Harisa
Wow, I am hooked. Loved it. Fast paced and enticing, with some oh-so-cute moments. I REALLY felt the personality in the characters and I really hope each hero/heroine has their own distinct personalities bc I know that's a issue with a huge series.
I would go back to the first of the body guard series since they're connected and I had a hard time understanding some of the beginning but it's not available at the library so oh well!
The shape of my heart right now is broken as I am realizing that I am giving this a 2 star rating. Noted, I have a bias against self help books and the ~Power of Positive Thinking~ so I was not impressed with the self help part of the book. I am a fan of Nick Carter, BSB, and the stories he included in the book though. I wish it would be more that and less Positive Thinking.
Hard 2.5 but the epilogue made me round up for goodreads. That was good. I had a hard time getting into this, and did not get sucked into the twist because I saw it coming like page 1. But, this was a quick read just a little frustrating at times and even got boring for me :/. Had a hard time finding what the point was.
Hannah's character development was definitely cool to see and the I thoroughly enjoyed seeing her teenage self, that was fun. Stefan too was precious.
Edit 03/25/2019: Counting this as my South Africa Book around the World.
After reading a lot of books that left me disappointed, this was so refreshing.
As someone who reads a lot of celebrity memoirs (and I mean...A LOT), I thought I knew what to expect. Usually, it is a series of essays relying how they became the star they are now mixed with some humor in there. But this was different. I learned so much from this book, and would encourage anyone to read it as well (whether you know who Trevor Noah is or not). It had the self-depricating stories (like his failures with romance), and also included how he learned comedy but in ALL of the essays I learned something. I learned about South Africa, language/linguistics, community, and parenting.
The last couple lines in this book left me teary. Beautiful memoir, nice surprise.
Beautiful writing. This man is truly a poet. Great to dip into magical realism again, this makes me want into an Isabel Allende rabbit hole.
However, I like plot. I like some kind of growth in a novel and this was very very ambiguous. I don't typically read novels just for the beauty of the writing/words which is why this book is 3 stars. Writing style? 5/5. But the plot, although also possessing its own beauty, just didn't have enough of a true resolution for me.
I have been WAITING to read this book and the reviews are AWESOME. But NOPE. This was sooo boring and the resolution was so eye roll worthy I couldn't even handle it.
The main character is not very admirable and everything was wrapped up in a bow for her in the end with no work or communication from her even though all of the “drama” was caused by lack of communication from her.
Update: I still love Fox. Still my favorite. He's just so...steady, and calm. What a stand up guy.
Also, I laughed a lot more at this book. I think it's because Gage was in the entire book this time and his one liners are always great. Again, great friendship dynamic. I enjoy this trilogy so much and am SO glad I'm rereading it. Great choice.
book currently FREE on amazon
Very solid book. Great world building, great character development, and very lovable characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this and enjoyed the ride. As if I don't get enough reality tv in my tv shows I have found them in my books now and I couldn't be happier.
One star off for a bit of too cheesy for me moments but most moments were sweet :).
Also–I understand that the series is about he brothers but like can Kevin get his own book because he was AWESOME.
This was okay. It took me way too long to finish for what it is. The premise was good, the characters were fine, and I have to give the author props for creating strong, intelligent female characters. That's awesome. Also props for the criminal justice rehabilitation narrative thrown in there as well, I appreciate that especially in an historical novel.
However, for whatever reason this just didn't pull me in. The pace was extremely slow and I was often bored. I had no real desire to continue reading this except to take it off my “currently reading” shelf once in for all and I'm not a quitter.
Wow, this captivated me. Completely captured me. It wasn't perfect but I'm giving it 5 stars because it's the first book in a long time that completely pulled me into the story. This was quite a coming of age novel, touched on issues of race and prejudice, sexual assault, crushes, and friendship.
Not all of the characters were well developed (who even is Jeremy? I don't really know him after this book still) but the characters of her Muslim community were well done and the picture was painted really well. I loved this.
I read this after listening to reality steve's podcast interview of Kelly Travis (one of Andi's close friends). Shoutout to reality Steve and his podcast. Hardcore recommend.
This book was...good, at times. I like Andi, I like who she is and although there we don't seem to have much in common besides sassy/assertive personalities and law school I didn't find this book annoying.
The only thing is it read as part memoir part actual novel. It would've been better for her to pick a lane. I'll probably read her new book though not gonna lie. She made me care about her and I appreciated that she included the inspiration for the book in this: a realistic self help post breakup novel.
Boring. It started out really strong but I actually think the romance took away from the story. It felt randomally thrown in and awkward. I think this would have been a lot better without that.
I do like who they made the villain though. I saw the twist coming but was still glad it happened because it was the best idea. So the last like 5% was well done but it was a lot of boring in between. Will not be reading any more from this author.
Honestly, 0/10. No redeeming qualities.
This is not a romance, this is a psychological thriller with a really depressing ending. This screwed me up. There was nothing romantic from this. Just threats, emotional and verbal abuse, scare-tacts, and A LOT of manipulation. He did try to disguise the threats as him being “sarcastic” but like when you just meet someone you don't threaten them to mess with them and then tell them “wow I would never hurt you I can't believe you believed me.”
This hurt to read, and I suggest that you read the other one start reviews as well because they all capture what I'm trying to say. I kept hoping for the ending to get better but it really didn't. His “grand gesture” fell WAY short for me and I rolled my eyes and uttered a sound in disgust throughout all of it.
Also, the plotline with the animals was SO weird. If anything, it just goes to show how deeply messed up this girl is. I'm disturbed by this entire relationship. Felt sick reading this at points and it never got better.
Also, to keep it spoiler-free....I'll just leave it at this: The “secret” and his “past” was an ATROCITY TO EVERYTHING I STAND FOR. HOW DAREEEEEE THE AUTHOR GO THERE. HOW DAREEEE SHE. THE ROMANOVS DESERVE BETTER!!!!!!!! .
Not strong.
Full review:
So, I thought about this a fairly long time. It followed the premises of the other books a lot, so why did I dislike it so much? Well, the characters were indistinguishable as individuals. Secondly the “conflict” was about the same as the “conflict” in the first book, just with a daughter thrown in. Weird. I thought the characters, upon their creation, had the potential to be great. Pippa, Eric, and Julie all started with strong voices that I wanted to hear more from them but then the story unraveled to just a regular romance novel with the Mary Sue character and the typical “alpha hunk” lead. To put it simply: boring.
I got my start on romance novels YEARS ago through Nora Roberts. One thing she does right is that when she creates a series based on brothers, friends, sisters, etc. they all have DISTINCLY different personalities that effect the way they interact with their romantic partners (shoutout to Blood Brothers–Fox, Gage, and whats his name–might reread actually now that I'm thinking about it. In this series you had the serious quiet one, the pretty boy, and the rough around the edges one).
Not only did Eric's personality meld into a mix of every-other-hero-in-romance-novel but he also melded into Sebastian/Logan. I'm ranting, so I'm going to wrap this up soon but I will give you some examples.
-The “spoiling” of the romantic partner (how is it done? foot massages, favorite breakfast pastries delivered—hi Nadine and logan oh jk this isn't them?? oh–this author really couldn't think of another method??)
-The overly protective thing (again, how is it done? driving/picking the girl up from the club etc.)
-Apologizing combined with a proposal (do not recommend for real life, ladies, do not do that).
I don't know, sometimes when I read too many romance novels back to back I just get disturbed that women are writing these things for other women. A proposal right after a fight is NOT what you should expect NOR desire. I will say, though, that I really enjoyed the first two books and would probably recommend them but only because the characters were so strong and memorable. Really dropped the ball on this one.