Good afternoon, beautiful peeps! Welcome to my review for a delicious romantic YA book: Operation Prom Date, from Cindi Madsen! I received my copy from Chapter by Chapter in exchange for an honest review and here we go! Thank you, guys!
Kate ships tons of fictional couples, but IRL her OTP is her and Mick, the hot quarterback she’s crushed on since, like, forever. With only one semester left of senior year, it’s now or never if she wants to land him in time for prom. Since she’s flirtationally challenged, she enlists Cooper Callihan, the guy who turned popular seemingly overnight but who used to be a good friend.
Cooper lives and breathes rowing, but his partner just broke his wrist. When he remembers Kate’s good with a set of oars, he strikes a deal: help him train, and he’ll make sure her crush notices her. Only he didn’t know how addicting spending time with her would be. Or how the more successful the Operation is, the more jealousy he experiences.
The mission has been set. The troops have their marching orders. But what if the target is the wrong guy all along?
Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains stargazing, accidental swimming, and poker swindling. This kissing practice will melt your ereader…and give you a new couple to ship.
(Alternative title: OH MY STARS, THIS BOOK WAS TOO PERFECT FOR MY LITTLE PANDA HEART!)
Hello, romance fans! We’re about to start a really sweet review [haha, I’m so funny] for Sugared Season, from Spencer Spears! I have received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for an honest review – again, thanks so much, Spencer! – and the moment is here! Btw, before we start, Happy Book Birthday to Sugar Season ❤ ❤
Graham lost his husband Joey five years ago and never quite recovered from the experience. He knew he should be grateful for having at least a handful of years next to the man of his life, but the memories had been too much for Graham. How was he supposed to move on when he didn’t have the courage to take his ring off? When he had to drive to Joey’s parents once a year for a depressing and heart shattering ritual?
More importantly: why won’t people allow Graham to suffer alone? The only man he wants is Joey – no one else will do.
Ryan lost his elder perfect brother five years ago and never quite recovered from the experience. After a lifetime of resentment towards Joey, wishing every day for the guy to vanish within air and put an end to their mother’s comparisons, Ryan suddenly saw his wishes coming true in an awful and heart breaking way. Despite knowing that he hadn’t caused the war Joey had been fighting in when he died, Ryan feels responsible for his death. To help matters, Ryan just lost all his money to a con man in New York and was forced to move back in with his parents, enduring twice more the comparisons from his mother.
All Ryan wants is some perspective in life and a minute without listening to any kind of critic to his looks or his choices.
Graham and Ryan worlds’ collide when both men decide to stray from their regular modus operandi and make out in the parking lot of a highway bar. It wasn’t supposed to mean anything… Until they discover just how related they are.
Good night, cookers! What’s up? Okay, if you’re not a cooker, good night to you too – I’m not much of a chef myself, so who am I to judge, right? Haha!
Nonsense aside, today I’ll talk about a cozy woozy sugared romance I’ve received from Hidden Gems in exchange for an honest review – thanks, guys! It’s Order Up, from Declan Rhodes!
Food, sex, and romance.
Anthony Hunt is expert at the first two, but his track record is poor on the third. A recent top-of-the-class culinary school graduate, he owns one of the hottest, trendy food trucks in town. Impressed by Anthony’s good looks and appeal to the camera in a losing cause on a TV competition show, New York producers are looking to sign him for a food truck reality show. The only catch…they want him to have a personal life as appealing as his body and face.
Bryan Pierce is a rising young executive. He loves his success and he loves food, but he’s never really loved a man. He has plenty of experience in bed and on dates, but he has set aside relationship entanglements as a casualty of the corporate climb…for now.
One taste of the seductive, spicy shrimp from Anthony’s truck the Pampered Prawn is all that Bryan needs to want to know more about the chef…much more. Bryan is also just the kind of man that would look great on camera at Anthony’s side. It’s a romance of convenience that works like a charm…until real love intervenes.
Hi, there! Hope your Saturday ended 🙂 Following my goal of one manga review per day until I catch up with myself, today I present you a review for a title with a peculiar background with me: Calling, from Miu Otsuki. Yes, we are back to yaoi mangas.
Before introducing you formally to this title, I’d like to share our story. Last week, I was at a street bookshop and saw this title. I hated the art on the spot, it’s not my style at all. I didn’t want to buy it, but there are only three manga publishers on Brazil. Two very large and a medium one; the last was responsible for The Calling publishing and the other two publishers pretend that gay, pornographic and horror titles don’t exist. So, when I saw the smaller publisher bringing to us a gay title, I knew I had to get it to support them and show them that people would buy different titles, despite all the prejudice that they suffer on my country.
So, with a heavy heart, I went home and decided that, as I had already purchased the volume, it wouldn’t hurt to read it. Boy, I’m so glad I did. You shall find out why on the following lines of the review, but I really felt rewarded for helping out this particular publisher, haha!
