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Friday, January 4, 2019

ARC Review: The Secret to Dating Your Best Friend's Sister by Meghan Quinn


I’ve become a huge fan of Meghan Quinn’s and this is pretty much my favorite trope of all time, so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book! I really enjoyed it and Meghan Quinn continues to prove that she is a fantastic writer that always delivers a great story. This one had me laughing and swooning the entire way through and I couldn’t get enough of Bram. 

Bram has wanted his best friend’s little sister since he first met her in college, but the one time he got up the courage to ask Julia out she turned him down. Now 10 years later, her career as a professional matchmaker has taken off and he knows it is finally time to try again. Losing the bet with his friends and having to become a participant in her dating program is the first step to making her his, but he knows he has his work cut out for him. 

I absolutely loved Bram. He was all in with Julia and was so determined to make her his. He knew her well and loved everything about her, including all her quirks. The one thing I will say though is that Bram made no bones about the fact that he might have been waiting for Julia and the right timing, but that didn’t mean that he was lonely while he did so. Even though I didn’t love that, I was glad that he was so honest about it. Julia was harder for me to relate to. I liked her with Bram and they had amazing chemistry. However, she was so uptight sometimes and way too in her head. It got on my nerves a bit, and I felt like she was in the wrong more than Bram, but Bram always ended up being the one to make things right it seemed. They definitely belonged together though and they were super hot! 

I have to say that while Julia herself wasn’t my favorite, I really did love the characters in this story besides her. My absolute favorite thing about this book was Bram and Rath, Julia’s brother. They were so freaking amazing, I honestly couldn’t get enough of their scenes together. They had the best bromance I’ve ever seen! They were super close, more so than any brothers or best friends i’ve seen before and I cannot get over them! I swear I would read anything and everything about these two and all their adventures together, they were so funny. Completely straight guys who just loved one another in a way that was adorable and had me feeling jealous of their closeness just like Julia did at times. Overall, this book was a great read and one I’d recommend. Bram and Rath were worth the read alone, and I really hope we get more of them from Meghan Quinn as I am nowhere near ready to be done with either of them!

**ARC Provided by Inkslinger PR**

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle |




Thursday, January 3, 2019

Review: Escorted by Claire Kent 


I have to confess I fell down the Claire Kent hole! Wow! I first heard about Escort by Claire Kent from listening to Sarah MacLean podcast. She recommended it so highly that although I don’t usually gravitate towards escort storylines I was intrigued.  Well let me tell you, Sarah MacLean was right, this book was amazing. Claire Kent added so many layers to her characters that I was intrigued and I wanted to know more and more about them.

Our heroine, Lori is an author. She is twenty-six and has had it with being a virgin. She spent many of her younger years in love with a guy that did not return her love and now self-doubt has set in. She feels like she has missed out on a big part of life and she wants to do away with her pesky virginity.  It should be noted that Lori is also a very successful romance writer!  A friend of her cousin recommends an escort that is very popular and in high demand.

Ander is an absolute professional. He knows his trade and is a very knowledgeable about how to please a woman.  When he meets Lori they come to an agreement on the type of services that she is requesting and the kind he can give.  When Lori and Ander first get together Lori is very nervous and can’t complete the task that she has been trying to complete so they have to set up another meeting. The more times they meet the more Lori wants to see Ander.  She is discovering a part of herself and is gaining confidence.

First, this book is very sensual- no doubt about it.  Kent portrays Ander as such a detached and difficult to read person that as the reader I found myself wondering what he was thinking and I was intrigued by his past. So was Lori! She can’t help but snoop about Ander and the more time they spend together the more she wants to know. Because of his work this causes a lot of difficulties and some instances of hurt and confusion.  Because the story is told from Lori’s point of view Ander is harder to read but still so intriguing.  As Lori starts to develop feelings for Ander she realizes that she has to end the relationship.

Wow! First, I have to say this book is not my usual read and I could not put this book down! I was up late and even after I finally finished the book I was still captivated by the characters. I immediately started to look by other books by this author. She wrote such complicated, intriguing characters that I missed Ander and Lori after I finished the book-serious book hanger over! For anyone interested Claire Kent also writes under the name Noelle Adams and personally I cannot wait to read more!  Sarah MacLean was right this was a fascinating book with great emotional writing and written with such integrity for those in this line of work. I absolutely loved!

**ARC provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N | Apple |


Wednesday, January 2, 2019

ARC Review: Someone To Trust by Mary Balogh


Someone to Trust is the 5th book in Mary Balogh's Westcott series. This book follows Someone to Care to the second, time wise. Someone to Care finishes with Marcel and Viola's wedding at Christmas. Brambledean court is where the entire family (which I admit is hard to keep track of, but there is a family tree included in the book for your reference) comes together for Christmas.

Elizabeth, Lady Overfield, has been a very interesting character throughout the first four books. She always seems to be poised, intelligent, and unafraid to have fun. She seems to have an ease to conversing with everyone. Seeing that her sister-in-law's brother, Colin, off to the side alone, she approaches him and starts a conversation. The two seem to act like they're close confidantes from the beginning. They tease each other a little, but also stray a little into more deep subjects about their lives. Elizabeth goads Colin into snow filled activities.

Colin, Lord Hodges, falls in love with the family togetherness for Christmas and cannot help but yearn for something similar within his own family. He and the rest of his siblings are estranged apart from Wren (Elizabeth's sister-in-law). He throws himself full on into all the fun at Brambledean from sledding to snowball fights. One fortunate accident with the sled leads Colin and Elizabeth into an impromptu kiss amid the snow (how romantic)! However it affects them both, they just try to brush it off considering she is almost 10 years his senior, which is an unheard of thing in Regency England.

