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Book Review – Officer in Pursuit

26 Monday Jan 2015

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9781505283389_p0_v1_s260x420Officer in Pursuit (Lock and Key Book 3)

Ranae Rose

Secrets are what Kerry has lived and breathed for the past three years, and those secrets may kill her, if she’s not careful. Her new life in a coastal North Carolina paradise is haunted by her past and ruled by her number one goal: to not be noticed. Even if that means denying her attraction to Officer Grey Morgan, who’s set his sights on her beyond any doubts and despite all odds.

Grey has spent his summer in pursuit of Kerry, but what he doesn’t know is that nothing with her is as it seems and loving her comes with a price.

What she doesn’t know is that there’s no risk he won’t take, and no way he’ll let her fight her demons alone.

If you have read either of my other reviews in this series (Officer Next Door and Officer Out of Uniform) you know that I love Rose’s books.  They have that perfect amount of danger and heat, but she doesn’t skimp on the heart. 

We’ve seen both Kerry and Grey in the previous stories and we’ve watched as they’ve danced around their attraction to each.  But with Officer in Pursuit we finally get a chance to find out why Kerry has been resisting the oh-so-sexy officer.  I love how Grey is willing to put himself out there again and again, knowing that Kerry is worth it and waiting for her to give him a chance.  He’s confident, caring and funny – absolutely perfect for falling in love with. But Kerry has her secrets and they are doozies.  When they finally come to light, they bring with them a threat that she can only face if she’s willing to let Grey and her friends in.  I can see why she thinks that she has to hold so much inside but the support she receives once everything is revealed is just what she needs.

Full of humor and adventure and sexiness galore, Rose once again delivers a winner.  And I can’t wait until we get the next book to see what she brings our favorite police officer, Jeremy.   

Book Review – Running Interference

23 Friday Jan 2015

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We’re going to finish the work week with a sexy new sports romance – one that switches things up with a gridiron heroine!

*****

RI Cover (2)Running Interference

Cleveland Clash Book 1

By Elley Arden

Blurb:

In an exciting new series from Elley Arden, it’s sports romance with a twist, when an independent, tough-talking female football player joins forces with her high-profile, hotter-than-hell friend to save her father’s boxing gym.

Even when she’s playing offense, defense is the name of the game for Cleveland Clash offensive linewoman Tanya Martin. After watching her family and friends struggle with relationships and the strings they leave behind, she has one unflappable goal: “Protect this house. Protect this heart.” The motto takes on new meaning when her father’s beloved gym is threatened with foreclosure and help appears in the form of her high school friend Cam Simmons, who rolls into town after a Super Bowl win and a five-year absence, looking like the one man who could test her resolve.

More comfortable in the spotlight than in the gritty surroundings of his hometown, Cam Simmons dreads the off-season visit that comes

with the ulterior motive of convincing his mother to move. But things change when he reconnects with Tanya. The more time he spends with the sexy, sarcastic woman, who is as determined as ever to stay single, the more he can’t resist the challenge. Until, becoming friends with benefits has her running away, and a bachelor auction to save the gym has him in the sites of a woman who could ruin everything.

Goodreads  Amazon  Barnes & Noble iBooks

*****

E Arden auth picAuthor Info:

Elley Arden is a born and bred Pennsylvanian who has lived as far west as Utah and as far north as Wisconsin. She drinks wine like it’s water (a slight exaggeration), prefers a night at the ballpark to a night on the town, and believes almond English toffee is the key to happiness. Charming characters. Emotional stories. Sexy romance.

Connect with Elley

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Tsu | Newsletter

*****

Review:

I loved the interaction between Tanya and Cam.  Even though their lives have taken very different paths, the shared history and close friendship comes through as they get to know each other again.  And the importance given to family is very appealing as well – both of them will do anything to take care of those they love and it is apparent to anyone who knows them. But they have problems as well.

Cam wants to get his mom out of town and never come back but the attraction between him and Tanya is very powerful.  Is it enough to survive him leaving again?

Tanya’s very afraid of giving her heart.  She doesn’t have a lot of good role models, her parents are divorced and her brother is separated from his wife, so she’s decided that nothing positive can come from love.  Enter Cam, who she feels abandoned her when he didn’t need her any more, and he just highlights her beliefs.  Is she willing to give him a chance?

