Series: Off-Campus

NA Reviews: Rebound and The Goal

Posted October 6, 2016 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

My thoughts on this book compared to Boomerang could not be more different. I loved the banter of the first book and literally laughed out loud on multiple occasions. I couldn’t put it down and read the book in one day. Unfortunately, Rebound had a lot to live up to. I’m not sure if my expectations were too high or if too much time passed between me reading the books, but it just didn’t have the same witty magic by any means. Adam and Allison were good characters and I sort of felt their spark, but so much of the chemistry was telling instead of showing. I believed it, but only because the two of them kept repeating how attracted to each other they were. I wanted to feel the chemistry through their conversations but it just didn’t happen that much. Much of the plot and conflict was incredibly predictable. I know this happens in a lot of YA or NA books (especially because I’ve read so many of them), but sometimes it frustrates me more than others. The setup of the story is that Allison’s father is looking to invest in Adam’s company, Boomerang, so he sends her out to get some information on him. Meanwhile, Adam is covering up some secret from his past. You can probably see where I’m headed here but I won’t give blatant spoilers. Just too predictable (and too angsty at times) for me. This is really a low three star book for me. There […]

Mini NA Reviews: Faking It and The Score

Posted February 1, 2016 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

After really despising the previous book in this series (and DNFing it), I couldn’t decide if I wanted to read the rest. Because this is a companion series, I was tempted! New characters but the same Cora Carmack writing I generally enjoy? Why not?! I finally decided to go for it via audio (after testing out a sample, because the narrator ruined it last time). I have to say, this book was the complete opposite for me! The narrators were perfect and didn’t feel like young children reading books about sex. The characters were so fun and the narrators did an awesome job of capturing their personalities. I knew from the first few chapters that this one would give me a totally different experience. Thank god! I’ve been feeling annoyed by anything resembling instalove lately, and unfortunately SOME of this fell in that category. I rolled my eyes a bit throughout but it’s because I’m bitter about romance, and have been for the past few months. I liked their chemistry from the very beginning and fake dating is a trope I looooove. It was also a case of opposites attracting, so that was fun. Beyond the romance, Max had a lot of complicated personal and family-related things going on. Cade did too but they weren’t really addressed at all. It was focused a lot on HER and her problems, and I wish he got more attention. As far as characters are concerned, I wished for more about him and less […]

Review: The Mistake

Posted January 13, 2016 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Clearly my book funk is making me bitter. I don’t know what it is, but I haven’t really ENJOYED a book in a while. As of the moment I’m writing this – early December, hello again from the past – I’ve had such a failure this month in terms of reading enjoyment levels. My rating average is a 3.25, which is incredibly low for me. I don’t know if I’m just pissed off about books and everything is weighing in on what I’m reading… but regardless, this book probably would have been enjoyed more if I read it at a different time. Now that that’s out of the way, I’ll try to get into why this one wasn’t a favorite for me. I LOVED its predecessor and am still eagerly waiting for the next book, but there was just too much drama and angst throughout this one. I liked the family dynamics (well, the different kinds of family situations that were represented. I didn’t LIKE what Logan’s father was doing). Let me break it down, as I’ve been doing a lot lately. LIKED Grace + Logan overall – I totally shipped them. I loved their chemistry and banter. They were super cute. After ~the mistake~ happened, Logan was adorable. Even though this aspect of the book DID bug me a bit, there was a lot about it that was cute. He was relentless, but only because he could really see she was interested. Otherwise he would be stalker status, for […]

Review: The Deal

Posted October 21, 2015 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

This book was exactly what I needed at the time. I had recently finished a few “heavier” books with stronger sci-fi/paranormal or just plain crazy themes… so I wanted something relatively mindless and fun. I’m so happy that this book delivered that for me! Hannah is coerced into tutoring the school’s egotistical hockey star, Garrett, in exchange for his help in getting her crush to notice her. The two of them end up moving beyond the “fake relationship” stage into something much more. Two of my favorite tropes were here in full-force: slow-burn and hate-to-love. Garrett is cocky and annoying to Hannah at the beginning, but the two of them clearly have banter-filled chemistry. I loved getting inside both of their heads, as this book alternated between their two points of view. Some New Adult books with the guy’s point of view tend to annoy me, at least at first. Garrett was a typical NA guy in the beginning: very focused on how hot she was and all sorts of bullshit about her tits and ass. I generally don’t like reading it, but usually see some good character development that enables me to look past that stuff in the beginning. This book was one of those, thank god. As I said, the hate-to-love romance trope is usually full of banter, teasing, and sarcasm. Their chemistry oozed off the pages from the very beginning of the book. If you’re looking for a steamy New Adult that doesn’t have as much drama and has […]