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Review – Crossing Hearts – Kimberly Kincaid

08 Feb

crossing-heartsCrossing Hearts
Author: Kimberly Kincaid
Series: #1 in the Cross Creek series
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Book Won in a Giveaway Held by Author

Description:
Hunter Cross has no regrets. Having left his football prospects behind the day he graduated high school, he’s happy to carry out his legacy on his family’s farm in the foothills of the Shenandoah. But when a shoulder injury puts him face-to-face with the high school sweetheart who abandoned town—and him—twelve years ago, Hunter’s simple life gets a lot more complicated.

Emerson Montgomery has secrets. Refusing to divulge why she left her job as a hotshot physical therapist for a pro football team, she struggles to readjust to life in the hometown she left behind. The more time she spends with Hunter, the more Emerson finds herself wanting to trust him with the diagnosis of MS that has turned her world upside down.

But revealing secrets comes with a price. Can Hunter and Emerson rekindle their past love? Or will the realities of the present—and the trust that goes with them—burn that bridge for good?

Review:
So I actually read Crossing Hearts close to a month ago – it was officially the first book that I read in 2017 but since it had a release date of today (which means, Happy Book Birthday dance), I decided to wait to post my review. But as in typical Kimberly Kincaid fashion – I just end up gushing over her books! I swear – I haven’t read a bad one by her yet and Crossing Hearts just made my heart go all squishy inside.

I’ve never hidden the fact that reunited love/second chance love is a favorite romance trope of mine – combine that with small town romance and rancher romance (with a women in a kick ass career) and yes – there was little that I didn’t love about how Crossing Hearts came to be. I will say that sometimes family drama in small town romances kind of bugs me and Emerson’s family kind of ticked me off a bit – but at the same time, since she wasn’t all the forthcoming with her medical issues – I don’t blame them entirely either. It is proof positive that bad news only gets worse over time – especially when it is being withheld from people who love you.

One of the things I have always appreciated about Kimberly’s writing is the level of research and detail that she incorporates into her stories. I’m not sure who she worked with to get all the details on being a physical therapist, or how MS affects the body – but you could tell from the writing that she was able to meld the information that she gained from different sources into such a well-developed, well-rounded character. And as for Hunter…well, what wasn’t there to love – former high school athlete, willing to sacrifice his dreams to stay at home to help his family out – yeah, i’m gushing. I can’t wait for the next two books in the series and to see his brother’s HEA’s!

4.5 stars for Crossing Hearts and unfortunately not, I have to start the tedious wait time for a new book by Kimberly (which just sucks!)

 
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Posted by on February 8, 2017 in Book Review, Review

 

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Good Reads for a Good Cause

25 Jan

Good Reads for a Good Cause
Hot on Ice Blog Tour

cover4b-1A word about the anthology from contributor Kimberly Kincaid!

Hello, romance readers! I cannot even tell you how excited I am to tell you all about HOT ON ICE: A Hockey Romance Anthology (18 hot hockey romances! How can you go wrong?) and my story in the collection, which is titled DEEP CHECK. 20% of our royalties will be going to Homes For Our Troops, and I couldn’t be happier or more humbled to donate to such an incredible organization. Homes For Our Troops mission is to support severely injured veterans (post 9/11) by building mortgage-free and specially adapted homes for them and their families so they can focus on rebuilding their lives.

DEEP CHECK is a steamy second chance love story between hotshot hockey center, Finn Donnelly, and feisty firehouse administrator, January Sinclair. Finn wants nothing more than to bring the Cup to his best friend’s grave after the team’s victory—but going back to his hometown also means seeing January, a.k.a. the woman he left behind. Finn and January’s sizzling reunion is not only part of the HOT ON ICE anthology, but it’s a story set in my edgy, sexy Station Seventeen series, where hot firefighters and cops come together to keep their city safe. Many of the characters in this series bring their military backgrounds to the firehouse, where my DEEP CHECK heroine, January, has deep ties.

