River Readers

Ellery Lane is 23 years old and has recently moved to New York City with her boyfriend of 4 years. She comes home one evening to find her boyfriend Kyle, packing his bags. She’s devastated that her relationship is over, so she does what any normal woman would do, be depressed for a week then go out to the club the next weekend to explore her new found singleness. Elle, finds herself helping Connor Black, 30 year old CEO of Black Enterprises, home when he is removed from the bar for being too drunk. She takes him home and takes care of him, even though he’s a complete stranger. They eventually form a friendship that turns into more. But Elle holds a secret that could tear them apart.

I could not wait for this book to be over with. I desperately wish I could get my $3.99 back that I paid for this book. I swear this book was written by a 10 year-old…and that’s putting it nicely. For one, I had no clue who was talking half the time, because she didn’t make that clear what so ever. Second, in a single chapter it would go from a detailed explanation of a one night then the next paragraph would jump to the next week. Thirdly, this book could not have been edited. No way! If it was they need to seriously consider firing the editor. It was completely confusing and so poorly written I think my 8 year-old daughter could have done a better job. I wouldn’t suggest this book to anybody! Total waste of money!

Never too Far is the sequel to Fallen Too Far. Rush left Blair in her hometown after she told him to leave. Blair is trying to move on and decide what to do with her life now that Rush is no longer part of it. But one day Blaire finds out that that all is going to change.

That’s all I can really say about the book without giving anything away. While I do enjoy the story, the main character, Blair, is probably one of the most annoying female characters I’ve ever read. She’s self loathing, low self esteem, tries to be independent but just ends up having to depend on all of her friends for everything. But mostly she’s so stubborn it’s the point of being ridiculous…and this is coming from a stubborn person here!

Cheyenne has just started her freshman year in college. A few days before her first day of classes she catches her boyfriend of two years cheating on her. She strives to portray that she has a perfect life and this is not helping her. She decides she needs a fake relationship to keep up her image of having a perfect life and showing people she can get over her ex. She spots Colt in a coffee shop and notices that he and her ex don’t get along. She follows him outside to proposition him for the fake relationship. She offers to pay him if he’ll follow along.

Colt is a junior in college who is only in college because his dying mother desperately wants him to earn a degree. Colt reluctantly continues college to satisfy his mother. Though he has turned to drug dealing to help pay for his mothers costs. He is in desperate need of money so when Cheyenne propositions him, at first he thinks she’s crazy but then decides to take up her offer.

Typically a book about a woman paying a man to pretend he’s her boyfriend would disgust me to no end. But this actually turned out to be a good book. Both main characters had serious mommy issues, but they both dealt with the issues more easily when they talked to each other. The relationship starts out rocky, obviously, but then grows into a friendship that then grows into a loving relationship.

Pax Tate is a rich bad boy who has a lot of demons he never dealt with. Instead he uses drugs to block out bad memories and to fill his void of being empty and sad. Pax’s mother died when he was 7 and his father never fully got over his wifes death. After his mom died Pax’s father moved him away from everything he knew which only made things worse.

Mila Hill is an artist who loves Lake Michigan. One night while she was out taking photos of the lake she happened upon Pax, who was overdosing on coke in his car. Mila saves Pax by giving him mouth to mouth and calling 911. After that night she goes to the hospital to check on Pax. There she sees how attractive he is and he’s amazed that this beautiful woman would stop and help him even though she didn’t know him. He instantly wants to quit doing drugs and be the man Mila deserves to have.

This book started out with the overdose. It’s difficult for me to read a book involving drugs, but I do enjoy seeing somebody’s point of view in why they do drugs and what it does for them. I know the author wrote this book with a friend of hers in mind who had a drug problem and eventually got help. Though I think depending on another person and wanting to get clean for that person is just another way of avoiding the issue. I mean what if they broke up? Would he go back to using? Just thinking that you’re the reason someone got clean could be very overwhelming. I would feel like I’m constantly walking on thin ice with that person. The author did make it clear that you have to get clean because you want to, not for someone else, which I thought was important. But the fact that him overdosing and temporarily dying wasn’t the main reason he wanted to get clean. Also, there’s a point in the story where you find out how Pax’s mother dies. That was unimaginable. Though I did also read that the author got that part from a news article she read that stuck with her for years. Basically what I’m saying is that I cried a lot with this book…which makes it kind of hard to read when you have water drowning your eyes.

