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Review – Seducation and Snacks – Tara Sivec

13 Jan

seduction snacksSeducation and Snacks
Author: Tara Sivec
Series: #1 in the Chocolate Lovers series
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Description:
Claire is a twenty-something, single mom that grudgingly helps her best friend sell sex toys while she attempts to make enough money to start her own business to give her foul-mouthed, but extremely loveable (when he’s asleep) toddler a better life.

When Carter, the one-night-stand from her past that changed her life forever, shows up in her hometown bar without any recollection of her besides her unique chocolate scent, Claire will make it a point that he remembers her this time.

With Carter’s undisguised shock at suddenly finding out he has a four-year-old son and Claire’s panic that her stretch marks and slim to none bedroom experience will send the man of her dreams heading for the hills, the pair will do whatever they can to get their happily ever after.

Review:
What can I say about this book that I didn’t like, little to nothing. This book has it all a great mix of vulgar language, one night stands, sex toys and of course chocolate. This book is so well written I can say that you laugh so much you may end up with a twat tap if you laugh to hard in public.

Claire is by far one of the women you find yourself instantly connected to. Claire takes everything in stride. She does have a few moments of break down. No one is perfect. Finding out that you may be pregnant after a one night stand with a guy you don’t know and have no clue if he remembers you. She ends up back home and putting her life on hold her dreams of opening up a business with her long time friend Liz. That was a no go.

Carter is searching for the girl he slept with 5 years ago at a frat party the girl that haunts his dreams. Every time he smells chocolate he thinks of her. He cant seem to get her out of his head. The question is, is she just a dream? He spends the first part of his 5 year with his crazy ex who ends up cheating on him with his neighbor while watching well that I will leave for a surprise because I laughed so hard I about peed.

This book is full of surprises but it’s also very straight forward so you can see it coming. The characters are easy to connect with and they leave you with a happy ending. I know there are more books to this series, however, I was very happy with the way this book ended and have not found that I needed to read the others.

If you are looking for a funny, quirky romance with a touch of awe moments in it then this is the book for you.

I found these quotes to be the ones I love the most. Just a sneak peek into the craziness that is this book

Quotes
“Its a pain you forget all about once you have that sweet little baby in your arms.” Bull Shit. I CALL BULLSHIT.

“You know, I think its time i turn my vagina into an Arby’s Beef and Cheddar (minus the cheddar) and saddle myself down for a minimum of eighteen years to someone who will suck the soul and will to live right out of my body.”

“Give me a cat over a kid any day. You can open up a bag of Meow Mix, Plop it down on the floor next to a bucket of water, gone on vacation for a week and come home to an animal that is so busy licking its own ass that it has no idea you were even gone.”

Seriously you couldn’t go wrong with this book for me it gets a 4 out of 5!

I hope you pick this one up it’s a seriously great read.

~Kristin

 
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Posted by on January 13, 2015 in Book Review

 

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Review – Anthology – Snowy Days, Steamy Nights

12 Jan

SDSNBoxedSetFinalSnowy Days, Steamy Nights
Authors: Katy Regnery, Jamie Farrell, Veronica Forand, Kate Forest, Jennie Marts, Susan Scott Shelley
Series: #.5 in the Glendale Riptide series; #2.5 in the Misfits Brides of Bliss series
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Review Copy Provided in Exchange for Review

I’ll admit that I always find it hard to review anthologies – because as anyone who has read my reviews know, I tend to like to write fairly detailed reviews and sometimes contributions in anthologies make that hard to do. You want to make sure to include a good review of each book, without going overboard, or having an exceptionally long review. Overall, I enjoyed the various installments and found several authors I’m looking forward to trying again in the future/

FROSTED – Katy Regnery – 3 stars
This is the first book I’ve read by Ms Regency (although I see her name come up quite frequently on book recommendation threads/message boards). Unfortunately, I left her story in the anthology feeling like I was missing something. I was really looking forward to the idea of a romance between an older couple (the main character, Grace, is in her mid-50’s) and a second chance romance to boot (because I’m a sucker for those). But Grace just left me feeling cold – I never really got the feeling that she was ready for a new romance, she was still too preoccupied with her past and honestly, I found her to be quite off-putting. I sort of liked Trey (the main male character), but if I had been him, I would have run screaming from Grace. Unfortunately, Frosted, just lacked overall for me. But I’ll likely give the author another chance, maybe a full-length story will work better for me.

