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Finding Haven is a sweet and heartwarming new adult romance. It was a satisfying read. I am a big fan of T.A. Foster. I loved T.A.'s previous two book, London Falling and then loved Kissing Eden even more, so I had pretty high expectations for Finding Haven. Did it live up? Yes, but not as much as I wanted it to. Don't get me wrong, I really, really liked Finding Haven, but Evan and Haven didn't have the same spark that Foster's previous couples had that I loved so much.

Haven is great. She is a breath of fresh air. I loved how devoted she was to her songwriting. I appreciated that while she enjoyed the island, she wanted to get out and live a different kind of life. It was why things would never work out with her and Travis. He wanted to stay on the island. He was content with what he had. And there is no problem with that, but Haven wanted more. She is much just so ambitious. I thought that T.A. Foster did an excellent job giving us this insight into Haven's personalities through her interactions with Travis. I felt really connected to Haven, which is actually why I had an issue with Evan.

I liked Evan a lot, but I had a hard time connecting to him because Haven only knew him as Jay. I think because I was so firmly on team Haven, I felt hurt on her behalf that he kept his identity a secret from her. It made me keep myself at a distance from him on her behalf. Is that weird? But he eventually won me over. It was hard not to with his accent and huge Texas charm. I am such a sucker for a southern boy.

Even if this isn't my absolute favorite of T.A. Foster's books, it is still a really good new adult contemporary romance. Above average for sure. The writing is great, the romance is sexy fun and really lovely, and the pacing is excellent. T.A. put herself in a pickle because Kissing Eden was just so darn fantastic. I can easily see tons of girls swooning over Evan.

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Take Two is the story of Micah and Maddie. They randomly meet at a party when Maddie is graduating from film school and what a chance meeting it was! Let's just say they get friendlier than I have ever gotten with someone I have just met. But then Maddie needs to take care of her drunk friend, Bree and they each go their separate ways. Fast forward 7 years and Micah is a big time movie hearttrob and Maddie is still trying to make it big as a director. I like the premise of the book, I loved Maddie and Micah (most of the time for Micah) and I can't even tell you how much I loved the chemistry and passion between the two of them. The cover is not my favorite but I do really like the bar with the lettering of the title. It goes well with the acting theme of the book.

Take Two is very character driven, which is what I prefer. Maddie is a great mix of fresh faced innocence (in the Hollywood world), and sassy minx. It is clear that she is a good girl with a great work ethic. She is very smart and creative. But she also has a little wild streak laced into her personality. And Micah seems to be the one that draws it out of her. Watching the two of them interact was by far the best part of the book. The two of them are beyond hot together. Their relationship did seem to center around the same issue throughout the whole book, but who the heck cares when their chemistry jumps off the page? Laurelin Paige knows how to write sexy romance. And she writes it so well.

The romance in Take Two gets 5 stars for sure. Maybe even more than 5 stars. The only thing it lost points for is the fact that Micah's hang ups on the no relationship rule got a little old. He clearly had some strong feelings for Maddie, so it annoyed me (and Maddie) that it took him so long to admit it to himself. I just thought it was a bit dragged out. But other than that, I completely LOVED the book. The writing is great and Maddie is a fantastic character. I loved how authentic the show biz and movie aspects of the book felt as well. Take Two is the perfect book to lay out by the pool with and get lost in for an afternoon or two. It is a little predictable, but a whole lot of fun.

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A Risk Worth Taking is perfect for fans of Abbi Glines. It reminded me of While it Lasts from her Sea Breeze series, and if you remember my review from that book you will know that Gage is pretty much my favorite guy ever. I am a HUGE fan of Heather's Paranormal Romance- the Dirty Blood series. They are my favorite werewolf/shifter books of all time, so I knew I had to read her New Adult contemporary, A Risk Worth Taking. And boy oh boy was I glad that I did. I heart-ed the heck out of this book!

Summer and Ford have awesome chemistry. They each have issues of their own that are holding them back from fully committing to each other. Summer's arise more at the start of the book and then somewhere along the line it shifts and Ford's becomes the one waging an inner struggle. Their story is told in dual narrative shifting between their Point of views. A personal favorite of mine for romances. I don't even know who I liked more. I just loved the both of them together. They made me smile and awh, they made hot and bothered and they even made me cry. Oh so many feels.

