Book Nerds Across America

I know this is a week late...but it's been a busy week!!

For my Lent Challenge I decided to not pick a number of books, like I did last year, but just a theme. My theme: Paranormal. It seems like forever since I read a lot of good paranormal books.

Here's the list and a short review of each:

Alien Commander's Bride (Draconians #1): (a novella)  I've never been a BIG dragon reader. Sure there's been dragons in the story, but never as hot as Nash and the Draconians. In this story the world has been taken over by Dragons (aka the Draconians). They want to mate and to do that they need human woman. Therefore, the woman sign up for the lottery. Then they are matched with their mate. Nash is the Commander of the Draconians and H-O-T! Lexi Garcia is trying to save her family and she signs up for the lottery. This is a short book but full of hot sex scenes and a deep connection to the humans and dragons!!

Alien Warrior's Mate (Draconians #2): (a novella) Of this whole series this is by far my fave! This sweet, kind Loretta is just trying to take care of her grandmother and siblings and did the right thing by going to school and gaining her MBA. Then came the dragons! Mylash is also my favorite dragon as well! He's a lot like Loretta, but in a hot male dragon form!

Alien Fighter's Woman (Draconians #3): (a novella) Tabby is an amazing character in this series. Rough around the edges, but wants to do the right thing. The problem: her mate: Oro! Talk about a thick skull. I felt bad for the dragon at times, but other times I wanted to shake him.

Alien General's Wife (Draconians #4): (a novella) Of all in this series, I think this is the longest book! And thank goodness it is. This is the action packed one I'd been hoping for. Indigo is a relatable character, but her mate and General, Vlosh, I didn't get this dragon at all!  Sometimes, I just skipped the parts of him alone. He's...strange!

Alien Architect's Bride (Draconians #5): (a novella) This one I have a like/dislike complex with. There's parts I like because of the interactions with the humans and dragons and dislike but this dragon, Joss, a big jerk! Seriously. I don't mind an alpha male type, but OMG ... just no!!! Overall, it's my least fave of the series.

New Beginnings (Others of Edenton 0.5): YES!! I have fallen in love with this series!! Everyone stop what you're doing and just go buy all these books!! That's what I did when I finished this first one. I came across this series by accident. It popped up on my "Recommend Reads" from Amazon. I never even heard of this author before, but I won't forget her name now! Even though I usually love just reading a whole series of one type of paranormal, this has them ALL! I didn't think I'd like it, but OMG I totally do!

Slater is the Alpha of Edenton. Jess moves into town from another pack, because she had to get away from her jerk of an Alpha. Of course neither are looking for mates, but who ever stops looking for their one true love. However, there's a lot more to this story than just love. So much more!!!!

In Too Deep (Others of Edenton #1): Fallon and Brody are by far my favorite couple in this series (thus far). Fallon and Brody are two broken souls and when they connect it hard to see them both fighting it. But, their dark pasts and secrets are why they're so strong now!!!

Shadows of the Past (Others of Edenton #2): Amethyst and Hayden! *sigh* I love these two. Then you add in Preston (oh, yes! More Others!) and you can have yourself a party! Well, not really, but it's a serious love triangle that keeps you flipping through the chapters. This one has A LOT of action in it as well. I made have shed a tear or two near the end!

Falling into Place (Others of Edenton #3): This comes with a warning (I'm not spoiling anything it's in the blurb) but this is a very sexual book, a lot more than the others thus far. So, if that isn't your thing, skip this one. Like the others, this is a bit darker and there are seriously violent scenes. Robert, Liz, and Termaine are three characters you won't forget! Ever!

Breaking Free (Others of Edenton #4): Devlin and Jamie ... wow! I think Jamie is one of my faves in this series. She's down-to-earth and her back story is very sad, but touching too. She's come a long way ... bring in Devlin! Another Other with a dark past trying to find his way ... oh and does he ever!!

Mending Scars (Others of Edenton #5) I know I said Fallon and Brody were my faves ... that's until this book!! Preston and Dacia...OMG! I really disliked Dacia up until this point. She's super-duper annoying and a real pain! No joke! But when you see her trails and past and why she's the way she is ... well, you can make the judgement call. Preston is still swoon-worthy! I adore him and in this book you find out EVERYTHING about him!!

Light In Darkness (Others of Edenton #6) Oh Lincoln! That sweet, kind angel! I adore him and throughout this series I just want to protect this kid! He's so precious! (Then again, he is an angel!) Victoria, Ms. Vampire, is (portrayed) to be the opposites of Lincoln, but like always we don't get the whole story until you read through! These two ... hot ... hot ... hot!

Now that's all I did for the Lent Challenge. However, I'm on this one: Blissful Agony (Others of Edenton #7) and there's more to come!!!

Oh it's that time of year again!!

I have to say this is one of my fave challenges we do. Last year I read 40 books, but sadly, I'll not be able to do the same this 2016!