GROUNDED – Kate Forest – 3.5 stars
This is the first book I’ve read by Kate Forest and it won’t be the last. I really liked the idea of being stranded at an airport (since god knows, I’ve gotten stuck enough times). The main character, Julia’s reaction to Chicago weather made me laugh because I have several friends like that and Ms Forest managed to get the irksome nature just right. I liked Jeremy as a character, and seeing him develop/come into his own made me happy. I love how he loved his mom and would go to bat for her – it made me smile. I’d be intrigued to see more books about people who could be linked back to this story (employees for Jeremy’s company, friends of Julia). This could be a good way to start a series, but also works well as a stand-alone.

MELTED – Jennie Marts – 3.5 stars
From reading the description, I was looking forward to this installment in the anthology – since I’m a sucker for second chance stories and for the most part, this was a good read. Unfortunately, I found myself wanting more while I was reading. I like the theme of a rekindled summer romance from when they were teenagers, but at the same time, it also revolved around the big misunderstanding theme which kind of irked me. I think this would have been a better stand-alone story that could have been developed a bit more. Although I had a few issues with Melted, it was a cute read and I will be checking out more books by Ms Marts in the future

REKINDLED – Susan Scott Shelley – 4 stars
If I was asked which of my books in the anthology was a favorite, it would be a toss-up between Rekindled and Smittened (Jamie Farrell) – I have definately found a new author that I am looking forward to checking out and reading in the future. One of the things that I appreciated in this story was that while it was a second chance story, neither of the main characters really had the major woe is me doldrums that comes when a relationship doesn’t work out (meaning that while they still loved each other/missed each other; they tried to move on to the best of their respective abilities. Plus, I loved the dog in the story and hope to see him show up in later books. Bonus is that this story kicks off a new series and i’m looking forward to trying to out.

SMITTENED – Jamie Farrell – 4 stars
I’ve never hidden my love of Jamie’s books (since she is also a friend) and when she offered me the chance to review the anthology, I jumped on it. Her story takes place in his Misfit Brides of Bliss series, which she introduced in her book, The Husband Games. All I can say right now, is that I want some of the sexual connotations ice cream that was featured in the book, I mean Chocolate Orgasm, hello! (although my discovery of wine flavored ice cream may just have to tie me over). Dahlia reminded me of Jamie in a way (I’m sure some of the tales she tells have ended up in her books) and Mikey was just a bad boy looking for love. I can’t wait for the next book in the series to come out (yes, I virtually stalk her).

SNOWED – Veronica Forand – 2.5 stars
Snowed was another story that I thought had potential, but unfortunately for me, didn’t work in the novella format. I felt like the author needed more time/length to develop the story. It seemed rushed and unfinished in places to me. There were a few places where I really found myself rooting for the characters, but then it was like the next scene just happened and I felt like I was missing something. but the ending was at least optomistic, and I’d be interested to see if she could develop the story into more of a series with other people who were featured in the story. However, while I felt like I was missing something with the story, I did like her writing style and am intrigued enough to want to try more of her stuff (and I think I have at least one of her books on Mt TBR).

Overall, I enjoyed the majority of the stories in the anthology and felt like it was a good way to be introduced to new authors. My 2 favorite stories in the anthology were Rekindled and Smittened – but I look forward to seeing what all of the authors do in the future. Overall, I gave the anthology 3.5 with a wide variety of ratings from the individual contributions.

