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-Letter D- Seb by Cheryl Douglas #romance #review @aprilAtoZ #atozchallenge

Apr5

D is for Douglas

Seb (Steele Brothers #3)

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Synopsis
Seb restores old cars and has a reality show.
Skylar asked Seb to restore her uncle’s car because (1) he is a fan of the show and (2) he is seriously ill. She does not have the money to pay for the restoration but she offers to work for him to pay off the debt.

Opinion
The story moves along well but Skylar makes some unwise decisions that negatively affect the relationship. As always, I try to give the girl the benefit of the doubt, but in this case I think Skylar made an idiotic move. She knows Seb is a hottie with a great personality, but she would make poor decisions to mess that up.

brain
I think when there is instalove (as in the case in this story), neither party should be disappointed when there is a lack of trust.
They went from strangers to love in 0.2 seconds even though he is commitment shy. Now her feelings are hurt because he does not trust her.
It’s her OWN fault!

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I understand how it happened, because I have a friend who did something very similar. However, that does not excuse the fact that Skylar should have realized that withholding information could lead to loss of trust. I think that Seb had a good basis for falling in love with Skylar, but I understand how he had been hurt before would affect his view of her actions.

TOW Final Word: Buy, Borrow, Pass?
BUY. And I say that even though I know you are probably going to be rolling your eyes when you get to the bad decision making on Skylar’s part. Plus, there were a couple of surprises that will make you wonder where the story is going. This book is part of a series and I am ready to read more about the Steele brothers. They all seem very yummy!

Book details
Series: Steele Brothers
Heat Level: 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥
Print Length: 237 pages
Publication Date: November 10, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

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Claimed by the Cyborg #cyborgromance @CaraBristol #whattoread #bookaddict 

Feb3

Claimed by the cyborg

4heartSynopsis
March fell for Jules when she was an alien exchange student visiting earth. She left all of a sudden and March has never forgotten her.

In the intervening years, he has become a cyborg. Now March’s job brings him to Xenia and he wants to see if he can find Jules to at least get closure to understand why she left him years ago.

Julieta is in line to be the next Xenian emperor and falling in love with a Terran man March was not part of the plan.

Years later, she still regrets leaving March, but she is determined to sacrifice her happiness for her people. Then March is on her planet and all her resolve is gone.

Opinion

FTC disclosure: I voluntarily read an advanced reader’s copy of this book

This book was the most romantic cyborg book I have ever read. I know it sounds like I am exaggerating, but once you read it, you will understand. I feel like it needs it’s own soundtrack. Descriptive language painted such a detailed picture, my emotions were fully involved.

First of all, I loved March. He was not ashamed to admit that he had fallen in love and the analytical part of his brain wanted to understand what went wrong and why did she leave.

“He still dreamed of her and awakened each morning breath to find her gone.”

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When March finds Jules and realizes who she is, he is determined to be an honorable man and do what would be best for everyone else.

He was not weak or indecisive, however, he calculated the implications of their union and decided to sacrifice his happiness in order to ensure the stability of her nation. He was going to let her go for the greater benefit of her world. He could not in good conscience ask her to give up being emperor in order to be with him.
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What he did not factor into his equation was that Jules was feeling just as strongly about him.

“One beckoning smile from Jules… rendered him powerless to resist temptation“

Before I even began reading the book, I did not like Jules because she left March and I was in love with March from the beginning. As the story progresses, I could understand why she left years ago and the predicament in which she found herself. I can say that she redeemed herself and I felt that she was worthy to be with March.

TOW Final Word: Buy, Borrow, Pass?

BUY. I have been recommending this book ever since I read it. I loved it that much. I can best describe this book as sweet but not sappy.

Book details

Series: Cy-Ops Sci-fi Romance (5 Book Series)
Heat Level: 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥

Print Length: 158 pages

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Elephants Never Forget #review #shifterromance #paranormal

Jan15

Elephants Never Forget: BBW Shapeshifter Romance (Safari Shifters Book 3) 

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Synopsis
In this world, were-animal shifters are well known. There is not any conflict or animosity between were-animals and humans.

Branch is an elephant shifter living and working at a safari resort. He loves his bachelor life and is not looking for a mate.

Maura is vacationing at the resort where Branch works. It should have been her honeymoon, but her fiancé left her. Seeing her high school crush Branch, causes all kinds of emotions but she is conflicted about whether or not to act on them.

Opinion
This book was lacking something for me. I was probably too excited to read it because it was an elephant shifter romance. I never read about an elephant shifter. I wanted it to be good. An ELEPHANT SHIFTER!!! I cannot convey exactly how much I wanted this story to work. Instead, it was okay. The word “corny” also comes to mind.

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It is hard to explain all the reasons for my lackluster feeling but it came down to this

The villain seemed more cartoonish than Wil e coyote.

