I liked the slow build of the relationship between Ari and ...
921274
Hard Hitter is the second book in an exciting new series by Sarina Bowen. Even though this is the second book in the series, it can totally be read as a stand-alone novel.

Hard Hitter is one of those books that I think is going to be hit for some and miss for others. For me, I thought it was an overall ok read. I thought the story was well written and the characters were entertaining. I liked the slow build of the relationship between Ari and Patrick. I enjoyed watching the two of them get to know one another and navigate their way through their new relationship.

Ari and Patricks story was not without drama. Aris ex-boyfriend stirred up a lot of trouble for Ari and certainly tried to make everyones life miserable. And Patrick had some personal drama of his own that helped stir things up and keep the story-line interesting.

Overall, I think Hard Hitter was an ok read and that this series has a ton of potential. I look forward to checking out more from this series in the future.
2911957
My Mind's Eye tells the story of Kat, a woman making her way through college with her best friend Claire. She struggles with anxiety, and after a brush with danger this has only increased. As a college job, she and her friend  start working at Pub Fiction, a popular bar with a host of guys and gals. She shares instant chemistry with Ryker, one of the local studs, who tries to resist the pull he feels towards her.

I found it difficult to really get in to this story. I liked Kat a lot, with her neuroses and fears that really made her quite relatable. Ryker was a difficult hero for me to deal with. His alpha attitude combined with his initial behaviour towards Kat made him seem quite inconsistent and difficult to connect with. Ultimately I'm rooting for them as a couple, but really only for Kat's sake, seeing as she really likes him. He has a few moments where a kind, giving personality shines through but I needed more.
The pacing for me was inconsistent, a bit too slow in places and then jumping ahead, and made it difficult for me to really feel comfortable with the journey.
The story itself was a nice read. I liked the community of Pub Fiction. The secondary characters, particularly Levi and Claire, are nice adjuncts and helped to complement the main characters. All in all it was a nice read, but didn't quite hit the mark for me.
1917856
Eli is exhausted. Falling asleep as soon as she gets home, she finds herself dreaming of a fantastical world - and a hot guy. As we find out, this is Matthiel, a soul reaper who commands an army of other soul reapers. He is inexplicably drawn to Eli, just as she is to him. The pace of this book is slow: I presume Ms. Strife is building the world and developing the characters, as this is a serial. As such, it also ends on a cliff hanger, leaving the reader wondering just how Eli and Matthiel are meeting. I liked that we got the point of view for each character, though I could have done without the first person point of view. Overall, this certainly makes me curious as to read further into the series.
519433
I loved how Christopher knew immediately that he wanted Alabama. I liked the gestures, toward each other, their interaction, the protectiveness that Christopher displayed. I liked the complicated pasts of both Christopher and Alabama, and how it shaped the direction of their lives. I liked Alabama's character, and I totally understood some of her reservations in the second half of the book in being with Christopher. Especially after what he did. Which was where my problem with the book came in. I knew it was going to happen, with the way they went on and on about his nickname. But HOW he did it was what got me and made my opinion of him fall a little.

This story, as opposed to the first in the series, was more about developing a relationship between Alabama and Christopher, and each overcoming their own issues. There wasn't any of the suspense of the first one. but the trade off is that there were some  somewhat steamy sex scenes  in this story. But I liked the relationship aspect. And it worked for this story.

Looking forward to the next book.
3545541
This was a really slow starter for me.  I didn't feel like I needed to have read Vengeance Road (I haven't and I don't plan to).  I did feel like the characters of Reece and Charlotte spent a lot of time trying to justify what they needed to do to themselves before doing any of the things.  In the end, I skimmed through the last half of Retribution Rails while watching sports on the telly and didn't feel like I missed anything overly important.  It was, well, readable.  The characters never connected for me and I would have liked to see more of the author's research put into creating and building the setting as a sort of character in itself.  Feels a lot like any other good old Western I've read, just more teen centered.
727412
This one was hard to rate. It is not a fast paced book at all, but a slow and powerful build. I really liked the beginning and the different characters, I had to get used to the characters names and how there were like all these different names for one person. When the priest comes into town, it really slowed the book down for me up until I got to about 65% on my Kindle. The book finally picks up, and I couldn't put the book down. I really wish there would have been more to the ending because it kind of just cuts off. The writing was well done. I loved Vasya, Alyosha, and Irina.
1014258
I was given a free copy in exchange of an honst review, thanks to the author and the Lovers of Paraormal group.

