Thursday, January 30, 2014

Deadly Dancing (Mars Cannon #1) by Nicolette Pierce

Deadly Dancing by Nicolette Pierce is the first book in what I hope is a long series. Mars Cannon is an events coordinator who works about 80 hours a week for a lazy boss. This explains her lack of love life – and social life for that matter. However, all that changes with a murder of an exotic dancer. Now, Mars has multiple people after her: a gorgeous E.M.T. who wants more than friendship, an exotic dancer who is known by many different aliases and wants to show Mars his moves in the bedroom, and a stalker who wants her dead. The latter does not seem to be as much fun as the first two choices.

If you are a lover of Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum series), Camilla Chafer (Lexi Graves series) and Shelly Fredman (“No Such Thing as a…” series), then you will love this series. So far, only two books have been released (the second is Predator Patrol).  Nicoletta Pierce has another series that I might check out as well since it has the same ingredients as this series (one strong character, two hunky guys, and a mystery to solve). I love these kinds of books, especially when the female character is strong and not whiney. They are a fun read and here’s the best part: the first book is free (as of this posting). Yep. It’s over 400 pages for a fun free book. So go check it out.
Review by Amber

Friday, January 24, 2014

BLOG TOUR AND GIVEAWAY: Worn Me Down (Playing with Fire #3) by Tara Sivec

“Worn me down like a road. I did everything you told. Worn me down to my knees.
I did everything to please.”

Austin Conrad has never taken his personal life seriously. As a Navy SEAL, he spends all of his time in dangerous, life-threatening situations. The only way to leave behind the horrors he’s seen throughout his career, is to turn it all off when he gets home. He’s too much of a playboy to settle down; even if he did find a woman he could stand to be around for more than one night, he would never taint her life with the demons of his past.

When his best friend and SEAL team member, Brady Marshall asks him to keep an eye on his baby sister, Gwen, Austin figures it will be a walk in the park. The only thing Austin likes more than flirting his way under a beautiful woman’s skin, is walking away with a smile on his face. Austin never expects that the single mom and her little girl will be the ones getting under his skin.

Gwen Stratford knows all too well about living in a nightmare. After taking her daughter and fleeing from her abusive husband in the middle of the night several months ago, she’s worked hard to get her life back on track and forget about the man who tried to break her. Growing up under the iron thumb of her parents and then moving right on with a man who ruled their marriage with his fists, Gwen is finally able to breathe and live her life the way she wants.

When scary, mysterious things begin to happen to Gwen and her daughter, she realizes you can never outrun your past; it always has a way of catching up with you. As she struggles with the desire to keep her newfound independence, she knows she won’t be able to protect herself and her child alone. She’ll need to lean on the one man who drives her crazy.

Can Gwen really put her trust in a man who thinks life is one big joke, or will he be just another man in her life who tries to wear her down?

Where to buy


Review

Worn Me Down was amazing!  Austin is 100% swoon worthy.  He may think he hates everything pink and girly but when he and Gwen (Brady from Because of You's sister) are thrown together in Brady's absence that all changes.  I cried so many times reading this book.  From reading about Gwen's past, Austin's past or the totally unexpected ending my emotions really got a workout!

Austin tries keep his walls built up.  He has never had anything close to a real family and he doesn't think he needs one.  He is all about the job, going from mission to mission with little to no down time between them.  He lives and breathes being a Navy SEAL.  Gwen brings out a side of him that I LOVED and oh my god, he turns into a big ball of Barbie playing mush when Gwen's daughter is around.  He is everything I love in an Alpha Male!

Gwen is an awesome leading lady.  She is independent, self sufficient, and she refuses to take anyone's crap.  She can take care of and defend herself and her baby.  She does her best to make sure her past does not control her.  I loved watching her grow as a mother and a woman thought this story.

I can't wait to read Cole's book, Closer to the Edge, due out sometime this summer!
Review by Danielle

About the author

Tara Sivec is a USA Today best-selling author, wife, mother, chauffeur, maid, short-order cook, baby-sitter, and sarcasm expert. She lives in Ohio with her husband and two children and looks forward to the day when they all three of them become adults and move out.

After working in the brokerage business for fourteen years, Tara decided to pick up a pen and write instead of shoving it in her eye out of boredom. She is the author of the Playing with Fire series and the Chocolate Lovers series. Her novel Seduction and Snacks won first place in the Indie Romance Convention Reader’s Choice Awards 2013 for Best Indie First Book.

In her spare time, Tara loves to dream about all of the baking she’ll do and naps she’ll take when she ever gets spare time.

Tara also writes under the pen name T.E. Sivec.

