READING: Epoch (Transcend Duet #2) by Jewel E. Ann

Publication date: April 9 2018
Published by: --
Genre: Adult, Romance, Suspense, Hints of Paranormal, Contemporary
Rating: 

Some lives end unfinished, and some transcend time. 

After a horrific incident, Swayze finds herself trapped between two lives. Patchy memories and fear for her own safety thrust her into a gut-wrenching journey to uncover the truth. 

Will she let her dreams slip away to seek retribution and find the missing pieces to a puzzle that existed a lifetime ago? 

“I’m not going to watch you self-destruct. I’m not going to watch you fall in love with another man.”

Or will she discover the only truth that matters? 

I hate to say this about a Jewel E Ann book, but Epoch was a major fail, and especially considering Transcend was so good, I am very surprised and, of course, disappointed.

A lot of readers have commented negatively on Swayze’s weakness and insecurities, which were way more apparent in Epoch than Transcend. I wouldn’t have minded that (who wouldn’t feel out of balance with all that going on in their lives?) if it wasn’t happening ALL.THE.TIME! Swayze did not stop crying throughout the whole book. There wasn’t a moment there weren’t hot tears in her eyes, or where she wasn’t sobbing, or when she had to hold back the tears threatening to appear. And it’s not that it made her look weak that was the problem, God forbid a woman shows weakness, it was that I felt it was her go to response to everything, her way to deal with what was going on and her sure-fire way of getting her way, basically. 

As if things couldn’t get any worse, it did turn to a love triangle *cringe* A light one, but still. Swayze had 2 guys fighting to the extreme for her, and she didn’t want to give up either one! It was her way or the highway and when one actually chose the highway, she got pissed off, stomping her feet at the ground. And not only that, but as soon as he got away, she immediately went for option two, like no big deal. Is that how much in love she was? She just jumped on to the next guy available? Swayze was spoiled and entitled, and that for me is one of the most unattractive qualities. I won’t even discuss the absurdity of her being jealous of Griffin when she was carrying around a semi naked picture of another man or 

throwing up all over him after giving him a BJ...ew.

That was just ridiculous and nonsensical. 

Also, one of my book pet peeves is when everyone finds the female main character incredibly beautiful and sexy, while she describes herself as average and doesn’t understand why hot guys are attracted to her. And for what? In an attempt to appear humble/relatable? Please. If you’re pretty and guys like you, own it, instead of batting your eyelashes innocently and saying “Who, me?” You are not the girl next door and don’t try to be because it’s insulting.

I did not particularly like the “HEA” and I found the fact that they 

ended up in the same city, living in the same building

almost comical. I would have much preferred if both moved on with different people and found each other much later in life, or not at all. Let Swayze become stronger and self-reliant first, and then settle down with someone, anyone. 

Oh, and one more thing. I know that Griffin is supposed to be an “old soul”, but when talking about his feelings, he sounded like a 50 year old philosophy professor. And so did Swayze. A bit pretentious for me, tbh.

Nate was solid throughout the whole book, didn’t have a problem with him.
Overall, this book was such a huge letdown and in a way, such wasted potential of what initially appeared to be very interesting and beautiful story.

Swayze about baby Morgan: I want her to be smart, but not too smart. 
Eh? 😕

READING: Transcend (Transcend Duet #1) by Jewel E. Ann

Publication date: March 26 2018
Published by: --
Genre: Adult, Romance, Suspense, Hints of Paranormal, Contemporary
Rating: 

An unexpected tragedy leaves Professor Nathaniel Hunt a widower alone with a newborn baby. 

He hires a nanny. She’s young, but well-qualified, with a simple life, a crazy name obsession, and a boyfriend she met at the grocery store. 

Over time, he discovers she knows things about him—things that happened before she was born—like a hidden scar on his head, his favorite pizza, and how he cheated on a high school Spanish test. 

She speaks familiar words and shares haunting memories that take him back to over two decades earlier when he lost his best friend in a tragic accident. 

“I’m afraid of what’s going to happen when you realize I’m not her.”

The love triangle in this book is not what you think, otherwise I wouldn’t read it. It’s so much more than two guys fighting over the same girl. Ann did the same in End of Day and she did it beautifully. I can 100% recommendthat to all love triangle haters/avoiders.

As for this one, I reserve my judgment until after I read Epoch (book 2).

I’ve never read a book about reincarnation before and I was admittedly sceptical in the beginning. One, I don't believe in it, or rather I have never given it much thought, and second I am a real cynic when it comes to "fate", which I think only exists in book and movie romances. 
Good thing about Transcend though is that it doesn't dogmatise, and doesn't try to convince you about anything. It just tells a story in a way that any non believer could still find riveting and fascinating. 

