Elizabeth ReyesRezensionen

In the fifth book in the 5th Street series, boxing heavyweight champion Felix Sanchez hits rock bottom when he loses his title due to drugs, alcohol, women, and his massive ego. After court-ordered probation, he returns home to the 5th Street Gym in LA where he got his start. He co-owns the gym with his four friends. Though he knows he needs to get his life straightened out, Felix doesn’t really care to until he meets the women’s self-defense instructor.
Ella Castellano started up the self-defense program after disaster struck her brother and his girlfriend. Though she’s secretly thrilled with Felix’s attention, she’s careful and doesn’t trust a man with his reputation.
Both the H/h are strong, well-developed, emotionally-damaged characters. They’ve experienced the loss of loved ones and bonded over their shared grief.
I really liked this book, but their ages surprised me. Ella is only 21 years old. Felix’s age is never mentioned, but you’re led to believe he’s about four or five years older than her. Even at age 26, I found it hard to believe he was that high up the boxing ladder, but then again, I don’t know anything about boxing. I wish the sport would’ve played a stronger role in the story, but Ms. Reyes focused more on the characters and their romance, with Felix’s boxing career in the background.
Even though the book is a standalone, I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if I’d read the previous books in this series. Felix’s friends—Noah, Gio, Hector, and Abel—were all there with their wives and children, but I couldn’t really connect with them. There were a lot of side characters, including friends and family members, and I couldn’t keep track of which woman was married to which man.
Ella’s ex, Grayson, grated on my nerves. I understand why she wanted to stay friends with him—he really did care about her—but he was manipulative and controlling. He treated her and Felix horribly, always trying to break them up, but she continued to forgive him because he was “worried” for her. I lost all respect for her when she refused to cut ties with Grayson after a certain embarrassing incident that plastered her face all over the media.
The story could use an edit to fix some punctuation errors/typos and repetition, but I still enjoyed it. For anyone who wants to read a NA sports romance that’s not too heavy on sports, this is a good book to try.
4 Stars

Easy to follow, emotions were easily felt and the imagery was good.
It's a beautiful story of friendship, love and family. It's a great story.

Bad book. Typos:your/you're. Just bad. 1.5 stars.

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 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!

Some parts were really good but she kept lying to him and at the end I found it hard she forgave him, he wouldn't listen and refused any contact, she just seemed to give in.

I thought it was obvious.

I love a good Cinderella type story. The book synopsis promised to deliver such a HEA. Veronica is an overweight, depressed older twenty something needing to get over the grief of a loss of a parent. Noah is a younger twenty something ready to take on the world and show everyone his worth. Veronica comes to a gym where Noah gets his break to as personal trainer. Each needing the other for life's little troubles, they quickly become friends and then maybe more.

I find some reviews difficult to write. Trying to reach for the words to describe what I am thinking and feeling or lack of. To be honest, I couldn't connect to Veronica. I wanted to, but the more the story continued, the more I didn't like her. It seemed for the age difference she had a problem with the character's ages should have been reversed. Veronica acted immature and not handling her relationships well at all. Maybe that was the point of the story that I missed on? Although Noah gets his HEA, it just seemed like once Veronica got her head on straight, the storyline seemed rushed.

So, where does this leave my recommendation? I read it once. Probably never again. However, the writing style, editing, etc. was solid. I would be willing to pick up the second book in the series to see if I liked it better. For the value, which I paid zero pennies, it was an ok read. This book falls in the 2.5 stars out of 5 stars for me.

With this being a teen romance, I expected it to be cute and pretty predictable. I was surprised to find myself annoyed with the main characters, Sarah and Angel. Sarah made some really poor choices that had me wanting to yell at her. Angel was kind of a dick to people, like his ex girlfriend, friends, and even Sarah sometimes. They got physical in their relationship very quickly, which I did not expect. I would've liked there to be separate chapters from each characters point of view, instead of this weird back and forth that left me confused as to who the narrator was. It didn't help that a woman read the whole book, so I always thought I was getting Sarah's point of view.
The story wasn't too bad and I did like some of the side characters. It was pretty fast paced and I got through it quickly.

I liked parts of this book, but other parts seemed cheesy. I would probably give this 2.5 stars

Felix was a bad boy, a fighter, and a downright ass. He was a champion and had it all. That is until he lost his belt and things began to spiral out of control. Booze, women, and bad mouths were about to cause him to lose it all. So he went back to his roots. 5th street gym where he meets Ella. Sassy little miss Ella who looks like a doll and has a heart of gold. Ella has seen a lot of heartache in her life, but she's strong and that is what attracts Felix to her. Through jealousy, rage and pain, the love between the two has no bounds and the short road may not always be the right road.

Absolutely freaking Amazing! I love me some Angel and Sarah and this book did not disappoint. My one and only flaw with this book is Elizabeth Reyes could have taken the whole father/son/sister thing to a new level. I actually thought it was going to get real good and angsty and it fell flat. After the first book I thought it needed a little more umph. It was freaking great though!

