Book Review: Finding London (Flawed Heart #1) by Ellie Wade

      

London Wright thought she’d been in love before, but she hadn’t—not even close.

Then she met him.

Rugged and gorgeous, Loïc Berkeley, a special forces soldier is everything she’s ever wanted. Getting him to notice her was a challenge, but keeping his love is proving to be more difficult.

London’s used to getting what she wants so loving someone like Loïc is a humbling and somewhat terrifying experience. For everything she has in her life, he’s the one thing she can’t bear to lose.

Loïc Berkeley never wanted love. He views it as an unneeded distraction that causes nothing but pain. Love, for Loïc, always ends in disappointment.

Then he met her.

Spoiled, witty, and breathtakingly beautiful London Wright is his undoing. From the moment he laid eyes on her, he knew his life would never be the same. Though he tries to fight it, he finds himself falling for her.

Having lived a life full of sorrow, finding London brought Loïc rare happiness. Though his feelings for her are strong, is what they have powerful enough to break the cycle of his past?

When one is destined for heartbreak and loss, can love really change anything?

I've been a massive Ellie Wade supporter since I started reading her series, Choices. Needless to say, I was beyond excited to get my hands on Finding London. And then I saw the cover ... le sigh ... it was absolutely gorgeous!! I had high expectations for this one!

First ... the main man of the story ... his name is Loïc. Nothing wrong with the name, I just had no freaking clue as to how to say it! This poor dude was almost called Lo in my head but then Ellie Wade came to the rescue and said within the story how to pronounce it. By the way, it's pronounced LOW-ICK if you're wondering. I can't even explain how much it can detract from a story when you don't know what a character's name is. It's beyond irritating to me. Almost worse than grammar issues. 

Anyhow ... I think that the first thing (other than Loïc's name) that really hit me was at the beginning of the story, you're put into the middle of this little flashback with 5-year-old Loïc and his dad. I don't have any clue as to whether Wade has kiddos but this whole exchange between her characters really sounded like conversations we have had with our boys. It was spot-on authentic. Love!

The story is filled with these flashbacks and while they should be helping the reader understand where the characters are coming from and why they are the way that they are, it just didn't read like that to me. I found them annoying the further that I got into the book because it was just distracting. It pulled me from the present time where I wanted to get lost within Loïc and London's story. I just wanted more and more from Lo & Lo but all I kept getting was this inner dialogue and flashbacks. It slowed the story down so very much for me. 

I think that I liked Lo & Lo as characters but at the end of the book, I still felt as if I didn't really know them. That's unfortunate. I wanted to love this book. Well, I wanted to love ALL of the book. I did like the chemistry between Lo & Lo but I don't think that there was enough of it within the pages. I just wanted less past junk and more NOW junk. 

Finding London didn't ruin this author for me. I'll give her another shot when her next one comes out but I think I'll say goodbye to the Flawed Heart series. Doesn't seem to be for me right now.

* I received this novel in exchange for an honest review *

Available Now

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Book Review: Ravel by Shari J. Ryan

At twenty-three, I’m left with a decision. The outcome could be life or death.

Trent hit me once, and I cried. Then he hit me again. And again. After a while, I got used to it, as I slept on the floor beside his bed, night after night.

Everyone told me to leave him, but I can't. He won't let me.

The moment I wanted to give up on myself and any form of hope, Kemper—a tall, sexy Marine just home from Afghanistan walked into my bar. With one look in his eyes, I saw pain that mirrored my own.

At first, I thought maybe he would be my prince charming, riding in to save me, but all it took was one tragedy for me to remember…fairy tales don’t exist in real life.

I was in the mood for an emotional journey when I picked Ravel up. Judging from the blurb, I thought that this would be the perfect book to fit my needs. I was about a third of the way through the book and I thought that Ravel might make me actually ugly cry. But unfortunately, it didn't. "Unfortunately, it didn't" was kind of the whole theme for me with this book. 

Unfortunately, it didn't help the flow of the book when the story keeps getting broken up by flashbacks. Granted, the flashbacks are completely necessary with how the author was writing this book. I saw the need for them but they just didn't always help the story. It felt like they sometimes took something away from what was going on currently with the characters. Personally, when I pick up a book, I want to be able to lose myself in it. I don't want to have the chance for issues/concerns and all of that from my life to interfere with what is happening with the story. But that is a little inevitable when you're having to check at the beginning of each chapter to see:

a.) Whom the chapter is about   

2.) When the hell the chapter is taking place and 

d.) remember what in the hell happened with that last time-period/character.