 
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Posted by on January 12, 2015 in Book Review

 

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Release Day – Playing with the Drummer – Robin Covington

29 Dec

PWTD-500pxOk, I’ll admit to being a total fan girl of Robin Covington (who along with Avery Flynn and Kimberly Kincaid), host the Friday Man Wars on their Facebook pages (warning, most pictures are Not Safe for Work!). So when she was looking for people to help promo her new book, I totally jumped on the opportunity and while I haven’t read it yet, I can’t wait to (and i’m about to one-click it right now)…

Description:
Entertainment journalist Lita Matthews is on the verge of making it big. As in her-own-TV-show big. She just needs amazing inside scoop on the year’s hottest celebrity wedding. Instead, her big break is becoming a big nightmare—all thanks to rock star Rocky Cardano. Who apparently hasn’t gotten over what happened between them four years ago…

Rocky is pretty damn familiar with just how far Lita will go for a “scoop.” Hell, their unbelievably hot hook-up in Mexico years ago was the story of a lifetime. Rocky’s learned his lessons. He’ll do whatever it takes to keep her from the story—even if he has to seduce her to the point of distraction! But Lita has always had a way of getting under his skin. Only this time, he won’t be able to just walk away…

Excerpt:

They were still touching, from shoulders down to their thighs, bodies trading warmth in the slight chill of the night next to the lake. She was close enough to kiss, close enough for him to caress, and he bit back a groan when he recalled her curves. She was smooth muscle, silky skin, lush breasts that filled his palms with their delicious heavy weight. Rocky broke eye contact, taking the chicken-shit way out for a moment.

He should move, get up and walk around, but he wasn’t going to do it. The big, horny bastard who made poor decisions was super-powered by tequila shots. That guy was like the Hulk, except that poor schmo in the movie couldn’t fuck without losing control, and when you were green with anger-management issues— that was a big problem. But Lita loved it when he lost control, and he enjoyed it when she took everything he had and begged for more.

The silence between them wasn’t awkward, and it wasn’t empty. The drumbeat of what they were both contemplating was in time with the pounding of their hearts. His cock ached, strained against the fly of his jeans; his mouth salivated with the desire to taste her. Lita’s nipples were tight under the flimsy fabric of her tank top; they rose and fell like she’d been running. He was waiting for some sign that she was on board for them to both make a poor drunken decision.

“I’m really sorry about Mexico…after Mexico,” Lita whispered as she looked up at him again, her breath warm against his mouth. He licked his lips, disappointed that he couldn’t taste her there.

“Let’s not talk about it anymore.”

“Do you believe me?”

Rocky sighed slightly, cataloging the hope in her eyes that maybe they could put this behind them. He reached out a hand, allowing his fingers to trace the arc of her cheek, the side of her neck, dipping into the hollow of her throat and coming to rest on the curve of her breast.

The tension was strung taut between them, but through it all, he realized that he owed her an answer before this went any further.

“I’m just tired of fighting about it.”

She closed her eyes briefly, and he wasn’t sure if it was because of his words or the effect of his gentle stroke against her flesh.

“That’s not a great answer,” Lita said, opening her eyes again.

She studied his face, her eyes processing each assessment she made, every calculation of pros, cons, and the absolutely insane. Rocky expected her to pull away, to end this detour and frolic into madness. He needed her to do what he could not do. He wanted her under him, around him. Wanted her in every way he’d had her those three days in Mexico, wanted to refresh those living memories with warm flesh, wet kisses, and pleasure. But he wouldn’t lie to get it.

“It’s the best I can do,” he whispered.

“I know for a fact that isn’t true.”

“You’re right,” he said as he slid his other arm between them and around her waist. He tugged her upward, and the movement put her eye-to-eye, mouth-to-mouth with him. This was without a doubt the dumbest thing he’d ever done, drunk or sober, but it felt incredible. He’d dreamed about this, woken achy and hard from his subconscious fantasies that involved Lita, a hammock on the beach, and not a stitch of clothing in sight. “You are so goddam beautiful.”

She inhaled quickly, her breath catching before stuttering out. “You’re drunk.”

“Yep. Enough to tell you what I want.”

“And what do you want?” Her eyes told him she knew what his answer would be. Her expression dared him to say it out loud.

He ran a thumb over her lips, dipping in when she opened, a shiver racking him when her tongue swirled around the digit. “I want you.”

Lita shifted, swinging a leg over him until she straddled his waist. On instinct, he moved his hands, cupping her ass and touching the sweet heaven of bare skin where her tiny skirt had shifted up. She leaned over him, mouth within kissing distance, one hand wrapped around his neck and the other around a long hank of his hair.

