Tag Archive | young adult

Big Girls Don’t Cry #review #romance

Sep5

Big Girls Don’t Cry  by Mimi Barbour

Synopsis
Remy has a crush on her neighbor Eadan. She decides if she loses weight, she will have a better chance at catching his eye.
When Eadan needs some interior decorating, he asks his neighbor to help with the job. Meanwhile, he decides he needs a frumpy, plain looking girl who will stay loyal and not leave him like his ex-girlfriend did.

Opinion
This story blurb from Amazon did not prepare me for the train wreck of story. And like a train wreck, I could not turn away. As painful as it was, I read it to the end.

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His skinny, hot girlfriend left him. So now he wants a plain Jane, borderline ugly girl who will not attract any attention.
Too shallow?

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Remy is trying to lose weight to catch a man. As an afterthought, there is a lot of emphasis placed on losing weight for her overall health. Mmm hmmm. All I could think was that she is changing herself to try to make herself attractive to another person.

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I do not want to get on my soapbox, but I will say that this story line annoyed me because I do not agree that a person should try to change their physical characteristics in efforts to get another person to fall in love with them.

The only kind of redeeming aspect of this story was the subplot where Remy is trying to help a teenage girl who is being bullied. I call it a redeeming aspect because I could see that happening in real life.

I read other books by Barbour and they were a lot better. Overall, this book’s premise had a lot of potential, but fell short in my opinion. I think if the characters were better developed that might have helped. Plus, I had a strong dislike for Eadan’s shallow attitude. His character needed to be rewritten.

TOW Final Word: Buy, Borrow, Pass?
BORROW. I thought about saying “pass”, but then I think about that one redeeming aspect. If you cannot borrow it, try to buy which it is on sale or part of a compilation. Definitely do not pay more than 99cents for it..

Book details
Series: N/A
Heat Level: 🔥 🔥 🔥
Print Length: 98 pages
Publisher: Sarna Publishing (June 30, 2015)
Publication Date: June 30, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

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Love’s Great Adventure ~~NEW COVERS~~ #KindleUnlimited #romance @theresatroutman

Jan18

 

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🍃 *°•.¸ ¸.•°* 🍃 🍃 *°•.¸ ¸.•°* 🍃 ALL NEW COVERS🍃 *°•.¸ ¸.•°* 🍃 🍃 *°•.¸ ¸.•°* 🍃
The Love’s Great Adventure Series by Theresa Troutman
Cover Design by Anne Berkeley

 

Free to read with Kindle Unlimited!

 

Follow the journey of Sebastian Irons and Tess Hamilton. Sebastian the wealthy playboy finding love in the most unexpected place with a girl who is definitely not his “type.” Tess is the smart, ambitious bookworm who is single minded in achieving her career goal. Sparks fly when these two people from very different backgrounds connect in the most unexpected way.

 

Experience the ups and downs, love and loss, struggle and triumph as they navigate college, marriage and parenthood.

 

An epic romance about finding true love, loyalty, friendship and the ties that bind a family together. This series is the ultimate romance with a happy ending! An emotional roller coaster ride proving soul mates do exist.

 

Genre: Mature YA/NA Romance
(Each book can be read as a stand alone. No cliffhangers!)

 

Life’s What You Make It

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Unruly. Disobedient. Reckless.
I’ve heard it all.
And quite frankly, they’re right.
Which is why I got shipped overseas to “start over.”
And America wasn’t all that great.
Until her…
Tess Hamilton.
She’s pure, sweet, and everything I’m not.
And I’ll try like Hell to be if it means I can have her.
But Tess won’t let me in–won’t give me anything I want.
Now, I have to figure out a way to take down my conniving mother,
Win Tess’ heart,
And make my mark in this place.
 
Piece of cake.

 

 

NOW AVAILABLE IN AUDIO!

 

Love This Life

 

ltlCover.png  “All I want is you.”

 

Tess Hamilton has a ten year plan—every milestone mapped out to reach her educational, career and life goals. Happy to be moving in with her fiancé, Sebastian, she didn’t anticipate a dangerous attraction to another man, a life-changing event, and a terrifying journey of self-discovery. They were definitely not a part of her master plan, and now Tess wonders if any part of her scheme will come to fruition.
Sebastian Irons is getting everything he’s ever wanted out of life. Leaving his playboy image in the past, he’s finally become the better man he longed to be when he left England and came to America. Madly in love with his fiancée and ready to start their life together, everything is seemingly perfect—until a series of unexpected events threatens to tear them apart.
Can Tess and Sebastian survive the curveballs life throws at them? Will their love crash and burn, or will they get their long-awaited happily ever after?

 

 

London Loves
 
“You never know what the future holds.”

