Three Reviews: Christmas Camp by Karen Schaler, Conor (Boston Underworld #6) by A Zavarelli & Hating to love you by Erin Rylie

Reviews aren't my strongest point but of course I want to recommend books to you. So every three books I read I am going to do reviews unless it's for a blog tour or I have a lot to say they will be separate posts. So here is the last two books I read of the year and one of the first of 2019.

Hating to love you (Houston's Finest #1) by Erin Rylie 

Released January 10th 2018

Read on Kindle Unlimited

Rating: 4 Stars

Goodreads

"Hating to love you was a book I had a great time reading. Erin Rylie is a great new voice in the adult contempoary romance world!"

Hating to love you is Erin Rylie's debut novel and it's one I really enjoyed. I had a great time with the characters in Hating to love you.  When I was reading I didn't want to put the book down. The only way to describe the writing is addictive. You want to eat it all up. It's witty and fun with a side of serious thrown in. However I did find that the leading ladies thoughts where a little repetitive at the start but Erin Rylie changed my mind on that as by the end I kinda understood the characters doubts and her repeated thoughts on it. 

The characters felt three dimensional which I like. I liked both Rafe and Sophies voice and Rafe was quite Swoonworthy. I loved the relationship between Rafe and his best friend and Sophie and her friends. All the little mentions of books and movies where so fantastic.

The story is of over coming insecurities, grabbing on to chances and taking a leap of faith when you find yourself in a situation you didn't expect and having your friends by your side the whole way.

Overall I really enjoyed the story and am looking forward to Carlos and Kesleys story in April. That ending! 

Christmas Camp ( #1) by Karen Schaler

Released Already

Received paperback for honest review from Piatkus

Rating: 3.75 Stars

Goodreads

Christmas Camp was a good, light Christmas read that I enjoyed. It is written by Karen Schaler who is a screenwriter and the book comes across like a movie. It is in fact being adapted for the big screen. For the first half of the book I was engaged but toward the middle it slowed down and I lost a little interest, it did pick itself back up for a great ending.

What I really enjoyed was the story and characters. Haley lives and breaths her job in advertising and really wants to make partner. A new job comes up working with a Christmas toy company and Haley wants the job but her boss doesn't think she has the Christmas spirit to pull it off and gives it to someone else. She needs this contract to make partner. Her boss makes her a deal, she go to Christmas Camp and if she survives she can pitch for the contract and our story begins. 

There is a romance in Christmas Camp which I did like however I didn't feel a lot of chemistry between the two characters to start with. I felt it was very one sided. We do get perspective from both characters although it's more toward Haley than Jeff which could be why I didn't feel the chemistry to start with but I did feel it by the end of the book. 

The writing really made the visual of the cosy cabin setting and of things Christmas come alive however I did struggle a little with the story jumping between first and third person but once  I got used to it I was able to emerge myself in the story. Overall I enjoyed reading Christmas Camp. It made a perfect Christmas fireside read.

Conor (Boston Underworld #6) by A. Zaverlli

Released Already

Read on Kindle Unlimited

Rating: 3.9 Stars

Goodreads

Conor is the sixth book in A Zaverlli 's Boston Underworld series and this is a series I really enjoy and Conor was no exception. The series is a dark contempoary romance mafia series that is not for the faint hearted. These men are bad, they are loyal to only their brothers and their woman. They are violent, dominating and unrelenting but they have such soft hearts under neath and I love them. 

Conor I think has the softest heart, he's such a sweetheart. I really enjoyed switching perspectives between Conor and his love interest Ivy. A Zaverlli writing is addictive it pulls you in for the ride. Even though I love the fast paced writing, in parts it was a little too fast for me. Conor was shorter than the other books in the series at 186 pages and I would have liked it to be a little more stretched out but overall I really enjoyed this book as well as the series as a whole. If you like mafia books and dark romances I highly recommend this series. 

Have you read any of these books? Are you now interested after reading my reviews? Let's chat in the comments!