Macy Rogers had a one night fling with Seth Warren a few months ago in the back seat of her car. She hasn’t seen him since. Until Valentines Day night her friends force her to go out where they purposely set up Seth to be. Even after those months passed, Macy and Seth are still attracted to eachother and seem to lose themselves in eachother. Macy is all country while Set is all heavy metal and tattoos. They decide to try and be in a relationship not knowing if they’ll survive when their world are so completely different.

This is an opposites attract kind of book. Of course I love a good tatted bad boy, so I was pretty into this book. Macy is born and raised in Texas, and she is a strong woman who doesn’t put up with anything. At first I thought she was a bit of a prude but then realized why she was the way she was. Both characters have issues that the other is helping them cope with. It’s a good love story with steamy good sex scenes.

Chloe and her two best friends, Amber and Logan, have moved off to West Virgina to start college together. On Chloes first day she sits next to Drake and is instantly attracted to him. Drake is a known “bad boy” on campus and is a singer in a band. Once Logan finds out that Chloe is interested in Drake he confesses his love for her and she is torn between the two men.

I’m not gonna lie. I struggled a bit to get through this book. Though it was nice to read a book that I could put down and not constantly think about and not be satisfied until I picked it back up again. I hate when a woman is portrayed as weak in a book, and she needs other people to hold her up or take care of her. It’s absolutely ridiculous in my mind, and I’m a little tired of reading it. The story was a typical love triangle, lots of heartbreak and lost trust. Though I did like how Chloe wasn’t the typical pretty girl. She was more a rocker chic who didn’t change herself to satisfy other people. The author also added in a few bands that I like to listen to, so there was that. But basically this book was an exact replica of Beautiful Disaster. Literally the same thing, with different character names. The author even references Beautiful Disaster in the first part of the book. Almost as to say, yes I read that book and loved it so I wrote my own version which you are reading now. Still, if I wanted to read Beautiful Disaster again I would have.

Laurelynn Prescott has arrived in Australia with her best friend where they will be staying for three months. Her first night out they go to a bar where she makes her first run in with Jack McLachlan. Jack is a wealthy man who makes a living off of making wine in Australia. He purposely sets up short (3-4 weeks) relationships with women where they do not know his true identity. He likes it like this so that there are no strings attached and no preconceived notions of a long term committed relationship. When he proposes this idea to Laurelyn he decides to go for 3 months. The longest he’s gone in a while. Eventually Laurelyn accepts his proposal, fully aware that this will all end in 3 months when she returns to the States.

First off, let me just say that the main character Laurelyn is probably my sister soul. The author portrays her to be this hilarious, sarcastic, down to earth woman who is perfectly capable of saying no and sticking up for herself. She doesn’t take any crap from people and I like that. She was a refreshment from the other books I’ve been reading. The story line was good, but the main character is what made me love this book so much. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed out loud this much while reading.

Jocelyn Butler has been living in Scotland the past 4 years. After her parents, little sister and best friend died back in the states she decided to move to Scotland to forget her tragic past. Jocelyn doesn’t let anybody get close to her for fear that she would have to go through the grief of losing somebody she cares about again. Then she moves into an apartment with a new roommate who she slowly begins to care about. But what she didn’t expect is to fall for her new roommates brother, Braden Carmichael. Braden is a well off business man, who is used to getting what he wants. And he wants Jocelyn.

