Obsessed With Myshelf

Romance Books

Month: March 2015 (page 1 of 7)

Cover Reveal & Excerpt: Quintessence by Sarah Buhl

Title:   quintessence.  (Bohme, #3)

Author:   Sarah Buhl

Release Date: May 12, 2015

Genre:   Contemporary Romance, New Adult

BUY LINKS FOR BOOKS 1 & 2

PENANCE (BOHME #1)

DISSONANCE (BOHME #2)

Synopsis:

Think about a time in your life when everything was perfect, and it felt as though nothing could go wrong. Life fell into planned alignment. All of the ideas and hopes held most important organized as books on a shelf. Each book held a title bearing a phase in life and within its pages laid the plan for the future.

Now imagine life throwing something at that shelf—everything planned, everything hoped for, everything organized, now turning over as the shelf falls to the floor.

Fear of the unknown replaces the hope for a perfect future.

Karl Samson is not a stranger to roadblocks and disruptions in life. Having for a time let them consume his thoughts, he now lives life learning from his trials. He is the guy everyone thinks is a little off, even though his friends love him for it. He is the one helping others. He didn’t set out one day to find love—he was doing what he usually did.

Maggie Presley achieves, and that is what she is known for—her determination to move ahead. Then, she is faced with something even the most meticulous planner could not foresee. Maggie believed she knew what life held for her because she could create her future. However, life had other plans, and she learns that even the worst of circumstances have unexpected outcomes after you are reminded of life’s beauty. This is a story of life and how sometimes it takes a reorganization of shelves to find the future. It’s a story of love found even during the darkest points in life.

Excerpt

Karl

We sat in silence for a time as we both turned our swings around. I stopped mine and just watched her. I watched as she pulled my pieces into alignment, waiting to be sewn all the way together.

“Come here,” I said, putting my hand toward her as I stood from my swing.

I walked us to the merry go round and climbed on it. I stopped her in the center. “Okay, wrap your leg around there to balance yourself. Does that feel okay?” I asked, and she smiled at me with a nod.

“Now, just yell if I need to stop,” I said.

I jumped down and started to spin the merry go round. I didn’t run, but I used my upper body strength to get it into motion. I didn’t want to go too fast, but I also wanted to watch her.

She began with her hands on her face and her head tilted back, closed eyes to the sky. “I love this feeling,” she said and her voice became muffled by her mittens. She laughed into her hands and it was the most monumental thing I’d seen.

“Put your hands out, Maggie,” I said, and she laughed louder as she dropped her hands to let them trace across the air that spun around her. Though the bottom half of her didn’t move, she let her hands dance across the wind.

As I slowed the motion of the merry go round down, she kept her hands still. She kept them out stretched, her fingers spread wide, and she dropped her chin, giving me a majestic smile.

“That was so much fun. Thank you.”

“You are most welcome, Maggie.”

“I think that’s a healing moment,” she said, as she unwound her leg from the center bar. She stepped to the edge by me and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Yes, this is a healing one.”

She breathed in and let out a deep sigh and I heard the tears in the sigh. “I just want to find my present tense, too,” she said.

“You will—be patient. Let it happen and stop resisting it. That’s something I learned. Remember what the Borg said about resistance on Star Trek, right?” I laughed.

“It’s futile, I know,” she said with a laugh as she released our hug, but kept her hands on my shoulders. “I will stop, and just let it happen. I will allow my present tense to come. That’s my homework—present tense and personal space?”

“Yes, that’s your homework. If you can’t do what you’ve always done, you just try something new or you try doing it a different way. Get creative. I know you can,” I said with a pinch to her chin.

“Will do,” she said, and leaned in and kissed my cheek. She breathed in deep when she felt me tense at the motion. My fingers tightened on her forearms as my eyes closed. It was the closest I had been with a woman since I was home after my second deployment. I forgot what it felt like to be touched and intimate with another person. I had kept it at bay, scared of how I’d react.

She let go of me and smiled. I read in her smile that she didn’t feel the moment or the intensity I did. She looked at me with the innocent smile a friend shares.

Excerpt Reveal: Full Contact by Sarah Castille

unnamed (5)

unnamed (6)

Meet Ray & Sia in Full Contact on April 7th!

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1CtqM85

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1yk8i4M

Barnes & Noble:  http://bit.ly/1hvHV3u

Kobo: http://bit.ly/1G07ng2

iBooks: http://apple.co/1bCHxni

Google Play: http://bit.ly/VBuSte

unnamed (7)

Book Summary:

Ray wraps his arms around me and holds me tight as if something terrible has happened and he doesn’t want to let me go.

