FRIDAY READS #7 | AMOUR AMOUR(AERIAL ETHEREAL, #1) BY KRISTA AND BECCA RITCHIE.

Book Beginnings is a book meme hosted by Rose City Reader where participants share the first sentence (or so) of the book, along with initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

The Friday 56 is hosted by Freda’s Voice, and the rules are quite simple: Grab a book, any book, turn to page 56 or 56% in your e-reader. Find any non-spoilery sentence(s) and post.

This week’s book: 

Goodreads Summary: 

Love is a circus

"Every day,” he says lowly, “I hold a person’s life in my hands. The circus is based one-hundred percent off trust. I give it all to someone, and they give it all to me.”

The best aerial technique won’t land 21-year-old Thora James her dream role in Amour—a sexy new acrobatic show on the Vegas strip. Thora knows she’s out of her element the second she meets Amour’s leading performer. Confident, charming and devilishly captivating, 26-year-old Nikolai Kotova lives up to his nickname as the “God of Russia.”

When Thora unknowingly walks into the crosshairs of Nikolai’s after-show, her audition process begins way too soon. Unprofessional. That’s what Nik calls their “non-existent” relationship. It’s not like Thora can avoid him. For one, they may be partners in the future—acrobatic partners, that is. But getting closer to Nik means diving deeper into sin city and into his dizzying world. 

Thora wants to perform with him, but when someone like Nikolai attracts the spotlight wherever he goes—Thora fears that she’s destined to be just background to his spellbinding show.

This sexy and exhilarating New Adult Romance can best be described as Cirque du Soleil meets the steamy, athletic romance of Center Stage. 

*standalone & no love triangles—recommended for readers 18+ for mature content*

BOOK BEGINNINGS:

“You really want to do this?” Shay asks me for the tenth time. He plops roughly on the edge of my bed, wearing red, athletic Ohio State shorts and nothing more. Beside him, trade paperbacks thud onto the hardwood. My paranormal romances are so tattered and ragged, the ground won’t hurt them.

FRIDAY 56:

If I was tall enough, I would even contemplate giving him the massage, but in my Toms, my head reaches his shoulders. 
Little mouse. 
Yeah, it fits alright. 
“I’ll be fine,” I tell him. His intensity barrels through me. I love it more than he knows and more than I ever realized, his concern only flushing me more.  I add, “Don’t worry about me.” My sweltering body disagrees. 
He gives me a look like that’s just not possible. “I’ve worried about you since you first showed up in Vegas and could barely drink a shot.” At The Red Death, when he said the city would swallow me whole.


MY THOUGHTS:

I loved reading this book and its companion book Infini. These books are about circus life in Vegas and its just so much more and fancier than I thought. This is one of my top favourite reads of this year!

Which book features in your Friday Reads below? Comment the links below, I would love to visit your blog!

BOOK REVIEW | DEVIL IN SPRING (THE RAVENELS, #3) by LISA KLEYPAS

Goodreads Summary: 

An eccentric wallflower…

Most debutantes dream of finding a husband. Lady Pandora Ravenel has different plans. The ambitious young beauty would much rather stay at home and plot out her new board game business than take part in the London Season. But one night at a glittering society ball, she’s ensnared in a scandal with a wickedly handsome stranger. 

A cynical rake…

After years of evading marital traps with ease, Gabriel, Lord St. Vincent, has finally been caught-by a rebellious girl who couldn’t be less suitable. In fact, she wants nothing to do with him. But Gabriel finds the high-spirited Pandora irresistible. He’ll do whatever it takes to possess her, even if their marriage of convenience turns out to be the devil’s own bargain.

A perilous plot…

After succumbing to Gabriel’s skilled and sensuous persuasion, Pandora agrees to become his bride. But soon she discovers that her entrepreneurial endeavors have accidentally involved her in a dangerous conspiracy -- and only her husband can keep her safe. As Gabriel protects her from their unknown adversaries, they realize their devil’s bargain may just turn out to be a match made in heaven.

My Rating - 5 stars!

My Review:

Lisa Kleypas is my historical romance queen. I LOVED The Hathaways, The Wallflowers and now The Ravenels. I loved every character and their books, so I was very happy to see that Devil in Spring was going to feature some of my favourite characters from The Wallflowers. This is a story about Pandora, one of the twin Ravenel and Gabriel, Sebastian and Evie's son!! I was very excited to read this story and it did not let me down, in fact, it surpassed my expectations. 

