British Book Addict

Monday, 13 February 2017

Retreat - Jay Crownover

Title - Retreat
Author - Jay Crownover
Series - Getaway #1
ISBN - 9781540751300
Genre - Adult > Romance
My Copy - Purchased
Format - Kindle
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads - Barnes & Noble - Indigo - Book Depository - Amazon UK - Amazon US

Every once in a while, you need to get away from it all.

I was a woman on the edge, shaken and shattered after a breakup that felt like it tore my entire world apart.

My best friend, sick of watching me drown in misery and melancholy, harassed me until I agreed to go with her on a week-long wilderness retreat.

She promised days spent bonding and getting in touch with our inner bad-asses.

It was supposed to be all about the two of us roughing it and making do with the bare minimum. She assured me we were going to be pushed to our limits in ways that were unimaginable. Neither one of us could have ever guessed just how right she was.

Nowhere in the glossy brochure did it say anything about the fact I was going to have to battle the insufferable but deliciously rugged and sexy trail guide instead of the elements. The brochure also forgot to mention the part that warned when you left civilisation behind, there was no place to pack your inhibitions and fears.

I was told that I would be facing a week where the only thing I should expect was the unexpected. However, no one mentioned that I was going to have to fight for my life…and my heart as soon as I ventured into the unknown.

I was a pro at hiding from my feelings but when it came time to face a real threat, one that could change everything, I learned I was more of a no surrender, no retreat kind of girl.

Retreat is a standalone novel, the first in the Getaway series which centres on the hardheaded and brokenhearted Warner brothers and the women that dare to love them.

These boys are very good at putting the wild in wilderness.

I didn't know that this book had been released until January but when i found out about it, i brought it straight away. Jay Crownover is an auto-buy author for me and these books are always my guilty pleasure.

I read this book straight through in a few hours and it was good, not the best books that she has written those go to her marked men and saints of Denver books. But they are enjoyable nevertheless.

The characters were your typical run of the mill romance characters, but Cyrus and Leo were still perfect in the situation and i love me a cowboy even a 'fake' one. Leo was strong and perfect she was written in a way that most women can relate to. And Cyrus is pretty much every straight woman's fantasy man.

The story albeit a tad far fetched, was fun and fast to read. It didn't have slow points it was action and romance all the way through. A book that you can read when on a rainy Sunday afternoon and not feel that the day has been wasted.

Towards the end it get very action packed and gets quite a bit emotional but please don't let that put you off when i say it has action in it, it is still predominately a romance novel.

I highly recommend this book and all others by this author one of the greats when it comes to romance writing about strong female characters in romance and the men she writes are all dreamy and the kind of men dreams are made of.

Until Next Time

Happy Reading

Friday, 10 February 2017

Hamilton Book Tag

Hello, so in honour of Hamilton Tickets for the West End production going on sale the end of last month and that fact that i got tickets for June 2018 i decided to do this tag that was created by Maureen Keavy so lets jump right on in....

The Room Where It Happens:

Book world you would put yourself in

Harry Potter

is there actually any other answer out there.

The Schuyler Sisters:
Underrated Female Character

Harriet Manners

Harriet is a underrated character, because she is a strong female but because of her socially awkwardness she is always looked over.

My Shot:
A character that goes after what they want and doesn't let anything stop them

Voldermort

It seems strange to choose a Villain, but if you think about it he wanted world dominance and he literally tried to kill a baby to get his way.

Stay Alive:

A character you wish was still alive [spoilers!]

Ned Stark

I just think so much of the war would not have happened the way it did and a lot of things wouldn't of happened if he would have lived.

Burn:

The most heartbreaking end to a relationship you’ve ever read [spoilers!]

Rose & Dimitri in Blood Promise

You'll Be Back:
Sassiest villain

Nan - Rosemary Beach

She is a villain and she can be Sassy with a capital S most times.

The Reynolds Pamphlet
A book with a twist that you didn’t see coming [spoilers!]

Once She Dreamed Part Two - Abbi Glines

Non-stop:
A series you marathoned

Sea Breeze - Abbi Glines

Satisfied
Favourite book with multiple POVs

The Mark of Athena - Rick Riordan

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story:

A book/series you feel like will be remembered throughout history

Harry Potter
Once more there really isn't any need for an explanation because it is such a timeless book that will be read by generations.