“You don’t even like me.”

“I’m good at pretending.”

She smiled, her eyes dark, smoky, tinged with mischief and softened by the tequila buzz. “For how long?”

Rocky leaned closer, a gentle brush against her lips catching her laughter and then stopping it altogether with a deep, hot kiss. He sank into her mouth, using his tongue and his lips to coax her first moan of pleasure. He pulled back, making sure she saw how very serious he was.

“For as long as it takes to make you come.”

Buy Links:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1EbeXWH
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/1GW6Z1k
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1wjiEzd
iBooks: http://bit.ly/1x9QRoG
Amazon Canada: http://amzn.to/1x2H7xI
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/13v519l

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Posted by on December 29, 2014 in Promo Blitz

 

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Review – It’s a Wonderful Fireman – Jennifer Bernard

16 Dec

it's a wonderful firemanIt’s a Wonderful Fireman
Author: Jennifer Bernard
Series: #6.5 in The Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel series
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Review Copy Provided by Publisher

Description (Goodreads):
Hard-edged fireman Dean Mulligan has never been a big fan of Christmas. Twinkly lights and sparkly tinsel can’t brighten the memories of too many years spent in ramshackle foster homes. Although he’s established himself as one of the top firefighters at San Gabriel Station 1, he doesn’t think he’s good enough for someone like gorgeous Lizzie.

Lizzie Breen is used to fighting—from her alpha male brothers, who try to smother her in the name of safety, to the life-threatening childhood illness she overcame. She knows what she and Mulligan feel for each other is a lot more than a fling, but she can’t get him to see that. The only gift Lizzie wants to give him this season is her love, but he’s not willing to accept it.

When Mulligan is trapped in the burning wreckage of a holiday store, a Christmas angel arrives to open his eyes. But is it too late? This Christmas, it’ll take an angel, a determined woman in love, and the entire Bachelor Firemen crew to make him believe … it is indeed a wonderful life.

Review:
I’ll admit that my reading of this series has been spotty as much as I am a sucker for fireman (and cop) romances. I’ve read the first book, the prequel and now the Christmas one (but never fear, the rest of the books are loitering on Mt TBR and will hopefully get tackled in the new year). So I didn’t have the background with the characters that many of the readers/reviewers had. I vaguely remember Dean from the previous books as being a bit of a stoic kind of guy – but honestly that is a character trait that I like. I will admit that I don’t really recall Lizzy, but since it was obvious from the writing, I’m guessing she was introduced in one of the books I haven’t read yet.

This was almost the perfect Christmas read. I love reading novella’s at this time of year, because they are normally short and sweet, hit the sweet spot, without (normally) being too sickly sweet (which I’m totally not a fan of) and It’s a Wonderful Fireman delivered. Told predominantly though flash-backs (which are often a hard way to tell a story), I could see Dean and Lizzie’s relationship develop (and I’m a sucker for friends2lovers stories). I really enjoyed seeing how their story developed and the fact that it took place over a longer period of time than a typical romance. While It’s A Wonderful Fireman was short (only about 140ish pgs), it felt like a complete story with a beginning/middle/ending – that to me is quite often missing in novella’s.

After reading Dean and Lizzie’s story, I’m looking forward to going back and reading the other books in the series, so I can “get to know” them a bit more and then maybe i’ll re-read their story, just for the heck of it 😉 It’s A Wonderful Fireman is a solid 3.5 star read – rounding up to 4 on Goodreads and other places. I’d recommend for people who like Christmas novella’s, fireman romances and friends2lover romances.

Purchase Links:
Amazon – It’s a Wonderful Fireman: A Bachelor Firemen Novella (The Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel)
Barnes & Noble – It’s a Wonderful Fireman: A Bachelor Firemen Novella (The Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel)
Kobo – It’s a Wonderful Fireman: A Bachelor Firemen Novella (The Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel)

_DPP0190Visit Jennifer on the Web:
Website
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Jennifer’s Twitter

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Posted by on December 16, 2014 in Book Review

 

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Review – Hard to Forget – Incy Black

30 Nov

hard to forgetHard to Forget
Author: Incy Black
Series: #2 in the Hard To… series
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Review Copy Provided by Publisher

Description:
A warning ignored…a love denied

Four years ago, Commander Jack Ballantyne followed Special Agent Lowry Fisk into a death trap. Fortunately, both of them lived to tell the tale, but when he had Lowry drummed out of the British Intelligence Service for her own safety—and his own peace of mind—he knew she’d never forgive him.

