Naughty Stranger – Stacey Kennedy

Author: Stacey Kennedy
Series: Dangerous Love #1
Release day:  June 11th 2019
Pages: 384

After a sudden tragedy blew her world apart, Peyton Kerr fled her big city career and started over in Stoney Creek, Maine. So far, she’s loving small-town life–no one knows about her past, and her easy flirtation with Boone Knight gives her a reason to smile. But then someone is murdered in Peyton’s store, and her quiet, anonymous existence is instantly destroyed. To make matters worse, Boone–a police detective–is assigned to the case, and Peyton knows she can’t keep him at arm’s length any longer. She’s resisted the simmering heat between them–but now this gorgeous man is promising to keep her safe–and satisfied…

Boone Knight doesn’t want the complications of a relationship. But when he volunteers to protect his town’s newest–and sexiest–resident, he finally admits he’d like to explore their sizzling attraction. And after one incredible night, everything changes for Boone. Peyton is sweeter–and braver–than anyone he’s ever met, and with her in his arms, everything makes sense. He just needs to convince her to trust him enough to reveal her secrets, or risk losing her to a merciless killer who seems to grow bolder with each passing day.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book has been hard to rate. On one hand, it has been a nice surprise that the mystery part is an important part of the story. On the other hand… when there is not someone bleeding, the book gets boring pretty fast. At the end, it feels like a nice first step for a saga, but it could have been handle better.

Through the pages of the book we meet Peyton, a young widow who is desperate to have a fresh start and regain some kind of happiness. In order to achive that, she drops her job as a nurse and goes to live to a small town to be the owner of a lingerie shop. There (in the town, not in the shop) she meets Boone, the hot detective. To add some spice to a pretty basic plot, a murder takes place in Peyton’s new shop…

In my opinion, the best part of the book is the mystery surrounding the murder and its link with Peyton. Those parts are the most enjoyable and the ones that add a good pace to the story. They are fast, well-timed and packed with different levels of action. It is a big surprised, actually. Reading the blurb, I thought the murder was going to be something in the background barely touched, but its presence is much more meatier than that. I really like that and I hope the next books follow the same pattern. Being said that, the mystery is also pretty simple and way easy to solve. Not only the who, also the why. The author drops too many clues to the reader and few suspects, so it is easy to add 2 plus 2. It is actually a bit weird that four detectives and Peyton were incapable of solving it sooner…

Too bad the nice mystery plot is paired with a truly unremarkable romance. Why on the name of all that is holy did they have to kiss in the prologue? Yes, the prologue!! Something like that pisses me off so badly. I felt robbed of everything good of the first steps of a blossoming romance. Where are the banter, the flirting, the playfulness and the eagerness to meet each other before going all in? They kiss, they ignore each other, then talk again and… sex. With one rule: nothing serious. But, somehow, by the end of the book, that rule is ignored and we, the readers, are punished with one of the most absurd and unrealistic proposals I have ever read. Zero sense. It is starting to sicken me the concept of a wedding as the only possible happily ever after. At the same time I was reading that, my mind was writing its own What if? where Peyton was revealed as the true murderer to make the last pages bearable.

If to a bad romance you add uncharismatic characters you obtain a bunch of really boring pages that made me wish for another murder to stoke my interest in the story. Fair is fair. The characters work just fine, but they are a bit simple. There is barely any sense of humour or talks about simple things. All conversations are heavy weights for the soul and it is tiring. Not even when the hunky cops are united the atmosphere gets lighter. They are too serious for their age. So, I didn’t enjoy the love/sex scenes with the main couple. I can’t believe in their relationship. I challenge them to tell me just one hobby of the other one. Their favourite food, or colour, or book or something other than the tragedies of their lives. They DO NOT know each other. I can’t buy their love, sorry.

When my interest in the romance is low, I tend to get annoyed by other tiny details that have no importance, but it is how my mind cope with the boring parts. For example, it upsets me greatly the fact that in Maine is not mandatory to use helmet. The stupidity of that is not the author’s fault, but I was very surprised by the fact that Peyton doesn’t make any remarks about it. She was a ER nurse. She must have seen dozens of wounded bikers who saved their lives thanks to the helmet. And her first husband died in a car accident. I find pretty unbelievable that she is so nonchalant about the fact that Boone doesn’t use helmet while riding his bike. If she really cared…

I could point out more situations where I read too much into them due to my lack of interest for the romance. Like the slowest ambulances in the world to make the hero be the first or a sex scene in an abandoned greenhouse that was use by drug dealers… Very, very romantic… But that’s all on me.

