Rescue Me
by
Serena Bell
Rating:
3 of 5 stars
My
Review:
At the
time I read this, I thought it was sweet and cute, but it moved
really fast and ended too quickly. I guess I wasn't really
comfortable with the characters getting around all the bases with
someone they'd just met. I also felt sad that Molly was so convinced
Dave had rescued her. She pretty much got all she needed by getting
angry at her ex and being all stubborn and crazy. Dave gave her a
boost of confidence, but she did the saving on her own. Their
attraction was like “hey, we just met and now you're feeling me
up”... on a ledge... with freezing conditions... In the end, it was
just so short that I didn't get the feeling Molly and Dave really
knew each other and even had any reason to like each other besides
some general attraction before they're practically agreeing to have
sex.
Still So Hot
by
Serena Bell
Rating:
4 of 5 stars
My
Review:
Dating
coach, trying to move up in the world by taking on a celebrity
client. News anchor, trying to clean up his image but feeling
inadequate to portray the image of a stable, family man. Celebrity,
who's not really interested in being “advised” or coached.
I go
back and forth about celebrity-based books. I usually find them a
little over the top and frustrating. I often end up feeling like “why
did you put yourself in the spotlight if you didn't want people to
look at you?”. This book turned out a lot better than that. While
there were paparazzi and some celebrity sighting people, they only
had a background role.
This
story was really about Elise and Brett figuring things out, finally.
They were best friends in college and for some time after, but had a
passive-aggressive blow up when a kiss happened and having spoken to
each other in two years. When Elise finds Brett on the same flight to
St. Barts, and hooked up with her celebrity client, she goes
ballistic. She's always seen Brett as going after anything in a skirt
and she's almost insane with hatred that his current “24 hour girl”
is her client. Although she is still physically attracted to him.
I
thought the attraction was really well written. It sort-of flipped
stereotypes on their heads that Elise is over-the-moon physically
attracted to Brett still, but, while Brett does want Elise, he really
misses their friendship most of all. Elise completely dropped him two
years ago and he doesn't really get why, and she's not really
emotionally intelligent enough yet to explain it.
Elise
was a hard character to like. She felt very human, but rather too
judgmental and pessimistic through the first 2/3s of the book. She's
this really great dating coach and has an almost preternatural way of
seeing chemistry, but that all goes out the window when she's around
Brett. It took me a while to figure it out, but she was at her best
when she wasn't very close to people. She could see attraction in a
couple she met right off the street, but if she actually knew
something about them, she was blinded by her cynical attitude.
Luckily she does heal and make up for her judgmentalism by the end.
Brett
didn't want to be deserving of Elise's judgment, but he truly felt
that's the way he was. Although he couldn't help wanting to be with
Elise and doing whatever he could to prove he's not trying to hurt
her. He looked down on himself a lot, but he was a really likable
guy. It was hard to see him as the hook-up sort of guy because he was
just so nice. He's pretty much Elise's sidekick throughout the book
and it was cute to see him following her around and being helpful
while still being attracted to her. He also had some very touching
and sweet lines.
Now,
this is a Blaze novel, so it doesn't have quite a bit of sex. These
two go at it like rabbits a lot. It's graphic but not raunchy. Both
characters are comfortable and open with their sexuality. I'd put it
about average explicitness for a Blaze.
If it
hadn't been for the holidays, I would have stayed up and read this
book in one sitting. I felt sad every time I had to put the book
down. I really liked the writing style and felt connected to the
characters (even the times when I got frustrated with Elise). If
you're looking for a fun, sexy read with characters that have a
history, this one is a good choice.
I
received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Heating Up The Holidays
Rating:
3.5 of 5 stars
My
Review:
Play
With Me by Lisa Renee Jones
I had
trouble reading this story. The initial third of this story seemed
so complicated, trying to lay the ground work for the intrigue. I
had trouble keeping everything straight. There were a lot of names
and hints but no real clear path of what the story is going to turn
into.
This
story was written in first person, so it was a little harder to
understand the Instra-Lust that Kali and Damion were generating.
These two barely speak to each other after their initial meeting and
they still just know somehow that they're attracted to each other. I
felt that through Kali's eyes, these two were barely ever on the same
screen at the same time. I didn't really feel like I knew Damion at
all.
I ended
up not really caring for Kali that much. There was this whole
complicated mess of “things aren't what they seem” and Kali needs
to watch and report, but don't trust anyone, but you haven't even
actually started your job yet. She's supposed to be all tough and
assertive, but it felt like she really just let everyone push her
around.
And this
story has so much setup: lots of characters, lots of intrigue. Then
it just seemed to sort of end. “These are the greedy bad guys.
Now we have love. All is great.” I felt it was a lot of lead up
that I had to slough through without any real payoff at the end.
Snowfall
by Mary Ann Rivers
I think
this story just took more concentration than my brain wanted to put
in. It was interesting and the characters were well written, but
there were so many technical biological science terms that I had to
read each word really slowly to understand what they were talking
about. If you're a medical or biological science professional,
you'll probably have a really good time with this one. Once the
setup was finished, the story started to pick up and be a lot more
interesting and I really do like the writing.
Jenny is
a very charismatic, emotional character from a Barbra Streisand
movie. She emotes so clearly with all of her being. Whether she's
feeling depressed, angry, needy or happy, it comes through loud and
clear in the story. Not just the writing itself but the actions
behind each emotion are really clear. It is hard that for the bulk
of the story she is very sad and depressed. It really wore down on
my own mood while I was reading.
Evan is
a good solid character. Sort of vulnerable and a straight up kind of
guy. He didn't have as large of a presence to me as Jenny did. But
he'd totally fit in to my movie mind with Jeff Bridges.
I'm
pretty sure my movie roles are a bit too old for this book, but it
did remind me a lot of The Mirror Has Two Faces, baring the whole
medical verbiage. It's good when you're ok feeling sad and nice to
have a happy resolution at the end, but most likely you'll still
leave feeling down.
After
Midnight by Serena Bell
This one
was definitely my favorite story in the collection. Nora and Miles
were the most relatable to me. They could have benefited from a
longer story (this one felt like their relationship was a bit
rushed). It felt like they jumped really fast from “we barely know
each other” to “I'm somewhat co-dependent”. But I liked how
their relationship blossomed and they were both very likeable. I
liked how the story ended and how each of the characters were able to
own their problems and deal with them.
In the
middle of the story when Nora was being all co-dependent, I was
starting to cringe about how they were going to resolve their issues.
Sort of an “oh no, now she's going to subsume her existence into
his because 'he needs her'”. But it didn't go that way and I was
so proud. Nora was strong enough to stand up for herself at the end
and figure out who she was. Both Nora and Miles were able to get to
the point where they healed themselves, but liked being together.
So, I
think overall these stories were too short. For the first two, they
would have benefited from being able to spread out the information
dump over more time so I wouldn't have felt so overwhelmed. For the
last story, it would have been nice to see them interact in a healthy
way over a longer period of time.
Rescue Me
