Friday, December 29, 2017

Standing Sideways by J. Lynn Bailey




It’s cover reveal day for J. Lynn Bailey’s STANDING SIDEWAYS. Check it out and be sure to grab your copy January 30th!



Title: STANDING SIDEWAYS
Author: J. Lynn Bailey
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Day: January 30th


When Livia Stone suddenly loses her twin brother, Jasper, she must learn to navigate her new life alone. As she faces tragedy and starts down a road toward self-destruction, Daniel enters Livia’s life—at a moment when she needs it most.



Standing Sideways is a poignant, relevant, and touching story of survival, courage, and compassion that will have readers crying, laughing, and most of all, debating the issues affecting the lives of parents and teens alike on a journey of hope and forgiveness.







Simon James is your normal-looking boy with moments of clarity, which, I think, has kept him in a good position not to go to prison. And I think Jasper helped him stay on the right path—until now.Every time we touch, I feel like he needs this as much as I do.
First, in the beginning, it was just our tongues that became entangled. It was simple and easy. And comforting. But, for some reason, we just needed more. Then, things progressed quite quickly.
Fingers pushing.
Arms squeezing.
Tongues everywhere.
And, now, we meet here four times a week to have sex.
I feel him harden against my stomach, and I look into his eyes. He’s been crying. Since Jasper died, I’ve never seen the evidence that Simon James, resident bad boy/not bad boy, cry, but I’ve seen the aftermath. I don’t ask if he’s all right because I know he isn’t.
I’d gladly give up my therapy appointment for Simon. I’d give up my therapy appointment with Dr. Elizabeth for him if I knew he would go. If I knew it would help. I’m not even sure his parents have come out of their drug-induced coma long enough to know that Jasper is dead.His dull blue eyes, plagued with bad memories, prove the bright blue is sitting back, hidden behind the bruises that he carries underneath his clothes. The ones I see. And the dull blue tells a different story than what comes from his mouth. The darker story. The one he pretends Jasper and I don’t know, the one he doesn’t want us to know.
Simon would have an excuse.I fell down the stairs.I burned myself.I ran into the wall.



J. Lynn Bailey has loved to write since she learned to read, around the second grade. When she isn't running after her children, watching COPS, or on the hunt for her next Laffy Taffy joke, you can probably find her holed up in her writing room feverishly working on her next book. She lives in Northern California with her family.





 

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Now That You Mention It by Kristan Higgins


Title: Now That You Mention It 
Author: Kristan Higgins
Publisher: HQN
Release Day: December 26, 2017




One step forward. Two steps back. The Tufts scholarship that put Nora Stuart on the path to becoming a Boston medical specialist was a step forward. Being hit by a car and then overhearing her boyfriend hit on another doctor when she thought she was dying? Two major steps back.

Injured in more ways than one, Nora feels her carefully built life cracking at the edges. There's only one place to land: home. But the tiny Maine community she left fifteen years ago doesn't necessarily want her. At every turn, someone holds the prodigal daughter of Scupper Island responsible for small-town drama and big-time disappointments.

With a tough islander mother who's always been distant and a wild-child sister in jail, unable to raise her daughter--a withdrawn teen as eager to ditch the island as Nora once was--Nora has her work cut out for her if she's going to take what might be her last chance to mend the family.

But as some relationships crumble around her, others unexpectedly strengthen. Balancing loss and opportunity, a dark event from her past with hope for the future, Nora will discover that tackling old pain makes room for promise...and the chance to begin again.



Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Breaking the Ice (Juniper Falls #2)
by Julie Cross


Paperback300 pages

Expected publication: December 26th 2017 by Entangled: Teen

ISBN: 1633758982





The second book in the Juniper Falls series from NY Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Julie Cross, perfect for fans of Miranda Kenneally and Abbi Glines.

Haley Stevenson seems like she’s got it all together: cheer captain, “Princess” of Juniper Falls, and voted Most Likely to Get Things Done. But below the surface, she’s struggling with a less-than-stellar GPA and still reeling from the loss of her first love. Repeating her Civics class during summer school is her chance to Get Things Done, not angst over boys. In fact, she’s sworn them off completely until college.

