mignon mykel { reviews }: CAN'T HOLD BACK -- a summary and opinion

Sunday, September 21, 2014

CAN'T HOLD BACK -- a summary and opinion

Here I am, trying to catch up....

I pulled open my NetGalley account and organized allllll the books I'd been approved for via publication date. Some of them already had reviews on here and NetGalley, some simply had reviews on NetGalley for the simple fact I wanted to say that the book had been read. Some just had nothing by way of review. So those with nothing, or just NetGalley reviews, are finally being brought over to here.

...and let me tell you, this list is 30 books long. To be fair, of those 30, 7 are still on my 'To Be Read' list, and one is on my 'Currently Reading' list. I won't get to all 30 right now, but I hope to get a mini-dent into the list.

Oh, and I'm still working on my Post-Look for reviews, as well as my Blog-Look for this thing as a whole.... it will all look pretty in time. Anywho...

Publication Date: June 6, 2014

Back of the Book:

To have and to hold. To trust and to obey. To take and to pleasure… Some things just don’t come up in your wedding vows.

Off to their honeymoon in sexy, exotic Cabo, Dan and Maddie Hudson are finally free from the microscope of small town living. For Dan, a self-assured attorney, this means indulging in the all-consuming intimacy of marriage—especially the naked kind—wherever and whenever his new wife will have him.

But CPA Maddie doesn’t want to be in charge. In fact, there’s something she craves and there’s no one she trusts more than Dan to give it to her. But will pushing the envelope sexually be too much, too soon in their marriage? The last thing she wants is to make her husband regret his vows before the honeymoon is even over.

Can Dan be the man Maddie needs, now and forever? Or will her secret desires bring an early end to their happily ever after?

Warning: This book contains an über confident, dirty talking hero and a heroine who isn’t afraid to push the boundaries of the bedroom—or the beach. For readers 18+.

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Mignon's Excerpt:

Dan clenched and unclenched his fists, and his ears rang so loud, he was getting a goddamn headache. He'd been so caught up in the moment that he hadn't noticed the circle that had formed around them. He half expected to see a bouncer ready to throw him out on his ass, but there wasn't a single person who looked shocked about the bloodshed.

No one but Maddie, anyway.

She stood off to the side, her eyes wide and her chest heaving. Emotion -- what kind he couldn't tell -- pooled in her eyes and she reached out for him, her fingers trembling.

But he stepped back and shook his head.

She'd let that prick touch her. Not just touch her, but touch her. That line he thought they were both so clear on? The one their wedding vows had solidified? She'd crossed it. And it felt like a friggin' dagger, twisting in his chest.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Oh, Maddie...

I just want to say that while it's commendable that a woman knows what she wants out of her sex life.... she really needs to be vocal about it.

Choosing to make her new husband aware of it in the manner that Maddie does it is just wrong. I was completely Team Dan on this one.

I felt the synopsis was a bit vague, and the last line about Dan being the man for Maddie, now and forever, or her secret desires, etc etc... well, it's a bit generic. Granted, I've attempted to write synopsis' before, and it's not all that easy.

As a whole, the story was good... yet there was room for more to make it great. I did not agree with Maddie's methods. If I were judging the book on character, it is a solid 4. Judging the book on developement and writing, it could be a 5. But because I'm so anti-Maddie's-methods (really, give the dude a true clue)... it's getting a 4 from me.

Give it a shot, and buy it for your Kindle. It's a super quick, easy read. It's part of a series, but most definitely can be read as a stand-alone! Also, Molly McLain is from Wisconsin, so she gets major props from me on that. Go, Wisco!

...also, just because I'm not a huge Maddie fan (ok, so I like Maddie, just hun, you gotta say something....) doesn't mean I'm not a Molly McLain fan. Like I said, I liked the novella in general. When I have a moment, I would be interested in reading book one (Dan's brother and Maddie's BFF's book).

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a quick note from { mignon } ...

I AM NO LONGER ACTIVE IN REVIEWING

The last two years has been incredibly rewarding, giving me the opportunity to pick up new-to-me authors, as well as new-to-the-world authors. I have enjoyed supporting publishing houses as well as the indie author, and in doing so, I learned a lot about the marketing aspect of writing a book and selling it as a self-published author.

