BOOK REVIEW - MAKING FACES by AMY HARMON - YA/NEW ADULT CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

By: Amy Harmon
Published By : Amy Harmon
Released : Available Now
Details: Kindle purchase, 405 Pages

RATING: 4.5 BAILEY & AMBROSE STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

Ambrose Young was beautiful. He was tall and muscular, with hair that touched his shoulders and eyes that burned right through you. The kind of beautiful that graced the covers of romance novels, and Fern Taylor would know. She'd been reading them since she was thirteen. But maybe because he was so beautiful he was never someone Fern thought she could have...until he wasn't beautiful anymore.

Making Faces is the story of a small town where five young men go off to war, and only one comes back. It is the story of loss. Collective loss, individual loss, loss of beauty, loss of life, loss of identity. It is the tale of one girl's love for a broken boy, and a wounded warrior's love for an unremarkable girl. This is a story of friendship that overcomes heartache, heroism that defies the common definitions, and a modern tale of Beauty and the Beast where we discover that there is little beauty and a little beast in all of us.




BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:


My Kindle is full to the brim with all the #oneclicking I do. I’ve had Amy Harmon books sitting there waiting patiently. When was I honestly going to get to all these books and read them? I read every night and keep on plowing my way through my purchases. I simply had to just tell myself, enough is enough and pick up Making Faces and I am so glad I did.

I knew it was going to be awesome. But, there are so many awesome books to read. I just had to make the decision to override all others lined up waiting patiently and dive in.

Making Faces is a story that can’t help make you feel and appreciate life and who you are, and what you have. We start off as babes that everybody cuddles and kisses and coos over and then we start to take shape and go through awkward stages in life. There are those of us who pop out of our teenage years like swans, and boys that become as beautiful as sunshine.

Fern felt she was an awkward, ugly duckling and Ambrose, the boy she had loved for so long was the handsome prince who couldn’t possibly return that love.

But, things can change and ugly ducklings can turn into beautiful swans and handsome princes don’t always stay that way.

This story has a little beauty and the beast, a lot of feels and a boy named Bailey who will steal your heart and the limelight for many reasons.


“I have no pride left, Ambrose!” Bailey said. “No pride. But it was my pride or my life. I had to choose. So do you. You can have your pride and sit here and make cupcakes and get old and fat and nobody will give a damn after a while. Or you can trade that pride in for a little humility and take your life back.”



“You can’t punch a man in a wheel-chair, Ambrose. And I’m kidding. I just wanted to see what you’d say. She wasn’t that bad. But she grew up thinking she was ugly. She doesn’t realize that she shed the ugly a long time ago. She’s beautiful now. And she’s just as pretty on the inside, which is a side benny of UGS. See, ugly girls actually have to work on their personalities and their brains because they can’t get by on their looks, not like you and me, you know, the beautiful people.” Bailey smiled impishly and waggled his eyebrows.



“Fern doesn’t have a clue how pretty she is. That makes her priceless. Make sure you snatch her up before she clues in to her good looks, Brosey.”



While Fern and Ambrose come of age, and become wiser to what they have in life, Bailey remains the wisest of the lot. He will grab your heart and not let go. I adored reading him. In many ways he did steal the show he was so real and so internally beautiful to read.

This book is a very clean read and it doesn’t deter from this love story in anyway.



“Yes.” His voice was raspy. “I think about your long red hair and your sweet mouth, and the way your little body feels when it’s pressed up against me, and I just want to put my hands on you. Everywhere. And forget that I am ugly and alone and confused as hell.”



I think I want to see this book made into a movie so I can hear and see these words being said on the big screen.



“Ambrose Young! I have waited my whole life for you to want me. If you don’t hold me tight I won’t believe you mean it, and that’s worse than never being held at all. You’d better make me believe you mean it, Ambrose, or you will most definitely break me.”



A beautifully told story that will resonate with you well after finishing it.


“I’ve felt like one of those snowflakes we used to make in school. The ones where you fold the paper a certain way and then keep cutting and cutting until the paper is shredded. That’s what I look like, a paper snowflake. And each hole has a name. And nobody, not you, not me, can fill the holes that someone else has left. All we can do is keep each other from falling in the holes and never coming out again.”



We can’t conquer our reading piles, but we can jump the queue for the special ones.

This book is a queue jumper.

“...and when you get tired of looking at me, I promise I’ll sing.”

Michelle

BOOK REVIEW - YOU WERE MINE by ABBI GLINES - ROSEMARY BEACH # 9 - SIMON & SCHUSTER - ATRIA BOOKS - NEW ADULT CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

By: Abbi Glines
Published By: Atria, Simon & Schuster
Released: Available Now
Details: Paperback from publisher for honest review, 239 Pages

RATING: 4.25 TRIPP STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

From #1 "New York Times" bestselling author Abbi Glines comes a brand-new Rosemary Beach novel about Tripp Newark and his hidden romantic past with Bethy Lowry.

In the eyes of the wealthy playboys who frequent Kerrington Country Club in Rosemary Beach, Tripp Newark is a hero. Under pressure from his parents to become a lawyer and lead a conservative, upper-class life, Tripp disappeared from town five years ago to travel the world, forfeiting the opportunity to inherit millions. Yet few know what he was really running from...