 

Tess Hamilton Irons is excited about her new job prospect overseas. Her husband Sebastian has second thoughts. He acquiesces to his wife so she can have her dream job in his hometown of London, a city brimming with excitement and adventure at every turn—not all of it good.
Lady Lily Irons’ menacing persona looms large as Sebastian vows to protect his family at all costs. With the help of an unexpected ally, Sebastian begins a search for the father he never knew.
In a split second, the life they know is blown to bits and Sebastian is forced to pick up the pieces. Can he reclaim the life he loved or is the inevitable change a good thing?
Friendship, love, lust, tragedy, and triumph combine in the thrilling conclusion to the Love’s Great Adventure series.
 
 

US: http://amzn.to/2iXZHXQ

She Will Be Loved

 

swblcover.jpgThree very different girls searching for love.

 

Everyone deserves a happy ending, that’s what Penny Stanton thought. Only her ending was anything but happy after her husband died. Her friends had been an amazing support system over the year following Maxwell’s death, but there was a hole in Penny’s heart she felt would never heal. Can an old flame reignite her passion and make her take a second chance on love?

 

Mattie Irons was rambunctious, charming, and smart. She was the apple of her parents’ eyes until her baby brother was born. Her parents, especially her mother, spent more time cooing over the infant than paying attention to Mattie. Now Mattie is feeling unloved, leaving Sebastian and Tess searching for a way to abate their daughter’s fears.

 

Kate Hamilton has made the move to England to be with her daughter and son-in-law. Her new upper-crust English life style is a long way from middle class suburbia in America. She volunteers at the local children’s hospital and helps Tess raise the children. Yet Sutton castle is a large building and it, along with its butler, are very intimidating. Can she adapt to this new life as her daughter did and find love again?

 

 

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thesesa.jpgTheresa Troutman lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and their crazy dog, Niko. She loves reading, theatre and traveling. Her books include: My Secret Summer, A Special Connection and the Love’s Great Adventure Series: Life’s What You Make It and Love This Life,  London Loves and She Will Be Loved.. Her most recent release is a contemporary second-chance erotic romance called, By My Side.

 

Feel free to contact her on her:
                                                     Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/+TheresaTroutman/posts
wTMO hostedby.jpg

 

 

Down with the shine #review #YAlit #wish

Jan10

Down with the Shine  by Kate Karyus Quinn

4heart

Synopsis
As the story opens, Lennie does not have the best of circumstances. Lennie lives with her almost comatose mother and 3 uncles who sell moonshine. Her father is a con artist, notorious bank robber, and all around bad person. Lennie is not a delinquent, but it seems everyone in authority assumes she is. To make matters worse, she finds out that her best friend was brutally murdered.

Considering her life, she wants to escape and, for once, have some fun. She steals some moonshine from her uncles and goes to a party were all the “cool kids” will be. All night she is giving shots and pretending to grant wishes. After a wild and crazy night, she goes home and passes out drunk.

The next morning, to everyone’s horror, the random, wild, insane wishes of a bunch of drunk teenagers are all coming true. Now it is up to Lennie to learn the rules of wish granting and figure out how to fix this mess without making things worst.

Opinion
I chose this book because of the cover. I love the mason jar visual with the mysterious vapor.

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I have read books with the similar theme of “Be careful what you wish for”. However, none of the previous stories have wishes-gone-wrong to this level.

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I do not usually like first person novels, but made an exception in this case because I was so intrigued by the plot line. In the beginning, I did not like Lennie very much though. I thought I would sympathize with her more because of her circumstances. She seems to be floating through life with no one who cares about her.

Her dad is a sociopathic criminal. Her mom is barely there emotionally for her. And her uncles try to keep her out of trouble but otherwise ignore her. She has an inner dialogue going at all times in which her snarky comes through to the reader. There were some positive aspects to her personality displayed when she talked about her best friend and how Dylan’s death affected her.

All throughout the book, while I thought she made a lot of bad decisions (VERY BAD DECISION MAKING), I could not help to wonder if I could have done any better. She thought her life was one way, only to find out some of the reasons behind what happened and why. She did not have the luxury of enough time to fully examine the pros and cons of what to do. Making quick decisions is not the best and when it can mean life or death, which adds to the pressure even more.

While you have to read the story for yourself to see how everything gets resolved, everything is resolved in a nice a neat way.

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TOW Final Word: Buy, Borrow, Pass?
BUY! This is a quirky, slightly gruesome young adult novel with some dark humor sprinkled in. For me to recommend it, you know it must be something special. I am not usually one to recommend young adult lit.

Book Details
Print Length: 368 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen (April 26, 2016)
Publication Date: April 26, 2016
Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers

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The Prince and the Cyborg: A Space Age #FairyTale #romance

Oct10

The Prince and the Cyborg: A Space Age Fairy Tale (Star-Crossed Tales)

4heart

Synopsis
Celine is a cyborg that has lived her entire life in the Wastelands, where there are dust storms that prevent anyone from being above ground for any length of time. But her dream is to get off of the planet and discover what more there is to life. However, her father thinks that it is for her best interest to deter her curious nature.

Due to bureaucracy governing the city where Ben lives, he decides to venture into the Wastelands to acquire much needed medicine for his friend. Things do not go as planned and he is soon stranded after a crash. Celine comes to his rescue and returns him to the city.

Even though their meeting was brief, each made a lasting impression on the other person and that draws them together despite the odds.

Opinion
FYI: I received this book at no charge in exchange for my honest review

When I first read the title (I did not see the cover), I thought this was going to be a M/M romance. And I almost passed over it (MM romances are not my thing). I am glad that I read the blurb though. After reading what the book was about, I was hooked because there are not many stories out there where the heroine is the CYBORG.

Celine seemed to be delicate but strong at the same time. She was a natural explorer which is one of the main reasons why I think her contact with Ben impacted her so much. She wanted to learn more about him and his world, but her father kept trying to hold her back due to prejudices and misunderstandings.

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Ben was a real maverick to me. He was more in tuned with the people of their city than his father was. At least he used his power and influence to try to make a difference in the lives of their subjects.

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The more I thought about the story, I think it has some aspects that are similar to the Little Mermaid (the Disney version).

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However, the author weaves an interesting story in a way that I felt engaged as the reader. The romance in this book was present but not graphic. The author said “This book contains NO harsh language, explicit violence, or graphic romance scenes”. Even though this adult fiction, it is fine for younger readers if parents are worried about that.

TOW Final Word: Buy, Borrow, Pass?
BUY. This is a sweet romance. I loved the story and the way that it ended.

Book details
Print Length: 191 pages
Series: No (Does not appear to be)
Publication Date: August 26, 2016
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

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Thursday’s Thoughts featuring author K P Smith #YA #NewRelease #NewBeginnings

Aug25

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Welcome to TOW monthly feature call Thursday’s Thoughts. On the last Thursday in the month, I share the thoughts of a featured author in the form of answers to questions I posed to them.

August’s featured author is K P Smith.

An image posted by the author.
How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing since forever. Long before I became an author, I wrote countless words, thoughts and ideas down in notebooks. Journaling was a lifeline for me. It was my therapy and my coping mechanism during the tough times of growing up. Writing is cleansing and therapeutic for me.

I’m an avid reader so I wanted to write a book since I read “Hey God It’s Me Margaret” by Judy Blume. My dream of becoming an author was actualized in 2011.
Who is one author that you would like to collaborate with? 

We have to go to the great beyond. Sidney. Sheldon.That.Is.All.

What has been the best compliment you have received? 

I don’t think I can pick one. But anytime someone tells me something I’ve said or written has helped, inspired or encouraged them always make me feel like I’m doing something useful.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I have two teenage sons that keep me busy. When I do get some time for me, I do have my favorite tv shows I like to watch sitting on my loveseat with my tweepers on Twitter. I also love a good movie and a good book, of course.

Who is K P Smith? She believes everyone is here for a reason. They are here for a purpose. Life is a gift to be enjoyed not endured. We are here to thrive not merely survive. Whether it’s penning My Growing Pains Series or her upcoming non-fiction books, or coaching first time indie authors or helping people with their relationships; she is always discovering new ways to help people live their best lives possible.

The only thing better than watching my favorite shows is watching it with millions of others via twitter!! She is a major tweeter!

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Book Blurb: Kendra’s in high school! New Beginnings abound at home, school and in her relationships. Things are changing at lightning speed.

She’s saying hello and embracing new relationships while at the same time coping with heart breaking good-byes of others.
Patrice convinces her to give an “old friend” another chance. This coupled with an unplanned chain of events catapults Kendra from a place of obscurity to center stage at school. Center stage has her wedged in a long standing school rivalry which will divide and test her loyalties. And threaten her new relationships.
Kendra isn’t the only one embarking on new beginnings.  A health scare creates a new family dynamic but even with a new dynamic it’s the same family drama.  The family tension escalates and bubbles over and with Meme gone Papa is left trying to keep the family intact.
High school brings about “A New Katrina” and Avery and Jamie don’t escape the winds of change blistering through either.
New Beginnings is the next chapter in the Growing Pains Series. Kendra’s journey continues. In Book Two she finds her own place her own voice in her own way.

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