Does the bad win over the good parts? I would say it has ended in a tie. I will read the second book and hope with all my might that the romance between Remy and Asher is better.

2019 – Book Gallery

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Unchained Desire – R.C. Alvarez

Author: R.C. Alvarez
Series: The Rapture #1
Release day:  May 27th 2019
Pages: 400

Chained to a demon queen for hundreds of years, fallen angel Ramiel has given up on his brothers and sisters––and humanity. He has seven days away from hell to replenish his power and that’s all he cares about––right up until his meeting with the much too innocent Kyria. He fell for that act before and it landed him in hell, he won’t be making that mistake again.

To save her sick father, Kyria knows she must find Ramiel. He’s dark, brooding and everything Kyria should be scared of, but the haunted look in his eyes makes her think there’s more to him. The tattoos and chains don’t frighten her either, but the connection she has with him does. When strange creatures attack her, Ramiel steps in to protect her.

Ramiel believes he’s reluctantly helping Kyria, but what neither of them knows is that she may be the one to save them all…

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Balance is important in many aspects of our lives. It is also crucial for books. In a Paranormal Romance novel there must be a good balance between the story, the characters development, the action, the romance and the world building. The first book of The Rapture fails miserably at juggling all those aspects. But it shows promise…

In this story we follow Kyria, a young woman who is not aware of the paranormal creatures that surround her. She is even clueless about her own angelic blood running through her veins. When her father gets very sick, she goes looking for the second half of this duet: Ramiel. He is a fallen angel who has been captured by a demon and must do her bidding. Luckily, he can enjoy seven days of almost freedom now and then. Just enough time to meet a scared Kyria…

As I mentioned before, this book is pretty unbalanced. In this case, the scales favour much more heavily the world building part of the story. I really enjoyed all the facts that are dropped about the angels, the Nephilim, the demons… A huge bunch of details. They can’t be consider original, but they are all tied together pretty smoothly. I enjoyed the fact that these angels must drink blood. I wasn’t expecting vampires with angelic wings! It is not a long book, but the world that is offered could sustain dozen of different stories, so I will have to keep an eye on this author to see what comes next.

I honestly enjoyed all the world building and the nice setting, but I’m afraid the other aspects of the book had to be sacrificed in order to make room for it. We have the prettiest stage as a background for a really boring story. This book is mostly uneventful, with too much babbling that gets us nowhere. In many chapters of the book I had to fight back really hard in order not to fall asleep. The ending gets a bir more livelier, but by then the damage was done and I just wanted to get over it. Besides, the plot is rather obvious; but that wouldn’t have mattered if the pace were somehow good.

The characters are also pretty weak and lacking charisma everywhere. From the main couple, Ramiel is the most interesting. The bad boy fallen angel looked like he could be fun to read, but all the chances of banter are missed and what we get is a boring exchange that seems stuck in a loop. Maybe a tad less broody and a bit more playful would have made the character a lot better. His other half doesn’t help at all. Kyria is a mess as a character. She doesn’t make any sense. We just have to make believe with her. Even the way they meet is forced to a limit I hadn’t read in a very long time. Everyone knows that when your father blacks out, you shouldn’t call an ambulance or ask for help. Just run to the seediest club you know and look for what you think is a detective undercover during a mission… Standard procedure…

Even though the main couple is a nightmare, there are several supporting characters that are interesting and almost make up for them. Bishop would be, without any doubt, the best character of this book. I wish the same care would have been applied to Ramiel and Kyria. It seems obvious the crazy madman will be important during the whole saga. I think he is going to be the link between all the books. So I’m glad the character is so special and fun to read. Even though sometimes I didn’t understand a thing of what he was saying.

And if you are wondering if the romantic aspect of the book is worth mentioning, let me tell you that you would be better off skipping those parts. They are few, short and as boring as the couple that stars in them.

