Push - Claire Wallis

I feel like I am wrapped in a cyclone. Everything is whirling around me, drawing the air out of my lungs and filling me with the best kind of turmoil. Every time his tongue slides against mine, a prickle in my gut tells me how right we are together. How much I need David. How much I need us.

I hope the cyclone never stops.

Emma Searfoss has spent a lifetime trying to escape her abusive stepfather. It's why she moved far away from home. It's why she's kept no ties with her remaining family. And it's why she's got a major rage problem. When her neighbor shows up to fix the kitchen in her new apartment, his enigmatic charm calms the fire in her. David is cool and collected, and he makes Emma feel safe for the first time ever. But David has his own chilling past—his six previous girlfriends have all disappeared without a trace. Emma's walking a dangerous line, but David's pull is intoxicating. And impossible to resist…

I am having a hard time reviewing this book.  It’s been a couple days, I haven’t read anything else since and I can’t stop thinking about this book and how f’ed up it made me feel.  If I had to rate it as soon as I was finished I probably would have given it 3 stars…but since I’m still thinking about it now, I’m thinking that means it should go up.

Fair warning, this is not the type of love story where the two of them meet each other, help each other see their own faults and they live happily ever after in a big white castle.  NOPE! This is more like fire feeding fire and setting the whole forest ablaze.  Emma and David are both screwed up…their lives took them down paths that children should never have to travel and came out the other end of it different people because of their circumstances.  But their differences from others are what make them angry, jealous, passionate…and all around messed up!

This story is dark and different, and for that I liked it.  I liked that this wasn’t the same story I’ve read a hundred times with other character’s names attached.  The writing, well that wasn’t my favorite.  I found that sometimes I was annoyed by the choice of words or phrasing or even the way the flashbacks seemed to read more like a dear diary insert than a story being told.  Part of it may be that I also had a hard time connecting with the characters.  Based on the description I thought I would feel bad for them and what they had been through, but I didn’t.  I found myself more angry and annoyed with them, than sympathetic to them.   

That being said, I still haven’t picked up another book since I finished this one.  I will warn that this story does end on a pretty big cliffhanger… for those that want no part in that anymore – you may want to wait for book two’s publication date before diving into this one because I can tell you, you will be left wanting to know what the hell just happened. 

I’ve flipped back and forth so much on the rating that I think I’m just going to have to meet myself in the middle and go with 3.5 stars!

Whisper To Me - Christina Lee

At college, Rachel has a reputation for being a sarcastic flirt with a thing for star athletes. No one at school knows that she’d had her heart ripped to shreds by her high school sweetheart, who’d driven them both off the side of the road on a borrowed motorcycle, and then abandoned her. No one knows the real Rachel Mattson—except one person…

Ever since he helped nurse his sister’s feisty best friend back to health, pierced bass player Kai Nakos has been head over heels in love. But the supposed bad boy can’t risk letting Rachel know the truth—especially now that the two of them are back in their hometown for the summer, together for the first time since the months following that fateful night. Never mind that Rachel’s ex is back, groveling for her forgiveness.

Shaken by her ex’s return, Rachel finds herself turning to the one guy she knows she can trust. Kai is willing to hide his feelings for her, just to have Rachel touch him again. After all, this is only a temporary fling. Until it becomes something more. But maybe it had been more all along

So the first thing I should admit is that I did not know this was part of a series.  When I was scrolling through the Net Galley titles, the blurb for this book was so good, I had to take a shot at getting approved to read this.  I love second chance love stories, or best friend turned love stories and this seemed almost like that (minus the ex, groveling for her forgiveness).  I started it as soon as I was approved for it.

This is where maybe reading the first two books might have helped, I’m not sure.  The beginning was a little slow and confusing for me.  I’m not sure how much Rachel is in the first two books, but I just felt like I couldn’t connect with her at first. 

Kai on the other hand, I loved from the beginning…and that is what kept me reading.  I often feel like something just isn’t quite right when I read male POV’s in stories.  To be honest, I don’t typically love dual POV books but in the beginning for me it was definitely the saving grace and what kept me going. 

About midway through, the story picked up for me and I couldn’t wait to see how it would all unfold.  I felt her pain from her accident.  Her suffering through not understanding what happened with her ex and the comfort she felt with her best friend Kai…well as long as her other best friend, Kai’s sister, wasn’t there. 

I truly enjoyed the secondary characters who made appearances in this book (the characters from the previous two books) as well as Kai’s best friend Shane.  I can’t say I loved Dakota…but that’s just my personal opinion. 

So I’m sure you are wondering, why…if the books picked up half way and I felt connected to it, I still only gave it 3.5 stars and that would be the slow beginning combined with what I felt like was a rushed ending.  I needed a little more.  I felt like I had been on this journey and I needed something, one more chapter, an epilogue…something to let me know it had all been worth it… 

Maybe there will be another book?

Against All Odds - Angie McKeon

Our lives shattered... Our hearts broken... Our souls torn to pieces...

He was my world, my whole life. My reason for breathing. I had a perfect marriage, a baby on the way, and I felt fulfilled—almost invincible.

Until the day life hit, leaving me broken, vulnerable, and alone.

She was my life. My ray of hope on the cloudiest day. With her, I thought I had the ultimate safety. A love that would never hurt or betray me. I gave her my heart, my body, and my soul.

Until she broke me, destroying every dream and illusion I had about life, love, and marriage.

In our grief, we made a mistake. A mistake I'm not sure we can come back from.

"Life's a fucked up state of fucked up." - That pretty much sums up the whole first half of this book, a fucked up state of fucked up.

First I will tell you, take any ideas of who you think Angie is and throw it out the window.  That happy, fun, loves everyone girl that has kept us entertained with her different kinds of loving stars over the years is not the same girl who wrote this book.

This Angie has a dark side, and it's so, so good.

Against All Odds is a story about love, loss, and the crazy that goes on when that loss is soul crushing.

After you make it through the prologue...which will make you feel like you got punched in the face - you will join Kylie Bailey after the dust has settled on the traumatic event and follow along on the journey of her now completely fucked up life.

How fucked up? They have somehow, though neither really wanting to, agreed to an open marriage where Kylie is trying to bury her feelings in sleeping with other men and Cooper is just lost.  Then, to drive it all home and make it as fucked up as possible, Cooper's best friend Grayson is the one that's been helping to take care of Kylie since the "event" and eventually confesses he too has feelings for Kylie and is no longer going to keep them to himself. WHAT?

**Tara plug - I freakin' love Gray... He's mine and I'm not sharing!!**

Gray is definitely an alpha male character, should be no surprise for Angie's followers, but has the sweetest heart for Kylie.  He has and would continue to do anything for her.  He's so amazing, I found myself cheering for her to leave her husband and be with Grayson...yes, you read that right.  I was hoping for extra bad cheating and falling in love with the other guy - this is what Angie has done to me!!

Cooper, oh how I struggled with thee.  I disliked him, and felt abused by him, but then I felt bad for him and my heart broke for him too.  He really left me feeling kinda like I had multiple personalities...actually scratch that...I'm blaming Angie for that!

Kylie is just a mess...a flat out mess.  There are times where you will love her and her heart will be yours.  And then there will be times where you just want to shake the shit out of her and ask her what's wrong with her.  But...you will care one way or the other.

I can't even tell you how many times I've read this story at this point, it's too many to count...but each time is like the first time all over again.  I read something that makes more sense this time around...or certain parts still hit me as if I hadn't read them before. 

Here's my final note... if you don't like angsty reads, or if you can't stand love triangles (or squares or whatever), or cheating in any way shape or form, then this book is not for you.  If you can have an open mind and fall in love with completely flawed and broken characters, don't miss out on this debut. 

Best Kind of Broken - Chelsea Fine

Pixie and Levi haven't spoken in nearly a year when they find themselves working―and living―at the same inn in the middle of nowhere. Once upon a time, they were childhood friends. But that was before everything went to hell. And now things are... awkward.

