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Completed #atozchallenge @AprilAtoZ #reflections

Jun26

I decided to participate in the A-to-Z challenge last April 2017 as a way to challenge myself to post more frequently. As expected, I was DRAINED!!!  So much so, this reflections post is about 2 months late. It was definitely a challenge this past month to get my posts done (almost the whole alphabet).

The hosts of this challenge decided this year that bloggers should post the link of their posts daily instead of a signing up at the beginning of the month. Because of this, I missed a lot of traffic that I had the last time I participated. Since this is a hobby, I prioritized going to my job that pays the bills and taking care of my grandmother over posting my links. Any who.

My theme was ROMANCE AUTHOR NAMES.

Click on any letter to see the corresponding post .

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

As you can see, some letters are missing. It is what it is.

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-Letter Z– Werebear Hero’s Nurse @AprilAtoZ #atozchallenge #bearshifter #IRromance

Apr30

Alyse Zaftig – Werebear Hero’s Nurse

Z is for Zaftig

Werebear Hero’s Nurse

3heart

Synopsis
Shane is in the military and is discharged after he loses a foot. He needs a nurse to help him while he recuperates. He is also a bear shifter.

Alicia is the nurse who is helping him. She works as a home health nurse.

Opinion
First of all, the story was short.
It can be summed up as this: boy meets girl. Girl is a nurse and takes care of him. Boy fires girl so that he can date her. they live happily ever after.
There is a little bit more to the story than that summation, but that is pretty much it in a nutshell. because of that, there is not a lot to the story that is outstanding to me.
I thought the story was cute because of how Shane tried to win Alicia over. I did think that the story went too quickly. A lot was glossed over that I think could have helped develop the characters to the story.
Because Shane was a werebear, he had super fast healing. That was the only reason that him being a shifter added to the story. Other than that detail, this could have just been another interracial romance.

TOW Final Word: Buy, Borrow, Pass?
BORROW. The story was good but too short for me.

Book details
Print length: 256 pages (I dont think thats right though- story was short)
Series: None
Heat Level: 🔥 🔥 🔥

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-Letter X– Across the Tracks @AprilAtoZ #atozchallenge #IRromance #BWWM

Apr28

X is for Xyla (Xyla Turner)

Across the Tracks

4heart

Synopsis
Lisa and Rich had a negative racial experience with each other as children. While Rich did not give it another thought, it helped to form Lisa into who she is and the career choices she decided to make as an adult.

When Lisa and Rich meet as adults, there is an intense attraction. They have to decide if they will act on it and how it will impact their lives.

Opinion
I loved this book like I have not loved another IRR (interracial romance)!!! This story was REAL and focused on how true love can conquer everything. I think a lot of IRR gloss over the negative aspects an interracial couple has to face. There are the sideways racist comments and people that will try to sabotage the relationship for no other reason than they do not want to see the mixed couple together.

Rich probably had the most development to make in the course of the book. He was a product of his environment because his father was so prejudiced. I know men like Rich that have racist families but they do not let that define who they decide to love.

Lisa might not have been overtly racists, but she had her own internal issues that she had to come to terms with and decide what was most important to her.

TOW Final Word: Buy, Borrow, Pass?
I say BUY especially if you are a fan of IRR. This is a story like no other.

Book details
Print Length: 167 pages
Heat Level: 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥
Series: None

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-Letter W – Never Kiss a Stranger @AprilAtoZ #atozchallenge #stepsiblingromance

Apr27

W is for Winter (Winter Renshaw)

Never Kiss a Stranger (Never Say Never)


Synopsis
Addison and Wilder meet using a dating app (similar to Tinder) and agree to one night. No questions asked. No last names.

The next day, Wilder decides that he has not had enough of Addison and they keep hooking up.

Then, they find out their parents are getting married and they will be step-siblings.

Opinion
When I read the book blurb, I imagined the characters differently. While I appreciated the explosive between-the-sheets chemistry, that is not enough to base an entire relationship.