Bonus Questions

1. Helpless: A relationship you were pulling for from the very start - Rose & Dimitri - Vampire Academy
2. Ten Duel Commandments: Favourite fight scene - Battle of Bosworth - Ravenspur
3. Say No To This: Guilty pleasure read - Rosemary Beach - not really guilty more pleasure
4. What Comes Next: A series you wish had more books - Harry Potter
5. Right Hand Man - Favourite BROTP - Will and Jem from The Infernal Devices
6. What’d I Miss: A book or series you were late to reading - Harry Potter - i didn't read it until 2010

So that is it for the Hamilton Tag, feel free to do it yourself it is a lot of fun.

Until Next Time

Happy Reading

Wednesday, 8 February 2017

Once She Dreamed Part One & Part Two - Abbi Glines - SPOILERS!!!!!!!!

Title - Once She Dreamed Part 1 & Part 2
Series - Once She Dreamed
Author - Abbi Glines
Genre - New Adult
My Copy - Purchased
Format - Kindle
Where You Can Find It - Part 1 - Goodreads - Amazon UK - Amazon US -Barnes & Noble
Where You Can Find It - Part 2 - Goodreads - Amazon UK - Amazon US

I am not putting the Synopsis because i already did that on the spoiler free post so 😛😛

I honestly don't know where to start, I honestly did not think i was going to enjoy this when i first started reading it, it wasn't until i got to the second part that i actually started reading for enjoyment instead of purely just for finishing and i am so happy and grateful that i pushed on because i saw one of my favourite characters in the Rosemary Beach Series.

Ezra, when we first meet him it didn't even register that he was from a small town in Texas and it didn't register that he was so similar to a character we already knew.

Hale on the other hand was a complete and utter w****r, i loved him in the beginning but that just shows how things were never as they seemed.At first i thought Hale was Reese's brother till i remembered his actual name. I honestly didn't expect anything that happened in the second book, normally i can usually guess what is going to happen but this had my head spinning with every twist and turn.

Back to Ezra, i honestly should have seen this coming, because Major was one of my favourite characters from the Rosemary Beach series and it was so good to see him fall in love. Even though we didn't know it at the time, the ending was so open that i hope we do get another book be it another novella or even a full book where Major/Ezra couldn't stay away from Sammy Jo or even just an update on Sammy Jo.

The story line was good but i am a little confused as to when we see Cope, Nan's Husband, because he says he has to get back to Nan and Axel but their son is called Finn, so i don't know if they had another son because it is a little confusing as to the timing into the Rosemary Beach Series. i think it is quite a few years after up in flames but i cannot be sure.

A lot of people including myself want Sammy to be pregnant because he left after sleeping with her for the first time and the fact that she knew his real name i could just see her having a boy and naming him major and then the fact that she is in Alabama, somehow running into one of the Rosemary Beach characters and them just putting the dots together. But that is just my hope but i doubt that will happen.

I can honestly say i didn't see it coming and now i am so happy i read this series even though not a lot of people did, but it is a good little addition to the Rosemary beach series that gives you a bit of an ending to a character who will all for some reason love.

Until Next Time

Happy Reading

Monday, 6 February 2017

Forever Geek - Holly Smale

Title - Forever Geek
Series - Geek Girl #6
Author - Holly Smale
ISBN - 9780007574698
My Copy - E-ARC
Format - Kindle
Release Date - March 9th 2017
Genre - YA > Contemporary
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads - Waterstones - Book Depository - Amazon UK

My name is Harriet Manners and I’ll be a geek forever…

Harriet Manners knows almost every fact there is.

Modelling isn’t a sure-fire route to popularity. Neither is making endless lists. The people you love don’t expect you to transform into someone else. Statistically, you are more likely to not meet your Australian ex-boyfriend in Australia than bump into him there.

So on the trip of a lifetime Down Under Harriet’s to-do lists are gone and it’s Nat’s time to shine! Yet with nearly-not-quite-boyfriend Jasper back home, Harriet’s completely unprepared to see supermodel ex Nick. Is the fashion world about to turn ugly for GEEK GIRL?

It’s time for Harriet to face the future. Time to work out where her heart lies. To learn how to let go…

OK, let me start by saying this book isn't being released for a while yet so this review will have no spoilers in it, but there will be a spoiler review going up a week after publication. The reason why is because there is so much to discuss and although there will be no spoilers for this book i cannot say the same for the other books because i may have to spoil them a little bit so if you haven't caught up be prepared for a few spoilers.

So going into this book, i posted a picture on instagram and the author Holly Smale commented saying she 'hoped it ended in a way that made it OK' and that made me worry a little bit. But i will get more into that at a later date.

