Tag: Tiffany King

Guest Review: A Shattered Moment by Tiffany King

Posted May 11, 2015 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: A Shattered Moment by Tiffany KingReviewer: Tracy
A Shattered Moment by Tiffany King
Series: Fractured Lives #1

Publication Date: May 5, 2015
Genres: New Adult
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three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

In the new series by the bestselling author of the Woodfalls Girls novels, six friends—fresh from high school graduation—discover that the future can come at you from out of nowhere.
This is Mackenzie’s story…

Mackenzie Wilson once had hope for what life had to offer, but everything changed on the night of her graduation. A year later, the only way she can find comfort is by keeping her head down and hoping she remains unnoticed at college.

When Bentley James discovered Mac in that twisted SUV, he was just a newbie EMT on his first call. It was a gut-wrenching moment that made him realize not everyone can be saved—and sometimes they don’t want to be.

A chance encounter on campus brings Bentley back into Mac’s life. Despite her initial resistance, he sets out to discover the girl hiding beneath a shield of seclusion. He evokes painful memories in Mac—but also feelings. As the spark between them grows, Mac must decide if she can let go of the past and believe in something as fragile as love…

Tracy’s review of A Shattered Moment (Fractured Lives #1) by Tiffany King

Mackenzie was a group of friends that were inseparable. They were together all the time and from a very young age have spent all of their time together. On the night of their high school graduation their lives fall apart in a vicious car accident and Mackenzie is one that is left to figure out who she is on her own.

Bentley is an EMT who was the first one on the scene the night of the accident. Now at college he runs in to Mac and starts falling for her but Mac is standoffish and he’s not quite sure how to handle the situation. He ends up just being himself and that seems to work.

Mac starts to loosen up and trust Bentley more each day. He helps her see what a sheltered life she’s been living and this help Mac deal with not only her college roommate but with the ghosts from the past that she has never dealt with.

A Shattered Moment is an moving story but one with the rays of hope shining through for Mac. I loved seeing her persevering through her struggles with her leg injury and coming to terms with it. Bentley was a great character and I loved that he was there for her. He also was the type of person to look inside and not take things at face value. If he had done that then he and Mac would have never gotten together.

There was a romance in this book but I felt that it was mostly focused on Mac’s issues and dealing with the fallout from the accident. I did wish at times that we had seen more during the immediate aftermath of the accident. The story goes from the epilogue/accident on high school graduation night to Mac as a sophomore in college. While we were told some of the things that happened I would have loved to have been shown those things instead. It was still heart wrenching at times but certainly not as emotional as I thought it would be. I admit that I wanted to see more of the romance between Mac and Bentley as well. While it got page time I would have liked it more interwoven with the other parts of the story.

I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series to see what happens next.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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

three-half-stars

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Guest Review: Contradictions by Tiffany King

Posted January 12, 2015 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Contradictions by Tiffany KingReviewer: Tracy
Contradictions by Tiffany King
Series: Woodfalls Girls #3
Also in this series: Misunderstandings, No Attachments, No Attachments, Misunderstandings
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: January 6th 2015
Genres: New Adult
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Three years into college, Tressa Oliver’s life is a nonstop party. She’s skating by in her classes, and there’s no shortage of drinking, dancing, and general hell-raising. The only aspect that hasn’t been much fun: She can’t shake the toxic jerks that always seem to gravitate toward her. It will take someone totally wrong;Trent James is the classic anti–bad boy: smart, boring, and way too serious. To a wild girl like Tressa, there’s no way in hell they’re compatible—especially since Trent seems to see straight through her defenses. To set her right.When a college prank goes terribly wrong, Tressa starts to suspect that her partying ways are leading nowhere fast. Now she has to turn to the last person she ever thought she’d ask for help—and quickly discovers that there’s more to Trent than meets the eye.

Tracy’s review of Contradictions (Woodfalls Girls #3) by Tiffany King

Tressa Oliver is in her final year of college but she really doesn’t care about school or class work. How she managed to get to her senior year with passing grades is a mystery to her but she’s going with the flow. She loves to party and has a great time. She knows that she’s failing out of school but she can’t seem to make herself care a whole lot about it.

Then…tragedy strikes the college and a student dies. Tressa really doesn’t know the boy who died but she had spoken to him right before it happened. She’s deeply affected by his death and starts to change in ways that neither she nor her roommate can understand – she keeps to herself and stops partying. When she’s put on academic probation and told that Trent Lawson must tutor her she’s not thrilled.

