Book review: Before I Let Go, by Kennedy Ryan

“It stings a little, that the ease we used to share is gone. It’s one of the things we never recovered from the most painful season of our lives.”

I started hurting as soon as I started reading this book.  And the hurt and the need to cry didn’t lessen as I continued reading.  I had a knot in my throat and a hurt in my heart, a need to cry because it was just so damn sad.  Two souls who love each other to the moon and back lost their way, and you can tell they still love each other with their whole hearts and soul, and yet, don’t know or can’t find the way to each other.  

“Two shipwrecked souls unable to figure out how to save each other. Both sinking.”

I saw how each of them attempted to move on, to forgive and forget, but it was just impossible.  It felt like there was a thread that kept them together, that couldn’t be broken, no matter how each tried to break free.  I was anguished as I kept reading how they accepted that the other had other interests, how they faked unconcern while they were burning with rage and jealousy inside.  

“There is only one letter of difference between love and lose, and somewhere along the way, for me they became synonymous.”

I saw Yasmen’s guilt and Josiah’s distrust, and then I was the one who despaired that this wonderful couple who had formed such a beautiful family and a beautiful life, could let all this perfection go.  This story really wrung my heart dry, luckily my despair turned into hope midway through the book and then I was wanting to slap both silly to get their move on!

“Our life, our love, didn’t follow the path we thought it would, but that makes it no less true.”

Not only was this a beautiful love story, but the writing was so sublime.  There were so many phrases full of poetry and so fulfilling.  It was a delight and a treat to read such beautiful prose! An honor indeed!

Purchase links

US: https://bit.ly/3VbZi2f

UK/Commonwealth:  https://bit.ly/3hKC8T6

AU:  https://bit.ly/3BR7RIR

About the author

A RITA® and Audie® Award winner, USA Today bestselling author Kennedy Ryan writes for women from all walks of life, empowering them and placing them firmly at the center of each story and in charge of their own destinies. Her heroes respect, cherish, and lose their minds for the women who capture their hearts. Kennedy and her writings have been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, TIME, O magazine, and many others. She is a wife to her lifetime lover and mother to an extraordinary son.

 
Connect with Kennedy

Website: https://kennedyryanwrites.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7429243.Kennedy_Ryan
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Kennedy-Ryan/author/B00HBHK09Q
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KennedyRyanAuthor
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Text KennedyRyan to (678) 647-7912

 

Book review: The Wrong Bride, by Catharina Maura

I love reading love triangles, particularly when there are two women vying for the love of one man.  I love it when the better woman gets the man, especially if it was a hard battle.  This book was just like that.  I had an overdose of angst reading this book, so I was in book heaven!

Raven and Hannah are sisters, Raven is a world famous model, Hannah is a movie actress.  Their parents negotiated an arranged marriage between Raven and Ares Windsor, owner of Windsor Media.  Later, the engagement changed from Raven to Hannah and Raven had to live many years loving Ares and having to watch him being with her sister.

Raven is all that is kind and generous, but her parents don’t give her the appreciation she deserves.  All the attention is given to Hannah, the golden child.  And when Hannah leaves Ares days before the wedding, Raven is forced to take her place.  

We suffer with Raven through her agonizing insecurities, feeling unwanted, unloved and a failure.  Still, she’s decided to win her husband’s love!  And luckily, for the first time in years, Ares finds himself happier than he’s ever been.  Until the witch returns and attempts to undo all that has been done.  

Hannah comes again and again, trying to wreck her sister’s marriage.  It was a very angsty and turbulent ride and I loved reading it.  It got to a moment when I was feeling that it was too much, but the final resolution was worth all the suffering.  Ares was like the typical man caught between two women, he wanted to make his bride happy but he also didn’t want to hurt his ex.  We knew he had to get a clue that it was impossible and he had to man up. 

I loved the secondary characters who gave Raven the support and love of family that she didn’t get from her own family.  I was specially intrigued by Silas and Alanna Sinclair, so will get to their story after this.  If you like a lot of melodrama, this is your book!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Purchase links

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3K0f7Fg

Amazon Worldwide: https://mybook.to/wrongbride

 

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3MaCFsf

Free in Kindle Unlimited

About the author

Catharina Maura writes deliciously angsty romance that’ll give you all the feels. You’ll usually find her daydreaming about the characters that waltz through her thoughts, begging for a happily ever after.

