Author: Renita Pizzitola

Guest Review: Addicted to You by Renita Pizzitola

Posted December 21, 2016 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Addicted to You by Renita PizzitolaReviewer: Tracy
Addicted to You by Renita Pizzitola
Series: Port Lucia #1
Publisher: Flirt
Publication Date: August 16th 2016
Genres: Contemporary Romance, New Adult
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three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

In the sleepy fishing town of Port Lucia, everyone knows everyone, but Isla Diaz really knows Colby Callahan, with his blue-gray eyes and the tousled brown hair always tucked sexily into his cap. After all, Isla has been crazy about Colby ever since she can remember—even if he treats her like a kid sister. Now, without her best friend, Felicity, around, Isla spots a golden opportunity to take things to the next level . . . or at least wrangle a kiss out of Colby.

By random chance, a tropical storm is headed toward the coast, leaving them stranded together overnight—and there’s nothing to do but drink. As the evening wears on, Isla gets the feeling that her not-so-secret crush may finally release her from the friend zone. With her dreams finally coming true, Isla isn’t about to pump the brakes, but is this just a one-time thing? What if the next morning, she needs more than Colby’s prepared to give?

Little does she know, Colby would like nothing more than a real relationship with Isla. She’s always been the one. But there’s a very good reason he’s been keeping his distance. Someone else loves her too, someone who also means the world to Colby: his brother.

Isla has been in love with her best friend Colby for 10 years. She would love to be more than friends but it just isn’t happening – that is until one night when they have both been drinking and end up in bed together.  Isla knows that Colby is going to regret it and can’t stand to experience that so she sneaks out of bed and heads home.

After that night the pair of them have some pretty awkward moments.  At times it feels to Isla that Colby is wanting more from their relationship but then he’ll back off and she’s more than confused.  Then he suggests that maybe she should be with his brother – also her friend – and she’s even more confused! But then, maybe she’s been so focused on Colby for so long that she hasn’t really looked at anyone else.  When Landon kisses her, however, she knows that Colby’s the only one for her – if only she can get him on board.

This was a cute story.  I liked both Isla and Colby a lot.  Of course we only saw Colby through Isla’s eyes so of course he looked awesome since she was in love with him. 🙂

While I liked the story I really wish that Colby and Isla could have spent more time together during the book as a couple.  Most of the book is them working through their issues – or avoiding them, whichever was happening at the time.  I guess I just wanted more Colby/Isla time and that was hard when Colby was trying to be unselfish and make other people happy.  IDK – it was good but I was frustrated with it somewhat.

Overall I liked the book and I’m looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

three-half-stars

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Guest Review: Just a Little Kiss by Renita Pizzitola

Posted August 21, 2015 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Just a Little Kiss by Renita PizzitolaReviewer: Tracy
Just a Little Kiss by Renita Pizzitola
Series: Crush series #3
Also in this series: Just a Little Crush
Publisher: Flirt
Publication Date: August 25, 2015
Genres: New Adult
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Like most of the residents of her dead-end beach town, Felicity Daniels doesn’t know what she wants from her future. Instead of college, she’s waiting tables at the local grille where she’s more likely to run into the guy who was the love of her life—until one decision changed everything. Now as this year’s tourist season kicks in to high gear, Felicity realizes that whatever she wants isn't going to be found here.

Mason Hayes is the quintessential Summer Boy: hot, impulsive, and born without strings attached. While in town helping with the family fishing charter, he plans to have a little fun—and hopefully get over a certain girl. He’s never had a long-term relationship, but when he meets Felicity, he wonders if he’s found the girl who could change that.

With her heart still in repair, Felicity’s happy to have a distraction like Mason, but her best friend thinks he could also be her ticket out of this town. What’s the harm in using him to escape more than just her boredom? After all, he is just a Summer Boy, and they never stick around. But after one kiss, Felicity wonders if only one summer with Mason will ever really be enough.

Tracy’s review of Just a Little Kiss (Crush #3) by Renita Pizzitola

Felicity is almost 20 years old but feels kind of like she’s at a standstill in her life. The problem is…she’s not sure how she would do things differently. She’s been waitressing at the same restaurant since her junior year in high school and her biggest adventure so far has been moving to her family’s houseboat to get away from the overcrowding in her parent’s home. She’s thought about going to college but doesn’t really know what she wants to do. She flirts with guys who come into her small town for the summer and calls them her Summer Boys.

Mason is spending his summer helping out his uncle and cousins on their charter fishing boat. He really has no idea what he’s doing but when his uncle had to have shoulder surgery he volunteered his time. He didn’t expect to meet a beautiful girl who lived just across the pier but once he met her he couldn’t stay away. Though it seems as though Felicity is holding back he can’t seem to stop thinking about her.

The pair start an affair that becomes much more emotionally involved than either of them thought it would. Mason is excited for the adventure and hopes that the relationship won’t end when summer does. Felicity only wants to think of Mason as a Summer Boy and is scared that her life is rolling out of control – she’s not sure how to handle that.

The third book of the series and we finally get Mason’s story. We met him in the first book where he was the heroine’s best friend and he believed himself in love with her. When he finally meets Felicity, however, he knows that what he felt for Brinley can’t even come close to what he feels for Felicity. I loved how he was all-in from the get go. He may not have been that old (19) but he wasn’t afraid to go after what he wanted – and that was Felicity. He took care of her without her actually being aware of it and he did it so sweetly that I had to admire him for his stealth. Lol

Felicity was someone who didn’t get emotionally involved with guys. She had been hurt in the past from a long term relationship and she was leery to go for it with any guy much less one that was only hanging around for the summer. Mason was different though and she knew that he was almost immediately. She held herself back from him as much as she could but in the end she knew it was pointless as she had fallen in love with him. In the story we find out eventually that she has an anxiety disorder, and yes, she was a bit of a worrier, but frankly I didn’t feel that she had gone too overboard with it. I kind of wish that aspect had been played up so that the self-diagnosis would have had more of an impact. Yes, she stressed about things but I thought those stresses were all pretty justified and not over the top.

