Obsessed With Myshelf

Romance Books

Month: October 2014

Review: The Billionaire Banker Series

Author:     Georgia Le Carre
Series:      Billionaire Banker Series
Books in Series (that I read):

Owned
Forty 2 Days
Besotted
Seduce Me

The tl;dr recommendation: I can’t.

Longer Review:

I’ve just learned by looking at Goodreads that there’s a fifth book and a book in between Forty 2 Days and Besotted. I’m sorry, I can’t read them. I was attempting to stick to my principle of reading all of the books in a series prior to reviewing, but I won’t do it. It’s already taken me a week to read those four books (which is a ridiculously long time for me) and I voluntarily helped my husband clean out my garage yesterday instead of finishing the fourth book.

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I struggled. That should say it all….but I’ll elaborate.

The basic storyline is that Lana Bloom is selling her virginity to her current boss at her temp agency who is rumored to pay big bucks for sex in order to pay for her mother’s cancer treatments. This guy is pretty repulsive in every way possible. Blake, a billionaire banker from the ever secretive Barrington family, sees her at the restaurant, is captivated, invites them to a party and eventually offers her double the amount to make her “his” for three months.

The storyline actually has potential. It could have been great. Once you get over the whole ‘she sold her virginity’ part of the story, the plot isn’t bad. The problem is that it jumps. around. a lot. and it DROVE ME MAD. Staccato. That’s the best way that I can describe the writing style. Maybe you’ll like it, but it was a ‘Dear Diary’ type writing that included speaking to me as the reader and I hate that. Maybe it can work in some situations, but this series didn’t make me a believer. There was also an interview with Blake at the end of one of the books. What.The.Fuck. I’m sorry, who is interviewing him?! It just made zero sense.

The author also jumps around a lot. They’ll be in (what I thought) was the middle of a scene in some public place and then the next paragraph they’re at home and she’s on the bed. I was fucking confused. One second Blake is friendly with Jack, you get no indication otherwise, and then all of a sudden he’s screaming ‘Don’t touch her!’ I had whiplash. I need flow. I need transitions. I need more research into the crazy backstory of the Greek Gods and EI. There was so much potential there, but not enough foundation to support what happens in the story. I was stumbling. The books exhausted me.

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I cannot explain how pissed I was when I finished Besotted and then discovered if I wanted to know what happens with Blake and Lana (there were plenty of loose ends) that I had to read a fourth book that was written in the narrative of a new goddamned character who we had never fucking met. I. ahhhh. ugh.

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What threw me over the edge is (what I feel to be) a political message that flows through the books regarding the social classes and income disparity. It wasn’t super present in the first few books but the ending of Seduce Me felt like I was being preached to. Don’t hide a political message in a fucking erotica novel and pretend like it’s not there. Don’t do that. I am not reading 1984 with sex. I don’t want your opinion on the future of society regarding the disparity between the classes – I want a happy ending with love and happiness abound. Gah.

I really struggled with whether to even write this review because I am far more interested in writing about books I loved, but I see all of the awesome reviews on Amazon and Goodreads and I just don’t know what these people read. From what I understand some people loved it after they got ‘used to the writing style’…This is not fucking Jane Austen. I shouldn’t need to get used to a writing style – this should be a fun, easy, enjoyable read! Goddamnit.

So, my friends, I think I’m done here. Read at your own risk. Also, if you’ve read them and you think I’m wrong, please advise. Discuss below!

Review: The Driven Trilogy

Author:     K. Bromberg
(one of the nicest, kindest, most genuinely awesome authors I’ve ever interacted with, as an FYI)
Series:       Driven Trilogy
Books in Series:

Driven
Fueled
Crashed
Raced (novella – scenes from Colton’s view)

The tl;dr recommendation: READ THESE MOTHERFUCKING BOOKS.

Longer Review:

If you know me IRL, or have followed me on twitter, or read an ounce of this blog, you know I have a slight obsession with Gideon Cross. He is to whom I compare all other book boyfriends – he is, as my best friend says, a perfect fucking filet mignon. I mean, minus the murder and whatnot. Seriously, it just goes to show how amazingly developed of a character he is that a murder is committed, Gideon is implicated, and yet he remains No. 1 on my book boyfriend list. [let me take this moment to beg: please sylvia, please don’t throw him off of my pedestal].

How does this have anything to do with the Driven Trilogy?! Well, this is all relevant because I’ve been biding my time until Captivated by You is released [November 18th!!!!!]. I’ve been reading whatever books I can to fill the gap until November 10th (the day on which I am allowing myself to start re-reading Crossfire. I HAVE A TYPE-A PERSONALITY #sorrynotsorry). Anyway, I had just finished reading another erotica trilogy and was scrolling through Amazon and I randomly came across Driven. I read the Amazon summary and I hit ‘buy’ because the plotline reflects what I crave in these books. “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.” [Thanks, Oscar Wilde].

I know what I like, and I don’t care if I get shit for continually seeking out the ‘bad/troubled boy meets strong girl that breaks through his shell’ plotline. I don’t care because I’ll keep buying them and I hope that the authors keep writing them. And because if they’re done well, the books can be great. I mean, go pick on authors who keep writing dystopian novels or something. Leave my erotica authors alone.

