Model Spy by Shannon Greenland

Okay! So I'm at work in the land of the lack of spell check or witting on a different language so...sorry if there are a few typos, this kb hates my ever loving guts!!!

On the other hand... free internet at work YAY!!

LOL 

Also, I'm going to try this new format, one because I'm bored, and two, I don't have access to my template just now. Ooops! Guess that's the kind of thing I should carry in my flashdrive, huh?

Anyway, so today's review is about Model Spy by Shannon Greenland, book one of The Specialists, which I got from NetGalley a couple of months ago and was apparently first published in 2007.

The story goes like this: Genius super hacker Kelly James (a sixteen year old college student) gets in trouble after hacking into a secure goverment site to help her R. A. David (who also happens to be super hot) after David told her a sob story about him wanting to find his family. 

A few hours later, Kelly gets arrested and hauled in for questioning. And then she's given a choice: she can go to juvie or she can change her name and become a spy. Once enrolled, she discovers that David works for the Agency too, and that she now has to pair up with him for her first mission, which imples pretending to be a model. 

So, the story sounded sweet enough, and kinda cute, and once I started to read I kind of remmebered having heard of this book before - probably when it was first published in my pre-blogging days - which was good. 

The story itself is cute and harmeless. It took me a while to fall into the groove of the story but it wasn't too bad. 

The thing, though, is that it wasn't particularly memorable, and sometimes it did feel a little dated. Characters were nice, writing was decent and the story was okay. 

As I said, pretty harmeless. One of those books you can take or leave and it's all good. It's kind of the definition of a 3 Star book! (will add cute little stars later!). 

Love, Alex!!

Ps - Sorry if I'm a little chatty/rambly, I'm sleep deprived. 

Book Review: Where Nerves Ends by L.A. Witt

Who comes up
 with these covers?
I mean, really?!

At First Sight: Jason Davis was near the end of his rope: his recent breakup left him with a mortgage he couldn't afford, his business partner died leaving him with a struggling night club that bleeds out almost as much money as it makes, and for the last five years he has had to deal with chronic pain on his shoulder as result of a biking accident.

Each one of these things is bad enough, but all together they are making his life hell, he's on first name terms with the pawn shop owner and about having to decide between putting gas on his car or food in his fridge.

In a last ditch effort to manage the pain, Jase follows his friend Seth's advice and goes to see Dr. Michael Whitman to be treated with acupuncture, not expecting it'll work but secretly hoping it will. He's didn't expect to be attracted to Michael, or to propose a roommate agreement with the man.

Michael moved to Tucker Springs (where the air is pretty clean) with his now ex-wife so their son Dylan wouldn't have to struggle so much with his asthma, but life in Tucker Springs is very expensive, and he's struggling a bit to make ends meet. Since Jase is also friends with Michael's best friend Seth, Michael finds himself considering and later accepting the roommate agreement with Jason.

But living together might be more difficult than either of them imagined, particularly after they realize they are very attracted to each other. 

Second Glance: So, a few weeks ago I read and reviewed Second Hand, the first book of the Tucker Springs series - connecting books written by different authors but loosely linked by the setting and the fact that most of the characters know each other - and I really liked it, so I went back and picked up Where Nerves End by L.A. Witt.

At first I thought the set up was pretty similar to Second Hand - openly gay man attracted to 'straight' if a little confused man - but the stories turned out to be very different. You can really feel Jason's mental anguish about everything that's going on in his life with the pain and the debts and the money trouble, and Michael's struggle with his own sexuality and with doing what's right for his son.

Neither of them makes good decisions all the time and the book indulged on one of my personal pet peeves - when the members of the romantic pairing get involved with other people even though they already know and are attracted to the person they are going to end up with - but I liked it.

I liked that their ending wasn't all happy and the situations weren't black and white. I did feel like I got to know Jason a lot more than Michael, maybe because the story is told from his perspective, maybe because he was just more fleshed out. 

Bottom Line: Where Nerves End was a good read and I really enjoy visiting the Tucker Springs universe. I like these people and I want to keep on reading their stories. Jason and Michael weren't my favorite so far but it was pretty good read anyway. The writing was quite addictive and I wanted to keep on reading until I finished, which was nice. 

1/2

Cover Love: The Sum of All Kisses by Julia Quinn

So, after a few years of books that were just OK but not super awesome (at least to me) I'm finally LOVING Julia Quinn again and her Smythe-Smith Quartet!! My favorite so far is Just Like Heaven though A Night Like This was very enjoyable as well.

So, when I found the cover for the third book: The Sum of All Kisses, I had to share it!!! 

US Cover

Summary (per GoodReads):

Hugh Prentice has never had patience for dramatic females, and if Lady Sarah Pleinsworth has ever been acquainted with the words shy or retiring, she's long since tossed them out the window. Besides, a reckless duel has left this brilliant mathematician with a ruined leg, and now he could never court a woman like Sarah, much less dream of marrying her.

Sarah has never forgiven Hugh for the duel he fought that nearly destroyed her family. But even if she could find a way to forgive him, it wouldn't matter. She doesn't care that his leg is less than perfect, it's his personality she can't abide. But forced to spend a week in close company they discover that first impressions are not always reliable. And when one kiss leads to two, three, and four, the mathematician may lose count, and the lady may, for the first time, find herself speechless 

Now, I LOVED Hugh in the last book, but I haven't particularly liked Sarah - she's a bit whiny in my opinion, but maybe seeing things from her perspective will change my mind. 

