Book Review: The Unexpected Wedding Guest by Aimee Carson

The Deal: With her wedding just a few days away, the last thing Reese Michaels wants is for her ex husband Mason to show up at her wedding venue and claim he wants closure about the marriage that imploded almost ten years ago. 

But it all turns even worse when Mason strikes a quasi friendship with Reese's fiance Dylan, and Dylan agrees they both need closure and that they should use the next few days to find it. 

Mason really just wants to set some things right between him and Reese, knowing that ten years ago they hurt each other very much, and that fixing that might help him find a new path in life. A former marine, Mason is still trying to adjust to civilian life, and dealing with the consequences of a traumatic head injury that put an end to his career and left him with a crappy short time memory. 

Not that he's willing to admit that to Reese just now. Even if the chemistry between them is as strong as ever. 

My Thoughts: Well, I really wanted to like The Unexpected Wedding Guest, it sounded kind of fun and I do like the second chance stories, but this one never finished making much sense. The more I found out about Reese and Mason's marriage the more I understood why they screwed it up and the less sure I was that the should be together... and the less I liked them.

Plus, they didn't have much in common (other than sex) and they acted very annoying. Oh and don't even get me started on Reese's friends, they drove me up the wall - there is this whole subplot of Reese and her three friends from college reuniting after years of not seeing each other that I just didn't care for, nor did I like any of the other girls. 

Also, Reese's fiance was very much a cold fish, who seemed not to care either way what was going on between the ex-couple. And calmly accepted everything. 

So, yeah, this one isn't a winner for me, but I kind of like the idea of the Kiss line anyway, so I guess I'll keep trying. 

1/2

Two For One: Rock and A Hard Place - Snapshot by Anne Stanton

So, I'm doing a two for one review this time around because this two books are linked, the both belong to the Jamieson Collection.

The Deal:
In Rock and A Hard Place we meet the Jamieson brothers, who are in a musical band together. They are super famous and constantly touring the country with their parents. Their mom likes to stop every once in a while and do family things, like having a picnic.

Is during one such stops that one of the brothers, Peter (the musical genius of the family), meets Libby. Libby's life was turned upside down when her family got into this really bad car crash and she was sent to live with an aunt while her father recuperated. So now she's stuck in a little town in the middle of nowhere and the only thing that keeps her sane is staring at the high way while waiting for her dad to show up, and trying to avoid her paranoid aunt as much as possible.

Meeting Peter is the first normal thing that has happened to her in forever, and so is for Peter... until fame and family intervene...

The second book Snapshot, is about Adam, probably the most childish of the Jamieson brothers and it follows him as he goes undercover in a regular high school and meets Marti. Marti is rock and roll royalty, as the daughter of a very famous rock star, but she hates everything related to rock music, and all she wants is the normal life she has made for herself next to her grandmother.

Yet, she is very drawn to Adam, who is hiding just how deep "in the business" he is, even if sometimes he wishes he weren't, as he's growing tired of a micromanaged life and constant touring.

Marti and Adam enjoy their time together, until said time grinds to a halt due to a tragedy.

My Thoughts: 
There were two reasons why I decided to combine the reviews for these two books: a) they do go hand in had, and I read them back to back; and b) the things that work and that don't work in each book are basically the same.

First, lets get the bad stuff out of the way: While I was reading both Rock and a Hard Place and Snap shot I could help comparing the Jamieson's band to the Jonas brothers. My mind just kept going there, I couldn't help it. Plus, from how their music was described, I didn't get the sense it was very rock and roll. Again, it had that Jonas brothers vibe that it just couldn't shake off.

Second, well, there were times where the characters sounded a lot younger than they were supposed to be. For example, when I started to read Rock and a Hard Place, I thought Libby and Peter were like 12, rather than 17.

Now the stuff that works: both stories are very easy to read and the characters can be quite likable. Both stories kind of have the same narrative structure - couple meets, fall in love at first sight, tragedy strikes, couple is torn apart and then brought back together - and when you read them back to back that becomes really obvious, but I didn't mind too much.