Like firefighters and first responders, the veterans helped by Homes For Our Troops made the choice to serve and protect those around them at all costs, even when those costs were grave. Being part of a project that supports these veterans as they focus on recovery, family, and rebuilding their lives was a driving force in my choice to participate in HOT ON ICE. I hope you enjoy the stories!

Learn more about Home for Our Troops here: https://www.hfotusa.org/

About Hot on Ice: A Hockey Romance Anthology…
The New Orleans Cajun Rage professional hockey team just won the Cup. No one thought they’d do it. They were a team of shoulda beens, never coulda beens and a star or two. They’d only been in the Crescent City for three years before this year’s Cinderella run that had them skating off the ice with the championship. Over the following summer, each player gets to keep the Cup for a day. Nobody knows why, but whoever has the Cup falls in love. USA Today bestsellers Robin Covington, Desiree Holt, Kimberly Kincaid, Nana Malone, and Virginia Nelson, Publisher’s Weekly bestseller Angi Morgan, along with Xio Axelrod, Christi Barth, Andie J. Christopher, Avery Flynn, Kim Golden, Lena Hart, Robin Kaye, Katie Kenyhercz, Heather Long, Kate Meader, Susan Scott Shelley, and Misty D. Waters bring you 18 romances with smoking hot heroes—both on and off the ice.

Pre-order now on…
Kindle: http://amzn.to/2idJVbl
Nook: http://bit.ly/2gC6ceJ
iBooks: http://apple.co/2fOCS8g
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2ggBnyg

Read more about the stories in Hot on Ice: http://bit.ly/2h6k2cH
Add us to your Goodreads shelf: http://bit.ly/2ggRF8e
Like us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HotOnIce/

 
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Posted by on January 25, 2017 in Uncategorized

 

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Bout of Books – Day 5

06 Jan

bout-of-books-18

Yesterday turned into one of those days – all i heard the whole day at work was will it snow, will it snow…coupled with friends in other parts of the US who had snow days and my introduction to the WTForecast app on my iPhone (trust, me, take a look – as long as profanity doesn’t bother you – which ultimately lead to probably my most unsuccessful day in Bout of Books 18 so far. I think I listened to a sum total of about an hour in audio and finished up the one book I was reading (but I only had like 20% left of a 200pg book…so like 40 pages). Here’s hoping that today (Friday) will be a better reading/listening to…I have to say after my little bit of reading in the car this am – its already looking up

Day 3 Tally:
Sarah’s Key – currently at 33% (from 22%)
The Coffee Girl – currently at 42% (from 31%)
The Gift – currently at 38% (from 25%)
What Stands In A Storm – listened to 3hr 10min – currently at 36% (from 12%)
Seduction in Death – audiobook/re-read – listened to 7hr 29min – currently at 58% (from 49%)
Then He Showed Up – currently at 6%

Books Finished
Fire and Ice – Finished (from 73%)

Bout of Books 18 Challenge – Day 5
If you like this – try this
I always struggle with providing book recommendations to people because often times all i get is recommend me a book – no delineation on fiction/non-fiction; sub-genres in fiction etc…so it often takes a bit of back and forth dialogue to get to a point where I feel I can make a recommendation without feeling like I’m leading someone down the wrong path – that being said – when I give recommendations, especially romances – i tend to say if you like this trope, then you might like this author; rather than a specific author to author recommendation (since so many authors nowadays are diversified in what they are writing).

If you like small town romance, then you might like Kimberly Kincaid’s Pine Mountain series or if you like series where family is important then you might like Avery Flynn’s, Sweet Salvation Brewery series. Finally, if you like real-life military romance (compare to the very popular special forces romance storylines), you might like Jamie Farrell’s Southern Fried Blues or Jessica Scott’s Coming Home series

What about you guys – what is your favorite, if you liked that, try this book recommendation?

 
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Posted by on January 6, 2017 in Bout of Books

 

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It’s Monday – What Are You Reading?

02 Jan

its-monday-what-are-you-reading

It’s Monday – What are you reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.

Happy first Monday of 2017 – here’s hoping that the year finds everyone with lots of new books to read, new authors to try and old favorites to fall back on!

