Tag Archives: Brandy Jellum

This One’s For You by Brandy Jellum-a review

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This One’s For You by Brandy Jellum-a review

This One's For You

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 24, 2015

All alone in a new state, Brennan Daniels has only the memories of her best friend, Reagan, to keep her company as she starts college.

Reagan is the reason for everything Brennan does—before she died, she made Brennan promise to stay good until she found a man worth keeping. No boys, no dating, and definitely no falling in love—those were the rules for college, and Brennan carved them into the brick walls guarding her heart…

But there’s a fire burning behind those walls, and when Brennan meets Owen Scott, the (mysterious) new guy across the hall, she can’t deny the pull between them. He is everything she should never want. Everyone warns her to stay away—even Owen himself—but the heart wants what the heart wants, even if it knows that it’s going to get hurt—even if it means throwing old promises to new flames…

•••••••••••••••••

REVIEW: Reading this book has made me think about my senior quote for the yearbook which was a quote from Pope John Paul II. The quote was, “The worse prison is a closed heart.” I chose such a quote because I figured going into adulthood wasn’t going to be an easy journey and that when life gets hard, keep your heart open to those who love you that the journey should not be traveled alone. To slam the door and shut people out is a loneliness that no one should ever subject themselves to especially one as young as our main character, Brennan.

Brennan lost her best friend in a tragic accident that left Brennan closed off from everyone no matter how much everyone tries to be there for her. I admit that Brennan may have annoyed me with the extent of how hard she pushed others away throughout the book but I was impressed with how much she changed as the story progressed. That she allowed herself to truly grieve the loss on top of being able to break her silence on what happened. Being there through her journey to recovery was a treat in itself.

The real turning point I enjoyed was when Brennan went home for Christmas with Owen in tow. It was hilarious on so many levels when Brennan’s three older brothers gave Owen a hard time, what with older brothers being protective of their little sister. It was a good thing that Owen was a good sport about it. Christmas was really when both Brennan and Owen finally let their walls down to give their relationship a try which was a huge relief because half the book was pretty much a hot and cold dance with the two.

All in all, I felt this was one of Brandy’s more serious and personal novels. For those going through a bad loss or unable to let people in, this book is a comforting balm to your soul. This book tugs on the heartstrings as everyone is fighting their own battles in the book yet find love and comfort with each other. This book has a lot of secrets that come out in the end as well as much needed closure for Brennan’s loss. This is the chicken soup for the grieving soul and one I would recommend everyone to read.

Reviewed by Xtina

Copy supplied by the publisher

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If I Say No (Say Something #2) by Brandy Jellum-a review

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If I Say No (Say Something #2) by Brandy Jellum-a review

If I Say No

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date December 2014

Reid Harder thought his life was seemingly perfect. He had the woman he loved and nothing could go wrong. The only exception comes in the form of his brother—Rhett.

Set on revenge, his brother will stop at nothing to make Reid pay for his past mistakes. Teaming up with the FBI, Reid is determined to put an end to his brother once and for all. But sometimes, fate has other plans in store. His relationship with Liza is falling apart, enemies become friends, and family becomes his worst nightmare. With the future unknown, Reid must figure out a way to make amends with his past if he wants to move forward with his future.

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In book #1 of this series, we followed Liza and her journey to face her demons from her mother’s murder at her father’s hand. In this book, we get to follow the mystery about Reid’s past and inner demons. Guess everyone’s got their inner demons they got to face.

To make a long story short, Reid’s older brother Rhett is a psychopath and he is after revenge on Reid and his wife Lily. Reid and Lily had an affair behind Rhett’s back. So he plans to take something precious from Reid to even the score and who is more precious than the one and only love of his life, Liza. The book starts with a flashback from Reid’s past where he is unable to save Lily and Ollie from the house fire he was convinced was set up by Rhett. Two burnt bodies are wheeled out in stretchers belonging to a woman and an infant. Reid breaks down and cries realizing that the woman and nephew he loves is gone. So for anyone else following the series alongside with me, that’s the history behind the photo of Lily and Ollie that Liza found snooping through Reid’s stuff in book one.

To cut to the chase, this book was a doozy. Liza seriously pissed me off pretty badly in the beginning and middle of the book. I recalled in the first book that Reid was pretty patient with Liza not pushing and prodding for more than she wanted to share. Yes admit that Reid may have pulled a few dick moves on her to get her to see him but that was to get her to see him not share what she didn’t want to share. The fact that Liza acted like a huge immature baby that she kept pushing at every worse time at Reid, storming out of the house to stay at Elias which really messed up because Elias still has feelings for Liza, crying, and going as far as calling off the wedding just shows me that even though Liza left her life of riches and luxury in her past she is still one spoiled brat. Sorry but if I was to open up to someone about a traumatic past, I for one wouldn’t confide in a crybaby person who always gets their way. Also if she just gave Reid his space to deal with the repercussions of his past then maybe he would’ve dealt with it with a clear head and gotten through it faster and perhaps been able to tell her sooner. But no she still continued to push and prod and threaten Reid to the point that he gotten himself in hot water more than once and the issue escalated to the point that people died, got hurt and even captured. I’m not here to fillet and roast Liza as my respect for Reid also fell a little too. His cowardice on coming clean to Liza was also another thing that just made the whole situation complicated. Yes it was a situation where one of them had to give but none of them wanted too.

Liza did redeem herself in the end ten-fold however. Liza was the one who made the first move to let go of the past and move on. She also selflessly moved up to the plate to take on a new role that she didn’t have to but did so from the good of her heart. So I do apologize for what I had said about Liza a while ago. I like and respect her as a character from a book regardless. And yes, there is a wedding at the end. I love this part because there are so many references from the first book when they first started to fall in love comes back to surface and it is so cute and endearing.

I found it so hard to put this book down that I was surprised I was able to finish it as fast as I did. The plot was the big reason why. You are constantly on the edge of your seat fearing for Reid, his life and his relationship with Liza. There are many things that will take you aback like the “dead” coming back to life, the past of the childhoods, the FBI lending a helping hand and even good ol’ mommy Harder comes to visit.

The thing is this book makes me realize that life is never perfect. Rich, famous, powerful, poor, isolated and whatnot everyone is going to have those scary demons of their past that haunt them. It’s a risk to let others in when they can turn around and hurt you or worse use your demon against you. Despite that, no matter what there are always going to be people who care about you and there is no demon worth pushing those who love you away. I’m glad that Liza and Reid learn that in time to not only have that wonderful happily ever after in the end but in the end it’s going to make them a stronger team to get through anything together.

Series Reading Order
1. If I Say Yes
2. If I Say No
3. If I Say Maybe (No release date)
4. If I Say Never (No release date)

Reviewed by Xtina

Copy supplied by the author

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If I Say Yes (Say Something #1) by Brandy Jellum-a review

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If I Say Yes (Say Something #1) By Brandy Jellum-a review

If I Say Yes

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/ Barnes and Noble / The Book Depository

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date May 20, 2014

Elizabeth Lewis was the child of Hollywood’s darling couple, until her father murdered her mother.

Six years later, she has traded her flashy, luxurious lifestyle for one of safe anonymity as a literary agent. With a different name and appearance, Liza Winter is living the life of her dreams—one where she’s known for who she is instead of what her father did. Except her apartment should be condemned, her car only starts when it wants, she hates the romance genre she has been assigned, and the CEO’s deliciously attractive nephew is out to ruin her carefully laid plans.

Reid Harder has never met an obstacle he couldn’t overcome. When his new position in the romance department comes with a benefit his uncle didn’t mention, he decides to wage a war against the intelligent, beautiful Liza to destroy every argument she has for turning him down. Still, the closer he gets to winning the prize, the more he realizes that the woman is keeping secrets that may endanger not just her life but his.

