Mini-Reviews & Giveaway: The Wedding Date & Next Year in Havana

It's really hard to give up on a book, especially when it seems everyone else and their brother loved it!  Anyhow, this is probably a case of "it's me not you", but these two books just didn't work for me.  Like I said, most readers loved both of these books so I thought I'd pass along my copies to someone who'll probably enjoy them more than I did.  Scroll down to fill in the rafflecopter for a chance to win.

The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
Publication date: January 30th 2018
Publisher: Berkley Books
My rating: DNF
Amazon | B & N | Kobo

A groomsman and his last-minute guest are about to discover if a fake date can go the distance in a fun and flirty debut novel.

Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck with in an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn't normally do. But there's something about Drew Nichols that's too hard to resist.

On the eve of his ex's wedding festivities, Drew is minus a plus one. Until a power outage strands him with the perfect candidate for a fake girlfriend...

After Alexa and Drew have more fun than they ever thought possible, Drew has to fly back to Los Angeles and his job as a pediatric surgeon, and Alexa heads home to Berkeley, where she's the mayor's chief of staff. Too bad they can't stop thinking about the other...

They're just two high-powered professionals on a collision course toward the long distance dating disaster of the century--or closing the gap between what they think they need and what they truly want...

My Thoughts:

DNF @38%.  I had a hard time buying into this romance, because I didn’t feel any chemistry between Alexa and Drew.  Also, Alexa’s lack of self-confidence was disappointing.  I didn’t feel engaged enough to continue.

Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
Publication date: February 6th 2018
Publisher: Berkley Books
My rating: DNF
Amazon | B & N | Kobo

After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity--and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution...

Havana, 1958. The daughter of a sugar baron, nineteen-year-old Elisa Perez is part of Cuba's high society, where she is largely sheltered from the country's growing political unrest--until she embarks on a clandestine affair with a passionate revolutionary...

Miami, 2017. Freelance writer Marisol Ferrera grew up hearing romantic stories of Cuba from her late grandmother Elisa, who was forced to flee with her family during the revolution. Elisa's last wish was for Marisol to scatter her ashes in the country of her birth.

Arriving in Havana, Marisol comes face-to-face with the contrast of Cuba's tropical, timeless beauty and its perilous political climate. When more family history comes to light and Marisol finds herself attracted to a man with secrets of his own, she'll need the lessons of her grandmother's past to help her understand the true meaning of courage. 

My Thoughts:

I loved Chanel Cleeton’s Wild Aces series, but this was nothing like it. That was fine, but this just had such a slow start, I was really bored out of my mind.  I ended up skimming a large portion.  I just wasn’t in the mood for the tragic historical romance that takes up much of the story. 

 The giveaway is for a Paperback copy of The Wedding Date by Jasmin Guillory (my ARC copy) and a Paperback Copy of Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton.  The giveaway is open to US residents only.  Good luck!

Review: Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

Eligible (The Austen Project #4) by Curtis Sittenfeld
Publisher: Random House
Publication date: April 19th 2016
My rating: 1 star/DNF
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

 

A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice

This version of the Bennet family—and Mr. Darcy—is one that you have and haven’t met before: Liz is a magazine writer in her late thirties who, like her yoga instructor older sister, Jane, lives in New York City. When their father has a health scare, they return to their childhood home in Cincinnati to help—and discover that the sprawling Tudor they grew up in is crumbling and the family is in disarray.

Youngest sisters Kitty and Lydia are too busy with their CrossFit workouts and Paleo diets to get jobs. Mary, the middle sister, is earning her third online master’s degree and barely leaves her room, except for those mysterious Tuesday-night outings she won’t discuss. And Mrs. Bennet has one thing on her mind: how to marry off her daughters, especially as Jane’s fortieth birthday fast approaches.

Enter Chip Bingley, a handsome new-in-town doctor who recently appeared on the juggernaut reality TV dating show Eligible. At a Fourth of July barbecue, Chip takes an immediate interest in Jane, but Chip’s friend neurosurgeon Fitzwilliam Darcy reveals himself to Liz to be much less charming. . . .
And yet, first impressions can be deceiving. 

My Thoughts:

Eligible is supposed to be a re-telling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, but I found it more of a mocking shell of that beloved classic than any re-telling.  There’s no way I’m going to imagine that the original version would’ve ever devolved into this story. I didn’t care for or respect any of the characters, maybe with the exception of Jane.  Just the fact that Bingley was in a Bachelor type reality dating show gave me pause. Didn’t care for the situation they were in when I stopped reading.