Connect with Tara Sivec 

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Worn Me Down (Playing with Fire #3) by T.E. Sivec

Worn Me Down was amazing!  Austin is 100% swoon worthy.  He may think he hates everything pink and girly but when he and Gwen (Brady from Because of You's sister) are thrown together in Brady's absence that all changes.  I cried so many times reading this book.  From reading about Gwen's past, Austin's past or the totally unexpected ending my emotions really got a workout!

Austin tries keep his walls built up.  He has never had anything close to a real family and he doesn't think he needs one.  He is all about the job, going from mission to mission with little to no down time between them.  He lives and breathes being a Navy SEAL.  Gwen brings out a side of him that I LOVED and oh my god, he turns into a big ball of Barbie playing mush when Gwen's daughter is around.  He is everything I love in an Alpha Male!

Gwen is an awesome leading lady.  She is independent, self sufficient, and she refuses to take anyone's crap.  She can take care of and defend herself and her baby.  She does her best to make sure her past does not control her.  I loved watching her grow as a mother and a woman thought this story.

I can't wait to read Cole's book, Closer to the Edge, due out sometime this summer!
Review by Danielle

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Connected (Connections #1) by Kim Karr

Connected is the first book in the Connection Series by Kim Karr.  Dahlia is a woman who has an instant connection to a man she only met for a second in a bar.  But it was not meant to be.  Why you ask?  Because Dahlia had a boyfriend at the time. Poor Dahlia.  Kim Karr definitely had it out for her and had me tugging at my heart strings for relief.  Her life is a story of tragedy, but she keeps trucking on with the help of her boyfriend and his family.

Years later tragedy strikes once again and Dahlia doesn't know if she will ever recover.  Until she meets River.  Again.  And again they have the same instant connection.   Do you believe in love at first sight?  Dahlia’s not sure but when she meets up with River –who by the way, is a lead singer of a famous band and is super-hot – she starts to wonder if they were fated to be together.

I loved the story.  I loved how this nice little web Ms. Karr weaved was created.  I was definitely pulled in and after reading the last page of the book, I had to immediately purchase book two, Torn.  I have a feeling Dahlia’s tragedies are far from over.  The story wraps up nicely, however, the epilogue leaves you with a cliffhanger for book 2.  I’m typically not a fan of cliffhangers, but I didn’t mind it in this one.  In fact, my thought at the end of the book was, “Well played Ms. Karr. Well played”.  In the beginning, I wasn’t sure how the insta-love connection was going to go with me, I’m not usually a fan. However, after reading the book I don’t know how it could have been anything other than love at first sigh for Dahlia and Rivert.  It had to be written that way.  Dahlia and River are two people who love hard and with all their hearts so it is really hard to imagine them in a different scenario. They definitely can’t get enough of each other, that’s for sure (there are plenty of scenes that back that up!).

I have an idea how things are going to play out and what will be revealed Torn as Kim Karr provides plenty of foreshadowing throughout the book to keep our wheels turning.  I cannot wait to see what is in store. According to Goodreads there are six books and 2 novellas planned for the Connections series, with books 1-3 and one novella already published (click here for details).  Kim Karr also includes an awesome playlist and suggests listening to those songs before each chapter is read. I found myself playing the songs in my head as they were brought up in each chapter. I have no doubt that listening to the songs before each chapter would enhance the experience, I don’t think I could stop reading long enough to do so.
Review by Amber

Thursday, January 16, 2014

BLOG TOUR AND GIVEAWAY: Euphoria (Book Boyfriend #3) by Erin Noelle

After a series of catastrophic misunderstandings and impulsively poor decision-making, Scarlett MacGregor finds herself once again torn between two loves, as different as they may be. Lacking proper closure with their relationship, accompanied by the overwhelming guilt for her role in his devastating downfall, Scarlett resolves to help Mason recover and reclaim his life as a budding rock star. However, now that he has finally claimed her as his, Ash Walker is bound and determined to keep her by his side, and he will go to any lengths necessary to do just that.

Mason Templeton has hit rock bottom. He’s in love with a girl whose heart and soul belong to another and he’s partied his way off of an international music tour that was supposed to be his big break. Returning home for rehab sounds like the worst possible way to start a new year, but when an unexpected friendship emerges, he begins to realize that maybe everything does happen for a reason.

Euphoria is the third and final installment of Scarlett, Ash, and Mason’s self-discovering journeys to happiness and understanding the meaning of true love ~ the kind that begs for complete surrender
Recommended for readers 17+ due to sexual content and harsh language.

Where to buy

Euphoria (#3)

Metamorphosis (#1)

Ambrosia (#2)

Review

Fair warning - I ugly cried.  I ugly cried so bad I woke my husband from a sound sleep in full panic mode because he was worried something had happened to me.  At first I was crying because I was upset, then I was crying because I was pissed.  Maybe its the pregnancy hormones wreaking havoc though my body, but this is the first time I ugly cried that I didn't feel it was worth it by the end.  Not to say I didn't love Euphoria, because I did, 4 stars all the way, it just that the events that lead up to the ending were not the events that I was hoping for and I can't seem to get over it.

