Honey Moon - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Honey Moon by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Honey Jane Moon is a scrappy little know-it all—brave, smart, but ill-prepared to become the most famous child star in America, even though she's not quite as young as everyone believes. It won't take her long to drive the men in her life crazy. There's Eric Dillion, a smoldering bad boy and one of Hollywood's most gifted actors. And Dash Coogan, the last of the cowboy heroes, a man trapped on a screen too small to contain a legend. When Honey falls in love, she'll do it the only way she knows how—with all her heart.

4,5

Yazarın okuduğum 3. kitabı. Diğer kitaplardan birine 2,5 puan verip diğerini de yarım bıraktığım için bu kitaptan da pek umutlu değildim açıkçası. Ama benim önyargılarımın aksine çok çok beğendiğim bir kitap oldu. Olayın anlatımı ve karakterlerin yolculuğu bana biraz David Nicholls'ın One Day kitabını hatırlattı. Öncelikle şunu belirteyim; bu kitabı chick-lit değil women's fiction olarak değerlendirmekte fayda var. Chick-lit kitaplardan alışık olduğumuz hızlı gelişim, komik örgüler, sahte dramalar bu kitapta yok. Tam tersi konunun gelişimi oldukça ayrıntılı ve yavaş (okurken yavaş değil, korkmayın), karakterlerin değişimi ve belki de büyümesi aynı şekilde gerçekçi, kitapta yaratılan dramalar sahte değil ve bu kitapta pek de güldüğümü hatırlamıyorum.

Kitabın konusundan biraz bahsetmek gerekirse, kitaba ismini de veren baş karakter Honey Jane Moon'un çocukluktan yetişkinliğe geçişini izliyoruz kitapta. Romantik yönü ilk paragrafta kıyasladığım kitaba göre daha baskın tabii. Honey Jane 6 yaşında annesinin ölümüyle birlikte teyzesi ve eniştesinin sahibi olduğu lunaparkta yaşamaya başlıyor ve eniştesinin ölümüyle çok küçük yaşta orayı yönetimini devralıyor. Ailesini bir arada tutmaya çalışırken bir yandan da kuzeninin bir dizi için oyuncu seçmelerine gitmesini sağlıyor, ancak dizinin başrol oyuncusu Honey'nin rol için daha uygun olacağına karar veriyor ve Honey aslında 16 yaşında olmasına rağmen çocuk yıldız olarak ünleniyor. Buradan itibaren Honey'nin yeni girdiği bu ortamda ve elindeki yeni imkanlarla neler yaptığını görüyoruz. Bir yandan da dizide arkadaşını oynayan Eric Dillon ve babasını oynayan Dash Coogan için beslediği hayranlığı... Buradan sonrası bolca spoiler içerdiği için değinmeyeceğim ama küçük bir bilgi vereyim, şahsen beni okuduğum kitaplarda en çok iten şeylerden biri olan "aşk üçgeni" bu kitapta yok.

Kitabı çok övdüm ama biraz da beğenmediğim birkaç şeyden bahsedeyim.

Dash ve Honey'nin ilişkisi başta baba-kız ilişkisiyken önce arkadaşlığa sonra ise romantik bir ilişkiye dönüştü. Belki başta baba-kız ilişkisi kafamıza kakılmamış olsaydı görmezden gelebilirdim ama bu haliyle biraz rahatsız ediciydi. Honey 18 yaşındayken sette yaşanan pataklama olayına girmiyorum bile...

Ama genel olarak güzel anlatımı olan, romantizmden çok karaktere önem vermiş bir kitap. Türü sevenlere tavsiye ederim.

I've Got Your Number - Sophie Kinsella

I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her “happily ever after” begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill but in the panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As she paces shakily around the lobby, she spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect!

Well, perfect except that the phone’s owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life.

What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other’s lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls, and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents . . . she soon realizes that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life.

Şaşkınlıklar içindeyim! Daha birkaç ay önce Pasaklı Tanrıça’yı yakılacaklar listeme almış, “böyle kitap olmaz olsun” demiştim ama I’ve Got Your Number’ın arc kopyası elime geçince şansımı denemeye karar verdim, iyi ki de kitabı bir kenara atmamışım.

Kısa bir özet geçmek gerekirse; kitap ana karakter Poppy’nin nişan yüzüğünü kaybetmesiyle başlıyor ve bu talihsiz gece telefonunu çaldırmasıyla devam ediyor. Çöpte bulduğu bir şirket telefonunu sahiplenip, yüzüğünü arayan herkese yeni bulduğu numarayı verdiği için de en azından yüzüğü bulana kadar telefonu rehin alma kararı alıyor. Şirketin yöneticisi de gelen mailleri kendisine göndermesi şartıyla bu anlaşmayı kabul ediyor. Ancak Poppy mailleri sahibine yönlendirmek yerine, sahibinin ağzından cevaplar da yazmaya başlayınca olaylar karışıyor...

