Disappointed...which hardly ever happens with Ashley.
927643
This book felt like an afterthought.  I much preferred some of the other books that took place in the series.
2255929
This was so disappointing.....Eve deserved better than this and more time developing her "forever" relationship.  I felt this novel to be rushed not nearly the quality of the other books in this series and will be careful when purchasing another.
1679977
Having read the previous books in the series, this one left me wondering what happened to Maggie Shayne.  Nothing drew me in to the story between these two.  There was just no chemistry.  Also, Esmeralda was just not a likeable person and I found it hard to picture her a beautiful person. Even getting past the time traveling part of the story, there was just too many things that were written and not believable.  Esmeralda is just too calm with the modern world she found herself in.  Elliot sustains two pretty severe head injuries and is just fine?  When they "made love" would Elliot really have been dumb enough to not use a condom and surprise her with modern day pregnancy prevention?  And wasn't it only a couple of weeks since they had sex that everyone totally believed she was definitely pregnant?  Just not Maggie Shaynes best work and sorry to say, a huge disappointment for Elliot's story.  I wanted more.
3592589
This was such a disappointment. I have enjoyed the Colorado Mountain series and felt Kristin Ashley has really become a great writer along the lines of the early Linda Howard. I was really looking forward to Deck's story and this was just awful. I admire Kristin Ashley's choice of unconventional characters but this story line was not good.

***SPOILERS****

Emmanuelle is supposedly this inexperienced girl who has only had two relationships. She is currently involved in the second with a guy she herself describes as creepy, he works for her and she is having sex with him? Doesn't seem real. A big deal is made about the fact that she is a serious liberal and Decker is a serious Republican? Is this necessary? It adds nothing to the story and the whole thing reads like a real life issue Kristen Ashley herself might have had to deal with. Deck is such a committed Republican that he isn't sure he can even like Emmanuelle since she believes in socialized medicine. This is just an idiotic and unncecessary part of the book. This is all made much worse when she is a little bit late meeting his parents (his father is another rigid conservative who baits her into fight after fight) and is made to feel guilty because she forgot and wasn't there right when they arrived. Give me a break. A total bad ass like Deck is really going to be that pissed off about her not being right on time when his parents arrive? And his dad holds that against her too? And she feels guilt because of this supposed shortcoming? Idiotic. This whole scenario did not ring in any way like a Kristen Ashley man. No way would a whiner like this make it with Lee Nightingale.

Sadly, Jacob Decker came off seeming like a total jackass and Emmanuelle Holmes kind of an idiot. The whole thing was a disappointing end to what has been a great series.

Oh, and when did Wood get back together with Maggie? Did I miss a book?
2050906
Let me start off by saying, I am a HUGE KK fan! I have over 20 of her books, and have absolutely loved all of them!! Until this series. I feel so disappointed! This is not the same Bailey that I have been reading about the past few years. Here are a few reasons why I dislike this series.

1. I do not like that Cody is suddenly made out to be a coward, after all that he has been through. Cody and Bailey had a special kind of love (much like Landon and Ashley) and I am disappointed that it suddenly came to an end. And for reasons that just did not make sense.

2. I do not like Brandon, the character is way too fake, and shallow. Bailey is being swept off her feet by someone who has millions of dollars, and will fly across country at the drop of a hat just to see her for a short time. Very obsessive, and worldy. I think that as a new Christian, he should have been more interested in developing a closer relationship with God, and allowing God to grow him first, before thinking of pursuing Bailey.

3. I did not like the part where Bailey and Brandon were in an apartment alone together. The couple that Bailey lived with had a strict rule about that, but made an acception for Bailey. Why? Is she so above others that she could not possibly be prone to temptation? I did not think that it sent a good message at all, to young readers, especially.

4. With Brandon and Bailey, it's all about surprises and luxuries, it all seems very self indulgent, and not a deep kind of love, like Cody and Bailey had.

These are just a few of the many things I am not liking about this series. I can't express how disappointed I am, and very surprised to be honest. This series is not at all like Karen's other books, which contain characters that are very relatable, and have a deep faith in God. I'm sorry to say that I don't plan to read Loving. I am less excited about future books, which is sad, because she has always been my absolute favorite.
1705694
I have read the entire series and always look for the new books to be released, but this one fell short!  Story line very flat and predictable. Several typing/editing errors, simple beginner mistakes,  one area is Courtney is wearing a blue sun DRESS, yet at the park, one of the guys lifts her SHIRT, then same paragraph she is back to wearing a sun dress.  With as many books as LB has out, you would think she would pay attention to the details a bit better.

