Love by Numbers by Sara Donovan

Love by Numbers by Sara Donovan
Publisher: AUS Impulse
Publication Date: July 1, 2014
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: eARC via NetGalley

Summary {via GoodReads}:
What if there was a scientific 7-step formula that triggered your heart into feeling passion?

Would you follow it to fall in love with your "nice guy" bestie - the sensible choice who was actually available?

Set in the glittering north shore of Sydney, Love by Numbers follows the story of April, a successful HR executive who is in the middle of a serious man drought. To deal with her boredom, she fantasies more than she should about her hot, but uninterested-to-say-the-least office crush, Ryan. When April finally gets Ryan to drinks one night and she watches him fall for her flirtatious house-mate, April decides never again to trust her instinctual "man-picker." Her only solution is to rewire her brain and create passion with the one guy she knows she can trust.

This is a story about how far you can go to control your heart's choices, and what happens when you try.

She thinks: This book was very disappointing. It wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be when I first requested it. I'm not sure if I was distracted by the cover or what happened, but I didn't enjoy the book.

It started out good. I liked how the characters were introduced. I liked how it ended...sort of. Not everything that happened in the book was resolved. And the middle of the book was a jumble of thoughts that seemed thrown together. Like, let's put a cliche scene here then some introspective-ness then a scene with parents that has nothing to do with the plot and - oh! - let's put another cliche in here. Make sense? Yeah, me neither, but that's how the book felt.

I wish I could recommend this to others, but I don't think it would be worth the time and effort put into reading it. Someone needs to take a red pen to this book and help it make sense. There are too many unimportant characters thrown into the plot that just need to go. It would make the book so much better.

Love, Lies, and Lemon Cake by Sue Watson

Love, Lies, and Lemon Cake by Sue Watson
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: June 27, 2014
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: eARC via NetGalley

Summary {via NetGalley}: 
Faye Dobson has lost her sparkle.

Living on film star fantasies and vague memories of a marriage that once was, she can't help feeling that life is passing her by. She dreams of being whisked to Paris for dinner, making three wishes at Trevi fountain and having sex under the stars. But the wrinkles are multiplying, her husband's passion is for plumbing, and the nearest she'll get to Rome is take-away pizza.

So when Faye meets Dan the gorgeous Australian surfer guy working in the local deli she can't help but wonder what it would be like to see the world. He is blonde, tanned, ten years younger, and bakes the most amazing lemon cake. Unlike her husband, Dan actually listens to Faye, his smile makes her feel fizzy inside, and when he smiles...Oh. My. God.

But is Faye being silly? What would Dan see in someone like her? Even if he did have feelings for her, could she give up everything to be with him?

She thinks: I don't even remember why I picked this book up. Maybe because it talked about cake and I quite possibly was craving some at the time? That's got to be it because I only got five chapters in before I abandoned this book. Faye, the main character, was too whiney for my taste. The entire part of the book that I read felt like a giant complaint. I mean, I get that some people aren't happy with their lives, but I don't want to read about that if all you're going to do is complain the whole time. I have enough of my own problems; I don't need yours too. I might pick this book up again one day, but it's just not for me right now.

Me Without You by Kelly Rimmer

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Me Without You by Kelly Rimmer
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: June 6, 2014
Number of Pages: 304
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Source: eARC {via NetGalley}

Summary: 
A story of how love can break our hearts - and heal them.

A year ago, I met the love of my life. For two people who didn't believe in love at first sight, we came pretty close.

Lilah MacDonald - beautiful, opinionated, stubborn and all kinds of wonderful in ways that words could never quite capture. The woman who taught me to love again.

My Lilah, who gave me so much, and yet kept from me a secret that she knew would break my heart.

My name is Callum Roberts, and this is our story.

She thinks: I have been going through a spell of reading very emotional books lately, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I was in the perfect head space to enjoy all of those books; this one included. I first wanted to read this book because it touted that it was similar to The Notebook and One Day, which are both outstanding books with beautiful love stories. Thankfully, this book did not disappoint one bit. I found myself captivated from the first few lines. 

"It was absolutely not love at first sight...maybe it was actually love at second sight."

This book will certainly break your heart or warm your cold heart, depending on your circumstances. That being said, you need to have a box of tissues by your side once you get to the end of the book. Consider yourself warned! The character development was perfect, and the story is plausible. I loved the dual POVs - Callum telling us their love story and Lilah writing privately in her journal. Callum wears his heart on his sleeve whereas Lilah keeps her emotions hidden away.

You will walk away from this novel a better person with more appreciation for the life you have and the lives of others. We all have our own battles and challenges to face every day, and if I learned one thing from the book, it's that it's easier to have company along the way.

See what others are saying about Me Without You by Kelly Rimmer:

• Simona Elena @ Sky's Book Corner
• Library Cat @ Chick Library Cat
• Ella Janine @ The Filapina Booknote
• Steph @ Judging Covers
• Alba @ Lost in Chick Lit