theqissilent's reviews
1059 reviews

It took me far too long to finish this novella. And its was because it was such a frustrating read - and something about a hurricane Sandy or whatever. The author has potential, but reading it, you get the impression that she's trying to write the book like she thinks its should read)probably based on every other romance she's read) instead of just writing HER book. Or that she's retelling the story, maybe (there's something about the use of words/phrases like "because", "and then", "while", etc. that read like a summary)... I have great admiration for indie and self-published authors, as its something I want to explore in my own publishing career, but I see the benefit of having a publishing houses' staff on-hand to catch sometimes glaring errors (like "quieten" which is not a word and the -, combo that she used several times).
There were some issues with continuity: the robe/tight dress/robe thing, did the jacuzzi ever get turned off; Aspergers and autism aren't quite the same thing and aren't necessarily interchangeable; Was Jade always a redhead or did I just read that wrong; Nor did I get the impression from the earlier description that her family was the kind to just toss a special needs kid into a facility and leave him there.
The use of the passive voice was overdone. There were awkwardly worded sentences, and ones that were way too long and lost meaning and clarity. Some of the diction didn't work for Americans, e.g. when she asks to be let out of Ascobar's car, instead of demanding it and that "why do you wish to buy me things" line. That and the lack of contractions in their dialogue seemed unnatural.
What I did like was that Jade gained some depth in her obvious love and protectiveness of her brother. And I also liked that she was 22 years old and still a virgin, and not like some romances I've read with women in their 30s having never even kissed a man. A bit unbelievable in this day and age, unless is spiritual.
Overall, its a romance and it met all the requirements: beautiful ingenue, brooding male lead, sex, and this had the bonus of added suspense. I think it would've benefited from another read-thru or 2 and expansion into a full-length novel. There was a lot going on crammed into those 90 pages and some things didn't get fleshed out enough. I will still give her other novels a read, b/c I've heard they are better and like I said, she has potential.

I'm so happy there are more books in this series! Really loved the faster pace and more action. Loved the humor. I loved seeing the glimpses of Mac and Barrons, and I thought the subtle build-up to Dani's confrontation with Mac at the end was well done. But, geez, the freakin' cliffhanger. Ugh! Not that I'm worried about Mac hurting her. Not sure how I feel about Dani as main POW; she can be kinda annoying (but most 14 yr. olds are, right? Especially cocky as hell ones). Finding out about her mother and the cage thing makes her attitude more understandable, though. Being in Kat's head was maybe my favorite. Would love to see more of her in the coming books. And Christian. Poor, tortured Christian... So, we're taking on the Crimson Hag next book, hopefully.Don't get the fits everyone is throwing about Dani's age and the sexuality in the book. KMM keeps saying over and over that she doesn't write YA and that Dani will have sex, but NOT YET. Which is more than I can say for some real 14 year olds I know... Calm down already. Considering Ryodan and Jo, I doubt he'll be the one. And if it is Christian, he has enough Highlander honor left in him to wait. Well, at least he says so. But, my money is on Dancer, who I'm thinking isn't just a normal human. How'd he find Dani at that one iced scene? Does it have anything to do with the bracelet he gave her? And what's with Dani not being able to freeze frame? Hormones?

I'm still blushing and fanning myself. HOT! And its steamy hot, with great characters and character development. And I thought Roderick was a bad boy, but twin brother Remy is...DAMN. I have no other coherent comments to make. I love this author and this is yet another fun, sexy read from her.

