Julie Johnson – Not You It’s Me

Synopsis

Gemma Summers is unlucky in love.
She’s known it since third grade, when her first crush blew a spitball into her hair, and a decade-long string of bad dates, boring sex, and abysmal morning-afters has done nothing to improve her prospects.
But when a random radio call-in contest lands her courtside tickets to the hottest playoff game of the season, Gemma’s luck may finally be on the upswing — even if it doesn’t exactly seem like it when the dreaded jumbotron kiss-cam lands on her and her date, who’s too busy ignoring her to notice…

Chase Croft doesn’t date.
Despite ample opportunity as Boston’s most eligible bachelor, the reformed bad-boy would rather put his energy into taking over the family business than weed through a world of gold-diggers to find an honest woman.
But when the beautiful girl in the seat next to him becomes a courtside spectacle at the hands of her loser boyfriend, he can’t help but step in and save the day.

One kiss. Two strangers. No strings attached.
The only problem is, Chase is used to getting whatever he wants. And after kissing Gemma once, he knows one thing…
He wants more.

NOT YOU IT’S ME is a full-length, standalone contemporary romance about a girl who doesn’t believe in love… and the man who changes her mind. Due to sexy-times and strong language, it is intended for readers 17 and up.

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Véleményem a könyvről

Ne tévesszen meg senkit a borító, ez egy nagyon humoros és aranyos történet volt, amin nagyon sokat nevettem. Egy igazi Hamupipőke történet. 🙂

Gemma Summers egy festőművész, aki Bostonban él a kis egyszobás garzonjában. Gemma barátai szép sorban férjhez mennek, de ő soha nem élt még normális párkapcsolatban, a legközelebbi, amit annak lehet nevezni, a négy hónapja tartó huzavona a szomszéd pasival, aki nagyjából semmibe nézi őt. Gemma nem túl boldog ebben a kapcsolatban, mégis foggal-körömmel ragaszkodna hozzá, hiszen e nélkül csak újabb strigulát húzhatna be az elbukott párkapcsolatai sorába. Éppen ezért utolsó kétségbeesésében részt vesz egy nyereményjátékon a rádióban, ahol sokszori próbálkozására ő lesz a kiválasztott betelefonáló, aki megnyeri a jegyeket egy nagy kosárlabdameccs VIP szekciójába.

Gemma nagy boldogan adja át a jegyeket Ralph-nak, de sajnos az este mégsem úgy alakul, ahogy eltervezte, mert Ralph egész este telefonál, figyelmen kívül hagyva a lányt a meccs alatt. A szünetben a csókkamera pont kiszúrja Gemmát, aki hiába próbálja elérni, hogy Ralph rakja már le a telefont és vegye már észre, hogy ő most egy irtó kínos szituban van, a férfi továbbra sem figyel rá. Már kb. az egész stadion rajta nevet, mikor a mellette ülő dögös, zöldszemű idegen – akivel korábban már volt egy kis szemezés – kimenti a helyzetből, és megcsókolja a kamera kedvéért.

A vártál kicsit hevesebbre sikerül a csók, így már Ralph is észreveszi magát, és kicsit elfajulnak a dolgok. Gemma nem várja meg a vita végét, amit persze a kamera végig vesz, hanem nyúlcipőt húz, és elrohan. Szakadó esőben próbálja elhagyni a stadiont, mikor egy kocsi húzódik mellé és kiderül, hogy a zöldszemű idegen ajánl fel egy fuvart a lánynak. Az már csak másnap reggel derül ki, az összes létező internetes és nyomtatott médiából, hogy a zöldszemű idegen nem más, mint Chase Croft, a milliárdos üzletember, aki öt éve teljesen eltűnt a színről egy családi vita miatt, és az előző nap volt az első nyilvános szereplése, ami – khmm – igencsak nagy port kavart minden tekintetben.

Ez valóban egy igazi mesebeli történet. Egy milliárdos kiszemeli magának az egyszerű, de gyönyörű lányt, és addig hajszolja, míg az be nem adja a derekát? 😀 De amúgy nagyon-nagyon vicces volt! Gemma karaktere valami oltári, ahogy barátnőié is. Chase eléggé az az „alfa” típus, akinek egy viszályokkal teli világban kell élnie, egy rideg családdal, mindezt megkoronázva egy pszichopata uncsitesóval. 😀 Maga a könyv nagyon fordulatos volt. Konkrétan 4 órát aludtam, mert már nem tudtam abbahagyni a legizgibb résznél. 😀 Szóval összességében nagyon jól szórakoztam, Julie Johnson ezúttal sem okozott csalódást, és igazán jó kis kikapcsolódás volt. 🙂

P.S.: A borítót egyszerűen nem tudom dekódolni. Olyan mintha nem is ehhez a könyvhöz készült volna, mert ez nem egy sötét vagy erotikus regény. Ez egy igazi humoros cukorbomba. 😀 Abszolút valami olyasmi illene hozzá, mint az R. S. Grey könyvek borítója, valami aranyos és színes.rcLxkoo6i

My review in English

Don’t misjudge this book because of the cover, because it was a really sweet and humorous story, which made me laugh a lot. It is a true Cinderella story. 🙂

Gemma Summers is an artist who lives in Boston in her one bedroom apartment. Gemma’s friends got married one by one, however she hasn’t been in a decent relationship in her whole life at all. The closest thing what she could call “relationship” is the four-month fling with her neighbor who is a total jerk. Gemma is not too happy in this relationship, but she fights for it tooth and nail because she doesn’t wants to admit that she failed again in this field. This is the reason why she tries to participate in a radio call-in prize in her final desperation. She tries to call the radio station a tons of times, than finally she wins the courtside section tickets to the basketball playoff game.

