Hook  (Men of Inked: Southside, #3)
by Chelle Bliss 

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

God took a little extra time when he created this one, and he should be enjoyed, even if my thoughts aren’t exactly holy.

She doesn’t just drop hints, she hurls bombs.

“It’s a dinner as friends,” I remind him, even though I’m dressed like I’m ready to pounce on my prey and get busy.

Delilah and I can watch the kids… They can even spend the night… What’s two more? It’s already mass chaos at our place. The only thing I can promise is that they’ll come back alive, but everything else is a crapshoot.

She will stab you with her fork if you try to take a bite of her cake. You’re safer if you buy the whole damn thing…

Daphne stares at Delilah’s stomach and points to her tiny pooch. “Maybe you should lay off the cake.” “You better shut up,” Delilah snaps and sucks in her gut until she practically turns blue.

My Review:

Hook was an emotive and evocative read with the perfectly balanced between the heartbreak of grief, irreverent humor, the sweetness of precocious children, the excitement of a new romance, and the comedy of a loud, tightly knit, and overdramatic family. The Gallos are a garrulous and meddlesome clan who work and love hard and whole-heartedly, and generously pepper their speech with profanity and expletives. I adore them to no end and covet one to have as my very own.

Meet the Author

USA Today bestselling author Chelle Bliss currently lives in a small town near the Gulf of Mexico. She’s a full-time writer, time-waster extraordinaire, social media addict, and coffee fiend. She’s written over ten books and has two series available. She loves spending her free time with her boyfriend, 2 cats, and her hamster.

Before becoming a writer, Chelle taught high school history for over ten years. She holds a master’s degree in Instructional Technology and a bachelor’s in History. Although history is her first love, writing has become her dream job and she can’t imagine doing anything else.

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A Place Without You, an all-new emotional New Adult romance from Jewel E. Ann, is available now!

The Law of Henna and Bodhi:

When love breaks, fall inward, fall together, and fall hard. Then let time pick up the pieces.

Everything feels temporary when you’ve experienced tragedy—until Henna Lane meets Bodhi at a music festival.

Young and spontaneous, they have a lust for seizing the moment, falling hard and fast.

When Bodhi is forced to leave without a goodbye, Henna thinks she’ll never get over him. But then she meets Mr. Malone, her sexy, new guidance counselor.

They are reckless.

They are forbidden.

When their secret is discovered, Henna has to choose between finishing school—banned from seeing Mr. Malone—or dropping out to follow her nomad dreams.

Henna chooses her dreams.

Over time, she learns that life is not a destination or a journey, some things are more than temporary, and the forbidden can never be ignored. But if she returns for him, will he still be hers?

A Place Without You is an emotional story of young love, shattered dreams, and impossible decisions.

Download your copy today or read FREE in Kindle Unlimited!

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

He eats one fry and hands me the last one. It’s oddly the most romantic thing a guy has ever done for me. The final french fry trumps a single red rose. At least, that’s how my mind works.

“Are you still flirting with me?” “Always. Even when our kids think it’s gross and we’re too old to flirt, I’m going to tease you with my sexiness.”

It’s hotter than a pot of Devil’s stew.

Do people really use paperweights? I always think of them as unsuspecting weapons in murder mysteries.

One of his eyes pops open, followed by the other. “Oh my God! You’re not dead.” I drop to my knees and rest my forehead on the arm of his chair, grabbing his hand and squeezing it tightly. “Not today, young lady. But Christ … I hope the mortician does a better job of checking my pulse than you did. I don’t relish the idea of being burned or buried alive.”

I’m pretty sure you’re still my greatest memory.

My Review:

I am not a fan of the angst which made this tragic story a treacherous and somewhat arduous trek for me to journey through, yet the writing was stellar and the cleverly alluring characters were enticing, complicated, and so incredibly nuanced; I couldn’t give up. I had to read all the words. Even the ones that greatly annoyed me.

The storylines were shrewdly paced, and often heart-wrenching and multi-layered with complex issues and thought-provoking real-world dilemmas and obstacles that would be difficult for anyone to navigate, much less while in the throes of an epic love story. The writing was lushly descriptive, poignantly insightful, and relentlessly mined all the feels with panache. And oh, I have to mention the bone-melting sensuality… I may have been gasping… a few times.

