Tag: Abbi Glines

Review: Until Friday Night by Abbi Glines

Posted August 28, 2015 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: Until Friday Night by Abbi GlinesReviewer: Rowena
Until Friday Night by Abbi Glines
Series: Field Party #1

Publication Date: August 25th 2015
Genres: Young Adult
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

The first novel in a brand-new series—from New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Abbi Glines—about a small Southern town filled with cute boys in pickup trucks, Friday night football games, and crazy parties that stir up some major drama.

To everyone who knows him, West Ashby has always been that guy: the cocky, popular, way-too-handsome-for-his-own-good football god who led Lawton High to the state championships. But while West may be Big Man on Campus on the outside, on the inside he’s battling the grief that comes with watching his father slowly die of cancer.

Two years ago, Maggie Carleton’s life fell apart when her father murdered her mother. And after she told the police what happened, she stopped speaking and hasn’t spoken since. Even the move to Lawton, Alabama, couldn’t draw Maggie back out. So she stayed quiet, keeping her sorrow and her fractured heart hidden away.

As West’s pain becomes too much to handle, he knows he needs to talk to someone about his father—so in the dark shadows of a post-game party, he opens up to the one girl who he knows won’t tell anyone else.

West expected that talking about his dad would bring some relief, or at least a flood of emotions he couldn’t control. But he never expected the quiet new girl to reply, to reveal a pain even deeper than his own—or for them to form a connection so strong that he couldn’t ever let her go…

Abbi Glines writes the kinds of books that drive me crazy. Her love interests start off as complete pricks but if you can get past their punk ass attitudes and shitty behavior in the beginning, they really turn their shit around. That was the case with West Ashby.

Maggie Carleton doesn’t talk. She hasn’t said a word in years, communicating through pen and paper. She hasn’t talked since her father was put away for killing her mother. A murder she witnessed. As you can guess, that whole situation has traumatized her and she survives by not speaking. She doesn’t want to talk about that night, she just wants to move on and she doesn’t want to become a burden to anyone so she keeps to herself. When she moves in with her Uncle and his family, she knows that her cousin (who is the same age as her) isn’t going to like having her tag along everywhere he goes. He’s a total dickhead to her when she first comes around and Brady (that’s his name) really got on my nerves throughout a whole lot of this book. He warns his friends off of his cousin but mostly because she’s “not right in the head” as he tells them. There were so many freaking times when I wanted to punch Brady’s lights out.

West wasn’t safe from my rage too. When we first meet him, he’s a complete asshole and his father having cancer and him being scared about all of that didn’t excuse his behavior for me. Oh hell no. I’m not even sure why I continued reading this book but more than anything, I was curious. I was curious to see when and how and why Maggie would start talking again and I wanted to see how far Logan would grow on me.

Abbi Glines did a great job of turning things around because I was invested from beginning to end…even when I was pissed to high heaven at West for being such a complete jerk. Brady too.

I liked that despite not talking, Maggie is portrayed as strong. She’s a survivor and her story was one that pulled at my heart strings. I loved the connection she formed with West and I loved seeing her stand up for herself when things between her and West weren’t to her liking. I loved seeing West grow from the asshole jerk in the beginning to the guy he was in the end because he ended up being a real one.

There’s a lot of growing in this book and I’m glad that I finished it because this book made me mad, it made me sad and it made me laugh. All things that I love while reading a book. This is a book that stayed with me after I finished the book and I’m crossing my fingers that we’ll get more from this group of characters. I’m looking forward to seeing the other boys stories, especially Brady.

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Simon Pulse. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

four-stars

0 Comments

Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Review: Misbehaving by Abbi Glines

Posted June 25, 2014 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Rowena’s review of Misbehaving (Sea Breeze #6) by Abbi Glines.

An unexpected affair leads to mind-blowing harmony in this Sea Breeze novel from New York Times bestselling author Abbi Glines.

Jason is sick of living in his rock star brother’s shadow. So when he ships off to Sea Breeze, Alabama, he’s looking for a much deserved escape and a chance to blow off some envious steam. Falling for the local bad girl was definitely not the plan. But as the new duo enjoys some naughty fun in the Alabama sun, Jason learns that even though Jax is the musician in the family, he’s not the only brother who can rock someone’s world.

This is the sixth book in the Sea Breeze series by Abbi Glines and the second book that I’ve read in this series. I really need to get my ass in gear and read the other books because this book took me on a rocky journey that had me roaring pissed off one minute and then swooning in delight the next.  It’s one of those books that kept me engaged from beginning to end and I’m not at all mad that I read this one.

This story follows Jason and Jess to their happily for now. Jason is rock star Jax Stone’s younger brother and Jess is Rock’s cousin. Jax and Rock are characters from previous books as is both Jason and Jess. Anyway, so Jason is in Sea Breeze, Alabama to try to figure some things out.  He’s been feeling restless and wants to figure some things out about his future so he goes to ground in Sea Breeze and while there, he runs into Jess. Jess just busted a Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood job on her cheating boyfriend’s truck and runs away when he comes out and Jason comes to her rescue.

