mignon mykel { reviews }: review || ALIVE AT FIVE by Linda Bond

Sunday, July 5, 2015

review || ALIVE AT FIVE by Linda Bond

Entangled: Ignite | July 14, 2015 | Romantic Suspense

★★★★1/2

SOURCE : PURCHASED

TV news reporter Samantha Steele is one panic attack away from losing her job. Future on the line and cameraman in tow, she follows her mentor on an exhilarating adventure vacation. When he dies while skydiving, her investigative instincts scream “murdered”, and lead her to gorgeous thrill-seeker Zack Hunter.

Zack is an undercover police officer investigating his uncle’s death through the same adventure vacation company. Samantha is a thorn in his side the moment they meet. Not only is she investigating the same case, but the emotionally wounded loner doesn’t want another partner, especially one whose goal is to splash evidence all over the evening news. But Samantha’s persistence is quite a turn-on, and Zack’s overpowering desire makes it harder for him to push her away.

When the killer turns his attention to Zack, Samantha might be the only one who can save him, forcing the anxiety-riddled correspondent to finally face her greatest fear.

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Samantha and Zack... what can I say about these two...?

What starts out as two people judging the other on what they see, turns into a pretty phenomenal relationship.

When Zack parachutes from a plane and goes in for his landing, he wants to throttle the woman standing in the middle of the landing zone. Instead? He lands pretty much on top of her. After a quick scolding, the reason for her being there for the landing starts a pretty suspenseful journey.

And considering Zack's demons have him considering dire consequences? The journey he sets out on is a (welcome) distraction. Over the past few years, he's lost a few family members to an adventure company and while he'd prefer to end it all and join his loved ones, he doesn't trust anyone else to do the investigation. In a twist of irony, he has these thoughts just before another one of those mysterious adventure company deaths happen.

Right away you get a sense of who Zack is. He considers allowing his shadows to suck him in, but he has the need to see things done right. He hollers at Samantha, and just moments later is protecting her from a not-so-pretty scene.

He only continues to be the protecting alpha male from there, keeping her safe, worrying for her, and standing up for her to people like her boss. I can honestly say I liked Zack right away.

Samantha is a fairly reserved female. She's a reporter who will do anything for a story, and knows how to turn her emotions on and off -- something that irritates Zack to no end. On top of that, she's incredibly shielded. In an attempt to get her to open up, Zack barters with her: one hour of her not being in control, one hour of her trusting him, and he'll share the secrets she's begging for. While she does have hesitations, I liked watching her unfold for him. When she loosened up, Samantha was a very likable character.

The romance was a bit on quick side. Not quite insta-romance, but still quick -- 48-hours quick.

I love a good suspense -- one that I don't quite know what's coming around the corner. I think Samantha figures it out before I do, to be honest. All together, I did enjoy this book.

Can I tell you a secret? I really want to read CUBA UNDERCOVER simply for Zack and Samantha. I'm sure I'll fall for Rebecca and Antonio, but I really want to watch this relationship continue to bloom.

He wasn't the arrogant party boy she'd met at the drop zone, or the hard-assed ex-military cop he wanted to appear. She had fallen in love with the wounded, recovering soul she'd uncovered beneath the facade.

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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, July 5, 2015

review || ALIVE AT FIVE by Linda Bond

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