Thoughtless Series - SC Stepens (18+ due to mature content)

Reviewing an entire series can become a little bit difficult because I don't want to give too much away about each book and ruin things for you. Unlike the Rock Chick Series by Kristen Ashley that I just reviewed, these books are the same story and the same people. The Rock Chick Series, although they all went together, each book was about a different couple. These books are all about the same couple, so I will only give you what I feel you need to know in order to be inspired enough to read them.

Thoughtless (Thoughtless #1)

Book Description:

For almost two years now, Kiera's boyfriend, Denny, has been everything she's ever wanted: loving, tender and endlessly devoted to her. When they head off to a new city to start their lives together, Denny at his dream job and Kiera at a top-notch university, everything seems perfect. Then an unforeseen obligation forces the happy couple apart.

Feeling lonely, confused, and in need of comfort, Kiera turns to an unexpected source—a local rock star named Kellan Kyle. At first, he's purely a friend that she can lean on, but as her loneliness grows, so does their relationship. And then one night everything changes...and none of them will ever be the same.

Effortless (Thoughtless #2) 

In this stunning follow-up to Thoughtless, Kellan and his band embark on a tour that will propel them to national fame, but can Keira trust her charasmatic, sexy man to be faithful from so far away? 

After being caught in the middle of a love triangle which led to a devastating betrayal, Kiera pledged to learn from the mistakes she'd made. She was determined to never again inflict that kind of pain on anyone, especially the soulful, talented man who held her heart. But life offers new challenges for every relationship, and when Kiera's love is put to the ultimate test, will it survive? Love is easy...trust is hard.

Reckless (Thoughtless #3)

Can love survive when life gets Reckless?

When the band hits it big, Kiera and Kellan must ask themselves:  Can their love for each other survive the constant pressures of superstadom? The friendships they've formed, the new family they've found, and the history they've forged will all play a part in helping them navigate the turbulent waters of the band's exploding popularity. A greedy executive hell-bent on success, a declining pop star looking for an edge, and a media circus that twists lies into truths are just some of the obstacles the lovers will have to overcome if they are going to remain together. Fame comes with a price-but will it cost Kiera and Kellan everything?

I will leave you with my thoughts:

These books were fun to read because they don't require much "thought", if you know what I mean - kind of just a no-brainer, unlike Before I Go To Sleep which makes you think the entire way through. Romance, erotica (but not an overwhelming amount like in the Fifty Shades series), humor, violence, anger, heartbreak, etc. It has it all, but it is not overdone. I fell in love with Kellan because he is such an ass, but he is so sweet at the same time. He's the perfect mixture of badass musician and bring-him-home-to-meet-mama. He is what makes these stories so intriguing. Kiera isn't too bad of a female counterpart, but I wish there was more to her...she's kind of 'flat' and 'dull', in my opinion. However, it seems to balance out with Kellan being so vibrant.

The struggles they face with themselves, with the D-Bags, and with their relationship puts their love to the ultimate test: Can they survive anything as long as they have each other? It's a long journey for the two of them, but a journey worth being a part of, nonetheless. You will be hooked on the first page and you will find yourself rooting for them, even when you know they shouldn't be together.

Rock Chick Series by Kristen Ashley

Based in Denver, the Rock Chick Series is eight books that will take you on the wild ride of the courtships of the Rock Chicks and the Hot Bunch.

Genre: Romance

I was first introduced to the Rock Chick series from my mom who, by the way, has an unhealthy obsession with any and every romance and erotica novel out there (which, is a little unsettling for me since she is my mom and I know what all of those books are about). With that being said, I am glad she told me to read them because they are fun, light-hearted, sexy, and a little bit addicting (read the series in less than a week). 

Book 1: Rock Chick

Indy Savage, cop's daughter, rock chick and used bookstore owner, has been in love with Lee Nightingale, once bad boy, now the man behind Nightingale Investigations, since she was five years old. No matter what ingenious schemes Indy used to capture his attention, Lee never showed an interest and Indy finally gave up. Now Indy's employee, Rosie, has lost a bag of diamonds and bad guys are shooting at him. When Indy gets involved, Lee is forced to help. Complicating matters, Lee has decided he's interested, Indy's decided she's not. But she can't seem to keep Lee out of her life when she's repeatedly stun gunned, kidnapped and there are car bombs exploding (not to mention she's finding dead bodies). Indy's best bet is to solve the mystery of the diamonds before Lee. Lee's challenge is to keep Indy alive and, at the same time, win back her heart.