Bethy Lowry was unraveling long before her boyfriend drowned in a riptide trying to save her after she'd had one too many drinks--again. A trailer park kid working as a cart girl among the wealthy patrons of Kerrington Country Club, Bethy has always been impressionable. But five years ago, before she earned her reputation as a hard-drinking, easy girl, she had spent a single summer with Tripp Newark that changed her life forever...


BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

I so enjoyed reading Tripp’s story. He is such a great guy. I liked the introduction we got to his character in Woods and Della’s story.

I think I was a little disappointed in Wood’s attitude on the island when it came to Charity and Tripp. It kind of felt forced angst. I couldn’t see Woods allowing anybody to pressure him like he did Tripp. I kinda got my grrr on with that.

I’m so happy Tripp got his Bethy, it was inevitable.

Grant and his bubba were gorgeous to read. Oh to be a fly on the wall when his babe was older. J

Abbi Glines books are always quick reads for me. When I am feeling like a pool side type read I pick one up.

The story telling recipe doesn’t offer a lot of surprises outside of her formula and that is okay as she sells so well. Her reading audience is enormous. Readers of all ages are invested.

I am addicted.

Next up is Kiro and Emily’s novella.

Michelle

BLOG TOUR - WICKED HEART by LEISA RAYVEN - STARCROSSED # 3 - NEW ADULT CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE - PAN MACMILLAN

By: Leisa Rayven
Published By: Pan Macmillan, St Martin's Press
Released : Available Now
Details : Digital copy for honest review from publisher

RATING: 5 LIAM QUINN & A SIDE ORDER OF JOSH STARS

Blurb: Goodreads

Liam Quinn is talented, gorgeous, and one of the biggest movie stars in the world.

He's also only man Elissa Holt has ever truly loved.

After being out of her life for six years, he and his gorgeous fiancé are set to star in the new Broadway show Elissa is stage managing. Both Elissa and Liam try to ignore the connection they both still feel, but when late night rehearsals bring them together, the line between what is and what could have been get blurred.

Elissa knows that falling for Liam again would be a tragedy in the making, but as any good romantic will tell you, love doesn't always follow the script.



BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

Wicked Heart is my FAVORITE in the Starcrossed series.

Why?

Liam.

Elissa.

Liam.

I know it’s cliché, but he had me at hello.

And a side order of Josh.

Now things are never not angsty in this series and Leisa delivers a bucket load, but safe to say not as much in this book as in Bad Romeo and Broken Juliet.

Elissa as a lot of readers would already know is Ethan’s sister and she is a respected stage manager. I really liked her character. 

Again, Leisa knows her theatrical acting shiz and all the things that come with it and it shows. I felt like I was backstage or side stage or wherever Elissa does her managing and I was peering over her shoulder.


If I had to choose between Liam or Ethan, it is too easy.

LIAM. QUINN!


Liam. Even his name is sexy.

What I loved about this book was it was 99% in the present.

Praise the laaaawd.

There was no flipping back and forth. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I read Bad Romeo and Broken Juliet one after the other and ... * face plant * I did enjoy both books.

Josh, the sub character and friend to Elissa, is pretty adorable in this installment.  

*stage whispers* I wanted to not like Angel...but...ya simply can’t. She is a nice chick who grew on me.

All in all, the pages turned and I swept through this book unable to stop.

Standing ovation for Wicked Heart.

Well done , Leisa.

Michelle

BOOK REVIEW - BROKEN JULIET by LEISA RAYVEN - STARCROSSED # 2 - PAN MACMILLAN - NEW ADULT CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

By: Leisa Rayven
Published By: Pan Macmillan, St Martin's Press
Released : Available Now
Details : Paperback from publisher for honest review, 308 Pages

Blurb : Goodreads

How do you fix a love that’s been broken beyond repair?

For years, Cassie Taylor tried to forget about Ethan Holt. He was the one great love of her life, and when he failed to return her love, a part of her died forever. Or so she thought. Now she and Ethan are sharing a Broadway stage, and he’s determined to win her back. Claiming to be a changed man, he’s finally able to say all the things she needed to hear years ago, but can she believe him? What makes this time different from all his other broken promises?

Ethan knows he can’t change their tumultuous past, but if he’s going to have any chance of being with the woman he loves, he’ll need to convince Cassie that her future belongs with him.

Don’t miss this stunning conclusion to the unforgettable love story that captivated over two million fans online.


BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

Like Bad Romeo, this is a very well written sequel.

Leisa knows how to use her words. She has wit and snark and she knows how to drive that angst all the way home.

We are again flipping back and forth between past and present and that can get a bit confusing but at the same time I expected all the flipping after Bad Romeo.

I was prepared for it. I think I would have liked time spent in the present more in bigger blocks, but that is just me.

Time wasn’t the only thing flipping, Cassie and Ethan’s roles did a flip.

Ethan had changed Cassie, she had to learn how to trust her feelings again.



I’ve always known he’s worth it. I knew it before he did. I just need to stop doubting we can make this work.


