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Saturday, 29 April 2017

Review: Why Did It Have to Be You by Allyson Charles


DISORDER IN THE COURT . . .

Connie Wilkerson has worked her butt off to go from heartbroken paralegal with a drinking problem to becoming Pineville, Michigan’s fiercest new lawyer. But she’s still short on luck. Exhibit A: her very first case is against bad-boy contractor David Carelli.

Carelli has been a thorn in Connie’s side since high school, getting away with whatever he dreams up. He’s blond, handsome, and he dresses like a model. But everyone in town knows he cuts corners. Just the way he looks at her really gets Connie’s goat. She’s going to get him into chambers and settle the smug right out of him.

There’s just one problem. Exhibit B: Their supposedly hostile negotiations are turning hot instead. Now the jury is out on whether a second chance is recommended . .

Kindle Edition
Expected publication: May 9th 2017 by Lyrical Shine

Terri's Thoughts

 I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you!  The book is set to release in early May.

This is the third book in the Pineville series.  I had not read the previous two nor did I realize that it was part of a series when I picked it up.  It believe that it can be read as a stand alone, as I had done, however I feel that I may have more of an emotional attachment if I had started the series from the beginning.  As I feel this was just a so-so story, to be fair I must acknowledge that this may be because I had not read the first two stories.

Here is the reason why.  I felt that I did not identify with Connie or David.  In fact I found that neither character was very likeable to me.  In David's case I get it.  He was portrayed as the bad boy for actions previously taken in his life/career.  It was outlined in the story however we may have seen more in the first two books.  I get that his struggle was to be acknowledged for being legitimate and his previous actions were for the sake of his family.  The reader sees his struggle and it is supposed to sympathise to his plight.  I only slightly did and could not bring myself to be on team David.

For Connie, I just found her character meh.  I felt that her struggles were somewhat glossed over and that everything she did was just to save appearances.  I couldn't dig down to her depth and as a result was not really invested in her.  As a result, there were two characters that I was not invested in so I really didn't care about the outcome of their story.

That being said, there were some funny moments in the story.  Pretty much anything relating to Milo had me laughing as well as Connie's nosy neighbor.  To me they were the highlight of the story.

I hesitate to say that I would not recommend this story.  The reason being, as previously mentioned, there may have been aspects I have missed because I did not read the first two stories.  I do not know this for sure however in fairness to the author I must acknowledge that this could have been what impacted my enjoyment of the story so my advice to those considering this book is to read the series from the beginning to ensure that there are not aspects that are missed.




About the Author


Allyson Charles lives in Northern California. She’s the author of the "Pineville Romance" series, small-town, contemporary romances published by Lyrical Press. A former attorney, she happily ditched those suits and now works in her pajamas writing about men’s briefs instead of legal briefs. When she’s not writing, she’s probably engaged in one of her favorite hobbies: napping, eating, or martial arts (That last one almost makes up for the first two, right?). One of Allyson’s greatest disappointments is living in a state that doesn’t have any Cracker Barrels in it.


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Book Blitz & Giveaway: Watcher by Shawnee Small

Watcher 
by Shawnee Small 

BLURB

A stranger walks into a bar sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but for Poesy Wharton, it’s no joke at all.

For Poesy, a twenty-something waitress who’s living paycheck to paycheck, life on Tybee Island is predictably normal until Adam Walker drifts into Paddy’s Bar and Grill, the small town dive where she works. Unable to resist his quirky, English reserve and the strange tingling that plagues her every time they touch, Poesy finds herself drawn to Adam even against the advice of her two best friends, Birdie and Haylee Jane.

When bad things begin to happen including the brutal murder of another local waitress, Poesy finds herself caught between the man she wants and a secret world that could take away everything she knows and loves.

Poesy must choose her path wisely or lose everything . . . but did she ever have a choice?

Watcher is the first book in the new adult urban fantasy series, The Shining Ones, perfect for

paranormal lovers and fans of Bella Forrest and Charlaine Harris.

