Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Book Review: Always My Baby



Author: Martha Kennerson
Title: Always My Baby
Publisher: Kimani Romance
Publish Date: April 18, 2017
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: The sweetest surprise…

Ambitious environmental attorney China Edwards pursues every goal with drive and dedication. Having a baby is no different. No husband? No problem—she'll find the perfect donor. Then one spontaneous passionate night with bachelor executive Alexander Kingsley leaves these two longtime friends with an unanticipated benefit, and throws China's future plans into turmoil.

China's brilliant legal mind and friendship are indispensable to Alexander and his multibillion-dollar oil firm. And the possibility of her moving on makes him realize how deep his feelings actually run. Then their all-business relationship takes a wildly erotic detour…until Alexander is drawn into a company scandal that rocks his life. With trust in tatters, can an unplanned bundle of joy lead them to become the family they never expected?


Review: First, I have to make a comment on the cover image. The woman looks like JLo. So the whole time I'm reading this, I have an image of China looking like JLo. Yeah..I'm that kind of weird.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The style was very much like a Harlequin Desire, with your super wealthy, kinda alpha male. Alexander was super sexy, and its a given that China is hot. This is a friends to lovers trope and what a fabulous book it was.

Martha Kennerson, created a wide range of characters that you really get attached too, even if they are only secondary characters, and the story plays out like a fabulous soap opera that you can't turn off.

China is a great strong heroine that really knows what she wants. (A baby...with or without a husband) The only thing that this woman who was raised by older parents didn't like was how she was ashamed that her mom had her late in life and she looked more like a grandmother than a mother.

Along with the relationship that is changing, there is the mystery of who is sabotaging Alexander's company. The family business is in oil and someone is trying to bring the EPA down on them. That part of the story is enough to make you turn the pages, because it isn't easy to figure out who the baddie is here.

The relationship between Alexander and China is fabulous and hot. I don't think I've ever read a book where two characters belong together more. I also love that both characters were hardworking and career driven.

The baby reveal was brilliant too, though it was hard to believe that so many people seemed to know without saying except China.

Fabulous read! I definitely would read Martha Kennerson again.

Rating: 5 flowers




Pump Up Your Book Book Review: Witch Cake Murders

Author: Zoe Arden
Title: Witch Cake Murders
Publisher: ReedFoster Press House
Publish Date: April 23,2017
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: Witches and humans have always existed peacefully in Sweetland Cove... until now. .

Someone is killing humans and drawing unwanted attention to the supernatural residents of Sweetland Cove.

Ava Rose just turned twenty-one, and with her birthday came a few surprises. One: she's a witch. Two: she's part owner of a magical bakery she never knew existed. Three: Someone wants her dead.

The day Ava arrives in Sweetland Cove, murders begin occurring... Witches and wizards are quick to blame her, but Ava's aunts won't let the town they love turn against her.

But murders follow Ava everywhere. .

Soon, she finds herself on the receiving end of the killer's mad spree. With a crazy wizarding sheriff who wants to lock her up, and an even crazier wizarding detective who wants to lock her whole family up, Ava must solve this case alone.

But as the days pass and the only clues point to her, Ava starts to wonder if maybe the sheriff is right.

Maybe she really is the killer. .

The only thing Ava knows for sure is that the witches of Sweetland are not happy with her. Especially those witches who have something to hide. And they all have something to hide. .

Can Ava stop the killer before they strike again... even if that killer is her?

Review: The cover of this book got my attention. I have to admit I'm a huge fan of "witchy" books and stuff. Bewitched  and Sabrina are two of my favorite shows.

Its the first book in a new series, but if you read Cake Spell Disaster, you'll recognize a lot of things. It's kind of a continuation from that book. (I have to read that one). So for some this may feel like book 2, but its not.

Most cozies that I read feature older heroines, but thats not Ava. She's only 21 and she's a witch.