 

Connect with Catharina

Facebook: https://bit.ly/3LTc5Cb

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3wQWdfd

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3LRH7tW

BookBub: https://bit.ly/3sVGtVK

Join her Facebook Group, Cat’s Inner Circle: https://bit.ly/3NEzto9

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Book review: Hard Pass, by Brenda Rothert & Kat Mizera

St Louis Mavericks #3

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This has been a fantastic read! Incredibly entertaining, super delicious and lighthearted, I had such a great time reading this!

Brenda Rothert and Kat Mizera created a great set of characters around the St. Louis Mavericks, combining the zeal of the game and great personal stories, full of steam, charm, and most of all, heart.  The initial trope of a mistaken phone call that turned Sariah and Nash into texting buddies, and keeping Sariah in the dark about who Nash really is, was brilliant.  I cracked up when Sariah was having her first day at the sales department of the Mavericks organization and Nash shows up unexpectedly.  The poor guy was gobsmacked!

I loved reading this well-developed story that is chock full of family drama, team drama, love and death and cheating.  The authors treat all the themes in a very human and respectful manner, many issues are presented and all are dealt with compassion and empathy.  The drama is not heavy although there were a few moments I cried, it was so heartfelt.

I loved the characters Sariah and Nash.  Sariah was gorgeous, of Middle Eastern descent, she and her sisters were previous pageant queens;  Nash was a blond blue-eyed athlete and was also famous for an underwear ad.  So both characters had healthy egos and wonderful personalities, friendly and helpful.  Nash is a prankster and he was hard on the new team rookie.  His pranks were funny and wicked.  I loved that although he had all the attributes to be a conceited jock, he was a decent man, kind and warm.

Overall, this was a fantastic and entertaining read, I didn’t want to put down the book, it was so good!

Purchase links

https://amzn.to/3WLl5iE

About the authors

Brenda Rothert was a print journalist for nine years. She made the jump from fact to fiction in 2013 and never looked back. From hot hockey romance to steamy romantic suspense, Brenda creates fresh characters in every story she tells. She's a lover of Diet Coke, lazy weekends and happily ever afters.

For all the latest on Brenda and her books, join her Facebook reader group, Rothert's Readers.

USA Today Bestselling author Kat Mizera is a South Florida native. Born in Miami Beach with a healthy dose of wanderlust, she's called Los Angeles, Long Island, upstate New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Atlanta home. She's never been able to pick which locale is her favorite, but if pressed, she'd probably choose the west coast.

Kat's a typical PTA mom with a wonderful and supportive husband (Kevin) and two amazing boys (Nick and Max). When she's not writing, she's either scrapbooking or indulging in her second love (after writing) - traveling. Greece is one of her favorite places in the world. She loves that Athens is a big city with a small-town feel. The food, beaches and culture keep her going back as often as possible. She hopes to retire there one day so she can spend her days writing books on the beach.

As you can guess from her series, the Las Vegas Sidewinders, Kat loves hockey. She is also a freelance hockey writer, covering her favorite team, the Florida Panthers, and any other teams that have an interesting story. The rest of the time, she writes novels: sexy, romantic fiction that she hopes makes you as happy as it makes her. There's something enticing about hockey players and romance...

Book review: Hard Luck, by Brenda Rothert & Kat Mizera

St. Louis Mavericks #4

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It’s always a great read with these two authors and the Mavericks hockey team!  In this story we get to know silent Konstantin Volkov, the Russian player who is quiet, not very social, but still a good friend.  We’re also close and personal with Sawyer’s grief after losing his wife Anne.

When Lucy Cain, Sawyer’s sister, arrived in St. Louis to stay with Sawyer for some time, he didn’t go to pick her up from the bus station, he sent Kon to pick her up.  Immediately, he was taken with this sweet woman, and then more when she invited him to a home-cooked meal.  When they arrived, Sawyer’s personal state and the state of his house, drove her plans out of her mind.  Her life for the first days was filled with her brother, his drunken constant state and the need to bring his house up to decent conditions.  Kon, ever the quiet loyal friend, was there to give a helping hand and support to Lucy, feeling guilty that he hadn’t been more present to Sawyer’s grief.

