Blog Tour Review | QUICKSAND by Carolyn Baugh

Quicksand by Carolyn Baugh
Thriller/Mystery/Crime Published September 29, 2015
Forge Books
Author's website  |  Goodreads  |  Buy the Book on Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The beginning of an engrossing new suspense series featuring Philadelphia policewoman Nora Khalil

Officer Nora Khalil is used to navigating different terrains. As part of a joint task force set up by the Philadelphia Police Department, the FBI, and the local sheriff’s offices, she works to keep Philly’s mean streets safe from gang violence, while trying to honor the expectations of her traditional Egyptian-American family. She can hold her own against hardened murderers and rapists, and her years as a competitive runner ensure that no suspect ever escapes on foot.

Nora tries to keep her professional and personal lives separate, but when a mutilated body is discovered in a tough section of town, Nora must rely on both her police training and her cultural background to find out whether this is another gang-related killing or the grisly evidence of something even darker and more disturbing.

My Thoughts...

I have to say that I really enjoyed this book.  I started it one day while I was on my lunch break at work and because of all my school work wasn't able to pick it back up for 4-5 days, but once I did I finished it in one sitting.  I was pretty much hooked from the 2nd chapter and now I am going to have a hard time waiting for the next book in the series to come out.  What I really liked about it is that this book is pretty much a self contained story, but a tiny thread of romance that will hopefully be the "thing" that carries over to the other books in the series.

Nora Khalil is a young police officer who has been tapped to join a special gang task force that's been set up with the FBI.  John is her older more experienced male partner who loves her like a daughter while at the same time teaching her what she needs to know to survive her job.  She's Egyptian and her family is very strict in their beliefs and traditions.  She's falling in love with Ben, one of the FBI officers that she works with, and vice versa, but inter-racial dating/marriage is not something that's looked on kindly in her family so she keeps him at arms length.  Nora and John, along with Ben and his partner are working on a case where a very young girl is murdered.  They believe it's gang related and it pulls them in to a much bigger and potentially deadly situation.  Some of the key players in this case are Muslim and Nora's language skills and her cultural knowledge and background are the things that help to crack the case wide open.  At the same time, she is finding out things about her own family that will aid her in decisions that she must make about her own life and future, both personally and professionally.

I felt like this novel was very well paced and pretty much action packed from start to  finish.  The whole of the case plays out over the course of about a week, maybe a little more.  All of the characters are very well developed, especially Nora and John.  You can't help but feel for Nora and what she's going through and when she stands up for herself and her beliefs you feel the need to root for her.  This is the first Carolyn Baugh book that I have read, but it definitely won't be the last.  I think that she has tapped into something that is possibly lacking in this market.  Her knowledge of the Egyptian and Muslim community is extensive because of her education and I think that her choosing to use it in this way is excellent.  It's a lighter way to bring topics such as these to peoples attention.

XOXO, Shelly

*Disclaimer: I was provided with a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher in exchange for my honest review.*

July Book Haul

So this month I restrained myself for the most part!  I only acquired a few print copy books, but added to my kindle collection.

These are the print books I received for review this month.

Here are the Kindle books I received for review this month.

Print books I bought this month....

Kindle books...

 

 

 

Not too bad of a haul and I definitely didn't go too crazy like I have in the past!  I have already read a handful of these some of the reviews are already up or will be up very soon.  I hope you all had a great month and stay tuned for my July Wrap Up tomorrow....I did WAY more reading this month than I did last month!

XOXO, Shelly

New Adult Blog Tour ''Remy" by Katy Evans

Title: Remy

Author: Katy Evans

Date of Release: November 26, 2013

Publisher: Gallery Books
Blog Tour Hosted by: The SUBClub Books

Buy Links

AMAZON  |  B&N 

Synopsis

Underground fighter Remington Tate is a mystery, even to himself. His mind is dark and light, complex and enlightening. At times his actions and moods are carefully measured, and at others, they spin out of control.

Through it all, there's been one constant: wanting, needing, loving, and protecting Brooke Dumas. This is his story; from the first moment he laid eyes on her and knew, without a doubt, she would be the realest thing he's ever had to fight for.

