Release Tour - Safe Bet by Monica Murphy

Title: Safe Bet (The Rules #4)

Author: Monica Murphy

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: January 10, 2017

Source: ARC from Publicist

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / iBooks

Sydney Walker’s new job is perfect. As the live-in nanny to the most famous quarterback in the NFL and his beautiful wife, she couldn’t have it any better. Their kids are adorable. Her bosses are more than generous. Plus, there are hot football players at the house all the time. Life can’t get much better than this. 

Until her life turns into an absolute nightmare .The media is abuzz with rumors that she and her boss Drew Callahan are having a torrid affair. Everyone knows the truth—except the public. So Drew’s wife Fable comes up with the perfect idea.

She creates a fake relationship between Sydney and one of the rookie players on Drew’s team. Wade Knox is forever indebted to Drew and Fable and readily agrees to the set up. Pretending to be in a romantic relationship with the hot nanny for a week—how hard can it be?

Crazy how it only takes one week for two people to fall head over heals in love…

(This mash-up new adult romance features characters from both the One Week Girlfriend series and The Rules series.)

Unlike some, I didn't start reading Monica Murphy's books until her Rules series was partially underway. I'd seen her name floating around, but had never picked up any of her books. But once I started on that series I was hooked. So much so that I decided to go back and read some of her older books while I was waiting for the third book in the series to release. That's how I started reading the One Week Girlfriend series. And I got just as hooked on that series as I did on The Rules. So those two series coming together in Safe Bet? I was all over that.

And guys? Safe Bet was awesome. It was the first book I read in 2017 and it was an absolutely fantastic way to kick off the year. This story was just good old fashioned fun with zero angst. Don't get me wrong, I love my angsty characters and my angsty stories, but sometimes it's just nice to read a story where everything works out and everyone comes out happy with no new scars, physical or otherwise. I loved reading Sydney and Wade's story and the way it threw back to threw back to One Week Girlfriend, what with the fake relationship that turns into something real. I mean, that trope is a fun one for a reason and personally I love seeing two people realize that what they thought was just pretend is actually a whole lot more real than they think it is. Obviously I knew right from the start that Sydney and Wade would end up in a real relationship (it's a romance, so duh), but that didn't stop me from really loving getting to watch it all happen.

The other part of this story I loved? Getting a lot of Drew and Fable again. I loved getting to read their original stories in One Week Girlfriend and Second Chance Boyfriend, and then getting glimpses of them again in Four Years Later (which I finally read right before reading Safe Bet). It was awesome to see that they were still together and that they were still the same people, just grown up. And it was also awesome to get to see some of the other characters from both the One Week Girlfriend series and the Rules series. And I loved that because I'm that person who always wants to check in on characters, just to make sure that they're still happy and together and okay. I'm just curious like that (or nosy, I guess, depending on how you look at it).

If you've read either Monica Murphy's One Week Girlfriend series or her Rules series (or both!) then you'll want to check out Safe Bet, It's a fun story that lets you peak in on characters you love all while giving you a new angst-free romance that's sure to make you feel all warm and fuzzy. 

Blog Tour - More Than Friends by Monica Murphy

Title: More Than Friends (Friends #2)

Author: Monica Murphy

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: November 14, 2016

Source: ARC from Publicist

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Kobo

He’s not perfect, but he’s all I want…

I’m your average girl at your average high school, trying to figure out my place in life. After catching my now ex-boyfriend messing around with my now ex-best friend, I’ve made some big changes. No more band, no more backstabbing friends and no more boring old life. Now I have new friends, a new job and new interests.

But there’s a certain someone who’s interested in me, and i don’t get it. Jordan Tuttle could have anyone he wants. He’s the most popular boy in school. Rich, gorgeous, smart and the star quarterback, he’s perfect. Yet he acts like he wants no one else but…me.

So despite my fears and about, I let him get close. Probably too close. I discover that he’s not so perfect after all, but it doesn’t matter. I’m falling for him, even though he runs so hot and cold. I know someday he’s going to break my heart.

And I’m going to let him.

Though Monica Murphy is known for her romance and New Adult titles, I've been enjoying her recent foray into young adult romance. So far, I've found myself enjoying all the YA she's written and it was no different with her latest, More Than Friends.

I'm not going to lie, the first book in Monica Murphy's Friends series, Just Friends, left me wanting in some ways. But I was still curious about what would be coming next, especially when it came to some of the secondary characters. With More Than Friends I got to know two of those characters better, Amanda and Jordan, and I loved having that chance. I'll admit that at first, I was getting a little frustrated with their back and froth will-they-won't-they because I could clearly see they liked each other and wanted to be together even though they each had their reservations about it. But when they finally decided to take that plunge, I was happy they did because Amanda and Jordan just fit. I don't really know how to say other than they just made sense together even when they didn't. (Could I possibly be making any less sense right now?) 

Much like with the first book, More Than Friends left me curious about many of the secondary characters. Even after two books, I feel like I still have so many questions about Olivia and Ryan and their relationship and I would love to get a second chance to read a book all about them. The other person I still really want to know more about is Em, Olivia's former best friend. Reading Just Friends, I feel like I got a really biased view of her because the story was told from Olivia's perspective. In More Than Friends, I kept getting these little glimpses of her that made me wish I could get more Em, to finally be able to understand everything that is going on with her. So I'll just be over here keeping my fingers crossed that there will be a third book in this series that will be all about Em.

If you like YA and you like Monica Murphy's romance, then I strongly recommend you check out her YA titles. They're different from what she's written before, but at their core they're still great stories with the same kind of romance you've come to expect from this author. And I can't wait to read more.

Blog Tour - Just Friends by Monica Murphy

Title: Just Friends (Friends #1)
Author: Monica Murphy
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: September 13, 2016
Source: ARC from Publicist
Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

It’s the end of summer. Just before I start senior year with my two best friends in the whole world. Dustin and Emily are everything to me. We’ve been inseparable since middle school, and when we’re together, nothing can go wrong.

But things aren’t always what they seem. Em’s turned into a drunken mess who parties too much. Dustin and I have hooked up a few times—and now he’s ready to take our relationship to the next level. Yet I’m not sure I want things to change. I’m scared if I take it any further with Dustin, our friendship will be ruined forever. Then there’s Ryan. The new guy. He’s hot. He flirts way too much. And Em has totally set her sights on him.

So when my best friend betrays me in the worst possible way, guess who’s there to help me pick up the pieces of my broken heart? Ryan. But he’s so confusing. Annoying. Sweet. Sexy. I want to trust him, yet he makes it so hard. What I really want is for everything to go back to the way it was before. 

Before I found out that best friends make the worst kind of enemies.

Though I've only been reading her books for a year (and I still have a lot of catching up to do), Monica Murphy has quickly become one of my go-to authors. Every time I hear she has a new book coming out, it automatically gets added to my TBR. Though her latest, Just Friends, left me wanting in some ways it was still a story I enjoyed reading.

When I first heard about Just Friends over the summer, I was seriously intrigued. I'm all about friendship stories, especially ones where the friendships don't seem to be all that healthy. So if the description was anything to go by, that's exactly what Just Friends was going to be. And it most definitely was. I can't quite remember the last time I read about a friendship as dysfunctional as the one between Liv, Em and Dustin. In fact, I would actually go so far as to say that Liv and Em's friendship was downright toxic. What I couldn't quite figure out was the why. For so much of the book I wished I could be reading part of the story from Em's perspective as opposed to just Liv's because I wanted to know why she was acting the way she was and doing the things she did. I wanted to believe there was more going on with her than her just being a "mean girl" for the sake of it. So much of Just Friends revolved around what was going on between Em and Liv and I just wish I could have gotten deeper into what that was...fingers crossed that gets explored in the sequel. Em and Liv's friendship aside, I loved seeing all the different relationship dynamics at play in the book, even if sometimes some of those relationships (or the motivations behind them) had me scratching my head a little. I'll be curious to see how everything plays out in the sequel because when Just Friends ended everything was pretty much all up in the air and I was left with a lot more questions than I got answers.

