Book Review: Going Hard by Kelsey Browning

Author: Kelsey Browning
Series: Steele Ridge #2
Audience: +18
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense
Publisher: KickSass Creations
Release Date: October 11th 2016
My Rating: 4 cups
Source: Netgalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):

Slick sports agent Griffin Steele is living the highlife in Los Angeles, far from the shadow of the North Carolina mountains where he grew up. But when his hometown falls on hard times and needs his help, Grif reluctantly agrees to commute between coasts. He never expects the lush scenery, in the form of pretty tomboy Carlie Beth Parrish, to be such a temptation.

After an impetuous one-night stand with Grif Steele fifteen years ago, hardworking blacksmith Carlie Beth has tried to make a living and raise her daughter in the hometown she loves. Then, too-sexy-for-his-Rolex Grif blows back into town like the perfect storm, making Carlie feel less like a thirty-something mom and more like an infatuated teenager.

When a stalker targets Carlie Beth, Grif can’t help but step in to protect her. But once he discovers the fourteen-year-old secret she’s been keeping from him, will he embrace the truth or will he turn his back on Steele Ridge and Carlie Beth forever?

*Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book from Netgalley and KickSass Creations in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.

My first ARC August read and we're on a really good start. While the hidden baby trope is not one of my favorites in romance books, I have to say that Browning did a great job at writing it.

Now, while I don't think Carlie Beth made the right choice, I do understand where her nineteen-year-old-self was coming from. I don't agree, but I get it. All of that aside, I liked Carlie. She was funny, she was a good mother, and a good friend.

Grif was an interesting hero, full of contradictions. I'm curious to see if in the next books in the series this aspect about him is explored, but he seemed like a chameleon to me. When the book starts, we meet him talking on the phone with one of his clients, and by that small interaction, I was expecting a cold, stand-offish guy. Except the more time he spent with his family, back in his hometown, the more laid-back he turned out to be, so I'd love to see him in a big city environment, just to see if somehow he becomes a different person in any way.

Throughout the book there are such hilarious moments that I found it hard not to start laughing like a loon in the middle of the night, which I liked because it's been a while since my last laugh-out-loud read. The story is pretty fast paced, which is also a good thing, but I felt like the ending was a little bit abrupt. I would have wanted a "several weeks/months/whatever later" scene, but I guess that maybe we get that in the next books. I didn't expect the stalker to turn out to be who it turned out to be, which is a plus (I was completely pointing the finger at some innocent person).

I would have wanted to see more bonding moments between Aubrey and Grif, but all in all I enjoyed this book and I'll definitely read the rest of the books in the series, because I need more Reid in my life, Reid being one of Grif's brothers.

Book Review: Ecstasy Claimed by Setta Jay

Author: Setta Jay
Series: Guardians of the Realms #2
Audience: +18
Genre: Erotic Romance, Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Setta Jay, LLC
Release Date: March 23rd 2014, Re-edited on March 6th 2017
My Rating: 5 cups
Source: giveaway
Blurb (from Goodreads):

2017 re-edited edition!

Gregoire has spent centuries with his brother Guardians fighting for the safety and security of the Realms. Endless decades of battling mixed with bouts of mindless sex to sate his needs. Needs that haven’t truly been fulfilled since she was born. The one destined to be his bonded mate. For the last twenty five years Gregoire has kept his distance giving her time to grow into a female who is capable of handling his intense dominance.

Alyssa has done everything that was expected of her, until the day she finds out she has a mate who has left her unclaimed. Unheard of when mates are rare and coveted. Even worse is the fact that he is the most powerful of her race and a Guardian of the Realms. Furious at the rejection she decides she is now in charge of her life. No more will she allow others to rule her.

Against the backdrop of evil forces that are conspiring to topple the Realms, can Gregoire find his wayward mate before she is taken by corrupt Immortals? Can Alyssa forgive him and learn to exert her own female power while surrendering to his savage passion? And will the two of them be able to forge a mate bond that cannot be severed... or will they be forever cursed with an Ecstasy Unclaimed?

Warning: Dirty talking, possessive alpha male; scenes of sexual exhibition; an instance of f/f; spankings and more.

*Disclaimer: I won a copy of this book from a contest held by the author. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way

Last year I discovered this new gem in the romance/sci fi & fantasy section of Netgalley and holy moly am I in love with this series.

Ecstasy Claimed continues telling the story of how the Guardians are struggling to keep the people under their protection safe from Cyril's madness and Elizabeth's cruelty, while pushing them further towards their destined mates.

Alyssa is a fantastic heroine and I am super in love with her. I like that she didn't wait for Gregoire to find the courage to go get her, and instead went to become her own person when she found out about him. I also loved how she did that, the choices she made, even though it infuriated her mate (good for her!).

