definitely, possibly, maybe

we met jenna in the summer before forever , she's chloe's best friend with an outsize personality and a heart of gold. she's a bit of a star, having placed 8th in a talent show competition, and plans to head off to l.a. and take the world by storm. but she's made a deal with her dad, that she'll stay for senior year if he can get her into a local magnet school for artists and performers. she's convinced it won't happen. but then it does. miles cleveland hates her. she stole his spot in the talent competition. and she's just one of those pop princess types that are too thin and too pretty and stomp on guys like him. she's already stomped on him once, who's to say she won't do it again. except jenna isn't mean-spirited. she's unfailingly friendly and her sunny, open nature is actually the real deal. and when she does realize who he is, and why he has every right to hate her. she's genuinely sorry. the thing is there is this cr...

landon and chloe are perfect for each other. except the whole future step-sibling thing is weird. and chloe''s got hang-ups. so does landon. but it's summer, t he summer before forever . and their parents aren't married yet. and maybe it's time they just enjoyed things without worrying so much about the consequences. this young adult romance is so sweet. not overly so, as it's dealing with some real issues. chloe was nearly raped by her long time crush last semester and her strained relationship with her father isn't helped by his inability to communicate. then there's landon who is dealing with a severe learning disability, dyscalculia, which is an inability to process numbers or number patterns. he's trying to pass a remedial math course to finalize his high school graduation. a test he needs to pass in order to assure his scholarship to college, even though he's going on a wrestling program that he actually isn't interested in. his fir...

links to parts  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  11 ,  12 ,  13 ,  14 ,  15 ,  16 ,  17 ,  18 ,  19 ,  20 ,  21 ,  22 ,  23 ,  24 , and 25 are where you see them. part 26 follows the jump.

you guys, my shipper heart can't take the heartbreak. i mean, i get why hayley and elijah probably shouldn't be together. (let's not even try to calculate the age difference) and i actually enjoy the originals  for more than hayley and elijah. and this season, this show has been so good. the little girl they have playing hope mikaelson is fantastic. but beyond that, this season all these monsters, not just the mikaelsons, but the witches and marcel and his crew,  have come together and faced their demons and really searched for redemption. facing the hollow, the biggest bad of them all, there's no quarter. things go from bad, to worse, to the worst in the blink of an eye, or snap of a finger. and there's nothing else to be done. for a family that has vowed always and forever, a family that have lived and fought and loved for 1000 years, to end up where they do it's devastating. i mean, sure some of them get happy ever afters, i'm glad for rebekah a...

this is the perfect young adult contemporary to read by the pool, especially given that levi and maggie basically spend all their time at the pool. they've been swimming together for ages and have been best friends forever. and they also happen to be two elite competitive swimmers vying for spots on the us national olympic team. levi has his tryout all sewn up, but maggie is still competing for hers, so the last thing she needs are any distractions. but when a college visit highlights how much she's been missing on a social level, she realizes that she needs to use her senior year to prepare. here's the thing: when it comes to kissing, levi is kind of an expert. and she already spends so much time with him anyway, so what could go wrong? the problem is, so many things go right when she and levi start kissing. every time they touch it's like sparks fly and they were meant to be in each other's arms. but with all the kissing, comes feelings. and suddenly levi an...

the librarians in love series continues with falling for trouble . the nice thing about this series is that the theme of librarians is what links the books, but they are total standalones, as this book has a completely different setting and set of characters from the first book in the series. this is totally fine with me, but if you like linked series, it might be a let down. joanna green returns home after a meltdown of rockstar proportions. it's on youtube, y'all. meanwhile, liam byrd is the sexy new librarian in town and happens to be a music fan. the thing is, liam likes small town life in halkarnassus, new york. even the petty battles with the sports-obsessed mayor don't affect his feelings for the place. he loves his job. he loves his life. and when he meets joanna he realizes he can love this girl. except all she wants to do is leave. since she was left behind by her parents and raised by her beloved grandmother, joanna has been searching for something else. so...

lia hanson has a plan. finish up her studies. quit her terrible job. get a good job she can be proud of. one good enough that will allow her to quit her second decent job. all while supporting her infirm mother and her teenage brother. along came us opens when her brother gets involved in a series of fights she realizes that maybe she doesn't have things as in control as she thought. first she discovers that he's been taking lessons on how to defend himself at a local mma gym. she's definitely not pleased when she meets tyler cavallo and learns of past involvement with gangs in la and the military. but he has a connection with her brother she can't deny. and she is attracted to him in a way she can't deny either. tyler is so interested in lia. and the fact that she wants nothing to do with him kills him. and with her brother putting him in the middle of things his loyalty and ability to keep promises are in question. because he hates lying to lia. she barely ...

it's interesting to read about the characters in the highland commander , because it is not often that your heroes are on the wrong side of history. in the early eighteenth century england and scotland are still at odds. and the jacobites believe that the rightful heir to the throne of england is the roman catholic stuart exiled to france. many a scotsman are jacobites, and aiden murray, the second son of the duke of atholl is one of them. he serves as a lieutenant, and then as a commander in the royal scottish navy. and while he's not in a position to publicize his political leanings, he does hold true to them. lady magdalen keith is the illegitimate daughter of the earl of keith who has been imprisoned for being a jacobite sympathizer and for treasonous actions against the queen. meeting in london for the second time—their first meeting was an interlude at a masquerade where they both succumb to an undeniable attraction—aiden puts aside his plans to debauch himself during...

ABOUT THE BOOK Title: THE HIGHLAND COMMANDER Author: Amy Jarecki Series: Lords of the Highlands, #2 On Sale: June 27, 2017 Publisher: Forever Mass Market: $7.99 USD eBook: $3.99 USD Audio: $22.98 USD Add to Goodreads She cannot resist the man behind the mask... As the illegitimate daughter of a Scottish earl, Lady Magdalen Keith is not one to partake in lavish balls or other frivolities. Yet at her father's urging, she agrees to dance with the battle-weary officers at this year's holiday masquerade. It's practically her civic duty! But when one such officer—whose dashing good looks cannot be disguised by a mere mask—sweeps her off her feet and into his arms, the innocent lass can't help herself. Her lips are his for the taking. But will he betray his country for a kiss? Navy lieutenant Aiden Murray has spent too many months at sea to be immune to the charms of this lovely beauty. Even after he returns to his ship, she lives in his dreams. But when ...

the panic series continues with make me stay , and we spend some time with mateo moreno before his father's bust and afterwards. and the woman who is mixed up in all of it, june simpson aka april white. she was undercover and she shouldn't have let things get as far as they did. she had a job to do. but she fell in love with matt. and her disappearance devastated him. he was so lost and hurt without her that drugs and drinking and basic debauchery became his life. his brother was so determined to build their nightclub back up without his input. and there was nothing left for him. june was gone. and then he saw her. she looked different, but he knew it was her. in his bones he knew. and when she finally clued him in on what was happening, the betrayal he felt goes beyond words. but then she is injured while off duty, but because of her job. and she remembers nothing, but matt is familiar. at least, he seems to know more about her than anyone else does. because even t...

book 2 in the studies in scandal series, duke with benefits , sees dalton beauchamp, the duke of maitland, connect with lady daphne forsyth beyond her mathematical skills. though not known for her social graces, in fact she has none, lady daphne isn't uncaring or unkind. she is abrupt and suffers no fools, and in polite society, this behavior, especially given her status as an unmarried woman is quite beyond the pale. she is attracted to the duke and tried unsuccessfully to proposition him. she has no interest in marriage or being any man's property. three months later she is actively trying to ignore him, even as he is regretting having rejected her advances. he is fascinated by her—her brilliant mind, her adorable confusion when dealing with people, her beauty that he finds so alluring. but when the reason she inherited a portion of lady celeste beauchamp's estate comes to light and a dangerous figure from lady daphne's past is murdered in t...

the third and final book of the sawbones trilogy brings laura and kindle's story to a close. these two are the ultimate survivors. it's like they literally reach the depths of hell and crawl their way back. at some point, you think, what else could possibly go wrong for them? and somehow lenhardt finds ways to surprise you on how badly things go sideways. but then as we barrel toward the conclusion of the saga, things start to come full circle. i'm not interested in spoiling the end for anyone, because i think that if you've stuck it out this far, you deserve to experience the story firsthand. so i'm just going to speak about the book in generalities. one thing i think this is so great is that everything does tie together. we literally come back to the beginning in badlands  and solve the original mystery once and for all. and how we reach that conclusion really does work for me. i love that she doesn't do it alone. because one thing i've loved about ...

i work in the astronomy department of an ivy league university, so i'm surrounded by super smart scientists like owen shaughnessy all the time. they are super nice and often awkward and we somehow all muddle through it together. the one thing that would make me absolutely crazy is if they for real were fans of james patterson. i've never actually read a james patterson book on purpose. i've read over other people's shoulders on the t and just that was enough of a glimpse into the fact that he is a terrible writer that i have never felt the impulse to read his books. so i know that this is a ridiculous quibble, but i just couldn't believe that owen would be excited to read patterson. like why not george r. r. martin? at least you get the nerd cred there. i know his prose can veer into purple fairly quickly, but i don't know. i respect martin more than i do patterson i guess. anyway, owen is our totally social awkward hero. but he's such...

described as the ya version of you've got mail , alex, approximately  does hit all the right beats in this young adult contemporary. bailey has recently moved to the same town as her online crush, a boy she only knows as alex. being the cautious type, she decides to track down alex without telling him that she's close by. in the meantime, she's got a summer job at a local museum of curiosities and sparks fly with security guard, porter roth. he has the uncanny ability to get underneath her skin. yet the more time she spends with him, the more she realizes that there is a thin line between love and hate. and as she and porter commit to a relationship, what should she do about alex? is it cheating on him? is she cheating with him? it takes a while for bailey to sort this all out. but the answers she finds are worth all the angst. this is a sweet, summertime read. bailey and porter are delightful together and the cast of supporting characters are ...

having grown up in the wedding business, louna is cynical when it comes to happily-ever-afters. it doesn't help that her first love, ethan, was totally epic in nature and ended in tragedy. it's been a year and she's only just trying to come out of her shell. she meets ambrose at a wedding. unlike ethan, their story isn't love at first sight. she thinks he's an overgrown child playboy who cares nothing for his mother's happiness. her second impression doesn't go much better, but when her mom is strong-armed into hiring him to help out over the summer, louna is seemingly stuck with him.  the thing about ambrose is that he is 100% annoying and knows it, but he's also so damned good-natured and sweet and you can't help but love him. he's a total disaster. but he's also a dreamboat. he seems shallow and not all there, but he has hidden depths and is more observant that you'd give him credit for. it takes a while for louna to see all t...

in pull me close , when katherine tries to attend her sister's engagement party at nico's nightclub panic, she actually has a panic attack. unfortunately, nico thinks she's having some sort of overdose. given the way things have been falling apart at panic since his father was arrested for a whole host of dirty deeds, the last thing nico wants are headlines about anyone od'ing. the thing is, katherine isn't od'ing. she's having a panic attack. a survivor of the september 11th attacks, she suffers from anxiety, depression, agoraphobia, and severe claustrophobia. the truth is that over time, her anxiety has gotten worse and her life is mostly confined to her apartment. meeting nico serves as a catalyst for change. he's interested in her, in spite of all her crazy, and god help her, she is interested in him. but in order for them to work, she has to try to get some of her anxieties under control. she will never be rid of them, but she needs to find a ...

in this contemporary romance, musician sam castleton finds love in the hills of georgia with faith evans, the owner of a small bed & breakfast/hunting lodge. he's got a serious case of writer's block and a record due, and on top of that his last tour has left him so empty and overwhelmed that he's resorted to drinking to excess.  renting out the entire lodge to secure his privacy and find a way to get himself back on track, the last thing sam expects is to connect with faith. she's a single mom who has no idea who he is. she couldn't be further from his rock-and-roll lifestyle if she tried. and yet, maybe someone who has no expectations from him is exactly who he needs.  the fact that he is attracted to her doesn't hurt either. and the fact that she inspires him. well, that's even better. even if the music is a departure from his angry, anti-authoritarian rock anthems. what makes sam and faith such a great couple in storming the castle , is tha...

this is the second book in the a likely story series, but having not read the first one i can assure you that it stands alone. however, there are events that happen in this book that are influenced by things that happen in the first book, and some things in dirty little secrets might be a spoiler for the first book if you haven't read it at all. so if that bothers you, read them in order. xander dade has been in love with charlie mcgovern since he was a skinny tech-savant kid out on the streets. they were a team. she took care of him, protected him, comforted him. but when she was forced to leave their benefactor's care he felt incredibly guilty and stayed away because he was so sure he'd done her wrong. charlie was always a master thief. so when she steals a chemical formula from an evil pharmaceutical mastermind that the government is watching things go south pretty quickly. when xander shows up on her doorstep out of the blue, ten years after she last saw him, she...

catch up with parts  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  11 ,  12 ,  13 ,  14 ,  15 ,  16 ,  17 ,  18 ,  19 ,  20 ,  21 ,  22 ,  23 , and 24 . part 25 continues after the break.

this show, you guys, is totally insane. the characters are actual cartoon characters. and they get so many things wrong about race and cultural appropriation. and yet the aura of absurdity that surrounds everyone inhabiting kimmy's corner of new york somehow lets you move on, even if you do not fully forgive the show for its faults. this latest season starts out and everyone is off the rails in separate storylines, but over the course of the season things start to converge and the one thing i have to admit about this show is that all the actors have fantastic chemistry. it honestly seems like they are having an absolute ball filming this thing. from titus's epic lemonade homage: to jacqueline's successfully advocating for a name change to the washington redskin's football team. while lillian boycotts a new grocery store and falls in love with the owner.  to kimmy not getting a divorce, getting into columbia, flunking out of columbia, l...

at his mercy  kicks off a new series by shelly bell, all about forbidden lovers. this first novel brings us isabella, a gorgeous grad student with submissive leanings and her dominant grad school professor, tristan. isabella brings a lot of baggage to intimate relationships, she's got a crazy stalker, abusive ex-boyfriend who tried to kill her. she bears scars on her wrists that look like suicide but were not self-inflicted. it's heavy stuff. it's been two years and she's tired of everyone treating her with kid gloves. she knows that she doesn't want that. but she is also burdened with an innocence she doesn't want either. so when her cousin, who is into the bdsm lifestyle, brings her to a play party she is all in. she's done her research, and she's pretty sure that what she needs in order to be comfortable with her sexuality is to surrender control to someone else. tristan is on his way out of town to start a new job, he's antsy but nothing in...

ABOUT THE BOOK Title: AT HIS MERCY Author: Shelly Bell Series: Forbidden Lovers, #1 On Sale: June 20, 2017 Publisher: Forever Trade Paperback: $14.99 USD eBook: $4.99 USD Add to Goodreads “Bell opens the Forbidden Lovers series with a sexy thriller that will leave readers breathless. This novel is sultry and hot in all the right places, with just enough plot to keep the pages turning.” – Publishers Weekly, Starred Review “With a liberal dose of suspense and mega-hot sex, Bell's compelling first novel in the Forbidden Lovers series is exciting right through to the epilogue...absolutely nothing is wasted in this taut tale.” –RT Book Reviews, Top Pick Review Angel in his arms . . . Devil at her heels One last, no-strings night of indulgence. That's all Tristan wants before he begins a much-needed new chapter in his life. Instead he finds an innocent angel in pink who brings him to his knees. Isabella is done hiding from the world . . . and her haunting mem...

this is the second book in husk's blood and silver series. leira is the younger sister of saba, who we met in lady of silver , and she's been waiting for a man on a train to come into her life and change her world. because this man is also an albah, she's avoided group meetings so as to not change the future she saw in her vision. she liked that version of the future. but when she is forced to attend a meeting to discuss the increased threat her people are under and she sees julian ryder, she knows that everything is different now. the future she had been protecting has literally gone up in smoke, a terrifying prognostication given that she is a fire elemental and has problems controlling her power. julian also wields fire. and he is attracted to leira from the moment they meet. he also has a girlfriend, soon-to-be-ex, who is clingy and demanding and a guardian of adam, a race of human hunters who have had it out for his kind for centuries. most paranormals or fantasi...

