A Lot Like Love by Julie James

4 Stars.

A lot Like Love was a cute and entertaining read that had enough action to keep me invested in the police-undercover subplot.

I've read Julie James before but have to say I wasn't that impressed, I started with her book Just the Sexiest Man Alive and although it had it's fun moments, overall it was a disappointment. I can barely remember it actually which says something given that I can usually remember even little details about books I loved.

The one thing I will say is that I usually prefer a bit more steam in my romances and from what I can remember the last James book I read was lacking in that department. This book though amped it up a notch which was nice.

I liked the heroine, enjoyed the fact that she was older (33) although that's not overly referenced, it just makes it so that you understand that Jordan is mature and self assured, independent and knows what she wants and how to handle herself. Nick was a nice hero as well, although his macho-ism got on a tiny nerve towards the end - I mean seriously?! You're worried about seeming less of a male if you take a bath (with or without bubbles) with a naked woman, I think regardless of bubbles or flowery frangrances, any guy would gladly switch places with Nick for a chance at a sexy interlude in a bath tub. Anyway, besides the point, it was just a little odd that Nick had to be such a guys guy when it came to such seemingly small things. The dialogue and back and forth was fun between hero and heroine and I liked that Jordan coudl give as good as she got. She wasn't about to roll over and play nice if it meant getting taken advantage of.

The whole setup of Nick and Jordan going undercover in order to catch a money launderer was entertaining and believable in the sense that it gave Jordan and Nick a reason to be around one another and to really fall for each other while pretending to fall for each other.

Jordan's twin brother Kyle, and his trouble with the law was an interesting side story and I really ended up liking his character. I see that his story is next and will most likely pick it up to find out how Kyle's life outside of prison is shaping up. (Not a hardend criminal people - when you read what he did to land himself behind bars it's actually quite entertaining and creative of the author.)

Overall I enjoyed this story, although I can't say that I would remember it next year around this time. I tend to like my romances with a bit more angst and like it when the hero and heroine really have to work to be together. It always seems like more of a payoff in the end when the hero and heroine can work out their issues and admit their feelings for one another. In this book, mostly because of the tone, everything shaped up a little too easily towards the end. There was never a feeling of great obstacles in their way and I would have liked to have seen Jordan and Nick work a little harder for their HEA. I could believe that they definitely had strong feelings for each other at the end, but am not totally convinced that it was the balls-out love Nick described to Jordan.

A cute and light read, for readers who want a fun book for a summer's day.

Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh

5 Stars. (PNR)

Angel’s Blood what to say, what to say. I freakin’ loved it. This book kept me glued to the page, hating work because I had to put the story down, hating my usually calming bus ride because I’d inevitably get to my stop too early, hating my lunch break for only being an hour long. Thsi is my first full read by Nalini Singh – although I own the first in her Psy-Changeling series but have yet to pick it up. I was very impressed by the way Singh took otherwise much used paranormal themes – vampires and angels and melded them to create a brand new idea and unique world for readers to dive into. The mythology she turns on its head is great and I loved the creativity of this plot.

This story is amazing and so so creative. Elena Devereaux the stories main protagonist is a Guild Hunter, in New York (although a very different NY than we’re used to) where vampires and angels are widely known and acknowledged by mortals, Elena is tasked with tracking rogue vampires who have either skipped out on their 100 years of servitude to their Archangel masters or are succumbing to blood lust and are therefore dangerous to the public and must be tracked and eventually punished or killed. In this world it is the Archangel’s who are the only ones who can Make a vampire and there is a sort of signup sheet if you will for those mortals who wish to live a life immortal. It is rare for someone to be Made against their will. So, Elena does her job and does it well, she is one of the best and it doesn’t hurt that she also has the ability to sense when a vamp is near like a type of overactive sixth sense. In this world Archangel’s are the supreme rulers and each archangel holds domain on a different area of the world. In this case the Archangel Raphael rules New York and this 500 year old immortal enlists Elena to track a crazed, psychotic killer who has succumbed to a vicious bloodlust. He must be tracked and killed before his horrific killing spree continues. To Elena surprise the vicious killer is not a vampire but one of the oldest Archangel’s gone rogue.