I was totally enthralled by this story from the first page. Its a fun fast paced read.
Rating: 5 flowers


Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Book Review: Lucas



LUCAS
By USA Today bestselling author
Delores Fossen

A Texas Lawman will do anything to protect his son – even if it includes reuniting with the boy’s on-the-run mother…

Lucas Ryland has always had a way with the ladies. That is, until Hailey Darrow dropped him after a single night of passion. Then he discovered her unconscious body in a wrecked car with a fake ID and enough money to disappear. Unbeknown to him, the one who got away was leaving town with his baby…

Now Hailey is out of her coma, but still in danger. However, hiding her at his Silver Creek ranch ignites old passions and introduces new threats. Lucas must use every protective instinct in his arsenal to keep Hailey and their infant son safe. And to keep his body from remembering how good it felt to hold her in his arms.

Review:  Delores Fossen writes a pretty good intrigue. This one, however felt a little too far fetched for me.  Hailey is woman coming out of a coma and on the run to protect her baby. If Criminal Minds or any similar show had a romantic twist, this could easily have been a plot.

Guns are blazing, there are kidnapped babies, bombs going off, oh and a woman fresh out of coma, who managed to make doctors think she was still under for a week. Oh and did we mention that while she was in that coma she gave birth?

Yeah!

Fiction can be strange sometimes.

I've found that though Fossen's Intrigues are good, they lack something that you find in her longer novels. Romance is barely there even though Hailey and Lucas shared at least one night together and that night produced Camden.

It was hard to figure out who the baddie was in this one. There were a lot of possibilities in this one, with one of them being Hailey's sister, Colleen who had a baby with a pretty bad guy. 

So yeah..a lot of action going on and everyone is after the children.

If you like thrillers, this is a great book. If you want something on the romantic side of thing, this might be one to pass on.

Rating: 4 flowers





DELORES FOSSEN is a USA Today bestselling author and an Air Force veteran who has sold millions of copies of her novels. She’s received the Booksellers’ Best Award for romantic suspense, the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, and was a finalist for the prestigious Rita. She’s written more than 50 books and has nearly 100 short stories and articles published in national magazines.

Tasty Book Tours Release Blast: Lightstruck



Brewer Ross has given up on love…until he meets a woman who turns his life—and brewery—upside down.


LIGHTSTRUCK
The Brewing Passion Series #2
Liz Crowe
Releasing May 30, 2017
Totally Bound


Brewer Ross has given up on love…until he meets a woman who turns his life—and brewery—upside down.

Ross Hoffman held the potential for a perfect life in his hands—a life with Evelyn, the only woman he’d ever allowed himself to love, their baby and…her husband, Austin Fitzgerald, who also happened to be his best friend. But the challenge of trying to make a threesome into something acceptable—let alone the thought of actually sharing Evelyn with anyone—forces him to bolt. Determined to put all thoughts of their relationship behind him, Ross jumps headfirst into a new brewery job in Colorado, and back into the sort of sexual decadence that he hopes will distract him from his misery.

When he agrees to assist Austin through a spate of brewery mishaps, he lays eyes on his true fate—in the form of the petite, mysterious and exotic Elisa Nagel. Hired as assistant brewer, Elisa is absolutely everything he believes he doesn’t want in a woman. But he’s drawn to her in ways he can’t explain, and he can’t help but fall hard, fast and deep, which places him square in the middle of her horrific, until now secret backstory.

Ross is determined that his love will conquer and overcome the horrors of Elisa’s past, allowing her to trust him with the only thing he desires—her heart.

Reader Advisory: This book contains a scene with attempted rape and violence, as well as a brief scene alluding to person being drugged and raped.




Now Available for Pre-Order
CONDITIONED
Brewing Passions Book Three





Amazon best-selling author, mom of three, Realtor, beer blogger, brewery marketing expert, and soccer fan, Liz Crowe is a Kentucky native and graduate of the University of Louisville currently living in Ann Arbor. She has decades of experience in sales and fund raising, plus an eight-year stint as a three-continent, ex-pat trailing spouse.

Her early forays into the publishing world led to a groundbreaking fiction subgenre, “Romance: Worth the Risk,” which has gained thousands of fans and followers interested less in the “HEA” and more in the “WHA” (“What Happens After?”).

With stories set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer pitch, in successful real estate offices and at times in exotic locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are unique and told with a fresh voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight, frustrate and linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.

Don’t ever ask her for anything “like a Budweiser” or risk bodily injury.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Book Review: Real Murders

Author: Charlaine Harris
Title: Real Murders
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Publish Date: December 1, 1990
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: 
Though a small town at heart, Lawrenceton, Georgia, has its dark side-and crime buffs. One of whom is librarian Aurora "Roe" Teagarden, a member of the Real Murders Club, which meets once a month to analyze famous cases.


It's a harmless pastime-until the night she finds a member killed in a manner that eerily resembles the crime the club was about to discuss. And as other brutal "copycat" killings follow, Roe will have to uncover the person behind the terrifying game, one that casts all the members of Real Murders, herself included, as prime suspects-or potential victims.


Review: I have never picked up and actually read any of Charlaine Harris' books, even though the entire Sookie series sits on one of my bookcases.

Yeah, my TBR pile is that big.

A few weeks ago, I watched on of the made for tv movies based on the Aurora Teagarden series on Hallmark Mysteries and More, and I enjoyed it, so I wanted to see what the books were like.

Real Murders was a really unique book. Its a sort of cozy mystery, but with a little darker flair to it. Aurora is an interesting heroine. I had to remind myself that this book was published in 1990 (when I was still in high school). She's a 28 year old librarian, with a little bit of inferiority complex. So yeah, I liked her. (I definitely don't see her as Candace Cameron Bure).

Real Murders is an interesting if somewhat macabre group of people, though the group play more a part in the actual murders than in solving them in this book. Someone is targeting them and using murders that the members know about as inspiration.

I was surprised at how little actual sleuthing was done by Roe, which was another thing that set this book apart from other "cozies."

I'm not sure where Aurora falls in the mystery genre, but she's a wonderfully quirky character and there are the typical 2 guys that start vying for her attention. (Why is this always a mystery series thing?) I look forward to reading more of this series.

Rating: 4 flowers



Thursday, May 25, 2017

Tasty Book Tours Excerpt Reveal: I Knew You Were Trouble


A feisty beauty must choose between winning back Mr. Right 
or giving in to Mr. Wrong.


I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE
Oxford Series #4
Lauren Layne
Releasing June 13, 2017
Loveswept


New York City’s hottest bachelors are stirring up trouble in this fun, flirty Oxford Novel, as a love triangle forces a feisty beauty to choose between winning back Mr. Right or giving in to Mr. Wrong.

Taylor Carr has it all—a sleek job in advertising, a stunning Manhattan apartment, and the perfect man to share it with: Bradley Calloway. Even after Bradley dumps her for a co-worker on move-in day, Taylor isn’t worried. She’ll get her man eventually. In the meantime, she needs a new roommate. Enter Nick Ballantine, career bartender, freelance writer—and longtime pain in Taylor’s ass. Sexy in a permanent five-o’clock-shadow kind of way, Nick knows how to push Taylor’s buttons, as if he could see right through to the real her.

Nick’s always trying to fix people, and nobody could use a good fixing more than Taylor. Sure, she’s gorgeous, with mesmerizing silver eyes, but it’s her vulnerability that kills him. Now that they’re shacking up together, the chemistry is out of control. Soon they’re putting every part of their two-bedroom apartment to good use. Then Taylor’s ex comes crawling back to her, and Nick figures she’ll jump at the chance to go back to her old life—unless he fights for the best thing that ever happened to him.



PRE-ORDER TODAY!


