Published in December 11th 2013 by Blackbird Publishing
EBook, 286 pages.
ISBN13: 9781494244385

Two years ago, Lorrie’s mother was murdered. But that wasn’t the end of it. Reeling from the tragedy, Lorrie’s father spiraled into alcohol, depression, and finally suicide.

Trying to recover from the tragedy, Lorrie returns to campus, ready to pick up the pieces of her life. All Lorrie wants is to get back to “normal.”

Hunter is a cage fighter who takes on every fight like he’s got nothing to lose. His life is a tangled mess of girls, booze, and fist fights. And while it may seem like he’s got a devil-may-care attitude, he’s fighting a private cage-match with a monster he can’t defeat.

Lorrie knows that Hunter is the exact type of guy she should stay away from, especially in her fragile state, but Hunter has other ideas. As Hunter and Lorrie grow closer together, will they be able to overcome their pain and heal each other? Or will they both end up wrecked?


Book Review:

This book is a bunch of What the Fuck's... Good and Bad. I was really excited to be able to read it because it looked somewhat similar to Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire but with it's own twist so I was setting my hopes really high. I mean, what could go wrong with sweaty, hot guys in a closed space filled with testosterone? I guess I wasn't expecting it to be nothing bellow awesome. It was a good book.

It tricked me... The book is still good but there is a lot unanswered, a lot that's pointless and the characters seem to have a bipolar issue. One second they are okay and agreeing to be "friends" and the next they are arguing because they're jealous. It's confusing and not in a good way. The main couple was just too cliché. She falls into the lake and he rescues her... Then he lends her clothes and takes her into his apartment... Then she runs with his trashcan and his clothes. (You need to read to believe it.) They did have their funny moments but the tension between them could have been better exposed and slowly gathered instead of just POW!

Lorrie is cool one moment than cold the next and I really can't figure her out because I found myself going back and forth with her. She lost her parents so in the beginning she has to be grieving but the thing that annoyed me was that in the moment that she met Hunter every problem she had suddenly vanished... It was like it never happened. And she annoyed me as well because instead of talking things trough when something happened she just ignored it and got mad for no apparent reason... She's really unstable and complicated and I feel like the book evolves around her too much instead of also going for Hunter, Daniele and even Gary or the kittens.

The last thing I needed was a bad boy who thought he had something up on me trying to get into my pants. Especially if I started letting him. My emotional state was fragile enough as it was.

Hunter is really cute I have to admit it, but sometimes that was the only thing he was... Just cute. I think that the book could have given more substance to his character instead of labeling him a Manwhore and writing about a character we all seen before...Besides, this is supposed to be a fighting book with an MMA guy but we only get to see two fights and that's IT! He has so much more to offer because he's kind and rough at the same time and always puts everyone in front of himself even though he has a life threatening problem to deal with. He's selfless and a really great guy but rare were the moments when he had the spotlight to be himself.   He was my favorite guy by far!

“I like you,” I admitted. “I really do. You’re this lovable goofball that also happens to be a badass MMA fighter. Or maybe it’s the other way around, I don’t know. You’re almost too good to be true . . .”

Daniele is like the perfect friend in the whole wide world. It's unreal... They don't get mad, they don't do basically nothing else but gossiping about hunter and Lorrie... I get that that's the subject of the book but to not lose it's interest they should add a few arguments or other subjects.

I love Gary and the Kittens... Seriously, all of them won my heart. Gary because he wasn't afraid to speak his mind to Hunter and Lorrie and the Kittens because they were beyond cute.

Overall the book is pretty good and has it's ups and downs but I am hoping that Rescued is far better and gives this characters more spice.

Published December 23rd 2013 by William Morrow Impulse
336 pages
ISBN: 0062300113

She’s the Girl Next Door

Maci Price isn’t really into relationships. Having four very protective older brothers has always made having a boyfriend very difficult, anyway. But her friend is set on finding her the perfect guy – and thinks the mysterious Connor Green is the perfect pick.

Connor Green is trying to find himself again. He loved then lost and it’s time for him to pick up the pieces. His brooding is making his friends crazy, but, Maci Price, who has grown up into a gorgeous and incredibly sexy woman, is about to break the spell.

They’re Made for Each Other

I was done pretending that he didn’t matter, and that I didn’t care. And I was ready for anything and everything with him.

I wanted feisty. I wanted obnoxious. I wanted stubborn. I wanted Maci . . . needed her.

“Why are you so interested in knowing my life all of a sudden?” 

“Because we all agree you’re being sketchy lately, and I’m about to go pound some dude’s face in for touching my sister! Who is he, Mini?”  

Shitfuck. “Who is who?”  

“The guy I’m about to kill, who are you fuckin’ around with?”  

“You have a boyfriend, Maci?” Dakota asked as he rounded the corner into my office. “Oh, fuck this. Who is he?”

Published in January 29th 2013 by CreateSpace
530 Pages
ISBN: 1456527738

Haven Antonelli and Carmine DeMarco had vastly different childhoods. Haven, a second-generation slave, grew up isolated in the middle of the desert, her days full of hard work and terrifying abuse. Carmine, born into a wealthy Mafia family, lived a life of privilege, never having to answer for anything he did.

Mafia books? Count me in! Forbidden romances? Hell yes... Lies after Lies mixing up in a intriguing story? You bet ya.  Sempre is a pure Badass that will get your head spinning with all of the twists and turns and truths... I loved it! It's full of deadly action, dry humor and cussing... definitely my type of book.

I really enjoyed this. The way the characters evolved and got to know each other and how they interacted due to their different past and education. I mean, we have Haven that's been a slave all of her life and deprived of the minimal things we take for granted and we have Carmine that is a spoiled troublemaker that cares only about starting troubles, and the only thing that they have in common is one big secret surrounding their mothers and the big mafia patrons... This is Big!

Sempre is a beautifully constructed book where everything appears in it's place just at the perfect timing... People who appear friends will turn on you and sometimes who appear foe will turn friend. It's a whole turn of events. There was just one thing that kept me from reading the book in one siting and had me taking several breaks... The book had too much unnecessary information and scenes, it jumped weeks at time and sometimes some chapters were there basically for nothing. I can even say that it was boring when there was just a  chapter on Carmine's bullshit and angriness or about how Haven was adjusting.


Carmine is someone we really have to learn to like because at the start he basically only cares about himself and gets into trouble. I was like: Oh no... But then he started to get to know Haven and started caring about her, always without losing the edginess he always caries. And I admit that I kind of liked him a lot because he couldn't finish a sentence without cussing... It was really funny. He has a really important tittle. He's the Principe of the Mafia, and since he was little many of his dad's co-workers expect him to go into the business but his father always tried to keep him out. So from here it forces him to have to face his future and make decisions that right or not are his to make. But Carmine never let us down in this book!

Scooting closer, his body pressed against hers as he brought his lips to her ear. “Ti amo tantissimo, mia bella ragazza.”

(...)

 “Just because some people see us that way doesn’t mean it’s what we are. We’ll overcome our labels together. They don’t matter; they don’t make us who we are. We make us who we are. Fuck those motherfuckers.”  

She laughed. “When did you get so smart?”  

“Baby, I’ve always been smart,” he said playfully. “I’m just lazy as hell and rarely show it.”

Haven was really difficult to get to know as well. She was a slave and she was used to having nothing until one day Dr.DeMarco bought her and took her in into his house where people started treating her like she was worth something after all. And that really made a different to that scared little girl. Most of the book we have her trying to learn how to live free and how to adapt. But that doesn't truly starts until she and Carmine start to get along which I though to be a bit bad because she is really dependent of him as a character. I didn't really liked her until the last part of the book because she was blah... Nothing special. But in the last part that girl showed what she was capable of and started talking more and saying what she was feeling, being mad and arguing and not letting people boss her around. THAT was an awesome Haven!

I’m surprised she hasn’t started cursing yet from hearing me.” 

“Oh, but she has,” Vincent said. “I overheard her.”  

Carmine turned to Haven. “What did you say?” She didn’t respond, and he sighed. “Come on, you can say it. Was it fuck? Because I say fuck a lot. Motherfucker? Shit? Asshole?”  

“I think that’s plenty,” Vincent said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “The word doesn’t matter, but if you insist on knowing, she said ‘damn’.”  

“Oh, just damn? Not even goddamn?”

I want a book for Dominique! He's a great character that helped so much in the whole book. Him and Tess definitely deserved some main scenes! I AM SO MAD for Nicholas's ending!  He did not deserved that! He always tried to help Haven, was always adorable and took so much shit from everybody and even turned friends with carmine again and then that HAPPENS? NO!

Carmine started to pull her away when Nicholas’s voice called out. “Knock, knock.”  

Feeling guilty, she looked at him once more. “Who’s there?” Carmine stopped moving, not amused. 

“Tank,” Nicholas said. 

“Tank who?” She got it the moment the words rolled from her lips. Tank Who; Thank You. 

Nicholas smiled. “You’re welcome, Haven.”

Dr.DeMarco was one of the character that I loved from the beginning even thought he's troubled as hell. But he's also loyal to no one but his family and that's something that you don't see much in this book.  I want to see much more of him!

Sempre is a book that will make a difference in the way you view honor and allegiance. It's perfect.

Published November 19th 2013 by Skyscape
314 Pages
A SIN: B00DBE1P2Y

In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world.

Published December 13th 2013 by Createspace
376 pages
ISBN: 1492305413

“All my life, I battled with the knowledge I was twisted… fucked up to want something so deliciously dark—wrong on so many levels. But then slave fifty-eight entered my world. Hissing, fighting, with a core of iron, she showed me an existence where two wrongs make a right."

Monsters in The Dark is an spectacular series by Pepper Williams, that manage to provoke emotion after emotion in each page. It tells a story of desperation and revenge and even portrays many truths that aren't ready to be admitted. I  couldn't find a more realistic, a more truthful and shocking book if I tried. 

The world didn’t matter. This was us. This was our fuckedupness learning how to live without guilt and shame.

Quintessentially Q is the accumulation of everything and it's where we see the characters that we learn to care for reaching their breaking point and be forced to live through the worst circumstances. It's literally a kick in the butt for them. But all ended well and there will be another book "TWISTED TOGETHER" to finalize their happy ending which has me giggling and anxious. Damn you, Pepper Williams for writing this amazing books and to make us dependent of them... damn you! (Just kidding.... I may have a girl crush on the author though... just saying!!)

This book starts with the new life of Tess and Q as a couple!! (I was expecting this for so long) They start out very reticent with each other without fully trusting, but then Tess is once again going to be taken by her previous captors.... (I know it's scary!!!) And in the previous book they were pretty pissed at her so in here they will try to break her and damage her mind the best way they can. Meanwhile we'll get Q desperately trying to find her and doing everything he can including killing if necessary (and it will be) and whilst he's doing this he's realizing how much he cares for her and how much he's grown dependent of her strength and fierceness.

Just from this you just know it's going to be a heartbreaking book... and it was! It was maybe the worst book I ever had to read because some of the situations Tess is going to be exposed to, are just vile and wrong! It's even worst than Tears of Tess.  I love that Pepper Williams can describe so truthfully a character's emotions and situations but in here I had to take breaks to be able to read what was going to happen next. I was fearing the next page after page because I knew that Tess and Q could break at any moment and just give up, and the author really did gave us that feeling of desperation because it was so well written! It's beautiful the way she can write and create a story but let me tell you that there will be tears involved in here...

I love Tess. I love her character, I love that she's unbreakable and that she's fierce and strong after everything. In here this is all going to be threatened to fade because she will want to give up, she's going to fall and go through the worst circumstances but I always had a bit of hope that the old Tess would prevail and win that fight. And she did, but for a moment there she almost gave up and that moment is unforgettable in the book because I literally held my breath and just went banana's on everything.  Tess is also going to gain a monster in her, they are going to turn her and break her into a twisted version of herself which is also really hard to see but with the help of Q she's going to go trough it like the warrior she's always been...

Q wanted me, Q would protect me, and eventually Q would love me.  

Me, the girl with nothing but a broken mind.

 At the start Q doesn't know what's love because it's not love yet that he feels for Tess it's more of a need. But you will see him change throughout the book and go through so many battles with his inner monster to learn that he loves fiercely and deeply the girl he saved and that changed him beyond repair. Then we have him almost loosing control when Tess is taken away from him and there we will see true love, only then he will show us what he's willing to do to have his wild bird back and to give her his heart. This book changed Q and challenged him nearly breaking him in the process. I was stunned that Q could change so much in  one single book, but he did and the author wrote about it in a rather genius way. A gradual but fast change that will shock us but makes us love him as a person even more. There is no composed, beautiful business man anymore... it's more of a desperate, lonely and in constant battle man that's going to get more than he's read for.

I loved her with everything I was. “Je t'aime,” I whispered, kissing her back.

Suzette is spectacular and her support is really what keeps Tess and Q sane and what keeps our hearts from breaking every time something happens. She's always there with her advices even though she's been throughout so many bad things as well, she's going to be a confider and a friend to both Q and Tess what was really important in their finding the middle ground of their relationship. I really want to see her getting a happy ending as well... Frederick is also like a male version of Suzette...  but only for Q and just a bit for Tess which made me love him a bunch as well, because he's one of the rare good guys.

Only when I’d expended my angst-riddled energy did Suzette move closer and do something I would never have allowed before. She hugged me. Her tiny arms wrapped around my waist, squeezing tight, reminding me I was human and not a monster after all.

I want to burn the rapists, kidnappers,  evil doctors and everyone that's part of trafficking women and just break them all over again (because Q is going to do a damn good job at it, but it's still not enough!!). They are vile and disgusting for everything that they do to girls like Tess and Suzette in here. It's awful and they deserve to be condemned to live everything the girls lived over and over again... Damn, Pepper really did made me hate those fuckers!! Ugh...

I Both hate and Love this book. It's awesome and perfect and everything good you can think of with great characters and an unbelievable story, but it's so dark that's impossible to read it in one sitting. So I dare anyone that likes strong emotions to try it and read it because you are going to love it!!

 

Tears of Tess (Monsters in The Dark, #1) by Pepper Williams. Book Review

Published in December 10th 2013 by Forever
256 pages
ISBN: 1455554227


Trace Rooks has fallen irrevocably in love with the son of her family's sworn rival, and she knows in her bones nothing can tear them apart. Until Nix suddenly pushes her away and into the arms of his best friend... But Trace isn't ready to give up on a future with Nix--and if he won't fight for them, she will.

But if I was protecting her? If I was saving her life by driving her into another man’s arms? Would that redeem me in the end? Or just damn us all to hell?

" She loves you? Fine. Because, Chase. It’s never been about my wants or my needs. I can’t live if she’s unhappy. I can’t breathe if she’s upset. If being with you brings her that peace, then I want you to have her. I’ll be your best man at the wedding. I’ll babysit your kids when you want date night. Chase—” I swallowed the emotion in my throat and shook my head. “It’s about her.”

Yes, just another problem. “Right, but you aren’t mine. Get it? It’s like getting a present for Christmas only to find out someone’s going to take it away on New Year’s.” 

“What kind of present am I?”  Trace laughed. “Come on, you can tell me.”  

“A bike.” I shook with laughter. “Because I would ride you so hard that you’d—” Her fist knocked the wind out of my stomach pretty effectively, ruining the arousal I’d had going for me about fifteen minutes ago.

 I made a choice. To share my soul with her. To be her everything—even if it meant I was going to get nothing in return—because I’d been given permission to do so—I decided I was going to steal her. No longer was it betrayal—it was survival.

Published by Pear Tree LLC
Published in November 30th 2013
270 pages
ISBN: 9780989247962


Nikolai:

 "Someday," Bogdan screams behind me. "Someday, like Aleksandr, some girl will be your downfall."  

I stop with my white-gloved hand on the door and my back to Bogdan. "Then I will have lived for something important in my life."

 I was born a killer, my teeth bared, and I claimed my first victim almost before I had taken my first breath. But that is Ukraine. A boy on the streets without a gun is prey. I have never been prey. Always the hunter.

 "I'll take a steak. Rare." Daniel tosses his dirty boots onto the gold inlaid coffee table. "I like to hear the faint moos when the dome comes off the plate." Daisy shudders at this statement.  

"Gross," she mumbles.

 "Once a part of Bratva, always part of Bratva," Sergei sneers.

“Go to hell, Turner,” I say when what I really mean is I love you.

 Turner's like an M&M or some shit; it's impossible to eat just one. Now that I've had a taste, I want all the colors. I kind of hate myself for it.

He's no Turner Campbell, but the kiss is different than anything I've ever felt before. It's like kissing death, but in a good way. Like having a bite of that final rest, tasting soothing comfort and reassurance. I swipe my hand across my mouth and glare.

Max ran his hand over her soft black fur. “You’re beautiful, kitten,” he rumbled in his delicious voice. She purred in reply.

Hayley is a curvy girl, wearing a yellow "puke color" tight dress for the wedding of her ex-boyfriend, so having to hold her breath because she's afraid the dress isn't going to hold isn't exactly her favorite times... Especially when the dress rips and everyone is stands looking at her "assets"... But what she least expects is that Niccolò, the guy who has been throwing her mean glares whenever she's near is the one to giver her his jacket and the one to kiss her senseless behind the church...

Niccolò has always loved the fire he saw in Hayley but she was dating his friend and it stopped him from acting. He knew she was going to be his but he had to wait for an opportunity to present herself  and when it did he finally couldn't control his want anymore. He may be rude and not nice in general but he knows what he wants and he's going to get it...

 I lowered my head and kissed him, my mouth lingering on his. ‘You’re so sexy. Say something to me in Italian.’  

‘Pizza Margherita.’  

I giggled, but the crazy thing was he even managed to make that sound sexy.

Nico Rossi wasn’t a good boy. He was a bad boy dressed in a good suit.