He thinks I can go back to being the person I was after this? It’s impossible. He’s poisoned the woman I used to be. Long after he’s gone, I’ll still be toxic.



One part is vibrant and pulsing with pleasure. The other is withering and dying. The trusting part. The loving part.



Ethan has become the chaser.

HE WANTS CASSIE BACK.


“No buts. If our relationship was based only on sex, do you think we’d have gone through all the shit we have? Sex is easy. And as much as I love having sex with you, what I want from you isn’t easy. It’s messy and complicated, and I don’t have a clue how to cope with it all. But I’ll find a way, because I love you. And love is hard, but it’s worth it. You’re worth it. And I hope one day you’ll realize I’m worth it, too.”


I really enjoy the sub characters, especially Connor and Erika. She deliberately manipulates the characters into doing scenes that are at odds with them, adding so much to the story line.

Another great instalment in this series with Wicked Heart up to bat next. This time Elissa, Ethan’s sister is in the wars with her heart.

Looking forward to it.

Michelle

BOOK REVIEW - BAD ROMEO by LEISA RAYVEN - STARCROSSED # 1 - NEW ADULT CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE - PAN MACMILLAN

By: Leisa Rayven
Published By: Pan Macmillan
Released : Available Now
Details : Paperback from publisher for honest review, 403 Pages

Blurb : Goodreads

While performing the greatest love story of all time, they discovered one of their own . . .

Cassie Taylor was just another good girl acting student. Ethan Holt was the bad boy on campus. Then one fated casting choice for Romeo and Juliet changed it all. Like the characters they were playing onstage, Cassie and Ethan's epic romance seemed destined. Until it ended in tragedy when he shattered her heart.

Now they've made it to Broadway where they're reunited as romantic leads once again - and their passionate scenes force them to confront the heartbreaking lows and pulse-pounding highs of their intense college affair. For Ethan, losing Cassie was his biggest regret-and he's determined to redeem himself. But for Cassie, even though Ethan was her first and only great love, he hurt her too much to ever be trusted again. The trouble is, when it comes to love, sometimes it's the things that aren't good for us that are the most irresistible.

Don't miss the intoxicating romance beloved by more than two million fans online.



BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

I had heard that Bad Romeo was good.

It was time to discover what this book was all about. 

I’ve not read a book where the main characters are actors before, but not TV actors, theatrical actors.

Romeo and Juliet is the play that brings the two lead characters, Cassie and Ethan, together and man...is there some sexual tension and moments. 

This book flips back and forth between the present and past, (six years earlier) as we look into the aspiring acting careers and lives of Cassie and Ethan and some other sub characters who bring a lot to this book.

Leisa surprised me with how well this book is written. She is funny and witty, but she also brings her knowledge of her theatrical background to the story. You can tell she knows the ins and out about stage actors and directors and all that jazz.

There is quality to her writing and depth and it reads like you are really a part of the audience. 

It's simply more.

Ethan is a character that I really enjoyed but at the same time he is different to a lot of the book boyfriends we read about because he is more dramatic, possibly due to his chosen career. Well, I felt that way anyway. He’s not your alpha character. 

He’s sensitive, angsty, and maybe a little more real.

He is career driven and determined to get what he wants and prove to his father he has the right to his chosen career. He wants nothing to stand in his way.

Cassie is all about pleasing people. She is the girl who isn’t herself because she is still looking for that person.

But, the more we read and flip back and forth, the more original character traits start to flip.

Who’s now chasing who?

What are their secrets?

I look forward to starting Broken Juliet next and continuing Ethan and Cassie’s journey as two actors find themselves in their world of make believe.

Michelle

BOOK REVIEW - THE BOYS OF SUMMER by C.J. DUGGAN - SUMMER # 1 - NA / MATURE YA CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

By: C.J. Duggan
Published By: C.J. Duggan
Released : Available Now
Details: Purchased for freee on Amazon, but also had a paperback copy from local library.

RATING: 4 ONSLOW BOYS STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

Quiet seventeen-year-old Tess doesn’t relish the thought of a summertime job. She wants nothing more than to forget the past haunts of high school and have fun with her best friends before the dreaded Year Twelve begins.

To Tess, summer is when everything happens: riding bikes down to the lake, watching the fireworks at the Onslow Show and water bomb fights at the sweltering Sunday markets.

How did she let her friends talk her into working?

After first-shift disasters, rude, wealthy tourists and a taunting ex-boyfriend, Tess is convinced nothing good can come of working her summer away. However, Tess finds unlikely allies in a group of locals dubbed ‘The Onslow Boys’, who are old enough to drive cars, drink beer and not worry about curfews. Tess’s summer of working expands her world with a series of first times with new friends, forbidden love and heartbreaking chaos.

All with the one boy she has never been able to forget.

It will be a summer she will always remember.


BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

I have been needing to start this series for far too long.

I finally put my foot down and parted the ocean of books and made the freakin’ time.

This was a delightful YA/NA mix genre read.

This installment is about Tess and her friends coming of age. Year eleven is finished and her best friends join her working at the Onslow pub on the top of the hill for the summer break.

