Tag: J. Lynn

Excerpt Reveal: Fire in You by Jennifer Armentrout

Posted November 14, 2016 by Rowena in Promotions | 1 Comment

image

I have read most of the books in this series and have adored Cam and Jase to pieces. I have a few books to catch up on but am looking forward to continuing this series. We’re super stoked to be participating in the excerpt reveal for the sixth book in the Wait for You series, Fire in You.

fire-in-you

Fire in You by Jennifer Armentrout
Series: Wait for You #6
Also in this Series: Be with Me, Stay with Me, Fall with Me
Release Date: November 28, 2016
Publisher: Jennifer Armentrout
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

From the # 1 New York Times and International bestselling author comes a richly moving story about heartbreak and guilt, second chances and hope. Full of familiar, fan-favorite characters and no two people more deserving of a happy ending, Fire In You will burn bright beyond the last page…

Jillian Lima’s whole world was destroyed in a span of a few hours. The same night her childhood love, Brock ‘the Beast’ Mitchell, broke her heart, her life was irrevocably altered by the hand of a stranger with a gun. It takes six years to slowly glue together the shattered pieces of her life, but Jillian is finally ready to stop existing in a past full of pain and regret. She takes a job at her father’s martial arts Academy and she’s going out on her first date since a failed relationship that was more yuck than yum. Jillian is determined to start living.

She just never expected Brock to be a part of her life again. But he’s firmly back in her life before she knows it, and not only is he older, he’s impossibly more handsome, more teasing and more everything. And when he sees Jillian, he’s no longer capable of thinking of her as the little girl who was his shadow growing up or the daughter of the man who gave him a second chance at life. He sees the woman who’d always been there for him, the one person who believed in him no matter what.

Brock knows she’s the one he should’ve made his, and what begins as a tentative friendship quickly turns to red-hot chemistry that sparks a flame that burns brighter than lust. Falling for Brock again risks more than her heart, because when the sorrow-filled and guilt-ridden past resurfaces, and a web of lies threatens to rip them apart, the fallout could lay waste to everything they’ve fought to build together, and destroy the dreams of those they care most about.

Order the Book:

AMAZON || BARNES AND NOBLE || KOBO

Excerpt

Brock’s gaze flickered over my face and the line of his jaw softened. “It’s been a really long time since you and I have sat and talked to one another. I know you have every reason to hate me. I don’t blame you.”

“I don’t hate you.” That twisting motion in my chest picked up. What I had said was true. Maybe at one point I did. Okay. I’m sure I had, but I’d never been one to hate anyone. It just wasn’t in me. Well, I hated plenty of fictional characters, but some people would claim they didn’t count. I drew in a shallow breath and repeated, “I don’t hate you.”

Brock was still as he stared at me, a flicker of surprise and relief mingling across his chiseled features. “I’m…I’m glad to hear that.”

I pushed all that mess aside and focused. “Why are you even the GM? You’ve probably made enough money to live a very, very long time without having to worry about a paycheck.”

“I have. When I retired from professional fighting two years ago, I could’ve lived quite comfortably for the rest of my life.”

I wanted to ask why he’d retired so young. At his age, he still had a couple of more years left, but I resisted the urge. “So why take this job?”

A frown started to appear. “Do you really need to ask me that?” Before I could respond, he lifted a hand, thrusting his fingers through his hair as he said, “Your father saved my life. That’s not an exaggeration. You know that. If it hadn’t been for him, I would’ve died on those streets. The Academy became my life and it is a part of me. This company is important to me, and even if I’m not fighting, representing the Academy, I still need to be a part of it.”

Lowering my gaze, I squirmed in my chair. Of course I knew that. No matter what had happened, that would’ve never changed for him.

“I love scouting, looking for fresh talent,” he continued. “As the GM, I can still do that. I can give back to your father for everything he did for me. I need to do that. Especially considering how badly I let him down.”

“How in the world did you let my father down?” I asked, genuinely curious. “You’ve won championships for him. Brought so much attention to the—”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Tone serious, he held my gaze. “You never told him why you were at Mona’s that night.”

I stilled.

“If you had, he would’ve—”

My eyes snapped to his. “Brock.”

“And I would’ve deserved everything I had coming to me,” he continued, leaning forward. “And the only reason why I never told him you were there because of me was because you made me promise not to.”

Closing my eyes, I pressed my lips together. I had made him promise not to say a word. I’d begged him, because I knew what would happen if he’d been honest. Brock would’ve lost everything.

The knot was back, expanding in my throat. I couldn’t sit here and think and talk about these kinds of things if I was going to be able to make this job work. Curling my hands together, I opened my eyes. “What happened back then has nothing to do with now. It can’t.”

Brock leaned back and straightened.

“And I don’t want to talk about it,” I continued, struggling to keep my voice steady. “We don’t need to talk about any of that for us to work together.”

He was silent for a moment, his body deviously relaxed, but he was like a coiled cobra, and could strike at any moment. “I don’t agree with that, but I’ll let it go.”

Some of the tension seeped out of my shoulders even though I had a feeling there was an unspoken “for now” at the end of what he said. “That’s all, then? I would like to get my office set up and get to work.”

Brock nodded and pushed off the desk. Walking around it, he scanned the paperwork on his desk. “I do believe we have a meeting today with the sales team. Two o’clock.”

“Sounds good.” I rose on oddly shaky legs and turned to the door. Everything felt surreal.

“Jillian.”

Stopping, I faced him. “Yes?”

His shoulders rose with a deep breath as his gaze drifted over my face once more, and I wondered what he thought about how I looked now. “I really want this to work for us, Jillian,” he said, and I felt the very sharp twisting motion in my chest give one powerful stab. “It’s a second chance for us.”

Teasers

image-1

Pre-Order Book for some Exclusive Bonus Scenes

Pre-Order a digital or paperback copy of FIRE IN YOU by Jennifer L. Armentrout, writing as J.Lynn, AND fill out THIS FORM, and get an exclusive bonus scene-an Epilogue featuring POVs from all the major couples throughout the Wait For You World!

FIRE IN YOU will be available in paperback and eBook November 28th, 2016!

Just enter your name, age, email address, and the order number from your digial or paperback pre-order receipt at https://a.pgtb.me/M7KhMC to receive your exclusive FIRE IN YOU bonus scene! All entrants will receive the bonus scene on December 5th, 2016 through email using the email given when the entrant filled out THIS FORM.

About the Author

author-photo-jla_j-lynn

Jennifer Armentrout aka J. Lynn

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | GOODREADS

# 1 New York Times and # 1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. She spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV. Jennifer has won numerous awards, including the 2013 Reviewers Choice Award for Wait for You, the 2015 Editor’s Pick for Fall With Me, and the 2014/2015 Moerser-Jugendbuch- Jury award for Obsidian. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA.

She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

1 Comment

Tagged: , , , ,

Review: Scorched by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Posted January 26, 2016 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: Scorched by Jennifer L. ArmentroutReviewer: Rowena
Scorched by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publication Date: June 16th 2015
Genres: New Adult
Pages: 248
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books

Jennifer L. Armentrout (also known as J. Lynn), New York Times bestselling author of the Wait for You series, presents her latest book, Scorched.
Sometimes life leaves a mark...

Most days, Andrea doesn't know whether she wants to kiss Tanner or punch him in the gut. He is seriously hot, with legit bedroom eyes and that firefighter body of his, but he's a major player, and they can't get along for more than a handful of minutes. Until now.

Tanner knows he and Andrea have had an epic love/hate relationship for as long as he can remember, but he wants more love than hate from her. He wants her. Now. Tomorrow. But the more he gets to know her, the more it becomes obvious that Andrea has a problem. She's teetering on the edge, and every time he tries to catch her, she slips through his fingers.

Andrea's life is spiraling out of control, and it doesn't matter that Tanner wants to save her, because when everything falls apart and she's speeding toward rock-bottom, only she can save herself.

Sometimes life makes you work for that happily ever after...

-- Jennifer L. Armentrout

Scorched is the companion novel to Frigid and it follows Kyler and Sidney’s friends as they fumble their way to their happily for now ending. Andrea and Tanner have bickered like immature teenagers since the first book in this series but over time, that shit got old.

