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Saturday, February 13, 2016

Weekly Winners

Below is a list of all of the winners from last week.

Sue G.
Melissa B.
Mai T.
Erin F.
Christina R.
Nicole O.
Kristina H.
Laney4
Joanne B.
VeRONIca
Spanish Lessons by Jessica Peterson

Melissa K.
Against the Tide by Kat Martin

MaryJane T.
Wicked Sexy Liar by Christina Lauren


All winners have been notified via email and are posted on the Rafflecopter form from that giveaway post. Thank you to everyone that stopped by and entered. =)

Sealed With a Kiss Event with Sally Orr


Sally Orr worked for 30 years in academic research, then one day a friend challenged her to write a novel. Since she is a hopeless Anglophile, her books are naturally Regency-era romances. She lives with her husband in San Diego surrounded by too many books and not enough old English cars.

ARC Review: The Groom Wore Plaid by Gayle Callen


This is Gayle Callen’s second book of the Highland Weddings series; I wish I read the first one. Not just because it sounds like a really good book but starting this one felt like I jumped into the book and missed the first couple of chapters. I don’t think it is absolutely necessary that you read the first one; she does a good job of bringing what happened previously up naturally in conversation. I just felt like I missed out on something. Gayle Callen has a wonderful writing style; the story was entertaining and enjoyable. I loved Maggie, she completely made the story on the other hand Owen was a dick. In most cases I love a stubborn man, but Owen just rubbed me the wrong way. I could see that he was trying to be a good clan chief and lord to his people and prove himself to be better than his father, but when it came to Maggie he was a dick. It took almost to the end of the book for Owen to start redeeming himself. I loved the secondary cast, I look forward to Cat’s story, and the end was a little predictable.

The McCallum and the Duff clans have been bitter enemies for centuries. A peace treaty was put together when Duff’s daughter was born, she was arranged to marry McCallum’s eldest boy. But everything went wrong. (Read The Wrong Bride for more details) Now Maggie McCallum and Owen, Earl Aberfoyle, Duff are getting married to complete the terms of the peace treaty. Owen and Maggie were once friends in their younger days. But both of their feelings went deeper than friendship and Owen broke Maggie’s heart when he admitted that he was already betrothed through an arranged marriage. Maggie is special, when she has very vivid dreams they always come true, and after finding out about Owen’s betrothal she dreamed the girl’s death. Maggie facing her fears confided in Owen only to be called jealous and a liar. From that point Maggie trained herself never to have another dream. That all changed the first night Maggie came to Castle Kinlochard.

In her dream Maggie saw Owen bleeding to death on their wedding day. Maggie was convinced that she could not marry Owen. She started to execute a plan to make him change his mind about marring her. She also studied all the law books in his library trying to find a way out or a loophole to get her out of the marriage. Maggie never stopped loving Owen and because of that she doesn’t want him to die. She even confided in him her dream but Owen still didn’t believe her about her prophetic dreams. Owen to his own admittance doesn’t love nor can he love Maggie but he won’t stop until she is his and has her love and trust in return. Poor Maggie not only having to deal with the stubborn Owen is faced with the blind hatred most of his clan feels toward her just because her last name is McCallum. Someone has been acting out trying to scare her away, but as much as Maggie wants to save Owen she will not leave until the contract is between the two clans is fulfilled.

Overall, this was a good read. I loved Maggie and her relationship with her family. The interactions between the characters were well done and even though Owen kinda redeemed himself he’s still a dick in my book. Maybe I’ll see him in a different light when he isn’t the main focus and just a secondary character, hopefully in Cat’s book.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | B&N | iTunes |


Sealed With a Kiss Event with Sally Orr


Sally Orr worked for thirty years in medical research, specializing in the discovery of gene function. After joining an English history message board, she posted many, many examples of absolute tomfoolery. As a result, a cyber-friend challenged her to write a novel. Since she is a hopeless Anglophile, it’s not surprising that her first book is a Regency-era romance. Sally lives with her husband in San Diego, surrounded by too many nonfiction books and not enough old English cars. 

ARC Review: Jockblocked by Jen Frederick


I am absolutely loving the Gridiron series from Jen Frederick. Jockblocked is the second standalone novel in the series, and I really enjoyed it! These characters are so much fun to read about, and I find myself getting lost in their world and not wanting to leave. If you are looking for a great football NA series, you have got to read these books! Jen Frederick is a great writer, and I cannot wait for the next book in this series. 

