Take a photo of a barcode or cover
geekygraceelyse's reviews
1112 reviews
Dangerous to Know & Love by Jane Harvey-Berrick
1.0
Three pages in to this book and I already wanted to give up and bash my head against a wall, and it took everything in me to force myself to endure more of it.
This was an extremely poorly written novel full of clichés and stereotypes, and featured the over-used 'reserved-plain-Jane-who's-actually-sexy-and-everybody-wants'female protagonist, who is of course put in a dorm room with the party girl who's life motto is probably 'YOLO'. Not to mention the 'bad boy' who every girl wants to sleep with and has the secretive past or things he regrets.
Lisanne was incredibly irritating with her brainless yet constant narration (when written in her point of view) and was a stuck-up, elitist snob who seemed to judge everyone the moment she literally laid eyes on them. Not to mention the constant 'I'm not pretty' or 'I'm nothing compared to those girls because they look better than I do' comments. I was about ready to reach inside the book and slap her upside the head.
Now of course these clichés can sometimes work great in a book, but this was definitely not one of those times.
The story was incredibly hard to follow, and I often found myself having to go back and re-read the previous page when I found myself not having a clue as to what the characters were talking about or where they were or why they were somewhere, only to discover that the author hadn't addressed that information.
Also the novel had a clear lack of depth which was clear to see when the author was having Lisanne and Daniel (who was constantly referred to as eyebrow pierced guy even after finding out his name) thrown together any time Lisanne left her dorm room.
This was an extremely poorly written novel full of clichés and stereotypes, and featured the over-used 'reserved-plain-Jane-who's-actually-sexy-and-everybody-wants'female protagonist, who is of course put in a dorm room with the party girl who's life motto is probably 'YOLO'. Not to mention the 'bad boy' who every girl wants to sleep with and has the secretive past or things he regrets.
Lisanne was incredibly irritating with her brainless yet constant narration (when written in her point of view) and was a stuck-up, elitist snob who seemed to judge everyone the moment she literally laid eyes on them. Not to mention the constant 'I'm not pretty' or 'I'm nothing compared to those girls because they look better than I do' comments. I was about ready to reach inside the book and slap her upside the head.
Now of course these clichés can sometimes work great in a book, but this was definitely not one of those times.
The story was incredibly hard to follow, and I often found myself having to go back and re-read the previous page when I found myself not having a clue as to what the characters were talking about or where they were or why they were somewhere, only to discover that the author hadn't addressed that information.
Also the novel had a clear lack of depth which was clear to see when the author was having Lisanne and Daniel (who was constantly referred to as eyebrow pierced guy even after finding out his name) thrown together any time Lisanne left her dorm room.
Best Kind of Broken by Chelsea Fine
5.0
Who knew that having two people share a bathroom could lead to so much?
‘Best kind of Broken’ is a well written; heartbreakingly perfect novel about two people coming together after a tragic accident and recovering what they’d lost. When reading the blurb for this novel, I was quite dubious about whether it would be any good or not but from the moment I read the first word I was proved wrong, and this remained true throughout the entirety of the novel.
Livi Andrews and Sarah ‘Pixie’ Marshall haven’t spoken in almost a year, since the death of Pixie’s best friend and Livi’s younger sister; Charity. However they soon find themselves working - and living - at Pixie’s Aunt Ellen’s Inn for the summer.
Filled with amusing, lovable characters, perfect balance, vivid imagery and original descriptions, ‘Best Kind of Broken’ leaves you thirsting from the first page, to discover exactly what happened in the past, and what will happen in the future. Fine teases out the details, allowing the reader to notice it all rather than telling them straight out, creating an easily digestible novel full of awkward tension, unmistakable chemistry and impeccably blissful moments between Levi and Pixie.
This novel gripped me from the very beginning and I found the characters instantly snapped into place, in a faultless, yet seemingly effortless endeavour by the author. There was a perfect balance between narration and dialogue. The way Fine focused on an array of characteristics and aspects, enabled her to create lovable, realistic 3D characters that will dig their way into your heart and stay there.
