REVIEW: Wait for You (Wait for You #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ PLOT: 
Some things are worth waiting for…
Traveling thousands of miles from home to enter college is the only way nineteen-year-old Avery Morgansten can escape what happened at the Halloween party five years ago—an event that forever changed her life. All she needs to do is make it to her classes on time, make sure the bracelet on her left wrist stays in place, not draw any attention to herself, and maybe—please God—make a few friends, because surely that would be a nice change of pace. The one thing she didn’t need and never planned on was capturing the attention of the one guy who could shatter the precarious future she’s building for herself.
 
Some things are worth experiencing…
Cameron Hamilton is six feet and three inches of swoon-worthy hotness, complete with a pair of striking blue eyes and a remarkable ability to make her want things she believed were irrevocably stolen from her. She knows she needs to stay away from him, but Cam is freaking everywhere, with his charm, his witty banter, and that damn dimple that’s just so… so lickable. Getting involved with him is dangerous, but when ignoring the simmering tension that sparks whenever they are around each other becomes impossible, he brings out a side of her she never knew existed.

Some things should never be kept quiet…
But when Avery starts receiving threatening emails and phone calls forcing her to face a past she wants silenced, she’s has no other choice but to acknowledge that someone is refusing to allow her to let go of that night when everything changed. When the devastating truth comes out, will she resurface this time with one less scar? And can Cam be there to help her or will he be dragged down with her?

And some things are worth fighting for…
 
SPOILER ALERT!
 
I’ve read mixed reviews about this book so I wasn’t sure how to start my own review. When I finished the book, I felt happy and complete. Like the circle was closed. I’m pretty sure that’s the idea of every book, specially a romantic one, so great job J. Lynn.

At first I wanted to rank it with 5 stars and then, after reading some of the less positive reviews, I wanted to rank it with 2 stars but I got to think about what this book is really about and here’s what I figured out:

This book is a YA/NA novel, so the idea is to appeal to a new generation that have hope that fairy tales and epic love stories are on their way. If you see this story through that perspective, it serves its propose perfectly. And why shouldn’t we believe in love in the beginning of our lives?

So, these thoughts got this book into the high part of the ranking again. Because there wasn’t a single time when I didn’t feel hope or love and, yes, even if at some point the characters start to act stupid or stereotype, they are also <i>college students</i> and 20 years older, so they are entitle to.
 
Anyway, once in a while I like to read YA books because they are so bright and full of promises and, even if Avery’s story is kind of depressing, she turned her life around and learned how to believe in herself and other again.

So overall, I give 4 stars to this book and, yes, I will be reading the sequels as well! :)



Trish 🗯

 

REVIEW: Grin and Beard It (Winston Brothers #2) by Penny Reid

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 
PLOT:
"Sienna Diaz is everyone’s favorite “fat” funny lady. The movie studio executives can’t explain it, but her films are out-grossing all the fit and trim headliners and Hollywood’s most beautiful elite. The simple truth is, everyone loves plus-sized Sienna.

But she has a problem, she can’t read maps and her sense of direction is almost as bad as her comedic timing is stellar. Therefore, when Sienna’s latest starring role takes her to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park she finds herself continually lost while trying to navigate the backroads of Green Valley, Tennessee. Much to her consternation, Sienna’s most frequent savior is a ridiculously handsome, charming, and cheeky Park Ranger by the name of Jethro Winston.

Sienna is accustomed to high levels of man-handsome, so it’s 
not Jethro’s chiseled features or his perfect physique that make Sienna stutter. It’s his southern charm. And gentlemanly manners. And habit of looking at her too long and too often.

Sienna has successfully navigated the labyrinth of Hollywood heart-throbs. But can she traverse the tenuous trails of Tennessee without losing her head? Or worse, her heart?"

SPOILER ALERT!
Funny, inspiring and witty

There are so many things I loved about this book, I'm going to list a few here:
1. Not to judge someone for his/her past: Sienna, and everyone else, could has been scared about some of the stories about Jethro , but she embraced it and understood he'd changed. I loved this book for that.
2. The importance of self acceptance: We see this not only in Jethro attitude about his past and the way he hurt his family and friends, but also in Sienna's posture about her career and her fame. She accepts she's not the skinniest nor the most beautiful of all, and she's fine with it. In fact, she's more than fine with it - she embrace her position as a chubby Latina with a funny perspective of the world.
3. We should only care about what our love ones think, but no one else: Sienna doesn't mind people calling her fat and then, she doesn't mind what everyone's going to think about her relationship with Jethro. She even defended it from her sister (which wasn't my favorite character on the book - too pushy and judgmental for my taste). Same with Jethro, he doesn't care what other people think about his past actions, only his family and then Sienna.
4. Women empowerment: Sienna believes in new opportunity for all kinds of women in this world and she defends it in her statements and in her scripts.

Then, there's the way the story is written that just caught me from the beginning. There isn't unnecessary issues between Sienna and Jethro and every obstacle they faced it together, the way people in love should.

So, is safe to say I fell in love with the Winston brothers again! Their loyalty, their civility, their sensitive side and the way they see the world! I can't way to read Cleutus book now! 

Great job, Penny!

Trish 🗯

 

REVIEW: Ladies Man by Katy Evans

 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot: 
"He’s not the guy you date.
He’s the one night stand.
You’d think the man who sends hot looks my way, who called me succulent, would want to strip me to my skin and spread me out on his bed like every other woman in Chicago.
Except he passed on my offer….
Just like I once did on his.
He’s wary, like I am.
He’s broken, like I am.
And everyone knows two broken parts can’t ever make a whole.
So I try to distract myself. I’m back to dating.
Tahoe and I are strictly friends. He doesn’t think my new beau is good enough, but to him, no man is good enough for me. Especially Tahoe himself.
But the more time Tahoe and I spend around each other, the more confused I feel.
I'm trying to open myself to love.
But I'm quickly realizing that the only man I want is stubborn, cocky, unattainable playboy Tahoe Roth.
The one your mother warned you about.
The one my body craves.
The only one who will surely break my heart." 

If you haven't read this book beware of the SPOILER ALERT!

I remember I loved the first book of this series Manwhore.
I loved the passion Rachel had for Saint and the careless attitude Saint displayed about everything in his world. I was kind of disappointed with the second book Manwhore +1 and I didn’t even read the third Ms. Manwhore.

But I have to say I think Katy Evans recovered some of that passion in this book. We can feel how Gina is falling for Tahoe little by little and, even if it gets a little repetitive with the descriptions (although I think is just Evans style), we readers kind of fall for him too.

I know he's this womanizer kind of character and it really annoys me when man characters get display as players without a care in the world, but the author got him out of that stereotype successfully at the end of the book - thou, if I have to see the man I like fuck 2 other girls, at the same time, I wouldn't think he's the best/honest man in the world the next day and I would run the other way for sure.

Anyway, I enjoy the story a lot and there were some ideas that Katy passed through some of her character that got my attention just like this one:

"No one is the way they seem. We all hide little pieces, either because we don’t want to be judged, or because we don’t think we’ll be understood, or simply because we don’t want those pieces of us to belong to anyone but us”

I totally agree with this statement and I think every human being can relate to the feeling of have something so personal, so our, that we don’t want the outside world to touch it.

I also liked Evans sticked to just one book this time, it gets to the climax faster, without that much of a drama and without more repetition.

So, at the end, I give 4 T-Rex stars to Ladies’ Man!
Waiting for Call’s book next year! 

Trish 🗯