School Assignment: Reading A Dark-Brown Dog by Stephen Crane

WOW: 4/6/16

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine! It showcases books that we can't wait on to come out!

No Love Allowed 

By: Kate Evangelista

Released: April 19, 2016

It's all fun and parties until someone falls in love in this modern fairy tale from author Kate Evangelista.
Caleb desperately needs a fake girlfriend. Either he attends a series of parties for his father’s law firm with a pretty girl on his arm, or he gets shipped off to Yale to start a future he’s not ready for and isn’t sure he wants. And sadly, the last unattached girl in his social circle has just made the grievous mistake of falling in love with him. Fortunately, Didi, recently fired waitress and aspiring painter, is open to new experiences. As the summer ticks by in a whirl of lavish parties, there’s only one rule: They must not fall in love!

 

Teaser Tuesday: 4/5/16

 Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser:

"'I had to remember that I felt like that. I had to know it was different now. Not in a bad way. In the right way.'"
-The Fiery Trial, Cassandra Clare, Page 37

Review: Saving Maverick

 

Title: Saving Maverick
Author: Debra Elise
Released:April 4, 2016

Synopsis:

Maverick Jansen and Kelsey Sullivan fall into a complicated game of PR strategy by day and searing passion by night where they both find a new meaning to fast and hard.
STRIKE ONE
Days before the biggest game of playboy pitcher Maverick Jansen’s career, his brother is killed in a horrific car accident. Determined not to let his teammates down, Mav pushes through his grief only to lose control of his signature pitch—and the series.

STRIKE TWO
Still dealing with the backlash of his once adoring fans, Maverick learns his team’s owner plans to move the ball club to small town America. During a night of hard drinking Mav rails against the move to “Hicksville” while a fan records the entire tirade. His career takes another hit when the video goes viral right before spring training.
Kelsey Sullivan, Media Consultant, is hired by the team’s owner and her childhood friend, Thomas Scott, to help restore Maverick’s image and find a way to get his mojo back. As the daughter of a former minor league ball player who walked away from her and her unstable mother, Kelsey breaks her main client rule—no male athletes—to help her friend and gain a coveted position with the ball club.
STRIKE THREE, or…?
Persuaded to pretend they’re a couple against her better judgment, Kelsey and Maverick begin dating as a last ditch effort to secure his place on the team, fix his public image and prove to an unstable groupie who’s begun posting doctored photos on the internet that he’s taken.
In order to convince Kelsey what they have is more than just soul-shattering sex, Maverick digs deep, overcoming his commitment phobia and unexpected news to prove to Kelsey love can save them both. Can Kelsey bury her long-held belief that a bad boy baseball player isn’t the happily-ever-after type so they both can make the call of a lifetime.

My Review:

I’m not entirely sure how I feel after Saving Maverick. I enjoyed it, but there were some parts that confused me. The story kept my focus and I liked reading it, but I just felt like something was missing as I was reading. I don’t know exactly what… but there was something missing.

The plot was a little predictive, but after reading so many romance novels, you start to understand how the plot goes. I do love a happily ever after though. I was confused about some of the writing though. Throughout the story, the POV seemed to just randomly change. One paragraph it would be Kelsey’s POV and then the next paragraph or even a sentence within that paragraph would seem to be from Maverick’s. It was confusing to say the least. I tried my best to understand what was going on, but I don’t know if I fully understood some of the scenes because of that.

Kelsey was awesome. I’m all for strong female leads and Kelsey did not disappoint. She was one of the bet PR reps in Hollywood and came to Pinesville as a favor to her long-time best friend. Kelsey did not have the best childhood, but she didn’t let it get her down. She was able to move on with her life and become successful without too much baggage holding her back. Though some of her actions seemed very sudden. It was hard to get a grasp on her character and what her motivations were because she always seemed to be contradicting herself.

Maverick was determined. Yes, he had a crap ton of baggage, but he was still striving to achieve his goals. When a video of him running his mouth goes viral, he has to majorly fix his image. It was very motivating to see how determined he was to fix things. He never backed down from a fight and stood up for what he thought was right. It was also great how dedicated he was to fixing his image. Sure, at the beginning he was just doing it to guarantee his spot as starting pitcher, but he really got into it. Plus, it helps when he’s gorgeous, hilarious, and sexy as all get out. Yes, gorgeous and sexy are too different things. :P

I did enjoy the Saving Maverick. It was a good, quick easy read that I was able to finish in about a day. I love little romances, which is why this book caught my eye. Besides the POV issue, the writing was good and enjoyable. If you’re a lover of romance, pick up Saving Maverick today!

Owl Crate Unboxing!

March Box:

What was in the box?

• Bookworm Boutique's custom pack of pins that were exclusively made for OwlCrate!
• Out of Print's Banned Books Socks to show that censorship won't prevent you from reading.
• Chronicle Books 642 Tiny Things to Write About.
• Kikkerland's Quill pen. 
• The Serpent King by Jeff Zenter.

My Thoughts:

I absolutely adore the pins and the quill. The quill writes amazingly and the pins are super adorable. I don't know how I feel about the socks. I'm really weird and only like certain socks, so we'll see how this goes. I'm not really a writer, but it could be fun to sit down and write with fun little prompts. Or I'll give it to my English professor. I haven't heard of The Serpent King but the summary sounds good!

If you are interested in OwlCrate, sign up for their emails and purchase a box! I love getting mine every month!