Falling Into You

Falling Into You by Jasinda Wilder

 My rating (out of 5 stars):

1 star—I didn’t like it.

Description from Goodreads.com:

“I wasn't always in love with Colton Calloway; I was in love with his younger brother, Kyle, first. Kyle was my first one true love, my first in every way.

Then, one stormy August night, he died, and the person I was died with him.

Colton didn't teach me how to live. He didn't heal the pain. He didn't make it okay. He taught me how to hurt, how to not be okay, and, eventually, how to let go.”

My Thoughts:

A one star…I hated to do it, but I just didn’t like this one. The first 50% of the book is Nell with Kyle. And they are in love and it’s sweet and happy. Then a tragedy happens... and she hooks up with his brother. It’s just too disturbing for me. Yes, it was emotional, sort of…but I found myself really hating Nell. She even compares the two brothers during intimate moments! Parts of the plot are just silly. She has never been around Colton even through she dated Kyle for years? Pretty unbelievable drama.

I know others who liked this one…but it wasn’t for me.

Dead Aim

Dead Aim by Iris Johansen

My rating (out of 5 stars):

4 stars—I really liked it.

Description from Goodreads.com:

“A celebrated photojournalist, Alex Graham has recorded some of the most tragic and heartbreaking of stories, but her latest assignment has forced her across a dangerous line. At a dam collapse in Arapahoe Junction, Colorado, Alex witnesses a conspiracy that will shock the nation. For the collapse of the Arapahoe Dam was not an accident. The official story is just a cover-up for a truth so frightening, so unthinkable, that anyone who threatens to reveal it must be silenced. Forever. Alex's only ally is an ex-covert commando with a checkered past, a price on his head and a deadly assassin at his heels. What happens when a reporter does more than just report? What happens when she becomes involved in the story? She ends up marked for death by an enemy who never misses, by those who've already got her centred . . . dead aim.”

My Thoughts:

This is an installment in the Eve Duncan series. I think you could read these all separately, but I’m enjoying following the order. Johansen hooked me into these characters and I was excited to read Judd’s story. This is one of my favorite suspense series!

Back-Up

Back-up by AM Madden

My rating (out of 5 stars):

2 stars—It was ok.

Description from Goodreads.com:

“Leila Marino’s biggest dream is to become a rock star. A lucky opportunity has her auditioning with an up & coming rock band named Devil’s Lair. The band hires Leila as their back-up singer, signing her up for months in the studio and touring on the road with the sexy bunch.

Jack is the quintessential rock star…gorgeous…sexy…a walking orgasm. Jack Lair is the lead singer of Devil’s Lair and his dreams are becoming reality as his band climbs the ladder of success. He’s living the perfect life, and enjoying every minute of it. With a steady stream of sexual conquests that satisfies his raging libido, he thinks he has all he needs in life…until Leila enters it.

Jack is not prepared for the sudden pull he feels towards Leila, and struggles daily to deny his attraction is anything more. Leila finds falling for her new boss is constant torment. Both convince themselves friendship is their only option.

An intimate moment causes their willpower to collapse, and their erotic love affair to begin. Finding love was a bonus that neither Jack nor Leila anticipated. As they begin their tour together professionally and personally, life couldn’t be any better for the couple. Until a mistake from Jack’s past threatens their new relationship, and their perfect future together.”


My Thoughts:

I felt pretty “blah” about this book. The relationship took way too long to develop and it ends on a cliffhanger. Gag!

Want to give rock star romance a try? Go for “Lick” by Kylie Scott or “Hard Rock Arrangement” by Ava Lore!

Dominic

Dominic by LA Casey

My rating (out of 5 stars):

3 stars—I liked it.

Description from Goodreads.com:

“After a car accident killed her parents when she was a child, Bronagh Murphy chose to box herself off from people in an effort to keep herself from future hurt. If she doesn't befriend people, talk to them or acknowledge them in any way they leave her alone just like she wants.

When Dominic Slater enters her life, ignoring him is all she has to do to get his attention. Dominic is used to attention, and when he and his brothers move to Dublin, Ireland for family business, he gets nothing but attention. Attention from everyone except the beautiful brunette with a sharp tongue.

Dominic wants Bronagh and the only way he can get to her, is by dragging her from the boxed off corner she has herself trapped in the only way he knows how...by force.

Dominic wants her, and what Dominic wants, Dominic gets.”

My Thoughts:

So…the author gives this warning:

“WARNING: If you don't like a leading male that is a possessive pr**k, Dominic is NOT for you. If you don't like a leading female that is a stubborn bi**h, Dominic is NOT for you. If you don't like over the top drama and characters who have bad tempers, Dominic is NOT for you. Most of all, if you don't like characters who CURSE A LOT and say EXACTLY what they feel and are thinking without sugar coating it then Dominic is REALLY NOT for you.”

FYI…This is all true.

With that said, I felt like the author could have gone a different route to make the story more appealing. There was definitely too much violence/dysfunction, a little toning down would have gone a long way.
Also, the constant fighting about word meaning between the characters was overdone. We get it, we get it…they would go on for pages arguing over word meaning. And the author gives us Dominic and Damien as identical twins (stated several times) but then goes into how they look different. Sigh.

Overall, I hated Bronagh in this book (although I really like this name!). I’m not sure why anyone would want to date her. But I kept reading because I actually did like Dominic. I’m going to try more by LA Casey, because I liked her style and think there might be a better fit for me!

Monday Recommendations

Monday Recommendation List

Random list of 10 books Monday! I have read and enjoyed each of these enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase.

Be bold and just choose randomly, stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal reading zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.

This week-- 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie
2. Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama
3. CEO of Me by Ellen Kossek and Brenda Lautsch
4. Happiness Now  by Robert Holden
5. The 4 Hour Work Week  by Timothy Ferriss
6. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
7. Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner
8. Don’t Know Much About History by Kenneth Davis
9. Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center
10. An Artist of the Floating World  by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Stand

The Stand by Stephen King

My rating (out of 5 stars):

4 stars—I really liked it.

Description from Goodreads.com:

“This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death.

And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides -- or are chosen. A world in which good rides on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abagail -- and the worst nightmares of evil are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the dark man.

In 1978 Stephen King published The Stand, the novel that is now considered to be one of his finest works. But as it was first published, The Stand was incomplete, since more than 150,000 words had been cut from the original manuscript.

Now Stephen King's apocalyptic vision of a world blasted by plague and embroiled in an elemental struggle between good and evil has been restored to its entirety. The Stand : The Complete And Uncut Edition includes more than five hundred pages of material previously deleted, along with new material that King added as he reworked the manuscript for a new generation. It gives us new characters and endows familiar ones with new depths. It has a new beginning and a new ending. What emerges is a gripping work with the scope and moral complexity of a true epic.

For hundreds of thousands of fans who read The Stand in its original version and wanted more, this new edition is Stephen King's gift. And those who are reading The Stand for the first time will discover a triumphant and eerily plausible work of the imagination that takes on the issues that will determine our survival.”

My Thoughts:

This is classic post-apocalyptic…which isn’t usually my favorite genre. However, Stephen King was able to keep me interested with this one.

The Stand was originally published in 1978 and I attempted to read it many years ago. It was reconfigured in the 90’s and I recently gave it another try. Being older (and hopefully wiser) made me appreciate it more. When I started it everyone was freaking out over the media’s portrayal of Ebola, which was utter nonsense, but still gave me chills because I was reading this book! Could something like this happen in real life? Yes!! Well…except for when it gets nutty with the “Dark Man.” The basic premise of everyone dying of a rampant disease is what kept me reading, not necessarily the supernatural stuff thrown in.

This novel is a big time commitment, but I believe it’s worth it.