Book Review: Make You Mine (Dumont Bachelors #1) by Macy Beckett

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: May 6, 2014
Publisher: Signet
352 Pages

For ninety-nine years, every man in the Dumont family has remained a perpetual bachelor. Residents of Cedar Bayou, Louisiana, whisper about a voodoo hex cast upon the family, sabotaging each man’s chance at marriage. In truth, the Dumont men have their own player personalities to blame, and Marc is no exception. As captain of his family’s riverboat, he’s broken hearts up and down the Mississippi. That is, until his high school crush strolls onboard...

Allie Mauvais rocks the boat when she fills in as pastry chef. She hasn’t seen Marc since senior year, when rumors flew that her great-great-grandmother was the one who cursed the Dumonts. After two weeks on the water, neither can deny the attraction that still burns between them. But to truly reach Marc’s heart, Allie must show him that the hex isn’t real, and it’ll take more than her mouthwatering sweets to prove it. Will Allie’s love be enough to finally make Marc hers?

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Voodoo charms, baked goods, and UST all aboard a riverboat in the Bayou. Sounds like a good time, right? Well…not really. Allie Mauvias lives in the shadow of her great-great-grandmother’s actions and reputation. The Mauvias name carries weight around as well known Voodoo witches, and it also carries around the base of a curse. A curse that prevents any Dumont men from settling down and getting married. Unfortunately, Allie is in love with a Dumont, she has been since high school. 

Marc Dumont just recently became captain of his family’s riverboat. He’s about to make his first voyage as captain when he finds himself without a pastry chef. Enter Allie, his high school girlfriend, but also the descendent of the one lady who put a curse on his family. Allie joins the crew with one goal in mind – get Marc. 

I liked Allie for the most part – she was sarcastic and witty. But the one thing I didn’t understand was why she kept pursuing Marc. The majority of this book is spent with his family and Marc himself treating Allie like a leper. Everything that goes wrong they immediately blame her or the so-called “curse”. As a woman, I could not actively pursue someone who treated me that way and it made Allie appear weak and desperate. And for Marc, the only vibe I received from him was sex. That’s all he wanted. 

Another thing that really bothered me was how many things went wrong. Every chapter was another catastrophe that everyone could easily blame on the voodoo witch. It just seemed a little overboard with the coincidences to the point that it was ridiculous. 

I don’t know, it was very cutesy at times but I didn’t feel a love connection between the two like I wanted. I was more interested in the side characters actually, such as Beau and Marc’s sister. 

received an copy of this novel from the publisher for my honest opinion and review.

How to Know When You Are in a Reading Slump: Based on a True Story

So my presence in the blogging world has been quite lax lately. "Why is that?" you may be wondering. Well, it's a combination of things:
1) I had an overwhelming semester, and I was desperately trying to keep up my GPA.
  *SPOILER ALERT* I did. 4.0, baby!
2) My family is going through a difficult time that has me in a funk.
3) I am in a total reading slump, and all the books that I've read lately have left me feeling "blah."

So I present to you:

How to Know When You Are in a Reading Slump: 

Based on a True Story

1) You spend a lot of time perusing the interwebz, often finding books you want to read but not actually reading them.

 

2) You keep buying books even though you already have full shelves of unread books, and even after you buy new ones, you don't read them.

3) You can name more anime (or movies or television shows) that you've watched lately than books you've read.

4) You spend more time talking/cuddling/snuggling/kissing your cat (or other pets) than a book.

5) You Google Tom Hiddleston reading e.e. cummings rather than pick up a book of poems.*

6) Your friends ask you for a recommendation of a book that you've read recently and you go blank.

7. You get a good night's sleep.

8) You actually spend enough time with your friends and family for them to remember how awkward and asocial you are.

9) Your house, car, body and clothes are super clean.

10) You want to read, but are going absolutely bonkers trying to find a book that sounds good enough to satisfy you.

Sound familiar? I hope I'm not alone! As I try to get my butt outta this slump, I will be around the blog more and more. You'll probably get sick of me. For now, if you have any recommendations, PLEASE SHARE.

*Uhm, I suggest you do this anyway.

Happy Belated Birthday, Jen!

Source

I'm sure many of you know Jen from The Starry-Eyed Revue. Over the past two years, she's become one of my closest blogging buddies. Jen listens to me rant about life, and books, and doesn't tell me to shut up--though I definitely deserve it. She's absolutely lovely, and she sent me the greatest birthday package last year. I'm still reeling from all the awesome! Her own birthday was last week, and due to a stressful school load, I was MIA from not only the blog, but my friends' lives. So I missed it.

Luckily, there was an event yesterday at which I volunteered called Ohioana Book Festival. And after telling the YA authors how horrible of a friend I am, they gracious allowed me to include them in my belated birthday present for Jen! 

So without further ado:

I hope you had a wonderful birthday, friend, and that you continue to have wonderful birthdays forever and ever and ever! (Also expect something in the mail.)

Have a happy Mother's Day, everyone!

ARC Review: Breakable (Contours of the Heart #2) by Tammara Webber

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: May 6, 2014
Publisher: Penguin
368 Pages

He was lost and alone. Then he found her.
And the future seemed more fragile than ever.

As a child, Landon Lucas Maxfield believed his life was perfect and looked forward to a future filled with promise — until tragedy tore his family apart and made him doubt everything he ever believed.

All he wanted was to leave the past behind. When he met Jacqueline Wallace, his desire to be everything she needed came so easy…

As easy as it could be for a man who learned that the soul is breakable and that everything you hoped for could be ripped away in a heartbeat.

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To say that Tammara Webber is one of my favorite authors is a bit of an understatement. I absolutely adore everything that she produces and was super excited to get my hands on another one of her books. Breakable is the follow up to Easy, the story of how Jaqueline and Lucas met and fell in love. While Easy focused more on Jaqueline’s POV, Breakable shows us what was going on with Lucas. But that’s not all, we also get a look into the early life of Lucas when he went by Landon. 

Basically, this is two stories rolled into one. Each chapter is either a Lucas chapter (present day) or a Landon chapter (past). I tended to lean more toward the Landon chapters as I’m not much of a fan of retellings from a different POV. The Landon chapters were just so heartbreaking and raw. This little boy’s life was altered completely in such a way that the only way he knew how to deal was to not. He lost his mother and his father, although physically present, checked out the same day his mother died. The only good thing about his childhood became his grandfather. His grandfather practically raised him and was the only one who believed him. Had it not been for him, I’m sure we would have met a different Lucas later on. 

But that’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the Lucas chapters as well. It was nice to see meeting Jaqueline through his eyes after knowing her part. Although, I have to say that there were times where Lucas came off a little bit stalkerish with how obsessed he became with Jaqueline. He was almost better as the mysterious boy in class. 

Webber’s writing is just brilliant and I love the way she tells a story. She really knows how to make the reader fall in love with her characters and really care what happens to them. While the tales may fall on the side of dramatic, the situations are realistic and things that happen in everyday life. She breaks my heart in every book that she writes and I absolutely adore her for it and will continue to read anything she puts out. Was this book needed? No. But am I glad to have it? Definitely. 

I received an copy of this novel from the publisher for my honest opinion and review.

"Real" Book Challenge April Recap

Month 4 and my best month to date! Nice way to start off spring. I foresee many more days ahead with books at the beach. But now, here's a little recap of what I read during the month of April.



So that's 10 for the month of April.

Total So Far: 31
Current Level: Real Book Aficionado

If you're interested in joining us, you can sign up here. See you next month!

Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway: A Beautiful Distraction (Hard Feelings #3) by Kelsie Leverich

Today, I am happy to join Kelsie Leverich's blog tour for her upcoming release, A BEAUTIFUL DISTRACTION. This is a series I have followed since the beginning and have yet to be disappointed. Thank you to NAL publishing for providing a paper copy for one lucky winnder!

A BEAUTIFUL DISTRACTION (HARD FEELINGS #3) by Kelsie Leverich

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: May 6, 2014
Publisher: NAL Trade
272 Pages

A brand new novel in the New York Times bestselling Hard Feelings series—where nothing’s more dangerous than a bad boy with a broken heart…

First Sergeant Rafe Murano did everything to the extreme. He trained harder, he fought harder, and, unfortunately, he loved harder. And falling for the wrong woman nearly destroyed him.

Home from a deployment, and without his missions to consume him, Murano is ravaged by memories of his heartbreak. So he drinks until he’s numb and drowns himself in meaningless one-night stands. But they only take the edge off…

Until he meets Fallon.

Haunted by her past, Fallon Kelly knows all too well about the desperate desire for an escape. So when she sees the tatted-up bad boy who’s one punch away from a ride in the back of a squad car, she offers a distraction—one that quickly becomes an addiction.

Little does she know, this bad boy can love so hard, it can break her…

 

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Thanks to the lovely ladies over at NAL Trade, I have one copy of A BEAUTIFUL DISTRACTION to offer a reader. The only catch is that you have to have a US/CA address. (Sorry international folks!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Not going to lie, these books are like candy for me.  I don’t honestly know what it is. Every time a new one comes out, I just devour it. Beautiful Distraction was nothing different. We first met First Sergeant Rafe Murano in the second book in the series and little was known about him – just that he was in a relationship with a married woman. Now in his own book, we find out that Rafe has since moved away from that situation, but has maybe not so much moved on. That is until he meets Fallon Kelly. 

While Rafe’s past history wasn’t something I could get behind, once his side was revealed I understood him more. And it does take two to cheat. He’s intense, mysterious, and loves with everything he has. The interactions with his family were my favorite parts. I love seeing guys who are all tough around other people, but get them with their family and it’s amazing. 

Fallon on the other hand was a little harder for me to warm up to. She’s a strong woman – owns her own burlesque club – but she also hides behind this strength. She comes from a difficult past and finds it very hard to trust people. So when Rafe shows up at her club, her instincts are on high alert to stay away.

Their relationship started off fast and you could easily see where the connection was. They needed something the other could give freely. But like all good romances, feelings get in the way. I don’t know why people think sex without feelings works. It was inevitable that one would eventually fall. And while Rafe owns up to it, Fallon runs. 

While I liked Rafe, Fallon didn’t really do it for me, but that seems to be how it goes with female characters lately. I still love Leverich’s writing style and was still very entertained. Good fun. 

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher for my honest opinion and review.

Big thanks to NAL Trade for allowing me partake in this tour.