It started out very slow and it took me at least one third of the book to get interested enough to keep reading it. And it took me about half of it to really start to like the story and the characters. I liked Ash, most of the time, and I also felt connected to her. But I still wanted to slap her for some silly decisions she made.
I didn't like Connal at first, and he creeped me out a little for at least the first third of the book, but then I kind of got to like him and I was terribly shocked at the ending and at the revelations about his past with his brother.
I also liked Ash and Connal together a lot. Though I didn't feel their connection and attraction much in the beginning, I started to really like them and feel their emotions about halfway through the story. And some their moments were mind-blowing, steamy, hot! Wow! That was a positive point for the book. It gave the story some spice and kept me interested.
I didn't like Madden at all. And I hope he will redeem himself and do something good in the next installment.
The story was interesting and emotional, especially the last half of the book, though I found myself a little bored throughout the first half of the story. And it frustrated me endlessly for the characters' decisions and behaviours. I wanted either hug or jump their bones (the latter in Connal's case only) or punch them senseless for acting silly.
I also wasn't happy about Setty's ending. That was really sad.
***SPOILER*** And I just can't f@cking believe that Connal is going to die! I need some scrap of hope that hw will return somehow in the next book and kick his brother's ass to his grave! And what I can't believe is that Ash would go willingly into MacTire's arms. I hope she won't. it would be a thousand shades of creep and sick and twisted.***END OF SPOILER***
I'm now curious to read the next book and know what will happen to Ash (and hopefully to Connal?)
4900686
Loved that Dillon and Alicia were able to bond, I really enjoyed seeing the depth of their relationship. I love Levi and Alicia's relationship... He's attentive to her every need... Hopefully in the next book, they start their family! I hated Dillon in the last book, but he's mostly redeemed himself here.
The reason I gave this three stars is because this isn't her best work. I love the continuance of the Black family story, but this felt rushed and the whole Raven angle was weird. I think more attention should've been paid to the other plots in the story. This was decent, to pass the time.
1910176
It was a good read BUT, it was a very slow start, and I truly never got into the book until half-way through, literally.  Well, maybe 40%.  I understand that Ms. Laveen wanted to build up the story and characters, but it just took a long time to get there. We knew that each character had issues and secrets, but it took a long time to expose any of them, but she always mentioned them.  Up until I got to around 30% of the book, I could only read a page or 2 at a time because it just wasn't interesting. The main characters didn't even connect until the 30%, hence that is when things started getting interesting. The premise was very good.  I give Ms. Laveen an A for originality, that's for sure, but I think that in us trying to get to know Dane and Rhapsody as individuals I lost interest due to too much backdrop first, and not enough story of them together.

I liked how Dane and Rhapsody's relationship developed once it got started.  They were 2 people who needed something that they weren't able to find in others.  Dane was a priest who listened to other people's stories and secrets, but after his best friend died, he had no one listen to his story.  Rhapsody is a free-spirited woman who took life as it came, but had a horrible taste in men since she always chose ones that were emotionally unavailable.  They came to each other to be one a others support system, and from that something stronger developed.  I truly liked how their relationship developed.  ****************spoiler*******************I didn't like the way he ended his career as a priest.  I think he should have had all his affairs in order first, and left the priesthood before his relationship with Rhapsody had gone any further.  I felt that Dane and Rhapsody's love was tainted a little bit.  Either he or her should have had more self-control and respected his position until after he stepped down.  They didn't have to get married first, but I expected more from their love for one another.  I loved the wedding and the reconciliations.  I just wish that all the secrets didn't come out in one scene, but through the course of the book.  I think it would have helped to keep me more focused.
4899489
Dear Aaron follows a young woman named Ruby Santos, who knew exactly what she was doing when she signed up to write to a soldier overseas. The guidelines were pretty simple, one email or a letter a week for the length of his or her deployment and care packages were options. What Ruby didn't expect when she finally got to writing to Aaron was falling in love with him.

