Letterbox Love #12

Welcome to Letterbox Love, this is a UK meme, hosted by the lovely Lynsey at Narratively Speaking and inspired by The Story Siren's In My Mailbox. This post is a means by which to highlight the books we get in the post and beyond, and especially to bring attention to those books which may be sat on our shelves for a little while yet that we love all the same.

I've received a couple of books in the post this week & a few through email as well as buying some books of course! 

I received 2 books from Oxford University Press ready for their bloggers event which I will be attending in January. I received Who Framed Klaris Cliff? By Nikki Sheehan. I also received Storm & Stone by Joss Stirling.

I also received the latest novel from Anna Garner for review. The cover for this one is just delicious & the story looks good too!

I also received A Beginners Guide To Salad by Jennifer Joyce & Jenna's Journey by Julie Ryan. Both of these were sent to me for review by the authors, so thank you for those-I look forward to reading them in the New Year!

I bought Billy & Me by Giovana Fletcher, I've been wanting to read that one for ages. I also bought Here's Looking At You by Mhairi McFarlane, Love From Both Sides by Nick Spalding, Un-Like a Virgin by Lucy-Anne Holmes & the latest installment of The Arcade by Kitty Charles-which I've already read! 

I'm currently just trying to read all my Christmas Books & Novels so you can look forward to reviews of these in the new year!

Leave a comment to let me know whether you succumbed to anything this week...

Review: Melting Ms Frost by Kat Black

How do you thaw the coldest of hearts? Find out in the sexiest romance to hit the shelves this year.

When Aidan Flynn walks into Cluny’s Restaurant, he can’t take his eyes off his new boss, Annabel Frost. With his heart set on winning her over, Aidan can think of nothing but getting beneath her cold exterior.

Known as one of the toughest women in the business, Annabel is impervious to Aidan’s many charms. His compelling grey gaze and persuasive Irish lilt do anything but anything but captivate her.

But Aidan knows there’s more to Annabel than meets the eye. And he’s not going to stop until he reveals all…

Review: wow! I was hooked into this book right from the word go because it dumps you right in the action, right into the sexual tension that exists between Annabel (Ms Frost) and Aiden, the barman at the restaurant she manages. The build up of this sexual tension continues all the way through the novel and is the key element holding this together, but don't be fooled into thinking that this book is void of any other storyline, oh no. This is an action packed novel full of drama, intrigue, and yes, some very very steamy sex scenes. I would go as far as to say. Some of the best sex scenes I've read this year! 

The characters in the book are extremely well developed. Each of the main characters has hidden depths that the reader doesn't learn about until quite near the end of the book, you are left wanting and wondering right up until the last page. Both characters are believable and both have faced challenges in life that have made them the way they are. I really warmed to both of them and were willing them to come together in all sorts of different ways through the entirety of the novel.

The storyline itself is interesting too, and although it is set over the festive period, it isn't an entirely Christmasey book. I enjoyed the festive element to it but didn't find it overwhelming. Some of the more dramatic scenes in the novel had me gasping out loud whereas some of the more heartfelt scenes completely melted my heart it had a bit of everything. It was clear the sex scenes had been written by a women's because they were so sensual and yet so raw at the same time. The details I would've wanted to be included were all there and the build up to these scenes were so drawn out and wonderful, it almost became painful. 

If you've become somewhat jaded with some of the erotica that's out there this book will definitely set you back on the right track, it is the perfect balance of erotica and general fabulous chick lit. There is a storyline there to keep you entertained and a good example of a strong woman and a strong man coming together for some passionate sex scenes! Ben though its not entirely festive, this book will definitely keep you warm this winter! 

Review: This Man by Jodi Ellen Malpas

Young interior designer Ava O’Shea has an appointment for a first consultation at The Manor with the owner, Mr Jesse Ward. She is expecting nothing more than an overweight, cravat wearing, well-to-do countryman, and on arrival, nothing would suggest otherwise. How wrong could she be? This Man is devastatingly handsome, charming and confident. He is also a conceited, hedonistic playboy, who knows no boundaries. Ava desperately does not want to be attracted to him, but she can’t control the overwhelming affect he has on her. Every instinct is telling her to run, so she does, but Jesse Ward is not so willing to let her go. He wants her and is determined to have her. She knows she is heading for heartbreak, but how can she run when he won’t let her?

Review: I have to state straight away that this book really wasn't for me. I had to read this book for a book club and was quite pleased because I'd been wanting to read this one for a while now, I have the sequel as well so I thought I could marathon the two books. I found though, that this was incredibly hard going. I downloaded it on audiobook and I found myself completely switching off from listening because I just wasn't interested in what was going on in the book. To begin with I found there to be a storyline, I liked Ava and her friend Kate and thought it was intriguing that she had even asked to be part of a design project that really didn't seem like her. Things really went downhill from there for me though and I felt the storyline just tapered off. The overarching storyline seemed to be discovering just who this man was, whilst there was a storyline of her doing up his 'hotel' running alongside this. Both of these facts seemed to be ignored though so that we could read about repetitive sex, and not particularly exciting repetitive sex at that...

I didn't find any of the sex scenes particularly interesting. I thought that this author retreated a lot of the words and phrases that she used fairly often and found myself growing tired of them Gavigon the same conversation before, after or during sex again and again. I felt the some of the things Ava said, as well, she really wouldn't have said, I didn't find them believable from her as a character. I didn't like Jesse, I thought he was very one dimensional and I don't think he would have been able to get by in life behaving like he did. 

I found the fact that Jesse wouldn't reveal his age to Ava throughout the book funny, he continued to tell her one year higher than the last time every time she asked. There were also some very funny scenes between Ava and Kate and I would've loved to have seen more of these because these were the parts of the book that kept my attention. Overall I wouldn't recommend you read this book, it took me a very long time to get through and I don't remember parts of the storyline whereas normally with an audiobook I can't wait to get the chance to listen to it. As a piece of erotica I didn't really rate it either, although I am going to give the sequel a go because I was told by the book group that things get explained,more in the sequel and also to see if I enjoy this authors writing more on the page than listening to it on audiobook...

Review: The Night Before Christmas by Scarlett Bailey

All Lydia's ever wanted is a perfect Christmas...

So when her oldest friends invite her to spend the holidays with them, it seems like a dream come true. She's been promised log fires, roasted chestnuts, her own weight in mince pies - all in a setting that looks like something out of a Christmas card.

But her winter wonderland is ruined when she finds herself snowed in with her current boyfriend, her old flame and a hunky stranger. Well, three (wise) men is traditional at this time of year...

Review: What a fabulous Christmas read, full of heartbreak and laughter (and joy ever after??) gorgeous characters, a wonderful setting and a fabulous pace to keep you turning every page from beginning to end. I was actually lucky e nought o hear scarlet bailey read from this novel at a Christmas event last year and she made it sound so co,platelet hilarious that I immediately went and downloaded it onto kindle. Unfortunately I didn't get round to reading it until this Christmas, I decided to wait and have a bit of a scarlet Bailey marathon, and it's such a shame I waited until now because it was such a lovely novel.

The storyline of this novel is so complicated, I have no idea how she managed to keep it all in her head. There are so many secrets that come out do the woodwork, misunderstandings and unfortunate meetings that my head was left buzzing with the excitement of it all! The setting of the book is just fabulous and all of the Lake District scenes are so beautifully described, that even if you are from outside of the UK, you will be able to appreciate the splendour of this part of the world! 

The characters in this book are just fabulous, the story centres around a group of women who have been friends forever and so this makes for some really storing females and some really song relationships. They are all slightly mad in one way or another, and so I found moseyed identifying with each of them at some point in the book! The men in their lives, and those that come into their lives over the course of the book, are all lovely too but just can't quite compete with these fabulous females! 

I raced through this book, actually reading it on a beach and I loved every single minute of it. If you haven't discovered this amazing Christmas author yet, you need to go out and get her novels now, she has three Christmas novels and one novella and they are all well and truly worth a read. They are full of fun and frolics, strong characters and amazing settings, I am sure you will love every single minute of each and every one of them. I look forward to seeing what she comes up with for Christmas next year! 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten 2014 Releases I'm Dying to Read

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists over there at The Broke and the Bookish. I'd love to share my lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Apologies for the problems with this post, I will try & find the original at lunch time...

Ok I loved typing up this post & then it all disappeared. It's easy to remember what I wrote though because I'm literally very excited about all of these books!

1. The new novel by Miranda Dickinson. This one doesn't have a title or a picture yet but it's based on Fairytale Of New York which is just amazing!

2. The little beach street bakery by Jenny Colgan. This ones out in March!

3. The Time Of Our Lives by Jabe Costello. Her books are so easy to read I'm so looking forward to reading this in march!

4. The sequel to About A Girl by Lindsey Kelk. I'm dying to know how everything wraps up so will be preordering this one, that's for sure!

5. The Memory Book by Rowan Colenan. This is out in February and I'm so looking forward to reading something new from one of my favourite authors ever!

6. It Felt Like A Kiss by Sarra Manning. I have an advance copy of this so look out for a review on publication date in January!

7. The Love Detective by Akexandra Potter. It's been a long wait for something new from this lovely author but it's nearly over & I'm sure it'll be worth it in January.

8. Just a Girl Standing in Front Of A Boy by Lucy Anne Holmes. I love the cover of this one so I'm really looking forward to reading it!

9. Thirteen Weddings by Paige Toon. I love this author too so will definitely be picking this up when it comes out in April!

10. Written in The Stars by Ali Harris. I love this author and can't wait for her latest offering!

So there you go! Apologies for the lack of pictures, let me know if there's anything I've missed!

Netgally November Update

Well I didn't quite make the five books that I'd decided to read this month, I only ended up reading four books from NetGalley. November was a bit of a slow reading month for me in general so it's not too bad that I managed one boom from NetGalley each week.

I was busy doing NaNoWriMo and I won that so I'm quite happy with my total. I did cave and request a couple of books I'd been seriously excited about so was a bit of a fail from that point if view too...

The books I read were:

Christmas at Carrington's by Alexandra Brown

Time after Time by Tamara Ireland Stone

I Heart Christmas By Lindsey Kelk (I have a paperback of this one too which I got signed)

And Melting Ms Frost by Kat Black

I have reviewed the first three books already and the final one will be up this week sometime.

I think perhaps I need to have another Netgally month and also a paperback only month as I am literally drowning in paperbacks right now!

Happy reading!

Christmas Cracker Tag

I saw this tag done by Lucy on Bumbling Bibliophiles channel over on You Tube. I thought it would work equally well as a blog post and so I decided to use this to kick of my Christmas book reviews on the blog, even though I know there have already been a couple of them. So here goes, hope you enjoy!

1. Pick a book with a winters cover...

I reviewed this book back in March and even though its not a Christmasey book, it still has a lovely winters cover so this is perfect for this question. Do check out my review as the sequel for this will be out soon! 

2. Pick a book you're likely to buy as a present...

I would definitely buy people Take A Look At Me Now by Miranda Dickinson because it has now become my favourite novel of hers and one of the best books I've read all year, I can think of loads of people that would enjoy it and so this would make a lovely present! 

3. Pick a festive themed book...

I'm going to go for married by Christmas by Scarlet Bailey because this was pure Christmas joy in book form and the cover is so Christmassy! My copy is signed too, making it doubly lovely! 

4. Pick a book you can curl up with by the fireplace...

The twelve Days of Christmas by Trisha Ashley. I read this on a flight to the states for Christmas and it just made me want to be in an English country house somewhere. Surprisingly, it also made me crave soup something rotten, so if you're planning on reading this one, be warned of that! 

5. Pick a book you want to read over the festive period...

I think I'd like to read Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Laurwn Myracle. It's sitting on my shelf and over Christmas itself, I know I might not have time to sit down and get into a whole book and so short stories will suit me nicely, there's a chance I may end up reading it before this though! 

6. Pick a book that's so good it gives you chills...

This Child of Mine by Sinead Moriarty. This book was such a page turner and was one revelation after another, I was gasping and exclaiming basically the whole way through. Definitely one to make you sit up and listen! 

7. Pick a book that's going on your Christmas wish list...

Definitely Anna and the French Kiss. Everyone raves about this one and tells me ill love it, I really like the hardback edition though so it's definitely on my Christmas list! 

Ok so it's tagging time. I tag:

Debbie @ Snuggling on the Sofa

Sam @ The Book Corner

Victoria @ Victoria Loves Books

Natalie @ Flutterby Books

Kirsty @ Love of a Good Book