Sequel to Take This Regret!!!!

Via Aestes Book Blog:

SEQUEL NEWS!!!!!! Ohhhhh Myyyyy God!!!!! SQUEEE! There's going to be a sequel to TAKE THIS REGRET out in September!!!!

The title is IF FOREVER COMES!! I'm freaking out here!! Take This Regret is on my 6-star book list!! Few books have ever made me THAT emotional. LOVE!! Here it is --> http://amzn.to/ZLy84H

Al Jackson says "I'm incredibly excited over this book! Many of you know I'd always intended on Take This Regret being a stand-alone, but you all told me HELL NO! Apparently Christian agreed with you all, so here we go!!"

******Put this on the TBR List!******

Lost to You and Take This Regret by A.L. Jackson

First & foremost, I'm still editing that book I mentioned before. Such a tedious process :) I'll keep you posted.

So awhile back my sister-in-law who has become almost a voracious reader as I am suggested that I de-register my 'old' NOOKColor and register it under her email to have access to her library. The thought made me nervous, but excited. Nervous because I had a lot of books on there (I have a NOOK HD now so I kept my books), but excited to gain access to someone elses library. It took me a few weeks & then I did it. AWESOME! So while perusing through her library I came across Lost To You and it sounded good. It was! Then I immediately dove into Take This Regret, the sequel. Sigh.........they are going on my favorites shelf.

In Lost To You (the Prequel to Take This Regret) we meet Elizabeth & Christian (yes - another one!). Paired up as study partners Christian immediately wants her & she immediately swears him off. After all we all know what good-looking, sexy womanizing men are like.

Elizabeth comes from a loving family of a single mom & 2 sisters. She has worked hard to achieve her dreams & doesn't want anything or anyone to deter her from her path to success. Christian comes from a rich successful family, but has never known the love & security a family should provide.

Over time their friendship blooms until one day they both realize they want something more. Unwilling to risk the loss of their friendship they refuse to act on their feelings. Until that one day where they both decide it's worth the risk.

In Take This Regret are  Christian & Elizabeth are in a loving committed relationship. They continue to pursue their dreams of becoming lawyers and make plans for their future. Although still deeply in love Elizabeth is devastated as she shares her unplanned pregnancy with Christian and is cruelly ejected from his life. After all nothing can stand in the way of his plans to partner in his father's law firm. Words spoken in anger, misread situations and intense hurt prevent them from seeing each other for 5 long years. Neither has been able to move on and as fate finds them living in the same city it's inevitable their paths should cross. Determined to see his daughter and get Elizabeth back Christian sets out to convince her he's changed. This book begs the question is it harder to forgive someone else or yourself?

Sooooooooooo good!

New book....Part 2

So that book......the one I posted about earlier......I got it! I was asked to help edit & I'm so excited. It's an honor to be gifted with someones work in this way. I'm 2 chapters in & so far so good.  Stay tuned.......

New Book

I was officially notified yesterday that I will be receiving a book from a new author to review this weekend. Yay! I LOVE when that happens. Getting to read a book before it's available to the world makes me happy. Yes, I'm weird like that. So, stay tuned for my review when I finish!!!!

Bared To You by Sylvia Day

Vague spoilers a possibility....

When will I ever learn? I am more than a little mad at myself after finishing this book. Why? I bought into the hype that this was a Fifty Shades of Grey rip off. No matter how many times I pulled it up & looked at the synopsis, this 'fact' kept me from reading. Through a series of pretty awesome circumstances, I got it in my library & started reading last night. That's right - last night. This means it was a 1 day read. Totally NOT a FSOG rip off book & shame on all those people who said it was. Shame on ME for listening!

In case you didn't get it from my first paragragh, to say that this is a FSOG rip off book is down right funny to me now that I've read it. Let me list the similarities for you: there is a hot guy, there is a hot girl, they have sex (and LOTS of it), there is a brief mention of dominance/submissive & having a safe word. That comes 217 pages in. The entire book is only 296 pages (on my nook). Come on! To make those parallels is a H-U-G-E stretch. Moving on.......

