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Showing posts from August, 2017

seriously romantic: long for me by stacey lynn

the latest novel in the luminous series, long for me , finds intense dom bennett tangled up with his secretary rebecca. she's good at her job, though you wouldn't know it given the way bennett dismisses her. what she doesn't realize is that he can't dismiss her. he can't stop thinking about her. he can't stop imagining all the ways she could submit to him. but he senses a powerful reserve in her and knows instinctively that it's not something he can pursue. so he hides his attraction by being the most demanding, condescending boss he can be. when rebecca lets herself be taken to luminous by her good friends and neighbors, it's a big deal. she's known that they are part of the bdsm community and she's come to accept that their relationship is loving and healthy. but it is hard for her. her father was physically abusive of both her mother and her. and even when he left them, the emotional abuse didn't stop until her mother was gone. so rebe

something from the archives: say goodbye - part 35

you all know the drill. catch up here:  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  11 ,  12 ,  13 ,  14 ,  15 ,  16 ,  17 ,  18 ,  19 ,  20 ,  21 ,  22 ,  23 ,  24 ,  25 ,  26 ,  27 ,  28 ,  29 ,  30 ,   31 ,  32 ,  33 , 34 . read on for more

seriously romantic: maybe i do by nicole mclaughin

i really enjoyed maybe i do by nicole mclaughlin. it's the first book in her whiskey and weddings series, and gets off to a good start with charlotte and dean's story. they've been flirting for years. he's one of the co-owners of the stag distillery, which doubles as a wedding venue. and she's a photographer who specializes in weddings and sexy book covers. dean is an older hero, though at 41, and given my current age (i'm not 40, yet) it doesn't seem so old. even though a lot of fuss is made about his age. and she's 29, which is younger than him, but also doesn't seem so young. so in some ways it felt like there was a big deal made about this 12 year age gap that wasn't such a big deal at least not given the kind of people dean and charlotte were. both charlotte and dean had big life experiences behind them when they meet, and both had suffered their fair share of loss. so why not give in to the wanting they both feel? why not let that se

seriously romantic: hard justice by april hunt

charlie and vince finally get their day in the sun in  hard justice .  their sexual tension has been racheting up since book 1 in the series, and finally, here they are assigned as partners on a mission and part of their cover is faking a relationship. and of course that relationship becomes something real. there is no other way for the tension between them to break.  in the meantime, they are also trying to figure out how charlie's family is involved or not involved in a human trafficking ring. a ring that might tie back to charlie's youth and a deep trauma she survived. so to say that charlie is motivated is to understate things. as the only female alpha team member charlie also has a bit of a chip on her shoulder. she feels like she has more to prove. and this butts up against vince's need to protect her.  the thing she doesn't fully understand is that vince respects her abilities as an alpha agent, but he loves her. and he can't just let someone h

seriously romantic: here comes the bride by hope ramsay

when laurie wilson is left at the altar by her boyfriend of ten years, brandon kopp it feels like an out of body experience. things are happening, her mother is crying, her father is furious, her bridesmaids are out for blood and the groomsmen are defensive. and the best man, andrew lyndon, is calm and concerned for her and takes her away from the mess and listens to what she wants and tries to fix everything for her. that's just the kind of guy andrew lyndon is. he's unflappable and cool and so very generous and kind. and laurie isn't expecting to start feeling flutters about her runaway groom's best friend. andrew is also taken by surprise by all these feelings. but she's his best friend's ex-(or maybe still)-fiancée. he grew up with brandon. and shenandoah falls is a small town full of lyndons and kopps, and there is no escaping anyone. and everyone has an opinion about laurie and brandon or laurie and andrew or andrew and brandon or laurie and hot dat

seriously romantic: 1001 dark nights - bundle eleven

the 6 stories included in 1001 dark nights - bundle eleven span genres, from contemporary to erotic to fantasy to supernatural. there's pretty much something here for everyone. easy for keeps  is short and sweet, telling the story of bartender adam, who we met in easy melody  and social worker sarah. she has just moved to new orleans and runs into adam after a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad morning that involved losing track of her young daughter and car trouble and work emergencies. adam has alway been a bit of a player, so it's surprising that his encounter with sarah sticks with him. and as he slowly gets to know her he realizes that the reason no one else ever stuck before was because they weren't right for him. the format doesn't allow the author to delve to deeply into the characters' psyches. but the story is emotionally satisfying, and adam is delight around sarah's young daughter. from there the bundle shifts to ancient greece, where promet

simply all about 1001 dark nights - bundle eleven

I am absolutely thrilled to bring you the Release Day Launch for 1001 Dark Nights: Bundle Eleven , brought to you by 1001 Dark Nights . Introducing Discovery Authors Meghan March and Jessica Scott, the Bundle contains 6 novellas, including novellas from New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors Kristen Proby, Elisabeth Naughton, Laura Kaye, and Donna Grant! Grab your copy of this incredible bundle today! About 1001 Dark Nights: Bundle Eleven: From New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors Kristen Proby, Elisabeth Naughton, Laura Kaye, Donna Grant, and introducing Meghan March and Jessica Scott. Six Dark Tales. Six Sensual Stories. Six Page Turners. EASY FOR KEEPS : A Boudreaux Novella by Kristen Proby Adam Spencer loves women. He’s comfortable with his lifestyle and sees no reason to change it. Sarah Cox has just moved to New Orleans, having accepted a position as a social worker. It’s a demanding, sometimes dangerous job, but Sarah can handle just

simply all about the playboy bachelor - paperback version

About the Book Title: THE PLAYBOY BACHELOR Series: The Bachelors of Arizona Book 2 Author: Rachel Van Dyken Publication Date: August 29, 2017 Imprint: Forever Mass Market Price: $7.99 Add to Goodreads NOW IN MASS MARKET PAPERBACK! She's no Sleeping Beauty. And he's definitely no prince . . . Margot McCleery could have lived her whole life without seeing Bentley Wellington again-her ex-best friend and the poster boy for Hot, Rich Man-Whores everywhere. But Margot's whiskey-augmented grandmother "buys" Bentley at a charity bachelor auction, and now suddenly he's at her door. Impossibly charming. Impossibly sexy. And still a complete and utter jackass. Bentley's just been coerced by his grandfather to spend the next thirty days charming and romancing the reclusive red-haired beauty who hates him. The woman he abandoned when she needed him the most. Bentley knows just as much about romance as he knows about love-nothing. But the more time h

strictly literary: mask of shadows by linsey miller

linsey miller's debut fantasy, mask of shadows , follows a thief named sal through the audition process to join the queen's left hand. the left hand being the queen's special council of justice or revenge seekers, or assassins if we're speaking plainly. the audition process is arduous, dangerous, murderous. the queen's court is full of intrigue. the lands she saved barely stitched together. sal is a fascinating character, i don't think i've ever read anything quite like this before. sal isn't exactly a he or she or them. gender fluid, sal is not that, but also all that. and it was hard at first to understand. i'm a cis-gendered, hetero, pass-for-white person. how could you be nothing but all things at once? it's not a feeling i truly understand but sal manages to explain it in a way that makes sense. so while i struggled at first to categorize sal, much like the characters around sal do, i learned to accept that sal is sal. and once i was abl

seriously romantic: when the scoundrel sins by anna harrington

when the scoundrel sins  is one of those books where it's clear to everyone except the main characters that they are head over heels for one another. annabelle and quinton have a tumultous history that goes back to her debut season, or actually to a time before that, where he constantly teased her and she thought the worst of him. and then he kisses her and she freaks out and then society stumbles in on them at the worst possible moment. there was never going to be a way to recover from that, though annabelle holds a grudge for quinton fighting to defend her honor and he's never apologized because honestly it doesn't make sense for him to apologize for the fight. he doesn't feel guilty about it and i'm still not clear on why that was something he needed to apologize for. it's six years later and annabelle has to marry in order to inherit her home. she proposes a marriage of convenience to quinton but he won't do it. he's got his reasons and they ar

seriously romantic: tell me that you're mine by victoria de la o

tell me that you're mine  is the final book in the tell me series, and finds ryan mcallister coming home after spending a year in japan, recovering from the events in book 1. being away from his brother has been good for him. even though it has put a strain on his relationship with jude, ryan needed the time away to become his own person. and coming back home isn't really an option now that jude and lizzie are living together. when he wrangles a studio apartment from eva romero, the last thing he expects is the zing of chemistry between them. she's a couple years older than him. and as a divorced, single mom she's not up for a fling. her life is complicated. falling into bed with her renter would only make it more complicated. but for the first time since her divorce, she wants to try. even though she can't help thinking that no matter what she and ryan have will only ever be temporary. she's older than him. she's got a six-year-old. her ex has a borde