With chemistry galore but a ton of emotional baggage to go with it, Arden’s characters are delightful.  Tanya’s discovery of her feelings for Cam is quite well done and the ending is a lot of fun. And since this is part of a series, we’ve got some great secondary characters who are just waiting for their own story.

Running Interference is the perfect mixture of sports and romance, with angst and heat galore.

*****

Giveaway:

Daily #giveaways and 1 Grand Prize up for grabs during the blitz for RUNNING INTERFERENCE, a Cleveland Clash novel by Elley Arden!

Female professional football player Tanya Martin enlists the help of childhood friend and Super Bowl MVP Cam Simmons to help save her father’s financially strapped boxing gym and in the process loses her carefully guarded heart.

To celebrate the release of her new series, Cleveland Clash, with the first novel, RUNNING INTERFERENCE, Elley is doing daily #giveaways on each day of the review blitz! On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, winners will receive a digital copy of one of Elley’s backlist titles. On Tuesday and Thursday, winners will #win a $10 gift card to Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winner’s choice). Daily drawings will be held at 4:00pm EST and winners will be announced on Elley’s Facebook page and on Twitter.

And wait, there’s MORE! The grand prize winner, chosen at the end of the blitz, will #win a football prize pack, including a Cleveland Clash water bottle, a signed copy of Heal My Heart—the book that started it all—and more! Winner will be announced on Elley’s Facebook and Twitter at the end of the blitz.

Winners will need to contact Elley with their preferred store for gift card, email address and shipping address, at elley AT elleyarden DOT com.

https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b050ef2954/

*****

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Book Review – The Make Believe Wedding

21 Wednesday Jan 2015

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cover52654-mediumThe Make Believe Wedding

Montana Born Brides Book 9

by Sarah Mayberry

Everyone in Marietta, Montana, is in love and getting married – at least that’s the way it feels to Andie Bennett the night of the Valentine’s Ball. As she watches the man she’s loved from afar for half her life dance with another woman, Andie allows herself a moment of sheer fantasy as she fills out a stray entry form for the Great Wedding Giveaway. Andie channels years of fantasy and yearning for Heath McGregor onto the page, but she never intends to actually enter the Giveaway. Only a crazy woman would do that. But fate has other ideas….

When Heath learns he and Andie are last minute finalists in the Great Wedding Giveaway, he’s completely baffled. How on earth could anyone make such a ridiculous mistake? When it becomes clear that Andie will be humiliated if the slip-up becomes public, Heath does what any good friend would – he suggests they pretend the engagement is real until the Giveaway is over and then quietly “break up” when no one is paying any attention. It’s the perfect solution, except Heath very quickly realises that pretending Andie is his is no hardship at all. In fact, it may just be the best thing that’s ever happened to him…

Once again I joined a series in the middle … do you guys sense a theme?  This time though I feel that maybe I missed out on some of the nuances that make this series so great.  There were relationships and moments that probably would have been better appreciated if I had a grasp of their history.  But the main story itself was definitely complete and totally enjoyable.

I loved Heath and Andie together.  The idea of the friends to lovers storyline has always been one of my favorites and this one has a little Ugly Duckling thrown in just to make me extra happy.  The premise might seem a little far-fetched, but Mayberry makes it work.  And once the two are a couple for real, it is wonderful. 

At about 150 pages, The Make Believe Wedding is a little more than novella length but it reads super-fast.   With a years-long friendship to guide them, the interactions between Heath and Andie are both fun and sweet.  Heath is strong and caring, but just hasn’t found the right woman yet.  When he realizes that Andie has gotten herself into an embarrassing situation, he’s got a big enough heart that he’s willing to help her out.  But it might lead to more than he expected. 

Andie is convinced she’s the woman that Heath needs and has been right in front of him forever.  Logically she knows that if he wanted her romantically he would have done something by now but the brain and the heart are not always connected.  There are times when her feelings for Heath will break your heart but it is well worth it to get to their HEA. 

There are a lot of secondary characters that I feel like I would know more about if I’d read the other stories.  It wasn’t that big a deal but I think I would have enjoyed having them around a little more if I’d been more informed.  Overall though it didn’t hurt the main plot and was just a minor irritant. 

Full of angst and warmth, The Make Believe Wedding will grab your heart and hold on until the last page. 

Spotlight – Going Under

20 Tuesday Jan 2015

Posted by in Blog Tour, Book Review, Contest, Sneak Peek

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Today I’ve got another great paranormal romance – and I even was lucky enough to read this one so I shared a little of what I thought as well.

