Striving For Normal, B.L. Mooney

Drew has been seeing her shrink Joseph for almost 5 years after a relationship gone wrong, causing her physical and emotional damage, she hasn’t had a date in 5 years let alone sex, but Joseph, Mark and Terri think it’s time for get back out there and meet someone who will love her.

Dennis works with Mark, so when he and Terri invited him on a double date with their friend he couldn’t refuse. He knew she was damaged the moment he saw her, but that doesn’t stop him falling madly in love with her.

Carl has just lost his wife to cancer, so when Drew starts working at the daycare his daughter goes too, he needs to have her. He doesn’t take no for an answer even when Drew tells him she’s seeing Dennis, and she can’t control herself around him.

This book touches on a lot of tough subjects, abuse, manipulation, abortion, suicide, cancer and addiction, yet the storyline flowed the entire time and I didn’t notice how many issues it pressed on until the end when I really thought about the book. It wasn't a light read, there was a lot of drama, but it was ironically an addictive read, I wanted to see Drew survive, I wanted to see Dennis love Drew and I wanted to see Carl get his life back on track for the sake of his daughter.

Each character B.L. Mooney created was so different to each other and it was really interesting to read the way they all reacted around each other. Half way through the book I got scared that Drew was going to choose the wrong guy because he was able to manipulate her so easily because of her past, he was able to crawl inside her and somehow make her think she was feeling all of these things for her when really she wasn’t.

Drew’s character turned out to be a strong character, she may have gone through week stages but with the help for Joseph, Terri, Mark and Dennis she was able to grow and overcome the fears she had, love herself, love the guy who loves her and stick up for herself when it could have all come crashing down.

The journey for Dennis and Drew wasn’t an easy one, there were infidelities, arguments, break ups and family problems, but reading this book was able to show me that love can get through anything if it is strong enough and you are willing to try hard enough, love is always enough. 

I liked reading this book and was really impressed with the story line. I give this book a 3* rating.  

Pulse, Gail McHugh

Pulse – The sequel to collide, where do I even begin?

I was so happy when this book picked up exactly where Collide finished, as I hate it when sequels continue ‘6months’ or ‘a year later’ and Gail McHugh did not disappoint me.

I found myself going through the same emotions as Emily did I was that enthralled in the book. The beginning of this book you followed Emily through a really emotional time, from the beating she took from Dillon to her flying to find Gavin and fighting for him. It was an emotional rollercoaster.

This book from the beginning to the end shows that love in its strongest form can beat anything that is thrown at it. With Gavin and Emily finally getting ‘officially’ together and jumping into their relationship at full pace, everything is good at them and they can finally just be. That is until more drama happens at Christmas which brings unwanted Dillon back into their lives. But without giving too much away they over come every hurdle that is thrown their way and end up being stronger than ever.

Gavin’s ‘swoon worthy’ attitude is back in full force and he is still as arrogant as ever if not even more so as he finally got the girl, he has be laughing, he has me 'awwing', also the way he describes what he’s going to do to Emily is extremely intense. He is one of my favourite book boyfriends, hands down.

In this book Emily’s character grew on me a bit more, she was almost stronger in a way, I feel that she felt stronger in herself and Gail did a really good job of showing the audience that, yes she had her whiny, vulnerable moments, but she wouldn’t be Emily if she didn’t, but being without Dillon and with Gavin she owned herself and reading that progress amazed me.

The sex scenes in this book did not disappoint, they were as hot and steamy as ever. They weren’t too graphic but the way the emotions and the movements were described was powerful and mesmerizing.

The thing I love about reading is the way an author is capable to drag you into a different world and for that moment while you are reading you are part of the book and even when I put the book down I find myself in this place between reality and the book, it’s honestly amazing what authors can do and Gail McHugh did not disappoint in anyway, she dragged me into Gavin and Emily’s world from beginning to end of both books.

This book and series as a whole deserve a 5* rating!

Torn, K.A. Robinson

Chloe has never really wanted to be in a relationship after her abusive childhood. She has the two people that matter too her Logan and Amber, until Drake comes along and turns her life upside down.

Drake has the carefree life, he’s in a band and gets all the groupies, he is not the relationship type that is until Chloe walked into his class and everything changed.

I thought I would slowly work my way through the Tennessee Valley Author Event reading list starting from the top, being the Torn series. Halfway through reading Torn I realised I had already read it, yet reading it again I was still hooked even though I knew how it ended.

I enjoyed the love triangle drama that was included in this book, and I enjoyed watching the battle Chloe had to whether or not the love she felt for Logan was friendship or the real deal. However I found Chloe’s character quite irritating and agreed with everything Amber her best friend was saying to her. It got to the point where I was no longer routing for her, however I was routing for Drake to be with her as his character stole my heart.

Drake’s bad boy image, sarcastic and cocky personality made me love him, and I enjoyed seeing the other side of him when he was alone with Chloe or performing onstage, his lyrics always showed the reader how he was feeling. The sex scenes between Chloe and Drake in this book captivated me, the description and emotions were intense and you really felt the passion between the two characters. I enjoyed being able to compare the Chloe and Logan sex scenes with Chloe and Drakes as that’s where you can really tell who Chloe was really into. As Chloe described the sex with Logan as ‘nice’ I am sure the sex with Drake would be ‘mind blowing’.

I felt like Chloe’s back story played a big part in this book, because it explained why she is the way she is, and why she acts the way she does. Although you don’t really hear much about her back story just snippets here and there until she tells Drake the entire story and her mum calling doesn't really affect the story all that much, however does lead onto the next book.

I enjoyed this book and give it a 2.5 star rating.