Tag: photographer

Posted in J. Sterling, New Adult

The Perfect Game – J. Sterling

Posted on by Z. Elizabeth

15783307Synopsis

He’s a game she never intended to play.
And she’s the game changer he never knew he needed.

The Perfect Game tells the story of college juniors, Cassie Andrews & Jack Carter. When Cassie meets rising baseball hopeful Jack, she is determined to steer clear of him and his typical cocky attitude. But Jack has other things on his mind… like getting Cassie to give him the time of day.

They’re both damaged, filled with mistrust and guarded before they find one another (and themselves) in this emotional journey about love and forgiveness. Strap yourselves for a ride that will not only break your heart, but put it back together.

Sometimes life gets ugly before it gets beautiful…

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My Review

“You’re both so screwed up alone that together you’re like the perfect mess.”

I’m going to be honest with you. I’ve had The Perfect Game on my kindle for a few weeks now, and every time I have gone to read it, I have been scared and chosen another book. The reason? When I download books, I read reviews, as do many other people, but I read one review that said something really bad happens and if you follow me on twitter or have read some of my reviews, you know I become too emotionally attached to books, the storylines and the characters, and I knew, if I read this book, I’d probably have my heart ripped out and throw my kindle away from me. And that is exactly what I did reading this book. But it was worth every second because I fell head over heels in love with this book from the beginning.

College junior Cassie Andrews and her best friend and roommate Melissa end up going to a frat party and that is when Cassie and Jack meet. Jack is your typical manwhore who gets any women he wants until he meets Cassie who is turned off by his charms and won’t give him the time of day. Jack’s cocky and always gets what he wants but when Cassie bites back, something switches in him and he pursues her until she relentlessly gives in to a date with him. Only one date though, and then he’ll leave her alone. But things aren’t always that easy when it comes to Jack when she gets to know him, the real him over dinner and that’s when everything changes for the both of them.

You find out that Jack isn’t all that cocky and deep down he’s been burnt badly by his parents leaving him and his brother when they were younger and that he has major trust issues, hence why he only sleeps with a girl once and lets them pursue him. He’s way out of his comfort zone with Cassie, but he knows there is something different about him than all the other girls. She doesn’t care that he’s an athlete, she only cares about him as a person and that’s when he knows he wants something more with her. She asks him to prove it, and that’s exactly what he does. Proves he can be a one women man, especially for Cassie.

Their relationship started off great, apart from the group of girls constantly making snide comments about Cassie. Things are perfect for them but they both have major trust issues especially Cassie. Her issues stem from her Dad who never follows through with his promises and so because of this, Cassie finds it hard to trust any man. Jack’s issues are from his parents leaving and the fact he’s never been in a relationship so he keeps telling Cassie he will screw up eventually. But together, they both refuse to let anyone get in-between them; they are determined to make this relationship work.

To see Jack change for Cassie was beautiful. She’s the one girl who sees Jack for who he really is and not the cocky, manwhore that everyone else sees. He’s real with her and it seemed that he needed Cassie as much as she needed him. As their relationship blossoms and they have been through a lot to get through to the other side, Jack has been drafted for his Baseball and is travelling and Cassie is doing well in college and has earned herself a photography internship. Things are going great but as any great book, nothing good ever lasts too long and things change dramatically over night between them when they are apart.

I screamed, shouted and threw my kindle away from me while I took in what I had just read. Then when I got my breathing back to normal and read the next page few pages, I did it all over again. To say I was affected was an understatement. I just couldn’t believe what I had read. It made me hate Jack for what he had done to Cassie after telling her he would never hurt her. I couldn’t condone what he had done, but then I felt remorse towards him. He felt so sorry and guilt was eating him up that he knew the right thing was to own up to Cassie about it, even though he knew he would lose her and that’s what he never wanted to do – she was his life. Then the way he handled it, going to the extreme of what he did, even when everyone was telling him not to, it got me frustrated and angry at him again. I know he wanted to make things right, but to do that? There was really no need, but in a way I could see his reasoning’s but it was definitely the wrong way to go as it backfired on him.

I am really glad that you get to see Jack’s POV in certain chapters. If we didn’t, I would have definitely hated him throughout the book, wondering if it was a bet or something to try and be with Cassie but alas, don’t worry, it’s not and he truly does want Cassie forever, which I thought was amazingly sweet.

This book goes through a journey. A journey of love, changes, breaking down barriers, heartbreak and friendship. There is a happy ending for both Jack and Cassie and after everything that they went through; the way he apologized would clinch at my heartstrings too. The ending was positively perfect in my opinion and although after everything that happens between the pair and many would probably not forgive him; it seemed the right choice for Cassie to do so. I, for one, am so excited to read book two The Game Changer, when it is out in 2013. Please hurry up and release it J.Sterling!!

Posted in New Adult, Romance

Wallbanger – Alice Clayton

Posted on by Z. Elizabeth

15858248Synopsis

Caroline Reynolds has a fantastic new apartment in San Francisco, a KitchenAid mixer, and no O (and we’re not talking Oprah here, folks). She has a flourishing design career, an office overlooking the bay, a killer zucchini bread recipe, and no O. She has Clive (the best cat ever), great friends, a great rack, and no O.

