Review: Royal Marriage Market by Heather Lyons

Royal Marriage Market by Heather Lyons
Series: Standalone
Published: December 15th, 2015
Publisher: Cerulean Books
335 pages (ebook)
Genre: Contemporary romance
Acquired this book: Bought
Warning: May contain spoilers
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Every decade, the world’s monarchs and their heirs secretly convene to discuss global politics and social issues—and arrange marriages between kingdoms.

Elsa may be the Hereditary Princess of Vattenguldia, but she finds the entire situation archaic and unsavory. While she wants what's best for her country, she isn't about to jump into an unwanted relationship—let alone a marriage—with a virtual stranger. Of course, her feelings matter little to her parents, whose wheeling and dealings over trade pacts and alliances achieved at her expense begin the moment they set foot in California for the Summit. So when a blindingly handsome royal runs into her, she doesn't hesitate to tell him there's no way she's marrying him.

Christian is all too happy to agree: no marriage. As the Hereditary Grand Duke of Aiboland, his main goal is to get through the summit without a bride being foisted on him. Which is why he suggests they help each other field potential intendeds. As Christian slowly gets to know Elsa, though, he realizes they have a lot more in common than just their feelings about the Royal Marriage Market. Only he can't fall for her, because royal or not, they're not meant for each other.

Elsa and Christian will have to evaluate matters of the heart verses those of state and crown, and decide whether or not tradition trumps love.

Royal Marriage Market is a fun, lighthearted modern fairy tale. I was completely captivated by this story from beginning to end.

Told alternately between Elsa and Christian, it was nice to get inside both characters’ heads. Their lives were fairly similar - they were destined to rule their respective countries, and their families were manipulative. They cared about their countries and their royal duties, but drew the line when it came to arranged marriage. They both saw their parents’ loveless marriages and wanted more for themselves, not to mention they didn’t want to be part of such an archaic tradition. Both characters were complex and easy to connect with. Their encounters ranged from funny to sweet to sexy to romantic. I loved that they had running jokes from early on in the story. It helped me not only connect to them, but it also made it easy to root for them, because underneath the surface of trying to keep their relationship friendly, it was obvious they were falling for each other.

This is the second book I’ve read lately where instalove was done right. Usually it feels contrived, but Lyons did a great job of making Elsa and Christian’s relationship believable. It was so much fun watching them fall for each other and wondering how they could possibly make things work.

If you’re looking for a book that’ll make you laugh and swoon in equal measure, Royal Marriage Market is a must read. It’s the perfect escape from reality when you want something sweet, light, and enchanting. This was my first Heather Lyons book, but it won’t be my last!

Have you read Royal Marriage Market? What did you think? If you haven't read it, do you plan to? Do you enjoy books about fictional royals?

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Blog Tour Review: With Every Breath by Lia Riley

Happy New Year! I'm excited to kick off 2016 with a review for a brand new book by one of my favourite authors: With Every Breath by Lia Riley.

With Every Breath by Lia Riley  
Series: Standalone
Published: December 29th, 2015
Publisher: Forever
288 pages (eARC)
Genre: Contemporary New Adult
Acquired this book: Via NetGalley in exchange for honest consideration
Warning: May contain spoilers
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At the ends of the earth, Patagonia is a land where ambition trumps reason and the savage summit of La Aguja lures the most determined climbers. It's also the last spot a "play-it-safe girl" like Auden Woods expects to find herself. But she'll lace up her brand-new hiking boots and do whatever it takes to secure a dream job at an adventure magazine . . . even if it kills her. And it just might. When disaster strikes, her only chance at survival comes in the form of the surliest, sexiest mountaineer ever to come out of Scotland.

After a climbing accident cost him his brother, professional mountaineer Rhys MacAskill is at the end of his rope. Redemption is not in his future. That is, until a terrifying storm blows a budding journalist into his tent and it's up to him to make sure they both survive until morning. Despite the demons weighing on him, Rhys can't resist the temptation of the charming American and one wild night just isn't enough.

Auden and Rhys soon learn there are no shortcuts as they navigate their way between life, death, and atonement, and discover something they never expected—love.

