mignon mykel { reviews }: review || TWISTED LIES

Friday, November 7, 2014

review || TWISTED LIES

Twisted Lies by Sedona Venez

Publisher: One Wish Publishing (9/30/2014)

Series: Dirty Secrets, book 1

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Source: NetGalley

Buy It From Amazon&Kindle | BN&Nook || Goodreads

My Rating: ★★★1/2

How far do the lies go?
After working her way up, Sinthia Michaels has finally hit it big in the glamorous fashion industry. Young and beautiful, she has it all - a celeb lifestyle, a gorgeous Manhattan townhouse, and a highly anticipated couture fashion line.

The need for revenge
Core McKay, former kingpin of New York City's organized crime, is now a wealthy and legitimate businessman. However, when Core sets his sights on a corrupt politician, his need for revenge leads him to Sin's up-and-coming fashion empire.

Trapped in the middle
Weaving together his twisted lies and dirty secrets, Core entangles Sin in his web of deceit. When the backstabbing fashion world, the vicious political arena, and the ruthless criminal underworld converge, Sin becomes trapped in the middle and struggles to fight her way out.

- - -

I got to chapter (5?) and had a squint-y eye moment... I've read that before. However, I would remember names like Sin and Core and "Ram Steele" (if that's not a sexual reference........).

I get really... Well, my opinion of a book tends to drop drastically when I feel that a scene was taken from another book. I was already feeling a solid, no more than, 4 on this book, but then this happened. I would go through and try to figure out if I have indeed read it before, but I own approximately 900 paperbacks and 200 ebooks, so that would be quite the feat...

But it really was just a paragraph so I shouldn't be too hard on it.

Another reviewer stated something along the lines of disliking how authors are doing these mini-novellas, "series", and that they should just write the whole book in one.

...I kind of agree with that in this instance. No, let me take that back... I really agree with it.

Cliffhangers are one thing in a series (such as with Luc and Lia), but it's quite another when there are huge holes.

However.

I get that I gave this book a three & a half. Given the opportunity, though, I'd read the other books in this "series", simply to learn more about Jaxon (I really want Sin and Core to get together and for him to get all alpha over her and beat Jaxon down) and to figure out what the prologue was (Till death do us part was indeed written... Do they marry? But he states he doesn't do love and relationships, the ass).

Had the series been one full book, based off of just this one peak, the lowest I'd give it would be a 4. As it is, this small piece gets a 3.5.

No comments:

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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Friday, November 7, 2014

review || TWISTED LIES

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