 Law & Zach catch Courtney the minute she gets to the house in Desire and immediately claim her as theirs.  She has so many bad memories of living in Desire yet she folds and pretends to fight against the Dominance of Law & Zach.  She knows they want her land but yet falls right into an "affair" with them.  They go behind her back to fix up her house and she believes the lies she is told about her house and how cheap it is to fix, so they can lie to her but yet when she keeps info from them, the two guys have a conniption fit.  So much for the honesty between them.  The story has no drama no suspense no nothing.  It was nice to see some of the past characters of Desire again, but would have really enjoyed something to grab and hold me while reading the story.  The little bit about her dad could have been played up a whole lot more.  Book certainly not worth $5, this one was a .99 read.
4611477
I was really looking forward for this new Kendall's book, cause I really enjoyed the previous two about Olivia&Zach and Rebecca&Scott.
Also I'm always looking for plot with groveling heroes for past huge mistakes (especially for abandoning her during pregnancy) - so, I had really HUGE expectation for "TRAPPED".
Unfortunately, I think Kendall made a bad execution of a great idea: this romance is so boring is almost unreal.
Nothing really happens: Paige takes back Mitch almost immediately - he didn't have any good excuse for his past behaviour and didn't have to work at all to have mum and baby back...

SPOILER

I found totally unecessary the final surprise about Diane and Mitch real relationship (which to me acually was clear from the beginning hoping it was not going to happen); I think Kendall wanted to do something to give a kind of plot to a flat book - unfortunately this "twist" is so awful it makes many characters look like sociopaths, without giving any new meanings to the romance: it doesn't explain Mitch behavior which was what I was hoping for...
4319308
I have read Kendall's books before but this was not my cup of tea.  I felt like the characters were underdeveloped and nothing actually happened. I kept waiting for the climax but it just never came only an epilogue....
622994
I normally would never rate a Kristen Ashley book below 5 stars but this book was painful to read at times! The proper talk that didn't come across that way, rather as smarmy and stilted and stupid. Who talks like that??? One, why did she talk like that?? She had been in the fashion industry for 23 years not locked up in a British dungeon! She has traveled the world supposedly and comes home with that. Sorry I keep talking about the way she talks but it KILLS this book almost! Thus, alas, therefore, drat!! Ugh!
1645761
I've really loved this series so far (with the exception of the cocoa obsessed heroine in checkmate) but something seemed to be missing here. I love a story of childhood best friends falling in love but this didn't even feel like that. There was no passion. Sex yes, but I never felt a connection to either the hero or heroine. I'd say 75% of this book was dedicated to the heroine avoiding the hero. For over 6 years she held back with him rather than just TALKING to the man. It was beyond frustrating. This heroine basically ruined the book for me. I also tired of her saying she wasn't good enough for him and he deserved better. Yes she was infertile. That's not the end of the world. I went through fertility treatments for 10 years. Sure it's hard but it's not like you are on your death bed. There are options. I don't know. I was disappointed in this book all around. The hero didn't even feel like a Bradford to me. There was no humour either which was one of my favorite things about this series. I don't think I even cracked a smile while reading this. I didn't enjoy this book but since I loved previous books in this series I'm sure I will still give upcoming books chance.
4623602
** spoiler alert ** It breaks my heart to rate this book so low because this story has been the one I've been waiting for.

I have loved Sydney since the beginning of this series. I loved her snark and her hard work and how devoted she was to Becca. Tristan was always stand off-ish and maybe had a hint of cockiness, but I knew there was going to be something amazing between them. Yet, it was horrible.

Yes, it finally comes out that Becca is Tristan's daughter. Of course it happens after Sydney and Tristan have slept together and tentatively started a new relationship. And then it all goes downhill.

Tristan becomes cold and even more distant. He demands they get married or he'll take Sydney to court to get full custody. He demands they share a room and sleep together because Becca needs to see her parents "happy". It isn't until the very end of the book that he realizes that he's been a jerk the entire time and apparently a fancy dress and formal dinner is all it takes to be forgiven.

I couldn't rally back from this one. I hated the way he treated her. I hated the way he thought about her as property and the constant thought of "taking what was his" and "claiming her." I get being angry and reacting, but he refused to talk things out with Sydney. She literally had to do what he said. There were no options.

