BLOG TOUR: The List by Joanna Bolouri

I am pleased to be part of the blog tour for The List by Joanna Bolouri, the lovely Emma has organised this tour in conjunction with Quercus, you can check out her blog here. This List is a really fun read, definitely worth checking out:

Phoebe Henderson may be single but she sure doesn't feel fabulous. It's been a year since she found her boyfriend Alex in bed with another woman, and multiple cases of wine and extensive relationship analysis with her best friend Lucy have done nothing to help. Faced with a new year but no new love, Phoebe concocts a  different kind of resolution.
The List: ten things she's always wanted to do in bed but has never had the chance (or the courage!) to try. A bucket list for between the sheets. One year of pleasure, no strings attached.
Simple right?
Factor in meddlesome colleagues, friends with benefits, getting frisky al fresco and maybe possibly, true love and Phoebe's got her work cut out for her. 

Publisher: Quercus

Pages: 400

The List by Joanna Bolouri is a lot of fun and a book that I would highly recommend. I felt as though I worked out quite early on what was going to happen but in some ways I enjoyed the book more because of this as I could just sit back and enjoy what was happening.
Phoebe Henderson has been single for over a year after walking in on her boyfriend Alex in bed with another woman. It is the new year and Phoebe has decided that she needs to do something drastic, so she enlists her friend Lucy to help her compile The List. The list is made up of ten sexual acts that she has always wanted to do. However, she can't do these things on her own (well not all of them) so she ropes in her best friend Oliver to help her complete her mission. Will the list change Phoebe's love life and will her friendship wit
h Oliver survive this year of unadulterated pleasure?
I liked Phoebe a lot; she 's a similar age to me and works in advertising sales for a newspaper, the exact job I did seven years ago. She was funny, likeable and a bit feisty at times, I think a lot of readers will identify with her. Oliver is a fantastic creation, I had a crush on him as soon as he appeared in the book and this just grew as the story developed.
Joanna Bolouri's writing style is witty and face paced; the book is quite long at 400 pages but I didn't get bored at any point.
If you are on the look-out for a fast paced fun read then I urge you to buy a copy of The List, you might even learn a thing or two!

Many thanks to Emma for organising a fabulous blog tour and to Quercus for sending me a review copy. Check out the top of my blog to see who's next on the blog tour!

Book Review: Wicked Ambition by Victoria Fox

Some will do anything for fame. Others will do anything to bring the famous down. Robin might come across as feisty and full of attitude but as the tale progresses the reader soon learns her tough exterior conceals a damaged heart , while American megastar Turquoise has a shocking secret that belies a murderous past. And unbeknown to Californian Kristin her boy-band beau is harbouring a dark story that could destroy both their careers. As Wicked Ambition follows the lives of these three ambitious starlets, it soon becomes clear that their rise to the top will be anything but plain sailing. 

I haven't read a good bonk-buster for ages and it is clear that Victoria Fox is one of the best in this genre. Wicked Ambition oozes glamour with a sprinkling of sex and scandal.
The book revolves around three women, Robin, Turquoise and Kristin. They are all huge celebrities at the top of their game but it is their personal lives that threatens everything they have worked for. Robin had an awful start to life and has fought all the way for survival and success. She is used to crazy fans but this one stalker is different and when Robin comes face to face with them she is in for the shock of her life. Turquoise has a huge music career but her first foray into movies brings her past back to haunt her. All she wants to do is make things right but that will put everything she has in jeopardy. Kristin is one of America's sweethearts, a child-star who has grown into a young and inspirational woman. With a stage mother from hell, Kristin clings on to her boyfriend to provide the security and love that she craves. However, Scotty has his own secrets, secrets that will have devastating consequences for himself and those around him.
At 603 pages, Wicked Ambition is long but Victoria Fox keeps up a good pace throughout. The chapters are short and snappy as we delve into the glamorous but murky world of fame and fortune.
Wicked Ambition reminded me of some of the Jackie Collins books I hav
e read. Yet I think that Victoria Fox is more current and her writing more engaging. Wicked Ambition would make the perfect summer read, once you start it you won't want to put it down.

Dot Scribbles Rating: 4.5/5

Publisher: Mira

Pages: 603

Many thanks to the lovely people at Cherish PR for sending me a copy of the book to review.

Book Review: Bared to You by Sylvia Day

Our journey began in fire...
Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness- beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white hot. I was drawn to him as I'd never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily...
Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each others most private wounds and desires.
The bonds of his love transformed me, even as I prayed that the torment of our pasts didn't tear us apart..
Intensely romantic, darkly sensual and completely addictive, Bared to You will take you to the very limits of obsession- and beyond.

