3.5 stars for “Eighteen (18) by JA Huss”

I have already read several books by this amazing author and loved most of them! My favourite is “321”.

Then a few month ago I was glad when my pre-order of “Sexy” arrived and that one really didn’t work for me. It was a DNF but maybe I’ll give it a try again someday.

I wasn’t sure about ordering “Eighteen” but I liked it! I love taboo stories and add in a hot, dirty talking teacher and I’m sold! I could connect less with Shannon. I found her irritating and immature at moments but hey, she’s only 18! The end felt a little bit rushed. I would have loved a larger epilogue…

This entertaining story gets 3.5 stars.

3+ stars for “Scrubs by Brooke Harris”

ARC kindly provided by Xpresso Book Tours, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This is part 1 of a novella serial by Brooke Harris. It tells us the story of Lucas who lost his fiancé 8 years ago (overdosed). He loved her very much and wants to make the responsible ones pay! He returns to Dublin with a new identity to find revenge. To achieve this he goes undercover as a doctor in the university hospital. He feels a strong attraction to 1 of the students, Aoife. She makes him feel alive again. Aoife is learning to be a doctor (more for her father than herself) but she’s also following arts classes because that is her passion. Aoife lost her mother 3 years ago. The report on her mothers’ death seems incorrect. Will Lucas be able to make the ones responsible for the death of his fiancé pay? Is there a link with the death of Aoife’s mom? Was it really an accident or not? Will Lucas and Aoife get a HEA? I guess we’ll read that in the next instalment…

I liked the story but, like it usually is with novella’s, it was a little bit short to really get into it and feel connected with the characters. I’m looking forward to read more!

Expected publication: December 4th 2015

3+ stars for “Dirty English by Ilsa Madden-Mills”

What do you do when you see lots of positive reviews for a book with a gorgeous cover? Reading in the blurb that it is inspired on Pride & Prejudice makes that decision even more easy …

However for 1 quote in the start of the book, the FMC’s name being Elizabeth Bennett, P&P being one of Declan’s favourite books and a discussion about the book in class that’s it…

A little about the story but not too much … Elizabeth has had a hard life growing up but she is a survivor and tries to make the best of it on her own, with the support of her 2 only and close friends. They go to the same university and Elizabeth wants to focus on studying and working. She doesn’t need a guy in her life to make her happy and prefers the occasional one night stand… 2 years ago something terrible happened to her which still troubles her. While she tries to forget, others interfere with terrible consequences… Her gorgeous, intense, sexy, popular, protective, alpha neighbour Declan has had his own share of problems but feels attracted to Elizabeth almost immediately. She feels safe with him but when will she trust him enough to admit how she feels about him…

Even though I like more drama, suspense in my books I really enjoyed this one. One of the reason is Declan. Who doesn’t love a guy that reads? And even better he loves Pride & Prejudice … swoon!! Add a sexy British accent and the use of words like arsehole, bloody, knickers, …  I even caught myself reading with a British accent several times 😉

I also liked Declan’s twin brother Dax and would love to read his story. Dirty English gets 3.5 stars

4 stars for “The Nocte Trilogy – 01 – Nocte by Courtney Cole”

I’m not sure yet where to start. I usually don’t read YA but when this book was on sale and I saw the high average rating, numerous positive reviews I wanted to give this one a try. The blurb also intrigued me …

I’m not going to write a short story here because I wouldn’t know how to start. My mind is still trying to process everything I read! How do you cope when your twin brother has the mental illness SAD? You’re all each other had growing up and you to help him, protect him… What do you do when your family is torn apart because of an accident you feel guilty for? What do you do when you remember?

I really liked this one and will be reading the next one soon but nog right away. My mind needs some time to recover 😉

4 stars for “On the Ropes – 01 – Fighting Silence by Aly Martinez”

Recently I saw a lot of great reviews on “The Fall Up” which isn’t available to buy yet so I wanted to read another book from this author first. Thanks Christy for suggesting to start with this one, I loved it. I’m sure there are more than 1 Christy on GoodReads but I guess she’ll know it’s her… I was intrigued and who doesn’t like a hot, strong boxer?

One thing that I was a bit afraid of was the indication of College in the shelve list on Goodreads. I try to prevent books with characters still in school because it’s more difficult to relate with them. God now I feel really old 😉 But fortunately this was not an big issue with this book.

I really loved this well written, beautiful but sad story about Eliza and her soulmate Till. Their first encounter was at 13, they both had a hard life growing up and with some struggles on the way they grew up to 2 wonderful, strong, caring people! I won’t tell more about this story. You can read it in the description of the author or even better buy the book and read it …

There are 2 smalls things that bothered me a little about this book. The first is the time gaps in the story. It felt like pieces of the story were missing/rushed. And the second is that I like a little bit suspense in my books. It took until 89% before there was suspense. But still an enjoyable book!

