So about all that reading...

* I was in Vegas for part of last week which is why I didn't blog. However, I do seem to be lady luck! *

I'm gonna focus on a few books that I've read recently and that I've absolutely adored. Now, at the bottom of this page is my goodreads challenge widget with all the books I've read. So far, to date, it's 143. This to me seems absurd, but I've managed it and I'm actually quite proud. Also, I really want to thank everyone who has come on and supported me during my giveaways. I will have a really special giveaway soon, just waiting on the author to get back to me. (I already have one of the two books!) I'm such a tease!

Okay, So in no particular order!

This was one of those books where you palms sweat, your hyperventilate and you get a headache from reading because you're so frustrated with what is going on. However, you're so invested in the story that you can't stop reading and you love to hate certain characters. Jackson Reynard is one of those characters. He's sex on wheels and he sets his sights on Emma Mills. Who has broken off an engagement to her high school sweetheart. This books is such a rollercoaster ride, you come out feeling exhausted, but you'll love the feeling it'll leave you in. 

I loved this book. So well written and so heartbreakingly beautiful. Lately these taboo'd topics of teacher/student relationships have been pretty much my forte. They're just so well written and so romantic and so unbelievably sexy. Nina Jordan, 17, sings a local dive pub, not as a pop star, but as a torch singer. She's sexy, she's sultry and she does not look 17. Kevin Reed is back in his hometown to bury his father and stay in the house he grew up in. A chance meeting with Nina turns his life upside down. That is until he shows up to work on Monday and realizes that his date is also his student. Nina and Kevin do everything they can to fight their attraction, but it proves too difficult. With an outcome that I never saw coming, I highly recommend.

I'm a little late to this party, but I'm glad I waited. This was one of those books that you savor. Violet Eden is motherless, mostly friendless, with the exception of one friend and one mentor who trains her to protect herself, and a has a father who for the most part has checked out. It's not until Violet turns 17 that things start to change for her and she finds out in the most shocking of ways that her mentor (who she is also madly in love with) is actually her life partner and she is not entirely human. But a part angel/human hybrid known as Grigori. Things really come to a head when Violet meets Phoenix and starts to fall for him. Because of her anger towards Linc (her mentor), she willingly goes with Phoenix. Linc has finally declared his feelings for Violet, but it may be too late because of the trust issues. I cannot do this book justice so just read it.

This book is a continuation of the fabulous Moreno Brothers stories. However, it focuses on Vincent Moreno, a tough talking kid who grew up outside of the fabulous San Diego Moreno's. He's been in trouble more times than not. But everything changes when he meets Rose, his cousin's sister-in-law. Vince falls hard for Rose and they're relationship is beautiful and terrible at the same time. Because they live so far apart and come from different backgrounds now, everyone looks at Vince as a thug. Rose sees the softness and the romantic in him. Things go to shit when he caught with drugs and accused of soliciting a 16 year old for sex. (He's not.) He is forced to enlist in the army and keep up the lie to Rose. Wanting to protect his younger brother, Vince learns a hard life lesson in Iraq and realizes that he wants Rose and will do anything he can to get her back. I honestly wasn't sure how I'd feel about a spin-off, but Elizabeth Reyes can do no wrong in my eyes. This lady can write the phone books and I'll read it. Please check out the Moreno Brothers' series and then this one. Trust me on this.

This is a really dark, dark book. The themes in this book are heartbreaking. Olivia is a high school student who loathes her mother and just wants to finish school and start life anew. However, Caleb has other ideas for Olivia. Sinister at best, he watches Olivia as she waits for her bus. Day in and day out he waits. Until one day, she is accosted and he comes by to save the day. Of course, now this gorgeous guy is on her mind and she's intrigued. That is until she is kidnapped, blindfolded and beaten. See Olivia has been targeted for sexual slavedom. And Caleb is the one who will break her will to get her to that point of sexual submission. That is if Olivia doesn't break Caleb first. A difficult storyline, but so wonderfully addictive. You want to hate Caleb, but you can't. He sees Olivia and she seeks out his compassion and perhaps his love. As things change, Caleb's feelings for Olivia grow as does hers. But of course, most would cry Stockholm Syndrome, but there's something a bit deeper. CJ Roberts has written a fantastic immoral story that will stay with you for a very long time.

Holy sex on a stick, this book is hot. Olivia lives with her snooty cousin who has everything while she has nothing. At a bachelorette party, Olivia mistakens the club's owner as the entertainment and literally starts stripping him. It's not until the real stripper shows up that she's humiliated. But her humiliation is compounded when she awakens the next morning to find him sitting at her kitchen table drinking coffee. Except, the person she met the night before was Cash and sitting at her table is Nash, his identical twin brother. Nash is successful, gorgeous and Marissa's boyfriend. Cash is the club owner, a bit rough around the edges and screams sex. Olivia finds herself drawn to both brothers, but they both have a secret, a deadly secret that if found out could ruin everything. What a fantastic hot story. You want to love Cash and Nash, but you just know that one of them isn't who they say they are. My first M. Leighton book and I look forward to many more. This book is more mature, but for the older college age kid, perfectly acceptable. 

I definitely have more books to recommend, but this is it for now. The ratings are mine and I was not influenced in any way by author or publisher.