I thought that Wilder seemed immature. He was too much of a dominating alpha male and super needy at the same time.

Image result for how is that possible meme
Even with that, I was planning on rating the story 3 hearts ♥♥♥.

THEN, the whole plotline where their parents were getting married emerged. Up until now, I was only slightly annoyed with Wilder’s erratic emo tendencies.

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Addison and her sister freak out as if being step-siblings would make them appear to be hillbilly. Ridiculous!

By this time, she is in love with Wilder.

She is going to throw it all way FOR WHAT?

Nothing that made sense to me. Hence the story lost another heart ♥.

Step-sibling romances are not taboo if they did not live/grow up together. They met as ADULTS! It was not that serious. A good PR person could have been able to spin any possible fallout if there had been negative publicity.

TOW Final Word: Buy, Borrow, Pass?
BORROW. The story is okay, but the attempt at conflict was overly dramatic and fell short of its intended purpose in my opinion.

Book details
Print length: 274 page
Series: Never Series Book 1
Heat Level: 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥

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-Letter T- The Red Scot #swirlromance #IRromance @aprilAtoZ #atozchallenge

Apr24

T is for Turner (Twyla Turner)

The Red Scot (A Curvy Girls Club Novel #1)

4heart

Synopsis
When Payton comes into Bradyn’s gym, she might not like all the fact that there are so many big muscular men there but she has been assured it is a safe space for her to work out. Payton has been dealing with the aftereffects to a trauma that happened in college. Years later, she still has panic attacks and is generally skittish and wary of men in general.

Bradyn is a heavyweight MMA fighter who owns a gym. While he might be a beast in the ring, he is tongue-tied when it comes to trying to speak to women. This is doubly true when the woman in question is the most beautiful woman he has seen. However, every time he tries to talk to Payton, it seems that he scares her.

Thankfully, Payton’s three best friends are there to help along the relationship and give Bradyn the encouragement he needs to break down Payton’s walls and win her heart.

Opinion
I bought this book based on the review from Coco of My Reading Nook 
I don’t think I have read another book where the heroine was so fearful of the hero because of his physique. Given what Payton experienced, I can understand. It was at a very impressionable time in her life that everything happened. Besides her issues with muscular men, Payton was strong, opinionated and usually told it like it was.

I LOVED LOVED Bradyn. When she first walked into his gym, it was a wrap. He was down for the count. LITERALLY. When he worked up the nerve to talk to Payton, he was too cute, stumbling over his words because he was too nervous when trying to speak to her. Never mind the fact that when he would frown at his internal dialogue, Payton was misinterpreting it.

Image result for misunderstood gif

Because of their respective communication issues, I am glad that Payton’s friends were perceptive enough to help them along. It was not that Payton was giving him mixed signals. She was giving no signal at all. However, they could see that there was a lot of potential if she would open up and give him a chance.

I loved her friends so much, I had friend envy. I especially liked the fact that they could call each other out on whatever they had issues with because nothing was off limits. I wish I lived closer to my besties so that we could go to lunch every weekend and talk about everything under the sun.

When Bradyn and Payton finally come together, I was cheering for both of them. Oh yea, he knew what he was doing. What Payton did not have in experience, she made up for it in enthusiasm.

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I do agree with other reviews that the villain/conflict was predictable. That was fine with me because all I really cared about was Bradyn and Payton getting their HEA. And the epilogue…BE STILL MY BEATING HEART. Because I am geeky girl too, it touched a special place in my heart. I loved it that much.

TOW Final Word: Buy, Borrow, Pass?
BUY. I believe this entire series will be a BUY for me and I am very excited.

Book details
Series: A Curvy Girls Club Novel
Heat Level: 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 (it was slow getting started though)
Print Length: 269 pages
Publisher: Novels with Curves (November 18, 2016)
Publication Date: November 18, 2016

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