Fictional Book Boyfriends pt 11

Did you miss us??? We're sorry for missing October we've just been so busy! Thankfully we're back this month to bring you our November dream-casting list.

Below we give you a list of our "dream cast" for leading men in the books we've been reading lately. This list is also often referred to as an IfList or a Fictional Book Boyfriends list. We would glad spend a chilly November night snuggled up with anyone of these studs.

To see a list of previous choices click here. and to see the reviews for the books themselves just click their titles. If the book doesn't have a current review posted there should be one up shortly.

Dark Wild Night by Christina Lauren 

Nerdy handsome comic store owner falls for shy comic book writer. 

 Jeff Kasser as Oliver 

Seriously. Handsome. Sweet. Comic book store owner. 

Every nerd girl's ultimate fantasy right here.

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell 

Two oddballs start a relationship after an incident on the bus.

Ivan Dorschner as Park

Tell me you wouldn't want to share a seat with this babe?!?

Lev by Belle Aurora 
Man rescues homeless girl and falls in love with her. 

Nick Bateman as Lev 

I really don't think I need to explain... No, we think that jaw-line
says enough.

Crewel by Gennifer Albin
Girl has the ability to weave time with matter. 

Alex Libby as Jost 
If he is apart of a love triangle then sign us up. 

Lev: Shot Callers by Belle Aurora

"From the moment Lev Leokov spots the young woman hiding behind her hair in the middle of the gentleman's club, he can't take his eyes off of her.
For the very first time in his life, he is affected. Having been told his entire life that he can't process or understand emotion, he considers it a big deal.

When Mina Harris gets caught red-handed with a wallet that isn't hers, she falls apart. She's tired, lonely and hasn't eaten in days.

Lev offers her an ultimatum... A nice warm bed, a hot meal and a job, or the cops.

Mina takes her chances with Lev.
After all, a person with nothing has nothing left to lose." -Goodread synopsis


Belle was gracious enough to send me an arc of her new book. This however didn't change the way I felt about it...  How did I feel about it??? I freaking loved it. Belle is just a horse of a different color. She is a writer that is so unique and fun.  

We follow two main characters. Mina and Lev. Mina is a runaway who became homeless just hoping to make it to the next day. Starving, living on the streets, and starting to turn desperate. I loved her character. She is a charismatic character with a slow start. When I say slow start what I mean is that at first she is this innocent lovable character and then throughout the novel she starts revealing all this little piece of herself. As Mina grows we really get to grow with her. I liked sweet Mina but I loved Sassy Mina. Sassy Mina was so on point. Speaking of on point characters, lets talk about my favorite... Lev. He was what made this novel so unique. I have never read a character like him before. Especially not a leading male. Loved everything about him. He has this whole Beautiful Mind-GoodWill Hunting thing going on. So perfect!

The way he reacted to both people and situations kept me hooked. It really didn't hurt that he sounded like a Nick Bateman look alike. Swoon! I even found myself liking his thoughts and view better than Mina's. There were so many layers to his character that it will constantly keep you guessing. These two have the most adorable relationship as well. It was refreshing to read a guy who was so sweet, without even knowing he was doing it. Sometimes I got a little annoyed by one or two things they did, but then one of them would do something that would recover the situation, and I would fall for them all over again. I knew I was sold when Lev pulled a total If I stay moment.

So so sold. The smutty moments between the two will also have you reaching for a fan and a glass of ice water... The ice water is to pour over your head, yeah they're that good. When it came to side characters there are only two I really want to touch base on. Those are Nas and Sasha, Lev's brother and sister. Nas is probably one of the best secondaries I've read in the longest. Everything she said had me in stitches. She suffers from HBIC syndrome and I loved it! Pretty sure we'll be getting a spin off from her POV in the future and I can't freaking wait! Sasha another character that I was really surprised I liked. He was suppose to be like the token dick, but after getting a small snippet of his POV I realized how much I liked him... and of course he has layers that we "didn't see coming". My first thought when we randomly got his point of view was "wow this is random and I don't think I like how it feels slipped in there (that's what she said)"... then after marinating on it for a bit I realized I actually liked the that it was placed in. This leads me into the plot.

