ARC Review: Beautiful Oblivion (Maddox Brothers #1) by Jamie McGuire

Beautiful Oblivion (Maddox Brothers #1) by Jamie McGuire

Expected publication: July 1st 2014 by Simon & Schuster UK

From: Net Galley

Rating: 4 out of 5

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Synopsis:

Fiercely independent Camille "Cami" Camlin gladly moved on from her childhood before it was over. She has held down a job since before she could drive, and moved into her own apartment after her freshman year of college. Now tending bar at The Red Door, Cami doesn't have time for much else besides work and classes, until a trip to see her boyfriend is cancelled, leaving her with her first weekend off in almost a year.

Trenton Maddox was the king of Eastern State University, dating co-eds before he even graduated high school. His friends wanted to be him, and women wanted to tame him, but after a tragic accident turned his world upside down, Trenton leaves campus to come to grips with the crushing guilt. 

Eighteen months later, Trenton is living at home with his widower father, and works full-time at a local tattoo parlour to help with the bills. Just when he thinks his life is returning to normal, he notices Cami sitting alone at a table at The Red. 

As the baby sister of four rowdy brothers, Cami believes she'll have no problem keeping her new friendship with Trenton Maddox strictly platonic. But when a Maddox boy falls in love, he loves forever - even if she is the only reason their already broken family could fall apart.

In the first instalment of The Maddox Brothers series, readers can experience the rush of reading Beautiful Disaster for the first time, all over again.

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REVIEWS FOR JAMIE MCGUIRE'S BOOKS HERE

Review for Beautiful Oblivion:

I have a confession to make. I read this book in its entirety and loved it. I have read Beautiful and Walking Disaster, however in between those books and this one I've also tackled around 75 books in between. So, my confession is - I didn't remember who all the important characters were. Therefore when the last page of this one 'revealed' the secret, it was completely lost on me.

To make up for the amazing suspense that McGuire kept going throughout the book I speed read Walking Disaster and then read this one again. OH BOY!!! Then I picked up all the clues!! The 'Spaceballs' one is genius. So is Travis' declaration about his brother being in love with Cami. 

No, I'm not going to spoil anything, this book sort of runs parallel with the others, but reading it like this actually gave me room to contemplate. Yes, Cami's 'boyfriend' did let her down on so many occasions. But he was genuinely sorry and (his status is revealed at the end of Walking Disaster) does have pressure and a stressful job which doesn't warrant much if any free time. I actually felt sorry for him because I think he genuinely loved Cami but couldn't put her first.

As for Trent? Well, I thought he was a cutey, a very sweet guy who like Travis, has an affinity to all things pretty but also has a devoted streak running through him. Especially when it comes to Cami.

Overall, this book didn't have the same story impact as the first two books. Those books had a storyline which packed a punch. This one relies more on the suspense, and soap opera style drama. 

Still thoroughly recommended :)

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You can reach Jamie McGuire here: 

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Goodreads

Top 10 New Adult books for July publication

Oh my! Where did June go?? July is almost here. 
Here's the Top 10 New Adult books to look out for! 
Click on the pics to go to Goodread's synopsis's.

I can't wait to read Thrive by the Ritchie sisters. I love their series so far.
Which book are you most looking forward to?

Let me know!

-CBx

ARC Review: FANGIRL_15 by Aimee Roseland

FANGIRL_15 by Aimee Roseland

Expected publication: July 8th 2014

From: Net Galley

Rating : 5 out of 5

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Synopsis:

Chloe is in love with Lucien.

He’s enigmatic, compassionate, generous and intelligent. Likes classical music just as much as kicking ass and knows his way around a kitchen, though he’d never admit it. His Samurai swords are an extension of his personality and a lifetime of heartache has taught him to wield them unfailingly. He’s gorgeous yet humble and can’t see past his own scars. Lucien feels deeply for his chosen family and is absolutely worthy of love. Sounds perfect, right?

The only problem is that Lucien is a character in a novel.

The Dark Riders is one of the best selling paranormal romance series of all time, and it was destined to have eight installments, one for each of the brothers-in-arms. Lucien’s story was supposed to be book eight, where he’d finally find true love and live happily ever after. Except the writer died before his story was published. Worse yet, book seven was finished by some poser that thought killing off one of the main characters would bring a more modern twist to the finale.

Chloe is absolutely devastated by the news that one of her “friends” is dead and that the series is canceled. She has a quasi-nervous-breakdown at work and ends up falling asleep in the lounge. Her midnight escape from the locked office lands her in a deserted parking lot after hours where an unseen force has been waiting. Just. For. Her...

This supernatural assault strands her in an alternate reality where the Dark Riders are real and the horrible ending created by the publisher hasn’t happened yet.

Chloe decides that she’s been brought there to fix all of the storylines and tries her best to convince the monsters around her that she’s there to help. She ends up mangling their plots more often than not and now must race the waxing moon to find a way home before Lucien accidentally falls in love with her instead of his destined mate. The Fates are working against her as Chaos interferes and the truth about what really dragged her over threatens to destroy everything that Chloe holds dear.

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Review:

Just so you know, I haven't read any of the authors other books. I picked up Fangirl_15 from Net Galley because I loved the synopsis. I didn't expect to be giving the book 5 well-worth-them stars.

To me Fangirl_15 sounded a little Matrix-y mixed with something that JR Ward would write. A delve into the world of a supernatural Brotherhood and lets face it, who hasn't wanted to dive into a story and make sure the hero had a better ending than what the author wrote.

I wasn't expecting what I read. Chloe is average everything. Neither tall, nor small, neither large nor thin, neither pretty nor unpretty. Her life is simple, basic and without excitement. Except when her favourite Dark Riders books get published. The bad news for Chloe is the Series author has died and the latest installment has been finished by a nobody author with average writing. To make things worse the writer writes an ending that Chloe believes shouldn't have been written in that certain way.

A string of strange events occur. One where Chloe dreams of being with her book boyfriend of the series, Lucien. While his physical looks sound quite horrible to look at, Chloe has fallen in love with him because of his beautiful eyes, his heart of gold, and his compassion towards his brothers and their previous plights. Eventually Chloe wakes up from one dream and realises she IS actually in the fictional world that the author has created. Astonished, she meets one of the 'Brothers' and gets taken to their mansion.

From here on in Chloe sees a way of enjoying herself while helping the Brotherhood in their next endeavour. Because, well, she's going to wake up in the real world any moment, right?

Uh-uh. It never happens. Her path is clear, her task is in hand. She must right the wrongs of the plot holes and the storyline. Little does Chloe know that her own story is pivotal to how the ending really happens.

Firstly, I have to comment on the writing. I don't often get on with 3rd person perspective but it worked so well with this story. Also, I loved Chloe as a character. She has her own flaws, she has a fair amount of self-doubt. But her intentions are so from the heart that you can't not like her. Lucien also came across as someone who you could easily judge because of his demonic looks but he's a haunted, tortured soul who deserves to be loved. 

The excellent side cast of many made me laugh and feel appreciation for how they treated our heroine. I wonder what the Dark Riders books are really like. After reading this I honestly would want to have read the books myself!

With a good, steady pace and lots of very dramatic, dare I say it, romantic tension the ending is one I didn't expect but somehow made sense. This was an ending I was happy about!

Definitely pick this one up if you love supernatural, spurned lovers, tortured heroes and an average heroine who changes the entire game plan!

-CBx

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You can find Aimee Roseland here:

Web

Goodreads