Thursday, July 31, 2014

Review: Reach Me by J.L. Mac

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It’s a well-known fact that single parenting doesn’t allow for much dating. Over the past nine years, Lindsay Fuller’s heart has been monopolized by her son, Trey, and she’s perfectly content with that.

But with her 30th birthday looming like a black cloud, Lindsay worries that her chances at a happily ever after are next to nil.

After all, she’s no sorority girl. She’s no supermodel, either. She’s a Plain Jane single mom with a less than desirable career, a pen pal obsession, and an extremely overbearing younger brother.

Financial trouble sends Lindsay’s already hectic life into a tailspin, setting events in motion that will change everything, namely her “single” status. Learning to reach for what she wants catalyzes an epic internal struggle that she has no hopes of overcoming.

The question is, will Lindsay give love a shot; and, more importantly, will it be worth it?
 
 
Lindsay was left raising her son Trey alone after the guy she thought she was in love with, at 19 years old, kicked her to the curb.  She has struggled for the last 10 years to make ends meet but one thing that has helped a lot is the support from her online chat friend, Russ.
 
Russ is someone she can talk to about anything and everything.  She definitely feels something a lot like love for him but they have never actually met in person.  She doesn’t think that she has anything to offer a man but Russ would really like to finally meet her. She also has the support of her brother Brian but he is busy running around after his mogul boss most of time and is often not available when she needs him to be.
 
Lindsay is at her lowest after losing yet another temping job and she is now facing eviction due to unpaid rent.  She is determined to fight though and when she confronts the building owner her whole world changes in an instant.
 
A proposition is made that could change her life forever.
 
I loved this novella and can’t wait to see where this goes!
 
I give this 4 stars.
 
For those of you who have been reading Damon & Jo’s story in this series, Lindsay is the sister of Brian, Damon’s Personal Assistant.
 
Series reading order
Wreck Me ( Wrecked #1)
Restore Me (Wrecked #2)
Accept Me (Wrecked #3)
Reach Me – novella spin off but can be read as  stand alone.
 
 
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Wednesday, July 30, 2014

REVIEW: 53 Letters for my Lover by Leylah Attar

22449572

This is not your typical love story. It’s not so black and white. Lines are crossed. Walls are smashed. Good becomes bad. Bad becomes very, very good.

 

Shayda Hijazi - the perfect wife, the perfect mother, the perfect daughter. For thirty-three years, she has played by the rules, swallowing secrets, burying dreams and doing whatever it takes to anchor her family. Shayda Hijazi is about to come face to face with the one thing that can rip it all apart, the one thing her heart has always been denied: love.
Troy Heathgate - untamed, exhilarating, dangerous; a man who does exactly as he pleases. Life bends to his will. Until he comes across the one thing he would give it all up for, but can never have.
Born on the same day in opposite corners of the world, their lives collide. And nothing is ever the same again. 
Spanning three decades, 53 Letters for My Lover is a fiercely sensual, emotional ride to the heart of an epic love that defies it all - an intimate exploration of love, loyalty, passion, betrayal, and the human journey for hope, happiness and redemption.

CONTENT WARNING: This novel is a blend of women's fiction and romance. It involves infidelity and an attempted rape. If you are not comfortable with these subjects, this may not be the book for you.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22449572-53-letters-for-my-lover?ac=1




5 HEARTS
Genre: Adult Romance
Author to look out for!

53 Letters for my Lover is Stirring - Utterly Gripping - And emotionally intense.

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‘What is it about Troy Heathgate that just won’t let me be?’ -Shayda

Could it be that the man can charm the panties off of any woman he encounters. Yeah, that must be it! Shayda Hijazi is in love with a man who is NOT her husband. Placed in an arranged marriage, Shayda has just taken the cards that life has dealt her, never really taking the time to do what she wants in life. She is a wife to Hafez, they have two children but Shayda has secrets. Secrets that could leave a person shattered a secret that has left two people broken, a secret that can tear a family apart. Shayda holds them tightly inside tucked in a little corner as she goes through life being  a mum, a wife, a daughter and a friend. Alive but not truly living. Not living for Shayda and then she meets Troy…

“So what’s it like? To have it all?” -Shayda
“Like flying.  Soaring. Until you come across the one thing you’d give it all up for, and can never have.”  -Troy
 I suck in my breath.


As do I. You suck in a breath as Troy casually tells Shayda that to the world YES I seem to have it all but in reality I don’t, I don’t have YOU. Troy Heathgate is rich, gorgeous, charismatic, and intelligent. He is lusted after by women all across the globe. He takes whatever it is he wants in life and most times what he wants is freely given. It’s not until he meets Shayda that he realizes he can’t have it all. Or…can he?

