{Review} Love in the City by Jen Morris

 

Page Count: 392

Publisher: National Library of New Zealand

Published On: October 5, 2020

Genres: adult romance

Format: eARC from author/publisher

Rating: 1 star

Goodreads synopsis:

Turning thirty has a way of making you take a good, hard look at your life. And I think we all know what any sensible adult does in that situation: tequila shots. Lots of them.

It’s okay, though, because I’ve finally escaped my tiny New Zealand home town and my negative parents. And New York is better than my wildest fantasies. 
​
So is Michael, the sexy single dad who lives in the apartment upstairs. And he’s featuring in my fantasies more and more—even if he’s a grump and I only ever seem to make a dork of myself in front of him. Ah well, a girl can dream.

Anyway, I’ve got a writing career to build, and writing about being single is fun. If that means swearing off men for a bit, that’s fine. I can totally do that. It’s just a tiny crush. 
​
Besides… happily ever afters aren’t real. Are they?

~ ~ ~

Hey, guys,

If you've been following my blog for a hot minute -- or rather if you've been following my Goodreads and Instagram because I've been terrible about updating my site -- you'll know of my unconventional adoration of the romance genre of late. I'm obsessed. Romance has really been what has gotten me through 2020. No regrets. 

I've discovered that I have certain tropes and buzzwords that cause me to want to pick up a romance instantly. One of the concepts that I love surrounds writers. I love reading about writers and learning about how they find inspiration, but also how they fall in love. Naturally, when I was approached to take part in the tour for Love in the City, I wanted to participate because the book sounded like my cup of tea. 

Unfortunately, I really did not like this book. I wanted to DNF within the first 15-20%, but I stuck it out in hopes that the writing and concept strengthened as the novel continued on. It didn't and my one-star rating is the result. 

I had been asked to take part in the blog tour for this book, but as you can see. I backed out because of my rating. 

For me, one of the main things I unfortunately disliked was the writing style. There was so much telling instead of showing. It read like the character's journal and the writing wasn't solid or polished enough for me to genuinely enjoy the writing style. My dislike of the writer's style really caused me to struggle to immerse myself in the story or enjoy the characters. To me (this is just my opinion), the entire story read like draft-level fanfiction stuff. The wording was awkward and strange to read and there were many moments that were supposed to be funny or swoony, but I was just cringing. It was just really two-dimensional and surface level and I couldn't get behind it. 

Another thing that I didn't enjoy was that the main character was just really annoying. She was supposed to be really creative and artsy, but she really didn't use her noggin 100% of the time. The entire conflict surrounding her blog was that she had pitched an idea for a writing series for a large publication, but it wasn't even really set in stone until the end. She hadn't been given the 100% go-ahead to start on the work and she just pinned herself down to a topic that she didn't jive with throughout. She had so many options, but she blatantly refused to actually communicate with the person and company that she desperately wanted to collaborate with. It was completely unrealistic and bugged me to no end. So unnecessary. 

Additionally, she just didn't communicate with anyone around her until it became incredibly difficult to function. It was just so unrealistic and I couldn't handle it. 

Overall, I cannot recommend this book; however, I'd love to discuss this with other readers. I don't think I'm being too harsh because these are my opinions, but I'd love to discuss why you probably think I'm wrong. I love the discussion!

Happy reading!

Olivia

Liv the Book Nerd

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{Review} Highland Conquest by Heather McCollum

Page Count: 300

Published On: April 28, 2020

Published By: Entangled: Amara

Genre(s): historical romance

Source: eARC provided by the publisher and NetGalley
Where To Find It: Amazon // Book Depository

My Rating: 1.5 stars

Goodreads synopsis:

Cain Sinclair has a plan. In order to finally bring peace to his clan, he will wed the young female chief of their greatest enemy. Only problem: capturing her and forcing her back to Sinclair castle doesn’t exactly make her want to say yes. Ella Sutherland may be clever, passionate, and shockingly beautiful, but what she isn’t is willing.

