Professional Reader 80% Reviews Published 100 Book Reviews

domingo, 27 de maio de 2018

Almost Heroes by Joyce Greenfield


I was given an ARC in exchange of an honest review

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High school senior Santana Harris’ parents want her to go to college, to prepare for her future, or—at the very least—to get a job so that she can figure out what life after high school will look like. 

Santana doesn’t want any of that. Convinced that her art will allow her to win a scholarship to a prestigious school, she’s content to coast through her final year. Her parents give her an ultimatum: if she doesn’t win the scholarship, she’ll have to find a part-time job. 

Then Santana and her friend spot a cat in a tree. After she saves it, a strange boy shows up to offer her a job. The kind of job that would allow her to work after school and set her own hours. The only catch? Her new boss thinks he’s a superhero, and he wants Santana to be his new sidekick.

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This book could have been much better. It had great potential but just didn´t make it for me.

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Esse livro poderia ter sido bem melhor. Tinha grande potencial, mas não gostei.

The Sterling University Series: The Complete 3-Novella Series (Sterling University #1-3) by Rebecca Heflin


I was given an ARC in exchange of an honest review.

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Romancing Dr. Love, Book One

She says it’s all about the chemistry. He says it’s all about the romance. Samantha Love has based her entire academic career on the hypothesis that love is simply a chemical reaction. Ethan Quinn thinks she’s taken love and all its mysteries and reduced it to something as romantic as a cholesterol test, and he sets out to prove her theory wrong. Is it chemistry or romance? Or a little of both? 

Winning Dr. Wentworth, Book Two

She’s benched her heart. His is on injured reserve. Burned-out and broken-hearted math professor Shelby Wentworth returns to her hometown determined to escape the disgrace of a nasty divorce, shake off the taint of her ruined career, and start over, sans romance, but an unexpected reunion with Nash Taylor, former star quarterback and high school crush, promises to derail her plans. Will Shelby let the past dictate the future, or will Nash win her heart?

Educating Dr. Mayfield, Book Three

He has plenty to learn about love. She’s just the woman who can teach him. Creative writing professor Delaney Driscoll finds her plan to establish a new degree program blocked when Devon Mayfield, the uptight new college dean opposes her request. While she educates him on the benefits of the curriculum, can she make him forget the pain of his past and teach him that love is more than a just four-letter word?

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I love sets, hahaha, seriously people. Sets are the "bomb". You don´t have to wait infinitely for the next one.

And even if each book is a stand alone, they interact like a crossover, another thing I love.

So this set was off to a great start, just for the reasons above, and although it wasn´t a "wow" book, it was great, the stories were nice written and well developed and the characters weren´t shallow ones.

Discovering You (Indigo Trilogy #1) by Kate McBrien


I was given an ARC in exchange of an honest review

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Do you believe in soulmates?

A shy art historian. A sexy rock star. A mysterious medieval cross that holds a secret.

Lucy Bianchi has a plan: finish her PhD in art history and land a coveted job at a prestigious Los Angeles museum. Then—maybe—she’ll find time to start dating. Her controlled and predictable world begins to unravel when she chases a runaway dog on the beach and meets a gorgeous stranger.

Justin Hamilton is the charismatic lead singer of the British band Indigo. Years of touring and partying have won him notoriety, and he can have any woman he wants, but who he really wants doesn’t seem to exist.

Until now.

From their first look—their first touch—Justin and Lucy have a connection that defies logic and deepens their desire for each other. When they see the Varangian Cross at a museum exhibit, they’re flooded with inexplicable shared memories that draw them even closer together.

Justin has to return to London just as a salacious scandal explodes that could tear them apart. Lucy must choose between the safe life she’s cultivated, or go to Justin and discover a never-ending love.

"Discovering You" is the first book of a contemporary romance trilogy.
 

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I love this kind of story, and they are really hard to come across, so when I saw it at netgalley I had to request it, and fortunately my request was accepted.

I think this book, has a great premise, Lucy and Justin, are perfect together, they have depth and chemistry and their story has the potential to be a life altering reading for us readers, and I´m really anxious for the next one.

But, I have to say that sometimes I felt like the situations against them were kind of forced. I really hope the author can make it better in the next book.



Her Hollywood Boyfriend (The Awkward Duckling #2)


I was given an ARC in exchange of an honest review.

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Macey Greere was the girl who fell in love with her book boyfriend. Now she is the girl who was dumped on national television. Ever the perpetual list maker, she decides to create and follow a 10-step program inspired by her favorite romance movies on how to get over heartbreak. 

Of course, nothing ever goes as she plans. 

He is Mr. Hollywood with the paparazzi stalkers to prove it. His goal is to have a normal, drama-free summer as a counselor for his little brother’s summer camp. That is, until he meets her. 

He’s not part of the plan…or so she thinks.