Bradley froze when he saw her, and she was pretty sure she saw the urge to turn and run flicker across his face.
Again she felt a stab of disappointment. In him. And in herself for apparently having misread him. She’d thought he was better than this.
Bradley’s eyes moved between her and Nick, and though he didn’t look all that surprised at seeing them bickering, his gaze grew hard as he saw Nick’s hand on Taylor’s face.
Nick, naturally, took his sweet time removing it, and she resisted the urge to kick his shin.
“Morning, Bradley,” Taylor said, pleased that her voice sounded calm and friendly. As well it should. She’d had plenty of practice over the better part of a year pretending that she and Bradley were nothing more than colleagues.
Other than a few close friends who knew they were dating, they’d done a mostly decent job of hiding their romantic relationship from coworkers. Better than she and Nick had done hiding their antagonistic one.
“Hey, Taylor. Nick,” Bradley said.
He entered the room and reached for a coffee mug, turning his attention toward the other man. “Didn’t realize you’d taken on another assignment. What for?”
“Not sure,” Nick said, checking his watch. “Have a meeting with Cassidy in a few to find out.”
“Here’s hoping it’s an offsite gig that takes you far, far away. Maybe he needs someone to cover Siberian winters,” Taylor said to Nick, even as she watched Bradley out of the corner of her eye.
“Don’t need to travel to find severe winter. It doesn’t get any chillier than right here,” Nick retorted, waving his hand over her head in a storm cloud gesture.
She shoved his hand aside, her attention still on Bradley, who was determinedly avoiding her gaze.
Coward.
It was going to be darn hard to get him to see reason when he wouldn’t even make eye contact.
Nick, ever too perceptive for his own good, noticed the tension and gave a quick look between her and Bradley, his gaze turning speculative.
She shot him a warning look that clearly said, Dont.
He shot an answering smile that clearly said, Watch me.
“Bradley, don’t suppose you’re in the market for a roommate?” Nick asked, his voice deceptively casual.
Bradley’s head snapped up, and finally, finally his blue gaze collided with Taylor’s. Dammit. Why did he have to be so beautiful? He was like a mischievous angel, all twinkling blue eyes, dimples, a sexy cleft in his chin, dark blond wavy hair . . .
“What?” he asked Nick distractedly, still looking at Taylor.
“Taylor here wants to share her original crown molding with someone.”
Bradley winced, and Taylor felt a little surge of gratitude toward Nick. He couldn’t have known it, but it was the perfect jab. She and Bradley were both into prewar architecture—had eaten up the broker’s description of all the building’s original elements.
Taylor should be sharing that crown molding with Bradley. And he damn well knew it.
His eyes met hers in silent misery—an apology that she wasn’t quite ready to accept. Heck, she wasn’t even ready to acknowledge it, because she had no intention of being dumped. Not by him, not by any man.
Taylor ignored the guilt written all over Bradley’s face as she held his gaze. “Yes, it seems I unexpectedly have a free bedroom and more rent than I can afford. If either of you knows anyone looking for a roommate . . .”
Bradley’s handsome face twisted regretfully, and he set his coffee aside, taking a step toward her, apparently forgetting—or not caring—that Nick was still in the room.
“Taylor. Damn it. I told you—”
“Actually, I do,” Nick said, interrupting.
Taylor forced her gaze away from Bradley’s pleading face toward Nick’s smug one. “You know someone who needs a roommate?”
“Yup.” He crossed his arms and watched her.
She made an impatient gesture with her hand. “Who? It can’t be one of your ex-girlfriends—I don’t want to inadvertently hear any gross details about you. And not one of your frat-boy guy friends—my living room isn’t cut out for Call of Duty.”
“Yeah, because that’s all I do all day.”
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, for real, who is it?”
His grin was slow, sly, and the very definition of trouble. “Me.”



Lauren Layne is the New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen romantic comedies.

A former e-commerce and web marketing manager from Seattle, Lauren relocated to New York City in 2011 to pursue a full-time writing career.

She lives in midtown Manhattan with her high-school sweetheart, where she writes smart romantic comedies with just enough sexy-times to make your mother blush. In LL's ideal world, every stiletto-wearing, Kate Spade wielding woman would carry a Kindle stocked with Lauren Layne books. 



*No Purchase Necessary*


Tuesday, May 23, 2017

TLC Book Tours Book Review: Same Beach, Next Year

About Same Beach, Next Year


• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (May 16, 2017)

New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank returns to her magical Lowcountry of South Carolina in this bewitching story of marriage, love, family, and friendship that is infused with her warm and engaging earthy humor and generous heart.