Like I said, there were a few moments when other people's POVs were thrown in. This was a turn-off, but only at first. Some of the POVs, even though I understood their value, at first just didn't rub me the right way... Some later on I came to like more but some still sit in that "I don't know how I feel about this" unknown zone. The actual pace of this book mirrors that of a roller-coaster ride. It's up, down, left, right, and looping all over the place. My emotions and thoughts were ping ponging  back and forth. Action packed with tons of light hearted scenes. I like when authors can give a steady flow of predictable moments that are perfectly balanced with wtf events. I like when they can mash the unrealistic with realistic. And I like when an author can take characters that might not seem the most likable and then makes you fall in love with them, and that's what Belle does.  

Lev is a fun, wild, new adult book, and for sure drop kicked me out of my reading slump. If you want a good time read Lev is it. 

10/10 Stars 
-Angela 

Friend-zoned by Belle Aurora

Nik Leokov never thought he'd fall for the only girl he's ever befriended. Tina Tomic has issues with

commitment after the ultimate betrayal.When Tina decides to make Nik's day better, she never thought she would end up friends with him. Nik isn't use to women wanting to be around him without expecting something in return.

I'm finding it hard to explain how I feel about Friend-Zoned... Did I like it? Did I hate it? Guess the answer is yes to both.

I usually start off with talking about characters but I think I'll mix it up and go with the plot first. The plot is strong and well written. I never felt like there were odd gaps or parts that just didn't make sense. It was a good blend of both action and humor. Predictable? Yes. Did I care..? Nope. From start to end the flow is good. But like I said, I was never once surprised by anything that happened. With that being said I feel I also need to point out that this book is sharp cheddar. IT IS SO CHEESE!!!! Again, did I care? NOPE! Still found myself super entertained. Towards end when the whole "con" scene happens I thought the book got a little carried away but that's my only real plot complaint.

On to the characters... First our leading lady, Tina. Tina isn't my favorite girl. I liked her passion for work and fashion, but hated the way she talked. She's suppose to be 28 (??? I think 28 is right) but sometimes she talked like she was 14. A few times I wanted to reach in the book and punch her in the throat and tell her to use real words. BUT overall she's a fine character, just not my favorite. Her friends/co-workers; Mimi, Lola, and Nat were enjoyable to read about. They were all real feeling and funny. My complaint,  I didn't like that they all did EVERYTHING together. It gave off this corny sorority feel. The characters I did like were THE GUYS!!! Nik was hot, upfront, got what ya paid for, funny, and swoon worthy. I love that Belle writes interesting looking men. Not all grey eyes and sandy blonde hair. They're tattooed and aren't "perfect". Just love it. He's friends/family are Tricks, Asher, and Max. I really have no true complaints about any one of them. All were characters I wanted to hear more about. My favorite thing about the two main characters Tina and Nik was that SHE threw him in the friend-zone. I thought it was going to be the other way around and it wasn't which made for a sweet little surprise (no real spoiler there it happens pretty early on). 

  
I liked that their relationship started off truly as friendships do. Hanging out, going to lunches, going out for drinks, etc. etc. I liked watching them fall in love. I liked the way they fell in love. Their relationship growth was my favorite part of this book (besides Nik). 

Friend-Zoned is a book that for every positive thing I have to say about it there's also something negative I could point out. Still DON'T CARE... I read for pure enjoyment and this book kept me more than entertained... Loving it or hating it I was still never bothered by reading it. I find myself excited to buy the next book in this series. Friend-Zoned is far from a perfect book and I could careless.

