A slow building romance in an interesting locale but it felt like a young adult novel
937865
Interests: Contemporary Romance, Doctors, Central America

Quick Summary
Annie desperately wants to get into Brown University's medical program but her scores are just not high enough. Hoping to bolster her chances she signs up with a medical aid group in Nicaragua run by friend's she knew in high school. Felipe has worked hard to become a doctor but he finds it is often hard to earn the respect of the American "poverty tourists" who donate time and money to his mother's medical aid group. Felipe is surprised to realize how much his teenage crush, Annie, has grown up, but he's not sure how she'll handle working in the rain forest. As both Annie and Felipe reconnect and work together they must learn what it is they really want in life.

What I Liked
This was a great story and I loved how unique of a setting it offered. The author painted a great picture of Nicaragua and it's people without softening the poverty some areas live in. The reader really feels for the people and how much the Ahora medical clinics mean to them. Felipe is beyond dedicated to his work and all he wants is to convince his mother that he can run things; but Felipe has a lot to learn about working with others and accepting the help his clinic needs. Annie truly wants to help, but she soon finds herself over her head and this trip is nothing like what she was expecting. I respect how hard Annie works while there and how compassionate she is toward the people she meets. She truly embraces her time in Nicaragua and her enthusiasm for learning comes through clearly.

The romance between Felipe and Annie is a slow build that fits with the circumstances and the ages of the characters. Annie has just broken up with her boyfriend, she hasn't seen Felipe since high school; while Felipe is very focused on his work and based on his past work with Americans he's unsure how Annie with handle everything going on. There's a nice tension and pace to the relationship that I appreciated considering the situation they were in. It was really nice to watch both characters grow and mature.

What Needed Work
While the characters are indeed young (heroine about 21 and hero about 25) the overall tone and writing of the book felt very young adult. I didn't have a problem with the writing it just made it hard to conceive of the actions of the characters. Some of this may be some of my own pre-conceived expectations, for instance, I hear doctor and I think of someone more in their 30's than Felipe's actual age. He does address the fact that it takes less years of schooling in Nicaragua to become a doctor but even then, the work Felipe does is so important. Either way, I'll still be reading the next in the series.
1722442
Anjuli returns home practically penniless, toting her baggage full of secrets, grief, and regrets to her rundown future B&B. It's a good thing her sister can give her some hours at the local pub. But what really has everyone in a tither is how her ex-fiance Rob, the guy she left at the altar, is handling her return.

Rob Douglas is an accomplished architect, with lots of opportunities to leave small time life, but once Anjuli comes home, he wants to resolve some unfinished business between them. For the most part I liked Rob, especially in the second half of the book, although he did have a tendency to jump through a range of emotions in any given situation. One minute he's seductive, then contrite, then silly. Sometimes that worked for me and sometimes it didn't.

Pitch Imperfect is set in a small-town in Scotland, and it covers the typical small-town themes of nosy townsfolk, the bachelor everyone wants to marry off, scandals and having everyone in town know your business. Typical stuff.

It takes a long time for Rob and Anjuli to work through their problems. A long time. I could have given this a higher rating had that been tightened up somewhat. At times Pitch Imperfect was just too wordy. I did like the setting, and I liked the story for the most part, I just wished it had moved along at a better pace.

Overall, Pitch Imperfect was a solid three star read for me. There were parts I liked, and parts I thought could have been better. I'd love to know more about Ash and Viking or even Damien and Mac, as they were interesting secondary characters.

ARC provided for review.
1476463
I was really looking forward to the Misadventure books and I felt like Misadventures of a City Girl was a pretty good start. Madison and Luke were quite the pair. Things got hot and heavy right from the start for these two. They both are struggling with past hurts but even when things got a bit testy, they decided to take the chance on each other anyways. I enjoyed the banter between the two and how they were able to compromise in order to make things work. There was no doubting the instant chemisty between them. That being said, the pace was just too slow for me. I hoped it would have picked up especially when Luke and Madison started to get to know each other better but it seemed to continue to move along slowly. I know that the purpose of Madison's ex was supposed to bring a bit of drama to the story but her arguing with him came off as really childish. It made me question her maturity when she seemed so strong and independent throughout the book. Overall though, I enjoyed the book and I look forward to reading other Misadventures in the future.
2598367
Also posted in my Goodreads page: [...]

Got this free on Amazon, as encouraged by Ms Cynthia Brint, for an honest review.