I understood why Gregoire decided to stay away from his mate, I really did. I also admired his self-control. He could have taken advantage of the situation, but he proved to be worthy of being a Guardian of the realms by not abusing the gift given to him. Although yes, I'll admit it, I did enjoy seeing him suffer a little bit because of his mate, because he did kind of deserve it. He could have at least let her know he existed, right?

The thing that I love most about this series is that it's not just about Gregoire and Alyssa, you also have Sam and Erik going forward with their relationship and starting to heal from what Cyril put them through. We also get to know more about Cyril and to understand how truly evil he is, making it pretty obvious that if he is as evil and deranged as he is, I can only imagine how his father, Apollo was.

I am very excited to read the rest of the series, which I'm currently bingeing on, and I'm even more excited about the upcoming spin-off. If you're a fan of paranormal fantasy, you definitely have to read this series, now!

Wednesday Chatter #18: Of The Books I Read In School

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks


WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Today's topic is inspired by a list of discussion post prompts made up by the fabulous Brianna over at Pages Unbound Reviews. One of the prompts involves books you had to read at school that you ended up liking, so I thought it would be fun to talk about that, especially now with ARC August just starting. 

Here's the thing. I was never a huge reader in my teenage years, mostly because I didn't have access to the genres I loved. I had no idea what paranormal romance was, no idea that YA was a thing, and forget about high fantasy. This is before all the hyped-up book-to-movie adaptations was a thing, when the biggest hypes involved only two series: Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. We're talking the early 2000s here people! Don't get me started on the 90s, because that's an even more painful part of my reading history. Basically what I'm saying here is that the only books I knew of were mostly those I had to read at school. Which I 99% hated. But that 1% is made up of real gems, that I have to talk about. So without further ado, here's a list of books I had to read in school and loved:


Robin Hood by Alexandre Dumas

Back in middle school I enrolled in a class about mythology, which to my great sadness and surprise turned out to actually be a world-literature class. But out of all the classics that I had to read for it, this one was my favorite. And because of this book I went on a little Robin Hood binge, because let's be honest, who doesn't love the famous outlaw?

What exactly I loved about it? I couldn't say, probably the fact that for the first time ever the words on the page turned into images in my head and I forgot I was reading and just enjoyed the ride. It was also the biggest book I had to read in the shortest amount of time up until that point.

Mormometii by Marin Preda

This book is about a family from the 1930s in Romania and their simple life, the struggles they go through with the debt and the sons trying to get to the big city. The reason why I love this book so much is that the father, Ilie, has always reminded me of one of my grandfathers. From the way he talks to his look, to how he treats his sons and daughters, everything reminded me of him, and I would laugh at times while reading this book and tell myself "Yep, grandad would totally say or do that".

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

One of the very few plays that I read in school and loved. I loved Shakespeare even before reading this play, but for some reason Romeo and Juliet was one of the easiest Shakespearean plays for me to read. Maybe because I knew the story so well, I don't know. I just loved it. Not as much as Antony and Cleopatra, but I loved it.

The Lucky Mill by Ioan Slavici

What happens to a man's soul when he wants to get rich? What happens to his family, his wife, his kids? That's what this book is about and it is honestly, to this day, one of my favorite stories ever. It's short, it's tragic, and it shows how dehumanizing the need to get rich can be, how you can lose yourself in pursuing something without caring for what's right or wrong. 

I remember also that our literature teacher in high school decided we should watch the movie one day, and all the time I wanted to cry because one of the actors reminded me of my late uncle, he looked so similar. 

George Bacovia

If you know anything about Romanian literature, you've probably heard of one of our most famous poets, Mihai Eminescu. While he is famous and his poems are beautiful, he's not my favorite. I was a rebel in school, and since Eminescu is one of the most studied poets in school, I immediately fell in love with the one who's art is completely different than his. In this case, George Bacovia. I'll let my favorite poem by him speak for the whys of my love for him, Lead:

The coffins of lead were lying sound asleep,

And the lead flowers and the funeral clothes -

I stood alone in the vault ... and there was wind ...

And the wreaths of lead creaked.

Upturned my lead beloved lay asleep

On the lead flower ... and I began to call -

I stood alone by the corpse ... and it was cold ...

And the wings of lead drooped.

*Translation available at About Romania. No copyright infringement intended

Ion Luca Caragiale

Last but not least, I have to mention this amazingly funny, brilliant, talented writer. Caragiale has written so many great pieces of literature that, amazingly, when you read them, you realize that they are so modern and that no matter what era you live in, be it now or 100 years in the future, it will still seem modern and fresh and completely in tune with how society looks like at the time when you read it. I can't pick a favorite, because it's just not fair, but if I absolutely have to, A Stormy Night (very loosely translated) is my favorite.

Let's discuss. What are some of your favorite books that you *had* to read in school?