REVIEW: Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

At twenty-two years old, aspiring musician Sydney Blake has a great life: She’s in college, working a steady job, in love with her wonderful boyfriend, Hunter, and rooming with her good friend, Tori. But everything changes when she discovers Hunter cheating on her with Tori—and she is left trying to decide what to do next.

Sydney becomes captivated by her mysterious neighbor, Ridge Lawson. She can’t take her eyes off him or stop listening to the daily guitar playing he does out on his balcony. She can feel the harmony and vibrations in his music. And there’s something about Sydney that Ridge can’t ignore, either: He seems to have finally found his muse. When their inevitable encounter happens, they soon find themselves needing each other in more ways than one…



From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, a passionate tale of friendship, betrayal, and romance—and the enchanting music that inspires one young woman to put her life back together.

From the author of the New York Times bestsellers Slammed, Point of Retreat, Hopeless, This Girl, and Losing Hope, Maybe Someday is destined to become another bestseller and long-lasting fan favorite.

Includes a free original soundtrack by musician Griffin Peterson.

BUY: AMAZON 

   

I was beginning to think that maybe someday I would write this review. I actually read the book when it was released because that's what you do when a Colleen Hoover book is released. You read that sucker ASAP ! So, I read it and I loved it. I knew I would love it before I even started reading. I so wish that I had that feeling every time I opened a book.

"Nothing in my life has ever felt so good yet hurt so achingly bad."

Maybe Someday has all the elements that we've come to expect a Colleen Hoover book to have, such as, quick wit, awkward moments, and tender scenes; however, it's also fresh and original. The book puts a spin on everything that we've come to expect from her. She takes on another "forbidden romance", but it's far more innocent than we've come to recognize the term "forbidden romance" for. While some moments are difficult, the characters are good people, and I don't think anything too unforgiveable happens.

The music extra is super cool. I really think that there couldn't be a Maybe Someday without Griffin Peterson's CD. It was really cool to be able to hear the lyrics put to music, and I REALLY enjoyed that aspect of the book. Such a cool and clever idea.

Because of the storyline, I did find the form of "dialogue" to be a little difficult and wordy at times. I had the same problem with another book that shared a common thread with this storyline. I'm not going to name drop because it would be a spoiler, but what bothered me is definitely not something that should turn you away from this book. I adore Colleen Hoover's writing and feel like her books are always a guaranteed good read. This probably isn't my very favorite Colleen Hoover book, but when you're your own competition that means you're an excellent writer. If you're familiar with her writing, then you should definitely read this book right now. If you're new to her writing, I think you should start with Slammed and Hopeless and work your way to this book. They are all fantastic. She really has an original approach as a romance writer and can't be matched!

"The heart does whatever the hell it wants to do. The only thing we can control is whether we give our lives and our minds the chance to catch up to our hearts."

4.5 Stars

 

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REVIEW: Reclaiming the Sand by A. Meredith Walters

Bully and victim. 

Tormentor and tormented. 

Villain and hero. 

Ellie McCallum was a bully. No connection to anyone or anything. A sad and lonely existence for a young woman who had come to expect nothing more for herself. Her only happiness coming from making others miserable.

Particularly Freaky Flynn. 

Flynn Hendrick lived a life completely disconnected even as he struggled to become something more than that boy with Asperger's. He was taunted and teased, bearing the brunt of systematic and calculated cruelty, ultimately culminating in a catastrophic turn of events that brought Ellie and Flynn's worlds crashing down. 

But then Flynn and Ellie grew up. 

And moved on. 

Until years later when their paths unexpectedly cross again and the bully and the freak are face to face once more. 

When labels come to define you, finding yourself feels impossible. Particularly for two people disconnected from the world who inexplicably find a connection in each other. 

And out of the wreckage of their tragic beginnings, an unlikely love story unfolds. 

But a painful past doesn't always want to let go. And old wounds are never truly healed...and sometimes the further you try to run from yourself the closer you come to who you really are. 

BUY: Amazon 

   

This book was really hard for me.

My heart hurt through most of the first half, and at some points I had to stop reading to calm my nerves. It made me upset, and more than that, it made me see red. Reading about someone being bullied is going to be difficult regardless, but this particular story hit close to home for me.

My younger cousin, Joseph, has Asperger’s and as I imagined would be the case, so many of Flynn’s mannerisms reminded me of him, mainly his inability to think something and not speak it (regardless of how rude it might come across), his incredible ability to remember just about everything, and his temper. He can tell you word-for-word a conversation that you had with him years ago, as well as tell you what you were wearing that day. You can give him a random date and he’ll tell you what day of the week it fell on within a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, he’ll also tell you when you’ve gained weight since the last time he saw you J He once got violently angry because his brother accidentally bumped his arm while he was drawing a picture for our Grammy and (in his opinion) ruined it.