One of my goals for 2017 is to be a more consistent blogger – I’m aiming for at least 12 reviews a month, including a couple of audiobook ones, as well as 4 blogging posts (kind of like this one). I also need to be better at planning posts for reviews, so that I’m not writing them on the day they are supposed to go live (yeah, I did that a few times last year!). My other non-blogging related goal is to make sure that when I buy kindle books that I log them onto my shelves on Goodreads! I just spent the last couple of days logging 3 years worth of purchases (and I’m still not done yet). Yes, I read a lot, but most of those picks were based on books I had listed on my Goodreads and not other ones that I owned. According to my shelving, I bought 420 books from Amazon in 2016, and only read like 15 of them (out of the 350 odd books that I read). (This also means that I should apologize to any Goodreads friends who may have had me spam the heck out of their feed the last few days as I was shelving books).

crossing-hearts-pictureNow onto what am I reading…in true fashion, I spent most of yesterday in bed reading and finished up my first book of the year – Crossing Hearts by Kimberly Kincaid – I won this in a giveaway on her Facebook author page and wow! My review will go up closer to the book’s release date (Feb 7, 2016). Now, I’m digging into some older books that are in my kindle archive – several of which I’ve owned since the first year I bought my kindle (2008/09)…Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay and Fire and Ice by Liz Andrews.

promises-in-deathOn the audiobook side of the house – i’m still slowly chugging away at Les Miserables (you can anticipate seeing this update for the next couple of months). For context, Valjean and Cosette are currently on the run from Javert and have just found themselves in the Convent in Paris. I am also listening to Promises in Death by JD Robb (and all I can saw is Morris 😦 ). One of my goals this year is to listen to at least one of the In Death books a month – which will put me in the high 30’s range by the end of the year (not quite caught up but getting there). When I finish up Promises in Death, I’m going to jump over to the next book in Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski series, with Blood Shot.

Stay tuned for my first Bout of Books 18 post that will be going live soon and have a great first Monday of the year!

 
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Posted by on January 2, 2017 in It's Monday! What are you reading?

 

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2017 – First Book of the Year

01 Jan

first-book-of-the-year

What is First Book of the year?
The First Book is a book that maybe you have been wanting to read for a while but have not had time for, a coveted book, an old favorite re-read – whatever you want.  The point is that this is the book that will kick off the year for you.  What will it be?

crossing-heartsMy First Book of 2017
Last year it took my ages to try and figure out what my first book of 2016 was going to be (I think that I changed my mind 4 or 5 times), but this year when I was looking at my various books to read, it was a no brainer…so drum roll please…my first book of 2017 is going to be Crossing Hearts written by the fabulous Kimberly Kincaid! If you took a look at the book information for Crossing Hearts, you’ll notice that the official release date isn’t until early February – but I luckily won an ARC of it in a giveaway on Kimberly’s facebook page (there was some serious happy dancing when she tagged me in the post as the winner announcement).

Crossing Hearts Description:
Hunter Cross has no regrets. Having left his football prospects behind the day he graduated high school, he’s happy to carry out his legacy on his family’s farm in the foothills of the Shenandoah. But when a shoulder injury puts him face-to-face with the high school sweetheart who abandoned town—and him—twelve years ago, Hunter’s simple life gets a lot more complicated.

Emerson Montgomery has secrets. Refusing to divulge why she left her job as a hotshot physical therapist for a pro football team, she struggles to readjust to life in the hometown she left behind. The more time she spends with Hunter, the more Emerson finds herself wanting to trust him with the diagnosis of MS that has turned her world upside down.