Trent is from her home town and has never made a secret of the fact that he likes Tressa. He may be a nerd at heart but he knows that if Tressa just gets to know him she’ll see something she likes. That’s exactly what happens but Tressa thinks she may be becoming someone she doesn’t know and she’s completely confused about the change in herself. How can she be with Trent when she doesn’t even know who she is?

This was an interesting insight into college partying and the ramifications of hazing. In this case Tressa was one of the girls who always enjoyed a good prank and as hazing went  it was pretty tame. Unfortunately a boy died that night and it had a deep affect on Tressa. She wasn’t in any way responsible for the prank but I think knowing how much she was enjoying it was what served as the catalyst for her change in thinking. On top of that her academic probation was pretty humiliating. She wasn’t anxious to share her probation with her roommate so Cameo wasn’t too sympathetic. I can’t say I was a fan of Cameo as she seems pretty selfish and self-centered but I could tell that losing the closeness with her was hurtful to Tressa.

The relationship with Trent was non-existent at first. I didn’t love the way Tressa seemed to almost bully Trent, at first, but I could tell it was a defense mechanism that she utilized to distance herself as her life was in flux. Soon she was treating him as a friend and their feelings grew from there. Trent was kind and I loved the way he treated Tressa as it showed how much he cared for her.

In the end the story didn’t have a major relationship issue and that was worked for the book overall. It focused on the partnership between Tressa and Trent but mostly on Tressa’s life and how it changed over the course of the semester. I really enjoyed the book and reading about these great characters.

Rating: 3.75/4 out of 5

Reading Order:

This title is available from Berkley. 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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Guest Review: When We Met by A.L. Jackson, Molly McAdams, Tiffany King and Christina Lee

Posted January 7, 2015 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: When We Met by A.L. Jackson, Molly McAdams, Tiffany King and Christina LeeWhen We MetPublisher: Penguin
Publication Date: November 4th 2014
Genres: New Adult
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When four girls decide to live off campus together as juniors at a college in Michigan, they expect it to be their best year yet. Little do they know, it’s a year that will change the rest of their lives.

BEHIND HER EYES by A.L. Jackson
Unable to live down her ex-boyfriend’s deception, Misha is determined to avoid betrayal. When, the new guy next door, Darryn starts to get under her skin, her defenses start to crumble. But trusting Darryn seems impossible, especially if he’s not sure he can trust himself.

SAVING ME by Molly McAdams
On the outside, Indy is always ready for a party—but inside she’s breaking. Kier makes a weekly routine of saving the girl next door from herself on Saturday nights… but when will she be ready to remember him on Sunday morning?

FOULING OUT by Tiffany King
Working at a sports bar, Courtney has become a pro at sidestepping propositions from arrogant jocks—which makes her a more elusive catch for campus basketball star Dalton than he expected. But when he falls for the saucy waitress, Dalton will have to rethink his game plan to prove he’s not the jerk Courtney expects.

BENEATH YOUR LAYERS by Christina Lee
In order to ace her fashion internship, Chloe must team up with local college dropout and set builder, Blake—much to her chagrin. But after some "hands-on" experience, Chloe will have to ask herself if Blake factors into her carefully laid plans…

Tracy’s review of When We Met by A.L. Jackson, Molly McAdams, Tiffany King and Christina Lee

 

When I first picked up When We Met I thought that these were four unrelated stories by different authors so I was more than pleasantly surprised when I realized that the stories were about the four roommates. Once I read the first story I wanted to know about the other girls in the house and I loved that I didn’t have to wait for their stories!

Behind Her Eyes was a great story with Darryn helping Misha overcome her betrayal by the guy she had been dating the previous year. Darryn has his own secret having to do with his knowledge of that betrayal. While Misha felt deceived once she finds the secret out I never felt that Darryn was a bad guy. Misha was primed and just waiting for someone to screw with her again so she may have overreacted just a touch (imho). I would have liked to have gotten to know Darryn a bit more in this story but I still really liked it.

Saving Me starts off with a bang. Poor Indy has been screwed over by her family and then walks in on her boyfriend with another girl. Not only that but there’s an even bigger betrayal by the jerk and it left my mouth hanging open. Indy is a strong character to put up with all of it. She unfortunately heads down an alcohol and men fueled road to self destruction. Fortunately she has Kier there to save her each Saturday night. I really liked this story as it had two people with pretty heavy pasts coming together. The author didn’t try to make light of either of their situations and I appreciated that as Kiers, especially, was not a pretty one. I loved that they could find happiness together after all they’d been through.