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This book was different of what I was expecting.

First, I didn´t know it was the second installment in a series. If I knew, I would not ask for it, specially after knowing that the first book was about Macey as well, but with Cam, the guy who cheated on her after two weeks of they started dating, and in this short time he developed a drug addiction. WHAT THE #2$*? 

I must say, that if this book was only one, it was a sweet book, it had a great premise, but it was lacking is characters development. Macey was too childish, her friends were okay and Jace was great, and much more mature than her, I loved his little brother.

There are a character who was too much for me, because they were in a camping for children with disabilities, and the whole point of the camp was to found acceptance of every kind, and Macey´s archenemy it´s a big bully, and no one does nothing about it.

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Este livro foi bem diferente do que eu esperava.

Primeiro, eu não sabia que era o segundo livro de uma série. Se eu soubesse, eu não teria solicitado, especialmente depois de saber que o primeiro livro era sobre Macey também, mas com Cam, o cara que a traiu depois de duas semanas de namoro, e nesse curto tempo ele desenvolveu um dependência de drogas. WTF?

Devo dizer que, se este livro fosse apenas um, seria um livro legal, com uma grande premissa, mas deixou a desejar no desenvolvimento dos personagens. Macey era muito infantil, suas amigas estavam bem e Jace era ótimo, e muito mais maduro do que ela, eu amei o irmão mais novo dele.

Há um personagem que foi demais para mim, porque eles estavam em um camping para crianças com deficiências, e todo o objetivo do acampamento era encontrar aceitação de todos os tipos, e a arquiinimigo da Macey é uma bully, e ninguém faz nada sobre isso.



Touch Wood (The Ash Brothers #3) by Jenika Snow



I was given an ARC in exchange of an honest review.

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I’ve been celibate for years, by choice. No woman has held my interest long enough to be worth sacrificing time spent at Ash Lumber, energy spent building the family business.

All that changed when a feisty redhead walked into our job-site trailer.

Andra.

Her skirts drive me crazy and her trying so hard to flat-out ignore me does the rest. Her flushed cheeks when we flirt are enough to send me to bed for a week.

Andra might be supervising this development deal, but there’s no way we’re going to be able to keep things professional around here. My celibate streak is over, and I owe it all to her.

This book is approximately 13,000 words

One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!

For those times when size does matter. The Dirty Bits from Carina Press: quick and dirty, just the way we like it.


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I like Jenika´s books, they´re deliver what they promise.

A hot story, with a stud with plenty of stamina and sizzling chemistry with his lady.

If this is what you are looking for, so this is your book. 

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Eu gosto dos livros da Jenika, eles cumprem o que prometem.

Uma história quente, com um garanhão cheio de estamina e uma química de outro mundo com a mocinha dele.

Se  isso é o que você está procurando, você encontrou o livro certo.

domingo, 13 de maio de 2018

An Imperfect Heart by Amie Knight



The heart is exquisite.
You’ll never hear anyone wax poetic over an organ quite like they do the heart.
When you’re lost in the world? Follow your heart.
When your love for someone is unwavering, unparalleled and unprecedented? You give them your heart.
As a lead pediatric cardiac surgeon, I knew better than anyone that the heart is equally as powerful as it is delicate.
The heart giveth just as easily as it taketh away.
And until the day Kelly Potter darkened my doorway that was all just part of the job.
She rolled in like a slow evening storm, fierce and beautiful, fighting for the life of her unborn child.
It should have been business as usual.
I was a doctor.
Her child the patient.
But Kelly was more.
She was the one who got away.
I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.
It didn’t matter what the rules were.
For once, I was listening to my heart.


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I´m a fool for stories about sick kids.

They make me cry so much, but at the same time they let my heart full of love, for those little creatures who need so badly for someone to look for them.

I loved this story from the very beginning, actually from the blurb.

I loved the story itself, the characters, the plot.

I am in love with Annie Knight writing, and I certainly will look for more of her books.

Bad Boy Brody by Tijan



One punch took him from Hollywood’s Golden Boy to Bad Boy Brody.

The media didn’t care he was grieving his brother’s death. They descended on him, but to change his reputation, his manager got him a deal.

Act in an indie film, one that already had Oscar buzz, and he’d get the movie roles he needed to secure his future.

He took the deal.

Yet he wasn’t prepared for the real-life people behind the script. He wasn’t prepared for the murder the movie was based on. And he really wasn’t prepared for her, the biggest secret of all.

She was wild. She was beautiful. She defied gravity.

But was she the leading role that would tame him?

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O.M.G.

I COMPLETELY LOVED THIS BOOK.

I loved Tijan´s previous books, but this one was exceptional.

I could feel Tijan writing style all over the book, but at the same time was a little differente, more mature.

