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Tag Archives: Elley Arden

Book Review – Running Interference

23 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Book Review, Contest

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Book Review, Cleveland Clash series, Elley Arden, Running Interference

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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Spotlight – Marriage by Design

11 Monday Aug 2014

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Contest

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Designing Love series, Elley Arden, Marriage by Design

We’re kicking off the week starting with a sweet and sexy contemporary romance.

Elley Arden is back with a new sexy and emotional romance that will make you cry and swoon, all at the same time, with MARRIAGE BY DESIGN, book 2 of the Designing Love series.

*****

Marriage by DesignWhen carpenter Angie Corcarelli goes steel-toe boot to high-polished loafer with her best friend’s ex, construction engineer Stuart Perrault, sparks fly in Elley Arden’s latest Designing Love novel, Marriage by Design.

Blurb:

Family first. That motto led Angie Corcarelli to become a carpenter and take over the family construction business when she was barely out of her teens. And now it’s leading her into battle against her best friend’s ex. Stuart Perrault and his swanky, family-run construction engineering firm have been tapped to oversee a highway project that includes demolishing a stretch of row homes. Over her dead body will it come to that.

Stuart Perrault knows a thing or two about family allegiance. For the past fifteen years, he’s been working alongside his brother and father, dreaming about the day he’d be named CEO of the Perrault Group. But then came the bridge debacle in Paris. And now his dream seems a little further away. As he fights his way back to the top of the company, he isn’t about to watch another project fall apart just because his ex-girlfriend’s best friend is a loose cannon.

When Stuart’s father insists he take Angie out to dinner and neutralize things, he obliges. But has he bitten off more than he can chew? Angie isn’t at all what he expected, and his usual self-control doesn’t seem to work when he’s around her.

The more time Angie spends with Stuart, the harder it is to see him as the bad guy she’d believed him to be. But falling for each other would mean going against their respective families. Are they strong enough for that?

Goodreads | Amazon

Also in the Designing Love series: BABY BY DESIGN

*****

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.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Want to get to know Elley better? Check out this exclusive interview!

*****

Giveaway:

$25 Gift Card and a signed copy of Baby By Design

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b050ef2928/

*****

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Guest Post – Marrying the Wrong Man

23 Friday May 2014

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Contest, Sneak Peek

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Elley Arden, Harmon Falls series, Marrying the Wrong Man

Now, I welcome the delightful Elley Arden, author of Marrying the Wrong Man, as she talks about romance … and sex!

*****

Romance vs. Sex

Sex isn’t necessarily romantic. We all had first times, didn’t we? And of course, what is or isn’t romantic is a very subjective thing. Making love on a bed of roses while candles flicker around the room? Most of us would agree that’s romantic. But giving into passion in the bed of a pickup truck in the middle of a rainstorm? That can be romantic, too. Just not in the classic sense.

Romance novels haven’t been “classic” in a long time. Oh, I know you can find books that follow a formula from years ago, and there are plenty of readers who adore those books. But more and more, publishers and readers are clamoring for sex scenes—detailed sex scenes—and not just one in every book.

When I started writing romance, I couldn’t imagine writing explicit sex scenes, so I skipped that part. A big patch of white marked the spot where my characters where getting busy. They could’ve been knitting for all I knew. I was truly uncomfortable enough that I didn’t give those scenes any real thought. But one night, as I stayed up long past my bedtime reading, skipping entire passages of a book just so I could get to the Happily Ever After, I realized something I NEVER would skip was a sex scene. Heck no! I read the good ones twice. And right then I knew … when it came to my writing, I had to stop closing the door and walking away just when things were heating up.

The next time I was alone with my writing, I scrolled down to the white space and told myself to write get it over with. Write the worst sex scene in the history of the world. I had to get the first time out of the way before I could get any better at it. In the end, it wasn’t bad, but it was definitely missing something. I didn’t know what it was then, but I bet I know now. There wasn’t any romance. No excitement past the physical. No mystery. No escape from the drudgery of everyday life. No revelry. They did a deed. Went through the motions. Performed stilted choreography. And it was flat. Unfeeling. Like a couple unskilled teens in the backseat of a car.

After eight published romance novels, I’d like to think I’m better at it now. I’d like to think I know what I’m doing. But, sometimes I get lazy. I’m tired. I have a headache. I forget to shave. *winks* Whether it’s sex on the page or sex in real life, the romance part takes work.

Bottom line: It’s easy to go through the motions. It’s harder to make it mean something.

What do you think? Have you read sex scenes that were lacking? Does the romance of the moment turn you on more than the actual deed? When it comes to love scenes in novels do you like more, less, explicit, or tame? It’s something to think about.

*****

9781440579639MARRYING THE WRONG MAN

Author: Elley Arden

Author Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: May12th, 2014

Word Count: 50,000words

Publisher: Crimson Romance

Format: Digital eBook

ISBN: 9781440579639

Blurb:

Morgan Parrish returns to Harmony Falls after her spectacle of an almost wedding and her father’s colossal fall from grace. She’s broke and infamous. But that’s nothing compared to the secret she’s been keeping.

Life is finally on the upswing for Charlie Cramer. He’s sober and chef of Chargrilled Bistro. But his peace is shattered, when the woman he loves—the woman who left him—shows up in town with shocking cargo: the baby he’d begged her to keep and raise with him.

When fate steps in and Morgan takes a job working in Charlie’s bistro, things heat up—in and out of the kitchen. Can they learn to trust each other enough to love again? And is that love enough to keep them up when everyone else is trying to tear them down?

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Add MARRYING THE WRONG MAN to your TBR pile on Goodreads!

Other books in the Harmony Falls series:

BATTLING THE BEST MAN:

Goodreads | Amazon| Barnes and Noble | iBooks

CRASHING THE CONGRESSMAN’S WEDDING:

Goodreads | Amazon| Barnes and Noble | iBooks | Books-A-Million | Powell’s

*****

Excerpt:

I should have washed my hands of you.

 

“No!” He held up his hand. “I don’t want to hear any more from you until I’ve said what I’ve wanted to say for the last two years.”

She stuck out her chin and locked her jaw like she expected the words to pack one hell of a punch.

“I hate what you did,” he said. “All of it. I should’ve told you to go to hell when you broke things off, saying you wanted your daddy to be proud of you, and that meant you couldn’t be with me. I should’ve washed my hands of you then. But no, I let you cry on my shoulder too many damn times, and twice that led to … ” he sneered, “other things. Justin and I may have grown apart long before you two got engaged, but I still owed him more respect than that. I owed myself more respect than that. Falling in love with you was the stupidest thing I ever did. No wonder I ended up a drunk. You damn near destroyed me.”

Her lip quivered. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Really?” He fisted his hands and lifted his face to the sky for a roar. “Tell me you would’ve stopped that wedding had my sister not stood up and stopped it for you.”

She opened her mouth but shut it again.

“That’s what I thought.” He shook his head. “You’re sick. But the good news is, I’m not … not anymore. You might be stuck in Harmony Falls, but you better stay the hell away from me.”

Her gaze shot to the house again, but this time she gasped.

He turned in time to see Phyllis’s head. “Is everything okay? I heard yelling.”

“Shut the door!” Morgan’s whole body jerked like she was readying to run.

“I can call the cops.”

“I said shut the … ”

And then a child cried.

Charlie’s blood ran cold as Phyllis slammed the door. “Who was that?”

“Nobody.” Morgan rushed toward the house. “Leave, Charlie, or I’ll call the cops myself.”

A child. Whose child? The hairs on the back of his neck stood. “Morgan … ”

But she didn’t stop, and she slammed the door behind her like Phyllis had done, leaving him gaping in the driveway with the sound of a crying child ringing in his ears.

*****

MR7_2796 webAuthor 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.

Elley writes provocative, emotional, contemporary romances, where Mr. Not-My-Type ends up being Mr. Right.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

*****

Giveaway:

Win some awesome prizes:

A $15 gift card for Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winners choice) plus a signed copy of Crashing the Congressman’s Wedding AND Battling the Best Man! (US residents only)

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b050ef13/

*****

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