ARC Review: The Rebellion by S.L. Scott

The Rebellion is the fifth book in S.L. Scott's Hard to Resist series that centers around a group of sexy rockers that make up the band, The Resistance. This book is a standalone second-chance romance, so readers can read this one even if they haven't read the previous books in the series. With that being said though, I struggled to finish this book. There was a lot to get over here, and unfortunately the only thing that kept me reading was the fact that I have enjoyed books from S.L. Scott in the past. 

I won't go into a ton of details on the story itself so as not to spoil anything. Derrick and Jaymes met at a young age and things quickly became more for them. But then everything changed and Derrick went on to become a famous rockstar while Jaymes was left behind to struggle and fight a life that was more than just about her. 

A huge part of my issues here were the characters. I couldn't connect with them and I really didn't like them. There were some huge assumptions here and some things that just didn't make sense to me about how they acted. While the heroine was left behind and had so much she was struggling with, the hero was out sleeping with tons of groupies. The worst part of all of it is that what happened to the heroine could be traced back to the hero, and yet it was easily forgiven because Derrick didn't know. I just couldn't get past everything that they did and that had happened. It was just too much to overcome. 

Not only were the characters a problem for me, but the story itself was. I just couldn't believe that this came from an author that I had loved so much in the past. With everything that Jaymes had been through and the stuff that she was forced to endure, and then there is this hero that has had his dreams come true and spent his time being a complete manwhore it was just too much for me to look past. I couldn't bring myself to like the characters or truly feel invested in their story and this one was disappointing. I have seen a lot of reviews from people that loved this story, but sadly this is one I would recommend skipping.

**ARC Provided by Author**

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ARC Review: Rebel Custody by Sarah Hawthorne

Before you get all worked up about me hurling my Kindle across the room and screaming "NO" before I could finish this book, let me explain a few things. First, this is the second book in the Demon Horde MC series that I have read. You don't need to read the first one if you want to read this one but based on the first book, I thought the series would be decent and I gave it another chance. The second thing you need to know, I can't actually tell you whether this book is good. It might be, I don't know because I didn't read it...hence the "DNF" rating. And that brings me to my final point, the reason I didn't get past the 20% mark.

Everybody has book triggers. You know the things that will cause you to accidentally crack your e-reader or spend all day googling how to return unsatisfactory products to Amazon. Well I have two very unexpected triggers. The first is ridiculous bullshit involving children. The second, which is ordinarily unrelated, is ridiculous bullshit involving lawyers. And wonders never cease because this book managed to hit BOTH of my book triggers in like the first 50 pages. And for me, that's a deal breaker. The males could be alpha heroes with gigantic cocks and dirty mouths (which you all know I LOVE) but I am not reading a book with both stupid lawyer and stupid kid crap. No, that's asking too much.

Ok, and I know I only mentioned two triggers but another thing about this book which wasn't a deal breaker but I also didn't love was that it took away the things I love about reading MC romance. I read MC romance books because I love super alpha males who don't take any shit and are also sorta criminals. Right from the beginning of this book I was confused about how Skeeter fit that mold. Some random dude rolls up on Skeeter and threatens him and his kid and Skeeter...gets a lawyer???? Instead of taking the guy to ground (i.e., killing him) as they would say in the MC world. I was like, WTF just happened. Skeeter let a guy threaten him and his kid and he seeks protection in the law? Since when do bikers do this??

And just briefly, here comes what I really didn't like- Skeeter and the "lawyer" (who I guess becomes his love interest. Again, I don't know because I didn't read the book) find Skeeter's child. Skeeter knows it's his kid because the kid is his clone. After they find the kid in some run down motel room being guarded by a crack whore (I mean REALLY), they just leave the kid there....I was like no, nope, nah, not doing this. Skeeter was a coward and the "lawyer" was an idiot who was not familiar with the actual law and I was done.

Oh by the by, if you find out that you have a child and the child is being held for ransom by strangers who have no legal right to the child, if you find the child unattended, just take the kid and walk away. Without legal documents to the contrary, paternity determines legal rights over children. So should the police come knocking at your door, just take a paternity test and voila, the kid is yours. Don't be a dumbass like Skeeter and his "lawyer."

