mignon mykel { reviews }: REDEMPTION

Showing posts with label REDEMPTION. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

review || FULL CONTACT

Full Contact by Sarah Castille

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (4/7/2015)
Series: Redemption, book 3
Genres: Adult, Erotica, Romance
Source: Sourcebooks, through NetGalley/Xpresso Book Tours
Purchase links || amazon | bn || add to goodreads

Rating: ★★★★1/2

When you can’t resist the one person who could destroy you…

Sia O’Donnell can’t help but push the limits. She secretly attends every underground MMA fight featuring The Predator, the undisputed champion. When he stalks his prey in the ring, Sia is mesmerized. He is dominant and dangerous and every instinct tells her to run.

Every beautiful thing Ray “The Predator” touches he knows he’ll eventually destroy. Soft, sweet and innocent, Sia is the light to Ray’s darkness-and completely irresistible. From the moment he lays eyes on her, he knows he’s going to have to put his dark past behind him to win her body and soul.

review || CRUSHED { blog tour }

Crushed by Lauren Layne

Publisher: Loveswept: Flirt (4/14/2015)
Series: Redemption, book 2
Genre: New Adult
Source: NetGalley / Tasty Book Tours
Purchase links || Amazon | B & N | iTunes | Kobo || add to goodreads

Rating: ★★★★★

jump to review

Lauren Layne’s latest novel about the healing power of redemption tells the story of a crush gone wickedly wrong, proving that what you want isn’t always what you need.

Growing up in New York, Michael St. Claire never expected to spend his twenties wearing cowboy boots. But that was before he learned about his real father, a total stranger with a family in Cedar Grove, Texas. Once in the Lone Star State, Michael meets Kristin Bellamy, who is exquisitely refined and everything Michael always thought he wanted in a woman. The only problem is that Kristin is dating Michael’s new half-brother, Devon.

Kristin’s mouthy, curvy sister Chloe has always been in love with Devon Patterson. So when Michael offers to help Chloe break up Devon and Kristin, Chloe agrees to a deal that seems too good to be true. Before long, Chloe finally gets her man, only to make a startling discovery: She no longer wants the guy she had to fight for—she wants the one who stood by her side.

After all he and Chloe have been through, Michael swears he’s damaged goods. Can Chloe convince him that love is worth the risk?

BROKEN -- a summary and opinion

BROKEN released today! Well, yesterday, but I'm a night shifter and I'm still stuck on 9/2 in my mind, nevermind the fact that it's 0130 in the morning on 9/3.

I just loved BROKEN -- I wasn't sure I would. I should have believed in my love of Lauren's writing... I will know better the next time I see a character I'm not particularly interested in -- granted, the next books on her cue are Emma in the Stiletto series, and Sophie's BFF Will/sister Brynn's story in the Best Mistake series, and I've been waiting for both of these books.

So, why wasn't I sure I'd like this book?

....Olivia.

She's pampered and a rich-bitch and has a 'tude that I didn't care for in ISN'T SHE LOVELY. As a general rule of thumb, I don't like pretty, skinny girls. It's an issue I've had for a few years ;) And Olivia just fits the bill in her designer clothes and stuck up attitude.

But unfortunately for me, Olivia was looking to get away from home and needed a change, so she took on the caregiver role for some 70-year old man's son. What Olivia didn't expect was for his son to be her age.

Paul is a war vet who made friends with a bullet and other torturing when in Afghanistan. He lost his best friend and walks around with visible scars and a bum leg as a constant reminder. He hides behind his scars and lets anger rule his life.

He has gone through numerous care givers and his father is giving him one last chance -- see one through for 6 months, or you're cut off; finished, nada mas. His father has a trick up his sleeve though, in hiring young, pretty Olivia. And as much as he wants to throw two middle fingers up in the air, the money his father is giving him is actually going to his best friend's widow and daughter.

This story is very much a Beauty and the Beast story, but it's done in a way that you forget the Disney movie/Grimm fairy tale and focus very much on Paul and Olivia. It's a story of overcoming personal battles and fighting the fights that actually mean something.

I find myself wanting to see Olivia and Paul two, five, ten years down the road. I very much loved these two and their connection. Life is about finding someone who's demons play well with yours, and these two most certainly fit ;) Ha; or finding someone who's battles you are willing to fight, and vice versa.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

ISN'T SHE LOVELY -- a summary and opinion

Did you know -- Only With You released this week. YAY! You should go out and read it. In fact, I may need to catch up on my Sophie and Gray love, because I miss them and the bounce house. But in the meantime, here's another Lauren Layne book for you to read.

Oh, Lauren Layne, how I love your writing style. I said it with Only With You, and again with Just One Night. In an attempt to not beat a dead horse, I'll try to stop with my gushing fan-girl-dom and just say it this last, third time.

I love your writing style.

I love the quirkiness, the smartassedness... I just love it.

Isn't She Lovely is written in the first person (which we all know is not my favorite, but I hardly even noticed while reading Isn't She Lovely), through the eyes of both Stephanie and Ethan. The book opens in a Stephanie monologue, in which she's discussing with the reader how in romantic comedies, the subjects always meet in a "meet-cute" style.

"The meet-cute is that moment when the romantic couple meets for the first time, and it's supposed to be

amusing or ironic or charming, or some shit like that.

You know, like that scene where the sarcastic, ball-busting character mistakes her handsome new lawyer

for the janitor? Or when the impossibly cute secretary rear-ends the BMW of the guy who turns out to be

her new boss?

Then, of course, love abounds...." (Chapter One)

As you can hopefully see, it's very easy to forget this is in first person. The narrative is like that of a movie (which is slightly ironic, as Stephanie's character is speaking of movies) -- I can hear the voice over as the scene is playing out on the big screen, a popcorn and pretzel bites in hand.

Well, the meet-cute in this book is right away, when gothed-out Stephanie runs into pretty-boy Ethan, except there's no way this meet-cute is going to end up like the movies... right? There's no way, Stephanie thinks, that a guy with money and status could ever fall for a girl like her. Besides (not that she's thinking about a relationship of ANY sort with him, friendship or otherwise), these two are two busy sparing with one another to truly take any notice of the other. Slinging insults... Ah, just the way any future loves want to meet.

Moving forward, the two of them begin working on a screenplay for a class, and while doing this, Ethan decides he needs a live-in/faux-girlfriend, as he has a family party in the Hamptons to go to, in which his cheating ex will be present.

Now, as romance readers, we all know the hero and heroine of the book cannot possibly move in with one another, even under the falsest of pretenses, and not develop feelings for each other, but hey, that's what books are about and the fun part is watching the characters grow and make those realizations themselves.

So yes, true to the genre, they fall for one another. Granted, Ethan essentially changes Stephanie so she'll fit in with the Hampton's crowd, to which Stephanie feels slightly self-concious about -- because again, he can't possibly like the real her, not when he's obviously falling for the well-dressed version of her.

During the Hamptons, though, Ethan accuses Stephanie of being a statue (in relation to their screen play) -- she cannot move past her father's new marriage, her mother's death, and her ex-boyfriend, hiding behind black clothes and gray eyeshadow.

But, as Ethan's ex, Olivia so kindly points out, he's not all that much better -- in all truth of the word, he and she are snobs. They live a fancy lifestyle and have money coming out of the woodwork. His lazy day outfit costs no-less than $500.

In the end, the true question between the two of them is who truly is the statue? Is it Stephanie, who hides behind her gothic clothes, or is it Ethan, who hides behind his Hampton upbringing?

As much as I loved this prequel to the remaining Redemption books, I'm not 100% sure I'll read book one, simply because I don't know how much I like Olivia... Granted, I don't 'know' her so much as I 'know' Ethan's opinion of her (and the dockside conversation between the two)... But then again, curious minds DO want to know and so yeah, I will read the next book...

...and the next...

...because, c'mon, it's Lauren Layne and I love her writing style.

Side Note:

While writing this 'review', I came to the conclussion that when it comes to Lauren Layne books (heck, Claudia Connor's Worth the Fall as well) I get so wrapped up in how the book made me feel, how the writing pulled me in, that it's very easy to forget the 'summary' part of my 'a summary and opinion' -- but I guess I just feel that these books are ones you need to read for yourselves; hopefully my opinion pulls you along...!

Side Side Note:

I love plays on words, as well as trying to figure out how a title fits the book it adorns.

I can totally hear Ethan calling Stephanie 'lovely' in a snarky, condescending tone in the beginning of the book, yet affectionately at the end.

Side (x3) Note:

I just read Olivia's blurb.

I take back my earlier comment. I so want to read Broken!

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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