A.J. Sand

I liked this book so much more than I thought I would!

Dylan is a great heroine. She has suffered a horrible loss, and is confused about her place in the world after it. She is trying to be someone she is not. She is a passionate person who has lost her passion.

Enter Kai. Hot musician with a bad reputation that needs a PR makeover. Dylan is there to make that happen via her docuweb series on him. Of course the sparks fly between them and they both fight against the attraction that develops. They spend a lot of the book hurting each other in various ways, which gets a bit frustrating.

What I really loved about this book was the supporting characters. Kai's friends who were insanely loyal and embraced Dylan instantly and Dylan's friends who loved her with a ferocity that was envy inducing. Everyone should be lucky enough to have friends like that! The relationships all around were just lovely to see.

I am expecting that there is a sequel based on the ending. I will definitely be reading it!… (plus d'informations)

I liked this book so much more than I thought I would!

Dylan is a great heroine. She has suffered a horrible loss, and is confused about her place in the world after it. She is trying to be someone she is not. She is a passionate person who has lost her passion.

Enter Kai. Hot musician with a bad reputation that needs a PR makeover. Dylan is there to make that happen via her docuweb series on him. Of course the sparks fly between them and they both fight against the attraction that develops. They spend a lot of the book hurting each other in various ways, which gets a bit frustrating.

What I really loved about this book was the supporting characters. Kai's friends who were insanely loyal and embraced Dylan instantly and Dylan's friends who loved her with a ferocity that was envy inducing. Everyone should be lucky enough to have friends like that! The relationships all around were just lovely to see.

I am expecting that there is a sequel based on the ending. I will definitely be reading it!… (plus d'informations)

WARNING:
- This is NOT a traditional, contemporary love story.
-This IS a story about human nature at some of its absolute worst; it's about it being black and gray. It's dark and probably intense and a little disturbing. It's violent, too.

^^^^^^^^ That is the truth!!!!!


I will say this Anyone who LOVES UFC needs to add this to their TBR list. This I think(no I KNOW) is the best UFC book I have read. the story line is so different than what we usually read, BUT it is so Much better. The characters truly make you feel for them. You follow their Journey and you are right there with them every step of the way, holding your breath,you have the heart palpitations right along with them through it all.

This is a real gritty, raw, MMA story. It may not be the best kind of ride for everyone, but I loved every minute of it.

I loved Jesse. He was so true to his family values that he chose to do everything it took to protect his little brother. Even though that meant he had no choice but to return to the life he use to live and take the chances he needed in order to protect him.

Henry I disliked 100% enough said.

I loved Drew, I love how no matter the time between them when Jesse needed her help she was right there to help him.


I love how A.J. held nothing back in this story. It shows how much compassion she had for these characters, as she did not sugar coat one part of this story at all.



Definitely not a read for the weak at heart kind of readers. If you can handle intense fighting, gritty, raw scenes then this is a must read for you.



Got my ARC whoot whoot

Note from the author:


- Standalone, not even remotely part of a series (I probably won't ever write another series).

- No cliffhanger! Wooo!

- Might be a wee bit intense for some in terms of the violence.

So excited to move away from contemporary romance and AFC is quite a way to move! ;) It's TOTALLY different from the others but, truthfully, I've never written a traditional contemporary romance.

I can't do it. I'm evil, I guess.

It's way gritty, it's way grungy, and I let loose because I needed to. It won't be an easy ride because that's not how I operate. I decide a long time ago that if I was going to write an underground fighting book, it wasn't going to be sugarcoated.

It's a huge study in human nature, too, so if you like books where good is good and bad is bad, this won't work for you. Graham Greene once said human nature isn't black and white, it's black and grey, and I STRONGLY believe this.

So, if you're looking for rainbows and kittens and bunnies. They aren't here. ;)

It's still longity-long because, well, it's me and that's how I roll. (117k words)

Coming February 4th, 2014!… (plus d'informations)

07.06.2013. - $0.99 again the the Kindle store!

