Category: Contemporary

Contemporary · Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense

Ashes, ashes, they all fall dead – Lena Diaz

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18274980| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: What she doesn’t remember … will kill her.

One by one the letters arrive at the FBI office in Savannah, Georgia. Inside, each bears a name—a victim of a twisted crime—and the singsong phrase Ashes, ashes, they all fall dead. Special Agent Tessa James becomes obsessed with finding the killer whose victims are crying out to her for justice.

When sexy, brilliant consultant Matt Buchanan is paired with Tessa to discover who’s sending the “Ashes” letters, he discovers a serial arsonist who is leaving nothing but murder in his wake. Inexplicably, the clues point to Tessa herself, forcing her to realize that if she can’t remember the forgotten years of her past, the name on the next letter will be hers.

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My thoughts: This book has seriously everything an romantic suspense geek like me can wish for. You get scorching hot characters, a mystery story you think you can foresee but really dont and romantic in the way that it feels like you are actually reading a book. Not an erotic novella where the goal is the sex and everything around it is just a story leading up to the sex. No, here it is so much more. More feelings and relationships that just makes the whole story complete.

This book is an great example of what I search for when choosing an romantic suspense book. There is one more book in the series. This one is book number three. I dont know if Lena Diaz will writhe anymore in this series but I hope so. The last book is about Devlin but I would have loved to read a book about Austin and see how his life turns out. He haven’t had it easy but always been one of those side characters you dont see much off.

Contemporary · Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense

Sacred Sins – Nora Roberts

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682156| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: 
In the lazy days of summer, a merciless heat wave is the biggest story in Washington, D.C. But the weather is knocked off the front pages when a young woman is found strangled to death. A note left behind reads Her sins are forgiven her.

Two more victims soon follow, and suddenly every headline is devoted to the killer the press has dubbed “the Priest.” When the police ask top-notch psychiatrist Dr. Tess Court to help with their investigation, she comes up with a disturbing portrait of a twisted soul.

Detective Ben Paris doesn’t give a damn about the killer’s psyche. What he can’t easily dismiss is Tess. Tall, dark, and good-looking, Ben has a legendary reputation with women, but the coolly elegant Tess doesn’t react to him like other women he’s known — and he finds the challenge enticing.

Now, as the two are thrown together in a perilous quest to stop a serial killer, the flame of white-hot passion flares. But someone also has his eyes on the beautiful blond doctor … and Ben can only pray that if the madman strikes, he’ll be able to stop him before it’s too late….

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My thoughts: The book is from the late 80’s and actually is older than me. But you do not notice the time difference which is great. It makes the book like one of those timeless classics and a book you really notice is written by Nora Roberts when you read it.

Roberts have an huge talent for characters development and it is no difference in this book. Even though it did not happen that much for the majority of the book, it was the progress of the story that just made it all great. Unfortunately the end of the book took away one star in my rating. This because it was to predicable and really no suspense and excitement. It was boring and felt more like Roberts just wanted to be done with the book so the end got rushed.

Contemporary · Romance

Pagan – Jessica Gadziala

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34537960.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis:
Pagan-
Fighting. F@cking. F@cking things up. That was my life. That was how I got out of the world I had been raised in. And it was how I intended to keep living my life.

That was, of course, until I came across her. The game changer.

Kennedy-
Hard work. That was pretty much all you could say my life consisted of. It was what got me out of a rough childhood. It was what made me get my first taste of success. Before things went to hell, that is. But it was what was going to get me back on my feet too. So I didn’t need any distractions. Certainly not one that came covered in scars, blood, leather, and in a cloud of cigarette smoke.

Yet, there he was.
And I was thinking maybe a distraction wouldn’t be that bad, right?

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My thoughts:
My biggest problem with this one is that I totally did not connect with either Pagan or Kennedy. I really did not like Pagan at all. Kennedy was somewhat nice. A girl I probably could have connected with if it was not for that the book was kind of superficial.

As you probably now by now, I love Gadziala and her books. But I do not love every book by her and this is one of them. It felt forced and superficial. Not even the “dark things” was that dark. It took me like 50% before I started to like the book and then it was suddenly over. It all was just a little to easy and a little to perfect.