“Shayda, if we’re going to do this, there’s something you should know. I don’t do threesomes with shame or guilt or regret. You need to check those in at the door . They don’t belong in bed. I intend to get to know everything about you—every curve on your body, every dirty, sexy thought, every dark, hidden spot. Everything…” -Troy

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A love story that spans time covering three decades of love, guilt, secrets, fear, sorrow, helplessness, beauty, pain and joy.

I was careful to leave A LOT of things that I would love to say out of my review. I pretty much went in to this read blind and am very happy I did. There a things you should read and feel. I want that impact to hit you how it hit me. I will say this and you’ll have to read to understand, my fave scene involves the big red ‘O’.

Leylah Attar does an awesome job with this book, I was totally enraptured by Shayda and Troy! Attar includes our changing and forever evolving world by incorporating computers and the internet which is Troy’s main source of income as the internet was just in it’s beginning stages around the timeframe set in the book. I really liked that, when real life connects with book life.

There are a few scenes that WHOOSH and knock the wind out of you. Especially in relation to relationships particularly Shayda and her father. With that I think this author does something that not all can do well let alone pull off wonderfully.
 She explores. She explored Shayda’s life, culture, customs, love, infidelity and how all these things work in terms of cause and effect. Damn, what I just wrote..that last sentence just made me change my 4 stars to 5.

My thoughts
Excellent! Well written! These characters will stick with me FOREVER. This is not your typical affair it’s so much more to it. I’m kind of pissed I waited to read it; this book was sitting in my Kindle for weeks.
 At first I was not convinced that this book was for me. As I started the book for about the first 10% I was just not in to it but I kept going. By the time I got to 19% I knew this book had me. From then on, if I had to stop reading for real life I would get pissed.  In my humble opinion I believe this book can easily be a best seller, it completely sucks you in. My Recommendation is READ THIS BOOK!

My Ratings
Characters- Beautiful, Charming and Witty
Writing Style- Very solid with an intense undertone that tackles morality, being human and making mistakes.
Plot/Storyline- A woman has an affair, but it’s not what you think. She was placed in an arrange marriage one of convenience and ancestry not love.
Steam Factor- High/Very Steamy on a scale of 1-10 I say 9
Entertainment Level-  Lo-Med-Hi  Highly entertaining! Loved it!
Overall- I recommend you read the book! It is a 2014 FAVE!

Now go forth and read. Then come tell us about it! 



Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Blog Tour: Lead by Kylie Scott

Lead Kylie Scott BANNER
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Title: Lead (Stage Dive, #3)
Author: Kylie Scott
Publication Date: July 29, 2014
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
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Stay up all night with the sexy rockers in Stage Dive, the epic rock star romance series from New York Times bestselling author Kylie Scott, author of Lick and Play.

As the lead singer of Stage Dive, Jimmy is used to getting whatever he wants, whenever he wants it, whether it's booze, drugs, or women. However, when a PR disaster serves as a wake-up call about his life and lands him in rehab, he finds himself with Lena, a new assistant to keep him out of trouble.  

Lena's not willing to take any crap from the sexy rocker and is determined to keep their relationship completely professional, despite their sizzling chemistry. But when Jimmy pushes her too far and Lena leaves, he realizes that he may just have lost the best thing that ever happened to him.
 
 
Lena is employed by Stage Dive to be a personal assistant to Jimmy as he works through his addiction issues.  She basically keeps him on the straight and narrow and puts up with a lot of shit that gets throw her way.
 
Lena is determined to keep it strictly professional but there is no denying how gorgeous Jimmy is and her daily fight not to show how much she is attracted to him. They bicker like an old married couple and everyone else around can see the growing bond between.
 
“Because your dark parts don’t scare me, Jimmy.  They never did.” - Lena
 
Lena decides she needs to leave her job.  She can’t work for someone she desperately wants to kiss. Jimmy is determined to get her to stay, he likes having her around and so does the rest of the band.  He sets out to make her see why she should stay.  He thinks he can help her get over her infatuation with him.
 
“Fuck he was beautiful, inside and out, and he would never be mine” - Lena
 
I think I’m not the only one who can see this idea has ‘backfire’ written all over it right?
 
I just loved the slow build up of this story as Jimmy came to some realisations and had to figure things on his own.  He is feeling all sort of emotions he’s never felt before and the way he deals with them are uniquely Jimmy.
 
