Deal Breakers - Laura Lee

Oh my goodness I am obsessed with this book, I stayed up until some insanely early morning hour last night reading and then all day today it's all I've been able to think about. Deal Breakers tells the story of Devyn and Riley. Riley instantly spots Devyn at college and knows he wants to get to know her better, sort of love at first sight. He tries to work his charm on her but Devyn is having none of it and firmly insists that they stay friends. During their time together at college they become best friends so much so that Riley is the one that Devyn wants to help her become an adult by taking her virginity. It is that night when everything changes between the pair. Five years on and neither have spoken since that night but now Riley is determined to hunt Devyn down and rectify the mistakes that he made with her.  The only difference is now Devyn has been hiding a secret from Riley and that neither can deny the attraction between them both.

When I read the blurb I knew that it sounded just like the kind of book I'd enjoy reading but didn't anticipate liking it quite as much as I do. I found the entire story from start to finish engaging and if I was to complain about it the only thing I can say is that I wish Deal Breakers could have been longer! The story is told from both Devyn and Riley's points of view giving you the opportunity to experience the story from either side. They both have different reasons for their actions so having two perspectives makes it so engaging, you truly see how deep the feelings are between them for example.

The pacing in this book is superb. It really was effortless to read. You got plenty of details but time consistently moved but not once did you feel like it was too fast. The author's writing style is captivating and she wrote such great lead characters whose story seems realistic.

I honestly loved this book. Although I may have read Deal Breakers in one reading session and so desperately want to read more books about the pair, I can highly recommend that you read it. The story line was wonderful and the characters likeable.  It provides sad moments, moments where you’re angry and real butterflies in your stomach romantic moments. Deal Breakers is a must read in my opinion and I cannot suggest that you buy this book as your next to read enough.

Synopsis -

How were they supposed to know that one night would change everything?

Devyn has life all mapped out. She just needs to accomplish one more thing before graduating college and becoming a full-fledged adult—lose her virginity. And who better to assist her than her best friend, Riley?

Riley is the self-proclaimed king of fling. His college years have been filled with meaningless hookups until the one night that ruined him for all other women. The one night he spends with his best friend, Devyn. Right before he screws it all up.

Balls to the wall, baby!

Now five years later, Riley is determined to atone for his mistakes and prove that he can be the man that Devyn deserves. Little does he know that Devyn’s been keeping a secret from him all these years. A big secret. Now he has to figure out how to win back the only girl he’s ever loved while navigating the pitfalls of her unexpected revelation.

Deal Breakers is filled with lots of laughs, a sexy romance, and an overflowing swear jar. 

Click here to download the kindle edition of Deal Breakers by Laura Lee from Amazon

Team Niklas - Ally Adams

Team Niklas by Ally Adams, is book number three in The Saints Team book series. However, I didn't actually know it was a series until after I'd finished reading so I read it as a standalone book with no problems at all. Niklas, who is also known as the Kaiser, is The Saints new star player from Germany. It doesn't take him long to catch the attention of the clubs media officer Sasha. From the minute they meet they have an undeniable spark which neither can resist despite Sasha's initial reluctance for a relationship to develop.

Team Nikas is one of those books that you just makes your heart flutter when reading it. From spontaneous date weekends to New York, to taking Sasha to upmarket restaurants, to the steamy nights they spend together - everything about this book is just perfect. Niklas is such a great male lead with his gentlemanly ways and is instantly likeable which only makes the book even easier to read.

My only gripe about Team Niklas is that I found that some of the things in this book were a little too quickly skipped over such as Sasha's relationship status, Niklas' backstory and drama with the press. It has a lot of twists and turns but all of them seem to resolve and perhaps be glossed over a little too quickly for my liking. Despite this, I was really interested in reading about how Niklas and Sasha's relationship blossomed and as it was wrote so wonderfully, this didn't really bother me at all. Sometimes I love just reading about relationships without too much outside story going on and this book is exactly that, it really isn't a bad thing!

I loved the way in which Team Niklas was written so I'm very interested in checking out the other books in this series. The author has a way of making you experience every emotion possible - a sign of a good book in my opinion! I can only imagine that the previous two books in the series are as enjoyable.

