For Fallon - Naomi, Soraya

New Adult, Thriller/Suspense, Contemporary, Romance
Kindle: ARC

We all have a façade, a concealed mask we wear to portray ourselves to the world.

Fallon’s mask is real, what you see is what you get. Growing up with two loving parents in Chicago, graduating in Chicago, and now working a job she loves, she enjoys her life.

Her untarnished world is shaken when Luca crosses her path.

Luca’s mask is tightly controlled. Distrust, rivalry, and violence rule his life.

When confronted with insecurities, when the one you love wears his mask perfectly, when your life unravels and you don’t know why, do you keep trusting the person you love?

Everyone has a façade. Everyone has an ulterior motive (Goodreads)

I have never read a Mafia romance book before. The genre never really appealed to me. The blurb was really interesting and pulled me in. It doesn’t say anything about the book being anything related to the Mafia.

We’re introduced to Fallon and her best friend Teagan who are at a club, staring down some hot guy. Fallon literally runs into him towards the end of their clubbing and accidentally cops a feel. One kinda awkward situation later, she’s walked to a cabbie by the handsome stranger, who she learns is named Luca.

What an intimidating man he was! He oozed confidence but there was also an heir of mystery about him. He made sure Fallon got into the car safely. We then switch to Lucas POV and learn some interesting information about his character. This being my first foray into Mafia novels I wasn’t sure what to expect. We aren’t immediately told that he’s in the Mafia, but it’s clear he’s wrapped up in some deep, crazy stuffs based on the conversation he has with a friend.

Luca and Fallon meet at a coffee shop, go on some dates and have some really hot steamy smexy times. Luca eventually becomes very busy with work, as well as going away on “business” trips, but Fallon suspects he’s not being entirely truthful. Thus seeds of doubt are sown, making Fallon pull away from Luca, even though she loves him very much.

At the 50% mark is where everything goes crazy! Fallon learns who Luca really is and her whole world comes crumbling down around her. She’s in love with a man in the Mafia, who lied to her for quite a while about who he really was. This hurts her deeply, makes her not want anything to do with him anymore. But something major happens! Fallon is put into a very dangerous situation. Luca “rescues” her from it, and even though she want’s nothing more to do with him, he still has to protect her because Fallon now knows too much about the Mafia life and what Luca’s roll in it is.

Fallon goes back to her home, Luca is no long apart of her life, and she’s trying to move on. Good for her! Even though she’s in so much pain because she really loved Luca, she can’t be apart of his lifestyle.

The ending! It was perfect, things are left both unresolved, but some things get wrapped up as well. Fallon is back home safe, and Luca is pretty much out of the picture, but will be protecting her from a far. There is also a wonderful set up for the next book which I can’t wait to read!

Over all an amazing book, and a welcome introduction to me into the genre of Mafia novels. I’m eagerly awaiting the next book!

Overall I give it 4 little octopuses

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Pieces of Olivia - West, Melissa

New Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Angst|

Kindle: Netgalley ARC|
4.5 out of 5 stars|

Olivia Warren used to be a normal girl with a bright future.
But on one fated night, everything changed.

Hiding the scars of her past up her sleeves, Olivia transfers her enrollment from Columbia University to The College of Charleston, determined to pursue her own dreams for the first time in her life.

She intends to allow herself a bit of alone time to heal... that is, until she meets Preston.

Preston is best friends with her roommate, completely hot, and off-limits. But the chemistry between them is instantaneous—and as the pair begins to spend more time with one another, their feelings for each other build into something undeniable, something powerful enough to heal Olivia’s deepest scars.

Olivia tries to put her own past behind her and trust Preston, but she discovers that his past might be more present than she ever bargained for… (Goodreads)

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Pieces of Oliva is a New Adult novel that in my eye’s breaks the mold of the typical bad boy/virgin pairing where the hero is over possessive and a man whore. While Preston is something of a playboy, it’s not nearly to the level of some other NA heroes.

The heroine while a broken individual because of an traumatic event in her past is no virgin. She was in a relationship with her boyfriend for years, and I’m assuming they were intimate together.
We’re introduced to Olivia who is going to Charleston College, much to her parents dismay. She makes her way to her dorm room only to find a guy, a very handsome guy, sleeping in her roommates Karas bed! And thus goes the first meeting of Preston and Olivia.

For once in a NA novel there is no insta-love. These two develop a friendship first, one that lasts quite a while. It’s clear that each has feelings for the other, but the don’t want to admit it. They each have issues that make it difficult to have real relationships.

