The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club: SOPHIE

Tease (The Ivy Chronicles #2)
by Sophie Jordan
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Release Date: May 27th 2014

Rate: Enjoyed it (4 stars)

Synopsis:

What happens when a girl who always calls the shots meets a guy who's too wild for even her?

A born flirt and good-time party girl, Emerson has never had a problem finding a willing guy. She's always chosen her hookups carefully, and she's never broken her three cardinal rules:

Never let them see the real you.

Never fall in love.

Always leave them begging for more.

Then Shaw comes along. A hottie from the wrong side of the tracks, he's immune to her flirtatious banter and come-hither smile. After rescuing her from a disastrous night at a biker bar, he doesn't even try to take her to bed—he calls her a tease and sends her home instead. Unable to resist a challenge, or forget the sexy, dark-eyed, bad-boy biker, she vows to bring him to his knees.

But instead of making Shaw beg, Emerson finds herself craving him. For the first time in her life, she's throwing out her rule book. Suddenly, she's the one panting for a guy she can't control—a guy who won't settle for anything less than the real Emerson and who forces her to do things she's never imagined, including facing a past she thought she'd buried.

A guy who just might leave her wanting more. . . .

Tease is an enjoyable, hot and sweet New Adult romance, full of emotions and with a title that suits the romance in it perfectly. I love the Ivy Chronicles first book, Foreplay, and Tease is the perfect follow-up.

In this new Ivy Chronicles story, Emerson has never had a problem to find a guy. She's in charge and they are always begging for more. That is until she meets Shaw. He knows that a girl like Emerson might caused a lot of trouble, but he's drown to her.

Emerson's a strong woman. With character and has this girl-power zooming out of her. That's why I couldn't understand her hot and cold reactions towards Shaw. Until I read this "past" that the synopsis promises.

Shaw is one of those mature, sexy hot guys that see through the other main character. He's sweet and sensitive without losing his man touch that makes him pretty much irresistible to every single female reader. I have to admit that his confidence and his determination on making Emerson "lose control" for once was pretty hot.

Tease is similar to all New Adult stories, but with a different touch. I liked how the author focuses in this story with the teasing action while flirting. Emerson's the one teasing and then leaving, thing that might make more mad and angry a man than anything. She thinks she's in control 'cause she calls the shots, however Shaw might be the exception. He's willing to know what she's hiding under so much teasing. Their relationship starts as a mere attraction and a little of irritation when the teasing starts. There's a connection from the very start and as a reader you can "see" the potential of the two main characters as a couple. As the story keeps going, their relationship changes into something more deep and emotional, peeling all the layers both characters were hiding. Pretty much another love story, but an unforgettable one.

Sophie Jordan makes falling in love with the story and the characters so easy that you forget about the time and end up reading the whole story in one night. Her writing style's perfect and makes the reader addicted to it. Wanting to know what happens next.

Foreplay's still my favorite Ivy Chronicles book so far, but Tease was a great story. I highly recommend this book to those readers who liked Foreplay and Sophie's books. And also to those New Adult readers seeking for a sweet, hot and teasing romance full of sexual tension and frustration that ends up in a beautiful story. I'll definitely keep an eye on the next Ivy Chronicles books.

Sophie Jordan took her adolescent daydreaming one step further and penned her first historical romance in the back of her high school Spanish class. This passion led her to pursue a degree in English and History.

A brief stint in law school taught her that case law was not nearly as interesting as literature - teaching English seemed the natural recourse. After several years teaching high school students to love Antigone, Sophie resigned with the birth of her first child and decided it was time to pursue the long-held dream of writing.

In less than three years, her first book, Once Upon A Wedding Night, a 2006 Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Nominee for Best First Historical, hit book shelves. Her second novel, Too Wicked To Tame, released in March 2007 with a bang, landing on the USA Today Bestseller's List.

Vain (The Seven Deadly #1)

Fisher Amelie

390 pages

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: August 16th, 2013

Rate: Loved it

"Vanity's a debilitating affliction. You’re so absorbed in yourself it’s impossible to love anyone other than oneself, leaving you weak without realization of it. It’s quite sad. You’ve no idea what you’re missing either. You will never know real love and your life will pas you by."

This is not a story about a good girl who's life made her miserable and she acts because of it and then finds redemption and all that. This is not a story about a desperate girl in search for love and once she finds it, love can cure and beat everything kind of story.

This is Sophie Price's story and she's all but good. She's what you may know as a queen bee. Rich, beautiful and sex addict girl. And she uses it all to get everything she wants. In fact, If you would know her, you would hate her. She uses her friends and proves to everyone what she is capable of.

To sum all up, she's every girlfriend's worst nightmare and every boy's fantasy.

This is the story of how she went from being the most envied and hated girl in her little rich world to being arrested and sent to Uganda, turning into a completely different person. That, made her now be the girl that no one in her social circle would want to be. At least not anymore. And the most fascinating thing about it? She would not change a thing about it.