Dont get me wrong here. I do love a happy ending and I do not want to change that. But the road to that ending dont have to be as fluffy, easy and perfect all the time. Yeah there are happening some “dark” stuff but it all it´s fixed a little to easy.

Maybe I´m not giving the book justice here. Maybe I´m still fucked in my head, since I read the book by Karin Slaughter. Maybe I need some time. Get my head on straight again.

Oh well. One great thing about the book though is that I have started to learn to know some of the new characters and oh my. I see some really good books in the future.

Contemporary · Romance · Suspense

Run To Ground – Katie Ruggle

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32331591| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: He lost his mentor.
He lost his K9 partner.
He almost lost his will to live.
But when a ruthless killer targets a woman on the run, Theo and his new K9 companion will do whatever it takes to survive—and save the woman neither can live without.

Grieving the death of his partner, Theo Bosco has no room in his life for distractions. Though his instincts scream that he should avoid Juliet ‘Jules’ Jackson, he can’t seem to stay away. It doesn’t help that Theo’s new K9 companion has fallen head over paws with Jules’s rambunctious family.

Or that when he’s with her, Theo finally knows peace.

When Jules rescued her siblings, whisking them away to the safety of the beautifully rugged Colorado Rockies, she never expected to catch the eye—or the heart—of a cop. Yet as Jules struggles to fight her growing attraction to the brooding K9 officer, another threat lurks much closer to home…

And this time, there’s no escape.

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My thoughts: I dont know what I expected and had a pretty much of an open mind before I started this book. It is a new series from an author I totally fell in love with earlier last year. I loved that her first series all hang together but still was like stand alones. And even this series is based out in the Colorado mountain. You just get this warm, fuzzy feeling when you read her books. She makes everything come alive and it is like you are there. I can really see the mountains, feel the sun and everything that is around it.

The story however I did not feel for this time. It was no big things really that can give me a concrete reason to why I not liked this book more than a three star rating. It was just a lot of small stuff that made the story not as great as it could have been.

I felt that it was somewhat wordy and repeatedly. The dynamic between Theo and Jules was not as natural as it could have been. And it is pretty irritating that the same words was used to describe his mood and her fright all the time. If you dont have any words left to describe something, you have probably described it to often and it is time to say stop, that is enough. We get it.

I do have to say that I really liked the twist that started up in the end. It was some what predictable but I still liked it because it was a little different from what you first would expect.

There will be more books in the series and even tough this first one not was a top favorite, I still like her books and story’s and I will read more by her. 🙂

Contemporary · Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

The Good Daughter – Karin Slaughter

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33230889| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Two girls are forced into the woods at gunpoint. One runs for her life. One is left behind…

Twenty-eight years ago, Charlotte and Samantha Quinn’s happy small-town family life was torn apart by a terrifying attack on their family home. It left their mother dead. It left their father — Pikeville’s notorious defense attorney — devastated. And it left the family fractured beyond repair, consumed by secrets from that terrible night.

Twenty-eight years later, and Charlie has followed in her father’s footsteps to become a lawyer herself — the ideal good daughter. But when violence comes to Pikeville again — and a shocking tragedy leaves the whole town traumatized — Charlie is plunged into a nightmare. Not only is she the first witness on the scene, but it’s a case that unleashes the terrible memories she’s spent so long trying to suppress. Because the shocking truth about the crime that destroyed her family nearly thirty years ago won’t stay buried forever…

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My thoughts:

Extremely dark story and at first it kind off pissed me of. The reason is that I could not understand why, why on earth a person who have lived trough something terrible and gets bullied and hurt for it years after, still stays behind and live with those people around them for years and with people who caused it in the first place. I could not wrap my mind around it and it made the whole thing even worse. Especially when the truth started to come out.

But you certainly fast feel that this is a KS book. Because she has a twisted mind and a frighting ability to make you as an reader feel every emotion, experiences every event and you can’t read fast enough to satisfy your self. And as always I need to read something more happy after because I always feel emotionally drained after one of her books. I dont know if that is a positive or a negative thing. I do love her books, but it makes me completely drained after.

A solid four is my rating for this one. I feel that it was a little more wordy than here usual work and the constant word battle between all the characters started to bother me in the end.