One enchanted summer, two couples begin a friendship that will last more than twenty years and transform their lives.

A chance meeting on the Isle of Palms, one of Charleston’s most stunning barrier islands, brings former sweethearts, Adam Stanley and Eve Landers together again. Their respective spouses, Eliza and Carl, fight sparks of jealousy flaring from their imagined rekindling of old flames. As Adam and Eve get caught up on their lives, their partners strike up a deep friendship—and flirt with an unexpected attraction—of their own.

Year after year, Adam, Eliza, Eve, and Carl eagerly await their reunion at Wild Dunes, a condominium complex at the island’s tip end, where they grow closer with each passing day, building a friendship that will withstand financial catastrophe, family tragedy, and devastating heartbreak. The devotion and love they share will help them weather the vagaries of time and enrich their lives as circumstances change, their children grow up and leave home, and their twilight years approach.

Bursting with the intoxicating richness of Dorothea Benton Frank’s beloved Lowcountry—the sultry sunshine, cool ocean breezes, icy cocktails, and starry velvet skies—Same Beach, Next Year is a dazzling celebration of the infrangible power of friendship, the enduring promise of summer, and the indelible bonds of love.


Purchase Links


HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Review: Dorothea Benton Frank brought her "A" game with "Same Beach, Next Year." Every summer I look forward to reading her latest book. They go hand and hand with the warm months.

The last few summer reads were what my high school creative writing teacher called potboilers.

"Same Beach, Next Year" has the usual formula of all Dorothea's Lowcountry books; a beautiful home at the beach, a husband that has done his wife wrong, and some quirky characters. Oh and don't forget all the characters are in that upper middle class category, where the wife works for the husband, but not really because she has to.

For some reason I just really fell in love with Eliza, Adam, Eve and Carl. It was very kitschy that Adam and Eve were high school sweethearts that still kind of have feelings for each other.

The way Adam reacted to seeing Eve again was a bit over the top, but without that connection the friendship that grew between the two families wouldn't come to pass and for all of each character's faults and flaws these were two families that really were one.

I loved Eliza more than I have any of Dorothea's heroine's thus far. She was real. She was gutsy. She was a woman I'd want to be. Her reactions to things that happened as the story progressed were very much the way I'd see myself reacting.

I love how she finally started to care about her dreams. Eliza needed to be more than a wife and mother.

The family members in this story are all fabulous. I adored Adam's dad Ted and his lady friend turned wife Clarabeth and then there was Eve's mother. OMG Eve's mother, Cookie, she is just the world's biggest troublemaker. She lives to cause trouble, and you will see her in action so many times in this book. (Cookie seriously needs her own book, so we can see how she got this way)

This is a family saga of the best kind. You have the ups and downs and some serious troubles, but in the end...its all family.

This is one for the keeper shelf.

Rating: 5 flowers




About Dorothea Benton Frank


New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank was born and raised on Sullivans Island, South Carolina. She resides in the New York area with her husband.

Find her on the web at www.dotfrank.com, or like her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Historical Fiction Virtual Tours Book Review: Under The Approaching Dark

Under the Approaching Dark by Anna Belfrage

Publication Date: April 28, 2017
Matador eBook &
Paperback; 424 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
     


 Adam de Guirande has cause to believe the turbulent times are behind him: Hugh Despenser is dead and Edward II is forced to abdicate in favour of his young son. It is time to look forward, to a bright new world in which the young king, guided by his council, heals his kingdom and restores its greatness. But the turmoil is far from over. After years of strife, England in the early months of 1327 is a country in need of stability, and many turn with hope towards the new young king, Edward III. But Edward is too young to rule, so instead it is his mother, Queen Isabella, and her lover, Roger Mortimer, who do the actual governing, much to the dislike of barons such as Henry of Lancaster. In the north, the Scots take advantage of the weakened state of the realm and raid with impunity. Closer to court, it is Mortimer’s increasing powers that cause concerns – both among his enemies, but also for men like Adam, who loves Mortimer dearly, but loves the young king just as much. When it is announced that Edward II has died in September of 1327, what has so far been a grumble grows into voluble protests against Mortimer. Yet again, the spectre of rebellion haunts the land, and things are further complicated by the reappearance of one of Adam’s personal enemies. Soon enough, he and his beloved wife Kit are fighting for their survival – even more so when Adam is given a task that puts them both in the gravest of dangers.
"The writing is impeccable. The story has everything. Under the Approaching Dark is just perfect in every sense" - Sharon Bennett Connolly, History The Interesting Bits