What progresses is a tightly wound, action packed, thrill ride that kept me reading and reading and reading. I loved the characters, every one of them including the ultra evil and supremely annoying. Elena’s father and Michaela – another Archangel are at the top of my supremely annoying – verging on evil list, but they each provide much drama and give readers much more insight into Elena as a heroine. And what a heroine she was. Tough as nails, able to handle herself, cheeky at times, sarcastic, but also really caring and sweet and loving with those she calls friends and family. I loved that she never backed now with Raphael, who is one majorly tough and often arrogant angel who due to his age is beginning to lose touch with what it means to be human. This disparity between hero and heroine made for some really interesting tension as Raphael continued to use his abilities and strength against Elena in order to get what he wanted from her. Elena was no simpering miss though and each time she felt Raphael overstepped his bounds she called him on it. Which, I loved. I hate it when the heroines – who are always described as strong and in control -allow themselves to be overly dominated by the hero, I always want to scream at them to stand up for themselves and get a grip.

The push and pull between an immortal and mortal was very interesting to see and had a really nice edge to it that kept me wondering how these two would pan out. I also really loved the secondary characters. Elena’s Guild Hunter friends, Guild Hunter director Sara and fellow Guild Hunter Ransom were equally compelling characters and I loved how much the three of them cared for one another. Dmitri, Raphael’s head of security and a vampire to boot was also a fascinating character and I am really excited that he gets his own book later in the series.

The action was great and easy to follow, the suspense of trying to find the rogue Archangel but also of trying to put the pieces together of exactly what has caused this archangel’s psychopathic transition is all part of the fun that keeps you on the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens next in this book.

Elena and Raphael sizzled and I loved their bickering and the ways they tried to understand one another even though they were so very different. Raphael was a particularly fascinating hero, strong and confident but also vulnerable and I enjoyed very much getting to see him come to terms with the part of himself that has always been human. Elena is a heroine to love and I can’t wait to read more about her, especially given the ending of this book.

The only thing I will say that wasn’t resolved was Elena’s traumatic past. You get tiny glimpses here and there throughout the first book and sort of know what happened, but there was never a clear scene that gave readers all the details into the how’s and why’s and consequences of what ultimately killed Elena’s childhood and made her father disown her for her abilities. I hope that we’ll see more of Elena’s past in the next few novels and that the resolution of the hint we got in this one will come to pass.

All around a great intro to what is shaping up to be a wonderful series! I’ve already purchased the next two in this series and can’t wait to dive in :)

One Day by David Nicholls

5 Stars - but really so good that stars don't cut it for a rating!

One of the most heartbreaking books I've ever read. But so honest and heartfelt. This story is one that will forever stay with me.

Fabulous.

Writing a review for One Day is really hard. First off, this book made me laugh broke my heart, had me wondering why the heck life could be so cruel and then finally at the end realising that throughout all the moments in life, sometimes everything is just bittersweet and that maybe that’s okay.

Only a handful of books have affected me in the way One Day has and this book will go down as one of my all time favourites. It may not be for everyone and I think that a lot of this books punch has to do with your experience of those precious years after you graduate university. I’m in that spot now, the place in life where you’ve just graduated your last big step in school, you have a degree and suddenly real life starts. I think that it’s at this moment most in life when we all feel like anything is possible, the world is ours for the taking and there isn’t anything that can’t be achieved. Dexter and Emma are both at this place in life in 1988, the beginning of this story and over the next twenty years, Nicholls documents a day in their lives (the anniversary of the day they first met – July 15th, 1988) as they struggle, waste time, grow lonely, create amazing memories, question their life path, find their way and make amends. I won’t go into too many more details about the plot for a few reasons, 1. It would mean giving spoilers which I really can’t do – read the book if you wish to know more. 2. I can’t accurately describe the depth and feeling that is packed into this story. I wouldn’t want to try for fear of not doing this novel justice in my description.

