Review- Dirty London by Kelley York

Goodreads Summary:

All London Noble wanted out of her senior year of high school was anonymity. The complete opposite of Jasmine, her emotionally unstable baby sister, London has worked hard to stay out of the spotlight.

Then she discovers that Wade, one of the most popular guys in school, is gay like her and their new-found closeness based around their shared secret has half the student body convinced they're hooking up...and a lot of girls aren't happy about it. Now she's been dubbed "Dirty London." Rumors are flying about her inability to keep her clothes on, and London is pretty sure she's developing a crush on the one girl who sees through it all. 

If she could admit why stealing boyfriends is the last thing on her mind—not to mention find out what's going on with Jasmine and her rapidly disappearing psych medications—her life would be a much brighter place. But if her and Wade's truth gets out, and if she doesn't find a way to help her sister, London faces losing a lot more than her obscurity.

REVIEW:

As I write this review, I barely remember the story of Kelley York's Dirty London. I started reading the book with lots of enthusiasm and excitement, but when I got to the second half, my pace somehow slowed down and from then on, I just have a faint idea of what I read. The most important point, however, is that it was not the book, but me. I was way too occupied to give the book my hundred percent. Nevertheless, what I read and remember was simply too good. 

Unlike other Kelley York books that I have read and loved for the sole reason that someone dies in each book, Dirty London is the exact opposite. The author says herself that no death in the book is really "weird" for her. And it was the same for me. I waited, and waited, and waited. But no death came. What did happen in Dirty London, contrary to other Kelley York books, is life. Life happened at the end of it, and life tried to happen throughout it. 

Like I have said before, my memory of what I read is not too the sharpest. But from the strain that I am putting on it, I do remember that London, the protagonist, her sister Jasmine, her mother, her friend Wade and her new found friend and lover Amber really stood out as characters. Even secondary characters were well developed and superbly portrayed. To top it all off, the story revolved around a school play and incidents of abuse hidden underneath all the drama. I found the book to be depressing, yes, but in a very rebellious and strong way. Also, for a F/F romance, the first that I read by Kelley York, the chemistries were auite sizzling. 

Dirty London was a fantastic and fabulous read that I really enjoyed. I only wish I had given it less time to finish and more time to think over. But keeping all that aside, as with any Kelley York book- although not with the same intensity as others- this one rocked too. 

RATING:

Release Blitz- Falling for Emma by Alix Nichols

                            

Welcome to my Release Blitz stop for Falling For Emma by Alix Nichols. This is a heartfelt romance novella set in a quaint cafe called "Bistro La Boheme" in Paris.

Be sure to check out the Review schedule for the book to read the reviews by some very talented reviewers.

About Falling For Emma:

Rising star of French chanson Cyril falls for Laura—the charming groupie who waltzed into his life one sweet summer afternoon.Their story could have been pretty straightforward except… 

He’s blind.

And she isn't who she claims to be.

Release Date: 15th January 2015

Genre: Romance

No. of Pages: 120

This is a prequel to the Bistro La Boheme series.

a prequel to the Bistro La Bohème series

Teasers:

"Oh, how she loved that unrestrained laugh of his. It was better than a bowl of rum raisin ice cream or a scented hot bath in the middle of January or an afternoon on the beach with a great book. It was simply the best thing in the world..."  

"He could no longer deny how he felt about her. Not just the part where he craved her right down to his bones, but also the part where he had let her take up residence in his empty heart and was still reeling from the glow that filled it..."

"She drew her mouth away and took a ragged breath. 
When Cyril leaned in to renew the kiss, she planted her hands on his chest and pushed gently. “Let me look at you for a moment.”
He straightened and gave her a panty-dropping smile.
His unseeing eyes were as handsome as ever. His complexion had darkened with desire, and the bulging muscles of his chest flexed under her touch. Through the thin cotton of his T-shirt and through the air between them, she could feel the heat emanating from his body. There was something feline—graceful and hard—about his posture.
Like a wild cat before a bound.
He was magnificent..."

