Twisted Truth by Maria Macdonald

 

 🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Synopsis:
I used to believe in true love.
Until he broke me.
Lesson learnt.
Where there’s love, there’s lies.

I used to believe I wasn’t what she needed.
Until I let her love in.
I’ve changed for her.
I want her to believe in me like I need to believe in myself.

Isaac James stayed out of my life for five years. He wasn't to blame, after all, protecting me imprisoned him.
Now he’s back. The chemistry is still there, the tension is still there, the love is still there… the pain is still there.
Isaac James was my rock, my first love… my family.

Olivia McKenna has always been my weakness. I’d do anything to protect her, which I proved, despite it taking me to prison.
I’ve stayed away, trying to do the right thing. I thought I was still protecting her. But, I’m lost without her… even if I’m not sure I can be what she needs.
Olivia McKenna was my forever… for always.

 GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30349844-twisted-truth

*Received an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

The book started off well. I really enjoyed seeing the progression of Olivia's personality as she grew from a child to becoming a young woman. I found her extremely funny and likeable as a child. The author was able to capture what kids are like when they are little and the fact that they have no filter. I feel like the best word to describe this book is tease. I kept expecting one thing to happen and every time I thought that it would, it seemed like someone would jump out and say "syke!" 

I didn't know that there would be a forbidden/taboo angle to their relationship until I had read a bit of the story so if you aren't into that kind of thing than this book probably isn't for you.  Once I realized that that would be a piece of the plot I thought that is what the book would mainly focus on. However, it seemed as if this aspect of the story was glanced over rather than having it add some tension and drama to the book. Although, I found out that this type of relationship is legal in the UK so it is probably not taboo like it is here in the United States.

I feel like I have read some version of this story before so it felt a bit stale to me. I had some trouble with the characters. I didn't find them that likeable because Olivia seemed like a whiny, tantrum throwing lap dog and Issac didn't seem to understand that you should think through your actions and the effect that they have on others. Their relationship seemed volatile and frankly, I was hoping that they wouldn't end up together because they didn't seem to be good for each other. I feel like parts of Issac's story still didn't make sense to me even after they are eventually explained. The explanation just seemed so convenient rather than being realistic to me. 

 

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AUTHOR BIO

Maria is a full time working Mum, she has two beautiful daughters, both of whom love books as much as she does.
Maria has loved to write since she was a little girl.
Reading and loving books, as well as blogging, has inspired her to write and publish.
Maria, her husband and children now reside in Wiltshire, England.

AUTHOR LINKS

Website: http://www.mariamacdonaldauthor.com/
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Canvas by Jacob Chance

🌟🌟🌗 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Synopsis: 
Joshua Dawson is my best friend's ex-boyfriend. That alone should be reason enough for me to keep my distance. Add in that he's a well mannered, loyal and hardworking artist and I should be running in the other direction.

He's damn near perfect, and I prefer my men hard to love and easy to leave. Josh's only flaw is he wants forever, and for the first time I might want the same. But loving someone doesn’t mean you deserve them.

He's all I want and everything I can't have.

GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35754886-canvas


*Arc generously provided in exchange for an honest review*

I thought that the chemistry between the main characters was explosive. Whenever they were near each other in the book, it was clear that there was tension because it leapt off the page.

I was kind of confused as to why the book seemed to have a few different "beginnings" or "prologues". The author gives a glimpse of events in Josh's life five years ago, four months ago, and then present day which makes for a confusing beginning. I had no idea what was going on or why. I started off liking the character but then he says some harsh things that automatic make me dislike him. I wanted to understand what happened between the characters that made them act the way that they did. 

It seemed like Josh and Elle began the book having some issues within themselves and each other. I think that I was able to where each of them stood but then it seemed as if they changed their stances on things very quickly. It didn't feel very realistic to me especially since they hurt each other and seemed firm in how they felt about pursuing any kind of relationship. After reading the entire book, I'm still not sure why they treated each other the way that they did... Not knowing how to deal with feelings for someone else is not a good enough excuse.