Full Contact. This is how Ray speaks when his emotions overwhelm him. I melt into his stillness. His body is hot and hard, his breath warm on my neck. He smells of leather and sweat, sex and sin. Nothing can tear me away.

When you can’t resist the one person who could destroy you…

Sia O’Donnell can’t help but push the limits. She secretly attends every underground MMA fight featuring The Predator, the undisputed champion. When he stalks his prey in the ring, Sia is mesmerized. He is dominant and dangerous and every instinct tells her to run.

Every beautiful thing Ray “The Predator” touches he knows he’ll eventually destroy. Soft, sweet and innocent, Sia is the light to Ray’s darkness-and completely irresistible. From the moment he lays eyes on her, he knows he’s going to have to put his dark past behind him to win her body and soul.

unnamed (8)

EXCERPT

My gaze drifts below his belt, to the bulge in his jeans. He is fully erect, his shaft straining against his fly. A naughty thrill of excitement shoots through my veins. He’s aroused because of me.

“Um…do you want to take a break before I apply the stencil?”

He shakes his head, then leans forward and sweeps his hand through my hair, letting the strands slide through his fingers. A sigh escapes my lips as delicious sensations sweep through my body. I am on fire. And although I’ve been with men before, I’ve never been immobilized by a single touch.

“So soft.” He runs his hand over my hair again, this time trailing his fingers along my shoulder. His thumb glides over my throat and he curls his hand around my neck. “So fucking delicate.”

I am burning. Consumed by fire. A burst of need drives a whimper up my throat, and I choke it back as his thumb circles the sensitive hollow at the base of my neck. Firm. Unyielding. Dominant. With one squeeze, he could break me. The way I was broken before. The way he broke the butterfly. And yet nothing could tear me away from this moment.

“Sia.” He says my name softly, drawing out the last syllable in a gravelly murmur, almost like a prayer.

My brain fuzzes with lust, and I surrender to the thrill of his touch, the pounding of my pulse in my veins, the desire that has haunted me since I first saw him in the ring. My head falls back, my lips part, and I drown in the depths of an azure sea.

With a low groan, Ray turns sideways in the chair, dropping his legs to the floor. With his hand still cupped around my neck, he pulls me between his legs, the casters on my stool squeaking in gentle protest. I circle my arms around his neck and my breasts rub against his bare chest. The press of his erection against my stomach sends a rush of moisture to my sex.

“Jesus Christ.” His voice drops husky and low. “You’re killing me.”

He leans down and sweeps my hair behind my shoulder, then nuzzles my neck. Sensation sears through my body and I tilt my head to the side to give him better access. So unprofessional. What if Slim comes out? Overcome with the fulfillment of a year’s worth of longing, I can’t bring myself to care.

He feathers kisses over my cheek and I lick my lips in anticipation. This is really happening. He’s going to kiss me again. A real hands-on- the-body Predator kiss.

A bell tinkles behind me. Damn front door. Damn customers who come after hours. I’m not turning around. I want my kiss.

Ray glances up and stiffens. “Holy shit.”

Redemption Series Reading Order

unnamed

Against the Ropes (Book One)

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1ykaJEt

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1CtrMsL

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1Gxs4kg

Kobo: http://bit.ly/1OEqNLz

iBooks: http://apple.co/1NjHCKe

In Your Corner (Book Two)

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1xkHwxQ

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1FSZFGd

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1xkHDcN

Kobo: http://bit.ly/1Nm60ZO

iBooks: http://apple.co/1NjIa2M

About the Author:

unnamed (1)

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Sarah Castille worked and travelled abroad before trading her briefcase and stilettos for a handful of magic beans and a home near the Canadian Rockies. She writes contemporary erotic romance and romantic suspense featuring blazingly hot alpha heroes and the women who tame them. Her books include the bestselling “Redemption” fighter romance series, and the dark, gritty Sinner’s Tribe Motorcycle Club romance series.

Stalk Sarah Here: Website | Facebook | Twitter | GoodreadsAmazon | Pinterest | TSU | Newsletter

Cover Reveal: First Touch by Laurelin Paige

unnamed (4)
Title: First Touch
Author: Laurelin Paige
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: December 22, 2015
Summary:

When Emily Wayborn goes home to visit her mom while on hiatus from her hit TV show, she receives a voicemail from her former best friend, Amber. Though the two were once notorious party girls, they haven’t spoken in years. Although the message might sound benign to anyone else, Amber uses a safe word that Emily recognizes, a word they always used to get out of sticky situations during their wild days. And what’s more chilling than the voicemail: it turns out that Amber has gone missing.