The saving spots for me were that he was adorable with Becca and I loved seeing the other couples. If not for those parts, I would have DNF'd.

**Huge thanks to Gallery Books for providing the arc free of charge**
699144
I loved parts 1-3 but was highly disappointed in this installment. There was no character development in this story everybody still doing the same thing. What's the purpose for Zy turning into a drunk?? Or Skye going back to the man that almost cost her to lose her life. Baby girl already went through enough and for her to get kill off was senseless. I think this story was just thrown together for the sake of a release
822518
Being a huge fan of Carey's work, I was really looking forward to this new series, the result though is ultimately disappointing.

It feels rushed, Carey goes through the motions, but never creates any real depth to the plot or her characters (which is her real strength). Moirin is shallow and trite, where she should be naive and savage. All the support cast are a shadow of what Carey can do. They are just not engaging at all.

In the end, this book is like a theme park ride, it certainly is enjoyable but ultimately lacks any emotional engagement.

Everything comes to Moirin easily. Whatever poor decisions she makes, success falls into her lap. A good example is the magic she learns: Through no effort of her own, it just comes to her (or is given to her) and you just know as a reader at that point that she will just oh so conveniently use it to save the day a couple hundred pages later. Please. You can do better than that.

All the while she has her very own homing beacon of fate inside her, that makes all the decisions for her. It's the ultimate killer of any sort of suspense. If you add Moirin's almost singular focus on 'desire', she comes across as unlikeable, shallow and unreflective, bumbling through the story, waiting for a 'Thumbs Up' from her fate traffic light.

On the whole, the sexual component of the book lacks the meaning and importance of her previous books. She just comes across as overeager, sleeping with everything that isn't on a tree on a count of five.

I could go on, but suffice to say that while I applaud the effort, this book comes across as uninspired and it's miles away from the quality of her previous work. It's a shame.

Nonetheless, as far as theme park rides go, this is a fairly good one if you don't expect anything other than a cheap thrill. At least it's worth the price of admission.
3079211
The story:
The beginning was promising, but this book turned out to be so short that it fell a little flat for me in the end. There was an interesting storyline of Avery searching for her birthmother, as she was adopted by her dads. However it's extremely underdeveloped and things get tied up so quickly in a neat little bow that it was just so anti-climactic.

I also had an issue with how the entire story revolved around Avery and Jase's sex life, and not in a good way. Even when they are in class, they both take Human Sexuality class and are paired up to talk about orgasms & self pleasure!? Seriously?? There are other less obvious ways to allow characters to express their sexuality and attraction, but this just felt forced and killed any sexual tension for me.

The characters:
Sadly I felt very little connection with Avery. She lacked any real personality (even quiet reserved characters need personalty). We know that something happened in her past for her to not trust people and she stays away from parties, but that's basically it.

And don't get me started on Jace and his hypocritical douchbagery! He claims to be a reformed player, and although he says many times that nothing will change the way he feels about Avery, the moment he finds out what her big secret is - he bails on her. He then makes a huge mistake that I personally would not have forgiven him for - and certainly not as easily as Avery does. He just lost all my respect in that scene and so did Avery for forgiving him so easily.

I would also liked to of seen more from the secondary characters. We have the cliche perky BFF & gay best friend, but nothing really set them apart from the rest out there in this genre.

The romance:
Avery & Jase's relationship could have done with a lot more development, it just happened way too quickly and unrealistically. I love a good sexy romance, but sometimes there needs to be scenes that show the progression of a relationship on a emotional level. There were times where Avery needed someone to talk to & instead of being there for her Jase would try to feel her up. I just wish there had been a few more scenes where they just talked or something to show there connection went further than just on a physical level.

Speaking of the physical stuff - it was a bit hit & miss for me, some of the scenes were steamy, while others were lacking any real heat:

"I'm not even nervous as Jase removes my jeans and panties. I pull my top over my head, and he unclasps my bra. After we're each undressed, we slide under the sheets and continue kissing."

Where are all the adjectives!? How did he remove her jeans, how did he undo her bra? This scene could have been sexy, sweet, sensual, romantic, passionate, fiery...or just something, but I just wasn't feeling it.

FINAL WORD:
Perhaps if some of the scenes had been extended to allow for more character development it could have been a little more memorable. With so many stories with such similar topics, this doesn't really stand apart from the crowd. Despite my issues with this book it was a quick read and I'm sure there will be some people who will enjoy it.