But revealing secrets comes with a price. Can Hunter and Emerson rekindle their past love? Or will the realities of the present—and the trust that goes with them—burn that bridge for good?<

 
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Posted by on January 1, 2017 in Blog Features, General, Reading Plans

 

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It’s Monday – What Are You Reading? (01 Feb 16)

02 Feb

book date its monday

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme has had various host over the years and I’ve loved checking in with their different blogs – the newest host is Kathryn and The Book Date. I’m looking forward to following her and participating in this meme again 😉

Just a couple of weeks ago, I mused in this post how we were already half-way through January, and now we are officially into February. So we are 1/12 of the year through the year…if you weren’t tracking the weather, then you might have missed that DC was hit with what I am terming Snowzilla 2016 last week, which while I gripe about having to shovel snow was good because it justified me being able to be a bum and just chill on the couch and read for a few days in an attempt to get caught up on my 2016 reading goal. Yeah, I know we are only one month in and i’m saying get caught up, but thanks to the handy dandy Goodreads challenge widget, I know that if I want to read my goal of 365 books in a year (which is my standard goal) that I am currently 6 books behind target). I know that isn’t too many, so here’s hoping i’ll be able to get caught up in February.

snowzilla comfort readsI’d probably term this last week, getting back to old favorites when it came to my reading (also known as comfort reads). I got caught up on Nalini Singh’s Rock Kiss series, reading books 1.5 and 3 in the series; I also returned to visit Mustang Ridge with Jesse Hayworth’s, Harvest at Mustang Ridge and finally, I went back to where it all began with the Quilter’s Apprentice in the Elm Creek series (it was one of those series where I didn’t start at the beginning…naughty reader than I am). For me, all of these were books were like visiting old friends and were perfect for curling up while the snow fell for over a day and a half. Unfortunately, then I had to dig myself out…

snowzilla new authorsI also tried a few new authors who were hiding out on my virtual Mt TBR, or in the new release section at the library (does that count as hiding?). In the new to me authors, it seemed to be the week of businessmen (or is it businesspeople) with 2 CEO’s (one a real estate mogul and one the owner of a jeans company); a bakery owner and the disparate character, a nun(or specifically Mother Superior) in 1920’s Ireland. After reading these four, I know i’ll be checking out more by these authors in the future. I love it when I can add new authors to my massive Mt TBR (being serious here).

This upcoming week, I am pushing ahead on the major reading challenge that I am doing – we are in the last month of the three month challenge (and then it starts all over again) and for the first time in the 4+ years that I’ve been doing this challenge, I don’t know if I’ll finish it (which stabs me in my competitive little heart). But with 47 books to go (including the several that I have in progress), I don’t think its doable in the next month…that being said, I’m currently revisiting Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series with Archangel’s Shadow (book 7 in the series, although I am bouncing around with this series as I have with other series recently); I am already getting ready to launch into both Kimberly Kincaid and Robin Covington’s new books (Reckless and Her Secret Lover respectively); finally, I’m revising Anitra Lynn McLeod’s Onic Empire with Wicked Empress. On the non-fiction side of the house (or my hoity-toity thinkin book), i’m working on The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence has Declined.

first week of feb reading

What about you guys – what are you reading this first week of February?

 
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Posted by on February 2, 2016 in It's Monday! What are you reading?

 

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Review – All Wrapped Up – Kimberly Kincaid

06 Oct

all wrapped upAll Wrapped Up
Author: Kimberly Kincaid
Series: #5 in the Pine Mountain series
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Review Copy Provided via Netgalley

Description:
Christmas is coming to Pine Mountain—and it has a way of stirring up memories, good and bad. Nick Brennan may manage the Double Shot bar smooth as good whiskey, but his past is a hot mess. When he runs into a burning building to save a little boy, some people start thinking there’s more to his heroism than holiday spirit. And then the local reporter assigned to the story turns out to be gorgeous Ava Mancuso, the girl who got away.

Ava knows what it’s like to have a past. But the changes she’s seen in Nick since she knew him do more than set off her natural curiosity—his warm eyes and gruff charm have her instincts fired up. Still, all the chemistry in the world doesn’t erase history, even when Nick invites her to his little sister’s mistletoe wedding. Does he have a heart under all those secrets? Or is this going to be just another Christmas past?

Review
It’s always bittersweet when a favorite series comes to an end and often times it feels like you are saying goodbye to family, and that is how the Pine Mountain series has felt to me. Since the very beginning with her entry in the The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap Anthology (along with Donna Kauffman and Kate Angell), I have felt like I was a member of the resort town of Pine Mountain, through their trials and tribulations, finding love and lust with friends, co-workers, enemies and neighbours. Alas, all good things must come to an end and All Wrapped Up did just that, it wrapped the series up in a slightly angsty, but none the less enjoyable romance, that also gave us a sneak peek into Ms. Kincaid’s new series that will be out in the near future (and yes, I have the first book pre-ordered already!).