**ARC provided by Publisher**

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ARC Review: Taking Tessa by Aria Cole

I’m going to make this as quick and as painless as possible because reading this book was enough bad news for me. I really had high hopes that this author might be able to pull this out. I like instalove and sort of Cinderella/Rapunzel themes so I was ok with the setup of this book. Hot guy rescues hot girl from where she has been locked away by evil stepfather, ok, cool, I was here for it. HOWEVER, I am not here for complete ridiculousness. I have 3 kids, I get a daily dose of outrageousness, I don’t need it in my romance novels. And that is where this book and I parted ways.

The plot was just so….thin. It just didn’t make any sense that a police officer would take a 19 year old girl home with him after “rescuing” her from her stepfather. We are not talking about a stray dog in need of a water bowl and food, this is an actual human. And Cage just walks right in and out with her. To make it even worse, he immediately starts expressing attraction towards her. And for her part, she has been totally sheltered and has never been with a man or learned about sex but she immediately starts reacting to Cage like a porn star. HOW?? Did I mention this book is repetitive? Did I mention this book is repetitive? Did I mention this book is repetitive? How did that make you feel? That’s how I felt reading this book.

I did not feel any connection between these characters because there was no time for a connection to develop before they are screwing like bunnies. I did not fall in alpha love with Cage because Cage was extra emotional and irritating. Even worse, Cage was controlling the girl the same way her stepfather did. She didn’t get free and start living, no. Cage was picking her clothes and monitoring who she was around. Even worse, Cage starts screwing her. Ugh. It was all too much for me. I recommend you find something else to do with 6-8 hours of your life that does not involve this book.

**ARC provided by TRSoR Promotions**

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ARC Review: Full Heat by Carla Swaford

I am a total MC romance addict. It honestly does not take much to get me hooked on a MC book and leave me with a smile on my face. So when I tell you this was not good, take me seriously. I’m not being fickle or overly picky, this really was not good.

I do not like writing long reviews that list all the reasons a book was NOT good, because life is just too short but let me give you the highlights:

The book was a complete failure in logical consistency. No two events made sense when viewed together. For example, the book opens on kind of an intriguing note but even there, inconsistencies were present. MJ is way too comfortable around an MC while at the same time being the blushing innocent heroine. As the book goes on, MJ as the heroine makes even less sense because she gets more aggressive going as far as getting into it with another club chick who had a thing with Storm. I was reading it like WHAT? Where is all this coming from. I was so lost.

And then there is Storm….a total clustfu-k here. Storm goes from being a club prospect to the president after he gets out of jail. If you have ever read one of these books or know anything about MC’s, you would know that this is an outrageous journey into fantasy. It just doesn’t work this way. Also, Storm has to be one of the most disrespected club presidents ever. One of the things I love about MC romance is the alpha male hierarchy. Every member of the MC has his own bossy universe and the president rules them all but not in this book. In this book the club members violate Storm’s orders, mock him and even walk out on him. I was in a state of perpetual shock. In fact, I think the only reason I kept reading this book is because I couldn’t believe how it really didn’t make sense.

Ok, time to jump off this sinking ship. This book took me to the bad place. Storm is a mess, MJ is unbelievable and there is even some rape and abuse thrown in to really make things interesting (read: worse). Read at your own risk.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

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ARC Review: Calling It by Jen Doyle

Calling It is Jen Doyle's debut novel. I always try to go in with an open mind to a debut novel, because sometimes you find some serious gems and other times it is obvious that it is an author's first book. The blurb really drew me in here though, and I absolutely love sports romance stories, so I had to give this one a shot. Unfortunately for me, this is one of those cases where it didn't work for me at all. 

After almost losing his career in a car accident, professional catcher Nathan Hawkins heads home to avoid the paparazzi. Not only are the media speculating about his career and the accident, but he also just lost his fiance to his supposed best friend. But when he goes to his sister's apartment, the nearly naked woman he finds wielding a baseball bat is definitely not his sister. Nate agrees to help the town librarian with the renovations to the library and is shocked to realize that it is the woman he ran into. As the two begin to get to know one another, things quickly become more and both Dorie and Nate find themselves enjoying what is happening between them, but will either of them be ready to let go once Nate has to head back for spring training? 

