JUST MY LUCK BY ADELE PARKS

Rating: 3.5 stars

Goodreads Description:

It's the stuff dreams are made of – a lottery win so big, it changes everything.

For fifteen years, Lexi and Jake have played the same six numbers with their friends, the Pearsons and the Heathcotes. Over dinner parties, fish & chip suppers and summer barbecues, they've discussed the important stuff – the kids, marriages, jobs and houses – and they've laughed off their disappointment when they failed to win anything more than a tenner.

But then, one Saturday night, the unthinkable happens. There's a rift in the group. Someone doesn't tell the truth. And soon after, six numbers come up which change everything forever.

Lexi and Jake have a ticket worth £18 million. And their friends are determined to claim a share of it.

Review:

Two beautiful children. Wonderful well-loved jobs. A weekly lottery syndicate with their closest friends. Life couldn't get much better for Lexi and Jake.

Every week for the past fifteen years, they get together with their friends to put in for the same numbers in the lottery in the hopes of one day winning big. However, one night their friends conclude that they're ready to call it quits and drop out of the syndicate. Much to Lexi's confusion and concern that the decade-long friendships they've cultivated are also coming to a close.

Yet she continues to buy a ticket the next week for old time's sake - lo and behold, her numbers come up!

Lexi and Jake are millionaires! Their family is swimming in gold, their children dressed to the nines in Prada, Tom Ford and Balenciaga whilst Jake motors around in a flashy Ferrari. Life could not be better!

Little did they know that the people they considered their friends would be the ones not to celebrate with them over their win but instead try to claim the winnings as their own.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

Just My Luck seems like an easy-going, fun read about the life of lottery winners to begin with, but antics shortly ensue leading to something far worse than Lexi and Jake could ever imagine.

Their little girl is kidnapped.

What follows is a rapid adrenaline-filled chase to find out who kidnapped Emily and make payment of £10 million for her safety.

As bad as it sounds, I thoroughly enjoyed this particular debacle of the story and how it was told from both Lexi and Emily's perspectives; one of a worrying mother who is ready to stop at nothing to get her baby girl back home, the other of a young girl having to fend for not only her own life but that of her newly-discovered baby of whom she is pregnant with during all this.

It's chaotic, gripping, emotionally tormenting and will have you on the edge of your seat much like Lexi as you pray Emily and her baby to survive.

Now, I've heard so many wonderful things previously about Adele Parks' writing, and I must say she lives up to the expectations set. But my, oh my does she know how to write a character that you just want to...URGH.

I'm just going to say it...

Jake. By VERY far is the most disreputable, wicked, lying, disgusting, downright dirtbag I've ever come across in books! At first, he seems so good for Lexi and the kids, happy to live an easy family life but OOOH the dirty bastard he is! 

It just riles me up thinking about him!

Trust me, once you read Just My Luck you'll feel the same.

Lexi. What a woman. Strong and courageous in the face of animosity, a woman who holds her ground, would never let a bad thing happen to her family and holds pride in what she believes to be right. She deserved so much better than Jake.

Emily and Logan are honestly the sweetest children, both happy as can be in their everyday lives and are the two to react in the way of what would be expected if your parents won big in the lottery. Emily shops til she drops, Logan makes new friends - though that's mostly the money doing the talking - and they live life like never before!

Though for Emily it takes a rather twisted turn prior to her kidnapping - yes, this book did her dirty but made up for it by making it such an intense plot point.

Carla and Patrick & Jennifer and Fred, the dynamics in this friendship are put to the test as the couple win big and undoubtedly it brings out the worst in those closest to them.

As the news come to light, the secrets and betrayals come out in this group and this causes greed, jealousy and plenty of back-stabbing to come into play.

I mean c'mon...if you won the lottery, wouldn't you want your friends to be supportive and happy for you?

In terms of the pacing, I won't lie, it was rather slow for the first hundred or so pages. I found it rather difficult to get into.

Don't get me wrong though there were a few moments in the first section that definitely captured my attention but realistically I fell more into the story further in.

As we hit the 180 page mark, the pace really did pick up and I for sure found myself gearing up for pure chaos and an adrenaline rush worth of a page turner! It did not disappoint.

And even through to the climax of the main conflict - with it's respective sub-stories - I was flying through each page right to the end. So overall, a bit of a slow start easing into the story, but the pacing was relatively well done but maybe just not my cup of tea.

A tale of secrets and betrayal, greed and jealousy with families and friendships ripped apart. Adele Parks' Just My Luck brings to life a heightened reality to how money can ruin everything and how one big win can cause a whole world of loss.

A big thank you to Harlequin Australia for sending me an arc of this new release.

