Review: Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

Catching Jordan
Miranda Kenneally
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publish Date: December 1, 2011
Trade Paperback {p.281}
Source: Public Library
Genre: Young Adult
Jordan Woods
Challenge: 100+
Buy the Book: Amazon

What girl doesn't want to be surrounded by gorgeous jocks day in and day out? Jordan Woods isn't just surrounded by hot guys, though-she leads them as the captain and quarterback of her high school football team. They all see her as one of the guys, and that's just fine. As long as she gets her athletic scholarship to a powerhouse university. But now there's a new guy in town who threatens her starting position... suddenly she's hoping he'll see her as more than just a teammate.

I first noticed Jordan didn’t really know her teammates as well as she thought she did when she and Carter went out for pancakes. She prided herself on being such a great captain and friend with her teammates, but she was all about focus on getting into Alabama that she didn’t have any clue what was going on with them in their lives. Not that she was a bad person, cause she wasn’t, it was just that she had one track; football.

Her relationship with her boyfriend Ty wasn’t all I’d hoped it to be. It started out hot and heavy out of the gate until Jordan heard someone else was in love with her. After that it was like she was just with Ty because her other option was unavailable.

Her family relationship is a whole other story. Her relationship with her mother and brother were great, but not so much with her father. He wasn’t a big fan of his daughter playing football due to the dangers of the game. I am glad that by the end of the novel they seemed to be on the track to repairing their relationship.

She also seemed to make a few female friends outside of football. That was a great way for her to have a sounding board other than turning to her journal.

A great novel that will keep your engrossed. Even someone like me know knows absolutely nothing about football was totally engaged in the game.

In My Mailbox {88}

In My Mailbox (IMM) is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren. Every week I'll post what books I've received either by mailbox/library/store.

I'll try to post an entry of IMM every Sunday that I receive books by mail/library/store of that week.

Books via Reader Service

Completely Smitten by Susan Mallery

Enticed by His Forgotten Lover by Maya Banks

Indecent Wicked by Tori Carrington

Books via Publisher

Rock On by Denise Vega

Books via Wal-Mart

The Darkest Seduction by Gena Showalter

Review: The Cowboy Takes a Bride by Lori Wilde

The Cowboy Takes a Bride
Lori Wilde
Publisher: Avon
Publish Date: March 27, 2012
Kindle {p.348}
Source: Publisher
Genre: Contemporary, Western
Mariah Callahan, Joe Daniels
Challenge: 100+
Buy the Book: Amazon

Ex-champion bull rider-turned-cutting-horse cowboy Joe Daniels isn't quite sure how he ended up sleeping in a horse trough wearing nothing but his Stetson and cowboy boots. But now he's wide-awake, and a citified woman is glaring down at him. His goal? Get rid of her ASAP. The obstacle? Fighting the attraction he feels toward the blond-haired filly with the big, vulnerable eyes.

When out-of-work wedding planner Mariah Callahan learns that her estranged father has left her a rundown ranch in Jubilee, she has no choice but to accept it. Her goal? Redeem her career by planning local weddings. The obstacle? One emotionally wounded, hard-living cowboy who stirs her guilt, her heartstrings, and her long-burned cowgirl roots...

I was really drawn into Ila and Cordy, the secondary characters, story. At times I was more interested in seeing their story than that of the main characters, Mariah and Joe. The best interaction between the two of them was at the very start of the book when Mariah finds Joe asleep in a horse trough.

They were an unlikely pair from the start because of Joe’s occupation. Mariah has a distrust of cowboys leading back to her father, a cowboy, abandoning her and her mother.

Joe and Mariah were okay characters, but the tug-of-war between Cordy and Ila was a bit more exciting and entertaining. Joe and Mariah were just a bit on the bland side for my taste.

Review: Time For a Fresh One by Lexi Michaels

Time For a Fresh One
Lexi Michaels
Publisher: Authorhouse
Publish Date: November 23, 2011
Trade Paperback {p.196}
Source: Publicist
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Kristen
Challenge: 100+
Buy the Book: Amazon

Kristen realizes that her days of juggling kids, work, and coffee are becoming lonely. She begins her journey into dating all the wrong guys while searching for her perfect blend. Kristen starts searching at the spa, gym, and bars to find the one. Her life is filled with lust while dating Mr. Not So Right. There are fun dinners and trips with endless dates, including a Rusty Knight, until finally she finds her perfect blend.

The story moved at such a fast, clipped pace that by the end I didn't know the characters any better than I did at page one. It felt like I was being told this story, but not really experiencing it with the characters.

As far as the characters go, none of them really stood out to me except Kristen's friend Jena. I'm not really sure if Jena was someone to consider a friend, but all the same she was the only memorable character when it was all said and done.

Kristen's Mr. Right was too good to be true. So much so that I didn't buy into him at all. No flaws, not one. I couldn't get past that aspect of him, and totally wrote him off. Plus the fact that while he was away taking care of his ailing mother, Kristen continued to date because she was "lonely" and he encouraged it. I think this was the point at which I could no longer continue forward with this book.

I had such great hopes for this book from reading the blurb, but it fell a bit short. I am glad that Kristen's situation with her stalker was all squared away and she managed to find her happy ever after, but I just lost interest in the overall story.

Waiting on Wednesday {86}: Somebody to Love

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine. It is showcases upcoming releases of books that I'm looking forward to. It is somewhat similar to one of my previous posts, Anxiously Awaiting. {Button courtesy of Bewitched Bookworms}

Somebody to Love
Kristan Higgins
April 24, 2012

After her father loses the family fortune in an insider-trading scheme, single mom Parker Welles is faced with some hard decisions. First order of business: go to Gideon’s Cove, Maine, to sell the only thing she now owns—a decrepit house in need of some serious flipping. When her father’s wingman, James Cahill, asks to go with her, she’s not thrilled…even if he is fairly gorgeous and knows his way around a toolbox.

Having to fend for herself financially for the first time in her life, Parker signs on as a florist’s assistant and starts to find out who she really is. Maybe James isn’t the glib lawyer she always thought he was. And maybe the house isn’t the only thing that needs a little TLC...

Teaser Tuesday: Copper Beach by Jayne Ann Krentz

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading. To participate, all you have to do is the following:

• Grab your current/upcoming read
• Open to a random page
• Share 2-3 "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers! (You do not want to ruin the book for others.)

Share the title & author so that others who enjoy your "teaser" may add the book to their TBL pile.

"If it helps, I have been informed that there is no way Sam Coppersmith could have murdered his fiancee." "Who told you that?" "The water-taxi guy." "He's an authority?" "He certainly seemed to think so. Evidently, no one on the island thinks Sam did it." "And what proof do they offer?" Gwen demanded.
"They seem to feel that if Sam had murdered someone, he would have done better job of it."
"I beg your pardon."

page 48; Copper Beach by Jayne Ann Krentz