One of my biggest issues here was Dorie. I couldn't stand her right from the start, and honestly most of the secondary characters weren't any better. Dorie was impossible for me to connect to and I found myself wanting to reach through my Kindle more than once to strangle her. She did nothing but irritate me, and it just never got better. I especially got tired of the constant push and pull that Dorie was doing when it came to Nate. The secondary characters here annoyed me as well, often times jumping to conclusions and sticking their noses in where it didn't belong. It started right away in this book and was just impossible to come back from. The only character I found myself really liking was Nate.

I also had a really tough time with the author's writing style, and I think a lot of that could just be a personal thing. There were times that things almost seemed to be missing and the writing came off as a bit choppy. I would have to read several sentences and paragraphs multiple times to try and figure out how we got from point A to point B. It just didn't flow well, and this one was pretty slow and awkward. There wasn't really anything new or different here to grab my attention, so my interest kept waning with all the issues I had. There were also some things that were just unrealistic and had me rolling my eyes throughout the story, and I couldn't ever connect or find anything to really make me want to read this book. I have seen a lot of positive reviews and readers that enjoyed this book, so if you like sports romance stories, you might still give this one a shot. This one wasn't for me at all, but that doesn't mean that it might not work for you.

**ARC Provided by Publisher**

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Review: Till Death Us Do Part by Cristina Slough

Till Death Us Do Part is Cristina Slough's debut novel, so I really had no idea what to expect here. While I did think that this story had potential, ultimately this one wasn't for me. The blurb really caught my attention, but between the story and writing style this book wasn't what I had been expecting at all. I think that there are some readers that will enjoy this story, and it is very possible this one was just not for me personally. 

Mimi and Joel have just been married, and they know that as soon as the honeymoon is over Joel will deploy to Afghanistan. Though Joel promises to come back to her, Mimi soon receives word that Joel is dead. Needing to find closure, Mimi heads to Texas where Joel's estranged brother Austin lives. Soon Mimi grows closer to Austin, and she learns that Joel isn't the man she thought he was. Just as Mimi is finally ready to move on with her life, Joel returns and her world is once again turned upside down. But not only is Joel back from the dead, he has a secret that will shatter everything he and Mimi once had. 

I don't want to get into the characters too much here, because I don't want to spoil everything for those that might be interested in reading this book. But just as Mimi learned that Joel wasn't who she thought he was, the reader does as well. While I found some of it to be believable, some of it wasn't for me. The man he was later on in the book was so different from the man we first met, and while I do think part of that was real, there were some things that just felt completely out of character. I liked Mimi well enough, but I didn't feel connected to her. While I was interested to see what would happen, I just didn't feel fully invested in her story. Same with Austin. I liked him and there was so much more to the story than we had been lead to believe from Joel, but I just never truly felt like I was in this one. It felt as though I was removed completely and as though I was an outsider looking in. I wanted to really feel emotionally connected here, and I just wasn't able to. I think part of that was the writing style here. It just wasn't for me and often felt choppy. I think that because it was so choppy it was hard for me to get into the story as I might have been able to otherwise.

The other thing that bothered me was the ending here. I won't go into details or spoil anything, but as much as I struggled throughout the book I had really been hoping for an ending that would have made that struggle worth it. For me, this ending wasn't that at all. It wasn't satisfying and I was really disappointed with how things turned out. I respect the author and her vision, but personally had I known the way things would go I would never have started this book. To me it wasn't a romance, and it honestly felt like a lot of what happened here was done for shock value. It just didn't fully ring true to me with the rest of the book, and I wish that I had known ahead of time and saved myself the time. I do think that there are readers out there that will enjoy this story, and I if it sounds like something you are interested in you should give it a shot. Just because this book wasn't for me doesn't mean that it won't be for everyone.

**Review Copy Provided by Book Enthusiast Promotions**

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ARC Review: Unexpected Rush by Jaci Burton

Jaci Burton has been one of my go-to authors since I first started reading romance. Her Play by Play series has been one of my all-time favorites, with the first two books (Mick and Gavin Riley) being on my permanent list of book boyfriends. I am sad to say that the last few books in this series though have lost steam, and haven't had the same feel to them. I debated on reading this book because of that, but Unexpected Rush is one of my absolute favorite tropes and I decided that Jaci Burton was worth taking another chance on. Unfortunately, this was my least favorite book of hers to date, and I think that I am calling it quits with this series. 