seriously romantic: renegade by brynley blake

book 2 of the phoenix rising series, renegade , picks up right where rogue left off. kenzie and noah are off in malaysia trying to find clues to liam's bucket list, while walker follows up with gemma and charlotte on things at home. liam's bucket list takes walker and gemma to the west coast. where they try to connect the dots between the actions he took just before his death and whether or not the rumors of liam's betrayal is true. it also takes them to a place where the limits of their long time friendship are stretched and boundaries are crossed. gemma has always had a problem getting off when she's with guys, when the father of a wedding client propositions her with a D/s relationship, she's intrigued. maybe that's what she has been missing her whole life. when she comes across walker's research for their trip to san francisco and jumps to the conclusion that he's a dominant, she is delighted. she can test her limits with her best friend, the

something from the archives: say goodbye - part 34

there's suspense, there's danger, there's teleportation! you can catch up with the story at the links:  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  11 ,  12 ,  13 ,  14 ,  15 ,  16 ,  17 ,  18 ,  19 ,  20 ,  21 ,  22 ,  23 ,  24 ,  25 ,  26 ,  27 ,  28 ,  29 ,  30 ,   31 ,  32 , and 33 . read on for part 34.

simply all about ruthless king - a cover reveal

so meghan march's latest book takes place in the same new orleans world as the beneath series, but this time it's new orleans' darker underbelly. led by a sexy alpha hero named lachlan mount. mount isn't your average hero. he's not your cookie cutter good guy. he's a shades of gray kind of guy. how many? well, we'll find out on october 17th. read on for more information and a closer look at the cover...

seriously romantic: drift by amy murray

abby doesn't want to ever become her mother, even though this is what she thinks will happen. paranoid schizophrenia is genetic after all, and aren't all little girls destined to become their mothers? when she meets james kingsley and all her fears come true. because suddenly she's seeing things, things that aren't real, things that can't be true. and james seems to be the trigger, but staying away from him proves to be difficult. she's not crazy. she worries she is, but she also knows she's not crazy. and she really isn't. the visions that james triggers in her are scenes from a past life, a life she shared with james. a past life that she also shared with mack her new neighbor. and the connections between the three of them lead to a wrong she needs to right before the drifts in time end her life. drift  is a new adult romance with time travel elements, the past has a lot of bearing on the future. but it's pretty clear from the get-go that the

seriously romantic: rebel by rebecca yarros

you guys, rebel was even better than i imagined it would be. penna's story is by far the most emotional one of the bunch. she's still recovering from her leg injury. she's estranged from her little sister--her best friend--and the rest of her family. she's not sure she's got what it takes to still be a renegade. so one night in vegas she decides to try a stunt. and she meets someone who is willing to roll the dice with her on a crazy base jump off a carousel. and that leads them to an intense makeout session that is interrupted only by the police looking for some illegal base jumpers. cruz only knows her as penelope. but when he starts up his new job as a history professor at ucla working a semester at sea program he learns that she is rebel aka penna carstairs, his student. while what happens in vegas should stay in vegas, the problem is that the chemistry between cruz and penna is ridiculous and out of this world. these two literally scorch the pages of thi

seriously romantic: nova by rebecca yarros

if i'm going to be honest, i have to confess that nova  was the weak link in the series for me. i didn't love landon as much as it seemed every female in his vicinity did. and his story is a second chance at love type story that did include some of my least favorite tropes. i also think the need for rachel to be so antagonistic made her harder to like. there's a scene late in the book where leah tells rachel that she has to bend. that sticking to her principles is making her miserable. bending doesn't mean you're defeated. forgiveness doesn't equal forgetting.  landon and rachel find their way back from all the hurt. but it's on the excruciating side of the fence for me. the truth is i mostly wanted to get through this book in order to get to rebel , penna's story. pax might be my favorite renegade, but penna is my favorite character. 

