Title: Extreme Love
Series: (Love to the Extreme #1)
Author: Abby Niles
Format: Paperback, ebook
Pages: 352 pages
Published: April 30th 2013
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Source: From the publisher, in exchange of an honest review!
New body. New clothes. New men.
Used to the average Joe, Caitlyn Moore is overwhelmed when the
supremely masculine Dante Jones walks into her life and expresses an interest
in her. At first she pushes him away, refusing to encourage the attention of a
cage fighter. Then she learns Dante has a love ‘em and leave ‘em reputation.
What better way to fine-tune her non-existent flirting skills than with a male
who won’t stick around? But Dante has no intention of being a practice dummy;
he’s out for all or nothing. Now Caitlyn must accept Dante—violent career and
all—or let him go.
Dante “Inferno” Jones has one goal: win the Welterweight
Championship. At a time when focus is crucial, the last thing he needs is a
distraction. Yet Caitlyn Moore becomes a challenge he can’t resist. When the
light-hearted pursuit shifts to a battle to win her heart, his focus is shot.
Faced with losing the biggest match of his career, Dante must decide if his
extreme life also has room for Extreme Love.
Rating: 3.5/5
You can't please everyone, but you have to please yourself.
I liked this story, I think that the plot was well-crafted, well
integrated into today mode of life. By now, there is an effervescence of New
Adult Romance with extreme fighter male (which I don't complain, because they
are sexy as hell!). We women of this world are outraged by and against this
free violance, but attracted by the male who practices it and suffered from it
in exchange of glory and money. We, women, are attracted to that fierce,
protective, strong and possessive fighting male, how could we not! It's the
basic instinct of survival!
This story started strong, great introduction, I was in! The whole
situation wasn't something I never read about, but bot disappointing. I was
always kept on the edge by the constant refusal of Caitlyn and Dante'
persistent demands.
At first I really liked Caitlyn, she represent the normal girl, the
typical girl next-door. She's sweet and always there for everybody else, trying
to help people with weight problem. But she's so insecure! OMG Huge self-confidence
problem over here! And this was the death of me and a huge turn off. It was,
for me, the major flaw of this book.
Dante was a great character, but I was wondering how he could stand
up after so much rejection from Caitlyn, he's an attractive man who can have whoever
he want!
From my POV, he's the perfect man for Caitlyn, because he won't back
down and he takes the ''Caitlyn Challenge'' just like a fight.
Overall, this story was enough entertaining to keep me reading even
if I couldn't felt a link with the main character. I really wanted to know how
this would all end.
Page Turner: Normal
Series: Yes, (Love to the Extreme #1)
Stand Alone: Yes
Hotness: Dante Jones, oh yeah!
Proserpine Recommendation: If you like the New Adult Romance genre,
especially if you crave the extreme fighter style, you should try this one!
Even if I only give 3.5, I would certainly read the sequel! Borrow, TBR-Pile!
Ten Things I’ve Given Up.
We all have to give things up from time to
time. It might be to avoid going insane or to have more time in your day. Most
of the things I’ve given up here lately have been because of my writing. Some
of them I hope to one day get back, but the others I’m glad I kicked to the
curb. So the top ten things I’ve given up:
Sleep. I’ve given this up twice. I don’t think I slept a full night for
eighteen months after my twins came home from the hospital. Things calmed down
a little after that, but then, a little over a year ago, I had to go back to
living off little sleep. Between juggling a day job, being a single mom, keeping
my nephew, and my deadlines the only way I was going to get any proper amount
of writing time was by cutting into my sleep schedule. I don’t regret it, never
will, but I do have my crash and burn points. And when those days comes, my
body shuts down and I’ll sleep for twelve hours.
Cleaning.
I grew up in
a household where an immaculate house was essential. My parents, still to this
day, believe a home should always be tidy and clean just in case someone stops
by. I carried this into my adulthood and always kept a spotless home. Over the
years, as my time became more restrictive, I had to teach myself not to worry
about the dishes piling up in the sink, or the laundry spilling over in the
basket. Now I settle for one day a week, right before the weekend, where
everything gets a thorough cleaning. And, even then, everything doesn’t have to
be perfect.
Social
life. I
think I’m close to getting this one back. I’ve had to put a social life on hold
to get my priority done: writing. I’ve spent many, many weekends doing writing
marathons instead of enjoying the great outdoors with my friends. After almost
a year of being disciplined with my time, I see a little more free time in my
future.
TV time. I’m a TV junkie.
I’m not ashamed to admit it. I would like to say I’ve given up TV all together,
but, yeah, that’s not happening. What I have done is cut it back a lot. I used
to have the TV on while I wrote, I envy writers who can do this, but I found
that I spent more time distracted by the television than actually writing. So I
no longer attempt it. I watch two hours of TV at night after the kids go to
bed. It’s my unwind time after a very long day.