Lucy is used to living her life by avoiding anything that poses a risk to her. She has one goal this year, and that is to win the championship with her mock trial team. But when she meets sexy football star Matt Iverson, she is shocked by the connection she feels to him right away especially considering he is known to be a player on and off the field. But even if she wanted to take a chance on something, she has an agreement with her best friend that she won't date any of his teammates. Matt has just been handed the opportunity to be team captain if he can get the QB to step down and take another position instead. So when Matt finds out that Lucy is Ace's best friend, he immediately thinks he has found his way in. When things between them start to get serious though and Lucy finds out about his plan to help her convince Ace to step down, Matt will have to work harder than ever to show her that things between them are real and not just a plan to help him get his spot as captain.

I really loved Lucy and Matt. Matt was so much more than I ever expected. He was sweet and thoughtful, and charming in a totally endearing way. He was impossible not to fall for and it was easy to see how great of a guy he was. Lucy was loyal and strong, and I loved that she wouldn't be pushed around. She had some insecurities and wasn't great at taking risks, yet she also didn't back down when she was put on the spot. These two together were fantastic! They had a great connection and the chemistry between them was smoking hot! I saw the spark between them from the very first meeting and it just continued to grow as the book progressed. I honestly couldn't get enough of them, and I really just loved their relationship. It was so easy and open, and I really loved how they just fit together. They had a lot of drama surrounding them, and yet I felt like these two were able to handle it together and in a mature way. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I loved Lucy and Matty together and I really liked seeing more of the guys from the team. It was also great to see Ellie and Knox again from Sacked. I will say that Ace drove me nuts at times here, and he was my least favorite part of this book. While I felt bad for him, there were so many times that his actions made it really hard for me to like him. I didn't like how he treated Lucy here, and it was hard to see how their friendship had survived for so long if that was the norm for their relationship. But this was a great book and luckily Lucy and Matt were able to keep me invested from the very first page, and the few criticisms I had with Ace were easily forgotten with how much I was enjoying this story. I highly recommend this series for NA and sports romance fans. I think it has the perfect balance of humor, steam, sports and romance to keep readers turning the pages and wanting more.

**ARC Provided by Bocci PR**

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | B&N | iTunes | 





Friday, February 12, 2016

ARC Review: The Consequence of Seduction by Rachel Van Dyken


I am a huge fan of Rachel Van Dyken's, so at this point I read anything with her name on it. I have to say that while I have enjoyed parts of the Consequence series overall, it hasn't been my favorite of hers. I love that Rachel has such a sense of humor and is able to put that into her books, but I feel like this series takes that a bit too far at times. When things are more serious and the humor comes naturally I find that I really love these characters. I really did like parts of Reid and Jordan's story, but unfortunately it was not what I had been hoping for. 

Reid Emory and Jordan Litwright don't get off to the best start when they meet in a bar and she assumes he is gay. The next day she finds out that he is an actor and also happens to be her new client. His image and career are in need of help, and she is the best in the business. But when a publicity stunt goes wrong, Jordan also finds herself in the position of not only PR rep, but fake girlfriend. But as they get to know one another, can their fake relationship turn into something real? 

I liked both Reid and Jordan. I was excited to get to know Reid better after having seen him previously in the series, and I think that he was a good guy. It was really interesting to seem him from the beginning to how he handled his growing feelings for Jordan. He had never been interested in a relationship with one woman, and Jordan was different from the start. I really loved Jordan though and I felt like I was able to relate to her in a lot of ways. She had always been overlooked and felt invisible, and my heart really went out to her. I was glad that Reid had noticed her right away, and I did feel like they had a lot of chemistry. 

My biggest problem here was that I felt like the humor was too over the top at times, and there were moments that it just felt forced. I loved the times that we got a bit more serious, and were able to really see a connection forming for these two. If I had seen more of that happening from the beginning of the book rather than just at the end, I think that this would have been a book I absolutely loved. But unfortunately that didn't happen until close to the end, and at that point it was a bit too late. I think that this group of characters have such unique and different personalities, and at times they are truly hilarious. I just think that in each of these books it was taken too far and became more slap stick than it needed to be. Some of the antics and incidents had me rolling my eyes and wanting to skim to the end. A lot of people really love this series though, and it is possible that it might just be me personally. While I love RVD, I think that this will be the last I read in this series from her. It just doesn't seem to be right for me, but I know it won't be the last I read from her. If you love humor with your romance and don't mind it being a bit over the top, you should definitely give this series a shot.

