Lucky Number Four by Amanda Jason

Reviewed by Jen

Ok, so let me start off by saying this.....there will be a lot of negative comments about this book. But that's not to say I didn't like it. I did.....which is surprising, because there were tons of things I wish we're different that would have made this book amazing. With all that being said, lets dig right in.

Lucky Number Four is a highly unlikely tale. The story centers around Pandora, or Dora, as she's called by her friends. She is a young twenty-something going to college and working in a cafe. She lives with her best friends, Julie and Kevin, who have just gotten married. She has always known that she needs to get a place of her own, however their extra curricular activities are pushing her to make that choice quicker than suspected. After seeing a listing for a roommate on a bulletin board at the local market, she decides to give it a try.

Dora goes to a beautiful loft to meet her new roommates and quickly realizes this loft would be way out of her price range. However, arrangements are made that allows her to afford the cost of the apartment. It's perfect. She has her own bedroom with a sitting area and a huge bathroom. The problem you ask? She is going to have to live with three remarkably beautiful and famous male models. They need a fourth roommate because one of them has a superstition in believing fours are lucky. Dora quickly says, "No, thank you," and thinks she is going to go on with her life looking for another roommate.

What happens from there is that one of the gorgeous roommates, Drew, decides that he really wants her to move in, that she would make the perfect roommate and even invites Kevin and Julie to move in the apartment downstairs. Although Dora is beyond pissed, she reluctantly agrees to move in (oh, yeah, because that would totally suck!) and give it a chance.

Here's where the story gets a little crazy. Dora's other best friend from college is a beautiful gay specimen by the name of Jeff. He is from money and apparently has no other friends because he spends almost every waking moment with Dora. He gets to know her beautiful roommates: Drew, Liam, and Colin. He goes to dinner with her "crazy" family, which includes a mother who is apparently psychic, but can't read her own family members.

So, without getting too much into the book, I am going to break this book down by the pros of the book, and then the cons.

Pros:
* I liked the idea of the book. I really did. Even though it was highly unlikely a situation, it did have a female fantasy aspect to it that I appreciated.
* I liked Dora's funny personality. She could be pretty spunky and shout out funny little quips here and there that had me laughing out loud.
* I really liked Jeff's character. In fact, my sister lives with a gay male named Jeffery and he reminded me a lot of them. He was definitely someone I would/could be friends with, and not just because of the money.
* You get your happily ever after. Which is the way we honestly love to have our books end.

Cons:
* The book was totally unrealistic. The idea of a beautiful male model tracking a plain Jane girl down to get her to live with them is more than unlikely.
* The book took way too long to get to the parts I felt I really wanted to read longer then my droopy eyelids would hold. We're talking page 160 or so of a 214 page book.
* The dark bold type which is from one of the male models POV professing his love for Dora is written so immaturely that you would swear it was written by a fourth grade boy versus a professional male.
* If Julie and Kevin are such great best friends and all, why wasn't Julie immediately on her speed dial when traumatic things happen in the book.....just felt off.
* The ending felt very rushed. She took so long to get to the heart of the book, but then totally wrapped it up so quickly. And trust me, there was quite a bit that happened in that last part of the book.
* If Dora's mother is psychic, why was her friend Henry feeding her all the information about her roommates? They aren't family members, so her mother should totally be capable of reading the way they were feeling.
* And the most annoying part of the book is Dora's constant whining and nagging about how ordinary she is when everyone around her is constantly telling her how beautiful she is. There is no way a model would be so attracted to someone with such little self-esteem.

The idea of the book was so fun...in fact that's why I chose to buy it. But in the end, the idea was bigger than the book. With some major tweaking, it could have been a fun, flirty, and awesomely sexy story. It just fell a little flat for me.

The Edge of Always by J.A. Redmerski

Reviewed by Jen

April and I had been waiting patiently for this second installment of J.A. Redmerski's journey of love. But unfortunately it came out at a very busy time and I just lost track and suddenly it ended up on my TBR list. At a moment when I just wanted to connect with a couple that I already loved, it seemed the perfect time to step back into Texas and catch up with this adorable couple. That's the great thing about sequels, it can feel like coming home after a nice long vacation.

So, when we left off from The Edge of Never, Camryn was dealing with the fact that Will was suffering from a brain tumor that he had kept secret from her and was about to have a risky surgery to have it removed. The story picks right up after all this is over and his surgery was a success. They are engaged, currently in Galveston and Camryn is pregnant. They are trying to figure out where they are going to live and how much their lives are going to change after having a baby. They both are excited about the baby, but like most first time parents, they are feeling hesitant as well.

After suffering a tragic loss, Camryn begins a downward spiral that creates tension between herself and Will. She begins acting out in ways she never has before and putting their love and relationship at risk. In an effort to save her from her own unwinding, Will decides to take a risk and go back to how things began with them in order for Camryn to see that she can still enjoy life without carrying all the guilt.

April had previously read the reviews of the book beforehand and was waiting to see what I thought. This was a book that I made a choice to go in blind. I had no other information about the story other than it had the same characters and was the follow up from The Edge of Never. In order to fully understand the dynamic between the two of them, you had to have read the first book. They have been through a lot of heartache, especially Camryn, and their love story is truly so sweet.

Familiar characters show up in this book as well. Natalie, her boyfriend Blake, Camryn's mother, along with Will's brothers and mother. You also meet up with a few new characters which I read will be a new story/book. The scene introducing these characters was probably placed intricately through Camryn and Will's story to give you a glimpse of a story to come. However, the specific scene is slightly uncomfortable and really throws you for a loop. And even though it does seem misplaced a bit, it did not take anything away from the overall storyline.

Back to Will.......oh Will...Will is the type of guy that you could easily love. He's beautiful and he loves her with everything inside of him. He sacrifices his feelings so many times in order to make her happy and lives to see her smile. There are moments where the book drags a bit, but overall, I am just in love with them. You want them to work and you want them to prove everyone wrong....they can last and they can live spontaneously.

Just like any great romance, there are amazing quotes in this book, but for some reason coming out of Will's mouth, they just seem so much more sweet than previous book loves.

And Camryn speaks with her heart, which through a good portion of this book is broken. They make promises to each other along their journey and Redmerski does a really nice job reflecting back on the first book through quotes to help you connect the two books.

The story is extremely satisfying if you are a huge fan of this author and this couple. Sure, there could have been more drama, and sure she did a lot of the same things as the first book....but that's what I loved. She stayed true to the characters and didn't try to color outside the lines. She knew the fans wanted a familiar love story, the one that only would happen for Camryn and Will. I've read reviews stating that how they live their lives is unrealistic. And maybe it is.....for that specific reader. But gosh, I would like to think that if there was something I truly wanted, I would find a way....ANY way to make sure I could make it happen. And they did. And I love them for it.