Faking It - Cora Carmack

Faking It by Cora Carmack 
Series: Losing It #2 
Published on June 4, 2013 by William Morrow Paperbacks

Mackenzie “Max” Miller has a problem. Her parents have arrived in town for a surprise visit, and if they see her dyed hair, tattoos, and piercings, they just might disown her. Even worse, they’re expecting to meet a nice, wholesome boyfriend, not a guy named Mace who has a neck tattoo and plays in a band. All her lies are about to come crashing down around her, but then she meets Cade.

Cade moved to Philadelphia to act and to leave his problems behind in Texas. So far though, he’s kept the problems and had very little opportunity to take the stage. When Max approaches him in a coffee shop with a crazy request to pretend to be her boyfriend, he agrees to play the part. But when Cade plays the role a little too well, they’re forced to keep the ruse going. And the more they fake the relationship, the more real it begins to feel.

I dived in Faking It right when I finished Losing It, its prequel, having heard so much praise for this one I was super excited to be getting into it, but unfortunately some parts didn't worked for me while others did. This one as its predecessor is a super funny and quickly read, these books are the perfect reads for when you want some brain candy but I for me Faking It loosed a little of its fun by giving their characters a complicated past, especially Max. Max is a supposed trouble maker because of *reasons* on her past and this weighted down my enjoyment on some parts of the story, this isn't a book problem more of a me problem, since I came into this one expecting only fun sexy times and got drama on a way that is pretty common among New Adult books.

Nonetheless this was still super enjoyable on its fun and sexy parts, I was super happy when I discovered this one was about Cade because he was such a good guy on Losing It and I couldn't wait to see him get his happy ending. The faking dating trope is something that always works for me, it's always fun to see the couple struggling to keep things on the fake side but you already know there is no turning back, and oh boy all the banter and hilarious scenes this leads us to.

In the end of the day this was a pretty good book that I would recommend to anyone looking for a fun, quickly and sexy read but be warmed this series does tend to be pretty predictable and more on the drama side at times.

Losing It - Cora Carmack

Losing It by Cora Carmack
Series: Losing It #1
Published on February 23, 2013 by William Morrow

Virginity.

Bliss Edwards is about to graduate from college and still has hers. Sick of being the only virgin among her friends, she decides the best way to deal with the problem is to lose it as quickly and simply as possible-- a one-night stand. But her plan turns out to be anything but simple when she freaks out and leaves a gorgeous guy alone and naked in her bed with an excuse that no one with half-a-brain would ever believe. And as if that weren’t embarrassing enough, when she arrives for her first class of her last college semester, she recognizes her new theatre professor. She’d left him naked in her bed about 8 hours earlier.

New Adult is a new territory for me, I think over all my life I read about 2 new adult books (now with Cora's 4) but I did heard a LOT of criticism about this gender, so it's fair to say that I entered this one wary. Shouldn't have worried, this was what I expect from a good romantic comedy but on the book format, it was light fluffy and with a good dose of romance.

The story stars with Bliss deciding to lose her virginity with a one night stand, enters Garrick, perfect male specimen with a British accent to complete the packet. I'll not give any further details, since I think the synopses already gives away enough spoilers for the start of the book but I do want to say that I really enjoyed their relationship, Bliss was always putting herself on hilariously situations and Garrick was pretty sweet most of the time.

If I have one complain is that it was that their characters weren't developed enough, I can't honestly say who Bliss was before this story or what Garrick likes besides being with Bliss, this didn't really took away my enjoyment while reading it but it does make the story much more forgettable among all the other books and made these characters not all that realistic.

Also, there wasn't really any obstacles to their relationship, this is a romance focused book so you know the couple will met, like, fight drama, surpass said drama and have a HEA but the whole drama of this story is basically created by Bliss and Garrick, yeah there is room for a good drama like with the teacher-student relationship but it was never explored.

Overall this was a really fun, quickly and sweet read, I would recommend as a brain candy for when you don't really want to think about anything and just sit back and relax.

A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #1
Published on May 5, 2015 by Bloomsbury Children's

A thrilling, seductive new series from New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas, blending Beauty and the Beast with faerie lore.

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R. R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down!

ACOTAR is my fifth book by Sarah J. Maas and I already consider her one of my auto-buy/read authors that is not, for me, the same as saying that I love everything that she writes, me and her books had our highs and lows and unfortunately ACOTAR is one of the lows.

