Category: Contemporary

Contemporary · Mystery/Crime · Romance

Beating Ruby – Camilla Monk

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30212829| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Life hasn’t been quite the same for computer engineer Island Chaptal since March, an OCD-ridden professional killer, burst into her life to clean her bedroom and take her on a global chase for a legendary diamond. Sadly, the (hit) man doesn’t just break bones; he breaks hearts, too.

Since then, Island has found solace in Alex—the perfect boyfriend—and Ruby, a software project about to revolutionize online banking security…for the worse. When Island’s boss is found dead after allegedly using Ruby to steal a vast fortune, it’s up to her to clear his name and recover the money. Someone else wants answers, though, and this time, Island might be in over her head.

From New York to Zürich, it’s going to take the return of a cleaning expert, a mini-octopus, and Island’s wits to beat Ruby. All while deciding whether to trust a man who already jilted her, or one who may have his own deadly secrets…

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My thoughts: This is the second book in the Spotless series. It is not a standalone and you will have to read the first book before this one to really understand some of the references. I would recommend that you do not read this review either if you haven’t read the first one, since it will be a little “spoilerish”. There are things I can’t discuss without referring to the first book. You do not have to worry if you already have read the first book.

You have been warned!

In this book we gets to follow Island, 6 months after the Tokyo fiasco and finally in a good place again. Then her boss goes and kill himself, her big project gets stolen and there is something that doesn’t feel right to her. As a new, stronger, woman she sets out to try and find the truth about what really happened, but she finds more truth than she had barged for. Then in walk March and you could say that the whole situation gets a 100 times worse. Or better. Depends on your point of view.

I can’t say that this book is as good as the first one, but it is still good. Not as fast paced and explosive but still entertaining. It was nice to meet all the characters again. The whole March and Alex situation is certainly entertaining but still a little hard to wrap my mind around. It was not until the end that I really understood what have been going on the whole book. By then I felt some things could have been changed on, written in another way to give the story a little more depth about those three characters. There is no cliffhanger per say, but still an indication that there will be a third book. Now I know that it already exists a third, but at one point there wasn’t. You can see that in the book. I do however not like Islands passivity in this book. She stands in situations with blind eyes and takes no action until the end.

I think the third book will be really entertaining and I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to have some explosive action, quirky characters, secrets, funny humor and heartwarming love.

Contemporary · Fiction/Science Fiction · Sports/Games

Beartown – Fredrik Backman

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33413128| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.

Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.

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My thoughts: This was one hard book to read. It was a lot darker than first expected and was certainly not what you would expect from Backman. He has changed his tone and the seriousness of it is mindblowing. And the worst part is, I know this from real life experience. I know how it is to grow up in a town that is dying. I know how it is to live so far north that in a year, you have more dark days than light days. Where snow is more than a way of life. It comes a part of you. When I moved south, I did miss all that snow, but life was just so much more simpler without it being so much of it. And I still do not live far enough south to get no snow at all. The difference is that where I come from, it’s not Hockey that is the big sport everyone love. Where I come from there is two type of “family’s”. Those who ski some way or another. Or those who hunt. I’m from a hunting family. That’s what we do. Live for. Talk about. And plan to do next season. Sometime I miss it, but in reality I’m more of a city girl with one booted foot in the woods and one foot in a 6 inch high heel outside the city’s IT club. When I don’t read of course. And I like it just like that. The best of two worlds. But I do understand that mindset from a small community. We take care of our own. We offer coffee or beer instead of asking how you are. I do not always agree, but I do understand.

Even though the book could be described as hard, cold, dark and so Swedish that it is incredible Backman has been able to put it into words. But still the book is warm, fuzzy and lovable. Some parts of it I had to seek comfort in the arms of my man. I wouldn’t be able to read more if not. I have few triggers when it comes to books but one of them is in this book and even tough it is not that graphic, a girl/woman do understand without not being in that situation herself. And it is heavy. Maybe more heavy for me this time than what it would have been if I didn’t recognize the characters as people I grown up with. Backman understands. He is Swedish to. Other parts I feel that the book is awesome and even some parts a little funny. The seriousness of it all takes a big toll of it tough.

The writing is as always, fantastic. Backman has a great ability to put worlds, characters, minds, feelings and his own soul  between the lines in his books. You can just feel him and it is a wonderful experience. One I do not often get to feel when reading books. Often when I give a book a top star rating, it is more for the story itself. This one it is more for the meaning of the story and what it leaves me with when done. It is impossible to explain.

