matt – Z. Elizabeth

Character Highlight: Matt from The Deal.

Posted on October 9, 2014October 8, 2014 by Z. Elizabeth

So you’ve met Jamie – Zili’s favourite character and now it’s time to meet Matt – Mallory’s favourite.

Mallory has become a really good friend throughout writing. She was my writing buddy as I wrote The Deal and she was writing her book! You all need to bully her into doing her edits because she needs to release the book and give me Knox 😉 Of course, she was also my beta reader and along the way we would send scenes to each other until we both had finished and we could read the full book of each other’s work. Mallory fell in love with Matt and so, as Jamie had a character highlight, Matt definitely deserves one too.

I thought The Deal would just be a standalone and then I would move onto the next project, but whilst writing it, I fell in love with Matt. He’s special to me and throughout The Deal, snippets of his back story were coming to life on the page and the more scenes Matt was in, the more I knew he had to have his story told and his happily ever after.

Matt’s character doesn’t believe in love so he sleeps around. He’s uncomfortable around the idea of love and expressing his feelings so instead he uses sexual innuendos and comments when he is in uncomfortable situations. He’s the joker of the group, the one who will make you smile and laugh and also the one who will tear at your heartstrings; He’s loyal and protective. He has a comeback for everything and the gang, especially Nic, love him to pieces, but as mentioned, he brushes it off.

You will most definitely see this throughout The Deal, but there is hope for him, I will make sure of it. He will change his perspective of love by the time I am through with him. I’ve already got around 8000 words of his story, and it is going to be a bit deeper than The Deal as both Matt and the heroine have some obstacles to go through. Matt doesn’t believe in love and the heroine doesn’t want love. What better way than to put them together 😉

Here is a line from Matt:-

“Almost as good as porn.” He shouts into my ear, earning a punch on his arm in return, “You just need to do that without clothes on now and I would spend money watching that on pay-per-view….actually I could definitely film it for you.”

And this is who I (and Mallory) envision as Matt: –

His name is Lucas Gil and he fits the description of Matt perfectly. So say hello to Matt !

Tessa Bailey

Staking His Claim (#5) – Tessa Bailey

Posted on April 16, 2014April 13, 2014 by Z. Elizabeth

Synopsis

He wants her. All of her.

NYPD sniper Matt Donovan is in Hell. Instead of driving his best friend’s little sister home from college, he’s stuck with her roommate—a fresh-faced ray-of-sunshine with a body that makes grown men weep. There’s no way he’ll allow himself to taint the little vixen, no matter how hard she tries to tempt him, so he resigns himself to the longest—and hardest—drive of his life.

Matt’s obvious attraction suits grad student Lucy Mason just fine. She had no idea her brother’s best friend was so deliciously hot. Knowing he’d never have his wicked way with his buddy’s sister, she lies about her identity and seduces him. But Matt’s no fumbling college boy. His desires run deep—and dark—and he wants to teach Lucy what wicked really means.

Matt’s demanding appetites only make Lucy want more. But when her cover’s blown, he’s furious—even as his hunger for her becomes insatiable.

Matt can’t trust anyone, least of all himself. And he knows all too well that darkness always destroys the light…

5 out of 5 stars

——————————————————–

My Review

I adore Tessa so much and although this review is coming a little late, I want to thank her for an ARC of Stalking His Claim. She knows how much I LOVE this series and is always kind enough to offer me an advance copy because I neeeeed my men in uniforms in my life 😉

I have read all the books in the Line of Duty series and each one gets better and better. I cannot tell you how excited I was for Matt’s because he is the quiet one, the one who doesnt talk but you know he will be there for his friends in a heartbeat and they will be there for him too – so it was great to get to see him have a happy ending and to delve into his mind and world – see exactly just why he was so withdrawn and so quiet.