However, I thought I would do a 'theme' Lent Challenge. I currently have 12 paranormal books listed on my Kindle as 'unread'.

There it is...I will read all 12 paranormal books and get you all snappy/funny/serious reviews (whatever the book brings!!)

Happy Ash Wednesday!!!

Jacque came up with this challenge. We all have those books that we put on our TBR pile, and somehow they just keep getting pushed back. It makes you wonder...what book started your TBR pile? What's at the very bottom? If you have a Goodreads account, finding the answer can be as easy as pulling up your "To Read" pile and looking at the first item. In my case, I needed a new audiobook for my morning & nightly commutes, so I grabbed the bottom 3 on CD.


That's how I got to The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen. Ever since I started book blogging, and probably even before, I had heard about her stories. She has a lot of books and they are all in the contemporary YA chick lit vein. Perfect! I love it. She has been likened to Elizabeth Scott, whose books I have read a couple of and really enjoyed. Whenever I would find one of Sarah Dessen's books on sale, I would grab it. Thus, I currently own 3 to 4 of her titles, and I have never read one of them. So, of the books I had, I checked out which one seemed to be the most popular, and The Truth About Forever won.

Unfortunately, I found that I did not like this book, and I had to abandon it after almost 130 pages. I was trying to hang on...but I just couldn't. In the 130 pages I read...not much has happened! The story has just barely started. I found descriptions that could be a page, or at most two, dragged on and on and on for no reason. For example, there is a part of the book where Macy, the protagonist, is discussing her Dad's love of those infomercial gadgets that you can order from Home Shopping Network late at night. This could have been stated, then an example or two shared, and we would have gotten the point. But she talked about it for waaaaay longer than she needed to. I didn't feel that we needed detail and explanation of pretty much every single item that her Dad had bought. There were other parts of the story where the same thing happened -- a scene was waaaay longer than it needed to be. I get that cute dialogue really helps you to know the characters in a "show don't tell" kind of way. But the story also needs to move forward and a conversation about nothing really that goes on and on and on feels unnecessary to me.

The other thing that I did not enjoy were the extensive flashbacks. I understand that we need context and background. But if you want to talk about the past so much, set the story in the past. There were so many flashbacks in this book that, as I said before, the story itself was crawling forward. It felt like it didn't go anywhere between the extra long random dialogue, the scenes of unnecessary over description, and the flashbacks interrupting the story all the time. Seriously...how I mentioned I stopped around page 130? Enough of the actual story had happened that it felt like it should be page 27. In all the write ups and descriptions, I kept reading about this great love interest named Wes. I'm sure he's swoon-worthy and all that --but really?! If he is a main character, why haven't he and Macy had ANY real interactions and I'm supposedly 34% through with the book?!

I will say, I bet if I had stuck with it through to the end, it would probably be really neat to see the transition in Macy. Also, the characters do capture your heart: Bert, with the Bertmobile; Delia with "DearGodPleaseI'mBeggingYou"; crazy, bubbly Kristy. I did enjoy all the scenes when Macy was hanging out with the Wish crew.

I am not sure if I will try another Sarah Dessen book. I should, since I own 3 more. But I was talking with a friend on Twitter and she shared a similar reaction to another one of her books. I'm not sure what to do here.

Any Sarah Dessen fans out there? Can you, I don't know, leave me a comment? Any one else? Thoughts?

Jacque's BN4Lent Challenge #2

One of our BN4Lent challenges this month is to read a book assigned to us by a fellow Book Nerd.  Flo and I selected a book for each other.  I can only hope that the book I assigned her, Between by Cindi Tefft, is anywhere close to as enjoyable as this 5* book she gave me. (I haven't read Between yet, but it was recommended to me by Teri...who I will never second guess again since reading Shade).

 Here is a link to Flo's review of Anna and the French Kiss.  She gives a great synopsis of the characters and explains how Paris really comes to life in this book.  I have never been to Paris, but I have been planning a trip to London for as long as I can remember.  After reading this book and Die for Me by Amy Plum, I am 100% sure I will add Paris as a second destination to this future trip.

I am VERY glad that Flo finally talked me into reading Anna.  I absolutely LOVED Étienne...yes, to me he is Étienne and not St. Clair.  If you have read the book you will understand why.  His perfect hair, his accent, his sense of humor, his British slang...*swoons*.  But he was a real teenage boy.  His life isn't perfect and we can feel the pain and struggles that he is going through.

I could read the next to last chapter of this book 100 times and never get tired of it.  It was beautifully written and I am honestly adding several quotes from this book to my reading journal for future reference.  A while back, I could not figure out why Flo wanted one of my B&N coupons to buy a copy of this book when she had already read it.  I TOTALLY understand now.  If I can find a copy with this cover on it...I will absolutely do the same thing.  Since I have been in the mood to borrow quotes from my favorite fictional characters lately...here is one from Étienne.  Anna and the French Kiss is "brilliant".  If you enjoy YA fiction, this is a must read.