Eva Márquez - Sweetest Taboo

Publisher: Terra Mia Press

 

ISBN: 9781478136811

 

My rating: 2/5

 

Isabel Cruz was fifteen years old when she met Tom Stevens. She was 15 when they started dating, and 16 when she lost her virginity to him. By the time she turned 18 and went to college, everything had fallen apart.

This hadn’t been an ordinary love, though. Not a love between two dear friends, or even high school sweethearts. This had been the most taboo sort of love there was: a relationship between a student and her teacher. Isabel started her high school career as a normal student, but set her sights on Tom Stevens as soon as she met him, and pursued him with an intense – and sometimes reckless – fascination. When he finally approached her after swim practice and told her that he shared her feelings, it was the start of a forbidden and dangerous relationship.

Join Isabel as she makes her way through this dark love story, hiding from teachers, lying to her parents, and defying the authorities to make a life with the man she loves. Watch as she discovers the wonders of love and romance, and the terrible betrayal of jealous friends. And cry with her when she learns the hard truth about life and the people in her world.

Sweetest Taboo is inspired by the true and tragic stories of students who fall in love with their teachers, and live with the hard truths of forbidden romances. In a world full of after-school specials on sexual predators, this touching book seeks a different path, casting both student and teacher in a gentle light, and showing that true love may lie at the base of even the most illicit romance. (goodreads.com)

 

 

My thoughts

 

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

 

I'm really sorry, but I didn't like the story. And having said that, it's got little to do with the subject, more the whole package. I'm actually a bit surprised that it did so well at the Amazon Breakthrough Award.

 

Anyway, I thought it was boring, nothing really happens over the almost 300 pages, except the love story of a young 15-year-old student and her teacher. Well written and I won't even go into the subject of student/teacher relationship, but nothing else.

 

I wanted to give it 3 stars, but there were a few issues I had:

 

*There was a lot of assumption on the girl's side re the teacher's feelings, but we never found out why, out of all students, she was the one he was so attracted to.

 

*What happened to the girl who reported the whole affair to the police. Did I miss something or was she never mentioned again?

 

*What was the significance of the parking ticket?

 

*Why did she go out the guy from the department store? To figure out what?  For me, she came across double cheap, not only did she have an affair with a married man, no, she went out with a guy who was about to get married.

 

*And the teacher's excuse that he didn't love his wife, he was drunk and on drugs when he proposed to her seemed wayyyyy to convenient to be believable.

 

 

I wish Eva Marquez all the best for the launch of this book, and thanks again for giving me the opportunity to read it.

Sandra Brown - Tomorrow's Promise

Publisher(s): Mira Books 1993, 2000, 2008; Harlequin 1983

ISBN of current print edition: 978-0778327202

My rating: 2/5


It happened the way attraction happens best: suddenly, passionately, uncontrollably and unforgettably.Thousands of feet above the ground on a crowded flight to Washington, D.C., radio personality Keely Williams felt the irresistible pull of handsome congressman Dax Devereaux. They were speaking at the same congressional hearing about Vietnam soldiers listed as MIA. Tragically, Keely’s husband was among the missing soldiers. He had been her childhood sweetheart, her future, her love—:and then the unanswered question Keely dedicated her life to solving.Until there was Dax. And the possibility of a new future. But could Keely allow herself to love again, and still honor the man of her past?   (www.amazon.com)


My thoughts

This story, if I may call it that, was just going on and on and on ... without anything really happening. And then something came up that made me check the blurb on the back cover and found out the book is almost thirty years old!

I've got to admit I didn't like the story. I think even placed into the "now" time, it'd be boring and at places close to unbelievable with so many coincidences.

Keely's soldier-husband has been missing in action for twelve years. She doesn't know whether he's dead or alive. On her way to Washington she meets Dex and falls in love with him, but her conscious doesn't allow for her to "live" her feelings - and he's such a wonderful hero! And she isn't. I just couldn't warm up to Keely, to the point when Dex and Nicole (her best friend) in a moment of rage told her what they thought of her, I went like "yeah!".

Glad I finally finished it, it was a real struggle!

Marian Keyes - This Charming Man

Publisher: Penguin Books

ISBN: 9780141026756

My rating: 2/5

Everybody remembers where they were the day they heard that Paddy de Courcy was getting married’ But for four women in particular, the big news about the charismatic politician is especially momentous … Stylist Lola has every reason to be interested in who Paddy’s marrying – because although she’s his girlfriend, she definitely isn’t the bride-to-be. Heartbroken, she flees the city for a cottage by the sea. But will Lola’s retreat prove as idyllic as she hopes? … Not if journalist Grace has anything to do with it. She wants the inside story on the de Courcy engagement and thinks Lola holds the key. Grace’s sister, Marnie, might be able to help but she’s too busy holding her perfect life – perfect husband, perfect children, perfect house – together. And what of the soon to be Mrs de Courcy … Alicia will has waited a long time for this and is determined to be the perfect politician’s wife. But does she know the real Paddy de Courcy? Four very different women. One awfully charming man. And the dark secret that binds them all … (MarianKeyes.com)


My thoughts

Honestly, this book didn't rock my world. I remember reading "Anybody out there" and I was in tears.

We get to know four women, all of them somehow know Paddy De Courcy who has just announced his engagement. We learn their stories, their ups and downs, and how their life's been affected by Paddy.

The first, I don't know, 100 pages were horrible. H-o-r-r-i-b-l-e. It was Lola's story and as much as I liked her story, I skipped most of her's because of the Diary/Blog like writing style. But honestly I've never seen anything like it. I was close to just giving up.

However, I did persist and it kind of got better. The writing style. The story got a touch more interesting, but I've got to say it wasn't a page-turner. Not at all.  Reading through the other women's stories, the backstories, their troubles, fears and emotions made it somewhat interesting. Personally I think it could've been a great book if perhaps there had been one or two less stories, and more depth into the rest of them ... and better grammar for the blog, but that goes without saying, I suppose.

Emotional ride in the end, but not enough for me to say, "hey, great read!".

Jojo Moyes - The Last Letter from Your Lover

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

ISBN: 978-0340961643

My rating: 2.5/5

THE LAST LETTER FROM YOUR LOVER

Winner of the 2011 RNA Book Of The Year Award
When journalist Ellie looks through her newspaper's archives for a story, she doesn't think she'll find anything of interest. Instead she discovers a letter from 1960, written by a man asking his lover to leave her husband and Ellie is caught up in the intrigue of a past love affair. Despite, or perhaps because of her own romantic entanglements with a married man.
In 1960, Jennifer wakes up in hospital after a car accident. She can't remember anything her husband, her friends, who she used to be. And then, when she returns home, she uncovers a hidden letter, and begins to remember the lover she was willing to risk everything for.
Ellie and Jennifer's stories of passion, adultery and loss are wound together in this richly emotive novel interspersed with real 'last letters'. (JojoMoyes.com)

My thoughts

I wouldn't have a clue what to write. The first part was boring. It's confusing as well until you get the hang of the change between now and the 60s.

Ellie (the now part) finds an old letter in the library when the newspaper she works for moves to a different building. Then the story moves to the 60s and we read about the background of this letter - the affair between Jennifer Stirling and Tony O'Hare. An affair she cannot remember though, because of a car accident and a amnesia.

I didn't like any of the characters - except Rory. Wait, you really want me to tell you how he fits in?

Okay - the ending was kinda nice and moving when we get to read the "Happy Ending".