[BOOK REVIEW] Brown-Eyed Girl by Lisa Kleypas

Title:  Brown-Eyed Girl

Author: Lisa Kleypas

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Year Published: 2015

Number of Pages: 291 pages

Date Read: 11/19/2015

Series: Travises #4

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 18+ (Sex Scenes)

 FINALLY!  The fourth book in Lisa Kleypas’ “Travises” series has finally arrived and I got the chance to read this book in its glory!  “Brown –Eyed Girl” is the latest book by Lisa Kleypas and it continues the adventures of the Travis brothers (and their sister Haven) as they find true love in the most unlikely places! This time, Joe Travis is going to get all the loving in this latest installment of the “Travis” series!

Avery Crosslin is a wedding planner who is well known around Texas as she continues to attain rich and powerful clients for her growing wedding business.  But one day, when she attends a lavish wedding she planned herself, she meets up with Joe Travis, the youngest brother in the wealthy Travis family and from then on, Avery’s life has changed forever!  Unfortunately, since Avery had her heart broken in the past, she refuses to let Joe get anywhere near her heart, but Joe Travis is one man who always gets what he wants and he definitely aims to make Avery his!

Wow! It has been years since I last read Lisa Kleypas’ popular “Travis” series and after I heard that Lisa Kleypas was making the fourth book in the series, of course I was excited as heck to check this book out!  Lisa Kleypas has once again created a truly heartwarming and witty romance novel about the importance of true love and how true love can cure your own insecurities about yourself.  I loved the way that Lisa Kleypas wrote the relationships between the characters as I actually felt warm inside whenever we see moments between the Travis family and how they try to stay together through hard times, especially during the scene where Haven goes into labor and we see the Travis family band together to be there for Haven during her time of need. But let us talk about the best part of this book and that was the relationship between Joe Travis and Avery Crosslin!  I loved the way that Lisa Kleypas made Joe and Avery’s relationship come naturally as Avery had trouble being in a committed relationship due to being rejected years ago and it made it believable to me to have Avery slowly build up her relationship with Joe rather than rush into the relationship without dealing with her inner demons first.  I really loved the way that Lisa Kleypas wrote both Joe and Avery as Avery is shown to be an independent wedding planner who is trying to decide what it means to fall in love again, while establishing an extremely heartwarming relationship with her half-sister Sofia which I loved reading about throughout the whole book.  Now, Joe Travis was one hero that I just fell in love with immediately as he is shown to be extremely patient with Avery’s situation and I loved the way that he supported Avery throughout the book, even dealing with her insecure nature towards love.  I also really enjoyed the subplot involving Sofia and Steven, the two co-workers who work with Avery, as I found their relationship with each other to be extremely heartwarming and hilarious and I would love to read more on their relationship if Lisa Kleypas decided to write a spinoff series for the “Travis” family series!

The reason why I gave this book a four star rating was because I felt that we did not get to know much about Joe Travis in this book since we rarely see things from his perspective in the story.  As much as I like the fact that Avery gets a lot of focus in this story, I would have liked it better if we actually get to see things from Joe’s perspective and see more of his relationship with his family members, which we also did not get to see that much, which was pretty disappointing since I loved the Travis family as a whole.

Overall, even though “Brown-Eyed Girl” was not the best story in the “Travis” series (that honor would have to go to “Blue-Eyed Devil”) it is still a truly great book about the importance of true love and I definitely cannot wait to check out more books from Lisa Kleypas in the near future (especially if we get more books with the Travis family once again)!

[BOOK REVIEW] Shadow Game by Christine Feehan

Title:  Shadow Game

Author:  Christine Feehan

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Year Published: 2003

Number of Pages: 323 pages

Date Read: 2/28/2015

Publisher:  Jove Books

Series: Ghost Walkers #1

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 15+  (Some Language and Intense Scenes)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Now, I have read many paranormal romance novels by different authors, but I must admit that “Shadow Game,” the first book in Christine Feehan’s “Ghost Walker” series was the first time I had ever read any of Christine Feehan’s works!  This is really surprising to me because even though I saw like a million books written by Christine Feehan at my local library, I never once thought about picking up any of her books and now I seriously wished I had!

Peter Whitney was a renowned scientist who was able to create an experiment that would help enhance the psychic abilities of an elite squadron in the military and his equally brilliant daughter Lily Whitney would help out on his accomplishments. One tragic day however, Peter Whitney starts to notice that something was going wrong with his experiments as the subjects in question, a group of soldiers who volunteered for this experiment which among them included Captain Ryland Miller, were suddenly dying of mysterious circumstances.  When Peter Whitney discovered about who was sabotaging his experiments, he ends up being murdered before he was able to tell his daughter Lily everything about his experiments.  Luckily, since Lily is a telepath herself, her father was able to communicate with her that she needs to check out the videos of his experiments in order to right the wrongs he had done in the past before he died.  Now, Lily is determined to discover the dark secret of her father’s experiments while trying to figure out who murdered her father.  But in order to learn more about his experiments, Lily has to try to release the soldiers who were being experimented on and there she meets the strong willed Captain Ryland Miller, who she immediately begins to fall in love with.  Lily and Ryland will soon discover that there is more between them then just a telepathic attraction with each other as they discover the dark secrets of Peter Whitney’s experiments together.

