Jordan T

Sweet & steamy trio of books.

Revisado: 11-19-20

*The Engagement Gift*
This was a cute and steamy short story about a woman owning her fantasies and what one will do for true love. While all of Lauren Blakely's book include steamy scenes, this one, featuring Lily Whiting and Finn Nichols, was more erotic than most. The story is centered around Lily's fantasy of being taken by two men and Finn's determination to make this happen for her (with the help of his best friend, Jake).

*The Virgin Gift*
Similar to the first book in The Gift series, The Engagement Gift, this book was more erotic than Lauren Blakely's typical books. Still, it was a sweet, steamy story I loved reading. I would really love to hear Brandon's story, but it seems like that probably won't happen considering his meeting Serena in this book, a brief glimpse at their romance, and her statement that they were going to elope. I would still love to hear it though.

*The Decadent Gift*
A great ending to what is currently The Gift Trilogy (two more books, The Extravagant Gift and The Exquisite Gift are forthcoming which may or may not feature Ivy and Sage Carmichael). I really loved how it was a group of three guy friends and three girl friends (who were also friends with each other) that ended up together. Overall, I loved Kate and Jake's story. They've been strong characters in The Engagement Gift and The Virgin Gift and I was excited to hear their story. Lauren Blakely didn't disappoint! (She never does.) I can't wait to read the next books in this series!

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High school romance.

Revisado: 08-30-20

I wasn't expecting this to be a high school love story (though the epilogue does extend into college). I tend to prefer college romances over high school romances because there seems a greater chance for relationship permanency and therefore believability. Regardless, this was a really cute story and both Molly and Weston were relatively mature for seniors in high school it seemed. I am currently partway through He Kissed Me First and Molly and Wes are still going strong, so that's a definite plus.

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Bruce for the win!

Revisado: 08-30-20

I'm so in love with this book. As with all Lauren Blakely books I've read (of which there have been quite a few), the story was excellent and incorporated characters from other books/series. The thing that made this book particularly awesome were the chapters from the perspectives of Queen LaTofu and Bruce. Bruce's were my absolute favorite - partially because I have a cat of my own named Bruce, but mostly because they were hilarious. The narration by all four narrators was spectacular and only added to the story as a whole. Overall, this was a fantastic HEA book with no cliffhanger.

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Absolutely bizarre.

Revisado: 08-30-20

This book was strange. Kind of cute, yet totally bizarre. It includes a cloak that thinks it's a horse, a rather mean talking honey badger, a bed that tries to eat people, shoes that shackle and shoes that fly, 12 dancing princesses, 3 princes, some dragons, two witches, and more, all culminating into a rather odd adventure, to say the least. The story is set up with a couple of preface stories giving the background of both of the protagonists. They do get their HEA and there isn't a cliffhanger. I listened to the Audible version of this book. I thought the narration was well done but the harp music between stories, chapters and scenes got old *really* fast and was mostly just irritating.

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Not actually a douchebag.

Revisado: 08-16-20

Unlike Oz and Zeke, Rhett is not a douchebag. Not even a little. That being said, this book is full of douchebags: his teammates. After transferring to Iowa from Louisiana Rhett is subject to merciless hazing, despite it being against school and athletic policies. When his roommates (also teammates) decide he needs to get laid and post fliers all over campus reading "Get Rhet Laid" (yes, they spell his name wrong), Rhett is inundated with texts from random women.

Laurel is beautiful and when her cousin Alex dares her to text this Rhett guy from the poster, Laurel does. While she doesn't send the same type of DTF texts as the other women, Rhett is not pleased to get a text from her and tells her repeatedly to "f**k off". Give it a few weeks and a lot of texts (and sexts) later and the two have become somewhat of an item.

Rhett continues to believe that someone as beautiful as Laurel could truly want someone as ugly as him until near the end. The story is sweet and HEA with no cliffhanger. It can be read as a stand-alone if desired.

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Both informative and incredibly engaging.

Revisado: 04-27-20

I found this book incredibly interesting. The people/city of Temple, TX swept Daniel Corwin's original two attacks in 1975 swept under the rug. He was a good church-going boy from a incredibly devout and involved in the church family. He was always a good child, looking to please his parents. He couldn't have possibly done this, could he? And if he did, the girl surely must've asked for it somehow and is not blameless herself. With the help of the preacher and some influential people in town, Daniel's air-tight case for rape and attempted murder is plea-dealed down to 40 years, of which he served 9, being the model prisoner that he was. He then proceeds (1987-88) to attack four more women (killing three) before he is caught and sentenced to death by lethal injection in 1990. The key reason he is caught is an artist's sketch rendered after his last victim survived and despite not being able to talk (as he had slit her throat so deep), managed to help the artist create a fantastic likeness. Something that made the story even more interesting is that the author, Bryan Burrough, was also from Temple. I really enjoyed how Bryan told this story from the point of view of his investigation and experiences, not simply the facts explaining Daniel's life. We get to learn about the research Bryan did into this book, including interviews with some key players. Overall, very well written. Steve White's voice/narration worked very well for this story. His narration was smooth and engaging. I would definitely listen to another of his audio books in the future.

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A book of anxiety, indecision, and strife.

Revisado: 04-06-20

**Note: My rating of this book is purely based on my enjoyment of it, which does not speak to the quality of writing or story line.

While I did enjoy the book, it wasn't exactly what I'd call satisfying. Yes, there is a HEA for all involved, but the book was largely filled with anxiety, indecision, and strife. At every turn there is something that is troubling either one or both of the protagonists, Sevin and Evangeline.

The title is very appropriate as that is largely what this book entails. Whether or not you believe sex outside marriage is okay, in the context of this book it is very clearly not. The beginning of the book makes it abundantly clear that Sevin made the conscious choice to sin, repeatedly, largely in the form of sex. As the beginning of the book shows, the marital status of his partners was also irrelevant. There were definitely some steamy scenes, but some of them didn't seem right.

That being said, Evangeline creates a lot of problems for both herself and Sevin when she chooses to leave to avoid hurting her sister, Elle, to whom Sevin is betrothed. While I completely understand the desire to protect her sister, there could've been ways to work it out. Yes, Elle would be hurt, but it could be minimized and soothed along the way. Basically, they could've figured out something. At the end of the day, though, Evangeline's love for Elle outweighed her love for Sevin.

Because of Evangeline leaving, both her and Sevin are hurting. That continues for a large part of the book, especially once Rose comes into the picture. There wasn't a whole lot of happy throughout the book. That made it hard to really truly enjoy the book. As a reader, I tend to feel for the characters and even feel what the characters are feeling (a sign of good writing, I think), and most of the emotions I felt during this book were not positive or happy. And the happiness that did come was all bittersweet, not just true joy.

To sum it up, I would recommend this book as it is well written, but only to those who are okay with a HEA (and story line) that isn't all bright and shiny and happy.

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Starting from scratch.

Revisado: 01-30-20

When I started this book, I was very disappointed to find it did not pick up where the prequel left off, but what appears to be decades later. I was super interested to know what happens next with Anna and her sister switches and the shifter males. While this book explains what happened to all of the switches, it doesn't explain what happened specifically what happened to the characters from Growler's Gift. Where did they fit into The Reckoning? Did they ever hear from Antoni again (and, if so, was she somehow connected to the vampires, thus explaining the black in her pink magic)? Thus, this book was an adjustment after just having read Growler's Gift.

In this book, everything that existed in Growler's Gift is purely legend to a lot of shifters. Most have no idea what a switch is. They've all been gone for a very long time, after all. Now the steward is awake and it is time to revive the movement to eradicate the vampires.

Jameson is the keeper of the steward. The previous keeper, his uncle, died when he was 11, before his training as the keeper could begin. Over the last century, Jameson has searched for the Steward to no avail. All he has is an ancient book that he cannot read and cannot be damaged. After having a more-or-less vision, he realizes it's time to share what he knows with his fellow shifters, even if they think he's crazy. Much to his surprise, his search for the steward is over as this steward is already being held in lock-up at a nearby police station. After retrieving the steward (whose purpose nobody ever seems to figure out), the search for switches begins.

Coralie is the first switch in over a century and she has no idea what she is or that anything but humans even exist. In her mind, she's just had a mental break of some sort which led her to attempt to kill a man she doesn't know. Once she's been found, Jameson explains at least some of the situation to her. She believes him deep down, but convinces herself she doesn't actually believe him and runs.

Over the course of the story, Coralie, Jameson, and all of the other shifters, begin to navigate this new cause they've suddenly been called to. Now they need to find 14 more...

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Ehh.

Revisado: 01-30-20

I very much enjoyed Lisa Ladew's One True Mate series, so I thought I'd give this one a try. Based on this first book, I don't like this Switch of Fate series quite as much. The writing style is quite different. I think one of the things that lowered the experience for me was hearing "Growler growled" so many time (which, yes, isn't necessarily writing style, but this is not what I was talking about). Seriously, it is said far too frequently. I get it. His name is Growler (though not because he growls) and he growls on a regular basis (apparently a complete coincidence). He's a bear. Bears growl. His name could've been Rufus just as easily (or any other name, for that matter) and I get the feeling he would still have growled fairly regularly. That being said, the story was still quite interesting. It was much different than the One True Mate series, though they are similar in the sense that there is a foe being combated to protect the humans and female shifters are incredibly rare. In the One True Mate series, the KSRT (Kane Special Response Team), a team of wolven, is actively battling the demon, Kane, who killed almost all female shifters 25 years ago. In this book, the Cosh switches and shifters are tasked with combating vampires. Overall, not a bad read, but I was contemplating not continuing the series. Having since finished the first and started the second books of the series, I am glad I continued.

Keep in mind this is the prequel. Unfortunately, none of the characters appear to carry over to the rest of the series. (I really want to know what happens next for Anna and her sister switches and the males and figure out what the deal is with Antoni. Why is she so against mating? Why is there dark intertwined with the pink of her magic [does it have something to do with vampire magic]?) It also appears this may have taken place long before the first book in the story begins. This book is not necessary for understanding the Switch of Fate series, but it does give you a leg up on understanding exactly what switches are and their purpose and relations with the chosen shifters.

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Powerful!

Revisado: 01-06-20

The Audible copy of this play begins with the following: "Warning: portions of this performance include mature language and themes, including description of violence against women. Listener discretion is advised." I wholeheartedly agree. This book was powerful and extremely troubling. I would only amend that warning by saying "...graphic description of violence..." No act is described in the process of it's occurrence, but the state of numerous women's bodies, both possibly where and how they were found and also what the coroner (I'm assuming) deduced from their bodies. As is stated several times throughout the book, this senseless violence is "f*cked up." The world in which the women of Juárez, Mexico (and countless others throughout Mexico) live is terrifying. Kate del Castillo's performance is incredible. The amount of emotion she was able to put into the story with her voice only served to make it more moving. Despite (or maybe because of) the unpleasant nature of this play's content, I would highly recommend it.

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