E. L. Todd

I'm going to be honest, this was a hate read for me. Have you ever read a book that was oddly readable yet you despised almost everything about it? Well, that was this book for me. The writing was strangely compelling, even when I absolutely despised the characters. So, I guess, let's talk about what happened...

SPOILERS BELOW. Don't say I did not warn you...

There's Scarlet, the "heroine". There's quotes around the word heroine, because while Scarlet is ostensibly the main female protagonist show more of the book, she is a vile human being and not at all a heroine. Vile. We meet her when she's talking to the fiancee of her best friend, Sean. The fiancee's name is Penelope, and she has met someone else. Penelope will be leaving Sean, she tells Scarlet. Well, Scarlet is just BURNING WITH RAGE at this news. Scarlet calls Penelope a whore and a slut, and wishes horrific STDs on her.


I'm offended on behalf of our womanly sisterhood.

Shaming a woman for her sexual choices is offensive to me. Scarlet also takes this opportunity to wish death on Penelope, who has done nothing wrong but realize that she loves someone else and that she and Sean are not right for each other.

Anyway, apparently Scarlet is frighteningly devoted to her friend, Sean, and treats him like a boyfriend even though he wants to marry someone else. That sentence should tell you everything you need to know about the Sean-Scarlet dynamic right there. She's a doormat and he walks right over her without apologies.


I find doormat/a-hole romances unappealing.

The story essentially is one where Sean, having his heart broken by Penelope, is obsessively cared for by Scarlet -- until he thoughtlessly breaks her heart by sleeping with Scarlet's co-worker. He sleeps with the co-worker right after he sleeps with Scarlet. It's pretty gross. Also, WTF?????? Who sleeps with their BFF, then decides to go after their co-worker THE NEXT DAY? The worst part is that after Scarlet tearfully confronts him with her pain, he yells at HER. Because he didn't know she loved him!!! It's not his fault!!!!! Scarlet should have known better!!!


I'll see you in hell, Sean.

After that, I couldn't. There's also Scarlet's boss. Who isn't a human being, just a plot-device villain so poorly drawn it's useless to talk about him in depth. This book was just...clearly not for me. By the time Sean is man-whinging to Scarlet that it's her fault that he broke her heart, I wanted to do actual violence to something. And that's when I stopped.


Yeah... The book went on, but I could not.

I can't recommend this. The female-bashing was too offensive for me. Sean was awful. Scarlet was equally bad. Good day to you, book, good day.


Would that I go could back in time before I read this book, to save myself some heartache. show less

Two things prompted my decision to read and review this title. The author and the premise. Based on the blurb, I figured that this would be an intriguing and riveting read. This was my first time reading E.L. Todd's work, but I heard so many great things about her that I knew I had to give this book a try. Unfortunately, Into the Fire did not live up to my expectations. It was not that bad of a read. However, it was not gripping and it did not evoke the emotions I was expecting.

Can you show more imagine being blackmailed by your parents because they did not approve of your lifestyle? This is what happened to Ash. All he wanted was the money they owed him so he could fund the opening of his tattoo parlour. However, they wanted him to settle down with a nice girl. They believe that this would keep him grounded. Ash, however, was not interested in having a relationship as such the only way to get around this was to trick his parents into believing he was meeting their demands. This is where Alessandra came in.

Alessandra works at Beautiful Entourage as an escort. Men would hire her to pose as their girlfriend under special circumstances. There were rules to this arrangement. If these rules were broken the contract would be terminated. Will Alessandra be able to stick to these rules after spending time with Ash?

Based on the blurb I figured Ash would be a tortured soul. I was prepared to feel his pain and to get insight into what he was feeling from his time served in Afghanistan. However, I was sorely disappointed. Ash is arrogant and egotistical. He believes he is a sex god. He suffers from commitment phobia. He does not believe that relationships were made for him. He also has a major chip on his shoulder. I could not believe I was reading about a thirty-year-old man. His actions were that of a spoilt teenager. This made it difficult for me to connect with him. He did not display any traits of someone who had experienced atrocities while serving.

Alessandra was quite the opposite. She was modest and humble. She made some choices in the past that some may consider poor. I may not have agreed with what she did, but I did understand why she did it. It goes to show when your back is against the wall you may find yourself doing things that you would not have done under normal circumstances.

The story was told from the POVs of the main characters. This is one of my favourite things when reading a novel. It allows me to gain insight into what the characters are thinking and feeling. Getting insight into Ash’s thoughts revealed his level of immaturity. There were instances when his actions would endear him to me, but then he will do something that made me re-think my opinion of him.
The pacing was slow. It took me some time to get into the story. However, when I did it proved to be an ok read. I found the romance somewhat unrealistic. It happened too quickly, especially knowing that Ash did not believe in long term relationships. I found his belief odd in light of the fact that his parents appeared to be happily married.

Into the Fire is the first book in the Gorgeous Entourage series. Although it did not give me what I was hoping for, I would read more of this author’s work. Therefore, I would be looking to read the next book in the series. show less

Monday is the worst day of the week for most people, but it also happens to be the first book in the timeless series by E.L. Todd. All the books in the series are named after a day. For example the second book is called Tuesday and so on. I like to read a series where the titles have a theme and are not only related to the book they are on. I must warn you know that the book ends with a big cliffhanger and the second book takes off 2 years later. If you don't like cliffhangers wait for the show more second book to be released.

I enjoyed reading it and I read it so fast that I doubted that it was 257 pages long which made me spoil myself since under the info for this book the other books in the series appeared and I read the blurbs which spoiled a couple of things for me and one of them makes me fear what I am going to read in Tuesday. I wish to say more about that, but I am not supposed to spoil anything.

I wish I could say that I loved the book, but I would be lying. Hawke was a little too overprotective, too macho too much for me. He wasn't the alpha male I know and love, but rather the kind of person that might end up being more toxic than protective. I believe in character development and after the events of this book I hope he will be more tamed and he will stop overreacting. Frankie has some backbone and is good for Hawke. I like her and I would like her even more if she was giving Hawke a hard time in order to keep him in line.

The book was pleasant and despite my doubts I will read the second book. I am not going to say if I am recommending the series, because I feel like I need to read the second book first in order to make a good decision about it. In this book we see Hawke with one of his women (in chapter 7 I think) and I really hope that this is the only time I will see him sleeping or having slept with another woman. To be fair, I don't want Frankie sleeping with some other man either, but something tells me that my wish won't happen. Read at your own risk. show less

Title: Ray Of Light
Author: E. L. Todd
Publisher: Fallen Publishing
Series: Ray Series #1
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Five
Review:

"Ray Of Light" by E. L. Todd

My Thoughts...

This was the first in the 'Ray Series' and I indeed enjoyed the read. The characters were all so well developed, defined, portrayed and believable giving the reader a attention grabber that will keep you turning the pages. The main characters Rae, Rex, Ryker, Zeke, Jessie and Kayden were simply off the chart ... wonderful show more to read about. What will happen as Rex is trying a little to change his ways...from having to live with his sister Rae after winning a lottery then buying a bowling alley but it goes broke. All I can say is what a wonderful sister Rex has in Rae. Rex had been their for her and now Rae is their for him. Now with Rae being in a relationship with Ryker...how will this turn out for her? What is up with Zeke, Rex and Jessie? What will happen when all of the secrets start to come out that is being held back between these friends? I was able to laugh and even feel sad too with what all was going on in this read. Since this is the first Ray series we will have to get more from the next series [Ray of Hope] to find out what will happen next for Rae, Ryker, Rex, Jessie, Zeke and Kayden. Be prepared for a read of some 'sexy, funny and even some serious drama' in this well written story. From the sister/brother...to friends situation will definitely keep the reader wanting to know more about this interesting group of people. show less