Kresley Cole - A Hunger Like No Other

God save me from submissive heroines and asshole heroes. What. The. Hell. Lachlain was an absolute asshole for like the first half of the book! He was almost like the bad guy rather than the good guy. He treated Emma like hell: he touched her sexually I don't know how many times and she didn't even want it. Her body might've, but not her heart. And then one time he almost raped her! WTF! He also strangled her until a blood vessel in her eye popped, screamed at her and told her she disgusted him. All because she's a vampire. I get that he was tortured by a vampire, and the most powerful one at that, for like 150 years, but are you really going to take it out on an innocent girl who has literally never hurt a fly? Nuh uh, go to hell dude. I was kinda able to forgive him the last couple chapters of the book, but only because Emma became a baddass  and was like "f*** you" and wouldn't let herself be pushed around and Lachlain started to realize what an asshole he'd been and whatnot. And what really, really, reaaaaaaaally bothered me and almost made me stop reading was when they had sex for the first time. But before I go into that, let me give you a brief overview of the book. 

So Lachlain, a Scottish Lykae (werewolf), was captured by Demestriu, the baddest baddass of vampires, about 150 years ago and has been tortured ever since. But one day, he scents his mate and is determined not to lose her trail since he has been looking for her for over 900 years. So to get away, he cuts off his leg and goes after her. However, because he's been tortured for so long, his mind isn't exactly intact, and so when he realizes that, out of all the creatures that she could be, his mate is a vampire, he goes a bit berserk. So from this point in the book on, we get a lot of frustrating and hateful dialogue between Emma and Lachlain. All she wants to do is return to her family, but Lachlain won't let her leave and basically has her imprisoned. The worst part is that he feels absolutely no regret. He will later on, but right now he feels only hatred and disgust for Emma. When they get to Kinevane, Lachlain's castle, which is where they've been trying to get to all this time, their relationship is a little better. But then Lachlain goes ahead and ruins it by telling her that she is in fact his mate and that he lied to her when he told her that she wasn't. So Emma flips a shit and is all hurt and whatnot. Lachlain also hasn't told tell her that when the full moon comes, he's going to be mad with lust and he has to sleep with her. But Emma is a virgin, and he's going to be unable to be gentle with her because the moon is going to be driving him crazy. 

When the day of the full moon comes, Emma tries to run away but Lachlain comes after her, mad with lust, and takes her virginity. From behind. And Emma screams with pain but it doesn't register with him. That part just made me shudder and feel kind of disgusted. He eventually makes it better but everyone knows that if you're a virgin, doing it from behind for the first time is like the biggest no no ever. It'll hurt so much worse, and Lachlain does that. And worse, Emma was totally fine with it. So that part was really hard to get through. 

After they have sex, they become a whole lot closer and affectionate with each other. But then some vampires attack Kinevane and Emma goes with them because they'll lead her to her father, who just happens to be Demestriu. After a big battle scene, Emma kills her father. Then after some other stuff, Emma and Lachlain are reunited and admit that they love each other and it's a happily ever after. 

So this book might not have been the best, but it still had its merits. I don't think I'll ever reread it because it was a bit torturous to read the first half, but it wasn't a total loss. I'd give it about 3.5/5 stars. Hopefully the next book is better! Until next time!

Book Love,

Lena          

Mira Lyn Kelly - Waking Up Married

Okaaaayyy. Now THAT was disappointing. Talk about an anticlimactic ending. I mean, all the heroine wanted was a baby and the book ends without her getting it? WTF? That's just mean. Also, I hate it when authors just decide to quickly wrap up the conflict between the hero and heroine in the last couple pages of the book. It's like book whiplash. Also, the characters deserve more than just a couple pages of conflict resolution when THE WHOLE BOOK was about their problems, but the resolution is only a couple pages? NOT. COOL. I also didn't like that Megan wanted a baby so much but at the end she's just like "Why don't we wait a couple months, maybe a year to have the baby" And Connor was super disappointed and hurt but then he just brushes it off and then the book ends. Yeah. Talk about a crappy ending. It left me wanting so much. If there had been an epilogue or something where it's two years later and Megan is nine months pregnant or something I would have been a lot more appeased. Oh well. 

Anyways, so the book starts out with Megan bent over a toilet because she had so much to drink the night before and is now paying the price. Connor is there with her, explaining to her what happened the night before and how they ended up married. We then get a flashback to the night before. Megan is in Vegas for her cousin Gail's wedding, and that night she is at a club with Gail's two other bridesmaids as a kind of get-to-know-you outing. There, she meets Connor. Originally, her plan was to walk up to him to ask him if he would walk out of the club with her to make the other bridesmaids think that she's gonna get some. But, things don't go as planned when Connor actually invites her to sit down and talk to him. Throughout the night, they get to know each other and realize that both of them don't believe in love and they both want a child. So Connor decides that she is "the one", but not in the sense that she is his soul mate. It is in the sense that she has the same goals and outlook as he does, and he knows that they can build a life together where they are a family and they offer each other comfort and friendship, but not love. So Connor whisks Megan to a Vegas chapel to get married. The problem is that Megan wakes up the next morning not being able to remember much and panicking because she slept with a stranger (They actually didn't do anything though). Although she wants a divorce, Connor is determined to convince her to give the marriage a try, and tells her all the reasons they discussed last night of why it's a good idea for them to remain married. Megan then agrees to give the marriage a trial period of three months, but NO SEX. Connor, of course, is confident that he can seduce her, and he does. So Megan moves into his apartment and starts living with him. However, doubts and insecurities soon start to plague her  when Connor keeps being this "perfect husband" who doesn't get mad at anything and disregards all her little quirks and annoying habits. Megan starts worrying that he's so determined to make the marriage work that he is purposely ignoring all the stuff that bugs him about her. After they finally fight it out and Megan decides to trust him, she also decides she is ready to have a baby with him. Just when they're about to do it, Connor sees love for him shining in Megan's eyes, which is a deal breaker. Since he is not capable of loving her, Megan decides to move out and divorce him, since she cannot bear the pain of loving someone who will never love her back. But of course, romance books always having a happy ending, and Connor realizes that he has been miserable since she left and it is because he loves her. And so a happy, but crappy, ending.             

I wish I had picked up a different book to read, this one really wasted my time. Oh well, it happens, it's definitely not the first time and it won't be the last. Until next time!

Book Love,

Lena

Jennifer L Armentrout - Opal

Well hello, it has definitely been a while since my last post. School has been keeping me pretty damn busy. But anyways, this post is going to be on the last book of the Lux Series that has been published. I'm going to tell you right now that unless you have no problem waiting for the next book in the series, which is coming out in July, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. The ending is going to leave you wanting a lot more, because it stopped at such a good part. I literally was like "WHAT?!" and then I looked at the release date for the next book and it wasn't until July!! Julyyyyy!!! I'm gonna dieeeeee!!! Seriously the ending is that much of a cliffhanger. 

So the book starts off with Dawson creeping in Kat's bedroom. Don't worry, it's not that he's a creep or anything, but he says that Kat reminds him of Beth and that's why he likes being around her. Although Dawson's been released from his imprisonment by the DOD, he's not the same person he was before because of the stuff he went through. He's like an empty shell now. To change that, the guys decide that they need to get Beth out too. When they try to break into the compound, however, Kat and Dawson get sprayed with an air form of onyx, causing them to feel excruciating pain. Though the mission is a failure, neither Kat nor Dawson want to give up. So they come up with a plan to build a tolerance of onyx by willingly exposing themselves to it. Also, they had to make a deal with Blake because he is the only one that knows the layout of the compound. 

At one point in the book, Kat and Daemon discover a stone, opal, that can nullify the effects of onyx if it is in contact with your skin and that amplifies your powers, hence the name of the book. At the end of the book, the gang is ready to finally rescue Beth. They succeed in getting her out, but something ends up going terribly wrong. And that's it!! I'm not going to say what happens because that would spoil everything. Read to find out!! 

Now to talk about what I love about this book...Kat and Daemon!! Their relationship is finally at the place where I wanted it to be!!! It's hot, it's sweet, did I mention it's sizzling hot? I want a Daemon!!! Their romance was so damn steamy in this book, I think I might have died. In Opal, THEY GO THERE. Granted, it's not written explicitly. It's really tasteful actually, just what you'd expect of a YA read, but it was hot just the same!! The build up of that moment is amazing. And all through the book, we can just see how much Daemon loves Kat, even if he still won't say it. If a guy has done it already a lot of times and he SHAKES because he's so NERVOUS because he wants it to be good for you and he's super HAPPY that he's finally making love to the girl he can't live without, he's a freaking keeper. No questions asked. You get it girl. That's some real love right there.

So anyways, now its just a matter of waiting for the next installment in the series, which I REALLY can't wait for. Really. I'll go cray before it comes out. Six months!! Aaaaaah!!! Hahahaha lol. So that's it for this post. Until next time!

Book Love,

Lena

Jennifer L Armentrout - Onyx

Ok, first of all, I have to say that this book had me going back and forth between shouting "what-the-hell-do-you-think-you're-doing!" and "OMG-yes-pleaaaaaseeee!!!!!" Kat was just so damn frustrating sometimes!!! She fought her feelings for Daemon for like 200 pages. Yea, I understand he hurt your feelings and you can't trust that his feelings are real because of the bond that you have now, but seriously!! You're going to keep that hot piece of a** who is obviously very sorry that he hurt you, waiting forever and even torturing him by dating another guy? WTF!!! Kat, honey, you don't even like Bill, or Blick, or...what was his name again? Hahaha (Yes, I know its Blake, just playin). I HATE it when books have love triangles. It's so stupid! All it succeeds in doing is hurting all the parties involved. Why do it? Cause honestly Kat, when else are you going to find a guy that 1) worships the ground you walk on, even if he doesn't show it 2) will forgive you even after you get his sister's boyfriend killed, 3) forgives you for not trusting him on the fact that the other guy is evil, 4) is so drool-worthy, smoking, has a six pack, and is so insanely hot that you melt at the sight of him? Can ya say it with me? One in a million, girl. Maybe billion. So Kat, get on the Daemon bandwagon and ride that man like you mean it or I will. Seriously. No joke.

So to actually give you guys a formal review, the book starts out with Kat feeling all feverish after Dameon healed her from a deadly wound inflicted by an Arum (nasty pieces of work, those). She gets taken to the hospital and stays there for a couple days recovering from the "flu". Little does she know, that Daemon's healing her changed her so that she now has the abilities of a Luxen without actually being one. Aaaaand, those abilities will grow to be more powerful than those of the one who changed you, meaning Daemon, and since hottie D is one of the most powerful Luxen, well...do you see where I'm going with this? Kat is eventually going to be a badass mofo. Of course, she first has to stop denying her attraction to Daemon, and soon, or I will go crazy, and she has to trust him. In this book, she meets the incredibly annoying Blake, who obviously has a hidden agenda, but Kat refuses to see that even after he continually hurts her physically (all in the name of her "training"). In the end, her misplaced trust ends up doing irrevocable damage and changes the dynamics of her relationship with Dee. At the end of the book, which is a mind-blower and a hell of a cliffhanger (seriously? You're gonna end it like that JLA?), Kat and Daemon finally get together and admit their feelings for each other (or rather Kat admits her feelings for Daemon)  

All in all, it was a great book, but it also had unoriginal and annoying aspects, which were introducing a third character to form a love triangle, thereby creating dissent between the hero and heroine, and the heroine doing something that creates a rift between her and her best friend. Even though the general plot of the story is original, the side plots are not, as they have been redone again and again. BUT, even so, I give the book 4.5 of 5 stars. The anticipation and build up of sexual tension between Daemon and Kat alone would have made me give it 4.5 stars. It's a rare thing that an author can create sexual tension like that without talking explicitly about certain body parts and what the hero/heroine would like to do to them. We got just enough from JLA to satisfy our romantic streaks without diving into explicit adult territory. Awesome job, Jennifer, I can't wait to see what else you have for us!!  

Book Love,

Lena