**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net** 

Fair Game is the first book in a new, new adult contemporary romance series from Monica Murphy. It's called the Rules Series and it is off to a very strong start. I thought one thing from reading the summary of the book, and thought it had potential to be interesting and funny. And it was all of those things, but in a different way than I was expecting. Shep "wins" Jade in a poker game in one of the first scenes of the book, so I thought she was going to be stuck running errands and completing tasks for him, but what actually happened was so much better. Jade is too spunky to let anyone win her, and I loved that! She took the book in a whole new direction, and it was great.

Shep comes from old money. So much old money that no one for generations has to work in his family if they don't want to. That kind of money can be a great thing, or it can really mess someone up. I think for Shep it was a little bit of both, but he seemed to at least have a healthy grasp on what his life of privilege was doing to him as a person. I couldn't get a good read on Shep at the start of the book, but as the story unfolded we saw bits and pieces of who Shep is. And I have to say that even though he initially comes across as an arrogant jerk, I love who he was with Jade. He has moments of such sweetness that I think even took him by surprise. But what was great, was that he didn't shy away from them. Yes he was shocked that Jade was making him act like someone foreign to his college persona, but he didn't try and hide or bury that side of him. He embraced it with her. And that is what made me like him.

Jade is skeptical of this Shep, just as she should be. I wouldn't have liked her nearly as much if she wasn't. She was guarded, sure, but I don't think she came across as cold or uppity. I thought she was just being cautious. I could really relate to Jade. And watching her reluctantly warm up to Shep had me grinning like an idiot. These two were just so...something...together. Cute isn't the right word, but they did work. They challenged each other constantly. It made reading about their interactions so much fun. And their chemistry is undeniable. That is for sure.

The Rules Series is going to follow Shep, his friend Gabe and his cousin Tristan. I can't wait for Gabe's story, but I have to admit that I am hesitant about Tristan's. He seems like the biggest jerk. Monica Murphy is going to have to work her magic on him. Fair Game is a great start to a very promising series. I know it is going to be a big hit with tons of readers of new adult contemporary. This was a great, sexy and fun read.

 This review was originally posted on Book Briefs

**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net** 

3.5/5
Schooled is the first book in a new adult contemporary romance series called Travesty. Travesty is the name of a fashion brand created by two college best friends. The first book in the series is Lex, or Alexis', story. And the second book is Ava's story. I am not sure how many books there are going to be, or if after these first two is subsequent books will continue to follow new couples or will shift back to Lex and Ava. That is my preference, but I have a feeling the series will also follow some of their other friends like Jane.

Either way, the book was told entirely from Lex's point of view. I do wish that we had a smattering of chapters from Dylan because I love dual narrative in new adult contemporary romance, but it worked out ok with just Lex. I had a love hate relationship with Lex. I really liked her, but then sometimes she would just be so bull headed that I wanted to shake her and give up on her. She sabotaged everything it seems like. It is strange, because Lex herself is not a dramatic person, but if you remove her from the storyline all of the drama in Schooled would have been gone too.

Dylan was the best part of the story of Schooled for me. I thought it was so cute how he was with Lex. It was clear as day that he has always had a thing for her, and he was more than patient with her crazy moments. I know it sounds like I didn't like Lex, but I did. I really liked her with Dylan and I really liked her when she wasn't overthinking everything and she just let go. She was wonderful in those moments when she wasn't second guessing herself and all of her actions at every turn. Most of all, I just wanted Lex to let go and just Live. And I think that is what Dylan was able to bring out in her.

Schooled is a very easy flowing read. I really enjoyed it and I loved the romance. There are lots and lots of speedbumps along the way, but I think readers will be rooting for Dylan and Lex. I hope we get to check in with them more in Ava's story. For readers that love new adult romance in a college setting and don't mind a controlling main character, especially since the romance more than makes up for it, I think schooled and the travesty series is one for you to check out.

