Review: Missing In Action by Kate Canterbary

April 25, 2020 by · Leave a Comment

MISSING IN ACTION
Genre: MM Romance
Author: Kate Canterbary
Release Date: March 30, 2020

Former Navy SEAL turned covert agent Wes Halsted spent his days—and weeks and months—being someone else. But with his cover blown and his injuries requiring months of recuperation, he must learn how to be himself again.

Only…he’d rather save his issues for another day and get to know a stressed-out, suited-up businessman instead.

Tom Esbeck has everything under control. Meal plans, workout plans, project plans, five-year plans. A plan for everything and everything according to plan.

Except there’s no plan for a surprise—and shirtless—encounter with the built-for-sin spy he’d crushed on years ago.

But crushes—and spies—burn out fast.

MISSING IN ACTION is a full-length steamy contemporary romance standalone with strong ties to the Walsh Series.

AMAZON 

I want to be the man who gets to love you …
I want that job. I want the right to call you mine and I want to be yours, and I want to do this with you.”

If you’re a fan of character driven romance, this one is truly cream of the crop. This is only my second book by Kate, but I can safely say that the woman knows how to write some of the most multilayered characters I’ve ever read.

Wes is a covert agent who’s currently recovering from an almost lethal injury after his op went bad. His job is all he’s ever known. He’s used to the shadows and the secrecy that comes with his daily life, and now being normal is a struggle. Being around his happily married and meddling brother is another struggle. But worst of all, it’s his sister in law’s incredibly handsome business associate that’s the problem, because he wants him beyond reason.

Tom is the definition of buttoned up. His life is all about order, where Wes is pure chaos. Tom has everything planned from his days to his meals, and he doesn’t deviate. Their attraction is instant, and their connection is the definition of opposites attracting. The story is a slow burn romance that peels back the layers on both of these characters, and they have many layers. Tom may be all about order in his life, but that doesn’t mean his life has been perfect. How can he be with a man that makes it clear he has no intention of staying? Wes is a man that’s struggling with what his new normal may be when he comes to terms that his covert career may be blown to smithereens.

I really enjoyed the story, though admittedly, I did skim a bit through parts. I like a good character driven story, but I was bored in some parts. Luckily the story does come together beautifully, and I can happily say that I enjoyed it quite a bit,

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Review: The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jiminez

April 24, 2020 by · Leave a Comment

THE HAPPY EVER AFTER PLAYLIST
Genre: ContemporaryRomance
Author: Abby Jiminez
Release Date: April 14, 2020

From the USA Today bestselling author of The Friend Zonecomes an adorable and fresh romantic comedy about one trouble-making dog who brings together two perfect strangers.

Two years after losing her fiancé, Sloan Monroe still can’t seem to get her life back on track. But one trouble-making pup with a “take me home” look in his eyes is about to change everything. With her new pet by her side, Sloan finally starts to feel more like herself. Then, after weeks of unanswered texts, Tucker’s owner reaches out. He’s a musician on tour in Australia. And bottom line: He wants Tucker back.

Well, Sloan’s not about to give up her dog without a fight. But what if this Jason guy really loves Tucker? As their flirty texts turn into long calls, Sloan can’t deny a connection. Jason is hot and nice and funny. There’s no telling what could happen when they meet in person. The question is: With his music career on the rise, how long will Jason really stick around? And is it possible for Sloan to survive another heartbreak?

AMAZON 

I would notice you in a crowd of a million.”

I’ve been dying for Sloan’s story ever since the end of The Friend Zone made me cry my eyes out. I loved her and Brandon so much, it was difficult to imagine the man that would make Sloan’s heart beat again. But man, oh man, never in a million years could I have imagined the perfection that was Jason.

Sloan has been a shell of herself for two years since the tragic loss of her fiancé. Her love for Brandon was one of a kind. But sometimes, life gives you a second chance that you never see coming. For Sloan, this comes in the form of a dog that literally jumps through her sunroof and into her car after she almost hits him while driving. She takes the dog in while trying to get in touch with the owner, and quickly falls hard for the adorable mutt. When the owner finally calls looking for his dog, she’s not ready to let go.

Now, admittedly, I’m a little over the rockstar element in books. But Jason was so different. He’s a rising talent on the music scene and one of the most down to earth men I’ve read in a while. He’s charming, sweet, and incredibly patient. Their relationship starts through a series of funny texts and phone calls that I couldn’t get enough of. I love that they get to know each other before they even know what the other looks like. Jason falls hard and fast for the mysterious woman that refuses to share what she looks like or give his dog bag. He’s determined to woo her for a date. And woo her he does. The man woos her so hard. It was DELICIOUS.

Now I will say, I loved the sweet undercurrent of the book. I really did. I loved the slow build of a relationship between Sloan and Jason. I loved that Jason was a genuinely nice guy. I loved that he was so patient when it comes to Sloan and didn’t try to replace her dead fiancé or felt threatened by his memory. I loved that he treated her right.

What I didn’t love is a lot of the drama around the industry part of Jason. I wished that the time spent on the drama was spent more on seeing Sloan come out of her shell. It was just a touch too much for me, especially at the end. This is entirely personal preference, so take this with a grain of salt. I’m just not a fan of OTT drama, and this felt like OTT for me. It did drive the plot forward, so it certainly wasn’t aimless, but it did nothing for me either. I think I was just so invested in Sloan’s HEA after the events of The Friend Zone, that I wished more time was spent on her personal growth and moving on rather than Jason’s industry drama. I think this is why I’m over the whole rockstar thing in my books, because the industry drama sort of comes along with the territory.

Now don’t get me wrong, I still loved the romance here. SO MUCH. And the ending? Absolute perfection. It wasn’t the laugh out loud hilarious sort of romance that Friend Zone was, but it was a sweet and emotional one that was just as satisfying.

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Review: Reborn Yesterday by Tessa Bailey

April 23, 2020 by · Leave a Comment

REBORN YESTERDAY
Series: Phenomenal Fate #1
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Author: Tessa Bailey
Release Date: March 17, 2020

A timeless love story with bite.

It was a night like any other for funeral home director Ginny Lynn, until the exceptionally handsome—and unfortunately deceased—young man on her embalming table sat up, opened his emerald eyes and changed the course of her life
forever, making her feel quite fluttery while he was at it.

Humans aren’t supposed to know Jonas Cantrell, or any vampire, exists. It’s kind of a major rule. Despite his instantaneous bond with perfectly peculiar Ginny, he has no choice but to erase her memories of their one and only meeting.

That was the plan. Before a reluctant Jonas can wipe Ginny’s mind clean, she reveals a secret that brings their worlds crashing together. Human and vampire. Past and present. Darkness and light. And while their love is strictly forbidden, it might be the
only thing that can save them…

Reborn Yesterday is a standalone novel.

AMAZON 

I’ve been thinking on my rating for this book for weeks. And now as I’m posting my review, I’m still torn. Did I like it? Kind of.

Here’s the thing, guys. I love and I mean LOVE all things Tessa Bailey. When I see a new Tessa book, I don’t even bother to read the blurb. I know I’ll be reading it. And when I saw that she’s writing in a new genre for her? I was ALL over it. But here’s another thing. PNR is my first love. It was THE genre that got me into romance. So to say that I’m picky when it comes to it would be a mild understatement. Perhaps that’s what played a big role in my feelings for this story? What I’m saying here is take my review with a grain of salt. Many readers really loved this one and clearly I’m the anomaly.

So what worked for me? The characters. They were adorable. I love me a quirky heroine and Ginny was adorkably quirky. She’s a mortician with a goofball personality that enjoys making clothes on the side. It was impossible not to bond with her immediately. As much as I also wanted to love Jonas, I sort of waffled on two sides. A part of me loved his edgy and somewhat tortured side. Another part of me got frustrated by his purple prose-y side. The man is a dirty talking anomaly. He sounded like he belonged in a Victorian novel rather than a modern age PNR. I suppose he was too sweet for me in parts. God, that hurts to say. Don’t judge me. But he was.

The other thing is that the story itself felt campy. The world was difficult to fully wrap my mind around. The characters got a bit confusing. It was all mostly very…underwhelming. It just didn’t grab me. It took me almost a week to finish because I had to push myself to keep reading in the hopes that it would pick up soon, but it never did. The pacing was simply too slow.

I loved the idea of the series and the concept of the story. Unfortunately it just lacked something to truly grab me and connect me to the story. It did grab me enough to want to read the next book in the series. The set-up sounds delicious. Unfortunately no matter how much you love a certain author, you simply can’t love all of their books. This was that one for me. I still adore Tessa and can’t wait for the next one in this series.

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#DGRFave & Review: Master of Salt & Bones by Keri Lake

April 22, 2020 by · 2 Comments

 

MASTER OF SALT & BONES
Genre: Gothic Romance
Author: Keri Lake
Release Date: April 22, 2020

 

When I was a little girl, I dreamed a handsome knight would come and rescue me from my wretched mother. He’d ride up on his white steed and break the curse I’ve been fated to carry since the day I was born.

