Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?

Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.

Okay first I like to point out again that this is very much an adult book. It touches on sexual abuse including a child, drugs and many other things. It also is pretty gory, cruel and detailed in some areas. So, while this is an fantastic book in my opinion, if those themes bother you, you might want to skip this one. This book took me a bit to get into, as I was not familiar with Yale or the secret societies within. All I know of Yale is what I saw on Gilmore Girls lol, so the setting took me a bit but after page 50 or somewhere around there it was much easier to follow. I loved Alex, she was such a flawed character and sometimes even borderline on villain, but she stood her own. She struggled, but she was true and grew. Her self-doubt was also raw but she never gave up on things. I loved how she grew throughput the book, not just herself but the friendships she made along the way. A lot of this book introduced her to us and showed us her backstory and it really was heartbreaking most of the time. I loved the Magic in this word, I also liked that we learned a lot of it though Alex as she learned it. The ghosts or Greys as they called here was something I liked as well. Pretty early in on the book it's clear that Alex can more than just see them. I was not sure how some of the things connected but at the end it came all together and made sense. I love the friendships she makes along the way and some people I really enjoyed more, or the way they were with Alex. Like Dawes, Mercy and even Turner, I like to see where things go from there. Darlington, I wasn’t sure but I really ended up liking him and I’m curious to see where that all goes. Overall, I really loved this book, even though it has some pretty cruel moments. But overall it was creepily scary and hauntingly  enjoyable and I’m looking forward to book two already.

I rate it 4.5 ★

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Tyler finds himself trapped in a mess of his own making.  He solves it by asking out the smart and beautiful Amy.  He has wanted to talk to her for a while.

Amy always feels like she is not enough.  She has trouble from her past that she hopes to never see again.  Will getting involved with Tyler's plan ruin everything?

Loved this story.  So excited to read the rest of the series.  These characters were so meant to be.  I loved the humor, the heat, and the sexy was out of this world hot!  I thought is was great and cannot wait for the next book in the Flatiron Five series.  I give this a 5/5 Kitty's Paws UP!

I almost didn’t read this one. Didn’t particularly like book one, Simply Irrisitable, so I wasn’t in a rush to try more. Man am I glad I went back and tried it. Loved every second of it. It has the kind of character development rarely seen in romance novels. Everything happens within a few days, maybe a week or two, but this one started twelve years ago when they first met, then flash-forward to present day and he is her brother’s best friend, their past is a secret, she is married and he is the bearer of bad news. From that moment on it is a slow burn and a strong build up to a great relationship. It spans months and Cooke does it seamlessly with no dull parts. It was great. I loved the slow build. I loved that Kyle had to work for it and that Lauren refused to settle. The progression of the book was great and the conflicts were strong. I loved how Lauren set her cheating ex-husband straight in front of a group of strangers, and I love how Kyle grew from a man who wanted nothing but one night stands, to one who wanted forever and how he grew as a character. There isn't anything I didn’t like about this book.

I am not a fan of erotic romances or the modern millionaire-playboy-meets-the-girl romances. I much prefer historical and paranormal romances, so this wasn't my kind of genre. Deborah Cooke asked me to read it so I thought I'd give it a shot. It had its moments. The fake date relationship between Amy and Ty was good and even her curiosity about the BDSM world added some spice, but after her two sessions at the gym, I hoped she would have leaned more towards Ty and not Matteo. I didn't particularly like Amy. At times she behaved so naively, especially about Matteo. She had a great guy in Ty and she considers throwing it away for the possibility of saving Matteo and having her sexual adventure. Ty was also a bit too forgiving, I mean they make love and in less than an hour or so since he leaves, she is calling Matteo specifically to have sex. Dude, I mean what is wrong with her?  I would have washed my hands of her at that point and I would have told her the truth before walking away. Why he would be worrying about her feelings when she is turning to another man shortly after they were together was mind blowing. There was one aspect that I really did love, throughout the story the two main characters quoted Pride and Prejudice, The Importance of Being Ernest, and several other authors and romantic comedy movies. That made me smile a lot. Love me some Austen and Wilde.

The story does end well. She wasn't angry when the truth came out, which I kind of expected, but it would have been predictable so I think it was a plus that she wasn't. I am curious about the other partners' stories, so the plot concept is good and progressed smoothly and intrigued me. My only negative was Amy's naïve manner about wanting to save Matteo in spite of a great guy like Ty. I'm glad he opened up his views to accept what she needed but the choice between the two men should have been a no-brainer.

I received this book from Goodreads in exchange for an honest review.

As far as anthologies go, this one is superb. While the stories vary in writing style and plot, they all share some outstanding qualities: amazing descriptions, in-depth writing, and overall very good quality work. This is quite an impressive collection; there is not a single "bad" story in the book. These are all good qualities stories. Some I liked more than others, but they were all very well done. The stories are all a good length, long enough to tell their tale, but not too stretched out with unnecessary descriptions. I also really liked that there were an equal number of male and female contributors and the inclusion of international authors.

So on the whole I give the book four stars as the average of all of my individual ratings. What follows are a few things that stood out to me in each story as well as an overall rating of the story:

- Surplus Army- 5 stars
Great writing, interesting take on what happens to the things we throw away, a piece that really makes you think

- Agents of the Volurian Empire, Help is On the Way!- 4 stars
Keeps you guessing until the very end, an interesting twist, intriguing science fiction, and a unique narrator

- Midnight on Addison Street- 5 stars
Awesome writing, a great mystery story, and an entertaining and humorous read for any book lover

- Time's Winged Chariot- 4 stars
A cool twist with good writing and some great descriptions

- Spirit Cat- 5 stars
Breathtaking and beautiful, filled with great diction and amazing descriptions, this is a very creative story, simply told, but still impressive

- Ice-Cold- 4 stars
A little weird and vague, but still very interesting

- Chocolat- 3 stars
Definitely the strangest piece, but also the funniest

- The Thing Is, The Basement- 3 stars
An interesting concept with good writing

- The Wishing Well- 5 stars
Very cool descriptions, equal parts sad and creepy

- The Argentine Radio- 5 stars
A creative mystery tale, very intriguing, really pulls the reader in

- All True- 4 stars
Silly with an interesting twist, good writing

- The Translator- 4 stars
A cute story, a nice easy science fiction piece

- Something in Forever- 5 stars
A beautiful story with some amazing description, evokes real emotion

-Deja Vu- 5 stars
Great story, the narrator really pulls in the reader