 This review was originally posted on Book Briefs

**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net**
Outside the Ropes is the first book in a new adult sports/crime contemporary romance series by the same name. It is dark, gritty and more violent than I am used to. This book pushed me outside of my normal comfort zone while reading, but I have to say I enjoyed it. I know almost nothing about boxing, but I thought Ashley Claudy made the sport accessible to the reader. Plus there is a lot of action, violence and romance to keep the story moving and to grab your attention.

Regan has had a tough life in the foster system, and Outside the Ropes starts out with her getting jumped on her way home and beat up pretty bad. That should set the tone for the whole story actually. But she survives and as a result she is brought into the world of competitive boxing. She loves it almost immediately, and through this world she meets a whole slew of new people. I really liked the whole cast of characters in Outside the Ropes. Dexter and Gage were obviously my favorites, but I have a soft spot for Anthony too. I know that might seem crazy if you have read the book, but I do. Even though Dexter and Gage are brothers, they could not be more different, which is always fun for me to read. I like a variety of character types in my reads.

I wanted a little more hinting at Gage's interest in Regan early on. At one point in the story, after talking to her only a handful of times, he said something like "well I think you know how much I like you." And I was thinking, really? I don't know that. I mean, I could have guessed because I knew he was going to be the love interest, but I didn't see much interest manifesting on the pages of the story. Now after they had that conversation, I totally saw his interest. (and no it wasn't insta love, nor did they get together at that point, but it was at least obvious that he liked her.)

Outside the Ropes is not the typical story that I read, but I am glad that I read it. I found myself getting caught up in Regan's world. I think fans of gritty stories with fighting and violence will absolutely love this series. And if you are like me, and you like your romance on the fluffy and light side, give this series a try anyway! I think you will enjoy it. I am already itching for the next book.


This review was originally posted on Book Briefs

**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net**How to Say I love You out Loud is one of those books that somehow manages to be a really cute romance and read, a tearjerker, as well as something really important and special. I just have so much love for this book. I think everyone needs to read it. It is about Jordyn and her brother Phillip. Phillip is autistic and for unforseen circumstances, he has to start going to Jordyn's school. Make no mistake, this book is aout Jordyn and her personal journey but Phillip defines Jordyn. (at least she feels that way.) How to Say I love you Out Loud at first glance is a book about Jordyn and her crush Alex, but once you start reading, you realize it is so, so much more than that. It is a really beautiful story.

Just recently, I have come to have a special relationship and better understanding of families with special needs kids. (my firm does a lot of special need trusts, and planning, so I have learned a lot in that arena.) And let me tell you, the amount that I have learned about everything these families go through, is staggering. From all areas of life, the financial commitment, the time commitment, the set backs, the patience, the stress, and the happy milestones. I was reading How to Say I love You Out Loud through these new lenses, and so I thought Karole Cozzo did an amazing job describing Phillip and what it is like to live a day in his life. (Of course, he is just one person on the spectrum, so any number of other individuals will be affected in different ways.) I loved so many things about Phillip. Sure readers may want Phillip to be something different at the end of the story, but I loved that Phillip was still just Phillip in that sense. (and thing else would have felt unrealistic.) But this book is not only accessible to people that have some degree of exposure to people like Phillip. Karole Cozzo 's writing invites the reader in, and explains everything in a powerful but easily understood way.

I dare anyone to read this book and not be able to put themselves in Jordyn's shoes. Whether you think she was being selfish, immature, or acted perfectly, you will be able to relate to her and what she is going through. And yes, I thought all of those things about her while I was reading this story. Sometimes, I thought she could have handled things differently, and sometimes I thought she should give people more of the benefit of the doubt, but I could always see where she was coming from. And that is what makes a good character. Everyone in this book felt read.

And not only does How to Say I love You Out Loud, have an excellent message and deals with complicated issues in easy and accessible ways, but it has a cute romance to boot. I loved the playground Alex was creating, and I plain just loved Alex overall. Who wouldn't? I just want to hug it so much. I am recommending How to Say I love You out Loud to everyone in my life. It is one of the best books I have read this year. And I have never read another book like it. In my life.


This review was originally posted on Book Briefs

**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net**


Oh how I wanted to love Secrets Don't Keep. It has all the makings of a book that I would love! A scavenger hunt style quest to join a super secret boarding school society, and did a mention a secret society? Not to mention the boarding school society of the super rich reminded me of Gossip Girl. The characters definitely had the entitled bratty thing down pat. I know you can sense a but coming. I wanted to love Secrets Don't Keep, but I just didn't. This book fell apart for me pretty quickly and I was really bummed about it. I kept reading because I genuinely love stories surrounding secrets and secret societies. I want to get to that OMG moment. And that aspect of the book was ok. There were lots of twists and turns and the author had unpredictability down pat. It was all the other stuff, the character stuff, that had me grinding my jaw.

Kera and Dex just didn't do anything for me. They had a bad case of insta love and I just couldn't back it up. Not to mention I didn't think Kera was a very good friend. Not that her friends were perfect friends to her either. From the summary and the setting, this book reminded me a bit of Secret of the Sevens by Lynn Lindquist, which I really loved. This one was no where near as good. It felt choppy and the characters majorly got on my nerves.

But if you are a huge fan of secret societies, secrets don't keep might be worth checking out. I really enjoyed the scene setting. The school sounds like a place I would love to spend a couple of days getting lost in, and the actual secrets in this book were pretty major. And my favorite part of all was the app that Kera's friend designed for the students of the school to talk to each other. I thought that was really cool. But all of those things that I enjoyed were not enough to save me from the annoyance I felt from the characters.

If you are looking for a great story about a secret society set at a boarding school, try Secret of the Sevens by Lynn Lindquist. Secrets Don't Keep was not a hit for me, but I do hope that if you read it, you end up loving it! Let me know what you think if you get a chance to check out this book.


This review was originally posted on Book Briefs

**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net**


I love Tellulah Darling so much. I am such a big fan of her mythology series, the Blooming Goddess series. But sometimes you never know what to expect when you read something totally different from an author. Get Real is a new adult urban fantasy romance and I am here to say...it was SO. FREAKIN'. GOOD!! This is on my list of top 2015 reads. Get Real is one of those books that made me totally unsociable and rude. I flat out ignored people to keep reading. If you like your paranormals or urban fantasy with a heavy side of romance, Get Real is the perfect book for you.

Get Real puts us in the international world of cads, or people with magical abilities. These abilities generally fall into one of 5 (or 6) categories, with people in each category have particular sub-strengths and gifts. These gifts point them in the direction that their schooling will take place. Get Real is the story of Francesca, a fiery Italian "good girl" that comes from a very prestigious healer family. Only problem is, Frankie doesn't want to be a healer. She wants to use her ability to manipulate bio matter to become a boiler, a law enforcement field agent. The other side of the equation is Rafael, who has a really cool power (nope not telling) and he just wants to make it on his own, and not his father's name. Frankie and Rafael have a fiery bantering relationship, which I could just not get enough of. I loved that their romance was front and center throughout Get Real, but at the same time it didn't compete with the awesome action story that was taking place.

See, Rafael and Frankie get sucked from Europe to New York by some unknown force, right before their induction into adult training. Which leads them into the bulk of the action of the story. I love how fast paced and intense their fight was to figure out what was going on with Minna, the mysterious girl they think is behind it all. Minna reminded me of Jason of the X-men. That should give you some idea of how crazy the book could turn at any moment.

I love the powers aspect of Get Real, but the real star of this book was the clash of personalities between Rafael and Frankie. And their romance of course. I know this may seem kind of strange, but I also really liked that she was Italian and he was Spanish. Normally you only see one accent in a couple, but here we had two! And each one of them thought the other's accent was cute. It was all totally adorable to me. I cannot say enough good things about Get Real. It has one of the best romances I have seen in a new adult paranormal or fantasy. The storyline is utterly engaging and the writing is perfect. Everyone needs to read this book. Tellulah Darling is a fantastic writer. One of the best books I have read this year.