Wow!  I seriously cannot believe that I had not read any of Christine Feehan’s books before this one!  Christine Feehan had done a brilliant job at writing this book as the relationships between each character felt so real and raw and I really enjoyed the bantering between the characters, especially between Ryland and Lily!  I also loved the way that Christine Feehan managed to mix romance and action into this book as I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat trying to see if Lily and Ryland discovered who murdered Peter Whitney while developing feelings for each other.  What I loved the most about this book were the characters themselves as they were interesting and fun to read about, especially Lily and Ryland!  Lily Whitney was such a fantastic heroine as she is smart and courageous and I loved the fact that she was willing to put her life on the line in order to right the wrongs of her father and protect Ryland and his men.  I also loved the fact that she has so much scientific knowledge about the experiments that her father was engaged in as it showed how she is willing to use her intelligence to help the people she cared about.  Oh man, Captain Ryland Miller, you wicked devil, you!  I have to seriously say that Captain Ryland Miller is one of my most favorite heroes ever as I loved the way that he cares about Lily and is willing to do everything in his power to protect her from harm.  I also loved his bantering with Lily as I just cannot help but giggle and feel tingly inside whenever he is being so sexy towards her.  One of my favorite quotes from this book is this:

“Your name is Lily Whitney. You are the woman I want at my side night and day. I want you to be the mother of my children someday. I want you for my lover. I want you for the person I turn to when the world gets to be too much.”

For anyone who does not like language in a book, this book does have some language, although it is not as bad as some romance novels.  Also, there are many scenes in this book where the characters are in danger of being murdered and that might be too intense for some people to handle.

Overall, “Shadow Game” is a truly fantastic read for fellow paranormal romance fans and I am definitely going to check out the rest of the “Ghost Walker” series!

 

[BOOK REVIEW] Simply Irresistible by Jill Shalvis

Title:  Simply Irresistible



Author:  Jill Shalvis

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Year Published: 2010

Number of Pages: 326 pages

Date Read: 1/15/2015

Publisher:  Forever

Series: Lucky Harbor #1



Source:  Library



Content Rating:  Ages 18+ (Strong Language)

Now I will admit that I had never read any of Jill Shalvis’ books before and it was just luck that I happened to stumble upon Jill Shalvis’ “Lucky Harbor” series, with the first book in the series being called “Simply Irresistible!”  This book was truly one of a kind when it comes to contemporary romance and I had enjoyed it every second of the way!

Maddie Moore’s life was less than perfect since she had lost her job and her boyfriend all at once after having a particularly horrible day.  So, when Maddie finds out that her mother Phoebe Traeger had left her and her two half-sisters Chloe and Tara an inheritance in the form of an inn, Maddie heads on over to Lucky Harbor and meets up with her two sisters, who she had not seen for years.  Not only is Maddie trying to bond with her two sisters, but she also ends up meeting a mysterious and sexy man named Jax Cullen and she instantly falls in love with him.  But unfortunately, due to her past with her abusive ex-boyfriend Alex, Maddie starts having trouble confessing her true feelings for Jax, while at the same time, Jax is trying to figure out a way to tell Maddie about his dark and troubled past.

Wow! For the first time in reading any of Jill Shalvis’ books, I have to say that this book truly blew me away!  Jill Shalvis has done a beautiful job at writing a romance story about opening up yourself to your loved ones and trying to enjoy life any way you can.  I really loved this message in this book because there were times in my own life where I would have a rough time trying to do what I really want in a situation and standing by that decision, no matter how everyone else feels about that decision and Maddie’s experience in trying to think for herself really connected with me throughout the story.  Probably the best things about this book were the characters themselves as they were memorable and extremely relatable to anyone.  I really enjoyed Maddie’s character as she is shown to be extremely determined to stay in Lucky Harbor, despite so many odds going up against her and I really loved the fact that she tries to get out of her shy demeanor and actually take control of her own life.  I loved the relationship that Maddie shares with her two sisters Tara and Chloe, as they seem to have an extremely special bond between each other and it is rare that I read a romance novel that not only focuses on the romance of the lead characters, but also focuses on their siblings and shows the importance of sibling relationships.  I also loved both Tara and Chloe as they were just as insecure as Maddie, but I loved the fact that they were willing to help out Maddie in staying in Lucky Harbor, even if they wanted to leave Lucky Harbor themselves and I really loved the humorous bantering between the three sisters as they make me giggle every time they tease each other about various things!  But man, let us talk about the hero of this story and that is none other than Jax Cullen himself!  I seriously love Jax as he is sexy and witty while also being caring and encouraging towards Maddie and I loved the way that Jax supported Maddie throughout the story and tried to help her stand up for herself.  Also, the sexy scenes between Maddie and Jax are definitely worth reading over and over again (oh Jax, you wicked boy)!

Anyone who does not like strong language, this novel does contain some strong language, such as the constant use of the “s” word and dropping the “f” bombs.  Anyone who might feel uncomfortable reading these words can skim over these words as they read this novel.

Overall, “Simply Irresistible” is truly one romance novel that you have to absolutely check out if you are into sisterly love and a hot hero who is willing to help out the main characters anyway he can!