Review // Virgin, Memory, and Cut & Blow

One of the things I love about the bookish world is that one book can evoke different feelings in all sorts of readers. One book can be a five-star read for me and a DNF for someone else. We all see something different because we're all different and I love exploring those differences by reading reviews.

Full disclosure: I read these books years ago, but I do remember enjoying them. Have you read them? Are you interested?

Virgin (A Real Man #2) by Jenika Snow

Quinn
I met Isabel when I was ten.
I fell in love with her before I even knew what that meant.
I knew from the moment I saw her she was it for me. No one else compared to her, and I’d do anything to make her mine. But I was afraid of losing the friendship we have, so I've kept my mouth shut.
But she's leaving me, and I know I can't keep how I feel inside any longer.
Saving myself for the girl I loved isn't a hardship, but something I'm proud of. When it comes to Isabel giving her my virginity, and making her see we belong together, is all that matters.

Isabel
Quinn is like the other half of my soul, the one person I can talk to about anything. He has the bad boy thing going on but is also respectful as much as he is a rebel.
He is the first and only boy I will ever love.
Being forced to move across the country, and leave him behind is like leaving a piece of myself in the process. But telling Quinn, I am madly in love with him could put a strain on our friendship. I didn’t know if that’s something I can handle or risk.

Quinn
Nothing can keep me from Isabel. She is it for me, and I mean that in every conceivable way. Nothing can keep me from her. I hope she's ready because there isn't anything or anyone that will stop me from having her as mine.

Rating - ★★★

Obsessive.
Possessive.
Territorial.

There really wasn't much to this book. It's short and is basically about two best friends who are in love with each other. One's moving and they both decide to declare their feelings.

Some Mine. Mine. Mine. and sexy times and then The End.

No substance, character development. Good fluff!

dual pov, contemporary romance

Devil (now known as Memory) by Ker Dukey

Evi Devil.
Yes, that’s really my name.
The irony is not lost on me.
I was created from two evil souls and have the name to prove it.
Devil worshipers, perverts, murderer. Is all terms used to describe the parents I refuse to remember. My mind won’t allow me to.
And why would I want to?
One born of dirty blood running through her veins can never truly be clean from its murky hue.
No matter what they try to tell me happened in my past, my mind denies me access, therefore how can I know it’s true?
How can I believe that’s what I’m born from?
Glimpses of my past haunt me, the screams of terror echo in the silent darkness of my memories, trying to remind me that my Mother went from room to room butchering our family.
I’ve learned from scars that I suffered abuse and that my Father and siblings weren’t my Mother’s only victims.
Hearing what they tell me.
Reading the words printed in the papers. None of it can prepare me for what’s to come.
My biggest lesson is learning that some memories we suppress for a reason.

Rating - ★★★

This story had so much potential.

❥ Crazy Evi Devil
❥ Sweet Max
❥ a truly dark, twisted, haunting story
❥ and weirdly poetic prose interspersed between the chaos

Highlighted lines:
“You don’t need saving, Evi. You needed to be found.

“You are beautiful, Evi. But love doesn’t see with its eyes, hear with sound, feel with touch; it connects with its mind, and once it does, there’s no going back.”

I wish more time was spent on the trauma Evi suffered. It obviously tormented her into a fractured human being. I found it hard to tell what was real and what was Evi's delusion and I think that was my favorite thing about this story.

heroine pov, thriller

Cut & Blow Pt.1 by Ashley Giannoccaro

The smell of perm lotion and the sound of the dryer’s blowing hot air camouflages the truth, the lies, and the real stories behind the people inside the hair salon.
Cut & Blow flash in neon lights above the glass front of the outdated shop, but inside young talent shave and layer hair while making small talk with clients, that over share.
Ailee is a twenty-year old stylist with more secrets of her own than she hears from others on a daily basis. But, when a tall, long haired customer comes in and seduces her with his deep voice, the skeletons come tumbling out her closet before she can shut the door. Falling in love with him is like stepping off a ledge, she knows it won’t end well, but it feels so good on the way down.
Rainieri watches his wife from a distance, until he just cannot watch any longer. Through the salon window he sees someone else taking what is his, setting off his possessive streak. When she doesn’t get his subtle messages and her stubborn nature won’t give up, he steps in to take what was his all along.

Rating - ★★★

This book was a hot mess of epic proportions.
One of those messes you can't tear your eyes away from.
I. Could. Not. Look. AWAY!!

No character was likeable.
I couldn't get a firm handle on the plot.
And yet, I kept turning the page to find out what would happen next.

Ailee was a delusional doormat who lacked substance and failed to garner a kernel of my sympathy.
Rain was a compassionate tyrant and if that's not an oxymoron, I don't know what is.
And Trent... I guess he had to go from good to bad in order for things to work.

multiple pov, mafia, menage