Review: Surviving Adam Meade by: Shannon Klare & LiveandLove10

Title: Surviving Adam Meade

Author: Shannon Klare & Liveandlove10

Publisher: Swoon Reads

Series: Surviving Adam Meade #1

Format:  e-book ( 244 p.) Personal Purchase

Description:

Seventeen-year-old Claire Collins has a plan: get into college and leave North Carolina behind. What she doesn’t have is an idea for how to get rid of the local football star and womanizer extraordinaire — Adam Meade, who she can’t even avoid (despite many efforts), because Claire’s dad is the high school football coach.

Seventeen-year-old Adam Meade never fails. He always gets what he wants… until he meets Claire, the new girl who leaves him unnerved, pissed off, and confused. But there’s something about her that he just can’t resist…

With the bite of lemon meringue pie and the sugar of sweet tea, Surviving Adam Meade is a sexy and compelling young adult novel about two strong-willed people who think they know what they want but have no idea what they need.

My Thoughts: 

Claire Collins is mad at her parents for moving to a new town so her dad can coach another football team she is still upset over her recent break up with her boyfriend Seth and is adamant she won't be liking this new town.  Her dad has made her a manager of the football team which pleases her worse and she is just trying to get through her senior year when she meets Adam Meade and feels drawn to him.

Adam Meade doesn't want a real relationship he's just trying to finish up school and graduate.  When he meets Claire who seems immune to his charm which rattles him.  He finds himself curious about the girl who won't drool over him.  

This book was fun and not your typical relationship neither one is falling all over the other one they are more starting as friends which leads to something more.  I love watching Claire and Adam find their way and learn about each other.  Especially when she has to deal with her ex Seth who seems to have realized finally what he was missing when he kicked her to the curb.

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Review; Robert B. Parker's Lullaby by: Ace Atkins

Title: Robert B. Parker's Lullaby 

Author: Ace Atkins

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons

Series: Spenser #40

Format: Paperback ( 310 p.) Personal Purchase

Description:

When fourteen-year-old Mattie Sullivan asks Spenser to look into her mother’s murder, he’s not completely convinced by her claim that the police investigation four years ago was botched.

Mattie is gruff, street-smart, and wise beyond her years. She's been left to care for her younger siblings and an alcoholic grandmother in a dilapidated apartment in South Boston. But her need for closure and her determination to make things right hit Spenser where he lives - they’re the very characteristics he abides by.

Mattie believes the man convicted of the crime is innocent and points Spenser to the Southie toughs who she saw carrying her mother away hours before her murder. Neither the Boston PD nor the neighborhood thugs are keen on his dredging up the past, but as Spenser becomes more involved in the case, he starts to realize that Mattie may be onto something. Spenser will need Hawk’s help to find peace for Mattie – a job that’s more dangerous than he ever thought.

My Thoughts:

This book follows Spenser whose been hired by teenage angry Mattie to find out what happened to her mom and why someone else is in jail for it.  Spenser pulls in Susan and Hawk to help get to the bottom of what happened to Mattie's mom when she died.  This book leads to some interesting characters being introduced.

I love Spenser books he makes you laugh and has you hoping Spenser and Hawk will figure it out and get justice for Mattie and her sisters and find out the truth of what happened so long ago.  This one led to some nasty thugs and bad FBI agent doing really bad things!

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Review: More Than the Game By: Jenni Bara

 

Title: More Than the Game

Author: Jenni Bara

Publisher: Point Publishing

Format: e-book ARC (263 p.) Xpresso Tours

Description:

Trending on social media is her nightmare.

Beth Evans, former Olympic golden girl, known for a national scandal and daughter of a rising political star, is more than happy to stay out of the spotlight, living life as a normal single mom in a small Jersey town. The last thing Beth needs is Twitter’s favorite bad boy–Marc Demoda–walking into her life to stir things up.

Marc lives for the three b’s; baseball, bars, and ball bunnies, until the unthinkable happened. An accident destroys his shoulder and his career, leaving him desperate to get back in the game. Too bad no one hires notorious bad boys to coach. With his reputation on life support, Marc finds his saving grace might be the feisty blonde he can’t get out of his head.

When pictures of Beth and Marc’s chance encounter blow up on Twitter, they strike a deal to avoid further scandals and fix their image. But even in the harsh public spotlight, their fake relationship begins to feel real. Beth's growing feelings for Marc have her questioning if she can permanently handle the limelight, just as Marc wonders if Beth might mean more than the game.

My Thoughts: 

This book follows former Olympic gold medalist all around good girl Beth Evans whose now a widowed mom taking care of raising kids.  She leads a normal life and doesn't do well with unwanted attention.  But deep down she wants a guy to be there to talk to and she misses what she had with her husband.  Will she ever find love again?

Marc Demoda is an ex-proball player whose injury ended his career.  Now he spends his time chasing girls and drinking.  He's media life is anything but positive and after answering a call to fix a clients dishwasher he comes face to face with Beth Evans and finds himself pulled toward her.  Will Beth be the one thing Marc can't claim?

I was such a fun story to read about Mars and Beth finding their voices and deciding what was really important to them in life.  It was such a fun ride and one I'd love to take again.

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Review: Deadly Ever After by: Eva Gates

Title: Deadly Ever After
Author: Eva Gates
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Series: A Lighthouse Library Mystery #8
Format: e-book ARC (
Source: Publisher

Description:

Librarian Lucy's wedding is at stake when a murder interrupts her engagement celebrations. To make it down the aisle, she'll have to find the killer to save the date in the 8th book in the Lighthouse Library mysteries.

They're getting married! Lucy Richardson and Connor McNeil have announced their engagement. Their friends throw a party for the couple at Coquina Beach, close to Lucy's beloved Bodie Island Lighthouse Library.

As they're packing up the presents and the (few) leftovers from Josie's Cozy Bakery, who should arrive, but Richard Eric Lewiston III, Lucy's former almost-fiancé and his overbearing mother Evangeline. Push comes to love when Evangeline makes no secret of why she's here: to get Lucy and Ricky back together.

Lucy isn't temped in the least, and Ricky is nothing but embarrassed at his mother's desperate ploy. Before returning to Boston Evangeline throws a dinner party at Jake's Seafood Bar for a reluctant Lucy and her family. Lucy hopes to get the dinner over with and see Evangeline and Ricky returning to Boson. But when a body is found at the restaurant's kitchen door, Lucy is again forced to unwillingly put on her detective's hat and do what she can to save her family and her engagement. Meanwhile, the classic novel reading club is reading The Hound of the Baskervilles, and open war breaks out in the Lighthouse Library when Lucy agrees to temporarily take care of a dog named Fluffy, but Charles the library cat has other ideas.

My Thoughts:

Lucy and Connor are having their engagement party with their friends and family when an unexpected arrival comes to cause chaos to the party.  Lucy's ex Richard and his mother Evangeline who is determined to break up Lucy and Connor much to dismay of Lucy's family.  When Richard's father winds up dead it's up to Lucy to figure out what is going on.

This book was fun to see how Lucy will deal with the latest murder.  So much was going on from the first page to the last.  I enjoy reading this book and seeing where the people in town are up to and how it's going to end this time!

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Review: The Ghost and The Haunted Portrait by: Cleo Coyle

Title: The Ghost and The Haunted Portrait

Author: Cleo Coyle

Publisher: Berkley 

Series: Haunted Bookshop Mystery #7

Format: Paperback ( 336 p.) Personal Purchase

Description:

Bookshop owner Penelope Thornton-McClure and her gumshoe ghost team up to solve the stunning mystery at the heart of a madwoman's self-portrait in this all new installment from New York Times bestselling author Cleo Coyle.

While gathering a collection of vintage book cover paintings for a special event in her quaint Rhode Island bookshop, Penelope discovers a spooky portrait of a beautiful woman, one who supposedly went mad, according to town gossip. Seymour, the local mailman, falls in love with the haunting image and buys the picture, refusing to part with it, even as fatal accidents befall those around it. Is the canvas cursed? Or is something more sinister at work?

For answers, Pen turns to an otherworldly source: Jack Shepard, PI. Back in the 1940s, Jack cracked a case of a killer cover artist, and (to Pen's relief) his spirit is willing to help her solve this mystery, even if he and his license did expire decades ago.

My Thoughts: 

This book follows Penelope Thornton-McClure and her friends who are traveling to someone selling alot of classic noir stuff.  Before you know it though the seller winds up dead, the pressure is on in Pen's case to figure out who killed the seller and why?  Seymour also finds himself in ownership of a classic painting of a past McClure.  Who killed and why?

This book has so much going on between traveling back and time with Jack to figure out more about the painting and why it's so mysterious.  Then there is the murder going on around town and whose to blame with it.  

It's a good read and keeps the reader well informed of the ins and outs of the mystery while adding history with Jack to the mix such a fantastic story!

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Review: The Rest of the Story by: Sarah Dessen

Title: The Rest of The Story

Author: Sarah Dessen

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Format: Paperback ( 448 p) Personal Purchase

Description:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah Dessen comes a big-hearted, sweeping novel about a girl who reconnects with a part of her family she hasn’t seen since she was a little girl—and falls in love, all over the course of a magical summer.

Emma Saylor doesn’t remember a lot about her mother, who died when Emma was twelve. But she does remember the stories her mom told her about the big lake that went on forever, with cold, clear water and mossy trees at the edges.

Now it’s just Emma and her dad, and life is good, if a little predictable…until Emma is unexpectedly sent to spend the summer with her mother’s family that she hasn’t seen since she was a little girl.

When Emma arrives at North Lake, she realizes there are actually two very different communities there. Her mother grew up in working class North Lake, while her dad spent summers in the wealthier Lake North resort. The more time Emma spends there, the more it starts to feel like she is also divided into two people. To her father, she is Emma. But to her new family, she is Saylor, the name her mother always called her.

Then there’s Roo, the boy who was her very best friend when she was little. Roo holds the key to her family’s history, and slowly, he helps her put the pieces together about her past. It’s hard not to get caught up in the magic of North Lake—and Saylor finds herself falling under Roo’s spell as well.

For Saylor, it’s like a whole new world is opening up to her. But when it’s time to go back home, which side of her—Emma or Saylor—will win out? 

My Thoughts: 

Emma Saylor has very few memories of her mom who died when she was young.  Her dad is now remarried and finds herself with her grandmother on her moms side while his dad is on his honeymoon.  She learns alot about her mom's life during this adventure.  North Lake is nothing like Emma is prepared for and she spends her time switching her name back and forth Saylor vs Emma.

This was a great summer read.  You walk next to Emma and see how she deals with all this family she knew nothing about.  Family she seems very capable of adapting too.  But buried deep are the secrets between Emma's mom and another local boy and what happened that one summer.

Definitely a great summer read for teens as they prepare for college.  You find yourself pulled into Emma's world and can't wait to see how it ends!

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Review: Secrets in Death by: J. D. Robb

Title: Secrets in Death

Author: J. D. Robb

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Series: In Death #45

Format: Hardcover (370 p.) Personal Purchase

Description:

The chic Manhattan nightspot Du Vin is not the kind of place Eve Dallas would usually patronize, and it’s not the kind of bar where a lot of blood gets spilled. But that’s exactly what happens one cold February evening.

The mortally wounded woman is Larinda Mars, a self-described “social information reporter,” or as most people would call it, a professional gossip. As it turns out, she was keeping the most shocking stories quiet, for profitable use in her side business as a blackmailer. Setting her sights on rich, prominent marks, she’d find out what they most wanted to keep hidden and then bleed them dry. Now someone’s done the same to her, literally—with a knife to the brachial artery.

Eve didn’t like Larinda Mars. But she likes murder even less. To find justice for this victim, she’ll have to plunge into the dirty little secrets of all the people Larinda Mars victimized herself. But along the way, she may be exposed to some information she really didn’t want to know… 

My Thoughts: 

Det. Eve Dallas finds herself at Du Vin meeting with someone else when she finds Larinda Mars dying in front of her.  Eve doesn't really know Larinda but apparently Larinda had her mitts into everyone else's business Eve and Roarke being in her sights, but unable to touch them.  Larinda's job was a gossip reporter but she seemed to have a very sneaky side job.

As Eve and Roarke and others investigate into Larinda they find more disturbing information on her Larinda is not what she seems.  She had been digging deep for secrets people try to keep quiet then exploit the secrets.  Is this what killed her?  Did she upset the wrong person or was it someone related to her past?

I love this series it's so great and fun to see what Eve is up to.  Also to catch up with Eve, Peabody, Roarke, and all the other people we see in this series, and to see how far her friends will go to protect her.

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Review: Night Pleasures by: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Title: Night Pleasures

Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Series: Dark Hunters #`

Format: e-book ( 309 p.) Personal Purchase

Description:

See how it all began…

Have you ever wanted to know what it’s like to be immortal? To journey through the night stalking the evil that preys on humans? To have unlimited wealth, unlimited power?

That is my existence, and it is dark and dangerous. I play hero to thousands, but am known to none. And I love every minute of it.

Or so I thought until one night when I woke up handcuffed to my worst nightmare: an accountant. She’s smart, sexy, witty, and wants nothing to do with the paranormal.

My attraction to Amanda Devereaux goes against everything I stand for. Not to mention the last time I fell in love it cost me not only my human life, but also my very soul. Now I find myself wanting to believe that love and loyalty do exist.

Even more disturbing, I find myself wondering if there’s any way a woman can love a man whose battle scars run deep, and whose heart was damaged by a betrayal so savage that he’s not sure it will ever beat again.

Kyrian of Thrace

My Thoughts: 

If you have read the chronicles of Nick then you somewhat know of Kyrian of Thrace.  You know this as the guy who hired Nick to work for him.  Well in this book you learn about Dark Hunters how they came to be and you learn about Kyrian what horrors he had been through about his bad love affair and how it all fell apart and how he finally found love.

Amanda was a pure girl who is also a sorceress and has yet to tap into her powers.  After recently breaking up with her boyfriend who was dull as dirt.  She found herself handcuffed to a Dark Hunter who stirred something in her she didn't know was there.

Dark Hunters aren't allowed to love.  but the connection between Amanda and Kyrian is so much when danger approaches Amanda has a choose to do something she didn't think possible to save Kyrian will she choose to help him or not?

I love Dark Hunters and I also loved this book also featured sarcastic Nick and all his young glory.  I loved watching the relationship bloom between Kyrian and Amanda and see where it led to such a fabulous story and lots of action as well!

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