The Do-Over by L.E. Bross

Title: The Do-Over

Author: L.E. Bross

Publisher: Pocket Star

Release Date: March 28, 2016

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

L.E. Bross’s contemporary romance debut is a fun and sexy tale of unlikely lovers struggling to leave the past where it belongs—behind them—and embrace a bright future.

Melanie McAllister’s brand new copy of Home Improvement for Dummies doesn’t even begin to cover the DIY advice she really needs: how to put the pieces of her life back together. Her cheating ex-husband’s insider trading scandal destroyed her family’s multi-million dollar company and left Mel with nothing but the run-down oceanfront cottage she inherited from her parents. Biscay Beach, Maine, seems as good a place to start over as any.

Hot-as-hell carpenter Eli Stuart understands new beginnings. Once a rising star in the art world, the former sculptor has been secretly carving out a new existence in the small coastal town ever since the sheen on his old life turned to rust. He’s willing to bet the feisty brunette in need of major home repairs has never lifted a tool heavier than a nail file—until Mel is racing the clock to make her ramshackle home fit for winter and, facing a near-empty bank account, decides she can do it all herself.

So Eli offers Mel a deal: if she helps him with the renovations, he’ll cut the bill in half. Soon Mel and her damned home improvement book are driving Eli mad with an explosive urge to return to his studio and fire up his torch once more. His new work is crude and raw, and before long, he can’t keep his hands off Mel, either. But a muse from his past could ruin it all for the second time—if Eli and Mel can’t let go of who they used to be and trust their hearts with a do-over.

I discovered L.E. Bross late last year when I first came across her Second Chances NA duology. I stumbled on the first book, immediately read it, loved it and went looking for more by this author. And much like I loved her two NA stories, I had a fantastic time reading her contemporary romance debut, The Do-Over. 

Melanie McAllister is ready to get her life back on track after her cheating ex-husband got charged with insider trading and lost all of their money. The only thing standing between her and going back to New York to get her life back is her parents’ long forgotten cottage in Biscay Beach, Maine. To get her life back on track, Mel needs to renovate and sell the cottage. The only problem with that is she has limited funds and no clue where to even start. That’s where Eli comes in. But as Eli starts doing the work, Mel quickly realizes she won’t be able to afford everything that needs to be done. So Eli offers her a deal: she helps him with all the renovations and he’s going to but the cost in half. But in between arguing about how to best do these home improvements, Eli and Mel starts building more than just the cottage. 

Even though I’ve always loved reading love stories, until the last couple of years most of the ones I read were YA. Then I fell down the NA rabbit hole which meant I had even more options when it came to reading love stories. And then reading all that NA led to me giving contemporary romance more of a chance than I had in the past. And so far, most of the contemporary romance books I’ve read are ones written by authors who’ve also written NA books I’ve read. And that’s how I ended up reading L.E. Bross’s The Do-Over. When I read the description, I strongly suspected that this would be a fun story. I mean, a woman who knows nothing about home renovations helping her contractor do the repairs on her place? There were bound to be some amusing moments. And there were plenty. The Do-Over had me smiling so much while I was reading. But as I’m finding is often the case when I’m reading some of these contemporary romances, I was happy to see that the story went beyond just the surface of the romance. Sure, it was a fun and relatively light romance. But because of who the characters were, this story went deeper than I thought it would.

Seeing as I’m single and have never been married nor have I ever had any high-powered job, I didn’t think I would find myself relating to Mel in any way. But the more I read, the more I realized that, yes, Mel was recently-divorced and used to have a high position in the finance sector. But that’s not all she was. Mel was also trying to understand who she was outside of the way everyone else saw her. And that’s something that’s hard to do and it’s something that Mel struggled with. And I could definitely understand and relate to that, and that’s got me invested in Mel’s story. And then there was Eli. Apparently, I have a thing for guys who can do things with their hands (not *those* kinds of things, get your mind out of the gutter). But for real, I loved Eli. I loved his patience with Mel even when I knew he was getting exasperated with her. He was a genuinely good person and he was just what Mel needed, even though she wouldn’t admit it. And they just worked together. Even if they didn’t always see it. 