It was interesting to watch Summer and Ford interact because they really are opposites in some ways, and similar in others. They are both stubborn, but Summer is way more logical, analytical, and a huge planner. The only thing Ford is analytical about are his plants. Everything else he is much more an easy going, live in the moment kind of guy. They balanced each other out, and ok sometimes they clashed head on. But it was so much fun to read about the two of them. I loved how passionate they were together, and their dates were so cute. I want to go out and recreate them.

This is a classic New Adult contemporary romance. Perfect for summer. It is emotional, hot and steamy and so worth the read. Heather creates awesome characters. It is what I love about her writing. She makes you feel like these are people that you know and care about. I get so invested and involved in her stories. I loved a Risk Worth Taking and I love Heather Hildenbrand's writing. She is on my short list of auto-read authors.

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Shifting Fates is a shifter Urban Fantasy written by Authors Aubrey Rose and Nadia Simonenko. I am such a huge fan of Nadia that I knew I just had to read this new series. The first two books are already out, and I think the third book is coming out soon. It is a really interesting concept. The story takes place in the future in the city where New York used to be. There was a war and some kind of disease they came from a bomb explosion, and it turned some people into shifters. They shift into all kinds of animals. Some of them turn into monsters, and because of that they are killed on sight pretty much.

Bindi is a shifter and as such she has to live in hiding. She takes care of some orphaned kids and teenagers that were also turned into shifters. She steals extra rations from the city to get enough supplies and food for them to eat. I wasn't sure if they were just "nice" shifters, or if none of the shifters actually turned into monsters, but Bindi and the kids didn't at all like monsters. They seemed just like normal people that could shift. I want to see some "wild" shifters in the next book so I can compare how they act.

Bindi basically lives in isolation with these kids that she takes care of, so when she meets Ben, the soldier and sparks fly it takes both of them by surprise. The book was too short for too much of a romance to develop, but they did have two really interesting meetings. I really look forward to seeing more of their "connection" develop. I want to know why it is that they react so strongly to each other.

I really enjoyed Shifting Fates, but I wish it was longer. It seemed like it was over right after it was getting started. That is the only complaint I can think of. Everything else about this book is so good you will want to get lost within the pages of this book. The writing is wonderful and the detail is great. It is fast paced but not rushed. It's a novella series or a serial, but the books are released one at a time for the time being. After another book or two comes out, I would like to see them bundled so that they would equal a full length novel. I really love the concept, and the post war militarized control setting left in the destruction, but I want something more lengthy. I like this author duo. I can't wait to read book 2.

**Note: I just discovered that if you sign up for the authors mailing list they will notify you when the series is complete if you enjoy reading the books that.**

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I read See You in Hell right after I finished the short little prequel called Welcome to Hell. You certainly don't need to read Welcome to Hell first though in order to understand See You in Hell. See You in Hell starts out with Mel starting a job in the Hell Corporation, which stands for the Health, Environment, Life and Lands Corporation. (Welcome to Hell just showed Mel's job interview for her temp position.)

Melody Angel is an angel, working as a temp in the Hell Corporation to try and see if the rumors that Lucifer is there and planning some sort of big takeover are true. Mel thinks that the CEO, Luce Iblis could be Lucifer himself. I loved See you in Hell. It was funny as heck, well planned out and executed and ended up going in a completely different direction that I originally thought it would.

Mel is a wonderful character. She breaks all the stereotypes for angels. She is as good as they come, but she has one heck of a sense of humor on her. Angels are described in the book as prim, proper and kind of uptight. They have an air of superiority around them. But Mel is none of those things. She doesn't think she is better than anyone else and she has no problem talking to, and joking around with demons. Her co-workers have no idea what to think of her. I loved it. I think I enjoyed her sense of humor most of all. She will drop everything to help someone, is as sweet as can be, but at the same time she can hold her own in a battle of wits and dirty humor with the best of them. She is my kind of angel.

I really liked Luce's character as well. He is not as cut and dry as I expected him to be. The man has a lot of layers, and it seemed like Mel was the only one able to rattle him long enough to start peeling them back. It was awesome to see some of his more vulnerable side, that only she seemed to be able to bring out.

See you in Hell is a funny read. I really enjoyed myself while reading it. The writing has a very natural flow and the story progresses at a great pace. I can't wait to see if the author is going to write another book with this one. I could see the end as a nice stopping place, but I liked the characters so much that I want to see more of them. Especially with what happened at the end of this one. I think this story has the potential to be excellent in so many different directions.