I do however miss Backmans funny, easy-going, fuzzy heartwarming way of writing his books. This one is just a little too dark and it will take me sometime before I’m ready to read the second book in the series. I will someday, but right now my soul is just not ready for that kind of hit. Soul-wrenching. That’s a word I would describe this book with. Soul-wrenching!

Contemporary · Fiction/Science Fiction

Eleanor Oliphant is compleatly fine – Gail Honeyman

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35508633| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine. 

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

Smart, warm, uplifting, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes, The only way to survive is to open your heart…

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My thoughts: I was quite surprised when I started to read this book. It was not quite what I had expected and actually a lot darker. I had imagine that it would be like an female version of Don Tillman (The Rosie project) with a lot of charm and humor. Well, in my opinion it was not!

Eleanor is a lost soul, a person who has had a rough childhood and never got to learn all those social rules that everyone else seems to understand without even trying. She has no friends, no family and a quirky way of handling her mundane routine of daily life. She is so content in her own world that she doesn’t seem to realize that she misses something and wants more. She just trots on in the same way she have done the last 10 years or so. One day, fates steps in and breaks her life down to pieces and gives her the ability to build it up again, just the way she wants it.

The book is a lot darker than expected and touches hard subjects like depression, loneliness and alcoholism in a lighter kind of way. I would have found the book a little better if it was a little deeper in those subjects though. It is pretty much what the book is all about, so why not do it proper. I read somewhere that Honeyman didn’t want to make Eleanor an victim. But I feel the book lost something in that decision. You can be two victims. That one who accepts and does nothing, or that one who fights for something better and the right to live. Use it! Anyhow, back to the topic, loneliness and depression is something I personally knows a lot about and it is probably the reason to why I did not find this book as funny and humorous as many others have found it. Yes it certainly had its moments and Eleanor do say some pretty funny stuff sometime. But it was no a laugh out loud type of book for me.

I did however cry a couple of times and I did enjoy the book immensely. Eleanor is an oddball, you can’t do anything but love her and Raymond is my hero. He stands so far away from my typical literary love, but he seized my heart and refused to let it go. He is so ordinary and common to real life people that he is so easy to relate to and he felt warm and lovable.

I missed the charm I had expected in the book. The tone is very up and down, but it is still cute. I often felt to step in the book to hug her and say that everything is going to be alright. Because when it is bad, it can get better. Speaking by experiences here.

I can’t say that I loved, loved the book. But I did love it.

Contemporary · Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense

Slow Burn – Julie Garwood

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107771| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Every fire begins with a little heat–and in Slow Burn, bestselling author Julie Garwood provides the spark, skillfully blending pulse-pounding action, intense emotion, and characters with grit and heart. The result is an electrifying novel of romantic suspense that will have readers burning through the pages.

An unpretentious beauty who radiates kindness, Kate MacKenna doesn’t have a bad bone in her body–or an enemy in the world. So why are bombs igniting everywhere she goes? The first explosion brings her face-to-face with a handsome Charleston police detective. The second sends her into the arms of her best friend’s brother–a Boston cop who’s a little too reckless and way too charming for comfort. But Dylan Buchanan won’t let emotion prevent him from doing his job: Someone is trying to kill Kate, and Dylan is the only one standing between her and the monster who wants her dead.

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My thoughts: Sometime you seek that kind of book, that gives you a feeling of comfort. That makes you want to settle down on the couch, in bed or in that favorite reading chair. With the biggest blanket (that you bought just to have when you read) with a big cup of beverage of your choice, and just stay there. The world outside does not exist and it is just you and your new friends. And for those brief moments, it all feels okay. Well, this is one of those books for me. And I hadn’t really expect anything less since this is Julie Garwood. I know what to expect and I’m so happy that I got it. It was just what I needed. Garwood is an great writer in this genre and one of my favorite authors. And I always feel so good after one of her books.

Here we get to follow Kate. After her mother’s death her life is starting to crumble around her. But she is a strong woman and refuse to give up. After she almost been blown up twice, in one week, Dylan Buchanan, Kate’s best friends brother, comes to help find out what is happening. He is on leave from his work at Boston PD and since he always had strong, secret feelings for Kate, he can’t let her fend for herself. The situation is intense and fireworks is going off right from the start.