Fouling Out had childhood friends reuniting and falling in love. Dalton and Courtney had been friends when they were kids but Dalton’s basketball dreams and his father (mostly the father) had them pulling away from each other. Courtney is bitter about the loss of Dalton’s friendship but realizes that Dalton is a good guy. I liked the pair together but felt what was supposed to be the conflict between them wasn’t really a conflict at all. It’s there and then quickly resolved…and then story ended abruptly. I think I would have liked to have seen a little more from the couple after their “troubles” had been dealt with, but it was cute story nonetheless.

Beneath Your Layers gave us two people from different sides of the tracks, so to speak. Blake believes that Chloe is snooty due to how she dresses but she’s not. Blake’s aunt has him helping Chloe fix up a store for her fashion internship.   The time spent together putting the store together has them getting to know each other and realizing there’s more to each of them than the thought. It was a sweet romance and I really enjoyed it.

The book as a whole was pretty darned enjoyable. Once I picked it up I didn’t put it down until I was done with all of it. The romances were sometimes very emotional, and a bit surprising, but sweet and tender. It was a good combination of both stories and authors as they flowed together quite nicely.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

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

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Guest Review: Misunderstandings by Tiffany King

Posted December 30, 2014 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Guest Review: Misunderstandings by Tiffany KingReviewer: Tracy
Misunderstandings by Tiffany King
Series: Woodfalls Girls #2
Also in this series: Misunderstandings, No Attachments, No Attachments, Contradictions
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: May 6th 2014
Genres: New Adult
Add It: Goodreads
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Just when she thought things were going up…
Two years after a devastating breakup, Brittni Mitchell has moved on from Justin Avery—or so she tells herself. But when she returns to Seattle for her best friend’s engagement party, Brittni finds herself the victim of a disastrously timed elevator breakdown. She’s trapped with the last person she wants to face, and forced to recount the past she desperately wants to forget.

She’s going to have to look back…
When Brittni left her podunk hometown for a big city college experience at the University of Washington, hooking up with a guy like Justin Avery was not part of her plan. Between Justin’s attention-grabbing tattoos, cigarette smoking, and bad boy attitude Brittni quickly chalked him up as “Mr. Wrong.” But his charm was unrelenting, and Brittni’s decision to give Justin a chance quickly turned into the worst choice she ever made.

So that she might be able to move forward.
Now she’s stuck with Justin—literally—and the complicated web of misunderstandings that tied up the truth for two years is about to unravel.

Tracy’s review of Misunderstandings (Woodfalls Girls #2) by Tiffany King

Brittni is back in Seattle for her best friend’s engagement party when she gets into an elevator and it breaks down. This wouldn’t be too horrible if it weren’t for two things A) she hates elevators and enclosed spaces and B) she’s stuck in the elevator with her ex-boyfriend who hates her.

The pair end up talking over the hours that they’re together in the elevator and issues from their past, of course, come up. The book is told in alternating chapters from present to past and back again until later in the book (once they get out of the elevator). I’m not normally of fan of this type of storytelling but it worked for me in this case. We don’t find out what the main problem in their relationship was until later in the book (but I soon figured it out) but that too worked in the end. King kept the story going from pretty seamlessly and it flowed very well. I wasn’t ever thrown out of the story because of the switch in time periods.

I really liked Justin and Brittni together. I wish that their misunderstanding had never happened but I could see how it easily could. Communication is not a big thing in the lives of college students so the situation felt very much steeped in reality. We all know from RL and from fiction that no relationship is easy – it has to be nurtured and it takes a lot of work. The characters in this book had to learn that the hard way, unfortunately. King did great job, however, of bringing the pair together after a life-changing event and I enjoyed the book thoroughly.

Rating: 4 out of 5

 

This title is available from Berkley. 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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Review: When We Met Anthology

Posted November 12, 2014 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

when we metRowena’s review of When We Met Anthology by A.L. Jackson, Molly McAdams, Tiffany King and Christina Lee.

Today’s premiere New Adult authors combine their talents to tell four original stories from inside one house.

When four girls decide to live off campus together as juniors at a college in Michigan, they expect it to be their best year yet. Little do they know, it’s a year that will change the rest of their lives.

BEHIND HER EYES by A.L. Jackson
Unable to live down her ex-boyfriend’s deception, Misha is determined to avoid betrayal. When, the new guy next door, Darryn starts to get under her skin, her defenses start to crumble. But trusting Darryn seems impossible, especially if he’s not sure he can trust himself.

SAVING ME by Molly McAdams
On the outside, Indy is always ready for a party—but inside she’s breaking. Kier makes a weekly routine of saving the girl next door from herself on Saturday nights… but when will she be ready to remember him on Sunday morning?