I struggled in how to rate it overall which proved to be quite the predicament as there were sections I truly struggled with as well as the unfortunate deployment of my least favorite trope, yet the superior quality and thoughtfulness of the writing couldn’t be overlooked. While the HEA was hard won, it was well worth the effort and “quite the snack.”

Excerpt:

“Let’s eat before we leave. I’m sure there’s quite the spread downstairs.”

“Rich people breakfast?” I ask.

She furrows a brow for a few seconds. “Yes. I suppose so.” Rolling away, she swings her legs around and stands up, stretching like a cat.

“Do you eat rich people breakfast every morning?” My curiosity has been piqued.

After a long yawn, she cocks her head to the side, lips slightly twisted. “Shredded Wheat with cut-up banana and almond milk. Is that a rich person’s breakfast?”

I sit up, doing a bit of my own stretching, loving the way her gaze roams along my bare chest, her lips parting ever so slightly. “No. I think that’s a solid middle-class breakfast.”

“Middle. That’s average. Average is good, right?”

“There’s nothing average about you, Henna.” I stand, following her into the bedroom.

“I’m going to shower quickly, and by quickly I mean I need an hour. Do you have an hour?”

“To shower with you?” I try to play it cool, like I’m serious.

I’m a little serious.

The color leaves her face. “Oh, um …” She twists her fingers together, drawing her shoulders inward.

“I’m kidding.”

A little kidding.

Henna’s posture relaxes as her cheeks pink up again. “We could.” Her gaze darts around the room before landing on mine for two seconds only to wander around the room again.

“My clothes are at my hotel. I’ll shower there. I need to get going.”

A slow sigh deflates her chest as she tries on a smile that misses the confident mark by a few centimeters. “Okay.”

“But thanks for the offer.” I wink.

More color paints her cheeks, and it looks stunning on her. “I kinda sorta thought we’d have sex last night, but we didn’t, and that’s fine, but now I don’t know what comes next.”

Does that make me the world’s biggest idiot for not taking what she was planning on offering? Or does that make me a gentleman? I’ve already fucked her a hundred different ways in my head, so I’m going to shy away from the gentleman label.

“How about you put my number in your phone and I’ll call you later today? That feels like a good next, don’t you think?”

Henna nods and turns, walking toward the bedroom door. Digging through her purse, she retrieves her phone. When she pulls it out, a string of three condoms comes out with it. “Oh jeez.” Quickly snatching them off the floor, she shoves them back into her purse.

I don’t respond because I’m not sure what the correct response should be.

“I was conceived at Coachella.” She hands me her phone with the contact screen open, ready for my information.

Taking her phone, I give her an expectant look, but she withholds all elaboration.

“And by conceived, you mean physical conception, not merely an idea kind of conception?” I hand her phone back and give her mine.

“In the shadows behind a stage. I know more details than most people should actually know about the moment they were conceived.” She lifts a shoulder in a small shrug. “But Juni is my best friend. She’s the absolute coolest mom ever, and the story of how she met my dad is my favorite story ever.”

I nod as she keeps her chin tipped toward the screen to my phone. “Why is that?” I take my phone back when she holds it out to me.

“Yin Yang. Opposites. Laws of the universe.” She wears a satisfied smile. “My parents were temporary. I was permanent.” Holding out her arms, she inspects her henna tattoos as if seeing them for the first time. “My mom had henna tattoos on her body when she met my dad. Henna grows in intensity over a few days before fading to nothing. It’s magical and beautiful and then it’s gone. My parents say that about their love for each other. It grew quickly into something deep and intense, but over time it faded. Their love—like most everything in life—was temporary.”

“We’re temporary.”

Her empty stare shifts to meet my gaze and she nods. “Don’t sweat it. Everything is temporary. But today…” she walks into my chest, and my arms wrap around her as she looks up at me “…we should be at our brightest, our most intense.”

About Jewel:

Jewel is a free-spirited romance junkie with a quirky sense of humor.