Gemma is really happy and hopeful when she shows the tickets to Ralph, but the night doesn’t turn out the way she expected. Ralph is on his phone the whole time during the game and he ignores Gemma the whole time. At the start of fourth period, during a quick break in the action the kiss camera spots Gemma, and although she tries to draw his attention to the fact that she is in a really awkward situation, Ralph continuously ignores her. Already half of the stadium is laughing at her, when the hot green-eyed stranger kisses her for the sake of the camera.

After the kiss becomes a little more heated than expected, Ralph finally notices what happens, and the thing starts running out of hand. Gemma doesn’t wait for the outcome, she leaves the stadium. She starts to run home in the rain, when suddenly a car pulls over besides her at the curb. It turns out that the owner of the car is the green-eyed stranger. The next morning Gemma finds out from the newspapers and the internet, that the green-eyed stranger is Chase Croft, the billionaire, who disappeared from the publicity five years ago. The day before was his first appearance in five years and his kiss with Gemma just blew up the internet and the media.

This was a true fairy-tale story. A billionaire takes an eye to the simple, but beautiful girl, and he chases after her until she doesn’t let him get her. Although it was really funny! The character of Gemma and her besties were hilarious. Chase was an “alpha-type” and he has to live in a world full with feud, with a cold family on the topping with a psychotic cousin. 😀 The story was really engaging. I slept only four hours because I just couldn’t put it down at the most gripping part. 😀 So I really enjoyed this book and Julie Johnson couldn’t disappoint me this time either. I really loved it!

P.S.: I really don’t understand this cover choice, because I think it’s doesn’t fit for the story at all. This is not a dark or erotic novel, this is a really humorous sugar cake. 😀 I think a colorful, cheery cover would fit so much more, especially that Gemma is an artist!

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My Favorite Quotes From the Book

“She never asked for a Prince, let alone waited around for one. Hell, all she ever wanted was a night off from work and a fancy dress to twirl in for a few hours. It’s never made sense to me that I’m supposed to sit around pining for some mythical Prince Charming to get off his ass and rescue me. If that’s the grand game plan, I could end up waiting forever. Because, I mean, if he’s anything like the rest of the male population, the prince is probably stuck in traffic somewhere, or got lost along the way and is too damn stubborn to ask for directions.”

“You’re my fresh air when they try to drag me under.”

„(…) well, as everyone knows, if the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, the way to a girl’s is through a good book.”

“Life is a big, fat mess. There’s no order or reason to most of what’ll happen to you before you turn to dust and fade from memory, and there’s nothing you can do about that. All you can do is find someone who turns that abstract chaos into a work of art… and never let them go.”

“My world — it’s monochrome. Black and white. But you…”
His voice gets lower, huskier. “You’re painted in every shade on the palette. You’re screaming color. A fucking rainbow.

My words are swallowed up as his lips crash down on mine. It isn’t a soft kiss — it’s intense, furious, in a way I never knew a kiss could be, his lips hard and unforgiving against mine. It’s a shutup-I-hate-you kiss. A you-drive-me-crazy kiss. An if-I-don’t-kiss-you-I’ll-kill-you kiss.

“He’s a sculpture.
Painstakingly chiseled into perfection over the course of years, until arias could be written about his eyebrows, his cheekbones, the freaking shape of his nostrils.
And me?
Well, I’m probably a finger-painting.
Done by a three-year-old.
Without supervision.”

“Thanks for the ride, Green Eyes,” I say, shrugging out of his coat and casting one fleeting glance in his direction as my hand closes around the door handle.
Those very eyes widen slightly as they move over my face, as though they’re memorizing my features. “Green Eyes?” he asks, amused.
“Well, I suppose I could’ve gone with knight-in-shining-town-car or destroyer-of-self-esteem,but neither of those quite roll off the tongue.”

4.5 -Prince Charming- Stars

4,5 stars

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About the Author

Julie Johnson is a twenty-something Boston native suffering from an extreme case of Peter Pan Syndrome and an obsession with fictional characters. When she’s not writing, Julie can most often be found daydreaming, drinking too much coffee, striving to conquer her Netflix queue, and stalking Goodreads for new books to add to her ever-growing TBR list.

You can find Julie on Facebook or her website www.juliejohnsonbooks.com. Sometimes, when she can figure out how Twitter works, she tweets from @AuthorJulie.

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Not You It’s Me Playlist by Julie Johnson

1. You Should Know Where I’m NYIM-Song-Inspiration-1024x1024Coming From by Banks
2. Treacherous by Taylor Swift
3. Beneath Your Beautiful (feat. Emeli Sandé) by Labrinth
4. American Girl by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
5. Stay With Me by Sam Smith
6. Gotta Have You by The Weepies
7. The Way I Am by Ingrid Michaelson
8. Lay Me Down by Sam Smith
9. Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding
10. If You Leave by Nada Surf
11. The Writer by Ellie Goulding
12. You Are In Love by Taylor Swift
13. Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran

Print

Cross the Line by Julie Johnson expected publication: November 10th 2015 by Smashwords Edition

This is Phoebe’s story! A rom-com/contemporary romance spinoff of Not You It’s Me with some crossover characters and a fresh, standalone story that will enchant both new and returning readers!

“If you thought Gemma took you on a crazy fun ride… just wait until you meet her sister…”

CROSS THE LINE by Julie Johnson

CROSS THE LINE by Julie Johnson