There was no hyperbole nor any neurotic far-fetched characters to be seen anywhere in this story, a great relief after spending so long wading through novels with great potential, only to be let down by the illogical and overanxious descriptions and characters.
I absolutely loved this novel and cannot wait to continue reading this series and any other work by Chelsea Fine.
‘Best kind of Broken’ is a well written; heartbreakingly perfect novel about two people coming together after a tragic accident and recovering what they’d lost. When reading the blurb for this novel, I was quite dubious about whether it would be any good or not but from the moment I read the first word I was proved wrong, and this remained true throughout the entirety of the novel.
Livi Andrews and Sarah ‘Pixie’ Marshall haven’t spoken in almost a year, since the death of Pixie’s best friend and Livi’s younger sister; Charity. However they soon find themselves working - and living - at Pixie’s Aunt Ellen’s Inn for the summer.
Filled with amusing, lovable characters, perfect balance, vivid imagery and original descriptions, ‘Best Kind of Broken’ leaves you thirsting from the first page, to discover exactly what happened in the past, and what will happen in the future. Fine teases out the details, allowing the reader to notice it all rather than telling them straight out, creating an easily digestible novel full of awkward tension, unmistakable chemistry and impeccably blissful moments between Levi and Pixie.
This novel gripped me from the very beginning and I found the characters instantly snapped into place, in a faultless, yet seemingly effortless endeavour by the author. There was a perfect balance between narration and dialogue. The way Fine focused on an array of characteristics and aspects, enabled her to create lovable, realistic 3D characters that will dig their way into your heart and stay there.
There was no hyperbole nor any neurotic far-fetched characters to be seen anywhere in this story, a great relief after spending so long wading through novels with great potential, only to be let down by the illogical and overanxious descriptions and characters.
I absolutely loved this novel and cannot wait to continue reading this series and any other work by Chelsea Fine.
Love of a Rockstar by Nicole Simone
1.0
The blurb for this book didn’t really get me interested, however I was looking for something to read and decided to give it a shot. Having read it I now wish I hadn’t just wasted a day reading it.
Love of a Rockstar is a novel about Marlene Parker and Luke Anderson reconnecting after Luke walked out on Marlene and their unborn child - who was a month away from being born - four years ago to chase his dream of becoming a rock star.
I found the characters to be quite immature, badly created, and felt that they didn’t fit the mold they had been forced into by the author. Marlene appeared to be more of an emotional, irrational floozy than a strong willed mother, and by page ten I was already fed up and irritated with her constant and often irrelevant narration.
Over all I thought the novel was nauseatingly sappy and bordered on cliché. Simone seemed to have little faith in the reader’s ability to put two and two together and get the correct answer; insisting on telling and not showing what was happening and repeating things in dialogue that had already been said in the narration, often information that the other character already would have known (otherwise known as ‘exposition in dialogue’).
The sentence structure and dialogue was simple, the story did not flow smoothly and there were exaggerations everywhere, particularly regarding the personalities of the characters –another example of the Author failing to have faith in the readers ability to get to know the characters and their personalities without if being shoved in their faces.
Love of a Rockstar is a novel about Marlene Parker and Luke Anderson reconnecting after Luke walked out on Marlene and their unborn child - who was a month away from being born - four years ago to chase his dream of becoming a rock star.
I found the characters to be quite immature, badly created, and felt that they didn’t fit the mold they had been forced into by the author. Marlene appeared to be more of an emotional, irrational floozy than a strong willed mother, and by page ten I was already fed up and irritated with her constant and often irrelevant narration.
Over all I thought the novel was nauseatingly sappy and bordered on cliché. Simone seemed to have little faith in the reader’s ability to put two and two together and get the correct answer; insisting on telling and not showing what was happening and repeating things in dialogue that had already been said in the narration, often information that the other character already would have known (otherwise known as ‘exposition in dialogue’).
The sentence structure and dialogue was simple, the story did not flow smoothly and there were exaggerations everywhere, particularly regarding the personalities of the characters –another example of the Author failing to have faith in the readers ability to get to know the characters and their personalities without if being shoved in their faces.
