REVIEW: Upside Down by Lia Riley [Plus Giveaway]

Upside Down by Lia Riley

Expected Publication: 5th August 2014 | Grand Central
Genre: New Adult | Contemporary
Series: #1 Off the Map Series
Format: Kindle
Finished: 18th July 2014

Overall: ½
goodreads | amazon | barnes & noble

Summary: If You Never Get Lost, You’ll Never Be Found

Twenty-one-year-old Natalia Stolfi is saying good-bye to the past-and turning her life upside down with a trip to the land down under. For the next six months, she'll act like a carefree exchange student, not a girl sinking under the weight of painful memories. Everything is going according to plan until she meets a brooding surfer with hypnotic green eyes and the troubling ability to see straight through her act.

Bran Lockhart is having the worst year on record. After the girl of his dreams turned into a nightmare, he moved back home to Melbourne to piece his life together. Yet no amount of disappointment could blind him to the pretty California girl who gets past all his defenses. He's never wanted anyone the way he wants Talia. But when Bran gets a stark reminder of why he stopped believing in love, he and Talia must decide if what they have is once in a lifetime . . . or if they were meant to live a world apart.

I learned about this book from a blog tour I joined and even posted it one week for "Waiting On. . . Wednesday," I was very very excited about this book for reasons even I can't comprehend. It really doesn't sound any different than most other NA books out there. And while reading it, I learned that in fact it wasn't much different than most other NA books out there.

However, I did like it. A lot. I loved that this was mostly set in Australia. However, when they'd mention taking a plunge in the ocean during our summer months, I couldn't help but wonder are you all not freezing your butts off?

But I digress. Getting into this book, I actually questioned if it was new adult or young adult as the writing didn't feel as heavy as other NA's I've read and just a bit naive almost. But once I got into the story, it really didn't bother me, at all. However, the pace... it felt so off and weird for me. I felt like we'd jump to far ahead or something would happen and there was nothing in between or a heads up to lead us into the next scene. It got better towards the middle on, but it still felt off throughout the whole book.

I loved the characters though, especially the MC, Talia and her OCD, rituals and the way she just goes about life. She lost her sister and according to her mother, it's her fault, and for that she is a bit lost herself, but she doesn't walk around like she has a 1000lb boulder on her shoulder or mope about like the world is out to get her.

When she meets Bran, it's not with lack of a little comedy in the form of a boy in a koala suit. They immediately have this connection--but really, isn't that every book--that just doesn't quit. They are drawn towards each other and from then on they keep that connection and I loved that. Though at times I felt like they could spend a little time apart, I loved that they were together so frequently too.

I truly loved the voice Lia Riley provides in this book and actually wish there was more from Bran's POV. Other than the pace of the story feeling off for me, there really wasn't anything I didn't like about this book.

I only gave it 3½ stars because though I liked it, it didn't blow me away. The story was adorable and the characters were interesting, but I didn't feel the pull I would have liked. I feel like the ending was satisfactory enough for me, but I will be reading the next two books in the series. I'm actually looking forward to more time in Australia and hopefully more of Marti (Talia's spunky roommate) and others from this book. And less of her mother and Jazza.

Lia Riley writes offbeat New Adult Romance. After studying at the University of Montana-Missoula, she scoured the world armed only with a backpack, overconfidence and a terrible sense of direction. She counts shooting vodka with a Ukranian mechanic in Antarctica, sipping yerba mate with gauchos in Chile and swilling XXXX with stationhands in Outback Australia among her accomplishments. When not torturing heroes (because c'mon, who doesn't love a good tortured hero?), Lia herds unruly chickens, camps, beach combs, daydreams about as-of-yet unwritten books, wades through a mile-high TBR pile and schemes yet another trip. She and her family live in Northern California.