Adam is the fun sidekick. I would have loved to have read more about him because he is a corker of a character.

Enter the Onslow Boys and Tess and Ellie go all dreamy eyed. I mean who wouldn't?

The Onslow Boys are pretty cool guys who like to be real Aussie blokes. They love their beer, their fishing and hanging together.

In my personal opinion, Sean Murphy steals the limelight.

Throw in an Angela who isn’t really that bad a chick but she is the girlfriend of Toby aka Tobias, which is not a good thing for Tess.

Now as far as Tobias’s character, I felt he needed to be more present and connecting with Tess.

Sean really connected with me and he is a great guy hanging about Tess. His character leaped off the page more so than Tobias’s, for me anyway.

Maybe the only reason this book didn’t get a five star from me.

Small town, three friends and the Onslow Boys makes for a great first installment.

I am eager to return and watch more of the Onslow Boys fall for their lady.

Michelle

BOOK REVIEW - ENTICE by RACHEL VAN DYKEN - EAGLE ELITE # 3 - NEW ADULT MAFIA SUSPENSE ROMANCE

By: Rachel Van Dyken
Published By: Rachel Van Dyken
Released : Available Now
Details: Kindle , 325 Pages

RATING: 4.5 CHASE & TEX STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

From #1 New York Times Bestselling author Rachel Van Dyken comes the third book in the bestselling Eagle Elite Series...

“As burns this saint, so burns my soul. I enter alive, and I will have to get out dead.”

Chase Winter let the love of his life slip through his fingers and into the hands of his best friend and mafia boss of the Abandanato family. Now that he's been given a second chance to right a wrong--he refuses to let his own selfishness stand in the way. The only problem? He's not fully in possession of his heart, so when Mil De Lange, the girl who's innocence he stole, and heir to the worst of the worst mafia families in the US, asks him for a favor. He actually says yes, not realizing that that one yes has the power to destroy them all.

Mil's been in love with Chase as long as she can remember, but as the years went by, the love turned to hate, and now that he's agreed to help her, she's wondering if she made a fatal error. Because Chase isn't a teenager anymore. He's a hot blooded male, bent on owning every part of her body and soul, and willing to kill anyone in his path who dares stand in the way.
It's time for secrets to finally be revealed...but make no mistake, it's going to take a lot of bloodshed for those truths to be discovered.

You've never read a New Adult Mafia story like this before...loyalties will be tested, lovers reunited, and friendships obliterated. Welcome to the Family. Blood in--No out.

BOOK REVIEW By Michelle:

This series is getting to be quite a little mafia addiction for me. I had trouble putting this book down.

I did love Chase in this book, he became quite the caveman towards Mil quite quickly. There is that Trace and Chase thing that Rachel efficiently swept a little under the carpet so there was this clean slate for him to show the reader his feelings for Mil.

I stole a glance at Chase. It would be easier if he were ugly – unfortunately, he was a god masquerading as a mortal. He was so sexy that I swear it strained my eyes to look in his direction for periods longer than five seconds. Dark hair fell just below his ears, meeting a strong jaw line that was just as muscular as the rest of him.



I liked discovering more about Mil and what made her tick.

Mil has a lot weighing her down and the leadership she must show as a mafia boss for somebody so young is brought across well.

Nixon and Trace have air time in this book which I enjoyed but I did like getting back to Chase and Mil. 

Chase is quite phwoaaarrrrr!!

There was a powerful conversation between Nixon and Trace which made me realize how far some of these characters have come in my eyes. 

"Whoa." Trace stepped back. "So if I asked you to abandon this life, your entire family, and become a ghost, what would you say?"

My heart thundered against my chest as the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. I must have bit my tongue in the shock. Honesty. Damn, I hated that part of my personality. "I wouldn't say anything, Trace. I'd let you go. I'd take care of you from afar, but we'd part ways. I'd grow up to be a really crabby and bitter old mafia boss -- so basically I'd turn into Luca...and I'd dream about you every night. I'd want you every day. But I'd stay. Our love is strong. But family? What's been bred into me? It will always win, regardless of my feelings for you."

Rachel pulls out some action and mafia mayhem which I really enjoyed. She stepped it up and I saw it like a movie action scene playing through my mind.

I’m really believing these characters are now capable of anything, even as young as they are and good looking and sexy.

This group of twenty something guys and gals pull guns on each other nearly as much as they do on the bad guys.

LOL!

Erm...not sure about pulling a gun on your loved one, but hey, this is an escapism of the Rachel Van Dyken variety.

Now the surprise for me is Tex. Firstly I was wondering why his name was Tex when everybody else had a more mafia family name...and then there was Tex.

I did find out.

I could not help reading book # 4’s bonus at the end and WHAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Now if that didn’t get me all giddy up and ready for Elicit.

Good Lawd!

Bring on Elicit!

“Because in the end, every girl wants a hero, 

and I just made Chase hers.”

Michelle

BOOK REVIEW - ADDICTED TO YOU by KRISTA & BECCA RITCHIE - NEW ADULT CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

By: Krista Ritchie & Becca Ritchie
Published : Krista & Becca Ritchie
Released: Available Now
Details: Kindle, 324 Pages

RATING: 4.5 ADDICTION STARS

Blurb: Goodreads

She’s addicted to sex. He’s addicted to booze…the only way out is rock bottom.