“She said no one would ever love love me” – Jimmy.  “She was wrong” - Lena
 
I loved being back with Stage Dive and this story is so well interwoven into what we have already read in this awesome series.  I have to say that every time Mal appears in this book I was laughing so much, he cracks me up!
 
Another fab story from Kylie and I am very excited about what’s coming next.
 
I five this 4.5 stars J
 
Series reading order
 
Lick (Stage Dive #1)
Play (Stage Dive #2)
Lead (Stage Dive #3)
Dive (Stage Dive #4) to be released Jan 2015
 
 
“Lena, you seen my old black Led Zep shirt?”

“Nope.”

“You sure?” His brows became one dark cranky line. The scratches on his face were healing well, thank goodness. Though it didn’t reduce my desire to throttle his mother on a daily basis.

“Yes. I haven’t seen it.”

Can’t find it anywhere…”

“And this is a surprise, how?” I slipped my hands into my back jean’s pockets. “Jimmy, you own more clothing than Cher, Brittney, and Elvis, put together. Things are bound to go missing.”

“Sure you haven’t seen it?”

“For goodness sake, what do you think, Jimmy? That I stole it to sleep in or something?” I laughed bitterly. Sure as hell, the truth deserved a good mocking. I’d sunk so despicably low.

I hadn’t even meant to steal the stupid thing, but the shirt had been mixed up with my laundry a few days ago. It’d been the first top I laid my hand on after stepping out of the shower, ready to go to bed. Without thought, I’d put it on and it’d been so soft, the scent of him lingering beneath the laundry detergent. Every night since, I’d found myself in it come bedtime. My shame knew no limits. And no, I still hadn’t quit. The words still hadn’t come even close to leaving my mouth.

He frowned. “No.”

“That I have some deep secret longing to feel close to you resulting in my stealing your shirt like some creepy perv?”

“Course I don’t fucking think that,” he replied crankily, reaching up to grip the top of the doorframe. All of his bulging muscles stretched the arms of his white T-shirt in the nicest way. It was all I could do not to start drooling, my heart beat taking up residence somewhere down between my thighs. And who could blame it? Not me. Maybe if I got laid, this would go away and things would return to normal. It’d seemed safer to avoid rubbing up against any men just in case I got carried away and started dating again. This new situation, however, changed everything.

“Well, of course not! That would be crazy.” And wasn’t that the god’s honest truth? Cray-zeee. Lock me up and throw away the key because it wasn’t like I didn’t know better.

“Just can’t figure out where the hell it could be.”

Angels couldn’t have smiled as innocently. They might have tried, but they would have failed, the dirty-mouthed, winged, little liars. “Jimmy, I don’t know where it is. But I’ll look around for it later, okay?”

“Yeah,” he said, and then added as an afterthought, “and stop looking at me weird.”

“I’m not!”
 
 
Stage Dive Series
Lick (Stage Dive #1)
Play (Stage Dive #2)
Lead (Stage Dive, #3)
 
Coming January 6th, 2015
Deep (Stage Dive #4)
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Kylie Scott
Kylie is a long time fan of romance, rock music, and B-grade horror films. Based in Queensland, Australia with her two children and one delightful husband, she reads, writes and never dithers around on the internet.
 
Check out more of Kylie’s work
 
 
 
 
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Release Day Blitz & Review: ROGUE by Katy Evans

 
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Book 4 of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Real series.

HE SAYS HE’S NO GOOD FOR HER.
SHE HATES THAT HE MIGHT BE RIGHT.

Brook Dumas found Remington Tate in REAL, and now it’s her best friend Melanie’s turn to find the man who makes her heart sing. After years of searching, one night in the rain, the strong and mysterious Greyson King comes to her rescue. He’s bold, and maybe just the lover, friend, and protector she’s been searching for. When they make love, he says her name like it means something. Like she means something—and that’s everything she’s ever wanted.

He disappears for days without a word, and when he’s around, he says he’ll only hurt her. Buy when he’s away, her heart hurts more.

Then Melanie uncovers the dark world he’d been determined to keep hidden, and suspects that their random first meeting might have not been so random after all.

Caught in a free fall of emotions, Melanie has no one to catch her but the man she should be running from. . .

But what do you do when your Prince Charming has gone Rogue?
 
 
 *ARC provided via NetGalley for an honest review*
 
I was EXTREMELY nervous to read Rogue. I mean, who could possibly live up to the standard we have come to expect after having met Remy? I didn't think it was possible for Katy to give us another character we could love as much as THE Remington Tate. Needless to say, Greyson had some pretty big shoes to fill. No need to worry though. Greyson is in a category of bad boy all his own and there is room in my heart for both him and Remy!