For the most part the story was very sweet. There were a couple of misunderstandings that caused strife in the relationship but overall the romance was pretty smooth sailing. I liked that cuz sometimes I just need to sit down and read a nice romance without too much other stuff going on. This was been a fun series and I’m looking forward to more of it – and reading more from this author.

Rating: 4 out of 5

This title is available from Flirt. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This title was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

four-stars

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Guest Review: Just a Little Crush by Renita Pizzitola

Posted November 3, 2014 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Guest Review: Just a Little Crush by Renita PizzitolaReviewer: Tracy
Just a Little Crush by Renita Pizzitola
Series: Crush series #1
Also in this series: Just a Little Kiss

Publication Date: October 21st 2014
Genres: New Adult
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Good girls stay away from Ryder Briggs . . . or, at least, they try to.

Brinley Dawson doesn’t drink, she studies—and despite the accusations of her alcoholic mother, she’s still a virgin. But if Brinley’s life is so put together, why is she freaking out to be going to college with the gorgeous, green-eyed jerk she kissed on a stupid dare in high school? Ryder Briggs can have any girl he wants . . . and the rumors say that he does. So why, after publicly embarrassing Brinley four years ago, is he suddenly acting like he’s interested?

Ryder never forgot Brinley. In fact, those perfect seven minutes permanently raised the bar for what a kiss could be. The truth is, Ryder doesn’t dare get too close to anyone. He knows how that worked out for his parents. But when his roommate takes a shot at Brinley, Ryder can’t contain his jealousy. Now he must do the hardest thing he’s ever done: forget about sex and convince Brinley his feelings are real.

Brinley isn’t sure whether she believes Ryder, but for the first time, her body isn’t playing by the rules. Then she discovers that she’s an unwilling part of a cruel game, humiliating her all over again—and Ryder might be to blame. Has Brinley’s little crush turned into a huge mistake . . . or has she found the one guy worth trusting with her heart?

 

Tracy’s review of Just a Little Crush (Crush series #1) by Renita Pizzitola

When Brinley was a freshman in high school she attended a party with her friend Mason. The party participants started playing spin the bottle and it landed on her. She ended up in the bathroom with Ryder who was all kinds of hot. She wasn’t sure what she should do and Ryder was giving her different options when he finally just kissed her. The kiss was amazing – for both of them – but when Ryder started getting excited, as high school boys do, Brinley was mortified. She ended up running from the party and falling in the pool much to the delight of the snobby party-goers.

Now Brinley is in college and is attending a party with Mason – who became her best friend the night of that high school party. She’s trying to avoid a guy named Noah – who is the host of the party and is obviously after her – when she spots Ryder. She was aware that he attended the same college but as he was a year ahead of her and she hadn’t seen him around campus she felt she was safe from mortification (if he recognized her). Noah tries to subtly make a move on Brinley but she’s saved by, of all people, Ryder. When he shows up at her dorm the next morning she’s shocked (and secretly pleased) that he was nice enough to return the phone that she she’d lost at the party. As much as Brinley said that she hated Noah in high school she had just a little crush on him the entire time. Now he’s being nice and they start spending time together.

Ryder doesn’t honestly believe that he’s good enough for Brinley but he gets attached quickly. He has a lot of experience with girls but none have been like her. Brinley soaks up the attention that Ryder gives her. She has issues with her family and with Mason’s jealousy but she deals with it with Ryder’s help they get closer. That is, until she finds out, right after she sleeps with him, that there’s a website that is rating girls’ hotness and the guys gets points for getting laid with those girls – and both she and Ryder are on the website. Needless to say Brinley is crushed and thinks he’s an ass but all things are not what they seem.

This was a very cute book. I really enjoyed reading it and I liked Pizzitola’s style of writing. There wasn’t a huge mystery about what was going to happen and that made it a little predictable but I liked Brinley and Ryder so much I didn’t seem to care. The supporting characters –the fellow college students, Ryder’s sister and Brinley’s grandmother – were all great. I really got into the story and couldn’t quite manage to put it down until I was done.

That being said I did have one issue with the story and that’s the fact that it seemed to glamorize alcohol to an extent. Brinley’s mother was a fall-down-drunk alcoholic who blamed Brinley for everything – really just existing. At the beginning of the book I liked that Brinley didn’t drink all that much as it seemed to fit with her character and her experiences with her mother. As the book went on, however, her friends kind of forced it on her and she caved to the peer pressure. She ended up drinking more and more and I hated that. The Brinley I was reading about didn’t seem to be the kind of girl to give in to the pressure but yet she did. It made it seem like she could be happier and less uptight if she just drank alcohol. WHY? I kept expecting her to have that a-ha moment where she realizes having a beer is okay but having multiple shots and beer and getting disgustingly drunk isn’t. She never seemed to have that bad of a hangover either. Her friends seemed to suffer horribly but not her which was bizarre. Anyway – those portions of the book didn’t work for me at all. (Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with alcohol just the roll it played with Brinley in this book.)

Despite that drinking issue I really liked the book and I’m looking forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Rating: 4 out of 5

This title is available from Flirt/Random House. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

four-stars

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