Review: When in Paris... by Beverley Kendall

Genre: Young-Adult
Series: Language of Love #1
Published: Jan 4, 2013 | Season Publishing
Format: ebook | Purchased
Buy: Amazon | B&N

College freshman Olivia Montgomery is thrilled at the chance to start over, escape the rumors that plagued her in high school. And she can finally put her juvenile crush, Zachary Pearson, where he belongs--in her past. Then her unrequited love strolls into her French class, shattering Olivia's newfound peace, and the feelings she'd thought buried for good come rushing back. Now she can't shake her unwanted attraction to the one guy who can twist her stomach into knots with just a smile...but has never given her the time of day.

Zach's good looks may have always gotten him his pick of girls, but it's the star quarterback's skill on the football field that gives him his pick of the Big Ten colleges. To escape the crushing demands of his win-at-all-costs father, Zach opts for a private university in upstate New York where...his present and past collide. And the one girl he's always wanted but can't have--and a class trip to Paris--turn out to be the ultimate game changer that has him breaking every one of his rules.

The book starts in French class when Olivia Montgomery locks eyes with Zachary Pearson her longtime high school crush.  Unbeknownst to Olivia, Zach also shares the same attraction but was giving her the cold/cool attitude because he couldn't act on his feelings.  Apparently, Olivia's mother had an affair with his uncle which resulted in divorce.  As a result, he was trying to deny his attraction to her and was pretty much indifferent.  Their friendship started when April, Olivia's best friend invited her to have dinner with another friend Troy, Zach's roommate.  April and Troy try to match them up together as it was pretty much obvious that they had something going on.  So starts the love/hate relationship between the two.  A field trip to Paris changes everything and they become intimate; with Olivia thinking that they are a couple and Zach thinking that it is only a friends-with-benefits thing.  Things blow up when they return to school when Olivia finds out that Zach is not serious with her coupled with the fact that Zach's crazy ex Ashley, keeps on calling him.  They do not talk for a while until Ashley appears in Olivia's dorm and collapses, resulting in a 911 call, which reveals all.   Zach still had been communicating with Ashley because she had suicidal tendencies and he could not, in his good conscience, not talk to her.  Olivia understands and Zach talks to Ashley's parents and says that he does not want to be involved with her anymore.  The parents agree and said that they will get help for her.  Olivia and Zach go home together and officially start their new relationship.

When in Paris... is a new genre for me - YA/Chic-Lit type.  I am actually surprised that I liked it.  Olivia and Zach really had an explosive relationship with a lot of sexual tension.  Another thing that I liked about the book was the  first-person telling of the story.  I especially like that Ms. Kendall wrote Zach's POV and I loved getting a feel of his thoughts and feelings.  His POV is also realistically male.

Olivia and Zach are a perfect match, I thought.  I love how both of them don't really know each other appart from what they assume what each other is until they got to know each other.  Their relationship progresses in a way that is slow but building up to love.  I have to admit, this sort of sounds like my love story (LOL).  

One thing that I did not like about it is that the ebook had flourishes in between Olivia's POV and Zach's POV that it cut of a few words.  I hate it when this happens, although I know it is not Ms. Kendall's fault.  This is a peeve of mine and I just have to say this.  Another thing that I thought could have been explored was Olivia finding out about her mom's relationship with his uncle.  It was not actually mentioned in the book but was implied that Olivia is mad with her mother and her is father living in an apartment.  I thought that there should have been more emphasis on this because I think this should have been the major problem and not about Ashley.  Although Ashley had a integral role in their relationship, I thought it was not a really big enough impact overall.

My Rating: 4 Stars

Heat Level: 2

Review: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Isabella Swan's move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Isabella's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Isabella, the person Edward holds most dear. The lovers find themselves balanced precariously on the point of a knife-between desire and danger.Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight captures the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This is a love story with bite.

What more is there to say about Stephenie Meyer's Twilight? I understand that it is a very popular book but this book didn't capture me as it should have.

I struggled while reading this book. First of, I didn't really get the obsessive love/relationship Bella had with Edward. The times that Edward was watching Bella while sleeping without her knowing really creeped me out. I thought it wasn't very romantic (although some might view it as romantic) and it felt stalker-ish. Next, I hated that these breed of vampires glittered in the sunlight. This really re-wrote the vampire lore that I just could not accept. I mean, how scary can a vampire be if he only GLITTERS in sunlight?  No.  Vampires burn and turn to ash.  Period.  Lastly, I just did not get Bella's attitude towards her friends. Not spending time with them and devoting all her time to her new boyfriend is not a good thing to write in a book meant for teens.  Teen angst and social pressure notwithstanding; I think it is just giving teens (and adults, for that matter) that obsessive love is good.  Which is not. IMHO.

I have to admit though, that Bella and Edward did have chemistry together. I felt that their first meeting was electric, and their second meeting was like "love at second sight." I appreciated the inner struggle that Edward had to go through and his hesitance to be with Bella. It does help that I read Midnight Sun, based on Edward's point of view, that was leaked before it was even released.  That made me understand his inner struggle with his attraction to Bella.

I gave this book 3 stars because I thought it had some promise but the glittering and the attitude of the characters just ruined it for me.

I have also read the other 3 books in this series.  May or may not be reviewed.

 

Rating: 3

Heat Level: 1

Review: Vampire Mine by Kerrelyn Sparks

Nothing on earth can make this vampire fall in love . . .

After 499 years of existence, Connor Buchanan has arrived at an inescapable conclusion: he is a cold-hearted SOB. He's been watching his friends—those poor romantic fools—plummet off the cliff into love like a dazed herd of sheep. But not Connor. He knows that love leads to nothing but heartache.

Until Marielle . . .

She is an angel cast down from heaven for disobedience. Trapped in mortal form, she finds a protector in Connor, a Scottish vampire haunted by a dark past. Marielle hopes to heal his broken heart and earn her way back home, but suddenly she has these . . . feelings. This strange yet pleasant physical yearning—for a vampire! Is this the work of a demon luring her into hell, or has this angel found heavenly bliss?

This book is the first one that I read in the series and I am now reading the back list! I had heard a lot about the Love at Stake Series but as I am not that fond of Paranormal Romance, I decided to skip it. However, I met Kerrelyn Sparks at the RT Booklovers Book Fair in Los Angeles in April and I got a signed copy of this book just for the heck of it.

I started reading this when I got home and I could not put it down! I enjoyed the sparks that flew between Connor and Marielle! And just imagine my surprise when I read that Marielle was a Fallen Angel and she was falling in love with a Vampire!
I did cringe at some parts where I thought the curse words were inappropriate especially when they were said in front of Marielle. However, I guess I could excuse this because Connor is a vampire? *shrugs* I did like how the author weaved in a few positive spiritual elements all throughout the story however, I thought the sex scene between Connor and Marielle was a bit awkward or I just felt awkward reading that part. I guess I was just thinking how unlikely an Angel and a Vampire having sex is.

Another element that I love about this book is the way the previous characters were weaved into the story. I love reading about the other characters and now that I am reading the back list, I am appreciating this even more.

 

Rating: 4 Stars

Heat Level: 4

Review: Vanish by Sophie Jordan

An impossible romance.

Bitter rivalries.

Deadly choices.

To save the life of the boy she loves, Jacinda did the unthinkable: She betrayed the most closely-guarded secret of her kind. Now she must return to the protection of her pride knowing she might never see Will again—and worse, that because his mind has been shaded, Will’s memories of that fateful night and why she had to flee are gone.

 

Back home, Jacinda is greeted with hostility and must work to prove her loyalty for both her sake and her family’s. Among the few who will even talk to her are Cassian, the pride’s heir apparent who has always wanted her, and her sister, Tamra, who has been forever changed by a twist of fate. Jacinda knows that she should forget Will and move on—that if he managed to remember and keep his promise to find her, it would only endanger them both. Yet she clings to the hope that someday they will be together again. When the chance arrives to follow her heart, will she risk everything for love?

 

Disappointment does not begin to cover what I felt when I read the sequel to Firelight. I just could not get the love triangle between Jacinda, Will and Cassian.  I just wanted to hit Jacinda in the head. So much so that I just could not finish this book!  I didn't even flip ahead to see how the whole book ended!  I just thought it was so ridiculous for Jacinda to be flirting with these two guys when she was already in love with Will!  Agh!To top it all off, she goes and runs away to Will, who seems to NOT care how she feels and gets caught by Will's dad with Cassian's sister (I forgot her name)!  That was it for me and I just had to stop.

 

A good thing about it was that I did like that Tamra is now a Draki but this still does not make up for the whole love triangle.  I cannot fault Tamra's attitude when she found out that she is now a Draki. It was in the first book how she was treated because she wasn't a shifter, how out of place she was in their "tribe."  I also didn't feel that

 

Rating: DNF

Heat Level: 1