Review: Wicked Games (Games #1) by Jill Myles

Wicked Games (Games #1) by Jill Myles

Published: March 4th 2011

From: Free on Amazon

Rating: 3 out of 5

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Synopsis:

Abby Lewis never pictured herself on the survival game show, Endurance Island. She’s just not the ‘survival’ type. But when her boss offers her a spot on the show and the opportunity of a lifetime, she packs her bags and heads to the tropics to be a contestant. Once in the game, though, it’s clear that Abby’s in over her head.

No one’s more competitive than sexy, delicious – and arrogant – Dean Woodall. Sure, he’s clever, strong, good at challenges, and has a body that makes her mouth water. He also hates Abby just as much as she hates him. That’s fine with her; she’ll just ignore the jerk.

But the rules of Endurance Island are working against them. Abby and Dean are teamed up – alone – on the beach. It’s either work together, or go home. Stuck with no one’s company but their own, they learn they might just make a good team after all.

And Abby learns that with just a little bit of kindling, the flames of hate can quickly turn to flames of passion…

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Review:

I've seen the TV shows like this but have never read a story based on a survival show. I could only imagine that what was presented on TV was cleverly edited and did not show the characters as their true selves. We've all seen I'm a Celebrity, Survivor and Big Brother at some point.

Abby works for a media company. One that has a hand in the survival show in question, Endurance Island. Someone has dropped out of the celebrities and the production company think it would be a great idea to put an 'insider' into the running. Someone who can scoop the dirt and also write about her experiences after the show with a major book deal. Therefore Abby is more pushed than asked to take the final place. She isn't an ideal candidate but in her favour she did, with the help of a professional, edit a survivalists handbook a while ago. She picked up more than a few tips on how to survive when dropped on a desert island. 

Abby arrives and is immediately thrown into the competitive world of the twelve celebrities. They all want the prize of 2 million dollars badly. So much that they will literally step on you or shame you at every opportunity. The other competitors see Abby as weak and don't make her feel comfortable in her new surroundings at all. She's paired with the hottest guy on the show although she has no idea who he is and what he does in the real world.

Dean Woodall openly admits his eye is on the money but he does want the challenge of competing. He wants to win, and he'll do whatever or whoever he can to get what he wants. He doesn't understand why Abby is being so difficult and in the beginning is scared to have a conversation with her in case she chews his head off..again.

Abby and Dean get put into couples who must get through the first few days together. That means working together on tasks and getting along. They don't. In fact, they make themselves into a spectacle because of their instant dislike of one another. Eventually though, they do start working as a team and get good results.

But Abby starts feeling more for Dean than she should. Firstly she's the insider, she should act professional being as the cameras are on them all the time. And secondly, everyone who's in the competition has a game plan. Abby unfortunately doesn't. Her mindset is different because her goal isn't to win, just get as far as she can.

I did enjoy this book. The dynamics of the game are well thought out and there are some funny moments when Abby and Dean spar constantly. As with the game structure, this book has a structure to it as you travel through the days and weeks from Abby's POV. At times she is a little naive around Dean, she doesn't exactly know what his deal is but we're given little snippets from Dean's POV at the start of each chapter. As the story carries on you can see the different competitors begin to use and lie to each other to disrupt the accord of the game. 

There are some things I didn't like, however, that just felt off to me. I would say that if I was a media plant I wouldn't get hot and heavy (very sexy heavy) with my partner because it would always be on my mind that a) cameras are there, and everyone's watching, and b) when the show gets aired my entire family would see what was going on, and c) I have a job to do and that's the only reason why i'm there.

So, in contrast, Abby and Dean's closeness is believable but to go further? Obviously without this there wouldn't be a point to the book but that's my thought process.

The writing is great though the ending was a little predictable and finished very quickly. The other thing that struck me was how little we actually know about Abby at the end. After the show finishes she doesn't talk about her family or work at all. Something I felt could have taken away the one dimensional aspect the story had at times.

Still, there are others in the series featuring different characters for other reality TV shows. I might take a chance and try them out :)

-CBx

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You can reach Jill Myles (who also writes as Jessica Clare) here:

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Review: Fix You (McDaniels Brothers series) by Christine Bell

Fix You by Christine Bell 

Published: March 27th 2014

From: Net Galley

Rating: 4 out of 5

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Synopsis:

Olivia Beckett’s once-charmed life is falling apart. Her family is about to lose everything, and she has almost no chance of continuing her college education. She can't even seek solace from her high school sweetheart. He's changed. She doesn't recognize the boy she used to know— his violent behavior is escalating and it scares the hell out of her. Her whole world is crumbling, and she has no one to turn to……

Sebastian “Bash” McDaniels is an up and comer in the boxing world working nights at the local college bar until he can land the fight of his dreams that will get him the hell out of Boston and away from his family's tragic past. He’s weeks from his goal when Olivia Beckett comes tumbling into his life in a flash of silky dark hair and haunted eyes. When he saves her from a potentially brutal beating, they begin to grow close, but Olivia's ex isn’t ready to let her go so easily. 

