Tag: Free eBooks

Review: Finding Cinderella by Colleen Hoover

Posted April 16, 2014 by Holly in Reviews | 2 Comments

Review: Finding Cinderella by Colleen HooverReviewer: Holly
Finding Cinderella by Colleen Hoover
Series: Hopeless #2.5
Publisher: Atria Books, Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: March 18th 2014
Genres: Fiction, New Adult
Pages: 176
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-half-stars
Series Rating: five-stars

A chance encounter in the dark leads eighteen-year-old Daniel and the girl who stumbles across him to profess their love for each other. But this love has conditions: they agree it will last only one hour, and it will be only make-believe.
When their hour is up and the girl rushes off like Cinderella, Daniel tries to convince himself that what happened between them seemed perfect only because they were pretending it was. Moments like that happen only in fairy tales.
One year and one bad relationship later, his disbelief in love-at-first-sight is stripped away the day he meets Six: a girl with a strange name and an even stranger personality. Unfortunately for Daniel, finding true love doesn’t guarantee a happily ever after . . . it only further threatens it.
Will an unbearable secret from the past jeopardize Daniel and Six’s only chance at saving each other?

This was a free downlaod.

Finding Cinderella first came on my radar when Atria announced plans to put the free short story into print, based on a push from fans on Twitter. The idea that readers would pay (I later discovered quite a bit. It’s set to be priced at $9.99) for a hardcover short story that’s available free online is intriguing.

Due to a scheduling mix-up, Daniel has no class 5th period. Instead of fessing up and getting his schedule fixed, he choose to hide in the broom closet each day, hoping no one discovers him. All is working out well until a girl sneaks into his sanctuary one day. She’s upset and laments ever finding a good guy – one who doesn’t care about her reputation and will love her for her. Just as disillusioned as she with love, Daniel proposes an experiment – they pretend to be in love, for that one hour, just to see how it feels.

Unfortunately for him, he really falls in love that day. Maybe it’s just an illusion, but it feels real. Sadly, his Cinderella disappears, leaving him lost and alone. One year later, he’s put Cinderella behind him and has just come out of a bad relationship. That’s when he meets Six. She’s everything he’s ever wanted in a girl. She’s quirky, laughs at his jokes, doesn’t play games and before long he’s absolutely in love. Which only solidifies when he realizes she’s his Cinderella…until he realizes Six has secrets, ones that could rock his world.

I can see why fans loved it so much. Though short, the story is engaging and beautifully written. Told from the first-person point of view of the hero, Finding Cinderella tells a story of heartbreak, healing and love.

I can’t say I would pay $9.99 for a novella I can get for free in e-format (though the printed version will include bonus material), but I can say this was a story that really touched me. I look forward to reading the other books in the series.

4.25 out of 5

This book is available from Simon and Schuster. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

four-half-stars

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Happy Birthday Jane Austen (free ebooks)

Posted December 16, 2010 by Holly in Miscellaneous, News | 0 Comments

Sourcebooks, the world’s leading publisher of Jane Austen fiction, is offering a unique deal to readers who want to celebrate Jane by reading special editions of all six of Austen’s beloved novels in a 21st century format.
Special e-book editions of Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion and Mansfield Park will be available for free for one day only. These celebratory editions include the full novels, plus the legendary color illustrations of the Brock brothers, originally created to accompany the books in 1898.
In addition to the Jane Austen classics, readers can also enjoy these bestselling Austen-inspired novels. The following bestselling e-books will be free on December 16th in honor of her birthday:
Eliza’s Daughter by Joan Aiken
The Darcys & the Bingleys by Marsha Altman
Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll
What Would Jane Austen Do? by Laurie Brown
The Pemberley Chronicles by Rebecca Ann Collins
The Other Mr. Darcy by Monica Fairview
Mr. Darcy’s Diary by Amanda Grange
Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One by Sharon Lathan
Lydia Bennet’s Story by Jane Odiwe
Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy by Abigail Reynolds
Amazon and B&N seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties with this right now, but they should have it up and running shortly. As a result of the technical difficulties, Sourcebooks is extending this offer for an extra day. Now, you can download these great free ebooks through tomorrow night (12/17/10).

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Review: Baby Bonanza by Maureen Child.

Posted March 30, 2009 by Holly in News, Reviews | 8 Comments

Twins? The startling revelation that his affair with Jenna Baker had produced two little boys was almost impossible to grasp. Tycoon Nick Falco had never considered himself the settling-down type, yet now that fatherhood had been thrust upon him, he was determined to give his sons his name. But their mother wasn’t about to let him back into her life…at least not without those three little words Nick had never, ever said.

This is another free read available from Harlequin to celebrate their 60th anniversary. I don’t know that I’ve ever read anything from the Desire line prior to this and I have to tell you, I wasn’t super impressed.

This wasn’t a secret baby story in the traditional sense. Nick and Jenna had an affair until he realized she was actually one of his employees, and not a guest on his cruise ship. He broke things off immediately, fired her and refused to have anything to do with her after that. For almost a year she tried to contact him to let him know about his sons, but he refused to open her emails or take her calls. Out of desperation, she finally books a cruise on one of his ships so she can corner him face-to-face.

Not only does she think he has a right to know about his children, she also needs financial support for them. She has no illusions about the kind of man Nick is, so she figures he’ll be happy to send her a check every month and leave her alone otherwise. But she’s in for a surprise, because Nick does want to be part of his son’s lives. Well, if they’re really his, that is. He demands a DNA test and insists Jenna stick around until the results come back, so they can make plans.

I think my problem with this story was Nick. I actually liked Jenna, though I do think she showed doormat tendencies at times. The issue here is that Nick was an ass at the beginning of the story and he just continued right on being an ass all the way through until the end. I understood his reasons for being angry with Jenna, I even sympathized with him. That wasn’t my problem. My problem was that his inner dialogue didn’t mesh with his actions. I guess things were just resolved in the end too quickly. Nick spent the entire book thinking of Jenna as a good lay and liar. He didn’t really have “caring” thoughts about her, or really even show her common courtesy or decency. He treated her like he would a good lay and a liar.

I could have forgiven that if there’d been some growth toward the end, but unfortunately that never happened. In the end I was left wondering why Jenna wanted to be with him in the first place and doubting that he was ready to be a family man. Although it had some good parts, overall I was disappointed.

2.5 out of 5

This book is available from Silhouette Desire. You can download it here for free.

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Review: Snowbound by Janice Kay Johnson

Posted March 29, 2009 by Holly in News, Reviews | 3 Comments

When a blizzard strands Fiona MacPherson and her students in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains, their only hope of survival is to seek shelter at Thunder Mountain Lodge. Their host is John Fallon, a handsome, enigmatic war veteran haunted by secrets and scars that may never heal.

John Fallon never imagined he’d be playing host to this captivating teacher and her eight teenage charges. But when his solitude is shattered by their arrival, his world shifts on its axis. He needs Fiona—but does she need him? There’s only one way to find out. The ex-soldier must find the courage to reach out to the remarkable woman who has transformed his life.…

This is another free read offered by Harlequin to celebrate their 60th anniversary. I know Casee really enjoyed this one but unfortunately it didn’t work as well for me.

It was definitely an emotional read – the PTSD issues John dealt with were real and very hard to read about at times. His struggle to get his life back and deal with the tragedies he saw at war was just heartbreaking. I really liked that his issues weren’t just brushed aside or fixed in a short period of time. He was a good man, strong and caring, but unable to deal with things from his past. He has flashbacks and nightmares, and instead of seeking counceling or trying to get help, he closed himself off and hoped hard work, solitude and time would heal him.

It’s not that I faulted him for that, or that I didn’t like Fiona. She was actually a very well drawn character who was confident and capable. Despite being stranded in the middle of a blizzar with a group of teenagers, she keeps her head up does the best she can. She also dealt with John and his issues in a believable way, all throughout the book.

I think there was just something off about the way things were cleared up in the end. Or maybe it was the chemistry between them that didn’t work. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but at the end of this story I wasn’t emotionally invested in their HEA. I think it started out really strong, but the pieces kind of unraveled as the story progressed.

Overall not a bad story. The characters were well drawn and likable and the story was fun and interesting. It just kind of lost me toward the end.

3.5 out of 5

This book is available from Silhouette Super Romance. You can download here for free.

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Review: Price of Passion by Susan Napier

Posted March 28, 2009 by Holly in News, Reviews | 2 Comments

Kate had learned certain lessons as Drake Daniels’s lover:

Lesson number one: the price of loving Drake was not to love him.

Lesson number two: never give him what he expected.

Discovering she was pregnant certainly fulfilled lesson number two. Drake had made it clear commitment and children were not on his menu. Now Kate must break her news. But when she sees Drake, passion kicks in, begging to be indulged again…

just once!

I freely admit that Harlequin Presents are like a form of crack for me. They’re one of my most guilty pleasures. Even though the heroes are complete overbearing asshats and the heroines are completely limp dishrags, I still pick them up every month and devour them – my inner feminist be damned. So naturally when I saw this one available for free at eHarlequin I had to download it. I was pleasantly surprised by this story. Kate was far from a dishrag and though Drake was surly in the beginning, he wasn’t a complete and total ass.

Kate and Drake have been lovers for years, but have always kept things light. Drake is a bestselling author and between books, he and Kate burn up the sheets. When he’s writing, however, he disappears and they sometimes go months without seeing or speaking to each other. When Kate realizes she’s pregnant she decides she needs to get to know more about the man he really is, to see if he’s the type of man who would make a good father. She finds his secret writing hideaway and books the vacation house next door, hoping to learn more about him over a month long holiday.

I think the best part of the story was the way Kate and Drake learned about each other and grew together. Kate has always respected Drake’s boundaries and never tried to push him for more than a casual affair, so there’s much about him she doesn’t know. He’s emotionally closed off, but he isn’t mean or bitter. He just doesn’t know how to open up. Plus, while trying to respect his wishes Kate sent out some mixed signals of her own, and Drake wasn’t ever sure she’d want more than casual with him.

This is a sweet story about two people coming to care for each other. I think it started with a bang and didn’t disappoint throughout. I really enjoyed ever aspect of it, especially the last 1/4 of the book.

4.25 out of 5

This book is available from Harlequin Presents. You download it here for free.

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