The two agree to keep their "friendship" strong throughout the Season coming up and arrange to share the first Waltz together at every event they both attend. Elizabeth is considering remarrying, and Colin is also considering marriage. It was hard for me to completely understand the way they kept pushing the idea of themselves as a couple away because it isn't so unheard of in our times. I kept wanting to shake them for not seeing what was happening. However, I can acknowledge that times were different then. 

Both Elizabeth and Colin have parts of their pasts that shape the way they act (as all people do) but as usual Mary Balogh really seems to go to the right depth with it. I love how she seems to understand a person's inner thoughts and motivations. Her work is perfect in my opinion on that. This romance was a sweet one, and it was perfect for Elizabeth (who up to this point has been my favorite side character in this series). I want to share the ending with you, but don't want to spoil either. Mary Balogh handled it perfectly and with a spice of humor. I hope the series will continue, or at least for some of these amazing side characters get their own stories in some way, too!

**ARC provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N | Apple |


Tuesday, January 1, 2019

ARC Review: Luke’s Gift by Kaylie Newell


Luke’s Gift is book two of the Harlow Brother’s series but can be read as a standalone. This is a great feel good holiday romance I can definitely see this as a Holiday Movie. I love Secret Santa stories in this one someone is going around town giving gifts to those who need it, for example giving a woman battling cancer a chance to knock something off her bucket list and go to Disney World, or a family who got robbed got replacement Christmas gift. The town is going nuts trying to figure out who is doing all this and Mary is determined to figure it out so the person can get the recognition they deserve. The characters are well done, Luke fresh out of the military comes back to his hometown Marietta to help his other brother raise their sister, Maddie. Even with three tour in Afghanistan under his belt Luke still looks on the bright side, he hopes for the best and wants to help as many people as possible; becoming one of Marietta’s finest was a give in. Mary Best is one of the youngest reporters for Marietta Courier and one of their best too but Mary has the chance to move to New York, it’s just writing copy job but with the opportunity for advancement to a reporter. Mary still hasn’t decided if she’s going to go when she meets Luke. It was definitely something at first sight, Mary was fascinated with him to the point she asked to do an article on him dubbing him the “Hometown Hero” and Luke even though he didn’t want to get involved with someone so close to his discharge from the military he couldn’t stay away from Mary. Garrett Best, Mary’s father, was a sheriff and he raised Mary to be skeptical to always question everything, it is part of the reason she became a reporter but it’s not so great when it comes to her love life. All Luke asks of Mary is to trust him but Mary can’t she knows Luke is hiding something and just like her father taught her she expects the worse.

Overall, this is a great Holiday read. Aside from some kissing this is a pretty “clean” romance, they do have sex but she leaves it up to your imagination (and I have quite the imagination). I loved the chemistry between Luke and Mary, it was clear that something was there even if they tried to fight it at first, Luke mostly. Within the first pages of the book I was already in love with the town of Marietta. It’s a very close community and the people look out for one another. I fell in love with Savannah and her son Wyatt, I hope their book is next because no ifs, ands, or buts about it I will read it.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N | Apple |


Monday, December 31, 2018

ARC Review: No Tomorrow by Carian Cole

 

I am a huge fan of Carian Cole's. Everything I have read from her I have loved. This book was no easy story to read though, and I love that Carian Cole isn't afraid to push her readers as well as her characters. There are a lot of rough topics here that she handled really well and I honestly cannot wait for more from her. 

Blue and Piper met while he was homeless and despite all the reasons they shouldn't work, they did. But several years later, they are no longer together though neither one can get the other off their mind. Now he is a star, loved by the world for his talent, but Piper has always just loved him for being Blue. Blue has never been stable though, and with a wake of destruction left behind everywhere he goes, Piper hopes that maybe this time things will be different for their future. 

I loved both Piper and Blue. I will say there were times I was frustrated with each, but honestly I couldn't get enough of them. Their love and chemistry was clear right from the start. Their circumstances and obstacles were what kept them from having an easy road, but their feelings were never something I questioned. Blue was a beautiful soul, but he had so much going on with him and my heart broke for him. I just wanted him to get sorted out so that things would be better for everyone, including him. Piper was great. Loving and supportive, she was great with Blue. My heart broke for her as well with everything she went through. I cannot even imagine the strength it took to go through what she did and to never give up. These two were everything, and it was always clear that they were made for one another. 

This book wasn't an easy story to read, it was emotional and heartbreaking. But it was also beautiful and totally worth it in the end. I loved it as I've loved everything I've read from Carian Cole and I honestly can't wait for more from her. This one was one of the best books I've read all year long and it really changed the way I look at things. 

 **ARC Provided by L. Woods PR**

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle




A Naughty New Year Event with Naima Simone


Naima Simone is the author of sizzling contemporary romance and romantic suspense featuring hot alpha men and kick-ass heroines who experience the first bites of desire, the dizzying heights of passion, and the tender, healing heat of love.

She is wife to Superman, or his non-Kryptonian, less bullet proof equivalent, and mother to the most awesome kids ever. They all live in perfect, sometimes domestically-challenged bliss in the southern United States.

Sunday, December 30, 2018

A Naughty New Year with Robin Bielman


When not attached to her laptop, USA Today Bestselling Author Robin Bielman can almost always be found with her nose in a book. A California girl, the beach is her favorite place for fun and inspiration. Her fondness for swoon-worthy heroes who flirt and stumble upon the girl they can’t live without jumpstarts most of her story ideas.

She loves to frequent coffee shops, take hikes with her hubby, and play sock tug of war with her cute, but sometimes naughty, dog Harry. She dreams of traveling to faraway places and loves to connect with readers. To keep in touch sign up for her newsletter on her website at www.robinbielman.com