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ARC Review: The Heiresses by Allison Rushby
ARC Review: Hold Me Down Hard by Cathryn Fox
Review: Dangerous Submission by Lori Toland
Review: Slipping On Stardust by Gordon Osmond
Review: The Good Boy by Lisa Henry and J.A. Rock
Review: Bare It All by Lori Foster
Review: The Awakening: Aidan by Abby Niles
ARC Review & Giveaway: Kill Shot by Liliana Hart
ARC Review: Time Changes Everything by Melinda Dozier
Free Friday Book Review: Kamikaze by Moira Rogers
Review: Acadian Waltz by Alexandrea Weis
Review: I Only Have Eyes For You by Bella Andre
Yours Affectionately YA Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
Yours Affectionately Review: Once by Dana Michelle Burnett

Guest Authors and Spotlights

Guest Author & Giveaway: Trouble in Thigh High Boots by Elizabeth Black
Spotlight: Stare Me Down by Riley Murphy
Guest Author & Giveaway: Trouble in Thigh High Boots by Elizabeth Black
Spotlight: Stare Me Down by Riley Murphy
Release Day: Gianni by Melissa Schroeder
June Read Along: Giving Up the Ghost (13 Shades of Red Novel) by S.A. Price

What’s Going On?

So what do you think of love at first sight? Fated love? We want to know! Yakkety Yak Sunday Chat: Love at First Sight or Fate?

Keeping it kind of short on the update this weekend. Yesterday was my birthday and tomorrow is my son’s birthday. So I am wrung out tired just from that and then add on packing for vacation which is being broken up between a cruise and Disney World. Not that I am complaining, I am just tired and so busy my eyes are crossing.

Some how I got on an Eliza Gayle kick this week. I was going through my free book folder looking to make a little dent into it and came across a few of her books I had never read. Bingo! Submissive Secrets was the first book and while I enjoyed it, it was extremely short and now I want more. I want to know what happens to the brother. More please. Next up I started Burned, which is about a heroine who is fascinated and attracted to fire, but doesn’t believe she is submissive. Zane won’t let her hide from him and shows her what he can do for her as both her Dom and fire starter.

Fishing back around, I couldn’t stop thinking about Their Virgin Princess by Lexi Blake and Shayla Black. I never take these books seriously because there is so much going on about the lady being a virgin, in a menage with Doms. While they are enjoyable, I don’t find the suspense all that great. Lea is a virgin princess with a dark past of having been kidnapped. While beaten she was never raped, but made to watch other women who were. Now free, she still is scarred emotionally from the experience. But there three guards adore her. The time has come for them to make her theirs. Cheesy, but oh so fun.

Love in the Afternoon by Alison Packard was an audio book I have been listening to for a long time. Two actors on a sope opera become lovers on screen and off. There is a stalker, hot steamy sex, issues with family and friends, and fans of the show that were wonderful to watch. Look for my review soon.

I was lucky to get an ARC of the first book in Anne Marsh’s new series, The Hotshots. Reburn is a short story that I loved and wanted more when I was done. It crosses over with her Smoke Jumpers series, that I just started recently. I love a buff man going into the heat of battle to protect the forest, family and the love of their lives. Filled with sexy love scenes, a crazy bad guy and meeting up with characters we love from other books, this hit a lot of high notes with me.

Have to cut this a little short today. I am headed out to the new Star Trek moving in 3D IMAX. One of my fabulous birthday gifts…no kids! Hope you have a great Sunday!

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When I started reading many many years ago, love at first sight was more of a rare happening. It was more like lust at first sight and then a story watching the lovers grow. I am not saying it was rare, but I guess I never read a ton of love at first sight books. And twenty years ago, the fated soul mates that appear in paranormal romance wasn’t a big thing.

When I started reading paranormal romances about 7 or so years ago, fated soul mates seemed to be the craze. I fell for it hook, line and sinker. I loved that two people were fated to be lovers and that no one else would do. As I started to mature more in my reading of this genre, I started to wonder where the free will was in that and what would happen if fate was just plain wrong.

Now, there are books that buck the whole fated mate deal. I adore the authors for not making it easy on them any more. While fate may make you soul mates, that doesn’t mean that fate made you actually like or love that person, shifter, vampire, or whatever.

Now I am not slapping down this stream of love at first sight or even fated mates. Every once and a while this really appeals to me when I am looking for a story where these people know what they want, when they want it and they get it. The problem is that almost most of the books I have read lately have been fast paced, where people fall in love within 2-5 days and get a HEA. Huh? While I like that from time to time, in reality I am looking to see these people build a life together that doesn’t end the story after a week.

