Jailbird, by Heather Huffman

The book opens with the main character, Kali Langston, making her escape from prison.  So your attention is immediately demanded and easily kept throughout the story.  I will try not to include too many spoilers for those who plan to read this book, but I can’t make any promises!  So now is your chance to stop reading!

The back story is that Kali is incarcerated for murdering a very rich and powerful man from an equally rich and powerful family.  You will later find out in the book the reason that she murdered this man and the reason that she feels her actions were justified.  As I’ve already said, the book opens with Kali making her break from the prison in which she has just spent 10 long years of her life.  It’s very dramatic to say the least.  As the story continues she makes her way through the woods squatting and hiding until she stumbles upon a group of Hispanic workers laboring and decides to join them.  Taking on the name “Neena,” she is invited into the home of one of the families and they take her under their wing.  They do not know her past and don’t ask her any questions.  She begins working with them on their farm to make a small living while sleeping on their couch. 

It is through this family that she also meets the town lawyer, Charlie.  This is where the story takes a turn.  Neena (Kali) and Charlie are falling in love, but Charlie doesn’t know who Neena really is and this haunts Neena and scares her to death.  When Neena is forced to tell Charlie who she really is the story really gets interesting!  Does she get to live in that small town and live out her dreams of having a family and a normal life with Charlie and does she end up back in prison?

This book tells a very unique story and is very beautifully written.  I enjoyed the style that the writer uses and was pleased with the pace of the story.  I didn’t feel that the writer rushed the story at all, but the timing was perfectly played out so that you didn’t lose interest while the characters were being built.  I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more novels from this author.

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

I’ve been thrown back into the reading world full force lately and the books I’ve been reading have been amazing!  The latest book that I flew through (literally could not put it down…even had dreams about it) was Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire.  Oh my gosh…..SUCH a good book!  I was drawn into the book from the first page.  For those of you who have not read the book yet, I’m not going to go into extreme detail, but I do want to talk about a few things in the book.  So if you don’t want to continue reading, now is your chance to stop!

The book is about a girl who is running from her past when she basically runs right into the arms of the resident bad ass on campus.  The book chronicles their tug of war with both internal and external factors as they try to figure out what their relationship will be.  Abby is the main female character and I really related to her and found her extremely likable.  Although at times I wanted to scream at her to stop thinking so much and just be with Travis (the main male character).  Travis was a ball of frustration as well, though.  He was constantly doing something idiotic and I was afraid throughout the whole book that he would ruin everything.  But despite all his dumb decisions, Travis makes you fall in love with him and you can totally understand why Abby wants to be with him.  He has absolutely ZERO relationship experience because all he has ever done is play with girls like they are toys and then throws them away.  What’s great though is that they are perfect for each other.  Both of them have demons from their past that haunt them, but they make each other better.  Apart they are disasters, but together they are a BEAUTIFUL disaster (you like that don’t you :-P).

The other characters in the book are just as likable, with the exception of one.  That one being Parker.  He is Travis’ competition.  Although he never really was competition, Abby was just fooling herself.  America, or Mare, is Abby’s best friend.  They grew up together and went off to college together.  Mare knows all about Abby’s past.  Shepley is Mare’s boyfriend, who also happens to be Travis’ cousin.  This is pretty much how Abby and Travis met.  Shepley and Mare add a little comic relief to the story at times as well as drama.  They are prominent characters and are very important to the storyline, so I like that the author spent time on them and so it’s not like they are just “there.”

This is by far one of my favorite books of all time.  I HIGHLY recommend this book.  It is an extremely well written story and one that I will more than likely read again in the future.  I’m really hoping that she writes a sequel to this book because I’m going to need more Abby and Travis in my life!!

Fifty Shades Trilogy

I just finished reading the Fifty Shades Trilogy today and I cannot even begin to tell you how thoroughly I enjoyed reading those books.  Now, I know that a couple of posts back I had just started book one and I was complaining about how I didn’t understand the hype…..but then the story finally started to move and I could not put the book down.  I read all three books in less than two weeks.  Believe me, with my busy life, that is super quick for me to read one book much less three.  Fan-freakin-tastic.  That’s what those books are.  It’s not usually a genre that I would read, but I could not stop myself.  I think I have even developed quite a crush on Mr Grey if I’m being honest here lol.  I wish I could go into details about the story but I don’t want to ruin it for those of you who have not read the books yet.  I highly, HIGHLY recommend them.  They are definitely page turners.  The story is everything….it’s erotic, it’s heartfelt, it’s captivating, it’s suspenseful, it’s mysterious, at times it’s sad.  The author does a great job of helping you feel like you know the characters and you can feel emotions for them and with them.  After reading these books, I feel like I know these people personally.  I can’t say that I have read a lot of books that left me “feeling” something for the characters.  It’s easy to do that in movies, but in books you have to really try and EL James definitely succeeded with these.  I cannot wait for the movie and I really hope that she considers writing more books about Mr Grey.  If not I’ll miss him lol.

If any of you have read these books, what are your thoughts?  How did you feel about them?