Jess is one of those bad girls who is always down to do whatever, whenever but beneath the bad girl persona, there’s an insecure girl who just wants to be loved.  To be put first.  When Jason and Jess start hanging out, things start getting interesting. What I liked about this book was that it was not perfect. When Jason takes Jess to New York, I was excited for Jess.  I was excited for the both of them but then they get to Jason’s friend’s party and Jason turns into a complete jackass. I almost stopped reading the book so many times because either I was frustrated with Jess or I wanted to throat punch Jason but I’m really glad that I stuck with the book because I ended up really liking it.

I’m really enjoying the Sea Breeze series and this book is another great addition to it. The characters are solid and the story moved at a great pace.  It was easy to fall into the book. I cried, laughed and sighed my way through it all and I cannot wait for the next book.

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Simon Pulse. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

0 Comments

Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Review: Twisted Perfection by Abbi Glines

Posted June 11, 2014 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: Twisted Perfection by Abbi GlinesReviewer: Rowena
Twisted Perfection by Abbi Glines
Series: Rosemary Beach #3, Perfection #1

Publication Date: April 24th 2013
Genres: New Adult
Pages: 290
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
three-half-stars

Life outside of her house was a new experience for Della Sloane. The dark secrets of her past weren’t something she ever intended to share with anyone. They would never understand. No one would ever get close enough to find out. There was always a chance she’d go crazy sooner than they expected…

Woods Kerrington had never been one to be attracted to fragile females. They seemed like too much work. He wasn’t in it for the work just the pleasure. A night full of naughty fun had been exactly what was on his mind when he’d laid eyes on the hot little number that didn’t know how to pump gas and needed some help.

What he didn’t know was she was as fragile as they came.The carefree girl who spoke her mind and didn’t care what the world thought of her was more breakable than he could ever imagine…

This is the second book by Abbi Glines that I’ve read. I’ve heard about her books long before I finally opened one up and I was not expecting to hate the first book that I read. But I did. There are so many books by Glines that I was itching to read (still am too) so when my first go round with one of her books turned out so poorly, I was scared to start another one.

But then I picked this book up, seeing that the hero was actually a guy that I thought was okay in that one book that I liked and thought…I’m going to give her books another go.

And I’m glad I did.

This book is far from perfect but man was it compelling. We’ve got two characters that are from two completely different worlds and one of those characters is broken from past experiences and you’ve got one helluva story.

Della Sloane has lived with only her mother for company for as long as she can remember. Aside from her friendship from the nosy neighbor that turned out to be the best friend she’ll ever have, Della has been alone. She’s never been to school. She’s never gone to the movies. She’s never had friends so when she’s finally free from the constricting life that she led with her mother, she’s free to do whatever she wants to do.

So with her best friend’s (the nosy neighbor) car, she goes off in search of some adventures. Things are going swimmingly as she drives around, with no clear direction in mind, just driving until she needs to stop for gas and realizes that she has no clue how to pump gas into a car.

With the help of a sexy guy in an expensive car, Della wasn’t expecting to spend an explosive night with him…but she does. It was supposed to be a one night stand but when she finds herself back in his presence months later, things get really interesting.

Woods is almost engaged. He lives under his father’s thumb because he wants to be a part of the family business. Running the country club is something that he’s wanted for as long as he can remember and his dick of a father is dangling it in front of him but won’t let him take the reins without jumping through hurdle after hurdle after hurdle. Woods hates his life but has accepted that he’ll have to live without being happy in order to get what he really wants. The country club. But when Della storms back into his life and throwing it up in the air, he finds out that there are more important things that trying to earn the approval from the person that is never going to give it to him. There are things far more important that a country club.

And for him, it’s Della Sloane.

But Della’s got issues of her own. She’s got secrets that she doesn’t want to tell and memories that won’t leave her alone. And it’s a struggle for her to deal with them each and every single day but she does. Because it’s all she knows.

And the closer she gets with Woods, the more she realizes that true love really does exist.

These two characters are young and they make a lot of stupid mistakes that made me want to punch a wall but I kept reading because I couldn’t stop. It didn’t take me very long to finish this book but after I was done with it, I wanted more. I couldn’t wait for Simple Perfection to come out because I had to get my hands on it. Woods was a far better hero than Rush was and Della wasn’t the doormat that Blaire was so I enjoyed getting to know them.

I’m glad that I gave Abbi Glines another chance because I enjoyed this one and look forward to reading more books from her.

Grade: 3.75 out of 5

This book is available from Abbi Glines. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

three-half-stars

0 Comments

Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Review: Sometimes It Lasts by Abbi Glines

Posted March 19, 2014 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Sometimes It Lastst
Rowena’s review of Sometimes It Lasts (Sea Breeze #5) by Abbi Glines.

