FIVE Reasons why Jamie Dornan IS Christian Grey

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New Adult 101

What IS New Adult? 

I get asked that quite a bit. Some crazy people out there in the book world deny it is a "real" genre. Those people suck and... can't be friends. New Adult books are in essence Romance books, with the characters usually between the ages of 18-30. HOT alpha male sex & emotional turmoil is to be expected. So if you hate filthy book sex... Move along, nothing to see here.

My gateway book into the world of NA was Coinsidence of Callie & Cayden by Jessica Sorenson in December 2012. I was blindsided and fell in love with the genre and proceeded to binge read my way through every NA book I could get my hands on for the last year. 

The must read list for Five star NA is as follows... Try to keep up ;)

Abbi Glines is the QUEEN of NA, everything she writes it GOLD!!

My favourite is The Rosemary Beach Series (hot sex, good girls, bad boys gone good, funny, twists & pretty much anything you'd ever want out of a book)

SERIES: In order of awesomeness

RL Mathewson - Neighbour From Hell Series (hilarious banter, crazy sexy)

Belle Aurora - Friend-Zoned Series (awesome sarcastic banter, crazy hot sex)

Rebecca Donovan - Breathe Series (twisted, heart wrenching, broken girl, good guy)

Jessica Sorenson - Ella & Micha, Callie & Cayden (bad boys, broken girls, twists & cries)

KA Tucker - Ten Tiny Breath Series (companion series, bad boys, bad/broken girls)

Colleen Hoover - Slammed Series (good girl/guy, life throws them a curveball)

STAND ALONE BOOKS: In order of awesomeness

Jamie MacGuire - Beautiful Disaster (bad boy, good girl with past, funny, cries)

Molly McAdams - Taking Chances (has it all bad boys, good guys, funny, hot sex, ugly cries)

Colleen Hoover - Hopeless (broken girl, good guy, twists, heart wrenching, hot)

Jasinda Wilder - Falling Into You (ugly cries, broken girl & guy, heart wrenching, twisted)

Aurora Rose Reynolds - Until November (bad boy, good girl, twists, ugly cry, funny)

Katja Millay - Sea of Tranquility (ugly cry, broken girl, damaged good guy, heart breaking)

JA Remirski - Edge of Never (good girl, sexy guy, music, road trip, twist, ugly cry, hot sex, funny)

Easy - Tamara Webber (good girl, boy with past, hot, funny)

Yes there are a ton of other authors out there who write awesome books. These amazing books stood out above the rest I've read in the passed year. They made me laugh, cry and most importantly make me fall in love right along side the characters. I loved each and everyone of those books above and in most cases read more than once. I know I am forgetting some so check out www.goodreads.com they have many lists of the best NA has to offer. 

NA men are something to behold. Strong yet damaged Alpha males who are fiercely loyal & would tear the world apart if it mean keeping their women safe. Some are perfection personified good guys or man whore, tattooed bad boys.

One downfall of NA is that 75% of the time the girl lead is wide eyed, naive & virginal. And 90% of guys are man whores. Not that that is a bad thing! I enjoyed the deflowering of Abby Abernathy and many others but do love it when the girls are as big of fuck up (or more so) than the boys, broken souls barely surviving until they find something/someone worth fighting for. 

There is a fine line between New Adult and Erotica... I was surprised to find a few of the books listed above were classed as NA and NOT erotica. Regardless I don't think you can find a NA book that doesn't contain UBER hot sex scenes, and why on earth would you want to.

Read them, love them, tell your friends about them.

This concludes our lecture on New Adult 101. 

Until November by Aurora Rose Reynolds

Have you ever saw a book and just KNEW you were going to love it? 

That is what happened with Until November. I saw the cover and thought... HOT, I must read this. I read the write up on GoodRead & fell a little harder. Then, I stalked Aurora Rose Reynolds on Twitter & Facebook and discovered, she is awesome, sarcastic and funny. At this point I was shouting "shut up and take my money!".

So in a nut shell Until November is about a woman who moved to a small town after being attacked in NYC, to live with her Dad. She has a troubled relationship with her mother & never knew her dad growing up. She meets Asher James Mayson, a delicious tattooed, alpha male, former bad boy. Obviously I fell I love with him as quickly as she did.