Ah, Documentary.
A boring title, a less-than-pretty cover, and an awesome book. Which is a surprise all of it's own because it was only $0.99!

I love these characters. I love this book. I love this author. Never once has she made me angry enough to want to throw my reader across the room. By the end of the book I learned to completely trust her to handle everything the right way. It's not often you feel like the author is writing a book exactly to your liking. But it happened to me with this book. And while still being angsty and interesting and engaging. I loved it.

Not to mention the book surprised me in so many ways. It's different.

Dylan was refreshingly not-annoying for a heroine in this type of book. Guess what? She's not a virginal, naive, little girl so new to the world. No, Dylan is just grieving, and that's the only reason she will seem timid to you in the beginning. BUT. But, she's anything but :). You will love her and feel for her, and be happy with her and she has this sort of infectious charm, it's so easy to see why people naturally gravitated towards her. I'd love to have her as a friend.
She's also a typical girl, swooning over Kai and overanalyzing everything and making rash assumptions.

Kai was... I never really pick book boyfriends? But I'd pick him if I did? He was really that awesome. His character is why this book is different than every other rockstar book out there. He has no tattoos. He doesn't live the celebrity wild life. He doesn't do the whole sex, drugs & rock'n'roll thing. I loved that about him. You don't get much of his POV other than the prologue, but the author did a great job of letting you get to know him through and through. And he was such a nice guy. A good person. Definitely doesn't deserve the bad-boy image he has. I hated it when he would doubt himself.

“I didn’t watch your movies,” Kai said.
Dylan shrugged and rested her chin on her palm. “It’s okay. I didn’t like your boy band.”

The chemistry between these two was awesome. It's not really insta-love, it was more insta-like. Perhaps a bit of insta-lust. I believe that. He's a tortured artist persona and she's his new muse, and I didn't really see it anything as big as love-at-first-sight. They get to know each other and fall in love, so it's not purely based on physical attraction.
What I liked the most is that they talk. Yes, there are secrets between them, but there are no big misunderstandings and even the small ones are cleared up really fast.
And the sexual tension through the first half of this book was through the roof. It kind of simmers down at that halfway through mark, but there was a point where I was getting really frustrated with it. But I loved these two! Absolutely loved them, because they are exactly what the other needs. I was dreading their screw-ups so much because I just wanted them together.

“And it just sort of works out due to some sort of cosmic fuckery. Good old cosmic fuckery.”

I loved the way this book was written (I only wish it was written in past tense. :() It's a bit on the long-ish side, but I didn't think anything was too much. All the characters, main and secondary, were well developed, real, and I just really loved them all. Wes and Abel! I'd actually read a whole other book about these two. Leko as well. I connected with all of them.

They are a wonderful group of friends who take in Dylan as one of their own and make her feel at home. I never felt like she was being left out or antagonized throughout the book.

The book is laced with humor, but there are some heartbreaking moments as well, and there are sweet, swoon-worthy ones as well as angsty.
For what it's worth, it reminded me a bit of another book I read plot-wise, except I didn't hate it and the characters. Everything that happened made sense and I was okay with it, and I rooted for Kai and Dylan so much.

I was dreading the ending because I knew there will be another book but you all may be happy to know that while it sets up the second book nicely, it has a proper ending for Dylan and Kai. So it's not a cliffhanger exactly, because you're aren't left..hanging.
And I can't wait for that second book to see what happens next! I have my wishes, but we'll see.

There are a couple of mildly-graphic sex scenes in this for those wondering. I think it suited the book, the way they were written.

So, overall, I expected nothing, and got an instant favorite. I really enjoyed this book and these wonderful characters. I think it would have worked good as a standalone as well, but there is more story to tell and I'm glad the author is telling it. If only she'd hurry up.

Oh and, it really does need a prettier cover.

I am proud to be a guest reviewer at ❤ Coffee, Books & Lipgloss Book Review Blog ❤!… (plus d'informations)