Book Review: Ex Marks the Spot (Teachers’ Lounge Book 3)  by Hazel James   @realhazeljames @smartypantsromance

Ex Marks the Spot
(Teachers’ Lounge Book 3) 
by Hazel James

 

When Hartley Billings is selected to compete on her favorite reality TV show, she only needs to do two things to win a million in first place in the final leg.Not murder her teammate.The last step would be a lot easier if she wasn’t paired up with her ex, the guy who obliterated her heart in college.

Court Mueller isn’t thrilled either. His one shot at earning prize money and escaping his lackluster life in Green Valley rests in the hands of the woman he gave up six years ago, the one he’s stuck with 24/7 for the next three weeks.

With their thorny past now their present, Team Hartbreak only needs to do two things to survive this season of Xtreme clear boundaries.Never, ever cross them… no matter how tempting it is.‘Ex Marks the Spot’ is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #3 in the Teachers’ Lounge series, Green Valley Chronicles, Penny Reid Book Universe.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

What’s the best way to stand beside a man I wouldn’t spit on if he was burning alive?

I would’ve rather massaged a porcupine than talked to him.

Getting relationship advice from him is about as smart as taking a bath with a toaster.

 

My Review:

 

I have a new favorite author! I gleefully hummed and wiggled in my chair as I savored this delightfully amusing and witty tale. Perusing this one was so much fun! The writing style was well-paced with the perfect combination of sass and sizzle wrapped in generous lashings of clever snark and razor-sharp banter. I need more of this in my life.

 

Hazel James owes her writing career to her 12th grade English teacher, who wrote, “You should consider a career in writing” on the top of her short story. As a kid who grew up bringing books to the dinner table, Hazel took that advice to heart and became a journalist in the Army.

Hazel is best known for her military romance novels, which weave in pieces of her husband’s Army career and journey with PTSD. Connecting with readers and promoting the importance of mental health awareness will always be the biggest highlight of her career.

Hazel lives in Tampa Bay, Florida with her husband and three children. When she’s not writing, she can be found knee-deep in a DIY project (usually accompanied by 90s music and a Diet Coke).

Book Review: Take Me Home for Christmas (The Amazing Doctors of Oak Bluff #1) by Miranda Liasson @mirandaliasson

Take Me Home for Christmas
(The Amazing Doctors of Oak Bluff #1)
by Miranda Liasson

Amazon / B&N / BB

She invented Mr. Right…just in time for the holidays.
.

Every tangled web starts with one tiny white lie. The kind you spin when you’re desperate.

One day I, Mia D’Angelo, third-year pediatric resident, was telling my mom that I’d finally met the perfect guy. Gushing about how amazing he was. And how happy I was.

It was all true. Until my “perfect guy” turned out to be my co-worker and my only competitor for a spot in the best practice in town…and then suddenly I was dumped…again. But I kept going with the stories, to get her through a very tough time.

My mom’s health crisis ended, and just when I thought things had settled down, my family wanted to meet my wonderful boyfriend for Christmas.

So I asked (okay, begged) just about every male I knew under forty, except for Dr. Braxton Hughes.

Don’t get me wrong. I could always count on him in a pinch. At work, that is.

Brax is an amazing pediatrician, but he would never fit the bill as a boyfriend. Maybe in looks. And charm. And his big heart. The problem is that he’s the biggest commitment-phobe this side of the Mississippi.

He’s the kind of guy I would definitely never take home for Christmas. There’d be no kissin’ under the mistletoe, no canoodling under the tree—because my heart could not survive falling for him again.

My car is packed and I’m down to no one, when magically, there he is, duffle in hand, melt-me smile on his face.

Oh, joy.

Keeping it professional is going to be a whole lot harder than I thought. Especially when he charms my parents, my whole family, and even my dog.

And Dr. Wrong…well, he’s suddenly looking awfully right.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

We had to pick up the pieces after Grace left us and somehow put ourselves together again. Which we did, but ever since then, it seemed I was always looking for the part of me that she took with her.

A woman in a bright orange jumpsuit waved to her and left out the door. Either she was an escaped con or at the height of fashion, I wasn’t sure which.

Being the object of his smile still felt like being in the light of the sun. Warm and wonderful.

 

My Review:

 

An excellent kick off for a new series and I’m already greedily plotting to amass every installment if they are as engaging and absorbing as this one. Ms. Liasson is a master at synthesizing endearing characters and I adored and admired her primary and secondary character creations. The writing was well-paced and polished while unfurling a realistic tale with real world issues, hits of amusing humor, heart-squeezes, and insightful and empathetic observations. I was quickly pulled into the characters’ vortex and held there while the well-honed narrative continued to flow like smooth jazz. I covet her skills.

 

Author Bio:

Miranda Liasson loves to write stories about everyday people who find love despite themselves because there’s nothing like a great love story. And if there are a few laughs along the way, even better! She’s a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart winner and an Amazon bestselling author whose heartwarming and humorous small-town romances have won accolades such as the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence and have been Harlequin Junkie and Night Owl Reviews Top Picks.

 

Connect with Miranda: 

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Book Review: The Billionaire’s Ride (Falling For A London Billionaire Book 1) by Mandy Michaels    @authormandymichaels

The Billionaire’s Ride
(Falling For A London Billionaire Book 1) 
by Mandy Michaels

 

Amazon  / BB

He’s a bad boy on a motorcycle hiding his billionaire status behind his fashion photographer gig. Every woman wants him. But the most gorgeous man in London only wants me . . .


The moment I arrived in London, I crashed into Drew Bonnaire. Literally. He’s a James Dean-wannabe with a leather jacket and an appetite for adventure. And he’s giving me the ride of my life.
Of course he’s one of London’s most eligible bachelors with an accent that would make any American good-girl swoon. I knew he was trouble when I found out he was famous for attempting to escape his family’s wealthy name by speeding off on his motorcycle with a supermodel perched on the back.

I’m no supermodel. But I had to act like one when I posed for a magazine spread in nothing but the lacy lingerie I used to be famous for designing.

Did I mention Drew was the photographer on set?

And we were alone.

With nothing but lace between us.

I can’t stop thinking about that night on the back of his motorbike. I had no idea this kind of red-hot passion was possible. Not for a girl like me.

After a night of pleasure at his penthouse, he invites me to attend his brother’s wedding to meet his family. Turns out, he’s not just any billionaire, but his family’s financial firm may be the only one that can save my sinking luxury lingerie brand. Drew’s ready to hang up his playboy hat for me, but how can I choose between leather and lace?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

…the idea of sleeping with one woman for the rest of my life feels just short of castration.

I drop my shoulders and feel like a deflating balloon making a sad little squeal.

“Did you say your drunk song?” I shrug. “Yeah, sometimes when I have too much whiskey, I start singing about Lola and Tony. Then I deny it in the morning over aspirin and a tall glass of water.”

My Review:

 

Ignore the cheesy title, this was a delightfully scintillating and humorous tale that held my attention and entertained me from beginning to end. The characters were enticing, clever, and fun loving for the most part. The storyline was breezy, amusing, and breathtakingly salacious with just a bit of angst. Drew was a wealthy playboy and Kate was a lingerie designer whose business was circling the drain. They had an instant, scalding hot, and libidinous chemistry; even losing themselves in public, in Hyde Park, in the rain, wow. I will think of them and smile fondly every time I hear Copacabana.

 

Mandy Michaels is the contemporary romance author of the Falling For A London Billionaire series who writes heart-racing love stories that blend humor, heat, and happily-ever-afters. Mandy’s novels feature savvy heroines, heart-of-gold hotties, and chemistry so sizzling it will melt your Kindle. With engaging characters and witty dialogue, love always wins in her books.

When she’s not writing, Mandy indulges in classic romcoms with a homemade blueberry-vanilla latte in hand or skips off to Manhattan for the perfect foodcation.

Book Review: Murder on the Nile (Lady Eleanor Swift #19) by Verity Bright  @BrightVerity  @Bookouture 

Murder on the Nile
(Lady Eleanor Swift #19)
by Verity Bright

A cruise down the Nile, a camel ride around the pyramids, lunch in the shadow of the Sphinx… And a very dead body!

1924. Lady Eleanor Swift and her butler Clifford are touring the great, ancient sights of Egypt on a much-anticipated extended vacation. But when the pair arrive at the docks in Cairo expecting to board the luxurious paddle steamer advertised in their brochure, they are baffled by the crumbling old cruiser waiting for them. And things only go from bad to worse as death stalks the decks of the SS Cleopatra…

Two days into the trip one of their fellow passengers, Lieutenant Baxter, is found shot dead in his locked cabin. Immediately suspicious and desperate to see justice done, Eleanor discovers a half-finished note addressed to her hidden in Baxter’s travelling trunk. In it he asks her to deliver a vitally important letter to the authorities at their next stop down river: a priceless treasure worthy of a king has been stolen and an innocent man’s life hangs in the balance.

But before the sands of time wipe away all evidence on board, Eleanor must uncover who among the other travellers wanted Baxter dead. Was it the anxious archaeologist who doesn’t have an alibi, the reptile expert with a passion for the murderous Nile crocodile or the art dealer with a devious secret?

With the killer readying to strike again much closer to home, can Eleanor dig up the truth before she’s trapped in a tomb under the pyramids forever?

A gripping and twisty 1920s murder mystery set in Egypt, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Lee Strauss!

 

My Rating:

 

Favorite Quote:

 

Follow your heart, darling girl. That alone can steer your feet best.

 

My Review:

 

I adore Lady Swift, she is unconventional, lively, rich yet generous, and a feisty gal several generations before her time. Her latest adventure is a rather complicated mystery with almost everything Egypt has to offer: tomb robbers, murders, snakes, and a confounding and nearly impossible-to-solve mystery, all while cruising down the Nile. Too bad her fun-loving staff had but a small part of this installment but worse yet, no involvement of her favorite policeman and fiance, but thankfully Clifford was always there to provide his astute and clever wry observations as well as the necessary lock picks and the deft hand in using them.

About the Author

.
Verity Bright is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing partnership that has spanned a quarter of a century. Starting out writing high-end travel articles and books, they published everything from self-improvement to humor, before embarking on their first historical mystery. They are the authors of the fabulous Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery series, set in the 1920s.

Book Review: How to Slay at Work by Sarah Bonner  @sarahbonner101 @theboldbookclub

How to Slay at Work
by Sarah Bonner

Amazon  / B&N  / GP / BB

When your boss is at a conference in a city where there’s a suspicious death, it’s unlucky.

If it happens twice, it’s odd.

But when she’s in the same city at the same time as a third unexplained death . . .

Could she be a stone-cold killer?

Millie’s always known her boss Freya is a psycho – the demanding and ever-changing coffee orders, the cryptic instructions, the apparently expected mind reading and don’t even start on the insistence that Millie wears heels . . . All. The. Time.

But it only extends as far as exacting office standards. Right?

As Freya’s assistant, Millie has privileged access to her diary and travel history and when a pattern emerges of men (who seem to have no connection to each other) dying in cities where Freya is travelling, Millie is determined to figure out what’s going on.

After all, a stone-cold killer could be exactly what Millie needs . . .

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

This will be dressed as an opportunity and I’ll take it, make some sycophantic noises about how I relish the challenge and then bitch about it to Lissa later. Welcome to office life in the twenty-first century.

Lissa has this whole fantasy about meeting an attractive stranger and having a night of unbridled passion leading to an illicit affair. Unfortunately, this results in a monthly incident where she will end up doing the walk of shame, or knocking on my door to ask for help in the removal of said attractive stranger, who never ends up looking quite as alluring in the cold light of day.

Lawrence Delaney was voted ‘Most Likely To Succeed’ by his high school. But no one ever said what it was they thought he might succeed at.

‘Now here’s what I believe. Your husband is a dinosaur and eventually his kind will go extinct.’ I assumed she’s a creationist who thought God created the fossils to test his followers’ conviction.

I am completely over it. If I say it often enough, perhaps it will be true.

My Review:

 

This deftly penned tale was a fun, lively, and deliciously amusing ride with multiple jaw-dropping plot twists and clever unexpected shifts and reversals. Sarah Bonner has mad word skills and must have a direct bulk supply of pixie dust for her ink pen.

This nimbly written and well-nuanced missive shifted from warped vengeance to fierce revenge, on to cruel bloodlust, and back again. No one was as they initially appeared and each had their own, tightly held, secret agendas.

I fell upon this one like a binge dieter at a buffet and loved every nibble. Sarah Bonner has a new acolyte.

 

About the Author

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Sarah grew up in Salisbury, dreaming of a career as a writer and performer. Instead, she became an accountant! After a fifteen-year career, she decided to answer her original calling and completed her first novel which was published in 2022. Her latest book HOW TO SLAY AT WORK is out in September 2024 and she can’t wait for the world to meet Millie and her suspected serial killer boss, Freya.

Sarah lives in Devon with her husband and very spoiled rescue dog.

Book Review: Murder Under A Cold Moon (Mona Moon  Book 13) by Abigail Keam @AbigailKeam

Mona Moon and her new husband, Robert Farley, Duke of Brynelleth are on their honeymoon at last. They are invited to a weekend party by an old friend of Robert’s family—Lady Eustacia. Mona and Robert arrive in a substantial downpour to find several other couples awaiting the appearance of their hostess. When Lady Eustacia fails to come downstairs, Mona and Robert search the manor house only to find her bedridden, drugged, and in serious need of a doctor. It is then they discover the telephone wires have been cut and none of the cars are able to drive into town due to the storm. Mona and Robert believe the invitation was a ruse, but for what purpose? And how do they help Lady Eustacia?

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

 

I give you both this warning— keep each other in sight because tonight the devil will act out.

 

My Review:

 

I continue to revel in this cleverly contrived and engaging cozy series. I adore Mona Moon, a woman ahead of her time with movie star looks, boatloads of her own money, nerves of steel, and a nose for sleuthing. I wouldn’t want to live in her era but I want to be Mona Moon.

About the Author

One thing Miss Abigail loves to do as an author is to write real people and events into her stories. “I am a student of history and love to insert historical information into my mysteries. My goal is to entertain my readers, but if they learn a little something along the way—well, then we are both happy. I certainly learn a lot from my research, and I hope my readers come away with a new appreciation of beekeeping from my Josiah Reynolds Mysteries.”

Book Review: I Dreamed of Falling by Julia Dahl    @msjuliadahl @minotaur_books

I Dreamed of Falling
by Julia Dahl

 

Amazon  / B&N / GP / BB

In acclaimed author Julia Dahl’s new standalone, the death of a young mother triggers an avalanche of secrets in a small Hudson Valley town.

Roman Grady is the sole reporter for the local newspaper in a tiny Hudson Valley town – a town so small that every store opening and DUI is considered newsworthy. But when Roman’s longtime girlfriend, Ashley, the mother of his four-year-old son, is found dead, he realizes he had no idea what was really going on in her life.

And when he starts asking questions, he’s not prepared for the answers.

What was Ashley doing at the cliffside home of her troubled ex-girlfriend? How did no one in a house full of people see what happened to her? And why does it seem like everyone in town suddenly has something to hide? As Roman and his mother dig into Ashley’s last few months, the truths they uncover threaten to expose painful secrets. The kind of secrets that can get you killed.

A gripping thriller and a moving portrait of a family struggling through tragedy, I Dreamed of Falling showcases Julia Dahl’s talent for using crime fiction to tell an immersive and unforgettable story. Dahl’s unflinching novel asks hard questions about love, regret, inequality, and the possibilities and the perils of forgiveness.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Although his boss had to pretend to embrace the family-friendly nature of the town whose newspaper he ran, privately he was a man with a heart as atrophied as his calf muscles.

His chin was crumbling and sobs felt like stones in his mouth.

Tara felt as if her entire body were made of wet sand. Like chunks of it might fall off if she moved.

My Review:

 

This was my first experience reading her work and I quickly began to covet and admire Julia Dahl’s exceptional word skills for creating and maintaining an eerie and prickly atmosphere that was taut with tension and unease while pregnant with an odd and incongruent mixture of anticipation, sensual pleasures, and deep-seated resentments.

This skilled wordsmith’s agility in shaping her deeply troubled and fatally flawed characters’ development was beyond insightful, richly perceptive, and profoundly observant. Poignant handling and thoughtful touches tucked in unexpected places added additional heft and depth to the reading experience. I was riveted to my Kindle.

Julia Dahl was born and raised in Fresno, California. In 1994, she stumbled onto the staff of her high school newspaper and has been chasing stories ever since.

Her first novel, Invisible City, is the story of a New York City tabloid reporter investigating the murder of an Hasidic woman from Borough Park. Invisible City was a finalist for the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award for Best First Novel and was named one of the Boston Globe’s Best Books of 2014. Invisible City also won the Barry, the Shamus, and the Macavity Awards for Best First Novel, and has been translated into eight languages.

The sequel, Run You Down, was published in June 2015, and Conviction, the third book in the Rebekah Roberts series, was published in 2017. New York Magazine called Conviction “a murder mystery for our tumultuous times,” and it was named one of the best books of 2017 by the Boston Globe and LitHub.

Her fourth novel, a stand-alone called The Missing Hours, was published in September 2021. The New York Times called it “a great reckoning with the moment we find ourselves in,” and the book was the September 2021 Oxygen Book Club pick.

Her fifth novel, a stand-alone called I Dreamed of Falling, published in September 2024. The book has received starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Library Journal, which named it their Mystery Pick of the Month.

Dahl has been a freelance reporter for the New York Post, an associate features editor at Marie Claire, the deputy managing editor of the Crime Report, and a crime and justice reporter for CBSNews.com. Her feature articles have appeared in the GuardianFast Company, the Columbia Journalism ReviewBusiness InsiderSeventeen, the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, and Salon, among others.

These days, Dahl teaches journalism and advises students at NYU. She also does freelance manuscript editing and coaching, and teaches online courses for fiction writers.

Dahl has a BA from Yale and masters degrees in creative writing and journalism from The New School and American University, respectively.

After 20 years in New York City, Dahl now lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband and son.

Book Review: Snow is Falling (Juniper Meadows #4) by Sarah Bennett  @sarah_bennettauthor

Snow is Falling
(Juniper Meadows #4)
by Sarah Bennett

Amazon  / B&N  / BB

When Sadie Bingham’s life takes an unexpected turn, her children treat her to a well-earned break at Juniper Meadows, the gorgeous Cotswolds estate owned by the Travers family.

The festive season is in full swing, and Sadie throws herself into the packed Twelve Days of Christmas programme, relishing the opportunity to make new friends and new memories.

Single father Dylan Travers hasn’t been to his childhood home of Juniper Meadows for decades. Estranged from his cantankerous father Monty, he has made a happy life for himself in the States. But now with teenage children keen to know more about their roots, Dylan has brought them back to the Cotswolds to meet his family.

As Sadie and Dylan both navigate a Christmas very different from the ones they had expected it’s soon clear that, geography apart, they have a great deal in common. And as Dylan confronts his past and Sadie contemplates her future, perhaps the miracle of this Christmas will be the happily-ever-after they both deserve.

Let Sarah Bennett whisk you away to a snowy Cotswolds for the perfect winter romance. A Sarah Bennett book is guaranteed to brighten any day, perfect for all fans of Cathy Bramley, Katie Fforde and Phillipa Ashley.

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

 

For the first time in forever all the separate bits of her– past, present and future– clicked into place and she felt whole.

My Review:

 

This was a lovely, amusing, and heartwarming tale that kept me delightfully entertained and fully engaged from start to finish. The writing style was easy to follow yet insightful and observant with generous lashings of wry humor and inner musings while the characters navigated the dynamics of their familial complications. I enjoyed this one so much that I find myself greedy for the rest of the series.

About the Author

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Sarah Bennett writes feel good romantic fiction set in beautiful locations you will fall in love with. Her bestselling series include Butterfly Cove and Mermaids Point.

Her latest series is based in the heart of the Cotswolds on a country estate known to the locals as Juniper Meadows. Where We Belong and In From the Cold are out now in all formats. Come Rain or Shine will be released in March 2024, with a final book planned for late 2024.

Book Review: Poison in Piccadilly (Fiona Figg & Kitty Lane Mystery #6) by Kelly Oliver  @KellyOliverBook

Poison in Piccadilly
(Fiona Figg & Kitty Lane Mystery #6)
by Kelly Oliver

Amazon  / B&N / BB

Downton Abbey meets Agatha Christie in this clever locked-room mystery.

1918 London

Is Fiona Figg ready to exchange her sleuthing cap for a bridal veil?

Fiona is set to tie the knot with her dashing flyboy, Archie Somersby. But, while Fiona is busy planning her happily ever after, side-kick Kitty Lane and a group of judo-chopping suffragettes are kicking up trouble at the Piccadilly Jujitsu Club.

When Kitty is found unconscious in the locker room during a high-stakes competition, Fiona must forsake her bouquets and bridal gown to investigate. Her sleuthing leads to a posh lady’s luncheon where a mysterious death crashes Fiona’s wedding plans.

To make matters worse, the arch-nemesis of all things matrimonial, Fredrick Fredricks is up to his old tricks, attempting to put the brakes on Fiona’s journey down the aisle. Will he succeed in tripping up Fiona’s wedding vows? Or will she finally say “I don’t” to the charming devil?

With humor as sharp as a judo chop and suspense as tight as a wedding corset, Poison in Piccadilly invites you to matrimonial mayhem that will have you saying “I do” to laughter and “forever more” to page-turning suspense.

The book features real life suffragettes Sylvia Pankhurst and her bodyguards trained by Edith Garrud, who taught them jujitsu, which became known as Suffrajitsu.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

The affair, the divorce, my husband— ex-husband— dying in my arms from mustard gas, rather put me off matrimony.

My chest expanded with pride, and I felt like the buttons might pop off my blouse I was so chuffed.

The limbo of waiting always put my mind in an awkward state of relaxed agitation.

