Review: Something About You by Julie James

This book falls into my Contemporary Reading Challenge.


I really enjoyed Ms. James previous books, Just the Sexiest Man Alive and Practice Makes Perfect (my review here), so I was pretty sure I was going to like this book too. I was not disappointed.

Something About You is about Cameron Lynde, an Assistant US Attorney who witnesses a clue to a murder, and Jack Pallas, an FBI Special Agent who is assigned to protect her. We learn early on these two have a history: Cameron was in charge of bringing charges against a major criminal and her boss squashed it. Jack had been undercover for two years trying to bring the criminal down but was made and had to come back to real life to prosecute. When Jack learned the DA was not going to prosecute, he blamed Cameron and very publicly insulted her. Now, three years later, they're thrown together for the duration of the murder investigation.

I enjoyed this book - Jack was the perfect Alpha male, all broody and sexy and dangerous yet honorable. Cameron was a good heroine with her smarts, thirst for justice, and sense of humor. The sexual tension in this book was good, they had a few starts and stops that kept me as a reader "frustrated" along with for Cameron, LOL! I liked Cameron's two best friends, Amy and Collin, as well as Jack's partner, Wallace. The villian was well-written - he was sneaky and smart.

There were a few scenes where I thought to myself "Never gonna happen", but all in all it was a fun read; I finished it in a day. I give Something About You 4 stars.

Review: With a Twist by Deirdre Martin

This book falls into my Contemporary Reading Challenge.

This was the first Deirdre Martin book I read, and I wish I'd read it in order with the Hockey books. This is not a hockey story, but it's set in that world and a few of the characters do make brief appearances.

Natalie Bocuse is a young French woman living just outside New York City. Her sister owns a restaurant and Natalie is a waitress there but she wants to be a manager. She loves her sister but moves to the city and to see what opportunities she can find there. One of the regulars at her sister's restaurant, Quinn, offers her a job at his family's Irish pub/restaurant just until she can get a job managing a (preferably French) restaurant. Natalie and Quinn have a very strange relationship - they're friends (sort of) but they live to annoy the crap out of each other. Once Natalie takes the job at the pub, Quinn is delighted he'll be seeing more of her. The problem is, his new editor begins frequenting the pub too - and hitting on Natalie.

Quinn asks her out and they start dating, but his job is quickly becoming the biggest obstable in their relationship. Quinn is one of the city's top reporters, and he is dedicated to getting The Story. Then he sniffs out the story of a lifetime, and he has to decide if he wants Natalie or the Pulitzer Prize.

I enjoyed this book, but both Quinn and Natalie annoyed me to some extent. Natalie was kind of whiny; it seemed like she wanted to be "big time" without doing the work necessary to get there. Quinn was kind of an ass - case in point: He took Natalie to the opera and got a call about a story while he was there. He left her there - no explanation, he just told her he had to leave! But, personality issues aside, it was an intersting story. I give With a Twist 3 out of 5 stars.

The next book in this series, Straight Up, is about Quinn's brother, Liam. I think this book is going to be good - I liked Liam in With a Twist and was hoping for more of him.

Body Check by Deirdre Martin

This book falls into my Contemporary Reading Challenge.

I recently read See Jane Score by Rachel Gibson, which has a hockey player as the hero. I enjoyed it so much I went looking for other hockey-themed books. I stumbled across Body Check and grabbed it. I had read one other book by Ms. Martin, With A Twist (review to come soon), and couldn't decide if she was an author I would read again or not. After reading this book I says YES!!!

Janna MacNeil is a publicist newly hired for the New York Blades hockey team. She's a bit nervous as she's never done PR for a sports team and doesn't know much about hockey. The new owners of the team want her to "spruce up" the reputation of the rowdy team, starting with their captain, Ty Gallagher. Ty is a great player, focused soley on the game. He doesn't care about corporate and all the PR stuff that goes with the sport. Things are not off to a great start; after Jane's first meeting with Ty, she promptly goes into the ladies room and throws up!