Determined to track down her friend, Emily follows a chain of clues that lead her to the enigmatic billionaire Reeve Sallis, a hotelier known for his shady dealings and play boy reputation. Now, in order to find Amber, Emily must seduce Reeve to learn his secrets and discover the whereabouts of her friend. But as she finds herself more entangled with him, she finds she’s drawn to Reeve for more than just his connection to Amber, despite her growing fear that he may be the enemy. When she’s forced to choose where her loyalty lies, how will she decide between saving Amber and saving her heart?

About Laurelin: Laurelin Paige is the NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of the Fixed Trilogy. She’s a sucker for a good romance and gets giddy anytime there’s kissing, much to the embarrassment of her three daughters. Her husband doesn’t seem to complain, however. When she isn’t reading or writing sexy stories, she’s probably singing, watching Mad Men and the Walking Dead, or dreaming of Adam Levine.
 
Laurelin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurelinpaige
Laurelin’s Website: http://laurelinpaige.com
Laurelin’s Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/z1ugH

Review: Confess by Colleen Hoover

Author: Colleen Hoover

Book: Confess

tl;dr recommendation: Just grab your tissues and get ready. This emotional journey will have you begging to confess your soul.

Book Summary:

Auburn Reed has her entire life mapped out. Her goals are in sight and there’s no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn’t expect to find a deep attraction to the enigmatic artist who works there, Owen Gentry.

For once, Auburn takes a risk and puts her heart in control, only to discover Owen is keeping major secrets from coming out. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything important to Auburn, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it.

The last thing Owen wants is to lose Auburn, but he can’t seem to convince her that truth is sometimes as subjective as art. All he would have to do to save their relationship is confess. But in this case, the confession could be much more destructive than the actual sin…

Longer Review:

Colleen Hoover has an impressive ability to write an emotional story that’s fresh and new. I never want her stories to end and that’s definitely true of Confess.

Auburn and Owen just have that thing. When they’re together it’s like the completion of an electrical current. Everything just works with them together, even when the rest of the world doesn’t want them to be together. What is Auburn going to do to fix her life? A life that is out of control, not because of what she’s done, but because of what she can’t do. Owen’s life is equally in an uproar. He’s struggling to handle his past and his present and to stand firm on his beliefs. They meet each other at the most imperfect time – or is it the perfect time?

I love the artwork that’s shown in this novel. It’s beautiful and abstract and gave me, as a reader, a different level of commitment. You see one where Owen has depicted Auburn, which is incredibly awesome because while you may have a picture in your head of the characters, it’s the coolest thing to have the author sort of tell you what SHE thinks Auburn looks like (through Owen’s eyes). Loved that!

Confess is outstanding. The writing pulls you in and the story makes you want to confess every secret you’ve ever bottled up. Combining confessions with art is a marriage of perfection. What a freaking great idea, CoHo!

Colleen Hoovers’ books allow me to open myself up and be vulnerable in ways that I don’t do for anyone – but that’s the point of reading, right? To let the characters entwine their feeling with your own so you’re not quite sure where you end and they begin.

Confess reminded me why I love reading so goddamned much. Because books have a way of changing your mood and great books can change your outlook on life. Just in case you weren’t sure – Confess is a great book. It’s an exhilarating emotional journey about what happens when fate gets involved to move you from your past to your future. It’s also about Owen-Cat. Which is the coolest freaking cat name in the history of the world.

This is a Must Read and a Re-Read and an Always Read.

Reading Confess causes warmth to run through your veins and saltwater to leak from your eyes. You’ve been warned.

Release Week!! Holding Strong by Lori Foster

Book 2_Holding Strong by Lori Foster_cover An up-and-coming MMA fighter wants more than just one night from a woman fleeing her past in Lori’s irresistible new novel.

Heavyweight fighter Denver Lewis plays real nice, but he doesn’t share. That’s why he’s been avoiding top-notch flirt Cherry Peyton. But a man can only resist those lush curves for so long. Their encounter surpasses all his fantasies, bringing out protective urges that Cherry’s about to need more than she knows…

Denver’s combination of pure muscle and unexpected tenderness has been driving Cherry wild. Yet no sooner does she get what she’s been craving than old troubles show up on her doorstep. And this time, Cherry can’t hide behind a carefree façade. Because the man by her side is one who’ll fight like hell to keep her safe…if only she’ll trust him enough to let him…

 BUY IT HERE 

EBOOK: AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | iBOOKS | KOBO

PRINT: AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BAM

Read my review HERE 

Holding Strong will have you holding
your breath while burning fingers quickly turn the pages.”
“…a fun and sexy read. It has a touch of suspense to it as
well to keep the pace of the story going along.”
“The men of Foster’s Ultimate series may be powerful
fighters, but they are all heart, and none more so than the hero of this
installment. His unwavering support for his feisty, frightened heroine redeems
them both in time, but it is their searing chemistry that will hold readers’
attention.”
“Foster…manages to keep characters evolving throughout the
course of a novel, becoming true ‘heroes’ by the time ‘The End’ rolls around.”