I have re-focused my journey to more writing-minded. I still read and review! But not nearly at the rate I was; three books a day has turned to three books a month.

I will no longer be accepting individual review requests (unless it's specifically author-to-author, then it will be highly considered).

I will definitely be posting reviews for commitments I have already made, though.

Thank you for understanding, & thank you to all those I have worked with over the last year plus!

~ Mignon

http://mignonmykel.com

GOODREADS updates

Dirty Saint: A Secret Baby Sports Romance by Vesper Vaughn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book almost failed to get my attention. Why?

The hero.

He is the exact public person I despise. You know the type -- all biblical with publicized praying and verses all over his public persona. Great. Good for you. Bet you're not like that behind closed doors...

Which is exactly what Esther thinks of him.

Saint and Esther attend the same super religious college. Esther is on the fast track to becoming a nun, and no I do not kid, and Saint, given name Francis, can do just about whatever he wants, because he is the star athlete and the school knows he has connections. What in the world can these two have in common? The actions of their parents.

But where Saint does what his father says, usually, because his father is pushing him toward a pro-football careers, Esther follows her parents (father) because if she didn't... Her life would literally be a living hell.

I really enjoyed these two, once we started to get to know Saint a little bit better. My only drawback with the book would be the last half goes by in super-fast time. While it helped to keep the story moving, I would have liked to see more of that time drawn out so the feelings and emotions of our two characters felt more genuine and real -- rather than simply a two month courting that their lives demanded.

I'm giving the book the full 5 stars because it came out of left-field for me. It was a book that I didn't expect to like, but the author wove it in a way that I fell hard for our characters both as individuals and as a couple. I liked watching Esther grow and find her voice in life, just as I liked watching playboy, always for the chase Saint, settle down and find a person to be terribly protective over. I loved him most in the last two chapters.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

Everything by Erin Noelle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Here's something you may know about me if you've followed my reviews -- I'm an epilogue reader. I will almost always read the epilogue first. Call me a spoilsport or no fun, or whatever but that's how I've been reading books for years. It's no wonder that when I write books, I tend to have the epilogue all figured out before I even start with "Once upon a time...".

That said... I read this epilogue and while I liked it, I just couldn't get past the ages of our characters. Couldn't do it. So I read the beginning. Still... If anything, the age of our characters was even more pronounced. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to read this. You see, I have an issue with "Happily ever after" and the hardly-twenty crowd, let alone an eighteen year old.

But that's my hang-up.

Another thing you may know about me? I will sometimes read a book in what I call a inside-out fashion. I jump all over the place until I find a snippet of story that absolutely grips me. And people -- there are a few of those parts in Everything. So because I found those gripping parts, I put my faith in Erin Noelle, and I started from page one -- and I gave Everett and Belle a chance.

And I'm so glad I did.

Everett and his twin sister have been making music forever -- literally. They're the children of a rockstar; music has always been their life. When their father's group decides to get back together (dad always said he'd go back when the twins were done with school), Mason tells the label -- if you take me, you're taking my kids: thus, giving Everett and Ashlynn the opportunity to take their music to a larger level than they have before.

Along the way, with a local gig, Everett meets Belle -- and so begins their story.

This is a story about growing up. This is a story about following your heart -- be it for a person or a career, or even both. It is about learning to trust the person you are giving your heart to, and about taking the ever-looming jump into unknown feelings. When you put your life, your wants, your desires in someone else's hands, the world opens up -- and it certainly does for Everett and Belle.

The part I most appreciated was that the author made Everett true to his age and situation. Belle was too, yes, but it was Everett and his new lifestyle that had me wanting to see true characterization for. He's a guy; he's a musician; he's new to love. He makes mistakes. And for those mistakes, I truly got on board with this story.

Everett and his Tinker Bell were incredibly cute. I liked that there's a decent time jump at the end, further allowing -- you guessed it -- growth of our characters. I'm excited to watch more of them when (if?) Ashlynn's story comes out.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

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Sunday, September 21, 2014

CAN'T HOLD BACK -- a summary and opinion

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