Apparently this belongs to the New Adult categoary and from my understanding, the heroine is usually college-age to fresh graduate. It seemed like Gale Everett was in high school. The pacing was quite slow, and Gale reminded me a bit of Bella Swan (Twilight) in that she's boring. That's where the comparison ends.

There's more to Gale than meets the eye and she attracted the attention of a poweful being in the Twaelins' world, Canendore the Queen of Dreams. She grew up without a father, and her mother shuts down everytime she asks about him, but that mystery would be solved here. This story is told in alternating points of view of Gale and Nethiun (the queen's servant).

I liked the paranormal angle, about the twaelin beings, I'm just curious about their purpose in the world. They "feed off" energies from humans, don't eat, don't sleep, and could vanish into thin air, and of course they have powers.

In a nutshell, Gale is the game changer for the Twaelins and everything would come into full circle in about the 90% part of the story. Gale and Nethiun began to develop feelings for each other, there's a love triangle going on, and this story could've been better.
2664943
Im torn about how I felt about this romance.

There were things I liked about it. Both the main characters are decent people with typical hang ups: Alexa can be awkward around men and has body image issues, while Drew has a fear of commitment (and, yes, he can be a bit of a jerk because of it). Theyve got a great meet cute that involves getting stuck in a hotel elevator, where Drew asks Alexa to be his plus one at his exs wedding to avoid him having to go alone. Their interactions as a couple are mostly sweet, barring the bumps in the road due to their personal issues, which sometimes cause them not to communicate well (pretty typical for a romance novel). They get over those issues eventually, and the book has a nice HEA ending.

But . . . the story was a bit simple and kind of left me wanting more. Alexa and Drew had some challenges as a couple that could have been explored to add depth to the story. For one thing, they live in different parts of California. But even though both characters complain about being separated, theyve got careers and money that allow them to travel, so their long-distance romance seems more like an inconvenience than a real problem. Beyond that, though, is that they are an interracial coupleAlexa is black, and Drew is white. Thats still not all that common in mainstream romance novels, and I think it could have been explored more deeply in the story. Race definitely does come up, its not ignored, but when it does, things seemed to be smoothed over relatively quickly. Maybe thats in part because Alexa mostly spends time in Drews world, rather than him being forced into hers; black people are used to navigating the white world, but the opposite isn't true, so having Drew interact more with Alexas black friends and family could have given the author more to explore.

One other thing that was a little strange about this book was how the sex scenes were handled. Ive read romances where its mostly kissing with the sex (if there is any) left behind closed doors, and Ive read plenty of romances that don't shy away from getting down and dirty. But this book occupies a weird middle ground where the reader gets foreplay, only for the scene to fade out at the juicy parts, and then fade back in for more rolling around in bed before it fades back out again . . . And rinse and repeat, because these two go at it like bunnies at times. In fact, I kind of wish the author had left out some of the sort-of sex scenes and just had Alexa and Drew have more conversations about themselves and their lives, so the reader would get a stronger sense of them connecting and falling in love.

Readers who are looking for a light, fluffy romance to read will probably enjoy this book, but anyone looking for a more substantial story might want to skip it.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own
1455640
3.5 stars

This was my first Love Inspired Suspense book to try. Ill try a few others before I make a final judgment call, but it reminded me of a T.V. episode vs. a full length movie. Not too long, and not quite as pristine as a full novel (e.g. Rachel Dylans own, Deadly Proof). It felt like 80% of this book was dialogue, so I didn't feel as connected to the characters. At the same time, I cannot say that they were undeveloped. Jessica had current goals as well as a tough inner struggle from her abusive childhood. Zach worked on instincts and had a lot of lessons to learn. Both were rookies in their fields, striving to do right in a very confusing mystery.

The mystery itself was intriguing. I didn't quite piece together who all was working for who, but some things were slightly predictable. Overall I enjoyed it.

There were many references to Jessicas and Zachs faith in God throughout the book. The extent of it was mainly faith and prayers for protection, but it was consistent.

