Elizabeth Reyes

I really wanted to love this one! I read it with a friend and I was surprised to see we both had the same reaction.

I did enjoy the varying POV while we were with both Rose and Vincent. I was also glad that we got just a touch of the preview in the beginning of the Now before we jumped into the Then (but I was also glad we didn't do a lot of jumping!)

Having read only one other from this author, but knowing how much everyone I knew loved her books I thought I'd be hooked into this one! But I show more had a tough time connecting with either character. Rose was just a bit too sweet - to the point of unrealistic.
And Vincent was just too much of a hot head. I thought his devotion and loyalty to friends was great (and very realistic), but he flew off the handle about such little things.

and Rose should NEVER feel guilty about hugging a friend. I mean, really?? You don't own her.

and because Rose seemed so young and naive, the sex scenes were just uncomfortable and I found myself cringing.

But probably my biggest frustration was just lack of interest - I got bored. Because I just couldn't seem to connect to either Vincent or Rose, I just didn't invest in their story. show less

(check out my Author Interview here: http://niinas-reading-and-reviewing.blogspot.com/2012/01/always-been-mine-review... )

Valerie and Alex had a relationship, well not really a defined relationship but they hangout on and off, until Valerie had enough and went to see what happened when she wasn't around. As she witnesses his infidelity she calls it quits she wants absolutely nothing to do with him, ever again. She takes her broken heart and swears to never let Alex close again.

Alex has bit show more of a proud streak, with his football scholarship he has to keep his grades up with is not easy for him, he hates people viewing him as stupid so he doesn't tell Valerie just what keeps him away from her - but when she surprises him with a girl, his tutor, he tries to explain but it falls on deaf ears. And it, whatever it is, is over.

It's been a year and Valerie and Alex are both living their lives when a family wedding brings them together again, and love, passion and broken hearts are all dragged back out. Love hasn't died and even though Valerie fights to stop feeling for Alex she can't help seeing him as a changed guy. With a jealous ex ( the one she thought she'd use to get over Alex ) is threatening her and her boss wanting to date her she has more than enough on her plate, but when Alex states he wants her back... just how much can a girl have on her plate?

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Say, Hi, to deliciously passionate and intensily protective Moreno brothers! I really enjoyed this book, it's been a while since I've read just contemporary romance, and it was nice, no shifters or vampires coming out of closets. ;) This story is all about second chances, and I loved that! Things just went wrong with Valerie and Alex, and their pride kept the two apart until something just had to give when they met again. Of course the reader knows these two belong together, but reading the whole journey is still interesting with yummu elements of danger, jealousy, love and passion.

I really liked Alex even with his proud streak and his temperament he was lovable and having him pine after Valerie and reacting to her mere presence in the room was yummy reading. I wish though that I could have just shook him and go, "oh come on just tell her how you feel, what really happened!" of course that marks a good book when you can get frustrated at the characters, it means you're involved in the story. But I loved Alex even more after they decide to give things another go, sure he's possessive and jealous but in a deliciously yummy way. ;)

Valerie, oh I wish she could have just given him a chance, she harbored her ill feelings for him for a year trying to replace him ( big oh-oh ) and tried to trick him ( by saying she had a boyfriend ) and eventually she just had to open her eyes and see that was changes and hear him. I really liked her, she was fun to read and had really heartfelt emotions, lots of guts and a good sense of humor.

Alright, things that needed a little fixing were the repetition of events in the first half of the book, which slightly stalled the reading. But after the half way that didn't come up anymore and the story moved a lot more smoothly. The covers on the other Moreno Brothers books in the series are quite good, this one has something lacking it, could have used something extra, it's not a big problem as I read this on the Kindle.

What I loved was all the tension! Loved it, it's just what a good romance needs! The tension caused by Alex's passion for Valerie, tension from Valerie's boss trying to get her to date him and forget Alex, and Valerie's jealous ex that keeps threatening her and demanding she pay for leaving him and him ending up in jail. I love love love all that tension!

