Trying To Hate The Player by Tia Souders

Trying To Hate The Player

by Tia Souders

Availble on Amazon

Rating (1-5) 📘📘📘📘
Genre - Romance, Sports Romance
Format - E-book

*Amazon Blurb*

Jinny Kimball just scored her dream job as a sports therapist for her hometown team, The Pumas. Everything is finally looking up until she discovers that her first patient is none other than Emmett Hall, the player who thinks the only reason she scored her job was due to her family’s connections. Now she has to play nice with one of the most conceded players in the NBA. Which she can do. She’s a professional. Right?
Emmett Hall couldn’t imagine his life going any better. As a rising star in the NBA, his future is set. Until he tears his ACL. Now he has to put his career on hold to be cared for by the one girl that has piqued his interest—but he can’t have. Not when she’s the little sister to his best friend and teammate. If only he could get his heart to stop pounding every time Jinny’s around, he just might get through the therapy sessions with his player status intact.
Tensions arise, and both find themselves doing anything they possibly can to deny their feelings. But when a stolen kiss in Jinny’s childhood bedroom startles both of them, they can’t help but want more. Suddenly, the biting comments and witty retorts aren’t enough to hide their feelings for each other. If only their relationship were that simple. But with family and a career on the line, Jinny and Emmett have to decide if love is worth the risk.


*My Review* 

I enjoy romance books that are not all mushy. This is definitely one of those. Jinny and her brothers best friend/teammate are constantly bickering at each other so it makes you wonder if it's a romance book at all.
I love you, but you're off limits so I am going to do everything I can to annoy you and make you hate me. This is what Emmett tries to tell himself when it comes to how he feels about Jinny, but unfortunately it doesn't work. It almost seems like the more he tries to push her away, the harder he works on pulling her closer.
I don't understand why brothers and sisters always say that their best friend is off limits to dating. I mean. normally your best friend is someone that you care about and trust so wouldn't you want them to to be with someone (assuming the brother/sister is a good hearted person) that would treat them right?
The only thing that I didn't care for was towards the end and it had to do with a choice that Emmett makes. I think it was quite a stretch for that to happen as quickly as it did.

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There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

There's Someone Inside Your House 

by Stephanie Perkins

Available On Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘
Genre - Teen, Romance, Thriller, Suspense, Horror
Format - Audio
Approx Listening Length - 9 hrs 26 min

*Amazon Blurb* 

One by one, the students of Osborne High are dying in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasing and grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and the hunt intensifies for the killer, the dark secrets among them must finally be confronted.

*Review*

It's nice to have finally found an audio book that I could listen to. You never realize how important a narrator is until you are trying to listen to someone talk for hours.

This was a good book that flowed nicely. It was easy to follow who the characters were and what was going on...a series of murders. The main characters, Makani and Ollie, seemed to have quite a realistic teenage relationship who also harbored secrets. Could one of them be committing these murders, and why? Although there were a couple characters who I thought might be the murderer, at the same time I didn't think it was them because it was too easy. It also seemed there was no connection between the murders. I was surprised about who the killer turned out to be.

Lies You Never Told Me by Jennifer Donaldson

Lies You Never Told Me

by Jennifer Donaldson

Available On Amazon

Available on Book Depository 

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘📘
Genre - Young Adult, Romance, Thriller, Suspense
Format -Softcover

I received this an ARC (advanced reader copy). The book will be released on May 29, 2018.

I was so glad to have received this book. I finished it within 2 days. A page turner that is very easy to read. The teens in this book have quite extreme situations. There's Gabe, who is dating Sasha, the most popular girl in school. Sasha thinks that she can boss Gabe around and he'll do whatever she says with question. Gabe finally realizes that he doesn't want that kind of relationship and breaks it off, however, Sasha isn't going to let him get away so easy.

Elyse has lived a tough life taking care of her addict mom. She is not use to being in the spotlight, so when she lands the part of Juliet in her school play she doubts her ability. With the help of her teacher she starts to realize her potential. In addition to the play she also becomes the center of someone's attention leading to another rough road in life.

Lastly, there's Catherine. Catherine does everything she can to not be noticed. She doesn't want to stand out in the crowd. She tries to keep a low profile, but when she crosses Gabe's path she realizes that she really wants to have friends. Her home life doesn't make it so easy and she has to hide the feelings that she is starting to feel for Gabe.

Although the book changes character views, the chapters are set up so that you don't get confused. I wanted to know what was going to happen to everyone from the very beginning and the I never could have predicted the twist..dun...dun....duuun. The ending was good, but at the same time I thought it was sad and wished things were different. You will know what I mean when you finish the book (because you really should read it).

Lucky Charm by Amelia Kingston

Lucky Charm by Amelia Kingston

Author Requested Review

 (Find out more about requesting a review here)

 

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘📘

Genre -Contemporary Romance
Format - Kindle
Printed Pages - 158

 

Samantha Cane and Connor Grayson (aka Lucky Charm) find themselves involved in a summer fling and sneaking into each others room at night. Since it's only for the summer, until Connor goes off to college, they agree upon a few rules to make sure no one gets hurt such as no relationship, no cuddling, no falling in love. Rules are meant to be broken though aren't they? Just when Samantha and Connor start getting comfortable and the feelings start, Samantha's father suddenly passes away and their fling is ended leaving Connor wondering what went wrong. The death of her father makes Samantha look at life a whole new way. She decides to solely focus on setting and accomplishing a 30 year plan with nothing in way, like a social life. By the age of 28 she is well on her way to doing just that with a beautiful apartment, no one holding her back and a very good job.

Samantha is currently working on making partner at the law firm she works for when Connor, who she hasn't seen in 11 years, waltzes back into her life due to a merger that both of their companies are involved in. Although 11 years has passed, Connor has never stopped loving Samantha and wanting an answer as to why she walked away from him all those years ago. Instead of getting an answer, he is taken on an emotional roller coaster ride as he tries getting close to Samantha again. 

Though considered a romance, it wasn't just full of romance and happiness. Just as you think things will work out, they come crashing down. I wasn't sure if there would be a happy ending or not, which is how I like my endings. The epilogue was a nice touch too. Good books sometimes leave me wondering what happens next. I didn't have to make up my own ending here.

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The Forever Girl by Alexander McCall Smith

The Forever Girl 

by Alexander McCall Smith

Available on Amazon
Available On Book Depository 

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘
Genre - Contemporary Romance
Format -Hardcover

Pages - 316

This book was chosen by my 3 year old as my second "Blind date with a book" from my local library. I was a little unsure of this book as the rating on GoodReads is not even 3 stars (now I know why). I decided to go along and read it anyways because not everyone has the same opinion.

The Forever Girl was my forever read. Once I start a book I feel obligated to finish it, regardless of whether I', enjoying it or not. I wish I didn't feel that way and that I could put a book aside with no intention of finishing, as I would've done so with this one. I thought about giving it 1 book rating, but didn't because I feel a 1 book rating should only be used in a situation where a book wasn't simply disliked, but poorly written as well.

The Forever Girl was so boring that it felt like it was never going to end. Every book has a plot, or at least you would think that it would have. Even after finishing this book, I still don't know what the point was. I thought the beginning was nice, setting up the scene with the kids growing up and loving parents. Then the little romance started and I thought, oh this is what it will be about....nope. It seems the majority of the book focuses on Clover and her boring life with nothing going on. She goes off to college, she comes home to visit on vacation, she goes back to school, she finishes school and on. Her life is filled with studies and the constantly thinking of a boy friend from her childhood who she feels that shes been in love with since then.

This is not a book that I would recommend to people. I honestly am not sure how anyone would find it enjoyable, which is sad as I know the time it takes to write and publish a book. I haven't read any other books by this author. I always hesitate reading a another book by the same author if I didn't like the first one. Has anyone else read a book by Alexander McCall Smith that they recommend?

Secrets Of The Elusive Lover by Mike Wells

Secrets Of The Elusive Lover 

(Book 1)

By Mike Wells

Book 1 on Amazon

or

Books 1 & 2 on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘
Genre - Romance
Format - eBook

I only gave this book 3 stars because, although I found it interesting, it didn't really grab and hold my attention. I prefer more suspense in my books. I think it was an easy read and well written. The story is classified as romance, but I honestly didn't read anything that I would consider romantic.

Adam, the main character, enjoys having an open relationship with lots of girls and lies to each of them about the others. He is very cautious about how he goes about his life and I did find the fact that he uses a roster to keep track of his girls, quite amusing. He's very methodical about the steps he takes to make sure all evidence is hidden from the girls and the lies to tells. Until Bethany comes along. All of a sudden he finds himself being more honest with her and slipping up more than usual.

I would like to read the next book in the series to see what happens to Adam simply out of curiosity. I am wondering if he will get caught by all of his girlfriends and end up with none, or if he will end up falling in love for once and settle down.

Mike Wells has a number of other books that he's written. Even though this wasn't really my "cup of tea", because of how well written it was, I do plan to check out his other books.

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