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Book Review: Avenged by Amy Tintera

May 11, 2017

Avenged by Amy Tintera

Pages: 416
Publish date: April 26th, 2017
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
ISBN: 9781760290658
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – Dymocks

A war that will fuel her. A bond that will destroy her.

Emelina Flores has come home to Ruina. After rescuing her sister Olivia from imprisonment in rival kingdom Lera, Em and Olivia together have devised a plan that will rebuild Ruina to its former glory.

But just because Em and Olivia are out of Lera doesn’t mean they are safe. Their actions over the past year have had consequences, and they are now targets of retaliation. Olivia will destroy everyone who acts against Ruina, but Em isn’t as sure.

Ever since Em posed as Prince Casimir’s betrothed in Lera, she’s started to see another side to this war. Lera may have destroyed the Ruined for decades, but Em knows that Cas is different. And now that he’s taken the throne, Em believes a truce is within reach. But Olivia suspects that Em’s romantic feelings for Cas are just colouring her judgement.

Em is determined to bring peace to her home. But when winning the war could mean betraying her family, Em faces an impossible choice between loyalty and love. Em must stay one step ahead of her enemies–and her blood–before she’s the next victim in this battle for sovereignty.

Avenged:

I received a review copy of Avenged by Amy Tintera from Hot Key Books via Allen and Unwin, in exchange for honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

This review will contain some spoilers from Ruined – Book 1 | Ruined Review

Avenged was one of my most anticipated sequels for 2017 and let me tell you I was not disappointed. The second book of a series always scares me, simply because they tend to suffer and not stand up to the first book. Avenged was just as fast paced, intense, full of revenge and that little bit of romance that hits the right spot.

Avenged starts off not long after Ruined finished, and with the ending of book one, I didn’t know what to expect. Avenged follows protagonists Emelina Flores who after posing as a princess and vowing to get revenge, is back in Ruina, she is back home. Then there is Prince Casimir who has taken to the throne, but no in the way that he was thinking.

After the ending of Ruined, I didn’t know what to expect in Avenged and let me tell you I was so excited. One of the things I loved about book one was how much I loved Emelina and I loved her even more in Avenged. The reader is able to see a different side to Emelina throughout the novel. We get to see her vulnerability compared to her strength from book one. I liked how at times we do see her strength through the book and she doesn’t need a male to show her strength. But then her weakness is her sister and her love for Casimir.

Talking about Cas. In Ruined he is a ‘weak’ male protagonist compared to other YA male leads. But, in Avenged he finds his voice. And it was great to see. I loved Cas’s character arc, I love seeing him grow into a King. He has to make some hard decisions throughout the book and sometimes he makes some stupid ones. But I loved seeing him grow.

The romance in Avenged doesn’t overpower the story, in reality, it was barely there. But, I still loved it. I adore how different Emelina and Cas are, but when they are together they seem to fit so well. They balance each other out so well.

I also like that we get to see some characters from Ruined throughout the book. We see them grow throughout the series and I love the interaction between the side characters and our protagonists.

Olivia has a big influence throughout Avenged. And it’s scary as shit! Even though Emelina is sharp and fierce in her own right, it’s nothing compared to Olivia. For me, Olivia could very much turn into the villain of this story. Yes what she is fighting for her people, but the way that she goes about it isn’t all that great. She can kill people in a second and it doesn’t hurt her at all. She doesn’t care that she is killing people, murdering people.

Overall, I loved Avenged. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I didn’t know what was going to happen next. I love the character arc’s of both protagonists; Emelina and Casimir. As well as the side characters who grow and start to form. Avenged explores the notion of family, friends, and love. It’s about standing up for what you believe in and what you think is the right thing to do. I love the fierceness, the weakness, the plot. I adored the romance and friendships. If you love your fantasy this series is for you.

Book Review: Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny by Cindi Madsen

May 7, 2017

Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny by Cindi Madsen

Pages: –
Publish date: May 8th, 2017
Publisher: Entangled Embrace
ASIN: B06XW22BPK
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Confession #1: I used to be a puck bunny, but after a hockey player broke my heart, I gave up all things hockey. Now I’m just focused on finding a way to pass my math class so I can graduate college.