This book was ok for me. It was a typical romance book, but only I didn’t seem to like the main character Jocelyn much at all. Her constant battle to keep people from getting close to her was annoying. She seemed selfish in acting like she didn’t care for people who obviously cared for her. It took the entire book for her to finally admit she cared for a friend who they thought was dying. Her relationship with her last friend also, was disturbing and a complete put off for me for the character. Maybe it’s me though. Distancing yourself from other people to protect yourself seems utterly selfish and dumb. I’d rather go through the grief of losing someone I cared about, rather than be alone my whole life.

Chloe Mills is working an internship at Ryan Media, almost finished with her MBA. Her one problem is her boss Bennet Ryan. He’s rude, arrogant, inconsiderate and beautiful. But Chloe deals with him really well. She doesn’t take any of his crap and when he does give it to her she gives it right back. So after working for him for 9 months and he comes on to her in one of the conference rooms, she’s completely confused, aroused and shocked. She has no idea that Bennet has been harboring his feelings of being completely attracted to her this whole time. She finds it hard to be around him after that without jumping him where ever they are.

I was a little disappointed with this book. The sex seemed so angry, which isn’t always bad, but I would say about 90% of the sex was angry. I mean if having sex with someone makes you angry why keep doing it? Or at what point do you stop being so angry and start enjoying it? So weird. Both of them are weird and I didn’t really understand either one of them.

Evy has just moved to Milwaukee with her sister Brooke her husband Ben to open a dessert lounge. There she meets Dean Jacobs, a successful lawyer and ladies man. Evy and Dean have a rough first few meetings but eventually give in to each others attraction. They begin a relationship that is blossoming into love for both of them. Until Dean gets a visit from his last one night stand, stating she’s pregnant. The girls father is mayor is making Dean and his friends life hell if he doesn’t agree to marry his daughter.

This book is VERY similar to The Perfect Game. Though in the Perfect Game you at least are giving the common decency to know what happens in the end. Not with this book! NO! The author thought it would be totally cool to leave you completely hanging with no freaking clue what’s going to happen next and won’t even give you an official release date for the next book so you don’t have to sit here wondering what in the hell is going on! Sheesh!

Ava has finally got the strength to leave Jesse. She’s left him drunk in his luxury apartment and hasn’t spoken to him for 5 days. She is trying to move on from Jesse but having a hard time doing it. Her friends finally convince her to go to Jesse’s apartment so they can check on her, since she’s the only one with the elevator code to his apartment. Once they get inside they find Jesse has drank himself into a coma. She stays to take care of Jesse and they eventually get back together, but not without a LOT of bumps in the road.

If you read my last post of the first book in this series then you’re probably wondering why in the hell I read the second one. Well I don’t know…actually I do know, because the sex scenes in the first book were so incredibly amazing that I had to see what they were like in the second book, and when the third book comes out, I’ll read that one for the sex scenes too. Because I sure as hell am not reading it because I like the two main characters. Jesse is a control freak to the extreme! And Ava is like a scared little puppy who won’t stand up for herself. I swear if these were real people I would smack the s**t out of these people! I mean really, where is the appeal in this relationship besides the sex? They’re so completely dysfunctional it makes me dizzy.

Ava O’Shea is an up and coming interior designer in London. She does interior design spaces that are mostly upscale modern designs. But she has been personally requested to do a design at The Manor. The Manor is all old country upscale designs so she’s not sure she’s the right person, but she goes to consult anyway. When she gets there, she meets the owner Jesse Ward. She was expecting an older gentleman, but what she got was a younger, very attractive Jesse Ward. Jesse shows her around the Manor and what rooms she will be designing. Feeling very awkward and uncomfortable around this man, she quickly leaves planning on never returning. But Jesse is not willing to give up on her and forces her to admit her attraction to him.

If you’re into a book where the main character male stalks the main character female, and you like erotic romance then this is the book for you! I mean, the dude Damien, straight up stalks Ava, tells her what she can and can’t do, tells her what she can and can’t wear, tells her who she can and can’t work for. It’s just absurd! Ridiculous! Their relationship reminded me of my most dysfunctional abusive relationship I’ve been in. And let me tell you! I’ve been in some insanely detrimental relationships, and those almost looked better than this one. It was truly disgusting. BUT, the sex in the book was soooo HOT! I mean, wow! I really only finished this book for the sex scenes…they were worth it.

