Noelle Adams

Let’s get this review started with the best aspect of this novella: It’s short! And that’s a mercy because it tries to put a romance story into a post-apocalyptic world - and neither of these ideas actually works.

The entire story felt forced, probably due to the length of this novella: the story never had a chance to develop and I feel very strongly that romance and apocalypse don’t really fit well together.

Especially not when the author, who “has been writing romance novels since she was twelve years old”, never progressed beyond that age writing-wise: Our heroine, Faith, shows her maturity by gratuitous use of the word “fuck”. All over the place.

I don’t mind vulgarity, but if it’s just introduced for its real or perceived “shock value”, it quickly becomes annoying. Especially if, as is the case here, the writing is on an extremely “plain” level. Simple sentences, driving the mediocre story forward without any linguistic or semantic appeal - there are no redeeming qualities to the writing.

Jackson, Faith’s love interest, is a stereotypical grumpy, brooding young man without any other discernible character traits. He’s basically just around to have sex with Faith. The resulting sex scenes are supposed to be steamy, but feel rather mechanical and sterile. There’s lust but no passion. Nevertheless, after some sex and one kiss, they’re in a relationship. Just like that. Oops.

The apocalyptic parts are also rather bland. We’re just being told about the death of billions and how devastated Earth now is but there’s nothing to show for it. I know teenagers who have absorbed lots of “Walking Dead”, who, as a result, can evoke images of a devastated world more convincingly.

When I started writing this review, I was going to award three stars. Two paragraphs earlier, I was down to two stars, and now this turd actually gets the one star out of five it deserves.

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Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam… (altro)

This is a second-chance romance story, lovely and well-written. Sam tutored Hunter in high school and reconnected with him when he was incarcerated for two years. Now he's out and needs a job and a place to stay. Sam needs a 'practice husband' to get her grandfather off her back, so she and Hunter make a deal.
The story is first-person POV. I prefer a dual viewpoint in contemporary romances, but this was okay, though I wanted more of Hunter's POV. Sam is a perfectionist, but getting where Hunter's angst was coming from was harder.
I did love that the author included a lot of scenes from other famous books to show Sam's book nerdiness. She didn't just mention them; she incorporated them meaningfully into the story. Too many authors will put mentions of other books into their book to give a heroine book cred, but this felt like Sam understood those books and could interpret them into her own life.… (altro)

I discovered Samantha Chase years back through a random giveaway, and ever since I've been eyeing her books and hoping to be able to jump back into them. Lucky me found one free on iBooks and I was jumping for joy! What a day!! I had the chance to sit down and read this while I was waiting about one day AND I AM SO HAPPY. This writer and her co-writer are FABULOUS.

Anywho, onto the real content. You get the point that I love chasing down books by authors I've loved before. It's kind of obvious at that point! Loyalty to my fave authors and series is a must. Good content = great reading!

I will say, the characters in this book weren't super likeable to me. Harper and I are not on the same page, but I did like reading all about her story. It's basically a guilty pleasure read for me. I didn't agree with a large majority of the decisions or sometimes creepy vibe, yet I still needed to finish this book. I was so enchanted and sunk into the book without a doubt. It was hard to break away from my little binge read. So here we are... Me enjoying a book that really doesn't vibe with me...

Harper's brother died, and now she realizes she may be falling for his best friend. Typical trope - army brother, long lost friend, protect the girl, romantic pasts questioned - the good stuff. It's the HEA type romance I needed, even if it felt cheesy and done before. But that's what I wanted, so that's what I got! There's definitely sad parts - Gavin dying and the grief after that is heartbreaking. Everyone has dealt with some loss, and you can feel that the authors have dealt with that through their spectacular writing.

Levi and Harper's relationship feels real enough. I did think it felt kind of stalker-ish off the bat, but that's just how the writing made it feel for that first chapter. The ages didn't seem to match up, but eventually you figure out the age difference isn't that big (it's just the poor wording). Protective man Best Friend's Sister = trope of the year for me apparently.

Overall, it was a fun little read! It packs the romance, gets a bit R rated and will meet the needs of those trope lovers.

Three out of five stars!
… (altro)