I’ve read (and loved) most of Lia Riley’s books, so I’ve been excited about With Every Breath since the moment I heard about it. Sexy Scottish mountaineer? Travel? THAT STUNNING COVER?! Put that all together and you get a book that’s emotional, sexy, and hard to put down.

Two things I’ve come to expect from Lia Riley’s books: a surly hero and sexytimes that leave you needing a cold shower. With Every Breath makes it official - Riley is the queen of hotter-than-hot sex scenes, and nobody does brooding heros quite like she does. Tortured heros aren’t always my thing, but Riley has a way of writing complex characters who have a good (and usually heartbreaking) reason for being the way they are, and they end up tugging at your heart strings and making you sympathize with them. Of course it didn’t hurt that Rhys was crazy sexy and I could picture him (and hear him - RAWR Scottish accent!) with perfect clarity. He and Auden were both great characters and I enjoyed getting to know them.

This book is a case of instalove done right. A lot of people complain about instalove, but I don’t mind it if it’s done right. Rhys and Auden were two broken, confused people, and they didn’t ‘fix’ each other, but they showed each other things that helped them overcome some of their issues and start to heal. There was no magical, overnight solution and neither of them was instantly healed; it was clear they both still needed to work through some things, but they aided in kick-starting the healing process for each other. While the book sometimes felt like it had more sex than plot, the story was touching and I think its themes - forgiveness and realizing your own self-worth in particular - will resonate with a lot of people.

With Every Breath made me run the gamut of emotions. I laughed, teared up, and swooned. It was heartbreaking at times, but I was smiling and satisfied when I finished reading. Lia Riley has written another fun, original story that packs an emotional punch.

 

 

Lia Riley writes offbeat New Adult and Contemporary Adult romance. After studying at the University of Montana-Missoula, she scoured the world armed only with a backpack, overconfidence and a terrible sense of direction. She counts shooting vodka with a Ukranian mechanic in Antarctica, sipping yerba mate with gauchos in Chile and swilling XXXX with stationhands in Outback Australia among her accomplishments.

A British literature fanatic at heart, Lia considers Mr. Darcy and Edward Rochester as her fictional boyfriends. Her very patient husband doesn't mind. Much. When not torturing heroes (because c'mon, who doesn't love a good tortured hero?), Lia herds unruly chickens, camps, beach combs, daydreams about future books, wades through a mile-high TBR pile and schemes yet another trip. Right now, Icelandic hot springs and Scottish castles sound mighty fine.

She and her family live mostly in Northern California.

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Have you read With Every Breath? What did you think? If you haven't read it, do you plan to? Have you read any of Lia's other books? Let's talk here or on Twitter!

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Review: All That Glows by Ryan Graudin

All That Glows by Ryan Graudin

Series: Standalone

Published: February 11th, 2014

Publisher: HarperTeen

300 pages (eARC)

Genre: Young adult urban fantasy

Acquired this book: From the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review

Warning: May contain spoilers

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Emrys—a fiery, red-headed Fae—always embraced her life in the Highlands, far from the city’s draining technology, until she’s sent to London to rejoin the Faery Guard. But this isn’t any normal assignment—she’s sent to guard Prince Richard: Britain’s notorious, partying bad boy and soon-to-be King. The prince’s careless ways and royal blood make him irresistible for the dark spirits that feed on mortals. Sweet, disheveled, and alive with adventure—Richard is one charge who will put Emrys’s magic and heart to the test.

When an ancient force begins preying on the monarchy, Emrys must hunt through London’s magical underworld, facing down Banshees, Black Dogs, and Green Women to find the one who threatens Richard’s life. In this chaos of dark magic, palace murders, and paparazzi, Emrys finds herself facing an impossible choice. For despite all her powers, Emrys has discovered a force that burns brighter than magic: love.

 

 

I love books about faeries, so when I heard about All That Glows, I was really excited. While I didn’t love the book the way I’d hoped to, I also didn’t hate it…it was pretty middle of the road for me. The story started out fairly strong and drew me in; I’d say I was really enjoying it up until about the 25-30% mark when things started to unravel somewhat.

There were quite a few aspects of this book that were unbelievable. I realize it’s fantasy so there are going to be some things that obviously suspend belief, but considering it was set in the real world, surrounding the British monarchy (albeit fictional royals), there were a few things that seemed really unrealistic, especially toward the end. One of the things I found hardest to believe was when Richard discovered Emrys was a faerie and that he’d had a Faerie Guard his whole life and he was basically like ‘okay sure’. I don’t know about you, but if I found out faeries really did exist, and that they’d been watching me my entire life, I would freak the hell out. But not Richard…he was all tra la la, business as usual.

There was also a major case of the dreaded instalove in All That Glows. Emrys and Richard met and fall almost instantly in love. Richard was a pretty bland, one-dimensional character, so it was hard to imagine why Emrys fell in love with him, let alone instantly and to the point of being willing to give up everything. She was hundreds of years old, seemed fairly intelligent and worldly, and yet she meets a cute boy and completely comes undone. Because of that and a few other things, it was hard to believe she was actually a centuries-old faerie - she seemed very much like a normal teenage girl except with magical abilities.

There were times I thought the writing was really beautiful, but then other times it was so flowery it made me roll my eyes. I don’t mind a well-placed metaphor - in fact, I like them, and even really enjoyed some of the ones in All That Glows - but it felt like almost every other sentence was a metaphor. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with so many metaphors before.

Things I did like about the book: the fae aspect. There was a bit of faerie lore and some explanations about how things worked, which I really enjoyed. In books, faeries seem to either be portrayed as good or evil, but All That Glows we got to see both kinds. I thought the parts with the Green Women, Banshees, and Black Dogs were really interesting. There was also some great action in the book, and I liked the suspense woven throughout. It kept me guessing, and the climax of the book had me really engaged and wondering what was going to happen.

Overall, All That Glows was just an okay read for me. It had a great, unique-sounding concept, and while it was well executed in some ways, it fell short in others. I think it could have been stellar if the characters were fleshed out more, and if we’d gotten to see Emrys and Richard falling in love instead of just being told they were in love and never really understanding or seeing why. As always, I encourage readers to make their own decisions - if you enjoy faerie stories, or even stories about monarchy, give this book a try. 

 

 

Have you read All That Glows? What did you think? If you haven't read it, is it on your TBR? Do you like books about faeries?

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Review: Leap of Faith by Jamie Blair

Leap of Faith by Jamie Blair

Series: Standalone

Published: September 3rd, 2013

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

240 pages (eARC)

Genre: Contemporary young adult

Acquired this book: From the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review

Warning: May contain spoilers

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Leah Kurtz has finally found a place to call home, a town where she and baby Addy can live in peace, far from the drug-infested place she grew up. Chris is one of the best parts of her new life, the only person who’s ever made her feel safe. And now that she’s found him, there’s no way she can tell the truth:

Her real name is Faith, not Leah. She’s seventeen, not nineteen. And the baby isn’t hers—Faith kidnapped her.

Faith’s history catches up with her when a cop starts asking questions and Chris’s aunt spots her picture in the newspaper. She knows it’s time to run again, but if Faith leaves, she’ll lose Chris. If Chris is in love with a lie, though, did Faith ever really have him in the first place?

I went into Leap of Faith without any expectations. It sounded completely different from other contemporary YA books, which I liked, but those books that seem ‘unique’ often fall short because people build them up so much. So I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself not only connecting with Faith, but genuinely enjoying her story.

I’ll be honest: I didn’t think I was going to like Faith at first. I felt sorry for her in the beginning because of her horrible life and the fact she was stuck with a cruel drug addict mother who neglected her and had a revolving door policy when it came to men. I thought Faith was just going to be a smartass troublemaker, and knowing what was coming from the synopsis, I figured she’d be one of those characters that you end up yelling at through the book for being so stupid and impetuous.

But then I slowly started connecting with her. I loved her voice, and I felt like I was really able to get inside her head and see her thought process and feel her emotions. She was impetuous, and her decisions weren’t necessarily the smartest, but I could understand her reasoning. I wanted her to get away, start fresh, and more than anything be happy and live the life she never would have if she’d remained stuck at home.

There were so many great secondary characters in this book. Chris especially really shone for me. The way he and Faith connected instantly in a strange, unspoken way made me curious to see where things would lead. I loved the way he fell head over heels for Addy; the scenes where he was taking care of her completely melted my heart. Then the way he took care of Faith and genuinely cared about her. Chris and Faith both had secrets, they both had haunted pasts, and even though neither knew the full details of the other’s life, they knew their connection had a lot to do with needing someone and needing something real and solid.

My only real issue with Leap of Faith was how convenient a lot of things were. There’d be this sense of urgency and fear, but then an easy, all-too-convenient solution. It happened time and time again, but I found myself being rather forgiving about it because I was enjoying the story so much and I wanted things to work out for Faith and Addy and Chris. I liked that Faith remained strong, and even when I didn’t agree with what she was doing, I still appreciated that she was doing what she thought was best. She was so young and had been through so much, and where a lot of other characters in a book like this would have fallen apart and taken the easy road, Faith toughed it out and made things work.

While the romance moved a bit fast, and I’m sure a lot of people will have a problem with it, it felt right to me. Faith and Chris weren’t typical teenagers and they weren’t under typical circumstances. Things moved fast, but it felt genuine to me.

Even though there were parts of Leap of Faith that were dark and a bit depressing, it had an overall feeling of hope. It was about second chances, love, acceptance, and having faith in people. I loved Faith’s strength and her voice, and I thought the characters were well fleshed out and memorable. While it had a few small issues, I think Leap of Faith is a strong debut from Jamie Blair, and I’m looking forward to more from her in the future.

 3.75 stars

Have you read Leap of Faith? What did you think? If you haven't, does it sound like something you'd be interested in?

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Review: Take Me Now by Faith Sullivan

Take Me Now by Faith Sullivan

Series: Take Me Now, #1

Published: July 16th, 2013

Publisher: Self-published

156 pages (ebook)

Genre: Contemporary new adult

Acquired this book: From the author in exchange for an honest review

Warning: May contain spoilers

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How do you survive the internship from hell?

Don't fall in love.

Ivy thought being a reporter-in-training at the Independent Gazette would be her dream summer job. Little did she know, interviewing Eric, a landscaper with a heart of gold, would derail her plans. It turns out Ivy's boss, Lauren, has been eying his chiseled physique for quite some time.
But at twenty-four, Eric already has a tragic past, one that he is still reeling from. Even though his ordeal turned him into some sort of local celebrity, it's been a while since he's shared his bed with anyone. When he comes to Ivy's rescue out of the blue, it's not long before the two of them start seeing each other behind Lauren's back. When they get caught, Ivy's journey toward a college degree is jeopardized and her relationship with Eric is severely put to the test.

Career versus love? In the end, a shocking turn of events provides Ivy with a revelation she never saw coming.

 

I wanted to like this book. I really did. So many people have been turning their noses up at New Adult, but I’ve been a big (and vocal) supporter of it. Unfortunately, Take Me Now was not a favourite.

Because I hate writing negative reviews (but as both a book blogger and an author myself, I believe in being completely honest even when the truth is hard), I want to start with what I did like about Take Me Now. The writing itself was good. The concept behind the story was good. It had a really strong opening that drew me in and made me curious. The book evoked emotion in me - rage at the characters who deserved it (and sometimes those who didn’t, just because of their actions), sympathy (for Eric especially), and I thought the characters' emotions - love, anger, confusion, jealousy, etc - really came across well.

What I didn’t like: the characters were way too dramatic. They overreacted to everything and created a ton of drama, but there were few actual consequences to their actions. I didn’t feel the romance; it was what I would consider instalove - Ivy and Eric became so obsessed with each other but they didn’t actually know anything about each other or spend that much time together. I despised Lauren, Will, and Ryan, and wished more than once that Ivy would grow a backbone and tell them all to go fly a kite in the middle of traffic during a lightning storm. I kept hoping I’d connect to Ivy and Eric, but I never did. Their behaviour and actions and poor decision-making skills often prevented me from even liking either of them, so it made it hard to connect with them.

Even though I didn’t enjoy Take Me Now, I always encourage people to try books for themselves. Just because it’s not a new favourite of mine doesn’t mean it won’t be a new favourite of yours. If you enjoy contemporary new adult with a lot of angst and drama (hey, it’s some people’s cup of tea!), I say give this one a shot. I enjoyed Sullivan’s writing enough that I wouldn’t hesitate to pick up another of her books in the future and hope for better results. 

2.5 stars

 Have you read Take Me Now? What did you think?

 

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