ARC REVIEW : Frankie—Unforgettable (Man Up #3) by Felice Stevens

 

Frankie

No one understands why I love him.
Why I need him.
Why I took him back.
But they don’t have to.
I know.
Despite the hurt and the heartache, I see beneath his skin.
And I’m different now.
No more Flirty Frankie.
My dreams have changed, and so have I.
I’m stronger.
I believe in myself.
And I’m a hell of a lot smarter than a year ago.
Now it's his turn to show me the man he really is.
To prove it.
I've always loved him.
But that's not enough.
I need to learn to trust him.

Aaron

No more excuses.
No more chances.
I make this right or lose him for good.
I have to do this.
No one has ever believed in me but him.
No one has ever wanted me but him.
I can’t let him down.
I won’t.
I can’t let myself down.
I’m trying, but it's so damn hard.
No matter what they throw at me, I’m stronger.
And I’m going to make it.
I’m on my way.
With Frankie by my side.
I can see the future.
I have a future.
Us. Together.
Forever.



  Frankie—Unforgettable by Felice Stevens
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


We're introduced to Aaron and Frankie in Austin and Rhoades—Undeniable. I believe we all love Frankie fiercely, but not Aaron. With a background of their flawed relationship, the traumatized past, it's hard to believe that Felice dare to give Aaron a second chance, it's like testing the water, not only with the story, but also in Frankie and Aaron's relationship.
There was always a question, when I knew that the next book of the series is Aaron and Frankie, a definite second chance. Will they make it?
It's not only a second chance, this is a story of redemption, true love, forgiveness and finally, acceptance.

Frankie and Aaron faced so many obstacles in their renewed relationship. Not just from Frankie's friends, family and people at work. But also from themselves.
This is slightly different from Felice previous books, she dared to dig deeper to more angst, a very painful angst, I might say. But I never doubted that Felice can make a great story even with the broken souls. I was right.

Aaron, especially, slowly stole my heart and from doubting him, I become loving him.
Aaron made me cry so many times, with his stories and what he had experienced before, and during his renewed relationship with Frankie.
There are so many things happened in this story. So many feeling involved.
And so many hints of the next books of the series. I wont give you any spoiler, because, hell, I didn't see it happened myself!

Of course, Frankie and Aaron finally got what they deserves, a happy ending they craved for so long. But not without tears and struggled.
I loved this story so much. I'm still sad thinking about what happened to Aaron, but I'm happy now to know he has Frankie by his side.
I grew to love Aaron more and more. Frankie got my pat on the back, because he's strong, and stubborn to give Aaron a second chance, when everyone didn't, not even Austin, his best friend.

Give Aaron a chance, read this book, I promise you, you'll love Frankie and Aaron.
Now I can't wait for the next!

Note : even though you can read this book as a standalone, reading this series in order is so much better to get to know Aaron and Frankie's background story.

*I read the advance reading copy of this book.*

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Lelyana's Reviews: BOOK REVIEW : Call Me by Your Name by André Acima...

Lelyana's Reviews: BOOK REVIEW : Call Me by Your Name by André Acima...:   Call Me by Your Name is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his p...

BOOK REVIEW : Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman

 

Call Me by Your Name is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents' cliff-side mansion on the Italian Riviera. Unprepared for the consequences of their attraction, at first each feigns indifference. But during the restless summer weeks that follow, unrelenting buried currents of obsession and fear, fascination and desire, intensify their passion as they test the charged ground between them. What grows from the depths of their spirits is a romance of scarcely six weeks' duration and an experience that marks them for a lifetime. For what the two discover on the Riviera and during a sultry evening in Rome is the one thing both already fear they may never truly find again: total intimacy.

The psychological maneuvers that accompany attraction have seldom been more shrewdly captured than in André Aciman's frank, unsentimental, heartrending elegy to human passion. Call Me by Your Name is clear-eyed, bare-knuckled, and ultimately unforgettable.



  Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Breathtaking

Captivating, breathtaking, heartbreaking.
I invented my heart for Elio and Oliver. I'm such a mess right now.
One of the best book I have ever read.
Highly recommended.

Perhaps we were friends first and lovers second. But then perhaps this is what lovers are.

Boy oh boy, when I told you I was such a mess and cannot think of other books for more than a week (and this going to stay a lot longer that I expected), I said the truth. These two, Elio and Oliver captured my heart, broke it, and never had intention to put it back together.
This book (at least for me), is more like Elio's memoir of his first crush, his first lush, and his first love. Oliver.



I read the book, listened to the audiobook, watched the movies (over and over and over again).
No books has ever made me this way. I was sad, angry, in love, frustrated and of course brokenhearted.
I don't think I'll give you spoiler, because everyone who read this book, watched the movie, the story made clear that even Elio and Oliver loved each other, the love they'd shared, not quite strong enough to admitted to the whole world, that they didn't give a fuck about "what they are", and go on with their love.



I hated Oliver for leaving Elio hanging, and hated Elio for let his feeling grew too strong for Oliver. I hated them. I loved them. I don't know. Maybe, maybe ut was right when Elio said

We had found the stars, you and I. And this is given once only.

God! How I wish they reached the stars and keep it with them and didn't let anybody ripped it away from them, you know. And be happy. Until twenty years later, or more twenty or more.

This book reminds me or many of us for that matter, about our first love, one that never really forgotten. Reminds me, that one moment in our life, we had a beautiful life, beautiful hopes and dreams, that life would never go wrong, that life would be just like what us wanted to be.
But oh how wrong can it be?

I suddenly realized that we were on borrowed time, that time is always borrowed, and that the lending agency exacts its premium precisely when we are least prepared to pay and need to borrow more.

I can, from the distance of years now, still think I’m hearing the voices of two young men singing these words in Neapolitan toward daybreak, neither realizing, as they held each other and kissed again and again on the dark lanes of old Rome, that this was the last night they would ever make love again.

Twenty years was yesterday, and yesterday was just earlier this morning, and morning seemed light-years away. “I’m like you,” he said. “I remember everything.” I stopped for a second. If you remember everything, I wanted to say, and if you are really like me, then before you leave tomorrow, or when you’re just ready to shut the door of the taxi and have already said goodbye to everyone else and there’s not a thing left to say in this life, then, just this once, turn to me, even in jest, or as an afterthought, which would have meant everything to me when we were together, and, as you did back then, look me in the face, hold my gaze, and call me by your name.

This book, me think, will stay forever with me.



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COVER REVEAL : JULIEN BY ELLA FRANK

Confessions: Julien, book two in the steamy contemporary MMM Confessions Series from Ella Frank, is coming June 4th!

Confessions: Julien by Ella Frank

New Release Date: June 4th, 2018

Genre: Contemporary MMM Romance

Cover Design: Hang Le

Cover Photographer: Jules Godfrey Photography

Cover Model: Jack Dutton

Synopsis

People are complex.

Love a double-edged sword.

And when it comes to a broken heart, there are no rules, only time…

For the past eight years, Julien Thornton has been living with a secret. One that only a handful of people know about.

To the outside world, he has it all.

A thriving career. A loving husband. And a face that the American public fell for by the millions, on a reality show that inadvertently saved his life.

But behind the shine of celebrity, behind the easygoing nature, a crippling truth fills Julien with pain and self-loathing. It’s a truth that he fights to overcome daily with the help of his husband, Joel Priestley, and now their boyfriend, Robbie Bianchi.

But unlike Priest, Robbie doesn’t know what he’s helping Julien to fight. He doesn’t know what Julien did all those years ago. And with the anniversary of his sister’s death fast approaching, the time for explanations is running out.

And thus the question: will the princess be able to forgive the prick as the priest once did?

Only time will tell.

Add to GoodReads: https://bit.ly/2HKj17D

Start the series with Confessions: Robbie today! Amazon US:http://amzn.to/2HdQ7IU

Amazon Universal: http://mybook.to/confessionsrobbie

Add To Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2EWp3Aq

About Ella

Ella Frank is the USA Today Bestselling author of the Temptation series, including Try, Take, and Trust and is the co-author of the fan-favorite contemporary romance, Sex Addict. Her Exquisite series has been praised as “scorching hot!” and “enticingly sexy!” Some of her favorite authors include Tiffany Reisz, Kresley Cole, Riley Hart, J.R. Ward, Erika Wilde, Gena Showalter, and Carly Phillips.

Connect with Ella:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ella.frank.31/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EllaFrank2012

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellafrank1/

Mailing List: www.bit.ly/1hEYtgn

Website: https://www.ellafrank.com/portfolio

Daddy Issues by Seth King

 

Eliot Prince is falling hard for someone…
His former stepfather.

Their bond is forbidden. Their relationship could upend lives. But their love? It’s a force of nature…

Ten years ago, a desperate and confused Robert Glazer briefly married a woman before confronting his sexuality and starting his life as an out gay man. They divorced and lost contact – until now.

Today, a sudden family death throws Robert and his ex-wife back together for the first time. That’s where Robert meets her son Eliot, who was raised with his own father and is now a gorgeous – and openly gay – adult. And to Robert and Eliot’s surprise, sparks fly.

Passion ignites, then threatens to explode. Soon Eliot knows three things. One: Robert is not his father figure, and never was – in fact, he barely remembers him. Two: news of their union would still rock his whole world. And three: he craves Robert more than anything he has ever wanted. And as suspicions arise, their attraction only grows…



  Daddy Issues by Seth King
My rating: 1 of 5 stars


*Don't read this review. I mean it.*

Seth King is a new to me author. This is my first book of his, I heard nothing but great praise for his first novel, Honesty. But alas, I started with this, because I read the glowing flourish reviews . I thought, well, this probably good enough to eat, and I’m a sucker for May December romances. So I dig in, I went blind.

And I was disappointed. The story is repetitive, the writing’s NOT my liking, and I was bored easily. And on top of that, I felt like I read a bad version of CMBYN in a parallel universe, with some ‘creative’ addition. Good for the creative part.

As a Call Me by Your Name hardcore fan, I know by heart every words in the book (I read it five times already, and counting). So when someone mentioned that this book is having an Elio elements inside, I was intrigue and started to read. Curiosity kills the cat is a true thing, you know. I was reading this book with lots and lots of frowning and I’m already old and this makes me even older.

Thing is, the author posted on his page that that CMBYN is his ever loving favorite book weeks ago, and liked it or not, my curious mind thought, oh no, the next book would be Elio Perlman inside, and ooh…the boy’s name is Eliot Prince!. Ring any bells? Of course there’s nothing wrong when you inspired by some books or some events that really stayed in your heart, but put Elio Perlman’s thought in your story, tell me what does it means?

There’s also one weird thing with this daddy’s wife for two years. He NEVER slept with her (for two f* years? Oh, come on, get real here!), and she accused him cheated on her, and then he revealed that he was gay. After two years of not telling her anything. No agreement on their sex-less marriage or whatever. Nope. Zero. Nada. I assume if she accused him cheated on him, that means, he showed ‘some love’, right?

Fast forward ten years later after the weird marriage ended.
Elio, I mean Eliot met his former step-father and lusting after him all of a sudden (put an eye-rolling here). And don’t let me mentioned the ‘villa’ called a cabin mountain, where everybody’s welcome, party and dancing, the separation, the reunion and whatever and so on and so on.
There’s also one important part I notice, the dual POV didn’t ‘sound’ like a dual POV at all, it sounds like, one POV, there’s no differences between Eliot and Robert, the way they ‘talk’ and ‘thinking’.