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Chapters | IndieBound | Kobo

Review: If there is an author that I trust to write beautiful historical fiction, its Anna Belfrage. The King's Greatest Enemy series focuses on Edward II and Edward III of England.

Several years back, I read a novel that revolved around Queen Isabella but nothing can compare to anything Anna has written.  Like her other novels, you will really be amazed by the attention to detail

This was a time period that I hadn't read much about until that first book and then boom! a lot of books came out.

I'm not usually a girl that gravitates to chunky novels. It has to be an author that I truly love and trust because I have a short attention span and it usually takes me longer than usual to finish them. This is not the case with Anna's novels. They pull you in.

Fabulous book!

Rating: 5 flowers

About the Author

Anna was raised abroad, on a pungent mix of Latin American culture, English history and Swedish traditions. As a result she's multilingual and most of her reading is historical- both non-fiction and fiction. Possessed of a lively imagination, she has drawers full of potential stories, all of them set in the past. She was always going to be a writer - or a historian, preferably both. Ideally, Anna aspired to becoming a pioneer time traveler, but science has as yet not advanced to the point of making that possible. Instead she ended up with a degree in Business and Finance, with very little time to spare for her most favourite pursuit. Still, one does as one must, and in between juggling a challenging career Anna raised her four children on a potent combination of invented stories, historical debates and masses of good food and homemade cakes. They seem to thrive… For years she combined a challenging career with four children and the odd snatched moment of writing. Nowadays Anna spends most of her spare time at her writing desk. The children are half grown, the house is at times eerily silent and she slips away into her imaginary world, with her imaginary characters. Every now and then the one and only man in her life pops his head in to ensure she's still there. Other than on her website, www.annabelfrage.com, Anna can mostly be found on her blog, http://annabelfrage.wordpress.com – unless, of course, she is submerged in writing her next novel. You can also connect with Anna on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, May 1 Review at Oh, for the Hook of a Book! Tuesday, May 2 Interview at Let Them Read Books Spotlight at What Is That Book About Wednesday, May 3 Review at A Book Drunkard Thursday, May 4 Review at A Holland Reads Friday, May 5 Spotlight at The Reading Queen Monday, May 8 Review at So Many Books, So Little Time Tuesday, May 9 Review at Just One More Chapter Wednesday, May 10 Review at A Bookaholic Swede Thursday, May 11 Review at Pursuing Stacie Friday, May 12 Spotlight at Passages to the Past Monday, May 15 Review at Historical Fiction Obsession Tuesday, May 16 Review at Back Porchervations Guest Post at Ms. Stuart Requests the Pleasure of Your Company Wednesday, May 17 Spotlight at A Literary Vacation Thursday, May 18 Review at Svetlana's Reads and Views Friday, May 19 Review at Beth's Book Nook Blog Monday, May 22 Review at CelticLady's Reviews Tuesday, May 23 Review at A Chick Who Reads Review at The Muse in the Fog Book Reviews Wednesday, May 24 Excerpt at Jo's Book Blog Spotlight at The Paperback Princess Thursday, May 25 Review at Broken Teepee Friday, May 26 Spotlight at Laura's Interests Sunday, May 28 Review at Bookramblings Review at Books and Benches Monday, May 29 Guest Post at Yelena Casale's Blog Tuesday, May 30 Interview at Dianne Ascroft's Blog

Giveaway

To win a copy of Under the Approaching Dark by Anna Belfrage, please enter via the Gleam form below. Rules – Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on May 30th. You must be 18 or older to enter. – Giveaway is open internationally. – Only one entry per household. – All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion. – Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen. Under the Appraoching Dark
 
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