The only thing I feel it could be better was the end. It could have been more. It was kind of rushed.

domingo, 6 de maio de 2018

Leading from Your Gut: How You Can Succeed by Harnessing the Power of Your Values, Feelings, and Intuition by John Townsend


I was given an ARC in exchange of an honest review

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As a leader, your decisions are critical. They have a significant effect on you and everyone around you. But the effective leader needs to have more than just logic, facts, and financials to help make the best choices. Leaders also must access their own intuition, that gut feeling inside.

Dr. John Townsend knows that a leader’s internal world—the world of intuition, creativity, emotion, and spirituality—is just as important as the external world of data and best practices. Who you are on the inside determines your success as a leader even more than the things you do or the things you know. “You were designed with both an external world and an inner world,” Townsend says, “and they work well together. Accessing both of these areas will take a little knowledge and a little work, but it will help you be the leader you want to be.”

In Leading from Your Gut, you’ll learn how leaders excel not just through external competencies and skills but by drawing on their internal world and personal experience.  You’ll explore how to harness the power of your values, thoughts, emotions, and relationships to better meet the complex demands of leadership.

As you apply Townsend’s principles, you will see great results in your leadership. But more importantly, you’ll experience the kind of personal transformation that will enable you to lead as a whole person.

Leading from Your Gut will help emerging and veteran leaders alike to hone their intuition and become the leader they were meant to be.
 

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This isn´t the kind of book I use to review about it, but as a business major I must say I couldn´t pass the opportunity to read it, so I requested and ARC to netgalley, and fortunately they accepted my request.

This was a great book. I completely agree with Dr. Townsend, leading isn´t only about external influencies. 

Using your personal experience and your intuition to better understand the intricacies of a great leadership is fundamental.

The Howling by Erin McCarthy




I was given an ARC in exchange of an honest review

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When Liv Lugaru's boyfriend Sebastian disappears, she finds comfort in his brother's arms. But Sebastian is much closer than Liv realizes...and he'll stop at nothing to protect her from the feral danger that comes alive only when she sleeps...

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I liked this book, it was well written and fast paced, but it was too short. 

It could have been more to this story.  

April Fools (Wilder Irish #4) by Mari Carr



I was given an ARC in exchange of an honest review.

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They say two heads are better than one.
Fiona Adams has a man problem—she has too many in her life. And thanks to her unconventional family, she’s wondering if she even has to settle for just one. Owen is the sweet boy (turned sexy man) she dated in college; Asher is the hot hunk starring in too many current fantasies. Both, unfortunately, are her coworkers, part of the writing team for the hit sitcom Wild Winters. She’s lucky her dear friend and third writing partner, Teddy, is gay, or she’d really be in trouble.
Fiona’s resigned herself to having neither man…until the team decides to film the sitcom’s season finale in her family’s bar, Pat’s Pub. While in Baltimore, under the influence of her crazy family and a wild April Fools party in the Collins Dorm, Owen and Asher take matters into their own hands—literally.
Soon, between all the hot nights and real-life drama, the team can barely concentrate on work. It’s becoming a case of life imitating sitcom…even more so when Fiona’s most recent ex, Mr. Big Gesture himself, shows up to win her back—with his biggest gesture yet.

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This is my first book by Mari Carr, and I loved everything about, since the first page.
The very beginning was really endearing, Fiona and her pop pop just conquered my heart with their love.
The story itself was well written and the characters has depth.
SPOILER ALERT:

The only thing that kind of let me down, was that I was waiting for a MFM relationship, and it didn´t happened.

But, it was nothing that made me dislike, au contraire, I loved the plot twist.
I can´t wait to read another book by this author




One Last Breath by Lisa Jackson



I was given an ARC in exchange of an honest review

EVERY FAMILY HAS ITS SECRETS
Rory Abernathy’s wedding to Liam Bastian turned into a bloodbath. She fled after stabbing a masked intruder, just before a gunman opened fire on the wedding party. Five years on, Rory still has no idea who was behind the attacks. Fearful she and her daughter remain targets, she’s made a new life far from Liam and the wealthy, powerful Bastians.
 
BUT SOME
But even in remote Point Roberts, Washington, she can’t hide from the past. Liam tracks Rory down, stunned to learn they have a child. Did someone in Rory’s family try to kill him for his portion of the Bastian estate? As they gradually overcome distrust in search of the truth, Rory knows one thing for certain: someone is watching her…
  
ARE WORTH KILLING FOR
Time has passed, but the killer’s need for vengeance hasn’t. And as a nightmare stirs to life again, Rory will find that this time, there’s nowhere left to run…
 
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This was my first book by Lisa Jackson and had a great start. 

It really pulls you in, but then it starts to drag and just pick up its pace again close to the end. It was kind of frustrating.

Rory just kept grating on my nerves, always running away to the point that I was rolling my eyes non stop.