AVAILABLE NOW!  
*CURRENTLY IN KU UNTIL JUNE 2017
 

BIO

#1 in Urban Fantasy, #1 in Paranormal Suspense, #1 in New Adult & College Fantasy
Shawnee Small is the bestselling author of Watcher and the Shining Ones series.
She began writing the first book in her new adult paranormal series, the Shining Ones, in early 2010. Drawing on inspiration from her life abroad, as well as, her time in the Goth subculture of the ‘80s and ‘90s, Watcher was published in February 2012. After a writing hiatus, Protector (Book Two) was released in 2016 with the follow-up book, Betrayer, launching in January 2017.
Destroyer, the final book in the Shining Ones saga, is due out Autumn 2017.
She is currently working on several projects a book of short stories based on ‘80s hits and a brand new paranormal series.
Shawnee lives in Virginia with her husband.


SOCIAL MEDIA
Goodreads Author Profile https://www.goodreads.com/shawneesmall 
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Friday, 28 April 2017

Cover Reveal & Giveaway: Mine by Andie M. Long

MINE by Andie M. Long

Blurb.
Melissa

I had my life all planned out, but in the blink of an eye it was gone. I lost my baby, my husband, my happy ever after.

So I made another plan…

Destroy the man who ruined it all. Edward Bonham. With his perfect wife and perfect life. Why should he be allowed to keep everything I’ve been denied?

Years have passed; they think they're safe. They think no one remembers. They think all is forgiven. But I will never forgive, I will never forget, and one day, retribution will be MInE.

An 18+ read with dark scenes.
Genre: Dark suspense.
Pre-order on Amazon Today!

EXCERPT 1
I’ve opened the blind on the window so that my therapist can see some daylight. Or rather can see me from his fixed viewpoint. I’m in my shorts and tee. They display my abs and glutes to perfection. As I dig the ground he’ll be able to see my strength, as my muscles cord with the push and pull of the spade. I’m digging a rectangle. For no reason whatsoever other than to let him think I’m digging his grave. Psychology is the bomb.

EXCERPT 2
You took away the opportunity to do what I’d yearned for my whole life. To give life. I was so excited to meet my baby and then when I did-’ She stops and cries again.
I wait until she composes herself.
‘Are you the slightest bit regretful about what happened, Edward? Do you wish things could have been different?’
‘No.’ I tell her honestly. ‘I wish I could bottle every tear on your face.’



Bio:
Andie M. Long is author of Amazon Number One Erotic Thrillers Saviour, and The Alphabet Game amongst others.
She lives in Sheffield with her son and long suffering partner.
When not being partner, mother, employee or writer she can usually be found on Facebook or walking her whippet, Bella.
Andie will be signing in Newcastle 2017 and York 2018.  


FOLLOW ANDIE:
Andie’s Reader Hangout: 
(not a street team, just a place to hang and have fun). https://www.facebook.com/groups/1462270007406687/ 
Mailing List: (get a free ebook of Quickies on sign-up): http://www.subscribepage.com/f8v2u5
EMAIL: contact@andiemlongwriter.com


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Book Blitz & Giveaway: Baby, Come Back by M. O'Keefe

Baby, Come Back by M. O’Keefe
BLURB:

A MAN WITH NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE

I sold my soul a long time ago to pay my father’s debts. Now my life is a prison: no friends. No family. Nothing it would hurt to lose.

I never should’ve touched Abby. I tried not to, but she is beautiful, magnetic, sexy. Everything I want but can't let myself have.

UNTIL HE MET HER

She seduced me not knowing who I was or what I really do in the shadows. I should have resisted her, but I wanted to be the man Abby thought I was for as long as I could.

But all debts must be paid, sooner or later. And mine are paid with blood.

Now Abby knows who I am, what I am, and she’s run from me.