This review was originally posted on Book Briefs

**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net**


Dead Upon A Time is set in a fairy tale world that is a little darker and a little more twisted than the fairy tales we all remember as kids. And in this world, children are being taken and tortured in creepy ways. I liked (and maybe liked is the wrong word because that makes me sound kind of sadistic) that the children were each tortured in a unique way to their particular story. One was forced to eat a poison apple over and over again, others were cooked alive, etc. Dead Upon a Time is the story of Jack and Kate, two outcasts in the village that embark on a quest to save the children, and Kate's grandmother.

Dead Upon a Time is a very quick read that I think would appeal to a younger crowd of young adult readers as well as older readers who are fans of grimm brothers, once upon a time series, and twisted fairy tale re-tellings. I loved the interplay in Elizabeth Paulson's world between uncommon people v. the concept of evil, v. witches. We got to see some of the differences, but I wish that this was explored a bit more. Maybe in another book. HintHintWinkWinkElizabeth.

I was the most interested in why these children were being tortured and more of the history surrounding their chosen methods. Did the kidnapper know about their fairy tales, or was this the way their tales might have played out instead? A lot is left up to the reader to ponder, which made Dead Upon a Time a unique read. Much of the book was focused on the rescue journey. I loved learned about the world through the journey, and how evil and magic manifested itself. It was a very quick and fun read.

Kate sees glimpses of the children through visions or flashes throughout their journey, but that is almost all we saw of them until the very end. I wanted to see a bit more on the actual rescue and what was going on, at the kidnappers end. I think there is a great book told from the kidnappers or the kidnapped children eyes, as a companion piece. Fans of darker and more twisted fairy tales will like this spin on the classics. I thought it was a great read. One you can finish in only a few short hours, and there was little to no romance, which makes it suitable for readers of all ages. Check out Dead Upon a Time if you dare. Happy ending not guaranteed. ;)

This review was originally posted on Book Briefs

**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net**
Golden is the first book in a young adult magical realism series, with each of the books also being loose retellings of fairy tales. Author Melinda Michaels describes the story that way, but what is really happening is that the world she has created takes place after the fairy tale stories have all played out. This world deals with the descendants of the fairy tale characters. And that is really all I am going to tell you about the plot of the book, because I think so much of the magic in Golden lies in the suspense and intrigue that Melinda Michaels is so great at weaving into her story. There are wonderfully complex characters that while they themselves divide each other into good and bad guys, they are each so much more complicated and faceted than that. The characters were a joy to read about. Some you will be able to predict and others throw everything on their head.

The book starts out with the main character Hanna reeling from a blackout she just had in school. This was scary for her because after her last blackout when she was eight, she lost all of her previous memories. Heck, I would be terrified of blackouts too! I really enjoyed Hanna. I liked that even though she knew her family was holding back on information, she didn't stop questioning them. I hate when characters in books know there are secrets being kept from them, and they ask a couple of times and then just let it go. Umm, no way would I let something important like that go. And Hanna didn't. My only hold up with Hannah was her tendency towards really reckless behavior. Like standing in front of a train (at all!) but then waiting there until the last possible second. That is something that I just cannot get on board with. But other than that, I thought Hanna was a great character. I loved watching her interact with everyone else in the story because all of the characters in Golden were so different! From Owen to that Vann guy, to Hanna's own grandparents. Everyone had their own personality and role and secrets. But some of them might not be what you think!

Melinda Michaels does an excellent job weaving in surprises, and some not so surprises. She gives you enough foreshadowing so that you can figure out some things on your own, so you are not completely lost in the woods, but I promise that is not all she has in story for the readers. Not to mention the great romance as well. Mmm, I would love a side of William. I really enjoyed Golden and I cannot wait to see what is next from this author. I will certainly be reading it.

