Bared to You - Sylvia Day

Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness…

He was beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I’d never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily…

Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other’s most private wounds…and desires.The bonds of his love transformed me, even as i prayed that the torment of our pasts didn't tear us apart...

HELLO EVERYONE!! I'm here for a review!! WHAT...WHAT!!! LOL!!

Well I finally finished the first novel in the Crossfire Series by Sylvia Day - Bared to You. This book was a scorching hot read let me tell you! If you liked Fifty Shades of Grey I am pretty certain that you will love this one as well.

Eva has spent her adult life trying to overcome a dark past that haunts her. With the help of her bi-sexual friend Cary she is trying to adjust to her new life in New York. So with a new job and a new place she hopes she can finally have the life she has been wanting.

Gideon has spent his life building his empire and the day he meets Eva everything for him changes. He has a dark past that has yet to be revealed and in Eva he finds someone who can love him for him and that is something he desperately wants and craves.

The tension between Eva and Gideon is very much apparent from the first moment that they meet and when they finally come to gather prepare yourself for an explosion OH-KAY!!

I'm dying to know what lies in Gideon's past that makes him have all of those nightmares and poor Eva and what she went through is simply awful.

I can't wait to pick up the next book Reflected in You because like I said I'm dying to know what demons are haunting Gideon and hopefully get to know more about this deeply dark and delicious character!! (There I go again mooning over the tortured hero..I think I need to find a support group or just read another book...hahahaha!!)

I will tell you guys if you are not into very detailed and erotic love scenes then you probably should not consider reading this or Fifty for that matter but for those of you who don't mind it then make sure you don't get burned!!

Happy Reading,
Mindy

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(More like a million, LOL!)

The Lizzie Bennett Diaries - MY OBSESSION!!

I have to be honest I've been dying to write this blog post for sometime now. I know I haven't posted any book reviews (bad book blogger, very bad book blogger!). 

Anyway I'm sure you all have heard of The Lizzie Bennett Diaries on YouTube. If not...first off gasp, shock, horror!!! Where have you been? I would be ashamed to call myself a romance buff and for that matter a fan of anything dealing with Jane Austen and Pride & Prejudice...just kidding, no seriously!

Well just in case you have been living under a rock for the past year now I'll fill you in...

The Lizzie Bennett Diaries is a bi-weekly web series which is based on the most historical and romantic book of all time Pride & Prejudice. It puts a modern spin on it. In it the titular character Lizzie Bennett (aka Elizabeth Bennett) is doing a vlog for her independent study. She decides to post videos every Monday and Thursday and talks about her daily life including her parents, her sisters (Jane and Lydia - although the other sister Mary has been turned in to a cousin but that's a small detail), William Darcy and all the other characters from Jane Austen's classic tale.

I will admit that I did come a little late to the party on this and had to catch up with all the episodes that were out and it took me almost a whole day to watch them (thanks to buffering...boo for buffering). But I was hooked from the first one and find myself waiting (sometimes impatiently) for the next show. I just can't wait to log into YouTube on Mondays and Thursdays to see in my news feed the latest video. I've become truly invested in this new modern take on this wonderful classic that I find myself consumed by what will happen next and also telling pretty much anyone that will listen that they need to check it out. Since the series has started a couple of little spinoffs have been created you can also follow Lydia's videos to see what's going on with her which of course intersect with Lizzie's videos. Now you can watch William Darcy's sister Gigi's videos which also entwine with them. 

Even with all these extra little videos I still feel like that is just not enough...which is why I've come to the (obvious) conclusion that I'm just a (wee) bit obsessed with them. 

So if you are interested in watching this series then just check it out below!! (Also fair warning there are 86 episodes so you'll probably spend the rest of your day sitting in bed watching all of them just thought I'd warn you.)





And just in case you were wondering here are some of my favorite videos (which oddly enough are all some of the most recent ones and all after we FINALLY meet Darcy)!!

The first time we see (sort of) see Darcy:




AND THEN the most awesomey awesomest moment so far in LBD history (LOL!!!)




And of course the follow up:



And now my very favorite video...not sure why just makes me sigh longingly...





Darcy does costume theater...HOLY COW!!




Probably one of the funniest moments on LBD...




And lastly the most touching and wonderful video (although it has it's sad moment)

Kieran Kramer Contest

HEY EVERYONE!!

Again, I know it has been forever but I'm working on reading a few books right now but I'm going to be honest with you guys with soo much wonderful TV to watch I've kinda fallen behind again...ARGHHH!!

So I hope to have a review for you by next week because I AM going to finish Bared to You by  Slyvia Day and then read the sequel Reflected in You...I PROMISE...I PINKY SWEAR!!!

Anyway I love Facebook because I can keep up with all my favorite authors and their latest releases and one in particular I'm super excited about is Kieran Kramer's latest The Earl is Mine. I fell in love with her books immediately with When Harry Met Molly which has been one of my favorite reads ever in a romance book.  And if you are at all curious you can go HERE to see my review of it. I must admit I still have the last book in her Impossible Bachelors series to read and then I must get started on her latest series The House of Brady which I have the first book Loving Lady Marcia and I just need to get to reading!!

Anyway on to the real reason for this post...Kieran Kramer is having a wonderful contest for the release of the second book in her House of Brady series The Earl is Mine.

If you want to know more about the book and the contest then just click that lovely little box down below...and GOOD LUCK!! (Also I am posting this an entry for myself because hey I love to win wonderful book prizes!!)

Lethal - Sandra Brown

When her four year old daughter informs her a sick man is in their yard, Honor Gillette rushes out to help him. But that "sick" man turns out to be Lee Coburn, the man accused of murdering seven people the night before. Dangerous, desperate, and armed, he promises Honor that she and her daughter won't be hurt as long as she does everything he asks. She has no choice but to accept him at his word.

But Honor soon discovers that even those close to her can't be trusted. Coburn claims that her beloved late husband possessed something extremely valuable that places Honor and her daughter in grave danger. Coburn is there to retrieve it -- at any cost. From FBI offices in Washington, D.C., to a rundown shrimp boat in coastal Louisiana, Coburn and Honor run for their lives from the very people sworn to protect them, and unravel a web of corruption and depravity that threatens not only them, but the fabric of our society.

WHOOP, WHOOP!! I'm back with a book review!! WHOOO-HOOO!!

Any-way, LOL!! I just finished reading Lethal by Sandra Brown. I have to say that Sandra Brown is definitely one of my favorite authors of all time. I love her books because they are always so suspenseful and full of twists and turns that you never would have even expected. Although over the last couple of books while I enjoyed them they just did not feel like Sandra Brown to me. They were good but they weren't freaking awesome!! But I have to say Sandra Brown is finally back to her old self with this book.

I mean if you want a heart pounding action filled and all around sexy read then Sandra Brown is your girl. I am soo happy to say that with this book it felt like greeting an old friend. Trust me if you guys have never read Sandra Brown do yourself a favor and go out and get one of her books one of my absolute favorites of hers (and I've read more than once) is Where There's Smoke. I also like Slow Heat in Heaven, White Hot, The Switch, The Alibi, Mirror Image, Charade, Exclusive, Fat Tuesday, French Silk, White Hot, Texas! Chase, Texas! Sage, Texas! Lucky...and I could go on but I'll stop there!! :)

This book grabbed me from page one and literally  had me breathless the whole way through. I am only giving it 4 stars though because I was just a little let down by the ending but overall it was still a very good and wonderfully suspenseful read.

Honor Gillette has been mourning the death of her husband for the last two years all while raising their only daughter. Honor wants nothing more than to live her life peacefully and raise her daughter.

All that is going fine until Lee Coburn enters her home looking for something that her husband hid that would implicate hundreds of people in a trafficking ring and also bring him closer to The Bookkeeper.

It takes everything Coburn has to convince Honor that he is not wanting to harm Honor or her daughter Emily that is just out for information and he was not the one responsible for the seven deaths at the trucking company he was working for.

Honor slowly begins to realize that Coburn is possibly telling the truth and while he thinks her late husband Eddie is probably part of the huge illegal ring in Tambour, Lousiana she still stands firm in believing that Eddie was a good cop and she sets out to prove not only to Coburn but to herself that Eddie was.

Soon Honor is doubting everything and everyone she has ever known and it all leads to the shocking reveal of The Bookkeeper.

I won't tell you guys anything more than that because I think you definitely need to read this and trust me you will be super shocked about who turns out to be The Bookkeeper...at least I know I was!! 

Also like I said I wish she would have ended it a little differently but still a really good book!!

Happy Reading,
Mindy

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As You Wish - Elyssa Patrick

Love doesn’t always follow the sheet music . . .

This Christmas, Portia Jackson needs a miracle to save her family’s generations-old florist shop. What she gets instead is a car that breaks down during a blizzard. Help arrives unexpectedly when the infamous Aubry Riley pulls over. She only expects him to drive her to the gas station . . . she never expects that kiss. But Portia lives in the real world—she knows this is only a holiday fling for Aubry. Except it doesn’t feel so temporary, and the last thing she wants is a broken heart.

Sometimes you have to sing some different notes . . .

Rock star Aubry Riley has no secrets. Thanks to the media, everyone knows about his troubled past. Six years have gone by since his world crashed, and now he’s ready for a comeback. But first he needs to reconcile with his family—starting with his six-year-old daughter. A month-long vacation at a Vermont lake house affords him the perfect opportunity to take a step in the right direction. He doesn’t need any other emotional entanglements, especially not with the bright-eyed florist he can’t stop thinking about. But no matter how hard he tries to resist her, he can’t. Now all he has to do is to convince Portia that there is nothing temporary when it comes to love.

I have to say that I got this book for free from the author to read.

Okay now that's out of the way I have to say I adored this book. It was a quick, funny and sexy read that I found very hard to put down.

I immediately fell in love with the characters and got a sense of where they were coming from and understood them.

Aubry is that quintessential rock and roll bad boy. But when you learn where he's from and the pain he experienced you kind of understand why he is who he is. Also, he wants to repair the relationship with his sister and also become the father his daughter deserves.

Portia is just trying to keep her family's flower shop from closing. It is her life but soon finds out that maybe there is more to life than running the shop.

I have to say this while I loved Portia and Aubry I found myself being drawn to the secondary story of Laura (Portia's best friend) and Finn (Portia's brother). I just felt so giddy and excited when I started reading there little pieces of the book.

Overall a wonderful debut!! I can't wait to read more!!

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Hugs,
Mindy

A Night Like This - Julia Quinn

 

Anne Wynter might not be who she says she is . . .

But she's managing quite well as a governess to three highborn young ladies. Her job can be a challenge—in a single week she finds herself hiding in a closet full of tubas, playing an evil queen in a play that might be a tragedy (or might be a comedy—no one is sure), and tending to the wounds of the oh-so-dashing Earl of Winstead. After years of dodging unwanted advances, he's the first man who has truly tempted her, and it's getting harder and harder to remind herself that a governess has no business flirting with a nobleman.

Daniel Smythe-Smith might be

But that's not going to stop the young earl from falling in love. And when he spies a mysterious woman at his family's annual musicale, he vows to pursue her, even if that means spending his days with a ten year old who thinks she's a unicorn. But Daniel has an enemy, one who has vowed to see him dead. And when Anne is thrown into peril, he will stop at nothing to ensure their happy ending...

OH WOW two reviews in about a week I'm doing good, LOL!!!

Well I have to say that I'm a huge, huge, HUGE fan of Julia Quinn. I fell in love with her Bridgerton series and even more so with the Smythe-Smith's who were secondary characters in that series. I am soo glad to be reading about them now!!

Anne Wynter (aka Annelisse Shawcross) is trying to get on with her life after a choice she made while she was 16 changed her way of life completely.

Daniel Smythe-Smith is pretty much in the same boat. After a drunken night of cards and a duel at dawn he has been in exile for the last three years. 

The two meet because Anne is the governess to Daniel's three younger cousins. He is immediately enraptured by her beauty and is determined to get to know her.

Anne tries her best to keep a safe distance away from Daniel. She has finally found a position she loves and does not want to risk losing due to the attentions of Lord on Winstead.

Soon they are having to deal with the demons of Anne's past. The man from her past wants his revenge for her having physically scarring him even though all she was trying to do was defend herself.

I absolutely LOVED this book!! As I stated previously I'm a huge fan of Julia Quinn. Her books always make me laugh. I have to say the sparkling gem in this book were Daniel's three cousins - Elizabeth, Frances and Harriet (who by far was my favorite!! And I think she deserves her own book, LOL!!) I love her books because they are always so light hearted (even though this one had some danger) and just make you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.

So if you are looking for a book just to lift your spirits then you need to get A Night Like This because I do not think you will be disappointed. If you are well then I feel bad for you, LOL!!

Happy Reading,
Mindy

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Currently Reading -  A Game of Thrones  by George R. R. Martin
Up Next: A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin

Fify Shades Freed - E.L. James

When unworldly student Anastasia Steele first encountered the driven and dazzling young entrepreneur Christian Grey it sparked a sensual affair that changed both of their lives irrevocably. Shocked, intrigued, and, ultimately, repelled by Christian’s singular erotic tastes, Ana demands a deeper commitment. Determined to keep her, Christian agrees.

Now, Ana and Christian have it all—love, passion, intimacy, wealth, and a world of possibilities for their future. But Ana knows that loving her Fifty Shades will not be easy, and that being together will pose challenges that neither of them would anticipate. Ana must somehow learn to share Christian’s opulent lifestyle without sacrificing her own identity. And Christian must overcome his compulsion to control as he wrestles with the demons of a tormented past.

Just when it seems that their strength together will eclipse any obstacle, misfortune, malice, and fate conspire to make Ana’s deepest fears turn to reality.

Hi, everyone!! I’m actually back with a book review for you can you believe it? I’m super excited!!

I finally finished up the last book in the Fifty Shades of Grey series. It sat on hold for a while because of things being not so good in my personal life but I’m happy to say I did finish it.

Also, I have to say that out of the three books this was by far my favorite (although a little less raunchy so to speak, LOL!!).

So Anatasia and Christian are married and are having to deal with coping with the ins and outs of everyday married life along with Christian still struggling with being super, mega overprotective of everything. Also, having to deal with the complications that come with marrying someone you only know a very short time. They seem to work out all their demons and are able to be happy but in no way is it perfect.

They also have to deal with someone from Christian’s past who wants nothing more than to destroy him and his family. There is also some bad news for Anatasia whose father ends up in the hospital after an car accident.

But together they somehow find a way to work it out and at one point I was actually inwardly cheering Anatasia for standing up for herself to Christian and I think it also did him some good.

The best part of the whole book was the Epilogue because Ana and Christian are at their home and playing with their little boy and waiting on the arrival of another child. I am sure that being a father did help Christian out with some of his issues (although he still has some, LOL!!)

I really enjoyed this series but I have to say this - no it was not the most well written book at times but I was able to get past that and just enjoy the story.

So if you want a light (yet sexy) read then I would recommend trying out this series!!

Happy Reading,
Mindy Lu

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