I thought that the book was predictable to a point. There were parts of it that were different from what I have come to expect from this genre which I appreciated. I would have liked to have seen the characters fleshed out a bit more. I still don't feel like I know much about them other than bits and pieces of information. 

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AUTHOR BIO

Jacob Chance grew up in New England. He’s a martial artist, a football fan, a practical joker and junk food lover.

An author of romantic suspense and sports romance, he plans to write many more sexy, suspenseful stories.
 
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See Me, See Me Not (Gavert City #2) by Elodie Nowodazkij

🌟🌟🌟🌗 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Synopsis:
The second standalone novel in the YA romantic suspense "Gavert City" series.

SEE ME, Try as they might…
SEE ME NOT, Tessa and Luke can’t escape their pasts.

Six years ago, Tessa Gardner’s sister, Mellie, disappeared. Despite lingering guilt and the never ending desire to find her, seventeen-year-old Tessa works hard to keep it together. Her grades are decent, and thanks to her part-time job, she can help pay her family’s bills. But when her childhood crush, seventeen-year-old Luke Simon, rolls back into her small Texan town, he threatens to topple the delicate balance she created. She’s drawn to him—and the way he makes her smile. He’s the only one who seems to understand her, but he’s got a dark past of his own. Even the fake psychic who swears Mellie is still alive tells Tessa that Luke will cause her pain.

Luke Simon knows a thing or two about guilt. He moved in with his uncle to escape his past, but memories threaten to eat him alive. He does what he can to keep his anger in check—quieting his thoughts by making out with one meaningless girl after the next. Tessa, and her long legs and her hard-earned smiles and her kindness is the only girl who’s ever mattered. She’s the one untainted memory he has from his childhood and he could talk to her for hours. He could do anything with her for hours. But the truth about his past might send her running. Or worse.

While Tessa and Luke try their hardest to live in the present, their pasts lurk in the shadows, more intertwined than they could imagine.  And it may be too late to save Tessa's sister—and themselves.

*I received this copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review* 

This book intrigued me from the very first page. I didn't expect the book to have such a thought provoking and serious subject matter. I thought it would just be another second chance romance not that there is something wrong with them. I appreciated the attention to detail and the depth concerning the characters and the issues each of them were dealing with. I felt that their methods of coping and reactions were realistic which helped me to believe the story more fully. I thought the mystery of their pasts and what happened to Mellie were well done. The author was able to put enough interesting breadcrumbs to make readers want to continue to read without giving away too much information that would give away plot points. It made for a good flow to the story wherein everything happened at good pace.

I know that the books in this series are supposed to be standalone but I felt like I should have read the first one. See Me, See Me Not starts off by throwing the reader right into the fray and I felt like I was missing something...like maybe there was information I needed to know beforehand to fully grasp the situation. There were aspects of the book that I felt needed to be explained more thoroughly concerning Luke and Tessa's pasts. I still don't feel like I can fully grasp exactly what was going on and why. I get the main idea of the conflict but would have liked to understand some of the details better.

Dear Captor by Liz Lovelock

🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Synopsis:

Dear Captor,

You’ve stolen me.
You’ve spilled my blood.
You’ve brought me pain.
But what you’re yet to realize... I’m a fighter.
I’ve been broken before.
I’ve even at one point lost the will to live.
So now you know… this information I gift to you.
I’m ready for you, so do your worst.

Sincerely,

Elenore

 GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36049900-dear-captor

EXCERPT

Prologue

What’s in a name?
Usually, parents name their children with a special kind of love in their hearts. Not mine though. They didn’t want me, or at least, that’s what they kept telling me. They only ever wanted to inflict pain. I was nobody until the woman next door gave me the lovely name Elenore. She cared for me when my own parents didn’t or wouldn’t.
Every single day I wished to be taken away from what I endured. Anywhere would have been good. I would have sold my soul to the devil himself back then, and I’d willingly do it now. Give my living essence to breathe, to live on. My entire childhood was a survival story, and now I have another.
So much blood. Everywhere I look, there are dark pools of solidified blood stuck to the walls, the floor—my entire cell is covered. The girls who came before me are no more. Their stories are over. It was gruesome, the stuff of your nightmares.
Not me, though—he kept me.
One letter changed my destiny of certain death. It was never in me to give up easily. I’ve always been a fighter. He never saw me coming, and he never knew my strength. He was not what I expected either.
His strength.
His calmness.
Or his kindness.
He was my captor . . .
 

