Out of the Box Blogs

Reckless in Love by Bella Andre and Jennifer Skully

November 15, 2015 debra

Hey everyone,

Reckless in Love is Book 2 of The Maverick Billionaires, a new series by Bella Andre and Jennifer Skully. I found Ms. Andre several years ago and enjoy her writing. This series is the first I have read of Ms. Skully.

Book Blurb:

Sebastian Montgomery rose from nothing to become one of the most powerful media moguls in the world. Yet beneath the seemingly perfect façade of his life, the past still haunts him. Because when he lost his parents in his teens, he also lost his faith in love. When he discovers Charlie Ballard and her incredible metal sculptures, he is awed, inspired—and he can’t help feeling things he swore never to let himself feel again. Soon, Sebastian wants not only Charlie’s art, he wants her as a woman, too. More than he’s ever wanted anything in his life. And what a Maverick wants, he always gets…

For Charlie, Sebastian offers the commission of a lifetime. Creating a magnificent sculpture for his new headquarters is a dream come true, but falling for the spellbinding billionaire isn’t part of the plan…until his luscious kisses entice her into total recklessness. He fascinates and captivates her, and as Charlie learns more about the dark depths of Sebastian’s past, all she wants is to heal him with her love. But can a man who has grown up thinking love is toxic ever believe that true love is real?

My thoughts: The Mavericks are a group of 5 friends from very rough childhoods who found a wonderful foster family as teens and decided they were going to overcome their circumstances and become well-to-do moguls and ultimately “rule the world”. In actuality, they are really good guys who have raised themselves above their rotten childhoods, took opportunity presented to them by finding their foster family and each other and are reaching their goals. Sebastian is still haunted by his past, as I suspect all of them will be as the series progresses. He finds Charlie because he is interested in her creative art—statues made literally from junk. I don’t know if either of the authors have a background in art or have an artist in their lives, but I enjoyed their description of Charlie’s art projects, and her process of making the statues. This was a pleasant surprise in the book.

The story centers around the immediate attraction between Sebastian and Charlie and Sebastian’s mistakes in trying to take care of everything for Charlie. This leads to the ultimate problem of Charlie losing her artistic creativity and her struggle to figure that out and what to do about it.

I enjoyed both characters. The authors develop their characters very well—Ms. Andre is known for character development. I enjoyed how Charlie embraces her life as difficult as it is and how Sebastian jumps into wanting to fix everything for Charlie even as it leads to the ultimate problem. Both characters have a real passion for what they do.

This was a quick, easy but very enjoyable read for me. Give the series and Ms. Andre and Ms. Skully a look. They are worth it.

Happy Reading,

Debra

Do $$$ Effect How We Rate?

November 14, 2015November 15, 2015 Karen

I just finished Time Heist by Anthony Vicino. It’s been on my TBR for awhile, and I got it on sale for $0.99 so it was a steal. I like Anthony’s writing, sometimes a bit overelaborate, I’ll give you an example at one point the helicopter thingy (not his words) is crashing and the windshield cracks. This is what Tom the main character thinks Asphyxiation on account of too much air felt too paradoxical a way to die. Though, in the end, I suppose breathing eventually does us all. I was thinking what would have summed it up better? Oh shit. But that’s me, not a writer. And there are times when the clarity of Anthony’s writing is just stunning to me. Tom is addicted to a drug called Quick Sliver. There is a moment when he is detoxing in the middle of the, well everything honestly, and he really doesn’t have time for it (yeah that’s a pun, time) so his partner gives him a hit. It’s then he thinks this...I pitied the living. The dead were my idols. This drug was my god. I read that and thought Anthony you talented s.o.b.

But that’s not what I’m really talking about, what I do want to know is this, I gave this book 4 stars because for $1 it was quite good. In fact if I liked the ending I would have given it 5 stars and written glowing reviews to high heaven everywhere I could think of. But what if the book cost $7 or $8? Now if the ending was different I would have gone with 4 stars, but if not 2-3 stars. And that got me thinking, should my reviews have price factored in? Is that fair, especially if your dealing with a published author who has no control over the price? I do it because I think I was always raised that, the more you pay for it, the higher standard it must adhere to. But is this a proper additude to have in my book reviewing? I’m feel like it’s almost unconscious for me but I’m curious to hear others thoughts on the matter.

Out of the Box Blogs

Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison

November 3, 2015 debra

Hey everyone,

Dragon Bound is book #1 of The Elder Races Series. This world is inhabited by Wyrkind, Shifters, Elven, Goblins, Witches. The main male lead, Dragos, is one of the most powerful, ancient of the Wyrkind. The main female lead, Pia Giovanni, is a half-human, half-wrykind, although she is not aware of what she can shift into. She had been well-protected by her mother who did not want to encourage her magical side. Pia was forced to steal from Dragos who did not take kindly to being stolen from. He was determined to find Pia and discover how she managed to locate his hoard of possessions. Battles ensue from there.

I liked this book with a couple of observations. I think the author has created a very interesting world and did a good amount of world building in this first book. I also for the most part, enjoyed the interactions between Dragos and Pia, especially when he was warning her about what would happen in one of the battles. He was preparing her because the two of them were going to have a difficult time. I really liked that he did that and how he did it. However, I felt that the character of Dragos needed to be more developed. I have been told by others who have read this series that Dragos is more defined as the series goes on. Secondly, I thought that Pia was a very strong character who called Dragos out on his crap, which I really enjoyed. However, I did feel she became whiny a couple of times. In her defense though, she had had a horrible week and anyone would become whiny at her circumstances. I do plan to continue on with this series in the future. I think it is worth your time.

Happy Reading,

Debra

Out of the Box Blogs

And the Winner Is….

October 31, 2015October 31, 2015 Karen

Jenny!!! Congrats! Please look out for my confirmation email so I can get you your goodies. Hey you could by 25 books for $1 or one book for $25. Of course you can always get some socks too, hey it’s your prize spend it like you want!

Thank you everyone for entering, we’re at over 200 followers which is awesome! Since this was such a success the next time we hit a big hurtle we’ll have to do this again…