It's just too damn much to have to keep up with especially with how deep this story goes. I don't know ... the flashbacks just stilted the story and it irritated me. Maybe it irritated me more than it should have because I was so excited to read it and then for the start-stop action to be going on with the story like I'm in a freaking car with a student driver who is a little heavy on the pedals. 

Unfortunately, it didn't help the storyline for things to move so very slowly within the story. I can almost see why it was so slow because of what Daphne was going through but at the same time, I found myself skipping sentences just so that I could get to a part when something was happening. Anything. I just wanted to light a fire under the story's ass to make it get a move on. The slow moving story coupled with the flashbacks made this book seem quite a bit longer than it actually was. And not in a good way. 

Unfortunately, it didn't help my overall feeling of the book when the ending lit up and then fizzled out like a match getting rained on. There was a point when I thought that the story would really redeem itself and the suspense was building and I was shifting in my seat, getting antsy for what was to come only to have things drop off and the scene just end. Also, irritating. 

As much as I wanted to like this book, it just didn't like me back. I don't know ... maybe I'll pick up another one of Ryan's books in the future but maybe I won't. I don't think that her writing style and my reading likes are on the same wavelength. Unfortunately. 

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review *

Available Now

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Book Review: Conviction (The Consolation Duet #2) by Corinne Michaels

I fell in love with Liam only to be left shattered into a million pieces. Again. The idea of being without him cripples me but the reality is, he’s gone.

He doesn’t understand and I can’t make him.

If only he’d see the conviction behind my words—then he’d still be here.

Conviction is the second (and final book) in The Consolation series. I picked this one up just minutes after I finished the first book because I just had to know how Natalie's story would play out. This is one of those series that I'm glad that the entirety was already out and published because I would have been PISSED if I had to wait.

If you've read the first book, Consolation (and you need to if you want this one to make sense), you'll not be disappointed with this one. But it is different than the first. Not in a bad way, though. Conviction takes on a slower pace. It didn't feel as break-neck as the first. While I enjoyed the speed of the first book, I think that if this one had been as quickly paced, it wouldn't have been nearly as good. The first book needed to be quick ... it paced itself with the thoughts and confusion and everything swirling around what was going on at the time. Conviction is more about finding yourself and figuring out where everything (yourself included) will settle after your world is torn to shreds and then a big leaf blower comes through and blows every bit to kingdom come. I enjoyed the laid-back feel of the writing this time. It gave me a moment to take everything in and let it settle, as it would if it were actually happening. 

The characters were great, of course. There is quite a bit more inner dialogue from the characters than there was last time but that's okay because it is true to the story. There weren't really any new characters to meet in Conviction. Everyone was pretty much in the last book. That's a really great thing because instead of spending pages getting to know someone else, you're able to just dive right into the story and finish the journey that you started with Consolation. 

I've met a new author that I'll stalk for the rest of my reading life. I'm excited that I loved both books in this duet because usually for me with a series, not all of the books in a series live up to the first book because of the expectations of greatness that I put on them. Anyhow, another amazing reading experience that I spent all night on. And I would do it again for Corinne Michaels. In a heartbeat. 

Available Now

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Book Review: Consolation (The Consolation Duet #1) by Corinne Michaels

Liam wasn’t supposed to be my happily ever after.
He wasn’t even on my radar.
He was my husband’s best friend—forbidden.

But my husband is dead and I’m alone. I ache for him and I reach for Liam.

One night with Liam changed everything. Now I have to decide if I truly love him or if he’s just the consolation prize.

 

It's  not very often that I'm able to read a book that wasn't given to me by an author or publishing company. My best friend, Lauren, told me that I absolutely HAD to read this one. She brought it up numerous times and without even reading what Consolation was about, I finally picked it up yesterday. I'm always pushing books onto her and she always gives them a go, I guess it was her turn to put some serious peer pressure on me. I'll tell you this much ... I cursed Lauren. I hated her for having me read this book and then I was happy about it and then pissed again and the cycle just repeated over and over as I dug even deeper into the pages of Consolation. 