Overall, it is a good idea that has been carried out in a sloppy way. But the world building is good enough for me to check the next ones of this saga. So, let’s hope the author gets the balance better in future stories.

2019 – Book Gallery

Boy Toy – R.R. Banks

Author: R.R. Banks
Pages: 338

I have a secret…
I don’t want people to know me as Eleanor the billionaire.
Or Eleanor the crime boss’ ex-wife.
But Hunter’s crystal green eyes behind those glasses,
his hard body cut like diamonds,
makes me want to become Eleanor the cougar.
Purr… Hunter just became the hunted.
I will show him what a woman in her prime can really do.
But will my past and secrets catch up to me before I find my happiness?

I don’t usually like books with billionaries, because they tend to solve all they problems throwing money at them. And I don’t think I would like a Romance book were the characters are mobsters or part of a mafia family. So, the blurb of this book wasn’t really interesting. Then why I picked it? Damn cover…

In this book we follow Eleanor, the ex-wife of a crime boss who has sensible data about the criminal and her life is in danger. On the other hand we have Hunter, who is just a hunbky nerd who has to accept the role of the Knight in shinning armor. They have to scape danger from a boat and end stranded in a desserted island where they have more than enough time to get to know each other.

First of all I have to say I wasn’t expectiong at all what I have read in this book. The blurb is vague, very vague. It doesn’t represent the story at all. It fails to mention the characters are trapped on a deserted island, which is the body and soul of the whole book. Due to that, the action packed first chapters were a total and welcome surprised. I thought it was going to be a book with endless conversations about impossible relationships, but nothing like that at all. At least not at first. Once they are out of the island, the story gets boring pretty quickly. The last three or four chapters are a torture and I couldn’t wait to get rid of them…

My experience as a reader with this book is confusing. Sometimes, I had the feeling I wasn’t reading a standalone story. It felt like the ending of other book and I didn’t know what was going on. There are too much name dropping that doesn’t make any sense until the end, where the author explains there are several characters from a previous book. That wouldn’t have been the problem, except the story of those characters is almost as important as the story of the so-called main characters of Boy Toy. So, yeah. Sometimes I got lost. It doesn’t help that the story is told through the point of view of at least six characters. SIX!! Too many…

The main characters are not bad per se, but Eleanor and Hunter are totally underdeveloped. She at least has some kind of backstory, but Hunter is just a chunk of meat. His virginity (that is what it is…) could have been a nice plot element, but he must be a sex prodigy or something. It doesn’t make any sense how natural he seems pleasuring a woman when he has never done something like that. I would have never thought less of him for needing help traveling the woman body.

And then we have Gavin, the third person who get stranded on the island with them. Due to the fact that are several chapters from his point of view, I thought that I was in front of a love triangle or even a future threesome. I was kind of hopeful for that, because he is by far the most interesting character. But he is a just another piece of the story, one that is thorwn away once it has completed its task. I wonder if he will be used in another book or something. It would be a waste of a nice character otherwise.

As I said before, the ending is horrible. It’s not only too long, it also destroys the little faith I had in the romance between Eleanor and Hunter. You can’t just have a severe fight in one paragraph and a wedding in the next… It’s not right. And don’t make me start about the weird advice that makes Hunter change his mind about Eleanor. “You have to decide if the lie is more important than the person” or something like that. Edwin is way older than me and possibly wiser, but that is a huge pile of bullshit. If a person is lying about herself, how can you decide that? How can you choose the person when you know that you don’t really know that person? I think it was meant to be a pretty piece of wisdom, but in my opinion is openning the door to a long life of unhappiness.

Thankfully, most of the book is pretty entertaining with a nice couple of twists; so it’s a nice reading for a slow day.

2019 – Book Gallery

King Consort – J.R. Gray

Author: J.R. Gray
Pages: 279

Avoiding sleeping with women was my specialty, an art form even. As the future King of England I couldn’t be caught sleeping with men. My whole life played out in front of the paparazzi, and they didn’t miss a thing.

I had a carefully crafted womanizing persona to maintain. My life came with rules, all of which I broke when I couldn’t resist a one night stand with the enemy: A beautiful paparazzo with a heart of gold. He may be the only person who doesn’t want me for my title, and he can never be anything more than my secret.

But secrets have a way of coming out and not only will they scare him away, but they’ll lose me the crown.

I was away from Romance books (and books in general) for several years and when I came back (2018) romance novels with Royals had become a huge deal. One of the current trends for a genre liable to have new ones every single year. Back then stepbrothers were all the rage!! This is my first taste of this flavour of the hour and I must say it wasn’t tasty enough…

In this book we meet Prince Louis of Britain, a womanizer who is going to inherit the Crown sooner or later. His misadventures with multiple women are well recorded in the media, but the truth is he is not the kind of guy who goes through female after female to quench his thirst. Actually, he doesn’t like women at all, but his hmosexuality must be a well kept secret due to the out of date rules of the monarchy. On the other hand; we have Xavier, a paparazzi who is not comfortable at all in his own skin. The attraction among them is very strong, but the relationship seems doomed before starting. Will they be able to make it work?

I’m going to focus first on the good part: the characters. Well, not all of them, but most. Louis has been a nice surprised. He seemed pompous with a stick through his… uuuhm… noble back parts? You get my meaning ;). But in reallity he is a really good guy who wants to make right to everyone surrounded him, especially his sister. The struggle of the Prince is the best part of the book and it makes the reader fall in love with the character quite easily. The guy has to deal with his secret, his troublemaker of a sister and the weight of the Crown. It’s a wonder he is able to keep a good humor most of the time.

With such a co-star, Xavier falls in the short side. It’s not a bad character, per se; but his constant insecurity bores me a little too much. I guess it can’t be easy to handle with the special life of Louis, but Xavier has too many demons that make him blind to what he has in front of him. It’s not all bad, though. His sense of honor and morals is remarkable in a profession that usually works in simple terms of prey and hunter. So, kudos for him!!

Too bad the rather good character are paired with a boring story that goes in circles over and over again and doesn’t even end. Yes, we knew since the beginning the difficult situation for their relationship. That’s chaprter 1. By charpetr 10 I expected the plot to have gone forward, but it was totally stuck. My hope gets renew when they travel to London, but it’s totally crushed with the most unemotional and sloppy ending I have read in a long time. The way everything ends makes me believe that the realtionship has no real future, just wishful thinking…

I can’t finish the review without mentioning the real star of the book and the main reason this book has got one more point in its mark than what it deserves: Doug. The bodyguards steals all the scenes when he has an appearance. His brotherly relationship with Louis and his peculiar way of dealing with Xavier bring always a simle to my face.

2018 – Book Gallery

Bad Boy Biker – Scott Wylder

Author: Scott Wylder
Pages: 46

Working in a small diner in the town of Rock Face, Jess meets a remarkably sexy, confident biker, who happens also to be rich. Owning his own brewery in Texas, Cole Everson has come to Rock Face, Tennessee to find out more about the places his artist mother talked about and loved so much. She had grown up in Rock Face, surrounded by mountains, and always longed for the mountains after moving to Texas. She had painted several places and Cole used these paintings as his guide when he arrived in the small town. He wants to put these places in a book to memorialize them after his mother’s death.

Cole successfully recruits Jess to help him find some of the local places his mother spoke of all those years. This meant being alone with the sexy biker and fighting her own urges.

However, what happens in the shadow of the mountain, isolated from the world, stays in the shadow of that mountain. Or does it?

Sometimes picking a random Amazon free book from my huge stash makes me smile and other times… the opposite. With Bad Boy Biker I’m deep in the mud of the later scenario. The worst and best part of this book is exactly the same: its short length.

In this book we meet Jess, a waitress of a small diner in a town called Rock Face. She has some money issues, but her boss is pretty cool and help her however she can. We also meet Cole, son of a successful businessman and an adventurer looking for some local guide…

Obviously, two plus two equals four, so Jess is the main and only candidate of getting the partial job of being Cole’s guide. They go to a hike, they kiss, there are some sexy moment behind the scenes and… wait for it… THE END!! Forty pafges of absolutely nothing at all. I think this the most boring short story I have ever read. Ther is no sense of humor. There is no good romance. There is no hot sex. The characters are pretty basic and lack spark… I can’t find anything positive.

