Erin Butler

I'll be honest here and say that I've never read any of Jane Austen's books or seen the movies. Admittedly, I'm not a huge fan of classics at all. *hides from all the Jane Austen/classics fans* Anyway, even though I only know the main details of Pride and Prejudice I really enjoyed Finding Mr. Darcy.

The Plot: Who needs boys when fictional characters like Mr. Darcy exist? Certainly not Liza Johnson. Liza's role model is Jane Austen and she's pretty much obsessed with her. Her real life best friend, Janie, doesn't understand her love for this century old author but tolerates it anyway...sort of. Now enter Will. He's the new student, the talk of the school, and just maybe, the perfect Mr. Darcy. However, her budding relationship with Will gets muddled after the addition of Janie's ex boyfriend and a fling during her trip to England suddenly, Liza is uncertain if "Mr. Darcy" is truly for her.
One of my favorite parts of this book were the connections between Jane Austen's works and Liza's love for them. She's the definition of a true fangirl. She's read Pride and Prejudice so many times that she can directly quote it and she sports Jane Austen shirts on a daily biases. I honestly didn't like any of the characters very much, but I really enjoyed the plot and its rendition of the original novel.

The Characters: Liza. I fairly liked Liza's character...most of the time. Sometimes she made decisions that really frustrated me. Including the fact that she couldn't choose between three different guys. Don't worry, I'll get into this more later. Overall I felt like she was somewhat of a bland character, but I definitely liked her more than Janie. Janie is Liza's best friend and for the most part she was a pretty good friend. The thing that bothered me though was her lack of common sense! Janie is going through a tough time due to some family matters and she meets a guy online who provides her an outlet to rant about everything. Now keep in mind that this is a stranger whom Janie has never met, seen, or talked to before. This is the number one rule of safety internet! You do not talk to strangers and you certainly don't offer to meet them! This is the reason for my dislike of Janie. I understand that her best friend was off having fun in England while she was suffering at home, but seriously, the guy could have killed her! *sighs in frustration* Anyhow, moving on to Will and Ryan aka the love interests. Yes, there is a slight love triangle (square?) in this book. But more on that later. I actually liked Will. He was really nice and understanding of everything and I rooted for him and Liza. Then there's Ryan. I didn't like Ryan very much in the beginning. I had a theory about what was going to happen between him, Will, and Liza and I was right on some accounts but mostly wrong. Ryan and Liza have undeniable chemistry together, even though he's her best friend's ex-boyfriend. And after all, Will is her perfect Mr. Darcy. Or is he? This brings me to the romance in the novel.

The Romance: It's finally time to get into the romance! So from the blurb above there's a hint of a love triangle in this novel and there kind of is. It doesn't completely drive plot, but the romance is a main factor. I mentioned a maybe love square earlier in my review, because when Liza goes to England she meets Ben who seems to be interested in her, keep in mind he's also a cute British guy. The reason Liza went to England in the first place was because her school selected her and Will as the winners of a writing contest and the prize was a trip to England that also includes a visit Jane Austen's house. Her fling with Ben didn't bother me as much because it was just that, a fling. But while she and Will were kind of a "thing", she would always revert back to thinking about Ryan. At this point I really just wanted to yell at her to pick a guy! Her revelation of which guy she truly liked happened pretty suddenly and kind of out of nowhere, but I liked who she ended up with.

In the end, the characters and romance of Finding Mr. Darcy weren't outstanding, but I still fairly enjoyed it. The plot was more unique and the main reason why I enjoyed this book so much. Finding Mr. Darcy is a cute, fun rendition of Jane Austen's novel, perfect for lovers of contemporary romance.
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Ronan has avoided everything related to his old life, ever since his best friend died he can't forgive his friends, he can't move on, and he certainly doesn't want a girl around. Everything reminds him of Kyle and the promise he broke and Kelsey and the ultimatum she gave him. After a chance encounter with his old friends, it seems there's not much he can do to avoid them. After a rough encounter with her ex-boyfriend, Em is shaken and a flat tire isn't doing her any more favors either. After Kelsey convinces her that Ronan is the best solution to help her, a trip to rescue her and her car becomes a road trip. Old memories and new feelings arise between the two as Ronan finally considers living again.

This one is will leave your heart aching, but in the good kind of way. The two main characters are both going through some extremely hard things in their individual lives, but together they find happiness. Last Wish is told from the dual POV's are Ronan and Em, Erin Butler does a great job of distinguishing between the two voices and pulling you into their story. I really enjoyed reading from the dual perspectives, as Em's story and her character development is really strong and Ronan's history brings everything into this story that you may be missing if you skipped book 1 or just can't remember things. I liked reading their interactions with friends and their interactions with one another, they had some of the sweetest dialogue. There's some amazing chemistry here and while it feels a bit like insta-love, it works for these two.

The book reads really slowly at first and the first half of the book has a lot of mystery to it, you're not given a whole lot of information. However, as the story continues to develop all of the loose strings are tied up. The history between Em and Ronan is a bit hard to figure out, in fact their connection doesn't make sense for quite a while in the book. I wish some of the information we get in the second half was given earlier. I wasn't the biggest fan of the ending of this book, it was anticlimactic for me and for the growth of the relationship between Ronan and Em. The good news is, the ending isn't a cliffhanger and it wraps up the past story of Kelsey and Chase.

With enough angst, drama, and romance to make any romance reader happy, Last Wish is a great NA novel that could easily be read by anyone. Erin's writing and the characters will draw you in and keep you hanging onto every word. Though Last Wish can be read as a standalone, it is the second book in the Remember Kyle series and I highly recommend you read How We Lived first. The details of the first book are shared in Last Wish, but you'll find yourself wanting to know Chase and Kelsey's story when you meet them. It's a quick read, so I suggest you pick both up!

You can find more of my reviews on my blog, Carlene Inspired.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Entangled for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.… (plus d'informations)

"3.5 out of 5 stars, the night before Abby’s audition to become the opening act to Seconds to Juliet (S2J), she meets Nathan Strong. They have a magical moment in time together and both yearn to start something more but with Abby winning the audition the following morning and S2J’s rule about not dating the other talent, having a relationship doesn’t seem possible. Will they find a way to make everything work out for themselves or will they allow others to run their lives for good?

This whirlwind romance will charm you one moment while get you ramped up in the next. In addition..."

Read more of this review and FOUR TEASERS here: http://frommetoyouvideophoto.blogspot.com/2016/07/made-grade-backstage-pass-seri...… (plus d'informations)