I was utterly frustrated that Liz would waste so many years (twelve? I don’t care enough to check) on a man that was (highlight for spoiler) taken either by a girlfriend or later by his wife! Oh, and they had a toddler when Liz and Jasper finally got together! I’m sorry, Liz, but you brushing your hair away before Jasper could do it all those years ago didn’t foil your meant-to-be relationship! He was/is an ass and you were/are an idiot! ( (end of spoiler) I was very underwhelmed by her relationship with Darcy. Had Liz been a likable character or one that I could relate to in any way I might have enjoyed this story even with the abundance of hateful people. Sadly, that wasn’t the case.

When I got to the 52% mark (a little over 250 pages) I just couldn’t read any further.

Review: The Intern by Gabrielle Tozer

The Intern by Gabrielle Tozer
Publisher: Harper Collins AU
Publication Date: February 1st 2014
My rating: DNF 

Josie Browning dreams of having it all. A stellar academic record, an amazing career in journalism - and for her current crush to realise she actually exists. The only problem? Josie can’t get through twenty-four hours without embarrassing her sister Kat or her best friend Angel, let alone herself. Josie’s luck changes though when she lands an internship at the glossy fashion magazine Sash. A coveted columnist job is up for grabs, but Josie’s got some tough competition in the form of two other interns. Battle lines are drawn and Josie quickly learns that the magazine industry is far from easy, especially under the reign of powerful editor, Rae Swanson. From the lows of coffee-fetching and working 10-hour days, to the highs of mingling with celebrities, scoring endless free beauty products (plus falling for her cousin’s seriously gorgeous flatmate James) this is one year Josie will never forget. Totally fresh and funny, this debut novel from industry insider Gabrielle Tozer reveals just what is behind the seeming glamour and sparkle of the magazine industry.

The Intern was a book which I found myself eager to read after reading the blurb (it reminded me a lot of The Devil wears Prada, a book I enjoyed and loved the setting of) and seeing it pop up a lot of Aussie YA reader’s blogs. I was also in the mood for something light and fun and the fun aspect was totally there, I liked how Josie and the other two interns had to compete at the well known Sash magazine, especially as there was a cash prize up for grabs too. I was all behind Josie from the beginning to be successful, especially as her mum had to work so hard in order to provide for her and her sister. Also Josie was more down to earth that some of the staff at Sash, also in comparison to intern Ava, Josie was genuinely talented in her writing ability and also genuinely a nice person. Of course the comparisons to The Devil Wears Prada can be made, as Josie was a nobody before coming to Sash, she had no real sense of style in comparison to the other girls and of course she had a bitchy boss to deal with who had deadlines that needed to be met straight away and of course Josie was pushed to carry out tedious tasks initially. Like the Devil Wears Prada I was looking forward to Josie getting her moment to shine and show that she was a talented individual. So I’m glad when that moment came, because after with the hard slogging and running back and forth to Sash magazine, Josie deserved it.

However one of the reasons I had to DNF this book in the end was because Josie’s character was too young for my liking. Before going into The Intern I didn’t know that our MC would be 17 years old, yes I’ve read so many books with 17 year old MC’s in the past and not had a issue with them before, but being in Josie’s head just became really difficult at times, it’s not that she’s a whiny individual, but I just couldn’t bring myself to care about the things she was thinking about. Yes I was super curious to find out who would win the grand prize, and whether the massive doozy Josie found herself in would be revealed and whether she and James would finally get together. But that lack of connection with Josie and just the youngness of her character really made it difficult for me to continue with this story, which is a real shame, as I really had high hopes for this book. 

Review: Plus One by Elizabeth Fama

Plus One by Elizabeth Fama
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux (BYR)
Publication Date: April 8th 2014
My Rating: DNF

A dying wish. A family divided. A love that defies the law. Sol Le Coeur is a Smudge--a night dweller in an America rigidly divided between people who wake, live, and work during the hours of darkness and those known as Rays, who live and work during daylight. Impulsive, passionate, and brave, Sol concocts a plan to kidnap her newborn niece--a Ray--in order to bring the baby to visit her dying grandfather. Sol's violation of the day/night curfew is already a serious crime, but when her kidnap attempt goes awry, she stumbles on a government conspiracy to manipulate the Smudge population. Sol escapes the authorities with an unexpected ally: a Ray who gets in her way, a boy she might have hated if fate hadn't forced them on the run together--a boy the world now tells her she can't love. Set in a vivid alternate reality and peopled with complex, deeply human characters on both sides of the day/night divide, Elizabeth Fama's Plus One is a brilliantly imagined drama of individual liberty and civil rights, and a fast-paced romantic adventure story.

