Category: Book Reviews

The Grab Your Pole series by Jenn Cooksey + GIVEAWAY!

If you guys pay any attention to me at all, you know that I absolutely love the Grab Your Pole book series by Jenn Cooksey. It’s an amazing series with even more amazing characters, including the most kick ass 12 year old you’ll ever meet in a book… and Tristan..SWOON. I was #TeamTristan all the way during this year’s YA Crush Tourney and I even went the way of bribing people (I like to think that Jillian would be proud) with Grab Your Pole books to vote for Tristan during the Tourney… Unfortunately he didn’t make it past the 2nd round in the Tourney, but that’s ok..He did very well for a character that not many people knew about at the time of the YA Crush Tourney. Hopefully we will be able to get Tristan further next year! If you haven’t read this book series yet, I highly suggest that you get right on it! Favorite Quotes: Tristan “Romeo and Juliet killing themselves was ultimately an accident due to a miscommunication, but this fuckin’ guy…guy, vampire…whatever, actually has a contingency plan! He’ s gonna outlive her anyway, so why bother? I mean if living without her is such a big deal, then he should just change her and be done with it. No offense, Baby, but if I were a vampire and didn’ t wanna un-live without you, you’ d be fuckin’ dead, end of story. There’ d be none of this whining about your soul and shit…I’ d just sink my […]

Book Review: The Only One by Magan Vernon

Erin’s Review: We first meet John Boy in The Only Exception when he is introduced to us as Trey Chapman’s Big Brother at their Fraternity Alpha Mu. In The Only Exception he appears to be your stereotypical Frat Boy; Only there for the Booze, Girls & Parties… He continues t0 give us this impression at the beginning of The Only One, being that it’s a halloween party and he’s only wearing a loin cloth(say what?!). “Watch it, loincloth, I’ m not afraid to spork your eyes out.” – Monica We were also introduced to Melanie in The Only Exception where she played a bigger part in that story than John Boy, so we already know her a little bit better than we do John when we get started with The Only One. Melanie is an honor roll student doing everything she can to make it through college, working and going to school full-time, this girl has no social life to speak of. Her good friend and Trey’s girlfriend, Monica, has managed to talk her into going to the Alpha Mu Halloween party. At the party she somehow manages to catch John Boy’s eye. It must have been that Hermione costume she was wearing, while the loin cloth that John Boy is wearing certainly caught her eye and all of our eyes (yum). Monica is trying her best to keep John Boy and Melanie from hooking up, but Melanie isn’t have any of it.. In the middle of their hookup, […]

Book Review: One To Hold by Tia Louise + Giveaway

Melissa has the year from Hell and somehow her best friend Elaine has managed to talk her into running away for a week at a spa thousands of miles away from the mess that her life is. While sitting at the hotel bar drinking the only cocktail she could think of that she doesn’t even like, she somehow catches the attention of the sexy Derek Alexander. When Derek comes her way, she’s floored by this as she’s normally not the girl to be on the receiving end of something like this. When Derek introduces himself to her, one thing leads to another and soon the most delicious one week stand commences. A good majority of this book takes place in Scottsdale, AZ at the Cactus Flower Spa and Hotel where Melissa and Derek have the most sizzling romance I’ve read in awhile. Melissa takes Derek’s heart and leaves him in Arizona with hopes that when she cleans up the mess that is her life, she’ll be able to find Derek again. When Melissa returns to Baltimore this is where the story gets really interesting and you find out things you didn’t expect. Tia Louise took my heart, ripped it out and stomped on it with this book. But no worries, she finds the duct tape and puts it back together again at some point. She gives us a lovely happily ever after with a very sweet epilogue. I highly enjoyed reading this book and I will gladly read any other […]

Book Review: Unchained by J. Lynn

This book started out slow for me. It took a while for me to warm up to Lily, but eventually I got there. Like other female characters of JLA’s, Lily was full of some good snark and I think that is what finally got me. Lily is one kick-ass girl who hardly ever gets into a situation that she can’t get herself out of. Though, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a guardian angel looking out for (stalking) her. Enter Julian, an absolutely swoon-worthy fallen angel who just can’t seem to stay away from Lily. JLA sure knows how to write them swoony hot boys and Julian is no different. That man is one HOT angel. The things he says to Lily, oh boy, and the chemistry between the two of them is absolutely sinful. I read in another review that the reviewer found his stalking “a little creepy.” Hey guys, He didn’t watch her sleep at night, at least not to our knowledge. Hah. A 30 something cop and undetected Nephilim, Michael, is discovered by Lily in the book. No one understands why he went undetected, but it makes you wonder if he plays an important part in the bigger picture. This book had some absolutely smoldering smexy times in it, which is to be expected in a J. Lynn book. I had to fan myself a few times. Like I said before, the chemistry between Julian and Lily was sinful, and when she finally gave into Julian, the […]

