Quick Sniff Review: TUR by S.T. Bende

Title: Tur

Series: The Elsker Saga #0.5

Author: S.T. Bende

Genre: New Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Mythology

Publisher: S.T. Bende

ASIN: B00K5DRHOE
Release Date: May 5, 2014
Source: Amazon.com
Links: Goodreads  ☆ Amazon

Inga Andersson is the envy of every girl in Asgard. On the surface she has it all -- great friends, a job as Odin’s personal fight choreographer, and a happy ever after with her realm’s hottest assassin. But when evil invades Asgard, her perfect world comes crashing down. Someone is planning to kill off the gods, and Inga’s best friend Ull is first on their list. With the Norse apocalypse a nanosecond away, Inga has to decide how she’ll spend her final moments of freedom. Because from the moment this battle begins, Inga’s happily ever after will be nothing more than a memory.

Some things are worth fighting for.

Inga Andersson has everything a goddess could ask for - a loving husband in Gunnar and a best friend in Ull, who are both among the top warriors of Asgard - except for the job she really wants. She is an accomplished fight choreographer and battle tactician, but she wants to be a warrior - to actually use her strategies herself. When dark elves attack Asgard, Inga sees her opportunity to protect Asgard as well as her best friend, Ull who has become a target himself. But Inga isn't the only one who is getting a raw deal. Ull has retired from fighting, but his grandfather Odin orders him to postpone his duties as God of Winter and take up the mantle of God of War, just for the duration of the battle with the invading dark elves. When all is said and done, Inga is still denied her request for the title of warrior and Odin wants Ull to continue as God of War. Inga suggests to Ull and Gunnar that they go on vacation to Midgard, to get away and wait for Ull's destined soul mate, Kristia Tostenson.

So I am a HUGE fan of S.T. Bende's Elsker Saga, so I was really excited to get the chance to read this prequel. TUR shows us the events that eventually lead to Inga, Gunnar, and Ull coming to Midgard. We see Inga's struggle to be recognized as the warrior that she is and we get to see more of the dynamics of her marriage to Gunnar. We can also see the depth of Ull's loneliness and his hopefullness with the arrival of Kristia in Wales. The end of TUR seriously left me choked up with tears in my eyes. Ull is such a sweetheart and we really see that at the end when he learns when Kristia is arriving. I also loved seeing Inga's love for Ull and her determination to see him with Kristia. Inga and Gunnar are the greatest of friends that Ull could ask for. I just really loved seeing the depths within their relationship. This is a group of friends that I think anyone would hope to have. Inga, Gunnar, and Ull are just awesome and I love them to pieces.

Was this review helpful?

Please vote for it on Amazon!

Just click the button!

Thank you!

Read More

Quick Sniff Review: RED & WOLFE - PART ONE by Ella James

Title: Red & Wolfe - Part 1

Series: Red & Wolfe #1

Author: Ella James

Genre: Adult, Erotica, Contemporary, Romance

Publisher: Barkley's Books
ASIN: B00K90J2MI
Release Date: May 9, 2014
Source: Mark My Words Publicity
Links: Goodreads  ☆ Amazon

When Sarah "Red" Ryder loses her job as an art critic for a Boston newspaper, she's brokenhearted. Worse than that? She's broke. Her boyfriend recently left her, so she's stuck paying her hefty apartment rent alone. After two months unemployed, there's no money left. With no immediate family to turn to, Red reaches out to her estranged grandmother, a reclusive writer living on an island off the coast of Charleston. Several days later, Red receives $30,000 and an invitation to visit.

James Wolfe is not Red's grandmother - but he's the only person waiting for her at the boat dock. Red has something he needs. He won't take "no" for an answer, and he doesn't mind screwing her over to get it. He lost his conscience six years ago, when he went off the grid. Since then, life is about him - and the renowned oil paintings he does under the mysterious pseudonym "W."