Swayze is a pretty average (her words) 21 year old. Her life, despite her peculiar parents, has been quite uneventful. Then she meets Nate, whom she immediately recognizes as someone from her past, someone that she knows very well. The only problem is, Nate is 15 years older than her and has no recollection of her. As “fate” brings Swayze to work for Nate, they develop an intense connection which is both utterly inexplicable and inconceivable. 
Ann portrays the experience as agonizing and painful for Swayze, and I felt so sorry for her throughout the whole book. I completely understood her predicaments, her hesitation, her indecisiveness. Even though I liked the fact that Nate did his research on reincarnation in true professor style, I thought he was drawn to Swayze just a tad too fast for a recent widower and a father of a 1 month old. I’d rather their relationship grew more and they got to know each other a bit better.

On the other hand, we have Griffin, the boyfriend (real meet-cute) who is a very hot, buff 24 year old. Despite his young age, he is considerate, asks about Swayze’s day (every day), he is a very generous lover (rare) and overall completely devoted to Swayze. As she would say, he is an old soul.
However, I felt that sometimes Swayze was being unreasonable and unfair when it came to their relationship. She begrudged Griffin for being upset with her about her and Nate (and she didn’t tell him the half of it!). Wouldn’t she be upset if he told her about another woman and the great connection they share? She knows she is in the wrong and she knows that she has a great enough guy that would love and forgive her no matter what, and she takes full advantage of it. If I’m being honest, even before Nate, I didn’t really believe that Swayze was as attached to Griffin as he was to her. Yes, she might have some feelings for him but I always sensed something holding her back every time. “He’s perfect BUT…” I wish I didn’t read the proposal scene, I found it so annoying. And by “it” I mean Swayze. 

The ending was a bit strange, in the sense that was extremely far fetched. It was a cliffhanger though, so let’s see how it will go over in Epoch.

READING: Cracked Kingdom (The Royals #5) by Erin Watt

Publication date: March 1 2018
Published by: TimeOut
Genre: New Adult, High School, Contemporary, Romance
Rating: 

These Royals will ruin you.

Ever since Hartley Wright met Easton Royal, her life hasn’t been the same. There are enemies behind every corner and dangers beyond each door. When tragedy strikes and steals her memories, she can’t trust anyone, not even the blue-eyed boy who promises her that everything will be all right.

Because while Hartley’s memory is full of gaps, her instincts tell her Easton is dangerous. She doesn’t know if he’s the snake in the garden or her chance at salvation. The chaos he brings wherever he goes is too much to handle, the intense feelings he evokes are too confusing to unravel.

Easton wants her to remember. Hartley thinks it’s better to forget.

She might be right.

Tragedy. Treachery. Trust. Hartley has to face the facts—in this world, you can’t escape the Royals.

So angry and disappointed.
Cracked Kingdom was sloppy, silly and completely over the top.

**Some spoilers ahead**

The memory loss trope went belly up real fast, it did not work at all. Hartley seemed totally unfazed by 3 years worth of memories being gone or by the fact that she almost killed a kid (!) She has all this people like Kyle and Felicity and her parents going up to her and abusing her and she just stood there and took it. She was going around like a zombie for almost the whole book, completely emotionless. So, imagine my surprise when she hooked up with Easton after not remembering who he is or knowing his real intentions, just because he was so hot and OK, being nice to her. Or rather nicer than all the other assholes in her life. Oh and the way she kept calling him her sun? Barf.
I guess even though the mind doesn't remember, the heart always does. Double barf.
Their hook up scene was weird and awkward and just wrong. Zero chemistry between them.

Why did Seb need to act like a sex depraved maniac after he woke up from his comma? It was gross and not remotely funny. No explanation was given for it, of course.

Oh, and I hated the ending with a fiery passion. Yes, teenage girls, it's true. You can marry your 19 year old rich step brother and that's OK, as long as you're in love! Way to kill the series...
After Fallen Heir I had some hope that maybe the series could be redeemable, but Cracked Kingdom totally crushed it 👎🏻

READING: Fallen Heir (The Royals #4) by Erin Watt

Publication date: August 18 2017
Published by: Timeout
Genre: New Adult, High School, Contemporary, Romance, Bullying
Rating: 

These Royals will ruin you.

Easton Royal has it all: looks, money, intelligence. His goal in life is to have as much fun as possible. He never thinks about the consequences because he doesn’t have to.

Until Hartley Wright appears, shaking up his easy life. She’s the one girl who’s said no, despite being attracted to him. Easton can’t figure her out and that makes her all the more irresistible.

Hartley doesn’t want him. She says he needs to grow up.

She might be right.

Rivals. Rules. Regrets. For the first time in Easton’s life, wearing a Royal crown isn’t enough. He’s about to learn that the higher you start, the harder you fall.

Fallen Heir is a book about Easton, his world, his view on life. And it’s not pretty. 

