Brittany R

Better, but… 🤷🏽‍♀️

Revisado: 07-17-21 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Okay, so I’ve read/listened to a few Alexa B James books (granted this is her and another author) and although the book was okay and the summary sounded good, it fell short from great for me. The story picks up where book 2 left off and had lots of drama and angst. The story also had a lot of steamy scenes between the heroine and her harem. I still am not 100 percent a fan of the heroine though. I don’t know, something about her just really annoys me… maybe it’s her age/immaturity… I don’t know.

As to the narrator, Marnye Young, she did an amazing job as always! I haven’t listened to a book read by her that wasn’t great!

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I wanted to Love it... I Really Did...

Revisado: 07-17-21

Okay... Where should I start with this book. I absolutely love the idea of this book and just the summary of what the book was about intrigued me. However, this book did not live up to my expectations [which could have totally been my fault with the high expectations I had going into it with regards to the description summary of the book]. The author did a great job building the characters so as a reader I felt I personally knew each one of the main characters and a majority of the supporting characters. I think where my issue really lie are with the heroine. She did a few things and said a few things that really drove me crazy from the very beginning. I'm definitely not going to ruin the book for those that really want to enjoy this story and/or go into it blind the only think I'm going to say further is... to whomever may read this... NEVER SETTLE and go with your gut instincts if something don't feel right.

My last part of this review is the audio narration as I listened to this story. Although the narration was good [really liked the narrators] my biggest issue was that Tess is supposed to be Australian and Australian's have a very distinct accent and this narrator didn't even attempt to do an Australian accent at all. Also, the Hero is French and, outside of when he spoke French, he didn't have a French accent which is my only concerns as I just felt they didn't take the narration seriously. Granted it was still a nice and easy listen, I just wish they would've stayed true to the characters and where they were from like so many other narrators have before them.

Narration: 3 Stars [it was still a nice listen]
Hero: 5 Star
heroine: 3.25 Stars
Plot: 3.5 Stars
Overall Book: 3.25 Stars rounded down to 3 Stars

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WOW... Umm.... Just WOW

Revisado: 07-12-21

Can I just say... WOW... I wasn't expecting that! Just when I thought Book 1 surprised me, in comes Book 2 with even more drama, taboo, and surprise. This book picks right up where Book 1 left off. If you as reader have triggers, this book may not be for you as there is some serious dub-con and non-con going on in this book as well. I give the author props about announcing the triggers in this book [as well as the previous book] because she does a thorough job of letting the readers know what to expect and to not read if it's too much for them.

As for the Book rating, I give this 4.5 stars, round down to 4 stars! This book keep my interest and was definitely a page turner. It was fast pace, an easy read with lots of drama and I was exited to see where this book was going. I mean I finished the book in less than a day so there's that! I was really intrigued by this world and how the author wrote a shifter book unlike any I have read before. So, why the .5/1 star deduction? The main character, Itzel, began to irritate me when dealing with her sister. I mean your sister is openly treating you like garbage and still you are putting your life, body, and happiness on the line for her. I understood it originally, but now it's getting old and played out. I just don't feel someone would allow another person to openly treat them like that for years on end and not wake up and say screw this and leave. But I must say that cliffhanger was just... WOW... I'm so intrigued on what happened that I have to know what's going to happen next. This cliffhanger was way better than the one from Book 1. HAHAHA! As I previously stated in Book 1 review, I will be finishing this series as I'm so curious as to where this story is going.

As to the narration, although this is a duel narration, the main narrator of this book is Bridget Bordeaux who, as always, does a fabulous job. I love listening to books read by her and have many of them. The male narrator, Jake Bordeaux, also does a fabulous job [I believe they are a couple and most books read with Bridget are also dually read with Jake]. Anyways, they did amazing and they deserve all 5 Stars I gave them [which is nothing unusually as they always get that ranking from me].

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Meh... Not a Fan

Revisado: 06-30-21

Unpopular opinion... I wasn't a fan of this book. More specifically, I wasn't a fan of the writing, I the characters, or the plot, which is a shame because I really thought I would love this book when I read the synopsis of the book. This is the first book I've read by this author and sadly I don't know if I would read any other books by her as the writing style just wasn't my cup of tea. This book read like a long drawn out poem [if that makes sense] and at times it would jump around without fully finishing a thought thus making me have to stop and re-read to ensure I didn't miss something [I didn't].

