Monday, September 30, 2013

Broken by Ryanne Anthony (The M Series)

Ok so I know I usually pick out a book boyfriend, but this book had so many delicious men, I thought I'd give it a whirl. Broken is a story of two families, The Cannon family and the Harvey family. Through marriage and friendship these two families have merged to become one super family. They've come together one Saturday afternoon for a marathon therapy session. It seems there's a secret that finally needs to come out into the open. 

The story begins in the office of Victoria Fields, a therapist with a few secrets of her own I might add. It seems Amanda Cannon, wife of Joshua Cannon, the youngest Cannon brother, has been seeing Victoria as a patient. They've brought the whole family in for this session to finally put out in the open the mess their marriage has become. 

One interesting thing about this book, you get to meet all the Cannons and all the Harveys. You get to know a little bit about them and their secrets. This allows author Ryanne Anthony to set up the background for the M Series. All the Cannon brothers and their wives get their own novel. 

Back to our story. Joshua and Mandy have just informed their family members that Joshua cheated on Mandy. They're both devastated by this and it throws the other family members into a sort of holy shit! Frenzy. 

Evelyn, the only Cannon sister is particularly devastated by this news. While she's ripping a new one into her younger brother, she mistakenly calls him daddy. Secret number two. Evelyn is the product of an affair between Stephen, the Cannon patriarch and Joan Turner (A lesbian gold digger with her own secrets). Evelyn or Evie as her family calls her is beside herself with this information. It brings up the pain of her past and her insecurities as an adult. 

The focus of Broken however, is Joshua and Mandy.  The infidelity is killing them. And while first you're going to be pissed at Joshua and think, "Ha! Typical man."  When you read the reason behind it, your hearts going to break a little for the youngest Cannon. And yes, you'll hope Mandy takes him back. Oh! One more thing. The woman he cheated with, yea, she's pregnant. 

Without a doubt. There's a lot of angst in this novel. You'll be sad, you'll be angry, but you'll also laugh. With three pregnant women (not telling who) and a brother who was born to be the class clown, there's definite levity mixed into the story. 

Which leads to my book boyfriend, Matthew Cannon. Yes Ryanne I do love me some Matthew and I'm waiting rather impatiently for his story to be released. Matthew is the middle brother and seems to be the typical middle child. Katherine, the Cannon mom is always head slapping her middle boy. You just get the feeling Matthew wants everything to be ok. He wants everyone to be happy. 

Matthew is married to Madison. There are a lot of Ms to keep up with. Madison is another of my favorite characters. She's feisty and funny and she keeps Matthew in his place. And yes she does have a secret. A secret that could destroy her and Matthew. 

Marcus is the eldest Cannon brother and his wife is Mariah. And while they seem like the perfect couple. There are secrets between them as well. 

Here's the thing. On the outside the Cannons appear to be living perfect lives. They're beautiful, wealthy people. Who wouldn't want to be them. Once you get a look inside, you see that they're all dealing with different pain and it makes them human. 

Victoria and her husband Tim who is also a therapist do a brilliant job of trying to put the broken Cannons back together again. 

I sat down and read this one Saturday afternoon. I loved the idea of the story, I wanted to know more about the characters. I even knew which one I'd want to be in case they ever make a movie about the Cannons. But, I'm not going to tell you that either (Ok, I will.  Monica, but you'll have to read the book to figure out why). 

Anyway, read Broken. It's a great story with amazing characters. Find it on Smashwords, Amazon, and iBooks. Follow Ryanne on twitter AuthorRyanneAnthony @Ryanne_Anthony. 

Enjoy! Don't forget. Tell me what you think!!

Simple Perfection Abbi Glines





"In all her twisted perfection, she had made me fall helplessly in love with her" Woods Kerrington

It's no secret that Abbi Glines is one of my favorite New Adult authors. I have read all of her series and most of her books more than one time. Two of my favorite book boyfriends are Beau Vincent and Rush Finlay. And yes I have crushes on, well most of her male characters. With that being said, yes, Woods Kerrington of Simple Perfection is completely swoon worthy. 

Simple Perfection starts off at the funeral of Woods father, who died of a heart attack at the end of Twisted Perfection.  Woods is upset his dad died, but can't find it in his heart to forgive, because of all the pain his dad caused Della. You remember her. Woods one night stand who turned into the love of his life.  Woods mom, is the mother from hell. Even in mourning, she still has the ability to be a horrible bitter woman who tries to sabotage her son. Through it all Woods still tells mom he loves her and will take care of her. Of course the stipulation being mom accepts Della. Mom wants no part of that and Woods leaves. 

Slithering back into the picture is Woods' ex-fiancĂ©e Angelina. She moves in with Woods' mom explaining she's going to take care of her. Anyone with a smidgen of brain knows it's all about trying to get Woods back. Of course Woods calls her on it. He basically tells her he'll never want her and to pack it in. Angelina doesn't appreciate that and goes after Della for revenge. Lucky for Della, badass Blaire (The Fallen Series) comes to her rescue. Seriously, besides the hot guys, Blair is one of my favorite Abbi characters. If I can come back as a book character, I want to be Blair. It's probably one of the best scenes in the book. 

After the Angelina debacle, Woods becomes even more protective of Della. Woods wants her around him all the time. He doesn't want her to work or go anywhere without him. When he finally allows Della to come and work as his assistant, he realizes she can do an amazing job. She is a natural and Woods is impressed by Della as always. But Della being Della feels that his protectiveness will eventually become resentment. Della doesn't get the whole Woods is crazy in love with her thing. As close as they seem and as amazing as their sex is. Yes, it's pretty damn steamy. She thinks she's going to lose him. 

Della's solution is of course to leave. She decides to continue what she began before she met Woods. She's going to travel with Tripp (Another Rosemary Beach character) and find herself. Tripp is incredibly hot himself and I imagine if Della wasn't with Woods, Tripp would be all up in her business. But apparently in Rosemary Beach, guys are respectful of their buddies women, imagine? Anyway, Tripp comes to take Della away so she can sort through all the crap in her life. (BTW Abbi, if you're reading, Tripp could use his own book. Just a thought) Around here in the book I thought Woods was going to have a nervous breakdown. But he held it together. As much as he wants to go after her, all of his friends let him know, Della has to find her way back to him. 

In the midst of all this, Woods' psycho of a mother is being taken care of by that snake Angelina. At one point Angelina admits she still wants Woods and she's doing everything she can to win him back. The thing is, I'm sure Angelina is thinking in terms of merger, not marriage. 

Momzilla even tries to take the club away from Woods by trying to turn the board of directors against him. I loved the way Woods solved this problem. It was incredibly clever. 

Della eventually finds her way to her best friend Braden's home. Braden has some information for Della that turns the world as she knows it upside down. She spends time with Braden who is clearly the best friend ever invented. Della finally begins to see herself as a strong women. And when she decides what she wants, damn she really decides what she wants. 

Abbi also gives us some background information on Bethy. (Blair's friend from The Fallen Series) Because in a secondary part of the story, Bethy is spinning out of control and her boyfriend Jace doesn't know what to do. He decides on a plan to get Bethy's head back on straight. Jace is definitely a character I really grew to like throughout Rush and Blair's story and now Woods and Della's story. 

Some advice, watch out for the twist towards the end. It's something you'll never see coming. 

Well, I'd like to think I've convinced you to read Simple Perfection.  If I haven't just remember it's Abbi Glines and you love her. Seriously though, it's an excellent continuation of Woods and Della's story. Read it! Let me know what you think. 

What We're Reading Now

EXCERPT REVEAL!!! THE ANTI-BOYFRIEND.....BY PENELOPE WARD

Title: The Anti-Boyfriend Author: Penelope Ward Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance Release Date: August 31, 2020 ...