Review: Stripped by H.M. Ward

Title: Stripped (#1)

Author: H.M. Ward

Pages: 250

ASIN: B00CXFU2S0

Genre: New Adult/Romance

First Published: September 2013

Buy It: Amazon

The V Card. Virgin. Most of us want to punch that sucker ASAP, and hide the fact until then, but not Cassie Hale. Three years ago she frickin' covered hers in glitter and laminated the thing, proudly telling me that she's waiting for the perfect guy.

So when I see her half naked, tangled together, rolling around on the floor with another stripper, I'm kind of shocked. Okay, that's an understatement. I'm enthralled. I have to know what cracked her picture perfect world and landed her here, and I hope it's something horrible-an event that broke her the way she broke me. Because, that's who Cassie Hale is--the woman who stole my heart and crushed it in her hand.

This book started off strong. The flashbacks to how Cassie and Jon met and how their relationship ended, I think that was my favorite part of the book. When we came back to the present it wasn't what I expected. I wasn't drawn into the book anymore but kept reading because I hoped it would get better. For me, not enough happened in the present part of the book. I kept waiting for that Mark to show up or something else exciting. And then all of a sudden the book ended. It wasn't even an ending, it felt like I was in the middle of a chapter and then boom. The end. Maybe Ward did this so you just have to buy the second book, which worked on me, because now I have to read it, but I would have been happier if she made an ending that makes more sense. 

Of course there are some positive things too, Cassie for example. I love how she stayed true to her beliefs and didn't let Jon turn her into mush and forget everything that's important to her. And Jon, another hot Ferro brother, but still, I can't give this book more than 3,5 stars. Which I absolutely don't like to do, because I adored Damaged 1 and 2.

Review: Damaged 2 by H.M. Ward

Title: Damaged 2
Author: H.M. Ward
Pages: 302 
ISBN: 9780985547349
Genre: New Adult
First Published: Juni 2013
Buy it: Amazon

Home isn't supposed to be dangerous, but for Sidney it is. Returning home means that she has to face her past. It's not just the man who hurt Sidney that makes it horrible, but the family that didn't believe her. They were dead to her, but now that her mom is really dying things seem different. It's a chance to set things right.

What Sidney doesn't realize is that she's dragging Peter into a collision course with his past. Peter must deal with the demons haunting him if he wants to move forward with Sidney. He's willing to give up everything for her, even wade deeper into his past life to help her move forward. But, Peter isn't sure if he can get over what happened to him in New York.

In the second and final Damaged book, Sydney travels back home to visit her dying mother. She's dreading it enormously because she doesn't want to see her brother and her ex-boyfriend. Even though Sydney doesn't want him to, Peter accompanies her on her trip. She found out who he really his and that he lied to her all this time, but Peter has his reasons why he wanted to keep his identity a secret. In Damaged 2 we see a completely different side of Peter, now that we know who his family is. I had to get used to this new Peter. You all know I love bad boys, but with Peter it was such a switch that it took me a while to like the new him.

One of my favorite characters in this book has to be Mr. Turkey. I'm kind of wondering how Ward came up with the hilarious bird. Someone I didn't instantly like, was Sean Ferro. I didn't realise he's the same guy from the Arrangement series until after I finished Damaged 2. I've read the first book of the Arrangement and I like him way better there, than in Damaged. He's a real jerk now, maybe that's why I didn't realise I already knew him. 

I received an ARC of Damaged 2 when I was about to board a plane to Turkey. (The country, not the bird. Obviously.) Luckily I had a few minutes left so I could download it to my phone. I've never read a book on my phone before, but Damaged 2 had me hooked from page one, so I didn't even care what I was reading it on. I'm sad Sydney and Peter's story ends with this book, but we still have The Arrangement and Stripped to read about the other Ferro brothers. YAY! Damaged 2 is getting 4 stars from me.

Review: Damaged by H.M. Ward

Title: Damaged (Damaged #1)
Author: H.M. Ward
Pages: 341
ISBN: 9780615796154
Genre: New Adult
First Published: April 2013
Buy it: Amazon

Life sucks. And, as soon as Sidney picks up the pieces something always knocks her back onto her butt. It's never pretty, but this time is different. This time pretty isn't even the right word.

Peter is the personification of perfection. It's like he fell off his angel perch in purgatory, because let's face it--any guy that hot has got to be naughty. He was probably sent here to ruin her life.

Peter is beyond beautiful with his sexy blue eyes, dark hair, and toned body. Add in his charming wit and Peter is everything Sidney ever wanted in a man, but when things get hot and heavy Peter shows her the door. Sidney takes the walk of shame and leaves. It's the end of the worst blind date ever. Her life couldn't possibly reach higher levels of suckage, but it does.

The next morning everything comes crashing down. The insanely hot guy from last night, the one that saw her half naked, is teaching at the front of the class room..

When Sidney sat down at Peter's table I immediately got the feeling that she was sitting at the wrong table.. Doesn't mean it was any less embarrassing when my suspicion was confirmed. I felt so sorry for her, and from that moment I was addicted to Damaged.

It was a very intense book. Peter and Sidney both have had their fair share of awful experiences although with both of them, you don't immediately find out what happened to them. A compliment to Ward on that, because the not knowing makes you want to read more and more until you're finished and ask yourself, why did you read so fast? Now there is no more Damaged to read!! 

I really liked Sidney's character. She's incredibly strong despite her past. I don't think I could've done what she did during the 'fight' at the end. What I did have to get used to was the student/teacher relationship. In my mind teachers are old and unattractive so I had to change my image of them when I read this ;) 

The reason I'm giving this book 4,5 stars instead of 5 is that I'd hoped there would've been a little bit more action between Sidney and Peter, if you know what I mean.. But on the other hand, I can definitely understand why the book went the way it did. 

Oh, and one last thing; that cliffhanger!! Man, I couldn't believe it ended like that. I wanted to pull out my hair because of all my frustration. And to top it all off, there is no known release date for the second book yet. More frustration!!