Fletcher Scott is happy to keep a low profile around Juniper Falls. He’s always been the invisible guy, warming the bench on the hockey team and moonlighting at a job that would make his grandma blush. Suddenly, though, he’s finding he wants more: more time on the ice, and more time with his infuriatingly perfect summer-school study partner. 

But leave it to a girl who requires perfection to shake up a boy who’s ready to break all the rules.








Breaking the Ice was such a feel good and romantic book. I really needed a "pick me up" type of book to put me in a sunny mood, and this was the perfect book. Breaking the Icehad romance, drama, family relationships, and self-discovery. There were so many wonderful story elements all weaved together in this adorable book.

I absolutely loved the two main characters in this book, Haley and Fletcher. They were both such dynamic and well-developed characters that I really grew to care for. They seemed like complete opposites at first, but it turned out that they had a lot more in common than I even thought. I really enjoyed watching their relationship blossom. The slow burn of their relationship was filled with angst and lust. The tug and pull of their romance kept me glued to the pages! I SHIP IT SO HARD!!! HALEY AND FLETCHER FOREVER. <3 

I feel like it is very easy for contemporary novels to get boring around the middle of the book, but I found this story to be entertaining from the beginning to the end. The charming characters and the drama in their lives continued to find ways to surprise me throughout the book. 

I really liked that the author included some mental health elements in this novel. I felt like they were presented in a well-informed way, even though I have not had any personal experience with those topics. It felt like the author really cared about these topics and wanted to make sure they were represented properly. I actually would have liked to see even more development of those elements throughout the book, but I was very pleased with what was presented.

Overall, this book was a charming and delightful novel. If you are looking for a fun and sweet romance to put a smile on your face, then this is the book for you!

4 / 5 Fangs

*This ebook was given to me in exchange for an honest review. * 

Friday, December 22, 2017

Pride and Joie by M.E. Carter





Title: Pride & Joie
A #MyNewLife Novel
Author: M.E. Carter
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Release Date: December 22, 2017





Joie Stevens put all her dreams on hold the day she became a mom. As a natural caretaker, it never bothered her. But now that her son is grown, she has some new goals in sight and nothing is going to get in her way.

Except maybe an attractive football coach. Who very literally gets in her way.

As assistant football coach for the Flinton State University Vikings, Jack Pride really has nothing to complain about. He has a job he loves and friends he enjoys. Certain he had his one true love in his late wife, the last thing on his mind is dating.

Until he runs into a beautiful non-traditional student. Who he very literally runs into.

This three-part story reminds us love can be better the second time around. And that it’s not just players in the game…










$2.99 for a limited time

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU
B&NKOBO / iBOOKS




Mother, reader, storytellerME Carter never set out to write books. But when a friend practically forced a copy of Twilight into her hands, the love of the written word she had lost as a child was rekindled. With a story always rolling around in her head, it should come as no surprise that she finally started putting them on paper. She lives in Texas with her four children, Mary, Elizabeth, Carter and Bug, who sadly was born long after her pen name was created, and will probably need extensive therapy because of it.





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Tuesday, December 19, 2017

The Hookup by Kristen Ashley




✮✮✮From New York Times bestselling author Kristen Ashley, comes the first standalone title in the exciting, new Moonlight and Motor Oil series, THE HOOKUP! A rich, emotional love story, THE HOOKUP is available now!✮✮✮

Jump into THE HOOKUP and grab your copy today!





When the new girl in town, Eliza “Izzy” Forrester decides to hit the local drinking hole, she’s not ready to meet the town’s good, solid guy. She’s definitely not prepared to engage in her very first hookup with him.

Then Izzy wakes up the next morning in Johnny Gamble’s bed and good girl Izzy finds she likes being bad for Johnny.

Even so, Izzy feels Johnny holding her at arm’s length. But Johnny makes it clear he wants more and Izzy already knows she wants as much of hot-in-bed, sweet-out-of-it Johnny Gamble.

Floating on air thinking this is going somewhere, Izzy quickly learns why Johnny holds distant.

He’s in love with someone else. Someone who left him and did it leaving him broken. Whoever was up next would be runner up, second best. Knowing the stakes, Izzy will take what she can get from the gentleman that’s Johnny Gamble. And even knowing his heart might never mend, Johnny can’t seem to stay away from Izzy.

Until out of nowhere, his lost love comes back to town. He’s not going back, but Johnny still knows the right thing to do is let Izzy go.

And Izzy knew the stakes, so she makes it easy and slips though his fingers.

But that’s before Johnny realizes Eliza moved to town to escape danger that’s been swirling around her.

And that’s why Johnny decides to wade in.

That and the fact Eliza Forrester makes breakfast with a canary singing on her shoulder and fills out tight dresses in a way Johnny Gamble cannot get out of his head.


Pick up your copy of THE HOOKUP today!


Barnes & Noble:http://bit.ly/2ysCvYW  
GooglePlay:  http://bit.ly/2ySCuKH


Add to your Goodreads








“Izzy?” she answered.
“Hey, I’m home,” I told her. 
“Okay, well…how are you?”
How was I?
Johnny’s behavior explained by the sad fact it was the anniversary of his father’s death, but still explained, and he was coming over for dinner the next night, not to mention, after not being affectionate (at all, unless you counted sitting me on the countertop, which I kind of did) after the last time we’d had sex, he made out with me at the door of my car for a good, long, happy while—I was great.
“I’m great,” I told her, opening Serengeti’s stall and moving in, lifting a hand to pat her jaw while she moved her nose to snuffle my neck and blow at my hair. 
“Damn,” Deanna muttered.
My hand arrested on Serengeti and I focused on Deanna. 
“What?” I asked. 
“Damn,” she repeated. 
“Damn what?” I asked. 
“Well, just to say Johnny Gamble is Johnny Gamble.”
A specific area in my chest squeezed at the way she imparted that obvious but still confusing information. 
“What’s that mean?” I asked. 
“He’s Johnny Gamble of Gamble Garages. Did he tell you that?”
No he didn’t tell me that. 
And suddenly I was embarrassed about something that I hadn’t liked all along. 
But it was worse since Deanna knew more about a man I’d slept with than I did. 
Serengeti was getting fidgety, so I used my hand on her to lead her out of her stall, and once in the corridor, she trotted out the open bay at the back, directly into her pasture. 
I moved to Amaretto as I shared with Deanna, “No, he didn’t tell me that. I mean, we talked but we were also doing other things.” I let that lie. It did, weighty between us on the phone, before I went on, “I don’t know what that means.”
Even though it seemed like I did. Something seemed familiar about that. 
“You haven’t lived here long enough,” she murmured while I opened Amaretto’s stall and moved in for some quick pats before I let him loose. Louder, Deanna said, “You know the gas station in town?”
Oh yes. 
That was where I’d seen it. 
“He owns that?”
“That and seven more of them across three counties. None in the city, just in the counties. Some of them are like mini-mart stores. All of them sell gas and do work on cars.”
Wow. 
That was impressive.








Kristen Ashley was born in Gary, Indiana, USA and nearly killed her mother and herself making it into the world, seeing as she had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck (already attempting to accessorize and she hadn't taken her first breath!). Her mother said they took Kristen away, put her Mom back in her room, her mother looked out the window, and Gary was on fire (Dr. King had been assassinated four days before). Kristen's Mom remembered thinking it was the end of the world. Quite the dramatic beginning. 

Nothing's changed.

Kristen grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana and has lived in Denver, Colorado and the West Country of England. Thus, she's blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her family was (is) loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write. They all lived together on a very small farm in a small farm town in the heartland. She grew up with Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon and Whitesnake (and the wardrobes that matched).

Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music, clothes and love was a good way to grow up. 

And as she keeps growing, it keeps getting better.