Team Niklas is one of those books that just can't help make you cheesily grin to yourself when reading it. I can guarantee when you finish this book you'll want a Niklas in your life! Which is exactly why you need to make Team Niklas the next book you read.

Synopsis -

In his hometown of Berlin, Germany, Niklas Wagner is a super star and when the Saints’ pay the big bucks to sign him up and bring him to Santa Ana, California, Nik takes a shine to his new life. When he meets the Saints’ media officer, Sasha Saxon, sparks fly literally. 

But Sasha is not your average girl—by day she is a journalist who looks after the media for the national champion soccer team and at night she designs for her personal fashion label. She had big dreams and they don’t include a boyfriend. Nik has never had to chase the girls but now he has met his match—Sasha is about to lead him on the biggest chase of his life.

VIP Carnivore Tour - Yorkshire Wildlife Park

If you’ve read my blog before you’ll know that I really enjoy visiting the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. I’ll put the links at the bottom of this post to my other two posts that I’ve done about the park in case you've missed them. Well this week, it was finally time for me to do the VIP tour with focus on carnivores that I’d had booked for a few months now. 

The VIP tour that I did focussed on the parks carnivores which included meerkats, painted hunting dogs, leopards, tigers and of course the parks famous lions. Like with the polar bear experience the day starts before the park opens making the experience feel more special than if it happened during park hours. 

My first stop of the day was to feed the meerkats, an animal which I didn’t associate with being a carnivore. Truthfully the meerkats are an animal that I don’t really look too much as I’m too busy looking at the lions and heading towards the polar bear enclosure. Getting to go into the enclosure and feed them breakfast whilst hearing about each meerkats personality was a surprise but a great addition to the tour.

Next on the tour was a trip to see the lions. The Yorkshire Wildlife Park’s lions were rescued back in 2010 from a zoo in Romania where they were kept in extremely small cages. It was a national campaign to raise money to rescue these lions to bring them over to the wildlife park where they have significantly more space to roam around in now. On my tour I got to get up close and personal and feed two of the lionesses, Julie and Carla. It is very surprising just how big these lions are, yet both were unbelievably gentle taking the food from the tongs. Being able to feed a lion is something I never thought I would be able to do so was the highlight of the tour for me.

Julie waiting for her food!

If you don’t know the Yorkshire Wildlife Park recently saw the birth of three Amur tiger cubs named Harley, Hope and Hector, who are ridiculously adorable. It was such a wonderful experience to get the opportunity to feed Hope and Hector. Unfortunately Harley and mum Tschuna were too full from yesterdays dinner so didn’t come over for our offerings of more food. Like the lions, the tiger cubs were so gentle in taking the food from us. I’d only seen the cubs from afar so it was incredible to have them right at the other side of the fence to me.

Feeding Hope - an Amur Tiger Cub

Personally, I preferred my polar bear experience; however that may be due to the fact that I just really love polar bears. I know for a fact that if you really love the big cats of the park you will absolutely love this experience. Its worth remembering that the animals are not trained so for example, Drake the leopard is extremely shy so he wasn’t having been coaxed over for food one bit so depending on what mood the animals are in you may not get to feed every carnivore in the park but you will get up close to them and get a glimpse at behind the scenes. Personally at £150.00 for two people (including park admission) I think it is worth every penny. It truly was an unforgettable experience. 

Click here for more information about all the VIP tours that the park offer

Click here to read by blog about the Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Click here to read by blog about my polar bear experience

The Pigeon Detectives

Although I was late in discovering The Pigeon Detectives music, they are a band that I used to really love. Then for some reason I just didn't realise they were releasing new music and I seemed to just forget about them. When I saw that they were performing in my hometown earlier in the week I couldn't resist getting a ticket to the concert.


When I saw them back in 2008 at Glastonbury Festival, I went on a whim really as I only knew a few songs but the performance completely captured my attention. The lead singer gave the most high energy performance I've ever seen and to be honest I didn't know if I ever did see them perform again if the show would be as good. Truthfully, if anything seeing them doing a headline show was even better.


