Built by Jay Crownover ♡♡♡♡

Built by Jay Crownover is the first book in her new series Saints of Denver. I put off reading this book, much like I do all of Jay’s, because not only did I wanted to savor it, but I was slightly apprehensive about starting a new series.

Built tells the story of Zeb and Sayer. Zeb owns his own construction company, but has a bit of a murky past (although not Welcome to the Point murky) and Sayer is a family attorney who moved to Denver to reunite with the brother she didn't know she had. Sayer tries hard not to have feelings for Zeb, but he's a difficult guy not to melt for.

I love Jay Crownover and her books. I was happy to start this new series, and I think I'm going to really enjoy getting to know new characters. That being said, I am disappointed that this is more contemporary and less new adult than her previous books, something I was not expecting. The charters in this story start to deal with more “real adult” issues, and I'm personally not at a point in my life where I'm interested in reading about characters who are more settled in their adulthood. I also felt like this book had more sex scenes, and I wasn't prepared for that either.

Even though I'm not sure I'm ready to.make the move from new adult to contemporary romance, this was a extremely well written book that tackled emotional abuse very well. To me, it also felt like the most poetically written of Jay’s books. I look forward to seeing where the rest of the series goes, especially the next book, Charged!

Built on Goodreads

Boarded by Love by Toni Aleo ♡♡♡

Boarded by Love by Toni Aleo is the first book I've read by this author. It's another book I got a great deal on by being notified by BookBub.

Boarded by Love tells the story of Claire and Jude. Claire has had a difficult past, and she's worked hard to turn her life around. Jude is his school's star hockey player and ladies’ man. One look at Claire and he turns into a one women man. But Claire has a secret that puts their new, intense relationship to the test. We watch to and see how they come out on the other side of all the secrets and lies

I had a lot of trouble connecting with the characters in the story. It started with the characters not using contractions, which was very distracting and pulled me out of the story. After that it just wasn't working for me. Claire made so many bad decisions, and the problems in the story were bigger than they needed to be. The writing was good and the premise had all the making a of a good story, but I didn't feel things with the characters; the stakes weren't high enough. Their joy and sadness were not made mine, and that is always the best part of a book, getting sucked in and feeling everything with the characters.

Boarded by Love has great reviews on Goodreads reads, so give it a shot and let me know what you think!

Boarded by Love on Goodreads

The Game Plan by Kristen Callihan ♡♡♡

The Game Plan by Kristen Callihan is the third book in the Game On series. I loved The Friend Zone, so I started reading the next one as soon as possible.

The Game Plan tells the story of Fiona and Ethan. Ethan has had his eye on Fiona for years, and he's ready to make his move. Fiona tries to deny her feelings believing she can't survive a long distance relationship with a big name NFL player, but she's having trouble denying her feelings.

There were some things I loved about this story. I was glad to have a story where the male character was a virgin instead of the female. There are so many new adult books with virginal women having their world changed by some guy showing them how awesome sex is.

The downfall for me with this story was that sex was so central to the story, and that's not really what I look for in a story. There were so many different conflicts, but they were all relatively small that there didn't seem to be much at stake.

The book was well written (I loved the characters), I just wanted a more focused and centralized conflict for the story. But I'm definitely willing to read more books by Kristen Callihan.

The Game Plan on Goodreads

Between Shadows by Chanel Cleeton ♡♡♡♡

Between Shadows by Chanel Cleeton is the first book I've read by this author, and I was provided an ARC in turn for an honest review.

Between Shadows tells the story of X. She's a trained assassin with a past she can't remember. And the person she regrets killing the most has just walked back into her life, and he's brought all kinds of secrets with him.

Between Shadows is not the kind of book I normally read. It was a mixture of New Adult, but with the fade to black intimate scenes of a YA novel, and it was a bit more action packed, sort of like a James Bond movie (with a girl as the show runner). Even though it was something different for me, I enjoyed the story and getting to know the characters.

Chanel Cleeton has some other pretty popular NA books, and if you like those, I'm guessing you'll enjoy this, too!

Between Shadows on Goodreads