I would have let her go for her own good. But when I find out she’s carrying my baby — there’s nowhere she can hide…

Special 99 cent preorder SALE!! 
Price goes up to 3.99 on release day!!
Amazon BUY LINK (KU) - http://amzn.to/2q5eV0S

Snippet #1
ABBY
BEFORE
I’m not smart about a lot of things, but I know chemistry. Not the stuff in schools, with the beakers and everything; that’s a total gong show for me. I didn’t even get to Chemistry in high school because I was stuck in freshman Physical Science for four years. Thank God we got a new teacher my senior year, otherwise I never would have passed. Out went Mrs. Baker and in came handsome young Mr. Suarez.
Mr. Suarez did not stand a chance against me.
That he didn’t give me an A was probably the thing he clung to at night when the guilt got to be too much for him.
Mr. Suarez was a lesson in my kind of chemistry.
The kind that bubbles out of thin air between two particular people. The irresistible attraction that sweeps strangers up in a current, bringing them together despite anything in the way. The kind of chemistry that changes everything.
That’s something I understand, down to the ground.
It’s my job, really. Or understanding it is what makes me good at my job.
Knowing when someone is looking my way a little bit longer than necessary, and how to manipulate it and feed it and then turn that into money—it’s my one skill.
And I’m fucking amazing at it.
Knowing the men to avoid and the women to befriend—it’s like a superpower. Chemistry is the secret that turns the world around.
Fuck love.
It’s chemistry that gets shit done.
Like an idiot, I thought I knew attraction inside out, from every angle—when you only have one skill, you tend to lean on it pretty hard.
But then I met Jack.
And it wasn’t love at first sight—that’s for children and idiots. For people who don’t fuck their high school science teacher just so they can pass a class.
It wasn’t even fear at first sight. That came much later.
But it was chemistry, so much chemistry my whole world blew up.
And me with it.

Snippet #2

“You need anything?” I asked above the sound of the crowd and the band.
He shook his head.
“A drink or whatever?”
Still he didn’t look at me. He kept scanning the crowd like I wasn’t there.
“Who do you think you’re kidding?” I asked with a laugh that finally got his attention. “Yeah,” I said. “You’ve been staring at me all night.”
He looked at me again, a sly second, a bright moment and I felt the shimmy of interest, the cat curl of desire.
Oh, you man, you don’t know it yet. But you are mine.
“Part of my job,” he said, pretending that there was something more interesting than me happening over my shoulder when we both knew that there wasn’t.
But I liked the show of it, the game.
“Watching me is part of your job?”
“Watching everyone.” Oh, he was telling me I wasn’t special. Except I was. I was pretty fucking special.
“Your loss,” I said and walked back into the crowd to do my job.
Trouble, a voice whispered in my head. A voice that sounded very much like my sister’s. This man is trouble and you know it. You feel it.
But wasn’t that the problem?
I loved trouble.

Snippet #3 NSFW
My moan was a garbled what and more combined, and he seemed to understand my stupid language because he gave me more. His lips found my neck and my head fell sideways, my legs spread wider, and he rolled my clit under his finger like it was a pebble. The bottom of my foot began to burn, some random nerve going berserk, and his tongue traced the curve of my ear, and somehow it was all enough.
It was barely anything really. His tongue and the touch of his finger, but I felt myself about to come. The great wave of a rogue orgasm spreading out through my body and then—
He stopped.
“What?” I breathed, my eyes open to find him a few inches from me. So intent. So dark and wild. “Why did you stop?”
“You’re so beautiful,” he said. “Just like this. Just on the edge.” He touched me again, his finger against my clit as if to hold me there.
“Please,” I breathed. This game was not unfamiliar, but I’d never been so willing a player in it. I’d said these words before but now, in this increasingly cold car, with this sometimes cold man, I meant them down to my blood vessels.
“And now,” he said, with a slice of a smile. “You beg me. How did I get this lucky?”
I would fall to my knees in front of this man. I—in fact—could not wait to do it.
“Please,” I moaned. “It hurts.”

Molly O'Keefe has always known she wanted to be a writer (except when she wanted to be a florist or a chef and the brief period of time when she considered being a cowgirl). And once she got her hands on some romances, she knew exactly what she wanted to write.

She published her first Harlequin romance at age 25 and hasn't looked back. She loves exploring every character's road towards happily ever after.

