Tag: Erin McCarthy

Review: The Breakup by Erin McCarthy

Posted September 26, 2018 by Rowena in Reviews | 3 Comments

Review: The Breakup by Erin McCarthyReviewer: Rowena
The Breakup (The Jordan Brothers #2) by Erin McCarthy
Series: The Jordan Brothers #2
Also in this series: The Hookup (The Jordan Brothers #1), The Hookup (The Jordan Brothers, #1), The Breakup
Publisher: Loveswept
Publication Date: August 28, 2018
Point-of-View: First
Genres: Contemporary Romance
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three-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

Can two wrongs feel oh-so-right? This bride is about to find out—with the bad boy who makes an epic breakup worth her while.

Bella: I know I’m a princess. I’m used to getting what I want. But all I ever really wanted was a husband and a family. Unlike my sister, Sophie, I’ll never have a brilliant career to fall back on. So what’s a bride to do when she learns that Prince Charming is a cheating snake just a few days before her fairy-tale wedding? With my fiancé begging for another chance, the only way to save the wedding is to even things out with a little revenge sex—and local bartender Christian Jordan seems like the right man for the job.

Christian: If gorgeous Bella Bigelow thinks sleeping with me will somehow lead to happily ever after, I’m not going to turn her down. The guy she wants to marry is a jerk, and her sister is fooling around with my estranged twin brother, Cain. So what’s the problem? Besides falling for a woman who doesn’t know what she wants out of life? All I want to do is whisk her away from that church, take her to a cabin in the woods, and act out all our naughtiest fantasies. And I may just get the chance. . . .

The Breakup is the second book in the Jordan Brothers series and it follows two characters from The Hookup that I just could not care about. The siblings of the characters from The Hookup. I really enjoyed the first book and wanted some closure where the rift between the two Jordan brothers were concerned so even though I wasn’t a huge fan of both Bella and Christian before, I still wanted to read this book.

When Bella discovers that her fiance is a lying scumbag, she can’t go through with the wedding but the dingbat waits until the last possible second to end things so Christian has to come and sweep her off to his family cabin to hide away for a few days. Christian and Bella have been circling each other, an attraction between them but nothing came of it because Bella was getting ready to marry Brad. When her situation changes, Christian jumps at his chance to prove to Bella that she’s not bad in bed (as Brad would have her believe).

Honestly, this whole book was kind of ridiculous. I was frustrated with Bella for most of the book because she’s kind of whiny and acts like a brat and I’m too old for that shit. I loved her sister’s personality in the first book, her wit and how strong Sophie was. Bella didn’t get the same kind of love from me that Sophie did. Sure, she’s strong and she really does come into her own but I didn’t completely shake my annoyance with her so my enjoyment of the book suffered because of it.

Christian kind of came off as a fuckboy in the beginning and in the end, he was a lot better but he wasn’t my favorite either. So, we finally find out the truth about what happened between him and Ali (his brother’s ex) and how the rift between him and Cain became a thing and while I was able to forgive him for that, he continued to piss me off. The way that he chose to handle things had me shaking my head and even when the end comes and everything is all happy go lucky again, I thought it happened too fast and I wasn’t completely satisfied. I almost DNF’d this one but even though this book pissed me off, it was still readable and I couldn’t give it up until the end. Still, grrrr.

Grade: 2.5 out of 5

Jordan Brothers

three-stars

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Guest Review: The Breakup by Erin McCarthy

Posted August 9, 2018 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Guest Review: The Breakup by Erin McCarthyReviewer: Tracy
The Breakup by Erin McCarthy
Series: The Jordan Brothers #2
Also in this series: The Hookup (The Jordan Brothers #1), The Hookup (The Jordan Brothers, #1), The Breakup (The Jordan Brothers #2)
Publisher: Loveswept
Publication Date: August 14th 2018
Format: eARC
Point-of-View: Alternating First Person
Genres: Contemporary Romance
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three-half-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

Can two wrongs feel oh-so-right? This bride is about to find out—with the bad boy who makes an epic breakup worth her while.

Bella: I know I’m a princess. I’m used to getting what I want. But all I ever really wanted was a husband and a family. Unlike my sister, Sophie, I’ll never have a brilliant career to fall back on. So what’s a bride to do when she learns that Prince Charming is a cheating snake just a few days before her fairy-tale wedding? With my fiancé begging for another chance, the only way to save the wedding is to even things out with a little revenge sex—and local bartender Christian Jordan seems like the right man for the job.

