Release Day - Smut by Karina Halle - Excerpt

Title: Smut

Author: Karina Halle

Release Date: May 16, 2016

Buy the Book: Amazon / iBooks / Nook / Kobo
Add it on Goodreads

What happens when the kink between the pages leads to heat between the sheets?

All Blake Crawford wants is to pass his creative writing course, get his university degree and take over his dad’s ailing family business. What Amanda Newland wants is to graduate at the top of her class, as well as finally finish her novel and prove to her family that writing is a respectful career. 

What Blake and Amanda don’t want is to be paired up with each other for their final project but that’s exactly what they both get when they’re forced to collaborate on a writing piece. Since Amanda thinks Blake is a posy asshole (with a panty-melting smirk and British accent) and Blake thinks Amanda has a stick her her ass (though it’s a brilliant ass), they fight tooth and nail until they discover they write well together. They also might find each other really attractive, but that’s neither here nor there.

When their writing project turns out to be a success, the two of them decide to start up a secret partnership together using a pen name, infiltrating the self-publishing market in the lucrative genre of erotica. Naturally, with so much heat and passion between the pages, it’s not long before their dirty words become a dirty reality. Sure, they still fight a lot but at least there’s make-up sex now.

But even as they start to fall hard for each other, will their burgeoning relationship survive if their scandalous secret is exposed or are happily-ever-afters just a work of fiction.

Excerpt

She holds my gaze for a moment and something passes over her. Regret, maybe. Then she nods. “Sit down. Let’s work.”

And so we do. And for the first time in a long time, it’s strained. I’m about to suggest maybe we need the Estonian vodka anyway when she lets out an exasperated sigh over something she’s reading.

It happens to be something I wrote.

“What?” I ask, wondering what I did wrong.

She gives me the are you kidding me? look. “Okay, I was ignoring it earlier but I think you need to get a grip on some of this shit. This simply does not happen.”

“Explain, please.”

“I just think it’s unrealistic for there to be so much talking, let alone the fact that the first time they do it it’s in a public place.”

“Too much talking?”

“Yeah.” She scans over the document. “ You know, give me your cock, oh you feel so good, harder, harder, you’re so big, fuck me harder big boy.”

“Have you even had good sex?” I ask incredulously.

She flinches. “Of course I have. And it’s non elf your business.”

“We’re writing about sex. It’s completely my business. I’m not letting you interject your edits based on your personal experiences about sex because believe me, if the sex is good, you’re moaning my name.”

She raises her chin. “Maybe all those girls were faking it.”

Oh, brilliant. 

“Excuse me?” I say, hands pressed against he table, nearly getting out of my chair. “You have no idea. I pride myself in giving a girl as many bloody orgasms as she can handle.”

“Bloody orgasms don’t sound like fun,” she jokes softly. 

“They can be if you’re into knife play,” I tell her, even though that’s not exactly what I meant. Still, she scrunches up her nose. “Don’t know it until you try it, but that’s neither here nor there. When you were with Alan, he must have made you come at least a few times.”

If he didn’t, I feel like finding the guy and showing him a thing or two for wasting four years of her life.

“Yeah,” she says flatly.

“And in the middle of that orgasm, didn’t you want to yell a few things?”

“Sometimes.”

“And why didn’t you?”

She looks at her nails as if they’re suddenly fascinating. “It didn’t seem right. It was…too intimate. I would have felt dumb. He didn’t like any of that stuff.”

The plot thickens. “Any of what stuff?”

“Sex that didn’t involve the missionary position or the bed.”

My mouth drops open. My brain and my penis can’t compute this. “I feel so sorry for you.”

We must remedy this.

She glares at me. “It’s not like I didn’t want to do it. I did. And he did try it. Most of it. But it always went back to the same old.”

I knew it. She’s a nerd on the streets and a freak in the sheets.

“I don’t mean to brag,” I tell her in all seriousness. “But you do realize that I could give you an orgasm in thirty seconds.”

Her eyes widen. I can’t tell if she’s horrified or intrigued. “I don’t believe you and I don’t want you to try.”

She’s not getting it. I frown, trying to explain. “If you’re having good sex and it’s with someone you’re comfortable with, you won’t worry about holding back. You’ll cry out all the nonsense you want, you’ll make noises like a pig and scream like you’re on fire because you truly can’t have a good orgasm unless you’re letting go on all accounts.” I lean back in my chair and study her, running my fingers along my jaw. “I would venture that every time you came with your ex, you were only experiencing half of what you should have been. How is it with your vibrators?”

I expect her to tell me to fuck off, that I’m getting too personal but to my surprise she gives me a small smile. “It’s better. But I do have a roommate with exceptionally good hearing.” She clears her throat. “Anyway, so I guess I’m wrong. The heroine can make all the noise she wants.”

“And have first time sex in public.”

“I don’t know…”

“Believe me, when you finally get a chance to fuck, you don’t care where it is. That’s why I always have a condom in my pocket. And the more public the sex, the sneakier you have to be, the hotter it is.”

“But in the book you would never get caught.”

“You don’t always get caught in real life too.”

I can see she wants to ask me where I’ve done it but she loses her nerve. “Okay.” She looks back to the document. “I accept defeat.”

But I don’t want her to. I want to prove to her I’m right and not have her take my word.

Is there a non-creepy way to show her just how amazing good sex can feel? I’m thinking not.

Or…maybe there is.

About Karina Halle

Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of The Pact, Racing the Sun, Sins & Needles and over 25 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.

Halle is represented by the Waxman Level Agency and is both self-published and published by Simon & Schuster and Hachette in North America and in the UK.

Hit her up on Instagram at @authorHalle, on Twitter at @MetalBlonde and on Facebook. you can also visit www.authorkarinahalle.com and sign up for the newsletter for news, excerpts, previews, private book signing sale and more.

Blog Tour - Walk the Edge by Katie McGarry + Excerpt

Title: Walk the Edge (Thunder Road #2)

Author: Katie McGarry

Publisher: HarlequinTEEN

Release Date: March 29, 2016

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

One moment of recklessness will change their worlds.

Smart. Responsible. That’s seventeen-year-old Breanna’s role in her large family, and heaven forbid she put a tow out of line. Until one night of shockingly un-Breanna-like behavior puts her into a vicious cyber-bully’s line of fire—and brings fellow senior Thomas “Razor” Turner into her life. 

Razor lives for the Reign of Terror motorcycle club, and good girls like Breanna just don’t belong. But when he learns she’s being blackmailed over a compromising picture of the two of them—a picture that turns one unexpected and beautiful moment into ugliness—he knows it’s time to step outside the rules. 

And so they make a pact: he’ll help her track down her blackmailer, and in return she’ll help him seek answers to the mystery that’s haunted him—one that not even his club brothers have been willing to discuss. But the more time they spend together, the more their feelings grow. And suddenly they’re both walking the edge of discovering who they really are, what they want, and where they’re going from here.

Katie McGarry is without a doubt one of my favourite authors and her books are all among my favourites. Every time I get my hands on a new Katie McGarry book, I can’t help but drop everything to read it. That’s what I did with Walk the Edge and I loved every moment of it.

Breanna has always been the reliable one, the daughter her parents could always count on to take care of her younger siblings now that all her older ones have left home. But she doesn’t just want to be the smart and reliable girl anymore. She wants to stop being invisible and finally be herself. She just never expected that doing so would bring Razor, one of the members of the local motorcycle club, into her life. Razor has always been all about the Reign of Terror motorcycle club. They’ve been there for him since his mother’s death and he would do anything for the club. But when he finds out new information about the night his mother died, Razor starts to doubt everything he’s been told by the people he calls family. The one person who can help him is Breanna, the girl who’s become the victim of a cyberbully because of a picture of the two of them together. Razor will help Breanna with her blackmailing bully if in return she helps him crack the mystery around his mother’s death. But while looking for answers, Razor and Breanna discover they need each other for more than they ever thought.

It’s no secret that Katie McGarry is one of my favourite authors and, as such, has written some of my all-time favourite books. She is, after all, the person who created Isaiah Walker. But that’s not the point right now. The point is that Katie McGarry writes some fantastic stories that are both gripping and captivating and that take you on an emotional ride. For me, there’s nothing quite like diving head first into a new Katie McGarry story. Even though every story is different, I just know going in that this is going to become a favourite. That I won’t be able to stop reading until I’m all the way through, no matter how much I might want to slow down to make the story last longer. That’s exactly how I felt with Walk the Edge. I wanted to read the story so badly, I wanted to know what would happen to these characters I came to love, but I also didn’t want the story to end. I got caught up in this story, flipping the pages (well, technically, clicking the “next page” button) until I had made it the whole way through. And there was so much that I loved about this story.  I loved all the different family dynamics, whether it was Breanna’s actual blood family or Razor’s motorcycle club family. How those family dynamics played in to the greater story. And as with any book written by Katie McGarry, the romance just worked and I bought into it right away. It wasn’t exactly hard to root for Breanna and Razor. And it really wasn’t hard to love them.

Before I even read a single word of Walk the Edge I already wanted to know more about Razor. The whole time I was reading Nowhere But Here last year, I wanted to know more about Razor. There was just something about him that caught my attention. He intrigued me and I just knew that there was a whole lot more to him than what everyone seemed to think. And I was so right. Razor is officially right up there with Isaiah when it comes to my favourite Katie McGarry boys. I loved how much he cared, sometimes to the point of extreme stubbornness. I loved his fierce protectiveness of the people he cared about, his determination to do whatever it took to keep those people safe. And I love who he was and how he was with Breanna. Breanna was such an interesting characters. I was so fascinated by the way her brain worked and the way it affected her life, especially when it came to her family life. So many times while I was reading I wanted to yell at Breanna’s family for the way they treated her. All she wanted was for someone to be there for her as opposed to being the person who’s always there for everyone else or has to wait in line behind all her siblings. So I loved that Breanna got to be herself with Razor and that Razor understood her in a way other people didn’t. They were perfect for each other and I loved reading their story. I only wish I could have kept reading their story forever.

Once again, Katie McGarry blew me away with Walk the Edge. This book is most definitely a new favourite even if it has left me absolutely desperate for more. And I cannot even begin to explain how much I am looking forward to reading Violet and Chevy’s story in the third Thunder Road book.

Excerpt

     Her face is white against her raven hair. Ghost white. I’d bet my left ball she hasn’t breathed since I spoke. Her hand is outstretched toward the busted cell on the ground, but her wide hazel eyes are cemented on me. I turn my head and I’m greeted by the amused faces of my brothers from the Reign of Terror who stand next to their bikes in the parking lot. They’ll be harassing me on this for weeks. Fuck me for trying to be chivalrous.

     “You okay?” It’s a variation of the question I asked a few seconds ago, but this one she seems to understand as her body trembles to life.

     “Um…” she stutters. We’ve been at the same schools since elementary age, otherwise I’d wonder if she was a foreign exchange student with limited English. “I only have twenty dollars.”

