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Showing posts from May, 2017

seriously romantic: taming the ceo by hayson manning

in the story of two competing hotel chain ceos, taming the ceo , rivals daisy and zan get the chance to get to know each other up close and personal on a mandatory retreat before they submit competing proposals to take over a luxury resort chain. their rivalry isn't just restricted to business. their families have been one-upping each other since their great-grandparents' time. and even though they swear to keep their walls up and defenses on alert during their retreat, the intense chemistry and the fun easy way they have with one another makes the distance hard to maintain. but zan is keeping a secret. he has a plan to buy out daisy's hotel chain from under her. if he succeeds his family can declare victory once and for all. but can he put his family's business over his personal relationship with daisy? can his brothers, who seem to have their own tangled histories with daisy's sisters do the same thing? both daisy and zan have to learn to open themselves up ...

simply all about full count - cover reveal

I am so excited to share the cover of Full Count by Lynn Stevens!

seriously romantic: the girl with the make-believe husband by julia quinn

i pretty much buy anything julia quinn publishes. this doesn't mean i love everything she publishes. i didn't love miranda cheever. and i know everyone loves romancing mr. bridgerton  best, but it is not my favorite. my favorite is when he was wicked . and i also love the bevelstoke books that are not miranda cheever, i actually kind of hope there is at least one more of them. olivia's twin brother is deserving of his own story i think. anyway, i really enjoyed because of miss bridgerton , the first book in the rokesby series. and i have been waiting with bated breath for the girl with the make-believe husband  to print. because the few glimpses i'd had were enough to confirm to me that i was going to love it. when i checked my email this morning and saw the notice that it had been delivered to my kindle app, i was thrilled. i knew what i was going to spend the day doing, even though i had a ton of other more pressing things to read. and i was not disappointed. th...

seriously romantic: forbidden promises by katee robert

while a standalone, forbidden promises , is probably a book best read in its proper series order. i hadn't read the earlier books in this series and i found myself having to stop and make sense of the family connections and problems. daughter of an irish mob family, sloan o'malley has fled to avoid an arranged marriage that would secure her family's future. she's always been the one to do what was expected of her. so the fact that she fled, that she's trying to stand on her own two feet, it's a big deal. life outside of her family is pure freedom compared to the danger of living amidst her family's enemies. but she is still an o'malley. and while her brother who has joined up with the sheridan family might be protecting her, he's also more concerned about his own interests. and there's the hallorans to worry about. and the russian, dmitri romanov. (keeping all the mob family dynamics straight is part of the reason why i think this series is b...

seriously romantic: maybe this love by jennifer snow

maybe this love  is the second novel in the colorado ice series, and focuses on older brother ben westmore. he is a total dreamboat. he's kind and generous. he loves his mom and sister. he adores his baby niece. he's close to his brothers. and he's also a super hot professional hockey player. he meets olivia davis under less than desirable circumstances, however, because she is representing the wife he forgot he married on a drunken new year's eve in las vegas. olivia has a reputation in sports circles as the woman who represents the scorned wives of professional athletes. and she's ready to think the worst of ben. except there's that sizzle of attraction between them from the start. and her client's reasons for delaying a divorce and settlement start to look fishy. and maybe she can't be objective about ben westmore. ben never acts like he's married. he only interacts with his alleged wife maybe once in the whole story. and he is interested in o...

simply all about maybe this love

ABOUT THE BOOK Title: Maybe This Love Author: Jennifer Snow Series: Colorado Ice #2 On Sale: May 30, 2017 Publisher: Forever Formats: Mass Market Price: $7.99 (mass market) Add to Goodreads THE GAME OF HIS LIFE Hockey player Ben Westmore has some serious skills—on and off the ice—and he's not above indulging in the many perks of NHL stardom. When a night in Vegas ends in disaster, he realizes two things: 1) it's time to lie low for a while, and 2) he needs a lawyer—fast. But the smoking-hot woman who walks into his office immediately tests all his good intentions. Olivia Davis doesn't need anyone derailing her career---or her dreams of starting a family---least of all a skirt-chasing player like Ben. But soon he's unleashing a full-court press to convince her that he's the real deal. She's slowly falling for his sweet, rugged charm, but with so much on the line, Olivia has to decide whether Ben can truly change---or if he's just playing th...

strictly literary: the sixth victim by tessa harris

the sixth victim  is a paranormal historical mystery set during the jack the ripper murders in victorian england. harper has clearly done a lot of research in order to bring this particular moment in british history to life. the story is told from the point of view of constance piper, a flower girl in whitechapel. and miss emily tinsdale, a mysterious missionary whose whereabouts aren't made crystal clear at the beginning of the novel. eventually, you figure out that something not quite worldly is happening, because the way emily has access to certain moments and how she responds to them make it clear that she might be a supernatural being. the thing is, i never felt the urgency in this story. there is a lot of historical detail and we see things from both character's perspectives, but it's not quite clear why these moments are being shared. yes, the plot and the scenes we witness are brought together by the end. but even with the threat of the ripper hang...

seriously romantic: the most dangerous duke in london by madeline hunter

madeline hunter's decadent dukes society series kicks off with the most dangerous duke in london . lady clara cheswick knows one thing for certain, the stratton family are entirely at fault in the longstanding feud between their families. so when adam penrose, the current duke of stratton catches sight of her and decides that their marriage will be just the thing to end the feud, she wants nothing to do with it. she can't say that she doesn't want anything to do with him, because he's intriguing and has the odd habit of surprising her. clara has no intention of getting married. she wants to live an independent life and focus her energies on a women's journal she helped found with her inheritance. but adam is nothing if not persistent. while his first thoughts about lady clara are riddled with the tinge of revenge and convenience, the truth is he's not really thinking of the family feud or how he blames her father's actions for his father's untimely a...

seriously romantic: positively pippa by sarah hegger

when pippa turner waltzes back into ghost falls, utah a pariah in the reality tv world, she is unsure what to do. her larger-than-life grandmother, philomene, will know. and so in positively pippa  she comes home. and things are odd. her grandmother is missing things. is it her age? is someone stealing them? pippa feels like she is out of the loop. and maybe that's been her choice, but it's never meant that she doesn't love her family implicitly even if she's often at cross-purposes with her mother and sister. and then there's matt evans. he's always been the one guy who never worked out because of timing. but now the timing is right. and he's not about to avoid taking this chance. and the fact is, he is the one person who never doubts that she didn't say the things she's accused of saying. he knows her so well, he knows she could never hurt someone the way she is accused of hurting them. and finding someone who believes in you like that is prett...

seriously romantic: through your eyes by shannyn schroeder

i remember really enjoying in your arms , which is an earlier entry into the o'malley siblings series. through your eyes  focuses on youngest brother, tommy, tattoo artist and sensitive soul. he's been in love with an o'leary cousin since he first set eyes on her temporarily working at a bakery during a monthlong visit. the thing is deirdre has a boyfriend. and her family's plan for her has always been for her to marry and work at the family pub. but she loves baking. and she finds herself drawn to tommy. but she's never been one to rock the boat. until her world is shattered and she starts doing things for herself. deirdre and tommy may rush through getting-to-know-you stuff. and they may hastily make a commitment that most people would try to think twice about. but the thing is, once they both decide to go all in, it doesn't matter. it doesn't make one lick of difference how much that ante gets up by, because if it means they have each other in the e...

seriously romantic: all i ask by nicole mclaughlin

book one in the man enough series, all i ask , introduces us to a team of ex-military men who are now national guard members. reeve miller is building a landscape business now that he's rejoined civilian life. his national guard drills let him maintain the sense of order and brotherhood that is so important to him. especially considering his upbringing. his mother has a severe mental illness, she's a hoarder and there is no rehab or therapy that will fix her. so reeve has found ways to deal with this. one of them happens to be blowing off steam at the local bar. one evening a bachelorette party is there, and he is fascinated by one of the single ladies. and when he gets close to her he is mindlessly attracted to her too. emily phillips isn't the kind of woman who picks up guys in bars. but she's been accused one time to many of being a workaholic, and something about this guy makes her want to break character. she expects this to be a simple one night stand. and s...