My Reactions to Shark Out of Water (Grab Your Pole #3) by Jenn Cooksey

I kept track of my reactions to the book, Shark Out of Water, by Jenn Cooksey as I read. This image pretty much sums up the whole book, and if you’ve read it. You’ll totally get it. I absolutely LOVE this series. I came across Shark Bait when I was scouring through the bowels of Amazon in September of 2012 looking for something, ANYTHING interesting to read. Finally after pages and pages of books…the (original) cover of Shark Bait caught my eye. I bought it, read it and fell in love. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read the book since..but it’s been quite a few and…and I will probably read this series many, many more times in the future. This series is amazing. The first book, Shark Bait, in it’s entirety is told from Camie Ramsey’s point a view. The Second book, The Other Fish in the Sea, is mainly told from Camie’s POV, but every once in a while, we’ll get the POV of another female character in the story. Now this book…in this book we experience the aftermath of what happened in TOFitS, through the POVs of all of the Male Characters, including the recently introduced Brandon. I love that we’re able to get into the minds of Tristan, Jeff, Pete and Brandon in this book. I think that being in the minds of the boys might be even more entertaining then being in the minds of the girls, including Jillian! Being that we’re in […]

Book Review: Chaos by Christine O’Neil + Giveaway

Maggie recently has found out that she is what they call a Semi-God..Someone who descends from a god or goddess. In Maggie’s case, it’s Aphrodite, the greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. She’s slowly coming into her powers and watch out, because if you piss her off you might end up in a coma like her Ex, Eric. Out of nowhere, the New kid, Hot & Irish, Mac Finnegan, has decided that he wants to mess with Maggie for no good reason. He seems to know how to push her buttons just right and that’s not a good thing for him or Maggie. — I have to be honest, it took a while for the story to get going but once it did I really started to enjoy the book. I loved Maggie and the things that came out her mouth. She was witty, sarcastic and full of attitude and had no problem saying what was on her mind. When you put her and Mac Finnegan together. Wowie! The chemistry between was electric, though both of them try to deny it’s there. The bickering between the two of them was entertaining and sometimes it seemed as though Maggie wanted to attack and kiss him, while other times she wanted to attack and kill him. It’s interesting to see Maggie’s character develop throughout the book as she learns more about where she comes from and how to control her new powers and try to be the best that she […]

Book Review: Speak Easy by Melanie Harlow!

Erin’s Review: Tiny is a 20-year-old girl dreaming of someday finishing nursing school, and moving out of her dad’s house. Tiny works for her father’s bootlegging operation while simultaneously helping out in her older sister’s small grocery store when she is needed. At night, she craves the lifestyle of the flapper, but instead is at home taking care of the kids. NOT HER KIDS, her own little sisters, While their dad is off customizing cars with hidden compartments, gambling or picking up the shipment of booze that’s just come in over the lake. One day, about a week after Tiny notices “The Sheik”, aka Enzo, coming into her family’s grocery store. Enzo comes into her store asking her to pass something on to her father. That night her father goes missing. Oh no, what’s a girl to do? Enters Joey, a serious pain in Tiny’s ass, but someone she and her family have known all her life. With his help, she is able to collect the ransom money needed to get her dad back. The chemistry between Enzo and Tiny is explosive, and Tiny tries to use it to her advantage. But what’s this? An almost unwanted attraction for Joey has decided to sneak up on Tiny. Who is she going to choose? The mobster whose family has kidnapped her dad, or the boy from down the street that she’s known all her life and has done all he can to help her get her dad back? ————— Once I started reading […]

BOOK Review: Losing Hope by Colleen Hoover (@colleenhoover)

I went into this book thinking it was going to be the same story as Sky’s but from a different POV. IT’S NOT. It’s much more than that. It was almost like reading a new book, only not. Because we do get some rehashing of scenes that we experienced in Hopeless, but with Holder’s inner dialogue it made it a new experience. This book invoked so many emotions I would probably forget a few trying to list them off. It was one of the most intense emotional roller coasters I’ve been on. Holder’s story starts a year before Hope aka Sky comes back into his life. Right before the turning point that made Holder question his ability to protect the ones he loves. We get to experience the loss of Les, Holder’s sister, and everything that happens afterwards. When preparing for Les’s funeral, Holder comes across a blank leather-bound journal in her closet. Thus begins the Letters to Les. Les, You left your jeans in the middle of your bedroom floor. It looks like you just stepped out of them. It’s weird. Why would you leave your jeans on the floor if you knew what you were about to do? Through Holder’s letters to his sister, we discover that Holder is angry at his sister, because he doesn’t understand why she would kill herself and he feels that he failed as a brother. He also tells his sister about things that are going on with his life, now that she […]

Book Review: Shark Bait (Grab Your Pole #1) by Jenn Cooksey + Giveaway

I came across Shark Bait when I was scouring through the bowels of Amazon in September of 2012 thinking that I finally read everything there is to be read on Amazon when I found Shark Bait. It caught my eye and I took a gander at it and thought it sounded interesting so I bought it. I instantly got hooked and I don’t think I put my iPad down til I finished the book. Shark Bait is an amazing YA book with references to the best TV, Movies and Music of the 80s & 90s, a cute and hilarious protagonist named Camie, a stealthy 12 year old named Jill, and a boy named Tristan who will make you swoon all over yourself. I have to give it to Jenn Cooksey, you don’t always find a book where the main character is a female that doesn’t annoy the crap out of you. Camie never did, said or really whined about anything that made you go “WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” like some female characters (who shall remain nameless..*cough*Bella/Ana/etc.*cough* :P) Most of the time she was making me laugh and I’m glad I found a book where I actually LIKED the Main Female character. Along with the awesomesauce Camie, the supporting characters in this book are just as amazing and funny too. Kate is smart, sweet and being one of Tristan’s Best Friends, she is able to give Camie the 4-1-1 as the story goes along. “Dear Jeff” is hilarious […]