Review: Very Bad Things (Briarcrest Academy #1) by Ilsa Madden-Mills

Very Bad Things (Briarcrest Academy #1) by Ilsa Madden-Mills 

Published September 9th 2013 by Little Dove Publishing

From: Net Galley

Rating: 4 out of 5

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Synopsis:

Born into a life of privilege and secrets, Nora Blakely has everything any nineteen-year-old girl could desire. She’s an accomplished pianist, a Texas beauty queen, and on her way to Princeton after high school. She’s perfect...

Leaving behind her million-dollar mansion and Jimmy Choos, she becomes a girl hell-bent on pushing the limits with alcohol, drugs, and meaningless sex. 

Then she meets her soulmate. But he doesn’t want her.

When it comes to girls, twenty-five-year-old Leo Tate has one rule: never fall in love. His gym and his brother are all he cares about... until he meets Nora. He resists the pull of their attraction, hung up on their six year age difference.

As they struggle to stay away from each other, secrets will be revealed, tempers will flare, and hearts will be broken.

Welcome to Briarcrest Academy... where sometimes, the best things in life are Very Bad Things.

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Review:

I lost a lot of sleep by reading this book. It kept me up until well after 3am this morning. Does that mean its good? Well, for the most part, yes.

We're brought into Nora's world very abruptly. Early on we begin to see the relationship between Nora and her mother. How patronising the woman is, and completely uninterested in Nora in any way, shape or form, other than a walking human doll to dress up and tell how to act. And then Nora did what she did and blew me out of the water.

We get introduced to Leo at this point. Leo is a lot older than Nora. When it began I did have this skeevy feeling because of the age gap. I thought it wrong. But gradually as the story continued this didn't bother me.

Nora and Leo DO have an insta-lust thing going on from the start but it doesn't amount to much when Leo puts the brakes on any kind of relationship happening between them other than friendship. As we continue through Nora's days and weeks we see a side of her character actually bloom. The freedom of getting over her guilt (her step-brother did a terrible thing to her) and her mother's denial of the incident. 

One thing that stood out to me when I finished was that Leo was entirely right to stay away from Nora in the beginning. Nora grows leaps and bounds in this book. Almost like going through the stages of grief. Finally at the end she becomes someone else. Someone who is well grounded, someone who has a family as such who help her and nurture her, someone who has learnt by her mistakes. 

 I loved the romance, the will-they-won't-they. I loved how Nora and Leo became this 'entity' even before they became a couple. There were moments when I thought Leo was an idiot and he didn't appear to have any friends of his own age. But the ending rounds everything up nicely. Yes, we don't know why her mother treated Nora so badly, and we don't know who her mother was before she became Mrs Anchor-woman. But, frankly, I couldn't care less!

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You can reach Ilsa Madden-Mills  here:

Web

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Review: Mad Love by Colet Abedi

Mad Love by Colet Abedi 

Publishers: Bird Street Books

Date: March 10th 2014

From: Net Galley 

My rating: 3 out of 5

Synopsis:

23-year-old aspiring artist Sophie Walker can think of no better place than the exotic paradise of the Maldives to escape the wrath of her controlling parents, the monotony of her boring legal work and her passionless boyfriend. With her two best friends along for the ride and to help her find herself again, Sophie is not prepared for the enigmatic Clayton Sinclair. Clayton comes from another world of privilege that seems like a fantasy to Sophie. Can this man introduce her to the passion & seduction she never realized she was desperately searching for? Sophie quickly becomes ensnared in Clayton's seductive web until a shocking treachery makes her question her judgment and actions...

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Review:

For starters I won't rehash the subtle if a little predictable story. Many other reviewers have done a fine job of that already.

What I liked about Mad Love: 

Erik and Orie - The boyfriend and boyfriend sidekicks who give Sophie moral support on her holiday. One is a hair stylist and the other a fashion dresser to the stars. Convenient, especially when the all-important 'date' happens, and not that original. However they do provide refreshing conversation away from Sophie's sometimes naive and obsessive side. 

The scene-setting - I want to go to the Maldives now! 

Elizabeth (Clayton's friend) - If it wasn't for her I think I would have DNF'd long before. 

In general - the writing style was great. Quick paced. A little heavy sometime on the info-dump that wasn't necessarily required in this part of the story. Smart jumps between scenes with regular stops. 

What I didn't like about Mad Love: 

Clayton - Oh dear, it doesn't bode well when I think the lead male is an idiot. Devoid of any real emotion apart from the male grunts of 'I want you'. His aloofness and reluctance to be any kind of fun took the dazzle out of him. All I can say is he came across as arrogant and unkind. Not sexy or enigmatic in any way. 

Sophie - Even worse when the lead female is also an idiot. Maybe that's why I kept on reading. Again, this may be naivety but she also lacked character or a spark in her belly. For a 23 year old with some experience of life she came across as slightly robotic. 

Clayton's friends (except Elizabeth) - I can only think they've been included as crowd fillers and have some deep import in the next books. I couldn't get a grasp of Eduard or John's general character. All we know of Jane is allegedly a snotty nosed cow. All I read into her was her dialogue was a little toooo english because english people really don't use words as she used them any more. Maybe in the Houses of Parliament. Or on BBC Radio 4. 

Jerry's arrival on the island - All very Shirley Valentine. Here's the ex arrived and ready to dive in and continue where they left off. No, forget SV. It's more of a Bridget Jones thing. Either way it didn't do anything but annoy me. Especially Sophie's delayed reaction. I would have slogged him in the mouth myself before Clayton even had a chance. 

'Nuff said. I also hated the cliff-hanger. 

-CBx 

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Review: Wreck Me (Wrecked #1) by J.L. Mac

Wreck Me (Wrecked #1) by J.L. Mac

Publishers: Self

Published Date: February 20th 2013

From: Bought

My rating: 5 out of 5

Synopsis:

Life can be cruel. People can be ruthless and evil. The world can be cold and uninviting. No one knows these things better than Josephine Geroux. By her own definition, she is a twenty-five year old “nobody with nothing,” and she is content to stay that way. Growing up an orphan has made her tough and indifferent to the people around her until she meets a strangely familiar man with a face that haunts her for reasons she can’t understand. Despite the pain that will inevitably ensue, she makes it her mission to discover what parts of her tragic puzzle she is missing. On her journey to discovering why the she feels an alarming connection to an absolute stranger, her greatest fear is reawakening the demons and darkness from the past that will surely overtake her if she lets her guard down. Little does Josephine know that the past should be the least of her worries. She is toying with a man who has already broken her heart once. She just doesn’t realize it. Although she makes it a point to avoid interactions with others, Josephine’s life becomes entangled with the enigmatic stranger. Before she realizes it, she has given herself over to the one person who is close enough to wreck her.

Review: 

Written in the same vain as Fifty Shades, Wreck Me has a different kind of twist to it. Firstly I loved that Jo worked at a book store for a cantankerous old buzzard. She's cocky, speaks her mind, says what she feels and she swears a lot. Jo had a tough upbringing. At the age of 9 she was involved in a car accident that killed both her French parents. A stranger on the scene pulled her out of the car and rescued her. From then on she did the foster homes for a while before taking her chances on her own, on the streets to fend for herself. When she was old enough she marched into Sutton's store one day and told him she would work for him. Why? She loves books. She visited the library regularly and read books. From that day on her life changed. Her and Sutton have a great relationship and he helped her get on her feet. 

Now she lives in an apartment, small and grubby it may be, but her wants in life are few. What she does like is sex without the strings. She isn't what you might think of her. She never promises the guys anything in return but she does need 'comfort' every now and again. Per chance, she is manhandling a thief who stole one of the stores books one day and she meets Damon Cole. He's young, sophisticated and definitely good looking enough for what she has in mind. She orchestrates having coffee with him and instead of small talk she cuts to the chase and arranges to meet him that night. Her dad was a chef so Jo does know how to cook so she makes him dinner. One thing leads to another and they end up in bed. She never likes to stay over but he persuades her to. Unfortunately he then finds out why she doesn't stay over at anyone's house. 

There are a lot of similarities between this and Fifty Shades, I won't tell you different. If you liked the other then you may like this too. There is a lot of sex. But it starts to become very meaningful between the two of them when the love starts to filter in. The story is great although you start getting hints and realise who Damon actually is and why he may have a soft spot for Jo. The ending is a huge cliffhanger! If you hate cliffhangers then I'm happy to tell you the next book, Restore Me, is also out now. All in all it had little twists that I hadn't read before as a New Adult book and I thought Jo was an extremely likable character. Also, Grams! I want to adopt her!!

You can reach J.L. Mac here: 

Web

Goodreads