This review was originally posted on Book Briefs

**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net**Before we were Strangers is an adult contemporary romance set up over a course of almost two decades. I thought this book was going to be a new adult book when I bought it, and arguably the beginning of it is, because the characters start off in college, but this book was overall an adult book with the characters aging through a lot of their life. That was surprising to me, but overall this was still a really good read. I absolutely LOVE love love the premise of the book. Max and Grace had something going on in college and then for reasons unknown they went separate ways. They meet up again through a craigslist missed connection ad. I just love that idea. I think that was flat out brilliant on Renee Carlino's part. It was the perfect blending of romance and technology in the online world we live in now.

The book is told both in dual narrative, as well as shifting between present day and various points in Grace and Matt's past. I know that might sound a bit confusing but for the most part it worked really well. The past and present and the person were each identified really well, so you always knew who and where you were reading. For the most part, the book starts off in the middle of the story in Matt's point of view and then it flashes back all the way to 15 years before when Matt was in college. From there it shifts between grace and Matt in large blocks of chapters each (not every other chapter switching) and tells the story in chronological order, taking it past the "initial" starting point when the book started. Have I confused you yet? Don't worry, it actually works out well and is pretty easy to follow.

Before We Were Strangers took me on a total rollercoaster of emotions. It was happy, it was romantic, it was sad, it was poignant, it was bittersweet and a million other things that I have not hit on. This book was the very real journey with all the ups and downs of life thrown in to keep these two on their toes. I genuinely had no idea how their story was going to turn out until the very last page, and a happily ever after was never guaranteed. That made reading Before We Were Strangers a different kind of romance reading experience to me. All at once I loved and was very nervous and on edge that I didn't know was going to happen. Not to mention that I really didn't know if I was going to like Matt. I have never read a book before where I went from really liking a characters, to hating a character in the middle of the book and then liking him again. Normally, once I form an opinion about someone, it is really hard to sway me from my view of them. Not the case at all here. Renee Carlino really understands people. She has this way of crawling inside their heads and making them feel so utterly realistic that they could be anyone in your life. The good and the bad. This was the perfect, realistic modern day love story.


This review was originally posted on Book Briefs

**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net**It is so nice to get to read a contemporary by Alyssa Rose Ivy. It was just what I needed last night. Lately, I have been focusing more on her paranormal books, which I love, but I forgot how great her contemporaries were too. When I read the summary for Life After Falling and I saw that the main character goes on a journey of sorts to fix an old cassette tape, which she believes holds the key to happiness, I knew I was in. That sounds just kooky enough to be a good time. And it totally was. (a good time, that is.) I loved this sweet feel good romance between two people- Cassidy and Leo, who are both trying to find their way for very different reasons.

I loved how mysterious the cassette tape was. We didn't find out why it was so important or just what the heck was on it until rather late in the story. What is impressive though is the lengths that Cassidy went to, to get it fixed. And even more impressive that her slightly crazy antics not only didn't scare Leo away, but convinced him to help her! They were so cute together. In Leo's words, they had an uncanny amount of things in common. And I loved learning what new random things they would both like, or both dislike.

About 75% into the book, I was cruising along on my nice predictable contemporary romance high, when boom- a total detour took place. I really wasn't expecting it. And while I was initially in the mood for some nice predictable fluff (hey! we all need that sometimes...), I really liked the new direction that ARI took Life After Falling in. It added a good bit of backstory to Leo too. For the first half of the book, most of the character development is focused on Cassidy, but Leo gets his chance to shine too towards the end. I loved it.

Bottom Line: If you like cute new adult or adult contemporary romances that feature quarter life crises, slightly eccentric main character who has no problem speaking her mind, this is the book for you. It is sure to put a smile on your face. Plus, it is written by Alyssa Rose Ivy, so you KNOW it will be good.

This review was originally posted on Book Briefs