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

Friday, June 12, 2015

review || UNDEFEATED { blog tour }

unDefeated by J.C. Valentine

Series: Wayward Fighters, book 3

Publication Date: May 26, 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Purchase links || Amazon - Amazon UK - Amazon Paperback - Nook - Kobo - iBooks

Rating: ★★★★★

Spencer Bradley ruins everything he touches. Addicted to gambling, he’s lied, cheated, and stolen to get what he wants. Now, in order to protect those he cares for, he’s keeping his distance. Rehab’s taught him a lot, but when his time runs out and he finds himself with nowhere to turn, he seeks help from the one person he’s capable of destroying.

Olivia Carter fell in love the day she met Spencer Bradley. Despite him being responsible for the downfall of his best friend’s career and landing himself in rehab, she can’t bring herself to stay away—even if it means risking her own recovery.

*Note* While this book is a part of the Wayward Fighters series, unDefeated can be read as a standalone.

About J.C. Valentine

USA Today Bestselling author J.C. Valentine is the alter-ego of Brandi Salazar, whose enjoyment of tales of romance spurred her to branch out and create her own.

She lives in the Northwest with her husband, their wild children, and far too many pets. As a university student, she studies literature, which goes well with her dream of becoming an editor. Brandi entertains a number of hobbies including reading and photography, but her first love is writing fiction-in all its forms.

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads

{ review } .

This is the story of two broken people, but two who deal with their shattered pieces differently.

Spencer is an addict -- to gambling. After a bet fine terribly wrong, he lost what few friends he had and spent time at an inpatient rehab center. Every Thursday, he was granted visitors and while he knew she showed, he couldn't face the one person he cared about the most, the one person he thought was better off without him.

Liv has her own demons, but having grown up in a highly social world, she learned to cover them up. To anyone she meets, she's just a normal girl. Very few people know her secrets and the one person who does, the one person she cant help but care for regardless of his actions, keeps trying to push her away.

We first met Olivia and Spencer in KNOCKOUT (Side note: it's free! Side note 2: not totally necessary to read). As their friendship grows to more, it is highly evident that Liv's best friend, Ally, does not approve of Spence for her. While I did not read TAPOUT, I'm guessing the brunt of Spencer's mistakes happen in that book. Again, not necessary to read but UNDEFEATED left me curious to know more.

Back to Ally not caring for Spencer. Obviously the woman is going to stick up for her man, but she could be brutal about him when trying to pull Olivia away. It was no wonder Spencer felt like he had no one. He was trying to fix his wrongs but felt like his apologies were falling on deaf ears.

I enjoyed watching Spencer heal and grow as a man. He always loved Liv, and was terrified of going to her especially when pushing her away the previous weeks, but Liv cared for him too, and continuously gave him chance after chance. It took some fighting and Liv falling to her demons for Spencer to realize that he had something to fight for.

She was the center of the hurricane that had become his life. --Spencer

These two had the ability to be in a seriously toxic relationship, but "it takes one to know one" and the noted "love conquers all" allows them to heal together. Both of their problems aren't problems that can be solved over night-- they are issues that will take years to overcome and will always lurk in the shadows but if there's one thing that these two show one another again and again in their story, it's that they will always have the other's back.

Always.

...when would people stop throwing it back in his face and let him move forward with his life? -- Olivia

On a less serious note? These two have really fun times too! I was laughing during a conversation about inappropriateness...

I really loved these two and watching their healing process. I felt that JC Valentine did a very good job on both Spencer and Olivia's problems; she hit all of the emotions and thought processes head on.

{ also in the WAYWARD FIGHTERS series }

KNOCKOUT (FREE!)

Knockout by J.C. Valentine
Wayward Fighters #1
Publication Date: April 6, 2014
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
FREE: Amazon - Nook - Kobo - iBooks

From the wrong side of the tracks...

Alyson Blake had learned early on that the only one she could depend on was herself. The only light in her life was a boy whom everyone agreed was destined for prison; but with his first kiss, he had set her soul on fire. Since the day the police dragged him away in handcuffs, she had managed to lead a quiet life, but when she attends an event fraught with mayhem, trouble resurfaces. The one person she can’t forget...

Jamison Weston is the kind of guy dads load their shotguns for; endowed with a hot temper and a rap sheet as long as both tattooed arms. Known as “The Judge,” Jami’s hot temper, lethal fists, and cocky attitude have earned him respect and admiration both in and out of the ring. But just when he thinks he’s pummeled his past to death, Alyson Blake reenters his life.

Two paths collide…

After years of separation, Alyson is eager to reexplore the man who’s never left her thoughts, but for Jamison, she’s both the distraction he wants, but doesn’t need. As the two embark on a relationship that neither of them expected or bargained for, an outside threat closes in. When Alyson crosses the line of professionalism and takes her work home with her, her life is put in danger, leaving Jamison with no choice but to once again step in and become her protector.

TAPOUT (99c!)

Tapout by J.C. Valentine
Wayward Fighters #2
Publication Date: July 8, 2014
Genres: Contemporary, Romance 99c:
amazon - Nook - Kobo - iBooks

History brought them together. Circumstances may keep them apart.

Alyson Blake’s past left her with scars. Scars that she tried to fix the only way she knew how—by helping others. But actions have consequences, and Alyson is about to find out that being naïve is no excuse. Fighting is Jamison Weston’s passion. Alyson is his obsession. Despite the past and a few lingering concerns, their relationship is as solid as ever. Until a shocking lie is uncovered and all of his plans begin to unravel. Now, Jami is rushing to pick up the pieces, but as relationships are put to the test, will he be strong enough to keep it together, or will it all just fall apart?

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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