four – Book Dust Magic

Book Review: My Sweet Revenge by Jane Fallon

Title: My Sweet Revenge

Author: Jane Fallon

Publisher: Penguin, Michael Joseph

Date: January 12th, 2017

Pages: 416

Format: Paperback

Source: from Publisher for review

Synopsis (from Goodreads): I want to make my husband fall back in love with me.

Let me explain. This isn’t an exercise in 1950s wifeydom. I haven’t been reading articles in old women’s magazines. ‘Twenty ways to keep your man’. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

I want him to fall back in love with me so that when I tell him to get the hell out of my life he’ll care. He won’t just think, ‘Oh good’.

I want it to hurt.

Paula has had Robert’s back since they got together as drama students. She gave up her dreams so he could make it. Now he’s one of the nation’s most popular actors. And Paula’s just discovered he’s having an affair.

She’s going to remind Robert just what he’s sacrificing. And then she’s going to break his heart like he broke hers. It will be her greatest acting role ever.

Revenge is sweet. Isn’t it?

Review:

It has been two weeks since I finished My Sweet Revenge, and I still don’t know how to write my review without possibly offending some people.
Not reviewing it would easy and, in a way, right decision, but after a while I decided to do it anyway.
My opinions are my own, and I do apologise to everyone who might be offended by them.

My Sweet Revenge follows the story of Paula, who found out her husband was cheating on her for a while. Instead of confronting him, she decides to keep a secret that she knows what he’s doing, and to make him fall in love with her all over again. Once he’d realize he doesn’t want to lose her, she’ll leave him.

The reason why this story was on my most anticipated books in 2017 list is because I was so curious how Paula is going to make her husband fall in love again with her.
I also didn’t know where the story is going to go, and I was eager to find out.

The one thing I should emphasise is the novel’s unpredictability. No matter how hard I tried, I just could not imagine what was going to happened next, and I wanted to read as fast as I could to find out.

Paula was a character so much different from me, with many different opinions, making decisions I would never make.
Because of that, I wanted to follow her story, trying to understand her decisions with an open mind.
However, it was so hard for me to connect with her or like her in general.

Paula’s husband was cheating on her, and it is a terrible thing to happen’ to anyone.
She felt betrayed (as she should have), blaming her husband for everything, stating over and over how self centered he was, but not once did she ask herself what made him do it.
You see, Paula gained a lot of weight (which SHOULDN’T be a reason to be cheated on, but sometimes it is) while her husband was working out every single day, making sure he looks right.
She also can’t remember when was the last time they slept together, and one time in the story when he wanted some action, she refused.
People have needs, and having sex is one of them. If a person does not get it from his/her spouse, it’s natural that with time he/she will want to find someone else to get it from.
It’s like being thirsty and not getting a glass of water from the one person you’re sharing your life with.

So yeah, I don’t justify cheating, but in this case, I understand why Robert did what he did.

Also one more thing I didn’t like is how Paula (and one more character in the book) stated more then few times how young girls dating older men is gross.
I get why some women think that way, but young girls dated (or married) older men always, in the past and today, and it is not gross, it is natural. To each their own!

The book is written in first person, following Paula’s and Robert’s mistress POVs.
I really liked Part 2 because the story became more interesting from there.

There were some laugh out loud moments, some “OmG moments”, and then, there were some dull moments.

The writing style is good. The book reads pretty easily.

I was happy with the end. It all concluded very well and I am glad how every character got an ending that was the best for him/her, even though not all of them were aware of that.

All in all, I am glad I read this book because it showed me perspectives different from my own.

