Book Review: Playing the Part

Media Type: Ebook (ARC)
Title: Playing the Part
Author: Robin Covington
Publisher: Entangled: Brazen
Pages: Ebook; 250
Release Date: June 10, 2013
Source: Publisher
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Genre: Romance

HDB Rating: 5 Keys to My Heart

Recommended to: Readers who love evenly matched characters who have sizzling chemistry!

Add it on: Goodreads / Shelfari / Amazon / B&N

After publicly self-destructing over a heartbreak a year ago, bestselling romance writer Piper James is now making nice with her publisher by agreeing to teach Hollywood's favorite action star how to act like he's in love. Only playboy Mick Blackwell has no clue what love looks like. When a seductive heat ignites between Piper and Mick, she jumps at the chance for a bit of fun between the sheets, but with two stipulatons: she's kept out of the public eye and things end when she returns to New York. Only Mick keeps changing the rules on her. Tempted by America's favorite bad boy, Piper is wondering how far she's willing to bend...

Perfection. That's the first thought that entered my mind after finishing Playing the Part. Those of you who have followed me for any length of time know that I'm a greenhorn in the world of romance. However books like this, gorgeous books with strong characters and sizzling chemistry, make me want to dive even deeper.

First off I completely loved Piper. Witty, intelligent, and honest to a fault, she's the perfect female lead for this story. I couldn't get over how real Piper's character was. Here is a woman who has just been through a terrible breakup, and worse yet she had to do it complete with glaring Hollywood headlines. Yet Piper is still strong. She second guesses herself, sure, but she's a fighter and I totally adored that about her.

Then of course there's Mick and I'd be lying if I said I didn't love him. What's not to love? Total playboy on the outside (and oh does he know it) and yet he has a heart too. Everything about Mick screams "Perfect Man!" even when he manages to screw things up. Okay I'm sugarcoating things. Let's leave it at this: Mick isn't just hot, he's MOLTEN LAVA hot. He's sinfully delicious, and I couldn't get enough of him.

Which of course means that these two very sexy, very stubborn characters have massive heat between them! I'm going to be very tame and say that the sex scenes in this story were perfection. However if had witnessed my reading this book you likely would have noticed me fanning myself quite a few times. Does that perhaps give you a better insight into how spicy things get between these two?

Loved it! That's the long and short of it. I could go on and on, but it boils down to the fact that I utterly loved Playing the Part. Thank you to Robin Covington for further proving to me that romance is my kind of genre! I'm eager for so much more.



FTC Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was not monetarily compensated for my opinion.

Book Review: Beside Your Heart

Media Type: Ebook
Title: Beside Your Heart
Author: Mary Whitney
Publisher: Omnific Publishing
Pages: Paperback; 256
Release Date: June 17, 2013
Source: Literati Literature Lovers Tours
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Content Screening: Adult Language

HDB Rating: 4 Keys to My Heart

Recommended to: Readers who enjoy sweet, and heartbreaking reads with honestly amazing characters.


Add it on: Goodreads / Shelfari / Amazon / B&N

"It's an emotional story that will take the reader back to those feelings that made the late teen years such a powerful time."

Late one night Nicki Johnson plays with emotional fire and Googles her high school love, only to find his name splashed across the British gossip columns. Back in his native England, Adam Kincaid is successful and dating a woman from an aristocratic family like his own. With a career in politics, Nicki’s no slouch, but she knows Adam is living a world away from her life.

Yet there was a time he was no farther than the next locker. Nicki will never forget their year together in high school—the year of her sister’s death, the year her mother checked out. Adam helped Nicki through suffocating grief, and she led him through a coming of age. Was it just high school, or was it something more?

Beside Your Heart was a book that stole my heart from the very first page. Maybe it was the fact that Nicki shows her true emotions right off the bat, but watching her pine to reconnect with her past made me smile. As the story flashes back to where Nicki first meets Adam, I fell even more in love! I assumed this was about adult Nicki and Adam, but the twist was wonderful. Watching these two meet, flirt, and become important to one another was adorable!

Nicki is very transparent about her feelings. After loosing her sister to a car accident, she isn't afraid to be honest about how it's eating her up inside. I thought that they way she dealt with things was fairly spot on. Hiding from people who might want to fake console her, trying to stay strong for her mother, and wanting most of all for everything to go back to normal. It isn't until she meets Adam, who doesn't attempt to do anything but make her laugh, that she starts living again. There's no doubt that these two have a very strong connection.

Best of all, the characters in Beside Your Heart act like normal teens. They aren't perfect. They make mistakes, argue, and sometimes even push one another away. The fact that Mary Whitney shows them in such depth makes it much easier to connect with them. It was amazing to see how they fought, and yet always managed to find their way back to one another. Maybe it's my romantic soul, but I couldn't get enough of their relationship.

The ending kind of broke my heart, but I won't deny that I liked it. This ends up as a story not about a lifetime of love, but about finding love and learning that sometimes it's okay to let it go. That it makes you stronger no matter what. My heart wanted to see more resolution, a happy ending if you will, but again I honestly believe that it was fitting for this story. Beside Your Heart is a sweet and heartbreaking story. Definitely worth a read!



FTC Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was not monetarily compensated for my opinion.