I really enjoyed L.E. Bross’s The Do-Over. It was a fun contemporary romance that had me smiling the whole time I was reading. I definitely look forward to reading more from this author in the future. 

Flirting with Fame by Samantha Joyce

Title: Flirting with Fame (Flirting with Fame #1)

Author: Samantha Joyce

Publisher: Pocket Star

Release Date: February 29, 2016

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

Elise Jameson is the secret author behind the bestselling, cult hit Viking Moon series. But when a stranger poses as Elise, the painfully shy, deaf nineteen-year-old starts to see how much she’s missing. Can she really hide in the shadows forever? This clever, coming-of-age debut is for anyone who has ever felt unsure in her own skin.

After a freak childhood accident leaves her deaf and physically scarred, nineteen-year-old Elise Jameson retreats into a world of vibrant characters she creates on her laptop. She is shocked when her coping mechanism turns into a career as a phenomenal bestselling novelist. Fans are obsessed with Elise’s Viking Moon series and its author--a striking girl with zero resemblance to Elise who appears on the back covers. Elise sent the randomly Googled photo to her editor following a minor panic attack. Now, horrified to learn she is expected on set of the television pilot based on her novels, Elise tracks down her anonymous stand-in. To Elise’s surprise, Veronica Wilde has been taking credit for Viking Moon for years. She eagerly agrees to keep up the charade if Elise will pose as her assistant.

It’s hard for Elise to watch a stranger take credit for her work and get all the perks she desires, including admiration from the show’s heartthrob star. Edged onto the sidelines of her own life, Elise reconsiders her choice to stay anonymous. Is she ready to come to terms with her true identity--and with the long-buried secrets that could cost her her career, her fans, and the few precious friendships she’s made?

I love randomly discovering books. It’s not exactly something that happens to me a lot anymore considering how plugged in to the book world I am. So I was really excited when I happened upon Samantha Joyce’s Flirting With Fame and I’m even more excited to say that I loved reading this story.

To the outside world, Elise Jameson is just the shy, deaf girl who has never really felt comfortable in her own skin. But what the outside world doesn’t know is that Elise is also Aubrey Lynch, author of the successful Viking Moon series. Even with three bestsellers under her belt, Elise has stayed out of the public eye. It’s not hard to do when you’ve given your editor the picture of a complete stranger to be put in the book as your author picture. But now that her books are being made into a TV show and that TV show is being filmed in her hometown, Elise is having a full-blown panic attack. The solution she comes to? Finding the girl in the picture she used all those years ago. Lucky for Elise, Veronica Wilde is more than happy to pretend to be her on the TV set. It doesn’t hurt that Veronica has been taking the credit for the books all along. Now Elise is playing assistant to the girl pretending to be her. And it would be great if not for the fact that she’s finally ready to come clean about who she really is. But how can she do that without destroying the few meaningful relationships she has in her life?

Not going to lie. I honestly hadn’t heard of Samantha Joyce’s Flirting With Fame until I came across the book on NetGalley. It kind of feels like that’s been a bit of a theme for books with me lately. But it’s worked out pretty well so far. Anyways. When I first read the description for Flirting With Fame, I was intrigued by the story—the idea that someone would pay someone else to be them because they were afraid to tell the truth about using a fake picture. Plus, I’m a sucker for any kind of story that goes behind the scenes of the TV or movie world. I just can’t seem to get enough of them. So really, Flirting With Fame pretty much had everything I look for in a story. And it was a fun story, but also one that went a little deeper than I initially thought it was going to go. I loved the way the story dealt with Elise’s insecurities, how it tacked the fact that the main character is deaf (which is definitely linked to her insecurities). And the romance was absolutely adorable, and even unexpected in some ways. It was just the kind of story that puts a smile on my face while I read it.

As much as I loved Elise while I was reading, there were so many times when I wanted to smack some sense into the girl. But at the same time I could understand a lot of her insecurities. If I was her, I would definitely be afraid of coming clean after so many years of hiding and basically lying about who I was to the public. And things pretty much spiralled from there. It was like she just couldn’t get herself out of the cycle of lying she found herself in. At the end of the day, all I really wanted for Elise was to be happy with herself and who she was and her life. And if that life happened to include Gavin, then that was just a total bonus. Honestly? Gavin took me by surprise. Even though I had read the synopsis it didn’t really occur to me that he would be Elise’s love interest until it was happening right in front of me. At first I kinda thought that it was going to be about Elise and Clint but in hindsight, I was totally off the mark with that one. Elise and Gavin made much more sense. Which brings me back to Gavin himself. I kind of expected him to be a bit of a jerk or at least come across that way since that seems to e the stereotype when it comes to actors in books. But Gavin was just a genuinely good guy and the more I found out about him, the more I liked him. And he and Elise together were just perfect. They were perfect for each other and I just wanted them to be happy together.

Samantha Joyce’s Flirting With Fame was a fun story that took me completely by surprise. I love discovering new books and this is one that I am happy to have discovered. And I will most definitely be checking out Samantha Joyce’s future books.

Whatever It Takes by L.E. Bross

Title: Whatever It Takes (Second Chances #2)

Author: L.E. Bross

Publisher: Pocket Star

Release Date: December 14, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

Tess is burdened with a responsibility she’s not quite sure she can handle, and Ryan is determined to save her from it—if she ever stops pushing him away—in this sexy follow up to Right Where You Are, the first new adult novel in the captivating Second Chances series.

Tess is a lot of things. Strong. Independent. Determined. Completely overwhelmed by the responsibilities of being her little brother’s caretaker. But she can handle it. She has to. Because there’s no way in hell she’s letting anyone else raise Noah.

Ryan’s happy with a life on cruise control. He has no intention of tying himself down. That road only leads to heartbreak, a lesson he learned the hard way when he was fifteen. So why can’t he stay away from the one woman who broke his heart?

Tess knows exactly why Ryan keeps popping up right when she needs the most help: He’s got a hero complex big enough to save Cinderella. But Tess isn’t that girl, and she refuses to let him be part of her life. Not even when Noah takes a liking to him. Not even when they kind of, maybe, hook up.

Not even when she starts to fall for him…

A few weeks ago, I discovered L.E. Bross’s first New Adult novel and I was hooked. And I wanted more. So when I saw that a companion to that first novel was available? I couldn’t click fast enough. And I might have loved Whatever It Takes even more than I did that first book.

Tess never saw her life going the way its going. But she couldn’t imagine herself doing anything but taking care of her little brother. And she won’t let anyone take that little boy away from her. When push comes to shove, she would do anything for Noah. But she’s determined to do it on her own. When she crosses paths with Ryan, the boy she loved when she was fifteen, she knows he would do anything he could to help her. It’s just who Ryan is. Tess just doesn’t know if she could take losing him again. Ryan is happy with the way his life is, but when he sees Tess again, he can’t seem stay away no matter how much he knows that he should. The first time they were together, things didn’t work out. Are Tess and Ryan willing to do whatever it takes this time around?

A few weeks back, I stumbled upon L.E. Bross’s Right Where You Are, and fell a little bit in love with the story and the characters. When I found out that there was going to be companion novel, I was excited. And when I found out how soon that companion novel was going to be available, I became even more excited. So when I got my hands on Whatever It Takes, I had no choice but to start reading it right away. I had been curious about Ryan while reading the first book and I was looking forward to reading his story. And his story didn’t disappoint me. I am a sucker for second chance romances, and this one was exactly what I had hoped it would be. I loved every minute of this story. It made me smile, it warmed my heart, and it broke my heart a little as well. Despite everything that goes on, it was just the kind of feel good story that I love.

