Book Title: The Moment of Letting Go

Author: J.A. Redmerski
Series: Standalone
Release Date: August 11th, 2015
Genres: New Adult, Contemporary Romance

You can follow the rules or you can follow your heart...

Sienna Murphy never does anything without a plan. And so far her plans have been working. Right after college, she got a prestigious job and gained the stability she'd always craved-until work takes her to the sun-drenched shores of Oahu and places her in the path of sexy surfer Luke Everett. For the first time, she lets her heart take control. Drawn to his carefree charm, she makes a spontaneous and very un-Sienna-like decision to drop everything and stay in Hawaii for two more weeks.

Luke lives fast and wild. When he meets Sienna, he's convinced that some no-strings-attached fun is just what she needs. As their nights quickly turn from playful to passionate, Luke can't deny the deep connection he feels. But there's a reason Luke doesn't do long-term. He can't promise Sienna forever, when the enormity of his past has shown him just how fragile the future can be...

BUY LINKS

AMAZON US  || B&N || KOBO

{READ MORE FOR JASMINE'S REVIEW!} 

Book Review: The Black Wolf by J.A. Redmerski

Book Title: The Black Wolf
Author: J.A. Redmerski
Series: In The Company of Killers #5
Release Date: July 1st, 2015
Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Suspense Romance

Since devastating secrets were uncovered by Nora Kessler, Niklas Fleischer and Victor Faust have been divided as business partners and brothers. But ultimately Niklas is persuaded to lead a mission to Italy, and he sees it as an opportunity to set in motion forgiveness—or retribution—for his brother’s betrayal.

The mission: play the role of a wealthy German investor and kidnap a beautiful, notorious madam named Francesca Moretti. No stranger to these types of roles, Niklas is the best man for the job, but this time the risks will be much greater as he will not be doing it alone. Izabel Seyfried, still fresh out of a life of imprisonment and sex slavery, could be negatively affected by the things she will see in Moretti’s mansion, and Niklas must keep her in line so she does not blow their cover and get them killed.

But Niklas isn’t the only one who must play a role—Nora takes on the humiliating task of playing Niklas’s slave, and Izabel must play the role of his lover.

On one hand, Niklas couldn’t be enjoying himself more. On the other hand, the emotions that continue to rage inside of him may be too much for him to control, and it may be Niklas—not Izabel—who needs to be kept in line. He cannot forget what Victor has done, and this mission may just be the beginning of his downward spiral.

Can the blood bond that Niklas and Victor share as brothers be stronger than resentment? Or will vengeance dig the blade so deep that their bond be eternally severed?

BUY LINKS

AMAZON US

{READ MORE FOR JASMINE'S REVIEW!}

Book Review - Killing Sarai (In the Company of Killers #1) by J.A. Redmerski

5 MR AMERICAN STARS! ★★★★★

"I am not your hero. I am not the other half of your soul who could never let anything bad ever happen to you. Trust your instincts first always, and me, if you choose, last." 

This book had all the elements that I LOVED in a romance suspense/thriller book that it was an absolute no-brainer that this would be a winner for me.

 Assassins <- BAMF in suits with guns and multilingual (A lot of bonus points here!!)
Michael Fassbender Victor 
 BAMF heroine
 Dual POV (HECK YEA!) 
 Nail-biting suspense & heart-pounding action that induced severe heart palpitations 
 Hot steamy scenes


 Put all of them together and..

 

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER, JASMINE IS A HAPPY READER!! Wow that actually rhymed

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Killing Sarai is about our heroine, Sarai who has been a captive under a Mexican drug lord for 9 years. She finally made her escape one night when Mr American, Victor showed up at the Mexican compound and Sarai saw that as her golden ticket out. But is Mr American actually a kind, loving man who's gonna save this poor innocent girl from the clutches of the drug lord?



Trained to be a cold, detached assassin since the age of thirteen, Victor is the Number One in the Order and has never failed a mission. But with Sarai, he's breaking all the rules he's ever known and finds himself with a conscience to protect her.

When the odds start to stack against them and loyalties are questioned, both Sarai and Victor battle to learn on who can be trusted ultimately.

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HOLY FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC THIS READ. This book was as awesome as watching a movie in my head! Of course, Fassbander is the PERFECT cast in my mind as Victor (eventhough he was initially referred as Mr American, Victor is of German heritage which makes Fassbender the perfect choice) and boy did my mind enjoy it A LOT! It pretty much amplified my experience and love for this read, so THANK YOU Michael Fassbender for graciously walking on our planet! ♥♥



As y'all know, I love me a BAMF heroine who's ready to take shit and give it back twice as much. Sarai was a fighter, that's for sure. I loved her resilience but I also loved that she was broken. A strong heroine doesn't mean that she has less fears, but to me, a strong one is one that is willing to acknowledge her fears and face them.

"The things I've admitted are things that have haunted me for the longest time. They've been buried in my soul, burning through to the very core of me, rendering me emotionless and turning me into someone entirely different than I was supposed to be."

Also when the romance falls in the backburner for me in a suspense/thriller read, I definitely know that the book will work for me. Yes I'm a romance junkie, but I'm a dark/suspense/thriller junkie first ;) And with this one, the suspense gripped me and brought me on a fast-paced thrilling ride because it was completely un-putdownable.

"The first kill is always the hardest, the one you never forget. But the first kill is also what drops the chances of living a normal life by half."