I knew that Andrea had a thing for Tanner and wanted them to get together when I first read Frigid so I was glad to finally get this book but after finishing it, I’m still not quite sure where my thoughts are. Did I enjoy it? For a good chunk of the book, yes but there were things that I did not enjoy. Things that were choppy and drove me crazy.

First things first, Andrea’s best friend and Tanner’s best friends are together. Kyler and Sidney want to get out of town for a week to unwind and just relax and they want their best friends to go with them. It’s not a secret that said best friends don’t like each other but they all decide to go on the trip anyway….together.

Before they decide to go up to a cabin for some much needed R&R, Tanner and Andrea get into another argument where things go a little farther than either of them anticipated. As always, they bring out the worst in each other and Tanner knows that he was out of line and things changed for him. In an effort to make peace before heading out, Tanner takes Andrea home after a night out at the bar where Andrea gets really drunk. He’s not quite sure how it happened but she stopped being Sid’s best friend and before he knows what’s what, he realizes that he wants to really get to know Andrea. He wants to be more to Andrea and that’s easier said than done because 1) she doesn’t trust him and 2) she only seems to want him when she’s drunk.

Tanner thinks that Andrea drinks too much and has a substance abuse problem. Andrea disagrees. When she’s not drinking, they get along great but when Andrea gets alcohol into her system, she turns into freaking Medusa and Tanner doesn’t know how to deal with that. All he knows is that he wants her, his heart has chosen her and he’s not going away without a fight.

Andrea, for her part has always wanted Tanner but he doesn’t remember her and she can’t get over the past so it’s hard for her to let that go and truly be with him. She wants to be with him but she doesn’t know how to be. She knows that holding the past against him is dumb, considering he doesn’t even remember it but she can’t help it. But her troubles with Tanner aren’t the only troubles she’s got and it’s the other trouble that keeps the story going.

Andrea’s journey throughout the book was hard to get through and I didn’t completely understand her problems or her illness so it made liking her, let alone connecting with her hard. I spent a lot of time pissed at her for the hot and cold act she had going with Tanner. The whole drinking thing pissed me off because once again, I was ignorant to what her problem actually was…even when the shit hit the fan at the end, I didn’t understand it and was still completely pissed off at her. I wanted her to be stronger. I wanted her to get her shit together and in the end, I was glad that she finally did. But by then, too much time had passed and I spent so much time being pissed off at her that I didn’t understand why Tanner stuck around or what he saw in her.

I will say that the book was interesting but my reservations with Andrea and my inability to connect and understand her made my enjoyment of this book suffer. So while there were good moments, this isn’t one of my favorite books from Armentrout.

Grade: 2.5 out of 5

Reading Order:

Frigid
Scorched

0 Comments

Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Review: Fall with Me by J. Lynn.

Posted June 23, 2015 by Rowena in Reviews | 1 Comment

Publisher: Avon, Harper Collins

fall with me
Rowena’s review of Fall with Me (Wait for You #4) by J. Lynn.

Eleven months ago, bartender and weird-shirt-wearing extraordinaire Roxy and Officer Reece Anders had a one night stand. Well, kind of. She’s been in love with him since she was fifteen, and he wishes that night they shared never happened. She’s sworn him off forever, but the past and future collide, forcing her to rely on the one man who broke her heart not once, but twice.

Her best friend since birth has been in a long-term care facility since he became a victim of a hate crime years ago, and the person who put him in there is out of prison and wanting to make amends with him and Roxy. She’s not sure she has room for forgiveness in her and when she begins to receive frightening messages and is on the receiving end of escalating violence, she thinks she knows who is to blame. The man who already destroyed one life already.

But Reece isn’t convinced. The threats are too personal, and even if Roxy doesn’t believe him, he’s not willing to let anyone hurt her. Including himself. He’s already messed up more than once when it comes to Roxy and he’s not going to let history repeat itself.

Fall with Me is the fourth book in the Wait for You series by J. Lynn. In this book, we get Reece and Roxy’s story. Their happy ending and even though it wasn’t that long ago that we met these two, it feels like a while and their story feels like it’s been a long time coming because there’s a history with these two that we finally get to know all about.