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As soon as I heard that this was a re-telling of Peter Pan I was excited to read Second Star. When I started to see reviews saying this was a unique take on the story, I was even more intrigued. Second Star is the story of Wendy Darling. And I have to say, this is a pretty incredible book. It is a very quick read. I easily devoured it in a couple of hours. I was so impressed with the story that Alyssa B. Sheinmel came up with. Yes, it is a re-telling of sorts of Peter Pan, but it seemed like way more than that to me. The character names are the same, and there are loose similarities in themes, but overall this is a wonderfully executed story. I am still not 100% sure what exactly happened at the end of the story. Was it completely contemporary or was there a touch of magic? It could have been either and I applaud Alyssa for how she pulled it all off.

Wendy is just graduating high school. My heart completely broke for her. Her twin brothers were surfers and one day they just disappeared. The police found their surfboards and declared them missing and then dead. But Wendy doesn't think that is what happened at all. So she sets out in search of them. No one believes her, not even her best friend. When Wendy found Pete and Belle and the boys down on Kensie beach, I truly felt her despair and loneliness. She was a little like a lost boy. I really liked Pete, but I never really fell in love with him. I'm not sure why. He seems like a really great guy. Very caring and I really do think that he likes Wendy a lot. But something just felt off. Even after reading the whole story, I can't be sure what it was. Even before Jas showed up, I wasn't completely on board with Pete and Wendy. I loved Jas. He seemed like he cared more about Wendy in his own weird way. It certainly seemed like he went more out of his way to look out for her. I didn't approve of too many of his other decisions, but when it came to Wendy I found him strangely endearing. I really want to read more about him.

Second Star is a story about getting answers. Wendy wants answers about what happened to her brothers. And Wendy ends up finding out answers about herself. This is a personal growth journey that will make you smile, laugh, and maybe even cry. It is beautiful, sad and happy all at once. Wendy's story is compelling and I wasn't ready to say goodbye to her when the book ended. I loved Second Star. It took me by surprise many times. It really blew me away.

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I really enjoyed Aqua by M.A. George. It is a young adult paranormal, but it felt different than your typical book. For one thing, romance is certainly present in the story, but it was not the driving force. And for another, the main character Layla had to work VERY hard at developing her "abilities". She was not super powerful overnight. To put it simply, Aqua is an excellent book. The progression and pacing are detailed and purposeful. The characters are fleshed out and fully developed and the relationships are never forced.

Layla moves to a new house in a new city and state every year like clockwork on her birthday. Her mom and her aunt pack up everything and move to a new house. Always somewhere along the coast though. This time, they moved to Texas. Where Layla meets two guys down at the beach. One of which disappeared for quite a long time under the water and then inexplicably turned up completely dry on the beach minutes later. And that is just the start of the weird events for Layla.

Obviously you know the book has to do something with Water. But I am not telling you exactly what that is. I will tell you that you that there are two guys: Tristan and Pyke, there is no love triangle, you may hate Pyke, you may love Pyke, you will probably love Tristan (I do!), and that the writing is excellent and will make you not want to put the book down.

This book is on the longer end, so some of the scenes in the middle of the book felt kind of dragged out. It is slower paced than your average young adult book because the author takes you through all of the preparation before the action. I liked it because it felt completely realistic. If a teenage girl suddenly has her world turned upside down and supernatural introduced into it, she might not be an overnight superstar at whatever her ability is. Layla had to work at it. I haven't seen that in a long time in books. Plus the romance with Tristan is about as opposite of insta love as it gets in books. They don't even kiss until 80% into the story...of a 600 page book. I'm not sure if there is going to be a sequel or not...the ending kind of leaves that open, but I certainly hope that there is. I want to see more of everyone. Even Pyke.

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Black Amaranth is a classic young adult paranormal storyline. Girl has lost her parents and has had secrets galore kept from her. Girl turns out to have some sort of powers and goes off to fulfill some sort of destiny/prophecy. It may be cliche, but it is a formula that works for me. I enjoy it because I like to see what the author can do with that basic plotline and how they can make it their own. I think Sasha Hibbs did a really good job creating interesting races of creatures and made a compelling history and story for them. Plus, there are plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing right up until the end.

I liked Ally and her gang of friends. I thought it was a little convenient and easy how everyone surrounding her ended up playing a role in her world, but overall it was interesting to see how they each fit in. I appreciated how inquisitive Ally was. She did not just stand for a simple explanation. She kept demanding until she got the answers she wanted, and she was smart enough to know to keep some pieces of information to herself. Too many times I see characters that are too trusting and a little naive. Ally was neither of those things. It was refreshing.

