Showing posts with label Erin McCarthy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Erin McCarthy. Show all posts

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Review: Believe by Erin McCarthy

Title: Believe (True Believers #3)
Author: Erin McCarthy
Published: January 21st 2014
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Robin used to be a party girl… until she got black out drunk and woke up in bed with her best friend's boyfriend. Now she's faced with being THAT girl, and couldn't be more disgusted with herself. She can't even tell her friends the reason for her sudden sobriety and she avoids everyone until she meets Phoenix—quiet, tattooed, and different in every way that's good and oh, so bad…
Phoenix is two days out of jail when he meets Robin at his cousin's house, and he knows that he has no business talking to her, but he's drawn to her quiet demeanor, sweet smile, and artistic talent. She doesn't care that he's done time, or that he only has five bucks to his name, and she supports his goal to be a tattoo artist.
But Phoenix knows Robin has a secret, and that it's a naïve dream to believe that his record won't catch up with them at some point. Though neither is prepared for the explosive result when the past collides with the present…

I like how Erin McCarthy’s New Adult debut series is made of companion novels so we get to concentrate on a different couple in every book. That’s pretty awesome since all of their stories are so very different and driven by unique pasts and happenings compared to the rest of the couples. Believe tells the story of Robin & Phoenix and if you’ve read the ending of Sweet? How could you not be intrigued by these two :)

Monday, February 3, 2014

Review: Sweet by Erin McCarthy

Title: Sweet (True Believers #2)
Author: Erin McCarthy
Published: October 15th
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Jessica Sweet thought going away to college would finally make her free of her parents’ constant judgments and insistence she play chastity club role model for their church events, but if anything, the freedom has made her realize she can’t go home and be a hypocrite anymore. Tired of dodging their questions, she stays at school over the summer and lands in an unexpected crash pad: Riley Mann’s house.

Sarcastic, cocky, and full of opinions, Riley is also sexy personified with tattoos and biceps earned from working as a roofer all day. Not the right guy for her even if Jessica was looking for a relationship, which she is definitely not. But Jessica knows that Riley hides the burden of having to raise his younger brothers behind that grin and as she helps him get his house in order for a custody hearing, they begin to fall hard for each other, and she is forced to question what she’s hiding herself.

Jessica has never had a problem getting naked with a guy, but when it comes to showing Riley how she truly feels inside, her fear of rejection may just ruin the best thing—the best guy—to ever happen to her…
The fact that I really enjoyed True is still a surprise to me. I didn't expect to enjoy it that much, but I did. Very much so. When I got to the end of the book, there was a sneak peek at the sequel--Sweet. Imagine my surprise when one of my favorite characters--Riley--popped up there ;) Heh. It wasn't that unexpected though, because Jessica and Riley were already planning on living together despite their obvious attraction hate towards each other.

"I didn't go to prom," Riley said.
"You didn't miss a damn thing."
"What I was missing was you," he said.

I loved these characters in book one and boyyy did they have some chemistry together. While Jessica is a wild child of sorts and definitely from the upper class, Riley has had to protect his brothers throughout his whole life. Look after them, provide and care. He's responsible, honest and a sweet, sweet guy (look for proof in the quote above) who is fighting for custody of his youngest sibling Easton. He doesn't think very highly of Jessica at first, but his opinion will soon be shattered because Jessica isn't all that she seems. Their growing respect and friendship was beautiful to watch.

I read it back in October last year and really had a blast with it, though I must say that the constant hot and cold became a bit tiring by the end of it. It had more cute scenes than True--what with the painting, that sports event they attended etc. These scenes had me dying of swoon. *sigh* The constant back and forth kind of killed the mood though. I was ready for them to do something about the boling hot tension and attraction already, but of course they had other ideas. Or rather, Riley had (he isn't much for a fling, he's looking for a relationship) and Jessica was the one who was after him, which in retrospect was a nice change. It's usually the guy after the girl, right? Not to say that Riley didn't have the hots for Jess, he sure did. I just would have liked to have seen it solved a little sooner though.

It was a decent contemporary book, but it didn't exactly stand out hence me giving it 3 stars. There wasn't anything particularly wrong, but if you were to ask me about it in a few years, I probably wouldn't remember much. I will most definitely continue this series though because they are easy to follow, have great characters, sizzling chemistry and a decent plot so.. What's not to like really? Hope you give this series a try, my friends.

