Review: Portrait of a Crossroads by Kelly Rand

Book: Portrait of a Crossroads

Author: Kelly Rand

Published Date: May 18th, 2013

Publisher: Riptide Publishing

Genre: LGBT/Romance/Short Story

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon

Synopsis: 

Since the day Annette found her father's body at the bottom of the stairs she has been going through the motions in life.She remembers the days where she had ambition but she just can't remember what they were. Her brothers are no help as they have never had any sort of ambition.

Then she meets Sadie. Sadie has everything that Annette is missing.She's a newly single, tattooed artist.Something about her wakes Annette up. Whether its the way she captures people on the canvass or simply the kindness she shows Annette,Annette doesn't know.

When Annette begins doing odd jobs for Sadie such as cleaning brushes and spending lazy days together in conversation,things slowly develop from a burgeoning friendship into something more. This also allows Annette to realize her own ambitions once again.

Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

This book was an easy read, albeit sometimes tedious. The beginning was quite slow and too much time was spent on the friendship and not enough time on the romance that developed from that.I think I would have liked this book much better if things weren't so cramped together. The end felt rushed and that drove me bananas.

Another issue I had was that I didn't understand what attracted Sadie to Annette. It was shown why Annette was attracted to Sadie but not the other way around. I worried that for Sadie,this was a rebound relationship as she had just become single again after an extended relationship with another woman.

I was hoping that we'd get a little glimpse into when Annette realized she was interested in women as it was clear that this was a new thing for her. I worried that Annette was just tired of being single and was simply settling for whoever wanted her. I do not believe in settling so this bugged me quite a bit.

This really should get 2 stars but I'm bumping it up because the sex scene was easily the best part of the book.It was everything a reader would want from a sex scene. It was hot and totally believable unlike certain other sex scenes that have made me want to rip my hair out.So this short story gets 3 stars. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either.

Review: Frigid (Frigid #1) by J. Lynn

Book: Frigid (Frigid #1)

Author: J. Lynn (aka JLA)

Published: July 15th, 2013 (e-book) November 5th 2013 (paperback)

Publisher: Spencer Hill Contemporary

Genre: NA/Romance

Series: Book 1

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Synopsis: 

21 year old Sydney has been in love with Kyler for as long as she can remember. They've been best friends since their playground days.If you looked up the word manwhore in the dictionary, Kyler's picture would be right there. He never stays with the same girl for very long. Sydney doesn't want to risk their friendship by telling him her true feelings for him.

Now they are stuck together in a ski lodge while a major storm whirls around outside.There is nothing stopping them. Can their friendship survive these feelings. And can they survive at all as a stalker creeps closer and closer to them.

Disclaimer: Bought this book off of Amazon.

Review:

 Oh boy,where to start with this one. The first half of the book was awesome and I loved it but as I kept reading I got more and more irritated with both Kyler and Sydney.Once I finished the book and allowed myself time to think about it,I began to realize exactly how aggravating this book was.

Kyler seemed to think that Sydney was a poor helpless little girl who couldn't take care of herself and the screwy part was that she was characterized in that way. That enraged me so much. I mean where are the confident women who don't need a man to rescue them? The idea of having a man "rescue" a woman makes me gag. 

Sydney kept saying that she loved him but she never said why she loved him. I certainly didn't understand it. I wish we had been told what Sydney loved about him because I sure was not buying the "She loves him just because" crap. You don't just love a person because. There's got to be a solid reason to love someone (many reasons actually) and we the readers don't know what & why Sydney loved him.

The manwhore thing? Really if he was in love with her like he claimed to be,he would not have been whoring around. Yes I understand that men have needs but good god he cannot keep having meaningless one night stands and also freaking out that Sydney is simply talking to another guy. Double standard much?

Holy moly if Kyler called her baby one more time I was going to barf all of my coffee up. Especially since he was calling her baby even before they got together. Um I have good male friends but I would never let them call me baby. Heck I never let my ex boyfriend call me baby.Seriously Sydney has a name. Why were the cutesy pet names necessary?

Honestly towards the end I started skimming. The confrontation with the masked guys was really boring and pointless. I was waiting for Kyler to rush in and save her (gag) but thank goodness that wasn't what happened. Of course I wanted Sydney to rescue herself so to speak but that wasn't what happened either.

Oh my goodness the ending was predictable and corny and it made me ill. After all of that they are still together and I still don't know what it is that attracted them to each other. 

This book is getting 2 stars.The plot had so many holes in it that a truck could have driven through and neither main character was all that likeable. Maybe someone else will like this book but this was definitely not one I enjoyed.

Review: All I Need by Susane Colasanti

Book: All I Need

Author: Susane Colasanti

Published Date: May 21st, 2013

Publisher: Viking Juvenile 

Genre: YA/Romance

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon,Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:

Skye wants nothing more than to meet the guy of her dreams and when she meets Seth at the beach on her last night there,she thinks she may have met the guy of her dreams. But they part without exchanging contact information and they spend the next year pining for each other but never knowing it.

If they do meet again,is that initial attraction enough to withstand ex issues and the problems that occur with having drastically different backgrounds?

Disclaimer: I won this book from Steph & Kat @ Cuddlebuggery

Review: 

Well having no internet for a week can definitely help with the reading pile. This book was a very easy read. I finished it in less than 24 hours.It started off really cute and I liked Seth and Skye instantly and I felt the spark between them. After that first meeting,all went to hell in a hand-basket.

One of my biggest issues was how they both moped and pined for the other. Making a romantic partner the only important thing in your life drives me insane. It's important to have balance in a relationship. Friends and other interests are important too and I don't think either Skye or Seth seemed to realize that. 

Skye didn't seem to know how to be fun when she wasn't with Seth. I found her boring and completely uninteresting. I actually found her friends to be more interesting than her. That's not a good thing. I did not connect with Skye at all.Probably because I am happy on my own and don't depend on a guy to make me happy.

I know they attempted to date others before the reconnected the following summer but I don't think they gave poor Karen or Ben a fair shot. I think they had major tunnel vision and that drove me batty as well. Maybe it's just that I don't really like the cornball aspect of this book.

I actually liked Seth better with Karen than with Skye. Karen seemed more confident and sure of herself no matter if she was single or not. Now that's the kind of character I can get behind.

I did like how there was a dual point-of-view throughout this book. I'm seeing it more and more in YA books and I love it so much. It allows for more depth for the characters as you get two viewpoints. I actually liked reading Seth's parts the best,maybe because I identified with him the most out of all the characters,you know aside from him being a guy and me being a girl.

The one thing that drove me absolutely BONKERS at the end of the book was Skye's college decision. You should NEVER pick a school based on where your boyfriend is. Particularly if you aren't engaged yet. You don't know what's going to happen and you could end up single and at a school that isn't as great as the one you turned down because of how far away it was from your boyfriend.

This book is getting 2 stars from me. Plainly put,I just didn't like it. Parts of it were better than others,but parts of it made me want to throw the book across the room. Remember ladies,a guy will respect you and love you more if you have your own interests outside of him.Don't ever make a guy your everything. Don't ever expect a guy to complete you. You should already be complete and a guy should simply compliment you.

Promo & Excerpt: Choices of Fate by S. Simone Chavous

Book Title: Choices of Fate

Author: S. Simone Chavous

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Release Date: 06/14/2013

Series: Fate Series, Book 1

Synopsis:

On her own since the day she turned eighteen and left the group home where she grew up, twenty-five year old Alexa Ryan has made a comfortable life for herself. She has a great job, the perfect apartment, every material possession a girl her age could desire. Unfortunately, she also has an unusual condition that has forced her to keep everyone at a distance.

Ethan Kellar has spent his entire life running from destiny. When he was just a boy, a powerful seer prophesied his role in events that would determine the outcome of the secret war his people had been fighting for centuries. A role he was determined not to accept, leading him to avoid letting anyone get too close, until the night Alexa fell into his arms.

Drawn to her in a way that he has never experienced, Ethan decides to take the ultimate risk by trusting Alexa and revealing to her all that he truly is. Thinking she is an ordinary woman, he believes that she could be his key to preventing the prophecy from being fulfilled and allowing him to live the life he has always wanted, one that he chooses. Having been so consumed with the desire to determine the course of his own life he wants no less for Alexa and knows he must tell her everything, give her a choice. Before that happens they surrender to the intense physical attraction between them and he realizes too late that in trying so hard to change his fate, he may have set the events of the prophecy in motion.

In that moment, Ethan makes the most difficult decision of his life and does the only thing he can to save Alexa. He walks away.

Consumed by grief, Alexa falls into a deep depression until she learns that her brief encounter with love resulted in a child and somehow finds the strength to put herself back together for the sake of her baby Chloe.

Nearly two years after Ethan walked out Chloe develops an unexplained illness that sends Alexa in search of anything that can help. Her pursuit leads her back to Ethan and thrusts her into his dark and mysterious world, unlocking the secrets of her past and revealing threats to their future. Together, Alexa and Ethan fight to protect Chloe and their love, but there is one battle Ethan fights alone as he struggles to choose his own path and avoid the choices of fate.

Excerpt: 

“I am sorry, Alexa. Please understand this is incredibly difficult for me.” He leaned in and placed his forehead against hers. “I want you so badly right now, in this moment, but I want you forever more. That is why we must wait.”

Well, shit. Hearing that just made her want him even more. Maybe it was all just a line of bullshit, some kind of reverse psychology to get her in bed, but it was working.

Forgetting her embarrassment she leaned her face up and pressed her mouth against his yet again, then pulled away and said, “Please, Ethan,” another kiss, “please, I want to be with you tonight.”

Before she could blink he was over the center console kissing her fervently as he pressed his knee between her legs sending a jolt of arousal through her.

And just like that he pulled back, hovering over her and looking into her eyes while she panted with desire.

“Alexa, I cannot come up with you tonight.” Her expression became one of hurt and confusion, until he continued, “But, I am going to make you cum with my mouth, I must taste you.”

His words and the hunger in his eyes were almost enough to send her over the edge.

And then he crushed his mouth against hers, sliding his tongue inside as a promise of what was to come when he moved between her legs.

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About the Author

S. Simone Chavous spent seven years as a tax accountant before deciding to pursue her true passion as an author.

Choices of Fate, the first book in the Fate Trilogy, is her debut novel.

She lives in northern Indiana with her boyfriend, two beautiful daughters and their rambunctious vizsla, Lily.

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