To Be her First by Elicia Hyder

 

2 Star

Journey hasn’t had any of her first yet. At 16 she’s just coming into her own when she’s got the bad boy and the MVP vying for her attention. Which guy will get her?

I don’t know if I just wasn’t in the right mood for a YA esq type book but this one just hit wrong for me. It was very angsty and maybe just wasn’t what I wanted when I read it. The writing was good and it held my interest. I will be giving the next one a chance.

Book .5 Journey Durant

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Detective by Elicia Hyder - Prequal Soul Summoner – 4 star

Detective Nathan McNamara has a lot on his plate.  There are eleven women missing and six high-profile burglary cases and now he has a one night stand that won’t end.  When the burglary cases escalate to homicide Nathan must figure out who is behind this and put a stop to it.

The book starts with Nathan waking up from a one night stand with Shannon.  Shannon just kind of hangs onto him and it got to be very annoying.  Particularly when Nate’s mom got involved.  Shannon and Nate have hooked up a couple of times and his mom is planning their wedding already.  She tracks down Shannon’s information and starts communicating with her behind Nate’s back which is just gross.  It’s not like they have been dating several months and they haven’t found the time to meet.  Literally at the time they start communicating I think they’ve slept together twice and known each other a grand total of a week and a half.  The mom acts like they are moments away from getting married and Shannon isn’t any better.  If this were my kid I would be telling him to run from someone who is trying to force a deeper relationship like this. 

The two different mysteries were what sold this story.  Tracking down who his burglarizing all of the homes was interesting as well as Nate’s obsession with the serial killer.  I also loved Nate’s interaction with the other secondary characters, even the fighting with his lieutenant.

Overall I could have done without the romance and focused on the mystery.  The mystery was the best part.  The romance just kind of freaked me out.

Britches Get Stitches by Elicia Hyder book 2 Music City Rollers – 5 star

Grace Evans know has Britches Get Stitches by her roller derby team is trying to bounce back from her divorce.  Two years of infertility she finds out her husband has gotten another woman pregnant.  When she steals the family dog her husband got in the divorce her ex sends his best friend Officer Jason Bradley to retrieve him.  Something sparks for them and they try to make it work until her ex threatens everything they have built.  Grace isn’t who he she used to be and she is willing to fight for what she wants.

The pacing in the story was much better in this book.  I never felt the book needed to move on like I did in the last book.  The plot was also really amazing.  Ms. Hyder made me want to track Grace’s ex-husband down and do horrible things to him for everything that he did to Grace.  The book made me laugh and cry.  It made for a very good read.

Overall I really enjoyed reading this story and can’t wait for another one to come out.

Lights out Lucy by Elicia Hyder book 1 Music City Rollers – 4 star

Accident prone Lucy Cooper isn’t looking for a relationship not until she crashes into West Adler.  Some cyber sleuthing later Lucy finds out he sponsors the Music City Rollers.  Entrigued and hoping to run into West she drags her roommate to the Roller Derby bout in hopes on running into West.  After the bout she finds out the team is holding a “fresh meat” tryout and decides to through caution to the wind and see what she’s made of. 

The premise of the book intrigued me enough pick up this book.  Lucy is a klutz and she decides to pick up roller derby.  I liked the interactions between Lucy and the other derby girls.  The book made me happy when Lucy succeeded in her goals for derby and frustrated me when Lucy’s dad was being insensitive about Lucy’s feelings. 

Ironically I was not overly interested in the relationship between Lucy and West.  He kind of irritated me and also seemed too good to be true.  Eventually the romance worked but the book feels more like a fiction story with a dash of romance in it verses a full blown romance novel.  There were also some slow parts to the book but they never lasted long.

Overall I enjoyed the story enough to want to read the next one in the series.