But here’s the bottom line: he’s such a special person to me, so when Ellie and her friends were bullying Flynn for behaving the same way Joseph does, it made me incredibly angry. I was starting to think this book was going to be a miss for me, because how in the hell could I ever root for Ellie? Why would I ever want someone like Ellie to end up with someone like Flynn? But then, A. Meredith Walters goes and proves once again why she is one of my favorite authors…

She replaced my anger with hope.

Hope for not only Ellie, but for Ellie and Flynn.

Okay, here’s a quick rundown for y’all: Flynn transfers to Ellie’s school. He is bullied and teased and misunderstood simply because he has Asperger’s. Ellie and her friends are trouble, plain and simple. They have a bad reputation around their small town, and are the driving force behind making high school hell for Flynn. When Ellie starts to spend more time with Flynn, she realizes how much she enjoys his company but in order to save face with her friends, she continues to bully him whenever they happen to be around. She wants to be “secret friends.” After a tragic accident forces Flynn and his mother to move away, Ellie doesn’t plan on ever seeing Flynn again…nor does she want to…because he ruined her life. But as fate would have it, they are thrust back into each other’s lives years later and as they begin to spend more and more time together, Ellie starts to question everything, and everyone, in her life. Well…everyone except Flynn.

Whew. Like I said, the first half of this book was tough to handle, but the last 40 percent – that’s what makes this a 5 star book in my opinion. It’s during this part of the book where I realized that Ellie truly isn’t a bad person. She has a good heart, but has allowed the negative people around her to shape her into someone she’s not. With Flynn, it’s different; he brings out the good in her and that’s one of the many reasons why I found myself 100% rooting for this romance after initially being completely against it.

The innocence and fragility of Flynn and Ellie’s relationship was done wonderfully. It never felt rushed or forced, it felt natural; like these two were just destined to be together. While there are plenty of adorable moments between them, there are just as many angst-driven twists that made me feel for both of them. The patience that Ellie had to maintain when Flynn had one of his episodes made my heart not only thaw towards her, but warm completely. In those moments, it showed just how much she was willing to really and truly do anything to be with him. She redeemed herself in more ways than one, and that’s a testament to A. Meredith Walters and her incredible writing ability. She managed to make me go from hating a character to quite frankly, loving her. And Flynn…well…he was just plain easy to love.

The journey of Flynn and Ellie is far from pretty but once I reached the end, my exact words were, “That was perfect.” Perfect doesn’t have to be pretty, and A. Meredith Walters has given us a wonderful representation of that in Reclaiming the Sand. As much as this book made my hands shake and want to throw my iPad in a fit of rage – it also made me laugh, shed more than a few happy tears, and is a beautiful reminder that in almost everyone, there is some good…sometimes we just can’t see it until the right person brings it out. 

5 STARS

COVER REVEAL & EXCERPT: Make it Count by Megan Erickson

MAKE IT COUNT by Megan Erickson kicks off the lighthearted, funny, and sexy Bowler University series! Readers will love the fresh new series filled with laughter and lots of fun in this debut novel!

 

Kat Caruso wishes her brain had a return policy, or at least a complaint hot-line. The defective organ is constantly distracted, terrible at statistics, and absolutely flooded with inappropriate thoughts about her boyfriend's gorgeous best friend, Alec...who just so happens to be her brand new college math tutor. Who knew nerd was so hot?

 

Kat usually goes through tutors like she does boyfriends--both always seem to bail when they realize how hopeless she is. It's safer for her heart to keep everyone at arm's reach. But Alec is always stepping just a little too close.

Alec Stone should not be fantasizing about Kat. She's adorable, unbelievably witty, and completely off limits. He'd never stab his best friend in the back...

But when secrets are revealed, the lines of loyalty are blurred. To MAKE IT COUNT, Alec must learn messy human emotions can't be solved like a trigonometry function. And Kat has to trust Alec may be the first guy to want her for who she is, and not in spite of it.

 

   

Excerpt

Kat gathered her books and stuffed them into her plaid Burberry messenger bag, then headed toward the front doors, smoothie from the library snack shop in hand. Head bent, fiddling with the clasp of her bag, she stumbled into a wall of human on the pavement outside.

“Oh, I’m sorry—” Her voice dropped out when she realized the solid flesh belonged to Alec, Max’s best friend.

She’d only met him once or twice before he’d moved in with Max this semester and every time, he cocked his eyebrow with a half frown like he knew something she didn’t. Which he actually did, since he had brainy superpowers. Smarter than a speeding Einstein. Able to leap over C-minus students like her in a single bound.