Bash can't bring himself to walk away, but fixing Olivia just might leave him broken…

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Review:

This is a short story where we're introduced to Olivia and Sebastian (Bash). Olivia's long term friend and now boyfriend has been going through changes recently. More into drinking and impressing his friends, one night Olivia takes the brunt of his obsessive jealousy and nearly takes a beating from him. Bash steps in just in time and stops him.

Unfortunately that one action costs Bash his job as Olivia's boyfriend comes from an influential and bullying family. Olivia can't turn to her own family to help because things aren't too good for her parents. While Olivia opts out of a planned holiday she instead takes up self-defense lessons with a reluctant Bash. Bash himself has his own family problems. Plus he keeps being told by his brothers that he can't get "involved" with anyone now, he must keep his eye on his 'boxing' prize.

Ultimately Olivia and Bash can't deny their chemistry or connection. But things turn badly for one of them. And this leads straight onto....yes! the next book! Cliffhanger alert!

I did like this, and will definitely follow up with the next installment. I wouldn't say the story line is entirely original but there is certainly promise of being a great series. 

And, sometimes I wished Olivia had a bit more of a spine but that's just me! 

Read it!

-CBx

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You can reach Christine Bell here:

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ARC Review: Rush Me by Allison Parr

Rush Me by Allison Parr

Publishers: Carina Press 

Published Date: Apr 8 2013 

From: Net Galley 

My rating: 4 out of 5

Synopsis: 

When post-grad Rachael Hamilton accidentally gatecrashes a pro-athlete party, she ends up face-to-face with Ryan Carter, the NFL’s most beloved quarterback. While most girls would be thrilled to meet the attractive young millionaire, Rachael would rather spend time with books than at sporting events, and she has more important things to worry about than romance. Like her parents pressuring her to leave her unpaid publishing internship for law school. Or her brother, who’s obliviously dating Rachael’s high school bully. Or that same high school’s upcoming reunion. Still, when Ryan’s rookie teammate attaches himself to Rachael, she ends up cohosting Friday night dinners for half a dozen football players. Over pancake brunches, charity galas, and Alexander the Great Rachael realizes all the judgments she’d made about Ryan are wrong. But how can a Midwestern Irish-Catholic jock with commitment problems and an artsy, gun-shy Jewish New Englander ever forge a partnership? Rachael must let down her barriers if she wants real love–even if that opens her up to pain that could send her back into her emotional shell forever.

Review: 

This book took me completely by surprise. After reading the synopsis I worried that it would read too cliché but the story and the characters are witty, artsy, slightly off the wall, but most of all fun. Fun that's drenched with fear, worry and a whole lot of buried emotions. A very simple story when it comes down to it. Girl meets boy, boy annoys girl, girl annoys back. Then they meet again and they react to each other again. Eventually they realise that this is their thing. And it carries on from there. They do nice things for each other but sometimes jealousy, doubt, and lack of confidence gets involved and they lose control of their verbal filters and words become hurtful. Both Ryan and Rachael have huge lessons to learn when it comes to love but the best thing they learn is they can't live without each other. Surrounding them is a fantastic group of friends. Eva is wonderful as the theatrical room-mate and the football boys were good fun. It kind of reminded me a little of Love Unscripted, and I loved Rachael and her comebacks. She's nervous, antsy, and her attitude and snark is just her retaliation to being uncomfortable. A great read! -CB x

You can reach Allison Parr here: 

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Review: Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful #1) by Jamie McGuire

Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful #1) by Jamie McGuire  

Publishers: Simon & Schuster, Inc. 

Published Date: August 14th 2012 

From: NET GALLEY 

My rating: 4 out of 5

Synopsis: 

The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate percentage of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance between her and the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University's Walking One-Night Stand. Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs—and wants—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match. 

Review: 

The First 20%
This book goes straight in at the deep end. Abby visits an underground fight with her BFF America and America’s boyfriend, Shepley. Shepley’s cousin and flatmate is Travis. Travis wins the fight but not before he hits his opponent so hard that the blood flies all over Abby’s cardigan forcing him to look in her direction. As soon as eye contact is made he approaches her. From here on in Travis and Abby begin their connection. It’s not a relationship nor is it strictly a friendship but its clear they enjoy being around one another. Within the first 18% of this book my emotions were all torn and twisted with the angst and hurt that these two main characters managed to fling at each other but it was actually enjoyable that I couldn’t stop at any cost.