Asher's family was one of the best parts for me. His brothers Nico, Cash & Trevor were fantastic, sarcastic and hilarious. I heard a rumour that we get more of them in books to follow. Each one of them fiercely loyal and crazy hot. I loved Susan and James as the hilarious parents to this unruly group of guys. The way they all opened their heart & welcomed her into the family was so heart warming.

November was feisty, hilarious and I loved how she stood her ground against all these alpha guys trying to boss her around. She was fantastic. So excited and bubbly, just loving life.

I found myself reading this book with a huge smile on my face. It was just a UBER sexy, feel good, laugh out loud great read. Exactly what I was looking for. The epilogue cracked me up. I loved the happily ever after. New Adult perfection!

I really enjoyed the writing style and I am looking forward to devouring anything else she writes.

If you loved this book, like I did check out:

* Friend-Zoned by Belle Aurora. Same funny awesome alpha male friends & hot sexy bits.

* Neighbour From Hell Series by R.L. Mathewson. I swear the Mayson boys are related to the Bradford's in some crazy fictional world. 

* Rosemary Beach Series by Abbi Glines. Same HOT sex & funny bits.

If you're looking for a heart warming, funny book, with crazy HOT sex scenes this one is for you. 

Sing (#7 Songs of Submission) by CD Reiss

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Seriously, I am going to start by fangirling about CD Reiss for a moment. 

Five Reasons why CD Reiss needs to be my BFF:

1. Jonathan Drazen, just the sound of his name makes me want to kneel and call him Sir. 

2. She is wonderful to her fans, Facebook, Twitter ect. She's on it, saying hey and being awesome & shit.

3. She writes the sexiest books I have ever read. Seriously if u thought fifty Shades was sexy, think again, CD Reiss is the queen.

4. She showcases a sexy dominant ginger in her Songs of Submission series, which clearly makes her      a prime candidate for BFF status because, well, I LOVE me a ginger!

5. Her books make me laugh, gasp, cry and most importantly... Cross my legs tighter & feel awkward if I'm reading in public.

Sing was the perfect way to end this amazing series. Though I felt heartbroken for some of it, like she was trying to mess with the perfect ending I wanted in my head but of course she was right and it ended exactly as it should. I loved this series so much, Jonathan Drazen was so wounded in this book, it killed me to see him so weak. Monica's transformation from zombie to.. Well no spoilers there but she really became whole after falling to pieces. I loved the whole ride.

In conclusion, read it. Read it now. Well, I mean read the WHOLE series because it's fantastic, and filthy. 

So if you're looking to loose yourself in a dirty book. Look no further. 

If you hate smutty romance with alpha males & bondage.... 

Sorry we can't be friends :)

The Cliffhanger Rant

This rant is brought to you by the UMTEENTH (yes I really had to use that word) book I have read that ends with a heart wrenching cliffhanger. Not your average dum dum DUM ending where you think hmm that was a cool twist. No, no this is in regards to the author leaving the reader kneeling on a kitchen floor next to the beloved main character in a pool of his blood, crying out, begging the author for mercy only to find out mercy will not be given for another 12-18 months...

Now I am a book lover (obviously) and I understand that it will lead to more books being sold bla bla bla but seriously...? You want to sell books? How about writing a book longer than 300 pages and have cliffhangers AND resolutions all in one amazingly entertaining novel and leave the sequels to the money grabbers like James Patterson... CALM DOWN... Save the hate mail, if you love him good for you. I don't read him for the same reason I don't listen to Justin Beiber, because I don't let the media dictate what I read. I don't read "popular" books simply because they are popular. I seek out and read lesser known authors who have amazing stories to tell. Look around there are so many authors out there just trying to get their stories heard and are being drowned out by mass market books.

  ........Anyways.........

My little & loud opinions about the Pattersons & Roberts of this world can wait for another rant...

I am not a gentle reader that needs to be fed a happy ending to be satisfied. If a story has to end let it be happy or sad or torturous or heart wrenching but let it end! And not FOUR YEARS after the first book was released! I guess I just wish more authors would put out an amazing full bodied novel that took a bit longer than 30 days to write and was carefully planned out and thought through so it could all fit in one amazing story, cover to cover. I don't want to have to re read a series every year to remember what happened in the last book so I can be caught up for the newest release. I want to be moved to tears or laughter or anger and I want it to be amazing and then I want it to end. Period. 

We as readers get strung along and hung out to dry year after year hoping this next book will finally give us the closure only to find out, nope it's not a TRILOGY, the series will have FIVE books released! And the crowd collectively goes... WTF?

So here is a toast to the characters we have left getting on a bus to art school, or on the kitchen floor dying in a pool of blood, or in the hallway crying over the murder of a madman, or in the mangled heap of a car wreck taking their last breathe. We love you, we miss you and we hope you will ONE DAY get your ending, happy or not.

Books I See May 2013 Edition

I work as a Book Merchandiser so I see a lot of books in my travels & I like to compile lists and share to other bookies who don't have the insane compulsion to take photos of all the books they want to read... yes I do that... A LOT! So here it is, a first for my Blog but not for the bookies I chat with on a daily basis. Enjoy :) 

Books I see...

Firebird by Susanna Kearsley

Born at Midnight by  C.C. Hunter - #1 in Shadow Falls

Evidence of a Life by Barbara Taylor Sissel

The Program by Suzanne young - #1 in Program

Freak by Jennifer Hillier

Entice by Jessica Shirvington - #2 in Violet Eden Chapters

The Eternity Cure Julie Kagawa - #2 in Blood of Eden

The Way of the Fight by George St. Pierre

Body Rush by Anne Rainey 

Losing It by Cora Carmack - #1 in Losing It

The Wild Ones by M. Leighton - #1 in Wild Ones

Infamous by Sherrilyn Kenyon - #2 in Chronicles of Nick

If I Were You by Lisa Renee Jones - #1 in Inside Out

What Tears Us Apart by Deborah Cloyed

These Hidden Things by Heather Guderkauf

Nameless by Lili St. Crow - #1 in Tales of Beauty & Madness

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James

Fearless by Cornelia Funke - #2 in Reckless

Books Read in 2012

I had to share this before I get started on this years. I read some fantastic books last year and some not so fantastic. Shatter Me & Destroy Me by Tahereh Mafi were probably the most interesting series I read in the YA genre. I am a huge fan of all things Dystopian so this series was right up my alley, and if you know me you have probably read it cuz I wouldn't have stopped harassing you until you did :) it's just how I am with a great book. 

Looking back there we two series I kinda hated... and by that I mean I liked it, read ALL the books but in hind site, other authors do the topic it better... The Immortals Series by Alyson Noel (bottom right corner) which was a YA series about an elixir that makes you Immortal. A regular girl meets an immortal boy, love and chaos ensues... but it was VERY high school and the storyline is so repetitive and predictable. I liked the main characters but didnt like the lack of surprise. Fallen by Lauren Kate (top left corner) was the other series I didn't love. Again a regular girl meets a hot mysterious boy who turns out to be a Fallen Angel has loved her for eternity and every time he finds her it's just in time for her to die a horrible death... So ya this storyline of Heaven versus Hell continues for FIVE books! If you want a series about a dark mysterious hot fallen angel Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick is by FAR the better story. The best part about this series aside from the witty fallen angels & nephilim (half angels) is Mr. Cam Briel, a seriously sexy bad boy fallen angel who is only a supporting character and gets very little story time, sadly. 

I have to give a few shout outs to some lesser known authors & books I discovered in 2012...

Everyday by David Laviathan, Hopeless by Colleen Hoover, Night Road by Kristen Hannah, Eve Series by Anna Carrey, Easy by Tamara Webber, Partials by Dan Wells and Beautiful Disaster by Jamie Macguire all brilliant stories that get less publicity than they deserve!

I popped my Fifty Shades cherry last year and... well.. the dirty book lover in me was born LOL! 

I read plenty of well known stuff that I loved as well, Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare,  Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick and Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead were other fantasy driven story that stuck with me. 

2012 was a great reading year, thank you for reading my blog, I live and breath books and finding kindred spirits who share my love is a wonderful thing.

Down London Road by Samantha Young

It was sweet, sexy, funny and heartbreaking... 

Cam was so incredibly sexy and sweet, kind and fiercely loyal and supportive in a completely unapologetic way.  Johanna broke my heart the pain she endured and the life she was desperate to live. i had a hard time with her constant 'I'm not worthy' inner monologue and the way she thought the only way for her to survive and support her brother was to find a sugar daddy... ugh. The relationship between Jo & her brother was so touching, the way she did everything to protect him from the childhood she suffered at the hands of their parents, she was fierce when Cole was in danger. The brutal confrontations were so thick with emotion I couldn't help but get swept up and cry! There were a few good twists and I loved how (like Joss from the first book) Jo came from nothing but built this amazing family to love and support her and finally let them help her! 

“Some people are born with family, and others have to make family.”

The passion between Cam & Jo was HOT & the sexual tension in the beginning was... Intense! 

I loved Joss, Braden & Ellie's reappearance too. All & all a great read.

Dark Duet Series by C.J. Roberts

Holy crap! I am so glad I decided to read the last book! This story was hard to read, it was dark and brutal and was not the kind of book I normally read but the relationship between these two people was something that started so hateful and brutal and grew into something so beautiful and loving. I cried my eyes out as she stepped out of the truck. I wanted them to have a happy ending so badly. I loved the way it ended, I felt like it in some strange dark way justified what they both had been put through. I am drawn to stories where the characters are stripped of everything that makes them human, all the love and security taken away and how they find the strength to get out, to find a way to find peace. To heal even if they can barely stand to look in the mirror. It was moving seeing the change in Caleb in book two. He was so much more broken than Livvie was. He had never had anything worth loving, his whole life was pain and revenge and hatred. Livvie opened up his heart and became everything to him, changed his heart & soul. It's was the strangest, darkest love story I had ever read but it will never be forgotten. Be warned it is brutal and painful to read at times, NOT for your average reader, be warned,human trafficking and the slave trade is a scary place to read about. But that aside I highly recommend reading BOTH books.

Taking Chances by Molly McAdams

“That first night, I did realize I would never meet another girl like you. But you deserve someone who has waited for you as long as you have waited for them. And no matter how much I wish I could be that guy, I can't Harper.”
“And he loved you and your mom, so much. I’ll always remind you of that, but I wish you could have met him.” -Brandon”

Once in a while you come across a book that sticks with you. I finished this one over a week ago and still can't read anything else... Total book hangover.
So much went down in this book it felt like a series. Love, hate, heartbreak and trauma. And to quote a friend... "Ugliest cry ever!" LOL I bawled my eyes out more than a few times.

The plot in as few words as possible is: girl goes to college meets a bad boy, then meets a good boy. Falls in love with both and heartache ensues, miscommunication & tragedy ensues, girl looses both boys and finally finds a happy ending in the most unlikely places.

I loved it so much. A lot like Night Road by Kristin Hannah. Tons going on & I just couldn't put it down! Highly recommended!

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

“Hope.
It's like a drop of honey, a field of tulips blooming in the springtime. It's a fresh rain, a whispered promise, a cloudless sky, the perfect punctuation mark at the end of a sentence. And it's the only thing in the world keeping me afloat.”

“Sticks and stones keep breaking my bones but these words, these words will kill me.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Unravel Me
OMG... This was insanely great. I devoured it in about 12 hours. After reading Destroy Me last summer I have been anxiously awaiting what will happen next. I thought Juliette would be stronger in this one, I really hoped she found a place to belong. Bit after spending so much time in solitary she just can't allow herself to be at home anywhere. It's really sad. Her beloved Adam is practically non existent in this book, which was fine by me because I was never a fan. I prefer the dark & twisted Warner. After Destroy Me (2012), I was drawn into the heart & soul of this beautiful disaster of a man. Unravel Me drew me in even more with the introduction of his uber evil father. With Juliette leaning on him because he is the only one who really knows who she is and he excepts everything wi love but doesn't think he is worthy of it in return. I have high hopes for the next book coming out next year (too long). If you haven't read Shatter Me do so, Tahereh Mafi has a style and feel to her writing that is unlike anything I have ever read. You can feel Juliette barely cling to sanity with every word.

Bared to You & Reflected In You by Sylvia Day

This was on the shelf for a long time. I think after I read Fifty Shades I needed a break from THIS kind of book :) That being said I liked it. Gideon Cross, like Christian Grey is an uber wealthy young man with a pension for dominating his women & has some serious childhood trauma hiding in his closet. As does Eva, the young Advertising Assistant, who likes being dominated. Many, many sexy bits so be warned, if you don't like reading sexy books avoid this one. I am reviewing this as a series cuz frankly it's easier for me LOL. The two of them go back and forth loving & hating each others behaviour and falling in lust... I mean love. More sex than Fifty Shades but less S&M stuff.
Basically if your looking for a naughty book check it out ;) It serves its purpose. Not the greatest book ever written but its dark, twisted & sexy. Next book in series comes out May 2013.

The Secret of Ella & Micha by Jessica Sorensen

“You're crazy if you think that you can run off and change your identity. This unfeeling, preppy girl thing you got going on," he motions his hand at my tank top, white frilly skirt, and curly hair, "is nothing but bull shit. You can't just change who you are on the outside and expect it to change who you are on the inside.”

“It's what's buried deep inside that frightens me because it's broken, like a shattered mirror.”
― Jessica Sorensen, The Secret of Ella and Micha

I have to say I am a fan of Jessica Sorensen, her writing style is a darker, more intense read. I think I will be working my way through the rest of her books. http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4601855.Jessica_Sorensen
Ella & Micha... Of course I loved them and rooted for them. I always enjoy this kind of book with the perfect balance of passion and conflict. I loved reckless Ella so much better than prim & proper Ella, and Micha was just so sexy & strong and intense. There was so much conflict in both of them about their childhood trauma and parents. A fast read but really good, I have an obsession with these kinds of books. Book two in The Secret Series called The Forever of Ella & Micha comes out later this year.

Thoughtless by SC Stephens

As much as I loved the passion Kellan & Kiera had I wanted to slap her. Thoughtless is a good title for her, so is skank. LOL I don't think any matter of fiction fluff can make her constantly running in between two guys REPEATEDLY seem like a love story. She was a coward and I really didn't like her at all. Denny was so sweet & perfect. Kellan was a man whore with a heart of gold. She didn't deserve either. She deserved a kick in the head (pun intended). Sure I liked the steaminess and her exchanges with Kellan but it was all tainted by the fact that afterwards she climbed in bed with her REAL boyfriend. Honestly she skeaved me out. The story would have been so much better if Denny wasn't even in the book honestly. Also the book was ridiculously long (885 pages on ereader). The story could have been told in 300 pages. Don't get me wrong I liked the book but it was frustrating. 

White Trash Beautiful by Teresa Mummert

It was a mix of brutality and sweetness. The things Cass endured and called “normal” was heart breaking. It was predictable but still had a few surprises. The way she saw herself and her life was tough to take, she deserved so much better. Tuck was fantastic. Sweet charming and completely open to love and just plain perfect. I was happy with the ending and look forward to the next book.

Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen

Such a crazy story I fell in love with the two. Both so incredibly broken and damaged they made my heart ache. It was hard to watch them flounder and hate themselves so much. This is not a happy cheery love story but a deeply dark story of two people who love each other but are tainted by the pain they have endured in their life. Great story, terrible ending ;)

On Dublin Street by Samantha Young

Joss was a troubled girl running away from her past & Braden was a successful tall, dark & handsome business man who valued his family above all. They meet and make a friends with benefits arrangement and obviously fall in love. I love Braden he really braught Joss out of her bubble of denial and helped her find herself again. I loved how for a change the girl was the damaged, broken soul and the guy was supportive and kind. A nice change from the usual virginal naive girls in books.
A good read with more than its share of sexy bits ;) I really liked it.

The Edge of Never

The Edge of Never by J.A. Redmerski. Beautifully written. Cam & Andrew have now ranked as one of my book couples. I loved the adventure they took me on (I am a sucker for a great road trip). I loved the way they played off each other. I laughed and cried and was blindsided and at points wanted to chuck my iPad across the room but it MOVED me, set a fire in my belly that burned slow & bright and didn’t let me go until well after I was finished with the book. Beautiful, just beautiful.