With 10 years of flossing lectures under her belt, she took early retirement from her dental hygiene career to stay home with her three awesome boys and manage the family business.

After her best friend of nearly 30 years suggested a few books from the Contemporary Romance genre, Jewel was hooked. Devouring two and three books a week but still craving more, she decided to practice sustainable reading, AKA writing.

When she’s not donning her cape and saving the planet one tree at a time, she enjoys yoga with friends, good food with family, rock climbing with her kids, watching How I Met Your Mother reruns, and of course…heart-wrenching, tear-jerking, panty-scorching novels.

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Fatal Invasion (Fatal #13)

SYNOPSIS:

First the fire, then the heat…

A brutal home invasion. Two small traumatized survivors who may have witnessed the horror. Lieutenant Sam Holland has never worked a case quite like this one, in which her eyewitnesses are five-year-old twins. But when Sam steps up in a big way for them, she risks her heart as much as her career.

While Sam and her husband, Vice President Nick Cappuano, go to battle in more ways than one for her tiny witnesses, her colleague Sergeant Tommy “Gonzo” Gonzales battles his own demons. Months of unbearable grief and despair come to a head in an unimaginable way that threatens Gonzo’s status with the department and his relationship with his fiancée, Christina.

With trouble both at the precinct and on the case, Sam struggles to keep her priorities straight at home and at work while trying not to lose her heart to her latest crime victims.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

All eyes turned to an older, stern-looking woman, who looked like she’d been sucking on a particularly sour kosher dill for the last five years.

“I have to play nice with him and ‘work together.’ Ever since elementary school I’ve gotten marked down in the ‘plays well with others’ category.” “A problem that has dogged you well into adulthood…”

Dr. Anderson returned with Sam’s discharge paperwork. “I had this made for you,” he said, handing her a card that had a hole punched in it… GW E.R. Frequent Flier.

My Review:

I haven’t read all thirteen books in this series but I have greatly enjoyed all of the action-packed volumes I have completed. I adore this power couple, comprised of a Metro Homicide Police Lieutenant and Vice-President of the US. They enjoy a sexy and ultra-supportive relationship of mutual respect with clever banter and sizzling chemistry. The storylines were clever, intriguing, fast-paced, well-crafted, and unpredictable.

About Marie Force

Marie Force is the New York Times bestselling author of contemporary romance, including the indie-published Gansett Island Series and the Fatal Series from Harlequin Books. In addition, she is the author of the Butler, Vermont Series, the Green Mountain Series and the erotic romance Quantum Series. In 2019, her new historical Gilded series from Kensington Books will debut with Duchess By Deception.

All together, her books have sold 7 million copies worldwide, have been translated into more than a dozen languages and have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list 29 times. She is also a USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller, a Speigel bestseller in Germany, a frequent speaker and publishing workshop presenter as well as a publisher through her Jack’s House Publishing romance imprint. She is a two-time nominee for the Romance Writers of America’s RITA® award for romance fiction.

Her goals in life are simple–to finish raising two happy, healthy, productive young adults, to keep writing books for as long as she possibly can and to never be on a flight that makes the news.

Join Marie’s mailing list on her website at marieforce.com for news about new books and upcoming appearances in your area.

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What happens when the cute mountain man you made out within an ice fishing shack turns out to be your brother’s best friend?

A whole lot of awkward, that’s what.

NOW LIVE! 

Maggie’s mind is reeling when she discovers the guy she became tangled up with at Marv’s Bait & Tackle isn’t a stranger like she thought.

The big snag: Sam and Maggie’s chemistry is hot enough to melt ice, which makes keeping their secret far more difficult than either expected.

Especially when one of them decides they want this arrangement to be more than just a catch and release.

⬇︎⬇︎⬇︎
Amazon Universal Link

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

An older gentleman shoulders past me with his clear plastic tub, ready to collect his bait as though it’s the body of Christ being passed out by the pope himself. Several other men press up against my back, all anxiously awaiting their turn because finally…ice fishing season has begun.

Girls…my darling grandchildren clearly don’t need to watch you two have a catfight, so please, sit down and eat your feelings like normal mothers.

