August Monthly Reads!! By Christyn, Amanda, Crystal, and Colleen!

This Month's Reads (not all, but one from each of us ladies here!)

There's no rhyme or reason to what book we each chose. It may have been something we loved, hated, mehh-ed or maybe the only thing we had time to read this month. 

Christyn's Pick :)

King of Hearts (Hearts #3) by L.H. Cosway

Welcome to the City, London’s most prestigious square mile, where finance reigns and Oliver King is a rising prince.

I used to rule the world.

There might be wolves on Wall Street, but there were crocodiles in Canary Wharf. Some of us craved money. Some of us craved power.

I liked money, and power had its advantages, but what I really wanted was to excel, to surpass the men who came before me. I never cared much for love and romance until I met Alexis.

I could feel it the very moment she walked into the interview, with her outspoken charm and vivacious personality. She cast all the others in shadow, made me laugh when life held no humour. Our friendship should have remained professional, but it wasn’t long before the lines started to blur.

You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men? Well, I never foresaw where my plans would lead, and only in my darkest hour did I finally see the light…

You can have all the money and prestige in the world and still be the poorest man alive. And love, well, I hate to use a tired old cliché, but love can be the thing that truly sets you free.

Christyn's Rating: 4 Coffee Cups!!

This is one of those books that I really wish I had more time to invest in a full out review. I LOVED THIS BOOK. It was one of those "I've reached my book spending budget for the week so let me check out what's on Kindle Unlimited" finds. Oh my gosh, it was so so good! It reads like two different stories. You get the hot and steamy story that shows the development of the characters and where you fall in love as they fall in love. And then you get the darker, more heartbreaking half where you truly wonder if their love will persevere. Seriously wonderful read.

Amanda's Pick :)

NYPD Red by James Patterson

It's the start of Hollywood on Hudson, and New York City is swept up in the glamour. Every night, the red carpet rolls out for movie stars arriving at premieres in limos; the most exclusive restaurants close for private parties for wealthy producers and preeminent directors; and thousands of fans gather with the paparazzi, hoping to catch a glimpse of the most famous and beautiful faces in the world. With this many celebrities in town, special task force NYPD Red is on high alert-and they can't afford to make a single mistake.

Then a world-renowned producer fatally collapses at his power breakfast, and top NYPD Red Detective Zach Jordan is the first one on the scene. Zach works with his beautiful new partner, Detective Kylie MacDonald-who also happens to be his ex-girlfriend-to discover who the murderer might be. But this is only the beginning: the most brutal, public, and horrifyingly spectacular crimes they've ever encountered are about to send all of New York into chaos, putting NYPD Red on the ropes.

Zach and Kylie know there's no way of telling what a killer this deranged will do next. With the whole world watching, they have to find a way to stop a psychopath who has scripted his finale down to the last explosive detail.

Amanda's Rating: 4 Tea Cups!!

Really enjoyed the first novel in the NYPD Red series. I like the dynamics between the main character, Zach Johnston and his new partner/ex girlfriend Kylie MacDonald. I love it how James Patterson gives his readers the voice of the killer so we are able to experience their thoughts and life. 

The only negative I have for this novel (and the reason why I am not giving a 5 star rating) is that there was no big reveal of the killer. I found that the novel lacked a mystery aspect and was more like an action movie (big take-down, dramatic...). 

If you are a fan of James Patterson, I would highly recommend this novel. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series

Crystal's Pick :)

The After Series (Books 1-4) by Anna Todd

Tessa is a good girl with a sweet, reliable boyfriend back home. She’s got direction, ambition, and a mother who’s intent on keeping her that way.

But she’s barely moved into her freshman dorm when she runs into Hardin. With his tousled brown hair, cocky British accent, tattoos, and lip ring, Hardin is cute and different from what she’s used to.

But he’s also rude—to the point of cruelty, even. For all his attitude, Tessashould hate Hardin. And she does—until she finds herself alone with him in his room. Something about his dark mood grabs her, and when they kiss it ignites within her a passion she’s never known before.

He’ll call her beautiful, then insist he isn't the one for her and disappear again and again. Despite the reckless way he treats her, Tessa is compelled to dig deeper and find the real Hardin beneath all his lies. He pushes her away again and again, yet every time she pushes back, he only pulls her in deeper.

Tessa already has the perfect boyfriend. So why is she trying so hard to overcome her own hurt pride and Hardin’s prejudice about nice girls like her?

Unless…could this be love?

There was the time before Tessa met Hardin, and then there’s everything AFTER ... Life will never be the same.

Crystal's Rating: 3.5 Coffee Cups! 

I enjoyed book 1 enough to want to read book 2. When I got to book 2 I was like, WHAT?! 

I did not enjoy how Hardin was such a douche bag and treated Tessa like crap and she continued to take it! This series is not for everyone, and if you do read it, you will want to throw the book across the room and do major eye rolling. 

I enjoyed how the last book wrapped everything up. It wasn’t a very happy ending in any of the books and I did like that it wasn’t just a happily ever after. They truly had to work on their relationship and even went a couple of years apart before the true happy ending. 

All in all I give the series 3.5 coffee cups. Definitely not a re read for me!

Colleen's Pick :)

The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies by John Langan

John Langan has, in the last few years, established himself as one of the leading voices in contemporary horror literature. Gifted with a supple and mellifluous prose style, an imagination that can conjure up clutching terrors with seeming effortlessness, and a thorough knowledge of the rich heritage of weird fiction, Langan has already garnered his share of accolades. This new collection of nine substantial stories includes such masterworks as “Technicolor,” an ingenious riff on Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death”; “How the Day Runs Down,” a gripping tale of the undead; and “The Shallows,” a powerful tale of the Cthulhu Mythos. The capstone to the collection is a previously unpublished novella of supernatural terror, “Mother of Stone.” With an introduction by Jeffrey Ford and an afterword by Laird Barron.

Colleen's Rating: 5 Coffee Cups!!

All I could think of when I was reading this book was “Finally! Short story horror done right.” I feel like there has been an issue recently with the horror genre where there has been a lack of good stories, but this book changed everything for me. Langan does not rely on straight forward scare tactics or gore, nor does he inundate us with vague ideas that the reader has to try to piece together on their own in an attempt to understand the story (which I feel is a recent problem with short story horror). Instead instills an eeriness and fear into his stories that starts of so subtle and grows to become terrifying in all the right ways. In this books he draws on horror greats such as Poe and H.P. Lovecraft as inspiration for his shorts stories and presents his tales in a fresh and enthralling manor. This is not horror as you would typically think of it. The stories have an almost artistic quality to them and I think horror and non-horror fans alike would be pulled into this book.