Ty is not immune to Jane's sparkle and personality. After a faux-pas involving a charity dinner and her sister, things start to heat up between Jane and Ty, but they've got to keep it on the DL for professional reasons. Of course things don't go smoothly and there is plenty of drama to keep things moving. There are several side stories, Jane's roommate Theressa has some problems, Jane has family issues, Ty's inability to focus on anything but winning the Stanlely Cup....it all blends into a great story!

This story kept my attention, I didn't have to suspend disbelief, and none of the characters were TSTL. I'm already moving on to the next book in this series, Fair Play, which is Theressa's story. I give Body Check 4 1/2 out of 5 stars!

Review: Out of Eden by Beth Ciotta

This book falls under my Contemporary Reading Challenge.

Kylie McGraw has lived in Eden, Indiana her whole life. She's always dreamed of travelling to Asia, but lives in the same boring town she grew up in. She knows the same boring people and runs the same boring family-owned shoe store. She's just turned 32 and is ready for something to change. Little does she know things are about to change more than she could ever have imagined...

Jack Reynolds was Kylie's childhood crush. One of the running jokes in the book is that she's been in love with him since she was fourteen...or twelve. Jack was her older brother's best friend and moved away to join the NYPD, but after working a particularly horrific mob murder he decided to come back home to Eden and take a job as Police Chief.

As Kylie is trying to shake things up, poor Jack is charged by the town council with reigning her in - the town's annual Apple Festival is coming up and they don't want anything to ruin it. Then, Kylie witnesses something she shouldn't have seen and fears for her life. Due to the town's obsession with a Sopranos-like TV show ("Omerta"), no one believes Kylie and the town's residents think it's just another one of her attempts to break the monotony of small-town life.

What I liked about this book:

I really enjoyed the portions of the book that took place in Eden. Watching Kylie and Jack go back and forth until neither one of them could deny their feelings for each other was sweet and sexy and I really liked them both.

The small-town characters were fun. I have a soft spot for "spry, older characters" and this book had some adorable old guys - I loved the scene where they were giving Kylie sex advice!

What I didn't like:

I didn't like the mobsters. They were stereotypical Italian-Americans and the mob lingo annoyed me. Switching between the small-town Eden and mob-riddled Philadelphia felt awkward. I assume Ms. Eden did that on purpose to showcase the difference between the two lifestyles, but I didn't care for it.

All in all, I liked this book. Ms. Eden did a good job merging all the different storylines into a satisfying conclusion. I think her next book focuses on Kylie's brother, Spenser, and I'll definitely be checking it out! I give Out of Eden 3 1/2 out of 5 stars, it was a fun Contemporary read.

Out of Eden goes on sale April 1.

Disclaimer: This book was provided to me by NetGalley free of charge in exchange for an honest review.

Review: See Jane Score by Rachel Gibson

This book falls into my Contemporary Reading Challenge.

I've had this book in my TBR for quite some time. I bought it after I'd read a couple of Ms. Gibson's books and loved them. Then I didn't read it because the hero is a hockey player. I know nothing about hockey except that they use a puck instead of a ball. I didn't even realize they had American hockey teams - I thought it was a Canadian sport. But, I was in the mood for something different so I picked it up off the pile, dusted it off, and started reading...I loved it!

Jane Alcott is a reporter who's just gotten a big break - they've asked her to fill in and cover the Seattle Chinooks hockey team while the regular sports reporter is sick. That means she'll cover all the games - even the away games. She knows nothing about hockey, but that's okay, they're hoping having her cover the games will draw in female spectators. Thing is, the team's not so hyped to have her and they try to block her at every turn. She ends up talking to Luc Martineau, the goalie, a couple of times, and of course it's instant dislike (or is it?).

Luc has been given a second chance. He was a star player who got hurt, ended up addicted to painkillers, went to rehab, and is now trying to get back into that top spot. So far, it's working. He's concentrating on his career and nothing will get in the way.

I really enjoyed this story. Jane's secondary story as Honey Pie, the fictional character she writes for a Maxim-type magazine was kind of eh, but I do get that it was a plot point. The interactions between Jane and Luc were super sexy. I loved the scene after Jane had told Luc off and then had to go back and repeat her exact words before every game for good luck. Luc's affection for his sister was touching, and Jane taking her under her wing was sweet.