Until the moment he sees her. Then Red is all he wants. And Wolfe will have her - any way he can.

Red has just lost her job and her funds are rapidly depleting. She has wanted to contact her grandmother ever since her mother's death, but has put it off because of their estrangement. It isn't until she's at the point where she has no ther choice that she send her grandmother an email. There is no answer until one day 30,000 dollars shows up in her bank account and an email simply saying "Come." But when she arrives at Rabbit Island, she's met by a man named Race, who claims to be her grandmother's assistant, and he brings bad news. He also has his own agenda with Red's visit. RED & WOLFE: PART ONE is the beginning of a serial series retelling the story of Little Red Riding Hood.

My favorite part was the mystery behind Wolfe. There are so many different parts to who he is. I'm really looking forward to learning more about him. I didn't like how most of the story was about Red and her unfortunate events. I felt that it made the story slower than it could have been. I'm sure that if the book was read as a whole instead of part it would be okay. But when the story is separated into parts like this one is, it makes it feel like slow going. Even though Red and Wolfe dislike each other from the start, there is an attraction that is undeniable. I'm really looking forward to seeing where things go between these two, now that they are on Rabbit Island.

Was this review helpful?

Please vote for it on Amazon!

Just click the button!

Thank you!

Read More

Quick Sniff Review: LOVE, LEX by Avery Aster

Title: Love, Lex

Series: The Undergrad Years #1

Author: Avery Aster

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Erotica

Publisher: Avery Aster

ASIN: B00JK1ZABE
Release Date: April 7, 2014
Source: NetGalley ☆ Xpresso Book Tours
Links: Goodreads ☆ Amazon ☆  Barnes and Noble

This summer, I'd planned to celebrate my eighteenth birthday in Europe with my fellow Manhattanites--Taddy Brill, Blake Morgan, and Vive Farnworth--until I caught my boyfriend screwing my mother. According to the police report, this vomit-inducing incident happened around the same time I'd supposedly blown-up my mother's penthouse. Like I'm walking around Soho with a stick of dynamite in my Louis Vuitton purse--not! Now, my besties and I are in jail.

Officer Ford Gotti, the Harley-wheelin' biker cop who arrested us, keeps sticking his perfectly-sculpted nose into my case. His inked body is jacked like a superhero, and he says I can trust him. He wants me to fess up. I won't. Not again. Why should I? My friends and I had a previous stint in juvie that nearly destroyed us. I gotta protect them and keep my mouth shut. Right? --Lex Easton, women's studies major, motorcycle enthusiast, and virgin.

From the NYT Bestselling author of The Manhattanites series comes another hilariously sexy novel featuring young, rich, beautiful people doing stupid cray-cray things. If you enjoy TV shows like Gossip Girl, The Carrie Diaries, and The Girls on HBO--then Love, Lex is the book for you!

The Undergrad Years is a New Adult contemporary miniseries about first loves, independence, and everlasting friendships.

LOVE, LEX is the first book in a mini-series, The Undergrad Years, that takes place 10 years before the events in the Manhattanites series. Lex Easton is looking forward to her 18th birthday, she's going to Paris with her best friends and plans to lose her virginity to her boyfriend. But that all changes when she ends up in jail, accused to trying to blow her mother up in an explosion that destroyed their penthouse. The one good thing to come from all of this? The sexy motorcycle cop, Ford Alessandro-Vollero-Gotti.

This was a really fun book to read! I loved Lex's best friends - Vive, Taddy, Their interactions are pretty funny, but you can also see their strong bond. I really want to know more about the event that first put them in juvie. Lex's parent are also totally outrageous! Ford, the motorcycle cop, is muscled and tattooed, but he also seems to have an alterior motive. All I'll say about what happens between him and Lex is that there is a really HOT scene between them. So I thought that this was a really great start to this mini-series within the Manhattanites world.

Was this review helpful?

Please vote for it on Amazon!

Just click the button!

Thank you!

Read More