Book Review: A Little More Love by Kendra Leigh Castle

Title: A Little More Love

Series: Harvest Cove #5

Author: Kendra Leigh Castle

Publisher: Berkley

Date: September 6th, 2016

Pages: 352

Format: eARC

Source: from Publisher for a review

Synopsis (from Goodreads): For fans of Jill Shalvis and Kristan Higgins, a sweet, small-town romance about writing your own happy ending…

Kira Andersen’s professional instinct for a story has never led her wrong. So when she learns of a famous writer hiding in plain sight in a tiny New England town, she can’t resist following the trail. The only problem is everyone in Harvest Cove seems intent on keeping her from tracking down the elusive author—especially a handsome distraction who’s making it very hard to focus on the job…

Henry “Fitz” Fitzroy has no intention of letting a nosy reporter uncover his alter-ego as superstar writer Malcom Roy. Only Kira’s persistence is hard to deny—as is his own attraction to her. The more time he spends with her, the more he discovers he’d give almost anything to keep her in his life. But as work and play become inexorably entwined for Kira and Fitz, they realize that getting what they want for their careers might mean losing everything their hearts desire…

Review:

A Little More Love is fifth (and final) book in the Harvest Cove series, but it can easily be read as a standalone.
I haven’t read the first four books and I had no problems when it comes to following the story and figuring out characters’ relationships.
That being said, after finishing this book I’d be glad to go back to Harvest Cove and read other novels in the series.

In this installment we follow Kira who came to Harvest Cove to visit her brother. Family visit is not the only reason Kira arrives in that small town. She is a reporter on a mission. After finding out that the famous writer who writes under a pseudonym hides in Harvest Cove, she is determined to tell the world his true identity in an exclusive interview.

A Little More Love was a perfect romance read.
Written in the third person, with likeable characters you’ll fall in love with, it will bright your reading hours and warm your heart.

Kira was wonderful narrator I couldn’t help but grow attached to, but my favorite character was Fitz. He is that geeky, insecure but at the same time attractive guy who, to me, stands up from other love interests in the sea of romance novels.

Side characters were also personable and reading scenes with them was a pleasure.

The writer did an amazing job describing the setting and it was like the small town of Harvest Cove almost had it’s own personality.

Love scenes were somewhat descriptive, but it was all with good taste and there was no overdoing when it comes to details.

The writing style is pretty simple, but still enjoyable and easy to read.

I really enjoyed losing myself in this little world with characters Kendra Leigh Castle created and I am looking forward to read other novels in the series.

Short Story Review: In A New York Minute by Claudia Carroll

Title: In A New York Minute

Author: Claudia Carroll

Publisher: Avon

Date: March 26th, 2015

Pages: 30

Format: ebook

Source: Freebei

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Love isn’t always like it is in the movies … or is it?

Amy has moved to the city that never sleeps, and now she’s looking for love.

But after a string of dating disasters it seems that finding Mr. Right isn’t quite as easy as Amy first thought.

Following in the footsteps of her favourite New York movies Amy is determined to have that romantic Manhattan moment. But like all good romances – love often turns up in the most unexpected of places…

A heart-warming, 23 page short story from best-selling author, Claudia Carroll, this is the perfect read for Valentine’s Day.

Review:

In A New York Minute is a short story, so I’ll try to make my review as short as it can be.

Claudia Carroll is an author I can’t help but notice on my Goodreads page every once in a while, in a „similar books“ section. As a devoted chick lit reader, browsing books is what I do on regular basis, so it is no surprise that her books cought my attention with their beautiful and sweet covers (all of her covers are gorgeous, that is a fact! Even this one is so astonishing, I could stare at it and forget about time).

The one and main reason why I decided to pick In A New York Minute as my first Claudia Carroll read is that it was short and it was free.
From that, I figured out I can decide whether I should buy some of her already released work.

In 23 pages Claudia Carroll managed to grab my attention, make me appreciate her writing style and won me as a reader.

The story follows woman named Amy who moved to New York and is trying it’s dating scene.
The writer described New York so well that the whole time while reading I had that New York vibe (you know, the one you have when watching Sex and the City).

It would be a shame if I’d talk too much about this story since it is pretty short and giving anything away would be a sin, but I willd tell you that out of all the reads I had last month, In A New York Minute was my favorite.

I liked everything about it and the only thing that I would change is a little detail closer to the end, but even with that it was a great read that I am glad I picked up.

I highly recommend it to every chick lit fan.
It is free and short, so it is a win case.

As for me, I can’t wait to read Carroll’s full lenght novels and it makes me so happy to see that there are a lot of them to choose from.

The Moment She Left: Book Review + Giveaway (Blog Tour)

the moment she left

I am so happy to paticipate in The Moment She Left blog tour.
I really enjoyed reading this novel and I would like to thank Louise Page for giving me this opportunity.

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the moment picture

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My Review:

„How easily loved ones could become strangers, how disturbing when strangers were those you loved.“

The Moment She Left centres around Jessica‘s dissapearance. Two years ago, a young girl should have come home from London, where she studied. She spoke to her brother on the phone, told him she was on her way to the train station, but she nev er showed up.
Today, there is still no clue where Jessica is or is she alive.

Going into the story, taught by my previous experience with Susan Lewis’ books, I knew this novel will be character rich.
The story follows more then few characters, with significant difference in their age and all of them were pretty good developed.
Once again, I had a feeling that the writer knows the soul of her characters and if you asked her any irrelevant question about any of her characters, she would give you the answer immediately.

Even though this is a crime fiction because the main theme is the dissapearance of a young girl, this could also be read as a family prose or just general fiction, because, in my opinon, it has even more elements that are specific to that genres.
This story talks not just about resolving a mystery or a problem, but it also covers some life important topics (like dealing with illnes that can not be cured or going through the divorce).

All of the characters and all of their stories intertwine and together they make a whole circle.

It took me more then few days to finish this book, but I don’t mind.
I find Susan Lewis’ writing style the one I like to take my time with, so I really get the best from the story.

I can’t say that this story kept me on the edge of my seat, but I can say that, while not reading, I caught myself more then couple of times thinking about it and trying to resolve the mystery myself.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t good at guessing.
The reason I say unfortunately is not because I wasn’t satisfied with the end, because I was.
It was because in my version the end was happier for some characters.

In the very end, all of the questions were answered and I was very pleased with that.
There is only one answer we probably never will get, but I don’t mind because some questions never get their answers. That is the reality.

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Giveaway (UK Only)

the girl

Penguin Random House UK was kind enough to offer Susan Lewis’ previous book The Girl Who Came Back for the giveaway. This book recently came out in paperback edition and you can win yourself a copy here.

If you want, you can read my review for The Girl Who Came Back here.

This giveaway is UK only!!

Enter here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Follow the tour:

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The Name I Call Myself: Book Review (Blog Tour)

the name I call

Today is the last day of The Name I Call Myself book blog tour and I am honoured to be today’s host.
I would like to thank Rhoda Hardie for giving me this opportunity.

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About the book:

All Faith Harp wants is a quiet life–to take care of her troubled brother, Sam, earn enough money to stop the poverty wolves snapping at her heels, and to keep her past buried as deep as possible. And after years of upheaval, she might have just about managed it: Sam’s latest treatment seems to actually be working, Faith is holding down a job, and she’s engaged to the gorgeous and successful Perry. But, for Faith, things never seem to stay simple for long. Her domineering mother-in-law-to-be is planning a nightmare wedding, including the wedding dress from hell. And the man who killed her mother is released from prison, sending her brother tumbling back into mental illness.

When secretly planning the wedding she really wants, Faith stumbles across a church choir that challenges far more than her ability to hold a tune. She ends up joining the choir, led by the fierce choir-mistress Hester, who is determined to do whatever it takes to turn the group of ragtag women into something spectacular. She also meets Dylan, the church’s vicar, who is different than any man she has ever met before . . .

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My Review:

Don’t let the cover of The Name I Call Myself fool you. It screams qirky and funny chick lit in all it’s glory.
And yes, it was quirky, it was fun at times and you could say it is a chick lit (even though it is a true piece of women’s fiction in my opinion), but it is also so much more.