I really wanted to like this book, but I could tell right away I was going to have a problem with the writer's pacing and style. Or maybe those were editorial decisions. On top of that, Val and Griff's love story took a backseat to the author's own with Wyoming and ranch-life. You got to know there backstories a bit, but their growth was told to us more than it was showed on the page. I couldn't become invested in them, because I didn't really get to know them, other than Val was abused and Griff worked on Wall Street. We'd get insight into their feelings, but they always seemed to be throw-away sentences at the end of another paragraph-long description of the beautiful Wyoming countryside.
And let me just say, I've lived in NYC for the past 3 months, and no its not for everyone, but it isn't the God-awful place this book makes it out to be. Central Park is actually very, very lovely, especially this time of year. And people here can be really nice, I've found.
As far as pacing, right off the bat, the conversation between Val and Gus was dragged out way too long. That seemed to be the case throughout the book. And there was so much repetition as well. We got back story every time a character was on the page, as if we were being introduced to them all over again. Same thing with Val and Griff's descriptions/impressions of each other's face, hair, eyes, etc. Besides that, I was 3/4 of the way through the book and nothing had really happened to move the story along. Even the love scene dragged. nevermind it came at the very end of the book.
Style-wise, this was just a distraction. Have you ever noticed how many times Jack and Rose say each other's name in Titanic? That's what happened with this book. I wanted some pronoun usage. If Val and Griff are the only 2 characters on the page, we don't need to see their names every time one of them mentions or addresses or even thinks about the other. Sentence structure was an issue for me as well. Nearly every one followed a simple 'subject-verb-object' format. It made it choppy. And yes, the dialogue was unnatural as a result, in addition to sounding forced. Too much of it was used for exposition as well.
There were some continuity issues. For instance, the bad blood between Slade and Griff was at first Griff denying his brother money. Then later on, it was Griff not having the money to help. The aunt and uncle in NYC at first valued hard-work, but then they valued material things; and they came for family visits, but then they didn't value family. Griff and Slade's parents died when they were 6, but at one point it mentioned they were separated at birth. I was confused. And how was Augusta's last name Hunter if she was Val's mother's mother, not her father's?
And what happened with that throw-away scene b/t Curt Downing and Reagan Mason? Unless its coming back in a sequel, it was a waste of word count that could've been better used on developing the 2 main characters. If it was there to illustrate Curt Downing as the villain, it just didn't work. We got so many other instances of him being a bastard anyway.
I just couldn't get into this one. And I'm thinking its more an editorial issue than the writer.

Though all romances seem to fall into the realm of predictability, that doesn't make them any less enjoyable. If it ain't broke...
Not sure it was the book itself, of Harlequin's one-part-a-day-on-Facebook release of this that made me like it so much. I just couldn't wait for the next installment!
Still I enjoyed it. I like that they were already married, which is definitely a twist on traditional romance. And yet, the book still ended with a proposal. I liked the flashback aspects. And I love that the POV wasn't just Megan's. Really, this is more a 3.5 star rating than 3. Fun, sexy, sweet - one that I'll pick up again when in the mood.

So, more a 3.5 than a 3. I was conflicted about this book. Loved the suspense and tension. I just knew something wasn't right about that scene with the dead bio father at the ranch! Came too early in the book and was too nicely wrapped up. But, the revelation of a twin was both a good twist, but also a bit dues ex machina. I mean, isn't it a rule of mysteries and thrillers that we have to know who the killer is, but not know it? I don't know. I guess there were a lot of clues, but she seemed to come out of nowhere. Karen's dreams just didn't make me buy it. But, more important than that, I was impressed how the writer made me feel sorry for Samantha Farwell in the end. Poor thing. And on that note, thank God he didn't go into much detail about the type of abuse she suffered. Speculation was enough. Poor girl.
I feel like I'm nitpicking the rest, but like I said, conflicted. Some of the more emotional scenes fell flat, like the scenes with Emma and Jonathan. Maybe they were just rushed and glossed over too much. And I found it weird that she was still referred to as Vail, and not Karen in those scenes. It was off-putting. And where this did love for Robby come from. It was like one minute she was cautious about even dating him, and a few pages later, she was thinking he knows her so well and all. Seemed to come out of nowhere. Didn't really like some of the attempts at humor either.
Overall, I enjoyed the thrill. Gonna add the others in the series to my Nook. Despite some of my issues with it, he's pretty great at building suspense and thrill.

More a 3.5 than a 3. Goodreads really needs to consider 1/2 star ratings.
I actually liked this one better than the few previous Westmoreland books I've read. Her writing seemed...more something. Can't put my finger on it, reinvigorated maybe. There are still some style issues that I'm not a fan of, but that's personal taste. The characters were more real and modern to me, especially Alpha (although I loathe that name; Omega too.), b/c I was really getting tired of the virginal perfect ladies these men kept falling for. The one issue of plot I felt was left hanging was the mention of the ex coming to town, but it didn't develop into anything. Might've been interesting.