Book Review - "Let Me Be the One" - Lily Foster

Let Me Be the One - Lily Foster

Goodreads rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

            I read this beauty on my road trip to Florida this year. It had been sitting on my Kindle app for awhile now and it came in very handy on the 17 plus hour drive. It was a short read for me, only 200 pages. I was determined to read about three books on this vacation. I wanted to make sure that I actually complete this year’s reading challenge.

            This book is about a beautiful, popular, and intelligent young female, Darcy, who seems to have it all together. She takes the opportunity to study abroad, which seems like a perfect escape for her. She is trying to leave behind the insecure and scared girl she has become. But someone else that is not her boyfriend is waiting for her to realize that he can be the one for her.  

            This is book one of a six part series. Each book is a standalone but the books are each inter-connected as the characters each have their turn at sharing their stories. I enjoyed reading this book until 5 am. I stayed up until I was able to add this book to my read list on Goodreads. I did not find this book boring or a drag. Each character was able to shine in their own way and if they didn’t get enough light then they’re most likely going to get their turn in the next book to the series. The story fell together very nicely and I enjoyed being able to complete it.

            Even though I enjoyed the read, it wasn’t a book that had a lasting impression on me. I’m not saying that in a negative way. I did enjoy the plot and the characters but it didn’t leave me wanting more or making me rave about it to my friends or show it off on my bookstagram. I did not give this book a bad rating because of that. On Goodreads I gave “Let Me Be the One” a three out of five star rating. That’s not a horrible rating but it isn’t the best book out there. Regardless of the rating it was a good book and I enjoyed it myself.

            

Book Review - "November 9" - Colleen Hoover

November 9 by Colleen Hoover

Goodreads rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"I thought I was stronger than a word, but I just discovered that having to say goodbye to you is by far the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

      You know the funny thing is that I first I was gonna pick this book up at all. My initial thought when I saw the book and read the back blurb was that it was going to be boring or something I would not like to read. Let's just say that it was a good thing I did pick it up.

      I should've known that this book was going to be nothing short of amazing. For the first chapter, I knew I wouldn't be able to put this book down. I personally think that all books that Colleen Hoover writes are simply beautiful. For the few books that I have read from her they were nothing short of amazing. Her stories create a world the drags me in and I get attached to the characters, to their ups and downs, their drama and the love.

      November 9 is based on two people from different worlds and they need one day under weird circumstances. They made a promise to each other, no matter what, and no matter where they are they have to meet up once a year on November 9. If you read that it may leave you with some questions, but that's what pulls you in. You'll learn about each character and how they develop or fall apart within these beautiful book. 

      My favorite character would have to be Fallon. I was able to connect with her more than anyone. She has her probl ems and she copes with them in her own way; which makes her strong and beautiful. I don't want to ruin anything about her that you will learn in the book. But she is a strong, beautiful, and troubled woman who has been through a lot and she's coping. She isn't letting it get to her. It took a lot of time for her to grow and learn to accept her challenge and that's what makes her so relatable. 

      On Goodreads I gave this beauty of five out of five star rating. This book is probably one of my favorite books of 2016. I talk highly of this book to my friends or anyone that needs a recommendation to read. I simply loved it and I'm so happy I own this book and it's displayed on my bookshelf with the other Colleen Hoover books I own.

Book Review - "We Were Liars" - E. Lockhart

Goodreads rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

"we are liars. We are beautiful and privileged. We are cracked and broken."

This book was seen a lot on bookstagram. It was given a lot of hype and had a 3.85 rating on Goodreads. Normally I do not give into the hype of certain books but I actually gave in after while and got the book myself. But I didn't pick it up for months after I bought it. I just let it sit on my shelf collecting dust. Honestly, I didn't even know what it was about.

So when I finally decided to give this book ago, I was kind of iffy about it. I thought he would inside and grab my attention, it made me want to see what it was about and all the secrets they held. I read this as I was going to work, most of my reading is done traveling. Since It wasn't a huge book so I was able to finish it pretty fast.

While reading this I actually wrote down a list of the pros and the cons of the book. They were few good things but they were more cons than anything. If you guys have read my previous blog posts then you'll know, I hate writing bad reviews. So I try and make it as positive as possible but remain very truthful to the author, everyone reading, and most importantly stay truthful to myself. I love what I do as a hobby and if I wasn't truthful to myself then I wouldn't be doing this at all. 

Not for all the pros of the book. The first pro would be that this book was able to keep me on the edge. I wasn't necessarily board with the book but it did keep me on my toes so it never did get boring. The next pro is that it was a very easy read. I was in a reading from so I wanted to find something that was easy to read and it wasn't 300 pages plus. I think the most important pro would have to be that the characters and their personality were very dominant and it known to the reader. Each character was well known and they each had their own role and in their own way played a significant role in unraveling the story. For the final pro, I personally like the way the book was written; it was an easy flow of words, so the pages turned very quickly.

Now for the most dreaded part, I just found the plot very weird and sometimes hard to understand. Even after finishing the book I still do not understand the whole reason for the book. I don't know if it's just me or what but In my opinion, I think the plot summary on the flaps of the books were the most exciting thing I read. The story was a bit of a let down. Again, this is all my opinion. I'm not attacking or trying to hurt anyone's feelings. 

Book Review - Finding Emma - K. Ryan

Hello and welcome [back] to my blog. I'm here doing yet another book review, another kindle book review. I went on a downloading spree and got a handful of books on my kindle app. All the books I downloaded were free and to add to the books being free, I got three kindle books sent to me by the author! Now who doesn't love free books? I surely love them. I am so thankful for every author that has sent me their book(s). This makes me want to read and write more.

I've been down in the slumps lately and I want to give up on everything. Everything seems to go bad for me. But when I get new books, whether it's on Kindle or an actual book that motivates me. K. Ryan was kind of enough to sent me not one but three of her books via kindle; Finding Emma, Carry Your Heart, and Carry You Home.

It was hard to chose which book I would be reading first. I had to ask myself if I wanted to read a series or a standalone? Carry Your Heart and Carry You Home were book one and two of the Carry Your Heart series. While Finding Emma was a full length standalone. It was so hard to answer my own question. But by the title of this post, you can see I ended up picking Finding Emma.

Finding Emma is about a working girl who has her demons. She slowly became detached from her family, friends, and the world around her. She left her hometown and starred her new life… alone. But she doesn't stay alone long, she finds herself a furry, four legged feline friend and roommate. Once she finds her lifetime friend, everything will fall into & out of place.

This book was an amazing read and it was very sad at times but overall it was a joy to read. I loved how I was able to relate so easily and understand Emma. Being able to relate with the story takes me on a whole new level in understanding the character as well as the book. In an odd way I kind of saw myself in Emma. The reasoning and how she is as a person hits very close to home. I suffer from depression and coping with things makes me want to move away and start my own life. This book gives me strength to continue and find my happiness.

Now for ratings, on Goodreads and Amazon, I gave this wonderful book a solid 4 out of 5 stars. It touched my heart and I feel like this book will give many people hope in life. I highly recommend this book to everyone. No matter how old you are, this book will take you on an emotional roller coaster.  I want to thank K. Ryan for sending me your work and everyone for reading this blog.

Book Review - Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

Hello and welcome to my blog! I have finished yet another book and I'm ready to write this review. I'm pretty sure people love free things, free food, free clothes you name it and people will gladly take interest. I happen to love free books. Books can be very expensive and to get them for free can be life changing. So I'm thankful for friends, family, authors, websites, and publishers who make my day by giving me free books.

My aunt "let me borrow" [we know I won't be giving it back] Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and I was in no rush to read it since it wasn't on the top of my tbr (to be read) shelf. I have a huge shelf of unread books that I need to get started on. A good friend of mine recommended I read Gone Girl and I kept putting it off. Every time I saw her, she would bring up the book until finally I finally gave in and decided to read it next. She was super excited and she highly recommended this book. She also notified me that there was a movie based off the book. So my goal after reading Gone Girl was to watch the movie.

I started this book on my train ride to Connecticut and I couldn't put it down. This book had me on my toes for more than half of the book. It was everything my friend said it was. It made me of thinking about how crazy people really are. I have yet to watch the movie but my parents said the movie was really good, can't wait to see.

