Monday, February 23, 2015

Bared to you by Sylvia Day

Bared to you by Sylvia Day

This book has been compared to the Fifty Shades of Gray series. I haven't read Fifty Shades. I've heard more bad things about it than good, and I decided not to read it.

I went with this one, which is still 'erotica', but better written. So I hear, I can't say that for sure because I've only read the one.

Somebody lent this to me. I'd never heard of it before.

I think it's classified as erotica or romance. I also like to call it book porn. I'm not ashamed of the fact that I read it, I just think if it were on TV or a movie, it would be almost porn. (Except it has a story).

This was an extremely quick read. It took me three days, and I would have read it in one, but it's not a lunchtime novel. 

Some thoughts on this book:


  • Every person described in this book is drop dead gorgeous. The main man (Gideon) is hotter than all the rest. That must make him pretty good looking if every other person is described as beautiful. It could just be the main character (Eva), sees the beauty in everybody. To me, it felt like an episode of Melrose Place or 90210 where only the beautiful people hang out. Just as an age reference, I'm referring to both original shows, although it probably works for the new ones as well.
  • I was expecting either more or a different style of sex. There was a tiny bit of talk about dominant and submissive, but that's as far as they got. The sex scenes reminded me of the first romances I used to read in high school. Sandra Brown romances have the same type of scenes (in my opinion). Very detailed sex. I'm not complaining about the sex, I'm just saying it wasn't quite what I was expecting.
  • I understand why this is the first of three. They didn't really get into a lot of detail about anything in this novel. (Other than the sex detail).
  • They are both survivors of sexual assault (rape) in their pasts. Three days in, he agrees to 'couple counselling'. (I think three days, it was less than a month). I think if you need couple counselling that soon in a relationship, you probably should have been getting counselling all along. Eva had been (I think), but Gideon hadn't. Watching the two of them try to communicate really was the most frustrating thing in the world. The therapist had his/her work cut out. 
  • Although the characters tried hard to be a normal couple, they might want to take a step back and think about the definition of stalking. Healthy relationships don't include stalking. 
I haven't decided yet if I'll read the others. I'm curious to read more of the back stories. I'm kind of invested in the characters, but I really hope they grow up and learn what it is to be in a relationship. I'm worried they won't, and in that case, I'll be wasting my time reading them.

I didn't hate this book. It made me appreciate what I have. The love without all the ridiculous drama. 




©ErinLeahMcCrea All photos I share on my blogs are my own, please Ask Me For Permission Before Using Them.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi

From the back cover: "A luminous and unforgettable tale of two women, destiny, and identity in Afghanistan."



Nothing I write about this novel will do it justice. 

I thought it was a wonderful book that took me into a world I knew nothing about. 

This book isn't a happy book. It is fiction, but probably could be a lot of snippets of life for a woman in Afghanistan.

Horrifying. It's horrifying what these characters live through daily, but just keep going. They are stronger than anybody I know. 

It follows two women in two different times. One a girl, and the other is her great great grandmother. Womanhood starts a lot earlier in this lifetime. It starts when they are children, but by the time they are 13, each have lives that are adult.

While reading this book, I forgot how many years pass between the two stories because not enough seems to have changed. 

I have one complaint about the book, and I'll talk about it now so I can get on to everything else that was great about it. It seemed towards the end (that's when I noticed it), we could read thoughts of other characters. I may have only notice because I've done it in my own writing before I realised (and somebody pointed it out), that I should ONLY be writing the main character's thoughts. Anything else should be through actions or words. I'm not saying we shouldn't know opinions, but the viewpoints started to shift a little. It tends to get confusing. 

I loved switching from one story to the next (between the two narrators). I loved both, and sometimes wasn't ready to jump into the other. 

This book made me hope that great things were destined for these woman. When they were hopeful, so was I. It's not a fairy tale though. It's real life. It's a life I've never seen. I never want to see it. My heart aches for those women. All of them, not just the ones in the novel. The ones who get beat up by a man, and it's somehow accepted. Scary.

It ended the only way I think it could have. Not with happily ever after, but with a little bit of hope that one life can change.

There was a sad moment that I saw coming. I don't want to say a lot about it, but I thought it had to happen to move the plot along. I don't know if that's good or bad, but I knew it would happen eventually. 

I loved this book. It made me sad, but that was only because of how real it was. 

©ErinLeahMcCrea All photos I share on my blogs are my own, please Ask Me For Permission Before Using Them.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Bonnie by Iris Johansen


There are three books in this series. I've read the first, I accidentally skipped the second, and this is the last one. Also, it seems that I haven't written about the first, even though, I'm positive I read it in 2014. I guess I haven't been updating as well as I thought. 


This is my first official finished book in 2015. My goal was one a month, plus one extra (13). So far, I'm winning.


About the book:

Even though, there were only three in this specific trilogy, Eve Duncan's story pops up in A LOT of Iris Johansen books, so the mystery of what happened to her daughter, has been ongoing (for many years). Eve has had many books about her, but these ones finally deal with the mystery of Bonnie (her daughter). I've read a lot of her books. I've been waiting for closure for a long time.


I just looked at the reviews on goodreads, as I usually do after I've finished a book. I always look, especially, when I'm not sure how I feel, to see if other people feel the same. (That sentence makes sense in my head, so I'll leave it as is). 

It seems as though there were a lot of people invested in the closure at the end. There were also quite a few people who were disappointed. 

The mystery end was a bit of a let down, I guess, but it was also sad. Without getting into spoilers, it was a senseless tragedy that haunted Eve (and her family) for YEARS. She finally found out what happened, and I was glad for her.

This woman, is strong, tough, and probably a good person to have in your corner, and the people who love her are strong and tough as well, and will jump to her defense and rescue in a heart beat (even though, I'm convinced she can make it through anything). So the question really is, why bother kidnapping her? In this situation, I get why she was 'taken', but still, people should know by now, not to mess with her.

I'm sure we'll see more stories about Eve. I hope so, but they should be different now. Finding out what happened to Bonnie, should change Eve. It would change me. Although, I'm not as brave or strong as Eve is.

I think this book is good for anybody who has been invested in the Eve Duncan mysteries. 

I find them to be easy reads (and usually quick - except for this month), and they are full of people who think different than my real life people. There's also usually somebody who is a complete crazy person, and they do unbelievable and horrible things. I choose to believe these people aren't really out there, but just watching the news shows me they are.

On to the next book! I should be back in a month.


©ErinLeahMcCrea All photos I share on my blogs are my own, please Ask Me For Permission Before Using Them.