Bared to You is the story of Eva and Gideon and I think it is one of the better books in this genre because it does actually have a story. Yes there are some aspects that are very similar to other books; multi-millionaire businessman, young girl, power games and lots
of sex. However, Sylvia Day brought more to her story, Gideon and Eva have seriously troubled pasts. We discover a lot about Eva's in this book but not so much about Gideon's. The author delves into the murky world of child abuse and its devastating consequences. Sylvia Day does not hide the brutality of such experiences so we do literally get the characters stripped bare, we know their darkest secrets and memories.
I liked the independent streak in Eva; she has her own money and career. She respects Gideon and his success but she is not in awe of him and the world he inhabits.
There is a lot of sex in this book, I did questions how quickly Gideon and Eva's relationship progressed considering her past. Regardless of that, the tension between these two is palpable. Gideon wants to protect Eva but he is not suffocating as so many other male leads in this genre can be.
Bared to You is the first book in the Crossfire series. I shall definitely read the others as I want to discover Gideon's secrets and watch their relationship develop.

Dot Scribbles Rating: 4/5

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 368

Book Review: Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren

Whip-smart, hardworking and on her way to an MBA, Chloe Mills has only one problem: her boss, Bennett Ryan. He's exciting, blunt, inconsiderate- and completely irresistible. A Beautiful Bastard.
Bennett who has returned to Chicago from France to take a vital role in his family's massive media business. He never expected that the assistant who'd been helping him from abroad was the gorgeous, innocently provocative- completely infuriating creature he now has to see everyday. Despite the rumours, he's never been one for a work place hookup. But Chloe's so tempting, he's prepared to bend the rules- or outright smash them- if it means he can have her. All over the office.
As their appetites for each other increase to a breaking point, Bennett and Chloe must decide exactly what they're willing to lose in order to win. 

When this book arrived I almost wrote it off as another Fifty Shades of Grey but the title intrigued me so I decided to give it a go. Don't get me wrong, I have been honest in admitting that I read and enjoyed the Fifty Shades trilogy but I think there have been so many similar books recently with the same plot line but different characters.
Beautiful Bastard isn't that different in that it's very much a book about a man and a woman starting a sexual relationship and exploring where it will take them. However, this book differs in that the male and female characters are more equal, they both have their own positions of power in different ways. I liked Chloe, she is not in awe of Bennett but she is undoubtedly attracted to him. Is it just sex though or does it go deeper than that?
I was pleased to discover that Bennett did not have a tortured past or a drawer full of sex toys but he does have an appealing vulnerability. He is extremely successful and driven; he seems shocked by the effect that Chloe has on him; it's far from professional to sleep with an employee but he is unable to stop himself.
Beautiful Bastard contains a lot of sex scenes but I thought they were very well written; it was interesting to observe how these encounters altered as Bennett and Chloe's relationship became more complex.
The author's writing is very snappy and fresh, it only took me a few hours to read this book. Some may say that the writing is simple but I am getting tired of people being derisory about that sort of content. Sometimes I want a book that really challenges me and makes me think and sometimes I want a book that is easy and quick to read whilst maintaining my attention. I don't think Beautiful Bastard is going to win any literary prizes but it is easy to see why it has been read by so many people.
If you are looking for a bit of escapism, a fast plot and interesting characters then I would highly recommend Beautiful Bastard. 

Dot Scribbles Rating: 4.5/5

Pages: 320

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Many thanks to Simon and Schuster for sending me a copy of the book to review, Beautiful Bastard is out now.

Book Review: The Darker Side of Love by Jessica Ruston

Lies: we all tell them. To protect those we love, to disguise failure, to hide disappointment. To mask betrayal or deceit. But what happens when they start to catch up with us? When our lives begin to be shaped by the lies of others?
The late 'noughties'. A global recession looms. A group of old friends, all leading outwardly successful, interesting lives. All in apparently loving, secure relationships. Yet all, in some way, lying to those closest to them, concealing secret worries, jealousies or desires. This group of friends is about to discover that the truth won't stay buried forever.
Welcome to the darker side of love.

I very much enjoyed Jessica Ruston's book To Touch the Stars but I must admit that I enjoyed The Darker Side of Love even more and was sad to get the the last page.
There are four main female characters. Izzy who is married to James, they have two beautiful children but she is in definite need of something more. Stella and Johnny have a baby together but Johnny's band is about to hit the big time and his life-style is leading Stella to self-destruct. Caroline is newly married to Bart and should be enjoying the honeymoon period but things aren't always as perfect as they appear. Harriet is the final character, she has been with Will for what seems like forever but she still doesn't have a ring on her finger; maybe it's time to issue him with an ultimatum.
They are four very different women and it was really interesting to see how they slotted together. I think that I identified the most with Izzy but I was as equally interested in all of the others. As the title suggests, Jessica Ruston is exploring the darker side of love. This book is beautifully dark, full of lies, betrayal, sex and jealousy but I also felt that it was brilliantly honest. It didn't paint pretty pictures but stripped these women's relationships back and showed how they really are rather than how they look from the outside.
I really struggled to put this book down and it is one of the best that I have read so far in 2012. I think this is the most powerful of Jessica Ruston's books so far and I highly recommend it.

Dot Scribbles Rating 5/5

Many thanks to Headline Review for sending me a copy of the book to review, The Darker Side of Love is out now.