May 2, 2015

Diana's Shelf: Book of the Month featuring Colleen Hoover, Tarryn Fisher, Rachel Van Dyken, Jessica Park and Kylie Scott

Hey, guys! Diana here! 

Here is my recap with the books that I read in April and my top-five recommendations. Let me know what you think and if you've read any of these books.

On the 5th place is Deep by Kylie Scott



Don't miss a beat with the fourth and final novel in the USA Today bestselling Stage Dive series from Kylie Scott.

Positive. With two little lines on a pregnancy test, everything in Lizzy Rollins' ordinary life is about to change forever. And all because of one big mistake in Vegas with Ben Nicholson, the irresistibly sexy bass player for Stage Dive. So what if Ben's the only man she's ever met who can make her feel completely safe, cherished, and out of control with desire at the same time? Lizzy knows the gorgeous rock star isn't looking for anything more permanent than a good time, no matter how much she wishes differently.

Ben knows Lizzy is off limits. Completely and utterly. She's his best friend's little sister now, and no matter how hot the chemistry is between them, no matter how sweet and sexy she is, he's not going to go there. But when Ben is forced to keep the one girl he's always had a weakness for out of trouble in Sin City, he quickly learns that what happens in Vegas, doesn't always stay there. Now he and Lizzie are connected in the deepest way possible... but will it lead to a connection of the heart?



Genre: Romance, Adult, Contemporary, Humor, Erotica, Music


My thoughts: Deep is the final installment and the perfect ending to the Stage Dive series. 

Ben is the type who doesn’t do relationships and Lizzie is the now good girl who tries to make a career for herself. And she’s the only off-limits girl for Ben. But one night in Vegas will quickly change that and Ben has to learn how to grow up and take care of his unborn child. Despite the serious situation, there’s plenty of humor in the book and, once again, Kylie managed to make us go wild with the ending we were hoping for.



On the 4th place is Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park


Flat-Out Love is a warm and witty novel of family love and dysfunction, deep heartache and raw vulnerability, with a bit of mystery and one whopping, knock-you-to-your-knees romance.

It's not what you know—or when you see—that matters. It's about a journey. 


Something is seriously off in the Watkins home. And Julie Seagle, college freshman, small-town Ohio transplant, and the newest resident of this Boston house, is determined to get to the bottom of it. When Julie's off-campus housing falls through, her mother's old college roommate, Erin Watkins, invites her to move in. The parents, Erin and Roger, are welcoming, but emotionally distant and academically driven to eccentric extremes. The middle child, Matt, is an MIT tech geek with a sweet side... and the social skills of a spool of USB cable. The youngest, Celeste, is a frighteningly bright but freakishly fastidious 13-year-old who hauls around a life-sized cardboard cutout of her oldest brother almost everywhere she goes.

And there's that oldest brother, Finn: funny, gorgeous, smart, sensitive, almost emotionally available. Geographically? Definitely unavailable. That's because Finn is traveling the world and surfacing only for random Facebook chats, e-mails, and status updates. Before long, through late-night exchanges of disembodied text, he begins to stir something tender and silly and maybe even a little bit sexy in Julie's suddenly lonesome soul.

To Julie, the emotionally scrambled members of the Watkins family add up to something that ... well... doesn't quite add up. Not until she forces a buried secret to the surface, eliciting a dramatic confrontation that threatens to tear the fragile Watkins family apart, does she get her answer.

Flat-Out Love comes complete with emails, Facebook status updates, and instant messages.

Genre: Romance, Drama, Contemporary, Young Adult

My thoughts: Flat-Out love is one the few books that manage to get to your heart, a sweet story about a dysfunctional family that tries to keep up the appearances. Two parents who don’t have time for their children, a geeky boy who, in reality, is more special than anyone thinks, and a 13-year-old girl whois too mature for her age.
When college freshman Julie Seagle comes to Ohio and founds that the place she was supposed to live in is, in fact, a shop, she’s finally taken in by her mother’s long time friend. Here, she meets a family like no other, one where happiness doesn’t make its appearance often.
What I most liked about this book is that the focus isn’t just on one or two characters. It’s a mix of every character’s story without it ever getting confusing or hard to follow and that makes it even more interesting.