Now for the rating, on Goodreads I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars. I really enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it to a friend or anyone asking for book recommendations. Thank you guys again for reading my blog and come back soon.

Book Review - "Shattered Rose" - Tammy L. Gray

                      Once I started buying books on kindle I couldn’t stop myself, especially if they’re free. Because they were free I downloaded as many as I could and I am not ashamed. I began reading this book while I was binge reading books on my kindle. During this time I was abandoning my actual books that were on my book shelves. This actually went on for a while and I feel like was a trader to my books I owned. I was reading Kindle quite often and it would be a go to place to read. It was so easy and convenient to have around. I took this everywhere I went especially when I was traveling. I would read on the train to and from work, traveling to Connecticut and on the way back.

                I was going through all the books that I already owned on kindle and deleting all the books I knew I wasn’t going to read. When I was doing that I stumbled upon this book. I just remembered why I downloaded this book in the first place, and it was because it was free. I mean who wouldn’t download a free book? I didn’t remember much of anything else, I didn’t remember what the book was about so I did a little re-reading and It tempted me to make this book my next read.  This book is a standalone but it’s also a part of a series, the Winsor series.

                At first, it started out pretty slow but within a few chapters I was hooked. As I learned about Avery I was able to connect and relate to her fairly easily. I began to really compare myself with her and how she was as a person and not a fictional character. What Avery went through was hard for her and I know what it feels like to have depression, not being just being sad for a few days but having sadness consume you for months at a time. Having depression is a lot for one person to handle. So watching her go through that was hard because it hit close to home.

                When someone attractive comes into view of course you will stop and stare. That’s what Avery did, she basically became star strucked when she first laid eyes on Jake. But Issy, her roommate gave her a warning to stay away from him and she couldn’t help herself. He showed interest in her and things just evolved from there and next thing you know it Avery is hurt and hear broken.

                I was drawn to the story and honestly I don’t think I have any negative comments about this book. I personally enjoyed reading this book and It had me drawn to it and made me not want to stop reading it. Even though I liked the book I don’t know I will be reading the other books. The second books is Shackled Lily, which follow Issy and you get to learn more about her past, and the final book of the series is Splintered Oak, which follows Jakes and you see things from his point of view. Each book is a standalone so you don’t have to read all three books. But as I was writing this I re-read what each book was about and now I kind of want to finish off the series. I don’t know yet but it may be added to my TBR list.

                Now onto the ratings, this book got a rating of 5 out of 5 stars simply because I was able to relate to the main character so closely. I really enjoyed sitting down and binge reading this book. Plus I love books that make me tear up, it made me so happy for her and to watch her slowly learn to cope and realize things made my heart melt.