Before i started reading this book, i thought about what i wanted to happen and what i wanted to see and how i wanted this book to end and it didn't disappoint. Like every other book in this series, i laughed, i cried and i smiled so much my cheeks hurt.

Harriet was just as geeky and fun and just Harriet as before, we also meet some old characters and we meet some new characters as well, but for some of the old characters it was like meeting old friends and seeing these characters that all helped Harriet along the way either in a good way or a bad way. It had me smiling.

I can honestly say that Holly Smale is one of the best UKYA authors we have, and that the Geek Girl series is a series all teenage girls should read because it shows you that it is OK to be different, its OK that you aren't the most popular, and that you may not be the most social but if you have a good group of people around you be it, friends or family you will be OK.

It send out a beautiful message that even if you are not socially accepted, there are people who will accept you for who you are, so you don't need to change for anyone. This series will forever be one of my favourite and along with Harry Potter it is one of the best children YA series to come out of the UK.

Until Next Time

Happy Reading

Saturday, 4 February 2017

Once She Dreamed Part One & Part 2 - Abbi Glines

Title - Once She Dreamed Part 1 & Part 2
Series - Once She Dreamed
Author - Abbi Glines
Genre - New Adult
My Copy - Purchased
Format - Kindle
Where You Can Find It - Part 1 - Goodreads - Amazon UK - Amazon US - Barnes & Noble
Where You Can Find It - Part 2 - Goodreads - Amazon UK - Amazon US

Everyone in the small country town where Sammy Jo Knox had been born and raised, never left. They made their life there. Got married, had kids, lived in the same houses that were always there along the streets that never changed. The whole white picket fence and tree swing might look good on greeting cards but in real life it was boring, at least to Sammy Jo.

When Sammy Jo was a little girl she began dreaming of something bigger. Brighter. Something that wasn’t her town. She wanted to see the world and experience it all. Just how she was going to do that she had no idea. Because if her momma had her way, she’d marry one of the boys in town and be spitting out babies and going to church on Sunday with them all lined up in a row.

The day Hale Christopher Jude III walked into the bakery she worked at, she knew he was it. That part of life she was missing. He smelled of foreign places and exciting things. He represented all the bright lights she dreamed of and simply put, she hoped he was her way out of this place.

What Sammy Jo didn’t realise was things that appear perfect… aren’t. And chasing her dreams could lead to something very different.

OK, so to start this off i am going to say this is going to be a spoiler free review for both parts of this book, and that there will be a spoiler review in a couple of days. Because there is a huge spoiler i want to talk about but refuse to in this review.

So on to the actual review, when i started reading this book i didn't get into it at all, it felt quite slow and i wasn't as invested in Sammy as i was in Glines' other character upon first reading them. Like i didn't get the instant connection i did with the others and i wasn't sure why. I think it was her character in the beginning she was very different than anything i had read from Abbi before and i was a bit put off. So i stopped reading and it wasn't until January of 2017 that i picked it back up and decided to push through and read and i am so glad that i did because the real action is in the second part the first is just a build up that needs to be there even if it is a little slow.

So Characters, this is only going to be a brief part on the characters i will talk about more of them in the spoiler review, Sammy's character from the start to the end has the most development and it is good to watch because i think for some people she will be easily relatable, i didn't get it at first but i do now i understood her in a way that we both want to escape, she lives in a tiny town in Alabama and i live in a tiny village just inside of London and there are times i would take any offer just to leave. So that was one big aspect i think a lot of people could sympathise with Sammy Jo but at the same time from the outside we can see what a terrible idea it is for her to move all the way to New York with this guy she barely knows.

The men in this story are just as hot, just as beautiful as in her other stories and i will be talking more about them in the spoiler review because once i start writing i may end up spoiling and i don't want to.

The story is a little far fetched, but then again from where i stand it is fiction, and i can give it some lenience. If it was a non fiction that is where i draw the line, but apart from being a little slow in the first part it really picks up in the second , The ending is again some thing i will talk about in the spoiler review but i will say it is an open ending so be warned about that. One final thing i will say is i highly recommend this series for people who are a fan of Rosemary beach because it has some people you may recognise. 😉😉

Until Next Time

Happy Reading

Thursday, 2 February 2017

February 2017 TBR

Hello, so for my target this year i need to read 13 books a month and so i have chosen 13 books for this month and i have separated them into three categories... ARC's, New Releases, and Others... so lets get straight to it. Enjoy !!

ARC's

He Said/She Said - Erin Kelly