Funny how things changed over time. How the fairy tale twisted into something far more crooked, darker than I ever imagined.

In reality, my knight is scarred and broken, living alone in a castle of bones that overlooks the sea. He isn’t searching for me. He never was.

Lucian Blackthorne is as cursed as I am, and equally shunned by the locals, the fishers of men, who believe him to be the devil in the flesh.

Perhaps he is, with the way his amber eyes draw me in, ignite me like an infernal blaze. And the sins he whispers in my ear are as wickedly intoxicating as the man himself.

Yet, his touch is heaven and his will is my weakness.

He calls us forbidden, an unsalvageable tragedy, with no happy end. Maybe we are. But in this story, he’s the one who needs saving.

AMAZON 

Together, we are madness. And there is music in madness and madness in love.

Magical, all encompassing, enthralling, with a dark undercurrent and a romance that’s literally to die for, this book was everything!

How do I even begin to review this book. Keri Lake is a master of her craft. She’s written some of the most memorable stories I’ve read to date. Her romances are unique and unlike any I’ve read before. And this goes double for Master of Salt & Bones. This is a shift away from Keri’s usual dark romance, but it’s still somewhere there in the middle. It’s a gothic romance full of mind blowing twists and jaw dropping secrets. It tells the tale of an unlikely romance between a mysterious recluse and the young ingenue that tempts him beyond reason.

Lucian Blackthorne. The Devil of Blackthorn. Just saying the man’s name gives me shivers. Keri has written some of my favorite antiheroes, but this man? He is something else. If you like tortured heroes, prepare to give your heart away. Lucian hides devastating secrets. He’s richer than sin and the town recluse for reasons that slowly unwind as the story unfolds. He’s mysterious, aloof, and ruthless when it comes to getting what he wants.

Isadora Quinn is a young woman with secrets of her own. She’s lived her entire life underneath the shadow of her mother’s sins in their small town. Desperate for an escape, she takes a job as a caretaker for Lucian’s mother. The second she enters the Blackthorne manor, life as she knows it, takes a turn.

There are dangerous secrets lurking in every dark corner. And the man that warns her off with every sharp bite of his temper holds the darkest secrets of all. He pushes when she pulls, and then he pulls when she pushes. Theirs is an intricate seductive dance of forbidden and dangerously alluring. Isa is everything that Lucian doesn’t deserve and can’t have, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t temp him beyond reason. She’s too young, but only in years. Hers is an old soul that has survived too much in her young life. But there’s something more that binds them. Something more dangerous. Something darker. Something that Lucian already knows he craves and Isa is only figuring out.

This book, y’all. GAH. It’s THICK. The story is a bit of a slow pace in the beginning as it sets the scene. But then right around the second half, it takes off like a bullet. I loved the dark allure and the sharp edge that this romance carried. It was a little depraved and a whole lot twisted. And this girl? Loved every single page.

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Review: Tell Me Pretty Lies by Charleigh Rose

April 21, 2020 by · Leave a Comment

TELL ME PRETTY LIES
Series: Heartbreak Hill #1
Genre: New Adult Romance
Author: Charleigh Rose
Release Date: April 5, 2020

Three things my mother acquired when she became engaged:

1. A brand new Tiffany’s ring.
2. A lavish home on Heartbreak Hill.
3. Three privileged stepsons.

The last thing I expected was to fall for one of them, least of all Thayer Ames.
Beautiful, brooding, and untouchable.
I knew it was a bad idea. He warned me himself.
But he was a thunderstorm, and I never could resist the rain.
It was perfect…
Until it wasn’t.
One night was all it took for our world to crumble, leaving only secrets and lies between us.
Now, I have to face him again, but the boy I used to know has become the man who loves to hate me.

AMAZON 

So innocent. So pure. But they don’t know what you like to do with your stepbrother in the dark.”

I’m a sucker for a good bully romance. Give me a tortured alphahole, and I’m putty in your hands. PUTTEH. So of course the second I saw the blurb to this book, I jumped on it faster than you can say GIMMEH.

Tell Me Pretty Lies was an interesting read for me. A part of me loved the somewhat convoluted yet still addictive story. But then another part of me was thoroughly confused for a good chunk of it. This is only the second book I’ve read by this author, so when I was thrown into what felt like the middle of an already developing story in the beginning of the book, I was confused. I had to go back and see if this is a continuing series. Did I jump into book 3 of a series? Was there a prequel novella I missed? I was left scratching my head because this is what marks book one in what I’m hoping is the start of a new series.

The story starts with a funeral and gives you a peek into an already developed relationship between the two MCs. It’s clear that theirs is a relationship that has a lot of history, and I would have loved to see it, rather than being told about it in hindsight. I think that actually experiencing that part of them would have gone a long way in really connecting me to the characters. It felt like the backstory and the true start of their relationship is told off the pages and we only get a small glimpse, where it should have been a full experience. Because of this, I spent a large part of the story trying to wrap my mind around all of the characters, their connection, and what was happening.

Now there’s the other part of me, too. The part of me that was still glued to the pages, confusion or not. There was just a certain zap to this story that kept me riveted. The mystery and suspense kept me turning the pages well into the night. Truth be told, I finished this in one sitting, so that definitely tells you something. It wasn’t without issues, but it was still gripping enough to completely hook me on what I’m hoping is a series, and desperate for more of the brothers. So while it wasn’t a perfect 5 star read, it was still an enjoyable 3 star, and certainly one I’d recommend to any fans of the bully trope that like a good dose of angst with their NA romance.

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New & Upcoming Releases: April 20-23

April 20, 2020 by · Leave a Comment

New and upcoming releases coming at ya this week!

AVAILABLE NOW

FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT by Anne Harper

Sloane De Carlo is going to have to move to Antarctica.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that she accidentally made her private blog very public, and all her innermost secrets and embarrassing moments are trending, now the entirety of the Internet is dying to know who her all-consuming, never-get-over-him crush “Guy” really is. She’s even got a literary agent dangling a book deal in front of her nose—but there’s a catch. She’ll have to get closure with “Guy” and give her story that pitch-perfect ending.

Too bad the real “Guy” is engaged to someone else. #Blessed

The only person in her teeny hometown of Arbor Bay who knows the truth is local bartender Brady Knox. And he’s not telling…for a price. He’ll pretend to be Sloane’s “Guy” if she’ll use her newfound Internet fame to bring more business to his struggling local bar. Brady’s always been a lone wolf, but there’s something about the pint-sized, supremely awkward, yet beautiful Sloane that charms him.

But keeping secrets in a small town like Arbor Bay isn’t easy. And Brady was never meant to be the guy for a pitch-perfect ending…

ECSTASY by KV Rose

Zara.
Eli.
Alex.

Three students at Caven U who are all really, really f*cking tired of life.

Zara has a substance problem. Eli is a star athlete with a secret. And Alex? He’s just a f*cking a**hole.

Their paths collide one night at a party that quickly spirals out of control. A series of volatile moments follow, enveloping the three of them in a whirlwind of drama, drugs, and destruction.

Zara feels like she’s slipping under, losing her grip on reality. And if she isn’t careful, one of the boys just might pull her all the way down.

But the thing about almost dying at the hands of someone you hate?

In the moment before you take your last breath, the fear can feel a lot like…ecstasy.

And that’s a high you only get once in a lifetime.

WILD FOR YOU by Kendall  Ryan

A hot new standalone in the series that’s been called “A total, utter must read.” – Book Fanatic

He’s growly. Grumpy. Stubborn.

And now, my new roommate.

Walking away from my disastrous last relationship was an easy decision, but moving in with a friend-of-a-friend hockey star who’s rarely home? Not quite as simple, because Grant makes me feel all kinds of things I’m not prepared for.

Protected. Desired. Unsteady.
• • •

She’s beautiful. Smart. Tempting.

And a little fragile.

I’ve never been anyone’s knight in shining armor, but when Ana needed a place to stay, it was easy to offer her a room with me.

Not so simple, though, is keeping my hands—or my mouth—to myself. And the night she crawls into my bed and shares her body with me? Heaven.

But she’s not looking for a relationship, and to my surprise, I find myself pissed off by that idea.

They say my heart is broken, that I’ll never settle down. I used to think that was true. Now, though? Hell, your guess is as good as mine.

First, she took my bed.
Then she took my heart.
Then she took my everything.

Your favorite hot jocks are back with an all new standalone novel. If you like sexy, confident men who know how to handle a stick (on and off the ice), and smart women who are strong enough to keep all those big egos in check, this series is for you!

Each book can be read as a complete standalone.

TEMPER by Chantal Fernando

New York Times bestselling author Chantal Fernando returns to the Knights of Fury series with her most complicated hero yet. He may be the epitome of cool, but this MC President isn’t called Temper for nothing…

Every year, the hot, tatted biker comes into Abbie’s bar, orders whiskey, and asks her out. Every year, Abbie turns him down. After all, dating a man that goes by Temper seems like a really bad idea, no matter how attracted she is to him.

