Say Forever (Something More #3) by Tara West

Book Title: Say Forever (Something More #3)

Author: Tara West

Release Date: December 19th, 2013

Publisher: Shifting Sands Publishing

Genre: Adult Contemporary

Series: Book 3 in Something More trilogy

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Christina
I love Andrés so much, more than anyone I’ve ever loved before, yet there are days when I don’t know if I want to scream, swear, or fall to pieces. We’re trying to plan a future together, but our families won’t leave us alone. What’s worse is I can see Andrés is not happy.

They say love trumps all hurdles, but some days I wonder will “our” love trump “our” hurdles? Then I look into Andrés’s sensual smile and passionate gaze and I fall in love all over again.

Andrés
When I told Christina I would love her forever, I meant every word. The nightmares are back, and I don’t know how to stop them, but I have to be strong for her. This pressure from my family and my job feels like a noose around my neck, but I will do whatever it takes to give Christina the life she deserves. She’s everything to me, and I won’t lose her.

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

Very rarely can I say that a series actually gets markedly worse. I felt like screaming half of the time at these characters. Authors it really is possible to write about a man who is close to his family but who also realizes that its OKAY to do his own thing.In the first two books, Andres and Christina were hot and I was really rooting for them to overcome everything that had tried to tear them apart.

This book changed that majorly. Christina returned to her doormat status which really frustrated me and Andres self esteem plummeted. Both sides of the family were deciding on things without even checking on what the bride and groom wanted. Now that doesn’t sound too out of the ordinary but when Christina doesn’t put her foot down, suddenly she’s meeting with The Cobra’s best friend who is going to coordinate the wedding, Andres aunt is insistent on her daughter Marie being a bridesmaid even though Marie and Christina hate each other.Christina is saying over and over “I don’t want this” but she’s not saying it to people and certainly NOT authoritatively.

Then we have Andres who is miserable at his job but feels a sense of family duty to stay there since his Tio & Tia took him in when his mother died. Yet, privately Andres yearns to persue his passion and become a chef. He’s so focused on making Christina happy that he doesn’t realize that if he’s not happy Christina will never be happy.

And therin lies another issue I have with Christina. Her happiness is tied to a man. That should NEVER happen. A person needs to be happy on their own before they get coupled up. She also needs to find something that’s just hers and not tied up with Andres.

I was happy to see that Karri made an appearance as did her son. I was not expecting to see Karri at all in this book. Plus Grace and her girlfriend had substantial parts in it which made me happy. Seeing that Christina did have friends outside of Andres. 

I was happy with the ending and I was happily surprised to see the epilogue. I wasn’t sure if we’d get one so it was a nice surprise to see it.It definitely did not feel rushed to me.

This book was easily the weakest of the three. Both main characters took major steps backwards which really bummed me out. That’s the main reason I have to give this book 3 stars.

Stacking the Shelves #25

This feature is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews.

Welcome to 2014 everyone. 2013 had a lot of crazy and wonderful moments for me as a blogger. The first day I began blogging, I never envisioned how crazy it would end up getting.Crazy in a great way though. One of the biggest highlights for me was getting whitelisted for HarperTeen & Harlequin Teen’s titles on Edelweiss. I also was whitelisted for several other publisher’s titles right around the same time.

This week was a weird week. I had submitted several e-ARC requests through Netgalley and was getting irked that they hadn’t been accepted or denied yet. In 3 days, I got 4 approvals and 1 denial. If I hadn’t gotten any responses, I probably would have passed on doing a post today.

I did buy one e-book this week thanks to my birthday money. I bought Incarnate by Jodi Meadows. It was on sale for $1.99 on the Kindle Store. I was initially torn because I also wanted This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith, but I decided to go with Incarnate because I’ve been DYING to start this series.

I’m sure you’re sick of reading this and you just want to know what books I picked up. Well here you go.

Bought

Incarnate (Newsoul #1) by Jodi Meadows

Received for Review

-NetGalley-

Knowing Jack by Rachel Curtis

A Million Little Snowflakes by Logan Byrne

Never Have I Ever by Katie Heaney

Say Forever (Something More #3) by Tara West

Gifted

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Won
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As always, please let me know if you read any of these or if you’re wanting to read any of these. If you have read any of these, be sure to let me know what you thought of them. Of course, leave the links to your Stacking the Shelves posts/vlogs etc.

Weekly Blog Wrap-up

Monday- Review of Splintered (Splintered #1) by A.G. Howard

Tuesday- Discussion Post Top Ten Books I Read in 2013

Wednesday- Review of Afterparty by Ann Redisch Stampler

Thursday- Review of Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn

Friday- Discussion Post Book Blogging/Reviewing Resolutions

Review: Say When (Something More #1) by Tara West

Author: Tara West

Published Date: July 10th,2013

Published by: Shifting Sands Publishing

Series: Book 1

Genre: Romance

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Synopsis: Christina Duval has just ended her engagement to the affluent but otherwise tedious,rude & abrasive Jackson much to her mother’s disgust. Her mother still attempts to control her life and up until now Christina has allowed it.Christina’s disgusting & pervy father is dead thankfully, It takes meeting a sexy stranger for things to turn on their head.

Andres is unlike anyone Christina has ever known.He intrigues her from the beginning.She wants so desperately to trust what he says to her but after her experience with men,she’s tentative.Christina knows that she must trust Andres with more than just her body. She must trust him with her heart.

Disclaimer: I got this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Review: When we first meet Christina, she is a a doormat. She allows everyone around her to control her life. From her mother to Jackson. She has no say in her own life.That really drove me bananas as I really don’t have patience for those who don’t stand up for themselves. She has two friends, Grace and Karri. I still don’t understand why she is friends with Karri except that she feels terrible for Karri’s son Ty and for Karri’s sweet natured mother because Karri just won’t give up the drugs. Grace is a great friend and I enjoyed watching the threads of friendship be woven into the story.

Watching Christina become more assertive was so awesome to see. Reading about her standing up to her mother and telling her mother everything she had been so afraid to tell her made me so excited. I could see Christina’s self confidence rise and my enjoyment of her character grew as well.

Andres was everything that Christina wanted,needed and deserved in a man. He was sweet,gentle & supportive.All things that Christina didn’t have in her relationship with Jackson.As my friend Molli would say,he was swoon-worthy.

Normally I cringe at the insta-love and the insta-sex but this just WORKED. Christina needed a guy that was completely different from her father and ex fiancee and Andres gave her that.The sex scenes were extremely hot.It’s been awhile since I read something that had the kind of chemistry that Andres and Christina had.Andres gave Christina the courage to assert herself which I loved.

This book gets a 4 star review from me. Mostly because it chronicled Christina’s emotional growth which I enjoyed. It’s not getting the full 5 stars mainly because I feel it was too short and while it was a good read, I wanted more of it. I am so excited to see where the story goes and I wish it was 2014 already so I could get my hands on the next book.