 Book 2: Rock Chick Rescue

Jet McAlister has a secret. Eddie Chavez has the hots for Jet (not to mention Eddie’s just plain hot). Jet has too many problems to realize that Eddie’s interested. Eddie loses patience when Jet ends her waitressing shift at a strip club with a knife at her throat. Since Eddie’s a cop, he figures he can help. Since Jet’s used to solving everyone’s problems she doesn’t want Eddie’s help. Throw in a Dolly Parton look-alike, a gruff but lovable strip club owner, Jet’s ne’er do well father, his ne’er do well friend, Bear, Bear’s long-suffering, chain-smoking wife Lavonne and the crew from Rock Chick and you’ve got Rock Chick Rescue. Rock Chick Rescue takes you on a wild ride with Jet, Eddie and the gang as they wrestle bad guys in a bagel shop, hit Denver’s backstreet poker tables (with big hair), and help the strippers at Smithie’s take down a would-be murderer. Through this, Jet’s got to learn that even when life made you give up your dreams, you can still end up with the (hot) guy. Eddie’s got to rescue Jet from a bad man (so he can do better things with her) and teach her that some dreams can come true.

Book 3: Rock Chick Redemption

Roxie’s on the run from a bad boyfriend who will not catch the hint that it is o-v-e-r. She’s in no mood for love at first sight, but when her eyes fall on Hank, it’s trouble from the get-go. Roxie tries to hold Hank at arms length but Hank wants to be a closer (as in, a lot closer). Roxie’s trouble catches up with her and Hank wants to help but Roxie knows in her heart that she’s no good for a white hat guy. The problem is no one agrees with her, especially her crazy hippie best friend Annette or her parents; the even crazier small-Indiana-town Herb and Trish. Toss into the mix the gang from Rock Chick and Rock Chick Rescue and Roxie finds herself totally outnumbered. Climb in for another Rock Chick wild ride through Rock Chick Redemption. As the odds stack up against Roxie, she has no choice but to hold on and just ride it out through the kidnappings, car chases, society parties, a riot at the strip club, Hank getting “Mom Bombed” and one crazy night at the Haunted House. During all this Hank works at convincing her she really wants to stay and he, along with the Hot Bunch, go all out to make her safe. Hank also needs to work on showing Roxie that her past decisions don’t mean her future can’t include something as downright delicious as… normal.

Book 4: Rock Chick Renegade

Jules has got a score to settle against the drug dealers of Denver. Vance has made it his mission that Jules won’t get dead while dishing out vigilante justice. Jules doesn’t have time for romance, she’s too busy saving the world and she enlists Zip (the gunstore owner), Heavy (an ex-PI) and Frank (a mysterious recluse) to help. The Rock Chicks of Fortnum’s Bookstore get involved to provide romantic advice and guidance, none of which Jules accepts at first. The Hot Bunch of Nightingale Investigations adopt Jules as one of their own. Even though Jules tries to hang on to her inner Head Crackin’ Mamma Jamma, the Rock Chicks; Hot Bunch; Jules’s long-suffering Uncle Nick; Jules’s friend the rotund, African-American, Jackie-O wannabe, May; and especially Vance will stop at nothing to wear her down. But Jules makes some bad guys pretty angry and one is dedicated to taking her out. Vance and the Hot Bunch have to pull out all the stops to keep her alive. At the same time, Jules and Vance learn the true meaning of home but once they find this precious entity they’ve been searching for all their lives, will Jules’s enemies tear it away?

Book 5: Rock Chick Revenge

Ava hates men, she has reason and she’s vowed not only never to get involved with another one again but also to exact vengeance on her best friend’s, lying, cheating husband. Since Luke, Ava’s childhood crush, is now a private investigator, she thinks to enlist him but changes her mind at the last second. Too late, Luke knows she’s up to something and he’s already seen many a Rock Chick try to fight her own battles without the Hot Bunch stepping in. He’s having none of it. She’s having none of him. The clash of the Rock Chick and Hot Guy begins but Luke’s got the advantage. He has handcuffs and he’s not afraid to use them.

Book 6: Rock Chick Reckoning

Stella’s the lead singer and lead guitarist of the Blue Moon Gypsies and Stella used to be Mace’s girl. Mace broke up with her though and the loss of him rocked her world. But Stella gets a call, late at night (again) from one of the members of her crazy band. She has to go play clean up (again) and runs into Mace (and a shed load of police) and ends up getting shot. Mace finds he doesn’t like it much that his ex-girlfriend got shot, right in front of him but it’s worse. A very bad man has thrown down the gauntlet and ALL the Rock Chicks are in the firing line. Stella doesn’t want Mace to be the one to keep her alive but she has no choice… mainly because Mace isn’t giving her one.