But this year is different. Abbie’s different. Older, wiser, and tired of being stuck behind the bar in a sleepy town. This year, she’s ready for whatever adventure the sexy but sweet biker has in store for her.

Or so she thinks…until an elegant candlelit dinner ends with a dead body.

Now, Abbie finds herself on the ride of her life, whisked away to the big city in Temper’s protective custody. She should be scared but—despite his nickname—it’s clear the last thing Temper would ever do is hurt a hair on her head. And when danger catches up with them, Abbie soon realizes that holding tight to her man while straddling a Harley may be the safest place of all.

This book is approximately 60,000 words

One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!

Knights of Fury:

Book 1: Saint

Book 2: Renegade

Book 3: Temper

RELEASING APRIL 21

THIRD A KISS by Pepper Winters

The USA Today Bestselling Dark Romance Series

A brilliantly dark, depraved and sensual romance that will have you begging for more!! 5 stars! Miss Petite Brunette Book Blog

From New York Times Bestseller, Pepper Winters, comes the third book in the Dark Romance series, Goddess Isles

“There was hate once. Hate born from dangerous attraction and fate’s cruel design.
There was love once. Love destined to kill us if we didn’t surrender to our war.”

Eleanor Grace suffers an awful affliction. She’s falling for a man who doesn’t deserve her affection or her forgiveness. But there is no cure, so she does something reckless, stupid—she throws safety to the sea and leaps into danger.

Sully Sinclair suffers the same affliction. He’s falling for a goddess who will never earn his trust or his heart if he can help it. However, he wasn’t prepared for the lengths she’d go. How far she’d push to either stop such a bond or kill them both trying.

An elixir given to a monster.
A goddess running for her life.
An ending neither of them can survive.

HERE WITH ME by Tia Louise

Sawyer LaGrange.

He’s my best friend’s older brother. He’s quiet, brooding, sinfully sexy…. Dark hair, a scruffy square jaw, and deep lines of muscle I trace my fingers along slowly, followed by my lips…. He always does what’s right. Until me… They say you get in life what you have the courage to ask for. Well, I’m brave. And I want him.

Secrets. 

Everybody has them. Big, small, innocent…forbidden. Mindy was a line I should never have crossed. But I did. She was beautiful…sassy and tempting. And rules were made to be broken. We broke them all. Now I’m home, released from service with hidden scars. Now my secrets are the demons that grow stronger every day. I try to send her away, but I can’t let her go. She’s my reason to fight, and I’ll walk through hell to be the man she deserves. To give her a reason to stay here with me.

(Here with Me is a stand-alone best friend’s older brother, second-chance, military romance. No cheating. No cliff-hangers.)

EMBER by Emma Renshaw

One night changed an entire town.

Ten years ago, I left Hawk Valley.

I never planned to return. Not to the regrets. The bitter memories. The guilt.

My baseball career gave me both the excuse and the money I needed to start over. Then my mom called, and I found myself headed back to the one place I swore I wouldn’t step foot again.

Meeting Delilah wasn’t part of the plan. Falling in love with her adorable son was even less so. And yet, what’s brewing between us is too intense to be denied. The unexpected passion is almost enough to distract us from the crumbling of both our worlds.

But even as the sparks fly, someone is waiting in the shadows to burn it all down.

BATTER OF WITS by Karla Sorensen

Hate at first sight couldn’t possibly exist, right?

That’s what Grace Buchanan thought, before her useless car stranded her on the side of a deserted road just inside the Green Valley city limits.

When Tucker Haywood—tall and handsome and full of southern charm— shows up to help, her reaction to him is the strongest thing she’s ever felt in her life, and it makes no freaking sense.

It doesn’t make much sense to Tucker either. Not why she hates him, or why he finds her so intriguing. He knows well enough that Grace is moving to Green Valley for a fresh start, not to distract him when he’s got no room for something like her in his life.

The complications between them are endless, but that doesn’t stop her definitely not love-at-first-sight feelings from changing into something else entirely.

Grace and Tucker are about to learn the hard way that in Green Valley, hating someone has never tasted so sweet.

‘Batter of Wits’ is a full-length contemporary romance, can be read as a standalone, and is book #5 in the Donner Bakery series, Green Valley World, Penny Reid Book Universe.

GET BUCKED by Lani Lynn Vale

Darby has always been ‘that’ guy.
The guy that no man, woman, or child wants around their loved one.
See, a long time ago he made some bad decisions. Those bad decisions have haunted him ever since. No matter what he does, people still see him as the town’s screw up. The boy that sold his soul to the Devil.
Years later, he’s turned himself around. Made amends and ultimately turned into a generally good guy. Only, it’s hard to act like a good guy when people still treat you like the old you, and not the new you.
Enter Waylynn Jennings.
Waylynn has watched Darby Valentine from afar for a very long time.
She’s witnessed the changes in him and knows the only reason he’s so mean is to protect the man that lies within. A battered, injured soul that deserves more than what he’s received. Even his own family takes him for granted.
She’s made it her new mission in life to prove to everyone that Darby isn’t the bad guy. That he’s a kind-hearted, sweet soul that’s just looking for a place to fit in.
Only, Darby is fairly sure that Waylynn is out to kill him, not help him. How else do you explain all the fights he’s having to break up on her behalf, or all the times he has to come to her rescue when she’s managed to put her cute little butt right in the middle of something where it shouldn’t be?
There’s obviously only one solution. He has to make her his. Then everyone will know not to mess with her. Darby Valentine protects what’s his. No matter what the cost.

CATCHING THE COWBOY by Kennedy Fox

Settling down and starting a family is something Diesel has considered, regardless of his one-night stand reputation. However, he just might be single forever since who he wants is off-limits—his best friend’s little sister.

He’s been in love with her for years, but betraying his friendship could ruin everything.

Rowan Bishop is over men, especially after finding out her boyfriend cheated and left her heartbroken. After graduating from college, she’s back home and has to face the one guy who purposely gets under her skin—her older brother’s best friend.

She hates that she’s attracted to him, but she’s willing to fight for who she wants.

Spending time together is a bad idea, but neither can deny the chemistry sizzling between them. Late night talks turn into spontaneous adventures and just when Rowan’s willing to admit how she truly feels, Diesel’s past catches up with him and ruins their picture perfect romance.

One secret turns into another and before either can grasp their new reality, more truths unravel—threatening to expose their forbidden relationship.

**Catching the Cowboy is a complete standalone and can be read without reading any of the other books or series, but if you prefer to read in order, start with Hitching the Cowboy as the characters and families do interconnect.**

BIG BEN by Nana Malone

It began with betrayal.
And ended in murder.

She was never supposed to cross my path.
She was never supposed to know about the Currency of Secrets or the Oaths of Blood.

But like a thief in the night, she stole my soul even if she wasn’t mine to possess.

As a member of the Elite, I live by simple tenets. A gentleman above all. Private matters stay private. Secrets whispered are never revealed. Enemies and friends are of the same coin. And power is king.

My so-called brothers killed my friend. I intend to make them pay.  And before it’s over, I’ll bend all the rules of morality, decency and legality. I will borrow and steal to set the scales right. But begging–begging, you can forget about.

My name is Ben Covington and I know my sins. 

*This is only the beginning of the story of how a woman I met in a closet turned me into a thief. It takes time for the perfect heist. Join me and the London Lords in the continuation of the story in The Benefactor!

SHE LOVES ME by Melissa Foster

What are two besties willing to risk for something more? The New York Timesbestselling author of This Is Love has the answer in this fun, sexy, and emotional romance about friendship, family, and giving love a chance.

Something is off in Piper Dalton’s life, and she has a feeling it might just be her. All her siblings are blissfully settled with their forever loves. But while her sisters were dreaming of white weddings, Piper was left heartbroken and commitment phobic by her first love, her best friend’s younger brother. As a woman dominating the male-driven construction industry, Piper has no interest in turning in her hammer for an apron—even if hot and hilarious Harley thinks otherwise.

Burly bar owner Harley Dutch has a bum ankle and two preteen nieces to take care of, and having his best friend, tough-as-nails and sexy-as-sin Piper Dalton, come to his rescue is just the remedy he needs. Piper is her snarky self, and she kind of sucks at caregiving, but she’s owned his heart for years, she’s got a way with the girls, and Harley would sure like to have his way with her…

As things heat up between Piper and Harley, she warns him not to fall in love with her because she’ll only break his heart. Harley is the right man for that challenge—until he makes the biggest mistake of his life, and they begin to wonder if true love really can conquer all.

HIS by A. Zavarelli & Natasha Knight

I’ve been in hiding for four years. On the run from the man in whose bed I once slept.

I saw something I shouldn’t have seen.
Took something I shouldn’t have taken.

And he’s just found me.

But it’s not just my safety I have to worry about. I have a little boy.

His little boy.

The secret baby of a Russian mobster.

He told me in no uncertain terms that I’m his. That we would be a family.

But his uncle still wants me dead and I know the man who’s been hunting me is the only one who can keep us safe.

WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS by Denise Grover Swank

The sixth book in the Rose Gardner Investigations series.

For months, Rose has suspected her ex-brother-in-law, has a foot in the criminal world, and she’s equally sure her deceased sister had the evidence to prove it—evidence stolen days just days after Violet’s death.

Those suspicions turn concrete when a body shows up near one of Mike’s construction sites, and the concrete cracks open wide when her niece and nephew go missing.

Rose might be weeks away from delivering her own baby, she that doesn’t stop her and her best friend, Neely Kate, from looking for the kids. She needs answers and fast, but her search leads her to the man who betrayed her months ago… the father of her baby.

James “Skeeter” Malcolm has been playing games with her for months—refusing to relinquish her paternity but refusing to tell her why. James knows what Mike is up to—Rose is sure of it—but can she convince him to tell help before it’s too late?

GIRL GONE VIRAL by Alisha Rai

In Alisha Rai’s second novel in her Modern Love series, a reclusive investor goes viral, shoving her into the world’s spotlight—and into the arms of the bodyguard she’s been pining for…

OMG! Wouldn’t it be adorable if he’s her soulmate???

I don’t see any wedding rings <eyes emoji>

Breaking: #CafeBae and #CuteCafeGirl went to the bathroom AT THE SAME TIME!!!

One minute, Katrina King’s enjoying an innocent conversation with a random guy at a coffee shop; the next, a stranger has live-tweeted the entire encounter with a romantic meet-cute spin and #CafeBae has the world swooning. Going viral isn’t easy for anyone, but Katrina has painstakingly built a private world for herself, far from her traumatic past. Besides, everyone has it all wrong…that #CafeBae bro? He isn’t the man she’s hungry for.

He’s got a <peach emoji> to die for.

With the internet on the hunt for the identity of #CuteCafeGirl, Jas Singh, bodyguard and possessor of the most beautiful eyebrows Katrina’s ever seen, offers his family’s farm as a refuge. Alone with her unrequited crush feels like a recipe for hopeless longing, but Katrina craves the escape. She’s resigned to being just friends with Jas–until they share a single electrifying kiss. Now she can’t help but wonder if her crush may not be so unrequited after all…

‘TIL THE LAST LYRIC by M. Robinson

From Wall Street Journal & USA Bestselling Author M. Robinson, comes a rock star contemporary romance filled with angst and all the feels.

Once upon a time…

There was a little girl who believed in fairy tales and happily ever afters.

Hoping.

Praying.

Waiting…

For her prince to come.

Together they’d conquer the world.

Slaying dragons, demons, and villains.

Until her Prince Charming let his demons prevail.

She cried and begged and prayed.

She hated him.

She loved him.

She couldn’t save him.

“I’m sorry.”

“I love you.”

Were five words she despised more than anything.

Her fairy tale had become her worst nightmare.

She didn’t know how much more she could take.

She didn’t know love could turn into hate.

There were so many things she didn’t know.

Especially, how to tell him, “No.”

OPERATION BAILEY BABIES by Piper Rayne

BUZZ WHEEL PRESS RELEASE: Don’t drink the Lake Starlight water!

Bailey babies are busy growing in their mommies tummies and the Baileys are having a triple baby shower to celebrate.

If you want in on the pool on who pops first and when contact me. 😉

SAVAGE LOVE by Lisa Renee Jones

The third and final book in the Savage Trilogy…

They say all is fair in love and war, but I really don’t give a damn about fair. In fact, when protecting those I love, fair is the last thing on my mind.

Now that I’m back in Candace’s life, those who have used her to try to control me, may well put up a final fight, but they will not win.

They will lose and badly.

EVERYTHING WE LEFT UNSAID by Ashley Cade

Secrets…Lies…and Betrayal.
It’s been far too long since I’ve laid eyes on Abby.

I expected surprise.

I expected anger.

What I got was devastation.

Abby’s been lying to me, keeping secrets that affect us all.

Our past…? It’s complicated.

An elusive truth with the power to alter everything I know, everything I want, and everything I love.

But things aren’t always what they seem.

And betrayal…it never comes from the person you expect.

THE WEDDING WAR by Liz Talley

Save the date for this funny and poignant novel of family, friendship, letting go, and moving on by the award-winning author of Room to Breathe.

Once upon a time, Melanie Layton and Tennyson O’Rourke were inseparable—but their friends-4ever promises were shattered when an explosive secret was revealed at Mel’s wedding, a secret that destroyed her family. The two haven’t spoken for the past twenty-some-odd years, and they’d be happy if they never crossed paths again.

But now Mel’s daughter and Teeny’s son have fallen in love—and announced their engagement.

Which means the two women must tolerate one another and play nice long enough to plan their children’s dream wedding. From the beginning, they clash. Melanie imagines a classy, elegant event, in keeping with tradition. Teeny’s vision is a bit more extravagant, and thanks to her habit of marrying well, she’s got the cash to plan the flashiest wedding of the season.

Complicating matters are the men in their lives: Tennyson is falling for the wrong guy, and Melanie is trying to hold on to a flailing marriage. Amid the flurry of cake tastings, dress fittings, seating charts, and bridal showers, Mel and Teeny confront their past mistakes—with twenty years of pent-up drama.

When the day of the wedding finally arrives, their friendship might just be something old andsomething new.

RELEASING APRIL 22

MASTER OF SALT AND BONES by Keri Lake

Meet the Devil of Blackthorne Manor …

When I was a little girl, I dreamed a handsome knight would come and rescue me from my wretched mother. He’d ride up on his white steed and break the curse I’ve been fated to carry since the day I was born.

Funny how things changed over time. How the fairy tale twisted into something far more crooked, darker than I ever imagined.

In reality, my knight is scarred and broken, living alone in a castle of bones that overlooks the sea. He isn’t searching for me. He never was.

Lucian Blackthorne is as cursed as I am, and equally shunned by the locals, the fishers of men, who believe him to be the devil in the flesh.

Perhaps he is, with the way his amber eyes draw me in, ignite me like an infernal blaze. And the sins he whispers in my ear are as wickedly intoxicating as the man himself.

Yet, his touch is heaven and his will is my weakness.

He calls us forbidden, an unsalvageable tragedy, with no happy end. Maybe we are. But in this story, he’s the one who needs saving.

Master of Salt & Bones is a dark modern gothic contemporary standalone romance.

DON’T LOVE ME by S. Doyle

An epic new saga from the author of The Bride Series!

Marc

The state took me away from my mother when was I twelve and sent me to live with an uncle, who worked on some fancy estate.

That’s when I met Ash, she was ten and the daughter of the man who owned the estate. She thought I would be her new best friend but I only wanted to be left alone.

For years she was always there, always annoying me, always wanting more from me. But our roles were clear. She was the princess and I was the chauffeur’s charity case.

I told her not to fall in love with me…she didn’t listen.

Don’t Love Me is Book 1 in a 3 Book series.

KILLIAN by Ryan Michele

From Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author Ryan Michele comes a brand new series full of alpha men and the women who fall for them.

The power of a name … Killian Graham.

He was the kind of guy I couldn’t forget. From a high school crush that never went anywhere to now the full-grown alpha male that made my spine tingle, Killian Graham was the total package.

Frustrating, infuriating, and hot as they come, Killian Graham invaded my world and things haven’t stopped spinning since.

My best friend got herself in some trouble. Being the strong woman I was, I came to her rescue. That’s when Killian stepped in to save us both. From there, things got intense both in and out of the bedroom.

Killian Graham the mystery man who rocked my world on every level.

Killian Graham the man who decided he wanted me and would stop at nothing to have me safe and in his bed.

The one man I wanted more than my next breath. The very same man I wasn’t sure I could hold onto because everything about him was a secret. Or so I thought.

He laid his world at my feet. Now, it was up to me to decide if I could accept where things were headed for us and everyone around us.

DON’T GO STEALING MY HEART by Kelly Siskind

“This book sparkles and sizzles with Siskind’s trademark humor and heat. Don’t go missing this one!” ~ Jen DeLuca, author of WELL MET

She wants to steal his Van Gogh. He wants to steal her heart.

Some people would call Clementine Abernathy a criminal. She considers herself a modern day Robin Hood, who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. Not exactly on the up-and-up, but she knows what it’s like to lose everything. Her latest heist involves swiping a priceless Van Gogh from its owner, who’s supposed to be an egotistical trust-fund brat.

Turns out Jack David is a sexy, kind-hearted man…and Clementine is in trouble. Falling for her mark would make her the World’s Dumbest Conwoman, but Jack is charmingly persistent, always singing sweet songs in her ear.

And that earth-shattering kiss? She never stood a chance.

Now she’s imagining a fresh start with this dashing man, but that means telling Jack about her past. And other nefarious sorts are after the same painting. Too soon, Clementine learns what it means to risk it all for love.

Need an escape from your stressful life? One-click this funny and sexy romantic suspense today!

