Tuesday, September 30, 2014

September Update at Thoughts


I've decided to do monthly updates instead of weekly updates here at Thoughts. So here's a racap of the month of September for you.


~*Reviews*~


TOTAL: 10


~*Books Finished*~


TOTAL: 11

  • What a Duke Dares (Sons of Sin #3) by Anna Campbell
  • Made for You (The Best Mistake #2) by Lauren Layne
  • Truth or Dare (Dare to Love #1) by Mira Lyn Kelly
  • Switch Me On by Jule McBride
  • Stripping the Billionaire (Heirs of Damon #4) by Noelle Adams
  • Billy Joel by Fred Schruers
  • Stranded with the Rancher (Texas Cattleman's Club: After the Storm #1) by Janice Maynard
  • My First, My Last by Lacey Silks
  • No More Mr. Nice Guy by Amy Andrews
  • Oh, Naughty Night! by Leslie Kelly
  • One Song Away by Molli Moran


~*Tours/Blasts/Reveals*~
 




~*Otherwise*~

 
 


~*As for me...*~


Has anything even been happening? All I feel like I do is work and a bunch of other adulting. I didn't sign up for that! Lol.

I did manage to plot out a lot of my blog posts for the next couple months and I'm working on a new method of getting reviews done in a timely manner, so SCORE! there. It isn't really anything special, I just keep my review draft up at all times to remind myself to write the review in a couple days. It's been working! I just finished one, so I have to pull another couple up to work on over the coming days.


And that's about it! I hope everyone's been having a great year!

Jessica

Review: No More Mr. Nice Guy by Amy Andrews

Title: No More Mr. Nice Guy
Author: Amy Andrews
Published: September 29th 2014
Source: Copy given by author for honest review
Genre: Adult Contemporary
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble
Add to your Goodreads shelf
Caution: May contain spoilers
A sexy category romance from Entangled's Brazen imprint...

He's done playing the nice guy...

Newly single school counselor Josie Butler just made herself a Sexy To-Do list (featuring Bad Boys only). To her mortification, her best friend's gorgeous older brother Mack finds it…and laughs. But when Josie goes looking for some sexy fun, Mack's nice guy side turns all hot bad-assery, and suddenly she's pinned against an alley wall. Hottest. Sex. Ever.

Veterinarian Mack Kennedy can't believe Josie wants to ditch her sweet, girl-next-door lifestyle. Even worse, that she'd consider doing it with anyone but him. When she leaves for London they'll go back to being 'just friends' but until then, he's going to show her just how bad nice guys can be.

And it's the perfect plan, as long as no one finds out... and no one falls in love.

My Thoughts:

Holy whoa and a half! I was super duper stoked to get the opportunity to read this one early, and, guess what? I loved it so much I already pre-ordered, so when this is live on the blog, it will be on my Nook. And THANK GOODNESS, because I adored Josie and Mack.

The premise is promising enough for a thoroughly enjoyable story of two friends turned more. I love it when Mack gets upset with Josie over her determination to look elsewhere to fulfill her desires. His anger explodes into something neither of them expect, and it escalates to more and more. You can just feel the way they care flying off the pages. One of my favorite parts is when her best friend discovers the two of them... reaction of the year, let me tell ya.

No More Mr. Nice Guy is hot stuff rolled into a romantic story. Josie and Mack are perfect for each other, and I couldn't stop reading, or rereading my favorite scenes. Amy Andrews has earned a place in my "to watch for/read more by" list. I just loved every second of this.

My Rating:

Monday, September 29, 2014

Blitz: Let Me In by Erin McCarthy


Welcome to the Let Me In by Erin McCarthy book blitz!


Let Me In by Erin McCarthy
(Blurred Lines #3)
Publication date: September 25th 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
A girl in danger…

Aubrey Walsh never dreamed that she would find herself in an abusive relationship, but after her boyfriend hits her so hard he breaks her tooth, she flees the University of Maine to hide on a remote island with her best friend. Only to discover that she is pregnant. Terrified of what will happen if Jared finds out, she is walking along the rocks, deciding her future, when she slips.

A guy with a secret past…


After a job gone wrong, Riker has left the assassin business and is incognito as a ferryboat operator off the shores of Maine. It’s a lonely life, and when he sees a young woman almost fall off the rocks, he doesn’t hesitate to save her and take her in, though he’s determined to stay unemotionally uninvolved. But when the truth about her situation is revealed, he will do anything to protect Aubrey and her unborn child.