She didn’t trust people that smart. And she didn’t trust a guy who didn’t ogle her ass or leer at her boobs like every other member of the straight male species on the planet.

Right now, that raised-eyebrow frown pinned her where she stood. His pale green eyes behind thick black frames roamed over her shoulder to the library and then back to her. With his pin-stripe button-down, dark jeans with Converse shoes and hair styled in a short, messy pompadour, he looked like a nerdy Elvis.

His frown morphed into a smile when he spotted the smoothie in her hand, and she definitely didn’t notice his full lips. “You know, you don’t have to venture into the forbidden zone just to get a smoothie.”

Oooh. The jerk. She glanced around surreptitiously, then leaned in and spoke in a low voice. “Just play it cool. Don’t let it slip someone like me snuck in the library.” She gripped his forearm and whispered. “Password today is rosebud.”

His face blanked and he looked at her like he’d never seen her before. Kat debated whether or not that was an improvement over his other look.

But then those intelligent eyes narrowed and a smirk curled his lips. “I know. We nerds get an e-mail every morning.”

See? He always needed the last word. She propped a hand on her hip and leaned in. “Well, sounds like you have a mole. Might want to look into that.”

He opened his mouth but she cut him off. “Just looking out for you guys. Anyway, see ya around!”

Before he could shoot back a snarky comeback, Kat skirted around him and bounded down the stairs. She chalked that up as Kat 1, Alec 0.

Author bio:

MEGAN ERICKSON grew up in a family that averages 5’3” on a good day and started writing to create characters who could reach the top kitchen shelf. She’s got a couple of tattoos, has a thing for gladiators and has been called a crazy cat lady. After working as a journalist for years, she decided she liked creating her own endings better and switched back to fiction. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, two kids and two cats. And no, she still can’t reach the stupid top shelf.

Author website  I Facebook  I Twitter  I Avon Romance

RELEASE BLITZ: Veiled Innocence by Ella Frank

Tick, tick, tock.

Time.

That's all I have now.

A small room, a photograph, and time. 

They want me to trust them and confess my sins. 

They told me they wouldn't judge me -- they lied. 

I thought we could convince the world that this wasn't a crime.

We were wrong.

Time doesn't stand still. 

The clock keeps ticking, the world is unconvinced, and now...

Now he is gone.

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REVIEW: Hothouse Flower by Krista and Becca Ritchie

(Calloway Sisters series, book 2)

Ryke Meadows, meet Daisy Calloway...she's all grown up.

Twenty-five year old Ryke Meadows knows he's hard to love. With a billion-dollar inheritance, a track-star resume, and an alpha male personality -- he redefines the term likable asshole. But he's not living to make friends. Or enemies. He just wants to free climb three of the toughest mountains in Yosemite without drama or interruption. 

And then he receives a distressed call from a girl in Paris - a girl that he has never been allowed to have. 

Daisy Calloway is eighteen. Finally. With her newfound independence, she can say goodbye to her overbearing mother and continue her modeling career. Next stop, Paris. Fashion Week begins with a bang, and Daisy uncovers the ugly reality of the industry. She wants to prove to her family that she can live on her own, but when everything spirals out of control, she turns to Ryke to keep her secrets. 

As Daisy struggles to make sense of this new world and her freedom, she pushes the limits and fearlessly rides the edge. Ryke knows there's deep hurt beneath every impulsive action. He must keep up with Daisy, and if he lets her go, her favorite motto -- "live as if you'll die today" -- may just come true. 

New Adult Romance: recommended for readers 18+ for mature content. 

BUY: Amazon 

   

I’m kind of at a loss. What in the whole wide world of words could I possibly say at this point? There are very few authors who can put out book after book and have me fawning over every single one. It’s so rare that an author (or in this case, authors) can piece together a brilliant, captivating story time and time again without one, single flaw (in my opinion, of course.) These particular authors have a tremendous gift, and it’s after reading their stories that I think to myself, “How in the hell did I ever survive before I read their work?” I can think of maaaybe 10-12 authors that fall into this category for me, and do you want to know who sits at the very top of that list?

Krista and Becca Ritchie. (That should be obvious, but ya know, dramatic effect and all that.)

Every time I devour one of their books, I think there’s no way they could possibly top it. How in the hell can it get better than this? And every single time, with every single book, they pull it off. They just keep getting better…and it flat out amazes me.

