Review: Broken Dove by Kristen Ashley

 

 

Title: Broken Dove
Series: Fantasyland #4
Author: Kristen Ashley
Release Date: 27th December, 2013
Rating: 3 stars
Cliffhanger: No

Far too young, Apollo Ulfr lost Ilsa, his wife, the love of his life and the mother of his two children. The grief of her loss does not settle in his soul, it solders to it. But when he discovers there is a parallel universe where his wife may have a twin, he feels there's hope and sets about bringing her to his world so he can have her back.

But Ilsa Ulfr of our world is married to the parallel universe's twin, Pol, who is not a good man. Not in any way. She's on the run from him and the last thing she wants is to be transported to a fantastical world and be forced to take his side as his wife, even if he is not Pol. And Apollo finds the broken, bitter Ilsa nothing like his beloved and he further wants nothing to do with her.

But darkness is looming and evil is amassing. Apollo must protect his land and keep his family safe, including the new Ilsa.

I was very thrilled to read another book in Fantasyland series, series that is not only extremely romantic and sensual but also magical. Every previous book was unique, spectacular and fairy-tale like, yet it wasn’t too sugarcoated. Unfortunately, this time I was left unsatisfied and disappointed. I craved way much more than I was given, which made me bitter and mad.

In the fourth installment of Fantasyland, previous main characters are getting ready for war with Baldur and she-god Minerva. In the dark times that came to the parallel universe the love between three couples we already met only grows stronger.

At the same time when they are living theirs happily ever after, Apollo Ulfr is still nursing his bleeding heart. After his wife died almost five years ago, living him and the children, Apollo can’t come back to live. When he learned about parallel universe, where twin of his dead wife still lives, Apollo wanted to get her to Notherlands. No matter the price.

But Ilsa of the other world is completely different that his beloved, departed wife. After years of living in constant fear, she is not the woman Apollo craves. Ilsa after being repeatedly abused by her husband Pol (Apollo’s twin) has problems with trust and opening her heart again.

Broken Dove was too long. As first book in this series, Wildest Dreams, Kristen Ashley went a little bit crazy with page count. In consequence, the novel started to be boring and very much similar to other books in the series. I was under impression that there was nothing new happening between Apollo and Ilsa that would make Broken Dove refreshing and impressive. Some situations were the exact same as in previous novels. Maybe it’s because I’ve recently read them, but I just couldn’t close my eyes and pretended it didn’t happen earlier.

When the action completely slowed down or died, author started throwing in pages about how perfect Frey and Finnie’s, Lahn and Circe’s and Tor and Cora’s life was. Showing the men with children, women with children, other people with their babies and how sweet and cute every one of them was, started to irritate me. At the beginning, I was of course swooning with Ilsa, but after some time I wanted to yell ‘enough of this already’.

What else was frustrating was the countless times author highlighted how perfect Ilsa was. How men looked at her. How she almost ‘floated’. How many of them fell in love with her. In my opinion, Ilsa was the most boring and unimpressive of the girls. She was a great example of Pollyanna.

I won’t be beating around the bush. I wanted, no I expected fireworks. I wanted to swoon, laugh, cry and be turn on, and while these things still happened, I wasn’t satisfied with frequency of them. And that is a definite shame.

Overall, Broken Dove isn’t the prettiest gem in Fantasyland series. As much as I liked this book, I didn’t love it. Not like the previous books. I wished for more, and my expectations weren’t met. Still, I will be waiting like a love sick puppy for the next part in this completely mesmerizing tale.

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Review: The Golden Dynasty by Kristen Ashley

Title: The Golden Dynasty

Series: Fantasyland #2

Author: Kristen Ashley

Release Date: August 22nd, 2011

Rating: 5 + stars

Cliffhanger: No

[Yes (hide spoiler)]

Circe Quinn goes to sleep at home and wakes up in a corral filled with women wearing sacrificial virgin attire - and she is one of them. She soon finds out that she’s not having a wild dream, she’s living a frightening nightmare where she’s been transported to a barren land populated by a primitive people and in short order, she’s installed very unwillingly on her white throne of horns as their Queen.

Dax Lahn is the king of Suh Tunak, The Horde of the nation of Korwahk and with one look at Circe, he knows she will be his bride and together they will start The Golden Dynasty of legend.

Circe and Lahn are separated by language, culture and the small fact she’s from a parallel universe and has no idea how she got there or how to get home. But facing challenge after challenge, Circe finds her footing as Queen of the brutal Korwahk Horde and wife to its King, then she makes friends then she finds herself falling in love with this primitive land, its people and especially their savage leader.

Kristen Ashley completely astounded me. Her devastatingly beautiful, heart wrenching story bewitched me. This epic romance will always be written in my heart. Not only The Golden Dynasty was exceptional, unique and utterly perfect read, it also totally changed me and made me fall in love with Kristen Ashley writing.

In epic way, author created barbaric, full of violence and savage world, that was vicious, full of angst and incredibly scary, yet at the same time, Ashley almost effortlessly made me fall in love with this primal, primitive people and their culture. At the beginning I thought there would be no way in hell for me to understand this brutes and their behavior, and what’s more to make me like them, but yet quickly I changed my opinion.

As much as gritty and dark some parts were, the seed of love that Ashley beautifully planted on this primal desert bloomed, and made me swoon, cry, laugh and feel every delicious emotion on this roller coaster ride.

Lahn was intense character, the alpha male, I have never read about. I couldn’t believe how quickly I was smitten with him, despite the bad that was in his heart.

Dax Lahn

“is known as the Tiger because he is ferocious, clever and strong in battle… He’s a husband, he’s a king, he’s a man but above all … he... is…a warrior.”


The strength and power he had was scary and immensely alluring at the same time, but what made me fall for him was the gentleness that was in his soul.


“Out there, King Lahn is a fierce warrior but in here, my Lahn…kah Lahn is sweet.”

Circe will be one of my favorite heroines ever. Her strength, her courage and bravery made her kickass character.

Together they were so freaking hot! Even the fact they didn't share language and couldn't communicte without problems was incredibly sensual.


I have no more words that would be beautiful enough to highlight how flawless, how wonderful and fabulous this book was. I loved everything from the first to the last page and I would never change a thing in this phenomenal romance story.








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Review: Wildest Dreams by Kristen Ashley

Title: Wildest Dreams

Series: Fantasyland #1

Author: Kristen Ashley

Release Date: August 15th, 20122

Rating: 4.5 stars

Cliffhanger: No

 [ Yes (hide spoiler)]

Seoafin "Finnie" Wilde was taught by her parents that life was meant to be lived, every breath was a treasure and to seek every adventure she could find. And she learns this lesson the hard way when they perish in a plane crash when she's fifteen. But she never forgets and when she discovers there is a parallel universe where every person has a twin, she finds a witch who can send her there so she can see her parents again and have the adventure of a lifetime.

But nearly upon arrival in the Winter Wonderland of Lunwyn, she realizes she's been played by her twin of the alternate universe and shortly finds herself walking down the aisle to be wed to The Drakkar.

Instantly thrown into inauspicious circumstances, with years of practice (she did, of course, survive that elephant stampede, if she could do that, she can do anything), Finnie bests the challenges and digs into her adventure. But as Frey Drakkar discovers the woman who is his new wife is not Princess Sjofn, a woman he dislikes (intensely) but instead, his Finnie, a free-spirit with a thirst for venture just like him (not to mention she is his destiny), without her knowledge he orders his new bride bound to his frozen world, everlasting.

Wildest Dreams is like a book that was perfectly written for me. From perfectly well thought magical world to the intense, sensual love story with delicious alpha male, Kristen Ashley made me fall in love with her writing. It’s like my wildest book dream came true.

Kristen Ashley delivered exceptionally sexy, romantic fantasy book that swept me off my feet. I can’t believe, I haven’t read this earlier. I feel like I almost missed out on something amazing.

Fantasyland started with a big kick that made this book out of this world phenomenal. I read it in few hours and had a blast, while being with Finnie on her overpowering adventure into parallel universe.

I'm so in love with that magical world with Dragons, Elves, spectacular landscapes, princes, and princesses, I want to experience the same things as Finnie did, and of course I dream about finding my own Frey ;)

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Review: Working It by Kendall Ryan

 

Title: Working It
Series: Love by Design #1s
Author: Kendall Ryann
Release Date: November 11th, 2013
Rating: 2 stars
Cliffhanger: Yes

A story of heart-stopping, toe-curling passion by the New York Times bestselling author of Hard to Love, Resisting Her, and The Impact of You.
Emmy Clarke is out of her depth in New York City’s fashion world, but when she lands a job as an assistant at a modeling agency it seems like the perfect mix of business and pleasure. Working under the notorious Fiona Stone is a nightmare, but there’s one distinct perk: ogling the ridiculously hot male models who parade through the office—particularly rising star Ben Shaw.

Ben is everything Emmy’s not: exquisitely gorgeous, highly paid, and well-traveled. He’s also got more issues than Vogue. Emmy looks after Ben on photo shoots, but she refuses to become another one of his lusting groupies. Ben finds Emmy’s refreshingly real attitude to be surprisingly attractive.

Against a backdrop of the most fashionable cities in the world, casual flirting turns into an illicit affair, but when Ben’s twisted past is revealed, and the bitter Fiona catches wind of their relationship, their careers and hearts are threatened.

 

There was something very, very wrong with this story. I was stunned by how unrealistic it seemed, and quite frankly, I couldn’t wrap my head around some of the things that had happened. Everything was forced, dull and just plain boring. And the plot was weird. The basic concept, definitely holds a spark and with more work and thinking it over, Working It could have had a great potential, but at this point, some things were just laughable.

There were times, when I wanted to stop reading and pick another book, because of how pissing of the characters were. I sincerely don’t remember when was the last time, I’ve thought that the main couple is so annoying and stupid.

I did not find anything sexy in Ben, even his attempts at dirty talking and acting like a possessive alpha were pitiful… The ‘sexting’ between him and Emmy was not appealing or arousing at all. The constant ‘I want to fuck’ messages, were absurd. I was stunned by how quickly Ben melted panties of Emmy, when I didn’t even felt the need to get to know him better. Emmy was annoying and bothersome heroine. I really found her unlikeable, as connecting with her was very hard task. Her actions and constant swooning over Ben were idiotic.

As the half of the book contained sex, you sure are thinking it has to be steamy book. Unfortunately, because I didn’t find Ben arousing, Working It wasn’t erotic and sensual, and it definitely didn’t leave me turned on.

Overall, I was on the verge of DNF-ing, Working It, more than few times. I am completely unsatisfied with this story and I honestly doubt I will pick up next book in the series. 

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Review: Tousle Me by Lucy V Morgan

 

Title: Tousle Me: A New Adult Parody
Series: Yes
Author: Lucy V. Morgan
Release Date: December 13th, 2013
Rating: 1 star
Cliffhanger: No
Additional Notes: DNF at 48%

He’s exquisitely hot. Exquisitely tousled. Exquisitely screwed in the head.

Cammibelle Hicks just wants to survive her first year of college. Desperate to forget her troubled past, she throws herself into her degree and book review blog. So what if her life is one long tumblr page of grumpy cat GIFs? She doesn’t need to get out more, and she definitely doesn’t need a man.

Hunter von Styles approaches life like he’s spoiling for a fight: with a tempting scowl. A cage-fighting, ex-rocker billionaire, it’s unclear why Hunter’s at college. Frankly, it makes no sense. Then Cammie falls into him—literally—at a party, and he’s obsessed. He needs her more than a moist towelette at a barbecue.

Though Cammie’s friends warn her against Hunter, she can’t resist his charms; especially not when he buys her shoes. And GoodReads. And a unicorn. But when her handsome best friend, medieval reenactor Archer Riddick, makes a play for her heart—and challenges Hunter to a jousting match—it turns out that Hunter has demons of his own. Demons that aren’t real ones, but metaphorical ones—which are MUCH WORSE, when you think about it…

Maybe I have a stick shoved deep into my ass, maybe I don’t have a sense of humor at all, but I did not laugh while reading Tousle Me. I didn’t giggle, snicker, snigger, chuckle, titter nor did I had fun. Mostly I was considering slitting my wrists open or contemplating my own sanity.

I just wanted a light read that will make me laugh and have a little bit fun. I didn’t expect nor did I knew I was signing myself up for reader’s suicide mission.

 

In my book there is funny, hilarious as in ‘I’m laughing my ass off’ and there is eye rolling, WTF face making ridiculousness, that's not amusing at all. Tousle Me was definitely in the last category. It's cheap. Reaaaally cheap. Reeeeeeeaaaaaallly cheap kind of book. There is no brilliance.

It has this weird , absolutely absurd sense of humor. From the constant New Adult book titles that were misspelled, like The Boy Who Sneaks into My Butt Crack (I mean, what??? Am I not getting it and it’s actually funny?) heroes names that were even worse, if it’s even possible (Rabies Maddox) or completely disgusting, bizarre scenes that involved masturbating or sex (I’m feeling too much American Pie here)

“I take it you got my package,” he says.
“I did.”
“And do you like my package?”
“Um…what is it, exactly?”
“It’s an advance review copy.”
“It is?”
Hunter clears his throat. “Of my penis.”
I choke down the phone.
“Hand-crafted in the finest Belgian chocolate,” he goes on, a wicked tone taking his voice.
“That’s very…very thoughtful,” I manage.
“Do you like the veins?” he asks. “They’re flavored with a hint of lavender. My idea. I’m especially proud of the big one that winds around the top.”

Even quoting it here made me throw up in my mouth a little. I mean what the fuck is that? Is it supposed to be funny? For me it’s at least weird or abnormal.

