Friday, February 25, 2022

REVIEW and GIVEAWAY for The Difference Between Somehow and Someway by Aly Martinez



The world gave me everything.

After surviving a plane crash, I was lucky to be alive. It was a harsh truth, but one that changed my perspective on how fragile life could be.

So when a fellow survivor caught my eye, I owed it to myself to take a chance and follow my heart.

Bowen Michaels was guarded and broody, but I saw through his well-formed armor. Much like me, he was broken and lost, but together we found our way through the darkness.

For a brief moment, wrapped in his arms, it felt like maybe he was right about fate and we’d been destined to find each other all along.

But when buried secrets of the past erupt, igniting us both, it was hard to believe we’d been fated for anything other than failure.

The world gave me everything.
And then it took it all away.


REVIEW: 4 heart screeching stars
"Who knew that utter joy and the darkest sorrow could exist in the same moment?"

Sooo, I guess - what? I just sit and wait another month? Twiddle my fingers? Oh dear, this is going to be a long month. A very painful, long month.

Dammit Aly...

To be honest, I don’t know whether I’m sad, mad, or ready to start punching someone!!! What a messed up ending. My heart can only be pulled in so many directions!! OMGosh, seriously....I'm flexing my fingers, crackin' knuckles - because I am more antsy after this cliffhanger than I was after the first one. 

Watching Bowen and Remi maneuver through this new reality they find themselves in was both painful and intriguing to watch unfold. Bowen’s determination is beyond compare. His love for her? His deep, undeniable love for her is no match for any truths they don't see coming and I feel like he's going to be the rock she so desperately will need. He’s determined and resolute. He knows what he wants, and he’ll move Heaven and Hell to get there. I simultaneously felt bad and loved him even more with every page I turned. He’s an amazing man. He really, truly is. 

I'm sad because the wait is going to be really tough - that's no lie. I'm wholly invested in their story and really want everything to work out. I sit squarely on the lap of Bowen (with a smile?) that FATE is an all knowing miracle and I feel just as he does about it, so this one is such an easy read to follow with my heart and soul.

I'm mad because that twist wasn't my favorite - but it certainly gave me some hindsight into some of the things said and done over these last few books, but it kind of snuck up on me too - and I liked that part a lot. But that ending made it that much more difficult to tell myself to hurry up and wait. Because now I want to punch someone seriously hard. HARD.

Remi is so damn strong, but I cannot honestly put myself in her shoes because what a helluva way to have your world implode. If you've already read book one - you will know the turmoil she's going through in this book, and that's not anything easy to figure out on a good day, let alone a bad day. If you haven't, you might be saving yourself some heartache! HAHAHA! I am seriously sitting here with my head swirling with possibilities and wondering how Bowen is going to handle this all. INVESTED, I TELL YA!!!

While this book ended on the kind of cliffhanger I thought it would, I’m anxious to read the rest of this story. Is it predictable? No! Gosh, no. The amount of story she has looped in between the drama and the actions that are pushing this book forward allows for me to fall deeper in love with Bowen and Remi and their entire predicament. It's a love worth fighting for, but the fight is going to be more tragic than I think we all know.

But I will end with this...I am literally hanging off the proverbial cliff. 

"The truth felt like a bullet as it landed squarely in my chest."
~BEE




Start with the first book....

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOMEBODY AND SOMEONE

The world owes you nothing.

It took losing the woman I loved and facing the paralyzing task of moving on without her for me to truly understand that.

Consumed by regret and razor-sharp memories, I’d resigned myself to a life of loneliness until a survivor from the same plane crash that took my fiancée stormed into my life.

Remi Grey was chaos and sunshine, fire and freedom. With her in my arms, I began to believe that fate had other plans for me.

But as secrets of the past exploded around us, it seemed the only thing fated about our relationship was that I had been destined to lose her from the start.

The world owes you nothing. But for Remi, I would risk it all. No matter the cost.





~MEET ALY MARTINEZ~

Born and raised in Savannah, Georgia, Aly Martinez is a stay-at-home mom to four crazy kids under the age of five- including a set of twins. Currently living in Chicago, she passes what little free time she has reading anything and everything she can get her hands on, preferably with a glass of wine at her side.
After some encouragement from her friends, Aly decided to add “Author” to her ever-growing list of job titles. So grab a glass of Chardonnay, or a bottle if you’re hanging out with Aly, and join her aboard the crazy train she calls life.

~CONNECT WITH ALY~

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Tuesday, February 8, 2022

BOOK REVIEW and SIGNED PAPERBACK GIVEAWAY for Tattered Stars by Catherine Cowls



Be brave. Just for sixty seconds. Twenty breaths.

One night changed them both forever.

Their lives shattered, beyond repair, with jagged edges and pieces askew.

Now, Everly has a chance to make things right. To bring healing to the place where everything fell apart. But it means facing the family her father almost destroyed, and the boy with the dark eyes—now grown—who still haunts her dreams.

Just one breath away from having your life ripped out from under you.

The last thing Hayes wants is another reminder of all the ways he failed sixteen years ago. When Everly drives back into Wolf Gap, his only mission is to get her to leave. For his family’s sake, and for his own, those demons need to stay buried for good.

But everything about this woman is a surprise, from her spine of steel to the sanctuary she hopes to create with the land her mother left behind. And Hayes is powerless to stay away.

As a careful friendship sparks into something more, someone watches. And they’ll do anything to tear it all apart…


REVIEW: 3 STARS....explained.
"You're my resting place."

