Apr 7, 2014

Readers Digest

No...I'm not boring through books, but I have turned into something I never thought possible.  I hated HATED reading in school.  Unless it was a book about Hanson or one of R.L. Stine's Fear Street series books, you could count me out.  I pretty much failed 9th grade English for not reading How To Kill A Mockingbird and talking too much...go figure.

But, post high school...I've become quite the nerd.  It started with The Twilight Saga in 2009.


My boss at the time lend me the first book.  Hardy actually read it first and then we decided to buy the series ourselves we liked it so much.  After reading the entire series, I went into like a book depression.  I tried and tried to read books, but couldn't get Twilight out of my mind so I was stuck.  The actual story wasn't the BEST BOOK EVER, but it was the first series I had read in my adult life that I grew attached too.  It was sort of hard to let it go.


I eventually matured enough to part ways with Twilight and began the Hunger Game series which I loved as well.  Much darker storyline, but captivating.  Had the familiar love triangle I had been drawn to before.



When I was pregnant, I had several friends who were reading Fifty Shades, but I never thought to borrow it.  Last spring, my friend brought the series into work for me.  H O L Y  C O W.  I was hooked by the time I finished the first chapter.


I heard a lot of controversy surrounding the book, some calling it "trash", "mommy porn" and that it "gives women a false impression of men."  There were even reports of women cheating on their husbands to find someone like Mr. Christian Grey to sweep them off their feet.  First of all, if any girl/woman could ever think a fictional character is truly out there, you have some loose screws.  The thought of leaving Hardy NEVER crossed my mind.  If anything, reading the book made me want to be closer to Hardy.  I don't feel guilty for reading it. And I don't feel like it's anywhere near equivalent to a man watching porn.  I left the series satisfied with the ending and was happy I gave it an opportunity.  I was a little upset I hadn't read it sooner....felt like I had missed out on the whole Fifty Shades wave.  But who am I to follow a crowd?!?  Pssshhhh

As soon as I finished that trilogy, I moved on to The Crossfire Series. 



It took me almost 1/4 of the book to want to give it a real chance.  So many parts of this series reminded me of Fifty and I didn't want it to taint my appreciation for E.L. James.  A billionaire with a dark past and a young woman with just as dark of a past fall for one another...the series follow them facing those demons together.  There are still two more books to follow and I am definitely interested in finishing them!

Once Crossfire was over...I hopped onto a stand alone novel Beautiful Disaster.  A sweet sweet love story about two kids in college, total opposites who can't resist one another.  In fact, I used it in a giveaway last year.  I loved the story so much, I had to share! 


There was a companion novel released last year too called Walking Disaster.  It's the same exact story only told from the point of view of the male lead. 


I found after reading that little teaser at the end of Fifty Shades Freed where we get a taste of Christian's mind and then reading Walking Disaster - I totes love companion novels!!  McGuire has since released a third novel in the "Disaster" books as I call it - it's called Beautiful Wedding...and well...obviously now you know someone gets married.  I haven't yet read it and based on the Amazon reviews, I don't know if I want too.  I'm not sure I want to change my thoughts.

My next adventure was the Slammed series by Colleen Hoover.  I can't give away too much about the story, because the twist in the first book is what brings these two love birds together.  Give it a try!  It's so innocent and beautiful :)


Shortly after I finished these two, Colleen Hoover released a companion novel from the male leads point of view - winner in my heart!


Once I finished this, I hadn't picked up another book to read until this February.  Hardy bought Divergent after seeing the trailer for the movie on TV so often this winter.


He blew through the first one in a week, then proceeded to buy the sequel and shortly after the last book in the series.  Once my brother finished Divergent, I picked it up.  I finished all three books in 2.5 weeks.  It was fantastic.  I've actually come to enjoy reading about a dystopian future, makes you really appreciate what we have now even if there are days that leave us miserable and down.

I was itching to read another book after finishing Allegiant.  I flipped through my Kindle library looking for something...anything.  Because old habits die hard, I pulled up Fifty Shades and started searching for similar books others have bought.  I stumbled upon another trilogy The Fixed On You Series, I mean just look at the cover....it was more like The Crossfire Series than Fifty.


Two troubled pasts, man is a millionaire, they partake in a lot of sexual activities together...etc etc.  The only part that kept throwing me off was how quick this whirlwind romance happened.  Then again, it is fiction so who cares. So I guess..besides some young adult action novels, I am now addicted to "new adult romance".  So remember that if you're online or shopping for books on your Kindle, these hot steamy new love stories are called new adult romance.  Hey as long as I'm reading and exercising the mind, what difference does it make what the content is?   

Just call me a naughty book nerd.  If you're looking for something new and interesting to read, give any or all of these a try.  You might be surprised you like them and you might hate them.  I also highly recommend Aeastas Book Blog and her Facebook Page for recommendations/reviews/updates on series and stand alone books within this genre and other romance genre's.

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