Miracle at Christmas by Debbie Mason




Miracle at Christmas (a novella) by Debbie Mason
Part of the Christmas, Colorado SERIES
Goodreads | December 19, 2017 | Forever Yours | .99 cents


 

Charlotte Bailey needs a miracle. She came to this sleepy little Colorado town to keep the local hospital afloat, but now her scrooge of a boss is demanding she close it down. Charlotte is going to need all the help she can get, even from Dr. McSexy--er, Dr. Matt Trainer--if she's to save Christmas before, well, Christmas!

All Matt wants for Christmas is for Charlotte to give it--and him--half a chance. But with the town looking to him to save the hospital and Charlotte itching to get back to New York in time to see the city decked out in lights, Matt doesn't have much time to make things right. But he's got faith--after all, miracles happen every day in Christmas.




Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/2gVSRQ1
Google Play: http://bit.ly/2xMBZlS









Debbie Mason is the USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of the Christmas, Colorado series and the Harmony Harbor series. Her books have been praised for their "likable characters, clever dialogue and juicy plots" (RT Book Reviews). When she isn't writing or reading, Debbie enjoys spending time with her very own real-life hero, their three wonderful children and son-in-law, two adorable grandbabies, and a yappy Yorkie named Bella in Ontario, Canada.





Author Website: http://bit.ly/1tArzDq






Ten winners will receive an eBook copy of Miracle at Christmas.



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Sunday, December 17, 2017

Caraval (Caraval #1)
by Stephanie Garber


Hardcover407 pages
Published January 31st 2017 by Flatiron Books
ISBN:  1250095255




Remember, it’s only a game…

Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval…beware of getting swept too far away.






I finished this book about two months ago and I CANNOT STOP THINKING ABOUT IT!!!! It took me such a long time to sit down and write this review because there is just so much about this book that I love. HOW AM I TO EXPRESS MY LOVE FOR THIS BOOK IN ONE SIMPLE REVIEW!?!?! 

I went into this book not knowing much about it, and I am so glad I didn't know a lot about the story. This book was so enchanting and mysterious. I loved never knowing what was going to happen next. I was enraptured by the story and all the twists and turns the author weaved into each chapter. I was constantly on the edge of my seat with anticipation. I NEVER KNEW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN OR WHO I COULD TRUST!!! STEPHANIE REALLY MESSED WITH MY EMOTIONS THROUGHOUT THIS BOOK.


All of the characters felt so thought out and well developed. Most of the characters had a dark and eerie personality. A lot of characters spoke in riddles and you could never figure out if you could trust them. Everything felt like a game with the characters, and it was a game I never wanted to end. The main character, Scarlett, was such a strong, smart, and dedicated woman. I absolutely loved going on this journey with her and watching her grow. I LOVE SCARLETT AND I WANT TO BE HER BEST FRIEND.

The main male character, Julian, WAS SUCH A HEARTTHROB. He was my absolute favorite character in this book and I can't trust anyone who doesn't fall in love with him. Julian was a charming, witty, loyal, and bold character. As soon as he was introduced, I knew he was going to be a character I wouldn't forget. There were plenty of times where I couldn't figure out if I could trust him or not and I was never sure whose side he was truly on. HOWEVER, I DIDN'T CARE BECAUSE HE WAS JUST TOO AWESOME OF A CHARACTER. HE STOLE THE SHOW EVEN IF HE WASN'T HONEST WITH SCARLETT 100% OF THE TIME.

It wouldn't be a review from me if I didn't mention romance in a novel, and Y'ALL THE ROMANCE WAS SO GOOD IN THIS BOOK. R.IP. ME BECAUSE THE ROMANCE IN THIS BOOK RIPPED MY HEART OUT AND THEN MENDED IT AGAIN. The romance in this book was wonderfully paced in a way that felt realistic and not over the top. The sexual tension burned at a delicious pace that never took over the plot of the book. I NEED MORE OF THE ROMANCE FROM THIS BOOK IN MY LIFE. 

Okay, I obviously could go on and on about this book. Overall, Caraval was a mesmerizing, lush, romantic, and enchanting novel. I would recommend this book to everyone! 



NOW, WHERE IS BOOK TWO!?!?!?

5 / 5 Fangs