All they want to do is avoid each other, and their past, for as long as possible. But now that they're forced to share a bathroom, and therefore a shower, keeping their distance from one another becomes less difficult than keeping their hands off each other. Welcome to the hallway of awkward tension and sexual frustration, folks. Get comfy. It’s going to be a long summer.

I was excited to see that Chelsea Fine had written a NA book.  I was lucky enough to get to meet her at an Occasionalist Author Event in Phoenix and thought she was super sweet, very friendly and ridiculously adorable.  I have been staying away from YA books because they tend to leave me feeling annoyed so I hadn't read anything she had written but heard mention she would be venturing into NA.  I was excited to see this title pop up on Net Galley and couldn't wait to give it a try.  Chelsea Fine was finally doing NA...

Well...sorta....

This story is about two college age kids, Pixie and Levi, who were lifelong friends turned into people who didn't want to be in the same room together.  Tragedy separated them, and a year later fate...and Aunt Ellen...threw them back together for the summer - working together, living together and sharing a bathroom.

I have to say this - Levi is supposed to be football star kinda hot, and the name just wasn't doing it for me... I didn't picture Brady Quinn, I pictured an Amish Farmer - Levi... nope...didn't work for me.

Anyway, this story is of two broken people pulling themselves out of the wreck of tragedy and putting together the pieces of their lives, the way they think they have to.  Most of the time, it's a little frustrating because it's a dual POV so you know what both people are thinking and you kind of want to slap them both.

This book read to me like a YA author trying to write for an older crowd.  Most of the feel of the book was younger with a few awkward, not completely developed sexy scenes thrown in to appease those of us that wanted to see more.

I felt like even though there were a ton of short chapters, I would have liked to have seen the beginning condensed a little better and then maybe more of an ending (more time spent on the current state of affairs at the end of the book).  I would probably recommend this book to those I know that like YA books with a little sneak peak into NA.

*ARC provided by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) via Net Galley*

Wrecked - Priscilla West

A New Adult Romance Novel by USA Today Bestselling Author Priscilla West

“There would be no happy ending for us. He was too damaged. I was too broken.”

Two years ago, Lorrie’s mother was murdered. But that wasn’t the end of it. Reeling from the tragedy, Lorrie’s father spiraled into alcohol, depression, and finally suicide.

The two most important people in Lorrie’s life are both gone but she’s still alive.

Trying to recover from the tragedy, Lorrie returns to campus, ready to pick up the pieces of her life. All Lorrie wants is to get back to “normal.”

Then she meets Hunter. The man, the legend, “The Hammer.”

Hunter is a cage fighter who takes on every fight like he’s got nothing to lose. His life is a tangled mess of girls, booze, and fist fights. And while it may seem like he’s got a devil-may-care attitude, he’s fighting a private cage-match with a monster he can’t defeat.

Lorrie knows that Hunter is exactly the type of guy she should stay away from, especially in her fragile state, but Hunter has other ideas.

As Hunter and Lorrie grow closer together, will they be able to overcome their pain and heal each other? Or will they both end up wrecked?

To be honest, it was absolutely the cover that attracted me to this book in the first place. 

This book was strange for me. It took me quite some time to get into it, at one point I wasn't sure I would finish it but I think it was Hunter that kept me pushing through. I just couldn't walk away from him. This tough MMA fighting bad boy that was willing to put himself out there and then be friends with the girl that turned him down.

There was something about Lorrie that I just couldn't relate to. Yes, everything she had been through was absolutely tragic, but I think it was her overreactions to everything that kept me turned off to her. 

It wasn't until I was about half way through with the book that I finally stopped being distracted by the errors that I thought the proofreaders and editors should have picked up on. And then it was just about the book for me.

Secrets, secrets are no fun...and in this book, they might just be the end of you. 

In the end, I will probably read the second book just to see what happens. The story itself has a lot of promise...the execution is probably not my favorite. 

*ARC provided by Blackbird Publishing via Net Galley*