One of the things I love about Kimberly’s writing is how she takes a minor character from a previous book and gives them their HEA in a later book, case in point, Nick from All Wrapped Up – we had previously met him in Fire Me Up, where he was the surly bar manager in the pub that Teagan (the main character) was running and even then, you knew, that he had a secret of some kind – there was this brooding essence about him…I didn’t put two and two together on who Ava was, however, until I read AWU – she is the sister of Pete Mancuso, who was the hero in the anthology that kicked this series off, so it really was a case of bringing the series around in a full circle and wrapping it up.

I loved the fact that Kimberly was able to meld the romance in such a way that it brought the former lovers element into it, along with a secret that could potentially keep our lovers apart and giving us a glance into the lives of all of favorite pine mountain couples who have gone before. As I reader, I don’t know if I could have asked for a better book to finish up this series (and introduce me to the characters in her new one – although, I will say, one of them is going to have some serious grovelling to do before I’ll forgive him and see that he is indeed hero worthy)…4 stars for All Wrapped Up – I’m sad to see the series end (which I’ve said several times now), but wasn’t let down at all through-out it. While I’m not a huge re-reader, I could easily see these books being added to my comfort read pile in the future.

 
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Posted by on October 6, 2015 in Book Review

 

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Review – Just One Taste – Kimberly Kincaid

23 Jul

23433952Just One Taste
Author: Kimberly Kincaide
Series: #4.5 in the Pine Mountain series
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Review Copy Provided by Publisher

Description:
A little home improvement can go a long way…

Jesse Oliver was a medic in Afghanistan, but back home in Pine Mountain he’s happy to switch gears as the Double Shot bar’s new sous chef. When his apartment floods and his old Army buddy offers the family’s dilapidated lake house as temporary quarters, Jesse thinks a little remodeling on the creaky duplex sounds like a fair return favor. That’s before he sets eyes on the gorgeous woman moving into the other side of the cabin—and discovers she’s his buddy’s kid sister, a.k.a totally off limits.

Kat McMarrin has fought hard for her space, and she’s not too interested in sharing it. Of course, her job as a physical therapist means she won’t see much of Jesse, even if he’s a few thin floorboards away—unless she seeks him out. And with his sculpted body and slow-burn gaze, she might be tempted. Maybe the fixer-upper projects she has planned for the cabin will keep her mind off him. Or maybe her instincts to strip the place down will get out of hand…

Review:
Normally I glom Kimberly Kincaid’s books as soon as I get my hot little mitts on them, but for some reason, I didn’t jump into Just One Taste as soon as I got my copy. Looking back now, I am thankful for that, because one Sunday when I was stuck in bed feeling cruddy, I had a favorite author that I could read – which always makes you feel better. This was a cute/short entry into the Pine Mountain series and was just what I needed.

We previously meet Jesse in the last book of the series and knew that he had some secrets/background that he didn’t necessarily want to talk about and I remember after reading the last book, I was like, I want to know more about him. I will also admit that I’m a sucker for friend/sister (or friend/brother) type romances, mostly because there is that idea of the idea of a hands-off type approach (meaning does any brother want their friend dating little sister…). But Kat wasn’t the meek heroine that seems so present in many contemporary romances today – in fact she was uber-smart and not scared to show it (and you could tell that Kimberly had done her research into the educational background that Kat possessed because it rang true to me). The conflict between Kat and Jesse was intriguing and I totally sided with Kat on the need for own space (that’s why i’ve not had roommates since college). But seeing the relationship develop between the two of them was a fun ride and I enjoyed how they had multiple points of intersection in their lives before they ended up staying in the same cabin.

Just One Taste had Kimberly’s trade-mark sassy dialogue and witty humor, as well as steam resulting smexy scenes. I’m just disappointed to know that this series is wrapping up soon (even if I know she’ll have other books coming out). If you want a smexy handyman type romance, with an extremely smart heroine, then Just One Taste might be the book for you.

 
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Posted by on July 23, 2015 in Book Review

 

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Dishing with Dee….GNO (the May edition), AKA, I have very sneaky friends

06 May

dishing with dee 2

So it took me a little while to get this post up, mostly because I failed epically in the taking photos aspect and had to hit up some of the participants to see if they had any from our awesome GNO evening. Sub-title of this, should be, I have some very sneaky friends who probably need careers in the spy industry. the plans for GNO started out like they do every month – the 4 (or 5) of us getting so busy that we forget until a few days prior; Jamie setting up an invite on Facebook (even though we had been smart enough to do that the previous month) and finally settling on a place – previously, we’d done a chocolate bar and then a farm to table type place, so for May we decided on Sushi. I will admit that i’m relatively new to the sushi eating world- its only been a couple of years since I tried it, but when I do manage to drag friends out with me to have it, my goal is to always try something different – so I was excited to have a group of people going with me. Fast forward to Saturday night, and after a hectic day of workouts, errands and an insane desire to skip because I was so exhausted, followed by a hike from the metro – I showed up at MoMo Sushi in Old Town Alexandria.

avery selfieAs I walked up the stairs to the restaurant, I realized that there was not only 1 but 2 extra people at the table from our normal group. I knew about the one (a friend bringing her sister who was in town), but the second was a total surprise and thus the comment about my sneaky friends. An author that I love (Kelsey Browning) had been touring the country as part of a Free Little Library tour with her writer cohort in crime and she just happened (magically of course) to be in the DC area on the same night as our Girl’s Night Out (funny how those things work out right?). And Jamie in all her secret squirrel wonder had invited her along as a surprise for me (because I had been asking her when Kelsey was going to be here). I’m amazed that none of the people spilled the beans…I mean, that was some serious secret keeping…lol! Not long after that, we were joined by our pseudo party-crashers (they were expected, we just didn’t know when), Kimberly Kincaid and Avery Flynn – both authors who I totally fangirl over, if you have read my reviews of their books). Avery even managed to get a selfie with all of us in the picture – which took some considerable skill since she didn’t even have a selfie stick!

sushiOf course, it wouldn’t be a sushi meal without a funny sushi story – which of course, revolves around me being an idiot/nearly choking on a piece of sushi. but first, an awesome sushi picture (this wasn’t my roll, because I ate it too quickly to take a photo) – but mine was as visually pretty as this one that Kimberly and Avery shared. but back to the funny sushi story – although, I can safely say, that is wasn’t actually my fault…I blame it all on Kelly! There I was, sitting innocently next to Kelsey, working on my Spider Roll (which was awesome BTW). Jamie/Kelly and Kelsey had just gotten done talking about kids antics and a comment had been made about people and how they deal with visual sighting of half eaten food. But back to the story, I had literally just managed to pick up a delicious piece of sushi from my roll and shove it, in its entirely into my mouth when Kelly turned to me and asked me a question about the shrimp in the roll, I think, whether it was tempura shrimp. For some reason, this was insanely funny (i have no idea why) and I started laughing, while I had a piece of sushi in my mouth. Comments were made about people being waitresses in former lives, because of their ability to ask questions as soon as you try to eat. In the meantime, I’m laughing so hard, I was trying to not choke on my sushi or spit it up into somebody’s lap and the folks down the other end of the table were trying to figure out what I was laughing about. Never fear, I did survive both the laughing bout and the piece of sushi.

A fabulous night of frolicking fun was had by all and I can’t wait for the next edition, even if it will likely be back to our smaller group

kk af dee
GNO all

 
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Posted by on May 6, 2015 in Dishing with Dee

 

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Review – Get Lucky – Anthology

30 Mar

get luckyGet Lucky
Authors: Robin Covington, Nicola Marsh, Kelsey Browning, Avery Flynn, Kimberly Kincaid, Sara Humphreys
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Nicola Marsh – Walking the Line
Ellie is a decade older than Finn but that doesn’t stop the charming Irishman from wooing her.
Ellie doesn’t believe in the happily-ever-after dream any longer, not since hers imploded a long time ago. But can a smooth-talking Irishman sway a hard-hearted cynic to believe in love again?