Consolation is, in a word, amazing. It has ruined future books for me. It was one of those unicorn type books that readers hear about but very seldom are able to get their hands on; it's a game changer. From the very first page, it made me feel. It took me down this winding path of sorrow, heartache, contentment, fury, happiness and everything in between. I was in tears a few times with my heart physically hurting and then I would be laughing and smiling right before my heart was ripped out yet again, stomped on and then blown to pieces.

This story is a heartbreaking one and one that I wish was completely out of left field and something that no real military wife has experienced but unfortunately, I know that isn't the case. I can't imagine living with the fear that your husband/significant other may not make it home to you because they are fighting for what so many take for granted. That's a horse of a different color though ... this book ... made me feel like I was living that life. It made me ask "what if" more times than I could count. The plot is so nicely paced ... it was like The 3 Bears up in here ... it wasn't too slow, it wasn't too fast, it was just right. Everything was just right. 

The characters are ... yep ... you guessed it ... amazing. There was such depth to each character. Depth that I think some real people don't even have. Gosh, to have created these characters ... characters that felt like my friends ... that's just crazy. Each one was exactly perfect. If Corinne Michaels had changed even one trait for any of them, it would have blown her little house of cards to shit. With the characters, again ... it was The 3 Bears.

I could go on and on about this book but I'm trying to be really careful to not really say anything specific because there are so many things that could get ruined for the next reader and I don't want that because you should get the same magical experience that I had. I will just say this, if you like a book that will make you think and feel, this is it. If you like a book with an impossible love story, this is it. If you're looking for a reading experience that you won't be able to repeat, you're looking in the right place. I just finished this moments ago and I already purchased the second book in the series. This is a duet, so I'm sure things will be tied up by the end of the next book. This one does end in a cliffhanger but the second (and final) book is out already, so there's no wait! Gosh. I feel like I need a cigarette and a glass of scotch while I just sit and stare at a wall for a couple of hours so I can fully absorb what I just went through reading Consolation. Damn fine job, Michaels. Damn fine.

Available Now

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Review: Target Engaged (Delta Force #1) by M.L. Buchman

Delta Force: The most dangerous elite counter-terrorism force on the planet
• The deadliest shooters •
• The most out-of-the-box thinkers in any military •
• Will die to get the mission done •

Sergeant Kyle Reeves: The premier soldier of the new recruits
Sergeant Carla Anderson: The first woman of Delta Force

If the training doesn't kill them, their passion may-but Kyle Reeves and Carla Anderson blast right in. Show no fear. Have no fear. Then they get the call. The most powerful drug-smuggling ring in Venezuela needs a takedown, and Delta's newest team leaps into the deep jungle to deliver. Giving their all? Not a problem. Giving their hearts? That takes a new level of courage.

Ever since I was introduced to Vince Flynn back in 2001 when  his first Mitch Rapp novel came out, I have been a fan of military/spy/covert-op-shit books. I love everything about them ... the intrigue, the secrets, the characters, the plot, the sometimes scary correlation between reality and fiction ... I just love everything about them. So when I saw that there was this author that I've never had the pleasure of reading before and the book is a military/suspense/romance ... I was sold. I couldn't wait to rip into my copy and find out if I had found another author/reader soulmate. 

Before I get into anything ... it needs to be said that this author knows their stuff. The book reads like the author has done this stuff before and is writing from experience. That being said ... I have no idea if the author has that kind of background. Someone on Goodreads dinged me because I had a status update and said "This has some serious military shit going on and the author sounds like she knows what the hell she's talking about." Turns out that the author isn't a she but a he ... oopsie daisy ... I apologize for any offense I may have caused by saying she instead of he. Here's the deal ... when I start reading a book, I purposely don't look into the book OR the author. I don't want to be swayed by someone's review or things that are written about the author and/or the book. I like to have a fresh perspective until after I've written my review and it's already public. I just don't want to be swayed in one way or another unless it's by my own thoughts and feelings. Anyhow. I shouldn't have said she.

But this author does know what the hell he is talking about. It made the reading experience enjoyable from that end because it was so realistic. But on the other hand, that kind of attention to detail really took a toll on my overall thoughts on the book. I'm more than okay with action and a little back-story but I really would have liked more dialogue. I felt like I wasn't able to get to know the characters on my own because I was hardly ever able to see them interact with other characters and that adds a lot to who a character is, in my opinion. There was just soooo much about the process they were going through with Delta and again, I think that the book needed that kind of detail but there also needs to be a balance that I was just missing.