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Branch goes from Mr Playa to Me-love-you-long-time in a matter of PAGES!!! Image result for you could say things are getting pretty serious gif

Let’s not forget that Maura was very recently dumped by her fiancé. She is most definitely on the rebound.Image result for slow down romeo

My biggest annoyance with this book is the title. I feel it was click bait. The title is “Elephants never forget”, BUT Branch the elephant shifter “couldn’t remember ever saying anything“ to Maura in high school.

“He was drawing a total blank” even though they were in the same graduating class.

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By that point, I was done. How can you have an elephant shifter, a title “Elephants Never Forget” and the elephant hero CANNOT REMEMBER the one girl from high school that he is supposedly madly in love with now.

TOW Final Word: Buy, Borrow, Pass?
PASS. See above for my reasons. But if you read all of that and still want to read it, here is the link to borrow/buy.

Book details
Series: Safari Shifters
Print Length: 68 pages
Publication Date: August 18, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

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#Billionaire Unbound: The Billionaire’s Obsession ~ Chloe #jsscott #romance #amreading

Jan5

Billionaire Unbound:: The Billionaire’s Obsession ~ Chloe (Volume 8) 

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Synopsis
Chloe just got out of a bad relationship and thinks that some distance from her ex will help. So she agrees to work on Gabe’s farm as his veterinarian.

Gabe has crushed/lusted/loved Chloe for a long time. He thinks she is off limits as the sister of his best friend. But after 1 kiss, all bets are off. He is not trying to break up her relationship, but after finding out she is unattached, he will do his best to help her to see that he is the man for her.

Opinion
This is another story in the Billionaire Obsession series by J.S Scott. I think that as this series continues, I have been able to see the progress in her writing style and plot themes. She has been able to keep the stories from becoming stale. It is not like I am reading the same plot over and over. There are times where elements are the same, but it is not so repetitive that I am bored with the story.

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In this story, the heaviest theme was the abuse of Chloe’s previous relationship. It was at times brutal to read but it made me want Chloe to find happiness even more. Plus, it goes to show that money and a good family cannot always shield a person from being in an abusive relationship.

I sympathized with Chloe because many of the reasons why she stayed parallel to real life victims of abuse. I could understand how Chloe’s family felt once they found out what had been happening because they did not see the signs. The Coulter family is so tight-knit, that I could imagine the emotional reactions when they realized they were unable to shield their sister from being in a painful relationship.

But this book is not all tears and sadness, because Gabe was more than willing to be the man and protector that Chloe needed in her life. With that, Gabe secured his spot on my Billionaire book boyfriend list.

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TOW Final Word: Buy, Borrow, Pass?
BUY. Pretty much any of the “The Billionaire’s Obsession” series books are a BUY in my opinion. I have a weakness for alpha billionaires that also have down to earth personalities.

Book details
Series: The Billionaire’s Obsession
Heat Level:  🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥
Print Length: 210 pages
Publisher: Golden Unicorn Enterprises Inc (November 10, 2015)

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Book Review: Twin Dragons #dragons #swirlromance #triad #paranormalromance #shifterromance

Nov30

Twin Dragons 1heart ♥

Synopsis

Gail meets Eli and Tyler while on a trip to Seattle.

Eli and Tyler are twin dragon shifters that decide that Gail is their fated mate.

Opinion

When I first started reading, I did not realize this was going to be a triad romance. Since I decided to continue reading after finding that out, I did not deduct any of my rating for that fact. This story was weak for many reasons but here are my top three:

  1. Eli and Tyler take Gail to their penthouse apartment after knowing her for only a few hours. Why is she blindly following two strange guys to their apartment? Irresponsible behavior. She is acting with no common sense at all. At least send a friend or family member a text, “Hey, if I mysteriously disappear, these two blond guys named Eli and Tyler might have disposed of my body somewhere in Seattle.”
  2. They walk in to the apartment and NO TALK before they get physical. Two dragon shifters and one girl. I actually turned from one page to the next twice trying to figure out what happened. It seemed that the story jumped from them walking through the door to them knocking boots.
  3. Tyler asked Gail if she wanted to try a particular position but did not wait for her answer before doing it.
    And I quote, “he would not be denied.” I am all for an alpha male taking charge, but THIS sounds kind of rapey to me.

Should you buy? I do not recommend. The story was choppy as if it was missing chapters. I wanted to read a story but felt like I was playing hopscotch. I know the author can do better because I have read more entertaining books from her (see The Alpha Lion’s Bride) . This one has lots of potential, but the characters need to be stronger and the plot more developed.

To the author: Alyse, I know you can do better than this. If you need a beta writer to help you work through plot holes, I am here for you. My email is amaryllisturman [at] gmail [dot] com. Other authors, this blanket invitation is for Alyse only. Everyone else can check my submission guidelines here.

Book details
Print Length: 55 pages
Publisher: Zaftig Publishing (June 25, 2015)
Publication Date: June 25, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

If after everything, this looks like a book you want to read, click here to buy on Amazon.

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