*Arc generously provided in exchange for an honest review*

Wow! This book was amazing! I knew that I had to read this book after I read the blurb and I'm so happy that I received an arc so that I could. There were so many things that I liked about it and I'm excited because it is only part one of  Dear Captor. 

The story itself was well written with a great flow to it. It started off with a bang and never let up for one second. I was sucked in from the moment I began reading it and wanted to read more as soon as I finished it. I wanted to know what was going to happen in the next portion of the story and what was going to happen to the characters. 

 I loved how the author chose to give different points of view in the book particularly the captor. I enjoyed being in his head and trying to figure out how he came to be what he was and do the things that he did. I hope that I will get to know more of his backstory in the next book. I thought that Elenore was an awesome character. I admired her strength and resilience in the face of the horrors she had to endure. She had an interesting, in depth, backstory which helped me to feel like I knew her and could understand how she would feel about different things. The secondary characters were just as good even though we don't learn as much about them. 

AUTHOR BIO

Liz is from bright and sunny Queensland, Australia. She has always been a reader. When she was little, she’d be up late reading Garfield and Asterix comic books and also Footrot Flats. When Liz hit high school, they gave her Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden, and from there her love of books continued to grow.

Liz keeps a notebook and pen beside her bed for when those late-night ideas pop into her head, plus she’s a stationery addict and loves pens, notebooks, and, well, anything stationery.


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COMING SOON IN THE LETTERS IN BLOOD SERIES

#2 With Love – Releasing October 18, 2017

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#3 Forever Yours – Releasing November 15, 2017

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Born, Darkly (Darkly, Madly Duet #1) by Trisha Wolfe

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Synopsis:
He challenged her sanity.

She shattered his reality.

They dared each other...to the brink of madness.

A dark and twisted maze awaits criminal psychologist London Noble when she falls for her patient, convicted serial killer, Grayson Pierce Sullivan. As she unravels the traps, her sanity tested with each game, she's forced to acknowledge the true evil in the world around her. 

*Provided with an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

When I read the synopsis of this book my first thought was that it reminded me of the story of Joker and Harley Quinn. He manipulated her and messed with her mind until she was just as nuts as he was. My second thought was that this sounded like a a thrill ride of a book and I knew that once I started reading that I was going to have a hard time putting it down. 

I'm happy to say that I was right! This book has got to be one of the best dark romances I have ever read! I loved the dual point of view in this book! It helped me to see how London changed over the course of the book. She begins to question herself as well as others more and more until she  pieces all the clues together to figure out the truth. Grayson's point of view made my skin crawl. I loved diving into his twisted head space! If anything, I wanted to hear more from him throughout the book. I loved learning about Grayson and London including their thought processes and how they compensated for their"weaknesses".

I have to say that I did not see any of the twists and turns in Born, Darkly coming. Trisha Wolfe kept surprising me in the best way. Everything in the book made sense and only added to to the suspense and darkness of the story. Grayson and London battled each other until the very end of the book to see who would come out as the alpha. It was a battle of wills and cunning!

The Lives of Desperate Girls by MacKenzie Common

🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Helen Commanda is found dead just outside Thunder Creek, Ontario. Her murder goes unremarked, except for the fact that it may shed light on the earlier disappearance of Chloe Shaughnessy. Chloe is beautiful, rich and white. Helen is plain, and from the reservation. They had nothing in common except that they were teenage girls from an unforgiving small town. Only Chloe's best friend Jenny Parker knows exactly how unforgiving, but she's keeping some dangerous secrets of her own.