It's been three days since I finished this story and I'm still thinking about it. I actually went out to find other hockey-themed contemporary romances to read because I liked this one so much! I give See Jane Score 4 out of 5 stars.

I will say this book made me curious, so I asked for some hockey names on Twitter and Kelly (MidnightGlance) was kind enough to supply me with a name or two and from there I googled some more hockey players. I don't know if these guys are good at hockey or not, but....me-ow!

Review: The Next Best Thing by Kristan Higgins, now with bonus TMI!!

This book falls into my Contemporary Reading Challenge.

Okay, I think you all know I'm a Kristan Higgins fangirl. Out of the five books she's written, only one was disappointing to me and one is on my keeper shelf. I was really looking forward to The Next Best Thing, and I loved it!

Lucy Lang became a widow at the young age of 25 after less than a year of marriage. She's been a widow for almost five years, working at the family bakery with her mother and aunts. Who all became widows at a young age. It seems to run in the family, whose maiden name is Fekete, which is Hungarian for Black - they're known as the Black Widows.

As the story opens, Lucy is at the hospital where her younger sister has just given birth. Lucy decides this is what she really wants, and thinks maybe it's time to start dating again. Which will require that she end her "friends with benefits" arrangement she's had going with Ethan. Ethan has spent his life living in the shadow of his older brother, Jimmy. He's also in love with Lucy, although she doesn't know it. When she breaks off their arrangement, he agrees, but he's not too happy about it, because he loves her.

There is so much going on in this book - there's no way I can even begin to explain how good it was. I laughed a bit and I cried a bit. I'm not going to say I laughed out loud, more like a chuckle here and there, but here's where the TMI comes in: Occasionally, depending on where I am in my, uh....cycle...I might cry a bit while reading something sad. I'm nowhere near that hormonal hell right now, but there were several scenes in this book where tears just poured out of my eyes; times when Lucy missed her husband, or wondered if she was doing the right thing. Ms. Higgins just wrote those scenes so, so sweetly. And when the gypsy gave Lucy the message...Oh! It took me a few pages but once I figured it out I wanted to reach into the book and make her see!!! This book took a few turns but I enjoyed reading it and the characters kept my interest; I read this book in a day.

The Next Best Thing was a great read! I really enjoyed it and give it 4.5 stars out of 5.

Review: Hot In Here by Sophie Renwick

This book falls into my Contemporary Reading Challenge.

Jenna McCabe is a nice girl. She was born and raised on a farm in a small town and now lives in the nearby city as a PR Consultant. Bryce Ryder is a hot celebrity chef who grew up with Jenna but now owns a famous restaurant and has his own TV show. When Bryce gets some bad PR, he goes to Jenna for help.

Jenna has always been attracted to Bryce, who's never seen her as anything more than the girl next door - until they meet for dinner to talk about his PR problem. He wonders how he never noticed how beautiful she is, and he wants her - badly. After a disagreement about how to handle his case, he goes to her house to apologize and wish her a happy birthday. One thing leads to another and some hot sexin' ensues. The next morning, Jenna decides she's not going to be the one to get dumped, she'll just act like it was not big deal so Bryce won't know who much she cares for him. She doesn't realize Bryce is starting to have feelings for her....

As Bryce is trying to get closer to Jenna and Jenna keeps backing away, Jenna's sister Sarah and Bryce's brother Trey are trying to get Jenna and Bryce together using good publicity for Bryce as an excuse to force them to spend time together. Jenna doesn't want to be used, and every time Bryce convinces her that he cares about her something happens to undermine her confidence in Bryce's declarations.

There's a secondary storyline about how Jenna's family is about to lose their farm, and Bryce's father wants to buy it and turn it into a strip mall. There is also some history between Sarah and Trey that isn't resolved, hopefully it will be the next book if there is one planned.

This book kept me turning the page to see what would happen next. The sexin' was hot and the drama was good. I kind of felt like Bryce fell a bit too hard too fast, but it was still a fun story. I give this book 4 stars - I really liked it!