Ramblings From This Chick

Monday, March 13, 2017

ARC Review: Blush For Me by Kristen Proby

I am loving the Fusion series by Kristen Proby, but I have to admit that Blush For Me has been my favorite so far! This book was fantastic from start to finish, and I couldn't put it down! I found real life melting away I was so engrossed in this book, and I just loved these characters. Each book in this series is a standalone story, though they are all great books and I highly recommend reading them all! It was so good to see familiar faces here, but Kat and Mac had me right from the start and I just couldn't get enough of them.

Kat Meyers is the bar manager of Seduction, the hot new restaurant/bar she owns with her close friends. She has always been independent and isn't afraid of pretty much anything, except flying. So when she is forced to get on a plane for a business trip, she finds herself taking comfort in the hot guy in the seat next to her. As soon as the plane lands though, Kat can't wait to get off and leaves before speaking to Mac. So when he shows up at the same place she does, they hit it off and decide to turn their attraction into a sexy week that ends when they return home. But both of them find that they are unable to forget each other, and Mac is determined to convince Kat that they aren't done yet. But can two people who don't do relationships possibly find a way to have one with each other?

I absolutely loved these two. Mac was sexy and sweet, caring and thoughtful. I honestly just adored everything about him and he is definitely at the top of my all time favorite book boyfriends list. Mac was everything you could ever want in a man, and he was so great with Kat. He took a scary experience for her and turned it into something manageable, without ever making her feel bad about it. He was always so supportive of her, and I just loved him for it. I also loved that while he didn't do relationships and was clearly out of his comfort zone with the things he was feeling, he didn't run from it! He embraced it and knew that he had something special developing with Kat. Kat was so strong and independent, used to taking care of herself and she definitely didn't need a man. But I loved seeing her have the support and love from Mac for her to lean on. She was scared of what she was feeling as well as Mac, and it was refreshing to see her not fight it either. She knew that he was different and that what she was feeling was more, but she didn't freak out and push him away. It was just so great to see characters that were mature and acted like adults, and were able to face things that might be scary but that they knew were worth taking a chance on.

The chemistry between these two was off the charts and the sparks were flying from their very first meeting. But it was their connection that I really found special. I really just loved everything about this book and these characters, and I can't recommend it enough. Kat and Mac are characters that were clearly perfect for one another, and I loved how well they complimented one another. They were fun to read about, and I know that I will definitely be reading their book again in the future. While I have loved the previous couples in this series and look forward to learning more about the rest of their group of friends, Kat and Mac were just so genuine and easy to relate to that I felt so connected to them and their story. This is hands down my favorite Kristen Proby book to date, and I can't wait to read more from her in the future. This one is a must read!

**ARC Provided by Inkslinger PR**

Sunday, March 12, 2017

ARC Review: Color Me Mindful, In Bloom! and Atelie Fashion Coloring Books

Color Me Mindful Butterflies by Anastasia Catris

I have always been a huge fan of coloring books, so when the adult coloring book craze first hit I was so excited! Not only is it hard to find good coloring books, but when you do find them they usually aren't anything that I would generally want to color which is why this craze has definitely been amazing for those of us that want something a bit more adult to color. The problem with any craze though is how do you know which ones are good and which ones aren't, especially when a lot of times you have to order them online and don't get a chance to flip through them first in person. So when I was given the opportunity to review a few different coloring books for Gallery Books, I couldn't wait. The first one that really captured my attention was Color Me Mindful Butterflies by Anastasia Catris.

This book is beautiful! The images are professional looking and well drawn. The images range from intricate and detailed drawings for the most advanced at coloring, to larger more simple drawings perfect for those looking to just relax for a bit without having to put much thought into what they are doing. Each image is gorgeous, and for those that are butterfly fans this book is a must have! I have a friend that loves butterflies and coloring, and the minute I opened this up I knew I was going to have to get her one as a gift. I really cannot even begin to do this book justice with how pretty it is, and I forsee many hours ahead of me coloring some beautiful images as my stress melts away. I am definitely going to be checking out the other coloring books that Anastasia Catris has in her Color Me Mindful set, as I think that they look just as amazing as her butterfly version does. I highly recommend this one, especially to those that love butterflies.

**Copy provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N |

In Bloom! by Sigita Alekne

Of all the coloring books I was recently sent by Gallery Books, I have to say that In Bloom! by Sigita Alekne was my least favorite. This book right away looked like one that wouldn't be for me, and unfortunately once I opened it and started to browse through it was confirmed. The images inside looked very amateurish and as though they were sloppily drawn and thrown together. They didn't look professional to me at all. As I looked through another thing that I noticed is that a lot of the pages were very empty, with little actually on them to color or do. There was a lot of blank space throughout the entire book, and that sort of defeats the purpose of having a book to color when there isn't much there to actually color. The other thing that really kept me from liking this one is that when there was a big image to color, a lot of times it was split into two pages with the bulk of the image being in the middle where the book is bound. So you actually end up losing the majority of the image to the crease in the book making it next to impossible to really color the image.

Because of these things, I have to say that this isn't a book that I would buy or recommend to others. With there being so many coloring books to choose from these days, this one just didn't make the cut for me. I think that there are those that would like these images and appreciate the more hand drawn quality that I did, but I think that the execution of the images needs to be better considered for a coloring book. In order to be successful, these really need to be redrawn and configured, making it easier for readers to color them with more on the blank pages and images not centered where the book is bound. I would recommend skipping this one and looking for something different if you are looking for a flowers and plants type of coloring book.

**Copy provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N |

Atelie Fashion by Rafaella Machado

Atelie Fashion was fun and quirky, and I can see a lot of people really enjoying this book. While the images often times had an amateurish feel to them, I enjoyed the hand-drawn images for the most part and the fact that some of them looked like I had drawn them myself before coloring. There was a wide variety of images to color here, ranging from common patterns blown up in size to be easy for basic coloring, to more detailed and intricate drawings for advanced coloring. The images were playful, and I loved flipping through them trying to decide which one I wanted to color first.

This book had a great range of images, making it a great book for those that sometimes want to do something quick for stress relief as well as have something that will take more time and requires a bit more precision. While I did have some that I really loved out of the images here, there were some that I though looked a bit more amateurish than I would have liked. I still think that this is a fun coloring book, but the images have a wide range when it comes to skill level as well as execution. This is one that I think some will enjoy, with it's fun and quirky images, but if you are looking for a gift for someone else, I don't know that I would recommend this being the one to give. I think that had these images been a bit more professional looking, that this book would have been close to perfect. But some of the images were just a bit too sloppy at times.

**Copy provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N |

ARC Review: Wait For It by M. O'Keefe

This is my first book by this author and after reading it the only question I was asking myself was 'why is this my first book by this author?' This is a really great read in terms of characters, story telling and romance. I think this is the fourth book in the series but it's a standalone so you don't have to read any of the others. After reading this installment, I'm eager to get my hands on the books of the supporting characters that came before the one.

In this book Tiffany is the young Mother of 3 small children. Tiffany has been barely surviving an abusive relationship with her husband when she meets her Prince Charming. Charming happens to be Tiffany's brother-in-law and oh yeah, he's a giant a-hole more commonly known as Blake. Because Blake's brother, and Tiffany's husband, has put Blake's family through so much with his erratic and abusive behavior over the years, Blake is highly suspicious of a woman who claims to be married to him. Blake is even more suspicious about the kids Tiffany claims to have who he are not with her the first time he meets her. To "protect" his Mother from any more drama brought on by his brother, Blake pays Tiffany $20k to take her kids and go away. It was totally tragic. One year later, Tiffany's crazy husband has terrorized Tiffany and her children out of their home and back onto a collision course with Blake.

This author builds these characters so well that you really get where they are coming from. Blake and Tiffany discover that they are both the victims of Phil (Tiffany's husband) but over the years they have learned to deal with it in different ways. Blake has learned that he needs to be in control of everything and that the best way to do that is with money. At the same time, Blake feels intensely guilty about a great many things and is constantly punishing himself. Blake is not really enjoying life. Instead he's just consuming it and growing colder. As for Tiffany, there was a little bit of a discrepancy in her character. The author tells us that she was the kind of person that was so concerned about pleasing people that she suffered for it. At the same time though, when we meet Tiffany, she is tough and resilient. Whatever inclination she had to please people seems to have already cleared up. What I loved about Tiffany is the story of how you can become a stranger to yourself. You can spend so much time surviving and taking care of other people that you actually don't know yourself anymore. There are scenes in this book where Tiffany is trying to rediscover her own body that I just thought were so well written and fascinating.

Blake discovers that the survivor in Tiffany is the part that he loves and wants. Unfortunately he doesn't know how to stop trying to use his money to control everything. Because of that, he builds all sorts of walls around his relationship with Tiffany that he comes to regret but can't figure out how to take down. For Tiffany's part she understands what Blake is doing. She knows how important it is to protect yourself. The question is just whether she can deal with Blake's issues her own and three kids. The answers are a developing romance between two people and a journey for self love that you should definitely read.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N | iTunes |