So, I buy Driven. I start reading, and I have to take a break because I had to attend my cousin’s wedding. Well, fuck. [the wedding was awesome, btw]. And yet, I somehow still managed to read FOUR BOOKS in TWO DAYS. Seriously. My husband was less than pleased, but the books are really that good. [“are you seriously reading another book?! really?!”….”uh. yes.”]

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So, on to the books: 

Colton Donovan (bad boy) has A Chance Encounter with Rylee Thomas [#seewhatididthere?!]. Colton is a CEO and driver of a racing team, Colton Donovan Enterprises. Anyway, so they meet and he’s a massive douchebag. He’s arrogant. conceited. and unbelievably challenging. And, well, Rylee challenges the fuck out of him – is quite witty, snarky, and strongwilled – and Colton does something he’s never done before…pursues a woman.

Rylee has some issues of her own that need sorting out – but I think these pale in comparison to many of the issues that Colton harbors. The two cannot stay away from one another, yet have difficulty communicating (unless they’re fucking) because each of their expectations, desires, and preconceived notions of what each is looking for clash loudly every time that they try. The series tells a love story about breaking through walls and building up trust and love. About what happens when they let each other in and let love rule all.

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K. Bromberg does an amazing job of creating tag lines and themes that are littered throughout the series. They make me smile and really solidify the series for me. I don’t want to give out spoilers – so I won’t – just know that this series is the entire fucking alphabet – A to motherfucking Z.

AtoZ

I won’t be able to think of Cotton Candy or racing or red pocket squares or listen to Pink ever again without thinking of this series….Fuckin’ Pink. I’ve read a couple of erotica novels this year (last count, I’m at uhhh…..38) so when I say that this series is good, I really really mean it. The romance, K. Bromberg’s writing, Colton’s loyalty/issues/breaththroughs, the fact that there’s an actual plot (that’s really good!) and the alpha male dominance all push Colton to compete for that top slot. Colton and Rylee’s chemistry is incredibly hot, the scenes are well written, and I could not get enough of them. Well done K. Bromberg, well done.

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If you’ve like Fifty Shades of Grey, Crossfire, The Breathless Trilogy, the Stark Trilogy, or any series along those lines, I highly recommend…I actually think that the Driven Trilogy isn’t getting the noise that it deserves – I’m clearly a little bit obsessed.

I’m also super pissed that this series was not in any of my Amazon recommendations. AMAZON, DO YOU NOT KNOW ME AT ALL?! That has to be remedied somehow –

but seriously…Fuckin’ Pink.

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Drunk Reading: The Hangover (belated)

SORRY FOR THE INCREDIBLY BELATED POST.

Book: Gabriel’s Rapture by Sylvain Reynard

Have I read it before?:  Nope. I started drunk reading about halfway through the book so I wasn’t entirely fresh with the story.

What did I drink?:  WAY TOO MUCH WINE. Thus the belated drunk reading…I purchased a large wine glass for halloween, but decided I HAD to try it out. (pictured below). I drank two of them. HOLYSHIT. I spent most of the night in my bathroom. oops.

How do I feel:  I felt unbelievably awful. I was reminded that I am no longer 21. and I felt that everyone reminded me loudly. My husband made me a greasy breakfast though, which was kind…and it helped. sort of.

General Thoughts:

I should start by saying that whoever placed the Gabriel’s Inferno series on an erotica booklist is an idiot (which is originally how I found it)….This is strictly a romance series – which is totally fine! but when a girl is reading this series expecting one thing and NEVER GETTING IT it can be a little frustrating. Spoiler alert: there isn’t any sex in the first book until page 540. I may have been counting down the minutes.

Anyway, once I started to appreciate the book for what it was and not what I was trying to make it into, I really enjoyed it.

and apparently I was getting drunk rather quickly:

because her name is Christa….but we can go with Christ. I mean, she sure as hell thought enough of herself. I somehow found myself in the part of the book where the characters distance themselves from one another for whatever reason – do you want a spoiler?! I’M TRYING TO AVOID IT. And I was really about to flip my shit:

I quickly reminded myself that I was only about halfway through the series. I’m glad I can calm my drunk self down.

And now you can begin to see not only my dissatisfaction with the way things are going in the book, but also my serious loss of typing skills:

I’ll save you a cliffhanger there – IT WASN’T A NIGHTMARE. goddammit.

And um. that was at 11:30pm. and I was toast. I couldn’t even hold on to keep reading to find out when/if he comes back (super spoiler alert: He does. SHOCK OF THE YEAR). The next day I was hungover, restless, feeling awful, and unbelievably on edge because I didn’t know what happened next. So I did the only obvious thing: I finished Gabriel’s Rapture AND Gabriel’s Redemption. It was necessary.

Overall feelings about the books? It was a fantastic love story that I really enjoyed after I realized it wasn’t an erotica series. It was Twilight love story-esque (that’s a motherfucking compliment from me, asshole) without the vampires. *this is probably because it started out as Twilight fanfiction – but when I first thought that, I actually didn’t know the series’ origin* [here’s where I’m super proud of my gut reaction to things].

I’m obsessed with the classic literature references throughout the books, and the author really took the time to research the topics she was writing about. I loved loved loved that. If you’re looking for a love story that will grip you to your couch for a few days, this is definitely one to grab.