This book was more real than I expected. I’d never think a book about Easton Royal, told exclusively from his POV, to be this interesting.
Easton is in a very dark place. His prespective is bleak at best and he is self-destructive. He is undoubtedly very damaged and broken by his mom’s suicide (who wouldn’t be) and he’s decided the only way to cope is drugs, alcohol and girls. And by acting like a selfish asshole most of the time, which is obviously a front he has to put up to protect himself. He says he doesn’t want to hurt anyone and he just wants to have some fun, and I believe him. He comes for a good place, but his execution, to put it indelicately, sucks ass. As soon as things don’t go his way, he becomes a spoiled, entitled child and acts out in the worst possible way. He does one mistake after another and he doesn’t get it. He keeps repeating the same mistakes over and over and never once did it occur to him to change. Why? Because he’s Easton Royal and he is already perfect, he doesn’t need to change. Sometimes he recognises what a jerk he’s being but when he tries to make it better or apologise, he makes it worse somehow. He has almost no emotional intelligence and always acts without thinking of the consequences. 
Did I like him as an MC regardless, did I root for him? Not really. And that is what I liked most about Fallen Heir. It doesn’t shove Easton down our throats and makes us like him even though he’s being an idiot, just because he’s a pretty boy. Being written exclusively from his POV helped with that, just like it helped Broken Prince. 

But Easton was not the only one in this book.
Hartley Wright is the female MC, a new girl at Astor Park not ever mentioned in the previous books. 
Imo, Hartley is bland and dull. She is not passionate or gets excited about anything. We know she plays violin but that was mentioned once and in passing. The whole thing with her dad is not believable and it doesn’t justify her whole family defying her and her being homeless and penniless (!) To be honest, she has absolutely no trait that I could see that would make Easton Royal so obsessed with her. I am sorry to always be the realistic Randy and I know that this is fiction, but guys like Easton Royal would never ever spare a second glance at a girl like Hartley. It just doesn’t happen and that is a fact of life. And I think Hartley knows it and that is why he doesn’t trust his intentions which is admittedly very smart of her.

Fallen Heir had its good and bad (Felicity crap) moments. But damned if it wasn’t addictive as hell! And what made it addictive was Hartley’s nonchalance and blasé attitude towards Easton. He was such a ball of energy always doing this and that for her and she was completely indifferent to everything. And not to make him work for it or to tease or anything, but because she was so unaffected by his antics that seem to work on everyone else. That is what made me turn the pages maniacally because I wanted to see when she will just give up and jump his bones. And I kept turning and turning and turning but I was getting nothing from her! I suspect if could read her POV, that would have been a totally different story, but I liked that the author created this whole suspense and anticipation around it. 

In conclusion, I have something I want to say to Easton and all the guys like him out there:

STOP stalking girls who very clearly tell you "no" over and over again. I don't care about your history or how much you love her and you just need her to see it. If she really wants to be with you, she will come to you and do it willingly, give her some credit. Don't insist or force it just to prove a point because it never ends well. Overall guys, please stop harassing girls because you got rejected and your ego is hurt. Boo hoo that's life.
Move on and choose to not be dicks.  🛑 🙅

READING: Tarnished Crown (The Royals #3.5) by Erin Watt

Publication date: August 18 2017
Published by: Erin Watt
Genre: Young Adult, College, Contemporary, Romance
Rating: 

Gideon and Savannah's tortured love story.

(Seriously. That is the summary on Goodreads ↑)


This was probably the most YA book out of all the three previous Royals books, and it took place at a college (!)

I didn't really connect with Gideon and Savannah. We learn next to nothing about them from the Royal series and to be honest I thought Gideon was very bland. Super hot rich boy cheating on his insecure high school girlfriend with an older woman-a trope that has been done to death, and one that is neither cute or romantic.

The flashbacks did not convince me that Gideon was head over heels with Savannah, quite the opposite actually. He refused to tell her what was going on in his life and I don't buy that he wanted to protect her. He just didn't want his family's dirty laundry out in the open because he was embarrassed. Nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that you are supposed to trust the person you claim to love so much and Gideon apparently did not. Also, the way that his cheating was purposefully left out of the flashbacks was so incredibly cheap, imo. We see Dinah inappropriately touching him all the time and he may have found it weird but he never did anything to stop it. I wonder how he actually ended up sleeping with her (more than once...) if he found her advances that creepy. Blackmailing him with Sav's photos to get him in bed? Really? Shittiest excuse ever.

In the end, Sav forgave him like we all knew she would with no much preamble and just quick enough to make their whole feud seem silly. She should have worked out her own issues first e.g. insecurity, self-image among others, which hooking up with the hottest guy in school only made worse, and then maybe try to be in a relationship. I mean, she hooked up with Easton just to spite Gid, and Gid thought it was "cute". 
'Nough said.