Jenny begins looking for answers about Helen's life and death, trying to understand larger questions about her town and her best friend. But what can a teenage girl really accomplish where adults have failed? And how much is Jenny actually complicit in a conspiracy of silence?

*I received this copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

 

I thought that this book took an interesting direction by having one of the focuses be racism. Two girls are gone with one missing, possibly dead and the other murdered but the police are focusing on the missing white girl rather than the native young woman that was murdered. I'm not sure how realistic I found some the events in the book or the memories that people spoke about. Some things seemed to be a bit far-fetched which made them hard to believe.  Although, I assumed that the book was set in present day but if it was set sometime in the past it would be more realistic to me. 

The portions of the book that I enjoyed the most were the moments that were focused on Chloe.  However, they seemed as if they were few and far between so I found it difficult to keep reading. I wanted to delve more into her "secrets" in order to understand her mind set and what happened to her but the book focused more on Jenny and her reactions to everything. I found Jenny to be bland and uninteresting. Her reactions to things seemed blunted to me and her priorities were odd. It seemed like the book didn't have a focus. There were so many topics that were discussed that it was difficult to pinpoint where my attention was supposed to be. Is it Helen? Chloe? Jenny? It began to be confusing not to mention the romance aspect that is focused on quite a bit in the book. 

Echoes in the Storm by Max Henry

 🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review*

 

BLURB

“Behind those eyes, a battle rages. One that’s not fought overseas with guns and tanks, but one that wreaks havoc in the homeland with harshly spoken words and misguided beliefs.”

One week is all we were supposed to share. One week as strangers. Yet you became so much more.

You were the echo in my storm.

All the little things you did differently irked me. I thought it meant we couldn’t get along, that there was no chance we’d work out. But when it came time for me to leave, you know what I figured out?

They were the faint call of home, lost on the wind and the roar of thunder. It was you calling me, hoping I’d hear you and find my way out of the dark that I had lost myself in when I shut off to survive.

You were my echo. My call back.

And fuck it all if I didn’t find home in the end.

GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35906425-echoes-in-the-storm                                                                                                                               

