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Review: Never Let You Go By Katy Regnery
Never Let You Go
Katy Regnery
A Modern Fairytale Series
Published June 12th 2015 by Katharine Gilliam Regnery
In this modern retelling of “Hansel and Gretel,” 13-year-old foster children, Holden and Griselda, escape from their abductor after three years of brutal captivity and try to cross the Shenandoah River on foot. Tragically, one of them makes it to safety but the other is left behind.
Ten years later, Griselda’s boyfriend drags her to a fight club grudge match where her world is turned upside down when she watches Holden step into the ring.
Though the connection between them is fierce, bitter regret, simmering rage and a cache of physical and emotional scars lie between them, just as dangerous as the whitewater of the Shenandoah.
Never Let You Go is a story of fear and hope, defeat and survival, and two people – once profoundly broken – who discover that love is the only thing that can make them whole again.
This is a standalone novel inspired by Hansel & Gretel. New Adult Contemporary Romance: Due to profanity, scenes of physical abuse and very strong sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18. (Note: children are not sexually abused in this book.)
For June and July 2015, 25% of all gross royalties will be donated to the Elizabeth Smart Foundation.
3.5 Stars
As I begin to read Never Let You Go, I was pushing myself a bit. I ask myself why am I still reading this. I hate not finishing a book. I get to about the halfway mark and realize I have been sitting in my chair reading non stop for a few hours. As I finished the last page I knew why I had to finish reading Never Let You Go.
A story of survival, turmoil, longing, hope and romance. Talk about an emotional roller coaster. Katy Regnery take the fairytale to a whole new level. Holden and Griselda are both complex and immensely strong. Both victims of circumstance into many ways. A bond that somehow stand the test of time and a trip through hell and back.
It’s generally known that I’m not a fan of New Adult romance. I feel a lack of substance and true emotions in most of them. Katy Regnery blew me out of my seat with the powerful and emotional story of Holden and Griselda. A dark and edgy tale that will make one cringe in fear and cry with joy.
A review copy was provided by the author/publisher for an honest review.
Review: London Bound by Amy Daws
London Bound
Amy Daws
London Lovers Series, Book 3
When Leslie Lincoln, a spunky, red-headed American, suffers an awkward moment with an arousingly-sexy British man—she thinks her life can’t get any more pathetic.
She’s done with men.
She doesn’t need them.
She especially doesn’t need their muscular thighs.
No siree, she’s going to forget all about the brooding, complicated, and seductive “Theo” who captivated her on the dance floor of a London nightclub.
Keep telling yourself that, Lez…..
Immersing herself into a new type of romantic cleanse, Leslie thinks she’ll never lay eyes on Theo again. But somehow, he’s managed to bulldoze his way back in—her cheetah-print onesie pajamas be damned.
He wants more.
She wants to run.
But he can’t seem to let her go.
Both of them have a past—and neither want to share.
How can love possibly survive in darkness?
4 Stars
Leslie is not the typical heroine. She’s fun, loud, sassy, snarky, and foul mouthed. She very real. Leslie loves her job and has created a wonderful and colorful family of friends. In a moment of being totally herself, she unknowingly opens a door that she can’t stop thinking about but also makes her want to run in the other direction. I truly enjoyed Leslie, stubbornness and all.
Theo is beautifully broken. Complex, dominant, creative, deep and flippin sexy. A man that is damn good with his hands, well whole body. Theo has a darkness that shadows him. Until a chance moment in a dance club, when a ray of light stops him in his tracks. I was on the edge with Theo for a bit. He proved himself a damn good man.
London Bound was so much more than I expected. Leslie and Theo’s chemistry from the get go is on target and über hot! Persistence and stubbornness, intensify the passion and add some mystery to this compelling story.
Amy Daws had created some really interesting and funny personalities in her characters in the London Lovers Series. As London Bound is the third book in the series, it can be read as a stand alone. The characters have made me what to go back and read the first two. I laughed so much while reading London Bound. Ms. Daws more than touches on some delicate topics. Perfectly balancing the dark with the light. A one sit read for me!
A complementary copy of this book was provided by the author/publisher for an honest review.
Review: Willfully Compelled by Senayda Pierre
Willfully Compelled
Senayda Pierre
Unintentional Sacrifices, #1
A once kaleidoscope-colored land is now brown. Water sources have become nonexistent leaving behind only lethal bodies of water. Animals and people disappear beneath the tempting waters never to resurface.
