Eversea by Natasha Boyd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Summary:
Keri Ann is a small town, independent girl, who has had quite a bit of tragedy in her life. She and her brother are just scraping by, trying to keep their historical family home in the family. She spends her free time trying to bring her home back to it's former glory, while also working as a waitress in the local diner. Everything seems to be going fine until an A-list movie star walks into the diner...and into her life, changing her forever.

My Thoughts:
First off, this book was a total guilty pleasure read for me, 100%. I read the sample on Amazon and liked the main character enough in the small amount provided. Also, I think it was $.99, so I figured what the hell! I wasn't disappointed.

I'll start out with some of the not so good stuff: it's very predictable (which I kinda figured it would be going into it), it has a lot of the typical romance tropes, and there wasn't really anything new or different about the overall story. Having said that, none of those things bothered me at all. Remember? Total guilty pleasure :)

Now, the good stuff...where do I begin?? How about Jack Eversea? I guess you could say Jack is your typical romance novel love interest, and you wouldn't be wrong. But somehow, Jack just worked for me. When it comes to book boyfriends, I'm typically not drawn to complete physical perfection, although there's nothing wrong with that! I like flaws, physical & character wise. But call it wish-fulfillment or whatever, Jack just did it for me. And can I just say, the first actor who came to mind when I pictured Jack when I started reading this was Henry Cavill...pre-Man of Steel, before he bulked up so much. Yum. My. Oh my.

Ok, I also really enjoyed Keri Ann. She was a little snarky, not as much as I usually like my female protagonists to be. But she also had a lot of heart. She was kind & she truly cared for the people she loved in her life, as was shown in her actions throughout the book. I appreciated that. There's nothing wrong with attitude & snark, but if there isn't any heart or goodness to back it up, it rubs me the wrong way. Her indecisiveness in regards to her relationship with Jack got on my nerves sometimes. She flip-flopped so much at times, I felt the whiplash from here! But, all-in-all, most of her decisions were sound.

Now, the steamy stuff! And boy there was some hot, steamy stuff here! The sex scenes were well-written and just how I like them. It's all about how it's worded for me, if the author is vulgar, it just doesn't do anything for me. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it just makes me want to skip it. But, here, the scenes were exactly how I like them :) And there were a lot of smexy scenes. I did roll my eyes quite a few times, namely because of how many times Keri Ann, who isn't the type of girl to fawn all over a guy because he's gorgeous, did exactly that. The amount of times she was speechless or tongue-tied because of his godly physique was a LOT. But then I thought, if Henry Cavill showed up at my door, I'd probably do the same thing, even though I'm not one of those girls either!

Ok, the secondary characters. I liked her best friend Jazz. Her brother Joey was ok. They served their purpose. Jazz was the most fleshed out of all of them. Look, this isn't a deep story, it's sweet & fun & sometimes sad, but it's not going to change your life or anything.

I also loved the setting...something about the South always gives me warm, happy feelings. This was set in South Carolina, a state I lurve to pieces! The whole feel of the book just made me want to curl up on a hammock in the shade, drinking lemonade, while reading.

All in all, it was a fun, romantic read, predictable, but still worth reading. And it highlights some of the ridiculousness of our celebrity-obsessed culture. I'd recommend this to anyone who needs a quick, guilty pleasure read for the summer :)

Book Format: Kindle Edition

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Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Summary:
After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another.

Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

My Thoughts:
 There was so much hype about this book, I finally got around to reading it. Initially, Celaena came off as a spoiled brat. I was waiting for the apparent kick-ass, strong, & brave heroine I've heard so much about. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait too long to see a different side of her! 

Throughout the competition to become the king's champion, we learn just why she's infamously the best assassin in the land, although most people don't even know what this assassin looks like, or that she's just a girl. She's ruthless when it comes to her opponents, even though she has to hold back some. We get a few tidbits about her early life and why she is who she is today, but not everything is revealed...this is the first book in a series, after all. I'm very curious to find out more about Celaena. She has her flaws, some of them are a bit irritating, but overall, I liked her. At the time when I finished reading this, I couldn't purchase the next books...boo! But, I will soon.

Her two love interests, yes, there's a triangle, are very swoonworthy.  I was a little surprised by who she chose first. Although, it being a triangle, she can always change her mind down the line...I'm not giving anything away :) But, there were some really good swoony moments...*sigh* 
I really liked the way she thought, she still had her girly, romantic thoughts, but always kept her focus on her freedom and bettering the lives of her people.

The world building was very good. I love a good high/epic fantasy, but not so high & epic that I need to take notes to remember all the little details & people in the world. There are so many places in the land that can be explored and I hope to get to see more of them in the books to come. 

Oh! One thing that bugged me, but this is just me & my brain...I hate it when I'm not sure how to pronounce a name!! And that happens a lot in fantasy books. It frustrates me! And I know it's all on me, it's not anything bad about the book. But every time I read a name I'm not sure how to pronounce, I want to scream. Is it su-LAY-na or su-LEE-na??? And Chaol, don't even get me started with that one!! I just decided I'd call him Cole and be done with trying to figure it out :)

All in all, I love this book so hard! I cannot wait to read the rest and the prequel books to find out more about Sam...squee! Oh and I liked the original cover better than this new one...not that the new one isn't gorgeous.

Format: Kindle Edition

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