***** Minor Spoilers ****

The characters, although developed fairly well, annoyed the hell out of me. Evan/Ethan/E [the Hero] wasn't anything special or memorable. Maise [the heroine] was annoying and whiny. I get that she had a pretty crap life with a drug abuser as a mother and no father figure and I totally support her wanting to better herself, but there just was something missing that caused me to not like her and/or empathize with her [which sounds bad cause she had a shit life]. Maybe it was the fact that she allowed for her friendship to continue with Wesley [I think that's his name] after he made that personally video of her and her relationship with E; I don't know. And then Wesley, another very blah character [in my opinion] until the end when he basically abuses his close friendship with Maise by capturing moments of her intimate life and putting it in a video for class [but it's okay as her face is not shown]. That just boiled my blood. Here is a reality check for anyone who thinks a person who does something like this to you was ever your true friend... they weren't. Another reality check... they will do it again. Even if they learned a valuable lesson and "changed," that friendship ran it's course and let the next person "benefit." I would never have thought I had any "no go" area in books but "friendship" like this is a no thank you type read for me.

Redeeming qualities, I enjoyed the age gap/student-teacher relationship aspect of the book [which was the reason I read it] and I liked Park/Parker, whom is E's best friend. He was witty and funny and pretty much the only good part of the novel. He plays a very, very small role in the story, but every scene he was in I found myself chuckling or being drawn to him and his life story [more than the main characters]. Also, Maise did do a pretty decent thing with getting her mother into rehab with the money she earned despite the horrific childhood she endured as a result of the mother. She also helped that evil classmate [forgot her name too] get her act together [or you can call it revenge] when she was being blackmailed by her. Because of that, this book got 2 Stars.

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5 Amazingly Taboo Stars **** Spoilers Ahead ******

Revisado: 06-24-21

This review will have some spoilers so please stop reading if you want to have a truly authentic experience when reading this novel. This novel is a painful and gut-wrenchingly tragic love story with a Happily Ever After [as I'm sure people will ask or want to know]. It touches on the harsh reality of the evil that lives in this world and brings to life the horrors we all fear. This novel is not for the faint of heart and what I would truly define as TABOO. Please note this novel goes into details about rape [and is a bit specific/graphic in some scenes], pregnancy loss, a suicide attempt and sexual relationship with an almost brother in law. So, if any of those are triggers for you then DO NOT read this book as it is not for you. I must give kudos to the author for outlining this in her warning section prior to purchasing and/or borrowing the book.

************* Spoilers will Begin Here **********

This author has a way with words and she wrote the shit out of this book!!! I was hooked/captivated with this story from the very first word to the very last word written. Cora [the heroine] has always disliked Dean [Hero], who is also her soon to be brother-in-law, since they first met in High School. After attending her sister's birthday party, Cora calls Dean to have him pick her up as she is intoxicated and her wallet had been stolen. This is when all their worst nightmares begin. This novel pretty much jumps right into the horror that Cora and Dean find themselves in and within the first 5% your reading about Dean and Cora being chained and locked in a basement together and Cora being sexual assaulted, which continues to occur as they both are held captive for 3 weeks by a deranged psychopathic serial killer. Just when they think all hope is lost, they save themselves before they could become victims 12 and 13 [I think that's the correct numbers :)]. But this novel is more than just their experience in captivity but the harsh realities of returning to "regular every day life" after living such a horrific and tragic experience. It's about living with the guilt of loving someone you shouldn't for fear of hurting or losing your family. It's about surviving and looking forward when it's hard to even get up or do regular daily task. It's about reclaiming your freedom and finding out who you are when you never thought you would be given that opportunity. But most of all, it's about resiliency and healing. This novel does a great job at showing you how a person can endure the most horrible and tragic things in life [all in one book by one, well two, characters], but still find the strength to wake up and live life.

As for the narrators, they did an amazing job bringing this story to life. I'm so glad Jennifer Hartmann picked them to narrate this story as they did this novel justice, especially with such hard/taboo topics to read/listen to.

Yeah, I'm obviously not a writer nor am I profound with words. So, trust me on this... just read the book, if you can handle the triggers, because it's well worth it! This book was phenomenal and I unapologetically loved reading every second of it. I give this book 5 Amazingly Taboo Stars.

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esto le resultó útil a 8 personas

Painfully Dysfunctional *****SPOILERS AHEAD******

Revisado: 06-23-21

I'm officially getting off this train wreck as I cannot take any more dysfunction despite me dying to know how this story ends. I promised myself after reading 3 books of the After Series [yes I forced myself off that emotional shit show as well] that I wouldn't put myself in a situation where I get sucked into another dysfunctional relationship rollercoaster of a book so this is me keeping that promise despite reading this book. Hmm, maybe I'll just read spoilers for the last 2 books so I can get a cliff notes version of what happens in the next two books and officially put this hot mess of a series to rest.

**********SPOILERS AHEAD*********** NO, seriously stop reading if you don't want to read things that happen in this book.

This book opens up with the drama. We start off with Penny and James [Professor Hunter to be exact as that is what she calls him consistently and painfully often in the book] breaking up because, well I cannot recall since this relationship was so damn dysfunctional from the beginning. Oh wait... it happened in the last book. They "broke up" [not really since he never actually said that just that he needed time] because she wasn't truthful about his age, which I totally understand you shouldn't start a relationship with lies so I justify his reaction to that. During this two or so week separation, Penny sleeps with Tyler [a college boy totally in love with this naïve and infuriating character, Penny] and James sleeps with his ex-wife. Then James comes to Penny's birthday party, right after she sleeps with Tyler, and "wins" Penny back. Yeah, my eyes are rolling hard core too and that's just in the first 10% of the book.

Oh, then the neighbor at James' complex ends up meeting this Penny character and he too ends up with a crush on her. I just don't see it. Are men really attracted to girls like this today. Please enlighten me as I've been out of the dating game for a long time. All I know is that I'm not impressed nor a fan of Penny. Anyways I strayed off topic... So, Penny meets this neighbor Brandon and tells him her entire life story in all of like 5 minutes of knowing him [yes, I know she seen him one time before that but that was extremely brief]. I mean yes I was young and dumb once but I was never this naïve or infuriating at 19-20 years old.

Also, how many secrets can one person have. I mean this man, Professor James Hunter [grrr now I'm calling him Professor], has a bank vault size full secrets from his past and none of them, thus far, are all that serious nor are they so severe they need a vault type lock to keep them hidden. He got drunk in college before he was of age [so has a majority of society]; he vandalized a classroom by writing inappropriate things on a chalk board in chalk [I've done worse than that in my high school days for Senior prank]; he has been detained [never charged or convicted of anything]; he has been in a physical fights [so have I and more than one]; he is still married [ummmmm well he signed the divorce papers over a years ago and his gold digger wife won't let him go as she refuses to sign them back so in my opinion he's being held hostage]; and the last one I can recall is that he has past addictions but the book doesn't really go deeply into what that really looked like just that he gets addicted to things easily [I mean we all have some type of addiction some are just way more unhealthier than others. I believe his is woman or this Penny character but I'm not sure]. Hell, I'm addicted to coffee and reading dysfunctional things... hence this story.

Then there is Tyler, I actually liked him in the last book but that boy got on my last damn nerve. Tyler, Penny picked someone else please stop worshiping at her feet you are better off without her. Trust me she's not a catch!

I do have to admit the pool scene was pretty lit. I mean that was very well written and the only time I found Penny to not be annoying AF. But then she kept calling him Professor Hunter [after he was no longer a professor because he was fired for this inappropriate relationship] and that just began to annoy me again. I mean at one point he says he likes her calling him that and she says she likes to call him that. But the readers aren't particularly fans of hearing that every two seconds. We get it, it's a taboo teacher/student read we don't need it thrown in our face every other sentence. I personally picked the book up because I wanted to read this particular teacher/student taboo type book I don't need to be reminded.

2 Stars for me reading and finishing the story and actually wanting to read the third book [despite forcing myself not to for the safety of my sanity and devices].

For the safety of my phone and reading devices, I needed to stop reading this series as I found myself wanting to check my device more times than not throughout the reading of these two books. Okay, with that I'm signing off and ending my torture!

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Meh…

Revisado: 06-21-21

This is a perfect example of a book needing two narrators. Although Stefanie Kay did a decent job narrating the book, I really think having a male narrator read Sebastian’s thoughts would have given this book more stars. The plot was decent and I finished the book, but that is pretty much all I can say.

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Warning… Small, but much needed, Spoiler

Revisado: 06-21-21

Okay… so this book is much like the authors other books… romantic comedy… but then it wasn’t. Like many have said, I think this book should come with trigger warnings even if the book is a bit older and trigger warnings weren’t “a thing” back when it was published (and since I don’t know when that was because I don’t care enough to look or if that’s actually not the case at all), an author can always go back and update the synopsis.

🚨🚨Spoiler here🚨🚨

So, for those who have triggers about child loss/death and/or Bipolar Disorder/Postpartum Depression leading to psychosis, please don’t read this book.

My 3 ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️ rating is due to the plot keeping me interested and it being cute and an easy/fast read. But due to the author writing very similar stores and me reading too many back to back, my rating was lower than the last 3 or so I’ve read. I will pause reading more books by this author until I need another light rom-com. 😬

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Dark, Bulky, with a Touch of Taboo Novel

Revisado: 06-05-21

I was given a copy of this audio for an honest review.

Man can you say DARK TABOO! Whew... Selena has written an extremely dark and taboo bully romance with non-con and dub-con scenes, childhood neglect, teacher taking advantage of youth, and much, much more. This book has all the triggers... so please head the authors warning at the beginning of the book and do not proceed if these are some of your triggers. Now I will say slight spoilers ahead so stop reading this review if you don’t want to know... seriously stop reading...

This book is like 99% bully and 1% (and that’s being generous) romance. I’m sure more romance will come out as the story develops though.

I don’t know how Selena did it, but she perfectly describes/tells us of the harshness (reality) in impoverished neighborhoods. Many people (middle class) live life thinking these types of things or environments don’t exists but they do. Harper Apple could be any of the many teen girls in foster care who grew up in a trailer park and whose mother neglected her and sees her as competition and the way Selena describes it so vividly and takes us through that journey of what and where Harper lives was beautifully written. The bully scenes and how Harper is treated in school was so raw and are plausible things that other children who have been bullied have gone through. I’ve read a lot of bully books/enemies to lovers and it’s rare to see a book that doesn’t overly fabricate the bullying or make you think that’s not even a possibility, but Selena wrote one. For the plot of this book and how Selena writes, I give this a solid 4.5 ⭐️ Round it up to 5 because I honestly believe it was that good despite my stomach turning at parts. The half star deduction has to do with the the beginning parts of each chapter read by a male narrator being a tad confusing to me but I got use to it as the story went on.

Now onto the narrators, thank goodness for the female narrator being the main reader because she was good. I liked Abigail Hunt so much I went searching for other books narrated by her to add to my list to listen to. However, the same cannot be said for the make narrator, JT Linus. I wasn’t a fan and maybe that’s because of his much older voice I couldn’t get with him being a high schooler. However, my opinion may change on that if he’s actually Mr. D (or whatever the mystery guys name is who is paying for Harper’s tuition in exchange for bringing the Dolce family down). So, for now my rating will be at a 3.5 ⭐️ In narration.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

A Different/Taboo Rake on Shifter World

Revisado: 05-28-21 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Well, I wasn't expecting that when I was given a free audio copy of this book to review... Let me just start by saying, I am pleasantly surprised and intrigued with this book and the plot. I'm not going to summarize the book as authors/editors/etc. do a far better job than I can do on that and this book's summary is spot on.

Although this is a duel narration, the main narrator of this book is Bridget Bordeaux who, as always, does a fabulous job. I love listening to books read by her and have many of them. The male narrator, Jake Bordeaux, also does a fabulous job [I believe they are a couple and most books read with Bridget are also dually read with Jake]. Anyways, they did amazing and they deserve all 5 Stars I gave them [which is nothing unusually as they always get that ranking from me].

As to the story, can I just say... WOW... I wasn't expecting that! Now, I will not ruin this for first time readers, but I will say if you have triggers, this book may not be for you as there is some serious dub-con and non-con going on in this book. So, please do not listen or read if these are no go areas for you as the book is good and shouldn’t be docked stars because a listener/reader couldn’t handle that warning the author clearly states in her summary.

Now for a more detail review with minor spoilers regarding characters, your gonna have to look it up on my Goodreads as I’m not trying to spoil anything for readers without a spoiler tag (which audible I don’t believe has).

Book rating, I give this 4.25 stars, round down to 4 stars! This book keep my interest and was definitely a page turner. It was fast pace, an easy read with lots of drama and I was excited to see where this book was going. I mean I finished the book in less than a day so there's that! I was really intrigued by this world and how the author wrote a shifter book unlike any I have read before. So, why the .75/1 star deduction? Some of the drama was just a tab vivid and much :/ even for me! And, the cliffhanger was just not a good one but maybe that's because I didn't like Camila. HAHAHA! I will be finishing this series as I'm so curious as to where this story is going!

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