Christian: If gorgeous Bella Bigelow thinks sleeping with me will somehow lead to happily ever after, I’m not going to turn her down. The guy she wants to marry is a jerk, and her sister is fooling around with my estranged twin brother, Cain. So what’s the problem? Besides falling for a woman who doesn’t know what she wants out of life? All I want to do is whisk her away from that church, take her to a cabin in the woods, and act out all our naughtiest fantasies. And I may just get the chance. . . .

Bella is pretty sure that her fiancé is cheating on her.  She’s one week out from her wedding and she’s an emotional wreck. When she finds texts on her fiancé’s phone confirming the cheating Bella confronts Brad about it.  He, of course, being the ass he is, turns it around to make it look like Bella is the cause of his cheating.  She knows she’s being manipulated but still can’t bring herself to end it.  She talks to her parents who push her to marry Brad anyway.  She’s SO confused!

Bella recently became friends with Christian, a bartender in the coastal Maine town that she’s getting married in.  She gets drunk and asks him to teach how to be good in bed but he refuses.  Though Christian doesn’t normally have problems sleeping with women in relationships, because they’re emotionally unavailable, there’s something about Bella that makes him want to treat her well.

When Bella decides right before the wedding ceremony that she absolutely can’t marry Brad she calls Christian and he whisks her off to a family cabin to hide her from her family, Brad and his family and anyone else trying to talk to her.  With Bella now single and free, Christian has no problem showing her exactly how good in bed she is.  The two spend a couple of days together but soon they have to face reality.  Bella has to decide what she’s going to do now that she quit her job, sold her furniture and has nowhere to go, and Christian has to decide if wanting Bella in his life will be a good thing or just make his crazy life even crazier.

After book one in this series I can’t say that I liked Christian all that much.  Book one was about Bella’s sister and Christian’s twin brother getting together.  It seems that Christian slept with his twin’s girlfriend and was caught.  Of course it comes out in this book that the girlfriend, Ali, had told Christian that they had broken up and since Christian had had a thing for Ali all through school he took her up on her off of some bed-play.  Little did he know it would change his life forever.  Turns out he wasn’t a bad person after all – he just didn’t make the best judgment calls about people.  He knew this about himself so that’s why he hesitated when Bella approached him about going to bed with her.  I was happy that he finally saw that it would be a bad idea.  I actually ended up liking Christian a lot in this book, thank heavens. 🙂

Bella was a strong character but sometimes she made me a bit crazy. She knew deep down she was never going to marry Brad but then ended up waiting until the last possible moment to run. That bothered me a lot.  I guess I have not idea what I would have done in that situation so I can’t be too judgy.  I liked how she handled things with Christian, her family and Brad after the wedding fiasco and was happy that she didn’t settle.

I was annoyed at the alternating first person POV.  Not that I mind that POV so much, but there was no clear delineation of when one POV stopped and another started, like a new chapter.  There was just a break in the story and then we’d get another POV – sometimes it was hard to figure out if I was reading Bella’s POV or Christians.  🙁  Not to my liking.

The book was good and I really liked it. It was a fun, easy read and was perfect for just sitting in the back yard with no worries.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

Jordan Brothers

three-half-stars

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Guest Review: The Howling by Erin McCarthy

Posted June 26, 2018 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: The Howling by Erin McCarthyReviewer: Tracy
The Howling by Erin McCarthy
Publisher: Kensington
Publication Date: June 26, 2018
Format: eARC
Point-of-View: Third Person
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 100
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two-stars

For six months the nightmares have been chasing Liv Lugaru out of her sleep. The same terrifying dream, the same fevered wolves panting after her, their hot breath getting closer and closer as a full moon hangs heavy in the night sky—until she wakes up drenched in sweat, with her fiancé, the brother of the man who broke her heart, gazing down at her . . .

Six months ago, Sebastian was almost killed by his brother in a power struggle within their werewolf pack. His disappearance opened the way for his brother to console Liv, win her trust . . . without ever telling her of their true heritage. Now Sebastian is ready to reclaim his rightful place—to rise up with the moon and claim the only woman he’s ever loved . . .

