Talk Supe

Tour Stop + Giveaway: Emancipating Andie by Priscilla Glenn

2013-05-21T08:00:00.000-04:00

Hello and welcome to Talk Supe's stop on the Emancipating Andie Blog Tour! This event is hosted by AToMR Tours. Our stop will include our review and a giveaway. To view the complete tour schedule please click HERE.

Series: Stand Alone

Format: Digital ARC

Release Date: April 2013

Publisher: Priscilla Glenn

Source: AToMR for Blog Tour
Genre: Adult Contemporary

Ever since the one time Andie Weber threw caution to the wind - and paid the price for it - she’s learned that it’s safer and smarter to live life playing by the rules. Now she’s got a great apartment, a steady job, and a wonderful boyfriend in Colin; he’s sweet, stable, and essentially perfect – except maybe for the fact that his best friend is Chase.

Chase McGuire lives his carefree, unstructured life strictly for himself. Dripping sarcasm and oozing wit, he refuses to censor his feelings or opinions for anyone, making no apologies for either and wearing his abrasiveness like a badge of honor. No one has ever gotten under Andie’s skin the way Chase does – and vice versa.

So when Andie and Chase find themselves forced to take a two-day road trip together, they are already dreading an inevitable all-out war. But as the trip progresses, and the undeniable friction that has always defined their relationship slowly begins to wear away their preconceived notions of each other, Andie and Chase discover they both have a lot to learn about life, courage, happiness, and the age-old battle between logic and love.

Have you ever wanted to relive that moment in your life where you first fell in love? That amazing, wonderful, time where every sweet glance, laugh, and touch is a thrill that rocks you to your core. Where your world changes and scares the hell out of you but at the same moment you've never felt so happy in your life before. Well that's exactly what I felt when I read EMANCIPATING ANDIE.

Andie Weber lives a very structured, planned and predictable life. She has a well-maintained and immaculate home. She has a steady job as a Manager for her father's restaurant. She's content with her handsome, sweet and dependable boyfriend. From the outside Andie's life seems idyllic but as you get to know Andie you find out that all her planning, rules, and cautions is there for a reason given what happened in her past. She needs these boundaries to feel safe.

Chase McGuire on the other hand is the total opposite of Andie. Upon first meeting him, Chase comes off as a Grade A Asshole. He's straight forward, unapologetic, and brutally honest in that very sarcastic asshole-y way. After years of following the path his father has expected him to go down, Chase throws all his caution to the wind and finally lives his life the way he wants. He's completely grates Andies nerves after meeting him and it seems that there could be no way these two would ever be friends let alone a couple.

"You look new right now," he finally said.

"New?"

He nodded. "Like you just discovered yourself." Andie felt something jolt through her veins as he added, "It's hard to explain, but I wish you could see it. It looks good on you."

But with the conflicting personalities, Andie and Chase are actually more perfect for each other than they would have ever imagined. Chase teaches Andie that it's OK to stray from her thought out plans and simply live. Through Chase, Andie is emancipated from her structured life and enjoy life, be happy, and discover who the real Andie that she's suppressed for a long time. Priscilla Glenn starts Emancipating Andie off a little slow but it's something that's needed in order for you to get to know these characters and allows them to form and develop a relationship that comes off very realistic. Glenn works her magic by letting her characters flow through the motion by letting them feel every bit of what it's like to love someone wholly and truly. Andie and Chase had wonderful chemistry and kept the sexual tension going far enough before everything exploded into passionate romance. Watching them interact was entertaining but seeing them fall in love was even better.

I've read hundreds of romance books in my life but when I read a Priscilla Glenn novel she makes me feel like it's the first time I've ever read a romance book. She did it when I read her debit novel, Back to You, and she's done it again with Emancipating Andie. Glenn has a wonderful way of getting all the butterflies in your tummy fluttering and feeling all giddy and full of excitement. She doesn't have to put her characters through the wringer to have you consumed in their love story. She just tells you a beautiful love story that leaves you completely satisfied and blissed out. I simply loved every character, even Colin, Andie's boyfriend. At first I was scared about a love triangle or even maybe infidelity but Glenn handles their stories perfectly and I was left without a bitter feeling about how everything unraveled.

“His heart was racing, and he wanted her to hear it. And he wanted her to know that from here on out, it beat solely for her.”

Basically anything that Priscilla Glenn writes comes highly recommended from me. She's easily becoming a go to author when I'm in the mood for a simple, beautiful, and sweet contemporary romance. She just has a way of pulling at every girly and romantically fiber in my body. If you are a fan of contemporary romances then EMANCIPATING ANDIE would come highly recommended from me.

Purchase Emancipating Andie

Priscilla Glenn lives in New York with her husband and three children. She has been teaching English Language Arts at the middle and high school levels for the past eleven years while moonlighting as a writer, mommy, coach, student, and professional laundry-doer.

If you catch her when she's feeling sophisticated, she'll tell you her favorite things are great books and good wine. In the moments in between, she'll admit her love for anything Ben and Jerry's, UFC fights, and Robert Pattinson.

Emancipating Andie is Glenn’s second novel. She is also the author of the contemporary romance/young adult crossover, Back to You.

Connect with Priscilla Glenn on her

Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Release Day Blitz: Trophy Husband by Lauren Blakely

2013-05-21T04:00:00.000-04:00

TROPHY HUSBAND

Lauren Blakely

Adult Contemporary Romance

Available Today!!

Sometimes you can't help falling in love, even when you try to do the opposite...Successful fashion blogger McKenna Bell has spent far too long protecting herself after the way her ex-fiancé left her at the altar for a college chick he met the night of his bachelor party. Loving again, trusting again, well, that's just not in the cards. Especially now that her ex is back in town with his new woman, demanding custody of McKenna's favorite creature in the whole world--her dog. No effing way. McKenna's had enough of him, and she decides to even the score by finding her own hot young thing -- a Trophy Husband. Sure, she's only twenty-seven, but doesn't that make it even more fun -- and infuriating to her ex -- to pursue a younger man? When she declares her intentions on her daily blog, her quest quickly skyrockets in popularity, and that's when Chris enters the picture, and he’s got all the assets. He's handsome, successful, and turns her inside out with a kiss to end all kisses, the kind that makes you feel like a shooting star. But loving again could mean losing again, and it's so much easier to focus on getting even, isn't it? Unless, you just can't help falling in love. Which means McKenna will have to come face to face with what she really wants in life -- protecting her heart from hurt, or letting go of her fears of a new beginning.

Prologue

Present Day

The stars twinkle and the night air is warm as we leave the Tiki Bar and walk slowly up Fillmore. At the top of the hill, I see my friend’s maroon Prius that I’m tasked with driving home tonight. I point to it.

“These are my wheels.” I click on the key to unlock the car. Then I reach for the door handle. But it doesn’t open. I try again. Same thing happens. “Damn. What is up with these hybrids?”

“They have to calibrate to your heart rate.”

“Then how the heck am I supposed to drive it home?”

“I know a trick,” Chris says.

“You do?”

“Want to give me the keys and I’ll show you?” he asks, holding open his palm for me.

But before I can pull away, he closes his fingers over mine, gripping my hand in his. That’s all it takes. Within seconds I am in his arms, and we are wrapped up in each other. His lips are sweeping mine, and I press my hands against his chest, and oh my. He does have the most fantastic outlines in his body. He is toned everywhere, strong everywhere, and I am dying to get my hands up his shirt, and feel his bare chest and his belly. But if I did, I might just jump him right here because I am one year and running without this. Without kissing, without touching, without feeling this kind of heat.

He twines his fingers through my hair, and the way he holds me, both tender and full of want at the same time, makes me start to believe in possibilities. Start to believe that you can try again, and it’ll be worth it. His lips are so soft, so unbearably soft, and I can’t stop kissing him. He has the faintest taste of Diet Coke on his lips, and it’s crazy to say this, but it almost makes me feel closer to him. Or maybe I feel closer because he’s leaning into me, his body is aligned with mine, and there’s no space between us, and I don’t want any space between us. I want to feel him against me, his long, strong body tangled up in mine, even though we’re fully clothed, making out on the street.

He breaks the kiss. “I wanted to kiss you all night.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, that key thing was just an excuse. Sometimes you just have to hit the button a few times to get the car to open.”

I laugh. “So you said that to kiss me?”

He nods. “Totally.”

“I’m glad you tricked me,” I whisper, as he bends his head and kisses my neck, blazing a trail of sweet and sexy kisses down to my throat, and it’s almost sensory overload the way he ignites me. Forget tingles, forget goosebumps. That’s kid stuff compared to this. My body is a comet with Chris. I am a shooting star with the way he kisses me. I don’t even know if I have bones in my body anymore. I don’t know how I’m standing. I could melt under the sweet heat of his lips that are now tracing a line down my chest to the very top of my breasts as he tugs gently at my shirt, giving himself room to leave one more brush of his lips. Before he stops.

He looks at me and the expression on his face is one of pride and lust. He knows he’s turned me inside out and all the way on.

“That was so unfair of me,” he says with a wicked grin. “Getting a headstart like that on all the other candidates.”

How can there be any other guys after a kiss like that? It’s a kiss to end all kisses, it’s a sip of lemonade in a hammock on a warm summer day. It’s a slow dance on hardwood floors while a fan goes round overhead, curtains blowing gently in the open window.

If he feels half as much for me as I do for him, then I want to sail away with him in the moonlight, and that scares the hell out of me. I have to extract myself before I let this go any further. I don’t mean the contact. I mean the way my aching, broken heart is reaching for Chris.

Lauren Blakely is an unabashed fan of clever jokes, toast, and good guys in novels. Like the heroine in CAUGHT UP IN US, she thinks life should be filled with movie kisses and coffee drinks. Lauren lives in California with her husband and children, and spends her days writing both true stories and make-believe ones.

Connect with Lauren

Website | Blog | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blitz Organized by

Cover Reveal: The Nature of Cruelty by L.H. Cosway

2013-05-21T03:00:00.000-04:00

The Nature of Cruelty

L.H. Cosway

June 28, 2013

Contemporary New Adult

Cruelty is a cycle. Once inflicted, it spreads.

Her name is Lana. She wasn’t dealt the easiest cards in life. She wasn’t dealt the hardest. She has an illness, but she doesn’t let it rule her. The first time she laid eyes on her best friend’s twin brother, she fell in love at first sight. It didn’t last very long. He was a hateful boy who made her miserable. The happiest day of her life was when he moved away to London six years ago.

His name is Robert. He breaks the ones who love him. He’s always liked to play games with Lana, see how far he could push her. He once thrived on her pain, but no more. Now she’s coming to London to live with his sister for the summer and this time he plans on being her friend instead of her tormentor. But Lana is scarred by his past bullying. She doesn’t trust him, nor does she have any reason to.

When the two find themselves living under the same roof, they call a truce. This summer will change both of their lives, as they put their history aside and learn one another from scratch.

When fear takes over, we use cruelty as a mask. Robert and Lana’s story will see their masks slip away as the love they felt on the inside shows its true face.

Buy links to follow

L.H. Cosway is a self-employed writer, editor, and proofreader. She has a BA in English Literature and Greek and Roman Civilisation and an MA in Postcolonial Literature. She lives in Dublin city. Her inspiration to write comes from music. Her favourite things in life include writing stories, vintage clothing, dark cabaret music, food, musical comedy, and of course, books.

Follow L.H. Cosway

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook

I love the cover, it has a Cruel Intentions (the first one!) vibe to it don't you think? The girl is reminiscent of Sarah Michelle Gellar's character in the movie. Lurve!!

Cover Reveal: Pinned up by C. Michelle

2013-05-21T00:30:00.000-04:00

Readers in search of something fresh in the adult contemporary romance department will celebrate the arrival of C. Michelle’s vibrant debut novel, Pinned Up. Full of snappy dialogue, edgy humor, and a lot of heart, this fun look into the world of a modern-day pin-up model is one interesting journey. Are you ready to embark on a wild ride?

PINNED UP

C. Michelle

NA Contemporary Romance

Coming soon!

