Publication date: September 3, 2013

Publisher: Christina Lauren

How I got the copy: Received from publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars
   

  

From Goodreads:

The gentlemen from Beautiful Bastard, Beautiful Stranger, and Beautiful Player are out for a wild night on The Strip.When Max, Henry, and Will steal Bennett away for a weekend of shenanigans and strippers in Vegas, the first stop of the night doesn’t go at all as planned. With their scheme for a Guys Weekend completely derailed anyway, Max and Bennett begin to play a wild game of stealth and secrecy in order to have their bombshells all over Sin City.

First, I need to apologize.  I received this audiobook a month or two ago right around the time I got a new job so I wasn't able to listen to audiobooks anymore.  So thank you to S&S Audio and sorry it took me so long!

As most of my followers know, I don't do Adult Fiction.  It just doesn't appeal to me usually.  So when I find an adult series that I like I'm so excited.  The Beautiful Bastard series is one of those few that has gotten my attention.  I love that they are companion novels so all the characters and plot lines are so different.  And yet when you get a novella like this you get to experience all the characters together.  I  don't usually care about novellas so I was pleasantly surprised when I liked this one.  It's like when you find a twenty dollar bill in your jeans when doing laundry.  You weren't expecting it, but it was a nice surprise.

Format: Audio

Publication date: April 16, 2013

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

How I got the copy: from the publisher in exchange for an honest review (Thank you!)

Rating:  5 Stars
  

From Goodreads:

Escaping a cheating ex, finance whiz Sara Dillon’s moved to New York City and is looking for excitement and passion without a lot of strings attached. So meeting the irresistible, sexy Brit at a dance club should have meant nothing more than a night’s fun. But the manner—and speed—with which he melts her inhibitions turns him from a one-time hookup and into her Beautiful Stranger.

The whole city knows that Max Stella loves women, not that he’s ever found one he particularly wants to keep around. Despite pulling in plenty with his Wall Street bad boy charm, it’s not until Sara—and the wild photos she lets him take of her—that he starts wondering if there’s someone for him outside of the bedroom.

Hooking up in places where anybody could catch them, the only thing scarier for Sara than getting caught in public is having Max get too close in private.

Plot: 8/10

Characters: 8/10

Setting: 9/10

Pacing: 8/10

Style: 8/10

Cover:  I love that blue font on the black and white.  It goes perfect with the first books cover while still looking completely different.

41+50=91 (5 Stars)

     Companion novels sometimes are hard to get into because while the characters are familiar, they are not the ones you originally fell in love with.  This story was  not that way at all.  Chloe and Bennett (from Beautiful Bastard) are in it a lot, especially in the beginning.   We get to see how they're doing since the last book.  If it's even possible I loved Max and Sara more than Chloe and Bennett though.  Max is British, established, funny, and charming.  And Sara is emotionally guarded, feisty, and adventurous yet still very cautious.  The two were the perfect pair.  On paper they don't make sense together, but their chemistry was palpable.  I loved that for once the woman had complete control over the arrangement.  Too often in books it's the man making all the rules and being distant.

     I love how the characters are also very different than the first book.  They don't hate each other like Chloe and Bennett did.  In fact they're infatuated with each other the more they get together.  The plot was formatted the same as the first book where the characters hook up for most of the book, then something blows up at the end, and then they finally admit their feelings.  This always lends for an exciting and captivating story.

     Listening to this made me want to listen to audiobooks all the time now.  I love the guy that read for Max.  His accent sounded like a British Gerard Butler to me.  I'm a huge fan of Gerard so that was a major plus for me.  It definitely added to the experience to be able to hear the POVs read by the different people.  The only thing I didn't like was when Sara was narrating and the woman read Max's dialouge.  Her voice got really low and weird and kind of ruined the intimate moment.  Originally I was a little worried it would be awkward to listen to a book of this genre, but it actually was not awkward at all.  There were no weird sound effects or anything.  It was narrated well.  

     Fans of Sophie Kinsella's books should definitely try this one.  It's got the same humor and romance, with a pinch of those intimate scenes these two authors write so well.  This is definitely a great beach read.

     

     Also, there's another book and some novellas coming out in this series!!!!  Who else is excited!?

“Beside me, Richie chimed in. "What the... Max. there's a girl on your face."

Sara pulled back and her eyes widened in realization. "Oh, crap."
"Calm down," I told her quietly. "No one here gives a f*** who we are. They hardly remember my name every week."
"Patently untrue," Richie said. "Your name is Twat."
I tilted my head to him, smiling at Sara. "Like I said.” 
― Christina Lauren, Beautiful Stranger

Michelle from Dark Faerie Tales: 4.5 Stars Kristen from Kristen's Book Blog: 5 Stars

Title: When She Woke

Author: Hillary Jordan

Number of Pgs. 344 Hardcover

Publication date: October 4, 2011
Genre: Adult Fiction

How I got the copy: Library

From Goodreads:

Hannah Payne’s life has been devoted to church and family. But after she’s convicted of murder, she awakens to a nightmarish new life. She finds herself lying on a table in a bare room, covered only by a paper gown, with cameras broadcasting her every move to millions at home, for whom observing new Chromes—criminals whose skin color has been genetically altered to match the class of their crime—is a sinister form of entertainment. Hannah is a Red for the crime of murder. The victim, says the State of Texas, was her unborn child, and Hannah is determined to protect the identity of the father, a public figure with whom she shared a fierce and forbidden love.

A powerful reimagining of The Scarlet Letter, When She Woke is a timely fable about a stigmatized woman struggling to navigate an America of the not-too-distant future, where the line between church and state has been eradicated, and convicted felons are no longer imprisoned but chromed and released back into the population to survive as best they can. In seeking a path to safety in an alien and hostile world, Hannah unknowingly embarks on a journey of self-discovery that forces her to question the values she once held true and the righteousness of a country that politicizes faith and love.

I've been doing a new way of reviewing that I saw over at Making the Grade.  It breaks the book down and makes it easier to rate.  The way it works is each category gets a score out of ten points.  Then you add them all up + 50 (50% automatically for each book) and that's your score out of 100.

Plot 9/10: There were so many twists in this plot, it always kept me guessing.  It made me really think and question what I believe in.  The ending left me wanting more so for that I'm subtracting a point, but this was a fantastic plot.  I liked how she showcased how humans unite when there is injustice or hard times.  If you're looking for a book that will make you question everything this is it.  

Characters 8/10: Hannah's character bothered me at first because I didn't understand her or her decisions.  Once I got in her head I started rooting for her.  Her friend Kayla was hilarious and definitely added some comedy to this serious book.  She's in inspiration to keep your head up even when life is falling apart.  I hated Aiden though.  I wanted to like him, but I just couldn't.  Not even in the end.

Setting 8/10: This was set in the south, I guess in the future.  It seemed so real though which is scary.  I could picture the world turning people red for getting abortions.  It reminded me of an adult dystopian.  Yet it seemed like it was almost set in past times where people were so set on religion and the bible ruling everything.  I think since there was lots of technology it had to be in the future though.

Pacing 9/10: It was so fast paced because Hannah doesn't stay in any place for too long.  She spends a lot of time in the jail and correctional center in the beginning, but after that she's off and all over the place.  It definitely kept my attention because I was always guessing where she would end up next.

Style 10/10: The writing was poetic, flowed, and the description was beautiful.  It was literally impossible to put down because I would get lost in the beautiful writing.  I usually don't like a lot of description and character's thoughts, but this one I actually preferred it because I could vividly picture this world she was trying to survive in.  

Final Thoughts: Originally I thought this book was the second Girl With the Dragon Tattoo book because the cover is similar to the movie covered book.  What a surprise I got haha.  I haven't had a book make me think this much in a long time.  I only decided to read it because there was a buddy read going on in one of my goodreads groups.  But I'm so glad I did.  This is a must read for everyone.

Total: 94/100 

 

  

                                    

“One by one, she conjured all the boxes she'd been put into: The good girl box and the good Christian box...the mistress box...the bad daughter and fallen woman boxes...She saw with a painful blaze of clarity that every one of these boxes had been of her own making, either by consent or lack of resistance. She had no right to bitterness; she had put herself in them. And she would get herself out, she vowed. And once she was out, she'd never willingly climb into another box again.” 
― Hillary Jordan, When She Woke

Hippies, Beauty, and Books
Pocket Full of Books(4 Stars)

   

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