Monthly Reads: March 2015

Posted April 9, 2015 by Rowena in Features, Giveaways | 41 Comments

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Rowena: My reading this year has slowed down considerably, compared to previous years. I’m reading what I want to read, when I want to read and I’m not settling for books that I’m not in the mood for. I’m completely happy with that. This month, I DNF’d a book and the world didn’t end. Yay.

On a personal note, I’ve been extremely busy with basketball. My daughter and niece’s basketball teams did so well in their seasons this year. Both of their teams (they play for different high schools) won League Champs, won CIF Championship rings and almost went all the way in State (got a lot further than anyone in school history, etc..). So I’ve been pretty stoked for my girls. Now that all of that is over, my world can relax and I can probably read more books (fingers crossed).

Here’s what I read this month:

1. The Deal by Elle Kennedy | 5 out of 5
2. Falling from the Sky (Gravity #2) by Sarina Bowen | 4.25 out of 5
3. Rebound (Boomerang #2) by Noelle August | 2.75 out of 5
4. Inspire (Muse #1) by Cora Carmack | DNF
5. Coming in From the Cold (Gravity #1) by Sarina Bowen | 4 out of 5
6. Shooting for the Stars (Gravity #3) by Sarina Bowen | 3.25 out of 5
7. One of the Guys by Lisa Aldin | 4 out of 5
8. Suddenly One Summer by Julie James | 4.25 out of 5

My favorite read of the month goes to The Deal by Elle Kennedy. It’s a book that was brought to my attention by Bookish Ames and I can’t thank her enough for the pimp because I LOVED THIS BOOK. Like, a lot. I loved Garrett’s arrogance, Hannah’s smarts and watching the two of them grow closer and closer as the story progressed. It was all around fantastic. I can’t WAIT for Logan’s book, The Mistake. Honorable mentions go to Suddenly One Summer by Julie James and the Gravity series by Sarina Bowen. All were fantastic reads and I know they’re going to do well. I had so much fun reading them.

My least favorite read of the month goes to Inspire by Cora Carmack. There wasn’t really anything wrong with the book but I kept putting it down because, I’m not even sure why. Nothing grabbed me? The attitude of the main character? Not sure but I wasn’t in the mood to keep fighting to finish the book so I finally just put it down about half way through.

Holly: I had a strange reading month. I read 16 books, but it felt like I was hardly reading. Of course, I read more than 30 books last year during the month of March, so comparatively speaking I guess I was hardly reading.

1. Falling from the Sky by Sarina Bowen 3.75|5
2. Fairtytale Come Alive by Kristen Ashley (reread) 3.5|5
3. Thane’s Redemption by Nina Crespo 3|5
4. Still the One by Jill Shalvis 4|5
5. Own the Wind by Kristen Ashley (re-read) 4|5
6. Easy by Tammara Webber (re-read) 4.25|5
7. The Year We Hid Away by Sarina Bowen (Re-read) 4.5|5
8. The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen (Re-read) 3.75|5
9. Heart of Obsidian by Nalini Singh (re-read) 4.75|5
10. Shield of Winter by Nalini Singh (re-read) 4.5|5
11. Soaring by Kristen Ashley 4|5
12. The Alpha Meets His Match by Georgette St. Clair 2|5
13. Waking the Beast by Lacey Thorn 2|5
14. The Deal by Elle Kennedy 4.5|5
15. Suddenly One Summer by Julie James 4.25|5
16. Shards of Hope by Nalini Singh 4.25|5

I actually read some really great books this month. Suddenly One Summer by Julie James was great and so was Shards of Hope by Nalini Singh (of course, Heart of Obsidian is still my favorite Psy/Changeling book, but don’t tell Aden I said that). The Deal by Elle Kennedy was fabulous. I absolutely loved the story. Still the One by Jill Shalvis was good, too.

My least favorite reads were The Alpha Meets His Match by Georgette St. Clair and Waking the Beast by Lacey Thorn. The St. Clair had an interesting premise, but it lacked in execution. It could have benefited from a good editor. The Thorn really needed to be longer. It felt half-told.

