Tag: games

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

The Goal – Elle Kennedy

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28262024| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: She’s good at achieving her goals…

College senior Sabrina James has her whole future planned out: graduate from college, kick butt in law school, and land a high-paying job at a cutthroat firm. Her path to escaping her shameful past certainly doesn’t include a gorgeous hockey player who believes in love at first sight. One night of sizzling heat and surprising tenderness is all she’s willing to give John Tucker, but sometimes, one night is all it takes for your entire life to change.

But the game just got a whole lot more complicated…

Tucker believes being a team player is as important as being the star. On the ice, he’s fine staying out of the spotlight, but when it comes to becoming a daddy at the age of twenty-two, he refuses to be a bench warmer. It doesn’t hurt that the soon-to-be mother of his child is beautiful, whip-smart, and keeps him on his toes. The problem is, Sabrina’s heart is locked up tight, and the fiery brunette is too stubborn to accept his help. If he wants a life with the woman of his dreams, he’ll have to convince her that some goals can only be made with an assist.

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My thoughts:I liked but I didn’t love it. Short, sweet but I wasn’t really feeling it. Okay, I will give you that it is a nice story and as always filled with some really nice characters and a believable plot. But the way it was built and the slowness of it, didn’t do much for me this time.

I like Sabrina. She is a tough cookie. She is just so set on the goal of her life and doesn’t handle stuff well outside of that goal plan and some of her personality traits just rubs me the wrong way.  It is Tucker who does the whole story. Maybe because I already loved him before I started reading this one. And off course how am I not supposed to love him? He is just such a great man. Kennedy really has a gift with writing characters that does not feel needy or unrealistic.

I did enjoy it and it was nice to read something simpler since I have trouble with keeping my head in the reading mode right now. Note to self: Finnish one series before starting another written by Kennedy. That way you wont risk any spoilers on some certain details. 😉 Just saying.

Contemporary · Fiction/Science Fiction · Sports/Games

Us against you – Fredrik Backman

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36373463.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: After everything that the citizens of Beartown have gone through, they are struck yet another blow when they hear that their beloved local hockey team will soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a rival team in Hed, take in that fact. Amidst the mounting tension between the two rivals, a surprising newcomer is handpicked to be Beartown’s new hockey coach.

Soon a new team starts to take shape around Amat, the fastest player you’ll ever see; Benji, the intense lone wolf; and Vidar, a born-to-be-bad troublemaker. But bringing this team together proves to be a challenge as old bonds are broken, new ones are formed, and the enmity with Hed grows more and more acute.

As the big match approaches, the not-so-innocent pranks and incidents between the communities pile up and their mutual contempt grows deeper. By the time the last game is finally played, a resident of Beartown will be dead, and the people of both towns will be forced to wonder if, after all they’ve been through, the game they love can ever return to something simple and innocent.

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My thoughts: Wow. Just…. WOW! How am I suppose to put words on my feelings toward this book and author, when Backman constantly amazes me to the point where it is almost gut-wrenching. This man is one great author who can write such deep characters, devastating fates, joy and sorrow but still keep a flake of hope, shining it’s bright, warm light throughout its pages. It is sad, heartbreaking, funny, stirs all your emotions and if you do not cry to this one, you are one “dead inside” person.

Us against you is the sequel to the book Beartown. Equally devastating, equally good. If interested you HAVE to read Beartown first. The sequel is about what happens next and thereby, you do need to get it in the right order.

The book is exceptional, emotional and just.. just.. so wonderful. Even though it is dark and is about a small little town in the aftermath of the darkness that has settled upon them it is one great read. You follow characters that are deeper than you can reach. They fight each other and they fight for each other and hell… my heart hurts for them all for different reasons.

The ending could not be more fitting and yes, without a cliffhanger, it is promising more. The story about Beartown is still not yet finished.

 

Everyday things

Faire un voyage

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bonvoyageI’m going on a vacation and will not be able to write any reviews in that period. But I will still read and when I’m back, hopefully I have lots and lots of books to review. (Probably not but hey, I can dream.)

A fun thing however is that I’m going book shopping while there, so I probably will have a little book haul to share with you. Wish to follow me on my travel? Take a look at my Instagram.

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

The score – Elle Kennedy

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27252717| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: He knows how to score, on and off the ice

Allie Hayes is in crisis mode. With graduation looming, she still doesn’t have the first clue about what she’s going to do after college. To make matters worse, she’s nursing a broken heart thanks to the end of her longtime relationship. Wild rebound sex is definitely not the solution to her problems, but gorgeous hockey star Dean Di Laurentis is impossible to resist. Just once, though, because even if her future is uncertain, it sure as heck won’t include the king of one-night stands.

