{Book Review} JACK by Penny Dee

 

Jack

Kings of Mayhem MC Tennessee Book 1

Penny Dee

MC Romance

Released May 28, 2021

Blurb:

What doesn't kill me had better start running...

Life as I knew it ended with a bullet.
It stole my brother from me and destroyed my family.
From the ashes, I rose stronger and meaner, to exact the kind of revenge best served bloody and cold.
I took out every single person I held responsible,
Except one.
He’s a phantom but his days are numbered.
Because I won’t stop until I’m done.

Then she shows up.
The forbidden fruit.
A light to my darkness.
I should resist her because what I touch, I destroy.
And my feisty wildflower deserves more.
More than this.
More than me.

But there is a monster lurking in the shadows.
A psychopath.
Watching her.
Watching us.
His threats torment her.
And they make my black heart burn.
But he should know,
You don’t ever mess with me, or the people I love.

JACK, is book one in the Kings of Mayhem MC Tennessee series.
For readers 18+

My Review:

I was really excited for this book after reading books in Penny Dee's Kings of Mayhem series and loving them. I don't know if it's just been a while since I read that series or if it was because I decided to read this book while rewatching Sons of Anarchy but this book just didn't do it for me for a few reasons. 

So, Jack's little brother that he essentially raised is murdered and Jack gets really depressed and tries to push everyone away including his first wife and she just lets him? I thought biker wives or "Old Ladies" were supposed to be in it for the long haul and she just leaves him knowing that Jack is depressed and eventually marries someone else? Doesn't sound like any other MC type book I've read before but I suppose the author had to free up Jack to match him up with his new toddler... I mean love interest. You could have killed the wife off, really made Jack on the warpath. 

Which brings me to my next point, Jack is killing people - scumbags granted - but like nobody cares that these people are just dropping dead? The cops aren't investigating? Not checking who had a grudge against these guys? It's just cool that Jack is murdering people? Alright I guess...

Then there is Jack and Bronte's relationship. Not only did they have little, if any, chemistry but trying to do the math on their age difference made me a little sick. Bronte was basically a toddler when Jack moved in next door who was already late teens/early twenties, MARRIED and a father of THREE KIDS. Bronte befriends Jack's brother who is around the age of Jack's three small children and Jack basically watches Bronte grow up and now the author wants readers to be okay with Jack hooking up with Bronte? It just didn't sit well with me. I mean I can handle age differences in books, but this is a pretty huge gap. 

Overall, I really did not enjoy this book and once I figured that the author was pairing up Jack and Bronte I lost interest in finishing the book and mostly skimmed the ending. 

My Rating:

🌟🌟

2 of 5 Stars!

{Book Review} BIG SUMMER by Jennifer Weiner

 

Big Summer

Standalone

Jennifer Weiner

Chick Lit / Mystery

368 Pages

Blurb:

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the “nothing short of brilliant” (People) Mrs. Everything returns with an unforgettable novel about friendship and forgiveness set during a disastrous wedding on picturesque Cape Cod.

Six years after the fight that ended their friendship, Daphne Berg is shocked when Drue Cavanaugh walks back into her life, looking as lovely and successful as ever, with a massive favor to ask. Daphne hasn’t spoken one word to Drue in all this time—she doesn’t even hate-follow her ex-best friend on social media—so when Drue asks if she will be her maid-of-honor at the society wedding of the summer, Daphne is rightfully speechless.

Drue was always the one who had everything—except the ability to hold onto friends. Meanwhile, Daphne’s no longer the same self-effacing sidekick she was back in high school. She’s built a life that she loves, including a growing career as a plus-size Instagram influencer. Letting glamorous, seductive Drue back into her life is risky, but it comes with an invitation to spend a weekend in a waterfront Cape Cod mansion. When Drue begs and pleads and dangles the prospect of cute single guys, Daphne finds herself powerless as ever to resist her friend’s siren song.

A sparkling novel about the complexities of female friendship, the pitfalls of living out loud and online, and the resilience of the human heart, Big Summer is a witty, moving story about family, friendship, and figuring out what matters most.

My Review:

This review is going to be a little different. I DNF'd this book, meaning I did not finish it. But I definitely have some opinions on what I did read. 

I bought this book last year when it first came out and I guess I thought it was a fluffy summer beach read. Maybe I read the description then, I'm not sure. I didn't realize going in this was going to be an attempt at a murder mystery.

We start out with a prologue in 1994 and that was fine, interesting even. But I have no idea how the woman we read about or her son play into the plot. I never got that far. Fast forward to chapter 1 and suddenly it's 2018. So the four-year-old in 1994 would be 28. Are we reading about him? No. We meet Daphne, a plus-size instagram influencer meeting with Leela, a stylist/clothing designer at a coffee shop to talk about a social media collaboration. Leela is talking about ethically sourced materials and inclusivity and Daphne is thinking about all the trouble she had growing up finding clothes that look nice on her body and are stylish and that's about the point where I was like - hold up I don't need to read anymore of this BS. 

I'm a plus size woman, true. I also like to think I appreciate fashion and have an interest in acquiring nice clothing. I'm so sick of authors writing plus size characters and their whole character ARC is having a past of being bullied or having insecurities about their body. I'm over it.  If we've reached a place where we can have LGBT+ books that aren't just about coming out why can't we have books with plus size main characters where it's normalized and say "x character" is bigger the same way we'd just casually describe characters saying they were tall or short or red-haired or bald and have the main story be about a mystery or a rom-com or a horror plot that has nothing to do with pages upon pages reminiscing about their weight struggles. When I think of myself, I often don't see myself as any different than anyone else. I don't constantly internalize that my thighs are thicker than a woman I might see at the mall. I buy high-end clothing and have no trouble finding clothing that fits nice and is in my correct size. I even *GASP* feel sexy when I wear certain things. Please authors, stop reducing anyone over a size 10 into a bunch of insecure, weight obsessed, weaklings. Give us hobbies, a personality, the same as you would a skinny character! 

Moving on, I skimmed to the end of the book after I realized it was a mystery just to see who the killer was and found the reveal to be not all that surprising and their motivation mostly unoriginal. 

Overall, though I did not finish this book, I really disliked the parts that I did read. I probably will not try anything else by this author.

My Rating:

DNF

Top Ten Tuesday: 4 Books I'd Gladly Throw in the Ocean

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and The Bookish and currently hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

Top Ten Tuesday: 4 Books I'd Gladly Throw in the Ocean

This week’s TTT is all about books we'd gladly throw in the ocean. I'm taking that to mean books we didn't like? Books we want to get rid of? Well that's the way I'm interpreting it anyway. Honestly, I could only think of 4 books I hated so strongly I'd want to obliterate them off the face of the earth. Sure, there are other books I've DNF'd but these four I definitely have an issue with...

 

1. Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis

This book was such a let down. It had all the set up to be a creepy read but you have a main character that is so annoying it's hard to get past the beginning. (I didn't. She used the word 'optimal' too many times in the first chapter or two and I just couldn't. Want a book that is similar in subject but way better written and a lot creepier? Go with The Lost Village by Camilla Sten)

2. Barking Madness by Ryan Hill

The author contacted me to review this book and it was so bad. I tried to give it a chance but the way it was written was portrayed the female character in such despicable and misogynistic ways I wanted to throw the book. Ha - I get it now... gladly throw it into the ocean 🤣

3. Heart of Ash by Kim Liggett

I don't know if this is technically "throw in the ocean"-worthy but it's a prime example of a sequel being completely different (in a bad way) from the first book. It was such a confusing read when compared with the plot of the first book.

4. You by Caroline Kepnes

I watched the show first. The first season was okay, typically Lifetime stuff. I didn't like the second season and stopped watching. But the book? Joe is way more messed up and gross on the page. I couldn't get past page 60. 

***

What books would you gladly throw in the ocean?

Let me know in the comments or drop a link to your TTT!

Happy Reading Bookdragons!

-Taylor

{Blog Tour} Twisted Hearts by Cora Reilly

Today we have the blog tour of Twisted Hearts by Cora Reilly. Check it out and be sure to grab your copy today! 

Title: Twisted Hearts 

Author: Cora Reilly 

Genre: Contemporary Romance 

About Twisted Hearts

Savio Falcone has a few non-negotiable rules when it comes to girls.

They need to be hot as f*ck.

Spread their legs without much prompting.

And leave as soon as the fun is over. Preferably minus any bitching or tears.

With his easy-going bad boy attitude, a last name that rules over Las Vegas and a body to die for, girls have always been at Savio’s disposal.

Unfortunately, the hottest girl in Vegas comes with a price Savio isn’t willing to pay. For Savio to get Gemma he’d need to seal the deal and put a ring on her finger. Settling down is out of the question, no matter how hot a piece of ass waits at the altar.

Gemma Bazzoli has had a crush on Savio from the first moment she came face to face with his arrogant smile, but for him she was always his best friend's annoying little sister—until her hard-earned curves catch even his attention.

But Savio likes it easy, and Gemma is anything but. When she’s promised to another man, Gemma resigns herself to the fact that the man she’s wanted all her life, doesn’t want her badly enough.

Savio has to decide how much work he’s willing to invest, because bending the rules in his usual style might not be enough to get the girl that haunts his wet dreams.

- Can be read as a standalone-

Get Your Copy Today: 

AmazonUS | AmazonUK | AppleBooks | B&N 

Read The Camorra Chronicles Now! 

Twisted Loyalties 

Twisted Emotions 

Twisted Pride 

Twisted Bonds 

About the Author:

Cora Reilly is the author of the Born in Blood Mafia Series, The Camorra Chronicles and many other books, most of them featuring dangerously sexy bad boys. Before she found her passion in romance books, she was a traditionally published author of young adult literature. 

Cora lives in Germany with a cute but crazy Bearded Collie, as well as the cute but crazy man at her side. When she doesn't spend her days dreaming up sexy books, she plans her next travel adventure or cooks too spicy dishes from all over the world. 

Despite her law degree, Cora prefers to talk books to laws any day.

Connect with Cora:

Goodreads | Facebook | Website | Instagram | Author Group

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Book Review: The Lantern's Ember by Colleen Houck

The Lantern's Ember by Colleen Houck

Blurb:

Welcome to a world where nightmarish creatures reign supreme.

Five hundred years ago, Jack made a deal with the devil. It’s difficult for him to remember much about his mortal days. So, he focuses on fulfilling his sentence as a Lantern—one of the watchmen who guard the portals to the Otherworld, a realm crawling with every nightmarish creature imaginable. Jack has spent centuries jumping from town to town, ensuring that nary a mortal—or not-so-mortal—soul slips past him. That is, until he meets beautiful Ember O’Dare.

Seventeen, stubborn, and a natural-born witch, Ember feels a strong pull to the Otherworld. Undeterred by Jack’s warnings, she crosses into the forbidden plane with the help of a mysterious and debonair vampire—and the chase through a dazzling, dangerous world is on. Jack must do everything in his power to get Ember back where she belongs before both the earthly and unearthly worlds descend into chaos.

My Review:

To start off, I was really excited about this book when I first heard about it. The author described it as a retelling of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow (which I love!) but to be honest... I've read better reimaginings of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. This book just kind of fell flat for me.

It has a gorgeous cover, don't get me wrong, but the story inside is just kind of ... meh. I didn't care for our naive heroine, the fact that all of the male characters were in love with her, the steampunk themes, and I guess I was expecting something a little spookier.

Overall, this book was not for me. Maybe it would appeal to somebody younger, I don't know. I really wanted to love this one but I just couldn't. I'm left feeling disappointed.

My Rating:

🌟

1 of 5 Stars!

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Series I Don't Plan to Finish

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Series I've Given Up On

This week's TTT is all about series that we've started reading yet for whatever reason just don't plan on seeing through to the end. 

1. Fallen Quartet by Lauren Kate

Loved Fallen and Torment... Passion was kind of "eh"... never got into Rapture...hated Unforgiven.