This month, we’re giving away:

suddenly one summer

The Deal by Elle Kennedy
Suddenly One Summer by Julie James

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you want to be entered to win, leave a comment on this post telling us what your favorite – and least favorite – reads of the month were. Also, be sure to tell us what book you’re interested in reading. You can put your name in for more than one book, but you’ll only be allowed to win one, so choose wisely.

So…what was your favorite read of the month? And your least favorite? Use the Rafflcopter Widget below to enter!


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41 responses to “Monthly Reads: March 2015

  1. I’m pretty anal retentive about some things, but I really don’t know how you guys manage to actually keep track of what you read–I don’t. I honestly can’t remember all the books I read during March other than what I reviewed in my blog. Of course, what I reviewed is but a tiny fraction of what I actually read (gah, I only posted three reviews the whole month?). Still, since I do know that I read Nalini Singh’s Rock Hard in early March, I’ll go with that. Love T-Rex

    • Girl, my spreadsheet is a thing of beauty. I keep track of everything on there. I also keep logs on my personal blog and on Goodreads. And I update all of them. I’m weird about these kinds of things. Ask Holly.

      I love T-Rex too. *swoon*

      • She isn’t lying. She has spreadsheets for her spreadsheets.

        I’m much too lazy for all that. I use Goodreads to log my reads. When I finish a book I tag it with the month, year and genre. That’s it. It takes me less than a minute.

        • I never got into GoodReads, and after it was sold to amazon…

          I admire you guys who actually remember to do this. Me, I grab a book and then the next and the next, and never think of log them anywhere.

  2. Jen

    @azteclady, ha I’m with you! I try to at least mark stuff I read on goodreads but I forget more often than I remember.

    Holly, I’m definitely interested to hear your thoughts on Still the One. I just didn’t buy into it fully and felt like it was missing something. Maybe my expectations are just too high though, because I’ve never been disappointed in a Shalvis books before!

    • I’m kind of scared to read Still the One and I believe it’s all Holly’s fault. She ended up liking it but there were things that bothered her while reading it and she kept emailing me to tell me about them. lol.

    • I liked Still the One more than I expected to since Darcy wasn’t an easy character in the previous book. But I had some struggles with it, too.

      You know what’s been driving me nuts about her books lately? How past characters show up in compromising situations – or just after a potentially compromising situation – each and every time. I love the slice-of-life updates we get from some authors, but why is that all past characters do is have sex… All the time.. Everywhere?

      • Jen

        Haha, I absolutely know what you mean! There’s a lot of blushing and winking. Shalvis seems particularly guilty of it, though she’s certainly not the only author to do that.

        I liked Darcy because she was a bit different than the average perfect heroine, but at the same time I didn’t feel like her physical limitations were explored as fully as they could have been. Sometimes her disability seems like a huge deal (often when it was convenient for the plot), and then other times it wasn’t (sex scenes, when she’s walking around in high heels, etc).

        I guess there were just a bunch of things that disappointed me about the book. I actually think I might list it as my least favorite Shalvis title, and I’ve read a huge chunk of her backlist at this point. That’s not to say that I hated it because I didn’t – I just was sort of “meh” about it overall. I think this feels like such an outlier to me because normally I like-to-love Shalvis.

  3. CelineB

    I think my favorite read of March Secrets of a Scandalous Heiress by Teresa Romain. Runner-ups would be Sweet Filthy Boy by Christina Lauren and Diary of an Accidental Wallflower by Jennifer McQuiston.

    My least favorite was probably In Your Wildest Scottish Dreams by Karen Ranney. It wasn’t bad, just meh, but I had a really good reading month.

    I’d love to win Suddenly One Summer. I love Julie James!

  4. erinf1

    My fav read of March and the year so far was Rock Hard by Nalini Singh. I read that book about 4 times over March. I had a terrible reading month and just couldn’t get into anything, so I would bring that book up on my kindle and dive back in 🙂 My least fav read was a novella, The Wolves Next Door by Catherine Vale. It was meh… I would love a chance to read Suddenly One Summer. I gave in and got The Deal and I’m hoping to read it soon.

    • Oh wow, I loved Rock Hard too but i’ve only read it twice. T-Rex and his Mouse were great. I loved their story. Let me know what you think about The Deal. I thought it was fantastic!

