Bring On the Crazy

Published: July 8th, 2014

I Want Crazy (Loco, Texas #2)

By: Codi Gary

Books With Benefits Press

ISBN-13:  9781941170007

Alfred "Red" Calhoun is in a rut so big, he doesn't know how to climb out of it.  After his second best-selling romance novel, Red signed a contract for three more books, but now he's having trouble finding his romantic mojo.  To top it all off, his favorite bar has been bought by a woman who wants to close it down and re-vamp it.  With his favorite place gone, Red is looking for a distraction...just not the kind that the bar-ruining Jessie Dale has to offer, no matter how hot she may look in a pair of paint-covered overalls...

Jessie has been running away since she was a kid and now that she's decided to make a place in Loco, Texas, she'll be damned if she's going to let a pain in the rear cowboy with too blue eyes run her out of town.  As Red and Jessie go toe to toe in an epic battle of wills, Jessie finds it hard to stay mad when Red's kisses make her want to forget her trust issues...and take him home for a test drive.

But when Jessie's pissed-off ex comes to town to make trouble, Red finds himself playing a hero in his own life and can't seem to stay away from her.  But will he be able to handle all the crazy baggage Jessie's been hauling around, or will these two miss out on the greatest adventure of all...falling in love?

Review

     I was drawn to this book initially by the synopsis, which sounded really adorable.  Add in the cover and I was taken in hook, line, and sinker!  I normally don't bother just because I love a cover either, it has to be really tempting for me to give in and request it!  I am so glad that I got the chance to read this book.  I absolutely loved it and found it to be completely adorable, with the best kind of sassy humor and banter between the romantic leads.  I've rarely seen a book that has the male character as a romance novelist (while being a straight man), using his own name and not a pen-name, and also he lives in the South.  It had the possibility to be interesting and Gary succeeded with her character for sure.  Red's completely awkward handling of his overtures toward Jessie was hilarious to watch.  The botched attempt at night fishing, the cow tipping and the unthinking foot-in-mouth sexist remarks.  But Red has an absolute heart of gold, as we see from his interactions with Jessie while helping her out, his scenes with his Mom and the times he holds his tongue and pretends to be happy for his best friend Jake, who won out their mutual best friend Miranda's love over Red himself.  He refuses to hold it against them though.  Also, his cat Orange is mean little bastard (as some cats are) and he obviously loves him in spite of/because of his orneriness.

     This book is about Red Calhoun and Jessie Dale.  Red happens to be a romance novelist, with a bad case of writer's block.  Jessie is the interloper from out of town, who has bought Red's favorite bar and closed it down for renovations.  Their first meeting consists of him yelling at her and Jessie calling the cops on him.  So they really don't like each other all that much first.  Then Red saves Jessie from the worst part of a bar fight (though she holds her own, hitting someone with a chair), which leads to a friendship of mutual snarkiness and banter.  Before they know it, Red's helping Jessie renovate the bar and sparks are flying between them.  But Jessie's perverted ex-boyfriend, who made sex tapes of her without her permission (and of other women he was cheating with), is released on parole and comes after her looking for the restitution money he paid out to her unwillingly.  Can Red and Jessie protect their new relationship and can he keep her from danger?  Or will it be too late by the time Will's finished with her?

     The side characters in this book are fully fleshed out people, even Jessie's family (i.e. Dad, Stepmother and stepsisters) who she doesn't really get along with.  I loved Red's sisters and his Mom, they were totally bad-ass bitches in charge!  Also, Miranda "Rand" and Jake seemed like very good friends to Red, refusing to let the awkwardness of the previous romantic entanglements ruin their friendships with him.  I think one of my favorite characters (outside of Red of course) was Ray, the cook at Jessie's bar.  He seemed like a really great guy, who had caught a tough break for doing what he thought was the right thing.  I hope to see more of him if there's another book in this series.  April the librarian, also new to town, would be another good candidate for main character in another book.  I was really interested in her back-story, as she's running from her past like Jessie was in the beginning of the book.  Red was a great character, full of contradictions as a romantic and a good ol' southern boy.  Loyal to the end, hotter than hell and a great friend - a deep-seated romantic.  Jessie was snarky, sassy and extremely vulnerable.  Her slow burn with Red was a beautiful thing to watch.  The night fishing scene with them was one of the most hilarious/sweet moments I've ever read in a romance novel!  All in all, I wasn't surprised by the ending but the journey was so wonderful that didn't matter at all.  A few grammar and spelling errors here and there, to be expected in an ARC and nothing glaringly bad.  Also, once again, that cover is perfect!  The cover models like just like Red and Jessie and the pose sounds like the one on the front of Red's first book (plus they look so happy)!  So cute!  I highly recommend this adorable book to anyone that wants crazy and likes small-town romance.

VERDICT:  4.5/5  Stars

*I  received this book from Books With Benefits Press, on NetGalley.  No favors or money were exchanged for this review.  This book was published July 8th, 2014.**

Alone and Dancing, You Know It Baby...

 

Published: March 1st, 2013

Things I Can't Forget (Hundred Oaks # 3)

By: Miranda Kenneally

Sourcebooks Fire

ISBN-13: 978140227

 

 

Kate has always been the good girl. Too good, according to some people at school—although they have no idea the guilty secret she carries. But this summer, everything is different…

This summer she’s a counselor at Cumberland Creek summer camp, and she wants to put the past behind her. This summer Matt is back as a counselor too. He’s the first guy she ever kissed, and he’s gone from a geeky songwriter who loved The Hardy Boys to a buff lifeguard who loves to flirt…with her.