Adding insult to O-less, since her move, she has an oversexed neighbor with the loudest late-night wallbanging she’s ever heard. Each moan, spank, and–was that a meow?–punctuates the fact that not only is she losing sleep, she still has, yep, you guessed it, no O.

Enter Simon Parker. (No, really, Simon, please enter.) When the wallbanging threatens to literally bounce her out of bed, Caroline, clad in sexual frustration and a pink baby-doll nightie, confronts her heard-but-never-seen neighbor. Their late-night hallway encounter has, well, mixed results. Ahem. With walls this thin, the tension’s gonna be thick…

In her third novel, Alice Clayton returns to dish her trademark mix of silly and steamy. Banter, barbs, and strutting pussycats, plus the sexiest apple pie ever made, are dunked in a hot tub and set against the gorgeous San Francisco skyline in this hot and hilarious tale of exasperation at first sight.

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My Review

“Open this door you asshole, or I will come through the wall.”

Caroline Reynolds is an interior designer in San Francisco. She’s recently moved into a new apartment with her cat Clive. It’s a great apartment, but there’s just one thing that riles her up nearly every single night…

Enter Simon. He’s the neighbour who has late night wallbanging sex with a different girl each time. You have the girl who giggles, the girl who meows and the girl who likes a bit of spanking. It angers Caroline to no end that he keeps her up at night but even more so, it causes her to become sexually frustrated since she’s lost her O. And yes, that means her orgasm.

Since a bad date ended with sex, the guy she slept with has taken away her O and she loathes him for it. So after weeks of hearing but not seeing the guy who keeps her up at night – and not in a good way – she confronts him when he’s in the middle of his throne of passion and it begins the making of their friendship.

Simon, Simon, Simon. What can I say about him? He’s sexy, funny, caring, a photographer; he travels AND he would definitely give you the best night of your life. Alice wrote this guy to an absolute T. I loved the banter between him and Caroline. They had me laughing so hard at their scenarios and conversations, especially their texts. He’s fond of Caroline and you can also tell he can be sensitive, which is an instant attraction. He definitely would be my type of guy.

Caroline was a great character. She was content in being alone and would happily admit it, but damn girl; she really needed someone to get her O back. She could give as good as he got with Simon, which made their friendship stand out to me. It was flirty and witty and of course there was chemistry between them but it just took a while for them to do anything about it.

The sexual tension between them both literally sizzled out of the book. I could feel it on every page I turned. I did love when they finally had sex. It was long awaited but it was definitely the right time for them both. They were unconventional in the way they began the relationship but it was a great read when they got together.

The sex doesn’t come until near the end of the book but the book was so much more than that. It was about friendships between each other and their friends, being sexual attracted to one another yet not doing anything about it because their friendship seemed more important at the time even though they both wanted something more, and when it did happen, it flourished at every turn.

I bloody loved the names they had for each other, such as Wallbanger, Cockblocker, Nightie Girl etc. They totally made the story and the relationship between them. I have to say though, my favourite scene was when they were ‘telling the truth’ and you finally saw Simon spill his true feelings to Caroline. For two people who wanted to match up their friends together, they took a long time to finally tell each other they had feelings for one another.

This was the first book I had read of Alice Clayton, but the RedHead series looks so good that I will be downloading those books right away!

Seriously, you need to read this book. It had me feeling so many emotions throughout the book and I fell in love with Simon. He was such a character, as was Caroline and they were matched perfectly for one another. So glad I downloaded this book, I couldn’t put it down at all. So going to have to reread this soon.

Posted in Romance

Antarctic Affair – Louise Rose-Innes

Posted on by Z. Elizabeth

Synopsis

Assistant magazine editor and bona fide city girl, Georgina McKellar is put on a last minute assignment to interview intrepid explorer and wildlife photographer, Taj Andrews, while on board an exploration liner bound for the Antarctic. Totally out of her element, Georgina has to overcome her dislike of the great outdoors and melt the frosty heart of her subject to get him to open up to her so she can write the prize-winning feature article that will secure her the editor’s position at Verve Magazine.

Pushy journalist Georgina McKeller is everything Taj dislikes in a woman. She’s pampered, ambitious, draped in designer clothes and adores the city – his total opposite. He proposes a deal. He’ll agree to grant her the in-depth interview she desires if she agrees to accompany him on his excursions into the frigid Antarctic wilderness. He’s prepared to show the well-heeled princess how wild he can really be, but what he didn’t count on was her rising to the challenge.

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My Review

I really enjoyed this book. The front cover is a bit off as it wasn’t a sexualized book at all. Of course they did have sex, but once, if not twice and it wasn’t erotically written either which i really liked as many others seem to take it too far describing every bit. I read this as i think it was free on amazon but because i am a graduate journalist who wants to become a travel photojournalist, this book appealed to me – plus the romantic aspect of it as well.

The way it was written, from both the main characters developments and how they act around each other and to the way Louise wrote the description of the Antarctic was just visionary. It made me want to be in the book and witness what Taj, Georgina and the others were looking at and experiences.

Taj tries to push Georgina to the tip so that she crashes under the pressure of this job, but she catches on and proves to everyone that she can do whatever is thrown her way. At one point, Taj and Georgina are partnered together and she ends up saving his life, which turns their ‘relationship’ around.

It was short but sweet and I did love the ending.