2. Hereafter Trilogy by Tara Hudson

Can someone please explain to me how an author can get a reader to ship a couple for two and a half books then not have them end up together at the end of the trilogy?!?! Come on!

3. The Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris

I lost interest in this series after the sixth book. I'm not even sure I finished the sixth book...

4. The Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth

How does an author kill off THE MAIN CHARACTER in the middle of the third book. Are. You. Insane????

5. The PSS Chronicles by Ripley Patton

I really liked Ghost Hand and thought it was unique... I just don't have any desire to read the other three books.

6. The Clann Series by Melissa Darnell

I wasn't too into Crave, I wouldn't read the rest of the series.

7. The Saints of Denver Series by Jay Crownover

The Saints of Denver is basically a cheap knock off of The Marked Men Series and while I thought it would be about the tattoo artists at Rule and Nash's new shop, the series is about minor characters I didn't care much for in the initial series.

8. Ruined Series by Amy Tintera

I picked up Ruined because a blogger I know raved about it. I had to force myself to get through it and I skimmed a lot. No plan to read the other two books.

9. The Folk of the Air Series by Holly Black

Loved the cover and was majorly excited for this book. Then I basically hated every single character. I have no interest in reading The Wicked King. 

10. The Bring Me Their Hearts Series by Sara Wolf

It was okay, I just don't want to read a second or third book. 

What series/trilogies/duologies did you lose interest in or just chose not to continue reading? Let me know in the comments or drop me a link to your post!

Happy Reading Bookdragons!

- 💀Taylor

Book Review: Furyborn by Claire Legrand

Furyborn (Empirium #1) by Claire Legrand

Blurb:

Follows two fiercely independent young women, centuries apart, who hold the power to save their world...or doom it.

When assassins ambush her best friend, the crown prince, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing her ability to perform all seven kinds of elemental magic. The only people who should possess this extraordinary power are a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light and salvation and a queen of blood and destruction. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven trials to test her magic. If she fails, she will be executed...unless the trials kill her first.

A thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a mere fairy tale to bounty hunter Eliana Ferracora. When the Undying Empire conquered her kingdom, she embraced violence to keep her family alive. Now, she believes herself untouchable--until her mother vanishes without a trace, along with countless other women in their city. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain on a dangerous mission and discovers that the evil at the heart of the empire is more terrible than she ever imagined.

As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world--and of each other.

My Review:

Let me start by saying that I love the cover of this book. Whoever handles the cover art for Sourcebooks Fire always knows what they're doing. 

Furyborn starts off strong and I was hooked on the prologue, dying to find out what happened next. I mean a queen who is hated by her people for killing her husband giving birth to her child then the healer that's helping her is possessed by an evil angel dude and jumps off the balcony to his death? The queen giving her newborn to the healer's son so he can take her to safety just before she's killed in a showdown with the evil angel dude? The possibility that the child and newborn won't make it to safety? Tell me more!

But the story doesn't go that way. It's told in dual perspectives between Rielle (the future queen in the prologue) and Eliana - who is 1000 years in the future. It goes back to two years before the events of the prologue then jumps to Eliana's part of the story. Independently maybe I could have enjoyed Rielle and Eliana's respective stories. Maybe this series could have been made a generational saga or something where the first book was devoted to Rielle and the events leading up to the prologue and then the next book could pick up with Eliana - the child of Rielle who made it 1000 years into the future; but with their stories together this book lost me. 

I liked the premise of Rielle and Eliana being badass female characters but their personalities missed the mark for me and I found them hard to like, although I liked Rielle slightly better than Eliana. Plus, for a YA their attention focused on sex a lot - which for me being nearly 26 didn't bother me but it should be labeled for older teens maybe?

Overall this is not a book for me. The story dragged at times and I found myself wondering why I was torturing myself trying to force myself to read it. 500 pages felt a lot more like 1000 by the time I was done.

My Rating:

🌟

1 of 5 Stars!

Book Review: Song of Blood and Stone by L. Penelope

Song of Blood and Stone (Earthsinger Chronicles #1) by L. Penelope

Blurb:

A treacherous, thrilling, epic fantasy about an outcast drawn into a war between two powerful rulers. 