Will Liza overcome her mistrust of Reid to reveal her secrets before he learns the truth and walks away? Or will a grudge-wielding apparition from her past make her the next deadly Hollywood headline?

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This book was a unique package. You get murder, crazy stalkers, lots of secrets, a brewing love story, and best of all some really unexpected twists. I’m not sure if this book was a romantic thriller or romantic suspense but whatever it was, I liked it. There was just so much brewing in this book so to speak and the author sure knew how to work it to her advantage to keep you on your toes throughout the entire book. The correlation between the murder of Liza’s mother and the scary emails from the stalker, Reid onto Liza trying to find out what she’s hiding from him no matter how much she tried to keep him out and the building romance that Liza fights tooth and nail. All of it brewing that it made me wonder when it was all going to blow up in Liza’s face.

My most favorite part was when Liza and Reid first meet. Liza is in an interesting predicament where the CEO’s wife dislikes Liza and wants to get rid of Liza. The thing is she makes it known that she wants the company rid of Liza. So in an effort to keep her job and possibly get transferred out of the romance department and into the horror department, she goes to talk to the CEO. Although she comes in with the intention of talking to the CEO, she ends up ranting and stuffing her foot in her mouth in front of not the CEO but the nephew of the CEO, Reid. I thought the scene was really hilarious and to make things worse she also finds out that Reid is the head of the Romance department. All I could think of was, “Nice one Liza.” LOL

This book also provided the nice aspects of a slowly building love story as well as good character development which I enjoyed very much. It was a joy to watch Liza and Reid’s relationship grow slowly at a more realistic rate. Yes when they first meet the attraction was instantaneous but they also danced around each other getting to know each other before they really did anything physical which was towards the end of the book. I admit that it did get annoying when both Liza and Reid had this whole hot and cold attitude. It was like one minute they were kissing each other like they couldn’t get enough of each other and then the next minute one of them would act as if they couldn’t be in the other’s presence any longer. Don’t get me wrong I really like Liza and Reid as a couple but a person could only take so much fickle-mindedness. The annoyance was very easy to overlook because Reid and Liza do stay together at one of Reid’s places and it was then that they let their walls down in front of each other. It was a very nicely written turning point for the couple.

Then there is the character development for Liza. In the beginning I got the vibe that she was a bitter and quiet girl who just ran away from all her problems. I can also see that she was a control freak. But throughout the book, you can actually see Liza mature in the sense that she tries to face all her issues one by one. In the end of the book, Liza does face her demons of going to the house of her childhood, visiting her father in prison, learning to realize that she does have a right to be loved and accepts a marriage proposal from Reid and even has to face her best friend Elias that they won’t be more than friends. Most of all, Liza learns to let go of some control and trust again. I admit that her stringing Elias along even though she couldn’t return his amorous feelings towards her but kept around as a crutch in her life was a little cruel. Although I frowned on that, I can also understand where Liza was coming from that she needed a friend to keep her sane as well as so she didn’t have to be alone in the world.

This book surprised me and I did enjoy every minute of reading it. Brandy has done well to keep the reader engaged and on edge which I admire is an art in itself. I take off my hat to her on pulling that off. The ending caught me by surprise and I look forward for the next book. ☺

Reviewed by Xtina

Copy supplied by the author

About The Author beige

Brandy JellumBrandy’s passion for writing began long before she actually sat down to write. As a child, she has had an obsession with reading. Everything from the classic stories by Jane Austen to YA Fiction by Richelle Mead. Finally, in 2012, she decided to create her own stories for people to fall in love with. Brandy bounces back and forth writing both Young Adult Fiction and Romance.

When she isn’t writing, she can be found chasing after her husband, her four children and her black lab Diesel. Or curled up on her favorite corner of the couch with her newest book.

Follow Brandy on Social Media:
http://www.brandyjellumbooks.wordpres…
https://www.facebook.com/BrandyJellum
@Brandy_Jellum

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