mignon mykel { reviews }: review || JADED { blog tour }

Monday, May 11, 2015

review || JADED { blog tour }

Jaded (3 Part Serial) by Ali Parker

Publisher: (here) (4/15/2015)
Genre: Serial Romance
Source: Good Tales Book Tour
Purchase links || Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Scribd

Rating: ★★★★
*rating and review are based on the full 3 part serial

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As a photographer for the New York Post, Kari Martin was used to seeing heartache and scandal up close. But one night at the club… her whole world changed.

Heartbroken and willing to call off her wedding, she decides a change is in order and moves from NYC to a small town in Maine, where the average age of the residents there is sixty (or thereabouts). She works to fit in perfectly, and tries like hell not to let anyone find out just how very jaded she’s recently become over the lie called love.

Jake Isaac left Texas quite a few years ago; his heart torn from his chest, and his mind set on being a bachelor forever. Maine would welcome him, give him land to explore and a community to belong to. Getting a job as the coach of the local junior high and serving on the fire department kept him busy — and labeled him a hometown hero — but the truth of his damaged heart was forever hidden.

No one would ever know just how jaded he was about love. That is… until he meets Kari.

about Ali || Ali Parker is a contemporary romance writer who is looking to flood the market this year with lots of great, quick reads. For those of you who love a full-length novel, we'll be boxing up the serial trilogies into a box set a week after the last release.

We're looking forward to putting out both Baited, and Ali's latest project, Jaded in the month of April. Want to know when Ali releases something new? Join her mailing list! http://eepurl.com/bjFlZD

Amazon || Twitter || Facebook || Mailing List

The next installments in the series:

Box Series Available for only $2.99

Paperback Book Coming Soon...

{ review } .

This was my second Ali Parker title/serial and I'm finding that while I like her writing and her style, there are some elements that irk me. I plan on 'trying again' with a future serial, see if maybe my opinion is based on BAITED and JADED alone, but... I always try to go into a title with a fresh, clean slate and try not to bring my prejudices about an author or style to the table while reading it, so I'm hoping that my little irked-ness isn't a style exactly of hers, but just a common element that was in both of the serials I've read.

So the irked part? How strong our lead is, but how weak at the exact same time. She screams she doesn't believe in the longevity of marriage, yet crumbles when she finds her fiance cheating. Ok, so that's heart breaking, but darlin'... you don't believe in marriage anyway. She'd be super strong one moment, and drowning her sorrows shortly after. But beyond that little character flaw, I found myself enjoying the story.

Kari is so strong. She's independent, strong-willed... She knows what she wants out of life and what to do to get there. She hasn't had a solid husband-wife relationship in her life, and she's a bit disillusioned when it comes to love. She's getting married to her long time boyfriend because she's been with him for years -- does she love him? Sure. But she has doubts of his fidelity -- a lifetime is a long time to stay faithful and she doesn't believe it can happen.

While she's no virgin and has been with her fiance, when he proposed she went on a re-virginizing type mission -- and he agreed to it. For six months, then, they went without sex.

One night at a club though, Kari's world all tumbles down and she and her friends are on a new path to a new life -- in Maine.

I found it funny how the synopsis of the serial states that Jake is jaded -- don't get me wrong, the man has been jilted and is jaded as well, but within the first few chapters of the first part, it was Kari and her jaded beliefs in love, or lack of love, that had me interested if she'd ever find someone to teach her that happily ever after was truly a thing.

Both run away to Maine to start over.

Both have their issues and nonbeliefs in love.

Take two broken people...

And watch them mend together.

So altogether, I enjoyed the read. Like I said -- I'm just waiting for the next serial to see if this female characteristic Ali uses is going to be a theme across her writing.

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1 comment:

UnknownMay 11, 2015 at 10:24 AM
Hi Mignon!

Thanks so much for hosting Ali today and for the great review!

Laurie Starkey
Good Tales Book Tours
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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

View all my reviews