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The Jack's Heart
The Jack's Heart
Demi Vice | 2018
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
So we meet Jack not long before he gets released from prison after doing a stint of seven years for a crime he didn't commit. He's asked by his cell-mate of the last three years to deliver a letter to his sister who it turns out lives near where he grew up as a kid. Upon sight, they have an instant attraction and things get very heated.

I'll be honest, I wasn't sure about Jack at the start. He seemed very cocky, almost intimidating in those first few chapters. But he did grow on me, quite a lot in fact. He had lines he wouldn't cross like having sex with Ahri while she was drunk. I liked that. I liked how protective he was of her. One quote summed him up pretty well:
Jack had the whole, "don't judge a book by its cover," down to an art form. There were layers to him no one ever expected, and they were addicting.

Ahrianna was a fighter. She'd had a tough childhood but was striving to do better, be better. She worked two jobs, barely getting any sleep, and was doing an online course so she could get her dream job in management--where the money was.

The sex scenes were a little too dirty for me. We had anal play and very filthy dirty talk (which I'm not the biggest fan of. I don't mind the odd bit but this was very in-your-face-description dirty talk) and I skipped a few paragraphs.

As for the romance in this, it was nice. Two really damaged people coming together and the attraction being so sudden that the romance just evolved naturally. They were...I don't know how to describe it. So alike in so many ways but complimented each other in others. They were a really great couple.

With those first few scenes and the hot sex I expected this to be more erotica than romance but it wasn't like that at all. Definitely more of a romance.

I've just finished it and seen that Ceifador, a character from Jack's past is the next book and with that last scene in the prison I'm wondering if that guy might be him? I may have to read it and find out.

If you like steamy contemporary romances with good-hearted bad boys and feisty female characters then you should give this a try.
  
    Max & Ruby Bunny Bake Off

    Max & Ruby Bunny Bake Off

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    It’s time to create yummy dishes or spectacular messes with the most lovable and mischievous...

If You Were Here
If You Were Here
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
“If You Were Here” by Alice Peterson is an emotional story about Huntington’s Disease, a disease that affects your brain & movements and it gets worse as it progresses, without any cure for it yet.

Peggy has lost her husband to this disease, and now her daughter as well. But what she needs to do now is tell her granddaughter Flo that the disease is hereditary and she might be at risk.

Flo is about to get married and move to the US, but the news change everything. How do you even deal with such news, right? How do you process it? Through Flo’s character, you can clearly see her confusion and struggle to accept the fact – something that is so common for a human to do. Her fiance is not ready for the risk and will probably never will. The only support Flo has is her roommate James, his sister and her grandma Peggy. Flo needs to make the hardest decision of her life: does she take the test or not? Is she at risk of getting the disease too? What if she is tested negative? But, what if she is tested positive? Or would she just rather not know and live every day experiencing as much as she can? With her mother’s diaries helping her on this journey, she finds hope and strength she never knew she had before.

I loved Flo’s character. Despite the whole world turning upside down, she picked herself up and was always thinking on the positive side. Sure, there were ups and downs, but damn, that persistence was incredible.

”If You Were Here” is such a sad, but positive and powerful story about what we can do with our lives, and how we should live every day of our lives like it’s our last. Because – that is the truth: you don’t know whether you’ll wake up in the morning. You don’t know whether you’ll be going through troubles until it happens. You don’t have a map of your life, and that’s completely okay. Try to achieve as much as you can today, because you never know what tomorrow may bring.

Please pick this book up. It’s powerful, it’s incredible, it’s sad and it’s motivational. But above everything else, this book is bloody real!
  
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Ali A (82 KP) rated Hello (from Here) in Books

Sep 14, 2021  
Hello (from Here)
Hello (from Here)
Chandler Baker, Wesley King | 2021 | Young Adult (YA)
5
6.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Trigger Warnings: Covid-19, death of a parent, AIDS, generalized anxiety disorder, panic attacks,

Max and Jonah bump into each over at the grocery store right when the Covid-19 lockdown was beginning in California. Max's part-time job as a personal shopper begins to transform into a bit of a nightmare and Jonah's pre-existing anxiety disorder is becoming a daily struggle. Can the two come together even though they must stay apart? Hello (from Here) jumps into the first two months of the quarantine and the love lives and two teenagers trying to figure out this new world.

This wasn't my favorite book on the planet, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. I will also keep it on my shelves and possibly come back to it another time (when the Corona Virus isn't still running wild). Like most who have reviewed this book, I feel like it may have been too soon.

The main characters were okay, but not amazing, I did find them a little whiny towards the end... Olivia, Jonah's sister, was probably my favorite out of everybody and I'd kind of like to hear some more of her story! Also Arlo and his story! Kate and Jonah's "step-parent replacing late parent" trope was shown well in the novel. I thought the development of their relationship was well handled and realistic. I was happy with the end result for them.

I also thought the anxiety disorder representation was handled well in this novel too. As someone with anxiety who has had panic attacks (though not quite like Jonah's), I felt like one could still understand what he was going through, especially in his current situation.

I feel like this novel fell short - mostly by tackling too much all at once. I felt a little anticlimactic by the time I closed it. So many things were brought up: important issues and themes, but then were finished limply in the end. (view spoiler).

The cheating storyline was just - bleh. It wasn't needed and was more of a distraction. I also felt like it didn't make much sense for how the character had been acting throughout the whole storyline.

Overall, I feel like this was just too soon. I'm sure it will be good in a few years time though, when we weren't all still going through the same pandemic.
  
Her Perfect Life
Her Perfect Life
Hank Phillippi Ryan | 2021 | Thriller
7
6.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
A twisty and personal thriller
Lily Atwood is a famous television reporter known for being perfect. She has a gorgeous young daughter, Rowen, a lovely home, and multiple Emmys. But when Lily was young, her college-age sister, Cassie, just vanished. Then their grieving mother died, leaving Lily alone. Lily and her producer, Greer, have an anonymous source who has been feeding them tips that only increase Lily's popularity. But when the tips start getting personal, Lily begins to panic. Someone is ready to uncover her past and destroy all she holds dear--but why?

"At some point you have to stop looking, I told myself. But still. If she did something truly bad, how much did I want to know? How would that knowledge change my life? My career? Maybe it's better for me to pretend she never existed. But I know she did exist."

This is crazy page-turner with lots of wild plot twists. It certainly keeps you guessing. Lily has the "perfect" life and she and her producer are determined to keep it that way, so that Lily (and Greer) stay on top. It seemed a bit much that Lily's fans would drop her at the sign of one mistake, but I suppose we all understand cancel culture these days...

Neither Lily nor Greer seem particularly likable, with their desire to win at all costs, so I wasn't particularly attached to their characters. I did like Lily's young daughter Rowen. The format of the book, however, is very easy-to-read, with flashbacks to Cassie's life in college interspersed with Greer and Lily's present day narrative. Honestly, college-age Cassie may be the easiest character to root for! Ryan certainly weaves a compelling mystery.

There's a lot going on in LIFE... I can't go into all the threads due to spoilers, but there are a lot of various plot points and sometimes it all seemed like a bit much. The book ended a tad fast, too, considering all those different narratives.

Still, this is a gripping thriller that keeps you on your toes. It illustrates how life is not always perfect... but maybe it does not need to be? 3.5+ stars.

I received a copy of this book from the author's Super Reader club and Macmillan-Tor/Forge in return for an unbiased review.