Sunday, December 29, 2013

Mini reviews

Source:  Purchased

Die For Her (Revenant, #2.5) by Amy Plum

Set in the romantic and death-defying world of the international bestselling Die for Me trilogy, this digital original novella follows Jules, a brooding, immortal French artist who has fallen in love with his best friend’s girlfriend.

Jules Marchenoir is a revenant-an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save human lives. He’s spent the better part of the last century flirting his way through Paris, but when he met Kate Mercier, the heroine from Amy Plum’s Die for Me trilogy, he knew his afterlife had changed forever and he had found the love of his life. Until Kate fell for his best friend, Vincent. Now Jules is faced with an impossible decision: choosing between his loyal friend and a love truly worth dying for.


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16102760-die-for-her

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/die-for-her-amy-plum/1114141554?ean=9780062267702

My Thoughts:




3 stars - I love Jules

I really enjoyed being in Jules head and figuring him out.  It was interesting to see how his thoughts and feeling about Kate changed over time.  There were clues in the first two books but it could also be played off as him flirting.  I enjoyed finding out for sure.

I was also a very nice way to summarize both book one and book two.  This novella goes through the first two books in a summary fashion stopping on important points that pertain to Jules.  It does a good job capturing the flavor of those books while adding Jules to the mix.  The problem, of course, was that I struggled with book two and the story is the same even from Jules point of view.  A little was added to the ending that just makes me want to read the last book even less.  I will read it, just to see if I am right about the ending.


~~~~~


Source: Purchased

Losing Virginity by Ava Michaels

Olivia Spurgeon has been a good girl her entire life. Her friends have called her Spurgeon the Virgin since 9th grade. Why? Because everyone in her group of friends had already lost there virginity by then. Over the past four years it has been like a foreign object attached to her and even named it something simple.

Virginity.

Now, she's a freshman in college and still hasn't done the deed. All three of her roommates do not have Virginity attached to them and they aren't scared to show it off. Olivia is jealous. She wants what they are having, feeling. One day she finally decides that she doesn't want Virginity attached to her anymore and begins the journey of losing it.


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18162389-losing-virginity

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/losing-virginity-ava-michaels/1116945438?ean=2940148544449

My Thoughts:



1 star - cannot recommend

Um...didn't finish this one - so didn't like it. I just couldn't take the inner dialogue of the MC. First we are lectured on why she's not ready and hasn't been ready to lose her virginity. All the while, she's the worst at sexual innuendos. I really don't think a virginal college freshmen would act that way. I get that this book is going for humor but it still needs to be based in reality to be funny. Then, the internal speeches turned to the need to lose her virginity. I couldn't take it.

The bottom line? I didn't like the characters. I didn't believe they were real. Felt like it was written to cash in on the New Adult rage. 

Interestedly, it's no longer available on Amazon.  I did find it on Barnes and Noble but with a shaded cover leaving much more to the imagination and with a price three times as much as I paid.  It makes me wonder what's up with this book? 

3 comments:

  1. Hmm, Losing Virginity has a terrible title and cover, and that plot sounds so cheesy and cliche! I agree that it looks like the author just wanted to get their own NA novel out there. But I do think it could have been cute and funny if Olivia had genuinely wanted to lose her virginity (rather than peer pressure!) but faced obstacles and shenanigans in doing so!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is verrrry weird with that book....it seems like I may have heard something, or could be thinking about a different book. I had no desire to read it.

    I'm glad you're enjoying the Revenants book. I just couldn't go on after number two.

    Very helpful reviews, Pal!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Erin DNF'd Losing Virginity. I haven't read any of Plum's books. I think because Andrea wasn't too keen on them.

    ReplyDelete