Barrett Cassidy plays defense for the Tampa Hawks. Harmony Evans is his best friend and teammate's little sister. Though the attraction is there, Barrett knows the unspoken rule that sisters are off limits. But Harmony is determined to show Barrett and they could be great together. When Harmony begins to work for him designing and renovating the house he just bought, they begin to spend more time together and Barrett begins to realize he can only put up so much of a fight.

I felt no connection to these characters, and that was one of the biggest problems for me. Barrett was a good guy, and yet I didn't fall in love with him. I liked him, but it was all on the surface. Harmony however I did not like from the very beginning of this story. While she got a bit better over the course of the story, I never did come to like her character. My biggest issue with her was how hard she pursued Barrett. I am all for the woman chasing the guy, but Harmony was so relentless that it became pathetic how much she was throwing herself at him. If it had been the hero doing the things she did, readers would be up in arms about it. She bordered on sexual harassment more than once and it was such a turn off. While there was attraction between them, their actions here just never got me there in believing that they had a real connection. I never saw it really develop, and I didn't see why they supposedly liked each other or how they had anything more than lust.

I also thought that this book was very predictable and didn't offer anything new. This was the same familiar trope, with nothing special to stand out. The sex scenes were sadly repetitive and while they weren't cringe worthy, they weren't exciting. They didn't pack the same amount of steam I am used to Jaci's books having, and it just felt like they were going through the motions. Unfortunately, this book was uninspired and it really felt like Jaci Burton's heart wasn't in this one. If I hadn't known she was the author, I would have probably DNF'd this one and wouldn't have been able to tell you it was her writing. I really thought that this one would turn around at some point, but I ended up being really disappointed here.

**ARC Provided by Publisher**

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ARC Review: The One For Me by Sydney Landon

I truly hate to waste my time so if I start a book and don't finish it, we can all conclude that there were some serious issues. I persevered through this book as long as I could because I like this author and I had faith that the ship would change course at some point during the journey. Around the 55% mark, I lost hope, we hit a iceberg, the ship went dooooown.

The background story seemed interesting. Crystal wants to walk on the wild side, Mark is trying to get off the wild side and on to the slow and easy side. I wanted to see where things would go. The answer is nowhere, things went nowhere. I knew we were in trouble in the first 10% of the book. The book starts when Crystal vomits on Mark and then faints on him. As he is holding her unconscious body in his arms, he decides that he is intrigued by her and she is "different." I'm thinking that was because he was used to women who were, oh I don't know, conscious. It gets worse though because Mark decides that instead of calling a doctor or like one of Crystal's friend, he will take the unconscious stranger home with him and care for her for 2 days. I was completely baffled by this.

I can suspend disbelief with the best romance readers but for goodness sake, how do you take a grown woman home with you like a stray cat? Did no one miss Crystal or wonder why she disappeared off the street. I mean seriously, after 2 days, he was only referring to her as "Angel because he didn't know her name.

Speaking of the word "Angel," OMG, it was used way too much. I actually did a word count because it was driving me crazy. My Kindle says the word is used 197 times throughout the book. That means the word was on more than every other page. It was just too much.

As for the actual relationship between Mark and Crystal, I have no idea how or why it happened. It just comes out of nowhere. One second Crystal is puking and unconscious. The next she and Mark are in love and there is almost no substantive conversation in between those events. The sexual relationship between the two characters also did nothing for me. Mark is supposed to be this kinky dominant guy but we never actually see that side of him once things move into the bedroom. Mark was sweet to the point of annoying me.

I like this author and I hope this book is not a sign of things to come in the future. If this is your first Sydney Landon book, first, read something else. If it's too late for that, don't hold this one against her, read some of the earlier books.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

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ARC Review: To Catch a Rake by Sally Orr

I wouldn't consider Sally Orr's To Catch a Rake a romance, though I did stop at the 50% mark so maybe things drastically changed in the second half of this book. I was very disappointed that I didn't like this book because I had been looking forward to trying Sally Orr out. I tried to read the first two books in the series to better prepare myself for what I thought would be amazing. I had no justification for my hopes except the premise of the Rake's Handbook and some lovely covers.

