Review: Between Friends by Amanda Cowen

Between Friends by Amanda Cowen

Author: Amanda Cowen Website
Published: 21 March 2013
Format: Kindle e-book
Pages: 233
Buy the e-book: Kindle|Smashwords

Source: Kindle freebie

Plot Summary (from Goodreads):
The only way to have a friend is to be one…especially between the sheets…

When neurotically challenged and unlucky in love Megan Daniels, is propositioned by her life-long friend Ben Romano with a coin toss (heads, they sleep together, tails they don’t) the night before they are about to attend a destination wedding, she drunkenly accepts his challenge. But when Megan wakes up the next morning with a bad hang-over and Ben in her bed, she is more than mortified. It isn’t until the tropical heat begins to ignite emotions Megan never ever believed she could possibly have, that she starts to question if risking their friendship is the answer to finding true love

My Review:
I've had this book on my Kindle for a while and was so pleased to get round to it during the NA readathon! Between Friends tells the story of Megan and Ben, who finally cross that line of friends to more than friends after a one night stand. But can they keep their relationship casual? Or has sleeping with each other destroyed their friendship for good?

The characters in this book are in their early-to-mid twenties with Megan, the main character, being twenty four. Whilst it's billed as New Adult, and it does fit that age category, it also fits the bill for adult chick-lit. I'm a fan of that genre so I easily fell into the story and the style of writing. As soon as I started reading it I could picture it in my head as a film so if you love your rom-coms then this book is for you!

When I started this book I instantly loved the relationship between Megan and Ben. They have this undeniable chemistry and more importantly they share a brilliant sense of humour. Instantly I was invested in their relationship and I couldn't wait to see their story play out. It's a pretty intense and passionate relationship at times and there were plenty of steamy scenes to get your teeth stuck into and a fair few heated arguments. Not once did I feel it was an unhealthy relationship though which made such a nice change. These guys are just in a really challenging situation. They've been friends for years and crossing that boundary has thrown their feelings all over the place.

I really loved the two of them as characters as well. Megan has always been quite sensible when it comes to previous relationships and has always had steady boyfriends. Her relationship with Ben sees her being a bit more laid back and relaxed, but I loved that she sticks to her principles. Ben has a history of being a bit of a womaniser which usually would probably put me off, but I actually really liked him. I think everyone has a turning point in their life and this was Ben's.

The plot revolves around Megan and Ben's friends getting married, and it made for a great backdrop to their own problems. There was romance in the air and you could see how everyone was taking a look at their own love lives and comparing it to the soon-to-be husband and wife.  The wedding is taking place in Costa Rica and that made a fantastic setting for the book. It made me want to be reading Between Friends out on a beach somewhere in the sun! I'd definitely recommend it as a holiday read.

There was the perfect mix of humour and drama throughout the story. I loved how much of a bridezilla Jessica was as she prepares for her big day. I was giggling away at some of her crazy demands! And there were plenty of friendship crises and secrets coming out to keep me on the edge of my seat. I really loved the group of friends that take centre stage and how there's all these different dramas going on with each of them.

There were only a few niggles for me with Between Friends and that was mainly grammatical errors dotted throughout the book. I have no idea whether these have been corrected since I downloaded my copy. I hope they have! But things like "eww" being spelt as "ewe" and "aww" as "awe" just kept popping up and distracting me a little bit.

Overall Between Friends was a sweet, fun read that I'd recommend to chick-lit fans as the perfect read for the summer months. I shall carry on dreaming of there being a film of it one day because I know it would be exactly my kind of thing!

Rating: 4*
Books like this: The Edge of Never by J. A. Redmerski, Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding

Review: Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

Note: This book is New Adult and will contain themes that may not be suitable for younger readers. For more information on New Adult and my policy on reviewing it, please read this post. Thank you!

Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

Author: Colleen Hoover Website|Twitter
Published: 17th December 2012
Format: Kindle e-book
Pages: 486
Buy the paperback: Amazon
Buy the e-book: Kindle|Kobo

Source: Bought

Plot Summary (from Goodreads):
Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies…

That’s what seventeen-year-old Sky realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she’s never had before. He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of just one encounter, and something about the way he makes her feel sparks buried memories from a past that she wishes could just stay buried.

Sky struggles to keep him at a distance knowing he’s nothing but trouble, but Holder insists on learning everything about her. After finally caving to his unwavering pursuit, Sky soon finds that Holder isn’t at all who he’s been claiming to be. When the secrets he’s been keeping are finally revealed, every single facet of Sky’s life will change forever.

My Review:
I bought this book a while ago when it was on sale for Kindle, and when I decided to take part in the NA readathon this was the book that was top of my list! Hopeless follows Sky as she starts public school for the first time. There she must deal with her dubious reputation and the attentions of Dean Holder.

So here we go*sigh*. I didn't like this book. This review is going to be hard to write because Hopeless got me really fired up, but for all the wrong reasons. I'd heard really good things and the Goodreads ratings I'd seen were great, but even within a few chapters of this book it was really starting to go wrong for me.

The problem was the love story between Sky and Holder. They first meet in a supermarket where they then have a thirty second interaction in a car park. This is the spark of things and, for me, it was ridiculous. It was already hard enough for me to believe in this instant attraction Sky has to Holder, but it's pointed out repeatedly that Sky has real problems when it comes to liking guys. In the past she's always felt "numb" when making out with guys and apparently even questioned her sexuality because of it. But then apparently thirty seconds with Holder is enough to cure of her of that?! I didn't buy it. It wasn't until a third of the way into the book when the two of them actually sit down and have a conversation to get to know each other. It needed to be wayyy earlier for me to be able to buy into their relationship.

Then there's Holder himself. I did not like him. One bit. Sky quickly finds out he has a bad reputation, something which doesn't appear to but her off. But what really killed it for me was how much time Holder spends stalking Sky. He reads her ID and then shows up her house, then asks to go running with her in a situation where she can't really say no. Oh and he goes from bunking off school to turning up just to see Sky. This is all when the two of them barely know each other and when Sky is clearly uncomfortable around him.

That wasn't the only thing about Holder that rang major alarm bells for me. At one point Sky admits to being scared of him which is just a no-no. Why is she still with him?! It's not a good example and it's not the type of relationship that should be glamourised in books. Hopeless makes it seem like it's a perfectly acceptable way to be treated, when in fact Sky should be running in the opposite direction to Holder as fast as she possibly can.

There's all these flashbacks throughout Hopeless that hint at some things in Sky's past that she can't fully remember. Even when this information was revealed, it wasn't enough to win me around. I actually disliked large parts of these plot twists. The stuff from Sky's past is pretty dark, and she's been through a lot of abusive situations. I don't have a problem generally with books that tackle abuse and it's not a subject matter that puts me off, but there were parts I just could not take seriously because of all the other stuff going on in the book that was making me rage. The problem for me was that the book has been set out as this intense romance from the beginning and the bits in the second half could probably have potential if the romance with Holder hadn't taken centre stage. I could probably have gotten on board if the story solely focused on the relationship between Sky and her adoptive mother Karen. There's a good story there but it's clouded by everything else.

I also had issues with the twists and the way information was revealed, because Holder ends up with all this knowledge about certain things and then uses it to hold power over Sky - another thing I found horribly unhealthy about their relationship. As the relationship continues there were more red flags. Holder becomes jealous and possessive and then Sky starts becoming completely dependent on him. He's making her miserable yet she's convinced herself that he is the only good thing and he's the one thing that makes her happy etc. It worried me and made Sky come across as this weak little thing who will do anything Holder wishes. I wanted to scream.

The only character I really liked - Sky's new friend Breckin - barely got any notice or development. And Sky's best friend Six spends practically the whole book out of the country so we don't get much from that friendship. (What we did get bugged me because the two girls spend the whole time calling each other slut, and then complain when they get taunted at school for being called sluts.)

What I can say about Hopeless is that the writing wasn't bad. If the author wrote a book that wasn't romance based I might consider reading it. The way the book was set out with flashbacks from Sky's past would have worked if I wasn't so enraged by everything else. It's not often a book makes me angry and sadly Hopeless did just that. It wasn't for me.

Rating: 1.5*
What to read next: Losing Hope by Colleen Hoover

Books like this: Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Review: Stitch by Samantha Durante

 Stitch by Samantha Durante

Author: Samantha Durante Website|Twitter
Published: 30 July 2012
Format: Kindle e-book
Pages: 326
Buy the paperback: Amazon
Buy the e-book: Kindle|Smashwords

Source: Kindle freebie

Plot Summary (from Goodreads):
Her heart races, her muscles coil, and every impulse in Alessa's body screams at her to run... but yet she's powerless to move.

Still struggling to find her footing after the sudden death of her parents, the last thing college freshman Alessa has the strength to deal with is the inexplicable visceral pull drawing her to a handsome ghostly presence. In between grappling with exams and sorority soirees - and disturbing recurring dreams of being captive in a futuristic prison hell - Alessa is determined to unravel the mystery of the apparition who leaves her breathless. But the terrifying secret she uncovers will find her groping desperately through her nightmares for answers.

My Review:
This was another book I'd had on my Kindle for a while and ended up saving for the NA readathon. I was particularly interested in this one because it was billed as dystopia which is one of my favourite genres! And a lot of NA seems to be contemporary. Stitch follows Alessa, a college student struggling to focus on her studies because of the presence of a ghost who keeps appearing around her. Determined to get to the bottom of things, she starts researching the house she lives in and discovers more than she bargained for.

The start of Stitch certainly intrigued me. I liked the college setting and seeing how Alessa is adapting to life as a college student. She's living in her sorority house which I thought was a great environment for the story to take place in. It felt very much like a paranormal story during the beginning of the book. The only out-of-the-ordinary thing you see going on is this ghost that keeps popping up around Alessa. I was definitely grabbed by the concept, and how she seemed to be having feelings projected onto her by the ghost.

I felt the writing was a little clunky at first and so I struggled a bit with that. I think it was a case of a bit too much telling and not enough showing. In the opening chapters I thought there could have been more dialogue. There was a lot of exposition about Alessa and her life which went on for a while and I found my attention wandering slightly and hoping something exciting was coming up. I soon got used to the style and found the writing definitely improved throughout the book.

Stitch is mainly told from Alessa's POV but a little way into the story it shifts to Isaac's perpective; the mysterious ghost Alessa has been witnessing. I really enjoyed seeing the story from his angle as it certainly added more mystery to the whole thing! This is where the book took a bit of a genre twist and started feeling a bit more sci-fi. There's talk of time travel which I found really interesting and those bits of the story had me hooked.

It's about two thirds of the way into Stitch, however, when things take a huge turn. Talk about a plot twist! It's going to make the rest of the review very hard to write because I couldn't possibly give anything away, but that's when the book started to feel like the dystopia I was expecting. The second half of the book was definitely my favourite and had some brilliant ideas and great twists and conspiracies.

The problem I had with that plot twist was that it made Stitch feel like two books rather than one. The first and second half are so different that at times they just felt like completely separate stories. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if the first half had been cut down significantly and you'd got to the twist sooner, because once you got there, a lot of the beginning became insignificant, or so I felt.

It's tough to talk about the characters without giving too much away, but I really liked Alessa as a main character, and I enjoyed learning more about Isaac and her friend Janie. Getting all of their backstory in the second half of the book was really enjoyable. I think the only problem I had in their development was that there were several moments where things were explained too quickly, through regained memories that were a little bit convenient. As a reader I found it hard to jump on board with things the characters were so fast to accept.

Stitch is definitely like no book I've read, and if you're looking for a different approach to NA (i.e not a contemporary romance and no sex!) then this is the perfect book to try out the category. It was a fascinating concept and the plot twist still has me reeling! I think because this was the first book in the series there's a lot of potential for future books. Now the world has been established it's certainly one I'm intrigued to know more about. There are a lot of things that were just touched upon in Stitch that I look forward to discovering more of in future books. The cliffhanger ending really had me wanting to carry on. I think there are some great ideas there, I just struggled with the way they were executed sometimes.

Rating: 3*
What to read next: Shudder by Samantha Durante is the next book in the trilogy
Books like this: Hope's Daughter by Melanie Cusick-Jones, Swipe by Evan Angler

NA Readathon Mini-Challenge: Rewrite the Synopsis

Today is the last day of the New Adult Readathon, something I've thoroughly enjoyed taking part in! Today's mini-challenge is hosted over at A Daydreamer's Thoughts. The idea is to rewrite a synopsis of an NA book. I decided to pick Between Friends by Amanda Cowen as it was the final book I finished in the readathon.

Original Synopsis:

The only way to have a friend is to be one…especially between the sheets…

When neurotically challenged and unlucky in love Megan Daniels, is propositioned by her life-long friend Ben Romano with a coin toss (heads, they sleep together, tails they don’t) the night before they are about to attend a destination wedding, she drunkenly accepts his challenge. But when Megan wakes up the next morning with a bad hang-over and Ben in her bed, she is more than mortified. It isn’t until the tropical heat begins to ignite emotions Megan never ever believed she could possibly have, that she starts to question if risking their friendship is the answer to finding true love.

My Synopsis:

Ben and Megan have always been friends. But what happens when they cross that line? 

Sunny Costa Rica awaits as the pair head off for their close friends' wedding, but what will they discover once they arrive? Can they stay just friends or will the romance in the air sweep them away? 

A tale of friendship and romance, this book will appeal to chick-lit and rom-com fans alike. Get lost in Ben and Megan's story.

NA Readathon Mini-Challenge: Cover Redesign

This week I've been taking part in the NA readathon and today's mini-challenge hosted by Big Book Little Book is to redesign an NA cover. Now, I'm not artistic in any way and the only thing I have at my disposal on my laptop right now is MS Paint, so you shall have to forgive my shoddy attempt! But this was good fun.

For the redesign I chose One Week by Nikki Van De Car

Original:

Redesign:

I liked the image of the map so wanted to get that in in some way (as it's a road trip novel!) and managed to keep some good old fashioned hand-holding. But I don't think I'll have anyone knocking on my door asking me to do cover designing anytime soon ;)

For more about the NA Readathon visit BookishTreasures and A Daydreamer's Thoughts. And thanks to Big Book Little Book for hosting this challenge!

Image source: Map, Holding Hands

New Adult Readathon: Update and Goals

This week the New Adult Readathon hosted by Bookish Treasures and A Daydreamer's Thoughts is taking place. I've been really looking forward to this one because my Kindle is jam packed with NA titles I've been dying to read and this gives me the perfect excuse! This post is a day late because I had a blog tour post yesterday, but I'll try and post throughout the week.

 Goals:

My aim is to read 2-3 books. I have a busy week so I'm not sure how many I'll manage, so that seems like an achievable target!

Possible reads:

Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

Between Friends by Amanda Cowen

Freshman Forty by Christine Duval

April Showers by Karli Perrin

Shattered Promises by Jessica Sorensen

Stitch by Samantha Durante

Rocked Under by Cora Hawkes

Vampire University by V. J Erickson

Little White Lies by Erin Lawless

Obviously there's a lot more on the list than I'll actually manage to read, but I wanted to have a good selection to choose from. I've included a few non-contemps as well in case I feel I need a switch of genre!

I'll update this post as I go along, as well as linking to any of the mini-challenges I manage to take part in.

Update 1: 23rd July

I'm currently reading Hopeless by Colleen Hoover which I started yesterday, and I'm having mixed feelings. I don't like Holder which I think is going to affect how I feel about the rest of the book. We'll see!

Update 2: 23rd July
I finished Hopeless and did not like it. Oh dear! Well onto the next one... I'm now reading Stitch by Samantha Durante. Looking forward to getting stuck in! The premise seems really interesting so far.

Update 3: 25th July
So yesterday was crazy busy so I didn't get a lot read! I did cheat a bit because I had a library book due back I needed to finish so I had to dive back into that. But now it's done and I'm free to get back to Stitch!

Update 4: 27th July
I've finished Stitch! Still getting my head around it because it was like no book I've ever read. Now onto Between Friends by Amanda Cowen!

Update: 29th July
Well the readathon is over and I've had such a good time! Plus I managed to finish Between Friends yesterday which brings my total up to three books. I'm so happy! I'm glad I got to take part in some mini challenges as well. See my cover redesign here and my synopsis rewrite here. Thanks to Faye and Laura for hosting a great event!

New Adult Readathon

I just discovered the NA readathon which is being hosted by Laura at BookishTreasures and Faye at A Daydreamers Thoughts. I've read a few NA novels and loved them, plus it's a category I really want to explore more because I fit into the age range myself. I have quite a collection of NA titles building on my Kindle so what a great way to get through them?

For more info about the readathon visit this post. It runs from the 22nd - 28th July which gives me plenty of time to organise my reading and get some other books out the way first!

Below is a list of NA books I have on my Kindle that I'll be aiming to read when the readathon comes around. (Of course I'll probably end up acquiring more between now and then!) If you have any suggestions for which ones I should bump to the top of the list then let me know in the comments!

Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

Freshman Forty by Christine Duval

Rocked Under by Cora Hawkes

Shattered Promises by Jessica Sorenson

Ember X by Jessica Sorenson

Between Friends by Amanda Cowen

Stitch by Samantha Durante

HDU by India Lee

The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic

Uncovering Kaitlyn by Emma Jane

Beyond Parallel by Matthew Turner

Translation of Love by Alice Montavlo-Tribue

I can't wait to take part!