Day: September 6, 2013

What Are You Reading? (168)

Posted September 6, 2013 by Rowena in Features | 3 Comments

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Rowena: It’s been a pretty quiet week in reading for me.  I read Into the Deep by Samantha Young, which I really enjoyed.  It was surprising how much I enjoyed this book, considering I stayed pissed off at one of the main characters throughout most of the book.  Still, when all was said and done, I really liked the story.  After I finished that book, I read Brooklyn Girls by Gemma Burgess which was another good book but not one that I was absolutely over the moon over.  It was a solid story but it didn’t push all of my happy buttons.

I also read Undertow by Leigh T. Moore, the second book in her Dragonfly series.  I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed the first book but it was a good one.  I’m glad that I read it and it’s got me all excited for the next series.  I wanted more Julian!  And in the next book, Jack is back? Yay, bring on the drama!

I finished reading Come Back to Me by Coleen Patrick last night and already started on Facade by Nyrae Dawn.  So far, so good.

Holly: I’ve been reading Tammara Webber’s Between the Lines series. I’m currently on book four, Here Without You. Of the four, so far the third, Good for You, is my favorite. I’m enjoying this one, too, but the heroine is starting to drive me crazy.

I also read Out of His League by Cathryn Parry, a Harlequin SuperRomance, this week. It was pretty good. A bit darker and more emotionally involved than I expected.

What are you reading this week?


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Review: Blue By You by Rachel Gibson

Posted September 6, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

They say you never forget your first time, but there’s nothing Blue Butler and Kasper Pennington would rather forget than their brief but fiery teenage love affair. Yeah, it was hot while it lasted, but then he went off to join the Marines, leaving Blue in New Orleans. She’s tried to block him from her mind for good, but nothing can really erase the feeling she had when she was with him.

And now he’s got the nerve to return—leaner, meaner, and strong enough to pull her into his arms and kiss her senseless. Blue’s a successful businesswoman now, with no time to figure out what went wrong all those years ago. But Kasper knows she’s the one woman for him … and now he’s got to prove it to her all over again. 

Blue Butler loves her heritage. She’s taken many years and much money to restore her family’s Louisiana mansion and loves her life. She was married but is now divorced but has a 15 year old son who, during this story, is at his father’s place for the summer. 
Blue was hurt in love way back when she was 18 years old but her neighbor Kasper Pennington. They met at a street bbq and fell for each other almost immediately. The problem with that was that their families had been enemies for hundreds of years. Blue knew that getting together with Kasper was wrong and talked herself out of spending more time with him. That was until the next day when he continued to pursue her and she couldn’t hold herself back. Blue didn’t see Kasper again after that day.
Now Kasper is home and restoring his own families mansion. The couple reunites but can the attraction and the emotions from 22 years earlier be reignited or will they go their separate ways?

This is a sweet novella of two people who are reunited after a very long time. The attraction hasn’t died over the years but neither has the rivalry between their families. I loved that there was angst other than that which the two created but that some of it was from their family rivalry. It added an element that made their being together a bit on the forbidden side and that was exciting. Though the family rivalry has diminished over the years it was still there.

Kasper and Blue were lovely together. The flashback to when they meet and get together was just so adorable. Just two older teens (actually I think Kasper was 21) who met and got along wonderfully. I thought it was a nice set up to current times. I do wish that the relationship in current times could have been fleshed out a bit more as it happened quickly but I guess I can’t have everything, right? lol
This is a standalone novella and one that I really enjoyed. It’s one that is short but is worth reading.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Rachel Gibson


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Guest Review: The Switched Baby Scandal by Theresa Meyers

Posted September 6, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: The Switched Baby Scandal by Theresa MeyersReviewer: Tracy
The Switched Baby Scandal by Theresa Meyers
Series: Scandals of San Sebastian #1
Publisher: Entangled Bliss
Publication Date: June 10, 2013
Format: eARC
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
three-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

 

His child. Her daughter. One monumental mix-up.

Single mom Taylor Lawrence just discovered that the hospital sent her home with the wrong infant five years ago. Now the headstrong and handsome biological father wants his child back. But Emily has always been her daughter, and Taylor won’t give her up without a fight.

Widower Reece Wallace believed his life was over when a drunk driver killed his wife and daughter. So when he learns of the baby switch, he sees this child as his ultimate salvation. But he never anticipated the fiery woman on the other side of this custody battle—or how she’d stir feelings in him long dormant.

As the media storm surrounding the hospital’s mistake intensifies, Taylor and Reece find there’s more to sort out than custody of Emily—they must work together to protect her while grappling with their growing attraction. Can they pick up the pieces of two broken families and meld them into something new?

Taylor Lawrence’s fiance left her the minute he found out she was pregnant. She finally is bold enough to fight him for child support but she needs DNA proof for the courts. What she finds blows her mind. Not only is her fiance not the father of her 4 year old, Emily, but she’s not the mother! WTF?

She takes up the issue with the hospital and what she finds is that her daughter was switched at birth with another child.

Reece Wallace is the father of the other child, Alyssa. The problem is is that Alyssa was killed in a car accident along with his wife over a year earlier. While he’s devastated by the loss of his family, he sees this as a way to finally keep his promise to his dying wife, that he would take care of their child. He seeks joint custody of Emily but Taylor isn’t willing to give up her child – because Emily IS hers whether she carried her in her womb or not.

Eventually Reece and Taylor work together to try and take care of Emily including having Emily and Taylor move into Reece’s gated home when the press gets wind of the whole story. Both Taylor and Reece feel an amazing attraction to each other but Taylor is afraid of once again having a man take her life over and Reece still has survivors guilt and is afraid of “cheating” on his dead wife.

I have to admit I can’t possibly imagine how it would be to find out that the child that you’ve raised for years isn’t yours. It certainly wouldn’t make me love that child less but it would be frightening to think of the other family and the ramifications of that switch. I think that Taylor and Reece handled things the best that they could and truly thought first about Emily and her feelings about the situation.

Now Reece was terribly torn about how he was feeling about both Emily and Taylor. I can see that it was difficult for him as he had such guilt about feeling attraction for Taylor when he should not be having feelings for her so soon after his wife had died. Granted he’d never had a great love for his wife, they were friends who got married because they’d gotten pregnant. I thought this was handled well but yet dragged on a bit for my liking.

Taylor was understandably cautious with Reece at times but then threw herself out there at other times and if she got shot down she really took it hard. I’m not sure why this bothered me so much. I guess I thought she should have known that Reece was in a tough spot, but yet she chose to ignore that. IDK, I guess I just never really warmed up to Taylor and her actions seemed over the top to me.

In the end I liked the premise of the story and felt for the characters who were in the situation, but I didn’t necessarily care for the way the story was laid out.

Rating: 3 out of 5

three-stars


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