There was something I really did not like about this book. I think it was that as much as I wanted to love Noah I did not like him at all. The age difference was strange for me and the whole lets cheat thing bothered me also especially the fact that I had to read so much into it. I was not connected at all and was pretty glad when I finished the book.

4 Brilliantly Written Stars

This book has been on my Kindle for AGES and I finally got a chance to sit down and read it. It was a free Kindle read and I have to tell you I am ready to read the entire series now. This book was brilliantly written and had a true heartfelt story. I loved the characters and what I love the most was Sydney was a straight male and had a true friendship with Sarah even if Angel did not like it! So many authors would have made him gay but in this case it fit the storyline perfectly I love the drama, the desire, the heartbreak of this story and I will definitely be finishing the series.

I have read all of Elizabeth's books and have to say there isn't one that I've been disappointed in and the same applies to Breaking Brandon!

Brandon's had a hard life, he's become hardened to emotion and people, until he meets Regina who challenges him in ways he didn't think she would.

We get a catch up with Romero and the Moreno's, their flourishing extended families.

Elizabeth Reyes, you never ever let me down!

Have read the whole series and loved every word!

This is the first book I have ever read where I've been so engrossed I almost googled a character to see what his brother's names are because I knew there was something not quite right! I had a word with myself when I remembered I was reading a fictional book! Loved it, can't wait for Fate 2 or in all honesty any book Elizabeth publishes next :)

DESCRIPTION, NOT REVIEW: Veronica Cruz has been through hell and back. After disconnecting with the world two years ago to be at the side of her dying mother, she’s left alone, unemployed, overweight, and feeling a decade older than her twenty-eight years. When her best friend coaxes her into joining the local gym to ditch her depression and rejuvenate her life, she meets Noah. Assigned to help Veronica lose weight, Noah is everything she expected a young trainer to be—perfectly chiseled, supportive and motivating. Add to that, he’s incredibly sexy. He’s everything she’s ever looked for in a man. What she least expected was for him to fall for her, but he has. There's just one glaring problem: Noah is eight years younger.

Noah Quintanilla has his eye on a boxing title—someday. Down for a few months with an injury, his maintenance-boy pay at 5th Street Gym won't cut it. He’s finally given the opportunity to train. The catch? His trainee is an out-of-shape woman with a free week pass. Taking on the challenge, Noah stumbles into one of the closest friendships he’s ever known, and before he knows it, he’s in love. But Veronica’s not having it—the age difference is too much. Their platonic relationship means having to watch her date other men—something that would make him crazy. Believing he's the man for her, Noah sets out to prove that age is but an illusion, and there's more to him than just a number.

I love the strong but sweet alpha male. I thought about these characters during the day, and couldn't wait to check in with them each night. Fun and heart warming story.

Sweet but not my type of a novel after all. I'm too old for the sugary sweetness :))) No review for this one. This is a nice enough read but not for me unfortunately.

This is an amazing story of first love and all the thrills and angst that goes with it. Beautifully written with incredible characters. I can't wait to read the other stories in this series. Highly recommend this book!

Roni and Noah

Good story but Roni was annoying with her attitude toward Noah's age and dating history. I know it was the story of over coming these hurdles to get to their HEA - still annoying. Who in this relationship was the most mature anyway!

The Boxing was an interesting part.

Nellie and Abel only wanted one thing from each other...a good time. Somewhere along the way though things changed. Each ended up wanting more, but each couldn't ask for it. Not until it was almost too late. Abel fought like a champion and Nellie stood by her man.

3.5 stars! I love this series and am usually more in love with the characters than I was with this spin off. I will never stop reading these books since I love to revisit with my favorites, Alex and Angel and Sal...yummy. Vince was amazing but I never felt like I connected with him. I am not a big fan of huge misunderstandings and taking the blame for others so that sort of lost me along the way. I loved Rose and Vince together and now that we are past all the nonsense, I'll be glad to catch up with their love story in the next book.

Ok it's almost 6 AM, so I am not even going to try for a coherent review right now, I just want to get some thoughts down before I pass out and forget something.

*looks at all the 4 and 5 star reviews* My god, did we really read the same book?

First off- editing. Horrible. Missing commas, run on sentences, even a couple of words that I don't think really exist. "blaringly" obvious? I think she meant glaringly.

Alex's body. Chiseled. Rock solid. Sculptured. Hard. Delectable. Strong. Bulging muscles. Massive. Very impressive. Beautiful. Muscled. We get it. The guy is built.

He's also way over the top on the possessive scale. Plotting a way to get her to leave her job, simply because she used to date her boss? Even though she swore it was never serious? Hiring a guy to act as a bodyguard because she has a stalker, but not telling her about it?

Slut shaming. The guys can't have a bachelor party in Vegas because no way do the women want their men around "money grabbing whores". WTF?

