Love Is Patient by Isabelle Bearden

I got an ARC copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review on Amazon or Goodreads.
I had never heard of the author but I'm always into finding new favorite reads. This book ended up being a nice quick read, I read through it all in a day (or more like all in a night). We start off with meeting Riley and learning how much she has struggled through, how she is fighting to get herself out of using drugs and alcohol, thankfully she has Chloe (her best friend) there to help her out of it; she really is a great best friend! Then Riley meets Mason, and you feel the instant connection between them and we see how much Riley tries to deny it and ignore it. Seeing all of the obstacles that come in her way and how much pain she goes through its nice to see Mason not giving up on her and how patient he is with her even with all the crap she threw at him to keep him away. I'm glad this book had a nice ending, really enjoyed the epilogue. The book did contain a few minor spelling errors, but it wasn't anything major that interfered with the story or the plot. I would really recommend this book for someone looking for a good romance book that's not too emotional, light hearted and a quick read, really loved it overall

Protect Me by Jennifer Culbreth

I was invited to join Jennifer's street team and given a copy of this book to review and get to know the author's work.

We begin with Abbi working at a bar/club in Los Angeles. She was new in the city, having picked up her bags, leaving her small town and trying to find a better life for herself. Here she meets Judy and Ashley, her two co-workers; instantly they form a great friendship. On her first night working at the club, Abbi is assigned one of the private VIP areas to bar tend to, here she literally falls into the arms of Ryan. He is the owner of a bodyguard agency and had been short a man and therefore was working that night in the VIP area. Instantly there is some sort of attraction to one another, but Abbi just lets it slide. Then over the days they keep on running into one another (sometimes by accident and sometimes due to Ryan's planning). After a crazy encounter that ended in Ryan saving Abbi from being raped, Abbi begins to let Ryan into her life. Finally they begin dating and we go through seeing Abbi's life change for the better. She has a great group of friends, a great boyfriend and a good job. Things seem to be going great until a twist in the story where we find Abbi brought into an unknown situation that her boss has going on. She knows something is wrong, and tells Ryan. He begins to investigate and uncovers a web of lies that Abbi's boss has created, and a mess he has gotten himself and Abbi mixed into that involves very dangerous people. Being mixed in this dangerous group puts Abbi in danger, and we see just how much Ryan loves her and to what lengths he is willing to go in order to protect her.

Being that this was a debut novel I was expecting grammar errors, or points in the story where the plot didn't flow well, was I wrong! Wow, what a great well written story. I seriously could not put it down and stayed up all night reading. The plot twist was so crazy and I really can't wait to see what happens in the next one, especially with the way things leave off.. I'm so curious to see what Judy was going to tell Abbi!