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Teaser Tuesday: Tortured by Kate Givans

Tortured by Kate Givans

goodreads | author website

About the time I started backing away again, determined to get as far away from her as possible, she glanced over her shoulder. A pair of sparkling blue eyes ensnared me, rooting me, once again, to the ground beneath my feet.
“How will you ever learn to fly if you don’t take time to spread your wings?” she asked with wide-eyed conviction.

Expect a review of this book to be up on the 29th of July.

Hot Romance Blog Tour: Behind the Scandal by M.A. Stacie

The Writer's Coffee Shop Publishing House Presents...

Hot Summer Romance Blog Tour 

Featuring 

N.K. Smith, M.A. Stacie,

J.J. McAvoy and Lorenz Font!

And revisiting other great 

TWCS romantic titles and authors...

Release Date: July 31, 2014

Published by The Writers Coffee Shop

Summary

Sent to the family ranch to overcome his addiction, Taylor Reese is angry and hurt. Feeling rejected by his father and brother, Taylor throws himself into ranch life to help him forget. He struggles with his addiction, though he refuses help. But it isn’t long before it hits him hard how much his life has spiraled out of control. He begins to question every aspect of his life, and the confusion leaves him floundering and looking for something, or someone, to cling to.

Libby Karlin is cautious, wary of Taylor’s presence. His brutal honesty and lack of respect claw at her composure. Her dark past makes her reluctant to let anyone near her family, but when Taylor strikes up a friendship with her son, Libby finds herself drawn to the sadness within him. His experiences are no secret to her. She sees where his world turned upside down and offers him a helping hand. But her own secrets stay buried, locked away until a knock on her door has her gasping for breath.

Libby’s fear paralyzes her as she comes face to face with her demons and, determined to stay strong, she battles for a way out.

Could dealing with their pasts really give them a future?

About the Author

M. A. Stacie is never without a book or her eReader. A voracious reader, with a love of sexy, yet angst ridden novels, she adores getting lost in new worlds. Her need to write did not grip her until after her second son was born, when her previous rambles became fully fledged stories.


She describes herself as one huge contradiction, and though not the most conventional of hobbies, she counts getting new tattoos as one of hers. Running keeps her sane, along with knitting and listening to loud music.

Connect with M.A. Stacie

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BOOK REVIEW: Resisting Her by Kendall Ryan

Resisting Her by Kendall Ryan

Published: April 15th, 2013
Genre: New Adult | Contemporary
Format: Kindle [mobi]

Overall:

goodreads | amazon

Summary: Agent Cole Fletcher lives for his job at the FBI, and he’s more than ready for his next assignment—raiding a cult compound and putting their leader behind bars. But he isn’t prepared for Savannah and her knock you on your ass good looks. At nineteen, she’s too old for foster care and too damaged to live on her own. With nowhere else to go, and against his better judgment Cole takes her in.

But helping her out won’t be easy. He comforts her through screaming nightmares and escaping the lingering fears of her past, but that’s the easy part. Her preference to sleep cuddled up next to his warm body, and her desire to please him in every way makes her harder and harder to resist.

Review:
From the beginning, this book felt like a story I would read on literotica, just with a bit more depth and better filler between the sex[y] scenes. But it's borderline smut... what do you expect? With that being said, this wasn't necessarily a poorly written book, it just didn't blow me away. And honestly, throughout the entire thing, I didn't see when/what/why they were so drawn together. More on her part than his.

She is a girl who never got to experience any sort of normal life outside of the compound she was trapped in, and when she gets to stay with someone new it's different, and she latched on. I felt like he took advantage of her from the beginning, her vulnerability; and he states that, numerous times, so he knows too, but it doesn't stop him.