MY REVIEW

I believe that this is the final book in this series, but I am not 100% positive that this is the case.  I enjoyed this one quite a bit more than the 2nd one and I will tell you why.  This book is told completely from Remy's perspective and I love him!  This book starts out a couple months after Mine leaves off but only bits, tiny bits of the book are in the present.  This reminds me a lot of This Girl by Colleen Hoover in that it's the 3rd book, it's told from the mans perspective and it's his re-telling of the first 2 books interspersed with small scenes from the present.  For Will and Layken it was him telling her his story in moments of their honeymoon.  In this book its's Remy remembering all the main scenes of the prior 2 books while on his way to his church wedding to Brooke.

There really isn't a whole lot to review here since there isn't a whole lot of new stuff happening so I will just give you my thoughts overall.  I love Remy, I can't say it enough.  I loved that we get all the good stuff from book one from his perspective.  We do get the high points of book 2, but there seemed to be less of book 2 represented here in this one, which was fine by me because book 1 was definitely better.

I don't normally think that it's necessary to re-write a book from the other MC's POV, but I liked this one because there is so much about Remy that was still a mystery.  I would almost say that I could have read this one and skipped the other 2, but I can't really.  I think that the addition of this book made for a more well rounded character.  Remy is so blatantly male and you see that so much more in this book.  He's very primal and almost animal like so Brooke comparing him to a lion made so much more sense after reading this book.  Remy is HOT, there is no denying that...not that I ever tried!

I quite enjoyed this book and if you loved the first one then you will love this one just as much if not more.  I will say that his excessive and I do mean excessive use of the "f" word is a little off-putting to the point that I wanted to start counting them just to see how many times he said it!

This is a New Adult book, so there are some very descriptive love scenes as well as quite a bit of profanity. Definitely for the 18 and over crowd! 

About Katy Evans

Hey! I’m Katy Evans and I love family, books, life, and love. I’m married with two children and three dogs and spend my time baking, walking, writing, reading, and taking care of my family. Thank you for spending your time with me and picking up my story. I hope you had an amazing time with it, like I did. If you’d like to know more about books in progress, look me up on the Internet, I’d love to hear from you!

Website: www.katyevans.net

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Katy-Evans/521052267929550

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorkatyevans

Email: authorkatyevans@gmail.com

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Mystery/Thriller Review "No Escape" by Mary Burton

Title: No Escape

Author: Mary Burton

Released On: October 29, 2013

Publisher: Zebra

Buy Link -  AMAZON 

Author's Website:   http://www.maryburton.com/
Author's Goodreads Profile:  Mary Burton

Synopsis

He Was Taught How To Kill

Even behind bars, serial killer Harvey Day Smith exudes menace. Psychologist Jolene Granger has agreed to hear his dying confession, vowing not to let the monster inside her head. And Harvey has secrets to share—about bodies that were never found, and about the apprentice who is continuing his grisly work…

And Now He’ll Teach Them

He buries his victims alive the way his mentor Harvey did, relishing their final screams as the earth rains down. And as one last gift to the only father he knew, he’ll make the most perfect kill of all.

How To Die

Everything about this investigation is unnerving Jo, from Harvey’s fascination with her to the fact that she’s working alongside Texas Ranger Brody Winchester, her ex-husband. Harvey’s protégé is growing bolder and more vicious every day. And soon the trail of shallow graves will lead them to the last place Jo expected, and to the most terrifying truth of all…

MY REVIEW

Every once in awhile I like to sit down and read a really good murder mystery and this was an excellent read.  I was also sent the first book in this Texas Rangers series and I loved it as well.  This could absolutely be a stand alone book though.  The main female character is Jolene Granger she's a psychologist who works occasionally with the Rangers and she did make an appearance in the first book and the 2 main characters from that book show up in this book as well.  You don't need any of that back story for this story though.

When Jo was going to school she did one of her big papers on Harvey Day Smith, when he decides to make a confession before he dies he want to talk to her.  The problem is that the Ranger responsible for his capture and the man who contacts her, Brody Winchester, happens to be her ex-husband.  They haven't seen each other in 14 years and working side by side is causing all sorts of old feelings and hurts to come to the surface.  Not to mention the fact that someone is out there killing and disposing of the bodies in the same manner that Harvey Day Smith did.

This book is fast paced and full of twists and turns.  For just a minute I thought I had it all figured out and boy was I wrong!  I love a book that keeps me on my toes and this one definitely did that.  Harvey has Jo all turned around and confused.  He intimates that there is a connection between them that she needs dig deeper to find and this has her tied in knots.  She is starting to re-connect with Brody a man who disappointed her at a time in her life when she needed him to stand by her side.  Jo has a lot of things working against her, but she is a strong woman who doesn't seem to let anything get her down.

If you are looking for a relatively quick read and you love a good murder mystery then I highly recommend this book.  It's an adult read and it has some tastefully done love scenes, but not too much detail and while there is some profanity it's used very sparingly.

*Disclaimer:  I was provided with a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher in exchange for my honest review.*

Just a quick little update post, NaNoWriMo style!

Okay peeps, I am sorry I haven't been doing my normal posting lately.  I am 10 days into NaNoWriMo and it's going well, but this means I haven't had a lot of time to read. 

I have signed up for 4 blog tours that all happened to fall this month, I have NO idea how I managed that! So, I have read one of those books thus far and I will have a review post up for that on Wednesday.  Then I have 2 next week and the last one the following week.  I am struggling to keep up with the reading and writing.  I will get those 4 books done and blog tours posted, but I won't be doing any more reading and probably no more posting until December comes.  

I have been doing a few NaNoWriMo videos and posting them on my YouTube Channel, but I am behind on those as well!  I need to just face facts that this is a crazy busy month for me anyway and then adding 50,000 words on top of that was just a little crazy town.  I am doing it though!  I have days where I am ahead and days that I am behind, but I am getting there and as each day passes the words come a little easier.

I guess since I know where my story is going I can give you a little information on it.  It's a YAish Paranormal,  the ish being that the lead female is in high school, but is just turning 18 at the beginning of her senior year and the lead male is 20 going into his 2nd year of college.  It will be YA in content though, I am not confident enough at this point to try to write a New Adult novel.  I don't, by any means, think that what I am writing is good!  I do think that with A LOT of help it could potentially be, but I am not confident enough in it at this point to even let anyone read it.  That may come eventually, but after some serious revision and all that fun stuff.  Right now I am just focusing on getting the words out.

The paranormal aspect comes in the form of young witches with powers of the elements and a curse that wreaks havoc on their town once all the witches have been endowed with their power.   This generation is determined to break the curse without one of the witches having to die, which is how they have been able to survive the curse in the past.   My main character Riley is one of the witches and her love interest Ezra will be a major player in breaking the curse.  I still have a lot of details to work out and I am not sure how it's going to end quite yet, but it's coming together nicely I think.

So, I will see you back here with on Wednesday with a blog tour post and a review of this book...

....until then, Happy Reading!

Q&A with Ryan Winfield & a SIGNED book Giveaway!!

If you have been reading my blog for long you know how much I love Ryan's work.  I stumbled upon his first book through a Facebook ad over a year and a half ago and I have read all of the books he has put out since then, most of them on the day of release!  If you would like to go take a look at the reviews I have done of his books you can find them all here:

• South of Bixby Bridge
• The Park Service
• The Isle of Man
• Jane's Melody

He has spanned several genre's and with each one he seems to be right at home.  I do have to say that Jane's Melody is probably my favorite and I think he has a flair for the romance novel so I can't wait for more books about Jane and Caleb.  Which brings me to the point of this post!  Ryan has just signed a book deal with Atria, a division of Simon & Schuster.  They are going to re-print Jane's Melody, but he has also signed on for more books and I believe we have not heard the last of Jane and Caleb's story.  So this is excellent news for the 1000's of us who read and loved the book!

I got this Q&A from a publicist at Atria and I thought I would do a post and include it and then give you all a chance to win your very own copy of Jane's Melody signed to you from Ryan Winfield! So be sure to read through the interview and then enter to win.

Since your writing career began, what has surprised you the most about your novels? Your readers?

I’ve been surprised by how real the characters and their journeys feel to me after I’ve written them. Almost as if I had the honor of reporting someone else’s story rather than creating it. I take credit only for doing the work—where the stories come from is a mystery and a gift. Readers have surprised me with their willingness to suspend disbelief and read those stories as if they were true. I’ve also been surprised by their generosity with me.

Jane’s Melody is the third different genre in which you’ve published (South of Bixby Bridge, literary fiction; The Park Service, young adult dystopian; and Jane’s Melody, romance). Do you have a favorite go-to genre to read yourself?

I have favorite authors I love to read, but not genres. Genre comes up a lot, but to me it seems more a tool for cataloging a work once it’s completed rather than something that should drive the creation of the work. When a story comes to me, I try to tell it as honestly as I can. I’ve never really given genre any thought.

Because of the diverse genres in which you have written, you’ve gained a large audience of readers in a wide range of ages.  What have you thought of this?

I think it’s great. I know it might not be the best business model, but I love the diversity of the audience my different books have enjoyed. A few of my books have touched on themes of addiction or alcoholism, and possibly the biggest reward for me has been interacting with readers who have been moved by those stories, either to understand themselves or a those they love better.

Your last book, Jane’s Melody was your first romance novel.  Where did your inspiration and story come from for this story?

I wish I knew. I think I was taking a bath when Jane came to me. I had the opening image of her sitting in her car watching the rain fall on her daughter’s grave. I started writing about her right away. Caleb’s character had been with me for a long time in the form of a notebook filled with songs I had been writing over the years, but I had no idea it would be him who would show up to change Jane’s life.

Music plays a big role in Jane’s Melody, not to mention, the double meaning in the title itself. Did you listen to music while writing the book? If so, was it the same tunes we “heard” in the story?

I never listen to music while writing. Stories come to me largely in images, and the words themselves make the music. I’d hate to have someone else’s melody slip into or influence my prose. I wrote Caleb’s songs in the book. The few that are mentioned when Caleb plays covers just happened to be songs that I love.

Did you learn anything about your characters while writing Jane’s Melody?

Yes. Almost everything the reader learns. Writing is a very exploratory process for me and I’m often surprised by my characters and the choices they make.

Can you relate to any of the main characters from Jane’s Melody, through personality, preferences or struggles?

I relate in some way to every character I write. The protagonist, in this case Jane, takes on most of my own struggles dealing with family dysfunction, grief, and finding the courage to start over, although in different ways, but each character has some kernel of my own experience working in them.

Is there a message in this story that you want people to know?

I never set out to teach anyone anything when I write. I do, however, set out to learn things for myself. Sometimes all I end up with are more questions, but I’m always better for having written it anyway. I’ve received many messages from readers who take away wonderful life lessons from Jane’s journey to freedom, and some of those mirror my own. But I think ever reader has to have their own experience with the story.

Is there anything about you that your readers would be surprised to learn (quirks, rituals, habits)?

I love sea salt baths. At least once a week I run a bath, light candles, and set my sound machine to ocean waves before sinking into the water to dream. I get some of my best ideas there.

Your writing style is so colorful and descriptive, do these lines come naturally to you at the first writing or do you go back and edit them?

The best lines come naturally in the first draft, although I have no idea where they come from or how they get across my pen. Editing is more about reducing and cutting away what is unnecessary, which can be difficult because sometimes my favorite lines have to go.

GIVEAWAY TIME!!  I am going to go back to the Rafflecopter because I have more luck with those.   There is an option to leave a comment though, so make sure you just click on that option within the Rafflecopter then leave your comment for me!

So...here are the rules:

• Must be at least 18 to Enter
• You must live in the US for hard copy books.
• You will have 24 hours to contact me once it's confirmed that you are the winner and I have emailed you.
• Failure to contact me in 24 hours will result in my drawing another name as winner. 

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September Reading Wrap Up

This was another short month for me, but I feel like I read a lot!  I think that it looks short because a couple of the books I read were SUPER long.  Monsters took me over a week to read since it was almost 850 pages.  I am not doing too bad though, I just went over the 102 mark for 2013 on my Goodreads challenge.  I have 125 books on there so I am well on my way to hitting my target.  I have also now read 3 of the 25 books on my Challenge Bookshelf.  You can see those books here.

So here is a look at the books I managed to add to my "Read" shelf in September. 

There you have it!  I have a couple of video reviews coming up, but I am waiting on my new HD webcam to get here before I record them.  Also, I have been sick for the past week so my voice has been pretty scary and the coughing kinda ruins the videos!  I am going to be working on promoting my YouTube Channel so hopefully I can start to build my following over there.  I may also be posting videos over there on the days that I don't post here so if you don't want to miss those be sure to follow me over on YouTube.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Reading!

New Adult Romance Review "Torn" by K.A. Robinson

Torn by K.A. Robinson
New Adult Romance released 5/7/13
Atria Publishing

Author's website  |  Goodreads  |  Buy the Book on Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Chloe hasn't had the best life. With a mother who is gone more often than not, she has had to raise herself. After graduating high school, she leaves to start a new life away at West Virginia University with her best friends Amber and Logan, determined to leave her demons in the past. 

On her first day, she meets a stranger who takes her breath away at first sight. Until she met Drake, no one had ever sparked her interest. Now this tattooed and pierced bad boy is all she can think about, no matter how hard she fights it.

Falling for Drake was never part of her plans, but when it happens, things seem to do anything but fall into place.

Dealing with a tragic past, Drake has never cared about anyone else but himself and his band. But when Chloe takes the empty seat next to him in class, things start to change. Instantly drawn to her, he begins to wonder if one girl can take a cold hearted womanizer and change every part of him?

Long hidden feelings are revealed and friendships tested to the brink.

My Thoughts...

So this is going to be a pretty short review.  I have to tell you right off that I only gave this 3 stars on Goodreads, but it's probably closer to a 2.5 for me.  I think that this book had potential, the characters had potential, but for me the magic just wasn't there.  The pretty cover promised so much more than the book delivered.

Chloe is just starting college with her 2 best friends Logan and Amber.  She meets Drake on the first day.  He's tattooed and pierced, a lead singer in a bad, the whole bad boy package.  Except for one thing, he's not really all that bad.  Sure he's a player and has more than his share of one night stands with groupies, but that's really the extent of his "badness".  

There is a fine line between a love triangle that works and one that doesn't. The Logan/Chloe/Drake love triangle was a disaster from the beginning.  First of all we all know that  putting best friends together when there is another possible love interest in the picture NEVER works out.  NEVER ever ever!  At best they can remain friends, but even that is not always the case.  For me, the love triangle ruined this story.  There were other ways to create conflict that would have been more conducive to the story as a whole.   

For me Chloe wasn't really a particularly likable character, I think she had potential, but her inablilty to make a decision was annoying.  She strung both guys along for too long.  Drake had the most potential, but even his character could have been deeper in my opinion.  I did enjoy the banter between Drake and Logan though.

The overall writing isn't bad, but there were times, especially at the beginning of the book, where information was just dumped out in paragraphs.  I felt like, instead of the story being shown to me in a natural progression, I was just being "told" all the information at once to get it all out.  It's the whole "show don't tell" thing.   Even the love scenes were just okay for me.  The whole story was more like an independently published story instead of one that a publisher picked up.  Don't get me wrong I have read a lot of really good independently published stories.  This one just didn't strike me as something that was polished enough to have been published by a publishing house.

This is the 1st in a trilogy but I don't feel particularly compelled to pick up the other books.  This one wasn't a cliffhanger and she did choose in the end, so I don't feel the need to continue the story.   I don't know that I would recommend this book to friends since I really didn't enjoy it so much.  If you like a quick, not particularly deep read then you may enjoy it.

*Disclaimer:  I was provided with a copy of this book courtesy of the publicist in exchange for an honest review.*

New Adult Romance "Dazzled" by Jane Harvey-Berrick

Dazzled by Jane Harvey-Berrick
New Adult Romance released 9/10/13

Author's website  |  Goodreads  |  Buy the Book on Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads:
When Hollywood calls, is the price for fame too high?

Miles Stephens is a young actor from London. Out of work, unemployable, and fired from his last job, he gets the chance to star in a break-out role in a big-time Hollywood film.

The film is a great success, propelling him to worldwide Hollywood fame – but it’s not all it’s cracked up to be, and the pressure starts to get to Miles.

Throughout, he is supported by his friend, Clare, the girl next door whom he grew up with – and who is secretly in love with him.

Miles finds out that fame and fortune isn’t everything he’d dreamed about.

My Thoughts...

If you follow the blog then you probably remember me doing a cover reveal for this book a little while back.  I wanted to really love this book, but in the end it just wasn't as good for me as I was expecting.  Let me tell you a little about the book first.

Basically Miles and Clare are best friends, they have been forever.  She is literally the girl next door.   She is a University student and he is an actor who has just gotten his first big break.  The problem is that they live in London and he has to go to California to audition for the part.  Long story short, he gets the part and has to stay in America for filming.  Miles is a good looking, but awkward guy who needs some polishing to make him fit the part.  The movie is a book turned movie deal, and the fans of the book aren't happy with the casting, etc...  

