mignon mykel { reviews }: review || BEYOND THE CAGE { release blitz } by Alana Sapphire

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

review || BEYOND THE CAGE { release blitz } by Alana Sapphire

Alana Sapphire | March 22, 2016 | Sport Romance
★★★★

SOURCE: AUTHOR

**Jasmine**

MMA champ, Cameron ‘K.O.’ Jackson, is the embodiment of every woman’s dream man. He’s smart, tall, dark, and handsome, with a bad boy twist. The only problem is, this Prince Charming doesn’t talk. That’s right. He acknowledges he can, he just…doesn’t.

The night I met him, his beauty turned my brain to mush. Then, he kissed me, and my world tilted on its axis. He was a distraction, something I didn’t need being twenty-two years old and pre-med. Besides, I had no business even thinking about a violent MMA fighter, so I walked away with no intention of seeing him again. Apparently, he had other plans.

He tracked me down, and I brushed all my objections aside, diving head first into a relationship because he intrigued me. As I get to know him, I learn he’s not the psychotic killer I thought he was, but the more I’m with him, it seems the less I know. He’s a conundrum – scary fighter and gentle giant; public figure, private man. Mystery surrounds him and no one is more curious than I am. Well, you know the saying – ‘curiosity killed the cat’. Cameron’s world is dangerous, and I’m about to learn firsthand. When it breaks down my door, will he be able to save me?

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{ about alana sapphire } .

Music and writing are my two great loves. I always thought I'd be doing one or the other. Alas, I cannot sing or play an instrument so I'm relegated to listening to music (and eating copious amounts of chocolate) while I write. Hoping you'll enjoy my characters as much as I do!

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{ excerpt } .

I watch him move across the room, my mouth gaping. Shit. Using the back of my hand, I check the corners of my lips for drool. Okay, I’m good. His body is simply…divine. My eyes rove over his protruding pectorals and down to the perfectly formed ridges of his abs. The desire to run my tongue in the grooves of his V-line boils inside me. He turns away, and I watch the muscles play in his back as he moves. Lying on my stomach, I place my palms on either side of my face and observe him. Every movement is like a touch to my most sensitive parts; that’s how strong his effect on me is. How can putting on deodorant be sexy? I don’t know, but the way he does it…

Our eyes meet and he gives me that knowing smile of his.

“I think I’m obsessed with your body.”

The smile turns into a smirk and he sticks his finger into the towel, letting it fall to the floor.

Fuck. Me. The perfection continues. He’s not aroused at all but still totally impressive. My breath catches and my pussy twitches. As he moves, his dick swings between his powerful thighs. Yeah, I have to check for drool again.

{ review } .

This was an enjoyable story -- although it was just as frustrating as it was enjoyable.

Cameron doesn't talk. Ever. But when he starts to have text conversations with Jasmine, you start to ache to 'hear' his voice (at least I did). No one knows what has stopped him from talking: PTSD from the Corps? Going to Japan? What was it that took his voice from him?
Whatever it was, he's turned into an amazing fighter.

I really did not like him at the beginning. I could not fathom being in Jasmine's shoes, having this big, broody man come on to you... all without talking. Creepy much? But she makes it work.

And even if she wasn't going to, he shows her just how badly he wants to get to know her.

On that front, I loved his tenacity. I liked how he fought for Jasmine, but I also like how Jasmine learned to simply accept him and what he was willing to give her and the world. They honestly didn't have many problems on the conversational front, something I found to be amazing.

And I will say, his first words? While it takes a long, looonnnggg time for them to come, were so worth the wait. Would I have liked more than one sided conversations with answers via nods and lifted brows? Definitely, especially because sometimes his answers didn't seem as cut and dry as Jasmine was able to pull from the gestures, but it all kind of evened out in the end.

No comments:

a quick note from { mignon } ...

I AM NO LONGER ACTIVE IN REVIEWING

The last two years has been incredibly rewarding, giving me the opportunity to pick up new-to-me authors, as well as new-to-the-world authors. I have enjoyed supporting publishing houses as well as the indie author, and in doing so, I learned a lot about the marketing aspect of writing a book and selling it as a self-published author.

I have re-focused my journey to more writing-minded. I still read and review! But not nearly at the rate I was; three books a day has turned to three books a month.

I will no longer be accepting individual review requests (unless it's specifically author-to-author, then it will be highly considered).

I will definitely be posting reviews for commitments I have already made, though.

Thank you for understanding, & thank you to all those I have worked with over the last year plus!

~ Mignon

http://mignonmykel.com

GOODREADS updates

Dirty Saint: A Secret Baby Sports Romance by Vesper Vaughn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book almost failed to get my attention. Why?

The hero.

He is the exact public person I despise. You know the type -- all biblical with publicized praying and verses all over his public persona. Great. Good for you. Bet you're not like that behind closed doors...

Which is exactly what Esther thinks of him.

Saint and Esther attend the same super religious college. Esther is on the fast track to becoming a nun, and no I do not kid, and Saint, given name Francis, can do just about whatever he wants, because he is the star athlete and the school knows he has connections. What in the world can these two have in common? The actions of their parents.

But where Saint does what his father says, usually, because his father is pushing him toward a pro-football careers, Esther follows her parents (father) because if she didn't... Her life would literally be a living hell.

I really enjoyed these two, once we started to get to know Saint a little bit better. My only drawback with the book would be the last half goes by in super-fast time. While it helped to keep the story moving, I would have liked to see more of that time drawn out so the feelings and emotions of our two characters felt more genuine and real -- rather than simply a two month courting that their lives demanded.

I'm giving the book the full 5 stars because it came out of left-field for me. It was a book that I didn't expect to like, but the author wove it in a way that I fell hard for our characters both as individuals and as a couple. I liked watching Esther grow and find her voice in life, just as I liked watching playboy, always for the chase Saint, settle down and find a person to be terribly protective over. I loved him most in the last two chapters.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

Everything by Erin Noelle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Here's something you may know about me if you've followed my reviews -- I'm an epilogue reader. I will almost always read the epilogue first. Call me a spoilsport or no fun, or whatever but that's how I've been reading books for years. It's no wonder that when I write books, I tend to have the epilogue all figured out before I even start with "Once upon a time...".

That said... I read this epilogue and while I liked it, I just couldn't get past the ages of our characters. Couldn't do it. So I read the beginning. Still... If anything, the age of our characters was even more pronounced. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to read this. You see, I have an issue with "Happily ever after" and the hardly-twenty crowd, let alone an eighteen year old.

But that's my hang-up.

Another thing you may know about me? I will sometimes read a book in what I call a inside-out fashion. I jump all over the place until I find a snippet of story that absolutely grips me. And people -- there are a few of those parts in Everything. So because I found those gripping parts, I put my faith in Erin Noelle, and I started from page one -- and I gave Everett and Belle a chance.

And I'm so glad I did.

Everett and his twin sister have been making music forever -- literally. They're the children of a rockstar; music has always been their life. When their father's group decides to get back together (dad always said he'd go back when the twins were done with school), Mason tells the label -- if you take me, you're taking my kids: thus, giving Everett and Ashlynn the opportunity to take their music to a larger level than they have before.

Along the way, with a local gig, Everett meets Belle -- and so begins their story.

This is a story about growing up. This is a story about following your heart -- be it for a person or a career, or even both. It is about learning to trust the person you are giving your heart to, and about taking the ever-looming jump into unknown feelings. When you put your life, your wants, your desires in someone else's hands, the world opens up -- and it certainly does for Everett and Belle.

The part I most appreciated was that the author made Everett true to his age and situation. Belle was too, yes, but it was Everett and his new lifestyle that had me wanting to see true characterization for. He's a guy; he's a musician; he's new to love. He makes mistakes. And for those mistakes, I truly got on board with this story.

Everett and his Tinker Bell were incredibly cute. I liked that there's a decent time jump at the end, further allowing -- you guessed it -- growth of our characters. I'm excited to watch more of them when (if?) Ashlynn's story comes out.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

View all my reviews