When the band first came on stage, although the energy was high I didn't know the first couple of songs that they performed. From where I was stood it was painfully clear that a large proportion of the audience were like myself and my have lost track of the bands music over the years. However, the set list was full of fan favourites such as Keep Your Dress On, Take Her Back and This Is An Emergency which quickly got the crowd in high spirits. The hits really got the crowds attention and for the few not so known songs they performed the audience were so hyped up from the hits they started to really enjoy the less popular songs too. The band themselves are the most energetic band that I've ever seen live. The lead singer, Matt, just doesn't keep still. If he's not throwing countless water bottles in the crowd, he's climbing up the stage and if he's not doing that he was walking down the bar into the crowd. It's so clear they love what they do and it really does make the show even more enjoyable.


As the concert was running extremely late they skipped the technicalities of an encore instead telling the crowd to pretend they'd just been off stage instead. The final song of the night was I'm Not Sorry, which is arguably The Pigeon Detectives biggest hit to date, before they left the stage to the loudest cheer.


For the £10 admission price I think it was worth every penny. Maybe I just went originally for nostalgic reasons but its recaptured what I liked about them and I've now downloaded the albums that I didn't own. If you like even just a couple of The Pigeon Detectives songs, I must urge you to go and see them live. What a concert! 

Once Upon A Time

This week I’ve done absolutely nothing. I’ve not even started to read a new book, in fact apart from going to work I’ve barely even left the house at all. Why? Well I’ve become completely obsessed with the TV show, Once Upon A Time. I’ve been waking up purposely early in a morning, I’ve been going to bed late at night, all just to squeeze in watching another episode of Once Upon A Time. When I’m not watching the show I’ve started sitting staring at my colleagues trying to figure out what character they are (for the record I’m fairly convinced that I work with Rumpelstiltskin), the show is just that good that I just can’t get it out of my head.

Once Upon A Time is based upon the stories of your favourite storybook characters, but don’t judge it on that! I’m a huge fan of Disney and all things fairytale and I’ve actually put off watching it for the past 6 months or so solely for the fact I thought it would be just a live action interpretation of some of my favourite Disney movies but it’s not like that at all. The series begins on Emma Swan’s 28^th birthday when out the blue her 10 year old son, Henry, that she gave up for adoption turns up on her doorstop. Emma drives Henry back to his town of Storybrook only to discover that she’s not so happy with the woman that Henry has ended up calling his mother. Therefore Emma decides to stay in the town. Little does she know, she’s crucial to breaking a curse that was made by the Evil Queen, 28 years previous. The curse transported all your favourite fairytale characters to a parallel world where they can’t remember anything about their previous lives. They all are now living boring day to day lives without a clue of the past; they all just believe they’ve been there for as long as they can remember. Despite not remembering who they are in the parallel world the characters all have similar jobs/characteristics to the fairytale character that they are which I think makes it fun to try and guess who each character should be. 

The characters aren’t stereotypical. You learn more about each character through present day and also flashback to who they were and how they lived their life in the parallel world. You find out more about their motives and how and why the curse was cast. You find that the bad guys actually have motives to their actions which I find rare in the fantasy genre. The girls are also not the stereotypical characters that need saving either with all of them being able to stand up for themselves fine without Prince Charming coming along to save the day. 

The actors in Once Upon A Time are absolutely brilliant. Robert Carlyle, who plays Mr Gold and Rumpelstiltskin in particular is fantastic. In some scenes his portrayal of Rumplestiltskin is terrifying. I don’t often like young child actors either but Jared Gilmore playing Henry is also great. For his age he is terrific in Once Upon A Time, I’m very interested to see his role progress throughout the series. Truthfully I’ve never seen anything anyone in Once Upon A Time has been in before but they all are superb in this show.

I’m a few years late to the Once Upon A Time party with series one being first broadcast in 2011 but it really is good. When I watched episode one I wasn’t so sure about the show but somehow thanks to the overlapped plots and character stories you’re shown throughout and then the cliff hangers at the end of every episode you are sucked in then before you know it you’ve watched an entire 22 episode series in two days. I’m currently most of the way through series 2 and although I prefer series one I still can highly recommend you watch this show. If you love fairytale stories and want to see them in a new light and don’t mind getting completely addicted to a show then Once Upon A Time is the show for you.

You Can't Fall In Love With Your Ex (Can You?) - Sophie Ranald

I finished reading You Can’t Fall In Love With Your Ex (Can You?) by Sophie Ranald about an hour ago now and I’m still not over it. I can still feel tears in my eyes now, that is how brilliant this book is. 