Twenty-five-year-old Nina Moretti lives a double life of sorts. She’s a victim advocate during the day and as a side gig, lives out her 1940s fetish as a pin-up model. This arrangement suits her well, as does never having a steady boyfriend. Trust is an issue that was ruined for Nina at a young age and has yet to be recovered. While she may not “do” serious relationships, she has found fulfillment in her work and hanging out with her best friend, Kade—the greatest sidekick any woman could possibly want. All is well in Nina’s hectic, but satisfying life…

That is, until she meets Josh, a stunningly handsome man who has a notorious reputation as a ladies’ man. Living in San Francisco, California, Nina has met her fair share of eligible bachelors. But there is something different about Josh, something that compels her to try and get to know him better. For his part, Josh has always been reluctant to commit to any woman, largely as a way to spite his well-meaning, but rather overbearing mother. Nina, however, sparks his interest in a way that no other woman has before. What are two people, both scared of commitment, supposed to do?

Readers will feel an array of emotions as Nina and Josh do the unthinkable—embark on a relationship together. As they navigate the pitfalls of romantic entanglement, both come to realize that their pasts are intertwined in ways that they could never imagine. Perhaps they have more in common than just their fear of relationships.

A heartfelt novel depicting modern love with a refreshing twist, Pinned Up is a must-read.

I'm a northern Cali girl, born and raised. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and a Master of Business Administration degree while working as a probation officer and counselor. I have also served my community as a Victim Awareness Program instructor and an Aggression Replacement Training (ART) facilitator.

My interests include music, all things romantic and bad ass, reality TV shows, watching movies, attending comedy shows, and of course, reading. I’m a major book whore and have several fictional loves. I’m a die-hard junk food junkie. In a nutshell, I’m a kid at heart with a twisted sense of humor...I definitely don’t take myself too seriously. I know I’m not everyone’s cup of tea, but that’s okay because I’d rather be someone’s shot of tequila anyway! Salud!

Connect with C. Michelle

Website | Facebook | Goodreads

Tell us what you think about the cover by leaving a comment below.

Reveal hosted by...

Tour Stop Review: Knights of Excalibur by Shannan Albright

2013-05-20T21:35:00.003-04:00

Knights of Excalibur

Shannan Albright

Erotic Paranormal Romance

eXtasy Books

Excerpts & Buy Links

Part of healing is making amends when one can - The King's Lady

KNIGHTS OF EXCALIBUR series by Shanna Albright is based on the very popular medieval epic, King Arthur and the Knights of The Round Table. The series is set in contemporary times and have a lot of magic and reincarnation fantasy woven into this three-part novella series. I'm not sure if Shannan Albright is planning to write more about her Knights and fingers crossed I hope she does.

The series starts with Beloved Wizard and it's Merlin's HEA. It's the shortest of the three and though it was a good introduction in terms of world building, the story was a little predictable for me and wasn't as good as the succeeding two. It's sexy but the conflict wasn't fleshed out well partly due to the length (63 pages) plus since it's the first in the series, IMO, it's one of those slow starts. I was expecting some kick-ass magic with Merlin and one of Morgan La Fey's descendants as leads but it was more clever witchcraft than badass wizardry. Still there are elements that had me interested and kept me reading the next two.

The Knight's Druid is a big development compared to Beloved Wizard. SAlbright started layering her stories, the main one being about Julie and Colin aka Sir Kay with a little M/M developing on the side. The Knight's Druid is emotionally tense, the conflicts are shaped better and really we get to know Arthur and the rest of the characters better. This is also where the main conflict with the infamous Mordred is made known. So though there are other romantic HEAs brewing in the wings, I was more interested in the Arthur-Mordred conflict. I never get tired of their dysfunctional relationship regardless of who's telling the story.

The King's Lady is the best and my favorite. SAlbright's retelling on the Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot triangle was interesting. I just wish it was hashed out better because that would've been an epic confrontation. But again, the length sort of went against the story (I think) and there are some things I want explored and instead it felt skimmed because SAlbright was wrapping up the series or the Mordred arc on top of the other side stories going on in less than 200 pages. Bottomline, I wish The King's Lady was a full length novel instead that way SAlbright could've taken her time in fleshing out Arthur and Guinevere story, the current conflicts, the history and finally, closure with Lancelot and Mordred.

Overall, KNIGHTS OF EXCALIBUR is a good series. It's one of those novellas that I wish were longer because the premise is really interesting and SAlbright's retelling held a lot of promise. It just felt that it wasn't emotionally drawn out in some places and the ending in The King's Lady in particular was a little too convenient IMHO, I would've wanted more before we got to the resolution. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the series, the novellas are quick reads, SAlbright did well with the Knights and I hope she writes more. Surely Arthur and the gang can have more problems than Mordred right?

Tour organized by BTS Book Tours

Tour Stop: Knights of Excalibur Series by Shannan Albright

2013-05-20T08:00:00.000-04:00

King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table is probably one of my all time favorite story. The intrigue among the Knights, their legendary acts of valor, the family drama, magic,the passion, and of course the unforgettable love triangle between the legendary medieval King, his Queen and trusted Knight withstood the test of time and has inspired countless stories time and time again.

Shannan Albright's, Knights of Excalibur, is an homage and a modern take on this beloved British tale. These novellas are full of magic, romance and lots and lots of smex I'm sure you erotic and PNR readers will enjoy these.

Knights of Excalibur

Shannan Albright

Erotic Paranormal Romance

Extasy Books

The Beloved Wizard

Knights of Excalibur 1

70 pages

November 1, 2011

Merci Tramaine is not happy to be called back into service by her old boss Arthur, especially when she is charged to find her missing ex-lover. Drake Monroe is Merlin reincarnated. With his powers bound by the Goddess Nimue, he has become a skilled fighter, but is no match for Nimue who kidnapped him, determined to destroy him forever.

The bloodline of Morgan Le Fey taints Merci, keeping her on the edge between light and dark. The goddess’s wicked trap springs shut, leaving both Drake and Merci racing against the clock. Passions ignite once again, but are they too late to plan a future or will they be torn from each other?

This time for eternity.

“I have no wish to be the next greatest anything. I like me just the way I am. I mind my own business and no one gets into my shit. Nice, quiet and uncomplicated.”

Color rose on Nimue’s fair complexion. Merci knew she’d just crossed the line, but couldn’t seem to care, even if the goddess could squash her like a bug. The only thing that mattered to her was Drake’s tall form moving ever closer toward them.

Nimue grabbed her upper arm in a punishing grip, whirled her around to face Drake. Nimue flung her hand out and Drake flew back like a puppet on a string, crashing into the far wall of the warehouse with a sickening flesh-meet-cinderblock thud. He lay crumpled amidst the debris like a broken doll.

Something snapped within Merci. Her blood scalded her veins. The taste of ash filled the back of her throat. Rage, cold and biting, filled her, coloring her vision in a red haze. Drawing energy from the earth, she channeled it up through her body, willing it to form. Her hands glowed, magic as hot as a stream of lava engulfed her. Her skin stung like the bite of a thousand fire ants as a small burst of electricity arched over her arms, snapping with pent up energy. The stench of ozone, hanging like a heavy cloud in the still air, filled the area. The force arched into Nimue, dropped her to the floor. Merci offered a feral smile while Nimue wreathed in pain against her magic. She bent down close enough for Nimue to hear her. “Since you don’t know me, I will explain this to you. You don’t fuck with what is mine. Drake, is mine.”

Purchase The Beloved Wizard

Extasybooks | Amazon | Sony E-book | Barnes and Noble

The Knight's Druid
Knights of Excalibur 2
96 pages
August 1, 2012

What’s worse than a pissed off Knight? Colin Hennessy.

Shifter, Knight and quick-tempered Irishman, Colin remembers vividly his past life as Sir Kay. Haunted by the woman he once loved and lost, he has spent his lives searching for his lost love to no avail. Now Arthur is back and his life once again is filled with purpose. Joined by a common goal, he lives only to protect Arthur and his fellow Knights from the twisted, black magic of Mordred.

Juliet Boyd moves among societies rich and pampered, but she holds within her a terrible secret. One Vance Hollister is determined to exploit. Mordred is back in a new skin, now as Vance Hollister and the old evil is alive and well.

Colin and Juliet are unprepared for the flare of attraction that ignites between them from across a moonlit parking lot. Dare she open herself and expose her cursed gift? Can he save Juliet from Vance’s twisted manipulations or will he lose his second chance at love? A showdown between good and evil is coming to a head with Colin and Juliet right in the middle.

“Whatever Vance ordered you to do…don’t even think about it”

Buzz-cut took a step closer, his every move shadowed by his buddy Fugly. “Just what do you think a little thing like you could do?” Buzz-cut laughed.

Juliet pulled hard on the raw power woven through the earth and air. The surge prickled over her skin, crawling over her body like a million ants. Another beat of her heart and an electric buzz raced through her bloodstream making her lightheaded. Building energy this fast was a dangerous thing. It took a great deal of concentration to keep the swelling magic from going wild. Plus the body simply wasn’t built to withstand that much power forced into it. Much like an overloaded circuit board one uncontrolled surge and everything around a ten yard radius fried including the magic user.

Not good.

She would have to use this energy fast before it burned her out, as it stood now the physic backlash was going to be a doozy so she needed to take out both of them before that happened.

“Come and get it, boys,” she gritted out, thrusting her hands out in front of her which pulsed with a blue light.

“What the fuck?” Buzz-cut demanded, an edge of unease sharpened his tone.

“You wanted a piece of me, well you got it,” Juliet snapped, the pulsing light surrounding her hands flared white, the air crackled with static. Without warning the energy shot from her hands in two streams, homing in on her two would be attackers.

It hit them in the chest with a hissing crack, throwing them against the door with such force the frame cracked and the walls shook. Both men slumped to the floor in a boneless heap unconscious, the sharp tang of ozone filled the room as the energy she summoned reverted back to the elements of earth and air.

“Damn, woman, that was unexpected.” The deep accented voice slid over her exposed nerves, heightening her awareness of the man who suddenly appeared so close to her.

Colin.

“They didn’t give me much choice now did they?” Juliet snapped tersely, doing her damnedest to keep the world from tilting and the contents of her stomach from coming up.

“Aye, that they didn’t,” he agreed with a pensive look.

His intense regard kicked her pulse up a notch, clenching her hands into tight fists fighting against the irrational urge to stroke a hand over his strong jaw.

“You’re a bit pale perhaps you should sit for a wee bit?”

“A little help would have been nice,” she groused.

“And if there was a need for intervening I would have. You seemed to handle them quite well by yourself. You’re a powerful little thing, I’ve never seen the like and I’ve seen quite a bit in my life.”

Juliet tilted her head and grimaced against the throbbing pain taking up residence in her skull. Even the slightest movement felt like a hatchet cleaving into her skull. To her horror her knees wobbled, threatening to buckle under her. The backlash she dreaded engulfed her. Colin’s voice came from far off, his words made no sense as her vision fractured into black cracks threatening to pull her into the dark abyss.

Dimly she felt herself being lifted, heard Colin’s deep voice mumble something she thought was a curse. He felt so good, his body hard and warm. She laid her cheek against his chest hearing the beat of his heart and let herself fall into the blackness.

Purchase The Knight's Druid

Amazon | Bookstrand | Sony E-books | Barnes and Noble

The King's Lady
Knights of Excalibur 3
165 pages
March 1, 2013

Arthur Penner is more than happy to aid a lady in need of help, especially if the woman is targeted by his nemesis Vance Hollister. The fact the lady in question turns out to be not only a powerful witch, but a gorgeous red head with a wealth of curves that don’t quit? Even better.

What he isn’t prepared for is the discovery that the woman just happens to be his reincarnated Queen Gwenivere, and worse, she has no memory of who he is.

His well-ordered life is crumbling around him as yet another surprise turns up in the form of his reincarnated sister. It seems the past is swallowing him whole, forcing him to let go of previous betrayals and trust once more.