I don’t have anything else to say. The book ends when it should start, but it so bad that I’m glad it is short. Reading free books is a risky business. But. hey, they are free!! So, no harm…

2018 – Book Gallery

Allegiant – Veronica Roth

Author: Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent #3
Pages: 544

The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered – fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she’s known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories.

But Tris’s new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningliess. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend to complexities of human nature – and of herself – while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love.

Finally!! I have finished this trilogy I started so long ago. I must be honest: it has been quite disappointing. I like reading dystopian young adult books, but there are a lot of better books than these ones in that field. A shame, because the worldbuilding is actually nice, but the author wraps it with an emotionless story and boring characters…

After the second book, the factionless people led by Tobias’ mother are in control of the city and the factions are no more. But now they know there is someone else beyond their walls and Tris’ and company decide to take their chances outside the city to discover what the hell is going on. The Allegiant is a group of rebels against the factionless that want to mantain the factions. That group helps the main characters to leave so they can purchase their new quest.

And what a quest!! The author has left for the end a lot of new and juicy data. A LOT! It seems a totally different world with new governments, new factions, new politics… new everything!! So exciting! I was like a kid with new shoes the first chapters, waiting for the new revelations to mash with the old ones and start a massive conflict that would make me forget why I didn’t like the previous books. 500 pages later I’m still waiting… Why does the author create such a massive new input if it’s barely used? And worst of all: she forgets almost completely about the original city… the place where the action took place in the other books. It feels like she is starting something new with zero interest of finishing the story that came before. The result is a book I’m eager to forget.

And the lack of good characters in the spotlight is also very present in the third book. This time the story is told from the point of view of Tris and Tobias (I think the other books were only Tris’ point of view, but I could be wrong). Those two unnerve me every single page… The most uncharamistic characters I’ve met in a very long time. Their relationship is a pain to read… Always with the trust issues and the yelling… I’m glad the end makes it pretty clear that they won’t be together, because the couple was very unhealthy. I dind’t want to tell this spoiler, but taking into account is the only thing I have liked about it I won’t resist: Tris dies!! That’s the best part of the book. We even get to enjoy a bunch of chapters without this annoying character!! That’s why the book has got a second star.

Maybe it’s cruel, but this trilogy has really pissed me off with the character treatment. The author has zero respect for most of the supporting characters of the saga who are much more interesting than the main couple. It seems everything has to be Tris and Tobias. The rest can go to Hell… So yeah, I didn’t drop a single tear when Tris died. Actually, I was even relieved. I must admit I was extra angry due to Uriah’s situation. My favourite character once again poorly used in the story. Removed from the board in such an absurd way… If I keep thinking about it I will start fuming again.

The book is too focused in Tris’ mother real past. It’s really weird that the characters from the compoung ignore Caleb so bluntly. He is also her son… But it’s Caleb, so making no sense around him is nothing new… I still don’t understand what Veronica was trying to do with him. The absurd change in the second book remains unexplained through this one. I think the goal is to make us hate him, but in my case is just the opposite. Caleb is just a victim of mediocre storytelling.

So, nothing to save here. It’s an end that doesn’t feel like an end. So much wasted potential… If the author didn’t try so hard to sell us Tris as the hero of the tale, maybe she could have spent more time building a better story and doing justice to the huge cast of characters. I have another book titled Four, but I think it is a precuel. Too bad. I would have liked to take peek to the future of these guys, because it doesn’t look very promising. I’ll read it anyway. Not anytime soon, though. I need to chill first and try to forget the parts of this book that make my blood boil.

2018 – Book Gallery

Isola Di Fiore – Lou Watton

Author: Lou Watton
Series: Under the Uniform #4
Pages: 160

Francesco Di Fiore is a handsome bellboy at a luxury Venetian Hotel. On an average day you can find him in a dashing burgundy uniform with sleek golden streaks. He is popular with guests of both sexes, who spoil him with lavish gifts. He is at ease with his colleagues, many of whom he has also got to know well. He loves his job and rarely leaves his hotel. His hotel is his cocoon that protects him from the elements outside. No wonder he feels no urge to venture out.

