Book Review: Sharing you by Molly McAdams

Not feeling this cover, no.

At First Sight: Kamryn Cunningham ran away from her rich family and started over in a small town, far way from the horse racing world she was brought up in. Now she goes by KC and owns a cute little bake shop. She has always made great friends with the girl who owns the dress shop next door, and it's through her that KC meets Brody Saco.

From the moment they met each other, there is an instant pull between KC and Brody, but there is the small problem that KC has been... lying by omission about who she really is; not to mention the fact that Brody is married.

Brody marriage was over from the moment it started, since he just married his pregnant girlfriend because she was pregnant and she has been manipulating him and guilt-tripping him ever since, as her behavior becomes more and more erratic.

But, soon enough KC and Brody find themselves immersed in an affair that might prove to be their undoing. 

Second Glance: I really need to stop reading books like this one. Seriously. Okay, so where do I start with Sharing You since it's pretty much a hot mess all around?

K.C. and Brody are nice enough, I guess, I mean I didn't hate them but they didn't seem fully fleshed out, and the author totes used insta-love to explain why they should be together, they see each other at a party and feel "the pull" immediately, and they fall into bed pretty quickly after that (I think in about a week?).

I didn't really buy their relationship, and I couldn't understand why Brody stayed married to his nightmare of a wife for so long when he was being hurt and manipulated and all his savings were going down the drain on his wife's whims. Really, made no sense. Guilt I understand, being TSTL? not so much.

Anyway, I didn't find much to the story, I read it but for the life of me I can't remember anything other than what I just told you (like the names of the other characters) because there wasn't much to them. 

Bottom Line: I know I'm in the minority here, but really, Sharing You didn't work for me on any level, and I hoped I would like it. I like seeing love win against all odds and all that, but I wasn't rooting for anyone in this book. And it was a hot mess. 

1/2

Book Review: The Moment We Began by Sarra Cannon

The Deal: Penelope Wright has been in love with the twin brother's best friend Mason since she can remember, and in the last year they started sleeping together and don't seem able to stop, but their 'relationship' such as it is has been kept a secret at Mason's request. 

In fact, he likes to parade around with a new girl practically every week and just sleeps with Pen on the side, which is causing Penny to spin out of control with her binge drinking and partying. So much so that she ends up stealing Mason's car and crashing it... and finding out she's pregnant at the hospital.

But, before he can tell him that, Mason announces he's skipping town, and that he doesn't really plan to return any time soon, but Penny isn't about to lose him so she goes with him, determined to risk everything - mostly her rich parents' displeasure - to be with Mason for real, once and for all. 

My Thoughts: Boy, where do I start? Well, I'll tell you that I wanted to like this book - because the back copy of it painted a slightly different picture - but it just never really happened. 

It started badly with Penelope being such a drunken party girl and practically lying down so Mason would stomp all over her. I was all: 'girl, where is your self-respect?!'. Then there is Mason, the man-whore himself who really does have sex with practically everything that moves and strings Pen along (he won't 'formally date her' for her own good, or so he says).

Even when they are supposedly giving each other a real chance, he flirts away with other girls and doesn't get why it would upset Penny and I never really got what was so swoony about him. And other than being a doormat, Penny was actually quite nice if very naive. 

And I just didn't believe their relationship would work, thrown in some other bad decisions, and comically evil parents (who just want to 'protect' their precious daughter, and by protect I mean control every aspect of her life) and you get The Moment We Began. 

I do have to say that there were two characters I did like: Penny's twin brother Preston and her best friend Leigh Anne. 

So yeah, not super-recommending this one but if you're more into NA than I am, maybe you'll like it. 

What's Making Me Happy...

Hello my peeps!

So I totally flaked on you with this section mostly because I first was super busy with all the stuff I need to grade (I lost count at 600 sheets of paper I looked at), and then I got pretty sick over the last couple of weeks - first tonsil infection and then something weird in my stomach and I ended up in the hospital twice. Fun times. 

But anyway, there are plenty of things keeping me happy and I've been keeping a running list:

1. Hearing my dad and uncle talk about football (soccer for US people), see my dad is one of those life-long fans who has seen pretty much everyone play through out history; and hearing him talk with my uncle is always so much fun. They know their football.

2. Even though, you know, I've been over the world cup since the moment it started. I have to admit that most of the matches have been pretty good, I remember last cup was BORING. This one has been pretty Okay.

3. This picture:

4. The Escapist Movies and TV Podcast - as I've said before, I'm a big fan of MovieBob from The Escapist, and now he's participating on a weekly podcast about all things movies and tv, he's just one of the unofficially permanent hosts, and it's pretty fun. 

5. This article from NPR -Monkeysee "Book girls will Inherit the Earth"

6. This video explaining exactly what FIFA is and how it works.

7. I finished grading on time!! now I just need to write up the personalized reports (oh, goody! Not)

8. Kaichou Wa Maid Sama - I started watching this anime last couple of weeks, and it's lots of fun. About a girl who has this super serious persona at school - which recently went co-ed - and keeps all the boys under control as the Student Body President (nicknamed The Prez); but after school she works at a Maid Latte - a maid themed cafe - to help support her family, and then the most popular boy from school finds out. Of course! Lots of fun.