And there’s that ‘daydream’ scene. OMG. Can’t it be more obvious?
And so many more, including the dividing the story in parts, the swimming, the lake, the waiting on dinner, sunbathing, the long separation, and I can go on forever explaining this. I’m tired.

And one more thing, about what society tells you about you can’t be with him, Eliot. What society? There’s nothing’s wrong with having relationship with your stepfather, unless, your head said that to you.

Okay, so let me wrap it up. All in all, IMHO, this a bad version of Call Me by Your Name. Don’t waste your time.
I don’t think I’ll read this author’s book again in the future. That’s fine.
This one only, wasted two days of my precious life.
I’m out.




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REVIEW : Redeeming the Stepbrother (Tales from St. Giles #2) by Andrew Grey

 

A Tale from St. Giles

Family can be a blessing and a curse, but for artist Florian, it’s a nightmare he longs to escape.

As chief designer for Bartholomew Artist Porcelain, Florian specializes in painting birds. He also watches them in the wild to distract himself from his short-tempered mother, at least temporarily. Florian’s heart is too soft to leave his stepsister, Ella, to suffer alone. Still, he can’t help dreaming about one day finding happiness and love.

When Count Dieter von Hollenbach arrives in town to visit a friend and present an award, he isn’t looking for romance. Then again, he doesn’t expect someone as perfect as Florian to come into his life. To make sure Florian is all he seems and that their connection is genuine, Dieter keeps his title to himself.

But he isn’t the only one with a secret.

At a masquerade ball to celebrate the award, some of the masks fall away, but those that remain in place could destroy the love beginning to grow between them.


Cover Artist: Adrian Nicholas



 Redeeming the Stepbrother by Andrew Grey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A modern re-telling of Cinderella. Only Ella didn't get her prince now, but the stepbrother.LOL.
I liked the first book about Beau and Dante. This one is still set on Dante and Dante's world. Remember Florian, the artist who had a crush on Dante? Now he can finally have his own Dante in Dieter.
I liked the idea of giving a stepbrother a chance. But I didn't really see any strong chemistry between Florian and Dieter. I liked how he and his stepsister, Ella having a good relationship.
It's a low in angst, sweet, and has a perfect ending. Ella didn't get her prince, but Florian instead.
A good plot.
This is not my favorite of the series, but this was okay, and sweet. I loved Beau more though :)

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ARC REVIEW : The Perfect Whore (Storm and Lightning #1) by Josephine Myles

 

Being the object of everyone’s sexual fantasies ain’t all it’s cracked up to be…

On a mining colony planet a long way from Earth, bandit Jedd Lightning dreams of making enough money to get his ship spaceworthy again. During a robbery at a high-class brothel, he meets gorgeous alien rentboy Storm and is instantly smitten—but the heist goes south and Jedd has to high-tail it out of there with only half the loot.

Enslaved by a fierce Madam, Storm’s shapeshifting talents make him the most sought after whore on Talmak. He literally can’t stop himself becoming his client’s fantasy lover. Sick of enforced transformations, he wants to escape, but he’s closely guarded and has no experience of the unfamiliar city outside the brothel.

Storm is willing—and eager—to do anything to persuade Jedd to break him out of his gilded prison. Lucky for him the arrogant outlaw needs Storm’s help to free his crewmate, held as hostage by a vicious mob boss who wants Jedd to complete the theft he was hired for. Storm keeps blowing away Jedd’s expectations—but with both the law and the mob against them, they could end up with nowhere left to run.



  The Perfect Whore by Josephine Myles
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


For a dystopian, and alien stories lovers, this might be interesting. I was gambling when I requested this book. Maybe a little confused after a very great future android story I read recently, hoping this would be as good as the earlier.
Not that this wasn't a good read, I think. It's just far fetch from my expectation. In this case, it's me book, not you.

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