Obsessed With Myshelf

Romance Books

Month: September 2014

Drunk Reading: The Hangover

Book: Afterburn/Aftershock by Sylvia Day

Have I read it before?:  Nope – first read. Thanks Kayla for sharing. I promised I’d have it read by the end of the weekend. PROMISE KEPT.

What did I drink?:  3ish glasses of Black Box Chardonnay. I keep it classy.

How do I feel:  Annoyed that I’ve wasted a lot of today away being lazy. I have shit to do. OH. also, I don’t feel that bad / hungover at all. God Bless Wine.

General Thoughts:

Ah, and so it began. You quickly learn that Jax and Gia have dated before – like 2 years ago – and by date, she means fucked for five weeks. And then Jax disappeared. Gia moves on with her life, gets her college degree and we meet up with her as she’s doing a five minute interview for a restaurant mogul with whom she really wants to work.

AND THEN WE MEET JAX. who I’m not sure I really fucking like.

Thank Fuck Sylvia Day gets it. I mean, she really fucking gets it (or me, whichever). She has the amazing ability create a fucked up asshole who women will eventually come to swoon over because there is always a reason for his assholey ways. AND in the meantime, while we’re starting to fall, we can love the female character for standing up for herself:

no really. i think I started clapping. in my living room. My husband stared.
Without giving anything away, Jax is connected to a political family, but is not political himself. They go to a political fundraiser and everyone starts to drink a bit. I figured, what the hell – join in! And I started to get a lot drunker…

I’m pretty obsessed at this point. Jax & Gia go back and forth as you would expect them to. There’s heat. a lot of heat. and obviously there is also sex but somehow there is still character development and depth in the story. Of course, there came a time when I wasn’t sure I was going to make it…

BUT I PERSEVERED.

The storyline seriously pulls you in. I mean, I’ve read uhhhhh, an excessive amount of these types of books. Not all of which I liked. BUT THIS ONE IS GOOD. I swear. I have to give props to Sylvia – girl can write a good book. I really felt like this book was a precursor to Gideon & Eva. Obviously, she wrote it before writing Crossfire – but I mean, it was almost like these two were testing out some Gid&Eva like heat…just to see how it went. I don’t mean to downplay the book at all. Instead, the book was like foreplay – it really made me want more. And she fucking delivered with Crossfire.

BY THE WAY. I know you were dying to know. but I took off work November 18th for the release of Captivated By You. If it actually arrives on my Kindle at midnight – I will probably be done around 4am. I CANNOT WAIT. I may live tweet. This is your fair warning if you don’t want spoilers. #sorrynotsorry.

Drunk Reading: The Hangover

Book: Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren

Have I read it before?:  Nope – first read. Thanks James at Books-A-Million for helping me narrow down the choices for my new fictional boyfriend.

What did I drink?:  3 large glasses of pinot grigio. there was a point in the evening when I realized I surpassed my last drunk reading PR. I was apparently quite proud of myself:

How do I feel:  Actually not terrible. Woke up at 5:30am with terrible drymouth and a headache. But I downed a glass of water and three Ibuprofens and went back to sleep. Nothing 10 hours of sleep can’t cure. I LOVE LABOR DAY.

General Thoughts:

Well, I actually read the entire book. My husband looked over at me, amused, when I drunkenly declared: “REALLY?!” after closing the last page. As far as smut novels go (don’t get mad, I use that term WITH LOVE), it gives what you expect. and gives it to you early – 

but if you’re expecting Bennett to do anything and everything for Chloe and shower her with love, affection and romance – well, don’t. You will be sorely disappointed. I sort of was. I know that some people found the POV change in the books to be jarring – that actually didn’t bother me and I really like to read from both of the character’s perspectives – but I didn’t always like being in Bennett’s head. Probably because he’s a dick. I mentioned that a few times last night I think:

I was then hopeful – wait! Is this it?! Is this when he stops being a major assface? EVERYONE IN MY HOUSE WAS ON EDGE.

I also had very legitimate concerns:

Bennett comes around by the end of the book, which is great. I wished there was a bit more of that, and I hope there will be in the next one…. but I also kept waiting for the reason that the rest of his family is like the nicest fucking people on earth and he’s a beautiful bastard. but no reason was given. at least in this book. AND THAT KILLED ME. and sort of left me with a bad taste in my mouth (and it wasn’t pinot grigio).

I also felt that there wasn’t full character development in this first book. I don’t know that much about Chloe or Bennett – only that they fuck a lot. While I enjoy the sexcapades as much as the next girl, part of the enjoyment for me is learning about what makes each character tick and then watching them push past their insecurities for something bigger and better: being together. I don’t feel like that really happened here. Although, I will give major credit to the authors for Chloe’s character: she’s strong, awesome, and certainly doesn’t take any of Bennett’s crap. In certain circumstances I liked that. However, I didn’t like the reason they “broke up” (were they ever really “together?!”). I felt that was pretty lame and that Chloe seriously overreacted. I may have to re-read that part to see if I missed something due to drunkenness but I’m pretty sure I didn’t. SorryI’mNotSorry.

There are certainly delicious points in the book. Like, when he let’s his guard down at the hotel – or at his parent’s house – or in the dressing room at La Perla. ALL AMAZING SCENES. But it probably says more about me than about the content of the book that I really connected with the characters when they slipped their masks off and actually talked to each other. I suppose my major complaint is that it didn’t happen as much as I would have liked. 

Sigh. So, I’m withholding final judgment until I finish the series, but so far on my mental ranking of fictional boyfriends, Bennett is nearing the bottom. But before you get too upset – let’s be clear, he’s still on the fucking list.