Lowry Fisk knew, she just knew, that the Assassins, the secret black-ops unit of the Service she and Jack belonged to, had a mole. And as the Assassins Commander, Jack should have believed her, even though she had little evidence beyond a gut feeling. But when he hadn’t, she’d taken it upon herself to find the traitor—and ended up assaulted, shot, and left for dead. Jack had come to her rescue, but it had been too little, too late. Now all she wants to do is forget the attack, the Service, and the sexy, steely-eyed Commander with the power to make her feel weak.

But the mole is on the move, and he’s coming for Lowry to finish what he started. Jack has to get the stubborn, dangerously gorgeous woman to let him back into her life and allow him the Assassins to protect her—without allowing her to worm her way into his heart

Review:
I’ll admit that I’m a sucker for Secret Agent storylines – I mean, who doesn’t love James Bond and those types of characters? so when I came across the description of Incy Black’s series in an email from her publisher, I was intrigued. Since this was the 2nd in the series, I opted to go back and read the first one before picking up this one (although the author did say when I tweeted her, that this could be read as a stand-alone – and looking back, I agree). In fact, after I finished reading the first book (while not bad, it just had some things that didn’t work for me), I wasn’t sure if I wanted to pick up Hard to Forget, but I’m glad I did – because I enjoyed it more than the first.

There were times when I wanted to take both Jack and Lowry’s heads and clang them together to have some sense knocked into them, because man did they both do some silly stuff – both prior to the book’s main setting (told in flashbacks) and during the main portion of the book. But even with that, Lowry wasn’t the typical TSTL heroine that you see, who ends up getting herself into trouble and needs to be rescued – in fact, it was her willingness to do whatever was needed for the mission to be accomplished that actually made me like her.

My main issue with the book was Jack – he was, for lack of a better word, a jackass – and honestly, it took me about 3/4 of the book before I even really started to not hate him as a character, and even then, he was barely redeemed by the end. I just didn’t think that he did anything during the course of the book to really warrant Lowry forgiving him for how he had acted in the past.

Even with my issues with Jack, I gave Hard to Forget 3.5 stars, which was an improvement on the previous book. I’m interested to see where she takes the series, and more importantly, I want to know if Will (who has been a secondary character in both books so far) is going to get his own story – because he needs one.

 
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Posted by on November 30, 2014 in Book Review

 

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Review – Designed for Love – Kelsey Browning

29 Nov

designed for loveDesigned for Love
Author: Kelsey Browning
Series: #4 in the Texas Nights series
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Review Copy Provided by Author

Description:
Ashton Davenport: Hot blonde. Old Money. Off-limits.

That’s how Mac McLaughlin sees her, anyway. And now that he’s enduring a temporary self-imposed exile in tiny Shelbyville, Texas, he’s seeing her way too often. Mac only wants to succeed as the contractor for the Lily Lake development in order to rebuild his reputation and return to Dallas, pronto. A sexy distraction like Ashton was not in the plans.

Mac McLaughlin: Hot builder. Cash poor. Hands-on.

Ashton kissed her trust fund goodbye and left her life as a society princess to prove she could make it on her own. Developing Lily Lake is her big chance, but it’s hard to stay focused working side-by-side with bossy, rough-around-the-edges Mac. Especially when he pulls off his shirt.

When the discovery of an endangered species derails the project, Mac can’t afford to stick around for a stalled job. His and Ashton’s explosive chemistry aside, he’s outta there…unless she can convince him that they just might be able to build something together.

Review:
There are times when I can’t wait for a series of books to end, and others where I get upset knowing that the stories have all been told and it is time for it to end. For me, Texas Nights by Kelsey Browning is one of the latter. For four books now, we have experienced the adventures of members from Shelbyville, TX as they find friendship, love and lust in their respective stories, and Designed for Love was no different.