The final installment of the story between Mase, Scarlett, and Ash is truly the biggest roller coaster ride of the series.  It's been a long time since a story has played with my emotions so fully that I experienced everything from pure love and exhilaration to an anger so intense I almost threw my eReader across the room.  I'm glad I got on the ride, even if I wasn't happy about everything that happened.  That's life, right?  Not everything happens as perfectly as it does in the books we read, even sometimes the books themselves!

Overall I really liked this series.  I like seeing the names of and references to so many of my favorite books throughout the series.  I enjoyed how Erin Noelle used inspiration from the books Scarlett read as inspiration for Scarlett's story, it was a unique twist that I really enjoyed.
Review by Danielle

About the Author

Erin Noelle is a Texas native, where she lives with her husband and two daughters. First a bookkeeper, and now an author, she often jokes that she’s a woman of numbers by day and letters by night. Erin is an avid reader of all romance novels and a huge sports fan. Most nights you can find her cuddled up in bed with her husband, her Kindle in hand and a game of some sorts on tv. You can follow her on Facebook @ www.facebook.com/erin.noelle.98.




GIVEAWAY #1

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Giveaway #2

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Euphoria (Book Boyfriend #3) by Erin Noelle

Fair warning - I ugly cried.  I ugly cried so bad I woke my husband from a sound sleep in full panic mode because he was worried something had happened to me.  At first I was crying because I was upset, then I was crying because I was pissed.  Maybe its the pregnancy hormones wreaking havoc though my body, but this is the first time I ugly cried that I didn't feel it was worth it by the end.  Not to say I didn't love Euphoria, because I did, 4 stars all the way, it just that the events that lead up to the ending were not the events that I was hoping for and I can't seem to get over it.

The final installment of the story between Mase, Scarlett, and Ash is truly the biggest roller coaster ride of the series.  It's been a long time since a story has played with my emotions so fully that I experienced everything from pure love and exhilaration to an anger so intense I almost threw my eReader across the room.  I'm glad I got on the ride, even if I wasn't happy about everything that happened.  That's life, right?  Not everything happens as perfectly as it does in the books we read, even sometimes the books themselves!

Overall I really liked this series.  I like seeing the names of and references to so many of my favorite books throughout the series.  I enjoyed how Erin Noelle used inspiration from the books Scarlett read as inspiration for Scarlett's story, it was a unique twist that I really enjoyed.
Review by Danielle

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

BLOG TOUR AND GIVEAWAY: Cake by Nicole Reed

Would you be willing to make a mess of your life to get exactly what you want?

Kylie Lord has known Trent Moss and Dray Savage since college. Trent, the smart and kind-hearted humanitarian has had her heart from the moment they met, but someone else always has his. Dray is an arrogant professional football player who happens to be Trent’s best friend and Kylie’s nemesis “with benefits.”

Five years after graduation, Kylie is commanding the world with a new image and a successful business; however, she lacks the one thing she wants and the one thing she can never have. That is, until one fateful night when Kylie decides to go after all of her forbidden fantasies and risk everything.

Two men, completely different and poles apart, but together they are her idea of perfection. One can only offer her tonight and the other forever, but can Kylie settle for just one man, or can she have her cake and eat it too?

Add to your Goodreads TBR list!


Where to buy


Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Amazon CA | Amazon UK

Review


If you are looking for a quick, hot read then this is your book! I wanted something that would draw me in and keep me interested and this certainly did the trick! There were a few aspects of this book that I didn't love (a few plot points that kind of just disappeared or were left unresolved), but overall I really enjoyed it.

There are several "mind candy" men in this book, but I think Drey was my favorite.  The bad boy with commitment issues who falls madly in love is always a plus... and then there is his brother Trent... the good boy next door who is literally out saving the world. SWOON!  Add them together in a nice little love triangle, and you have all of the makings of a great book!

I felt a lot of compassion for Kylie.  Pining for a man she has loved for years but can never have, while her true love could very possibly be right in front of her!  And I absolutely LOVE Madison and her blunt way about her.  Every girl needs a best friend like her, especially when it comes to telling you the hard cold truth that everyone but you can see!

Review by Jillian

About the author


I love angst….I thrive on it, but only the fictional kind. I adore a story that grips the reader from the beginning and doesn’t let go…EVER. I’m an avid reader who just recently discovered my love of writing. My favorite things in life include my three wild & crazy kids, Reese’s Pieces, and every genre of music.  I reside in the Deep South.







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