This was cute, my first Mariana Zapata book and needless to say it will definitely won't be my last.

Dear Aaron was a sweet, slow burn romance that follows a very inexperienced Ruby (who is around 23/24 years of age) and a 29-30 year old soldier Aaron. Both seem to be at an odd point in their life. Ruby is a seamstress and loves doing her work, but she works for two of her aunts that seem to mistreat her and Ruby doesnt have a backbone to stand up to them until she starts corresponding with Aaron.

Aaron is a soldier that is almost done with his deployment, but serving is the only thing he knows. To his family, he feels like a failure because he didn't follow the steps of the family business and chose the military life instead. Aaron and his father are on a bit of a rocky terms, but despite his fathers anger they still seem to get along.

When we first meet Ruby her age is a bit confusing at first because she does tend to sound like a child due to her inexperience and being sort of a pushover, but I found her character to be someone I could and could see myself in her shoes.

I love that despite knowing what was coming that the author took the time to develop the relationship and friendship between the two characters, I adore my slow burn romances.

I was also pleasantly surprised that this was a romance more primary focus was the growth between characters emotionally and as people.

I didn't know how to feel about Aarons sudden flip in the book about being open in his feelings, I was actually expecting the moment to maybe go a bit differently, it just felt like an awkward transition  but it was still fine.

The writing was great. I did have the hardest time putting the book down and read it in a day.
3045697
I liked the characters and the writing...and the world building was well done. These characters had a familiarity to them that made them feel like old friends...that even though the romance part of the story was very slow to build...but true to the characters and I am willing to wait rather than experience the insta-love so many other books suffer from. All and all a good read.
1123039
*A free copy was provided by the author*

A little bit of a slow read, but it is deeply intimate. The relationship is very well developed. I accidentally read this first, instead of Resonance. But I didn't feel lost, all that was missing was how they met, not having read it doesn't detract from Resistance. I will say, I feel like it could've been shorter. It dragged in spots for me. I struggled with Rick's reluctance to be public. I struggled with Mal's refusal to be honest (though at the same time I appreciated his desire to give Rick time.) I do like how it's resolved. So it kind of ends up worth it. I really liked all the side characters, I'm excited to read Smudge and Raleigh's story. Hoping Adam gets his own.
2253865
Heavenly Lover by Sharon Hamilton

very interesting story, was slow for me but that is a good thing sometimes would recommend
4891773
The book was a bit on the slow side and its definitely one of the softer MC books I have read. But I liked Dare and Haven together. Their love story was very touching.
1135032
I am giving five stars because though the start was slow the story eventually built up ands actually gave a few answers but left many more.  Every one is so upset with alexie and Gabrielle but I did understand their relationship and came to like Alexsie too. I never felt that he purposely hurt her.  I guess I read a different Tory from everyone else,
4360545
The story was slow to build, while I appreciate it when the author takes time for character development, in this case I felt like it was taking too long for the book to get interesting.  Minor contextual errors where the author's word processor changed the spelling of a word to something else are minor by itself but when it happened every few pages it got very frustrating.

I came close to giving up on this book while waiting for it to "get good" but I was rewarded with a great ending that almost made the initial suffering worth it.

I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an unbiased review.
984348
The book was definitely  a slow build but so worth it ! I really enjoyed the characters they were angsty enough to believe and steamy enough to enjoy !