Sam's Book Basket: new adult romance

Showing posts with label new adult romance. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

REVIEW: Sweet Dreams (Colorado Mountain #2) – Kristen Ashley

Released: April 23rd, 2011

Lauren Grahame has spent her whole life thinking something special was going to happen. She didn’t know what it was, she just knew it would one day be hers. But she learned the hard way that special wasn’t on offer.

So, after divorcing her cheating husband, Lauren searched for nothing special and she thought she found it when she landed a job as a waitress in a biker bar in Carnal. It was perfect: a nothing job in a nowhere bar in Nowheresville.

Then Tatum Jackson walked in. Part-owner of the bar, he took one look at high-class Lauren and wanted nothing to do with her. And he made this known, loudly.

Tate’s angry insults seared in her brain, Lauren decides the feeling is mutual and she doesn’t want anything to do with the gloriously handsome Tate Jackson. The clash of the bartender and barmaid begins but, even though Tate makes his change of mind clear (in biker-speak, a language Lauren is not fluent in), Lauren is intent on going her own way.

Until a serial killer hits Carnal and Lauren finds out Tate isn’t a bartender, he’s a bounty hunter. He stakes his claim for Lauren before he goes on the hunt for a killer but Laurie doesn’t speak biker nor does she understand bounty hunters and Tate comes back from the hunt to find his old lady has moved on.

Life throws curveball after curveball at Laurie and Tate. As secrets are revealed, women are brutally murdered, and Lauren tries to find her inner biker babe.

"You live with a storm cloud, you learn to find the bright side."

Another fucking amazing book from the Colorado Mountain series. Seriously, these mountain dudes really know how to work it. Tate is fucking awesome (mostly because he fucks up then grovels, and also 'cause he's hot) and God, Lauren is such a sweetheart with her naivety and friendliness.

We start off with Lauren who takes off when she finds out that her douche of an now-ex-husband was cheating on her with her fucking best friend. I know, total douchewaffle. She wanders around for a while until she settles into a little town called Carnal. Finding a job as a waitress at Bubba's, she had to sass Krystal into letting her in. Then she met another douche, as if her husband wasn't enough.

None other than Tatum Jackson.

Christ, he really was a prick. I wanted to punch him straight through the face when I heard what he said about Lauren. I mean, come on, man, nobody – and I mean nobody – should say that to a woman. Fuck, but he did. And thus begins the tale of a sweet, sweet love-hate relationship between the two.

But Lauren… well, let's just say her ex-husband had fucked with her mind. Like really bad. But Tate's working on it.

"Special doesn't exist. So the best you can do is find real. I found real, Brad, and I like it."

Basically her and Brad's relationship is the gif above. Sick it to him, Laurie!

And Tate, wow, he has a way with words. Yes, he may seem really crude (which I love my men like) but he's got a way of making you feel really special.

"I'm gonna piss you off 'cause I can be a dick. That's who I am. And you're gonna piss me off 'cause, babe, you got attitude. That's who you are. And that's who we're comin' out to be together. And I'm all right with that because, with what I had before, even when you're a bitch, I like it. But when you're not, it's a sweetness like I've never tasted."

I think I just barfed in my mouth over how cute this shit is. I mean, really? Can you be any more realistic and romantic? Realistic and romantic don't fit together unless it's put together by Tate Jackson. Goddamn man.

The serial killer also adds to the intensity of the whole situation and the last few chapters were crazy. As in crazy crazy. You would not expect that person, wow. Definitely worth reading!

MY RATING:

4.5 APPLES!!!!!

✭ BOOK LINKS ✭

(Click book cover for Goodreads link)

♕ The Gamble (Colorado Mountain #1) ♕

Amazon | Barnes&Noble

♕ Sweet Dreams (Colorado Mountain #2) ♕

Amazon | Barnes&Noble

♕ Lady Luck (Colorado Mountain #3) ♕

Amazon | Barnes&Noble

♕ Breathe (Colorado Mountain #4) ♕

Amazon | Barnes&Noble

♕ Jagged (Colorado Mountain #5) ♕
Amazon | Barnes&Noble

♕ Kaleidoscope (Colorado Mountain #6) ♕
Amazon | Barnes&Noble

Kristen Ashley was born in Gary, Indiana, USA. She nearly killed her mother and herself making it into the world, seeing as she had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck (already attempting to accessorise and she hadn't taken her first breath!).

Kristen grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana but has lived in Denver, Colorado and the West Country of England. Thus she has been blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her posse is loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write.

Kristen was raised in a house with a large and multi-generational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland and existed amongst the strains of Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon and Whitesnake (and the wardrobes that matched).

Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music, clothes and love was a good way to grow up.

And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.

Check her out in these sites:

Website | Twitter | Facebook

✻ ✻ ✻

Monday, July 7, 2014

REVIEW: The Gamble (Colorado Mountain #1) – Kristen Ashley

Released: April 18th, 2011

Love is the greatest gamble of all . . .

Nina Sheridan desperately needs a timeout vacation. With a fiancé who can't even remember how she takes her coffee, Nina wants some distance to rethink her engagement. Flying halfway around the world from England to a mountain town in Colorado should do the trick. But when she finds a gorgeous man at her rental cabin, Nina's cold, lonely adventure suddenly heats up.

The owner of the house, Holden "Max" Maxwell is surprised by the beautiful woman who turns up at his door. But when Nina becomes ill, Max spends days nursing her back to health. A private man with a broken heart, Max finds himself drawn to the strong-willed woman. Soon it becomes impossible for Nina and Max to deny their growing attraction to one another. Yet even as these two wounded lovebirds think about taking a chance on a relationship, a dangerous secret from Max's past emerges-and threatens to end their love for good.