Even marry her. Even kill for her.

When Jared comes looking for the only girl who has ever rejected him, Riker won’t allow it. And Aubrey is torn between protecting herself and her child, or protecting the mysterious husband she has come to love.

And when chance brings them together but fate tears them apart, can their love survive the storm?


Purchase:


Excerpt

“What’s wrong?” Cat asked me, turning towards me as I came into the living room.

“Nothing,” I lied, putting my hand in my pocket so the stick wouldn’t slide down out of my sleeve, where I had tucked it. “I’m going for a walk.”

So I could cry and rage in private.

But she didn’t believe me. She knew me too well.

“Aub, come on. You can tell me. Did you hear from Jared?”

I heard from Jared all the time. I had changed my number, but then he’d found me on social media. I’d blocked him, then he’d emailed me. No matter what I did, he found a way to track me down. A way to alternate between coaxing and cajoling me with pleas for me to come home, vows of love, and scathing condemnations on my character. How a man could claim he loved me and turn around and call me a dick-sucking whore was something I would never understand. Then again, how could a man who loved me knock out my teeth and leave me bleeding on the floor?

But this anxiety wasn’t about a communication from Jared.

It was about what I’d been suspecting but was determined to ignore.

“I haven’t heard from Jared today. I just want to take a walk. Am I allowed to do that?” I sounded bitchy and I knew it, but I needed to get away, to escape.

Living with Cat and her boyfriend, Heath, for the last month had allowed me time to think, feel, heal. I was grateful to both of them for taking me in when I hadn’t been able to face my family with the shame of what had been done to me, what I had become. I owed Cat everything for hiding me, helping me to feel safe, not pressuring me to make decisions, and listening to me when I needed to talk.

I wasn’t ready to share this yet though. I wasn’t even ready to admit it.

Her look was one of sympathy, which made me feel worse. I was the girl everyone felt sorry for. That was the identity Jared had created for me.

“Of course you can do that. I just don’t want you to keep everything bottled up. You can tell me anything.”

“You just don’t want me to throw myself off a cliff,” I said dryly, leaning over the back of the couch and giving her a hug from behind. “For which I thank you. No worries. I’m not suicidal.”

I wasn’t. The opposite in fact. Staring into Jared’s eyes, seeing his rage, had made me realize just exactly how much I wanted to live.

Even now, even with this, I wanted to survive more than anything. I wanted to reclaim my life, find me again. Or at least a new version of me.

She leaned forward and glanced up at me over her shoulder. “I still can’t get over your hair.” She touched the ends of loose, auburn strands. “It’s so different now that you dyed it.”

I was a natural blonde, but that didn’t feel right anymore. There was nothing carefree and beachy about the way I moved, always glancing over my shoulder, keeping my mouth closed as much as possible, self-conscious of the two missing teeth on the back right side. Dark auburn suited me better. It was moody, mysterious. It made my skin seem pale, and that was how I felt. Pale. Fragile.

“Redheads are feisty,” I said. “I’m trying to find my inner feisty.”

“You’ve always been feisty. And the master of sarcasm.”

Not anymore. Cat had been living on an island off the coast of Maine for the last eighteen months. She’d never seen me with Jared. I was glad. The less witnesses to my humiliation the better, and maybe with her seeing me as I had been, I would become me again.

“I think the feisty got knocked out of me. Literally.”

“Don’t joke about it.” Her dark eyes searched mine. “I don’t think that’s healthy.”

Nothing about it was healthy. But I was trying my best to cope. And when she looked at me like that…that’s when I needed to escape.

“I’ll be back in an hour tops. Don’t send Heath out looking for me again. I promise I’ll be fine.”

That was why I’d come to Cat in Vinalhaven—it was remote, isolated. Everyone knew everyone, and the only way on the island was by ferry. If, for some insane reason, Jared tried to track me down, I would know immediately that he was there. It made me feel safe, protected. Walking helped clear my head.

The porch door slammed behind me, and I put the hood of my sweatshirt up. It was only September, but I was always cold. I used to think I would go to grad school down South. Now, the future was a great gaping hole filled with fear.