In DfL, we meet up with Ashton Davenport, who was first introduced in Running the Red Light, the second book in the series, where she was the less than nice – ok, make that bitchy manager who Roxanne had previously worked for – and a spoiled brat to boot. I remember disliking her then and was really unsure whether the author would be able to redeem her for me. But, she managed to do so. I don’t know if it was the antics of her dog, Napoleon, who made me laugh so hard that I worried about pee’ing my pants; or how she was willing to try new things, even if she might get burnt – but over time, I found myself liking her and glad that the Ms Browning decided to give her, her story.

Then, there was Mac…oh Mac, Mac, Mac…its funny – three of the last five books I’ve finished (including this one) somehow feature a main character involved in construction – either as a general contractor, re-furbishing a house, or as an electrician – I must be on a construction romance theme kick 😉 – but then of course, hot, sweaty, smexy men…I mean… However, as with most books, I still want something more – I think my biggest issue with DfL was that I wanted to know more about Mac – unlike the heroes in the previous books (Jamie/Cam/Beck), who had been featured in other books, this was (as far as I can recall) my first introduction to Mac (meaning, if he did appear in a previous book, I totally don’t remember). There was so much mystery surrounding him, that I was kind of disappointed and wanted a bit more when it came to the reveal about his history. Not a major gripe, just something I would have liked more of.

By far my favorite character, as alluded above, was Napoleon, the dog. I love it when an author creates an animal that is essential to the storyline (and not just put in to have a dog in the story). Of course, having following the authors blog and seen her passion for animals, that doesn’t surprise me. I have to wonder if any of Napoleon’s antics were events that have occurred in real life…especially the jock strap incident…

Overall, I gave Designed for Love a solid 4 stars, and am sad to see the series end 😦

 
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Posted by on November 29, 2014 in Book Review

 

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Review – Wood, Screws & Nails – Piper Vaughn and Kade Boehme

28 Nov

wood screws nailsWood, Screws & Nails
Authors: Piper Vaughn and Kade Boehme
Series: #1 in the Hard Hats series
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Review Copy Provided by Author

Description:
Aaron Costa’s summer was all planned. Despite having to remodel the family lake house, it would be a vacation of sorts, and he had every intention of enjoying it—until the friend who was supposed to help him got injured and left him in a lurch. He decides to take the opportunity to bond with his son and hires Julian and his roommate, Malachi, to assist.

As a broke college student, Malachi could use the money, and spending the summer with Aaron for eye candy sounds like a dream. “Look but don’t touch” becomes his motto. But when Julian starts flaking on his responsibilities and Malachi and Aaron are forced to spend long hours alone together, their mutual attraction is impossible to resist.

Aaron can’t fight the temptation sexy Malachi presents. But more than their age difference stands in their way, not the least of which is Aaron’s semi-closeted status and the fact that he’s never openly discussed his sexuality with his son. He has no idea how Julian will react when he learns his father is not only gay, he’s also dating his best friend.

Review:
As I look back on this book, I wonder where to begin because for the most I really enjoyed the experience reading this writing venture between Piper Vaughn and Kade Boehme. This wasn’t my first time reading Piper (and I’ve highly enjoyed her previous books), but it was my first time reading Kade’s stuff. I will say looking back, that the writing styles between the two blended together so well, I honestly had no idea who wrote what parts (which I loved). I’ll also point out that I loved the double entendre in the title – Wood, Screws, & Nails – not only did it fit within the whole construction theme of the book, but also within the romance and dirty talk (and I am a sucker for dirty talk among couples).

I’ll admit the whole age different between the two main characters at first kind of squicked me out – I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like the age-gap idea in romance, but I think it was more the younger guy being the same age as his son. I know that shouldn’t have bugged me, but at first it did. Thankfully, as their relationship started to develop, those feelings that I had dissipated and I liked seeing their love for each other blossom. But I won’t ever be able to look the same way at a construction site if I ever get my house re-done because of one particular scene about ¾ of the way through (but don’t worry – I’m not going to spoil it for you guys who haven’t read it yet).

While not a dislike, per say, I had visualization images of Malachi/Mal – mostly because (and I know this is weird), but I have a friend from the Navy, Malachi, who also goes by Mal – so I kept seeing him when the authors were trying to paint a different image. I know that is probably weird, but mostly, I think its because Malachi isn’t a real common name, so it was natural for me to draw (or not draw similarities)

Most of my dislike from the book stemmed from my dislike of Julian. In general, be it books or real life, I hate seeing people who get away with whatever actions they want with no consequence. I spent a good portion of the book, alternating yelling (mentally) at Aaron to do something about him and hoping that nothing serious would actually happen. Even at the end, I felt that the resolution was just too nice and tied up in a pretty bow. That part of the book needed just a little bit more to fully-flesh out the conflict.

Aside from the whole Julian issue, I really enjoyed Wood, Screws, & Nails and am interested to see how the next book in the series (Hook, Line & Sinker) plays out – even if it appears as though it has different characters. I like the pairing of Piper and Kade in writing and think this is a partnering that could last through a few more books (pretty please!).

Overall, I gave Wood, Screws, & Nails 3.5 stars.

~Dee

 
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Posted by on November 28, 2014 in Book Review

 

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Review – Long Way Home – Neve Cottrell

11 Nov

long way homeLong Way Home
Author: Neve Cottrell
Series: #1 in the Mangrove Island series
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆

Review Copy Provided by Author

Description:
Tyler Barnes can’t believe his eyes when Alexis MacAdams walks back into his life. His high school crush left Mangrove Island seventeen years ago and never looked back. He’s held on to the memory of her, even though she never gave him a second glance. Now Alexis is back for the holidays and Tyler is determined to make a lasting impression before she slips away again. He soon learns, however, that her broken heart needs to heal before he has a chance to win it. Can Tyler convince her to risk her heart for a second time?

Review:
Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a sucker for childhood crush/reunited romance/second chance romance type stories (i’m throwing them all in together, because in general, at least 2of those elements are normally represented somehow). so when Ms Cottrell sent me an email requesting a review for her debut novel, I was intrigued. The cover immediately caught my eye, you could tell that time and effort had been put into the design and it looked suitable for a book set on an island with lots of beach scenes.

Unfortunately, after I started reading, I hit a bit of a snag – I don’t know what it was exactly, but I really struggled with the writing style for probably the first 20% or so. In fact, I actually debated putting it down and not finishing the book. But then, I got stuck on a bus in traffic with only my phone to keep me entertained for a couple of hours and I picked up Long Way Home and started reading again. And this time, it worked. I don’t know what it was when I first tried to read it, compared to the second time, but it just worked for me.

Overall, I thought the author did a good job of developing her characters – there were a few places where I felt like some of the actions of the characters were a bit disconnected with how I imagined them, based on previous descriptions. There were also a few places where the dialogue between the characters seemed overly formal, compared to how people really talk (like the use of contractions). But I think that is something that will develop more fully overtime.

I am interested to see where she goes next with the series, as there were many secondary characters in Long Way Home that I would like to see more of. Overall, I gave Long Way Home a solid 3 stars.

 
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Posted by on November 11, 2014 in Book Review

 

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Review – Hollywood on Tap – Avery Flynn

06 Nov

hollywood on tapHollywood on Tap
Author: Avery Flynn
Series: #2 in the Sweet Salvation Brewery series

Review Copy Provided by Author

Description:
For years, Sean O’Dell has hidden his past as a Hollywood heartthrob from everyone at the Sweet Salvation Brewery. However, the arrival of nosey efficiency expert Natalie Sweet threatens the status quo. It doesn’t help that with her glasses, buttoned-up sweaters and always pulled-back hair that she’s uncovered one secret already: His attraction for hot librarian types.

Natalie has had enough of the strong-and-silent Sean submarining her efforts to change the brewery for the better. She’s ready to do whatever it takes to make her vision a reality, even if that means taking down the pig-headed and too-hot-for-his-own-good brewmaster.

Sizzling attraction battles stubborn determination as Natalie and Sean go head to head in a battle that’s anything but business as usual.

