Month: June 2017

Book Review · Books · Fiction · HEA · NetGalley · Romance · series

On the Plus Side ~ Alison Bliss

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Title: On the Plus Side    (A Perfect Fit , Book #2)
Author: Alison Bliss
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by: Shakera
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Forever
Date of Release: June 27, 2017
Pages: 336
Format: Kindle (NetGalley)

I know it’s early in the series, but this is my favorite book in the series… So far! Valerie is smart, sassy, curvy, and sexy. She’s confident and she wants Logan. Logan is sexy, inspires loyalty… and the best friend of Val’s brother. They were attracted to each for a long time and the results are off the chart chemistry!

This story gave us steamy and sensuous romance and I wanted more! Those live scenes were great. Val being comfortable in her own skin was awesome and I loved that. What drove me bonkers was Val’s over-protective older brother. As someone who has a protective older brother, I completely understand her plight! She handles him well and she earned her golden ticket to heaven!

This series is awesome and I can’t wait to read more!  I hope this series NEVER ends!

Book Review · Books · Fiction · Romance · series · YA

Starr Gone ~ Kim Briggs

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Title: Starr Gone  (Starr Fall, Book #3)
Author: Kim Briggs
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by: Shakera
Genre: Romance
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
Contemporary/Action & Adventure
Publisher: Inkspell Publishing
Date of Release: June 3, 2017
Pages: 258
Format: ePub (YA Insider)

Please give me a second to compose myself! I was not prepared for this… I’m still trying to process! Holy crap! Sigh… Deep breath

*** SPOILERS ALERT ***

Okay, so we pick up where we left off and I find that Di is my spirit animal. Any girl who carries a taser and pepper spray is a girl after my own heart! We find out Sam and Jody aren’t dead, they’re working for the Organization, Jude is the turncoat I thought he would be, and I’m worried about Christian. After finding misleading information, Starr has gone missing. Unfortunately, she was taken by the Organization and they want to return her to her “loving” grandparents in exchange for money… naturally. How will Christian and the team rescue Starr? Can they rescue her?

This book is quite the page turner! It kept me on the edge of my seat, had me feeling a range of emotions, needing to know what happens next. The character development was outstanding! Starr and Di came into their own. They’ve become strong young women and I was especially proud of the development of Di. She didn’t feel like a secondary character in this story, which gave me a higher appreciation of her. I won’t lie, there were times Frank annoyed me, but I understood his thought process and his reasoning. The development of the team independent of Starr was astounding. They were organized and ready for anything! With the way the story ended, they will have to be ready and down for anything!

Can we discuss the ending for a second? I wasn’t ready for this story to end! And definitely not the way it did! The anticipation is KILLING me! What I love about this series is each book is stronger than the previous and it continues to get stronger. Each character serves a purpose; the purpose may not be clear in the beginning, but when you find out… you are shocked and can’t wait to find out what will happen next. And just when you think you know what will happen, there’s a twist. I don’t know if I can wait this long for the fourth installment, but I do wait with excitement of where this story will go and I look forward to it!

18+ · Book reviews · Books · Fantasy · Fiction · HEA

Silver Silence ~ Nalini Singh

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Title: Silver Silence (Psy-Changeling Trinity #1)
Author: Nalini Singh
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by: Shakera
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal Romance,
Publisher: Berkeley Books
Date of Release: June 13, 2017
Pages: 464
Format: Kinde (First to Read)

As someone who gets really attached to my characters, I instantly fell in love with Silver and Valentin. When an alpha falls for someone, it is ill-advised to try and assassinate her! Valentin is a fun loving bear shifter with a heart of gold and going through strife about his broken clan. Silver is a strong and pure telepath who avoids emotions and practices “Silence”. It prevents her from hearing every mind in a certain radius. It kinda makes her an Ice Queen, but oh does she have a spark! But it’s a spark only Valentin notices. Per his usual, Valentin shows up to Silver’s apartment, unannounced… which would annoy anyone, but turns out to be a great thing! There’s an organization that wants the Trinity Accords (An agreement amongst the Psy, Humans, and Changelings to co-exists) to fail and the best way to do that would be to take out Silver. Not so fast! Valentin is there and Silver is his mate, she just doesn’t realize it yet. To protect her, she has to do the unthinkable. She has to live in the heart of Denhome, Valentin’s home.

This was my introduction to Nalini Singh and she had me captivated from the first page. Silver is a kickass, badass female lead. There were a few moments I felt myself get riled up on behalf of Valentin, but I was rooting for Silver as well. This book is close to 500 pages and I found myself practically reading this in almost one sitting. I’m not sure if this is a spin-off, but this is not a standalone story. However, it can definitely be read as one. It gives just enough information so you don’t feel lost. What I really loved was the integration of each race with each other. Silver’s interaction with other races was well detailed and showed a mutual respect between the races. Nalini Singh combats preconceived notices and biases with her writing and storytelling, so much that you can (if you choose to…) reflect on your own beliefs and biases. Ms. Singh’s storytelling is entertaining and compelling. She definitely knows how to pull on the heartstrings. When decisions are made and you have to deal with the fallout, you see where loyalties lie.

I look forward to reading more in this series, and can’t wait to go and start at the beginning!

Book Review · Books · Fiction · HEA · Romance

Torched ~ Katie Mettner

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Title: Torched
Author: Katie Mettner
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewer: Shakera
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Katie Mettner
Date of Release: February 7, 2017
Pages: 236
Format: Kinde (The Romance Reviews)

It must be extremely tough to be an author. You have to put yourself out there for criticism, plus dealing with your editor, plus dealing with your publisher… going to book signings, etc. Who knew this life would be a killer?! Definitely not Constance, who is an author and graphics designer. Learning of the betrayal of her publisher, Alexis, a close group of authors doesn’t take it very well. As Constance has always been a person of high morals, she doesn’t agree with what the authors want to do. However, she doesn’t have time to deal with that. Someone is killing authors who have a little something in common.

By chance, she meets Mack, the owner of Barney & Me, who has a simple outlook on life. He is quite the sweetheart and a great listener (with pretty awesome advice), but he is no pushover. The two of them mesh very well and quite quickly. With a killer on the loose, can the two find love in each other while staying alive?

While the story was interesting and it had mystery and intrigue along with romance, it was missing something. Parts of the story was written to interact with the reader, which is fine, but it felt like everything was spelled out for you… literally everything. Because of that, the book felt longer than it actually was. With a little editing, this story would be wonderful!

The mystery aspect of the story was well done. The killer wasn’t my first guess, which is awesome, but it was my second guess. It was also quite interesting to get a little insight into what it’s like to be an author. It is a lot of work which can be rewarding, and I’m glad authors exist!