RELEASING APRIL 23

BY A THREAD by Lucy Score

Dominic was staring at me like he couldn’t decide whether to chop me into pieces or pull my hair and French kiss me.


Dominic
I got her fired. Okay, so I’d had a bad day and took it out on a bystander in a pizza shop. But there’s nothing innocent about Ally Morales. She proves that her first day of her new job… in my office… after being hired by my mother.

So maybe her colorful, annoying, inexplicably alluring personality brightens up the magazine’s offices that have felt like a prison for the past year. Maybe I like that she argues with me in front of the editorial staff. And maybe my after-hours fantasies are haunted by those brown eyes and that sharp tongue.

But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to be the next Russo man to take advantage of his position. I might be a second-generation asshole, but I am not my father.

She’s working herself to death at half a dozen dead-end jobs for some secret reason she doesn’t feel like sharing with me. And I’m going to fix it all. Don’t accuse me of caring. She’s nothing more than a puzzle to be solved. If I can get her to quit, I can finally peel away all those layers. Then I can go back to salvaging the family name and forget all about the dancing, beer-slinging brunette.

Ally
Ha. Hold my beer, Grumpy Grump Face.

Author’s Note: A steamy, swoony workplace romantic comedy with a grumpy boss hero determined to save the day and a plucky heroine who is starting to wonder if there might actually be a beating heart just beneath her boss’s sexy vests.

KITTY VALENTINE DATES A BILLIONAIRE by Jillian Dodd

SPIN THE WHEEL. DATE THE GUY.

Six years ago, Kitty Valentine took the book world by storm when her sweet debut romance hit number one on the New York Times Best Sellers List, which was followed by a string of successful releases.
Her latest novel, however, totally bombs, causing her editor to suggest she write much sexier books.
To Kitty, writing smut is the literary equivalent of stripping.
But with no advance coming in and her royalties dipping to an all-time low, Kitty has no choice.
Armed with a hot-guy spinning prize wheel, made by her best friend, listing all the different types of men she will date and then write about, Kitty will be spinning–not stripping–her way back onto the best-sellers list.

* Billionaire romance
* Hot neighbor
* Laugh out loud funny
* Standalone
* Fast-paced, easy read

HEARTLESS KING by Maya Hughes- buy link TBA

Two blue lines. That means not pregnant, right? Right? Oh, sh*t.

Five years ago, Colm Frost asked me to marry him and I ran. I ran from my painful past too raw and fresh to escape. He was the only one who looked at me like I wasn’t broken and made me believe it. He made me feel it.

Now, he’s the hot, angry, hockey player on the mend.

I’m the physiotherapist who’s supposed to get him back on his feet.

I don’t think our night together was what his doctor prescribed, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t dreamt of him every time I close my eyes. I woke up beside him with my body still singing from the way he fanned the flames of my desire, but I couldn’t stay.

His lips on my neck. His hands wrapped around my waist. His impressive…ahem, touch leaving me breathless.

One moment of wild inhibition and it’s come back to bite me in the butt. Kind of like he did that night.

But a baby? Our night was supposed to be a one time thing, closing a door on the future I couldn’t handle.

Will this new bump in the road be everything we needed to find our forever?

Heartless King is a standalone friends to enemies to lovers, accidental pregnancy romance that brings all the laugh out loud, angsty feels!

ONLY FOREVER IS ENOUGH by Alexa Kane 

Cage Matthews has made it his mission in life to steer clear of the female population and focus on his career, but being a star quarterback in the NFL can make that difficult. Rosie comes into Cages life just when he decides to make a change, he’s ready to settle down and everything seems to be falling into place for him. But his plans for the future come crashing down when he finds out that Rosie has history with one of his teammates.

Rosie Bradley has been stuck in Willowby, Alabama her entire life. One night, while working the graveyard shift at the local diner she meets Cage. They instantly hit it off and she finally feels that spark she has been missing ever since her high school sweetheart left her high and dry eight years ago. But then her ex shows up at the diner looking for Cage and all those old feelings come roaring back to life. Can she ignore old feelings to explore a new love, or are her feelings towards her ex too strong to ignore?

Only Forever Is Enough is the fourth instalment in the For Keeps series but can be read as a standalone. Due to its explicit content, bad language and graphic sexual content, Only Forever Is Enough is recommended for mature readers of eighteen years and above.

FALLING NORTH by Alyson Santos

Turner Artist Management Urgent Action Item:

✔ Save Falling Back North from implosion.

When your agency’s newest artist shows signs of collapse, you jump on the problem. When it involves a potential rift between the brothers who form the band’s soul, you throw your Hail Mary.

So I did—by hiring a respected marketing goddess to save them. But when demons run deep and the stakes are extreme, it might prove too much for the band’s drummer and leader who’s been carrying them all since childhood. Enormous pressure compounded by impending heartbreak, what’s an agency to do?

See, I’m just the manager. The story that follows actually belongs to my client Xander Silva and the innocent marketing siren about to blow him to shreds.

Because now that both brothers have their hearts set on the same woman, everyone’s desperate to know:

Who is LYDIA CARMICHAEL??

Falling North is a standalone Turner Artist Rocker novel.

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Review: The Darkest King by Gena Showalter

April 19, 2020 by · Leave a Comment

THE DARKEST KING
Series: Lords of the Underworld #15
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Author: Gena Showalter
Release Date: February 25, 2020

A merciless prince feared by all…

Cursed by a vengeful witch, William of the Dark will die if he ever falls in love—murdered by the woman who steals his heart. His lone shot at redemption is a book filled with indecipherable code. Break the code, break the curse. Now, centuries later, he’s condemned to a string of one-night stands…until he finds the only woman in the worlds able to set him free.

A rare creature of myth and power…

One of the last living unicorn shifters, Sunday “Sunny” Lane works from the shadows as a cryptanalyst, on the run from assassins and poachers. Then the darkly seductive William abducts her, holding her captive in Hell. The closer they get, the more she hungers for his touch…and the stronger a mystical desire to kill him becomes…

Both forever doomed?

At war with his brother, Lucifer, and determined to become a king of the underworld at long last, William must resist the irreverent beauty who threatens his future. But every day Sunny tempts him more, his hunger for her unmatched. Will he risk his heart—and his life—or will the curse ensure his end?

AMAZON | NOOK | B-A-M | KOBO 

He wouldn’t be happy until he’d possessed her, body and soul. 

15 books. 15 FREAKING BOOKS! Over ten years I have been waiting for this moment. Never in my life did I practice this much patience. I’m telling you people, I don’t know how I’ve made it. After Paris, William’s book had to be one of my most anticipated Lords. We’re talking about the ultimate manwhore here. And you know what they say about the bigger they are? I couldn’t wait to see the woman that would bring him to his knees.

Now before I get into my review, let me address the pink elephant in the room real quick like. Gillian. I spent years and over 8 books utterly CONVINCED these two would end up together. The build up was there. The chemistry was there. I was THIRSTY for these two. Thirsty I tell you. Then Gillian’s book was announced…and she didn’t end up with William. So color me pissed here. But my love of all things Gena Showalter wouldn’t allow me the doubt. So I dove into The Darkest Warrior with no hopes and ended up absolutely loving it. Was I happy that Willy and Gilly don’t end up together? At the end, I got it. I really did. So I was eager to get to William’s book.

Welcome to Pleasure 101, baby. Class is in session, and Professor Climax has a hands-on assignment prepared. Screamers earn extra credit.”

Enter, stage right, Sunny. One of the last known surviving unicorn shifters. That’s right. A freaking unicorn. Who is also a badass. A badass, unicorn shifter, that goes from sweet and cute to vicious in 5 seconds flat. I kind of loved her.
Sunny may also be the only being alive that can help William break his curse. The problem with that is that she happens to be his mate, who is cursed to kill him once she falls for him. Talk about complicated.

Ah. I understand the switch. You’re a bad shot, so you need a bigger target. No wonder you selected my cock.”
“Good point,” she said, returning the barrel to his face. “There’s nothing bigger than your ego.”

The chemistry between the two of them was downright incendiary. As per Showalter’s usual, the banter was also on point. The woman writes some of the best banter. And Sunny sure knew how to give as hard as she gets. These two didn’t hold back any punches when it came to their complicated relationship. It was a delicious enemies to lovers story with plenty of twists along the way.

The reason I’m taking off a star is this book had some pretty embarrassing grammatical errors. At one point she jokes to William about being “artificially incriminated”. Usually, I’m not a big stickler for grammar, but when an ebook is over $11 and is traditionally published, then yes, I’ll be taking off a star. My expectations for grammar are pretty dang high at that price point. It is what it is.

Did I love this story? Hell to the yes. This marks the end of the Lords saga but there’s a spinoff coming and I cannot flipping wait. I’m sure it will be a hot minute until we get Hades’s book but I NEED it. The other set ups also sounds pretty delicious.

If you’re hesitant to read this one because you were rooting for Gilly and Willy, give it a shot. Gena made a believer out of me with this and trust me, I had concerns. BIG concerns. But I ultimately loved William and Sunny together.