This was my first time reading anything by Nicola Marsh and while I found the story intriguing, it just didn’t quite do it for it. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good older woman, younger man story but I didn’t ever really feel for Ellie- I found her annoying. But I enjoyed the author’s writing style, so I may check out something else by her in the future. I gave her installment 3 stars.

Kelsey Browning – Amazed by You
Author’s assistant Olivia McLaughlin must pull off an extravagant St. Patrick’s Day garden party to win a coveted promotion, but her success hinges on landscape designer Cody Kavanaugh, her old high school boyfriend. Now, Olivia must decide which she can’t live without—the job that will make her a success or the man offering her a second chance at love.

I’m a huge fan of Kelsey’s and this story was no different. I loved Olivia as a character, and her relationship with Cody was cute – i’m a sucker for a reunited type romance. although I will say that Sadie, Olivia’s slightly (ok, mostly) neurotic employer. I can’t wait to see if she gets a story in the future. I gave Amazed by You 4.5 stars.

Robin Covington – One Little Kiss
Trapped by a snowstorm in the same place at the same time, Leighton and Jonas must decide if their hot night together was the end of their story or if they started forever with just one little kiss…

This story was a hard one of me to rate – because I did enjoy it but towards the end I found myself wanting more. I would love to see it taken and turned into a full-length story because there was so much potential and everything just felt rushed for me. But it had Robin’s familiar writing style and I can’t wait to read more of her stuff in the future. This story got 3.5 stars from me.

Avery Flynn – Big, Bad Red
There’s nothing little or naive about this Red Riding Hood. Red runs the biggest fencing operation for fairytale treasures out of the back of Granny’s Pub. But when she comes into possession of the Caladbolg sword things get hairy–as in hot, sexy Liam MacTíre the werewolf hairy.

I’ll admit that I am a total sucker for fairy tale retellings and Big Bad Red hit all my happy buttons. I loved Red as a character and the story was hot (oh holy heck was it hot). I would love to see more books written in this world and I know that i’ll be checking out Avery’s other Fairytale retellings (since I already love her contemporary romances). Big, Bad Red got 3.5 stars from me.

Sara Humphreys – Luck of the Irish
Banished to the mirrored realm for hundreds of years, Declan Aherne had nothing but time to plot his revenge and mourn the loss of his beloved wife. But when a beautiful human woman, with a familiar amulet, stares into the mirror….Declan’s luck was about to change.

Sarah Humphrey’s was the second new author in the anthology to me. I really liked the idea of a Leprechaum as a hero – i mean seriously, how cool is that? And the story that Sara wove was great, intriguing and complex. Unfortunately, the ending left me feeling kind of irked because it didn’t really end and unfortuntely, that dropped my rating for this installment down to 3 stars.

Kimberly Kincaid – Something Borrowed
When her successful brother announces his plans for an impromptu wedding in Ireland, unlucky-in-love chef Sasha Arrington is stuck between the Blarney Stone and a hard place. Sasha needs a wingman for her brother’s wedding, and the romantic destination could be just what James Sullivan needs to tempt Sasha out of the friend zone.

I’m in a toss-up over whether Kimberly’s contribution or Kelsey’s is my favorite. There was something about Sasha and Sully’s story that just hit all my happy buttons. I loved the sexual tension between them and it kind of reminded me of the movie, The Wedding Date, which I will always watch when I get a chance. Although I will say, really Sully, UVa…no, just no. I gave Something Borrowed 4.5 stars.

Overall I really enjoyed all 6 books in this anthology and I will be checking out the two new authors (Nicola Marsh and Sara Humphrey) in the future. but my 2 favorite stories by far were Kelsey Browning and Kimberly Kincaid’s. Overall, I gave the anthology 4 stars.

 
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Posted by on March 30, 2015 in Book Review

 

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