Writing
at night. I used to be able to write during the
day, pick up the kids from school, do all my mommy duties and then write again
after the kids went to bed. I can’t anymore. By night, my brain is incapable of
producing a coherent sentence much less being creative. If I’m on a deadline, I
don’t try to get it done after all is quiet in the house, I set the alarm to go
off even earlier because I know once I hit a certain point in the afternoon,
writing is done for me. I’m still not a morning person. I don’t think I ever
will be, but I’m the most clear-headed and focused in the morning. I never
thought I’d say that.
Writing
a perfect first draft. Giving this up was the best
thing for my writing. I used to agonize over every word during the first draft,
which is really counterproductive for a pantser. When I’d reach the middle of
the book, I’d always see my beginning was all wrong and instead of waiting, I’d
immediately go back and fix it and agonize all over again. After I had it where
I believed it was perfect, I start writing again, get two-thirds of the way
through the book, see that something else didn’t jive and immediately go back
again. I wasted so much time doing this. It would take me months to finish a
first draft as I rewrote scenes, over and over again. I don’t do this anymore.
I write the draft, knowing I’ve got some major issues I’m going to have to
tackle, but I’ll go back to them after I know the entire story. I save myself a
TON of writing and time this way.
Trying
to get my to-do list done. It never fails that I
have this list of things I HAVE to get done for the day, and the first thing on
that list takes me way longer to finish that I’d anticipated. Which makes it
impossible to get everything else done. I used to freak myself out over it. Guess
what? The world didn’t end because I didn’t get that list completed. I still
have a list, but I don’t fret over it as much. It will get done, and it will
get done on time, I just don’t have to spaz out if it’s not when I planned on
getting to it.
Focusing
on the negative. As authors, we want everyone to
love our books. We work really long hours and put our hearts and souls into our
writing. There are days we want to cry, days we feel proud, and days we doubt. The
truth is it doesn’t matter if we’ve written the best dang book of our career,
someone’s not going to like it, some will even hate it. I had to accept that I
can’t write the perfect book. There are so many different personalities out
there, so many different ways a person would tackle a conflict, that it’s just
not possible. Now this isn’t saying I pish-posh away negative reviews. That’s not
the case. I have gotten invaluable insight that has helped me grow as a writer
from them. I just don’t obsess over them anymore.
Being
the Yes-Man. Learning to say no wasn’t easy for me.
I’ve always been the type of person anyone could come to and ask a favor of and
I’d do it in a heartbeat, even if it spread me too thin. It was a struggle to
stop this. I love to lend my help no matter if it’s to my family, friends or my
job. But I can’t do everything, I wish I could, but it’s not possible. So
allowing myself to say, “I wish I could, but I can’t,” was a freeing
experience.
Refusing
help. Now this is probably going to sound extremely
hypocritical, since I just said I love to help. I do love to help. I don’t like
ASKING for help. I’m a classic Type A personality. I’m supposed to be able to
do everything. Yeah, well, even Type A’s have to suck it up and ask for help
from time to time and I’ve learned to do that. It’s amazing how someone
stepping in a taking one thing off my hands, truly does help me.
So what have you given up?
Thanks so much for having me today!
Abby
Abby Niles
has always loved to read. After having twins and becoming a stay-at-home mom,
she started doodling stories to keep her sanity. She didn’t plan for writing to
become an obsession, but it did. Today, she juggles work, home life, and
writing. It’s not always easy, but hey, who said life was easy?
When Abby’s not writing, you can find her playing ‘Just Dance’ with her kids or
trying to catch up on her never-ending to-be-read list. She also loves Zumba,
and refuses to admit she looks more like Animal doing his Muppet flail than a
sensual Latin dancer.
Title: Naked
Page Turner: Yes! Read in one sitting!
Raine Miller has been reading romance novels since she picked up
that first Barbara Cartland book at the tender age of thirteen. And it's a safe
bet she'll never stop, because now she writes them too! Granted Raine's stories
are edgy enough to turn Ms. Cartland in her grave, but to her way of thinking,
a hot, sexy hero never goes out of fashion. A part-time teacher and writer of
sexy romance stories every other chance she gets pretty much fills her days.
She has a handsome prince of a husband, and two brilliant sons to pull her back
into the real world if the writing takes her too far away. Her sons know she
likes to write stories, but gratefully have never asked to read any, thank God!
Raine loves to hear from readers and to chat about the characters in her books.
You can contact her at raine_miller@ymail.com or visit www.RaineMiller.com to
find out what she's working on now
