August 25, 2018

GOING DOWN EASY BY ERIN NICHOLAS - ARC REVIEW


Start the Boys of the Big Easy Series on August 28, 2018!!!


Hot fling or real thing? There are no Big Easy answers in New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Erin Nicholas’s sultry series.

As far as flings go, single dad Gabe Trahan is pretty sure that Addison Sloan is his best bet. Once a month, Addison comes to New Orleans and then…It. Is. On. Until Addison returns to New York, it’s just hot, happily-no-strings-attached sex. And beignets. And jazz. But lately for Gabe, it isn’t nearly enough.

Sure, maybe Addison’s gotten a bit hooked on Gabe. After all, who can resist a guy who’s so sexy, so charming, and so…available? But maybe he’s too available for her right now. Addison’s just moved to New Orleans, and relationships are definitely off the table. Besides, guys always bail when they learn her secret: she’s a single mom.

Only Gabe’s not running. Worse, he’s thrilled. But Addison never signed up for ever-after romance, and Gabe won’t settle for anything less. Now it’s a battle of wills—and when it comes to the woman he’s falling for, Gabe isn’t above playing a little dirty.


Gabe and Addison have a good thing going in the Big Easy.  She's in town for one weekend a month, and he puts his real life on hold to spend that one weekend with her.

Only, it's getting harder and harder to let her go on Monday morning, knowing there are no plans to see one another again, no plans to allow one another into their real lives.  And, as this also allows both of them to avoid those real life complications, it works for both of them...or so they tell themselves.

Until Addison moves to New Orleans, and doesn't plan to tell Gabe, because her life is complicated and there's a deal breaker, or so she thinks, and she is afraid to face the idea that what works so well for them on the one weekend per month they see each other may not work on a permanent basis...and she is afraid of getting her heart broken.

We've all been where she is, hiding from something that could be real, and probably already is, because we are afraid of taking the risk and getting our hearts broken in the process. Addison is ready to walk away.  The problem, is that Gabe is tenacious and he is going to follow her.  He is going to be where she is, and he is going to show her that he fits into her life in NOLA and that instead of complicating it, he makes it whole.

It takes her a bit to get there, and the break up part of the book is in the middle, which I enjoyed.  The reader isn't really a part of their weekends in New Orleans, so in order for the emotional investment of the story to work, this is treated almost like a second chance, with a couple of characters with a scorching chemistry and a history...but one that they are having to build from the beginning with a new set of circumstances.

It was a fun read, I enjoyed this title, and I am looking forward to the others in the series!




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TALL, DARK & IRRESISTIBLE BY ERIKA WILDE - ARC REVIEW


A complete stand-alone story, TALL, DARK & IRRESISTIBLE is a fun, flirty swoon-worthy romance!

When it comes to love and happily ever after, Leo Stone is a disbeliever. Having been left at the altar by the one woman he thought he'd spend the rest of his life with, he's vowed to keep his heart to himself and enjoy the one thing he knows won't affect his emotions... hot, dirty sex. Except, what's a guy to do when a gorgeous woman asks him to be her stand-in boyfriend for two weeks — with benefits? Sign him up, please! 

A drunken night one year ago, Peyton Bishop used Leo Stone's name and photograph to convince her overly-protective parents that she was safe living in New York City — in part thanks to a boyfriend she adored. Except Leo, the hot guy she's had a secret crush on since college, has no idea he's been cast in the role of her lover. With her cousin's wedding coming up, and her parent's expecting to meet this mysterious boyfriend, Peyton is forced to come clean and ask Leo a huge favor. 

Leo agrees to be her stand-in boyfriend, but what's a pretend couple to do when their fake feelings start to become oh-so-real?



What possible harm could come of using someone you knew in college, and had a crush on, as a pretend boyfriend so your overprotective parents don't worry? And, if you have a graphic designer friend photoshop him into a few photos, and share them with your parents...who will ever know?

No one will know, no harm will come from it. It will be just fine. 

Until those overprotective parents use a family wedding as an excuse to start insisting that they meet this boyfriend...of almost a year.

OOPS.

Peyton and Leo don't even live in the same city. Peyton is building a life in New York, although it's struggling a bit, and Leo has a successful business in San Diego, meaning he's available for the local charade, but anything more and their lives just don't work together.

Which is a real shame as the attraction in college was mutual, it's still there, and neither of them are doing a great job of resisting the other. Good thing they stop trying.

I enjoy books like this, as long as the game doesn't get cruel to the people they are fooling. If it goes on too long, or others start investing in the truth of the relationship, and I find myself becoming disengaged with the characters. This didn't happen in this title, as the ruse is for a short period of time and the attraction is instant (well, a hold over from before) so the rapid connection they develop makes sense for the story.

The connection they have is also scorching, which adds to the believability of the situation. When you really believe the two characters are fighting to keep their hands off one another, it's easy to believe they would be willing to go along with a lie, and it's also easy to believe that the connection would quickly lead to more.






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SAVED BY THE COWBOYBY A. J. PINE - REVIEW

Cowboy to the rescue

Once upon a time, Sheriff Cash Hawkins left his simple life for something bigger---and came home with a broken heart. Now he has everything he needs right here in Oak Bluff, California---his job, his dog, and a quiet ranching town best explored on the back of a horse.

Olivia Belle believes in fairy tales---just not for herself. So when her boyfriend drops to one knee at his sister's wedding with a proposal that is more business than romance, she hightails it out of San Francisco in search of the only evidence she knows that true love exists---her grandparents' lost love letters from fifty years ago.

When Olivia speeds into his town like a modern-day Cinderella in her ball gown and glass slippers, Cash's careful existence is finally thrown for a loop. Maybe the answer Olivia's looking for is in Oak Bluff, but the life she ran from is more than 200 miles away. As for Cash . . . he knows a thing or two about being left on bended knee. Olivia Belle could be his happily ever after . . . if this runaway bridesmaid doesn't run off with his heart.


Cash and Olivia are characters who appear in book one of the series, and there was clearly an interesting story going on with them, so I was glad to see that they were getting their own story within the Crossroads Ranch stories...although I wish it had been a longer one.

I usually feel this was about novellas, especially if they are about a new character, or one you have been introduced to and the novella is being used to tie up a story or to fill in gaps.

In this one, you meet Cash and Olivia, rather amusingly, in the middle of a disagreement, and this sets the tone for most of their relationship.  They both think they each want different things, so it is a little bit of a surprise to them (although not really to anyone else) that what they really want is one another.

There was, possibly, a little more story than could be totally fulfilled in a shorter novella, so the ending felt a little quick, but I still enjoyed this title, and I recommend it.






GOOD LUCK CHARM BY HELENA HUNTING - REVIEW


Is it love, or is she just his good luck charm?

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Helena Hunting absolutely delights with this witty and fun standalone contemporary romance. 

Lilah isn't sure what hurt worse: the day Ethan left her to focus on his hockey career, or the day he came back eight years later. He might think they can pick up just where they left off, but she's no longer that same girl and never wants to be again. 

Ethan Kane wants his glory days back. And that includes having Lilah by his side. With her, he was magic. They were magic. All he has to do is make her see that. 

Just when Lilah might finally be ready to let him in, though, she finds out their reunion has nothing to do with her and everything to do with his game. But Ethan's already lost her once, and even if it costs him his career, he'll do anything to keep from losing her again. 




I enjoyed Lilah and Ethan. They had chemistry, and a strong connection, and I was able to believe that these 2 people would be willing to reconnect, and to let go of the past hurts because of the draw they had to one another.

I liked the second chance elements, and I believed the reason that they separated initially. It was one of those that I am not sure I would have believed had they been older, but with their age, I think they would have made the choices that they did. And, it's true that long distance college relationships rarely, if ever work, so the story had this going for it as well.

What I didn't love was the good luck charm thing. I didn't totally believe that had anything to do with their relationship and it working...and more importantly, I am not totally convinced that Lilah believed it. Their break up over this, and the plot points around it, seemed more like plot for the sake of plot than actually the way the characters would react.

While this didn't ruin the story for me, it definitely made it one that I loved a lot more to this point than I did after it. It's probably just me, and I still absolutely recommend this title.

I loved the family, their genuine connection, and the belief than Ethan and Lilah really had meant as much to one another as they thought they did...and it makes the connection that much more believable. For a second chance romance to grab your heart, you have to believe the characters left little pieces of their hearts in the previous relationship. I definitely believed that in this title.



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August 23, 2018

FAUX PAS BY NATASHA MADISON-COVER REVEAL


 

Meghan 

Five days in Paris sounded like a great idea for three friends. Especially when amazing wine was in play. It didn't matter that our rented “apartment” only had one bed, and barely enough space to breathe, we were in Paris and our motto was c'est la vie. Nothing would faze us, not even the rude waiter at the first restaurant we went to, or the insanely hot manger who was insulted when a bottle of wine was returned. Nothing could bring me down or knock me off my path to the best vacation of my life.

Alex 

I had six days in Paris and then I'd go back to my wine vineyard. It was smooth sailing, until three "americans" came into the restaurant and returned my newest full bodied, savory creation. I ignored her until she stormed out of the restaurant looking for a taxi at one in the morning. I couldn't leave her wandering around the streets of Paris, could I? I’d give her a ride, make sure she was safe, and my duty would be done. Except, was it? Something about her pulled me. This could be a vacation fling. After all, there is no real reason for her to know my interesting secret. I'm France’s most eligible bachelor. This faux pair is almost a faux pas...

 


When her nose isn't buried in a book, or her fingers flying across a keyboard writing, she's in the kitchen creating gourmet meals. You can find her, in four inch heels no less, in the car chauffeuring kids, or possibly with her husband scheduling his business trips. It's a good thing her characters do what she says, because even her Labrador doesn't listen to her...

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