Real (Real, Raw & Ripped #1)

Blurb

A fallen boxer.

A woman with a broken dream.

A competition…

He even makes me forget my name. One night was all it took, and I forgot everything and anything except the sexy fighter in the ring who sets my mind ablaze and my body on fire with wanting…

Remington Tate is the strongest, most confusing man I’ve ever met in my life.

He’s the star of the dangerous underground fighting circuit, and I’m drawn to him as I’ve never been drawn to anything in my life. I forget who I am, what I want, with just one look from him. When he’s near, I need to remind myself that I am strong–but he is stronger. And now it’s my job to keep his body working like a perfect machine, his taut muscles primed and ready to break the bones of his next opponents . . .

But the one he’s most threatening to, now, is me.

I want him. I want him without fear. Without reservations.

If only I knew for sure what it is that he wants from me?

My Review

It happened again. You know that book where everyone loved it but you. This is one those books for me. :((

I so wanted to love this one. I really do. I has gotten a lot 5 star ratings on GR and most of my friends loved it. *Sigh*

Sadly, it didn't work for me. Not all of it are bad. Don't get me wrong. The chemistry and sexual tension is off the charts, through the roof hot. I mean, really HOT! And Remington Tate? He is IT!

But there things that just bugged the heck out of me, which eventually killed my enjoyment for this book.

Number one. The present tense, first-person POV. This could work if you have a really likable, relatable and a really strong heroine. Someone who's head you'd like to be in. Someone interesting. Well, aside from giving us some very helpful anatomy lessons, there's really nothing interesting going on in Brooke's head.

Number two. The jarring prose. This bugged me the most. There were times when I was really getting into the story and BAM! I read things like this...

"His energy is so powerful tonight, it actually pulls at every cell and atom in my body, bathing me in pure female awareness of his hot masculinity."

...and this...

"The energy in his muscles explodes like dynamite with every move he makes, and I can almost see his ATP source—the adenosine triphosphate in charge of transporting chemical energy throughout our cells—recycling so fast in his body, it’s like it doesn’t even take him usual eight seconds for turnover."

...and this...

"The unexpectedness of his raw petting drives me crazy with lust and love, and I’m getting addicted to this moment after the orgasm where I will be so relaxed and he will still have the energy to position me in a way where he can spoon me or hold me, and do all his manly, possessive lion-like OCD things with me."

"Tonight we’re both naked and deliciously entangled, and my sexy blue-eyed lion now seems content to have petted me for a long while, until I feel groomed down to my bones."

And then there is this...

"My brain goes blank, my lungs close up, my ears shut off. I look at him. And he looks at me.And as we stare, my eyes on his, his eyes on mine, my heart resumes with one burst of emotion. It leaps and runs to him, slams into him, explodes in him, and although it hurts like an open wound to look at this man, all my senses have sizzled to life and I can’t take my eyes off him, even if my life depends on it. A private Fourth of July is happening in my stomach as I feel Melanie’s nudge at my back, and we begin walking toward them at a slower pace."

It was dizzying. I get that the author is trying to convey the character's emotions but I just feel that some of the words used or the images used were awkward and off-putting. It was awkward to read. 

Maybe I'm just nitpicking but I seriously, seriously couldn't get past the images those words produced inside my head or didn't produce in my head. And I'm not going to even mention all the clenching and all the gushing going on with Brooke's anatomy. It was okay at first. It helped with the visuals but after reading it 10 times, I was just over it. :(

I would read the sequel though. I heard it's going to be Remy's POV. That could work for me.

2.5 to 3 stars.

Exquisite (Exquisite #1)

Blurb

Her heart was guarded…

Tormented by self-imposed guilt, Dr. Lena O’Donnell has spent the last nine years in survival mode. Struggling through days that seem to blend together and battling her way through each horrifying night, she’s determined that this is what she deserves…

Until he tore down the walls…

Mason Langley’s life is going exactly the way he planned it, until her. A confirmed bachelor and the successful owner of the hottest restaurant to hit Chicago, he never expects to be blindsided by an angry woman in a pair of scrubs. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t seem to shake the doctor, and he finds himself liking the way she makes him feel.

Almost over night Lena finds her world turned upside down by Mason and the sexual desire they discover together. Slowly, she lowers her guard and invites him inside but when tragedy strikes she begins to believe that sometimes it’s better to be alone and safe than to love and lose.

My Review

 5 Delicious stars!!

So glad I finally got around to reading this one. And let me tell you, this book a sizzling hot.

Dr. Lena O'Donnell has spent the last 9 years of her life on survival mode. After losing her sister in a horrific car accident, she has since built a wall around her heart and not letting anyone in. That is until she meets Mason Langley.

*sigh*

Yup, that's an audible sigh right there. Mason Langley is the owner and head chef of Exquisite. Yes, he's hot and he can cook. Dangerous combination. Dark-hair, blue eyes, 6 foot 3 inches of pure deliciousness Mason Langley wouldn't take no for answer especially from someone like Lena. Thank God! He literally blackmailed his way into a first date and then proceeded to thaw the good doctor's heart.

I was grinning from ear to ear while reading this book. Mason and Lena had such great, sizzling chemistry, I thought they were going to melt the screen on my Kindle. One minute they had me fanning myself, the next minute, I'd be laughing my ass off.

At first, I thought I'd hate Lena because let's admit it, she was kind of bitchy there at the beginning. But she really won me over. I was totally totally rooting for her to get her man She had me in stitches many times and her interactions with her Shelley were hilarious.

Of course, there were tear inducing moments too but fortunately, there wasn't that many, which was great. There was enough angst without it taking over the whole book and leaving you depressed.

This was such a fantastic read for me. I loved the humor, the family dynamics, the circle of friends that surrounded Lena and Mason, and that whole we-are-meant-to-be thing was done really well. It could have ended up contrived and cheesy but it didn't. It was fantastic.

Blind Obsession

Blurb

Obsession, defined as the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image or desire....

Chantel Rosenberg's passion for music and life had never shone brighter than the time she spent in Bordeaux France. It's a time when feelings arose and desires ran deep, a time that fundamentally changed her life.

A man living in seclusion, Phillipe Tibideau is haunted and plagued by memories he cannot disregard. Choosing to live a quiet life in his Chateau surrounded by the vineyards of France, he's left his passion for art behind.

However, the time has arrived to tell his side of a tale. A tale that has depicted him as a 'beautiful monster' and he's finally allowing someone close.

Close enough to ask questions. Questions he's not sure he wants to answer. Questions about her.

For up and coming journalist Gemma Harris, the pursuit of truth is what drives her and when a job of a lifetime presents itself there is nothing in the world that will stop her from taking it. Even if it does mean leaving her home for several months to stay at Chateau Tibideau, with him.

This is a story of what happens when three passionate lovers collide and the desire for truth, art and music merge.

Chateau Tibideau is a place full of unanswered questions, dark sinful desire and a beauty so hauntingly sad it will have you wondering how you will ever leave the same....

My Review

I really don't think I can add anything more to what has already been said about this book. It was quite simply phenomenal. A GR friend of mine wrote in her review that this is not just a book or a novel but experience. I agree.

First off, I must admit that while I was intensely curious and intrigued about this book, I was hesitant to read it. I knew this wasn't your "ride-off-into-the-sunset-and-live-happily-ever-after" kind of romance. So I put on my big-girl-panties and just dived right into it, and all I can say is I am so glad I did. It was indeed an experience like no other.

That said, I will try to at least write a decent, non-spoilery, and more importantly coherent review for this book.

"Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind, and, therefore, is winged cupid painted blind."

Phillipe, Chantal, Gemma. Three people bound together by love, desire and intense obsession.

Phillipe was intensely passionate, darkly erotic, tortured and tormented by his own guilt and demons has shut himself off from the world after tragically losing his everything. The world painted him as a beautiful monster, a man whose obsession destroyed the life an innocent woman.

You can literally feel his anguish and pain. It just jumps off the page and grabs you and as a reader, you can't help but get pulled in. Sometimes, you know, you read a book with a tortured hero and you feel is ambivalence? Well, not on this book. You will certainly feel something and not all of those feelings are pleasant. I have intense feelings for Phillipe. I loved him, hated him and pitied him at the same time.

His feelings for Chantel was beautiful and intense but in the end, it was just tragic. Oh, it was tragic. The author really did a great job portraying Phillipe and Chantel's love for each other. Each word and each description, not to mention the music and the art that was woven throughout the story makes you feel like you are there yourself, witnessing these two people lose themselves in each other.

Chantel was captivating. She wasn't there, yet she was. Sometimes you can't help but love her and you can really understand why Phillipe and eventually, Gemma were so captivated by her. Yet at the same time, I resented her. Why can't you just let him go?

And then there is Gemma. Oh, how my heart breaks for that woman. She was simply quite divine. I can say that she's the one character that I could relate to. She was brave, really brave and her journey throughout this story was just heartbreaking. I wanted to give her a hug all the freakin' time! You feel her pain and intense longing for a love that can never be. *sniff*

There is one more character that I felt just needs to be acknowledged, and no it's not Diva or Penelope, but the Chateau Tibideau. The silent and ever-present witness to the love between Phillipe, Chantal and Gemma. I loved the first part when Gemma first arrived and she sees this run-down chateau and it was also the last thing she saw when she left. I felt that the chateau typifies Phillipe himself. The chateau definitely mirrored his transformation throughout the whole story.

The story is over but at the same it's not or maybe I just don't want it to be over.

Thank you, Ms. Ella Frank for writing this wonderful story. You have really hit it out of the park on this one.