The Story
Kazuaki is a regular salary man without a drop of excitement on his existence. That is, until one day when he literally stumbles on a porn recording session in the park that he always passed on his way home from work.
Kira is a porn star and leads a very carefree life. That is, until Kazuaki literally stumbles on him and his co-worker after a shooting at a park. On that moment, something shifted inside Kira; he had fallen for the clumsy and scared boy of the park and would do everything to see him again.
At first, Kazuaki is very eerie of Kira, as Kira was pushy and obviously too skilled, if you get my drift, but as they see each other and spend time together, Kazuaki starts to believe that maybe this is what he has been missing on his life: true love.
The Analysis
Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂
As I said, I had a lovely surprise with this title. Despite the ugly art, the story blew my mind! It was so different and original! Not even the insta-love on Kira’s part bothered me. It was all too natural, too cute and, behold, innocent. Yes, there are some mature scenes, but without any hint of vulgarity to them ❤ I wish the art wasn’t so bothersome, as it made the title lose two stars 😦
Anyway, the narrative pace is steady and we follow the story mostly from Kazuaki’s point of view. There are some pieces from Kira in the end, but not knowing what he is really thinking is part of the fun on The Calling, haha!
The plot is pretty simple, full filed with human complexes. Kazuaki is an insecure guy, socially awkward, never knows what to do or to say around people. He doesn’t care about his job and highly admires that Kira is so in love with his profession. You saw what I did, didn’t you?
All the while, Kira intends to conquer Kazuaki’s heart, but Kazuaki himself understands that he needs to trust Kira in order to be his true friend, never mind the amorous relationship that comes tagging along. Serious, it is beautiful.
The characters were a blast in personality and I laughed a lot with Kira. He is that goofy type of male, but without being clumsy. That was Kazuaki, haha! They really matched as a couple and I caught myself awing for them more than I should, oops!
As it is typical of yaoi titles, we aren’t introduced to many other characters in the story and, as always, I’m fine with that. Kira’s work colleague, this very beautiful girl whose name I can’t remember to save my life, was the perfect side kick for their situation: light and funny, spilling a secret or two about Kira to Kazuaki ❤ Kazuaki’s work colleagues also were cool.
Now, the art. Omg, the art. I’ve read several reviews highlighting the beauty of Otsuki-sensei’s work, but I can’t bring myself to agree. It was totally not my type, sorry.
from left to right: Kira and Kazuaki 🙂
Just no. I simply can’t bring myself to like this*.
Overall, I still think that it was a worth buy and a pleasant surprise. Otsuki-sensei knows her way very well in plot and character construction 🙂 If you like daily life stories, a touch of drama, romance and laughs, this title may be what you’re looking for!
Thank you for reading! Sorry for the lateness of this review, I had a full day packing up for my trip tomorrow morning, haha!
Hello, good Saturday morning to you 😀 Today I bring you guys my third Liebster Award! My deepest thanks to Vinnieh, my lovely friend that nominated me. On his blog, you can find awesome movie and lyrics reviews and some smoking hot bum posts. If you don’t already, go give him a follow, he is brilliant ❤
Vinnieh’s questions
What do you find most beneficial about being a blogger?
I got to meet so many incredible people and awesome books! Now, the sky is my limit, haha! I made friends, got better at English writing and doubled my share of read books on the year. It is very relaxing and rewarding, haha!
What are your views on nudism?
I never though about that, haha! As I live on a big city on a tropical country, I’m used to shirtless people on the streets, crazy people going for a walk naked to protest over some matter or other, etc. I wouldn’t do it, but I think everyone deserves the freedom to dress or to not dress as they see fit 🙂
Have you ever gone to see a movie that you were too young to watch at the time?
If we are talking about theaters, no, I didn’t. I’m 21 today with a 16 face, so I still struggle to see mere action movies, haha! But I watched tons of movies that weren’t for my age at home. My parents always trusted my judgments, for good and bad, haha!
If you could date a Hollywood star, who would it be?
Ian Somerhalder, as he is incredibly sexy, talented, nice, animal lover and singer ❤
My second option would be Matt Bomer, haha!
If you were the supreme ruler of a country, what would be the first law you would pass?
Thy shall not ruin, damage, bad mouth, steal or wrinkle books. The penalty for each of those infractions shall be… Deadly.
What do you consider to be the best thing about your blog?
I think that what’s different on my blog is the way I do my reviews, with all humbleness 🙂
Do you believe in the supernatural or paranormal?
I do, I think there are more between the sky and the ground that our eyes can see. Not all can be explained and I’m fine with that, haha!
Where is your dream destination for a holiday?