Gena Showalter is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of the spellbinding Lords of the Underworld and Angels of the Dark series, two young adult series–Everlife and the White Rabbit Chronicles–and the highly addictive Original Heartbreakers series. In addition to being a National Reader’s Choice and two time RITA nominee, her romance novels have appeared in Cosmopolitan (Red Hot Read) and Seventeen magazine, she’s appeared on Nightline and been mentioned in Orange is the New Black–if you ask her about it, she’ll talk for hours…hours! Her books have been translated in multiple languages.

She’s hard at work on her next novel, a tale featuring an alpha male with a dark side and the strong woman who brings him to his knees. You can learn more about Gena, her menagerie of rescue dogs, and all her upcoming books at genashowalter.com or Facebook.com/genashowalterfans

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

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Review: Madam Temptress by Meghan March

April 18, 2020 by · Leave a Comment

Madam Temptress
Series: Magnolia Duet #2
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Meghan March
Release Date: April 14, 2020

I didn’t choose this path. No one would.

I played the cards I was dealt.

The life made me. The city made me.

I won’t apologize for who I’ve become.

Moses wouldn’t have me any other way.

He says he want forever, and I’m starting to believe him.
But I can’t outrun my past, and my sins are catching up with me.
It’s time to atone, I’ll gladly pay my penance.

We might be getting our second chance, but we have to make it out alive first.

Madam Temptress is the conclusion of the Magnolia Duet and should be read after Creole Kingpin.

AMAZON | iBOOKS | B&N | KOBO | GOOGLE PLAY


I’ll always find my way back to you, mama. That’s one thing I can guarantee.”

An epic conclusion to an epic romance!

I fell hard and fast for Moses and Magnolia in book one. I’m a sucker for a good second chance romance. And when that second chance comes for a baddie that played the villain in a previous series? Bring. It. On. I’m also a sucker for imperfect heroines, and Magnolia is definitely that. The woman fought and clawed her way through survival. She was a madam. She was a survivor. And she’s a woman that demands her man fights hard for her.

Admittedly, Moses and Magnolia took a little bit of a backseat for me in the first 70% of the book. I was so enraptured with all things Mount, that I lost a bit of focus with them. They were really settling into their love, and my angst craving heart was a bit disconnected from the romance bit. That’s not to say I wasn’t totally in love with them, because I couldn’t get enough. It was just a lower sizzle than it was in book one, which was understandable because they were moving on. The angst of the relationship passed and now they were focusing on the external threats of the danger to Magnolia’s life.

If there’s one thing March can do epically, it’s write one twisty and suspenseful tale. And the hunt for the mysterious man threatening Magnolia’s life was one twist after another. There was one bomb after another, until finally all hell breaks lose in the last 20% and OH MY GOD. It was brilliant. I was completely riveted to the pages.

Talk about your epic conclusion, y’all. This one had everything. And I do mean everything. Including some more Mount POV. What? I’m a sucker for this man. And I was a sucker for the perfect ending.

 

Making the jump from corporate lawyer to romance author was a leap of faith that New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author Meghan March will never regret. With over thirty titles published, she has sold millions of books in nearly a dozen languages to fellow romance-lovers around the world. A nomad at heart, she can currently be found in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, living her happily ever after with her real-life alpha hero.

Sign up for Meghan’s newsletter and receive exclusive content that she saves for her subscribers:   http://meghanmarch.com/subscribe

 

To get the inside scoop on a daily basis, search Meghan March’s Runaway Readers on Facebook and join the fun!

FACEBOOK |  WEBSITE |  INSTAGRAM |  AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE |  TWITTER |  BOOKBUB

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New & Upcoming Releases: April 13-17

April 13, 2020 by ·

New releases coming at ya this week

AVAILABLE NOW

BORN OF MIST & LEGEND by Kat Bastion

Following her award-winning debut, Kat Bastion returns to the Highland Legends series with the epic journey… Born of Mist and Legend.

Amid mythical lands, where Arthurian tales run blood-deep and castles vanish into fabled mist, a stormy sky breaks open with deafening thunder on a dying mother’s whispered enchantment… and her newborn’s die is cast. Eighteen summers later, magick sparks to life within the charmed child’s veins, and the fates resume their course.

Rise of a fallen angel…

Rebirth of a Highland goddess…

Revenge of a legendary wizard, craving their power.

Dark angel, outcast of his kind—lone angelic guardian of time itself—Skorpius receives a bewildering dual directive. Protect a human female. And end her.

Once bright and innocent, sister to the laird of the mysterious Clan Brodie, Brigid awakens to incredible magick within her. And the ability to sense a foreign energy: Another stalks her, a beast hunting its prey.

On a quest to protect her clan and save humankind, Brigid forges beyond the only home she’s ever known into the wilds of Scotland. Her destiny—to battle an ancient lurking menace—beckons her. She braves her task with fierce determination, even though she’s a mere novice among masters.

Upholding his vow to protect time against any threat, Skorpius is duty-bound to guard the female, with or without her consent. For he alone presides as judge and executioner.

As unprecedented danger to the fabric of time looms, the two beleaguered souls walk a tightrope between cure and cause. Yet while the destiny of every realm hangs in the balance, they are all that stand between salvation and destruction.

But against insurmountable odds…will they both survive?

*** Born of Mist and Legend is a standalone full-length romance told in dual POV. Due to mature themes and adult language, this book is for those 18 and older. ***

RELEASING APRIL 14

ASK ME IF I CARE by Lani Lynn Vale

Ares saw him for the first time at a Kilgore Police Department benefit dinner. She’d gone with her dad as his plus one. Hayes Romine had gone by himself and brooded silently across the same table as her, drinking whiskey and not saying a word.

It only took that one time for her to become interested.

The next time she saw him, he was doing another benefit—but this one requiring a whole lot fewer clothes. And that was when she knew. She wanted him. Badly. But the morose Hayes was too busy thinking about his sins to see what was right in front of his face—Ares.

***

Hayes Romine knew the moment that he saw the feisty Ares Downy again that he should’ve stayed away. Maybe if he hadn’t done the stupid calendar, he wouldn’t be questioning every single woman’s intentions.

Maybe if he’d listened to that niggling feeling telling him to stay away, he would’ve been able to do his job a little better. But seeing her with a knife to her throat, in the middle of a building set to blow, made his usually well-wired brain start to malfunction.

Because nobody was allowed to touch her like that—only him. Nobody was allowed to scare her, either. Not and live to tell the tale.

MADAM TEMPTRESS by Meghan March

From New York Times bestselling author Meghan March comes the stunning conclusion to the highly-anticipated Magnolia Duet.

I didn’t choose this path. No one would.
I played the cards I was dealt.
This life made me. This city made me.
I won’t apologize for who I’ve become.
Moses wouldn’t have me any other way.
He says he wants forever, and I’m starting to believe him.
But I can’t outrun my past, and my sins are catching up with me.
If it’s time to atone, I’ll gladly pay my penance.
We might be getting our second chance, but we have to make it out alive first.

Madam Temptress is the second book of the Magnolia Duet and should be read after Creole Kingpin.

DARK PROMISE by Danielle Rose

There’s a little witch in all of us…

Ava López’s best friend from childhood is missing, and her former coven has asked for her help to find her. Despite all the pain the witches have treated Ava to with their rejection, she is determined to find Liv—even though her new allies harbor resentment.

Ava hopes finding Liv will put an end to the feud between the two groups, but she realizes that to help the witches, she must turn her back on the vampires. But this is the least of her problems.

Ava must choose sides and test loyalties with a decision that comes at a cost—one even Ava, with her ever-growing powers and connection to spirit magic, never could have foreseen. To repent for her disloyalty, Ava must bind herself to a dark promise. A promise no magic can break.

NOT THAT KIND OF GUY by Andie J. Christopher

An office attraction becomes something more when they’re off the clock in this delightful romantic comedy by the USA Today bestselling author of Not the Girl You Marry.

State attorney Bridget Nolan is successful in all aspects of her life—except romance. After breaking up with her longtime boyfriend, she’s been slow to reenter the dating scene. To be honest, she has more important things to do like putting bad guys behind bars. But with her brother’s wedding right around the corner, she suddenly needs a date and fast. Lucky for Bridget, the legal intern is almost done with his program.

Matt Kido is dumbstruck by Bridget—total love at first sight—but there’s one problem. She’s totally off-limits while she’s his boss. But the moment he no longer reports to her, Matt decides to take a chance. An impulsive decision takes them to Las Vegas where, as the saying goes, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Unless you put a ring on it.

THE HAPPY EVER AFTER PLAYLIST by Abby Jimenez

From the USA Today bestselling author of The Friend Zone comes a fresh romantic comedy full of “fierce humor and fiercer heart” about one trouble-making dog who brings together two perfect strangers. (Casey McQuiston, New York Times bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue)

Two years after losing her fiancé, Sloan Monroe still can’t seem to get her life back on track. But one trouble-making pup with a “take me home” look in his eyes is about to change everything. With her new pet by her side, Sloan finally starts to feel more like herself. Then, after weeks of unanswered texts, Tucker’s owner reaches out. He’s a musician on tour in Australia. And bottom line: He wants Tucker back.
Well, Sloan’s not about to give up her dog without a fight. But what if this Jason guy really loves Tucker? As their flirty texts turn into long calls, Sloan can’t deny a connection. Jason is hot and nice and funny. There’s no telling what could happen when they meet in person. The question is: With his music career on the rise, how long will Jason really stick around? And is it possible for Sloan to survive another heartbreak?

MONEY MAN by Nancy Herkness

She’s small-town business. He’s Manhattan high finance. Together they ignite in a novel about unexpected love and danger by Nancy Herkness, award-winning author of the Wager of Hearts series.

New Jersey bookkeeper Alice Thurber has a carefully constructed risk-free life. Everything in perfect balance. Until little discrepancies show up in her clients’ accounts. Most would ignore it. Not the impeccably precise Alice. In desperation she reaches out to a high-powered consulting firm for help. New York City’s movie-star handsome financial wizard Derek Killion reaches back. All he has to do is smile and Alice’s fantasies stir. A girl can dream, can’t she?

A cofounder of KRG, Derek’s promise is to advise small-business owners in trouble. He never guessed that assisting the diffident but sexy Alice would be so captivating and make it so hard to keep his desires in check. But just as intriguing is the alarming puzzle behind the computer glitch that’s unsettled his client. As the investigation unfolds, they must also confront an attraction too palpable to ignore. Every new dark twist they follow is only bringing them closer together—in passion and in danger.

CUTIE AND THE BEAST by M.E. Carter

Living with her mother seemed like a good idea at the time. But Elliott Donovan’s living arrangements are not working for her anymore. Desperate to get back on her financial feet after a divorce and out from under her mother’s thumb, Elliott takes a job in the child care center at Weight Expectations, a local gym.

It has everything she needs – family friendly hours, more pay than she expected, and a super cute trainer who just happens to have part of his house for rent.

Abel DiSoto was living the good life until his wife walked out taking half of the family income with her. The blow to his ego was bad enough, but after a fire at the gym scattered Abel’s clients, and consequently his commissions, he’s stuck figuring out how to make ends meet, too. Renting out the master suite of his house to his new co-worker seems like an easy solution. They’re both mature adults, they both have eight-year-old daughters, and their work schedules coordinate so they can lend each other a helping hand to ease the burden of single parenthood.

The only downside? Living like a blended family when you’re not actually a family can present some challenges.

Welcome back to Weight Expectations, where the unexpected is likely to happen.

‘Cutie and the Beast’ is a full-length contemporary romantic comedy, can be read as a standalone, and is book #3 in the Cipher Office series, Knitting in the City World, Penny Reid Book Universe.

 

SUNRISE ON HALF MOON BAY by Robyn Carr

Sometimes the happiness we’re looking for has been there all along…

Adele and Justine have never been close. Born twenty years apart, Justine was already an adult when Addie was born. The sisters love each other but they don’t really know each other.

When Addie dropped out of university to care for their ailing parents, Justine, a successful lawyer, covered the expenses. It was the best arrangement at the time but now that their parents are gone, the future has changed dramatically for both women.

Addie had great plans for her life but has been worn down by the pressures of being a caregiver and doesn’t know how to live for herself. And Justine’s success has come at a price. Her marriage is falling apart despite her best efforts.

Neither woman knows how to start life over but both realize they can and must support each other the way only sisters can. Together they find the strength to accept their failures and overcome their challenges. Happiness is within reach, if only they have the courage to fight for it.

Set in the stunning coastal town of Half Moon Bay, California, Robyn Carr’s new novel examines the joys of sisterhood and the importance of embracing change.

SONGBIRD by Cecilia London

Christine Sullivan isn’t an easy person to love. She knows how the world sees her – aloof, standoffish, cold…perhaps even bitchy. After a lifetime in politics, including a stint with an expat government in exile, President Sullivan has taken her share of body blows, but now she’s back in Philadelphia…a widow, a recovering Republican, a former public servant seeking a quiet, private existence.

On her to-do list – rebuild her relationship with her estranged daughter and invent the rest of her life. She has her best friend Caroline, her brand spanking new condo, and her ever frustrating Secret Service detail to keep her company. That should be enough for anyone, right?

Until Alexander Guardiola comes along… liberal, emotionally unguarded, younger. A lot younger. Everything Christine isn’t. And isn’t ready for.

But opposites attract, don’t they? And hearts and minds can always be changed…

This is a standalone spinoff in the Bellator Saga series that takes place after the events of Bellator Saga #1-6.

Content Warning: grief, psychological and physical trauma, death

JUST ONE KISS by Layla Hagen 

Success. Willpower. Ruthless negotiations. Those are three things that have defined my name – Ryker Winchester. It’s what I’m good at. I always get what I want.

I was completely unprepared for Heather.
She challenges me and melts under my touch. She’s a feisty single mom, and I can’t get enough of her. The way she gives in to me is intoxicating, but I need more than hot nights and sexy dates.

When she introduces me to her daughter, I fall for that little girl hook, line and sinker. No one has ever played me for a fool like that kid can do with a single dimpled grin.
I want to keep them both. I want them to be mine to love and to protect.

Heather doesn’t trust easily, but I’ll prove to her that we’ll have an incredible future together.

I’m Ryker Winchester and I’m relentless when I go after what I want.

PROVOKE by Rachel Van Dyken

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Rachel Van Dyken comes a new story in her Seaside Pictures series…

The music industry called me a savant at age sixteen when I uploaded my first video and gained instant fame. And then Drew Amherst of Adrenaline became my mentor, and my career took off.

Everything was great.

Until tragedy struck, and I wondered if I’d ever be able to perform again. I fought back, but all it took was a falling light to bring it all back to the fore. So, I walked away. Because I knew it wasn’t just stage fright. It was so much more.

The only problem?

Drew and the guys are counting on me. If I can’t combat the crippling anxiety threatening to kill me, I might lose more than I ever dreamed of.

Enter Piper Rayne, life coach, with her bullshit about empowerment, rainbows, and butterflies. She smiles all the damn time, and I’m ninety-nine percent sure there’s not a problem she can’t solve.

Until me.

She was given twenty-one days to fix me. To make me see what’s important. What’s real. The problem is, all I can see now is her. The sexy woman who pushes me. Provokes me.

Only time will tell if she’s able to do her job—and I can make her mine.

**Every 1001 Dark Nights novella is a standalone story. For new readers, it’s an introduction to an author’s world. And for fans, it’s a bonus book in the author’s series. We hope you’ll enjoy each one as much as we do.**

SOUTHERN COMFORT by Natasha Madison

Buried secrets never stay hidden in the South.

Olivia
When you find out that your fiancé is arrested for swindling over ten million dollars from his clients, you do what any sane woman would do. You escape reality and go undercover, trading in your city-girl Louboutins for country-pumpkin cowboy boots.

It wasn’t a forever change—it was temporary. I only had to stay here until things back home got straightened out, or so I thought.

Casey

I was riding horses before I was walking, or at least that was what they told me. I always knew I would take over the family farm. It’s in my blood.

Country boy at heart, the minute I saw her dragging her luggage up the gravel driveway I knew she was out of my league.

I shouldn’t have started anything with her, because I knew she was just passing through.

I couldn’t stop it, I fell in love with her. Even though I knew, in the end, she would leave me.

RELEASING APRIL 16

TENNESSEE TRUTHS by Ashley Munoz

Faith:
Our story was classic.
A typical fairytale.
Two young kids falling in love under an onyx sky.
He was my dream …and I naively thought I was his.
Until he bartered our love and sold me a lie.

Now, I’m returning to the life I once knew…but not as the pathetic mess that left five years ago.
I’m a married woman, wed to the richest man in Nashville.
But it seems I wasn’t the only one who changed during my time away…

Hardened by life, Jace Walker’s glares drip with heat and derision.
He has war in his eyes and venom in his veins.

I thought I would be safe coming back home, but it seems I only ran from my present to be caught in the crosshairs of my past.

Jace:
I traded my future for a life.
I knew what was on the line when I made the deal, I knew what I could lose, but I also knew that I didn’t really have a choice.
I gambled and lost.
Now the one person I had dreamed of having a future with was walking back into my life bearing the last name and wearing the ring of another man.
Lips painted red, hair that same honey gold and there against her creamy throat was our promise to one another, still dangling, reminding me that I may have lied, but she ran.
I was a liar, she was a coward.
Now she was home, and she wasn’t mine.

This is a standalone- second chance- enemies to lovers romance 

EASY PUCK by Melissa Belle

Turns out we both need to score… a second chance hockey romance.

Hunter

I can’t be alone. But I can’t be in a relationship. And now I can’t even score on the ice. I’m in a slump.

I figure an off-limits pet sitter is just what I need. Until I see who the agency sent me.

Winter Allen is standing all grown up at my front door.