Confession #2: Ryder “Ox” Maddox’s deep, sexy voice sends fuzzy tingles through my entire body, and I’m powerless to stop it. Which is a big problem since the hot, surprisingly funny hockey player is my new math tutor.

Confession #3: I can’t stop thinking about how ripped Ryder is from all his hockey training. And how fun it’d be to cross lines with him.

Confession #4: I kissed a hockey player and I liked it.

Confession #5: If I’m not careful, I might relapse and fall for Ryder. And then I’ll be totally pucked.

Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny:

I received an e-arc of Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny by Cindi Madsen from Entangled Publishing via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

This is Book #5 in the Taking Shots series. However you can read it as a standalone. I’ve been reading Cindi Madsen’s books over the last couple of years. And while this series it’s of high quality, it’s one of those that I can get through in a couple of hours and enjoy what I am reading. And that’s why I liked reading Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny.

If you’ve been around for a while you know that I like my sport books – you can even check out some of my favourite Ice Hockey books here. So I already had a sense of this book before I picked it up.

Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny follows protagonists Lindsay Rivera and Ryder “Ox” Maddox. One’s an Ice Hockey player and the other a former puck bunny who swore she would never fall for another hockey player again. But, Ryder is different and it’s taken Lindsay by surprise. Will she be able to lock her heart, or will this hockey player wrap her up in his world.

If you have read the previously books in the series then you would have meet both our protagonists before. But we see them in a different light in Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny.

Lindsay is a hard protagonist to get along with a times. She is very determined in what she wants from life. And while I love that, she does let her feelings get in the way. I connected with Lindsay a lot, in the sense of her career path and I loved that. The reader is able to see how much she wants to work in the industry and she would do anything to get there.

Ryder is different to the other male protagonists in this series and that alone intrigued me. I mean, yes he is a hockey player, but he was quiet and sensitive. I enjoyed this narrator and liked that he wasn’t the alpha male type. His passion for both Ice Hockey and Lindsay was adorable.

The romance was adorable. Like I said I loved how much Ryder cared for Lindsay and would do anything for her. Even getting turned down again and again. Lindsay is very hesitant about Ryder, but I love how he breaks her walls down and she starts falling for him slowly. It was beautiful at times and I just loved reading then together.

There was some very cliché moments in Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny, but I could totally see by it because of how much I enjoyed reading these characters. We get to see our previous protagonists and I loved that we got to see where they were on their journey.

Overall, Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny is a fun read. Sometimes it’s emotional and you just want to hug Lindsay and Ryder, pushing them together. There were parts that annoyed, where I wanted to scream at the characters. Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny explores the notion of finding love where you least expect it, family and friends and what it’s like to let yourself free. It’s fun, sexy and was just a good read.

Have you read this series? What do you think of it? Have you picked up Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny yet? What did you think of that? Are you planning on reading it. Let’s Chat!