No one would suspect shy Lily Calloway’s biggest secret. While everyone is dancing at college bars, Lily stays in the bathroom. To get laid. Her compulsion leads her to one-night stands, steamy hookups and events she shamefully regrets. The only person who knows her secret happens to have one of his own.

Loren Hale’s best friend is his bottle of bourbon. Lily comes at a close second. For three years, they’ve pretended to be in a real relationship, hiding their addictions from their families. They’ve mastered the art of concealing flasks and random guys that filter in and out of their apartment.

But as they sink beneath the weight of their addictions, they cling harder to their destructive relationship and wonder if a life together, for real, is better than a lie. Strangers and family begin to infiltrate their guarded lives, and with new challenges, they realize they may not just be addicted to alcohol and sex.

Their real vice may be each other.

New Adult Romance recommended for readers 18+ for mature content


BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

When two authors write a story about two college students who have secrets and are heavily addicted to their vices...you know you are going to be reading an eye opener if done right.

Addicted To You was done right.

Lily and Lone are a train wreck waiting to happen.

They are best friends who share an apartment, who share family get-togethers, who put on appearances of dating, who are hiding sex addiction and alcoholism.

WOW!

WOW!

WOW!

I think a lot of us reading this book never understood sex addiction until it was portrayed to us through Lily.

WOW!

You can’t help but be dragged into her mind set as you read more and more about her addiction and what it means to Lily.

Then we have Lo.

I sweep his features. Light brown hair, short on either side, full on top. Decently toned body hidden beneath a pair of faded Dockers and a black crew-neck tee. Cheekbones that cut like ice and eyes like liquid scotch. Loren Hale is an alcoholic beverage and he doesn’t even know it.



Lo is an alcoholic and for some reason that appears easier in my mind to understand. It’s not a good thing, but I always seemed to grasp what an alcoholic was. If this was a story just about an alcoholic student it wouldn’t have been as powerful.

Adding in Lily...Lily is something else.



The water washes away the smell and grime, but my sins are here to stay. The memories don’t vanish, and I desperately try not to imagine this morning. Waking up. I love the sex. It’s the after part that I haven’t quite figured out yet.



Krista and Becca really paint the reader a picture of a girl who needs sex. It’s so much more to Lily than just an orgasm. Lily needs her porn, her toys, escort service, she needs sex to get through her day.

To function.

Lo doesn’t function very well on alcohol. His grades are slipping, he has issues with is father.


There is a cache of side characters we get introduced to along the way. The two that draw me in the most are Ryke and Connor.

This is quite a powerful read.

It’s not a read to be taken lightly.

Lily and Lo will do stupid things...but they are addicts.

They support each other’s addictions.

They don’t try to help each other. They are each other’s wingman. They are a team that works together to hide their secrets, to support their secrets.



With our new alliance, we lied for each other and hid our infidelities, playing the role of doting boyfriend and girlfriend. The deeper we sink, the harder it is to crawl out. I fear the moment where neither of us can breathe again – when someone discovers our secrets. At any moment, everything can crumble beneath us. The dangerous game both excites and terrifies me.



What happens when feelings and jealousies come into play?



Booze forgives all transgressions, but it doesn’t help with the morning after.


“Then let me try,” he says, his hand cupping my face. “Let me try to be enough for you.”


I’m very much looking forward to continuing these character’s journey in this series.

Michelle

#1.5

BOOK REVIEW - UNTIL THE END by ABBI GLINES - SEA BREEZE # 9 - NEW ADULT CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE - SIMON & SCHUSTER

By: Abbi Glines
Published By: Simon & Schuster 
Released : Available Now
Details: Paperback from Publisher for honest review, 174 pages ( Rock and Trisha ) , 200 pages Epilogues.

RATING: 4.25 ROCK STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

The backstory that fans have been clamoring for—how Rock and Trisha fell in love—is the final installment in the Sea Breeze series from New York Times bestselling author Abbi Glines. And don’t miss the sizzling Epilogue, where Abbi wraps up all the Sea Breeze couples’ stories!

Trisha Corbin always knew how to hide a bruise. With her momma’s boyfriends unable to keep their hands off of her, she had no choice. And as long as it meant the guys wouldn’t go near her little brother, Krit, it was worth it. But her days of dreaming that Prince Charming would ever come rescue her are far, far in the past.

Rock Taylor always had a plan. Through football, he would rise above the life he was born into. A full ride to play for a major college team was within his reach—assuming he didn’t let anything get in his way. But scoring a date with the hottest girl in Sea Breeze was proving harder than expected. Trisha Corbin was every man’s walking fantasy, and she wouldn’t even glance his way.

When Rock finally does get Trisha in his truck, it isn’t for a date. It’s because he picks her up on the side of the road, beaten and bruised and walking to the local hospital. Before Rock knows it, football is no longer his life. Trisha Corbin is. And he’ll do anything to save her. And keep her.