I really want to visit Canada, England, France, Germany and the USA 🙂 I never got the chance to travel abroad properly.
What is the first horror movie you recall viewing?
I know it is not really an horror movie, but mine would be The Mummy and all the movies that came after it. I remember watching them as a kid quite by accident with my parents and I lost my sleep for a week, haha! The monsters and insects crawling out of the sand still give me nightmares…
If you had a magic power, what would it be?
I would like to be able to move things around with my mind. That way, I would also me able to fly 😀
And finally, what do you believe the future holds for you?
Hopefully, a paying job, haha! And I know it holds a trip tomorrow to my hometown.
As this is my third award and I have seem this award on several blogs, I won’t tag anyone. But if you never received a Liebster Award and would like to, just comment and I’ll edit this post to nominate you and give you your eleven questions 😀
Thank you for reading and don’t worry, the blog shall continue to live even with my trips, haha!
Hello, there! Welcome to a book review, for a change ;D
Our star today is a book I have received from author Gerri Bowen, called Escape to Gettis… And Love, the first in the Love in Gettis series, in exchange for an honest review 😀 Thank you again for the kindness, Gerri! Oh, and I also would like to thank Booktips for introducing me to Gerri’s work ❤
Maggie is a 21th century woman that thinks she can’t ask for more: she has a good daughter, a sweet granddaughter, a wonderful family, nice friends, a job that she loves doing and money enough to not raise worries. The perfect life.
Or so she felt until laying eyes on the strange Viking man that came through the time travelling portal on her backyard.
Joren is a true Viking man that came through the portal near his village into a strange place called Gettysburg, seeking for lost children. He couldn’t be more surprised to find all of them already grown up. Specially the child of his King… Maggie.
Now Joren must adjust himself to life in 21th century in order to win the heart of the woman that fascinated him. Mean while, Maggie needs to decide whether she can finally be happy with Joren after so many poor choices regarding men on her life.
All the while helping an entire Viking village to flee from the wrath of a psychotic man of their time. Good thing that they have magical guardians to help.
The Analysis
Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂
I wasn’t prepared to like this book so much! It was my first time-travelling romance and the level of identification that I felt with the characters was awesome! Honestly, my heart warmed every time I picked this up for reading. Some quotes just made my day, keeping me cracking up for several minutes in a roll. There were some minor editing problems and the book pace was weirdly slow/fast, so it was a four stars book 🙂
The narrative style was third person with alternating points of view between Maggie, Joren, and their “dogs”, Koozie and Dromo (they have dog forms, but are magical beings). I liked the switching points of view, this is my favorite style. Point for Bowen ❤ I had a small problem with the pace. I mean, you expect a book to have a small pace if it involved time-travelling people trying to adapt, but I felt that the story dragged in several points and was too fast in others, especially on the acceptance of new habits area. A star was half lost here.
The plot seemed simple, but developed in such a way that you could never predict what would happen and I would have never guessed who the 21th century villain was. AWESOME. As this book opens a series, it’s waste of time to talk about loose ends. What I can do is say how much I long to see what’s going to happen next! ❤ But seriously, I loved this plot. It got me since page one!
The characters were one of the strongest points in this book. For starters, I got myself a new bookish boyfriend, Joren. He is awesome ❤ A wonderful man in every way possible without losing his Viking touch, haha! And, more important: he was so real. I don’t know how Bowen did this, but all her characters could live in my building with me and be my neighbors. The social drama was palpable and real, I was amazed.
Other new thing is that I loved Maggie! I usually have problems with main female characters, but I loved Maggie. She was the perfect main character, even on her flaws, haha!
Other thing that got me a little on this book is the amount of main characters that are important for the story. It got me very confused in the beginning and I’m especially bad with names in general, so I was lost sometimes.
Bonus point: Bowen’s humor and dialogical constructions. Just read this piece of dialogue between Maggie and her brother Colin, extracted from the book:
“He [Joren] thought I was in your cell phone?”
“As near as I can figure, yeah. He was ready to skewer me unless I let you [Maggie] out.”
“That’s sweet. Funny, but sweet.”
I cracked so hard. Bowen knows her business, guys. Now, feel Joren’s intensity on this dialogue with Maggie:
“What would you [Joren] like to talk about?”
“You.”
His answer stopped her in her tracks.
“What about me?”
“All about you.”
Seriously, I can’t even with this man!! *swoons*
Ahem, I’m alive.
Overall, I always looked forward to picking up this book again whenever I had to stop reading and was biting my nails to know what was going to happen next until the last page. Like this:
If you like time-travelling, romance, beautiful Viking males and women that know exactly what they want, just drop my blog and go read this book ❤
That’s it! Thanks for reading and thanks once again to both Gerri Bowen and Booktips team! I loved this book ❤
The Book Adventures of Annelise Lestrange 