Though it didn't quite meet all my expectations, I still really enjoyed reading Monica Murphy's Just Friends and I look forward to reading the sequel. Mostly I just want answers to all the questions 

Mini Reviews - Torch & Daring the Bad Boy

Title: Torch (Wildwood #3)

Author: Karen Erickson

Publisher: Avon Impulse

Release Date: August 16, 2016

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

Tate Warren has never met a woman he couldn’t charm—until now.

Wren Gallagher won’t give him the time of day and it’s making him crazy.

But he won’t give up without a fight…because there’s one thing he knows for sure:

Enemies make the best lovers.

Most women swoon over Tate’s devilish grin and firefighter uniform. But Wren couldn’t be less impressed by his good looks and flirtatious banter—in fact, she seems to downright despise him. She thinks he’s a player, but his attraction to her is no game. Wren is unlike anyone he’s ever known and he isn’t about to let the feisty, gorgeous woman slip through his fingers.

Wooing Wren would be so much easier if she didn’t hate him…

Or does she?

I've really enjoyed reading Karen Erickson's Wildwood series over the last few months and I was definitely excited to read about Wren and Tate in Torch. Both were characters I'd been dying to find out more about while reading the previous books and I was happy to finally get my fill of them. Though if I'm being completely honest, I wouldn't have minded all that much of Torch had been twice as long if only so I could have spent more time with Tate and Wren. I just loved the dynamic between the two of them - the way they seemed to know just how to push the other's buttons and took pleasure in doing so. But at the same time, I just knew that the reason they got under each other's skin so much was because they were clearly meant to be together. And though I liked them before, I loved them when they finally gave in to what was there. Tate was exactly what Wren needed with everything going on, and Wren was great at calling Tate out on his crap which just worked out perfectly for them. All in all, Torch was a great story, one that I really enjoyed reading. My only hope is that there are more Wildwood books to come because I NEED to know who is behind all of those fires. That, and I wouldn't mind getting to see more of all these couples I've gotten to know in the series so far. And maybe more about Holden, the youngest of the Gallagher sibling since I feel like I've only just gotten glimpses of him so far. Okay, so I guess I have more than one hope where this series is concerned, but that's just because the stories are so great. 

Title: Daring the Bad Boy

Author: Monica Murphy

Publisher: Entangled CRUSH

Release Date: August 22, 2016

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

Truth or Dare was never this much fun…

Annie McFarland is sick of being a shy nobody. A session at summer camp seems like the perfect opportunity to reinvent herself—gain some confidence, kiss a boy, be whoever she wants to be. A few days in, she’s already set her sights on über-hottie Kyle. Too bad her fear of water keeps her away from the lake, where Kyle is always hanging out.

Jacob Fazio is at Camp Pine Ridge after one too many screw-ups. Junior counseling seems like punishment enough, but the rigid no-fraternizing-with-campers rules harsh his chill. When a night of Truth or Dare gets him roped into teaching Annie how to swim, she begs him to also teach her how to snag Kyle.

Late-night swim-sessions turn into late-night kissing sessions…but there’s more on the line than just their hearts. If they get caught, Jake’s headed straight to juvie, but Annie’s more than ready to dare him to reveal the truth.

Until Daring the Bad Boy all the Monica Murphy books I had read were either new adult or straight up contemporary romance. But her latest is YA and has me wishing that she would write all the contemporary YA books. Because Daring the Bad Boy? It was absolutely awesome. For real, I can’t remember the last time I smiled so much while reading a book. Because that’s totally what happened here. Sure, Daring the Bad Boy dealt with some more serious topics, but at its core it was a sweet summer-time romance set at a summer camp. And what’s not to love about that? Besides the setting and premise (which I am a total sucker for), Daring the Bad Boy also featured characters that charmed me right from the beginning of the story. Annie had this endearing quality about her and I couldn’t help but admire her for wanting to be brave and conquer her fears no matter how much those fears terrified her. Any time she did something brave, I wanted to cheer for her, much like Jake did. And Jake wasn’t the bad boy everyone, including himself, made him out to be. I loved seeing him gradually come to realize that he didn’t have to act the way he was acting and he could just be himself (well, after some not-so-easy conversations with some of the people in his life). Through it all, seeing Annie and Jake come together over the course of the story is what made me love Daring the Bad Boy as much as I did. Because sometimes, all you really want is for the summer romance to work out in the end. 

