Friday, December 13, 2013

Secret Designs


 4 of 5 stars false
When Ari Mitchell had an unexpected one-night stand with her best friend's future brother-in-law, she had full intentions of moving on from it without any dramas. But Dylan Summers was someone she couldn't stop thinking about -- and wanting again. Problem was, he didn't do relationships.
Dylan Summers only allowed himself one-night stands for reasons only he and his two best friends knew about. But after his night with Ari Mitchell, he admitted to himself he had to be with her again, even if it meant making things very complicated.
Their mutual attraction was simply too strong for them to ignore. But how could Ari find a future with a man who avoided commitment? And how could Dylan open up to the woman who could heal his heart, when he feared her true motives for being with him?
*****
This is a stand-alone novel that would give you enjoyment on its own. However, to enhance your experience of this series, the author recommends reading them in order.
Secret Designs is the second of four steamy and sweet books from the Secret Dreams Contemporary Romance series.
Book 1: Secret Words (The love story of Jasmine Allen and Kane Summers)

Review

****The author provided me with a copy of this book for my honest review****
Ari and Dylan had a one-night stand neither one of them expected to have problems moving on. Now both of them can't stop thinking about the other one, Dylan doesn't do relationships for a good reason but now he finds himself wanting more with Ari. Ari finds herself wanting more with Dylan can he get over his past? Can Ari make Dylan see why she is really with him? This is the second book in the Secret Dreams series you won't be lost if you don't read the first book in the series they are stand alone books, but you do get to see what is happening with characters from the first book and it gives more background if you do read the first one. Secret Design starts out after the one-night stand between Ari and Dylan, so you get to see the fallout from what happened between but them not the deed so to speak. They can't avoid each other because Ari is best friends with Dylans brothers fiancee. I really liked Ari she was a strong woman, she was a clothing designer when she lost her job she tried everything she could to make things work. She didn't pity herself or say why me and she didn't want or need Dylan to save her, she worked hard and put everything she had into doing things herself. Dylan was a charmer without even trying; he just had this natural ability to flirt with women and everyone loved him. I understand why he had issues with trusting women, his inability to recognize what his feelings for Ari whether it was denial or self preservation were at times frustrating, sad and down right funny. I liked both of Dylans friends; they acted like jerks and treated Ari pretty bad but in all fairness they were trying to protect their friend, it's excusable. This was a great read with two adorable main characters and some naughty scenes thrown in to steam up the pages; I'm looking forward to getting my hands on book 3.


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Program 13

Program 13 by Nicole Sobon
316 pages; published August 15th, 2012
Young Adult, Sci-fi

Two identities. One Body.17-year-old Emile Reed, may have died, but she isn't dead. Her body now belongs to Program Thirteen, where her every thought, every movement, is controlled. Until Emile begins to find her way back inside of Thirteen's core, where she manages to fend off Thirteen’s programming to reclaim the life that she lost. But Charles McVeigh, the owner of Vesta Corp, isn’t willing to let Thirteen go. And he will stop at nothing to reclaim control of Thirteen's programming. Because without her, McVeigh has nothing.
What makes you human?





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The leather straps constricted my wrists forcing me to endure the electric current soaring through my body. With each jolt of energy, the wires beneath my skin buzzed, sending a shrill throughout my core. Programmed to respond to pain, my body flung forward involuntarily.

“Pain is a natural reaction,” they told us. “It’s a part of being human. It is something you will better understand once your human identity is finally installed.”

But no matter how much I might look human, I was not.

I was a Program, a machine built to appear human.

The straps dug into my skin, tearing it slightly. I could feel the cold brushing against the metal surrounding the wires beneath the break. The tearing didn’t hurt, but my Program reacted as though it did. The scientists wanted to see how we react to pain. They wanted to believe we were capable of acting human.

This body, this skin, it was a cover for what I truly was.

“They do not have enough experience with your kind,” the White Coats said. “We just want to make sure you are safe out there. This is your world, too.”

At least, that was what they told me.

“Program Thirteen,” a harsh voice called from behind the glass. I could faintly make out a shadow of the man as he held his clipboard in his hand, carefully checking each box indicating I’d passed my daily inspection. I was making excellent progress, or so I’d heard.

“Your Program is coming along quite nicely,” McVeigh had told me. “I can only imagine how well you will do once your human identity is programmed into your core.”

I knew that McVeigh was happy with my progress here at Vesta Corp, but I did not comprehend much of what he said. What I did know was that as long as my treatments continued to work, I’d remain activated. I’d retain a purpose. That was all that mattered.

Looking down, I could see that the leather straps were hanging down, no longer constricting my wrists. Even without the straps to hold me down, I did not move. I remained seated, waiting for a White Coat to come strolling in through the door. As I waited, I noticed that my skin where it had been torn from the pressure of the restraints was flapping around. I’d have to pay a visit to the doctor again so that she could tend to the tear.

“You must find a way to fight the pain, Thirteen,” she’d tell me, just like she always did.

And then I’d nod, because that was what I was expected to do.

The truth was that I had no control over how my Program reacted to pain. Everything I did, everything I was – it was all controlled by the scientists. I didn’t choose to react. My Program, the one which they’d built, did. I twisted my wrist so that my palm was facing up, and I gazed down at the open skin. No blood. No bone. Only exposed metal.


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Nicole Sobon is the author of The Emile Reed Chronicles (Young Adult Science Fiction), the Outbreak duology (Young Adult Dystopian), and various short stories.

Her novel, Program 13, was quoted on an episode of Criminal Minds (season 8, episode 13, "Magnum Opus"). 




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