COURTNEY REVIEWS: BE HERE NOW by ANDREA WOLFE

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: 8/16/13
Format: eARC
Pages: 266
Source: Received from author for review
Rating: 4 stars

They took everything from her.

Attacked her.

Raped her.

Left her for dead.

She lost her whole life in New Orleans and fled to Seattle, hoping to find sanctuary from her dark past. Simone LeClair isn't sure if she'll ever love anyone again—or if she even wants to.

That is, until she meets the beautiful Aiden Meyers, a man with a myriad problems of his own, a man that wears different masks to keep his conflicting worlds separate from each other. For some strange reason, as soon as Simone lays her eyes on him, she can't look away. He's unlike any man she's ever met, and that makes him all the more unbelievable.

When she's with him, all her pain becomes a distant memory, pain that she believed she'd never escape. But as Aiden's walls start to crumble, and the worlds he juggles start to collide, Simone realizes he's dangerous in a whole new way - she's fallen hard for him, even though he's on a downward spiral that threatens to take her down with him.

Will Simone sink with him?

Or will she pull herself out before it's too late?

Full length (93,000 word) New Adult Contemporary Romance

Mature Content Warning: Contains adult language and content.

HEA ending.

 

First things first, Be Here Now...Blew. My. Mind. Kaboom, it exploded. Okay so the first chapter horrified me and sucked me in completely. It was intense, and just really set things off in a direction that I was not expecting. The blurb does give a great idea into what is going to happen, but it really sucker punched me with what actually happened.

Then, the rest of the story happens and while Simone has every reason to act kind of like a crazy girl when she does, I had another eye opening experience with her meeting Aiden. She acts insane there for a while, but the greatest thing about it is how real life their relationship seems and he doesn't take her crap. I honestly didn't know how they got from point A to point B, because they did not get off on the right foot at all!

Well, things happen that I can't tell you, but Aiden and Simone start seeing each other. Aiden and Simone both have some serious past issues that have been holding them back but Aiden's mystique just changed almost every single time Simone saw him. When it says he has many faces, he does. He is cute hipster guy, confident rocker that leads his band, and really angry son that cannot forgive his father for past hurts. His highs and lows will make you question Simone's sanity more than once, but the good times are good...and that is enough right? ;)

I love when a heroine starts figuring stuff out for herself. Simone starts going back to therapy and that sort of honesty for a character is hard to write sometimes but I loved it. The tables turn in yet another unexpected way with Aiden and I hope that you too will be proud of both of their adult like choices. Maybe there isn't always adult like behavior but when push comes to shove the destructive behavior does take a backseat to realistic hard choices...thank goodness. This book was a seriously good surprise from Andrea Wolfe and I enjoyed it very much!!

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COURTNEY REVIEWS: HAZE (HAZE #1) by ANDREA WOLFE

Series: Haze #1
Category/Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: 4/2/13
Format: ebook
Source: Received from author for review

Freshly graduated from college and ready for a new start, Effie Jacobs leaves small town Michigan and heads to New York City to work in accounting for a major record label--the last thing she ever thought she'd be doing. She's left a world of drama behind her, eager to confront her new reality head on and make it on her own.

After getting over the initial shock of NYC and her new job, Effie's life starts to become more manageable, calmer, simpler. But all of that changes at once when HE steps into the picture, songwriter/performer/producer, Jack Teller.

He's enigmatic, gorgeous, and wealthy, the glowing product of so many years of hard work and limitless natural talent, a man so fantastic that he can have literally any woman he wants. And after a highly unexpected encounter, Jack wants Effie--and she can't understand why.

She can't believe that he could actually be serious about wanting a simple girl like her.

Effie's cautious, yet dangerously intrigued by his unremitting advances, his flourishes of passion, worried that she'll find herself in a cat-and-mouse game of steamy emotions. Jack is full of surprises, and she's not ready to give into him--or herself--so easily.

The only problem is, when they're together, it's like perfection.

Even with the challenges...

Even with the secrets...

Even with the hurt from the past...

Can Effie get past her powerful desire for independence and give herself to the one that wants her the most? Maybe what Jack offers is the exactly thing she's been looking for all along...

 

 

 
When I read the Haze blurb, the things I remember most were: Set in New York City, Hunky guy is a music producer, his name is Jack. Now, I don't know if anyone here has read the Avoiding Series or not, but it contains a very memorable character named Jack and is sort of set in New York. Or I associated it this way just because that apparently is how my mind works. That Jack made me feel like throwing my iPad across the room pretty much in every scene he was in (which I will say I am more attached to that thing than sweets...because I truly love junk food, so that says a lot), but mostly want to kill him myself to save the girl some heartache. In other words, it surprised me that I didn't run away kicking and screaming in the other direction from this, again because of how my mind works. I think what drew me back in from my crazy inner monologue was the music part. I love rocker stories, so I thought his profession as a producer was close enough.

Anyway! I struggled a lot through the first part of the book. I'm not sure how far I got into Andrea's 100 page or die rule, so I probably went past it, but I was very happy with the second half. The main problem I think was not feeling very connected to the characters at first. Effie is a small town girl with big dreams who takes a job in New York City after her long time boyfriend gives her an ultimatum so he can stay close to his family with the job he wants. I hate guys like that so I am glad she chose herself, and just moved. My husband worked out for the first couple of years we were married, but he never once let me put my dreams or chance to further myself aside, so if anything this showed me another example of how awesome my husband is! (Hah! Sorry...that isn't going to make you wanna read this book!)

Effie is, I think, 23 and new to life in the big city, as opposed to Jack who is 30 and hugely successful in the music business. Once the story found it's rhythm I enjoyed reading about them a great deal. The first parts of Jack and Effie's relationship was what was most rushed for me. Speed of light start-go-stop-hot-cold-I want it this way-I want it that way-oh sorry just kidding nonsense. She didn't know what she wanted, which was okay to a point because she is discovering herself for the first time, but she was so very wishy washy about it that I rolled my eyes a few times. That particular story line is done a lot these days, so I was glad that when it took off some of that was left behind too.

The second half seemed much more developed and added a few more outside elements that were exciting involving Effie's boss Sam. I was grateful that all of the loose strings that I remember were tied up nicely in the end also so I wasn't left wondering about what people we were introduced to were doing. I liked it and gave it 3 stars, but is more suited to those who don't mind a slow to boil read but might not work out for a hook in the first chapter type.

 

 

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