Gwen McAllister finds herself between a rock and a hard spot. Drawn to the quiet strength and confidence of Arthur. It isn’t until her memories are savagely restored by a vengeful goddess that she realizes who she is and the bitter betrayal she caused. Even her familiar, a mouthy Himalayan named Salt seems to be against her, demanding she trust the very man she destroyed with her life.

A new threat is rising, one which will plunge the world they know into darkness. To defeat an old enemy they must depend on each other and learn to forgive. A tall order and time is running out. Can they let go of the past and embrace the promise of a future or will they lose everything in the ultimate battle between good and evil?

Darius broke the kiss, his breathing, harsh and ragged. His focus locked onto Simon with single-minded purpose. He needed him naked, to feel skin on skin and right now!

He tore the offending cloth away, exposing a chest of smooth golden flesh, stretched taut over hard slabs of muscle and sinew. His fingers trembled slightly as he tore at his jeans, releasing his aching cock as they bunched at his ankles. Impatient, he toed off his shoes and kicked the offending clothing away.

He stood naked in front of the only man he ever wanted. His cock throbbed with need, growing harder, if at all possible, as Simon looked his fill.

“This is going to get good,” Rhea purred, her hands stroking over their chests.

“Get out of those clothes. I don’t want anything between us,” Darius rasped out, his voice a deep rumble. Grasping Rhea’s hand, he pulled her forward, his other hand dipped low over the firm globes of her ass. “Same goes for you, sweetheart, I want to see if you’re as good as you look.”

Simon gave him a lazy grin and did as ordered, tossing his clothes around the room in his haste. Turning his attention to Rhea, he helped her shimmy out of the skin-tight skirt and blouse. Darius watched the play of muscle as Simon helped disrobe Rhea, the urge to trail his hands over the flex and release of his powerful back almost unbearable.

Soon, but not quite yet.

Instead, Darius leaned in, nuzzling at Rhea’s throat while brushing a thumb against her lace-clad nipple. “Take the bra off, panties, too. I want nothing, but skin, got it?”

She moaned her agreement, her arousal spicing the air, mixing with the heady scent of her Jasmine perfume. With a flick of her wrist, the bra dropped to the floor, leaving her full breasts bare, tipped with dark pink buds.

“Beautiful,” he murmured appreciatively as his thumb made circular patterns against the tight nipple.

Purchase The King's Lady

Amazon.com | Author's Site

Growing up she was the dreamer in her family, something not always thought of as a positive thing. As a child she would draw and build stories around her pictures, so writing was a natural extension for her. Recently a family member told her that from now on she would encourage those dreamers she knew. Stating with hard work and focus dreams can come true. Shannan Albright is proof that dreaming can be a positive thing.

When not writing she spends her time between oil painting and reading. She loves writing paranormal, urban fantasy, historical and fantasy romances because of the world building and rich characters she finds. She loves dark, edgy heroes and heroines overcoming impossible odds internal and external.

She is a "hopeful" Romantic who believes a healthy relationship built on respect and a strong partnership is the key to a happy ever after.

Stalkers Welcome

Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Tour organized by

Book Blitz: Tragic by J.A. Huss

2013-05-20T05:00:00.000-04:00

TRAGIC
Rook and Ronin, #1
J. A. Huss
New Adult Contemporary Romance
Published May 15, 2013
Science Future Press

Rook Walsh is TRAGIC

Because life so far – just sucks. Some girls get parents. Rook got the foster care system. Some girls get Prince Charming. Rook got an abusive frog. Some girls get lucky…

Rook got a second chance.

And she took it. Because when fate throws you a bone – you grab it with both hands and run.

Antoine Chaput knows the minute he spies Rook in his photography studio that she’s got The Look. The dark and desperate look he must have to land the exclusive TRAGIC media contract.

Rook is paired up with top model, Ronin, and he’s everything her abusive ex-boyfriend wasn’t. Patient, gentle, happy, attentive, and sexy! He knows exactly what to do to make Rook blush for Antoine’s camera.

Rook’s luck changes in an instant and suddenly she’s the darling of the modeling world. It’s a dream job to go with a dream guy and all she has to do is look pretty and follow directions. But there’s always a price to pay – and Rook is about to get the bill.

New Adult Contemporary Romance *Mature Content* Recommended for ages 17+ due to sexual situations and language usage

**Does contain strong language

I gather up all my clothes and stick them in the stackable washer in the closet just off the bedroom. The breeze caresses my naked limbs and gives me the chills, but I enjoy it. The goose bumps travel up my arms and spread out to my whole body. I shiver for a second and then head to the kitchen.

And stop dead in the living room.

Ronin fucking Flynn is sleeping on the couch.

What is he doing here? My eyes track to the front door and I suppose it's my fault, I left it open. There's nothing but a screen door between this apartment and the terrace. My gaze wanders back to the sleeping man. He's lying on his stomach, his one arm tucked underneath him, the other falling over the edge of the cushion, and he's shirtless.

And then I realize I'm naked.

"Shit!"

He stirs and I make a break for the bedroom. It's one thing to let him see me naked half hidden in darkness and quite another to be fully illuminated by the bright morning sunshine. I wrangle the sheet around my body and then head back to the living room, wistfully looking at the washer that contains every single article of clothing I own.

"Ronin!" I say loudly.

Nothing except a half-muffled snore from him. Lord, this man has the most perfectly chiseled and muscular back I've ever seen. Both hands pull up and go under his face, like he's blocking out the sunlight, and this gives me the perfect opportunity to study his flexing biceps. The muscles are thick and hard-looking near his shoulders. They curve down, dip into a little valley, and then climb once again.

I lean down and smell him.

"Why are you sniffing me?" he asks groggily.

"Uh—" Because you smell delicious, the inner Rook says. But luckily the outer Rook says, "I'm checking to see if you're drunk. Why are you sleeping on my couch?"

He peeks up, opening one eye in my direction, squints, and then croaks out some words. "I love your outfit." He grins, winks, and then drops his head back down into his arms.

"Are you leaving?" I ask, frustrated and confused at the same time. "I mean, why are you here?"

"I told you I'd come back with dinner. But when I got here, the lights were on and you were in bed. I only sat down for a second to think up a rational excuse to wake you up, but I guess I fell asleep." He raises his head again, grins sheepishly, and then rolls over on his back, tucks his hands behind his neck, and flashes his perfect body at me as he closes his eyes, probably confident that I'll be checking him out.

I do check him out. It's quite hard not to notice that he's got the perfect six-pack abs and that absolutely adorable fuzzy happy trail you see on a shirtless designer jeans model. Hmmmm… maybe he is that model? "You have no shirt on."

Yes, after all that gawking, I finally manage the obvious.

He opens the one eye to look at me again. "Neither do you."

Purchase TRAGIC from

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo

J. A. Huss likes to write new adult books that make you think and keep you guessing. Her favorite genre to read is space opera, but since practically no one reads those books, she writes new adult science fiction, paranormal romance, contemporary romance, urban fantasy, and books about Junco (who refuses to be saddled with a label).

She has an undergraduate degree in horses, (yes, really–Thank you, Colorado State University) and a master’s degree in forensic toxicology from the University of Florida. She used to have a job driving around Colorado doing pretty much nothing but shooting the breeze with farmers, but now she just writes, runs the New Adult Addiction and Clean Teen Reads Book Blogs, and runs an online science classroom for homeschoolers.

Connect with J.A. Huss

GOODREADS | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | WEBSITE

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blitz: The Boy Next Door by Annabelle Costa

2013-05-20T00:00:00.000-04:00

The Boy Next Door

Annabelle Costa
Dev Love Press
December 11, 2012
Chick-Lit

Through middle school, high school, bad dates, and an ill-advised punk phase, Tasha has always been able to count on Jason. Since the day he moved in next door, he’s gone from the weird kid in a wheelchair to Tasha’s most trusted friend. But lives change and the friends are going in different directions. When Jason and Tasha rekindle their friendship, sparks fly. After years of being a wild soul, now the ex-lead of a band turned music teacher is just looking for a relationship to last.

When none other than Jason introduces her to a man who can give her what she wants, Tasha is on the verge of throwing passion and love away just so she can forget her troubled past and settle down. But Jason isn’t ready to give her up just yet.

I wasn’t too happy when my parents told me that I had to try to make friends with the crippled kid who just moved in next door.

I was eight years old. For my entire life thus far, living in a suburb of Pittsburgh, our next-door neighbor was an ornery old woman named Agnes. Why are all old people named Agnes, for some reason? Not that I’m prejudiced against old people or anything. My grandmother, Nana, lived with us and was never an ornery old woman, and probably still the best cook I’ve ever known. Anyway, Agnes failed to wake up one morning, and the house got sold off to a young family with two kids.

I was initially really psyched to find out that the family had two kids, one of whom was allegedly my age. I pictured a girl with blond pigtails who would be my best friend, and we’d make each other friendship bracelets, have sleepovers, and all that fun stuff.

But then my fantasy was crushed when I found out that my new eight-year-old neighbor was a boy. And not just a boy. A boy in a wheelchair.

His name was Jason and I saw him a few times from afar. He went to a different school than I did, and there was a special school bus that picked him up. I saw him waiting with his parents at the curb for the special bus, which was about half the length of the bus that picked me up. My parents told me it was a bus for disabled kids. When it arrived, a ramp would be lowered mechanically and Jason would wheel into it, and the driver would help him get arranged in the bus. My mother yelled at me not to stare, but how could I not stare?

When the Foxes had been living next door for a few weeks, we came over for a visit and to bring them a welcome basket.

My little sister Lydia and I were dressed up in uncomfortable pink clothes, and I was firmly instructed to play with Jason. Lydia, who was only four, was totally off the hook since the older Fox child was a 13-year-old boy.

“I don’t want to play with Jason,” I whined, as my mother did up the buttons on my dress. “He’s weird.”

“Oh, stop it,” my mother said. “He’s not weird.”

“He’s in a wheelchair,” I pointed out.

“Don’t you dare mention that,” my mother snapped.

“Why not?” spoke up my Nana, who was listening in. “I’m sure the boy knows he’s in a wheelchair. It’s not a secret, is it?”

Despite everything, I giggled. I wished my mother would let Nana come along, but they were too worried about her making a comment like that. Apparently, she lost her self-censor somewhat as she got older, although Daddy said she’d always kind of been like that.

Fifteen minutes later, my mother was shoving Lydia and me in the direction of the house next door. We rang the bell and Mrs. Fox answered, greeting us warmly. “Jill!” she cried. “I’m so glad you could make it.”

“This is for you,” my mother said, handing over the basket of fruit and muffins. “You met my husband, Gerald. And these are my daughters, Lydia and Tasha.”

“Nice to meet you, girls,” Mrs. Fox said. “My older son Randy isn’t here now, but Jason is very excited to meet you.”

My eyes met those of the boy sitting in a small, simple wheelchair several yards behind his mother. I could tell by his khaki slacks and lame sweater-vest that he too had been forced to dress up for the occasion. He looked just as miserable as I did.

“He’s eight, isn’t he?” Mom asked. “Tasha is eight as well.”

“Yes, that’s wonderful,” Mrs. Fox said. “They could play together.” She lowered her voice to a stage whisper that people a mile away could hear loud and clear: “Jason hasn’t been having an easy time making new friends.”

Yeah. What a shock.

With that sentiment, Jason and I were herded off in the direction of his bedroom, presumably for me to be his new best friend. We both went, sort of like lambs being led to the slaughter.

Once we were alone in Jason’s room, we both just sat there awkwardly, not saying anything to each other. We were too young to even know how to make polite conversation.

I tried not to stare at Jason, but it was hard not to. I mean, really hard. Why did he need a wheelchair anyway? Maybe he had some awful disease where he was dying. Maybe it was contagious! Maybe he had some contagious fatal disease and my mother had locked me alone in a room with him. She’d be so sorry when I died.

Although to be honest, Jason didn’t really look like he was dying. He looked pretty much like a normal kid, but he was sitting in a wheelchair. He had short brown hair that it looked like his mother had attempted to comb, yet he’d managed to get it messy again before our arrival. He had green eyes that were bright, even in spite of how clearly miserable he was at the moment. And then there were the freckles that were sprinkled down either side of his nose, although those disappeared years later.

I was perched gingerly on Jason’s bed. He had Star Wars blankets. Actually, I had to admit, he had some pretty cool toys.

My mother always bought me dolls, but the thing is, dolls didn’t do much. Maybe these days, dolls cry and piss their diapers or whatever, but back then, in the eighties, dolls were much less interesting. But Jason had toys that did cool stuff. He had toy cars and trucks, he had a rocket, and a huge box of Legos. But what really piqued my interest was that he had what looked like a huge box of TRANSFORMERS.

Confession time: I loved Transformers. I watched the TV show religiously every Saturday, rooting for the Autobots to defeat the evil Decepticons. But nobody would buy me any Transformers because I was a girl and obviously it’s not an appropriate toy for girls. So I had about half a dozen My Little Ponies and at least a dozen Barbie dolls, but no cars that turned into robots. It was a source of frustration for me. Every time I asked my mother, she’d say, “What do you want one of those awful toys for? You’re a girl!”

But Jason, he owned the mother lode.

“Um,” I said, working up my nerve. “Are those, um, Transformers?”

Jason brightened. “Yeah. You like Transformers?”

I nodded shyly.

To my delight, Jason grabbed the whole big box and dumped them out on his bed. He seriously had every Transformer in existence. He had Optimus Prime, of course, most of the Autobots, Megatron, the Decepticons including the cassette spies, plus a bunch of the newer ones like the Dinobots, the Insecticons, and even Devastator. I was majorly impressed. If I were a little older, I would have creamed myself or something.

“Oh my God,” I breathed. “You’re the luckiest person alive.”

Purchase The Boy Next Door

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

Annabelle Costa is a teacher, who writes in her free time. She enjoys the wounded hero genre, involving male love interests with physical disabilities, who don’t follow the typical Hollywood perception of sexy.

Get to know Annabelle Better

Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Tour hosted by

Bought Borrowed and Bagged #52

2013-05-19T00:30:00.000-04:00

BB&B (Bought, Borrowed and Bagged) is a weekly meme, inspired my The Story Siren and Pop Culture Junkie, where we share with you the books that we have bought, borrowed or bagged (won or gifted) plus a recap of the previous week's reviews, upcoming reviews, on going events and book movie or television news.

Bagged

from authors and publishers for review

TRUST: Betrayed by Cristiane Serruya

from NetGalley & Edelweiss

Won from the tour giveaways

From Amanda Carlson: T-shirt, bookmark, sticker & a personal note
From Elisabeth Staab: Swag Chronicles of Yavn swag
From Pocket Boooks: A Witch's Handbook of Kisses & Curses by Molly Harper

Get the BTS eMagazine!

BTSeMag May 2013
Issue #10

New York Times bestselling author Angela Knight presents Unbound. Take a peek inside this sizzling new wrap up to her phenomenal sci-fi fantasy adventure series. This book also includes 3 new authors with stories aimed to fill that before bedtime reading attack.

Authors also featured inside
Sandra Bunino
Jane Toombs
Lynn Hardy
Nora Weston
Jennifer Synder
Seraphina Donavan...and more

Columns
Read all about the newest book trends with Sandra's column: Chic Trends in Romance
Answer all those techy questions with Lynn's Writing Types.
Discover Movie Flashbacks, the latest on the horror scene, and authors can see if their sites measure up!!

Join us!

Last Week's Reviews

Upcoming Reviews

Current Giveaways

Lisa N. Paul Giveaway (INT)
win a $75 Gift Card
ends May 19

Katie McGarry Giveaway (US)
win a signed print copy of Dare You To
ends May 22

Michelle Muto (INT)
win a digital copy of The Haunting Season
ends May 21

J.T. Brock Giveaway (INT)
win a digital copy of A Surefire Way + more
ends May 30

Sherry Soule Giveaway (INT)
win a copy of Immortal Eclipse
ends May 30

Jordin Williams Giveaway (INT)

win a $75 gift card or 1 of ARCs of Amazingly Broken
ends June 18

Check out these other fabulous blogs that participate in

Bought, Borrowed & Bagged:

NOTE: Future participants, please use your BB&B LABEL LINK instead of the individual post link.

Tour Stop Review + Giveaway: Thursday Nights by Lisa N. Paul

2013-05-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

Series: Charistown 1
Format: Digital ARC
Read the Teaser
Release Date: May 6, 2013
Publisher: Super Dandy Publishing
Source: Brandee's Book Endings
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance

Pain can leave even the strongest of people weak and hollow. But when fate brings two weak souls together, will the love they find mend the fragments that are barely holding them together, or will the weight of their past finally cause them to crumble?

Max DeLucca has spent seven years trying to forget the betrayal of his past. He lives his life from day to day never looking forward and never looking back. The walls around his heart keep anyone from getting too close and prevent him from feeling too much…until he meets her.

Her entire life, Janie Silver searched for the kind of love that wouldn’t leave her broken and more importantly, wouldn't leave her behind. She longs for a love that can heal the wounds of her past and give her the future she knows she deserves. She thought she was looking for something that just didn’t exist…until she meets him.

Danny’s on Main is where their story begins. A neighborhood bar where strangers become friends, friends become family and some … become lovers

… it all started on Thursday Nights

THURSDAY NIGHTS is Lisa N. Paul's debut novel and book one of her contemporary series, Charistown. THURSDAY NIGHTS is about a group of friends who hang out every Thursday night at their favorite dive bar, Danny's on Main, where they unwind, meet up with friends, catch up, hook up and do some F & R (Fuck & Release) on occasion. Anything to help them forget their respective pasts and make their present more lively and livable. In short, these people are in serious denial.

Charistown isn't an exceptional town it's the people that makes it special or I should say intriguing. We meet each of these interesting personalities and are given a little peek into their tumultuous backstories. It seems that like attracts like in THURSDAY NIGHTS because these characters are broken and bent in several places and it's that brokenness that draws them together and the carefully placed nonchalant facade that kept me reading. First up on the block are Max and Janie.

You deserve a man who is going to worship you - body and soul And I am going to be that man.

Janie Silver is a middle school teacher whose family life chipped away her self-love piece by piece. Aside from the company of good friends, she finds satisfaction in one night stands and serial dating. Max DeLucca is a tortured hero whose wife manipulated and cheated on him countless times until a tragic car accident took her life. Both have trust issues. Both lost the meaning of giving and receiving love. Both reluctant to fall in love again. Both willing to do anything not be vulnerable and hurt.

I didn't connect much with Janie and Max. At first I admired their straightforwardness in having a friends-with-benefits kind of set-up, it was fun and sexy for a while until the drama started. Their commitment phobia got the best of them, resulting in this annoying passive-aggressive back and forth between the two. Inasmuch as I get having trust issues and all the baggage that goes along with bad relationships, I was hoping that Max and Janie just moved on instinct and allowed themselves to free fall. But I guess THURSDAY NIGHTS would've been a boring book if LNPaul took the normal route. So despite my frustration I'm glad LNPaul served me with a sizzling plate of smex with a generous side of titillating emotional discourse between the characters.

I'm worth more than the men I've dated... well, I finally believe you. I'm worth more than one fuckin step, Max. I deserve at least halfway.

My least favorite character would be Janie's BFF, Lyla, who I assume will get her own book at some point. Lyla is a Drama Queen and struck me as someone who wants attention all the time. A friend says something rude and she holes up in a hotel blocking and worrying everyone. When Max came to her asking for advice about Janie, Lyla started talking about herself and her secret life. Even Max was scratching his head wondering how Lyla's confession is relevant to his issue. Then she made a weak connection to appear less self-centered.

Aside from Lyla, I found some of the scenes awkward and the big confrontations overly dramatic like when Max ambushed Janie's date and started ranting about this and that, making a scene and totally embarrassing Janie's date who turned out to be Max's ex-buddy back in High School or that random bar customer, Bambi, who was flirting with Max and after turning her down, she totally went all preachy and profound on him. There were certain parts where I was muttering, Where did that come from? because some of the revelations felt like it came out of nowhere without build-up or any follow-up so it made some of the scenes less cohesive. It's like having a conversation with someone about marriage equality and out of nowhere they tell you that they just bought a super expensive pair of shoes and went back to sharing their two-cents about the issue.

You haven't gotten through your past... you haven't even been living in the present... so how the hell are you planning to get to your future?

Still I enjoyed and was thoroughly entertained by THURSDAY NIGHTS. Lisa N. Paul did a great job in building the world of Charistown. Each character have their own voice and personalities, nobody faded into the background setting up the succeeding books. And though I found some parts not to my liking, I still got hooked, THURSDAY NIGHTS reminds me a lot of that cheesy reality show I'm guilty of watching on Bravo, Vanderpump Rules. Everyone is gorgeous, everyone has a rich backstory, everyone is a star and I'm looking forward to reading the next book. Fingers crossed it's Sebastian Gage's (how sexy is his name, really?!)!

I am a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend,a reader, a blogger, a writer, and a self proclaimed comedian. (Just not always in that order.)

I have loved reading ever since I was a little girl, in fact one of the first series I remember falling in love with was the Sweet Valley High series by Francine Pascal. Those books started my obsession with series/related books.

Writing has always been a passion of mine and I feel blessed to have the opportunity to be writing both my blog, Lisa's Reads and my first novel, "Thursday Nights" book One in the Charistown series.

I can't wait for you to meet my "friends" in the Charistown series. I have fallen in love with each and everyone of them and I think you will too.

Some fun facts about me....If I could only have one food for the rest of my life - it would be french fries! I love them! I also love Godiva Raspberry Truffles. Ok, enough about me.

I hope to hear from you soon,
Lisa
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Purchase Thursday Nights

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Lisa is giving away a $75 Gift Card to either
Amazon or Barnes & Noble (Winner’s Choice).

Contest is open internationally, ends May 19.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday Flash Giveaway!

2013-05-17T13:27:00.001-04:00

Hey Supies! Happy Friday!

We've got something exciting for you today.

Talk Supe Flash Giveaway going on right now on Twitter.

You could WIN one of the following eBooks:

Unbeautifully (Undeniable #2) by Madeline Sheehan

Twisted Perfection by Abbi Glines

One Week Girlfriend by Monica Murphy

Because of You by T.E. Sivec

To enter, just follow @talksupeblog & @cimmaron_ on Twitter and Tweet the following message:

Hey @TalkSupeBlog @Cimmaron_ I want to WIN the #TSFlashGiveaway

**Giveaway ends 12:00AM (Midnight) PST May 18th**

***Open Internationally**

Tour Stop: Love Me by Diane Alberts

2013-05-17T08:30:00.000-04:00

After loving the first book in Diane Albert's Take a Chance series I was more than desperate to get book two. Well, after waiting almost a year the time has finally arrived and I was more than ecstatic when I received this ARC from Entangled Publishing.

Series: Take a Chance #2
Format: Digital ARC
Release Date:
Publisher: Ever After (Entangled)
Source: Publisher for Review
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

Thomas Jones has come to Vegas to win yet another account for his marketing company. But when he sits across from beautiful and sensual Brianna Faulk to deliver his pitch, his desire to leave Vegas as quickly as possible is replaced by the need to get close to her. Yet she resists his charm.

Brianna knows a date with Thomas could jeopardize her job, but he’s so maddening and insistent, she has a hard time denying him just one date. But that’s all it can be: one date. Because she has to protect her job and her secrets, even if it means giving up a chance at a life she never thought she’d have again.

Marketing Exec, Thomas Jones, is back in Vegas ready to do what he does best, win over another potential client with his killer smile and business savvyness. What Thomas didn't expect when he walked into his business lunch date was to meet the beautiful, sultry, and serious casino Manager, Brianna Faulk. All of a sudden getting a date with Briana became just as important to Thomas as landing the contract with the casino. Making Briana agree to go out with him isn't as easy as he thinks which definitely makes him want Briana even more. But stern business woman Briana is determined to keep her relationship with Thomas strictly professional even though she hasn't felt so strongly attracted to man in years.

"Can you see how frightened I am right now? How afraid I am that you'll break my heart?"

Thomas and Briana were really great characters that had a lot of depth. Both carried their own hefty weight of baggage and it's not something they were able to let go of so easily. Thomas was deeply hurt and broken by his previous marriage so the prospect of finding love again was a foreign idea to him. Being with Briana definitely reignited his desires to be with a woman for more than one night and it didn't take him long to realize that Briana was just the kind of woman he needed in his life. Briana on the other hand still struggles with the grief of losing her husband so early. She's a young widow with three children and for the past few years her kids were her focus. Unable to let go of her memory and love for her husband, Briana was really cautious as to being in a relationship. She was quite unselfish and I absolutely sympathized with her because she was still very much in love with her late husband but at the same time needed the love ad affection that only a man like Thomas could give her. I totally understood why she was so hesitant to give away her heart so easily especially when it wasn't just her heart that was in danger of being broken but also her children's.

Once again, Diane did not disappoint. LOVE ME was a touching story about two people discovering that it was possible to love again even after suffering so much heartache in the past. Thomas and Briana each carried their own hefty load of baggage but after letting their guards down they were able to see that it was more than OK for them to find happiness again. I loved the sweet and steamy romance between Thomas and Briana but what really won me over was the relationship Thomas forged with Briana's kids. Having them accept him in their lives was just as important as letting Briana accept him in her heart.

If you are looking for a fun, sweet, and sexy read then I highly recommend you give LOVE ME and Diane Albert's Take a Chance series a shot. You will not be disappointed and Diane always gives you a sweet HEA that we all crave in our romance book. Definitely cannot wait for the next book in this series.

Purchase LOVE ME Today

Diane Alberts is a multi-published, bestselling author with Entangled Publishing, Swoon Romance, and Decadent Publishing. She has, as of this date, four books with Entangled Publishing, one book with Swoon Romance, and five older books with Decadent Publishing. Her February release with Entangled Publishing, ON ONE CONDITION, hit #18 on the Barnes and Noble bestseller list, and TRY ME hit #76 on Amazon. Her Swoon Romance novella, CAPTIVATED BY YOU, hit #31 on the Barnes and Noble bestseller list. Diane is represented by Louise Fury from the L. Perkins Agency.

Stalk Diane Alberts on her

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cover Reveal: Damaged 2 by H.M. Ward

2013-05-17T05:00:00.000-04:00

DAMAGED 2

Damaged #2

H.M. Ward

June 24, 2013

New Adult

The steamy sequel to the New York Times bestselling New Adult novel DAMAGED by H.M. Ward.

Home isn't supposed to be dangerous, but for Sidney it is. Returning home means that she has to face her past. It's not just the man who hurt Sidney that makes it horrible, but the family that didn't believe her. They were dead to her, but now that her mom is really dying things seem different. It's a chance to set things right.

What Sidney doesn't realize is that she's dragging Peter into a collision course with his past. Peter must deal with the demons haunting him if he wants to move forward with Sidney. He's willing to give up everything for her, even wade deeper into his past life to help her move forward. But, Peter isn't sure if he can get over what happened to him in New York.

Pre-Order DAMAGED 2

H.M. Ward is a NEW YORK TIMES & USA TODAY bestselling author. Ward enjoys writing novels and novellas with twisting plot lines and unexpected turns. Her ability to shock the reader has grown a following of over 70,000 fans, and a social reach of over 17 million people. Ward has strong marketing skills and became a full time writer less than a year after her first novel appeared on the market.

THE ARRANGEMENT is her next series of young adult romance serials. These short novels feature Avery and Sean. If you liked SECRETS, you'll love THE ARRANGEMENT.

H.M. Ward's novel SCANDALOUS hit the Amazon top hundred list in Jan 2013. She has also been one of the top 100 Amazon authors at various times. This year, Ward sold her 100,000th book.

Connect with H.M Ward

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Cover Reveal organized by

Madeline Sheehan's Undeniable Series Reading Order

2013-05-17T02:00:00.000-04:00

If you've read my reviews of Undeniable [HERE] and Unbeautifully [HERE] then you can probably surmise that I'm in love with this series. Wait. Love isn't a strong enough word to describe to you how I feel about this series. OBSESSED. Yes, obsessed is definite more like it.

When it comes to being thrusted back into Madeline Sheehan's world of badass bikers and ridiculously crazy romances, her books trump over any current book I am reading. When Unbeautifully was released I literally dropped everything I was doing and immersed my self in Sheehan's writing. It doesn't matter how battered and abused my heart and body feels after reading one of her books. I will endure it all because I mothereffing love these stories and characters.

So after I finished book two in the series my first initial thought was, "When is book three coming out?!?! I need book three right now dammit!" Well, I obviously can't get everything I want when I want it so I'll have to wait like the rest of the crazed Undeniable fans for Unattainable.

But the whole reason for this post is to talk about what we have to look forward to after Tegen's and Cage's book. Madeline has finally spoken about what's to come after Unattainable and the wait for these books is even more unbearable. After book three we are getting TWO more Undeniable novels. Yes TWO! Making this whole series FIVE books in total. You have no idea how happy this makes me. I would have wished for more because I'm that invested in the Hell's Horsemen but I will take whatever I can get because beggars can't be choosers.

If you're curious about this series I must say you must jump on it immediately. It's highly addictive and you'll be left wondering what the hell Madeline Sheehan has done to you. I promise you will not come out the same person after you read book one. Below is reading order for this HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommended series from us.

Photo Source: Madeline Sheehan Facebook

UNDENIABLE
Undeniable #1
October 7, 2012

Warning: This is not a "typical love story". This is an all-consuming, soul-crushing, tear-your-heart-into-pieces story. It’s intense, gritty and raw, dark and disturbing, and it doesn’t happen overnight. This is an epic love story that knows no boundaries and has no time limits. It grows and develops—with hurt, sacrifice, and heartache—over the span of a lifetime.

Eva Fox is the princess of the Silver Demons Motorcycle Club. Growing up with bikers in the club lifestyle is all that she knows. When she’s a young girl, Eva meets the reason for her existence. Deuce West is the sexy, biker bad-ass of the Hell’s Horsemen Motorcycle Club. Like Eva, he was born and raised in the club—but that’s where the similarities end. Their first meeting is innocent, but as Eva matures into a woman, their chance reunions evolve into a fit of lust and love. Fate continues to bring them together time and time again, but their twisted journey is filled with pain, betrayal, and bloodshed that could tear them apart. Eva sees in Deuce what he cannot see in himself—a man worthy of love—and Eva spends her lifetime proving to him that her undeniable love is the one thing he can’t live without.

This is Eva and Deuce’s story.

It wasn’t easy.

Nothing worth doing ever is.

And love is worth everything.

UNBEAUTIFULLY
Undeniable #2
May 13, 2013

Warning: This is not a story about fate or destiny. This is a story about pain, sorrow, and suffering. This is an impulsive whirlwind romance between two lovers that are not meant to be together. Theirs is not a world with sunshine and roses. Instead, their love blossoms in a secret world full of crime, violence, and death. Their story is about what can be born from nightmares.

Danielle “Danny” West is the daughter of Deuce West, President of the Hell’s Horsemen Motorcycle Club. A sweet and beautiful girl, she loses her way, searching for things that are always out of her reach. Erik “Ripper” Jacobs is the Sergeant of Arms in the Hell’s Horsemen. Once a man who always had a smile on his face, his life takes a turn for the worst when a tragedy befalls him, leaving him scarred and broken. During a midsummer night, Danny and Ripper’s paths cross, forever changing their lives. Hastily, their lust turns to love until another tragedy forces them apart. On a journey that is marred with ugliness and chaos, Danny and Ripper must discover if their unforeseen connection can find the beauty in their world.

This is Danny and Ripper’s story.

Everything has beauty. Even the ugly. Especially the ugly.

Because without ugly, there would be no beauty

UNATTAINABLE

Undeniable #3

Tegen & Cage's Story

Winter 2013/2014

This cover just makes me go insane. The Cage on the cover is so close to who I pictured in my head. He's so much like his Daddy, Deuce, I just know his and Tegen's story will just be as grimy as the previous two books. Is it winter yet?

UNBELOVED

Undeniable #4

Hawk - Dorothy - Jase Story

Release Date TBD

Hawk-Dorothy-Jase's story is also going to be a doozy. This love triangle is going tot be nuclear. With what went down in Unbeautifully, shit is about to get real tense and ugly.

UNDYING

Undeniable #5

ZZ's Story

Release Date TBD

Ahhh……ZZ! Loved him in Unbeautifully. Sucked that his relationship with Danny went to shit but honestly he's meant to find some other badass chick. I'm curious as so who it will be but this Brother needs an HEA.

Are you an Undeniable series fan?

Which book after Unbeautifully are you most excited for? Which badass biker has been your favorite so far?

Cover Reveal: After The Kiss by Lauren Layne

2013-05-17T00:00:00.000-04:00

After The Kiss

Stiletto Series 1

Lauren Layne

Loveswept

August 26, 2013

Contemporary Romance

In the first book of a delightful new series from Lauren Layne, the star columnist of Stiletto magazine will do anything for a story. Anything . . . except fall in love.

Julie Greene loves flings. Loves steamy first dates, sizzling first kisses, and every now and then, that first sexy romp between the sheets. Comfy pants, sleepy Sundays, movie nights on the couch? Shudder. But when Julie gets assigned the hardest story of her career—a first-person account of that magical shift between dating and “I do”—she’ll need a man brave enough to give a total commitment-phobe a chance at more.

Normally, Mitchell Forbes would be exactly that man. A devastatingly hot workaholic who tends to stay in relationships for far too long, he should be the perfect subject for Julie’s “research.” But what Julie doesn’t know is that Mitchell is looking to cut loose for once in his life. And the leggy journalist notorious for avoiding love is exactly the type of no-strings fling he’s looking for. In other words, Mitchell is the polar opposite of what Julie needs right now. And, at the same time, he’s exactly what she wants.

Pre-Order After The Kiss

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBookstore | Random House

Lauren Layne writes contemporary romance for Grand Central Publishing (Forever Yours) and Random House (Loveswept).

After dabbling in an e-commerce career in Seattle and Southern California, Lauren moved to New York City where she now writes full time.

Lauren graduated from Santa Clara University with B.S. in Political Science that she has yet to put to good use. She lives with her husband and plus-sized pomeranian in a tiny Manhattan studio.

Connect with Loveswept and Lauren:

ReadLoveswept.com | Lauren's Website | Lauren on Twitter | Lauren's Goodreads

Review: The Stillness of You by Julie Bale

2013-05-16T18:17:00.000-04:00

Series: Beautifully Damaged 1
Format: Digital
Release Date: March 12, 2013
Publisher: Self-Published
Source: Author
Genre: New Adult

"Ben Lancaster had just tattooed himself onto my soul and the thing about tattoos? They’re painful to remove."--Georgia King.

Georgia King is trying to survive after spiraling into a darkness that nearly took her life. In therapy and with her college dreams on hold,she's trying to get healthy. Trying to still the craziness inside her. She has no room for someone like Ben Lancaster,and if he was smart he'd stay away. Because everyone knows Georgia is bad news. Everyone knows she ruins people. And if Ben isn't careful, he'll be next in line.

Ben Lancaster is a young, hot shot hockey player on his way to the top. Newly signed to the Philadelphia Flyers, he's living the dream. The girls. The money. The fame. He thought he had everything he wanted until he met her. Suddenly he wants more--he wants her. He'll do whatever it takes to get her and Ben Lancaster always gets what he wants.

But the girl who's different from anyone he's ever known is hiding secrets. And as the dog days of summer pass, only time will tell if Georgia's secrets can be healed. Or if her bruised soul is strong enough to resist Ben Lancaster...

Julie Bale aka Juliana Stone, I don't know what it is about you and your stories that leaves me speechless! Just like when I read and reviewed The Summer He Came Home, I went through several drafts before I was able to finally write one decent enough to pass off as a review. I'm so lost for words this review post has been sitting in our drafts folder for a couple of days now.