Buy the Book:
Amazon US{99c only!}| Amazon IN {Rs. 60 only!}| Amazon UK | Kobo {FREE}|iTunes {FREE} | Nook {FREE}

About The Bistro La Boheme Series:

If you’ve enjoyed “Amelie” and “Friends” and like smart heroines, sexy heroes, witty dialogue and heart-stopping romance, then give this series a try. It will delight you with an unforgettable cast of imperfect and charming young men and women who work or frequent an ordinary yet special Parisian café. They fall in love, cope with heartbreak and chase their dreams with a passion that makes them endearing even when in the wrong.

Welcome to the Bistro La Bohème! Take a seat by the window, order your café crème and lose yourself in these deeply romantic and heart-warming tales of love, friendship and finding out where you belong.

The books are interconnected, with a recurring setting and characters. But each story is self-contained, and you can read it as a stand-alone.

Buy the books in the series:

Book 0.5: Falling For Emma by Alix Nichols

Amazon US{99c only!}| Amazon IN {Rs. 60 only!}| Amazon UK | Kobo {FREE}| iTunes {FREE}| Nook {FREE}

 

Novella: Your're the One by Alix Nichols 

Amazon US | Amazon IN 

Book 1: What if it's Love? by Alix Nichols

Amazon US | Amazon IN 

Book 2: Under My Skin by Alix Nichols 

Amazon US | Amazon IN 

The Bistro La Bohème series

If you’ve enjoyed Amelie and Friends and like smart heroines, sexy heroes, witty dialogue and heart-stopping romance, then give the Bistro La Bohème series a try! 

It will delight you with an unforgettable cast of imperfect and charming young men and women who frequent an ordinary yet special Parisian café. They fall in love, cope with heartbreak and chase their dreams with a passion that makes them endearing even when in the wrong.

Welcome to the Bistro La Bohème! Take a seat by the window, order your café crème and lose yourself in these deeply romantic and heart-warming tales of love, friendship and finding out where you belong.
                                 
The books are interconnected, with a recurring setting and characters. But each story is self-contained, and you can read it as a stand-alone.

- See more at: http://www.alixnichols.com/books.html#sthash.jlI1nvWl.dpuf

The Bistro La Bohème series

If you’ve enjoyed Amelie and Friends and like smart heroines, sexy heroes, witty dialogue and heart-stopping romance, then give the Bistro La Bohème series a try! 

It will delight you with an unforgettable cast of imperfect and charming young men and women who frequent an ordinary yet special Parisian café. They fall in love, cope with heartbreak and chase their dreams with a passion that makes them endearing even when in the wrong.

Welcome to the Bistro La Bohème! Take a seat by the window, order your café crème and lose yourself in these deeply romantic and heart-warming tales of love, friendship and finding out where you belong.
                                 
The books are interconnected, with a recurring setting and characters. But each story is self-contained, and you can read it as a stand-alone.

- See more at: http://www.alixnichols.com/books.html#sthash.jlI1nvWl.dpuf

The Bistro La Bohème series

If you’ve enjoyed Amelie and Friends and like smart heroines, sexy heroes, witty dialogue and heart-stopping romance, then give the Bistro La Bohème series a try! 

It will delight you with an unforgettable cast of imperfect and charming young men and women who frequent an ordinary yet special Parisian café. They fall in love, cope with heartbreak and chase their dreams with a passion that makes them endearing even when in the wrong.

Welcome to the Bistro La Bohème! Take a seat by the window, order your café crème and lose yourself in these deeply romantic and heart-warming tales of love, friendship and finding out where you belong.
                                 
The books are interconnected, with a recurring setting and characters. But each story is self-contained, and you can read it as a stand-alone.