seriously romantic: into your arms by chelsea m. cameron

the squad stories series opens with into your arms , where cheerleader freya has moved up to maine state university from texas in order to search for her biological mother. when fellow student rhett approaches her at a bar, she dares him to join the cheerleading squad never expecting to see him again. except he takes her up on the challenge. and in spite of his relative inexperience when it comes to cheerleading, he is exactly what the squad needs in order to have a chance at making nationals. (this coincidence is almost too hard to swallow.) freya spends most of her time irritated by rhett. it's really hard to understand why, because all he is doing is being a nice guy. he is trying to get to know her and she is so antagonistic that it makes little sense. because the truth is she actually is attracted to him and knows that he's a nice guy. so it's really hard to reconcile how she treats him for most of the novel with how patient and forgiving and not insane rhet...

seriously romantic: enticing the enemy by jules court

i have a love-hate relationship with novellas. sometimes they are short and sweet and deliver just the right balance of story and character. other times they cut short character development in favor of plot and i really hate that. the good news here is that  enticing the enemy  is one of the former. erin rafferty has a terrible day in court courtesy of detective daniel cruz. mostly it's her fault that things went so badly. but his ability to remain unruffled and calm in the courtroom made things worse. so when she runs into him later that same horrible, no good, very bad day she's not happy about it. and when he acts like a jerk and calls her out on how badly she misplayed her hand in the courtroom she's embarrassed and upset. especially since all this drama is unfolding in front of her best friend, priya, and daniel's partner, brian, and the blind date they set daniel up with. the problem is that the sparks between erin and daniel keep igniting at the most inoppo...

seriously romantic: until you by denise grover swank

book 2 in the bachelor brotherhood, until you , picks up the story of tyler norris. he's an ace corporate lawyer and after a relationship that ended with him having to go to court for a restraining order, he's a little leery of the ladies. when he meets lanie rogers while hiding from everyone at a friend's engagement party he is intrigued. the bride is her cousin and she also happens to be hiding from the parade of potential partners her cousin keeps throwing at her. they don't exchange names or information. they only have a mild flirtation. but that chance meeting in the garage stays with each of them. and then they keep running into one another. when they are paired as partners during the prewedding pictures for the wedding they are both in, they give into their attraction. for a confirmed bachelor like tyler, lanie is the perfect girl. she doesn't do long-term. her job keeps her moving. but tyler finds that he dreads thinking about lanie leaving...

seriously romantic: only you by denise grover swank

only you  kicks of the bachelor brotherhood series, a spin-off of the delightful wedding pact series i read a while back. kevin vandermeer, megan's brother is the star of the show in this first book. he's come home after serving in the marines and is sick of finding out the women he is dating are crazy. but just when he's sworn off women, he meets holly greenwood, an up-and-coming wedding planner, who works hard to keep the grandmother who raised her comfortable at a nursing home. holly is kind of an awkward mess around kevin. but the more she embarrasses herself in front of him, the more charmed he is. she's sweet and funny and has no idea how capable and beautiful he finds her. what kevin doesn't know is that holly's uptight and impossible boss is none other than nicole vandermeer, kevin's mother. realizing that the guy you like has a mom who makes your day-to-day life miserable, is not good. it's even worse when you've accidentally complained...

something from the archives: say goodbye - part 21

see the links for parts  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  11 ,  12 ,  13 ,  14 ,  15 ,  16 ,  17 ,  18 ,  19 , and 20 . part 21 will follow the break.

seriously romantic: crave me by stacey lynn

if chloe is being honest, she's always wanted simon. but he wanted her sister cassie first. and when his relationship with cassie ended badly, in part due to his need to dominate in the bedroom, there was no way that chloe thought she'd be able to attract his attention. but when she encounters him at a masked ball as crave me  opens she sees her one chance. and she dares him to kiss her. simon is intrigued until he realizes exactly who she is. and then he is horrified. he thinks it's a sick joke. things with cassie ended badly. and he's convinced that her whole family hates him and chloe is just playing some psychotic mind game.  but he can't get her out of his mind. that one taste, there was so much possibility there. six months later he's at luminous, an exclusive kink club that he belongs to in order to take the edge off. nothing has tempted him since chloe, but he's also aching for some release. the last thing he's expecting is to hear his ...