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I was in the minority who didn't fully enjoyed Redmerski's other work, The Edge of Never, but with Killing Sarai, THIS is a whole different ballgame and it was a BEAST!

JA Redmerski still brought out her exceptional writing with this one and added on with a tinge of romance plus loads of suspense & thrill with badass characters, this book is making its way to the top of my dark thriller reads shelf!

I can't wait to get my grabby hands on the rest of the series and I suggest you all do the same if you have been living under the rock like me haven't pick this series up yet!



A shoutout of thanks to the ever-awesome Feifei for recc'ing this one to me because otherwise I'd be missing out on an amazeball series! ♥ And also thanks to all my other ladies who got me excited for this read when I started picking it up, you ladies are AH-MAZING! Mwahs! ♥♥

Book Review - The Edge of Never by J. A. Redmerski

4 ROADTRIP STARS! ★★★★

 

“Just remember to always be yourself and don’t be afraid to speak your mind or to dream out loud." 

I always get a little nervous picking up a book which has been highly rated because I'm a little afraid that I might not enjoy it as much as majority did or the fact that I go in with some high expectations. Well safe to say, I really enjoyed this read with the whole roadtrip idea, coupled up with a 'strangers to friends to lovers' premise and was close to being a winner for me. Sadly, there was something that I simply couldn't overlook which caused me to deck out 1 star overall :(

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The Edge of Never is the story of 21-year old Camryn Bennett, whose life seems rather messed up after a string of events starting from the death of her boyfriend to her family problems and the final straw being a huge fight with her best friend, Natalie. Tired of it all, Camryn decided to buy a one-way bus ticket to anywhere as long as she gets to escape the current life she leads. In a fateful encounter on the bus, she meets 25-year old, Andrew Parrish who is planning to visit his dying father in Wyoming.

What started out a strangers on a bus turned out to be something more for both of them as they embark on a journey of self-discovery in a roadtrip adventure after a twist of event.



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The idea of a roadtrip in a book definitely excites me & I can certainly say that I had a really good time reading all the tiny details of each place they visited & the crazy things Cam and Andrew did throughout their trip! I know the pace of the book came off a little slow in the first half and nothing much wow-ed me but I still enjoyed it for the most part. I liked seeing how their friendship slowly evolved and surprisingly, it didn't bother me that it was a slow buildup romance. Usually I take that as a good sign in a book because it doesn't make me want to skip the filler details.

“Live in the moment, where everything is just right, take your time and limit your bad memories and you'll get wherever it is you're going a lot faster and with less bumps in the way.”

Loved both MCs and I was really happy when we get glimpses of Andrew's POV aside from them being mostly from Camyrn. I felt that it definitely allowed me to connect and relate to their actions, so there was no unnecessary need to feel of frustrated from my end.

What Cam and Andrew shared had brought on some beautiful moments and it really gives you something to think about living life in the moment. ♥♥

“The heart always wins out over the mind, The heart, although reckless and suicidal and masochist all on its own, always gets it way. The mind may be what's best, but I don't give a shit what my mind is telling me anymore. Right now, I want to live in the moment.”

And now I reach the dreadful part of my review that explains why I had to deck out 1 star from my rating. I'll put it in a spoiler tag in case anyone hasn't read the book:







***SPOILERS START***


I was really enjoying the read up to the 90% mark until the author suddenly dropped the bomb twist of Andrew having a brain tumor. Just a disclamer: I'm not going to say I'm an expert in this illness but having witness my dad being diagnosed with brain tumor 2 years ago, I can sorta relate to this; so bear with me here. 

It really didn't bode well with me that the author would downplay the seriousness of a brain tumor event. It is almost impossible that a person suffering from a brain tumor would have the capability to function as well as Andrew did throughout the entire roadtrip, especially if its at a critical stage (I'm assuming the case here since in the book, Asher told Cam that "the chances of survival were small"). 

The brain is literally one of the most vital functioning organ in the human body which has the power to control our emotions/senses/motor actions and a tumor that serious wouldn't have gone unnoticed in his behaviour to outside people. Also it's true that seizures come alongside with the presence of a brain tumor which our neurologist then advised that it would be very unsafe for my dad to drive (other than the fact that the brain tumor made him lose focus easily). And the very fact that Andrew has been driving the entire time (and for long periods of time!) in this book pretty much means that he has been risking both his life and Camryn on the road. Uh so yeah, not sure how I feel about that after the bomb was dropped =\ 

The point is: Probably I would have appreciated it better if the author did some research before using brain tumor or any other illness for that matter. To drop a twist like that at 90% of the book killed the entire reading experience for me a little as it didn't made sense to me for what I've just read in the earlier 90% of the book :( I'm sorry but to me, this was something I simply couldn't overlook.


****SPOILERS END****




However, I would really like to emphasize that the above point is a matter of a personal opinion and probably had I not know better, I believed I would have loved this read as much as everyone else :)

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Overall I still enjoyed and loved the read for the most part; it made me smiled, laughed and got me a little teary-eyed as I read Andrew's letter to Camryn.

“I think that if past lives are real then we have been lovers in every single one of them. I've known you for a short time, but I feel like I've known you forever.”

The ending may have been a little rushed for me, but probably this was done to allow Book 2 to play out more. Well not sure if I'll be reading Book 2 as I glanced through multiple mixed reviews and some DNFs for it. This may be the case of a book better off being a standalone but I can't really judge for sure ;)