EXCERPT

Chapter One

Eleven hours in the office, and this is what I have to come home to. I close my eyes and focus on my breathing, trapped in the naïve thought that maybe, just maybe, if I wish him away hard enough, it could truly happen.
Nope. Still there.
Blondie belts a tune out on my car radio, the beat going some way toward helping me find my zen. Three years on, and the sheer sight of him still pisses me off the same as it did when he told me “I don’t think I could ever love you again.”
Yeah. Because loving me meant accepting the fact it wasn’t my fault, and he refuses to believe that.
I refuse to believe that.
Drawing a deep breath, I reach for the door handle and promptly cut Blondie off mid-sentence as the crisp evening air rushes into my safe haven. With my leather tote snatched in my other hand, I rise and plaster on as natural of a smile as I can manage when my back aches and my feet throb from overuse.
“Eight months, Jared.”
My ex leans a shoulder against the side of the house, tucked under the veranda as though he had hoped to blend into the shadows and catch me by surprise.
“And yet, it hasn’t dulled your attitude any.”
“What do you want?” I shut and lock the car, pining for that first dip in a hot bath.
“You ignored my calls.” He frowns as I walk right by him. “Did you think I’d be that easy to brush off?”
“Hardly.” There was a reason he used to be saved in my phone under ‘Cockroach’. “I’ve been busy.”
“You’re not the only one,” he bites, inviting himself into the house behind me. “But then again, you never did understand that concept, did you?”
“Carry on, Jared,” I snap louder than intended. “See how long this wee conversation lasts if that’s the way you’re going to steer it.”
He pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. “I’ll make it quick.” For a fleeting second, I see the vulnerable man I fell in love with ten years ago. “I want you to sell the house.”
Until that.
“What?” I throw my tote on the side table with more zest than necessary.
We were married for barely two years, not enough time for the property to have increased substantially in value. So it was decided when we split that I’d stay in it, paying the mortgage on my own, and the little that he had put in over the course of our relationship would be repaid when I sold.
When I sold.
“If you need the cash—”
“I need an end to this.” He waves a hand between us as I slump against the hallway wall. “I need to cut ties from you, Cam.”
“I thought we were doing that just fine,” I whisper as I run my eye over his carefully put together outfit.
Fuck, he unfriended me on Facebook the minute he split. I don’t even know where he lives now, just that it’s in the city, and judging by the threads he’s got on he’s doing well for himself.
Of course, he doesn’t need the money. He’s never needed anything from me. Makes sense then, that he wants me to sell to ensure he has no reason ever to see me, let alone talk to me, again.
“If you want closure, Jared, I can get my lawyer to send yours the settlement amount when and if I sell in the future. You don’t have to deal with me.”
He shrugs. “Except I would. You’d still be there in the back of my mind every time I have to list assets, Cam. Or if Kell and I want to apply for another mortgage—it’s still in my name, too.”
“So we change it.” I push aside the reference he made to the whore who stole him away. “Make a time at the bank, and I’ll meet you there.”
Silence hangs thick, choking the air in the house—the very reason for this conversation. I push off the wall with the flat of my hand and take a couple of steps toward the lounge room.
“How long?”
He hangs in the entrance hall. “As soon as we can agree on a realtor.”
“No.” I drop to the edge of the armchair, bracing myself with both hands on the cushion. “You’ve got to give me longer.”
“Why, Cam?” He ventures as far as the open doorway, ever reluctant to get too close to me. “You’ve had three years to get what you need out of being here. Staying in the house won’t change anything.”
“Exactly,” I whisper.
I never stayed in the hope it would settle the past, or that the memories the house held could ever ease the pain. I didn’t stay to heal. I stayed to keep the wound open and festering, to never forget.
I chose to remain in the home we shared so I would be reminded every day of what I did and why I don’t ever deserve to have that kind of love again.
“You need to move on,” Jared murmurs as he retraces his steps toward the door. “It’s not healthy, Cam.”
“I know.”
He twists the handle and opens the front door a fraction, resting his shoulder against the edge as he drives the nail home a little harder.
“You need to own up to what you did.”

  REVIEW:

 *ARC received in exchange for an honest review*

I thought that the author did a good job of showing the emotional depth of what both Cam and Duke's traumas did to them. It was clear that they were each finding it hard to cope and were leading half lives. I thought that the descriptions of their pain like that of the sentence in the blurb about Duke fighting a war  were really well done. I wanted to hear more about what was going on inside of each of the characters heads due to this. I thought that the beginning of the book was better than the middle and ending of the book because there was mystery and emotional pain. I feel that those things did not last very long before Cam and Duke were so focused on each other that it took away from the depth that the story began with. 

Some of the chapters didn't make sense to me at first and they felt like they were out of place. I had no idea what was happening but quickly realized that they were supposed to be flashbacks. They seemed to break up the flow of the story and made me feel disconnected from the book. They weren't needed considering the characters end up discussing the things that were talked about in them later. There was no lead in or chapter heading that explained them so there were times where I had to go back a few pages in order to know what was going on. 

I didn't understand certain points of the story because again there was no reasoning or explanation as to why Duke and Cam made certain choices. I felt that the book needed more foreshadowing so that I could understand that the book was going to go in a certain direction. It didn't make since to the plot and seemed like it  was used in order to try to add extra conflict and drama.

 

 

 

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AUTHOR BIO

Born and bred in Canterbury, New Zealand, Max now resides with her family in beautiful and sunny Queensland, Australia.

Life with two young children can be hectic at times, and although she may not write as often as she would like, Max wouldn’t change a thing.

In her down time, Max can be found at her local gym, brain-storming through a session with the weights. If not, she’s probably out drooling over one of many classic cars on show that she wishes she owned.


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