The story follows Faith, 25 years old girl who is engaged to Perry, who’s family come from the old money.
Faith has some trouble preparing for the wedding as her mother-in-law likes to have everything under control, from Faith’s wedding dress to wedding invitations, every possible aspect of Faith’s big day.
While trying to arrange what church the wedding should be in, Faith and her best friend Marilyn stumble upon a choir and decide to join.
What hurt can some choir practice bring, right? Especially where there’s a cute church vicar involved…
But Faith also has so much more on her plate. The life she lived before, her unreliable brother she’s taking care of and some ghosts from her past will shake her everyday life and make her question her decisions in a search for herself.

This book took me by surprise. I enjoyed reading it as much as I expected, but what I didn’t expect was the seriousness that the story took.
At first, it started as a typical chick lit, with a clumsy protagonist and humoristic scenes that even made me roll my eyes.
But as the story progressed, it took another turn and it became more serious, covering some pretty important issues like addiction, violence and abuse.

Characters we met in this novel had more dimensions and I liked how they seemed real.
Faith was a great protagonist. The writer made her relatableand at some points, even though I didn’t agree with her, I saw where she was coming from.

I only wish we got to see more scenes with Perry. In that case, we’d got a chance to meet him better so he wouldn’t be so mysterious. I can’t even tell if his absence came as a planned part of the story or if his character was just neglected in the process of writing.
Whatever it is, I think it would be better if there was more of him.

The writing style was really good. From pacing to describing, everything is well managed and the book reads pretty quickly.

This was my first time reading the work of Beth Moran.
I am glad I had a chance to read The Name I Call Myself because now I’d like to try Moran’s other work.

If you are a women’s fiction lover, I highly recommend you to put The Name I call Myself on your to-be-read list.
In my opinion, it is worth giving a try.

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About the author:

Beth Moran has a background as a research scientist and adult educator. She now concentrates on church work and is part of the national leadership team of the UK women’s network Free Range Chicks. She is married with three children and lives in Nottingham, England.

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Visit other blogs that were part of this tour:

Manga Review: Alice In Wonderland – Special Collector’s Manga by Jun Abe

Title: Alice In Wonderland

Author: Jun Abe

Publisher: Diamond Book Distributors

Date: June 7th, 2016

Format: eARC

Source: from Publisher for a review

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Manga publishing pioneer TOKYOPOP is back … bringing readers Disney Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” a retelling of the film in manga style. Alice Kingsleigh was a young girl when she visited the magical world of Underland for the first time. Now a teenager, she spots a white rabbit at a garden party and tumbles down a hole after him where she is reunited with her old friends. Alice soon learns it is her destiny to end the Red Queen’s reign of terror.

Review:

If you’re a fan of Disney’s Alice In Wonderland movie (from year 2010), there’s a great chance you will LOVE this manga.
Why?
Because it is almost exactly the same.

For those of you who still haven’t seen that fantastic movie produced by Tim Burton (What you are waiting for??!), here is what the story is about:

Several years has passed and Alice is a grown girl now, old enough to get married and start her own family. However, Alice does not feel comfortable with that and she still finds herself daydreaming everyday: wondering how it would be like to be able to fly, picturing the impossible.
Her nights are filled with dreams of Wonderland and all those silly creatures that live there.
One day, as she is older, she sees a rabbit with clock and starts following him around.
You can guess what happens next!
You’re right! She falls into a whole that leads her back to Wonderland.

I really, really enjoyed this story.
If you didn’t know, I am a huge fan of the movie, so it is no wonder that I enjoyed this manga so much.

As I already said, it is almost exactly the same as the movie.
The only difference I noticed is that at the beginning of manga we get to see Alice as a little girl and her father talking with her before her sleeptime, while in the movie Alice told us about that, but we didn’t get to see it.

I liked the art in this manga. Characters looked so much better then in the movie (not sure if that is unintentional critic for the actors but… bare with me). Alice and the White Rabbit were so beautiful but yet simple, and as for Hamish – he looked like a model here. So much more handsome then Hamish from the movie (again, every insult aimed at actor is unintentional).

There is only one character that I didn’t like how was drawn, and that is Mad Hatter. While in movie he looked perfectly (and I was never too crazy about Johnny Depp so that has nothing to do with him), here in manga he looked like a weird skinni woman.

All in all, I would recommend this manga to everyone who likes the movie but also to anyone who still hasn’t seen it.
But, if you disliked the movie, you probably wouldn’t like the manga either, so I would suggest you to skip this.

Book Review: The Fire Child by S.K.Tremayne

Title: The Fire Child

Author: S.K. Tremayne

Publisher: HarperCollins UK

Date: June 16th, 2016

Pages: 400

Format: eARC

Source: from Publisher for a review

Synopsis (from Goodreads): The chilling new psychological thriller by S. K. Tremayne, author of the Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller, THE ICE TWINS.

When Rachel marries dark, handsome David, everything seems to fall into place. Swept from single life in London to the beautiful Carnhallow House in Cornwall, she gains wealth, love, and an affectionate stepson, Jamie.

But then Jamie’s behaviour changes, and Rachel’s perfect life begins to unravel. He makes disturbing predictions, claiming to be haunted by the spectre of his late mother – David’s previous wife. Is this Jamie’s way of punishing Rachel, or is he far more traumatized than she thought?

As Rachel starts digging into the past, she begins to grow suspicious of her husband. Why is he so reluctant to discuss Jamie’s outbursts? And what exactly happened to cause his ex-wife’s untimely death, less than two years ago? As summer slips away and December looms, Rachel begins to fear there might be truth in Jamie’s words:

‘You will be dead by Christmas.’

Review:

„The doubting the doubt is the beginning of faith.“

In the blurb for this book, they said it was chilling.
And it was.
I got chills multiple times as I was reading this brilliant, in a good way disturbing novel.

The story follows Rachel, a thirty years old woman who marries David, a rich widower, and moves into his big, beautiful house called Carnhallow, in Cornwall.

Cornwall is the place I read about in so many books, I can’t even count. But you know what? This was the first time I was reading a dark tale that was settled in that admirable place I’d like to visit one day.

I liked the atmosphere in this book. Nothing was perfectly clear and, often, it felt like I could picture the mist over the Cornwall and the whole story that S.K. Tremayne so talentedly presented to us.

What I liked the most was the fact that all characters, main and impotant side ones, were unreliable.
Jamie, Rachel, David, David’s mother Julie – they were all unpredictable and I couldn’t trust anyone.
Even the dead character, David’s first wife Nina, was untrustworthy.

This book messed with my head bigtime, and I welcomed it wholeheartedly.
It kept me on the edge of my seat, made me want to read faster and then made me feel angry I couldn’t.
It made me emotional, it made me scared for characters, it made me question my logic.
And those, in my opinion, are the signs of a well-done psychological thriller.

The story is written in two POVs: Rachel’s and David’s.
Rachel POV was written in first person and it had that power to pull you into the story. Majority of The Fire Child is written in Rachel’s POV, as she is the main character.
David’s POV was written in third person and even though there were only few chapters that told his perspective, they were important ones.

The writing style was pretty amazing. It was fast paced with some bigger words used from time to time.
S.K. Tremayne is one skilled writer who knows how to capture the intension and compel his readers.

This was my first time reading his work but it surely won’t be the last.
I already have his Ice Twins on my tbr and am happy to give it a go when I’ll be in a mood for something extremely thought provoking.

Three Short Book Reviews: The Unexpected Everything, The Nearly-Weds and Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There

Recently, my good Goodreads friend and a blogger, Lola from Hit or Miss Books , gave short reviews to multiple book in the same post. You can read it here.

I really liked that idea and because of Lola I got an inspiration to do similar thing.

I decided to post three short reviews for book I read but didn’t feel like writing full lenght reviews about them.

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

The Unexpected Everything was a really fun summery read. It follows the story of Andie who is a politician’s daughter. Because of the scandal behind her father’s name, her summer plans changed and she finds herself a job as a dog walker.
Along the way, she meets a cute guy and you can all guess where the story goes from there…

The story also focuses on friendship and how, with time, we can just grow apart.
With some cute scenes, swoony moments and some predictble situations handled in an unimaginable way, this book is one that should be on your tbr list for this summer.
I highly, highly recommend it to every ya contemporary lover.