Okay so here is where I had the most difficulty with this book.  If Robert Pattinson had a best friend who was a girl she probably could have written this book!  I don't know how many of you Twilight fans out there followed the filming of the first movie, but I did and this reminded me so much of what that may have been like.  I felt like the character of Miles was based on Robert Pattinson and while this may not have been the intention of the writer (I am certain it wasn't), it was just a little too close for me.  Even down to the awkward interviews, jazz/blues musician, supernatural type movie character who falls for a human girl, auditioning for the part with the leading lady in the female director's home, etc...  The only thing that didn't match up was the leading lady's personality and some of the things that she does, even though there was some cheating there.  

I enjoyed Jane's last book so much and I was expecting this one to be as good as that one and story wise it just didn't compare.  I do thing that it was written well, although again, not quite as well done as the last one.  Just because I didn't enjoy this book as much it doesn't mean that I won't pick up more of this author's work because I definitely will.

If you enjoy a light, quick read then this may be something you will enjoy.  There are some love scenes in this book that are steamy, but not too overdone.

*Disclaimer:  I was provided with a copy of this book courtesy of the publicist in exchange for an honest review.*

YA Paranormal VIDEO Review "Alice in Zombieland" by Gena Showalter

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter
YA Paranormal released 9/25/12

Author's website  |  Goodreads  |  Buy the Book on Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads:
She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

I wish I could go back and do a thousand things differently.
I'd tell my sister no.
I'd never beg my mother to talk to my dad.
I'd zip my lips and swallow those hateful words.
Or, barring all of that, I'd hug my sister, my mom and my dad one last time.
I'd tell them I love them.
I wish... Yeah, I wish.

My Thoughts...

So, I am changing the format here just a bit as you can see by what I have going on up there.  It's a little less cluttered and hopefully will make things a little easier for me when it comes time to post.  Also, you can see by the post title that this is a video blog!  It's something new I am trying and I may go to a mostly video format if time (and a quiet house) permits.  I kind of like it, it's easier to put my thoughts into words, sometimes.  We will see how it goes... 

So here it my very first video review...I hope you enjoy it.  Sorry about the crummy quality, I am still learning the whole process and hopefully they will just get better and better.  I may have to get a better camera for that to happen so please bear with me until then!

Thanks for watching!

Reading Challenge Update

I finally took a little time today to look at my shelves and decide what books I want to read for this challenge.  At this point in time I have 8 books on my "to be reviewed pile", not counting kindle books, and I am keeping those on my list, but I also added 20 books that I have had on my shelves, some for a long time, that I haven't read.  So here is my list of 20 books that I bought on my own that I plan to read before the end of this year. These are in no particular order.

1. Divergent
2. Alice in Zombieland
3. Sweet Evil
4. 7 Years to Sin
5. Shatter Me
6. The Club Dumas
7. Venom
8. The Passage
9. Suttree
10. The Redbreast
11. For Darkness Shows the Stars
12. Shadow's Claim
13. Heart of Atlantis
14. Eon
15. The Dark & Hollow Places
16. Wake
17. Beautiful Creatures
18. Falling Kingdoms
19. Heart Shaped Box
20. Claire De Lune
21. The Moon Dwellers
22. Graveminder
23. The Luxe
24. The Pillars of The Earth
25. Insurgent

My plan is to come back here and mark these off as I get them read.  I tried to get a nice mix of genres and whatnot.  This isn't even 1/4 of the books on my "need to read" shelves!  I am just going to try to mix these books in with my "need to review"  books and hopefully I will get them all marked off by the time January rolls around.

Are you doing this challenge?  If so link me up and I will go follow your blog!

Happy Reading!

Contemporary Romance Review "For Nick" by Taylor Dean

Title:  For Nick
Author: Taylor Dean
Publisher:  CreateSpace
Publication Date:  July 1, 2013
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
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Synopsis from Goodreads: 

Zachary Drake had love in his life--and tragically lost it. He knows it won't come his way again. Andie Parker would do anything for the love of her life. 

Even marry a total stranger. 

In spite of the unorthodox manner in which Zach and Andie come together, there is no denying that things are unexpectedly good between them, taking them both by surprise. However, when secrets come between them--and trust does not--Andie soon finds herself vowing to never make the same mistake again. But, she'd do it again in a heartbeat and she knows it. She'd marry a hundred strangers if it helped Nick. 