1. The Pace: the first 30% of this book were killing me, things were sort of happening and I mean we had to get a lot of world building but oh my god it took me forever to read it (seriously, it took me almost three months, I was reading a chapter and putting it down, reading other books and them coming back reading another chapter and on), some of it had to do with the writing that is really descriptive and beautiful at times but is kind of heavy and hard for me to digest at times. But what really heightened on the pace for me was the fact that we have very little happening on the plot front but a lot of character building happen and we get to my second problem which was that

2. I cared for hardly anyone: I didn't hate Feyre and Tamlim and etc. but I also didn't feel head over heels about any off them, especially Feyre, which is our main character and narrator, she never really stood out of the pages for me, she was strong and determined and all of that but I don't know, there was some spark missing from her, something that I could pin point as a characteristic only of her and not things as generic as the qualities that she did show. The other characters also suffered this, like I could tell what their motivations are to be on this war but I can't say that I know them besides that, which was a real bummer because I was expecting to at lest get to know more about Tamlim. The only character that I had a real interest on was Rhys, he was amazing and a layered character that I really hope has a bigger role on the next book.

3. The Romance: as being a Beauty and the Beast retelling is no surprise to anyone that the romance plays a big part on this story, around 30% into the story something happens and we have Tamlim and Feyre getting close and getting to know more of each other, this part of their romance really pleased me because they would just talk and stuff, Feyre attraction to him seemed a little bit too early on since his appearance wasn't exactly much human with that mask but they did took their time to act upon their feelings so I was overall okay with it. The part that I did not enjoyed was the alpha male trait of Tamlim, I know he is a Beast but still it was really not appealing to me when he would be all like "do as I say" or one scene where he was violent with her and she was all horny with it, just not my type of romance.

4. That late plot: So when we're about 70% (I think) in we finally start to see a plot on the horizon and well, it was really weird and it felt disconnected from the rest of the novel. It was like we were on a Beauty and the Beast retelling until that point and then we switched to a Alice in Wonderland retelling, I swear, I don't think I can talk about this without the spoiler tag so (but is only mildly so if you want to read anyway it won't ruin your reading experience) Okay, so Feyre is having to save her life by doing the most ridiculous tasks, like fight a giant worm, that was like way to dafuck did I just read to me, like I know it was supposed to be like live or death but it was so silly, I couldn't take it seriously also the villain was just a crazy psycho bitch, I mean she got A LOT of lucky when she got the power cause seriously.

5. That ending: I just I don't know what to do with what happened on the ending, I just... I will need to go to the spoiler tag again, bear with me (and this will be totally spoilery so don't read it if you have not read the book yet) So basically Feyre could have been turned a fae all along - I think this was the last part of the curse? That she couldn't know, but it just seemed so... Bad to me, is just like fae's are vampires now and anyone can turn into one, just like that. I guess that if I was liking the rest of it, it would have been awesome and etc. but I wasn't so was just one more thing that made me raise my eyebrows.

6. A Detail: This is just one little detail but with all the rest that bothered just added, so I will mention. So Feyre is supposed to be almost illiterate, she knows the writing of a few words but that's it and the narrative is in first person, so it bugged me that someone that have little to none knowledge of grammatical things and should have a very scarce vocabulary is so well articulate on it's thoughts and speaking. I know the book wouldn't be as beautiful or interesting being wrote on the voice of someone illiterate, but still it was an inconsistency on my view.

Overall I didn't really enjoyed this book, at all, it wasn't really my cup of tea but don't be discouraged by me there is a lot of other people that absolutely loved it. If you never read Sarah J. Maas I would suggest starting with the "Throne of Glass" series first (which I absolutely love) and them trying this one, if you already love Sarah J. Maas other works I really hope you will fall on the group that enjoyed this one.

When Joss Met Matt - Ellie Cahill

When Joss Met Matt by Ellie Cahill
Published by Ballantine Books on February 24. 2015
Pages: 352
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, New Adult

Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley

Amazon • The Book Depository • Goodreads 

Ellie Cahill is poised to coin the term “sorbet sex” with her charming twist on the age-old ‘friends-with-benefits’ story.

Dating can be fun, but it can leave a nasty taste in your mouth. For Joss, ever since her longtime boyfriend cheated on her, she doesn’t want her last memory of a guy to be that jerk. Enter her college friend, Matt. They come up with a theory: after a bad break-up, a person needs to cleanse the palate with a little sorbet sex. Lovers for a night, but always back to being friends in the morning. The two can handle it because they have a contract: rules they wrote, rules they follow and rules they can sometimes bend. The arrangement works: everyone needs a little sorbet now and again … until it starts to be the only thing you want. And then Joss breaks the one rule they never wrote down: don’t fall in love.

I came across this book in a very, well, quickly way - one day I was looking through friends updates on Goodreads and it showed up a review saying that Ellie Cahill was a pen name for Liz Czukas, which for those who don't know wrote Ask Again Later & Top Ten Clues You're Clueless (both released last year by HarperCollins), so it was a non-brainer to request it once it was up on Netgalley. I'm pleased to say that this book does contain the best of Czukas banter and you should pick it up too!

This is story of Joss and Matt, we have the present narration which takes place before graduation of college when both are already on jobs and living independently all very grow up stuff, and the past, which goes since the freshman year when they meet each other and started a friendship that latter on turn into a friends-with-benefits thing. I have to say that Czukas is the best at doing banter-y relationships the way I liked, each interaction of Matt and Joss was beyond adorable and at each of their conversations I would end up shipping them more and more - their past selves always put a silly smile on my face, there was so many laugh out loud interactions too and cute moments, like their list of rules for the sorbet sex.

I also think this is a good bridge between YA and NA, it doesn't really have a NA feel (and by this I mean that nobody has troubled pasts and heavy steamy sex full of orgasms that will cure said troubled past). It also isn't graphic about the sex, despite we having a lot of sex scenes between Joss and Matt (since a good deal of the plot is they getting together for the sorbet sex) none of them were really steamy and I think that YA readers will not have a problem reading it, even younger ones, but I do think that readers that came to a NA novel expecting NA sex will be highly disappointed on this aspect, I particularly wasn't disappointed, I don't read erotica or much NA to feel let down if the book doesn't contain more steamy scenes, it really just read like a YA novel that is set on college and adulthood.

If there was one thing that let me down was the character development, this is a romance book, I get that, and being a romance the plot and main focus is on developing the story of these two characters and how they got together. But at the same time I really like my contemporary reads to be problems that main character have to overcome + romance + friendship/family aspects <<<< this is a winning formula, when well developed, but on this one we basically had this problems that main character have to overcome  don't exist + romance + friendship/family aspects very, very on the side, just when necessary to get the two main characters together for the said sorbet sex. Now, I liked the romance a lot, I was 100% aboard with it and I read this with a grim on my face the whole time BUT I would have liked more character development, especially since this book is from Liz Czukas, her other YA books had a little more than 200 pages and yet I felt like I got to know that characters more than I got to know Joss and Matt.

Overall it was a good book that it did what it proposed to do: present a friend-with-benefits story that turns into something more, and it did it really well, I think that lovers of rom-coms will fall absolutely in love with this story and readers that love a good friends-with-benefits story.

Breathe, Annie, Breathe - Miranda Kenneally

Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally
Series: Hundred Oaks #5
Published by Sourcebooks Fire on July 15, 2014
Pages: 319
Genres: Contemporary, Sports, New Adult

Format: eBook
Source: Purchased

Amazon • The Book Depository • Goodreads 

From the bestselling author of Catching Jordan comes a brand new contemporary YA you won't forget.

The finish line is only the beginning...

Annie hates running. No matter how far she jogs, she can't escape the guilt that if she hadn't broken up with Kyle, he might still be alive. So to honor his memory, she starts preparing for the marathon he intended to race.

But the training is even more grueling than Annie could have imagined. Despite her coaching, she's at war with her body, her mind-and her heart. With every mile that athletic Jeremiah cheers her on, she grows more conflicted. She wants to run into his arms...and sprint in the opposite direction. For Annie, opening up to love again may be even more of a challenge than crossing the finish line. "Breathe, Annie, Breathe is an emotional, heartfelt, and beautiful story about finding yourself after loss and learning to love. It gave me so many feels. Her best book yet." - Jennifer L. Armentrout, New York Times bestselling author of Wait for You

I had already heard of the Hundred Oaks series a long time ago, but I was always scared to read because sports isn't really my thing (at all) and o the idea of reading a book were sports are a major part of the story? Yeah, it didn't sounded like something I would enjoy. But time passed, people keeped recommended this series and now that I'm much more into contemporary I decided to try and start with Breathe, Annie, Breathe (I know, it's the 5th of the series but they all can be read as stand alone).