It’ll take more than flashy moves to win her over

Dean always gets what he wants. Girls, grades, girls, recognition, girls…he’s a ladies man, all right, and he’s yet to meet a woman who’s immune to his charms. Until Allie. For one night, the feisty blonde rocked his entire world—and now she wants to be friends? Nope. It’s not over until he says it’s over. Dean is in full-on pursuit, but when life-rocking changes strike, he starts to wonder if maybe it’s time to stop focusing on scoring…and shoot for love.

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My thoughts: I’m freaking love this series. Every book is about a hockey player in a collage team. They are cocky, funny, insanely hot and really great guys with a moral compass pointing in the right direction. I loved the first book (yes you should read them in order) and I almost loved the second book as much. But this third one. O my gosh. I think it is my favorite so far and I’m in love with both Dean and Allie.

Dean is that cocky son of a bitch, who circling around the main characters from the first couple of books. You do get to know him some and you really do not know if you are to love or hate him. He is a strong character with an open mind and easy going, natural, rich boy way of living. Not in an obnoxious way though which make me love him even more. Allie is this great, strong, funny character who is down to earth. I love how their relationship starts of as a “accident” and how grownup they are about everything. How the relationship and the feelings grow in a good, slow, realistic way and it made me not be able to stop reading. I love the bumps in the road and how it all worked out. I love the underlining meaning with the book. I love every freaking thing about it. I’m not kidding.

There is not often I feel this way about a book. In a way where I seriously can’t stop raving about it. So i’m gonna stop here. Now! Just want to say that this is a great book, and a even greater series by a talented author and if you never read this or anything by Kennedy before, I highly, with my whole heart recommend it.

Oh, and it ended in a way that I just have to read the forth book. Not cliffhanger per say, but I seriously need to know.  To bad I’m on a “buy books” ban. I need to read down my TBR before I buy anymore books. According to my calculations, this will not be able until after new years. Yeah, that is how many books I own and need to read. Will I be able to wait?

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.

Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction · Young, New adult/College

Ready Player One – Ernest Cline

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20603758| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready?

It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.

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My thoughts: Great! Great! Oh did I tell you, Great book! Really. It was so “new” and unlike the most of the books I usually reads that it made it all better. It is, literally, a whole new world.

You get to meet great characters who have a miserable life for one or another reason. The real world is dying and the only way to handle the crippling depressions is to flee into another world. OASIS. The biggest virtual world game there is, with millions of planets and there you can be what ever you want, play games, meet people and what not. There is also an very special game in that world. A game where the price is to huge to comprehend. And Wade, our main character, wants it. At that is pretty much what the book is about. That and his fight for survival.

And it was great. The writing was just perfect and for a non Technic gal like me, I really needed those extra explanations. I can see how that is an source of irritation for people who already knows that stuff and probably makes the book wordy for them. But I needed it. However, I do feel that the technical talk got to be a little to much sometimes, and that made me fall out from the story. Just because of that, I cant give the book a full score.

In 2018 the movie on the book will come and I cant wait. It will be awesome to see the world and not just read about it. And since it is Spielberg who is directing it, it cant be other than great.

Have you or are you gonna read Ready Player One?

Adult fiction/Erotica · Contemporary · Romance · Sports/Games

Defying The Odds – Kele Moon

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29537831| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: A MMA Romance

When struggling waitress Melody Dylan gives a handsome, lonely stranger a simple gift she has no clue her life is about to take a drastic turn.

The stranger ends up being Clay Powers, a famous UFC heavyweight fighter. Clay’s large build and dangerous fists have always intimidated. People in his hometown keep their distance and Clay is fine with that. Everything changes when a new waitress at the local diner buys him a piece of pie on Thanksgiving. Touched by the gesture when it’s obvious she can barely afford to survive, her warm smile and lush body churn up powerful feelings that leave Clay wanting more from her than pie.

Melody is running from her past and the small, country town of Garnet is the perfect hiding place. With an ex-husband after her and scars from her abusive marriage etched deep, the last thing she expects is to fall for a man who makes a living with his fists, but she can’t resist Clay or the tender connection they share.

Finding love in the most unlikely of places, the passion is undeniable, but Clay and Melody know their haunted pasts and unpredictable futures leave the odds stacked against them.

My thoughts: Oh such an sweet story. You just got to love Clay and Melody. The first thing I loved was how fast the book started. There was no introduction, no page fillers or history prolog. It just started right where you want it to and it was great. It´s also great that it takes a little time before it really is starting to happen stuff between Clay and Melody. Yeah it is an adult fiction, erotica kind of book but for me as an reader i also need a story with an connection and some realism. And i do get that in this book.

And the characters around is just great and you cant do anything other than love them. What i did not like however is how short it was. According to Goodreads it is like 181 pages and that i read on one day.

Defying the odds is the first book in battered hearts serie.