CONTENT:
Sexuality: medium / sex scenes
Violence: mild
Language: medium / several f words
Drugs & alcohol: medium / drinking at parties

More reviews at The Reading Realm Blog
2567415
To start with, I was beyond excited for this book. I'd randomly check my order history, just to be sure it was still preordered and hadn't disappeared into cyberspace somewhere. I contemplated going out to a store on the day it was released and buying a copy, because I didn't want to wait.

But the actual book, the juicy bits inside? It hurts to think this, much less type it, but I was actually...disappointed. That feeling wasn't there, not like the previous installments. I read the first three books back to back to back within a couple of days. This one actually took me over a week to finish it. It just didn't engage me like before, and it didn't draw me in.

One of the reasons I think this happened is the constantly skipping point of view. Every couple of pages we were in a different character's head. I've never had a problem connecting with multiple POV's before, but this time, they were so abrupt, I just couldn't really sink into the story. It almost felt like a television series or something, or a movie even, constantly skipping to a different scene with a different cast. Each segment ended with a cliffhanger as well, almost making the novel read like a script rather than a true novel.

But, then again, I loved seeing Simon more prominently featured. The dialogue is flawless, as always, and laugh out loud hilarious when it comes to the boys (Simon, Jace, and Kyle/Jordan) interacting with one another, and playing off one another. In fact, those scenes with those three, and all the snappy comebacks dripping in sarcasm were probably my favorite scenes from the whole book.

And Simon's love life? I love that the nerdy boy who never got any attentions has two hot girls interested in him, but I just didn't feel a spark with either of them. While I do prefer Simon with Isabel if I had to pick, there's no real spark to me. There's no chemistry, no draw. We see a bit of emotion from Isabel at the end, but I think I'll need a lot more to really get behind this couple. The same with Simon and Maia. I didn't feel it, despite how much I loved the characters individually. I do prefer Maia with Kyle/Jordan, but again, it just fell flat for me.

And of course, the star couple, Clary and Jace. I was always a Clary and Jace fan, even when it felt so wrong to want them together. I feel like they were still just as steamy as ever, but it almost seemed like they were going through drama for the sake of drama. This couple has already been through hell and back together, why not just leave them alone? Let this be the couple who is happy, and maybe a little more in the background. Let the secondary characters from the previous books take center stage, and just let Jace and Clary be sappy and romantic and crazy in love. This new obstacle for them just feels almost unnecessary, and honestly, I'm a little tired of them not just being able to be together. We suffered and cried and pined with them through three whole books of torment, why add more?

Needless to say, though, I love the characters and I love the world. I will never get truly tired of any of it, even if 100 more books come out. Did I feel the way this book went was almost unnecessary? Yes. Did I feel the writing wasn't quite as up to par? Yes. Am I actually way more excited about the next Infernal Devices book now? Yes. Was I disappointed and under whelmed? Yes. Am I still giving it five stars because I love this world so much? Yes. But I will read City of Fallen Angels again and again, and I will be a squealing fan girl when the next one comes out. Cassandra Clare has a devout fan for life, no matter what she does.
1490272
I was so disappointed in this last book.  Eric was hardly in book and the 2 romantic men Bill and Eric  she doesn't' end up with either one. SAM !!! Where did that come from. Really hope the tv series doesn't go with this ending. Kept thinking something else was going to happen and then it ended.
1132907
I fell in love with Callie and Kaden's story in the first book. I have been looking forward to the sequel to their story for months only to be sorely disappointed. I really wanted this book to wrap up the story and tie it in a pretty little bow.  There was no wrapping and definitely no bow.  I expected this book to really delve into the family drama with Kaden's addict Mother and abusive father, get into the history with Caleb and Callie's family, see a confrontation between Caleb and Callie's family.. confrontation with Kaden's family and Callie's family (I mean, they were close right?).. I just expected so so so much more.  I feel like that this book was written just for the sake of writing a second book, and to set up a story for Luke.  There was so much emotional angst set up with Kaden's mom and Dad, his cutting, etc.. and then they just left town.. and that's it.  You have GOT to be kidding me!!! Thats IT!?  Its just a cowardly way out.  It wasn't dealt with.  Same thing for Caleb.. he just disappears, Callie tells her parents, and everything is just forgotten about.  Nothing was really dealt with.  I hated it. So disappointed.