Ramblings From This Chick

Monday, July 18, 2016

ARC Review: Wanderlust by Roni Loren

I am a huge fan of Roni Loren's, so any time that I see she has a new book coming out I can't wait to get my hands on it. Wanderlust was just as great as I had been expecting, and I really enjoyed reading it. It was nice to see something a bit new and different from Roni, yet also get a solid story filled with everything that I have come to know and love about her stories.

After her magazine's music reporter falls ill, restaurant critic Aubrey Bordelon finds herself covering. She must follow the popular band Wanderlust around, providing fans with a behind the scenes look. But Wanderlust's lead singer Lex Logan wants anything but a nosy reporter ready to spill their secrets and problems to the world following their every move. When he pulls Aubrey onstage for a stunt, the sparks between them begin to fly. Soon Lex begins to wonder if the best way to keep Aubrey distracted, is to keep her busy in his bed.

I loved these two so much and they had such great chemistry. They were so different, a true example of opposites attract. While Lex is the wild and sexy often cocky rockstar, Aubrey was the straight-laced good-girl reporter. Aubrey was used to wanting control and never stepping outside the lines, so it was good to see her loosen up a bit. Lex was exactly what she needed to help her live a little. I really felt for her, and I was so glad that she had Lex after all she had been through. Lex was irresistible and easy to fall for, and I found myself swooning right along with Aubrey. I loved that they were real and genuine, flaws and all. They had no problems admitting when they did wrong or messed up, and that was really refreshing.

Overall, another great story from Roni Loren. She knows how to deliver a solid story with a great balance of steam and emotion. I really felt drawn in from the start with this book and I didn't want to put it down! Aubrey and Lex were great, and I think that readers will love their story! Roni Loren is a talented writer, and I have never been disappointed by her books yet! This is one I would definitely recommend, and I already can't wait for more from her. I really enjoyed this world, and I hope that this turns into a series and we get more of the band!

**ARC Provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N | iTunes |

Feature and Giveaway: Catching Preeya by Rissa Brahm

Fight…

Flight attendant Preeya Patel wears her mother’s wanderlust-genes like a catwalk model. After quitting med school, she flies fast-and-free through her twenties—a staunch middle finger to her Dr. Dad. She wants the life of her dreams—a wild ride with a savage partner in crime to go with it. But dreams don’t often match what fate delivers…

Flight…

Young widower, Dr. Ben Trainer, is flying to Mexico, joining yet another vaccine mission, alleviating his grief and guilt one needy soul at a time. And…risking his life might just set him free.

Or Fall…

When an in-flight emergency throws Ben and Preeya together to save a child, logic and whimsy collide. Both lost souls’ find something hot and deep and true—an unforeseen connection. But dreams morph, old nightmares haunt, secrets surface. In order to navigate their futures, they must face their pasts.

Hard.

Will Preeya recognize the man of her wildest dreams? Or will Ben fly from this second-chance love before her eyes open? A fight—or flight—to the finish…for love.

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N |

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Sunday, July 17, 2016

ARC Review: Holding His Forever by Alexa Riley

Ok, I'm on a bad, overly intense, too quickly attached, alpha male romance kick and it continued in Holding His Forever. This is another installment in Rileys quick and dirty series exploring all of our favorite romance tropes with a side of steam.

This book is of the damsel in distress variety. Fia plays the part of the damsel. Fia is a great person but she has a rough background. Fia is finacially strapped and working 2 jobs. It's clear from the beginning that the owner of the dive where she is a waitress has an unhealthy obsession with Fia but she needs the cash so she puts up with his harassment. Derek is a fire fighter who has endured some serious trauma and lives a pretty solitary life.

Derek and Fia meet when Fias apartment building catches on fire and Derek's squad rescues her. From the second Derek sees Fia, the romance is a done deal. And ok, this is where we have to pause for a word from our sponsor, me. I understand and am ok with insta-attraction. When two people know they want each other in a sexual way right away, I can file that. Where I have an issue is with the kind of thing that happens in this book. It is hard for me to understand instant soulmate. Derek didn't just want to bang Fia's brains out the minute he saw her, he was in super intense, absolutely can't live without you obsessed love with Fia.

It's kind of awkward when you are reading the thoughts of a bossy alpha male and they are all about how he will absolutely die without a chick he met 2 min ago. It's just weird. And Fia's response is weird too. She goes home with a total stranger and sleeps butt naked in his house while he's in another room. I know it's fiction but COME ON. At the same time, when Fia decides to leave Derek's house with no money or...clothes, that also made no sense. To help you get a clue how instant the intensity in this book is, Derek didn't even want to work after he met Fia. He just wanted to be with her. It was A LOT.

These books are meant to be kind of exaggerated and fast, that's what you're signing up for. So, maybe everything in this review is what you want. For me, it was ok, but I need a little more rational build up.

**ARC provided by Ardent PRose**

Purchase: | Amazon |

ARC Review: Stoned by Mandi Beck

I have to admit that I couldn't wait to read this book after reading the blurb and seeing the cover! I am such a sucker for second chance romance stories and there is nothing better than a sexy rockstar! But I have to also say that Stoned by Mandi Beck left me with mixed feelings, and while there was a lot to like here there were also some things that didn't work for me.

Stone is the lead singer of Wrecked, one of the world's hottest rock bands. He has loved Willow for as long as he can remember but he also loves the feeling he gets from pills and drugs. Constantly chasing that high, he does things that the real Stone would never do, but Willow leaves him knowing that she can't continue to stick around to watch him spiral even further. Having thrown his relationship away, Stone continues to sink even further until he gets so bad that he winds up in the hospital and must go to rehab. Once clean, Stone is determined to win Willow back and show her that he is the man she fell in love with. But when Stone finds out that she has moved on and things have changed, he knows that he will have to fight for a chance at the future that they always planned together.

Part of my problem here was the characters. While I liked them and wanted them to work everything out, I had a tough time relating to them. I didn't feel connected to them, and I didn't always feel like we got to see their connection. We started this story right when things went wrong for them, and we didn't get a ton of their past, so it almost felt like we were coming into a story already in progress. I wish that we had been given a bit more of them from before, because I think it would have helped to really solidify their connection for me. I did feel like Stone and Willow had a connection and chemistry, and it was clear that they had a ton of history. But without seeing some of that, their relationship was hard to feel fully invested in.

I also had a bit of trouble with some of the things that happened here as well. I understood that they were each going through a ton and that Stone was trying to get and stay clean. But a lot of this book was filled with angst and drama, and Stone constantly going on and on about how he had thrown her away but that she was his. It just got to be a bit repetitive and really started to drag the story down. I got to the point that I wanted to skim because a lot of it felt like a rehash of the same thoughts and dialogue we had already been through. Most of this book was these two being apart, and I just never really felt like we were given enough to be fully sold on their relationship. The ending was abrupt and felt rushed, despite the fact that it had been a long time coming. I wanted more, and I felt like that was kind of the theme the entire way through this one for me. While it wasn't a bad book and I definitely had to keep going to see how things would play out, this also wasn't one that I loved either. I think that if you are a fan of angsty romance stories and love rockstar books, that this one is worth the shot. This could just be a case of this story not working for me, as all the ratings I have seen for this book seem to be much higher than my own. So if it sounds like one you would like, I would recommend checking it out.

**ARC Provided by TRSOR Promotions**

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N | iTunes |