Books update
After finishing some New Adult books people kept telling me to read (and not being able to finish more than half of what was recommended), I've come to the conclusion that I am not really a new adult reader. Much like I'm not really a YA reader, for the very same reasons. The immature emotions and melodrama so typical of those ages drives me crazy.
50. Craving Flight by Tamsen Parker: Short erotic BDSM romance between an Orthodox Jewish butcher and a newly converted professor. I bought this because it sounded so unusual, and holy crap, it was hot. I tend to shy away from books with overtly religious protagonists, especially in romance, but in this case, it was such an integral part of who these people were and so pivotal to the conflict between them, I gave it a chance anyway. Very, very pleasantly surprised. The writing is incredibly nuanced for erotic romance, and the D/s is spot-on. - A-
51. Unbreak Me by Lexi Ryan: 21 y/o young woman with a reputation for being a slut torn between the rock star with his own problems and the man she left at the altar. I finished this one, mostly to see who she ended up with, but I can't say that I enjoyed it all that much. It wasn't that bad in the beginning. I liked the idea of a woman owning her sexuality, but the constant slut shaming she had to endure got tiresome, and then the melodrama just got heaped on and on and on. - C-
52. Tattoo by Cambria Hebert: A young bank teller gets caught in the middle of a robbery, then taken along as part of the ride when the cop under cover she'd been waiting on tries to help her. This is categorized as NA, but it felt more like romantic suspense, which is probably why I enjoyed it the most of the NA books I read. It was swift and action-packed, and while I didn't really buy the HEA (I don't think they'll last), there was honest chemistry between them. - B-
53. Forged by Desire by Bec McMaster: Book 4 in the vampire/werewolf steampunk series I've been reading and by far my least favorite of the series so far. The hero and heroine were secondary characters in the previous book, but neither one of them interested me then, so having to read them as the leads was even more boring. The only good aspect of this was where it leads to the last book in the series, which is the only reason I'm holding onto it. - D+
54. Fighting Silence by Aly Martinez: Teenaged best friends fall in love, then come back together as young adults to try the friendship thing out. Both are from poor backgrounds, while the hero is fighting losing his hearing as he struggles to become a boxer. The deafness turns out to be mostly a plot device, and the real sweetness of the first third when they're teenagers is lost by more of that damn melodrama when they turn legal. The entire last third felt like an entirely different book. It's the first in a series about the hero and his brothers, but I was so annoyed at how this one turned out, there's no way in hell I'll read the others. - C-
55. When You Were Mine by Elizabeth Noble: 39 y/o heroine is in a go-nowhere relationship when she runs into her first love at her younger brother's wedding. This is a British chick-lit book I almost gave up on in the first chapter. It's got mild head hopping that's annoying to me, and--through completely no fault of the book's--the first love shares a name with my abusive first husband. I was able to put that aside as the characters became more real, but it's such an emotional mess, I was pretty much wrecked by it. Then, the ending truly pissed me off, to the point where I took it out on everyone around me. I'm really annoyed I didn't give up when I should've. The only reason I'm rating it as high as I am is because it worked to get me emotionally invested. - D
50. Craving Flight by Tamsen Parker: Short erotic BDSM romance between an Orthodox Jewish butcher and a newly converted professor. I bought this because it sounded so unusual, and holy crap, it was hot. I tend to shy away from books with overtly religious protagonists, especially in romance, but in this case, it was such an integral part of who these people were and so pivotal to the conflict between them, I gave it a chance anyway. Very, very pleasantly surprised. The writing is incredibly nuanced for erotic romance, and the D/s is spot-on. - A-
51. Unbreak Me by Lexi Ryan: 21 y/o young woman with a reputation for being a slut torn between the rock star with his own problems and the man she left at the altar. I finished this one, mostly to see who she ended up with, but I can't say that I enjoyed it all that much. It wasn't that bad in the beginning. I liked the idea of a woman owning her sexuality, but the constant slut shaming she had to endure got tiresome, and then the melodrama just got heaped on and on and on. - C-
52. Tattoo by Cambria Hebert: A young bank teller gets caught in the middle of a robbery, then taken along as part of the ride when the cop under cover she'd been waiting on tries to help her. This is categorized as NA, but it felt more like romantic suspense, which is probably why I enjoyed it the most of the NA books I read. It was swift and action-packed, and while I didn't really buy the HEA (I don't think they'll last), there was honest chemistry between them. - B-
53. Forged by Desire by Bec McMaster: Book 4 in the vampire/werewolf steampunk series I've been reading and by far my least favorite of the series so far. The hero and heroine were secondary characters in the previous book, but neither one of them interested me then, so having to read them as the leads was even more boring. The only good aspect of this was where it leads to the last book in the series, which is the only reason I'm holding onto it. - D+
54. Fighting Silence by Aly Martinez: Teenaged best friends fall in love, then come back together as young adults to try the friendship thing out. Both are from poor backgrounds, while the hero is fighting losing his hearing as he struggles to become a boxer. The deafness turns out to be mostly a plot device, and the real sweetness of the first third when they're teenagers is lost by more of that damn melodrama when they turn legal. The entire last third felt like an entirely different book. It's the first in a series about the hero and his brothers, but I was so annoyed at how this one turned out, there's no way in hell I'll read the others. - C-
55. When You Were Mine by Elizabeth Noble: 39 y/o heroine is in a go-nowhere relationship when she runs into her first love at her younger brother's wedding. This is a British chick-lit book I almost gave up on in the first chapter. It's got mild head hopping that's annoying to me, and--through completely no fault of the book's--the first love shares a name with my abusive first husband. I was able to put that aside as the characters became more real, but it's such an emotional mess, I was pretty much wrecked by it. Then, the ending truly pissed me off, to the point where I took it out on everyone around me. I'm really annoyed I didn't give up when I should've. The only reason I'm rating it as high as I am is because it worked to get me emotionally invested. - D