On the 3rd place is Ruin Series by Rachel Van Dyken


Genre: Contemporary, Romance, New Adult, Drama, Sports


My Thoughts: Ruin quickly became one of my favorite series, mainly because Rachel Van Dyken is an amazing writer. Every book managed to make me anxiously turn the page, wondering what would happen next with the characters I liked.

In the first book, Ruin, we meet Kiersten, a freshman student who tries to deal with her past as best as she can. Here, she meets Weston Michals, the sick football player who teaches her that life is the best gift a human being can receive.

Books 2 and 3 are about Kiersten’s new friends, Gabe and Lisa, the ones she makes when she arrives at the University.
                                                                                                         
Gabe isn’t the person everyone thinks he is, and he has a well-hidden secret only his cousin, Lisa, knows about.  But all is about to change when Saylor comes into his life. While Gabe doesn’t expect a second chance regarding the bad decisions he made, Saylor is the one who proves him wrong.

The third book, Lisa’s, was a little different from the previous two, but not in the bad way. Like Gabe, Lisa has a past she hoped she could let behind her and start a new life. When she falls in love with Tristan, she doesn’t even realize what strong connection he has with her past.

This series will warm your heart and make you want to give every character a hug and tell them that it will be alright. 


On the 2nd place is Mud Vein by Tarryn Fisher


When reclusive novelist Senna Richards wakes up on her thirty-third birthday, everything has changed. Caged behind an electrical fence, locked in a house in the middle of the snow, Senna is left to decode the clues to find out why she was taken. If she wants her freedom, she has to take a close look at her past. But, her past has a heartbeat... and her kidnapper is nowhere to be found. With her survival hanging by a thread, Senna soon realizes this is a game. A dangerous one. Only the truth can set her free.

Genre: Drama, Psychological Thriller, Contemporary, Adult, Suspense

My Thoughts: Like any other books written by Tarryn Fisher, you can never go wrong with Mud Vein.
On her 33rd bnirthday, successful writer Senna Richards wakes up only to realize she’d been kidnapped by someone and she’s not by herself. She’s surrounded by snow and an electric fence, locked in a house and provided with food to last for entire months. The last person she expected to see again is there with her and, together, they have to find a way to get out from the middle of nowhere. But things are far more complicated than they think, and Senna and Isaac have to acknowledge their pasts in order to find their way back. Mud Vein is one of the best books I have ever read and will manage to make you stay glued to the story from beginning to end.


On the 1st place is Confess by Colleen Hoover




From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, a new novel about risking everything for love—and finding your heart somewhere between the truth and lies. 

Auburn Reed has her entire life mapped out. Her goals are in sight and there’s no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn’t expect to find a deep attraction to the enigmatic artist who works there, Owen Gentry. 

For once, Auburn takes a risk and puts her heart in control, only to discover Owen is keeping major secrets from coming out. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything important to Auburn, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it. 

The last thing Owen wants is to lose Auburn, but he can’t seem to convince her that truth is sometimes as subjective as art. All he would have to do to save their relationship is confess. But in this case, the confession could be much more destructive than the actual sin…




Genre: Romance, New Adult, Contemporary

My Thoughts: I think that Confess is one of my top-favorite books written by Colleen Hoover, because of her originality and her style. Her stories aren’t just romance. In each and every book we get to know characters that are ordinary people, with flaws and that makes them amazing in the first place. The best thing about Confess was reading all the confessions and knowing they were real made by real people and integrated by Colleen into the book.

Looking for a job, Auburn stumbles upon Owen’s studio. Owen is an artist who paints when he’s inspired by people’s confessions left outside his door. Finally, Auburn realizes that she met someone who understands her, someone she can be herself with. The only thing that keeps her from following her heart is Owen’s turn to confess.



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