I really wanted to love both of the main characters, Kyle and Carla but at the end of the novel, while I knew all about them, I just didn't know them. You know? It was almost like reading a redacted military file. Yes, you have all of the information but little details were missing about who they were. I think that is why I felt like their romance wasn't hot and sexy and it wasn't even a slow burn type thing ... it was more of a smoldering fire that is almost out. It just wasn't what I was hoping for. I wanted those sparks and to not get them was a little upsetting.

Is this a badly written book? Absolutely not. It was well written but just not for me, I guess. I don't know that I would be opposed to reading another book by Buchman. I might in the future but just not right now. I need a little decompression time because after all that Delta went through, I felt like the author put me right there with them and it's exhausting!
 

* I received this novel in exchange for an honest review *

Available: December 1st, 2015

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Review: Middle Man: A Lieutenant Rollie Waters Novel

Title: Middle Man: A Lieutenant Rollie Waters Novel

Author: David Rich

 Date Published: August 2013

ISBN: 9780525953234

Publisher: Dutton Adult

Pages: 320

★★✰✰✰

David Rich—whose acclaimed debut, Caravan of Thieves, drew comparisons to Elmore Leonard, Robert Ludlum, and John le Carré—returns with a crime thriller featuring Lieutenant Rollie Waters.

 
Recruited into SHADE, the elite, covert group formed by the U.S. military, Rollie Waters must locate and retrieve the countless millions taken from Saddam’s cache during the Iraq War and shipped home in the coffins of dead soldiers. But when a sniper attacks the team, Rollie is forced to go undercover to solve the riddle of the graves and to apprehend the puppet master behind the whole plot.

Rollie’s own father, inveterate liar and charming con artist Dan Waters, was killed attempting to steal the first $25 million after stumbling across the conspiracy involving powerful military officers, would-be kings, and the very general who nearly destroyed Rollie during his last tour in Afghanistan.

Rollie’s undercover quest takes him from Houston and the self-proclaimed king of Kurdistan, to the treacherous, labyrinthine streets of Erbil, Iraq, and into the arms of a stunning, enigmatic woman whose motives he can’t discern. As a confirmed citizen of the fog, now more spy than soldier, Waters must uncover the man pulling the strings behind a backdrop of murder, deceit, and stolen fortune—before he disappears forever into the mist.

Being a book reviewer isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Sure, you receive copies of books before they come out and it's almost like you're hearing juicy celebrity gossip before the rest of the world. Cracking open an unreleased book is ... exhilarating. I get this giddy, kid-on-Christmas-morning type of buzz just thinking about reading a yet-to-be-released installment from an author that I have followed for years or being the first to read how a character's life has changed due to some cliffhanger at the end of the previous book in a series or when you are one of the first to be able to read the very first book from a brand new author. 

But there is also a very difficult side to reviewing books. Sometimes you have to dish out these less-than-stellar reviews about something that an author has slaved over for a crazy amount of time ... something that has probably become a best friend and/or enemy at many times during their writing process and has settled on being one of their greatest accomplishments and something they are very proud of. 

The blurb for Middle Man was awesome ... millions stolen from Saddam, a soldier turned spy set out to solve the mystery of the stolen money with only a clue from his deceased father. That sounds amazing, right? 

Unfortunately, this book just didn't hit the mark for me. I don't know what it was. Okay ... let me put it like this: books are like fish in a tank. There's a sign on the tank that says, "Don't tap the tank". I want a book to be the fish that I have to tap the tank for. I want to be banging on the tank like my life depends on it, trying to get the attention of this fish, repercussions be damned. I just didn't want to tap this tank. I wanted to walk by and drag my kiddos with me. Weird analogy, I know. But it's what popped in my head, so that's what you get. 

I can't say for sure what it was about the book. I guess it could be in part within the first couple of scenes something that happened with a Marine sniper ... the whole scenario seemed weird to me. Not that I know from personal experience whether something about the military is true ... one of my favorite people is a Marine sniper and so I asked him what he thought ... he agreed with me that something was wonky (my word, not his - Marines don't say wonky, I'm sure). 