Gah!

She was damaged and broken and there wasn't any kind of glue in the world that could fix her.

When I started reading THE STILLNESS OF YOU, I thought the series can be read as a stand-alone with guaranteed HEA in the end typical of most contemporary reads. Well I was so very wrong. JBale took me for a wild spin as Beautifully Damaged book 1 is as real as it can get without being overly dramatic and tragic.

Let me explain a little bit.

I didn't want to go back to where I'd been before. To the girl who was way too free and easy with her charms.

Georgia King is your typical privileged, beautiful and rich young woman with too much money and too much time in her hands. Running away from ghosts, Georgia medicates herself with sex, drugs and alcohol to numb her pain and chase her demons away. Georgia has been to too many parties and slept with too many men and women she's definitely scarred at the young age of twenty. I kept Georgia at arm's length because I'm really not fond of the poor-little-rich-me act some of these heroines are infamous for. But Georgia slowly grew on me, she's in that place where she acknowledges that she has a problem, she's taken steps to solve it and is making a conscious effort to steer her life in the right direction with a few minor hiccups along the way.

Throughout the novel, we see how Georgia Struggled with a capital S. It's hard to adapt an outside-looking-in mind-set when one is balls-deep in a situation but I have to give Georgia props for trying. But temptation waits in Ben Lancaster, handsome, young, a famous athlete and off-limits to Georgia but our heroine is weak and it didn't take long for Ben to break Georgia's resolve.

Ben Lancaster walked into my life with no warning, just after three o'clock on a sunny afternoon.

Ben Lancaster is a good guy, I might be wrong but from the events in THE STILLNESS OF YOU, he's not damaged, tortured or even a bad boy. Aside from having the looks, the skills and the brains, Ben is pretty normal. I love how he's so patient with Georgia, very generous with his time and heart until Georgia felt good enough to trust and share herself with him. But typical of Georgia, she has to railroad their relationship, overthink things, let her trust issues prevail, and throw Ben to the dogs so to speak, leaving him heartbroken and in pieces while she selfishly takes time to reassess herself. In Ben's behalf, I was so miffed at Georgia during the conflict because Ben didn't really give her any reason to doubt him as far as accepting her past is concerned. If any, he's been tolerant and even understanding of her so I can't help but mutter Drama Queen when their misunderstanding was happening and Georgia was dragging it out, blowing things out of proportion.

Inasmuch as I'm not a big fan of Georgia now, I still am rooting for her and Ben. Georgia needs someone like him to ground and show her that she's worthy of love and that normal isn't as difficult as she thought. Their relationship is one of my favorite new adult romance because it felt gradual as JBale brilliantly highlighted the emotions running between Georgia and Ben and really explored Georgia's psyche, stressing that this girl has complicated but not hopeless issues. Damaged but beautiful still.

The ending. The frickin' ending of THE STILLNESS IN YOU killed me! Its the reason why it took me so long to write up this review! Nevertheless, it helped me appreciate Georgia a little more and frankly I was impressed. She demonstrated strength in her decision and even if I want instant gratification in getting an HEA, I love that JBale took the real route and made Georgia more human and the situation natural by allowing Georgia to room for rediscovery and self-love instead of giving that task to Ben. I found that brave and mature and I'd like to think that Georgia is starting to finally let go of her demons and move on with her life.

I can't wait for book two, The Chaos In Me (coming this Summer as per her website). I'm hoping that Ben will stay true and that Georgia won't make it difficult for him to hold on. However, I don't want to expect too much from this crazy chick, Georgia has her weak moments and she tends to lean towards the idiotic when she's put on the defense. Still, I love a good twist in the story and I have a feeling JBale will bring it!

I'm ready.

Julie Bale fell in love with book boyfriends when she was twelve. She decided that when she was a grownup she would write her own book boyfriends. So that’s what she does.

When Julie isn’t writing she’s busy looking after a family that includes a couple of kids, her husband and a dog who is prettier than some people she knows, and a cat who thinks he’s human.

She loves The Walking Dead, Pretty Little Liars, The Foo Fighters, Vampire Diaries, The Fray, and The Gilmore Girls. And when she has time, she loves to kick back and read yummy romances with hot guys and girls who are cool enough to hang out with.

Fan Girls & Boys Invited

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

“Do you feel this?” he whispered hoarsely. “You have to feel this. It can’t just be me. There’s no fucking way it can just be me.”

My mouth was open but nothing came out. I felt all of it. Every. Single. Bit of it.

And then his hand slid behind my neck, cradling me just above my shoulders, his long fingers moving over my body with a hunger and an urgency that I matched. I might have moaned, in fact, I’m sure I did because his eyes widened, and his lips parted.

I felt…I felt crazy but without the crazy.

It was the anticipation. It was all the moments and seconds and minutes that had passed between us over the last few days. It was that first time I’d glanced over my shoulder and spied him in Matt’s loft. It was his breath at my cheek the night before. It was want.

It was all of that and so much more.

“I feel you,” I whispered.

And then his hot, demanding mouth was on mine, and that so much more, became suddenly clear.

It was everything.

Purchase The Stillness of You

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Kobo

Tour Stop: Friends & Lovers Trilogy by Bethany Lopez

2013-05-16T05:00:00.000-04:00

Click button above to follow the Tour

Make it Last

Friends & Lovers #1

32K Words

November 2012

In a small town, it's hard to recover from being dumped by your high school sweetheart. That's just what Briana has to do after Colin leaves her to follow his dreams. She focuses her energy into her friendships and the pursuit of her own goal of becoming a chef. Just when she finally feels like she's on the right path, he comes back to town.

Colin knew breaking up with Briana before leaving for college was the right thing to do. He was determined to leave small-town life behind forever, and that included his high school girlfriend. But when a sports injury puts him on the sidelines, he's forced to return home. Seeing Briana again brings back a lot of memories, and Colin wonders if he made the right decision. It doesn't take long for him to realize he wants her back, and this time, he wants to make it last.

Colin and Briana were high school sweethearts until Colin headed off for college and decided he wanted to focus more on his football career than his high school senior girlfriend. Broken hearted, Briana moves on with her life but never really forgets Colin. Four years later, Colin and Briana meet up again when Colin is forced to move home after an injury halts his ability to play his beloved sport. After a few encounters, Colin and Briana realize that even though four years have passed neither have really been able to forget or let go of their feelings for each other. But will this second chance at love be enough to make it last?

I'm a sucker for stories about high school sweethearts and second chances at love, so when I read that MAKE IT LAST had two of my favorite romance tropes I just had to jump on it. Colin and Briana were likable/relatable characters but as a couple I wasn't totally sold on their relationship. I felt that the reunion moved too fast and I wasn't really all that convinced of their love and connection with each other. I would have preferred a little more character and relationship development but with this novella only being 32K words there really wasn't leg room for all of that too happen. Lopez does introduce us to secondary characters that piqued my interest enough to want to read their stories.

Overall, MAKE IT LAST is an enjoyable light read. Is it as angsty and dramatic as what I'm accustomed to with new adult fiction? No. But if you're in the mood for a short storyline that's not as complicated as some other new adult books out there then Make It Last might just be the book for you.

I Choose You

Friends & Lovers #2

35K Words

December 2012

Up until now, Nicole’s life has been mapped out for her. She’d go to college, marry Jake and become the upstanding minister’s wife. When she leaves that life to begin again in a small town in Texas, she finally has the freedom to live as she chooses. There, she meets Kent, a guy whose charm and passion make it hard to stick to her morals.

Dodging his father’s fists and protecting his twin sister made Kent into the man he is today. He learned by watching his mother stay by his father’s side that it’s better to keep relationships simple. Then he meets Nicole. Her sweet smile and genuine response to him land like punches to his resolve. After a lifetime of learning to protect his heart, can he finally let down his guard?

Nicole and Kent are two young adults who have grown up in two totally different worlds. Nicole was groomed by her parents to live the perfect life with the perfect husband. Unhappy with the life that was laid out for her, Nicole decides to break up with her future minister boyfriend Jake and leaves her family behind to start over at a small Texas town. It's in that small town where Nicole meets Kent, who makes her question all of the morals she'd been taught to live by. Kent is a young and charming guy who's not keen on serious relationships. After suffering an abusive childhood and seeing his parents in a loveless and miserable relationship, Kent vows to never let himself get in that situation. Which means love is not an option for him. But obviously things change when Kent and Nicole grow closer and closer to each other.

Nicole and Kent's romance was sweet and innocent with just the right amount of sexual tension. I liked that Lopez kept Nicole morals intact even after she broke the chains from her parents strict upbringing. I was more impressed that Kent respected Nicole's beliefs. It just showed his good character even though he struggled a bit with thinking he wasn't good enough for Nicole. The story about Kent's childhood tugged my heart strings and I absolutely loved his need to be protective over his twin sister, Roni, even well after they left their abusive childhood home.

Compared to Make it Last, I found I CHOOSE YOU to be a much sweeter story. As with the first novella in this series, I Choose You doesn't really have a major arc in the story. There's very little angst, no huge misunderstandings, and very little complications. Simply put I CHOOSE YOU is a nice and sweet story about two young adults finding love. Lopez focuses on the characters and doesn't dilute the story with too much drama. There really isn't more that I can say except that this novella was just really sweet.

Trust in Me

Friends & Lovers #3

36K Words

February 2013

Roni’s dreams of becoming a contemporary dancer were smashed under the brutal rage of her ex-husband’s fists. Getting divorced and starting over at the age of twenty-two was never her plan, but maybe in Texas, she’ll find her path. When the town’s local player, Rich, opens a Rec Center, she sees a way to rekindle her dancing dreams…and maybe have a little fun with her sexy new boss.

Rich never expected to fulfill his dreams in the town he planned to leave behind, but that’s just what he’s doing. His reputation as a noncommittal ladies’ man might make it challenging to earn respect in the business world, but he’s willing to prove that he’s serious. In fact, when it comes to pursuing Roni, he’s more than willing. But she’s taking a page out of his book, not wanting to risk another relationship. Can he convince her that his playboy days are over and that she can trust him with her heart?

Out of all the novellas in the Friends & Lovers Trilogy, TRUST IN ME would have to be my favorite. We've now had the chance to get to know Roni and Rich a little bit since the beginning of this series and by the time I was done with I Choose You I was more than ready for their story.

Growing up with alcoholic and abusive father, Roni had hopes to get away from that environment. For a while she thought she had finally gotten away from it all when she marries Hank. But it turns out life with Hank wasn't any different from what she grew up around. After her brother, Kent, rescues her from her abusive marriage, starts her life over and eventually decides to not give up her passion of dancing and it set on teaching dance classes. The only downside to teaching at the local rec center would be her new boss, Rich.

Since we met him in Make It Last, Rich was a character that I liked from the beginning. He's sweet but a bit of a bad boy and just down right sexy. Being an easy going character and it just made sense that he would be running the recreational center in his small Texas town. He's the type of guy that everyone in town just loves with the exception to Roni. Roni's cold reception to him makes Rich even more determined to win her over. There's great sexual tension between Rich and Roni and while Roni is as smitten over Rich like every other girl in town, she doesn't want to let her defenses down especially after everything she's endured. Rich does a great job in proving himself to Roni how trust worthy he is and not a monster like her father or ex-husband.

TRUST IN ME was definitely a hell of a lot sexier than the previous two novellas but it's something that I was expected since Rich was such a tantalizing character. I found Roni's second chance at love story to be more compelling than Colin and Briana's story in Make it Last. I will say that Roni finally does get a happily ever after which was well deserved after the hell she'd gone through. Trust in Me was a great conclusion to this series and I enjoyed seeing bits of the previous two couples after their happily ever afters.

Bethany Lopez was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Michigan and San Antonio, Texas. She went to High School at Dearborn High, in Dearborn, Michigan, which is where she has set her Young Adult series. She is married and has a blended family with five children. She is currently serving in the United States Air Force as a Recruiter in Los Angeles, California. She has always loved to read and write and has seen her dream realized by independently publishing her novels through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.