I won't go into too much detail about the storyline other than to say this: boy meets girl, boy wants girl, girl wants boy, girl has a secret from her past, boy has secret from his past, they are both screwed up & enjoy screwing each other. A LOT! Secret pasts lead to a rocky path down the road to romance.

I liked this book, but I can't say that I loved it. The characters are interesting, but not enough to have pulled me in like I wish they would have. The main male character Gideon Cross (whose name I love) is endearing, but he's no Travis Maddox. The standard I hold all fictional boyfriends now :) The main female character Eva is redeeming to me in that she isn't a dishrag that lets the man walk all over her. In fact she is often the aggressor in their sexual exploits.

This book has an ok story that I felt drug out a little too long in this book. Of course there is a sequel & yes - I will read it. So, as long as you don't expect a FSOG type book you should definitely check this out. It's a good read just not a great one.

Wait For You by J. Lynn

What makes a good romance book? In my opinion it's this: boy/girl with a past/present filled with angst, boy/girl who sees past the drama of the past and sets out on a relentless pursuit of said person, and lastly a happily ever after ending. With Wait for You I can honestly say; check, check, check.

Avery Morgansten has run away from her parents, her home, her ex-friends and has embraced the college lifestyle she has entered into. Her plans include making it to class on time - fail, staying under the radar - fail and maybe making a friend or two - success! What her plans didn't include was litereally plowing into a hottie named Cameron Hamilton on the first day of classes. Why does this never happen in real life????

Cameron is not the kind of guy that Avery is interested in meeting. He is too good looking and makes her want things she feels she doesn't deserve. Unfortunately she can't seem to escape Cam. He is everywhere. Thank the Lord & Hallelujah!

In typical romantic fashion, Avery reveals the secret of her past that had her running away & Cam doesn't care. Throw in a person from her past who insists on reminding Avery of why she ran away and you have Wait For You.

I look forward to reading more works by this author AKA Jennifer L. Armentrout.

A Song for Julia by Charles Sheehan-Miles

When reading a book there are several factors that come into play on whether it belongs in the 'good' catagory. For me the two most important are: can't put it down once I start, and immediately looking for more books by that author when you are finished. Both were true with this book. I came across it by accident while looking through a friends nook library & not finding the book I wanted, decided to give this one a shot. I also didn't notice, until finished, that it was written by a man. Blew me away! Not very often can you find a man so in tune to what a woman wants to read that he can write such a compelling story. Can't wait to read more from this author!

This book has almost everything you could ask for in a book: Politics, Music, Parental Emotional Abandonment, Stolen Innocence, Family Ties, Friendship, Mental Illness, Special Needs, Self-Discovery, Self-Reliance, Ambition, Quest for Independence, not to mention Romance.

The journey of Crank & Julia was one that I was engaged in from the get-go and I was sad to see them go at the end of the book. Although there are 700+ pages I still wasn't prepared to stop reading.

This book reminds me, a LITTLE bit, of Thoughtless by SC Stephens with Crank being in a band & their road to success. If you liked that one, you are sure to love A Song for Julia!

Into The Dark by Stacy Green

While murder/mysteries are not my first genre choice, this book came on my radar & I connected with the author on FB. I figured anyone as nice as her deserved my time in reading her book. It was also fun to read about Vegas & know the landmarks as I was just there in November for the first time. It makes me want to go back & look for the tunnels :)

Without going through the premise of the book (you can get that from the book description) I have to say that I really liked the main character Emilie. She showed real life emotions through her journey of being held hostage to finally finding her strength & fighting back. I can relate to her. My personality is to to first be hurt/scared and then I get pissed! I don't like books that portray women as 'poor me I need a man to protect me' and this book doesn't disappoint. That's not to say that having the caring arms of a strong man backing you up isn't welcome. In this book, that man is Nathan Madigan SWAT team hostage negotiator. Meeting Emilie through a tragic event & knowing they should stay away from each other until the case is 'closed' only adds to the sexual tension between them. He provides good back-up for her working on his end while she decides to venture out on her own. (Similar to a scary movie when the main character goes outside when you KNOW the killer is out there :) In a sick way, I felt really sorry for the Taker. He obviously had a real connection to .......... never mind, that would give too much away. Let's just say that while he is super creepy & obviously dangerous you can see why he is doing what he is doing. You feel sorry for him. At least I did. It was a surprise to me how much I liked this book and I can't wait to read more from this author.