The element I was so impressed by was the absolute unflinching honesty of this story. Nicholls doesn’t try to pull punches or give the readers their neatly tied up ending. There isn’t a Hollywood happy ending for all, this book is about real life, real loss and heartache and it does an amazing job of making the reader feel excruciatingly connected to these two characters and their lives and friendship with one another. Dex and Em go through good times and bad, ups and down, both together and separately in their respective lives and they have quite a few near misses. All the while as a reader you’re taken along for the ride, hoping against hope that these two can get their acts together at the same time and make it work, because as you read more and more about their love for one another – both platonic and romantic you come to realize that if there is only one person meant for you in this life, then its Dex and Emma who are meant for one another – everyone else is just there to pass the time with. That may sound super sappy and idealistic, but it’s true for this story especially. It’s the power of a good book that through the characters, readers experience so emotionally the moments of their lives described in detail.. Nicholls has a great way with words and I felt instinctively like I was living in England and a part of that culture while reading. Nicholls has such an understanding of time and place and makes the reality of 1988-2007 so real. What I mean by that is that throughout the story as readers are taken through the years, you have a real understanding of life in the late eighties, the way that things worked, the restlessness that young people felt after graduating and all the experiences that tended to flow after that as a result of said restlessness. I’m sure the same can be said for people today in some ways, but the influence of technology, and all these modern day fares weren’t available in the late eighties and early nineties and it makes a difference to the way people lived their lives.

Like I said before, I laughed and cried during my reading of this book. For the most part it was laughter because Dex and Emma are both hilarious characters. Put them together and their banter is amazing and a joy to read. I loved every single one of their interactions even if more than once they broke my heart. By the end of this book I was blubbering like a baby and it didn’t help that I ended up finishing this book in the early stages of a five hours train ride home (no place to run and hide or burrow under a blankie to nurse my broken heart.) You feel everything in this book and the power lies in Nicholls' ability to show without cliché or overused and stylized descriptions the true loneliness we can feel as individuals thrust into the world, expected to make a go of some sort of meaningful life. Both Emma and Dex are at a loss for quite a few years and they both fall into careers out of something akin to chance. For one it goes a bit more smoothly than the other although both experience the heartache and wrenching loneliness of certain periods in their lives. Without giving anything away, I will say that I wondered more than once how hard it must be to love someone so completely and yet you know that a life together is almost impossible because of where the other person is in their life. When you can’t connect because of missed opportunities or chances, because you didn’t say what you felt in a key moment, you miss out on the possibilities life offers and really that might be the saddest thing of all, because who knows where that chance might have led you.

I don’t want to make this book seem all doom and gloom because it isn’t. It’s highly entertaining and a very enjoyable read about the meaning of true friendship and what it takes to sustain that friendship through the years. The reason I talk so much about the darker side of this story – or maybe the more serious side is a more appropriate word – is because their definitely is an undertone of seriousness. Nicholls himself writes that his inspiration for this story emerged from Thomas Hardy’s writing and for anyone who has read Hardy you know what this means. Hardy is a fan of putting his characters through the ringer. His stories rarely end well and are more often than not bittersweet, if not just bitter.

One Day has a bittersweet ending that makes you smile through your tears. It ends so beautifully and perfectly for the rest of the context of the story.

Without a doubt one of the best books I’ve read, ever.
One thing I will say is that with the movie set for release on August 19th, if you plan to see the film in theatres, do yourself a MAJOR favour and please read the book first. From the previews I think that the director and writers have stayed pretty close to the flow of the book, but a Hollywood rendition is never as good as the novel and there is so much depth to the characters and their life experiences that can’t be translated into film. The subtle nuances that make this book are worth reading before you experience the movie. On another note, having read the book, the movie is cast perfectly. Jim Sturgess is the absolute perfect Dex and Anne Hathaway – despite the fact that she isn't actually British, is exactly Emma Morely. Anne can definitely pull off the sass, unconsious beauty and loveable quarkiness of this heroine. Can't wait to see these two on screen together bringing these amazing, frustrating but thoroughly loveable characters to life.