*****

goingunderGoing Under

Secret Blood, Book 3

by Emma Weylin

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Liquid Silver Books

Date of Publication: December 1, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-62210-169-6

ASIN: B00P6SGAVE

Number of pages: 257

Word Count: 64,000

Blurb:

Kenzie Butler is in love with the man who saved her life eight years ago. Her problem? He’s a Siberian were-tiger with the ability to scent his mate, and she wasn’t it. For years they lived across the hall from each other, helping one another with the aftermath from being tortured in a science experiment gone wrong. With each passing day, she falls more in love with him, even while knowing that one day Tiberius will find his true mate.

Tiberius Petrov leads a shadowed life. Kenzie is the only thing standing between him and the gruesome fate awaiting any shifter who goes rogue. For eight years the sound of her voice, the sweet intoxication of her scent, and the soft feel of her skin have kept him from turning down darker paths. But he’d always believed she could never be his. His nose was supposed to tell him who his perfect mate is, but it lied. He didn’t know if it was possible to develop a mate scent. All he knew was one day Kenzie didn’t smell like his mate, and the next day she did. Even after her scent changed, she kept insisting they were perfect as just friends.

After Kenzie survives a mysterious were-bear attack in her place of work, Tiberius learns the scientists altered more than his state of mind. Just when he thought he could take Kenzie as his mate he discovers he could be the biggest threat to her life.

Available at Amazon

*****

Excerpt:

He got off the creaking chair. He found his pants first, and tugged those on, and then started the search for his shirt. “Kenzie, I lost control with you, goddamn it. You need to go, no, stay here. I’ll send Chad over.” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “Where is my fucking shirt?”

She was standing in front of him in the next moment. Her soft breasts brushing against his chest. “Look at me.”

He growled. “Kenzie, I know when I am losing it, and I am losing it.”

She captured his face between her hands and pulled him down so they were at eye level. “It’s completely normal to fantasize about what you want to do while having sex.” She kissed his nose. “You fantasized about me and you being mated. It’s okay.”

He wasn’t safe for her, but here she was, trying to make it right for him. Hellcats! She was…she was supposed to be safe with him, and in one second of giving in to the fantasy of her, he’d have done the worst, most unforgivable thing a shifter could do. “I’m not safe for you, Kenz. Please, don’t make this harder than it is.”

“Ty, don’t do this. You need to calm down and think about this rationally.” “I need my shirt.” He pulled away from her and got down on his hands and knees to check under the bed.

Kenzie got down on the floor next to him. “It’s in your apartment.”

He darted back. “Put some clothes on. I’ll have Chad come here.”

“Tiberius.”

He retreated to the door. “Tiberius Petrov, you did not just make love to me so you could walk out on me.”

That was exactly what he was going to do. He should be her safe place, he should be the one thing in the whole world that would never hurt her, and he wasn’t sure until after the fact that he hadn’t hurt her. “I’m sorry, Kenz. I love you too much to stay.” Then he did the hardest thing he’d ever done. He walked away from her.

*****

Review:

I really enjoyed Going Under.  Once again I joined a series mid-stream but thankfully once again it didn’t matter.  Weylin has created a great paranormal world, one full of shifters and other intriguing beings, but most importantly the bad guys will do just about anything to exploit them.  That element of danger adds that extra zing to her story (not that she needs it).  Both Tiberius and Kenzie are appealing and their troubles engaging.  I loved the interactions between the two and how they face their troubles together.  The fact that their relationship is based on years of friendship and the extreme things that they had to survive makes the fight to get to their HEA all the better.

So if you like intrigue, danger, and fantasy mixed in with your romance, the Secret Blood series is definitely for you.  Not only did Weylin keep me turning pages with her fun characters and their romantic troubles, but she kept me on the edge of my seat by having danger come at them time and again.  By giving readers a nice big fantastical world, Weylin also gives us a ton of supporting characters to root for and a ton of material for future books – I’m excited, y’all!