I loved Michael and the twins. I thought they were a great group of friends. I was on the fence about Marik for almost all of the story, and there were more than a few times that I wanted to kick Ally for her choices, but I will leave all of that for you to find out for yourself. I liked the various relationships, but everything was so obvious and in your face. Like with Eli, for instance. I would have liked a little bit more subtlety worked into his feelings. It would have made it seem more realistic to me. I hope that gets developed a bit more in the next book.

Because the world that Sasha Hibbs created is complex, and because we are seeing this through Ally's eyes and she is so new to all of this, parts of the book were pretty confusing. I think since we now know who most of the players are and what the creatures are, that won't be an issue in the next book. Even though I want to see some of the characters and relationships fleshed out a bit in the next book, the world and plot has grabbed my attention so much that I know I will be continuing the series. The ending of this book killed me! I did not see it coming at all, and I really have no idea how Ally will get herself out of this pickle. But I know one thing, I have to tune in to find out.

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Darkness Watching is the first book in the Darkworld series. I found Darkness Watching to be well developed and a very intriguing plot line. The book is told from Ashlyn's point of view, and she didn't know anything about this new world where demons and shadow creatures existed, so for a lot of the novel we felt all of her confusion and paranoia with everything and everyone. I didn't even know who to trust. We only knew what Ashlyn knew. It was a very effective technique to help me feel connected to Ash.

Ash is a strong girl. I felt awful that she didn't get into Oxford at the start of the book, but then when she started at Blackstone university things were looking up for her. I loved how her flat was described and I liked that she had five other roommates for us to get to know. I liked both of the girls and I liked David but I went back and forth with my feelings for him even more than Ash did. I figured out part of the mysteries, but I was pretty surprised about a few of the twists. It was the perfect mix of predictable and unpredictable for me.

There is plenty of magic and creepy creatures to appeal to paranormal and urban fantasy lovers. Let's just say that I wouldn't want to face down the harpies or any of the shadow creatures. Not even with backup. Since there is a new world so to speak that exists in the Darkworld series, there were a couple confusing moments, but everything eventually gets explained. I do wish that the explanations came a bit earlier on. I think it would have helped Ash as well. But because we only knew what Ash knew, the confusing aspect of the book did not really bother me. I just wanted her to demand answers sooner.

Darkness Watching has minimal romance, but has tons of action, adventure and magic to keep you on the edge of your seat. Fans of YA paranormal/urban fantasy should check out this series. It is marketed as upper YA/New Adult, but it felt more YA to me. Maybe future books in the series will be more New Adult though. It is one that I will easily continue.

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I'm going to be honest with you. I wasn't sure how much I was going to like this book before I started it. I read it because I have loved all of the other books in the Jane Austen Academy series, but this one was about Emma. And because we started the series with Lizzie, Emma was the "mean girl". I just wasn't too sure how I was going to connect with her. But I am super pleased to say that I ended up really, really enjoying her story.

Each book in the Jane Austen Academy series focuses on a different friend from the school, and each of the books can be read as a standalone. When I first started reading Only With You, Emma seemed like a completely different person than I remembered her. She was such a do-gooder; nice to everyone and she seemed really selfless. But then as the story continued, I started to see more and more of the Emma I remembered, and oddly enough it were these little moments of selfishness, immaturity, and her attention commanding look at me now personality that put me at ease and drew me into the story. I know that sounds weird but it was closer to the Emma that I had drawn in my head. But in Only With You we get to see why she is this way. We really get to dive into her head. Emma is a complete meddler in her friends lives. She thinks that she was the one that set all of her friends up with their boyfriends and she is at it again- this time with Anne.

Since I already knew the characters and their personalities, I loved reading Only With You and trying to guess what was going to happened. I figured out the end game of this book pretty quickly, but I was still surprised a bunch of times along the way. I loved how Emma's character grew. It took a while for her to get there and to admit her shortcomings, but her insecurities and her overall character growth surprisingly turned out to be the most rewarding one yet in the series for me. And that is something I did not expect to happen. Once Emma lets her guard down, she is very relate-able and likable. I wanted her to get her happy ending.

All of the books in the Jane Austen Academy series are light and fun happy ending books. They each standalone and you can read them out of order, but they do have an overarching story theme of what is going to happen to the academy itself. I think that is going to play a larger role in the 6th book, so if you can, I would read them in order. Plus you will fall in love with this group of friends. This is my 5th book with them and they kind of feel like family now to me.