Me and Annie started on the wrong foot, 30% in on the book and I was flying through this book but couldn't really get a read of her character and feelings, also the romance started with some instalust - which I think is fine and natural but it wasn't my ideal scenario when one of the parts of the romance is grieving, I thought "no, this is too soon, maybe I'll be the black sheep and Kenneally' books won't work for me". I was wrong, very very wrong.

Annie grew on me as a character, she is extremely determined and has so much to overcome on this book, until this 30% we basically got a view of her problems: the lack of friends, her difficult relationship with her mother and her fight against her desires and her guilt from moving on with her boyfriend. It was great to see her growing as an individual person and finding out who she was without being a girlfriend, this was why the instalust gave a bad feeling at first - Annie first needed to find herself before going to another relationship.

Of course Jeremiah is the perfect guy, he has some issues of his own to figure out and Annie does help him, but he also gave Annie her time and his friendship which was something necessary for her growth. Their romance was beyond, just beyond. They had an incredible chemistry right from the beginning, their first scene already made me laugh out loud and see their develop a friendship was heaven, it made me ship them more and more throughout the book so when they finally got together was very, very shippy.

Me on the scene at the hospital 

We had a lot of family presence, we got to know (or re-know for those who read the other books maybe? Idk) Jeremiah's family and I have to say that the scene with his PopPop was one of my favorites, was definitely the one that I laughed out loud most - their banter was gold! I would have liked more the presence of Annie's Mother, their issues kind of resolve themselves but I needed more honest conversations between them. Annie's friends too could have used more development - I just felt extremely uncomfortable on their first interaction (one of the girls basically corners Annie into going shopping with them), I was glad afterwards that it happened of course because it opened the doors for Annie get to find fun and have more friends on her life, but still it was awkward at first.

And about my fear that the sports part would bored me or that I would dislike this aspects? LOL I ended up with an urge to go running. Disclaimer: I never runned one day of my life, seriously, never, okay maybe sometimes to catch the bus but that was it, and I have been sedentary for like years and years, I would probably die on the first 5 minutes but I kind of really want to try now because it was so amazing to read about Annie's little victories at each run and how much it helped her to deal with her grief.

In case you didn't noticed yet I loved this book and can't wait to read more of Kenneally's other Hundred Oaks books. Absolutely recommend to lovers of contemporary romance, that like their books fluffy but not all fluffy, or people who like too read books about tough issues but doesn't like the general sadness of those books. And of course runners (or aspirings runners).

A Little Something Different - Sandy Hall

A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall
Published by Swoon Reads on August 26, 2014 
Pages: 272
Genres: Romance, Contemporary, New Adult
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased

Amazon • The Book Depository • Goodreads 

The creative writing teacher, the delivery guy, the local Starbucks baristas, his best friend, her roommate, and the squirrel in the park all have one thing in common—they believe that Gabe and Lea should get together. Lea and Gabe are in the same creative writing class. They get the same pop culture references, order the same Chinese food, and hang out in the same places. Unfortunately, Lea is reserved, Gabe has issues, and despite their initial mutual crush, it looks like they are never going to work things out. But somehow even when nothing is going on, something is happening between them, and everyone can see it. Their creative writing teacher pushes them together. The baristas at Starbucks watch their relationship like a TV show. Their bus driver tells his wife about them. The waitress at the diner automatically seats them together. Even the squirrel who lives on the college green believes in their relationship.

Surely Gabe and Lea will figure out that they are meant to be together....

This book came to me at the exactly right time, I was in the need for a very light after finishing a very... Not wrecking, but very emotional book (The Start of Me and You, which the review will be coming in the end of march), so I needed fluffy, I needed to have a brain candy kind of read you know. And this book delivered exactly it.

The plot of this book is literally find out if Gabe and Lea will get together. And that's it. Since it's never told from the perspective of the two main characters we don't really have the layers (family, difficulties with college, friends, insecurities) so on spot as it usually is with contemporary books, this did took a little of my affection towards the book because we did get to know Lea and Gabe, but it was like... You know when you hear a lot of stories about someone, like a friend of a friend of yours but that you never actually meet but you do have a mental picture of their personality but still you never meet them. That's how I felt about these two, it was a fun and different way to write a novel and I'm glad Sandy took the risk and I liked it, but it lacked a more deep emotional connection.