*****

Emma001Author Info:

Emma Weylin fell in love with the written word as a child. She loves to create her own worlds full of magic and wonder. One of her favorite things is populating those worlds with interesting and true-to-life characters who experience everything from epic love and heartrending battles to seriously silly or embarrassing “duh” moments. She believes love can and does conquer all things. When she’s not writing, she enjoys her family and has a copious yarn addiction.

https://twitter.com/EmmaWeylin

https://www.facebook.com/EmmaWeylinAuthor

http://emmaweylin.com/

*****

Giveaway:

$25 Amazon Gift Card

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/ba112ffc918/

*****

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Book Review – Sugar’s Twice as Sweet

15 Thursday Jan 2015

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cover49448-mediumSugar’s Twice as Sweet

Sugar, Georgia: Book 1

by Marina Adair

“Marina Adair writes with heart and sizzling heat. SUGAR’S TWICE AS SWEET will charm you!” –Jill Shalvis, New York Times bestselling author

“A can’t miss read with small town sweetness, endearing characters and a unique quirky flair.” –Carly Phillips, New York Times bestselling author on SUGAR’S TWICE AS SWEET

He’s trouble she doesn’t need . . .

Thanks to a cheating fiancé, Josephina Harrington’s perfect life just crashed and burned. Moving in with her overbearing parents is definitely not an option. No, she needs to prove she can make it on her own. And she will-by turning her great-aunt’s old plantation house into a destination getaway. She’s just not expecting her contractor to be so hands-on-and so totally irresistible.

. . . but everything she wants

Bad-boy golf champion Brett McGraw figured his hometown of Sugar, Georgia was the perfect place to lay low and get his life back up to par. The leggy blonde with a pint-sized pup is the kind of sweet ‘n sassy trouble he never saw coming. She doesn’t know a nut from a bolt and before long, he’s renovating her house . . . as she steals his heart. Can he convince Josephina that his womanizing ways are in the past and he’s ready for forever?

Y’all, I haven’t loved a Southern golfer this much since Kenny Traveler in Lady Be Good (and if you haven’t read Susan Elizabeth Phillips book yet, you are SOOO missing something fantastic).  And while no one will ever completely replace Kenny in my heart, Brett does come in a solid second.  And just like Phillip’s Wynette, Sugar is full of quirky characters, with big hearts and a touch of crazy. 

Joie is trying to find herself after years of living in someone else’s shadow.  Add in being a Yankee coming to the small-town South, you know things are not going to go so smoothly.  Luckily she’s got super-sexy, hometown hero Brett in her corner.  Unfortunately for him, she’s fighting their attraction with everything in her because she’s determined to not lose herself in a man again.  From opossums in the attic to gun-toting grandmas, Joie has a hilarious journey ahead of her as she tries to discover her place in the world and we’re there for every laugh-out-loud and heart-tugging moment. 

Brett is laying low thanks to a sex video gone viral, which means he’s heading home to Sugar … and runs smack into Joie.  The fact that she won’t go out with him (and even more so that HE really wants her to) throws the handsome playboy off his stride.  But as their friendship grows and deepens, so do Brett’s feelings … and his urge to fight for something more.  The fact that Joie understands him like no one else touches something in him and he’s not going to give up on it.  Or them. 

As engaging as Brett and Joie are, they are solidly supported by a wonderfully entertaining secondary cast of wacky characters – you will absolutely LOVE the Sunday School Mafia, which is as wonderful as it sounds.  And since this starts a series there is plenty of material to keep me coming back from more (Brett has brothers who I hope are the first ones in line)!

When Sugar’s best-known son and the Yankee outsider get together, there are more fireworks than the 4th of July.  While Brett helps Joie rediscover the real her, she might just teach him a thing or two about the real him.  And it is an entertaining ride every step of the way. 

Spotlight – One Month of Elle

14 Wednesday Jan 2015

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Today we’re celebrating One Night of Trouble, the newest in Elle Kennedy’s deliciously sexy After Hours series by taking a look at all three books, getting a very HOT peak into the first (One Night of Sin) and revisiting my review from last fall.  And best of all, Elle is giving away a fantastic gift basket so don’t miss out!

*****

ONoSin_500One Night of Sin

Sometimes it’s good to be bad…

When it comes to sex, good girl Skyler Thompson always plays it safe, choosing stable and sedate over wild and thrilling. She doesn’t do one-night-stands, but one look at sinfully sexy Gage Holt and she’s willing to reconsider. He makes her want to be bad for once in her life, and she’s prepared to take what she wants.