Melanie is a character we met as the best friend of Brooke in the previous books of this series. She played a great supporting role in them, but Rogue is her story. It is her chance at finding her happiness. And the one thing she wants more than anything? A love like her friend has with Remy. She wants someone to look at her like she is his whole world. She believes she may have finally found it when she meets Greyson and they share one amazing night together.

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But Greyson is not just some random guy she had a one night stand with. Their meeting was no chance encounter. But when one thing turns into another, lines become blurred and Grey is in danger of losing sight of his goal. I was really pissed at him for a while but as the story progresses, I could tell there was so much more to him than I initially thought. The more I got to know of Grey, the more he grew on me. By the end of the book, I was head over heels for this man!

Despite all that may be happening around them, one thing that is obvious, the chemistry between them! It is undeniably explosive and will leave you feeling overheated more than one time throughout the book. And while they might be convincing themselves it's purely physical, I'm not falling for it. Grey is just as possessive as Remy when it comes to what he believes is his, and he definitely as laid claim to Mel. It was a hot journey to experience with these two!

“You are so fucking mine you don’t even know how mine you are,”

The thing I loved most about this book is the completely different vibe it has from what we have experienced from Ms. Evans so far. It truly amazes me that it was only April of 2013 that she released her first book! Truly a talented author. I can't wait for the final book of the series, Ripped.
 
Other books in this series:
Real (Book #1)

Mine (Book #2)

Remy (Book #3)
 
 
“Bastard,” I mumble. “You ruined my whole week, you fucking bastard. I bet you’re fucking some triple-D blonde right now and her triplets all at the same time, aren’t you? You’re not even a two-timer, you’re like a three-timer, liar, feeding me an I’ll-take-you-to-the-movies fucking line. I swear I was fine until you came back like you “got” me, like you “got” me even if I looked like a hungover mess. God, I can’t believe myself!”

I kick the tub as if it’s the tub’s fault, then yell, “OUCH!”

Scowling, I walk into the bedroom, grab my sleep clothes, pad outside to my living room/kitchen combo to grab some ice cream, slide on my Princess Bride DVD and turn on the TV. A couple of pounds of fat, here we go. I plop down and a vibration buzzes across the couch. I scowl and feel around for my phone. I find it way in between the two couch cushions, pull it out, and set it aside for a scoop of ice cream. I almost choke on it when I see a text I hadn’t noticed before.

Be home tonight.

What? My stomach vaults. I read who the text is from and suddenly I want to throw my phone into a WALL. Greyson. I scowl at it and throw it down to the couch and start pacing. I’m not going to answer him. Why would I? He seemed in no hurry to talk to me before, and now he orders me? Like an all mighty king? No thanks. I’ll pass on our second date, thank you.

But I check and notice the text was sent hours ago. I tell myself I am not going to respond, I will wait a gazillion days like he did. I set the phone aside and put a big spoonful of ice cream in my mouth, letting it melt on my tongue, but my stomach is squirming and now I can’t watch the TV, I can only stare at my phone and suck on the spoon. Then I bury the spoon in the tub and grab my phone, squeeze my eyes shut and type.

I’m home but that doesn’t mean I’m staying home. Just depends . . .

On? comes the reply, and quickly.

Whoa, was he waiting, with phone in hand, to answer? It seems like he was.
I wait one full minute. Trembling. Type: On who’s visiting.

I don’t mean that as an invite. I mean it as in: I’d hightail it out of here if he set foot in my building. But his answer is lightning fast and my heart starts pounding as it keeps staring back at me.

Me.

Crap! I have to leave. I have to leave; I can’t see him! I can’t be this easy! A line must be drawn. He’s already shown what our night together meant to him, and I won’t let myself be devalued by him or any other moron again.

I should leave before he arrives, or when he does, yell through the door, without opening it even an inch, and tell him that I’m NOT INTERESTED! You stood me up, you didn’t get in touch soon enough, I am not your booty call, have a good life!

Yeah. That sounds right.

Determined, I head over to close the living room blinds. When I glance out the window and reach for the string I see a dark sports car pull over and a man in black step out of the driver’s seat. He looks up toward my window and all my systems stop when our eyes lock, hold, recognize. My insides go into chaos mode. A strange excitement makes my knees knock.

Fuck me, it’s really him.

What is he doing here? What does he want?

He heads into the building and I turn to face my closed door, panicking because I haven’t changed, I didn’t change. I’m in my pj’s, if hardly that.

