Monday, February 26, 2018

Love's Journey Home by Julie Coulter Bellon -- Blog Tour

Love's Journey Home (Lincoln Love Stories #2)

Author: Julie Coulter Bellon

Publisher: Stone Hall Books

ebook/paperback: 224 pages

ASIN: B079JVFQHL

FTC FYI: I received an ARC from the author, all views and opinions expressed are my own.

Goodreads Summary

Olivia Dalton has a reputation in the DA’s office—tough, thorough, and fierce when she’s closing a case. Those skills are essential in the courtroom, but not in the relationship department—until Mick Donovan crosses her path. Everyone thinks he’s a player, but when an unexpected situation arises, she glimpses an honorable man instead. Olivia is drawn to him, but he pushes her away, unable to shake the past that still haunts him.

Mick Donovan learned at a young age never to let anyone close because those you love never stay. Keeping people at arms-length has never been hard for him—until he meets Olivia Dalton. Mick is caught up in a case she’s prosecuting, and he can’t deny his attraction to her, but when she uncovers the past he’s kept carefully hidden, he’s sure she’ll turn away. Yet, even with all his secrets in the open, Olivia reaches out. Can he let his guard down long enough to let her in and take a chance on love?


My Review

I love Julie Bellon's books! I start her books and I feel I already know the characters. She writes with care and attention to detail. I enjoyed the small town setting. Olivia and Mick are fantastic characters. I instantly liked Mick. He is caring and helpful, yet misunderstood by many. His past is a sad one. Olivia is smart and tough. They both have a soft spot for a little boy that needed their help. I really enjoyed this book. Their relationship developed gradually and with care, which I appreciated. Both Mick and Olivia had their own issues they needed to work out. I did feel the story was missing that "conflict" between the characters, but the book is an easy, enjoyably sweet read. 

4 out of 5 stars. I loved how the author had foster care in the book. It was handled well, showing up and down sides. Mostly the up sides of good people helping out kids in need. 

Author Links


Website / Twitter / Goodreads


Purchase Links

Amazon ebook / Amazon paperback 

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Wednesday, February 21, 2018

The Traitor's Game by Jennifer A. Nielsen -- Blog Tour/Giveaway

I am giving away an ARC of The Traitor's Game (US ONLY) 

The Traitor's Game

Author: Jennifer A. Nielsen

Publisher: Scholastic

Publish Date: Feb. 27, 2018

ISBN13: 9781338045390

Hardcover: 400 pages

FTC FYI: I received an ARC from the publisher, all views and opinions expressed are my own.

Goodreads Summary

Nothing is as it seems in the kingdom of Antora. Kestra Dallisor has spent three years in exile in the Lava Fields, but that won't stop her from being drawn back into her father's palace politics. He's the right hand man of the cruel king, Lord Endrick, which makes Kestra a valuable bargaining chip. A group of rebels knows this all too well -- and they snatch Kestra from her carriage as she reluctantly travels home.The kidnappers want her to retrieve the lost Olden Blade, the only object that can destroy the immortal king, but Kestra is not the obedient captive they expected. Simon, one of her kidnappers, will have his hands full as Kestra tries to foil their plot, by force, cunning, or any means necessary. As motives shift and secrets emerge, both will have to decide what -- and who -- it is they're fighting for.

Check out the book trailer!




My Review

Jennifer A. Nielsen is easily one of my favorite authors and she has worked her magic again with this book. The Traitor's Game is absolutely amazing. The story is fast-paced, action packed, with a touch of romance. Kestra is a tough, smart heroine whose story will leave you guessing until the last page. She is a fantastic character. She is so brave and cunning. I appreciate strong characters like her. I also loved Simon and the point of view changes between him and Kestra were perfect for the story. The twists and turns were simply brilliant and I would catch myself talking out loud, trying to work things the amazing plot. Lord Endrick is evil to the core, along with other characters, that I don't want to spoil. There are many with something to gain with finding the lost Olden Blade and it's an adventure you won't want to miss. Now the agony of waiting for book 2!

5 out of 5 stars. 

Author Links

Goodreads / Website / Twitter

Purchase Links - Pre order your copy today, or enter to win below

Amazon ebook /Amazon paperback / Barnes and Noble
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Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Can Dreams Come True by Krysten Lindsay Hager -- Cover Reveal


Cover Reveal for Can Dreams Come True? (Book One of the Cecily Taylor Series) 
by Krysten Lindsay Hager
Contemporary YA fiction



Cecily has always had a huge crush on singer Andrew Holiday and she wants to be an actress, so she tags along when her friend auditions for his new video. However, the director isn't
looking for an actress, but rather the girl next door—and so is Andrew. Cecily gets a part in the video and all of Andrew’s attention on the set. Her friend begins to see red and Cecily’s boyfriend is seeing
green—as in major jealousy. A misunderstanding leaves Cecily and her boyfriend on the outs and
Andrew hopes to pick up the pieces as he’s looking for someone more stable in his life than the models he’s dated. Soon Cecily begins to realize Andrew understands her more than her small-town boyfriend—but can her perfect love match really be her favorite rock star?

Pre-order the book now on Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

The book officially releases in ebook and paperback on March 20th .

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Krysten Lindsay Hager writes about friendship, self-esteem, fitting in, frenemies, crushes, fame, first loves, and values. She is the author of True Colors, Best Friends...Forever?, Next Door to a Star,  Landry in Like, Competing with the Star (The Star Series: Book 2) and Dating the It Guy. True Colors, won the Readers Favorite award for best preteen book and the Dayton Book Expo Bestseller Award for children/teens. Competing with the Star is a Readers' Favorite Book Award Finalist.


Krysten's work has been featured in USA Today, The Flint Journal, the Grand Haven Tribune, the Beavercreek Current, the Bellbrook Times, Springfield News-Sun, Grand Blanc View, Dayton Daily News and on the talk show Living Dayton.


Cover art work done by Cora Graphics for Clean Reads.

Monday, February 19, 2018

A Pirate at Pembroke by Danielle Thorne -- Kindle Scout/Giveaway

Danielle Thorne’s book A Pirate at Pembroke is up for nomination in the Kindle Scout Contest.
Please vote for her book!
Nominate here! All you need is an Amazon account.
If Kindle Scout selects A Pirate at Pembroke for publication you’ll get a copy of the book for free!
Enter the giveaway below!


A Pirate at Pembroke by Danielle Thorne
A Jane Austen-inspired Pirate Romance
Sophie Crestwood is never going to catch a husband, and she isn’t even sure she wants one. Her father is a gossip, her mother always has her nose in a book, and little Jack has shamefully been dismissed from boarding school. Worst of all, a pirate moves next door into Pembroke Hall!
When Sophie’s sent to a matchmaking party at a neighboring estate, the pirate from Pembroke arrives and distracts everyone from the summer festivities. Unguarded, her feelings about the mysterious Captain Murdock bloom into a trusted friendship that Sophie fears may come to mean much more than anyone would ever suspect. Keeping company with a reputed pirate is one thing but falling in love with him could ruin the eccentric Crestwood family for good.

Excerpt:
The sad sonata continued its siren’s call. It echoed a passionate and haunting melody, just like the dark halls of Pembroke with its soiled paintings of aristocrats from long ago. Sophie examined the chamber doors through the gloom and decided the door to the second room on the left was slightly ajar with a dim light shimmering around it. She moved in silence to the small gap and caught her breath.
Captain Murdock stood in front of a languid fire burning beneath a marble mantel. One bare foot was balanced on a low, milking stool nestled up against a heavy, velvet-covered chair. The other kept time on the floor. With his cane leaning against the fireplace, Murdock stood balanced on his own. In his hands, a violin tucked underneath his chin swayed. It moved in time with his body as he performed a strange dance to the music. His profile in the firelight was sharp and clear. He stood slender and tall. In these private bedchambers, half-dressed in loose buckskin breeches and an untucked shirt open at the neck, he did not seem as rigid and menacing as before. From his dreamy stare, his thoughts were somewhere inside the flickering blue and orange flames. The reflection of the firelight made his pale eyes glow.
Sophie noticed his hair was undone. It hung far past his neck, with slight waves resting on his broad upper back on either side of his shoulders. She put a hand to her mouth realizing it had fallen open, and at the same time, that it was scandalous to spy on her host. She swallowed and stepped away. The music stopped in mid-cry. Her heart jumped in her chest, and for a brief pause, the only sound to be heard was her own loud breathing. She stepped back and pivoted on her heel.
Horrified he might have felt her examination, she strode down the rug-lined hallway as quietly as she could, but each footfall sounded like muffled thunder as she hurried back to the stairs. She reached the banister and slipped down the first step, but her shift snagged on something, and she spun about to free it.
Captain Murdock stood behind her, silent. He held a handful of her shift in his fist. She had not snagged it after all. Rather, he had snagged her. She jerked in surprise, but his hold kept her from falling backward and tumbling down the stairs. His other hand trembled as it balanced precariously on a carved dragon head at the top of his cane.
“What do you think you are doing?”
“I… I heard music and followed it.”
His eyes blazed with accusation, and it unnerved her.
“I’m so sorry,” she said in a choking voice. Her nose tingled again. She touched it with her fingers to make it stop.
“It’s not possible you heard music from all the way down in your room.”
Sophie took a nervous breath. He stood there, one step above her like a giant, her bedclothes gripped in his hand so tight it shook. She hadn’t heard him shuffle down the hall after her. He moved as silent as a ghost when he wanted — even with a cane. She found the courage to meet his penetrating gaze. “I did hear something from my room. Then I was in the hall.”
Captain Murdock waited for a long pause, while the dust they had stirred up in the rugs pirouetted in the air and into Sophie’s eyes and nose. “You should not be out of bed,” he said.
Sophie swallowed down her frightened apprehension. She tried to beg his pardon, but her lungs failed her, and she coughed in reflex. She covered her mouth with her fingers. “I’m so sorry,” she repeated between them, her cheeks hot with humiliation. She stared at the fistful of her garments he’d snatched, aware his eyes examined her from her straight, waist-length hair down to her naked ankles. With a jerk, he dropped her shift like it burned his hand.
“Go to bed,” he said in a quiet voice.
Sophie’s nose had not quit tingling and itching. “Yes, sir,” she said at once, but not soon enough to keep a sneeze from erupting. It came so fast and without warning, she had no chance to catch it before it doused him with all her rejection.
Horrified, she stumbled down the next step, thankful the old handrail held fast. When she glanced back, he was wiping off his shirt with a look of disgust.

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Thursday, February 15, 2018

Long Journey Home by Sarah M. Eden -- Cover Reveal

Long Journey Home
A Hope Springs Novel
by Sarah M. Eden

Coming September 4, 2018

Goodreads link
Pre-order on Amazon!
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Summary:
Widowed by war, Maura O’Connor has raised her son alone under the weight of poverty in the unforgiving slums of New York City. That harsh and difficult life has taken a toll on them both. Desperate to save her son from the misery around them, she moves them both to the tiny western town of Hope Springs, where her late husband’s family lives, hoping that the decade of silence between them does not mean she and Aidan will be rejected outright. Her son needs family, and she would endure anything to see him happy.

Ryan Callaghan has worked the land belonging to the late Granny Claire for years, dreaming of one day claiming it as his own. Living in his brother’s home affords him no freedom, no stability, no joy. The arrangement is even harder on his mother, whose health is quickly deteriorating. A risky investment in the land has finally begun to pay off, and he is at last in a position to secure a better future for them both. When use of the home is, without warning, offered to a newly arrived widow and her son, that future is entirely uncertain.

Both Maura and Ryan desperately need the Claire farm, for their own futures as well as those of the loved ones who depend on them. Neither can remain in Hope Springs without the house and land, but only one can claim it in the end.

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Check Me Out by Becca Wilhite

Check Me Out

Author: Becca Wilhite


Publisher: Shadow Mountain

Publish Date: Feb. 6, 2018

Paperback: 368 pages

ISBN13: 978162972373

FTC FYI: I received an ARC, all views and opinions expressed are my own.

Goodreads Summary

Greta loves her job as assistant librarian. She loves her best friend, Will, the high school civics teacher and debate coach. She even loves her mother despite her obvious disappointment that Greta is still single.

Then she meets Mac in the poetry section of the library, and she is smitten. Mac is heart-stoppingly gorgeous and showers her with affection, poetic text messages, and free hot chocolate at the local café where he works. The only problem is that he seems to be a different person in his texts than in his face-to-face conversation.

When the Franklin Library is threatened with closure, Greta leaps into action. She arranges for a "battle of the bands" book jam, hosts a book signing by a famous author, and finally, stages a protest that raises more than a few eyebrows.

Through it all, she slowly realizes that it is Will, not Mac, who she turns to for support and encouragement. Mac has the looks; Will has the heart. How can she choose between them?

Check Me Out is a contemporary romance--with just a hint of Cyrano de Bergerac--that reminds us that it is what's on the inside that matters most.
 


My Review


I have been waiting for another book by Becca for years and Check Me Out was worth the wait. Greta is a wonderful character, full of enduring humor, heart, and compassion for what she believes in. In this book, it is the Franklin library. Greta is trying to save her beloved library, all while getting to know her dreamy suitor. As much as I loved Greta, Will stole the show. He's fantastic. All of the supporting characters were the glue that held the story. I love how Becca writes. Her characters are spunky and fun, people I would want to be friends with. Very well done!


5 out of 5 stars.  This book just simply makes you happy!


Author Links


Website / Twitter / Goodreads


Purchase Links

Amazon ebook / Amazon paperback / Barnes and Noble / Deseret Book
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