Who Would Have Thunk It? I Liked Reid In the End!

Here Without You (Between the Lines #4) by Tammara Webber

Dori and Reid are a couple, but of course not just a normal couple because he’s a super star and she is a good girl and also a nobody.  Of course no book can be readable without a plot twist, and River was the plot twist of Here Without You.  River is going to change everything for everyone.  You just have to read it to find out what’s happening.   

While finishing this book, I got incredibly sad because I was not ready for this series to be over.  I enjoyed the characters and the stories within all four books.  I cannot believe that I ended up loving Reid.  Who saw that coming?  Not I!   But by the end, I was so ready for Dori and Reid to be together and to live happily ever after! 

I was a little upset when I saw the title and the cover of the fourth book.  I didn’t want to be without anyone!  Well, maybe Brooke, she got on my nerves.  But as I began this series, I assumed that  Emma and Reid were going to be the main characters throughout and when I saw that cover and title, I was fearful that Emma was going to die.  Spoiler alert, she doesn’t.  Then as I was reading I was fearful that something was going to happen to Dori, anyway, whether something happens or not, I enjoyed Here Without You and didn’t want the book to end.

If I had one complaint it would be that the end felt a little rushed (or again, maybe I didn’t want it to end).  I was surprised by River’s reaction to Reid’s tear.  I just wouldn’t assume that there would be such a quick response to a male in River’s life.  But I’m not the creator of this world so therefore, I just read it, enjoyed it and longed for more.

I loved the entire Dori and Reid relationship.  I loved that she brought out the best of him and changed his perception of himself.  I loved how she told him that she loved him (finally!) and I loved the conversation between Dori and Reid’s mother. 

I’m not sure what else to talk about except, Thank you Tammara Webber, can’t wait to read Breakable! (Blogger Side Note: I read this book many months ago and did not post the blog.  I have read Breakable and LOVED IT!  Tammara Webber, I have read all of your books and can't wait for you to give your fans more!)

Keep Reading my Friends!

Tattoos for Everyone!

Rule (A Marked Men Novel #1) by Jay Crownover

What goes through your mind when you see a man (or woman?) with a sleeve of tattoos?  What’s the first idea that comes across your mind?  Maybe that question is irrelevant.  I know that when I was young it seemed like the only people who had more than one tattoo were bikers and big scary men (huge stereotype, right?).  In the bible belt area that I grew up in everyone discussed whether it was against the Bible to mark your skin permanently.  I still think that some people in the older generations look on tattoos with disgust and judgment, but I know for myself I see it as a choice.  Each person has one life to live.  If ink is a way for you to show your personality and outwardly give people a glimpse at whom you are.  Go for it.  Most of my husband’s family members have more than one tattoo where most of my family does not have any.  I don’t really hear the debates anymore.  My husband has many friends that go to Seminary or are pastors that have pieces that usually are in the original biblical language that say things like “grace” or “faith.”  In the world of ink, I say decide for yourself and enjoy the decisions that you make.

Rule is a New Adult love story between a tattoo artist and Shaw, the girl that has loved him since she was fourteen.  I loved the dual point of view of this book and the way Jay never gave too much away.  We would jump days and we may never find out how Rule was feeling when we were listening in on Shaw’s POV, or vice versa. 

My favorite idea about the story is literally Rule’s eyes were opened up one day and even though he tried to close them he couldn’t stay away from Shaw once the blindfold was removed from his eyes.  She had always been there, always admired his personality, character traits, and loved him for who he was and one day he noticed and that’s when our story takes off. 

Who is Shaw?  Well if you haven’t read this book I don’t want to ruin it.  Jay introduces us to her slowly, and doesn’t give us all of the details of the longtime relationship all at once.  At one point I looked back a few pages believing that I had missed something.  Then I realized, ohhhh, that’s genius!  I love it when authors use words to confuse me just a little before revealing the answers that I was asking the questions about.

I met Jay at the Nashville event, she was the second author and I was so nervous that I was shaking.  I had not read any of her work yet and so I was unsure of what to talk to her about.  So far I had only met Cora Carmack and since I had read all of her books excluding her brand new book (which I bought at her table) I was worried that Jay was going to blow us off since we weren’t spending money on her books.  That could not have been farther from what actually happened.  We ended up talking about Colorado and the premise around her books.  She was super cool and comfortable to be around.  I just can’t wait to see her again so I can tell her in person how much I enjoyed Rule.  I have the next 4 books on hold at the Library!  I can’t wait to get to reading!

Keep Reading my Friends!

Reid the Ridiculous meets Dori the Do-Gooder

Good for You (Between the Lines #3) by Tammara Webber

Reid Alexander, the “it” guy of Hollywood, he gets the girls, he gets the whatever movie he wants and he knows just how much the world loves him.  Dori Cantrell is the religious “good girl” that spends all of her time volunteering with either her dad’s church, habitat for humanity, or many other places where people need help.  When Reid crashes his car into the Diego’s rent house, where they live while their Habitat House is being built, he is court ordered to volunteer every day for a month to get that house built.  When he meets Dori, he seems to look right through her, which doesn’t really bother Dori since she doesn’t have time for a Hollywood fake to disrupt her busy life.  As the month goes by, the audience realizes that maybe all first impressions are wrong and need some changing.  This dual point of view books takes us to places with Reid that we haven’t been before and we start to see a change in him that none of us would have expected.