**ARC Provided by Inkslinger PR**

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | B&N | iTunes





Sealed With a Kiss Event with Delilah Marvelle


USA TODAY Bestselling Author Delilah Marvelle is the winner of the Reviewer's Choice for Best Sensual Historical Romance of the Year and had Booklist name her historical romance one of the Best Romance Novels of the last Decade. When she isn't writing, she is researching history. Visit her at her website at www.DelilahMarvelle.com or Visit her blog on Unusual History at www.DelilahMarvelle.blogspot.com

Thursday, February 11, 2016

ARC Review: Dirty Ride by Chantal Fernando


I have read every book in this series and I have been a huge fan. I've loved all the bossy alpha males and the women with smart mouths and independent outlooks. I went into this book with a lot of optimism because I figured I couldn't lose with this series. I give you all that background as context for my review. Sometimes our expectations can influence our perception. My less than enthusiastic view of this book might be more a function of my heightened expectations than anything being wrong with the book. So there is that.

All disclaimers aside, this book was ok but not what I was expecting from this author or this series. My main issue is that there seemed to be very little development of the story or the relationship between the characters. I thought both Valentina and Irish had huge potential as characters but then the story and the romance just didn't really go anywhere. I can't quite explain what went wrong. It just seemed like instead of a story developing, we got a list of details that didn't flow together all that well. I think that was one of the most surprising things about this book for me. I didn't think the actual writing was on the same level as I expected after reading the other books. In particular, the banter between the characters that makes the other books really fun to read was missing. I have to say, I totally didn't realize this book was a novella. I don't know if I would have picked it up if I had known it was a novella but if you are in to shorter stories, that might actually be a positive thing for you.

Also, for those of you who love the aspects of the MC club you get in the other books in the series, this book more than any other in the series is disconnected from the rest of the club. Irish doesn't even take Valentina around the club for a significant portion of the book.

The things you get with this book that you have probably come to love are steamy scenes, two strong characters and a hint of danger. If you love this series, go ahead and give this one a try, just consider yourself cautioned.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N | iTunes |


ARC Review: Fighting Solitude by Aly Martinez


I will admit that before starting Fighting Solitude by Aly Martinez, I was both excited and extremely nervous. Each book in this series is a standalone but since they each center around a different Page brother, we have seen a lot of these characters over the course of the series. So while I have absolutely loved Quarry, I was really nervous about the Mia/Liv situation. I honestly didn't know what I was going to think while reading this, but I thought that Aly Martinez did a great job with this story. There were still a few things that I had a tough time with here, but that was all on me and how I felt rather than the book itself. 

Quarry Page was born a fighter. He knew from a young age that he was going to lose his hearing just as his brother did, but he had his best friend Liv James by his side and with her he could get through anything. That is until he purposely pushed her away and didn't see her again for three years. Then Quarry met Mia and she brought something new to his life. Soon after, Liv came back into his life and things were great again, until they lost Mia. Years went by and things got better, yet Liv and Quarry still weren't back to really living. Though they have always had a connection, they were never anything more than friends. But Quarry wants Liv to be his everything, and he will do whatever it takes to show her that they belong together and he won't lose her too. 

I absolutely love Quarry. He is sweet and sexy, and I loved his relationship with Liv. He always had such an easy relationship with her and I really loved that they always had each other's backs. They had so much history, and there were times that my heart absolutely broke for all that they went through. Liv hadn't had the easiest life, and I felt like her and Quarry were really able to understand one another because of that. I had always believed that they were meant to be together, and I really liked who they were together. They just fit, and that is why I had a problem with the whole Mia situation. While I had liked Mia in the previous books and seen how she was with Quarry, I always felt like Quarry and Liv were supposed to be together. I am a huge fan of friends to lovers, and I just never really was behind Mia and Quarry. Not that I disliked her, but it was actually because I liked her that I didn't want her with Quarry. She was coming in between him and Liv and I wanted to hate her for that. It was even worse when she was gone, because then I felt like it was impossible to hate her, and I knew it was going to cause even more problems for Quarry and Liv.

My biggest issue here was Mia. I didn't want her to be a part of this story at all, and some of Liv's insecurities and fears were the same as my own. If nothing had happened to Mia, would Quarry have wound up with Liv or would he have stayed with Mia forever. I have a real problem with the dead former lover stories, because I always feel like the heroine of the story ends up being a consolation prize. As much as I enjoy the hero and heroine moving forward together, it just sort of taints the story for me. So even when I enjoyed the book, it was a little bittersweet for me. I seriously love this series though, and the Page brothers are impossible not to fall for. Aly Martinez is a great writer, and I honestly can't wait to read whatever she comes up with next.

**ARC Provided by TRSOR Promotions**

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | B&N | iTunes | 





Sealed With a Kiss Event with Shana Galen


Shana Galen is the bestselling author of passionate Regency romps, including the RT Reviewers' Choice The Making of a GentlemanKirkus says of her books, "The road to happily-ever-after is intense, conflicted, suspenseful and fun," and RT Bookreviews calls her books “lighthearted yet poignant, humorous yet touching." She taught English at the middle and high school level off and on for eleven years. Most of those years were spent working in Houston's inner city. Now she writes full time. She's happily married and has a daughter who is most definitely a romance heroine in the making.

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Wednesday, February 10, 2016

ARC Review: Dreaming Death by J. Kathleen Cheney


Dreaming Death has many elements to it. It's a fantasy, a mystery, and has a small romance. It took me awhile to really get into the story, but once I did I was thoroughly enthralled. Despite the length, this story felt more like an introductory novella. It felt like it was giving background information, and the big conflict and plot has yet to appear.

The fantasy world is very detailed, and it confused me quite a bit. There are quite few different races and political groups. With the investigation going about the mysterious deaths, it was falling into different jurisdictions, and I didn't completely understand the differences. I didn't have any sort of map either because of my ARC, but if the published book includes a map, I think it will really help the reader with understanding everything.

The romantic element was held back due to Shironne only being 17 and not considered an adult. Shironne has a unique connection with a man who she calls, the Angel of Death. He dreams people's deaths and she sees them with more clarity than even him. Because Mikael is older and an adult, the two are kept apart for her innocence. It takes about half the book for them to even meet. However, the chemistry between them is strong an almost instant. Their dynamic was really interesting to me.

I am very excited to continue this book. There are several different aspects of the world and the story that haven't been revealed that have grabbed my attention. I'm excited to see where Shironne and Mikael's relationship progresses. J. Kathleen Cheney's writing is great, and I'm now adding her earlier books to my to read lists!

**ARC provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | B&N | iTunes |


Review: Combative by Jay McLean


I am still reeling after the ending of Combative by Jay McLean! I cannot wait to get the next book and more of this story. This is the first book of Jay McLean's Combative trilogy, and each book will continue the story of Kyler and Madison so readers should expect cliffhangers. (and there was a huge one here!) This book had me on the edge of my seat though and I really need the next one! 

After returning from Afghanistan, Kyler Parker finds himself in a bar fight that lands him in jail. His detective brother Jackson (not biological) is able to offer him a deal that will help him out. The deal requires Kyler to go undercover as a fighter to help the cops bring down the leader of the fighting ring and a suspected drug ring that has ties to Kyler and Jackson's past.With both Kyler and Jackson looking for justice and few choices, Kyler agrees. Then he meets his new and mysterious neighbor Madison and things become more complicated than ever.

I really can't go into much detail here except to say that I really liked Kyler and Madison. I loved seeing them get to know one another and I thought that they were building a great connection. They had a ton of chemistry, and it was clear right away that they each were into each other. Madison is the innocent naive type, and there is so much about her that we don't know. There are a few details here that have me so curious as to what is going on with her and who she is, and I honestly can't wait to get more on her. Kyler had a horrible upbringing, and I cannot even imagine going through what he did. In that he found a brother in Jackson, and I absolutely loved that relationship! I just couldn't get enough of these characters and I really love where this series is headed.

I will say that things were a bit slow at times here, and obviously we are still far from having all the facts. There is so much left a mystery here and at times having all the questions and none of the answers got a bit frustrating. I can be impatient and there were a ton of things here that had me so curious! I need to know what the deal is with the mailboxes and everything else here! I thought that Jay McLean did a great job of grabbing the reader's attention here and giving such an interesting start to this series. This book was steamy and mysterious, and kept me guessing the whole way through. If you are expecting a typical fighter book, this is not that at all. It is so much more, and I cannot wait for Redemptive. If you like some mystery with your romance though, this is definitely one worth checking out!

**Review Copy Provided by Author**

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | B&N | iTunes |





Sealed With a Kiss Event with Maya Rodale


Maya Rodale began reading romance novels in college at her mother’s insistence. She is now the bestselling and award winning author of numerous smart and sassy romance novels. A champion of the genre and its readers, she is also the author of the non-fiction book Dangerous Books For Girls: The Bad Reputation Of Romance Novels, Explained and has written for The Huffington Post, NPR, Bustle.com and more. Maya lives in New York City with her darling dog and a rogue of her own. 

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