Consequenses and Truth by Aleatha Romig

This book review contains spoilers!!!!!

In the first book Consequences we have Claire Nichols who has been stalked & kidnapped by Anthony Rawlings, mega-billionaire and sadist. Tony is intent on complete dominance over Claire and will settle for nothing less than perfection. After all public appearances are everything. In a quest for self-preservation Claire learns to play his games and how to get what she wants. Slowly the tables turn and their relationship becomes one of genuine affection, love, and marriage. I can't help but wonder if Claire suffers from Stockholm Syndrome. The man kidnapped, beat & raped her for Pete's sake! Everything seems to be going well, or so it seems. An unexpected event sends Claire to jail and coming full circle she finds herself being held captive again. Things may not be as they seem and the question I would like to pose is this: Can people really change?

In the second book Truth, Claire is set on payback no matter how long it takes. Freed from jail she reaches out to unlikely friends relocates and sets about trying to start a new life. Of course there is nothing that money can't buy & it doesn't take Tony long to track her down and hires a PI to keep tabs on her. In an unexpected twist Tony's interest in Claire is to get her back. Claire gets reeled back in to Tony's life in an effort to keep her friends & family safe. In the process of playing the 'game' feelings begin to change and Claire knows that her feelings for Tony are still there. When it was bad it was bad, but when it was good it was great! Those are the feelings that Claire clings to. An unexpected surprise, and manipulation from an unlikely source brings them back together under the same roof. Someone is after Claire & this time it's not Tony. Can he keep her safe? As the threats penetrate their home Claire sees only one way out. Knowing that her actions will have consequences she follows through with her plan. Now Tony is the one being hurt. Will the past always stand in their way, or can the Truth finally bring them together?

The 3rd book, Conviction is set for a late 2013 early 2014 release & this is one book I can't wait to read!!!!!

Beautiful Disaster w/ Spoilers

First book on the table has to be Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire. I am mildly obsessed with this book & have read it 5x in the last week. The next book Walking Disaster is due out April 2nd and is the same story, but from Travis' pov. I can't wait! Also released this week is news that Beautiful Disaster is in the works to be made into a movie. This will be a must see!

This is the story of Travis Maddox, underground college UFC type fighter and man-whore at Eastern U, and Abby Abernathy who is running away from a past she has no desire to repeat. Think tattoos vs. cardigans. Needless to say their paths cross and thus begins their rocky romantic road. The journey that Travis goes on from bad-boy to devoted boyfriend is an interesting one. I'm not sure I have a good grasp on where all of his rage comes from, but I love that Abby seems to be able to soothe his soul. While Abby seems to know what she doesn't want she can't bring herself to walk away from Travis proving that you can't help who you love. One of my favorite parts of the book is when they have to go to Vegas to help save Abby's dad. Why would Travis agree to fight for Benny? Was he not listening???? The storyline of Lucky Thirteen is preposterous, but intriguing all the same. The thought that a parent could believe that their child could take their luck is crazy. Not that Mick is the model parent by any stretch of the imagination. Accompanying Travis & Abby on their journey is Mare (America) Abby's best friend and Shep Travis' cousin. They are dating & in a perfect world, they will have their own book someday.

This book deals with a lot of intense emotions and situations and I cannot recommend it enough.

Newbie

So, this is something I've been thinking about doing for a loooooooonnnnnngggg time & decided to just jump in & do it! I've been averaging reading 1-2 books a day lately. I can't get enough! I love the characters & love to talk about them with other people. My intention on this blog is to just tell you what I've read & what I thought. Maybe you'll get some ideas of what to read & you can give me some feedback. If you have suggestions on how to make this page better, please let me know, because honestly......I have no clue what I'm doing :)