THIS will simultaneously be the easiest and hardest review to write. Easiest because it's Catherine and apart from my issues with this book, she's one of the best authors I routinely and continually read. Time and time again, I pick her up and read her with a smile on my face, and I will continue to do that. I recommend her whole-heartedly and rave about her stories in groups and on my page. She has always given me a whirlwind romance with its own trials and tribulations, but a romance that is undeniable and hard fought. Usually, one worthy of all the smiles.

I love how encompassing her stories are. She’s very descriptive and she always includes scenes that have all of the necessary points talking points that allow me to draw the picture in my head of everything going on. She just provides excellent visuals with her words and it’s amazing because I feel like I’m smelling the flowers and seeing the sky at night with the stars peeking out. She’s just amazing at what she does. 

Hardest because this one wasn't my favorite book of hers....sadly. I'm actually kinda heartbroken about this one. Why is this not a favorite? It had excellent writing - as usual, but unfortunately, it was extremely predictable and repetitive. If you've read any of her other books, you will see all the same sorts of drama (shootings, fires, kidnappings, etc) that I was hoping she would have strayed away from in this newest series. I remember when I was reading Beautifully Broken Redemption and had hoped she'd leave the exact same type of stories and give us something different. Sadly, she did not. 

Again - let me stress that she delivered her feel-good, down-home, small town romance with great characters and the start to this series opened the door to more stories coming - which, despite how I feel about this repetitive suspense angle, I still want to and will read. I stated in my Facebook post that this was signature Catherine Cowles - and it was. The exact same as every other book of hers, unfortunately - but signature: amazingly well written. Just....the same.

"You helped me find my peace."

Ok. Moving beyond this - let me chat about this book. I will admit that I originally struggled with Hayes' adult anger when I feel, as adults, rationalization (especially as you get older) should technically open your eyes to unknown variables originally missed with a young experience. Especially with the career he's in! But, we all know emotions can play dirty tricks on our minds. Understanding his pain is one thing, justifying it is another. But, lo and behold, his mother comes in to smack him around!!! HAHAHA! I loved his mother!! She was such a great description of a typical mom - making sure you mind your P's and Q's, while also understanding the role of the Master Worrier. Because, obviously, that's what we do best. But overall, Hayes was an easy character to like. He wasn't really all that deep, and feeling a connection sometimes felt a little forced in a few scenes, but he was an easy smile after it was all said and done.

I always have and always will struggle with stories about families that hinder, abuse, or otherwise act exceptionally cruel - above and beyond anything fathomable. It just really turns me off. I understand hating your parents. I understand not getting along with brothers and sisters. I get it all. But sometimes it goes way too far. And sometimes, you have a storyline that actually encompasses it reasonably well into the narrative. This one, it shared an angering but knowing "realism" to the family Everly was a part of, and I've seen it in my local community. So this being a local author, with a local small town, with a local world - it hit home for me about Everly's family. Her uncle was a certified jerk and clearly her family was a little out there, but Everly was a product of this way of life but she was definitely a special one. She was a brave and strong young lady with a bold temperament. She had her moments when I yelled at her (I'm sure she heard me through my kindle) to take the protection she so clearly needed, no matter how stubborn she wanted to be. But we've moved on and we are friends again. 😂 

It makes me giggle because I look at my little town here in Oregon — just like Catherine’s little town in Oregon, and I understand the 45 minute drive to a hospital, and I understand local hunting spots, and I understand mom and pop stores, and I understand the the visual of your nearest neighbor being 3 acres away. It made me smile, it made me reminisce, it just made me remember home where I grew up.

I think the potential of this being ruined for me was the realization and actual mind-wandering I did and me questioning whether this was actually an opportunistic crime (thanks for the word, Hayes) versus it being someone close to them (again) doing something so atrocious that it has the potential to cause irreparable damage. Aaaand...yeah. 😞

MY BIGGEST COMPLAINT: It was frustratingly repetitive. I felt like I was just sitting there, waiting for the ball to drop - for something to happen, for the known drama to start, and I just knew it was going to sound "familiar" to other stories of hers. And it did. The same type of drama as every other book graced the pages of this one - however, still written to precision and perfection. Descriptive, wonderful, beautifully told. Just the same. story. again. and. again. So it’s almost like I’m holding my breath, knowing something's coming, and then just waiting for the rest of the story to play out. I feel like the part of me that knows what's going to happen takes away from discovering the journey because I'm super bummed about the same exact drama, story after story. I’m sad to say that as good as her writing is, it’s repetitive and formulaic. I know how good she is. I love how good she is. I’ve read every single book, and I know that she can tell a story and give me characters worth falling in love with. But I’m struggling that they all have the same exact strife and actions to "overcome" to get their HEA. I’m struggling knowing that there’s going to be some dramatic separation between the main characters that’s going to cause an emotional reaction and it’s going to drive the two together. I’m just...sad. I wanted more because I know she can write more. I was hoping for less drama/more contemporary love story from her instead of a regurgitation of her other stories. Well written, but still a regurgitation. But I'll stand by my exclamation that she's an amazing author. Because she is. Amazing.

Darnit, I think I'm done complaining now. Again.

Five star, excellent-perfection in Catherine Cowles' writing, but two subpar stars for repetition of plot.

"I need to remember that I'm alive, and I haven't lost you."
~BEE


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~MEET CATHERINE COWLES~
Writer of words. Drinker of Diet Cokes. Lover of all things cute and furry, especially her dog. Catherine has had her nose in a book since the time she could read and finally decided to write down some of her own stories. When she's not writing she can be found exploring her home state of Oregon, listening to true crime podcasts, or searching for her next book boyfriend.

~FOLLOW CATHERINE~

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