Danger follows former MMA fighter Gage Holt like a shadow. Despite his successes as part owner of Sin, an exclusive nightclub in Boston, Gage can’t risk getting involved with a woman, especially one as sweet as Skyler. Still, he can’t resist a taste—and it’s so damn good he has to see her again.

As addicted as he is to her, Gage knows there’s no future for him and Skyler—not with his past lurking in the dark corners of an MMA cage. But Skyler’s tougher than she looks, and she’s ready to fight for her man.

Goodreads Book Link: http://bit.ly/OneNightSinGR

Amazon Buy Link: http://bit.ly/OneNightSinAM

Barnes & Noble Buy Link: http://bit.ly/OneNightSinBN

Entangled Page: http://bit.ly/OneNightSinEP

ONoScandal_500One Night of Scandal

The wrong man never felt so right…

Ex-fighter Reed Miller has been secretly lusting over his best friend’s girl for months, but he refuses to jeopardize a friendship over a woman—especially one who doesn’t like him all that much. Now that Darcy’s on the market again, it’s even more imperative to stick to his strict hands-off policy. But the sizzling attraction between them is too powerful to ignore, and once he’s had a taste of her…all bets are off.

Darcy Grant is tired of walking the straight and narrow path. She’s on the hunt for passion, and there’s no denying Reed is just the man to give it to her. Although she has no interest in dating a bad boy, and certainly not her ex’s best friend, it’s impossible not to melt beneath Reed’s skillful touch. Now it’s just a matter of setting a few ground rules—and hoping her rule-breaking, sweet-talking bad boy agrees to follow them. But if she lets Reed into her bed, does she stand a chance of keeping him out of her heart?

Goodreads Book Link: http://bit.ly/OneNightScandalGR

Amazon Buy Link: http://bit.ly/OneNightScandalAM

Barnes & Noble Buy Link: http://bit.ly/OneNightScandalBN

Entangled Page: http://bit.ly/OneNightScandalEP

ONoTrouble_500One Night of Trouble

No More Mr. Nice Guy…

The moment AJ Walsh sees the sexy, tattooed pixie walk up to his bar, it’s lust at first sight. He’s always been labeled the “nice” guy―opening doors, buying flowers, and never, ever having one-night stands. But with this wicked little angel with red lips and unfathomably dark eyes? Oh, yeah. Tonight, “nice” has nothing to do with it…

Brett Conlon is trying to convince her family that she’s put away her reckless wild girl side for good. Nothing―and no one―could be better for her reputation than golden boy AJ Walsh. So they make a deal: if he plays The Good Boyfriend for her family, he can be a very, very bad boy with her. Now their one naughty night is about to turn into a whole lot of trouble…

Goodreads Book Link: http://bit.ly/OneNightTroubleGR

Amazon Buy Link: http://bit.ly/OneNightTroubleAM

Barnes & Noble Buy Link: http://bit.ly/OneNightTroubleBN

Entangled Page: http://bit.ly/OneNightTroubleEP

*****

One Night of Sin Excerpt:

“I’m Skyler,” she said.

He nodded.

“Maybe you’re new to civilized society, but normally when people introduce themselves, you reply by providing your own name.” She arched one perfectly defined eyebrow.

“Is that right?” His lips twitched. “Well, what makes you think I’m at all civilized, Skyler?”

That made her falter. She bit her lower lip. Tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and the scent of her shampoo floated his way. She smelled like green apples. A sweet and feminine fragrance, serving as a reminder that he shouldn’t be out here talking to her.

“How old are you, sweetheart?” His voice came out rough.

“Well, my ID held up at the door, so I’m over twenty-one if that’s what you’re worried about. Twenty-four, actually. In some cultures that would make me a spinster.”

Gage swallowed a laugh. There was something truly refreshing about her sarcasm, especially when contrasted with the flush of her cheeks and the way she fidgeted with her hands. She didn’t belong here. Not at this club, not even in this neighborhood. She should be nestled between crisp white sheets right about now, snuggled next to a wholesome man while the two of them watched late-night talk shows before bed.

“Go back inside,” he said gruffly. “Your date’s probably wondering where you are.”

That made her snicker. “I doubt it. I think he wrote me off the second he realized I wasn’t going to fuck him tonight.”

Gage’s cock jerked in his pants. Jesus. That angel mouth wasn’t allowed to say things like that. Not in front of him, a man whose inner devil could be summoned at the drop of a hat.

“Go back inside,” he repeated.

“Why? You don’t like talking to me?” Hands planted on her slim hips, she moved closer, a pensive look on her face.

He shrugged. “I don’t like talking, period.”

“Huh. So what do you like to do?”

Gage met her eyes in another long, deliberate stare. Leaving no question as to what he enjoyed doing.

She visibly swallowed. And then she startled the hell out of him.

“So maybe that’s what we should do.”

A laugh rumbled out of his chest. “You’re playing with fire, baby.”

“Am I?”

She had the nerve to lick her lips. He didn’t think she’d done it as an intentional taunt, but damn, the response to seeing her tongue dart out was instantaneous. His erection pulsed against his zipper, hard and persistent, like it was trying to tunnel its way out of his pants and into her pussy.

Gage took a breath, trying to ease the ache down south. Nope, he wasn’t giving in, wasn’t going to acknowledge the awareness prickling over his flesh. He was fighting in two days, and he didn’t like to screw before a match. The frustration fueled him, gave him the edge he needed to send an opponent to his knees.

But at the moment, he wanted to be the one on his knees. With his head underneath Skyler’s skimpy dress, his face buried between her legs as he licked her up until she screamed.

“Yes,” he rasped. “You’re definitely playing with fire.”

“Maybe I like fire, did you ever think of that? Maybe I want to get burned.”

*****

One Night of Sin Review:

(Some of you may remember this review already – it was posted here just a handful of months back.)

Gage is haunted by his rough past and even though he’s tried to become a better man, circumstances keep him in the seedier world of him childhood.  He believes he’s no good at relationships and that he can’t offer anything to someone as good and decent as Skyler.  Skyler may be a good girl but she’s willing to play at being a bad girl if it means she can give in to her attraction for Gage.  When their one night stand becomes a sex only relationship that begins to feel like more than just sex, things start to get complicated.   

These two together are fabulous.  Gage brings out a more daring side to Skyler, while she reminds him that he can be more than what he was.  While One Night of Sin is novella in length, and a decent part of it is spent on the steamy interactions between the two (not that I’m complaining), Kennedy still does a good job of letting us see their relationship develop.  We don’t get a lot of those more relationship-y interactions first hand, but we are told about them and we get to see their effect in the changes in their attitudes … and with how Gage starts to believe that he can be that better man.  It’s a very fast read, a little over a hundred pages, but it moves well and left me with that happy feeling that I want from a good romance.

I totally got into this book and I kept thinking Elle Kennedy’s name was familiar.  She’s the co-author of All Fired Up, the first book in the DreamMakers series with Vivian Arend, which I really enjoyed.  (And I’m looking forward to reading the second book, Love is a Battlefield – review coming when I’m done.)  I also think there is a good chance I’ve read one or two of her Harlequin stories, but I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for future stories.  Based on her book list, it looks like she specializes in tough, troubled heroes and from what I’ve read so far she’s good at keeping them on their toes.

*****

Author Info:

A USA Today bestselling author, Elle Kennedy grew up in the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario, and holds a BA in English from York University. From an early age, she knew she wanted to be a writer and actively began pursuing that dream when she was a teenager. She loves strong heroines and sexy alpha heroes, and just enough heat and danger to keep things interesting!

Elle loves to hear from her readers. Visit her website www.ellekennedy.com or sign up for her newsletter to receive updates about upcoming books and exclusive excerpts. You can also find her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter (@ElleKennedy).

Website:  www.ellekennedy.com

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/ElleKennedy

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorElleKennedy

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1935000.Elle_Kennedy

Newsletter:  http://eepurl.com/OR9cr

*****

Giveaway:

Enter to win a Seduction Gift Basket

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Book Review – Julie’s Butterfly

09 Friday Jan 2015

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cover54207-mediumWhen beautiful Julietta meets aloof, handsome photographer Bastian, she immediately feels butterflies in her stomach.

But Bastian has a secret: Since birth, he has suffered from a very rare skin disorder that makes him exceptionally prone to injury. His life is riddled with pain and rejection; his thoughts are dominated by self-doubt and mistrust.

Julie wants to help him shake loose his inhibitions and open up to her, but can she reach deep enough to truly understand his suffering?

Inspired by her real-life love for a “Butterfly Child” and moved by the reactions of other people, Greta Milán wanted to find an unconventional way to raise awareness of the rare hereditary skin disorder epidermolysis bullosa. In her debut novel, Julie’s Butterfly, she deals with prejudice, describes the experience of EB sufferers, and gives rich and varied insight into life with EB. Greta Milán is married and lives near Frankfurt, Germany.