Misunderstandings. So stupid. He'd rather let her, and everyone else, think he was screwing other girls in college, rather than tell the truth, that he was behind on his school work, and had hired a tutor? Ok, there's pride, then there's downright stupidity.

Of course, he did try to tell her the truth the night she "caught" him with his tutor, but she refused to listen to him. She was so sure he was sleeping around, she jumped to the wrong conclusion about everything and wouldn't listen to him, even a year later, til he finally MADE her let him explain.

And then there's Valerie. She knows Alex is the jealous possessive type. She stays with him anyway, but she keeps not telling him stuff. Big stuff that she knows he'll take the wrong way if he doesn't hear it from her first. Does she tell him? No. She keeps talking with Luke, the boss. Having breakfast and lunch meetings with him, letting him come to her apartment. Is this smart? I think not. If you're going to commit to being with a jealous guy, you have to take his feelings into effect before you do stupid shit.

She and Alex both know there's a stalker after her. He made threats to her on a particular night- the night before Sarah and Angel's wedding. The girls all want to do a girl's night in, drink, and play Truth. (no one felt very daring apparently) Valerie knows how worried Alex is. She knows there's a stalker out there. She knows he was following them THAT NIGHT! But she lets the other girls confiscate ALL the phones because the guys keep calling and checking on them. Doesn't insist on them letting her at least text Alex that she can't talk. Doesn't tell them she has a crazy stalker who just might show up tonight, a crazy stalked who mentioned two of them by name.

Instead, when she knows there's a stalker out there she----SNEAKS OUT OF THE HOUSE ALONE, to get her laptop out of the car to email him!!! It really would have served her right, if she had been grabbed. Stupid stupid stupid.

I know these people are supposed to be in their 20s, but more often than not, if felt like a typical high school story, only without the high school. They didn't act like mature adults, college graduates. It just felt....juvenile.

But in spite of all this- the author DID tell a good story. I finished the first book, and figured that was it. I wasn't interested in reading any more. But they kept getting good reviews, so I kept picking them up. And this one did pull me right in. I read it all in one sitting. And in spite of all the freaking eye rolling moments, bad editing, and new words I learned, I still kinda want to read Sofie and Eric, Romero and Isabel, and Sal and whoever's stories.

But I'll give this one time to fade in my memory a bit first, just like I let a year pass between reading the first one and reading this one.

First off- editing. Again. Misused words like to/too, your/you're, where/were. Sentences that needed commas. Sentences that were just structured poorly enough that you need to read them a couple of times to make sense out of them. I've seen worse, but still, there's no excuse for these sort of errors to pop up in books that you pay good money for.

I will say I liked this one much better than the two books I've read in the Moreno Brothers series. Noah was adorable, and even though he got jealous, he was still a always a gentleman, always respected what Roni wanted, and never let his jealous go over the top, and never, ever tried to exert any type of control over her.

But then there is Roni. She was annoying in the beginning, with her depression. I understand grieving over losing a loved one, but her thoughts of "what's the point of loving someone, they'll just go away" was a bit much. And her constantly referring to herself as fat, fat ass, only to find out she weighed roughly 160 pounds, I almost put the book aside then and there. I know, all of us women have image issues, we've all felt fat, and being a bit overweight can really mess with our self esteem. However, an author making a big deal out of a woman who is, essentially, a size 12, which is average in this country, is NOT doing us women any favors. If Roni felt like a fatass at 160, what hope is there for me, at 180?

But she loses the weight quickly, so that's all ok. *rolls eyes* She becomes friendly with Noah, her trainer, and when the storms damage his roof, she offers him a place to stay at her house. In spite of the fact that she's 28, and he's only 20, they are attracted to each other, but they fight it for a while. Roni fights it a lot longer than Noah does, he admits, to himself, and to her, that he's in love with her, way before she does.

And then comes the wishy washy TSTL syndrome. Roni goes back and forth. He's too young, no it'll be ok. Back and forth like a ping pong ball. She doesn't want to lead him on, but makes out with him every night in the hallway before bed. Then she pulls away. She gets jealous over a girl named Rita, who is Noah's sort of "friend with benefits", but never anything more, questioning every detail about them, and then she hides the fact that she's met with her ex-boyfriend Derek more than once.

More often than not, it felt like Roni was the 20 year old, not Noah. She's the one who kept playing games, with him, with herself, with Derek. She should have told Derek straight up she wasn't interested anymore. She should have told Noah the truth about meeting with Derek, instead of trying to "spare his feelings". (I think she just wanted to spare herself the conflict)

The steam factor in this one was nice, the chemistry, but no sex til the very end of the story. In the end, I thought it wrapped up a bit too easily, but other than my frustrations with Roni, and the HORRIBLE editing, this was a pretty good story. I do think I'll check out [b:Gio|13501282|Gio (5th Street, #2)|Elizabeth Reyes|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1330275410s/13501282.jpg|19048458] eventually.

28.01.'13 - Free in the Kindle store!