Review:
Why is it that books I really enjoy, I have a hard time writing reviews of? Case in point, I’ve been staring at the computer screen for this one for at least an hour – so i guess i’m just going to start writing and hopefully something that resembles a good review (because the book was good) will result. But anyways, I remember after I finished reading Enemies on Tap (the first book in the series), that I pretty much sent the author a twitter msg asking when Sean was going to get his book – and of course, I got the very coy response, don’t worry he’ll get his. So when I saw the description for Hollywood on Tap and saw it was his book, there were immediate jumps of joy. I mean, who doesn’t love a curmudgeon (and isn’t that an awesome word) who finds his happy ever after?

Hollywood on Tap picks up a few months after Enemies on Tap. While EoT (since i’m too lazy to write out the whole title) occurred during a time of upheaval in the brewing company, Hollywood on Tap, finds things mostly settled down and a normal rhythm being established. I say mostly settled down because there were some events that occurred in the previous book that had some influence in how Hollywood on Tap played out.

I will admit that I had a hard time connecting with Natalie as a character because I am likely the complete antithesis of her – i’m not organized, I attempted to color-code something (which lasted all of about 5 minutes) and my office (as my mother will attest) resembles Sean’s in organizational level. And of course, I loved Sean from when he was introduced as a character – that being said, I’m also not a huge fan of the secret identity trope – I get why people may do it (I mean, heck, I just participated in a blog hop about pseudonym’s in blogging) – but it just felt like something was missing.

Don’t get me wrong, Hollywood on Tap was filed with Avery flynn’s spunky characters and whitty reparte (oh why can’t I write like that) – and I loved seeing Logan/Miranda from book 1 again (albiet only briefly) – but I wanted a bit more. The mystery element was nice, even though I kind of had it figure out how it was (even with the twist). i think my favorite part of the story is seeing the town and how people interact with others – those who step up to support the Sweet’s and those that continue to hold grudges against them (cough, like the local law enforcement, cough). I do feel like the story could have had a little bit more at the end – everything turned out a bit too pretty and tied up in a bow (for lack of a better term) for me.

Overall, I gave Hollywood on Tap 3.5 stars (rounding it up to 4 on Goodreads/amazon) – a solid story, hot in places which made for an entertaining read. I’ll be interested to see where the next book in the series takes me.

 
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Posted by on November 6, 2014 in Book Review

 

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Review – Just for You – Rosalind James

17 Oct

just for youJust for You
Author: Rosalind James
Series: #.5 in the Escape to New Zealand series
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2

Review Copy Provided by Author

Description:
No shirt, no shoes, no … problems?

Hemi Ranapia isn’t looking for love. Fun, yes. Love, not so much. But a summer fishing holiday to laid-back Russell could turn out to be more adventure than this good-time boy ever bargained for.

Reka Harata hasn’t forgotten the disastrously hot rugby star she met a year ago, no matter how much she wishes she could. Too bad Hemi keeps refusing to be left in her past.

Sometimes, especially in New Zealand’s Maori Northland, it really does take a village. And sometimes it just takes a little faith.

Review:
If you are new to Rosalind James or have previously read her books, Just for You works for everyone. Notionally, a prequel to her Escape to New Zealand series, it focuses on Hemi and Reka who are pivotal secondary characters through the other 5 books in the series. So if you have read the series, like me, you are probably looking forward to their story and if you are new to the series, then it is a great place to start.

Just for You was originally a novella that showed up in one of the Amazon box sets, but the author re-released it as a single title a few months after. So it was also a short read, but I will say that the author managed to put a lot of detail and story into a 33k words. This book, much more than previous ones, really highlighted how much the author knows about rugby – at times I felt like I was actually watching the game.

My biggest gripe was the “big misunderstanding” which is personally one of my least favorite tropes in romance. It just bugs me because most of the time, it could be cleared up with a couple of simple questions. While I liked Reka in previous books, this just kind of irked me – maybe because it wasn’t how I thought she’d act based on previous characterization.

Aside from that, my only other complaint is that I wished it was a little bit longer – I really liked Hemi/Reka as a couple and would love to see more of them as they settled into their lives together. I guess all I can hope is that the author will continue to feature them in more books. Overall, I gave Just for You 3.5 stars and look forward to continuing the series.

 
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Posted by on October 17, 2014 in Book Review, Review

 

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