She’s my hat-trick: the looks, the heart, and the history.

I let her run off to Broadway because she deserved to follow her teenage dreams as much as I did.

We both got everything we wanted. So why does she look so damn lonely?

Winter

I didn’t plan to see Hunter Storm again. And I don’t plan to tell him why I’m back home in New Orleans.

But after one devilish grin, my body tells me Hunter’s the only man who can help me.

Turns out we both need to score again. So who’s to say it’s a bad idea to mix his fire and my gasoline?

What are we doing? I’m not sure, but it feels too good to stop.

FINAL SERENADE by N.N. Britt

A secret affair with your teenage celebrity crush? Yes, please!

Music journalist Cassy Evans believes her career is made when she snags an exclusive interview with rock singer Frankie Blade.

Once a superstar of the generation, Frankie has been a recluse since a freak motorcycle incident sent his career into a tailspin seven years ago. Now that he’s returned to claim back his crown, Cassy hopes to kill two birds with one stone—secure her magazine a top spot in the rankings and meet with the man of her adolescent dreams.

A dinner invitation isn’t what she expects to get out of this interview, but the chemistry between them is undeniable.

With paparazzi watching Frankie’s every move as the two jump into a stormy relationship, Cassy risks her career and her privacy—and possibly her heart—to be with the biggest rockstar on the planet. But is Frankie worth it? Is he the humble man she thinks he is or is he just that good at hiding his demons?

Final Serenade is the first installment in “The Encore” series. Cassy and Frankie’s story concludes in One Last Verse.

RELEASING APRIL 17

FAVOURITE HELLO. HARDEST GOODBYE by E.S. Carter

Ellis.

I feel him.
Before I even lay eyes on him, I sense him.
The air in the room seems charged, my awareness of him heightened, but he is a stranger to me.
Unfamiliar, yet familiar.
Unknown, yet known.
And something inside me says, “Hello, I’ve been waiting for you.”

Macsen.

I see him.
I’ve seen him a hundred times before and I know this will not be the last, but each time I do, I feel it.
That invisible tether.
I remember everything.
I remember him.
His eyes lock with mine and then move away too quickly.
I am nothing more than a stranger, another face in the crowd.
While he is my favourite hello, and my hardest goodbye.

DO ME A FAVOR by Christina Hovland

Some days things just click. Today is not that day.

Love is a battlefield, and divorce attorney Sadie Howard is entrenched on the frontlines. She thought she might have met the right man once, but he was a career military guy who got shipped overseas and left her heart on the tarmac. These days, the only commitment Sadie wants is the one she’s made to her Denver law practice.

Combat photographer Roman Dvornakov is back. Fresh out of the U.S. Army, he’s using family connections to snap photos at a few weddings while he builds his civilian photography practice. After all he’s captured on film, a few posed wedding shots should be a cakewalk. Seeing so much death through the camera lens, he’s now ready to build something worth living for. A thriving photography business, definitely. But he’s certain his new mission also includes Sadie, the girl who slipped away.

Sadie isn’t convinced, and she’s not willing to open her heart anytime soon. Besides, she’s got a high-profile divorce case taking up all her attention. Winning the case for her client will make or break her practice.  So what if it’s a custody dispute over a ridiculously expensive fish tank? When Roman discovers the soon-to-be divorced couple are still in love, he and his slightly-nutty grandmother, Babushka, are determined to convince them to cancel the proceedings. He’s not camera shy when it comes to matters of the heart, but interfering with Sadie’s clients could wreck her career and any chance they’ll ever have together…

· Filed Under: Upcoming Releases · Tagged With: ,

Review: He Hates Me Not by Isabella Starling & Rina Kent

April 11, 2020 by ·

HE HATES ME
Genre: Dark Romance
Series: Hate & Love Duet #1
Authors: Isabella Starling & Rina Kent
Release Date: April 9, 2020

Once upon a time, there was a monster.

When the night falls, he comes out to harvest souls.

He’s silent and invisible —no one notices when he strikes then retreats to the shadows.

Our paths shouldn’t have crossed, but they do.

One day he sees me.

Then he can’t unsee me.

Once upon a time, there was a monster, a killer, a devil.

My stalker.

This is book is a dark stalker romance and contains dubious scenes.

He Hates Me is part of a duet and is NOT standalone. The entire duet will be released two weeks apart.

AMAZON

PRE-ORDER HE HATES ME NOT:

He Hates Me Not, the conclusion of Love & Hate Duet is releasing on April 23rd. Pre-order today!

AMAZON | ADD TO GOODREADS

She has always been mine to own, mine to break and to destroy. Some would call this stalking, but I call it keeping an eye on her. 

Well hot damn. What a deliciously thrilling ride this book was. While I’ve read Rina Kent, I haven’t read anything by Isabella Starling. And as a writing duo, these two are absolutely fantastic.

If you follow my reviews, then it’s no secret how much I love a good anti-hero. And it just doesn’t get more delicious than a borderline sociopathic mob hitman. Jasper’s intensity practically leaps off of the pages at you. The man is ruthless, unfeeling, and gets a sick sort of satisfaction from meting out his brand of punishment. His name alone sends fear into grown men and his reputation for being a stone cold killer is nothing to sniff at. An assignment by his boss to find and eliminate an heir to the mafia throne lands him in the parking lot of a hospital where he sets his sight on a beautiful nurse…and the obsession begins.

Georgina is a lonely soul. With her cats to keep her company, she years for something more. But unfortunately no man has ever made her feel beyond a slight interest that wanes as quickly as it appears. She may not be everything that she appears to be at first sight with her fake smiles and when Jasper sees her, he’s immediately obsessed.

If you’re like me and love your anti-heroes possessive and obsessive, you will fall in lust with Jasper. The man stalks her. Finds any way to insert himself into her life, even murder. And when his expert maneuvering has her best friend from work setting Georgina up with him, he knows nothing short of getting a taste will lessen his obsession.

Thus begins one of the most delicious push and pulls of their relationship. Jasper is crude but in the most yummy way. He’s a man that likes it rough and a little resistance doesn’t put him off. If you like dub con, this has some of the most delicious scenes. And no, not in a rapey way, but in a true dub con way. Georgina may not fully understand her needs, but the more demanding Jasper gets, the more she feels herself pulled into his orbit. Theirs is not exactly an orthodox relationship. They are a back and forth of hot sex and pulling back, but neither seems capable of staying away. Jasper knows his job won’t allow for anything permanent but he’s completely incapable of leaving her alone. The more time passes, the more obsessive he becomes. GOD it was good.

The suspense and grit of the story is on point. There are twists and turns that I never saw coming that were pretty jaw dropping. I devoured this book, cliffhanger and all. Luckily the wait for book two isn’t that long and I can’t wait to see how everything ends.

To celebrate the release of He Hates Me, Isabella Starling and Rina Kent are giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card. Head to Rina’s Facebook page to enter: https://www.facebook.com/rinaakent/

Dark, dirty and taboo is what Isabella Starling is known for.

An Amazon top 25 bestselling Author, Isabella has 10 books under her belt in under a year. She is a self-proclaimed Tumblr gif addict and always looking for her next forbidden story.

If you pick up a Starling book, you can count on a bad-mouthed, bossy man who will dominate his woman with a rough hand.

Add just a sprinkle of taboo, a touch of BDSM and a pinch of suspense, and you’re all set for a story you won’t forget.

Rina Kent is an international bestselling author of everything enemies to lovers romance.

Darkness is her playground, suspense is her best friend, and twists are her brain’s food. However, she likes to think she’s a romantic at heart in some way, so don’t kill her hopes just yet.

Her heroes are anti-heroes and villains because she was always the weirdo who fell in love with the guys no one roots for. Her books are sprinkled with a touch of mystery, a healthy dose of angst, a pinch of violence, and lots of intense passion.

Rina spends her private days in a peaceful town in North Africa daydreaming about the next plot idea or laughing like an evil mastermind when those ideas come together.

Don’t forget to Sign up to Rina Kent’s Newsletter for news about future releases and an exclusive gift.

AUTHOR LINKS

Isabella Starling Social Media:

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/authorisabellastarling

Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/isastarling

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/goodgirlslovebadboys/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorstarling

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorisabellastarling/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/isabella-starling

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Isabella-Starling/e/B01HK6XGZW/

Book+Main: https://bookandmainbites.com/users/45

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15291934.Isabella_Starling

Newsletter: http://www.subscribepage.com/isabellastarling

Rina Kent Social Media:

Website: https://rinakent.com/

Newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/rinakent

Bookbub: http://bit.ly/rina-bookbub

Instagram: http://bit.ly/RinaIG

Facebook: http://bit.ly/RinaFCB

Exclusive Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/RinaGroup

Twitter: http://bit.ly/RinaTwitter

Pinterest: http://bit.ly/RinaPinterest

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/rina-goodreads

· Filed Under: Author Spotlight & interview, Dark · Tagged With: , , ,
Copyright © 2015 · Dirty Girl Romance

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