As the world falls apart the twins become separated. Alone and injured, Lysandra ventures forward trying to locate and reunite with her family. Instead she slips beneath the river’s surface discovering a new world where no human has ever survived before.
A prophecy. A dying world. Twins, Leondra and Lysandra are compelled to make the ultimate sacrifice for an entirely new world.
Book One of the Unintentional Sacrifices Series.
Containes mature content.
Unintentional Sacrifices, #3.5 StarsI want to start out by saying this is not my normal read. With that, I was pleasantly surprised with the uniqueness that is Willfully Compelled.
Hands down the world building is what made this book for me. Ms. Pierre has richly created this post apocalyptic type world. With a great eye for detail, she leads the reader into crumbling dismay and desolation. And at the same time enticing the reader to continue on the journey to the stories end.
Mixing a prophecy with some sci-fi and some steamy romance makes for very interesting read. I have to say that this book is nothing like I have read this year. The uniqueness of the storyline and the world building keep me turning the pages.
Review:Necessary Restorations by Kate Canterbary
Necessary Restorations
Kate Canterbary
The Walsh Series, Book 3
I can read women better than any blueprint. I understand their thoughts and feelings, their secret desires and insecurities, and I know how to get rid of them once I get off.But all bets are off when Tiel Desai slams into my life. She redefines what it means to be friends, and she makes it sound like the filthiest thing I’ve ever heard.I can’t read the gorgeous conservatory-trained violinist, but she’s the only one keeping me from shattering by small degrees, and I can’t let her go.
She’s wildly independent…
My past—and New Jersey—are far behind me, and now my life is blissfully full of music: playing, teaching, and lecturing, and scouring Boston’s underground scene with an annoyingly beautiful, troubled, tattooed architect.
I’m defenseless against his rooftop kisses, our nearly naked dance parties, the snuggletimes that turn into sexytimes, and his deep, demanding voice.
I have Sam Walsh stuck in my head like a song on repeat, and I’m happy pretending history won’t catch up with me.
The one thing they have in common is a rock-solid disregard for the rules.
They find more in each other than they ever realized they were missing, but they might have to fall apart before they can come together.
It’s the wrongs that make the rights come to life.
Sam is nothing like I perceived him to be. He’s neurotic, a bit of a pervert and anxiety ridden. Meeting Sam in the previous books in the Walsh series, I never would have guessed what going on behind his closed door. Sam is a complex man who is tied in lots of knots.
Tiel is a free spirit and rebel all-in-one. I really enjoyed the complexity of her character. She’s a bit sassy, a little quirky and so passionate. A woman that has music running through her veins. Tiel is the kind of woman that can unravel you and put you back together in a few moments.
Kate Canterbary could not have put two more opposite people together. Tiel and Sam begin this mix match friendship that steadily builds to something more by being themselves and having fun. Heavy emotions with laugh out loud snark. Passionate and a little pervy, Tiel brought a welcome noise to Sam’s quite world.
I really love that music played such a strong role in Necessary Restorations. I will also love Tiel just for the nature of who she is and the good she is doing.
I received a review copy of this title from the author/publisher for an honest review.
Review: Random and Rare by Cat Porter
Random and Rare
Kindle Edition, 262 pages
Published March 10th 2015
I am that gash in her soul.
Once I loved Grace, really loved her.
And she loved me, and it was so fucking beautiful.
Once.
That pendulum swings to and fro.
We’re here,
and then we’re—
No.
How can that rare beautiful be rendered irrelevant, intangible when I still feel so damn much?
Does all that energy, that glory, that significance simply dissolve?
Turn to smoke?
To nothing?
It can’t. It just can’t.
Are the moments that shape us absolutely random?
Is time not fluid?
I made promises to them, to her.
Especially to her.
Promises I still burn to keep
4.5 Stars
Sometimes you have to go backwards to move forward.
Random and Rare is just that. A series of moments and events seen from another side in a completely different light. Changing memories and deepening love both past and present. Not shedding a new light, but definitely adding a new perspective a crazy story.
Dig was a hard living, badass man with a heart I would not mind having a piece of. Seeing things through his eyes made him a completely different character than I had perceived from the prior book. He had conscience to him that we don’t see in all the bikers we read about. He broken my heart and made me love him over and over.
Please note: You should read Lock and Key, book 1. As Random and Rare is a prelude and an extension of the first book. I don’t think a read could truly appreciate what the story is without reading the first book.
A complimentary copy of this title was provided by the author/publisher for an honest review.
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