Book 7: Rock Chick Regret

Sadie Townsend is known by all as The Ice Princess and she’s worked hard to earn her reputation. Her father, a now-incarcerated Drug Lord, has kept her under his thumb her whole life and she’s learned enough from living in his world to give everyone the cold shoulder. But one inebriated night, she shows the Real Sadie to the undercover agent she knows is investigating her father, the handsome Hector Chavez, and he knows he’ll stop at nothing to have her.  Hector makes one (huge) mistake; he waits for Sadie to come to him. Tragedy strikes and Sadie’s got a choice, she can retreat behind her Ice Fortress or she can embrace the Rock Chick/Hot Bunch World. Guided by Hector, the Rock Chicks, the Hot Bunch and her new gay roommates, Buddy and Ralphie, Sadie negotiates a life out from under her father’s thumb, a life that includes poison, arson and learning how to make s’mores.

Book 8: Rock Chick Revolution

*To be released August 13th, 2013*

Overall thoughts on the series would be that it is a good, no-brainer, read. The Rock Chicks and the Hot Bunch are so funny and even with the scary situations that these women find themselves in, it still makes you want to be them: having someone stop at nothing to have you, drinking the greatest coffee in the world at Fortum's Bookstore, hanging out at Smithie's and yes, even fighting and being shot at and kidnapped seems pretty fun (sort of). My first thought when I started reading was "Geez, these girls just won't give in...stop running!" while at the same time "Man, these boys are intense and if anyone ever spoke to me that way, I would beat their a*ses!" I recommend this series to anyone who wants to laugh with the Rock Chicks and fight off bad guys with the Hot Bunch. It is definitely a must-read series :)

I give this series 3.5 stars

Enjoy, my fellow bookworms xoxo

Before I Go To Sleep - S.J. Watson

Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep? Welcome to Christine's life.

Christine wakes up every morning in an unfamiliar bed with an unfamiliar man. She looks in the mirror and sees an unfamiliar, middle-aged face. And every morning, the man she has woken up must explain that he is Ben, he is her husband, she is forty-seven years old, and a terrible accident two decades earlier decimated her ability to form new memories.

But it's the phone call from a Dr. Nash, a neurologist who claims to be working with Christine without her husband's knowledge, that directs her to her journal, hidden in the back of her closet. For the past few weeks, Christine has been recording her daily activities - tearful mornings with Ben, sessions with Dr. Nash, flashes of scenes from her former life - and rereading past entries, relearning the facts of her life as retold by the husband she is completely dependent upon. As the entries build up, Christine asks many questions. What was life like before the accident? Why did she and Ben never have a child? What happened to Christine's best friend? And what exactly was the horrific accident that caused such a profound loss of memory?

Every day, Christine must begin again the reconstruction of her past. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more unbelievable it seems.

This book only took me 6 hours to read. I, physically, could not put it down.

The book started off a little bit repetitive, but that is to be expected since she is waking up every single day, not knowing who, what, where she is. I was immediately drawn in because it was just so annoying that I didn't know what had happened to make her this way. Throughout the book, Christine starts to put together the pieces and what she finds when she looks at the big picture, is not what is expected. 

This turn of events, so to speak, is one of the most thrilling and terrifying in any book that I have ever read. I was physically hot and genuinely scared and my reaction was so honest, it seemed as if it was real life. I would recommend this book to anyone, and I do. This is the first novel I recommend when I get asked about a book that should be read. I want everyone to experience Christine's journey because it is a whirlwind of emotions, action, and thrilling experiences. Watson did an exceptional job with his debut novel and it is hands down, the best debut novel of all time. I would love to go into details about this book, but this is one of those books that you just need to experience for yourself. Please, I am begging you, buy this book and give yourself a frame of time where you do not need to do anything but read, because I'm telling you now, once you start, it is nearly impossible to stop.

This book gets 5 stars from me, and I cannot wait to read it all over again.

Welcome to "After this chapter..."

You may be wondering why the title of my blog is what it is, and I will explain it to you.

I'm reading a really good book, and I either notice that it is really late, my girlfriend wants to go to sleep, my mom asks me for a favor, I have to use the washroom, I have to eat, etc., and my response is always "I will after this chapter". Or, "Okay, I'll go to sleep after this chapter"... "This chapter" turns into every single chapter until I finish the book. I found it very fitting for my Read and Review blog.

 I started another blog, too, all about beauty and whatnot here: sweatpantsandlipstick.blogspot.com

As of right now, there will be no promises on how often I post - it may be more than once a day, it may only be once every couple of days. I am hoping to be on a regular posting schedule soon for both of my blogs, but that takes time to sort out :)

I read, and I read a lot. Usually it does not take me more than one day to finish a book, if not hours. I have this problem where I literally, physically, cannot put a book down until it is done. Sometimes it works for me, and sometimes it doesn't (especially when I realize it is 6a.m. and I should probably give sleeping a try).

This blog will be filled with all kinds of books from thriller to dystopian to romance and erotica and even those silly little no-brainer novels that you really don't have to think about - it is just an easy, fun, read.

Please leave any and all requests here for new book reviews, as well as your recommendations for books I should read :)

Hope you all enjoy <3

xoxo Alyssa