Liv has been having dreams for the past six months about wolves.  In the dream it seems to be her as the central figure, but it’s set in the 19th century so she’s confused.  She chalks it up to nerves because of her impending wedding.  A wedding to Scarborough, the brother of the man who disappeared on her six months ago, along with all her money.  Scar had been there for her and when he’d asked her to marry him, she thought it was the best idea.  After these dreams she’s thinking that maybe marrying him wasn’t such a great idea.

Sebastian, the man who broke Liv’s heart, didn’t just disappear.  He was attacked and left for dead and has been recovering and in hiding since that time.  Now that Scarborough is out of town he can finally talk to Liv and tell her how much he loves her, and they can live happily ever after.  But when Liv finds out who she really is, and what exactly happened to Sebastian, Liv’s life changes forever.

This was a super short book that is a reprint.  It was previously in an anthology called The Beast Within but is now being republished as a standalone novella.  I didn’t realize when I started reading that this was a reprint and lo and behold, I’d read it before.  I did finish it the second time so that’s a point in its favor.

The story almost feels like you’re being dumped into a book that’s already in progress.  I didn’t like that at all and while it wasn’t confusing, I did find it frustrating.  This can’t really be termed a romance novel because the H/h are really already in love and have just been separated.  More of a reunion story, imho.

The scenario that Liv found herself in might have been more interesting if this had been a longer story.  Add Sebastian in first, have Scar come along and take over, then have the H/h reunite.  That would have been awesome.  I also think that because this was so short that not a lot of depth was added to the characters and that was disappointing.

In the end I found this to be just an ok read.

Rating: 2 out of 5

two-stars

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Review: The Hookup by Erin McCarthy

Posted June 6, 2018 by Holly in Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: The Hookup by Erin McCarthyReviewer: Holly
The Hookup (The Jordan Brothers, #1) by Erin McCarthy
Series: The Jordan Brothers #1
Also in this series: The Hookup (The Jordan Brothers #1), The Breakup, The Breakup (The Jordan Brothers #2)
Publisher: Loveswept
Publication Date: May 8, 2018
Point-of-View: Alternating First
Genres: Contemporary Romance, New Adult
Pages: 218
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three-half-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

Is there an equation for the perfect hookup? Turns out it’s a lot more complicated than one plus one. . . .


Sophie: Numbers are my comfort zone, which explains why my sex life is a big fat zero. Then again, if I’m smart enough to earn a PhD, why can’t I calculate a way to get a guy into bed, just to see what all the fuss is about? With my prima donna sister, Bella, getting married in Maine, I figure her wedding is the perfect opportunity for my little experiment. And Cain Jordan seems hot enough—he’s certainly drunk enough—to show me what I’ve been missing. Judging by the body of evidence, it’s a lot. . . .


Cain:
 Being stuck in the same town as my lying SOB twin brother, Christian—who may or may not be the father of the son I’m not allowed to see—is a hell of a reason to drink myself silly after the lobster boat docks each day. Any port in a storm. . . . But Sophie’s different. She doesn’t play around. And she’s becoming a habit I don’t want to break. Because the smartest woman I’ve ever met is also the sexiest—and the only one who makes me want to change.

Don’t miss Bella and Christian’s story in The Breakup!

Sophie is on a break from school – where she’s working on her masters – for her sister’s wedding. She’s still a virgin, mostly because she’s been so focused on school she hasn’t had time for a relationship. She figures being in town for a week is the perfect time to take care of that little problem. Cain is drowning his pain and sorrow in alcohol after his twin brother betrayed him in the worst way. Booze and a new woman every night allow him to escape for at least a little while. He’s actually interested in Sophie’s sister at first, until Sophie’s unabashed honesty and blunt manners suck him in. He isn’t looking for any kind of entanglement, but he can’t just have her once. He keeps coming back for more. With Sophie leaving to go back to school soon, and Cain’s self-destructive bent, there’s no future for them. But neither of them can stay away….

I was concerned about the “I need to lose my virginity” angle at first, but it’s a small part of the story, rather than the major conflict. Sophie is so practical about it (and everything else), it wasn’t as big a deal as I expected it to be.

I think the romance moved a little fast for me. I know it ended in a HFN, but they were talking about getting married some day. Considering the entirety of their relationship was like 5 days, I don’t know if I buy they’ll go the distance.

