stephanie_inman's Reviews (228)

This is the first book in Melissa Schroeder's The Filmores Series. We met a few of the characters in her Camo and Cupcakes series. Even with the brief bit we saw of them in that series, I was intrigued and couldn't wait to read this series.

I was most excited about Nancy and Travis' story, which is book two. I basically read this one because I wanted to get to it. I ended up liking this one slightly better. I will review Love to Hate You soon, but basically I liked BOTH of our MC's in this one.

Syd isn't your typical girl without being "isn't your typical girl" that we see over and over again. She's smart, ambitious, and doesn't take her boss, Brady's shit. She manages to be tough, but still likes things like clothes and shoes. (Why is it that we always have one or the other in books? You can be feminine and still be kick ass) Oh, and Syd? Thankfully, not yet another virgin. There isn't really any OM drama. She goes to lunch with an old boyfriend, but it's clear that they are only friends.

I liked Brady. He wasn't the same ol' manwhore. He had a fairly good sex life, but his life didn't revolve around it. It's even mentioned that he hasn't slept with anyone in a while. He was focused on work, and that was his priority. I'm so tired of the men in books sleeping with everything that moves, even up to the point or sometimes after meeting the h. In this book, it would have even made sense, as Brady became interested in Syd during the first few chapters. We don't start the book with him pining away for his assistant. He always appreciated her brains, and he noticed her looks, but he was her boss and put her in a "Do not touch" box.

There isn't a ton of angst in this one. It was stuff that was easily solved. No OW/OM drama.

Side characters were good. I liked Nancy, Syd's bestie. Brady's brother's were also incredibly likable. I'm not looking as forward to Carter's book (assuming he will get one) as he is every bit the manwhore that is so overdone (obviously, this is the takeaway from how his character is described in this book. Ms. Schroeder could throw us a twist, and Carter not be the manwhore we think he is. We'll have to wait and see)

All in all, this book is fairly good. I wasn't blown away by it, but it didn't go down in the "get this off of my Kindle" pile either.

This was a decent start to the story. Hanna was a pushover, but the story will continue in two (Yep, 2) other parts so I gave her the benefit of the doubt.

I wouldn’t have read this one, had all three parts not already been on my Kindle. I don’t like reading several books about one character, especially when it’s a continuation of the same plot (as in this one, with cliffhangers at the end of books 1 and 2)

I’m writing this review well after reading this, and finishing all three books. While this one alone wasn’t awful, and my rating here reflects that, as a series I don’t recommend it. By the last book I hated Hanna. I hated the guy she chose. And I think asking readers to pay for three installments and dragging the story out this much was just one thing to many for me.

This is the second book in this trilogy. Again, there is so much drama and it’s drawn out. I still hate Hanna. The guys are okay (By the third book, I change my mind on this).

Sweet and sexy novella featuring Theo and Jamie (from Leo Loves Aries) in a battle of wills to see who can "hold out" the longest. It's just cute and fun, while also bringing some heat. Zero angst. A perfect read for when you need something light.

I can't get enough of these two. Once I read about a couple, I'm usually ready to move on, but if Anyta Sunday decided to write 100 more books about Theo and Jamie (and the cast of supporting characters, Leone, Sean, Crystal) I would read all 100 of them.

TW: Mentions of physical abuse

Fairly good start to a series. I love it when authors put together novella series like this. Sometimes I want to be able to just finish a story in a short amount of time. This entire series is perfect for that.

Mackenzie had been in an abusive relationship. I loved that the characters she told (including her mom) all believed her. While I understand that it often isn't like that irl, it's almost never like that in books. I like that Mackenzie had a great support system. It was a refreshing change to the heroine not being believed.

As for Samson, I mostly liked him. The only real issue I had that was he sees Mackenzie for the first time and thinks that she is the "one". I'm fine with insta-love, so that isn't the issue I had. Mackenzie had a boyfriend, and Samson won't go after her because of this. So instead he decides that having sex with a bunch of other girls during the course of the week is a solution to his feelings. I don't think that was necessary. While Samson isn't cheating, he doesn't even really know Mackenzie yet, it still seems like a plot point that is just thrown in there to show us how desirable Samson is.
And, yet again, we have the virginal heroine with the guy who is basically on cloud nine because he then gets to "claim her".

For a novella this one has a good amount of content in it.

M.E. Clayton has been a hit or miss author for me. The stories that I do like of hers, I really like and often they end up being ones that I will re-read. I'm happy to say that this one falls into that category.