Overwhelmed by You by Nashoda Rose
5.0
‘Overwhelmed by You’ is a contemporary New Adult romance which tells the story of Kat and Ream and how they overcome their differences and come together as a couple. I really loved this book; finding it fresh, unique and enthralling.
The prologue occurs two years ago, set during the first novel of the ‘Tear Asunder’ series; ‘Torn from You’ and throws the reader right into the action and intrigue. While this can be read as a stand alone novel, I recommend that ‘Torn from You’ is read first (if you want to do this the novella #0.5 ‘With You’ will need to be read before you start the series in order to understand everything in the first novel.).
I was drawn into the novel from the first page, and while there were some sentence structure and grammatical errors - that could have been easily fixed during the editing process – they were quite easy to overlook due to the authors ability to immerse you in Kat and Ream’s world.
I did however find that the flashbacks - that began some of the chapters – distracted slightly from what was happening in the present and could have been put in different parts of the novel. However this is not a major issue.
Certain parts of the novel were quite unsettling and had my skin crawling (though not nearly as much as it did when I read ‘Torn from You’), however the warning of explicit content had me prepared for this. I congratulate Nashoda Rose on her willingness to write novels containing such taboo themes and topics, which many authors would shy away from. As well as how she handled these topics, not using them as a prop to create a tragic backstory for Ream (or Sculpt Emily in ‘Torn from You’), as some authors tend to do.
I absolutely loved the dynamic between Kat and Ream, and the butterfly inducing, sizzling chemistry that was perfectly written and created. I also respected the fact that Rose didn’t rush the novel; instead giving Kat and Ream a realistic amount of time to work through their differences and figure out any issues they had before getting them together. A refreshing difference to many novels where the author seems to want to just write the ‘good parts’ and have the couple get together as soon as possible.
‘Overwhelmed by You’ is full of independent, strong and lovable characters who make the novel a pleasure to read.
I look forward to being able to read ‘Shattered by You’, the next novel in the series.
NOTE; Both novels, 'Torn from You’ and ‘Overwhelmed by You’, contain violent and graphic scenes that may be TRIGGERING and unsettling for some readers and should not be read by those under the age of 18.
The prologue occurs two years ago, set during the first novel of the ‘Tear Asunder’ series; ‘Torn from You’ and throws the reader right into the action and intrigue. While this can be read as a stand alone novel, I recommend that ‘Torn from You’ is read first (if you want to do this the novella #0.5 ‘With You’ will need to be read before you start the series in order to understand everything in the first novel.).
I was drawn into the novel from the first page, and while there were some sentence structure and grammatical errors - that could have been easily fixed during the editing process – they were quite easy to overlook due to the authors ability to immerse you in Kat and Ream’s world.
I did however find that the flashbacks - that began some of the chapters – distracted slightly from what was happening in the present and could have been put in different parts of the novel. However this is not a major issue.
Certain parts of the novel were quite unsettling and had my skin crawling (though not nearly as much as it did when I read ‘Torn from You’), however the warning of explicit content had me prepared for this. I congratulate Nashoda Rose on her willingness to write novels containing such taboo themes and topics, which many authors would shy away from. As well as how she handled these topics, not using them as a prop to create a tragic backstory for Ream (or Sculpt Emily in ‘Torn from You’), as some authors tend to do.
I absolutely loved the dynamic between Kat and Ream, and the butterfly inducing, sizzling chemistry that was perfectly written and created. I also respected the fact that Rose didn’t rush the novel; instead giving Kat and Ream a realistic amount of time to work through their differences and figure out any issues they had before getting them together. A refreshing difference to many novels where the author seems to want to just write the ‘good parts’ and have the couple get together as soon as possible.
‘Overwhelmed by You’ is full of independent, strong and lovable characters who make the novel a pleasure to read.
I look forward to being able to read ‘Shattered by You’, the next novel in the series.
NOTE; Both novels, 'Torn from You’ and ‘Overwhelmed by You’, contain violent and graphic scenes that may be TRIGGERING and unsettling for some readers and should not be read by those under the age of 18.