Never Let You Go by Monica Murphy

Title: Never Let You Go (Never Tear Us Apart #2)

Author: Monica Murphy

Publisher: Bantam

Release Date: May 3, 2016

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Perfect for readers of Colleen Hoover, Jay Crowonver, and K.A. Tucker, the second novel in this darkly sexy contemporary series from bestselling author Monica Murphy wraps up an emotionally powerful two-part tale of forbidden love.

The truth hurts, they say—and my pain cuts deep. While I was falling for Ethan, he was deceiving me the entire time. He help a huge secret, protected by his lies. When I discovered what he was hiding, the truth shook my world, threatening to ruin us forever. Ruin me. But I soon realized that what we share can’t be destroyed.

The connection between us is too strong. It always has been. I can’t deny him any longer. And I can’t deny my truth: I’m in love with Ethan.

I don’t want to let him go.

While we’re trying our best to make this relationship work, other forces are fighting against us. My family, who wants to keep me safe. The media obsessed with my tragic past. The public that feeds off of it. Even Ethan’s father—the man who nearly destroyed me all those years ago. He’s doing his best to finish the job.

Despite my love for Ethan, the doubts creep in, clouding my mind. Is he worth the pain? Will our love survive, or will we have no choice but to end it—end us—once and for all?

I read Monica Murphy’s Never Tear Us Apart earlier this year and it left me completely desperate to read the sequel. Much like with the first book, Never Let You Go was dark and at times the romance was twisted, but through it all it never stopped feeling real.

Now that she knows the truth about Ethan and his connection to her past, Katie isn’t sure she can trust him anymore. But Ethan is also the only person who will ever come close to understanding what she went through all those years ago during the worse days of her life. And though she wants to hate him, Katie also misses having Ethan in her life. Katie might be willing to forgive Ethan for his deception and make their relationship work, but it sometimes feel like the whole world is working against them. They’ll have to fight to be together, and just when they think they have a shot at their happy ending, their past will come back to haunt them one more time.

After reading Monica Murphy’s Never Tear Us Apart earlier this year and feeling completely raw and conflicted about everything I was feeling about the story and its characters. Oh, and I needed to read Never Let You Go as soon as possible. The only problem with that was that at the time, Never Let You Go wasn’t available. But then a couple of weeks ago it landed on my Kindle and I dropped pretty much everything to devour it. And when I say devour, I mean devour. I struggled to put my Kindle down the entire time I was reading. And that’s because the story was just that good. Where Never Tear Us Apart had me constantly back and forth about how I felt about the romance, with Never Let You Go, I was on-board right from page one. After seeing Ethan/Will and Katie struggle through their feelings for each other and what having a relationship with one another meant, I understood, like they did, that there was no one better suited for them than each other. Much like with the first book, this story was emotional roller-coaster ride that never really let up. But that’s what made the story so fantastic and engaging. 

I loved seeing how different Katie was in Never Let You Go compared to how she was in Never Tear Us Apart. Where in the first book she was just surviving, barely venturing out into the world, in this second book she really came into her own. She wasn’t afraid to say what she thought and do what she wanted, even when it cost her. She was coming to terms with her past and the fact that she didn’t have to let it define her future, despite what everyone around her was telling her. I loved seeing Katie become that strong person I knew she was based on everything she had gone through. As much as Katie grew over the course of these two books, I feel like that’s even more true for Ethan. Never Let You Go felt like it was very much about him coming to terms who he is and not let himself be defined by his father’s actions. That process of accepting himself was reflected, in a way, in the the chapter titles and the way he went from being Ethan to accepting that he was also Will. And I loved the by accepting who they were, horrifying past and all, they were able to come together and build something strong. 

