{ARC Review} Whose Bed Is It Anyway? by Natalie Anderson

Title: Whose Bed Is It Anyway?
Author: Natalie Anderson
Publication Date: September 1, 2013
Genre: Contemporary Romance

"You’re wearing my T-shirt."

Returning home after a daring rescue mission, all James Wolfe can think of is sleep. So he’s furious to find a beautiful stranger curled up in his king-size bed! Normally no woman ever gets between his sheets without prior invitation—who does she think she is?

Disgraced celebrity Caitlin Moore has been offered a place to stay and she won’t give it up—not with the paparazzi outside, baying for her blood! Reluctantly she agrees to share the apartment with James—but, with enough electricity to short-circuit the whole of Manhattan, keeping to their own sides of the bed might prove impossible…

Review

Imagine coming home after long weeks of rigorous work to find someone occupying your bed when all you want to do is sleep. Lack of sleep can bring out the worst in you. We see that in James when he saw Caitlin sleeping in his bed. I like how the story opened up with that. It created the foundation of the story, which becomes their circumstance: living arrangements and agreements. Then as the story progresses and we learn more about the characters, we discover why they are the way they are.

The first half of the book was carefully paced and built a firm foundation for the story, but the last half was fast paced--a little too fast. I'll excuse the punctuation errors and sentence structure since it was an ARC; mistakes are bound to happen. It was kind of difficult to jump from Cailtin's POV to James's, because there was no indication that deciphered whose head we're in. Having the story told in third person was what helped clear things through. With those minor details, it did not affect the context of the story. And after doing some research, Anderson did good job with the accuracy of the Big Apple.

I liked how playful Caitlin and James are throughout the story. The banter exchanged between the two will leave you in a laughing fit. The dynamic between them -- once they accepted they're stuck rooming together for a month -- may have started out with just sex, but lines start to blur and kisses replaces oxygen. Their bond grew the more they spent time together touring around New York, between the sheets, spending a couple of days with James's family, and learning about each others past, they soon find themselves develop feelings that run deeper than on a platonic level. It was interesting to see that James wanted Caitlin to get her fill out of his bed as much as in his bed, if not more. Very gentlemanly of him to be Caitlin's personal guide when he knew that it's best to stay away from her.

After much denying their own feelings as well as each others, they're in too deep to back out. And before they know it, they've already fallen for each other before they realized it. With their playful dynamic, James brings out Caitlin's inner minx, and Caitlin makes James feel alive again. That's what I love to see in characters: that they bring out qualities you don't usually see in them. They both have that fire and primal spirit in themselves that will have you in need a cold shower once their urges surfaces. And their steamy marathon sex sessions turns into a passion-induced making of love. The first time they have sex, it started out as James teasing Caitlin (as a lot of guys like to do), but once James slowed down I felt there was more to it than just torturing her need for release. And that's where we see the dynamic between them start to change. As the saying goes, don't sleep with someone you don't want to be with.

Both Caitlin and James have family issues--who doesn't? The way Caitlin repeatedly pushed James to see his family and work things out, made her seem like a hypocrite for not doing the same with hers. Their issues are different -- understandable. However, Caitlin is not in a place to lecture about family when she doesn't put her advice into practice. Since James resolved things with his family, I was disappointed that we didn't get to see if Caitlin's family worked through their issues or not.

There wasn't any dark secrets as there was some mystery when it came to their past. A lot of books have played off those broody characters that have such a dark secret that may tear the couple apart if it gets out, but James and Caitlin weren't like that. Not exactly. Although we knew Caitlin's deal with the media scandal since we were in her head first, it took us readers some guessing and time to find out why James feels the need to work all the time and doesn't keep in touch with his family often. Caitlin found solace in James, and Caitlin became James's saving grace.

As mentioned, I felt that the ending had ended in an abrupt manner. Days were skipped, and James and Caitlin's thoughts weren't very detailed by the time James left for the conference in Japan to the time he came back home to find Caitlin has moved from the condo. We didn't get to fall into the sulking mode with the characters, so it took away from the intensity of their "agony" of their time apart after they realized they were over before they even started officially. Once James finds Caitlin's whereabouts, it was sweet that James finally realized his feelings for Caitlin and stopped fighting it and confessed his feelings, he intends to win her back and never let her slip between his fingers again. 

Although this is a light read, you still feel what the characters feel. You hurt when they hurt, you laugh when their humor gets the best of them, and you feel that knowing sensation of being turned on when they're in that mood.

Meet Natalie Anderson

USA TODAY bestseller Natalie Anderson writes fun, frisky, feels-good contemporary romance for Harlequin Mills & Boon, Entangled Publishing and independently. With over thirty books published, she's also been a Romantic Times Award nominee & a finalist for the R*BY (Romantic Book of the Year). She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand with her husband, four children and what feels like a million ducks.