Please, folks forgive me. I just couldn’t handle it any more. I would love to read a new adult parody that have a taste and it’s nicely yet ironically done, not… this. In my humble opinion making fun of bloggers, books and Goodreads while definitely trivializing it… is wrong! 

But maybe, I just maybe if you are into parodies like Scary Movies, Airplanes, American Pie or Vampires Suck, you could have a 'snort your tea through nose kind of moments. I just didn't get it.

 

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Blog Tour: Usettled by S.C Ellington

Title: Unsettled

Series: Unsettled #1

Author: S.C Ellington

Release Date: December 10th, 2013

Rating: 3.5 stars

Cliffhanger: Yes

[ Not yet (hide spoiler)]

After a horrific breakup with her long time boyfriend, Brooklyn Caldwell is completely disenchanted with the notion of mingling with the opposite sex. Damon Williams had been everything she thought she wanted…until he wasn’t.

In an attempt to escape her heartbreaking past, Brooklyn seeks refuge in bustling Washington DC where she folds into the fast paced society unnoticed…until she meets a young entrepreneur, Logan Colton.

Brooklyn is surprised to find that while she has been successful in keeping the opposite sex at bay, somehow she is defenseless against Logan’s confidence and charm—and it doesn’t hurt that he is absurdly beautiful. While thrilled with Logan’s candor, Brooklyn hesitates, as she can’t seem to move past the heartache that she suffered at the hands of Damon.

As much as Logan didn’t plan on pursuing her, he is drawn to Brooklyn’s muted beauty and her witty persona. For all his success, Logan is ensnared in the coveted world of unequivocal wealth and power, but behind closed doors is taunted by demons and an undeniable need to atone for a monumental mistake.

As the two embark on a tumultuous obstacle course saturated with unknown twists and turns, Brooklyn is left to question whether she can endure the journey ahead.

“Logan Colton wanted me to call him? Why? I wondered ….For the life of me I couldn’t understand the cruel joke that the universe was playing on me. I wasn’t the pretty or popular girl that got asked out by legions of boys to prom. I still remembered the awkward years of my youth—the braces, obscene hairdos and neon tights. Nope, I wasn’t Paula Patton beautiful. I wasn’t on any millionaire’s long list of friends—nor did I want to be. Logan would just have to settle for one of the women who would be more than willing to sink her teeth into his obscene fortune, guaranteeing that she wouldn’t have to lift a finger for the rest of her natural life.”- Brooklyn Caldwell

 

Unsettled is a story with classical in contemporary romances twist, that I certainly enjoyed.

The main heroine, Brooklyn is still nursing her broken heart from really bad break up. She doesn’t do very well in relationships, because of Demon, her ex-boyfriend that scarred her for life. Now, despite the fact that three long years has passed, Brooklyn seems to be not able to let go of her past. So when she meets, young, sexy and completely irresistible Logan Colton, successful entrepreneur, her walls start to crack.

It took me a little bit time to get into this story and start enjoying it fully. The beginning was not very entertaining, and I found myslef being slightly bored. But somewhere in the middle the story started to be highly engaging and I finished it with a big smile on my face.

Once the story took off, I couldn’t stop laughing and rooting for characters. I was able to connect with the heroine and like her sassy personality. The only thing that made me grit my teeth was Brooklyn’s insecurity, that was very frustrating to read about. There were quite few times, when I wanted to shake her and tell her to get some lady balls and stop whining.

Despite this flaw, Brooklyn seemed to be very real and relatable character. She was not naïve damsel in distress, which made me like her more and thanks to that, I was able to forgive her stupid (from time to time) logic. Where she was feisty, open and extremely sharp, Logan’s personality was secure and quiet, yet immensely intense. He was her exact opposite, so seeing them together was definite fun.

Demon, Brooklyn ex-boyfriend was irritating addition, but he fortunately didn’t mess up the book for me.

While the plot seems to be classic ‘normal girl meets millionaire CEO’, Unsettled hides few unexpected twists and turns, that absolutely make reading S.C Ellington debut novel worthwhile. I can’t say that I did regret diving into Brooklyn’s modern romantic tale of unexpected love and consequences.

To sum it up, every fan of sexy, intense millionaires should pick Unsettled up. Sexy, well written and enjoyable, Ellington delivered nice romance novel that only opens a trilogy, that have fine prospects for the future.

S.C. Ellington is an up and coming author who enjoys expressing her creativity through frequently writing adult, contemporary romance novels that readers can relate to, but more importantly, enjoy.

Aside from writing, Ellington enjoys curling up with her e-reader and absorbing herself in novels loaded with emotion, desire, and passion. She also likes to spend sunny, wistful afternoons, in her hammock thinking up new ideas for great stories.

Ellington currently resides on the west coast with her beautiful family and loving friends.

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