I won’t spoil either of the characters issues, because it takes quite a long time for everything to be revealed which was a nice change.

Kara and Preston are best friends, and Kara quickly becomes one of their friends too. But it becomes apparent to both the reader and Olivia that there is something off about the best friends, a deeper connection then they want anyone to know. It’s obvious they had a past, once dated or something and its apparent that they used to have a thing together. Which isn’t a bad thing, it gives Olivia a reason to not want to go out with Preston.

Because of an event that took place about a year before the novel starts, Olivia is in pieces. She’s a shell of her former self, and has become a recluse. Therapy is needed to help Olivia heal, and she finds a wonderfully quirky woman named Rose. Through unconventional methods our young heroine

But eventually they admit their feelings to each other and its so sweet. They have their ups and downs, and have a lot of stuff they need to work through, but they work it out. This is a really genuine relationship and it made my heart melt. This is what more NA novels need to be like. It breaks the mold. We need more Preston’s in NA.

The only gripe I had with this book was the fact that the Poetry teacher wanted to help Olivia with her struggles, and we get a glimpse into a class or two where Olivia reads her poems, which are heart breaking. Then thats the last we hear of her until the epilogue! All of a sudden its “my poetry teacher became a good friend, helping me heal.” Would have been awesome to see more of that!

Overall an amazing novel and one that I will remember for a long time.

I’m excited for the next book which will be in Kara’s POV.

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Mud Vein - Fisher, Tarryn

Dark, Suspense, Thriller, Mystery, New Adult
Kindle 287 pages
3.5 of 5 Stars

When reclusive novelist Senna Richards wakes up on her thirty-third birthday, everything has changed. Caged behind an electrical fence, locked in a house in the middle of the snow, Senna is left to decode the clues to find out why she was taken. If she wants her freedom, she has to take a close look at her past. But, her past has a heartbeat…and her kidnapper is nowhere to be found. With her survival hanging by a thread, Senna soon realizes this is a game. A dangerous one. Only the truth can set her free. (Goodreads)

Unmarked spoilers may be present.
This book still has me speechless and I finished it Sunday morning.
Everyone and their mother has read this book, and loved it. I have mixed feelings about it While it's worthy of a 4 or even 5 star, I'm gonna have to rate it a 3.5 for the ending.
It felt really anti-climactic and confusing! I had no idea who the kidnapper was, wondering if it was Nick; Senna's ex-lover, or even her mother! But never would I have expected it to be (Spoiler) the therapist! It didn't really make sense, I didn't get the connection, expect that I guess the therapist wanted to play God. (/Spoiler) Unless the truth was (Spoiler) that she was in love with Isaac. (/Spoiler) Which I think it was...but pretty lame truth if you ask me.
I'm actually really disappointed about the end. There's no happy ending to be found here. Senna is just as hard and closed off as before. She changed in some ways because she admitted the truth to herself, but she mostly stayed the same.

I found Senna to be very cynical, and a pessimist, always looking at the bad things in life. Which is understandable because she's had so much happen to her, bad thing after bad thing. The one thing that made her happy, Isaac, the man who saved her, she couldn't have. She couldn't seem to make emotional connections with anyone, not Isaac, or her former lover Nick.

This was an emotional roller coaster, and I as much as I sympathized with Senna, I found myself having trouble connecting to her. She was so negative, stubborn and unwilling to change. The biggest issue is that she seemed like a robot, like she had given up on life long ago, long before the incident in the woods which brought Isaac and Senna together. And we never get a clear explanation as to why, besides that her mother left when she was younger, and now she has little contact with her father. We're given no reason as to why she's so stoic, and dead.
Even at the end of the book, after she's had her revelation of truth, she's just as dead.

Isaac was an amazing character, I wish we had gotten a deeper look into his character and past. I'd totally read a spin off book all about him, what he's thinking during and after captivity. Especially regarding his feelings towards Senna. Especially since she seems so incapable of loving someone, or admitting that she loves someone.
I loved the kidnapping scenes, the mystery of it all, especially the carousel room! And the way we get flashbacks into Senna's live were really well done. The unraveling of the mystery was done exquisitely. It was the end reveal and lack of growth with Senna that really hurt the book for me, why I gave it a lower rating then I wanted too.
Not to mention it took me forever to figure out what MV meant.
I think this is one of the only books that will forever confuse me on what I actually want the rating to be.

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