And here we have a beautiful story, two new friends with a ton of chemistry they had to keep on hold while they fight the uphill battle to get Sawyer out of the depths of despair from which he didn’t want to emerge.

I loved Lucy’s quiet sweetness, her witty banter with Kon and how she brought out the sweetness out of that gentle giant.  Even though his past was shrouded in darkness, he had light in his interior, he just needed the right woman to bring it out.  

Lucy was running from a scary man and together Sawyer and Kon were working to help her out.  There were scary parts, very sweet parts with the guys from the bakery, Luigi and Mario, and lots of support and friendship from the rest of the hockey team.  Every time they called their friends, even for a naughty selfie, the response took minutes to arrive.  

It was heart-warming, a little suspenseful, with steamy parts and emotional parts.  A perfect read for one lazy Sunday!

Purchase links

https://amzn.to/3hNcOMh

About the author

Brenda Rothert is an Illinois native who was a print journalist for nine years. She made the jump from fact to fiction in 2013 and never looked back. From new adult to steamy contemporary romance, Brenda creates fresh characters in every story she tells. She’s a lover of Diet Coke, lazy weekends and happily ever afters.

Author Links 

Website: https://brendarothert.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7010859.Brenda_Rothert
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Brenda-Rothert/e/B00BW8E7TE
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/brenda-rothert
Newsletter: https://brendarothert.com/subscribe

Book review: Forbidden French, by RS Grey

I was delighted, riveted and fascinated with this wonderful story and its lovely characters.  Elaine Davenport and Emmett Mercier meet in St John, a boarding school in New York for the uber rich and entitled.  Except, Lainey is not one of the entitled kids, she’s meek and retiring and wanders around like a ghost, earning her the nickname.  For Emmett, she’s very intriguing with her black hair and very light green eyes.  

When they met, she was thirteen and he was eighteen, about to graduate high school.  She had a crush on him and yet, whenever they happened to talk, he felt seen, like she understood him and what he was feeling.  They had one afternoon in the library where they shared secrets and love for favorite books.  It ended in disaster when she was humiliated in public for having his photo under her pillow.

Fast forward ten years, Emmett is a powerful man, carefully guided by his father to be his successor in their huge conglomerate.  He’s bigger and meaner and more handsome than ever.  Lainey is beautiful and as shy as always, except with him.  In an accidental encounter in the art gallery where she works, he’s entranced again but she rebuffs him.

Lainey is very passive, very accepting.  She does all that her grandmother dictates, dresses as dictated, goes to the social activities acceptable to her grandmother.  Her only fun is working part time at the Morgan Gallery where she can express her love for art.  She’s a beautiful soul imprisoned in a gilded cage, dominated by the stern love from grandmother.

I was so full of love and compassion for Lainey, desperate for Emmett to take a stance, and for both to achieve some liberty to do their thing, irrespective of the excessive expectations of their families.  I hurt for their loneliness, for their pain, for Emmett who has never received love and for Lainey who lives a chained life.  I wanted to shake Lainey and make her wake up to life, not live that strange life that was not life.  It’s like a battle of wills and the contestants are Lainey, Emmett, his father and her grandmother.  I loved the psychology and the twists that they take in defending their stance, protecting their heart and their liberty.  In the end, they needed to understand that their liberty laid in accepting the love they had for each other.  Truly beautiful!

Purchase links

Amazon: bit.ly/3fXbYvf

About the author

R.S. Grey is the USA Today bestselling author of over twenty novels. She lives in Texas with her husband and daughter, and can be found reading, binge-watching reality TV, or practicing yoga! Visit her at rsgrey.com

 

Website |  Facebook | R.S. Grey’s Little Reds Facebook Group | Newsletter | Instagram

Book review: Be Your Everything, by Catherine Bybee

With impeccable writing and a multi-layered story, Be Your Everything wows us with the story of Chloe D’Angelo and Dante Mancuso.  In the first book, When It Falls Apart, we meet this wonderful Italian family and join Brooke as she meets and falls in love with Luca D’Angelo.  Now they’re traveling to Las Vegas for their bachelor & bachelorette party with Luca’s siblings, Chloe and Gio, and friends.  Dante is Luca and Gio’s best friend and Salena is Chloe’s best friend.  Brooke’s friends Carmen and Mayson briefly join them in Las Vegas.

We learn that Chloe has always had a crush on Dante, but he’s been labelled off limits by her over-protective brothers.  Plus, he’s a player and he’s been living in Italy for the past four years.  Even so, the attraction sparks again in both, and during the party night, there’s a drunken decision and they wake up married.  And of course, they decided to keep it a secret while they dealt with their feelings.  

Chloe is conflicted and scared, she wants to dissolve the union, Dante not so much.  He’s always had a thing for Chloe but he wants to please her.  

During the story, we’re treated to Chloe’s doubts and insecurities as she worries whether Dante will be a good husband and not break her heart.  I didn’t understand some of the decisions that Chloe made, and hated that she seemed to be putting Dante off.  I always saw Dante as wanting to make a go of their marriage.  I loved his devotion and respect, not just for her but for his mother and Chloe’s mother.  The poor guy had to work hard to please all these women!

There are other layers in this story that were interesting to read, like the fact that Dante’s father abandoned them years ago, and his mother stays stubbornly married to a guy she hasn’t seen in years.  Then there’s the brother code that Dante has broken and caused a rift with his friends.  Chloe wants to sort not just her relation with Dante but also her future.  As per Italian custom, she has to live with her mother until she marries and now she’s in a pickle, married in secret and living with her mother.  And she’s wanting her independence!

I love how the author meshes all the different plot lines into a story that is not only a love story but a family story.  There’s a lot of interaction between all the members of the family and also Salena, Chloe’s best friend, who can’t keep a secret to save her life and is the one who always gives out the information to move the plot forward.  It truly felt like a romp, fun and entertaining!

Book review: Home Tears, by Tijan

When Dani O’Hara’s boyfriend left her for her little sister, Erica, she left town.  She never communicated with anyone, family or friends.  Ten years later, she arrived back in town to heal.  Her reception was unusual.  Instead of hate, she was received with hugs, and news of her arrival quickly spread out in gossip throughout the town.  The people she least expected, received her with open arms and gathered her into their group.

Her baby sister had died while she was away, and now her ex-boyfriend is with her middle sister Julia.  All her life, she felt separate from her two sisters, and now the remaining one hates her, probably because she’s afraid she came to get Jake back.  Instead, the town’s bad boy gone good citizen, Jonah, goes after her, and he’s the one who makes her tingle and begin to feel hope and like she can get out of the despair she lives in.

It’s a wonderful story, where she starts to find herself, works out her turmoil, thanks to Jonah.  Although he’s considered the town’s playboy, he’s much more than that.  There’s depth and intelligence behind his eyes and he senses Dani’s inner demons and pushes her to bring them out to deal.  They are a wonderful couple, even if the town women come after him and rub themselves all over him, gag.

The story would be a normal one, except there are touches of humor, as in all Tijan’s books, there’s a little touch of supernatural, which was exciting, and some mystery about her family, which was intriguing.  Dani goes after the truth and disturbs some people in her quest, makes a lot of people angry and it’s the most interesting part of the story.  In purging out her family’s secrets, she found herself. Another Tijan win!

Purchase links

https://amzn.to/3WrQcQl

About the author

Tijan is a New York Times Bestselling author that writes suspenseful and unpredictable novels. Her characters are strong, intense, and gut-wrenchingly real with a little bit of sass on the side. Tijan began writing after college and once she started, she was hooked. She's written multi-bestsellers including the Fallen Crest series, Ryan's Bed, Enemies and others.

She is currently writing many new books and series with an English Cocker she adores.

 

Connect with Tijan

Website: http://www.tijansbooks.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4851199.Tijan

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tijan/e/B00DJG52QE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tijansbooks/

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/tijansaudiomen

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Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tijan