In any case, I can't wait to read this book!!! 

UK Cover

Speed Date: A Kiss for Midwinter by Courtney Milan

The Deal: Despite her secret heartbreak - or perhaps because of it - Lydia Charingford is always cheerful and positive. Only the people closest to her - like her parents and best friend Minnie - know what happened to her when she was 15 and she intends to keep it that way. And so far she has succeeded... except for where Dr. Jonas Grantham is concerned. He knows. 

What happened to Lydia is something Jonas hasn't been able to forget even though, at first, he hadn't connected her (as an adult) to that event that haunted him through most of his Medical training. When he returned to town to take over the local doctor's practice he only tried to get acquainted with Lydia because he thought her pretty, but in the months since he has fallen in love with her, even if she rarely ever has a civil word to him and avoids him as much as she can.

But with Christmas coming - and in between the worries about his father's failing health - Jonas has decided it's time to finally tell Lydia know how he feels and move on, one way or another.

My Thoughts: A Kiss for Midwinter is a novella that packs a punch. If you read The Duchess War already you might already know what happened to Lydia but for those who don't wanna know, I'm going into spoiler zone!

So, when Lydia was 15 she was seduced by a guy 10 years older and left pregnant, she didn't know he was already married and she believed him when he said they were engaged and that she wouldn't get pregnant by what they were doing (yes, he specifically tells her this). 

When she finds out about his duplicity, and the doctor is called to confirm the pregnancy, Jonas goes too (he was shadowing the old doctor in preparation for his leaving for school). The old doctor isn't very sympathetic and goes on about how corrupted Lydia is, and basically tells her parents they best hope she and the baby die, and then he leaves a prescription for Lydia for the symptoms. Jonas hears what the prescription is and he doesn't agree but since he hasn't even started medical school yet, he  doubts and doesn't say anything, something he deeply regrets because his suspicion was right and the old doctor basically poisoned Lydia and the baby. 

So, Lydia and Jonas don't meet again in the most auspicious circumstances later on. She tried to tell herself she's over the whole situation and pushes her pain down, but whenever she sees Jonas she takes it out on him, and the scene when he acknowledges this and tells her why it doesn't make him angry was so touching.

Jonas was such a wonderful character, he's straight forward, he doesn't judge the people he helps (weather they can pay or not) and tries to do his best. And he loves his father even if he's very hard to deal with lately due to illness that has left his body frail and his mind confused.

Lydia, harsh as she was on Jonas, my heart went out to her. And to her family, really her parents get the Best Parents award, particularly her dad. They totally have her backs and they never make her feel less-than because of what happened to her.

I wish I had gotten the chance to spend more time with Jonas and Lydia but I loved reading their story in A Kiss for Midwinter. It was a touching, tearful yet hopeful story. And yes, it did make me cry. 

What's a Book Speed Date, you ask? It's a quickie review--about 150 words or so--of any genre book (variety is the spice of life, after all).

If you want to join in or just read other speed date reviews, check out The Book Swarm

Ps - This story is part of the Brothers Sinister series. 

Book Review: In the Bag by Kate Klise

At First Sight: Spring Break finds two single parents taking the same plane to Paris with their respective teenagers. Famous chef Daisy Sprinkle is taking 18-year old Coco to Paris, hoping they will both have time to relax, shop and eat good food. Andrew Nelson - exhibit designer extraordinaire - is taking 17-year-old Webb with him to Madrid while he works at a new exhibit, hoping to spend some time together.

Then Andrew spots - and spills wine all over - Daisy and is smitten. Daisy is not quite so impressed and even less so when, once in Paris,  she finds a note Andrew put in her purse basically asking for a date.

Meanwhile, Coco and Webb find themselves with luggage not their own. Luckily, Coco's bag had a tag with her email, which Webb uses to contact her. Soon they are exchanging emails back and forth, each utterly charmed with the other, sharing secrets and funny conversations. 

Second Glance: I don't want to give away a lot of the plot because it's very cute and adorable to see it develop. and yeah, granted it's not that very surprising once you get going but still!

I first requested In The Bag because I found the cover adorable and I'm happy to report that the contents are equally so. Web and Coco are both very smart and their conversation topics might be a little adult, but they are also very teenage-ry in other ways (like they totally sulk and disagree with their parents and have weird mood swings). And their emails back and forth were a highlight of this book.

Andrew was easy to like - and I liked him more the more I learned about his situation - and it was adorable how smitten he was with Daisy - both before and after they actually meet. Daisy was a tough cookie to like, I understood a lot of where she came from, but at the same time she was WAY neurotic sometimes.

The writing is charming and fun, and light. This book is very brain candy friendly.

My one complaint is that the second part of the book felt rushed in comparison to the first part. In the end I liked it, the pace was mostly even but it did feel rushed after a while.

Bottom Line: Kate Klise wrote a very cute book, and I mean that in the best possible way. It was fun to read, easy to read and just relaxing. I liked Web and Coco's adventure just as I liked Andrew and Daisy's. Also, it's very PG, an adult can read it and have fun and a teenager can read it and have fun. 

PS - Review copy provided by the publisher.