If you are interested in picking up this new release by Adele Parks, be sure to check out Just My Luck

Plenty more blogging goodness to follow, but in the meantime be sure to jump on over to my YouTube channel to see what your resident bookworm has been up to!

Think lovely thoughts xo

LOOK FOR ME BY LISA GARDNER

Rating: 4.5 stars

Synopsis:

The home of a family of five is now a crime scene: four of them savagely murdered, one—a sixteen-year-old girl—missing. Was she lucky to have escaped? Or is her absence evidence of something sinister? Detective D. D. Warren is on the case—but so is survivor-turned-avenger Flora Dane. Seeking different types of justice, they must make sense of the clues left behind by a young woman who, whether as victim or suspect, is silently pleading, Look for me.

My Review:

The past two years I have had the privilege of being opened to the world of psychological thriller fiction with the beautifully terrifying writing of Lisa Gardner and her books Right Behind You and Find Her.

Detective D.D. Warren has teamed up with badass survivor Flora Dane for a riveting new investigation into the life of a missing teenage girl. Like in any book written by one of your favourite authors, there is always something about their writing that just hooks you in immediately. I started reading Gardner’s D.D. Warren series on her seventh book into the series, yet it read like a standalone. I was baffled, I felt this guilty urge to go and read all of her other books before reading Find Her, but I didn’t need to. Every book she writes, whether it’s the Detective D.D. Warren series or her Quincy & Rainie series, she always writes in a way where they can be read as standalone adventures. Yes, there are many references to past stories, but it doesn’t leave you confused or feel like you are missing a part of the story.

Gardner certainly knows how to tell a story well and something often seen in her books is multiple perspectives, whether it be from different characters or different moments in time such as past tense reflections. However, in Look For Me, readers are enlightened into the mind of young Roxy Baez through her series of class essays entitled “What is the Perfect Family?”. In these essays, Roxy illustrates for the reader what it was like from the inside of her family, how she became a mother to her siblings and their experiences in a foster home system.

Look For Me is a story of mistakes, revenge, forgiveness and the true meaning of what it is to be a family. There are two really strong themes that Gardner focuses on in Look For Me, survival in a world of social media and how far one may go to stop the toxic cycle that continues to haunt many characters. Survival becomes a large part of Roxy’s part in the novel, whether it be in the foster home, out on the streets or in her family house with an alcoholic mother. In the years following Flora Dane’s escape from Jacob Ness, she becomes a vigilante as such where she starts up a support group for other survivors of kidnappings, predatory attacks or mass shootings. Roxy joins this group through a mutual friend’s recommendation and she learns what to pack if running away, what defence tactics work best and how to escape unscathed.

This new addition to Gardner’s D.D. Warren series isn’t as gruesome or cutthroat as her other books like Find Her but it still can be quite overwhelming as there is a lot going on in D.D. and Flora’s lives outside of the investigation. It certainly brings a large element of reality to the plate with the police procedures, the failure of the foster system and the irreplaceable damage that abuse can do to a family.

Lisa Gardner is a truly fantastic crime author and I highly recommend her books to anyone wanting to dive into crime fiction. If you enjoy books where you feel like you are constantly on the edge of your seat, her book Right Behind You is the book for you! However, if you are more of the grisly, gripping and gruesome, Find Her is one that will have you clawing for air as you turn the final pages.

Think Lovely Thoughts xo

FAKE FIANCÉE BY ILSA MADDEN MILLS

Rating: 5 stars

Goodreads Book Description:

They say nothing compares to your first kiss,

But our first kiss was orchestrated for an audience.

Our second kiss…that one was REAL.

He cradled my face like he was terrified he’d f*ck it up.

He stared into my eyes until the air buzzed.

Soft and slow, full of sighs and little laughs,

He inhaled me like I was the finest Belgian chocolate,

And he'd never get another piece.

A nip of his teeth, his hand at my waist...

And I was lost.

I forgot he was paying me to be his fake fiancée.

I forgot we weren’t REAL.

Our kiss was pure magic, and before you laugh and say those kinds of kisses don’t exist…

Then you’ve never touched lips with Max Kent, the hottest quarterback in college history.

Get ready for breathtaking kisses and dreamy football players…

My Review:

Thank you to TRSOR Promotions for sending me an ARC of Fake Fiancée for review!

WOW. I mean just…WOW. I read this in 3 days and was left utterly speechless with a giant smile and a few tears of joy.

What a perfectly balanced emotional and steamy whirlwind! I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better cheesy adult romance book to land in my hands at more perfect timing!

I’d be completely lying if I were to say I wasn’t planning on hunting down a quarterback with a troubled past and begging to be his fake girlfriend – oops?

