SoBe

...After reading the summary, I was a little hesitant to give it a chance, but I'm so glad I did! Holy Crap it was good! it's been a while since I've been blown away by a book, let alone a debut! ....this was SO fucking amazing, I don't even know how to explain why it was just so good.... It just pulled me in, where as lately everything I've read has been jsut so so....

Since, i can't figure out how to explain why it was amazing, instead I'll just mention the very few things that kept this from being a 5 star read:

1) the atrocious editing. Holy hell, there were a lot of of errors. A lot, a lot of errors....I can usually over look a couple mistakes here and there...but seriously, it almost made me want to cry at jsut how many there were.... But IMO the overall story was just so so freaking good, i could almost disregard them...

2) the heroine, whose pov we only get in the prologue, was a bit of a Mary Sue....she had a tortuous past, so you can't help but feel for her....but seriously, each and every member of the opposite sex who came into contact with her absolutely adored her, almost to the point of obsession....it was a very long book ( which I freaking loved, thank you ms LaMontagne!) so by the end of the book, their absolute and unquestioning devotion got a bit old.

3) a few long winded and unnecessary conversations and internal monologues....they kept popping up at the worst times....like the characters would be going after big bads, and 2 of them would stop to have a convo, and I'd be yelling at them to get a fucking move on! Just grrrrr....

And lastly, 4) the ending is sorta outta left field...I was just happily reading along, and then bam! The end!

But despite those few issues, it's like I said this was a freaking fantastic read....it sorta kinda, but only marginally reminds me of Joss Ware's Envy books, only instead of 50 years after the zombies come out, it's only a couple years....so everything's more chaotic and crazy, and terrifying....oh and no super powers, which I also liked :)

But, damn it I want more! And also like I said before, Surge is a pretty long book, you know, the kind where you get emotionally attached to the characters, and don't want to let go, but then the book ends, and you're forced to let go, and there's not even another book out , so you cant assuage your thirst, so instead your screwed.....all the while you pretend to be patient but really your cursing up a storm, waiting on tenterhooks for the author to release another book...( hint, hint Ms LaMontagne)


Dammit, I really,really, really, want more of Jared, our hero's point of view, but at this point I'll take anybody's! Just gimme more, dammit!

4.5 stars screw it, let's say 4.9 stars!

eta: currently free on smashwords!

2 stars, but that's being generous.

Keep in mind though, that I didn't read book 1 or 2 ...which means some bits of the story and terms didn't make sense to me. Really though, I just didn't like the back and forth back and forth between the MC's....plus the characters themselves pretty much sucked...the hero was a douche, the heroine wasn't fleshed out enough for me to like her, but she kept getting suckered in by the H which makes me doubt her intelligence,and most of the secondary characters pushing the h towards the douchey H pissed me off.

Having said that, i think this will be my last time reading one of Ms lee's titles...while she's a decent writer, her heroes leave a lot to be desired.....everyone of of them have been douchebag cheaters and it's getting old.



Oh one more thing, iirc, there's a somewhat detailed rape scene in this book, so if that's an issue, you may want to skip this book.

I dont know know how to rate this....it's was good, yes, but not as good as I was hoping for.....so let's say Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars...it was an original story, yes, but IMO it was lacking in the depth department.

[spoiler]Well written, but with too many plot holes left unresolved.And I feel like it's lacking a good bit of depth, like we only get to delve into the shallowest bits of the story....

It took me just under a year to read book one, because the beginning was just too....slow/uninteresting, and I almost decided to put this one down as well, but for one reason or another, I made it to the end....And I have to say, I hate how the author ended the book, even if I can see why she ended it that way( or at least why I think she did). It's not the first story I've read that has an ending like this, but every time I come across them, I'm left with the same thought: it's a cop out.

So now, I don't know if I'll read anything new from VR, I'm not sure I'd trust her with my time again, but maybe later, I'll attempt to read the bits(novellas?) from Fours' point of view, it feels like they'd be impossible to read, now that i know  how everything ends,but.... we'll see.

And honestly, If I'd read spoilers for this, I probably would've stopped reading, early on... As it is, I'm still working out whether or not I'm happy I read this series at all. One on hand, I'm glad I experienced Ms Roths' writing style, but on the other, I feel like I've wasted time on this series, when I could've read something that didn't leave me in a mix of confusion, disappointment, and frustration.

2 stars, bit it's more like somewhere in the range between 1 and 3 stars.

3.5 stars. I started this in early-ish January, and got so bored at the slooow/uninteresting start, that I put it down, didn't pick it up again until late-ish December. Once i did, though it got a lot better, so much so, that as soon as i finished it, I read book 2!

2 stars mostly because I finished it. The writing is sorta 'young' ( that's a nicer way of saying amateurish) and not very much actually happens within the story, with the exception of a bit of melodrama near the end of the book( eye rolling melodrama, IMO). The characters are ridiculously cookie cutter: the beautiful but doesn't know it heroine with very little worldly experience, and an over the top jealous hero, who was supposed to be a player, though we don't actually see that.