Every attempt Cain makes to woo her seems to backfire on him. A gift? The kitten practically claws his eyes out. A competitive game of chess? Even when he wins, he loses. It seems the only time the two ever see eye to eye is when they’re heating up Cain’s bed. Still, the only thing Ella truly wants is the one thing he cannot offer her: freedom.

But when Cain discovers she’s been harboring a secret—one that could threaten both clans’ very existence—he’ll have to decide between peace for the Sinclairs or the woman who’s captured his heart.

~ ~ ~

Content Warning: sexism, parental abuse, violence

This does contain sexual content.

Hey, guys,

I was sent an eARC of this book for my honest review via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own. 

When I first requested to read this book, I was really hopeful. The synopsis was intriguing, the characters and drama were something that I was very interested in reading about, and I haven't really read many historical romance books that take place in Scotland. I'm a sucker for a brooding man in a kilt. 

Unfortunately, this book was just really annoying to me. The characters weren't developed well at all, the romance was so lackluster, and the language used throughout was just a slog to get through. I didn't enjoy this book at all.

When it comes to historical romance books of the cheesy variety, I usually have to suspend my reality to fully enjoy the story. They're supposed to be dramatic and unrealistic but in the best way. Unfortunately, this was just too bizarre, unrealistic, awkward, inconsistent, and full of plot holes for me to actually enjoy.

One of my main issues with this book was that the language was just a chore to understand. There was a good mixture of modern English, Old English, and random Scottish slang or terms -- as well as random words that were spelled differently to sound Scottish or old. For example, "cock" was "cod" and "fuck" was "fok." Not only was the first extremely terrible to imagine. (All I imagined were dead fishes whenever a person was called a cod. Please no.) The use of "fok" kept getting 'autocorrected' (if you will) to "fork" or I would just cringe and be annoyed. In my opinion, these random uses of phrases and terms just made it even more confusing to follow. It was just awkward and annoying to me. 

I love it when books use terms or phrases from a different language or even when they make up their own language, but this book just randomly used the phrases or terms willy-nilly and it was quite obvious that they didn't really know what they were doing. I swear I'm not trying to sound like a snob or something, but the method that this author used in this book was just annoying my English major heart. I couldn't do it.

Let's move onto another thing I didn't enjoy -- the romance. The characters in this book were quite two-dimensional already, but the attempted romance just made their lack of depth unbearable. I feel like the author was focusing their efforts on making the language historically accurate, rather than focusing on the story. The romance that developed just didn't feel realistic to me. The "strong" female lead wasn't the kind of strength that I expected. There were some good feminist ideas throughout, but the execution was just lacking. 

I'm in the middle of a massive romance kick right now, so I wish I had liked this book more. I need to find a historical romance book that I completely adore. Until then, I'm going to keep tentatively searching for my historical romance sweet spot. 

Stay tuned!

Happy reading!

Olivia

~ Liv the Book Nerd ~

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{Series Review} Fae's Captive (#1-4) by Lily Archer

Fae's Captive (#1) by Lily Archer 

2.5 stars

Page Count: 100
Published On: February 19, 2019

Road to Winter (Fae's Captive #2) by Lily Archer

2 stars

Page Count: 94 
Published On: February 19, 2019

Bite of Winter (Fae's Captive #3) by Lily Archer 

2 stars

Page Count: 125 
Published On: March 22, 2019

Beyond the Mountain (Fae's Captive #4) by Lily Archer 

2 stars

Page Count: 164
Published On: April 18, 2019

Series Information:

Published via Amazon Publishing (independently) 

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal, Erotica

Goodreads synopsis of #1:

My college roommate is the worst. Cecile steals my food, brings guys over at all hours, and parties instead of studying. But those quirks pale in comparison to what she does next. She drugs me, and I wake up imprisoned in an alternate universe full of terrifying creatures.