One night his life takes an unexpected turn and all because he decides to take time off and taste the world outside. He goes on a date, has a good time and finds himself too drunk to notice that his date has wandered off. When he sobers up, he is walking alone through the dark streets of Venice. He stops to watch passing gondolas, but sees something very different. He watches a man tightening a noose about his neck by a bridge down the canal. Francesco dashes through the labyrinth of narrow streets to get to the man just in time to save him. They fall down in each other arms on the cold stones by the canal. When Francesco opens his eyes, he realises that the turmoil in his life is not going to end here.

The stranger in Francesco’s arms is every bit as attractive as he is vulnerable. Francesco senses trouble. His protected life in a five star paradise is about to come to an end. He brings the stranger to his tiny loft room at the top floor of the hotel. The stranger’s name is Ralf and he is a full time artist and a makeshift poet. Francesco hears a story of a desperate heartbreak and feels unable to show his guest the door. They fall asleep together in his single bed. This is how their turbulent relationship begins.

Ralf settles in Francesco’s room and Francesco provides both the roof over his head and counselling. Soon neither of them can say whether Francesco’s sensitive care is the kindness of a stranger or the affection of a kindred spirit. They begin a passionate affair against the backdrop of the great city. They lose themselves in the web of narrow streets and snaking canals, caught in the whirl of their frenzied emotions. They divide their time between the splendour of Venetian palaces and a farmer’s hut on a rural island in the Venetian lagoon. Will Francesco’s lifestyle and temptations of high life destroy their volatile arrangement, or will Francesco Di Fiore once again rescue his troubled poet and whisk him away to a rustic paradise, where they could belong only to each other?

Have you been able to read the blurb? What a huge chunk of nothingness… OK. I have the mean mode ON. First of all, I have to say that I hate reading a book and then learning it was the fourth part of a book series. Granted is a saga of standalones that doesn’t share characters or universe, but yet… I consider myself a tidy reader. Always following the numbers forwards. It’s not a big deal, but I would have read the first one if I knew about it.

This book follows the story of Francesco, a bellboy in a luxury hotel. One day, he was walking after work and found a guy that was trying to commit suicide. That guy was Ralf, an artist going through a bad time after a break-up with his boyfriend. Francesco saved his life and took him to his room to take care of him. Quickly, that act of goodness turns into romance…

What did I like of this book? Maybe that it’s a very short one, so the torture doesn’t last long (even though feels like it). Everything else is meant to be forgotten as fast as possible. The book is bad. As simple as that. Francesco and Ralf are some of the most uncharismatic characters I have ever met and the story is SO boring. For a moment there I thought I was going to give up. I gave it a chance, but it doesn’t deserve it.

I don’t understand the behaviour of any of the characters. Francesco treats Ralf as a lost puppy with half the brain. He seems very concerned about his well-being and wants to be with him, but somehow he manages to ignore him and flirt with everyone in the hotel. Take a pick, man!! You can’t have both behaviours! They are mutually esclusive!! And Ralf… I need some kind of user manual to understand that guy… I get he is sad, but his reasons to end his life are weak. He is totally a spoiled guy, who wants to spend lots of money he doesn’t have. He has crazy jelousy attacks and has a really mean manipulative drive.

The romance between a guy who behaves like an overprotective daddy and a guy that is dangerously addicted to attention is a joke. One of the worst couples I have ever read in my life. Utterly unbelievable and that is saying something in the Romance genre… It is supposed to be a HEA book, but I don’t think they are going to last. Even the sex is weird. Not bad, but… I don’t know. I skimmed over it, because I didn’t like how it was being described.

The narration style is also rather poor. It’s not fluid at all and for such a short book it gets stuck in some loops. Keeping focus on the story was so hard… My mind was constantly drifting to other things, avoiding the slow paced and boring book I was forcing into it. There is no emotion. No sense of humor. Nothing… The blurb is actually a nice mirror of the whole boook… A bunch of letters that gets you nowhere…

I know many people have liked this book. I guess it’s not for me. In the future I will check more books by Lou Watton to see if this is her style or it’s just this book. Not anytime soon, though.

2018 – Book Gallery