She'd do anything for Nick . . . anything.

My Thoughts...

It's been a couple weeks since I finished this book, but I am going to do my best to review this properly.  It's going to be hard to do because there is a huge part of the story that is a mystery and to reveal any part of that would ruin the suspense.  I won't spoil anything, I promise!

This story starts with a prologue that shows us what happened to Zach's wife.  It's a heartbreaking chapter, but it's what ultimately leads us to the present story.  Zach's grandfather has passed away leaving him with the family business, which just happens to be a multi-million dollar enterprise.  He has one stipulation, Zach must be happily married within the following year in order to remain at the head of the company.  It sounds like a horrible situation, but Zach's grandfather only wants him to find happiness again.  He knows that it's out there if Zach will just take the chance and find it. 

When we meet Andi we know nothing about her except the fact that the love of her life, the one she will do anything for, is Nick.  Andi has a job interview, it's a job she desperately needs and it just happens to be with Zach.  The ad says he is looking for a personal assistant, but she finds out almost immediately that this isn't the case at all.  She is the last of the women he has seen and the moment he sees her he knows that she is the perfect one for what he has in mind and the fact that she passes his little "test" is an even bigger plus.  Andi is taken aback by his proposal.  Zach needs someone to pose as his wife in the public eye for the span of a year.  For this year of her time she will be paid 1 million dollars.  She isn't required to have feelings for him, they just need to convince his grandfather's lawyers that the marriage is real for one year.  He will even pay her the money up front and she needs that money more than anything.  Andi needs time to think about it, but we all know that, given her situation, she is not going to be able to pass this up.  Now, I say given her situation, but really we know nothing about her at this point other than it's been made clear that she is living on very little and she has this person in her life that needs the money.

Zach makes it clear from the beginning that he doesn't want to get involved in Andi's personal life even though she has made every effort to tell him her secret.  Even when they start to develop feelings for each other and their relationship starts to more closely resemble that of a real marriage he still is hesitant to let her open up to him.  That's why when he starts to snoop and follow her around it's kind of unbelievable.  Andi has been more than willing to tell him where she is going, but he insists that it's none of his business.  What this does is create tension and distance between them that could have been avoided if he had just listened to her.  This type of thing happens a couple times and since he is only seeing a small part of what is going on he reads things into the situation that are untrue and this pulls them apart.

So, as far as plot goes, this is about all I can say without spoiling anything.  I know, it's so hard, but it's really a good story, I promise!  This is a wonderful, clean romance.  It had me in tears on more than one occasion.  I loved Zach, Andi and most especially Nick.  This is one of those books that you can't help but fall in love with the characters because of who they are.  I have read all of Taylor's books and this is probably one of my favorites.  I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

*Disclaimer: I was provided with a copy of this book, courtesy of the author, in exchange for my honest review.

Bookshelf tour

Ok, the messy shelves were driving me nuts so I had to get that all under control!  I spread over into the new bookcase and I pretty much filled it up so I am going to have to put a hold on the book buying for awhile.  At least until I have a place to put another shelf!  So here is a little bookshelf tour for you...

This is my unread shelf.

There are 124 books in this bookcase that I haven't read!!  That's a lot of books.  They aren't in any particular order, but I do have a section on the 3rd shelf with the books I have received from authors and publishers for review.

This is a read shelf and the 2nd shelf holds the bulk of my signed books, but I did split those up to add the unread ones to the right shelf.  I am pretty sure that I need to add Jane's Melody to that shelf...I guess I need to plead with Ryan to send me one!!  The bottom shelf is all review books that were sent to me, some I have reviewed some are ones that I just couldn't get in to so I haven't read them all.

This is my my new shelf.  This really should be part of my unread shelf because I still haven't read any of the Buffy books even though I have been collecting them for probably 10 years now!  There are actually a few more of those that I haven't read, but someday I will get to them.  I have started collecting the books in the series that I have on kindle that I really enjoy.  I have parts of several series and I just buy them as I see them at used bookstores or when they get put in bargain bins.

So this is what I have now and it's nice and organized so maybe I will actually get more of them read!!  I am working on a list of the ones I want to read for the challenge.  I will post that soon!