Now, the biggest and scariest creature of all - a fae king - believes I'm his mate. He's freed me from the dungeon, but, keeps me close. So close, in fact, that I'm beginning to like his wintery gaze and ice-chiseled body. But, secrets and villains lurk throughout this new world. And I don't know if I'll survive long enough to figure out how to get back home.

~~~

I originally picked the first book up for fun. It was recommended to me on Facebook, the cover looked hilariously cheesy, and the premise was just ridiculous enough to pique my interest. I knew this wouldn't be the height of literature, but I didn't expect it to be this discombobulated and disappointing. From the comments that I had read on Facebook and the few reviews on Goodreads, I expected this to be cheesy, but bearable. It was what I wanted. Just for funsies. Buckle up, folks.

This novella and its sequels have a lot of potential to be fantastically cheesy and fun. If you squash all of the little books together and edit it, it would be a decent full-length novel, but it just seemed like the author wanted to churn out chunks of the story (which do not fully connect) and publish them on Amazon without actually editing them. By the end of the fourth installation, I still hardly knew the characters or even cared about their stories. The entire story was just so haphazard that I was purely reading them all to get some sort of closure. I still don't understand the point of the story. 

There's just an immense lack of depth in the characters, the plot, and the world. I wish that there had been more description, less cringe-y dialogue, and more world building. The characters just accept that things are happening, when a realistic and well thought out character would question everything. The explanation that a good fantasy novel would have is not there. It felt like the author was too focused on being mysterious and keeping things for "twists" when there was a perfect place to add some explanation to hint toward the twists that were coming. I constantly found myself annoyed with the lack of explanation.  

As I read these books, I continuously lost hope for any potential that this series would improve. The author continued to make the same mistakes that were found throughout the other books. She constantly over explained her work. I think she did this because of the lack of planning and cohesiveness as she was writing. It's obvious how much she lacked proper planning. Overall, there was just a lack of editing. The switching between modern and older vernacular, inconsistent writing, missing scenes and information, unrealistic sex scenes and emotions surrounding the scenes, and convenient plot additions all revealed her lack of editing and organization.

ALSO the use of "creamy thighs" needs to be ERADICATED from any novel. NO. GROSS! No more of that, please.

I can see the passion behind this story and the characters, but there needs more work, more beta readers with actual experience, and a good editor. I'd love to be this author's editor. It'd be so fun to get this story to where it could be. Right now, it's just a few chunks of a story that aren't written well. It almost felt like reading a strange fanfiction (of something???) that was written on Wattpad in 2014. It just wasn't an enjoyable time. 

I hate to roast these books, but they just need a lot of work before they can be actual books. 

Happy reading!

Olivia

~LivTheBookNerd~

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{DNF Review} Secrets of the Tally by Halie Fewkes

Page Count: 330

Published on: August 22, 2015

Published by: Tally Ink Publishing

Genre(s): Fantasy, YA

Source: hardback via author

Age Rating: YA

Where To Find It: Goodreads // Amazon // Book Depository

My Rating: DNF 

Goodreads synopsis:

Meet Allie: she's just woken up in an empty forest with blood on her hands and everything she's ever known wiped from her mind. In her survival-oriented world, people are hunted by vicious predators and it quickly becomes clear that they are specifically hunting her. 

Allie's friends and sister have no insight as to why she's a target, and her only clue is a list of tally marks she finds tucked away, detailing how many lives she's saved and how many deaths she's caused. Judging by the amount of ink slashed across the page and the fact that nobody seems to know about it, Allie knows she used to have secrets that need to be recovered. 

Without knowing whom to trust, she finds herself drawn to a new stranger in the caves they call home, and even though he won't talk about his own past, he's ready to help Allie recover hers. 

The problem now is that Allie's instinct to survive is the only thing strong enough to bring her memories back. Flashes of her old self will only surface to save her from life-threatening danger, so if she wants to avoid living as an echo of her former self, danger is what she must seek.