 8/10 Stars
-Angela 

(Friend-Zoned BookDepo) 

Agree to Disagree

For the most part we have very similar book tastes. We like the same genres of books, we like the same kinds of characters, and we especially like the same kinds of endings. Every so often we will come across a book where we just have to agree to disagree. Usually one of us ends up LOVING it while the other ends up HATING it (because we have no emotions between OMG ALL OR OMG NOTHING). Here are a few of the books that we had this issue with... 

Vampire Academy (book one) by Richelle Mead
What Leah Loved: EVERYTHING! Oh my gosh, I love this series. Vampires are to me what aliens are to Angela, so a school full of hot angsty vampires is right up my alley. I love Rose and how feisty she is. She's a smart Alec and often gets herself into trouble because of her big mouth. Dmitri is HOT HOT HOT (btw I refuse to watch the movie because I have Ian Somerholder in my head as Dmitrti and I don't want to let bad casting ruin my view). I also really love the plot and how much drama there is. It's basically like reality tv meets vampires.

What Angela Hated: BORING!!!! I didn't like either of the main characters, Rose or Lissa. I hated the Dmitri. I will admit that I probably hated him more that I might have if I hadn't had seen the movie first... But sadly I did and I hate who they chose to play him... Which made me hate him in the book. Did I say I hated Rose?.. Because I really did. I hated the stroganoffs... The plot was predictable. I know everyone says that you have to get to like book three before it gets better but I just can't. I know that I'm in the minority with hating this, and that my sister would hate me for saying I didn't like it but IDC. I was hoping this book would make me fall for vampires, but I think it just made my hate-seed for them grow.

Uninvited by Sophie Jordan

What Leah Loved: I think this book is basically the stereotypical dystopian YA book where girl has some sort of issue, government sucks, huge problem happens, falls for the boy from the wrong side of the tracks, and world domination is the goal to solving all the problems. I think this is why I liked it. The plot is simple, but there are a few plot twists (most you see coming, but whatevs) and the storyline is sort of unique. While the book isn't my favorite by any means, it is sort of a throwback to when YA really started getting popular and dystopian was a HUGE theme. I like the writing style, and I think it is a good starter book for people who are just getting into YA. I am excited for the second book to come out because I think the series has a lot of potential to get better as the story grows.

What Angela Hated: CAN MY ANSWER BE EVERYTHING??? Sadly Uninvented was SO predictable. I knew what was coming WAY before it would happen. I also felt a lack of "bonding" with any of the characters. I just really got tired of hearing Davy complain about how shes nothing now and has nothing and blah blah blah... WE GET IT... and with that attitude you're probably right about sucking so much.. like come on girly you're surrounded by buff dangerous boys stop crying and start living. Grab Sean by his face and kiss him... do something!!! YOU'RE ALREADY BRANDED BAD! DOESN'T MEAN YOU NEED TO BE BRANDED BORING TOO!!! UGH I think if the books romance would have played out better then I would have liked this book more. It's what really brought this book down. The other thing that bothered me was that EVERY single dude had rape eyes for Davy... like come on there are six other girls. Like everyone even her boo keep talking about how she's bound to be raped... All the boys see Davy and automatically must rape her! It was just a little much. I don't know; this book wasn't the worst book I've read but it wont be making the top of my list either. I just wanted more.

The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkowski 

What Angela Loved:  I loved Kestrel! LOVED HER... She's quick witted and for once wasn't a girl who was all about being able to physically harm someone (most the time I like tough fighter girls but this was a wonderful change in pace). She actually used her brain! I loved Arin (The leading male). He sounded super hot. And I couldn't get over how much he was constantly surprising me. I liked the idea of buying something and then paying the ultimate price for it (hints the title of the book). I loved how the narrator was kind of all knowing and that you were just waiting for all the information and lies to come out. The twist and turns in this book had me gasping for air. AND THAT ENDING OMG!!!! THAT ENDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A-freaking-mazing!!!!!!!!! One of my favorites.
 