Gaze softening, her attention went all over his body. “Seriously, Denver. Did you really want to argue right now?”

He searched her face. “No.” Hell no. Especially not with her looking at him like that. He moved in again, one hand on the wall by her shoulder. “Thing is, I’m not sure you want what I want.”

For the longest time, their gazes held while her breathing quickened and her cheeks warmed. Finally, in a whisper, she asked, “Do you want me?”

With one short nod, he pressed her to the wall, feeling her all along his length. “Have for a long time.”

“You hid it well.”

“Then I’m one hell of an actor.” He brushed his mouth over her forehead. “We have a lot of talking to do, but I’d as soon do it after.”

“After?”

“After I’ve had you. Maybe several times.”

She dipped her head down so that he stared at the crooked part in her fair hair. He brushed his nose against her, down to her temple, her ear.

Her hands clutched at him. “I got the feeling you didn’t like me.”

“I like you.” It was how her flirting made him feel that he didn’t like so much.

Pushing him back so she could see his face, she asked anxiously, “You won’t change your mind?”

The laugh tried to escape, but he wanted her too much to take a chance on pissing her off. “Where’s your room?”

“Close.” On a sharply inhaled breath, she stepped him back a few paces and darted around him in a rush. “Come on.”

At first he just watched her, her obvious urgency, the way her hair teased over her shoulders. She stopped halfway down the hall and fumbled in her purse before pulling out a key card. She opened the door, jammed the key card back into her purse, and glanced at him.

Ah, hell. Definitely close. In a few long strides Denver reached her.

Seconds later they were in her room.

A second after that he was kissing her.

Since first publishing in January 1996, Lori Foster has
become a USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly and New York Times bestselling author.
Lori has published through a variety of houses, including Kensington, St.
Martin’s, Harlequin, Silhouette, Samhain, and Berkley/Jove. She is currently
published with HQN.
Lori hosts a very special annual “Reader & Author” event
in West Chester, Ohio. Proceeds from the event have benefited many worthy
causes, including the Hamilton County YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter, the Animal
Adoption Foundation, The Conductive Learning Center for children with spina
bifida and cerebral palsy, and The One Way Farm, Children’s Home.
Each year Lori donates all proceeds from one book to
charity. You can see the benefit romance books here :http://lorifoster.com/benefit-books/

Review Tour & Giveaway: Free Me by Laurelin Paige

unnamed

Author: Laurelin Paige

Book: Free Me (The Found Duet #1)

Other Books in Series:

Find Me (The Found Duet #2) – releasing on August 25, 2015

tl;dr recommendation: *fans self* THIS BOOK IS SO HOT. secrets + passion never felt so good.

unnamed (1)

Book Summary:

Her story started long before she started working at The Sky Launch…

Screw fairytales. The only reward Gwen Anders got from her rough childhood was a thick skin and hard heart. She’s content with her daily grind managing a top NYC nightclub—Eighty-Eighth Floor. So hers isn’t a happily ever after. She doesn’t believe in those anyway.

Then she meets J.C.

The rich, smooth talking playboy is the sexiest thing that Gwen has ever encountered, but she’s not interested in a night-in-shining latex. But when a family tragedy pushes her to the brink, it’s J.C. who’s there to teach her a new method of survival, one based on following primal urges and desires. His no-strings-attached lessons require her to abandon her constant need for control. Her carefully built walls are obliterated.

Gwen discovers there’s a beautiful world outside her prison. Freedom is exhilarating—and terrifying. When she starts to feel something for J.C., she fears for her heart. Especially as she realizes that he has secrets of his own. Secrets that don’t want to set him free.

unnamed (2)

Longer Review:

If you haven’t read the Fixed Trilogy, that’s ok. This duet is a spinoff of that series, but I swear that you won’t be lost or confused if you haven’t read it. This series definitely stands on its own and it’s super funny, sexy & full of mystery.