There are times and places for shorter realities like novellas. But when I am reading a kick ass story and getting into everything, falling in love and living happily forever after in a short times span doesn’t seem real…even if it is a paranormal book.

Now some authors get around the short time span but having the characters know each other for sometime before actually getting together. I still think sometimes this is over used. I can be a friend with someone for years. But falling in love and moving in together isn’t just magical without some time to adjust.

So I find myself even confused as to what I like. Sometimes I want that wam bam let’s be together forever as it renews my hope in love. But then again, I want to see couples who really do take the time to grow and learn to love for a forever after.

So what do you like? Do you believe in love at first sight, or is it lust at first sight? Do you buy all the fated mates/lovers themes? Let’s chat!

Continue reading »]]> Once by Dana Michelle Burnett
Genre: New Adult Paranormal Romance
Series: #1 Gypsy Fairy Tale

Just like the subtitle suggests, this is a fairy tale of sorts and it has the feel of one.  I love fairy tales so I was eager to give this story a try.

A young woman, Harmony, lives in a small town in the Midwest where nothing exciting ever happens.  Now that her grandmother is gone, she is alone- alone with debts due to her grandmother’s illness and the not so thriving feed store they ran together, alone with her dreams of going off to college dashed when she stayed to take care of her grandmother and now can’t afford it, and alone because she is the last of her family.  About the time of her grandmother’s funeral an interesting coincidence takes place that has the whole town excited.  An old-style traveling troupe comes to town to perform.  A handful of the travelers even come to her grandmother’s funeral.  Like everyone else, Harmony is curious, but unlike many, Harmony sees no harm in the group being there.  In fact, she notices the handsome young horse handler right away and he seems to notice her too.  Later she discovers that he is also the show’s magician.

Harmony carries on running the feed store, but finally comes face to face with the attractive young man in an embarrassing way.  He introduces himself as Kieran and calls himself a traveler.  There is something different about him.  They run into each other a few times, but then he saves her life.  There were things about the way he did it that make her curious, but he only tells her that it’s magic.  They agree to see each other and their attraction grows, but in the end Kieran is a traveler and will be gone in a few days.  Harmony has a fateful decision to make.  In the meantime, others notice their budding relationship and it is the source of danger.

The fairy tale quality of the story is there throughout and that is why I was able to make allowances for things like the sudden deep romantic connection between Harmony and Kieran.  Harmony narrates the story in first person and she is also recently out of high school which gives this a Young Adult feel to it too.  I enjoyed watching the story develop through Harmony’s eyes.  She is deeply attracted to Kieran, but she keeps her head too.  I loved the idea that this lonely girl from a small town got to experience the magic of romance with a handsome stranger who leaped to her rescue more than once and on a few occasions sought her out just to share time together.

I would have preferred to have a better understanding about Kieran’s family and their abilities in the end and I groaned when it ended the way it did.  The ending made sense, but I guess I wanted the full fairy tale ending to complete it.  Maybe it continues in a sequel?  Not sure.  These observations weren’t enough to detract from the story as a whole which as I said I found enjoyable.

As to recommendations, I’d recommend it to Young Adult, New Adult and Adult audiences who enjoy contemporary fantasy or paranormal romances that lean more toward the sweet romance side of the spectrum.

Rating: B
Reviewed by Sophia Rose

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Continue reading »]]> This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series Pushing the Limits

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
Series: #1 Pushing the Limits

So many people told me ‘You just have to read this one’, ‘its awesome’, etc and I did the ‘ya-ya, I will.  I’ve got it in my TBR pile’.  Well hel-lo, they were all right.  Truthfully, deep down I knew that it would be good and would grab my emotions, but that’s exactly why I shied away from this book.  And yes, I had to pull out my tissue a few times.  In the right mood, I love it when a story squeezes my heart like that.

To summarize, this is the story that is about two hurting teenagers who seem all wrong for each other, but connect deep in their very cores and grow to be exactly what each needs from the other.

Echo Emerson was a girl who had it all going for her from the perspective of those at a casual glance- good grades, good friends, a family, artistic talent, a boyfriend, but that was inexplicably all gone after her sophomore year when something happened to leave horrible scars on her arms and her brother died close to the same time.  Echo can’t remember the events of the time it happened and becomes a ghost of the person she once was.  She struggles now against her dad’s high expectations, her feelings of her step-mom being pregnant, her mom being out of the picture, her grief over her brother and her desire to know what happened which brings a new therapist on the scene.

Like Echo, Noah had it all too until his parents died in a house fire and he was separated from his brothers in the foster system.  He gets bounced around from one bad situation to the next until he ends up in his current situation where he’s at least made friends with two other foster kids his age that live there and the adults at least don’t mistreat him.  He lives for the chance to get his brothers back and make a real family together again.  His grades have tanked and his other behaviors make him a candidate for the new therapist’s caseload.

From the first moment they meet outside the new therapist’s office Echo and Noah share a spark too bad the first spark is antagonistic.  Echo agrees to make some money by tutoring to fix up her brother’s dream car so she’ll have something of him left and Noah agrees to attend tutoring to make a good impression on his little brothers’ social worker.  As the school year progresses, they deal with their separate issues and forge a friendship and a relationship that defies the minds of even their friends, but in the end their issues might be too big to keep them together or allow them to find happiness.

When I first read the deets on Noah and Echo’s backstory, I got a bit concerned.  Emotional I can handle; unnecessary angst not so much.  Reading this from an adult perspective I saw pretty close to the beginning what needed to happen for the best and what was going to happen if the author had a drop of human kindness in her (and she does) to finish this story on a high note.  Knowing where it was all going didn’t detract from my pleasure in reading the story.  I loved this fantastic character-driven plot that shifted back and forth between Echo and Noah’s perspectives.  They both saw their situations through their own emotional grids and I loved how their dialogue with their counselor, Mrs. Collins, was the grounding in objectivity they and the story needed.  Every high school should have a Mrs. Collins.  That woman was perfect like Mary Poppins being professional, compassionate and putting it all on the line with both the teens and their parents.  Can you tell who my favorite character is?  Haha!

I also enjoyed how the romance angle was handled.  It stopped and started, started over and took its time which was appropriate considering where they were in their lives.  Don’t get me wrong!  The hormones were raging and they both wanted more, but took turns being the voice of reason.

As to the characters, Noah and Echo were so well written that I loved learning all about them both flaws and triumphs and then watching them grow.  They went through their moments separately and together, but they owned them and worked hard toward change.  Both were so courageous.  Their separate posse of friends was enjoyable to know and read about.  My heart broke a few times for the life that Noah, Beth and Isaiah had lived and I’m glad that Beth and Noah (as well as Lila) get their own stories.  I have another favorite character besides Mrs. Collins, who shall remain anonymous due to spoiler issues that I liked from the beginning.  This person was flawed, but also misunderstood and I was so glad to see my faith in the person was justified.

When it comes to the caution elements, I wouldn’t recommend this for younger teens due to some of the scenes and content.  There are no sex scenes or violence, but there is the use of strong language, drugs, alcohol and disturbing flashbacks with Echo’s mom.

As to recommendations, this is definitely for those who enjoy their YA Contemporary Romance with some darker depths and a character-driven plot.

Rating: A
Reviewed by Sophia Rose

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

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With 55% of the vote from our readers, we are reading Giving Up the Ghost by S.A. Price in the month of June! So get the book and start reading along with us. There will be giveaways along the way and you never know when I might pop in to do it! So comment often, join the discussion, and see what kinds of trouble and fun we can get into!

Read Along Schedule

June 1
Chapters 1 – 4

June 8
Chapters 5-8

June 15
Chapters 9 – 12

June 22
Chapters 13 – 14

June 29
Chapters 15 – to the End

Book Description

Rhys Bellamy is the front man for the wildly successful 13 Shades of Red, a band hailing from New Orleans that is just a bit more then they appear. He’s sexy, caustic and on a path of self destruction that has everything to do with the fact that he can speak to the dead. A man hounded by the death of his fiancée, Rhys is a lothario of the highest caliber. His life, his band, and his agony celebrates his lost love, Phaedra, and it has made him a very popular man with the ladies, even if they will never mean anything to him. Too bad Phaedra has never and will never contact him.

When the band’s first US tour meets with some unforeseen management issues, Saffron Richards is brought in to take care of it. A veteran of the business, Saffron knows all about Rhys and his reputation and doesn’t want to become another notch on his belt. Too bad fate has it in for the both of them, and gives them an attraction neither can deny.

But life on the road with an up and coming band has its problems, from bosses to groupies to just plain old flat tires. And Phaedra, who has been watching from the mists and reveling in the misery of her lost lover doesn’t want to see him happy. Being together is harder than it sounds, especially when Phaedra crosses the veils on All Hallows Eve to reignite the love that Saffron has set to ash in Rhys. And Phaedra is not giving him up without a fight. Not because she loves him, but because she doesn’t ever want him to forget.

Warning: this is considered a New Adult genre release. Reader discretion is advised.

See you back here on June 1, 2013!