This book is beautiful start to finish.

Broken by Shiloh Walker

4 Stars. (Romantic Suspense)

Broken  is the second in a series devoted to the two Rafferty brothers. Luke Rafferty had his story in Fragile and now it’s his twin brother Quinn’s turn. I started reading but never actually finished Luke’s story because in reality the only reason I was reading it was to get more background on Quinn who intrigued me after I read several reviews about the first book. Quinn is definitely the more unstable, untrusting, and tough on the outside brother who constantly has his guards up and won’t let people in easily. He’s definitely had a very tough upbringing as he lived with his alcoholic and abusive mother while Luke lived with their more loving father. Neither twin knew they were a twin until age 11.

Quinn has been burned once before by love because he wasn’t able it express his feelings to the woman before he lost the chance so he’s reeling from that loss still when he meets Sara, his new and cagey neighbour. There is instant attraction between these two and I really enjoyed seeing their relationship evolve as feeling got in the way. Both characters are similar in that they don’t trust easily. I think in Sara’s case it’s more that she can’t rather than that she won’t. Sara is not the run and from the beginning readers get insight into her past through snippets of past conversation highlighted at the beginning of each chapter. You know the conversation is between Sara and another person but for most of the book up until the end you aren’t told who that other person is. I have to say though that I guessed the reason for Sara’s disappearance very early on in the book. It’s not that there were any huge clues, there weren’t, but for some reason I got a deeper sense of what was driving Sara and by the end I realized I was right. Usually I’m not able to guess until the answers are almost on me.

Quinn was an interesting character, a bit of a contradiction although that’s not necessarily a bad thing. From other reviews I read and from the little I saw of Quinn in his brother’s book I knew that Quinn was supposed to be slightly unhinged, hard to like and very intense. I got the intense part in this book, but overall he just seemed like a very protective, sometimes brisk individual. In a way I wanted to see him battling with himself more. You understand his trauma from a scene in the prologue that details his mother’s abuse of him, but I never really felt like I saw the effects of that trauma in his adulthood. And he definitely hadn’t dealt with all his demons so the trauma should have at least played a greater role as an obstacle in his relationship with Sara. Both characters keep a lot of themselves from the other. They rarely ask personal questions of one another or attempt to glean more insight into their pasts before they met. I wanted there to come a moment where this changed. Where Sara started to open up a bit about herself, or even if this wasn’t possible for the sake of the suspense aspect, I thought it would have built good tension to at least have Quinn try and open himself up to Sara and then maybe get hurt that she wasn’t willing to do the same. I felt like one of them needed to make an attempt to take things farther emotionally because otherwise, in other areas – these two seem to have a really unique connection.

The suspense wasn’t really a suspense. The “villain” wasn’t that dark or dangerous and when Sara finally confronted the villain the person didn’t pose much of a threat to her in a forthright way. That was sort of disappointing as well because you read all the way through and know you’re getting close to having everything unravelled and when it is, it’s all over very quickly and the readers get the sense that the villain was taken out if you will all too easily.

There were some great moments throughout this book and it kept my interest the whole way through. I really liked Quinn and Sara as a couple and thought they balanced each other well, but a certain intensity was missing that would have knocked it up to a 5 star rating. The suspense was a little lack-lustre and I needed more honesty between Quinn and Sara before everything fell apart between them. Like I mentioned, I didn’t finish Fragile  but from what I read I got the feeling that it was gearing up to be quite a bit more intense and suspenseful. I had really hoped the same would be true for Quinn who in my opinion was the more attractive and compelling character.