Review: Five Ways to Fall by K.A. Tucker

Title: Five Ways to Fall
Author: K.A. Tucker
Published: June 24th 2014
Read: June 26 to 30, 2014
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Purple-haired, sharp-tongued Reese MacKay knows all about making the wrong choice; she’s made plenty of them in her twenty-odd-years. So when her impulsive, short-lived marriage ends in heartbreak, she decides it’s time for a change. She moves to Miami with the intention of hitting reset on her irresponsible life, and she does quite well…aside from an epically humiliating one-night stand in Cancun with a hot blond bouncer named Ben. Thank God she can get on a plane and leave that mistake behind her.

Football scholarship and frat parties with hot chicks? Part of charmer Ben Morris’s plan. Blown knee that kills any hope of a professional football career? So not part of the plan. Luckily Ben has brains to go with his knockout looks and magnetism. After three long years of balancing law school with his job as a bouncer at Penny’s Palace, he’s ready to lead a more mature life—until his first day of work, when he finds himself in the office of that crazy, hot chick he met in Cancun. The one he hasn’t stopped thinking about.

If Ben truly were a smart guy, he’d stay clear of Reese. She’s the boss’s stepdaughter and it’s been made very clear that office romances are grounds for dismissal. Plus, rumor has it she’s trouble. The only problem is, he likes trouble, especially when it’s so good-looking…

Ten Tiny Breaths was one of my first New Adult novels and I really, really liked it. Then I had the worst luck with One Tiny Lie and Four Seconds to Lose (Hey, we cannot all love the same books! I’m glad that almost all of you loved FStL.), so I was legit scared to read Five Ways to Fall. I’m going to be really, really honest with you right now. Five Ways to Fall is K.A. Tucker’s best work to date and was also the best book I had read since Hothouse Flower in March! I absolutely loved loved loooooved it and you need to read it ASAP. Don’t believe me? Let me convince you a little more :)

Review: Four Seconds to Lose by K.A. Tucker

Title: Four Seconds to Lose (Ten Tiny Breaths #3)
Author: K.A. Tucker
Published: November 4th 2013
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When a gorgeous young dancer walks through his door, a strip club owner must decide whether to follow his rules or his heart in the third novel by the author of One Tiny Lie and Ten Tiny Breaths.
Owning a strip club isn’t the fantasy most guys expect it to be. With long hours, a staff with enough issues to keep a psych ward in business, and the police regularly on his case, twenty-nine-year-old Cain is starting to second guess his unspoken mission to save the women he employs. And then blond, brown-eyed Charlie Rourke walks through his door, and things get really complicated. Cain abides by a strict “no sleeping with the staff” rule. But being around Charlie challenges Cain’s self-control…and it’s been a long time since any woman has done that.
Twenty-two-year-old Charlie Rourke needs a lot of money, really fast, in order to vanish before it’s too late. Taking her clothes off for men makes her stomach curl but Charlie tells herself that at least she’s putting her acting and dancing skills to good use. And though her fellow dancers seem eager to nab their sexy, sophisticated, and genuinely caring boss, she’s not interested. After all, Charlie Rourke doesn’t really exist—and the girl pretending to be her can't get distracted by romance.
Unfortunately, Charlie soon discovers that developing feelings for Cain is inevitable, and that those feelings may not be unrequited—but losing him when he finds out what she’s involved with will be more painful than any other sentence awaiting her.

I honestly don’t even feel like writing a review for this. I feel like this series has gone so down for me that I’m not even sure I want to read Ben’s book. If this is any indication then I’m going to DNF his book which I do not want to happen. Ehhhh.. Okokok, I’ll try not to rant too much and say everything I have to say nicely.

Review: One Tiny Lie by K.A. Tucker

Title: One Tiny Lie (Ten Tiny Breaths #2)
Author: K.A. Tucker
Published: June 11th 2013
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Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Livie has always been the stable one of the two Cleary sisters, handling her parents' tragic death and Kacey's self-destructive phase with strength and maturity. But underneath that exterior is a little girl hanging onto the last words her father ever spoke to her. “Make me proud,” he had said. She promised she would...and she’s done her best over the past seven years with every choice, with every word, with every action.
Livie walks into Princeton with a solid plan, and she’s dead set on delivering on it: Rock her classes, set herself up for medical school, and meet a good, respectable guy that she’s going to someday marry. What isn’t part of her plan are Jell-O shots, a lovable, party animal roommate she can’t say ‘no’ to, and Ashton, the gorgeous captain of the men’s rowing team. Definitely him. He’s an arrogant ass who makes Livie’s usually non-existent temper flare and everything she doesn’t want in a guy. Worse, he’s best friends and roommates with Connor, who happens to fits Livie’s criteria perfectly. So why does she keep thinking about Ashton?
As Livie finds herself facing mediocre grades, career aspirations she no longer thinks she can handle, and feelings for Ashton that she shouldn’t have, she’s forced to let go of her last promise to her father and, with it, the only identity that she knows.

I knew going into this that most people didn’t find this better than Ten Tiny Breaths or anything near the goodness that was TTB. Since TTB was a little rough for me because I didn’t connect with Kacey that much, I was seriously scared to read One Tiny Lie. Those negative-ish and 'meh' reviews didn't really help the cause. Oh, well, let's get on with it and hear what I had to say

Book Haul #25

This post will start with an apology. I'm sorry for not having been the greates blogger or commenter throughout the past few weeks. It's my final BA year in uni and I have to work harder than ever before. Plus, I have a part-time job, so blog and reading kind of take the third place in my to-do list. I'm slowly getting back to the rhythm of school and work though and I promise I can do better. I'm scheduling posts for next week and I promise to do more reviews, too. Anyhow, this week was amazing for me when it comes to books: I received three books that I've been dying to read and also snagged a few e-copies that came out this week. As always, if you've read any of these, let me know what you thought and don't forget to leave your links down below so I can visit all of you lovelies back!

Physical Copies

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Things I Can't Forget (Hundred Oaks #3) by Miranda Kenneally

E-books

I'd Love to Tell You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You (Gallagher Girls #1) by Ally Carter

In the Fields by Willow Aster

The Burning Sky (The Elemental Trilogy #1) by Sherry Thomas

A Little Too Far (A Little Too Far #1) by Lisa Desrochers

Swag

I received a signed bookmark of Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker which I won during NA Crush Tourney via I Heart Big Books. Thanks so much, girl! It looks gorgeous:)

Oh, one more thing! I wrote down all my unread paperbacks/hardcovers and I'll pick my next reads randomly from there and guess what? I picked Lola and the Boy Next Door which I am absolutely l-o-v-i-n-g! I didn't have that good luck with Anna's book last summer (which I'm beginning to realize was kind of awesome, too.. I guess my values of reading have changed a little during the course of a year.) and I can't understand how come I waited so long to give Lola's story a try. I can't wait to see what I'll pick next!

Oh and there are a LOT of giveaways to participate in (check either the giveaway tab under the blog title or the top of the sidebar) and only one week left to participate in my favorite one--my birthday giveaway. I wish you all the best of luck!

What did you get this week? Leave your links below and I'll check out your goodies :)

In My Mailbox is a weekly event hosted by The Mod Podge Bookshelf and Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Review: Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker

Title: Ten Tiny Breaths (Ten Tiny Breaths #1)
Author: K.A. Tucker
Published: December 11th 2012
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Four years after losing her parents, best friend, and boyfriend in a drunk driving accident, twenty-year-old Kacey Cleary runs away to begin a new life in Miami. Hardened by the tragedy, she's determined to keep everyone at a distance—until she meets an irresistible and mysterious neighbor who is determined to melt the ice over her heart. 

The hype around this one is so enormous that it’s hard not to raise the bar high for one’s expectations and it’s hard to surpass them once they’re sky high. I had these kind of hopes and luckily I was mostly rewarded with satisfactory feelings and K.A. Tucker is now one of the authors I want to explore more of.

“Just breathe. Ten tiny breaths … Seize them. Feel them. Love them.” 

What I adored the most about this book was that it was divided into the stages of grief. No LOL moments for me in particular, but smirks, butterflies and tears were a part of my reading experience regarding Ten Tiny Breaths. I adored Trent as a hero and his patience was remarkable! He was a good sport in getting Kacey to get to know him and pick her interest. Did I mention sexy already? Yup, he was sexy alright! The physical scenes were very realistic. This book had just the amount of racy and swoon-worthy scenes to make me want more, but be happy about the ones we did get.

Oh, I even got a rocket-scientist moment: as soon as I “saw” Trent’s tattoo, I knew!!! It was still good to have confirmation further on though. I liked that the novel itself didn’t go overboard with the story nor was it prettified for us. The plot was raw and emotional. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was that Kacey is a hard character to connect with. She doesn't let anybody inside and being inside her head often  felt calculated and cold rather than curious, warm and fun. Her sister Livie is much more relatable and since Kacey is emotionally so closed off, it makes the road to brake her walls so much more harder for us.

At the end of the day, I enjoyed it very much, but as it often is with hype books, it can sometimes ruin the experience for a reader. Don’t get me wrong, it was a fantastic book, but it didn’t stand out to me as much as I would have hoped. Nonetheless, I’d recommend this one in a heartbeat and I hope you’ll all get around reading it:)

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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