Overall rating: 3 out of 5
Stars: ★★★

Meet the author

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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Review: True by Erin McCarthy


Title: True
Author: Erin McCarthy
Published: May 7th 2013
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
*An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review*
When Rory Macintosh’s roommates find out that their studious and shy friend has never been with a guy, they decide that, as an act of kindness they’ll help her lose her virginity by hiring confident, tattooed bad boy Tyler Mann to do the job…unbeknownst to Rory.

Tyler knows he’s not good enough for Rory. She’s smart, doctor smart, while he’s barely scraping by at his EMT program, hoping to pull his younger brothers out of the hell their druggy mother has left them in. But he can’t resist taking up her roommates on an opportunity to get to know her better. There’s something about her honesty that keeps him coming back when he knows he shouldn’t…

Torn between common sense and desire, the two find themselves caught up in a passionate relationship. But when Tyler’s broken family threatens to destroy his future, and hers, Rory will need to decide whether to cut her ties to his risky world or follow her heart, no matter what the cost…
Not sure what I was expecting going into this book, but the cover and the synopsis completely allured me in. I requested it on Netgalley and was a little reluctant to start reading since it seemed like people on Goodreads weren’t all satisfied with the story. I was ready to be disappointed, I’m not going to lie. Guess what? I didn’t have to disappoint!

“We had a fight with each other,” Kylie told him. “We cried on the sidewalk in front of the club. It was awesome. Best Girls’ Night ever. We laughed, we cried, we drank, we danced. Got punched in the face.”

The story. Rory is basically a 20 year old nerd and also a virgin. When her roommates find out that little fact about her, they set her up with a swoon-worthy bad boy. The only nuance is that Rory isn’t aware that it’s a set up. She starts to open up and she and Tyler have quite great chemistry between them. When Rory realizes it’s all a set-up, she must decide whether to give this chemistry a try or forget all about the boy that could very well be the one.

My thoughts. As you gathered from the introduction part, I was ready to be disappointed. I had no reason to worry though. It was such a quick and enjoyable read. The plot seems like the same old, same old, but McCarthy did an excellent job not portraying Rory as a damsel in the distress in the hands of an experienced guy. Tyler and Rory were a great match for each other and their chemistry was undeniable. Also, Rory is a very relatable character – she’s experiencing all sorts of firsts in her college years and I think most of us have discovered new sides to us while being in university. I know I find them more often than not.

I didn’t see all of the twists coming. There was something that allured me as a reader to find out more about the story. I absolutely adored Tyler’s brothers and their bond and the side characters weren’t that bad either. At first I was a little mad at Rory’s roommates when they stayed in Nathaniel’s apartment, but throughout the novel they grew on me. I do think that the ending was a little rushed though and could have been more developed, but it still worked for this particular situation.

In the end, I found True to be enjoyable and I’d recommend it to all New Adult fans out there as well as people who are up for a read about family bonds, forgiveness, character growth and quite a few laughing-out-loud moments. Yay on that little teaser chapter for Erin’s next book ;-) I had a feeling that one was coming and I’m oh, so glad! I can’t wait for the companion novel. Read on, lovelies!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Meet the author

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Saturday, April 27, 2013

Book Haul #17

Haven't done one in a while and since I've gotten a lot of books, I've divided the physical ones into to parts and I'll feature the first one this week. As always, if you've read any of these books, let me know in the comments. Life is short and I only want to read awesome books so if you loved/hated some of them, name 'em and I'll rearrange my TBR shelf accordingly. Don't forget to leave me your link in the comments so I can visit you back :)

Physical Books


ATTENTION: DO NOT SPOIL SOUL SCREAMERS FOR ME, PLEASE! I HAVEN'T READ PAST THIRD BOOK YET LOL

For review



Rules of Entanglement (Fighting for Love #2) by Gina L. Maxwell (currently reading)
Ink (Paper Gods #1) by Amanda Sun
Of Silver and Beasts (Goddess Wars #1) by Trisha Wolfe (read, review soon)


True by Erin McCarthy
Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick


Won or gifted


Bitter Angel by Megan Hand

I was lucky enough to won a copy of Bitter Angel by Megan Hand via Amy at Book Loving Mom. Thank you, girls! What a pretty cover it has! And the synopsis sounds so cool!! Can't. Wait. To. Read. This. Pretty.

Also, thank you to Entangled, Penguin, Trisha Wolfe, Scholastic and Harlequin UK.


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.