It's very easy to read, though keep in mind, there are quite a few sex scenes (too many, me thinks, so much so that I mostly skimmed them) and iirc, a good amount of cursing, so if either bugs you, this may not be for you. Overall, IMO, this is another author with potential that just hasn't been realized...both the characters and the story need a lot of fleshing out, but the bare bones weren't bad.

What the ever loving mother fucking hell was that?

Okay, let me start with this: Grrrr and a thousand halfs.


*Okay, whew, deep breath. *


So, (and I swear I'll get to the point in a minute, okay?) a few years ago, I dnf'ed this book where the H and h are running through a forest away from flesh eating zombies, when they decide to stop and have sex.
Seriously, they have mother fucking zombies after them, they are literally running for their very lives, and these zombies plan on not just killing them but actually eating the flesh right off their fucking bones, and they decide the best way to do save themselves is to stop in the middle of a zombie ridden forest and get it on?!!!

It boggles the mind, right? It just leaves you wondering, who the hell would think that was in any way, a good idea? There's big bad evil villains on your ass ( not in a good way) so that's the perfect time to get laid? how stupid do they think we romance readers are?! That as long as the H and h kiss, and ( depending on if your looking for it or not) occasionally screw like rabbits, that we'll just ignore that total and utter lack of common fucking sense?? Well, that's what the majority of Slide reminded me of.

There are no zombies, no death threats, not even a single fucking tree, but the common denominator? The absolute lack of sensible reasoning.

I was going to include a list, of all the dumbass things the characters thought or said but the list got too damn long. With the exception of a small bit in the middle, there was an almost constant string of comments made, or decisions reached that either contradicted themselves, or just left me with a sense of what-the-fuckery. And I was just so damn irritated at the heroine, starting with her fucked up  BFF's, her's is a douche, to being waaaay to flirty with a guy right after her( absentee) father dies, to the belief that the paparazzi only lie about her (the h), and no one else, and everything they say about anyone else should be take a a gospel, to making the H apologize when he didn't do a damn thing wrong....oh wait, but the hero! He has sex with his therapist ( to be clear, it's not not while with the h, so no cheating) . Sooo many things wrong with this. First we don't know where she came from, or who hired her ( is she the same one the family hired? If so, when he went pro, wouldn't they, the Yankees, have looked at her credentials?) Or, second if she was a real therapist wouldn't she be worried about, oh I don't know this thing called the standard of ethics? Or more importantly losing her license? And why the hell, did the Hero think it would be perfectly okay to screw her, and then stop screwing her, and then actually tell her his secrets? Deep, dark ones? What kind of moron would think that was a good idea?

Okay, another deep breath. And another grrr and a thousand halfs.

2 stars, I don't know why or how I finished it ...(maybe the very lack of a sex scene with Imminent death by zombie only moments away, made it more palatable) but I did, so for that alone it gets an extra star. Having said that, Michelle Congdon has potential! (so much so, that I'll probably read the book from the H's pov, despite my seemingly endless frustration with this book) , she just seriously needs a proofreader to point all the stuff that doesn't make sense, that needs fixing, that goes against stuff that was said earlier, to filling in plot holes, etc etc etc.... Or if she has one, a better one. Or maybe multiple proofreaders, and editors because seriously, the story issues I mentioned, are only the tip of the fucking iceberg, and I didn't even get to all the typos!

On a side note, if you're looking for a sports romance, this one doesn't really count. Yeah the hero is a ball player, but initially he seems to have way to much time on his hands, and there's really only one baseball scene, iirc.

Also there's a lot of sex scenes. This usually doesn't bother me, but at one point I did think this was erotica, rather then the NA it's billed as. ...there were just so many fully detailed scenes! I started skimming them after I got to the halfway point.

And another side note, well more of a disclaimer, really: I am presently, very Very tired. Freaking exhausted, I can barely stay awake... But I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep til I got this out  (so, you're welcome) .... I don't think my sleep deprived state would've changed the content of my review, -although maybe there'd have been less cursing,- but please keep that in mind, before letting it influence you.

And any mistakes/grammar issues are more than likely a result of said state ( and a maybe a little bit of laziness)....I'd like to tell you I'll come back and fix it in the morning, but for the sake of being honest, I should probably mention that "little bit of laziness" I mentioned gets mad at my use of "little bit" and wants to change it to "a whole shit load of a lot", so I probably won't change/fix a damn thing :P

As long as u go in knowing this isn't going to be a plot heavy book, and that it's pretty short, you should be okay. Generally, EC titles are usually hit or miss for me, but this one was surprisingly good. Having said that, as a bonus, there was more story and characterization than I was expecting :)
Which leads me to think, I should go look up more Darah Lace titles!