     The muscles in the back of my neck tense. “I’m not going to jack you for your money.” 

     She quits breathing again.

     “Nice to know your current bank account status,” I bit. “But I asked you if you were okay.”

     Color returns to her cheeks as I pin her with my gaze. She accused me of trying to rob her. I know it, she knows it, and she’s now informed I’m not the asshole in this scenario.

     “Yes,” she finally answers. “I’m okay. I mean no…I mean…I broke my phone.”

     She did and that sucks for her.

     Her eyes flicker between me and the phone like she wants to retrieve it, yet she’s too paralyzed. Saving us from his torture, I swipe the pieces of the cell and lean against the wall.

     The distance between us relaxes and that gulp of air was audible as she tucks herself tight in the corner fattest from me. This reaction isn’t new. I’ve seen it since I was a child whenever my father or anyone from the Terror entered a room full of civilians. To everyone outside of the club, we’re the evil motorcycle gang bent on blowing the house down.

     People and their hellish nightmare folklore involving us piss me off. I don’t know why I told the guys to give me a minute. I’m late for plans I made with Chevy and some girls, plus I’m on call in case the board chooses to meet sooner rather than later to discuss Detective Jake Barlow.

     But something about how this chick appeared alone and frightened messed me up. It reminded me…The thought stalls and the emotional speed bump causes a flash of pain in my chest. Screw it, her expression reminded me of Mom the last time I saw her—the night she died.

     My mom. I shake my head to expel her ghost. One visit from one bastard trying to use me and I’m being haunted by a past I can’t change. That’s what the detective was salivating over—to use me for info on the club. He’s one of too many who believes our club is the devil’s prodigy.

     What he doesn’t see is that we’re a family—the type of family that comes when called. Obviously not like this girl’s family.

     “Is it yes or no?” It’s damn difficult to shove the battery in now that the frame is bent.

     “Yes or no what?” her long black hair sweeps past her shoulders. She has the type of hair that would have to be pulled up if she rode on the back of my bike. Gotta admit, I like her hair, especially how it shines under the lights of the school’s overhang.

     “If you’re okay.” I survey the mostly empty area to prove a point. “If we leave, you’ll be alone, and I don’t care of that. There’s some real psychos out there.”

Blog Tour - Better When He's Brave by Jay Crownover + Excerpt & Giveaway

Title: Better When He's Brave (Welcome to the Point #3)

Author: Jay Crownover

Publisher: William Morrow

Release Date: August 11, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo / B&N / iTunes

In New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jay Crownover’s third novel in her sexy, thrilling Welcome to the Point series, a woman’s search for repentance leads her to the one man from her past she can’t forget as they join forces to save their city—and the explosive love neither can live without.

Titus King has always seen his world in black and white. There is a firm right and wrong in his mind, which is why as a teenager he left behind the only family he’d ever known to make a better life for himself. Now a police detective in one of the worst cities in the country, he can’t deny his life has turned a million different shades of gray.

They new criminal element in The Point has brought vengeance and destruction right to Titus’s front door, and walking the straight and narrow seems far less important now. The difference between right and wrong is nothing compared to keeping those he loves alive. To add to his already strained moral compass, the beautiful and mysterious Reeve Black has made her way back to town. This girl might be as dangerous to Titus as the guy trying to destroy The Point but he can’t walk away because he needs her—in more ways than one.

Reeve knows all about the threat tying to destroy The Point. She knows how ruthless, how vicious, and how cruel this new danger can be…and instead of running away, she wants to help. Reeve knows that she has a lot to depend for and saving the city, plus the hot cop that she hasn’t been able to forget might just be the only way she can finally find some inner peace.

With an entire city poised on the brink of war, Titus and Reeve stand in the crossfire—and it will take two brave souls to fight for the ultimate love.

Over the past year, I have fallen completely in love with the dark and gritty world of The Point. It’s a weird thing to say considering all the bad crap that happens there, but it’s a fact. Jay Crownover made me fall in love with this world she created and Better When He’s Brave only solidified this.

Titus King has made it his life’s mission to try to bring some light to the darkness that is The Point. Wanting nothing more than to make a better life for himself, Titus left his family behind and became a cop. But singlehandedly saving one of the worst cities world can take its toll. When someone new seems intent on destroying The Point and is going after everyone and everything he cares about, Titus will do everything he can to save his city. Reeve left The Point, hoping to put it all behind her. But she’s done running away and she’s ready to help Titus bring some light to The Point. But saving the city makes putting themselves in the crossfire and may require them to sacrifice what they’ve found in the midst of all this darkness: love.

I first found Jay Crownover’s Welcome to the Point series not exactly by accident but it wasn’t a series I was initially going out of my way to read. But the moment I read the first book, I became hooked. As dark and gritty and hard to read as some parts of this series are, I could read these books all day. It should go without saying that I was very much excited about Better When He’s Brave. I was lucky enough to be given access to an advance copy of the book and I wasn’t very successful in holding off on reading it. And the moment I started reading, I couldn’t stop. The thing about the books in the Welcome to the Point series is that they come with addictng stories, stories that leave you constantly wanting more, constantly trying to figure out what is happening and who is behind all the horrible things that are happening. Better When He’s Brave kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading. Much like Titus, I just wanted to know who was behind everything, why they were so set on burning the Point down to the ground. And there were some moments where I was seriously concerned for the safety of the people in this story. And I don’t really think I need to say that the romance was hot, but I will say it anyway. I was ALL for Titus and Reeve.

