The Pact By Karina Halle

Author:  Karina Halle
Number of pages: 287
Publisher: Metal Blonde Books
Date published:  28 December 2014
Rating: 2 stars
Buy on: Amazon, Amazon UK

It all started with a pinky swear…

Linden McGregor is tall, rugged, and gunslinger handsome; a helicopter pilot with a Scottish brogue and charm to spare. He’s also one of Stephanie Robson’s best friends and has fit into that box for as long as she’s known him.

But some relationships can’t be boxed, can’t be classified, can’t be tamed.

Back in their mid-twenties and tired of the competitive hit-or-miss dating scene of San Francisco, Steph and Linden made a pact to marry each other if neither one of them are in a serious relationship by the time they hit thirty.

It sounds like fun and games but as the years to thirty tick past and lovers come and go out of their lives, the pact becomes larger than life.
Sex is inevitable. Friendships are tested. Hearts are on the line.

The pact is about to change everything.

REVIEW:

When I saw this book and decided to read it I thought I'll get some interesting romance book about two best friends (male and female) with a platonic relationship that make a promise to marry each other by the age of __, if both are not in a committed relationship. I wanted a story that will show how both make the transition from best platonic friends to lovers.

However, what I got was the story of two people that have been best friends while lusting after each other for like a decade before they finally got it done. And as much as I wanted to root for them I actually couldn’t care less.

Why?

Because the guy (I think his name started with L) was a total wuss. He needed to make a drunk pact to even start to express his want to fuck the the girl.  This was such an angsty story with her and him dating the wrong people all the while wanting each other, with both thinking of backing away from their pact. Then, finally they are doing it. And guess what? It's supposed to be awesome, right?

Well, there was a lot of hot sex and a lot of tears and screw ups and I just didn't fucking care. The only reason I even wanted them together was because I really liked the heroine, and since it was obvious she wanted the unmemorable douche guy and there was no one better coming anytime soon I hoped she would at least get what she wanted.

Two things I don't understand was her ex-boyfriend who was also his best friend really necessary in all the drama? I really didn't understand his attitude. And her nickname "Baby Blue" may I say, YUCK?

So, while I really liked Stephanie with all her flaws I couldn't care less for anything else.

However I will give kudos to the author for one important thing- she described well the feelings and insecurities when you are in a relationship that you know is leading nowhere and you are still there because taking a chance outside is too scary and 'what if you are missing something because you are just not trying hard enough or giving it a real chance?'

So you stay in a bad relationship hoping for some miracle (btw, that miracle often come in the form of divorce 5-10 years later). I've seen this too many times.

Mini ARC Review: No Regrets by Claire Kent

Author: Claire Kent
Publication Date: July 22nd 2014
Pages: 280 approx.
Format: ebook/ e-galley
Add on Goodreads, Leafmarks

Rating: 2 stars

On my last birthday, I made one vow for the year. Live with no regrets. Eleven months have passed, though, and nothing has changed. I still sleep alone, spend my life working, and never move out of my comfort zone.

Then the loss of my dog throws my whole life out of orbit, and I end up in bed with a very hot and slightly-too-young veterinarian, who has recently made a vow of his own. Live with no strings. Josh is more than happy to help me with the things I’ve been afraid to try. Semi-public sex. Spanking. Anal sex. He’s a willing partner for everything I’ve wondered about, as long as I don’t demand more.

He’s serious about his no-strings philosophy. As serious as I am about living with no regrets. I can’t help but fall for him, even though I know better. So my biggest regret might be a broken heart.

My Thoughts:

I received this title by the author/publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I will sum this book in one word: Predictable.

Meet Leslie, a thirty something well off woman, single, with a dog who just died and a vow not to have regrets about anything she does anymore. She meets the sex god Josh and together they share a passionate night (they only met that very morning).

I get it that this is a short story but it was really stupid and predictable. I finished the entire book with difficulty since I could not even concentrate. The writing was good but it lacked something important that I cant place. Although, the sex scenes were sexy and hot, for me personally, it lacked something. 

I mean from the book description you can actually tell what's this story is all about. I give this book two stars because of the writing and for the author's attempt to write a book.

The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks (book review by Efterpi)

Author: Nicholas Sparks
Release Date:August 1st 2005
Publisher: Warner Books
Pages: 276
Rating: 2 stars - did not finish
Buy on: Amazon

 After thirty years of marriage, Wilson Lewis, son-in-law of Allie and Noah Calhoun (of The Notebook), is forced to admit that the romance has gone out of his marriage. Desperate to win back his wife, Jane's, heart, he must figure out how to make her fall in love with him... again. Despite the shining example of Allie and Noah's marriage, Wilson is himself a man unable to easily express his emotions. A successful estate attorney, he has provided well for his family, but now, with his daughter's upcoming wedding, he is forced to face the fact that he and Jane have grown apart and he wonders if she even loves him anymore. Wilson is sure of one thing--his love for his wife has only deepened and intensified over the years. Now, with the memories of his in-laws' magnificent fifty-year love affair as his guide, Wilson struggles to find his way back into the heart of the woman he adores.

Review:

This book is supposed to be the follow up of the smashing bestselling book The Notebook. To me, not even close. To me this book was a huge let down and a huge failure.Okay, I have to say that I was warned by the reviews of other readers but i did not expect it to be so bad.

Let's start with Wilson the simple husband who thinks he is wrong because his wife grew up with the idea of the ''ideal romance'' in her head and expects him to be the same way her parents Noah and Allie (The Notebook) were...well let me spell it out for you sugar : Not everyones the same way.

I felt like the book was dragging on and on and on with no end. I did not get why we had to read about Wilson and his wife and the wedding of their daughter and the preparation of the wedding...the strokes and heart attacks Noah had and all that s***. The ending was not clear enough for me to understand that yeah, you know what?, every couple goes through a crisis in his life and the point in everything is to understand and try your best everyday. I would never understand that if i never read other books like this..but better.

The whole book is over the top with a main character who tries to please his wife as best as he can and in the end he fails because, simply, his wife is blind and stupid. Anyways, there are people out there that will probably will like this without purpose book but simply its not for me.

So, if you read the Notebook and want something similar to read dont even think of this book. Its exactly the opposite of the love story of Noah and Allie. Try something else like P.S. I Love You or Twenty Boy Summer or ONE DAY.

My Appetite for Destruction by Steven Adler Review by Eleni

Author: Steven Adler
Release Date: July 27th 2010
Publisher: It Books
Pages: 286
Rating: 2 STARS
Buy At: Amazon , Barnes and Noble

No secret is too dark.
No revelation too sick. But you must have the appetite for it.

After forty years, twenty-eight ODs, three botched suicides, two heart attacks, a couple of jail stints, and a debilitating stroke, Steven Adler, the most self-destructive rock star ever, is ready to share the shattering untold truth in My Appetite for Destruction.

When Adler was eleven years old he told his two closest friends he was going to be a rock star in the world's greatest band. Along with four uniquely talented—but very complicated and demanding—musicians, Adler helped form Guns N' Roses. They rose from the streets—primal rockers who obliterated glam rock and its big hair to resurrect rock's truer blues roots.

They were relentless rock stars, onstage and off, taking "sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll" to obscene levels of reckless abandon. By the late 1980s, GNR was the biggest rock band in the world, demanding headlines, awards, and sold-out shows, with one of the greatest rock albums of all time: Appetite for Destruction. But there was a price to pay. For Adler, it was his health and his sanity, culminating in a brutal banishment by his once-beloved musical brothers. Adler digs deep, revealing the last secrets, not only his own but GNR's as well: Slash's betrayal, Axl's unpredictable temper, and Duff's revenge. He bares it all with this shocking fuck-the-fates exposé that charts his meteoric rise and devastating collapse.

Adler was humiliated and disgraced when Axl Rose kicked him out of GNR in front of an MTV audience of millions. Adler plunged into the dark side, spending most of the next twenty years in a drug-fueled hell. But he finally beat his epic addiction to crack and heroin under the care of Dr. Drew Pinsky.

With Adler's newfound clarity comes a fierce determination to tell it all. Revelatory, heartbreaking, hilarious, and ultimately inspirational, you will never read anything more jaw-droppingly honest than My Appetite for Destruction.


REVIEW:

I have a really bad feeling that the synopsis of the book will be longer than my review and I feel bad for that.

I am sure by now that you all know that I am a huge GNR fan and that I read all the three biographies (Slash , It's So Easy and Other Lies). I liked the other ones so much especially Duff's but I am a little disappointed with this one if not completely.

Ok so like every autobiography book Steven starts with his painful childhood but he doesn't really give to the reader the chance to understand how he felt back then when his mother kicked him out of the house repeatedly because of her boyfriend. He doesn't even analyze why his mother chose her boyfriend over her kid. It's crazy.

As the book moves on we can see how Steven came to be a punk of the street and how his love for music begun. And that's where I start to hate the book. Slash said in his autobiography that Steven acted like a 10 year old all the time and that he could never shut up and that;s exactly what i saw in this book. A kid telling us about his mischief's and bragging about himself all the time through the end of the book and seriously that was so so so so so annoying. It would never be over.

Of course that didn;t stop there. He went on giving us disturbing and disgusting descriptions of stuff he did with girls and how he liked to do this and that with them. Ok I take back the thing i said about rock stars describing sex situations, I dont want to read something like that ever again.

I really felt bad for his wife after Adler got kicked out of the band and I really dont believe any of the accusations he has against his ex bandmates. There were all kids at the time and they didn;t know how to control some things especially since they were under pressure from the record company and half of the time lost in their own little world of drugs BUT i can never believe that they were so cold hearted and mean. I just think Steven saw it that way towards the end of his career because most of the time he was paranoid from drugs. 

After the fall he goes on about his hardships and how he dealt with it but what i didnt like is that he was still stuck up with the idea of GNR doing this to him. Well he would have continued with the band and he would get the same results like everyone else did. 

To sum it up real fast Steven Adler wrote a-ok book about his life but he gave me the impression that he is one of those stuck up 80's rockstars that had fame once and don't want to move on and do something else and even if they do it;s similar to what they achieved back then. 

p.s. the review was as long as the synopsis after all.

The Shadowhunter's Codex by Cassandra Clare Book Review by Eleni

Author: Cassandra Clare
Release Date: October 29th 2013
Publisher: McElderly Books
Pages: 288
Rating: 2 stars
Buy at: Barnes and Noble, Amazon

Delve into the details of all things Shadowhunter with this illustrated guide to the knowledge and lore of the Shadowhunter world.

Since the thirteenth century, the Shadowhunter’s Codex has been the one and only manual for Shadowhunters looking to brush up on their demon languages, learn proper stele use, and discover just what exactly a pyxis is. Featured in both The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices, this guide is a necessity for any young Nephilim on their journey to becoming a Shadowhunter. Beautifully illustrated, the Codex contains images of the famous Shadowhunter homeland of Idris, as well as depictions of demons and other Downworlders.

Review:

Before you condemn me to the depths of Hell for the 2 stars that I gave to the book please let me tell you that I am a huge fan of the Mortal Instruments and the Infernal Devices. So what went wrong with this one? I will tell you.

I hated hated hated the fact that Clare decided to write this book. First of all, there is nothing new in this book expect the funny scribbles of Jace, Clary and Simon on the margins of the page. That made me laugh hence the two stars. Other than that I think the book was destined to be a merchandising trap for MI fans around the world. Clare spend those pages for things we already know and learned through the series. both ID and IM. 

I thought the book would be written in a more sophisticated way, it would be more stern and give the impression of something serious but it was exactly the opposite. The writing was not as I expected it to be and that was really bad because it ruined the whole experience with the Sacred Book of the Shadowhunters.

It gave me the feeling that it was written in a haste and that the author was two timing it with something else. I hated it and it left me dissapointed because I was looking forward to it.

So my opinion is dont read this book there is nothing new in there or something that you will need for the last book of the Mortal Instrument Series.

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman book review

Author: Alice Hoffman
Release Date: August 3rd 2003
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Pages: 286
Rating: 2 stars
Buy At: Barnes and Noble , Amazon

The bestselling author of Second Nature, Illumination Night and Turtle Moon now offers her most fascinating and tantalizingly accomplished novel yet -- a winning tale that amply confirms Alice Hoffman's reputation not only as a genius of the vivid scene and unforgettable character but as one of America's most captivating storytellers.

When the beautiful and precocious sisters Sally and Gillian Owens are orphaned at a young age, they are taken to a small Massachusetts town to be raised by their eccentric aunts, who happen to dwell in the darkest, eeriest house in town. As they become more aware of their aunts' mysterious and sometimes frightening powers -- and as their own powers begin to surface -- the sisters grow determined to escape their strange upbringing by blending into "normal" society.

But both find that they cannot elude their magic-filled past. And when trouble strikes -- in the form of a menacing backyard ghost -- the sisters must not only reunite three generations of Owens women but embrace their magic as a gift -- and their key to a future of love and passion. Funny, haunting, and shamelessly romantic, Practical Magic is bewitching entertainment .

Review:

Seriously i thought i would die reading this book. i thought that it would never ever end...it went on forever.
ok so on this particular case the movie was way better than the actual book. The book in other words sucked. maybe i should have read the book first and then watched the movie but when you grow up with this movie and you live in a country where the book is not available what do you expect.


the book was awful. the writer had a way of telling things which in a way was both calming and nerve wrecking...while i was reading some peaceful paragraph the word f*** and p**** would suddenly appear making me think wtf?

i think that the book didnt have a plot. i felt like the writer just grabbed a piece of paper and started writing without a plan or something in her mind. people say that the book is all about witchcraft but i didnt see any actual witchcraft...the movie held that part a lot better.


i would not recommend this book to you...i would recommend the movie instead. so go and watch the movie.

The Boy Who Sneaks in My Bedroom Window By Kirsty Moseley book review

Author: Kirsty Moseley
Release Date: April 30th 2012
Publisher: Create Space
Pages: 256
Rating: 2 stars

Amber Walker and her older brother, Jake, have an abusive father. One night her brother's best friend, Liam, sees her crying and climbs through her bedroom window to comfort her. That one action sparks a love/hate relationship that spans over the next eight years.

Liam is now a confident, flirty player who has never had a girlfriend before. Amber is still emotionally scarred from the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father. Together they make an unlikely pair.

Their relationship has always been a rocky one, but what happens when Amber starts to view her brother's best friend a little differently? And how will her brother, who has always been a little overprotective, react when he finds out that the pair are growing closer?


Review:

okay here comes. i am so dissapointed from this book. i was looking forward to it because my boyfriend used to come to my room every night after my parents were asleep but it wasnt so cheesy.
1) The Characters:
while you are reading this book you will have to deal with a bunch of 16 y.o and some 18 y.o. who act like they are five and they only thing that actually cross their minds is sex and how to nail each other by betting (yup and i mean a lot of money). The protagonist is supposed to be suffering from sexual abuse BUT i dont see her dealing with it when her bf is all over her (who by the way only thinks on how to tap her ass...like all the time)
2) The Plot:
i dont know what the hell crossed the writers mind...it seemed like she didnt plan it at all and she was just writing whatever dropped in her stupid mind. its unrealistic and most of the times stupid and you can even connect with the protagonists.
3) The Writing:
those of you that have read it you have noticed...those of you who gonna read it you gonna notice too. the writer is repeating herself over and over again with the words pourring, winking, smirking, groaning etc etc. its like before she started writing she decided to just write down 7 words for expression and thats whats she been using through the entire book. i dont even want to comment on the sentence construction.
4) Sex scenes:
wtf???? like seriously why didnt she published this novel through Harlequin? that book would be perfect under this category. there was so much sex and description that it was seriously disturbing. okay i not say that i was fun of the twilight- no -sex -at- all -to - the-point -that - you -scream-for-it but she could have keep it down a notch and actually show to the reader that Liam and Amber have a deep relationship and they talk about other stuff apart from sex and how to make each other horny.


In a few words read it only if you have nothing to read and you prefer Harlequin romance.