Tessa is known for her smut and Jesus Christ, get me a fan because old Matty boy sure knows how to dominate and please a lady in the bedroom. Just excuse me one minute while I think back to his sexual prowess. I would like have all five of them please! The things these men can do but not only that, they way they love so deeply, is something that I love reading from Tessa. It also helps they are in uniform too 😉

We have been introduced to the quiet Matt throughout the series but he isn’t one to converse with the group, yet they love him to pieces. They know something big must have happened to him and for them to still push him to join in on their pub nights and nights out must be a huge deal to him.

But now he’s been roped into picking up Brent’s sister, Lucy and her roommate from college and he’s less than happy about it. He’s heard things about Lucy and when Lucy overhears him taking to the Barrister about her, about how she is supposedly a nuisance, she quickly decides to pretend to be her room-mate when she meets Matt.

But when her cover is blown as Brent’s sister, Matt is furious. But he still cannot stay away from Lucy, and thus this begins the start of something neither of them thought they wanted. But when insecurities get in the way, will it break them apart or make them stronger?

Matt is withdrawn, we all know that, but what we didn’t know was how bloody kinky he was and in a way, that is why he is so quiet. A past relationship fucked him over and now he’s scared to be himself – it kind of holds onto him and he thinks he’s a freak because of what he likes. SERIOUSLY. Give Matt here and let him run riot on my body. I’ll be freaky with him. When he sleeps with ‘Sasha’ he feels that he’s found someone who doesnt think this, who likes this kind of sex and its refreshing.

You know that is attracted to Lucy, that he’s found someone who will grace his mind and when he finds out that she lied, well that doesnt lie well with him because he’s been lied to in the past and it wrecked him. He doesnt like it but he cant stay away. You can see why he cant, Lucy, despite lying to him, is someone who can bring him from the dark, make him feel alive again, let him love again especially with her. She could be his everything.

It takes him a while to figure out what he wants, but its always going to be Lucy and dear god, that ending, it got to me. It was the damn cutest ending I have read in a loooong while and I just hope that Tessa plans to write more on this couple and the others in their own shorter novellas. I’d love to see where they all are!

I felt for Lucy in the beginning. She felt like a huge nuisance to everyone, especially Brent and when she overhears Matt say this to the cashier in the coffee shop, well that pushes her down and that is why she lies and says she is her roommate. Despite not agreeing with her for this, I understood her reasoning for it. Why would you want to tell Matt you were Lucy after he’s just told you a nuisance?

I liked the fact that Lucy wasn’t a pushover, none of the heroines are and I loved the fact she had a list of things to do – to get out there and be carefree – for the week she was staying with Brent. Shes a tough cookies, although she does have insecurities and there is one part that had my heart clenching before i felt so sorry for Lucy – it was the more important part of her list and something happens. It tore me up because i would love to show and share that with someone i loved and it all went to pot 😦

Their chemistry sizzled, the sexual tension burnt the pages and the sex, uhh hell yes. You know that all that angry sex too will be amazing especially when Matt finds out who Lucy really is, he still cant stay away from her. She’s enticing and he feels alive when he’s with her. She helps burn out the darkness and lets light back into his life.

I don’t think I will ever get bored of reading a Tessa Bailey novel. She fills her novels up to the brim with drama, sexy times, personality and you just want to devour her books when you get your hands on them. I cannot recommend this author and this series any harder. PLEASE pick them up if you haven’t already because you will become obsessed with Ms. Bailey (Much like I am) and be on your wits end waiting for the next book from her.

DO IT DO IT! Buy the Line of Duty series, read it and tell me just how much you love them! You wont be able to pick just one of the guys, you will want them all, just like me. #Greedygirl.

Jessica Park, Romance, YA

Flat-Out Matt – Jessica Park

Posted on March 30, 2013March 29, 2013 by Z. Elizabeth

Synopsis

Matt is a junior at MIT. He’s geeky, he’s witty, he’s brilliant.

And he’s also very, very stupid.

When beautiful, cool, insightful Julie moves in with Matt’s family, why (oh why!) does he pretend to be his absent brother Finn for her alleged benefit?

It seems harmless enough until her short-term stay becomes permanent. And until it snowballs into heart-squeezing insanity. And until he falls in love with Julie, and Julie falls in love with Finn.