You Can’t Fall In Love With Your Ex (Can You?) tells the story of Laura. On the surface Laura appears to be living the dream life for a thirty something year old, she has a husband that she is completely in love with, two adorable children and live in a swish area of London as they’re quite well off. It all changes however when in the space of 24 hours Laura is made redundant and her husband, Jonathan gets a promotion somewhat forcing her to make the decision to become a stay at home mum. Jonathan’s new job means he has to work insanely long hours at work and it makes Laura question her life and reminisce about the past. Then through a bizarre twist of fate she bumps into her ex boyfriend, Felix and ends up recapturing her past. Laura ultimately needs to make the choice between whether going back to what is the past is worth sacrificing her marriage and family in the present day.

The book itself flits between Laura’s past and present. At the beginning of the book I found it a little confusing but it really adds to the story. To understand Laura’s present and to see why she stopped dancing and to fully understand just how much in love she was with Felix you need to visit the past. Felix appears in the book just as Laura’s relationship with Jonathan is strained. Felix brings back the old Laura; he awakens part of her that she’d forgotten existed. One of my favourite parts of the book is when Laura meets Felix again at a play of a Midsummers Nights Dream. The play is an immersive one where you wonder around and interact with the actors and sets, Laura is just visiting the play and Felix is a dancing in it. The descriptions of the play are simply wonderful. 

I've read mixed opinions on what people think of the characters but personally I really enjoyed reading about them. I found Laura likeable and I can truely see the attraction she still has about Felix which is exactly what the author wants you to do. Felix and Jonathan are both completely opposite people but that just makes it all the more enjoyable to read.

The only reason I didn’t completely love this book was due to the end. I wanted different outcomes and the end chapter in particular annoyed me a little. However, as I really enjoyed the rest of the book I can forgive the fact I wasn’t so sure of the ending!  

This book gets you completely emotionally attached to all the characters so when it blows up in the book it hits you as a reader hard too. Personally, I absolutely loved reading this book so I will definitely be checking out the authors other books. As for this one, I would certainly add it to your reading pile.

Tamed By The Outlaw - Michelle Sharp

Jessie Jameson is one of the most successful romance authors. Her latest book however draws inspiration from a one night stand she had where she thought the guy had just walked out on her in the morning whilst she was still asleep. This guy wasn’t just anybody, it was Greyson Reynolds who just happens to be the CEO of her publishing company. Ever since then, Jessie has spent her time avoiding the main offices that Greyson works at but now Greyson has turned up at an event Jessie is attending with an offer he doesn’t want her to refuse. 

I read Tamed By The Outlaw in about an hour so it certainly is a quick read. I can’t quite decide if this is what I love about the book or not. It gets straight into the action which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but then on the other hand I would’ve loved to have read more about how Jessie and Greyson acted in the year they spent avoiding each other for example. 

Since becoming CEO, Greyson has become work obsessed. Since replacing his grandfather as CEO, he’s trying to do what he thinks is the best thing to do but now his life seems to have come all work and no play. Jessie seems to bring out the best in him and visa versa. I liked reading the interactions between them throughout the book. I could definitely have read a longer more fleshed out book on them both as they were just both so easy to read about.

I don’t usually like reading short books as I find I don’t get as absorbed into the book but Tamed By The Outlaw got you hooked within the first page or too. I think this book would be perfect book to take on your summer holiday with you. Warning, however if you chose to read this book there is a few sex scenes!

Synopsis -

Author Jessie Jameson is the Bad Girl of romance, making a huge name for herself writing love stories with sizzling hot sex scenes. No one needs to know that her real-life inspiration is sexy publishing exec Grayson Reynolds. Or that after the hottest sex of her life, Grayson walked out on her.

Grayson's finally taken the reins of his family's publishing business, and he's determined to sell off the romance division. But Jessie Jameson's contract is complicating things. It's like she's been trying to ruin him ever since the mind-blowing night they shared-the night she walked out on him.

Now the sparks are flying. Heated, sexy sparks. It's a Wild West showdown between Jessie and Grayson. But when Romance ends up in bed with Business, only one can walk away...