Gwen is a strong, independent and takes-no-shit kind of girl. She’s a rule follower. Some may call her a hard ass, but whatever, she doesn’t care. She’s protecting herself from a pretty shitty past and she’s not allowing anyone or anything to get in her way of succeeding.

She’s the manager of an exclusive night club and she takes her job seriously. Of course, Gwen’s so rigid that she rarely, if ever, allows herself to relax, and when she finds herself thrown into a VIP room that’s breaking all the rules, she begins to wonder if she should break a couple herself. Especially when the leader of this rule breaking party is JC. No last name. No job title. Just piercing eyes that see right into her soul.

When JC offers Gwen the chance to break out of her hard exterior, she flat out denies him even though she so badly wants to roll the dice and take a chance. So when they finally get together it’s like an explosion of arms, legs, and lips. GAH IT’S SO HOT.

It’s not so much that JC and Gwen withhold secrets from each other, it’s just that they started out their relationship with rules (much to Gwen’s delight) and one of those rules was anonymity. No last names, no personal information. Just incredible, mind-numbing, toe-curling, sex. When the sex turns to more, who will break first? Will it lead to the end of their relationship or will they reveal themselves?

I was so into this book. All of the secrets/omissions leave you dying to find out every spec of information that you possibly can get so that you can try to piece their stories together. When JC finally reveals his biggest secret (in epic form btw) I freaked the fuck out. I mean, Gwen was freaking out, but I was right there with her. I had to read the scene like 4 times because I just.couldn’t.hold.it.together.

Free Me is full of passion, mystery, intensity and phenomenal sex. Like, can I become Gwen for a Wednesday night? PLEASE? So so good, I had a minor meltdown when I realized that Find Me doesn’t come out until August. OHMYGOD YOU GUYS I NEED THAT BOOK.

[I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review – thank you!]

CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY

About Laurelin:
unnamed (3)
Laurelin Paige is the NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of the Fixed Trilogy. She’s a sucker for a good romance and gets giddy anytime there’s kissing, much to the embarrassment of her three daughters. Her husband doesn’t seem to complain, however. When she isn’t reading or writing sexy stories, she’s probably singing, watching Mad Men and the Walking Dead, or dreaming of Adam Levine.
 
Laurelin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurelinpaige
Laurelin’s Website: http://laurelinpaige.com
Laurelin’s Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/z1ugH

Teaser Blitz – Part 3: A VERY GREY CHRISTMAS by T.A. Foster

KissingEden_BoxSet_3D_LoRes

Today is a teaser and excerpt reveal for the KISSING EDEN Box Set by T.A. Foster! This set contains the two full-length novels KISSING EDEN and LOVING EDEN, and the novella A VERY GREY CHRISTMAS. Today we will be highlighting the novella in the set, A VERY GREY CHRISTMAS! This set is available now and buy links are below.

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000026_00024]

SUMMARY:

Kissing Eden Box Set

Get swept up in spring break fever in South Padre, Texas with Eden and Grey.

Set contains two full-length novels and one novella.

Kissing Eden
Have you ever thought of taking a vacation alone? I mean step on a plane, check into your hotel, and lie on the beach completely and utterly alone. No? Me either, but then right before senior spring break I got dumped.
Something about break ups makes you do things you didn’t want to do, and try things you didn’t know you were capable of.

That’s how I ended up at the Palm Palace.
That’s how I met Grey.
That’s how my spring break turned into the most unforgettable week of my life.

Loving Eden
Have you ever thought of packing up everything you own and moving halfway across the country?

I’m talking about leaving your entire life behind—friends, family, school—with no turning back. No? Me either, but that was before a week of spring break changed my life forever. Before I did something I never thought I’d do at twenty-two. Before I fell in love with Grey.

Sometimes happily ever after isn’t always what you think it will be.

A Very Grey Christmas
I was getting ready to spend the single most important holiday of the year alone. Completely and utterly alone.

That meant he wouldn’t be there Christmas Eve. No making Christmas cookies, or listening to my dad sing off-key while my mom bustled around wrapping last-minute gifts. No decorating the tree. No midnight Christmas kiss.

No waking up in Grey’s arms. We were actually going to spend our very first Christmas in different states.

That was until Grey gave me the most unexpected gift of my life.

AVGC_Teaser1PK3

Add the book to GOODREADS.

EXCERPT from A VERY GREY CHRISTMAS:

I zipped the side of my suitcase and slouched beside it on the bed. I knew it wouldn’t be the same if I didn’t go. How could it? I had spent every holiday with my parents for twenty-one years. I couldn’t buck the trend for number twenty-two, even if it meant Grey stayed behind.
That meant he wouldn’t be there Christmas Eve. No making Christmas cookies, or listening to my dad sing off-key while my mom bustled around wrapping last-minute gifts. No decorating the tree. No midnight Christmas kiss. No waking up in Grey’s arms. We were actually going to spend our first Christmas in different states.
I latched the side of my carry-on. I wasn’t taking a chance on losing the presents I had purchased for everyone back home with an airport snafu. I learned my lesson over spring break. They were packed tightly in my bag, wrapped in layers of Bubble Wrap. My boots were also tucked inside. They were the most special gift Grey had given me, and I wasn’t about to check those with my regular luggage.
“You ready, darlin’? It’s time. If we don’t get on the road, you’re going to miss your flight.” Grey stood in the doorway.
My heart split in two. I couldn’t do this. What in the hell was I doing?
“What’s wrong?” He strolled to the bed and sat next to me.
“I-I don’t want to go. I can’t leave you here by yourself for Christmas. I don’t know what I was thinking.” I buried my face in my palms.
He brushed the hair off my shoulder. “Don’t worry about me. I’m going to have dinner with Mac and Renee. I’m sure Connor will light the bonfire. He usually does that on Christmas night. It’s a little island tradition.”
Heavy tears slid down my cheeks. “But that’s not the same.” Spending Christmas with Connor sounded depressing and bachelor-like.
“Eden, I’ve never had big Christmases. I’m going to work and I’ll be plenty busy. It’s not a huge deal to me. But it is a huge deal to your parents that you’re home with them. So, let’s get going, or your dad is going to have a reason to be pissed at me. I’ve never met the man. I don’t need a criminal record before I see him face to face.”
I turned toward him, not caring that my face was streaked with mascara. “Won’t you reconsider coming with me? Please, Grey.” We had talked about it twenty times, but I wasn’t ready to give up, even in the eleventh hour.
He shook his head. “No, this is important for your family. We had Thanksgiving together, and you’ll be back for New Year’s Eve. It’s just Christmas.”
“Just Christmas?” I didn’t like the way he said it.
Christmas was my favorite holiday of the year. I thought it was everyone else’s too. How could he make it seem as if it was as insignificant as Presidents’ Day? This was the single most romantic holiday of the year. Valentine’s Day was too cliché for me. Christmas was about sharing special moments and taking silly pictures. It was about cuddling on the couch and watching holiday movies. Christmas was about being together. It was everything we were not going to be.
“You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t. Don’t you love Christmas?”
“I didn’t grow up like you did with parents who decorated and did the whole tree thing. I had Pops. Christmas was small.”
“And he didn’t put up a tree?” I couldn’t imagine Grey growing up like that. I hadn’t thought about whether Christmas was a painful time of year for him either. Maybe he would rather skip the whole thing.
“We had a tree, but it was one of those tabletop ones and it’s not like I had a fireplace, so there wasn’t a chance Santa was going to visit.”
“What? Are you telling me Santa Claus did not visit you when you lived with Pops?” My jaw dropped. Grey had Christmas without Santa?
He stood and reached for my suitcase. “Come on, you’re going to be late. We can talk about Santa later.”
“Do you remember anything about Christmas with your parents? Did they believe in Santa?” I couldn’t drop this. It was a revelation about Grey’s past that was bigger than almost anything else he had told me. I stood rooted by the bed, praying his parents had enlisted Santa’s help every year. That Grey knew there was something magical about Christmas.
“I was eight. I don’t remember much about those early Christmases. But, yes, Santa visited. I had a stocking, and we had a tree. All that traditional stuff. I’ve got pictures around here somewhere.” His eyes looked misty, but I knew Grey wasn’t going to crack reminiscing about his childhood holidays. He always glossed over the topic.
“I want you to have that again.” I pulled on his arm, holding him back in our bedroom. “Please come home with me. My parents do all of that stuff. And it’s actually cold in North Carolina. It feels like Christmas there.” Don’t get me wrong, I loved palm trees, but they didn’t really scream Christmas spirit. We needed a good showing of Douglas firs.
“I appreciate it, but you and I will have Christmas when you get back. Marin’s parents have that big party for New Year’s Eve. We’ve got lots of other holiday stuff planned.”
I didn’t want to get in an argument with him during my last few hours in Texas. I knew when to give him some space.
“All right.” I cut the lights as we walked out of the room. The little beach cottage suddenly seemed sad and depressing. I had placed a poinsettia on the coffee table, and had strung up a few lights on the railing, but we opted not to add much since we wouldn’t be together on Christmas Day. Now, I regretted it. Grey needed to know how much fun Christmas could be. Why hadn’t I decorated the cottage like a Christmas wonderland?
I vowed right then we would never spend Christmas apart again. This would be the first and last time.