I was curious about Ryan pretty much from the moment that I met him Right Where You Are. So Whatever It Takes being all about him? Yeah, I was all over that. And the more I got to know him, the more I fell for him. He was the sweetest most caring person. And this guy also had the biggest hero complex I’ve seen in a long time. But it worked for him. And made me love him that much more. And just as much as I loved Ryan, I loved Tess. I loved how independent she was and how she was determined to take car of herself and her little brother. Granted there were times when I wanted to tell her that she should take up Ryan on his offer to help because there was nothing he wanted more than to help her. But that didn’t stop me from loving her. The person who really stole the show was Noah, Tess’s little brother. He was adorable and pretty much put a smile on my face every time he spoke. And him and Ryan together? My heart just melted. And I’m clearly a sucker for books with little kids in them.

If it wasn’t obvious, I loved L.E. Bross’s Whatever It Takes. It was the second chance romance story that I needed and one that I want to recommend to everyone I know who loves New Adult and romance.

Right Where You Are by L.E. Bross

Title: Right Where You Are (Second Chances #1)

Author: L.E. Bross

Publisher: Pocket Star

Release Date: November 16, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

Avery Melrose is used to having it all. So when her boyfriend cheats on her, she reacts like any spoiled rich girl—she freaks out and vandalizes his new truck, Carrie Underwood style. Now she’s stuck with 300 hours of community service doing road-side garbage duty.

Seth Hunter just got out of prison, and after a few hundred hours picking up litter on the side of the highway, he can finally put his mistakes behind him. If he can string together some kind of existence, maybe it’ll be enough to get his sister away from their stepfather, the man who sent Seth to prison in the first place.

A romance between these two is doomed from the start. Girls like Avery wants castles and white horses, and Seth is no prince charming.

But sometimes, being around Avery makes Seth think he could make something of himself. Maybe even be worthy of a girl like her. It’s just too bad real life gets in the way first, tearing these two apart before they have any chance of getting to Happily Ever After.

Surprise books, the ones you go in knowing pretty much nothing about the story and find yourself pleasantly surprised, are the best kind of books. That’s exactly what L.E. Bross’s Right Where You Are Was. It was a book I picked up at random and one I couldn’t seem to get enough of.

When she walked in on her boyfriend of four years in bed with another girl, Avery Melrose didn’t think, she just walked back out of the apartment and trashed his truck. Now, Avery has to spend 300 hours picking up trash on the side of the road. After spending a year in prison for beating up his stepfather, Seth Hunter is out and ready to start putting his life back together so he can get his sister away from their stepfather. The first step? Picking up trash on the side of the road. Seth and Avery shouldn’t be a good match. But spending time with Avery makes Seth feel like he could make something of himself. And around, Seth, Avery comes alive. But making it work is hard when everything seems to be puling them apart.

I love making book discoveries. I mean, I’m always excited about reading a book I’ve heard lots of great things about. But I get even more excited when I find a book I haven’t heard about and it ends up being a book I love. That’s what happened to me with L.E. Bross’s Right Where You Are. I hadn’t heard anything about this book until the day I randomly came across it on NetGalley. After reading the description I knew it sounded like something I would enjoy. And I was absolutely right. I got completely sucked into this story. I couldn’t stop reading, I just had to see how things would work out for Seth and Avery. Basically, Right Where You Are was just the kind of romance story I loved. There was banter, there was drama, there was heartbreak, and there was plenty of romance to make me happy. Right Where You Are was essentially a total Emilie book. And I loved it.

Neither Avery nor Seth were who they appeared to be and that’s what I loved the most about them. Though at first she comes across as your stereotypical spoiled rich girl, that’s so not who Avery was at all. The more I got to know her, the more I liked her and the more I came to understand that she had a huge heart and was just trying to help everyone she could. Appearances were just as deceiving where Seth was concerned. Despite going to prison for assault, Seth was far from being a bad buy. He was just someone trying to do whatever he could to help and protect his little sister. Loved whenever his lighter side would come out. Some of my favourite moments in the book are just him and Avery joking around. But I also loved that fiercely protective side of him. Honestly? I just loved Seth, period. And I can’t wait to see more of Ryan, who will be the main focus of the sequel.

L.E. Bross’s Right Where You Are was the best kind of surprise. This was a book that completely sucked me in and kept me turning the pages until there were no more to turn. And I can’t wait to read more.