Ramblings From This Chick

Monday, December 14, 2015

ARC Review: Undeniably Asher by K.L. Kreig

This is my first book by this author and although it's the second book in the series, it's the first one I've read and I loved it!

If I had to sum up what I loved about this book, I could do it easily using one word, two syllables: Asher! I mean daaaaamn, what's a girl to do with a man like that running through the pages of her Kindle. The A in Asher is for ALPHA. Asher is a boss and THE boss and I was here for it. Everything from his dirty mouth, to his bossiness to his ability to declare exactly what was going to happen all worked for me. The thing about Asher that might put some people off is that he was intensely jealous, even in situations that did not warrant it. For me? Not a problem at all. I love the possessive boyfriend who growls every time another guy gets within 2 feet of his woman. Asher was like way over the top, he was even threatening his brothers but I still loved that about him.

Asher is Alyse's sister, Gray's, brother in law. Gray is married to Asher's brother (for those of you who need a little more help). Alyse and Asher have actually known one another for years. In fact, the background on that is a little bit sketchy. Asher first fell for Alyse when she was a young 17. Asher was 21 at the time and while something happened between them, the deal wasn't at all sealed. Alyse was kind of opened to all the possibilities love had to offer by Asher so when another older guy came along and swept her off her feet, ish started to get real messy. I don't want to give anything away about that because it turns out to be a very complex part of the story. I will say this though- WHOA!! What happened to Alyse as a teenager and how it impacted her later in life was kind of tragic. Alyse has the sense that everyone she loves leaves her and from her perspective, it's kind of true. What we find out as the book moves along and Alyse finds out too is that her perspective isn't always the right one. There are some big surprises in this book.

The connection between Alyse and Asher is intense and genuine from the first time we see them together.They are both carrying some major baggage that makes it difficult for them to trust but they want each other and they are what they need to heal. Because of the backgrounds of the main characters, they make some decisions that will honestly make you want to kick both of them in the knees. That is especially true about Alyse. Alyse was holding on too tight to the past and it started to irk me right before she pulled it together and finally moved on. The sex scenes make all the drama these two put you through totally worth it. Their chemistry is explosive and the descriptions will transport you to a place where it's very warm.

This is an entertaining novel with a great love story, some twists and turns to keep things interesting, complex characters and great dialogue. I highly recommend you give this a try. As soon as I was done reading this, I went back and purchased the first book in the series.

**ARC provided by Gossip Girls PR**

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N |

Sunday, December 13, 2015

ARC Review: Dirty Billionaire by Meghan March

Dirty Billionaire is the first installment in Meghan March's Dirty Billionaire Trilogy. Each book needs to be read in order as they are not standalones and the story continues from one book to the next. Dirty Billionaire ends with a cliffhanger, and I need more!

Creighton Karas is bored with his life and the women he has been hooking up with. But when he meets a sexy stranger in a bar, he knows she is different right away. But when she leaves the morning after their steamy night together, he is left with no way to get a hold of her and he doesn't even have her name. So he puts out a missed connection to help him find her. Holly is sick of the act her record company has forced her to live in order to launch her career as the next country it girl, so she decides to take one night for herself knowing she can't have more. But when she sees Creighton's missed connection searching for her, can she possibly have something she didn't think was possible?

These two were so sexy together! The sparks were flying right away, and I couldn't get enough of Creighton and Holly. Holly is so easy to like, and I loved that she has some sass to her. She isn't afraid to stand up for herself, and yet she is capable of submitting as well. I liked that she seemed comfortable with Creighton right away and that she wasn't ashamed of anything happening between them. Creighton is mysterious and all alpha, and I can't wait to get to know him better. We got to see his sexy and demanding side here, but I know there is so much more to this man that we don't know yet. I am looking forward to hopefully digging deeper with his character as the series continues.

I couldn't put this book down, and I read it in one sitting. I loved the characters and the chemistry between these two was so intense! I really enjoyed seeing the start of what I know is going to be a very interesting story for these two and I really can't wait to see what happens after the ending of this one. The one thing I will say is that things progressed very quickly here, and I am talking pretty much instant. To me the way things started between these two and happened wasn't really believable. The attraction and lust between them was, but I didn't really buy that things would have happened the way they did here when it came to anything beyond them hooking up. But I am really interested to see what will happen next and where Meghan March goes from here. Meghan March is a great writer, and I have loved everything I have read from her. I highly recommend her books, and if you are looking for something with a serious amount of steam Dirty Billionaire is definitely one worth checking out!

**ARC Provided by RockStarLit PR**

ARC Review: Morrison by Chelsea Camaron and MJ Fields

Morrison is a decent book in terms of writing and the set up of the story but certain things about the language used and the characters attitudes were off putting. This is the second book in the Caldwell series, the first book was about Morrison's brother Hendrix (you can read out of order). I read some of the reviews of Hendrix and people seemed to really enjoy that one, I would give this author another try and pick up Hendrix even though I didn't love Morrison.

Morrison is a gambler, that's how he makes his money. He is very successful at it and divides his time between Detroit (the home team, yay for that) and Vegas where he earns income. Morrison had a tough upbringing and had to watch his mother suffer a great deal of violence at the hands of his father. He naturally has a protective instinct when it comes to women in distress. Enter Hailey. Hailey lost a bet and wound up basically trading her life as payment for the one bet. Hailey married the man she lost the bet to when she was 17 years old and from that point on, he constantly found ways to keep her in his debt and always owing.

I had to remind myself (a lot) that Hailey's mother had her as a teen prostitute when she got pregnant by her pimp and Hailey just didn't know any better. I had to remind myself of this because Hailey's way of dealing with her "husband" just didn't make any sense to me. He was charging her for every basic thing anybody might get out of a marriage. Most significantly, when Hailey gave birth to his child, he was adding every expense he paid on behalf of HIS daughter to Hailey's tab. As a result of his behavior and that of her pimp/father, Hailey developed this belief that every single thing had to be paid back. It was extremely difficult for her to let anybody do anything for her (especially a man) because she didn't want to pick up more debt. However, things with Hailey's "husband" go left and she is in a desperate situation that she couldn't get out of without help. Enter Morrison.

Morrison...is kind of an a-hole based on the description of his internal thoughts. At one point he is dividing women into these really inane categories like platinum pu--y, settled a-s, dominant a-s, first class etc. It was some super douche type ish and I had a problem just liking him right from the beginning of the book. I wanted to jump into the book and gut punch him when he makes the comment "If you don't want the Caldwell cocktail, you better stop." This was in reference to him being about to make a deposit in Hailey's oral bank. If a man ever said anything like that to me, I would be totally unable to control my bite reflex. So yeah, Morrison was completely annoying at certain parts of the book.

The thing that really didn't make sense to me was how quickly Morrison was all in when it came to rescuing Hailey and her daughter from a terrible situation. Then, I didn't get Hailey's reaction to being rescued. I mean, you would've thought she would be overjoyed but instead she was rude to Morrison and perfectly nice to everyone else. Also, I have to mention the fact that Hailey left her 3 year old daughter with Morrison while she went to work after she had known him for like a day. I didn't even see any mention that she checked the sex offender registry before she left her kid with a stranger. I just did not get that.

The book moves at a pretty good pace, the sex scenes are pretty good and the supporting characters were interesting. Unfortunately Hailey, Morrison and the things they said annoyed me enough that this isn't one of my favorite reads.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N | iTunes |

Reuniting with a former love...with Jane Ashford and Giveaway

Jane Ashford discovered Georgette Heyer in junior high school and was captivated by the glittering world and witty language of Regency England. That delight was part of what led her to study English literature and travel widely in Britain and Europe. She has written historical and contemporary romances, and her books have been published in Sweden, Italy, England, Denmark, France, Russia, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Spain, as well as the U.S. Jane has been nominated for a Career Achievement Award by RT Book Reviews.