"Thank you for showing me it was worth taking a gamble again, darling."

Kristen Ashley is the ultimate creator of badass, dirty mouthed alpha males. Hones to God, all her men are so addictive, smoking hot, and completely badass and possessive. In The Gamble, we get Max who's gone through so much in so little time. And also Nina, very high class, very sweet, and very confused. Together, they have the kind of chemistry that would suck the air right out of the room (in a definite good way).

Sweet mama, I wouldn't have read this series if it wasn't for my best friend (God bless you, woman). When I read the blurb, I thought it was just going to be an "ehh, okay" kind of book instead of a "wow, okay" kind of book. But I was wrong. So wow, okay.

Like every other of Kristen's books, this one is written from Nina's point of view and we see her as an introduction to the novel with her car being stuck in a ditch and her reservations for lodgings being cancelled by none other than Max himself.

But loved, loved, loved Nina's character! She's very independent, smart, and she sticks up for herself. Like other Ashley heroines, she's also a little lost somewhere and so, with the help of Max, she finds herself again.

I. Fucking. Love. Her. She knows just the right things to say.

"We girls, we're tough, darling. Soft on the outside but, deep down, we're tough. DOesn't feel like it now but none of this is going to beat you."

But then when she holds grudges, it's hi-lar-i-ous! Definitely don't wanna get on her bad side.

"Maybe plot how I'll drug and kidnap my father, drive him to the next state and dump him outside a Police Station with a note pinned to him saying that he killed JFK and was there to confess."

In comes Max with his suave ways. He was a dick at first, like most guys are, but then he became the possessive male who came to love Nina in all of her cute high-maintenanced ways. God, when he gets angry but like a good kind of angry (?), it's so hot!

"Not a big fan of my woman running herself down, not even doin' it as a joke. You got an unbelievably pretty face, fantastic fuckin' eyes and a spectacular body."

Um, I think my underwear just flew out the window? Holy. Shit.

Although Max can be annoying at times when he thinks with his dick, but the outcome? WOO-HOO!!! Like really, can you do me? Okay, moving on. Seriously. Okay. Um.

THE ENDING. Yes, let's talk about the ending. Wow, the ending. Did not expect that. Really was surprised. I think the Colorado Mountain series all have a bit of a mystery/action in them which makes it all the more intense and exciting to read. READ IT!!!

MY RATING:

4 – 4.5 APPLES!!!!!

✭ BOOK LINKS ✭

(Click book cover for Goodreads link)

♕ The Gamble (Colorado Mountain #1) ♕

Amazon | Barnes&Noble

♕ Sweet Dreams (Colorado Mountain #2) ♕

Amazon | Barnes&Noble

♕ Lady Luck (Colorado Mountain #3) ♕

Amazon | Barnes&Noble

♕ Breathe (Colorado Mountain #4) ♕

Amazon | Barnes&Noble

♕ Jagged (Colorado Mountain #5) ♕
Amazon | Barnes&Noble

♕ Kaleidoscope (Colorado Mountain #6) ♕
Amazon | Barnes&Noble

Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music, clothes and love was a good way to grow up.

And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.

Check her out in these sites:

Website | Twitter | Facebook

✻ ✻ ✻

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

BLOG TOUR: The Fall of January Cooper – Audrey Bell + Review, giveaway & teasers

Released: June 17th, 2014

How do you lose everything?

Ask January Cooper.

She was the daughter of a Dallas multimillionaire, the debutante of the year, and the girl most likely to get whatever she wanted.

But when her father is arrested for securities fraud, the girl who had everything starts to lose everything. And once she starts falling, she can't seem to stop.

When she walks into Christian Cutlass's bar, she meets the first person who sees all the way through her. And Christian Cutlass meets the first girl who doesn't care about who he used to be and what he lost one night when he was nineteen years old.

She's gorgeous and hurt. He's twisted in too many ways to count. She's the girl with nothing left to lose. He was the boy who lost everything he lived for.

How do you lose everything? You start by falling.

"And the truth is, this makes more sense if it's somebody's fault. but it's not. It's not anybody's fault. It just happened."

*COPY PROVIDED BY AUTHOR FOR AN HONEST REVIEW*

Emotionally wrecking but it also pieced my heart together as the two slowly fell in love. The characters were both deliriously stubborn with issues stacked higher than Mount Everest. Yet the two, in the midst of despair, managed to find solace and comfort in each other.

Audrey Bell has created yet another wonderfully written book. Although honestly it was slightly lacking in the emotional connection, the dialogue and the characters' actions were written so wonderfully, especially since the point of views kept alternating so we get a look into both their heads.

We've first got Christian Cutlass who basically lost everything that one fateful night. No, not everything. He's still a man with hope but also a man filled with guilt. He doesn't think he deserve any happiness.

On the other hand, January Cooper had everything. Wealthy, beautiful and popular. Well, if you don't count the fact that one of her ex-boyfriends is a cheating stoner and the other is a impulsive cheater on drugs. But the exposure of her father's fraud flipped her world on its axes. No money, no home, nothing. It was her against the world.

Although they both showed significant emotional pain, they always managed to work through it. January rarely ever cried until what happened, until she realized how vulnerable she actually was. Christian was perfectly content with his average life but then the guilt and the pain kept building up inside of him until it burst like a dam.

However, the two connects in a way that is difficult for other couples, which is through pain. Beautiful, intricately written and just wonderful. Wonderful sigh.