And a baby.

I fingered the stick stuck up my sleeve and tried to process the truth. I was pregnant. With Jared’s baby. Tears filled my eyes as I walked down the gravel drive towards the shoreline, my feet moving faster, my head hunched down. Heading in the direction of the least possibility of seeing any other humans, I cursed when I realized almost immediately that the guy who lived in a crumbling farmhouse was out in his yard. Chopping wood with his shirt off. He was in his mid-twenties and I’d seen him twice before. He never smiled, he never waved, he never spoke to me, and he was muscular, ominous. There was no joy on his face, only a kind of silent disdain as he watched me walk by. He was the kind of man who could corner me, beat me, rape me, kill me.

Five years ago, I would have seen his sweaty shoulders, watched the ripple of muscles in his back, and I would have flirted with him, smiled, flipped my hair. He might have flirted back and we might have gone into his farmhouse and fucked just because it felt good. Now, the thought of him touching me made me flinch in fear, and I rushed past him, glancing up only to track his movements, make sure he wasn’t following me.

Cat had said that his name was Riker and he was harmless. That he’d come back from being in the military and he had PTSD, so he kept to himself. Riker was sweet, she’d insisted. He had always been a good guy.

Whatever. What he was then didn’t make him that now, and I was afraid of the intensity of his stare.

He was doing it now. His ax paused as he eyed me. Then his gaze shifted back to the log and the sun hit the blade as it came down with a violent whack. I winced. The wood split in two directions and tumbled to the ground.

Suddenly, it was too much—the realization that a guy forty feet away could frighten me, that I was pregnant, that I had let myself get in this situation by wanting so desperately to be important to Jared in the beginning that I had ignored all the warning signs. I started to run, wondering how I was going to support myself and a child, afraid that if Jared ever found out, he would take my baby away from me. Knowing that, at some point, I had to face my family.

I ran, pumping my arms hard, the hood falling back off my head, my lungs straining. When I reached the edge of the island by the rocks, I came to a crashing halt, sobbing in frustration. Yanking the pregnancy test out of my sleeve, I stared at the pink line showing my new reality.

“It’s not fair,” I whispered.

I’d always wanted to be a mom. But not like this. Not with that man.

“No,” I said, louder this time. “No. This isn’t fair!” Then I pulled my arm back and hurled the test stick as hard as I possibly could.

I was panting, my vision blurry from tears as I watched it sail through the air and drop down onto the rocks. Leaning forward to see where it landed, I slipped on the wet turf.

Suddenly, I was falling and screaming and trying to grab on to anything. Pain shot through my hip, but clipping the rock helped slow my fall and I landed on my chest, my legs dangling, my grip tenuous, but no longer free falling. The air whooshed out of my lungs and I clawed at the slippery rock with my feet, trying to find a ledge to haul myself up. But my shoes slid around uselessly and I paused, panting, arms straining. I was wasting too much energy and I needed to think.

Looking up, I opened my mouth to scream for help.

What I saw almost made me lose my hold entirely.

A man’s face stared down at me with dark, intense eyes.

Riker.


AUTHOR BIO
USA Today and New York Times Bestselling author Erin McCarthy sold her first book in 2002 and has since written almost fifty novels and novellas in teen fiction, new adult, and adult romance. Erin has a special weakness for New Orleans, tattoos, high-heeled boots, beaches and martinis. She lives in Ohio with her family, two grumpy cats and a socially awkward dog.




Jessica

Friday, September 26, 2014

Cover Reveal: Dirty Secret by Emma Hart


We are so excited to announce a brand new series from NYT Bestselling Author Emma Hart!!! 



Release Date: Dec 1, 2014
Conner Burke never expected Sofie Callahan to come back.

Where she’s been for the last two and half years is a mystery, and so is the reason she left in the first place. Now, though, she’s back in their hometown of Shelton Bay, South Carolina, at the same time Conner’s band Dirty B is home on a tour break.

Sofie Callahan has spent the months since her father’s death avoiding anything to do with her home town. But with her brother in Afghanistan, she has no choice but to return and sort out her father’s house, even if it means facing the boy she fell in love with and revealing the reason she left.

Conner has questions, and when his broken heart and her guilty one collide, Sofie has to start answering them. Their present is rocky, their future unknown. Only one thing is certain:

Sofie’s daughter will change everything.

ADD TO GOODREADS HERE

PRE-ORDER NOW:



EXCERPT

That kid that could be mine.

I get up and let the empty bottle drop to the floor. The woods are eerily quiet, as if it can sense my anger. As if it knows the bitterness that lingers in my veins, as if it knows the burn of not knowing anything.

Like the woods, I’m left in the dark. Completely.

Branches and twigs crunch under my feet as I increase my pace to a gentle jog. And again, to a slow run. Then to a sprint.

The need to know increases with every footstep, as evenly paced as the ticking of the clock. It doesn’t matter that I’ve probably drunk too much beer to be here or that we’ve only been back for a matter of days.

I can’t be in this shithole full of memories without knowing. I can’t move on until I know. I can’t forgive her for a single fucking thing until I know—and even then, maybe I won’t be able to.

Maybe she’s unforgivable.

Instead of knocking on the back door like I did yesterday, I round the side of the house to the front door. The front room light glows softly through the curtains, but the rest of the house is dark.

My chest heaves with the exertion of my run here and I grab the doorframe to balance myself. I’m definitely too fucking drunk for this conversation, but what the hell.

I bang on the door, once, twice, again and again and again. “Sofie! Open the fuckin’ door!”

“Shut up!” she hisses, yanking it open. “The hell’re you doing here?”

I smirk, leaning against the wall. “Shouldn’t I be askin’ you that, princess?”

“Are you drunk?” Her voice rises a little at the end, and her eyes widen.

Those eyes. Fuck, those baby blues that have always undone me.

“Drunk? No. If I was drunk I’d be sitting at home like a miserable bastard and not here facing the cause of my misery.”

“You’re being an asshole. I don’t have to listen to this.”

She pushes on the door, but I wedge my foot in front of it. I let go of the wall and grab the edge of the door.

“Actually, you do.”

She can’t overpower me, and she knows it, because she lets up and the door swings open. “Why are you here, Conner?”

“You have a kid.”

She smacks her lips together. “Yep.”

“When? When did you have her?”

Sofie takes a deep breath in and presses her hands to her stomach.

They’re shaking, even as she links her fingers to hide it. I can see that fucking tremble.

She whispers something but I’m too pre-occupied by her hands to hear it.

“What?”

“August last year,” she repeats, still a whisper.

August. Last year. My stomach clenches as I meet her eyes. “When? When in fuckin’ August, Sofie?”

“August fifteenth.” Her voice hitches halfway through the ‘fifteenth.’

Almost seven months to the day she walked out on me and the rest of Shelton Bay.

Adrenaline hums through my body, and I stare at her. At the tears building in her eyes, the quiver of her lips, the bob of her throat as she swallows harshly.

It’s no different from the burn in my chest, the twisting of my stomach.

“Is she mine?”

She shudders and a tear drips from her eye.

“Sofie. Is. She. Mine?!”


About the Author:
By day, New York Times and USA Today bestselling New Adult author Emma Hart dons a cape and calls herself Super Mum to two beautiful little monsters. By night, she drops the cape, pours a glass of whatever she fancies - usually wine - and writes books.

Emma is working on Top Secret projects she will share with her followers and fans at every available opportunity. Naturally, all Top Secret projects involve a dashingly hot guy who likes to forget to wear a shirt, a sprinkling (or several) of hold-onto-your-panties hot scenes, and a whole lotta love.

She likes to be busy - unless busy involves doing the dishes, but that seems to be when all the ideas come to life.

LINKS:




Jessica

Blitz: Stronger by Sarah Greyson


Welcome to the Stronger by Sarah Greyson book blitz!



Stronger by Sarah Greyson
(The Unit #2)
Publication date: September 26th 2014
Genres: Erotica, Romance
Haunted by the loss of his beloved fiancée a year and a half ago at the hands of a terrorist cell, ex-Green Beret Rob Fabik doesn’t know how to let go. The sounds and sights of her death replay in his mind, and he tortures himself with the guilt he feels over not being able to save her life, distracting himself with alcohol and women.

Attending Harvard University, Lola Sardeson is a down-to-earth, rich girl who is tired of living under her father’s thumb. One night out with friends quickly turns into a nightmare as she is kidnapped from a busy Boston nightclub. Her nightmare intensifies as she learns that the Ortiz Cartel sells young, innocent girls into the sex-slave trade.

The Unit’s mission is to rescue Lola from the nefarious clutches of the Ortiz Cartel. From the instant Rob sees Lola, she touches something deep inside him, drawing out his protective nature. These feelings only serve to intensify the guilt he feels over losing his dead fiancée.

Forced by circumstance under the same roof, Lola inspires Rob to grow stronger. Can he suppress his feelings for Lola, or will guilt consume him alive? Can he forgive himself for not saving his fiancée? Can Rob save Lola and protect her from the greedy hands of the Ortiz Cartel?

Intended for mature audience 18+ for sexual language and violence.

This book can be read as a standalone.




With the release of “Stronger (The Unit 2),” I am changing the price of “Closer (The Unit)” to 0.99 cents permanently.  “Stronger (The Unit 2)” will be on sale for .99 cents until October 3, 2014.  After said date, the price of “Stronger” will increase to its normal price of $2.99.

Buy Links
Stronger (The Unit 2) 
Amazon: http://bit.ly/StrongerAmazon
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/StrongerBarnesandNoble
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/StrongerSmashwords
KOBO: http://bit.ly/StrongerKobo

Closer (The Unit) 
Amazon: http://bit.ly/CloserAmazon
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/CloserBarnesandNoble
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/CloserSmashwords
KOBO: http://bit.ly/CloserKOBO



AUTHOR BIO:
Sarah is an Amazon Best Selling Author. She lives in Virginia with her husband, two children, and four spoiled animals. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in Communications with a concentration in Professional Writing and her Master's Degree in Education.

When she is not writing or spending time with her family, she loves reading sizzling romantic suspense novels that make her blush. She loves a glass of pinot grigio, back-yard barbecues with friends and family, and helping her kids with their homework (in that order).

Her interests span all genres: from Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger to Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury to Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen to Slave by Shari Hayes to The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama XIV. Sarah's favorite genres are contemporary romantic suspense and erotic suspense; the types of novels she crafts. While the concepts are familiar and comfortable, she brings her own unique story and personality to everything she writes. She loves the feeling of crafting a spicy, action-packed novel. Writing is her passion. She wants to leave her readers breathless after experiencing the intense ride that is her novel.

Author links:


http://xpressobooktours.com/

Jessica

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Review: If I Were You by Lisa Renee Jones

Title: If I Were You
Author: Lisa Renee Jones
Published: September 13th 2012
Source: Copy given by author for honest review
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble
Add to your Goodreads shelf
Caution: May contain spoilers
How it all started…

One day I was a high school teacher on summer break, leading a relatively uneventful but happy life. Or so I told myself. Later, I’d question that, as I would question pretty much everything I knew about me, my relationships, and my desires. It all began when my neighbor thrust a key to a storage unit at me. She’d bought it to make extra money after watching some storage auction show. Now she was on her way to the airport to elope with a man she barely knew, and she needed me to clear out the unit before the lease expired.

Soon, I was standing inside a small room that held the intimate details of another woman’s life, feeling uncomfortable, as if I was invading her privacy. Why had she let these items so neatly packed, possessions that she clearly cared about deeply, be lost at an auction? Driven to find out by some unnamed force, I began to dig, to discover this woman’s life, and yes, read her journals—-dark, erotic journals that I had no business reading. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I read on obsessively, living out fantasies through her words that I’d never dare experience on my own, compelled by the three men in her life, none of whom had names. I read onward until the last terrifying dark entry left me certain that something had happened to this woman. I had to find her and be sure she was okay.

Before long, I was taking her job for the summer at the art gallery, living her life, and she was nowhere to be found. I was becoming someone I didn’t know. I was becoming her.

The dark, passion it becomes…

Now, I am working at a prestigious gallery, where I have always dreamed of being, and I’ve been delivered to the doorstep of several men, allof which I envision as one I’ve read about in the journal. But there is one man that will call to me, that will awaken me in ways I never believed possible. That man is the ruggedly sexy artist, Chris Merit, who wants to paint me. He is rich and famous, and dark in ways I shouldn’t find intriguing, but I do. I so do. I don’t understand why his dark side appeals to me, but the attraction between us is rich with velvety promises of satisfaction. Chris is dark, and so are his desires, but I cannot turn away. He is damaged beneath his confident good looks and need for control, and in some way, I feel he needs me. I need him.

All I know for certain is that he knows me like I don’t even know me, and he says I know him. Still, I keep asking myself — do I know him? Did he know her, the journal writer, and where is she? And why doesn’t it seem to matter anymore? There is just him and me, and the burn for more.

My Thoughts:

I heard lots of great things about this book. I debated for awhile whether I wanted to give it a chance or not. When it came up on NetGalley, I thought it would be a good time to check it out, see if it is as good as the hype. And while it is good, it didn't blow me away like I expected.

Don't get me wrong, it's intriguing in many ways. From the journals Sara reads to the romantic adventures Sara takes, it can definitely suck you in. I'm not exactly sure what it was about it that I couldn't get into. Maybe because it was too dark for me, too detailed to the point where I would sometimes start skimming a little bit for something interesting to happen. There are definitely some great and steamy scenes, and a whole lot of mystery. You never know what to expect.

If I Were You is sexy and intense. Lisa Renee Jones writes exceptionally well. I think that's part of what saved the story for me--the writing and intensity of it. Maybe part of it was because my expectations were very high going into it and I set myself up for failure. Doesn't make the story any less interesting. I may pick up the next book at some point (because cliffhangers). If you enjoy darker romances, this will be right up your alley.

My Rating:

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Tasty Virtual Book Tour: The Wedding Vow: Save the Date # 2: A Billionaire’s Demand by Cara Connelly


Welcome to the book tour for The Wedding Vow by Cara Connelly!



The Wedding Vow  
Save the Date # 2: A Billionaire’s Demand  
By: Cara Connelly 
Releasing September 30th, 2014 
Avon 
Cara Connelly's second Save the Date novel proves that opposites do attract...

The Playboy  Sexy billionaire Adam LeCroix has a mission: hunt down the sultry spitfire he blames for his troubles, demand her help, and exact revenge while he's at it. Maddie St. Clair will help him . . . or else.

The Prosecutor  Former prosecutor Maddie damn near nailed Adam for stealing, but the lucky bastard walked. Now, five years later, he's back, arrogant as ever, giving her an ultimatum—work for him to collect the insurance money, or she'll never work again.

The Problem  Maddie's all about right and wrong. Adam's shades of gray. So when he uncovers the hot body under her hard-ass veneer and she finds he's a thief with a heart, can the law-and-order lawyer and the fast-and-loose felon put their prickly past behind them? 





Buy Links  Purchase atAmazon|Barnes|iBooks|Kobo





Author Info 


Cara Connelly is an award-winning author of contemporary romances. Her smart and sexy stories have won high praise, earning Cara several awards including the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart, the Valley Forge Romance Writers’ Sheila, and the Music City Romance Writers’ Melody of Love. Cara, who lives in rural upstate New York, works as appellate court attorney when she’s not crafting steamy novels of love and romance. 

Author Social Links 





Excerpt


Adam held back a laugh. Madeline St. Clair might be tiny enough to fit in his pocket, but she had the grit of a two-hundred-pound cage fighter.

When he’d last seen her five years ago, she was a bloodthirsty young prosecutor, spitting nails as her then-boss, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York – who had his eyes on higher office – shook Adam’s hand and apologized for letting the case against him go as far as it had.


Playing magnanimous, Adam had nodded gravely, said all the right things about public servants simply doing their jobs, and with a wave for the news cameras, disappeared into his limousine.


Where he’d cracked a $6,000 bottle of Dom Perignon and made a solitary toast to a narrow escape from the law.


It had been his own damned fault that he’d come so close to being caught, because he had gotten cocky. He’d made a rare mistake, a minute one, but Madeline had used it like a crowbar to pry into his life until she’d damn near nailed him for stealing the Lady in Red.


The newly discovered Renoir masterpiece had been sold at Sotheby’s to a Russian arms dealer, a glorified mobster who cynically expected a splashy show of good taste to purge the bloodstains from his billions. Adam couldn’t stomach it, so he’d lifted the painting. Not for gain; he had his own billions. But because great art was sacred, and using it as a dishrag to wipe blood off the hands of a man who sold death was sacrilege.


Adam had simply saved the masterpiece from its unholy purpose.

It wasn’t the first time, or the last, that he’d liberated great art from unclean hands. He told himself that it was his calling, but he couldn’t deny that it was also a hell of a lot of fun. Outsmarting the best security systems money could buy taxed his brain in ways that managing his companies simply couldn’t. Training for the physical demands kept him in Navy-SEAL condition. And the adrenaline rush, well, that couldn’t be duplicated. Not even by sex. No woman had ever thrilled him that intensely or challenged him so completely on every level.


But now the shoe was on the other foot. One of his own paintings – his favorite Monet – had been heisted clean off the wall of his Portofino villa.

Just the thought made his teeth grind.

Oh, he’d find it eventually; he had no doubt of that. He had the resources, both money and manpower. He was patient. He was relentless. And when he got his hands on the bastard who’d infiltrated his home – his sanctuary – he’d make him pay for his hubris.

But in the meantime, he had a more immediate concern. The insurance company, Hawthorne Mutual, was dragging its feet, balking at paying him the $44 million the Monet was insured for.

Forty-four million was a lot of money, even to a man like him. But it was the company’s excuse for holding it up that really pissed him off. They needed to investigate the theft, they claimed, because Adam had once been a “person of interest” in the theft of the Renoir.

In short, Hawthorne’s foot-dragging could be laid at Madeline's door. She’d damaged Adam’s reputation, impugned his integrity. Cast a shadow of doubt over one of the richest men in the world.

Never mind that she’d been right about him.


Giveaway


Rafflecopter Giveaway (Print Copy of THE WEDDING FAVOR (US ONLY) and a Second Prize TBD)


a Rafflecopter giveaway



http://www.tastybooktours.com/
Jessica

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Blitz: Holly Hearts Hollywood by Kenley Conrad




Welcome to the Holly Hearts Hollywood by Kenley Conrad blitz!


Holly Hearts Hollywood by Kenley Conrad
Release Date: 09/23/14
Swoon Romance
Seventeen-year-old Holly Hart wants to be a star. She moves to Los Angeles from the small town of Cedar Junction, only to hear she’s too fat and ugly to be a famous singer.

But when Shell Shocked Records looks past Holly’s plus-size and less-than-graceful-personality to offer her a recording contract, Holly cannot believe her good fortune. On closer inspection, however, the record execs want Holly to do all the singing, and a thinner and more beautiful girl, Lacey, would lip-sync and get all the credit. Holly goes for it because after all, she wanted to sing.

Contractually bound to secrecy, Holly is more than happy to sit backstage while Lacey shimmies in the limelight and basks in the fame. Before she knows it, Holly is friends with Serena, the pop-star daughter of a music-mogul, flirting with an intern, and developing a strange half-friendship with Lacey.

When Grayson Frost, the biggest country star in America, and coincidentally, a former school bully begins dating Lacey, Holly hopes that he won’t recognize or torment her.

Through a series of embarrassing and weird events, Holly gets to know Grayson and learns that he is much nicer and more mature than he was four years ago. Holly is horrified when she starts falling for him. When Grayson admits he fell for Lacey's voice, what is a girl to do when she can’t legally tell the truth at the moment when the truth matters the most?



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Excerpt

Later, 5:45pm—Home

How am I supposed to pack for this trip? I’ve never been to California. I have no idea what the weather is like! Do I bring a jacket or a swimsuit? Do people wear overalls in California?



Later, 5:50pm—Home

The Internet told me that no one wears overalls anymore. WHY HASN’T ANYONE TOLD ME THAT?



Later, 5:55pm—Home

I’ve been wearing overalls for years and looking like an idiot. Everything I’ve thought is a lie.



Later, 6:00pm—Home

But I don’t have time to buy anything else to wear and overalls are 90% of my wardrobe. WHAT DO I DO?



Later, 6:45pm—Home

I tried to tell Ivy about the overall thing, but she said I was being ridiculous. Her reasoning was: “If they weren’t fashionable, then why can you still buy them at The Clothing Barn?” My sister does make sense sometimes. Whatever, I’m going to pack some anyway.



About the Author
I'm the author of the upcoming YA series Holly Hearts Hollywood, coming September 2014 by Swoon Romance. I'm a twenty-something cat lady who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. When I'm not working my office day job or writing books, you can find me either singing and dancing or binge-watching TV shows on Netflix.

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