This is a “typical” romantic suspense book. You pretty much know what is going to happen. Though I do not want to call it predictable. I couldn’t early one foresee who the bad guy was in this book. It was easy to see why and there was no secret about the reasons, but it was not as predictable to find out who it really was. It was awesome.

It is a great book. Just what I needed. There is great characters, great development, great story and plot and the way it is unfolding feels real and suitable. There is never any cliffhangers and sometime you get to meet characters that have had bigger parts earlier in the series. Mostly I would say that you can read it as an stand alone. But if you are as OCD as me, I do not recommend it.

Contemporary · Romance

Crash – Susan Fanetti

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32613951.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Tulsa, Oklahoma. 1995

Conrad “Radical” Jessup, Sergeant at Arms of the Brazen Bulls Motorcycle Club, has life just about where he wants it: he’s free of a bad marriage, and his club is cruising along healthy and strong, their business relationships as solid as their brotherhood. He’s a contented man, riding his road at his speed.

Until a massive highway wreck brings a blonde on a little sportster crashing into his life.

Willa Randall is making a new life in Tulsa, working hard to put a demolished past in her rearview mirror. Trying to keep herself safe, she’s built a life insulated by locks and walls. Inside those walls, she’s alone, but she feels secure, and that’s enough.

Until a big, tattooed biker holds out his hand and helps her up from the pavement.

A love seeded in chaos grows fast and deep. But when chaos is a constant, can any love endure?

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My thoughts: I have read one book by Fanetti, earlier back in 2016, and I can’t remember on top of my head, why I did not finish the Signal Bend series, but I must have had my reasons. Crash is the first book in the series about another MC Club that do exist in the same universe but still are a standalone series from the signal bend series.

It is a good plot and it certainly had potential, but for me, I had problem with connecting to the characters. And I don’t really know why. They are characters I usually love and connect with. Willa is this strong, kick ass woman, who have been in a shitty situation for like the last 10 years. But she has a fighting spirit and with her protecting dog Ollie she feels strong and ready for whatever will happen and she do not need a man to “save” her. Then we have Rad. Hard skinned, stubborn, overprotecting, sexy and hot alpha male who is happy to finally have peace in his life after a bad childhood and an even worse marriage. But he is open to his feelings and when Willa comes crashing into his life he takes the chance to explore and find even more.

How can I NOT love this? It is like I wrote the plot myself. It is like all that I want from this type of books. But still it didn’t do it for me. When I think about the highlights of the book, it still feels kind of grey and bland for me. I read the story but there was not really anything that captivated me. It is a good read. It’s just not a great read. One thing I really liked is that even though it is predictable, I could point out early in the story, stuff that would happen, it did not happen as I first had expected it. So even if it is predictable, it was not as predictable as I had predicted. Haha.

Contemporary · Romance · Suspense

Midnight rainbow – Linda Howard

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350523| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Grant Sullivan had been one of the government’s most effective agents, and he’s agreed to rescue Jane Hamilton Greer, a wealthy socialite possibly engaged in espionage. In the time they spent together, questions of guilt and innocence began to fade against the undeniable reality that two people from such different worlds should never have met.

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My thoughts: Somewhat cliche and predictable but at the same time exactly what I needed to get over my hangover from the Kristen Ashley book I read last. This is one of those old school, romantic suspense that are the core of what I love with an romantic suspense book. We got the strong, independent woman who do not need her father or any other man to “take care” of her. We have that alpha, jaded military man who has forgotten anything according to love and a woman’s touch. We have some bad men, corrupted governments, spies and a hunt trough the jungle. All to save there lives and there country.

It is not this great literary work of art but it is still beautiful and did what it was suppose to do. Now I’m ready for other adventures. 🙂

Contemporary · Romance · Suspense

Rock chick regret – Kristen Ashley

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13184992.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Sadie Townsend is known by all as The Ice Princess and she’s worked hard to earn her reputation. Her father, a now-incarcerated Drug Lord, has kept her under his thumb her whole life and she’s learned enough from living in his world to give everyone the cold shoulder. But one inebriated night, she shows the Real Sadie to the undercover agent she knows is investigating her father, the handsome Hector Chavez, and he knows he’ll stop at nothing to have her.

Hector makes one (huge) mistake; he waits for Sadie to come to him. Tragedy strikes and Sadie’s got a choice, she can retreat behind her Ice Fortress or she can embrace the Rock Chick/Hot Bunch World. Guided by Hector, the Rock Chicks, the Hot Bunch and her new gay roommates, Buddy and Ralphie, Sadie negotiates a life out from under her father’s thumb, a life that includes poison, arson and learning how to make s’mores.

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My thoughts: What a great book. What a great, great book. I don’t even know how I should put my feelings for this book into words. This one is by far my favorite in the Rock Chick series. And even though I loved the other books, this one stands out on its own and completely touched me. It is by far more emotional and graphic than the other books have been, but not in a way that makes it hard for me to read. Yeah I do have triggers when it comes to sexual assault but as long as it not very graphic, I can distance myself to get through and focus on other things. In this book, it is not that graphic but it is the aftermath that can be heart wrenching.

Her we get to know Hector more. He is Eddies (book 2) brother and Hector have been a character that has gone in and out throughout the series due to that he is an DEA agent and often undercover. Well in this book he is done with DEA and has gone to work for Lee Nightingale instead. That’s when Sadie (who’s criminal father Hector brought down before quitting DEA) walks in and turns everyone’s life upside down.

You get to meet some new, crazy lovable characters and the story is just heart wrenching and warming in the same time. I haven’t cried so much as I have done to this book in a long, long time. Maybe because I can relate to some of it. The part with not having friends and that feeling of being completely, utterly alone and the feelings that all the good that is happening will be taking away from you, because you do not deserve better, is something I do understand.

I also love that Asley went a little different with how the story is build and the dynamic between Sadie and Hector. And that it is not as repeatedly as the books sometime can be. It is truly a work of art and to think I had to read six books to have this next in line is just…. Well, I didn’t know what I had and if I knew, I would have read it a lot earlier.

Gosh I just rambling here. But this was the perfect book to end this month’s reading spree on and I just want to recommend the Rock Chick series because it is just perfect.

Contemporary · Romance · Suspense · War/Military

Midnight captive – Elle Kennedy

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23398610.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Former CIA agent Bailey Jones has spent months trying to forget her night of passion with mercenary Sean Reilly. An elite and methodical assassin, she has no room in her life for a reckless, rule-breaking Irishman, and she’s vowed to steer clear of the tempting bad boy who lured her into his bed under false pretenses.

When Sean is implicated in the robbery of a Dublin bank, Bailey knows something isn’t right. So what if she can’t trust him? There’s no way Sean would end up on the wrong side of the law. In fact, he’s stuck in the middle of a dark and dirty conspiracy that could put his twin brother’s life at risk with one wrong move. And Bailey’s life too when she agrees to help.

As the stakes are raised and Bailey finds herself torn between two brothers, the fine line between danger and desire is crossed…and it’ll take more than a killer instinct to survive

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My thoughts: I thought this book was going to be a love triangle since that is the impression I got from the synopsis. So, to be honest, I have been avoiding this book because I really don’t like that kind of drama. But since I have loved pretty much every book before this one, I couldn’t ignore it any longer. I just needed to get it read and done with it so that I could read the next book in the series. I just hoped it was not as a big part of the book because it is always the same thing. One girl, two guys and it is just exhausting. Well I can happy announce that this is not one of those books. There is no real love triangle and it made me so happy. This book is the 6th book in the Killer Instinct series. It is a standalone series with small stuff that twines them together. But Kennedy does a great job with recapping that if you want, you can read in which order you like. But as always, I do recommend that you read it in order.

The series is awesome and there is no difference here with this book either. I totally love Bailey and Sean who are the main characters. They are like oil and water and have a history that is not that great. Which makes them fight all the time but it never gets boring or too much of it. Sean is a little rougher around the edges than the other guys in the books and are not from the same kind of military background. He is a former IRA soldier who, with his brother, has been running their own business for the last eight years.  Bailey is a little more mysterious and you do not know that much about her. The truth will come out eventually and it is somewhat cliche, just to warn you, but still a good story.  I love it. There is sparks and fireworks in every chapter they are together in and it is freaking awesome.

I loved the story. Somewhat unusual compared to the other books and much more personal. And even a little sad. But it was perfect for these two characters. I hope it is/comes a book for Sean’s Twin brother, Oliver, to because, hot damn I need to read that one.

I do have to warn that this book ends one somewhat of a cliffhanger. Not a serious one but still.

Contemporary

A man too old for a place too far – Mark W Sasse

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36582442.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: If she wanted help changing the world for one forgotten child, she chose the wrong man. Seventy-two-year-old Francis Frick would scorn his own family to close another deal. But Bee doesn’t see the world like you or me. She is an optimist, searching for potential where none exists, and so she hovers above Frick’s bed every night, eating pomegranates and waiting for his eyes to open to the possibilities. One night, it finally happens. A rogue droplet of juice slips through her fingers and hits the sleeping Manhattan businessman on the forehead, thrusting him on a series of baffling adventures to some of the twentieth century’s most brutal regimes—all to help Bee save a forgotten child of history.

A Man Too Old for a Place Too Far is part one of The Forgotten Child Trilogy—a one-of-a-kind adventure that mixes time travel, magical realism, and historical fiction into a contemporary story about an old man, his estranged daughter, and a tiny flying person in a white robe, who chooses to believe that anything can happen with enough prodding and an endless supply of pomegranates.

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My thoughts: A received this book from the author against an honest review. I haven’t heard about Sasse before he contacted me and I was a little skeptical when I started the book but now I’m happy that I gave it a shot. I’m pleasantly surprised with the book and its story and Sasses unique way of writing. It was refreshing and new.

In this book, you get to meet some really unique characters that keeps growing and evolve in this unique story. We get to follow Francis Frick, who is like a modern Scrooge, you know, the stingy character from Mr Dickens’s story “A Christmas carol”? Frick is a man who has lived his life in the purpose to make money. He hates everything and everybody and has no care for anyone but himself. Not even his daughter. He is a grumpy old man who one night meets Bree, who takes Frick through time and place and forces him to see others than himself. The big different here is that Bree in reality, takes Frick back in time and everything he does there, changes the future. She has a purpose with everything she does but nothing of it is clear for the readers or Mr Frick.

It is an intriguing story and Mr Sasse do not give the readers much to figure out how it all fits together until the end. The language is easy to read and understand and the book keeps the same flow through and through. All the characters are great and keeps evolving deeper in the story and the whole book just captivates you. However, it feels a little long sometimes since you don’t get a lot of clues and after 200 pages, I still didn’t know more than I did at the 50 pages’ mark. Well, not more than that Frick is a total asshole and every human in his company is a freaking saint who put up with it.

And I feel that how it all hangs together, is still not 100% clear to me even though I’m done with the book. There are some questions I have that I never got any answers on. Probably done with purpose since this book is part of a series and there is a strong possibility that those answers will come in another book. However, I do not feel that the book ended on a cliffhanger and you, who have followed me for some time now, knows how much I hate cliffhangers.

So one question still stands unanswered and that is “Would I read anything by Mr Sasse again?” and after reading this book I only have one answer. Yes! Yes, I would.

Contemporary · Humor/Funny · Romance

Christmas from hell – R.L Mathewson

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27742535.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Duncan Bradford is used to putting other people first even the annoying little jinx that lives next door, but when the unexpected happens and he starts to see her in a whole new light, he decides that it’s time that he acts more like a Bradford and takes what he wants.

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My thoughts: Sometimes I feel for an easy read. A book that is funny, easy and a little predictable. A book you just read for the happiness of it. A book that makes your mind rest for a bit. I often feel to read this kind of books after I have read something big or boring, difficult or just not that pleasing mentally. Many would say that these books are simple and not real literature. But to make me laugh or cry to a book is the hardest thing for an author to do. And if you succeed with that, you have succeeded to write real literature in my opinion. And R.L Mathewson has certainly succeeded with that.

This is the 7th book in the series about the Bradford family. After 6 books, I know what to expect and I was not disappointed. We meet Duncan who haven’t been a big character in the other books. But he is an original Bradford trough and trough with the food obsession and everything. Then we met Necie, who is a queen in both cooking and baking. I would have thought the relationship between Duncan and Necie would start off from the beginning with his food obsession and her skills with food. But Necie is one unlucky person who keeps hurting herself or Duncan so he “hates” her and tries to avoid her at all costs. And the whole thing is just hilarious. Hilarious!

There is not one book in this series who have gotten a lower score than 4 by me and this one must be one of my favorites. It is just that good. It is funny and relatable and it just makes me happy. Exactly what I wanted when I picked it up.