What Leah Hated: THE MAIN GIRL IS SO DUMB. She just is la la la la la la I'm in love and yolos all over the place and falls for everything everyone is telling her. The main dude is a D and lies all over the place. Seriously, he spits more lies than truth. BUT THE KICKER OF THIS BOOK IS THE ENDING. SERIOUSLY THE ENDING ALMOST ENDED OUR FRIENDSHIP BECAUSE WE INTERRUPTED IT DIFFERENTLY AND ALMOST GOT INTO A MORTAL COMBACT STYLE BATTLE OVER WHO WAS RIGHT. Luckily we actually got to meet the author and asked her WTF she meant at the end. I'll go ahead and admit that I was wrong. I WAS WRONG. I GET IT. BUT IT DOESN'T CHANGE THE FACT THAT EVEN AFTER THE AUTHOR BROKE DOWN THE ENDING FOR ME IN WITTLE SMALL WORDS I STILL HATED IT.
 
RAW by Belle Aurora 

What Angela Loved: OK yes yes yes I get this story is FAR, FAR from anything that

would ever happen to anyone EVER... BUT I DON'T CARE!!!! I loved it!!! I've never thought stalking was so hot in my entire life!!!! BUT ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT IS STEPHEN JAMES AS TWITCH UGH!!!!! LOVE!!! and his candy eating habit whoooosh swoon. I can agree that the leading lady, Lexi, wasn't my favorite, but AGAIN DON'T CARE I JUST LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS BOOK. The banter between the two is amazing, and manipulative. The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing he has going on was oddly super hot. He owns his evil and doesn't really care who sees it or when it happens. It was the right place right time read for me.  There's a big secret from the start that has you guessing left and right until she has tortured you enough and finally does the big reveal. Raw had so many twist and turns I didn't breathe the whole time I was reading it! One of my all time favorite books.

What Leah Hated: OMG don't even get me started on this book. I love a good scandy read and I love a good hottie who likes to get weird, but this book was JUST.TOO.MUCH. I mean, the scandy parts of it aren't even what bothers me. I just hated the characters. HATED. The main chick is supposedly this social worker who loves her job and is super dedicated to her kids, but as soon as she meets the main dude she loses her doggone mind. Doing blow and putting her kids in really really bad situations... I just... OMG. AH. The dude sounds hot, I'll give him that, but the way he acts goes beyond everything and goes straight into the abusive catogory. Do what you want in the bedroom. Get weird. I don't care, seriously.. but when you admit that you have an anger problem and start bringing your punching and strangling outside the bedroom. Seriously, dude, you need to take your crazy damaged self and do not pass go and head straight to therapy. I was SO mad reading this book that I literally almost ripped it in half and threw it against the wall. This is probably one of my all time most hated reads, if not THE most hated read. GROSS. AHHAGAREGASDFSDf

(Vampire Academy BookDepo)

(Uninvited BookDepo)

(The Winner's Curse BookDepo)

(Raw BookDepo)

Fictional Book Boyfriends Pt 2!

Since our first post got so many hits we decided to do this again! 

Like we said last time, we LOVE putting faces to the characters in our books (especially the men). So this is our spin on "dream-cast" or as some call them "fictional book boyfriends". We picked a few titles and show you who we imagined the leading men to be. To see part one just click here. And like all our other post you can click the titles to get to the reviews. 

Rush by Maya Banks 

Man hires women to be his assistant and then pulls her into his provocative world.

 Nick Bateman as Gabe Hamilton
Don't think we need to explain why.


Raw by Belle Aurora 
Girl falls in love with her stalker and the story only get crazier from there. 

Stephen James as Twitch
With all the tattoos and bad boy attitude... Sold!

The Selection Trilogy by Kiera Cass 
35 girls are selected to enter a contest at a chance to marry the prince.

Liam Hemsworth as Prince Maxon

we have no doubt he would make a excellent bachelor.

The Covenant Series by Jennifer Armentrout 
Girl turns out to be more than she seems, and also has to choose between the man she is destined to be with and the man shes forbidden to love.

Scott Eastwood as Seth
Someone bring us a bottle of water... This God Killer is on fire!

Raw by by Belle Aurora

 Raw by Belle Aurora

As soon as Lexi turned sixteen, she left home and took her chances on the street. Now, at the age of twenty-six she's educated, employed and amazing at her job. There's only one thing not amazing about her life now... She's being stalked. Someone that should scare her doesn't. So you're probably  wondering how a person falls in love with their stalker?This is how.

 

"Not everyone can be a fairy-tale hero... The world needs villains too." 

Angela here... To answer the age old question... Are stalkers hot? The answer is YES, yes they are hot.

Pretty sure Raw just moved to my all time favorites list. Everything from the plot to the characters were perfecto! Seriously, girl falls in love with her stalker; PERFECT CONCEPT!

The story focuses around two characters Lexi and Twitch. Lexi, oh Lexi; I loved how strong, independent and hilarious she was. She was an awesome leading lady that gave readers a ton of surprises. Is she insane, probably. She knows shes being stalked but since he has never done anything as far as she knows but watch she's never felt the need to tell anyone. Between the two characters it was very clear that Lexi had by far the most character development. Her emotions were all over the place, strong, then weak, then strong again, and sometimes you wanted to scream "get to the point"... But with the twist and turns that would follow the situation your jaw would be on the floor. Then there's Twitch... Holy sweet tattooed gods above, there's twitch. Everything about him was different from any other leading male I've ever read. He would go from hot too cold so fast it would give you whiplash. I absolutely loved his character. I love that Belle wrote to give him so much development, but did it in such small ways you didn't pick up on it right away, then it would smack you in the face. My favorite thing though was the way he looked. Tall and super tattooed. Like almost every inch tattooed. So when he's being described it made him new and interesting to hear about... and hot so freaking hot. Did I mention he has a candy obsession... Yep if you didn't think you'd fall in love with him when you start reading you will after that. Both Twitch and Lexi are amazing written and dynamic characters.

Their relationship is a flippin mess!!! The whole time I kept going back and forth between if I loved it or if I wanted it too end. Who am I kidding, I loved it so much. I loved that even though he's her stalker he would flip the script.

"Did I seriously just get rejected by my stalker? What the fuck?" 

The banter between the two is amazing, and manipulative. The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing he has going on was oddly super hot. He owns his evil and doesn't really care whos sees it or when it happens. 

"You wanna know why I lock my doors at night?"..."To protect the people outside of it from me."

The sub character in it are Nikki, Dave, and Happy. None of them are real constant characters, and none of them I was head over heels for, but in this story it didn't really matter. They all brought something too the table and I have no real complaints with them. The times they do present themselves they are funny, and I never questioned their appearance.

As far as the plot goes, going into this story I had no real idea what it was about except for a girl falls for her stalker. I didn't know anything else. I'm really glad I didn't. Going into it blind made it amazing. There was about 100 things that happened that I didn't see coming. The two big twist in the story were AMAZING!!!
One of them is set up from page one so you're waiting almost the whole story to hear it unfold and when it finally does, whoosh, it gets insane. The second twist is thrown in there so fast you had NO idea it was coming... You're just reading along then WHAM!!! I had to stop and re-read the sentence and ask myself if that really just happened... I swear my jaw unhinged and fell to the floor.

The plot, the flow, the characters, the world build all won me over. The story does have a few holes in it that I wont touch base on because of potential spoils, but even the minor things that popped up I was never truly bothered. I can really see people either loving or hating this book... I'm on the loving side I think it was inventive and brought something new to this genre. Raw was like a snowball rolling down a hill... It started small but strong and kept building till it was so  big and out of control that it had the best explosive ending. Because that ending.... THAT ENDING!!!! The last paragraph in a book is suppose to wrap everything up in a pretty bow for you, not completely come out of left field and blow your brains out. That's Raw's ending to say the least... Mind Blowing!!!! 

 10/10 Stars 
-Angela