Why not make him your last fling before the ring?

The guy has zero sexual chemistry. He’s like an amoeba or something. Aren’t those the single cell animals that just have sex with themselves?

I keep thinking about what Maggie would be rambling about if she were out here. She’d probably ask about when fish sleep, and where they sleep, and if they sleep with their families, or if they’re just swimming along and all of a sudden blackout only to wake up the next day and discover they’ve lost their entire family.

“I was getting bait for a guy in here the other day, and he said I looked like a great master baiter. I said, I’ve only been working here a couple of months, and I didn’t even know being a master baiter was a thing.”… Marv’s face twists up in confusion. “I’ve heard of Promaster fishermen. But not master baiters. Surely, I’m a master baiter. I’ve been doing it my whole life.”… “You’re clearly a great master baiter,” Maggie replies with wide eyes. “But I wonder how much practice it’ll take for me to become one?”

My Review:

I quickly fell into the vortex of this smartly written and brightly amusing tale and was instantly besotted with the quirky and endearing characters. I smirked and giggle-snorted my way through this delightfully humorous story. I savored each and every perfectly chosen and magically arranged word, although they were most often this side of naughty with frequent f-bombs since it is surely a well-known fact that the highly talented scribbler known as Amy Daws brings the heat of a Scottish Bonnet pepper and clearly excels at cleverly bawdy humor. I want all her lovely words and had a difficult time paring my favorite quotes down to the massive list I included in this review due to the fact that I had highlighted several reams worth of her witty levity. Wait With Me and Next In Line were two of my favorite reads of the year, so it seems quite fitting that I close out 2018 with this rave review.

Amy Daws is an Amazon Top 25 bestselling author of sexy, contemporary romance novels. She enjoys writing love stories that take place in America, as well as across the pond in England; especially about those footy-playing Harris Brothers of hers. When Amy is not writing in a tire shop waiting room, she’s watching Gilmore Girls, or singing karaoke in the living room with her daughter while Daddy smiles awkwardly from a distance.
For more of Amy’s work, visit: http://www.amydawsauthor.com

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USA Today bestselling author Jenny Holiday’s hilarious prequel to her acclaimed Bridesmaids Behaving Badly series!

Jay Smith likes to be in control. His every choice, every move, is made with his carefully planned future in mind. Sure, some people think that’s boring. But Jay knows who he is, and he makes no apologies for it. So when the lobby in his accounting firm needs a makeover, Jay takes charge—and quickly determines he needs a designer. What he does not need is a woman who tempts him to break all his long-held rules.

Elise Maxwell needs this job. After cutting off her overbearing, old-money family, she’s determined to establish a successful design business—all on her own. Independent for the first time in her life, Elise isn’t looking for a boyfriend. She certainly doesn’t want someone telling her what to do.

Until she meets Jay…

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Most of the time when guys did not look like their picture, it went in the opposite direction. Like when a guy’s Tinder profile showed him shirtless holding up a fish and you thought, Well, maybe I can excuse the stupid fish because look at those arms! … But then you met him in person, and it turned out that those arms were from six years and two gym memberships ago.

That was another cool thing about Jay. He could shift so effortlessly between filthy and funny.

In keeping with the animal metaphor, he felt like some kind of primitive ape beating its chest, pointing at his mate and claiming her. Mine.

She suspected he could do more for her with the crook of a finger than other men could with their full arsenals.

My Review:

I am as infatuated with this cleverly amusing, smartly written, and sexy series as well as the enticing and endearing characters that inhabit it. This delightfully entertaining novella was a quick and easy read, laced with witty levity, irreverent humor, and insightful and perceptive observations.   I enjoyed uncovering the beginnings of Jay and Elise, as their story provides the foundation for the rest of the series being that Elise is the bride and her friends are the badly behaving bridesmaids. Elise and Jay’s attraction was immediate, primal, and inconvenient; yet quickly developed from a working relationship into an easy friendship and although each was yearning for considerably more, Jay kept the brakes engaged until their project was complete. The holding pattern was leaning towards an extended and agonizing tease and weakening his resolve, but well worth the frustration as their sexual chemistry went nuclear once detonated.