Blog Tour: Groupie by Susan Daugherty | Review

May 5, 2017

Groupie (Groupie #1) by Susan Daugherty

Pages: 257
Publish date: December 2nd, 2016
Publisher: Sanctuary Publishing
ASIN: B01N1OB1GF
Purchase: Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Moving to a new city isn’t the magic fix Lexie Travis hoped it would be. Sure, she put some mileage between herself and her feuding parents, her miserable dating history, and the memories of a life-altering injury. However, she still feels like a former shadow of herself, hiding behind her diminished confidence and her thorough disbelief in true love.
Everything changes when Lexie’s best (and only) friend drags her to a country music concert. Lexie loves country music, but she loathes the top-selling heartthrob who sold out the arena. Jack Morgan became a sensation with a string of degrading, shallow songs that she can’t stand.
After suffering through an evening surrounded by the playboy celebrity’s endless sea of admirers, a startling trauma lands Jack in the hospital, and Lexie is the physical therapist assigned to the VIP treatment of the very man she despises.
Jack is drawn to the one woman who appears resistant to his charms and who loves to check his ego every chance she gets, yet gives him the honesty he needs. She’s the opposite of his usual groupies. He can only continue his tour if he receives rehab on the road, and Lexie is the lone person Jack trusts for the job.
Reluctantly, she agrees to take the journey on his luxury coach, joining the wild cast of characters on his crew. Yes, she was given many incentives to take the assignment, but the reason she wants to ignore is the dangerous one. Jackson Morgan is growing on her. He’s shown her facets of his personality she never fathomed, and maybe she isn’t immune to his handsome charm after all.
At every turn, another challenge pushes her away from him. A woman returns from his past, along with new temptations at every concert. Jack’s manager clings to control over his artist and doesn’t like Lexie, or her growing influence. Media attention makes her want to run the other way, but she can’t escape it.
Stepping onto the tour bus is the domino that starts a chain reaction in their lives and challenges them both to change. Could they learn to believe in love and happily ever after?

Groupie:

I received an e-copy of Groupie by Susan Daugherty from InkSlinger PR in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book. There is a giveaway at the end so stay tuned.

I don’t know what I was expecting when I picked Groupie up. I thought it was going to be okay, classic NA read. But, I was pleasantly surprised. Groupie explores the notion of family that isn’t by blood, friendship, life on the road. But, it also explores disability which you know that I love reading about.

Groupie is book 1 in a two-part series and follows protagonist Lexie Travis who thought that moving to a new city would wash away all her troubles. With her overbearing parents, no existent love life and a life-altering injury she thought that getting away would solve all her problems. But everything is still pretty much the same. When her new best friend drags her to a country concert all she wanted to do is get out and no listen to the heartthrob. However, when a horrible accident leaves Jack Morgan in her care – things just might change.

I enjoyed Lexie has a protagonist overall. At times I wasn’t her biggest fan, but for the most part, I really enjoyed following her journey. After moving away from her family and friends, Lexie wanted a fresh start and as a physical therapist, she got that. Lexie is good at her job and loves what she can do. Her roommate may be her only friend, but I thought was she was pretty good one. At times I felt that Lexie was a too judgemental of those around her and let her thoughts take over, without knowing the full story.

But the one thing that I loved about Lexie that she didn’t let her injury get the better of her. Throughout the novel we know that something is bothering her, we know that something has happened. And it’s not like she is hiding it, but because she doesn’t like to talk about it. Not because she hates herself for it, but because it changes her life so much and brought out some things in people that she thought loved her.

Jack Morgan – he is the typical, asshole musician. He has lots of groupies and hooks up with a lot of them. Or so we thought. As Lexie, because his physical therapist she starts to understand him a little more and when they hit the read sparks fly. Jack was a sweetheart when he wanted to be, but for most of the book, I wasn’t his massive fan. I liked how passionate he was about his music and what he wanted to do.

The romance like Jack as a touch and go for me. At times I really enjoy their connection and how they could just let everything out with one another. But, then it was like they were two different people. Both has personality changes that affected how their relationship worked.

Overall reading Groupie wasn’t a horrible experience. Although I felt that at times everything was a little rushed, I still enjoyed reading it. And yes there are some very cliché moments throughout the book. Lexie was an intriguing protagonist who stood up for what she believed in. Groupie explores the notion of family, friends and letting yourself live. It’s about believing in yourself and that looking back isn’t always the answer.

Have you read Groupie? What did you think of it? Are you planning on reading it? Let’s Chat.

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About the Author

Susan Daugherty is a freelance writer, and by some happy coincidence, also a licensed Physical Therapist and an APTA Board Certified Orthopedic Specialist. She is the author of the 2016 novel Groupie as well as its sequel, Muse. Her essay The Cycle of Inspiration was published in PT InMotion in April 2013. She is a member of Romance Writers of America. Raised in Kentucky, she now resides in Knoxville, Tennessee where she lives with her husband and two children.

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