This time of year everyone is doing a ----
"BEST OF"
"FAVORITES"
"VOTE ON"
Yep, me and David we are going to rebel....Here's what I'm going to be doing throughout January is: I am going to share all the reads I had in 2016 that wrecked me for other books. Now, most people think, "Oh, these are all the ugly cry. Emotionally charged. Tissue wrecker books."
Nope.
These are books that I so enjoyed the shit out of that anything I read after that paled after that. Not meaning that it was a Nobel Prize for literature. Oh hell no. These are books that struck a cord. A twist in a plot. Characters unexpected. Just special to me. So in no particular order, first up is:
Now, true confessions of a bookworm. I purchased this on June 6, 2015. Come on don't be hating on me. You've seen my TBR - poor books get lost. Anyhow, I'm pretty sure I one-clicked it after a takeover on one of the many favored book groups. There it sat. Until a fellow admin, Janett, on Darlene & Dexter's Book Nook posted about a sale. I clicked on to purchase and thank goodness for "You already purchased this." Then I go on to admit in the book group "Ha Ha! I already own it!" Which then got me the "You've got to be shitting me right now" emoji from Janett. She then told me under no uncertain terms that during my recovery from surgery I was to "READ THIS BOOK."
I always do what Janett tells me. She also doesn't read this blog to refute me.
I was recovering from surgery and the previous book I had read required too many brain cells. Just to let you know that narcotics and thinking don't always work well to then write a coherent review. I decided to pick this up for my next read. Now, since I couldn't remember what made me click it in the first place, I went to read the reviews on Goodreads.
OH.MY.GOD. The DRAMA this book produced.
Hey, I hang with Mr. Bowie so those drama mamas on GR aren't going to scare me. I'm reading it. In a word the story is ----
RI-DICK-U-LOUS
Yes, I'm high on narcotics at the time. Laying in a hospital bed laughing my fool head off. Seriously, I was going to pee the sheets. I lay on the buzzer to have the nurse help me but first I burst out, "Wait, let me read you this..." Yes, this went on until I was discharged. The hospital staff said I was one of the more entertaining patients in awhile. I owe that all to the characters. Troy and Larson just couldn't get any cockier or more arrogant but they did. I went on to gift it to three friends because the gift of laughter is the best medicine.
Then the narcotics wore off.
Maybe this book isn't as funny as I thought? Maybe the haters on GR are - gasp - right?
So I read it a second and third time.
NOPE. I WAS RIGHT AND THEY ARE WRONG.
Okay, yes some of the scenes and actions are just plain over the top. But really folks, who are we if we can't laugh at ourselves. This story pokes fun at all things in the literary world where we take ourselves too seriously and think we have power we don't really have over who has the next big hit. But take away the Depends moments, what is delivered is a story of two people that are vulnerable and afraid to put themselves out there again. When love and life goes bad, it's hard to put yourself in a place where you want to find that person. So layer on the cocky over the vulnerable - that's Troy and Larson.
Then in June I was asked if I'd listen to the audiobook for review. OUCH!! Stop twisting my arm....
No, really are you kidding me ? Drop whatever I was in the middle of. Because I missed these two men. Then I moved onto other books until September.
September - the month all mothers rejoice in the sound of school bus rumblings, a chill in the air, nature puts on a show and authors give you "what happens after the HEA". Yes, I was giddy with delight that Andrea Smith and Eva LeNoir were giving us more Troy and Larson. All the books that wrecked me for other books had that same feeling. I didn't want to give the characters up. I wanted to return to their world again and again to see how they are doing. Smith and LeNoir gave us that. Best of all - Hard Edit isn't Black Balled all over again.
Now, here's where the story changes and IT SHOULD. Troy and Larson are still cocky and arrogant as ever. But it's not the same reasons to bring tension to the story. It's all about having the one you love in your life and want to gift them everything they always dreamed of. This is all about the relationship and making it work. Again I didn't want to leave them. And I've asked the authors to give us more because once you read it you'll realize there is definitely more story here in these two men to tell.
I've told you how I got there. Now why did these books wreck me for others?
My one word for Black Balled is: original. It had two equally cocky men - usually only one alpha per story. It was a battle of wits and testosterone. A next door neighbor with a penchant for frying pans and exes that put the O in oh-shit. The story pokes fun at what some of us put on a pedestal - for that, I'm on team Rebel forever. I loved the authors gave us two follow up novels that were equally original as its predecessor. I hate a been-there-read-that.
Oh what was the other story - Guns Blazing. Obviously I'm not waxing on at nauseam about it in this post. Oh, it was a five star read as you'll read by GR review. And I want you to read it so I'm including it in my links:
Black Balled and Hard Edit:
Amazon US: https://goo.gl/W58ab9
Guns Blazing:
Amazon US: https://goo.gl/3FDCpW
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