Originally from a small town outside of Chicago, she went to university in St. Louis where she met and fell in love with the editor of her school newspaper. They followed each other around the world for several years and finally got married and settled down in Toronto, Ontario. They welcomed their son into their family in 2006, and their daughter in 2008. When she's not at the park or cleaning up the toy room, Molly is working hard on her next novel, trying to exercise, stalking Tina Fey on the internet and dreaming of the day she can finish a cup of coffee without interruption.


MEDIA LINKS:



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Thursday, 27 April 2017

Review: I Found You by Lisa Jewell

A young bride, a lonely single mother, and an amnesiac man of dubious origin lie at the heart of New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell’s next suspenseful drama that will appeal to fans of Liane Moriarty and Paula Hawkins.

In a windswept British seaside town, single mom Alice Lake finds a man sitting on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, and no idea how he got there. Against her better judgment, she invites him inside.

Meanwhile, in a suburb of London, twenty-one-year-old Lily Monrose has only been married for three weeks. When her new husband fails to come home from work one night she is left stranded in a new country where she knows no one. Then the police tell her that her husband never existed.

Twenty-three years earlier, Gray and Kirsty are teenagers on a summer holiday with their parents. Their annual trip to the quaint seaside town is passing by uneventfully, until an enigmatic young man starts paying extra attention to Kirsty. Something about him makes Gray uncomfortable—and it’s not just that he’s playing the role of protective older brother.
Kindle Edition, 352 pages
Expected publication: April 25th 2017 by Atria Books (first published June 30th 2016) 
Genre: Fiction/Mystery/Thriller

Kristine's Thoughts:

** I received an advanced readers copy from Atria Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank You!**

I Found You tells the present story of a young bride, a single mom and a man who can't remember who he is. It also tells the story of two teenage siblings from twenty three years earlier. Each story is uniquely its own but intertwined and connected in ways that slowly divulge themselves to the reader as the story goes on.

What I liked most about this book were the characters which was good because this book was very character driven. They were quirky, flawed and not picture perfect. There wasn't a single character that didn't have an annoying or irritating personality trait and I loved that. It made it a lot easier to relate to them. I have to say that I think I enjoyed each character's story equally but Alice, the single mom, was probably my favourite character.

I found this book very slow moving but at the same time I couldn't tear myself away. I wanted to know what happened and I wanted to figure out the mystery. Was the man with no memory the young brides missing husband? If not, what happened to him? How do the siblings fit into it and what was the connection between all of the stories? Although it wasn't fast paced it gave me enough to keep me turning the pages and it had me finishing it rather quickly.

There was no big "aha" moment for me or shocking twist. I pretty much had it figured out before it was brought to light on the pages. If I'm being completely honest, it was a little anti-climatic in the end. Due to the fact that I was enjoying the different characters I didn't mind that fact as much as I would normally would.

Even though the mystery wasn't overly exciting and a little far fetched, the characters make I Found You a book worth reading. Lisa Jewell is not a new author to me. This is the second book of hers that I have read and it won't be the last. Although I didn't enjoy this one as much as The House We Grew Up In, it proved to me that she is an author that needs to go in my regular rotation.

 



About the Author

Lisa was born in London in 1968. Her mother was a secretary and her father was a textile agent and she was brought up in the northernmost reaches of London with her two younger sisters. She was educated at a Catholic girls’ Grammar school in Finchley. After leaving school at sixteen she spent two years at Barnet College doing an arts foundation course and then two years at Epsom School of Art & Design studying Fashion Illustration and Communication.

She worked for the fashion chain Warehouse for three years as a PR assistant and then for Thomas Pink, the Jermyn Street shirt company for four years as a receptionist and PA. She started her first novel, Ralph’s Party, for a bet in 1996. She finished it in 1997 and it was published by Penguin books in May 1998. It went on to become the best-selling debut novel of that year.

She has since written a further nine novels, as is currently at work on her eleventh.

She now lives in an innermost part of north London with her husband Jascha, an IT consultant, her daughters, Amelie and Evie and her silver tabbies, Jack and Milly.

Connect with Lisa

 
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Book Blitz & Giveaway: Country Dream by Charlene Bright

Country Dream by Charlene Bright

BLURB:

​She’s ready to slow life down. . .

Kinsley Griffin is a psychologist and best-selling self-help author. Feeling exhausted by her big-city fast-paced life and hearing the call of her childhood home she considers slowing down and reconnecting to her small-town Southern roots when a book tour stop in Tennessee opens a door.

He’s been living his life for his daughter . . .

Jared Adamson is preparing for an empty nest at his Tennessee farm as his 21-year- old daughter prepares for her future and plans her launch into adulthood. A widower of four years, he’s now facing a quiet life of solitude.

A scenic detour leads to a chance meeting . . .

A chance encounter brings them together when Kinsley finds herself needing Jared’s help. As the detour turns into an extended vacation, they discover that life has much more to offer than they knew. But is it wise to start planting roots so soon?  ​

AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON AMAZON AND
FREE FOR KINDLE UNLIMITED SUBSCRIBERS.


Snippet #1

They turned the horses back toward the barn. The storm was moving faster than expected. They hadn’t made it halfway home when raindrops began to tap their heads. By the time they were at the barn’s entrance, the rain was coming down in sheets. Jared’s hat had deflected most of the rain from his head, but wet clothes clung to both of their bodies.

She hugged her shoulders and felt a strong sense of calm. Unlike most people, she preferred gray, rainy days to sunny ones. The rain put her into a meditative mind and made her feel more in touch with the world. It was cleansing and peaceful. Out of the rain now with the wind blowing into the barn, a chill caused a shiver to ripple down her, and she hugged her arms closer.

Suddenly a warmth radiated into her back and covered her bare arms. She leaned backward into Jared’s chest as he rubbed the cold bare skin of her upper arms. His hands moved down the sides of her arms and traced to her hands. Crossed over each other in front of her, Kinsley’s hands laced themselves into his and she felt his breath on her neck, hot and urgent. He softly touched his lips to her neck and along her collarbone, then to her ear. She turned her face toward him and their lips met, softly at first. When she tentatively pushed her tongue past her lips to taste the rain on his, he groaned against her and pulled her closer, moving his hands to her stomach, where his thumbs brushed upwards to feather along the bottoms of her breasts.


Snippet #2

He stood quickly and grabbed his jeans, pulling them on while looking out the window. Then he turned back and, with an eerily calm tone, said, “Call 911.”

He was grateful that she didn’t waste time asking questions but immediately grabbed her phone and ran to the window, trusting his reaction. He stepped into a pair of boots and ran, bare-chested, down the stairs and out the back door.

The flames were still confined to one area of the barn, but he knew that it would be engulfed soon given how long it would take the fire department to arrive. While he ran toward the burning barn, his eyes glanced around and his mind raced into triage. He was relieved for a second when he remembered the horses had not been put back into the barn after the party. They were the closest to the fire so he shifted on the ball of his foot and ran around the side. Kinsley was right behind him when he reached the fence.

Snippet #3

She looked at the handsome man and decided she had a good reason to put off that last event now.

Maybe Ethel had done her a favor after all. She felt the warmth she had come to accept would be a constant feeling while she was near this man. It pleased her that he was playing along with her.

Her breath caught in her throat and her insides melted. He leaned down to her and she welcomed his kiss, immediately throwing her arms around his neck and pulling herself into his body. Everywhere he touched, it scalded. His kiss was deep, urgent, passionate. His desire for her was strong and obvious in his touch and how closely he held her, as well as the growing hardness pushing into her thigh.
Author Bio

Charlene Bright is the author of several contemporary western romance novels. She’s a lifelong resident of the American South and currently residents in southern Oklahoma on a family-owned cattle ranch. She greets each morning with a hot cup of coffee and an optimistic smile. Traveling to America’s national parks is her favorite pastime. After rearing her two daughters, she and her husband recently became empty- nesters. With the peace and quiet that comes with that, she began to hear the characters in her head begging for their stories to be told which is when the author inside her was set free.


Check Out Her Blog Here >>>  http://www.charlenebright.com/blog
 
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