Review: Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

From the author's website:
Get ready for a whole new take on star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, bad boy meets good girl...

At Fairfield High, everyone knows that south-siders and north-siders aren’t exactly compatible elements. So when cheerleader Brittany Ellis and gang member Alex Fuentes are forced to be lab partners, the results are bound to be explosive.

Neither teen is prepared for the most surprising chemical reaction of all – love. Can they break through the stereotypes and misconceptions that threaten to keep them apart?

_____________________

Why, oh why, did I wait so long to read this book? I'm not sure why I kept putting it off, but I had six hours available this weekend driving out to Houston, so I grabbed this book on my way out the door. I opened the book and started reading...and didn't stop to eat, look out the window, or use the restroom. (okay, maybe I stopped at one rest area!)

Brittany Ellis is starting her senior year of high school. She's excited because her boyfriend Colin is back from a long summer away, and she knows this year is going to be perfect - she's captain of the pom squad and he's captain of the football team. But things don't turn out as well as she'd hoped: She's got to keep up her perfect grades to get into a local college so she'll be close to home to care for her older sister who has cerebral palsy. Colin is pressuring her for sex, and her parents are threatening to send her sister away. Then, in Chemistry class, she gets paired with Alex Fuentes, a tough gang member from the other side of the tracks. Life couldn't get any worse, could it?

18 year-old Alex Fuentes is a tough member of the Latino Bloods - he's got the gang tattoos and wears the gang colors to prove it. He didn't want to be in a gang, but after his father was murdered, he had to join to protect his mother and younger brothers. He doesn't want to get in any further than he is though - he's an enforcer but he won't deal drugs. Then he gets paired with Brittany Ellis in chemistry, and it turns his world upside down. He learns she's not as perfect as people think she is, and the more he learns about her the more he wants to continue spending time with her. But he's got obligations that he can't get out of, no matter how much she begs him to change...

Simone Elkeles has written a fabulous story - I was sucked into this world right from the beginning. The differences between what Brittany was and what she showed to the world were contrasted against the differences between what Alex was and what he showed to the world. They both had to see beyond stereotypes and misconceptions by themselves and their friends and families to be together. In the process they made unexpected new friends and learned things about themselves. It was a brilliantly written journey of love and obligation and hopelessness and growth that I couldn't put down. This is going to be one of my favorite reads of 2010 - I cannot gush enough about this book!

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers
Release date: December 23, 2008
ISBN-10: 0802798225
ISBN-13: 978-0802798220

I want to rush out to the bookstore today to get the second book in this series, Rules of Attraction, which features Alex's younger brother, Carlos:

My Rating:

Winners!!!

The winner of the set of Lydia Dare books from Sourcebooks is:
Raven in a Blue Room!!

Congratulations - you have until Sunday, December 12 to contact me at
bookaddictpatti at cox dot net

I also have two unclaimed winners for my Jennifer Haymore ARCS and Alice Clayton's Redhead series - check here to see if you won - I'll pick new winners on December 8!

There's still three more days to enter to win a signed copy of Solid by Shelley Workinger - enter here!

November Reading Wrap-Up and Giveaway Winners!

I know it's a bit early for Christmas Wishes but really that's a xmas cookie, not a Christmas cookie ;) Who's looking at the words anyway, right?

I didn't read a lot in November, but what I did read was really good!

1. The Unidentified Redhead by Alice Clayton (5 stars) <--my favorite new author!! 2. The Redhead Revealed by Alice Clayton (5 stars)
3. A Season of Seduction by Jennifer Haymore (3 stars)
4. Taming of the Wolf by Lydia Dare (5 stars)
5. Alien Tango by Gini Koch (5 stars)
6. Inside Out by Lauren Dane (4.5 stars)
7. Solid by Shelley Workinger (3 stars)
8. Breakfast in Bed by Robin Kaye (4 stars)
9. Legend of the White Wolf by Terry Spear (4 stars)
10. Yours for the Taking by Robin Kaye (4 stars) - review to come!
11. Wolf Fever by Terry Spear (4 stars)
12. Guilty Pleasures by Lora Leigh (4 stars)
13. Lucky in Love by Carolyn Brown (3 stars)
14. My Give A Damn's Busted by Carolyn Brown (3 stars)
15. The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta (5 stars) - review to come!

Whoa - that's a lot of 4 and 5 star reads - yay me!!