I have adored this series thus far, but book #3, you absolutely are the winner so far.  I liked Emma, but I love Dori.  Dori is a real life character with real life problems and she is a good girl religious girl living in LA, I’m not sure how easy that is, but Dori does it with unwavering ease with all of her activities, it’s enough to make me tired just thinking about her schedule. 

Reid on the other hand was pretty much a douche throughout the entire series and I’m glad he got the wakeup call that he desperately needed, what’s funny is that wakeup call wasn’t the car accident, but it was actually his friendship with Dori that seemed to get though to him.  I enjoyed Reid in this book and hoped for his change and maturity.

I loved their time apart where neither one of them knew that the other was pining over him/her.  It was priceless.  I also loved Dori’s relationship with her sister Deb.  It was a great sister relationship that gave depth to Dori as a character. 

I have already began book #4 (Here Without You- what an ominous title for what has been a pretty upbeat series).  I love Tammara Webber’s writing and her books are good.  This series is definitely worth grabbing up, keep reading my friends!

Katy, the best fictional blogger in the world!

Origin (A Lux Novel #4) by Jennifer Armentrout

I am in love with this series!  I love the characters, I love Daemon and Katy’s relationship, and I love aliens.  When I had just finished this book and I could not stop saying “Oh my gosh, I cannot believe this book!”  I just kept repeating this as my mantra.  Simon has no idea why I’m freaking out and neither do you if you have not read this book. 

So, again we don’t miss a lot of time between book #3 and book #4.  The only difference is we are seeing the book not just from Katy’s perspective, but also from Daemon’s.  I usually do not like dual point of view books, but Daemon is such a great character that I didn’t skip a beat.  Usually when I get to the next person’s chapter I take a break, I put the book down, but this time I just kept reading because I love Katy and Daemon so very much! 

I had made the decision to wait for the library book, oh my gosh, what an excruciating wait it was.  When I requested the book I thought I was second in line for the book, either way, it felt like it took forever!  Good thing I was super busy and had no time to read.  Once I got this book it took me 3 days to finish it, of course that’s with working 8 hours a day, it’s just that good.

I’m not sure what to talk about within this specific book, besides there are some good times, some bad times, lots of characters die and there are some surprises.  I cannot wait until August when the fifth book comes out.  I want it now!  I think I will read Shadows (a book about Dawson and Beth) and then there is an adult book about an Arum named Hunter who I believe is going to have a larger part to play in the Fifth book of the Lux series. 

There was a cover change before this last book, the picture I have chosen is not what the book cover looked like that I borrowed from the library, but this one is the original model (or at least it looks like it to me).  I have read that Armentrout had to make some changes because of her publishers which is better for her, so good job JA.  I loved the original models and thought they went along with the idea I had in my head.  Well I know this blog wasn’t that great, just excitement overflowing to my fingers.  Sad I can’t discuss more because I hate spoilers.  If you have not looked into this series, please do!  Excellent read!

Keep Reading my Friends!

Heartbreaking and Heartwarming at the Exact Same Time!

Breakable (Contours of the Heart, #2) by Tammara Webber

Have you ever had something happen to you that is so horrible you never mentioned it again for fear that you would actually break apart?  I personally have not had anything this horrible happen to me, but I have had friends that tell me their story and it absolutely breaks my heart the things that they have been through and usually at such a young age.  The Contours of the Heart series follows heartbreak in a few different ways.

I loved Easy.  I remember reading it and learning right along with Jacqueline about how to deal with what she was going through, but also how to help others and what happened to Lucas. 

Breakable was the absolute best man point of view book I have ever read.  I loved the jumping between Landon and Lucas (genius!) and how they ran parallel to each other while yet being worlds apart from the Lucas we all came to love during Easy.  I enjoyed that we were actually in Lucas’ head and that we weren’t a third party member listening to what was going on.  Webber didn’t retell the story of Easy, she gave us a new story with a similar plot.  Sometimes you read a male POV book and it’s the exact same book with his inner monologue and it adds nothing to the story.  Then sometimes you get a book that gives excellent back story with great in-depth details that make us fall for our book crush even harder.  But to me, Webber has changed how we will look at these books forever with Breakable because of how she wrote it.  She gave us brief reminders of what happened from Jacqueline’s POV but didn’t even give us the entire conversation, she saved room for us to learn more about Lucas or Landon.  It was written beautifully and I loved every word.

 This book is both heartbreaking and heartwarming.  I have read all of Tammara Webber’s books and I love each one and I can’t wait to see what she writes next.  She has a way with bringing characters to life and Lucas/Landon is no exception. 

With all New Adult books I must place a warning on it that I would only recommend this to 18 year old readers and above.  Find a book or author you love!  Keep Reading my friends!