The whole time I was reading Better When He’s Bad and Better When He’s Bold, I was curious about Titus. There was just so much about him that I wanted to know. With Better When He’s Brave, I finally got all the answers I wanted about Titus, and then some. There was so much more to him than I could have thought, so much that I possibly couldn’t have predicted but at the same time helped explain so much of who Titus was and why he did what he did. And I’m not going to lie, everything I found out about him totally made me fall a little bit (okay, a lot) in love with Titus. So really, it’s no surprise that Reeve fell for her pretty hard. But Reeve herself, I wasn’t entirely sure about. Because of what she’d done in previous books, I wasn’t sure whether or not I could trust, if she was actually helping Titus or just trying to save herself. But the more I read, the more I grew to like Reeve and, much like with Titus, I began to understand why she was doing what she was doing. And like I’ve already said, I was all about Reeve and Titus being together. And them together was often HOT.

I loved and devoured Jay Crownover’s Better When He’s Brave. This story kept me on the edge of my seat and convinced me that I would be happy to keep reading stories set in The Point forever.

Excerpt

“Everyone has a breaking point.”

I sounded gruff and really had to concentrate on getting the words out because she leaned forward and her lips hit right below my ear on my rough jaw. Her teeth started to nibble and her tongue lapped a long wet trail all the way up behind my ear where she breathed, “I would love to see you when you reach yours.”

She curled her hand around the back of my neck and rubbed her cheek against mine. When I let my monster have at her, it took in giant mouthfuls, gobbled her up, and tried to burn as fast and as hot as the pleasure would allow.She wasn’t kidding when she said hers needed to be soothed. Every move she made was deliberate, erotic. We touched everywhere and somehow it was more intimate than all the times I had been inside of her over the last month. She brushed her chest against my own and I decided the playing field needed to level out a little, so I hooked my hands under her shirt and lifted it up off over her head. Her hair fell back around us like a dark curtain and I grabbed her face so I could kiss her. She blinked at me with big eyes and smiled.

“You are the only one that sees it, over and over again. You were the breaking point from the moment you walked in the door to tell me you helped Novak grab Dovie. I wanted to be disgusted, to hate you, but I didn’t. I thought you were beautiful and resilient. You seemed so misguided and lost, an even then I wanted to get you naked and fuck you on my desk.”

Her face lowered to mine and our lips touched just a tiny bit. One of her hands skated down the center of my chest and landed on my best buckle. I reciprocated by popping the clasp on the back of her bra and pulling it out of my way.

“You should’ve tried. I would’ve let you.” The words danced across my lips and somewhere in the center of my chest an animal howled in delight. That was what was missing in my life. Someone that appreciated all the sacrifice, the hard choices I had made to become the man I was, but who could also appreciate the fucked-up kid I had been.

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Blog Tour - Red Blooded by Caitlin Sinead + Giveaway

Title: Red Blooded

Author: Caitlin Sinead

Publisher: Carina Press

Release Date: August 3, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Kobo / iBooks

Instead of eating ramen and meeting frat guys like most college freshmen, Peyton Arthur is on the campaign trail. Traveling with her mother, the Democratic pick for vice president, she’s ordering room service, sneaking glances at cute campaign intern Dylan and deflecting interview questions about the tragic loss of her father. But when a reporter questions her paternity, her world goes into a tailspin.

Dylan left Yale and joined the campaign to make a difference, not keep tabs on some girl. But with the paternity scandal blowing up and Peyton asking questions, he’s been taken to watch her every move. As he gets to know the real Peyton, he finds it harder and harder to keep a professional distance.

When the media demands a story, Peyton and Dylan give them one—a fake relationship. As they work together to investigate the rumors about her father and Peyton gets closer to learning the truth, she’s also getting closer to Dylan. And suddenly, it’s not just her past on the line anymore. It’s her heart.

Sometimes, I discover books completely randomly. I’ll be on Goodreads or on NetGalley and randomly come across a book I hadn’t heard about before but sounds like something I would enjoy. That’s how I found Caitlin Sinead’s Red Blooded and I’m more than happy I did.

Peyton Arthur is ready to start college in the fall, but before that happens she has a few obligations to fulfill on the campaign trail. As the daughter Democratic pick for vice president, Peyton gets to answer awkward questions about the loss of her father and try to flirt with Dylan, one of the interns working the campaign. It shouldn’t be too hard, but then a reporter starts questioning whether or not Peyton’s father was really her father. Not knowing what to do, Peyton starts digging for answers, no matter how many times people tell her to leave well enough alone until the campaign is over. As Peyton digs for answers, Dylan is tasked with making sure she doesn’t jeopardize the campaign. And as the two spend more time together, they realize that the election and Peyton’s pas aren’t the only thing at stake any more.

There is nothing I love more than making random book discoveries. As plugged into the publishing world and the book world as I am, I am sad to say that it doesn’t happen nearly as often as I would like it to. But every so often, I still manage to find out about books just by randomly browsing websites like Goodreads or NetGalley. With Caitlin Sinead’s Red Blooded, I hadn’t heard of the book until I randomly came across it on NetGalley. Though I hadn’t heard about it until that point, I knew right away when I read the description that this was a story that I would very likely enjoy. And as it turns out, it totally was even if it ended up being a little different than I thought it would be. I mean, this is an NA story, I totally expected lots of romance. It’s pretty much what the genre is known for. And don’t get me wrong, there absolutely was romance in Red Blooded, but it wasn’t the main focus of the story. At first it threw me, but the more I read, the more I liked the fact that this story was more about Peyton finding herself and finding out where she came from, than it was about her relationship with Dylan. It was a refreshing change from all the romance I had been reading right before picking up Red Blooded. That’s not to say that I didn’t love the romance between Peyton and Dylan, because I totally did. Which probably had a lot to do with the fact that I also really liked Peyton and Dylan themselves.

I liked Peyton. A lot. With everything she had to deal with because of her mother’s political campaign, I felt for her a lot of the time. But then at other times I kinda wanted to ask her why she always insisted on doing exactly what she had been explicitly told not to do. I mean, I get wanting answers and as someone reading her story, I wanted those answers just as much as she did. But as much as I sometimes got exasperated with her, I still admired her determination, how she wanted to find answers no matter how afraid she was of what those answers might end up being. I busted wanted her to a actually trust Dylan as much as she claimed to. Because right from the start, I could tell that Dylan really cared about her, even if he was trying to hide those feelings. He was exactly the kind of person that Peyton needed. He understood the pressure she was under because of her mother’s campaign, and he was ready to do just about anything to help her. And they were adorable together, even before they ever got together romantically. So yeah, even if the romance wasn’t always the main focus of this story, I was totally rooting for Peyton and Dylan.

I might not have found out about Caitlin Sinead’s Red Blooded until quite recently, but I’m happy I did. This story wasn’t what I expected but I loved the mix of romance and slight political intrigue I got instead. If you’ve been curious about Red Blooded, it’s definitely worth the read.

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Blog Tour - Chasing River by K.A. Tucker + Giveaway

Title: Chasing River (Burying Water #3)

Author: K.A. Tucker

Publisher: Atria Books

Release Date: July 7, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / B&N / iBooks / Indigo

Armed with two years’ worth of savings and the need toe experience life outside the bubble of her Oregon small town, twenty-five-year old Amber Welles is prepared for anything. Except dying in Dublin. Had it not been for the bravery of a stranger, she might have. But he takes off before she has the chance to offer her gratitude.

Twenty-four-year-old River Delaney is rattled. No one was supposed to get hurt. But then that American tourist showed up. He couldn’t let her die, but he also couldn’t risk being identified at the scene—so, he ran. Back to his everyday life of running his family’s pub. Only, everyday life is getting more and more complicated, thanks to his brother, Aengus, and his criminal associations. When the American girl tracks River down, he quickly realizes how much he likes her, how wrong she is for him. And how dangerous it is to have her around. Casing her off would be the smart move. 

Maybe it’s because he saved her life, or maybe it’s because he’s completely different from everything she’s left behind, but Amber finds herself chasing after River Delaney. Amber isn’t the kind of girl to chase after anyone.

And River isn’t the kind of guy she’d want to catch.

By now it shouldn’t be a secret or a surprise that I love K.A. Tucker and her books. In the last year and a half I have devoured every book she’s published and I just can never seem to get enough. The last few months I was dying to read her latest, Chasing River, and I was not in the least bit disappointed by the story.

Amber Welles has never ventured outside the comfortable bubble of her small Oregon hometown, but she’s decided that it’s time to experience life for what it is. Setting off on a trip around the world, Amber is ready for an adventure wanting to see what the world has to offer. What she never expected was almost dying in a terrorist bombing in Dublin. At the last second, a stranger jumps in and saves her, before taking off again without giving her a chance to thank him. Determined to find her mysterious saviour, Amber keeps looking around Dublin hoping she’ll find the man who saved her life. The one problem is that River is doing everything he can to stay away from Amber, no matter how much he feels a pull towards her. It’s not just to protect himself and his family, it’s also for her own protection. But even if it means putting themselves in danger, Amber and River can’t keep fighting the forces that keep pulling them together.

Here’s the thing about writing reviews for books written by a favourite author: it’s HARD. If I’m being completely honest, all I really want to say about Chasing River is that it was freaking amazing and everyone should read it. But in my opinion, I could say the exact same thing about every one of K.A. Tucker’s books that I’ve read (so all of them), so that’s not entirely helpful. Unless you’re just going to take my word for it and walk over to your local bookstore to pick up any one of her books. So I’ll try to give you all a little more than that where Chasing River is concerned. For starters, this story gave me wanderlust like no other. I’ve been to Dublin and other parts of Ireland before, but reading Chasing River totally made me want to go back, even with the book starting off with a bombing in one of the busiest areas of Dublin. And speaking of that bombing and all its implications, I really enjoyed how much of the story was tied to the history of the IRA and how over time the organization has changed from what it originally was. It added another layer of depth to the story, beyond just the “traditional” suspense and the romance. Which, speaking of the romance, it should go without saying that I loved it. I loved the way the relationship between Amber and River developed, how despite that initial attraction they both tried to resist it, knowing that it was likely not going to end well. It only made it that much better when they did get together

In many ways I could related to Amber, especially when it comes to doing the “safe” thing and never really doing anything to stray from that supposedly “safe” path. Because that’s pretty much what I’ve done with my life so far. So I appreciated and understood that side of Amber’s personality. And I could totally understand her desire to want to go on an adventure, to see what the world had to offer. So it didn’t take long for me to connect to Amber and her story. And as much I would love to go off on a trip around the world the way Amber does, I would like to hope I wouldn’t end up almost killed in a bombing like she did. Or if that were the case, maybe there would be my own River on hand to save me. Because I wouldn’t mind having my own River, or even stealing this River from Amber and keeping him for myself, because, well, yeah. River was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but he was doing the best he could to do the right thing by his family and the people he cared about and that often put him in difficult situations. But I admired his loyalty, even if sometimes it led to him making some questionable decisions. It all worked out though, but there were still some close calls. But none of that stopped me from absolutely loving River. Also, Ivy was awesome. I loved seeing so much of her in Chasing River and it made me that much more excited about reading her story in Surviving Ice.

Chasing River was exactly what I had hoped it would be. This story was packed with intrigue, drama and romance, just the way I liked it. K.A. Tucker absolutely delivered with this story and I can’t wait to see what she does next with Surviving Ice. 

Giveaway!

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Cover Reveal - Surviving Ice by K.A. Tucker

 

We are absolutely thrilled to bring you the Cover Reveal for K.A. Tucker’s SURVIVING ICE!! SURVIVING ICE is a New Adult Romantic Suspense novel, and the fourth novel in K.A. Tucker’s Burying Water Series, published by Atria books, an Imprint of Simon & Schuster. SURVIVING ICE is set to be released October 13, 2015!

About Surviving Ice

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Ivy Lee, a talented tattoo artist who spent the early part of her twenties on the move, is looking for a place to call home. She thinks she might have finally found it working in her uncle’s tattoo shop in San Francisco. But all that changes when a robbery turns deadly, compelling her to pack up her things yet again.

When they need the best, they call him. That’s why Sebastian Riker is back in California, cleaning up the mess made after a tattoo shop owner with a penchant for blackmail got himself shot. But it’s impossible to get the answers he needs from a dead body, leaving him to look elsewhere. Namely, to the twenty-something-year-old niece who believes this was a random attack. Who needs to keep believing that until Sebastian finds what he’s searching for.

Ivy has one foot out of San Francisco when a chance encounter with a stranger stalls her departure. She’s always been drawn to intense men, so it’s not wonder that she now finds a reason to stay after all, quickly intoxicated by his dark smile, his intimidating strength, and his quiet control.

That is, until Ivy discovers that their encounter was no accident—and that their attraction could be her undoing.

Pre-Order SURVIVING ICE today!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | IndieBound | Apple | Blio | Google | Kobo

And don’t forget BURYING WATER, BECOMING RAIN and CHASING RIVER, the first three books in this thrilling series…

About BURYING WATER

The top-selling, beloved indie author of Ten Tiny Breaths returns with a new romance about a young woman who loses her memory—and the man who knows that the only way to protect her is to stay away.

Left for dead in the fields of rural Oregon, a young woman defies all odds and survives—but she awakens with no idea who she is, or what happened to her. Refusing to answer to “Jane Doe” for another day, the woman renames herself “Water” for the tiny, hidden marking on her body—the only clue to her past. Taken in by old Ginny Fitzgerald, a crotchety but kind lady living on a nearby horse farm, Water slowly begins building a new life. But as she attempts to piece together the fleeting slivers of her memory, more questions emerge: Who is the next-door neighbor, quietly toiling under the hood of his Barracuda? Why won’t Ginny let him step foot on her property? And why does Water feel she recognizes him?

Twenty-four-year-old Jesse Welles doesn’t know how long it will be before Water gets her memory back. For her sake, Jesse hopes the answer is never. he knows that she’ll stay so much safer—and happier—that way. And that’s why, as hard as it is, he needs to keep his distance. Because getting too close could flood her with realities better left buried.

The trouble is, water always seems to find its way to the surface.

Get your copy of BURYING WATER now!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | IndieBound | Apple | Blio | Google | Kobo

About BECOMING RAIN

Luke Boone doesn’t know exactly what his uncle Rust is involved in but he wants in on it—the cars, the money, the women. And it looks like he’s finally getting his wish. When Rust hands him the managerial keys to the garage, they come with a second set—one that opens up the door to tons of cash and opportunity. Though it’s not exactly legal, Luke’s never been one to worry about that sort of thing. Especially when it puts him behind the wheel of a Porsche 911 and onto the radar of gorgeous socialite named Rain.

Clara Bertelli is at the top of her game—at only twenty-six years old, she’s one of the most successful undercover officers int he Washington, DC, major crime unit, and she’s just been handed a case that could catapult her career and expose one of the West Coast’s most notorious car theft rings. But, in order to do it, she’ll need to go deep undercover as Rain Martines. Her target? The twenty-four-year-old nephew of a key player who appears ready to follow in his uncle’s footsteps.

As Clara drifts deeper into the luxurious lifestyle of Rain, and further into the arms of her very attractive and charming target, the lines between right and wrong start to blur, making her wonder if she’ll be able to leave it all behind. Or if she’ll even want to.

Get BECOMING RAIN now!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | IndieBound | Apple | Blio | Books-a-Million | Google

About CHASING RIVER

Armed with two years’ worth of savings and the need to experience life outside the bubble of her Oregon small town, twenty-five-years-old Amber Welles is prepared for anything. Except drying in Dublin. Had it not been for the bravery of a stranger, she might have. But he takes off before she has the chance to offer her gratitude.

Twenty-four-year-old River Delaney is rattled. No one was supposed to get hurt. But then that American tourist showed up. He couldn’t let her die, but he also couldn’t risk being identified at the scene—so, he ran. Back to his everyday life of running his family’s pub. Only, everyday life is getting more and more complicated, thanks to his brother, Aengus, and his criminal associations. When the American girl tracks River down, he quickly realizes how much he likes her, hoe wrong she is for him. And how dangerous it is to have her around. Chasing her off would be the smart move.

Maybe it’s because he saved her life, or maybe it’s because he’s completely different from everything she’s left behind, but Amber finds herself chasing after River Delaney. Amber isn’t the kind of girl to chase after anyone.

And River isn’t the kind of guy she’d want to catch.

Pre-order CHASING RIVER today!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | IndieBound | Apple | Blio | Google | Kobo

About K.A. Tucker

Born in small-town Ontario, Kathleen published her first book at the age of six with the help of her elementary school librarian and a box of crayons. She is a voracious reader and the farthest thing from a genre-snob, loving everything from High Fantasy to Chick Lit. Kathleen currently resides in a quaint small town outside of Toronto with her husband, two beautiful girls, and an exhausting brood of four-legged creatures.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Novel Goodreads | Author Goodreads | YouTube | Pinterest | Instagram

Cover Reveal - Chasing River by K.A. Tucker

We have been dying to share this Cover Reveal for K.A. Tucker's CHASING RIVER with you all! CHASING RIVER is a New Adult Romantic Suspense novel, and the third novel in K.A. Tucker’s Burying Water Series, published by Atria books, an Imprint of Simon & Schuster. CHASING RIVER is set to be released July 7, 2015! If you haven't had a chance to check out this series yet now is the time!

To celebrate, BURYING WATER, with an excerpt of CHASING RIVER, is just $1.99 for the month of April!!
Grab BURYING WATER and BECOMING RAIN while you wait for CHASING RIVER!

About Chasing River

Add CHASING RIVER on Goodreads!

Armed with two years’ worth of savings and the need to experience life outside the bubble of her Oregon small town, twenty-five-year-old Amber Welles is prepared for anything. Except dying in Dublin. Had it not been for the bravery of a stranger, she might have. But he takes off before she has the chance to offer her gratitude.

Twenty-four-year-old River Delaney is rattled. No one was supposed to get hurt. But then that American tourist showed up. He couldn’t let her die, but he also couldn’t risk being identified at the scene—so, he ran. Back to his everyday life of running his family’s pub. Only, everyday life is getting more and more complicated, thanks to his brother, Aengus, and his criminal associations. When the American girl tracks River down, he quickly realizes how much he likes her, how wrong she is for him. And how dangerous it is to have her around. Chasing her off would be the smart move.

Maybe it’s because he saved her life, or maybe it’s because he’s completely different from everything she’s left behind, but Amber finds herself chasing after River Delaney. Amber isn’t the kind of girl to chase after anyone.

And River isn’t the kind of guy she’s want to catch.

Pre-Order CHASING RIVER today!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo | IndieBound | Books-a-Million

And don’t forget BURYING WATER and BECOMING RAIN, the first two books in this thrilling series…

About BURYING WATER

The top-selling, beloved indie author of Ten Tiny Breaths returns with a new romance about a young woman who loses her memory—and the man who knows that the only way to protect her is to stay away.

Left for dead in the field of rural Oregon, a young woman defies all odds and survives—but she awakens with no idea who she is, or what happened to her. Refusing to answer to “Jane Doe” for another day, the woman renames herself “Water” for the tiny, hidden marking on her body—the only clue to her past. Taken in by old Ginny Fitzgerald, a crochet but kind lady living on a nearby horse farm, Water slowly begins building a new life. But as she attempts to piece together the fleeting slivers of her memory, more questions emerge: Who is the next-door neighbor, quietly toiling under the hood of his Barracuda? Why won’t Ginny let him step foot on her property? And why does Water feel she recognizes him?

Twenty-four-year-old Jesse Welles doesn’t know how long it will be before Water gets her memory back. For her sake, Jesse hopes the answer is never. He knows that she’ll stay so much safer—and happier—that way. And that’s why, as hard as it is, he needs to keep his distance. Because getting too close could flood her with realities better left buried.

The trouble is, water always seems to find its way to the surface.

BURYING WATER is just $1.99 for the month of April!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo | IndieBound

About BECOMING RAIN

Luke Boone doesn’t know exactly what his uncle Rust is involved in but he wants in on it—the cars, the money, the women. And it looks like he’s finally getting his wish. When Rust hands him the managerial keys to the garage, they come with a second set—one that opens up the door to tons of cash and opportunity. Though it’s not exactly legal, Luke’s never been one to worry about that sort of thing. Especially when it puts him behind the wheel of a Porsche 911 and onto the radar of a gorgeous socialite named Rain.

Clara Bertelli is at the top of her game—at only twenty-six years old, she’s one of the most successful undercover officers in the Washington, DC major crime unity, and she’s just been handed a case that could catapult her career and expose one of the West Coast’s most notorious cart theft rings. But, in order to do it, she’ll need to go deep undercover as Rain Martines. Her target? The twenty-four-year-old nephew of a key player who appears ready to follow in his uncle’s footsteps.

As Clara drifts deeper into the luxurious lifestyle of Rain, and further into the arms of her very attractive and charming target, the lines between right and wrong start to blur, making her wonder if she’ll be able to leave it all behind. Or if she’ll even want to. 

Get your copy of BECOMING RAIN today!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | IndieBound | Apple | Blio | Books-a-Million | Google

About K.A. Tucker

Born in small-town Ontario, Kathleen published her first book at the age of six with the help of her elementary school librarian and a box of crayons. She is a voracious reader and the farthest thing from a genre-snob, loving everything from High Fantasy to Chick Lit. Kathleen currently resides in a quaint small town outside of Toronto with her husband, two beautiful girls, and an exhausting brood of four-legged creatures.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Novel Goodreads | Author Goodreads | YouTube | Pinterest | Instagram

Blog Tour - The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things by Ann Aguirre + Excerpt & Giveaway!

Title: The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things

Author: Ann Aguirre

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Release Date: April 7, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo / B&N

Sage Czinski is trying really hard to be perfect. If she manages it, people won’t peer beyond the surface, or ask hard questions about her past. She’s learned to substitute causes for relationships, and it’s working just fine…until Shane Cavendish strolls into her math class. He’s a little antisocial, a lot beautiful, and everything she never knew she always wanted. 

Shane Cavendish just wants to be left alone to play guitar and work on his music. He’s got heartbreak and loneliness in his rearview mirror, and this new school represents his last chance. He doesn’t expect to be happy; he only wants to graduate and move on. He never counted on a girl like Sage.

But love doesn’t mend all broken things, and sometimes life has to fall apart before it can be put back together again…

Until I picked up The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things, I had only read Ann Aguirre’s New Adult titles. Her YA books just hadn’t appealed to me until now. But The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things sounded like it had the potential to be a total “me” book. And I am more than happy to report that I was absolutely right. 

Sage has spent the last three years trying to be as perfect as possible. She’s afraid that if she’s anything less, her aunt will send her back to state care and she’ll lose everything she’s worked so hard for. Being perfect also means people won’t look at her too closely, they won’t figure out that she has a past she wants to keep hidden. And Sage would have kept it up right until she graduated if Shane Cavendish hadn’t walked into her math class. Shane isn’t like the other boys at school and Sage immediately feels drawn to him. But Shane isn’t interested in a relationship. He just wants to keep his head down and play guitar. He just needs to keep it together until graduation. His expectations are low and he never expected Sage. Soon, Sage and Shane will learn that keeping it together and being perfect isn’t all that matters, and that sometimes imperfections are the best thing that can happen.

As I’ve already mentioned, until recently I had only read Ann Aguirre New Adult books and I really enjoyed them. But as far as her YA was concerned, I just wasn’t interested. The stories didn’t sound like something I would enjoy, and that was that. But then I heard that she was writing a YA contemporary story and it immediately got added to my TBR. And with good reason. When I found out more about The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things, it sounded like a book that had the potential to be a total “Emilie book.” So I started reading. And at first I started rethinking my assumptions. But then I got completely caught up in the story. I couldn’t put the book down. The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things was addicting, plain and simple. The romance was just how I like it. It put a smile on my face and warmed my heart, but it also wasn’t always warm and fuzzy. But that was just fine with me because it fit with the characters and what I knew about them. And really, as much as I loved the story and the romance, Sage and Shane were the real reason I loved this book as much as I did.

Sage confused me a little at first. And kind of annoyed me to be honest. But that’s because I didn’t know her and her whole story yet. The more I read, the more I started to understand her, to realize that the Sage she presented to the world wasn’t the real Sage, but instead the one she thought she needed to be. So once I started seeing who the real Sage was, I quickly changed my mind about her. She was flawed and I loved that about her. And I loved that in Shane she found someone who was just as flawed as her and wanted her and all her flaws. I won’t lie, I was totally expecting Shane to be your typical YA brooding bad boy. That’s the feeling I got when I read the book’s description. But that wasn’t who Shane was and I can’t say I’m exactly disappointed by that. I loved that Shane was actually a nice guy disguised as a bad boy. It made peeling back the layers of his personality that much more interesting. And it made me want to root for him and Sage so badly. Because they both deserved someone who would accept them, flaws and all, and would love them for it.

It should go without saying that I loved Ann Aguirre’s The Queen of Bright and Shiny Thing. This story ended up being so much more than I thought it was going to be. And from now on, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for more contemporary stories from Ann Aguirre. Because I will read them all.

Excerpt

The sophomores can’t hear us down the table, as it’s loud in here, but I pitch my voice low just in case. “Basically, Ryan was never my boyfriend. He just let people think we were together. Because I’m an idiot, I didn’t guess why.” Those last words come out bitter.

“So why did he do that?” I head all kinds of nuances in his voice, questions, doubts.

Here’s where it gets tricky. “It’s complicated. He lied to me, though, and that’s what I can’t just get over. Maybe someday we’ll be friends again, but for now…” I shrug.

“Friends?” He repeats.

“Yeah. Friends.”

“So he didn’t break your heart.” He sounds relieved.

“Did you want him to?”

“I was afraid he had. That maybe you were talking to me…” His eyes cut away from mine.

“Because I was trying to make Ryan jealous? Not my style.”

I want to say, OMG, Shane, you think I’m a dude magnet? I’ve been Ryan’s sidekick, his not-girlfriend so long, that I have no idea what this or what I’m doing. But I love it.

“I’m not looking for drama,” Shane tells me.

I understand the reason for the pronouncement immediately. Ryan’s watching us from across the cafeteria, but he won’t be shoving Shane into any doorjambs or cornering him in the boys toilet. In some ways, his silent, wounded eyes are worse. I can tell he feels horrible and that he misses me, but what am I supposed to do? After what I’ve learned, I don’t want to be his girlfriend, which is what he was shooting for when he made his big confession. I feel like I hardly know the guy, and that hurts most of all.

“There won’t be any.”

“I just…I can’t afford any trouble,” he says softly, not looking at me. “Any more, and I’m off to juvie until I’m eighteen.”

Possibly he thinks this will scare me off. But I have my dark side, too. The staff at the group home pulled me off an emotional ledge years ago, so I know what it’s like to feel completely out of control, doing stuff you know deep down is a terrible idea and yet you cannot stop. I study the rigid line of his shoulders. “Did you put that post-it on my locker?” I ask.

He’s dead silent, but his eyes answer where his lips do not. I see the yes written in aquamarine.

In this moment, I want to kiss him so bad it hurts.

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