But … Matt is the right one for her. If only he can make Julie see it. Without telling her the truth, without shattering them all. Particularly his fragile sister Celeste, who may need Julie the most.

You saw Matt through Julie’s eyes in FLAT-OUT LOVE. Now go deeper into Matt’s world in this FLAT-OUT MATT novella. Live his side of the story, break when his heart breaks, and fall for the unlikely hero all over again.

Take an emotional skydive for two prequel chapters and seven Flat-Out Love chapters retold from his perspective, and then land with a brand-new steamy finale chapter from Julie.

4.5/5 stars

—————————————————————————

My Review

For those of you who have yet to read Flat-Out Love, then I’d advise you go and download that right now, read it then download Flat-Out Matt and read that straight after.

Flat-Out Matt is a companion novella to Flat-Out Love. It contains the ‘best’ scenes where us readers and lovers of FOL wanted to see Matt’s thoughts and feelings throughout that particular scene. All the scenes that were included in this novella were all the scenes that I absolutely adored and wanted to read in Matt’s POV. Every chapter I was wondering which scene would be next and I was not disappointed in the ones that Ms. Park used and wrote.

As mentioned in the synopsis, there is a prequel at the start which starts with Finn and Matt hiking and talking about life and their family. I loved reading this side of both of them, especially Matt, who, in Flat-Out Love really had to grew up fast and look after Celeste and do everything around the house as well as attend classes. It seemed that hiking made him free, if only for a moment.

Even though you know what happens in FOL and the story that both these books take, it’s still great to see Matt’s point of view throughout everything that happened. From him starting what he did and why he justified it, to watching him panic over how out of hand its gotten and to how he was feeling along the way – his emotions changing with every scene. You knew what was going to happen, but when you read it in Matt’s POV, it was still heartbreaking to read because everything he did, he did it for Julie and his family, even though he was the one who didn’t want to keep her in the dark with the secret yet that is exactly what he was doing.

But we all fell in love with Matt in FOL and you will definitely love him even more now in FOM because we get it all from his point of view, apart from the last one which is Julie’s.

You can still feel how broken the family are, and Julie, but with her presence, the characters are breaking out from their old shells, into new ones. They are still as loveable and hilarious and even though there are scenes that are not next to each other when reading FOL, in FOM they all blend together brilliantly and the timeline isn’t off at all!

The last scene is steamy. Jessica Park was not lying when she said that, and it was just great to read beyond the last page of FOL and into the added scenes in FOM with Matt and Julie being together and being in love. It was the perfect ending to a fantastic book and I loved knowing that Matt and Julie are totally happy and in love with one another after everything that has happened in their lives.

You all need to read this novella. It’s not a long one, but it packs a hell of a lot in it that you will fly by reading it and come out at the end all deliriously happy that everything turns out super amazing and sexy for Matt and Julie. (And of course, happy for Celeste too! I love that girl.)

Jade C. Jamison, New Adult

Right Now (Nicki Sosebee #4) by Jade C. Jamison

Posted on December 11, 2012December 11, 2012 by Z. Elizabeth

Synopsis

Nicki is becoming a better reporter, so much so that her boss Neal leans on her more and more to get the good stuff. So when a rash of robberies hits the downtown Winchester area, Nicki is reporting the damage…and probably getting a little too close for the bad guys’ comfort. As if that weren’t enough, Nicki finds herself in a full-fledged love triangle between Jesse and Sean…and she can’t bear to choose between them.

Warning: Not for the faint of heart! This book contains explicit sex and naughty language. Proceed with caution…if you dare.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

My Review

Nicki is climbing the ranks at the Winchester Tribune and Neal has given her the story of a number of robberies downtown. Nothing of importance has been stolen but it’s her job to report the damage and find out what is going on.

It doesn’t help that her love life has broken down and a fully fledged triangle between Sean, Jesse and herself has blown up. Jesse has dumped Nicki, Sean seems to be leading her on and Nicki is confused and hurt over both of them.

Nicki has matured so much over ditching the one night stands for a relationship and she actually pours her heart out crying when she and Jesse break up as she actually was falling for him. The only mistake is going to Sean’s to try and see what his feelings are, which then made everything so much more awkward again. With a broken heart, she seems to want to retreat back to her old self of picking up guys, if only to try and make Jesse jealous.

Jesse seems to have some trust and self-esteem issues with Sean and Nicki’s relationship. I could understand his reservation since he found out about their one night stand 8 years ago, but I couldn’t exactly sympathize with him, since Nicki was adamant nothing would ever happen again (even though she’s been wanting it to in book one and two) but Sean annoyed me when he wouldn’t back Nicki up. It only made Jesse that much stingier about them, making himself become detached from Nicki because he just couldn’t bare to see her and Sean hang out, no matter how long they have known each other.

Sean annoyed me. As much as I like his character, it seems he doesn’t know what the hell is going on with his feelings and that way, he’s hurting Nicki, which is completely unfair. He seems to know Nicki’s feelings for him, yet when he reels her in, he throws her back out asap. You do see his conflictions about them being together throughout the book, when he’s talking to Nicki and in some ways I could empathize with him not wanting to – not because he doesn’t want to, but because he would fuck it all up and their friendship. It’s obvious they have chemistry and this energy attracting them to each other that Jesse can see and even Will, Nicki’s brother, but we’ll just have to see what happens in the next few books regarding these two. I have no idea who I want Nicki to be with now. I love both Jesse and Sean – that is one hard decision to make.

I loved the storyline with Matt, the boy toy. It was a nice touch to kind of see Nicki teach him about sex and how to make him better at it. It did keep her mind off her heartbreak and it made Matt that much more confident in pursuing and conducting sex.

We did get to find out who the rapist was from No Place To Hide, and it was definitely who Nicki and I thought it was!

I really liked this book. Nicki didn’t end up trying to save her life this time, the only thing she was trying to protect was her breaking heart and in the end, her love life returns, but which guy is it? You’ll have to read and find out!

Romance, YA

Bound Together – Eliza Jane

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Z. Elizabeth

Synopsis

Seventeen-year-old Zoey needs an escape from some personal drama, like her mom’s depression and taking care of her four younger siblings. She finds the perfect distraction in a frenemies-with-benefits arrangement with irritatingly hot football captain, Matt, during their class trip to Paris. There’s no chance of falling for someone whose only ambition in life is to stay in their hick town and one day take over his parent’s tire store. But far from home and personal responsibilities, his cocky grin and easy attitude start to grow on her as they explore the seductive city of Paris together.

Once they’re back at home, Zoey finds herself texting him for a secret rendezvous whenever she needs an escape. Though she’s been explicitly clear she’s using him for one thing, whenever Matt picks her up, he acts more like it’s a date-date rather than a backseat playdate –making sure she has eaten, or stopping to color with her little sister before they go out. Despite her best efforts at keeping their arrangement physical only, Zoey begins to realize – with fear and disgust – that she’s falling for him. When things fall apart with her mom, letting Matt see her real life takes more courage than she has – but if she’s brave enough to let him, he might be just the one person who can help.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————-

My Review

Zoe doesn’t lead a normal lifestyle. With a dad that works all the time, a depressed mother and four young siblings, she’s more of a mother to them than a sister as she does everything for them. At the end of the day, she is absolutely knackered and that’s why she can’t wait to go to Paris, to see how they cope without her at home.

Matt is the popular jock, the captain of the football team, he’s rich, had a popular girlfriend, whom he dumps and goes to all the parties. Thing is he’s faking being happy but feels like he has to keep up this cheery persona around everyone; at home and at school.

Zoey and Matt are both hiding behind a facade. They both have things happening in their life’s that they don’t want anyone to know about and that’s why Paris is an escape for them both.

They both get partnered up on the trip to Paris, to do an assignment together and Zoey isn’t happy about it at all. Zoey is a goth girl, more into keeping to herself and Matt is a popular jock, known by everyone. They have nothing in common. But in Paris they both get to know each other and they both feel at ease being together; they don’t have to act fake.

Sticking together throughout the trip, they form their own little bubble; just the two of them. They both feel something spending time together, hence the frenemies-with-benefits, but they know everything must return to how it was before Paris when they fly home.

Except things don’t change, minus Zoey trying to ignore Matt when they get back, he slowly worms his way into her life, no matter how much she tries to stop it. She doesn’t want to fall in love with someone who wants to stay in their town, when she wants to get far away.

So they make a deal. Secret meetups to hook up and when Zoey wants to stop it, Matt tells her they can have one phone call each then they can stop all contact. Can they really stay away from each other though?

I loved both the characters of Matt and Zoey. They seemed so different yet so in tune with one another. Matt suffers from migraines and Zoey turns into mother mode to help him out whereas Matt is so kind and lovely to her siblings, even going as far to help her mother out.

It was a breath of fresh air to see someone like Matt admitting he doesn’t want the popular status that he has to keep up, trying to be happy when he’s clearly not and it doesn’t feel like him at all.

Zoey doesn’t like anyone seeing the real her – someone who keeps the family running – so it takes courage for her to let Matt see that side of her, especially as he witnesses it firsthand. But she accepts his help even though she wants to be the strong one.

They both show their weak sides to one another, Matt with the migraines and telling Zoey about his brother’s death and Zoey with her family. It was really nice to read them help each other out and be tormented over their feelings for one another, finally succumbing to them later on.

The only problem was the ending. I felt that Eliza could have added a few more chapters to their journey but then maybe it was the perfect way to end it. Other than that, I did enjoy this book. It gave me a few laughs in places and a few gasps and squeals. All in all, a great read to pass the day.

Jessica Park, Romance

Flat-Out Love – Jessica Park

Posted on October 28, 2012August 16, 2013 by Z. Elizabeth

Synopsis

Flat-Out Love is a warm and witty novel of family love and dysfunction, deep heartache and raw vulnerability, with a bit of mystery and one whopping, knock-you-to-your-knees romance.

Something is seriously off in the Watkins home. And Julie Seagle, college freshman, small-town Ohio transplant, and the newest resident of this Boston house, is determined to get to the bottom of it.

When Julie’s off-campus housing falls through, her mother’s old college roommate, Erin Watkins, invites her to move in. The parents, Erin and Roger, are welcoming, but emotionally distant and academically driven to eccentric extremes. The middle child, Matt, is an MIT tech geek with a sweet side … and the social skills of a spool of USB cable. The youngest, Celeste, is a frighteningly bright but freakishly fastidious 13-year-old who hauls around a life-sized cardboard cutout of her oldest brother almost everywhere she goes.

And there’s that oldest brother, Finn: funny, gorgeous, smart, sensitive, almost emotionally available. Geographically? Definitely unavailable. That’s because Finn is traveling the world and surfacing only for random Facebook chats, e-mails, and status updates. Before long, through late-night exchanges of disembodied text, he begins to stir something tender and silly and maybe even a little bit sexy in Julie’s suddenly lonesome soul.

To Julie, the emotionally scrambled members of the Watkins family add up to something that … well … doesn’t quite add up. Not until she forces a buried secret to the surface, eliciting a dramatic confrontation that threatens to tear the fragile Watkins family apart, does she get her answer.

Flat-Out Love comes complete with emails, Facebook status updates, and instant messages.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————-

My Review

I absolutely loved this book and read it within a couple of hours. I just couldn’t put it down.

The synopsis kind of highlights what is expected in the book, so there isn’t really a lot to review it about.
This book made me laugh so much at times, especially between Matt and Julie. It made me smile at the bond Celeste and Julie made and I had a few tears- happy and sad- towards the end where everything unravels and you find out what has happened. I kind of understood why they kept it from Julie, but she was pushed right into the middle of it, without the parents knowing what was happening, but on the other hand, they should of told her without hiding it from her.

It’s hard to write a review without actually spoiling the book for others as a couple of chapters from the end you find out what happened to the family (which I had an inkling about and then it confirmed it) but I have just got to say I loved Julie and the Watkins family. What wasn’t there to love?!