mateo gallagher is not british. he is the dating guy, l.a. talk radio's hottest dj ever. in order to date and preserve his anonymity he uses a fake british accent on the air. that his job requires him to stay single and available is no hardship. that is, until he meets teague watters. and suddenly he finds that staying unattached can be a challenge when you've met the right girl. except beyond mateo's employment contract, they have a bigger obstacle in mateo's mom, gabriella, who also happens to be teague's boss. and she does not approve of her assistant socializing with her beloved son. but it's also impossible to stop their paths from crossing given mateo's prominent role in one of the weddings gabriella is planning. the more teague gets to know mateo, the more she realizes that there is more to him than just a pretty face. and he comes through for her in a big way when her world is rocked by a family crisis. but when he holds back, she b...

another day, another sports romance, or is it? it's actually kind of hard to categorize this new adult story because while there is romance, it's not really all sunshine and rainbows. this one has a lot of dark clouds. full count is about up-and-coming baseball star, aaron betts, a star player on the westland university baseball team who is injured in a pick up game welcoming rookies to in his junior year. aaron has a plan, and a knee injury seriously intereferes with those plans. all of a sudden he's battling academic probation, dealing with a break-up with his high school girlfriend, and facing the possibility that he won't play his junior year and will miss the draft. to deal with the academic probation piece, aaron hires mallory fine as his history tutor. she isn't a fan of baseball players, but also seems to know an awful lot about the sport, moreso than the average fan. aaron is interested in mallory from the get-go, but she is hesitant and pu...

one of the things that struck me most about the elections last november was the amount of misogyny out there. when hillary lost it felt like i'd been bathed in ice water and the shock of it made me see how far women still had to go in order to be truly equal. i'd always resisted the idea of labeling myself as a feminist. but the pride i felt in hillary's nomination, in voting for her, told me that there was no reason for me to be uncomfortable to identify as a feminist, even as i recognized that labeling myself as such would open me up to confronting sexist attitudes from sometimes surprising quarters. in too fat, too slutty, too loud: the rise and reign of the unruly woman  anne helen petersen takes all the critiques society throws at women and analyzes them through the eye of celebrity. petersen has a particular interest in celebrity and the media and culture of celebrity and the role it plays in society and its norms, and this interest is perfectly suited...

the gravediggers series continues with gone to dust , and picks up the thread of chemistry we got in the darkest corner  between elias cole and miller darling. this time the world isn't at stake, but miller's brother and elias's old seal brother, justin is in danger. a drug cartel interested in the same bit of treasure that miller's family has been searching for throughout history makes for a bad combination. when miller is sent her brother's finger and a message demanding she show up in ecuador, she has no choice. and elias has no choice but to join her. weeks ago he left her high and dry in order to protect her. his life is made for revenge. he's been declared dead and he has a contract of service being held over his head. he might have come to like his teammates, but he hates the woman who got him mixed up in this mess and who continues to play the puppeteer. he believes that there is no room in his life for love or passion. instinctively knowing that if ...

book 3 in the love heals all series, not through loving you , picks up the story of pediatric surgeon dr. aaron kendall and singer-songwriter lia montgomery. divorced and burned by his ex, aaron thought his dream of having a family was over until one day a patient gave birth to her baby and gave him away. at that moment, aaron knew he was destined to be the child's father. and he would put all his expertise on the line in order to save his son. but before he could legally adopt the baby, who he had named john aaron, he needed to clean up his bachelor pad and prepare his home for a home study and for the baby. but there should still be time for his father to sneak in a bachelor party before everything changes. except that's the night lia montgomery, john aaron's aunt, stops by. and she is not at all impressed by what she sees. lia has a temper and a habit of going off half-cocked, although once she calms down she can usually see reason. in fact, this ended up being a s...