I honestly loved everything about Fake Fiancée, the cheesy romance, the gorgeous characters and bonus emotional rollercoaster. I remember when I started this book, I was in a study lesson, about 4 chapters in and I was like: “I should not be reading this in class…but I’ll do it anyway!”

Yep, definitely worth it.

Max is the star quarterback of Leland University and is one of the top contenders to win the prized Heisman Trophy at the end of his senior year. His presence is known on and off the field; almost everywhere he goes football groupies swarm him with pleas to be the next notch on his goal post.

Sunny is the sassy and vibrant art major attending Leland on an art scholarship; She lives next door to Max and she is not very fond of him being an athlete, who of which is on the same team as her douchebag ex-boyfriend. However, as all romance stories go, something changes in the way Sunny sees Max; she decides to give him a chance and agree to be in a fake relationship, soon turning into a fake engagement – much to Sunny’s surprise.

Sunny and Max’s chemistry broke the scale and the indisputable attraction between them was beautifully told. I loved that Max was not an asshole or manwhore, but instead was a sweet, caring, attractive and somewhat cocky man whom I have certainly fallen for.

Fake Fiancée was such an enthralling, beautiful, angst filled romance of which I found incredibly hard to put down. The storyline was very engaging, Max and Sunny’s fast paced story immediately sucked me in, and Ilsa’s storytelling was simply fabulous!

EXCERPT

Max stalked over to the barrier that divided the stands from the football field and jumped it. The fans went nuts as he brushed past them, some not even realizing it until he was down the aisle. The Jumbotron followed him.

“Good Lordy, what’s he doing?” Mimi asked, clutching at her chest.

“I don’t know,” I said rather weakly, taking the chance to study him the closer he came. He was beautiful, his shoulders impossibly broad. To add to the distraction, his helmet was in his hand and all that dark brown hair was flowing around his chiseled features as if he had a fan in his face. My Viking.

“He’s coming over here,” Mimi commented.

He was. But why?

I stopped breathing . . .right when he came to a halt in front of me and knelt down on one knee.

Eyes the color of a wild ocean gazed at me.

He took my left hand in his right one.

“Max,” I breathed, my heart fluttering.

He gazed up at me. “Sunny Blaine, will you marry me?”

The stadium went wild. In a daze, I looked up at the Jumbotron and felt like I was watching this happen to someone else. Camera phones flashed all around us.

My first clear thought was I’ll kill him.

Aloud, nothing came out but a faint wheeze. Clearly someone had stuffed a giant wad of cotton in my mouth. Clearly I needed something a lot stiffer to drink than this Diet Coke. Clearly my fake boyfriend was a freaking raving lunatic.

He sat his helmet on the ground next to my feet, reached inside it and pulled out a small black box.

No, no, no!

The box opened, and my stomach churned at the sight of the large round solitaire diamond ring that was nestled on the black silk. I blinked repeatedly to clear my vision.

With deft fingers, Max eased it out of the lining and slipped it on my left hand.

I stared down at it. Then back at him.

I was going to murder the hottest quarterback in the country.

Kiss her, Kiss her, the crowd chanted.

We were the focal point of the entire world.

Max stood and tugged me up with him until we were standing. He slid his hand around my neck and pulled his face to mine. The sky was blotted out as he kissed me.

But I hadn’t said yes!

I wouldn’t say yes.

Not to a fake engagement.

The applause of the stadium was deafening. And his kiss—it was deadly. Despite my rage, my body craved him. His lips were hot, so hot, and my tongue met his with a vengeance. We kissed hard, and I nipped at him, my teeth scraping across his lips. But the only one who’d end up bleeding in this scenario was me.

He eased back to take me in, and with a final look at my face he gave a thumbs-up sign to the entire stadium. They went nuts, chanting his name.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered in my ear, letting his hand trail down my arm as he stepped back from me. He walked away backward, eyes on me the entire time. The announcers for the game told everyone who might have missed it that Max Kent had just asked his girlfriend to marry him, and she’d said yes. More cheers came as they replayed him on his knee in front of me with a giant YES written across the top.

I plopped back down in my seat. Frozen.

“. . . did you see her face? Shocked . . .”

“. . . most romantic thing in football . . .”

“. . . luckiest girl in the world . . .”

My face went hot. Even my ears burned. I wanted to crawl under a seat.

God.

What a lie.

The half ended and our offense came out to the field, snapped the ball, and Max threw it straight to Tate who ran it in for another touchdown. My chest constricted and anger churned in my gut.

I didn’t care who won.

I hated football right now.

Most of all, I hated Max Kent, and I was going to make him pay.

BUY FAKE FIANCÉE NOW:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2laEuMc

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2lfrSjw

Amazon Paperback:  http://amzn.to/2ldp4TS

Think Lovely Thoughts xo