- See more at: http://www.alixnichols.com/books.html#sthash.jlI1nvWl.dpuf

About the Author:

Alix Nichols is an avid reader of chick lit, romance and fantasy, caffeine addict and a badge-wearing Mr. Darcy fan. She released her first romance at the age of six. It had six pages stitched together and bound in purple velvet paper. The book was titled “Eliza and Robert” and featured highly creative spelling. Some words were written in mirror image. Unintentionally.

Decades later, she still loves the name Robert and the genre romance. Her books have made the Kindle Top 100 Lists numerous times, climbing as high as #1. She lives and works in Paris, France.

Links:

Amazon author page | Blog |Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter | Goodreads

Giveaway:
$20 Amazon GC. Open INT.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This event was organized by Njkinny Tours & Promotions

Review- Just the Way You Are by Sanjeev Ranjan

Summary-

Love happens when you least expect it…

Sameer is a Steve Jobs fan, a consultant at an investment bank, and a confused soul looking for love. As he moves cities to study and work, he falls in and out of love,but fails to find the one person who belongs with him. In comes Shagun, whom he marries. But he leaves the very next day for Switzerland…to start a dream Job. In the meantime, Shagun starts reading his diary! What does she find in there?

Will this spell the end of their marriage? With Sameer not around to defend himself,what is the future of their relationship?

Just the Way You Are is a humorous, heart-warming story about one man’s quest for true love.

Review-

I admit I was drawn to Just the Way You Are because of it's cover. I mean, look at it! Its adorable, screaming contemporary and young and fun. And that is the reason I picked it up when I got the opportunity to read and review Just the Way You Are. While the book may not be brilliant it does carry a simple and sweet message to just be yourself.

Just the Way You Are is the story of Sameer. It starts off with Sameer on his wedding day. After years of searching, Sameer has finally found the love of his life Shagun and is marrying her. But unfortunately he has to leave right the next day away from her for a job opportunity he cannot miss. Then begins the real story where Shagun stumbles upon his diary and starts reading it.

I really liked how we got to know first hand how Sameer's mind worked because of the diary. He was a hard working guy who did get influenced but always had the right intentions at heart. Like any and everyone of us Sameer is also searching for love and the disappointment he faces in his love life was shown really well.

We also do get to see how Sameer finally meets Shagun unexpectedly and falls in love with her. But I would have liked it if that part was more expanded. I also wanted a bit more of what was happening in the present with Sameer and Shagun. But we definitely get to see immense growth in Sameer's character since the beginning to the end of the book.

Sanjeev Ranjan's writing is really simple which makes for the book to be a fast read. I liked how the family dynamics were shown. Sameer was a guy whose thoughts and concerns were easy to relate to in this world where the first thing we notice is physical appearance. Overall, I liked Just the Way You Are.

*Note: A copy of this book was provided by the Random House India in exchange for an honest review. We thank them.

Waiting on Wednesday #111

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West

Publication Date- May 5, 2015

Summary-

When Gia Montgomery's boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she'd been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend— two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.

The problem is that days after prom, it's not the real Bradley she's thinking about, but the stand-in. The one whose name she doesn't even know. But tracking him down doesn't mean they're done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor and his sister intends to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend's graduation party — three hours, zero commitment, a few white lies.

Just when Gia begins to wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into a real one, Bradley comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her new-found relationship.

I just finished reading The Distance Between Us by Kasie West and it was a really cute book. I'm looking forward to reading more from her.

What are you waiting on? :)

Top Ten Tuesday #44

Top Ten Tuesday is a bookish meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's topic is: 

Top 10 2014 Releases I Meant to get to but Didn't-

There are ALWAYS gonna be books on my to be read pile and I always will have some book I meant to read but didn't get to. My picks are-

    

    

    

    

I hope I can get to these in 2015.

What are your picks? :)

    

Review- Lies My Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Anne Peters

Goodreads Summary:

When Alix's charismatic girlfriend, Swanee, dies from sudden cardiac arrest, Alix is overcome with despair. As she searches Swanee's room for mementos of their relationship, she finds Swanee's cell phone, pinging with dozens of texts sent from a mysterious contact, L.T. The most recent text reads: "Please tell me what I did. Please, Swan. Te amo. I love you."