The Main Characters
Abby has a past which doesn’t really get discussed in great length until midway through the book. She’s turned away from her old life and is sincerely trying to be everything that her old life wasn’t. I liked Abby a lot. Her weakness wasn’t that she couldn’t resist Travis because she could and did. Her main weakness was that Travis reminded her so much of her old life that she began to miss it including the high’s and thrills that came with it (I won’t tell you what they are for spoilers sake!). Abby could cope with Travis because she’d lived with people like him all her life. A very strong character.
Travis is all about the now. Fighting is something he’s good at, and it helps pay the rent and pay for all the nice things in life that a student needs. He drinks a lot, has sex a lot with a different woman every time and seems unable to make any sort of female emotional connection at all. We find out later why that is and it isn’t as bad as the story tries to imply. But because of Abby’s attitude towards him and the fact that she actually seems to enjoy his company rather than his looks or charm something in Travis changes. He lets her into his life. But unfortunately his possessiveness becomes his undoing. Travis isn’t written as a character that you should really like or hate. Most reviews hate him, others love him. Either way if his character and attitude affect you then it says something about the author and her ability to make you feel something.
As I was reading I had a soft spot for him but he is such a dangerous person I did feel uncomfortable sometimes and worried for Abby. Again, the Author made me think about what I would do in this scenario…
America and Shepley are great side characters. America is always there for Abby, and has been so from Abby’s earlier childhood. Shepley as America’s boyfriend is also understanding towards America, and the only one apart from Abby that can aid Travis when things go bad. They also contribute greatly to the storyline.

The Story
The plot isn’t a clear one. Actually there isn’t much of one. It’s mainly about the journey that Abby takes and about how she and Travis get through their time together. A few random sub-plots were thrown in that didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the story. The mobster Benny and her father’s debt, for one. If her father was such a has-been hot shot I don’t think this was the best way to experience his vileness towards his daughter. The next was the fire and Trent’s involvement. The fire I understand but once everyone was clear with the aftermath of it there didn’t seem to be a point to Trent being there at all. It could have been anyone.

The End?
A surprising end. Realistic? I’m not really sure about that. Fun? Definitely. Character tie ups and loose ends? All sorted. Overall I really enjoyed this book. Sometimes it had incredibly painful moments that caused me to put my hand to my mouth; sometimes I had tears in my eyes. Personally I love the rich emotion that it drew from me. This is a very powerful book. -CBx

You can reach Jamie McGuire here: 

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Review: Walking Disaster (Beautiful #2) by Jamie McGuire

Walking Disaster (Beautiful #2) by Jamie McGuire 

Publishers: Atria Books 

Published Date: Apr 16 2013 

From: Net Galley 

My rating: 4 out of 5

Synopsis: 

Can you love someone too much? Travis Maddox learned two things from his mother before she died: Love hard. Fight harder. In Walking Disaster, the life of Travis is full of fast women, underground gambling, and violence. But just when he thinks he is invincible, Abby Abernathy brings him to his knees. Every story has two sides. In Beautiful Disaster, Abby had her say. Now it’s time to see the story through Travis’s eyes

Review: 

Here's my review of Beautiful Disaster This is going to be a shortish review as most people have picked up on the same points I have. This is an almost identical book but just told from Travis' point of view. A good selling tool, me thinks. Travis had a lot of love from BD so I'm not surprised that this book is already proving to be a hit. However, while this book is entertaining and raw in places I did find it lacking in others. I won't rehash the story, either you know it or you don't. If you don't I recommend you read BD first before attempting this one. My impressions were as follows. While reading I almost felt like the author was turning pages of BD and entering what Travis was thinking. Well that's the whole point, right? However I didn't get the impression this was written like a book, just another version of the story. What I mean is, there are events that happen and they roll along one after the other...and all of a sudden its Thanksgiving and Travis is trying to coax Abby into going to his family's home. There's no mention of it beforehand, or any thoughts from Travis before that point. No, "oh my god, how am I going to talk her into it. I've made a big mistake (emotions, smack the head, pacing up and down." So, he goes and talks to Abby, they argue and banter and then she goes along with the plan. Everything went too smoothly. Also there were highlights that got completely left out that made me confused. The run in with Ethan at the fight when he hassled her? Just a line or too. Oh, Ethan was out of line with Abby - moving on... Yes, this is a story that's told from another angle but it didn't read like a story in its own right. Also through Travis' eyes Abby appeared to be emotionless, unresponsive, annoying which made me wonder why the hell he was getting all uptight about. His dialogue about why Abby affected him so much didn't sit well, nor the few times he referred to his mother being the only other woman he'd ever loved. Please don't get the impression that I didn't like the book. I really did but it wasn't as good as I expected. The storyline is still good, with its little quirks and a few extras that appear in the story and the epilogue. I now have a different impression of Travis, completely different actually and I'm glad. -CB x

You can reach Jamie McGuire here: 

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