Blog Tour Review + Guest Post + Giveaway: Shaken Not Stirred by Alyssa Rose Ivy

Today I have the tour for Shaken Not Stirred by Alyssa Rose Ivy on the blog. Check out my review and Alyssa's guest post below. Also, enter the giveaway!

Shaken Not Stirred

(Mixology #1)

Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy

Publication Date: January 4, 2014

Genre: New Adult/Contemporary

Source: eARC via Inkslinger PR

~Synopsis~

Finding the perfect guy is like mixing the perfect drink. It's all about the taste and presentation.

Maddy's gone off the deep end, at least that's what her family thinks when she handles her med school rejections by moving to the Outer Banks. It doesn't help that she's paying her bills by bartending and is sharing walls with two guys, even if one of them is her childhood best friend.

Her choice of men seems more balanced on the surface—Colin is driven, sexy, and gainfully employed, but she can't help spending her Thursday nights searching for the perfect drink for Lyle, whose music captivates her with its haunting lyrics. Maddy believes everyone has a perfect drink—and finding Lyle's isn't a challenge she's willing to lose.

~Review~

Maddy has just graduated college and was looking to go to med school. However, when she’s rejected from every school she applied to, she runs off to tourist town, Florida and starts bartending. She moves in with her best friend, Macon and his roommate Brody. While she starts dating handsome, successful, sweet Colin, she still harbors a secret crush for the mysterious musician, Lyle, who barely acknowledges her existence. As she struggles to find herself and what she really wants, she learns that sometimes things aren’t always black and white and they are never what they seem.

To be honest, I didn’t really connect well with Maddy. I liked her well enough and I think she was a strong and independent woman but I felt like she was a little flaky. She couldn’t seem to make up her mind when it came to what she wanted. While I wasn’t a huge fan of Colin (I’ll get to him later), I still felt like Maddy wasn’t always fair to him. She was never fully committed to him and her secret crush on Lyle while she was dating Colin was a little annoying, especially since he barely talked to her or noticed her.

Colin isn’t in the running for book boyfriend of the year but I could see that he really cared for Maddy and truly wanted a relationship with her. He was very sweet and charming and seemingly the perfect guy. My issues with Colin were a lot of his actions. Despite how sweet he is, he was very presumptuous and I didn’t like how he threw his money around and tried to “buy” Maddy’s affection. While I respect him for focusing on his career, I think he made some poor decisions when it came to his job and Maddy. He did one thing in particular and I was like, “Oh, hell no!” In the end, I wasn’t in love with him but I felt like he proved his feelings and his love for Maddy.

I really liked the idea behind Shaken Not Stirred and I liked Alyssa’s writing style. I felt like it flowed really well together and there was definitely a storyline there. However, it just didn’t fully capture my attention and drag me in. I didn’t connect with the characters or really “feel” the relationship and romance with Colin and Maddy. I did really like Macon and Brady and I think they were really good friends to Maddy. They supported her and looked out for her. They were definitely a highlight of the book for me. Overall, I liked Shaken Not Stirred but I didn’t love it. It was just missing something for me. I still look forward to reading another book by Alyssa.

PURCHASE LINKS:

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE

~Guest Post~

10 Things Colin would like you to know about Maddy

1) She’s really smart. Although she let med school rejections get to her, that doesn’t reflect on her intelligence at all.

2) She’s got a strange sense of humor, but it just makes her cuter.

3) She’s a great bartender. She’s really scientific about everything she does.

4) She loves the ocean. She’s definitely the kind of girl who needs to stay near the coast.

5) She’s braver and stronger than she gives herself credit for.

6) She’s beautiful both inside and out.

7) She’s a really good friend. My sister Carly never stops talking about her.

8) She has a thing for chocolate covered strawberries.

9) She lights up any room she enters.

10) She’s a fantastic date to have at a wedding.

Alyssa Rose Ivy Bio:

Alyssa Rose Ivy is a New Adult and Young Adult author who loves to weave stories with romance and a southern setting. Although raised in the New York area, she fell in love with the South after moving to New Orleans for college. After years as a perpetual student, she turned back to her creative side and decided to write. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and two young children, and she can usually be found with a cup of coffee in her hand.

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