Plus One was another book where I fell hard and fast for the gorgeous cover, but unfortunately the book didn’t end up living to my expectations. The story had a lot of potential to go far, I was immediately sucked into this day and night divide; people were either Smudges (could only be up and about during the night or Rays (did everything during the day time). I was intrigued in finding out how this division first came about, and how people coped with the curfews in place. I know for one I wouldn’t be able to live the life of a Smudge. And plus when your family was divided like Sol’s family was, her brother had recently been transferred to a Ray and had no contact with her for the past two years, so had to care for her ill grandfather all on her own, along with going to school and working too. Sol really had a lot to deal with, but I liked how tough and resilient she was, she would literally do anything to care for her grandfather, even kidnapping a baby to see him happy.

The whole aspect of kidnapping the baby, mix up and being chased down was a part I really enjoyed, I couldn’t understand why and how the mix up would happen, I was dying to know who was behind it all. But most of all I wanted things to go back to the way they were for Sol, she had jeopardised a lot in taking the risk that she did, but I liked how she wasn’t all alone, the unexpected alliances she found in Jean and D’Arcy I did appreciate. I had a feeling of how things would develop between D’Arcy and Sol and I liked the slow burn relationship that came about. I didn’t really know if I could trust D’Arcy at the beginning, but as the story progressed I got to know his character more, the more I admired the risk he posed to himself and his family by helping Sol and to be honest he was such a sweetheart when everything was falling apart Sol. Also you know guy’s who continue to help or lurk about even when you’ve told them you’re fine, are the ones I could never resist.

The fact that I DNF’d Plus One was largely because up until a certain point the story went well over my head for me. I was truly invested in the beginning to find out what really had gone down, but after new characters were thrown in the mix and I wasn’t getting any answers you could say I sort of lost interest. I did want to find out how things would end for all our characters, but this year I’ve made the resolution that if a book doesn’t keep my interest up until a certain point, then I just admit defeat, instead of forcing myself through like I did with so many books last year, which is a real shame with Plus One as it had been a book which I’d really been looking forward to reading. Fama’s writing however was exquisite, so much so that I shall be looking forward to picking up more of her books. Hopefully they work out better for me than Plus One did.

Mini-Review & Giveaway: This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

This Shattered World (Starbound #2) by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Publication date: December 23rd 2014
My rating:  DNF

The second installment in the epic Starbound trilogy introduces a new pair of star-crossed lovers on two sides of a bloody war.

Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met.

Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet's rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents.

Rebellion is in Flynn's blood. Terraforming corporations make their fortune by recruiting colonists to make the inhospitable planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion.

Desperate for any advantage in a bloody and unrelentingly war, Flynn does the only thing that makes sense when he and Lee cross paths: he returns to base with her as prisoner. But as his fellow rebels prepare to execute this tough-talking girl with nerves of steel, Flynn makes another choice that will change him forever. He and Lee escape the rebel base together, caught between two sides of a senseless war. 

My Very Brief Thoughts:

I enjoyed These Broken Stars, so I thought for sure I'd feel the same about This Shattered World. Not so.  Here’s a classic case of “It’s me, not you” mostly because a ton of readers have loved This Shattered World.  There are a couple of reasons why I had trouble with this story.  First, I’m not in the mood this typical antagonistic relationship where the main characters have a narrow and stubborn view of the other’s dilemma, and it takes a lot of the book for this to change.

Second, I didn’t like or connect with Jubilee.  I think her views were more extreme without trying to put herself into Flynn’s shoes.  If I kept reading would my opinion change?  Probably.  Maybe.  I'm just not sure I care enough to find out.  

 

 

So my loss is your gain, because I'm giving away my ARC copies of These Broken Stars (book one) &  This Shattered World (book 2) by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner to one lucky winner.  The giveaway is open to US/CA residents only.  Simply fill out the rafflecopter for a chance to win. Good luck!

 
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Mini Review: The Beautiful Ashes by Jeaniene Frost

The Beautiful Ashes (Broken Destiny #1) by Jeaniene Frost
Publisher: Harlequin
Publication date: August 26th 2014
My rating:  DNF


 

 In a world of shadows, anything is possible. Except escaping your fate.

Ever since she was a child, Ivy has been gripped by visions of strange realms just beyond her own. But when her sister goes missing, Ivy discovers the truth is far worse—her hallucinations are real, and her sister is trapped in a parallel realm. And the one person who believes her is the dangerously attractive guy who's bound by an ancient legacy to betray her.

