Search

Search only in certain items:

Raising Victor Vargas (2003)
Raising Victor Vargas (2003)
2003 | International, Comedy, Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"[Laughs.] Yeah, I mean, all these things obviously exist to some extent, but this was just, “Here are people.” And these are four main kids who are sort of just making their first forays into romance and what it means to be young men and young women. It doesn’t talk down to them, it doesn’t assume things. It all sort of flows from within these young people and from the actors themselves, and it has a humanity that I don’t think has been achieved before or after in depictions of people that age. So I always thrust it on our students, especially young Latino students who don’t see a whole lot of depictions of themselves in American movies."

Source
  
If There's No Tomorrow
If There's No Tomorrow
Jennifer L. Armentrout | 2017 | Contemporary, Young Adult (YA)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Liked it but didn't love it

I liked this but failed to be pulled into it completely. Her retelling of the scene and what led up to it and her emotions being all up in the air didn't hit me as hard as they could have. If I'd been fully into the story, I'd have been crying my eyes out.

As for her romance with Sebastian. Well, I liked him a lot but I never understood the self sacrificing behaviour female characters can do sometimes where they push the guy they like/love away. What is with that?

Never the less, I did enjoy this just not as much as some of JLA's other books.
  
Kindling the Moon (Arcadia Bell, #1)
Kindling the Moon (Arcadia Bell, #1)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
4.5 stars.

I was surprised that I liked this so much. I think it was the fact that the romance took up a good 50% or so of the book, the other 50% being the hunt for the demon that Cady believed killed the three people her parents had been accused of killing.

I still haven't decided if Lon is attractive (wavy longish hair and moustache?) but I have to admit that despite the age difference between him and Cady that I really like the thought of them as a couple. Some of the scenes between them were just amazingly sweet and others were just plain sexy.

I cannot wait to read more of this series!
  
Dangerous Behavior
Dangerous Behavior
Nancy Bush | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Ties together well with a good ending (0 more)
Extremely slow start (1 more)
Heavy focus on the romance can be off-putting
Killer Couples
I could almost tag this book as a straight up romance given how much time is dedicated to Sam and Jules’ love story. While the romance could be a good hook for some I personally just found it distracting and kind of eye roll worthy. Sam and Jules were high school sweethearts, Sam cheats, and after getting dumped Jules finds her way into the arms of his brother, who took care of her through her family troubles. The book spends an inordinate amount of time on Sam’s miserable love life and how he never got over his first love despite a plethora of women throwing themselves at him. This made the earlier parts of the novel slow down to a crawl as the narrative focus was more about the romance than the actual murder.

It got worse when Jules started getting her memory back and remembers nothing of the love she shared with her husband and instead keeps thinking about Sam and all the great sex they had. Days after her husband is murdered. I groaned. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised and it’s predictable, it’s just so distasteful and was just sort of a big middle finger to Sam’s brother Joe. I couldn’t get behind the romance in the story at all and it really decreased my enjoyment. So much that I actually was really struggling to like the book and had been thinking about rating it lower until I got to the second half of the book.

Thank goodness for the second half, when the mystery really started to come together. The thrill killers were an interesting pair that bring to mind several serial killer couples. It was a confusing twist on an otherwise average murder mystery and at first I had been wondering why they were even in the story at all. As I dug deeper into the story, however, things pulled together nicely and I actually found these characters to be pretty interesting.

This was the part of the book that was actually good, and the ending alone convinced me to push my rating just a little bit higher. It was worth slogging through the romance to get to the good stuff. While I found certain parts predictable and had figured out the dastardly duo immediately when they were introduced I still enjoyed unraveling the mystery and finding a few surprises along the way.
  
Honestly, I can't believe I read the whole thing. Here's the premise of the first story: Girl gets turned into vamp. Has sex. Has some more sex. A tiny bit of plot. Even kinkier sex. Sex, sex, sex. And more sex than plot throughout the remainder of the story. Honestly the redundancy got really boring. Now, I knew this was erotica (or Erotic Romance as it says on the spine) going into this, but I had read that there was a good plot in there too. I would think even erotica would have at least equal plot with the sex, if not slightly more. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know, this is the only book in this genre I've read. And seeing as it does say it's also a romance, I would expect some feelings and emotions behind all the rutting sex in almost every possible sexual situation known to man (and wolf), but no, there's nothing there. The second story is slightly better in the love territory, but the plot is a complete disaster. While I didn't care for Tori in the first story, I hated her here. What a *bleep*! And if there's nothing I despise more, it's a Mary Sue; every guy wants her, she's this perfect creature, et cetera, et cetera, excuse me while I throw up. And it's carrying it too far that everyone hates Sarel and she has to suffer that much because she made a big mistake, but geez, deal with it! She knows she was stupid and wrong, and Eli forgave her. Bunch of hypocrites.

So it sounds like I totally hated the book, not so. The ideas are solid and in between sex scenes in the first story, it was well-written. So overall, not the worst thing I've read, but far, far from the best. I do have another in the series sitting here that I'll give a try, although I think it might be my last one by this author, unless she goes strictly romance.
  
Midnight's Daughter (Dorina Basarab, #1)
Midnight's Daughter (Dorina Basarab, #1)
Karen Chance | 2008 | Fiction & Poetry
I adore the Dorina Basarab series. To truly appreciate them I recommend reading alongside Karen's other major series the Cassie Palmer series.

Dorina is a 500 year old dhampir with some serious memory problems from most of her life, so while she has experience and fun stories to tell she is still very modern and youthful. An outcast to both vampire and human world's, and repeatedly mocked and attacked by them too, Dory shows how 500 years helps build a thick skin. But deep down we still get a sassy, strong woman than Chance is known for writing.

The reason I love Dory starts in Midnight's Daughter but grows in the series. And that is because Dory is relateable. She is strong. She knows she is strong. She is confident in her strength. She knows her limitations. But she is also afraid. This internal dialogue you read is so very real and lifelike.

She is also hilarious and Karen chance style of writing will have you laughing as well as scream for the safety of for favourite characters.

Midnight Daughter as a book is well writte . With attention to detail throughout the history and action scenes that you will be holding for more at the stench or getting rather flustered at some romantic encounters. There is a good balance and it is infused with emotion and sensation so you aren't just stuck with a dry sex scene, it is romance not boring bedrooms with flat description or over the top swooning.

The romance plays key files in the plot and not just the sake of it being a romance. Much like in the Caddie Palmer series.

The storyline is very much a scene setter for the rest of the books. While a lot happens it is breaking the mold set by Carrie Palmer.

All in all a fun battle in both bar brawls and bedrooms with deep undercurrents of isolation, stigma and abandonment covered. Read it. Read it now.