Who could say no to this adorable cover anyway?

The Nearly-Weds by Jane Costello

I had some fun time reading this book.

The story takes place in Boston where our main character Zoe goes as an English Babysit.

If you didn’t know, this book is a winner of Romantic Novelists’ Association Romantic Comedy Award.
That being said, I don’t think I have to tell you it is full of funny situations and toughts.

Zoe was a great narrator and I think it would be awesome if there was movie based on this book.
Who knows, maybe one day we’ll have a chance to see it.

Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll

I had the strangest dream.
I dreamed I found myself in Wonderland, went there trough the looking glass, but while I was there, I couldn’t remember what Wonderland looked like.

After I woke up, I decided it was the best time for me to finally read this book and find my answers.

When I was growing up, I liked watching Trough the Looking Glass animated movie better then Alice in Wonderland, even if it wasn’t Disney’s.

Now when I was reading it, some pictures from that movie came to my mind, I was reminiscing about some scenes I complitely forgot about.

What took me by surprise was how I knew some quotes even though I couldn’t have know them from that very movie.

Also, I noticed how some characters that weren’t in the first book, but were in Disney’s movie for the first time showed up here, in Trough the Looking Glass.

When I look at them only as books, I can’t say I’m sure which story I like better.
I think this one made me smile more often, even if I think that Alice in Wonderland has better quotes in it.

Book Review: Martini Henry by Sara Crowe

Title: Martini Henry

Author: Sara Crowe

Publisher: Penguin Random House UK, Doubleday

Date: June 16th, 2016

Pages: 416

Format: ARC

Source: from Publisher for a review

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Life isn’t an exact science. Things can be troublesome. Like pregnant step-mothers, the ins-and-outs of French existentialism . . . having an unexceptional name.

In 1988, seventeen-year-old Sue Bowl has a diary, big dreams and £4.73. What she wants most of all is to make it as a writer, as well as stop her decadent aunt Coral spending money she doesn’t have.

Living in their crumbling ancestral home should provide plenty of inspiration, but between falling in love, hunting for missing heirlooms and internship applications, things keep getting in the way.

So when a young literary professor moves in and catches Sue’s eye, life begins to take an unexpected turn . . .

From the author of Campari for Breakfast, a witty and enchanting novel about what happens after you think you’ve grown up and fallen in love, perfect for fans of I Capture the Castle, Love, Ninaand Where’d You Go Bernadette.

Review:

From the very moment I heard (or should I say read) about Martini Henry being published, I had a strong feeling this novel will be right for me. I was right.
It was totally my cup of tea, that I enjoyed with cups and cups of tea.

The story follows Sue Bowl who goes to Greece to participate in creative writing course. There, she stumbles upon a book called FOR THE CONCERN OF THE RICH AND THE POOR. She realizes that book she found is not the one of fiction genre, but is probably a work of someone who knew her predecessors, as some of things that happened there were happening on her aunt’s property.

Martini Henry is written in one of the most interesting ways I have ever came across.
There is a Sue’s diary from where we follow the main story and it is the biggest part of the book.

Sue want to be a writer and, even though she doesn’t have a college degree, she reads a lot and is very skilled when it comes to expressing herself.
She likes to use big words and everytime she learned the new one she likes to make a note about it.

Then, there are notes, letters and lines Sue receives or sees while we follow her story.
We also get a glimpse of her work of fiction and can see how her personal life reflects on her writing.

Along with all that, Martini Henry contains small parts of FOR THE CONCERN OF THE RICH AND THE POOR, a 3000 pages long book that Sue reads.

There is so many good things I want to say about Martini Henry that I don’t even know where to start…

The writing style is really good and so beautiful, I would even dare to call it perfect.