Anyhow ... that one item didn't ruin the book. The writing wasn't BAD. The characters were well written, the story seemed full and it didn't seem to be lacking in any department. It could be that I've read so many Vince Flynn books that he has ruined me for military/spy authors. 

I really wish that I had some concrete reason as to why the book and I didn't mesh. Sometimes, the book gods just aren't smiling down on you the day you start a new book. 

Just because it missed the mark with me, doesn't mean that you won't love it! So if you're into the whole military/spy novel thing, you should definitely pick this one up and see what it's all about. You may have found a new author that you love.

Warlord (Alexander Hawke #6)

Title: Warlord (Alexander Hawke #6)

Author: Ted Bell

Date Published: September 2010

Publisher: William Morrow

Pages: 544 

 ★★★★★
 Counterspy Alexander Hawke races to stop a madman hell-bent on murdering the British royal family in this latest spellbinding action thriller in Ted Bell’sNew York Times bestselling series.

Alex Hawke has all but given up on life. The British-American MI6 counterterrorism operative lost the woman he loved almost a year ago and has sought refuge at the bottom of a rum bottle ever since. But late one night at his home on Bermuda, he receives a wake-up call . . . literally.

His Royal Highness Prince Charles, an old friend, desperately needs his help. The prince has discovered a not-so-subtle threat directed toward the British royal family. What’s more, the evidence reveals an ominous connection to Charles’s god-father, Lord Mountbatten—the beloved family patriarch assassinated by an ingeniously designed bomb thirty years before. A shadowy figure from the past has the British crown in his sights, and has proven once before that his warnings are not to be taken lightly. Several clues point to IRA involvement, but the authorities have little to go on and answers are scarce. This is just the call to duty Hawke needs to get back into action—if the madman doesn’t strike first.

Full Disclosure: I received this book from Goodreads in exchange for an honest review.

First thoughts after finishing Warlord - Why in the world haven't I read Ted Bell before?!?

Ted Bell wove a story line that is intricate and full of little surprises - like including Princess Di - and his knowledge of military/government made this book read like it was coming from a news story. While reading Warlord, I found myself skimming the pages because I wanted to find out what happened next but when I found that I was missing important details, I went back and re-read. This was an amazing book that I will read over and over. Warlord happens to be part of a series ... but if you've not read the other books (like me) you will not be lost in the story line; it just makes you want to go back and read everything you can get your hands on about Alex Hawke. Great book and an exciting series!! 

Power Down (Dewey Andreas #1)

Title: Power Down (Dewey Andreas #1)

Author: Ben Coes

Date Published: September 2010

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Pages: 449

★★★★★

A major North American hydroelectric dam is blown up and the largest off-shore oil field in this hemisphere is destroyed in a brutal, coordinated terrorist attack. But there was one factor that the terrorists didn't take into account when they struck the Capitana platform off the coast of Colombia—slaughtering much of the crew and blowing up the platform—and that was the Capitana crew chief Dewey Andreas. Dewey, former Army Ranger and Delta, survives the attack, rescuing as many of his men as possible. But the battle has just begun.

While the intelligence and law enforcement agencies scramble to untangle these events and find the people responsible, the mysterious figure of Alexander Fortuna—an agent embedded into the highest levels of American society and business—sets into play the second stage of these long-planned attacks. The only fly in the ointment is Dewey Andreas—who is using all his long-dormant skills to fight his way off the platform, then out of Colombia and back to the U.S., following the trail of terrorists and operatives sent to stop him. 

Power Down was one of the most amazing books I have read in a long time. I absolutely LOVE how Ben Coes tells a story. He tells it from one person's point of view, rewinds a few sentences and then goes to another character in the book and talks about how they view it or what they are going through during the same time period. This is Ben Coes' first book and I hope that there are many more to come, I am a dedicated fan now. In the synopsis for Power Down, they compare Ben Coes to Vince Flynn which I think is a grave injustice to both writers. Being a (major) fan of Flynn also, having read a lot of his books and then comparing it to Coes, the only similarities I see are that they focus on government issues and they are both great writers. Amazing. The way Coes developed the main character, Dewey Andreas, and made him so imperfect was also a big hit with me. I love it when the main hero is flawed and doesn't come out of gun battles unscathed and you don't see that too often. I am definitely impatiently waiting the next installment of Dewey Andreas ... hopefully there will be one! Great job, Coes!