ARC Review: Thick Love by Eden Butler

I have to start by saying this is one of my strangest reviews. I don't mean the book was strange, I really mean my review is strange. I'm giving this book five stars because it is some truly epic type ish BUT this was not the book for me. My rating is an attempt to be entirely objective and remove my personal bias' from my evaluation. I'm going to start by telling you why I think this book is worth five stars and end by telling you why despite that fact, I still didn't really like it.

Thick Love is #2 in the Thin Love series. You don't have to start with Thin Love to read this book but I've heard great things about that one so you might want to pick it up at some point. The Hero in this book, Ransom, is actually the 18 year old son of the main characters from Thin Love. The first reason for my rating of this book is for the depiction of Ransom. The author builds this extremely complex character with some of the most interesting layers that I have EVER read in a character. Ransom, even at his very young age, has already suffered a tremendous loss and is grappling with the kind of guilt that can really choke the life out of you. It is in this context that Ransom begins the chapter of his life that features Aly.

When we meet Aly in the book, she is a 17 year old escapee from an emotionally abusive home. In an interesting twist, Ransom and Aly don't get together right away even though Aly is immediately attracted to Ransom. Instead, it is two years before a relationship between the couple starts and it is in the interim that Ransom becomes the person that Aly has to learn to love. For a reader like me, Aly is the best part of this book. Aly was strong but open. Aly was the perfect person to heal Ransom without losing herself which was a feat (trust me).

This book is epic because you will never ever forget these characters. You will never forget this story or the depth of the emotion the author is able to convey. Your love for Ransom will be rivaled only by your revulsion of his behavior. The "thick" part of this book is the incredible level of angst woven into the story as a result of Ransom's POV. Ransom's guilt and contempt for himself were almost overwhelming at parts but very human. It's just...this is a book where you FEEL everything, you are not reading the story, you are living it.

Now let me just briefly tell you why the book was not for me: The characters were too young and their reactions to the world reflected a lack of life experience. The "thickness" of the angst got to be overwhelming. At times this book can make you feel like you can't breath. Whether you appreciate that depends entirely on how much you value breathing. Last but not least, before Ransom is with Aly, he is with other women and that is conveyed to us in explicit detail. I jussssst don't like that. Wait, one more thing, the epilogue was completely confusing. I guess you have to read the next book to make sense of what happened between the last page of the story and the epilogue. It's not a cliffhanger, there is just a lost period of time that needs explaining.

So at the end of the day, if you are looking for a compelling emotional journey that will grip you and hold you until the last word on the last page, this is the book for you. If you are like me, read the reasons this wasn't the book for me and decide if you want to take this journey anyway.

**ARC provided by As the Pages Turn**

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N | iTunes |

ARC Review: Shadows and Lies by Eden Butler

This is my first Eden Butler novel and I had no idea what to expect. What I got was a really well woven mystery/suspense, an agonizing love story and some truly great characters. This was a really good book.

Super fast non-spoiler rewind: Ryan "pinches" Alex for trying to lift some guys wallet. He discovers that she is a familiar face from the past. Together they figure out that they have more in common than a little petty theft. They join forces to keep Alex safe and to try to untangle the mystery surrounding the deaths of their closest family members.

The first thing that got my attention is that the writing of this book is just really good. Some books are good because I love the story and other books are good because they are just really well written. This book was both. I appreciated the description of life in New Orleans and the impact that it had on Alex. There was something about Alex's depiction that I just found painfully good. She was written so well that you could feel her past pulling on her and you could feel her yearning for a different future.

Ryan is also well created and depicted. The thing that I like the most is how Ryan was torn between his constant urge to "save" Alex and his knowledge that "saving" was exactly what she didn't want from him. So Ryan is in a position where he is trying to be what Alex needs without letting her know that's what he's doing and it's beautiful.

