REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY: MARKED MEN SERIES by JAY CROWNOVER

Series: Marked Men #1

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: 10/22/12
Format: Paperback
Pages: 339
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5 stars

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. 

Boy, have I spent the last year missing out, or what? I bought Rule right after it released (due to a great review by my friend Rachel at Readers Den), but didn't get started right away because I'd heard that the writing needed some heavy editing. I just didn't want what could be a great story to be overshadowed by errors, ya know? Then, once Rule was picked up by a publisher, I heard that it had been cleaned up, and it rocked. At that point, though, I was on such an overload of NA romances featuring a good girl/bad boy that I didn't want what could be a great story to be overshadowed by my tiredness. The series kept going strong, I kept hearing good things. But then the publisher started sending me print copies of the series, and I decided to at least give this book that had been sitting quietly but not forgotten, on my to-read list, a chance.

Now I want to slap myself silly because I loved Rule. It took me very little time to realize that although the story seemed to hold the characteristics that have me wary of the sub-genre -- the tattooed bad boy, virgin heroine, the angst and drama of two opposites colliding -- and it did hold these characteristics, but something about Rule stands out. The story is not built on contrived trivialities and sex, drama and spinning in circles just to waste time. Rule is built on very, very strong characters with a complicated and tangled past. It is built on passion and pain. And it is built on a love worth fighting - and rooting- for.

I am so, so damn glad I finally gave this series a try. I highly recommend Rule for anyone who loves complicated, well-developed characters, and a strong story. I can see that Marked Men is going to be a new favorite series for me. Perfect for fans of Rock Me, by Cherie Lynn.




Favorite Quotes:

  I had the best sex of my life with a girl I had thought was way out of my league and in love with my dead brother. Yeah, Nash was probably right, if anybody could put up with all the crazy I was rocking I should probably lock her in quick because even I could see how seriously screwed up I am.


  I kissed her. I kissed her so that she could feely regret, my desire to do right, the way that she had a piece of me now and I wasn't letting go. I kissed her because I had to and kissing her made me feel better.


  "What if I ask you to give me everything, Shaw? What if I want it all? Won't that make me just like all the rest of them?"
  She made a noise in her throat and then broke into a smile that nearly killed me on the spot. She was just so lovely and pure. "No, because you don't have to ask for anything. All of it is already yours. You're the only one I've ever wanted to give it to."



Series: Marked Men #2
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: 5/28/13
Format: Paperback
Pages: 416
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4.5 stars

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?

And....my love affair/obsession with the Marked Men series has been continued with Jet. Let me rephrase, my love affair/obsession with the Marked Men series has grown by leaps and bounds with the second installment, Jet, and has turned me into a super happy camper.

This book had a lot of potential. Having already established Jet and Ayden in the first book, and knowing that a raging chemistry was ready to explode and consume both, it was no task at all to happily dive into this book. Jet and Ayden were even better than I anticipated. They both have pasts that contribute to the turmoil of their present, and even though they each seemed resigned to their "doom", I never felt as if they were defined by it. At times Jet and Ayden even seemed consumed by their fears, but it never felt contrived. Did they always do or say or feel like I wanted them to? Not a chance. But I always understood their motivations, even when I didn't like the outcome.

I'm not going to recap every little detail about Jet; I always think the story is better left for readers to discover on their own. But I want to briefly point out how much I love Jay Crownover's storytelling. Not only does she write a compelling story, but she creates truly dynamic characters. Her character development is outstanding, a true attribute. It's clear she lives and breathes her characters and their lives, and because she does that, we readers get that privilege as well.

Jet really gives the readers a chance to not only know Jet and Ayden better, but also Nash, Rowdy and Cora. I was also happy that we get more of Rule and Shaw and how their life is changing. It's no secret that the next book in the series, Rome, features Cora. Having gotten to know her more in Jet, I am so excited for this. Rome was a big part of Rule, and all indications are that he doesn't appear to be the same nice and supportive guy we met in that book. I have a feeling that Cora, in all her wicked sweet glory, will be the perfect match for Rome.


Favorite Quotes:

  There was Ayden Cross, nobody, from Woodward, Kentucky, and Ayden Cross, chemistry major, from Denver, Colorado. They were two parts of the whole and at times I thought one was going to smother the other and there would be nothing left but ash and bad memories.


  By the time my brain reengaged, he was starting to pull away, but now that seal had been broken there was no stopping the flood. Desire blazed first and foremost, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, keeping him right where he was. He tasted like whiskey and the sweetest type of sin there was.


  I wanted to turn around, wanted to put my arms around her, but letting her hold on to me, letting her put me back together was what I needed right now. So I just kept my eyes closed and stretched my hands out to brace myself against the wall. I couldn't see my mom's battered face anymore or feel my dad's face break under my hands. All that mattered was Ayden, and that she could make it right, make me right.


  "He makes me smile just by being in the same room. When he touches me, I forget to breathe and when he sings to me, oh my Lord, when he sings to me there are no words to describe what that does to me.
.... I might be in love with him, but I can't be, because I'm not willing to be the one who destroys him."


  "Jet Keller, I love you, and there is no future for me without you in it. I'm never going to bed with a man who isn't you again. I don't care if you're a rock star or a car salesman, I just want there to be a 'you and me' forever. "

 

Series: Marked Men #3
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: 1/7/13
Format: ARC
Pages: 400
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5 stars

Cora Lewis is a whole lot of fun, and she knows how to keep her tattooed bad boy friends in line. But all that flash and sass hide the fact that she’s never gotten over the way her first love broke her heart. Now she has a plan to make sure that never happens again: She’s only going to fall in love with someone perfect.

Rome Archer is as far from perfect as a man can be. He’s stubborn and rigid, he’s bossy and has come back from his final tour of duty fundamentally broken. Rome’s used to filling a role: big brother, doting son, super soldier; and now none of these fit anymore. Now he’s just a man trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life while keeping the demons of war and loss at bay. He would have been glad to suffer it alone, until Cora comes sweeping into his life and becomes the only color on his bleak horizon.

Perfect isn’t in the cards for these two, but imperfect might just last forever . . .

I have a book hangover, and I have no regrets. I set out to read the first half of Rome before bed, and every intention to follow through. The problem, this book was so great...so incredibly great....that I ended up "one-more-chaptering" and before I knew it, I had a finished book clutched to my chest and it was 3am. Sure, I was exhausted the next morning, all day, but when I have a book that will not let me go, a book that had me crying into my pillow as I read, white-knuckling the whole way through, it's best to not fight it. I was powerless against Rome and I am way okay with that.  

 

Rome surprised me, both the book and the man. Cora surprised me too. Their story surprised me in the very best way. I don't really feel that I had a particular path in mind for them, but I did in a way expect for a linear path for Rome and Cora. Well, I should have known better because their story was far from my presumptions, and I loved the windy and twisty path that led Rome and Cora to their happily ever after. It was sad. It was sweet. It was complicated. It was sexy and romantic.

 

Like the first two books in the series, Rome includes much page time with the entire Marked crew and their significant others. Rule and Shaw definitely played a huge part in Rome; Jet and Ayden were around a fair amount as well. All indications are good for Nash, Rowdy and Asa having wonderful stories to tell in the future, particularly Nash, since his book will be up next. With the lady who appears to have caught his eye and the bomb that's dropped near the end, Nash's book will clearly be heavy and spectacular. I can't even believe that Asa is now a part of the crew. I despised him so much in Jet, but sometimes the most infuriating and surprising characters have the best stories to tell.

 

Needless to say, I loved Rome. I love the Marked Men series. I can't wait to read the remaining books in the series. I am so so happy I gave the Marked Men a chance.

 

 

Favorite Quotes:

  "What did you call me?"
   "Captain No-Fun."
   He let out a chuckle that sounded rusty from lack of use and he shook his head at me."Staff Sergeant No-Fun is more accurate.
   I gaped a little in surprise that a sense of humor actually lurked somewhere under all that muscle and broodiness.
   "I call my dad 'Admiral Ass Hat, he doesn't really think it's funny."
  The scar on his forehead twitched again. "Your dad was in the navy?"
  "Oh yeah. He was totally Popeye."
  "Was he really an admiral?" There was a shade of respect in his tone.
  "Yep, so you can imagine how thrilled he was trying to rein me in when I was younger."
  He chuckled again and this time it didn't sound so much like it hurt him. His eyes glinted at me as he pulled the door open to follow Rule out into the Colorado sunshine.
  "I don't know, Half-Pint, something tells me reining you in is probably a pretty good time."


  "Because I'm freaked out that whatever I say might be the wrong thing. And right now, being with you is the one thing that feels solid and real... You're so full of color, so vibrant you never get lost in all the gray in my head. I don't want to lose that."

  Happiness wasn't something I remembered bright and clear, but this feeling, it was powerful enough that I understood why men went to war over it, fought to the death for it.
 

 

 

The Marked Men Series

 

   

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GIVEAWAY

I have the entire Marked Men series to give away, courtesy of the publisher!
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About the author

I'm supposed to share interesting details about myself so that my readers get to know me so here we go in no particular order: I'm an natural redhead even though I haven't seen my real hair color in years, I'm a big fan of tattoos and have a half sleeve on either arm and various other pieces all over the place, I've been in the bar industry since I was in college and it has always offered interesting insight into how men and women interact with each other, I have 3 dogs that are all crazy, I live in Colorado and love the snow, I love music and in all reality wish I could be a rock star not a writer or a bartender but I have zero talent so there is that.

I love to write, love to read and all I'm interested in is a good story with interesting characters that make the reader feel something.
 

 

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