Roxy has had a thing for Reece Anders since she was fifteen years old. Reece has always found Roxy interesting and even a little cute but he’s kept her at a distance until one night, a night that he can’t even remember. Things between Reece and Roxy have been strained and Reece doesn’t really know why and then when Roxy’s life is in danger, Reece doesn’t care how strained their relationship is, he’s going to keep her safe from those that want to harm her.

On top of that, Roxy is struggling with a horrible incident from her past that has left her best friend Charlie broken in a hospital, wasting away. She goes to visit him every week but each week, he falls further and further away from her. It breaks her heart but she’s helpless to stop it.

Roxy was a heroine that I liked quite well in Stay with Me but throughout the course of this book, she drove me absolutely bat shit crazy. She put herself in unnecessary danger because she thought she could take care of herself. She popped off at the mouth every time that Reece was around and she sounded like a petulant child that I wanted to smack upside the head at every turn. In short, she was a brat and even in the end, I hadn’t warmed up completely to her.

I did like Reece. He was a man’s man who didn’t fuck around. He meant business in every aspect of his life and all he wanted to do for Roxy was protect her but she made that so hard for him. I get that she’s head strong and willful but holy shit, I felt like all these years later and she didn’t learn a damn thing from Charlie. I mean, she held herself responsible for what happened to him so why didn’t she learn to curb her temper or her mouth whenever she was around Reece? It drove me crazy.

The whole stalking thing was freaking crazy though. I was completely creeped out by that guy and to think, he was right there the whole time. I thought that part of the story was well written and completely believable.

It was good to see the gang again but I think that I’m slowly losing interest in these characters so after I read Colton’s story, I think I’m going to throw in the towel with these guys. The book started out promising but Roxy’s antics everywhere she turned pissed me off and I kept right on getting pissed at her that by the time the ending came, it was kind of too late to redeem her for me. I didn’t hate her at the end but I still didn’t like her all that much. If it wasn’t for Reece, I probably would have DNF’d this one. Sigh.

Grade: 2.5 out of 5

This book is available from Avon. You can purchase it here or here in e-format.

1 Comment

Tagged: , , , , , ,

Review: Stay with Me by J. Lynn

Posted November 24, 2014 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

stay with me
Rowena’s review of Stay with Me (Waiting for You #3) by J. Lynn.

At 21, Calla hasn’t done a lot of things. She’s never been kissed, never seen the ocean, never gone to an amusement park. But growing up, she witnessed some things no child ever should. She still carries the physical and emotional scars of living with a strung-out mother, Mona—secrets she keeps from everyone, including her close circle of college friends.

But the safe cocoon Calla has carefully built is shattered when she discovers her mom has stolen her college money and run up a huge credit card debt in her name. Now, Calla has to go back to the small town she thought she’d left behind and clean up her mom’s mess again. Of course, when she arrives at her mother’s bar, Mona is nowhere to be found. Instead, six feet of hotness named Jackson James is pouring drinks and keeping the place humming.

Sexy and intense, Jax is in Calla’s business from the moment they meet, giving her a job and helping her search for Mona. And the way he looks at her makes it clear he wants to get horizontal . . . and maybe something more. Before Calla can let him get close, though, she’s got to deal with the pain of the past—and some very bad guys out to mess her up if she doesn’t give them her mom.

Calla is a good friend to Teresa Hamilton from the last book in this series, Be with You. She’s got a huge crush on her friend, Brandon who is part of the Hot Guy Brigade. The HGB is what Calla calls the assortment of hot guys that she hangs out with. Cam is the President of the HGB and is with her friend Avery (Book 1) then there’s Jase who is with Teresa and some other guys and then, Brandon. Brandon, the guy who has become one of her closest friends.

The night she finds out that Brandon has a girlfriend, a serious girlfriend, Calla is bummed but she doesn’t have time to deal with her feelings about that since she finds out some pretty bad news. Her Mom has wiped out her savings, her tuition money and Calla has to go home to figure out what the heck is going on.

Going back to the place that she grew up isn’t something that Calla ever thought she’d do. There aren’t a lot of good memories for her there. Her mother was a pretty crappy Mom and Calla was affected because of her mother’s choices. Now, all these years later and Calla’s Mom is still being a crappy Mom but she’s messing with Calla’s life and Calla has nowhere else to go to figure out what she’s going to do. So back to Mona’s bar, Calla heads.

Her Mom’s bar isn’t the shit hole that Calla remembers from when she lived there and while she’s home for the summer, she learns a lot about what her Mom has been up to while Calla’s been studying at school. And she meets Jax. The guy that is running her Mom’s bar.

I’m really enjoying this series by J. Lynn. I don’t read any of her other books but I’m a huge contemporary NA fan so I’m all about reading these. Jax and Calla were great characters that weren’t perfect and while some of the time, it drove me up the wall, I still walked away from this book having enjoyed it.

Jax was super-hot and I really enjoyed getting to know him throughout the book but there were a few times when I wanted to smack him upside his head. Like when they get into that fight and he takes off? Umm, bone-head move considering everything that they’re going through right now. Then there was when he was explaining himself to Calla and her friends. How he knew all about her before she got to town because he drove her Mom out to see her a few times and even though they never approached her, he knew what she looked like since he mentioned a specific scene from the last book. He’s seen her before and yet when she comes into the bar, he hits on her. I got the impression that he didn’t know who she is since when her Uncle Clyde comes out and calls her name, he freezes. Like, it just dawned on him who she is and ummm, how does that make sense of the story you told Calla later on with her friends as witnesses? How can you not know that Calla was Calla? I mean, it’s pretty hard to mistake her for anyone else considering she’s got that huge scar on her face. So that didn’t make sense to me but I got over it because in the end, I enjoyed the story.

Calla was a great heroine, a heroine that I connected with because I understood why she thought the stuff that she thought, why she did and reacted to things as she did and though she wasn’t the most perfect protagonist, I still enjoyed her journey. I really enjoyed getting to know her and seeing the romance between her and Jax take off. They were just too cute together.

It was also nice to see the rest of the gang in the book though I would have liked it more had Brandon made an appearance in the book. They were mentioned as being good friends and yet, he never once made an appearance in the book other than the very first scene.

Overall, this was a great addition to the series and it’s got me pretty stoked for the next book. I was mighty curious about both Roxy and Reece so I’m looking forward to jumping right into their story.

Grade: 3.5 out of 5

Reading Order:

This book is available from William Morrow Paperbacks. You can purchase it here or here in e-format.

0 Comments

Tagged: , , , , , ,

Review: Fifty First Times Anthology

Posted July 22, 2014 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Rowena’s review of Fifty First Times Anthology.

You always remember your first time…

Whether it’s the couple who decides not to go through with it, the two boys who finally aren’t ashamed, the newlyweds whose wedding night could very well be their last night together, the deaf pair who have no choice but to take body language to a new level–or, of course, the two young lovers fumbling and laughing, getting everything wrong. These are the memories that will never fade.

Join nineteen fantastic authors as they pull back the curtain and give you a peek inside that one intense moment in their characters’ lives when everything changes and nothing will ever be the same again.

Featuring stories from some of the hottest names in New Adult, Young Adult, and Romance including New York Times Bestselling authors J.Lynn/Jennifer Armentrout, Molly McAdams, Sophie Jordan, and Carrie Ryan.

NOTE: These stories are works of fiction. If you want to know about our first times, you’ll have to buy us a pet monkey first.

When I saw that J. Lynn had a story in this book, I was all about reading it.  I’m a fan of her Wait for You series and the story included in here was Britt and Ollie’s story of their first time.  I’m really hoping that this wasn’t it for them, that they were only a nice fling but after reading that the next book, Stay with Me, is not Britt’s book but Calla’s book, I’m glad.  Anyway, that is why I wanted to read this book but I read all of the stories in this book and there were some good ones and some that just didn’t do anything for me.

There were a lot of short stories in this book and I can’t think which book was my favorite.  I’m going to go through each story and jot down a few of my thoughts for each of them.

The Corner of First & Second by Gennifer Albin.

I liked this one.  It was cute story about two best friends who fell out of touch after a disastrous prom night who meet up after almost a year and reconnect.  I liked both Wes and Jac and thought their first time together was sweet.  This is probably one of my favorite reads in the entire anthology.

