in a culture that refuses to protect them.

REVIEW: Only Ever You by C.D. Reiss

OUR REVIEW:

Having just left the world of Drazen in Pretty Scars, I was ready for whatever C.D. Reiss was creating and while Only Ever You is not anything like the insanity of the Drazens it was equally as compelling and hard to put down: I only stopped reading to sleep and inhaled this novel in a matter of hours.

Only Ever You is a stand out, for me, because it seems rooted in characters and a plot that feels realistic. Rachel and Sebastion are, with a few exceptions, just like you and me. They're weak in some areas, stronger in others, and just so failingly human and I'm here for it. I love everything about their romance--from their teenage contract, their meeting years later, and their falling in love with a raw honesty about who they are and where they are in their lives--it's pitch perfect. Throw in their parents, a sister, and friends who provided humor and sage advice and I found myself smiling and nodding a lot.

I've yet to come across anything from C.D. Reiss that doesn't hold my attention. I appreciate that she can create a completely messed up world like the Drazens and then write something more down to earth like Only Ever You. Fans of her work will find many of the trademarks that are distinctly hers--succinct exposition, good dialogue, steamy sex scenes, and a well paced plot--and I bet they'll be as enamored as this new novel as I am.

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/36lkvhK

SYNOPSIS:

From New York Times bestselling author CD Reiss comes a story of friendship, romance, and growing into a love that was always there.

Rachel knew exactly what turning thirty would be like. She had a plan, after all. First college, then a climb up the professional ladder. Love, marriage, children. All of it was on the schedule.

The cheap Hollywood apartment wasn’t on the list. Neither was the string of heartbreaks. Or the effect her mother’s cancer had on her career.

It’s hard to stay practical and on point when everything takes a left turn.

Enter Sebastian, the nerd across the street. The boy she defended when he couldn’t defend himself. The best friend she promised she’d marry if life didn’t go according to plan.

Not only is he successful, confident, and gorgeous, but he also still has their handwritten marriage contract.

No one goes through with childhood wedding pacts.

That’s crazy.

But their families might just be crazy enough to rent a hall and set a date. All Rachel and Sebastian have to do is fall in love.