Cage York has to choose between a love of the game and a love of the girl in this sultry Sea Breeze novel from New York Times bestselling author Abbi Glines.

After waiting for his big break, bad boy Cage York is finally called up to prove his worth in the college baseball arena. But when Cage’s girlfriend, Eva, mourns the sudden loss of her father, it’s not Cage’s comforting arms she runs to, but those of her former fiancé’s twin brother, Jeremy.

Torn between his baseball dream and the girl of his dreams, Cage must prove he’s worthy of Eva’s love, or risk losing her to Jeremy forever.

I’ve been meaning to try this series out for a while now but I’ve been scared to pick up another Glines book because I disliked Fallen too Far so much.  But, I’m glad that I pushed through those fears and picked this one up because holy hot damn, I loved Cage.

This is the fifth book in the Sea Breeze series and throughout the series, Cage and Eva have been featured.  Cage is Low’s best friend and Cage was in love with her until she moved on to Marcus and he found Eva.  Eva’s first love died in Afghanistan and she’s in a better place now that she’s got Cage in her life. Their love is real and it’s strong and they can survive anything…except pictures and video of a drunk Cage in a compromising position. It’s when that goes down that things start to really pick up. The feels come out full stop.

Not having read the other books in this series (yet), I missed a lot of the history between Cage and Eva. I missed the falling in love bits but I didn’t think that my enjoyment of the book suffered any for it. I still, really liked getting to know both Cage and Eva and even Jeremy in this book. Was this a perfect read? Oh, no. But I didn’t care. I still ate it all up.

My main issues with this book are placed right at Eva’s feet. When the book starts, Cage and Eva are already in love. Eva is it for Cage and their love is strong and real and supposed to be able to withstand every and anything. But when Cage is brought up on those compromising texts and videos, Eva is hurt and rightly so but for someone who loved Cage so much and had so much faith in him, when she wouldn’t let him explain himself, I was annoyed. I think, if Cage was guilty, I would have felt differently but because I knew that he was innocent, I felt for him. Don’t get me wrong, I was annoyed with Cage too for not making Eva listen to his side of things. He should have fought for them but I forgave him much sooner than I forgave Eva because he was the one that began fighting for them again. Eva was going to move on from Cage without ever knowing the truth and that annoyed me.

And goodness was Cage sexy when he was in fight for his family mode. The way that he just bulldozed his way back into Eva’s house and told her how things were going to be, knowing Eva the way that he did and fighting for their love was just out of this world sexy.

The romance was steamy, the struggle was real and I ate everything up. I thought Glines did a great job of telling Cage and Eva’s story and she really put them through the ringer and by the time the book was done, there was not a doubt in my mind that they belonged together and that’s my favorite thing about reading romances. That happy ending to an emotional adventure, that confidence in the knowledge that these two characters have finally found their happy place with each other. It’s the best and I got that with this book so I’m glad I started reading Abbi Glines again.

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Simon Pulse. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

0 Comments

Tagged: , , , , , ,

Review: Simple Perfection by Abbi Glines

Posted February 26, 2014 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Simple Perfection
Rowena’s review of Simple Perfection (Perfection #2) by Abbi Glines.

Woods had his perfect life mapped out for him. Rise up the ranks of the family business. Marry the rich girl of his parents’ dreams. Pretend that wealth and privilege was all he’d ever wanted. Then a girl named Della breezed into town, a beautifully imperfect stranger who captured his heart and opened his eyes to a new kind of future. Woods is ready and willing to sacrifice everything for her when the sudden death of his father leaves him with his mother to care for and a business to manage.

Della is determined to be strong for Woods, even as she’s quietly falling to pieces. No matter how far from home she’s run, the ghosts of her past have never stopped haunting her. Struggling to hide her true feelings from Woods, Della fears she can’t be his rock without dragging him down into the darkness with her. But is she strong enough to let go of the last thing holding her together?

This story took me back to my reading of Fallen too Far…and I didn’t like this book anymore than I did that book. There’s a huge thing that happened in this book that pissed me off because I don’t feel that it was necessary at all to jump start yet another spin off from this series. Will I continue to read these books? Any of them, really?

Nope.

This book has guaranteed that I won’t pick up another book from this series or any of the spin offs. Sorry Grant. Sorry Tripp. I can’t willingly go into another one of these books without wanting to rip someone’s head off so I think it’s best to stay away from them.

I didn’t recognize Woods in this book. He was so suffocating and I hated that Della let him get away with coddling her the way that he did. The constantly wanting her by his side, just to sit around and do nothing all day so he can look at her or have sex with her in his office if he wanted to? Yeah, pukey. After that stopped pissing me off, other things started to piss me off so much that I kept having to put this one down until finally I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m just done.

Sea Breeze, you’re it for me. Don’t let me down.

Grade: 1 out of 5

This book is available from Atria Books. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

0 Comments

Tagged: , , , , , ,