You'll love this if... you like your romance contemporary, if you like second chances and if you love a love story with a stalker to add an element of danger! show less

I was very honored when I received Forever Mine for review from Elizabeth Reyes. I’m always up for a good contemporary novel. As much as I wanted to love this book and give it a 5 star review, I couldn’t. While it was an okay enough read, I did have some issues with it. There are books that I can just sit there and read and not put down until I’m done, but unfortunately this wasn’t one of those.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that was solely focused on a romance without a big show more plot so it was a bit arduous to read at times. I need a good plot to keep me entertained. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge sucker for romance – I mean, who isn’t – but Sarah and Angel’s relationship just didn’t grab me. They were cute together, but there was no friendship before love. It seemed like they just jumped right into a relationship and I felt it was more so about lust than love. It didn’t feel realistic. To me, the great thing about a love story is the building of the relationship, where you read about them falling in love. All the cute little moments leading up to the romance and then the sex, not just jumping right into the sack together. As a reader I felt cheated out of the beginning stage where the romance blooms.

I could definitely see the appeal to Angel but he could also be quite pig-headed and possessive which were two things that drove me absolutely crazy about him. It irked me that he felt he could control Sarah’s relationship with her best friend Sydney. When Angel finally forgave her for lying to him about her best friend being a guy, I really didn’t enjoy how he basically made her talk to Sydney less. She shouldn’t have to give up her friend, someone she’s know her whole life and is practically her family. Even if Sydney is a guy, a friend is a friend no matter what gender and I don’t think it was right of Angel to try and take that away from her.

All in all, I did enjoy Forever Mine at times and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good beach read. This book does contain a lot more sexual content than your average YA novel, so if that’s something you’re uncomfortable with I wouldn’t recommend it to you. There is going to be a sequel, Always Been Mine, but I think Forever Mine wrapped up pretty well and could easily be a standalone novel. I’m sure other people will enjoy reading the sequels, but this is where the story ends for me. show less

3.75/5

Can I have a Moreno brother please?

I’m sure the book won’t appeal to everyone as it’s mainly centered about a teenage romance and not much serious or mysterious going on through the whole story.

Sarah just moved out to San Diego California with her aunt and her step daughter Valerie due to her mother being in jail. She promised herself and her best friend that she won’t stay long, just a semester and she’ll be heading back even if her mother forbid her to do it and insisted show more that she must stay until things got better for her.

So we have the new girl in school who by *chance* meets the hottest boy in school and probably in the whole town: Angel Moreno (well his brothers are too), they fall head-over-heels in love and find themselves enrolled in one intense relationship. There’s a lot of affection flooding, from kissing to touching to very cheesy, corny, romantic moments that sometimes made me go “awww”, then to the first sexual experience…

Their couple issues weren’t very grave: Angel is an über caveman male who couldn’t, at first, handle well the seriousness of their relationship, he couldn’t let her go or bear the thought of her away from him and his out-of-control jealousy and lust towards her were new to him. While he poured his heart to her, Sarah kept a secret or two from him about her best friend Sydney and she felt that the longest she hid the truth from him the harder it became to tell him, every time delaying it until it exploded right unto her face.

By now, you’ll think that I didn’t like it much but I did. I don’t know the exact reason behind it: maybe I needed something fluffy and light after the huge emotions that “If I Stay” inflected upon me, or maybe all the Latino hot-blooded cast of boys starring in the book…

Like Angel, all the Moreno Brothers are overprotective, intense, caring, hot and can’t keep their hands off of their women. My favorite though is Alex, a college football player who helps his family with their Mexican restaurant. He’s sassy, brazen, passionate and known to be a women-man. I loved his interaction with Valerie who seemed to affect him more than he wanted to admit it to himself; they were blazing the pages and the complexity of their liaison appealed to me more than the sweet first-love thing of Sarah and Angel. I’m sure the next book is about them and I, without a shadow of a doubt, will be checking it out! show less