Adrian might have turned his back on those who raised him, but that doesn't mean he can change his fate…no matter how strong a pull he feels toward Ivy. Together they search for the powerful relic that can save her sister, but Adrian knows what Ivy doesn't: that every step brings Ivy closer to the truth about her own destiny, and a war that could doom the world. Sooner or later, it will be Ivy on one side and Adrian on the other. And nothing but ashes in between…

My Thoughts:

DNF at 58%

I just can't read this anymore. I have no patience for the doomed, forbidden romance that I've had zero feelings for. Instant attraction can work for me, but it just doesn't here.

This feels like more of a YA read than an adult. Ivy comes off more like a fifteen-year-old than the twenty years she's supposed to be. To be fair, my impression may have been tainted by starting with the audio version which I had to stop listening to. The narrator made Ivy sound shrilly which is hardly an appealing quality in a heroine. I don't recommend the audio version at all.

I switched to reading instead but I still couldn't get into this story. I wish I swooned over Adrian, but his withholding of information and keeping of secrets made it impossible to connect with him.

My feelings could be due to my reading mood, so check out other reviews before making your decision to read this story.

Mini-review: Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy

Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication date: March 18th 2014
My rating: DNF 

What if you'd been living your life as if you were dying—only to find out that you had your whole future ahead of you? When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, her prognosis is grim. To maximize the time she does have, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs—however she sees fit. She convinces her friend Harvey, who she knows has always had feelings for her, to help her with a crazy bucket list that's as much about revenge (humiliating her ex-boyfriend and getting back at her archnemesis) as it is about hope (doing something unexpectedly kind for a stranger). But just when Alice's scores are settled, she goes into remission. Now Alice is forced to face the consequences of all that she's said and done, as well as her true feelings for Harvey. But has she caused irreparable damage to the people around her—and to the one person who matters most?

Side Effects May Vary was my second book dealing with cancer in a row (I had read The Fault in our Stars just before). I’d also been on an emotional book binge, so was sort of expecting the same from this book. However this book mostly left me frustrated because of Alice’s character. I thought the then and now chapters may help to change my feelings towards her and actually understand the way she was. And yes I get that she had so much crap to deal with from Celeste and Luke and that they did deserve a lot of what she was planning coming their way, but her treatment of Harvey was too much for me. At the beginning we were treated to Alice’s pov when she’s with Luke, it’s clear that she has feelings for Harvey and I don’t know if it was the cancer which hardened her character and made her wanted to do just what she wanted as she didn’t know if she would to make it, but still that didn’t give her the right to string Harvey along. 

But what makes matters worse is that when she’s told she’s in remission, instead of actually thanking Harvey and sharing her appreciation for being there for her, she starts to ignore Harvey and latches on to another guy right in front of Harvey! And I really did feel for Harvey he was there for Alice when she was at her weakest, he was roped into doing things he wasn’t comfortable with and he’d put his feelings for Alice out there. For her to throw it in his face. But what made me madder was that Harvey still continued to try and do things for Alice in the now! I understood he couldn’t completely shut off his feelings, but I knew Harvey could do so much better. Alice and Harvey’s characters just eventually became too much for me that I couldn’t read anymore. I was curious to find out how things would end, but not enough to continue with this book.

Review: Royally Lost by Angie Stanton

Royally Lost by Angie Stanton
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication date: May 6th 2014
My rating: DNF/ 2 stars 

Dragged on a family trip to Europe’s ancient cities, Becca wants nothing more than to go home. Trapped with her emotionally distant father, over-eager stepmother, and a brother who only wants to hook up with European hotties, Becca is miserable. That is until she meets Nikolai, a guy as mysterious as he is handsome. And she unknowingly finds herself with a runaway prince. Nikolai has everything a guy could ask for-he's crown prince, heir to the throne, and girls adore him. But the one thing he doesn't have...is freedom. Staging a coup, he flees his kingdom and goes undercover on his own European tour. When Nikolai and Becca meet, it’s their differences that draw them together. Sparks fly as they share a whirlwind of adventures, all the while dodging his royal guard. But Becca's family vacation ends in a matter of days. Will Nikolai and Becca be forced to say goodbye forever, will his destiny catch up to him, or will they change history forever?

DNF at 29%

Royally Lost gave the vibe of being a fun book filled with adventure and a sweet romance. Instead what I got was insta love and a bunch of control freak parents. Becca was forced on trip around Europe with her dad, step mum and brother, on what was meant to be a chance for the family to get to know one another and spend quality time. Becca can’t stand her step mum and her dad never seems to have time for her, so they begin this trip on the wrong step already. Then we have Becca’s brother who can be useful at times, at pulling Becca out of quality family time, but then he never seems to be spending time with the family in the first place. I did feel for Becca, her boyfriend had dumped her on graduation and everyone knew about it and then she has to spend time with family who clearly didn’t act like one. But if I had the chance to visit Europe and all these gorgeous places, I would definitely be making the most of it, despite who I was forced to hang around with. But Becca didn’t really see it that way, but as a sort of punishment, that is until she meets her dream guy in Nikolai.