I couldn't get into this one. I did finish it, but it was a hard read for me. Mallory drove me absolutely bananas. She's supposed to be super smart but in no way was she written as a smart character. We were told that she was smart, but never shown it. She was naive, daft and just basically couldn't ever pull her shit together. Anytime the slightest thing went wrong, she was out the door.

Will was okay. Maybe a little bland, but that could just be because everything else in this book was so over the top. I also didn't feel a connection between him and Mallory. Rather than rooting for Will and Mallory to get together, I found myself not really caring.

I still landed on a three star rating on this one, though. The writing was good. It's clear to see why Julia Kent is so popular with readers. And I loved the set up of the upcoming books. The interconnected series will tell the stories of Mallory's friends. I'm a huge fan of interconnected series, especially when we are given characters in the first book, and we actually get to know them a bit before their book. This one did a good job of introducing us to Perky (Persephone), Feisty (Fiona) and Hasty (Hastings)

So, while this one wasn't a win for me, it did impress me enough to keep going with the series.

Another novella in the Eastwood series by M.E. Clayton. As evident by my other reviews, this series is very up and down for me.

First the good: Amelia wasn’t a virgin. Ford was still way more experienced than Amelia, but, at this point, I’ll take it. I also thought the story was paced well. All of these are novellas, and some of them would have really benefited from being longer. I felt the pace and the length here were okay. It felt more like a complete story than a few of the others have.

The bad: Okay, so at this point I hate to say this is “bad”, because, while normally this would be a negative for a book, with the issues I had with Raiden, yeah, I’ll take this one. The book is forgettable. I finished reading this and had to go back to the description to find Amelia’s name. Ford was just as boring, but his name is the title of the book so no need to look it up. The other books, whether I loved them or hated them, are just way more memorable.

I love so much about this book. Zane, our hopeless romantic. Beckett, our slightly grumpy academic. This is definitely an opposites attract story. I enjoyed how they each worked through their own stuff, and by the end they had grown together and separately. Sunday does an amazing job of fleshing her characters out. One of the reasons I keep coming back to Sunday’s works, and they are my top books for re-reads is because she writes characters that we truly get to know. Simply put, I miss them from time to time and need to check back in with them.

Anyta Sunday has built quite a world for us with her Signs of Love series. I love seeing the little connections each book has to other books in the series. Even the mention of Dr. Callaghan Glover put a smile on my face. And I may have full on sighed at seeing my favorite SOL couple make an appearance.

I honestly don’t have anything negative to say about this book.

It’s that good.

All I can say is just read it.

This book was just what my soul needed. It’s such a refreshing story. If you’re tired of the same characters over and over, I beg you, read Get a Life, Chloe Brown.

We have our heroine, the title character, Chloe. Hallelujah, we have a diverse, in so many ways woman! Chloe has curves, she’s blunt, she’s not always the super sweet heroine we’re used to. She’s black. And she suffers from chronic illness and pain. I’ve literally never read a character like Chloe Brown.

Red is a good guy. Not an asshole. Not a “manwhore”. He’s sexy, caring, kind and just plain decent. This is no way translates to boring. Remember, I did say he’s sexy. He also had his own shit going on. This isn’t just Chloe’s story, after all.

The sexy times between Red and Chloe are fairly hot, particularly for a traditionally published romance. I’m used to reading mostly indie romances and sometimes traditionally published romances lack the type of heat/sexy times that you find in indie. I wasn’t disappointed with this one. Not at all.

I did see some reviews mention the language, and how they didn’t like the profanity. Maybe it’s because I myself am guilty of having a mouth like these characters. Or maybe it goes along with me reading more indie romance. But, either way the language didn’t bother me. In all honesty, I thought it was fairly tame.

The biggest plus, though was the way Chloe’s fibromyalgia and chronic pain is handled. As someone with chronic pain and illness myself, I thought it was depicted well. I related to Chloe. When she had to take a break or sit down. When she couldn’t do more than move from the bed to the couch. When taking a shower wiped her completely out. I’ve been where she was. And seeing that on the page was oddly comforting.

As for the story between Chloe and Red, I absolutely loved how they came together. They were both dealing with their own stuff, Chloe being on her own for the first time ever, and Red was recovering from a toxic relationship. The way they each dealt with their own issues, while finding love with one another was just perfect.

I ended up landing on four stars because, while I thoroughly enjoyed this one, there were a few times where I had trouble staying focused on the story. Parts of it seemed to drag on. I also thought it started a bit too slow.

I still absolutely recommend this one, though. Chloe and Red are my favorite type of characters: they’re memorable.