I also have some winners to announce (via my daughter picking names out of a hat):

Winner of the two Jennifer Haymore ARCs is:
Grannyvon
(Please e-mail me at bookaddictpatti at cox dot net with your mailing address)

Winners of the e-books in Alice Clayton's Redhead series are:
yadkny Nicole Julie

(Please e-mail me at bookaddictpatti at cox dot net so I can send your e-mail addy to the publisher)

Congratulations winners!!
You have until next Wednesday, December 8 to contact me, then I will draw new winners.

There's still time left to enter my other two giveaways:
A set of the historical werewolf books by Lydia Dare - enter here; and
A signed ARC of Shelley Workinger's YA book - Solid - enter here!

Review: Wolf Fever by Terry Spear

From the author's website:
Carol Woods wanted more than anything to be a nurse at the hospital in Silver Town, Colorado where her family lives, but she never foresaw how she’d end up with the job. Now she’s a red werewolf facing a mating, trying to forestall shifting for a variety of reasons—one of which has to do with a swine flu virus that seems to be attacking the werewolf kind in a bad way, while working with a private investigator who doesn’t believe in her psychic abilities one bit. So why does she thinks she’s falling in love with the infuriating gray?

Chester "Ryan" McKinley can’t get his mind off the entrancing woman, a nurse, a newly turned red lupus garou belonging to another gray pack and the only one left who might be able to learn how to stop the swine flu virus from making a permanent impact on their kind. Although he doesn’t want to draw Carol into this dangerous situation or believe she is involved, he has no other choice. But does the woman really have psychic abilities that are keeping her from shifting, or is she a fraud, a master at deception, and is behind the infections of their people? And how can he keep his hands off the intriguing woman, and his mind on the mission as the virus takes its toll?

________________

Carol Woods sees the future - and she's a werewolf. She's not a natural born werewolf - she was attacked 5 months ago and turned. Since then, she's been fighting the change (successfully so far) and Darien, her pack leader, is concerned. She's fighting the change because she's been having visions of some of the men in her pack shifting into wolves and not being able to shift back. In addition to trying to convince her to shift, Darien is also trying to convince her to take a mate, as females are a precious commodity and he doesn't want her attacked and/or stolen.

Ryan McKinley is a former cop, now a PI, who assisted Darien's pack a few months ago with a problem they were having. Since then he hasn't been able to get Carol off his mind - he doesn't believe her visions are real. So he's back on Darien's turf to figure out how Carol figured out the clues to his case.

When Carol is almost kidnapped, she hires Ryan to be her bodyguard. He agrees, and that's where things start to really heat up. The attraction is definitely there, but Carol can't be with someone who doesn't believe in her "talent", and Ryan needs a mate who can embrace her wolf. Then, Carol's visions come true and the wolves can't shift back and the pack looks to her to find a cure.

My thoughts: I really enjoy reading Terry Spear's wolves; she is very good at making the wolf come across in their human counterparts. I love her Alpha males, and even though she was a new wolf, Carol was such a stubborn Alpha female, it was fun to see the Beta males trying (unsuccessfully) to win her affections. The social hiearchy of the packs was also well-done; although not the hero of this story, Darien was a great Alpha leader who was willing to work with another Alpha to resolve his problems. The sickness plot was interesting - biological warfare within werewolf packs is a novel storyline and it worked here, providing a dose of urgency to the story.

I'm looking forward to the next book in this series - Heart of the Highland Wolf.


Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Release Date: December 1, 2010
ISBN-10: 1402237529
ISBN-13: 978-1402237522

My Rating:

This book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Quickie Review - A Sibling Menage that Didn't Squick Me Out!

From the author's website:
Jaci Wright has been running from Cameron Falladay, for seven years now. Fears of the desires he arouses in her, and the knowledge of the relationship he wanted with her spurred her to run, to find a life that kept her traveling the globe and out of his reach. His and his twin brother’s.

But now, life has come full circle. A new job has placed Jaci in the Sinclair mansion with Cameron and his brother Chase. And Cam is tired of waiting. It’s hard enough to face accepting a relationship with Cam, knowing what he wants, but having the world know her lover’s brother touches her as well fills her with dread. Gossip, rumors and the tattered tales of juicy secrets fill the society she now moves within. Can she face the world knowing she’s a lover to both men, or will her hesitancy and her fears destroy her chance of
happiness forever.

_________________

I grabbed this book because I was in the mood for menage (heh). I read the back blurb and thought it sounded good - obviously I didn't see the word "brother" or you know I would have kept on going. I think my squeamishness at sibling menage is pretty well documented.

Jaci Wright has taken a job designing an exclusive club for her friend Courtney's husband. As it turns out, her hometown crush and his twin, Cam and Chase Farriday, work for Courtney's husband. Cam plans to make Jaci his, he's not letting her get away again like she did seven years ago. But Jaci's older now, and she has secrets that she's not ready to share. Cam wants to protect Jaci, but how can he if she won't tell him what happened in her past? Jaci won't share with Cam if he won't share with her - what happened to him all those years ago? What hardened him and changed him into the man he is today?

Turns out Ms. Leigh wrote such a great story that for whatever reason, the fact that Cam and Chase were twins (Twins Basil!*) didn't bother me! This book was steammmmy! I think it's part of a series (although not the first book in the series), and I'd definitely be interested in reading more.


Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher:St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: May 13, 2008
ISBN-10:0312368720
ISBN-13:978-0312368722

(*Austin Powers)

Friday Foolishness

Happy Day after Thanksgiving! Here's hoping you're either at the front of all the lines today or at home taking it easy :) Anyone got their Christmas tree up yet?

No Friday Funk today - instead I'm just giving you one more reason (okay, two or three reasons) to cross the street when you see me coming...

Sometimes I think my book addiction has made me (literally) insane.

Here's some weird book-related stuff I probably shouldn't admit to:

I have a list of songs I want to know all the words to in case I ever go back in time. I owe this bizarre quirk to Diana Gabaldon's Outlander. Since I know my ipod would burn out after a few hours, and then I'd be on my own, I feel like I need to keep this mental list. What's on my list?

Chain of Fools by Aretha Franklin

I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow by The Soggy Bottom Boys

Chop Suey by System of a Down (don't ask me why, I have no idea)

Dance to the Music by Sly and the Family Stone (blame the movie Black Knight for this one)

Carry on My Wayward Son by Kansas (What? I was born in the '70s!)

Wonder by Natalie Merchant

Viva La Vida by Coldplay

Killing Me Softly by Roberta Flak/The Fugees

If that's not enough, there's also this:
Sometimes, when I'm in the French Quarter, I'll imagine one of the Dark Hunters or Were Hunters are there, hanging out in the coffee shops or restaurants. Do I go looking for them? Of course not, my kids are usually with me (just kidding!). Ms. Kenyon writes her characters so vividly that when I'm near some of the places she talks about in her books, it seems like they could be real :)

Lastly, I think a lot of my fellow readers/bloggers can identify with this one:
I get anxious when I leave the house without a book. Even if it's just to the grocery store, the possibility of getting stuck without a book makes me antsy. I mean, really, what happens if I fall back in time and don't have a smutty book to read?!?

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving - Have a great weekend!!!

Review and Giveaway: Solid by Shelley Workinger

From Goodreads:

Eighteen years ago, a rogue Army doctor secretly experimented with a chromosomal drug on unknowing pregnant women. When he was killed not long after the children were born, any knowledge and evidence seemed to die with him - except for the living, breathing, human products of his work. Almost two decades later, the newly self-proclaimed "open-book" military unearths the truth about the experiment, bringing Clio Kaid and the other affected teens to a state-of-the-art, isolated campus where they soon discover that C9x did indeed alter their chromosomes, its mutations presenting as super-human abilities. The military kids, who come from across the nation and all walks of life, come into their own as lighter-than-air 'athletes'; 'indies' as solid as stone walls; teens who can make themselves invisible and others who can blind with their brilliance. While exploring her own special ability, forging new friendships and embarking on first love, Clio also stumbles onto information indicating that the military may not have been entirely forthcoming with them and that all may not be as it seems...

____________________

As Solid opens, Clio Kaid is headed into her first day at a military "summer camp" for children who were secretly given gene therapy in utero 18 years ago. When the government realized what this scientist had done, they immediately contacted all the subjects to come in for testing and monitoring. There don't seem to be any problems, but no one knows for sure. Clio quickly falls in with a friendly group of kids and they enjoy spending time getting to know each other. The exercises, classes and checkups seem pretty routine - nothing special - until Clio accidentally overhears someone talking about the kids and their "talents". As she starts to pay more attention, she unearths more secrets - with the help of her friends.

Solid was a quick, enjoyable read. I liked Clio as the narrator, she was a genuinely sweet character who wasn't obnoxiously smart or obsessing over boys. The storyline was engaging but the real plot didn't happen until quite a way through the book, then it was wrapped up too quickly. Ms. Workinger really gave us a sense of Clio and her friends - their histories and personalities, and I enjoyed "meeting" each and every one of them. I was disappointed that she did not go more into the abilities of the kids. We got that some could turn invisible, or were great at sports, or something do do with art. What are the ramifications of these abilities? How was the government planning to exploit these talents?

The storyline has the potential to delve deeper as the series continues and I would be interested to see where Ms. Workinger takes her characters next.

Paperback: 228 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace
Relase Date: July 9, 2010
ISBN-10: 1453624821
ISBN-13: 978-1453624821

My Rating:

Giveaway:
I am giving away my signed copy of this book:
Just leave a comment to enter!
Ends December 8.

This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Interview and Giveaway with Lydia Dare - authors of The Taming of the Wolf

I'd like to welcome the writing duo of Tammy Falkner and Jodie Pearson, also known as Lydia Dare, authors of a fantastic historical paranormal romance series. I had a few questions and they were more than willing to answer:

In the third book in the series, The Wolf Next Door, Dash was quite the villain. In your current release, The Taming of The Wolf, he is the hero. I didn’t think I’d like Dash but I really did! I also loved that Cait didn’t just accept him and fought him every step of the way. Is it difficult to come up with new scenarios to create conflict between the hero and heroine?

Lydia/Jodie – Thanks, Patti. I’m so glad you ended up liking Dash after all. I don’t think we’ve had any issues with coming up with new scenarios yet. I think all of our heroes have been different from each other and the same goes for our heroines. And for me, that makes the story easy to write. Dash will react differently in any given situation than Ben or Simon would, so the story will be different because he’s the main character. Same goes for the heroines. Cait will make a different choice than Elspeth would, and so on.

Lydia/Tammy – Running out of conflict is impossible, in my opinion, especially when you have meddlesome coven-sisters to help it along should you get stuck. Those ladies are an endless supply of trouble.

Lydia Dare is actually two authors working together - I’m always interested in how a writing team works. How did you meet and begin writing as a team? Did either of you write alone before you became Lydia Dare?

Lydia/Jodie – We both belong to Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, based in Raleigh NC. Tammy and I both joined at the same time and became friends a few years before we decided to try writing together. I have a handful of finished manuscripts that are solely mine, but before writing novels, I was screenwriting.

Lydia/Tammy – We were both writing solo. I had one book published with a small press and was writing a contemporary paranormal when I met Jodie. We started writing these books kind of like a game of round robin, and I don’t think either of ever thought anything would come of it. But two months after we started, we had a complete manuscript. Not long after, we’d sold the series and we now have ten books coming out with Sourcebooks.

Have you always known the storyline from the beginning or do you just write as it takes you? Do you know how many books will be in the series? We’ve already met wolves and witches, and coming up we’ll meet vampires. Are there any other supernatural creatures lurking around?

Lydia/Jodie – We never know what will happen in a story, just that it will have a happy ever after ending. We know who our characters are when we start the book and we know what conflict we’re starting off with, but no idea how we get to the end. :) As of right now there will be a total of 10 books in the series. The four that came out 2010, three scheduled for release in 2011, and three more that we’re just starting on for 2012. Anything can happen after that. As for other supernatural creatures, we’ve talked about a couple different options, but we haven’t seriously considered anything else yet.

Lydia/Tammy – In Tall, Dark and Wolfish, Ben mentions that witches aren’t real. And the thought of going out to find one to heal him is ludicrous. So, even though there were witches and Lycans in our fictional world, they didn’t know of one another’s existence. The same goes for vampyres. In light of this, I think there could definitely be other beings in the Regency period.

It looks like the next two books will feature vampires and the witches. Will we still see the wolves around?

Lydia/Jodie – Actually the next three books will feature vampyres and the remaining witches of Caitrin’s coven. Benjamin Westfield has a cameo in each book as his wife is part of the same coven and therefore connected to the other witchy heroines. Poor Ben, those witches do love to torture him.

Lydia/Tammy – There’s nothing I like more than a cameo from a former hero and heroine in a series. I like to see how they’ve wizened and how they’ve grown. I also like to see them have children or otherwise live happily ever after. So, I think you’ll see more of all the original “cast” before this series is over.

In your Wolf books, the wolves mate for life and only change at the full moon; are the “rules” for vampires the traditional ones that follow common folklore or do you add any twists?

Lydia/Jodie – I think our vampyres follow the common folklore for the most part. No walking in sunlight unless you have a special piece of jewelry, etc. There is one major difference, but it would be a complete spoiler, so I can’t reveal it.

Lydia/Tammy – I think they’re completely different from the stereotype. But only OUR vampyres are different in that way. A former generation of the Còig set the stage for our vamps to be quite special. And I hope the readers find it to be a refreshing change.

What types of books do you like to read for fun? Do you read books in your genre or do you prefer to stay away when reading for pleasure?

Lydia/Jodie – I used to read ALL the time, and mainly historical romance. Tammy likes to say I live in the 19th Century, and that’s kind of true. These days, we’re so busy that I really only have time to peruse research books. I need a vacation with a stack of books so I can get caught up on the latest offerings of my favorite authors.

Lydia/Tammy – When we’re writing wolves, I try to stay away from wolf books. When we’re writing vampyres, I stay away from those. I want to try to keep our characters and their world as unique as possible and always afraid something I’ve read will seep into my writing. But I love historicals. I read a lot on my iPad, when I can find the time.


Thanks so much ladies for stopping by; I love the wolves and can't wait to meet the vampyres!

The Giveaway: Thanks to Sourcebooks, I have 1 set of the 4 Lydia Dare Books (A Certain Wolfish Charm, Tall Dark and Wolfish, The Wolf Next Door and The Taming of the Wolf)to give away - 1 winner, US and Canada only, please.

To enter, leave a meaningful comment below with your e-mail address. Extra entries:
+1 Tweet (leave link)
+1 blog or sidebar post (leave link)

Contest ends Friday, December 3.

THE TAMING OF THE WOLF BY LYDIA DARE—IN STORES NOVEMBER 2010
A fresh and imaginative world of noble werewolves, each of whom encounters nearly insurmountable problems in his quest to live a normal life among England’s Regency society.

Dashiel Thorpe has grown up with the sobriquet “The monster of Eynsford.” Each full moon, when he turns into a wild beast, he has been chained to the wall to protect those around him. He has never before encountered a creature like himself, until he goes to visit his university friend and encounters a family of Lycans living just next door.

When the full moon turns the pack of them into wolves, Dashiel’s feral ways bring him to near-disaster, and when he bites Caitrin McLeod he unknowingly sets off a chain of events that could lead to his ultimate destruction.

Banished to Scotland to find a mentor and get trained in how to be a proper werewolf, Dashiel must also find Caitrin and persuade her that she’s his only chance for salvation…

About the Author
Lydia Dare is the writing team of Tammy Falkner and Jodie Pearson. Both Tammy and Jodie are active members of the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers and live near Raleigh, North Carolina. They are working together on their next paranormal historical trilogy as Lydia Dare, which will be released by Sourcebooks Casablanca in 2011! For more information, please visit http://www.lydiadare.com/.

Review: Alien Tango by Gini Koch

From Amazon.com:
It's been five months since marketing manager Katherine "Kitty" Katt started working with the aliens from Alpha Centauri, and she and Jeff Martini are getting closer. But when an experimental spacecraft is mysteriously returned to the Kennedy Space Center, Kitty and the rest of her team are called in to investigate. Now the team must survive murderous attacks, remove a space entity from a group of astronauts, and avoid an unhinged woman with a serious crush on Kitty's high school boyfriend. And that's all before evil masterminds decide Kitty's extermination is vital.

___________________

Alien Tango has been one of my most eagerly awaited books this year; I literally jumped up and down when it arrived in my mailbox. I mean, that cover is gorgeous - it must have great things inside, right? Right!!!

It's six months after the events in Touched by an Alien (my gushing review here), and things have been relatively quiet. Kitty, or Commander Katt now, has been putting out small fires here and there but nothing big. She's been working with her new team of human pilots, and the super-hot A-C guys, when they get a call that there's big trouble brewing. They end up in Florida, which also happens to be where Martini's family lives...

OMG the action in this book is non-stop - there's aliens and alligators, human-supremacists and a stalker. People get killed, things get blown up, and there's some astronauts in quarantine who are having weird side-effects. Then Kitty meets Martini's family...and his fiancee!?!

Alien Tango was full of action, but there were some great threads running between all the action too: One recurring point throughout the book is Jeff wanting to to to Kitty's high school reunion - Kitty doesn't want to go but reluctantly agrees. I won't put up any spoilers but it doesn't go quite like she expected. We also meet Kitty's best friend, Chuckie. I mentioned in my TBAA review that I wished we'd get more of Chuckie - thank you Ms. Koch - I love him! (And the fact that Martini soooo does not love Chuckie is quite funny.)

And just when I started wanting more Kitty/Martini relationship action - bam! - Ms. Koch delivered - but not in the way I'd expected. (She's sneaky like that!)

Some of my old favorites are back: Christopher, Reader, and Kitty's parents, and now I've got new favorites - Chuckie and Martini's dad, Alfred.

I don't think it's possible to tell you how full of win this book is - the jokes are so corny they're funny. Alien Tango is like a comic book in novel format - the aliens, the action, the funny, the romance! I can't wait to see what's next in this amazing series. (BTW - are there plans for graphic novels? 'Cause I'd totally buy them!)


Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: DAW
Release Date: December 7, 2010
ISBN-10: 0756406323
ISBN-13: 978-0756406325

My Rating:

A preview chapter of Book 3, Alien in the Family, is included at the back of the book - way to leave me hanging!!!!! April cannot get here soon enough :)

Alien Tango was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Inside Out by Lauren Dane

From the author's website:
WORTH THE WAIT
Ella Tipton is a survivor. In the wake of an attack that left her nearly dead, she’s spent each day putting her life back together. Once vibrant and outgoing, she’s needed to reclaim the best parts of who she was while retaining the hard won lessons. There hasn’t been room for any romantic entanglements, even if she were ready. Still, it didn’t mean she had to stop sneaking looks at Mister Tall, Dark and Tattooed himself.

Security professional Andrew Copeland isn’t quite sure when his jones for the lovely and decidedly skittish Ella developed. He’s known her for years, has watched her triumph over the pain she’d been dealt. Cope is no stranger to women, but he knows the nervous flush he gets every time he talks to her is different than any attraction he’s had in the past. Determined to get Ella to let him in, Andy does the one thing he can think of to get close: he offers her hands-on training in self-defense.

While Ella’s sure he’s just being nice, the prospect of being able to touch him and gain the tools to push away the last vestiges of her fear is more than she can resist. Soon enough, Cope shows Ella his feelings are far more than friendly and re-ignites something deep inside her. Before long desire and love turn them both inside out.

____________________

I'm a huge fan of this series. Laid Bare is probably my all-time favorite erotic novel. I went into Inside Out thinking it was going to be an erotic read, but for me, it wasn't. It was a love story. It was a story about family and making choices. I loved it!

Ella Tipton is the manager of the coffee shop/cafe owned by Erin Brown in Laid Bare. She was in an abusive relationship and was almost killed by her ex. She's slowly recovering and learning how to live a full life on her own terms again, but she has lifelong scars - both mental and physical. In addition to managing the cafe, she's also finishing up her Master's degree in Social Work and working a job related to that.

Andrew "Cope" Copeland is a "bad boy" who's got a playboy reputation when it comes to the ladies. He's had a crush on Ella for a long time, but first she was in a relationship, then she was attacked and needed to recover, so the time never seemed right for him to make a move. Until now.

Ella and Cope's story sizzled. The heat was there, just below the surface, slowly boiling toward a super hot eruption. I loved that they were already friends and turned it into something so much more - more special, more sexy, more emotionally raw. They both had issues - besides Ella's issues related to her attack by her ex-boyfriend, Cope brought some baggage into the relationship as well - as the second son, he spent most of his life trying to live up to his father's image of his older brother Ben. Cope and Ben's father is having a hard time coming to terms with Ben's relationship (a threesome), and Cope has been trying to patch things up between his father and Ben, but it's not working.

I have only two small complaints: I got tired about reading about Erin's pregnancy. I understand everyone was worried about her and it was a huge part of the storyline, but it was frustrating as a reader to read what felt like the same thing over and over. Also, the heroines of the three books in this series to date all have names that start with E - Erin, Elise, and Ella. I've mentioned before that I get confused when the names are similar. All three heroines have intertwining storylines in the book; I was able to keep everyone straight but sometimes had to re-read a line or paragraph and double-check to make sure I had was picturing the right people in my head.

Inside Out is emotionally exhausting - but in a good way. I was so vested in the characters lives that I took their triumphs and tragedies to heart myself. It was a wonderful read and I'm so glad that in addition to Ella and Cope we also got to see how all the other siblings and friends are doing.

I'm now anxiously awaiting Adrian's book - Never Enough - coming in September 2011. (I'm so glad his love interest isn't Raven!)

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Berkley Heat
Release Date: November 2, 2010
ISBN-10: 0425236889
ISBN-13: 978-0425236888

My Rating: