Category: 5-Stars

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Book Review: The Test (The List #2) By Tawna Fenske

The Test

 (The List #2)

by Tawna Fenske 

 

“The hottest, sexiest, most hilariously fun opposites attract story I’ve ever read!” – USA Today bestselling author Samanthe Beck

This is a test. A test of every life decision Lisa Michaels has ever made.

Lisa thought she’d gotten everything right: The nicest condo, the right career, the best hair, and a perfectly adequate sex life with her stockbroker fiancé. But when the fiancé ditches her at the altar, Lisa’s left questioning every decision she’s ever made. What if her instincts have been steering her wrong all along? And what if she tested that theory by spending one month doing the exact opposite of what she’d normally do?

A crazy-hot fling with a tattooed steelworker from the wrong side of the tracks seems like a good starting point…

Each book in The List series is STANDALONE:
* The List
* The Test

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I can’t see his face, but his shoulders look like he spends his spare time bench-pressing SUVs.

 

Is this foreplay? I have no idea. Gary’s idea of foreplay was muting the ten o’clock news and patting the mattress beside him. Don’t think I didn’t notice how he’d peer at the stock market crawl over my shoulder.

 

Did I ever tell you I used to volunteer at this museum?… There’s an exhibit on the third floor called Oregon Adventure… My first month here, I caught a couple going at it on one of the bunks in the Lewis and Clark exhibit… They were buck naked, right there between the bearskin rug and the display of nineteenth-century muskets.

 

Does anyone else feel self-conscious shopping for cucumbers? Like you’re standing there squeezing them and checking out the length and girth to make sure you get the best one, and you look over to see every creepy guy in the produce section is staring at you.

 

Her T-shirt is emblazoned with an electric guitar, the logo for the National Down Syndrome Association, and the words, “I’m rockin’ this extra chromosome.”

 

For future reference, most people bring cans of beer and Dinty Moore stew when they camp… Not an entire Riedel stemware set and an eighty-dollar bottle of port.

 

My Review:

 

I smirked and gasped my way through this delightfully naughty and amusingly clever and steamy tale of opposites. The premise was interesting, the storylines were entertaining, the characters were appealing and enticing, and the writing was witty and engaging. And if you just heard someone yell, “Home run!” – that would be me.

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Lisa was a fussy and pretentious socialite wannabe who was overly concerned about appearances and having or being the best. However, she felt an itch to sample or “test” the grittier or less refined sides of life, which included experimenting with the many unfulfilled items on her sexual bucket list by going against her instincts and doing the exact opposite of what she had or would have considered doing for the next thirty days. It was to be sex only with no relationship or emotional involvement, and she found the perfect specimen with which to do so.
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Dax was a heavily tattooed and dirty-talking hottie whom Lisa had met in a bar, although she had no idea he was also a wealthy and successful business owner, as being a shallow snob, Lisa hadn’t taken the time to look past his delectable and colorfully inked surface. I adored the witty and profane Dax; although I couldn’t quote much of his dialogue as he words were typically laced with obscenities. His sexual dynamics, lubricity, and bawdy banter were some of the many turn-ons for Lisa, who was quickly softening during their association with blooming relationship thoughts working their way in, which wasn’t supposed to be part of the plan.
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About the Author    

Goodreads

When Tawna Fenske finished her English lit degree at 22, she celebrated by filling a giant trash bag full of romance novels and dragging it everywhere until she’d read them all. Now she’s a RITA-nominated, USA Today bestselling author who writes humorous fiction, risqué romance, and heartwarming love stories with a quirky twist. Publishers Weekly has praised Tawna’s offbeat romances with multiple starred reviews and noted, “There’s something wonderfully relaxing about being immersed in a story filled with over-the-top characters in undeniably relatable situations. Heartache and humor go hand in hand.”

Tawna lives in Bend, Oregon, with her husband, stepkids, and a menagerie of ill-behaved pets. She loves hiking, snowshoeing, standup paddleboarding, and inventing excuses to sip wine on her back porch. She can peel a banana with her toes and loses an average of twenty pairs of eyeglasses per year. To find out more about Tawna and her books, visit www.tawnafenske.com.

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Book Review: Fix My Fall (The Fix Series #3) by Carey Heywood

 

Title: Fix My Fall
Series: The Fix #3
Author: Carey Heywood
Genre: Romantic Comedy
 Release Date: February 16, 2018

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Blurb
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Abby Thompson’s love life is a disaster. Everyone around her is blissfully falling in love, while she’s busy binge-watching anime. The last thing she needs is a walking temptation, in the form of ex-nerd turned dreamy astrophysics professor, Spencer Hill, aka her new client.
It’s her job to find Spencer his dream home, NOT fantasize about a ride on his space rocket. But the sparks between them are impossible to ignore, and
soon, Abby is wondering if her losing streak in love could be turning around.
Can she get over her anxiety he’s got her out-brained, and can he let go of the past and the fear that the girl he crushed on in high school is still out of his league?

 

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

If I didn’t need money so bad I would consider referring him to someone else. He’s so hot it’s distracting.

 

Earth’s atmosphere is twenty-one percent oxygen which makes my current level of breathlessness confusing.

 

Abby said you looked different but I didn’t believe her. You get bit by some radioactive spider in your lab man? ‘Cuz, holy shit, you’ve grown.

 

He smiles up at me, oblivious to the spinach leaf stuck to one of his back teeth. I point to my teeth. “You have something stuck in your teeth.” He nods, unbothered by this news. “I was saving it for later.”

 

That doesn’t stop me from carrying out a pretend conversation in my head. These are my favorite kind because I can control both sides of the conversation and not get in any trouble for saying what I want.

 

“Do you have a giant computer?” The corners of his eyes crinkle with his smile. “Huge.” “Oh, this conversation is starting to feel like foreplay.” He chokes, covering his mouth with the back of his hand as he coughs. “Science talk as foreplay. You might be my dream girl.”

 

My mouth waters like he’s fresh baked bread and I’m on a no carb diet.

 

My Review:

 

I am on book three of my continuing expedition of veneration and adoration for Carey Heywood and her The Fix Series. I cherish and pine for this author’s delightful wry humor and sweet and steamy stories between her releases. The books I have read so far have been a joy to read, amusingly clever, low conflict, written in my favorite dual POV, and pleasantly breezy with appealing and lovably quirky characters with a bit of edge. Her books do my heart good and tend to keep a smirk in place while reading. I adored Spencer, not only was he highly intelligent and sexy, he was patient, kind, thoughtful, polite, and a perfect gentleman who was also a gentle man – which is nirvana to me. Being a man of science and never having had a relationship, the clever and crafty Ms. Heywood has the brilliant and sexy Dr. Hill patiently and wisely applying the scientific method to his interactions with his high-school crush/current realtor Abby, he postulated a theory, formulated a hypothesis, performed his research, and gathered evidence from his experiments. Ingenious!

Purchase Links
AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU
Available at other retailers soon
Also Available
AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU
B&N / KOBO / iBOOKS
AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU
B&N / KOBO / iBOOKS
Author Bio
New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance author. Shewas born and raised in Alexandria, Virginia. Supporting her all the way are her husband, three sometimes-adorable children, a mischievous black cat, German Shepherd rescue puppy, and their nine-pound attack Yorkie.
Author Links
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Book Review: Family Tree by Susan Wiggs

Family Tree

 by Susan Wiggs

 
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 Amazon 


Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (January 9, 2018)

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a powerful, emotionally complex story of love, loss, the pain of the past—and the promise of the future.

Sometimes the greatest dream starts with the smallest element. A single cell, joining with another. And then dividing. And just like that, the world changes. Annie Harlow knows how lucky she is. The producer of a popular television cooking show, she loves her handsome husband and the beautiful Los Angeles home they share. And now, she’s pregnant with their first child. But in an instant, her life is shattered. And when Annie awakes from a yearlong coma, she discovers that time isn’t the only thing she’s lost.

Grieving and wounded, Annie retreats to her old family home in Switchback, Vermont, a maple farm generations old. There, surrounded by her free-spirited brother, their divorced mother, and four young nieces and nephews, Annie slowly emerges into a world she left behind years ago: the town where she grew up, the people she knew before, the high-school boyfriend turned judge. And with the discovery of a cookbook her grandmother wrote in the distant past, Annie unearths an age-old mystery that might prove the salvation of the family farm.

Family Tree is the story of one woman’s triumph over betrayal, and how she eventually comes to terms with her past. It is the story of joys unrealized and opportunities regained. Complex, clear-eyed and big-hearted, funny, sad, and wise, it is a novel to cherish and to remember.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

It was one of those moments Gran used to call a key moment. Time didn’t simply tick past, unremarked, unnoticed. No, this was the kind of moment that made everything stop.   You separated it from every other one, pressing the feeling to your heart, like a dried flower slipped between the pages of a beloved book. The moment was made of something fragile and delicate, yet it possessed the power to last forever.

 

Memories are strange things, aren’t they? You can’t touch them and hold them in your hands, but they have incredible power.

 

That’s the moment when everything changes. There’s before, and then after. And once a key moment occurs, there’s no going back to before. You make a choice, and it’s like ringing a bell. You can’t unring it. A key moment is a feeling. Your heart tells you. The point is, you have to pay attention.

 

That was how love worked sometimes… It filled every nook and cranny of your heart, and then one day you realized it had gone away. She wondered where those feelings went. Maybe they trickled into the atmosphere to be inhaled by someone else, a stranger who suddenly saw someone across the room and instantly fell I love.

 

 My Review:

 

This was my first experience enjoying Ms. Wigg’s amusing and dynamic storytelling and I immediately became an instant and ravenous fan. I adored her quirky characters, clever humor, and insightful narrative. Her storylines were poignant, entertaining, heart squeezing, intriguing, and thoughtfully written. The descriptive detail of her food preparations played havoc with my diet plan, ultimately causing me to run to the farmers market for my own fresh ingredients from her spark of culinary creativity. Her skillful wordcraft was a delight for all the senses and I doubt I could ever tire of feasting on her works.  I was provided with a review of this delicious book by TLC Book Tours and HarperCollins.

 

 About Susan Wiggs  

 

Susan Wiggs is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than fifty novels, including the beloved Lakeshore Chronicles series and her most recent novel, the instant New York Times bestseller Family Tree. Her award-winning books have been translated into two dozen languages. A native of a small town in upstate New York, she now lives with her husband at the water’s edge on an island in Puget Sound, and in good weather can commute to her writers’ group in a twenty-one-foot motorboat. A former teacher and graduate of the University of Texas and Harvard, Susan is also an avid hiker, an amateur photographer, a good skier, and a cautious mountain biker—yet her favorite form of exercise is curling up with a good book.

Find out more about Susan at her website, and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.






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Book Review: The Lucky Ones by Tiffany Reisz

 

The Lucky Ones

by Tiffany Reisz

Print Length: 368 pages

Publisher: MIRA (February 13, 2018)

They called themselves “the lucky ones”

They were seven children either orphaned or abandoned by their parents and chosen by legendary philanthropist and brain surgeon Dr. Vincent Capello to live in The Dragon, his almost magical beach house on the Oregon Coast. Allison was the youngest of the lucky ones living an idyllic life with her newfound family…until the night she almost died and was then whisked away from the house and her adopted family forever.

Now, thirteen years later, Allison receives a letter from Roland, Dr. Capello’s oldest son, warning her that their father is ill and in his final days. Allison determines she must go home again and confront the ghosts of her past. She’s determined to find out what really happened that fateful night — was it an accident or, as she’s always suspected, did one of her beloved family members try to kill her?

But digging into the past can reveal horrific truths, and when Allison pieces together the story of her life, she’ll learn the terrible secret at the heart of the family she once loved but never really knew.

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

If I wanted to judge people all day I’d either be a priest or get a Facebook account…

 

Allison looked into his eyes. He didn’t have bedroom eyes, not like McQueen did. Roland had hallway eyes—labyrinthine hallways made of marble and lit by torches resting in iron sconces. She could wander those shadowy hallways forever and never once feel lost.

 

He buys his Catholic guilt in bulk at Costco…

 

You know what they say…ours is not to wonder why. Ours is but to drink bourbon and rye.

 

There aren’t a lot of them around. True psychopaths make up about two percent of the population. In prison it’s more like… fifty percent. In politics, maybe ninety percent.

 

 My Review:

 

I don’t believe I know enough lofty adjectives or adverbs to fully extol the brilliance and craft of this spellbinding tale. I was consumed, enthralled, engrossed and embedded in this riveting tale from beginning to end. I was intrigued and beguiled by all the characters while also fearful I was going to learn something truly awful about them, which I did, but I still loved them anyway. The story was ingeniously crafted, cunningly paced, and loaded with all manner of itchy and twisty elements that squeezed my heart, set my brain on fire, and put a series of hot rocks in my throat. Tiffany Reisz is an evil genius and a clever wordsmith. I covet her mad skills and am wild with greed to amass and read every single thing she has and will ever write.

About Tiffany Reisz 

 

 

Tiffany Reisz lives in Lexington, Kentucky with her husband, author Andrew Shaffer.

 

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Book Review: Best Friends Forever by Margot Hunt

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Best Friends Forever

 

by Margot Hunt

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: MIRA (January 23, 2018)


Kat Grant and Alice Campbell have a friendship forged in shared confidences and long lunches lubricated by expensive wine. Though they’re very different women—the artsy socialite and the struggling suburbanite—they’re each other’s rocks. But even rocks crumble under pressure. Like when Kat’s financier husband, Howard, plunges to his death from the second-floor balcony of their South Florida mansion.

Howard was a jerk, a drunk, a bully and, police say, a murder victim. The questions begin piling up. Like why Kat has suddenly gone dark: no calls, no texts and no chance her wealthy family will let Alice see her. Why investigators are looking so hard in Alice’s direction. Who stands to get hurt next? And who is the cool liar—the masterful manipulator behind it all?

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Kat wasn’t just wealthy. She came from capital-M Money.

 

She never eats. She lives on a diet of wine and bitterness…

 

No one liked Howard… Not to speak ill of the dead, but he was an asshole. If everyone who thought he was an asshole was a suspect, they’d have an overly large number of people to consider.

 

If insanity was a side effect of Botox, every Floridian over the age of forty would be nuts.

 My Review:

 

I was captivated by this gripping story and was totally unprepared for the chilling and gasp-worthy ending. The writing was superb and cunningly clever – quickly setting an intense and thrumming sense of intrigue while constantly pricking at my curiosity and luring me in with enticing characters, expert storytelling, and a perplexing mystery. I was beguiled yet not fully trusting of the lovely and vivacious Kat. The storyline was brilliantly crafted and sharply honed and kept me riveted to my Kindle through all the twists and turns. I had speculated and cast out various theories but would never have anticipated or come close to Ms. Hunt’s ingenious plotting.   She has mad skills and my utmost respect, although she also scares me a little…

 

About Margot Hunt

Margot Hunt is the pseudonym of a bestselling writer of twelve previous novels. Her work has been praised by Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews. BEST FRIENDS FOREVER is her first psychological thriller.

Connect with Margot

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 Book Review: Say You’ll Remember Me by Katie McGarry

 Say You’ll Remember Me

by Katie McGarry

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

Hardcover: 464 pages

Publisher: Harlequin Teen (January 30, 2018)

 

Doesn’t matter who did it. Not anymore. I did the time. It’s over.”

When Drix was convicted of a crime—one he didn’t commit—he thought his life was over. But opportunity came with the Second Chance Program, the governor’s newest pet project to get delinquents off the streets, rehabilitated and back into society. Drix knows this is his chance to get his life back on track, even if it means being paraded in front of reporters for a while.

Elle knows she lives a life of privilege. As the governor’s daughter, she can open doors with her name alone. But the expectations and pressure to be someone she isn’t may be too much to handle. She wants to follow her own path, whatever that means.

When Drix and Elle meet, their connection is immediate, but so are their problems. Drix is not the type of boy Elle’s parents have in mind for her, and Elle is not the kind of girl who can understand Drix’s messy life.

But sometimes love can breach all barriers.

Fighting against a society that can’t imagine them together, Drix and Elle must push themselves—Drix to confront the truth of the robbery, and Elle to assert her independence—and each other to finally get what they deserve.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

He must believe there’s nothing in my skull beyond the beginnings of hair follicles.

 

It’s creepy hanging with you… It’s like you’re the Walking Dead. I’m half expecting someone to jump out with a samurai sword and slice out your heart.

 

“I don’t know how to get them to leave me alone.” I pause, then the bitterness leaks out as well as a grim grin. “At least not without a baseball and a well-placed throw. Some people shouldn’t be allowed to continue their genetics.”

 

What does being mature mean? Mature feels an awful lot like being tamed, and so far, I’m not caring for the view from my cage.

 

Andrew and I are barely friends, and most days I lean toward thinking he should be neutered.

 

Drix gives that dog anything he wants. I’m warning you in case you guys grow up, get married and have babies. When the zombie apocalypse happens, he’s saving the dog before he saves any of us.

  

My Review:

 

I was stunned and off-balance by how much I enjoyed this skillfully crafted, engrossing, and heart-squeezing tale. I was immediately sucked in by the engaging storytelling and quick to fall for these enticing and intriguing characters, although I occasionally wanted to give several of them a pop to the back of their head and lock the bratty sister in her room. I very rarely read YA since I don’t like being reminded of those claustrophobic and hopeless feelings due to being powerless to the forces of controlling and cruel adults. But I couldn’t seem to put this one down. Adulting may be hard but it’s ever so sweet to make your own choices once out from under a menacing or suffocating thumb, as was the case for these two diversely different teens. Both were miserable and under intense pressure and scrutiny but had completely dissimilar life experiences.   Elle was a naïve and wealthy private school girl who had everything but freewill as she was little more than a trained monkey to her political parents’ dog and pony show. Hendrix was a cynically resigned, street-smart, and overly exposed delinquent fresh out juvenile detention. An unlikely pair who had been forbidden to interact while on the campaign trail, but of course, they meshed and became fast friends who eventually set off fireworks in their nether regions. I sighed with relief at the satisfying conclusion and certainly wouldn’t mind seeing the tale of this ragtag grouping further developed into a series.

About Katie McGarry 

Katie was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.

She is the author of the Pushing the Limits and Thunder Road series. Say You’ll Remember Me will be released in 2018.

Katie loves to hear from her readers.

Connect with Katie

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

 

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Book Review: FOUND by Claudia Burgoa


FOUND

by Claudia Burgoa 

Goodreads

Special sale price is 99 cents! 

BOOK DESCRIPTION:


All I’ve ever wanted was for someone to choose me. My mother didn’t. My father didn’t. The beautiful boy next door, who grew up to marry me, didn’t. Neither did the next man with whom I thought my heart was safe.

Back in the Bay area, three thousand miles from New York City, I can start fresh. Become one with the sea again, rise or fall on the tide of my own choices. But on the first day of my bright new life, the darkest shadows of my past follow me through my office door. The two men whose names are definitely not on my five-year plan.

If I let it consume me—my need for one man, my love for the other—the darkness will swallow me whole. I can’t let that happen. Not again. This time, the waves of emotion crashing against my heart won’t drown me. This time, I get to choose my happy ending.


 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

My parents used to say that I was the link between my brothers. I was the one who kept the peace— or started the biggest fights.

 

“But I guess life is about taking risks as we search for that special place,” he says, sounding like a fortune cookie from Ying Palace where we ordered takeout almost every Wednesday. They never make sense but taste yummy, and their quotes sound so beautiful.

 

Depression is something that’s all over me, even when I don’t want it. I’ve tried to break away from it several times, but it’s my permanent companion.

 

We could call HGTV and have a show. Something like, Abandoned Houses Dusty Edition.

 

His eyes are pleading me to say something, but I am catching his words. They are like fluttering butterflies that one can see only once in a lifetime.

 

After my journey, love still has the same meaning it’s had for as long as I can remember. It’s a verb, a noun, an adjective, and an adverb with many meanings but it’s hard to explain in only a few words

 

Belonging wasn’t a clear verb for me until I met you…

 

 My Review:

 

Decisions, decisions… what a conundrum. After a lifetime of battling feelings of inadequacy and being “never enough,” as she had essentially been abandoned or passed over by everyone who had ever mattered to her, Hazel suddenly found herself having to choose between two adoring men who were vying for her heart. One was her ex-husband who had been her childhood best friend and first love, and the other was her business partner and the man she has been secretly in love with for the last two years. She felt deeply for both who were successful, smart, sexy, and attentive.   Hazel was a wreck, drowning in indecision, and miserable over the dilemma, but damn, I should have such problems!

 

Written from the multiple POV of the three main characters, the emotive storylines were original, entertaining, and well-crafted while the writing was richly poignant and insightful, engaging, delectably sensual, and held my rapt attention throughout. Ms. Burgoa’s characters are always uniquely compelling, considerably flawed or damaged, and tend to ceaselessly pluck at my curiosity as the cunning and wily wordsmith slowly reveals their motivations and histories. I was as conflicted as Hazel was and couldn’t decide whom she should select and waffled several times as I gained more perspective on each one. To my vast delight, the conclusion was even better than expected and infinitely satisfying.

 
 

AUTHOR INFORMATION:


Claudia is an award-winning, international bestselling author. She lives in Colorado working for a small IT company, managing her household filled with three confused dogs, two daughters wrought with fandoms and a son who thinks he’s the boss of the house. And a wonderful husband who shares her love for all things geek. To survive she works continually to find purpose for the voices flitting through her head, plus she consumes high quantities of chocolate to keep the last threads of sanity intact.

AUTHOR LINKS:

Newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/m6l6v4

Amazon: http://ow.ly/qffW30bU5Ur

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/claudia-burgoa

Book+Main: https://bookandmainbites.com/claudiaburgoa

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

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Author_ClaudiaB

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/yuribeans

Instagram: http://instagram.com/claudia_b30/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7202946.Claudia_Y_Burgoa

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Book Review: Your Endless Love by Layla Hagen

Your Endless Love

by Layla Hagen

Goodreads

✦ Amazon US / UK / CA / AU

✦ iBooks  /  ✦ Google Play 

✦ B&N    /  ✦ Kobo 

 

An incurable romantic with a chronic case of bad luck with men…

Museum curator Summer Bennett knows that happily-ever-afters are not make-believe. After all, her siblings all found their soulmates, so she’s optimistic her prince charming will come along too…eventually. In the meantime, she focuses on her job and her volunteering—which brings her face to face with one of Hollywood’s hottest A-listers.

When Alexander Westbrook flashes America’s favorite panty-melting smile, Summer’s entire body responds. When she asks him to get involved in the community where she volunteers, Summer is shocked that the Hollywood heartthrob agrees right away. Two weeks working side by side with the world’s sexiest guy, and the game is on.

Far from the public eye, Summer discovers she likes the real Alex even more than his on-screen persona. Secret kisses and whispered conversations spark a fire in her that nothing can extinguish. If only his life wasn’t splashed all over the tabloids…

Alex can’t keep his eyes–or his hands–off of Summer. But she’s too sweet, and too damn lovely to be swept up in his Hollywood drama. His career is at risk, and an iron-clad clause in his contract with the studio makes a relationship impossible. But staying away from her is out of the question.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

As my brother heads to the bunch of kids grouped in the center of the room, I wonder for the millionth time if he’s actually human. He runs a billion-dollar corporation, finds time to woo his wife, and raise four little souls. I’m still going with a radioactive spider bite. Possibly vampire.

 

Some would call my tactics underhanded. Unorthodox is a better word. Much more elegant. A convincing sales pitch takes people skills, which I have in spades. You cannot grow up with eight siblings and not have people skills.

 

Everything we eat during girls’ night doesn’t matter… Gossiping burns a lot of calories…

 

Believing someone’s promise is more complicated than gifting them with yours, because when you chose to believe someone, you give them power over you.

 

My Review:

 

I have learned that I can always count on Layla Hagen’s Bennetts for sweet and steamy stories that are relatively low in conflict and dreaded angst, and I was long overdue for some refreshing relief. Summer and Alex were a charming couple and their story was delightfully crisp and simply adorable while it also brought the heat. The storyline was entertaining and engaging and provided updates on the rest of the massive Bennett clan. I enjoyed their playful banter and sizzling chemistry. But I’m left to wonder what will be next as Ms. Hagen has married off the last of the clan, although there seems to be a large pool of cousins yet to be tapped.

 

 About Layla Hagen   

Website | Twitter | Facebook 

Layla Hagen is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance.

She fell in love with books when she was nine years old, and her love affair with stories continues even now, many years later.

She writes steamy and romantic stories and can’t wait to share them with the world.

She is represented by fabulous Louise Fury (The Bent Agency) 

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Book Review, Giveaway: THE STORY OF OUR LIVES by Helen Warner

THE STORY OF OUR LIVES 

by Helen Warner

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

Paperback: 416 pages

Publisher: Graydon House (February 6, 2018)

They think nothing can tear their bond apart, until a long-buried secret threatens to destroy everything.

Every year they have met up for a vacation, but their time away is much more than just a bit of fun. Over time, it has become a lifesaver, as each of them struggles with life’s triumphs and tragedies.

Sophie, Emily, Amy and Melissa have been best friends since they were girls. They have seen each other through everything—from Sophie’s private fear that she doesn’t actually want to be a mother despite having two kids, to Amy’s perfect-on-the-outside marriage that starts to reveal troubling warning signs, to Melissa’s spiraling alcoholism, to questions that are suddenly bubbling up around the paternity of Emily’s son. But could a lie that spans just as long as their friendship be the thing that tears them apart?

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Anton was her tutor and over the course of her first year, Emily had grown increasingly attracted to him. In his late thirties, he was tall, tanned, blond and devastatingly charming. He was also devastatingly married with two young children.

 

Melissa’s love life was non-existent. Well, that wasn’t strictly true. Melissa’s sex life was excellent. It was just that there wasn’t much love involved in any of her liaisons…

 

She had so much to apologize for that if she started now, until the end of her life it wouldn’t be enough.

 

Can’t you hunt for Mr Right while still enjoying the company of Mr Wrong?

 

My Review:

 

I was immediately captivated by the vividly descriptive writing style and fell headlong into the engaging and original story of four uniquely compelling women who had met and bonded as teens while living in close quarters during their first year of college. The four had retained a special and supportive bond for over twenty years while enduring harrowing events, spats, betrayals, addictions, illnesses, abuse, pregnancies, child rearing, love affairs, professional gains, and tragic loss. They thought they knew each other inside out although each had at least one long-held secret, indiscretion, or shameful transgression that remained unknown to the others.

While their tale would have been fodder for Jerry Springer or a daytime soap if handled differently, Ms. Warner kept it classy and infinitely intriguing. The storylines were original, relevant, frightfully realistic, and unpredictable while the writing was keenly honed, hypnotically engrossing, and hit all the feels. I adored most of the characters with my favorite being the steadfast and gallant Steve, although the four women were devastatingly infuriating as well as fascinating, insightful, stubborn, and exasperating.   At times they were disappointingly weak and repellent then, thankfully later they were allowed to be surprisingly strong.

Despite their occasional periods of envy and annoyances, they remained unquestionably loyal to each other through it all. At various times I had been disappointed with each to the point of gnashing my teeth, although I was more than pleased with their personal development and emotional maturity by the deeply satisfying conclusion. And as a bonus – I learned a new phrase to add to my ever expanding Brit Word list, “knees up,” which Mr. Google told me was a noun meaning a lively party. Which is something we should have at every opportunity.

About Helen Warner

Helen Warner is head of daytime for Channel 4, where she is responsible for shows such as Come Dine With Me and Deal Or No Deal. Previously she worked for ITV where she launched the daytime talk show Loose Women and was editor of This Morning. She lives in East Anglia with her husband and their two children.

 

Connect with Helen
Website | Goodreads

 

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Book Review, Giveaway: About That Kiss Heartbreaker Bay – Book 5 by Jill Shalvis

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When love drives you crazy, the best thing to do is enjoy the ride!
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About That Kiss

Heartbreaker Bay – Book 5

Jill Shalvis

Avon Books
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When love drives you crazy . . . When sexy Joe Malone never calls after their explosive kiss, Kylie shoves him
out of her mind. Until she needs a favor, and it’s a doozy. Something precious
to her has been stolen and there’s only one person with unique finder-and-fixer
skills that can help—Joe. It means swallowing her pride and somehow trying to
avoid the temptation to throttle him—or seduce him.the best thing to do . . .No, Joe didn’t call after the kiss. He’s the fun time guy, not the forever guy.
And Kylie, after all she’s been through, deserves a good man who will stay. But
everything about Kylie makes it damned hard to focus, and though his brain
knows what he has to do, his heart isn’t getting the memo.… is enjoy the ride.

As Kylie and Joe go on the scavenger hunt of their lives, they discover
surprising things about each other. Now, the best way for them to get over
“that kiss” might just be to replace it with a hundred more.

 AMAZON | B&N |
iBOOKS | KOBO | GPLAY

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Do me a favor and don’t compare me to the women you date… Or whatever you do with them. We all know the only reason you even remember their names is that you take them to the coffee shop in the morning and then read what gets written on their cup.

 

She told me not to mistake her silence for weakness, that no one plans a murder out loud.

 

I actually like being single. I get to be selfish with my time and personal space. I can leave the top off the toothpaste and sleep like a starfish.

 

“Don’t worry honey,” someone said from behind her in line. Eighty-something Mrs. Winslow, who lived on the third floor of the building. The older woman smiled knowingly. “He’ll appreciate your toys. But remember, it’s all fun and games until someone loses the key to the handcuffs.”

 

I know diamonds are supposed to be a girl’s best friend… but then leggings happened. Leggings are the new diamonds.

 

My Review:

 

This was my first Jill Shalvis experience, silly me, I have been missing out. I adored her clever wry humor, breezy storytelling, and endearingly flawed and quirky characters.   About That Kiss was a delightfully entertaining and engaging read that was easy to follow and never failed to hold my interest. Despite being the fifth book in a series, the story stood alone and on solid terra firma.   And I while I never felt lost or confused without previous knowledge, I am sure I would enjoy going backward and acquainting myself with the earlier stories of this lively and alluring group. Each chapter was titled with a popular line from a movie that never failed to bring a smirk to my face if one wasn’t already in place. More, please.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jill Shalvis writes warm, funny, sexy contemporary
romances and women’s fiction. An Amazon, BN & iBooks bestseller, she’s also
a two-time RITA winner and has more than 10 million copies of her books sold
worldwide.
 
 

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