The romance was slow and not extremely emotional. There were a couple of kisses, some admission of falling in Love, but overall, it was chaste.
2415760
To start with, this is the first book Ive read of the Samantha Jamison series, so I am lacking a bit of background on the character and her past. From a standalone point of view, I think that the setting plays for an interesting story. The characters are interesting and you feel piqued to know more about them. But I felt the storyline took too much time to develop. It was a bit slow paced in some fragments of the book. The main character, while evidencing an innate curious nature, seemed at times entangled on too many ideas and questions in her mind, going around in circles. While presented as a mystery book, I think the book could have been a bit more profuse precisely on that. The story contains some humor, but at times I felt that it was distracting and seemed to dichotomize the storyline. Maybe a bit more action to complement the mystery aspect of the story would have been more palatable.
3094174
I received a free copy of Sanctuary Bay from the publisher in return for an honest review.

What stood out the most for me in Sanctuary Bay was the setting, the island created a feeling of isolation and helplessness that made the storyline more interesting. The characters however were a bit of a disappointment, I found them to be rather cliche as each filled a stereotypical role: rich girl, poor girl, popular girl, bad boy, etc. There was also the cliche love triangle that seems overly popular in young adult books which blends this book into almost every other young adult book out there for me. Same framework, different story.

The story itself was interesting and there was enough twists to keep me reading but it lacked depth and explanation. There was too much of a focus on the characters instead of what was going on behind the scenes at the school, which was the best part of the book in my opinion.

The pacing was inconsistent, it went from slow to perfect and then into overdrive. The book started out well, I was intrigued and interested after the initial scene but once other characters started to come into the story it slowed down quite a bit. The pace started to pick up around a third of the way in and stayed that way for almost the rest of the book until the ending which felt very rushed. The pacing in the last section of the book was too fast, like perhaps it had to be squeezed into a limited amount of pages, it didn't work for me.

All in all it wasn't a bad read but it wasn't a great read either. There isn't much in Sanctuary Bay that makes it stand out from other young adult books, it's built on the same framework as many others out there: stereotypical characters, girl meets boy, girl meets another boy, which boy will she choose.
1467883
The Vampires Embrace
Ashe, is a quiet college student just wanting to finish her degree. When she begins to struggle in one of her final classes she is recommended to start tutoring with Peter, who she is already drawn to. But Peter is more then your average college kid, he's a little something extra. Their attraction grows with more time spent together and their soon in love. I felt this was a sweet romance, but unfortunately it didn't draw me in or capture my full attention. I struggled with the lack of character and relationship development and never got fully hooked. I don't think I'll be looking for the next one. I rate this book 3 hearts.
***reviewer for Romance Authors that Rock***
3898193
I was sent a free copy of Echo by the author in exchange for an honest review. (I am not otherwise associated with the author.) In my honesty, I must say, Im not a fan. However, that wouldnt keep me from recommending it to people Im sure would be.

Other reviewers refer to this as a young adult fantasy story, but I didn't get that from it at all. The main character is in her twenties and her lover is in his fifties. Thats not really young adult material in my book. There is, however, time travel, undying love, and a number of other fun details that might call to teenage readers these days. I think more than the young adult crowd, though, romance readers who favor Diana Gabaldons work or historical fiction gurus that enjoy Bernard Cornwells Stonehenge might find Glasss work enjoyable.

Overall, I found the story awkward and the telling of it a little awkward as well.

The setting is definitely original  you don't get a lot of Gaul and people speaking Latin in most historical fiction.  It was a nice touch to keeping me flipping through to take a look around, so to speak, but I was not as riveted as I would have preferred for such a tale.

My full review as well as other reviews can be found on my blog: https://anakalianwhims.wordpress.com/2015/07/01/echo/
339129
I will start by saying that this book should be read in order.

Joln and Colemund are in love and enjoying their time together without realizing the forces that are aligning to bring her down.

I really wanted to love this book but I found it hard to relate to it and found myself confused at times. The book seemed to be set in modern times because we read about cell phones and airports but there are times you feel like your reading a historical. I am not sure if this was intentional by the author to give an old school feel but at time I felt like I was reading two books. I really enjoyed the storyline with the four elements and found her interpretation to be refreshing.

to read the rest of the review check out our website http://www.exquisitereviews.com/index.php/2015/07/18/the-allure-of-the-gypsy/
1327885
I didn't read the previous book so I had no preconceived notions about the "hero". I don't mind a hero that isn't perfect, in fact I prefer it. I didn't mind the radio bit, after all, he didn't ask his girlfriend to propose to him on the air, it made a cute unusual start to the story. After that it was just one she lusts, he doesn't, he lusts, she doesn't; he loves she doesn't, she loves, he doesn't. I mean I guess these are designed for young adults and not a more mature audience, but the operative word is adult. This was like watching two 16 year olds go at it. I felt like a ping-pong ball being bounced back and forth. She did try to show the characters make growth but I guess when it was said and done I still didn't feel any really heat or love between them; and I get so sick of the grand gesture business that is supposed to prove someone's love and make everything okay. Grand gestures are easy, it's the day to day life that's hard; you want to impress me, show me you can handle that. And neither of these two acted like they could. I don't blame the heroine for being unsure with that jerk but why she would want him the first place was beyond me. I might have been more impressed with his change if he had an actual conversation about it with his lifelong friend Alan, not some really touch feely kind of conversation but maybe Alan telling him it was time to get his head on straight. Each H and h came to all their conclusions in their own heads and that didn't seem to real to me either. Usually I will say don't read this, but with this one I will say go ahead and read it, there are parts you might like, but don't have too high expectations.
3903740
This story honestly left me conflicted, the plot itself is unique but the character chemistry felt odd and overly juvenile at times. The novel is young adult fantasy with a female lead who is supposed to be modern day girl and a male lead who reminds me of Peter Pan with friends that really do resemble the lost boys.

  Set in England's Cynon Valley a seventeen year old girl named Bronwen Snow is rushed from her cottage by her grandmother Ada to seek sanctuary at The Castle. Bronwen is told to ask for Felix Cavara and to deliver a letter to him. Running to the place everyone tells rumors about is the last thing Bronwen wants to do in the middle of the night but when Ada tells her to flee because something is coming for her she runs. Once at the castle she comes to find Felix is a boy her own age who lives with two friends named Alistair and Loki. The letter Bronwen delivers explains to Felix that Ada will grant him and his friends their cure if Bronwen is kept safe. So a tenuous relationship is formed and soon becomes more as Felix lets Bronwen not only into his home, life and secret, but even his heart. However, the problem of Bronwen's safety remains ever pressing and the cure for the boys may be too much for any of them to seek.

  Overall, interesting read which left me feeling okay but wanting more. I sought to fall for the characters relationship but it felt juvenile and too friendly to be believable. Bronwen and Felix had witty banter that read more like best friends or siblings. Felix was a snide 217 year old kid-man who if he was real I'd have avoided for fear of slapping his face because of how annoying he was at times, despite Felix thinking himself charming. Also I found Bronwen to be a mysterious heroine, who's purpose was not revealed until the very end of the book and then the story just ended with no real sense of more for her life, which left the story feeling open. The story itself had the makings for a truly unique epic tale, but since it was hard to tell where and when the story was set at times. I understood Bronwen grew up in a valley but it seemed as if she was a all alone with no friends or school or town, so when she was hunted it was strange no one wondered where she was when she holed up with Felix, Alistair and Loki. As I said I felt entranced and then confused by the story, but I believe for a young adult book this novel is okay. So is you are looking for a book about a girl running from something after her and a boy with his friends pledge to protect her because they are not what them seem, than this book may interest you.

**I received a free copy in return for an honest review**

------Read more of my reviews at: [...]------
3338582
I was really excited to read this book. The synopsis sounds awesome. It was very slow to start, and actually for quite a while into the book. I was really quite bored up until about chapter six. Then it started to get a little more interesting, but still wasn't really keeping me drawn in. It wasn't until about halfway through the book that I started to enjoy it. It was just not really what I expected. The story moved along slowly, and I didn't really feel a connection to the characters.

Abbey is the MC. In all honesty, she really annoyed me. I know she is supposed to be a lonely teenage girl that has pent up emotions about her mothers death, but it goes beyond that. She was just so whiny and it really bothered me. I suppose that is how a lot of teenagers are though, but it was like everything had to be about her or she was a brat about it. She does grow up a bit towards the end, but I still couldn't get myself to like her very much.

Tanner, Abbey's best friend was a very likable character. He is a really nice kid, who will go to any lengths to make sure his best friend is happy. He has issues of his own, but puts Abbey first, even when he knows that it will get him into trouble, and even at the expense of his feelings. He is a very strong character, but we don't really get much of him in the story.

Overall it wasn't a bad book. It does have a good story about letting go of guilt and moving on from bad situations. It had a bit of romance too. I think there are a lot of people who would really enjoy this book. It was just different than I thought it would be and didn't quite live up to my expectations.
2456587
I generally enjoy Mary Stewart's brand of romantic suspense - especially when it's set in English manor homes - but this book was a very slow starter for me.  It became very intriguing around the midway point, and then tapered off until a nail-bitingly suspenseful finale.  Unfortunately, that was not enough to make me love this book.

The voice of this story is very English - although from the 1970s.  This book is contemporary with that time, so it makes sense, and I found that aspect to be pretty delightful.  The way the characters spoke and carried themselves seemed so quaint and nostalgic somehow, and I appreciated how much this book seemed like a time capsule of that time.

Byrony is faced with many dilemmas throughout the narrative, but her approach to dealing with it was so drawn out and lackadaisical that I found the pace to be painfully slow at times.  There's more than one mystery brewing though and the focus is much more on the characters involved and how much Byrony really knows about her cousins so I felt this was a well constructed story.  The suspense, slow as it was to build, was the best part of the story however, as the romance really fell flat for me.  Starting with the fact that some of the characters involved are cousins and it's strange to me that a relationship between them seems fine in the 1970s.  There's also the matter of Byrony knowing the person she's in love with all her life because of the Ashley 'gift' and yet she doesn't know his exact identity.  Which seems pretty hard to believe.

The story's finale really made up for a lot of my dulling interest in the book however, because it was a bit shocking in a way and fraught with danger.  Yes, it was somewhat predictable, but I still was eager to know how it would all turn out.  However, this was not one of Mary Stewart's best books for me, but a suspense story with an intriguing idea that took a long time to develop.
1950795
I'm not sure how to review this book. I'm not a huge fan of YA romance and while this book was in the note mature side of YA, I still found my self cringing at how immature they acted at times. I like the plot and the flow of the story wasn't bad, but I also found my self a little confused at the writing and the fact that I didn't feel that I was experiencing the books.

I really wanted to like Grace as a character but in the end she really confused me. Her being able to fall in love so easily after "heartbreak" was a little too much for me as a reader to comprehend. Yes she was young and I remember falling in love easily when I was young, but the difference was I have my self more time, she seemed to always need someone as opposed to learning to love her self.

The things I really liked were the darker feel that the story had at time. I am an avid reader of dark romance so that aspect helped me push through the things that weren't my favorite. I really liked the issues at hand. It gave the story a real feel when it comes to the ages and setting. I also enjoyed all the secondary characters. They right something to the story that was much needed.

Overall, while the characters were harder for me to connect with I found that the plot and the overall outcome of the story was beautiful. The underlining meaning was one that happens in real life and I enjoyed seeing how grace navigate led life and love. The ending was as I would predict it to be and I am interested to see how, now that the characters are older, the story will continue. 3.5 stars #2OCCJD
595859
I found the setting for this novel very interesting from the beginning: a dystopian story of teenagers struggling to survive in Australia. Events occur mainly around the city of Melbourne, but there was not enough description of places in and around Melbourne in order to distinguish the desolation of it from any other place in the world. As a citizen of the UK it would have added something extra to the tale, having never visited Australia.
A (nuclear?) war has wiped out most of the human population from Earth and the survivors are grouped into communities that forage in ruined cities for essential resources, such as metals. The main protagonist is Ethan who leads one of the foraging groups. Ethan has special powers, which, we are led to understand, have come about through genetic mutation. Since mutations within the population are meant to be obliterated by those in authority he has to conceal them even though his powers help him survive all kinds of situations. There are predatory mutants outside the communities who wear human bones as armour and who attack regularly, and are a constant threat to anyone leaving the protective walls of the communities.
I liked the general plot and the main characters of Ethan and Nanako, with their love story providing a sweet side issue to contrast with the tension between the foraging team and the Custodians. The Custodians are the autocratic, pseudo-militaristic police force that appear to behave with impunity. Unfortunately, I did not care very much about any of the characters apart from Ethans younger sister, who was sick, and the long-suffering but feisty Nanako. This was because either they were too thinly drawn or, like Ethan, their dialogue was too unrealistic. This is a novel aimed at young adults and there were too many times when the teenage Ethan spoke like a very staid fifty-year old.
The themes of his super powers, the evil Skel, and the source of authority for the Custodians could have been developed in greater detail. However, I thought the story had pace and demanded that you turned the page for more. I realise that this was the first book in a series but it ended too abruptly for my liking, and the lack of essential detail in the interesting areas described previously was unsatisfying to this reader.