seriously romantic: wilder by rebecca yarros

it's going to be a wild wednesday around these parts, because i've just binge-read the renegades series by rebecca yarros and the log line reads something like this "a group of extreme sports stars pledge to finish college while spending a year at sea, filming a documentary, and falling in love." the series kicks off with wilder , and our first renegade is paxton wilder. he's the unofficial leader of the gang, mainly because his family's money is bankrolling the school and the documentary. he's also carrying a lot of guilt and responsibility and pressure on his shoulders. he feels responsible for nick's accident, he feels responsible for landon's heartbreak, and he has to get passing grades and avoid scandal in order to keep everyone on the documentary crew employed. basically pax feels like he's at the center of everyone's problems and he's got a plan to fix things for everyone. but he needs help to do it. and leah baxter is the

seriously romantic: ready to run by lauren layne

in ready to run ,   jordan carpenter is convinced she's left her small town days behind. but the perfect reluctant groom lives in lucky hollow, montana and she needs him to be the star of a runaway bride/the bachelor- type reality show. if only luke elliott were for sale. he's hot, he's a firefighter, and he just happens to have three ex-fiancées that he happened to leave at the altar. the problem is that luke isn't a jerk. he has no interest in cashing in on his story. but jordan is persistent and incapable of backing away from the challenge that luke presents. even as she realizes that there is no way luke will ever agree to being her star, she can't stay away from him. and he can't stay away from her. he wants to hate her hard-nosed, citified standards, but the truth is, jordan is a small town girl at heart. and there is someting about lucky hollow that captivates her. there is more to luke's three failed weddings than meets the eye, but some of the

seriously romantic: traitor in her arms by shana galen

the french revolution is not usually an era used as a backdrop for romantic novels, it's a bit macabre, what with all the losing of heads and blood flowing in the streets. shana galen's  traitor in her arms  doesn't shy away from any of that. the horrors of revolutionary paris are described in meticulous detail, but not in a way that feels gratuitous or false. the horrors of paris up the ante for our hero and heroine. lady gabrielle mccullough is a thief who finds herself recruited by the mysterious scarlet pimpernel. she's left drowing in debt after her husband's death and her attempt to steal cleopatra's lapis lazuli necklace to finance paying her bills goes awry when ramsey barnes, earl of sedgwick gets there first. she's not sure why he'd be stealing the necklace. he has money. it's likely just a game to him. years ago they shared a kiss in a summer house, but nothing came of it. she's sure he's toying with her the same way he did b

simply a total eclipse of the heart, er, um partial eclipse of the sun

so i don't live in an area where i might easily glimpse the totality. which is a word i love. i also really like the word singularity. and it's scientific meaning. but i felt that even though i can't see the total solar eclipse, and even though i'm not entirely sure i'll be able to see the partial solar eclipse because i don't have any damn glasses. i'm kind of hoping i'll be able to access some since i work in the astronomy department. but that also involves me being more of a joiner at the office than i am generally speaking. anyway, the whole thing is cool. and just worth commemorating with a special total eclipse blog post. and this video is so weird and fantastical that it deserves some recognition today. i mean, every single time someone says total eclipse, this song is in my head.

simply all about keeper - a cover reveal

so last time i talked about keeper , the latest in the harris brothers series by amy daws, i only had the blurb. and already that told you that this book is going to be an epic friends-to-lovers sports romance. and honestly,  i can't wait to read it. but until it releases, we'll all just have to make do with drooling over the cover, which you will get your own peek of after the jump. luckily, september 7th, isn't that far off. and is a doubly lucky day because it's the first day of school in my parts. no kids = more time to read. anyway, read on for the pretty...

seriously romantic: make me want by rebecca brooks

when tyler mccall rolls into gold mountain in make me want he has no intention of making friends with the locals. after all, this is just a résumé-building stop on his way to fire safety management somewhere else. the last thing he expects to do on his first night is rescue a woman from an aggressive ex by pretending to be a new boyfriend. and he's also not expecting the sexual chemistry with this woman to be off the charts, especially since he's never been one to smooth-talk the ladies. and even worse, the last thing he expects is to realize that this woman is abbi haas, the naturalist opposed to the firebreak he's come into town to implement and oversee. abbi is passionate and headstrong and so badly burned by a childhood trauma that leads her to think the absolute worst of anyone who is actually trying to help her. this makes her both a sympathetic character and utterly enraging. because she is so passionate about her cause, but it also feels like she never listens