Back to what I was saying earlier, I never felt any spark of romance. When Meta began to have anything close to feelings for George, she would quickly shove them out of her mind to "examine later" (which never seemed to happen) or just get confused about them. This frustrated me to no end. George also never displayed any romantic feelings. Honestly he was mostly rude to her. Don't be confused however, there was some lusty kisses shared. This also frustrated me though because she didn't seem to bat an eye about the kissing, but she was appalled at some of his lesser actions.

I will warn you that unless you are into civil or structural engineering, a lot of conversation will bore you to pieces. Heck! I am a civil engineer and this bored me. The tunnel that George is working on is a huge part of everything, and he uses this as an excuse to treat people poorly. He apologizes afterward or is a perfect charming gentleman if he sees some benefit towards his career goals. Both leads seemed a little self-centered.

I hate to be a downer, but there wasn't a thing I liked about this book. The characters weren't consistent or interesting, the plot was confusing, the conflict wasn't enticing. It took me way too long to get to the 50% mark, and I've begun developing a rule/guideline of why finish something you just are not into. Maybe the plot and romance pick up in the last half, and it could be phenomenal. But I think Sally Orr needs to trap her readers a little earlier in the game.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

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ARC Review: Loud is How I Love You by Mercy Brown

I love romance books, and I especially love the NA genre. That being said, I have a special love for rockstar books! There is just something sexy about a rocker! So I was really excited about reading Loud is How I Love You, especially seeing some of the early reviews raving about it! I have to say that it appears that we did not read the same book however, because everything that they loved was not what I found in this book at all. This is Mercy Brown's debut novel as well as the first in this Hub City series, and I am sad to say that this is not one that I will be continuing. 

I got to about 55-60% of the way through this book before throwing in the towel, and that wasn't a decision I made lightly. I hate not finishing a book, so much so that I went ahead and skimmed to the ending just to see what happened. I wanted to know, and yet I had no desire to actually read the rest of the book.

Loud is How I Love You ( I will refer to it as LIHILY from here, because the title is seriously a mouthful!) is about Emmy. She is in college but is devoted to making her band a success. Though she and her bandmate Travis have always been attracted to each other, they are just best friends until they sleep together one night. Of course having sex changes everything and Emmy is worried that it will destroy the band, so she decides that it can't happen again. Travis wants more however and is determined to show her how good they can be together. 

I really liked Travis. He was the highlight of the part I read, and one of the only things I actually liked here. He was sweet and patient, and deserved far better than how Emmy treated him. This guy was seriously great, and it made me sad that the rest of the story couldn't touch how fantastic he was. I liked the other guys in the band as well, though we barely saw them. Emmy however was one of my biggest issues here though. She was whiny and annoying, and constantly prone to panic attacks about how her and Travis being together would change everything. She was so dramatic and irritating. I didn't like her to begin with and the more I read the worse it got. Immature and irrational, it felt like I was reading a YA novel with a childish heroine. She admits to being in love with Travis, and yet she continues to act crazy. She ran so hot and cold, and I hated how it was Travis that suffered because of her stupidity. I seriously wanted him to just move on and forget all about her. 

The biggest problem that I had though was the author's writing style. Unfortunately Mercy Brown tells more than she shows. LIHILY read more like a teenager's diary than a romance novel. I just couldn't get into it or feel invested in the story because of that and the heroine. I actually think that I would have liked it better had it been laid out like it was Emmy writing in a journal or diary, since the writing style would have made sense then. But I so badly wanted to see inside Travis's head and why he kept putting up with Emmy as well as what he was thinking. I got that he loved her, but after awhile I just didn't understand it and unfortunately all we had was Emmy's POV. I also didn't care for how detailed things were at times, and it got to be very boring. There wasn't a ton of dialogue and the story just felt bogged down and slow. This one was just a miss for me and I didn't have enough interest to finish. If LIHILY sounds like something you might like though, it might be worth giving a shot as I saw plenty of other reviews from people who loved it.

**ARC Provided by Publisher**

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