"Your heart is startingly beautiful, Sophie." - Ian"

I am completely impressed by Ms. Amelie. It's been a while since a book impressed me like Vain did, at least not with a story similar to this. The last time was with Angie Stanton's books and Fisher Amelie not just impressed me, but made me want to read more about The Seven Deadly series.

First, I have to say it, I adore the title of the series and the titles of her future books. The Seven Deadly: Vain, Greed, Fury, Lust, Idle, Binge and Envy. Seven sins, seven stories, seven people from Sophie's circle who wouldn't change a thing about her lives after being on the top and falling from it. Just an extraordinary title, idea and series. I love it!

With an incredible writing and an unexpected plot, Fisher Amelia creates a unique story that makes the readers feel the full force of this exceptional book, with its twists, romance, rich societies, power and the steps to become a good person, someone who cares about the others more than anything else.

I think I really liked this story because it's not "another love story". This is the story of a girl out of control and with a rich family that seems not to care about her behavior until it goes public, who finds her own redemption after being punished by the law.

Ending up in a country like South Africa, where she finds not the commodities she is used to and people who's lives are far more awful than hers, makes the main character realize that people around her, now, have more motives to hate their lives. Instead of doing it, they live their lives like it's the last day. They don't cry all the time for their misfortunes, instead they laugh and play and they are only little, helpless kids.

"Fear, Sadness. They're not weaknesses. They are overpowering, defining emotions. They make you human, Sophie."

Through the story we see the change in the character. She starts in LA, full of things only filthy people can afford and with a group of friends that I would not like to have. What may shocked you the most is that she's the queen bee of this group and she is the mean one, the stealing-boyfriends-for-one-night type and the person who everyone follows. I am used to read about characters who are attacked and mistreated by people like Sophie, so it's refreshing and funny reading about her story.

Vain. Her sin is vanity. She's pretty and she know it and she takes fully advantage of it. She uses people to get what she wants and think that she is irresistible.

But when everything gets messy and her beauty cannot solve this huge problem that she's into, she's forced to live six months in a sort of orphanage for kids in South Africa for six months. This move, we didn't see it coming. At all.

And then Sophie meets reality and starts to see the world, her world and her life with another eyes. And we also get to see a hot guy named Ian that would not fall for Sophie's beauty. That's a first!

It's nice to see how how she changes there. How she struggles with everything and finally finds a home in the most unexpected place, where she finds a new family to care about and love. A few things she wasn't familiar with in LA.

Once you finish the book, you realize how this is story is not about a romance only story. Is a novel that makes you think how important life is and not only the material things. Howe a wealthy life may not assure you happiness and how you can find love and a second family in the most unexpected places.

I tried to put myself in Sophie's life. When she's in Africa. I totally freak out when I see some type of insect so I'd have a hard time. I'd miss my luxury things and may not eat anything! (No kidding!). So I can understand the effort she does. However, I think I would end up choosing the life she chose, because I totally adore the ending of this book.

"You have no idea what you do to me. I've felt things for you these past few months that don't seem healthy. I've wanted you so desperately I'm afraid it may not be natural. You consume my thoughts, Sophie...You've arrested my senses and I can't seem to get enough of you. That's what scares me. I'm so deep there's no getting out for me. You own me, you know?"

My heart was broken when I read about the orphanage. About the kids being mutilated and left without a family only to have more soldiers in a non-sense war. It really broke my heart to imagine those little poor kids, afraid of the people who made their life a living hell, always hoping that they would not come back for them or to take their lives. It's a topic that Fisher Amelie writes with such a sensibility and a plain reality that you end up thanking her for sharing this type of world with us.

"And what is there to be joyful about?" I asked honestly, thinking on the images of dead children curled into themselves at the village. Another burst of silent tears streamed down.

"Life, Sophie. They still live. They breathe, they love each other, they find joy in the world around them for no other reason than because they are children. They are resilient. They will always rise above. Always. It is a curious facet of the innocent young."

With well-crafted characters, an amazing plot and surroundings, this book promises a lot of romance and action. It also shows us a different world and how life can change a person, showing us how life can be improved and no matter what you are or how you have behaved in the past, you can always find redemption, love and even death at the end of the road.

"No one can know sincere happiness, Sophie, without first having known sorrow. One can never appreciate the enormity and rareness of such a fiery bliss without seeing misery, however unfair that may be."

Because this is not another romance story. This is the story of Sophie Price and how she went from being the most envied person in LA to a pariah in her social status and she wouldn't change a thing.

And because I'm in love with this story and I'm, for sure, going to wait anxiously until the second book, Greed, is released, I'm going to give this book a five gorjuss dolls. I'd give this book more gorjuss dolls, but our ranking has not that many gorjuss dolls in it. So five is our top!

Book Addicts, this is a MUST READ book. Don't wait anymore. You'll be captivated with Sophie from the first page and you'd want to read more! I can assure you that!

"Tell him he was my greatest adventure. Tell him I love him."