Book Review: Consumed by J.R. Ward

Consumed

Author: J.R. Ward
Series: Firefighters, Book 1
Publisher: Gallery Books (October 2, 2018)
Hardcover, 416 pages
Goodreads     |     Amazon

Summary
Anne Ashburn is a woman consumed...

By her bitter family legacy, by her scorched career as a firefighter, by her obsession with department bad-boy Danny McGuire, and by a new case that pits her against a fiery killer.

Strong-willed Anne was fearless and loved the thrill of fighting fires, pushing herself to be the best. But when one risky decision at a warehouse fire changes her life forever, Anne must reinvent not only her job, but her whole self.

Shattered and demoralized, Anne finds her new career as an arson investigator a pale substitute for the adrenaline-fueled life she left behind. She doesn't believe she will ever feel that same all-consuming passion for her job again--until she encounters a string of suspicious fires setting her beloved city ablaze.

Danny McGuire is a premiere fireman, best in the county, but in the midst of a personal meltdown. Danny is taking risks like never before and seems to have a death wish until he teams up with Anne to find the fire starter. But Danny may be more than a distraction, and as Anne narrows in on her target, the arsonist begins to target her.

From the creator of the bestselling Black Dagger Brotherhood, get ready for a new band of brothers. And a firestorm.

Book Review: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

The Kiss Quotient

Author: Helen Hoang

Publisher: Berkley (June 5, 2018)

Paperback, 336 pages

Goodreads     Amazon

Summary

Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases--a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.

It doesn't help that Stella has Asperger's and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice--with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can't afford to turn down Stella's offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan--from foreplay to more-than-missionary position...

Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but to crave all the other things he's making her feel. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic...

Book Review: Roomies by Christina Lauren

Book Review: Roomies by Christina Lauren

Rating: 4 Stars

 

 

Expected publication: December 5th 2017 by Gallery Books
Summary: Marriages of convenience are so…inconvenient.

Rescued by Calvin McLoughlin from a would-be subway attacker, Holland Bakker pays the brilliant musician back by pulling some of her errand-girl strings and getting him an audition with a big-time musical director. When the tryout goes better than even Holland could have imagined, Calvin is set for a great entry into Broadway—until he admits his student visa has expired and he’s in the country illegally.

Holland impulsively offers to wed the Irishman to keep him in New York, her growing infatuation a secret only to him. As their relationship evolves from awkward roommates to besotted lovers, Calvin becomes the darling of Broadway. In the middle of the theatrics and the acting-not-acting, what will it take for Holland and Calvin to realise that they both stopped pretending a long time ago?
(from Goodreads)

Review: This book had a few rough spots, but overall I really liked it. The book is written in the first person present tense from Holland's point of view, which works. Usually I like my romances to give the point of view of both leads, but due to the nature of Holland and Calvin's relationship the single viewpoint works and is the best way to tell the story. I could probably have done without some of Lulu's more crass stories, but I suppose Holland and Calvin felt the same so maybe it's good they were in there.

Holland is a total spaz (and thus I identify with her on some level). I also get what it's like to struggle to find your own identity and feel special when you're surrounded by highly talented, exceptional people. I love her passion for music (and for Calvin), her love of her uncles, and the fact that she was so driven to complete her MFA in creative writing (and I did have to go Google what an MFA is - Master in Fine Arts, for the uninitiated) and then struggled to find her passion/muse/whatever you want to call it once she was out of school and suddenly faced with turning her passion into a career. Holland's relationship with her uncles is also great (love love love Robert and Jeff!) and I appreciated her interactions with her brother Davis as well (who reminds me a little of my own bearded bro).

I love Calvin. He's a hot musician so what's not to love? (haha!) All joking aside, Calvin has a sensitive heart (which he needs to be such a great musician), a sexy Irish accent (which I can hear in my head) and a wonderfully silly way he phrases things sometimes. He does his fair share of stupid boy things, and sometimes does better than other at understanding why Holland is upset about things.

Throughout the book Holland is forced to examine her life, her relationship with (and dependency upon) her uncles, and her relationship with herself. The book is a love story between Holland and Calvin, but it's also a story about Holland discovering who she is and learning to love herself. That element of self-discovery is what makes this an excellent New Adult (NA) novel, and the hunka-hunka-burnin'-love makes it a great contemporary romance.

*I received a free copy of this book from BookishFirst and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

ARCs - NetGalley and BookishFirst

In the past month or so, I've really gotten involved with two great sites for book lovers. Both give you the opportunity to get free copies of books to read and review before they're published.

The first is NetGalley. NetGalley gives reviewers (that's me!), booksellers, librarians, educators and media the opportunity to browse books by category or publisher and request digital copies for review. NetGalley supports all reading devices, and it's super easy to have books emailed to your Kindle account (my personal preference) or be delivered electronically in a number of other ways. The expectation is that you then review the book and share said reviews with friends, family, social networks, etc. They also allow you to vote on whether or not you like the covers of all the books they host (thumbs up or thumbs down). NetGalley is free to join and super easy to navigate. There's a convenient "Your Shelf" section where you can see books ready for you to download and start reading, and books you've already retrieved that are awaiting your feedback, books you've sent feedback on, and books you've requested that are either pending approval or denied.

The only thing I don't love about NetGalley is I get rejected for way more books than I request, so I tend to go on requesting binges and all of a sudden have six approvals come through all at once, and then I'm trying to power read through them all so they're not back logged. I've developed a system now where I organize my NetGalley and BookishFirst books pending reviews by publish date, so I can be sure to at the very least read and review before their publish date. You'll see some of those reviews here soon, and I'll take each review with where I received the ARC from.

Which leads me into my other new favorite book site, BookishFirst. BookishFirst is also free to join (bonus!) and is a new site that's only been active for a little over a month. Every Monday they post a handful of upcoming releases and give readers the opportunity to read the first few chapters and get a sneak peek by reading what they call a "First Look." Readers can then write a short blurb giving their first impression of the book, at which point they can opt to be entered into a raffle to win a free ARC copy of the book. There is a raffle every Tuesday to draw winners for the books posted the previously Monday, so you basically have eight days to check out the new books for the week and read any first looks and post any first impressions.

According to BookishFirst's website, some books are available in multiple formats (print or ebook), but I've only seen print books thus far. You also earn points for each First Impression you post, as well as for posting reviews, sharing reviews to various sites, and for sharing a review to Amazon on the day of release. These points add up to let you basically purchase a book posted for that week rather than entering the first impressions raffle and leaving it up to chance. I have to say that, at least so far, your odds are pretty good for getting a free ARC of the books you enter into; so far I've entered four raffles and won all four books I entered. I imagine that success ratio will go down as more people discover this great site and start getting in on these raffles.

So there you have it! I'll make posting ARC reviews a priority on this site, but will also post reviews for other books I'm buying and checking out from the library. Some of them will be new releases, but there will also be a healthy mix of books that have been around for a while in there.

Do you have a favorite book site? Let me know in the comments!