9. Got new earrings from Pandora! I have been saving to buy them for a while and I LOVE THEM.

10.  And, lastly, the magic of antibiotics when you use them correctly!!! :D 

Bonus: My hair is about a month away from growing out of the really bad haircut, and currently it's at a decent-ish stage. 

So thats what has been making me happy these last few weeks! 

What about you?

Book Review: It's Complicated by L.A. Witt

The Deal: Brad and Jeff have been together on and off for almost two years, and after their last break up resulted in Brad moving out of the house they shared, they want to take it slow and really make a go of things this time around. 

Not that it will be easy, Jeff (who is bisexual) still works with is ex-wife Christine in the business they own together, one that it's very demanding on his time. And just when it seems like Brad and Jeff are headed in the right direction, Christine announces she's expecting Jeff's baby, product of a one-night stand a few months before (while Brad and Jeff were On A Break). Further more, she wants to move back to Denver and live close to her family. 

And suddenly, things are even more complicated between Brad and Jeff. 

My Thoughts: So, we are back at Tucker Springs for It's Complicated and this time with Brad and Jeff (I think they were introduced in the previous book, but I don't know because I haven't read that). And I have to stay that for the most part I liked this story.

It was fun to explore all the things that could keep a couple a part when love wasn't the issue, Brad and Jeff love each other very much, but it's the rest of their baggage and responsibilities that keep them apart, particularly on Jeff's side since he's a workaholic who can't say no to his business; and Jeff just bottles up his feelings about it until they blow up. 

That being said, it was a very uneven story. I mostly liked Brad and I was team Brad most of the way through because he really tries to be okay with the whole thing; but Jeff was quite jerky sometimes and Christine went between playing the victim to being kind of bitchy, and flipping back and forth all the time. She makes some very unilateral decisions and Jeff is swept up in them. 

And by the end it seems like everything just comes together haphazardly with Jeff making choices he should have done a long time ago but that for some reason he just... didn't?

All in all, I do enjoy these books, but the plot of this one was a bit, well, not thin exactly but not as well develop as this hot-pot of melodrama could have allowed. 

Book Blitz: The Captive by Grace Burrowes

Hello everyone!! 

So today is the release day of Grace's Burrowes The Captive and I'm part of the Blitz for it's release. So today I bring you an excerpt of the book and a cool giveaway! 

I do like this cover!

Summary

Captured and tortured by the French, Christian Severn, Duke of Mercia, survives by vowing to take revenge on his tormentors. Before the duke can pursue his version of justice, Gillian, Countess of Greendale, reminds him that his small daughter has suffered much in his absence, and needs her papa desperately.

Gilly endured her difficult marriage by avoiding confrontation and keeping peace at any cost. Christian's devotion to his daughter and his kindness toward Gilly give her hope that she could enjoy a future with him, for surely he of all men shares her loathing for violence in any form. Little does Gilly know, the battle for Christian's heart is only beginning.

Excerpt

The countess brought Christian’s hand up, holding the back of it against the extraordinary softness of her cheek. Until he’d taken liberties with her in the library, he’d forgotten how wonderfully, startlingly soft a woman’s cheek could be. As soft as sunshine and summer rain, as soft as the quiet of the English countryside.

“Shall we sit?” he asked, though she’d likely release his hand if they sat. He was a widower, though, and she ought not to begrudge him simple human contact when he’d been so recently bereaved.

She let him lead her to a shaded bench near the roses, the morning air faintly redolent of their perfume. When Christian seated her, the countess kept his damaged hand in hers.

“I was not allowed to garden at Greendale,” she said, fingers drifting over his knuckles. “The estate had gardens, because his lordship would not be seen to neglect his acres, but I was forbidden to walk them, or to dig about in the good English soil, or to consult with the gardeners regarding the designs and plantings.”

Based on the studied casualness of her tone, this prohibition had been irksome.

“You are free to garden here all you like,” Christian said. “I ask only that you not disturb my mother’s roses.”

“They are lovely.”

“She was lovely.”

Another silence, while Christian became aware of his surroundings beyond the small hand holding his. The roses were in their early summer glory, and why Polite Society insisted on staying in Town through most of June was incomprehensible, when the alternative was the English countryside. The sunshine was a perfectly weighted beneficence on his cheek, the scent of the gardens heavenly, and the entire morning aurally gilded with the fluting chorus of songbirds.

He wanted to kiss the lady beside him again, not in thanks, not as a good-night benediction, but for the sheer pleasure of the undertaking.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Buy Links

Amazon - http://amzn.to/1i9Rbhv 

Barnes & Noble - http://bit.ly/1f76x6K 

iTunes - http://bit.ly/1gRGnQA

Author Biography

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Grace Burrowes' bestsellers include The Heir, The Soldier, Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal, Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish and Lady Eve's Indiscretion. Her Regency romances have received extensive praise, including starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Grace is branching out into short stories and Scotland-set Victorian romance with Sourcebooks. She is a practicing family law attorney and lives in rural Maryland.

Social Media Links

Website: http://graceburrowes.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Grace-Burrowes/115039058572197 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GraceBurrowes 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4152482.Grace_Burrowes