Follow Bethany

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Twitter

Bethany is giving away THREE signed copies of the Friends & Lovers Trilogy. To enter, just fill in the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour organized by

Early Review + Giveaway: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

2013-05-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

Series: Pushing The Limits 2
Format: eGalley
Source: NetGalley
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: May 28, 2013
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

"I dare you..."

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does...

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all.

DARE YOU TO is probably one of my most anticipated contemporary summer read for this year. Pushing The Limits had me bawling and I'm one of those who just love to be tortured by heartbreaking stories and well-earned happy endings. Plus if you've read book 1, you know that Noah, Beth and Isiah are categorically fudged kids who needs a break. For ones so young, their little crew sure has been through a lot of things them being teenagers is just a small technicality.

DARE YOU TO is Beth Risk's second chance in life. When I met Beth in Pushing The Limits, my heart instantly went out to her. We all saw that despite her tough-chick exterior and sassy attitude, there's a lot of pain and vulnerability she's hiding under her carefully placed facade. I guess I'm not the only one who's curious to know what happened to this girl that had her so bent and frayed at a very young age. Beth's story isn't unique per se, drug dealers for parents, deadbeat Dad, heroine addict mom who hooked up with an abusive boyfriend whose past time includes beating her up and her pretty daughter, it still breaks my heart.

Beth's relationship with her mom tore me apart. Loyal to a fault, Beth is relentless in wanting to save her mom. I get why she wants to save her but the hard truth is, Beth's mother is a hopeless case and the only person who can save her is herself. Unfortunately, it took a very horrible evening to have Beth finally realize this and Ryan Stone is the guy we have to thank for.

I have to admit, when I first read the synopsis for DARE YOU TO I was a little skeptical about Ryan Stone. Like some of you, I was conditioned that Beth and Isiah belong together and their break-up was so hard to read. I mean unrequited love is probably one of the worst things a person can feel and my heart goes out to Isaiah but I think it is for the best. In hindsight, Beth and Isaiah can be a destructive pair because their love for each other makes them enablers and if they do hook up, I think that same love will tear them apart. So though I'm a little heartbroken, I get why Ryan is The Guy for Beth and why she fell in love with him.

Ryan Stone. This boy deserves a medal for sticking it out with Beth and for being extra patient with her. Though Ryan's personal life is far from perfect with overbearing parents who are more concerned with keeping up appearances, he still managed to remain grounded and true to himself. I loved how he showed Beth how beautiful and lovable she is and despite their very young age, I would say that Ryan's love for her is unconditional. It might have started as a dare but Ryan embraced EVERYTHING about Beth, past and present, the good and the ugly. He never asked her to be anybody else but herself and that alone is exceptional. It's simply hard not to love the guy!

DARE YOU TO is beautifully written, very inspired, and a well drawn out emotional story. It's not exaggerated, the emotions running through the story felt very authentic and organic and like Pushing The Limits, it's about family, friendship and a great coming of age story that will pull every reader's heartstrings. Beth's courage and Ryan's tenacity is admirable. Theirs might be a spontaneous, slow burning romance but it's not impulsive nor is it calculated. It's so natural and for a change, I love how the good guy tamed the bad girl and not the other way around.

That said, who's ready for Crash Into You?!

Quotable Quotes

Destiny is knocking, Ry, and you need to get your ass up to answer.

With one touch, Isaiah could ground me. Keep me from floating away with his arms as my anchor. his steady beating heart the reminder he would never let go.

When you kiss guys, do they drop dead from the venom that spews out of your mouth?

I wish, because I would have kissed you days ago.

Read our Katie McGarry interview

RANDOM FACTS ABOUT KATIE

I’m crazy in love with the guy I married.

When asked what I do for a living, I answer that I’m a writer and a mom.

I majored in political science in college with concentrations in philosophy and history.

When I was in high school, I was ranked in the top twenty in the Kentucky Tennis Association.

I never picked up a racket until I was fourteen and I only took two private lessons in my life. I had to work for two months at the K-Mart shoe department in order to pay for those lessons.

I don’t remember meeting my best friend, Tiffany. She always had been a fixture in my life.

Tiffany and I shared a locker even when we didn’t have to. We also shared a dorm room in college and a basement apartment.

Cemeteries creep me out.

I live one block away from a cemetery.

As a teenager, I read the OUTSIDERS so much that the cover fell off and almost every page in the book was dog-eared.

I hope one day someone will read my book so much that the cover falls off.

Discover more Katie Randomness

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Katie is giving away a signed print copy of

DARE YOU TO

US Only, ends May 22

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Spotlight: Stare Me Down by Riley Murphy

2013-05-15T05:00:00.000-04:00

STARE ME DOWN

Stare Down #1

Riley Murphy

Ellora's Cave

Available Today!

A Dom stuck in anger management classes meets his match in his court appointed therapist. Their attraction is off the charts. Unfortunately though, the timing is bad for both of them. Or at least it is until he discovers his little vanilla doll isn't vanilla at all. Then it's a matter of timing be damned. He can't keep his hands off her. A definite problem as she has a past to deal with and he has a goal to seize. So when the present rears its ugly head they are both blindsided. Now they’re forced to stare each other down if they hope to have any chance of a future together.

Riley Murphy writes sexy, humorous and emotional romance, happy ending guaranteed. An optimist, she believes life is awesome, people are complicated, but in a good way, and we should never stop learning. Riley currently resides in Florida with her gorgeous husband. She has two wonderful kids and one very bossy English Bull terrier. When Riley's not working she enjoys reading, oil painting, and getting to the Sunday crossword puzzle before anyone else does, so she can fill-in all the easy answers first. If Riley wasn't a writer she'd be an international spy with top-level security so she could have a peek at Area 51 and decide for herself if those green guys are for real. Riley loves her characters and she hopes you do too.

Connect with Riley

Website | Goodreads | Twitter

Waiting on Wednesday #55

2013-05-15T00:30:00.000-04:00

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Redesigned

Off Subject #2

Denise Grover Swank

June 2013

New Adult, Contemporary

While fashion design major Caroline Hunter may have been born economically unlucky, in college, she’s been lucky in love. Until her senior year at Southern University. She’s gone from a serious long term boyfriend to a string of crappy dates.

Then she meets mathematics grad student Reed Pendergraft.

Reed is everything she’s not looking for. Serious. Headed for a low paying university job. Boring. Caroline spent the first eighteen years of her life wondering where her next meal was coming from. She sure wasn’t getting trapped in that life again with a man living on a professor’s salary.

An encounter with Reed in a club proves she might have pegged him wrong. He brings out a lusty side she never knew she had. But just when she’s about to give in to her hormones, Reed makes a fool out of her.

When she shows up for the first committee meeting for Southern University’s Fall fashion show, a fundraiser for underprivileged kids, Caroline’s horrified to discover the insufferable Reed is the committee chairman. While she refuses to tolerate his totalitarian rule of the committee, she’s not sure she’ll survive the month with her heart—and her pride—intact. Just when she thinks she has everything figured out, she finds that her entire life has been redesigned, thanks to Reed Pendergraft.

Why am I waiting for it?
While After Math [Review HERE] didn't totally blow me away I really enjoyed Denise Grover Swanks writing and the overall tone and feel of her story telling. We briefly got to know Caroline in After Math and I think her story will be as interesting as Scarlett's. Also, Caroline seems like such a spit fire and I really look forward to reading about the dynamic of a fashion student and math geek falling in love.

What books or books are you anxiously waiting for?

Review: Unbeautifully by Madeline Sheehan

2013-05-14T20:30:00.000-04:00

Series: Undeniable #2

Format: eBook
Release Date: May 13, 2013
Publisher: Madeline Sheehan
Source: Self-Purchased
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

Warning: This is not a story about fate or destiny. This is a story about pain, sorrow, and suffering. This is an impulsive whirlwind romance between two lovers that are not meant to be together. Theirs is not a world with sunshine and roses. Instead, their love blossoms in a secret world full of crime, violence, and death. Their story is about what can be born from nightmares.

Danielle “Danny” West is the daughter of Deuce West, President of the Hell’s Horsemen Motorcycle Club. A sweet and beautiful girl, she loses her way, searching for things that are always out of her reach. Erik “Ripper” Jacobs is the Sergeant of Arms in the Hell’s Horsemen. Once a man who always had a smile on his face, his life takes a turn for the worst when a tragedy befalls him, leaving him scarred and broken. During a midsummer night, Danny and Ripper’s paths cross, forever changing their lives. Hastily, their lust turns to love until another tragedy forces them apart. On a journey that is marred with ugliness and chaos, Danny and Ripper must discover if their unforeseen connection can find the beauty in their world.

This is Danny and Ripper’s story.

Everything has beauty. Even the ugly. Especially the ugly.
Because without ugly, there would be no beauty.

WARNING: This book is recommended for readers 18 and up due to strong sexual content, language, and violence. I must also warn that "F" bombs and a few other not so nice words might have been thrown in this review. You have been warned.

There are only a handful of authors who consistently hit my elusive reading G-Spot and Madeline Sheehan is one of those said authors. She totally blew my fucking mind in Undeniable and once again this bitch has given me a good and thorough mind fuck with UNBEAUTIFULLY. Like with the first book in the series, Unbeautifully brings you through the highs, lows, and downright ugly mess that come with having a whirlwind romance set within the world of the Hell's Horsemen. You won’t find stories about rainbows and unicorns when it comes to Madeline Sheehan’s books. Instead she gives you it to you raw, barebacked and uncut with a no holds barred attitude when it comes to her storytelling. It’s a good change of pace from conventional romances and I truly appreciate that she gives you the good, the bad and the ugly but in some fucked up way it all makes beautiful sense.

“Everything has beauty. Even the ugly. Especially the ugly. Because without the ugly, there would be no beauty. Because without beauty, we would not survive our pain, our sorrow, and our suffering.”

UNBEAUTIFULLY picks-up right where Undeniable left off. While in the previous book we were left with Deuce’s thoughts of his happily ever after with Eva, Danny takes the baton and runs off with her own raw and emotionally gripping story. The last time we saw Danny, she was still Deuce’s young, beautiful and perky daughter known for wearing an excessive amount of pink and talking a mile a minute. But as we all know, growing up can be a bitch and life has dealt Danny a few crappy hands. Long gone is the young, innocent, and sweet Danny, instead she is replaced with a young woman who had suffered heartache, loss, grief, and guilt in only a matter of a few years.

I was curious as to how Danny would transform to fit the angsty and gritty world Sheehan has created because in all honesty frou-frou pink outfits and Hello Kitty doesn’t exactly fit in with the Hells Horsemen. But with Madeline’s writing talents Danny fit in quite perfectly and as it turns out the apple didn't fall very far from the tree because Danny’s life turns out just as fucked up as her Old Man’s. All the bullshit Deuce and Eva went through in Undeniable and lengths ] it took to get that couple reeled in had a profound effect on sweet little Danny leaving her feeling lonely, jaded, and lost amongst all the havoc that is Deuce’s life and his club business. So when one night Ripper shows Danny the attention she'd been deprived off it was no surprise that things quickly turned heated between the two.

“He was an incredibly beautiful man. The scars just forced you to look a little harder to see what was still there, and what was still there was the squared, strong, bone structure of a Greek god, the heavily muscled stature of a boxer, and a deviously sexy smile."

Eric "Ripper" Jacobs is the type of guy that defines a true flawed, damaged and tortured hero. Exactly my kind of hero. For those who are familiar with the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Ripper would be the equivalent of Zsadist. His mind and body is marred with scars from the torture he endured in the hands of Crazy Frankie during Undeniable. Even with his scars and other disfigurements not once while reading this book did I find Ripper to be ugly. Although Ripper doesn't understand why Danny would find someone like him beautiful he's still very much the kind of man that's very desirable. Finding out about the brutalization he endured and heartache he's suffered in his past only makes you love him more. Seriously, I was jonesing really bad for this bad ass biker.

"A man like him, a girl like her...Ripper knew there would be no going back for him. Not after her. He'd hit the fucking jackpot and no bitch that came in her wake would ever measure up."

