Beyond the Stars by Stacy Wise

The Basics:
Beyond the Stars by Stacy Wise
Entangled: Embrace
Historical Romance
Published February 8, 2016
Source: Received Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon Kobo Goodreads

Why I picked up this book:

From my Stacking the Shelf post: "Another cute cover, another publishing house I trust. I thought the concept here was cute too, and I like the combination of prickly and competent forced together."

Blurred Lines by Lauren Layne

The Basics:
Blurred Lines by Lauren Layne
Loveswept
Contemporary Romance / New Adult
Published August 25, 2015
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon Kobo Goodreads 

Why I picked up this book:

I love Lauren Layne's books. I had to jump on this one when it came up on Netgalley!

Reckless by Priscilla West

The Basics:
Reckless by Priscilla West
Blackbird Publishing
New Adult, Romance
Published Aug 4, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon Kobo Goodreads 

Why I picked up this book:

Rock star romances are pretty popular these days, of which I've only read a couple, so I thought, why not give this one a try? 

Blitz and Review: 21 Stolen Kisses by Lauren

Today I'm participating in a Release Week Blitz for Lauren Blakely's 21 Stolen Kisses. This is a very unusual book, one that I think you'll either love or hate. It's being billed as a "New Adult Forbidden Romance" - are you intrigued by that?

Check out the rest of the post to find out which side of that I fall on, to check out an excerpt, get information about the Facebook party happening *right now,* and get in on a giveaway!

Blog Tour: Rush by Gina Gordon

 

On May 12th, Loveswept released Rush by Gina Gordon. Do you have your copy yet? This is a hot, new adult romance that you are going to want to check out. Skeptical?  First, check out that cover. Second, I've got an excerpt, a giveaway and my review of the book, so stick around!

For the rest of the stops on the tour, check out Tasty Book Tours.

Two Truths and a Lie by Ashley Stoyanoff

The Basics:
Two Truths and a Lie by Ashley Stoyanoff 
Book One in the PRG Investigations series
New Adult, Romance
Published February 28, 2015
Source: Received via Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon Kobo Goodreads

Why I picked up this book:

I liked the cover. Also, I'm looking for a good, contemporary detective agency series.

Crushed by Lauren Layne

The Basics:
Crushed by Lauren Layne
Flirt (from Loveswept)
Book Two in the Redemption series
Contemporary Romance
Published April 14, 2015
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon Kobo Goodreads

Why I picked up this book:

It's a Lauren Layne book, and she's one of my few auto-grab contemporary romance authors. Speaking of, which authors do you auto-grab when you see them? I mean their books, of course, not the authors themselves!

Not Quite a Review: The Dead Days Journal by Sandra R Campbell

The Basics:
The Dead Days Journal by Sandra R Campbell
Book One in the series
Dystopia, New Adult
Published April 7, 2015
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon Goodreads

Why I picked up this book:

I loved the blurb and the cover, and was jonesing for dystopia with a little more of an adult flair than the YA I've read of late.

Blitz: Two Truths and a Lie by Ashley Stoyanoff

Today I'm hosting a stop on the Book Blitz for Ashley Stoyanoff's Two Truths and a Lie. This is the first book in the PRG Investigations series, a New Adult/Romance series that I think sounds pretty promising! 

Blog Tour: Interference by Dakota Madison

Dakota Madison's Interference Book Tour is stopping here today! This New Adult sports romance has one of the hottest cover models I've seen so far this year. Ahem. I mean, this book brings together an unlikely pair in Sedona, the super smart neuroscience student and Jesse, a bad boy superstar of basketball! 

For other stops on the tour, check out Reading Addiction Virtual Book Tours.

Bad Romeo by Leisa Rayven

The Basics:
Bad Romeo by Leisa Rayven
St. Martin's Griffin
Book One in the Bad Romeo duology
Contemporary Romance (New Adult)
Published December 23, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon Kobo Goodreads

Why I picked up this book:

The *terrible cover* coming from a respectable publisher intrigued me. Seriously. That cover is *awful.* So I had to ask - what's up with that?

Someday Maybe by Ophelia London

The Basics:
Someday Maybe by Ophelia London
Entangled: Embrace
Book 2 in the Definitely Maybe series
New Adult, Romance
Published October 20, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon Kobo

Why I picked up this book:

I really liked the first book in the series.

Blurb:

Some guys are impossible to forget.

Rachel Daughtry has a 10-year plan that leaves no room for mistakes. Or not-so-serious boys—including Oliver Wentworth, the freshman boyfriend she's never forgotten. Now she's back in San Francisco with an awesome-slash-scary new job. Unfortunately, The Plan doesn't cover things like meeting her best friend's new “secret” guy...Oliver.

Fortunately, no one knows that Rachel and Oliver were ever together, and endless bikini wax torture couldn't make Rachel hurt her friend. But it's killing Rachel. She's not over him. Not even a little. And as her 10-year-plan crumbles around her, Rachel realizes that maybe—just maybe—Oliver feels the same way.

Now Rachel is on the verge of losing all control. And her best friend. And the love of her life...

My thoughts:

I cannot talk about Someday Maybe without talking about the first book in the series. I loved Definitely, Maybe in Love when I read it last year. I love Pride and Prejudice and I thought London's adaptation was excellent.

Unfortunately for Someday Maybe, I've never read Persuasion, which I gather is Austen's tale of love lost and found again. So it didnt come with that added boost of joy as I compared storylines and anticipated moments and so forth.

So... Rachel and Oliver both seemed like pretty honest characters. Rachel had made some poor decisions and was trapped by them, but she didn't *want* to hurt anyone. She was also conscious of the fact that she'd kind of sucked when it came to handling Oliver and her relationship during freshman year, and that made me like her even more. Making a mistake and realizing you've made it and regretting it are all good character development things in my book.

Oliver was a bit harder to get a fix on, manly because I missed having Oliver's perspective - the back and forth of perspectives by chapter in so many new adult books has really spoiled me! Having to be more clever than our heroine and read into his actions? Geez! Maybe I'm becoming a lazy reader.... Regardless, he seemed like a good guy, and I'd kind of like to spend more time with him in future books in the series, to get to know him better.

One thing I didn't really buy into was the friendship with Meghan - Meghan didn't seem like a particularly great friend to me, and I was surprised by the lack of 'air-clearing' between these two. I'd like to think that such great friends would at least attempt to address things when things felt a little weird, right?

Now, story-wise (clearly secondary to characters for me), there's the present storyline and then flashbacks to tell us the story of Oliver and Rachel *before.* I did find that the flashbacks dragged a little - I didn't care so much exactly how things went down, as long as I had the gist of it. But I do think that overall, these bits were necessary to really develop the relationship between Oliver and Rachel in the present, so do power through them!

Bottom line:

Someday Maybe is a solid contemporary romance. It was a relief to read a new adult without the characteristic uber-angst - sometimes the parade of damaged characters in this genre can be exhausting! 

I can't really speak to it as an adaptation of Persuasion but I can say that overall, I found the book pretty entertaining!

4 stars
For fans of Ophelia London, new adult, contemporary romance, second chance at love stories.

Draw Me In by Regina Cole

The Basics:
Draw Me In by Regina Cole
Flirt
New Adult, Romance
Published November 4, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon Kobo

Why I picked up this book:

Blurb! 

Shadow Heart by Pamela Taeuffer

The Basics:
Shadow Heart by Pamela Taeuffer
Open Heart Press
Book One in the Broken Bottle series
New Adult, Romance
Published February 1, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon Goodreads

Why I picked up this book:

I was intrigued by the blurb, and I liked the image of the stone heart breaking open on the cover.

Blog Tour: Zhukov's Dogs by Amanda Cyr

Today I'm spotlighting Amanda Cyr's Zhukov's Dogs, a New Adult, science-fiction tale from Curiosity Quills Press. Released on October 27th, 2014, I absolutely love the gorgeous cover on this book. Let's take a closer look at what's on the pages beyond it...

Sideswiped by Lia Riley

The Basics:
Sideswiped by Lia Riley
Forever
Book Two in the Off the Map series
New Adult
Published October 7, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon Kobo

Why I picked up this book:

I loved the first book in the series (review here) and was very excited to see what happened in the next chapter of Talia and Bran's story.

Broken by Lauren Layne

The Basics:
Broken by Lauren Layne
Flirt
Book One of the Redemption series
New Adult, Romance
Published September 2, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca Kobo.com

Why I picked up this book:

I'm a complete Lauren Layne fan. I had to grab this one when I saw it was available for review.

Curse Breaker: Guild Assassin by Berley Kerr

The Basics:
Curse Breaker: Guild Assassin by Berley Kerr
Curiosity Quills Press
Book One in the Curse Breaker series
New Adult, Steampunk, Fantasy
Published July 28th, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca Kobo.com

Why I picked up this book:

The cover had a steampunk vibe and I'm really into steampunk these days. It's a really gorgeous cover!

This is Falling by Ginger Scott

The Basics:
This is Falling by Ginger Scott
Self-Pubbed
Book One in Falling series
New Adult, contemporary romance
Published August 29, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca Kobo.com

Why I picked up this book:

I'm often tempted by New Adult right now, and I really liked the blurb.

The Real Thing by Cassie Mae

The Basics:
The Real Thing by Cassie Mae
Flirt
New Adult, Contemporary Romance
Published August 19, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca Kobo.com

Why I picked up this book:

I enjoyed Switched by Cassie Mae, which I reviewed here in December of last year, so I was keen to read more from this promising author!