The other thing that I liked was the honesty of the characters. Ryan is attracted to Alex pretty quickly and vice versa. Ryan, however, thinks Alex is a "low life" who is off limits despite his yearnings. Alex thinks Ryan is a boy scout who thinks she's a low life. I thoroughly enjoyed both Ryan and Alex's emerging understanding of one another. It's just interesting to see that you can arrive at a true conclusion based on a total misinterpretation of the significant facts.

A criminal boss of sorts named Timber is obsessed with Alex in the book. I found the story of Alex's connection to and history with Timber just really compelling. The description was rich and helped the reader to understand why and who Alex was.

There isn't enough sex for my personal taste but hey what else is new? I'm not holding it against the author because I love mystery and suspense and there was enough of that to sort of make up for the absence of monkey love. I was intrigued by the mystery and was trying to figure out from the beginning how everything tied together. I wouldn't have minded if there was a little more resolution in the end but I was happy and I will be back for more.

I have to note, I wasn't thrilled with the first few pages of the book. I found the sudden reference to Simmon's a little confusing. Trust me, things quickly get right and I'm glad I hung in for the ride. I highly recommend this book.

**ARC provide by As the Pages Turn**

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N | iTunes |

ARC Review: Finding Serenity by Eden Butler

Finding Serenity is the second book in the Seeking Serenity series by Eden Butler. These are standalones with interconnected characters, and it is not required to have read the previous book to understand this one. This book was one that I was looking forward to after reading the blurb. It had everything that I could possibly want in an interesting and different NA read, and who wouldn't want to read about a girl that's a DJ and was raised by a MC president father and ends up with a super hot Marine? But sadly, as much as I wanted to love this story I just wasn't able to.

Mollie was raised by her MC president father until he was arrested when she was thirteen. She was sent to live with her mother and sister both of which didn't want her and had nothing in common with her. Now years later she is in college and has created her own family with her friends, and she barely gets to see or talk to her dad because he is still in prison. But when her apartment gets broken into and bad things start happening around her, her father sends someone to watch over her. When Vaughn arrives at her door, she is shocked to find out that the hot guy she had previously met and had blown her off is the same protector her dad sent. Vaughn tries to fight his attraction to her and remain professional so that he can protect her properly, but he and Mollie both feel a connection between them. While they try to get to the bottom of what is going on, their attraction becomes more than they can fight and soon they give in to their feelings. But with Mollie still in danger and Vaughn's painful past, their relationship might be over before it ever has a chance to really start.

Vaughn really kind of confused me. He was sometimes a badass, and other times he vulnerable and struggled with his past. He felt like he wasn't good enough for Mollie and used that as an excuse, but other times he said that he couldn't do anything until the case was over and she was safe. He just felt kind of wishy washy to me, and honestly he didn't really live up to what I would expect from a Marine. I wanted to love him so much and he had moments that I did, but overall his character just didn't really work for me. Mollie also had her moments for me. She was strong and capable at times (and had no problem telling everyone around her that either!) but then she would easily give in and rely on others to take care of things for her. She would briefly stand up for herself at times, but then just as quickly roll over. Again, I just didn't really understand what was going on with her character. I also felt that while there was chemistry and attraction between Vaughn and Mollie, their relationship was never really developed. I was waiting for them to really start to connect more than just physically, and I felt like that just never happened. Their conversations seemed forced, and they spent more time ignoring each other or barely speaking than anything.

I also felt like this book was really slow and didn't hold my interest. There was a lot going on, and I should have been interested to see what would happen next. But for some reason, I just kept thinking how long the book was and how long everything was taking. It might have been that I just didn't click with the author's writing style and the characters. I did like the secondary characters, and would be interested to go back and read the first book to get Declan and Autumn's story as well as see what happens in the future with Layla and Donovan. For me, this book just didn't deliver on what I had been expecting or hoping for. I think that there are a lot of people out there that will enjoy this book, especially those that have read the first book in this series. I think that if you are a fan of NA books and enjoy some suspense with your romance that you might give this one a shot. I might end up reading the other books in this series, and hope that maybe those will work better for me.

**ARC Provided by Inkslinger PR**

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | B&N | The Book Depository |