Tag Archive | kindle

Free books can be a crap shoot

Free Books may be a good read or a waste of time

Here are three books that I got for free and had three different reactions. Just because a book is free does not mean it is going to be cheesy, but it is definitely a chance. I have found that some books are free for the author to introduce you to their characters and sample their writing style. Other books are free because the author just decided to publish a book. They might not have edited their book or have a decent story line. But at least they can say that they have published a book!

GOOD (not really to me but you might like it): Love Me (Contemporary Romance) (Take Me) – Bella Andre

When I read this, I was not very impressed with the story. The romance seemed too contrived and I did not find the characters likable. I know that I am the first to admit that romance novels should be viewed as “contemporary fairy tales”, but even with that being said, I still cannot figure out how these characters found love. The emphasis of a romance novel should be on the fact that the characters are able to fall in love or profess their love for one another. In this book, it seems that there was too much lust confused with love. Maybe if the author developed the characters some more, it would be involve the reader more emotionally in order to understand how the characters fall in love with each other.

BETTER: The St James Sisters – Leen Elle (downloaded from Smashwords not Amazon)

There are too many sisters and not enough time to develop the story for each one of them. This book would have you believe that if a young girl spends a considerable time with any one guy, they will fall for each other. And they will be so in love that they will be willing to overcome all odds to be together.

When I chose this book, I thought the story was going to focus on one sister’s story. As you probably know from my post about Dakota Home, I don’t like it when an author tries to cram too many stories into one book.

The book was mediocre to me, but not terrible. If you are looking for something for free, check it out.

BEST: The Billionaire Wins the Game (Billionaire Bachelors – Book One)– Melody Anne

When it comes to romance novels, it is always great when there is limitless amounts of money involved. That being said, this was a sweet story even if it followed a very predictable storyline.

Super rich man and his secretary fall for each other. Sparks are ignited, but her insecurities make her think that he would not seriously consider loving her. Plus, she feels that this is a good job and she does not want mess it up by sleeping with her boss. She could put behind her the fact that she had one indiscretion, if it was not for the fact that she got pregnant. That led to a whole another set of problems. He is the consummate bachelor but knows how to face up to his responsibility. Each person had to confront their reservations about what will make the relationship work. In the end, I was rooting for both of them.

This story was fun and the characters provided me with some laugh-out-loud moments.

I am going to find the rest of Melody Anne’s books and read them. I loved this story so much. I have re-read parts of it just when I wanted to feel warm and fuzzy.

The title should be “Convincing Clay to learn how to trust”

Aug15

Hailey Lambert needs a job so she can settle down. She does not know what she is getting into when she goes to the job interview for the business manager position at Clay Cardell’s ranch. Her mouthiness gets the best of her on more than one occasion, but that is not necessarily a bad thing considering Clay Cardell orneriness.

Clay does a good job trying to keep up his guard around Hailey because he has learned from experience that the people who are supposed to love you most often leave with a great deal of hurt and pain. Plus most women have an agenda to get what they want. Once the get it, they are done. No matter what Hailey did, he had to be put it all into context since she was foremost a woman.

As the reader finds out, the book gives some of the history that made Clay into the sad, lonely person he is the way he is. Constant emotional abuse is bound to leave lasting scars. Trouble is that those scars make it difficult for the person coming with true love to be accepted. So many times when Hailey would make progress, something would happen to plant another seed of doubt in Clay’s mind and have him questioning her motives all over again.

This story is about trust, patience, and the ability of love to heal invisible wounds. These are two imperfect, dysfunctional people who have enough in common with their core beliefs to make the relationship work. In the end, it is good for the both of them that Hailey did not give up on Clay because that would have made them both miserable. They were two of kind that were meant to be together.

That being said, this book is SUPER long. I read on my Kindle so I have no concept of book lengths these days. When I read a regular book, I average 100 pages a hour. I don’t know if that is speed reading but that is my average. When I started reading, Amazon said this book is about 400 pages. So I am thinking this would be about 4 hours of reading time. I ended up finishing 6+ hours later so I would estimate that the page count would be close to 600 pages. Unfortunately for me, I was reading this book on a work night and by the time the book got really interesting I should have been going to bed. It has always been hard for me to put a book down so close to the end, so I kept reading until I finished (late nights and early morning don’t mix well). So keep this in mind! It is best to read this on a Saturday afternoon if you are like me and want to read the whole book in one sitting.