Kate used to think the world was black and white, right and wrong. Turns out, life isn’t that easy…

 

Review

 

     Kate has always done the right things and kept a close relationship with God.  But she has done something that she isn't sure she can ever forgive herself for, let alone ask God to forgive her.  When she goes to be a counselor at Cumberland Creek summer camp, Kate is feeling lonelier than ever after losing her best friend and having her beliefs put into question.  But when she meets Matt, another counselor she used to know as a kid, things start looking up.  Kate just might be falling in love for the first time.  While desperately trying to make up for what she did, Kate just might learn that it's okay if others believe differently than you, it's a part of life.  Can she keep her relationship with Matt, even when he wants to go faster than she does?  And can she make it up to all the people she's hurt in the past?  Either way it will be a summer to remember...

     I went into this one kind of wary, because while I didn't hate Catching Jordan, I didn't love it either.  Stealing Parker read a lot better for me, and I went into this with some hope I could maybe love it.  This book came awful close to accomplishing its goal!  Kate, while religious to a fault, was nothing but sincere even when she was wrong.  And that made a serious difference.  Kate is naïve, kind, funny and thoughtful.  She just has a hard time realizing that its okay for people to have beliefs that are different from hers, because she's been taught otherwise her whole life.  She has a big problem with hypocrisy and with the amount of it going on at camp, I totally sympathize with her.  I personally don't believe in abortion, but do believe in a woman's right to choose so I could understand the agony of helping another person get the procedure, especially when you believe it's against you God's wishes.  The romance with Matt was sweet and they had so many 'awwww' moments that I was in danger of smiling my face off.  Even though I wasn't super in love with Miranda's previous books, I did enjoy the candid and realistic way she dealt with sex and love and what it means to teenagers.  This book was no different, except she finally portrayed a girl who decided to wait instead of giving herself to the boy (which was a change for me in YA fiction as I don't read much Christian YA where it occurs more often).  I liked the way Kate managed to slowly win Parker's trust and become friends, when previously she had stayed away from her (scared her 'sin' would cause Kate herself to stray) and Parker thought she was being a judgmental bitch.  They still were two very different girls at the end of the book, but their friendship was a nice fit.  My least favorite thing was how Kate treated the friend who had the abortion (not that the friend was very understanding either).  But I understood how she could originally go in that direction, believing as she did.  Overall, a really good contemporary YA novel that deal with romance, belief, friendship and the difficulties of growing up.  I highly recommend it.

 

VERDICT:  4.5/5  Stars

 

*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie. No favors or money were exchanged for this review. It became available for purchase March 1st, 2013.*

Shut Out...Into The Light

Published: September 5th, 2011
Shut Out
By: Kody Keplinger
Poppy
ISBN-13: 9780316175562


Most high school sports teams have rivalries with other schools.  At Hamilton High, it's a civil war: the football team versus the soccer team. And for her part,Lissa is sick of it. Her quarterback boyfriend, Randy, is always ditching her to go pick a fight with the soccer team or to prank their locker room. And on three separate occasions Randy's car has been egged while he and Lissa were inside, making out. She is done competing with a bunch of sweaty boys for her own boyfriend's attention

Then Lissa decides to end the rivalry once and for all: She and the other players' girlfriends go on a hookup strike. The boys won't get any action from them until the football and soccer teams make peace. What they don't count on is a new sort of rivalry: an impossible girls-against-boys showdown that hinges on who will cave to their libidos first. But what Lissa never sees coming is her own sexual tension with the leader of the boys, Cash Sterling...

Review

   Lissa always thought that the rivalry between the boy's football and soccer teams at her high school was out of control.  At first she was just fed up because of the juvenility of it: mostly the egging of car windows while making out with her boyfriend Randy.  But then a soccer player tore his ACL and Randy got messed up in a fight.  That's when Lissa decides to do something about it once and for all.  She initiates a sex/hook-up strike, including player's girlfriends from both of the teams.  Lissa figures that if they withhold something the boys can't go without, they'll cave in and end the rivalry.  At first it seems like a really great idea and it definitely brings all of the girls closer together.  But then things start to get ugly after Randy stages a publicly humiliating breakup with Lissa at the dance, while cheating on her.  This is devastating, but in the wings waiting for a chance is Cash Sterling, a soccer player Lissa got with when her and Randy broke up before.  She doesn't think he's serious about her, so when Cash puts himself in charge of the boys when they fight back the tension reaches a breaking point.  Will Lissa end up losing Cash to win the war?  Or will she realize she might have already won and just not realized it?  I enjoyed this book a lot.  It doesn't downplay the serious decisions and consequences that come alongside having sex.  Lissa and the girls have some really great conversations about it, especially her friend Chloe who all the other girls view as a slut, just because she likes sex.  The way that Lissa and Cash circle around one another is believable and he has a reputation for not dating anyone EVER.  This makes it understandable that Lissa thought he was playing with her.  In the ways that Catching Jordan went sour for me, this book went right.  I have not read Kody's other novel because I just wasn't able to get into it.  This one was a book I couldn't put down.  I really disliked the last ditch effort of Lissa to 'win' the war and that's why this book doesn't get a perfect rating.  But it is highly recommended and the ending was great.

VERDICT:  4/5  Stars

Book # 4 of Challenge COMPLETE

*This ARC was provided for an honest review from the publisher (I got it from a Librarian friend) and no money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book is now available in stores and online.*