Hothouse Flower is the wild, passionate story of twenty-five year old Ryke Meadows and eighteen year old Daisy Calloway. Anyone who has read my reviews for the books in the Addicted series and Kiss the Sky will know that I have been head over fucking heels in love with Ryke from just about the first time he was introduced in the series. He has a heart of gold masked by an “I don’t give a fuck” attitude, and really is the perfect definition of a likeable asshole. It’s going to take one hell of a book boyfriend to knock him off the top spot on my list, that’s for sure. SO, my anticipation for this particular book surpassed all the others. My expectations were enormous, even though I tried to tame them. But not only were my gigantic hopes and dreams of what this story could be met, they were beyond exceeded!! Krista and Becca wrote Ryke and Daisy’s journey to perfection. It simply couldn’t have been done any better.

The dynamic between Ryke and Daisy has always intrigued me, and it takes a lot of skill to toe the line of innocent flirting and “uhhh, slightly inappropriate.” Daisy has been under eighteen in all the previous books and yet the way Krista and Becca wrote her friendship with Ryke, it never once felt inappropriate. Were boundaries pushed? Absolutely. Was there maybe some foreshadowing that these two might just be perfect for each other? No question. Was the wait worth it?  Abso-fucking-lutely. With Daisy being underage up until Hothouse Flower, we are able to see her friendship with Ryke evolve in so many ways before we start seeing them as a couple and to me, that adds about a hundred layers of depth to their relationship. Now, just a word of warning: when they do finally get together… it’s hotter than standing on the freaking sun! I’ve never actually stood on the sun, obviously because I’m still alive, but I feel comfortable with that analogy, so just roll with it. Seriously, you won’t want to be reading those scenes in public. I’m pretty sure after reading the cornfield scene, there was no hiding my flushed cheeks. One of the hottest scenes ever. Ever. In any book. I’m fairly certain that from now on when I’m driving by endless rows of corn (and wheat…I mean, I do live in Kansas) I’m going to start blushing and immediately think of that particular scene. I’ll never look at those fields the same again.

As much as I loved Daisy and Ryke being the focal points of this installment in the series, some of my favorite parts involve the other four: Lily, Lo, Connor, and Rose. There is a special energy that radiates from the pages of each of these books when the six main characters are together. There’s drama and angst, banter and quick wit, and so much humor! But above all, there is a deep seeded love amongst the six of them, and it’s just an absolute joy to spend time in their world, even if it is just looking in. To be honest, this book made me realize that as much as I love Ryke and Daisy’s relationship, and Connor and Rose’s marriage, Lily and Lo still take the cake for me. One of my favorite lines from the whole book actually came from Lily… 

I literally laughed out loud, and had the cheesiest freaking smile on my face for probably a good five minutes after that line. It’s so adorable and it’s so Lily. Each characters’ personalities are so well developed, and the ease with which Krista and Becca transition between the drastic differences is beyond impressive. No character ever loses their individuality, and that’s why no matter who is in what scene with who, it’s always entertaining. Every single word, page, chapter…it’s just absolutely superb.

If you read any of my reviews regarding this spin-off series or the Addicted series, you’ll know just how highly I think of these two authors and this series. Their work is out of this world incredible, and if you were to ask me to name an author whose work you just simply had to read, my answer would be a no brainer: Krista and Becca Ritchie. Hands fucking down. 

5 STARS

Reviewed by:

MY CASTING PICKS:

COVER REVEAL: Shattered by Elizabeth Lee

We are beyond excited to share the cover of Elizabeth Lee's SHATTERED! SHATTERED is Elizabeth’s first New Adult Contemporary Romance novel and is receiving a new cover to celebrate the last amazing year in Elizabeth Lee’s publishing career. She will be releasing a new edition of SHATTERED on April 29^th!

Alyssa Boyd had big plans. Big plans that included getting the hell out of the little town she’d grown up in with her two best friends. When she decided it was time to let one of them know her true feelings for him; a change of plans resulted in a tragic turn of events. Now, Alyssa is left alone to find her way out of the darkness that an untimely death has left in its wake. Jesse Vaughn was never good at letting people in. He’d learned a long time ago that it’s easier that way because people leave, or, unfortunately, die. The one person he wanted to let in doesn’t want him anymore. The only problem is he can’t stop thinking about her. Jesse returns to the childhood home he left behind with one goal in mind… to convince her that they should be together. When Jesse finds Alyssa she’s not the same girl he left behind. She’s wild, reckless and hell-bent on not giving Jesse a second chance. Lucky for Jesse, his stubborn streak has always been a mile-wide and he’s not about to give up on her. When your life has been shattered can you really pick up all the pieces and move on?

 

 

 About Elizabeth Lee

When I'm not writing or playing the part of wife and mother, you can find me dancing back-up for Beyonce, singing back-up for Miranda, or sunning myself on the beach with a drink in hand. Here's the thing about being born and raised in a small town—you have a very vivid imagination! Now, I channel it all to create stories where the girl always ends up with the right guy, first kisses are magical, and a happy ending is just that!  

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