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.

Giveaway!

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Him by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy

Title: Him

Author: Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: July 28, 2015

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

They don’t play for the same team. Or do they?

Jamie Canning has never been able to figure out how he lost his closest friend. Four years ago, his tattooed, wise-cracking, rule-breaking roommate cut him off without an explanation. So what if things got a little weird on the last night of hockey camp the summer they were eighteen? It was just a little drunken foolishness. Nobody died.

Ryan Wesley’s biggest regret is coaxing his very straight friend into a bet that pushed the boundaries of their relationship. Now, with their college teams set to face off at the national championship, he’ll finally get a chance to apologize. But all it takes is one look at his longtime crush, and the ache is stronger than ever.

Jamie has waiting a long time for answers, but walks away with only more questions—can one night of sex ruin a friendship? If not, how about six more weeks of it? When Wesley turns up to coach alongside Jamie for one more hot summer at camp, Jamie has a few things to discover about his old friend…and a big one to learn about himself. 

I love sports romance something fierce, especially the NA variety. And I love a good m/m romance. When I heard that two authors whose romance books I love were writing an m/m sports NA? I was all over that. It should go without saying that I absolutely adored Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy’s Him.

Four years ago, Ryan Wesley pushed the boundaries of his relationship with his best friend. On their last night at hockey camp, things got heated and one night changed their friendship completely. After that night, Wes cut Jamie off completely. Fast forward four years and Jamie and Wes are about to face off in the college hockey championship. When they see each other for the first time since that last night of camp, things quickly go back to the way they were before. But when Wes shows up at camp to join Jamie on the coaching staff, things are going to be heating up in ways neither one of them ever expected. Both Wes and Jamie have discoveries to make about each other. But more importantly, about themselves.

2015 has apparently been the year where I read all the awesome m/m romances. To be completely honest, they’re not really something I’d really read before this year. It’s not that I was opposed to them, there just weren’t really any on my radar. But I seem to be on a roll with the m/m romance this year, and the latest in that streak is Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy’s Him. Elle Kennedy and Sarina Bowen are two romance authors whose individual books I have loved (I’ve gushed plenty about Elle’s Off-Campus series, and gushing about Sarina’s Ivy Years series is coming soon) so when they announced they were writing a romance about gay hockey players, I was beyond excited. And when Him landed on my Kindle, I pretty much dropped everything and started reading it right away. And I read it all in less than a day. Because once I started, I couldn’t bring myself to stop. This story was fun. It was touching. It was sweet. At times it was downright hilarious. And at others it was heartbreaking. But I loved every single page of it. Him is absolutely one of my favourite books I’ve read this year and is quite possibly one of the sweetest and most touching romances I’ve ever read. It was just THAT GOOD. And I fully plan to talk people’s ears off about it and recommend it to everyone I know. Because anyone who loves romance is pretty much guaranteed to love Him. At least that’s my opinion on the subject.

One of the reasons I loved Him so much is because I pretty much adored Wes and Jamie. I don’t really know how to put either one of them into words other than to say I loved them. But I’ll try even if  I won’t even come close to doing them justice. One of my favourite things about Wes and Jamie were that they had a history. They’d known each other since they were thirteen years old and you could just tell. They were so comfortable around each other and it made their relationship feel real and genuine. The back and forth between them was always so fun and the more quiet moments could be incredibly touching. Wes and Jamie just worked together even though they were pretty different. Sure they both played hockey, but where Jamie was the definition of laidback, Wes was always on the go, likely getting himself in trouble. I loved how easygoing Jamie was, how he was always willing to go with along with whatever potentially crazy idea Wes had. And so often my heart broke for Wes, because he felt like he had to hide his feelings. I just wanted to give him a hug. So I loved Jamie. And I loved Wes. And most of all, I loved Jamie and Wes together. 

If you are a fun of either Sarina Bowen’s or Elle Kennedy’s books, I can guarantee you will love Him. The story was sweet, it was hilarious, it was touching, it was everything I could have ever wanted it to be. Him is the kind of book that reminds me why I love romance stories as much as I do.

Most Likely to Succeed by Jennifer Echols

Title: Most Likely to Succeed (The Superlatives #3)

Author: Jennifer Echols

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Release Date: August 4, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

In this sexy conclusion to The Superlatives trilogy from Endless Summer author Jennifer Echols, Sawyer and Kaye might just be perfect for each other—if only they could admit it.

As vice president of Student Council, Kaye knows the importance of keeping order. Not only in school, but in her personal life. Which is why she and her boyfriend, Aidan, already have their lives mapped out: attend Columbia University together, pursue banking careers,  and eventually get married. Everything Kaye has accomplished in high school—student government, cheerleading, stellar grades—has been in preparation for that future. 

To his entire class, Sawyer is an irreverent bad boy. His antics on the field as school mascot and his love of partying have earned him total slacker status. But while he and Kaye appear to be opposites on every level, fate—and their friends—keep conspiring to throw them together. Perhaps the seniors see the simmering attraction Kaye and Sawyer are unwilling to acknowledge to themselves…

As the year unfolds, Kaye begins to realize her ideal life is not what she thought. And Sawyer decides it’s finally time to let down the facade and show everyone who he really is. Is a relationship between them most likely to succeed—or will it be their favorite mistake?

I’ve been a fan of Jennifer Echols and her books since I first read them when I started blogging five years ago. And earlier this year, I absolutely devoured the first two books in The Superlatives trilogy. And the final book, Most Likely to Succeed, it’s officially my favourite of the series. 

Kaye has always had a plan. Not just for school, but for her whole future. She’s been waiting Aidan since she was fourteen, and together they’re going to go to school at Columbia, start careers in banking, and one day get married. It’s what her entire high school career has led to. And until recently, it was everything she thought she wanted. Now, Kaye can’t stop thinking about Sawyer, the one guy she knows she should stay away from. But that’s easier said than done when their friends seem to keep pushing Kaye and Sawyer together. As the year goes on, it’s time that Sawyer and Kaye finally admit what they really want and see if maybe a relationship is exactly what both of them want and need.

Though I haven’t reviewed them on the blog, I absolutely loved (and devoured) Biggest Flirts and Perfect Couple, the first two books in Jennifer Echols’s The Superlatives series, when I read them earlier this year. The story was addicting, the characters were loveable, and the romance was just how I like it. By the time I finished the second book, I was eagerly waiting for the final book, Most Likely to Succeed. Now that I’ve read that final book, I can officially say that it was my favourite out of the three. Right from the start the story sucked me in. It didn’t hurt that I was already quite familiar with the characters because I’d met them in the previous two books. But even if I hadn’t already been familiar with Kaye and Sawyer, this story still would have grabbed me. I’m a sucker for a romance between the smart, good girl and the bad boy (not that Sawyer was a bad boy, but I’ll get to that later). I just really enjoyed reading their story. It often had me smiling stupidly, if not full on laughing. And the romance between Kaye and Sawyer was just how I liked it. I loved that the two of them were friends, even if it was at times almost a strenuous friendship, before they moved to being more (because that is totally my favourite romance trope). But I think my love of Most Likely to Succeed is in large part because of how much I loved Kaye and Sawyer themselves.

Like I’ve said, I already knew Kaye and Sawyer before I even cracked Most Likely to Succeed open. And I already had thoughts and opinions about them before I started reading the book. Mostly, I had a feeling that Kaye wasn’t exactly happy being the girl everyone expected her to be. And I had a very strong suspicion that Sawyer wasn’t the bad boy slacker everyone seemed to think he was. As it turns out, both those assumptions were very true. But they were also only scratching the surface. Yes, Kaye was unhappy, but she also had issues at home with her mom, she didn’t now if the future she’d been working for was the one she actually wanted. She was basically trying to figure out who she was amidst all the pressure of high school. And figuring out who she was, also meant figuring out how she felt about Sawyer. And Sawyer, well he’s officially one of my favourite boys. Despite what people thought of him, Sawyer wasn’t actually a bad boy, he just hasn’t had it easy. And he was trying to do better, to break the cycle his family was in. With the people he cared about, Sawyer was all kinds of sweet and seeing that side of him only made me love him more. And it should obviously go without saying that I was all in favour of Kaye and Sawyer as a couple. Obviously.

Much like with the rest of Jennifer Echols’s The Superlatives series, I absolutely loved Most Likely to Succeed. This series was the kind of fun yet thoughtful romance that I love reading. If you haven’t checked it out already, I can’t recommend it enough.

Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid

Title: Never Always Sometimes

Author: Adi Alsaid

Publisher: HarlequinTEEN

Release Date: August 4, 2015

Source: From Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Never date your best friend

Always be original

Sometimes rules are meant to be broken

Best friends Dave and Julia were determined to never be cliché high school kids—the ones who sit at the same lunch table every day, dissecting the drama from homeroom and plotting their campaigns for prom king and queen. They even wrote their own Never List of everything they vowed they’d never, ever do in high school.

Some of the rules have been easy to follow, like #5, never die your hair a color of the rainbow, or #7, never hook up with a teacher. But Dave has a secret: he’s broken rule #8, never pine silently after someone for the entirety of high school. It’s either that or break rule #10, never date your best friend. Dave has loved Julia for as long as he can remember.

Julia is beautiful, wild and impetuous. So when she suggests they do every Never on the list, Dave is happy to play along. He even dyes his hair an unfortunate shade of green. It starts as a joke, but then a funny thing happens: Dave and Julia discover that by skipping the clichés, they’ve actually been missing out on high school. And maybe even on love.

Last year I really enjoyed Adi Alsaid’s debut, Let’s Get Lost. When I found out the premise for his newest book, Never Always Sometimes, it sounded like something that was totally up my alley. Though, it wasn’t quite what I had hoped it would be, I still found myself highly enjoying Never Always Sometimes.

Before starting high school, best friends Dave and Julia made a pact: they would avoid becoming those clichéd teenagers everyone else in high schools seemed to be. That’s how the Nevers list was born: a list of the ten things they both never to do in high school. Fast-Coward four years and Julia and Dave are close to graduating and have successfully avoided becoming clichés. When Dave finds the Nevers list after having forgotten about it, Julia suggests they complete the list. As they start crossing items of their list, Dave and Julia realize that by wanting to avoid clichés, they’ve missed out on a lot more than just a typical high school experience.

I am an absolute sucker for friendship stories, especially ones that are about friendships between a boy and a girl. It probably has to do with all through high school, and still today for that matter, my best friend is a guy. So whenever I hear of stories that feature that kind of friendship, I am all over them. That’s what initially drew me to Adi Alsaid’s Never Always Sometimes. And when I found out more about the story, I was only that much more interested in reading the book. It sounded like it had the potential to be such a fun story. And it was. While reading, I would often find myself laughing at Julia’s antics or appreciating the sweet friendship moments between Dave and Julia. What I had a little more trouble buying into was the romance. For a while, I was confused about who I was supposed to be rooting for: Dave and Julia or Dave and Gretchen. But by the end of the book, though I wasn’t entirely sold on how it happened, I understood what the author was trying to do. How he was trying to show that sometimes the person you think you should be with isn’t always the person who’s your best match. And that just because you love someone in a romantic way, doesn’t always mean that feeling will be reciprocated in the same way. And at more than one point in the story, there was a whole lot of confused feelings happening for both Dave and Julia.

Maybe it was because the first part of the story was from his perspective, but I felt like I got to know Dave really quickly and I just really got him. I understood how he felt about his best friend. How he would do pretty much anything just to see her happy, even if that at times that meant sacrificing some of his own happiness. But he was happy to do it. And even though I didn’t always agree with some of the decisions he made, I really liked Dave, and I understood his struggle. But because of the way the story was told, I feel like it took a while before I really got to know Julia. for the first half or so of the book, everything I knew about Julia was tainted by Dave’s feelings for her. I only really got to know her through how Dave saw her. So when I got to see this story from her perspective and get first hand information about who she was, I wasn’t sure how I felt about her for a long time. I saw her one way because of how Dave saw her, and then I realized that she was exactly who Dave saw her as, but she was also a completely different person. And though it may have taken me a bit to warm up to her, I really liked Julia. She was her own person and she wasn’t afraid of doing what she wanted, even if others didn’t always understand. But at the same time, she was someone who was constantly seeking the approval of the one person she couldn’t get it from. And that broke my heart at times. The one thing that’s for sure, is that I loved the friendship Dave and Julia had, even if at times it wasn’t easy.

Though it may not have been quite the story I had hoped it would be, I still really enjoyed Adi Alsaid’s Never Always Sometimes. If you’re looking for a story with a good mix of friendship and romance, you may want to check this one out.

Right Wrong Guy by Lia Riley

Title: Right Wrong Guy (Brightwater #2)

Author: Lia Riley

Publisher: Avon Impulse

Release Date: August 4, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

Sometimes two wrongs can make a right…

Bad boy wrangler, Archer Kane, lives fast and loose. Words like responsibility and commitment send him running in the opposite direction. Until a wild Vegas weekend puts him on a collision course with Eden Bancroft-Kew, a New York heiress running away from her blackmailing fiancé…the morning of her wedding.

Eden has never understood the big attraction to cowboys. Give her a guy in a tailored suit any day of the week. But now all she can think about is Mr. Rugged Handsome, six-feet of sinfully sexy country charm with a pair of green eyes that keeps her tossing and turning all night long.

Archer might be the wrong guy for a woman like her, but she’s not right in thinking he’ll walk away without fighting for her heart. And maybe, just maybe, two wrongs can make a right.

Reading books by authors who cross genres and age groups always makes it interesting. Sometimes, I love one but don’t think so highly of the other. But then there are others whose stories I love no mater what. Right Wrong Guy has officially confirmed that I will be reading anything and everything Lia Riley writes.

Everyone in Brightwater knows that if they are looking for a good time, Archer Kane is the person to go to. Archer has spent most of his life staying as far away from responsibility and commitment as possible. But things suddenly change when a weekend in Vegas puts Eden Bancroft-Kew in his path. From the moment he meets Eden, Archer feels a connection to her, and he finds himself wanting all those things he’s spent so much running away from. There’s only one problem. Eden just ran away from a life of being married to someone she doesn’t love, and the last thing she wants is to jump into another relationship. Even though Archer seems all wrong for her, he might end up being just the right person for Eden.

Last year, I read Lia Riley’s Off the Map NA series and I absolutely loved it. The story sucked me in, and after finishing the final book, I was convinced that I would read pretty much anything that she wrote. I wanted more of her stories and her brand of romance. But the thing about her Brightwater series is that it’s not something I typically read. As much as I love my romance, I tend to stick to YA and NA romance, very rarely venturing out into the more “traditional” contemporary romance. But I gave the first book in Lia Riley’s Brightwater series a shot and I don’t regret it in the least. In fact, by the time I finished reading it, I was dying for Right Wrong Guy. And when I got my hands on Right Wrong Guy, I absolutely devoured it. The story totally sucked me in. Right from the start, I bought into the potential for romance between Archer and Edie, and when it blossomed into an actual romance, I was all for it. I couldn’t get enough. I just kept turning the pages (well, hitting the page turn button on my Kindle) because I just had to see how it would all turn out. I mean, I knew that there was going to be a happy ending, but I didn’t know how it was all going to play out. I mean, Archer and Edie were clearly made for each other.

When reading the first book in the Brightwater series, Last First Kiss, I had gotten glimpses of both Archer and Edie and I was curious about them. I wanted to know what their backstory was. I wanted to know how Edie had landed in Brightwater, I wanted to see if there was more to Archer than his womanizing ways. I loved finding out more about both of them in Right Wrong Guy. I really enjoyed seeing Edie find herself and discover what she actually wanted out of her life, see her transition from Eden Bancroft-Kew to Edie Banks. And as for Archer, I just knew that there had to be more going on with him. And I was happy to see that I wasn’t wrong about him. It took no time at all for me to pretty much fall in love with him. And if I didn’t have a thing for cowboys before, there is no doubt that I do now. I also liked to that I got to see glimpses of Annie and Sawyer again since I loved them so much in the first book. Now I’ve just become majorly curious about Wilder, the third Kane brother. I can’t wait to find out more about him.

I loved Lia Riley’s Right Wrong Guy. It was a romance that hit all the right notes for me. I’ve loved getting to know the town and the people of Brightwater. And I can’t wait to find out more about the third Kane brother in Best Worst Mistake.