Nikki Fairchild has just graduated college and moved to L.A. to be an assistant at a technology firm. 4 days into her move and new job she meets Damien Stark and they are instantly attracted to eachother. Damien is a former tennis player who is now a successful entrepreneur. He pursues Nikki relentlessly, but is unwilling to open up to her about his past. Nikki is determined to not let Damien interfere with her plans for her future and her career but is finding it hard to resist Damien.

This book is very similar to the Bared to You series. Though I did enjoy this one, it wasn’t as good the Crossfire Series or the Fifty Shades Series. However, I did enjoy the fact that the main character had a rather awesome name. I mean how could you go wrong with the name Nikki? You can’t. Anywho, Damien is hot and rich and has a hard time admitting he is falling in love with Nikki, the young, hot new woman in his life who is some what capable of resisting his unresistable attractiveness. What can I say? It’s my kind of book.

Cassie Andrews is a junior in college who is working towards her photography degree. She goes out with her roommate one night and meets Jack Carter. A well known ladies man on campus and star baseball player. After much pursuing on Jacks part, he finally gets Cassie to admit she has feelings for them and they begin a relationship. Jack is eventually recruited into a minor league baseball team, and Cassie and Jack have to work their way thru a long distance relationship and many trust issue. Unfortunately, those trust issues only worsen when Jack cheats on Cassie and gets another woman pregnant.

The Perfect Game was rather exhausting. The back and forth before they finally got together and then the bombshell after what happens when Jack finds out he got another woman pregnant. It was not what I was expecting. I’m a happy ending kind of person so that really pissed me off. But I continued on and am happy I finished it. I’m also happy I didn’t damage my iPad while reading this book.

Shaw Landon has been in love with her best friends twin brother Rule Archer, for years. Her best friend Remy Archer died 3 years ago in a car accident and his twin brother Rule started to distance himself from everybody after his death. Though every Sunday Shaw would pick up Rule to take him home to Brookside to visit his family. Which was the last thing he wanted to do since his mother constantly put him down and blamed him for his twin brothers death. He and Shaw rarely every spoke on the 1 hour ride down there or back. On Shaw’s 20th birthday party she gets drunk and runs into Rule where she finally shows him how she feels towards him. After that night everything changed.

This book was ok. Typical good girl/bad boy story with a lot less frustrating events as my past books. Not sure I would recommend this book to my reading buddy, but it still made me feel better after being utterly disappointed by Beautifully Damaged. I enjoyed how independent Shaw’s character became the further into the book you got. And there was a more dramatic scene that kept me reading even during the first half of the super bowl, but other than that it was just okay.

Ember Walsh was always the quiet one, enjoying a book and a glass of wine over the noise and crowds of a club. When her best friend asks her to come out on the town and meet the guy she likes, Ember’s world is turned upside down. He appears like a mythical, avenging angel: inked, gorgeous and completely out of her league. After one look, Ember no longer wants the quiet; she wants him.

Trace Montgomery has buried his damaged past with the help of women and fighting until one day he suddenly meets an angel and wants more; he wants her. To have her, he’s determined to overcome his demons but will the dark secret that links their pasts bring them closer or will it tear them apart?

Let me first be honest here in telling you that I had to copy and paste that summary above from Amazon. Why you ask did I have to do this, considering I read the book? Well let me tell you. After reading the whole book I couldn’t summarize it myself because I wasn’t so sure what the whole story was about. The book to me was dull and didn’t really have a story. I hated both main characters for several reasons and the story line was just out right boring. Reading this book makes me want to demand my $3 I spent on this book. It was only $3 but not only was it the money, it was the time I wasted reading the damn thing. In all honestly I’m surprised I even finished it.