View Spoiler »

I liked both Cain and Sophie. I liked how blunt and honest Sophie was. I loved her, period. She was fabulous from beginning to end. I think Cain had good reason to be angry (though I’m still salty we didn’t get to hear the brother’s explanation for why he did what he did). I feel like his personal growth and his decision at the end worked. He recognized he had a problem and took steps to fix it. I really liked them together, too. But to say 5 days of sleeping together, plus 1 date and then a drunken brawl makes for wuv, twu wuv? Not so much.

If I don’t think about it too much or focus on the short time frame, I loved this. Once I start thinking about it I struggle.

3.25 out of 5

three-half-stars

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Review: The Hookup by Erin McCarthy

Posted May 9, 2018 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: The Hookup by Erin McCarthyReviewer: Rowena
The Hookup (Jordan Brothers, #1) by Erin McCarthy
Series: Jordan Brothers #1
Publisher: Loveswept
Publication Date: May 8th, 2018
Point-of-View: First Person
Genres: Contemporary Romance, New Adult
Pages: 255
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Is there an equation for the perfect hookup? Turns out it’s a lot more complicated than one plus one. . . .

Sophie: Numbers are my comfort zone, which explains why my sex life is a big fat zero. Then again, if I’m smart enough to earn a PhD, why can’t I calculate a way to get a guy into bed, just to see what all the fuss is about? With my prima donna sister, Bella, getting married in Maine, I figure her wedding is the perfect opportunity for my little experiment. And Cain Jordan seems hot enough—he’s certainly drunk enough—to show me what I’ve been missing. Judging by the body of evidence, it’s a lot. . . .

Cain:

Being stuck in the same town as my lying SOB twin brother, Christian—who may or may not be the father of the son I’m not allowed to see—is a hell of a reason to drink myself silly after the lobster boat docks each day. Any port in a storm. . . . But Sophie’s different. She doesn’t play around. And she’s becoming a habit I don’t want to break. Because the smartest woman I’ve ever met is also the sexiest—and the only one who makes me want to change.

Don’t miss Bella and Christian’s story in The Breakup!

The Hookup is the first book in Erin McCarthy’s new Jordan Brothers series and it follows the first Jordan Brother, Cain.

Cain spends his days on the water at work as a lobster fisherman and his nights in the bars, getting himself super drunk so that he can forget his brother’s betrayal. He’s an alcoholic for sure but he doesn’t care because drinking makes him forget that the little boy he thought might be his son is actually his nephew because his twin brother slept with his girlfriend. It’s a betrayal that he hasn’t gotten over and I couldn’t say I didn’t understand what drove him to forget. How could you not? So when Cain is in the bar, getting his drink on, he meets Sophie and man does she help him forget.

Sophie is in town for her sister’s wedding and she’s on a mission to get rid of her virginity because it’s become a thing and she wants to get rid of it. She wasn’t waiting for Mr. Right. She just got caught up in school and learning that she never took the time to let loose and lose it. So the time is now and when the guy in the bar that her body zeroes in on accepts her invitation, she thinks she’ll just bang it out and they’ll go their separate ways but what started as a one night stand ends up being a vacation fling and then they do the inevitable and fall in love thing.

Seeing the romance between Sophie and Cain go from hookup buddies to okay, just one more time to many more times after that and not being able to walk away from each other was fun. I enjoyed seeing them together and I really liked that Sophie could be her nerdy, logic before anything else self with Cain and it was okay. Cain liked her just the way that she was and that was great. On the other hand, Sophie didn’t pry too much into Cain’s life even when he spent most of the time that they were together, drunk. So that was a bone of contention that is dealt with and I thought McCarthy did a great job of writing that part of the story into the conflict.

The whole thing with Cain’s twin brother wasn’t really dealt with in this book so I’m hoping that we get more from that in Christian’s book because I’m mighty curious about how Christian ended up betraying his twin brother. Cain is so pissed off at Christian and we see it, I need to find out what that whole deal is before I can even contemplate forgiving Christian so I’m all aboard for reading the next one.

This was a really quick read that I read in one sitting and it was a lot of fun. Sure, the hero is an alcoholic and does a lot of sloppy things over the course of the story but things work themselves out and he does right by Sophie in the end which made me happy. I was left with a whole lot of questions that I’m sure we’ll get answers to in the next book so I’m hooked.

Grade: 4 out of 5

Jordan Brothers

four-stars

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