Knowing that Julie’s Butterfly is influenced by real people and the struggles that they experience makes a touching story even more heart-breaking.  I’ll admit that I’m not always the most tactful of people.  When you see someone who obviously is dealing with some physical … imperfection seems an awfully harsh word but I don’t know what else to use … sometimes you have no idea how to react.  You don’t want to stare but you don’t want to turn away either and even at my age I haven’t always figured out the appropriate middle ground.  And this book just reinforced for me how people can be cruel, sometimes without even realizing it. 

Bastian is extremely sensitive about his condition and some very bad early experiences have shaped the way he deals with it.  Meeting Julie though shakes up his world.  He’s reserved, difficult, emotional, and very proud.  He’s also very self-conscious about anyone seeing his body and his heart.  Julie sees the man inside and is intrigued by him but she’s going to have a very long battle in front of her to break thru his walls. 

It’s a very sweet and poignant journey for them, one that I took with my heart in my throat and sometimes tears in my eyes.  It definitely wasn’t easy but the ending totally made every difficult step worthwhile. 

Book Review – A Soldier’s Seduction

08 Thursday Jan 2015

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Y’all I have something new for you today.  Remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books from your childhood?  Well, they are all grown up!  Check it out below.

*****

silkwords

SilkWords is the go-to source for interactive romance and erotic fiction.

With gorgeous custom covers and a clean, sophisticated design, the SilkWords site offers a secure, upscale reading environment. In addition to content on their web site, they offer stories for purchase in the standard e-book formats.

SilkWords is owned and operated by a full-time mom with a background in genetics and an RWA RITA-nominated, multi-published sci-fi romance author.

Their technology guy and site designer was the founder of Microsoft Xbox Live.

SilkWords features two formats that allow readers to choose how the stories will proceed.

Pick Your Path:

Will she or won’t she? With which man (or woman) in which location? With Pick Your Path romance, you decide. Romance and branched fiction are made for each other, like picking your favorite flavor of ice cream…positions, partners, and paraphernalia, oh my!

Reader Vote:

Readers vote at choice points and decide how the story will continue. These stories are a great way for readers and authors to connect. It’s exciting to be part of a developing story!

https://www.silkwords.com/

*****

ssA Soldier’s Seduction

by Brandi Evans

Genre: Contemporary Erotica

When Gen learns her best guy friend is going back to Afghanistan, she arranges a sendoff he’ll never forget. Will it be an intimate dinner at her place or an adventure at an exclusive erotic club?

Review:

This is my first time reading one of the books from SilkWords and it was a very interesting experience.  My choice, A Soldier’s Seduction, was a short read with 4 possible story lines (this is the order I read them in but with its choose-your-own style, the order is up to you):

*The sexy girl-next-door and an intimate night in + Take Liam straight to my bedroom

* The sexy girl-next-door and an intimate night in + play with the melted chocolate

* The kinky seductress and a night at the Erogenous Zone + Stay on the platform and see what happens

* The kinky seductress and a night at the Erogenous Zone + Leave the platform and let Liam show me the club his way

(Can you tell I wasn’t feeling very adventurous?)

Thanks to its short length, it doesn’t take very long to go thru all of the options.  But, maybe because I read them all at once, I did notice a little bleed through as I read it – I remembered things that were revealed in one path and applied them to the subsequent paths.  Sometimes that helped me understand the characters and their actions better, sometimes it caused a little confusion on what happened in the path I was reading.  I think maybe it is a personal preference though and I did find this type of story-telling to be a ton of fun.  It’s a fantastic way to take a short reading break (and maybe next time I’ll take a breather between paths to see if that helps).

As I’m sure you can tell by some of the paths, this is a VERY hot read, but doesn’t skip on the heart.  The characters were intriguing, even with the really short number of pages for each path.  Evans does a fantastic job of succinctly and fully providing her readers the connection and background for Gen & Liam’s relationship.  And she smoothly shows the transition between the two from friends to more.  I definitely had my preferred paths, but each one gives its own look at the deepening relationship between the two.

If you are up for something a little different, but wholly entertaining, I recommend checking out A Soldier’s Seduction (or any of the SilkWords stories).  Sweet but spicy, it’s unique format won’t appeal to everyone (and isn’t something I’d look for in every story) but is definitely something I will try again.

*****

Silk Words General Banner 851 x 315

Tour Schedule:

December 5 Review A Heart for Copper and Harem Club
Illuminite Caliginosus
December 8 Review Fetish Fair
Freshly Baked Books
December 9 Review Harem Club
Freshly Baked Books
December 10 review A Heart for Copper
Nicky Peacock Author
December 12 review A Soldier’s Seduction
More Books Than Livros
December 18 review A Heart for Copper
Penny Dreadful Book Reviews
December 26 Review Fetish Fair
Underneath the Covers
January 7 Review Storm at Sea and The Harem Club
Mich Book Shelf
January 8 Review A Soldier’s Seduction
Romantic Reads and Such
January 24 Review A Heart for Copper
Natural Bri – pursuits of Life
January 27  Review The Harem Club
Underneath the Covers

Book Review – Officer Out of Uniform

07 Wednesday Jan 2015

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9781500719562_p0_v1_s260x420The only thing better than a man in uniform is a man out of uniform. Sasha has never been more certain of anything in her life, and she’s never wanted anyone more than she wants Officer Henry Dryden. Tall, tough and battle-scarred, he’s the first man to capture not just her eye, but her heart. With curves and the confidence to use them, it’s not hard to attract his attention, or get him to break out those cuffs and keys. But for the first time, getting exactly what she wants feels dangerously like risking it all.

There’s no question about the one thing Henry wants most when it comes to Sasha: to protect her. After their coastal North Carolina community is sent a message via the brutal murder of the prison warden, no one is safe. Henry can’t afford to be distracted by things like the all-consuming desire Sasha inspires. There’ll be time for that later … if he can keep her from getting caught in the crossfire of a killer’s revenge scheme. Haunted by the ghosts of his past, he’ll do anything to avoid being the only one to walk out of a war zone alive again. The way forward is clear: stop the convict who’s hunting officers in Riley County, and keep Sasha safe … or die trying.

A follow up to Officer Next Door, Officer Out of Uniform picks up where the first book left off and keeps going full-tilt.  For once, I’m actually reading a series start to finish and I think that it is important here.  The jailbreak that played such a central part of the first story continues with this one.  And while Officer Next Door wasn’t open-ended, I think that a lot of the momentum from that book continues on here. 

I love Sasha.  She’s got a big spirit and she’s not afraid to show it to the world.  She’s the complete opposite of the quiet Henry, who has had a lot of bad things happen in his life.  They’ve left him both emotionally and physically scarred, but Sasha brings him out of the shell he’s retreated to.  And to keep things exciting (as if the bedroom scenes aren’t enough to get your heart pumping), there is an escaped convict on the loose threatening everyone around them.  It’ll definitely keep you on your toes until the last page.

Full of danger and passion and a whole lot of heart, Officer Out of Uniform is another can’t miss book from Ranae Rose.    

Book Review – Zombies in Love

02 Friday Jan 2015

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cover55640-mediumJack Kershaw just wants to hold on to his new job at Lisa Alioto’s pizza parlor, and to keep Lisa from finding out that he’s a zombie. But Jack learns that he and Lisa are in serious danger. His second chance at life is the inadvertent result of a lab experiment by two graduate students, and Winthrop University– a school which knows how to keep its secrets– will do anything necessary to conceal that someone on campus raised the dead. With the help of Boston’s zombie horde, can Jack and Lisa escape Winthrop’s sinister clutches? 

Nora Fleischer has a PhD from Winthrop University, and promises every word of this story is true. She lives in Minneapolis with her lovable husband Sven and children Wolfgang and Anastasia.

I will say it isn’t a very tight story – by that I mean I had questions that didn’t get answered – but it was a fun and entertaining story … and most of the time, isn’t that what you want anyway?  Something that makes you smile or giggle or sigh or fall in love with the characters?  Well, this one definitely made me giggle and keep turning pages to get to the end to find out what happens to everyone.  You have to have to be OK with zombies because a decent number of people in it, including the hero, eat human flesh but that’s what you’d expect with a story titled Zombies in Love. 

Poking a little fun at the politics behind academia, plus a little bit of humor at today’s zombie loving culture and realizing you need to grow up, even in the face of your undeath, Zombies in Love makes for a totally amusing diversion.