All in all, both stories were pretty harmless and they were okay. They didn't really stand out for me but I had a good time while I was reading them. And I am a bit intrigued about the last brother.

(for both)

So... that's my other life...

More often than not, I try to keep my writing life well apart from my blogging life, but yeah, for the last 11 years I've been writing as Clavel in Fiction Press and other outlets. It all started when I dropped out of college when I was 18 and had all this time in my hands while I waited so I could switch schools... and I started to write.

Made lots of friends that way and it kind of helped me to work on my English, which was a lot more rudimentary back then. But when I started this blog, I wanted a separate identity from that, so I created AnimeGirl and then Alex; and for for them most part, I don't let the two overlap.

But then I got nominated for a Some Kind of Wonderful Award and I said, what the heck, maybe I can get some people to vote for me for a change.

See, I'm kind of a veteran of the SKOW awards, I've been nominated 3 times in the past, but I just never ever win or even come close. I got nominated about 3 years ago, and twice before that (My one claim to fame is that I was nominated on the same year as S.J. Maas' Queen of Glass, way back when).

This year, I was nominated in the Amazing Wordsmith category... and I decided to pimp myself out, for once! You don't have to blindly vote for me. You can check out my stuff before deciding, and I really do encourage you to check out the other authors and stories because there is some really awesome stuff out there. 

Oh, and you can vote by clicking here.

Thanks!! 

Alex-

Book Review: One Day in Apple Grove by CH Admirand

A day late, I know but hey!! At least it's a post!!

The Plot: After serving in the marines as a medical corporal and getting his Medical degree, Dr. Jack Gannon is back in his hometown of Apple Grove, ready to take where his father - the former town's physician left off - and start his own practice.

As a youngster, he couldn't wait to leave Apple Grove and see the world, but after seeing some pretty bad stuff, he's quite happy to settle down and forget some of those places he couldn't wait to see.

Cait Mulchahy and two sisters have their hands full as the resident handy-women, fixing everything from leaky roofs to bed plumbing, which doesn't leave her with a lot of time for a social life, plus, it isn't like there are many eligible bachelors around, at least not until Doc Gannon moves back.

As a girl, Cait had never taken much notice of Jack, other than acknowledge that he was one of his older sister's best friends and the general town knowledge that he had joined the marines and that he had been injured while overseas; so she's not prepared for their first encounter, when they run into each other by the side of the road while he's trying to rescue a puppy.

The puppy, Jamie, brings them together though, and pretty soon they can't imagine their lives without each other, but they still got lots of stuff to deal with. 

First Date: Aww, how cute!! This small-town of Apple Grove sounds lovely, and I already love half the characters, though it would be nice if they stopped assuming I know or care about who Honey B is, I don't. 

Second Date: So, apparently, Honey B and Cait's older sister had their story in the previous book. uh, Still don't care. Back to Cait and Jack... well, things seemed to be moving REALLY slow there for a bit but then it just took a HUGE leap forward. Things are just starting to feel uneven. Cute puppy though. 

Third Date: Well... wasn't that nice? Perhaps a bit too much. *sigh* It does feel like this last date was a fizzle. 

Relationship Status: Don't Call Me, I Call You... maybe.

I really wanted to like One Day in Apple Grove, it even started really sweet and I was in, but little by little I was pulled out of the story, some things were just too darn cute and too darn much. My biggest problem, though? the way the PTSD that Jack suffers was handled - it was just mentioned when it was convenient and then swept under the rough and then trotted out again, and then just magically fixed. NOT COOL. 

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

Video Review: Superman - Birthright

Hello everyone!!

So yeah, I'm still alive and kicking, it just happens that I'm crazy busy and in the middle of finals week at the school I work at. 

Still, today I took a break from grading and I reviewed Superman: Birthright by Mark Waid and Leinil Francis Yu. - I explain the video, and use the words awesome and "Really, really cute" and "really fun" a lot, but Birthright is a comic book that served as a new origin story for Superman a few years back (It was published in 2005) and it was awesome. 

So, I totally recommend it, but if you wanna hear me rambling about it, here it is:

Yes, I do look a little crazy, and my hair is a mess but I hope you can understand my accent! :D