FOULING OUT by Tiffany King
Working at a sports bar, Courtney has become a pro at sidestepping propositions from arrogant jocks—which makes her a more elusive catch for campus basketball star Dalton than he expected. But when he falls for the saucy waitress, Dalton will have to rethink his game plan to prove he’s not the jerk Courtney expects.

BENEATH YOUR LAYERS by Christina Lee
In order to ace her fashion internship, Chloe must team up with local college dropout and set builder, Blake—much to her chagrin. But after some “hands-on” experience, Chloe will have to ask herself if Blake factors into her carefully laid plans…

Behind Her Eyes by A.L. Jackson: I’d never heard of this author before starting this story but I was hopeful that I’d enjoy it. I thought it sounded like a cute NA story and while there were parts that I did like, for the most part, I just couldn’t get into the story.  Misha was burned pretty bad by her last boyfriend (who was a complete dickhead) and so she’s sworn off boys and almost left college because of what the dickhead did to her. Her roommates and friends convince her to come back to school, so she does.

When she comes back, she runs into her new neighbor. The guy that took over her ex’s bedroom in the house next door. She doesn’t want to have anything to do with him but he’s super hot and he’s interested in her and he’s always around so it’s no wonder that they develop feelings.

I wanted to like this story but I wanted Misha to become stronger over the course of the story but I didn’t feel like that really happened. I wanted her to not need Darryn to fight her battles for her but he did and then there’s Darryn. I don’t know if I could ever forgive him for the secrets he kept from Misha. Not as quickly as she did, anyway. Maybe if this was a longer story but when I finished this one, I was left feeling disappointed and still highly annoyed with all characters.

I did like the roommates in Misha’s house. I was intrigued by all of them, really. Especially Indy.

Grade: 2 out of 5

Saving Me by Molly McAdams: Unlike the last story, I went into this story thinking that I wasn’t going to like it at all. I was burned by a McAdams story before and I haven’t been able to give her another go ever since. I was surprised with how easy it was to fall into this story. Both Indy and Kier were interesting characters and at first, I thought it was ridiculous that Indy really didn’t know who the hell Kier was and who the hell was taking care of her drunk ass every Saturday night.

But as we start to really get to know both Kier and Indy, I came to like the both of them. Indy, what a shitty life card she’d been handed. My heart went out to her more than once and then we’re hit with Kier’s story and holy batballs his story just about broke my heart all over. They were both dealing with shitty situations and I was glad that they found each other.

I may have been scared to try McAdams again before this story but I don’t think I am anymore.

Grade: 4 out of 5

Fouling Out by Tiffany King: Oh man, when I found out that the hero of this story was a basketball star, I was thrilled to dig into it. I am a basketball fanatic and I love, love, love my Lakers (even though they’re not the best right now) so I was pretty stoked to get to know Dalton.

I’ve only read one story by King and I wasn’t exactly wowed by it but there’s not much you can get wrong with a basketball hero for me so I went into this one with lots and lots of hope. I did enjoy the story. A lot more than I did the Jackson story but it wasn’t my favorite of the bunch. I thought Courtney was a bit of a snob in the beginning and even though she  comes around and I understood why she was acting the way that she was toward him, it still got on my nerves.

Dalton was a great hero. I liked the way that he didn’t give up on Courtney. I loved that he was this super star guy and yet, he didn’t forget the little people. He didn’t forget Courtney and how much her friendship meant to him when they were kids. I was also glad to see him stand up to his Dad and that Courtney didn’t let herself jump to conclusions about Dalton’s disappearance. It showed that they came a long way in such a short amount of time and that made me happy.

Grade: 3.5 out of 5

Beneath Your Layers by Christina Lee: This was it. My favorite story of the bunch. In the other stories in this book, we didn’t see much of Chloe. She was around but not really around, if that makes any sense. Because of that, I didn’t know how I would come to care about her in this story and then I thought about smacking myself because this is a Christina Lee. Of course it’s going to be good.

And it was.

I really enjoyed getting to know Fashionista Chloe. I also really, really loved me some Blake. I loved seeing them go from not liking each other to flat out in love with each other. Seeing their interactions while they brought Chloe’s vision to life made for some great reading.  I liked that Chloe came into her own in this book.  That she finally stood up to her Mom and started living for herself. I loved the end when Blake models for Chloe and they come out as a couple. Oh man, the feels…I had all of them.

I also really loved that even though this story was so short, it didn’t feel like it was. I was so engrossed in the story that I read it in no time but I didn’t feel cheated. I thought Lee delivered a great story in such a short amount of space. Chloe and Blake were great characters and their romance as believable and adorable. I definitely recommend it.

Grade: 4.5 out of 5

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

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