Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Mini Reviews - Torch & Daring the Bad Boy



Title: Torch (Wildwood #3)

Author: Karen Erickson
Publisher: Avon Impulse
Release Date: August 16, 2016
Source: ARC from Publisher
Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo
Tate Warren has never met a woman he couldn’t charm—until now.

Wren Gallagher won’t give him the time of day and it’s making him crazy.

But he won’t give up without a fight…because there’s one thing he knows for sure:

Enemies make the best lovers.

Most women swoon over Tate’s devilish grin and firefighter uniform. But Wren couldn’t be less impressed by his good looks and flirtatious banter—in fact, she seems to downright despise him. She thinks he’s a player, but his attraction to her is no game. Wren is unlike anyone he’s ever known and he isn’t about to let the feisty, gorgeous woman slip through his fingers.

Wooing Wren would be so much easier if she didn’t hate him…

Or does she?

I've really enjoyed reading Karen Erickson's Wildwood series over the last few months and I was definitely excited to read about Wren and Tate in Torch. Both were characters I'd been dying to find out more about while reading the previous books and I was happy to finally get my fill of them. Though if I'm being completely honest, I wouldn't have minded all that much of Torch had been twice as long if only so I could have spent more time with Tate and Wren. I just loved the dynamic between the two of them - the way they seemed to know just how to push the other's buttons and took pleasure in doing so. But at the same time, I just knew that the reason they got under each other's skin so much was because they were clearly meant to be together. And though I liked them before, I loved them when they finally gave in to what was there. Tate was exactly what Wren needed with everything going on, and Wren was great at calling Tate out on his crap which just worked out perfectly for them. All in all, Torch was a great story, one that I really enjoyed reading. My only hope is that there are more Wildwood books to come because I NEED to know who is behind all of those fires. That, and I wouldn't mind getting to see more of all these couples I've gotten to know in the series so far. And maybe more about Holden, the youngest of the Gallagher sibling since I feel like I've only just gotten glimpses of him so far. Okay, so I guess I have more than one hope where this series is concerned, but that's just because the stories are so great. 



Title: Daring the Bad Boy
Author: Monica Murphy
Publisher: Entangled CRUSH
Release Date: August 22, 2016
Source: ARC from Publisher
Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo
Truth or Dare was never this much fun…

Annie McFarland is sick of being a shy nobody. A session at summer camp seems like the perfect opportunity to reinvent herself—gain some confidence, kiss a boy, be whoever she wants to be. A few days in, she’s already set her sights on über-hottie Kyle. Too bad her fear of water keeps her away from the lake, where Kyle is always hanging out.

Jacob Fazio is at Camp Pine Ridge after one too many screw-ups. Junior counseling seems like punishment enough, but the rigid no-fraternizing-with-campers rules harsh his chill. When a night of Truth or Dare gets him roped into teaching Annie how to swim, she begs him to also teach her how to snag Kyle.

Late-night swim-sessions turn into late-night kissing sessions…but there’s more on the line than just their hearts. If they get caught, Jake’s headed straight to juvie, but Annie’s more than ready to dare him to reveal the truth.

Until Daring the Bad Boy all the Monica Murphy books I had read were either new adult or straight up contemporary romance. But her latest is YA and has me wishing that she would write all the contemporary YA books. Because Daring the Bad Boy? It was absolutely awesome. For real, I can’t remember the last time I smiled so much while reading a book. Because that’s totally what happened here. Sure, Daring the Bad Boy dealt with some more serious topics, but at its core it was a sweet summer-time romance set at a summer camp. And what’s not to love about that? Besides the setting and premise (which I am a total sucker for), Daring the Bad Boy also featured characters that charmed me right from the beginning of the story. Annie had this endearing quality about her and I couldn’t help but admire her for wanting to be brave and conquer her fears no matter how much those fears terrified her. Any time she did something brave, I wanted to cheer for her, much like Jake did. And Jake wasn’t the bad boy everyone, including himself, made him out to be. I loved seeing him gradually come to realize that he didn’t have to act the way he was acting and he could just be himself (well, after some not-so-easy conversations with some of the people in his life). Through it all, seeing Annie and Jake come together over the course of the story is what made me love Daring the Bad Boy as much as I did. Because sometimes, all you really want is for the summer romance to work out in the end. 


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1 comment:

  1. I completely agree with you on Torch. I really enjoyed the dynamic between Tate and Wren and wouldn't have minded more page time with them. I like the Wildwood series and I can't for the life of me remember if there will be more books or if Torch was the last one. It's not the last one, right? We don't know who the arsonist is.

    I'm mighty curious about Daring the Bad Boy. I haven't read it yet but I'm planning on it. Especially after reading your review. Thanks for that!

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