She wants one night. He wants her forever.

Hayden Summers just landed the job of a lifetime taking pictures forTime magazine, but she’s determined to leave with no regrets. The first thing on her list? Erase the memory of her cheating ex with a wild night of anonymous sex. The second? Figure out why her best friend, sexy bar owner Jace Jennings, stopped speaking to her the night she told him about the job.

Jace has a problem. Hayden isn’t just leaving the country, she’s risking her life—just when he’s realized he’s in love with her. When fate traps them in the storage room of his bar together, barely contained desire simmers to surface. In one last attempt to keep her, Jace offers Hayden the one thing she wants: a night of hot sex, no strings attached. But when the night is over, will Jace be able to let her go? And will Hayden leave with her heart intact?

No Strings Attached was difficult for me in a number of ways. First, it’s a novella, so it’s only 62 pages. I’m not the hugest fan of novellas. I recently read one from Brigid Kemmerer that I absolutely adored, but other than that…I haven’t much cared for them. The thing about this novella is that I’m not really sure why it’s a novella. I don’t see anything on Nicolette Day’s website that confirms that this will be or was previously a series…so I find it to be pretty confusing. If you’re looking for a really quick romantic and sexy read, then this is totally the novella for you! Unfortunately, I just had to many complaints to fall in love with it.

I tried really hard, but I couldn’t connect with either of the characters. Not only that, but I didn’t really even like either of the characters. And because this is a novella, I didn’t have a time to get to know or form an opinion of the supporting characters. Like I said, this is a 62 page novella. So, you’re forced to latch on to everyone pretty quickly. Hayden was annoying and whiney. Every single time she spoke it was like nails on a chalkboard. I couldn’t stand her. Jace was a little better than her, but he was a very emotional and sappy kind of guy. I don’t like that. I need my men, both in real life and on paper, to be strong, hunky, firm, dedicated, with a bad quality to them. A little sappiness is good here and there, but let me tell you girls, I’ve dated an emotional basket case before. There is NOTHING attractive about it.

Rating this book was actually pretty difficult for me. Originally, I wanted to rate it a 2. Then, I changed my mind and rated it a 3, because the writing itself is really good. But then….I changed it back to a 2 because the ending sucked. I had to force myself to accept that if I didn’t like any of the characters and I found the ending to be just plain stupid, then there was no way I could rate it a 3. I think that heavy romance lovers will really enjoy this book. I can see 4 and 5 stars all over in the ratings section on Goodreads. That’s great! I highly recommend romance lovers go read this book. It just wasn’t for me.

If you like this book make sure to try out:

Obsession by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Bared to You by Sylvia Day

Pages: 62

Source: ebook

Publication Date: June 10th, 2013

Publisher: Entangled: Flirt

Rating: :

SOMETIMES YOU CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES. AND SOMETIMES, THEY CHOOSE YOU…

Once, Max dreamed of a career, a home, a loving family. Now all she wants is freedom…and revenge. A witch named Giselle transformed Max into a warrior with extraordinary strength, speed, and endurance. Bound by spellcraft, Max has no choice but to fight as Giselle’s personal magic weapon — a Shadowblade — and she’s lethally good at it. But her skills are about to be put to the test as they never have before….

The ancient Guardians of the earth are preparing to unleash widespread destruction on the mortal world, and they want the witches to help them. If the witches refuse, their covens will be destroyed, including Horngate, the place Max has grudgingly come to think of as home. Max thinks she can find a way to help Horngate stand against the Guardians, but doing so will mean forging dangerous alliances — including one with a rival witch’s Shadowblade, who is as drawn to Max as she is to him — and standing with the witch she despises. Max will have to choose between the old life she still dreams of and the warrior she has become, and take her place on the side of right — if she survives long enough to figure out which side that is….

I have been craving books about witches for some time now, so I was so excited to find out about the Horngate Witches series by Diana Pharaoh Francis. But guys, I don’t know what it is about this month. I keep finding book that I’m just not getting into. Bitter Night seems like a fabulous book. It’s about witches who tie humans to them, who then form into either Shadowblades or Sunspears. It seemed fresh and edgy, but ultimately it was too harsh and bland.

The real negative part about this book is that I didn’t care for either of the main characters, Max and Alexander. Max was one fierce you know what, who was wayyyyy to uptight and well..bitter..for my taste. Alexander was just too weak. I want my male characters to be strong and courageous. Instead, I got a wimp. And don’t get me wrong, I’m all for girl power and girls protecting guys every now and then. BUT MAN UP! I just wanted to smack Alexander senseless from time to time. And I basically felt the same toward Max, to be honest.

What really tore me away from this book was the fact that I just didn’t care for the plot. I haven’t really ran across that much before. Usually it’s the character or something in the book that really pisses me off. This time, I just really didn’t like the plot. The whole Shadowblade and Sunspear thing was lame. It also didn’t make any sense. They werent’ vampires, but if the Shadowblades stepped in the sun..or even the moonlight…they would burn to a crisp. And if the Sunspears were in the Dark…even a cave or something…they would dry up and crumble. I’m sorry, but I find that so stupid! It might have been different if maybe there was only one type of them…Shadowblades OR Sunspears….but not both. No thanks. Too much for me.

On a positive note, I will say that Diana Pharaoh Francis really does know how to write. I could tell when I was reading this book that she really knew her stuff. But, the writing didn’t make up for the poor plot and bland characters. I tried so so so so hard to like this book, but it just wasn’t doing it for me.

Pages: 387

Publication Date: October 27th, 2009

Publisher: Pocket Books

Rating: :

Teaser Quote: “I don’t mess around with the men in the coven, especially my Shadowblades,” she said with quiet finality. Flirting was one thing but anything more, it was a mistake of epic proportions.

His eyes narrowed and he gave a slow shake of his head. “That is all right then. Because I want so much more than just to mess around.”

He’s arrogant, domineering, and… To. Die. For.

Hunter is a ruthless killer. And the Department of Defense has him firmly in their grasp, which usually doesn’t chafe too badly because he gets to kill bad guys. Most of the time he enjoys his job. That is, until he’s saddled with something he’s never had to do before: protect a human from his mortal enemy.

Serena Cross didn’t believe her best friend when she claimed to have seen the son of a powerful senator turn into something… unnatural. Who would? But then she witnesses her friend’s murder at the hands of what can only be an alien, thrusting her into a world that will kill to protect their secret.

Hunter stirs Serena’s temper and her lust despite their differences. Soon he’s doing the unthinkable—breaking the rules he’s lived by, going against the government to keep Serena safe. But are the aliens and the government the biggest threats to Serena’s life… or is it Hunter?

Three words summed up my feelings toward Obsession by Jennifer L. Armentrout: “Oh. My. Goodness.” It was hot, sizzling, and full of one gorgeous, gorgeooouuus man. Obsession is an adult spin off of Armentrout’s Lux series. I had no idea that this book was coming out…let alone that it was already out. Yeah…it’s pretty much a no brainer that I devoured this book in like less than 24 hours.

The number one highlight of this book was Hunter. Oh my gosh..Hunter was absolute perfection. Yes, he was a complete and utter asshole, but he was hunky, snarky, dominant, a natural born killer who didn’t think that he was capable of any human emotions. It was amazing watching those emotions slowly leak out toward Serena. I did think that their “relationship” came on a little too fast. It was cute and hesitant toward the beginning, and then BAM! It was like they’d been together for years. A bit too fast for my liking, but I still loved the book.

Serena was a strong female lead, but I never fell head over heels in love with her. There’s something about Armentrout’s female characters that put me off a bit. Katy, in the Lux series, drives me absolutely bonkers. I can stand her, and I even like her in some situations, but I never fell in love with her. It was pretty much the same thing with Serena. Armentrout’s male and supporting characters, as well as her writing, tend to make me forget all about that. I don’t know how she does it. In normal situations, if I don’t like one of the lead characters, then I’m probably going to hate the book. Somehow that doesn’t work the same way with Armentrout’s books.

The plot of Obsession was really catchy. In Armentrout’s YA series, we learned about the Luxen. Now, we’re learning about the Arum. It was pretty interesting to see how both species view each other and to know that the Arum aren’t completely horrible like we’re led to believe in the Lux series. I didn’t know how I would respond to Hunter, since the Arum are really bad creatures in the Lux series, but I loved the danger, the suspense, and the overall hotness of the book.

Fans of the Lux series will be wayyy excited to read this book since there are appearances from a couple of characters from the Lux series. Remember Luc? The creepy teenager guy in the club? Well, he’s in it. Daemon is also in this book, but only for a brief glimpse. It was really cool getting to see more of Luc, but I’m getting a bit annoyed that I don’t know too much about him, yet. Is more of him going to be leaked out in future books? Is he going to get his own book? These are things I eventually want to know.

Obsession is a tad bit dirty….to the point that I went on Goodreads to see if it was categorized under erotica. It’s not. It’s actually subcategorized under New Adult, which makes nooo sense. I’m not kidding, once you get about halfway through the book there’s like a sex scene every five pages or so. I almost hate myself for saying it, but that took away from the book…a lot. That’s actually one of the reasons I docked it down to a 4 instead of a 5. I wanted more plot and less romance. As I said before, the romance also moved very quickly. I wanted to see Hunter and Serena’s relationship grow over time. While I still loved the book, it was a bit much at times.

Obsession was such a steamy read. I fell head over heels in love with Hunter, and you can bet yourself that I’m going to be reading the next one. This is a great book for someone who enjoys paranormal romances. It’s only available as an eBook, but I got it on Barnes and Nobles for only $2.99. Definitely give this one a shot!

Pages: 370

Publication Date: May 31st, 2013

Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC (Covet)

Rating: :

Teaser Quote: “Are you done acting like a psychotic, cracked-out Muppet baby?” he asked, and I could tell by the way his fingers spasmed around my wrists, he really wanted to shake me.
“Or do you need a couple more moments to return to sanity? I have all day. And you actually feel kind of good under me, so take your time.”