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Book Blurb: A Summer Like No Other (Broken Dreams: Em & Nick #1)
She’s his best friend’s little sister. He’s the biggest player of them all.
They shouldn’t be together. But this summer’s just too tempting.
Sixteen-year-old Emilia Moretti’s goal for the summer is simple: forget her brother’s best friend—Nick Grawsky—ever existed. It should be easy: He’s spending his summer in the Hamptons, adding girls in tiny bikinis to his list of broken hearts. Guarantee he won’t be telling them they’re like his little sisters. This summer, Emilia won’t stay awake at night thinking about him. She’ll need flawless ballet movements to have a shot at next year’s showcase, and she’s finally ready to search for her birth parents. But when Nick decides to stay in the city, Emilia’s resolve disappears in a pirouette. Maybe it’s the spin they needed to be together. As long as she doesn’t get stuck believing in happily ever after…
Nick is tired of pretending to be the happy, let’s-have-fun guy. His father wants him to change his career from professional dancer to…lawyer. He needs to put all of his focus on dancing to prove to Daddy Dearest he’s good enough to make it big. And he may have a case of the bluest balls in history courtesy of Emilia. She’s off-limits: The bro code with Roberto even forbids the dirty thoughts he has about her. Besides, he’s not boyfriend material. He only has time for flings, for girls who don’t expect much, for girls he doesn’t want to kiss goodnight. He knows he should resist her, but he’s not sure he wants to…
At least for this summer.
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My Review:
3 Out Of 5 Stars
Genre:Teen, Romance--
When Em’s dad lost his job, they had to give up everything, but it was ok because they still had family. But now Em has been questioning about her birth parents, causing anxiety and stress among her family. Her only solace in found in her older brother’s best friend Nick, who has been her secret crush for years. What she doesn’t’ know is that Nick likes her too, but they can’t really be together. All they have is this one summer.
I read the first book in the series really hoping it was going to be filled with the drama of the dancing world, but it was not really. Sure it was full of drama, but not the kind I was hoping for. So I picked up this novella which is supposed to be a short introduction to the characters in the next book in the series who are active dancers. Well, yet again the book was filled with drama, but it was romance and family drama just like the first book, and not the fast-paced anxiety of the dancing world. Ok, so to be honest, I was looking for a teen version of one of my favorite movies Center Stage. Sadly, that is not what I got. Needless to say I was a little disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, the stories are very well written and interesting, just not what I was wanting. When I pick up a book with characters that are dancers, I am looking for some dancing drama/issues.
I would like to read the next complete book about Em because she has so much left unsaid and I am interested in her finding answers, even though I am sure they won’t be pretty. Nick I feel much more ambivalent towards. Sure he has his reasons, but he is doing hurtful things to get what he wants in the long run, and that is shady. I don’t think I want to see them end up together as a couple in the long run, I want someone more for Em. The author does a great job of creating believable characters with more baggage than any person should ever have to deal with that you can’t help but root for.
I received this title from the author in return for my honest review.
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Book Blurb: Always Second Best (Broken Dreams: Em & Nick #2)
Sometimes being first isn’t what you expected.
Seventeen-year-old ballerina Emilia Moretti is tired of always being second best. And she’s going to prove the world she deserves to be first. In her upcoming School of the Performing Arts showcase. In the eyes of her birth parents. And in the heart of the guy she loves. She spends hours rehearsing, hours dreaming about becoming number one, hours imagining how her entire life is about to change. But when nothing goes the way she planned, she’ll need to realize what it really means to be first.
Eighteen-year-old Nick Grawski doesn’t want to follow Daddy Dearest’s rules any longer. He's going to prove he's meant to be a dancer—not a lawyer—and he is not going to stay away from Em just because his father demands it. He needs to show Em that—this time around—he’s there to stay and that he won’t break her heart again. Even when her world goes down to shit, even when he finds out his dad may have been trying to protect him all along, even if being there for one another is harder than falling in love.
ALWAYS SECOND BEST is a novel of hope and heartbreak and broken dreams. It’s a novel about falling in love and discovering that being first isn’t always what matters.
Release Date: October 10th 2015
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My Review:
4 Out Of 5 Stars
Genre: Romance, Teen--
Em and Nick had one summer together, where they both knew that their relationship would have an expiration date. It has been months since that summer, which was both amazing and heartbreaking. Em has to face the rejection of her birth mother and too many secrets to keep track of. Nick has to deal with his father controlling every aspect of his life, including who he dates, so he can keep going to the dance academy. They both have so much baggage, but together they just might be strong enough to face the truth.
I have read book one in this series,
One, Two Three, as well as the prequel novella, A Summer Like No Other, before reading this book. I would recommend reading the prequel novella before this story, but book one could actually fit anywhere since it is a different character who’s story takes place during and after this book. I have enjoyed this series; the books are cute, sweet romances filled with family dramas and hard life choices. Pretty much growing up teen books.
This book was more of a teen-growing-up book than all the rest, or at least the novella since that was almost exclusively on the romance between Em and Nick. The romance here had resolved with almost no drama and moderate amounts of angst by like page 80. The rest of the book dealt with the lies and drama that surrounded Em’s family and her choices on how to cope. This story had some hard truths the characters had to face, such as death, as well as actions that could destroy people, and mental handicaps. I like how the story alternated between both Em and Nick, each with a distinct voice and personality. The story centered on how the two come together to support the other while figuring out if dancing is their real passion. I enjoyed the relationship that Em and Jen developed, it made me happy that they could be something more than bitter rivals. It was also nice to see Nata the dancer instead of Nata the lost and broken from book 1.
The one issue I had with the this book, as well as the wholes series really, is the lack of dancing and the dancing related drama I hoped for. I have learned that the dancing is just a backdrop to emotional growth the characters experience, but I am not going to lie it makes me a little sad. I started the series looking for something similar to a teen version of the movie Center Stage with some Black Swan thrown in, and these are nothing like that. Still good books, and I will read more if something else comes out in the series, but don’t have the same expectations going in that I did. On a side note, I will never think about going to kill zombies the same.
I received this title from the author in return for my honest review.
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Author Bio:
Elodie Nowodazkij was raised in a tiny village in France, where she could always be found a book in hand. At nineteen, she moved to the US, where she learned she’d never lose her French accent. Now she lives in Maryland with her husband, their dog and their cat.
She's also a serial smiley user.
You can find her on
Facebook,
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website
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