Savannah's supposed to be this 19 year old girl who is virginal, and saintly, and innocent in all aspects of the word, but is way too comfortable climbing into Cole's lap any time she feels threatened. Because that's what you do right? You, as a 19 yr old girl--having no experience around men--climb into the lap of a 28 yr old man, whom you do not know, because he could possibly be trustworthy. Honey.... the thoughts  in his head are not of the "let me protect you against all evil, including myself," variety.
I was waiting for the moment when a lightbulb would go off and she'd think "I want to experience what it's like to be a young adult just entering her 20s. I want to go to school, move out on my own, meet people, and just live." No. No... it's all about Cole. He's there so she basically worships him, and takes care of him, cooking every day, cleaning, snuggling up to him in his bed every night and every great once in awhile she'll remember "hey... I think I may be my own person.".... And then she looks at Cole and poof, she is his to do what he will... if he just would.

Now don't get me wrong, this book wasn't all bad. As obvious by my 3 star rating. There were moments when I enjoyed seeing them together. And that he suggested she get a job that fit what she knew how to do (working in a daycare, taking care of other people, surprise), getting her a dog so she can sort of put her energy and smothering on something else.
Though I did cringe at the sex scenes a bit (read above), they were well written. So there's that.

I would like to read more from Kendall Ryan. Hopefully with a relationship that seems like both sides are completely engaged in.



Plot:
Characters:
Ending:
Cover: (that guy on the cover is not cute. I pictured Ryan Paevey)
Writing: ½

REVIEW: Connected by Kim Karr

Connected by Kim Karr
Published: 22nd March 2013
Format: Kindle
Genre: New Adult
Overall: [DNF]
Goodreads | Amazon

What if a ‘Once in a Lifetime’ could happen twice?

Suffering from a past full of tragedy, Dahlia London's soul has been left completely shattered. Happily ever after is a far cry from reality in her world. But, when she is reconnected with her past, the bonds that form are irrefutable.
When River Wilde, lead singer of The Wilde Ones, comes back into Dahlia’s life, the intensity that fires their relationship combined with underlying feelings that have never died lead her to believe she has met her soulmate.

Struggling with confusion as old connections fade and new ones begin, Dahlia's grief begins to lift--but guilt remains. River wants to be the one to mend all that is torn within her.

But with a past that is never really gone, can their future survive?

My thoughts:
To be fair, I give this book about a 2½ to 3 star rating because it started off really really good.  But somewhere in the middle it slowed down to almost a crashing hault and I was bored to tears!

You first meet Dahlia who is a happy relationship with her long time boyfriend Ben, when she decides to go to a club and there she meets River. There is insta-love that she doesn't want to admit to and for the next 4 years she pushes him out of her mind and ends up getting engaged to Ben. And then Ben dies. [spoiler? get over it. It's better to crush your soul now if you actually plan on reading it.] I could handle Ben's death, and I thought she did a proper [if there is a such thing] amount of grieving and self loathing before decided to get back into the world and take a job offered by her best friend to interview....River Wilde. [Anyone else hear the ominous dun-dun-dunnn?]

The way River takes control of the situation and let's her know from the beginning how he feels, made me love him. The fact that Dahlia  let herself feel something she didn't want to be real because she felt it betrayed or lessen Ben's love; proved to me that she was stronger than she let on.

Ohh folks, this is where I have to stop with the lovey dovey-ness towards this book.

After Dahlia decides that she can't live in this fantasy any longer and must go home and deal with real life thus begins the back and forth and even when they finally DTR [determine the relationship], it still just feels like random, pointless scenes to fill the book until either the climax--or what I hoped would happen soon--the ending.

I gave up half way through the chapters that were from River's POV. He thought too much about how he loves her & her pouting and how he wants her body. I didn't get a real sense of his life and therefore, I was done, 80% through.

This may be the book for some, but it just wasn't for me.

Plot:
Characters: ½
Ending: --
Writing:
Cover: (The girl looks brunette though Dahlia is supposed to be blonde.)

Author Info:
Kim karr lives in Florida with her husband and four kids. She’s always had a love for reading books and writing. Being an English major in college, she wanted to teach at the college level but that was not to be. She went on to receive an MBA and became a project manager until quitting to raise her family. Kim currently works part-time with her husband and recently decided to embrace one of her biggest passions—writing.
Learn more on her: Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook