Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Release Blitz! If You Were Mine by Melanie Harlow!


If You Were Mine, an all-new sexy and emotional standalone from USA Today Bestselling author Melanie Harlow is available now!


If You Were Mine

by Melanie Harlow

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Theo MacLeod wasn’t supposed to be the one.
Tall, dark and handsome suits me just fine, but the cocky grin, know-it-all attitude, and mammoth ego? No thanks. I only hired him so I wouldn’t have to sit at the singles table again. It was just pretend.
He wasn’t supposed to kiss me.
My heart wasn’t supposed to pound.
We weren’t supposed to spend the night together—the hottest night of my life.
One night turns into a snowed-in weekend away, and even the blizzard of the century can’t cool the fire between us. I can’t get enough—of his smile, of his body, of the way he makes me feel.
We’re nothing alike. He’s a daredevil, and I’m a nervous Nellie. He’s a drifter, and I want to put down roots. He’s an opportunist with a checkered past, and I’m a Girl Scout volunteer.
But none of it matters when I’m in his arms.
I know he’s made mistakes. I know his wounds are deep, and he doesn’t trust easily. I know he doesn’t believe he could ever be enough to make me happy, but he could.
All he has to do is stay.

Read Today!

Add to Goodreads: https://goo.gl/zqceTQ


harlow-headshot-colorMelanie Harlow likes her martinis dry, her heels high, and her history with the naughty bits left in. When she's not writing or reading, she gets her kicks from TV series like VEEP, Game of Thrones, House of Cards, and Homeland. She occasionally runs three miles, but only so she can have more gin and steak. Melanie is the author of the HAPPY CRAZY LOVE series, the FRENCHED series, and the sexy historical SPEAK EASY duet, set in the 1920s. She lifts her glass to romance readers and writers from her home near Detroit, MI, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, and pet rabbit.

Connect with Melanie:


Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Book Review: Escorted by Claire Kent!


Escorted (Escorted #1)
Author: Claire Kent
Publication Date: December 15, 2012

My Rating:

She hired him to take her virginity...but now she wants even more.
Lori might be a popular romance writer, but she's never been anything but a flop with sex and love in her personal life. Still a virgin at twenty-six and increasingly frustrated by her inexperience, she decides to take matters into her own hands. She hires a talented, sexy male escort to take care of her inconvenient virginity.
She assumes one time with Ander will be enough, but she never dreams how much pleasure he can make her feel. Once isn't nearly enough. Twice isn't enough either. Soon, she becomes one of his regular clients.
Lori knows that nothing would be as foolish as falling in love with her paid escort, but she's never been wise with her heart. And, despite his professionalism, he doesn't seem entirely immune either.

Everyone has their own fantasy of how their first time is going to go, well everyone except Lori, who just wants to get it over with, at least at first she did. Lori, is a bestselling romance novelist, who is seeking experience in sex, since she is still a virgin at the age of twenty-six, so with the help of her cousin, she finds an escort, Ander, who comes highly recommended.

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Top Ten Tuesday! Books I Loved Less/More Than I Thought I Would


Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish


5 Books I Loved More Than I Thought I Would


1) Red Rising, by Pierce Brown
I was just expecting a cool sic-fi story. I was not expecting an epic journey that would bring me into a whole new fandom. I have casting ideas, fan art ideas, and I even bought official prints from Kickstarter.

2) The Prophet, by Michael Koryta
I can't stand football and thought the sport would overshadow the story. But it was a good story about brothers and a murder mystery.

3) Everything, Everything, by Nicola Yoon
Though a bit predictable, I really loved the way it was written, like a diary with lists, illustrations, and Maddy's little definitions and book reviews. It gave the story a real personal feel. Maddy is a girl I would have been friends with in high school. I'd be friends with her now.

4) Allegiant, by Veronica Roth
I might be the only person in the world to think the last book of this trilogy is the best one. After reading reviews of people slamming it, I was expecting the worst. But I was glad Roth was bold enough to go there. It is still a happy ending, though bitter-sweet, just not a conventional one.

5) We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
This was a great book I couldn't put down. I would stay up some nights till 2 am reading. It is also a story that will have you thinking about it for days or weeks afterward. A few years after I read it they made it into a film (a good adaptation too) and although I didn't do a reread before seeing the film, I did remember the little details. The story really stayed with me.


5 Books I Liked Less Than I Thought I Would



6) The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeymi
It took me 11 years to read this from my TBR pile. When I did I was disappointed. I was expecting something more eerie and supernatural and I ended up bored.

7) Divergent, by Veronica Roth

This book (series) came highly recommended by friends. I did enjoy this book. However, at first I had some trouble accepting the world they live in. It didn't seem plausible. People do not fit into one mold and that's it. The entire world is divergent. It made sense later on when I read Allegiant.

8) Dorothy Must Die, by Danielle Paige
When I read the first four chapters of the excerpt I liked it enough to put it on my to-read list. The character of Indigo was really the one who drew me in. I liked her sass.

Before the novel was released a prequel e-book novella was release, No Place Like Oz. That story felt very rushed, sloppy, and lacked focus of Dorothy's mission.
I hoped that would not be the case for Dorothy Must Die. It stared out well. I still liked Indigo, who first sparked my interest. I did grow to like Amy too. Dorothy, while despicable, was still as one dimensional and bratty as she was in the prequel novella. The other characters were just there and I didn't form any connection to them, except perhaps Ollie, the Wingless Monkey.

This would have been a stronger story had it being a stand alone. As a result the story has a lot of boring filler and with some predictable outcomes.

9) Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
It took me a while to get used to the style of writing. She gets very wordy. It was close to the last quarter of the book that I didn't have to reread sentences to understand the scene. It takes a lot of brain power to read and I was tired after 2 chapters. So the downside of the book is that it is told through the perspective of the tenant, Mr. Lockwood, and the story itself is from the perspective of the housekeeper, Ellen Dean (Nelly). And the story she tells happened in the past. So because it is told this way we get a lot of telling and not much showing.

Then there is the fact that we are only told what Ellen saw herself or was told by another character. So while you know it's a tragic love story and you see the characters' behaviors you don't really feel it. Here you have Cathy and Heathcliff declare that the other is their soul and reason for existing but I felt ambivalent toward them.


10) Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
This was not an easy book to read but I pushed through and finished. Took me a while to get used to reading the Scottish vernacular Even when watching the film I need subtitles. I also didn't know it was told through individual vignettes from different point of views. Sometimes one of the character's first person perspective and sometimes in the third person. Third person was the easiest to read because only the the dialogue was written in their dialect. And then some characters you can see why they weren't in the movie. Boring and uneventful. And when I got to their vignettes I just didn't care.What got me through was the interesting characters that appeared in the film, reading about their background, psychotic thoughts and the events that I do remember from the film. Basically the movie is way better than the book. The film has the best characters, stories, the best quotes and made an interesting story.

Friday, February 17, 2017

Blog Tour: Hard Wired by Megan Erickson & Santino Hassell - Review & Playlist (@MeganErickson_ @santinohassell)


Hard Wired (Cyberlove #3)
Authors: Megan Erickson & Santino Hassell 
Publication Date: February 13, 2017 
Published: Megtino Press 
Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance / Gaymers

My Rating:
My FallenCon agenda is simple: sit on a couple of panels and let people meet the real me. Jesse Garvy—mod of a famous Twitch channel and, if I ever come out of my shell, future vlogger. I definitely didn’t plan to sleep with a moody tattooed fan-artist, but he’s gorgeous and can’t keep his hands off me. There's a first time for everything, and my first time with a guy turns out to be the hottest experience of my life. But the next day, I find out my moody fan-artist is Ian Larsen AKA Cherry—someone I've known online for years. And he'd known exactly who I was while shoving me up against that wall. Before I figure out whether to be pissed or flattered, the con ends. Now we're back online, and he's acting like nothing happened. But despite the distance between us, and the way he clings to the safety of his online persona, we made a real connection that night. I don't plan to let him forget.

Purchase Links
Universal Global Link: books2read.com/hardwired


Every time I pick up a new Megtino book to read, I know that I’m in for a good time. A smutty time. A crying time. And definitely a laughing time. Hard Wired, the third installment of the Cyberlove series, was no difference.


Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Book Review: After You by Jojo Moyes!


After You (Me Before You #2)
Author: Jojo Moyes
Publication Date: September 29, 2015
Published: Pamela Dorman Books

My Rating:
How do you move on after losing the person you loved? How do you build a life worth living?
Louisa Clark is no longer just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. After the transformative six months spent with Will Traynor, she is struggling without him. When an extraordinary accident forces Lou to return home to her family, she can’t help but feel she’s right back where she started.
Her body heals, but Lou herself knows that she needs to be kick-started back to life. Which is how she ends up in a church basement with the members of the Moving On support group, who share insights, laughter, frustrations, and terrible cookies. They will also lead her to the strong, capable Sam Fielding—the paramedic, whose business is life and death, and the one man who might be able to understand her. Then a figure from Will’s past appears and hijacks all her plans, propelling her into a very different future...
For Lou Clark, life after Will Traynor means learning to fall in love again, with all the risks that brings. But here Jojo Moyes gives us two families, as real as our own, whose joys and sorrows will touch you deeply, and where both changes and surprises await.

Is there life after Will Traynor? Not sure. It took a while for me to pick up this book, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Top Ten Tuesday! All About Romance Tropes/Types


Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish

Because I can't pick just one trope...

Favorite Star-crossed Lovers. I'm a glutton for couples doomed from the start:


1) Anakin&Padmé (Star Wars)
Although I knew they were doomed, they became my OTP.
Since it ends so badly I go to fanfic to see a happy outcome.

2) Christian&Satine (Moulin Rouge!)
She was dying. We know it from the beginning of the movie. But this tragic love story is told so beautifully through music.


Favorite Slow-burn Romances:


3) Elizabeth&Darcy.
Pride and Prejudice is a flawless masterpiece. It shows that people can learn and grow, and find happily ever after.

4) Darrow&Mustang (Red Rising trilogy)
Considering he was lying about his identity and still mourning his dead wife, this one would take a while. But the yearning keeps you wanting them to just kiss already!

5) Han&Leia (Star Wars)
The attraction was instant, but it took a few years and 2 films for their relationship to be official. I wish they got a happily ever after. Makes me miss the old Expanded Universe.

6) Luke&Mara (Star Wars Legends)
It took several years and many expanded universe novels and comic books for these two to finally admit their feelings.

7) Monica&Chandler (Friends)
I shipped them since first season, when they were all waiting for Ben to be born and Monica saw twins. She was upset that she didn't have a baby. Chandler said they should have one if she's not married by 40. How perfect that the series ends with them adopting twins!


Favorite Instalove Romances:

8) Diana&Matthew (All Souls Trilogy)
It is such a trope that stories with vampires involve falling in love at first sight and then the vampire acts like jerk for a while until they make it official Often the vampire still acts like a jerk even when they are officially a couple. Still, makes for a captivating read.


Valentine's Day Release Blast! Love Story by Lauren Layne!


Over the course of one wild road trip, 

feuding childhood sweethearts get a second chance at love.


LOVE STORY
a Love Unexpectedly novel
Lauren Layne
Releasing February 14th, 2017
Loveswept


Over the course of one wild road trip, feuding childhood sweethearts get a second chance at love in this charming rom-com—a standalone novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Blurred Lines and Good Girl.

When Lucy Hawkins receives a job offer in San Francisco, she can’t wait to spread her wings and leave her small Virginia hometown behind. Her close-knit family supports her as best they can, by handing over the keys to a station wagon that’s seen better days. The catch? The cross-country trip comes with a traveling companion: her older brother’s best friend, aka the guy who took Lucy’s virginity hours before breaking her heart.

After spending the past four years and every last dime caring for his sick father, Reece Sullivan will do just about anything to break free of the painful memories—even if it means a two-week road trip with the one girl who’s ever made it past his carefully guarded exterior. But after long days of bickering in the car turn into steamy nights in secluded motel rooms, Reece learns that, when it comes to Lucy, their story is far from over. And this time, they just might have a shot at a happy ending.

Although listed as a title in the Love Unexpectedly Series, all books in the series stand alone.







Lauren Layne is the New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen romantic comedies.

A former e-commerce and web marketing manager from Seattle, Lauren relocated to New York City in 2011 to pursue a full-time writing career.

She lives in midtown Manhattan with her high-school sweetheart, where she writes smart romantic comedies with just enough sexy-times to make your mother blush. In LL's ideal world, every stiletto-wearing, Kate Spade wielding woman would carry a Kindle stocked with Lauren Layne books.



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