Review: Idle Bloom by Jewel E. Ann

Title: Idle Bloom
Author: Jewel E. Ann
Published:  December 1st 2014
Source: Copy given by author for honest review
Genre: Contemporary Romance
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Caution: May contain spoilers

"What lies beneath my veiled perfection is the ugly truth—my truth, my reality, my destiny."

Vivian Graham has an acceptance letter into Harvard, a badass tattoo, loyal friends, ties to marijuana, a penchant for Dunkin’ Donuts, and her pesky V-card.

Everyday she takes the Red Line to her job at The Green Pot in Boston while her friends enter the coveted, black iron gates to higher learning. The ramifications from a tragic accident have put her life on hold while time marches on for everyone around her.

After graduating from Harvard Law, Boston native, Oliver Konrad, moves to Portland to start his career and his life. Three years later, after a horrific discovery, he returns home to trade in his three-piece suit for leather work boots and his suburban home for a condo in Cambridge.

All he brought back to the East Coast was an aversion to pillows and secrets he keeps hidden behind a mysterious locked door. Oliver’s days are predictable and his nights are lonely until he meets Vivian on the subway. Her long raven hair, green eyes, and mile-long legs are achingly sexy, but the way she "innocently" fingers and licks her Boston Kreme doughnut can only be described in two words—complete torture.

When their paths cross at every turn, laughter is abundant, friendship is easy, and love is unintentional. However, their future seems improbable.

My Thoughts:

After being completely blown away by Only Trick, I was very excited to get my hands on another book by Jewel E. Ann. I was drawn in quickly to the story of Vivian and Oliver and couldn't wait to see what was in store for them.

Vivian and Oliver have an embarrassing but adorable meet cute and eventually get to be friends, then more than friends. As time goes by, their relationship blooms into something deeper, and they get closer than ever. Their chemistry is hotter than hot! The problem is they both carry secrets and have things that happened in the past that are threatening to push their love aside. In the end they need to decide whether they can move beyond the past and have a future together forever.

Idle Bloom is a very emotional roller coaster of a story. You're pulled in from the start, and your feels get tangled up throughout. My only issue with the story is that it felt a little over dramatic at certain points with some overreactions. The thing that saved the way I feel for the story is that the love between Vivian and Oliver bleeds through the pages. Their whole story may have had ups and downs, but it remained sweet.

My Rating:

Review: Only Trick by Jewel E. Ann

Title: Only Trick
Author: Jewel E. Ann
Published: April 13th 2015
Source: Copy given by author for honest review
Genre: Contemporary Romance
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Caution: *WILL* contain spoilers

“Don’t Look Back in Anger”

In one night, I lost five years of my life. Here’s what I know …

I was homeless.

I’m a recovering drug addict.

My inked skin crawls from lustful eyes.

I have a serious aversion to women.

My gay partner is a home wrecker.

I own a gun and I’m a damn good shot.

I’m a makeup artist, but it’s an insult to my talent.

I’ve never wanted to possess anything except my Ducati … until I met Darby.

Now here’s what I know since that day in the ER when she pieced me back together … nothing—but a few random thoughts.

My new “friend” is distracting, clingy, and obsessed with acronyms, emojis, and phrases like “breakfast soul mates.”

I didn’t want to like her, but she crawled under my skin and swallowed me whole. Now we’re best friends and she’s my new addiction. I'd drink her from a shot glass, snort her up my nose, or inject her into my veins if I could. What I won’t do … is ever tell her that.

She doesn’t know me … I don’t know me. When those missing years come back, I think she will hate me … I think I will hate me.

My parents named me Patrick Roth, and this is my story.

My Thoughts:

I went into this one extremely intrigued. I mean, look at that synopsis! There's so much going on and you just know it's going to be interesting--what's going to happen between Patrick and Darby? What happened to Patrick to cause him to lose his memory? By the time I reached the end, I was flabbergasted... in the best way possible.

Patrick, or Trick, meets Darby when he comes in to the ER for stitches. She's overwhelmed by him, but she tries to hold herself together. When they meet up again (and again), somehow a friendly bond forms. She thinks he's gay, but she's falling for him despite that knowledge. It doesn't take long for those feelings to threaten their friendship...and lead to a spontaneous kiss after the confession of them to him. Pretty soon their lives are wrapped up in each other, only things aren't as they seem. Trick still has very little knowledge of his past, and worries that everything blossoming with Darby is going to fall apart at any moment.

Only Trick had me by the heartstrings all the way. I was captivated, and my emotions were so invested in them that by the end, I was nearly a blubbery mess of feels. I was anxiously flipping pages to see what would happen next, where the latest bit of information would lead them to. My absolute favorite part of this story was the relationship between Trick and Darby. She would text message him, asking him to be her BFF for a moment so she could talk about her feelings about him with him. Even when things got tough, they pulled through. I loved seeing things tie together while winding their way through the whole story, piecing what was broken back together again. It was just so beautiful. Jewel E. Ann--keep... them... coming. Please.

My Rating: