Absolute Lovers (Absolute, Book 2), by S.J. Hooks

Format: e-ARC, 268 pages

Publisher: Full Fathom Five Digital

Published: June 24, 2015

ISBN: 9781633700598

Genre: Contemporary romance, erotica

Back cover blurb: Professor Stephen Worthington has been schooled in the bedroom by free-spirited student Julia Wilde. But what started as a casual arrangement has turned into so much more—at least for Stephen.

Head over heels, Stephen is tired of being just “sex buddies.” Julia’s resisting, but her blithe attitude towards keeping it casual may just be a front. Can he prove to her that their amazing sexual chemistry can mix with romance and ultimately win her heart?

In this eagerly awaited sequel to S.J. Hooks’ successful first novel, Absolute Beginners, readers will find themselves riding alongside Stephen and Julia’s highs and lows as their friends-with-benefits relationship reaches a crossroads. Absolute Lovers’ humor and romance will tease and delight both dedicated fans and new readers alike.

Absolute Lovers is the final installment in the Absolute Novels series.

This novel contains mature content.

My review: I really wanted to like this more, given my love for Absolute Beginners and Hooks’ other online works. However, I really struggled to get through this and just felt like Stephen had been totally emasculated. Male POV is tricky for female authors, and what was awkward and adorkable in the first book became whiny and teenage-girlish here. Also, very little happened – apart from the sex – until well over halfway. I still liked Stephen and Julia, but can’t help feeling a lot of this could have been trimmed back and added to the first book to make one volume. The writing is great, though, and I will still read anything this author puts out.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 3/5

Amazon

Absolute Beginners (Absolute, Book 1), by S.J. Hooks

Format: Kindle edition, 232 pages

Publisher: Full Fathom Five Digital

Published: March 18, 2015

ISBN: 9781633700406

Genre: Contemporary romance, erotica

Back cover blurb: Professor Stephen Worthington’s life makes perfect sense.

He teaches classes on Tuesdays and Fridays. He has dinners with his parents on the weekend. He goes to the gym with his comically crass stepbrother, Matt, a few days each week. And every night, he heads home at a reasonable hour, alone.

There’s only one thorn in Stephen’s perfectly organized side: Ms. Julia Wilde. Never has Stephen dealt with a more unruly student. She’s rude, provocative, infuriating—and she dresses in a way that is completely unbecoming for a lady. Stephen can’t wait for the semester to be over, and then he’ll never have to see her again.

That is, until Stephen finds himself out of the classroom and in Julia’s apartment. Suddenly, the student/teacher roles are reversed, and the professor receives a much-needed lesson between the sheets. Stephen thought his life made sense, but after his tryst with Julia, he finds himself changed in more ways than one. Maybe he’s coming down with something.

Or maybe, something a little out of the ordinary is exactly what this stuffy professor needs to really live.

*This novel contains mature content*

My review: I’ve been a huge fan of S.J. Hooks for a while now – her free online story about a homeless veteran is one of my fic favourites – and it’s hard to believe she is not a native English speaker. Her writing is clear and fast-paced, and I couldn’t put down this story about a shy, geeky professor and his student who drives him crazy. I loved both characters, and their friends and family, and could really relate to inexperienced Stephen’s POV. The story ends abruptly, but thankfully I have the second book and have started it straight away. A fun, quick read.

My rating: 5/5

Amazon

Stacking the Shelves #12

 

Hosted by Tynga’s Reviews

Welcome back to Stacking the Shelves, a regular meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga’s Reviews. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the latest books you have added to your shelves, physical or virtual.  This means you can include books you buy in store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, and of course e-books! Here is my haul from this week. Late post this week as I’ve had a house full of sick people 😦

Granted Netgalley requests

I got a bit carried away on Netgalley this week  – Absolute Lovers by S.J. Hooks, Everybody Rise by Stephanie Clifford, and Are You Still There by Sarah Lynn Scheerger. Quite an eclectic group.

Purchased from iBooks

Because I hadn’t read the first book from S.J. Hooks, I purchased Absolute Beginners from iBooks using pretty much the last of my birthday gift voucher. I’m a big fan of her free works online, so am looking forward to this series.

Purchased from Amazon

Finally, I received my Amazon pre-order of Wingmen by Daisy Prescott, which I bought because it was only 99c on Kindle and I wanted to read one story in it which – sold separately – was $3.99.

So that’s it for this week. Whew! Keep an eye out for my reviews of these in coming weeks. So what new books did you pick up this week? Let me know in the comments.

The Blondes, by Emily Schultz

Format: e-ARC, 400 pages

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books

To Be Published: April 21, 2015

ISBN: 9781250043351

Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Literature/Fiction (Adult)

Back cover blurb: “Wow!” —Margaret Atwood
A hilarious and whipsmart novel where an epidemic of a rabies-like disease is carried only by blonde women, who all must go to great lengths to conceal their blondness.

Hazel Hayes is a grad student living in New York City. As the novel opens, she learns she is pregnant (from an affair with her married professor) at an apocalyptically bad time: random but deadly attacks on passers-by, all by blonde women, are terrorizing New Yorkers. Soon it becomes clear that the attacks are symptoms of a strange illness that is transforming blondes—whether CEOs, flight attendants, students or accountants—into rabid killers.

My review: The first two-third of this really dragged for me, mainly because I felt no sympathy for the main character. I didn’t get Hazel’s relationship with her married lecturer, Karl – neither seemed very attractive as people – and she felt very detached from what was happening with the blondes around her.

Things improved when Grace came more into the picture. I liked her even though she was a prize bitch, and by that stage there were a few mysteries in the book I had to keep reading to figure out.

The time-jumping narrative didn’t work for me in the beginning because it made things even more confusing, and some of what she was telling the baby seemed highly inappropriate to me. The ending also left a lot of unanswered questions.

The cover blurb describes this book as hilarious but I found little to laugh about. It made me wonder in what tone of voice Margaret Atwood allegedly said “wow.”

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 3/5

Amazon