~~~

Hey, guys!

     I was sent Secrets of the Tally for an honest review by the author. All thoughts and opinions are my own. See my review policy for my policy on review copies and DNF'd books.

    The premise of Secrets of the Tally had such promise but I, unfortunately, did not enjoy this book at all. I had quite a few problems with the book, but I really wanted to love it. I'm really disappointed that I did not enjoy this book. I adore Halie Fewkes, her Instagram feed, and her journey to being published is so inspiring. I can only wish her the best in her future endeavors. Unfortunately, her book was just not for me.

     Secrets of the Tally follows Allie who has woken up without any of her memories. She soon realizes that no one really understands her past fully and that she has to rely on her survival skills and intelligence to figure out who she truly is. She finds out that her memories only come to her when she's in true peril, so she has to seek out as much danger as she can.

      I initially started this back in May of 2017, but I really wasn't in the mood for it, so I set it down for a bit. I was starting to get into a slump and I felt like it wouldn't be fair to Fewkes if I read it when I wasn't in the mood. Well, at the end of the year, I was finally in the mood to read the book, but unfortunately, I just didn't like it. I was just really bored throughout the book and I couldn't even get through it. The plot was just so slow and the events were just so predictable or just so random. On top of that, I felt like the characters were really two dimensional and boring. I didn't connect to any of them and they were just so irritating and annoying. 

     There were a few instances where the story got interesting, but within a few pages, it just got boring again. I just could not get behind it. Many of the scenes that happened were just so irrelevant and annoyingly random. The whole plot was just so inconsistent and boring. I really did not enjoy the magic/fantasy element of this story. Within the first half of the book the system wasn't really adequately explained. I was just confused. I originally thought it was going to be really interesting, but I really didn't get anything from it. 

    Overall, I felt like this novel lacked development. I really wanted to love this story, but it wasn't for me. I was just bored and annoyed with the characters and plot. The concept was really intriguing, but this book just fell flat for me. 

Happy reading!

Olivia

~LivTheBookNerd~
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{DNF Review} Trust (Between the Lions #1) by Jodi Baker

Page Count: 296

Published on: October 3, 2015

Published by: BookBaby

Genre(s): Urban Fantasy, Supernatural, Mythology, Fantasy, YA, MG 

Source: Paperback - via publisher

Age Rating: YA

Where To Find It: Goodreads // Amazon

Twitter: @jodibakerbooks

My Rating: 1 star - DNF

Goodreads synopsis

TRUST is a young adult, mythological, urban fantasy thrill ride about the darkly fantastical, supernatural Museion that has secretly protected humanity’s greatest treasures for millennia, and Anna, the sixteen-year-old New York girl who is the unknowing Heir to it all:

TRUST.
That’s what the voice inside my head kept repeating when I woke up between the infamous lion statues of the New York Public Library, with no idea how I got there and no memory of the last year of my life.

The only person I ever trusted was my mother, who lied about everything.

I want to trust myself, despite my missing memories. But hearing a voice inside my head obviously isn’t a good thing, especially since it know things I don’t… like how to speak Ancient Sumerian, the fact that yellow-eyed people aren’t actually people, and that my mother’s Egyptian ankh necklace was the key to unlocking the truth she was hiding:

I’m the last in a long lineage of powerful women whose secrets date back to the ancient Library of Alexandria.

I’m fighting like hell to stay alive while searching for both my missing mother and the truth, desperate to find something or someone I can trust.

~~~

Hey, guys!

    I was sent Trust quite a while ago, but because of school, book slumps, and failed attempts at even starting. I haven't had the chance, lately, to just sit down and power through it. I was sent this book after helping the author promote the release of her book through a giveaway and guest post. She and her agent sent me a book a few weeks after the giveaway. I this book really intrigued me. I love mythology and I love the mystery behind the library of Alexandria, but this book just was not for me. 

    Trust follows a sixteen-year-old girl, Anna as her life is turned upside down through paranormal and supernatural events after her mother goes missing. Anna begins to hear a mysterious voice in her head ...who can speak ancient Sumarian and knows about her ancient bloodline. As Anna continues to discover more and more about her family, she begins to doubt that she can trust anyone she comes across.

      This book has a great premise, however, I did not like it much at all. I read the first 30% of the book, but I really just could not get into the book. I usually give a book about 40-50 pages before I DNF it, but I really was hoping for Trust to pick back up. I have tried to start this book three or four times, but I didn't get into it. I thought it was just a timing issue, but I really do not think that is the case. This book just was not for me. 

      
     As I started this book and got a decent chunk read, I realized that I really did not like how the characters were established. I didn't like their personalities and I just didn't care about what was happening to them. Not to mention, I really did not care for Baker's writing style.The way she wrote the dialogue to any scene, the constant rambles, the random monologues. It just wasn't interesting to me and I just found all of the characters to be annoying. Everything was described vaguely and even moments that I figured would have more substance to them lacked everything I would hope for. 

    This book was just not for me. I think that this book could be marketed for the middle grade genre. The writing style lacked the depth of what I would expect from a young adult novel. I expected something with some Percy Jackson vibes, but...no.

Happy reading!
Olivia
~LivTheBookNerd~

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Dead Ed In My Head by Barbara Catchpole

Page Count: 160

Published on: May 2017

Published by: Raven Books

Genre(s): Contemporary, Paranormal
Source: Paperback - provided by publisher

Age Rating: middle grade

Where To Find It: Goodreads // Amazon

Book Depository: {click here}

My Rating: 1 star

Overall Opinion: 99% boring 1% entertaining

Goodreads synopsis:


Tod, the hero, is in Year 11 of school. He is an angry boy with relationship issues with his father who has left home to set up with That Little Tart From The Office and with his mother who is nine months pregnant. He deals with his anger by behaving badly and shouting. As if that wasn't enough for any teenage boy, his head becomes invaded by the undead spirit of a wannabee Rock Star (Ed). Ed grows into Tod's brain, even trying to take it over and being quite frankly no help at all. During the story Tod meets his bossy girlfriend and delivers a very smelly younger baby sister together with gaining insights into why adults are so useless. It is a funny book about the disadvantages of having anyone else share your head. 

Barbara Catchpole was a teacher for over thirty years. She taught English, Special Needs and more or less anything else that was left over at the end of the timetabling. She has three sons of whom she is unbearably proud. She still spends a lot of time working in schools. Her main interest is in writing books for young people that are set in the real world and presenting characters that could be real teenagers. She tries to make them funny most of the time with just a little sadness thrown in because life's like that. She believes that adults can communicate really well with teenagers if the adult just makes a huge effort.

~~~

Hey, guys!

I was sent this book by the publisher for an honest review.

      Overall, this book was a major disappointment. I was rarely entertained and the majority of the story was so boring and blah. It was a waste of two days (the only reason it took two days was because it was so boring and awful). It was just very badly written and lacked any kind of substance. I would not recommend this book.

     This book follows seventeen year old Tod who is an stereotypical troubled and angry teen. His world becomes even more filled with angst when his head is invaded by his friend, Ed, an elderly gentleman who just died. Over the course of the book, Tod meets new people and gains insight into the world of adulthood. 

     Let's just start with the whole premise. The premise was originally what interested me in this book when the publishing company requested that I check it out. However, while the book sounds really interesting the whole execution of it was a total mess. The characters are so boring and two-dimensional, they didn't fit the age group they were put in (it read like a children's or middle grade novel), and the plot lacked any kind of structure. Not only did the author censor certain words she didn't keep the censoring consistent. Not to mention that the cover even has the term "nob" which is considered a British curse word.