Also about the way this story was told, we have 14 different POV's and, as usual when a book there is a lot of POV's, some I liked, some I loved, some I just didn't know why they were there. I liked almost all of the POV's, they are very unique I never had to come back and see who was on that chapter (section? it was divided by month not by chapter, but maybe the months are the chapters? that had a lot of different POV stitching during it? Ugh) but there was some that I just didn't really felt like they were relevante to the plot and character/couple development at all. One thing that was strange to me was that, despite I always knowing which POV, I still confused the "I" and thought it was Gabe thinking (or Lea on feminine POV's, but it happened more with Gabe) and I had to remember that Gabe was the "he" not the "I" on the story, it was just because of the unusualness of the way this story was told but yeah, it took a while to get used to.

Another thing that was really strange was the way people described Gabe and Lea, but specially Gabe, like when they are describing him they would use the word "cute" a lot, and when I mean a lot, I mean A LOT REALLY. Every single person thinks he's is the cutest puppy on the world, and he isn't even a puppy! It was kind of weird after sometime (I mean does people really describe other people as cute?).

But thumbs up for the diversity on this book and for making it low key (the diversity, and not announce as a diverse book). And also the squirrel, so much love for the squirrel, it was so saaaaaaaaad on the winter when he was hungry, and skinny and really let's just all feed the squirrels on winter. This really wasn't a bad book, I'm feeling like this a much more negative review but really, I was smiling the whole way while reading it, it was sweet and fun and cute and adorable and perfect for romance fans or someone on the need for a brain candy.

Boomerang - Noelle August

Boomerang by Noelle August
Series: Boomerang #1
Published by William Morrow Paperbacks on July 8, 2014
Pages: 325
Genres: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased

Amazon • The Book Depository • Goodreads 

The first book in a sensational New Adult trilogy from Noelle August.

Welcome to Boomerang.com, the dating site for the millennial gen with its no-fuss, no-commitments matchups, and where work is steamier than any random hook-up.

Mia Galliano is an aspiring filmmaker. Ethan Vance has just played his last game as a collegiate soccer star. They’re sharp, hungry for success, and they share a secret.

Last night, Ethan and Mia met at a bar, and, well . . . one thing led to another, which led to them waking up the next morning—together. Things turned awkward in a hurry when they found themselves sharing a post hookup taxi . . . to the same place: Boomerang headquarters.

What began as a powerful connection between them is treated to a cold shower courtesy of two major complications. First, Boomerang has a strict policy against co-worker dating. And second, they’re now competitors for only one job at the end of summer.

As their internships come to an end, will they manage to keep their eyes on the future and their hands off each other, or will the pull of attraction put them right back where they started?

So, I really liked some parts of this book but to others parts I was just kinda… Not so head over heels. Let’s talk.

What I really liked was the job aspect, Ethan and Mia got the same internship and now (after hooking up) they need to compete for the same job AND the company has a rule against relationships between co-workers – it was so much fun seeing both of them struggling against their attraction (and there was a LOT of attraction), day after day and seeing what kind of crazy things they would do/pass during this time.

But this inconvenient situation also gave room for them to really know each other which is something to love on a romance - the building up for the relationship - and I have to admit that they seem a pretty good match. They really seemed to get each other despite the little interactions they had, however they still had a few bumps on the road like any normal couple.

And despite Ethan and Mia being good together they also had different ambitions outside the romance world, which made me connect with them so much. I loved how Ethan is still struggling to know what he wants to do with his life, how he always had a plan and now isn’t so sure anymore that it’s going to work or even if is what he really wants – I just started college and always thought I would do veterinarian but now I’m not so sure anymore, and it really hit home how difficult it is to admit that to yourself, make a new plan and tell to yours parents that sacrificed so much already to make that older plan work. On the other side Mia biggest struggle is to record a documentary of her grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer, that will make the world never forget of her, my grandmother also has Alzheimer so it was easy to feel Mia’s pain on losing her role model.

So despite all these good things there was still one thing that keep throwing me off the book and it was Ethan’s narrative. It felt kind of… Fake, like he would say all this swear names on his head and them Mia’s POV wouldn’t have any, it just felt like something put there because it’s a “boy thing” you know? Also, oh my god, how many times does this dude can get his dick hard?? Seriously, on the beginning of this book he only needed to see Mia to have an erection.  

Still this is the one of the best New adult books that I read and this kind of style – more of a romantic comedy and real struggle that new adult’s have, this is the kind of new adult books I’m willing to give a shot. More new adult that is focused on to the new adult peeps okay guys?

Recommended to: fans of romantic comedies, readers on looking for new adult that isn’t just sex and dark deep troubles, readers on their 20’s.