 

My Review:

 

This was an entertaining, fun, and amusing tale to unwind with between tenser thrillers. I always come away with several interesting bits of history while perusing Ms. Oliver’s cleverly conjured mysteries.

The story threads were cleverly woven with an ample supply of amusing humor and were well-researched and well-nuanced to snag my gray matter and keep me guessing. I reveled in learning more about Kitty while she unraveled the perplexing mysteries of herself. No one was as they appeared, especially a bearded and bewigged Fiona.

 

Kelly Oliver grew up in the Northwest, Montana, Idaho, and Washington states. Her maternal grandfather was a forest ranger committed to saving the trees, and her paternal grandfather was a logger hell-bent on cutting them down. On both sides, her ancestors were some of the first settlers in Northern Idaho. In her own unlikely story, Kelly went from eating a steady diet of wild game shot by her dad to becoming a vegetarian while studying philosophy and pondering animal minds. Competing with peers who’d come from private schools and posh families “back East,” Kelly’s working-class backwoods grit has served her well. And much to her parent’s surprise, she’s managed to feed and clothe herself as a professional philosopher.

When she’s not writing mysteries, Kelly Oliver is a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. She earned her B.A. from Gonzaga University and her Ph.D. from Northwestern University. She is the author of thirteen scholarly books, ten anthologies, and over 100 articles, including work on campus rape, reproductive technologies, women and the media, film noir, and Alfred Hitchcock. Her work has been translated into seven languages, and she has published an op-ed on loving our pets in The New York Times. She has been interviewed on ABC television news, the Canadian Broadcasting Network, and various radio programs.

Kelly lives in Nashville with her husband, Benigno Trigo, and her furry family, Mischief and Mayhem.

 

Book Review: The Three Night Stand (Wildwood Society #3) by Roxie Noir  @roxie_noir

The Three Night Stand
(Wildwood Society #3)
by Roxie Noir

 

Amazon  / B&N / Apple / GP / BB

She’s the one night stand I never forgot.

And now her dad is about to marry my mom.It has to be some kind of cosmic joke, right? For once, I feel like I’ve got my life together—good job, great friends, a fresh start in a new place. I’ve been on my best behavior for ages. At last, everything’s coming up Javier.Until the moment I walk into my stepdad’s house and meet his daughter.

I should say: I meet her again. Madeline and I have already met. It was one night, two years ago. A quick, casual hookup that had no right to be as mind-blowing as it was. I haven’t stopped thinking about it–or her–ever since.

But our parents are getting married, so under no circumstances should we sleep together again.

Or… again. Or one more time after that, just to get it out of our systems.

Madeline’s funny, fiery, and so gorgeous with her pink hair and nerdy tattoos that I can barely look at her without breaking into a sweat. But she has too much going on to be interested in commitment, and God knows I’m a bad boyfriend candidate.

Once the wedding’s over, we’ll be normal stepsiblings who don’t have sex with each other, and Thanksgiving won’t be awkward at all.

Right?

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I feel like a complicated Lego structure that’s been knocked to the floor. I’m trying to find all the pieces and reassemble them at light speed, and it’s going about as well as you’d think.

If we’re going to make stupid decisions, we’re going to make them worthwhile.

It’s easier to fall back into familiar patterns when you’re in the place where those patterns got familiar. It took years for me to feel like leaving was a helpful problem- solving tool instead of an admission that I couldn’t handle being around my old life.

You can’t stare at her with your tongue out like a cartoon skunk if you want to keep whatever this is a secret.

I have the brief certainty that no one else has felt this way in the history of the world. How could they? If everyone felt like this, the earth would explode.

 

My Review:

 

This was a fun and sexy read with sensual scenes that were volcanic on the heat register and may have left scorch marks on my Kindle. I was gasping and wiping sweat from my brow lest it fall into my eyes and hamper my rapt perusal of this divinely penned tale.

I adored these characters and wanted all the best for them as they were chronically flawed yet deeply endearing. Even though Javi was a total hot mess, he was sincerely trying. The writing was as tenderly insightful and poignant as it was cleverly amusing and witty. Roxie Noir was already a definite and well-established favorite among my listings, but she has bested herself with this one.

I love writing sexy, alpha men and the headstrong women they fall for.

My weaknesses include: beards, whiskey, nice abs with treasure trails, sarcasm, cats, prowess in the kitchen, prowess in the bedroom, forearm tattoos, and gummi bears.

I live in California with my very own sexy, bearded, whiskey-loving husband and two hell-raising cats.