I loved most of the side characters but especially Flint and Quarry and will definitely read their books, hopefully soon but first I need to get my TBR list reduced!

5 stars for “The ‘Burg – 04 – Games of the Heart by Kristen Ashley”

In the last years I have read many books but one author who never fails to keep make me smile reading her books is Kristen Ashley! I love every single one of them… including this wonderful story of gorgeous, alpha, badass, protective Mike and sassy, strong, fun, loving, kind, cool Dusty (I love that name by the way) and her matchmaking. And as a bonus the author gives us the side-story of young Reesee and Fin!

Kristen Ashley has a unique writing style. I also love how descriptive she is and the strong characters she creates. I also like that characters from previous books make appearances in her books. It feels like one big family.

I loved that the song “Not an Addict” by K’s Choice was used in this book. It’s a song I like very much AND it’s a from a Belgian rock band. (I’m from Belgium 😉 and I think this is the first time I see a Belgian song mentioned in an foreign book )

If there is one thing I liked less, it’s the long chapters. I hate to stop reading in the middle of a chapter but hers are sometimes so long there is no other choice.

This was another great read which gets 5 well deserved stars. It made me laugh, cry, swoon, angry … it just made me feel!!

3 stars for “Step Brother Romance – 01 – Prick by Sabrina Paige”

There are a lot of Stepbrother books lately and this one is good but doesn’t stand out for me. I liked that Caulter and Katherine were complete opposites but both were a little bit too immature for me. Also the story had a lot of similar parts that end in sex and if you take that from the book there isn’t much story left. I would have loved more interaction with the parents, bitchy PR manager Mona and especially housekeeper Rose. The character that popped up more was Katherine’s ‘friend’ Jo but she isn’t likable and the scenes where she appears had no added value to the book. I didn’t like the time jumps at the end of the book and would have loved for that part to be more extensive. But the princess and the prick get their HEA and isn’t that what we always want for our book characters … 3 stars for me.

I had already bought books 2 Tool and 3 Cannon and I will read them but not right now.

3+ stars for “Unrestrained – 01 – The Agreement by S.E. Lund”

This book was a very nice book similar to FSOG but this time with a yummy doctor. The previous book I read was also with a dominant doctor and I imagined Patrick Dempsey from Grey’s Anatomy but OMG no no no … Drake is definitely McDreamy!!

I loved the reference to Pride & Prejudice in the beginning but Drake calls Kate ‘Ms. Bennet’ a little bit too often… Now I’m thinking about it, I would love to read a version of P&P with a Kinky Mr. Darcy!

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a good fortune must write out a check and make a donation to the cause,”

Drake is a lightweight Dom but perfect for Kate. I loved their story! It was well written. This book gets 3.5 stars.

In my opinion the book can be read as standalone but there are 2 more books after this one. Book 2 ‘The Commitment’ and book 3 ‘Unrestrained’. I liked book 1 very much and my TBR list on my kindle is too long so, for now, I won’t be reading those.

However ‘Drake Restrained’ is a novella in the Unrestrained Series, which explores the early days of the relationship between Drake and Kate from Drake’s point of view. I already have it on my kindle and since I love to read the male’s POV that the next read for me!

3 stars for “Kyland by Mia Sheridan “

It’s obvious in different blogs and Facebook pages that Mia Sheridan’s books are great and some time ago there was a huge discount for 4 of her books so that was an opportunity I couldn’t resist. This one is the first I read.

The story was a little bit predictable but still a nice story of friendship, love and second chances. Both characters were so strong, selfless and lovable. I’m not sure yet if I have read a book before (or at least one memorable enough) where both characters were poor so that was a nice change for a read.

I would have preferred if the part in the book before their separation was smaller and the part where they got their second chance bigger. I also missed part of the story with the time gap in between.

This book gets 3 stars.

3 stars for “Welcome to the Point – 01 – Better When He’s Bad by Jay Crownover”

This book was very nice and I’ll give it 3.5 stars. I liked bad person Bax and I loved bad boy Shane.

“When Bax got distracted and forgot to be Bax, all the things Shane brought to the table I very well could need from this point on. Bax made me crazy and sent my control out the window. Shane made my heart hurt and made the foolish, girly part of me want to make everything in his life better”

Dovie is a strong person with a big heart but I couldn’t really connect with her. I liked the story but it couldn’t keep me captivated enough therefore 3.5 stars instead of 4.