Review Tour: On the Rocks (Last Call #1) by Sawyer Bennett

 

Title: On The Rocks

Series: Last Call #1

Author: Sawyer Bennett

Release Date: February 17th , 2014

Rating: 4 stars

Cliffhanger: No

[ Yes (hide spoiler)]

He left to travel the world for fame and glory, but only after spurning Gabby Ward and crushing her young heart. Now Hunter Markham has come back home to the sand and salty breeze of the North Carolina Outer Banks so he can open up Last Call, a beach bar nestled among the dunes of the Atlantic.

Gabby Ward is not happy that Hunter has returned. Bitter over his rebuff years before, she’s content to stay far away from him and his dangerously charming ways.

Gabby’s well-schemed plans to ignore Hunter go up in flames when he presents an offer to her that she simply can’t refuse, throwing them together in a common quest to each reach their goals. Working together day in and day out proves to be problematic for Gabby, who soon realizes that the feelings she had for him are still very much alive. Hunter struggles to reach through to Gabby’s cold heart, all while starting a new career away from his life as a top ranked, professional surfer.

What starts out as a mutual business arrangement soon turns into a passion that neither of them can continue to deny.

Hard choices lay ahead for both of them when Hunter is offered a once in a lifetime opportunity to return to the pro surfing tour.

Choices that could destroy what they have built or take them further than they ever had dared to hope.

As in her previous books, Sawyer Bennett delivers exactly the same kind of toe curling, butterflies in belly romance that fans of sweet, cute and delicious will eat up. It’s one of those stories that quickly grab your attention and make you smile and giggle. Full of sexy, steamy moments, witty banters, stubborn heroine and drool worthy hero, On The Rocks is a book you want to read if you have one of those days that just needs to get better.

Gabby is best friend of Hunter’s sister. All of them knew each other from the time they were toddlers, but as the time was passing, Gabby found herself head over heels in love with Casey’s older brother.

The night she graduated from high school and got a little tipsy she finally decided to act on her attraction. When she kissed Hunter, twenty two year old, pro surfer and he kissed her back, she thought all of her dreams are coming true. Unfortunately, Hunter stopped the best kiss of her life and told her some not very pleasant things.

Five years later, Gabby is still holding a grudge and can’t get past her humiliation from that night, so when she has to take a job as a constructor in Hunter’s bar, she’s not very happy. But knowing that her father’s firm will be bankrupt if she doesn’t take this job makes her do it.
Now, Gabby and Hunter will spend some time together and the night from few years ago will come back to haunt them.

Written in dual point of view, On the Rocks was very easy to connect with. I very much enjoy reading friends to lovers romance, and when there is a great twist in the plot, that type of novel can grab my heart and squeeze it repeatedly. Hunter and Gabby’s story is exactly like that. Of course, I can’t say I connected with everything, because that would be not the truth, but mostly I was pleased with how it all played out and was positively surprised by how this story progressed. So score one for the author for that!

I found it very thrilling to read book filled with hot beach and surfing. It was nice to forget about horrible, winter weather behind the windows. Frankly, On The Rocks was like a summer read for me. And this is something I greatly appreciated in the middle of February.

*ARC provided by the author in exchange for honest review. This review will be also posted during review tour on Smokin' Hot Book Blog*





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Cover Reveal: Very Wicked Things by Ilsa Madden-Mills

 

Very Wicked Things

Book 2 of the Briarcrest Academy Series

A new adult romance from bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills

Release Date May 13, 2014

Born on the poor side of town…

Ballerina Dovey Beckham is a scholarship student at Briarcrest Academy, determined to prove she’s more than just a girl with the wrong pedigree. She does whatever it takes to succeed in her endgame, even if it means surrendering her body…but never her heart.

Until the day she meets him, and he rips apart all her well-laid plans. Suddenly, the girl everyone thought unbreakable might just shatter.

Born into wealth and privilege…

Cuba “Hollywood” Hudson is rich, spoiled, and a star football player. With his fast cars and superficial girlfriends, he lives the high-life, hiding his secrets from the world.

Until the day he meets her, and she offers him something he’s never tasted…love.

But once in a lifetime kind of love doesn’t come easy. When trust crumbles and doubts creep in, both will have to decide to either love or let go…forever.

Welcome to Briarcrest Academy, where sometimes, only the wicked survive.

Cuba’s POV

Not exactly a meet-cute…

The room closed in, making me sweat. I hadn’t talked to her in over a year, and now here we were, face-to-face. Two ex-lovers who hated each other.

I had to get away from her.

Dovey tilted her head as I stood, giving me a scathing glare. “Leaving so soon? Yeah, go ahead, cut and run. Coward.”

I ignored her and tried to get Weinstein’s attention, to let her know she could flunk me for all I cared.

“Before you go, tell me one thing, and I’ll make sure we aren’t partners in this class. You’ll be free of me,” she said.

“What?” I asked, my voice going all raspy, blocking all the words I wanted to say. They weren’t things she ever needed to hear.

“Why so cruel to me? You aren’t to the other girls you date and dump. Why single me out?”

I seethed. “And it didn’t take you long to find someone else, now did it? How is Spider? Does he get you hot like I did?”

She smirked. “He’s fine. He thinks I hung the moon. He thinks you’re an ass. I agree.”

I tightened my fists and pressed them against my thighs, swearing to myself I wasn’t responding to her bait. I swore. She was a dangerous game I didn’t need to play.

Suddenly, her face fell. Was she recalling the last time we were together? Was she remembering how I used to…

“I trusted you,” she whispered, all her anger seeming to be gone. The unsteadiness of her voice undid me, sent me right over the edge of that precarious cliff I’d been hanging on to by the skin of my teeth.

Yeah, she hadn’t been the only one who’d trusted me. I’d ruined them all. Every last one. Dark thoughts assaulted me, of the blood I had on my hands.

Snap! My pencil broke and small pieces flew across my desk and into the empty space between us.

I wanted to pummel my desk until my fists bled. I wanted to punch a hole through the wall, the floor, my face. 

Everything was my fault. Just mine.

She’d been collateral damage, the kind that breaks everyone involved. And I was sorry for it, but sometimes you do what hurts because it’s for the best. 

But she was my kryptonite, leaving me no option but to hurt her. Again.

I didn’t think about my cruel words, I just said them. “You were a curiosity, Dovey. You weren’t the usual BA girl, and I wanted a taste. That’s all. I moved on when it got boring. Get over it.”

Ilsa Madden-Mills is a loving wife and mother, a loyal friend, and a teacher. When all that is done, she writes. Obsessively.

She spent several years teaching high school English, but now hangs out at home with two small kids, a neurotic cat, and her Viking husband. She collects magnets and rarely cooks except to bake her own pretzels.

When she’s not typing away at a story, you can find her drinking too much Diet Coke, jamming out to Pink, or checking on her carefully maintained chocolate stash.

She loves to hear from fans and fellow authors.

Very Wicked Things is Book 2 of the BA Series.

Very Bad Things is currently available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iBooks.

Awesome Book Trailer to Very Wicked Things:

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Review: A Lush Betrayal by Selena Laurence

Title: A Lush Betrayal

Series: Lush #1

Author: Selena Laurence

Release Date: February 26th, 2014

Rating: 3.5 stars

Cliffhanger: No

 [ Yes (hide spoiler)]

Joss Jamison has it all. He's the lead singer for the world's hottest rock band, Lush. He's wealthy, sexy, talented...and miserable. Twelve months ago, Joss lost his finely honed control and made a mistake he can't undo. A mistake that could end up costing him his best friend, his band, and maybe his heart.

Mel DiLorenzo has it all. She's been hired to document the world tour of her sister's fiance's rock band. She's gorgeous, talented, loved...and sick of being the little sister. When she agrees to the summer job, Mel has no idea she's walking into a minefield of friendships lost and hearts destroyed. She also has no idea what it means to be the object of Joss Jamison's affections.

One hot rock star plus one life-altering mistake, add a dash of sexy younger sister and a handful of broken hearts, and you've got a recipe for fire. Life on the road can be hot, but for the boys of Lush, it's about to get a whole hell of a lot hotter.

Are you looking for your next angsty read? Hungry for rock star drama, full on tragic spectacle with romance throw in the mix? A Lush of Betrayal is not only it but a little bit more too. Think soap opera on steroids – lots of sex, romance, guilt and betrayal wrapped in pretty red bow, that only waits for you to be unwrapped.

From moody and heartbroken band leader, Joss Jamison through wild and angry other band members to two sisters that certainly know how to make Lush’s men blood boil, Selena Laurence delivered a novel that not only holds enough appeal to make you read in a single day, but makes you love and hate the characters that hold more than few terrible secrets. The question is are you ready to learn them all?

I was entertained enough to not to feel bored. A Lush of Betrayal certainly is action packed and clearly have plentiful of scenes that were crazy good. Yet it borders on being called ‘rock star version of soap opera’. It has some advantages of course – it doesn’t beat around the bush, isn’t perfect little, sweet novel and while the storyline has some clichés, I was to enchanted by characters and their actions to mind them, mostly. I was flying through pages in insane speed. What can I say? Sometimes, a little bit drama has some appeal.

I’m not sure if every reader would appreciate it though. If you are not a fan of books with damaged characters that like to make mistakes and are a magnet for trouble, you won’t be pleased with the story. On the contrary, if you enjoy seeing auto destructive behavior that slowly builds up and then finally make the storyline reach climax with a bang, then you sure as hell will feel glued to the pages. Sometimes I felt so pulled into the story it was hard to shake it off. I was like one of those fans of TV shows that make people wide-eyed as the film progress in need of more popcorn.

In nutshell, A Lush of Betrayal is instant entertainment on silver platter – easy, light read full of trouble, some guilt and sex and crazy rockers!


*ARC provided by author in exchange for honest review *



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Review: Unconditional by Cherie M Hudson

 

Title: Unconditional

Series: Always #1

Author: Cherie M. Hudson

Release Date: February 9th , 2014

Rating: 5 stars

Cliffhanger: No.

She has a future she can’t escape. He refuses to let her face it alone.

Twenty-one. The age when adult life begins. In my case, it’s the age I learned my future sucked, big time, and there was nothing I could do about it. Every minute of every day I face the fact my life is only going to get worse. Why? Because I have early-onset Parkinson’s Disease. I’m not going to let it get me down, but I also can’t let anyone close. That’s not fair to them, or to me. Trust me. So that means my heart and my soul, is off-limits.

But then I traveled to Australia on a college scholarship program and life royally screwed me over. Again.

Raphael Jones is an arrogant Australian celebrity, the hottest guy on campus and a pain in my ass. Worst of all, he makes me ache for a life I’ll never be able to have. Especially when he takes me in his arms and does wicked things to my body.

How do I have a hope of surviving ten weeks in Australia when it’s not just the paparazzi who have me in their sights, but Raph as well? Because Raphael Jones is a man who always gets what he wants. And no matter what I say or do, he refuses to accept what I so painfully know: a life and future with me is no life at all.

What an amazing novel! Every time I turned the page, I was flooded with new hilarious situations that made me smile or laugh, swoon worthy moments, toe curling encounters and panty melting events! I can’t even begin to explain how much fun I had while reading Unconditional. It was fantastic surprise and I’m still in awe. The beautiful way in which author mixed terrible thing that Maci had to carry on her shoulders with butterflies waking romance and wonderful, quirky sense of humor completely astounded me.

This story is told from Maci’s point of view. She’s barely twenty two and already has more on her platter than most seventy years olds. She’s suffering from Parkinson’s disease exactly like her mother is. Not only was she diagnosed barely one year ago, she had to take care of her mother from the time she was a little girl. She has seen it all - bad and ugly. She’s seen how her mother changed from normal, happy woman into trembling, shaking mess that can’t even lace her shoes. And she knows the same is waiting for her. That’s why Maci stopped having boyfriends or friends. What’s the point when all of them will leave her or worse stay and see her losing her dignity?

Thanks to not having a social life Maci had time to study and her hard work won her scholarship to Sydney University. As environmental student she will be observing koalas while writing her thesis.

So when she finally landed in Sydney airport she kind of lost her passport, attacked a senior citizen, lost her luggage and.. kissed a handsome boy in men’s bathroom.

The man she made out with is the hottest celebrity in Australia and Sydney University’s student.

Now, Maci is fighting with her disease, observing koalas and telling her heart to stop fucking beat faster every time she sees Raphael Jones, which is a lot.

What did I love? Honestly, I think it was everything that made me love it so much. From the unique and refreshing plot filled with witty banter, awesome, funny dialogues and amazing, quirky characters to beautiful, steamy romance. And koalas of course! After this book this adorable little creatures are my favorite animals in the whole world!

Maci’s wonderful main character. Not only wasn’t she bitter and whiny, which would be expected in her situation, on the contrary she was strong, independent and made fantastic impression on me. Her crazy personality and clumsiness and being a magnet toward troubles only made her even more likeable. I laughed at her crazy logic and insane situations she was thrown into so much, but I also felt my heart breaking for her.

Raphael is not like any other book boyfriend out there. I won’t spoil you and give away details about his insane celebrity status, but damn was it something I didn’t expect. The secondary characters were so fabulous and perfect for this book.

I must say that this is New Adult novel in its best. Why? It has everything, and I really mean it, everything that makes it out of the charts brilliant! It’s steamy, it’s sexy, it’s funny and witty and what’s more the romance in this book is really… unconditionally beautiful.

This book will make you laugh, it will make you hurt and it’ll change you into horny beast. What a stunning roller coaster!

What more can I write her to make you read this book? Because really it is so worth it. I have no idea how to properly describe my feelings, because the only word that scratches the surface of the Unconditional is WOW! I highly recommend this perfect, mind blowing read. I can’t wait to read more by this author and I have a feeling she will quickly fall into my favorite new adult authors.

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