Daylight by Julie Cross

I’ve never read anything by Julie Cross but I’ve heard good things about her.  I wasn’t really feeling her addition to this anthology.  This short story is about a newlywed couple named Jack and Audrey. Audrey is the daughter of a preacher man and Jack is the mysterious tenant of the small apartment at the Church that her father preaches at.  They come into contact there and fall in love but I thought their story was too short to really get a feel for it so I didn’t really connect with either of the leads.  Oh, well.  I’m still curious about her other books.

A Little Too Scarred by Lisa Desrochers

This story is about a girl who has returned from Afghanistan, disfigured from a bomb that went off near her and killed her friend.  Before she was injured, she started growing closer to a guy that she went to high school with, named Rick.  Rick is two years older than her and used to date her sister’s friend. She was excited to come back home and meet him but now that she’s scarred up, she’s embarrassed and is pulling away from Rick but Rick isn’t having it.  He’s got no idea why she’s pulling away from him but he doesn’t give up on her and his persistence won me over.  My heart went out to Rene in this story because of what she went through but there were times when I wish she had more faith in Rick.  In the end, I liked it.

Once Bitten by Cole Gibsen

This is a story of a couple who fell out of contact with each other with no word.  The girl was left behind and the guy is back and wants to make things right.  I wasn’t too forgiving of Tanner.  I didn’t think there were enough pages to convince me that he was truly sorry for leaving without a word and I thought that Avery fell into his arms too soon, which is what we get for this being a short story but it still didn’t win me over.

Crash by Sophie Jordan

Hunter’s story! We met Hunter in Foreplay, he’s the guy that Pepper had a huge crush on.  But he’s not the guy that she ends up with.  In this short story, we meet Brooke.  The stripper that Hunter meets on a night out with the boys.  I won’t lie, the entire time that I was reading this book, I was singing, “I’m in love with a stripper” by T-Pain and it did make me laugh but really? This story was cute.  I adored Hunter and I liked Brooke.  They were cute together.

Under the Seryn Moon by Melissa Landers

This is Lyra and Kai’s story.  Their countries are at war with each other and to regain peace in the land, their fathers marry their kids to each other to keep it all in the family.  This short story follows Lyra and Kai after their married.  Lyra is scared and feels all alone and Kai is a mysterious stranger to her.  This story was cute and the only historical in the bunch of stories.  I liked both Kai and Lyra and even though I wished for more page time for these two, the pages we were given were good ones.  I liked this one.

How to be a Heartbreaker by Lauren Layne

Story of Annie and the guy that you don’t think she’s going to end up with at first.  Oh man, this is another story that I really liked.  With each passing chapter, I was thirsty for more and I was surprised at how quickly I switched camps from one guy to the next one.  The guy she ended up with was such a good fit for her that I was grinning like a crazy lady after I finished this one.  So cute!

Two in the Morning by Roni Loren

This is my first gay romance short story.  Besides Jules and Robin’s story from Suz Brockmann’s Troubleshooters series and while I loved their story, gay romances haven’t been anything that I read on the regular.  This story was cute and sweet.  Two best friends.  One gay, and one not…or so we’re led to believe until we find out, he’s not so straight.  When these two finally get together in the end, I smiled because I couldn’t help but think, “FINALLY”  Bates was a good guy and I was thrilled for him that Malcolm was not only gay but returned his feelings. Big happy face!

Believe in Me by J Lynn

Britt and Ollie’s story.  The story of their first time.  Ooh, the feels!  I’ve been wanting Britt and Ollie to end up together since I read Cam and Avery got together in Wait for Me.  If you read Be with Me, then you’ll remember when Britt and Ollie meet up at a party that Tess and Jase are at.  It’s before Jase and Tess get together so at the party, Tess gets pretty drunk and catches Jase with that other girl, Stephanie. Well, this story shows us what’s going on with Britt and Ollie.  And just like I knew I would, I loved it. So freaking cute.  My only complaint is that they don’t get a full novel…or do they? I hope so.