In addition to Rock and Trisha’s love story, this special novel contains the wrap-up stories of all your favorite Sea Breeze couples: Sadie and Jax, Marcus and Low, Cage and Eva, Preston and Amanda, Jess and Jason, Krit and Blythe, and Dewayne and Sienna.


BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

We come to the end of the Sea Breeze series. I have been quite addicted to it. I will say Cage is probably my fave male lead out of all the lads followed by the grown up Krit.

I enjoyed this book and I do really love Rock and Trisha. Maybe it was a little too short for me, but I loved how Rock was so in love that he gave away his future sports career. I am not sure how realistic that is considering how good he was at football, but his heart was totally stolen by Trisha and as we know from previous books they got the already made family along the way and love has no boundaries with these two.

They are rock solid. Pun intended.

Abbi sure knows how to bring us that same recipe over and over that no matter what, keeps bringing the readers in the tens of thousands back for more and more every single time.

The epilogues were a little hit and miss for me, but it was a fun way to add to this book. Misunderstandings and make up sex are a couple of the ingredients in the epilogues.

Now I have some Rosemary Beach to catch up on.

Michelle

BOOK REVIEW - THE RETURN by JENNIFER L ARMENTROUT - TITAN # 1 - SPENCER HILL PRESS - PARANORMAL ROMANCE

By: Jennifer L Armentrout

Published By: Spencer Hill Press

Released: Available Now

Details: Paperback from library, 335 Pages

RATING : 4.5 SMEXY SETH STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

The Fates are cackling their bony asses off…

It’s been a year since Seth made the deal with the gods that pledged his life to them. And so far, the jobs they’ve given him have been violent and bloody–which is kind of all right with him. But now Apollo has something else in mind for Seth. He’s got to play protector while keeping his hands and fingers off, and for someone who really has a problem with restraint, this new assignment might be the most challenging yet.

Josie has no idea what this crazy hot guy’s deal might be, but it’s a good bet that his arrival means the new life she started after leaving home is about to be thrown into an Olympian-sized blender turned up to puree. Either Josie is going insane or a nightmare straight out of ancient myth is gunning for her.

But it might be the unlikely attraction simmering between her and the golden-eyed, secret-keeping Seth that may prove to be the most dangerous thing of all.

Because history has once again been flipped to repeat.

Book 1 in the new adult paranormal TITAN series, spin-off to the best selling COVENANT series.




BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

I loved the Covenant series and now Titan the spinoff has spun with The Return.

SETH! He’s baaAAaack.

And boy is he a smexy lad.

Josie and Seth find themselves together...because Apollo said so and things heat up.

We know there is always gonna be luurrrvvvvee in JLA’s books and this is no exception, it’s about the road trip getting there.

I adored Apollo in Covenant series and he gets to show himself and so does Deacon and Luke.

Cool!

There is so much more to learn about those crazy Gods and the trouble that follows our main characters around, and now JLA has thrown in villainous Titans who are on a mission to seek and destroy and all that good stuff.

I’ll be back for The Power in February 2016 because it has all only just begun. JLA has to put Josie and Seth through a whole pile of more shiz before we get to the end of this series.

Michelle

BOOK BLITZ - THE END GAME by KATE MCCARTHY - NEW ADULT CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

RELEASE BLITZ

Title: The End Game

Author: Kate McCarthy

Release Date: September 8, 2015

BLURB

“Professional athletes are pillars of their respective communities. They are heroes in the eyes of boys and girls and are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that positively represents their community.”

The public loves a good scandal. Seeing someone fall from the pinnacle of success makes a great headline. No one knows that better than I do. What started out as a promising career in college football, spiraled into scandal and shame.

But being a hero is easier said then done. Especially when there are those who expected to see the great Brody Madden fail. I craved nothing except being the best—willing to do anything to prove them wrong. But I went too far, and I tried too hard, and it broke me.

“At the time of going to print, Jordan Elliott was unavailable for comment.”

I met Brody Madden in my senior year of college. An Australian native on an international scholarship, I was the female soccer sensation with stars in her eyes and no room for a hotshot wide receiver with a chip on his shoulder.

But a heart bursting with ambition and a driving fire to succeed isn’t made of stone. I became his strength, his obsession, and the greatest love of his life. Only I wasn’t there when he needed me most.

This is a story about love and a game that takes everything. Where the path to glory is paved with sacrifice. Where pressure makes you, or breaks you, and triumph is born in the ashes of failure. Where two people’s end game will change everything.

GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22874150-the-end-game

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EXCERPT

Shutting the door, I walk up the slight incline behind Brody. He sits down at the top of the crest and pats the grassy spot beside him.

“You didn’t mention this part when you explained our date.”

“I can’t give away all my secrets now, can I?”

The grass is a thick blanket on the ground and when I stretch out flat, the rich, earthy scent of soil sweeps over me. My eyes lift to the sky and that’s when I get it. It’s perfectly clear and millions of stars are scattered diamonds twinkling above us—bright and magical.

“Besides,” Brody adds as he lies down beside me and sweeps out his arm, encompassing all of it. “How do you explain that?”

He’s right. You can’t. “It’s beautiful.”

“Is this what the stars are like for you back home?”

“No. Back home it’s different.”

“Different how?”

Homesickness swamps me. As beautiful as Texas is, it’s not Australia. Somehow the stars are always brighter where you belong. “Because there’s no place like home.”

“You’re wrong.”

I turn my head and stare at Brody. He’s not looking at me. His head is tilted toward the sky, eyes riveted on the beauty above him. My gaze follows the line of his profile. From the curl of his hair to the perfect line of his nose, down to the mouth I want kissing me right this very instant.

“Home’s not a place where you live. It’s a feeling.” His hand nudges my own. An invitation. I twine my fingers with his and he squeezes them lightly. “Whether it’s where you are, like the football field, or who you’re with.” Brody turns his head, looking at me when he says that. It’s comforting because it unites us somehow, like it’s slowly becoming us against the world. “You can be anywhere, Jordan. Home will follow you if you follow your heart.”

My breath hitches from the beautiful simplicity of his words. Before I can talk myself out of it, I roll over and straddle him. My knees hug his hips, and he stares up at me from my seated position. My pulse pounds a heavy beat in the silence. Thump, thump, thump. It’s so loud in my ears I’m sure he can hear it.

“Show me,” I breathe. A gleam lights his dark eyes, and he sucks his lower lip inside his mouth. He knows what I’m asking, but I spell it out anyway. “Show me one of those wicked things.”

In a move that steals the air from my lungs, he takes both my hands and pulls me down against the broad width of his chest. I’m rolled over and underneath him before I can blink. The squirm in my hips is instinctive, the ache between my thighs relentless.

“Careful what you ask for,” Brody says roughly, every exquisite inch of his body pressing down on mine.

“Why?”

His lips curve. “Because when I give it to you, it won’t be enough.”

My fingers trail down the side of his face, grazing the firm jaw, cupping his cheek in my palm. Foreboding swamps me. I’m falling hard into uncharted territory, and all I see is a broken mess at the end. How is this going to end well for either of us?

“You’re an arrogant man, Brody Madden,” I whisper.

He brings his face to mine, so close I see the brilliant gold in his eyes, like flecks of light in the dark. “And you, Jordan Elliott, will be the woman who brings me to my knees,” he whispers against my lips.

“Show me,” I beg on a shaky breath.

Brody’s lashes lower and he presses a kiss to the corner of my mouth. I tilt my chin upwards, inviting more. Rather than take my lips like I ache for him to do, he shifts sideways and begins nipping at my jaw. His breath is a rasp when he reaches my earlobe, taking it between his teeth. A sharp pinch from his bite forces a whimper from my throat.

“More?” he asks, drawing back to look at me.

“Is that even a real question?”

Brody chuckles as I slide my hand up and around his nape, dragging his mouth down to mine. He groans and kisses me gently, once, and then twice.

“Brody,” I whisper, and he kisses me again, forcing my mouth open hard like he can’t hold himself in check anymore. My hair is loose and he fists chunks of it in both hands while his tongue rubs against mine, hot and aggressive. It’s almost too much, and when I jerk away I’m left gasping.

Brody doesn’t pause. He ducks his head to my neck, his tongue tasting its way down. He finds my pulse point and sucks. It’s fierce and my back arches involuntarily. His mouth shifts further down, moving on before he leaves a mark.

Sitting up, he takes the neckline of my dress in both hands. Five dainty buttons hold it together. A single wrench will rip the flimsy fabric in two. He pauses and looks at me, inhaling raggedly. “Jordan … I don’t want to ruin it.”

My brow furrows. I glance to the hands poised on my dress. They’re tense, veins straining under his skin. My head is lost in a fog when my gaze returns to his face. “Ruin my dress?”

Brody groans, a deep sound of regret and frustration. “Us.”

“You don’t want to ruin us?”

He draws his hands away from the neckline of my dress. “No.”

“How would you do that?”

“I don’t know. I just get this feeling I’m going to.” He shifts away, moving off me and rolling to his back. I turn my head. Brody’s gaze is back on the stars. I watch his throat work as he swallows, the pulse in his neck pounding visibly. “All I’ve ever wanted is to be the best. Whatever it takes. I’ll do anything. That’s how I’ll ruin us, Jordan. How can something so sweet survive a sentiment so dark?”

I roll to my side, holding my head in my hand. Cupping his face with the other, I nudge gently until he’s looking at me. “I won’t let you.”

Brody’s voice is urgent, his eyes fierce. “Promise me.”

I can’t shake the apprehension. It’s set in my bones and when I speak it feels like a lie. “I promise.”

AUTHOR BIO

Kate McCarthy is an Australian, living in the pretty sunshine state of Queensland with her two kids and two dogs, Rufus and Pete.

She loves to bake sweet stuff and eat it too. With an exciting degree in business, she works as an accountant by day, and an author by night. In between family life, she is most often found in bed reading, or at the beach, still reading.

AUTHOR LINKS

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

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/KMacinOz

Website:  http://katemccarthy.net/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6876994.Kate_McCarthy

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RELEASE DAY BLITZ - MAID FOR THE ROCK STAR by DEMELZA CARLTON - NA CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Book Title: Maid for the Rock Star 

Author: Demelza Carlton 

Genre: New Adult/Contemporary Romance 

Release Date: August 3, 2015 

Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions

A maid at the exclusive Romance Island Resort, Audra knows how to handle rock stars, billionaires and celebrities. She keeps their secrets, cleans up their mess and makes sure their holiday is a memorable one. There's just one rule: no relationships with guests.

And Audra never breaks the rules.

Jay Felix is rock royalty and he knows it. When one of his bandmates threatens to break up the band, he goes into hiding at the Romance Island Resort. Looking for a distraction, he sets his sights on the unattainable Audra. But what's a rock star to do when the girl he wants is the one woman he can't have?

Welcome to paradise, where the romance is as hot as the weather and the tides aren't the only thing surging under the surface.

A soft chime sounded, echoing in the villa. "Housekeeping at the door," a recorded but mellifluous English voice announced. "Maid service required?"

"Hell yes!" Audra heard Plum-Bum's excited shout.

His sister hushed him. The front door flew open and Audra found herself face to face with a young woman about her own age. Audra lowered her gaze to the woman's expensive shoes. "We don't need anything. We just arrived today and haven't made enough mess to need a clean-up yet."

But I did, Audra thought but didn't say. The bath tub was still full of frog-tainted towels. "Towels," she said, pointing.

"Ask her!" Plum-Bum insisted, his bare feet appearing on the tiles behind the woman. "You'd fuck me, right?"

Wow. He might have decent equipment, but that's all that defined this dickhead. Probably a porn star for sure. "No, thank you," Audra said faintly.

"What'd she say?" Plum-Bum demanded.

The woman shook her head and guided Audra to the bathroom, then blocked the doorway to keep her brother out. "She doesn't understand English. Most hotel maids are foreign migrants, waiting for their qualifications to come through as they improve their English so they can get higher-paying jobs. Besides, she could lose her job for sleeping with a guest. Don't you remember what the hotel manager said about fraternisation policies during our tour? Leave her alone, Jason."

Audra snorted. In Perth, maybe, hotel staff were recent migrants, but not here in Broome. Even the casual staff were Aussie. But if the woman's words kept her oversexed brother's hands off her, all the better. She set the stack of fresh towels on the edge of the spa and stuffed the froggy ones into the laundry bag.

Glass clinked on metal. An empty beer bottle going into the bin, most likely. The crunch and crackle of plastic followed it. Definitely the bin. She'd empty that on the way through and then she could escape the Pearls for the day.

Fixing her eyes firmly on the tiled floor, Audra marched to the kitchen to the approaching beat of helicopter rotors. Third flight today.

"Right, there's my ride returning. Don't get into too much trouble, don't make too much trouble for the staff, and enjoy your holiday. If you're not fit and ready for the band's farewell tour, you know it'll be your balls on the chopping block."

Band? Did she say he was in a band? Audra raised her gaze to scrutinise Plum-Bum's face. Even with the sexy stubble along his usually clean-shaven jaw, she recognised the face from the poster that had adorned her bedroom wall for the better part of the last five years. The one Sam kissed every morning. One she'd fantasised about since high school. Maybe she'd even kissed that poster once or twice herself. She glanced away before he could catch her staring. Oh shit. She'd already seen his –

"Promise me that if you get lonely, you'll call me. Don't do anything stupid." The sister sniffed. "I do love and care about you, you know."

"HA!" he shouted. "I knew it. Told you that you wanted me. It's not incest if I'm your stepbrother. Everyone wants me."

Audra snorted. Arrogant prick. Even she could tell the girl didn't.

"You're delusional, Jason. I love you because you're my brother, blood or no blood. I wouldn't sleep with you if you were the last man on Earth." She pulled out her phone and tapped it meaningfully. "Promise me you'll call me."

He nodded sulkily.

Her eyes met Audra's. "Don't take any shit from him. There's a place in town that neuters tomcats for half-price. You can put it on his hotel bill." She winked.

Audra stifled a snort of laughter. Mess with this man's glorious equipment? The world would weep. Especially if castration robbed him of his signature, underwear-igniting singing voice. Even she'd shed a tear for the loss.

She waited for the sister to leave before she pulled out the rubbish bin to change the bag inside.

Bare feet appeared beside the bin. "You understood every word, I bet," he said. "And I know you recognised me. If you know who I am, we both already know the answer to my question. So answer me. Would you fuck me?"

Demelza Carlton has always loved the ocean, but on her first snorkelling trip she found she was afraid of fish.

She has since swum with sea lions, sharks and sea cucumbers and stood on spray-drenched cliffs over a seething sea as a seven-metre cyclonic swell surged in, shattering a shipwreck below. Sensationalist spin? No - Demelza tends to take a camera with her so she can capture and share the moment later; shipwrecks, sharks and all. Demelza now lives in Perth, Western Australia, the shark attack capital of the world. The Ocean's Gift series was her first foray into fiction, followed by the Nightmares trilogy. She swears the Mel Goes to Hell series ambushed her on a crowded train and wouldn't leave her alone.