strictly literary: blood oath by melissa lenhardt

the second book in the sawbones saga finds laura and kindle on the run. in blood oath  they continue to attract problems and bad guys galore. friends and enemies turn on a dime as they continue their quest to safety. but safety in the wild west is a relative thing. and laura and kindle go by at least five different pseudonyms throughout the novel. they can barely keep their stories straight and incredibly keep running into people who would know the bounty out on their respective heads. laura is still also recovering from the trauma of her brutal rape in sawbones . physically she's mostly healed but the emotional scars run deeper than the physical ones, and considering how her hand is permanently deformed, that says something. however, in spite of her ptsd, laura is open-minded and forgiving enough to not want an eye for an eye. when she encounters an indian woman being similarly abused, she saves her. and her connection with this woman allows her to gain some understanding of ...

seriously romantic: real sexy by meghan march

the conclusion of the real dirty duet does not disappoint, real sexy is such a treat. one of my favorite things in romance novels is when no one doubts how much the main characters love each other. life throws you curveballs and there are ups and downs you have to navigate, and maybe you figure out a way to do it together. this is really the question boone and ripley need to answer. because the chemistry between boone and ripley is so palpable, you just want them to give into it. these two were made for each other and the more real they are with one another the more certain this is. and i love that. they have baggage and nonsense and freaking curveballs thrown their way, but the rollercoaster ride they're on is so worth it in the end. **real sexy will publish on May 23, 2017. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of meghan march in exchange for my honest review.

simply all about real sexy - a release day blitz

REAL SEXY Real Dirty Duet Book 2 By Meghan March Release Day May 23th In Nashville, country stars are a dime a dozen.  I swore I’d never get caught up with one, but Boone Thrasher made a liar out of me.  I said I’d never put my heart on the line, but he didn’t ask before he stole it.  Now we’re facing my worst fears, and we'll see if this country boy is tough enough to see it through. Girls like me don’t get happily ever afters… but maybe he’ll prove that wrong too.   Amazon  |  iBooks  |  BN  |  Kobo  |  Google Play   REAL DIRTY Real Dirty Duet Book 1 By Meghan March Available Now I have everything a guy could want—a new single burning up the charts, more money than a simple country boy could spend, and a woman I’m planning to marry. Until she doesn’t show up for my proposal. The life I thought was so perfect, isn’t. The guy who thought he had everything, doesn’t. I’ve got my he...

seriously romantic: when a lady dares by tara kingston

the her majesty's most secret service series continues with when a lady dares  picking up some time after the secret agency established in when a lady deceives  comes into being. sophie atherton has become more than jennie's assistant, she's become a field agent all on her own. while undercover investigating a series of deaths linked to a spiritualist by the name of trask she encounters gavin stanwyck. she knows he's a sceptic, he's a man of science and there is simply no way he is honestly seeking to speak with his dead father as he claims.  afraid that he's aiming to debunk trask entirely, sophie acts as an obstacle, so to speak. she needs gavin out of the way in order to complete her own investigation without coming under suspicion. what she doesn't realize until later is that she and gavin are both investigating the same suspicious deaths.  at first gavin suspects that sophie is a party to the murders, but the more time he spends with her he rea...

superbly suspenseful: the darkest corner by liliana hart

the darkest corner  introduces us to the gravediggers, a top secret organization of rogue agents whose deaths have been faked in order to allow them to fight international terrorism under the radar. as the first recruit of the gravediggers stationed in last stop, texas, he's the de facto team leader. under the cover of working at a funeral home, he's been surrounded by death for too long since he was himself brought back from the dead. but there's one person who makes him feel alive again. one person he'd consider risking it all for. he knows he's on borrowed time. either the directors will order him killed by the end of his term of service to the gravediggers or he'll die on the field of duty. either way, he's spent too long denying himself anything real. and when tess sherman accidentally discovers their newest recruit, it is only a matter of time before he will have to actually start answering her questions with the truth. and he wants to tell her the...

simply all about the darkest corner - a release week blitz

ABOUT THE BOOK Title: THE DARKEST CORNER Series: The Gravediggers, Book One Author: Liliana Hart Imprint: Pocket Books Publication Date: May 23, 2017 ISBN: 9781501150036 Price: $7.99 Paperback Add to Goodreads New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Liliana Hart’s first book in her sexy, suspenseful Gravediggers series, The Darkest Corner , features an elite group of mysterious men who might be dead to the world, but are also tasked with saving it—and no one can ever know. The Gravediggers aren’t exactly what they seem. They’re the most elite of the world’s fighting forces—and all they have in common is that they’ve been betrayed by the countries they’ve died for. Because they are dead. To their country, their military, and their families. Sometimes the dead do rise… Deacon Tucker is a dead man walking. A former black ops agent, he was disavowed and stripped of all honor before being recruited as a Gravedigger. But his honor and good nam...

seriously romantic: without words by delancey stewart

when dani hodge first approaches roberto derosa in without words , she's convinced he's giving her the brush off. what she doesn't know is that roberto is recovering from a traumatic brain injury he suffered in the line of duty as a fireman. and one of the more difficult aspects of his new normal is that words don't come easily to him. other than his aphasia you wouldn't be able to tell he suffered any trauma, physically, he's as strong as ever. but he's also depressed and moody. his injury ended his career in fire-fighting. now that he's able to get on with his life, what is he supposed to do with it? dani is a girl with dreams. and with the recent passing of her grandmother, she now has the means make her dreams a reality. she wants to open a bookshop/café/wine bar. she has the perfect space for it. she just needs help renovating it. when roberto comes upon her while she is attempting to complete a project, he realizes she needs help. and he kno...

seriously romantic: the nanny arrangement by rachel harris

the latest book in the country blues series, the nanny arrangement , follows newest member deacon latrell and his best friend, hannah fisher.  since they first met, years ago when deacon was new in town and hannah summed up the courage to say hello to him in spite of her stutter, they've been connected at the hip. and while hannah values his friendship, she is also in love with him and always has been. the problem is that deacon doesn't see her as a woman, or at least she thinks that is the problem. it's a little more complicated though. deacon sees her as a woman all right, he just believes that he has no business lusting after his best friend. his experience with love is that people leave. and he never wants hannah to not be a part of his life. and he's thrilled when for his first tour with the band, he'll have hannah with him. she's agreed to join the tour as a nanny, watching his young son max, and the lead singer's daughter. they'll be sharing...

something from the archives: say goodbye - part 20

see the links for parts  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  11 ,  12 ,  13 ,  14 ,  15 ,  16 ,  17 ,  18 , and 19 . part 20 follows the break, and we've basically connected to the moment first described in the opening two chapters. so after chapter 21 we'll start seeing some forward progress.  you guys, sometimes i rewrite these passages because i find them so cringeworthy, other times i fix the more egregious errors and live with the terrible writing because there's no real way for me to make it less terrible. i'm not that skilled. anyway, sometimes i'm embarrassed about my quest to preserve my fanfic, and other times i think, i spent time on this. even if it is ridiculous and silly, i want to keep it someplace accessible. this is not a bad thing. 

slightly silly: riverdale, episode 13: the sweet hereafter

i'm not sure i have words. the season finale totally lived up to my expectations and more. the love square became fully entrenched. and, and, and there was so much kissing. and the more you watch, the more opportunity for drama. it's the absolute best.  this is what i watch teen soaps for. and riverdale  has done an excellent job of being pure, soapy, ridiculous, stress-free entertainment. it took a while for these characters to come into their own, but at the end of the day, this was a wonderful freshman effort. i can only hope that the second season takes the wonderful characters and rich narrative history and runs with it.  there is so much to look forward to. the resolution of that cliffhanger. the aura of romeo and juliet that surrounds betty and jughead's relationship. the arrival of papa lodge and what that might mean for archie and veronica. there's the promise of crossed stars that i like. i love my teen dramas soapy and fu...