Crazy for You (Life and Love on the Lam #2) by Juliet Rosetti

Crazy for You by Juliet Rosetti
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In the tradition of Janet Evanovich and Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Juliet Rosetti ups the ante in her laugh-out-loud funny Escape Diaries series, as Mazie Maguire must use any means necessary to keep her main squeeze out of the slammer.

Once you escape from prison and ride off into the sunset with the gorgeous guy who helped you nail a killer, you live happily ever after, right? Well, not exactly—not if you’re Mazie Maguire, and the flow chart of your life looks like a pinball machine. Mazie has broken up with her guy, Ben Labeck, she can’t pay her rent, her car is infested with mice, and she’s working at a coffee shop where the dress code is teddies, thongs, and toe-cleavage heels. Now Ben is the chief suspect in a murder investigation, and Mazie’s tapping into her fugitive wiles to keep him out of jail. Strictly as friends, she vows. No kissing, no touching, no romance. But how is Mazie supposed to keep her thoughts platonic when her “buddy” is giving her erotic back rubs, and a make-believe-we’re-newlyweds charade puts her in the mood for a wedding night?

Includes a special message from the editor, as well as excerpts from other Loveswept titles.

Mazie and Ben... Gaaah these two are cracking me up!

This book takes place 7 weeks after Mazie's big prison escape and 6 weeks after she and Ben's brake-up. Yeah, they had 5 passionate day and broke up. Now she works as a mystery shopper for a company. But her boss Rhonda (the Cougar) fire her because of her report and Mazie sees her with Ben -kissing- the same day. Yeah!

Anyway, same night Ben finds Rhonda dead and apparently he's the last person who saw her alive too, he becomes the main suspect of the murder. With this, Ben and Mazie once again trying to escape from the police. This time they have a Lieutenant behind their backs!

I loved the secondary characters in this book. Juju, Magenta, Dr. Dreamboat, Lieutenant Vincent Trumbull (okay I hated him a little) and of course Muffin! I like the way they involved with the story. The "real" murderer was easy to spot on but still I like the way the things turned out. Once again there was no unanswered questions at the end. So why I did gave it 3 stars? I really don't know.
Maybe I shouldn't read these books consecutively, I'm not sure about that but I know this book didn't grab me like The Escape Diaries. But I really enjoyed reading both Mrs. Rosetti's books. They're well written and I love the characters she creates. She's a great story teller and I know I will read everything she writes.


I received an e-galley from the publisher.

Three Stages of Love: Lust by T.C. Anthony

Three Stages of Love: Lust by T.C. Anthony
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Evangeline Chase is standing at the edge of a crossroad. After choosing to be blissfully ignorant for far too long and willfully ignoring what her life has been lacking, fate is about to intervene. When Alexander Mason, a striking and powerful venture capitalist, is introduced as her new boss, Eva is overwhelmed by an intoxicating cocktail of hormones and lust that leaves her struggling to maintain her composure and more importantly, control of her life.

With an undeniable urge to dominate her new boss, her own lust-filled fantasies lead to a transformation that shakes her to her core. But when Alexander challenges Eva to satisfy her carnal urges, she is forced to choose between her career, her desires, and an unconventional and lustful relationship. Consumed by fear and forced to maintain control at all costs, Eva must decide if having it all is worth risking her career, her world, and possibly, love.

I really don't want to write a long review since I wouldn't recommend this book, so I'm just going to state a few reasons why...

I really wanted to like this book. Clearly I'm in the minority here. Most people seemed to adore this book, while I merely thought it was plain bad. While I loved the premise of the story, I did not like the book. Before I start my review I like to summarise the book first but I don't know how to do it with this book because there is no story. Eva is not a likable character. Her character took away my enthusiasm. I felt no connection between the main characters and their romance. It was too rushed. I can't believe the entire book takes place in only 2 weeks and the way Alexander fall in love with her that much within that time.



I received a review copy from the publisher.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Claire Randall is leading a double life. She has a husband in one century, and a lover in another...

In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon—when she innocently touches a boulder in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an "outlander"—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire's destiny in soon inextricably intertwined with Clan MacKenzie and the forbidden Castle Leoch. She is catapulted without warning into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life ...and shatter her heart. For here, James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a passion so fierce and a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

1.5 stars

It started really good and I enjoyed the first quarter of it. Historic references were good too, clearly the author did her research well. I'm not a touchy type so I didn't get offensive about the certain scenes but there is too many drama and it was really too much for me. I get tired while reading this book and it wasn't a joy. At the end this was one of the most disappointing books I've ever read. And obviously I won't continue to reading this series.