Sue’s story takes place in 1988 and it really felt like it was written in that time period.
FOR THE CONCERN OF THE RICH AND THE POOR takes place after 1850 and, because I never read any book from that period in english, I can’t judge if the writing was authentic. However, I can tell that it sounded like it could be and that the writer captured the difference between Sue’s and London’s (that is the narrator of FOR THE CONCERN OF THE RICH AND THE POOR) in a really, really good way.

I also want to state that the book Sue was reading wasn’t there just for the sake of being, but had it’s own function and it intertwined with Sue’s story.

Martini Henry is a piece of literary fiction. That means, it’s pacing is on the slow side.
It took me some time to really get into this book (I would say something like 70 pages) and I think taking my time with it was the best decision I have made, because I really feel like I experienced Sue’s story in the best possible way.

The same goes with it’s characters too. It took some time to get to know them but after I used to them I got attached to them as well.
Sue, her aunt Coral and Joe were my favorites (especially Joe).

This is story is not just about chasing a dream, but is also about self discovery and about relationships with people around us.

As you may know, english is not my native language and I often like to emphasize that I am still in a learning process.
Thanks to this book, I discovered so many new words that now I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to expand his vocabulary.

Not only did Sara Crowe did an amazing job when it comes to presenting this story to us in an attractive way, but I feel like the editors did a perfect job too.
We can clearly see that there has been so much effort put in order to bring this book to life, especially closer to the end.
If you ask me, all their hard work was worth it.

A copy of my Martini Henry goes to my special shelf where I keep my very few books that I want to reread many times in my lifetime because I feel like I can learn something new from it everytime I read it.

Book Review: Five Ways to Fall by K.A. Tucker

Title: Five Ways to Fall

Series: Ten Tiny Breaths #2

Author: K.A. Tucker

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Date: July 3rd, 2014

Pages: 384

Format: paperback

Source: Purchased

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Purple-haired, sharp-tongued Reese MacKay knows all about making the wrong choice; she’s made plenty of them in her twenty-odd-years. So when her impulsive, short-lived marriage ends in heartbreak, she decides it’s time for a change. She moves to Miami with the intention of hitting reset on her irresponsible life, and she does quite well…aside from an epically humiliating one-night stand in Cancun with a hot blond bouncer named Ben. Thank God she can get on a plane and leave that mistake behind her.

Football scholarship and frat parties with hot chicks? Part of charmer Ben Morris’s plan. Blown knee that kills any hope of a professional football career? So not part of the plan. Luckily Ben has brains to go with his knockout looks and magnetism. After three long years of balancing law school with his job as a bouncer at Penny’s Palace, he’s ready to lead a more mature life—until his first day of work, when he finds himself in the office of that crazy, hot chick he met in Cancun. The one he hasn’t stopped thinking about.

If Ben truly were a smart guy, he’d stay clear of Reese. She’s the boss’s stepdaughter and it’s been made very clear that office romances are grounds for dismissal. Plus, rumor has it she’s trouble. The only problem is, he likes trouble, especially when it’s so good-looking…

Review:

This book was a pleasent surprise for me.
I expected for it to be good. I just didn’t expect for it to be that good.

I have already read Ten Tiny Breaths and tought it was a really good book.
By the time the second book in the series came out, I had some bad experiences when it comes to NA and decided to take a long break from that genre.
This book, and this author, reminded me not all the books in the same genre are the same. There will always be the bad ones, but there will always be the good ones too.

This book didn’t have any of those NA clichès I was sure that almost every book in this genre has (at least one of them).

Main characters had some baggage from the past, but they weren’t shattered people because of that.
The plot wasn’t surrounded with drama all the time. Actually, there weren’t any drama. At least not in term that I use it for.
There was zero slut shaming.
There was no “damsel in distress” scene.

The love between main characters took it’s time to develop. Although there was an instant attraction, the characters were smart enough to know the difference between attraction and love.

I gladly welcomed the tone of this story. I expected dark feelings, but instead I got light feeling melted with joy.
I even laughed out loud at some scenes (view spoiler) .

Anyway, I am glad I read this book and I am looking forward to check K. A. Tucker’s other work.