3.5 stars

An enjoyable,easy, fast read, if a bit campy...and a few spots could've used a proofreader. It would've been 4 stars but for two things. 1) it's too short. Maybe it's just me, but the story felt incomplete, like it ended before it was supposed to. There could've been a lot more, ESP with Pete( the H) and the kids he met at Reagan's (the h) family's farm, as well as with the other reed boys...we get very little of them, IMO. In particular, there's far too little Sam. He's supposed to be a part of Pete, and we get next to no scenes with him in them! It just doesn't mesh with the story, IMO.

Okay, and 2) Was because I got irritated at the h for something and while it's not a huge spoiler, I'd feel better using the tags, so If you must know, (and animal lovers may wanna read this)  

But like I said, a fun read, if not quite as awesome as I'd hoped.

2 stars me thinks. Maybe 2.25....

I don't feel like writing a proper review, so here's a list (and a not particularly well written one at that)  of all the stuff that bugged me:

We're dumped into the story, no background info, everything happens at light speed, including resolutions to any and all problems and there's literally no buildup to anything, but in particular with the relationships...the h moves to town and everything seems to happen immediately (everybody just fucking loves her!), oh and then there's 
Melodrama galore! And a hero who does douchey things and a heroine who forgives him far too easily, characters that take actions that make no sense what so ever, the ending's a cop out, and oh those non sensical characters also don't sound anything at all like the NA's they're supposed to be, but rather much younger....there may have been a few other things, but those were the big ones. YA's and/ or younger na's might like this one though, or anyone who's not looking for a lot of depth. It's not a bad idea, but i think i just wanted more that what i got.

I think I wanted to like this more than I did, and I blame the misleading summary. I was under the impression that the hero came back with the intent to win the heroine back, but really he spends far too long pretty much being an ass and wanting to leave...The h seemed to put up with a lot, I sorta wish she'd have made more steps to move on. By the end, the H has a lackluster epiphany, but by then I'd lost interest :( 2 stars, but on a positive note, I do like Ruthie Knox's style of writing, so there's a good chance I'll try another title from her later on:)

2.5 to 3 stars, though I don't really know how to explain why. It was enjoyable while I was reading it, though I did get distracted a way from it pretty easily. Now that I've finished it, I'm  already forgetting details.

Um, it seemed to skim over a few details, and it seemed pretty tame for a rocker romance, and iirc there's very little angst, but for the most part, it's a decent read. Maybe a good choice when you're looking for something mindless :)

Okay so I liked the idea of Seven Years ....and I like Dannika Dark's writing style but a few things bothered me.

In the beginning of the book, the h makes it seem like she's sooo old, and she can't believe she's not married and doesn't have a passel of kids yet, and her life is over. She's 27! Twenty-freaking-seven! I get what Ms Dark was going for, or at least I think i do, but as someone who's older than that, I have to admit, I sorta kinda wanted to smack her heroine.

Now, I managed to get over that annoyance,  and enjoyed the book until around the second half... When there were a few too many things that either didn't make sense, or I just didn't buy:

Meh but before I tell you why, the story:

So the mc's meet again, cuz apparently they already know each other, and the H was a wuss and got scared of their 'connection' and ran away and the witch of a h was hurt with a good dose of anger thrown in so she curses the H (all that happens before the book starts, and very little is said about the actual curse) and the only way to break the curse is if the H believes... literally the h keeps telling him he just needs to believe but IMO she doesn't really explain it very well.

There's also a side story about the sword Excalibur which sure as shit sounded like it could have been awesome, but lack of story development and the confines of this particular novella ( as well as the unnecessary excerpt) didn't really give it a chance to shine....

So The Entity who came for Christmas was too short to really be considered good. Even for a novella it seemed short. Like a little too much was cut out, and then to add insult to injury there's an excerpt for the next entity book at the end( even more insulting is that it's the same excerpt that's at the end of her previous book, Sleeping With the Entity but I feel like this whole story would have been better served by taking the excerpt out, or even just cutting it short, and adding pages to the actual novella, itself.

Huh, the more I think about it the more irritated I get, so I think I'll just end where I began, and say meh.

Okay, so....Accidentally in love with... a god?:  the heroine has a voice in her head and decides she wants it gone, so she basically does what the voice says and releases him from his prison (and make him a real boy!), and then a whole shit load of stuff happens.

I can't really explain any more...not cuz I don't wanna but because honestly I was pretty lost for a good bit of this book.  I can tell you independent pieces of the story but not how they all tie together. And the h kept making these decisions, that I'm sure made sense to her, but as the reader, left me more confused than ever.

Ok so here's the thing. I love Karen Rose titles. A lot a lot. I spend the whole damn year looking forward to them. Seriously, the whole year. Even when I'm reading books by other authors, I'll wonder when another title of hers will come out... so when I saw she had a new novella coming out, I was pretty damn ecstatic (and that's putting it mildly).

which IMO is actually worth the price!