Pandora is different, she doesn't fit into any box created for women in the 19th century. She is quirky, helpful, smart and diligent. She is so much more than just a woman destined to get married. She wants to invent and sell board games and do good for the society. That is why, she is afraid that marriage will ruin her plans. 

Gabriel is a rake and has no plans to marry as well but after he is caught with Pandora in a situation which would be scandalous if they didn't marry, his plans get altered. Gabriel knows what he has to do, and that's to marry Pandora. Now only if Pandora was easy enough to say yes to the proposal. Even if it was a bit fast paced, I liked the flow and it didn't feel like a complete insta love kind of story, because Gabriel was all in and he was very loyal to her. He was with her the whole time, well even though he took some wee time to get there. Gabriel is one of my top favourite heroes and Pandora was just a sweetheart, I loved her from the beginning.

It was refreshing to see women empowering at that time. I loved how supportive everyone was of Pandora. I was very impressed to see all the research Lisa Kleypas had done for Pandora's character. I loved to meet everyone from Gabriel's family and I would love to read their stories. I am waiting for certain some characters to get together. It was absolute fun to see everyone from the Ravenel family as well. The Ravenels have become such a tight-knit union. There was a scene where they are all going away, it was their last meeting and it was going to be a while before they could all be together. I remember feeling the same emotions as them as they were all going separate ways. They all get back together soon enough don't worry. But that is the depth of how much I am invested in the Ravenels. I can't wait for more books in this series.

 Some of my favourite quotes

*
“Good God, she really did walk in circles. A pang of tenderness centered in Gabriel’s chest like an ache. He wanted all her circles to lead back to him.” 

*
Sebastian, who had begun to laugh, seemed struck by that last comment. 
“Ahhh,” he said softly. “That explains it.” He was silent for a moment, lost in some distant, pleasurable memory. 
“Dangerous creatures, wallflowers. Approach them with the utmost caution. They sit quietly in corners, appearing abandoned and forlorn, when in truth they’re sirens who lure men to their downfall. You won’t even notice the moment she steals the heart right out of your body—and then it’s hers for good. A wallflower never gives your heart back.” 

*
“He was charmed out of all reason as he watched her, this sandy, disheveled, storytelling mermaid, who seemed already to belong to him and yet wanted nothing to do with him. His heart worked in strange rhythms, as if it were struggling to adjust to a brand new metronome. What was happening to him?” 

*
“She was so endearing, so indomitable, that Gabriel was wrenched with a feeling he’d never known before, as if all the extremes of joy and despair had been compressed into some new emotion that threatened to crack the walls of his heart.” 

*

WAITING ON WEDNESDAY / CAN'T WAIT WEDNESDAY #44 ~ MOST OF ALL YOU BY MIA SHERIDAN

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books that we are excited about that we have yet to read. Generally, they are books that are yet to be released as well. It's based on "Waiting On" Wednesday hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine

Title: Most of All You
(Click on the title to know more about it on Goodreads.)
 Author:  Mia Sheridan

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publication Date:  October 17th, 2017

Goodreads Summary:

A broken woman . . .

Crystal learned long ago that love brings only pain. Feeling nothing at all is far better than being hurt again. She guards her wounded heart behind a hard exterior, and carries within her a deep mistrust of men who, in her experience, have only ever used and taken.

A man in need of help . . .

Then Gabriel Dalton walks into her life. Despite the terrible darkness of his past, there’s an undeniable goodness about him. And even though she knows the cost, Crystal finds herself drawn to Gabriel. His quiet strength is wearing down her defenses and his gentle patience is causing her to question everything she thought she knew.

Only love can mend a shattered heart . . .

Crystal and Gabriel never imagined that the world that had stolen everything from them would bring them a deep love like this. Except fate will only take them so far and now the choice is theirs: Harden their hearts once again or find the courage to shed their painful pasts.

I'm waiting because...

I love this author's writing. Leo and Archer's voice were absolutely beautiful and I want to read more books from her. This summary sounds intriguing and I can't wait to read it.

What are you waiting on this Wednesday?

FRIDAY READS #6 ~ THE HATING GAME BY SALLY THORNE

Book Beginnings is a book meme hosted by Rose City Reader where participants share the first sentence (or so) of the book, along with initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

The Friday 56 is hosted by Freda’s Voice, and the rules are quite simple: Grab a book, any book, turn to page 56 or 56% in your e-reader. Find any non-spoilery sentence(s) and post.

This week’s book: 

Goodreads Summary: 

Nemesis (n.) 
1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome;
2) A person’s undoing;
3) Joshua Templeman.

Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate each other. Not dislike. Not begrudgingly tolerate. Hate. And they have no problem displaying their feelings through a series of ritualistic passive aggressive maneuvers as they sit across from each other, executive assistants to co-CEOs of a publishing company. Lucy can’t understand Joshua’s joyless, uptight, meticulous approach to his job. Joshua is clearly baffled by Lucy’s overly bright clothes, quirkiness, and Pollyanna attitude.

Now up for the same promotion, their battle of wills has come to a head and Lucy refuses to back down when their latest game could cost her her dream job…But the tension between Lucy and Joshua has also reached its boiling point, and Lucy is discovering that maybe she doesn’t hate Joshua. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.

BOOK BEGINNINGS:

I have a theory. Hating someone feels disturbingly similar to being in love with them. I’ve had a lot of time to compare love and hate, and these are my observations.

FRIDAY 56:

“You’re shipwrecked onto an uninhabited island. What three things would you take with you?” “A knife. A tarpaulin.” He thinks for a long time on the last item. “And you. To annoy you,” he amends.
“But I’d be so lonely on the island,” he points out. I think of him sitting alone in the all-staff meeting. “Okay. So we’re crawling up the beach and I’m cursing your name for pulling me away from civilization and hair-care products and lipstick. What then?”

MY THOUGHTS:

I read this book in one day and I loved it so much, I couldn't put it down! A really cute story about adorable characters.

Which book features in your Friday Reads below? Comment the links below, I would love to visit your blog!

BOOK REVIEW ~ SOMETHING LIKE HAPPY BY EVA WOODS | BLOG TOUR

Publication Date: September 5, 2017

~BLURB~

With wry wit and boundless heart, Eva Woods delivers an unforgettable tale of celebrating triumphs great and small, seizing the day, and always remembering to live in the moment.

“It's simple, really. You're just meant to do one thing every day that makes you happy. Could be little things. Could be big. In fact, we're doing one right now…”

Annie Hebden is stuck. Stuck in her boring job, with her irritating roommate, in a life no thirty-five-year-old would want. But deep down, Annie is still mourning the terrible loss that tore a hole through the perfect existence she'd once taken for granted—and hiding away is safer than remembering what used to be. Until she meets the eccentric Polly Leonard.

Bright, bubbly, intrusive Polly is everything Annie doesn't want in a friend. But Polly is determined to finally wake Annie up to life. Because if recent events have taught Polly anything, it's that your time is too short to waste a single day—which is why she wants Annie to join her on a mission…

One hundred days. One hundred new ways to be happy. Annie's convinced it's impossible, but so is saying no to Polly. And on an unforgettable journey that will force her to open herself to new experiences—and perhaps even new love with the unlikeliest of men—Annie will slowly begin to realize that maybe, just maybe, there's still some joy to be found in the world. But then it becomes clear that Polly's about to need her new friend more than ever…and Annie will have to decide once and for all whether letting others in is a risk worth taking.

"Simply irresistible!" -Library Journal 

“A special book that will make you laugh through your tears with its heartfelt take on happiness and friendship.”—Amy E. Reichert, author of The Coincidence of Coconut Cake

Rating - 4/5

Review:

Something Like Happy is a beautiful story about characters you'll love, friendship and small joys in life. The novel also revolves around 100 Happy Days Project, I had never heard of it before, so it was an experience reading about that. It shows how you can find joy in small things in life.

Annie Hebden is miserable and Polly is set to enjoy and celebrate life in the 100 Happy Days Project Challenge. Miserable Annie of thirty-five years old thinks nothing can lift her spirits and Polly is the last person she needs right now, but soon Annie is challenged by Polly to take part in the 100 Happy Days Project with her and Polly shows her how to take joy from simple things. How doing small things for yourself can be positive.

On the other hand, Polly has a life threatening disease, but nothing stops Polly from being full of life, funny and happy. And in a way, Polly teaches Annie to live a little too. Both characters couldn't be more different and both of them suffer from different ways but still, their friendship works and they're powerful together. It could have been a depressing story as the plot goes but it wasn't. It was humorous despite the heavy emotions. It was an amazing emotional roller coaster ride filled with magnificent joyful moments. I loved getting to read about the other characters as well. The character development of these two is so well written, it's visible as you read further.

Annie and Polly are both interesting characters but I am guessing Polly is going to be favourite of many like me. This story shows how you can be at solace from small and simple things in life. It was a different kind of read for me, it was an amazing story and very uplifting.

 *An ebook copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*