Through fate Nikolai and Becca end up at the same places in the Europe at the same time, both have one thing in common to get away from their families and experience some freedom. With Nikolai it’s perfectly understandable, he’s a prince and has a lot of pressure and expectations put on him, so running away and being someone else for the day could be a refreshing thing for him. Of course as soon as he sees Becca, she’s the most beautiful person he’s ever seen. The same goes for Becca without saying. This insta love really wasn’t for me, I know Becca had a bad break up, but Becca was quick to fall for this guy she knew nothing about, at one point when they’d arranged to meet in the next city, she ended up waiting 3 hours for him, before realising that he wouldn’t be turning up! Who waits three hours for someone? And then after that all she could do was pine over him and what could have been.

I really am gutted that I ended up dropping this book really early on, but as the book progressed I was easily able to see that Nikolai and Becca would be characters that wouldn’t be for me. 

Review: The Taking by Kimberly Derting

The Taking by Kimberly Derting
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication date: April 29th 2014
My rating: DNF/2 stars

A flash of white light . . . and then . . . nothing. When sixteen-year-old Kyra Agnew wakes up behind a Dumpster at the Gas ’n’ Sip, she has no memory of how she got there. With a terrible headache and a major case of déjà vu, she heads home only to discover that five years have passed . . . yet she hasn’t aged a day. Everything else about Kyra’s old life is different. Her parents are divorced, her boyfriend, Austin, is in college and dating her best friend, and her dad has changed from an uptight neat-freak to a drunken conspiracy theorist who blames her five-year disappearance on little green men. Confused and lost, Kyra isn’t sure how to move forward unless she uncovers the truth. With Austin gone, she turns to Tyler, Austin’s annoying kid brother, who is now seventeen and who she has a sudden undeniable attraction to. As Tyler and Kyra retrace her steps from the fateful night of her disappearance, they discover strange phenomena that no one can explain, and they begin to wonder if Kyra’s father is not as crazy as he seems. There are others like her who have been taken . . . and returned. Kyra races to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had, but what if the life she wants back is not her own?

DNF at 70%

The Taking was one of those books which I went into with really high expectations, but it ended up being bit a of a disappointment. Just by reading the blurb, anyone would want to give this book a try; memory loss, kidnappings and unexplained disappearances. And whilst The Taking did start off by winning me over in the first few pages, it kind of petered off into something that I really wasn’t enjoying. Kyra has it all, a great family and she’s about to go off to college with her awesome boyfriend. But then she ends up getting into an argument with her dad and running away, all she can remember after that is a bright light and then waking up in the Gas n’ Sip five years later. I was intrigued what could have happened to Kyra, as time would tell Kyra seemed pretty much the same in the five years since she went missing, but everything else had turned into a train wreck around her. I did feel sorry for Kyra, everyone she knew had moved on, her parents had separated, her mother had got together with somebody else and had a child with him, her dad was no longer the strong figurative father that he used to be and her boyfriend had got together with her best friend. Seriously this is the thing that miffed me the most, why does this always have to happen? How many thousands of girls could there be living in their town, but Austin Kyra’s boyfriend decides to get together with his girlfriend’s best friend Cat instead. Then to top it all off, Kyra falls for Austin’s brother Tyler!! Seriously, okay Tyler was a sweet enough guy and had apparently been in love with Kyra forever, but still. 

Okay so swapping boyfriends aside, despite being annoyed by this, I found myself invested in finding out what had happened with Kyra, why was she still the same, (she still had a bruise from five years ago and an x-ray at the dentists showed her teeth were exactly the same too, even the crack in her tooth from five years ago). There were a lot of conspiracy theories flying about; her dad had thrown himself into research for the last five years looking for an answer. And I did want to know what was going on, but I think it just took too long getting there. I’m one of those readers that doesn’t DNF a book that often and instead tell myself to read another 10% and maybe something will happen, I always have that thought at the back of my head that by giving up now, I’ll probably miss out on something major just around the corner. And that’s exactly what I did with The Taking; I decided to continue reading a bit more, hoping that we would get a better insight into what was going on with Kyra. Instead we got random people lurking about claiming to know what was going on but never really explaining anything. Or Kyra being in constant denial about her feelings for Tyler! It’s a shame really as I really did want to know how things would end. But the more I read the more frustrated I became.