BUY LINKS:

Amazon Link: amzn.to/18XeLfB

B&N Link: bit.ly/1btskEV

Smashwords: bit.ly/1EG4FrX

 GIVEAWAY!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

KEBox_Release1

AUTHOR INFORMATION:

TAFosterT.A. Foster once spent a monthlong spring break on South Padre Island, where she soaked in the Texas sun, beach, and learned what real Texas country music is. Sometimes fiction does spring from reality.

She grew up catching rays and chasing waves along the North Carolina Outer Banks and now resides in the state with her adventurous pilot husband, two children, and two canine kiddos.

T.A. has an undergraduate degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a graduate degree in Educational Psychology from Texas A&M University. When she’s not chasing her two-legged and four-legged children or trying to escape for date night, you can find her reading, writing, or planning her next beach trip.

Author Links:
Blog: http://www.tafosterauthor.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tafosterwriter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TAFosterauthor
Author Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7164289.T_A_Foster

Blogger Button

Review: Waiting for the One by L.A. Fiore

Author: L.A. Fiore

Book: Waiting for the One – coming soon on 4/28/15!

tl;dr recommendation: quirky, sweet, and swoon worthy!

Book Summary:

Saffron Mills has lived all of her almost thirty years in Harrington, Maine—a small town where fishing is plenty, but available men are far too few. Yet it’s not just her dating dry spell that draws her to recent arrival Logan MacGowan. Tall, dark, and handsome, with emerald-green eyes and an impossibly hot body, Logan is a gorgeous enigma whose silence she takes for indifference…until one unforgettable chance meeting, when pent-up attraction ignites into the most intense encounter of her life.

In this quiet, quirky town, no one knows that Logan’s alter ego is famous sculptor and tabloid darling David Cambre. In New York, he had all the wrong kind of attention, but in Harrington, he’s found peace, privacy…and Saffron. She’s witty, forthright, and so much sexier and stronger than she knows. But how do you protect the love you’ve been waiting for when your own lifestyle could be destined to rip it apart?

Longer Review:

<< 3.75 Stars >>

If you’re looking for quirky, fun characters and a sweet HEA, then you’ve found the right book. Saffron is a small town girl who hasn’t had a date in uhhhh, like forever? After a point, you sort of stop counting, right? Anyway, her pickings are slim after she takes into account the male + single + DECENT PERSON calculation. She’s super attracted to Logan, but he won’t talk to her. He’s been in town for six months, he talks to other people, but he won’t. speak. to. Saffron. It’s really infuriating. Logan may dress and act like a yeti/fisherman/lumberjack but his eyes pierce Saffron with such intensity that she knows that there’s something…someone deeper behind the mask. And she’s like a moth to a flame that keeps getting swatted away.Until, of course, she throws a Swordfish funnel cake at his face.

As for Logan…well, he is a masterpiece of a man. While his art is what he was known for, his soul is what truly sets him apart. His devotion and passion for Saffron brought me to my knees, as did his words and over the top gestures. He is most definitely swoon worthy. However, he hates the fame that his art and his face have created for him. He’s desperate to keep Saffron away from the insanity of that life and is willing to do anything – whatever the cost – to make that happen. When all of a sudden a stalker starts to threaten Saffron’s life, Logan takes matters into his own hands.

Note: the festivals in this book are hilarious, quirky, and really make this story a lot of fun to read. I also loved the relationship Saffron has with her surrogate father, Frank. It’s so endearing and heartwarming to watch them connect with each other when neither of them have anyone else who could fill those roles.

Saffron and Logan are on fire together. I could feel the heat and passion that jumped between them as well as the devastation that ran through Saffron during the more intense parts of the book. The only downside about this book is that the story was somewhat predictable at times and the writing itself didn’t always flow as much as I would have liked, but the book was overall really enjoyable. This is a sweet read when you need a swoon worthy hero to sweep you off your feet.

[I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review]

Review: Coda by C.D. Reiss

Author: C.D. Reiss

Book: Coda (Songs of Submission #9)

Other Books in Series:

Songs of Submission Box Set 1-8
Find My Review Here

tl;dr recommendation: The King has returned. Five Stars? More like Five Million.

Book Summary:

Did you want a pat little ending about Jonathan and I riding off into the sunset? Did you want flowers and stars? Man, I wish it was all soft filters and violins. I wish we could fight about who cleaned the bathroom or who was cooking dinner. But I knew I was never destined for simple contentment.

I almost committed murder for him. I almost tore us apart to save him. How do you get back on the horse after that? Because, I promise you, nothing is the same. Nothing.

I’ve earned our happily ever after. Now I have to survive it.

Longer Review:

First of all – you have to read the books in order before you even get to Coda. It’s a marathon that will leave you exhausted and panting and wondering when you can do it all over again. But you have to do it. GO NOW.

I gave Coda five stars not just because I love this series, but because CD Reiss writes like Jonathan fucks: strong, steadfast and with purpose. This book bruised and battered me worse than Jonathan with a cane – And I loved it just as much as Monica. I felt that rush of pleasure while reading that only happens when I’m so fully invested in the story that it seeps into my bones….let it be known that The King has returned.

Jonathan has a new heart. A heart that tells him that he loves to run and that he hates spicy food. What else has this new piece of flesh done to the strong man that he once was? Thankfully it hasn’t changed his love for Monica. However, while he may love her, he hasn’t been giving her what she needs. He’s allowed to her to stray off their path where, no matter what, she obeys. And it’s destroying them both.

Monica needs her Dominant to return – Her King. She needs him to rip her apart and put her back together. She’s flying high in her career but constantly crashes back down when she thinks of Jonathan. She’s not supposed to worry. She’s not supposed to have nightmares. He’s supposed to take care of her.

When the ice returns to his voice I thought Monica might weep with joy. It’s brutal. It’s harsh. It’s completely and entirely perfect. The erotic and taboo swirl together with truth telling and romance. Rules are made, rules are remembered, and asses are slapped. Fuck, it’s just hot. So so hot.

Even though they may have reclaimed the bedroom, Monica and Jonathan both struggle with how to move forward in their new lives. Monica worries that they got married too quickly – does he now regret it? Jonathan worries that his heart will leap out of his chest and flop around while Monica’s tied to the bed. No matter the idiocy of the worry they both try to regain their footing in this new relationship that has been stretched and pulled and snapped.

My joy mixed with sorrow while reading this conclusion to the series. MY HEART SHATTERED after it was filled to the brim. CD knows how to destroy you with words and she does it repeatedly. Five stars? More like Five Million. So much love for Songs of Submission. #MUSTREAD.

Review: Protect Her – Part 8 by Ivy Sinclair

Author: Ivy Sinclair

Book: Protect Her – Part 8

Other Books in Series:

Protect Her 1-3 [my review here]
Protect Her 4-6
Protect Her 7

tl;dr recommendation: I love this series so hard. I’m transported to a suspenseful and romantic Other World that constantly has me guessing.

Book Summary:

Bruno Proctor is always one step ahead of us. Now I’m in Hell and Paige is alone with him on the other side of the portal. I have to find a way to get back to her.

Benjamin did a number on me when he stabbed me in the caves, and now it’s taking everything I have to stay focused and in the game. It does seems suspicious when Paige is returned to me, and it doesn’t help that my mother has planted a seed of doubt about our relationship.

We should be able to work anything out if we’re together. But fate seems to have other plans for us; something I never saw coming. It’s the beginning of a whole new chapter.

Bruno and Benjamin both better be ready. Because this twist is the biggest gamechanger of them all.

Longer Review:

I’m always so floored every time I re-enter the world that Ivy has so carefully crafted. I have zero clue how she keeps track of everything but somehow it all works. This installment releases huge secrets, a massive amount of suspense and big big changes.

Riley is left in hell. He’s been stabbed by Benjamin just before he was shoved behind the gates of hell as the door slammed shut. He’s dying and he doesn’t care – except that he wants Paige. He NEEDS Paige. He finds himself in a room with his mother and sister who are still possessed by demons. They care for him, try to keep him alive, but he’s getting worse.

And then Paige appears. Paige had to make another deal with the devil (aka Bruno) in order to make her way back to Riley – because when they’re together, they can do anything. Riley can FIX anything, right? Paige sure as fuck hopes so because she’s backed herself into a corner.

I was losing my shit when the secrets started to spill out about Riley’s history. Every four seconds it’s a new detail that adds color to the black and white picture I had in my mind. It’s all starting to come together and I seriously need the rest of this story. SO BADLY.

Of course there’s a cliffhanger – it’s a serial! Small points were deducted only because I wanted some more romance and action between my favorite sort-of-Goddess and her maybe-Protector. However, I’m sure they’ll make up for it in due time 😉

If you’re looking for a fantastically written paranormal romance, you need to jump on this series. It’s addicting and fascinating and I want so much more.

Older posts