arcreviews – Page 13 – Sincerely Karen Jo

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hackheartbreak

abouthebook2

Publication Date: July 30, 2019

Publisher: Graydon House

Genre(s): Women’s Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, Chick Lit

Format: Paperback, 352 pages

purchaselinks

AMAZON – BARNES AND NOBLE – GOOGLE PLAY – BOOK DEPOSITORY

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synopsis4

Swipe right for love. Swipe left for disaster.

By day, Mel Strickland is an underemployed helpdesk tech at a startup incubator, Hatch, where she helps entitled brogrammers—”Hatchlings”—who can’t even fix their own laptops, but are apparently the next wave of startup geniuses. And by night, she goes on bad dates with misbehaving dudes she’s matched with on the ubiquitous dating app, Fluttr.

But after one dick pic too many, Mel has had it. Using her brilliant coding skills, she designs an app of her own, one that allows users to log harrassers and abusers in online dating space. It’s called JerkAlert, and it goes viral overnight.

Mel is suddenly in way over her head. Worse still, her almost-boyfriend, the dreamy Alex Hernandez—the only non-douchey guy at Hatch—has no idea she’s the brains behind the app. Soon, Mel is faced with a terrible choice: one that could destroy her career, love life, and friendships, or change her life forever.

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mythoughts

Entertaining, Hilarious, and Wonderfully Empowering

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How to Hack a Heartbreak by Kristin Rockaway is an entertaining, hilarious, and charming rom-com that had me relentlessly flipping through the pages. It’s not only delightful and fun, but also wonderfully empowering. Such an amazing book and I honestly can’t rave about it enough.

With Rockaway’s meaningful and addictive writing style, I found myself utterly captivated with this story. I love that I could feel what the characters feel and sympathize with them. Whether it’s from their awkward dates, misunderstandings, heartbreaks, work troubles, or personal shortcomings, I could relate and feel their emotions. I really love that about this book. The plot is fast-paced and engrossing with the perfect blend of drama, angst, wit, conflict, and the amazing ups and painful downs of finding love in a digitally driven world. I adore the characters and wanted to be best friends with them. The romance is not really the main focus, but I still enjoyed it. The last few chapters are definitely my favorite and had me tearing up a few times. There’s also a few scenes that had me cheering, smiling, and just overwhelmed with positivity. I really enjoyed this novel and the ending is fantastic – it’s hopeful, profound, and touching.

I love Melanie and her girlfriends. They’re quirky, determined, talented, witty, loving, and incredibly supportive. They’re such strong and independent women and I think they’re all just so inspiring and admirable. Their friendship is endearing and one of the things I adore about this book. I really enjoyed seeing them have fun, take chances, find love, and most importantly empower each other.

I like the romance aspect of the story. It doesn’t sizzle off the page, but the chemistry between Mel and Alex feels realistic and relatable. I definitely rooted for them early on and even if there aren’t too many swoony moments between them, I think they’re just so cute and great together.

Riveting and heartfelt, How to Hack a Heartbreak is fun and addictive and one of my favorite reads this summer. The writing is superb, the characters are lovable and fierce, and the plot is humorous, bold, and inspiring. Kristin Rockaway absolutely captured my heart with this amazing story about strong female friendship, empowerment, love, and the importance of in person connections and relationships. This truly has been a joy to read and I think you should definitely add this gem on your TBR.

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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(Mini bio and photo taken from author’s website)

kristinrockaway

Kristin Rockaway is a native New Yorker and recovering corporate software engineer. After working in the IT industry for far too many years, she finally traded the city for the surf and chased her dreams out to Southern California, where she spends her days happily writing stories instead of code. When she’s not working, she enjoys spending time with her husband and son, browsing the aisles of her neighborhood bookstores, and planning her next big vacation.

Her second novel, How to Hack a Heartbreak, will be released from Graydon House/HarperCollins on July 30, 2019. Her debut, The Wild Woman’s Guide to Traveling the World, is in stores now.

authorlinks

WEBSITE – GOODREADS – TWITTER – INSTAGRAM – AMAZON – BOOKBUB

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Hope you enjoyed reading my review and get to meet Melanie and her sassy girlfriends. I really enjoyed this story and cannot wait to read more from Kristin Rockaway.

Have you read this book? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you.

sincerelykjologo

arcreview2

Hello bookish friends!! I hope you’re all having a wonderful week so far. Today, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on a new dark romance series by Zoe Blake. I have never read anything by Ms. Blake before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I do like to read dark romances from time to time and some of them are actually really well written and quite the delicious guilty pleasure read. This series is definitely not for the faint of heart and it’s quite on the extreme side, so there are things that bothered me quite a bit. Having said that, I still really enjoyed and had fun with all the books and I think the characters are absolutely intriguing.

The synopsis comes with a warning from the author and I suggest you take that literally. Even though there’s humor and a few lighthearted moments, this book/series is twisted. There are no sweet hugs, swoony kisses, or gentle touches. It’s a daddy dom erotica series, so if that’s not your thing, then you migth want to skip this.

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abouthebook2

Published: July 16, 2019

Genre(s): Contemporary, Dark Romance, Erotica, BDSM

Format: Kindle Edition 266 pages

OR READ FOR FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED

synopsis

If I have to hurt her to get what I want… I will.
No is not an option.
My little con artist is about to learn I run my criminal enterprise with an iron fist.
She is no exception.
She will do as Daddy tells her or there will be pain.
Little does she know how much I will enjoy inflicting it.

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mythoughts

A Seductive, Suspensful and Twisted Dark Romance

4hearts2 (1)

3.5 rounded to 4 stars.

The Con Artist from the Bad Babygirl Series by Zoe Blake is a seductive, suspensful and twisted dark romance.

Sometimes, I like to read out of my comfort zone and discover romance stories that aren’t always sweet, lighthearted, or fluffy, but still really GOOD. This is defnitely one of those and even though I didn’t completely love it, this novel is a fun guilty pleasure read.

I’ve read dark romances before and immensely enjoyed and loved many of them. However, the daddy dom kink is a bit too much for me that it really bothered me and inevitably turned me off. I did think some parts are a little bit hot and sexy, but I just got so tired of reading the word “Daddy” over and over…. It’s overdone in my opinion. I actually started to skim over most of the sex scenes or completely skip them cause it’s personally just not my thing. BUTTTTT, the storyline… OMG it’s so addictive and thrilling! I think the plot is just so well-written and engaging. There’s drama, humor, action, suspense and plenty of twist and turns that had me glued to the pages.

I really liked Piper. She’s independent, smart, stubborn and fiesty. Ethan is not your typical charming love interest. He’s controlling and dangerous, but there’s certainly something intruguing about him. I liked some parts of their relationship, but mostly, I didn’t find the romance swoony or enjoyable.

I loved Lyla and Quinn and thought they’re fascinating characters. I loved the sisterly bond between the girls and really admired how loyal and protective they are of each other. I liked Roman too and can’t wait to read about him and Lyla in the next book.

So while I didn’t really enjoy the kinks or romance, I think the overall story and the characters are absolutely worth the read. Here’s a brief breakdown of what I didn’t like and did like about this book.

What I Didn’t Like/Love
The Daddy Dom Kink
The Sex Scenes
The Romance / Instalove

What I Like/ Love
The thrilling storyline
The intriguing and kickass female characters
The friendship between Piper, Lyla, and Quinn
The humor sprinkled here and there
The plot twists and turns

I’m not quite sure if I’ll ever venture out of my comfort zone to read another book series by Zoe Blake. I was intrigued enough to finish this series, but as much as I enjoyed the stories, the girls, and the suspense, I just didn’t fall in love with the romance enough. I just need there to be more “FEELINGS” and emotions involved. I still had fun and really enjoyed the story and thought it was utterly exhilarating and brilliantly well-developed. Oh and the cliffhanger at the end had me going on my KU and downloading the next book.

If you enjoy and love ridiculously twisted, disturbing, and dark romances with amazing plot and characters, then the Bad Babygirl series is a must-read!

I received an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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abouttheauthor

Bio taken from author’s Amazon Page

USA Today Bestselling Author in Dark Romance and Horror
Amazon Top 100 Author

There is something delicious in our desire for the corrupt, our ravenous appetite for the brutal, the profane, the unspeakable. The taboo. I write the type of books that give you a frisson of unease; that will have you questioning your own resolve as I take you on a dark ride of twists, kinks and perversions of both the flesh and mind. Enjoy the blush and tremble as you read each decadent word. XOXO Zoe

authorlinks