review: Rome by Jay Crownover

Rome by Jay Crownover

My rating: 5/5

DRC provided by Edelweiss for an honest review

Published: 1.7.2014

Series: Marked Men #3

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Summary –

Sometimes the wrong choice can be just right . . .

Fun and fearless, Cora Lewis knows how to keep her tattooed "bad boy" friends at the Marked in line. But beneath all that flash and sass is a broken heart. Cora won't let herself get burned again. She's waiting to fall in love with the perfect man—a baggage-free, drama-free guy ready for commitment. Then she meets Rome Archer.

Rome Archer is as far from perfect as a man can be. He's stubborn, rigid, and bossy. And he's returned from his final tour of duty more than a little broken. Rome's used to filling many roles: big brother, doting son, super-soldier—but none of those fit anymore. Now he's just a man trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life while keeping the dark demons of war and loss at bay. He would have been glad to suffer through it alone, until Cora comes sweeping into his life and becomes a blinding flash of color in a sea of gray. Perfect may not be in the cards, but perfectly imperfect could just last forever . . .(Thanks to GoodReads.com for the summary)

My Thoughts –

Initially all I can say is Ermahgerd! There were tears, tears, and more tears. I’ve followed this series from the beginning and am totally in love with this group/family.

Cora has been a consistent character throughout this series and in Rome, you really get to know her in depth. Seeing what’s behind her smile and her ‘take no prisoners’ attitude is what really makes you fall in love with her as a character. I love, love, love how she took over the situation and set out to mend the Archer family.

Rome is a tortured soul. He’s seen too much and it’s taken damn near the ultimate toll on him. He’s not sure how to handle Cora and doesn’t think he deserves her. Men are so dumb sometimes.

Rome and Cora have great chemistry and honestly are just plain perfect together. I hope to heck that Jay Crownover puts out more stuff like this to read, because I loved every one of the books in this series - great job!

review: Jet by Jay Crownover

Jet by Jay Crownover

My rating: 5/5

DRC provided by Edelweiss for an honest review

Marked Men #2

Published: 5.28.13

Genre: New Adult Romance

Summary –

With his tight leather pants and a sharp edge that makes him dangerous, Jet Keller is every girl’s rock and roll fantasy. But Ayden Cross is done walking on the wild side with bad boys. She doesn’t want to give in to the heat she sees in Jet’s dark, haunted eyes. She’s afraid of getting burned from the sparks of their spontaneous combustion, even as his touch sets her on fire.

Jet can’t resist the Southern Belle with mile-long legs in cowboy boots who defies his every expectation. Yet the closer he feels to Ayden, the less he seems to know her. While he’s tempted to get under her skin and undo her in every way, he knows firsthand what happens to two people with very different ideas about relationships.

Will the blaze burn into an enduring love. . . or will it consume their dreams and turn them to ashes? (Thanks to GoodReads.com for the summary)

My Thoughts –

Where does the story take place? Denver

Is the title a good/bad choice for the story? great - fits with the series theme

Give the book an alternate ending…or were you happy with it? I was more than satisfied with the ending.

Did you cry, laugh, sigh, cringe, fume or feel nothing? All of those things doubled.

I think Jet was an intense, enthralling, steam-hot story! I absolutely love this series.

Like Rule, Jet is a complete manwhore – but he owns it. He’s angsty and gorgeous and all the ladies want to ride the Jet-plane – if you know what I mean. He’s got issues with his parents and is the lead singer in a heavy metal band. He lets his concerns over his mother hold him back form furthering his career as a musician. He’s all that, but there more than meets the eye here. He’s established as a music producer, song writer and he’s a great guy.

Ayden – ugh. Girl, no one is perfect and who wants “normal” anyway?? I understand that she had dark past, but seriously – get over yourself. She doesn’t trust herself, her brother or Jet. All the doubt and angst associated with Ayden just made me want to bitch slap the hell out of her. I really hated that she could see/believe that he was changing and was worth being with.

I think the two of them were absolutely meant to be. They had smexy hawt smokin’ love and they meshed so well as a couple. Like I said before – I love this series. Great job!!

review: Rule by Jay Crownover

Rule by Jay Crownover

My rating: 5/5

DRC provided by Edelweiss for an honest review

Published: 12/30/12

Series: Marked Men #1

Genre: New Adult Romance

Summary –

Opposites in every way . . . except the one that matters

Shaw Landon loved Rule Archer from the moment she laid eyes on him. Rule is everything a straight--A pre-med student like Shaw shouldn’t want--and the only person she’s never tried to please. She isn’t afraid of his scary piercings and tattoos or his wild attitude. Though she knows that Rule is wrong for her, her heart just won’t listen.

To a rebel like Rule Archer, Shaw Landon is a stuck-up, perfect princess-and his dead twin brother’s girl. She lives by other people’s rules; he makes his own. He doesn’t have time for a good girl like Shaw-even if she’s the only one who can see the person he truly is.

But a short skirt, too many birthday cocktails, and spilled secrets lead to a night neither can forget. Now, Shaw and Rule have to figure out how a girl like her and a guy like him are supposed to be together without destroying their love . . . or each other. (Thanks to GoodReads.com for the summary)

My Thoughts –

Where does the story take place? Denver

Is the title a good/bad choice for the story? It is the boy’s name

List the top 3 characters and 1 word to describe them each. 1)Rule – incomplete 2)Shaw – determined 3)Gabe - psycho

Give the book an alternate ending…or were you happy with it? I was more than satisfied with the ending.

Did you cry, laugh, sigh, cringe, fume or feel nothing? All of those things and then some.

I absolutely love this story. Love it. I loved all of the characters, except Gabe, and I just loved everything about it.

Rule. What can you really say about Rule. He’s a gorgeous, self-hating manwhore. He feels responsible for the accident that caused his twin brother to die years earlier. He’s estranged from his family and makes himself feel better through booze and sex.

Shaw is great. She doesn’t put up with Rule’s shit, but still hurts every time she sees him with another girl. She misses Remy but has always wanted Rule. As an integral member of Rule’s estranged family, she continually tries to fix something that needs more than her and is maybe too far broken.

I love how these two come together. It’s intense and so passionate. I enjoyed their exchanges and also liked watching them both grow into the people they were destined to be.

The other characters in the book are pretty cool as well. Nash, the roommate/co-worker. Rome, the older military brother. Jet, the band member and so on. Just great all around – they all complimented the story perfectly.

This story was easy to read, used modern dialogue/wording and I didn’t want to put it down once I started it. It has some hot, hawt lovin’, an interesting danger element and a story about growth/forgiveness. I’m looking forward to reading Jet’s tale next!!