    The main character Tod was really annoying and quite immature for his age. He lacked any kind of dimension, common sense, or personality. Anything that happened to him was way too convenient and annoying. The character Ed did not enable the story to flow much at all. His appearance in Tod's head was never rationally explained -- was it magic? was it a supernatural influence? was it fate? -- it was never explained at all. Tod's girlfriend (I don't even remember who she was) was really annoying as well. Their relationship just suddenly happened and it was very insta-love-y and, again, annoying. Their relationship was supposed to make Tod look like he was growing as a person, I'm sure, but it did absolutely nothing for the story. 

Overall, this book was not good at all. I feel like more effort went into the cover than the story, which is very sad. 

Books You Would Love:

Drowning of Arthur Braxton, The by Caroline Smailes

A Time To Reap by Jonas Lee

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The by Mark Haddon

Deadline by Chris Crutcher

Happy reading, all!
Olivia

~LivTheBookNerd~

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The Magician (A Fool's Journey #1) by Mark Pannebecker

Page Count: 29

Published on: May 2, 2017

Published by: Smashwords

Genre(s): Occult, YA

Source: eBook- from author

Age Rating: YA

Where To Find It: Goodreads // Amazon

Book Depository: {click here}

Twitter: 

My Rating: 1 star

Overall Opinion: Boring and poorly written

Goodreads synopsis:

Book I, The Magician introduces 15 year-old Benjamin Porter and his attraction to the rebel, nonconforming, bad element of high school when he befriends Craig Marse (The Magician) who pushes the limits of socially acceptable behavior. Drugs and violence become a way of life for Benny as he tours through Craig’s world of bikers and drug-dealers.

A Fool’s Journey is a 21-part series of novelettes that follows Benjamin Porter (The Fool) through the Major Arcana of the Tarot. Ben’s journey begins in Book I, The Magician when he learns the use of power for destructive ends.

~~~

Hey, guys!

I was sent this book for an honest review.

     I'm just going to say up front that I did not enjoy this book at all. I'm sure the book was written to be symbolic and full of metaphors and symbolism and have an underlying message, but I just didn't get it. I thought it was boring and I didn't like the characters, the writing style, or the "plot". I knew from the beginning that I would not like this book. I was hoping for something really interesting, but after reading the first page I knew I would be bored.

     From the beginning of the book, there were too many characters introduced for the reader to fully grasp their names, their identities, and their personalities. The novelette is barely thirty pages, so there was no chance to flesh out that many characters or show considerable growth from the abysmal actions that the main character was taking part in. Throughout the story, the author wrote it in a way that promoted excessive drug and alcohol abuse, gang violence, and just overall stupidity. The synopsis and the way Pannebecker pitched this to me referenced the "tarot deck" and "magic" and I thought it would enlighten me on this subject, as I have no background knowledge on tarot decks at all. This book was all drinking, swearing, drugs, and violence. I didn't have too high of hopes, but I would have hoped to have a bit of structure and at least one solid character. 

    I still do not know the differences between the characters of this story. All of them were fairly similarly described and I didn't get attached to any of them. They were all fairly boring in my opinion. Their actions were stupid and showed no sign of common sense. The parents of the main character just let him make extremely stupid decisions and didn't really help much at all. It was extremely unrealistic and annoying. On top of the lame characters, the plot was not structured and there was no way of knowing what was going on. It just jumped around...I assume that time was passing, but there weren't too many indicators for time either. 

     Don't even get me started on the representation of women. Whenever a woman was mentioned, she was sexualized, they were defined by their physical attributes (also sexualized), and were put down by the male characters. The time period (which seemed to take place in the past?) cannot excuse the lack of gender diversity in this story. 

    

     Overall, I'm not sure what this story was supposed to be. I wasn't entertained at all, the characters were lame and really dumb, there wasn't a good plot, and it promoted violence, drugs, and underage drinking. It was a bit of a mess throughout. It was not what the synopsis made it out to be, and it was just thoroughly un-entertaining. 

I do not recommend. 

Happy reading!
Olivia 

~LivTheBookNerd~

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