Sunday, August 26, 2012

ARC Review If I Were You by Lisa Renee Jones (Recommended Read)


If I Were You is simply amazing! This book is a definite re-read for me. It left me wanting more of Sara and Chris and the intrigue around what happened to Rebecca (the journal’s writer).

The book is written in first person from Sara’s point of view. There were times I longed for Chris’ point of view. I wanted to know what was going on inside his head because he is such a compelling character. I wanted to know his deep dark secrets. However, the book wouldn’t work if we knew what Chris thought. To know the answers would take away from the intrigue and mystery of the book.

Sara is left with a storage unit and erotic journals to deal with when her friend runs off to elope. Sara finds she can’t sell off the belongings in the storage unit. The more she reads the journals, the more determined she becomes to find the owner, Rebecca, to return her possessions and figure out what happened to her. This desire leads to Sara taking Rebecca’s place at the art gallery, which starts Sara on a path to becoming what she wanted to be.

Sara is easy to relate to. She has a habit of rambling in uncomfortable silence or awkward moments. She’s someone you can see as having for a friend. She is torn between her desire to take the opportunity to change her life by working in the art gallery and finding Rebecca. Her relationship with Chris kept me turning the pages.

Chris is a mystery. He’s rich and famous but doesn’t act it. He prefers people to not know he is the famous Chris Merit. Chris wants to protect and care for Sara. His feelings for her make him act in ways that break the rules he has set out. He has a dark secret that he knows will make Sara run away. At the end of the book, we get a glimpse of his dark secret. 

Sara’s new boss, Mark, is dominating. Mark and Chris seemed to have been friends once, but something happened between them. Adding another mystery to try and unravel.

The ending is a cliffhanger. I’m dying to know what happens. The second book, Being Me, is on my anticipated books list. I can’t wait for its release.

The romance between Sara and Chris made the romantic in my happy while the mystery behind Rebecca’s disappearance made the suspense lover in my happy. It’s a perfect blend of the two.

I recommend this book to any reader who is looking for an erotic romance with mystery, intrigue, and a hot alpha male who likes to take charge.

5 Stars = A Must Read (I will be reading this one again.)

Note: Review based on ARC provided by NetGalley.




FIFTY SHADES OF GREY MEETS BASIC INSTINCTS

Chris is dark, and so are his desires, but I cannot turn away.
He is rich and famous, and dark in ways I shouldn’t find intriguing, but I do. I so do.

I don’t understand why his dark side appeals to me, but the attraction between us is rich with velvety promises of satisfaction. Chris is dark, and so are his desires, but I cannot turn away.

He is damaged beneath his confident good looks and need for control, and in some way, I feel he needs me. I need him.


How it began….

One day I was a high school teacher on summer break, leading a relatively uneventful but happy life. Or so I told myself. Later, I’d question that, as I would question pretty much everything I knew about me, my relationships, and my desires. It all began when my neighbor thrust a key to a storage unit at me. She’d bought it to make extra money after watching some storage auction show. Now she was on her way to the airport to elope with a man she barely knew, and she needed me to clear out the unit before the lease expires.

Soon, I was standing inside a small room that held the intimate details of another woman’s life, feeling uncomfortable, as if I was invading her privacy. Why had she let these items so neatly packed, possessions that she clearly cared about deeply, be lost at an auction? Driven to find out by some unnamed force, I began to dig, to discover this woman’s life, and yes, read her journals—-dark, erotic journals that I had no business reading. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I read on obsessively, living out fantasies through her words that I’d never dare experience on my own, compelled by the three men in her life, none of whom had names. I read onward until the last terrifying dark entry left me certain that something had happened to this woman. I had to find her and be sure she was okay.

Before long, I was taking her job for the summer at the art gallery, living her life, and she was nowhere to be found. I was becoming someone I didn’t know. I was becoming her…

The dark, passion it becomes…

Now, I am working at a prestigious gallery, where I have always dreamed of being, and I’ve been delivered to the doorstep of several men, all of which I envision as one I’ve read about in the journal. But there is one man that will call to me, that will awaken me in ways I never believed possible. That man is the ruggedly sexy artist, Chris Merit, who wants to paint me. He is rich and famous, and dark in ways I shouldn’t find intriguing, but I do. I so do. I don’t understand why his dark side appeals to me, but the attraction between us is rich with velvety promises of satisfaction. Chris is dark, and so are his desires, but I cannot turn away. He is damaged beneath his confident good looks and need for control, and in some way, I feel he needs me. I need him.

All I know for certain is that he knows me like I don’t even know me, and he says I know him. Still, I keep asking myself — do I know him? Did he know her, the journal writer, and where is she? And why doesn’t it seem to matter anymore? There is just him and me, and the burn for more.


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Available at:       Kindle        Nook       Amazon      


Also, Lisa Renee Jones is offering lots of great contests on her website. Go here to enter.


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