Monica Murphy’s Never Let You Go beautifully concluded the story that began in Never Tear Us Apart. Though it wasn’t always easy to read and broken my heart on more than one occasion, it was the conclusion that Katie and Will deserved.

Never Tear Us Apart by Monica Murphy

Title: Never Tear Us Apart

Author: Monica Murphy 

Publisher: Bantam

Release Date: January 5, 2016

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Perfect for readers of Colleen Hoover, Jay Crownover, and K.A. Tucker, the first novel in this darkly sexy contemporary series from bestselling author Monica Murphy kicks off an emotionally powerful two-part tale of forbidden love.

Crazy how eight years can disappear in an instant. One look at Katie Watts, and I’m a fifteen-year-old again—the one who risked everything to save a terrified girl from her twisted kidnapper. She’s a grown-p now—beautiful, quiet, composed—and telling her story to the world. A story that involves me in more ways than you can imagine. She used to call me her guardian angel. Sure, I risked my life, but she was worth dying for.

I need to make contact with her. Just to ensure that she’s safe.

Somehow we reconnect. we become friends…but I want more. I want to make her mine. And she wants me too. Does she know who I am? Has she figured me out? Not yet. But she will. In the meantime, I need to make sure that whatever hold that animal had on her is gone.

So, yeah, I’m stealing these moments with her. Savoring them. Knowing, dreading, that she’ll soon find out who I really am. And everything will fall apart. All because of that twisted, perverted monster sitting on death row. Her kidnapper. A convicted serial killer. 

My father.

I love my fun and happy romance stories. In fact, they tend to be my favourite. But sometimes, I like it when things are darker, when I have complicated feelings about the romance. And that’s exactly what happened with Monica Murphy’s Never Tear Us Apart.

For the past eight years Katherine Watts has been trying to move on with her life. She believes doing this TV interview about her kidnapping, and her rescue by her kidnapper’s son, eight years earlier is going to be the first step to putting her past behind her. But after the interview, Katherine is still uncomfortable going out in public, she still prefers staying home. And she is still afraid of men. Except when she meets Ethan after he chases away purse thieves. With Ethan, Katherine fills instantly safe. She can’t explain it, but she knows she wants to spend time with him. And Katherine isn’t the only one to feel that connection. Ethan knows exactly who Katherine is. He’s known her for years. And though he knows exactly who she is, Katherine doesn’t recognize him. Ethan knows he needs to tell Katherine the truth, but telling Katherine the truth will only hurt her. And even after all these years, the last thing he wants to do is hurt her.

In the past year, I’ve read a lot of Monica Murphy’s books. If I’m counting and remembering things right, I think I’ve read about six. And when I say in the past year, it’s actually more like the past 8 months or so. So I guess you could say that I like her books. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t even need to know what one of her books is about, I just want to read it based on the fact that Monica Murphy wrote it. Which brings me to Never Tear Us Apart. I thought I knew what it was about. But I was wrong. It wasn’t until I picked up the book after having it for a couple weeks that I realized how dark and potentially twisted it was going to be. Once I realized that, Never Tear Us Apart pretty much jumped to the top of my TBR. And the story was as dark and twisted as the description had led me to believe it would be. I mean, this is the story of a girl who was abducted and raped when she was 12 before being saved by her abductor’s son, and now 8 years later, she reconnects with said son but doesn’t recognize him. Except that he knows exactly who she is. Like I said, twisted. And dark. But oh so good. It was a different kind of story and a different kind of romance, but it worked. And I need the sequel because I have to know how this will all come together.

With Never Tear Us Apart, you kind of get four characters for the price of two. What I mean by that is that you get Katie in the past and Katie in the present, and the same goes for Ethan. It was interesting to see the ways they had changed over time, to see the ways they had been affected by the same event. And to see the way that they are still thinking about what happened, about each other even though, at the start of the story, they don’t know what happened to the other in the years since the trial. And then there was the romance. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so conflicted about a romance. And about my feelings about said romance. To say it’s complicated is putting it mildly. I really like the idea of Ethan and Katie together, especially when I’m reading things from Katie’s perspective. It was like she came alive again when she was around Ethan, she was able to be herself and she was comfortable around him. And I wanted that for Katie, more than anything. But then the story would switch over to Ethan’s perspective and then I wasn’t so sure about their relationship anymore. I wanted them to be together but Etna needed to man up and come clean and tell her who he really was. But then I kind of also understood why he wasn’t telling her and he felt horrible for not telling her. And did I mention that I had complicated feelings about this romance and that I was conflicted about my own feelings? 