If you like Western romances, I suggest reserving the afternoon to read Taming Clay

***Additional side note*** there are quite a few f-b0mbs in this book, if strong language offends you. These are cowboys and cowgirls whose language can be coarse. Not everything will be “Aw shucks” and “Darn it”

He is a cutie in a coma

Aug6

Sleeping Handsome – Jean Haus

This the story of a young, rich girl (Paige) with so many insecurities regarding her social status that she uses her money to keep fake friends. But when her supposed friend throws her under the bus metaphorically for cheating at school, she is forced to deal with the duplicitous nature of her friend.

As part of her punishment, she has to read to a young boy who is in a coma. This task becomes more interesting when she finds his journal.His journal of unfettered thoughts provide a window into his view of life and the issues that affect him.

Her conversation with him, through responses to his journal entries, is equally uncensored because he cannot hear her since he is in a coma. While the reading is thought to be therapeutic for him because it stimulates his brain activity, it helps her to develop and mature emotionally to have healthier relationships with the people who are most important in her life.

The story was short and sweet. I liked the way that it ended. This is a good read for a young adult because it emphasizes the importance of being true to oneself. Only then will a person be able to be happy.

Dakota Home was sweet but confusing

Jul31

Dakota Home – Debbie Macomber

The main story centers around Maddy and Jeb. Years before they met, Jeb, a buffalo farmer, suffered an accident from which his body is not completely healed. Because of that, he is anti-social. His sister usually takes him his groceries but at times “forgets” items to get him out of the house and into town. On one of these trips into town he meets Maddy, new owner of the grocery store. Maddy is adapting to small town and becoming an active member of the community.
Maddy and Jeb are attracted to each other, but of course as goes in many romance novels, the man’s pride keeps him to fully embracing and accepting the fact that he is falling for this woman. But then something happens that snaps him out of his feelings of melancholy. So leaving his pride behind, he goes after the woman he loves. And it is happy ever after for both of them.

This was the first book by Debbie Macomber that I have read. I do not know if this is her style to have the novel focus on two characters but also dwell on the stories of some of the secondary characters at the same time. I do not know how I feel about so many mini stories in addition to the one main love story in one book. It seems that the mini stories were distracting because they were not fully developed. Even though all the people lived in the same town, jumping from couple to couple was like trying to watch multiple shows on television at the same time.

I like for the book to focus completely on one couple and their journey to find love. Other couples can be mentioned in the book, but only in passing without too much of their story. Then when the sequel focuses on another couple, I will have some name recognition and background information as the foundation for their story. The multiple story method got a little confusing. I was tried to keep the different couples separate but it was no use. I focused on Maddy and Jeb and disregarded the rest.

Click Dakota Home to buy your copy and let me know what you think

This wary widow gives me mixed emotions

Jul30

The Wary Widow – Jerrica Knight-Catania

Chloe is a widow in London to be with her cousin’s Elizabeth “Lizzie” acting in the capacity chaperone. Lizzie is engaged to Andrew. But things to do not turn out as expected, when sparks fly between Chloe and Andrew. Chloe is in a situation where her heart and mind are waging war because she knows that whatever she chooses, there will be definitely casualties.

I do not usually enjoy stories where one person is already in a relationship at the beginning of the story. I know it should make me feel better to know that two people married for love instead of settling for a lackluster mediocre union. I was also annoyed at what all it took for Andrew to finally decide on an socially acceptable way to marry Chloe. I think he was playing with fire by indulging his desires to be with Chloe before he had things totally worked out with her cousin. He should have thought about the implications of his actions.

If I am reading a story where there is some sort of love triangle, I like it better knowing that the person who is cast aside so the two main characters can follow their heart is a very unlikable character. In this case, I felt sorry for Lizzie. She was an unsuspecting victim in this situation who ended up with hurt feelings. Although in time she will see that everything happened was for the best, she has a lot of feelings of hurt and betrayal to deal with first.

That was the only negative of the story for me. I thought Chloe was a sweet girl who deserved to find someone special since she lost her husband. Her and Andrew’s romance might not have started in the best way, but I think that they could possibly have a stronger relationship because of all that they went through to be together.

I realize that I am talking about these characters as if they are real people. I think that says something about the author’s ability to weave a story that seems so real that the reader is at the point of emotional involvement.

Check out the book for yourself and let me know what you think – The Wary Widow: The Wetherby Brides, Book 3