Sharing Firsts by Molly McAdams

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started this book.  I went into it with very low expectations because I hated the other book that I read by McAdams.  I was not a fan of that book, at all.  But this story was heaps better than Taking Chances…but saying that, I don’t think McAdams is for me.  This book was just okay, I didn’t read the other book featuring Kinlee and Jace so I didn’t understand what was going on but I thought their fight was silly and the way that Jace is portrayed as completely pissed off one minute and then does that quick switcheroo to completely in love again didn’t feel believable.

Strike Out by Myra McIntyre

This was another story that was just okay for me.  I didn’t connect with Liza at all, I wasn’t a fan of the way that she lumped all baseball players together and held “being a baseball player” against Ben for no reason other than past experiences with players that are not Ben.  Ben’s been nothing but a gentleman to her and she treats him like shit.  So when she finally decides to give him a chance, I rolled my eyes because she didn’t grovel nearly enough in apology to suit me.  I thought Ben was too good for Liza and when it ended, I still thought that.

This is My Sign by Hannah Moskowitz

I didn’t understand this story, or poem at all.  It was about two deaf kids who lost their virginity to each other before one of the deaf kids goes away forever.  And that’s it.  Meh.

Going for Broke by Lyla Payne

I think this was my absolute favorite story of the bunch.  I thought what Tressa did was completely adorable and brave.  You could tell that she had grown up from the last time that she saw Noel and I thought it was completely cool that she wanted one last chance to come clean about her true feelings for him, without an agenda of any kind.  She loved him and was still in love with him and she just wanted him to know before he got married.  My heart broke, my heart soared and then sighed all while reading this book.  So cute!

For the Sake of Science by Mark Perini

This was another story that I wasn’t a fan of.  I couldn’t connect with the main character, Luke mostly because I didn’t understand what was going on.  The character development didn’t do a thing to make me connect or even care what was happening with Luke and at the end, I was left thinking, “Alright, next.”  So yeah, this one didn’t work for me.

Love in an Elevator by Carrie Ryan

This is a love story about two strangers who get stuck in an elevator for hours and …fall in love.  Yeah, it was so implausible that it was hard for me to get into the story.  They met in an elevator and she’s completely soaked from being sent for food in the rain, with a broken umbrella.  So in the elevator, she’s soaking wet and the hot stranger sharing the elevator with her offers her his button down, she accepts, takes off ALL of her clothes and sits in the elevator with a complete stranger in nothing but his shirt.  No bra, no skirt, no PANTIES and she finds NOTHING wrong with it.

Yeah, not buying it.  So yep, this wasn’t for me.

Bunga, Bunga by Andrew Shaffer

Another gay hook up story? I’m not sure they were in love by the end of their story but they did end up enjoying each other’s company and it was cool.  Not much to the story but I was happy for the main character since he finally got to nail the guy that he’s always wanted to.  Go him! I feel bad because I forgot his name.

With the Lights On by Alessandra Thomas

This is a story about a girl Anna, who has body issues and her relationship with her boyfriend, Tal.  Tal loves her but because of some stuff that went down in her past, she doesn’t really believe that he loves her.  Well, she does but she doesn’t understand why. She’s not a skinny bitch, she’s got curves and she’s unsure of those curves.  Over the course of this short story, we see Anna come to be okay with her body.  This was cute but too short and I didn’t think that the characters developed completely to make me fall in love with them.  Still, it was okay.

Field Emotions by Melissa West

Oh, this was another cute story.  It features Blake and Summer, who have been really good friends since high school.  Blake is the big football star at their college and Summer is a nerd who is not a fan of watching Blake get hurt on the field.  Summer thinks that Blake is a big player but he’s anything but.  Oh man, I love the whole best friend to lovers bit and I thought West did a great job with these two.  They were adorable and when they finally did the deed, I grinned like a maniac.  So freaking cute!

Grind by Tracy Wolff

This was a short story about two lovers who have been a part for the last three years and are now reunited.  Gage and Dyani.  Their story was short and sweet and even though I wished for more, I still thought this was a cute one.

Overall, there was a shit load of stories but I wasn’t mad that I read them all.  I enjoyed some and I didn’t enjoy others but overall, it was a good mix of stories and I’m glad that I picked this up for review.

Overall grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Avon Impulse.  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: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,