Danny and Ripper's relationship was totally unexpected to both characters but once things got rolling these two were setting the pages on fire! Fourteen years apart and on different spectrum's on the beauty scale, Danny and Ripper were an unlikely couple from the very beginning. But aside from the age difference and looks the chemistry between these two were off the charts. Their relationship goes from zero to sixty in a matter of seconds and definitely hit some major bumps on the road. While Danny and Ripper's story doesn't take as long as Deuce's and Eva's it definitely doesn't happen overnight for them. It takes months and years for them to get their shit together and there was a smidgen of a love triangle and some decisions in both Danny and Ripper's part that infuriated the hell out of me but in the end shit worked itself out. Eventually.

Madeline gave her fans of this series a fantastic treat by shedding light on Deuce and Eva's hellish road to happily ever after. I was actually surprised Deuce and Eva were given more page time but I wasn't complaining one bit. When Undeniable ended we were left with a pretty fuckin sweet epilogue. I was happy where these two ended up but we never got to see the long path these two went through to get there. As much as I loved, loved, loved Danny and Ripper, Old Man Deuce was still able to get me all excited like a crackhead waiting for her next hit. Even with the all-consuming love Deuce and Eva felt for each other they still didn't have their shit together. Deuce is struggling with all the bullshit in his head Frankie had left which had turned his family upside down. It was heart wrenching watching Deuce and Eva try to put the pieces back together and I shed even more tears for these two.

"You're my reason, Deuce," she whispered through her tears. "You always have been."

Life and love isn’t easy and not always kind and all of Sheehan’s characters have a first-hand experience with that lesson. As far fetched as the Hell’s Horseman’s world might be, the trials and tribulations, and lessons that the characters in Sheehan’s Undeniable series goes through is as true and tangible as “real life” shit. It’s the journey that she takes you on that had me glued from the first book and will continue on as long as she keeps writing this series. The story is wild and crazy, the characters are utterly flawed and damaged and the turmoil, heartache and tragedy can sometimes be unbearable but if you hold on tight you'll be more than satisfied you stuck around for it all.

UNBEAUTIFULLY was definitely another home run for Madeline Sheehan and if you haven’t started reading this series yet all I have to say to you is, “What the mother fucking hell is wrong with you?!?!” If you want a book that’ll leave you utterly discombobulated but then begging for more then you definitely need to read Sheehan’s Undeniable series because you don’t want to be missing out on all this totally awesome hotmessedness.

UNBEAUTIFULLY available now

Early Review: My Master by Lisa Renee Jones

2013-05-14T15:00:00.000-04:00

Series: Rebecca's Lost Journals 4; Inside Out Novella 4
Format: Digital ARC
Release Date: May 20, 2013
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Source: Author
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance
Pre-Order: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

In part four of Rebecca’s Lost Journals, My Master , it’s Rebecca turn to claim control and set the limits in her relationship.

Due to the strong sexual content of MY MASTER, this short is recommended for reader's 18 and up.

MY MASTER is my favorite volume in the series. For a 40-paged serial, LRJones sure gave us some hardcore juicy bits not just about the evolution of Rebecca and Master's relationship but a peek on Master's more vulnerable side. Yum!

As I've mentioned in His Submissive, I have a feeling that Rebecca won't remain docile for long. Rebecca made a big leap in agreeing to be a sub and now her sexual needs are coming in conflict with her emotional one because the former is beyond fulfilled while the latter is leaving her empty and wanting. MY MASTER explored Rebecca's internal dilemmas and how her current arrangement with her Master isn't really cutting it anymore. At this point, they've been together for quite some time and have renewed their D/s contract several times. But as Rebecca has grown emotionally invested in her Master, it's only natural that she'd want more. She wants to own her Master not in terms of their kinky lifestyle but something more tangible and secure like being in an actual relationship with him and not just a contract. Obviously as her Master is broken, he doesn't have a full grasp of Rebecca's current emotional status so he tries seduction to win her back but Rebecca's not having it.

The scenes we enact together take me deeper and deeper into the places I know represent his internal hell, and yet I can't pull him back. Instead, he's pulling me inside that dark hole that is his escape.

I'm so proud of Rebecca for not standing down and asserting what she wants despite the risk of losing the man she loves. I love how she's starting to question things and demands to want more because she deserves it. I'm so happy that she's not as naive as I perceived her to be. She's no doormat and I was literally cheering for her on those scenes where she really wanted to say YES but instead said NO. MY MASTER is quite an emotional volume, it explored not just Rebecca's dilemma but her Master's dysfunctions as well. I feel like he wants to give her what she wants but he only knows how to be a Dom and has no clue on how to be a boyfriend.

Let me also say that LRJones is so clever! I mean MOTHAFRACKIN' CLEVER! I'm sure I'll be picking up my jaw on the floor once the identity of Master is revealed but seriously, I have no clue who this person is! His identity is so closely guarded and I applaud LRJones for managing to keep this a secret for so long. Gah! So amazing and frustrating at the same time!

Anyway, Rebecca's story is drawing to a close and I can only speculate what happened to her. In If I Were You, I was thinking that she met an unfortunate end but now despite her Master's gruffness, I believe that he cares enough about her to protect Rebecca and care for her the way she deserves. I can only hope that she's just taking a break somewhere, getting her head straight as she's faced with the dilemma of surrendering herself, her being, to her Master and keep him happy or to stay true to herself and assert her own wants and needs in order to feel satisfied in their dysfunctional arrangement. We'll see...

We're so lucky to be part of Lisa's Blogger Appreciation week. Check out our little introduction piece here for a chance to win some cool prizes!

Book Blitz + Giveaway: Plastic Hearts by Lisa De Jong

2013-05-14T05:00:00.000-04:00

Plastic Hearts

Hearts #1

Lisa De Jong
February 27th 2013
New Adult Contemporary

My life has always been safe. I like it that way. I grew up in a fake society where plastic hearts rule. If our hearts are made of plastic, they can never be broken. My parents have expectations and I do everything I can to meet them, even if it means giving up on my own dreams.

Now, all I want is to be free to make my own choices.

Dane Wright is everything I have been warned to stay away from. We met one night while I was with my perfect, parent-approved boyfriend and I haven’t stopped thinking about him. I don’t want to like him. I am doing everything I can to ignore his pull, but my heart seems to want what it cannot have, what it has never had.

Can he measure up? He may think I am too good for him, but maybe he is too good for me.

Life is a series of choices and I have never been able to make my own. Until one day, when my heart decides to make a choice for me.

Something about the way he looked at me paired with his proximity to my body sent heat through me. For the first time ever, I felt desire to be close to a man, desire to fall and let him catch me. It was a dangerous game I was playing and one I wasn’t sure I could win.

Dane and I talked while I got ready for class. I still needed to put my clothes on, but that wasn’t going to happen while he was still in my room. “I need to get dressed,” I said, as I pulled clothes out of my closet and placed them on the bed.

“I’ll turn around, no peeking I swear.” His mouth turned up at one side as he looked at me with mischief in his eyes. While I trusted him, he was still a guy and they couldn’t be trusted under these circumstances. I stared at him for a moment, silently pleading before he spoke again. “I’ll step out in the hall if you do one thing for me first.”

I eyed him suspiciously, “And what’s that?” His eyes lowered, “Kiss me,”

My stomach fluttered as I stood on my tippy toes to kiss his cheek, but before I could react he cupped my face in his hands and locked his lips on mine. His mouth was warm and soft as he massaged my lips with passion and desire. He worshipped my tongue with his own as his fingers coiled in my hair, sending a tingle through my body. I’d never done anything crazy like bungee jumping or skydiving, but I imagined this was what falling must feel like; the euphoria and bliss mixed with a little bit of danger. Just as I reached behind his back to bring his body closer to mine he pulled away, looking at me through dark, hooded eyes. I could feel his warm breath on my face, but my body felt cold and my knees were weak. I needed the connection back.

I wanted to kiss him again, but he stopped me by placing his finger on my lips. “You better get dressed,” he whispered, rubbing his thumb over my lips. He kissed me softly one more time before he left my room without saying another word. I stood there motionless for several minutes, rubbing my fingers over my lips. Every time he kissed me it was better than the last. Was it possible for every kiss to be the best kiss?

Plastic Hearts Now Available on

Lisa De Jong is a wife, mother and full-time number cruncher who lives in the Midwest. Her writing journey involved insane amounts of coffee and many nights of very little sleep but she wouldn't change a thing. She also enjoys reading, football and music.

Connect with Lisa on

Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

Lisa is giving away ONE (1) eBook copy of PLASTIC HEARTS. Giveaway Open Internationally. To enter, just leave us a comment below. Make sure to leave us a valid email address. End May 19th.

Cover Reveal: Losing Hope by Colleen Hoover

2013-05-12T02:15:00.000-04:00

Colleen Hoover is just one of those authors that I go batsh*t crazy over everything that she releases. So you have to believe me when I tell you how crazy excited I got when she released the cover for LOSING HOPE, book two in her Hopeless series just a little while ago. While Hopeless was Sky's story, LOSING HOPE will strictly be told in Holder's POV. We'll get a whole new perspective and have the chance to fall in love all over again with Dean Holder. He's hands down my favorite hero from a YA/Mature YA book and I can't wait to swoon over this guy again. Seriously, he just says the most perfect and sweetest things and I melt just thinking about him.

So without further adieu, here is the cover to LOSING HOPE…

LOSING HOPE

Hopeless #2

Colleen Hoover

Atria Books

July 9, 2013

In Hopeless, Sky left no secret unearthed, no feeling unshared, and no memory forgotten, but Holder’s past remained a mystery.

Still haunted by the little girl he let walk away, Holder has spent his entire life searching for her in an attempt to finally rid himself of the crushing guilt he has felt for years. But he could not have anticipated that the moment they reconnect, even greater remorse would overwhelm him…

Sometimes in life, if we wish to move forward, we must first dig deep into our past and make amends. In Losing Hope, bestselling author Colleen Hoover reveals what was going on inside Holder’s head during all those hopeless moments—and whether he can gain the peace he desperately needs.

Pre-Order LOSING HOPE now from

If you haven't read Hopeless yet, I HIGHLY suggest that you do it now. I promise you that you will absolutely love this book and love Sky and Holder as much as I did. Colleen Hoover is truly one talented writer and she has yet to disappoint. Definite must read for those who love YA, Mature YA or New Adult!

Hopeless Series

Hopeless (Hopeless #1) Review

Check out Colleen's blog because she has a really great giveaway to coincide with the cover reveal.

Colleen's Losing Hope Cover Reveal & Giveaway

Bought Borrowed and Bagged #52

2013-05-12T00:30:00.000-04:00

Bought

from Amazon

These are between $2.99-$4.99, great deals if you ask me!

Bagged

from authors and publishers for review

from Pocket Star

Binding The Shadows by Jenn Bennett (Arcadia Bell 3)
Rogue Descendant by Jenna Black (Nikki Glass 3)

from NetGalley

Won from the tour giveaways

Big & Small

Can't wait to do bad things!

I hope these two sort their shiz!

Season 6, Episode 1, Who Are You, Really? airs June 16

First image of The Walking Dead S4

The cast & crew are returning this October for another 16 episodes.

Last Week's Reviews

Upcoming Reviews

Current Giveaways

Katie McGarry Giveaway (US)
win a signed print copy of Pushing The Limits
ends May 13

Denise Grover Swank (INT)
win 1 of 10 $10 Amazon Gift Cards
ends May 16

Michelle Muto (INT)
win a digital copy of The Haunting Season
ends May 21

J.T. Brock Giveaway (INT)
win a digital copy of A Surefire Way + more
ends May 30

Sherry Soule Giveaway (INT)
win a copy of Immortal Eclipse
ends May 30

Jordin Williams Giveaway (INT)

win a $75 gift card or 1 of ARCs of Amazingly Broken
ends June 18

Check out these other fabulous blogs that participate in

Bought, Borrowed & Bagged:

NOTE: Future participants, please use your BB&B LABEL LINK instead of the individual post link.