Book Review - "Heart of Stone" - Dakota Willink

      Ever since I have created a social medias dedicated to strictly books, quotes, basically anything related to books I post. So with that I have a twitter and I try to post regularly about books, how far along I am in what I'm reading, or I'm promoting my blog. To my surprise I have gotten some messages from authors themselves asking for me to review their book for them. That makes me more than happy to do so. So I have messaged some authors about their books and my interest in reviewing their work. With that I have been open about reviewing some books that are outside my comfort zone and I am not going to turn someone down just because I do not read that type of genre. I am willing to give anyone a chance. With that Dakota Willink and I have had contact with each other over Instagram and Twitter. She was more than happy to send me a PDF file of her first book in The Stone series "Heart of Stone".
      I honestly never heard of Dakota Willink or of her series before and I was debating on whether or not I really wanted to read this book. But since it was sent to me by the author herself I could not turn her down and I am glad I didn't turn her book down. When we sent tweets to one another I didn't even look up what the book was even about but I was still going to read it and I'm glad I did. I became addicted to reading. I remember beginning this book on my way to and from Connecticut and the train ride was about an hour and a half, so I had a good amount of time on my hands to read. Even after reading this on the train ride, I started reading this everywhere I went from the train to work and from work. Every time someone saw I was reading. I finished this book in no time and I cannot wait to read the second book in The Stone series.
      This book is basically Fifty Shades of Grey but better. I'm not saying that Fifty Shades was bad but this book was executed better. The main characters were Krystina Cole and Alexander Stone and they both hold a fierce attraction to each other. I think that a lot of eroticas tend to follow the same outline and vary from one another in a few ways but they follow the same execution. But I was glad to see that this book wasn't a retelling of Fifty Shades.
      As for the story, it was put together very nicely and I liked the description of the characters as well as the steamy scenes. The only thing I think many of the readers disliked was the cliffhanger. I love/hate cliffhangers because I want to know what happens and I want to see how the story unfolds. But on the other hand I love the suspense cliffhangers give to me. Dakota Willink did a wonderful job on keeping my attention as well as creating the need to want to know what happens with Krystina and Alexander's relationship. I truly enjoyed watching as Alexander and Krystina's relationship grow and I hope that they don't go their own ways. They are both independent characters and they can stand alone but when they are together, that's when the flames explode. I cannot wait to read book two of the series. I am also anticipating the sex scenes and I hope they a very descriptive. ;]
      When I do reviews on a book given to me or books I buy myself, I make sure I give an honest review to the authors as well as the people who take the time to read my blog. With that on Goodreads I gave Heart of Stone a solid 5 out of 5 just because I didn't want to stop reading it. If you happen to enjoy erotica then I recommend this book to you. To keep updated on the new release of "The Stepping Stone", book two of the series, follow her on twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads @DakotaWillink . Her website is http://www.dakotawillink.com/

Book Review - "The Way We Fall"

“The world can fall to pieces around us, but in the end, we'll always make it back to us.”

      Before we get into the book review, let me do a little back story. So I recently was given a tablet to use for Kindle, so I decided to download some books and in this case all of the books that I downloaded was free. I am a person who rather have the physical copy than a kindle copy. But I was willing to give this a try and guess what? I became addicted to reading on kindle than actually holding the book. I literally carried this everywhere. It was so easy to carry and I didn't have to worry about the pages folding or tearing. 

      I happened to scroll onto this book called The Way We Fall by Cassia Leo, it was a series and it sounded pretty interesting plus it was free, so why not? Anyways, I started to read this and let's say I couldn't stop. The blurb given on Goodreads did not do this book justice. 

   "Maybe we shouldn’t have fallen so fast and so willingly.
Maybe we shouldn’t have moved in together before we went on our first date.
Maybe we should have given our wounds time to heal before we tore each other to shreds.
Maybe we should have never been together.
Houston has kept a devastating secret from Rory since the day he took her into his home. But the tragic circumstances that brought them together left wounds too deep to heal.
Five years after the breakup, Houston and Rory are thrust together by forces beyond their control. And all the resentments and passion return with more intensity than ever.
Once again, Houston is left with a choice between the truth and the only girl he’s ever loved.

     I was addicted to the rush created when Houston and Rory or next to one another. True love never dies and clearly their love for each other was authentic and very addictive. I'm coming to learn that I am a helpless romantic at heart for stories like this one. I love reading about realistic relationships and reading about what goes on in them. Rory is an independent woman with a big heart. She was head over heels for Houston when they were a thing years ago. In all relationships there will be trouble and fighting. Everything became too much and Houston watched Rory leave. During their relationship something terrible happened and he kept a secret from Rory until they reunite again. 

      As I've said in some of my previous posts, I am a hopeless romantic and I couldn't help but find this book cute and it made me think about my fiancee. No matter how much we may fight she will always love me. I am so thankful for my best friend. 

      Anyways back to the book, so for the rating, I rated it on Goodreads a 5 out of 5 stars. I literally love this book and I cannot wait to buy the remaining books of the series. I recommend this series to everyone - I think everyone should experience the loveyness of this book,  As always I have to thank you for reading and taking the time for my blog.    

Book Review - "She" - Thom Young

This was the first book I actually read on my tablet using Kindle. Normally I don't like to read on any devices I rather have the book in my hand. This book was very quick read that I actually enjoy reading. I found a few quotes that stuck to me.

There isn't much to say about the book so let's go straight to the ratings. I actually waited this a 4 out of 5 stars. This is actually a really high rating so I change down to a  3.4 out of 5 stars