Review: The Heartbeat Hypothesis by Lindsey Frydman

Title: The Heartbeat Hypothesis

Series: Standalone

Author: Lindsey Frydman

Release date: March 20, 2017

Cliffhanger: No

Rating: 3 stars

Audra Madison simply wanted to walk in the shoes of Emily Cavanaugh, a free-spirited teenager who died too young. After all, Audra wasn’t supposed to be here.

Thanks to Emily, Audra has a second chance at life. She’s doing all the things that seemed impossible just two years ago: Go to college. Date. Stargaze in the Rocky Mountains. Maybe get a tattoo. You know, live.

Jake Cavanaugh, a photographer with mysterious, brooding gray eyes, agrees to help chronicle her newfound experiences. She makes him laugh, one of the only people who can these days. As they delve into each other’s pasts – and secrets – the closer they become.

But she’s guarded and feels like she can’t trust anyone, including herself.
And he’s struggling with the fact that his beloved sister’s heart beats inside her.

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When I first picked this book up, I thought it would a fluffy, possibly steamy read. That didn't turn out to be the case at all. Don't get me wrong, it starts out more on the light and feel-good side, but quickly I realized that there was more to the story than the premise implies. Audra, our heroine, received a life saving heart transplant two years before and suddenly the world is open to limitless possibilities. She no longer has to live one day at a time, just clinging to hope and a promise of a real future. Unfortunately, it came at the cost of her heart donor Emily's life and the guilt that comes along with that isn't easy to let go of. So she reaches out to Emily's brother Jake with a plan to enlist his help and come to peace with her gift.

A girl I didn’t know, could never know, was dead, and her tragedy had suddenly become my blessing. It felt…wrong. And it would’ve been foolish to sit around and do nothing about it.

Audra and Jake meet and make a plan to re-create his sister's photographs in order for Audra to "walk in her shoes" through her experiences. At first, I was seeing this solely as a healing process for the two of them while they developed feelings for one another. Simple, cut and dry. Well, I discovered that this was heading down a little bit of a darker path. Jake was moody, broody, and not very communicative. There were brief flashes from him, he'd give her a little bit of himself and then retreat all over again. He offers to give her piano lessons, and then eventually stands her up when their feelings start to blur past friendship. There is clearly something in his past that he's hiding, something that he's unwilling to share that's making him feel incapable of offering Audra love.

There were times we didn’t need words. That was part of why I liked hanging out with him so much. On good days, it felt like our souls had been friends for a very long time, like we knew exactly how to be around each other.

Audra is crushing hard on him, but their relationship is filled with secrets and complications. I enjoyed her at first, I thought she was a little bit awkward and sweet and her idea to honor Emily was commendable. But later, she started behaving...I don't know what else to call it but immature. First with her peeking at his very private journal and then hiding that fact. On one hand, I understand that he's not exactly being open with why he's keeping his distance, but that was such an invasion. What she discovered was more than a little disturbing, and she just somehow told herself to brush it under the rug as well.

But worse, when he finally does open up to her, she goes behind his back once again and uses the confidence he gave her to start snooping in the mystery surrounding his family.  This is where things started to go a little OTT for my taste. I'm not going to go into what occurs after this, but what happens with his family was really out of left field. And I didn't feel as if anything was explained or resolved conclusively.

Now that I'm writing this review, I'm seeing that there was more that bothered me than I realized and I'm going to have to change my rating again. I've been all over the place, very conflicted about how I feel. I think the premise was a promising one, and I liked that it led me in a different direction than I anticipated. It was unpredictable. The writing was engaging and the characters dealt with serious life and death issues, some were addressed with delicacy. For example, the unexpected tragic twist with Audra around the middle of the book I really appreciated. Her emotions and reactions felt genuine and were emotionally complex. But when it came to Jake's history, and how that story arc unfolded, that's where it lost me.

I admire this author's writing and I'd definitely give a different book of hers a chance, but I think that all the pieces of this one didn't quite fit right for me. It's hard, because there really was a lot I liked here, just not consistently. If you're looking for a New Adult book with mystery, and a tortured, brooding hero then this could very well be the book for you. There were lighthearted moments, as well as introspective and emotional. I'll be keeping my eye on this author in the future.

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Cover Reveal: The Beautiful Game by A. Meredith Walters

Title: The Beautiful Game 

Series: Man of the Match #1

Author: A. Meredith Walters

Cover Design: Sofie Hartley from Hartley & Bailey Designs

Release Date: April 27, 2017

 Love is a game. Are you ready to play?

Blurb:

Lucas Bradley enjoys many things.

The roar of the crowd.

Scoring a goal.

Being worshipped and adored by a growing legion of rabid, football obsessed fans.

But gaining a reputation as English football’s newest bad boy—not so much.

Morgan Carter is a fish out of water.

Having moved from America to the United Kingdom, she had hoped for a great adventure.

Instead she’s floundering in a job she doesn’t like and a country she doesn’t understand.

And she finds herself more than ready to leave the land of hot accents behind.

Until a drunken kiss at the local pub changes everything.

Passion ignites. Tempers flare. And what starts as a temporary distraction turns into something deeper.

Yet sleeping with a man on the cusp of full-blown fame comes with a price— one that Morgan isn’t sure she’s willing to pay. And Lucas, forced into the spotlight, finds his world turned upside down.

Love is a game.

But are Lucas and Morgan ready to play?

And can they learn the rules before they run out of time?

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Cover Reveal: The Hot Shot by Kristen Callihan

       

First we were friends. Then we were roommates. Now I want more…

What can I say about Chess Copper? The woman is capable of bringing me to my knees. I know this about five minutes after getting naked for her.

No one is more surprised than me. The prickly photographer my team hired to shoot our annual charity calendar isn’t my usual type. She’s defense to my offense, a challenge at every turn. But when I’m with her, all the regrets and darkness goes away. She makes life fun.

I want to know Chess, be close to her. Which is a bad idea.

Chess is looking for a relationship. I’ve never given a woman more than one night. But when fate leaves Chess without a home, I step up and offer her mine. We’re roommates now. Friends without benefits. But it’s getting harder to keep our hands off each other. And the longer we live together the more I realize she’s becoming my everything.

Trick is… Now that I’ve made her believe I’m a bad bet, how do I convince her to give this player a true shot at forever?

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Kristen Callihan is an author because there is nothing else she’d rather be. She is a three-time RITA nominee and winner of two RT Reviewer’s Choice awards. Her novels have garnered starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and the Library Journal, as well as being awarded top picks by many reviewers. Her debut book FIRELIGHT received RT Magazine’s Seal of Excellence, was named a best book of the year by Library Journal , best book of Spring 2012 by Publisher’s Weekly, and was named the best romance book of 2012 by ALA RUSA. When she is not writing, she is reading.

WEBSITE / FACEBOOK / TWITTER / AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

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Blog Tour with Review: Unplugged by Sigal Ehrlich

Book Title: Unplugged (Unplugged, #1) 

Author: Sigal Ehrlich 

Genre: New Adult 

Release Date: March 10, 2017 

Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions

It was supposed to be a lot of things...but not this. After surviving the long and excruciating recruitment process, I thought I would end up working for Madonna or the CIA at the very least. Boy, was I wrong. Even in my wildest dreams I couldn't have imagined what I was in for. What my heart was in for. I couldn't have possibly fathomed the lifestyle, the responsibility, how much it would take out of me, the inner battles, and mostly, the emotional whirlwind. I could never have imagined, prepared myself for, or anticipated… Him. It was supposed to be a job. Just a temporary job. Just a few months. Just a short stop before the journey I was about to take to follow my dream. It was supposed to be a lot of things...but not this. Little did I know it would be the one event that would shape me, would change me, would bring on such a shift in the balance of my world. Would bring... Him. Would bring… Them. Both. Into my life.

Bestselling author of the Stark series.





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Ivi is a 22 year old woman with ambitions to change the world for the better. After getting a harsh reality check, she lives to improve other's lives and help the misfortunate. She has a trip set for Nepal to aid the locals who were left without a home, but in order to do that she needs funds. After a mysterious and rigorous interview process, she lands a six month job as a nanny. To her shock, it brings her right into the home of rockstar Tyler Lee Adams.


Tyler takes a a while to warm up to. He's very abrasive, conceited, and as you would probably expect, quite a manwhore. Ivi has to hold her own against him right from the start, and I think she did a great job. She was a little starstruck, but she didn't allow him to trample all over her and disrespect her. I think it helped that she fell head over heels for his adorable boy Jeremy from their first meeting. I think I may have swooned a little myself for this kid too. He had an endless supply of facts in his very quick brain and a sweet vulnerable side when he meets his dad Tyler for the first time.


The romance took a backseat for a while behind the focus on Tyler getting to know and bonding with his son. Ivi played a part in giving them the space to have their chance to have their father-son time. I loved how they were both dedicated to making sure that Jeremy was happy. I had to laugh at Ivi's swear jar and how she would shove it at him and his entourage when their language got too colorful. Tyler isn't exactly a natural father figure, but I think his son's influence really softened him up and opened him to more than what his cynical eyes had seen.


As their attraction progressed, there was a lot of push and pull between them. Tyler attempts to keep his distance because he knows that her time there is limited and she will be moving on permanently very soon. There are some brief moments of weakness that send mixed signals that made me a little impatient towards both of them. You kind of wanted them to just acknowledge the huge elephant in the room, that tension that was humming between them wasn't going anywhere. But admittedly it was entertaining to see his jealousy over her friendship with his friends and his emotions for her get the best of him.


The beginning of their romance may have been drawn out, but the last half I enjoyed very much. As her departure date loomed, the two of them deemed to desperately cling to the little time they had left. They questioned themselves and what they really wanted from each other, and if there was a chance that this could go past here and now. Ivi was more than a little terrified of not ever being asked to come back to him, but at the same time questioned whether she should even be sacrificing her role in the organization that she was a part of. I LOVED the ending, loved! Tyler made a compete turn around and won me over with his adoration and support of her.


Tyler certainly wasn't perfect, in fact he had more than one moment where you want to kick him in his junk. But he evolved and grew, and became someone who knew how to appreciate and love Ivi for the wonderful woman she was. After the ending, I'm curious to see where the author takes this. There was a cliffy here, but it wasn't left off on a bad note, so it's not a difficult one to deal with at all. I enjoyed Sigal's style of writing as I have in the past, and I really look forward to reading the conclusion and their happy ending with volume two.

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