  5. Kareni

    My favorite read this month has been The Hook Up. I’ve also been enjoying some books by Charles Sheehan-Miles and re-reads by Sarina Bowen and Laura Kinsale.
    My least favorite … hmm … I have a few books that I’ve set aside for now, but I’ll probably pick them up again when I’m in the mood.

    I’d be delighted to win either book. I’ve heard raves about The Deal, and I own all of Julie James previous books.

  6. Mary Preston

    My favorite had to be WYRD SISTERS by Terry Pratchett – actually a re-read, but it beat the others by a mile.

    Least favorite had to be “Take What You Want” by Jeanette Grey – it was a DNF for me.

    “Suddenly One Summer”by Julie James caught my attention thank you.

  7. JenM

    Not counting rereads, it’s hard to pick a favorite this month as I had some really good reads – Falling From the Sky by Sarina Bowen, Third Degree by Julie Cross, Shifting Shadows by Patricia Briggs, and Bound By Flames by Jeaniene Frost, although I have to say that I was a bit surprised that it wasn’t Vlad and Laila’s final book. Not that more Vlad is ever a bad thing LOL! Least favorite was a free book that I picked up called Stealing Jake by Pam Hillman – I DNFed about 20% in as there was just nothing that grabbed me.

    I’m dying to read both The Deal and Suddenly One Summer. The Deal has gotten such raves, and Julie James is one of my favorites.

  8. lsureader

    I read 17 books in March, and enjoyed most of them. My favorite reads were Susan Mallery’s The Girls of Mischief Bay and Jill Shavis’ Still the One. My least favorite was One Step Too Far, by Tina Seskis. I am jealous that Rowena got to read Suddenly One Summer! If I win, I’d love a copy of that book. Thanks so much.

  9. Lav

    My favorite read of last month was I’ll Meet You There, by Heather Demetrios. Least favorite…I don’t have one! I can’t wait to read The Deal!

  10. Sue G.

    My favorite book was an ARC of Carly Phillips’ Dare to Hold. These Dare men just keep getting better. My least favorite would be Uniform Fetish box set by multiple authors.

    I would love to win The Deal by Elle Kennedy. Thanks.

    • I need to get back to that series. I read one of the Dare books and enjoyed it but never read any of the others. What’s wrong with me?

  11. bn100

    liked the shadows by JR Ward
    didn’t like Come Monday by Mari Carr

    Suddenly One Summer by Julie James

  12. Timitra

    So far fave of this month is The Slayer by Kele Moon, least fave Unrequited by Jen Frederick

  13. Rachel R

    Best read in April were the Brostol Island books by Elizabeth Finn. Gosh they were AWESOME. Best in March was The Deal by EK. NOT KIDDING!! That said, I would choose Julie James SOS.

  14. Kim

    My best read was It Started with a Scandal by Julie Anne Long. It set up Lyon’s book quite well. It was a good month reading-wise, so I didn’t have a disappointing read.

    I’m looking forward to Julie James’ book, but I’d like to go into the draw for either book.

  15. Emily B.

    My favorite book this month is Love After All by Jaci Burton, it was a wonderful addition to the Hope Series. This month I didn’t have a least favorite all of the books I read this month were great.

    I would love to win either of the books.

  16. Ada

    My absolute favorite of the month was Dark Witch by the fabulous Nora Roberts. She is such a great writer and I found the story very intense and enjoyable. Least favorite was Karen Ranney’s The Devil of Clan Sinclair. I find her stories are hit and miss for me and I just wasn’t into this story and didn’t find it entertaining so I ended up skimming through it.

    I’m super excited and really looking forward to Julie James’ Suddenly One Summer.

  17. Anita H.

    It was a slow month of reading for me, lots of family stuff happening so I didn’t read that many books. I would have to pick Suzanne Enoch’s Rules to Catch A Devilish Duke as my favorite read of the month, this is the third book of the series and I thoroughly enjoyed Sophie and Adam’s story. My pick for least favorite was Susan Mallery’s Only His. I was disappointed with this one from the Fool’s Gold series. I didn’t connect with the hero Tucker and heroine Nevada and the story felt disjointed. Plus a couple of the secondary characters (especially Nevada’s mom) were really annoying to me!

    Please enter me for Suddenly One Summer by Julie James, I love, love, love her books! 😀

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