What Were You Expecting?
I'm just a girl. Sometimes I'm mad. Sad. Angry. Happy. Amused. Funny. Sarcastic. But then, What Were You Expecting?
Avid reader. Book reviewer. Wife. Mother. Foodie.
Review
I didn't love this as much as Beauty and the Billionaire. Toward the end it picked up and I fell into the story, but I was bothered by the lack of concern the heroine showed for her twin in the first half. She was there to help her sister get clean and she rarely even spared a thought for her.
That aside, I enjoyed the romance. I liked that Reese brought out the real Audrey. With him she found a safe place to let her hair down. He, in turn, was able to show all the parts of himself to her.
Though the lightness of the story worked against it in the beginning, it was a satisfying read at the end.
1
This is an old favorite. I like the way the heroine stands up for herself. And the hero is hot, which is always a bonus.
Dear Booklikes,
I'm settling in very well to my new space here... But y'all need a mobile app or a mobile friendly version of the site for iOS and Android users.
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Fair warning, this book is focussed on some heavy issues: death, rape and suicide. Unfortunately, it doesn't deal well with either issue. What could have been a gritty, emotionally compelling read was instead boring and a little ridiculous. I felt no connection to either character or to the story. The lifeguard training was probably the most interesting thing about the book and that wasn't even all that interesting. Her reasons for keeping her distance from everyone made little sense past a superficial level. His need to protect and save made a little more sense based on his past, but wasn't written well. Instead of coming off as a bit damaged and over-protective, he read as chauvinistic..that she allowed - even encouraged - such behavior in him killed all her claims of being 'strong' and 'independent'. The hours I spent reading this are ones I can't get back, and that makes me sad.
I almost DNF'd this less than halfway through. The writing was disjointed and the main characters both irritating. I'm not sure why I kept reading, but the story did become more interesting toward the end. It wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either.
This started out really well. Then the heroine started making decisions for everyone else, thinking she knew best, and it all went downhill. I'm not a fan of the self-sacrificing plot and the heroine takes that to an extreme here. The plot with the her brother was ridiculous and silly. What saved the book was the hero. He was angry and a little EMO at times, but he was real about it. He didn't pretend everything was well or shy away from things because they were hard or scary. He was a well rounded character and made the story worth reading.
Here Without You (Between the Lines #4)
I expected more from the heroine of this book based on thr last one. Brook and Reid's situation was interesting and kept me glued to the pages, but Dori disappointed me. I'm not surprised she acted differently based on the changes in her life, but I expected more than avoidance and radio silence. Reid was surprisingly insightful in this book. I'm most pleased with his growth over the course of the series. These books are on the long side (at least 100 pages could have been shaved from each) but they were engrossing.
This is by far my favorite of the series. I think because both characters change and grow so much over the course of the novel. I didn't expect to like Reid. Or, .ore accurately, I didn't expect him to win my trust. I admit he did, though. I believed in him by the end of the book, which is a pretty major feat considering my feeling about him in the beginning.At first Dori seems almost too-perfect. I expected her to be a Mary Sue. What saved her was how self-aware and honest she was. She didn't shy away from her faults or try to cover them up, she confronted them head on and dealt with them. This isn't a perfect read - I often found myself irritated or ambivalent - but in the end I enjoyed it.
This is a continuation of the story that began in book 1, Between the Lines. I rarely say this, but I feel they should be read in order. The plot in book 1 is pivotal in making the plot here work. I'm unsure how I feel about this book. The romance aspects were enjoyable and worth reading. The rest...not so much. Brook's scheming and manipulating felt forced and cliched. That she roped Reid into and Graham was so clueless just added to the lack of believablilty. It was all a bit too over the top.
Though I didn't love this, I had a hard time putting it down. It read more YA than NA to me. The characters are filming a high school drama, and the story seemed to be a reflection of that. I enjoyed Emma and the secondary cast of characters. Especially Graham and Emily. Reid and Brook were harder to stomach, though I admit I didn't every actually dislike them. I saw the ending from a mile away and wasn't surprised by what happened, though I was pleased. All in all an okay read. Not very memorable, but not necessarily a bad way to pass the time.
I didn't connect with the heroine of this book or enough of the story. I enjoyed the hero and the college setting, but the rest of the details were too hazy to pull me in. Hailey was a child star who just retired to go to school, but there's no press or fangirling going on? Several of her dirty secrets come out in the news and there's no backlash in the story? Though it had potentional, in the end it fell flat.
I think the socially-awkward heroine is one we can all relate to on some level. Her tendency to pull away and live inside her own head made her hard to relate to at times, but made her a more realistic character, imo. I like the emotional undercurrents of the book and applaud the author for touching on them. Having said that, it was hard to read at times. The constant push-pull from the h/h was irritating and I struggled to buy into their continued attraction. The first time they met it made sense, after that I began to question it. In the end I was won over. An emotionally compelling read, if a bit hard to get into.
Shalvis has penned another winner. This is probably my favorite of all her Animal Magnetism books. I loved Griffin and Kate. But especially Griffin.I definitely suggest you go preorder this book. Like, right now.
Displaced Hearts
When a story is told in first person I really need to engage with the narrator for it to work for me. Sadly, I didn't connect with this narrator at all. That kind of killed the story for me. Though I enjoyed the basic premise - high school sweetheart turns up at college and wants girl back - it wasn't executed as well as I'd hoped it would be. Liz, the heroine, was on the immature side of young, which made for some contradictory thoughts and actions. I had a hard time putting myself in her shoes, so I couldn't really understand why she made a lot of the decisions she did. Though I finished the story, I never really engaged. Not a terrible read, but not a great one either.
This was a fast read. I zipped through it in a matter of hours. This started out a kind of a silly romp. Phin keeps getting into silly scrapes and kind of bumbling her way through her post-breakup feelings. Though that isn't really my cuppa, I can't deny I was enjoying it. Unfortunately, as the novel wore on, Phin wore on my nerves. She continually made poor decisions that went against common sense and found herself in bad situations because of them. Once or twice was silly and fun. After that I began to get impatient and annoyed. Though this didn't work for me, I do believe there's an audience for it. Fans of slapstick comedies along the lines of Evanovich's Plum series should enjoy this.