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**I received an advanced review copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not monetarily compensated, nor did it influence my review.**

{Review} The Edge of Never by J. A. Redmerski

Title: The Edge of Never
Series: The Edge of Never #1
Author: J. A. Redmerski
Publication Date: November 15, 2012
Publisher: Createspace
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Twenty-year-old Camryn Bennett had always been one to think out-of-the-box, who knew she wanted something more in life than following the same repetitive patterns and growing old with the same repetitive life story. And she thought that her life was going in the right direction until everything fell apart.

Determined not to dwell on the negative and push forward, Camryn is set to move in with her best friend and plans to start a new job. But after an unexpected night at the hottest club in downtown North Carolina, she makes the ultimate decision to leave the only life she’s ever known, far behind.

With a purse, a cell phone and a small bag with a few necessities, Camryn, with absolutely no direction or purpose boards a Greyhound bus alone and sets out to find herself. What she finds is a guy named Andrew Parrish, someone not so very different from her and who harbors his own dark secrets. But Camryn swore never to let down her walls again. And she vowed never to fall in love.

But with Andrew, Camryn finds herself doing a lot of things she never thought she’d do. He shows her what it’s really like to live out-of-the-box and to give in to her deepest, darkest desires. On their sporadic road-trip he becomes the center of her exciting and daring new life, pulling love and lust and emotion out of her in ways she never imagined possible. But will Andrew’s dark secret push them inseparably together, or tear them completely apart?

Due to sexual content and language, this book is recommended for 17+ – Adult Contemporary Women’s – New Adult Fiction

Review

Almost every person at some point in their life had felt the need to break free from everyday routine, and craved to escape and live in the moment. This adventurous story strayed away from overused plotlines. It may be yet another story about roadtrips, but Redmerski did a well job of showing that there are roadblocks. The Edge of Never broadened the stigma of roadtrip stereotype. There was great dialogue, a careful pace, thoughtful editing, easy flow between the duel POVs, and the plot was never lost which makes for a likable story. The story is told in dual alternating POVs between Camryn and Andrew. Having dual alternating POVs between multiple characters can be troubling to follow at times, but Redmerski wrote them in a way where it was easy to jump from one mind to another. All the while, whomevers mind we jump to, the characters briefly rehash their thought about something that happened in the previous chapter when we were in the other characters mind.

The story maintained an inspirational vibe in life, adventure, loss and love. There is so much we take for granted and not even realize it. Discover new things, take chances, try new experiences, take nothing for granted and live with no regrets. Fate has a knack for timing and playtime, whether you believe in it or not. The romance in the story isn’t like a typical cheesy love story. Like I said, it breaks from the sterotype and avoids the stigma. What sets it apart is that since the characters share a crass and dry sense of humor, they can’t help but express it in terms of their dynamic and relationship. The points that are made on the concept of love and it’s involvement with young adults made for some valid reasoning. For instance, Camryn made a point where adults think that teenagers/young adults don’t know anything about love because of their age, presented a valid argument on whether love can be assessed by age — as the law is to the legal age for drinking — or not is something that every young adult can relate to. When I found out that this is about a roadtrip, I decided to pick myself up a copy. And since I read for escape and adventure, The Edge Of Never was a perfect choice to do so vicariously.

I guess my reasons for liking it so much is because of my own biased preferences. I can relate to it all the way down to the characters sense of humor and banter. I’m a sucker for green eyes and dark hair. So love interest, Andrew Parrish, was my undoing. I found myself relating to the story in a way because of my love for road trips and escapades. As the main characters were on the road in their adventure, I was crossing my fingers that they would stop in New Orleans, and when they did I couldn’t stop myself from entering borderline fangirl mode. And they didn’t just pass through, they stayed for a few weeks, so we got to see how it’s like there. And yes, they’ve spent some time on the iconic Bourbon street. After doing much research since I, myself, have never been, a lot of the setting was accurate. Another thing I like was the characters banter, it was witty, crass, sarcastic, foul, dirty, funny, inspirational, and heartfelt. That Walmart scene was very comical. That was by far my favorite. My friends and I do that all the time. I guess I relate to Andrew in that way. Camryn and Andrew’s love for music drew me in, too. Especially when it came to The Civil Wars. All I could think about is how fitting it would be to have Everlong by Foo Fighters be their roadtrip anthem. Also the story of Eurydice and Orpheus that the two main characters shared together was touching because it means so much to them. The characters shared a backstory of Orpheus that was not taught in English/Literary class, so it was nice learning something new. It makes you wonder if a man really can find his Eurydice on the road. Fate has a mind of it’s own and will decide when it’s time to play. Andrew and Camryn need a canon name because I ship them so hard (pun included).

The last couple chapters had me bawling to no end. I’ve had a fair share of shed tears over a book — John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars for example — and The Edge Of Never is the new addition. It really pulled at my heart strings, but I can assure that there is a happy ending.