seriously romantic: compromised in paradise by samanthe beck

the compromise me series concludes with compromised in paradise . i've been waiting for arden st. sebastian's story since the first book and i was glad to see nick bancroft make another appearance. the hot doctor is once again set up with our heroine, but he doesn't know it. when arden and nick first cross paths they don't know each other's names. they know nothing except that there is a powerful chemical attraction that flares between them. and arden wants one night to lose herself and forget all the pressures that have her wound so tight. all she wants is one night with a stranger, with someone who doesn't come from her world, someone who has no expectations. but arden can't turn off for one night. her ringing cell phone ruins the moment, and when nick realizes she's faking there is no way he's going to let their night end on that note. except that as a doctor he can't really turn off for one night either, and an emergency at the hospital

strictly literary: the art of hiding by amanda prouse

when nina mccarrick's husband dies suddenly everything in her life is turned upside down. it's not just the loss of her husband, whom she loved, that hurts. because what she learns is that their life is built on smoke and mirrors and his death brings everything crashing down around her. and it would be one thing if it were just her that needed to re-acclimate, but her two sons haven't asked for any of this and she has to be strong enough to protect them. the art of hiding  is not just about what we hide from the people we love, it's about what we hide from ourselves, it's about the hiding we do from others. nina has to start over but the further away that old life resides, the more she realizes that it kept her in a cage. and this new life where she has a job and works hard to keep her kids happy and connects with her sister and fellow rugby parents is more fulfilling and rewarding and happier than the life she lived before. starting over means that she doesn&

seriously romantic: a hero to love by gail chianese

the second book of gail chianese's changing tides series, a hero to love , picks up the story of jackson "jax" faraday, who we met in the first book, and navy base veternarian risa reynolds. risa doesn't date military men. but she's tempted by jax especially once she sees how good he is with animals. animals are her passion, and jax loves them too. his k9 partner, bella and him have been through a lot. and now bella is suffering from an injured hip and some form of doggy ptsd, but also clearly loves jax and would do anything for him. risa's rule seems kind of arbitrary and eventually gets pushed aside when her connection with jax proves too strong to ignore. the main issue these two face is that they suck at communicating clearly and talking about the future, because there is a certain moment where risa assumes the absolute worst and has also completely misunderstood jax and they are estranged for absolutely no reason. i have to be honest that kind of

something from the archives: say goodbye - part 33

so much drama...you can catch up with the story at the links:  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  11 ,  12 ,  13 ,  14 ,  15 ,  16 ,  17 ,  18 ,  19 ,  20 ,  21 ,  22 ,  23 ,  24 ,  25 ,  26 ,  27 ,  28 ,  29 ,  30 ,   31  and 32 read on for part 33.

seriously romantic: so bad it must be good by nicole helm

kayla gallagher has finally freed herself from her overbearing family. that was step one. the problem is that she isn't sure she knows what step two is. when she runs into liam patrick at the farmer's market she had conceived for her family's restaurant she's feeling vulnerable and lost. it had been her idea but her father and grandmother had bulldozed over her dreams to get what they wanted and now she had no part of it. she's known liam since they were kids, she's crushed on his brother aiden for about that long, and when he shows up and teasingly asks for her number she thinks why not? aiden is flirtatious and funny and easy to be around. spending any amount of time with liam has her feeling wrong. she's antsy and insecure and tongue-tied. and she can't shake the feeling that he's judging her finding her wanting. but when aiden stands her up and sends liam in his place, she finally sees him in a new light. because the truth is, he doesn'

superbly suspenseful: seeing red by sandra brown

i've been reading sandra brown since i was in college and her suspense stories are generally filled with just enough terror and the perfect amount of sexiness. in seeing red , major trapper is a national hero. beloved and admired by one and all. but the bombing he helped save people from still has secrets that haven't been revealed. kerra bailey, the young girl in his arms in an iconic photograph of the event—and now a news reporter at a dallas-based television station—is one of those secrets. the true perpetrators of the crime are the other secret—a secret major trapper's son, john, suspects will put his father's life in danger. when the major is shot at his front door the evening his interview with kerra airs, everything goes haywire. kerra was in the house and barely escapes with her life. from that moment john, who goes by trapper, is on the case. he knows that whatever is happening now has links back to the bombing that put kerra and the major in each other&