Shocked and betrayed, Alix learns that Swanee has been leading a double life--secretly dating a girl named Liana the entire time she's been with Alix. Alix texts Liana from Swanee's phone, pretending to be Swanee in order to gather information before finally meeting face-to-face to break the news.

Brought together by Swanee's lies, Alix and Liana become closer than they'd thought possible. But Alix is still hiding the truth from Liana. Alix knows what it feels like to be lied to--but will coming clean to Liana mean losing her, too?

REVIEW:

The main reason I was looking forward to Lies My Girlfriend Told Me is because it's a LGBT book. I had no idea what to expect from the book, but what is clear by the end of it is that it was- slightly if not overly- beyond my expectations. I haven't read any Julie Anne Peters book before, and now I can't wait to try more of the author's books. I am absolutely astounded and thrilled by the mystery surrounding this book. Lies My Girlfriend Tole Me begins with the death of Alix's "girlfriend", Swanee. She is devastated with the sudden and out-of-nowhere incident and when she visits Swan's place, something makes her pick up Swan's phone and keep it with her. She even texts another of Swan's playmate as I like to call it from the phone of a dead person. That's when Alix and Liana start developing a bond. They connect over the lies Swan fed them, the miscalculated events she plans and the hippie, almost way too free lifestyle her parents let her lead. 

Lies My Girlfriend Told Me is the first F/F romance that I read. I love LGBT books, but it's usually been more along the lines of GBT for me as yet. That's the reason why I found Lies My Girlfriend Tole Me very amusing. It was a whole new world for me. I must admit that sometimes it got a bit cheesy and overboard for me, but like I said, it was an experience and I liked it. The three main characters in the book, Alix, Liana and Swanee were each different in their own ways. The book goes from Alix's point of view. I wish her character was more developed since she lacked some individuality to me, and I wish she had been at a better place with her family. Once we got a deeper look into the story about her relationship with Swan, I got why she acted the way she did and she realised how least bothered she'd been and she wanted to get back to her usual self which is who, I have no idea. Even though a lot of things seemed off to me at a few times, she shared a nice relationship with her parents and she was more of a made to be caring sister to her little brother Ethan. I found it hard to believe but still loved how her family was cool with Alix being a lesbian. It just made everything easier and it added to making the family a strong unit, which I adore. 

Alex's relationship with Swanee was just not there. It was wrong on all levels, just like Swanee's relationship with Liana. I had a feeling there was more surrounding Swan's death than just a random attack, but as we moved ahead, I realised I was not going to get the answers I was looking for. I just couldn't seem to like Swan. She was just too much for me, and by that, I mean that she was everything a person shouldn't be, at least not in relationship(s). She was quite the charming and interesting person she's made to sound, but we barely get to know much except for the lies she fed herself and others around her. She was too destructive. Her family was also way beyond normal, and not in an acceptable or nice way. Then we have Liana and her relation with Alix. The two had to fall hard individually, but they got back up together and held hands. Liana seemed like a bitch at first, but she was an okay girl. I liked how Alix and Liana found not just a common point to cry over, gossip about and feel bad for each other about, but they each found a friend in one another, but it straightout irritated me when the two went back to the past in the present. 

Lies My Girlfriend Told Me is not solely a romance. It's actually more of a thriller with all the mystery surrounding Swan's death, but unfortunately, it's not much of a mystery. There's an air of intrigue and chilly feels that surround the book and it only adds to the charm of it. Author Julie Anne Peters has written it well. Her writing is pretty good and she has executed her story in a simple fashion. From the first page until the very last, there's no point where the reader might get bored. There is a lot happening, and at times it may seem like one thing happens and then the story jumps on to another thing altogether. I was expecting more mystery and I did not get the answers I was looking for but keeping that aside, Lies My Girlfriend Told Me was a really good read. 

RATING: