Review: Making Him Sweat by Meg Maguire

Title: Making Him Sweat

Author: Meg Maguire

Series: Wilinski's. #1

Release date: February 19th 2013

Genre: Romance, contemporary, adult

My Rating: 4/5

I received this book as a review copy from NetGalley.

Goodreads summary:

She's hitting below the belt…

Round 1
In this corner is admittedly romantic Jenna Wilinski, who’s inherited a rather seedy boxing gym from her estranged father. With it, she can realize her dream of launching an upscale matchmaking business…provided she can take on the very intimidating—and wickedly hot—boxer who stands in her way!

Round 2
In the far corner is former pro boxer Mercer Rowley. He’s the only one who can protect his “home”—even if it is a little run-down— from his determined and feisty little opponent. But man, once the gloves come off, his hands just want to touch her everywhere…

Round 3
This matchup is too close to call. But no matter which contender comes out on top, the other is sure to enjoy every minute of it....

My Review:

I enjoyed this book. The main characters were strong and knew what they wanted which I always appreciate in a book. Though people's decisions may change during the book I like that there was no drawn out pondering. My review for this is going to be fairly short as I don't have much else to say other than it was a good read which I always expect from Harlequin books anyway. Maguire added some realistic obstacles into the story but she created characters who could face them head on. I liked the background for their lives and  most of all I was grateful that there was a complete, solid story instead of just a complete romantic gooey book. Seeing characters face normal problems is always a good sign in a book.

I cannot wait to read the next book in this series

True by Erin McCarthy (ARC)

Title: True

Author: Erin McCarthy

Date released: May 7th 2013

Genre: New adult, contemporary, romance

Rating: 5/5

I received this book as a review copy from NetGalley.

Goodreads Summary:

When Rory Macintosh’s roommates find out that their studious and shy friend has never been with a guy, they decide that, as an act of kindness they’ll help her lose her virginity by hiring confident, tattooed bad boy Tyler Mann to do the job…unbeknownst to Rory.

Tyler knows he’s not good enough for Rory. She’s smart, doctor smart, while he’s barely scraping by at his EMT program, hoping to pull his younger brothers out of the hell their druggy mother has left them in. But he can’t resist taking up her roommates on an opportunity to get to know her better. There’s something about her honesty that keeps him coming back when he knows he shouldn’t…

Torn between common sense and desire, the two find themselves caught up in a passionate relationship. But when Tyler’s broken family threatens to destroy his future, and hers, Rory will need to decide whether to cut her ties to his risky world or follow her heart, no matter what the cost…

My Review

This book was amazingly refreshing, heartbreaking and heart-warming all at the same time. It was beautiful and slightly crushing while thought provoking.

While I can come up with several adjectives to describe this book I can find no fault with it (apart from some minor spelling errors). It was perfect. I loved the characters, the female protagonist, Rory, wasn't whiny or quick to assume the worst, she didn't jump to conclusions or sabotage her own life through stupidity in any way. In short, she was the most logical, straightforward, sensible character I have come across in a contemporary book which may sound slightly boring but to me it was so refreshing. There was no back-stabbing friends, no twisted love triangles, no messiness in that area whatsoever. I loved every minute of both the high points and the low. I can't say anything more than : BUY THIS BOOK! I promise you will not regret it if you like contemporary, romantic new adult books. This is going to the top of my list. Erin McCarthy had my attention from the start but she got my undivided interest from this quote:

". . .a movie playing on the TV screen in front of us. Some sort of bad Tom Cruise drama. I've never liked Tom Cruise. He always reminded me of someone's creepy cousin, who smiles too big before he touches your butt and whispers something gross in your ear with hot whiskey breath."

At this part I gained respect for Rory and at no point in the book did I lose that respect, she proved to be a strong main character and did not show any neediness or any of those stereotypical female character traits that seem to be so prevalent through this genre. The author remained consistent with this lack of stereotypes throughout the book, creating characters that acted their age 99% of the time.

I highly recommend this book to anyone, especially those like me who are tired of reading books where characters are constantly messing up things from themselves and others. I loved this book and I cannot wait for the next story to come.

-T

The Things I Do For You by M. Malone (ARC)

Title: The Things I Do For You

Author: M. Malone

Series: The Alexanders, # 2

Date released: March 12th, 2013

Genre: contemporary, romance

Rating: 3/5

I received this book to review from NetGalley.

Goodreads Summary:

A bargain. A baby. A billion things can go wrong. 

Nicholas Alexander doesn’t mind being called a playboy. His charm serves him well in business and a beautiful woman is always on his arm. Except the one he’s in love with.

Raina Winters doesn’t believe in love, so when she’s dumped right before her wedding, she’s more upset about losing what she really wants from marriage. A baby.

When Nick learns about Raina’s dilemma, his first reaction is to leave her hanging like she left him after their steamy one-night stand. But he finally has something Raina needs, so he offers her a deal. He’ll give her a baby if she gives him something he desires just as much. 

Just two little words.

I. Do.

My Review

I liked this book but it left a lot to be desired, I just didn't love it. However, it has to be said that Malone creates strong, independent characters, if a little stubborn, who have minds of their own.

I liked the first book in this series, One More Day, more this. There was a lot more action, and a stronger storyline to the first one, whereas this book felt a little weak and seemed more like a background novella rather than its own book. I was really looking forward to Raina and Nick's story but I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more of a clash between the two, everything in their lives just seemed to fall into place. 

While it is often a good thing when reading a book where things can be misheard or misunderstood for the characters to communicate and work through the problems instead of jumping to conclusions and tearing at each other's throats, it did not seem right in certain aspects of this book, there should have been more passion between the two strong-willed protagonists.

Overall I like the book but I was expecting more and was disappointed.

-T

Dare You To by Katie McGarry : Review (ARC)

Title: Dare You To

Author: Katie McGarry

Series: Pushing The Limits

Release Day:  June 7th 2013

Genre: Contemporary, Romance, New Adult

Rating: 4/5

I received this book from NetGalley for review.

Goodreads Synopsis

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."

"No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again....

"I dare you..."

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

My Review

I read Pushing The Limits a couple of months ago after a very long wait. I thought it sounded really interesting and I was very excited to read it. Unfortunately, my expectations may have been too high foolish decisions, I still found this frustrating. The one thing I did want at the end of the story was to find out what happened with Beth and Isaiah. Luckily, I noticed a chapter from the next book in the series but immediately realised that it was not going to be about Beth and Isaiah but about Beth and a new character, Ryan. At first I was disappointed, but as the story progressed in Dare You To I began to accept that this was the best decision.

Katie McGarry gives the characters appropriate names in her stories. In Pushing The Limits Noah was appropriately named because he had a similar urge to gather the people he loved and take them away just as Noah did with his Ark. Echo was named after a character in Greek mythology and she followed in her namesake's place by being a distraction to her mother while her father was with another woman, similar to Echo in mythology who distracted Hera while Zeus was with other women. The name symbols continue in Dare You To with surnames. Beth's surname is Risk which accentuates the trouble her family has been through. Ryan's surname is Stone, highlighting the family's cold and hard interactions. They appear to outsiders to be unfeeling and don't show affection. I found this play on words to be quite clever and possibly one of the best aspects of both books.

I liked the characters a lot more than Pushing The Limits. Beth was a reasonably strong character at the start at times, she stood her ground and fought yet as the story continued I did find her tendency to run away from everything, both physically and emotionally, very annoying. She constantly tried to find the hardest way around things which was rather frustrating when the answer is obvious and her way wouldn't work out. Ryan started out to be an almost perfect character, he didn't take no for an answer and saw through her B.S. but that may have just been in response to the dare. Then he changed and most people would say that that was because he was starting to be himself and open up but I don't think that that kind of change in a person so rapidly is believable, or plausible. By the middle of the story I was not finding any redeeming qualities in the two characters, between Beth's running away and Ryan's inability to stand up for himself.

However, none of this is the story, though it all has an impact. I liked idea of the dares from the beginning. I thought how the two protagonists met was funny and quirky. I liked how it wasn't insta-love and that the only reason Ryan was chasing her was because of a dare and how Beth could see that and was annoyed by it. At one point it threatened to turn into She's All That territory but McGarry save it well. She didn't make the "jocks" into the bad guys, just pointed out that boys will be boys with their games. I have noticed that there are a lot of weak women in these stories and a lot of abusive men, both physically and emotionally yet at the end of each story at least one character changes for the better.

From my above notes I'm not completely sure why I like this story. All I can say is that in a very Wuthering Heights way the characters may do and say the worst things yet people still love the book. I feel this way about Dare You To, not Wuthering Heights. The characters got a lot worse before they got better but in the end I was happy.

The reason I took away a star rating was because the story was a bit all over the place. There was no consistency in the characters personalities, their decisions were terrible at times, and their resolves wavered making them change their mind constantly as well as coming to the same conclusion several times. It felt like it was not read over. The storyline similarly wavered and lacked consistency, having no straightforward pattern. I realise that I could have taken away more stars but there was something about this book that I found endearing.

If you like a book where there is a lot of build-up and a very small critical point then this book is for you. Trying not to spoil it but I was shocked that there was such a quick ending, it seemed rushed.

Another thing I like about these stories is the change in point of view, it's nice to see both sides in a story and that there was no chapters just view changes.

I'm sorry this review is all over the place but it is just reflecting how this book made me feel.

In summary, I liked the story and at times the characters but most of the time they were just too frustrating and the story line was so back and forth that a person would not want to be reading this if they were motion sick. However it had a lot of potential, that it may not have fully lived up to but it was good. The idea of the dares could have been a lot more prominent. If the changes in the characters were believable and their choices were consistent then it would have been an awesome read.

-T