Noticing the pint of ice cream still grasped in my hand, I run to shove it back into the freezer, spoon and all. I start pacing around in circles, trying to come up with a new plan, but unable to think for shit. I consider telling my building guard not to let him in, but I hear the ring of the elevator and realize the guard must have recognized the motherfucker from when he brought me home last week.

Deciding not to delay the inevitable, I swing the door open as he steps out of the elevator. He looks straight at me and his gaze drills into me, making a hole straight in my thoughts. One of my neighbors and her husband pass along the hall toward their door.

“Well, hello there, Melanie. A little chilly out.” She gestures to the white silk shorts and near-transparent camisole I’m wearing in complete disapproval and continues on.

Greyson follows behind her and fills up the space one foot away from my threshold with muscle and beauty and testosterone and, I swear, god, I swear, he’s as lethal as a nuclear bomb. My knees, oh, my knees. My heart. My eyes. My body feels both light as a feather and heavy as a tank. How can this be? He’s so stunning I can’t even move. Or blink, or hardly stand; I’m leaning on the door frame.

I’m fully sober. Something I might regret. He’s no longer blurred by the rain, by vodka, or by my stupid illusions of prince charming.

The man standing at my door is very real, very big, very tan, and his smile is very, very charming. There is no word for the way he stands there, his eyes dark and glimmering, his cheekbones hard and his jaw smoothly shaven, his mouth so beautiful, tipped up mischievously at the corners. His suit is perfect, playboy perfect, and his tousled hair run with wayward streaks of copper that makes me want to rake my fingers straight through. And he’s here, looking at me as if waiting for me to let him in. A memory of the morning he brought me home flashes through me. Where I felt sore because of the way he’d loved me all night. The little mark behind my ear that I found the next morning.

Hanging on to my every instinct of self-preservation, I hold the door only halfway open when he catches it in one big powerful hand.
Invite me in,” he says softly, holding the door in his firm grip.

“My car doesn’t need a tune-up, it’s fine, but thanks for checking in on it,” I say, pushing it closed with more effort.

He shoves the door open and strides inside, and I’m frustrated over my inability to keep him out. Now he’s inside and he shuts the door like he owns my place, then he studies it with a sweep of narrowed eyes. “This building has a laundry chute?”

“That’s your line?”

He crosses the room and pulls the rest of the blinds shut, then he performs an insanely quick check of my place with a sweep of his gaze that makes my insides turn over.
It’s almost like he’s making sure there is no other man here.
He can’t possibly be jealous, can he?

And now . . . now that he seems assured no one is here but me, he starts walking over to me and looking at my mouth, and I’m walking away because every instinct of self-preservation in me tells me to walk away.

“You’re here. Why are you here all of a sudden? Some other date canceled on you last minute?” I demand.

“I have a date I’d like to schedule with you.” His eyebrows pull low over those brilliant hawklike eyes. “You’re not nearly as excited to see me as I’d hoped.”

“Maybe I thought you were a drunken hallucination. Maybe I hoped you were.”
I hit the back of my kitchen island and he locks me in with his arms, his eyes almost desperate and hungry. Then he cups my face and sets his mouth to mine, like he thinks—mistakenly—I belong to him.

“I’m not,” he says, softly, then he kisses me again, so deeply I lose my train of thought until he speaks against my mouth again. “A hallucination. And if you need me to, I’ll spend all night reminding you of what it feels like to have my tongue and my cock buried deep in you and how much you liked it.”

He leans over as if to kiss me again. My voice trembles as I turn my head. “Don’t, Greyson.”
“I don’t like that word, ‘don’t,’” he rasps against my cheek. “But I do like you saying Greyson.”

He tips my head around with the tip of one finger and stares at me like he loves the look of me. I lift one of his arms and he lets me, and I start easing away again, free of him, but not free of his stare. The first night he just kept staring at my eyes like he couldn’t tear his gaze free, but now, now he’s seeing all of me. I’m wearing shorts and a camisole yet my body starts heating as his eyes rake me up and down.

“I gave you a chance and you blew it,” I breathe.

“I want another one.”
 
 
 

My Life in 8 Words: “Hectic, wonderful, complete; everything I ever wanted.”
 
Katy Evans grew up with books and book-boyfriends until she found a real sexy boyfriend to love. They married and are now hard at work on their own happily ever after. Katy loves her family and friends, and she also loves reading, walking, baking, and being consumed by her characters until she reaches “The End.” Which is, hopefully, only the beginning…