The Road Back to Us - Kira Adams

The Road Back to Us is another novel by indie author Kira Adams. I read the book for free from Kindle, and while the writing was marginally better than the book I read previously, I still found myself grateful that I hadn't actually spent any money on this book.

The two main characters - Jace and Peyton - have known each other since they were in high school.  They dated for a while, and then Jace started getting famous.  So, his agent pushed him together with a co-star from the movie that he wasn't at all romantically interested in, and Peyton got upset.  Needless to say, they haven't been together for a while, and Peyton claims it's better that way.  Then, after a sort of chance re-meet, they end up partying and getting married.  Instead of getting it annulled and, you know, getting to know each other first, they just jump right in and stay married - because romance novel ya know. 

Throughout the novel, a series of rather over the top events make them realize they are still and always have been madly in love with each other.  One of the events involves a crazed stalker fan of Jace's kidnapping Peyton and having a hitman try to kill her.  I think this event alone should make the readers wonder about the sanity of the characters.  Let me tell you why: Peyton came home one night to find her apartment door wide open.  All the lights were off.  She was on the phone with Jace and said that she thought someone had broken into her apartment, and that she thought they were still in her apartment.  Despite her believing that someone is still in her apartment, she goes into said apartment, and then everyone is surprised when she gets kidnapped.  I can't help but wonder what was going through her head that would possibly make her think going INTO HER APARTMENT after it had been broken into like that was a good idea. Did the thought of going outside and calling the police never occur to her?!

In addition to the unbelievable plot points, the writing was shoddy at best, littered with grammatical errors and weak sentence structure, and should have been more well-edited.  The characters were weak and didn't change or grow at all throughout the novel.  The whole story felt unrealistic and implausible to me.  I just didn't believe that two people who hadn't dated since high school would take to a surprise marriage like that and suddenly just be so madly in love without really knowing each other anymore. 

I would give the book 1.5 stars at most.  Read it if you must, but be forewarned that there are much better options out there to read instead.

Awakening - Karice Bolton

Awakening, by Karice Bolton, seemed intriguing to me.  Now, I admit that the first thing that drew me in was the cover.  It's pretty enough that I thought - "Hey, why not give it a shot."  After having actually finished the book, the only thing I can say is - Thank god I got it for free!

The book starts with Ana, a waitress at a local bar, going to work after a painful night of no sleep.  She arrives at her job to find her coworker rushing out in a fit of illness.  Ana gets charged with one of the tables that Karen would have had to wait on.  At said table, she finds a man and woman who intrigue her so much she almost finds her self unable to speak in their presence. She gives them three drinks (for a missing person who shows up later) and finds herself wishing the third drink was for her. The mystery man who shows up draws her attention even more than the other two.  At the end of the shift, Ana goes home, thinking the entire time of the weird (and all green-eyed) trio at the bar.  Later that night, the mystery man, who we find out is named Athen, shows up at Ana's home completely unannounced.  Instead of being weirded out that a stranger just showed up at her house (without her having told him where she lives,) Ana just decides to go off with him and have some fun.  This leads to an entire weekend of her hanging out with him, spending the night at his place, and falling in love with him in the course of a day and a half.  The novel keeps getting stranger from then on out - Ana quits her job, follows Athen, his sister Arie, and her fiance Cyril to Seattle for a week, gets told that she's an angel, and undergoes an "awakening" process in which she regains memories from her apparently very lengthy life. 

Let's start with the actual plot: It's weird that Ana would go off with a stranger without knowing anything about said stranger.  The fact that Athen shows up at Ana's home without ever having been told where she lives is weird and creepy and she should be running for the hills!  (Has she never been taught that this could be a precursor to rape or murder?!)  The rest of the book is poorly written and poorly executed.  It's mostly talk, with two or three scenes of demons attacking just to make it seem interesting.  There is no depth to the story or the characters.

In addition to all that, the writing is sloppy and read like it could have been written by a teenager.  There were commas in the most outrageous places, and grammatical errors that could have been done away with had the author had a better editor. The ending was rushed and felt like it was thrown in just to add a little more action to an otherwise boring story.

Readers, trust me when I say you won't be disappointed if you skip this book! 

Lost and Found - Elle Casey

Lost and Found, by Elle Casey, is the first book in the Love in New York series.  The story takes place in Manhattan and revolves around Leah, a bohemian living in Manhattan and working at Belinda's New Age shop.  Leah is clumsy, a little spacey, and (obviously) single.  When Leah finds a lost engagement ring, she goes out of her way to find the owner.  Little does she know that her search for the owner will lead her on some crazy adventures.

Now, friends, let's get down to the review.  This was the first book I've read in a long time that had NO redeeming qualities.  None.  You may think I'm being dramatic, but really, I'm not.  I had a hard time finding anything that I liked about this book.

Let's start with the characters.  There's our heroine, Leah, who works and lives in uptown Manhattan.  She works for a woman who runs a natural foods store - part time - and is always complaining about her lack of money.  She can't afford to pay her rent (but yet her landlord never kicks her out), but does nothing to remedy the situation.  She never looks for another part time job, or even full time job. She's just content to stay at her job, making less than a pittance.  Leah is flaky, and quite frankly, I am surprised that anyone could find this to be an endearing trait.

James, the hero of Lost and Found, is angry, obsessive-compulsive, and feels like he has the need to control everything. These are not good qualities.  They are unattractive in even the most good looking of guys.  For example, when James's alcoholic brother gets drunk and pisses into a fountain, then goes on some crazy bender, James forces him into Bellevue Psych Ward, where he notifies the staff that his brother is to stay for at least 15 days.  After the initial 72 hour hold is up, his brother is released, because, hello, you can't force someone into the psych ward with justifiable cause.

Those are the two major characters.  The other characters are seen intermittently throughout the book, and include James's sister, who is apparently filing for guardianship of her three month old niece, the flaky natural foods store owner, who is an even bigger airhead than Leah, and a jewelry store employee who somehow manages to convince Leah to dress up as a rapper named Shay Dee in order to pawn off a ring she found.

Now, the story.  Let me sum it up: Leah finds an engagement ring after running through the middle of a fountain.  She then spends a majority of the book trying to locate the owner of said ring to return it to him or her.  That's it.  That's the story. She bumps into James a couple of times - literally bumps into him - and then suddenly they want to have a relationship. There is no real reason in this book for them to fall in love with each other, or even like.  For all intents and purposes, it seems as though James doesn't even really *like* Leah. 

Let's add in to that the fact that there is NO character development in this story.  The characters do not grow, change, or learn anything about themselves in this (ahem) book.  They are stagnant and so ridiculous that they are unlikable at all costs.  The characters underdevelopment and the lack of plot should be enough to scare a reader away from this book.  However, I have an even bigger reason: The author uses a slur word for transgender people not once, but THREE TIMES in the book.  I found this to be not only disappointing, but downright sickening.  It is apparent that Elle Casey knows nothing about transgender men and women, or she would not have dared use this abhorrent word (which I have not included in the review for obvious reasons.  It's never okay to refer to a transgender person by this word.)  Not only that, but at one point, Elle says that her mother married a woman who was really just dressed up as a man.  The whole thing was incredibly transphobic, and that, dear readers, is the NUMBER ONE reason I cannot, in good faith, recommend this book to anyone.  I won't even rate it on Amazon, because I don't think it's worth the 1 star I'd have to leave to give it a review.  Save your money for a better book! 

Wrong Number, Right Guy - Elle Casey

Book: Wrong Number, Right Guy
Author: Elle Casey
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Montlake Publishing

I have read books by Elle Casey in the past, and LOVED them.  They are usually fun, sometimes naughty, and generally fairly decent.  So, I bought this book, expecting it to be at least somewhat as good as previous books I've read by her.  I was, sadly, disappointed.

The book opens with May talking to her sister.  Her sister is about to get a new phone.  So, later, when May gets a text from an unidentified number, she thinks it's from her sister.  (The thought never occurred to May that her sister could switch her number to her new phone.)  Anyway, long story short, May ends up at this biker bar in New Orleans, where she is shot at, almost killed, and then saved by a hairy guy who drags her back to his place.  The rest of the story is pretty much summed up by the following: May thinks about sex a lot and complains about her sore muscles.  There you go!

A few things that were good about this book:
*The dogs - they were cute (but probably played a much bigger role in the book than they could have!)
*The fact that most of the people who work for Ozzie are willing to look out for each other.

Now, let's talk about what wasn't so good.
A. May is 29years old - 29!  She should be mature enough to speak like a grownup, at least when she is at work or out in public.  Yet, she constantly says and thinks things like "Oh, poop."  She talks about tooting, and says she has to leave so she can unclench her buttcheeks before she toots.  Seriously - I know a lot of people in their 20's.  I don't know a single one of them that talks or thinks the way May does, because - guess what?  They aren't 7 year olds!

B. If this is supposed to be a romance novel, why isn't there more romance?  Ozzie and May hardly ever see each other, and yet, they claim they are attracted to each other and want to have some adult fun together!  How can you have a little romance with or crush on someone if you NEVER SEE THEM?!

C. Character development - there was none.  None.  There was no growth in the book.

D. The Plot - there is no plot, really.  It's all just thinking about sex or beating each other up.  I thought maybe something was starting to develop, but then it just fell flat.  Did it get lost in the bad writing and thoughts about tooting?  I guess we'll never know.

Honestly, I am a little disappointed at how disappointed I am.  I had hope for this book - and it let me down.  So, in all fairness, I can't recommend this book - though I will continue to read other books by this author - just not books from this series.