What does it say about me that I loved how dark and twisted Monica Murphy’s Never Tear Us Apart was? Because I truly did. Despite all my complicated feelings, I loved this story and I desperately need to know what’s going to happen in Never Let You Go. 

Slow Play by Monica Murphy

Title: Slow Play (The Rules #3)

Author: Monica Murphy

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: October 13, 2015

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

Newly broke girl Alexandria Asher just wants to live a normal life. After her parents are sent to prison on embezzlement charges, she enrolls in college under her mother’s maiden name and tries her best to pretend she’s someone else.

Tristan Prescott is everything Alex is trying to avoid. A seemingly egotistical, lazy, rich jerk, she dumps her beer on his head when he comes on to her one night at a party. This only spurs Tristan into action. He loves nothing more than a challenge And the beautiful Alex is exactly the type of challenge that intrigues him.

Despite her reluctance, Alex finds herself quickly involved with Tristan. Underneath that playboy exterior is a good guy, a sweet and sexy guy who she is undoubtedly falling for. What they both don’t realize is the actions of Alex’s parents the reason for so much tragedy in Tristan’s family. And when Tristan discovers who Alex and her family really is, can he forgive and forget?

In the past few months, Monica Murphy has quickly become an auto-buy author for me. I’ve loved everything of hers that I’ve read and I’m always excited to read more. So it should come as no surprise that I dropped everything to read Slow Play on the day it came out. And I don’t regret that decision one bit.

After everything that happened with her parents, all Alexandria Asher wants is to go to college and have a normal life. But going from having everything to almost nothing is hard. But she’s doing it. And it would be going fine if it weren’t for Tristan Prescott, the campus manwhore and egotistical asshole. Alex doesn’t want anything to do with Tristan, but Tristan seems determined to get to Alex. Tristan enjoys the challenge of trying to get Alexandria into his bed. Girls don’t say no to him and her constant rejections just spur him on. Neither one of them was looking for a relationship. But the more they try to resist the attraction between them, the more they feel drawn together. But they post have things in their pasts they don’t want to talk about. When they finally bring it all into the open, Alex and Tristan realize they have a lot more in common than they ever thought. And that might just be what tears them apart. 

I am forever thankful for the Locker Room Facebook group (if you love sports romance, CHECK IT OUT) because it has allowed me to discover so many awesome authors and books. And that includes Monica Murphy. Before joining that group, I hadn’t really heard of her or her books. Which makes me very sad because, of the ones I’ve read, I’ve come to love her books and her writing. I mean, I devoured the first two books in The Rules series. I was really excited at the prospect of reading Slow Play, the final book in the series. From the moment I woke up on the day it released, I pretty much did nothing but read Slow Play until there was nothing left to read. And being finished made me sad because guys, I loved this book SO MUCH. Based on what I knew of Tristan, one of the two main characters, I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this story. But I really shouldn’t have worried because it was the perfect story for him and Alex and I loved it. And if you like slow burn romance, than you absolutely NEED to pick up Slow Play. I mean, the title kind of suggests it, this is totally a slow burn romance. There is no love lost between Alex and Tristan when they first meet, and I loved seeing their relationship build and grow. It made my heart happy and I just didn’t want it to end.

From what I had seen of Tristan in the first two books, which admittedly wasn’t really all that much, I didn’t think much of him. In fact, I kinda wondered how I was going to be able to read an entire book about him and see him as a worthy love interest. I mean, the guy is basically an asshole and he knows it. But then I started reading Slow Play and it didn’t take long for me to start falling for Tristan. This guy, no matter how big of an asshole he could be, pretty much stole my heart. I wasn’t even a quarter of the way through the book and I wanted him to have all the good things. And that included having Alex in his life. Because Alex was perfect for Tristan. She wasn’t afraid to call him out on his bullshit and I was often amused whenever she did so. Beyond being perfect for Tristan, I loved Alex. I loved how strong she was, because it certainly takes a lot of strength to get through what she went through. And I just wanted her to be happy. Preferably with Tristan because they were so freaking perfect together. Also, it should be said that Shep, Jade, Gabe and Lucy are all in this story and I only love them that much more because of it.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED Monica Murphy’s Slow Play. this was a story with characters I didn’t think I could love, but I completely fell for them. And you can bet that I look forward to reading whatever Monica Murphy writes next...and go back to read what I missed out on before discovering her.

In the Dark by Monica Murphy

Title: In the Dark (The Rules #2)
Author: Monica Murphy
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: August 25, 2015
Source: ARC from WordSmith Publicity
Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

Stuck spending the summer with his screwed up family, Gabriel Walker is bored out of his mind and looking for adventure. And he seems to find it with the hot girl who lives next door. The attraction between them is instant. Electric. Soon they’re spending every stolen minute together. Talk about the perfect summer fling…

Lucy isn’t what she seems. She doesn’t live next door—she’s the girl who’s been hired to house sit for the summer while the family goes on a worldwide vacation. If Gabe wants to believe she’s a spoiled rich girl looking for some fun, she can go along with that. After the summer, she’ll never see him again.

They don’t count on running into each other at college. Now Lucy must keep up the prettiness of being a rich girl—and it’s exhausting. She knows she’s falling in love with Gave and she’s scared he feels the same. Will he still care about he discovers the truth?

Earlier this summer, I loved reading the first book in Monica Murphy’s The Rules series. It was fun, it was flirty and had some awesome banter. And the second book in this series, In the Dark, was just as good as the first.

The last thing Gabriel Walker wanted to do the summer before his last year of college was be stuck in a house with his parents. Gabe was counting down the days until the end of summer, but when he noticed the hot girl staying at the house next door, things started looking up. Lucy scored a great summer job: house sitting a house on the beach and spending her days reading by the pool. When Gabe, the hot guy staying next door, comes around and assumes he’s just a spoiled rich girl, Lucy goes along with it. After all, once summer is over it’s not like she’s going to see Gabe again. At least, that’s what should have happened. When they run into each other at school, Gabe and Lucy will have to come to terms with the fact that maybe what they had wasn’t just a summer fling after all.

When I read Monica Murphy’s Fair Game earlier this summer, I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. I mean, I knew going in that there was a very strong likelihood that I would enjoy the story. It’s New Adult and it’s romance, basically it had my name written all over it. But I quickly fell in love with what I was reading and by the time I finished, I was more than looking forward to reading more. So I was totally excited about In the Dark. And it absolutely didn’t disappoint me. Much like with the first book, I loved that this story was more than just a fluffy and flirty romance. Sure, the romance was fun and I loved every minute of it. But there were also deeper elements to the story, especially with the romance that only made me love it that much more. It’s all hard to explain without diving too much into the details and spoiling things, but just no that with In the Dark you’re getting more than just a fun romance. And I loved the way the romance happened. How it felt like it happened all at once, and then it happened all over again. Have I mentioned that the romance in In the Dark was great? In case it wasn’t obvious let me say it again, the romance and the relationship between Gabe and Lucy was fantastic and I loved it.

I can’t even begin to explain how much I loved Gabe and Lucy. I had gotten glimpses of Gabe in the first book and I’ll be honest and say that he didn’t exactly make a great first impression. But at the same time I had had the same thoughts about Shep and that turned out for the best. And the same thing happened with Gabe. As much as I didn’t think much of him in the first book, from the moment I started reading In the Dark, I really liked him. Sure, there were times when I questioned why he was doing certain things but that didn’t mean I didn’t like him. And I loved Lucy as well. Granted I didn’t always agree with her lying about her family and her background, but at the same time I could understand why she was doing it. Outside of that, I loved Lucy. And it should go without saying that I loved Lucy and Gabe together. I loved their summer relationship, and I loved their relationship once they were together at school. And when unexpected things happened, they were there for each other. Well for the most part, but it worked out in the end and that’s all that really mattered. So moral of the story, I loved Gabe and Lucy.

In case it wasn’t super obvious by now, I absolutely loved Monica Murphy’s In the Dark. This is the kind of book that you start reading and don’t want to put down until you’re finished. Though I’ll be sad to see the end of the Rules series, I still can’t wait to read Tristan’s story in Slow Play.

Fair Game by Monica Murphy

Title: Fair Game (The Rules #1)

Author: Monica Murphy

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: May 12, 2015

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

Bad enough Jade Frost’s boyfriend drags her to a boring poker game. Even worse that he actually threw her into the betting pot during an intense round…and lost. Talk about the perfect excuse for Jade to make him her ex-boyfriend.

Now she supposedly belongs to the ultra rich, extremely gorgeous Shep Prescott. He could have anything he wants yet he seems to be in hot pursuit of her. No matter how rude, how snarky, how impossible she acts, it doesn’t stop him. More like her horrible behavior seems to make him want her more.

When she finds herself starting to fall for him, Jade’s confused. There’s more to Shep than the carefree rich charmer he portrays. Now way could he want a serious relationship with her…or could he?

So far 2015 has been a fantastic year for New Adult reads for me, especially when it comes to self-published New Adult. Having let go of a lot of my prejudices against self-published books has allowed me to find a whole lot of new stories to love. And that includes Monica Murphy’s Fair Game.

Jade didn’t want to go to the poker game that night. But her boyfriend dragged her and so she went. At least her best friend is there so she has someone to complain to. But then the night takes a turn for the worse when her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend decides to bet her when he runs out of money. And he loses. And it that wasn’t bad enough, the person she now “belong” to is Shep Prescott, the most gorgeous guy on campus…who also happens to be a complete asshole. But no matter how much Jade tries to get rid of him, Shep just keeps coming back, determined to win her over. And Shep’s persistence is working. Much to her surprise, Jade finds herself starting to fall for Shep and that confuses her more than anything else.

Until not so long ago, I was full of prejudice when it came to self-published books. I had had bad experiences with them in the past and it had made me write off pretty much any and all self-published books. But in the last year or so, I started getting over those prejudices, reading books by authors I knew or that were recommended to me by people whose opinions I trust. And that allows me to discover all these new stories that I love, especially New Adult ones. So that was my long-winded way of saying that I’m glad I got over my hang-ups with self-published books because otherwise I never would have read Monica Murphy’s Fair Game and that would have been a shame. Despite being a little thrown by the premise at first—I mean, a girl gets put up as a bet in a high stakes poker game, which is not exactly okay—I found myself getting all caught up in this story. The way Jade being offered up as a bet in the poker game was handled is what first sold me on the story when I was reading. From the moment it happens, it’s made clear that this is far from an okay thing to do and Jade is going to do everything she can to fight it. Which leads to rest of the story which was all kinds of fun. I loved the slow development of the romance between Jade and Shep, and how that relatively slow build led to some of the best banter I have read in a while. Needless to say, I loved reading Fair Game.

I loved Jade. Right from the start, it was almost like I developed a girl crush on her. The way she chewed out both her (ex-)boyfriend and Shep when they throw her in the betting pot during their poker game. She would just not take any crap from either of them. I loved how independent she was and how much she wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself. But I also loved who she was when she was with Shep, if only for the awesome banter thing these two had going. So many times, I wanted to laugh out loud when I reading the back and forth between the two of them. It was just great. And Shep, was so not who I thought he was going to be. The synopsis for the book makes it sound like he’s going to be one way, but that’s not who he was at all. There was so much more to him than I initially thought there was going to be. And, much like Jade ended up being, I was pretty much powerless against him. He totally charmed me and I fell for him a little (okay, a lot) while I was reading. 

I absolutely loved Monica Murphy’s Fair Game. This was a fun story with romance that hit all the right notes for this reader. I can’t wait to read more in this world in In the Dark.