Orphaned and alone, Jasminda lives in a land where cold whispers of invasion and war linger on the wind. Jasminda herself is an outcast in her homeland of Elsira, where her gift of Earthsong is feared. When ruthless soldiers seek refuge in her isolated cabin, they bring with them a captive--an injured spy who threatens to steal her heart. 

Jack's mission behind enemy lines to prove that the Mantle between Elsira and Lagamiri is about to fall nearly cost him his life, but he is saved by the healing Song of a mysterious young woman. Now he must do whatever it takes to save Elsira and it's people from the True Father and he needs Jasminda's Earthsong to do it. They escape their ruthless captors and together they embark on a perilous journey to save Elsira and to uncover the secrets of The Queen Who Sleeps. 

Thrust into a hostile society, Jasminda and Jack must rely on one another even as secrets jeopardize their bond. As an ancient evil gains power, Jasminda races to unlock a mystery that promises salvation. 

The fates of two nations hang in the balance as Jasminda and Jack must choose between love and duty to fulfill their destinies and end the war.

My Review:

I really tried to like this book, honest I did. The cover is nice but initially this book had points against it from the get go - the blurb didn't appeal to me and neither did the first chapter and I almost DNF'd it right there but I'd been sent a Netgalley widget from the publisher so I forced myself to give it a chance (I did not request this book, someone from the publisher sent me the widget because I've read/reviewed other books published by them). 

I may be completely oblivious but until I read other reviews I didn't really get that one of the themes in this book was supposed to be racial issues. I mean I see a colored girl on the cover,  so I assumed Jasminda was supposed to colored but hey - the last time I heard that name was in Bend It Like Beckham and she was of Indian descent! When the author went into the hatred between Elsira and Lagramiri people I thought it was a distinction of magic-people and non-magic-people, but okay - I guess it was supposed to be a black-vs-white thing. And Jack is apparently white so it's an interracial couple so again, I guess great for diversity, but I don't really care about that stuff. In my opinion if two people love each other then who cares what their skin colors are. It's 2018 people, we shouldn't have to have books saying its okay to have interracial relationships, it should just be accepted at this point, but I digress. My point all along was saying that I didn't know Jasminda was supposed to be black and Jack was supposed to be white because I thought they were kind of one-dimentionally described. Even now I have no idea what Jack was supposed to look like, I can't picture him at all and all I got out of Jasminda was she had dark hair, dark eyes, and was darker than her mother and brothers. Darker could have meant tanned for all the reader knows. 

As for the world-building and plot, I was able to get into the first 11-12 chapters before the story lost me again. Girl helps guy who thinks he's still in a different country, guy is recaptured by enemy forces, girl somehow races back to her cabin to beat the enemy forces there, reluctantly lets them stay there so she can help the guy who she's finding herself attracted to... some other stuff happens and then when they got to the cornerstone or counterpoint or whatever the story lost me again. I didn't understand what Earthsong was because it really wasn't well described (like most things in this book it's kind of vague). I assume it was magic, but what kind of magic? Jasminda healed Jack so was it a healing magic or did she have like a fix all, do all kind of magic? Either way, from what I read she wasn't very powerful but she kept having "bad feelings" when she came in contact with other magic. 

Then there's the "True King" and the "Queen who Sleeps" which was almost laughable to me. Since I didn't finish this book I can only assume they were some sort of magical beings and not truly rulers or Elsira and Lagramiri. Just the names were enough to get me. 

Overall throughout what I read (and I even skimmed to the end, which was what pushed me to finally DNF) it seemed like the author was trying to create a unique world, characters, story idea - the whole bit, but it was just your typical fantasy novel and not a very interesting one at that. Everything was just a little... underdeveloped for my taste. You have a female character who is your special snowflake - she has "powers", she's in debt, she's trying to save her home and then she meets the guy. The male character is protective of the heroine whom he barely knows but he's immediately attracted to her and together they go on a journey to save their world. Yawn. I feel like I've read this all before and I just could not positively connect with this story. 

My Rating:

DNF