I really like the end though. I know from experience that Slaughters ends in books can be a little ruff and not always as satisfying for me as an reader but here it is just perfect. According to other reviews on Goodread this is supposed to be an series. Right now I feel happy with the end and do not feel need to follow the sisters in the future. But i’m not gonna close the door on it. Maybe I want to read it in the future. Who knows?

Contemporary · Romance · Suspense

14 Weeks – Jessica Gadziala

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33950707| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: I was a bit of a wild child.
I had a past.
I had gotten into trouble.
All that was behind me, though.
And for the first time in my life, trouble had found me.

When the other private investigators wouldn’t help me, I found the huge, hulking Tig willing to lend his expertise. What I didn’t expect was the growing attraction between us or the crazy series of events that would put our budding relationship to the test.

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My thoughts: Well, the book is okay. I got myself through it. But it was not one of my favorites which is to bad. I do really like Gadziala and her books but obviously, I can’t like them all. And this one is not on the top of the list.

I didn’t really like Kenzi. I understand that she wanted to be strong and independent but you don’t have to be a bitch about it. And since it was such an focus on her strength and attitude I felt that Tig just got lost. And the constant repeating of thoughts about them self and each other was a little irritating and later on just boring. When they started a rant about there feelings och thoughts and questions (that they have already ranted about before) I started to skim read. And I hardly never skim read Gadzialas books, even if it´s not one of my favorites. And that just show how unenthusiastic I was about the book.

The story is nice but i would have liked to read more about the abduction because that really was no suspense at all. And I did have ha feeling from the start which made it easy for me to figure out what is what and how. And the part with Kenzie and Cass in the park was just fantastic. I loved that part and I needed that. It probably saved the book a star.

I really liked Reese though and she was hardly not there the entire book. But she is a character I probably will completely love when I get to her book. She will get her man in the Henchman series and there I still have book nr 8 to read before I can read about Reese and she is in book nr 9. But i´m really looking forward to it.

Contemporary · Fiction/Science Fiction · Young, New adult/College

Wonder – R.J Palacio

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11387515| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.

August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He’s about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you’ve ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie’s just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he’s just like them, despite appearances?

R. J. Palacio has written a spare, warm, uplifting story that will have readers laughing one minute and wiping away tears the next. With wonderfully realistic family interactions (flawed, but loving), lively school scenes, and short chapters, Wonder is accessible to readers of all levels.

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My thoughts: What a heartwarming, sweet little book that I´m so happy I got to read (or actually listening on). The book is funny, sweet and makes you laugh and cry. Little to many cliches and the book is a little to fluffy sometimes but it is still a really great book.

We meet August. A boy born with a heavy facial deformity. He is starting a regular school for the first time and the book is about him, his first year, his friends, his enemy’s, his family and his family’s friends. We get to see and learn about August from all the people around him.

The book takes on the hard topic about being different and struggling in a world there everyone is suppose to be perfect. There is bullying, hard words, the struggle to fit in and the struggle to be a good person. The struggle to be brave and the happiness in being original and just your self.

Me myself got a huge flashback to my early school years trough this book. I was bullied a lot in school and had low self esteem. Hardly any friends. The desire to just fit in was big. The book brought it all out. I was August when growing up. I was his friends and his sister and the feelings I long ago forgotten started poring back. I think that is a huge reason to why I love this book, since I in some ways can relate with August even though I don’t have a disability. I can relate, understand and now as I´m an adult I can see that I have come really far from that small, scared little girl I once was. And it gives me the hope that everything is possible and if we all could look outside off our self, books like this wouldn’t be needed.

I love the book. And yeah i do agree with some of the reviews on goodreads that just being disable in any way do not make you great och deserves a medal. But I think some of them do not think that this is a more of a children book. It is suppose to have a happy ending. It is suppose to take up a hard topic in a way that i child can understand. It is supposed to show that great tings happens to great people and to be kind and open toward others.

In November the movie about August is having its premier. Me of course is gonna see the move and I’m totally gonna remember this one and read this for my future children.

Have you read the book and what did you think about it?

Contemporary · Romance · Suspense

Mackenzie´s Mountain – Linda Howard

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662323| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: A small Wyoming town is about to learn a few lessons from a new schoolteacher with the courage to win the heart of a man who swore he had nothing to give….

Mary Elizabeth Potter is a self-appointed spinster with no illusions about love. But she is a good teacher and she wants Wolf Mackenzie’s son back in school. And after one heated confrontation with the boy’s father, she knows father and son have changed her life forever.

Still paying for a crime he didn’t commit, Wolf Mackenzie has a chip on his shoulder the size of Wyoming. But prim-and-proper Mary Elizabeth Potter doesn’t see Wolf as the dangerous half-breed the town has branded him. Somehow she sees him as a good, decent, honest man. A man who could love…

Wolf’s not sure he or the town of Ruth, Wyoming is ready for the taming of Wolf Mackenzie.

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My thoughts: I’m so disappointed. I did not have any high hopes for this book but I generally like Howards books even if it is almost as old as me. But here it just did not go all the way. The book it self is predictable and the characters not that great. Wolf and his son is like the same character with the same voice. And it frustrating me like hell that they keep talking about that they are Indian and half breed and the racism. I understand that, i do, but it is the same thing through out the book and nothing with it is an eye opener or that could help me as an reader and non Indian understand how it actually really is. It dose not explain anything. It is just words and excuses for them to not do anything about there situation. They feel sorry for them self and the excuses just poring out.

The book is also kind of boring and riddled with cliches that makes me cringe. No. This was not a great book and not a book I would recommend. I give it a 2 in rating just for the humor in the book and that the first 40 % of it actually was really good.

Contemporary · Romance · Sports/Games · Young, New adult/College

The Wall Of Winnipeg And Me – Mariana Zapata

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29367958.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Vanessa Mazur knows she’s doing the right thing. She shouldn’t feel bad for quitting. Being an assistant/housekeeper/fairy godmother to the top defensive end in the National Football Organization was always supposed to be temporary. She has plans and none of them include washing extra-large underwear longer than necessary.

But when Aiden Graves shows up at her door wanting her to come back, she’s beyond shocked.

For two years, the man known as The Wall of Winnipeg couldn’t find it in him to tell her good morning or congratulate her on her birthday. Now? He’s asking for the unthinkable.

What do you say to the man who is used to getting everything he wants?

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My thoughts: I have had like three books by Mariana Zapata in my electronic library for ever and when I finally read this, I certainly do not regret it. I dont know why I hesitated so to read her books. This one for example has an 4,34 in average rating and over 30.000 people have rated it and there is over 3000 reviews on the book. It should say something. But after my experience I do not often like the stuff that “everybody else loves”. But I did love this one. Not 5 star loved it but still loved. And I shall explain why.

First of, the book is on like 700 pages, but that I hardly noticed because the story captured me from the beginning. I love the characters and the dynamic in the book. I love the fast, funny banter between them and how it all just evolves. I love the up and downs and I specially love the female character Vanessa. That is a girl with skin on here nose and when you think on here childhood and the person she has evolved till, you cant stop loving her even more. Aiden however is so silent and closed for the major part of the book that its hard to get to know him, but also he is a great characters and you will see that as soon you get to know him.

The reason the book not got a full pot is because it was kind of slow. Not boring slow really, but still slow. Some things could have happen a lot sooner and some stuff should have been said earlier. Due to this it made me not get that 100% connection with the book that I need to have to be able to give a five star review. But the book is pretty damn close and I certainly will be reading more from her.

Adult fiction/Erotica · Contemporary · Romance

Thomas – Liliana Hart

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18907480.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Cat Randolph is the best cat burglar in the world. But when a job goes wrong and she’s shot, it’s Doctor Thomas MacKenzie that comes to her rescue. Unfortunately, it’s a lot harder to keep secrets when you’re risking the life of someone you love.

Thomas MacKenzie knows Cat is keeping secrets, but getting her to trust him with them is a slow and steady process. But time isn’t on his side. Convincing Cat to stay in Surrender, Montana is harder than he could have imagined. He just has to make sure that their lovemaking is more addictive than the adrenaline rush she craves.

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My thoughts: Yeah I know that it is a short story and it suppose to be a short, erotic story. But in this one I could not stop thinking on how fast it was going. One minute she was one place and he another, next they where together and before you know it, they have sex and says I love you. Come oooon! It just got a little to much unrealistic for me to really enjoy the book. But if I try to not think about that and just the story itself it was great. Cat is a knock out girl with a lot of courage and skin on her nose. Thomas is a little meek and careful bot overall the book is okey.